What Does Love Mean?

Received this in my e-mail today. Thought it was cute and thought I would share it with you.

Power of God

If people were to hate me that is their load to carry, I have no room for hate in my heart because it is filled with love from God. Butch (Lou) Mathews

Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it.. Touching words from the mouth of babes.

What does Love mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.

So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca- age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss." Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." Nikka - age 6

(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine - age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image) Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need. Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply say the following small prayer for the person who sent you this.

Father, God bless all my friends in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! And may their life be full of your peace, prosperity and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you. Amen.

Then send it on to five other people, including the one who sent it to you. Within hours you caused a multitude of people to pray for other people. Then sit back and watch the power of God work in your life.

P. S. Five is good, but more is even gooder!

Chomsky on Obama Speech

News Release

Chomsky on Obama Speech

June 4, 2009

NOAM CHOMSKY
Chomsky, whose recent books include Interventions and The Essential Chomsky, sent the following to the Institute for Public Accuracy this morning: "A CNN headline, reporting Obama's plans for his June 4 Cairo address, reads 'Obama looks to reach the soul of the Muslim world.' Perhaps that captures his intent, but more significant is the content hidden in the rhetorical stance, or more accurately, omitted.

"Keeping just to Israel-Palestine -- there was nothing substantive about anything else -- Obama called on Arabs and Israelis not to 'point fingers' at each other or to 'see this conflict only from one side or the other.' There is, however, a third side, that of the United States, which has played a decisive role in sustaining the current conflict. Obama gave no indication that its role should change or even be considered.

"Those familiar with the history will rationally conclude, then, that Obama will continue in the path of unilateral U.S. rejectionism.

"Obama once again praised the Arab Peace Initiative, saying only that Arabs should see it as 'an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities.' How should the Obama administration see it? Obama and his advisers are surely aware that the Initiative reiterates the long-standing international consensus calling for a two-state settlement on the international (pre-June '67) border, perhaps with 'minor and mutual modifications,' to borrow U.S. government usage before it departed sharply from world opinion in the 1970s, vetoing a Security Council resolution backed by the Arab 'confrontation states' (Egypt, Iran, Syria), and tacitly by the PLO, with the same essential content as the Arab Peace Initiative except that the latter goes beyond by calling on Arab states to normalize relations with Israel in the context of this political settlement. Obama has called on the Arab states to proceed with normalization, studiously ignoring, however, the crucial political settlement that is its precondition. The Initiative cannot be a 'beginning' if the U.S. continues to refuse to accept its core principles, even to acknowledge them.

"In the background is the Obama administration's goal, enunciated most clearly by Senator John Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to forge an alliance of Israel and the 'moderate' Arab states against Iran. The term 'moderate' has nothing to do with the character of the state, but rather signals its willingness to conform to U.S. demands.

"What is Israel to do in return for Arab steps to normalize relations? The strongest position so far enunciated by the Obama administration is that Israel should conform to Phase I of the 2003 Road Map, which states: 'Israel freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).' All sides claim to accept the Road Map, overlooking the fact that Israel instantly added 14 reservations that render it inoperable.

"Overlooked in the debate over settlements is that even if Israel were to accept Phase I of the Road Map, that would leave in place the entire settlement project that has already been developed, with decisive U.S. support, to ensure that Israel will take over the valuable land within the illegal 'separation wall' (including the primary water supplies of the region) as well as the Jordan Valley, thus imprisoning what is left, which is being broken up into cantons by settlement/infrastructure salients extending far to the East. Unmentioned as well is that Israel is taking over Greater Jerusalem, the site of its major current development programs, displacing many Arabs, so that what remains to Palestinians will be separated from the center of their cultural, economic, and sociopolitical life. Also unmentioned is that all of this is in violation of international law, as conceded by the government of Israel after the 1967 conquest, and reaffirmed by Security Council resolutions and the International Court of Justice. Also unmentioned are Israel's successful operations since 1991 to separate the West Bank from Gaza, since turned into a prison where survival is barely possible, further undermining the hopes for a viable Palestinian state.

"It is worth remembering that there has been one break in U.S.-Israeli rejectionism. President Clinton recognized that the terms he had offered at the failed 2000 Camp David meetings were not acceptable to any Palestinians, and in December, proposed his 'parameters,' vague but more forthcoming. He then announced that both sides had accepted the parameters, though both had reservations. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Taba, Egypt to iron out the differences, and made considerable progress. A full resolution could have been reached in a few more days, they announced in their final joint press conference. But Israel called off the negotiations prematurely, and they have not been formally resumed. The single exception indicates that if an American president is willing to tolerate a meaningful diplomatic settlement, it can very likely be reached.

