(ARCHIVES: August 15, 2006) Teaching Peace: Children learn what they are taught

Another school year is upon us. Teachers put the final touches on bulletin boards and lesson plans. Principals field questions of new staff members while clearing office areas of recently-delivered supplies. Librarians tend to neatly ordered shelves while nurses stock the supply cabinet.

Students, with summer break soon over, will leave behind their swimming suits and Game Boys as they crowd freshly waxed and disinfected hallways, excitedly greet one another, and share their thoughts, fears and recent experiences.

Some will retain a bit of what they studied the year prior, others will share lessons they've learned since. While the chatter may be of clothes, celebrities, and the opposite sex, many will be thinking also of places far away - Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Israel - which seem less distant than they were before.

What kind of world are we building for them? What lessons are we teaching?

A favorite poems of parents and educators everywhere is "Children learn what they are taught" by Dorothy Law Nolte.

If a child lives with criticism, he (she) learns to condemn;
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight;
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy;
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty;
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient;
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence;
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate;
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice;
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith;
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself;
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to
find love in the world.

Violence in Texas Schools

According a Texas Council on Family Violence 2002 survey, 47% of all Texans report having personally experienced at least one form of domestic violence, either verbal and/or forced isolation from friends and family at some point in their lifetime.

In Bellaire, last February, two high-school boys got into a knife fight where one was stabbed. Two more boys got fought with knives in Ben Bolt-Palito. In Tyler a similar incident involved two girls.

During May a 5th grade student reacted swiftly when he seized a handgun and turned it into the principal after a pre-schooler showed up to school with the loaded weapon.

In Frisco a student threatened to kill his music teacher and eventually shot a 14-year-old boy who came to the door.

A 16-year-old in Arlington came to school with two swords and cut up a student just one month before a sixth grader shot himself in class in Alvin in early 2005.

A 2005 report - From Teasing to Torment - found that 1 out of 4 students feel unsafe in Texas schools "because of personal characteristics, such as physical appearance, race/ethnicity, or sexual orientation." The report also found that the majority of harassment, sometimes even assault, goes unreported by the student because "teachers and school staff do not often intervene" or use derogatory language themselves.

What are the values we want to teach our children in the coming months and years? How do we reconcile the violence that occurs locally with wars and terrorism abroad? What is the interplay of contemporary issues such as immigration, television and video games, homosexuality, economic insecurity and religious fanaticism?

Teaching Peace in 2006

Texans for Peace is host to a statewide conference - Teaching Peace in Texas - to explore the various techniques for reducing violence in schools and curricular strategies for teaching peace. This year's conference is scheduled for Saturday October 7, 2006 at Incarnate Word University in San Antonio.

Participants will network with one another and attend workshops in five areas: Creating a Culture of Peace, Personal Peace, Nonviolence Curriculum, Teaching Strategies, and Alternative Options for Youth.

One of the primary long-term objectives of Texans for Peace is to help Improve Texas by providing materials and resources to reduce school violence. This conference is only one of many strategies that are employed to make schools safer and better places for teaching and learning.

In the words of Graham Nash, we need to "teach our children well" so that they may, in turn, "make a world that we can live in."

Send your favorite educator to the Teaching Peace in Texas 2006 conference. What better way to begin a new school year than learning more about what we can do to teach for a better world?

Texas WMD growing problem

Texas is home to much of the nation's production of biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)...and some want even more.

Four Texas cities are vying to become the center for a proposed federal lab that focused on bio-warfare. This will leave those communities potentially exposed to Anthrax, Ebola, the Plague.

Not to be outdone, nuke advocates are working to build a plant in Amarillo and expand one in S. Texas.

Meanwhile, research and testing of energy-beam, Microwave, and MRI weapons continues at Texas military facilities and leading universities.

Cindy Sheehan briefly hospitalized

Cindy Sheehan, who has been on a hunger fast for several weeks, was hospitalized briefly this week in Waco after setting up Camp Casey in Crawford.

