Upcoming Progressive Events, Nov. 1, 2005

Submitted by PAAMember on November 2, 2005 - 2:00am. ::

Below are a few of the many interesting events of interest to
progressives coming up soon. Numerous other events are listed at the
PAA online calendar at http://www.paa-tx.org/event and at other
calendars that you can easily reach from our new home page
http://paa-tx.org/
See the links at the top of the right side for our and other groups'
online calendars of events.

If you are not already on the e-mail list for the excellent Houston
Peace and Justice Center's events calendar (which lists more than I
do here, but not regular meetings), ask Herb Rothschild
to add you to the list. He sends out
that calendar every couple of weeks.

Events highlighted below:

1. Now thru Sat. Nov. 5: 2000 Memorial along Heights Blvd.
2. Nov. 2: The World Can't Wait-Drive Out The Bush Regime
3. Wed. Nov. 2: DFA meeting with Jim Dean - Chair of DFA, &
conference call with Howard Dean
4. Nov. 3: Film "Haiti: The Untold Story"
5. Nov. 4: Health Care For All Rally
6. Nov. 7: SE Texas PPC Monthly Meeting
7. Nov. 8 - Keep discrimination out of the TX constitution
8. Nov. 10: Progressive Action Alliance Monthly Meeting
9. Nov. 11: HPJC Annual Awards Dinner
10. Nov. 13: HSF Pot-Luck Dinner & Movie: Rumble in Mumbai
11. Nov. 19: March and rally against the war on Iraq
12. How to add an event to our calendar

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1. Now through Sat. Nov. 5: 2000 Memorial along Heights Blvd., Houston

Starting at 6 pm each evening
Note that this is a change in time from some of the earlier
publicity, which stated 6:30 pm.

Wed. Nov. 2: Note--Our group (the Progressive Action Alliance),
along with the Houston Dept. of Peace group, are sponsoring the
Wednesday evening program. This will be a candlelight vigil and
more. Gold Star mom Amy Branham, the mother of fallen soldier Jeremy
Smith, will speak. Following that, we'll have a silent walking
meditation, followed by the playing of taps. I hope you can come
this evening.

Other peace groups are sponsoring the program other evenings, and
each is planning something unique and worthwhile.

This week long memorial is being held in observance of the 2,000th
U.S. military casualty, and to all nationalities killed or wounded in
the ongoing Iraq conflict. The location of the observance is on the
Heights Boulevard esplanade between 10th and 11th St. in Houston,
next to the World War II Memorial.

Invite your friends, regardless of their position on the occupation
of Iraq. We need to have a lot more people thinking about the human
costs of the invasion and occupation.

Each evening through Saturday, there will be a ceremony at 6 p.m.,
marked by the placing of additional flags, when necessary.

The closing ceremony will be held Saturday, Nov. 5, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
All groups are invited to attend this special, larger ceremony.

Get details at http://oilpatchdemocrats.blogspot.com/ and
http://www.paa-tx.org/node/494
Map/directions to memorial: http://tinyurl.com/bp48h

The Oilpatch Democrats is the lead organizer for this, with several
other local groups (including PAA) as co-sponsors.

Remember that the ceremonies are memorials, not protests. We want to
be respectful of those who have died, while we remind everyone that
the casualties of war are not something we should ignore.

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2. Wed. Nov. 2: The World Can't Wait-Drive Out The Bush Regime

The Bush Regime is out to remake the world.
Continual War.
Devastated environment.
Forced Religion.
No right to abortion upon demand, no apology.
No dissent.
No critical thought.
We have to act to stop this now, If we don't, we will be forced to accept it.
2008 is too late.
The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime!

We begin November 2nd.

November 2nd is the first anniversary of Bush's "re-election" and the
day that we will make the beginning of the end of the Bush Regime.
Events are planned in over 100 locations around the country,
including school walkouts, rallies and marches.

In Houston, the city wide convergence will be at 12PM in Market
Square at Preston and Travis downtown. We will have speakers, spoken
word, music and drumming. We will stage "die-ins" and radical
anti-bush theater.

Following the rally we will converge at Mecom Fountain at 4:30 to
catch all leaving work and get the word out.

At 6PM we will march up Montrose Blvd with an after rally meet up at
Helios on Westheimer.

You are welcome to set up a literature table or just bring your
literature to hand out during the rally in Market Square. We want to
encourage broad discussion and debate throughout society on why the
Bush Regime must be driven out, and how we can do it.