"It is also worth remembering that the Bush I administration went a bit beyond words in objecting to illegal Israeli settlement projects, namely, by withholding U.S. economic support for them. In contrast, Obama administration officials stated that such measures are 'not under discussion' and that any pressures on Israel to conform to the Road Map will be 'largely symbolic,' so the New York Times reported (Helene Cooper, June 1).

"There is more to say, but it does not relieve the grim picture that Obama has been painting, with a few extra touches in his widely-heralded address to the Muslim World in Cairo on June 4."


For more information, contact at the
Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020;
or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

May 1st March, Las Vegas

Click image to enlarge

Repost from myspace

Apr 21, 2009 1:23 AM

In response to the Las Vegas Review Journal Article

Dear Lynette,

I enjoyed reading your story about the upcoming march scheduled on May 1st in Las Vegas (http://www.lvrj.com/news/43166087.html). I am in strong support of such social justice efforts and am committed to supporting the students who are organizing this march.

I want to encourage you to reconsider your use of the term "illegal immigrants." I find this term to be incredibly offensive and dehumanizing. I understand that people living in this country without documentation are characterized as "illegal" by the government, but this is problematic for at least two reasons.

One, the immigration laws do not offer all people equal access to visas, residency and/or citizenship. In fact, poor people and people of color are overwhelmingly discriminated against and denied "legal" access to travel for work, etc.

Two, if a person commits a crime, the act is "illegal," not the individual. If you take a wrong turn and break a traffic law, you are not an "illegal" human being. You broke a law, and it is up to the courts to determine and decide what action to take.

When the average person/journalist uses this kind of terminology it opens up the avenue for hate language and anti-immigrant sentiment that is unfounded and largely based on myths about immigration and immigrants (as is evident in the comments left on your article).

Moreover, I believe that people living in this country as economic refugees, that is, people who come here for reasons of economic survival, do not deserve to be unfairly criminalized. The lack of citizenship status does not warrant citizenist (anti-immigrant discrimination) behavior/language nor the right to exploit and discriminate against this community of people.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his letter from Birmingham, "An unjust law is no law at all." Hence, since there is great debate about the justice of immigration law as it exists today, it is unfair to uphold this question of "legality" as a reason to refer to human beings as "illegal."

Overwhelmingly, journalists are taking the advice of the National Association for Hispanic Journalists and using the more respectful and dignified term "undocumented" immigrant/person/student/woman/man/child. I believe that journalists have an obligation to set the example for a more humane discourse on this issue. Thus, I urge you to discontinue the use of the terminology that is so closely linked to hate and discrimination. In a few years, this term will be as distasteful and shameful as the use of other derogatory/racist terms we have worked diligently to eliminate.

Sincerely,

Dr. Anita Tijerina Revilla..

---

FYI...

NAHJ
Urges News Media to Stop Using Dehumanizing Terms When Covering Immigration Calls for stopping the use of illegals as a noun, curbing the phrase illegal alien

Media Contact: Joseph Torres (202)662-7143.; Daniela Montalvo ..(202) ..662-7152 Washington, D.C.

-- As protesters march in the streets and debate intensifies in Congress over how to fix the nations immigration laws, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists calls on our nations news media to use accurate terminology in its coverage of immigration and to stop dehumanizing undocumented immigrants.

NAHJ is concerned with the increasing use of pejorative terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States. NAHJ is particularly troubled with the growing trend of the news media to use the word illegals as a noun, shorthand for "illegal aliens".

Using the word in this way is grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed. NAHJ calls on the media to never use illegals in headlines.

Shortening the term in this way also stereotypes undocumented people who are in the United States as having committed a crime. Under current U.S. immigration law, being an undocumented immigrant is not a crime, it is a civil violation. Furthermore, an estimated 40 percent of all undocumented people living in the U.S. are visa overstayers, meaning they did not 'illegally' cross the U.S. border.

In addition, the association has always denounced the use of the degrading terms alien and illegal alien to describe undocumented immigrants because it casts them as adverse, strange beings, inhuman outsiders who come to the U.S. with questionable motivations. Aliens is a bureaucratic term that should be avoided unless used in a quote.

NAHJ, a 2,300-member organization of reporters, editors and other journalists, addresses the use of these words and phrases by the news media in its Resource Guide for Journalists.

The following are excerpts for some of the terms prevalent in the current news coverage:

Alien:
A word used by the U.S. government to describe a foreign-born person who is not a citizen by naturalization or parentage. People who enter the United States legally are called resident aliens and they carry alien registration cards also known as "green cards," because they used to be green.

While Webster's first definition of the term "alien" is in accordance with the government's interpretation, the dictionary also includes other, darker, meanings for the word, such as a non-terrestrial being, "strange," "not belonging to one," "adverse," "hostile." And the Encyclopedia Britannica points out that "in early times, the tendency was to look upon the alien as an enemy and to treat him as a criminal or an outlaw.

