Court Of Impeachment And War Crimes: Calls For Action…Read And Act Please! Some News and Views and Barbara Boxer Has My Vote For Site Prep…Wow!

Calls For Action…Read And Act Please! Some News and Views and Barbara Boxer Has My Vote For Site Prep…Wow!

http://www.barbaraboxer.com/home

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Dear Ed.,

In a surprising display of courage, the House Democratic leadership last week stood up to Bush and the weak-kneed Senate and refused to bring to the floor a bill that would allow Bush to continue to spy on the people of this country without a warrant. Can this newfound courage last?

We need Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to continue to stand strong against domestic spying and telecom immunity. And we need them to learn from this -- they do have power if they choose to use it -- they do have the power to end the occupation of Iraq. Pelosi and Hoyer can start by refusing to allow Bush's $102 billion Iraq war funding request to come up for a vote.

THURSDAY, FEB. 20: Join the Massive National "You are NOT a Lap Dog*" Call-In Day!

Call Speaker Pelosi at 202-225-0100 and Majority Leader Hoyer at 202-225-4131. If you don't get through to an actual person, leave a voicemail message.

Talking points:

1. Thank you for standing up to the president and the Senate and refusing to allow a vote on the Senate bill letting Bush continue warrantless wiretapping of people in this country and granting immunity to telecom companies who facilitated illegal wiretaps.

2. Please continue to stand up for the Constitution and refuse to allow a vote on a bill that would condone warrantless spying on us or immunity for telephone companies that break the law!

3. Stay strong! Refuse to allow a vote on Bush's new $102 billion Iraq war funding request. If Democrats want to end the occupation, they must take the first step and stop funding it.

We must stay strong as well. UFPJ member groups and allies around the country are currently mobilizing for a wide range of powerful actions marking the 5th anniversary of the war and occupation in Iraq. Join us in March to say, 5 YEARS TOO MANY!

BACKGROUND

* "We're not the lap dog of the president or the United States Senate." --Rep Hoyer on Feb. 13, when the House leadership refused to bow to political pressure on FISA legislation.

Early last week, the Senate passed FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) reform legislation that trampled civil liberties and offered immunity to telecoms that facilitated illegal wiretaps. The president and the Senate wanted the House to quickly pass the Senate bill, because the act it was written to replace was due to expire on Feb. 15. The House stood up to Bush and the Senate and allowed the "Protect America Act" to expire, without passing the replacement bill. The fear-mongering has not stopped, with Bush claiming that terrorists are planning an attack that will far surpass 9/11, and he will be helpless to stop them without the ability to spy on us without a warrant.

Unfortunately, the battle over domestic spying and telecom immunity is not over. The House will return to the subject next week. The leadership must be assured that they did the right thing by refusing to bow to pressure and fear mongering, and that they must continue to defend the Constitution.

The battle over FISA teaches an important lesson about congressional power -- the Democrats have it, if they care to use it. Pelosi and Hoyer have demonstrated that they are willing to go to the mat over domestic spying and telecom immunity -- now we want to see them go to the mat to end the occupation of Iraq.

Bush has requested another $102 billion for Iraq -- which would push total spending on the war so far above $624 billion. Rep. Murtha, Chair of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, is preparing a bill to fund that request. He says the bill will be ready by the end of February. The peace movement will have to wage a strong campaign to defeat the war supplemental, or to turn it into a bill that only funds the withdrawal of all troops and contractors. It won't be easy -- the presidential elections are capturing the attention of activists and the general public. We must keep the pressure on!

Help us continue to do this critical work: Make a donation to UFPJ today.

UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit www.unitedforpeace.org/email

THURSDAY Feb. 21: "You are Not a Lap Dog!" Call-In Day

Call Speaker Pelosi at 202-225-0100 and Majority Leader Hoyer at 202-225-4131. Tell them to stay strong against warrantless wiretapping and $102 billion more for Iraq.

In a surprising and long-overdue display of courage, the House Democratic leadership last week stood up to Bush and refused to bring to the floor a bill that would allow Bush to continue to spy on the people of this country without a warrant. Also every Democrat but one voted to hold Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton in contempt of Congress. Can this newfound Democratic courage last?

We need Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to continue to stand strong against domestic spying and telecom immunity. And we need them to learn that they do have power if they choose to use it, and apply this lesson to ending the occupation of Iraq. Pelosi and Hoyer can start by simply refusing to allow Bush's $102 billion Iraq war funding request to come up for a vote.

