Friday, September 16th, 2011 7:30 PM
Celtic and American Concert in Levittown, PA
United Christian Church,
8525 New Falls Road,
Levittown, PA
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action presents Charlie Zahm at the *historic* Mom and Pops coffeehouse stomping ground. Charlie says, "There is a message of peace tonight, and I think right around now this ol'world really needs it. I sure hope you can be there with us!" Opening for Charlie will be The Connolly & Murphy Band, with rousing Irish tunes.
Charlie Zahm is one of the most popular soloists at Celtic music festivals, Maritime and Early American music events anywhere east of the Mississippi. With a baritone voice some have described as "coming along once in a generation," Charlie has become one of the most successful performers on the Celtic festival circuit, weaving magical moments of Scottish and Irish history for the listener and viewer, with passion for the performance and a chosen repertoire pleasing to all members of the family. A master of the guitar as well, Charlie brings an authentic love and respect for the music he sings—and with dashes of humor and a light in his eyes, he will draw you into the stories of his songs!
This is a benefit concert for the BuxMont Coalition For Peace Action. Your support is greatly appreciated! Suggested Donation $15
Candlelight Vigil at Yardley Friends Meetinghouse,
September 11 at 7:15 p.m.
Please join BuxMont CFPA at Yardley Friends Meeting on Sept.11 to mark ten years since the 9/11 tragedy. We vigil and mourn not only the innocent American lives lost but innocent Afghan and Iraqi lives lost or thrown into chaos. We vigil to urge governments to seek other ways to resolve conflict. War is not working. We need to solve the reasons that cause terrorists to act. We need to work for equity and freedom everywhere in a non-violent manner. There is no way to Peace, Peace is the Way. We need to live that. That is why we will stand in Peace and Solidarity with the world. That is why we will vigil. Please join us. You are the answer, you are the Hope.
We will vigil in silence on the front lawn of the Yardley Friends Meetinghouse, 65 North Main Street, Yardley PA, 19067
Please bring a candle to use for the vigil. The plan for the evening is to stand in a circle holding our candles. If you would like to bring a chair to sit on during the vigil, please feel free to do so.
Sponsored by BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action and Yardley Friends Meeting
coming up: BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action Presents
Gasland
Film and Discussion Sunday, April 3, 2011,
6:00 pm
Pennswood Village, Game Room, 1382 Newtown-Langhorne Road, Newtown, PA 18940
About the film:
The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. After the film (running time 1:45 minutes) we will have a discussion led by Tracy Carluccio, The Deputy Director of The Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
This event is free and open to the public so please invite anyone you think would be interested.
Contact: Cathy Leary, cfpabuxmont1@aol.com *This film and discussion will take the place of the monthly Lower Bucks Coalition for Peace Action meeting
Monthly Vigil for Peace at Silver Lake Park on the Newtown Bypass,
Wednesday March 30, 4:30 - 6 p.m.
Our vigil February 23:
The park is located near Lockheed Martin and Holy Family College. Find a Google map here.
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action has been asked many times about resuming our Peace Vigil. We have decided to vigil once a month at Silver Lake Park between Lockheed Martin and Holy Family University on the Route 413 bypass in Newtown, PA. Date: The last Wednesday of the month, beginning February 23 Time: 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Bring signs appropriate to Ending the Wars and about Nuclear Disarmament.
This vigil is endorsed by:
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action,
Coalition for Peace Action,
Penn Action,
PAZ (The Pennsylvania Zero Nuclear Arms Campaign),
Brandywine Peace Community
Letter to the Editor
Less money for war; more money for health care
By: Cathy Leary
Bucks County Courier Times, February 3, 2011
I was driving to work recently and the conversation on the radio was about our new members of Congress stating that they will work diligently to defund the new health care law.
Why would you want to defund something that is helping people? What they really should work on is defunding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. If you look at the amount of money it costs the U.S. to continue these wars, you can see that this money would adequately fund not only health care for people in this country but it would also fund most of the other budget items that need to be addressed.
Defense Department expenditures will total nearly $600 billion for 2011. For just $2 billion of that, the following could be provided for one year:
30,127 police officers;
31,429 school teachers;
141,275 scholarships;
284,259 veterans receiving VA medical care.
Why are we OK with people dying every day because of a lack of access to quality health care, but we can spend trillions of dollars on war? Wars are sinking our economy, not the health care law! Cutting the defense budget by 25 percent would cover the budget shortfall of every state in the U.S. without endangering the country's security.
What is it going to take before we say enough is enough? If we had a draft in this country, people would be taking to the streets to stop the war so that their children would not have to fight. So why is it that people are dying from lack of health care, our homes are being foreclosed on, people are out of work for months, if not years, and we are still sitting home and doing nothing about it?
Start doing something to affect the change you want. Start telling your congressional leaders to stop spending our money on war and use our money on the problems we face here at home. Unless people start calling their offices and voicing their disapproval of how our tax dollars are spent, there will never be change in Washington, or here in Bucks County, or anywhere. The change is not going to come from D.C.; the change has to start with "We the people."
Cathy Leary
Middletown
February 03, 2011
TUCSON RAMPAGE SHOWS DANGER TO SOCIETY OF VOLATILE COMBINATION OF EXTREMISM WITH GUNS
Press Release: Ceasefire NJ Calls on Faith Community to Step Up To Combat Dangerous Mix of Political Extremism, Guns and the Gun Lobby
Trenton: In the wake of the devastating shooting rampage of Saturday in Tucson, AZ, Ceasefire NJ, the Garden State’s leading organization devoted to reducing gun violence, expressed sadness at the predictable loss of life and damage to society, and called for citizens and the faith community to ‘step up’ and take the country from those who would use the deadly mix of guns and political extremism to endanger democracy, and innocent lives and sell guns.
The Rev. Robert Moore, Executive Director of the Coalition for Peace Action, of which Ceasefire NJ is a project, said: “We mourn for those needlessly lost, we pray for those wounded and recovering, we cry for the families whose lives have been changed forever. And, we call on all Americans to see the frightening and dangerous conjunction of guns and political extremism to which this horrific event points so clearly.”