" It is not surprising then that in 1798, in anticipation of a possible war with France, the U.S. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which restricted "aliens" and curtailed press freedoms.

By 1800 the laws had been repealed or had expired but they still cast a negative shadow over the word.

In modern times, with science-fiction growing in popularity, "alien" has come to mean a creature from outer space, and is considered pejorative by most immigrants.

Illegal alien
Avoid. Alternative terms are "undocumented worker," or "undocumented immigrant." The pertinent federal agencies use this term for individuals who do not have documents to show they can legally visit, work or live here. Many find the term offensive and dehumanizing because it criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering or residing in the United States. The term does not give an accurate description of a person's conditional U.S. status, but rather demeans an individual by describing them as an alien. At the 1994 Unity convention, the four minority journalism groups NAHJ, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and National Association of Black Journalists issued the following statement on this term: "Except in direct quotations, do not use the phrase illegal alien or the word alien, in copy or in headlines, to refer to citizens of a foreign country who have come to the U.S. with no documents to show that they are legally entitled to visit, work or live here. Such terms are considered pejorative not only by those to whom they are applied but by many people of the same ethnic and national backgrounds who are in the U.S. legally."

Illegal immigrant
While many national news outlets use the term "illegal immigrant," this handbook calls for the discussion and re-evaluation of its use. Instead of using illegal immigrant, alternative labels recommended are "undocumented worker" or "undocumented immigrant." Illegal immigrant is a term used to describe the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here. People who are undocumented according to federal authorities do not have the proper visas to be in the United States legally. Many enter the country illegally, but a large number of this group initially had valid visas, but did not return to their native countries when their visas expired. Some former students fall into the latter category. The term criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering or residing in the United States without federal documents. Terms such as illegal alien or illegal immigrant can often be used pejoratively in common parlance and can pack a powerful emotional wallop for those on the receiving end.

Instead, use undocumented immigrant or undocumented worker, both of which are terms that convey the same descriptive information without carrying the psychological baggage. Avoid using illegal(s) as a noun.

Illegal Avoid.
Alternative terms are "undocumented immigrant" or "undocumented worker." This term has been used to describe the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here. The term criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering, residing in the U.S. without documents.

Immigrant
Similar to reporting about a person's race, mentioning that a person is a first-generation immigrant could be used to provide readers or viewers with background information, but the relevancy of using the term should be made apparent in the story. Also, the status of undocumented workers should be discussed between source, reporter and editors because of the risk of deportation.

Undocumented immigrant
Preferred term to "illegal immigrant," "illegal(s)" and "illegal alien." This term describes the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here. Some Latinos say this term more accurately describes people who are in the United States illegally because the word points out that they are undocumented, but does not dehumanize them in the manner that such terms as 'aliens' and 'illegals' do.

Undocumented worker
Preferred term to "illegal alien," "illegal immigrant," or "illegal(s)." This term describes the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here.

Protest at the prison, Saturday March 7th

REPOST:

Feb 22, 2009 7:19 PM

Subject: Protest at the prison, Saturday March 7th from 11AM - 2PM

Shut Hutto Down! - Change we can believe in!!!

Saturday, March 7th in Taylor Texas at 11AM at the T.
Don Hutto "Residential" Facility 1001 Welch St, Taylor, TX‎ 76574

Join us to Protest at the Prison.

Students for a Democratic Society of the University of Houston is calling for a protest at the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center in Taylor Texas on Saturday March 7th. The T. Don Hutto Facility is a retrofitted medium security prison run by the Tennessee based Corrections Corporation of America, that detains pregnant women and women with children awaiting immigration court hearings.

This is a violation of the rights of children, a draconian false solution to the issues raised by human migration, a huge waste of taxpayer dollars going into the pockets of CCA shareholders, and a bad public policy, period. The intersection of xenophobia and anti-immigrant hysteria and the continual growth of prisons for profit is a threat to human rights. We can not sit by and allow private companies to profit of off the incarceration of children.

As part of the 100 actions in 100 days to end family detention we are calling on people and organization from throughout Texas to join us on March 7th in Taylor Texas at 11am at the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility 1001 Welch St, Taylor, TX‎ 76574. Please get in touch if you would like to be listed as a co-sponsor.

SDS in Houston will be leaving from the University of Houston campus at 7:30am to caravan to Taylor. If you would like a space in one of our vans (we are also asking for a deposit for the rental), or to carpool with us, please write us an email SDSUHtx@gmail.com

To learn more about the T Don Hutto Facility and the struggle against detention for profit, check out:

http://tdonhutto.blogspot.com
http://www.grassrootsleadership.org/100Actions.html
www.texasprisonbidness.org

The State of OUR State

MEDIA ALERT

Citizens’ groups to hold press conference on “The State of OUR State” on Wednesday

For information, call Mary Jo Parise-Malloy, Nevadans for Quality Education, at (702) 277-7862; Launce Rake, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, at (702) 791-1965; or Jan Gilbert, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, (775) 882-3440.

