Events

Event Description:

Attend the regular monthly meeting of the Progressive Action Alliance at Leisure Learning Unlimited, 6th Floor, Room 6.
Come early to visit & gab
6:30 pm - 7:00 pm: social/meet & greet
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: meeting

Event Contact Name:
C. Lee Taylor

Event Phone Contact Information:
713-524-1944

Event Email Address:
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Event Website:
paa-tx.org

Event Fee:
Free, but donations are welcome.

Event Description:

On the 4th Friday of December, join us for refreshments and a time to visit with other activists, followed by a showing of a DVD and a discussion.

6:30 PM - social, potluck refreshments -- bring something to share, or just show up

7:00 PM - movie showing

9:00 PM - discussion, more refreshments 

The discussion will also include the Dennis Kucinich for President campaign. 

DVD showing: 

On Oct. 30, 2006, 325 people came to a teach-in in New York City to hear why "It's Worse Than You Think: where the Bush regime is taking the world and why it must be stopped."

Our movie night this month features the DVD made from that teach-in, with presentations by five notable figures. 

The teach-in features:

• Les Roberts - An author of the recent study revealing that over 600,000 Iraqis have died since war began.
• Bill Goodman - Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director
• Cristina Page - Author, "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics, and the War on Sex"
• Larry Everest - Author, "Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda"
• Chris Hedges - author of bestseller "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning"
  

This teach-in was part of a nation-wide effort organized by World Can't Wait, the Bush Crimes Commission, and others to bring out the issues not being talked about in the elections, and show the full scope, magnitude, and danger of the Bush agenda.

The following excerpts from speakers will give a taste of the very real danger facing the world.  Watch the full teach-in online at http://www.worldcantwait.net/Stream10-30-06/part1/index.html or come to our movie showing to find out just why it is "worse than you think".

Click here to read one reaction to the teach-in titled "The Little Idealist in All of Us".

Les Roberts

An author of the recent Johns Hopkins report revealing that over 600,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the 2003 invasion and occupation-- far more than admitted by the US Government or widely reported in the press. He is a Columbia Univ. Lecturer in the Program on Forced Migration and Health. He will speak on "Incompatibility of Contrition and the Denial of Science": how systems for discrediting or confusing science have been used by political leaders in recent years to prevent accountability with regard to smoking, global warming, the failure of abstinence programs to prevent teen pregnancies, and how similar techniques have been used to downplay the death toll in Iraq.

Excerpt:

Can you imagine today, the president, calling in the head of the FDA, or calling in the head of the EPA, and saying, okay, you're the scientist, so you're going to decide whether or not we're going to regulate tobacco, or whether or not we're going to, for example, have regulations of carbon emmissions, I just want to be informed in advance.  That's a laughable notion.

Bill Goodman

As Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, Goodman is involved in many legal challenges to the Bush administration, including Supreme Court cases to stop illegal domestic surveillance, challenge extraordinary rendition, and defend Guantanamo prison detainees.

Excerpt:

About 791 years ago, a bunch of guys that who called themselves noblemen actually did something that was noble.  They forced the king of England to put in into written words a recognition of the right of habeus corpus...

791 years later, a man who would not recognize nobility if it crawled out from under the rug and bit him on the nose, signed a statute called the Military Commissions Act that was a vast assault on the right of habeus corpus.

This one moment, this signing of this legislation which he had engineered, which he had designed, which he had prepared for by planning the whole Guantanamo operation...

This moment i think recognized and emblemized what this administration is all about.

Cristina Page

Author, "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics, and the War on Sex"; Vice President, Institute for Reproductive Health Access at NARAL Pro-Choice New York.

Excerpt:

The pro-life movement has found a friend in George Bush because they share a disdain for science, information, evidence, proof, truth...

When the pro-life movement asked Bush to appoint an abstinence-only ideologue to oversee the nation's contraception program to the poor, Bush said yes...

When the right-to-life movement asked him to appoint an anti-contraception fanatic to the expert panel that approves contraceptives in the FDA, he said I will. And that choice led the FDA, our nation's premiere scientific agency, to make its first ideological religious decision in its history by denying the over the counter application for emergency contraceptives...

When the right-to-life movement asked whether the president supports birth control, his spokesman dodged, only willing to say Bush supports a culture of life...

When the right-to-life movement asked Bush to defund the UN agency that provides contraception to the people living in the poorest countries on earth, the places where family planning is nothing less than a life-saving technology, Bush said where do I sign.

[Click here to read the full speech]

Larry Everest

Author, "Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda"; contributor to "Impeach the President: the Case Against Bush and Cheney"; an organizer of Bush Crimes Commission.

Excerpt:

The call to this teach-in begins with the words that the world is facing a grave emergency.  I couldn't agree more, and I'd like to add that all the shocking things we've been seen for the past 6 yrs, including the things the other speakers have been talking about and will talk about tonight, are only the beginning of the horrors this regime has in store for us, unless it's driven from power.

I don't think this is hyperbole or hysteria, I think it's based on a sober assessment of what the Bush agenda is all about and where it's taking us and the rest of the world...

Obviously more and more people are opposing the war, are unhappy about the war, don't particularly like the war.  But unfortunately most people still think that Iraq was a mistake.  They don't understand the actual reasons that this war was launched.  They think it's going so bad so fast because of blunders by Bush; they don't understand that developments in Iraq are rooted in the very nature of the agenda that's being carried out there.  And far too many people believe that there's still some kind of legitimacy in Bush's so-called "war on terror".  And flowing from this I don't think people understand the grave danger of escalation of war in the region, whether it be in Iraq or Iran or other countries.

