CONTENTS:
PHILLY AREA ACTON:
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTION:
COMMENTARY:
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PHILLY AREA ACTION:

Al Gore wants you to screen An Inconvenient Truth in Philadelphia


Can you host a screening in Philadelphia on Saturday, December 16th? Click below to get started.
http://www.moveon.org/event/events/create.html?action_id=69&id=9581-6403956-ef_DYO3x9zB8up7kS_Y5kA&t=2

Hosting a screening is really easy. All you have to do is register your party at the link above, and we'll help you out with the rest. We'll invite other MoveOn members in your area and together, we'll take action to stop global warming by pressing Congress for solutions.
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Demand Changes In Current US Policies!

Grandparents (Bubbies & Zaydes) for Peace in the Middle East

Box 56293        Philadelphia Pa 19130        phillyjewishpeace.org
   ???? ??? ???   You must pursue justice
Join us every Friday @ Noon on S. 15th Street above Locust
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PA Green Gala, Sun Dec 10, 6 PM

You're Invited to the 2006 Green Gala!  2006 Green Gala is the year-end celebration and
fundraiser of the Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP).
Featuring:
--Live music by The Codes, a Philadelphia band
--Guest speakers: Howie Hawkins and Carl Romanelli, senate candidates from NY and PA
--Food and Drink --Lively political conversation
--Silent Auction (bid on art works, services, gift certificates, books, consultations and more)

Sunday, Dec 10, doors open 6:00 PM
Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Sq., 2nd floor
$20 in advance (by Fri 12/8), $25 at the door
Buy tickets online at www.gpop.org/  Order tickets by phone: Call Alex at 215-747-7246
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This Sunday, December 10 is Brandywine Potluck Sunday...

University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut St., Phila., PA
4:30PM - Potluck Supper (*bring main dish, salad, or dessert to share) 5:30PM - Program
        Sunday's Program - "Who Decides?  -- If Not The People, It's  Not Democracy." - Ben Price, Projects Director,
        Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) www.CELDF.org
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Resist Lockheed Martin...*Friday, December 22, 7PM - Christmas Candlelight Vigil for Peace
Lockheed Martin (the world's largest weapons corporation),
Mall & Goddard Blvds., Valley Forge, PA (behind the King of Prussia Mall)
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*Monday, January 15, 2007 (the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Resist the works and profits of war, stand up to
the injustice that is Lockheed Martin, as the Brandywine Peace
Community begins its 30th year and continues our campaign of nonviolent resistance.
        ** Those planning or considering facing arrest for nonviolent civil resistance on January 15, need to call the Brandywine Peace  Community by January 2, 2007 for the date, time, and place of the
planning and preparation meeting.**
        For more information and updates check  www.brandywinepeace.com regularly
        Brandywine Peace Community - 610-544-1818 - brandywine@juno.com - www.brandywinepeace.com
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THE STRUGGLE WITHIN ISRAEL'S BORDERS: Domestic Challenges for Harmony and Equality

         Monday (12/11) at 8pm
        (Houston Hall Bodek Lounge between 34th and 36th Streets on Spruce)
Speakers:
Daniel Hillman: Student at Penn and a native of Raanana, Israel
Ian Lustick:Prof at Penn and Ass Dir of the Solomon Asch Ctr of Ethnopolitical Conflict
Asaf Romirowsky: MGR. of Israel & Middle East Affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Phila
        NOTE: This program will not focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is not a political party-line debate.   It will invite us to think about Israel's pressing internal issues in a productive and valuable way.  Sponsored by the Jewish Renaissance Project.  For more information, please contact Zach Schapira: zap@sas.upenn.edu.
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
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Help us Stop Casinos: Operation Transparency/ brought to you by Casino-Free Philadelphia