The Rev. Gerald Lamont Thomas, Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Plainfield, NJ and member of Ceasefire NJ’s Steering Team, said: “I call on all faith communities to take courage to become advocates for the call of justice and righteousness to bring America into honest accountability of our social and political rights. It is high time the faithful in this state and country said no to extremists and the gun industry and lobby. We can no longer allow their thinking to dominate our need to have peace within our communities. The people must change our public policies and mandates that govern for all.”
Bryan Miller, Project Director of Ceasefire NJ, said: “The massacre in Tucson shows clearly that we live in dangerous times in this country. We have allowed a lobby whose main goal is to protect and encourage the sales and profits of the gun industry to dictate what is acceptable in law and practice – the result being that we tolerate incredible levels of gun violence. Yet, when extremist are encouraged to use guns by irresponsible politicians and the leaders of the gun lobby, we are shocked. No one should be, as extremist like Sarah Palin and NRA boss Wayne LaPierre have been using threatening words and images for years. Now our country is reaping what they and others have sown.”
The Rev. Shannon Vance-Ocampo, Pastor of Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church in North Plainfield and member of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, said: “The faith community must act to combat the insidious initiatives and motives of those who would encourage gun violence by allowing the gun lobby to hold the field. I and many others of faith are eager to act to reduce the carnage. We seek to bring the faith-based and grassroots movement to prevent gun violence, Heeding God’s Call, to our state and nation. Heeding has enjoyed success in Philadelphia in confronting the flow of guns to that city’s streets. We believe Heeding can be a means for the faith community to take action to make all streets safer from gun violence."
Reverend Moore's Letter to the Editor on the Tuscon Rampage
January 11, 2011
Dear Editor:
The horrifying gun rampage on January 8 in Tucson demonstrates again the devastating effects of allowing a lobby (the NRA and its allies) whose main goal is to encourage the sales and profits of the gun industry to dictate gun laws.
While most of the media attention about this tragedy to date has focused on those who promote extremism and violent imagery, such as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, it is very difficult to reign in such enticement to violence as long as it’s not overt and targeting specific people. We should strive for curtailing it, but I’m not optimistic about chances for near term improvement.
But what is quite do-able, and has been done by almost every other industrialized nation, is to have sensible gun violence prevention laws that would prevent anyone who might succumb to such provocations from obtaining such lethality. The failure to do this amounts to allowing individual citizens access to weapons of mass destruction.
A case in point is the Assault Weapons Ban. I’m proud that the Coalition for Peace Action and our Project, Ceasefire NJ, were instrumental in New Jersey becoming the second state in the nation to enact such a Ban in 1991. In 1993, we succeeded in beating back an attempt by the NRA to rescind New Jersey’s state ban, which remains the strongest such law in the nation.
Inspired by our success in New Jersey and other states, a National Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994. It banned ammunition clips of over 10 bullets, such as the 33 clip magazine the shooter in Tucson used. Tragically, the National Ban expired in 2004, when the Bush Administration together with the NRA prevented it from being extended. So the shooter was able to legally buy the clips he used to wreak havoc in Tucson.
Other sensible gun violence prevention laws, like closing the loophole that allows guns of any lethality to be sold at gun shows with no background checks, have also been repeatedly thwarted by the NRA.
When guns are so easily accessible, it’s no wonder that the US has by far the highest rate of gun violence in the industrialized world. Over 30,000 Americans die each year at the hand of a gun. The Tucson rampage is simply the latest dramatic episode in what is a daily occurrence in the U.S.
If we want to get serious about preventing such mass gun violence in the future, we must reinstate the National Assault Weapons Ban and pass other sensible gun violence prevention laws. Such laws would not inhibit gun use by hunters or sportsmen. They would only be sensible steps to make our streets and communities protected from such senseless carnage in the future.
Any reader wanting more information or to get involved in efforts to prevent gun violence can visit the Coalition for Peace Action web site at www.peacecoalition.org; or phone its office at (609)924-5022.
The Rev. Robert Moore
START Ratification!
LARGEST PEACE GROUP IN REGION HAILS RATIFICATION OF START TREATY; HIGHLIGHTS ROLE OF GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY IN IT
The Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) hailed today’s US Senate ratification of the new START Treaty by a margin of 71-26, well over the 2/3 majority required for approval. CFPA is the region’s largest peace group, with nearly 7,800 member and supporting households in 20 chapters in central and southern New Jersey, and southeastern Pennsylvania.
CFPA highlighted the role of grassroots advocacy in the successful ratification vote. While praising the “inside the beltway” advocacy led by the Obama Administration and key Senate leaders, such as Foreign Relations Committee Chair Sen. John Kerry, CFPA asserted that grassroots work across the US was also a critical factor.
For its part, CFPA worked very closely with two Senate champions for START ratification, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. Both are on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. CFPA was especially appreciative of Sen. Casey’s strong leadership, as it was in very frequent contact with him and his staff in terms of closely coordinating the grassroots and insider strategies to be synergistic.
In addition, CFPA sent out numerous alerts to its E-alert list of some 3,400 households in the region; created and maintained a special section of its web site; and did a dozen nights of phone banking to peace supporters in states with swing Republicans, including North Carolina, Ohio, and Illinois. At least 1,500 phone calls were made, with at least 500 supporters committing to call Senator Burr, Voinovich, or Kirk, respectively.
“It is crucial that insider advocacy be done in tandem with grassroots mobilization to ensure the strongest synergy and the greatest chance of success on such major votes. While a great deal of attention has been given to the insider effort, almost none has been given to the critical role of grassroots advocacy across the country.
CFPA’s efforts in its region were replicated by dozens of groups across the US who were coordinated by groups like National Peace Action and the Arms Control Association, both of which together with CFPA were original members of the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World,” said CFPA executive director the Rev. Robert Moore, who is also Pastor of East Brunswick Congregational Church.
CFPA is planning a celebration of the ratification of the START Treaty next week in the Princeton area. Further details will be forthcoming shortly.
For further information, call the Coalition for Peace Action at (609) 924-5022 or visit their web site www.peacecoalition.org.
New Years’ Celebration for Peace
On New Years’ Day - January 1, 2011 - 12 Noon
Let’s celebrate the New Year together with optimism and hope!
With special remembrance and in memoriam of our dear friend, Reverend Al Krass
Please join us to share an hour of spontaneous prayers for peace in Israel/Palestine, the Middle East, and throughout the world. Feel free to be creative and join us in prayer, song, music, silence, or any way your heart is moved!
