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For you, The Peace Maker Because you care about peace and justice in our world
Vol. 4, Issue 14 November 21, 2011 OCCUPY "BLACK FRIDAY" AT SMITH HAVEN MALL, NOV. 25 "Black
Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, will see a large demonstration gather peacefully along the sidewalk at the SmithHaven
Mall on Thursday, November 25, from noon to 2PM to show solidarity with the Occupy movement in the call for economic
justice. For information: contact Bob Marcus of Suffolk Peace Network at SuffolkPeace@gmail.comCLASS WARFARE -- THE WINNERS AND THE LOSERS Senator Tom
Coburn (R-Oklahoma) recently compiled data showing that Americans with more than $1 million a year income, collected more
than $30 billion in government handouts. That's 3 times the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. Jon Bon Jovi
got money to raise honeybees. David Rockefeller and Ted Turner got over a half-million dollars in farm subsidies. And
the tax burden the rich complain of ? Over 1,500 millionaires paid no income taxes last year -- due to tax
loopholes and savvy accountants. Meanwhile, more than 1 million more children fell into poverty last year
over the year before. One in 5 children under 18 lives in poverty, according to Census Bureau data. But the real
percentage is undoubtedly much higher. The federal "poverty line" is $22,000 for a family of four
-- that doesn't go far on Long island. "There's no reason in this nation," says Gwen O'Shea of the Health
and Welfare Council of Long Island, " why we're seeing the highest percentage of children in poverty ever. We know the
ways to address it, and," she added, noting the disparity in socioeconomic classes, "society hasn't done it"
VOTERS: ANGRY, FRUSTRATED, WORRIED . . . AND APATHETIC When
you interview prospective voters, they seem angry, frustrated, upset, worried.They have no shortage of opinions on who's
to blame and how to fix things. They hunger for change. Still, four out of five of them can't bother to vote. It's astounding
that many of these same people vote for their favorites on "Dancing With the Stars" or are eager to know who
"The Biggest Loser" was. The democratic process is the biggest loser here. -- Michael
Dawidziak, in Newsday NYCLU RALLY FOR NASSAU JAIL OVERSIGHT
COMMITTEE, NOV. 28 The Nassau Chapter of the NY Civil Liberties Union will hold a rally outside
the Nassau Legislature in Mineola on Monday, November 28, 11AM, to urge that a Board of Visitors -- a volunteer
oversight committee as called for in the County Charter -- be activated to address issues at the county jail. For information,
or to sign a petition, contact Samantha Fredrickson, 516-741-8520 or Nassau@nyclu.orgPUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR Aliens, Immigrants
and Other Evildoers. Wednesday, November 30, 7:30PM, at Shelter Rock Unitarians. Ecuadorian-American José
Torres-Tama's multimedia production conceived in response to the murder of Marceleo Lucero. Suggested donation:
$5. For information: Claire Deroche -- 516-627-6560, ext 177 or cderoche@uucsr.org World AIDS DAY Mass. Wednesday, November 30, 7:30PM. St. Anthony Church,
Oceanside. To remember those lost to AIDS and pray for those living with AIDS. Reception to follow in Parish Center. Kairos
Awards Dinner. Saturday, December 3, 6PM. At Hofstra University. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink; Claire
Deroche, Shelter Rock Unitarians; Naomi Feldheim, Reachout America and Great NeckSANE/Peace Action; Nancy Dwyer, Pax Christi.
By LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives. Light in the Darkness. Sunday, December 11, 1PM. At Huntington Cinema Arts Centre. Film,
discussion, reception. Joselo Lucero, brother of Marcelo; Luis Valenzuela, LI Immigrant Alliance; Pat Young, CARECEN; Bill
McNulty and Mara Bard, LI School of the Americas Watch. Admission $10. Tickets: www.CinemaArtsCentre.org or call 1-800-838-3006. Thanksgiving Day Prayer O God, when I have food, help me remember the hungry. When I have work, help me remember the jobless. When I have a home, help me remember those without a home. When I am not in pain, help me remember those who suffer. And
help me in remembering, to put aside my complacency. Bestir my compassion so I become concerned enough to help, By word and by deed, With actions of charity and actions of justice, Those who cry out for what we take for granted. Amen. Peace !
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For you,
The Peace Maker Because you care about peace and justice in our world
Vol. 4, Issue 13 November 14, 2011 PLANS FOR BLACK FRIDAY (NOVEMBER 25) AT SMITH HAVEN MALL
Occupy Long Island plans to brings its message to the Smith Haven Mall on Black Friday, November 25,
at noon. This mall has been the site of mzny anti-war proests over the past several years. For information go to ???????? This past weekend, about 50 people participated
in the Occupy Long Island demonstratin in Huntington Village. Marchers twice circled from the intersection of 25A and Route
110 to the Chase and Citibank intersection. The signs, the chants, the orderliness, the focus, the mic check, and the
mix of generations united in an effort to change the status quo were the same as that seen at Zuccotti Park.
