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

PHILLY AREA ACTION:

AFRICAN SONG/NEW CONTEXTS Concert on Sat,. April 21

7 PM & 9 PM shows, at the World Café Live
3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia

Three remarkable African voices, in two concerts: one special evening of local immigrant artists sharing great music, both traditional and innovative. Tickets: 7 PM:  One hour family show: $12 (General admission), $7 (children, students, seniors), $16 (reserved VIP seating). 9 PM: $20 (General admission), $15 (children, students, seniors), $25 (reserved VIP seating). For advance tickets, call PFP at 215.726.1106
________________________________________


RUSH-HOUR RALLY FOR 14 ACTIVISTS* FACING TRIAL
MONDAY IN PHILA. MUNICIPAL COURT
FIRST TRIAL IN THE AREA FOR IRAQ WAR RESISTANCE


This Monday, April 23, in the first trial in the Philadelphia area for
nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq, the "PHILA. DECLARE
PEACE 14"* will face in Phila.Municipal Court [Criminal Justice
Center, 1301 Filbert Street] misdemeanor charges of defiant
trespass, criminal trespass, and criminal conspiracy, for their
peaceful presence on September 25, 2006 at the office of then
Senator Rick Santorum, nonviolently demanding that our Senators
and Congresspeople act to end the war. The occasion will be the
first trial in Philadelphia for war resistance since the 1980's.

7:30AM - Stand with the "PHILA. DECLARE PEACE 14" Vigil, Broad
St. & JFK Blvd., (across the street from the northeast side of Phila.
City Hall and a short  block from the Criminal Justice Center);
Continue the Stand for Peace, after the 14 leave for court, until 9:30AM and the trial.

CONTACT: 610-544-1818   brandywine@juno.com    www.brandywinepeace.com
_____________________________________________________________________


 Public Access Coalition Meeting on Monday, April 23rd

PCAC is winning the battle for Public Access Cable TV. Please attend
this upcoming meeting to find out how you can be involved in the
final stretch of this twenty five year campaign.

When: Monday April 23, 2007 6:30pm
Where: DC 47 AFSCME, 1606 Walnut St.

For more information, please visit www.phillyaccess.org or email
Danielle Redden at danielle@phillyaccess.org

___________________________________

Tuesday, May 15, 2007:  Primary Election in Philadelphia.  Resolution on the ballot states:  Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended tostate the citizens' views regarding the mission served by U.S. troops in Iraq and that the citizens of Philadelphia urge the United STates to make 2007 the time to redeploy U.S. troops out of harm's way in Iraq? 
Grannies will be organizing to get out the message to voters to VOTE YES on this resolution. 
_____________________________________________________________________
 
Friday, May 18, 2007:  Babatte Josephs presents the Miriam Seidler Award for Peace to the Grannies at the Philadelphia Senior Center, Broad and Lombard Sts., Noon. 
===============================

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTION:

Santiago and Mahmoud, our brothers, murdered and jailed


In unions in different countries, we call each other by different names.  Some unions use the word 'comrade', others use 'colleague'.  And many use the terms 'brother' and 'sister' to describe fellow union members.   Are we simply using these words because we always have, or do they still have any real meaning? I ask that question because in the last few days one of our brothers has been brutally tortured and murdered, and another one, an innocent man, jailed. 

In Mexico, Santiago Rafael Cruz, a 29-year-old union organizer from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO) was brutally tortured and murdered.  Santiago was a successful organizer in the USA who had moved down to Mexico to run the union's office there.  His activities aroused the hostility of those who fear the growth of trade unionism among farm workers, and generated attacks in the media, threats of deportation, robberies and intimidation, culminating in this terrible crime.

Santiago has a family in Mexico, a mother, father, sisters and brothers.  But his family is much larger than that; it includes all of us.  We must grieve together with his family, and we must fight together with them as one large family to ensure that the Mexican government investigates the murder, arrests and prosecutes those responsible, and ensures the safety of union activists in that country.

