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State Senate Tables Gay-marriage Ban
Amendment
A bill intended to amend the state
constitution to ban gay marriage and strip
away rights for domestic partnerships for
both straight and same-sex couples failed in
the Senate caucuses last evening, May 6,
2008.
The Senate was advised the bill would not
see any action once it reached the state
House, so its sponsor, Sen. Mike Brubaker,
agreed to table it.
Senate
sources said head counts done in closed-door
caucus meetings made it apparent the measure
as proposed would likely not have the votes
to pass. The proposal sought to define
marriage as a union between one man and one
woman and that no "functional equivalent of
marriage" would be recognized in the
Commonwealth.
Read more...
 Barry
Russell, spokesman for Rainbow Rose
Community, a Lancaster based civil-rights
coalition, said during a telephone interview
that he was pleased by the Senate's refusal
to bring the constitutional amendment to the
full Senate. Russell had led the Lancaster
County bus trip yesterday to lobby both
Senators and Representatives to defeat the
so called, "Marriage Amendment".
Several Lancaster County churches and
faith-based groups, civil rights groups, and
service organizations strenuously opposed
the discriminatory legislation and had
organized and participated in local rallies
to defeat the measure.
Rotunda Rally for the Defeat of SB 1250
 As
the rally to defeat the "Marriage Amendment"
was in progress yesterday at noon, Senator
Mike Brubaker's constitutional amendment was
approved by the Senate Appropriations
Committee by a vote of 18 - 8. A full Senate
vote can occur as soon as today.
Yesterday, there were approximately 400
people who opposed the proposed Marriage
Amendment in the Capitol rotunda. Senators
Connie Williams, Jim Ferlo and Vince Fumo
spoke against the bill, as well as
Representatives Babette Josephs, Dan Frankel
and Mike O'Brien. Senator Wayne Fontana and
Representatives Steve Nickol, David Steil,
Kathy Manderino and Mike Gerber were also in
attendance.
Legislators, staffers and citizens heard and
saw the rally. In fact, legislators said
that they could hear the chants of "STOP
THIS BILL" on the House floor.
Read
more...
View pictures of this event...
American Bar Association report indicates
major flaws in PA's death penalty
Execution as a form of
punishment in Pennsylvania dates back to the
time the first colonists arrived in the late
1600s. At that time, public hanging was
capital punishment for a variety of crimes,
ranging from burglary and robbery, to
piracy, and rape.
A blue-ribbon
assessment panel appointed by the American
Bar Association (ABA) announced in October
of 2007 that Pennsylvania's capital
punishment policies fail to meet basic
standards established by the ABA.
"This
comprehensive review by some of the
Commonwealth's best legal minds confirms
that Pennsylvania's death penalty system is
plagued with errors," said Andy Hoover,
spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Moratorium
Coalition and Community Organizer for the
American Civil Liberties Union of
Pennsylvania. "Inadequate representation,
the disturbing prospect of executing an
innocent person, racism, and geographic
disparities are undeniably present in our
state's justice system.
"This is a
wake-up call for Pennsylvania. It is time to
take a step back from the death penalty
while these biases and inaccuracies are
addressed."
Read more...
Lancaster Citizens Gather Again to Send Aid
Packages to U.S. Soldiers and Iraqi &
Afghani Civilians
May 3rd, 12:00 – 2:00
Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster (328
W Orange St)
Sponsored by
Lancaster Students for a Democratic Society
No matter what position
one has on the war, the toll on those
involved cannot be denied. As the death toll
of U.S. soldiers has hit 4,000 and the
civilian death count is in the hundreds of
thousands. Concerned citizens will come
together to pack and mail health kits for
Iraqi and Afghani civilians, individualized
kits for civilian school children, and care
packages for U.S. soldiers. As we gathered
together last month it was a great
experience and we have decided to make it a
monthly event!
Even if you can't come
out to the event it would be greatly
appreciated if you can drop of some
donations (see list below). If you can't
drop it off feel free to call 717.519.9140
or email
LancasterSDS@gmail.com to find out where
you can drop them off beforehand.
Additionally, we will be collecting
donations to pay for the postage for the
care packages, it costs $11 to send a care
package. Read more...
The Big Hand in Your Pocket
 Income
tax day has come and gone. You realize that
there is a big hand in your pocket every
day, but did you realize just what that big
hand is and where the money goes.
Of the US
national expenditures for next year NOT
including Social Security and Medicare, 44%
of the 3 Trillion dollar budget will be for
the cost of war making. Three trillion
dollars is $3,000,000,000,000. Of course,
our children and grandchildren will be
paying a good portion of that since the
debts that were rung up during war times
amount to three times this amount or 9
Trillion dollars, and a goodly portion of
the total costs of government goes to paying
just the interest on the national debt!.
