WE HAVE THE MONEY — IF ONLY WE DIDN'T WASTE IT ON THE DEFENSE BUDGET
By Chalmers Johnson
Tom Dispatch
September 29, 2008
There has been much moaning, air-sucking, and outrage about the $700 billion that the U.S. government is thinking of throwing away on rich New York bankers...
(full article)
NUCLEAR BAN? START WITH U.S.
By Lawrence S. Wittner
Times Union
August 3, 2008
The world's nine nuclear powers continue to cling to some 27,000 nuclear weapons, almost all of them more deadly than that first atomic bomb...
(full article)
A DEVIL'S BARGAIN
By Carolyn Eisenberg
truthout.org
July 3, 2008
Carolyn Eisenberg argues that with Congress granting $162 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...
(full article)
PREPARING THE BATTLEFIELD
The Bush Administration Steps Up its Secret Moves Against Iran
By Seymour M. Hersh
The New Yorker
July 4, 2008
Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation...
(full article)
SENATE COMMITTEE: BUSH KNEW IRAQ STATEMENTS WERE UNTRUE
McClatchy Washington Bureau
June 5, 2008
WASHINGTON — A long-awaited Senate Select Intelligence Committee report made public Thursday concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements...
(full article)
ANTI-WAR TACTICS
By Samantha Marshall
www.crainsnewyork.com
May 17, 2008
Hosting a potluck dinner on Staten Island and endorsing congressional candidate Steve Harrison, a Democrat...
(full article)
PEACE GROUP SUES BUSH ADMINISTRATION, CHARGING IRAQ WAR IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
By Michael Booth
New Jersey Law Journal
May 14, 2008
An anti-war activist group sued President Bush in U.S. District Court in Newark on Tuesday, seeking a declaratory judgment that the war in Iraq is illegal...
(full article)
THE $3 TRILLION WAR
By Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes
Vanity Fair
March 12, 2008
After wildly lowballing the cost of the Iraq conflict at a mere $50 to $60 billion, the Bush administration has been concealing...
(full article)
PUSHING MISSILE DEFENSE IN EUROPE
By Joanne Landy and Thomas Harrison
Foreign Policy in Focus www.fpif.org
Editor: John Feffer
February 22, 2008
With the occupation of Iraq soon to enter its sixth year and the looming possibility of war against Iran...
(full article)
HOW HIGH THE TOLL BEFORE THE WAR ENDS?
By Dr. Arnold Matlin
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
February 11, 2008
Two articles in a recent edition of
The New England Journal of Medicine should make every American think about the
effects of the U.S. war in Iraq...
(full article)
TOWARD A NUCLEAR-FREE WORLD
By George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn
Wall Street Journal
January 15, 2008
The accelerating spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear know-how and nuclear material has brought us to a
nuclear tipping point...
(full article)
A WORLD FREE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
By George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn
Wall Street Journal
January 4, 2007
Nuclear weapons today present tremendous dangers, but also an historic opportunity...
(full article)
STUDY: BUSH, AIDES MADE 935 FALSE STATEMENTS IN RUN-UP TO WAR
January 24, 2008
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements...
(full article)
PRE-EMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKE A KEY OPTION, NATO TOLD
by Ian Traynor
The Guardian/UK
January 22, 2008
The west must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt...
(full article)
BOTHERSOME INTEL ON IRAN
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
January 12, 2008
A senior Administration official says President Bush "all but disowned" the Iran National Intelligence Estimate...
(full article)
Grassroots Actions for Peace
Members of Schenectady Neighbors for Peace, a branch of Upper Hudson Peace Action, and their allies at Women Against War recently hosted their own "I Miss America" pageant. "Miss Led" "Miss Appropriation" and "Miss Take" all competed for the crown while drawing attention to what they missed about America, like fair play and honesty. Supporters handed out materials about how they missed good ol' American values like functioning democracy and responsible spending.
Contact Congress
New York State has four new representatives – all of whom are tepidly to adamantly against the war. This brings New York State’s total up to 18 congress people mostly against the war, 3 who are on the fence and 8 who support it. Peace Action of New York State is organizing a huge campaign to coordinate visits in all of New York’s 29 districts to turn election time anti-war rhetoric into results. We also need to monitor work on nuclear proliferation, Iran, and cooperation with the world community to eliminate torture and small arms sales to human rights abusing countries.
