Community Services Unlimited INC: South Central LA

Community Services Unlimited Inc.
Serving the People Body and Soul

Announcements

:: CSU new office and number
:: Normandie Elementary Mini Farm Work Day - Sat May 3rd, 11am to 4pm
:: So Cal Library Work Day – Sun May 11th, 9am to 1pm
:: Expo Mini Farm Work Day - Wed May 21st, 4pm to 8pm
:: Simple Summer Sensations Food Party – Fri June 6th, 7pm to 10pm

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CSU New Office and Number

We have achieved our goal of finding and moving into a new office space in the community we serve. This is a huge step for CSU and will greatly increase our capacity and level of organization
Please note the new contact information:
1344 West Martin Luther Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90037
(323) 299 7075
All our email information is still the same and for now so is our fax, though that will be changing soon
Please mark your calendars for an Open House in our new space on Friday June 27th and help us to celebrate with local food and special exhibits from the youth in our various projects; more details will follow. At this time of celebration we would be deeply amiss to forget those who have supported us; for many years we have been housed at the Law Offices of B. Kwaku Duren where we have paid no rent and have only recently contributed in any way to basic operating expenses. Even when working conditions have become cramped with CSU’s gradual growth, Kwaku has never made us feel like we were in the way or unwanted. May we never forget but rather seek to emulate the Panther spirit of brothers and sisters like Kwaku who have contributed to and served our community simply out of love for the people!

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May 3rd – Normandie Mini Farm City Year Work Day – 11am - 4pm

Part of the Mayor’s city wide Big Sunday weekend, this workday on Saturday is in partnership with City Year and will focus on the fruit tree groves. At this time of year we need to once again clear the area around the trees of weeds and grasses and compost and mulch for continued healthy summer growth. So if you can make it for any time please join us.

WHERE: Normandie Growing Healthy Fruit Orchard; Please enter through the school gate on Vernon Avenue just a little east of Normandie Avenue

In partnership with City Year and Normandie Avenue Elementary

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May 11th- So Cal Library Rockcorps Work Day – 9am to 1pm

The So Cal Library is a unique organization that exists to preserve and showcase the history of social justice movements in Los Angeles. A couple of years ago we began to partner with the library to create a garden in an open space next to the main building. On this workday we will be clearing away weeds and grass that have taken over the area, pruning and mulching in order to move forward in the goal of creating a beautiful green space. As always please wear appropriate clothing, all tools, garden gloves and water will be provided.

This day is organized in partnership with Rockcorps and we ask that you please register through their web site; the reward, volunteer for 4 hours and you get a free ticket to an awesome concert, check it out at BMRC.com or call 1888 Rock 889. Also, please let us know that you are planning to attend, rsvp to Neelam@csuinc.org

WHERE: Directly next door to the library which is at 6120 S Vermont, Los Angeles 90044. The major cross street in 60th Street, the library is on Vermont in between Slauson and Cage

In partnership with Rockcorps and the So Cal Library – You gotta give to get!

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Wed May 21st - Expo Mini Farm Rockcorps Work Day – 4pm to 8pm

This event is ideal for those of you who cannot get to the weekend work days, a perfect time to work on a summer day, with the heat cooling off you can be out in the open, get some exercise and help you community. This day is organized in partnership with Rockcorps and we ask that you please register through their web site; the reward, volunteer for 4 hours and you get a free ticket to an awesome concert, check it out at BMRC.com or call 1888 Rock 889. Also, please let us know that you are planning to attend, rsvp to Neelam@csuinc.org

Where: Expo Center Mini Farm
Located on the north east corner of King Blvd. and Menlo Avenue (one street east of Vermont Ave)
Close to the swim stadium at 3980 South Menlo, Los Angeles, 90037

In partnership with Rockcorps and the Expo Center.

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June 6th - Food Party Fundraiser – THEME: Simple Summer Sensations – 7pm to 10pm

Where: In Culver City, Address & Directions will be sent to those who RSVP
How Much: $20.00 (home cooked, beyond organic & served with love!)
RSVP: Neelam@csuinc.org or call 323 296-2038. Space is limited!

IN 2008 CSU is hosting a (mostly) monthly food party as a means of bringing together cool people and great food and also raising some needed resources for our work. Each food party will have a different theme that will be reflected in the food and music (and clothes for the willing). You don’t have to stay the whole evening, in fact the evening is planned so folks on their way elsewhere can stop, eat, chat and move on. The number of attendees will be limited for each event and it will be strictly pay in advance.

