www.w3conference.org

• May 12 – Monday 9:30- 12 noon: Plenary Session with Members of Congress, Whistleblower and Civil Rights Organizations:
• Convenor, the Honorable Walter E. Fauntroy
• Chairwoman, The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee

Keynote Speakers:

• Adam Kokesh, Iraq Veterans Against the War
&
• Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus

Adam Kokesh, Iraq Veterans Against the War - served seven months as a Sergeant on a Marine Corps Civil Affairs team in the Fallujah area. He will expose the lies that led the country to war and blow the whistle on the Petreus congressional testimony. Adam can be reached at: adam@ivaw.org

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., is a minister, community activist, and among the most influential people in Hip Hop political life. Firmly grounded in his Caribbean and Louisiana roots, Rev. Yearwood is a fierce advocate for the human and civil rights in the 21st century. A powerful and fiery orator, Rev. Yearwood works diligently and tirelessly to encourage the Hip Hop generation to utilize its political and social voice.

He currently serves as President of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C. The Hip Hop Caucus is a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization that inspires and motivates those born after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

One goal of the tribunal is to focus the Capitol's attention on the need for strengthening Whistleblower protection in pending legislation.

The article originally appeared on the wonkroom:

http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/05/01/mary-gade-firing

• • •

The Wonk Room has previously described Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson as “the environment’s Alberto Gonzales.” After years of scandal as White House Counsel and Attorney General, Gonzales finally resigned after it was revealed that numerous U.S. attorneys were fired without cause under his watch.

Now it seems the EPA is following the Department of Justice’s efforts to rid itself of staffers who are not “loyal Bushies.”

The Chicago Tribune reports:

The Bush administration forced its top environmental regulator in the Midwest to quit Thursday after months of internal bickering about dioxin contamination downstream from Dow Chemical’s world headquarters in Michigan.

In an interview with the Tribune, Mary Gade said two top political appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington stripped her of her powers as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1.

As a congressional investigation revealed this week, the EPA’s regulation of toxic chemicals like dioxin has been corrupted by interference by the White House. But this case is even more egregious:

For the past year, Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. [. . .]

Though regional EPA administrators typically have wide latitude to enforce environmental laws, Gade drew fire from officials in Washington last month after she sent contractors to test soil in a Saginaw neighborhood where Dow had found high dioxin levels.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—On the one-year anniversary of a groundbreaking Supreme Court decision that directed the Environmental Protection Agency to address global warming, Friends of the Earth today called on EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to resign. The group said Johnson has mismanaged the agency in a way that has been flatly inconsistent with its mission and has put the planet’s future at risk.

In a letter sent to Johnson, Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder wrote, “You have repeatedly demonstrated that you are incapable of providing the environmental stewardship that is required to successfully lead the agency you head. We call on you to resign.”

Friends of the Earth based its decision to call for Johnson’s resignation on repeated failures of leadership that include:

• Delaying the Bush administration’s response to a Supreme Court holding in Mass v. EPA that greenhouse gas emissions are pollutants; today is the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling, but just last week Johnson detailed a lengthy process that makes any action during the remainder of the Bush administration unlikely
• Rejecting California’s request for a waiver that would allow it to limit global warming pollution from vehicles; this decision was at odds with the recommendation of EPA career experts and prevents the implementation of laws passed in more than a dozen states
• Setting ozone pollution limits at unhealthy levels, rejecting the recommendations of EPA scientists after a last-minute political intervention by President Bush
• Failing to respond promptly to petitions filed by environmental groups calling on the EPA to regulate global warming pollution from ships and aircraft
• Issuing a misguided wetlands ruling Tuesday that encourages developers who build in wetlands to purchase credits rather than restoring or improving nearby wetlands

Washington, DC- On May 12- 14, 2008, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and the No FEAR Institute will host the annual “Whistle Blower Week in Washington, DC” on Capitol Hill. This week is dedicated to informing the American public about the men and women who hold government agencies and business accountable by reporting ethical violations that take place. Often times these individuals are reprimanded and subject to intimidation as a result of speaking out against these injustices.

"The goal of ‘Whistleblower Week in Washington’ is to educate the American public about the abuse and the retaliation occurring to whistleblowers who are protecting the public safety," stated Dr. Marsha Coleman Adebayo, President of the No Fear Coalition.

“The men and woman who bravely come out and expose the injustices and violations that take place with in the federal government agencies and other institutions are the eyes and ears for the American public. These people should be able to speak out freely with no fear of unfair repercussion,” said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. “I will continue to support legislation that protects these Americans who play a vital role in making sure Congress holds any and all federal agencies and institutions accountable for violations.”