Please take a moment to send off your message today:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=232

About the same time that union-hating murderers were ending the life of this courageous young man in Mexico, on the other side of the world Iranian security forces lured union activist Mahmoud Salehi into the local prosecutor's office on the pretext of discussing plans for this year's May Day celebrations.  Salehi, a former president of the bakery workers' union in the city of Saqez, was then arrested and put in jail for a year with a three year suspended sentence on top of that.  His crime was that in 2004 he organized a May Day demonstration.

Tell the Iranian authorities to release Mahmoud Salehi now, and to drop all charges.  Send off your message by clicking here:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=231

I doubt very much if Santiago and Mahmoud ever met -- and yet they are brothers.  One now languishing in an Iranian prison, the other in a Mexican grave.   If these two men were not just fellow trade union members but actually your brothers, the sons of your mothers and fathers, how would you react?  I know that you wouldn't be silent -- you would be up in arms and the whole world would know your anger and your pain.

Please pass this message on.  Let's tell the Mexican and Iranian governments that we in the international trade union movement are a single family, and we will not tolerate our brothers and sisters being tortured, jailed or murdered anywhere in the world.

Eric Lee [ericlee@labourstart.org]
_________________________________


Celeste Zappala,Mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker  KIA 4/26/04 writes:

Last year a wonderful documentary maker, Peter
Daulton,  created a film about the Eyes Wide Open
Exhibit.- the display of empty boots that honors the
fallen soldiers,  I first saw the display in July 2004
when the number of fallen was 865.  Sherwood was 720.
It will be three years this Thursday that he was
killed while guarding those who looked for the weapons
of mass destruction.

In Philadelphia area WHYY will show the film on
Wednesday April 25 at 10:30 pm.  In other cities it
will be shown at different times during the next
month.  I am enclosing two links, one to the film the
other to the AFSC website which gives information
about the film and the exhibit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJBtXRVN768

www.afsc.org/eyes/pbs-documentary.php
____________________________________________________


Legislative vehicles to end the occupation and bring our troops home

H.R. 508 (http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/bills/?billtype=H.R.&billnumb=508&congress=110)
H.R. 746 (http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/bills/?billtype=H.R.&billnumb=746&congress=110)
_______________________________________________________________________


Defend Dissent and Critical Thinking - Stop the Firing of Ward Churchill

What's happening with Norman Finkelstein is part of a
horrible wave of suppressing radical academics across the U.S. Colorado has
been going after Native American radical historian Ward Churchill for a long
time, and the state legislature there is basically trying to get him fired,
with a big hearing date coming up soon.  If you have friends in academia who
would be willing to sign the petition or write letters, please pass this
along.  It matters.

For those that like shortcuts, go sign the petition at: 
http://www.defendcriticalthinking.org/
_____________________________________________________


Support Green Buildings, Not Only On Earth Day/ FCNL Legislative Action Message 
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/MNQTHAHSZI/CQVEHAHXFR/1150856351

Where do we consume the most energy? In our homes and buildings. Our
homes and other buildings use more energy than either our cars or big
factories. Buildings use more than 70 percent of all electricity
generated in the United States. We in the U.S. produce almost as many
global warming greenhouse gas emissions from our homes and buildings as
the entire economies of Japan, France, and the United Kingdom combined.

You can help support effective energy-efficient, green building legislation
by encouraging your representative to cosponsor the bills below.

*Take Action for the Earth, contact your representative:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/MNQTHAHSZI/MVUWHAHXFS/1150856351

Urge her or him to cosponsor the "Securing America's Energy
Independence Act of 2007" (HR 550). This legislation, introduced
by Rep. Michael McNulty (NY), would extend tax credit incentives for
solar energy, fuel cells, and energy-efficiency improvements for homes
and buildings.