Jan. 12, 2008

For Immediate Release

Advocates for schools, children, families, people with disabilities, seniors and others affected by Nevada state budget cuts will hold press conferences in Reno and Las Vegas Wednesday, Jan. 14 to describe “The State of OUR State” and discuss how our communities should respond to the economic crisis.

In Reno, advocates from several organizations will speak at 1 p.m. at the Washoe County Senior Center Art Room, 1155 E. Ninth St.

In Las Vegas, advocates will speak at 4 p.m. outside the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave.

The organizers, among them Nevadans for Quality Education, and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, are inviting anyone with a concern about the quality of our communities to join us at these press conferences.

The day after the press conferences, Gov. Jim Gibbons is scheduled to present his annual State of the State address in Carson City.

--END

Homeless Candlelight Vigil 2008

Annual Candlelight Vigil memorializing the homeless who have lived and died on the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada will be held on Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 4:00 pm.

This year, the event will be held at Christ the King Catholic Church at 4925 S. Torrey Pines Drive at W. Tropicana.

Link to map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=christ+the+king+church+las+vegas&fb=1&cid=0,0,11422666161161224214&ll=36.101839,-115.23051&spn=0.006831,0.013819&z=16


Please email Forgotten Voice at forgottenvoice@gmail.com if you have any donations of nonperishable food, warm clothes, sleeping bags, blankets, and hygiene items.

Saturday, December 13th you are invited to help sort and bag
items for distribution after the Vigil. The sorting will also take place at Christ the King Church.

After The Vigil, "Straight From the Streets" will go around the valley and hand out supplies to any homeless or needy person we come across.

Someone once said: "No one is truly dead until they are forgotten." "Do you ever get afraid of death? Death is your friend. When this long hard journey is over, and I'm too tired to go on, Death will say, "I understand." "Then there'll be no more trouble, no more pain."

Conversation between Junior and Nanny from the show Lackawanna Blues.

Still Thinking Pink

Received the above image in my e-mail. I do not know the original source. One of the cutest images I've ever seen.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nation-white-privilege

Welfare, Public Hearing Notice & Agenda August 19, 2008 9:00 am

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE & AGENDA
Notice Of Public Hearing To Adopt
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families,
Medicaid, Food Stamp, and Child Care Program
Policy and State Plan Amendments

DATE: August 19, 2008
TIME: 9:00 a.m.
LOCATIONS: Via Video-conference at the following locations:

Carson City
Legislature Building
402 South Carson Street
Room #3138
Carson City, Nevada

Las Vegas
Grant Sawyer Building
555 East Washington Avenue
Room #4401
Las Vegas, Nevada

http://dwss.nv.gov/dmdocuments/Gen_081908_Agenda.pdf

Nevada’s poor will have to tighten belts more if food stamp, welfare cuts OK’d

By Timothy Pratt, Las Vegas Sun, Fri, Jul 18, 2008

Just when a souring economy is making life tougher for a growing number of poor Nevadans, the state is preparing to cut back on the services designed to help them.

The proposed changes would yank some people out of programs faster, punish others for longer periods when they don’t keep promises and make children and other family members pay when heads of household don’t follow the rules.

Cuts in the food stamp and welfare programs are needed, officials say, because of shrinking federal reserves and state funds. Increased demand for those services, they add, is making the situation worse.

New rules for the public assistance programs will go into effect this fall, and the public’s last chance to comment on the proposals will be at Aug. 19 hearings in Las Vegas and Carson City. On that date, Nancy Ford, administrator of the Welfare and Supportive Services Division, is expected to decide which ones the state will adopt; if she follows the recommendations of her staff, she will approve all of them.

Click here to read the full article:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jul/18/nevadas-poor-will-have-tighten-belts-
more-if-food-/

Public Workshop Meeting Minutes - 04/17/2008

Nevada Department of Health and Human Services

Division of Welfare and Supportive Services

04/17/2008 - Public Workshop Meeting Minutes

http://dwss.nv.gov/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=57&limit=25&limitstart=25

Then click on: 2008 - 04/17 - Public Workshop

Meeting on Cuts to Welfare Programs, April 17, 2008 10:00 am

The Division of Welfare will be holding a public meeting on April 17, 2008 at 10:00 am at the Nellis District Office, 611 North Nellis, Las Vegas, NV to reveal the latest measures to decrease the expense to the TANF and Food Stamp programs.

