Covid

MASKING SAVES LIVES

Monday, May 27, 2013

Hero of War, Included in Report on The Walking Wounded



http://youtu.be/_DboMAghWcA

THIS SONG WAS INCLUDED IN AN INFORMATIVE ARTICLE ABOUT U.S. SOLDIERS and the costs of war from the Seattle Education blog:  http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/the-walking-wounded-2/

Saturday, May 25, 2013

March Against Monsanto Today -- Schedule and Info Below

SCHEDULE FOR MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO TODAY!


- 11:00 am Rally at Westlake Park
- 12:30 pm March to Gates Foundation
- 1:15 pm Rally at Gates Foundation
- 1:45 pm Continue March to Seattle Center
- 2:00 pm Disperse at Seattle Center & Folklife

EXCERPT FROM MARGARET FLOWERS & KEVIN ZEESE ARTICLE 

The Growing Global Challenge to Monsanto's Monopolistic Greed

[....]
Although labeling of foods that contain GMOs is required in Europe and US corporations such as Walmart and McDonald's comply with these rules in Europe, Monsanto and its allies are taking the fight to prevent labeling in the United States to new levels. As more state-level battles and an energized grass roots develop, Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association reportsMonsanto and allies are trying to subvert these efforts by getting the corrupt federal government to pass a law forbidding states to pass labeling laws.
Impossible, you think? Well, Monsanto has done the seemingly impossible before. Most recently, one legislative victory that enraged people was theMonsanto Protection Act (actually misleadingly named the Farmer Assurance Provision) which was buried in a spending bill earlier this year and which protects Monsanto from the courts. For example, under the new law, federal courts are not allowed to stop the sale or planting of controversial genetically modified seeds, no matter what health issues may arise concerning GMOs in the future. There are now efforts to add a rider to the farm bill to repeal this measure.
Stopping Monsanto and Moving to Sensible Agricultural Policy
The first step to stopping the entrenchment of genetically modified foods in our food supply is labeling. As noted above, states are moving forward on that front, despite the efforts of Monsanto to stop them. This is the big battle because when foods are labeled, consumers have the power of knowledge and can choose not to buy them. Cummins reports that in Europe, the labeling of foods was the key to stopping the development of genetically modified foods.
One of the tools we must use is the boycott. Large food and beverage corporations that sell billions of dollars of organic and natural foods bankrolled the industry opposition to GMO labeling in California. Brand names like Kashi, Cascadian Farms, Bear Naked, Honest Tea, Odwalla, Naked Juice and others need to be told that we will not buy their products if they continue to fund ignorance by blocking GMO labeling.
To protect our food and health, the United States needs to adopt the precautionary principle, which means products must be proven to be safe before they are allowed on the market. The US applies a sham standard of "substantial equivalence" which avoids the need to test for safety. Applying the precautionary principle to Monsanto's products would mean a moratorium on them until their safety can be demonstrated by independent (non-corporate-funded), long-term tests for food safety as well as safety for agriculture. Our health should come before Monsanto's profits.
People need to be empowered not just with credible information about genetically modified foods and how to avoid them - that is, buy organic and non-processed foods - but also with access to courts to sue if agriculture, the environment or their health is damaged by GMOs. The repeal of the "Monsanto Protection Act" is a first step in that direction, but people also need to have a greater ability to sue corporations that harm them.
We advocate a two-path approach - protest what you do not like and build what you want. That means that while we encourage community-supported agriculture, organic and local gardening, preparing your own non-processed foods and working to change laws, we also urge protest. This May 25, nearly 300 protests are being held all over the world against Monsanto in the March Against Monsanto organized by Occupy Monsanto. Join these protests.
As it is with many other issues, the future of the world's food supply boils down to the people vs. concentrated wealth and corporate power. It highlights the corruption of government and the need for a real democracy in which people are allowed to make choices for themselves on basic issues like what kind of food they eat and what kind of plants they want to grow. Popular resistance to concentrated wealth is growing as more people demand the right to control their own lives.
You can learn more and hear our interview with Ronnie Cummins, Patty Lovera and Adam Eidinger, "Reasons to Protest Monsanto" at Clearing The FOG

Monday, May 20, 2013

Sons of Lifta أبناء لفتا [Daughters too] -- Beautiful video about Villagers Visiting Their Old Village Lifta



http://youtu.be/L7afYef4bSQ

"Bush Convicted of War Crimes in Absentia" -- Yvonne Ridley

Please see full article at:  http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/05/12/bush-convicted-of-war-crimes-in-absentia/

EXCERPT:

