President George W. Bush The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Cc: Scheduling Office, 20502-0184

Mr. President,

September 12 marks the 10th anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of five men in the United States. The “Cuban Five” – Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, René González, and Fernando González – risked their lives to come to the United States to do what your Administration claims as its highest priority – fight terrorism. In their case, it was terrorism against Cuba, terrorism originating in this country that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Cubans and others, including American citizens, over the past fifty years.

The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, in conjunction with more than 300 such committees worldwide, has collected more than 100,000 signatures from Americans and people around the world, demanding the immediate freedom of these five men and an end to their unjust imprisonment. They also demand the immediate granting of visas to Olga Salanueva Arango, wife of Rene Gonzalez, and Adriana Perez O’Connor, wife of Gerardo Hernandez, who have been denied permission by the U.S. government to visit their husbands in prison for 8 and 10 years, respectively, in an outrageous violation of both their legal and human rights.

With this letter, we request a meeting with you or your representatives on Friday, September 12, 2008, to present you with these petitions, and to give voice to the just demands of people around the world for freedom for the Cuban Five.

Signed,

Alice Walker, author
Howard Zinn, professor
Noam Chomsky, professor, author
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general
Martin Sheen, actor, social justice activist
Heidi Boghosian, executive director, National Lawyers Guild
Gloria La Riva, coordinator, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Brian Becker, National Coordinator A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism)
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRUSSELS (11 September 2008) – Today, in a special session of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council (DPLC), Paul Larudee, one of the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement’s successful breach of the Israeli blockade of Gaza in August, called upon the international community to join the MovementÂ’s efforts to lessen the human suffering created by Israeli’s strangulation of Gaza.

“The Israeli siege has produced widespread and needless human suffering in Gaza,” Larudee told DPLC Parliamentarians. “We’ve proved that the sea link to Gaza is viable, but the humanitarian needs in Gaza are overwhelming and our two, small boats cannot even begin to meet those needs. Today we call for a much broader effort; specifically, we are calling on other members of the international community – governments, non-governmental organizations, and others dedicated to protecting human rights – to join us by providing their own ships, humanitarian goods, and human capital to open wide Gaza’s access to the world. This is an opportunity that simply must not be squandered.”

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Sarah Palin’s Churches and the Third Wave, Part One

Sarah Palin’s Churches and the Third Wave, Part Two

Bruce Wilson: Sarah Palin’s Demon Haunted Churches – The Complete Edition

Sarah Palin’s churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same ‘Spiritual Warfare’ movement that was featured in the award winning movie, “Jesus Camp,” which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin’s churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young “Joel’s Army” to take dominion over the United States and the world.

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By Mel Frykberg, Inter Press Service, 9 September 2008

EAST JERUSALEM, Sep 9 (IPS) – The Israeli government is attempting to Judaise Palestinian East Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority against the demographic threat of a higher Palestinian birth rate.

To that end, the Israeli government is enforcing a number of policies aimed at establishing facts on the ground in order to limit the number of Palestinian residents in the city.

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Jerry Haber, The Magnes Zionist, 8 September 2008

How many times have you heard this line: Look, I admit that there are problems with Israeli democracy, e.g., its treatment of its Arab citizens, and the Occupation. But the country is still at war with the Arabs, and in time, things will improve. After all, once the Arab citizens were under a military government. Now, at least de jure, they are equal citizens. Any restriction of civil liberties are temporary measures. As for the Occupation, when peace comes, it will cease to exist. And in the meantime, the Israeli judiciary is there to protect civil liberties.

That sentiment, of course, forms an essential part of the faith of the Zionist liberal. For thirty years, I never questioned it.

But what if the reverse is true — what if there is a slow deterioration of civil liberties and the rule of law, both within Israel proper and in the Occupied Territories? And what if these civil liberties are being curtailed, not during a period of relative stress, but during a period of relative calm, like the present?

What does the Zionist liberal then say about the prospects for Israel’s future?

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