The caseloads have increased dramatically this year and the Governor says we don't have enough money to cover everyone who needs assistance. So, the Division has come up with ideas to ensure that "benefits go to only those who are genuinely seeking to become self-sufficient." Since our state has pared things to the bone already, what they are left with is kicking kids off the programs.

The proposals include kicking the entire family off of Food Stamps if one person in the family has an outstanding felony warrant (we used to only remove the adult, but continue to give Food Stamps for the children.)

One other proposal is to remove the entire family if the head of household does not comply with work requirements (we used to only remove the adult, but still provide assistance for the children) and the family will not be eligible for assistance for three months - even if the adult does become compliant.

Another one is to give assistance for a determined amount of children only; for example, the state will set household size limit at 3 children and the family would receive TANF and Food Stamps benefits for a household with 3 children, no matter how many children the family may currently have or if another child is born later.

General Public Comments will be heard. Let the State know that you do not agree with their decisions.

PUBLIC WORKSHOP & AGENDA

http://dwss.nv.gov/dmdocuments/Gen_0410-1708Agenda.pdf

Notice Of Public Workshop to Explore Impacts
of the Budget Reductions to
TANF and Food Stamps

DATE: April 17, 2008
TIME: 10:00 a.m.
LOCATIONS: Division of Welfare & Supportive Services
Nellis District Office
611 North Nellis
Las Vegas, NV

Posted March 19, 2008

Nevada Desert Experience, Annual Sacred Peace Walk, March 17 - March 24

Nevada Desert Experience,
Annual Sacred Peace Walk,
March 17 - March 24

www.nevadadesertexperience.org/programs/2008/peacewalk.htm

Earth, Wind, Fire and WaterTeach-In, March 14 & March 15

Dear Friends,

On Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15, 2008 you are invited to

Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, An Environmental Justice Teach-In at Christ Church Episcopal, 2000 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV.

We hope you can attend what promises to be an exciting and informative day of community building, dialogue, a Cosmic Walk, workshops, food, fun, reflection, sharing and the many other good things that happen when intelligent, caring and thoughtful people come together to improve their community and the world we live in.

A good deal of information about our Teach-In is immediately below. A brochure is attached and still more detailed information is available on our web site at www.NevadaDesertExperience.org . If you have questions or know you are coming please call us at 702.646.4814 and we will be glad to assist you. Also we would very much appreciate if you could pass this along to your friends and neighbors. NDE's Sacred Peace Walk also starts on March 17-24 and complete information is available on our web site.


Thank you.

Sr. Megan and John Amidon
Nevada Desert Experience

Earth, Wind, Fire & Water

When the ancients spokes of the basic elements of life, the stuff of the universe they spoke in terms of Earth, Wind, Fire & Water. Often they worshiped the sun. The clean air blew in their face and they breathed deeply. Pure water was precious and all land was sacred. Now at the beginning of the 21 century, we cannot help but ask what has happened? The weather has become violent. The rains have diminished greatly. Our lakes and rivers are disappearing. In many places the water and air are unsafe to drink or breathe and the land itself, appears tortured and is dying. What has happen?

The Nevada desert is a land of great beauty and harshness, of gentle delicacies and very sharp and pointed edges. Living here, we know the fire of the summer sun, the importance of life water, the winds and the beauty of the land and its mountains. Sadly even with its unique capacity for survival our Nevada desert is now threatened. What can we do?

Please join us beginning Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15 for a time of thoughtful conversation and community building. While focusing on environmental issues we will also do the important work of inner dialogue also so that we might walk more gently on our journey and learn to act with thoughtful recognition of our need to renew and sustain our environment.

Our Time Together

Our time together will be spent in a series of workshops and plenary (large group) sessions. We will have lunch as a community enjoying good food and conversation. In the afternoon we will join together as a in a special and reflective Cosmic Walk.
We will also look at some of the tougher issues which we cannot responsibly avoid if we are serious about undertaking the work of environmental justice. Since 1982, Nevada Desert Experience has worked for environmental justice focusing on the great injustice of nuclear weapons and the degradation of all of humanity and the earth's ecological systems, as a direct result of this deadly and poisonous nuclear technology

Teach - In Overview

Friday, March 14, 2008

4:00 - 5:00 PM Registration
5:00 - 6:00 PM Community Building
6:00 - 7:00 PM Lite supper
7:00 - 7:30 Welcome
7:30 - 8:30 Plenary - Parish Hall
Environmental Justice and the Nevada Desert by Gard Jameson
8:30 - 9:00 PM Q&A Goodnight!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

8:30 - 9:00 AM Registration & Coffee
9:00 - 9:15 AM Opening Remarks
9:15 - 10:15 Plenary - Main Auditorium
"Nevada Test Site (NTS) and the
Environmental Impact of Nuclear Weapons"
by John Hadder
10:15 - 11:30 AM Workshops Session 1
See www.NevadaDesertExperience.org
for our workshop selection
11:30 -12:30 Plenary - Parish Hall
"Yucca Mountain and the Future of
Nuclear Waste" by Judy Treichel , Steve Frishman & John Hadder
12:30 - 2:00 PM Lunch
2:00 - 3:15 PM Workshops Session II
See www.NevadaDesertExperience.org
for our workshop selections
3:15 - 4:15 PM Plenary Session
Cosmic Walk
4:15 - 5:30 PM Open Mic
2 minutes per person
5:30 PM Closing and Thank You!

