Saturday, April 28, 2007
Blue Hearts 20.4.28.07
Hello all,
Here’s your latest installation of the blog.
Happy reading and keep it blue!!
Kristin
GENERAL INTEREST
Fascinating link. K
Shows who dominated the Middle East over thousands of years. Watching it takes 90 seconds...........
http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf
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This, from Hillary Clinton. Please send to any of your friends who think for one second that Roe v. Wade is safe with this president! K
We already knew how important this election was for every American. Yesterday, the Supreme Court raised the stakes even higher.
The Court took a dramatic departure from decades of rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose and recognized the importance of women's health. Let's be clear: this allows the government to dictate to women what they can and cannot do about their own health.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg disagreed with this decision and warned, "This cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this court -- and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives."
When the Senate debated the nominations of Samuel Alito and John Roberts to the Supreme Court, I spoke out on the Senate floor about the danger they posed to our constitutional liberties, including the right to choose. I urged my colleagues to reject them, and I voted against both of them. Yesterday, unfortunately, we saw the consequences of failing to stop their confirmations.
The decade of work that the far right has done to chip away at our rights was paid off in this Supreme Court decision. They worked hard to gain the presidency and the Senate so they could shape a Supreme Court that rewarded them by putting a narrow ideology above our constitutional rights. In their ruling, the conservative majority even used right-wing code language, referring to obstetricians as "abortion doctors."
There's one way we can respond: redouble our efforts to win the White House and more seats in the House and Senate. We need a president who understands that the best way to protect women's health and reduce the number of abortions is to expand access to family planning -- not to threaten doctors and patients. We need a Congress that will say no to rolling back the rights of women.
And here is my promise to you: As a senator, I will do everything I can to make sure women can protect their health, and when I am president, I will treat the health and well being of women and our constitutional rights once again as true American values.
I hope you'll pass this message along to your friends and talk with them about why this issue is important to you. I'll follow up with you soon with ways you can take direct action to protect our right to choose.
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
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I receive an online magazine, Zinda, on all things Assyrian. These articles show you a side of the war in Iraq not covered in the mainstream media. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on how it’s going over there. K
Suicide Bombing Kills 10 in Assyrian Town of Tel-Usqof
(ZNDA: Baghdad) On Monday, April 23rd, aroung 9:30 in the morning, a suicide car bomb attack occurred near the northern city of Mosul at 10:10 a.m. when a suicide attacker detonated his car and at least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack in Tal Uskuf, a town 9 miles north of Mosul.
The car bomb exploded in the middle of the village market, in front of the social club near an elementary school.
Tel-Usqof is a predominantly Christian town. This was the first terrorist attack in this tight-knit community since the Iraq war started.
The injured victims were transported to hospitals in the neighboring towns and cities including Tel-Kef, Sheikhan and Dohuk.
Christians in Baghdad Under Pressure to Convert to Islam
(ZNDA: Baghdad) Zinda sources close to the churches in Baghdad indicated on Tuesday that "certain faction of Moslems" have begun forcing the Assyrians living in the Christian neighborhoods of Baghdad to either convert to Islam or leave within 24 hours.
In other news, a few neighborhoods have been visited by other Moslem groups demanding a "protection tax" better known as the jizya in accordance to the Islamic law.
According to similar reports from the Assyrian International News Agency in Hay al-Mechaneek in the Dora district of Baghdad, Christians have been ordered to uninstall their satellite dishes. Assyrians in the districts of Hay al-Mualimeen (the Teachers' Quarter) and the Hay al-Athoreen (the Assyrians Quarter) have been warned to either convert to Islam or leave immediately.
On Friday, 13 April, an Islamic group issued an ultimatum to the Assyrian families in Baghdad, ordering them to convert to Islam within 24 hours or risk death. The Islamic fatwa issued also included total confiscation of all Christian properties, veiling of the Assyrian women in accordance to the Islamic laws, and the making of the sign of the cross or wearing of a cross in public.
The Crosses from the Churches of St. John and St. George have already been removed by the members of these militant Islamic groups and the Assyrian monastery of Raban Hormuz in north Iraq is now occupied by militant Islamists.
Some families arriving recently in Syria from Baghdad have confirmed this information and describe the situation as "impossible to tolerate."
US Troops Occupy Babel College in Baghdad
Courtesy of the Catholic World News
24 April 2007
(ZNDA: Baghdad) American troops have occupied Babel College, a Chaldean Catholic theological faculty in Baghdad, raising concerns that the college could become the target of attacks.
Because of repeated attacks on Christians in Baghdad, and threats against the faculty of Babel College, Chaldean Church officials chose to move teachers and students to a relatively safe location in Ankawa, in northern Iraq, early this year. US troops set up a base in the empty facility.
Babel College is the only Catholic theological faculty in Iraq, and the college library is one of the oldest in the country, boasting a rich religious collection and some rare ancient manuscripts. Chaldean Church officials are worried about the safety of the collection.
Bishop Shlemon Warduni, an auxiliary of the Chaldean patriarchate in Baghdad, has opened talks with US military officials about the future of Babel College, the Italian SIR news agency reports. American officers have reportedly said that the army will vacate the facility soon.
Assyrian Village in North Iraq Terrorized By Kurds
Report by the Assyrian International News Agency
11 April 2007
On Monday, March 03, 2007 at 14:00 a Kurd accompanied by an Assyrian from Shayeez entered the Assyrian village of Kora Gavan and began assaulting some of the inhabitants. Local residents rounded up the two invaders and beat them. In response to this Shimmal Ammadi, the Kurdish mayor of the district of Zaweeta, and Sarwan Trawanshi, a three star general of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) security, warned the Assyrian residents of the village not to attack Kurds again even in self defense.
The residents of the village filed several complains with the Governor and the Assyrian vice Governor of Duhok, both of whom were unresponsive and took no action in the matter.
The Kurdish intention is to chase the Assyrians out of their village so they can complete its annexation into Kurdish territory. The KRG has illegally rebuilt more than 600 homes for Kurds over Assyrian lands in this village.
Before the Assyrian massacre of 1933, approximately 300 families lived in Kora Gavan in 100 homes. Since 1963 Kora Gavana was continuously persecuted at the hands of the Iraqi authorities and its Kurdish supporters. This ill treatment forced many of its residents to leave and dwell in other villages and cities. Some of its original residents returned when conditions improved.
