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Newsletter:
September 2009
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Teach Peace
Foundation
Newsletter
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To reach peace,
teach peace! |
September
2009 |
Welcome!
 You are invited to show your support for the Teach Peace Foundation by attending the Evening of Peace awards dinner on September 21st at 600 Alhambra Boulevard in Sacramento. This annual student-led event is from 6 to 9 pm and a range of dinner options is available.We have 4 full time employees now and over 3,000 members so please help us continue our growth.
Click here to attend and regardless of if you can attend, please consider making a donation to help a student attend.
2009
Evening of
Peace award
winners
 We are happy to announce the award winners attending the Evening of Peace include:
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Fadhil Al-Kazily - Peace Teacher
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Joey & Renee Chiang - Student Excellence
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Leon Lefson - Lifetime
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Tim Malone - Peacemaker
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Dr. Hamza El-Nakhal - Leadership
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Dr. Koen Van Rompay - International
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Mary Wind - Volunteering
Click here or on the picture to the right of 2008 award winners to see the names of all current and past award winners. Each year, on the International Day of Peace, we joyfully celebrate the accomplishments of local and international peacemakers. You may find yourself saying that it is
one of the most inspirational events that you experience during the year. We encourage supporters to bring friends and family to this uplifting experience.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone celebrated the International Day of Peace by making at least one new friend? If you want to make dozens of new friends, however, we offer this opportunity when you attend the Evening of Peace. This is a special opportunity to reconnect with friends, while making new ones and enjoying a delicious meal of chicken, pasta, vegetarian, or vegan foods.
To join us as we cheer for the successes of those we admire, obtain a ticket by clicking on the below "Ticket" button or call 530-554-7061. We suggest a donation of $30 for dinner tickets and tickets for students are provided free when you notify us in advance (made possible by member donations).
We look forward to seeing you and please make a special effort to support our work to teach peace.
Teach
Peace
Foundation
programs
We
offer
over
20
programs.
The
diagram
below is a
snapshot
of
how
we
make
our
world
a
better
one
and
we
invite
you
to
assist
with
a
program
that
is
of
interest
to
you.
We welcome your ideas and appreciate your support. Our newest program,
created by Teach Peace intern Timna Medovoy, is a collection of Dr Seuss
guides. The guides are now available online and help parents and teachers educate children to be
peacemakers.
Click here to access the Dr. Seuss
guides.
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Featured teaching peace videos
Click on the below images to access the videos.
Hope -
This brief uplifting message of Hope is guaranteed to leave
you inspired to work for peace.
 Zero:
9/11 was broadcast to millions of Russian and European viewers. This
documentary from Italy's Telemaco production company explains why the
official version of the 9/11 attacks cannot be true. This documentary
explores the scientific evidence and presents dramatic new witness
testimony. The Teach Peace Foundation
position is
the victims and American people deserve to have unanswered questions
answered.
Tapped is a film that examines the role
of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change,
pollution, and our reliance on oil.
To access more
powerful videos
and over
100 more "watch
now" critical
thinking
documentaries,
click here.
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Success preventing war in 2008
 Last year we gave over 100 presentations and since 2007 we have created educational materials to explain why war with Iran would decrease US and global security. A key part of each presentation was our research showing the Bush administration was seriously considering attacking Iran before they left office. In the last few months the evidence that we were correct has been overwhelming. The most recent report comes from former Vice President Dick Cheney who on August 30th, 2009 confirmed in the Wall Street Journal that in the waning days of the Bush administration he called for a military attack on Iran.
The PanAm
103 truth by
William Blum
"And on the
most exalted
throne in
the world
sits nothing
but a man's
arse."
Montaigne
 If
there's
anyone out
there who is
not already
thoroughly
cynical
about those
on the board
of directors
of the
planet, the
latest
chapter in
the saga of
the bombing
of PanAm 103
over
Lockerbie,
Scotland
might just
be enough to
push them
over the
edge.
Abdel
Basset Ali
al-Megrahi,
the only
person ever
convicted
for the
December 21,
1988
bombing, was
released
from his
Scottish
imprisonment
August 21
supposedly
because of
his terminal
cancer and
sent home to
Libya, where
he received
a hero's
welcome.
