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Countdown to Clemency for Peltier: For 25 years, millions of people have joined their voices calling for freedom for Leonard Peltier. For 3 years there has been an unanswered Clemency Petition. There is no more opportune time then now to ask that Peltier be granted clemency. The Government admits it has no idea who killed the agents that Peltier was convicted of killing. He has been denied parole, time and time again, because he refuses to admit guilt. There has been a concerted nation-wide effort urging Clinton to grant a presidential pardon to Leonard Peltier. The first group of people granted clemency was announced during the third week of December and Peltier was not among them. The Activist Update urges all our subscribers and supporters to call the White House at 202-456-1111 on Monday, January 8th and 15th, asking that Peltier be pardoned. Ask Clinton to grant executive clemency as a significant step toward truth and reconciliation to Native American People. Truth and reconciliation for indigenous peoples begins with the freedom of Leonard Peltier. www.freepeltier.org

Saturday, 27 January: Peace Action Maine's 10th Annual Give Peace A Chance Peace Supper, 5:30 PM, Woodfords Congregational Church, 202 Woodford St, Portland. Dinner begins at 6 PM. The featured speaker will be Ken Carstens, South African, minister, political activist, and for a long time, banned from South Africa. He was was active in the movements to end Apartheid and to free Mandela from prison on Robbins Island. There will be entertainment including appearances by the Raging Grannies, Full Circle and possibly the Sudanese Singers. There will also be a live telephone hook-up with Columbian activists and, if difficult arrangements can be worked out, a live telephone hook-up with activists in Iraq. Suggested donation $10. Call Rosalie 371-2077 or Scott 772-0680 FMI.

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• - Celebrate First Night the Greater Portland Independent Green Party. Smack dab in the middle of all of Portland's First Night activites, Green Headquarters will be open, serving refreshment (for donations), puppets by Vasileos and musical entertainment by ????? and best of all you don't even need a button. Start the new year right with the Greens.

• - Peace Action Maine's Disarmament Committee meets 6 PM, 2d Floor, Peace & Justice Center, 1 Pleasant St, Portland. Call 772-0680 FMI. Note change in meeting date.
• - Maine Interfaith Power & Light Action Group (open to all volunteers and interested parties, whether or not you have ever come before) will meet at 4 PM, St.Paul's Episcopal Church, Brunswick. The discussion will focus on the "Faith" messages in MIPL's story. This will be followed by "The First Tuesday" presentation of Maine Interfaith Power & Light will be at 5 PM, same location. This will be an "open mike" discussion. We expect a discussion of the current news about electric rate increases due to the FERC ruling and to new Standard Offer prices due to be announced tomorrow and the implications of all these developments for MIPL and green power in general. All are welcome. A regular schedule of "First Tuesday" speakers will be resumed in February. If the AU receives the schedule we will publish it. Call Erika Morgan 729-9665 FMI.

• - Civil Rights Forum, 7 PM, Steep Falls Library, Rt 113, Steep Falls. Maine Rural Network sponsors. Call 642-2015 FMI.
• - Let Cuba Live usually meets 7 PM, 55 Plus Center, 6 Noble St, Brunswick. The AU has not been able to confirm time and location, so please call Steve at 273-3247 for confirmation.

• - Kennebec Valley Greens monthly pot luck dinner and meeting. Pot-luck dinner begins at 6 PM in Augusta. Anyone wishing to participate should call Audrey at 685-7329 or Ruth at 582-1004 FMI and location; or E-mail Ruth at: gabeys@webtv.net

• - Twelth Night Celebration with the Merrymeeting Greens and the Kathadin Center. There will be a Christmas tree bonfire and potluck. Bonfire building begins at 3 PM with potluck to follow, probably around 5:30 PM. Please bring your Christmas tree for the bonfire. At the King Farm, end of Hocomock Rd, Woolwich. Call 443-9005 FMI.

• - Food Not Bombs distributes free food, 2-4:20 PM, Monument Square, Portland. Call 774-2801 FMI or to lend a hand.

• - York area Women's International League For Peace & Freedom meets 5:30 PM, Yorkshire Commons, York. Call 646-5772 FMI.
• - Monthly Peace Action Maine Board meeting, 5:45 PM, 21 McKeen St, Brunswick. Call Scott 772-0680 FMI.

• - Public Interest Forum meets 7 PM, Memorial Library, Norway. The subject of this months meeting will be "The Right To Know: Labeling of Food Containing Genetically Modified Ingredients". Presenting this topic will be Tyler Studds. Call Tom 743-2183 FMI.

• - Brunswick-Cuba Sister City Project meets at 10-Noon, Curtiss Memorial Library, Brunswick. Election of officers from the slate presented at the last meeting; business meeting; and another program to follow. Refreshments. Call 666-3842 FMI.