In 1976 Saddam's Ba'ath government and its Kurdish supporters began encroaching upon the village. By 1980 the Iraqi government had built a residential compound of 500 homes to settle the Kurds who had been forced out of their villages and who in turn forced the Assyrians out. After 1991 Kurds form other villages, mainly from Zawita, also began squatting on on Kora Gavana's lands. When the number of Kurdish settlers surpassed those of its Assyrian inhabitants, their assault on the Assyrians resumed, only this time worse than before.
These assaults ranged from bullying and harassment to criminal acts such as life threatening beatings and vandalizing and destroying crops. The assaults and harassment escalated on a daily bases, which made the lives of the Assyrians in Kora Gavana intolerable. The assaults and brutal attacks were so excessive and damaging to the livelihood of the Assyrians that most of them who cultivated and made their living from farming in Kora Gavana were forced to leave their land and migrate to other villages and cities looking for employment and source of income. This exodus greatly reduced the number of Assyrians living in Kora Gavana, to a mere 5 families.
Today, as the acts of war terror escalate in cities such as Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, many Assyrians who fled Kora Gavana in late 1970s and settled in these cities find themselves in a quandary yet again. The predicament is whether to stay in these cities and risk death daily, or take shelter in Kora Gavana. The problem, however, is that if they go back to the village they have to confront the atrocities that continue to take place on a daily basis at the hands of the Kurds and their Assyrian supporters.
Bishops Appeal: Save Iraq’s Christians!
Courtesy of the Asia News
23 April 2007
(ZNDA: Kirkuk) As churches close their doors, car bombs explode, forced conversions and kidnappings take place in Baghdad but also in Nineveh, the Bishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako appeals to the world to do something for Iraq’s Christians, who have been a part of the country’s mosaic since time immemorial.
“In Iraq Christians are dying, the Church is disappearing under continued persecution, threats and violence carried out by extremists who are leaving us no choice: conversion or exile”. This is the urgent appeal sent by msgr. Louis Sako, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, while reports arrive of car bombs and the death of Christians in the Kurdish area, until now untouched by the confessional violence.
The bishop who is president of Iraq’s Council of Catholic Churches’ Committee for inter religious dialogue , signed a declaration regarding the “tragic situation of Baghdadis Christians”, denouncing militant groups which under the threat of armed violence ask Christians to convert immediately to Islam or to consign their property and leave the country. The same thing happens in Mosul, but with a different “choice”: pay a monetary tribute to the Jihad if they want to avoid their death.
The Iraqi Christian community, at home and abroad, has long urged the local Church to take a stand against the forced evacuation, rape, kidnap, paying a ransom, blackmail, scarring and killing they suffer and the complete lack of protection from the local government and coalition forces. And in the last two days, as the controversial plan to install a secure zone for Christians in the Nineveh Plain begins to take shape, the terrorists have begun targeting the zoned area. “It’s almost a political gesture – observes msgr Sako – as if to say: “we can hit anywhere, nowhere is safe”.
The confessional based attacks are no longer just restricted to Baghdad and Mosul, but now target small centres in the North. Yesterday a group of fundamentalists executed 23 yazidi on the road linking Mosul to Ba’ashika, a majority Christian village: they stopped a bus and after having made Arabs and Christians alight they killed the faithful of this ancient religion, based on the strong Good-Evil dualism. Today a car bomb close to a school in Tell-el-skop, a Christian village, and 9 people died including 2 children; 60 were wounded. A convent of Dominican nuns, which is nearby, was badly damaged in the blast.
“We can no longer be silent –explains Msgr. Sako by phone to AsiaNews – we have to remind the world of the importance of the Christian presence in Iraq, for the good of Iraq”. “Christians are one of the oldest constituents of the Iraqi people –he explains in his statement– Since the beginning they have incorporated with its other constituents like the Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Sabea, and Yazedis; playing a pioneering role in the building of the civilization of Iraq. In addition they defended their adherence to the soil and integrity of Iraq courageously and together with their Moslems brothers. Everybody witnesses their loyalty, honesty, wisdom and their desire to live in peace and brotherhood with others. Christians have long lived with Moslems whether Sunnis or Shias in mutual respect and shared the good and the bad days together with them. They have been part of the Islamic culture for the last 14 centuries, by large without problems. Today they want to continue this existence in the spirit of love and under the charter of human rights”.
However in the current situation Christians are targeted as chief conspirators to be exploited or eliminated. They cannot openly profess their faith, the veil is imposed on the women and the crosses are taken down from their churches, threats of kidnappings and extortion weigh heavily over all of them. Msgr Sako lists the violence to which they are submitted on a daily basis: “now a days Christians are suffering in certain areas and cities in Iraq from forced evacuation, rape, kidnap, blackmail, scarring and killing. This unfamiliar behaviour contradicts the Iraqi humanitarian and Islamic morals. Let everybody realize that emptying Iraq of Christians will be disastrous not only for the Christians but for all Iraqis!... Forcing Christians to leave their homes indicates deterioration in the concept of conviviality and furthermore it destroys the cultural, civil and religious mosaic of which Iraq is considered to be the very cradle”.
The appeal signed by Msgr. Sako urges all of the political, religious and cultural communities of Iraq to remain united, because “there is no salvation without our unity. Let the outsider whoever is he, leave and stay away so that the danger of death and the risk of division disappear and vanish and thus permitting life to return to what it once was; a river which flowed in harmony, a river of brotherhood and close unity”.
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'No One Deserves a Tragedy'
Jim Wallis, Sojourners
April 19, 2007
Monday morning in Blacksburg, Virginia, 32 students and staff at Virginia Tech were killed in the largest single shooting in modern American history. The shooter, an angry and disturbed young man, then killed himself.
Looking at the profiles of the dead, I am struck by their diversity. They ranged in age from 18 to 76; they came from nine states, along with Puerto Rico, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Romania. They were male and female, African-American, Asian, Middle Eastern and Caucasian. They were all people who began a day little knowing it would suddenly end their lives.
This is not a time to seek easy answers or to assign blame. It is, rather, a time to pray, mourn, and reflect. While this tragedy can perhaps be partially explained by the easy accessibility of guns in our society, by the saturation of violence in our popular culture, by the fact that the visible signs of Cho Seung Hui's troubled life could have been taken more seriously, by concerns about university security, or by any number of other things, ultimately there is no simple explanation. And there are generally no single causes for such horrible events. In the Virginia Tech memorial convocation Tuesday evening, Professor and poet Nikki Giovanni said:
We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. ... We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.
All of us at Sojourners/Call to Renewal join in the national mourning. We offer our prayers and send our condolences to the families and friends of those who died, those who were injured, and to the entire Virginia Tech community. We pray that the comforting presence of God will be felt in the midst of such deep heartache. Sorrow can sometimes prove redemptive in ways no one could have imagined beforehand. It’s time to let sorrow do its reflective and redemptive work, to hold the hands that need to be held, to let our tears open our hearts to change those things that lead to such tragedy, and to trust our pain to the loving arms of God.
