Tompkins County Against War & Occupation

The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech
Statement from the ANSWER Coalition
The U.S. cannot “win” the war in Afghanistan. It was losing the war when Barack Obama took office. In March 2009, President Obama ordered another 30,000 troops. Rather than reverse the outcome, the U.S. and NATO effort lost even more ground. Now President Obama [...]

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Immediate Release: Saturday, July 11 at 12 Noon
Specialist Trevor Loope, 24, of Austin,. TX who faced a year in prison and a Bad Conduct discharge at Special Court Martial for AWOL was discharged administratively by order of Ft Drum’s Commander, Gen. Michael Oates on Friday, July 10th.
Because Loope possessed an Honorable Discharge from an [...]

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Last December, as reported in the Ithaca Journal, it looked like Pte. Trevor Loope was on track for an administrative discharge. AWOL soldier to receive administrative discharge, lawyer says. Instead, Trevor is now facing a “sanity board” where a panel of forensic psychologists will try to divine the state of his mind while [...]

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[ June 3, 2009; 4:45 pm to 5:45 pm. ] http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090602/NEWS01/90602033/Planned+Parenthood+to+hold+an+Ithaca+rally+for+slain+MD+Wednesday

Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes will hold an Ithaca rally in memory and support of Dr. George Tiller, the abortion provider who was fatally shot Sunday while attending church in Kansas.

The rally will be held from 4:45-5:45 p.m. Wednesday at the middle pavilion on The Commons.

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[ May 27, 2009 to June 6, 2009. ] Despite the difficulties with parking for an event downtown just after the Ithaca Festival parade, 50 people attended the screening and discussion. If you missed the Ithaca screening, you still can see it in Oneonata (May 29), Corning (June 1), Cortland (June 4), Binghamton (June 5), or other locations in the Mohawk Valley and Sugerties scroll down for schedule).

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http://socialistworker.org/2009/04/20/tenure-travesty-in-ithaca
By Troy Pasulka | April 20, 2009
ITHACA, N.Y.–Sixty people gathered April 16 at the Workers’ Center to hear Professor Margo Ramlal-Nankoe describe how she was denied tenure at Ithaca College due to her complaints about sexual harassment and her outspoken opposition to the Israel-U.S. war on Palestinians. She is reaching out to the public for [...]

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President Obama has just taken a small first step to change US/Cuba policy.  Of course, we support his initiative to lift travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans, and we should express our support ­ but it is most important that we make our voices heard in favor of even stronger measures for reconciliation and normalized relations.
It’s time [...]

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[ April 16, 2009; 5:00 pm; ] You are invited to a screening of the award winning
Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority
A film by Sufyan Omerish and Abdallah Omerish
Thursday, April 16 at 5 pm in G85, Cornell Law School.

Pizza

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR INFORMATION:

April 9, 2009
Jeff Leys - 773-619-2418

Www.nevadadesertexperience.org

Indian Springs, NV – Late this afternoon, fourteen peace activists were arrested at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada. The arrests occured during a ten day vigil which seeks to raise public awareness of the increasing use of unmanned drones in the war in [...]

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[ May 6, 2009; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] Announcing an open forum on “The New Gas Drilling: What Local Governments Can Do”

Women’s Community Building, 100 W. Seneca Street, Ithaca

Presenters:

• Dr. William Pammer, Commissioner, Planning and Environmental Management for Sullivan County (Monticello), NY
• Dr. Stephen Penningroth, Executive Director, Community Science Institute, Ithaca, NY

Over 2000 Tompkins County land owners, and thousands more in the surrounding Southern Tier, have signed leases to permit Marcellus Shale gas drilling on their property. Many expect to see drilling begin later this year, perhaps as early as summer.

While some welcome the drilling and others dread it, a common concern for all is the protection of our clean water and air, our land, and our quality of life*. **NY State law (Environmental Conservation Article 23) took the ability to regulate most aspects of gas drilling activity away from towns, and gave it to the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) instead. This leaves many local legislators and community members wondering just what they can do to protect our critical resources given these constraints. The Sullivan County, NY Drilling Task Force has been working for many months on answering just this question.***

Dr. Pammer will describe the work of the Gas Drilling Task Force in Sullivan County. The group investigated possible impacts and the authority of local municipal governments. Their recently released Task Force Report outlines 21 recommendations that will be presented to their County Legislature. You can see a newspaper story about the report at
http://www.sc-democrat.com/news/002February/20/news.htm and the *full* report on the Sullivan County Division of Planning website: http://www.scgnet.us/index.asp?orgid=610&storyTypeID=&sid=&.