• - Portland Independent Green Committee meets 2 PM, 2d floor, Peace & Justice Center, 1 Pleasant St, Portland. A number of projects that were initiated at the last, 17 December, meeting will be discussed by those involved with the projects: Andee Warren on how to improve Portland's recycling efforts including recycling other numbered plastics; Bruce Webber on Tenant Rights and Rent Control; Judy Barnett on inter-city transportation and pedestrian rights; John Eder on youth outreach; and a discussion on input for the Maine Independent Green Party platform. This meeting is also a preliminary one leading up to the legally required caucus. A lot of action happening around the Maine/Portland Greens. Call Ben 758-4002 or Green Headquarters at 879-0700 FMI.
• - Opening this year's celebration of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday will be Portland's Gospel Extravaganza, 6:30 PM, Chestnut Street United Methodist Church, 17 Chestnut St, Portland. Among others, the Green Memorial AME Zion church choir will be singing. Suggested donation $7. Call Janet Johnson 883-9764 or June McKenzie 773-3696 FMI.
• - Food Not Bombs distributes free food, 2-4:20 PM, Monument Square, Portland. Call 774-2801 FMI or to lend a hand.
• - Native Heritage Instruction-Teaching Circle meets 1-4 PM, Limington. Call 637-3097 FMI.

• - Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Breakfast, 8 AM, Holiday Inn By The Bay, 88 Spring St, Portland. Tickets are $12 and must be purchased in advance. Avis Buchanan, Director of the Washington Lawyer Committee on Civil Rights will speak on Racial Profiling. This is the group that litigated cases against Denny's Restuarants, the Library of Congress and Avis Rent-A-Car. For tickets and information call the NAACP at 776-7340. This event is always sold out so plan to purchase your tickets as soon as possible.
• - at 11 AM there will be a procession from the Holiday Inn By The Bay to Monument Square, Portland for a wreath laying ceremony.
• - at Noon there will be a video shown on Martin Luther King's life (Amazing Grace) at the 1st Parish Church, 425 Conress St, Portland.
• - at 1 PM there will be an Interfaith worship service at the 1st Parish Church, 425 Congress St, Portland. Refreshments will be served at 2 PM. Call Kitsy Winthrop at 773-7738 or Wells Staley-Mays at 772-7249 FMI on the Noon and 1 PM events.

• - Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the beginning of the Gulf War. There is planned ecumenical service in the evening, at Sacred Heart/St. Dominic Church, corner of Mellen and Sherman, to reflect upon, and take responsibility for, our nation's acts. This is neither a political rally nor demonstration but a spiritual ceremony to remember those who have died needlessly and those who are to die painfully from continued denial of adequate food and medicine. Time to be announced. Call Bill at 773-6562 FMI.

• - Let Cuba Live usually meets 7 PM, 55 Plus Center, 6 Noble St, Brunswick. Please call Steve at 273-3247 for confirmation.

• - Southern Maine Labor Party meets 7 PM, USM Campus Center Cafeteria, Portland. A major topic to be discussed will be a Portland City ballot initiative on a universal, single payer, health care plan. Passage of this initiative will be to urge the Portland City Council to lobby for a state wide single payer insurance health care plan for all Maine citizens. Call Duncan at 871-0218 FMI.

• - Peace Action Maine sponsors a discussion and video presentation with the League of Latin American Citizens. John Connors, Dir of LULAC for Maine, will present a program on the recent border summit held in Tucson, Arizona, called "Border to Border: Building A Human Rights Movement", which he attended along with over 600 people from the US and Latin America. Church, labor and community organizations met to consider challenges that could be made to the Immigration and Naturalization Services' repressive, brutal, and inhuman policies and practices. The summit was not just concerned with the physical abuses extant along our southern borders but with the policies that forces people who want to enter this country to risk life and limb in order to do so. Call Scott 772-0680 FMI.

• - Food Not Bombs distributes free food, 2-4:20 PM, Monument Square, Portland. Call 774-2801 FMI or to lend a hand.

• - Maine Veterans For Peace meets 7 PM, City Center Plaza, Augusta. Call Tom 377-2370 FMI.

• - Critical Mass rides on the last Friday of every month, 5:30 PM, Monument Square, Portland. We are not blocking traffic, we are traffic. Critical Mass is when a bunch of bikers show up at the same place at coincidentally the same time and merely by coincidence decide to take to the streets and create a Bike Festival. Then after having so much fun, they all decide to show up at the same place and at the same time the next month.