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The bad news: Global warming is real. The better news: there are real ways you can help.
In honor of Earth Day, here are five things you can do to make a cleaner planet and a better tomorrow. The best part is they are low-cost or free -- but have a huge impact.
1. Reduce. Here's a bright idea: Swap out five standard light bulbs for energy-saving compact fluorescents. They use 25% less energy and last 10 times as long. Other ways to save: unplug unused appliances and take public transit. For more cool tips, go to the Natural Resources Defense Council website: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baeg0Ef
2. Offset. Once you've done what you can to reduce your impact on the environment, offset the rest. Make a donation to reverse the greenhouse gases you produce. Go to CarbonFund.org: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb04EJ0En
3. Recycle. Have an old cellphone just sitting in a drawer? CollectiveGood can send these phones for use in developing countries, or safely recycles materials from them. To donate your phone today (the shipping is free), go to CollectiveGood.com: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baeh0Eg
4. Take Action. We need bold action to solve the climate crisis. The United States is currently responsible for nearly 25% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, so we need to take the lead in solving the problem. Senators Boxer and Sanders have come forward with a bill to achieve 80% emissions reductions by 2050; click here to support the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baei0Eh
5. Get a cool credit card. Get the credit card that plants trees and supports alternative-energy groups. Click to find out more:
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baej0Ei
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Laurie David's favorite "go green" tips that even "lazy environmentalists" can do easily:
a. Use compact fluorescent bulbs
b. Buy a reusable bottle for water and stop buying cases of plastic bottled water.
c. Unplug your rechargers when not charging up your electronics
d. Take shorter showers - water for bathing accounts for 2/3rds of all water heating costs
e. Buy a hybrid (you know how I feel about this! I love my Prius!!)
f. Create idle-free zones (like in school carpool lines)
g. Buy local food products - they use less packaging and travel less distance to get to the store/market saving fossil fuels
h. Take cloth bags to the grocery store or market - or any shops for that matter! Of course, my tip is to just say "no, thanks!" to the plastic bag offered at grocery stores or other shops if you only bought a few items and can easily carry them out.
i. Put on a sweater, rather than turn up the heat. Of course with summer on the way, now we need to say: pare down to a tee and shorts rather than turn the temps down on the a/c. I also find that having a fan running can let me put the a/c at a temp about 5 degrees higher and still feel comfortable.
j. Switch your toilet paper and paper towels to recycled paper. Ask yourself - are you really ok with a 100 year old tree being cut down for your toilet paper? "If every American household changed just one roll of paper made with virgin wood to one recyclable post-consumer roll, half a million trees would still be standing."
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I heard the story on public radio and sought out this must-read article. To read officer Yingling’s commentary in Armed Forces Journal, http://www.armedforcesjournal.com. K
Army Officer Accuses Generals of 'Intellectual and Moral Failures'
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 27, 2007; A04
An active-duty Army officer is publishing a blistering attack on U.S. generals, saying they have botched the war in Iraq and misled Congress about the situation there.
"America's generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq," charges Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, an Iraq veteran who is deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "The intellectual and moral failures . . . constitute a crisis in American generals."
Yingling's comments are especially striking because his unit's performance in securing the northwestern Iraqi city of Tall Afar was cited by President Bush in a March 2006 speech and provided the model for the new security plan underway in Baghdad.
He also holds a high profile for a lieutenant colonel: He attended the Army's elite School for Advanced Military Studies and has written for one of the Army's top professional journals, Military Review.
The article, "General Failure," is to be published today in Armed Forces Journal and is posted at http://www.armedforcesjournal.com. Its appearance signals the public emergence of a split inside the military between younger, mid-career officers and the top brass.
Many majors and lieutenant colonels have privately expressed anger and frustration with the performance of Gen. Tommy R. Franks, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno and other top commanders in the war, calling them slow to grasp the realities of the war and overly optimistic in their assessments.
Some younger officers have stated privately that more generals should have been taken to task for their handling of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, news of which broke in 2004. The young officers also note that the Army's elaborate "lessons learned" process does not criticize generals and that no generals in Iraq have been replaced for poor battlefield performance, a contrast to other U.S. wars.
Top Army officials are also worried by the number of captains and majors choosing to leave the service. "We do have attrition in those grade slots above our average," acting Army Secretary Pete Geren noted in congressional testimony this week. In order to curtail the number of captains leaving, he said, the Army is planning a $20,000 bonus for those who agree to stay in, plus choices of where to be posted and other incentives.
Until now, charges of incompetent leadership have not been made as publicly by an Army officer as Yingling does in his article.
"After going into Iraq with too few troops and no coherent plan for postwar stabilization, America's general officer corps did not accurately portray the intensity of the insurgency to the American public," he writes. "For reasons that are not yet clear, America's general officer corps underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq's government and security forces and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq."
Yingling said he decided to write the article after attending Purple Heart and deployment ceremonies for Army soldiers. "I find it hard to look them in the eye," he said in an interview. "Our generals are not worthy of their soldiers."
He said he had made his superiors aware of the article but had not sought permission to publish it. He intends to stay in the Army, he said, noting that he is scheduled in two months to take command of a battalion at Fort Hood, Tex.
The article has been read by about 30 of his peers, Yingling added. "At the level of lieutenant colonel and below, it received almost universal approval," he said.
Retired Marine Col. Jerry Durrant, now working in Iraq as a civilian contractor, agrees that discontent is widespread. "Talk to the junior leaders in the services and ask what they think of their senior leadership, and many will tell you how unhappy they are," he said.
Yingling advocates overhauling the way generals are picked and calls for more involvement by Congress. To replace today's "mild-mannered team players," he writes, Congress should create incentives in the promotion system to "reward adaptation and intellectual achievement."
He does not criticize officers by name; instead, the article refers repeatedly to "America's generals." Yingling said he did this intentionally, in order to focus not on the failings of a few people but rather on systemic problems.
He also recommends that Congress review the performance of senior generals as they retire and exercise its power to retire them at a lower rank if it deems their performance inferior. The threat of such high-profile demotions would restore accountability among top officers, he contends. "As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war," he states.
LOCAL ITEMS
Here are some helpful, green hints from our friend at It’s Only Natural in Waldo.
Farmer's Markets are Open!!