Their Secrecy, Our Right to Know
Four weeks ago today we sent an ultimatum to Chairman Tad Decker of the PA Gaming Control Board (and we sent a copy to the Governor too) to release documents about what is being proposed in our neighborhoods. Despite our right to know, the Gaming Control Board continues to hide these documents, like updated traffic plans and impact studies.
        Which leads us to December 11th
On Monday, December 11th, Philadelphians and our friends from across the Commonwealth are taking a historic action in our State Capitol.
        Please join us in Harrisburg to help us liberate the documents and create a more democratic process. For background on Operation Transparency, go to http://www.casinofreephila.org/Operation%20Transparency.html.
Training beforehand:
        We would also like you to join us on Sunday, December 10th for the direct action training.  We're finishing details on the timing, but probably 1pm to 6pm.  (Please email Daniel at daniel@democracyguard.org to learn more and sign up).  To participate in the citizen's document search you must attend the training.  The training is open to people interested and to people who just want to play a support role (supporters are encouraged to attend, in fact).
        Finally, in order for this action to be successful we need your help in reaching out to your friends and neighbors. Please download, print, copy and distribute the action flyer, http://www.casinofreephila.org/Home_files/Citywide%20Flyer-1.pdf.
                If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email or call us. And if you have            time to volunteer over the next two weeks we would very much welcome your help.
Bottomline:
1. Please block out December 11th to travel with us to Harrisburg
2. Let us know you're coming and if you can attend the December 10th training, expected hours 1pm to 6pm.  (E-mail jethro@actionmill.org or daniel@democracyguard.org).
        pps: Please check out the latest news about Operation Transparency in this week's City Paper, http://citypaper.net/articles/2006/11/23/Gaming-the-Casino-Board.
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Minimum Wage Increase in PA

The minimum wage will go up on January 1, 2007.
The Rally in Philadelphia will be held on Wed. December 28 at 12 Noon at the Gallery Mall at 10th and Market Sts.  People from around the state are encouraged to do similar activities to make sure that the increase is publicized.

* Call PUP at 215-557-0822 if you do not get $6.25/hour starting on Jan. 1. *
        Raise the Minimum Wage Coalition c/o Philadelphia Unemployment Project
        (PUP) 1201 Chestnut St. Phila., PA 19107 215-557-0822 www.philaup.org
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 Give Women's Clothes to Career Wardrobe - 1211 Chestnut

Just in case you are like me, and have some clothing in great condition you are no longer using,
The Career Wardrobe will take women's suits, jackets, scarves for low income women looking for jobs, going to job interviews and beginning new jobs.
You can drop them off M-F l0-4 or because parking is so difficult-Tuesday, December l9 from 5:30-7:30, they will do a curbside pickup....just drive up to 1211 Chestnut and they will take your contribution (on hangers) from your car and give you a charitable donate receipt .
        ..The Career Wardrobe - member (formerly The Working Wardrobe)- Phone: 215-568-6693

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NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTION :

Portland City Council votes 5-0 to bring the troops home!

" NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Portland, on behalf of the people of Portland urges the
United States government to immediately commence an orderly and rapid withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq;"
        Check out the wording in the resolution :
        http://www.pjw.info/finalportlandresolution.html).
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 WE DID IT!
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Grandmothers - Start packing your bags!

On January 18, 2007, we're going to Washington to restore citizen participation to the corridors of the United States Congress. It is urgent that we make sure the new Congress hears us. Our immediate demand is to stop the war end the occupation of Iraq.

The 109th Congress has gone down as one of the worst in our nation's history. Mired in scandal and corruption, it forged a sinister partnership with the Bush war machine. We must insure that the 110th Congress honors the mandate of the electorate, acts with integrity and restores the basic tenets of our Constitution.

We call upon grandmothers throughout the United States to join with us, the New York City & Philadelphia -based Granny Peace Brigade, to descend on the new United States Senate on Wednesday, January 18, to let all 100 Senators know we want them to end this catastrophic war. We want each of the 100 Senators to be visited by grandmothers from the state that the Senators represent. We will present our demands to each Senator -- in person.

Become a catalyst in your community. Reach out to religious organizations, labor unions, educational institutions, human rights and peace groups, women's organizations, youth and student groups and put your local press on notice. This must be a national effort. We owe this to future generations. It is our civic duty.

Make January 18, 2007 a historic event. Restore citizen participation  to the corridors of the United States Congress.For more info contact us in Philly at 215-247-4385 or marlsan@cavtel.net or NY Grannies at 212-533-2125, or at  gpbrigade@gmail.com.