More info: e-mail
or call 713-858-3770 or 713-459-5962
http://www.protest.net/HIMC/calendrome.cgi
http://www.worldcantwait.org

For map and other details, see http://www.paa-tx.org/node/493

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3. Wed. Nov. 2: DFA meeting with Jim Dean - Chair of DFA and
conference call with Howard Dean

This is the November Democracy for Houston meetup.

Jim Dean, chairman of the national Democracy for America organization
(and brother of Howard Dean) will be the special guest of honor. We
will also have a live conference call with DNC Chairman Howard Dean!

Join us at 6:00 pm for bar-b-que and a meet-and-greet with Jim Dean!

Our meeting will begin at 7:00pm with a call from Howard Dean (at 8
pm) to top off this exciting event!

(Note: The memorial ceremony noted above along Heights Blvd. will be
finished before 7 pm, so you can go to both that and the DFA meeting,
if you skip the BBQ. -- Bill)

Location:
Harris County Democratic Party Headquarters
1445 N Loop West
(Between Ella and Shepard)

Please RSVP at http://www.dfalink.com (registration required)
Or you may also RSVP at: http://www.dfa.meetup.com/215

For more information:
http://www.democracyforhouston.org

713-301-6838
more info, with link to map: http://dfa.meetup.com/215/events/4777227/

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4. Thu. Nov. 3: Film "Haiti: The Untold Story"

This is a documentary film that captures in tragic detail the U.S.
and its client-states' strategy to overthrow Jean-Bertrand Aristide
and intimidate by violence the communities that form Aristide's base.

Kevin Pina, who made the film, will be on hand. He is a reporter on
Haiti and a correspondent for Flashpoints, the Pacifica news program.

7:30 p.m. at The Black Labrador, 4100 Montrose in Houston

Sponsored by Voices Breaking Boundaries (VBB).

The $5 admission will benefit Pina, KPFT news dept., and VBB.

For more information, contact VBB at 713/524-7821,

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5. Fri. Nov. 4: Health Care For All Rally

5:45 PM
To be held in front of Houston City Hall.

The goal of this rally is not to advocate for one particular solution
to this complex issue, but to raise this issue to the moral
consciousness of our society. We believe that the wealthiest nation
in the world, which often speaks of "values", has a moral obligation
to find a way to erase this great and obvious divide between the rich
and the poor, the haves and the have-nots. We are also going to voice
our opposition to the proposed Medicaid cuts, which will leave many
Katrina survivors and other Americans without insurance.

Invited speakers include Congresswoman Jackson Lee, Congressman
Green, Archbishop Fiorenza, Councilmember Adrian Garcia, Pastor
Kirbyjon Caldwell, Dr. Ana Malinow of Health Care For All Texas, a
janitor from the Justice for Janitors campaign, as well as national
AMSA leaders.

Organized by the American Medical Student Association chapters at
Baylor College of Medicine and UT-Houston.

More info: http://www.hpjc.org/majorevents.asp#11-4-2005
or contact Matt Cope, 713-412-7029

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6. Mon. Nov. 7: SE Texas PPC Monthly Meeting

Event Sponsor: Progressive Populist Caucus of the Democratic Party

6:30 - 7:30 pm

Sorry -- I don't have any details yet. Check our PAA calendar at
http://paa-tx.org/ later.

More info: Bob Turney
and http://www.texaspopulists.com/event/2005/11/7/day

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7. Tue. Nov. 8 - Keep discrimination out of the TX constitution

Nov. 8 is election day for all of Texas. Everyone gets to vote on
the constitutional amendments, even if you are not in a city having
local elections.

More details on the election, including Houston city council
candidates, early voting locations, description of ALL the
amendments, sample ballots, and more, are at:
http://www.paa-tx.org/node/225
Thanks to Sarah Gonzales for compiling and posting all this great info!

The really terrible amendment, in my opinion, is proposition 2, the
marriage discrimination amendment. The legislature is trying to add
discrimination to our state constitution and make it even more
difficult for a future legislature to undo the current legislation
which already forbids homosexual marriage.

However, the lege messed up even more than usual by botching the
language for the amendment. They did it in such a way that a judge
might rule that it outlaws ALL marriage. Be sure to tell your right
wing friends to read the amendment carefully and see what I mean.
See http://savetexasmarriage.com/

More details on the campaign to stop this amendment are at
http://www.nononsenseinnovember.com/

The good news is that the opposition to Proposition 2, led by the No
Nonsense in November campaign, is really organized and going strong,
and the opposition is not doing much. In addition, almost all of the
state's leading newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, have
editorialized against Prop. 2. Most have said we don't need
discrimination in the constitution, regardless of how one feels about
homosexual marriage.

The bad news is that many people don't vote on constitutional
amendments. But we can change that.