During one mic check, two young women, one age 17, thanked the elders present -- the 50's,
60's, 70's and older -- for the example of their efforts in national crises in times past and for their continued involvement.
JEFFREY SACHS: "A
NEW PROGRESSIVE AGE HAS BEGUN" Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute,
says "Those who think that the cold weather will end the protests should think again. A new generation of leaders is
just getting started. The new progressive age has begun." Goals he sees are: revive crucial public services like education,
training, public investment, environmental protection; end the impunity that encouraged financial fraud on Wall Street;
re-establish the primacy of people votes over dollar votes in Washington. "None
of this will be easy," he says. "Vested interests are deeply entrenched." Activists are needed among shareholders,
consumers and students to hold corporations and politicians to account. Also needed: "a fresh and gutsy generation
of candidates" to seek election to office, depending more on the free social media than on bucks from big donors.
CODE PINK'S MEDEA BENJAMIN TO BE HONORED BY LIAPA, DEC. 3
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the very creative peace group Code Pink, will be honored at the LI Alliance
for Peaceful Alternatives' Kairos Awards Dinner at Hofstra, Saturday, December 3, 6PM. Last year the Fellowship of Reconciliation
awarded her the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Award. Also to be honored:
Claire DeRoche, social justice coordinator, Shelter Rock Unitarians; Naomi Feldheim, of Reachout America and Great
NeckSANE/Peace Action; Nancy Dwyer ((your humble scribe) of Pax Christi LI.
FOOD NOT BOMBS PLANS VEGAN THANKSGIVING
BONANZA, NOV. 20 Food Not Bombs' weekly food-sharing at the Hempstead Railro
ad train station will be the Hempstead Food Share Bonanza on Sunday, November 20, 2PM-5PM, sharing groceries, clothing,
books, toys, plus a cooked vegan feast. Collect items that will help
make this year's Bonanza even bigger than last year's, then call FNB -- 631-223-4370 -- and let them know what you
plan to bring. Find out more about FNB at www.lifnb.com PUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR
Occupy Wall Street: Meaning, Movement, Controversy.
Wednesday, November 16, 6:30PM. Hays Theatre, Molloy College, Rockville Centre. Speakers: Michael Russo, Director,
Molloy Center for Social and Ethical Concerns; Peter Fallon, Media Studies Professor, Roosevelt University; Thomas
McNamara, Instructor, Business Law, Molloy, also Litigation Partner, Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman. For information:
mrusso@molloy.edu On Being F**ked Over. Thursday, November 17, 11:30AM-12:45PM.
Panel discussion. Nassau Community College, Bldg G, Room 375. Students speak about challenges they face trying to shape a
meaningful future. For information: ralphnazareth@mac.com World AIDS Day Mass. Wednesday, November 30, 7:30PM.
St Anthony Church, 110 Anchor Ave., Oceanside. To remember those lost to AIDS and pray for those living with AIDS. Reception
to follow in Parish Center. Pax Christi LI meeting. Sunday,
noon, December 4. At Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish Center, Wyandanch. Peace !
Nancy Dwyer
njdwyer01@aol.com To unsubscribe, click on “Reply”,
enter Peace Maker Unsubscribe on the “Subject” line and click “Send”
For
you,
The Peace Maker
Because you care about peace and justice in our world
Vol. 4, Issue 12 October 27, 2011
A TIME
OF TREMENDOUS STRESS FOR IMMIGRANTS The
law recently passed in Alabama is being watched avidly by several other states eager to implement something similar. Officials
in Alabama, told that the draconian measures in their law distress immigrants, both legal and illegal, cheerily reply:
"That's the point." Civic, religious, educational, and labor organizations concerned about
the atmosphere for immigrants on Long Island, are convened as the Long Island Immigrant Alliance. Among the
many member organizations are Carecen, Workplace Project, LI Jobs with Justice, Pax Christi LI, SEIU Local 32BJ, INN,
Dominican Sisters, Daughters of Wisdom, Casa Maria Johanna at St. Brigid in Westbury. These
organizations have planned as variety of activities. One is the Thursday, November 10, 11AM rally outside the Suffolk Legislature
in Hauppauge, urging "Leadership to Make Suffolk a Hate-Free Zone." MORE EVENTS RELATED TO CONCERNS ABOUT LI'S IMMIGRANTS
Understanding, Accepting, Respecting
Our Cultural Differences Week. Kick-off event: Tuesday, November 1, 7PM. Suffolk Community College
Theatre, Brentwood. We Are All Immigrants. A two-hour training
offered for clergy and active laity by LI Council of Churches, Jobs With Justice, LI WINS and LI Immigrant Alliance.
