Aloha Peace Ohana,
Our monthly peace potluck and kanikapila (let’s play music) is this Sunday, June 27th with the pot luck 5-6PM and Kanikapila 6-8 at the Keaau Community center. On Monday June 28th from 7-9PM there will be our regular peace organizing meeting held on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at the same place –the Keaau Community Center, located behind the police station and Family Clinic in Keaau. I’ll be reporting on my recent trip to Europe, speaking at a Peace, Justice, and Deep Ecology conference — ‘Islands in a Chaotic World” held in southern Germany June 6-12th and then visiting ancestral villages in the Tyrolean alps (northern italy).
Please come and pass the word to others. Bring your ideas for peace, justice and the earth. Mark your calendar: next kanikapila is Sunday, July 25th and peace meetings will be Mondays July 12th and 26th.
Mahalo & Solidarity,
Jim
There was suppose to be a “debate” in Congress on yet another war funding bill. Next year’s budget allocates $159,000,000,000 to “contingency operations,” to perpetuate the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s enough money to eliminate federal income taxes for the first $35,000 of every American’s income each year, and beyond that, leave over $15 billion that would cut the deficit.
The costs of the wars have been rendered invisible. There’s no draft. Instead, we take the most vulnerable elements of our population, and give them a choice between unemployment and missile fodder. Government deficits conceal the need to pay in cash for the war.
We put the cost of both guns and butter on our Chinese credit card. In fact, we don’t even put these wars on budget; they are still passed using ’emergency supplemental’. A nine-year ‘emergency’.
Let’s show Congress the cost of these wars is too much for us.
Tell Congress that you like ‘The War Is Making You Poor Act’. Act now.
Sign the petition.
http://www.TheWarIsMakingYouPoor.com
All we are saying is “give peace a chance.” We will end these wars.
Together.
Congressman Alan Grayson
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YES, I support the ‘War is Making You Poor’ Act. This bill would eliminate the separate funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and eliminate federal income taxes for everyone’s first $35,000 of income (or $70,000 for couples) each year. And it would help pay down our national debt.
Make Your Voice Heard!
Cut Off the War Funds! Stop the Wars!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Hawaii activist Ann Wright in Israeli custody after Gaza flotilla raid
Ann Wright, a Hawaii resident and noted anti-war activist, can be seen in an online video being escorted off a ship by Israeli authorities following a violent clash between Israeli authorities and activists attempting to break that country’s three-year-old blockade of Gaza.
The video was shot earlier Monday in the Israeli port city of Ashod, where vessels associated with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla were escorted after violence broke out during an Israeli commando raid Monday morning.
Wright, a former Army colonel who has made several trips to Gaza in opposition to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian city, was a participant in the flotilla.
In the video, Wright can be seen at the 0:39 mark, walking calmly and apparently without difficulty. It is impossible to determine from the video whether or not Wright was injured in the clash, which according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz injured at least 36 protesters and 10 Israeli soldiers.
Attempts by the Weekly to contact Wright or others who might have more information on her condition were not immediately successful.
Details about the flotilla arrests at Haaretz.com
Read Wright’s essay, published Sunday, about her participation in the flotilla at opednews.com
Contact Ragnar Carlson at (808) 232-9718 or rcarlson@honoluluweekly.co
Press Release: Monday, May 31, 2010
Re: Malu ‘Aina condemns Israel’s attack on the Gaza Freedom Aid Flotilla that reportedly has killed more than a dozen people and wounded dozens more.
According to Jim Albertini, spokesperson for Malu ‘Aina, “Hawaii resident, retired Army Col. and State Dept. Diplomat, Ann Wright, was on board one of the six Freedom Flotilla boats reportedly attacked in international waters by the Israeli military. Ann recently spoke at a Malu ‘Aina sponsored event on Hawaii Island about Freedom for Palestine. Malu ‘Aina condemns Israel’s attack on the Gaza Freedom Aid Flotilla that reportedly has killed more than a dozen people and wounded dozens more.”
Albertini said, “Malu ‘Aina joins with people and organizations worldwide in condemning the deadly escalation of Israel’s harsh repression of non-violent protests against it’s occupation of Palestine, paid with American tax dollars. It is not enough for the White House to say that it “deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained, and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.” President Obama should call for an immediate lifting of the siege of Gaza. He should support an international and impartial investigation into the tragic killing and wounding of civilians in an humanitarian mission. And he should cut off military aid to Israel.”
—
Jim Albertini
Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