Chris Hedges

War reporter for almost 20 years, former Middle East bureau chief for New York Times; author of bestseller "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" and "Losing Moses on the Freeway: America 's Broken Covenant With The Ten Commandments." Current article: "Bush's Nuclear Apocalypse."

Excerpt:

As I speak to you tonight, the aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason, and fast-attack submarine US Newport News are arriving in the Straights of Hormuz off of Iran. The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month. It may be a bluff. It may be a feint. It may be a simple show of American power. But I doubt it. The chances of a war with Iran, a war that would unleash an apocalyptic scenario in the Middle East, are not only real, but probably by the end of the Bush administration. It could begin in as little as a few weeks.

Event Sponsor:
Progressive Action Alliance

Event Contact Name:
Lee Taylor

Event Phone Contact Information:
713-524-1944

Event Fee:
Free, but donations will be gladly accepted

Event Description:

Following the 4th Friday Flicks & Fun showing http://www.paa-tx.org/node/2444 there will be a preliminary organizing meeting for the Dennis Kucinich for President http://kucinich.us campaign for our area.

Event Sponsor:
Houson Area Kucinich for President campaign

Event Contact Name:
Bill_Crosier

Event Phone Contact Information:
713.641.4941

Event Description:

CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO BAY VIGIL

On January 11, 2002, the United States transferred the first detainees to the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.  Five years later, despite widespread international condemnation, hundreds of people of more than 30 nationalities remain there.  Their detention is in clear violation of international law.   They should either be charged and tried in accordance with international fair trial standards or released.   
 
On Thursday, January 11, the Houston group of Amnesty International will join other AI activists around the world to mark the fifth anniversary of the first transfer of detainees to Guantánamo Bay by holding a vigil demanding that the detention facility be closed.
 
What: A vigil calling for the detention facility at Guantánamo to be closed.

Where:  The Mecom Fountain, Main Street at Montrose.

When:  Thursday, January 11, 12:00 noon -1:00 pm

Please join us and bring your own signs or use ours.  We ask that you stay focused on the Guantánamo issue.  Please no signs about the war in Iraq, impeachment or anything else that distracts from the central issue.

Suggestions for signs:  5 years is Enough, Uphold the Geneva Conventions, Shut down Guantánamo, Fair Trials for All, End Indefinite Detention, Charge or Release them, Guantánamo:  Life with no Trial.  

For more information:

Amnesty International Houston, 287-587 5386

Phivan Wright, escramble('pvlwright','mindswithoutborders.org');" title="mailto:escramble('pvlwright','mindswithoutborders.org');">escramble('pvlwright','mindswithoutborders.org');

www.amnestyhouston.org

Event Sponsor:
Amnesty International

Event Contact Name:
Phivan Wright

Event Phone Contact Information:
287-587 5386

Event Email Address:
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Event Website:
www.amnestyhouston.org

Event Description:

Attend the regular monthly meeting of the Progressive Action Alliance, as we plan actions to promote impeachment, withdrawal from Iraq, and progressive political change. If you are reading this on the PAA home page, click on the event title for more details.

Event Contact Name:
C. Lee Taylor

Event Phone Contact Information:
713-524-1944

Event Fee:
Free, but donations are welcome.

Event Description:

On Saturday, January 13, 2007, Houstonians will come together as brothers and sisters to celebrate the prophetic voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a silent March down Martin Luther King Boulevard, and a day of meaningful events at McGregor Park, 5225 Calhoun. Please see web site below for details.  [Ed. note: Note that cars should not be parked along MLK Blvd, but shuttle busses are being provided from the University of Houston, north of MacGregor Park.]

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began his World House Essay by suggesting that we have inherited a large house, a “world house” in which we must somehow learn to live together in peace – all people, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Muslim and Hindu – a family widely separated in ideas, culture, and interests. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, or together we will perish as fools.

It is my great hope that as leaders in your community, that you will encourage your membership to participate in this March and Rally themed, We Are the Dream. Together we can take steps to:

- address Dr. King’s challenge for communities to work together for social and economic justice, and;
- celebrate the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and;
- turn walls into bridges, and;
- find the courage to grow and change by promoting non-violent living and conflict resolution

For the We Are the Dream March there will be no floats, bands, vehicles, animals, demonstrations, or military displays - only people walking together in silence as equals. Registration for Marchers can be downloaded from the We Are the Dream website; http://www.wearethedream.org or obtained by calling District D office (713-247-2001). There is no registration fee for the March or Rally.

Sponsors for the We Are the Dream March and Rally include the City Council District D office, Houston Parks and Recreation Department, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, H.E.B. stores, The Breakfast Klub, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, People in Partnership, and numerous churches,
business organizations, civic clubs, unions and individuals who still believe in the works and mission of Dr. King.

I look forward to our working together on the We Are the Dream March and Rally so that we may leave the event empowered to make peace, justice, and equality daily realities to which all people are entitled.

Sincerely,

Ada Edwards
Houston City Council Member District D

Event Sponsor:
multiple sponsors; see website

Event Contact Name:
Ada Edwards, Houston City Council Member, District D

Event Phone Contact Information:
713-247-2001

Event Website:
www.wearethedream.org

Event Fee:
free