Call For Solidarity From Poets Against War

Dear Poets Against War:

Fernando Rendón, poet and workhorse for peace, directs the Medellín International Poetry Festival. We at Poets Against War support his petition whole-heartedly.

Please go to
http://www.poetsagainstwar.net/poetspetition2.asp
and add your signature.

Namaste,
Sam Hamill & the PAW Board

Medellin, March 22nd, 2006.
Dear poets:

Greetings from Colombia.

We invite you to sign the attached letter to express as soon as possible your solidarity with this cause and then to circulate this letter electronically among your friends.

All the best,
Fernando Rendón
Director
International Poetry Festival of Medellin

Cease hypocrisy on the issue of Human Rights
The 62nd Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights will begin next March 20 in Geneva, coinciding with the broadcasting of new footage of US military torturing Iraqi prisoners.

The United States and its EU allies have successively prevented this Commission from condemning the massive and systematic violations of human rights promoted in the name of the so called war against terrorism.

The EU governments have refused to admit the testimonies and evidences submitted by citizens of their countries, who have been victims of several forms of torture at Guantánamo navy base. They have also allowed the flight of CIA aircrafts carrying prisoners to illegal detention centers in Europe and elsewhere.

We the undersigned call upon intellectuals, artists, social activists, and men and women of goodwill everywhere to join our claims: the Commission on Human Rights or the Council that will substitute it, must demand the immediate closing of the arbitrary detention centers created by the United States as well as the ceasing of all these deliberate violations of human dignity.

In Memoriam: John Morressy

from the Blind SF listserv

Forwarded (I think) from Joyce Scrivner:
SF and fantasy writer John Morressy died Monday, March 20, 2006, of a heart attack at his home in Sullivan, New Hampshire, at the age of 75. Morressy wrote more than 20 books, from space opera to humorous fantasy, and was best known for his novels and stories (mostly in F&SF) about Kedrigern the wizard.

» The SFWA obituary includes funeral details
http://www.sfwa.org/news/2006/jmorressy.htm

From mataliandy via listener: The Impeachment Wagon is Ready to Roll

(Oh you know you want it...)
All aboard!

Vermont's Impeachment document known as the Rutland Resolution has wheels, and we're hitching our wagon to it.

The Rutland Resolution is a resolution passed by the Rutland Vermont County Democrats on February 28 that takes advantage of a little-known US House rule for impeachment charges to be transmitted to the US House from the states. It's building a groundswell of support in Vermont, and starting to leak into other states. Rhode Island already had their own version in the works, and there are rumors of action elsewhere.

We need to keep the momentum going!

mataliandy has just posted a do-it-yourself impeachment guide on Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/7/105540/6002 and MyLeftWing http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6540, which includes the text of the Rutland Resolution, link to a pdf of the US House Rules, as well as steps to creating your own state's resolution.

Recommends are needed, but we also need swarming. The most helpful thing right now is to get rolling thunder - make it sweep across the landscape before it can be stopped. Once the word is out there, we can keep people excited by reporting on what's happening with it around the country. If we can't get it into the media, we can at least get it into our communities.

That's where you come in. If you can get folks to recommend, please do, but also, if you have a blog or know someone with a blog, please post about it - feel free to use the entire thing wholesale if you're short on time. The important thing is to get it disseminated.

While you're at it, please email the diary to any email lists you belong to. The more people who are aware of the option, the better

For more information email: impeach@dfvt.com

Thank you!

Ads For The War On Iraq, Coming To A TV Near You

TruthOut reports today:

TV Ads Push Iraq War Support
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030206E.shtml
In an early sign of the imagery that may flood the nation's television screens as congressional elections approach this fall, a conservative political group closely aligned with the Bush administration has launched a blitz of television ads to shore up sagging public support for the war in Iraq.

I don't need to read the story. The summary alone is enough to raise my blood pressure. I'll only say here that the purchase and broadcast of such adverts seems to me to be an abuse of the public airwaves and of the cable services many Americans pay for.

Cardinal: Ash Wednesday, 2006

"All artists are mystics in some way."

~ Franciscan Br. Robert Lentz,
(known for his riveting rendition of the Stations of the Cross)

Br. Robert's work can be found at Trinity Stores.