Camp Caseey will continue through the rest of August and then move to Washington, D.C. September 8-21 for "Camp Democracy

Teachers get pay raises

Most teachers around the state will receive long-deserved pay raises this Fall. Raises as much as 16% will help to stem the tide of educators who leave the teaching early and attract more to the profession (Texas salaries have been below the national average even while Texas is one of the wealthiest states).

Some examples of increases from around the state: Corpus Christi - $2,500, Lamar $3,500, Sweeny - $2,500, Harlandale - $6,600, Sharyland - $4,000.

Drought hits TX farm families

A drought throughout Texas that has already caused an estimated $4.1 Billion is threatening the livelihood of farm and ranch families. The Texas Cooperative Extension said this week that the drought that began 16 months ago has been the worst since the 1950s.

Rural areas are being hardest hit,with projected economic losses at $8 billion when the agribusiness impact is included, accordiing to Texas Cooperative Extension economists.

"They need to…stop doing this sh**," said a frustrated President George W. Bush early in the month before world leaders.

He was referring to the conflict that erupted between the state of Israel and armed Lebanese ("resistance" or "terrorist" depending on your viewpoint) group Hezbollah that has grown into almost a full-scale war with Israeli and Lebanese civilians caught in the middle.

Like looking for pearls amidst swine, who would have expected such a feculent insight from the potty-mouthed President?

Although Bush was referring to the government of Syria, blaming it and Iran for the conflict, his words echoed the sentiment of much of the world.

Stop doing this. Period. The violence needs to stop.

"I don't care who started it, just stop it this instance," my grandmother would say whenever my cousins and I would begin to act in a less-than-civilized manner. We never started our play intending to be mean, but more often than not someone would end up crying.

Grandma was a big believer that unless bloody noses or broken bones were involved a few strong, direct words should be sufficient. She was direct, and we knew what she meant. Stop it. No harm, No foul.

Unfortunately for the almost 500 people who have already been killed in Lebanon and Israel, and the thousands more injured in this conflict, left homeless, living in make-shift shelters, hungry, scared, harm has been done. "Retribution must be paid," is the common cry.

Such is the nature of violence and its cycle of escalation.

Holocaust and genocide scholars Norman Cohn, Richard Rubinstein, and Raul Hilberg closely examined the roots of violence in an attempt to understand how normal people, even the well-educated and cultured, could turn on one another and create atrocities. The vicious spiral of violence in the modern era - from Nazi Germany to Rawanda - remains a serious threat and challenge to all of humanity.

What these scholars found is that those who see violence as a legitimate exercise of power often became more and more violent over time. Societies spiral downwardsl of violence

out of control, violence escalates and becomes magnified, and cruelty becomes the norm until, like a raging forest fire, the conflagration burns itself out.

Whether the violence is the brutality of abuse at home or fighting between nations, it begets more violence until it becomes "the last refuge of the incompetent," to quote Isaac Asimov.

So, what lessons can Texans learn as we watch from afar the daily carnage in the Middle East?

The first lesson is that violence can occur anywhere at any time. It often starts with the decisions of a single person, or small group of people, but can quickly escalate. This type of violence it not just an issue of geopolitics and military machines. It is something much, much more personal.

Violence begins when any one of us forgets our basic humanity, that we are all people who want the best for ourselves and our family. There is no "them" or "us" and the actions of one affect one another. A wise man once advised me, "if you can't justify it to a 5-year-old child, you should probably stop doing it."

Even at an early age we are taught to temper our aggression and empathize with those who are hurt, lonely or afraid. As we mature, we work to become peace-filled and remove violence from our hearts and actions on a daily basis. "Nonviolence is hard work," said Martin Luther King, Jr., harkening to the words of Jesus. "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."

The second lesson of nonviolence is that it takes place within community; we are in community with one another and what affects my neighbor impacts me as well. The converse is that what benefits the least of us brings profit for all: peace and nonviolence requires justice.

It's not enough to personally emote. We also need to learn to work with one another to towards social justice and build communities where violence cannot take root.