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 Sign petition to Rep Pelosi re: The Power of Paper Ballots:

On Election Night, DFA-endorsed candidate Barbara McIlvaine Smith was down by 19 votes in her race for the Pennsylvania state house.  She refused to concede, saying, "It is not about winning or losing... It's about making sure our democracy is intact."
       Earlier this week the count of absentee and military paper ballots concluded, and Barbara won by 23 votes -- switching the Pennsylvania House from Republican to Democratic for the first time in 12 years. This powerful victory happened because every paper ballot was counted.  But across America votes are increasingly being cast electronically with no paper record.  Had the election in Pennsylvania been conducted electronically there is no saying how the race might have been decided.
      You helped elect a new Democratic House and Senate in Washington, D.C.  It's time to put our majority into action.  Ask Speaker Nancy Pelosi to put paper ballots on the agenda in the new Congress's first 100 hours:
 http://www.democracyforamerica.com/paperballots
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Action Alert: Tell Bush to Veto Palestinian Sanctions Bill

Today, the House of Representatives passed S.2370, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, by Voice Vote (not recorded).  The Houses passage of S.2370, which was passed previously by the Senate on June 23, clears the way for the President to sign into law draconian economic and diplomatic sanctions against the Palestinian people for exercising their right to vote in legislative elections held earlier this year.

TAKE ACTION:  Contact the White House NOW by phone 202-456-1111, by fax 202-456-2461, and by email comments@whitehouse.gov and ask the President to veto S.2370, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act.  Tell the President that the United States should not be sanctioning people for exercising their right to vote. 

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is in the process of trying to set up a meeting with White House officials to deliver a petition signed by more than 340 US-based organizations opposing the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act and to ask for a veto.
For more details about the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act and the US Campaigns efforts to oppose it, click here: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1188
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 Support Hunger Striking Students at Purdue!

On November 17, students at Purdue University engaged in a
sit-in inside of their President's Office, demanding that Purdue
University adopt the Designated Suppliers Program. When these
demands were not met, students responded by going on hunger
strike until Purdue University officially signed on. As of now,
there are fifteen Purdue University students who will be on
hunger strike until their university makes a real commitment to
supporting the rights of workers producing their clothes. Show
your support today by calling and sending a letter to Purdue
University President Martin Jischke.

President Martin Jischke 765-494-9708

Phone script:
My name is __________ and I am a ___________ at __________
University. I am appalled that Purdue has not signed onto the
Designated Suppliers Program and has forced students to hunger
strike for 20 days before Purdue saw fit to even discuss the
issue. I demand that Purdue University adopt the DSP on the 6th.
Not signing the DSP shows that Purdue wishes to remain complicit
in some of the worst human rights abuses occurring in the world.
I hope that Purdue University does not wish to present this
image to the rest of the university community.

You can take action on this alert either via email (please see
directions below) or via the web at:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/purduehungerstrike/g7ugbirh7mkeiw?

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/purduehungerstrike/forward/g7ugbirh7mkeiw?

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COMMENTARY:

Mr. President - Bring our troops home.
By Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and Former Senator George McGovern


On Election Day, the American people sent an emphatic, unmistakable message to President Bush - end the Iraq occupation and bring our troops home as soon as possible. Did he hear it? One month later, Iraq continues to burn, while its unity government appears less viable with each passing day, and the chances increase of an armed conflict that would engulf the entire Middle East.

On Wednesday, we will hear the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, the supposed oracle that will help us achieve some kind of face-saving peace with honor. But if the preliminary leaks are accurate, what James Baker and his team are offering is difference-splitting mush. They concede that troops must be withdrawn but express no sense of urgency in the form of any timetable    The question of the Group's report may be entirely moot, if we take President Bush's words at face value. Exhibiting near-pathological denial, he continues to insist that our soldiers will stay until we achieve some ill-defined victory on an ill-defined mission. (Even though the mission was supposedly accomplished - remember the notorious banner on the aircraft carrier? -- in May of 2003).

We are not impressed by the argument that we can't bring home the troops because the result would be catastrophic. How much more catastrophic can it possibly get? The truth is -- the current policy is the catastrophe.