During this week, whistleblowers from all over the nation will have a chance to give their first hand account of the injustices they experienced due to exposing violations and untruths within federal government agencies and other institutions.

"I was told to keep Americans safe from Weapons of Mass Destruction--but I didn't have a computer with internet connection. After I filed a complaint, I was fired." Janet Howard, former Commerce Department Employee 25 years.

"After I testified on behalf of a whistleblower--the government admittedly made a series of mistakes in my pay---and sent me to Federal prison." Jon Grand, former EPA employee

By John Pilger

April 24, 2008 Beyond the sound and fury of its conquest of Iraq and campaign against Iran, the world's dominant power is waging a largely unreported war on another continent—Latin America. Using proxies, Washington aims to restore and reinforce the political control of a privileged group calling itself middle-class, to shift the responsibility for massacres and drug trafficking away from the psychotic regime in Colombia and its mafiosi, and to extinguish hopes raised among Latin America's impoverished majority by the reform governments of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.

In Colombia, the main battleground, the class nature of the war is distorted by the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the Farc, whose own resort to kidnapping and the drugs trade has provided an instrument with which to smear those who have distinguished Latin America's epic history of rebellion by opposing the proto-fascism of George W Bush's regime. "You don't fight terror with terror," said President Hugo Chávez as US warplanes bombed to death thousands of civilians in Afghanistan following the 11 September 2001 attacks. Thereafter, he was a marked man. Yet, as every poll has shown, he spoke for the great majority of human beings who have grasped that the "war on terror" is a crusade of domination. Almost alone among national leaders standing up to Bush, Chávez was declared an enemy and his plans for a functioning social democracy independent of the United States a threat to Washington's grip on Latin America. "Even worse," wrote the Latin America specialist James Petras, "Chávez's nationalist policies represented an alternative in Latin America at a time (2000-2003) when mass insurrections, popular uprisings and the collapse of pro-US client rulers (Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia) were constant front-page news."

Published on Sunday, April 20, 2008 by The New York Times

By David Barstow
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

On March 13, 2008, a small group of conservative Republicans introduced a resolution calling for Venezuela to be designated a state sponsor of terrorism. The resolution, HRes. 1049, asks that the State Department place Venezuela on a list of countries that provide support to terrorist organizations, a designation that would impose a number of sanctions on Venezuela and U.S. companies that do business there. The list currently includes Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Sudan. On May 15, 2006, the Bush administration removed Libya from the list. Though various critics of President Hugo Chávez have accused Venezuela of supporting terrorist groups, no credible or verifiable evidence has ever been presented to substantiate those claims. Any move to place Venezuela on a list of state sponsors of terror would be plainly political, and would prove to have detrimental effects on the U.S.’s war on terror, its relations with the hemisphere, and its economy. Below we detail some of the claims made by the resolution and the reality of those accusations.

RESOLUTION: “Whereas reports indicate that ties between high-level Venezuelan officials and the FARC date back to August 1999, when letters signed by high- level aides of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez revealed that the Venezuelan Government had offered fuel, money, and other support to the FARC…”

REALITY: No proof has ever been shown to back this accusation. In testimony before the U.S. Senate on the Annual Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community on February 27, 2008, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell made no mention of such allegations in his discussion of Venezuela. At the same hearing, General Michael Maples, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, made clear that Venezuelan weapons do not go to Colombia or rebel groups. According to a report of the hearing: “Maples then interjected, saying U.S. officials had not seen any distribution of rifles to Colombia. ‘We have seen them go into armories,’ he said.”1

Paper Ballots and Audits in Time for Election Day 2008!

Tell Your Congressional Rep. to Vote for HR 5036 "The Emergency Election Assistance for Secure Elections Act"

Americans need to be able to trust the counting of the vote on Election Day.  Paperless electronic voting is rife with computer mistakes and security problems. Only 17 states have a voter verified paper record and require an audit. With no paper record it is impossible to audit the vote and we cannot be sure the vote was counted accurately. Peace voters can only have an impact if we are sure our votes are counted as they are cast.

On Tuesday, April 15, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a bill that will help ensure election integrity in time for the November 2008 by providing funds to states for voter-verified paper records and audits of the vote on Election Day.

Please send the letter below to your member of Congress IMMEDIATELY.   CLICK HERE to send the letter from the website of an allied organization TrueVote. The U.S. House of Representatives needs to show overwhelming bi-partisan support for this bill so the Senate will quickly act and President Bush will sign the bill.