President
Obama said
that the
jubilant
welcome
Megrahi
received was
"highly
objectionable".
His White
House
spokesman
Robert Gibbs
added that
the
welcoming
scenes in
Libya were
"outrageous
and
disgusting".
British
Prime
Minister
Gordon Brown
said he was
"angry and
repulsed",
while his
foreign
secretary,
David
Miliband,
termed the
celebratory
images
"deeply
upsetting."
Miliband
warned: "How
the Libyan
government
handles
itself in
the next few
days will be
very
significant
in the way
the world
views
Libya's
reentry into
the
civilized
community of
nations."
1
 Ah
yes, "the
civilized
community of
nations",
that place
we so often
hear about
but so
seldom get
to actually
see.
American
officials,
British
officials,
and Scottish
officials
know that
Megrahi is
innocent.
They know
that Iran
financed the
PFLP-GC, a
Palestinian
group, to
carry out
the bombing
with the
cooperation
of Syria, in
retaliation
for the
American
naval ship,
the
Vincennes,
shooting
down an
Iranian
passenger
plane in
July of the
same year,
which took
the lives of
more people
than did the
103 bombing.
And it
should be
pointed out
that the
Vincennes
captain,
plus the
officer in
command of
air warfare,
and the crew
were all
awarded
medals or
ribbons
afterward. 2
No one in
the US
government
or media
found this
objectionable
or
outrageous,
or
disgusting
or
repulsive.
The United
States has
always
insisted
that the
shooting
down of the
Iranian
plane was an
"accident".
Why then
give awards
to those
responsible?
Today's
oh-so-civilized
officials
have known
of Megrahi's
innocence
since 1989.
The Scottish
judges who
found
Megrahi
guilty know
he's
innocent.
They admit
as much in
their
written
final
opinion. The
Scottish
Criminal
Cases Review
Commission,
which
investigated
Megrahi's
trial, knows
it. They
stated in
2007 that
they had
uncovered
six separate
grounds for
believing
the
conviction
may have
been a
miscarriage
of justice,
clearing the
way for him
to file a
new appeal
of his case. 3
The evidence
for all this
is
considerable.
And most
importantly,
there is no
evidence
that Megrahi
was involved
in the act
of terror.
The first
step of the
alleged
crime,
sine qua non
— loading
the bomb
into a
suitcase at
the Malta
airport —
for this
there was no
witness, no
video, no
document, no
fingerprints,
nothing to
tie Megrahi
to the
particular
brown
Samsonite
suitcase, no
past history
of
terrorism,
no forensic
evidence of
any kind
linking him
to such an
act.
And the
court
admitted it:
"The absence
of any
explanation
of the
method by
which the
primary
suitcase
might have
been placed
on board
KM180 [Air
Malta to
Frankfurt]
is a major
difficulty
for the
Crown case." 4
The
scenario
implicating
Iran, Syria,
and the PFLP-GC
was the
Original
Official
Version,
endorsed by
the US, UK,
Scotland,
even West
Germany —
guaranteed,
sworn to,
scout's
honor, case
closed —
until the
buildup to
the Gulf War
came along
in 1990 and
the support
of Iran and
Syria was
needed for
the broad
Middle East
coalition
the United
States was
readying for
the ouster
of Iraq's
troops from
Kuwait.
Washington
was also
anxious to
achieve the
release of
American
hostages
held in
Lebanon by
groups close
to Iran.
Thus it was
that the
scurrying
sound of
backtracking
could be
heard in the
corridors of
the White
House.
Suddenly, in
October
1990, there
was a New
Official
Version: it
was Libya —
the Arab
state least
supportive
of the US
build-up to
the Gulf War
and the
sanctions
imposed
against Iraq
— that was
behind the
bombing
after all,
declared
Washington.
The two
Libyans were
formally
indicted in
the US and
Scotland on
Nov. 14,
1991. Within
the next 20
days, the
remaining
four
American
hostages
were
released in
Lebanon
along with
the most
prominent
British
hostage,
Terry Waite. 5
 In
order to be
returned to
Libya,
Megrahi had
to cancel
his appeal.
It was the
appeal, not
his health,
that
concerned
the Brits
and the
Americans.
Dr. Jim
Swire of
Britain,
whose
daughter
died over
Lockerbie,
is a member
of UK
Families
Flight 103,
which wants
a public
inquiry into
the crash.
