Text Fwd:[Translation] WHAT DO THESE SHIPS DO? 이 배들은 무엇을 하는가?

The below is the Korean translations of the links. Click the links to see the articles in the original English language version.

5월 7일 배쓰 철강 공장(Bath Iron Works: BIW) 에서 또 하나의 [건조된] 이지스 구축함이 “세례식”을 받을 것입니다.
양교수님이 이지스 구축함들을 정박할 남한 제주도의 해군 기지 건설에 항의하며 단식 30일째 김옥에 있습니다.
레이시온이 지은 “미사일 방어”의 요격 미사일이 이지스 구축함으로부터 발사되고 있습니다.
______________________________

http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-do-these-ships-do.html
2011년 5월 5일
이 배들은 무엇을 하는가?
브루스 개그논

저는 오는 6월 17일부터 19일까지 메사추세츠 근처에서 열릴 글로벌 넷워크의 19번째 연간 우주 조직 회담에 관련된 제일들의 제 속도에 박차를 가하고 있습니다. 우리는 행사에서 레이시온 회사의 우주 기술 작업에 초점을 맞출 것인데 그것들이메사추세츠에 기반하고 최근 가장 불안정하게 하는 무기 시스템들중 많은 것들을 바로 우리 눈앞에서 짓고 있기 때문입니다.

우연히, 오는 토요일 메인주 베쓰에서 여러분께서 위의 사진에서 보듯 스탠다드 3 (SM3) 미사일 방어” 요격기의 발사대인또다른 이지스 구축함의 건조, “세례식”이 있을 것입니다. 그러므로 이 두 행사가 요즈음 제 일을 묶고 있습니다.

메인주에서 이 이지스 전함들이 정말 무엇을 하는지 아는 사람은 별로 없습니다. 사람들은 케네디 강으로 차를 몰고 가 배쓰 철강공장 밑 선박장에 보통 정박해 있는 1~2 개의 이지스들을 볼 때야 그것들을 주목할 지 모릅니다. 사람들은 배쓰 철강 공장이국가에서 가장 큰 비정부 고용주이며 배쓰가 선박 건조의 긴 역사를 갖고 있다는 것을 압니다. 그러나 그것으로 끝납니다.대부분의 사람들은 그 배들이 미국(누구로부터?)을 방어한다고 생각하고 놔둡니다, 사실, 대부분의 메인주 사람들은 그 것 이상을알려고 원하지 않는데 왜냐하면 배쓰 철강 공장에서 일할 지 모르는 이웃들과 갈등에 있고 싶어하질 않기 때문입니다.

몇년전에 환경 운동에 유행처럼 “생물 지역” 이란 문구가 있었습니다. 그 생각은 좋은 환경 운동론자는 그것들과 일을 지키기위해 생물 보전에 대해 더 친숙해야 한다는 것입니다. 그러나 저는 그 말이 다른 운동들에도 적용되어야 한다 봅니다. 우리는모두 미군사 제국이 우리의 생태-지역에서 일하고 있는지 알고 그것이 우리의 국가와 세계에 좋은 일인가에 대한 대중 토론을북돋아야 합니다.

레이시온에 위해 만들어지는 이지스 구축함들과 요격기들 경우, 이 시스템들은 오늘날 미 국방부에 위해 배치되는 가장 도발적인무기들입니다. 제가 과거에 많이 묘사한 것처럼, 그것들은 러시아와 중국의 경계를 따라 찔러지며 그 양쪽의 국가들의 대항움직임을 강요하고 잇습니다. 이는 우리를 위험하고 비싼 새로운 무기 경쟁으로 이끕니다.

우리 주가 재정적 위기에 있음을 보임에 따라 여기 메인주에서 우리는 깊은 큰 구멍들이 있는 도로들 위에서 차를 몰며 우리의많은 다리들은 수선을 필요로 하며 교육 및 사회 프로그램들은 삭감됩니다. 진보적 활동가들은 경탄스럽게도 이 삭감들에 항의하나미국 군사 지출에 대한 치명적 연결을 하는 이들은 많지 않습니다-그리고 그들은 우리의 셍태 지역의 군사 생산 장소들에 대한거대한 돈의 지출을 특별히 무시합니다.

이 글을 쓰는 와중에 양윤모 교수는 남한 제주도의 감옥에서 30째 단식일을 보내고 있습니다. 그의 신성한 생태-지역 파괴에대한 비폭력적 저항으로 인한 수감은 메인주 철강 공장과 메사추세츠 레이시온에 직접적으로 연결되어 있습니다.

