Peace Action

For Press Inquires please contact: Paul Kawika Martin
301.565.4050 ext. 316, 951.217.7285 cell
pmartin@peace-action.org
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For press inquires please contact Paul Kawika Martin at 301.565.4050 ext. 316
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A monthly ePublication keeping you updated on how our issues overlap with pressing global concerns and human rights.
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Quarterly Action Report
An in depth look at nuclear weapons issues, the occupation of Iraq and the latest horrors from the Bush administration.
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Peace Action makes it a point to speak out to the nation through in-depth articles and analysis on issues.
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PEACE BLOG
Visit our PEACE BLOG to read the weekly essays from Barbra Bearden our resident blogger along with youTube postings and a count of the Iraq toll.
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Obama, Medvedev and the Demise of Nuclear Deterrence
Truthout
If our thousands of nuclear weapons actually do serve to deter, then why should we be concerned about a nuclear North Korea or a nuclear Iran? If they do not serve to deter, then why retain them at all?

Middle school students who participated in the 14th annual Linda Jewell Memorial Essay Contest believe in a better future. They believe it starts at home, and they possess the talent and courage to define their vision.

“Imagine your house right now,” writes College Place Middle School 7th grader Yasmeen Busse. “Put trash and debris on the ground. Add babies crying, dogs barking and cars zooming by. Oh. Forgot to mention that your walls are made of cardboard and metal, and the metal is rusty. In the Philippines, some people live like this every day.”

Yasmeen knows this firsthand. She visited the Philippines a year ago. The sights and sounds she encountered there leap from the page of her award-winning essay.

She and two other students earned cash prizes of $50 each as first-place winners in the annual event. Six second-place winners were awarded $25 each.

Linda Jewell, who started the essay contest in 1996, had been a teaching assistant at College Place Middle School. The event is sponsored by Peace Action of Snohomish County, formed in Edmonds in 1983 to champion issues of peace and justice.

“When Linda died in 1999,” says coordinator Phyllis Fiege, “Peace Action named the contest after her. It was our way of honoring her commitment to the principles she held so dear.”

Minister urges unity
Times of Trenton
The Rev. Isaac Miller, an Episcopal minister from North Philadelphia, was one of several "Patriots for Peace" honored by the Coalition for Peace Action last night at the ninth annual Peace is Patriotic event at Monument Park.

"If we want to make a difference, we have to figure out a way to come together," said Miller. "In Princeton, North Philadelphia, and other communities all over the country there are more of us concerned about making efforts towards peace than all the folks that stand for the kind of foolishness that we have seen for way to darn long."

... Miler, who has picketed Philadelphia gun shops with other ministers, was recognized for his leadership efforts in a grassroots movement called Heeding God's Call that pressures gun shops to adopt a code of conduct for not selling guns to illegal buyers.

More than 50 people attended the event to kick off the Fourth of July holiday weekend, relaxing with a picnic and peace songs before the awards presentation that focused on gun violence and peace in Iran.

Experts agree with Iraqi pullout, debate the details
Warren Tribune Chronicle
Whether the troop withdrawal from major Iraq cities was pragmatic of President Barack Obama or a distortion of his campaign promises is a matter of debate in the Mahoning Valley.

Local political party chairmen on both sides of the aisle said it was a good thing to turn more of the country over to the Iraqis, but some of the strongest criticism of the plan in the area came from the left, by an activist who argues the move doesn't get troops out fast enough...

But Ray Nakley of Peace Action Youngstown said the president's campaign promise of an Iraq pullout seems empty...

"[President Obama] campaigned on taking us out of Iraq, and even with the redeployment from cities to American outposts, we'll still have 130,000 troops in that country," he said.

North Korea, Iran, and the Demise of Nuclear Deterrence
Huffington Post
When South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited Washington for a summit with President Barack Obama on June 16th, the United States reaffirmed its "commitment of extended deterrence" to Seoul, "including the U.S. nuclear umbrella." In response, on June 25th, the 59th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, North Korea vowed to continue to expand its nuclear arsenal, to deliver a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" in response to U.S. "provocations," and insisted that the nuclear umbrella statement only "provides us with a stronger justification to have a nuclear deterrent."

Perhaps, in light of all this radioactive rhetoric, it is worth pausing to consider just what "nuclear deterrence" might mean in today's world ... or whether it means anything at all.

Short Changing Voters
New York Times - New York
More than three years have gone by since the New Jersey Legislature required the state to install modern voting machines that provide printouts of each vote — the paper trail that experts regard as essential to fair and accurate elections.

Left Angered by Obama Picks
Washington Times - Washington DC
"There's a lot of disappointment on the part of the peace movement," said Barbra Bearden, spokeswoman for the national group Peace Action, which has started a "No soldier left behind" program to pressure Mr. Obama to fully remove troops.

Experts
Peace Action staff are experts on the grassroots perspective of U.S. foreign policy we can speak with you about current military and foreign policy issues adding valuable information about the resistance to that policy across the nation. Many of our staff are also experts on international peace & conflict resolution, international development, and U.S. foreign policy.
To speak with a spokesperson or arrange an interview, contact:
Barbra Bearden, Communication Associate:
301.565.4050 ext.330 bbearden@peace-action.org.
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News Center
Iraq: The latest news coming from experts and on the ground from the occupation.
Iran: The latest news on the Bush administration Saber rattling and the peace movements response.
Nuclear Disarmament: The latest news on new nuclear weapons, international disarmament, and the work on the anti-nuclear movement.

The work of Peace Action and the Peace Action Education Fund is made possible thanks to the generous support of our members and the following foundations:

The Paul & Edith Babson Foundation * The Bydale Foundation * Colombe Foundation * Janelia Foundation * The HKH Foundation * The New World Foundation * Peace Development Fund * Ploughshares Fund * Iraq Peace Fund, Underdog Fund, Tides Foundation * The Scherman Foundation, Inc. * Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis * Unitarian Universalist Funding Program * Courtney Knight Gaines Foundation * Sisters of Loretto * Dominican Sisters of Springfield Illinois * Working Assets Long Distance

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