Dear Friend of United for Peace and Justice

We know we’ve been asking you to make a lot of phone calls to Congress lately. Tomorrow, as part of a “Time to Talk with Iran” event, UFPJ will be asking members of Congress to come out of their offices to make a phone call to Iran to talk directly with ordinary Iranian citizens.

But we need you to call too — while we’re on Capitol Hill talking to members of Congress in person, we ask that you flood their offices with phone calls demanding diplomacy.

The same people who called for attacking Iraq now are raising the drumbeat for military action against Iran. The Bush administration is labeling Iran as one of the greatest threats to U.S. security, despite the November 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate which concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program.

Tell your congressional leaders that you want dialogue not war! 1-800-788-9372

The call-in day is sponsored by the
Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran.

Yours, for peace and justice,

Judith Le Blanc
UFPJ National Organizing Coordinator

Hey team, as always some great stuff here from those wild women at CodePink. Read on and lend a hand if you can. E

 

May 9, 2008

Dear Friend,

Outside Speaker Pelosi’s DC office on Thursday, we found a disconcerting site: the Congresswoman in bed with George Bush! It seems the two of them, behind closed doors, have been colluding to guarantee $162 billion more of our tax dollars for war!

With Mother’s Days approaching, we appealed to the Speaker as a mother. We asked her to please stop funding war and destruction, and instead support our family needs here at home and the Iraqi refugees who are struggling to survive. Click here to tell Speaker Pelosi to get out of bed with Bush, to stop funding this disastrous war, and to help the refugees instead!

You, too, can do something for Mother’s Day to help the Iraqi women whose lives have been shattered by the US occupation.

When you donate today, 100% of the proceeds will go toward the Collateral Repair Project, a grassroots movement working with CODEPINK to address the catastrophic displacement of the five million Iraqis who had to leave their homes and communities because of violence and instability. CRP offers food, education, job training and other vital services to refugees.

• $25 will feed one internally displaced person in Iraq for one month
• $100 will feed a family of five living in Iraq for one month
• $250-500 will support small women-based microprojects to promote economic self-sufficiency for women in Jordan
• $1,500 will launch the Najaf sewing training project, training 50+ women sewing/embroidery. They will be able to make a small living and clothe their families.

CODEPINK Co-founder Medea Benjamin recently returned from Jordan and Syria where she witnessed firsthand the urgent needs of Iraqi women.

Layla Atiya is a 50-year-old woman from Baghdad whom I met outside the UN food distribution center in Damascus. She was a Shia who married a Sunni, something very common pre-invasion. They had a large family-eight children-but Layla’s husband worked hard as a mechanic and managed to provide a decent life for his family.

In March 2005, he was kidnapped by Shia militias trying to rid the neighborhood of Sunnis. Ten days later, his body was found dumped in a ditch, riddled with drill holes from torture. A week later, masked men came and took away her oldest son. Hysterical, she packed up the seven remaining children-ages 2-16-and fled to Syria.

Layla receives $120 a month from the UN, but it doesn’t even cover her rent. She can’t afford to send her children to school. “I can barely feed my children, much less provide them with a decent future,” she cried. “What will become of us?“

This Mother’s Day, please join CODEPINK in helping Iraqi mothers. If you donate in your mother’s name or the name of a mother you love, we will send her a beautiful E-card to acknowledge your generous gift.

With love for the mothers all over the world,
Alicia, Dana, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Rae, and Tighe

p.s. To learn more about Medea’s experiences in Jordan and Syria, read her blogs here.

Dear friends of TuneInTurnOutHelpOut,

Please see this important message from our friends over at Avaaz regarding the current food crisis and what we can do to make a difference today.

Rocketing prices threaten to starve millions and make us all less secure — sign the emergency petition for action to stop the world food crisis
Sign the Petition and Watch the Video here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/10.php

Have you noticed food costing more when you shop? Here’s why — we’re plunging headlong into a world food crisis. Rocketing prices are squeezing billions and triggering food riots from Bangladesh to South Africa. Aid agencies say 100 million more people are at risk of starvation right now[1]. In Sierra Leone alone the price of a bag of rice has doubled, becoming unaffordable for 90% of citizens[2]. Fears of inflation stalk the whole world, and the worst could be yet to come.

