Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright to speak in Charlottesville, Va.

City Council Members Dave Norris and Dede Smith will be present, and we will thank them and their colleagues for having passed a resolution urging reductions in military spending and opposing any attack on Iran.

Ann Wright is a former U.S. Army Colonel and a career diplomat who received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone. She served the State Department in Micronesia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada, and Nicaragua. She helped reopen the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan in 2001 and publicly resigned the day the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. Wright has been a fulltime peace activist since 2003, and a member of Veterans for Peace. She managed Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas, in 2005, participated in Camp Democracy in Washington, D.C., in 2006, and has been part of countless nonviolent campaigns for peace and justice since.

Wright has repeatedly gone to jail for justice. She has repeatedly interrupted Congressional hearings. Wright served as one of five judges at the January 2006 sessions of the International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration. She was also one of three recipients of the first annual Truthout Freedom and Democracy Awards. She testified at an Article 32 hearing on behalf of U.S. Army Lt. Ehren Watada who refused to deploy to Iraq.

She was one of 38 arrested in 2007 at the Nevada Test Site protesting U.S. development of nuclear weapons. She was one of the Hancock 38 arrested in New York State in 2011 protesting the U.S. development and use of killer drones and was arrested for protesting the deplorable conditions in which alleged whistle blower Bradley Manning was held in Virginia. She has been a leading organizer of the Gaza Freedom March and other efforts to break the blockade of Gaza. She was on the Gaza Flotilla in 2010 and was an organizer for the 2011 Gaza Flotilla and the US Boat to Gaza, the Audacity of Hope.

Wright is the co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience, subtitled Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq, which includes a forward by Daniel Ellsberg.

Ann will sign copies of her book.

Do you ever feel like there is a brick wall blocking your communication with your kids or with your parents? And no matter what you do, you can’t seem to move the wall or make it disappear? Or if you get past the wall, you find that you’re both speaking different languages? We completely understand!

Join us for the Teens Taking Action: Teen & Parent Summit! It’s time we figure out how to talk to each other!

We will provide the fun, food, and information! All you need to bring is your family, friends and neighbors! We guarantee you will leave with tools to enable open communication within your household, with friends, and throughout our community.

The event is completely free to the Charlottesville and Albemarle communities, and free professional childcare for kids 11 years old and younger is provided if you pre-register by April 19th!

Brought to you by the Teens Taking Action Program: focused on building a stronger, informed community and more open communication between kids and parents.

Not a parent or a teen, but interested? No worries, the event is open to everyone!

PRE-REGISTER here: https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=DwjL1XXd-sw5gH4Xy6Eh*g

Ms. Ella Jo Baker was an educator, an activist, and a leader who worked with numerous organizations and touched the lives of many. Some of the most notable organizations are the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Ms. Baker passed away on December 13, 1986, in New York. She has been recognized by many as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement.

Ella Josephine Baker was born December 13, 1903, in Norfok, Virginia, to Georgianna Ross Baker and Blake Baker. Both sets of her grandparents grew up under slavery. Baker, with the support and encouragement of her family, graduated in April 1927 from Shaw University in North Carolina and was valedictorian. She moved on to become one of this nation's greatest activists and worked tirelessly to better the living conditions and opportunities for those less fortunate. Baker was known for her sincere belief in the potential and dignity of every individual.

Join us for the second annual SARA Three-for-All, the world’s largest three-legged race!
This fun, family-friendly event will encourage personal and community responsibility for ending sexual violence. Participants of all ages will pair up to step out together against assault, abuse, stalking, and harassment.
If 500 pairs participate, we will break the world record for the most pairs in a three-legged race!

Prizes for Biggest Team, Most Funds Raised, and Most Spirit!

Register at http://3forall.saracville.org. Registration is $20 per pair. Create your own fundraising page at 3forall.saracville.org and collect pledges to support SARA’s programs.

When: 10am-12pm, April 14, 2012
Festivities and sign-in begin at 10am, and the race kicks off at 11am.

Where: Downtown Mall, Charlottesville. The race begins at the Free Speech Wall.

Contact: Contact Rachel at community@saracville.org or 434-295-7273, ext. 23

How does the son of an Israeli general become an activist for peace and Palestinian rights?

To find out, come by the sales table of C’ville’s own recent publishing start-up, Just World Books, at the Festival Book Fair: Sat., March 24, 9am–4pm, at the Omni Hotel.