Another sure sign of spring is the opening of some Farmer's Markets around KC. I hope you attended one in spite of the frosty weather last weekend. (I saw some real troopers attending the Brookside organic market!) There are so many great reasons to support local organic growers, not the least of which is for your GOOD HEALTH! Here are some other great reasons: REDUCE POLLUCTION: organic farming reduces toxic agricultural runoff in our lakes, rivers and streams. STOP GLOBAL WARMING: on average, most food travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate. That's a lot of fossil fuel consumption. More fossil fuels are used for chemical fertilizers and packaging. Eating local and organic foods help to reduce this wasteful cycle. SUPPORT FAMILY FARMS: Purchasing food from local farmers supports the regional economy, keeps family farmers in business, and keeps America beautiful. PRESERVE BIODIVERSITY: Local and organic farmers avoid industrial farming practices. They preserve biodiversity by planting varieties for taste and quality rather than yield and convenience. (Tips taken from FamilyFarmed.org)
Local Celebrity in our Midst!
I guess I'm not as on top of the news as I think I am! Maybe you can fill me in! I just read an article about Simran Sethi, born in Germany, who now lives in Lawrence, KS, and who is quite active in the "eco" arena! She has been on Oprah and Martha Stewart promoting green living, is the video anchor for Treehugger.com and is now getting ready to be a voice for The Green a new show on the Sundance channel. Apparently at her suggestion a segment on the new show will be filmed at Local Burger (the cafe in Lawrence that serves only locally produced, mostly grass-fed meats along with mostly organic vegan options.)
It's so exciting to have her here in the Midwest so we can show the world that the Midwest is eco-cool too!!
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I’ve been talking to some friends lately who were concerned about what’s happening in out-state MO. Do we have a chance of gaining seats in MO’s house? Please look at what MWLC is doing!! It gives us all something to be optimistic about. K
Read MWLC's Manifesto. What's Not to Love? Then Join Our Support Group.
MWLC, Missouri Women's Leadership Coalition, was formed in 2001 to educate and encourage progressive, pro-Choice Missouri women to run and serve on all levels of government. Our emphasis is on women in towns and rural areas outside of Kansas City and St. Louis. Our priority is the State Legislature.
Our goal is to bring Missouri in line with the progressive states that are leading the way to women's political equality. (50/50 by 20/20) At this point Missouri, with only 19.3% women in the legislature, ranks 43rd among the 50 states. Missouri's eloquent new US Senator, Claire McCaskill, started her political career in the Missouri House. We need more Claires in the pipeline.
MWLCEF, our C3 organization, is a non-member, non-partisan, coordinating board that serves as a network to facilitate communication, cooperation and collective action among Missouri women's organizations and individuals on issues of important to women and families. It is the Missouri link in the US Women Connect (USWC) growing 50-state network.
The ERA PAC, which is the political arm of MWLC and the Missouri Women's Network (MWN), trains and endorses candidates, and works to link candidates with other candidate support groups. (That's ERA for Equal Rights Amendment -- Missouri should be one of three states still needed for ratification.)
MWLC travels, speaks and trains across the state. We have a growing list of Regional Advisors who form Kitchen Cabinets in their areas, and work to identify outstanding local candidates and then support them when they run. Interested in working in your area? contact Rebecca at rr@axisarchkc.com.
Organizational Members:
• American Association of University Women (AAUW)
• Business and Professional Women (BPW)
• Missouri Women's Network
• Missouri NOW
• Missourians for Choice
• Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid Missouri
• Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus (GKC/WPC)
We invite other progressive groups to join our email network. Contact Rosemary at rosamaria@cybermesa.com
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The link at the bottom will take you to the sign-up sheet so you can join in this fabulous community supported agriculture program. K
WELCOME TO GOOD NATURED FAMILY FARMS
We want nothing more than to live on the land and farm it. We want to produce food that does not poison the earth or the ground water. We want to use methods that make that food safe for our fellow human beings. It isn't the fastest way to raise food or the most economical. It is simply the best.
We are an alliance of more than 40 family farms—some are 3rd or 4th generation—who raise our animals humanely and care for the earth in a sustainable fashion. We have banded together to be able to bring our foods to Hen House Markets, Balls Price Chopper Supermarkets , and the Community Mercantile in Lawrence, Kansas.
When you purchase Good Natured Family Farms’ products, you support the local family farms around the Kansas City area. These farms protect Kansas City’s natural resources by producing food with no pesticides, no growth hormones and no sub therapeutic antibiotics. Its food that is good for us, good for the earth, and best of all it tastes so good.
©Good Natured Family Farms, All rights reserved.
http://www.goodnatured.net/Promotions/Growers_Alliance_CSA_Form.pdf
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This, from Ira Harrit of American Friends Service Committee. K
Educate Yourself. Share your knowledge. Take Action!
For information about the American Friends Service Committee,
contact us at 816 931-5256 or afsckc@afsc.org
“We are called to speak for the weak,
for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation,
for those it calls, ‘enemy,’
for no document from human hands can make
these humans any less our brothers.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Help plan and implement anti-war and peace education, organizing and advocacy actions!
Come to the KC Iraq Task Force Monthly Meeting to build a movement to end this war and prevent the one in preparation!
Monday, April 30 at 6:30pm at the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO or call us to volunteer.
Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities
Peace and Justice Teach-ins will be on a break. For up to date information go to: http://peaceandjusticecoffeehouse.blogspot.com/
April 30, Monday, 6:30pm, KC Iraq Task Force Meeting to plan events to mark the 4th anniversary of the Iraq war. AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO. (note we will be meeting on the 5th Monday rather than the 4th Monday)
May 3, Thursday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., 10,000 Villages Gift Shopping & Fundraising Event Purchase unique and rare imported crafts and products from around the world and support the American Friends Service Committee. 7947 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, KS
MAY 1 or MAY 2: Israeli Uri Davis will speak in Kansas City about the situation in the Israeli town of Ramle, where recently the mayor made racist remarks that have garnered much condemnation. Mr. Davis works with Mosaic Communities (http://www.mosaic-coop.org) and speaks against social injustice in Israel. Here is a link to biographical information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri_Davis). We are now working on a venue and hope to have Kansas City council members in attendance. We think that Brit Tzedek will cohost with us. As soon as we know details, we'll send an announcement.
EVERY Sunday: Iraq Peace Vigil, 4pm, JC Nichols Fountain, 47th & Main, Streets, Kansas City, MO http://www.kciraqtaskforce.org/
EVERY TUESDAY: JOIN THIS Peace Demonstration Every Tuesday between 5PM - 6 PM in the median strip on the south corner of the intersection at 63rd & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo. For more information email '63rd Street Patriots' at schwartzkatz@sbcglobal.net
Here’s your latest installation of the blog.