Dr. Penningroth, Biochemist and Toxicologist, directs the Community Science Institute’s state-certified water testing laboratory. The CSI lab monitors water quality in Cayuga Lake and its tributary streams in partnership with citizen volunteers. He believes a reasonable estimate of drinking water that will be contaminated near drilling sites is between 1% and 5%. He will describe why and how to test private water wells so that land owners discover problems and have solid scientific evidence of* **pre-drilling, **baseline water data* should contamination occur. CSI has two information fact sheets on testing drinking water that will soon be available on their website: www.communityscience.org.

This Forum is co-sponsored by: Social Ventures; Ithaca Health Alliance; Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton; Department of City & Regional Planning/Cornell University; Sustainable Tompkins; CRESP Center for Transformative Action; Shaleshock Citizens Action Coalition; Back to Democracy.

For copies of informational handouts from the recent forum, Gas Drilling: Health Effects, Economics and the Watershed
http://www.shaleshock.org/open-educational-form-on-natural-gas-drilling-march-26th-in-ithaca/

Questions or comments? shaleshock08 AT yahoo DOT com or 202-368-8753

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UPDATE 4/5/09 click here.
Contact: Katherine Fuchs, National Organizer, 202-332-0994 (office), 414-324-4228 (mobile), organizer[at]endtheoccupation[dot]org
Contact: Andrew Stachiw, Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine, 860-208-1404 (mobile), hampshiresjp[at]gmail[dot]com
Washington, DC (April 2)-The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and allied organizations participating in a national boycott campaign against Motorola welcomed news that Motorola Israel Ltd. has sold its [...]

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mikehear2000’s photostream (Flickr)

lduggan67’s photostream

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PRESS RELEASE 3/17/09
For Immediate Release
Contact:  Malachy Kilbride, 202-841-2230; Robby Diesu, 631-241-5966
Peace Activists Arrested while Confronting the War Machine
Group dedicated to nonviolent action urge Secretary Gates to stop pursuing war against Afghanistan and Iraq
ARLINGTON, VA - Seven peace activists were arrested this morning as they attempted to meet with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at [...]

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[ March 11, 2009; 7:00 pm; ]
Left Navigation: The Art of Jonathan Matas
Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 7pm
Lewis Auditorium (Goldwin Smith Hall)
Cornell University
Visual artist/muralist Jonathan Matas will give a presentation on his work and talk about art as a means of creative resistance in this time of crisis.
For more information on the artist see: http://www.jonathanmatas.com
For more info [...]

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[ March 6, 2009; 8:00 pm; ] IRAQI OUD MASTERS TOGETHER: World renowned musicians come together for unique benefit concert.

On Friday, March 6, 2009 Iraqi-American Rahim Al Haj and Iraqi- Israeli Yair Dalal, both masters of the oud (arabic lute), original composers, and keepers of traditional Iraqi music will perform separately and together in a concert to raise funds for Iraqi [...]

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Press release, Students for Justice in Palestine (Hampshire College), 12 February 2009
Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, has become the first of any college or university in the US to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign [...]

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Last month’s Ithaca Common Council meeting was interrupted for an hour by a shoe throwing incident in reaction to the Council’s signing of a resolution at the October 1 meeting designating Ithaca a Community of Sanctuary “thus respecting the rights of its residents to support lawfully and proactively military personnel and veterans who are organizing [...]

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U of R Students to Occupy Academic Building for Peace and in Solidarity with Gaza
Posted Fri, 02/06/2009 - 10:57 by Bryan Casler on http://rochesterivaw.org
University of Rochester Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS)
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627

Rochester, NY - 02/06/09– Students from the University of Rochester and members of the local Rochester community will be [...]

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Representatives MAURICE HINCHEY (NY 22nd), ERIC MASSA (NY 29th) and DANIEL MAFFEI (NY 24th) have signed, but Michael Arcuri (NY 24th) has not. Why?
Congressman John W. Oliver
Press Release
Congressman John W. Olver
1111 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2101
Tel: 202-225-5335
Fax: 202-226-1224
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2009
OLVER LEADS CONGRESSIONAL EFFORT TO DRAW ATTENTION TO HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GAZA
63 [...]

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