WLOE e-news: 31 October 2004
Voting in the USA; Iraq - counting and naming the dead; Bioneers meet; Nuclear Report from Europe

Voting in the USA: November 2 is Election Day. Will women's votes make a crucial difference? See our report. See also the Political Action Committee MMOB, Mainstreet Moms Oppose Bush. The women's peace group CodePink is organizing to get-out-the-vote too: http://www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_Voting_Booth.shtml

The national US peace coalition United for Peace and Justice offers a Guide to Organizations Providing Resources for Election Work at: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2603 Check the sites mentioned for election 2004 follow-up too.

A detailed analysis of why Bush should be retired is in The Nation magazine's endorsement of John Kerry for President. "The most important reason to vote for John Kerry in November is to safeguard democracy in America." http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/102504W.shtml

And after Election Day? There is the Pledge of Action to Stop A Stolen Election: Many remember the stolen election of 2000, and are signing a pledge not to allow a repeat in 2004. "By signing the No Stolen Election pledge, you will be joining with thousands of others in the November 3rd Urgent Response Network. Please sign the pledge and pass it around far and wide." http://www.nov3.us/

The Pledge: "I remember the stolen presidential election of 2000 and I am willing to take action in 2004 if the election is stolen again. I support efforts to protect the right to vote leading up to and on Election Day, November 2nd. If that right is systematically violated, I pledge to join nationwide protests starting on November 3rd, either in my community, in the states where the fraud occurred, or in Washington DC."

War has cost 100,000 Iraqi lives: Lancet study
29 October 2004: The first scientific study of the human cost of the Iraq war suggests that at least 100,000 civilians have lost their lives since their country was invaded in March 2003. More than half of those who died were women and children killed in air strikes, researchers say. Iraqi people are now 58 times more likely to die a violent death. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3964311.stm

Acknowledging the deaths in Iraq: these sites have been collecting information on civilian deaths in Iraq.
See: http://www.iraqbodycount.net

http://www.civilians.info/iraq

Iraq: Naming the Dead "is a communal ritual event that invites individuals to come together to remember those who died in the war in Iraq and reflect on the war's catastrophic human cost..." A new site offers background on the project, with scripts and information to download so that anyone can organize a similar event. For photos and details: http://www.iraqnamingthedead.org/

Solutions as well as elections in the USA
Grace Lee Boggs reports on one of the decentralized October conferences of the Bioneers: "solution-oriented, locally-grounded environmental visionaries committed to restoring our relationships with one another and with the Earth." Read her report here.

"The Lie of the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy: Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power Plants - Two Sides of the Same Coin". Download this October 2004 report by international Women and Life on Earth advisor Satomi Oba, Director, Plutonium Action Hiroshima, here (pdf download, 10 pages).