Sunday, July 10, 2011

Upcoming events in the Asheville area and beyond....

Photo:  Samih Tariq, 27, left, and his wife Umm Sajad, center, holding 3-month-old, Sajad, Ahmed Tariq, 24, right, launch lit candles onto the Tigris river to make a wish near the al-Khadir shrine in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 3, 2011. Tariq and his wife wished during a similar ceremony last year to have a baby, and conceived Sajad soon afterward. Each candle represents the wishes of one individual for the following year. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

UPCOMING EVENTS

07/12/11 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE PLANNING MEETING
This is at Room 102, downstairs at First Congregational Church of Christ in Asheville.  Time is 6 PM.  Peacetown Asheville is organizing this event.

07/15/11 FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIE SERIES AT COMMON LIGHT MEETINGHOUSE
July 15: Budrus - An amazing account of one family's leadership of a movement to prevent Israel's Separation Barrier from slicing the Palestinian village of Budrus in half.
July 22: The Singing Revolution - The people of Estonia had no weapons but their inspiration and their singing culture.  They sang their way to freedom from Soviet domination.
Time is 7:30 PM.  Location is Common Light Meeting House in Black Mountain.
This is presented by Daniel O. Snyder, PhD, who is a private practice pastoral counselor in Asheville and Black Mountain.  He has been studying and teaching nonviolence since l974 and since 2004 has taught a variety of workshops on peacemaking at Common Light Meeting place.   Dan is offering this summer's series of films and discussions, and clinics for the purpose of helping nonviolence toward its "tipping point," supporting awareness of a force that could transform the world.  To register or to find out more, email Mahan Siler at jahan222@bellsouth.net or call 828- 298-9509.

07/15/11 PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEETING
Lunch will be eaten at noon, and meeting starts at 12:30. Location is NIRS office at 45 Riverview Drive, please park on the street. This meeting is open to all, and a short program is usually included.  Please go to www.wncpsr.org  for more information, which includes how to get there and other details.

07/15/11 DAY OF ACTION ON NUCLEAR WASTE
Meet up at 4 pm on Friday July 15 at Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville, there will be speakers and a march to the US Federal Building to rally at Otis & Patton Avenue.  Message: keep high-level radioactive waste at the nuclear power plants where it is made.  Do not ship it to a so-called “temporary site,” do not ship it through these mountains, do not separate the plutonium.  This is sponsored by the Mountain Protectors Group.

07/16/11 WORK, CAPITALISM, ECONOMICS, RESISTANCE
This author event will be held at Firestorm Cafe & Books at 5 PM.  This is a presentation of the new book by Crimethnic, “Work: Capitalism, Economics, Resistance” followed by a discussion with contributors.

07/16/11 ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT TOWN HALL MEETING
The local sub-chapter of The Zeitgeist Movement will hold its first monthly Town Hall Meeting from 5pm to 7pm at the Hi-Fi Cafe, in the Downtown Market at 45 S French Broad Ave.  We encourage the public to ask questions about The Movement's background and mission, and learn about upcoming chapter events. Food donations requested for Manna Food Bank.  More event info: http://zeitgeist-nc.groupsite.com/group/asheville/calendar/soonest/283134.  Contact Gary at gkentnc@gmail.com for more info about TZM.

07/17/11 ETHICAL SOCIETY OF ASHEVILLE
“The YMI – It’s History, Significance and Present Programs” will be presented by Ronald King at the Sunday, July 17th meeting of the Ethical Society of Asheville, 2:00-3:30 PM, held in the Botanical Gardens Visitor Center, 151 W.T. Weaver Blvd.  The YMI Cultural Center has a rich history, having been built in 1892 and listed on the Historical Registry.  There will be a discussion period following the presentation.  Mr. King is a former battalion chief with the Asheville Fire Department, YMI board member and Interim Director of Operations at the YMI.

07/27/11 NIRS MEETING
“No nukes in WNC” is an educational workshop with Mary Olson, from NIRS Southeast.  Time is 6 to 8 PM.  Held at NIRS House, call for location and directions 828-252-8409.

07/24/11 LETTER WRITING TO IMPRISONED ACTIVISTS
Letter writing circle to send our words of support to imprisoned activists.  Location is the Battery Park Roof Garden from 1:30-3:30 PM. (0206 on keypad at door to be buzzed in).  Come learn about and share information about current U.S. political prisoners. Write letters of support.  Read letters from inside. For Info: Clare Hanrahan 828-242-5610.  Prisoner addresses, writing tips, information on issues and actions and prisoner profiles provided. Support our sisters and brothers who are bearing the burden of dissent. Bring snacks and postcards, stationery & stamps.  RSVP appreciated.

08/12/11 MOVIE NIGHT AT UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH  
The movie “Bag It” will be shown at 7 PM.  Donations accepted, this is at the Asheville UU church at Charlotte and Edwin Streets.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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This piece (below) came from an email sent to United for Peace & Justice.  It was part of a discussion about the recent votes in the US House concerning wars and war funding.

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Apart from the wavering Reps in the Progressive Caucus, its worth thinking about the fact that last month  204 members of the House of Representative (178 Democrats) voted for the McGovern-Jones amendment asking the White House for "a plan for accelerated transition of US forces from Afghanistan." The plan did not materialize and most of those Congressional Representatives voted to fund the wars anyway.

In May I received a flood of alerts from national peace groups, Move-On, Campaign for America's Future and others progressive entities urging me to "end the war in Afghanistan" by supporting McGovern-Jones. I did support that amendment and respect both Congressmen for their antiwar efforts. But whatever its merits, that was not a "war-ending" piece of legislation. It was a plea to the President to end the war. Which he is plainly not doing.

The contrast this week was hard to miss. Most of the organizations, which sent out those previous alerts had nothing to say about the $648.7 billion defense budget ...in the same period, where even Medicare and Social Security were on the chopping block because of shortage of money. Why was that? Groups holding their fire for what reason?

Rusti

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