So far, activists in New Jersey are organizing meetings with nine of the state’s fifteen members of Congress.
You can join the following meetings that are being organized by visiting http://www.amnestyusa.org/delegation/list.php:
Congressman LoBiondo
Senator Menendez
Congressman Jim Saxton
Congressman Pallone
Congressman Rush Holt
Congressman Chris Smith
Congressman Garrett
Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen
Congressman Albio Sires
Don’t see your member of Congress on the list? There is still time to volunteer to organize a meeting in your district by filling out the application at http://www.amnestyusa.org/delegation/leader.php!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Tell Congress to FINALLY Close Guantanamo!
Once again, the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay remain operating as we mark Torture Victims and Survivors Month this June. Hundreds of people remain in the prison without formal charges. Those who have been charged face the prospect of an unfair trial at the hands of a “military commission” that lacks independence and is allowed to use evidence that would be thrown out in a normal court of law as tainted by torture and other abusive interrogation methods.
June also marks the beginning of Congress’s annual Independence Day recess. Many our elected officials will return home from Washington during this break, creating an excellent opportunity to for us to meet with them in person and remind them that it is long since time to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo. All prisoners should either be charged with a recognized criminal offense or released. Those that are charged should be given fair trials in civilian courts.
You can help out by volunteering to organize a meeting with one of our members of the House or the Senate. You can also join an existing delegation.
Lobbying Congress is easy and effective, especially with the materials and training that Amnesty provides. As the Legislative Coordinator for New Jersey, I will also be available to assist delegation leaders plan their visits.
June also marks the beginning of Congress’s annual Independence Day recess. Many our elected officials will return home from Washington during this break, creating an excellent opportunity to for us to meet with them in person and remind them that it is long since time to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo. All prisoners should either be charged with a recognized criminal offense or released. Those that are charged should be given fair trials in civilian courts.
You can help out by volunteering to organize a meeting with one of our members of the House or the Senate. You can also join an existing delegation.
Lobbying Congress is easy and effective, especially with the materials and training that Amnesty provides. As the Legislative Coordinator for New Jersey, I will also be available to assist delegation leaders plan their visits.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
NJ in AI's 2008 Report
Here is a section of Amnesty International’s 2008 Annual Report I have been looking forward to reading! Congratulations and thanks to all those who helped out!
Larry Ladutke
On 17 December, New Jersey became the first US state since 1965 to abolish capital punishment. The following day, the UN General Assembly passed its landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions. Sixty years after the right to life and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment were written into the UDHR, and three decades after executions resumed in the USA, advocates of the death penalty are increasingly on the defensive across the world.
In the USA, the abolitionist cause looks far less bleak than it was even a decade ago. A number of factors have contributed to this trend, including the release of more than 100 people from death row since 1977 on grounds of innocence – three of them in 2007. The number of death sentences passed each year continues to decline from its peak in the mid-1990s. Just over 100 death sentences were believed to have been handed down in the USA during 2007. Yet from 1995 to 1999, on average 304 people were sent to US death rows annually.
The 42 executions in the USA during 2007 – while 42 too many – represented the lowest annual judicial death toll in the country since 1994. This was at least in part due to the moratorium on lethal injections since late September 2007 when the US Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to the constitutionality of that method of execution.
Larry Ladutke
On 17 December, New Jersey became the first US state since 1965 to abolish capital punishment. The following day, the UN General Assembly passed its landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions. Sixty years after the right to life and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment were written into the UDHR, and three decades after executions resumed in the USA, advocates of the death penalty are increasingly on the defensive across the world.
In the USA, the abolitionist cause looks far less bleak than it was even a decade ago. A number of factors have contributed to this trend, including the release of more than 100 people from death row since 1977 on grounds of innocence – three of them in 2007. The number of death sentences passed each year continues to decline from its peak in the mid-1990s. Just over 100 death sentences were believed to have been handed down in the USA during 2007. Yet from 1995 to 1999, on average 304 people were sent to US death rows annually.
The 42 executions in the USA during 2007 – while 42 too many – represented the lowest annual judicial death toll in the country since 1994. This was at least in part due to the moratorium on lethal injections since late September 2007 when the US Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to the constitutionality of that method of execution.
AI Group Cosponsors Army Doctor Talk Against Torture in Princeton 6/23
I wanted to make sure you saw this upcoming event by AI LG 67 in Princeton. It is taking place right before activists across the country will meet with the congressmen and senators to urge them to support legislation to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
Monday, June 23 7:30 p.m. co-sponsored by Amnesty International Local Group 67Nassau Presbyterian Church61 Nassau Streetright across from Palmer Square)Princeton, NJ
To mark Torture Awareness Month, the Princeton Area Anti-Torture Advocacy Group is hosting a talk at 7:30 pm on Monday, June 23, at Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street in Princeton (right across from Palmer Square). Torture Awareness Month commemorates the date, June 26, 1987, when the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment went into effect.