For information and registration please call:
Sr. Megan Rice @ 702.646.4814
John Amidon @ 702.646.4814

Cost:
Adults - voluntary sliding scale
$20.00 - $50.00

Students and Seniors $15.00
Full & partial scholarships are
available also upon request.

By mail:
Please send your name, address, phone and email
along with check to:

Nevada Desert Experience
1420 W. Bartlett Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada 89106

Checks are made out to Nevada Desert Experience

Directions:
Christ Episcopal Church is located
At 2100 S. Maryland Pkwy between
E. St. Louis Ave and E. Sahara Ave.


Complete conference and workshop information is available at:
www.NevadaDesertExperience.org

Pre-registration is deeply appreciated to help facilitate planning for food and the days' logistics.

We wish to express our appreciation to Christ Church Episcopal
for hosting this event.

Empty Bowl Benefit, April 5, 2008

Las Vegas Catholic Worker
Serving the Poor and Homeless Since 1986

Click on image to view flyer.

Fifth Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq, March Actions

A Day of Fast and Mourning
Las Vegas, NV

March 19, 2008 07:00PM to 08:00PM
Hosted by Vicenta Montoya
Event Description:

We invite the Las Vegas community to join us in day of fasting and reflection on the 5th Anniversary of the War.An interfaith candlelight vigil will be held at 7PM at the Lloyd George Federal Bldg. We will have a symbolic breaking of bread. Please bring candles, banners, signs, poetry, letters from soldiers you may wish to share.

Event Type: March 19th Actions

Location: 333 Las Vegas Blvd So.

No More Endless War
Las Vegas, Nevada

Saturday, March 22nd 2008 1:00 PM
Hosted by Sean Sabatini

On the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, join us in front of the Venetian Casino for a patriotic protest against Bush's plans to bomb Iran and occupy Iraq indefinitely. Profits from the Venetian fund a multi-million dollar media campaign to support the war.

Nevada Workers Against the War invites you to a patriotic protest on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

When: Saturday, March 22, 2008 at 1:00 P.M.

Where: On the public sidewalk in front of the Venetian casino, 3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

Why: Profits from the Venetian are helping fund a multi-million dollar media campaign to support the endless occupation of Iraq, and lay the groundwork for an attack on Iran.

The Venetian is a gold mine for Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who in turn provides financial backing for a right-wing group called Freedom’s Watch. This group has spent a fortune on misleading ads linking Iraq directly to 9/11. They maintain “the surge is working” (it isn’t), and they make wildly exaggerated claims about the threat posed by Iran. Their approach to Iran is a rerun of the run-up to the war with Iraq. To top it off, they claim that organizations like ours are “anti-victory groups that are undermining the war on terror”.

We won’t get fooled again.

OUT OF IRAQ -- HANDS OFF IRAN -- NO MORE LIES!

Join us in saying NO to endless war. Protest signs will be provided. If you can, please bring American flags. First-time protesters are more than welcome.

For more info, visit www.lasvegasantiwar.org , or email lasvegasantiwar@cox.net . You can also call Sean at (702) 241-8578.

Photos of our previous actions are on the website. Those with high-speed access can also check out www.youtube.com/lasvegasantiwar .

To facilitate our planning, please reply and let me know if you can attend.

A few important practical notes about the rally:

This rally will NOT be at the Federal building. Protesting on the Las Vegas strip sidewalk means that things won’t be quite as relaxed as they were in our previous actions. The courts have ruled that we have a right to be there, but to make things totally legal we’ll have to keep a picket line going. That means you’ll have to be on your feet for an hour or two. Actually, there is literally no place to sit down, anyway.

We expect media coverage, and most likely a police presence. The rally will be spirited, fun and non-violent. As usual, it is our policy to try to work with law enforcement to ensure everyone’s safety and constitutional rights. If any passers-by want to give us a hard time, we do NOT engage them. Most people will be supportive, and the bigger our turnout, the more support we will get.

The rally starts at 1:00 pm, but I would suggest you come a bit early. Most of us will be parking in the surrounding casinos, and it is a bit of a hike to get from the casino parking garages out to Las Vegas Boulevard, and over to the Venetian. If any of our less-mobile members have wheelchairs or similar devices, consider bringing them. If you need help with that, you can give us a call at (702) 241-8578 and we’ll see what we can do. Bringing water would help, too.