NO CHARGE - Please bring snacks to share afterwards
For more info contact Larry Snider: 609-481-5804 or ld.snider@yahoo.com Sponsored by ICMEP—Interfaith Community for Middle East Peace, the Greater Bucks Peace Circle and BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action
Sunday, November 14, 2010, 11 a.m.
Interfaith Service,
Princeton University Chapel
The Interfaith Service begins at 11 a.m. at Princeton University Chapel. The Conference takes place from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. on the Princeton campus.
The Rev. Robert Moore, entering his 30th year as CFPA Executive Director and Pastor of East Brunswick Congregational Church for the past 21 years, will preach.
Conference for Peace ,
1:30 - 5:00 p.m.,
Princeton University Confirmed Speakers:
Ms. Ray Acheson, Project Director, Reaching Critical Will
Selig Harrison, Director, Asia Program, Center for International Policy
Daryl Kimball, Executive Director, Arms Control Association
Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action
Zia Mian, Director, Project on Peace and Security in South Asia, Princeton University
BuxMont CFPA is a co-sponsor of this event:
U.S. OUT OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ! Saturday, October 16
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm Philadelphia City Hall (starting rally)
Fifteenth and Market Streets, Philadelphia, PA
Plan: Gather at noon on the west side of Philadelphia's City Hall, 15th and Market Streets, downtown. Then march to Independence Mall, Sixth and Market Streets (in Old City) for a rally against the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, www.10-16-no-war.org/ .
Please join us to demand, All Troops Home Now!
This demonstration is part of a national week of events to protest a day of infamy, October 16, 2001, when Congress authorized the invasion of Afghanistan. More than 5,658 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, 776 of them under Obama's command.
Let's bring these illegal occupations to a close now! ALL U.S. TROOPS HOME NOW and ALL U.S. BASES CLOSED NOW!.
Thursday, October 7 from 4:30-6:00 PM
at the Trenton Makes bridge in Morrisville, PA
to mark the Start of the 10th Year of the War in Afghanistan
Bucks and Eastern Montgomery chapters of CFPA are holding a Vigil on the Morrisville side of the Trenton Makes, the World Takes bridge. They will also be holding posters and banners.
“Our leaders are in grave danger of repeating the mistakes of Vietnam and continuing the war in Afghanistan in support of a corrupt government with no end in sight. As in Vietnam, public opinion is in front of the elected officials, as a significant majority of Americans now favor a military exit from Afghanistan.
As well documented in a recent report by 46 experts called the Afghanistan Study Group, planning and training for terrorist attacks can now be done anywhere in the world, and Al Qaida is no longer any significant presence in Afghanistan. So there is no longer any rationale for the US to retain a military presence there; and in fact that is counterproductive to the fight against terrorism.
We need to speak out strongly now, while President Obama plans a major review of the war in December, so we can prevent an endless war with tens of thousands more American soldiers and Afghani civilians killed. Our elected officials must heed the will of the American people,” said the Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA Executive Director.
For further information on any of the above activities, call the Coalition for Peace Action at (609) 924-5022 or visit their web site www.peacecoalition.org. Those wanting more information about the Afghanistan War, including seeing the expert’s report, can also go the CFPA web site and click on the icon on the right side of the home page.
October 2 - Jobs, Justice, and Peace
Progressive justice and peace forces from across the U.S. have been coming together since last Spring to plan a major, unified campaign calling for Jobs, Justice, and Peace. There is strength in unity! Some of the major groups among the more than 150 national partners in this effort are the AFL-CIO and many major unions; NAACP, La Raza, and other people of color organizations; and National Peace Action and other major peace organizations.
Yesterday, September 8, I spoke at a kick-off press conference for the New Jersey mobilization at the State House in Trenton. It was an exciting coalition of leaders from groups including unions like CWA, SEIU, and the Federation of Teachers; the NAACP; Black church leaders such as the Rev. Daryl Armstrong of Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton; major citizen groups like NJ Citizen Action; and of course, myself from CFPA. We are planning to send hundreds of buses to Washington D.C. for a Major kick-off Rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, October 2.
I'm writing now to urgently request that you make your reservation for seat(s) on buses to DC by clickinghere and completing the form at the bottom NOW. We have a target of September 15 (less than a week from now) for guaranteeing our buses, so it is crucial that you make your reservation NOW!Please also help us spread the word by forwarding this email to others on your lists, through Facebook, Twitter, etc.
And I have exciting news: if you are coming from New Jersey, your round trip reservations are FREE! Special thanks to CWA for making this possible. You will even be given a free box lunch and event T-shirt! If you're not from New Jersey, please reserve by clicking here; our Pennsylvania leaders are in touch with organizers there and we will let you know further details, including any cost, as the date draws nearer. But it is probable that those seats will also be free or very low cost.
Given that you can reserve what would normally be $40 to $50 per person for seat(s) on this bus, I have one final request. As with most non-profits, CFPA's cash flow slowed to a trickle in the summer. We need active support, including financial, from a large base of supporters to cover the costs of our organizing for the October 2 Rally, our Peace Voter 2010 Campaign, and for our 31st annual Conference and Interfaith Service for Peaceon Sunday, November 14 at Princeton University.
So, in lieu of having to pay for bus seats (or contributing scholarships if you can't come yourself), I urge you to click here and contribute $40 or more (less is also appreciated, any amount helps) to support CFPA's intensive programs this fall. For tax deduction, use the third option, Contributions. Please note that we can now take Discover Card, as well as Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. If you prefer to give by check, please mail it to the address below my name. For tax deduction, make payable to Peace Action Education Fund, or PAEF.
Yours for Peace and Justice,
The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director
Coalition for Peace Action &
Peace Action Education Fund
September 11, 2010 A Day of Remembrance and Reflection to bring about Peace and Understanding At Medical Mission Sisters, 8400 Pine Road, Philadelphia, PA 19111
5.30 p.m., Labyrinth Walk and Time of Quiet Meditation
6:30 p.m. Program:
Invocation by Rev. David Brown, Elder in the United Methodist Church
Featured Speakers:
Zak Ebrahim, Nonviolence Advocate and Lecturer, www.zakebrahim.com
Bob Smith- Brandywine Peace Community
Bill Deckhart-Coalition for Peace Action
Rabbi Annette Koch-Temple Shalom of Lower Bucks County
Lee Phillips-Zubaida Foundation of Yardley, PA
This event is free and all are welcome. Please see our website for more information: www.peacecoalition.org and for directions: http://tinyurl.com/23hz2u6 Endorsed by Delaware Valley Veterans for America and Brandywine Peace Community
Vigil and rally with BuxMont CFPA on Friday March 19th, the Seventh Anniversary of the war in Iraq.
