Subject: ATTN: ASSIGNMENT DESK / PHOTO DESK FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25, 2011 Contact: Kurt Aanesen _949-675-0104_ (tel:949-675-0104) Sharon Tipton _949-257-8501_ (tel:949-257-8501) Email: _sharonktipton@gmail.com_ (mailto:sharonktipton@gmail.com) Protest to support the Irvine 11 at OC Superior Court on May 26 WHAT: Members and supporters of the Orange County Peace Coalition will be wearing gags tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. in front of the Orange County Superior Court to show their support for the Irvine 11 who are appearing before a judge at 9:00 a.m. Justice wears a blindfold and holds a scale to symbolize that race, religious creed and political affiliation shall not influence or color the judicial process. UCI Administrators have failed to grant student's their Constitutional rights to free speech. Freedom of speech, protest and assembly are a fiction when the cost of exercising these fundamental rights is expulsion and the derailing of an education leading to a career as a productive member of society. The Orange County Peace Coalition invites readers to join them tomorrow morning in defense of the rights of free speech and protest and the ideal that all universities must remain a bastion of the free exchange of ideas. WHO: Orange County Peace Coalition WHEN: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 8:00 AM - 10 AM WHERE: Orange County Superior Court, 700 W. Civic Center Dr., Santa Ana, CA ###
I'm passing this along from the meeting that Pat, Jeff and Ed had with Rebecca Griffin. There is a national day of action beloe that I think OCPC ought to endorse and pass along. Karen Rebecca Griffin Political Director Peace Action West 510.830.3600 x113 rgriffin@peaceactionwest.org Nearly 20 national organizations and coalitions have agreed to participate next week for the Afghanistan Week of Action May 23rd and call-in/media day Tue. May 24th. If you have yet to let me know that you'll be participating in some way, please do. Please read THE ACTIONS below for the agreed upon actions. Stephen Miles of Win Without War and Judith Le Blanc of Peace Action agreed to distill participant's ideas for a common message to be used before the legislative ask and for Twitter. Here's what they came up with: "It is time we brought our troops home from Afghanistan and stopped wasting billions we need at home on war. The last thing Congress should be doing is authorizing endless war, but that's exactly what the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act does. " Tweet: @Congress: Now is the time to #ExitAfghanistan & stop wasting billions we need at home on war. Now is not the time for endless war. Feel free to comment if you have strong feelings about changes to the above. Be aware that time is short for much language parsing. THE ACTIONS, TARGET & ASKS 1. The number one preferred action would be to generate phone calls to Congress starting at 9:00 AM EDT next Tue. the May 24th using this toll free number so we can track impact 1-888-231-9276 (Big thanks to Matt at FCNL). Almost all groups have agreed to send agreed to send an alert Tue. morning. When people have drafts of their alerts, please send them to the Afghanistan Policy Working Group list. The ask: Have callers use the top line message above and ask for as many of the below as possible: HOUSE (many groups will focus on the House though some will ask folks to call House and Senate. Note that we might not know until late Mon. early Tue what amendments to NDAA will be allowed. Votes could happen as early as Tue. eve) Rep. Barbara Lee's H.R. 780 "Responsible End to the War in Afghanistan Act" (62 cosponsors) and amendment equivalent McGovern/Jones H.R. 1730 "Afghanistan Exit and Accountability Act" (50 cosponsors, most bipartisan support) and amendment equivalent Amendment to strike or replace McKeon/McCain reauthorization language SENATE Sign on to Sen. Merkley's letter to the President asking for “sizeable and sustained” reduction in forces from Afghanistan. 2. The second preferred action would be to generate constituent contacts sometime next week. 3. For those organizations without constituents or those who want to do additional actions, take some sort of media action on next Tue. like a blog, tweet, facebook, LTE, etc. 4. Besides the above, local actions as appropriate. FYI, here's the social media we, Vets for Peace and others are doing. Feel free to edit and use as your own. President Obama: It's time to exit Afghanistan now. Time is money ($10 billion/month) and it's time to stop wasting it. It's time to bring the troops home. 1. Post the above message and these instructions as your Facebook status 2. Change your profile picture to this: http://tinyurl.com/3zhvp26 3. Like Peace Action: http://facebook.com/peaceaction use the hashtag #ExitAfghanistan and tweet: @Congress: Now is the time to #ExitAfghanistan & stop wasting billions we need at home on war. Now is not the time for endless war. More info to come as we get it... Thank you, Paul Kawika Martin Organizing, Political and PAC Director Peace Action & Peace Action Education Fund (formerly SANE/Freeze) Please note new address and fax: 8630 Fenton Street, Suite 524 Silver Spring, MD 20910 301.565.4050 x 316 951.217.7285 cell 301.562.7305 fax pmartin@peace-action.org IM and Twitter: paulkawika http://www.Peace-Action.org http://www.PeaceVoter.org http://www.StudentPeaceAction.org http://peaceblog.wordpress.com Please fund our important work and join 100,000 other members or sign up for our free action alert list (about one email a week) at http://www.Peace-Action.org I'm passing this along from the meeting Pat, Ed and Jeff had with
We just got word that we were able to book Ethan McCord of the famous Wikileaks tape in which he described what he witnessed as a veteran during a helicopter attack that killed civilians. He is part of the “We are Not Your Soldiers” tour, but he can only come in the afternoon on Thursday June 9th and all day on Friday. What an opportunity for students to hear this story! If you know of a high school that would like to have him speak ( an assembly is best, but he will speak to a few classes if that is the best we can get). Because we only have a few weeks, we will book the first schools with the largest audience. Please spread the word and let me know right away if you can connect me with a school who wants to have him. My number is below. For more information about the tour, here is the link: wearenotyoursoldiers.org Thank you! paz
Pat Alviso & Jeff Merrick
Military Families Speak Out
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