- Islamic Center in Westbury, Tuesday, November 1,
7PM;
- St. Brigid's, Westbury, Thursday, November 3, 2PM.
Memorial Vigil for Marcelo Lucero. Ecuadorean immigrant killed three
years ago. St. Francis deSales Parish Hall, Patchogue, Sunday, November 6, 2:30PM. For information, contact Marcelo's brother
Joselo at joselolucero@yahoo.com Welcoming the Stranger. Film. November
13; 2PM. Infant Jesus Church Hall, Port Jefferson. By LI WINS' Welcoming Campaign.
FAVORITE SIGN AND FAVORITE QUOTE FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET
The sign: You have the right to remain silent but I don't recommend it.
The quote: Volunteer Heather Squire had spent a week searching for cold storage space for all the fresh
produce being donated to Occupy Wall Street. She was getting desperate when the Rev. Leopoldo Carl wandered into
the park . His "Overcoming Love Ministries" soup kitchen in Brooklyn is a state-of-the-art commercial
kitchen that can prepare 1,500 meals, and is equipped with abundant cold storage space. "Is there anything I can
do to help?" he asked. Heather's reaction: I'm an atheist -- but there's something
mystical happening here.
VATICAN ISSUES DOCUMENT ON WORLD ECONOMY The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, headed by Cardinal Turkson, from Ghana, urges action "to rein
in "the inequalities and distortions of capitalist development" caused by "the selfishness, collective greed
and the hoarding of goods on a great scale." It calls for a supranational authority at the center of international eonomic
activity. "Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context
of Global Public Authority" also calls for taxes on financial transactions to create a fund to aid countries
hit by crisis. BRIAN
SWIMME FILM JOURNEY OF THE UNIVERSE, NOVEMBER 19 The new Brian Thomas Swimme film, an epic of
the sciences with humanistic insights, will be shown November 19, 10AM, at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. Panel
discussion afterwards with Sister Miriam Therese MacGillis of Genesis Farm; and Sister Jeanne Clark and Elizabeth Keihm
of Homecoming. Includes continental breakfast. $15 ticket benefits Homecoming and Sophia Garden. Advance ticket
required; call 1-800-838-3006. For more information: 631-842-6000, ext.307. Or sophiagardengrow@aol.com.
PUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR
LI Bus -- service cuts? fare increases?
Friday, October 28, 11AM. Theodore Roosevelt Building, Mineola. Nassau County's 2012 Budget hearing. County Executive
Mangano plans to privatize LI Bus. Long Island Jobs With Justice urges attendance at this public hearing because probable
resulting service cuts and fare increases will impact the neediest who have to rely on bus service. For more information,
and for a petition to sign, contact lijwj01@gmail.com Pax Christi Long Island. Sunday, November 6, noon, in Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Pastoral
Center, Wyandanch. For information, contact: Peace !
Nancy Dwyer
njdwyer01@aol.com To unsubscribe, click on “Reply”, enter Peace Maker Unsubscribe on the “Subject”
line and click “Send”
For you, The
Peace Maker Because
you care about peace and justice in our world Vol. 4, Issue 9 September 1, 2011
LESSON TO BE LEARNED: ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES In
Washington, the craziness just goes on and on. In response, some just cringe and turn away. Others want to run a third-party
ticket, a cyber-candidate for president. We recall how that worked out with a third party candidate in 2000 -- it'll
take decades to repair the damage. Here's a thought: change the dynamic
in Congress, put in people who think more like we do. But maybe you see your current Congressperson and Senators
as adequate. Or maybe just too entrenched or powerful to beat. So where
does it say you can only campaign in your own backyard? In the 2012 campaign, you could campaign in places where
the outcome is more of a toss-up and have a greater impact -- in places like the city or upstate New York or Pennsylvania.
There'll be day-trip bus-runs to such opportunities. Even if you can't
vote -- you're under 18 or not a citizen -- you can still be active in a campaign. You can stuff envelopes, fetch coffee,
make phone calls, do literature drops, knock on doors, walk with the candidate. Get out the vote!
Try it this fall. There are lots of key elections in Nassau and Suffolk this November -- candidates
for the County Legislatures, for instance, and in Suffolk for County Executive. There'll be a campaign office
near you. MOVING PUBLIC OPINION, VOTER BY VOTER BY
VOTER LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives is conducting a flyer campaign that
asks the question: WAR or JOBS? As Washington fights over how to pay for education, health care, infrastructure,
LIAPA flyers note that we've paid $1.2 trillion for the war in Afghanistan -- a ten-year old war which
still has no end in sight. Bring that money home and direct it to creating jobs!
The effort to bring attention to the issue will reach a crescendo on campuses and elsewhere the week
of October 6 -- the 10th anniversary of the war started with reckless stupidity just 26 days after 9/11.
