WNPJ Action Alerts - Week of May 31

Submitted by admin on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 2:19pm

Action Alert 1 - Madison: Common Council to vote on resolution opposing anti-immigrant racial profiling
Action Alert 2: Congressional resolution demands Indonesian government respect human rights in West Papua
Action Alert 3: Urge Feingold and Kohl to support funding to prevent teacher layoffs
Action Alert 4: Action needed to prevent jail time for climate activist Ted Glick
Action Alert 5: "War is Making You Poor" bill introduced in House
Action Alert 6: Send a letter of support to British war resister
Action Alert 7: Thank Sen. Feingold for "no" vote on war funding
Action Alert 8: House votes next on war-escalation funding



Action Alert 1 - Madison: Common Council to vote on resolution opposing anti-immigrant racial profiling
Background: In response to Arizona's harshly anti-immigrant law SB1070, the Madison Common Council will be considering a resolution that opposes local immigration policies that encourage discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity and immigration status. The resolution also calls on the Federal government to enact and enforce comprehensive immigration reform.
Action Step: There will be an opportunity to speak and/or register in support of the resolution at the next Common Council meeting, Tuesday, June 1 at 6:30pm  in Room 201 of the City-County Building.  You can also email all Madison Alders at: allalders@cityofmadison.com, or find contact information for your own Alder here... The resolution is sponsored by Alders Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, Bridget Maniaci, Marsha Rummel, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Chris Schmidt, Brian Solomon and Mike Verveer, and supported by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. Please contact these bill sponsors and Mayor Cieslewicz to thank them for taking a stand against anti-immigrant legislation.
Contact for more info: Patrick Hickey, Workers' Rights Center, 608-255-0376, worker1@sbcglobal.net

Action Alert 2: Congressional resolution demands Indonesian government respect human rights in West Papua
Background: The U.S. Department of State, UN investigators and human rights organizations have found evidence of widespread torture in Indonesian prisons and documented the arrest of political dissidents by the Indonesian government in the Indonesian provinces of West Papua and Papua.  A year ago, the Indonesian government expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross from West Papua. Papuans Filep Karma,Yusak Pakage and others may spend the next decade or more in prison in Indonesia for peacefully expressing their political views. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (RI) has introduced a Congressional resolution, H. Res. 1355, calling for the release of imprisoned  political dissidents and for the government of Indonesia to allow international observers into Indonesian prisons.
Action Step: Please contact your Congressional Representative to urge them to sign on as co-sponsors to H. Res. 1355.
Contact for more info: John Miller, National Coordinator, East Timor & Indonesia Action Network, 718-596-7668, john@etan.org

Action Alert 3: Urge Feingold and Kohl to support funding to prevent teacher layoffs
Background: Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), has introduced the Keep Our Educators Working Act, to create a $23 billion Education Jobs Fund to help keep teachers, principals, librarians and other school personnel on the job as states face crippling budget shortfalls. Without this help, Milwaukee will need to cut 682 jobs from its public schools, and school districts across the state will need to make similar cuts: Menasha could cut 22 teachers, Oshkosh could cut 29 teachers and Oshkosh high schools could lose 40 course offerings.
Action Step: Please call Senator Kohl (202-224-5653) and Senator Feingold (202-224-5323) to urge them to sign on as cosponsors the Keep Our Educators Working Act, or click here to send an email message to Senators Kohl and Feingold.
Contact for more info: Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now, own@onewisconsinnow.org, (608) 204-0677

Action Alert 4: Action needed to prevent jail time for climate activist Ted Glick
Background: Ted Glick of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was convicted on May 13th of peacefully dropping two banners inside the U.S. Senate Hart Office Building last September. One of the banners said, "GREEN JOBS NOW" and the other said, "GET TO WORK." Sentencing by Judge Frederick H. Weisberg is scheduled for June 6, and the charge of which Ted was convicted carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.  
Action Step: Please write a respectful but firm letter to Judge Frederick H. Weisberg, DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20001, explaining why a prison sentence would not be appropriate for an act of nonviolent political expression. A large number of thoughtful, well-reasoned letters to Judge Weisberg could bring a suspended sentence.
Contact for more info: Mike Tidwell, Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240-460-5838, MTidwell@ChesapeakeClimate.org

