Muusja Mailing List: E-UPDATE FOR OCTOBER 13, 2006

[Lauren Culbert (lculbert]

MUUSJA E-EVENT UPDATE OCTOBER 13, 2006
 
Minnesota UU Social  Justice Alliance--Bringing  together UUs to work
collectively for social change.
 
EDITOR?S NOTE: Thanks to all who re-sent emails about upcoming events when
my email crashed. L.

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This  update includes announcements about: 
 
A. Local Social Justice News
B. National UU Advocacy
C. Social Justice Links

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A. LOCAL SOCIAL JUSTICE NEWS

1.
TONIGHT!
FRI, OCT. 13
HOLY TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH
2730 EAST 31ST STREET, MPLS
6:00 TO 8:00 PM

THE LONG WAR: ISRAEL?S INVOLVEMENT IN AMERICAN EMPIRE speaker:  Jeff Halper,
coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. Food served.

Jeff Halper has lived in Israel since 1973 and has forged a new mode of
Israeli peace activity based on non-violent direct action and civil
disobedience to the Israeli Occupation authorities and in close cooperation
with Palestinian organizations.  He is also a professor of Anthropology at
Ben Gurion University.
sponsored by Coalition for Palestian Rights member organizations:  Al-Aqsa
Foundation, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee-Mn. Chapter,
Anti-War Committee, Arab Community Center, Jews Against the Occupation,
Middle East Peace Now, National lawyers Guild-Mn. Chapter, WAMM, WILPF. For
info call 612-379-4716

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2.
WED, OCT 18
5:30 PM
FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
3400 DUPONT AVE. S.

FIRST UNIVERSALIST ECOMINDS will be having a general meeting. A Welcome Home
Wednesday dinner is served at 6:30.
Cost is $5.00 or bring your own. Time permitting we will view a video or DVD
from our extensive Eco-Library collection.

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3.
SUN, OCT 22
3:00 TO 5:00 PM
FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY, 900 MOUNT CURVE, MINNEAPOLIS
Directions:   www.firstunitariansociety.org

MUUSJA GENERAL MEETING?REV. MEG RILEY,UUA Advocacy and Witness Staff Group,
will present an overview of current trends in religiously-based progressive
policy and political work.  Rev. Riley has represented Unitarian
Universalism in the
progressive religious community for 14 years nationally.  She currently
chairs the board of Faith in Public Life:  A Resource Center for Justice and
the Common Good, and serves the boards of Interfaith Worker Justice and
Americans United for Separation of Church and State.  She has previously
been on national boards of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice,
The Interfaith Alliance, Equal Partners in Faith, and worked in dozens of
interfaith coalitions.  She will share her view of the current state of the
progressive religious community's work in the public arena.

Also - Reports from MUUSJA working groups; program updates.  Connect with
other UUs working for social change!  Bring an appetizer or beverage to
share. Questions contact: Jo Haberman at jojane [at] juno.com

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4. 
FRI, OCT 27
7:00 PM
FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY, 900 MOUNT CURVE AVENUE, MINNEAPOLIS

Get Reel about Global Warming: 
Free Community Showing of "An Inconvenient Truth" 
 
An Inconvenient Truth, the award-winning documentary about global warming
featuring Al Gore's work on the issue, made headlines this summer. If you
missed it during its brief Minneapolis run, here's a chance to see it for
free, no reservations required, no Donations requested, or strings attached!
Free popcorn and drinks. Informal discussion following the film. On-site
childcare is A available for a fee. A reservation for childcare IS required.
Please call Jan at 377-6608 x.108 to reserve childcare spaces.

ANOTHER FREE SHOWING OF ?An Inconvenient Truth? 
Lake Fellowship of Unitarian-Universalists
24575 Glen Road
Excelsior, MN  55331
Sunday, October 29, 6:30 p.m., discussion afterward
Reservations Required:  Laurie Gauer, 952-474-4951


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5.
SUN, OCT 29TH
9:00 AM TO 9:00 PM--SIGN UP FOR A TWO HOUR SHIFT FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN
6750N EAST BROADWAY BROOKLYN PARK, MN 55428

LOCAL ACTION FOR DARFUR: A Metro-wide interfaith coalition (a collaboration
of synagogues, church groups and human rights and social justice
organizations such a Temple Israel, Adath, Bet Shalom, Shir Tikva, JCRC, The
MN Council of Churches, The Human Rights Center at U/MN)has been working to
gain public awareness and involvement with the Darfur Holocaust. 

Our next project is an "Interfaith Day of Action" on Sunday, October 29th.
This will be a day of fundraising, lobbying, and food packing for the
victims of Darfur in collaboration with a local humanitarian relief
organization "Feed My Starving Children." Please help by signing up for a
two hour shift. FFI: sharonlehrman [at] yahoo.com

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B. NATIONAL UU ADVOCACY

1. 
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VISIT THE UUA WASHINGTON OFFICE FOR ADVOCACY SITE AT
http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/ to take action on warrantless wiretapping,
torture, DC voting rights, and more.