Thursday Feb. 21: Join United for Peace and Justice, Democrats.com, AfterDowningStreet.org, Progressive Democrats of America, and other groups in a Massive National "You are NOT a Lap Dog*" Call-In Day!

Call Speaker Pelosi at 202-225-0100 and Majority Leader Hoyer at 202-225-4131. If you don't get through to a person, leave a voicemail.

Talking points:

1.Thank you for standing up against Bush's warrantless wiretapping, and keep standing up.

2.Stand up against Bush's new $102 billion Iraq war funding request by refusing to bring it to the floor for a vote.

In addition to your call, please sign our petition to your own Representative and Senators: No More Funds for Iraq http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/124

This Democratic Congress was elected to end the war, but they have given Bush one blank check after another, most recently for $70 billion on January 16. But 42 Democrats and 4 Republicans finally said no in January, so our calls and emails are making a difference, and we need to keep up the pressure.http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll011.xml

And we must do more than call and email - we must take to the streets and put pressure directly on our Representatives. Here's a flyer you can hand out in front of your Representative's office today: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/outofiraq-wanted-flyer

Connect with other Democrats.com members in your Congressional District (login required):
http://democrats.com/local
Look down to your Congressional District, read past posts and add your comments, or create a new post with your ideas and plans.

In mid-March, UFPJ member groups and allies around the country will mobilize for a wide range of powerful actions marking the 5th anniversary of the war and occupation in Iraq. Join us in March to say, 5 YEARS TOO MANY! http://resistinmarch.org

Background

* "We're not the lap dog of the president or the United States Senate."
-Rep Hoyer on Feb. 13, when the House leadership refused to bow to political pressure on warrantless wiretapping.

Early last week, the Senate passed an extension of the Orwellian "Protect America Act" that allows Bush to wiretap all of us without a warrant and offered immunity to telecoms that facilitated illegal wiretaps in the past. Bush and the Senate wanted the House to quickly pass the Senate bill, because the act expires on Feb. 15. The House stood up to Bush and the Senate and allowed the "Protect America Act" to expire. The fear-mongering has not stopped, with Bush claiming that terrorists are planning an attack that will far surpass 9/11, and he will be helpless to stop them without the ability to spy on us without a warrant.

Unfortunately, the battle over domestic spying and telecom immunity is not over. The House will return to the subject next week. The leadership must be assured that they did the right thing by refusing to bow to pressure and fear mongering, and that they must continue to defend the Constitution.

The battle over FISA teaches an important lesson about Congressional power - the Democrats have it, if they care to use it. Pelosi and Hoyer have demonstrated that they are willing to go to the mat over domestic spying and telecom immunity - now we want to see them go to the mat to end the occupation of Iraq.

Bush has requested another $102 billion for Iraq - which would push total spending on the war so far above $624 billion. Rep. John Murtha, Chair of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, is preparing a bill to fund that request. He says the bill will be ready by the end of February. The peace movement will have to wage a strong campaign to defeat the war supplemental, or to turn it into a bill that only funds the withdrawal of all troops and contractors. It won't be easy - the presidential elections are capturing the attention of activists and the general public. We must keep the pressure on!

Forward this message to everyone you know!

To subscribe, create a free Democrats.com account here:
http://www.democrats.com/user/register

NO IRAQI OIL LAW! INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF ACTION

Stop the Theft of Iraq’s Future – Iraqi Oil for the Iraqi People

Stand up for Iraqi Labor Rights and Sovereignty this Friday. Roll oil barrels from Exxon to the White House-- and drop “oily” black footprints along the way!

Friday, Feb 22 – Washington, DC 12pm: Press conference at the Exxon Mobil Office, 2000 K St NW

Speakers: Gene Bruskin, US Labor Against the War

Adam Kokesh, Iraq Veterans Against the War

Trina Zahller, Oil Change International

12:30pm: March with us to the White House

Contact trina@priceofoil.org for more information. For a full list of actions in the US, UK, and Iraq, visit: http://priceofoil.org/iraqoillawactions.

Join us in solidarity with the people of Iraq-- demand an end to the military and economic occupation. Make the connection between oil and state, and profit and war!

This Friday, Feb 22, marks one year since the US managed to pressure the Iraqi cabinet to pass an oil law that the US concocted to allow foreign multinational oil corporations unprecedented and undue control over Iraqi oil for the next 30 years. With international support, and with the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions leading the way, the parliament has so far resisted passing the law. But we need to keep the pressure on!