Thank you to all of you who joined us for Treats From Trinidad in April (no food party in May, due to staff attending conferences); we had a good time and made over $800.00 to help with our work and once again were full to capacity. So, get your confirmation in early; for you to be confirmed, we must receive your payment in advance. Rsvp as below and send your donation ($20 minimum) payable to CSU to 1344 West Martin Luther King Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90037. Or you can pay at our web site through pay pal; www.csuinc.org

This month’s Food Party will be hosted by our very own Heather Fenney and partner Dewayne Alexander and the theme is simply the very best of early summer produce which will be presented for your eating pleasure in the form of cooling salads, delicious tidbits from the grill, fruit inspired desserts and quenching herb iced teas.
A detailed menu will be sent to those that RSVP, but you can be sure to get home cooked gourmet food, featuring locally grown and beyond organic produce, at an incredible price of $20.00 Spaces are limited, so RSVP soon to neelam@csuinc.org or call 323 299 7075.

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Reminders.........

Farm Stand @ EXPO Every Thursday 3 – 5 pm (inside the reception area, if raining or extremely windy)
On Menlo in front of the pool Stadium 1 block north of King. Check out: http://www.csuinc.org/ for more details


Get Your Veggies on the Run! Sign up for CSU’s Produce Bag Program
Subscribe for CSU’s Farm Fresh Produce Bag program and each week receive a bag filled with seasonal fruits and vegetables from CSU’s urban mini-farms and local farmers. The bag also includes a news sheet with easy recipes using items in your bag! We grow and shop - You Stop - & Pick up your pre-paid bag at the EXPO farm stand on Thursday evenings! Subscribers get first pick of seasonal and limited items before they hit the farm stand and help CSU by paying in advance. Fresh, Local, Beyond Organic – good for you, the earth and the community –
Learn more and sign up @ http://www.csuinc.org/programs/villagemarketplace.htm


Support CSU Everytime You Search or Shop Online.
GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue to charities users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up! GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37% of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause!

How It Works: Just go to http://www.goodsearch.com or http://www.goodshop.com and enter and select “community services unlimited” as your charity of choice! Tip: Most folks will only have to enter CSU the first time they visit. After that your charity preference gets put in your “cookies” and CSU will automatically be selected every time you go to either site! So make GoodSearch your home page and easily support CSU every time you go o

A Jihad for Love

I don't know enough about the filmmakers of this film, but I say we at least check it out. nayj

MOVIE LOVERS UNITE!

Seeking Interns, Volunteers, Street Team for the May 21st theatrical release of A Jihad for Love at the IFC Center.

We are forming a team of interns and volunteers to promote Jihad for Love an internationally acclaimed documentary about gay Muslims around the world.

To ensure that all of NYC comes out to support the A Jihad for Love launch - we will be working the streets, cafes, bars, clubs, events, schools, gyms, parks, religious centers, subway stops with posters and postcards.

We want to reach many communities - especially Muslim, Arab, South Asian, Iranian, GLBT...

Volunteers would assist in promotion, publicity, and special events. Unpaid internships are available with incredible potential to learn the ins and outs of the independent film scene in NY as well as community organizing and outreach.

To be part of a fabulous team working on the release of one of the most exciting films of 2008, please email:

Shaheen, Director of Outreach, NYC Muslim Community, at: teamjihadforlove@ gmail.com

Please include a paragraph stating why you want to come on board. If you have a resume please include.

A JIHAD FOR LOVE

Fourteen centuries after the revelation of the holy Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Islam today is the world's second largest and fastest growing religion. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma travels the many worlds of this dynamic faith discovering the stories of its most unlikely storytellers: lesbian and gay Muslims. Produced by Sandi DuBowski (director of the award-winning Trembling Before G-d), A Jihad for Love was filmed over 5 1/2 years, in 12 countries and 9 languages, "A Jihad for Love" comes from the heart of Islam. Looking beyond a hostile and war-torn present, this film seeks to reclaim the Islamic concept of a greater Jihad, which can mean 'an inner struggle' or 'to strive in the path of God'. In doing so the film and its remarkable subjects move beyond the narrow concept of 'Jihad' as holy war.

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

Mahdis Keshavarz

Principal

The Make Agency

Mahdis@TheMakeAgenc y.com

425.591.8781

The Make Agency

Gordimer and Israel

CR 10: September 26-28

MARK YOUR CALENDARS and plan a road trip to SF...BEFORE THEN, CR needs $$$

Dylan Rodriguez and Setsu Shigematsu are doing a fundraiser for CR10. If you are interested in attending, May 17th, let me know, and I can send Evite. if you want to give a donation, we are trying to raise $3,000 for CR10.

Help us if you can.

