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Veterans for Peace will work with any peaceful Occupy city group or assembly to help ensure their constitutional rights and physical safety are protected.

Veterans for Peace:

http://www.veteransforpeace.org

Veterans Peace Team Application:

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/pdf/final_vpt_app_0212.pdf

Invitation to Join Veterans Peace Team

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We invite you to apply to become a member of Veterans Peace Team (VPT) and join with military veterans and their allies across the U.S. as we plan to nonviolently stand in solidarity with the courageous citizens of the Occupy movement against excessive force by local police departments.

As many of us are aware, the inherent violence of the system’s controlling elite will continue to become more manifest as the Occupy movement increases and builds its resistance.
We continue to reach out to individuals within the police, with some success, but we are under no illusions about the police force as a whole.

In the past, repression against citizens has been an effective tool for the ruling elite but even as the government’s capacity for violence and crowd control has increased, our ability to document and expose this violence to the masses has also grown.

That’s why we’ve initiated the Veterans Peace Team and are asking you to consider joining us. When people see nonviolent veterans being brutally assaulted, as we saw in the cases of and Kayvan Sabehgi, the resistance is not intimidated, it is strengthened.

The links are provided to download the Veterans Peace Team statement of purpose and the application for VPT. We also have a great logo embroidered on caps to identify us as members of the Veterans Peace Team.

If you’d like to be part of this effort please download and fill out theveteranspeaceteam or mail it to Veterans Peace Team, 28 Arnold Dr. Woodstock, NY 12498.

Peace and Solidarity,

Tarak Kauff
Veterans For Peace Direct Action
Veterans Peace Team
845 679-3299

VPT Application(.pdf format)
VPT Statement of Purpose(.pdf format)

Thank you for all the support in this transition.

The more resistance healthy and proper reform meets, the stronger the movement will become. All over the world people are beginning to stand up to money controlled politics and fascist governments.

Like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement of the 60s, in the end, right will win out.

Join together with those who wish to promote and encourage good government.

In the final analysis we are all connected, we are all as One Family, and we should conduct ourselves accordingly.
♥
- One World, One Family
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/buffalo-news-editorials/article711557.ece

‎”King would find a way to stand with the 99 percent.

And why not? Many of the Occupy protesters may be naive or uninformed, but their fundamental complaint is grounded in the rock of reality. The catastrophic economic meltdown was caused, in large part, by the greed of the wealthiest Americans, most of whom never paid a price for their actions. Indeed, they are receiving fantastic bonuses, in some cases after having been rescued by taxpayers.

Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, resist calls to lower the federal budget deficit by asking wealthy Americans to pay their fair share, which they haven’t done since the Bush tax cuts were enacted more than a decade ago. Indeed, their response to such a call from billionaire investor Warren Buffett (chairman of The Buffalo News) was to sneer at him.

What, then, would such critics have to say today about King? Would they ridicule him, as well? Almost certainly. King challenged the status quo. He rocked people’s boats. In the haze of memory, we forget sometimes that King was on a mission, and one that made enemies.

Not that the ridicule would have mattered to him. King was willing to subject himself to discomfort to pursue his broad vision of equality. He was even willing to risk death, a possibility he clearly perceived the night before a sniper took his life on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel.”

TODAY, Friday, February 3 is NDAA Protest Day. Thousands of patriots will be protesting at local Congressional offices.

YOU can participate in the protest, even if you are unable to attend in person. But first…

Some Background

NDAA is the National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Obama on New Year’s Eve 2011. Sections 1021 and 1022 authorize the President to “indefinitely detain” (kidnap) ANY person – American or non-citizen – without bringing charges and without a day in court. Learn more.

The Tenth Amendment Center asked DownsizeDC.org President Jim Babka to present a detailed yet plausible scenario, whereby these kidnapping provisions could be used to snare activists.