Happy reading and keep it blue!!
Kristin
GENERAL INTEREST
Fascinating link. K
Shows who dominated the Middle East over thousands of years. Watching it takes 90 seconds...........
http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf
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This, from Hillary Clinton. Please send to any of your friends who think for one second that Roe v. Wade is safe with this president! K
We already knew how important this election was for every American. Yesterday, the Supreme Court raised the stakes even higher.
The Court took a dramatic departure from decades of rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose and recognized the importance of women's health. Let's be clear: this allows the government to dictate to women what they can and cannot do about their own health.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg disagreed with this decision and warned, "This cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this court -- and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives."
When the Senate debated the nominations of Samuel Alito and John Roberts to the Supreme Court, I spoke out on the Senate floor about the danger they posed to our constitutional liberties, including the right to choose. I urged my colleagues to reject them, and I voted against both of them. Yesterday, unfortunately, we saw the consequences of failing to stop their confirmations.
The decade of work that the far right has done to chip away at our rights was paid off in this Supreme Court decision. They worked hard to gain the presidency and the Senate so they could shape a Supreme Court that rewarded them by putting a narrow ideology above our constitutional rights. In their ruling, the conservative majority even used right-wing code language, referring to obstetricians as "abortion doctors."
There's one way we can respond: redouble our efforts to win the White House and more seats in the House and Senate. We need a president who understands that the best way to protect women's health and reduce the number of abortions is to expand access to family planning -- not to threaten doctors and patients. We need a Congress that will say no to rolling back the rights of women.
And here is my promise to you: As a senator, I will do everything I can to make sure women can protect their health, and when I am president, I will treat the health and well being of women and our constitutional rights once again as true American values.
I hope you'll pass this message along to your friends and talk with them about why this issue is important to you. I'll follow up with you soon with ways you can take direct action to protect our right to choose.
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
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I receive an online magazine, Zinda, on all things Assyrian. These articles show you a side of the war in Iraq not covered in the mainstream media. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on how it’s going over there. K
Suicide Bombing Kills 10 in Assyrian Town of Tel-Usqof
(ZNDA: Baghdad) On Monday, April 23rd, aroung 9:30 in the morning, a suicide car bomb attack occurred near the northern city of Mosul at 10:10 a.m. when a suicide attacker detonated his car and at least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack in Tal Uskuf, a town 9 miles north of Mosul.
The car bomb exploded in the middle of the village market, in front of the social club near an elementary school.
Tel-Usqof is a predominantly Christian town. This was the first terrorist attack in this tight-knit community since the Iraq war started.
The injured victims were transported to hospitals in the neighboring towns and cities including Tel-Kef, Sheikhan and Dohuk.
Christians in Baghdad Under Pressure to Convert to Islam
(ZNDA: Baghdad) Zinda sources close to the churches in Baghdad indicated on Tuesday that "certain faction of Moslems" have begun forcing the Assyrians living in the Christian neighborhoods of Baghdad to either convert to Islam or leave within 24 hours.
In other news, a few neighborhoods have been visited by other Moslem groups demanding a "protection tax" better known as the jizya in accordance to the Islamic law.
According to similar reports from the Assyrian International News Agency in Hay al-Mechaneek in the Dora district of Baghdad, Christians have been ordered to uninstall their satellite dishes. Assyrians in the districts of Hay al-Mualimeen (the Teachers' Quarter) and the Hay al-Athoreen (the Assyrians Quarter) have been warned to either convert to Islam or leave immediately.
On Friday, 13 April, an Islamic group issued an ultimatum to the Assyrian families in Baghdad, ordering them to convert to Islam within 24 hours or risk death. The Islamic fatwa issued also included total confiscation of all Christian properties, veiling of the Assyrian women in accordance to the Islamic laws, and the making of the sign of the cross or wearing of a cross in public.
The Crosses from the Churches of St. John and St. George have already been removed by the members of these militant Islamic groups and the Assyrian monastery of Raban Hormuz in north Iraq is now occupied by militant Islamists.
Some families arriving recently in Syria from Baghdad have confirmed this information and describe the situation as "impossible to tolerate."
US Troops Occupy Babel College in Baghdad
Courtesy of the Catholic World News
24 April 2007
(ZNDA: Baghdad) American troops have occupied Babel College, a Chaldean Catholic theological faculty in Baghdad, raising concerns that the college could become the target of attacks.
Because of repeated attacks on Christians in Baghdad, and threats against the faculty of Babel College, Chaldean Church officials chose to move teachers and students to a relatively safe location in Ankawa, in northern Iraq, early this year. US troops set up a base in the empty facility.
Babel College is the only Catholic theological faculty in Iraq, and the college library is one of the oldest in the country, boasting a rich religious collection and some rare ancient manuscripts. Chaldean Church officials are worried about the safety of the collection.
Bishop Shlemon Warduni, an auxiliary of the Chaldean patriarchate in Baghdad, has opened talks with US military officials about the future of Babel College, the Italian SIR news agency reports. American officers have reportedly said that the army will vacate the facility soon.
Assyrian Village in North Iraq Terrorized By Kurds
Report by the Assyrian International News Agency
11 April 2007
On Monday, March 03, 2007 at 14:00 a Kurd accompanied by an Assyrian from Shayeez entered the Assyrian village of Kora Gavan and began assaulting some of the inhabitants. Local residents rounded up the two invaders and beat them. In response to this Shimmal Ammadi, the Kurdish mayor of the district of Zaweeta, and Sarwan Trawanshi, a three star general of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) security, warned the Assyrian residents of the village not to attack Kurds again even in self defense.
The residents of the village filed several complains with the Governor and the Assyrian vice Governor of Duhok, both of whom were unresponsive and took no action in the matter.
The Kurdish intention is to chase the Assyrians out of their village so they can complete its annexation into Kurdish territory. The KRG has illegally rebuilt more than 600 homes for Kurds over Assyrian lands in this village.
Before the Assyrian massacre of 1933, approximately 300 families lived in Kora Gavan in 100 homes. Since 1963 Kora Gavana was continuously persecuted at the hands of the Iraqi authorities and its Kurdish supporters. This ill treatment forced many of its residents to leave and dwell in other villages and cities. Some of its original residents returned when conditions improved.
In 1976 Saddam's Ba'ath government and its Kurdish supporters began encroaching upon the village. By 1980 the Iraqi government had built a residential compound of 500 homes to settle the Kurds who had been forced out of their villages and who in turn forced the Assyrians out. After 1991 Kurds form other villages, mainly from Zawita, also began squatting on on Kora Gavana's lands. When the number of Kurdish settlers surpassed those of its Assyrian inhabitants, their assault on the Assyrians resumed, only this time worse than before.
