All sides should stop the violence and meet to work out a diplomatic and political compromise. But aggression, oppression, invasion, killing and wounding of civilians cannot be allowed and must be condemned.

Pray, if you pray. Contact your representatives, and especially President-Elect Obama. I’ll post analysis and action alerts later.

1.
Announcement: There will be a prayer vigil for peace in Gazaand the
world on Saturday evening, January 3, 2009, from 5-6 pm at the
Oklahoma Capitol building in Oklahoma City, OK. If you plan to attend,
you should bring blankets and a flash light, candles are not allowed.

Item 2:

CAIR-OK to Host Press Conference, Vigil for Middle East Peace

(OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - 12/31/08) ­ On Monday, January 5, the
Oklahomachapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK)
will hold apress conference and a “Peace Vigil for Gaza” at the state
Capitol building inOklahoma City.
Vigil participants will call on public officials to help stop Israeli
attacks onthe Gaza Strip, restore the cease-fire and promote peace
with justice in theMiddle East during the coming year.

WHAT: Press Conference on GazaWHEN: Monday, January 5, 2009, 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Oklahoma State Capitol. 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 432 B.
OklahomaCity, OK

WHAT: Peace Vigil for GazaWHEN: Monday, January 5, 2009, Noon - 1 p.m.
(Please dress warmly and arriveby 11:30 a.m.)
WHERE: South Plaza of the Oklahoma State Capitol. 2300 N. Lincoln
Blvd.,Oklahoma City,
OKCONTACT: Razi Hashmi, CAIR-OK Executive Director,
405-415-6851,rhashmi@cair. com

Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the
Palestinianterritories, told the BBC: “Israel is committing a shocking
series ofatrocities by using modern weaponry against a defenseless
population -attacking a population that has been enduring a severe
blockade for manymonths.”

SEE: Gaza Air Campaign ‘a First Stage’ (BBC)http://news. bbc.co.uk/
2/hi/middle_ east/7804218. stm east/7804218. stm>SEE ALSO: Family Mourns 5 Daughters as Civilian
Death Toll Mounts (Wash.Post)http://tinyurl. com/9ckcjo

CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 35 offices
andchapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance
understandingof Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties,
empower AmericanMuslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and
mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi, E-Mail: rhashmi@cair.
com; CAIR-OK Chairperson Lobna Hewedi, E-Mail: lhewedi@cair. com

Razi HashmiExecutive DirectorCouncil on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR)Oklahoma Chapter
CAIR National: http://www.cair. com

All around the country Monday night, Americans will be coming together to discuss the coming changes to our health care system, and how we want to influence the degree and outcome of those changes. Thanks to the work of those who worked on the Obama campaign here, those in and near Oklahoma City will be participating in the national dialog.

The events are being planned and coordinated through the new site change.gov. Obama’s nominee for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Daschle, who will oversee health care reform for the administration, has made this video introducing the project.

Here are the details for the local event:

Oklahoma Health Care Community Discussion (Meeting)
A moderated change.gov requested discussion with friends and neighbors about health care reform. We will draft a group submission with your findings and conclusions. This will help the Transition Health Policy Team flesh out key issues around health care and give the Team fresh ideas about the best ways to promote the President-elect and Vice President-elect vision of quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Sneak Peak: http://change.gov/participantguide

Monday the 29th, 5:30-7pm
Mayflower Congregational Church (Oklahoma City, OK)
3901 NW 63rd St. [map]
Oklahoma City, OK 73116

If you plan to attend, check out this participant guide.

It will be interesting to see, after all this “grassroots discussion” if the people really get listened to, and what they say they want comes to fruition, or if the insurance companies again get to call the shots. I suggest showing up, calling, writing and demonstrating to make sure it’s the former and not the latter.

First 1000 packages will be signed by band members, and 10 of those 1000 will have special tix to the Flaming Lips’ New Years Eve show in OKC. Only available on FlamingLips.com

Candace Richardson was one of the hardest workers for Obama in Oklahoma. Like many of us progressives, she’s a little concerned about what caused Oklahoma to buck the trend and move to the Right instead of the Left in the election.

She’s put out a call for others to join her in making some changes in the base of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.

On December 11, 2008, at 5:30pm, we will have a brief meeting in Oklahoma City at the upstairs conference room of Java Daves, 10 NE 10th (just west of the Broadway Extension on 10th St). It is time to stand up for our Democratic values. It is time to move this party in a new direction.

We invite you to join us and continue to work for change. Channel your hope, because WE KNOW what can be accomplished when people come together united by a common goal! Email me at crich1254 -at- yahoo -dot- com [altered for privacy] for more information and to RSVP for Dec. 11th.

And, yes, I know that if you are a conservative Republican, you are just cool about Oklahoma not voting for Obama and being the regressive joke of an America that is moving on and upward with or without us. We get it, really; you don’t have to explain it to us again here.

My friend (and long-time Okie blogger) James of JMBzine shot this with his new mini video camera. Don’t know the woman’s name who is speaking.

Darla managed to catch James Nimmo’s great speech. (She was going to post here about it on Saturday, but things got too crazy.)

At the Peace Fest, James, Darla and John Walters all had these little cameras and I was so envious, I came home and ordered one for myself, getting a great deal on a Flip Ultra at Amazon, which included a free tripod. With free shipping, it won’t arrive until the 24th. I can’t wait!

