What makes for a “distinguished speaker”? Evidently, one significant criterion is a willingness to murder thousands of civilians. Usually, these civilians have been Muslim Arabs and Afghans (Gore, Clinton, Powell, Cheney, Bush, Rove, Albright), with runner-up ethnic groups being Serbs (Clark); Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans (Kirkpatrick). Smaller but still significant body counts have been American (Reno’s tank assault on a fundamentalist group at Waco, Rudy Giuliani’s death squads directed at Africans and African Americans). No doubt, Barack Obama will be a Distinguished Speaker too, in the fullness of time: he murdered his first Muslim civilian children in his first week in office, so he’s already looking pretty distinguished to me.

By IFCO/Pastors for Peace

FIRST PUBLIC PHOTOS OF FIDEL SINCE FEBRUARY 2009

Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., founder and executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, had the unusual opportunity to have extended meetings with Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz and with ex-President Fidel Castro Ruz. The meetings took place when Rev. Walker was in Cuba recently with the 20th Pastors for Peace Caravan.

Rev. Walker indicated that he came away from these meetings with a renewed sense of the potential that exists for improving US/Cuba relations. "Both leaders made it clear that Cuba is ready for talks covering any and all points of interest to both parties” said Rev. Walker.

The 20th US/Cuba Friendshipment Caravan organized by IFCO/Pastors for Peace returned from Cuba last week. Its 130 participants successfully delivered 132 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Cuba.

Since 1992, Pastors for Peace caravans have delivered more than 3132 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. The aid includes hurricane reconstruction supplies, medical and educational equipment, computers, and school buses. Members of the 20th caravan visited Havana and several rural provinces, where they saw and participated in ongoing efforts to recover from the three hurricanes that hit Cuba in the summer of 2008.

Rev. Walker is available for interviews and appearances on talk shows. Read more »

"Don't drop the ball on the environment," Groups Urge

August 10, 2009 - On the first day of the U.S. Senate's summer recess, representatives of environmental, civic, and senior organizations urged Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to support strong climate change legislation. The groups held news conferences at five of the Senators’ regional offices to jointly urge that the Senators support legislation that caps greenhouse gas emissions, protects consumers from rate hikes and bolster the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) oversight of climate change pollution.

“Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have been champions of the environment and we are here today to thank them for their leadership and urge them to continue to push for comprehensive policy that has the potential to remake our economy and move us away from the dirty fuels of the past,” said Lauren Schuster, NYPIRG's Environmental Campaign Coordinator and New York State's 1Sky organizer. “On the first day of the Senator's summer break; we thought a beach party was an appropriate way to remind our New York Senators not to drop the ball on the environment.”

The groups reminded the Senators that a comprehensive climate bill will maximize clean energy jobs for America and begin to cut carbon pollution, a scientific imperative. A strong policy will 1) ensure that residential consumers are adequately protected against increases in their energy costs; 2) reinstate the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act; and 3) will ensure that the nation reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Read more »

By Shamus Cooke

The propaganda wheels are turning fast.  The barrage of anti-Venezuela misinformation that began while Bush was in office has intensified in recent months.  Not a week goes by without the U.S. mainstream media running at least one story about the "dictatorial" Venezuelan government.  Historically, the U.S. government’s foreign policy "coincidentally" matches the opinion of the media and vice versa.    

A front page New York Times article on August 2, 2009 cited "new evidence" that the Venezuelan government "still" supports the FARC — a peasant-based guerrilla group that has fought the Colombian government for decades. 

This "new evidence" is a mere recycling of the last tactical attempt to link the Venezuelan government with the FARC:  computers were supposedly confiscated from FARC leaders that showed innumerable ties to Venezuelan government officials.  Of course anybody can write anything on a computer and say it came from somewhere else.  Evidence like this needs only a willing accomplice — the media — to legitimize it. 

The Venezuelan government denies the accusations.  But even if Venezuela maintained a policy of openly supporting the FARC, it would be more justifiable than the U.S. policy of openly supporting the Colombian government.   Colombia is the most-hated and repressive government in the western hemisphere, but the U.S. gives billions of dollars of financial, military and political aide.  This despicable relationship has not ended under Obama, but has in fact strengthened.   

The recent announcement that the U.S. military would move potentially thousands of troops to Colombia, where they will access five Colombian military bases, has put Venezuela and the rest of Latin America on alert.  The Obama administration has not explained the move publicly, though Latin Americans need no explanation. 

The continent has a long history of being exploited by U.S. corporations, who work in tandem with the U.S. government to oust "non-cooperative" governments, using countless tactics to meet their objectives including clandestine C.I.A. coups.  Read more »