Sacramento Coalition to End the War

Location(s)

HANDS OFF IRAN!
Demonstrate!

Saturday, July 26, 2008
16th & Broadway, 5-7pm Sacramento

Bring your friends, family, and signs. Please park on the street, not in Tower Theater or other business lots.

CALL CONGRESS: 202-224-3121
Tell your representative and senators to oppose
H.R. 362 and S.R. 580 which would allow for a U.S. naval blockade against Iran that would directly harm the civilian population of Iran. Tell them to end sanctions against Iran and stop the war mongering. We need to end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, not attack another country! Bring all U.S. troops home now!!

For more information, contact:

Paulette Cuilla, one of six people arrested at the Capitol on June 26, 2008

VERY URGENT NEWS ADVISORY
Thursday, June 26, 2008

Contact: Paulette Cuilla 916/956-8678 or Maggie Coulter 916/456-1420
**NOTE: Video of arrests available via an independent videographer**

SIX ARRESTED in front of
SCHWARZENEGGER'S OFFICE
CALLING FOR AN END TO THE IRAQ WAR

SACRAMENTO – Six people opposing the war on Iraq were arrested at the capitol TODAY/THURSDAY about 12:15 p.m. at the State Capitol near Gov. Schwarzenegger's office.

The California Highway Patrol charged the activists with misdemeanors, including allegedly demonstrating without a permit and illegally entering the Capitol, and released them. The activists have a July 23 court date.

The arrests took place following a "Freeze-In for Peace," where at 12:10 pm, about two dozen people "froze" in place for five minutes and then brought out signs and called for an end to the war. Similar "freeze-in" actions for peace are popping up all over the country. It was not clear why some of those participating were arrested and others were not.

Location(s)

Please join members of The Sacramento Coalition to End the War and True Majority, tomorrow
Thursday, June 19th - 9:30 AM
The Robert Carlson Auditorium (400 Q Street)
Downtown Sacramento

As we deliver 20,000 signatures to ask CalPERS to divest in war profiteer, KBR (former Halliburton subsidiary). Yesterday, the New York Times reported that a U.S. Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq said he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR. Read the full story here.

More details on why CalPERS should divest are below.

Can you spend 30 minutes tomorrow morning to send the message that CalPERS should not invest in war profiteers?

In solidarity!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 18, 2008
Contact: David Elliot - 202-263-4567

20,000 petitioners ask CalPERS Thursday to get tough
on KBR, Iraq War’s biggest war profiteer, now
linked to massive fraud, rape and massacre

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) will be asked by more than 20,000 petitioners to hold KBR – the largest contractor in Iraq – accountable for a growing list of misdeeds as a war profiteer when CalPERS meets Thursday at its Full Board meeting.

Here are some pictures of the Iraq Body Count Flag Exhibit in Sacramento, CA that was set up over Memorial Day Weekend (May 24 - 26, 2008). Each red flag represents one American that has been killed in Iraq (4,080 as of Memorial Day) and each white flag represents at least 5 Iraqi civilians that have been killed since our war and occupation of Iraq started in 2003 (at least 655,000 Iraqi's). There are over 120,000 flags in this exhibit and it took nearly 2 days for the volunteers to set it up.

Memorial Day Flag Display Now Up on Capitol Mall

by Dan Bacher

Volunteers from Sacramento area peace and justice organizations completed setting up the Iraq Body Count Exhibit, a moving display of 120,000 flags representing U.S. soldiers and Iraqis killed in the Iraq war and occupation, on the State Capitol median strip at about 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 25. The flags run from 9th Street almost to 3rd street in Sacramento, covering 7 islands and roughly 3 acres on the grass-covered Capitol Mall.

The 4080 red flags stand for each of the U.S. soldiers lost in Bush's war and occupation in Iraq, while each white flag represents at least 5 Iraqis. Credible estimates are that between 655,000 and 1,200,000 Iraqis have been killed since March 2003, according to Maggie Coulter, president of Sacramento Area Peace Action.

"It looks very impressive," said Debra Reiger of the Sacramento Coalition to End the War. "People are taking photos and leaving flowers. It makes such a statement!"