Workers in Iraq still have no labor law and unions are illegal. The government has used this fact to tell the Oil Workers Union they do not exist and they will not recognize their leadership in the protest against the oil law. Worse, Iraqi union leaders have been killed and threatened with arrest in their fight for labor rights and to keep their oil under their control.

In Iraq, the on-going war and occupation has led to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, widespread devastation, relentless insecurity and crippling poverty. Foreign oil companies are scrambling to use this opportunity to secure access to massive profits from Iraq’s large untapped oil reserves at the expense of the Iraqi people.

The occupation of Iraq serves to protect these interests while US military bases are built nearby to guard the oil fields. As well, the Bush Administration has tried to push the Iraqi Parliament to pass a law that would give foreign oil companies unprecedented control over Iraq’s oil resources.

The Iraqi cabinet, under pressure from the US, passed this law one year ago on February 23, 2007. The Iraqi Parliament has so far resisted pressure to pass this oil law, but the pressure is by no means over.

The U.S. should have no role in pressuring Iraqis to privatize control of their oil while occupying their country. The Iraqi people are held in a military occupation by over 160,000 foreign troops. We support the Iraqis in their call for resisting the oil law and foreign contracts while under occupation!

Endorsing Organizations: Oil Change International, US Labor Against the War, No War No Warming, Code Pink, VotersForPeace, After Downing Street, Grassroots America, Hands Off Iraqi Oil, War on Want, Platform, Consumers For Peace

PROTEST NEO-NAZI CONFERENCE THIS SATURDAY

Grassroots America, A Non Profit http://grassrootsamerica4us.org


Now is not the time to be silent. Now is the time for our voices to be heard. It grows across our land, these words of hate: From Jena LA to

 the doorstep of Sean Bell, racist acts destroy lives. But these acts don't happen in a vacuum. They are cultivated and raised through a social

 structure of hate and acceptance of ideas that preach violence against those that are different. Showing resistance, showing numbers, showing

 this is not the path our nation needs to go down gives opposition to those ideas. This event is too important to remain silent. Will your

 voice be heard?

Thank you again for all your support.

Tina Richards

Protest Neo-Nazi Conference This Saturday, February 23, at 10AM,

 Herndon VA (near Washington DC's Dulles Airport)

What: March and Protest against Neo-Nazi Conference

If you are not in the DC Metro area, Call or fax the Crowne Plaza Hotel

 Phone: (703) 471-6700

Fax: (703) 742-8965 to register your dissatisfaction.

Who: Resistance and Solidarity, Grassroots America, Hip Hop Caucus,

 UFPJ (United for Peace and Justice), A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and  End Racism), AfterDowningStreet.org, Activists from Maryland, DC, and  Virginia

When: February 23, Saturday, 10:00 AM

Where: Chandon Park, 352 Juniper Ct. Herndon, VA, to Crowne Plaza Hotel

Getting There:

To get to Chandon Park using public transportation, take the Orange  Line metro to the West Falls Church station. Then, take the Fairfax

 Connector Bus #950 towards Reston Town Center. Get off at Elden St and Herndon Parkway and walk left for about a quarter of a mile. The park will be  on your right. The bus leaves West Falls Church Metro every half hour

 starting at 8am (8am, 8:31am, 9:03am, 9:33am, 10:01am, 10:25am, 11:01am...) and takes approximately 30 minutes.

Those promoting social justice will march from Chandon Park (352 Juniper Ct., Herndon, VA) to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. We will then converge at  the hotel to protest the racist hate spouted by the AmRen National  Conference.

"We will not allow these racists to promote their hate mongering and terror in our communities without a challenge," said Marco Del Fuego, of

 Resistance and Solidarity, a DC-based anti-racist group. "We want the public to know that this event is not welcome here because this

organization supports criminal policies and violence towards blacks, Latin American immigrants and other minorities in the region and the country," he  said.

"I support the right of racists and fascists to freely assemble and speak. And I encourage everyone else to assemble and speak against them,

 because their beliefs are not an unimportant distraction but a disease eating its way deeply into mainstream American culture," David Swanson,

 Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, said. "I graduated from Herndon High School in the town now playing host to a racist convention and now

 regularly torn apart by xenophobia directed at poor immigrant workers.

 That was 20 years ago, and in that time we have moved in the direction of accepting new forms of racist and religious hatred and new mergers

 of corporate and governmental power. I encourage the people of Herndon to turn out and speak up nonviolently on behalf of tolerance and

 understanding."