From 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. we will have a peaceful vigil at Silver Lake Park on the Route 413 Bypass in Newtown. This is directly next to Lockheed Martin. There is a small parking lot that you can park in.
From 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. we will participate with Princeton CFPA at their Rally on the State House Steps, 125 W. State Street in Trenton Speakers and music on the theme: Fulfill the Promise: Finish Bringing Home Our Troops from Iraq.
From 4:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. we will have a vigil on the Morrisville side of the Trenton Makes Bridge on Bridge Street in Morrisville.
Please bring signs appropriate to bringing our troops home from Iraq, Jobs not Wars, etc.
From H-Bombs to Handguns: Creating a Safer World
Saturday, March 6, 3:00 p.m. - Rescheduled from the February date. St. Andrew’s United Church of Christ
615 E. Walnut Street, Perkasie, PA 18944
An afternoon of Information and Education featuring:
Ward Wilson, a nuclear weapons scholar who is increasingly the source of fundamental challenges to the nuclear status quo. Ward will speak about rethinking nuclear weapons in light of Hiroshima. His work has been described as “some of the most original and exacting thinking being done about nuclear weapons today.”
Bryan Miller, Executive Director of Ceasefire, NJ and Co-Founder of Heeding God’s Call, a faith-based campaign to prevent gun violence.
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action is proud to sponsor this event.
Campaign to Close the Army Experience Center
Saturday, January 16, 2010 - we closed it down again!
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Woodhaven and Knights Roads, Philadelphia PA
(Outside the Franklin Mills Mall)
Protest the militarism of our youth! Join us for a vigil and protest to honor the message of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King as we work to Close the Army Experience Center.
Please join us as we listen to readings and recordings from Dr. King’s Riverside speech as well as hear from guest speakers including Reverend Robert Moore, Executive Director of Coalition for Peace Action.
One year before he was tragically killed at New York City's Riverside Church King delivered the lines: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Forty years later, there is still ever-increasing military spending. The Department of Defense 2010 budget, which runs from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010, is almost $663 billion. This money is used to support war and militarization. Obama's Fiscal 2011 spending plan, set for release on February 1, is expected to seek $700 billion for Department of Defense expenses! This record high request includes money for additional troops in Afghanistan. In his same Riverside Church speech, King said "There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war."
For further information about the January 16 rally, please see our parent website:www.peacecoalition.org
As part of its ongoing campaign to close the Army Experience Center (AEC) in Franklin Mills Mall in Northeast Philadelphia, CFPA will spearhead a demonstration on Saturday, January 16 during the weekend commemorating the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. The AEC uses actual machine guns, humvees, and electronic war games to entice children as young as 13 to consider enlisting in the US Army.
The Demonstration will begin with a Vigil at 11:30 AM at the corner of Knights and Woodhaven Roads, near the entrance of the Franklin Mills Mall. It will tentatively include a March to the AEC and a Rally in front of it, with dynamic speakers in the prophetic tradition of Dr. King. Plans are for the event to conclude at approximately 1:30 PM. For further information contact CFPA Pennsylvania staffer Bill Deckhart at (215) 380-6804 or through the contact page.
Press coverage about protests to close the Army Experience Center can be found at www.shutdowntheaec.net
War is Not a Game, but that is how the Army Experience Center at the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia portrays it to teens as young as 13 years of age.
We have an ongoing campaign to close the Army Experience Center.
We Won't Shop at the Franklin Mills Mall until the Army Experience Center is Out of There!
“This is so cool! This is so cool!” a thirteen-year-old boy repeated as he squeezed rounds from a real M-16, picking off “enemy combatants” in a video game while perched atop a real Army Humvee. “I just came to the mall to skateboard but everyone said this was pretty cool. …" This is how the U.S. Army recruits at its large Army Experience Center, located in the Franklin Mills Mall in Northeast Philadelphia. The Army Experience Center at the Franklin Mills Mall teaches children war and violence, luring them into the ways of militarism, through a computer or simulation game.
Bucks and Eastern Montgomery County Chapters of the Coalition for Peace Action held a vigil after the 1000th death a US soldier in Afghanistan on Tuesday February 23rd from 5:00 - 6:00 PM at the Trenton Makes bridge in Morrisville, PA.
Dear Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) Contact,
According to what is considered the most reliable web site tracking soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq (click here), the tragic milestone of the death of the 1000th US soldier in Afghanistan was reached late this afternoon, Monday, February 22. CFPA has been organizing and co-coordinating plans to respond to this tragic milestone with eight Vigils throughout the region. Some will be Tuesday, February 23; others are scheduled for Wednesday, February 24.Click here or check the press release below my name to see the one closest to you. I urge you to plan to support the one nearest you, and please forward this email and help us spread the word any other way you can!
The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director,
Coalition for Peace Action &
Peace Action Education Fund
40 Witherspoon Street,
Princeton, NJ 08542
EMERGENCY EVENTS PLANNED THROUGHOUT DELAWARE VALLEY REGION IN RESPONSE TO IMPENDING DEATH OF 1000TH US SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN
At least eight events in the Delaware Valley region are planned in response to the tragic milestone of the death of the 1000th US soldier in Afghanistan, which is expected to be reached in the next 2-3 weeks (it is 986 as of 2/11/2010). The events will mourn the deaths of US soldiers as well as Afghan civilians and other soldiers there.
Most of the events will include post cards produced by the American Friends Service Committee and addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to take leadership to bring the war to an end. Attendees will be encouraged to sign the post cards to be delivered to Pelosi. Most will also include a reading of the names of soldiers from NJ and/or PA who have died.