These assaults ranged from bullying and harassment to criminal acts such as life threatening beatings and vandalizing and destroying crops. The assaults and harassment escalated on a daily bases, which made the lives of the Assyrians in Kora Gavana intolerable. The assaults and brutal attacks were so excessive and damaging to the livelihood of the Assyrians that most of them who cultivated and made their living from farming in Kora Gavana were forced to leave their land and migrate to other villages and cities looking for employment and source of income. This exodus greatly reduced the number of Assyrians living in Kora Gavana, to a mere 5 families.
Today, as the acts of war terror escalate in cities such as Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, many Assyrians who fled Kora Gavana in late 1970s and settled in these cities find themselves in a quandary yet again. The predicament is whether to stay in these cities and risk death daily, or take shelter in Kora Gavana. The problem, however, is that if they go back to the village they have to confront the atrocities that continue to take place on a daily basis at the hands of the Kurds and their Assyrian supporters.
Bishops Appeal: Save Iraq’s Christians!
Courtesy of the Asia News
23 April 2007
(ZNDA: Kirkuk) As churches close their doors, car bombs explode, forced conversions and kidnappings take place in Baghdad but also in Nineveh, the Bishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako appeals to the world to do something for Iraq’s Christians, who have been a part of the country’s mosaic since time immemorial.
“In Iraq Christians are dying, the Church is disappearing under continued persecution, threats and violence carried out by extremists who are leaving us no choice: conversion or exile”. This is the urgent appeal sent by msgr. Louis Sako, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, while reports arrive of car bombs and the death of Christians in the Kurdish area, until now untouched by the confessional violence.
The bishop who is president of Iraq’s Council of Catholic Churches’ Committee for inter religious dialogue , signed a declaration regarding the “tragic situation of Baghdadis Christians”, denouncing militant groups which under the threat of armed violence ask Christians to convert immediately to Islam or to consign their property and leave the country. The same thing happens in Mosul, but with a different “choice”: pay a monetary tribute to the Jihad if they want to avoid their death.
The Iraqi Christian community, at home and abroad, has long urged the local Church to take a stand against the forced evacuation, rape, kidnap, paying a ransom, blackmail, scarring and killing they suffer and the complete lack of protection from the local government and coalition forces. And in the last two days, as the controversial plan to install a secure zone for Christians in the Nineveh Plain begins to take shape, the terrorists have begun targeting the zoned area. “It’s almost a political gesture – observes msgr Sako – as if to say: “we can hit anywhere, nowhere is safe”.
The confessional based attacks are no longer just restricted to Baghdad and Mosul, but now target small centres in the North. Yesterday a group of fundamentalists executed 23 yazidi on the road linking Mosul to Ba’ashika, a majority Christian village: they stopped a bus and after having made Arabs and Christians alight they killed the faithful of this ancient religion, based on the strong Good-Evil dualism. Today a car bomb close to a school in Tell-el-skop, a Christian village, and 9 people died including 2 children; 60 were wounded. A convent of Dominican nuns, which is nearby, was badly damaged in the blast.
“We can no longer be silent –explains Msgr. Sako by phone to AsiaNews – we have to remind the world of the importance of the Christian presence in Iraq, for the good of Iraq”. “Christians are one of the oldest constituents of the Iraqi people –he explains in his statement– Since the beginning they have incorporated with its other constituents like the Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Sabea, and Yazedis; playing a pioneering role in the building of the civilization of Iraq. In addition they defended their adherence to the soil and integrity of Iraq courageously and together with their Moslems brothers. Everybody witnesses their loyalty, honesty, wisdom and their desire to live in peace and brotherhood with others. Christians have long lived with Moslems whether Sunnis or Shias in mutual respect and shared the good and the bad days together with them. They have been part of the Islamic culture for the last 14 centuries, by large without problems. Today they want to continue this existence in the spirit of love and under the charter of human rights”.
However in the current situation Christians are targeted as chief conspirators to be exploited or eliminated. They cannot openly profess their faith, the veil is imposed on the women and the crosses are taken down from their churches, threats of kidnappings and extortion weigh heavily over all of them. Msgr Sako lists the violence to which they are submitted on a daily basis: “now a days Christians are suffering in certain areas and cities in Iraq from forced evacuation, rape, kidnap, blackmail, scarring and killing. This unfamiliar behaviour contradicts the Iraqi humanitarian and Islamic morals. Let everybody realize that emptying Iraq of Christians will be disastrous not only for the Christians but for all Iraqis!... Forcing Christians to leave their homes indicates deterioration in the concept of conviviality and furthermore it destroys the cultural, civil and religious mosaic of which Iraq is considered to be the very cradle”.
The appeal signed by Msgr. Sako urges all of the political, religious and cultural communities of Iraq to remain united, because “there is no salvation without our unity. Let the outsider whoever is he, leave and stay away so that the danger of death and the risk of division disappear and vanish and thus permitting life to return to what it once was; a river which flowed in harmony, a river of brotherhood and close unity”.
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'No One Deserves a Tragedy'
Jim Wallis, Sojourners
April 19, 2007
Monday morning in Blacksburg, Virginia, 32 students and staff at Virginia Tech were killed in the largest single shooting in modern American history. The shooter, an angry and disturbed young man, then killed himself.
Looking at the profiles of the dead, I am struck by their diversity. They ranged in age from 18 to 76; they came from nine states, along with Puerto Rico, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Romania. They were male and female, African-American, Asian, Middle Eastern and Caucasian. They were all people who began a day little knowing it would suddenly end their lives.
This is not a time to seek easy answers or to assign blame. It is, rather, a time to pray, mourn, and reflect. While this tragedy can perhaps be partially explained by the easy accessibility of guns in our society, by the saturation of violence in our popular culture, by the fact that the visible signs of Cho Seung Hui's troubled life could have been taken more seriously, by concerns about university security, or by any number of other things, ultimately there is no simple explanation. And there are generally no single causes for such horrible events. In the Virginia Tech memorial convocation Tuesday evening, Professor and poet Nikki Giovanni said:
We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. ... We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.
All of us at Sojourners/Call to Renewal join in the national mourning. We offer our prayers and send our condolences to the families and friends of those who died, those who were injured, and to the entire Virginia Tech community. We pray that the comforting presence of God will be felt in the midst of such deep heartache. Sorrow can sometimes prove redemptive in ways no one could have imagined beforehand. It’s time to let sorrow do its reflective and redemptive work, to hold the hands that need to be held, to let our tears open our hearts to change those things that lead to such tragedy, and to trust our pain to the loving arms of God.
