Baltimore Activist Alert Jan. 4 – Jan. 10, 2014

Baltimore Activist Alert Jan. 4 – Jan. 10, 2014 "I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours." - Martin Luther King Jr. Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center. Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Tune into the Maryland Progressive Blog at http://mdprogblog.org. 1] Books, buttons & stickers 2] Web site for info on federal legislation 3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists 4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLa 5] Vietnam Photograph Exhibit – through Feb. 23 6] Olney Peace vigil – Jan. 4 7] West Chester, PA demo – Jan. 4 8] Silent vigil at Capitol – Jan. 4 9] Joe Cirincione at Politics & Prose Bookstore – Jan. 4 10] Low income housing – Jan. 5 11] Peace and Pancakes – Jan. 5 12] Get Money Out - Maryland – Jan. 5 13] Pentagon Vigil – Jan. 6 14] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Jan. 6 – Jan. 10 15] Managing Intergroup Conflict Through Facilitation – Jan. 6 – Jan. 10 16] Fast for Justice – Jan. 6 - 13 17] Pledge of Resistance/Fund Our Communities meeting – Jan. 6 ----- 1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him at 410-366-1637. 2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/. Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. 3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR]. It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed. It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq. To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to mobuszewski at Verizon dot net. Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe. THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe. It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing. To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to mobuszewski at Verizon dot net. 4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags. Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month. Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered. Send it to Adela Hirsch, 5358 Eliots Oak Rd., Columbia, MD 21044. Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Adela at 410-997-5662 or via e-mail at adela4peace@verizon.net. 5] – An-My Lê's photographs come to the Baltimore Museum of Art's Front Room. 21 Black-and-white and color photographs explore the roles of the military and war, showing tensions between nature and human influence and machinery. The exhibit runs through Feb. 23 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive. Call 443- 573-1700. Go to http://artbma.org. 6] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. [Route 97] in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Jan. 4. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167. 7] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com. 8] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Dec. 21. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com. 9] – Meet Joe Cirincione at Politics & Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, WDC, on Sat. Jan 4 at 6 PM to discuss his latest book: "Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late." We no longer practice duck-and-cover, but the Cold War legacy of nuclear weapons still exists, as does the need to be vigilant against their use. Cirincione will present his assessment of the current situation and why he is optimistic about disarmament. Joe is President of the Ploughshares Fund, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board. 10] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 to noon. On Sun., Jan. 5, the platform address is “Rebuilding Together’s Role in Preserving Affordable Homeownership in Baltimore” led by Bonnie Bessor, executive director, Rebuilding Together Baltimore. She will speak about the organization’s role in preserving affordable homeownership in Baltimore. Since 1990, Rebuilding Together Baltimore has organized the repair work for more than 1,200 homes and community spaces in more than 30 neighborhoods in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Bessor worked at Associated Catholic Charities as a development officer for homeless service programs in Baltimore. She has also worked in housing and poverty advocacy organizations as a legislative advocate, community organizer, AmeriCorps program director, and volunteer manager. She began her career by serving people with chronic mental illness. She holds a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Maryland. Go to http://bmorethical.org/ or Twitter: @bmorethical or Facebook: http://fb.com/bmorethical/or email ask@bmorethical.org. 11] – Join the Kadampa Meditation Center for Peace and Pancakes on Sundays at 10:30 AM at KMC Maryland, 2937 North Charles St. All are invited to participate in guided meditation and chant praying for world peace. There will be a talk based on Buddhist thought followed by brunch. Call 410- 243-3837. Brunch is $5. 12] –Get Money Out - Maryland invites you to get involved in working for the 28th Amendment for free and fair elections. On Sun., Jan. 5 at 11:30 AM, get over to the poster party at 17 Watchwater Way, Rockville, MD 20850. Materials and sample posters will be available. RSVP requested to Darrell at darrell.tschakert [at] comcast.net or 240-453-0678. Darrell will give those who came on Red Line a ride back to the Metro. 13] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop. The next vigil is Mon., Jan. 6, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649. 14] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday from 9 to 11 AM on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org. The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org. 15] – USIP Academy course- Managing Intergroup Conflict Through Facilitation is a course starting Mon., Jan. 6 at 9 AM through Fri., Jan. 10 at 5 PM at the United States Institute of Peace, 2301 Constitution Ave. NW. How do you build trust and consensus in a group setting? Managing conflicts often relies on having solid facilitation skills- skills that help parties to a conflict resolve their dispute. This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to effectively deal with conflicts and build sustainable relationships. See http://www.usip.org/events/managing-intergroup-conflict-through-facilitation. 16] – From Mon., Jan. 6 through Mon., Jan. 13, join the FAST FOR JUSTICE, an 8-day, liquid only fast. Join us for a day, for the duration, in D.C. or at home. Housing will be provided from Jan. 5-14. In addition to the fast, there will be daily activities to highlight the ongoing crimes of Guantanamo, Bagram, indefinite detention, drones, and lack of accountability for torture. Email witnesstorture@gmail.com to sign up. 17] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore usually meets on Mondays at 7:30 PM, and the meetings take place at Max’s residence. The next meeting will be on Mon., Jan. 6. The proposed agenda will include a report on the appeal of conviction of the CIA Five, GMO legislation, anti-drone activities, Witness Against Torture and the demand to have the torture reports released. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net for directions. To be continued. Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/. "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs