President Obama, for reasons that are not clear, delayed signing an International treaty banning land mines. This shocked many people -- including me. Here is what YOU can do:

As mentioned above, the U.S. already adheres to most of the accord. So can we expect Obama to sign on in the near future? All hope is not lost, but his signing the treaty won't be immediate, no. I predict a holding pattern on all sides until the health care reform bill is passed. As Don Kraus, CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions noted, when it comes to these kinds of decisive issues:

"It's more a question of timing than commitment. There's limited bandwidth in terms of what the administration and the Senate can do at any one time."

That doesn't mean we have to wait, however. While Obama collects his Nobel Peace Prize next week, we can gently remind him of the commitments he made to human rights that won him that prestigious honor.


Take Action:

• Sign this Care2 Petition to ask the Senate to pass a bill banning landmine use.

• Sign this Care2 petition now and let Obama know that you support the U.S. signing the Mine Ban Treaty.

The above was posted by Steve W.; and the full text can be found under "Causes".

Obama Admin Slip-Up Puts Weight on Landmine Issue

posted by: Steve W.

From the "Alternative Newspaper" The Stranger, October 29, 2009.

Monday, October 19.

......The U.S. Justice Department released an impressive new policy memo discouraging federal prosecution of pot smokers in those states that have legalized medical marijuana. Details come from the Associated Press, which reports that today's three-page memo instructs federal prosecutors that they "should not focus federal resources... on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana." However, as Attorney General Eric Holder said, "we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal," with the memo encouraging full prosecution of pot transactions involving violence, illegal firearms, sale to minors, and/or money laundering.

Thanks to the Obama administration for this lovely bit of common-sense law enforcement, and congratulations to medical marijuana users in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, who can now take their state-sanctioned medicine with diminished risk of federal prosecution.

From an ad placed in the Seattle, WA "alternative" newspaper, "The Weekly", October 21 - 27, 2009.]

JESUIT SEXUAL ABUSE OF NATIVE AMERICAN CHILDREN ON RESERVATIONS IN WA, ID, MT, OR & AK

[red and caps in the original announcement]

[That is in Washington State, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Alaska.]

Did you attend Jesuit Mission or other boarding schools where children were raped, molested and beaten?

You are not alone. It was not your fault.

Some Jesuits were good to Native children but unfortunately, too many were not. The Jesuits dumped their worst child molesters on the Reservations where Jesuit Officials allowed these men to molest and brutalize native children many of whom had been taken away from their parents and placed in Jesuit missions and boarding schools.

If you or someone you know suffered abuse by a priest or other religious, you have important information that will help protect today's children. Speak confidentially to attorneys seeking information about priests and religious serving at missions, schools and parishes in the Northwest since the 1930's. {Partial list below.}

Now the Jesuits are seeking to permanently cut off abuse victims' rights to justice, healing and compensation. The court deadline is fast approaching.

Toll Free 1-888-667-0683

[A partial listing of 8 NAMED priest offenders follows; I will give here only the names of the reservations on which the abuse took place:]

Omak, WA

Yakima, WA

Inchellium, WA

Desmet & Lapwai, ID

St. Ignatius, MT

Rocky Boy, MT

Ft. Belknap, MT

Missoula, MT

[then there follow small photographs of some of these priests]

[I am SO GLAD they are getting "outed"!]

Northwest Attorneys for Justice www.jesuitabuse.com

[I'm not giving here all the addresses: but the Law Firms include: Pfau, Cochran, Vertetis & Kosnoff, PLLC, in Seattle, WA; Eymann, Allison, Hunter & Jones, P.S., in Spokane, WA; James, Vernon & Weeks, P.A., in Coeur d'Alene, ID; and Chasan & Walton, LLC, in Boise, ID. The website will of course have more info.]

[PLEASE, PLEASE RE-POST THIS IN ALL NATIVE AMERICAN WEBSITES YOU KNOW; and on Facebook, etc. etc. etc. NOTE THAT THERE IS A TIME LIMIT! Some form of Justice, Healing and Compensation is LONG OVERDUE for these victims and survivors of abuse.]

Last night I saw an uplifting film on 3 Army Resisters, all inspired and motivated by their deeply-felt Spiritual values to face whatever the Army had to throw at them. Some Army Resisters have done jail time; among those was Camillo Meijas, who had this to say among other things:

"People ask me {in reference to his Conscientious Objector position against all war}, what about Nazi Germany? Well, if there had been a sufficient number of Conscientious Objectors in the German Army, it would have stopped the war from even beginning!" {I am paraphrasing.}

Do you think this is a vain dream by a misty-eyed but impractical Idealist??????? You may very well think so..... BUT, the next thing that appeared on the screen after that statement, and I remember the figures very well, was this statement:

In Germany, {a year or so ago}, 150,000 soldiers were called up for Military Service. {I didn't know that Germany had a draft; but there you are.}

Of these, 70,000 served in the Military.

But, 80,000 of those called up, registered as Conscientious Objectors! and did NON-MILITARY SERVICE.

I guess the Germans have learned a lesson others have yet to learn???!!!