Please use the above contact info if you have any questions.

Peace,

Sean

RSVP • PEACE VIGIL
8:30 am
Weekly Event
Thursdays
Hosted by Las Vegas Catholic Worker

Join us every Thursday morning from 8:30a.m. - 9:30a.m. for a Peace Presence Vigil. The vigil meets in front of the federal courthouse at the corners of Las Vegas Blvd. and Bridger. Hope to see you there. These vigils have been an ongoing part of our community since February 2003.

Raising water rates in Las Vegas

Hearing today on raising water rates;
County Commission looks to reduce waste
Feb. 19, 2008

http://www.lvrj.com/news/15760602.html

How does this reduce water waste? Why aren't we looking at the corporations, golf courses, and government wasting?

Maybe the County could even address the City of Las Vegas regarding its over-watering of the public parks. People all over the city have been complaining about the City's practice of wasting water.



Check out the article in the Forgotten Voice street paper (front page and page 5) about the waste of water in the public parks. These photos were taken on four consecutive Sundays in January 2008.

Southern Nevada Drought Alert?

http://www.forgottenvoice.org/archive/FV_V1_No10.pdf


More reading:

Las Vegas water rates increasing; officials cite drought, supply
Nevada Appeal, Feb 20, 3:28 PM EST

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NV_WATER_RATES_VEGAS_NVOL-?SITE=NVCAP&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-02-20-15-28-35

Water Rate Decision by Launce Rake
February 19, 2008 Rake's Green Vegas Blog: http://rakesgreenvegas.blogspot.com/

http://rakesgreenvegas.blogspot.com/2008/02/water-rate-decision.html

Feds admit mistakenly jailing citizens as illegal immigrants

Feds admit mistakenly jailing citizens as illegal immigrants

By MARISA TAYLOR
McClatchy-Tribune
Feb. 14, 2008, 12:35AM

Original: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5540262.html

WASHINGTON — A top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official acknowledged Wednesday that his agency has mistakenly detained U.S. citizens as illegal immigrants, but he denied that his agency has widespread problems with deporting the wrong people.

Gary Mead, ICE's deputy director of detention and removal operations, testified during a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing that U.S. citizens have been detained on "extremely" rare occasions, but he blamed the mix-ups on conflicting information from the detainees.

Nonetheless, Mead said his agency is reviewing its handling of people who claim to be U.S. citizens "to determine if even greater safeguards can be put in place."

The testimony before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law came after immigration advocates told McClatchy that they'd seen a small but growing number of cases of U.S. citizens who've been mistakenly detained and sometimes deported by ICE. They accuse agents of ignoring valid assertions of citizenship in the rush to deport more illegal immigrants.

Unlike suspects charged in criminal courts, detainees accused of immigration violations don't have a right to an attorney, and three-quarters of them represent themselves.

Last month, Thomas Warziniack, a U.S. citizen who was born in Minnesota and grew up in Georgia, was mistakenly detained for weeks in an Arizona immigration facility and told that he was going to be deported to Russia.

Warziniack, 40, was released after his family, who learned about his predicament from a McClatchy Newspapers reporter, produced his birth certificate.

In another high-profile example, ICE agents in California mistakenly deported Pedro Guzman, a mentally disabled U.S. citizen, to Mexico. Guzman was found months later when he tried to return to the United States.

Mead contended that both Warziniack and Guzman said they were illegal immigrants, and he said ICE agents have to be careful not to release the wrong people. Guzman and Warziniack had been serving time for minor offenses when their jailers turned them over to immigration authorities.

Although Mead said that Guzman is the only U.S. citizen he knows who's been deported erroneously, immigration lawyers have said they've found at least seven others. In the past four years, ICE agents have detained more than 1 million people.

House committee members also heard stories of ICE agents interrogating or detaining U.S. citizens in their homes, at their workplaces and on the street.

Marie Justeen Mancha, a 17-year-old born in Texas, said ICE agents raided her family's home in Georgia in 2006 while her mother was running an errand. Her mother is also a U.S. citizen.

"I started to hear the words, 'Police! Illegals!'" she recalled. "I walked around the corner from the hallway and saw a tall man reach toward his gun and look straight at me."

Mancha said the agents left after grilling her about her citizenship.

"I carry that fear with me every day, wondering when they'll come back," she said.

Mancha is one of five U.S. citizens named in a pending lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center that alleges wrongful interrogations or detentions by ICE in Southeast Georgia.

Rep. Steven King, R-Iowa, the ranking minority member of the committee, described the cases as isolated and urged the agency not to be distracted from detaining and deporting illegal immigrants.

