From our friends at International Rescue Committee

Girls will be girls. Even girls who have survived a brutal war and witnessed terror that none their age should ever face. Girls everywhere are full of beauty, boundless energy and resilience that can carry them through the worst of things. That’s what women’s advocate Ann Jones discovers working with IRC and the girls we help in Sierra Leone. If you’ve been following Ann’s blog on the Global Crescendo project in West Africa you already know the powerful change women can create when their voices are unleashed. Now, find out what the girls have to say. Photo: Ann Jones

Here Come the Girls
Read Ann’s recent blog post and see more photos

Send a Postcard
Spread the word about how the IRC is giving girls a better chance at life

Dear Friends, Please find below a letter from that unstoppable environmental lobbying locomotive Al Gore urging American citizens to join the wecansolveit.org campaign to bring the group to one-million strong. What will this do in the long run? In the short term? Well, the answer is quite honestly, we don’t know. As much as global warming is and has already been a well-known issue for decades now in the United States and as much as we can clearly see global ice caps melting right before our eyes on tv and documentaries world wide — it is almost impossible to NOT know about the growing crisis at this point unless you are locked away some where — we, the people, are still fighting against a government who sits on the fence about the issue and claims that “the problem might not be all that bad.”

So will signing a petition help? Will joining a group of over one-million of our fellow citizens united in our desire to save the earth and the hundreds of thousands of species who live on the earth, including ourselves, help us in this endeavor? The inconvenient truth is that it didn’t help us when we went to the streets to protest their invasion of Iraq. Five years in and our marches and protests and call-ins are still not helping… Yes it is inconvenient. And a darnright devastatingly sad testament to how little our voices matter in the current climate.

But I dare say that to do nothing is like throwing the towel in and giving up. And I for one am not about to do that. At least not yet. Gore’s movie did more for increasing global awareness of this growing environmental crisis than almost anything else we or any of the well-meaning scientists who have been fighting for this cause for decades have done and he did it in one fell swoop with nothing more than something akin to a damn power-point presentation on film. Gotta hand it to him. It worked.

Let us continue the push. Let us continue the fight. Give up? Nah, we’re just getting started.

Ed Hale :: see letter from Al Gore below (more…)

Dear MoveOn member,

This is pretty outrageous: a group of Clinton-supporting big Democratic donors are threatening to stop supporting Democrats in Congress because Nancy Pelosi said that the people, not the super-delegates, should decide the Presidential nomination.

It’s the worst kind of insider politics—billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters.

But when we all pool our resources, together we’re stronger than the fat cats. So let’s tell Nancy Pelosi that if she keeps standing up for regular Americans, thousands of us will have her back. And we can more than match whatever the CEOs and billionaires refuse to contribute. Clicking here will add your name to our statement:http://pol.moveon.org/democracy/o.pl?id=12391-2362222-AqGson&t=273

The statement reads: “The Democratic nomination should be decided by the voters—not by super-delegates or party high-rollers. We’ve given money—and time—to progressive candidates and causes, and we’ll support Speaker Pelosi and others who stand up for Democracy in the Democratic Party.”

We’re launching it today with our friends at the blog OpenLeft.com. Our goal is to deliver tens of thousands of signatures to Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders later this week. (more…)

Dear Friend of United for Peace and Justice,

Last night the announcement came: The 4,000th U.S. serviceperson has died in Iraq.Last week, in more than 700 activities in all 50 states, we marked the 5th anniversary of the war that never should have happened. Now, United for Peace and Justice and many of our member groups urge you to once again make a public statement against the war and occupation in Iraq.

Check the American Friends Service Committee calendar, or the UFPJ calendar, to find a vigil or other protest near you.

If you don’t see anything listed, we urge you to take the time to plan something. It doesn’t have to be complicated; it just needs to be visible:

• Hold a candlelight vigil tomorrow evening, Tuesday, March 25. Do this in a busy part of your city or town.
• During rush hour, hang a banner from an overpass of a busy highway.
• Make some signs and stand on the corners of the busiest intersection during the busiest time of the day.
• Hold a vigil or a picket line in front of the district office of your member of Congress and call on them to use their power to bring all the troops home.

Whatever you decide to do, be sure to:

• Send an email notice to everyone you know.
• Call any groups you think might be interested and urge them to help get the word out.
• Let your local media outlets know what you are doing, and why.
• Post your plans on our website so other people can find out what’s happening and join you.