• - The 6th Annual Changing Maine gathering for activists, organizers and those working with grassroots groups throughout Maine. This year's gathering, Diversity of Maine: Making It Real, Making It Work, begins at 8:30 AM until 4 PM at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 209 Eastern Ave, Augusta. Cost is a sliding scale of $20 or less. This is an opportunity for all activists, grassroots organizers, educators and others to learn from each other as the gathering works through a number of subjects from just what diversity really means in the state of Maine; how to build a movement (and an organization) that is diverse; and other diverse subjects. There will be a panel, large group activities and small group discussions. Event is wheelchair accessible. Childcare will be provided for those who register in advance. For details or registration contact INVERT, PO Box 776, Monroe, ME 04951, or call 525-7776. Snow date: 10 February, same place.
• Peace Action Maine's 10th Annual Give Peace A Chance Peace Supper, 5:30 PM, Woodfords Congregational Church, 202 Woodford St, Portland. Dinner begins at 6 PM. The featured speaker will be Ken Carstens, South African, minister, political activist, and, for a long time, banned from South Africa. He was was active in the movements to end Apartheid and to free Mandela from prison on Robbins Island. There will be entertainment including appearances by the Raging Grannies, Full Circle and possibly the Sudanese Singers. There will also be a live telephone hook-up with Columbian activists and, if difficult arrangements can be worked out, a live telephone hook-up with activists in Iraq. Suggested donation $10. Call Rosalie 371-2077 or Scott 772-0680 FMI.

• - Food Not Bombs distributes free food, 2-4:20 PM, Monument Square, Portland. Call 774-2801 FMI or to lend a hand.

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There will be NO Brunswick area Women's International League for Peace & Freedom meeting in January. Check listing in the AU next month.

- Native Heritage Instruction-Teaching Circle is held the 2d Sunday of every month. 1-4 PM in Limington. Come and learn the way of our People. Call 637-3097 FMI.

- Tours of Portland's Underground Railway, Anti-Slavery and African-American historical sites are available and can be adapted to your agenda and convenience. Complete tour is 2 hours or less depending on questions and is less than a 2-mile easy walk through Portland. Cost is $6 per person with a minimum group of 6. Call Wells Staley-Mays, 772-7249 FMI.

Saturday, 20 January: A Call To Protest the Inauguration of the Next President, Washington, DC. Dissatisfied with tweedledum or tweedledumber. Gather with thousands of others to protest the racist death penalty; the legal lynching of Mumia Abu-Jamal; the prison industrial complex; US police terror at home and throughout the world. Time and place to be announced. On this day Bush will be inaugurated but little will change; the rich will get richer; executions in US prisons will not stop; the prison industrial complex will continue to grow; the Pentagon will continue to plot another war in Colombia and will continue to bomb the island of Vieques; the multi-nationals and banks will continue to impose the death machine of globalization on the world; more than a billion people will continue to go hungry; lack of universal healthcare will continue; the minimum wage will continue to be starvation wages; the children will continue to die. Join the IAC in Washington DC on this date. Check out: www.iacenter.org or www.mumia2000.org or www.iacboston.org

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The annual Abyssinian Church Restoration Project Dinner will be held at 5:30 PM, Marriot Hotel, 200 Sable Oaks Dr, Portland. Speaker will be Brian Powell, Architectual Historian. Entertainment by 7 Sisters For 7 Quilts, a gospel and spiritual performance artists on the Underground Railroad and Quilting. Tickets are $40. Call Deborah Khadraoui at 773-4387 FMI.

Undoing Racism training with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond. Portland area. For details call Edie Richardson, 384-3254.

Annual meeting and workshop for Maine Tax Resisters and Supporters. 10 AM-3 PM, Peace & Justice Center, 170 Park St, Bangor. Sponsored by Maine War Tax Resisters Resource Center. Call 525-7776 FMI.

Feast for the Children. Guild Hall, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 307 Congress St, Portland. Sponsored by ASERELA, a Sudanese non-profit organization. All funds raised will go to a children's kindergarden at a refugee camp in Uganda. $10 a ticket. All are encouraged to attend. See enclosed flyer discussing this function. Call Wells 772-7249 FMI or numbers listed.

- Ruth Gabey sent in the following: "I assume that since many peace people supported the Democrats that Tom Allen and Al Gore will be on the sidelines with the anti-Aegis Destroyer crowd rather than on the ship drinking champagne."

- Know of anyone who should be recognized for their activism, social change philanthropy, or someone who has changed the social landscape in Maine through work on the root causes of economic, environmental, or social problems by devising creative solutions? Maine Initiatives; A Fund For Change has opened their 2001 Watering Can Awards nomination process. Any suggested nomination should contain: 1) Name of person or organization; 2) Award nominated for Golden Grower Philanthropy Award or Social Landscap Artist Award; 3) Who nominated by; 4) Nominating Statement. One nomination per letter or form. Nominations must be in not later than Friday, January 28th. Call or write for further details to:Maine Initiatives, PO Box 2248, Augusta, ME 04338. Tel: 622-6294; fax: 622-6295.

- In January Portland Public Access will be screening a video entitled "Health Care For All and The Labor Party." Tony Mazzocchi, national Labor Party organizer, produced this video.