"If he goes
back to
Libya,"
Swire says,
"it will be
a bitter
pill to
swallow, as
an appeal
would reveal
the
fallacies in
the
prosecution
case. ...
I've lost
faith in the
Scottish
criminal
justice
system, but
if the
appeal is
heard, there
is not a
snowball's
chance in
hell that
the
prosecution
case will
survive." 6
And a
reversal of
the verdict
would mean
that the
civilized
and
venerable
governments
of the
United
States and
the United
Kingdom
would stand
exposed as
having lived
a monumental
lie for
almost 20
years and
imprisoned a
man they
knew to be
innocent for
eight years.
The
Sunday Times
(London)
recently
reported:
"American
intelligence
documents
[of 1989,
from the
Pentagon's
Defense
Intelligence
Agency (DIA)]
blaming Iran
for the
Lockerbie
bombing
would have
been
produced in
court if the
Libyan
convicted of
Britain's
worst
terrorist
attack had
not dropped
his appeal."
Added the
Times:
"The DIA
briefing
discounted
Libya's
involvement
in the
bombing on
the basis
that there
was 'no
current
credible
intelligence'
implicating
her." 7
If the
three
governments
involved
really
believed
that Megrahi
was guilty
of murdering
270 of their
people, it's
highly
unlikely
that they
would have
released
their grip
on him. Or
is even
that
too much
civilized
behavior to
expect.
One final
note: Many
people are
under the
impression
that Libyan
Leader
Moammar
Qaddafi has
admitted on
more than
one occasion
to Libya's
guilt in the
PanAm 103
bombing.
This is not
so. Instead,
he has
stated that
Libya would
take
"responsibility"
for the
crime. He
has said
this purely
to get the
heavy
international
sanctions
against his
country
lifted. At
various
times, both
he and his
son have
explicitly
denied any
Libyan role
in the
bombing.
William
Blum is the author
of
Killing
Hope: US
Military and
CIA
Interventions
Since World
War 2, Rogue
State: A
Guide to the
World's Only
Superpower,
West-Bloc
Dissident: A
Cold War
Memoir
and
Freeing
the World to
Death:
Essays on
the American
Empire.
Click here
to access
the article
notes.
Member
submitted
articles,
presentations and
more
Click here
to access
news and
articles on
important
developments
around the
world. Try
reviewing
just the
article
titles for
the last 30
days and you
may be
surprised by
what you
learn.
The
Meetings &
Events
section of
the Teach
Peace
website is
where you
should go to
learn about
presentations
and other
important
peacemaking
events. For
example,
Mary Wind is
giving a
presentation
on September
14, 2009 at
7 pm on how
everyone can
be a
peacemaker
and on
September
15, 2009 at
7 pm to
share
insights
from her
recent trip
to the West
Bank and
Gaza. To
obtain the
addresses
for Mary's
presentations
or learn
about other
Teach Peace
events,
click here.
Department
of peace
picnic
 The
Northern
California
campaign for
a U.S.
Department
of Peace
invites
everyone to
a Potluck
picnic on
Saturday
October 3,
2009, from
1:00 pm to
4:30 pm. The
address is
William Land
Park Picnic
Area #GA21
in
Sacramento
at 3800 S.
Land Park
Drive. Teach
Peace is
cosponsoring
this event
with other
groups and
click here
for the
event flyer
(to
learn why
the peace
symbol to
the left is
arms up
instead of
arms down,
click here)
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We need you!
 Volunteers are always appreciated. We could even use a volunteer to help coordinate the people that are willing to volunteer.
If you are interested in volunteering with program management or delivery, please call 530-554-7061. If you can volunteer on September 21st, we need people to help with the Evening of Peace setup so consider arriving an hour or two before the 6 pm start time.
A positive peace action on September 11th, paper crane folding for peace!
You and your friends are invited to make Evening of Peace paper crane table decorations. This is a way to remember the victims of 9/11 on September 11th at 7 pm. The address is 1579 Pinnacles Place in Davis, CA. Refreshments are provided and please RSVP to Marilu Carter at 530-758-3151 or email mccarter@ucdavis.edu.
Peace be with you,
The Teach Peace Foundation Team
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