In the words of the AFL-CIO Executive Council: "There is no way to fund what we
must do as a nation without bringing our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The militarization of our foreign policy
has proven to be a costly mistake. It is time to invest at home." To
help get this word out across Nassau and Suffolk, contact LIAPA -- 516-741-4360 or longislandpeace@gmail.com . Offer to help distribute flyers -- at train stations, supermarkets, concerts, beaches, sports events, college campuses.
HOW WILL WHAT WE DO HERE IMPACT THE POOR? Bishop Kenneth Untener, now deceased, of Saginaw, Michigan, roused the awareness among the clergy and
staff of his diocese with a simple exercise: He ordered that every meeting throughout the diocese, whether he was there
or not, every meeting no matter what it's topic -- blacktopping the parking lot, the ushers' schedule,
religious ed program, whatever -- had to begin a with a few minutes' discussion of how what they would decide at the meeting
would impact the poor. He spelled it out for them: "And I mean the materially poor."
Three months of this exercise focused the attention of clergy, religious and laity. Suppose Congress
started every meeting like that! ALABAMA
BISHOPS PROTEST ANTI-IMMIGRANT LAW The two Catholic bishops and the Episcopalian
and United Methodist bishops of Alabama have united in an effort to overturn the new anti-immigrant law in Alabama.
Catholic Bishop Robert Baker in a letter to Catholics of his Birmingham diocese noted that the law makes it illegal
for a priest to baptize, hear the confession of, celebrate the anointing of the sick with, or preach the word of God to
an undocumented immigrant. Nor may a person reach out in faith to help
their neighbor who is undocumented to encourage them to attend Mass or scripture study or Sunday school, or to counsel
them in times of difficulty, or allow them into AA meetings or ESL clases. It is illegal to give them a ride to the doctor,
or provide food or clothing or emergency financial assistance or treat them in any neighborly way.
This new law, Bishop Baker wrote, "prevents us as believers from exercising our life of faith as
commanded by the Lord Jesus." LIPC TRAINING
CONFERENCE: JOBS, UNIONS, ENERGY, EDUCATION The Long Island Progressive Coalition's annual leadership
conference will take place on Saturday, September 17, 9AM-4PM at the Molloy College Suffolk Center in East Farmingdale.
Panel discussion with union representatives. Workshops include: green jobs and energy efficiency; school funding and quality
education, grassroots strategies to win campaigns. Free, but register at 516-541-1006,
ext 10. Or e-mail john@lipc.org. "THAT HAWAIAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE IS A FAKE"
Conspiracy theorists -- like the "birthers" who "prove" that Obama
is not a U.S. citizen -- have been with us for a long time. Canadian journalist (the National Post) Jonathan
Kay in his book Among the Truthers does not deal with the pros and cons of any conspiracy. Rather he begins
with a history of American conspiricism and reports on the phenomenon today.
The book notes that conspiracists regularly seize on one slip of the tongue, a misunderstanding,
or a slight discrepancy to defeat 20 pieces of solid evidence. "They accept one witness of theirs even if he or she
is a provable nut, as being far more credible than 10 normal witnesses on the other side. They treat rumors, even questions,
as the equivalent of proof and leap from the most miniscule of discoveries to the grandest of conclusions, insisting
meanwhile that the failure to explain everything perfectly therefore negates all that is explained."
PUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR
Civil Liberties Ten Years After 9/11. Thursday, September 8, 6:30PM.
At Touro Law School, Central Islip. Commemorative and educational event by LI Neighbors for American Values. Speaker: Touro
Law School Professor Eileen Kaufman; interfaith panel. By LI Neighbors for American Values, a coalition of religious and
interfaith groups, social justice organizations, including Pax Christi, LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, LI
Council of Churches. Food and beverages provided. For information: Suffolk@nyclu.org Or call 631-650-2301. Bikes Not Bombs Bicycle Tour.
Thursday, September 8, 7:30PM. At Shelter Rock Unitarians'. Jacob George and other members of Veterans for Peace to speak about
their bike ride from the World Trade Center, starting September 11 and ending October 6 in Washington. Free will offering to
support the tour. For information on the bike tour: www.operationawareness.org For information on the evening's program: CDeroche@uucsr.org Pax Christi Retreat Day. Saturday, October 17; 9:30AM-4PM. Tabor
Retreat Center, Oceanside. Sister Vicki Toale, O.P.: "We Had So Hoped: New Insights Along the Road to Emmaus."
A new way to proclaim Jesus' message of peace in the world today? Bring a bag lunch; beverages will be provided. Suggested
donation: $15. For information: PaxChristi.LongIsland@verizon.net For directions: www.taborretreatcenter.org Peace !
Nancy Dwyer
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