- Latest word from the Bath Iron Works web site indicates that the USS Mason the latest nuclear weapons system to be produced at BIW, will be launched on 23 June. Stay tuned for further details. There will be a planned massive demonstration, vigil and witness to bring reiterate once again that these weapon systems are crimes against humanity and are outlawed under international law. This is not "the way life should be." Stay tuned for updates.

- Some hot new tapes & videos from Radio Free Maine: The Second Nuclear Age & the Academy, sponsored by The Center on Violence and Human Survival, The Nation Institute and the CUNY Graduate Center. Recorded at CUNY, New York City, in November, this 5-panel presentation is available on 5 separate tapes. All 5 audio tapes $55; VHS for $95; Howard Zinn's fund raiser talk and discussion in Brunswick during October. This talk was in support of, and to raise funds, for the llth Pastors for Peace Friendshipment to Cuba.. Audio cassette $11, VHS for $20. Julia Butterfly Hill's appearance at Bates Colleg in October. Enviromental activist who spent 2 years living in an ancient California Redwood tree to protect it from loggers and the author of "Legacy of Luna". Audio cassette (talk only) $11; VHS (talk & fQ/A) $20. Contact Radio Free Maine (C-Span of the Left), POBox 2705, Augusta, ME 04338. Web Site: www.radiofreemaine.com. For catalog only send SASE ($1 postage).

- The City of Portland City hear appeal by the two police officers fired after a man's death. Two veteran Portland police officers were recently fired after moving a "homeless man well known to police" from the Rose Garden in Deering Oaks Park so that the city workers in the Rose Garden could contine, without attempting to provide any assistance whatsoever and who later died. Chitwood "did not consider the officers' behavior criminal" but took the unusual step of firing them following an internal investigation of the incident. A national police officers' association spokesman says the firings were "unjustified and cowardly". No comment. The piece speaks for itself. The man's name was David Town and we don't know if he was one of the people who stand by the lights in Deering Oaks asking for handouts but next time you meet one you may want to give a little something and a thought for David Town, something that the police failed to do.

- Remember, now that the winter skiing season is here, that there is a boycott of "Squaw" Mountain Ski area. The owner refuses to change the name of this resort to something a little less loathsome.

- Talks are being conducted with both the towns of Sanford and Wiscasset asking that they change the name of their sport teams to something other than a term of disrespect to our Native American sisters and brothers. According to information available to the AU, Sanford is showing concern over the name and is likely to change the name. Wiscasset, on the other hand, made a comment that they thought the question had been laid to rest last year when the town voted not change the name.

- And along these same lines, the State of Maine Department of Roads has yet to change the highway sign (I-95, just after the toll booth at mile 7 northbound) telling a motorist what exit to take for "Squaw Mountain". David Spirit Bear indicates that another legislative bill is required to have the names on these signs changed or removed. My goodness, just how much do it take to treat people with respect. Nothing short of a radical shift in not only our personal thinking but in our both our government and education systems as well.

- Maine Interfaith Power and Light (MIPL). "Last year it was just a gleam in our collective eyes. Yet in December 2000 we crossed the 500+ mark - over 500 families,churches and other supporters have indicated their interest in buying clearner, green electricity through the MIPL pool. And the outreach is just beginning...Thank you for everything and please continue on this journey with us." From MIPL's recent letter to interested parties. Call Erika Morgan, 729-9665 FMI on MIPL.

- The Maine Green Independent Party headquarters is still located in the former Nader/LaDuke Campaign 2000 office, 15 Monument Square, Portland. With work in progress (to pay for some of the rent) it will remain open hopefully at least through January. Volunteers are needed to staff the office. The Maine Greens would like to staff the office so as to remain open 5 or 6 days a week for the next couple of months. Let's continue the effort to ensure that the Maine Greens remain one of the leaders in the Green Party movement. Volunteers needed for all times, any days. Call Ben at 758-4002.

   ****POEM****
"What I'd like to know is/With people put on earth
             No more armed with hellish/Weapons of senseless murder
                     Than a tree or a river or a sunrise

                Why do we stand for it!/Why do we go on letting
             These foul bastards pervert/And slime over everything
                                 We're here for!

                  War is evil.' Agreed-/Sure, that we all buy.
             But how about their "peace"?/A little less "evil", eh-
                          When you can tell them apart!

                    Why do we let these frauds and fakers
                     Get away with this loathsome muddle?
                     Is this the way people should live!
                 What we need to do is/Boot the bastards out-/
                        All of them! Every damn one!

                       Make life fit for human beings!
                 Not for what these lousy bastards/Want it to be!
       Not the way it is-/Not the way it's always been,/And will go on being,
              As long as these filthy lying lice/have the say-
                         My God! whose world is this!

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"The only clear and final truth is the truth of conscience." --- Descartes

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