Fall Conversion from War to Peace:
Musings: http://www.theportlandalliance.org/Munk
A Shared Culture of Conflict of Interest
Elite media don’t see Human Rights Watch’s closeness to power as a problem, By Keane Bhatt
FAIR, September 1, 2014
In late 2010, a US District Court judge threw out a case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights
against President Barack Obama. The groups had argued that the administration was violating the Constitution and international law in attempting to (Picture from White House)
assassinate Muslim cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, a US citizen residing in Yemen, without providing him with charges, evidence or due process.
“If the court’s ruling is correct,
the government has unreviewable authority to carry out the
targeted killing of any American, anywhere, whom the president deems to be a threat to the nation,”
explained ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer (CNN, 12/7/10).
NW Alliance Community Calendar
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/communitycalendar
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/ISIS
Rise of ISIS Highlights Irony of U.S. Foreign Policy
By Stephen Zunes
Sept 19-21, 2014
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Checkout The B Media Collective Portal
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/bmediacollective
Full Transparency Still Missing:
What The Ferguson Police Have (and have not)
Revealed About Mike Brown's Shooting ThePortlandAlliance.org/aclu
Ferguson is still
hiding information
about the fatal
shooting of Michael Brown.
It is long past time for the Ferguson Police Department to begin building public trust and the first step is to release
a complete copy of the incident
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/kathykelly
A Teacher in Kabula
by Kathy Kelly
August 26, 2014
Here in Kabul, one of my finest friends is Zekerullah, who has gone back to school in the 8th grade although he is an18-year old young man who has already had to learn far too many of life’s harsh lessons.
Years ago and miles from here, when he was a child in the province of Bamiyan, and before he ran away from school, Zekerullah led a double life, earning income for his family each night as a construction crew laborer, and then attempting to attend school in the daytime. In between these tasks the need to provide his family with fuel would sometimes drive him on six-hour treks up the mountainside, leading a donkey on which to load bags of scrub brush and twigs for the trip back down. His greatest childhood fear was of that donkey taking one disastrous wrong step with its load on the difficult mountainside.
And then, after reaching home weary and sleep-deprived and with no chance of doing homework, he would, at times, go to school without having done his homework, knowing that he would certainly be beaten. When he was in seventh grade, his teacher punished him by adding 10 more blows each day he came to school without his homework, so that eventually he was hit 60 times in one day. Dreading the next day when the number would rise to 70, he ran away from that school and never returned.
Now Zekerullah is enrolled in another school, this time in Kabul, where teachers still beat the students. But Zekerullah can now claim to have learned much more, in some cases, than his teachers.
Much to the surprise of his environmental studies teacher, Zekerullah has a strong grasp of issues related to the environment. For the past two years, living with the Afghan Peace Volunteers, he has occupied himself with presentations and conversations about global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation. He cares deeply about the issue.
Last winter, I was with him as he watched the entire BBC Blue Planet series of videos, and realized that he hungers for more information and deepened understanding about issues hitting far beyond his own beleaguered country.
ThePortlandAlliance.org/poetry/September2014Poetry
Before Michael Brown’s Funeral –
A Poem by Christopher D. Sims
Collective punishment and targeting civilians are prohibited under international law. Further, the U.S. Leahy Law bars the U.S. from funding foreign military units and individuals where there is credible evidence that they took part in gross violations of human rights.
Please contact the White House and your representatives to protest the U.S. government’s continued support for Israel during an onslaught that has already killed hundreds of civilians, and to which there is no end in sight. Demand immediate enforcement of the Leahy Law in response to all reports of human rights violations, including war crimes, by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Thank you for taking action.
Tim Flanagan, Associate editor at The Alliance
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/ccr
Smoke rises after an Israeli missile strike hits Gaza Strip, 7th of July 2014
Besieged Gaza – Occupied Palestine: Since June 12, 2014, Israel has launched a heinous attack against both Gaza and the West Bank. It has so far conducted more than 100 airstrikes against civilian targets in Gaza. Nine Palestinian civilians, including three women and two children, were wounded by shrapnel, and three civilians, including two children, were injured by the flying glass. Moreover, three civilians sustained bruises. Besides, a chicken barn, greenhouses, a country house, two barracks for fodders and sheep were destroyed, and 3000 chicks died. Israeli naval forces continue to target Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza waters. Therefore, Israel further aggravates the situation for Palestinians in Gaza, which has been under a brutal military siege for more than seven years and still going on.
thewordsmithcollection.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/end-killings-and-obey-the-rule-of-law/
Commentary by
Nancy Weaver...
Call for Articles
To all Members and Supporters of Vietnam Veterans Against the War:
It's that time again!
The next issue of VVAW's *THE VETERAN*
is due to be published in time for *VETERANS DAY.*
Thus issue we would specifically like articles on:
1) *How to fix the VA* - Give us your experiences - How have they changed over the years? Based on your use of the VA, how would you change it?
2) *Nixon's Resignation - 40 Years Later* - VVAW members thoughts and reflections on Nixon - favorite anti-Nixon actions and stories - we know there's lots of them - Let's hear em.
Alliance Portal for Veterans for Peace
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/vfp
A Portal at The Portland Alliance
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/alliancefordemocracy
David e. Delk, President,
Alliance for Democracy - Portland
| 503.232.5495 |
Alliance for Democracy www.afd-pdx.org
The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Columnist
A Funeral in Ferguson
Two weeks after the killing of Michael Brown, we have become painfully familiar with his parents through their public appearances and television interviews, their faces drawn, their sorrow apparent.
Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, constantly dabbing tears from her face, sparing in her responses, but powerfully articulating her agony with the words she chooses. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., with shaved head and full beard, a large man often clad in a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “No Justice, No Peace” and a baby picture of his son. The senior Brown is stoic, resolute in his speech, but even in the power of his presence there is the certainness that a hollow space has been made.
See the rest of the story!...
The NW Alliance Portal
to the NY Times!
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/nytpa
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