February, 06 2009, 07:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Valerie Lucznikowska cell: 917-757-7031
Adele Welty ph: 718-461-8837
Peaceful Tomorrows will Join other 9/11 Relatives In Meeting with President Obama to Discuss Closing Guantanamo
Valerie
Lucznikowska, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful
Tomorrows, will be among the relatives of 9/11 victims meeting with
President Obama at 3:30pm today in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing
of The White House. Ms. Lucznikowska will be delivering a letter
signed by over 100 people who lost relatives on 9/11 who support the
President's actions to shut down Guantanamo.
WASHINGTON
Valerie
Lucznikowska, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful
Tomorrows, will be among the relatives of 9/11 victims meeting with
President Obama at 3:30pm today in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing
of The White House. Ms. Lucznikowska will be delivering a letter
signed by over 100 people who lost relatives on 9/11 who support the
President's actions to shut down Guantanamo.
In the letter, 157 signers call for a full return to the American
justice system for prosecutions of terrorism suspects so that due
process can be restored. They write: "As 9/11 family members we care
deeply that justice be served in these prosecutions, which are often
perceived by others as vindication for our loved ones."
The full text of the letter is as follows:
Dear Mr. President,
As people who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, we support your
decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and to end the
Military Commissions that are being conducted there. It is our belief
that these proceedings violate not only our own Constitution, but the
Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law, putting into
question the validity of any verdict. It is especially egregious to us
that the detentions, torture and trials have been conducted in the
names of those family members we lost on 9/11.
We are deeply troubled that the Guantanamo proceedings have not only
denied the detainees their rights as human beings, they have tainted
the reputation of this country around the globe. We hope that the
evidence against these defendants will be presented in Federal Court in
compliance with due process of law under the Constitution. After
consulting with Constitutional lawyers, we are confident that it can be
done. As 9/11 family members we care deeply that justice be served in
these prosecutions, which are often perceived by others as vindication
for our loved ones.
We look forward to continuing our conversation with you on this issue.
Peaceful Tomorrows was founded, in 2002, by family members of those
killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. who have united to turn their
grief into action for peace and justice. Their founding mission
statement called for "a multilateral, collaborative effort to bring
those responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks to justice in
accordance with the principles of international law."
Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn our grief into action for peace. By developing and advocating nonviolent options and actions in the pursuit of justice, we hope to break the cycles of violence engendered by war and terrorism. Acknowledging our common experience with all people affected by violence throughout the world, we work to create a safer and more peaceful world for everyone.
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"The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over," said one environmental campaigner.
Apr 23, 2024
Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
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"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
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Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
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Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
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Others renewed warnings about the dangers MVP poses to wildlife.
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U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
"The FTC's final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market," Khan added, pointing to the commission's estimates that the policy could mean another $524 for the average worker, over 8,500 new startups, and 17,000 to 29,000 more patents each year.
As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
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Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
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Jonathan Harris, a Loyola Marymount University law professor and SBPC senior fellow, said that "by also banning functional noncompetes, the rule stays one step ahead of employers who use 'stay-or-pay' contracts as workarounds to existing restrictions on traditional noncompetes. The FTC has decided to try to avoid a game of whack-a-mole with employers and their creative attorneys, which worker advocates will applaud."
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Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
In Monday's decision, U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—sided with the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and Action NC, who argued that the 1877 law discriminated against Black people.
"The challenged statute was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters," Biggs wrote in her 25-page ruling.
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"We are ecstatic that the court found in our favor and struck down this racially discriminatory law that has been arbitrarily enforced over time," Action NC executive director Pat McCoy said in a statement. "We will now be able to help more people become civically engaged without fear of prosecution for innocent mistakes. Democracy truly won today!"
Voting rights tracker Democracy Docket noted that Monday's ruling "does not have any bearing on North Carolina's strict felony disenfranchisement law, which denies the right to vote for those with felony convictions who remain on probation, parole, or a suspended sentence—often leaving individuals without voting rights for many years after release from incarceration."
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As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
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