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This Month: 

• April Calendar
• Weekly Reminders
• Upcoming Events
• Opportunities for Action
• Visit the PSO
• New Books in the Library
• Oscar Romero
• A PRO-test
• News, Headlines, and Interesting Info

April Calendar

Note: This Calendar will be updated throughout the month as new events and activities are announced.

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Weekly Reminders:

• Kenapoc: Mondays at 9 PM @ Ken's House (702 East 9th Street)

• United Sexualities: Wednesdays at 9 PM in the Chapel Lounge

• Movie Nights: Thursdays at 10 PM @ The Peace House (across Wayne St. from Helman Hall)

• MSAS (Manchester Students Against Sweatshops): occasionally

• Amnesty International: 9 PM @ The Peace House (across Wayne St. from Helman Hall)

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Upcoming Events:

Things to look forward to:

• 2005 Annual Student Peace Conference "Crossing Boundaries in the Name of Peace" Notre Dame   April 1-2
• Brethren Mennonite Council Spring Retreat for Queer students of Brethren and Mennonite Colleges April 8-10
• National Collegiate Global Women's and Human Rights Conference Washington DC April 9-11
• Cross-Currents of Global Social Justice: Class, Gender, and Race Knoxville TN May 13-15
• 5th National Conference on Gender and 10th National Gender Lobby Day Washington DC May 20-22
• RADFEST/Midwest Social Forum Williams Bay, WI June 3-5
• Replenishing Democracy: Summer Institute on Civic Engagement and Political Activism, Amherst College June 13-24

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Opportunities for Action:

• Support the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Bill Over 40% of U.S. income tax dollars pay for the military.  (See http://www.fcnl.org for more details). Military spending does violence on two levels. Obviously, missiles, bombs and guns are designed to destroy. But even if they are never launched, dropped or fired, these weapons do violence by consuming resources that could otherwise have gone to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and heal the sick. These priorities are obvious in the President’s FY 2006 budget proposal, which eliminates or severely cuts funding for 150 domestic social programs, while increasing the military budget by $19 billion. Please stand with conscientious objectors all across this country and call Congress to enact the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill. This legislation would allow sincere conscientious objectors to pay their federal income, gift and estate taxes into a fund earmarked for nonmilitary purposes only. Take action here:
  
  http://www.peacetaxfund.org/takeaction/endorsers.htm

• Urge Your Senators to Oppose the "Nuclear Option" Preventing Filibusters of Judicial Nominees    President Bush and Senate Republicans are stacking the federal courts with right-wing, anti-women’s rights judges. But they are not satisfied. They want to prevent any meaningful opposition to these judges. In an unprecedented abuse of power, Senate Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (TN), are outrageously attempting to change the rules of the Senate to prevent even these filibusters of judicial nominees.

          http://capwiz.com/fmf1/issues/alert/?alertid=7327826

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We must build up that power of the people which will be different from the power of the State.

~Vinoba Bhave (India, independence fighter, 1895-1982)

Interesting Things You'll Find in the Peace Studies Office:

• A New Computer!!

  In our quest to meet your every need, (hence the food, caffeine, and general ambience available), we have recently obtained a computer which is available for student use.  No printer, but it's still a great place to check your email or do some surfing of the internet.

   

• A postcard from dear friend (and peace studies major) Ben Leiter, who is studying in Ecuador

  Ben is doing well, and dropped us a few lines to share some tales with us.  Nidia also added her graceful touch.  Stop by and take a look!

• Making a Living While Making a Difference: The Expanded Guide to Creating Careers with a Conscience by Melissa Everett

  This book is a wonderful resource for those of us who want our career and life choices to reflect our values.  Everett tells stories and offers practical ideas on how to identify our place in the world and create a career around it.  She also includes an extensive list of resources on similar topics.  This book will give you lots of ways to answer the question: "So what do you do with a peace studies major?"

   

• Lots of interesting magazines and newsletters

  For example, I was fascinated with the February issue of Extra! which has a long article about the bulge on George W. Bush's back during the first presidential debate.  A NASA scientist analyzed this bulge and shared his findings (that GWB was wearing an electronic cueing device) with the New York Times.  A NYT reporter spent several days working on a story about the bulge, but in the end the story never ran because the editors killed it - they were too afraid of publishing such an article so close to the election.

   

• Co-op America's National Green Pages

  Green businesses operate in ways that solve, rather than cause, both environmental and social problems.  These businesses adopt principles, policies, and practices that improve the quality of life for their customers, their employees, communities, and the environment. For every category of conventional consumer goods and services, there are green businesses that can meet your needs. You can find thousands of green businesses in the National Green Pages™.  Green businesses listed in Co-op America’s National Green Pages™ have passed a screening process that qualifies them for membership in our Business Network. 

  You can also find the green pages online at: http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/greenpages/index.cfm

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New Books in the Library:

• No Alternative?: nonviolent responses to repressive regimes edited by John Lampen
• Solutions to Violence edited by Colman McCarthy
• Peace with justice?: war crimes and accountability in the former Yugoslavia Williams and Scharf
• Light Weapons and Civil Conflict: controlling the tools of violence edited by Jeffrey Boutwell and Michael T. Klare
• What Do We Know about War? edited by John A. Vasquez

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Oscar Romero:

During his three years as archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero became known as a fearless defender of the poor and suffering. His work on behalf of the oppressed earned him the admiration and love of the people of El Salvador - and finally, an assassin's bullet on account of his outspokenness.  March 24, 2005 marked the 25th anniversary of his assassination.

This is an excerpt from the homily delivered at the funeral Mass (on January 21, 1979) of Father Octavio Ortiz and four young men killed by security forces that raided a retreat house where a youth group was gathered for a retreat:

The present form of the world passes away, and there remains the joy of having used this world to establish God's rule here.  All pomp, all triumphs, all selfish capitalism, all the false successes of life will pass with the world's form.  All of that passes away.  What does not pass away is love.  When one has turned money, property, work in one's calling into service of others, then the joy of sharing and of feelings that all are one's family does not pass away.  In the evening of life you will be judged on love.

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We Love Taco Bell:

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News, Headlines, and Interesting Info:

Harper's Index from Harpers Magazine (February 2005):

• Chances of a U.S. "currency crisis" within five years, according to former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker: 3 in 4
• Number of free-trade agreements between developing nations and developed nations in 1990 and today, respectively: 23, 109
• Projected change in world income over fifteen years if all developing nations were to enter such deals today: +$112,000,000,000
• Projected change, in this scenario, in the total income of developing nations: -$21,500,000,000
• Number of states where women seeking abortions are required to be told that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer: 3
• Number of the eighty-nine experts convened in 2003 by the National Cancer Institute who found any evidence of such a link: 1
• Number of black U.S. senators during the entire 1800s, the entire 1900s, and today, respectively: 2, 2, 1
• Cost of "The Sword," an unmanned robo-soldier equipped with a rifle, machine gun, or rocket launcher: $230,000
• Number of these devices the U.S. Army plans to deploy in Iraq this spring: 18
• Percentage of children who by age seven have had at least one imaginary friend: 65
• Percentage of these friends who are animals: 41

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~Mary "Mother" Jones 

 [Peace Studies Website]