Friday, August 24, 2012

Rally and March for Women's Rights Sunday!

The Rally and March for Women's Rights

 Sunday, Aug 26 at 1PM 
Peace Park in New Paltz, NY
war-on-women19.jpg
Please join us for this historic event! We will have a rally with excellent speakers and performers, to be followed by a spirited march down Main St through Water St Market and up the other side of Main. Let's raise our voices for women's rights and equality for all!

You can sign up here to help us get the buzz going!
http://www.facebook.com/events/382011421865368/

We are proud to be a part of this national day of action. The original call came from a new feminist group called WORD- Women Organized to Resist and Defend- take a look at their website- I think you'll smile to see New Paltz listed on their home page with the biggies, like LA, San Fransisco, Chicago and NYC!
http://www.defendwomensrights.org/

See you Sunday! Make a sign! Be creative! Bring musical instruments! and please help spread the 
word. We must defend our rights- there is no going back!

More info below


Peace, Barbara

WHY WE ARE DEMONSTRATING AUG. 26

Recent years have seen a shocking number of right wing attacks on the
rights of women, through anti-abortion legislation, campaigns against
contraception, slashing of jobs and social services, and new heights of
misogyny in ultra-conservative rhetoric. Protests supporting women's
rights will take place in several U.S. cities on Aug. 26, Women’s
Equality Day in America — a day before the Republican Convention.
The main demands of the event are: • Full reproductive rights now: Access
to birth control, safe, legal abortion on demand, and an end to abstinence only
sex education in our schools. • Women's rights in the workplace: Pay
equity, family leave, and an end to sexual harassment at work. • Stop the
budget cuts: Cutting federal and state social services and eliminating
public sector jobs disproportionately punish poor women, working women
and women of color. • Full equality and respect now: Fight racism, sexism
and anti-LGBT bigotry. End violence against women.

SPEAKERS

• Ariana Basco — Graduate of SUNY NP, elected New Paltz Village Board
Trustee, co-chair of NP Environmental Task Force.
• Donna Goodman — An editor of the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and
elected delegate, United University Professions (AFL-CIO).
• Elizabeth Gross — Recent SUNY NP graduate, founder of New Paltz Feminist
Collective.
• Monica Miranda — President/CEO of the Hispanic Coalition of N.Y.
•Joanne Myers —Marist professor, head of Women's Studies dept.; Vice
President H.V. LGBTQ Center; member Ulster Democratic Women.
• Beth Soto — Director of the AFL-CIO's Hudson Valley Area Labor
Federation.
• Barbara Upton — Member of New Paltz Women in Black, who have
conducted weekly Saturday peace vigils in front of the library for almost 11 years.
• Janice Williams-Meyers — Political Organizer, SEIU/1199.

MUSIC — The Mahina Movement.

WHO WE ARE

Organizer: Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter.

Endorsers: American Association of University Women
(Kingston), Arts for Peace, Dutchess Greens, Dutchess Peace, End New
Jim Crow Action Network, Hudson Valley LGBTQ
Community Center, Middle East Crisis Response,
NAACP (Ellenville), Occupy New Paltz, Orange
Democratic Alliance, Orange Peace & Justice, Peace &
Social Progress Now, Real Majority Project, Ulster
Democratic Women, Ulster MoveOn Council, Women
in Black (New Paltz).National endorsers include:
Roseanne Barr, actor; Heidi Boghosian, Executive
Director, National Lawyers Guild; Leah Bolger,
President, Veterans for Peace; Farheen Hakeem,
National Co-Chair, Green Party of the U. S., Sarah
Sloan and Peta Lindsay, ANSWER Coalition.

Monday, August 6, 2012

WAKING PLANET: Best of Facebook, Summer 2012


WAKING PLANET: Best of Facebook, Summer 2012:   Compassion: This incredible photo marks the end of Matador Torero Alvaro Munera's career. He collapsed in remorse mid-fight when ...

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Good News- People Uniting- against Dirty Energy, Citizens United, and Unlabled GMOs

Photo and text from The Ramps Campaign
All of this happened on Saturday:

*A wave of folks shut down the largest mountaintop removal site in Appalachia. *20 are still in jail*    donate to get them out: http://bit.ly/mj-legal
*Texans trained for the biggest sustained blockade of the southern leg of the Keystone XL,
*and 1,000s marched through DC to embolden the movement to ban fracking!

Welcome to a newly escalated movement to keep all fossil fuels in the ground--launching into an amazing summer of solidarity!
                                                                ****************

BOMBSHELL! A new report funded by the Koch Brothers (huge funders of climate change denial) says climate change is real AND humans are responsible for it! Read more.

The anti-fracking fight in NY is heating up. Now a gas drilling company is threatening to sue to say local bans against fracking count for nothing. 


Seventh State Calls for Overturn of Citizens United!
 
In a bipartisan and near unanimous vote, Massachusetts called for a 28th amendment to overturn Citizens United, the anti-democratic Supreme Court ruling that basically allows the wealthiest to buy our elections. They are the seventh state to do so and more are in the process of fighting "to restore the power of the people to regulate political and election spending and to preserve the Bill of Rights for human beings rather than corporations." More here.

Food Fight of Our Lives!! 

Ninety percent of Californians want GM food labeled. They were able to get nearly a million signatures to get this on a ballot as the Prop 37 Right to Know initiative. It is heartening to see so many lining up behind this effort. "So far over 621 organizations and businesses - including retail grocery stores, consumer, farmer, organic, natural health, environmental, farm worker, and labor groups - have endorsed the California Initiative." See the list here.
God knows, we need this great support. The Grocery Manufacturers Association (Monsnato is a member) has called Prop 37 as the most serious threat to agricultural biotechnology in history. If you haven't donated please do- every dollar counts- Go to LabelGMOs.org

For a refresher of what is at stake- GMO? OMG! Ten Reasons to Never Eat GMOs
Label GMOs- We Have a Right to Know!