Got a little more time? Ask your representative to cosponsor two other
important pieces of legislation that should be part of any
comprehensive energy conservation effort:
        - The "High-Performance Green Buildings Act of 2007" (HR 121)
        - http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/MNQTHAHSZI/JDDEHAHXFT/1150856351=9647301
and the "Extend the Energy Efficiency Incentives Act of 2007"
(HR 1385) -
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/MNQTHAHSZI/LZXAHAHXFU/1150856351=9651146

As part of your lobbying, urge your representative to contact FCNL for
a tour of FCNL's newly renovated building on Capitol Hill -- to see
what is possible and affordable today.
        More background on green buildings -
        http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/MNQTHAHSZI/AIKIHAHXFV/1150856351=102
=
Order FCNL publications and "War is Not the Answer" campaign
bumper stickers and yard signs:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/MNQTHAHSZI/EPNKHAHXFZ/1150856351/
_____________________________________________________________


 TELL UALBANY TO CUT THE COKE CONTRACT NOW!

UAlbany's 10 year long, multimillion dollar monopoly Coca Cola
contract is close to finished. For this past year, UA students
have been organizing to sever our contract and cease giving
business to the global corporate king of union-busting, water
stealing and labor abuses.Please call and
email Provost in Charge Susan Herbst, CC'd to other
administrators, our Student Senate, Association representatives
to show them the student support to kick coke off our campus for
good! Please list if you are a faculty, community organization or student.
        You can take action at:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/albany_coke/g7ugbirqtij78d?
        Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/albany_coke/forward/g7ugbirqtij78d?
_____________________________________________________________________


Protect Released Colombian Human Rights Leader

Thanks to your action earlier this year, Colombian human rights
defender Gabriel Gonzalez was recently released from prison
after a judge in Bucaramanga, Santander department, acquitted
him of all charges.

Take action now to demand that the Colombian Interior Ministry
urgently provide Mr. Gonzalez with adequate protection to
prevent attacks against him.

Click Here to Take Action:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/GabrielGonzalez2/iguw5d5rat6b6ji?

Learn more the case of Gabriel Gonzalez:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/ct/ZdMIInK1_QWL/

==========
COMMENTARY

America at a Crossroads" veers to the right By Gary Kamiya
 http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/04/17/crossroads/
If anyone still believes that PBS has a left-wing bias,
"America at a Crossroads," the $20 million, 12-hour
series about Islam, terrorism and the post-9/11 world
that kicked off Sunday night, should shut them up once
and for all. "Crossroads" proves yet again that five
years after the 9/11 attacks, the mainstream American
media still can't bring itself to talk about the real
causes of Arab and Muslim rage at the West.

Chomsky and Zinn on Patriotism in America
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041907F.shtml
In a Democracy Now! special broadcasted from Boston on April 16 - Patriots Day, a Massachusetts state holiday marking the start of the Revolutionary War - Amy Goodman talks with two of the city's leading dissidents, Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn.

Soldier's Request to Spend Time With Dying Mother Denied
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041907H.shtml
A Decatur soldier with five months left on his enlistment tried unsuccessfully to get an extension on his two-week leave to stay with his dying mother, who is hospitalized on life-support. Sgt. Tim Robinson requested another week in a letter faxed to his unit explaining that his mother, Kate Mae Jones, was dying of kidney and heart failure. His request included a note from his mother's doctor concerning her condition, but his commanding officer denied the extension.

VIDEO | Willie Nelson Speaks to Truthout
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041307S.shtml
Willie Nelson was among those honored at the first annual Camp Casey Peace Awards. Truthout's Geoffrey Millard had an opportunity to sit down with the country music legend. Willie spoke about his opposition to the war, his biodiesel-fueled bus and his commitment to working with farmers.