Kuala Lumpur — It’s official; George W Bush is a war criminal.
In what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world, the former US President and seven key members of his administration were yesterday (Fri) found guilty of war crimes.
Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo were tried in absentia in Malaysia.
The trial held in Kuala Lumpur heard harrowing witness accounts from victims of torture who suffered at the hands of US soldiers and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They included testimony from British man Moazzam Begg, an ex-Guantanamo detainee and Iraqi woman Jameelah Abbas Hameedi who was tortured in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
At the end of the week-long hearing, the five-panel tribunal unanimously delivered guilty verdicts against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their key legal advisors who were all convicted as war criminals for torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.
Full transcripts of the charges, witness statements and other relevant material will now be sent to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as the United Nations and the Security Council.
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission is also asking that the names of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Yoo, Bybee, Addington and Haynes be entered and included in the Commission’s Register of War Criminals for public record.
The tribunal is the initiative of Malaysia’s retired Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who staunchly opposed the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Steve Hapy At Leonard Peltier Freedom March -- Tying the Struggles Together [video by Elliot Stoller]



http://youtu.be/EhSi1SNWsA0

Please write your Letter for Leonard:  http://www.letters4leonard.com

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Elliot Stoller's Great Video of Arthur Miller at Leonard Peltier Freedom March 2013



http://youtu.be/f_x_ReEa2xk

If you live in the U.S., you need to hear this!   Leonard's incarceration is a huge injustice of 37 years duration. 

Nevertheless, as Arthur says, Leonard is here for all of us, supporting our activism in any way he can from a prison cell.  

This is a tragedy for us all.  

Please write a letter to Pres. Obama for the Letters4Leonard campaign.  Go to http://www.letters4leonard.com and find out how to support this great human being.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Outrageous 37-Year Imprisonment of Leonard Peltier Decried by American Indian Movement & His Supporters in Tacoma, 5/18/13

Elder Ramona Bennet and long-time friend and supporter of Leonard



Marching to Federal Courthouse in Tacoma for Justice for Leonard
Jimbo Simmons makes connections between indigenous Palestinians and American Indian struggle





Tribal Drummers for Leonard's Freedom.

Long-time organizer of Peltier Freedom marches Arthur Miller relates history of Leonard's Case

SAFE in Seattle Monitors Foreclosure Sale in Bellevue to Protect Benes Home

For info on Standing Against Foreclosure and Eviction in Seattle go to:  http://safeinseattle.org/



Why pick a fight with the people?

Waiting

Framing the vultures at foreclosure sale

Picketing the "trustee's" office


Thursday, May 16, 2013

NO GAZA VIGIL AT WESTLAKE THIS SATURDAY! See you on June 1! Free Palestine! End the Nakba!


We already had two vigils this month, one on the 4th and another on the 12th (NakbaCommemoration Day). Because of that we have decided to cancel our vigil for this coming Saturday.
 
We will be back on schedule on June 1st for our usual vigils on the 1st and the 3rd Saturday of each month.
 
Thanks for your understanding and for your support!
 
 
Amin Odeh
"Stand up for what is right,even if you are standing alone"

NAKBA by Remi Kanazi [Please watch -- you won't regret it] @remroum



http://youtu.be/WlhCDRvr5_w

Boycott SodaStream at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival



http://youtu.be/RmK1csLPy7w

"AP Hacked: Why Are We Surprised? | Weapons of Mass Distraction" -- Breaking the Set, Abby Martin



http://youtu.be/lWeGjcVTAkM

Watch Out SPACE; Here comes NATO!

VIA Rick Rozoff of STOPNATO


Stratcom Strives to Build Coalitions for Space Operations
By Donna Miles
====
“Our intent with combined space operations is to mirror some of the partnerships we have in other mission areas that are long-term and enduring.”
Space is vital to military operations, providing an array of capabilities that give space-faring nations’ forces a military advantage…
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USSTRATCOM_emblem