Even the head of the CIA went so far as to describe the sectarian violence as "satanic." While the White House refuses to upgrade the conflict to a "civil war," that term - which at least connotes the relative tidiness of two sides battling for state control -- may actually be too generous for what is happening. What we have is multiple thuggish factions raining down mayhem and vigilantism on the people of Iraq, with morgues overflowing and city streets strewn with corpses. No one knows for sure the extent of the civilian casualties, but the most conservative estimates are that 50,000 innocent Iraqis have been killed for the sake of their own so-called liberation. There isn't much that's encouraging on the political front. The man who the White House would have us believe is the George Washington of Iraq, Prime Minister Maliki, is a political eunuch being propped up by a radical cleric and Shiite militia leader. Indeed, legislators allied with Moqtada al-Sadr walked out of parliament last week, raising the specter of a complete collapse of the Iraqi government and perhaps a militia-engineered coup. Is this the kind of democracy we were promised?

Meanwhile on the ground militarily, we have all but admitted defeat at the hands of the insurgents in western Iraq. A Marine Corps intelligence assessment conceded that al-Qaeda has taken over Anbar province, where Sunnis are now cowed into submission instead of having an opportunity to-self-govern. This is what the occupation has wrought. It threatens to plunge Iraq into the abyss. And lest we forget, it has cost us nearly 2,900 of our finest young men and women, roughly $350 billion of the people's money so far, and virtually all of our global credibility and good will.
This is not a time for genteel incrementalism. Democrats earned a mandate not to "work with" the President, but rather to challenge him. So we are urging, as we both have for some time, a troop withdrawal that begins immediately and is completed hopefully by the middle of next year. Under such a plan, the United States would terminate the construction of permanent military bases, while accelerating Iraqi rebuilding efforts and helping pull together a UN-sponsored interim international force to provide some measure of security in Iraq.

Only the most deluded White House spinner or apologist can now say that the Iraq intervention, now longer than U.S. involvement in World War II, has been worth the sacrifice. Some of us warned of the consequences in 2002 and 2003 -- we've been proven right, and the American people have endorsed our view. So now is the time to stop the dithering, the delay and the denial. No more blue-ribbon panels, no more meetings or symposiums. No more platitude-filled press conferences like the one the President held with Prime Minister Maliki in Jordan last week. It's time to end the occupation and bring our troops home.
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Middle-class sympathies: 2 Oaxacans and 2 Americans in Oaxaca City
this page is at http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-12-03.htm

Rabbi Michael Lerner | Thank You, Jimmy Carter
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1206-24.htm

Official Iraq War Costs Don't Tell the Whole Story
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1206-05.htm

'Alternative Nobel' Winner Ellsberg Says US Attack on Iran Likely before 2008
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1206-02.htm

Richest 2% Hold Half the World's Assets
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1206-01.htm

Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan Starts Trial in UN Mission Trespass Case
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1206-03.htm

Mexican Federal Officials to Investigate American Filmmaker's Death
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1206-04.htm

Public Citizen Asks Judge to Require FEMA to Submit a Plan to Comply With Recent Court Order to Assist Hurricane Evacuees    http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/1205-19.htm
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The Death Of A Nation - Audio interview with Prof. Noam Chomsky.
"The Palestinians committed a major crime in January (2006) There was a free election, closely monitored, declared to be free and fair and they voted the wrong way. That is absolutely criminal."
Click to listen. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15811.htm
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Democrat's Defacto Pardon Bush et al By Karl Sanchez
The greatest miscarriage of justice in modern times far beyond Ford's pardoning Nixon--the Democrats will provide the members of the Bush administration--who've committed known, documented, most heinous crime. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15813.htm
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Global Dimming- Video - BBC Investigates
This is a film that demands action. It reveals that we may have grossly underestimated the speed at which our climate is changing. At its heart is a deadly new phenomenon. One that until very recently scientists refused to believe even existed. Click here to watch. Video and transcript.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15809.htm
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Census Counts 100,000 Contractors in Iraq:
There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the military's first census of the growing population of civilians operating in the battlefield.
http://tinyurl.com/y6l6j3
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Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America's War? More Than 655,000
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15266.htm

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War  2906
http://icasualties.org/oif/

See the cost in your community http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

The War in Iraq Costs $347,731,749,889