"ICE does not aim to harass and detain U.S. citizens," he said.

But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the committee, said that after hearing such stories, she feared an "overzealous government is interrogating, detaining and deporting its own citizens."

Nancy Morawetz, who runs an immigration rights clinic at New York University, said getting proof of citizenship is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for detainees, especially when they're shipped to a facility far from home.

In 2006, the Vera Institute of Justice, a New York nonprofit organization, identified 125 people in immigration detention centers who immigration lawyers believed had valid U.S. citizenship claims.

"As a country we do not have a national identity card," Morawetz said in an interview. "People don't walk around with a 'C' on their forehead that says they're a U.S. citizen."

Kucinich urges Obama as a second choice

Kucinich urges Obama as a second choice

If the Ohio congressman doesn't receive enough support to be viable on Iowa caucus night, the candidate tells his backers they should vote for the Illinois senator.

http://tinyurl.com/yw5swr

“Antiwar” candidate Kucinich backs leading Democrat in Iowa primary

...Congressman Kucinich is known as the “antiwar” candidate and has suggested that he would withdraw all troops from Iraq and close military bases there. His willingness to back the openly militarist Obama demonstrates—far more than his pseudo-leftist rhetoric—that he has no intention of challenging the geo-political interests of American imperialism...

http://tinyurl.com/ywftwg

Annual Candlelight Vigil, December 20, 2007

Forgotten Voice remembers those who have died on the streets

Someone once said "No one is truly dead until they are forgotten."

"Do you ever get afraid of death? Death is your friend. When this long hard journey is over, and I'm too tired to go on, Death will say, "I understand." "Then there'll be no more trouble, no more pain." Conversation between Junior and Nanny from the show Lackawanna Blues

Annual Candlelight Vigil memorializing the homeless who have lived and died on the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada will be held on December 20, 2007 at 3:45 pm at the Center for Independent Living at N. Las Vegas Blvd. and Foremaster Lane.

Annual event organized by Linda Lera-Randle El,
Founder of Straight From the Streets

List of deceased can be viewed in the December 2007 Issue of the Forgotten Voice street newspaper at

www.forgottenvoice.org

Click on Archives, and then click on Volume 1 No 8

Hutto Prison Candlelight Vigil

Free the Children of Texas' Hutto Prison

Candlelight Vigil for Families in Detention - Toy Drive
T. Don Hutto prison in Taylor, Texas
Sunday, December 16: speakers and vigil, 4-6pm; pre-vigil walk, 2pm

The T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas, is a for-profit prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America, through an Inter-Governmental Service Agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Williamson County. Since May 2006, immigrant families, about half of them children, have been jailed in the facility while they await asylum or immigration hearings. The prison has been criticized by human rights organizations worldwide as an inappropriate facility for children. An incident involving an "inappropriate sexual relationship" between a CCA staff member and a detainee, and one where an eight-year-old girl was left without her mother for four days have increased scrutiny of Hutto in recent months.

Hutto is not an immigration solution or a national security solution; it merely uses these pressing issues as an excuse for CCA, Williamson County, and countless politicians to enrich themselves on the misery of powerless people. At an occupancy rate of 400 (maximum capacity is 512), CCA pulls at least $7,000 per month per prisoner, or $28,000 for a family of four. The cost to shelter and feed the same family at the Austin Hilton for a month? $14,934, featuring real beds and an enclosed bath in place of prison bunks and a mid-cell commode.

According to studies conducted by the Vera Institute, more humane alternatives, which ICE detailed in a March 2007 memo, are up to fifty percent more cost-effective. A vast majority of immigrants attend their hearings when enrolled in alternative supervisory programs.

Please join immigrant rights advocates, residents of Williamson County, and members of many faith communities in a vigil for families detained at the Hutto prison. The main program will begin at 4:00 pm, with the candlelight vigil starting as the sun sets at 5:00 pm. A walk to the facility from downtown Taylor's Heritage Park starting at 2:00 pm will precede the vigil.

Advocates will also be gathering toys, music players, and books to give to families detained at the prison. Toys must be in their original packaging and cannot be wrapped.

Schedule of Events

Pre-Vigil:

2:00pm- Walk From Heritage Park in Taylor (4th & Main) to T. Don Hutto Prison

3:00pm- Gather at T. Don Hutto (1001 Welch) for protest and music.

Vigil Events:

4:00pm - Program with speakers focusing on the immoral detention of families.

5:00pm- Candlelight Vigil and silent remembrance of families in detention.

Please contact Jose Orta at (512) 365-2143 or Bob Libal at (512) 971-0487 or blibal@grassrootsleadership.org for information regarding the vigil.

Bob Libal
(512) 971-0487
Grassroots Leadership
Austin, Texas