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The bad news: Global warming is real. The better news: there are real ways you can help.
In honor of Earth Day, here are five things you can do to make a cleaner planet and a better tomorrow. The best part is they are low-cost or free -- but have a huge impact.
1. Reduce. Here's a bright idea: Swap out five standard light bulbs for energy-saving compact fluorescents. They use 25% less energy and last 10 times as long. Other ways to save: unplug unused appliances and take public transit. For more cool tips, go to the Natural Resources Defense Council website: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baeg0Ef
2. Offset. Once you've done what you can to reduce your impact on the environment, offset the rest. Make a donation to reverse the greenhouse gases you produce. Go to CarbonFund.org: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb04EJ0En
3. Recycle. Have an old cellphone just sitting in a drawer? CollectiveGood can send these phones for use in developing countries, or safely recycles materials from them. To donate your phone today (the shipping is free), go to CollectiveGood.com: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baeh0Eg
4. Take Action. We need bold action to solve the climate crisis. The United States is currently responsible for nearly 25% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, so we need to take the lead in solving the problem. Senators Boxer and Sanders have come forward with a bill to achieve 80% emissions reductions by 2050; click here to support the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act: http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baei0Eh
5. Get a cool credit card. Get the credit card that plants trees and supports alternative-energy groups. Click to find out more:
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/etQc0OJrjn0COb0Baej0Ei
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Laurie David's favorite "go green" tips that even "lazy environmentalists" can do easily:
a. Use compact fluorescent bulbs
b. Buy a reusable bottle for water and stop buying cases of plastic bottled water.
c. Unplug your rechargers when not charging up your electronics
d. Take shorter showers - water for bathing accounts for 2/3rds of all water heating costs
e. Buy a hybrid (you know how I feel about this! I love my Prius!!)
f. Create idle-free zones (like in school carpool lines)
g. Buy local food products - they use less packaging and travel less distance to get to the store/market saving fossil fuels
h. Take cloth bags to the grocery store or market - or any shops for that matter! Of course, my tip is to just say "no, thanks!" to the plastic bag offered at grocery stores or other shops if you only bought a few items and can easily carry them out.
i. Put on a sweater, rather than turn up the heat. Of course with summer on the way, now we need to say: pare down to a tee and shorts rather than turn the temps down on the a/c. I also find that having a fan running can let me put the a/c at a temp about 5 degrees higher and still feel comfortable.
j. Switch your toilet paper and paper towels to recycled paper. Ask yourself - are you really ok with a 100 year old tree being cut down for your toilet paper? "If every American household changed just one roll of paper made with virgin wood to one recyclable post-consumer roll, half a million trees would still be standing."
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I heard the story on public radio and sought out this must-read article. To read officer Yingling’s commentary in Armed Forces Journal, http://www.armedforcesjournal.com. K
Army Officer Accuses Generals of 'Intellectual and Moral Failures'
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 27, 2007; A04
An active-duty Army officer is publishing a blistering attack on U.S. generals, saying they have botched the war in Iraq and misled Congress about the situation there.
"America's generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq," charges Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, an Iraq veteran who is deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "The intellectual and moral failures . . . constitute a crisis in American generals."
Yingling's comments are especially striking because his unit's performance in securing the northwestern Iraqi city of Tall Afar was cited by President Bush in a March 2006 speech and provided the model for the new security plan underway in Baghdad.
He also holds a high profile for a lieutenant colonel: He attended the Army's elite School for Advanced Military Studies and has written for one of the Army's top professional journals, Military Review.
The article, "General Failure," is to be published today in Armed Forces Journal and is posted at http://www.armedforcesjournal.com. Its appearance signals the public emergence of a split inside the military between younger, mid-career officers and the top brass.
Many majors and lieutenant colonels have privately expressed anger and frustration with the performance of Gen. Tommy R. Franks, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno and other top commanders in the war, calling them slow to grasp the realities of the war and overly optimistic in their assessments.
Some younger officers have stated privately that more generals should have been taken to task for their handling of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, news of which broke in 2004. The young officers also note that the Army's elaborate "lessons learned" process does not criticize generals and that no generals in Iraq have been replaced for poor battlefield performance, a contrast to other U.S. wars.
Top Army officials are also worried by the number of captains and majors choosing to leave the service. "We do have attrition in those grade slots above our average," acting Army Secretary Pete Geren noted in congressional testimony this week. In order to curtail the number of captains leaving, he said, the Army is planning a $20,000 bonus for those who agree to stay in, plus choices of where to be posted and other incentives.
Until now, charges of incompetent leadership have not been made as publicly by an Army officer as Yingling does in his article.
"After going into Iraq with too few troops and no coherent plan for postwar stabilization, America's general officer corps did not accurately portray the intensity of the insurgency to the American public," he writes. "For reasons that are not yet clear, America's general officer corps underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq's government and security forces and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq."
Yingling said he decided to write the article after attending Purple Heart and deployment ceremonies for Army soldiers. "I find it hard to look them in the eye," he said in an interview. "Our generals are not worthy of their soldiers."
He said he had made his superiors aware of the article but had not sought permission to publish it. He intends to stay in the Army, he said, noting that he is scheduled in two months to take command of a battalion at Fort Hood, Tex.
The article has been read by about 30 of his peers, Yingling added. "At the level of lieutenant colonel and below, it received almost universal approval," he said.
Retired Marine Col. Jerry Durrant, now working in Iraq as a civilian contractor, agrees that discontent is widespread. "Talk to the junior leaders in the services and ask what they think of their senior leadership, and many will tell you how unhappy they are," he said.
Yingling advocates overhauling the way generals are picked and calls for more involvement by Congress. To replace today's "mild-mannered team players," he writes, Congress should create incentives in the promotion system to "reward adaptation and intellectual achievement."
He does not criticize officers by name; instead, the article refers repeatedly to "America's generals." Yingling said he did this intentionally, in order to focus not on the failings of a few people but rather on systemic problems.
He also recommends that Congress review the performance of senior generals as they retire and exercise its power to retire them at a lower rank if it deems their performance inferior. The threat of such high-profile demotions would restore accountability among top officers, he contends. "As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war," he states.
LOCAL ITEMS
Here are some helpful, green hints from our friend at It’s Only Natural in Waldo.
Farmer's Markets are Open!!