See how your Representative voted.
See how your Senators voted.
The Backlash

Anger toward the NDAA was immediate. DownsizeDC.org fought against the bill before passage, and launched its repeal campaign on January 9. At least three repeal bills have been proposed. Regrettably, none are sufficient…

Rep. Ron Paul’s bill HR 3785 repeals Section 1021 but not 1022.
Rep. Jeff Landry’s HR 3676 would restore Constitutional protections for American citizens but denies them to foreigners — even legal residents.
Sen. Diane Feinstein’s bill S.2003 restores due process to American citizens and lawful alien residents but seems to deny even a citizen’s due process rights if apprehended on foreign soil.
In addition, citizens are working through their states and local communities to communicate their opposition to Sections 1021 and 1022. For instance…

Resolutions have passed in two counties in Colorado, and the Northampton MA city council was scheduled to vote on a resolution yesterday.
An Act, sponsored by Delegate Bob Marshall, requires state employee NON-compliance with 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA on American citizens. It quickly passed out of committee, and on to the Virginia legislature.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee provides tools for you to get involved locally
And the Tenth Amendment Center is also working at the local level
NDAA Protest Day

The event is TODAY from noon to 7pm at your Representative’s Congressional District offices throughout the country. Downsize DC is not involved in planning or coordination these in-person protests, but it appears that you can come when you can, as long as you can.

If you are able to attend, you can locate the office nearest you here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/

More information here: http://www.facebook.com/events/335643799778967/

If you are unable to attend, then PLEASE call Your Representative and Senators.

To call, go to your Downsize DC “District Information” page. If you’re logged in that link is located in Your Toolbox. It contains each of their phone numbers:https://secure.downsizedc.org/toolbox/district/info

Here are a few words you can use…

It is a cowardly act to surrender our freedoms in the name of fighting terrorists. Please introduce legislation that repeals Section 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA and restore strong due process rights for all.

BUT IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, send a letter: Go to DownsizeDC.org‘s Repeal Indefinite Detention Campaign.

You may borrow from or copy this…

It is often said that terrorists hate us because of our freedom.

So if we give up our freedom in the name of fighting terrorists, doesn’t that mean they win?

That’s a cowardly act!

It started with the Patriot Act. It continued with other terrible bills such as the Military Commissions Act. But Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA endanger EVERYONE’s freedom.

These provisions authorize the military to kidnap any person whom this, or any future President decrees is a “terrorist.” Non-Americans and Americans alike. On foreign soil AND our soil. For as long as there are “hostilities,” i.e., possibly forever.

What if any other country passed such a law? Would you travel there? Wouldn’t our own State Department condemn such a human rights violation? Would you call its people “free” or “unfree?”

The power to kidnap, to “disappear” people, is the mark of a backward tyranny.

The NDAA destroyed a legal tradition going back to the nearly 800 year-old Magna Carta. The protection of persons from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment is the very foundation of a free society. It’s one of the crown jewels of civilization. It makes us feel fortunate to live in a country like the United States.

Make us proud to be Americans once again.

Please introduce legislation that repeals Section 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA. Restore strong due process rights for all.

END LETTER

You can send your letter using DownsizeDC.org‘s Educate the Powerful System.

Thank you for taking part. Encourage your friends to do the same!

James Wilson
Policy Research Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

CONFRONTING CORPORATE POWER

FIVE FACTS ABOUT NEW YORK STATE:
New York State isn’t broke. New York State gives out corporate handouts that add up to $8 billion a year. These same corporate handouts are suppose to be creating quality jobs in our
communities. Guess what? THEY AREN’T CREATING JOBS!
It’s time to end the free ride for corporations and change our broken economic
development system.
TOGETHER: we can get New York back on the right track
FIGHT FOR A FAIR ECONOMY will be holding a training, that will teach individuals and organizations how to help develop, implement and change policies and practices that will result in an economy that will work for everyone! Working together we can bring an end to corporate giveaways and start investing our money in the things that really matter – our schools, healthcare, infrastructure, quality of life services and good jobs.
Who should come? Activists, leaders, and rank-and-file members of labor, community, and faith organizations who want to build their skills and strengthen the growing movement to confront corporate power and build an economy that works for everyone.

WHEN: Saturday, February 18, 2012. 8:30am-12:00pm

WHERE: 1199 SEIU Office. 2421 Main Street. Buffalo, New York 14214

A Light breakfast will be served. To save your spot in this training, or questions please contact CEJ at 892-587

Fight for a Fair Economy is a coalition of people who care about the future of
our community. We want to see FAIR policies and FAIR practices from our elected
officials and corporations that create an environment where ALL of our community, and everyone
can prosper, not just the rich and powerful.

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