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.  Continue Reading... 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. Continue Reading... 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. Continue Reading... '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. Continue reading...  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. Continue reading...  The Path to Normalization: Tom Hayden on Cuba from 2008-2012 2008: MIXED BLESSING: SENATOR OBAMA ON CUBA 2010:  REPUBLICAN HOUSE THREATENS LATIN AMERICA 2011:  OBAMA'S BIG CHOICE IN LATIN AMERICA 2012: ACCORDING TO U.S., CUBA STILL A ˜STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM" JUDY GROSS SUES U.S. OVER "ILLEGAL" ROLE IN CUBA  OBAMA'S CUBAN FIVE DILEMMA AMERICA'S RETRO POLICIES IN LATIN AMERICA OBAMA'S LEGACY IS OUR LEVERAGE 2013: SPECULATION ON CUBA ENDING THE CUBA TRAVEL CRISIS A REACHABLE SHORE: CUBAN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS CUBAN FIVE'S RENE GONZALEZ HOME IN CUBA IS IT TIME FOR THE US TO SHAKE CUBA'S HAND TOO? OBAMA SHIFTING RHETORIC, POLICY ON CUBA & DRUG WAR 2014: IS THIS THE MOMENT TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH CUBA? WILL US-CUBA NORMALIZATION FAIL AGAIN? CUBA LEADS WHILE US LAGS IN EBOLA BATTLE AND THEN THERE WERE THREE 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 Sign On with Tom Hayden! Invite Tom Hayden! Support the PJRC!  Make your tax-deductible donation of $25 or more to the PJRC and receive a signed copy of my latest book: Inspiring Participatory Democracy: Student Movements from Port Huron to Today. Thank you for your continued readership and dedicated activism, and thank you for any support you can offer.     Quick Links About Us  Contact Cost of War Fact Sheets & Flyers tomhayden.com Rethink Afghanistan Tom at The Nation Tom at The Huffington Post Join Our Mailing List! Sign on with Tom Hayden! Petition Congress to End Escalation in Iraq & Syria More Nuclear Power is NOT the Answer to the Climate Crisis  Presented to Dr. Jeffrey Sachs Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee Petition Presented to Lt. Gen. Claude M. "Mick" Kicklighter of the Vietnam 50th Anniversary Commemoration Program Invite Tom Hayden! Inspiring Participatory Democracy  Invitations are welcome from community groups, universities, political clubs, and everyone who feels the need for progressive voices and who believes that participatory democracy is critical to our future. For information on dates and arrangements, please writecontacthayden@gmail.com.   Become a Sustaining Member Today!   Published in The Nation, New York Times, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Harvard 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. Make your contribution of $25 or more and receive a signed copy of Inspiring Participatory Democracy: Student Movements from Port Huron to Today by Tom Hayden! Mail your tax-deductible donations to:   Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE Inc.) 23532 Calabasas Road, Suite A  Calabasas, CA 91302 Make checks out to: "Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs" or "SEE." The memo line should read "The Resource Center." If you are donating by credit card via PayPal below, please note that Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs or a variation of SEE will appear on your credit card statement.      The Peace and Justice Resource Center is a project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE Inc.), a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Phone: (818) 225-9150

PnJ Newsletter October 2014

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

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.

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!

25 March, supreme Court considers Corps as individuals in Healthcare needs.

Janelle Rettig posted in Iowa City Federation of Labor Janelle Rettig 7:00pm Mar 8 Please help spread the word about this March 25th Rally. (Linda Levey asked me to create a facebook invite for the rally.)https://www.facebook.com/events/1457413631155921/?context=create&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming Join Rally for Women's Health and Separation of Church and State Tuesday, March 25 at 12:00pm Pentacrest in Iowa City, Iowa You were invited by Janelle Rettig View Post on Facebook · Edit Email Settings · Reply to this email to add a comment.