Action Alert 5: "War is Making You Poor" bill introduced in House
Background: Rep. Alan Grayson has introduced the War is Making You Poor Act (.pdf), which would require that any funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan be taken from the $549 billion already set forth in the president's budget for defense spending and without the additional $159 billion the president has now requested in supplemental war funding. Grayson's bill would then take the $159 billion saved and use it to make the first $35,000 of income tax-free for all individual taxpayers and the first $70,000 in income tax-free for married couples, effectively exempting almost a third of Americans from federal taxes.
Action Step: Please contact your Congressional Representative and urge them to sign on as a cosponsor to the Grayson bill.
Contact for more info: Office of Rep. Alan Grayson, Washington D.C., (202) 225-2176

Action Alert 6: Send a letter of support to British war resister
Background: Joe Glenton, a British soldier who refused to redeploy to Afghanistan and who has since spoken out against the war, is currently serving a sentence of nine months in a military prison. After fleeing the country to avoid a deployment to Afghanistan, Glenton returned to Britain to hand himself in to the military authorities and became a prominent campaigner against the war, delivering a letter to the Prime Minister and addressing anti-war protesters in Trafalgar Square. Joe was diagnosed with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his first tour to Afghanistan. Glenton's attorney, Nick Wrack, said, “He thought he was going to help Afghanistan, to help the local people. Instead, the experience and the reality began to conflict with that."
Action Step: Please send a letter of support to: Joe Glenton; Military Corrective Training Center; Berechurch Hallcamp; Colchester C02 9NU; England  A letter written to Joe by Mike Ferner, Veterans For Peace National President is here...
Contact for more info: Courage to Resist, 510-488-3559, email form here...

Action Alert 7: Thank Sen. Feingold for "no" vote on war funding
Background: Yesterday, by a vote of 67 to 28, the Senate approved a supplemental funding bill including $33 billion to fund the escalation of the Afghanistan war by an additional 30,000 troops. Russ Feingold voted "no" and Senator Herb Kohl voted "yes." In a practice commonly referred to as "putting lipstick on the pig",  Senate leaders attached several worthwhile funding measures to the war-funding bill, including aid for Haitian earthquake victims and money for cleanup after the Nashville flood. Both measures would have likely passed the Senate without being attached to a war-funding bill. On the same day, the Senate also rejected, by a vote of 80-18, a bill authored by Sen. Feingold that would have required the President to establish a timetable for withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Action Step: Please call Senator Feingold's office to thank him for voting against war funding, and for his bill calling for a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Contact for more info: Steve Burns, Program Director, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, 608-250-9240, outreach@wnpj.org

Action Alert 8: House votes next on war-escalation funding
Background: The House is expected to vote soon, possibly as soon as next week, on the war-escalation bill just passed by the Senate (see above). When speaking to members of Congress or their staff, it's important to emphasize that worthwhile measures like aid to Haiti could pass the House and Senate without being attached to a war-funding bill, and that it is immoral and perverse to tie help to the devastated people of Haiti to funding for bringing additional devastation to the people of Afghanistan.
Action Step: Please contact your member of Congress to urge them to vote against the war-escalation funding bill. Calls to Representatives Baldwin (202-225-2906) and Kagen (202-225-5665) are especially important, to thank them for their past "no" votes on war funding, and to encourage them to stand firm in their opposition to more war funding.
Contact for more info: David Swanson, After Downing Street, david@davidswanson.org
 

WNPJ develops these weekly alerts from alerts received from member organizations, individual members and national affiliates. If you are a WNPJ member and have an alert you would like posted, please send it for review to Steve Burns, WNPJ Program Director at: outreach@wnpj.org.