The third lesson, however, is one that still escapes us. It is that hostility on the corporate scale - nation unto nations - sets the pattern for many community and personal examples of violence.

In a world where perceived and real threats to security exists, we continue to spend way more on bombs and the instruments of war than is either necessary or prudent. Without the rockets and bombs sold by Iran or the United States, the current conflict would not be as lethal as it is. Without the tanks, machine guns, mortars, and other instruments of destruction, people would be less afraid and more willing to dialogue…not to mention less dead.

We, in the United States, are the greatest provider of both the tools of violence and their spread around the world. We, not the Iranians, invented and used nuclear bombs on unarmed cities. We, not the North Koreans, operate hundreds of military bases around the globe. We, not Iraqis, sell fighter planes and weaponry to kings and dictators in the Middle East and elsewhere. We funded and trained Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Montt, Marcos, Pinochet, etc.

Domination and subjugation of entire peoples are gratuitous benefits that accompany this wholesale arming of the world. Injustice and violence are the outcome.

Buoyed up by hot-headed and messianical leaders, the fantasies of war mongers floats across our television screens nightly instead of being flushed down the toilet with the other excrement. As a nation, America continues to feed the habit of war.

However, even with lessons 1 and 2 we can make progress in our home state.

We can work to develop peace within our individual character, teach it to our children, and share it with our neighbors. We can build upon this to become friends with one another in communities throughout the state. This is the model that the world needs.

While traveling people often react with incredulity when I mention that I founded Texans for Peace. "You mean there are really Texas who want peace?" they exclaim.

I explain that Texas is a diverse state fully of people from throughout the world with a broad range of religions and cultures. I also let them know that the motto of our state isn't "don't mess with…" but rather "friendship" (and I always invite them to give us a visit).

Can one think of a better motto to begin with if we want to live in a state free of violence?

Let's take the motto seriously and practice it in our daily lives. Combined with a sense of humor, friendliness just may have the healing powers needed for this broken world.

While we may not be able to affect the outcome of current events in the Middle East, at least we can make sure that we don't (please pardon my presidential elocution) act like ****heads here.

Charlie Jackson
Texans for Peace

Camp Case 2006, Aug. 6-Sep. 2 (NEW DATE)

Camp Casey is starting up again in Crawford on August 6 (new date to accommodate the President's schedule) to welcome President Bush back to Texas and continue to ask "Why?"

Plans are already in high gear but Texas volunteers are needed. Texans for Peace is putting out a call throughout Texas to help with Camp Casey. If you can spare a day, or more, please contact us at T4P so we can add you to the list and provide you a t-shirt.

To learn more, go to the Crawford Peace House website.

Camp Casey will move from Crawford to Washington, D.C. September 8-21 for "Camp Democracy

Spaceport in W. Texas' future?

Blue Origin, LLC, a private space company headed by Jeff Bezos, is considering building a commercial spaceport in the deserts of West Texas and could begin commercial flights within 10 years.

Folks in Van Horn are interested in having some development in the area. "This is unique," said Mayor Okey Lucas. "I don't want to see us grow like Houston, but I want to see growth and infrastructure come."

Jeff McCoy, director of the Van Horn Economic Development Corp., said that aside from a recent spurt of oil and gas exploration, the area has few other prospects and could serve to create local jobs.

Trans-Texas Corridor Protested

Hundreds of Texans have been lining up at state hearings to protest the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project (see Texas Land Massacre)

In Waco this week, more than 1,000 speakers showed up to protest plans that would gobble up 500,000 acres of Texas farmland and provide billions of dollars in profits to a company in Spain and provide taxpayer-paid right of way for private energy and telecommunications companies. 1,500 attended in Temple.

Hearings are continuing in many areas of the state (see list of hearings) through August 10.

SA, Dallas peace centers get makeovers

The websites of both the San Antonio PeaceCENTER and the Dallas Peace Center have received makeovers in recent weeks.

Both of these organizations, along with the Houston Peace and Justice Center and the Austin Center for Peace and Justice, are some of the oldest in the state and provide a wealth of information on activities, actions, peace networking, and resources in their communities.

