CONTENTS:
PHILLY ACTION:
Minimum Wage- Out of Committee! Action needed!
IN PROTEST: Philadelphia Grannies for Peace Will Register to Go to Iraq
** Breakfast at the White Dog Cafe with the New York Grannies Brigade
** Philadelphia Grandmothers for Peace will welcome the NY Grannies Brigade
** Listen & call in: to the Grannies on 1340 AM Talk Radio,
Philadelphia Grannies Signing Up for Iraq - Civil (Dis)Obedience or Whatever it Takes to Stop the War!
Take the DECLARATION OF PEACE Pledge
Philadelphians Against Santorum
Green Party Presidential nomination, 2000 Candidate, Jello Biafra in Philadelphia
Meet Bread & Roses' New Executive Director
SIGN UP NOW!!! Asian Arts Initiative's  - Summer YouthArtWorks Program
! Haitian Grammy-nominated band, Boukman Eksperyans Comes to Philly !
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NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTION:
WORLD PEACE FORUM 2006 in Vancouver June 23-28
--------------------------------------------
GRANT OPPORTUNITY:
WHO Foundation: Women Helping Others Accepting Grant Applications
---------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENTARY:
* Caterpillar Pressured Over "Weaponised Bulldozers " Emad Mekay
* Chomsky on Iran Crisis, Guardian (UK)
* Deserters, activists in a show of solidarity By JOSEPH POPIOLKOWSKI , News Staff Reporter
* American Sweatshops: Organizing workers in the global economy. Jennifer Gordon Boston Review
* Death Squads at Colombia's Universities,
* Palestinian workers get paid (AND MORE)
========================================

PHILLY & PA NEWS

 Minimum Wage- Out of Committee! Action needed!


SB 1090 (Tartalione bill) was finally reported out of the Labor and Industry Committee yesterday.  It was amended to remove large numbers of low wage workers from coverage by the minimum wage and would only raise the minimum wage to $6.30 on Jan. 1, 2007 and $6.65 on Jan. 1, 2008.

We need everyone to contact their State Senators and let them know that they should support the Tartaglione amendments on the floor of the Senate.  They will make the Senate bill have the same language as the bill that passed the House in April, with a $6.25 minimum July 1, 2006 and $7.15 on July 1, 2007.

The bill could come on the floor as early as today, so please act immediately.
______________________________________________________________________________


IN PROTEST: Philadelphia Grannies for Peace Will Register to Go to Iraq

But first:
** PLACE: Rittenhouse Square, corner of 18th & Walnut
    TIME:  Thursday June 22, from 12:00 noon to 1:30.

The message: SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! BRING THEM HOME NOW!
-------------
JUNE 27

        ** Breakfast at the White Dog Cafe with the New York Grannies Brigade 8:00 to 9:30.
 Call the White Dog Cafe at 215 386 9224 to make reservations -
 3420 Sansom Street -  tell them you want to be with the NYGrannies.

        ** Philadelphia Grandmothers for Peace will welcome the NY Grannies Brigade
        Friends Meeting at 1501 Cherry Street at 7:00 P.M.

        Speakers include:
                Iraqi Broadcaster, Buthaina Hawas-Neveln

        ** Listen & call in: to the Grannies on 1340 AM Talk Radio,
"Perspectives" at 6:05PM with Thera Martin-Connely - Call In # 267-285-1340                        
**********

 June 28

Philadelphia Grannies Signing Up for Iraq - Civil (Dis)Obedience or Whatever it Takes to Stop the War!


        ** TIME: 11:00 AM-             
PLACE: Gather at Friends Center, 15th & Cherry at 11AM)
                STOP THE WAR! BRING THE TROOPS HOME!

        Grannies say, "Take me to Iraq, not my or my neighbor's granchildren".
        ** 11:30 AM - We will walk to THE US MILITARY RECRUITMENT CENTER - Broad and Cherry St,  
                ARRIVE at NOON. Civil (Dis)Obedience or Whatever it Takes to Stop the War
                                EVERYONE WELCOME TO SUPPORT THE PHIILLY GRANNIES
**********
Contact & info:  Marlene Santoyo at marlsan@cavtel.net / 215 247 4385 
__________________________________________________________________________


DECLARATION OF PEACE ..Together We Can Make It  Happen!