Bucks and Eastern Montgomery County Chapters of the Coalition for Peace Action will hold Vigils from 5:00-6:00 PM the day after the 1000th death at the Trenton Makes bridge in Morrisville, PA. Contact Bill Deckhart via email or (215) 380-6804 cell.
The Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) will hold a Vigil concluding with Candlelighting the day after the 1000th death from 5:00-6:00 PM at Palmer Square in Princeton, NJ. The names of New Jersey soldiers killed will be read at that event as well. The public is invited to attend, and is encouraged to wear black armbands or clothing to symbolize our mourning. Attendees are also encouraged to bring posters. For further information on either event, contact CFPA at (609) 924-5022 or visit their web site, www.peacecoalition.org.
Brandywine Peace Community will have a Solemn Vigil and bell tolling the next working day after the 1000th death at 5:00 p.m. at Philadelphia City Hall (west side) 15th & Market. The theme is Eight Years of War - No More; Jobs not Wars. For further information, contact Brandywine Peace Community at www.brandywinepeace.com or (610)544-1818.
Mainline Peace Action and Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition will hold a Vigil the next working day after the 1000th death from 5:00-6:00 PM at the corner of Lancaster Ave. and Bryn Mawr Ave. by the Ludington Library in Bryn Mawr, PA. Contact Jane Dugdale at tjdugdale@verizon.net or (610) 574-3293 cell.
In Delaware County, PA, there will be Candlelight Vigils the next working day after the 1000th death from 6:00-7:00 PM at two intersections: Baltimore and Providence Rd. (Route 252) in Media (Park in Acme Parking lot); and Baltimore Pike and Lansdowne Ave. in Lansdowne (Park in shopping center lot on Baltimore Pike just south of intersection). Sponsored by Delaware County Wage Peace and Justice, an affiliate of CFPA. Contact Sue Edwards at sueedwards79@gmail.com or (610) 717-7202 cell.
The war memorial events will mourn the human and economic cost of war, call for the troops to come home, and support funding an Afghan-led reconstruction of the war-torn country.
“Not one more U.S. or Afghan citizen, military or civilian, should be killed; not one more U.S. dollar should be spent sustaining war and endless occupation in Afghanistan. We are likely to end up just being the latest in a graveyard of empires that have tried to exert control there. Instead of escalating troops in Afghanistan, the U.S. should focus on diplomatic efforts across the region, close monitoring and intelligence to ensure Al Qaida can’t re-establish a base there, and Afghan-led reconstruction of their country,” said the Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA’s Executive Director and Facilitator of United for Peace and Justice, a network of more than 90 groups in the Delaware Valley Region.
Action plans for Black Friday Event at the Army Experience Center:
At noon on Friday, November 27, the busiest shopping day of the year known as BLACK FRIDAY, join the noon vigil at the corner of Knights and Woodhaven Roads to let thousands of shoppers know that we are not shopping the Mall and we are encouraging others to do the same as long as it is home to the Army Experience Center. Walk with us into the Franklin Mills Mall to the let store owners and Mall management know that they have the power to Close the Army Experience Center.
The current plan is to gather at the corner of Knights and Woodhaven road at 12:00 noon for a one-hour vigil. There is a shopper’s pledge that we will sign publicly at the vigil. Following the vigil we will divide up into small groups and everyone will go into the mall, where we will split up and visit the shop owners and store managers and give them our flyer that states that we will not shop this holiday season at Franklin Mills because the Army Experience Center is there. The mall is divided into sections by color, so different groups will go to different areas of the mall and we can get as many stores covered as possible. At a designated time we will then meet at the Army Experience Center and let them know that this is the next step we have taken to keep our campaign going to close the Army Experience Center. This will be a peaceful, nonviolent day and we are not planning any civil disobedience that would get anyone arrested. Please plan on keeping to these criteria if you are joining us. We do not want to disrespect the shop owners and managers; we just want to let them know what our reasons are for not shopping at Franklin Mills.
Public transportation, visit www.septa.com. From Philadelphia's Frankford Terminal take the #67 or #84 bus. The #84 bus, which runs hourly to the Franklin Mills Mall, passes right in front of the corner of Knights and Woodhaven Roads.
Organized by the United for Peace and Justice - Delaware Valley Network
Contacts: Brandywine Peace Community, 610-544-1818
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action, 215-380-6804
Regional Coalition for Peace Action, 609-924-5022
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action sponsored renowned author David Swanson November 4, 2009, 1:00 p.m. at Bucks County Community College, Newtown Campus, Rollins Center, Fireside Lounge. David Swanson, Co-Founder of After Downing Street Coalition, will be speaking about his latest book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union.
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action is proud to sponsor renowned author David Swanson at a speaking engagement on November 4, 2009, 1:00 p.m. at Bucks County Community College, Newtown Campus, in the Fireside Lounge. The Fireside Lounge is located in the lower level of the Rollins Center (Student Union) on the campus at 275 Swamp Road, Newtown, PA.
How the Bush years fundamentally changed US government,
and what America must do to reconstitute democracy. DAYBREAK:
Undoing the Imperial Presidency
and Forming a More Perfect Union
by David Swanson
With a Foreword by John Nichols
BOOK TOPIC: Daybreak is a prescription for political reform that literally ends with a to-do list for citizens, and draws inspiration from the misdeeds and missteps of the Bush and Obama presidencies. What powers were stripped from Congress and handed to the White House while George W. Bush lived there, and what would it take to permanently move them back? Which of these powers is Barack Obama making use of or even expanding upon? And in the future, how can we expand our rights, create democratic representation in Congress, and make presidents into executives rather than emperors? This is a citizens' guide to the long-term task of removing power from the hands of one person, placing it in a body of representatives, and (here's the hard part) making that body truly representative of the American people. Swanson's analysis makes clear that the imperial presidency, which advanced so dramatically during the Bush-Cheney era, will not be stopped merely by electing better presidents. Major structural changes are needed in our system of government to rein in both the imperial presidency and, at the same time, the presidential empire. Only through the active efforts of citizens, Swanson argues, can we restore and protect our rights, and expand our conception of political rights to meet new challenges.