The AmRen conference organizers call for a white supremacist society and political order. American Renaissance (AmRen) editor Jared Taylor

 states: "If whites permit themselves to be displaced, it is not just the high culture of the West that could disappear but such things as

 representative government, rule of law and freedom of speech, which whites usually get right and everyone else usually gets wrong." Among past and

 present participants in this gathering are Klan member David Duke, Don Black, the operator of the white supremacist website Stormfront.org,

 former NY state prosecutor Michael Regan and Nick Griffin of the neo-fascist British National Party.

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop.”- Mario Savio

Tina Richards

Grassroots America, A Non Profit

Dear Ed. ,

Do you think the Attorney General of the United States and those who serve beneath him should follow the laws of the United States? If you do, click here to tell Attorney General Michael Mukasey to allow his department to prosecute two White House officials who have clearly broken the law and undermined our Constitution.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23120

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution charging White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers with contempt for ignoring congressional subpoenas to testify about the U.S. Attorneys scandal. According to the law, once the House (or Senate) approves a contempt citation, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia -- who serves within the Department of Justice -- "shallâ€¦bring the matter before [a] grand jury for its action." Such a grand jury proceeding is necessary in order to prosecute Bolten and Miers for defying Congress.

When asked two weeks ago whether his department would follow the law and the will of the people if these contempt charges were passed by the House, Attorney General Michael Mukasey gave a simple answer: No.

While this may be standard operating procedure for an administration that routinely breaks our laws and defiles our Constitution, it does not mean that we should be silent in the face of this kind of behavior. It is time to tell the attorney general that his job is to enforce the law, not to ignore it.

Click on the following link to send a strongly worded message to Attorney General Mukasey, urging action on these contempt citations. You will have the opportunity to add your own language to our pre-written email and we encourage you to do so:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23120

With your help, we can increase the public pressure on Mukasey to bring these rogue officials to justice. I hope you will add your voice to our call.

Thank you in advance for taking action.

Best,
Steve

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

The Battle of Berkeley: This War Must Stop

Dear Ed.,

A few weeks ago, I told you about two BarbaraBoxer.com social networking tools that have brought together members of our online community in a fun, engaging way.

Already, 5,000 of you have plotted yourself on our Supporter Map to show how far our community spans across the country and around the world -- and more than 11,000 of you have voted in our Issues Poll. (In case you're wondering, Global Warming leads with 25% of the vote as the #1 issue facing America today.)

With such a positive response to these first 2 widgets, we're launching a few more exciting social networking tools on our website -- which you can grab and embed on your own website, blog, or social networking page: Click here to visit our new Web 2.0 Widget page today!

Here's a quick overview of our newest Web 2.0 widgets:

Cozmo Video Player: Our new Cozmo widget allows you to easily watch different video clips we've posted, including a clip of Al Gore and me at an event together, my speech on global warming at the National Press Club, and a CNN news segment where I talk about climate change with Wolf Blitzer. You can even embed our Cozmo widget on your own website, where new videos will be posted automatically as we publish them!

Eventful: Through our Eventful widget, you can vote for me to visit your city for an event. As campaign season heats up, and as the Senate schedule allows, I'll do my best to schedule a visit. So be sure to vote for your city, and invite other friends to participate as well!

Bridgit: With our Bridgit widget, you can easily "bridge" yourself to my Facebook profile, MySpace page, and a host of other online communities that I'm now a part of. I'm hoping that you'll "friend" me on one or more of these sites that you frequent -- and if you ever forget how to get to one of my online profiles, you can always visit my Bridgit page to "bridge" yourself again.

Invite me to visit your town, watch a few videos, or "bridge" yourself to one of my online social networking profiles. Click here to visit our Web 2.0 Widget page today!

In addition to posting these widgets on the BarbaraBoxer.com website, we've also provided the HTML code for each so that you can easily embed your favorite widgets on your own blog or MySpace page.

These new widgets are a great way to communicate with each other, to show your support for my work, and to invite new people to join our Barbara Boxer.com online community too. So I hope you’ll check them out!

Help us build our BarbaraBoxer.com online community across MySpace, Facebook, and the blogosphere. Click here to visit our Web 2.0 Widget page now!

Thank you so much for your continued support. I hope you enjoy these new Web 2.0 widgets!

In Friendship,

Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator

P.S. If you're not familiar with these new Web 2.0 widgets, don't worry: Take it from this grandmother, they're really fun and easy to use! I hope you'll take just a minute to click over and check out our new widgets. I think you'll like what you see!

Visit Our Web 2.0 Page | Contribute Today!

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