December 24, 2014

Election Blues

Jobs are  up 5%,  gas prices are down (good for some, bad for others) which says our economy is looking better.  Cuba, immigrants are issues on the table.  President Obama has helped those who could never be insured get health insurance.  Yet, too many in this country did not recognize a good thing and we must not have done a good job of spreading the word.  It is never too late.
Call Governor Branstad and make sure he puts 6% allowable growth in his budget for public schools.  Our students are suffering.  Our programs are suffering.  Our educational system is at risk.

In the meantime, enjoy your family and have a very wonderful holiday season.
Nancy
December 19,  2014
Issue  13
Democracy Journal
Biweekly commentary shifting from the Long Wars to the Climate Wars, from Wall Street Rule to a Democratic Society for All 
Published by Tom Hayden and the Peace & Justice Resource Center, The Democracy Journal is a reader-supported journal of original thoughts on peace, justice and green energy. The Democracy Journal is read by activists, organizers, and advocates in 60 communities across the US and abroad.
US/Cuba Relations
Cuba, Si!
To be published this Sunday in the Sacramento Bee

For thousands of graying supporters of the Cuban Revolution, this has been the moment that they thought would never come. The same shock is sinking in among the Cuban exiles, now octogenarians, who fought for decades against the Castro regime from American soil. It is important that hard lessons are learned and traps from the past be avoided. 


Looking Back to 2006:
Top Cuban Leader Thinks Aloud

It was Sunday, May 21st, and my host posing the question was Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly. It was Alarcon's 69th birthday, and I was having difficulty understanding why he had pressed me to fly down for a visit. The purpose was nothing more than "two old guys talking," according to his daughter Maggie, a thirty-something single mom and formidable interpreter of Cuba to many North Americans.


On The Nation: Why the US-Cuba Deal Really Is a Victory for the Cuban Revolution
  
No one in the mainstream media will acknowledge it, but the normalization of American relations with Havana, symbolized by release of prisoners today, is a huge success for the Cuban Revolution. The hostile US policy, euphemistically known as "regime change," has been thwarted. The Cuban Communist Party is confidently in power. The Castros have navigated through all the challenges of the years. In Latin America and the United Nations, Cuba is accepted, and the United States is isolated.

'Listen, Yankee! Why Cuba Matters'  
The Forthcoming Book by Tom Hayden
Exclusive Excerpts
Exclusive Introduction:
  
"Two Old Guys Talking" is the introduction to Tom Hayden's forthcoming book, Listen, Yankee!, Why Cuba Matters, to be published next year by Seven Stories Press. The piece was finalized last month. The "two old guys" are the author, now 75, who first visited Cuba in 1968, and Ricardo Alarcon, now 77, former president of the Cuban National Assembly, foreign minister, and UN representative.


Chapter 1 Preview: "A Heroic Creation"
  
Knowing his biography, it is hard to believe that Ricardo was predestined to be a Politburo member of the Cuban Communist Party or, more generally, that Cuba's journey into Marxism-Leninism was inevitable. The island's long battle for real independence from the United States, combined with America's Cold War version of Manifest Destiny, produced those outcomes.


The Path to Normalization:
Tom Hayden on Cuba from 2008-2012

2008:

2010: 

2011: 

2012:

2013:

2014:
In This Issue
US & Cuba
Cuba, Si!
Top Cuban Leader Thinks Aloud
Why The US/Cuba Deal is A Victory
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPTS
"Two Old Guys Talking"
"A Heroic Creation"
Path to Normalization
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Published in The Nation, New York Times, Guardian, Los Angeles TimesBoston GlobeSan Francisco ChronicleHarvard International Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, and dozens of weekly alternatives, Tom Hayden's op-ed articles and The Peace Exchange Bulletin are widely read by national security experts, correspondents, staffers, and progressives on Capitol Hill.

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October 30, 2014

PnJ Newsletter October 2014

NEAPJ.org is our national web site.  The newsletter contains a membership form but you can join online now, also.

April 12, 2014

Delegate Assembly 2014

Olivia Dahlquist made an excellent recipient of the Paul Mann Youth Activist Award.  Her connection to Beza Threads was a big "sell".  She brought scarves on Friday morning after being recognized on Thursday and receiving her trophy and $50 gift.  She sold out all the scarves and was invited to Summer conference.  She has been involved with Beza Threads since the 8th grade and she is a senior now.  This project protects women and girls and buys them back from traficking in Ethiopia.  Beza Threads has a great web site you should check out.  Olivia has been invited to attend Summer Conference for ISEA and will attend the U of WI in the fall.

Taxes


Here’s what we know:

Everyday Americans pay more in federal income taxes than some of the nation’s most profitable corporations.

TAKE ACTION ›

Tell Congress to make sure the economy works for everyone–not just the wealthy! SIGN THE PETITION›
Twenty-five Fortune 500 corporations paid nothing in federal income taxes between 2008 and 2012, while working families–some of whom are struggling to stay afloat–filed their taxes every year.
Tax handouts to the 288 Fortune 500 companies that were profitable each of those five years cost the nation $362 billion, according to a recent study by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
At our Delegate Assembly in Des Moines I spoke (actually through others since I had laryngitis) about the Valentine Check the state of Iowa pays to our big corporations who also do not pay Iowa taxes.  This issue has to be addressed by those of us who vote.  Anyone who thinks this system will continue a viable capitalistic society is just not thinking.

March 30, 2014

Delegate Assembly, Des Moines, Iowa, 2014

On April 3 and 4 we will gather, again, in Des Moines for the annual Delegate Assembly.

Just before lunch on Thursday, April 3 , we will honor Olivia Dahlquist as our Paul Mann Youth Activist Award winner.  Please thank Dave O'Connor and Rob Randazzo from DMEA for making the nomination a reality.

If you are around on Wednesday night after a late dinner, stop by the Holiday Inn and Roberta and Nancy will have a hospitality room with dessert refreshments.  Bring your friends and your money to renew your membership in PnJ.

Visit the NEApnj national web site to view the most recent issue of the Newsletter.

Doug Walter needs our good thoughts right now so put him in your prayers.

See you in DM!

March 9, 2014