우리의 생태 지역들 각각을 연결하는 하나의 원이 있으니 그것은 안타깝게도 폭력과 파괴의 하나입니다. 이지스 구축함들은 오늘날리비아, 제주도, 그리고 메사추세츠와 메인주에서 새로운 10억 달러 전함들을 지불하기 위해 사회 진보 생명을 파괴하고 있으며우리 모두를 위해 미래를 불안전하게 만들 것입니다.

관련 링크: 우주의 무기와 핵을 반대하는 글로벌 넷워크 19번째 연간 우주 조직 회담, 메사추세츠, 안도버
http://www.space4peace.org/actions/gnconf_2011.htm
_________________________________________________
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/protest-of-aegis-christening-planned-in.html

그 들 나라의 “미사일 방어” 시스템들로 장착된 이지스 구축함들 정박에 항의하는 일본 활동가들

미국 해군의 이지스 구축함들을 정박하는데 사용될 환경적으로 민감한 섬의 해군 기지건설에 항의하는 제주도의 한국인들


http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/protest-of-aegis-christening-planned-in.html
2011년 4월 26일
메인주에서 계획된 이지스 "세례식" 항의 시위
브루스 개그논


[미] 해군은 5월 7일 토요일, 메인주 배쓰 아이런 웍쓰에서 또다른 구축함을 “세례” 할 것이다. 평화 단체들은 오전 8시30분 부터 10시까지 그 행사에서 항의 시위를 벌일 계획이다. 시위 후에 사람들은 배쓰의 아담스 멜만 하우스(센터 스트리트212)의 정오 점심에 오도록 초청된다.

시위는 미소하는 나무들의 비무장 농장, 우주의 무기와 핵을 반대하는 글로벌 넷워크, 메인주 평화 재향 군인회, 그리고 메인주코드 핑크에 의해 후원된다.

“미사일 방어” 시스템들이라 불리는 것들로 장착될 이 구축함들은 핵 보복 군사력을 무력화하기 위해 러시아와 중국 경계들 주위에이지스 배치를 부르는 공격적 미 국방부 군사 전략의 열쇠들이다.

남한 제주도에서 현재 해군 기지 건설에 반대하여 진행되는 힘들게 싸워지는 투쟁들은 해군이 이 배들의 증가하는 함대를 위해 더많은 항구들을 필요로 함에 따라 이 이지스 구축함들에 연결되어 있다.

120만 달러가 지출되는 리비아에 대한 개개의 크루즈 미사일 공격들은 이 이지스 전함들에 의해 발사되었다.

연구들은 군사 생산에 십억 달러를 소비하는 것은 8,555개의 직장들을 창조한다 한다. 그러나 같은 10억 달러가 BIW 와같은 철도 시스템들을 짓는데 투자되면 19,795개의 직장들을 얻을 것이다.

대중은 오늘날 직장으로 아우성 치고 있다. 기업들은 더 싼 해외의 노동에 끌리기 때문에 거대한 세금 삭감에도 불구, 이곳미국에 투자하고 있지 않다. 그러므로 우리가 이 나라에서 더 많은 직장을 원하면 우리는 현재 끝없는 전쟁에 낭비되는 연방 세금달러들을 취하고 BIW 와 같은 시설들에 철도 시스템들, 풍력 터빈들, 그리고 태양력 시스템들을 짓는데 투자해야 한다.

더 많은 정보는 (207) 763-4062 or (207) 443-9502에 연락하시길.

Text Fwd: PYRAMIDS TO THE HEAVENS

http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/pyramids-to-heavens.html
Monday, April 25, 2011
PYRAMIDS TO THE HEAVENS

The media is abuzz with the human interest story about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) who will be flying to Cape Canaveral for Friday's scheduled launch of the space shuttle Endeavour which will carry her husband, Mark Kelly, to the International Space Station (ISS).

Rep. Giffords has recovered well enough from the recent tragic shooting of her and others in Arizona to make the trip. This launch will be the second-to-last mission of the space shuttle program before it is shut down in favor of Obama's plan to privatize key portions of the space launch business.

Like so many other things in our society today, the plan to privatize space launches comes after years of taxpayer investment created the basic space technological infrastructure that will now, to a considerable extent, be turned over wealthy investors. Immediate plans call for private industry to boost "space tourism trips" where people, with too much money on their hands, take a joy ride up into the heavens. From there we'll see private space developers begin to contract with the government for launch services. Eventually private corporations will fly missions to, and make land claims on, the moon, asteroids, and other planetary bodies for the purpose of extracting precious resources from those places.

In the meantime massive government investment will continue to create space military technologies to "control and dominate space" so that when the day comes where profit can be made from mining the sky, the Space Command will be able to patrol a military highway, or create a "front gate," to determine which countries or corporations have the ability to travel to and from Earth to space.

