Author Archives: Website Administrator

Peace Walks ~ for Ukraine and the World ~ Fri August 19 @ 6

Peace Walks for Ukraine and the World

Join us to walk to promote and demand peace. 

For your calendar, here are two Peace Walks in August with special speakers.  Details below and updates are posted here.

  • Friday, Aug 19 at 6 pm – Special speaker Zubeir Haroun  

  • Friday, Aug 26 at 6 pm – Special speaker Lisa Masri

 

On August 19, we are so very pleased that Zubeir Haroun will give a talk about Libya.   Zubeir was born in Tripoli, Libya and lived there until 2007.  He will explain the situation in Libya after the so-called Arab spring, a rare event in which Libyans could have had a chance for prosperity but instead it slipped into a nightmare and chaos.  He’ll talk about the negative role of NATO, and how the US could have helped better.  He’ll present a brief history of Libya, the formation of Libya, and how we got here.   Zubeir recently moved with his family to Madison and they have participated in Madison Peace Walks.

We’re delighted to welcome Lisa Masri to speak at the Peace Walk on July 22.  Lisa and her family recently moved to Madison, and she’s participated in the Peace Walks for Ukraine and the World.  Before coming here, she lived in Palestine for 14 years, doing education and nonviolent accompaniment work with Project Hope and the Ecumenical Accompaniment Project.  Her peace work there in the West Bank was with youth, adults, and international volunteers, and included being an international presence in hot spots, and teaching English, French, drama, and circus arts.  Lisa will share about her work and answer your questions.

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Urge Passage of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, PACT Act

from Buzz Davis,

Save Our VA – Vets for Peace in Tucson
813 S. Deer Meadow Loop, Tucson, AZ 85745

How burn pits may have raised veterans’ risk of rare cancers and respiratory illnesses

Twenty-five Republican senators who previously supported a bipartisan bill to expand health care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits reversed their stance on Thursday.

Background:  Honoring our PACT Act of 2021

Another vote is scheduled in Senate – this week 

SEND YOUR SENATORS A MESSAGE TO VOTE YES

DAV | Contact your Senator to Vote “YES” on S. 3373, the Honoring Our PACT Act (quorum.us)

Whether it is Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan or on US base water supplies (PFAS) across America, the generals at DOD and many politicians in America do not seem to care if we kill both our own soldiers and their families along will millions of other humans

From: Andrew Marshall, DAV National Commander and Lynn Prosser, Auxiliary National Commander To: Mr. Buzz Davis

Sent: Sat, Jul 30, 2022 8:59 am

Contact your Senator to Vote “YES”

on S. 3373,

the Honoring Our PACT Act

Dear Buzz,

The PACT Act will provide health care and presumptive benefits for veterans exposed to hazardous environments. After years of fighting, we are close to comprehensive toxic exposure legislation. We need your help again to keep the pressure on the Senate to get it passed.

On June 16, the Senate passed the Honoring Our PACT Act 84-14. Unfortunately, due to a procedural issue, the House returned it to the Senate. On June 24, the Senate tried to pass the corrected version; however, that was blocked by one Senator.

The House introduced the Senate version of the PACT Act and on July 13, they passed it out of the House with a vote of 342-88. The bill then went to the Senate. However, on Wednesday July 27, the bill was stopped from going to the Senate floor. Twenty-five Senators who voted to pass the PACT Act on June 16, voted on Wednesday to stop the bill, which has not been changed since the June 16 passage.

The Senate will be voting on the PACT Act on Monday and veterans suffering from illnesses and diseases related to burn pits, radiation exposure and Agent Orange cannot afford to wait. Urge your Senator to vote “YES” on the PACT Act.

Thank you for your support of America’s service-disabled veterans and their families.

Take Action through DAV, Disabled American Veterans 
and contact your elected officials, especially your Senators

Contact – Ron Johnson Senator from Wisconsin (senate.gov)

Contact | U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (senate.gov)

An Open Letter on F-35 Scam to Baldwin

An Open Letter

F35ad_WSJ 07-24-2022_(3)

Our US Senators from Wisconsin are working for the war profiteers, please show them your dissatisfaction.  Please consider taking part in this action. 

Brad Geyer

 

Sunday morning, July 24, a full-page ad was placed in the Wisconsin State Journal sponsored by Safe Skies Clean Water. (There will be a half-page one in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.)

The ad is an Open Letter to Senator Tammy Baldwin regarding the F-35 basing. It is signed by about 50 people who have been major contributors to her campaigns and urges her to reconsider her position in favor of the F-35 project.

Contact your elected officials and tell them how you feel on this scam from the military industrial complex.

 

Use your own words to tell Sen. Tammy Baldwin why you think it is a bad idea to put these dangerous and wasteful fighter jets in the midst of a high-density, low-income community that is already challenged by various environmental and racial injustices.

Thank you immensely for helping us to pressure the senator to do the right thing before it is too late!

Hannah, Jody, Tom and more

on behalf of Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin

Open Secrets Tracks the “Racket”

Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director Open Secrets
“You follow OpenSecrets because you want to cut through the noise — pushing past rhetoric to find the money and influential actors aligned on an issue.

We don’t always provide the easiest read, but you’ll always receive unadulterated analysis, steeped in reliable data that has been meticulously maintained for decades. We do this because, as you know, the devil is often in the details.

[ Also check out… POGO.org  ]

A recent example is our Capitalizing on Conflict report series that examines the defense industry’s multi-pronged influence machine. While the defense industry plays an outsized role in Washington — note the $840B 2023 National Defense Authorization Act budget just passed in the House of Representatives — it’s hard to visualize the industry’s influence in its totality.

To start unraveling the influence network, our researchers pulled data on all inputs (read $$$) from defense firms and contractors to elected officials, PACs and lobbyists. So far, we’ve revealed that:

 

 

Our investigation has not gone unnoticed. With OpenSecrets data used as a catalyst, a Public Citizen report in early July shows that defense company investments in Congress have produced a 450,000% return.”