CONTENTS:

PHILLY AREA ACTION:

NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL ACTION:

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PHILLY AREA ACTION:

 

Tell City Council you don't want huge commercial digital signs in Old City!

 

There is a Bill before City Council that would allow a six story digital sign to go up in Old City and be visible from the Ben Franklin Bridge.  Go to the page below to learn more about this issue and let City Council know you're opposed to this shortsighted idea!

(if you can not click the link, copy and paste it into your browser)

http://www.scenic.org/scrub.html

      William H. Ewing/ william.ewing@verizon.net/ 215-668-7237 ____________________________________________________________________

 

Join WMF- Women's Medical Fund-  on Saturday, December 4 at Big Blue Marble Bookstore in Mt. Airy from 2:00-6:00 p.m.

20% of your purchase will be donated to the Fund!

Click here for more information.

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PHILADELPHIA ADVOCATES FOR THE DEER DECEMBER PEACE VIGIL FOR THE DEER

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2010- 2-4 P.M.

                              “TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR THE DEER”

WHERE: FRONT OF V ALLEY GREEN INN

VALLEY GREEN RD. AT FORBIDDEN DRIVE,  PHILA., PA. 19128

(Park in the upper lot on Valley Green Rd. and take a short walk down to the Inn)

      Join Philadelphia Advocates for the Deer as we protest Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW) position on supporting the killing of the deer in Fairmount Park for the past 11 years. This winter will be the 12th consecutive year of killing of the deer. We must put a stop to the slaughter of the deer in our neighborhoods.

      Posters will be available as well as a petition to sign to send to Michael DiBerardinis, the commissioner of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Commission, who has refused to meet with PAD to discuss the issue of the deer until maybe the end of 2010. We need your support to make this meeting happen before the next killing occurs in 2011.

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Brown Bag Presentation: Fighting Criminalization of Immigrant Communities in Pennsylvania

 

Tuesday December 7, 2010 -   12noon-1pm 

Philadelphia FIGHT-Prison & Reentry Services * Institute for Community Justice*

21 S. 12th Street, 7th Fl. Suite 700

Please bring your lunch, and RSVP to: casey.chanton@gmail.com

 

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NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL ACTION:

 

Out of Afghanistan Call-In Today: 

 

Call your member of Congress: Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Let them know its time to stop these wars.  Ask your member of Congress to do the following:

      1/ Join the Out of Afghanistan Caucus and

      2/ Co-sponsor HR 6045, Barbara Lee's bill limiting the use of government funds to  the " safe and orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan" of all military personnel and Defense Dept. contractors. http://www.grannypeacebrigade.org/

__ Sponsors: United for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, American Friends Service Committee, Just Foreign Policy, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Progressive Democrats for America, Tom Hayden Peace and Justice Resource Center, CODEPINK (List still in Formation)

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Protect Your Retirement Security - Call Immediately!

Don't Let Congress and the White House Cut Social Security and Medicare!

 

      The co-chairs of a presidential commission are promoting a plan to cut the deficit at the expense of working people, seniors, widows, orphans, and people with disabilities. 

      Before the full commission even gets a chance to vote on the deal on Dec. 1, please join us in calling Congress and the White House. 

      This plan would raise the retirement age, reduce benefits for middle-class workers, and cut COLAs after retirement - dramatically reducing benefits for the oldest retirees.  It would also reduce Medicare to a voucher program.  Don't be mislead, these programs are currently on sound financial footing and are never allowed to contribute to the deficit. 

Please make your voice heard now.

What you can do:

Join in week of Nov. 30, National Call-in Day to Congress. We want to flood Capitol Hill with thousands of calls, so please join, and call your senators and representative in Congress, 866-529-7630.

Call the White House, 202-456-1414.

      Write a letter to your local newspaper. Follow this link to an online tool, which enables you in just a few clicks to locate and email your local newspapers. There are 10 sample letters that you are able to choose from, all of which can be customized.

