[JTWNews] Anniversary of Iraq War - Call for Debate!

[Susan Leslie]

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JOURNEY TOWARD WHOLENESS (JTW)- NEWS
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Dear JTW-News Readers:
 
As I write, a major corner has been turned in developments to halt the
Iraq War. 
 
Bi-partisan momentum is growing for an open debate! There are currently
more than 8 Iraq-related bills languishing in committee in the House of
Representatives. The one with the most support is H.J.Res. 55, the
"Homeward Bound" resolution introduced last year by Rep. Walter Jones
(R-NC) and Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), with the support of several of
their colleagues. H.J.Res. 55 would require the president to develop and
implement a plan for the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq. 

Representative Abercrombie has filed a discharge petition for the
Homeward Bound Act which would force the bill out of committee and
guarantee consideration on the House floor. In order for this to happen,
218 Representatives need to sign the petition. The petition itself is
H.Res. 543. The Win Without War Coalition
http://www.winwithoutwarus.org/ believes that it is possible to achieve
this.

The discharge of the Homeward Bound Resolution is not about passing this
particular bill, but rather securing an open discussion about the war-17
hours to be precise. By contacting your representative and urging them
to sign the petition, you can help make this happen . It is likely that
forcing debate in the House will lead to action in the Senate as well.
Find out if your Representative has signed the petition.

See http://www.uua.org/news/2003/iraq/060316_congress.html for further
details, including how to contact your Members of Congress.  Please note
that Members of Congress will be in their home offices from March 20-24
so that you can arrange a visit with a delegation from your
congregation.

See President William Sinkford's stirring Call for a Public Debate and
for action at http://www.uua.org/ and a prayer he has written that you
may want to use in your commemorations of this sad anniversary
http://www.uua.org/president/060316_iraq.html.

For reports on congregational actions see
http://www.uua.org/news/2003/iraq/060316_congaction.html.  

Let us know what your congregation is doing!

If you can send me short reports and digital photos on Monday I can get
them into UUWorld.org and on the web.  Thanks.

You may want to participate in Faith Voices for the Common Good's Beyond
Iraq On-Line Write-In on March 20-21.  See
http://www.faithvoices.org/programs/iraqreg.html.

Peace, Susan

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Also in this Issue:

(1) National Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide
(2) Report on So. Dakota UU Congregations Fight Abortion Ban
(3) Community Investing Opportunities
(4) Call for Anti-Oppression Resources and Best Pratices
(5) Mark Your Calendars for a Justice GA Gathering on Wed. 6/21, 2-5 pm


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(1) NATIONAL TOUR FOR DARFUR: Eyewitness to Genocide

Sponsored by the Save Darfur Coalition.  The UUA is a member.

Brian Steidle, a former Marine captain and observer to the African Union
peacekeeping forces, will be traveling over 21,000 miles on his national
tour in support of the Million Voices for Darfur Campaign. Captain
Steidle will be speaking from his firsthand experience as a witness to
genocide and mass murder, and he will be telling Americans what they can
do to help stop genocide. 

Please see http://www.savedarfur.org/go.php?q=brianSteidleTour.html to
find the exact location and time of the tour stop in your city.

Participate in the Save Darfur Million Voices Campaign -- This is an
easy and effective way to press for action. 

The overall goal of the Million Voices Campaign is to raise the level of
public awareness and outcry so that President Bush and Congress take
significant action. To that end, the UUA, UU Service Committee, and
other partners in the campaign will collect one million postcards from
concerned people across the country. 

**We're hoping to collect 25,000 postcards from Unitarian Universalists
before the Rally for Darfur in Washington , DC , on April 30 and May 1.

We are asking congregations to print out the postcards and send them to
the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy.

See http://www.uua.org/news/darfur/congaction.html for details.

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(2) REPORT ON SO. DAKOTA UU CONGREGATIONS FIGHT ABORTION BAN

UUWorld.org is a weekly electronic version of UU World that includes
lots of coverage of UU congregations.  I will be including stories here
regularly and suggest that you sign-up yourselves as well.

For the story on S. Dakota see
http://uuworld.org/news/articles/southdakotauusfoughtstateabortionban288
1.shtml.

To subscribe, go to:
http://uuworld.org/subscriptions/emailnewsletter.shtml

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(3)COMMUNITY INVESTING OPPORTUNITIES

In the Spring Issue of UU World there is an excellent article by Rev.
Dorothy May Emerson on Community Investing:

See Seeds of opportunity--Community investing brings economic
opportunities-and Unitarian Universalist congregations are joining in to
help. By Dorothy May Emerson
Spring 2006 2.15.06 at
http://uuworld.org/life/articles/communityinvestingplantsseedsofopportun
ity2712.shtml

And go to http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/ for an on-line power point
presentation on community investing by the UUA Committee for Socially
Responsible Investing 

Community Investing is a way for congregations to use their power and
privilege in partnerships with people in low-income and oppressed
communities.  It is truly a way to redistribute wealth and some power.

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(4) ANTI-OPPRESSION RESOURCES & BEST PRACTICES

As you know JTW-News has been about justice work that addressed
oppression.  However, I would like to continue the practice of earlier
JTW-Newsletters of including resources, reports, stories, and best
practices of internal congregational work that addresses transforming
our own attitudes, cultural norms, institutional practices and policies,
and engaged social transformation.

Please send me your favorite resources, reports on your experiences,
your successess, your struggles, and more.

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(5) PRE-GENERAL ASSEMBLY GATHERING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE &
ANTI-RACISM/ANTI-OPPRESSION COMMITTEE MEMBERS & TEAMS -- Wed., June
21st. 2-5 p.m., Room TBA.


If you are coming to General Assembly come in time to join a gathering
where we will explore best practices and resources for congregational
advocacy, organizing, and public witness.  We will also examine how to
do this work in a way that is accountable to and in partnership with
historically marginalized groups.  Join UUA Washington Office Director
Rob Keithan, me, and other guest speakers.  More details will follow.

Susan Leslie
Director for Congregational Advocacy and Witness
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon Street, Boston MA  02108
(617) 948-4607; sleslie at uua.org
www.uua.org/justice
Subscribe to SAC-News, Advocacy-News, JTW-News & SRI-News at
www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo