We need your help TODAY and THIS WEEKEND and through next week, people. And thanks to every one of you in advance!

Among three candidates - a Green, a Republican, and a Democratic incumbent indicted on multiple corruption charges - Louisiana Green Party candidate MALIK RAHIM is the only one who truly looked after the people of New Orleans, the people of the Ninth Ward, etc., after the scandal of the levees that were allowed to break after Hurricane Katrina.

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, it was Malik Rahim who helped to found the grassroots assistance organisation called the COMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE.

Today and all through next week YOUR HELP is needed to make phone calls to New Orleans voters -- from now up to Election Day -- as well as to potential donors/supporters outside New Orleans.

If you know anyone who can GO to New Orleans to help, please do try to recruit them, too.

We also need your help to raise as many little contributions of CASH as we can, and especially NOW and over THIS WEEKEND, BEFORE MONDAY. After Monday we still need donations but we need as many funds as possible to already be donated to the campaign THIS WEEKEND in order for the campaign to be able to USE THEM as soon as possible to be effective.

$5.00, $10.00, $20.00, etc., please contribute online through PAYPAL

www.votemalik.com/contribute -- or call the campaign and donate

over the phone. See www.votemalik.com, or email info@votemalik.com for methods of donating besides Paypal online.

Please forward this message and ask your peeps, your organizations, to help also! Thanks!!

Phone banking only requires a computer with Internet connection, plus your phone to make long-distance calls (for all of us calling from outside New Orleans).

Phone bank info and SIGN UP are here:
http://www.tinyurl.com/5686o2

As Bruce Dixon writes in his extremely telling article, below:

"In a low turnout environment like this a few votes, a modest contribution of money or time can make a big difference. "

He adds, "If you want a change, be that change."

Peace,
Marian Douglas-Ungaro
Washington, DC

The 36th Annual Thomas Merton Award will honor Malik Rahim!

The 2008 award dinner will be on Wednesday, November 12th!
6pm Social Hour
7:20pm Dinner
Circuit Center and Ballroom

The Circuit Center and Ballroom is located at 5 Hot Metal Street, in the IBEW Hall, right on the corner of Hot Metal and Carson Streets. There will be free parking, easy bus access, and a vegetarian (including vegan) dinner catered by the locally renowned Fluted Mushroom.

Reservations: $45 ($26 for students/low-income)
Have a group? We can accommodate tables of 10 people at a time. The cost for a table will be $400. Please RSVP by October 31!

Reserve your space by:
Check (made payable to "Thomas Merton Center" with "TMC Dinner" in the memo line)
Cash (stop into the TMC during regular business hours - Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm)
Credit Card (either mail us your information or click here.)

To mail in payment: Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Ways to help:
If you can't attend, make a donation! Or buy and sell lots of raffle tickets…someone has to win the prizes: a trip to New York (all expenses paid), a custom-built bike from Free Ride!, and a whole slew of gift certificates & tickets – sports and cultural – for Pittsburgh attractions! Would you like to purchase an ad in our dinner program book? If you have a business, big or small, or just want to honor the Center, buy an ad in the program. Rates are as low as $50 and as high as $500 to become an underwriter. People read those ads and support those who share their beliefs in justice. And you can always offer to help with the dinner. There is enough work for all of us involved in this major event.

Questions? Call 412-361-3022 or e-mail Melissa.

This November 12, the Merton Center will be honoring activist Malik Rahim at the annual Thomas Merton Award ceremony. Malik is a former Black Panther, convicted felon, and a long-time housing and prison activist in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He gained publicity as a community organizer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

During Hurricane Katrina, Malik stayed to assist the community and has been speaking out about racism and the failures of government exposed by the Katrina disaster. To counter the powerful corporate forces trying to control the rebuilding, Malik has founded Rebuild Green to work with community-based organizations' efforts to advance social justice and environmental sustainability. Malik states that "By focusing on green building technology, renewable energy, mass transit systems, and green community development that empowers local people to take control of their local resources, the rebuilding of New Orleans can take our city from being a symbol of disaster to being a prototype sustainable city of the future."

In July of 2008, Malik filed to run for Louisiana's second congressional district seat of the U.S. House of Representatives as a Green Party candidate.

Malik Rahim - Green Party congressional candidate Louisiana