Tell them:

• Protect Social Security.

• No extension of the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans.

National Nurses United/ www.NationalNursesUnited.org 

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Remarkable news! The Israeli press is reporting that Caterpillar is withholding the delivery of tens of D9 bulldozers—valued at $50 million—to the Israeli military!

These are weaponized bulldozers that are used to illegally destroy homes and orchards of Palestinian families. And they are the very same bulldozers as the one that killed a 23-year-old American peace activist named Rachel Corrie seven years ago when she tried to protect the home of the Nasrallah family in Gaza.

That's why the next part of the story is even more amazing. The news reports say that the deliveries have been suspended now because Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, are bringing a civil suit against the government of Israel in a court in Tel Aviv.(2) The deliveries are to stop during the length of the trial. We take this as an indirect admission by the company that these bulldozers are being used to violate human rights and to violate the law. The Corrie story is sadly just one of thousands of stories of loss and pain.
                             A suspension of the sale of bulldozers is what we have been asking Caterpillar for over seven years now. This is a great win, but this is no time to let off the pressure.  Caterpillar and the U.S. government have neither confirmed nor denied the news. And news reports describe the company's move as a temporary decision only. To urge the U.S. government to make this policy permanent, please sign the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation’s petition to President Obama to continue this new policy.

We need to hold both our government and corporations profiting from the occupation accountable. TIAA-CREF, one of the largest financial services in the United States, invests heavily in Caterpillar (over $250 million as of their last financial report). Please ask TIAA-CREF to divest from Caterpillar and other companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. If TIAA-CREF divests from Caterpillar, it will have a rippling impact everywhere.

Sydney Levy,  Jewish Voice for Peace

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From: Healthcare-NOW! [mailto:email@healthcare-now.org]

Dec. Single-Payer Activist Conference Call Sunday

 

Mark your calendar for this Sunday, December 5th at 8pm Eastern Time is Healthcare-NOW!'s monthly single-payer activist call.

This is our chance to catch up and discuss the movement for single-payer health care with allies from across the country.

Please use this Dial-in Number 1-218-862-1300 and Conference Code 441086. To mute and unmute your line, please hit 4*.

Draft Agenda:

1) Report Back on Healthcare NOW! Strategy Conference

2) Update on Hands Off Our Medicare Campaign

3) Introducing the Campaign Calling for Divestment from private health insurance

4) Updates from local leaders.

Please send us your news and additional agenda items to katie@healthcare-now.org.

Looking forward to hearing you on the call!

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From: National Whistleblowers Center [mailto:lmw@whistleblowers.org]


 



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Whistleblower's Dad Needs Your Help

Take Action!


 

Today is a very bittersweet day for me. I am thankful that my son, Bradley Birkenfeld, was brave enough to risk his career to help recover billions of dollars for American taxpayers. I am thankful for all the support that citizens across the country have shown for Bradley. I am also thankful for the many letters that have been sent on his behalf to President Obama and the Pardon Attorney. Unfortunately, despite all of this my son is not with me this Thanksgiving Day. He is sitting in a federal prison in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania.


It is still hard for me to believe that my son's honesty cost him his freedom. It is unjust that he has served more time in prison than the 19,000 tax evaders combined. My son is the only one who had the guts to stand up to one of the biggest banks in the world. All the other bankers sat by and watched as billions of dollars were stolen from taxpayers, yet he is the only one in prison.


I hope that President Obama finds it in his heart to correct this injustice and allow Bradley to be home with his family in time for Christmas. I know that many of you have already sent letters, but please take a minute to send another letter asking that Bradley's sentence be commuted and forward it to your friends and family.


Thank you again for all of your support, it means the world to my family.

Sincerely,  Ronald Birkenfeld, M.D.





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Stop These Wars or We'll Fill Your Jails By David Swanson

 

Here's an easy question: would you rather go to jail for a few hours with a bunch of friends or die?  Here's a poorly kept secret: the wars that a majority of Americans want ended are not ending, and the war machine that a majority of Americans want cut back is growing.