        June 22, 6:30PM, Friends Center, Phila., PA
Calling all Phila. Area Anti-War, Peace, and Community Groups, all Declaration of Peace
Pledge signers and prospective signers, to the first Phila. Area Organizing Meeting,

THE DECLARATION OF PEACE is a pledge to take peaceful steps
for the immediate withdrawal of US troops and to engage in
nonviolent action protest if a plan to end the war is not established
and begun by September 21, 2006 -- International Peace Day --
days before Congress adjourns for the election recess.
 http://declarationofpeace.org/ Between now and September in the Philadelphia and across the U.S. we will:

- First Philadelphia DECLARATION OF PEACE Public Signing Program
        July 3rd, 7PM,

        in front of Phila. Federal Building, 6th & Market Sts., Phila., PA;.
- Call on the Bush Administration and Congress to end the war;
- Ask candidates in the fall elections to support legislation that
        brings the troops home and cuts off funding for the war;
- Participate in activities leading up to September 21, including
        marches, vigils, and national phone-ins and e-mail campaigns; 
- Prepare for September with public Declaration signings, events,
        and nonviolence trainings to be scheduled.
- If the September 21 deadline is not met, we will engage in peaceful
action at Congressional offices and sites  in cities and towns across
the U.S., and in Washington, DC, from September 21-28. In the
spirit of Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, some signers
will be led by conscience to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience
and risk arrest as a way to signify their principled opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq.
        - Nonviolent action will continue until the United States withdraws from Iraq.

Take the DECLARATION OF PEACE Pledge. You can sign the  DECLARATION OF PEACE pledge online, visit the DECLARATION  OF PEACE: http://declarationofpeace.org/
        Here in the greater Philadelphia area, we ask you to sign up online at the above site, BUT ALSO to visit the BRANDYWINE PEACE COMMUNITY website, www.brandywinepeace.com, and to FILL  OUT AND RETURN THE PLEDGE -
*Brandywine Peace Community,   610-544-1818, brandywine@juno.com, www.brandywinepeace.com
________________________________________________________________________________________


Philadelphians Against Santorum

Philadelphians Against Santorum is a grassroots, independent campaign to get 60% or more of Philadelphia's voters out to the polls in November.  In heavily Democratic Philadelphia, that represents a huge vote against Santorum; and will help to guarantee the senator's defeat.   For more info, check out our website, www.phillyagainstsantorum.org.  Sign the pledge to vote against Rick.   You will get periodic emails with information about events and volunteer activities   We are starting our Block Captain recruitment shortly.  Sign on.  Help us get out your neighborhood's vote in the fall.

** Meanwhile,  join us for our MockSantorum contest on Friday, June 23, 8 to 10 p.m., 831N. American St. We will choose the best Santorum impersonator from among our talented contestants.  Admission is free.
                                         The best argument against Rick Santorum is Rick Santorum!
___________________________________________________________________________
    

Green Party Presidential nomination, 2000 Candidate, Jello Biafra in Philadelphia

        TIME: Sat June 24th @ 4pm,
        PLACE: First Unitarian Church Sanctuary, 2125 Chestnut Street.
_____________________________________________________________


Meet Bread & Roses' New Executive Director

Bread & Roses Board of Directors is delighted to announce that Casey Cook has been appointed to serve as the Funds new Executive Director. While Casey will officially assume her responsibilities in September, you are invited to attend one of two informal gathering to welcome her.
        Monday, June 26, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
        at the home of Rick and Mary Ann Baron, 728 Davidson Road (near McCallum St.) Chestnut Hill
or  Wednesday, June 28, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
at the home of Lori Ginzberg & Joel Steiker.4813 Beaumont Avenue (one block so of 48th and Baltimore)West Phila
                                                Dessert will be served
If you plan to come, kindly RSVP to Janell Smith by June 23 at 215-731-1107 x204 or info@breadrosesfund.org.
 We look forward to seeing you, Gloria Casarez, Co-Chair, Jeri Nutter, Co-Chair, Christie Balka, Executive Director
_________________________________________________________________________________________________