This ought to be MUCH MORE WIDELY KNOWN.

Another great idea I brought out of that meeting to view and discuss the film, a meeting of neighbors known as "Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies", was this:

All high school boys in the U.S., without exception, when they reach their 18th birthday are REQUIRED BY LAW to register for Military Service -- even tho we supposedly don't have a Draft! At one time, there was a box they could mark, saying "Conscientious Objector". Under the Reagan presidency, this box, the "C.O. option", was removed!!! It should definitely be put back in! This is a specific anti-Military "small" but important thing we Activists can agitate for.

The Pacifist Quakers {Friends}, who often help individuals who resist the Military, both spiritually and with legal help, suggest that those {young men and women} who desire a C.O. option start collecting a "file", now. Things like photographs of themselves at anti-war rallies, statements of teachers and religious counselors and relatives, books on non-violence they have read that influenced them, etc. {This in case a Draft should be re-instituted.}

For more on Resistance in the Military to Imperialist War waged by the U.S. and allies over control of the world's resources: you can go to my group, "These Boots Were Made For Walkin' -- Bring All Troops Home Now". All sincere War Resisters with friends in and out of the Military, are invited to join this group.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has issued a posthumous apology for the "appalling" treatment of Alan Turing, the British code-breaker who was chemically castrated for being gay.

A portrait of Alan Turing is currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery's "Gay Icons" exhibition.

The apology came after more than 30,000 people signed an online petition on the UK Government Web site calling for the government to recognize the "tragic consequences of prejudice that ended this man's life and career."

Turing was just 41 years old when he committed suicide, two years after undergoing a court-ordered chemical castration. He had been found guilty of gross indecency for having a homosexual relationship. The punishment in 1952 was either a prison sentence or chemical castration. Turing chose the latter.

In a statement on the British Government Web site, Prime Minister Gordon Brown acknowledged Turing's "outstanding" contribution during World War II.

"He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war," he wrote, adding, "The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely."

Turing is considered one of Britain's greatest mathematicians, a genius who is credited with inventing the Bombe, a code-breaking machine that deciphered messages encoded by German Enigma machines during World War II.

He went on to develop the Turing machine, a theory that automatic computation cannot solve all mathematical problems, which is considered the basis of modern computing.

Last month, the curious lack of public recognition for Turing's contribution to the war effort and computing in general motivated computer programmer John Graham-Cumming to campaign on his behalf.

The author of the "Geek Atlas," a travel guide for technology enthusiasts, started an online petition, and soon attracted high-profile signatories including scientist Richard Dawkins, actor Stephen Fry, author Ian McEwan and philosopher A.C. Grayling.

"I was surprised by both the number of people who signed and the fast response from the government," Graham-Cumming told CNN. He said the Prime Minister had called him personally to relay news of the apology.

Stories about calls for a British apology were carried in newspapers in France, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Portugal Poland and the Czech Republic. Supporters set up an international petition which attracted more than 10,000 signatures.

1. Like Iraq, it is also illegal
2. No military solution to terrorism
3. Funds used for war are needed at home
4. Civilian casualties are not acceptable
5. War is not good for women in Afghanistan
6. Support the troops: Bring them home now
7. Torture and human rights abuses
8. Climate change and resource wars
9. War destabilizes Afghanistan and the region
10. Respect Afghani self-determination; No to global military intervention

Afghanistan: Ten reasons to resist

By Courage to Resist. August 5, 2009

..... While the military is not forthcoming with information about the number of troops refusing deployment to Afghanistan, statistics suggest military resistance overall is on the rise. Since 2002, the Army has court-martialed twice as many soldiers for desertion and other unauthorized absences per year than for each year between 1997 and 2001. AWOL rates in the Army are at their highest since 1980, with the desertion rate having jumped 80 percent since the start of the Iraq War, according to AP.......Several individuals have publicly refused deployment to Afghanistan......

[War Resistor Victor Agosto wrote:] "There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect." The words were scrawled on a military counseling statement, a routine piece of paperwork turned in to the commander of a Ft. Hood, Texas Army unit headed for Afghanistan. It was signed Victor Agosto, U.S.Army........Agosto is now awaiting an August courts martial for publicly refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan. Having served in the Army since 2005, including a tour in Iraq, Agosto can no longer bear to serve and says that he is, "ready for the consequences, whatever they are."

.....Agosto admits he has been scared of what might happen to him at each step along the way, from writing his refusal on his counseling form to refusing an order on base. Yet, he is determined not to fight this war.

"Overwhelming support from the central Texas peace community has made things easier," says Agosto. "People at Under the Hood and in the greater peace community have been there for me every step of the way."

Agosto has also received support from fellow soldiers as well. "Some of the people in my unit will flash me peace signs when they walk by me," he says. "The other day when I was coming back from the shop, this soldier stopped me and said he wanted to shake my hand. He told me he looked up to me for not going to fight a war I don't believe in."

Help support Victor! Donate to his defense at couragetoresist.org/victor

From "Courage To Resist; Supporting the troops who refuse to fight!"   www.couragetoresist.org  facebook.com/couragetoresist     

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