      You may not die for the Pentagon, but if you do not it will be your children or grandchildren.  Would you rather go to jail for a few hours with a bunch of friends or see your grandchildren killed?  Is the question getting easier?

·        Here's a well kept secret: many Americans are doing something about it, and Veterans for Peace is taking the lead.  We're going to the White House on Thursday, December 16th: http://stopthesewars.org

·        ---

Peace Presents for Holidays - Half Price!

War Is A Lie, just published by David Swanson, is topping the charts and being translated for publication in other countries.  Thank you, if you've purchased it!

"Not a single thing that we commonly believe about wars that helps keep them around is true. Wars cannot be good or glorious. Nor can they be justified as a means of achieving peace or anything else of value. The reasons given for wars, before, during, and after them (often three very different sets of reasons for the same war) are all false." -- From the Introduction                                                                                                                  The reviews of War Is A Lie already are phenomenal. Rob Kall of OpEdNews calls it "an important, destined to be classic book." He adds, "If there are awards for brilliant books that explode new ways to oppose the evils of this world, then David should sweep the field this year."  

Make this book #1 on Amazon right now!
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From: Nuclear Information and Resource Service [mailto:nirsnet@nirs.org]
Tell Pres. Obama: Nuclear Energy is NOT Clean Energy

301-270-6477; nirsnet@nirs.org; www.nirs.org

TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA:
NUCLEAR ENERGY IS NOT CLEAN ENERGY/ DON'T COMPROMISE OUR HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT

      If the toxic radiation released routinely from nuclear reactors and every other stop along the nuclear fuel chain were the color and texture of oil, or smelled like natural gas, no one would ever again confuse nuclear power with clean energy.
But there is a growing danger that in the next Congress, President Obama will compromise and support including nuclear power (and coal!) in a new "Clean Energy Standard" that would set our energy policy in the wrong direction for decades.
      Please tell President Obama that nuclear power is not clean energy, and there must be no compromise when it comes to protecting our health, safety and environment.

Send a letter to the President here.

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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE

April 26, 2011, 25th Chernobyl anniversary

 

It's time for groups and activists all over the world to plan protests and actions to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

 

Each year, the French anti-nuclear network Sortir du nucleaire has issued a call to action on Chernobyl Day. In support of this call, U.S. organizations Nukewatch and the Nuclear Resister invite you to organize public protest and/or nonviolent direct action/civil resistance in your area, or participate in other events or actions being planned on or around April 26. It will be a day to declare, together with millions of others around the world, NO to nuclear power, nuclear weapons, nuclear testing, uranium mining and radioactive waste and YES to a nuclear-free future!

      Whatever you plan, please post your event on the international roster of actions hosted by Sortir du nucleaire: http://www.chernobyl-day.org/?lang=en, and let Nukewatch and the Nuclear Resister know what you are planning, for inclusion on websites and in media outreach. When the action is over, please post and send reports and photos.

      Together let's work for a nuclear-free future.

      For more about Chernobyl: http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/chernobylcanhappenhere2005.pdf

==

* Fighting Doom: The New Politics of Climate Change By Brendan Smith

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-smith/fighting-doom-the-new-pol_b_782723.html

I am not an environmentalist. But all I think about these

days is the climate crisis.

 

* Denying the other holocaust(s)

There have been a lot of holocausts in the last 200 years.

And a lot of holocaust deniers.

Here's one people rarely think about.

Video:  http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/969.html

 

* The Fear of Sicko: CIGNA
Whistleblower Wendell Potter Apologizes to Michael Moore for PR Smear
Campaign; Moore Says Industry Was Afraid Film Would Cause A 'Tipping
Point' for Healthcare Reform *
Watch/Read/Listen:
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/23/the_fear_of_sicko_cigna_whistleblower