If we can get our folks out to the polls, and make sure they don't
skip the amendments (at least #2), we can win.

We are so close! Help make Texas the state that stopped the hate.

I've already volunteered to help stop Prop. 2, and plan to do more on
election day. If you can spend a few hours during early voting (ends
Fri.), block walking this weekend, or passing out flyers on election
day, please sign up to help. If you'd rather donate to help pay for
expenses for the campaign, go to
https://nononsenseinnovember.com/905/donated.php

Contact Emily Langdon or call (832)
605-5809 to volunteer or if you have questions. Emily is the Houston
area coordinator. Tell her you're with PAA. If you can't reach her,
contact me at and I'll put you in touch with
some of the other organizers.

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8. Thur. Nov. 10: Progressive Action Alliance Monthly Meeting

No details on the agenda yet, but save the date.

Come early to visit & gab
6:30 pm - 7:00 pm: social/meet & greet
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: meeting

We meet the 2nd Thursday of each month to discuss recent and upcoming
activities at:
Leisure Learning Unlimited
2990 Richmond, Houston
6th floor, room 6
map: http://tinyurl.com/4gwo7

We'll add details next week to our calendar at http://www.paa-tx.org/event

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9. Fri. Nov. 11: HPJC Annual Awards Dinner

The Houston Peace and Justice Center is having their 3rd annual
awards dinner. They'll be honoring Bob Jensen, State Representative
Garnet Coleman, Sissy Farenthold, and immigration rights activist
Maria Jimenez.

National Peacemaker awardee and keynote speaker will be Bob Jensen,
Professor of
Journalism at UT-Austin. Through his teaching, guest lectures,
editorial writing, and books, Jensen has become a prominent critical
analyst of American political policy and social practice.

Tickets $50; some subsidized seats available.

Reception with cash bar at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. at the UH Hilton Hotel.

Mail checks with name and address to HPJC, P.O. Box 66234, Houston, TX 77266.

For more information and to reserve seats, call Herb Rothschild,
713/861-2494,

More info: http://www.hpjc.org/majorevents.asp#11-11-2005

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10. Sun. Nov. 13: HSF Pot-Luck Dinner & Movie: Rumble in Mumbai

5:30pm - 9:00pm

Location: The Artery, 5401 Jackson at Prospect (entrance on Prospect)

Join the Houston Social Forum organizing group for a potluck dinner
and screening of "Rumble in Mumbai". The film documents the World
Social Forum held in Mumbai, India January 2004 and the 100,000 plus
people who attended the forum, all looking to build solidarity--and a
better world. For those looking to understand the growing global
malaise, which the social forae seek to rectify, Rumble in Mumbai is
a good starting point.

The Houston Social Forum is a regional event planned for April 2006
that will address local as well as global issues. It is comprised of
diverse groups building from common values. It is nongovernmental and
nonpartisan but actively supportive of true participatory democracy,
nonviolent resistance to world injustice and mechanisms that value
people over profit. HSF seeks active participation from groups and
individuals alike who share these values and concerns.
http://www.houstonsocialforum.org

The film showing is free. Bring something to eat and share if you
would like to join the pot-luck dinner.

Contact: Heather Smith at 832.860.0431,

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11. Sat. Nov. 19: March and rally against the war on Iraq

12 Noon

Major march and rally against the war on Iraq [rescheduled from Sep.
25, when Rita hit]. Organized by a coalition of more than 20 peace,
justice, and religious groups, including PAA.

Gather at noon in Market Square in downtown Houston at 300 Milam.
Then march to City Hall for a rally featuring performers, speakers,
and chants demanding that U.S. troops be pulled out now. Bring signs
and banners that reinforce the event message.

For more info, check for updates at http://houston.indymedia.org and
on their calendar at http://www.protest.net/HIMC/calendrome.cgi

Contacts:
Herbert Rothschild, , 713.861.2494
David Smith, , 832.692.2306

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12. How to add an event to our calendar

You can now add your own event, to our online calendar, so you can be
sure to include whatever details and web links/contact info you have.

Click on the "Submit an Event" link below the events list, on the
right side of our home page at http://paa-tx.org/ . After you do
this, it should get posted within 24 hours. Be sure to include the
full address for the event location so that the automatic map
generator will work to make it easy for people to find your event.

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Many more events are listed on our new web site at
http://paa-tx.org/. Click on the link for the Progressive Action
Alliance calendar on the right side of the page for a monthly
calendar. Click on the title of any event for more details on it.

There are also links to several other Houston-area online calendars
of events with items of interest to political activists -- see the
links at the top right of our home page http://paa-tx.org/