Pagan Institute Report Every civilizing step in history has been ridiculed as “sentimental,” “impractical,” or “womanish,” etc., by those whose fun, profit or convenience was at stake. ----- Joan Gilbert
	Tools for Activists This page provides tools to support active engagement in the political process. The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. -----Plato
	The Pagan Institute does NOT endorse political candidates, legislation, or political parties. WE DO encourage active citizenship through information, community organizing, participation in elections, volunteerism, and civil dialog.

No Frames
Send your questions, info, essays here.

The Pagan Institute does not endorse political candidates, legislation, or political parties.

WE DO encourage active citizenship through information, community organizing,
participation in elections, volunteerism, and civil dialog.

"Thomas Jefferson said the Book of Revelations
was the ravings of a lunatic. George Bush
organizes his entire foreign policy around it."
----- Bill Maher.
Less than 3 months 'til the next election!

"...we hold talisman
by which to show the right of all classes to the ballot,
to remove every obstacle, to answer every objection,
to point out the tyranny of every qualification
to the free exercise of this sacred right."

-----Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Universalist, Feminist

Summer Internships at Harvard

The Pluralism Project at Harvard University seeks interns for summer. Interns will be involved in a wide variety of projects including research, site visits, outreach, website and database maintenance, and administrative tasks.

For more information see:
http://www.pluralism.org/resources/calendar/summer_internships.php

Election Site Shows the Money Trail! l

Find out who bought your civil servant and for how much $
http://www.opensecrets.org/

Now find out what the plutocrats got for their money:
To check the status of a bill

Go to the Library of Congress' website at http://thomas.loc.gov
This accesses full text of the bill, cosponsors, status, and additional information.
Enter the bill number in the appropriate search box at the top.
US Senate page of active legislation
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/
active_leg_page.htm

How to call your Legislator

Don't expect to speak to your actual senator or representative on the phone; instead you'll most likely speak with a member of his or her staff. When you call:

Ask to speak with the staff member who handles the issue or bill in which you have an interest.
Identify yourself, and identify the issue with which you are concerned. If it's a specific bill, identify the bill by its S. or H.R. number.
Briefly state your reason for calling. For instance, "I'd like to know Representative X's position on H.R. 1100." Or, "I'd like Senator Y to know that I strongly oppose S. 234 because ______."
If you would like a reply from your congressperson, let the staff member know.
Keep the call short and courteous.
Remember to thank the staff member for his or her time.

Source: National Resources Defense Council http://www.nrdc.org/action/comm.asp

ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?

FBI Training Materials on Pagan and Other Religious Groups

The "Old Religion" is classed as a "new religious movement." As of Nov. 11, 2003 you could find this at http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2000/sep00leb.pdf. If it is moved again, you may have to go to: http://www.fbi.gov/search.htm and search under "new religious movements."

Are you being watched?
http://www.aclu.org/Quizzes/QuizIntro.cfm?quizID=10

Do you KNOW YOUR RIGHTS?
Find out what to do if you're questioned by police, FBI, customs agents or immigration officers.
http://www.aclu.org/safeandfree/

A Political Compass Test

Since readers of this page are probably political activists, the following test might be fun and enlightening. It's a lot of questions, but it uses them to show where you stand politically on the traditional right vs left, socialist vs free market scale, as well as the authoritarian vs anarchism/libertarianism up down scale.

Plusses are both right and authoritarian. A minus is left and/or anarchist/libertarian.

Graphs show where certain people like a Hitler, Stalin,or Gandhi would be. And it being a British test, it shows where you stand in relation to British leaders. So, for instance, Maggie Thatcher and Ian Duncan Smith were members of the Conservative party in Britain, and that roughly translates to a Reagan or a Bush Republican. Tony Blair, Labor leader, is more comparable to Al Gore or Clinton.

See where you come out! Go to http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Thanks to Rob Lytle, Oklahoma State Chair Pagan Unity Campaign for passing this information on.

"Don't mourn. Organize!"
-----Joe Hill

Before you invent the wheel...

UU services of Special Interest to
Pagan Activists

The Web home of the Unitarian Universalist Assn., an international community of UU congregations, is at www.uua.org. From there, you can access an amazing collection of resources for the empowerment of individuals and small groups. UUs have a lot to teach Pagans about HOW to actualize our values. The fact that UU values overlap Pagan values shouldn't be surprising; after all, 23% of UUs identify their theology as primarily "Nature/Earth-centered."

The UUA also offers over 200 focused list-serves to meet different needs; most are open to anyone. Over 20,000 different individuals use them. To view the list of list-serves and subscribe, go to http://www.uua.org/lists.