Contact the
110th Congress
4 things you can do to help end the war in Iraq
1. Write letters to the editor of your
local newspaper about the war and an exit strategy.
2. Gather signatures for our People's
Petition for an Iraq Peace Process.
Download
here
3. Call, e-mail or write your Senators
and Congress people.
4. Volunteer
with Peace Action New York State to go on legislative
visits, help with protest campaigns, distribute literature
and sponsor movie nights about the Iraq war.
Act Now!
SUPPORT THE CHILD SOLDIER PREVENTION ACT OF 2007
(S. 1175)
Limit US Military Assistance to Governments Using Child Soldiers
Today, an estimated 250,000 children are serving in armed conflict in 20 countries around the world. These "child soldiers" include boys and girls, sometimes
as young as eight years old, serving in government armies, government-linked militias, and armed opposition groups. They serve in all aspects of contemporary
warfare-as spies, messengers, guards, cooks, porters, security officers, and too often, as front-line combatants. Many female child soldiers are forced to
serve as sex slaves or "wives" of military commanders.
Although many child soldiers are found in non-governmental armed opposition groups, the State Department reports that governments in ten countries are
implicated in child soldier use. The US government provides military assistance to nine of them.
Some of these governments recruit children into their own armed forces, while others are directly linked to militias that use children in warfare. They
include: Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Uganda. US military assistance to these
countries ranges from small amounts of funding for military training to hundreds of millions in weapons, training, and military financing. US tax dollars
should not be used to support the exploitation of children as soldiers. Moreover, US weapons should not end up in the hands of children.
The Child Soldier Prevention Act (S1175) is bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sam Brownback (R-KS). The bill would
restrict five categories of US military assistance (International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Foreign Military Sales, Direct
Commercial Sales, and Excess Defense Articles) to governments described above until they end any involvement in the recruitment or use of child soldiers. The
bill would not automatically cut off these military assistance programs; governments taking concrete steps to end child recruitment and demobilize child
soldiers would remain eligible for assistance directed solely towards the professionalization of their forces for up to two years before any prohibition on
assistance would be imposed.
This bill will provide clear incentives for governments currently implicated in the recruitment and use of child soldiers to end this practice and demobilize
children from their forces. It also encourages the United States to expand funding to rehabilitate former child soldiers and work with the international
community to bring to justice rebel armed groups that kidnap children for use as soldiers.
Help Stop the Use of Child Soldiers:
Write a letter to your Members of Congress urging them to co-sponsor the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007.
Click here to send a letter now!
Watch a short 4-minute video for more information
—Encourage organizations you are involved with to endorse the legislation
—Urge your local newspaper and radio/television news programs to do a story about child soldiers
—Share information about the bill with your friends, classmates and colleagues
Learn more, click on the links below:
About the Child Soldier Prevention Act
About child soldiers
Tips for Successful Legislative Meetings
Meeting in person with
elected officials and/or legislative staff is the
most effective means of political advocacy. Here
are some important "do's" and "don'ts" to
ensure that your lobbying meeting is successful
and effective.
Do:
Make an appointment in advance. Time
is always at a premium in legislative offices. Contact
the legislator's scheduler in advance to arrange a meeting.
Call the office or check the legislator's website to
find out how the meeting request should be made - by
fax, e-mail or in writing. Follow up with a phone call
or two, requests sometimes get lost. Be clear about
who will be attending the meeting and the specific reason
for the meeting. Legislative schedules are unpredictable
so don't be put off if your meeting is rescheduled or
if you have to meet with staff in lieu of the elected
official.
Your homework. Prepare carefully and
thoroughly for your meeting. Take the time to "know"
your legislator by reviewing past votes or statements
on the issue, his/her party's position, and committee
assignments. Develop an agenda that all your participants
clearly understand. Know your talking points in advance
and be prepared to make your case. Research the opposition's
arguments against your position and, if possible, acknowledge
and rebut those arguments in your presentation.