We need to act now — before it’s too late. As Ban Ki-Moon holds a high-level UN meeting on the crisis, we’re launching an urgent campaign with African foreign minister and human rights campaigner Zainab Bangura. Click below to see Zainab’s video message and add your name to the food crisis petition — we need to raise 200,000 signatures by the end of this week to deliver a massive global outcry to leaders at the UN, G8 and EU:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/10.php

The prices of staple foods like wheat, corn and rice have almost doubled, and the crisis is slipping out of control — so we’re calling for immediate action on emergency food aid, speculation and biofuels policy, while asking forthcoming summits to tackle deeper problems of investment and trade.[3]

The global food crisis touches and connects us all, creating a tsunami of hunger for the poor and damaging economies and squeezing citizens in the rich world too. But solutions are on the horizon if leaders act fast [4] — sign the petition at the link below now, then forward this email and ask friends and family to do the same:

With hope,
Paul, Galit, Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Mark, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team

This just in from the British Times
April 15th, 2008

Well it’s tax day in the great blood-stained state of the USA again. The American people, the majority of whom have proved themselves to be as dumb as mules or oxes over the last five years — no offense to our fine furred friends — will stand in lines by the thousands to hand over great gobs of their own money to their “government” tomorrow. The world community has watched the United States government, if you can call it that at this point, spend more than half a trillion of the American people’s hard earned dollars on invading another country half way around the globe for a whole roster of reasons that turned out to be “lies” (900 plus at last count) by various “intelligence agencies,” at least so says the “White House” and yet they continue to occupy the other country, having killed now what some estimate between one to two million of the Iraqi people in what many are now calling the most atrocious mass gencoide since, well, the same damn thing they did to Vietnam thirty-years ago.

Meanwhile the Americans continue to lose their homes by the tens of thousands each day while their government continues to bankrupt their economy in the greatest economic downturn in American history, the value of their once all-powerful dollar now worth less than it’s ever been in the world community as foreign investors and other countries continue to sell it as fast as possible. Nothing new – the same news as yesterday unfortunately for the sad lot of poor old Yanks. The only thing that makes it newsworthy is that tomorrow is the last day that all three-hundred million of them have to gleefully hand over thier hard earned bread so the war-mongering theives and hatchetmen that invaded their own country seven years ago can continue to bring the once great state down to its knees in what promises to be one hell of a show. The degradation and destruction of America which started some say almost forty years ago as with all empires will not be one giant explosion but a slow erosion that most will miss. It is only now that the Americans themselves are starting to see it as the rest of the world celebrates their great fortune around them they continue to drown in one quagmire after another and can’t figure out how to get out of this mess, all but a few of them remembering that they are a democracy after all and can always vote to boot the whole lot of them in the White House at any time if they were in the right mind to. Problem is the Americans are so damn busy watching their dumbass not-funny tv that most of them are missing the biggest show on earth — the slow crumbling and collapse of the biggest empire on the planet in modern times. And they’re starring it. Poor slobs.

Americans are some of the last people on earth who should be paying their government any taxes on their incomes at this point with how run amok things have been for the poor bastards lately. No matter how hard they try they cannot get their government to tell them why they went to Iraq, are still in Iraq, or when they are getting out if ever and what’s worse, polls show that the majority of the American people don’t even want their country to be in Iraq at all, and yet as that sallow and pitiable clown of a president they have continues to wave the banner of “democracy” around the world in that clumsy annoying backwoods southern drawl of his like a braindead three year old, the American people themselves can’t seem to actually do anything “democratic” to get themselves out of Iraq or any of their other messes. And yet tomorrow the United States government will collect billions upon billions of dollars from this same group of disgruntled Americans who claim to be so uptight and upset about the sorry state of affairs in thier once great state. Doesn’t make much sense on these shores over here that’s for sure. But that Simon Cowell is still one funny bastard. What’s that ya say? Oh yeah, he’s a Brit. Sorry ’bout that. Ok so the Americans indeed are truly fucked afterall.

And now an important news break — an announcement from the son of the former president of the United States 

“Dear Fellow Americans. We know the rest of the world must be laughing at and crying for us at the same time. Tax day is upon us. And though we’re now the only country in the “civilized world” that doesn’t have enough money for health care, and we don’t have enough money for “good schools” or “good edumacation,” and we don’t have enough money to ”get us out of this economic crisis that we’re in,” and God bless ya for believing us (he laughs here), WE HAVE FIVE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS!!!! DADDY TOLD ME SO! WE BORROWED IT FROM THE SAUDIS AND FROM CHINA. EVIDENTLY THAT’S WHY WE DON’T CARE THAT THE CHINESE ARE KILLING ALL THOSE TIBETAN PEOPLES. Well i never met any Tibetan people so i guess it don’t matter that much to you and me anyway…. But the good news is WE HAVE FIVE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS!!! AND GUESS WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO WITH IT? Feed the hungry? House the homeless? Improve education? Improve medical sciences? Increase spending on environmental science to prevent global crises? Hell no! What are you some kind of a morons? (O.K. well some of you did actually vote for me, G.W. so we know the answer to that one… “Ma can you believe some of those people really did vote for me? For real?” “Yes Georgie Boy. Your father says a few of them actually did. And you make us real proud by that son. Real proud. Now go back to your blog while your father continues his meeting with Osama.”) So what was I saying there???? Oh yeah, so you know what we’re gonna do with all that money you guys give us for taxes? We’re gonna blow the hell out of some other country, you know that one.. “Iraq” (i know, you don’t know anything about it, and never heard of it till we told you about it) and then after we blow it all up and kill most of fhe people there, we’re gonna spend more of your money to rebuild it.”