Look for an updated Texans for Peace website soon, with additional links on organizations around the state.

"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." - Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell.

Texas is a BIG place with wide open spaces, millions of cars and trucks, and the nation's biggest network of roads and highways - 79,000 miles worth.

From the thousands of miles of farm to market roads, to the fourteen-lane highways of Dallas and Houston, a lot of land has been gobbled up as cities have expanded into suburbs, exurbs and beyond. Most people can't go to the store without negotiating multiple lanes of automobiles and it's become unsafe for children to bicycle in many communities. Forget walking anywhere, except out in the country and in rurals towns.

But having more paved roads than most countries in the world isn't enough for some folks. There's a move afoot to construct roads on an enormous scale like never before. Now the great Texas Land Massacre is headed our way.

Just as gasoline is approaching $3 per gallon and folks are beginning to conserve, Governor Perry has proposed building 4,000 miles of new corridors throughout the state - the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). Each mile of the TTC would be as wide as four football fields (1,200 feet) and the total project would gobble up more than 500,000 acres of Texas farmland.

The TTC would include truck lanes, passenger vehicle lanes, and room for expansion. It would also include right of ways for private company oil and gas pipelines and railroads. At an estimate cost of $150-180 billion dollars, this would be the costliest building project in the state's history.

TTC-35 HEARINGS SCHEDULE July 17 - Fort Worth, Greenville, McGregor July 18 - Cameron, Granbury, Mequite July 19 - Clifton, Hearne, Terrell July 20 - Caldwell, Corsicana, Groesbeck July 24 - Georgetown, Waco July 25 - Marlin, Taylor July 26 - Giddings, Temple July 27 - Dallas, Rockdale July 31 - Beeville, Flatonia, Lockhart August 1 - Gonzales, Kingsville, Manor August 2 - Bastrop, Calallen, Pleasanton August 3 - Floresville, Smithville August 7 - Falfurrias, Laredo, Pearsall August 8 - Alice, McAllen, San Antonio August 9 - George West, Harlingen, Seguin August 10 - Brownsville, Yorktown Go here for location details

The state would end up cut up by major toll-roads while oil, gas, and railroad companies would get lucrative right-of-way at taxpayer expense. The TTC would not provide access to adjacent properties, like the current network of frontage roads (something almost unique to Texas). Instead, farmer and ranchers would find their wide open spaces divided in two with heavily trafficked corridors interrupting their pastoral life.

There are many objections to the project. Not only does it appear to primarily benefit private companies but it was proposed without a serious study of the transportation and social needs of the future of the state.

"The Trans-Texas Corridor plan is not the product of transportation professionals, urban planners, sociologists and environmentalists hammering out affordable infrastructure to meet our 21st Century needs," says Dick Kallerman, Transportation Issue Coordinator, Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter. "Rather, it was hatched in a smoke-filled room where nobody worried about the needs of ordinary Texans."

Texans are beginning to mobilize throughout the state to give their input into this project. Corridor Watch has a wealth of information about the project including source materials and ways to become involved. There is also a TransTexasCorridor blog where folks can comment on the TTC. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) also has a KeepTexasMoving website with information on the TTC.

Since the TTC is a large project, the State of Texas is holding hearings throughout the state on the various proposed routes. Hearings for TTC-35 Route - from Laredo to north of Dallas - are already being held.

Texas faces a "land massacre" of enormous scale. Such a project would have long-lasting impacts on Texas' environment, culture, and society. Now is the time for all Texans to participate and state your views on this project.

Attend a hearing. Take part in determining the future of Texas, for you and your children.

Charlie Jackson - Texans for Peace

"Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above, don't fence me in"
But don't fence me in." - Miles and Miles of Texas by Bob Wills

LAST WEEK: What "freedom" looks like in Iraq in 2006

Pastors for Peace tour Texas on way to Cuba

The Pastors for Peace caravans are touring Texas, coming from all parts of the U.S. on their way to Cuba via Mexico.