As we mourn the 4,000 U.S. servicepeople and the more than one million Iraqis who have already died, let us renew our determination to end this criminal war and occupation. Now is the time to bring all of the troops home!Yours, for peace and justice,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator, UFPJ

Friends,

It would have to happen on Easter Sunday, wouldn’t it, that the 4,000th American soldier would die in Iraq. Play me that crazy preacher again, will you, about how maybe God, in all his infinite wisdom, may not exactly be blessing America these days. Is anyone surprised?

4,000 dead. Unofficial estimates are that there may be up to 100,000 wounded, injured, or mentally ruined by this war. And there could be up to a million Iraqi dead. We will pay the consequences of this for a long, long time. God will keep blessing America.

And where is Darth Vader in all this? A reporter from ABC News this week told Dick Cheney, in regards to Iraq, “two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.” Cheney cut her off with a one word answer: “So?”

“So?” As in, “So what?” As in, “F*** you. I could care less.”

I would like every American to see Cheney flip the virtual bird at the them, the American people. Click here and pass it around. Then ask yourself why we haven’t risen up and thrown him and his puppet out of the White House. (more…)

Good video to watch

Tom ridge was outside the Crown Plaza Hotel in Nashua, New Hampshire rallying the people while they waited for John McCain, Gary Franchi was there to ask Ridge about a host of topics including the Amero, the NAU, 9/11, membership in the CFR and if he had ever gone to Bohemian Grove.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuls3SiqGU0

http://www.restoretherepublic.com/content/view/808/71/

[PLEASE FORWARD]

>From your friends at:

RestoreTheRepublic.com, 3149 Dundee Rd #176, Northbrook, Illinois 60062, USA

 

Dear Friends of Tibet House U.S. ,

As you have probably heard on the news, on March 10, the Tibetan people hit the streets with public protests that have lead to widespread violence against both monks and laypeople inside Tibet . The military has been sent in, and the situation is escalating. This recent turn of events has made headlines the world around and presents an incredible opportunity to encourage the Chinese government to change its approach to the Tibetan issue, especially given the forthcoming Olympics Games.

Although Tibet House U.S is not a political organization, and as such does not officially engage in political activism, given this unique opportunity we would like our members to know that H.H. the Dalai Lama continues to call for dialogue and human rights in Tibet, and that there are several politically-oriented organizations taking action right now to encourage the Chinese government to seek dialogue instead of increased violence. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to visit the websites of a few organizations: Students for a Free Tibet and The International Campaign for Tibet   and at www.avaaz.org to check out the good work they are doing in this regard. The avaaz.org link directs you to a petition has been circulating widely online.   

In hopes of a just and peaceful resolution to this crisis.
Very truly yours,

The Tibet House U.S. Staff

The beginning is half of every action.         

– Greek proverb

The one who removes a mountain always begins by carrying away small stones.    

– Chinese proverb 

Why always “not yet”? Do flowers in spring say “not yet”?

–         Norman Douglas 

As long as you can start, you are alright. The juice will come.           

– Ernest Hemingway

 

 

A new Photo Slideshow by singer/songwriter Ed Hale shows NYC tourists that it’s not all Sex and the City in the Big Apple

“On March 19th, 2008 people all over the world took actions of all shapes and kinds to protest the fifth anniversary of the United States Government’s illegal invasion of the country of Iraq. There were protest marches, candle-light vigils, lobbying and petitions in Washington DC, and of course thousands of telephone calls and emails to the US Congress and the White House. Our idea was a simple one, and coincided with an observation I had made that disturbed me a few weeks prior while taking a shower . We live on a very busy street in a very busy city — New York City to be exact. And two or three times a day those BIG RED NEW YORK DOUBLE DECKER TOUR BUSES drive tourists from all over the world around the beautiful city of Manhattan. It bothered me greatly to realize that your average visitor to NYC would not see much anti-war sentiment in this very progressive and otherwise intelligent city. So what to do? Simple: hang a giant flag outside an apartment building for tourists from all nations to see as they drove by and snapped photos for their scrapbooks that had a simple message: WORLD WE’RE SORRY! As long as the US stays in Iraq, the flag will remain. The hope is that at least a few foriegners can go home and report to friends and family that there are at least some Americans who are aware and truly sorry for all the innocent bloodshed and lives lost.”

View Slideshow here