SIGN UP NOW!!! Asian Arts Initiative's  - Summer YouthArtWorks Program - July 10 - August 18, 2006
 
Paint a mural! Perform on stage! Make your own video
 6 weeks of exciting art-making for teens of all ages and backgrounds.
No prior arts experience necessary!
PLUS:
? Fun field trips to places like the Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Atwater Kent Museum, and more!
? A $100 youth artist stipend that you'll be awarded at the completion of the summer!
? Transportation tokens and registration scholarships available to all youth with demonstrated need.
Theater & Performance Workshop
DVD WORKSHOP
All workshops will meet at: Asian Arts Initiative, 1315 Cherry Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
Any questions? Contact Rana (rana@asianartsinitiative.org) or 215-557-0455
___________________________________________________________________________


! Haitian Grammy-nominated band, Boukman Eksperyans Comes to Philly !

Haiti's Boukman Eksperyans Band solidarity tour is raising money for the University of Fondwa.
The band does Roots music in a high-energy fusion of Rock and Reggae with African rhythms.

        PLACE: World Cafe Live
        TIME:  June 30 Friday at 7:30 PM 3025 Walnut Street
Tickets $16 purchase with cash at box office before day of show. Call Ray Torres for more info at 215 753-9022 <http://www.myspace.com/boukman>  For more info on the University, visit <http://www.unif2004.org>

===============================

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTION:

WORLD PEACE FORUM 2006 in Vancouver June 23-28
http://www.worldpeaceforum.ca/uploads/jL/qD/jLqDjRG8xyvg7Z1tlB2Kvg/June-6-Press-Release.pdf

Cities and communities working together to end war, and
build a peaceful, just and sustainable world.
        World Peace Forum 2006- , various venues
For the first time in history, citizens representing
every region of the world are coming together to
develop tools for change in the peace process.
 Program details and further information at www.worldpeaceforum.ca.
For info, registration, or to volunteer: (604) 687-3223 or www.worldpeaceforum.ca
Media Contact: Melanie Thompson, (604) 687-3223 x109 or  mthompson@worldpeaceforum.ca
==============

GRANT OPPORTUNITY:

WHO Foundation: Women Helping Others Accepting Grant Applications

Deadline: September 12, 2006

The WHO Foundation: Women Helping Others (http://www.whofoundation.org/) supports grassroots charities serving the overlooked needs of women and children. Grants are provided to organizations serving women and/or children in the United States and Puerto Rico. Specific projects and programs addressing health, education, and social service needs are the foundation's priority. The foundation recognizes the value of new programs created to respond to changing needs and will consider funding projects of an original or pioneering nature within an existing organization. In order to qualify for funding, organizations must have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and be qualified to receive deductible charitable contributions. Org- anizations must have been incorporated for a minimum of three years prior to application. Preference will be given to organizations with an operating budget of $3 million or less, those not dependent upon government grants, and those with greater organizational program costs than personnel costs. Organizations that have received a WHO Foundation grant in the past should wait three years before applying again. Funding requests must be made using the WHO Foundation application. Visit the WHO Foundation Web site for complete program guidelines, eligibility details, and an FAQ.
                RFP Link: http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10002943/whofoundation
                For additional RFPs in Women, visit: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_women.jhtml

* For other grant opportunities: Hillary Aisenstein, Director- Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND)/ 215-573-2379/ 215-573-1134 fax  or   Join the PHENND People Exchange   http://phennd.communishare.org

===========
COMMENTARY:

* Caterpillar Pressured Over "Weaponised Bulldozers " Emad Mekay


WASHINGTON, Jun 14 (IPS) - The parents of a U.S. peace activist who was
crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer built by the global machinery
giant Caterpillar confronted the company Wednesday for the first time
and urged shareholders at its annual meeting to end sales of "weaponised
bulldozers to Israel". Cindy and Craig Corrie, parents of the late Rachel Corrie,
attended the meeting as proxy voters on behalf of Jewish and Christian institutional
investors who have filed a resolution asking for greater corporate
accountability from Caterpillar. Activists supporting the parents who lost their daughter
in 2003 say that the company sells machinery to the Israeli army in violation of its
corporate accountability pledge and knowing full well that the equipment
will be used for the destruction of Palestinian homes and farms.