- - - - - - - - -
Dear Representative:

I am writing to urge you to support H.R. 5036 when it comes to the House Floor this Tuesday. The 'Emergency Election Assistance for Secure Elections Act' - the "EASY" bill - is needed to secure the November 2008 elections.  Broad support in the House will ensure passage by the Senate and approval by the president in time for the November election.
H.R. 5036 will provide states with funding for paper-based voting systems and audits of the vote count.  The bill will assure election integrity nationally by making sure that votes are counted in a transparent and audit-able way.

    Speaking before a standing room only congregation at Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy's New Bethel Baptist Church in the historic Shaw District of ... all » Washington, DC, activist Dick Gregory presents an impassioned challenge to the conventional wisdom surrounding the controversy of the comments made by Barack Obama's spiritual leader, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Washington, DC March 16, 2008 (WHYnotnews) College students on Spring break gathered in Washington this week and turned the phrase "stop loss" against both houses of Congress to emphasize the complicity both houses and both parties have in the continued illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan by the US military. The actions were staged to coincide with the Winter Soldier tribunals being held in Washington by Iraq Veterans Against the War and the growing resistance that is assembling to mark the 5th anniversary of America's unprovoked attack of the sovereign nations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Many hold the view that for an administration that centered its rhetoric on comparisons of Sadaam Hussein to Adolf Hilter, its policies of aggression and the propaganda it uses to support those policies more closely resemble fascism than the government that is laid out in the American Constitution. Some have even gone so far as to compare "Shock & Awe," the rallying cry of the American attack that killed thousands of innocent civilians, to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The use of white phosphorous, depleted uranium and other weapons of mass destruction by American troops are widely regarded around the world to be brazen war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions, the US Constitution and Code of Conduct for American soldiers.

Claiming that AMREN (American Renaissance) is anti-immigrant, racist, neo-nazi white supremacist and bad for America, activists protested a conference AMREN held at the Dulles Airport Crowne Plaza Hotel in Herndon, Virginia Saturday, February, 23, 2008.

Greetings!

Now is not the time to be silent.  Now is the time for our voices to be heard.  It grows across our land, these words of hate:  From Jena LA to the doorstep of Sean Bell, racist acts destroy lives.  But these acts don't happen in a vacuum.  They are cultivated and raised through a social structure of hate and acceptance of ideas that preach violence against those that are different.  Showing resistance, showing numbers, showing this is not the path our nation needs to go down gives opposition to those ideas.  This event is too important to remain silent. Will your voice be heard?
Thank you again for all your support.
Tina Richards

Your donation is urgently needed as Grassroots America will be forced to shut down soon.
Please send donations to the following:
715 Princeton Place
Washington, DC  20010
or go to
http://grassrootsamerica4us.org/Donations.html

Protest Neo-Nazi Conference This Saturday, February 23, at 10AM, Herndon VA (near Washington DC's Dulles Airport)

What: March and Protest against Neo-Nazi Conference
If you are not in the DC Metro area, Call or fax the Crowne Plaza Hotel Phone: (703) 471-6700
Fax: (703) 742-8965
to register your dissatisfaction.  
Who: Resistance and Solidarity, Grassroots America, Hip Hop Caucus,UFPJ (United for Peace and Justice), A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism),  AfterDowningStreet.org,  Activist from Maryland, DC and Virginia
When: February 23, Saturday, 10:00 AM
Where: Chandon Park, 352 Juniper Ct. Herndon, VA to Crowne Plaza Hotel

Getting There:

 by Tamer Halaseh Yesterday my father’s cousin died. Normally, this event would host one problem, the death of a loved one. For us, we must get permission to go through the checkpoint to burry our loved ones in Jerusalem. The Israeli wall now separates us from the cemetery. My village, Sawahra, was separated from Jerusalem after the 1967 war. The surrounding villages, Sawahre Al Gharbiya and Jabel Al Mukaber were included with Jerusalem while my village was separated and added to the Westbank. Previously, we had very little trouble with events like this. In fact, the separation was literally unfelt up until 2003and we could move relatively freely through the boarder. Recently, the construction of the wall has caused us many unnecessary problems that we never had. When Israel started building the wall problems and complications began to appear. Families became separated, land was stolen, and family olive trees were cut down. Furthermore, when the building began we were separated from Jerusalem and its hospitals and schools. Many people were also blocked from their jobs and were unable to work. The wall, that separated the previously mentioned people, now separated many of my friends and family from the burial. When we arrived at the checkpoint we were first told that the only persons permitted would be the forty and above year olds. We continued to ask for permission for everyone and later they stated that only the intermediate family members were allowed permission, but they would have to submit their IDs at the checkpoint and return in one hour.

