Sunday, September 03, 2006

This just in: Peace activists needed on Labor day in Wisconsin Rapids

To: WNPJ Organizational Email List

Dear Peace Organization Leader!

A group of peace activists called the Wood County Impeachment Coalition has placed on the Pittsville, WI Nov. ballot the following referendum question:

"Resolved: The U.S. House of Representatives should start an impeachment investigation
against President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney now."

For the last month or so that small Coalition has been working in WI Rapids conducting another direct legislation petition drive to place the same resolution on the WI Rapids ballot for November 7th.

They urgently need help in collecting the last 400 signatures. As of yesterday they had collected about 500 or the 875 signatures needed. They want to turn in a bit more than 900 and this needs to be done in the next 6 days or so in order to get the resolution on the Nov. ballot as a referendum question.

Can you help this effort by sending this message to your email list of members? We are asking for help tomorrow, Labor Day, and for the next 6 days or so.

We absolutely need your help to put the WI Rapids impeachment referendum on the Nov. ballot. We must act fast.

Will you help by forwarding this email to your email list? I will be glad to answer any questions.

Thank you!
Buzz Davis, Co-Chair, WI Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition
608-239-5354 cell #


############################################

Hello All!

Yesterday 8 of us went door to door in WI Rapids collecting signatures on the Impeachment Petition Drive. The WI Rapids team lead by Robert Hoch and Bill Dolan now have 500 of the 875 signatures needed. They have about 6 days left to turn the petitions into the city to make the Nov. ballot deadline.

Tomorrow, Monday, Sept. 4th, the WI Rapids Labor Council is holding a Labor Day Celebration. It is from 11 AM to 6 PM. We need volunteers there to collect signatures. We will also have a team going door to door collecting signatures. Can YOU help?

The plan for Labor Day: We will leave Stoughton at about 8:30 AM and meet Madison area people at the Park and Ride at Hwy. 51 and the South Beltline at 9:00 AM and then leave for Rapids. We will meet at Bill Dolan's home at 11:00 AM, organize ourselves with clip boards, buttons, signs, name tags, etc. And then head out to Labor Fest and to do doors. We will probably return to Madison by 7 PM or so. You will be tired, a bit sunburned but energized by how much people want change in our nation. People at the doors want to know how our nation can be stopped from sliding into oblivion. We tell them impeachment is the answer. And it is!

Contact info for Bill Dolan, 715-423-9359, 481 Two Mile Ave. (near airport), WI Rapids, jobido@charter.net
Robert Hoch's number is 715- 652-3275.

QUESTION: Can you join us? Can you bring your partner or older children or a friend and help us?

We have two slots empty in our car and can also drive another car and carry four more people. Buzz Davis' cell number is 608-239-5354. Email me back today or call by 8 AM or so Monday so we know how many cars we need.

Why so late a request? Since Friday I have been trying to contact the central labor president to find out if a festival is planned. I found out yesterday afternoon that a festival is planned. So we are going to hit it. Hopefully we can get 200 or more signatures but we need volunteers to talk to people. So we ask you to help!

If you are not so good at walking you can sit in a chair, hold an Impeach Bush Here sign and collect signatures as folks walk from the parking lot.

It will be fun, you will meet new Democrats/progressives and help put WI Rapids on the political map for Nov. 2006. The resolution that is on the ballot is at the end of this message.

OVERVIEW OF NOV. 2006. Over 1 million people in WI may be able to vote on Bring Our Troops Home referendums in WI. Is that stunning? ONE MILLION PEOPLE! Possibly no where else in the US will so massive a group of voters be able to voice their opinions at the ballot box on the two most important issues America faces: the wars and impeachment.

13 or more cities, villages, townships and counties will probably have Troops Out referendums. In addition, Pittsville, WI, pop. 900 or so, and hopefully WI Rapids, pop. 19,000 or so, will have impeachment referendums on the ballot.

This amazing situation has taken place because a few, like one, two or three, dedicated Americans is these communities said we need to do something. And they decided to do petition drives. In Milwaukee two or three people met and said how in the world can our small group gather over 21,000 signatures to place a Troops Home referendum on the city ballot. Well, 600,000 people in Milw. will now be voting Nov. on the Troops Out referendum! The Dane county board of supervisors, and we need you help on this one, will hopefully be voting this month on whether to place a Troops Out referendum on the Dane co. ballot. The Sauk county board of supervisors will also be voting on a Nov. Troops Out referendum.

As November nears and the wars get worse and the administration does ever more lying, saber rattling or military strikes against Iran or N. Korea the media will be focusing on WI. What do the people in mid America say? How will they vote on Troops Home? Do people at the grass roots really want impeachment?

BACK TO NOW! That is the big picture but today we need just a few people to volunteer to travel to WI Rapids to help out the dedicated volunteers to have done so much and are so close to victory. We need just 375 more names to get the impeachment referendum on the ballot.

WILL YOU HELP ON LABOR DAY??? CAN YOU HELP ONE DAY DURING THE NEXT 5 OR 6 DAYS???

Thank you very much!
Buzz Davis, Co-Chair, WI Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition
608-239-5354 cell #


"Resolved: The U.S. House of Representatives should start an impeachment investigation
against President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney now."