Another sure sign of spring is the opening of some Farmer's Markets around KC. I hope you attended one in spite of the frosty weather last weekend. (I saw some real troopers attending the Brookside organic market!) There are so many great reasons to support local organic growers, not the least of which is for your GOOD HEALTH! Here are some other great reasons: REDUCE POLLUCTION: organic farming reduces toxic agricultural runoff in our lakes, rivers and streams. STOP GLOBAL WARMING: on average, most food travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate. That's a lot of fossil fuel consumption. More fossil fuels are used for chemical fertilizers and packaging. Eating local and organic foods help to reduce this wasteful cycle. SUPPORT FAMILY FARMS: Purchasing food from local farmers supports the regional economy, keeps family farmers in business, and keeps America beautiful. PRESERVE BIODIVERSITY: Local and organic farmers avoid industrial farming practices. They preserve biodiversity by planting varieties for taste and quality rather than yield and convenience. (Tips taken from FamilyFarmed.org)
Local Celebrity in our Midst!
I guess I'm not as on top of the news as I think I am! Maybe you can fill me in! I just read an article about Simran Sethi, born in Germany, who now lives in Lawrence, KS, and who is quite active in the "eco" arena! She has been on Oprah and Martha Stewart promoting green living, is the video anchor for Treehugger.com and is now getting ready to be a voice for The Green a new show on the Sundance channel. Apparently at her suggestion a segment on the new show will be filmed at Local Burger (the cafe in Lawrence that serves only locally produced, mostly grass-fed meats along with mostly organic vegan options.)
It's so exciting to have her here in the Midwest so we can show the world that the Midwest is eco-cool too!!
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I’ve been talking to some friends lately who were concerned about what’s happening in out-state MO. Do we have a chance of gaining seats in MO’s house? Please look at what MWLC is doing!! It gives us all something to be optimistic about. K
Read MWLC's Manifesto. What's Not to Love? Then Join Our Support Group.
MWLC, Missouri Women's Leadership Coalition, was formed in 2001 to educate and encourage progressive, pro-Choice Missouri women to run and serve on all levels of government. Our emphasis is on women in towns and rural areas outside of Kansas City and St. Louis. Our priority is the State Legislature.
Our goal is to bring Missouri in line with the progressive states that are leading the way to women's political equality. (50/50 by 20/20) At this point Missouri, with only 19.3% women in the legislature, ranks 43rd among the 50 states. Missouri's eloquent new US Senator, Claire McCaskill, started her political career in the Missouri House. We need more Claires in the pipeline.
MWLCEF, our C3 organization, is a non-member, non-partisan, coordinating board that serves as a network to facilitate communication, cooperation and collective action among Missouri women's organizations and individuals on issues of important to women and families. It is the Missouri link in the US Women Connect (USWC) growing 50-state network.
The ERA PAC, which is the political arm of MWLC and the Missouri Women's Network (MWN), trains and endorses candidates, and works to link candidates with other candidate support groups. (That's ERA for Equal Rights Amendment -- Missouri should be one of three states still needed for ratification.)
MWLC travels, speaks and trains across the state. We have a growing list of Regional Advisors who form Kitchen Cabinets in their areas, and work to identify outstanding local candidates and then support them when they run. Interested in working in your area? contact Rebecca at rr@axisarchkc.com.
Organizational Members:
• American Association of University Women (AAUW)
• Business and Professional Women (BPW)
• Missouri Women's Network
• Missouri NOW
• Missourians for Choice
• Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid Missouri
• Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus (GKC/WPC)
We invite other progressive groups to join our email network. Contact Rosemary at rosamaria@cybermesa.com
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The link at the bottom will take you to the sign-up sheet so you can join in this fabulous community supported agriculture program. K
WELCOME TO GOOD NATURED FAMILY FARMS
We want nothing more than to live on the land and farm it. We want to produce food that does not poison the earth or the ground water. We want to use methods that make that food safe for our fellow human beings. It isn't the fastest way to raise food or the most economical. It is simply the best.
We are an alliance of more than 40 family farms—some are 3rd or 4th generation—who raise our animals humanely and care for the earth in a sustainable fashion. We have banded together to be able to bring our foods to Hen House Markets, Balls Price Chopper Supermarkets , and the Community Mercantile in Lawrence, Kansas.
When you purchase Good Natured Family Farms’ products, you support the local family farms around the Kansas City area. These farms protect Kansas City’s natural resources by producing food with no pesticides, no growth hormones and no sub therapeutic antibiotics. Its food that is good for us, good for the earth, and best of all it tastes so good.
©Good Natured Family Farms, All rights reserved.
http://www.goodnatured.net/Promotions/Growers_Alliance_CSA_Form.pdf
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This, from Ira Harrit of American Friends Service Committee. K
Educate Yourself. Share your knowledge. Take Action!
For information about the American Friends Service Committee,
contact us at 816 931-5256 or afsckc@afsc.org
“We are called to speak for the weak,
for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation,
for those it calls, ‘enemy,’
for no document from human hands can make
these humans any less our brothers.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Help plan and implement anti-war and peace education, organizing and advocacy actions!
Come to the KC Iraq Task Force Monthly Meeting to build a movement to end this war and prevent the one in preparation!
Monday, April 30 at 6:30pm at the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO or call us to volunteer.
Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities
Peace and Justice Teach-ins will be on a break. For up to date information go to: http://peaceandjusticecoffeehouse.blogspot.com/
April 30, Monday, 6:30pm, KC Iraq Task Force Meeting to plan events to mark the 4th anniversary of the Iraq war. AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO. (note we will be meeting on the 5th Monday rather than the 4th Monday)
May 3, Thursday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., 10,000 Villages Gift Shopping & Fundraising Event Purchase unique and rare imported crafts and products from around the world and support the American Friends Service Committee. 7947 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, KS
MAY 1 or MAY 2: Israeli Uri Davis will speak in Kansas City about the situation in the Israeli town of Ramle, where recently the mayor made racist remarks that have garnered much condemnation. Mr. Davis works with Mosaic Communities (http://www.mosaic-coop.org) and speaks against social injustice in Israel. Here is a link to biographical information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri_Davis). We are now working on a venue and hope to have Kansas City council members in attendance. We think that Brit Tzedek will cohost with us. As soon as we know details, we'll send an announcement.
EVERY Sunday: Iraq Peace Vigil, 4pm, JC Nichols Fountain, 47th & Main, Streets, Kansas City, MO http://www.kciraqtaskforce.org/
EVERY TUESDAY: JOIN THIS Peace Demonstration Every Tuesday between 5PM - 6 PM in the median strip on the south corner of the intersection at 63rd & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo. For more information email '63rd Street Patriots' at schwartzkatz@sbcglobal.net
# posted by Blue Hearts @ 5:50 PM 