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb., May 14, 2013 – Recognizing the value of multinational coalitions for operations in the land, maritime and air domains, officials at U.S. Strategic Command here hope to forge a coalition that shares assets and capabilities in space.
The United States and its allies are discussing details for the first agreement of its kind promoting combined space operations, Air Force Brig. Gen. David D. Thompson, Stratcom’s deputy director of global operations, told American Forces Press Service.
The agreement could spell out specific areas in which the participating nations will work together, and what each will contribute to those efforts, Thompson said.
The agreement will formalize an arrangement tested last year during a period discovery. Based on the findings, the U.S. and its allies agreed in September to continue working toward closer combined space operations.
Thompson said he hopes the agreement will be the first step in forging international military-to-military cooperation in space that is essential to all. The Stratcom staff already is promoting the concept with what is hoped to be the next wave of nations to join the coalition.
“Our intent with combined space operations is to mirror some of the partnerships we have in other mission areas that are long-term and enduring,” Thompson said.
Space is vital to military operations, providing an array of capabilities that give space-faring nations’ forces a military advantage, he said. These include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities that enhance warfighters’ situational awareness, space-based communications that provide them instant, global communications, and global positioning systems that deliver highly accurate navigation and targeting positions.
“This gives them an awareness and understanding that enhances their capabilities to conduct operations the way no other armed forces can today,” Thompson said. “That’s why it’s vitally important to our military forces.”
However, as more nations, organizations and commercial companies vie to take advantage of space-based capabilities, the once-pristine space domain is becoming increasingly congested and competitive, Thompson said.
And of particular concern to military leaders, space is an increasingly contested domain, with potential adversaries hoping to level the playing field by denying access to space and space-based capabilities, he said. The response, Thompson said, must be the same unity in numbers that has proven itself out in every other domain. Coalitions provide more capability than any one nation can provide alone, while also sending an important deterrent message to potential adversaries, he said.
Unlike recent coalitions, formed for specific periods to accomplish specific objectives, Thompson said he hopes those formed for operations in space endure.
“We have enduring requirements and enduring interests that are common among ourselves. So we see this as a longer-standing coalition with these nations,” he said.
Working together to support their shared interests and objectives, Thompson said, the coalition members will help ensure that space remains a global common open to all.
“Joining together in a coalition is a statement of assurance that each nation is committed to effective, mutually supportive conduct of operations in space,” he said. “We are united in a coalition sense when it comes to operations in space and providing those capabilities for each nation.”
 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Remembering the Continuing Nakba in Seattle 2013 with Friends, Old and New

Free Palestine, End the Nakba!

Nour and Amin

Amin's New Friend from Bethlehem

Beautiful long-time supporter Dorli

Supporters Emma & Jake

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

"Palestine: Stolen Homeland," Sunday, May 12th, Noon to 5:00 pm, Westlake Park, Seattle


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2013
Contact: Edward Mast, press@SeaMAC.org   206 633-1086

More cities join SeaMAC’s Equal Rights bus ad campaign, while Seattle protests the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

Palestine: Stolen Homeland
Sunday May 12, 2013
12:00 - 5:00 pm
Westlake Plaza, 4th & Pine downtown Seattle

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) has started running its bus ad campaign EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS: THE WAY TO PEACE in Bellevue, Redmond, and Kalestine, Stolen Homelanirkland this week.  Those ads began on May 1 and will run on six buses for four weeks, along with ads on six buses in Seattle at the same time.  The Equal Rights ads are also running on buses in Port Angeles and Clallam County, and have appeared in buses and newspapers in Tacoma and Olympia.

Photos available on request; also at www.SeaMAC.org.

SeaMAC will also cosponsor Palestine: Stolen Homeland, a theatrical installation of over 100 small tents inscribed with the names of Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948.  The display will commemorate and protest the events of 1947-9, when two-thirds of the Palestinian people were forcibly displaced and over 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed.  The new state of Israel created laws to prevent the return of those Palestinians after the war, and now Palestinians are one of the largest and longest-suffering refugee populations in the world.  To describe these events, Palestinians use the word “Nakba” which means “catastrophe.”  

In his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has described the events of 1947-9 as "a crime against humanity that Israel has wanted to deny and cause the world to forget."  Pappe also observes that Palestinians in the West Bank and Greater Jerusalem are undergoing ethnic cleansing today, as Israel continues to drive them out to make room for more Israeli settlers.

PALESTINE: STOLEN HOMELAND is organized by Palestine Solidarity Committee, Voices for Palestine, and Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign.   

To observe Mothers Day -- originally an anti-war holiday -- PALESTINE: STOLEN HOMELAND will also include a booth for MOTHERS AGAINST ETHNIC CLEANSING.

For more information about Palestine: Stolen Homeland, contact info@palestineinformation.org.

### 

Friday, May 03, 2013

CANCELLATION: Vigil for Palestinian Political Prisoners CANCELLED for May 4th


We have decided to cancel our Vigil for tomorrow May 4th at Westlake because most of our members and also some of our supporters will be in Vancouver on Saturday attending a conference on Palestine. Here is some info about the conference if you are interested in joining us; http://www.palestinianconference.org/call-conference-of-the-palestinian-shatat-in-north-america/
 
Thanks for your understanding and for your support!
 
Amin Odeh
"Stand up for what is right,even if you are standing alone"

AND AS YOU SEE BELOW WE HELD A PRISONER VIGIL LAST WEEK.  LINDA