"We are part of a growing movement for corporate responsibility in the
United States," said Matt Gaines of the STOP CAT campaign in a telephone
interview from outside the shareholders' meeting in Chicago.
"Getting the U.S. government to take action on this issue has been very,
very difficult, even though we are still working on it. But we are
taking it directly to the corporations involved that are sponsoring,
aiding or abetting war crimes," he said.

Caterpillar has become the poster child for U.S. companies that are
being targeted in divestment drives for their role in human rights
abuses by the Israeli army in occupied Palestinian land. It has said in
the past that it bears no responsibility for how its products are used
by clients. Spokespersons from the company were not immediately
available for comment on Wednesday.

Rachel Corrie was killed in the town of Rafah while she and other
members of the International Solidarity Movement were trying to stop the
demolition of a Palestinian house in the Gaza Strip on Mar. 16, 2003.
Caterpillar, Inc. built the nine-tonne bulldozer that ran over Corrie, a
23-year-old college student from Olympia in Washington State. Her death
made international headlines and triggered widespread condemnation.
Israeli courts have yet to prosecute anyone for the incident.

The Illinois-based Caterpillar, which had annual sales and revenues of
36 billion dollars last year -- more than half from overseas business --
has been reluctant to disclose how much money it makes from its dealings
with Israel. Peace activists estimate that since Israel occupied Arab land in the
1967 war, Caterpillar bulldozers have illegally razed the homes of more
than 50,000 Palestinians. They say that in the past five years alone,
Caterpillar equipment was used to uproot over one million olive trees owned by Palestinians.

The U.S. company has been repeatedly singled out by international human
rights bodies such as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for complicity in rights
abuses in the occupied Palestinian land. But it is the divestment campaign -- mostly
led by Christian institutional investors, including the Presbyterian Church USA, the
World Council of Churches, the Church of England and the Church of
Scotland -- that has most alarmed right-wing pro-Israel groups and the company.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, a
right-wing Zionist organisation, says that Corrie and other peace
activists were hindering the army's work to track down suspected
terrorists and weapons smugglers. Peace activists counter that as well as homes and
roads, the Israeli army destroys olive trees, farmland and even water wells, hardly
hideouts for terrorist suspects. They point to a number of actions that
have aimed to muzzle publicity given to Corrie's death.

Recently, a play about Rachel Corrie's life that had two successful runs
in London was banned from the New York Theatre Workshop after protests
from some Jewish groups. Copies of the play, composed of letters and journal entries,
and titled "My Name is Rachel Corrie", were taken off bookshelves and only a few
are now available in the United States, the campaigners say.
And when Corrie's parents called on the State Department to investigate
the killing, their plea was rebuffed.

Writing in the conservative Jerusalem Post, Elwood McQuaid, a
self-styled "Christian Zionist" who served as the executive director of
The Friends of Israel Ministry in the U.S., characterised the corporate
responsibility campaign as part of a leftist conspiracy.
"What is at issue here has little to do with moral justice; but it has
much to do with radical, liberal, leftist obsession," the pastor wrote.

His words have not dissuaded Christian groups from discussing the issue
further on Christian and moral grounds. An intense debate is going on in
Birmingham, Alabama where thousands of delegates to the Presbyterian
General Assembly are to decide on future steps in their divestment
drive. Christian Zionist groups have also argued that divestment is the wrong
approach and called for more investments to build neighbourly relations
between Palestinians and the Israelis.

But last week, the National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus of the
Presbyterian Church said in a statement that while a positive investment
strategy can be constructive, it fails "to stop the Israeli government
from confiscating Palestinian property and expropriating Palestinian land". (FIN/2006)