Email me at aramaicarpentereel (AT) yahoo.com with questions or where to send a check
nayj

arabs just want to have fun

no comment

shedding light?

Letters Give C.I.A. Tactics a Legal Rationale

By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has told Congress that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law.

The legal interpretation, outlined in recent letters, sheds new light on the still-secret rules for interrogations by the Central Intelligence Agency. It shows that the administration is arguing that the boundaries for interrogations should be subject to some latitude, even under an executive order issued last summer that President Bush said meant that the C.I.A. would comply with international strictures against harsh treatment of detainees.

While the Geneva Conventions prohibit “outrages upon personal dignity,” a letter sent by the Justice Department to Congress on March 5 makes clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding which interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving the right to make case-by-case judgments.

“The fact that an act is undertaken to prevent a threatened terrorist attack, rather than for the purpose of humiliation or abuse, would be relevant to a reasonable observer in measuring the outrageousness of the act,” said Brian A. Benczkowski, a deputy assistant attorney general, in the letter, which had not previously been made public.

Mr. Bush issued the executive order last summer to comply with restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court and Congress. The order spelled out new standards for interrogation techniques, requiring that they comply with international standards for humane treatment, but it did not identify any approved techniques.

It has been clear that the order preserved at least some of the latitude that Mr. Bush has permitted the C.I.A. in using harsher interrogation techniques than those permitted by the military or other agencies. But the new documents provide more details about how the administration intends to determine whether a specific technique would be legal, depending on the circumstances involved.

The letters from the Justice Department to Congress were provided by the staff of Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is a member of the Intelligence Committee and had sought more information from the department.

Some legal experts critical of the Justice Department interpretation said the department seemed to be arguing that the prospect of thwarting a terror attack could be used to justify interrogation methods that would otherwise be illegal.

“What they are saying is that if my intent is to defend the United States rather than to humiliate you, than I have not committed an offense,” said Scott L. Silliman, who teaches national security law at Duke University.

But a senior Justice Department official strongly challenged this interpretation on Friday, saying that the purpose of the interrogation would be just one among many factors weighed in determining whether a specific procedure could be used.

“I certainly don’t want to suggest that if there’s a good purpose you can head off and humiliate and degrade someone,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was describing some legal judgments that remain classified.

“The fact that you are doing something for a legitimate security purpose would be relevant, but there are things that a reasonable observer would deem to be outrageous,” he said.

At the same time, the official said, “there are certainly things that can be insulting that would not raise to the level of an outrage on personal dignity.”

The humiliating and degrading treatment of prisoners is prohibited by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

Determining the legal boundaries for interrogating terrorism suspects has been a struggle for the Bush administration. Some of those captured in the first two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were subjected to particularly severe methods, including waterboarding, which induces a feeling of drowning.

But the rules for interrogations became more restrictive beginning in 2004, when the Justice Department rescinded a number of classified legal opinions, including a memorandum written in August 2002 that argued that nothing short of the pain associated with organ failure constituted illegal torture. The executive order that Mr. Bush issued in July 2007 was a further restriction, in response to a Supreme Court ruling in 2006 that holding that all prisoners in American captivity must be treated in accordance with Common Article 3.

Mr. Benczkowski’s letters were in response to questions from Mr. Wyden, whose committee had received classified briefings about the executive order.

That order specifies some conduct that it says would be prohibited in any interrogation, including forcing an individual to perform sexual acts, or threatening an individual with sexual mutilation. But it does not say which techniques could still be permitted.

Legislation that was approved this year by the House and the Senate would have imposed further on C.I.A. interrogations, by requiring that they conform to rules spelled out in the Army handbook for military interrogations that bans coercive procedures. But Mr. Bush vetoed that bill, saying that the use of harsh interrogation methods had been effective in preventing terrorist attacks.

The legal reasoning included in the latest Justice Department letters is less expansive than what department lawyers offered as recently as 2005 in defending the use of aggressive techniques. But they show that the Bush administration lawyers are citing the sometimes vague language of the Geneva Conventions to support the idea that interrogators should not be bound by ironclad rules.

In one letter written Sept. 27, 2007, Mr. Benczkowski argued that “to rise to the level of an outrage” and thus be prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, conduct “must be so deplorable that the reasonable observer would recognize it as something that should be universally condemned.”

Mr. Wyden said he was concerned that, under the new rules, the Bush administration had put Geneva Convention restrictions on a “sliding scale.”

If the United States used subjective standards in applying its interrogation rules, he said, then potential enemies might adopt different standards of treatment for American detainees based on an officer’s rank or other factors.

“The cumulative effect in my interpretation is to put American troops at risk,” Mr. Wyden said.