There is a new UU community organizers email list through the UUA:
cbco-l@uua.org

Also note the new UU Peace/World Community email list through the UUA:
UUPeaceWorldCom@yahoogroups.com

When was the last time you discovered a book that you had needed for a long time, but didn't know that anyone might have written it? For hard to find books about building community, understanding oppression, and celebrating diversity, check out the all-new UUA Bookstore on the web -- See best sellers, new titles, or write reviews of your favorites. You can also enter item numbers from our print catalog to find items on the web, or use the search engine to locate titles in your area of interest. Go to http://www.uua.org/bookstore and be amazed at what's new from the UUA!

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee:

advancing human rights and social justice in the United States and throughout the world.

S.T.O.P. campaign to "Stop Torture Permanently"
UUSC is concerned that the wave of attacks on human rights defenders and others involved in key human rights cases in Guatemala may be part of a systematic campaign to silence those who have spoken out against impunity for human rights abuses, present and past.

Family member of key witness in Guatemala human rights legal case is murdered

Most recently, a key witness in a Guatemala murder case involving the husband of U.S. activist Jennifer Harbury, has been murdered. Ms. Harbury recently joined the staff of UUSC as director of its new STOP (Stop Torture Permanently) Campaign.

To take action against this outrageous attempt to intimidate human rights defenders in Guatemala, visit http://www.uusc.org/news/alert080904.html.

For more about the STOP Campaign, visit:
http://www.uusc.org/programs/STOP/index.html

********************************

UUSC, colleague organizations form Save Darfur Coalition

Public awareness is urgently needed to mobilize members of the international community to respond to and help end the atrocities that threaten the lives of 2 million people in Darfur, a western region of the Sudan. The Sudanese government backed by the Janjaweed Arab militia, has been accused of carrying out a systematic and deliberate campaign of terror in which thousands have been killed or displaced from their homes.

In response, UUSC joined forces with 80 organizations representing the Sudanese community, faith-based, humanitarian and human rights agencies in the newly established Save Darfur Coalition.

To learn more about the Save Darfur Coalition, visit:
http://www.uusc.org/info/article071604_5.html

For updates on the crisis in the Sudan, visit:
http://www.uusc.org/info/article071604.html

********************************

Fair trade chocolate bars available through UUSC Coffee Project

UUSC is pleased to announce the addition of fairly traded chocolate bars to the coffee, tea and cocoa already available through our partnership with the Fair Trade company Equal Exchange. By buying fairly traded coffee, tea, cocoa and now chocolate bars through the UUSC Coffee Project, our members and supporters can help make a crucial difference in the lives of small farmers in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

To learn more about the UUSC Coffee Project,
visit: http://www.uusc.org/info/article082504.html

********************************
More about UUSC

To learn more about UUSC membership
or to make a donation today, visit:
http://www.uusc.org/info/support.html

You do not have to be a member of UUSC
to receive the bulletin, but we hope that
after learning more about UUSC you may
wish to join. Sign up to receive your own copy at:
http://www.uusc.org/info/emailbulletin.htm

To download a printable version of this bulletin, visit:
http://www.uusc.org/info/bulletinpdfs.html

If you need to receive the bulletin at a different
e-mail address, please visit:
http://www.uusc.org/info/bulletinchange.html

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
130 Prospect Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
ph: 617.868.6600 fax: 617.868.7102
info@uusc.org; www.uusc.org

Unitarian Universalist Washington Office

http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/

Internships in the Washington Office
Applications Now Available!

Take action to oppose the proposed $674 billion tax cut
that threatens crucial social services and punishes the poor-working class.

Actions to Continue Opposing War with Iraq

New UU Peace/World Community email list
UUPeaceWorldCom@yahoogroups.com

Serving and Learning from the Local Native American Community
For opportunities to serve the local Native American community, see the Unitarian Universalist section of "Public Pagan Events" in this issue.

The UU Service Committee (UUSC)
If you're looking for an interesting summer experience, consider one of the UUSCs workcamps, some of which are based on Indian reservations. The work is planned and directed by the communities being served, and offers wonderful opportunities for learning from Tribal people, as well as building bridges. For more information, visit
http://www.uusc.org/involved/summerworkcamps061501.html

Leadership School

UUs believe in the Priesthood of ALL members, and provide for training in leadership skills such as organizational development, generating change in a religious community, and the care and feeding of volunteers. I attended Leadership School towards the end of my years in seminary; in my opinion, if you want to help rugged individualists collaborate to build community, a week at leadership school may be better than a year in a seminary. Our regional Leadership School is held in Beloit, WI every summer and costs the participant around $500 including room, board, and materials. Two of the instructors have been Pagans. You MUST be a member of a UU congregation to attend.

