PETER BERGEL: The Great Getaway Raffle, OPW’s annual fundraiser in which 5 awesome vacation packages are raffled off to ticket holders all over the state is under way. Tickets are currently available at $1 each.
OPW, Allies Meet with Congressman Kurt Schrader
PETER BERGEL: On November 9, a delegation organized by Oregon PeaceWorks met with Oregon’s 5th District congressional representative Kurt Schrader. On the agenda were the wars in the Middle East, global warming and health care. The meeting included representatives from OPW, Veterans for Peace, 1000 Friends of Oregon, Fellowship of Reconciliation and Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Calendar
To offer calendar items, post them at www.oregonprogressivenetwork.org or email them to: updates@oregonpeaceworks.org before the 12th of the month for following month’s issue.
Think Outside the Box
PETER BERGEL: On the surface things look pretty grim. The chances for any kind of meaningful world peace seem remote. The environment is terribly degraded and seems to be retaliating with global climate change †probably the worst crisis the human race has ever confronted. The economic system is in the toilet and may not recover. People are hurting everywhere  from poverty, disease, war, racism, renewed threats to liberty and despair. And yet… amazing currents are flowing all over the planet, washing in a harvest of hope that so far has not captured the notice of the mainstream media.
Starting Another Year of War in Afghanistan
NORMAN SOLOMON: October 2009 began with the New York Times reporting that “the president, vice president and an array of cabinet secretaries, intelligence chiefs, generals, diplomats and advisers gathered in a windowless basement room of the White House for three hours on Wednesday to chart a new course in Afghanistan.”
The Myth of the Powerless
KEN McCORMACK: When they dismiss myth as merely a lie, scientists display enormous ignorance. Myth, as students of literature know, is the ultimate framework of consciousness. It is Meta-Fact — the arena wherein thought takes place — and an expression of the collective mind.