Hi greenhouse community,
We need your help in getting some very important legislation passed this year to close the Army School of the Americas, or SOA/WHINSEC or otherwise known as the School of Assasins. The SOA has been linked to every major dirty war throughout the Americas and has tought Latin American soldiers and officers how to torture and massacre people. In the dirty wars of Guatemala alone over 500,000 people were killed or disappeard and hundreds of indeginous villages wiped completly off the map. We have come closer and closer each year in closing the SOA and last year we came within 6 votes. This year we believe is the time and opportunity to close the School with a complete shift to a Democrate majority. Please read the information below and call your legislators asking them to cosponser this bill.
In peace and solidarity,
The Green House Collective
This Friday, May 22nd, Representative McGovern will reintroduce the Latin America Military Training Review Act, which would suspend operations at the SOA/ WHINSEC, investigate the use of torture manuals at the school, and do an assessment of military training in Latin America.
Last year this legislation was known as HR 1707 and we had 125 cosponsors. Right now, organizers around the country are working to get all of last year's cosponsors added before Friday and meet our goal of at least 75 original cosponsors.
The following Northwest region cosponsors of HR 1707 from the 110th Congress have not yet signed up for this year's bill:
Washington:
--Rep. Brian Baird
--Rep. Jay Inslee
--Rep. Rick Larsen
Oregon:
--Rep. Earl Blumenauer
--Rep. Peter DeFazio
This list of House Reps are all in the states that you represent on the SOA Watch Council. Do you think you could make some time for phone calls to these offices today and tomorrow, and also reach out to your lists, email and phone contacts and ask that they do the same?
These calls should be very easy: everyone on the above list was a cosponsor of HR 1707 in 2008 and the text of the bill being introduced on Friday is IDENTICAL to HR 1707.
I've attached the Dear Colleague letter to this email that gives background and can also be faxed or emailed to an office if they ask for it. AND, below is the TOLL FREE number you can use to call Congress + a sample call script.
Thanks for all that you do!
Pam
++++++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ ++
Please take the time to call the D.C. office of your Representative by calling the Capitol Hill Switchboard toll free at 1-800-473-6711, (or 202-224-3121) . Ask to speak with the foreign affairs legislative assistant and here is a suggested message for you to convey:
"As a constituent living in _________, I am calling Congressman/ woman ________ to urge him/her to contact Rep. McGovern and ask to be an original cosponsor of the Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2009, formerly HR 1707 in the 110th Congress. This legislation will be introduced in early May. The bill is identical to HR 1707and would suspend operations at the School of the Americas, renamed WHINSEC, and investigate the history of human rights abuses and failed policies of the institution.
New information indicates that WHINSEC has allowed known human rights abusers to instruct and receive training at the school. Argentina and Uruguay are two more countries that have made public announcements they will no longer send students to the school, citing the negative image and history of this institution. Despite demands by Congress to have oversight over the curriculum and promote human rights, the Pentagon is now denying all requests to provide information to human rights organizations and the public about students and graduates of the school.
I urge you to contact Cindy Buhl in Representative McGovern's office and ask that your boss be added as an original cosponsor of this legislation. I hope you will represent my views and support this bill.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Labor Songs Open Mic
Dearest Greenhouse-ers!
Join us this Thursday (5/21) for a night of musical mayhem! It's going to be an
epic open mic night dedicated to labor movement songs by Joe Hill, Utah
Phillips, Woody Guthrie, and more!
Learn songs to share and bring your instruments and boomin' voices!
Looking forward to singing the change with you!
What: Labor Movement Open Mic
When: Thursday, May 21
Vegan Potluck 6pm
Open Mic 7pm
Where: The Greenhouse Collective
4407 SE Tibbetts St
*off buslines 14, 9, 75, 4, and the Clinton St bikeway!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Workers Rights Training!
Hi!
We hope you are all well and wonderful and able to make it to this weeks event. We will be hosting a "Know Your Rights Training" put on by the Portland Restaurant Workers Association; all types of employees are welcome, and the workshop will be not merely focus on those in the service industry. Learn your rights as a member of the work force i.e. discrimination, drug testing, family medical leave, health services, harassment, wages, unemployment, workers comp and more, learn about services, help with violations of rights, resources....
Come and be empowered in your employment!!
What: Workers Rights Training
When: Thursday, May 14
Vegan Potluck @ 6, Workshop promptly at 7
Where: THe Green House Collective
4407 SE Tibbetts St
off buslines 9, 4, 75, 14, and the Clinton St Super Bike way!
Have a great week and see you Thursday!
In Peace, Love, and Solidarity,
The Green House Collective
We hope you are all well and wonderful and able to make it to this weeks event. We will be hosting a "Know Your Rights Training" put on by the Portland Restaurant Workers Association; all types of employees are welcome, and the workshop will be not merely focus on those in the service industry. Learn your rights as a member of the work force i.e. discrimination, drug testing, family medical leave, health services, harassment, wages, unemployment, workers comp and more, learn about services, help with violations of rights, resources....
Come and be empowered in your employment!!
What: Workers Rights Training
When: Thursday, May 14
Vegan Potluck @ 6, Workshop promptly at 7
Where: THe Green House Collective
4407 SE Tibbetts St
off buslines 9, 4, 75, 14, and the Clinton St Super Bike way!
Have a great week and see you Thursday!
