Baltimore Activist Alert - October 19 - 21, 2014

Baltimore Activist Alert October 19 – October 20, 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] The Visionary Experience: Saint Francis to Finster – Oct. 30
6] Food drive – through Nov. 8
7] Can you donate a kidney?
8] Death with Dignity – Oct. 19
9] Peace and Pancakes – Oct. 19
10] World Peace – Oct. 19
11] Pentagon Vigil – Oct. 20
12] Arms Control Association annual meeting – Oct. 20
13] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Oct. 20 – 27
14] Celebrate Pete Seeger – Oct. 20
15] Save Central American children – Oct. 20
16] Children and HIV – Oct. 20
17] Pledge/FOC meeting – Oct. 20
18] Pressure Larry Hogan – Oct. 21
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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 Francine Sheppard at 5639B, Harpers Farm Rd., Columbia 21044. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Francine at 410-992-7679 or FrancineMSW@aol.com.
5] - The Visionary Experience: Saint Francis to Finster, featuring artist Rev. Howard Finster, will be exhibited from Sat., Oct. 4 through Oct. 30. The Visionary Experience offers a perspective on some of the most important moments in history, invention, science, politics, and religion at the American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. Call 410-244-1900. Visit http://avam.org.

6] – The Men and Families Center, 2222 Jefferson St., Baltimore, continues its food drive through Sat., Nov. 8. The organization is collecting canned and unperishable goods so that food pantries in the center are stocked for the holidays! Call Quandra or Rodney at 410-614-5353 or email menandfamiliescenter.org.

7] - A relative – or sort of relative – of the Berrigans by the name of Michael Moore has an ex-wife suffering from renal failure and is on dialysis four times each day. Her only hope is to receive a kidney from a donor. Her name is Mary Ann Nowak, and she can be reached at 760-632-5462 or by email at bunnykimhm@hotmail.com. Anyone willing to be tested or who has already been tested and is able to donate a kidney would give new life to this woman. Many thanks for any and all consideration you can give. Thanks for reading, for caring, for considering--Liz McAlister.

8] - 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 AM to noon. On Sun., Oct. 19 hear about “Legalizing Aid in Dying in Maryland.” Join Catherine Weber and Ellen Dinnerman as they discuss how a small group of volunteers and the national office of Compassion and Choices, DwD/AID is slowly moving towards an active campaign to bring a Death with Dignity law to Maryland. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.
9] - 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.
10] – On Sun., Oct. 19 from 2 to 4 PM, various speakers from different faiths will talk about how to attain world peace from their faith perspective. This convention provides opportunity to
learn about the founder of other religions, and their concepts. It helps establish a better understanding and create an atmosphere
of peace, harmony
and tolerance. The conference is sponsored by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and held at Bait-ur-Rehman Mosque, 15000 Good Hope Road, Silver Spring 20905. Contact Amjad Chaudhry at amjad.chaudhry@ahmadiyya.us. Visit https://www.armscontrol.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&id=34.

11] -- 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., Oct. 13, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649. The vigil will be outside the Pentagon's south Metro entrance and in the designated "protest zone" behind bicycle fences across from the entrance to the Metro. By Metro, take Yellow Line and get out at the "Pentagon" stop. Do not go to the Pentagon City stop! Go up south escalators and turn left and walk across to protest area. By car from D.C. area, take 395 South and get off at Exit 8A-Pentagon South Parking. Take slight right onto S. Rotary Rd. at end of ramp and right on S. Fern St. Then take left onto Army Navy Dr. You can "pay to park" on Army Navy Dr., and there is meter parking one block on right on Eads St. Payment for both of these spots begin at 8 AM. No cameras are allowed on Pentagon grounds. Restrooms are located inside Marriott Residence Inn on corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr.

12] - On Mon., Oct. 20 from 9:45 to 11 AM, Robert Einhorn, Brookings Institution, Elizabeth Rosenberg, Center for a New American Security, and Alireza Nader, RAND Corporation, will examine "Solving the Iranian Nuclear Puzzle" as part of the Arms Control Association annual meeting at the Carnegie Endowment, Root Room, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC.

Then from 11 to 11:30 AM, Tom Collina, Ploughshares Fund, takes on "The Unaffordable Arsenal: Reducing the Costs of the Bloated U.S. Nuclear Stockpile." From noon to 12:55 PM, hear Des Browne, former U.K. Defense Secretary, present the keynote speech. Finally from 1 to 1:30 PM, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman and Guakhar Mukhatzhanova, Monterey Institute, will discuss "The Future of the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Regime." To register for the Arms Control Association annual meeting, register at https://www.armscontrol.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&id=34.

13] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday from 10 AM to noon 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.

14] – Get over to the Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW, WDC, on Sun., Oct. 19 from 6:30 to 10 PM and celebrate Pete Seeger. For more than seven decades Seeger lent his voice, long-neck banjo, and 12-string guitar to every great social movement of the 20th and 21st centuries. He was one of the most beloved musical artists and activists of all time, and popularized folk music. Pete was inducted into the rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He believed in the power of song and in the power of people singing together to build a better world! With Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers, Pete played in hundreds of union halls. The concert proceeds will benefit the Culture Works Collective. See https://www.facebook.com/events/445480822259507/?ref=6&ref_notif_type=plan_user_invited.

15] – On Mon., Oct. 20 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, Ayuda is hosting a vigil in support of the children fleeing violence in Central America at St. John's Church, Lafayette Square, 1525 H St. NW, WDC. Join them to keep the awareness of this critical issue going even if media attention fades and to put pressure on the White House to take action to protect the children.

16] – Enjoy An Evening with Eric Bond, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, at the University of Maryland, 1104 South Campus Commons, Building 1, College Park, on Mon., Oct. 20 from 7 to 9 PM. Around the world, nearly 700 children are infected with HIV every day. These infections are preventable and treatable. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the global leader in the fight to end AIDS in children. Since their inception 25 years ago, there has been a 95 percent decline in new HIV infections in the U.S., and a 51 percent decline in the number of new infections in children worldwide. They have the science and medicine to get that number almost to zero. EGPAF is focused on ending AIDS in children and families with a three-pronged focus on research, advocacy, and HIV service delivery in the countries with the greatest HIV burden. Bond is a senior writer in Washington, D.C. He previously served as managing editor for Bread for the World, a leading organization committed to a world free from hunger. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/291227651085723/.

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., Oct. 20. The proposed agenda will include anti-drone activities, including a drone law passed in Baltimore’s City Council, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, KILL THE MESSENGER & CITIZEN 4, and visiting Rep. Sarbanes’ office on Oct. 15. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net for directions.

18] – On October 14, seven women and two children--under the banner of Moms Demand Action--presented Larry Hogan with a letter asking him to clarify his position on enforcing the Firearm Safety Act. See the WBAL coverage: http://www.wbaltv.com/politics/gun-control-forefront-of-maryland-governor-debate/29126656. Mr. Hogan claims he supports the bill, though six months ago he told Republicans the bill ‘went too far.’

The protesters promised to return the following two Tuesdays before the election, unless Hogan explains how his current support aligns with his previous statements and his 91% rating from the NRA! Join them on Tues., Oct. 21 and/or Tues., Oct. 28. The carpool leaves Baltimore at 11 AM and returns by 1:30 PM. Email Betsykrieger@gmail.com and let her know if you can join them. The voters deserve to know if the Republican candidate for Governor is on the voters’ side or the side of the NRA.

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