--

Action Alert -- Petition signatures needed for peace activists

Forwarded to us from Marci Reynolds:


----- Original Message -----
From: "Disarm"
To: "Peace Exchange (E-mail)"
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 7:04 AM
Subject: [peaceexchange] FW: Support for Derry anti-war protestors



>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> You may have heard of nine activists from the Derry Anti-War Coalition who

organised a nonviolent occupation of the offices of arms company Raytheon in
Derry during the recent war in the Middle East. The occupation was in
protest at Raytheon's role in arming Israel.

>>
>> The activists have been charged with aggravated burglary and unlawful

assembly and the bail terms imposed on them effectively remove their right
to take part in political activity. Below is a statement which they are
requesting people sign and send back to them to form the basis of a
petition. See the statement and email address below should you wish to sign.

>>
>> ...We're a little late on the Peace Exchange update this time, but it

should be with you in the next week!

>>
>> Yours in peace,
>>
>> Kat and David
>>
>>
>> Kat Barton and David Gee
>> Joint Managers, Peace & Disarmament Programme
>> Quaker Peace & Social Witness
>> Friends House, 173 Euston Road
>> London NW1 2BJ
>> T: 020 7663 1067
>> E: disarm@quaker.org.uk
>> W: http://www.quaker.org.uk/qpsw and http://www.peaceexchange.org.uk



>>
>> Thought for August: The UK government states: 'There is no direct military

threat to the United Kingdom or Western Europe. Nor do we foresee the
re-emergence of such a threat...' So why did the UK spend more on the
military in 2005 than any other country apart from the United States?

>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: resistderry@aol.com [mailto:resistderry@aol.com]
>> Sent: 31 August 2006 16:50
>> To: Disarm
>> Subject: Support for Derry anti-war protestors
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear brothers and sisters,
>>
>> We would really appreciate it if you could add your names -- and short

messages of support -- in solidarity with these 9 people who could face
serious spells in jail for protesting against the presence of U.S. arms
manufacturer Raytheon in Derry. There's now an urgent need to build a strong
international defence campaign and use the trial to expose the arms
industry's actions in the Middle East. Many thanks for your support!

>>
>> The Derry Anti War Coalition
>>
>> *******************************************************
>>
>> SUPPORT DERRY ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS
>>
>> The British authorities in Northern Ireland are mounting a very serious

attack

>> on the liberty and rights of anti-war protestors. Nine activists who took

part

>> in an occupation of the American arms corporation Raytheon's offices in

Derry

>> have been charged with aggravated burglary and unlawful assembly. The bail

terms

>> imposed on them effectively remove their right to take part in political
>> activity.
>>
>> Raytheon is the fifth biggest arms manufacturer in the world. It

manufactured

>> the 100 GBU-28 bunker buster bombs urgently flown by the United States to

Israel

>> at the height of the destruction of Lebanon by the Israel Defence Force.

Among

>> the many services Raytheon has performed for Israel is supplying

electronic

>> equipment for the apartheid wall being built on Palestinian land. The

National

>> Lawyers Guild of the US has accused Raytheon of being 'implicated in the
>> commission of war crime'.
>>
>> On 9 August 2006 the Derry Anti-War Coalition organized a non-violent

occupation

>> of Raytheon's plant in the Ulster Science and Technology Park. This

followed

>> direct action that has been mounted by anti-war protestors against US

military

>> planes at Shannon airport in the South of Ireland and Prestwick airport

near

>> Glasgow. The Derry protestors decommissioned computer equipment used by

Raytheon

>> to produce software for its weapons systems.
>>
>> Nine of them were arrested by the police, among them Eamonn McCann,

well-known

>> as a civil rights activist and campaigning journalist. They have been

charged

>> with aggravated burglary and unlawful assembly. These are very serious

offences

>> that could mean the accused could be denied the right to trial by jury

under

>> British security legislation prevailing in the north of Ireland.
>>
>> The protestors' civil liberties are further threatened by the terms under

which

>> they have been released on bail. They are forbidden to communicate with

each

>> other or with anyone working for Raytheon and may not take part in any

public or

>> private anti-war meeting. These restrictions bear comparison with those

imposed

>> by striking British miners brought before courts during the 1984-5 strike.
>>
>> It is particularly ironic that this attack on the right to protest should

be

>> taking place under the authority of Peter Hain, British Secretary of State

for

>> Northern Ireland. Hain made his political reputation in the early 1970s as

an

>> anti-apartheid activist who organized direct action against tours by the

South

>> African rugby and cricket teams. As a leading figure on the Labour left,

he

>> continued to endorse direct action, writing in 1983: 'the more direct

action

>> there is against nuclear weapons in Britain, the greater the freedom a

Labour

>> government will have to get rid of them.'
>>
>> The Raytheon Nine are facing imprisonment for staying true to the

principles

>> Hain has abandoned. Like peace campaigners elsewhere in Ireland and in the

rest

>> of the world, they took non-violent direct action. Their trial is a threat

to

>> the global anti-war movement. At a time when the clouds of war are

darkening and

>> spreading over the Middle East, the right to protest must be defended. We

demand

>> that all charges against the Raytheon Nine be dropped immediately.
>>
>> Send signatures to this statement and messages of support to

resistderry@aol.com

>>
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>> <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/peaceexchange/
>>
>> <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>> peaceexchange-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>>
>> <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
>> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>