We’ll have affordable advance copies of The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, by Miko Peled, and all our other titles—including Laila El-Haddad’s Gaza Mom and a book edited by UVA’s William B. Quandt.

To learn more about Miko Peled's new book on Israel/Palestine, visit the blog at www.thegeneralsson.com Please post comments for discussion.
A talk he gave at George Mason University with Helen Thomas may be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R550KwBOcs&feature=youtu.be

To learn more about all the books available, got to the web site at www.justworldbooks.com
Visit the webstore at www.Justworldbooks.mybigcommerce.com. Toll free 1.888.506.3769

Adults Preventing Child Sexual Abuse In Our Community
An interactive prevention program developed by Darkness to Light, a national child sexual abuse prevention organization. The program educates adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse and to take proactive steps to protect children. To register for this FREE training, sign up at the Information Desk or call 973-7893. Registration is limited and begins on March 1.

TO YOUR HEALTH written and produced by Julieanna Hever M.S., R.D. and Jesse Pomeroy
An in-depth study of whole food, plant-based nutrition, debunking the most common myths associated with modern nutrition. Exploring your need for protein, calcium, supplements, metabolism, and other issues. Light refreshments. Co-Sponsored by Health Starts Here of Whole Foods Market.

CCPJ fully supports a Living Wage at UVA!!

Please attend one or more of the events scheduled for this week. We need all the support that we can muster. The schedule of events for this week are listed in this link:

http://www.livingwageatuva.org/schedule/

Pass this message to all your friends and family. An increase in wages for UVA employees benefits us all. More money to families means more spending locally at stores and shops. This Cause is Just.

29 FEB Rally to:
*Demand Verizon stop paying off our politicians!
*Demand that Verizon start paying Taxes!
*Demand Verizon pay its workers their due and reduce executive compensation to reasonable levels!
*Demand Verizon stop leaching our economy!

Verizon cheats the United States taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars every year! Instead of paying its taxes, it gets billions of dollars of OUR taxes through things like subsidy seeking, tax code maneuvers, and property tax assessment appeals. Verizon clearly knows how to take care of its top executives, but it has a lot to learn about fulfilling its obligations as a corporate “citizen.” By failing to pay its fair share of federal, state and local taxes, Verizon is putting a bigger burden on other taxpayers and creating greater strains on government during a time of fiscal distress. This situation is a direct result of the money Verizon spends on our political process through lobbying and campaign contributions and it is unacceptable. We call for a separation between corporation and state!

********Verizon 2008-2010********
1) Verizon earned $33.4 BILLION in pre-tax U.S. income.
2) Verizon received $14 BILLION in federal and state corporate tax subsidies.
3) Verizon should have- but didn’t- pay $11.4 BILLION federal tax.
4) Verizon’s actual tax rate after rebates and subsidies was -2.9 PERCENT.
5) Verizon received state and local subsidies in exchange for locating facilities and creating jobs. [The total number of U. S. employees at Verizon has fallen by more than 20,000.]
6) Verizon executive compensation rose 167%. CEO Ivan Seidenberg received $18.2 million in total compensation in just one year.
7) Verizon spent $52 MILLION in lobbying and almost 3 million on federal campaign contributions.
8) Verizon lobbied for over 110 bills in the House and Senate in one year alone!

This 5-kilometer course will begin and end at the pro shop of the Old Trail golf course (see over for map). Race numbers and day-of-race entries will be
available at the pro shop on the morning of the race. Enter the race with a partner or have us find one for you if you prefer. You do not have to run with
your partner, but your times will be added together to determine winners in each of six race categories (see race entry form, below).
 Entry fees (each runner): CTC members- $18.00 Non-CTC runners- $20.00 All entries on the day of the race- $25.00
 All entrants will receive a special 100% cotton long-sleeve T-shirt. To receive your T-shirt at the race, registration must be received by
5:00 pm, Friday, February 3, 2012.
 All inquiries about the race and registration should be directed to cvilleai@amnestycharlottesville.org. Changes to team partnerships
will not be allowed after 6:00 pm on February 10, 2012.
 Race postponement due to severe weather will be posted at web site amnestycharlottesville.org. Race and location maps are also posted there.
 Make checks out to “Amnesty International.” Mail with your completed entry to: AI Couples Race, P.O. Box 981, Charlottesville, VA 22902

See: http://www.charlottesvilletrackclub.org/couples5k.html