In Peace, Love, and Solidarity,
The Green House Collective
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
"THE TAKE"
We hope you are off to a great week! This Thursday, May 7, we hope you will join us at the Green House Collective for a showing of the "The Take" and learn more about worker movements in South American factories! To see more info about the film, check out the following link:
thetake.org
WHAT: Screening of "THE TAKE"
WHEN: Thursday, May 7
Vegan Potluck at 6
Film and Discussion promptly at 7
WHERE: THe Green House Collective
4407 SE Tibbetts St
*off buslines 14, 9, 75, 4, and the Clinton St bikeway!
While you are at it...start getting ready for a Labor Movement Open Mic Night on May 21st- Learn some Utah Phillips, Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie and more! Bring your instruments and singin' voices!
See you Thursday!
In Peace and Solidarity!
The Green House Collective
Employee Free Choice Act
Help make it easier for workers to form unions. Jobs with Justice is working on bringing power back to workers, or hmm, helping us get more of it!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Whitefeather Peace Community May Events
Dear Friends of Whitefeather Peace Community,
Just some quick notes on upcoming Roundtables. All are on Wednesday evenings, all are started at 6 p.m. with a vegetarian potluck (we start the Roundtable as we finish dinner--you can just come for the Roundtable of course), and we are on the 75 busline. Russet is parallel to Lombard (next block north) and we are about a mile west of the Yellow Line and a mile east of the U of Portland.
May 6: Bill Long on the death penalty. Bill Long is currently a writer and legal consultant living in Salem OR. He helps lead Oregon's effort to abolish the death penalty. From 2003-06 he was a Visiting Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon. Before Willamette he was a litigation attorney with Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, OR (2000-03), a professor of history and government at Sterling College in KS (1990-96), interim senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland (1988-89), and a professor of religion and humanities at Reed College in Portland (1982-88). During a sabbatical from Reed, he was a senior editorial writer for The Oregonian (1985), Oregon's largest circulating daily newspaper.
May 13: Inger Easton, originally from the Netherlands, has researched the conflicts of immigration into her homeland and the background of the many bloody clashes between Moroccan youth or Turkish youth and mainstream Dutch society. She approaches very sensitive problems in a very sensitive fashion, examining paths to peace that can help us all understand potential for reconciliation in the context of immigration.
May 20: The Power of Song, an inspiring film about Pete Seeger, whose 90th birthday is Sunday, May 3! The film traces his life, with interviews with Pete, Toshi, his son and daughter, and many musicians young and old who were brought along in many ways by Pete's example. Special documentary footage of the old Weavers and other of Pete's musical adventures--including his run-in with the infamous House on UnAmerican Activities Committee--make for a songfest with real heart and content. Bring your instruments!
May 27: Jonathan Cohen, a solar power user and dealer. This will include a short walk to Jonathan's home with its photovoltaic installation just a few blocks from Whitefeather. With Obama's new tax credits for alternative energy, this is a technology that has arrived and is plug-and-produce-ready. Come get advice from a professional. You will NOT be given a sales pitch, just solid information.
June 3: Ako Yamakawa, on the indigenous rights struggle to get the US military out of Okinawa. Ako is a mainland Japanese and a masters student in the PSU Conflict Resolution program. She has been working with the leadership of the Okinawan nonviolent resistance group and is telling Americans about the Okinawan desire to demilitarize and end the occupation of much of the island of Okinawa by foreign troops.
Just some quick notes on upcoming Roundtables. All are on Wednesday evenings, all are started at 6 p.m. with a vegetarian potluck (we start the Roundtable as we finish dinner--you can just come for the Roundtable of course), and we are on the 75 busline. Russet is parallel to Lombard (next block north) and we are about a mile west of the Yellow Line and a mile east of the U of Portland.
May 6: Bill Long on the death penalty. Bill Long is currently a writer and legal consultant living in Salem OR. He helps lead Oregon's effort to abolish the death penalty. From 2003-06 he was a Visiting Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon. Before Willamette he was a litigation attorney with Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, OR (2000-03), a professor of history and government at Sterling College in KS (1990-96), interim senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland (1988-89), and a professor of religion and humanities at Reed College in Portland (1982-88). During a sabbatical from Reed, he was a senior editorial writer for The Oregonian (1985), Oregon's largest circulating daily newspaper.
May 13: Inger Easton, originally from the Netherlands, has researched the conflicts of immigration into her homeland and the background of the many bloody clashes between Moroccan youth or Turkish youth and mainstream Dutch society. She approaches very sensitive problems in a very sensitive fashion, examining paths to peace that can help us all understand potential for reconciliation in the context of immigration.
May 20: The Power of Song, an inspiring film about Pete Seeger, whose 90th birthday is Sunday, May 3! The film traces his life, with interviews with Pete, Toshi, his son and daughter, and many musicians young and old who were brought along in many ways by Pete's example. Special documentary footage of the old Weavers and other of Pete's musical adventures--including his run-in with the infamous House on UnAmerican Activities Committee--make for a songfest with real heart and content. Bring your instruments!
May 27: Jonathan Cohen, a solar power user and dealer. This will include a short walk to Jonathan's home with its photovoltaic installation just a few blocks from Whitefeather. With Obama's new tax credits for alternative energy, this is a technology that has arrived and is plug-and-produce-ready. Come get advice from a professional. You will NOT be given a sales pitch, just solid information.
June 3: Ako Yamakawa, on the indigenous rights struggle to get the US military out of Okinawa. Ako is a mainland Japanese and a masters student in the PSU Conflict Resolution program. She has been working with the leadership of the Okinawan nonviolent resistance group and is telling Americans about the Okinawan desire to demilitarize and end the occupation of much of the island of Okinawa by foreign troops.
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