From H-Bomb to Handguns:
Making the World Safe Tuesday, September 29, 2009
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Northeast Regional Library
2028 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
An evening of Information and Education featuring: Ward Wilson - Associate Director of Coalition for Peace Action Bryan Miller - Director of Ceasefire, NJ
Sponsored by Buxmont Coalition for Peace Action and Northeast Philadelphia for Peace and Justice
Hiroshima Day Events
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Pennswood Village (Next to George School)
1382 Newtown-Langhorne Road (Rt. 413), Newtown, PA
Two survivors of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings will be speaking on their personal experience of this event. Please join us to hear Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Nagahisa for an informative, moving talk.
All are welcome, refreshments will be served.
Co-sponsored by BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action and the United Nations Association of the USA, Bucks County Chapter (UNA-USA).
Commemoration of the Anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing:
Thursday, August 6
6:30 p.m.
BuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
2040 Street Road, Warrington, PA www.buxmontuu.org
Coalition for Peace Action’s Associate Director, Ward Wilson, a nuclear weapons scholar who is increasingly the source of fundamental challenges to the nuclear status quo, will speak about rethinking nuclear weapons in light of Hiroshima. His work has been described as “some of the most original and exacting thinking being done about nuclear weapons today.”
The movie “Above and Beyond,” a fictionalized account of the B-29 unit chosen to drop the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima and the effect it had on the personal life of the pilot, Paul Tibbetts, will be shown following Ward’s presentation. This is a powerful program that will educate as well as provide opportunity for reflection.
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action had a picnic!! Date: Sunday, July 12, 2009
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Place: Pavilion Eight at Core Creek Park in Langhorne, PA
This is a chance for everyone to come together and enjoy a potluck picnic in this beautiful setting. Please bring a potluck dish to share with others. We will provide drinks and there will be a cake for dessert.
The website states there are grills provided. If you would like to grill something please let me know so that we provide charcoal.
This is a family picnic! Please bring your children, parents, and friends. We would like to make sure we have appropriate games for the children so please RSVP if you intend on joining us for the picnic and include the ages of the children who will be joining us.
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox and Myth America Tour came to Northeast Philadelphia and Warrington, Bucks County...
Cindy Sheehan speaking on “Revitalizing the Peace Movement” Sunday, June 21st, 6:30 p.m.
at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ
11080 Knights Road, Philadelphia, PA 19154 Monday, June 22nd, 7:00 p.m.
at BuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
2040 Street Road, Warrington, PA 18976
What’s next for the peace movement? Cindy Sheehan shared her ideas for re-invigorating the movement for peace & justice in two well-attended, pertinent, and informative lectures in our area.
CINDY SHEEHAN is barnstorming across America, RE-framing the Debate, RE-invigorating the Peace Movement, and RE-energizing our Sisters and Brothers in the Peace and Justice Movement.
presented by BuxMont Coalition For Peace Action, Delaware Valley Veterans for America, St. Luke’s UCC, and BuxMont UU
Cindy will be coming to speak during her current national tour. She is calling this the Seat of OUR Pants Tour. She writes: "I am now very excited to hit the road again by myself, by the seat of my pants doing what I can to Rally the Robbed Class to become the Independent Class. To build upon existing friendships and organization and build new relationships and structures where needed.
I am calling it the Seat of OUR Pants, because like my Congressional Run and my Online Show, these movements must spring up organically from the literal grassroots to be effective and I need your help!"
Cindy's world changed forever on April 4, 2004, when her eldest child, Casey Austin, was killed while serving in Iraq. He was 24 years old. Casey, who was a Specialist in the First Cavalry Unit in Sadr City, was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star posthumously for his valor in combat.
In response to this tragedy, Cindy Sheehan founded the Gold Star Families for Peace in January 2005. This organization, which is comprised of family members who have had relatives die as a result of war, is dedicated to ending the occupation in Iraq and bringing our troops home.
In August 2005, Cindy traveled to Crawford, Texas, with the goal of speaking personally to President Bush to demand an end to the occupation of Iraq. Other peace activists joined Cindy's efforts and the demonstrations that came to be known as "Camp Casey" began. Camp Casey was a regular gathering held whenever Bush was in Crawford, Texas, and it drew thousands of activists and celebrities from all over the world to protest the Iraq conflict.
Between Camp Casey events, Cindy traveled to numerous countries to speak to world leaders about diplomatic resolution to conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. She has met with foreign leaders and legislators from South Korea, Canada, Venezuela, Cuba, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Ireland, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. Cindy Sheehan has received special recognition for her diplomatic missions from the U.S. Congress and the governments of South Korea, Scotland, and Canada.
Cindy Sheehan has been a keynote speaker and honored guest at numerous conferences and organizations around the world. She has received dozens of peace awards and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Nobel Literature Laureate Dario Fo has written a play about Cindy, called Peace Mom.
Known worldwide for her determined efforts to promote peace, Cindy Sheehan has been dubbed "the Rosa Parks of the antiwar movement" and "Peace Mom" by the mainstream press. Specifically, she has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, The Nation, Rolling Stone, The Advocate, and Vanity Fair, along with scores of alternative media publications.
Cindy is an accomplished author, having written numerous newspaper columns and magazine articles. She has written three books: Not One More Mother's Child, Dear President Bush, and Peace Mom. In addition, Cindy has authored several articles that have been published in compilations and written forwards to many others.
Cindy has a blog called Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox. She also has an upcoming book entitled Myth America: 10 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution!
Myth America: 10 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution! is available now. In this exciting Internet Booklet, Cindy, with her characteristic open honesty, not only exposes the myths of the Robber Class but gives us tangible and doable solutions and alternatives to buying in to the Robber Class myths.
First Friday Film Forum presented "The Dark Side" June 5 at 7 p.m.
On Friday June 5th at 7 p.m. at The Peace Center, Maple and Bellevue Avenues in Langhorne, the First Friday Film Forum will present a free screening of “The Dark Side.”
Incredibly thorough investigative reporting by Frontline has produced this powerful documentary on the behind-the-scenes events in the Bush Administration White House leading up to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. Frontline’s investigation contains more that 40 interviews, thousands of pages of documentary evidence, and a substantial photographic archive.
Not long after the attack on September 11, 2001, while Vice President Dick Cheney was ordering U.S fighter planes to shoot down commercial airliners, CIA Director George Tenet was preparing his counter-terrorism team for a new kind of war. Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and others saw Iraq as an important part of a broader plan to remake the Middle Ease and project American power worldwide. Tenet, on the other hand, saw non-state actors such as Al Qaeda as the highest priority.