Dress Well. What you wear can convey
how seriously you take the meeting. It is important
to wear clean, and neat clothing. Slacks, skirts, button
down shirts and blazers are appropriate. Teeshirts with
text, jeans, flipflops, tank tops and other casual clothing
should be left at home. Stay "on message." Effective
legislative meetings should be narrow in scope. Stick
to a single issue, state only a few key points in support
of your position and make a definite request for action.
Many meetings are ineffective because a participant
brings up other issues or strays from the key arguments
supporting your position. Have a message and stick to
it.
Go local. Your effectiveness is based
on geography. Legislators want to hear your thoughts
and opinions because you are a constituent. One of your
most useful strategies is to relate the issue and your
position to your community. Legislators have many other
avenues to get national or state analysis, reports and
statistics. Local statistics and stories are important
and you can be the only source for such rich information.
Don't be afraid to humanize the issue by relating it
to your local community or personal experience.
Make a clear, actionable request.
Many people are afraid that it's impolite to make a
direct request. But, don't forget that the purpose of
your meeting is to secure support for your issue. It
is appropriate and expected that you will make a request
at your meeting. The key is to make sure that your request
is clearly articulated and actionable by the legislator.
Keep in mind that your request should be timely and
consistent with the legislative process. It is usually
not enough to ask for generic support for an issue or
cause, rather make a direct and specific request that
is tied to pending legislative activity (if possible).
For example, ask that a legislator co-sponsor a bill.
You should make reference to bill numbers and be knowledgeable
about the status of the bill. Making a specific request
gives you the opportunity to evaluate the legislator's
response.
Cultivate a relationship with staff. Many
grassroots advocates underestimate the important role
of legislative staff. A supportive staff person can
often make the difference between success and failure.
Staff play an invaluable role in shaping a legislator's
agenda and position on issues. It is important that
you make every effort to cultivate a positive working
relationship with staff. Over time, staff may even come
to regard you as a helpful resource for information
on your issue.
Follow up. What happens after a meeting
is almost as important as the meeting itself. Send a
'thank you' letter after the meeting that not only expresses
appreciation but reinforces your message and any verbal
commitment of support made by the legislator or staff.
If you promise during the meeting to get back in touch
with additional information, be sure that you do so.
Failure to follow up on your promise will call your
credibility into question. Also, don't forget to report
the results of your meeting back to PANYS. This information
is vital to coordinating overall legislative strategy
and evaluating the impact of advocacy efforts. Follow-up
is important even if the legislator does not agree to
support your request because you are building a long-term
relationship.
Don't:
Go "off-message" or discuss unrelated issues. You must deliver a unified message during your
meeting. Sending different messages or discussing unrelated
subjects will only undermine your ability to secure
support. Limit your advocacy to a single issue. Legislators
meet with many groups and constituents so it is important
that your message and request be clear and uniform.
Engage in partisan critiques. It is
best to keep the discussion based on the merits of the
policy or issue. Avoid characterizing your position
in strictly partisan terms. Worse, do not make snide
or disparaging partisan comments. You are working on
behalf of an issue, not a party. So, you want legislators
of both parties to support your position. Be careful
not to alienate legislators or staff based on partisanship.
Use threats. While it may be tempting
to tell a legislator who has rebuffed your request that
"you'll never vote for him/her again" or that "you pay
his/her salary," such discourtesy only ensures that
your arguments will be discounted-now and in the future.
Be late. Time is a valuable and scare
commodity for legislators. Punctuality conveys professionalism
and demonstrates your commitment to your issue, which
is after all the reason for the meeting. Arrive early
and if you are meeting as a group allow time to calm
nerves and make a final review of the talking points
and message.
Get too comfortable. Advocates are
sometimes surprised by the courteous reception they
receive, even from lawmakers who disagree with their
position. As a constituent you will be accorded respect
by the legislator and staff. Don't mistake this respect
for agreement. Don't let the comfortable nature of the
exchange deter you from making your request. And, don't
mistake "concern" for your issue with support for your
position.
Forget to follow up. Immediately send
a thank you letter. Stay informed on your issue and
track how your legislator responds. Did the legislator
follow through on his/her promise? If not, request an
explanation. If so, express your appreciation.