The speaker is Brigadier General (Ret) Stephen Xenakis, MD. His talk is entitled No More Torture: Defending Against Global Risk.
Dr. Xenakis served 28 years in the US Army as a medical corps officer. He is on the Board of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), is an advisor to Physicians for Human Rights, and a contributor to Human Rights First. Dr. Xenakis is a member of Rock Spring United Church of Christ in Arlington, VA, and a Princeton University alumnus.
Dr. Xenakis has held a wide variety of military assignments -- as a clinical psychiatrist, staff officer, and senior commander including Commanding General of the Southeast Army Regional Medical Command. Dr. Xenakis has spoken and written widely on medical ethics, military medicine, and the treatment of detainees. He has an active clinical and consulting practice, and currently is working on the clinical applications of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) to brain injury and other neurobehavioral conditions.
Dr. Xenakis has written: "Until now, perhaps the most well-known image of the American military doctor was Hawkeye Pierce of M.A.S.H., who protected his patients from dubious orders from his superiors, even when his patients were enemy soldiers. Now, the world's impression of the American military doctor is something quite different. The International Committee of the Red Cross has accused American military physicians of participating in actions that are 'tantamount to torture."
The Princeton Area Anti-Torture Advocacy Group is affiliated with NRCAT, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The NRCAT slogan "Torture is a Moral Issue" will be displayed on banners by a number of area churches in June. NRCAT's Founding Conference at Princeton Theological Seminary in January 2006 was organized by the Coalition for Peace Action and the Rev. Dr. George Hunsinger of the Seminary faculty. Nassau Church, in which Dr. Hunsinger is an active participant, became a participating member of NRCAT in March 2007.
Co-sponsors of the presentation include: Nassau Presbyterian Church-Princeton; Coalition for Peace Action; ACLU-NJ; Amnesty International-Mercer County Group; Mercer County Coalition for Civil Liberties; New Brunswick Presbytery, PC (USA)-Social Witness Committee; Princeton Clergy Association; Princeton Friends Meeting-Peace & Social Concerns Committee; Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton; Westminster Presbyterian Church-Trenton; Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church-Princeton.
The presentation is a free public event. It will be followed by a question and answer period, as well as light refreshments.
Monday, June 23 7:30 p.m. co-sponsored by Amnesty International Local Group 67Nassau Presbyterian Church61 Nassau Streetright across from Palmer Square)Princeton, NJ
To mark Torture Awareness Month, the Princeton Area Anti-Torture Advocacy Group is hosting a talk at 7:30 pm on Monday, June 23, at Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street in Princeton (right across from Palmer Square). Torture Awareness Month commemorates the date, June 26, 1987, when the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment went into effect.
The speaker is Brigadier General (Ret) Stephen Xenakis, MD. His talk is entitled No More Torture: Defending Against Global Risk.
Dr. Xenakis served 28 years in the US Army as a medical corps officer. He is on the Board of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), is an advisor to Physicians for Human Rights, and a contributor to Human Rights First. Dr. Xenakis is a member of Rock Spring United Church of Christ in Arlington, VA, and a Princeton University alumnus.
Dr. Xenakis has held a wide variety of military assignments -- as a clinical psychiatrist, staff officer, and senior commander including Commanding General of the Southeast Army Regional Medical Command. Dr. Xenakis has spoken and written widely on medical ethics, military medicine, and the treatment of detainees. He has an active clinical and consulting practice, and currently is working on the clinical applications of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) to brain injury and other neurobehavioral conditions.
Dr. Xenakis has written: "Until now, perhaps the most well-known image of the American military doctor was Hawkeye Pierce of M.A.S.H., who protected his patients from dubious orders from his superiors, even when his patients were enemy soldiers. Now, the world's impression of the American military doctor is something quite different. The International Committee of the Red Cross has accused American military physicians of participating in actions that are 'tantamount to torture."
The Princeton Area Anti-Torture Advocacy Group is affiliated with NRCAT, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The NRCAT slogan "Torture is a Moral Issue" will be displayed on banners by a number of area churches in June. NRCAT's Founding Conference at Princeton Theological Seminary in January 2006 was organized by the Coalition for Peace Action and the Rev. Dr. George Hunsinger of the Seminary faculty. Nassau Church, in which Dr. Hunsinger is an active participant, became a participating member of NRCAT in March 2007.
Co-sponsors of the presentation include: Nassau Presbyterian Church-Princeton; Coalition for Peace Action; ACLU-NJ; Amnesty International-Mercer County Group; Mercer County Coalition for Civil Liberties; New Brunswick Presbytery, PC (USA)-Social Witness Committee; Princeton Clergy Association; Princeton Friends Meeting-Peace & Social Concerns Committee; Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton; Westminster Presbyterian Church-Trenton; Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church-Princeton.
The presentation is a free public event. It will be followed by a question and answer period, as well as light refreshments.
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