I learn from Sinister that Tulsa World covered the Join the Impact! event there with a pretty decent article. No shocker: it was a not insignificant news event in the city (300 in attendance) and the city’s NEWSpaper did a little writeup about it.

But the 300 that attended the corresponding rally in Oklahoma City (not to mention the thousands across the country) were ignored by the city’s paper — I no longer will incorrectly call it a “newspaper” but it is printed on paper, so at least that part’s true. Again, no surprise, because the Oklahoman habitually refuses to cover the news and events that come from the liberal or progressive end of the political spectrum. “Habitually refuses” is a nice way of saying they have conspired and are conspiring to erase our existence from their pages. It is the largest paper in the state (though shrinking rapidly! Yay!) and it still has a lot of influence in political and cultural arenas (again, less and less so thanks to the internet) so the conspiracy is not piddling, even as their overall status is being reduced.

The OKC event did get covered by a couple of local TV news teams, which is great, but that doesn’t lessen the harm done by being erased from history time and again by the Oklahoman.

Frankly, I’m fed up with it and am resolved to do something about it. I’m exploring several options — including boycotts, petitions, demonstrations. A meeting with the paper’s management is a good place to start, but without some kind of threat to their revenue, I wouldn’t expect such a meeting to have any effect — those people are ideological and have to be moved by other forces than an appeal to simple fairness.

I lived in Waco, Texas, for a while, and I guarantee you that that area is politically and culturally more conservative overall than Central Oklahoma, yet the newspaper there covered peace and justice events — and not just during the nearby Camp Casey action in August 2005, but before that and well after. We might have liked more expansive and positive coverage, and they didn’t cover every single thing we did — no one expects that. But we regularly got a photo of an action — even if only four or five people participated. But they didn’t ignore our press releases, or refuse to send a camera person and/or reporter when they had one available, or keep the fact of our existence and work hidden from their readers. They covered the fucking news that was happening in their community!

Thankfully, the Web gives citizens the opportunity to participate in a new kind of journalism that is rising from the grassroots. Old media is losing this battle because they don’t or can’t adjust to new realities. They are making attempts to use the Internet, but struggling to find a successful method to make it profitable.

So if the Oklahoman wants to continue their march to obsolecence, they can continue to alienate a significant portion of their community by being ideological and reactionary beyond all reason. I’ll dance on their grave, but in the meantime, I expect them to function as the newspaper they purport to be and once in a while cover events their owners and editorial board don’t necessarily endorse.

Oh, and the effing letters to the editor situation is also now on the table. Enough! We’re not going to take it anymore!

I know that we all complain about the Oklahoman and that those who’ve lived here a lot longer than I have maybe just become resigned to the status quo. I hope that we can all band together at this vulnerable moment for the Oklahoman’s bottom line, and make the changes we need happen. Yes, we can!

Stay tuned, I will elaborate about some action steps on this in the near future.

We’re going to have a special report later today about the Join the Impact! rally on the steps of city hall in Oklahoma City. but here are links to photos

DarlaJane’s Flickr set
Trey (one of the organizers) has some photos of OKC event at Towle Road (use the menu to check out the albums from Tulsa also, as well as cities around the country.
Gossip Boy (OKC Gay news site)

Other reports and photos from across the nation:
Towleroad
Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish
Pam’s House Blend Join the Impact! Flickr Group
Join the Impact! National Flickr Group

Last but not least, the sites where the action was organized (and probably future actions will be too)
National: Join the Impact! Blog | Join the Impact! organizing wiki | Facebook | Twitter
Oklahoma: OK section on wiki | Facebook

And, Tulsa also had a event. See videos from justinfeed and shelton26ash (brief, but better audio).

Other media coverage.

Update to my earlier announcement about the Oklahoma City rally planned in conjunction with the nationwide action on Saturday 11/15.

The Saturday rally has been moved to the OKC City Hall, 200 N. Walker,
just west of the County Courthouse, or just east of the police
station.

Latest news from the organizer:

OKC Impact! Update! November 13, 2008

First of all, there has been another location adjustment made, it seems we were double booked for the steps of the State Capitol Building, so the rally has been moved back to the City Hall, which is at:

200 N. Walker
Oklahoma city, OK
73102

Sorry about the confusion!

Meeting Time and date: Saturday, November 15th at 12:30 P.M

We will be having a pre-action and sign making gathering

When: Friday, November 14th at 7 pm ‘til as long as needed.

Where: The address is 1147 NW 79th Street - Oklahoma City . That’s within a block of Western Avenue by the Western and Wilshire intersection. Call 537- 7763 if you need directions.

If you can bring sign making supplies: poster boards, paints, markers, slats ¼” wooden slats, staple guns, chips, dip, drinks, etc. Nothing required though.

We have a few speakers currently lined up for the demonstration, for example:
C. Sean Spivey
Jim Nimmo

Carpooling is encouraged, and carpool groups will be meeting at Angles at 11:30 am and will head to the City Hall at noon. Please, let me know if you‘re going to be offering rides from Angles Club.
Angles Club
2117 NW 39th St
Oklahoma City, OK 73112

Guy Peters and Katie Austin have offered to help with recording the rally. If anyone else wants to assist with the documentation, feel free.

Aviva Pressman has offered to help lead us in song.

Based only on the Official Facebook Event Page, we currently have 144 confirmed participants, 251 potential participants, and 950 have yet to respond.

In an email exchange, Trey (local organizer) said this was just the beginning, and that future events will probably be planned. I’ll post any news I get here at Peace Arena.