VIDEO | Pelosi: "The President Is Not King"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041307B.shtml
On the "Today Show," Nancy Pelosi sat down with Campbell Brown to discuss her trip to Syria as well as the stand-off between the White House and Congress over war-funding. Pelosi said: "The president is not king, the president is the president of the United States. America is a democracy. We have to make decisions based on our judgment. Thus far, the president's judgment hasn't been good in terms of, say, for example, the war on Iraq. So with all due respect to the president and the role he has, we want respect for the role we have. And members of Congress have gone on fact-finding trips since our country began. We're not going to
====== *
Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America's War On Iraq - At Least 655,000 + +
http://tinyurl.com/usq4x

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America'sWar On Iraq 3,309
http://icasualties.org/oif/

The War in Iraq Costs  $417,897,692,362

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

===== *
 Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day   By Juan Cole
        I keep hearing from US politicians and the US mass media that the "situation is improving" in Iraq. The profound sorrow and alarm produced in the American public by the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech should give us a baseline for what the Iraqis are actually living through. They have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17545.htm
===
Is Cheney Right? Will Democrats Cave on Iraq Funding? By Ray McGovern
        While our corporate media remains allergic to analyzing the administration's true intentions, Democrats cannot fail to see the White House game for what it is. Will they be frightened into acquiescing in the certain deaths of 1,000 to 1,500 more American troops already "in harm's way," and the wounding of several times that number - not to mention the mounting casualties among Iraqis?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17546.htm
===
The Inexplicable Enrichment of Bush Cronies -  The Iraq Money Trail By Evelyn Pringle
        It's time for Americans to face the cold hard truth that nothing will be accomplished by allowing the daily carnage in Iraq to continue, and if Bush has his way, our young people will be dying in this war profiteering scheme until hell freezes over. Congress needs to authorize funding to pull our troops out of that deathtrap and not one dime more.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17547.htm
===
France Warned CIA of Hijack Plot in 2001 By Angela Donald       Associated Press Writer
        Nine months before al-Qaida slammed airliners into the World Trade Center, French intelligence suspected the terror network was plotting a hijacking - possibly involving a U.S. airline - and warned the CIA, former French intelligence officials said Monday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17548.htm
===
Dare To Look Back -  By Sheila Samples
        On Dec. 9, 2000 -- three days before the Florida deadline -- the US Republic shuddered on its axis when Bolton crashed through the doors of a Tallahassee library where Miami-Dade ballots were being recounted and shouted triumphantly -- "I'm with the Bush-Cheney team, and I'm here to stop the count!"   http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17550.htm
===
Iraqi politican says insurgents must unite:
        Insurgent groups in Iraq should unite, agree a programme and be ready to reap the political rewards for inflicting heavy losses on U.S. troops, an Iraqi Sunni politician said on Tuesday.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L17522103
===
Iraqi refugee children trapped in poverty and fear :
        More than two million Iraqi refugees are trapped in a cycle of poverty and fear. More than half a million of these are school-age children, many with no access to education or psychological support, according to research by World Vision.   http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/April2007/16/c5350.html
===
Jordan begs world to shoulder Iraq refugee burden:
        Jordan on Tuesday begged the international community to help it shoulder the burden of 750,000 Iraqi refugees who have fled there.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L17589653.htm
===
Iraq's neighbours blocking refugees -- rights group:
        Iraq's neighbours are making it harder and harder for Iraqis to flee across the border to escape violence, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L17634333.htm
===
$400 Billion for war:    US announces USD 100 million :
        US Under-Secretary of State Paaula Dobriansky announced today that her government expects in 2007 to provide USD 100 million in humanitarian assistance for Iraqis, both inside and outside Iraq. The US will also contribute USD 18 million to the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) emergency appeal for Iraqi displacement.   http://snipurl.com/1gxq4
===
Clash of civilizations?: 2 Minute Video:
        Talk is rising of a 'clash of civilizations'. But the problem isn't culture, it's politics - from 9/11 to Guantanamo, Iraq to Iran. This clash is not inevitable, and we don't want it.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17544.htm
===
New threat to skilled U.S. workers:
        The master plan, it seems, is to move perhaps 40 million high-skill American jobs to other countries. U.S. workers have not been consulted.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003668844_harrop17.html