* Chomsky on Iran Crisis, Guardian (UK), June 19, 2006
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1800630,00.html
A negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis is within reach
        The US must take three basic steps to defuse this
confrontation. The consequences of not doing so could be grim
        The urgency of halting the proliferation of nuclear
weapons, and moving toward their elimination, could
hardly be greater. Failure to do so is almost certain
to lead to grim consequences, even the end of biology's
only experiment with higher intelligence. As
threatening as the crisis is, the means exist to defuse it.
        A near-meltdown seems to be imminent over Iran and its
nuclear programmes. Before 1979, when the Shah was in
power, Washington strongly supported these programmes.
Today the standard claim is that Iran has no need for
nuclear power, and therefore must be pursuing a secret
weapons programme. "For a major oil producer such as
Iran, nuclear energy is a wasteful use of resources,"
Henry Kissinger wrote in the Washington Post last year.
        Thirty years ago, however, when Kissinger was secretary
of state for President Gerald Ford, he held that
"introduction of nuclear power will both provide for
the growing needs of Iran's economy and free remaining
oil reserves for export or conversion to petrochemicals".

* Deserters, activists in a show of solidarity By JOSEPH POPIOLKOWSKI , News Staff Reporter
 http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060618/1037180.asp
            Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan speaks during Saturday's "Peace
Has No Borders - Festival of Resistance" picnic in Fort Erie, Ont.
          FORT ERIE, Ont. - Army deserters living in Canada and Americans
against the Iraq War came together Saturday along the Niagara River, just a
few hundred yards from U.S. soil but miles away from the ideology of some
American political leaders.
          The event was a show of solidarity between peace activists in the
two countries and a call for the Canadian government to welcome the
estimated 200 U.S. soldiers who have fled north of the border, citing
conscientious objections to the Iraq War. "It's absolutely the first time
this has ever happened - that an event has taken place like this across the
border from a U.S. city - so it's historic in that sense," said organizer
Bruce Beyer, a war resister from the Vietnam era. Beyer lived for three
years in Sweden, five years in Canada and served a 30-day jail sentence in
the United States for deserting before returning to Buffalo.
          Veterans of the Iraq, Gulf and Vietnam wars who gathered for day
two of "Peace Has No Borders" said they were proud, patriotic Americans who
dutifully served their country until witnessing first-hand the atrocities of
what they called an "illegal and unjust" war.

* American Sweatshops: Organizing workers in the global economy. Jennifer Gordon Boston Review http://www.bostonreview.net/BR30.3/gordon.html
        Perched on a bed in an apartment rank with the smell of
damp carpeting, Carmen Lelys Maldonado thinks of his
wife, who will receive the letter he is about to write,
and of his six children gathered around her on the farm
in Honduras that he once ran and that his father ran
before him. He thinks of the hope they will feel when
they receive the envelope, their expectations of money
for new shoes, books for school, and a radio; and all
this reminds him of his own hope as he set off two
years earlier on the grueling eight-week voyage to Long
Island, New York. It was all founded on a miserable miscalculation.
        Maldonado considers the string of misfortunes that
brought him to this point. There was the job as a
dishwasher at a pizzeria that demanded six 14-hour days
a week for $250--less than three dollars an hour, and
he was paid only sporadically. And the fruitless
attempt to cover Long Island prices for housing, food,
and transportation. And arriving home the night he was
fired only to learn that his father had died. Still, he
cannot bring himself to write the sentences he hears in
his head. "Dear Nicomedes, I am very sorry. Things are
bad. I need you to send money to me."

* Death Squads at Colombia's Universities, June 15, 2006
Professors, Librarians, Staff, Students and Pensioners Threatened at University of Antioquia
A Public Statement by Professors, Lecturers and Faculty of the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia, May 25 de 2006
http://counterpunch.org/deathsquad06152006.html

* Hamas, Fatah agree to end violence
Officials from the two groups signed an agreement named the "Document of Honor and National Oath" in the West Bank city of Ramallah, calling for followers to boost social security and avoid clashes.    http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-06/19/content_4716703.htm

* Palestinian workers get paid
Thousands of Palestinian workers left postal banks carrying crisp $100 bills Monday, their first payday since March, as the Hamas-led government dipped into suitcases full of cash its officials carried into Gaza to circumvent a Western aid cutoff.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060619/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_144

*  How US Hid the Suicide Secrets of Guantanamo
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0618-03.htm

* Suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines0618-06.htm

* US Not Prepared for Catastrophe: Official Report
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0617-05.htm

* US Warns North Korea against 'Provocative' Missile Test
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines0617-09.htm