The ensuing debate, media leaks, misinformation and internal maneuverings makes a fascinating study on how our country has been “bungled” into the current no-win situation. The 90-minute documentary will be followed by a 30-minute discussion and refreshments.
First Friday Film Forum, started in 2006, is dedicated to the public showing of films and documentaries that generate critical thinking about U.S. foreign and domestic policies. Most of the films in the series are also available to borrow free of charge for private showings.
Father Louis Vitale
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 7 p.m.
“Torture: Spiritual and Moral Perspectives”
Presented at United Christian Church, 8525 New Falls Road, Levittown PA
Father Louis Vitale is the founder of Pace e Bene Action Nonviolence Service. Pace e Bene fosters a more peaceful and just world through nonviolence education, community building, and action. Fr. Vitale also co-founded The Nevada Desert Experience (NDE), and its enduring movement to end nuclear weapons testing. He has accompanied a peace and friendship delegation to Iran with the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
With a background in sociology and a focus on the Sociology of Religion and social movements, Father Vitale is a long-time social activist. He is a Franciscan priest who served as the provincial of the California Franciscan. For twelve years, he was the pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church in a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco, California. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Father Vitale has been active in social justice movements for over four decades. During that time, he has been arrested hundreds of times and has accumulated over a year in jail time for his involvement in a number of local and international causes. Vitale, who lives at St. Elizabeth's Friary in Oakland, is one of a small number of religious figures around the nation who seek to go to jail for their beliefs. "By taking on the suffering of others, we change the world," he says. "We are willing to put our bodies where they are and suffer the consequences, be what they may."
Father Vitale finished serving a six-month sentence for his nonviolent action in trying to draw attention to and to close the School of the Americas/Whinsec at Ft. Benning, GA in 2006. He is currently the “Action Advocate” for Pace e Bene and is involved in trying to raise awareness about issues of torture and US involvement in it. To that end, he was arrested at Ft. Huachuca in Nov 2006 and served five months in prison from October 2007 to March 2008 for nonviolent action taken at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, where US military personnel are taught torture techniques at the base’s intelligence school.
In March 2009, as he appeared before a federal magistrate in Santa Barbara dressed in the traditional brown robe and the knotted rope belt that signifies vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Vitale explained that he had a higher purpose when he trespassed two years ago at Vandenberg Air Force Base: calling attention to the perils of nuclear war and persuading military personnel to embrace nonviolence. He told the magistrate, "The biggest threat to the world is our nuclear arsenal.”
Father Vitale’s next protest will be fasting and holding vigils at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. Pilots there remotely fly Predator drones, which target terrorists but sometimes also hit civilians.
Fr. Vitale's talk was sponsored by the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA)
U. S. Policy in Afghanistan May 7, 2009 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
At United Christian Church, 8525 New Falls Road, Levittown, PA
Please join us for this opportunity to hear U.S. State Department Foreign Affairs Officer, Joseph Mata speak on official U.S. Policy in
Afghanistan. Bring your questions!
Mr. Mata has worked in the Department of State’s Office for Afghanistan since early 2006. He currently covers issues related to governance and internal political affairs in Afghanistan. Prior to joining the Department of State, Mr. Mata worked for nearly two and a half years as a political affairs officer in Afghanistan with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA. Mr. Mata holds an MA in International Affairs from the George Washington University.
Organized by Bill Deckhart, BuxMont CFPA and Robin Stelly, Penn Action
Teaching Micro Finance in Afghanistan
Sunday, May 3, 2009,
5:00 p.m.
Pennswood Village (Game Room), Route 413 in Newtown
(Adjacent to George School )
Join us to hear storyteller Brenda Burkholder, who currently works in donor relations for MEDA, (Mennonite Economic Development Associates), an organization offering business solutions for poverty, who will be speaking on Micro Financing in Afghanistan.
Brenda’s travels to Africa, Central America, and Central Asia have resulted in a collection of hopeful and inspiring stories about children, women’s empowerment and peace. She visited MCC work in Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Uganda. She has also traveled to Nicaragua , El Salvador and Brazil.
Sponsored by BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action and Penn Action
Saturday, May 2 - Protest at Franklin Mills Mall Army Experience Center
Regional Groups to Converge on Philadelphia Shopping Mall to Protest the Army Experience Center
Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia
Saturday, May 2, 2:00 p.m.
Gather at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ, 11090 Knights Road at 1:00 p.m.
Strolling through Franklin Mills Mall in suburban Philadelphia is a lot like any other mall in the United States. There's an Old Navy and a Gap Outlet, a Food Court and even a Neiman Marcus. But there's something different and deeply disturbing here. Next to Dave and Buster's Grand Sports Café, the United States Army has opened; the Army Experience Center, a one-of-a-kind, 14,500-square-foot "virtual educational facility" where it seduces vulnerable teens into military service by dazzling them with electronic killing games. They're teaching 13 year-olds to kill and they may have plans to open one in a mall near you.
Video games offer the perfect segues between childhood innocence and institutionalized killing. That's why the Army opened the Army Experience Center, (AEC). Although the Army says it's not about recruiting, it admits all 20 soldiers stationed at the mall are active duty recruiters. Youth, who are attracted to the mall by the popular skate park adjacent to the AEC, find the free, interactive video games to be irresistible.
Have we gone irrecoverably mad? We must stop this abomination before it takes hold across the country. The Army is proud of its pilot project and says it is pulling in the same number of recruits as five of its traditional recruiting stations.
At 2:00 pm people will emerge from “shopping” throughout the mall and converge on the Army Experience Center. We are committed to creative nonviolence. We are people of peace. For more information go to www.shutdowntheaec.net and at the Coalition For Peace Action website.
Franklin Mills Mall is located at 1455 Franklin Mills Circle, Philadelphia, PA
Thursday, April 23 from 8:30 a.m. to Noon - Demonstrate at the Lockheed-Martin shareholders' meeting in Philadelphia.
CFPA is a co-sponsor of this event. We will be taking the train from Lower Bucks into Center City on Thursday morning - meeting time will be posted at the Langhorne train station later this week but we expect to leave by 7 a.m.