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2. 
POLL WATCHER FOR DEMOCRACY - SIGN UP FOR NOV. 2nd

Poll watchers for Democracy, an effort by Mainstreet Moms, Working Assets,
VotetrustUSA, and Verified Voting encourages everybody to participate
actively in the voting process. Please go to http://themmob.org/pollworkers/
and sign up with Poll workers for Democracy to work at the polls or, if that
is not possible (too late to sign up for this year, or if your party
registration status excludes you from working at the polls) to be a poll
watcher. Please sign up with P4D even if you are already a poll worker. We
will provide you with information, training and, after the election, with an
online reporting form for election incidents you have observed. This
information will be entered into a national database of voting incidents.
Please take action. There is an effort to privatize our election. Do not
allow them to do that!
UUs for Verified Voting 

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3.
FREE 1 HOUR SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING TELECONFERENCES! OCT. 7, 14, 21,
28 & NOV. 4

The UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing is proud to present five
free one hour learning teleconference sessions, including a repeat of our
three successful sessions from last spring. The theme is "Making a
Difference with Ideals, Impact and Involvement." Each session will teach one
of the key strategies of the socially responsible investing movement. You'll
learn concrete steps to get strategies implemented in your personal life or
within your congregation. 

Each session is on a Saturday morning for one hour from 1:00pm EST to 2:00
EST. 

Start times in other regions: 12pm Central Time, 11am Mountain, and 10am
Pacific.

**Saturday, October 7th, 1:00pm EST
Where Is Your Congregation Along the Spectrum of Involvement?

**Saturday, October 14th, 1:00pm EST
Impact - Community Investing

**Saturday, October 21st, 1:00pm EST
Ideals - Investment Screening

**Saturday, October 28th, 1:00pm EST
Involvement -- Shareholder Activism

**Saturday, November 4th, 1:00pm EST
IW Financial - A Screening Tool

Details for all calls are on the flyer posted at
http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/SRI-TeleConference-FlyerFall06.pdf 

Please join us for one or all of these. 

Register at least three days before the session by emailing Audra Friend
with your name, phone number, congregation or other affiliation, and your
role/title at:  afriend [at] uua.org.  She will reply providing the call in
numbers needed to participate. 

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4.
UN SUNDAY:  OCT. 24 or OCT. 29

2006 UN Sunday: Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development in Our
Interdependent World Community

FROM THE UU UNITED NATIONS OFFICE:

Dear Minister, Director of Religious Education, Chair of Social Justice
Committee, Envoys, and Friends of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations
Office,

October 24, 1945 marked the birth of the United Nations. Unitarian
Universalist congregations across the U.S. and Canada celebrate the birth of
this organization with UN Sunday, a service focusing on the work of the UN
and its relation to the Unitarian Universalist principles. The theme for
this year's UN Sunday is "Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development in Our
Interdependent World Community." Last year's theme explored the connections
between Unitarian Universalism and the steps towards peace outlined by the
UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This year's builds upon that by
focusing on the importance of building sustainable peace in order to build
sustainable development.
In conflict and post-conflict areas, it is not enough to send UN
peacekeeping forces who deal with the symptoms of human rights violations,
the causes of these abuses must be addressed. These themes reflect our own
principles, particularly our goal for world community with peace, liberty,
and justice for all.  

Each congregation that celebrates UN Sunday is free to do so in its own way.
However, the UU-UNO has created a UN Sunday Resource packet to offer ideas
and suggestions for congregations. The packet includes background
information on UN Sunday in general as well as this year's theme in
particular. It also includes service ideas with suggested readings and
music. Additionally, the Resource packet contains sample RE worships and
activities and also opportunities beyond UN Sunday. Go to
http://www.uu-uno.org/?q=taxonomy_menu/10/54 to download the UN Sunday
Resource Packet. To order the Resource Packet and materials to be mailed to
you, click here http://www.uu-uno.org/files/UN%20SundayOrderForm.pdf.

As the UU-UNO contact person for UN Sunday, please feel free to email me,
Alex Horton, at ahorton [at] uu-uno.org, or  212-986-5165, and I will be
happy 
to
answer any of your questions.

Thanks in advance for sharing your planning with the UU-UNO, and reporting
about your UN Sunday experiences and the impact they have on your
congregation mission.

Alex Horton,
Program Associate
Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office

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C. SOCIAL JUSTICE LINKS

To find out about other local and national social justice events, check out
these websites.  

UU SOCIAL JUSTICE AND OTHER UU LINKS:
Unitarian Universalist Association:  http://www.uua.org/

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee:  http://www.uusc.org/

UUA Washington Office for Advocacy http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/

UUA Congregational Advocacy and Witness:
http://www.uua.org/programs/justice/

Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA):  http://www.muusja.org/

Prairie Star  District: http://www.psduua.org/

FOR UU SOCIAL ACTON CHAIRS, sign up for regular e-news from the UUA, called
Sac-news www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo
 
UU Ministry for Earth http://uuministryforearth.org/index.shtml

UUs for a Just EconomicCommunity http://www.uujec.net/

UU Committee for Socially Responsible Investing
http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/ 

UU Gulf Coast Advocacy http://www.uua.org/news/gulfcoastrelief/advocacy.html

OTHER SOCIAL JUSTICE LINKS: 
*note: if you ara  member of a group who would like us to list your web
site, send it to muusja-editor [at] muusja.org
 
Minnesota  Alliance of Peacemakers  http://www.mapm.org/
 
Women Against Military Madness at  www.worldwidewamm.org
 
Progressive Calendar subscribe by emailing  shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu.
  
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota:   www.ppmns.org
 
NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota:   www.prochoiceminnesota.org

Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH):
http://www.micah.org/
 
Code Pink: www.codepink4peace.org

Center for Victims of Torture: http://www.cvt.org/main.php

Network of Spiritual Progressives: http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/

Network of Spiritual Progressives, local chapter http://www.nspmn.org/