For the Leadership School serving this district, visit
http://www.unitarian.org/mwls/index.html

All UU Leadership Schools:
http://www.uua.org/administration/organizations.html#leaderschools

Return to the Index

Lorna Gilbert of the UUA forwarded this item:

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING TRAINING
The Direct Action & Research Training Center (DART) is currently accepting applications among folks interested in social and economic justice issues for their paid, four-month community organizing training program. The DART Organizers Institute is a combined classroom and field training covering such topics as:

Identifying and training local leaders

Strategic planning and issue cutting

Researching and targeting decision makers

One-on-One relationship building

Developing and training leaders to take successful Direct Action on issues

Fund Raising for the long-haul

Graduates from the four month DART Organizers Institute have gone onto accept Executive Director and Immigrant Organizing positions throughout the country making between $27 - 34,000 in starting salaries. We continue to train the best of those working to build the power of low-moderate income communities to win victories on important issues in their community. The DART Center has built coalitions throughout the country that have won important victories on a broad set of justice issues including:

Education reform in low-performing public schools

Fair immigration policies

Police misconduct

Living Wage campaigns & job training

Affordable housing, etc

To apply, applicants must send materials (resume and completed application form) to Ben MacConnell,
the Recruitment Director at: institute@thedartcenter.org . You can also call him with questions:
(785) 841-2680.

To download our applications or find out more about the DART center, check out our website: www.thedartcenter.org
http://www.uua.org/mailman/private/cbco-l/attachments/20031111/090cac54/attachment-0001.htm

Legal Tools for Activists

AlterNet -- Rights & Liberties http://www.alternet.org/issues/index.html?IssueAreaID=33

The Constitutional Principle - Separation of Church and State Website: http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html

Religious Anti-Discrimination Law & Guidelines

Bill of Rights, Amending the Constitution of the United States

Article I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

NON-PROFIT CAREERS

Check out our new set of resource guides for nonprofit job seekers at: http://www.idealist.org/resource_guides

For the latest additions to our Career Center, see http://www.idealist.org/career.html

Action Without Borders
http://www.idealist.org

Action Without Borders connects people, organizations and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives. Idealist.org, a project of AWB, is the most comprehensive community of nonprofit and volunteering resources on the Web, with information provided by 32,000 organizations in 165 countries and 20,000 visitors every day.

Handling Hate Mail

ERAL reports that a public Pagan leader in Texas recently received hate mail and turned it over to her local police for investigation.

It came in a hand-addressed small envelope with a flag stamp and a partial cancellation stamp. (Neither she nor the police officer could read it.) Inside was a handwritten note with an enclosure. The note read:

"We are through playing Harry Potter pussy
with people like you! This is your future, (leader's name)! We think you agree it's not
very bright."

The note was not signed. Enclosed was a small comic from Chick Publications, P.O. Box 3500 Ontario, Calf. 91761-1019 USA. The front showed the Grim Reaper with the title of "Hi, There!" and the initials J.T.C. On the back of the comic in the same writing as the note was:

Get out of Texas!
-----The Church!

The recipient is treating this as a mild threat and am taking precautions to ensure documentation of any further incidents if they happen. (For those of you not familiar with Chick Publications, they have regularly published right-winged Christian propaganda comics portraying Pagans as devil worshippers going to hell.)

The Pagan in question has asked that if anyone has received anything similar, please make contact through the Editor, so she can document it. She's probably not the only victim. If anyone receives something in the future, please do NOT throw it away. Record when you received it and file a complaint with either your local police department or the FBI. ERAL is tracking these as well. You can report to the Editor for forwarding to ERAL.
See http://www.paganinstitute.org/Links.html
If you have any other suggestions on how to handle this or suggestions on prepare effective documentation, please pass those on, too.

Pagan Volunteerism
By VolunteerFairy

There has been some talk recently about the issues of volunteering, especially as it relates to items such as Bush's Faith-based Initiative, and the public's perspective that Pagans as a group do not tend to 'help others' as opposed to the more 'main-stream' religions.

Now volunteering is some thing that I personally really enjoy and would like to discuss this issue as it relates to those of us that aren't likely to be found in a church. :) To this end I have created another group to discuss this issue, as it relates to all aspects of volunteering, (individuals, groups, fundraising, planning, opportunities, etc...) Please feel free to join the list or to advertise it on any other pagan related groups that you might be part of. Here is the link to subscribe:

mailto://PaganVolunteerismDiscussion-subscribe@yahoo.com

Last Updated August 12, 2008

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does not endorse candidates or political parties.
All opinions expressed are those of their respective writers,
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	Contact Us
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	CUUPS-TC c/o FUS 900 Mt. Curve Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55403

The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. -----Plato

On this page:

Election Site Shows the Money Trail! l

How to call your Legislator Don't expect to speak to your actual senator or representative on the phone; instead you'll most likely speak with a member of his or her staff. When you call:

Before you invent the wheel... UU services of Special Interest to Pagan Activists

The price of apathy towards public affairs
is to be ruled by evil men. -----Plato

How to call your Legislator

Don't expect to speak to your actual senator or representative on the phone; instead you'll most likely speak with a member of his or her staff. When you call:

Before you invent the wheel...

UU services of Special Interest to
Pagan Activists