Sacramento Area Peace Vigils/Anti-Nuclear Action

In this message:
  First Sat. Vigil & 1st week events, see sacpeace.org for more.
  Take action to cut & clean up nuclear weapons
  Mark your calendars: 9-20-04 Antonia Juhasz on War Profiteering in Iraq,
10-10-04 Speak Out for Change (see below)

EVENTS FIRST WEEK SEPT 2004
Saturday, Sep 4, 11:30am - 1:30pm, First Saturday Peace, Justice &
Sustainability Vigil. Arden at Heritage, Sacramento, 916-448-7157.

Tuesday, Sep 7, 4 - 6pm, Weekly Call for Peace - End the Occupation Vigil. 16th
& J St. Sacramento. 916-448-7157.

Tuesday, Sep 7, 6pm, Sacramento Area Peace Action Board of Directors meets at
the office.

Tuesday, Sep 7, 7pm, Amnesty International meeting, Int'l House, 10 College Pk,
Davis. 530-297-0407; ibhogle [at] mindspring.com

Friday, Sep 10, 5:30 - 9pm, Emergency Relief Fundraiser for Sudan. Abdel Jaleel
will address the tragic situation: over 10,000 have died and one million people
are displaced. Sacramento Ballroom, Univ. Union, CSUS, 1600 J St, Sacramento.
Tickets: $10 (includes dinner); csus_msa_officers [at] yahoogroups.com.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Monday, Sept 20, 2004, 7pm, Killing for Profit: Making Money from the War on
Iraq. Antonia Juhasz, Project Director of the International Forum on
Globalization will talk about the billions of dollars that certain companies are
making from U.S. invasions and occupations. Newman Center, 5900 Newman Ct,
Sacramento. Info: 916-448-7157.

Sunday, Oct 10,2004, 2pm - 5pm, Speak Out for Change. A community event to get
Bush & Co. out of office, end the war on Iraq, and change U.S. foreign &
domestic policies to support humanity, social & economic justice, the
environment, peace. North Steps State Capitol (11th & L), Sacramento.
916-448-7157; sypeaceact [at] jps.net.

TAKE ACTION: Cut & clean up Nuclear Weapons

Urge Dianne Feinstein who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee to adopt the
House cuts to nuclear weapons programs and provide full funding for ongoing
environmental cleanup (sample letter below). Call her at 202-224-3121
(Congressional switchboard) or email her using the form on the senate.gov
website: http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html ACTION is urged ASAP as the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development is scheduled to
take action on September 8th.

BACKGROUND:  In a stunning move, the House of Representatives zeroed out funding
for key nuclear weapons programs we oppose including the nuclear bunker buster,
advanced nuclear weapons concepts, and the Modern Pit Facility, and cut the
budget for enhancing the readiness to test nuclear weapons in half. The House
expressed a desire to prioritize current mission requirements above new programs
and doubled the budget for dismantlement to support a more consistent schedule
for dismantling retired warheads. The Senate should adopt these cuts and follow
suit in doubling the dismantlement budget.

The House rejected the Energy Department's High-Level Waste Proposal that
restricted $350 million in cleanup funding until Washington, Idaho and South
Carolina cave to DOE demands to allow the reclassification of highly-radioactive
nuclear waste so that additional waste can be abandoned in leaky underground
tanks. And the House cut some of these cleanup funds for Savannah River Site in
response to Sen. Graham's legislation in the Senate Defense Authorization bill
providing DOE with the authority to reclassify waste in South Carolina. The
Senate, in considering the FY2005 Energy & Water Development appropriations
bill, should free the $350 million in the DOE's High-Level Waste proposal for
ongoing cleanup.

Key Committee language on each of these programs from House Report 108-554 can
be found by on the ANA website at http://www.ananuclear.org/HouseE&W05.html

SAMPLE LETTER

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

September, 2004

Attention: Defense Aide

Dear Senator Feinstein:

I am writing to urge you to work in the Senate Appropriations Committee this
September to cut the fiscal year 2005 budget for dangerous and
proliferation-provocative nuclear weapons programs and fully fund environmental
cleanup. In particular, I ask you to work to adopt the following changes from
the administration's request, most of which were adopted by the House in its own
Energy & Water Development appropriations bill.

1. Provide NO FUNDS for the high-yield nuclear bunker-busting bomb called the
"Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator," cutting the $28 million requested;

2. Provide NO FUNDS for the "Advanced Concepts Initiative" for research on "mini
nukes" and other advanced weapons, cutting the $9 million requested;

3. Provide NO FUNDS for the "Modern Pit Facility" for a new plutonium bomb core
factory capable of producing up to 450 plutonium pits annually, including for
new nuclear weapons designs, cutting the $30 million requested;

4. Provide NO FUNDS for "enhanced readiness" to resume nuclear testing in
Nevada, cutting the $30 million requested to lower the time needed to conduct a
full-scale underground nuclear test to 18 months;

5. REDUCE the overall nuclear weapons activities budget by an additional $95
million;

6. ADD $65 million for the dismantlement of nuclear weapons, and;

7. FULLY FUND environmental cleanup of nuclear weapons sites but free the Energy
Department's $350 million high-level waste proposal for ongoing cleanup of the
highly radioactive waste tanks in Idaho, Washington and South Carolina.

Sincerely,



website: http://www.sacpeace.org
email: mailto:sypeaceact [at] jps.net

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