Lockheed Martin is the world's largest weapons corporation, the U.S.'s chief nuclear bomb and space weapons contractor, the world's largest international arms dealer, Israel's largest arms partner, and the Iraq War's chief weapons profiteer. Lockheed Martin, which received $42.7 billion in 2008 from the public treasury for weapons and war, is the very center of the corporate war economy and the "elephant in the room" of the current economic meltdown and enabler of war and violence around the world.
Thursday, APRIL 23, ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING OF LOCKHEED MARTIN, Double Tree Hotel, 237 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA.
PROTEST LOCKHEED MARTIN, WORLD'S LARGEST WAR PROFITEER! Phila. City Hall (west side) - Double Tree Hotel 8:30 a.m.. - Center City protest vigil, music, large banners and props including coffin and "LockMar," the purple eight-foot tall inflatable "800 pound gorilla in the room" of the current economic collapse, and leafleting, at Philadelphia City Hall (west side), 15th & Market Streets.
9:30A.M. - Short coffin-lead March to Double Tree Hotel, Lockheed Martin Shareholders Meeting (which runs from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a..m.) for protest demonstration. Join us in bringing to Lockheed Martin CEO and management the deadly consequences of Lockheed Martin's war and weapons profiteering here and around the world. Stop Lockheed Martin: Make it loud, make it a sight; join us April 23 in
Philadelphia, and make it right!
Organized by the Brandywine Peace Community, www.brandywinepeace.com and Co-sponsored by: BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action, Catholic Peace Fellowship, and Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace.
We returned to protest at Lockheed-Martin on April 15th from 4:30-5:30.
We held a vigil at Silver Lake Park (on the Rt. 413/ Newtown bypass) on April 15 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The Tax Day message will be "Invest our Tax Dollars in a Peace Economy - Tax Dollars for Health Care Not Warfare - Windmills Not Weapons - Books Not Bombs.” You can use these slogans to make signs to bring. Lockheed-Martin's role as the largest war profiteer in the country makes it an appropriate venue for our message that we must move from a war economy to a peace economy.
March with Coalition For Peace Action in New York City on Saturday, April 4th
Join us on the CFPA Just Peace Train to a major demonstration in New York City sponsored by United for Peace and Justice to commemorate the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech opposing the war in Vietnam (delivered at Riverside Church). Use our Contact Form to carpool with us to the Trenton station leaving at 8:45 on Saturday, April 4th from United Christian Church. There will be a pre-Boarding Rally with supporters from Pennsylvania and New Jersey at the Trenton Train Station at 9:30 a.m. and then depart for New York on the 10:02 a.m. NJ Transit train. "It is Time to End the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan It is Time to Address the Economic Crisis by Cutting Military Spending"
HEALTH CARE REFORM WORKSHOP Learn How to Take Action to Get Health Care Reform that Works for All of Us
Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
United Christian Church, 8525 New Falls Road, Levittown, PA 19054
We Won’t Get the Health Care Reform We Need Unless We Fight For It.
Find Out How on March 26
Letters, Calls, Email? Which grassroots actions work best?
What’s the best way to get them done?
Who’s out there to help you take action?
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for coffee and networking. Program starts promptly at 7 p.m.
Please bring a non-perishable food item to help the Emergency Relief Association Food Pantry, which assists families who are struggling during this difficult time.
Fourteen BuxMont CFPA members joined over 10,000 other peace activists to march from 23rd and Constitution streets across the Potomac on the Arlington Memorial Bridge, past the Pentagon, to the Boeing headquarters and Lockheed-Martin Headquarters. Peace and social activists from all genres were represented. Read the AP news article here.
This is what democracy looks like (photos by Bill Hackwell):
Day of Action, March 19, 2009 - 25 strong at Lockheed-Martin in Newtown, PA.
Another year of the Iraq war begins!!
Bring the Troops Home.
Diplomacy not Destruction, Words not War in Afghanistan!!
7:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Bridge Vigil at the “Trenton Makes” Bridge on Bridge Street in Morrisville, PA.
12:00 Noon
Rally on the steps of the State House in Trenton, NJ.
3:00-4:00 p.m. - NOTE: This event wass postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.
Symposium at Bucks County Community College, Fireside Lounge, on the Cost of the Wars.
Speakers include: Ward Wilson - Associate Director for Coalition for Peace Action
Rob Kall - Executive Editor and Publisher of OpEdNews.com Robin Stelly - Field Coordinator for Penn Action
Bill Deckhart - BuxMont Coordinator for Coalition for Peace Action
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Vigil at Lockheed Martin on the 413 bypass in Newtown
All Events Co-sponsored by Coalition for Peace Action and Penn Action
Over 4,000 U.S. service people killed
Tens of thousands wounded.
More than $600,000,000,000 already spent.
$720 million spent each day.
Estimates that in the end we will spend upwards of $3 trillion.
What's Next?
Symposium on Nuclear Weapons
The BuxMont Coalition For Peace Action Steering Committee is starting to plan a series of symposiums on nuclear weapons, from the threat of destroying all life on our planet to the economic waste. Each chapter will host a presentation of this symposium. Details, times, and locations to follow. Please contact Coordinator Bill Deckhart if you are interested in helping to plan this event.
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action presents Charlie Zahm at the *historic* Mom and Pops coffeehouse stomping ground. Charlie says, "There is a message of peace tonight, and I think right around now this ol'world really needs it. I sure hope you can be there with us!" Opening for Charlie will be The Connolly & Murphy Band, with rousing Irish tunes.
Cindy will be coming to speak during her current national tour. She is calling this the Seat of OUR Pants Tour. She writes: "I am now very excited to hit the road again by myself, by the seat of my pants doing what I can to Rally the Robbed Class to become the Independent Class. To build upon existing friendships and organization and build new relationships and structures where needed.
I am calling it the Seat of OUR Pants, because like my Congressional Run and my Online Show, these movements must spring up organically from the literal grassroots to be effective and I need your help!"
Father Louis Vitale is the founder of Pace e Bene Action Nonviolence Service. Pace e Bene fosters a more peaceful and just world through nonviolence education, community building, and action. Fr. Vitale also co-founded The Nevada Desert Experience (NDE), and its enduring movement to end nuclear weapons testing. He has accompanied a peace and friendship delegation to Iran with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. 