The Caravan focuses on delivering medicines, educational supplies, sports equipment and tools to Cuba while challenging the 40-year embargo by the U.S. as an immoral policy that uses hunger and disease as political weapons.

Multiple caravans will be in Corpus Christi, Crawford, Houston and Austin on July 1 and in San Antonio July 2.

Bill would force local police to enforce Federal immigration laws

The U.S. House of Representatives, continuing their anti-immigration tirade, have passed legislation that would require city and county police forces to act as an arm of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch of the federal government.

The legislation would cut off federal crime-fighting funds for any city with sanctuary policies that do prevent law enforcement officers from inquiring about immigration status.

TX oil and gas deals, Cheney, and polluting Florida

Anadarko, an oil and gas company based in the Woodlands, plans a $23.3 billion purchase of two competitors, Kerr-McGee and Western Gas Resources.

The deal allows Anadarko to expand into deepwater in the Gulf of Mexico and the Rockies.

In December, ConocoPhillips Co., the nation's third biggest energy company, acquired oil and gas producer Burlington Resources Inc. for $35.6 billion.

"This industry will continue to cannibalize itself because of limited access to new resources," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said.

In 2001 Vice President Cheney met with executives from Anadarko to discuss opening Area 181 - an area off the coast of Florida - to drilling as part of the US energy plan. Concerns are that it will pollute the western Florida coast and panhandle, much as Texas beaches are now polluted.

Lynne Cheney served on the board of Union Pacific Resources Group, prior to its merger with Andarko. Cheney received Anadarko stock worth $250,000 to $500,000. Halliburton, where Mr. Cheney served as CEO before becomming VP, has done business with Anadarko Petroleum since 1959. Cheney can be expected to exercise Halliburton stock options and deferred salary, once he leaves public service.

July 4 - Troops Home Fast

A series of 24-hour fasts will be held in D.C. and throughout Texas on July 4th to as a visible reminder of the ongoing war in Iraq and Texas dead and injured.

Austin - Peace Grove, Zilker Park, 6-9 pm
Corpus Christi - Federal Courthouse, 6 pm
Killeen - Gates of Ft. Hood, 9 am
San Antonio - Alamo Gazebo, early morning

Sponsored and endorsed by Code Pink (organizer), the National Council of Churches, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Gold Star Families, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, National Congress of Black Women, and more.

Texas receives grant to address hurricane jobless

Texas will get a $13.4 million emergency grant for residents left jobless by last year's hurricanes, officials from the Labor Department announced.

Grants will go to the Texas Workforce Commission to provide vocational training and temporary jobs on cleanup and restoration crews. The Labor Department previously awarded a $75 million National Emergency Grant to Texas after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck last year.

The state also plans to make $255 million in taxpayer funds available to help victims of Hurricane Rita and low-income families. The program is expected to assist 2,300 Texas families with 40% going to southeast Texas residents recovering from Hurricane Rita.

Home buyers in southeast Texas will be able to get loans with an interest rate under 6 percent along with grants to help cover the down payment, most of which will end up in the pockets of mortgage companies and developers. (For $255 million the state could buyfree homes for 2,300 families).

Texas musicians use talents for peace

More and more Texas musicians are using their talents to promote peace and oppose the war in Iraq.

Groups like The Flatlanders and Musicians for Peace and individuals like Eleanore Whitmore, Todd Snider, Johnny Case, and Bill Oliver are joining the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Guy Forsyth and Willie Nelson in musical tributes. Singers are joining too. There are reports that peace and antiwar music sales are on the rise.

Musicians for Peace and the Austin Center for Peace and Justice plan a major peace musical festival for March 2007.

(ARCHIVES - July 1, 2006) What "freedom" looks like in Iraq in 2006

Like a born-again Churchill, President Bush continues to declare that "Iraq is free". He touts the new Iraqi constitution and newly elected government as primary signs of progress, while at the same time dismissing critics of the ongoing occupation and unabated war as "defeatists".

Meanwhile, Iraqis remain far from free as we head into another July 4.