“Why? Well why didn’t you ask why five years ago you big dummies? It’s too late to ask “why” now. So shut up, pay your taxes like we tell you to so we can keep on with our killing. And for God’s sake shut the hell up about “your constitutional rights.” Those days are long gone. (in case you haven’t noticed.) Yours truly, Uncle Sam, Big Bad Bushy, Mean DickHead Cheney, and Condi “Don’t mind me, I’m just that scowling whore in the corner that does whatever those two jugheads ask me to do” Rice “I made that one up myself. I hope Condi doesn’t get too mad at me for it.”

“PS — Just because we are your “elected officials” and thus are your “employees” and in effect “work for you,” don’t get any ideas about telling us ”what to do” or “firing us.” I think you have figured that out by now. Those days are over. Happy tax day you morons! And thanks for voting me in!” 

And Yet All is Not Lost…

Dear Friend of United for Peace and Justice,

Tomorrow is Tax Day! People all around the country will be calling attention to how our tax dollars are used, and making the connection between our country’s current financial troubles and the more than $505 billion that has already been spent on the occupation of Iraq.

Ideas for taking action and educating others on April 15th:

• Hand out leaflets making the connections between the war and our growing economic crisis here at home. (See below for resources.) You can distribute this material at your local post office, at busy transportation hubs during rush hour, and in other locations where you can talk with people, including where you work or go to school.
  
• Sign our open letter to Rep. John Murtha, and encourage others to do so as well.
  
• Call in to local radio talk shows, or write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
• Call your representatives and your senators in Congress and urge them to use their power to bring all of the troops home!

Resources you can use, created by UFPJ and a few of our member groups:

1) The War Resisters League’s federal pie chart illustrates how much of our tax dollars really go toward military spending.3) This new UFPJ leaflet urges people to pressure Congress to stop funding the war! The leaflet has a box for you to add local contact information — just click inside that box and type. 4) “Healthcare Not Warfare” is a new campaign initiated by PDA.5) The National Priorities Project’s website has up-to-date breakdowns of what the war in Iraq is costing your state and your community!And if you’re receiving a refund this year, please consider dedicating some or all of it to peace! Click here to donate to UFPJ.

Yours, for peace and justice,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator, UFPJ

From those lovely ladies at Codepink comes this tasty morsel:

April 1, 2008

Dear Friend,

Before the Congressional recess, I was besieged by CODEPINK women who are fasting until I agree to start impeachment hearings against Bush and Cheney. When I sat down to Easter dinner with my family, I looked at my plate of honey-baked ham and scalloped potatoes and I thought about what was really on my table. Everyday these women sit in my office and ask me to put Impeachment on America’s table; after all the times in my career that I’ve stood up to the “bad guys”-racists, greedy CEOs, corrupt politicians, could I really continue to let Bush and Cheney run roughshod over the Constitution and the American and Iraqi people? My wife Monica voted for impeachment of Bush and Cheney as a Detroit city councilwoman and I was proud of her for cooking their goose.

I sat down to digest my meal and my conflicted feelings on Impeachment by relaxing and watching the opening night Nationals game. Upon flipping on the TV and finding the right channel, I settled in and wouldn’t you know it… the CODEPINK women were there! President Bush was to throw out the first pitch and once he took the field, the CODEPINK women (one of them even wearing a giant Bush head and prison costume) encouraged all the baseball fans to boo him. And guess what? They did. You can see it right here.

As they booed, I thought of the changing times I’ve witnessed in my life. America can change and we are all agents of change.* It struck me then that the American people really want to see this Administration out of office and they want it now. Bush and his pinch-hitter Cheney have been striking out with the American people for way too long.

I realized it was time to step up to the plate for all the citizens of this great country who want to end the war. So I am putting Impeachment on America’s table.

Sincerely,
John Conyers
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee

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…)