Read more...
Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program
Host Families Needed...
 Event:
Meet our YES students...
4 YES students, from Morocco, Iraq,
Pakistan, and the West Bank, will be present
at an event to be held at the
Lancaster Friends Meeting – 110 Tulane
Terrace, in Lancaster
on April 23rd. They will be discussing
their experiences here in the U.S. and
answer questions.
In
2003, in response to the events of September
11, 2001, the U.S. Department of State's
Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs
launched the Youth Exchange and Study (YES)
Program.
The YES Program
provides high school students from 30
countries with significant Muslim
populations the opportunity to live
and study in the U.S. for 10 months in an
effort to create a lasting bond of
friendship. While here, these students
participate in leadership training,
community service, and other activities to
deepen their experience as they learn and
grow. When they return home, YES students
continue to share their understanding of the
U.S. in their home countries with friends,
family, and through alumni programs.
The 9-11
Commission considers cultural exchange or
'citizen diplomacy' as one of the single
most effective ways to build bridges of
understanding between Americans and people
from the Arab and Muslim world in a way that
will reach well into the future. Edward R.
Murrow famously said the critical link in
international communication is the "last
three feet", and the YES Program affords
that opportunity.
Alumni of U.S.
State Department exchange programs include
Hamid Karzai, Anwar Sadat, Margaret
Thatcher, and Kofi Annan.
Anyone
interested in participating in this peace
building effort as a host family
should contact Kharran Cattell at
XchangeStudents@gmail.com or
717.587.0979. Families are needed by June
for the upcoming school year.
Read
more...
Fundraiser Weekend for Tibet
Lancaster
Students for a Democratic Society will be
holding events to raise awareness about the
current crisis in Tibet on Saturday, May
10th and Sunday, May 11th.
Tibet Scholar
Thomas Laird, author of The Story of Tibet:
Conversations with the Dalai Lama, will
speak about the current situation in Tibet
on Saturday, the 10th, followed by a wide
variety of live music ranging from the Sitar
to Bluegrass.
On Sunday, May
11, Thomas Laird will talk about a variety
of topics on Tibet. These events are being
held to
raise funds for
Students for a Free Tibet.
Venues to be announced.
Contact:
lancasterfortibet@gmail.com
4000th Soldier Killed in Iraq
This past weekend, the 4,000th United States
solider was killed in combat. The Lancaster
Coalition for Peace and Justice will hold a
vigil today, Tuesday, March 25th, to
commemorate the lives of those killed in the
War in Iraq.
The vigil will begin at 7:00 PM on the Old
Courthouse steps (which is the corner of
King and Duke) to commemorate these lives.
In addition, we will continue our call for
an end to the occupation in Iraq. Please
bring your friends and family.
Lancaster Peace Rally and March
 The
anti-war rally and peace march held
yesterday, March 15th, 2008, was the fifth
organized by the Lancaster Coalition for
Peace and Justice since the war's beginning
in March 2003.
A crowd of almost 700 met in Binn's Park in
downtown Lancaster to commemorate the 5th
anniversary of the War in Iraq. Several
speakers, including two Iraqi War vets,
spoke to the crowd about the trauma of the
war on both nations and the individual
tragedies that beset both our soldiers and
the Iraqi people.
The first speaker to address the crowd was
Pam Adams. Bill and Pam Adams have been at
the center of local rallies against the Iraq
War. During President Bush's visit to
Lancaster in October, Bill Adams protested
the war and gave a letter to Bush asking for
answers about the circumstances of Brent's
death. A week later, the family was told
that President Bush ordered an official
investigation, but the Adamses were never
satisfied by the response.
Read more below...
 The
crowd joined the speakers and marched to
Southern Market at South Queen and East Vine
streets, where a live video broadcast showed
protesters footage of the "Winter Soldier:
Iraq & Afghanistan -- Eyewitness Accounts of
the Occupations."
The protesters Saturday were in agreement:
The only way to affect change in the
country's foreign policy was at the smallest
level of political action.
"The war must end on a local level," said
coalition administrator John Schreck. "It is
up to the people in cities, towns and
villages."
View pictures of this event
here, here, and here.
Read the pre-coverage in Thursday's Intell...
Read more from the Sunday News...
 Lancaster
Voice Published
The latest
issue of the Lancaster Voice has been
published and will be released over the next
several days.
Click here
to view a pdf format of this issue.
Monthly LCPJ
meeting, Thurs. Mar 6, 7:00 PM,
Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster
Groups that are
interested in reserving a table for organizational information an
at March 15th during the Town Hall Meeting at Southern Market should
contact Jim Groff -
jgroff1@fandm.edu
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