A special 120,000 flag Memorial Day ceremony was held on Memorial Day at 10 a.m. at 9th & Capitol Mall to pay tribute to the those killed in the Iraq War and occupation.

"The display is a great representation of the deaths on both sides," said Cres Vellucci, spokesman for Veterans for Peace in Sacramento. "This is a very fair and non-partisan way to dramatize the human cost of the war to the people of Iraq and the U.S."

The display will be up through Saturday, May 31, when volunteers will take the display down.

Controversial Memorial Day Display Will Take Place

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― A flag display on Memorial Day will showcase 120,000 red and white flags representing the number of troops and Iraqis killed in the war, despite an abrupt reversal that nearly led to the permit's cancellation.

Veterans for Peace member Debra Reiger requested a permit to display the flags in April. A city attorney denied the project last week, but the City Council reversed that decision tonight.

Location(s)

Help us set up 120,000 flags to represent a portion of the Americans and Iraqis that have been killed in our war and occupation of Iraq.

Set-up: Sat. May 24th (and 25th if needed) starting at 9 AM on the Capitol Mall median between 2nd St. and 9th St. (We will take down the exhibit on Saturday, May 31.)

Please volunteer to help!

It will take 5 or 6 hours for 50-100 people to set it up.

We also need safety monitors on each block.

Bring your friends and family too.

If you are willing to bring some water to share, that will help people stay hydrated.

Good street parking is available on N, O, and P Streets, south of Capitol. Some of the spots are exempt from parking fees on Saturdays, but some are not. You need to read the signs carefully.

For Information, and to volunteer to help:

Debra Reiger, 698-8131 - Daniel Costa, 613-1106 - John Reiger, 456-4595

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 19, 2008
Contact: Veterans for Peace 916/996-9170

ATTN: Daybook/Assignment Desk

City Council to take up appeal by ACLU, vets to allow permit for 120,000 flags on Memorial Day to honor U.S. military, Iraqi civilians killed

SACRAMENTO – The Sacramento City Council has quickly added to its agenda Tuesday (beginning at 2 p.m.) the question of permitting – the city attorney quashed the permit last week – a special Memorial Day display of 120,000 flags to commemorate the deaths of U.S. troops, and Iraqi civilians in the war in Iraq.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Sacramento and a veterans group will hold a MEDIA AVAILABILITY TUESDAY at 1:45 p.m. shortly before the 2 p.m. meeting at City Hall (915 I Street).

At a press conference on Friday, May 16, Debra Reiger (Sacramento Coalition to End the War), Mark Reichl (ACLU) and Cres Vellucci (ACLU) explained to the media that a permit to use the Capitol Median strip for a flag exhibit starting on Memorial Day weekend has been denied. This denial was sudden and surprising, as city employees had previously told Reiger that use of the strip for the exhibit had been approved.

There will be a press conference Friday morning (5/16) @ 10 AM, 9th & Capitol and this issue is also on the City Council meeting agenda for next Tues. (5/20) @ about 3 PM (please arrive early).

Please call your city council person and tell them to stop city bureaucrats from censoring the Iraq Body Count Flag Exhibit. The exhibit has 120,00 small flags, each representing five lives lost in Iraq since 2003. White flags for Iraqis and red flags for US soldiers. This is an interpretive display with no overt political content. People can draw their own conclusions.
www.iraqbodycountexhibit.org

If you don't live in the city, call the mayor.
Mayor Fargo - 808-5300
Dist 1, Ray Tretheway - 808-7001
Dist 2, Sandy Sheedy - 808-7002
Dist 3, Steve Cohn - 808-7003
Dist 4, Rob Fong - 808-7004
Dist 5, Lauren Hammond - 808-7005
Dist 6, Kevin McCarty - 808-7006
Dist 7, Robbie Waters - 808-7007
Dist 8, Bonnie Parnell - 808-7008

After many weeks of pursuing a permit to display the flags on the Capitol Mall during the Memorial Day week - and being verbally assured that the permit was approved - city bureaucrats (the city attorney at the request of the head of the Trans. Dept.) abruptly denied the permit. The semi-official reason given (verbally, they wouldn't even put it in writing) is fear of setting a precedent, in spite of the fact that many other events have been held there.