The Iraqis I have met work hard to instill in their children basic values that should sound familiar to most Texans: freedom, opportunity, security, and responsibility.

Since war apologists urge "stay the course" it is useful to look at the situation overseas and see what freedom looks like for Iraqis today.

What is freedom?

Freedom, to most Americans, is summed up in the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke before Congress in 1941:

"We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms," said Roosevelt.

"The first is freedom of speech and expression - everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his (or her) own way - everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want - which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants - everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear - which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor - anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb."

At the time this was written, the U.S. had not yet entered WWII, the Declaration of Independence was only 165 years old, and most members the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) were not yet born.

Americans and Iraqis recognize, and agree with, the freedoms listed above. But the reality of Iraq is such that it is a country far away from achieved what is so ardently desired.

Freedom of Speech

Iraqis are thrilled that they have newfound outlets for expressing what they think. There are more than 60 newspapers and television channels to choose from in Baghdad today. At the same time, most are funded by the U.S. military and Iraqis are the street are often loathe to be interviewed on camera for fear that they will be targeted for kidnapping or assassination - shades of Saddam!

In the U.S. the media has an almost total blackout of Americas who are opposed to U.S. policy or the views of Iraqis themselves. When is the last time you saw an interview on television with an Iraqi - not an Iraqi/American? Journalists stationed in Baghdad have a hard time getting their interviews published in the U.S.

Even U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq have found that they are not free to express their views. They either are ordered to report good news or have their websites and blogs shut down.

Freedom of Worship

Before the war Iraq was second only to Israel in the amount of religious freedom in the Middle East. Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, and Jews all made up a multi-cultural ethic and religious mosaic. The Iraqis prided themselves in their religious tolerance and looked askance at Iran and Saudi Arabia where religious extremists reign.

It wasn't until American troops arrived that the first violations of religious buildings occurred (the first was the ransack of the Egyptian Copt (Christian) church, followed by attacks on the Abu Hanifa Mosque, the largest Sunni mosque in Baghdad.. Now there is growing sectarian strife, many Christians have fled the country, mosques are frequently bombed and people of faith are beginning to lose out to those only who appear to have venal interests.

Only the Americans in Iraq are able to worship in relatively safety.

Freedom from Want

Before 2003 Iraqis lived under extreme privation resulting from two disastrous wars and an economic embargo by the United Nations, enforced by the U.S. As many as 1 million Iraqis died in the prior ten years due to malnutrition and disease. Iraqis hoped that with the entrance of American troops things would improve.

Today Iraqis are faced with less electricity than before the war, long gasoline lines, and continuing high unemployment. While food is abundant, many have sold everything they had and still go hungry due to the dismal economy. Children go to newly-painted schools where teachers are being paid, but are crowded out. Hospitals tend to the sick and wounded with few medical supplies. Many of the water and sewer systems that have been repaired lack the electricity to operate.

Meanwhile, 128,000 U.S. troops and 30,000 other U.S. personnel consume a great deal of Iraq's electricity and gasoline output for "green zones" that have 24-hour A/C, swimming pools, fitness clubs, and restaurants.

Freedom from Fear

Each day of the U.S. occupation, the violence has increased throughout Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are now living as internally or externally displaced refugees. Kidnappings, beheadings, bombings, "friendly fire" incidences - even of women and children - are daily occurrences.

What more can be said?

Iraqis didn't expect freedom to come easily. They tried on numerous occasions to challenge the previous regime, unsuccessfully. Many have joined the insurgency and are today fighting their "liberators". It isn't because they don't like Americans. Rather is it, to use the words of one friend, "we want to be free." "We can never be free so long as the U.S. military remains."

The Pentagon has no plans for leaving.

Independence Day Coming?

I often wonder if the folks in Washington are either deaf or just dense. There appear few, in either the Republican or Democratic party, who are listening to the voices of Iraqis who yearn to be free. Both condescend when they say "the U.S. will decide the timetable" for withdrawal.