Donna Edwards (D-MD) wins 4th district Congressional Primary over Al Wynn (D-MD). A progressive democrat, Edwards comes from the grassroots and is a leader of the people, by the people and for the people.

An aide to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) says the Lieberman/Warner climate change bill (S. 2191) “would be the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States.” (E&E Daily, February 8, 2008). He’s not kidding: the bill’s complicated “cap-and-trade” carbon system could give billions of dollars—perhaps $500 Billion (no, that’s not a typo--$500 Billion)--to “zero or low-carbon” energy technologies, including dirty energy like nuclear power. Moreover, the bill falls far short of the carbon emissions cuts necessary to address the climate crisis: a cut of only about 60-65% by 2050. There is a better way: we need to go carbon-free and nuclear-free, and it can be done by 2050—but only if we all act to make it happen. S. 2191 is expected to be debated on the Senate floor this Spring. Let’s start telling Senate offices now that we want a real climate change bill, one that leads to a complete end to carbon emissions and one that supports sustainable energy technologies, not one that resurrects the failed nuclear power program of the 20th century. Your help is needed: 1.      Call, write and/or e-mail your Senators now. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121; mailing address: U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510. You can look up your Senators’ e-mail addresses at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm2.      Contribute as generously as you can to NIRS’ efforts to build a sustainable, carbon-free, nuclear-free future on our secure server at at https://secure.campagne-online.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=2927&L... 

Conyers Considers Cheney Impeachment Hearings

  Silence IS Violence!!      We Will Not Be Silent as   Public Housing is Demolished!!   This is a Crime Against Humanity!!   Let Our People Come Home!!   While the Bush and Nagin administrations constantly talk about getting tough on crime, they turn a blind eye to the biggest crime they are committing in New Orleans: Destroying thousands of viable, badly needed Public Housing apartments at the Cooper, CJ Peete, St Bernard and Lafitte Public Housing Developments. These viable apartments are being torn down while our homeless population explodes; while former residents demand a right to return; while human rights conventions the U.S. is beholden to clearly make it illegal to demolish these apartment and block the return of those displaced by Katrina. Silence is Consent to this Violence. We must not be complicit in these crimes.  Join us to say No Demolition, Reopen Public Housing, Pass Senate Bill 1668!!! Saturday, February 16 12 Noon 3800 St Bernard Avenue St Bernard Housing Development (in front of the St Bernard sign)   Sponsor: C3/Hands off Iberville; United Front for Affordable Housing; Homeless Workers Council, Survivors Village, Displaced Residents of St Bernard. for more info call 504-520-9521

Friends!

I hope you'll find great interest in this message and support its goals.  For new information on my comings and goings, please visit www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com and www.runcynthiarun.org.

HOLY LAND TRUST & Middle East Fellowship invite internationals from around the world to come to Bethlehem for a one – three months volunteer and Arabic language immersion program. This comprehensive cross- cultural program is an integration of socio-political education, cultural learning and volunteer service. Palestine Summer Encounter (PSE) exists to create dialogue between Palestinians and members of the global community. The trip is designed to develop relationships, break stereotypes, foster philanthropic efforts and forge strategic partnerships to strengthen communities in the region. Arabic There's no better way to learn a language than through cultural immersion. PSE was designed to give this opportunity to people ready to learn conversational Arabic. We have scheduled classes of 10 hours per week at beginner and intermediate levels. Not only that, we place you with Palestinian host families to help you practice what you learn in the classroom. No one ever said learning a language was easy! For people with advanced Arabic experience, we have private tutors available upon request. VOLUNTEER Work side-by-side with the Palestinian people in education, development, health care, and peace & reconciliation projects. Holy Land Trust organizes the volunteer placement with numerous NGO's, schools, churches, mosques, health care facilities and children's day camp programs. Send in your resume (CV) to the MEF office and we will start your volunteer placement. HOME STAYS Here's a side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict you haven't seen on TV. Listen to your Palestinian host family share stories about their experiences with military occupation and its effects on them socially, economically and psychologically. Build a long time friendship with your host family over endless servings of hummus, falafel and mint tea (let's not forget to mention the nargile). MEETINGS