The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution expressing support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the measure “expresses vigorous support” for Israel. Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said they had personally spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to express their support.

from: William Hughes

On Monday, Jan. 19, 2009, hundreds of antiwar activists expressed their outrage over President George W. Bush’s eight warmongering, economically disastrous, torture approving and lawbreaking years in the Oval Office (2001-2009). The good riddance to Bush rally was held at DuPont Circle, in Washington, D.C. David Swanson, cofounder of afterdowningstreet.org, was one of the speakers at the event. He demanded the appointment of a “Special Prosecutor” to bring to the bar of justice the wrongdoers in the Bush-Cheney Gang. After the speeches, the protesters marched to the White House. Once there, they tossed shoes and combat boots at the White House and insisted: “Arrest Bush!” For background, see: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/38908 and http://shoebush.org/.

On Monday, Jan. 19, 2009, hundreds of antiwar activists held a rally at DuPont Circle, in Washington, D.C. Then, they marched, led by the “Veterans for Peace,” about 15 blocks south to the White House. As they paraded, they chanted slogans, like: “Arrest Bush!”; “Prosecute Bush!”; “Stop the Torture!”; Stop the War!”; “Stop Spying on the People”; and “War Crimes!” At the White House, they tossed shoes and boots at a gate, near the recently erected presidential reviewing stands. Again they insisted: “Arrest Bush!” For background, see: www.afterdowningstreet.org.

from: William Hughes

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009, Antiwar activists dressed all in black, with white death masks, paraded in a steady rain and in single file, past the U.S. Supreme Court, and around the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., as the new 111th Congress convened inside. The “March of the Dead” participants wore around their necks the names of those killed in conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israeli Occupied Gaza. The U.S. Congress has
repeatedly voted hundreds of billions of dollars to support those two wars. Check out: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home. In addition, Congress continues to subsidize, to the tune of billions of taxpayers’ dollar a year, the state of Zionist Israel. See, http://www.wrmea.com/. For background and updates on this protest action, please go to: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/.

from: William Hughes

On Friday, Jan. 2, 2009, Human Rights activists staged a demonstration and march, in Washington, D.C., in solidarity with the beleaguered Palestinian people of Israeli-Occupied Gaza. The rally began at the Israeli Embassy. One of the speakers was Ibrahim Ramey. He is the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation’s Civil and Human Rights Director. For background, please see,
http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=3729
and http://masnet.org/. In his remarks, Mr. Ramey urged the large crowd of activists to “stand up” for the suffering people of Gaza and to work “by nonviolent means” for peace and justice. He directed some of his remarks to President-Elect Barack Obama. For related videos on the demonstration at the Israeli Embassy, check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=788fxH2ccjI&feature=channel_page
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWRX_OFOV08&feature=channel_page
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUtMFyhqjNo&feature=channel_page
For the latest updates on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, please see: http://www.pchrgaza.org/;
http://www.phrmg.org/; http://www.wrmea.com/;
http://justiceandaccountability.org/Home.html; and,
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/.

Fatal police shooting posted on YouTube
The footage is shaky and low quality, with chaotic shouts and protests from onlookers at a subway station in San Francisco's east bay. But it clearly shows three policeman roughly handling a group of young men – including one who is pinned to the ground by two officers and shot in the back. This shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant – who died later in hospital – has outraged many in California and triggered riots in Oakland in a case that many feel echoes the brutal beating of Rodney King by LA Police in 1991. www.guardian.co.uk As with all police brutality and police murders committed in the United States, the police officer in this case will not be prosecuted and will be found innocent of all wrongdoing. The police have the power to execute innocent people with total impunity and often do. The ruling corporate elite have granted this power to the police because they fear the people and want to grind them down and make them afraid.

By Remi Kanazi

At the Gaza rally in NYC yesterday. "The poem is entitled: To Exist is To Resist. Many people within the cultural realm are getting together to see what they can do to educate, inspire, and keep people engaged via artistic mediums."

from: William Hughes

On Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008, Human Rights activists, in Baltimore, MD, staged a demonstration in solidarity with the beleaguered Palestinian people of Israeli-Occupied Gaza. The rally took place at the Memorial Plaza, opposite City Hall.

Tuesday, Dec. 30th was declared a “National Day of Action: Stop the Massacre of the Palestinians,” with protest rallies taking place across the United States. http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8871&news_iv_ctrl=1621

For the latest updates on this critical Human Rights matter, please see:

DR. MOUSSA EL-HADDAD: Well, I am in the middle of Gaza City, in the heart of Gaza City, and the situation is indescribable. If this is not a holocaust, I don’t know what holocaust is. According to the news, they say almost 318 people are dead. The majority of those are civilians. At least 300 of them are civilians. And they say about 1,500 are injured, but a lot of them are seriously injured. The hospitals lack a lot of the necessary staff, instruments, even gauze and medicines, and everything is lacking. Physicians and nursing staff are working around the clock. People cannot find a place in the hospitals for treatment, injuries. And I am sure there will be a lot more of the dead under the rubbles of those buildings that were attacked and demolished. Every now and then, we hear a rocket attack or two. So, there are warplanes in the sky flying all over the time. As I speak to you now, I can hear them up in the sky, the pilotless jets and the warplanes, F-16s and God knows what. The warships in the sea are also attacking from the sea. And attacking who? Hamas? They are not attacking Hamas; they are attacking the people, the civilians. The civilians—I mean, I’m looking at the street right now, the main street of Gaza, Omar al-Mukhtar, and hardly you can see anyone walking there, because every single person is afraid. democracynow.org

from: William Hughes

On Dec. 23, 2008, activists held a press conference, at 12:30 PM, along with a picket line, in front of the Baltimore City’s Sheriff’s Office, at the main Court House, near the City Hall. They requested a halt, a moratorium, to all foreclosures and evictions in the city, and that the Sheriff’s Office follow the precedents established by the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, and the Sheriff of Philadelphia, PA, in this regard. The rally, with the temperature hovering in the low 20s, was led by the “National Network to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions.” The demonstrators also delivered a letter to the Sheriff’s Office setting out their views on the issue. For more background on this social justice cause, see: www.stopforeclosuresandevictions.org. A longer version of this press conference can be found on Google, at: http://video.google.com.