This is exactly the sort of sentiment that caused the residents of a few colonies to give up their prosperity and security 230 years ago to write a Declaration of Independence.

Perhaps in that example there is hope for freedom in Iraq after all. Happy Independence Day!

Charlie Jackson, Texans for Peace

Pastors for Peace tour Texas on way to Cuba

The Pastors for Peace caravans are touring Texas, coming from all parts of the U.S. on their way to Cuba via Mexico.

The Caravan focuses on delivering medicines, educational supplies, sports equipment and tools to Cuba while challenging the 40-year embargo by the U.S. as an immoral policy that uses hunger and disease as political weapons.

Multiple caravans will be in Corpus Christi, Crawford, Houston and Austin on July 1 and in San Antonio July 2.

Bill would force local police to enforce Federal immigration laws

The U.S. House of Representatives, continuing their anti-immigration tirade, have passed legislation that would require city and county police forces to act as an arm of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch of the federal government.

The legislation would cut off federal crime-fighting funds for any city with sanctuary policies that do prevent law enforcement officers from inquiring about immigration status.

TX oil and gas deals, Cheney, and polluting Florida

Anadarko, an oil and gas company based in the Woodlands, plans a $23.3 billion purchase of two competitors, Kerr-McGee and Western Gas Resources.

The deal allows Anadarko to expand into deepwater in the Gulf of Mexico and the Rockies.

In December, ConocoPhillips Co., the nation's third biggest energy company, acquired oil and gas producer Burlington Resources Inc. for $35.6 billion.

"This industry will continue to cannibalize itself because of limited access to new resources," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said.

In 2001 Vice President Cheney met with executives from Anadarko to discuss opening Area 181 - an area off the coast of Florida - to drilling as part of the US energy plan. Concerns are that it will pollute the western Florida coast and panhandle, much as Texas beaches are now polluted.

Lynne Cheney served on the board of Union Pacific Resources Group, prior to its merger with Andarko. Cheney received Anadarko stock worth $250,000 to $500,000. Halliburton, where Mr. Cheney served as CEO before becomming VP, has done business with Anadarko Petroleum since 1959. Cheney can be expected to exercise Halliburton stock options and deferred salary, once he leaves public service.

July 4 - Troops Home Fast

A series of 24-hour fasts will be held in D.C. and throughout Texas on July 4th to as a visible reminder of the ongoing war in Iraq and Texas dead and injured.

Austin - Peace Grove, Zilker Park, 6-9 pm
Corpus Christi - Federal Courthouse, 6 pm
Killeen - Gates of Ft. Hood, 9 am
San Antonio - Alamo Gazebo, early morning

Sponsored and endorsed by Code Pink (organizer), the National Council of Churches, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Gold Star Families, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, National Congress of Black Women, and more.

Texas receives grant to address hurricane jobless

Texas will get a $13.4 million emergency grant for residents left jobless by last year's hurricanes, officials from the Labor Department announced.

Grants will go to the Texas Workforce Commission to provide vocational training and temporary jobs on cleanup and restoration crews. The Labor Department previously awarded a $75 million National Emergency Grant to Texas after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck last year.

The state also plans to make $255 million in taxpayer funds available to help victims of Hurricane Rita and low-income families. The program is expected to assist 2,300 Texas families with 40% going to southeast Texas residents recovering from Hurricane Rita.

Home buyers in southeast Texas will be able to get loans with an interest rate under 6 percent along with grants to help cover the down payment, most of which will end up in the pockets of mortgage companies and developers. (For $255 million the state could buyfree homes for 2,300 families).

Texas musicians use talents for peace

More and more Texas musicians are using their talents to promote peace and oppose the war in Iraq.

Groups like The Flatlanders and Musicians for Peace and individuals like Eleanore Whitmore, Todd Snider, Johnny Case, and Bill Oliver are joining the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Guy Forsyth and Willie Nelson in musical tributes. Singers are joining too. There are reports that peace and antiwar music sales are on the rise.

Musicians for Peace and the Austin Center for Peace and Justice plan a major peace musical festival for March 2007.