This strategy was all clearly spelled out in the 1989 Congressional study called Military Space Forces: The Next 50 Years. Author, and congressional staffer John Collins, wrote:

Military space forces at the bottom of Earth's so-called gravity well are poorly positioned to accomplish offensive/defensive/deterrent missions, because great energy is needed to overcome gravity during launch. Forces at the top, on a space counterpart of "high ground," could initiate action and detect, identify, track, intercept, or otherwise respond more rapidly to attacks. [This would include bases on the moon, armed space stations, and other orbiting battle platforms.] Put simply, it takes less energy to drop objects down a well than to cast them out.... Armed forces might lie in wait at that location to hijack rival shipments on return.

Nuclear reactors thus remain the only known long-lived, compact source able to supply military space forces with electric power..... Larger versions could meet multi megawatt needs of space-based lasers.... Nuclear reactors must support major bases on the moon..... Safety factors, rather than technological feasibility, will remain the principal impediment to nuclear power in space, unless officials convince influential critics that risks are acceptably low.

This is all a very expensive proposition. Some years ago the industry publication, Space News, wrote an editorial admitting they had to come up with a "secure funding source" in order to pay for their industry's plans in space if the U.S. hoped to stay on top of the heap. In the editorial they notified readers that indeed they had identified such a funding source - the "entitlement programs" and were sending their lobbyists to Washington to secure them for their use.

Officially the entitlement programs are: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and what is left of the welfare program. It is these programs that today are under vicious attack by the corporate interests who wish to use those funds in part to build their pyramids to the heavens.

The spectacle of a recovering Rep. Giffords and Obama waving to her husband as he blasts off on the space shuttle will bring tears to many eyes and warm feelings in many hearts. The aerospace industry hopes that more support for "everything" space will also result.

Text Fwd: DEMANDING CONVERSION AT BIW

On May 7 another Aegis destroyer will be "christened" at Bath Iron Works and a protest will be held beginning at 10:00 am

Organizing Notes
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/demanding-conversion-at-biw.html
Saturday, April 16, 2011
DEMANDING CONVERSION AT BIW



Today was the 6th weekly vigil at Bath Iron Works (BIW) here in Maine during the Lenten season. Organized by the Smiling Trees Disarmament Farm, these weekly vigils have been a mainstay outside the Navy ship yard for many years.


Since our house is so close it is one of the few protests we can actually walk to - a very nice thing for us.


I held a sign today that has a train painted on it by an artist friend and reads "Built in Bath" across the top. As the Saturday shift workers drove by at noon it was clear that many of them understood the message - and many of them agree - that something different could and should be produced at BIW. There is growing support amongst the workers to consider the idea of conversion. But in order to make it happen the workers inside these military production facilities are going to have to become more vocal.


These Aegis destroyers, with so-called "missile defense" systems on-board, are keys to the aggressive Pentagon military strategy that calls for deployments around Russia and China's borders in order to neutralize their nuclear retaliatory forces.


The hard fought struggle now going on at Jeju Island in South Korea against the construction of a Navy base is linked to these Aegis destroyers as the Navy needs more ports of call for the ever-expanding fleet of these ships.


The next "christening" of an Aegis at BIW will be on Saturday, May 7 so we will once again put out the call for peace activists to join us there for a protest of these war ships. Many of Maine's leading politicians, including our new Republican governor, will be on-hand for the event. We will gather at 10:00-11:30 am in order to be there as the thousands of people file into the ship yard to watch the ceremony. We'll hook up a portable sound system and hear speeches from representatives of many peace groups in the state. After it is over we'll hold a pot luck lunch at the Addams-Melman House in Bath.


We'll be talking alot that day about jobs. Studies show that spending $1 billion on military production creates 8,555 jobs. But if that same $1 billion was invested in building rail systems at places like BIW we'd get 19,795 jobs. That's a huge difference and you'd think that the media, unions, politicians, and the public would be all over this little known bit of good news.


People are clamoring for jobs these days. Corporations, despite huge tax cuts, are not investing here in the U.S. because they are attracted to cheaper labor overseas. So if we want more jobs in this country we've got to take our federal tax dollars, that are presently being pissed down the rat hole, and invest them in building rail systems, wind turbines, solar systems back here at home.


This won't happen though unless we demand it and we must do it repeatedly. We'll have another opportunity to do so at BIW on May 7.

Video Fwd: Hillsboro Beach FL Dredge Damages Coral Reef

* Video Fwd from Bruce Gagnon on April 13, 2011

Hillsboro Beach FL Dredge Damages Coral Reef

Text Fwd: DOUBLE DUTY AT THE STATE CAPITAL

Early on (the governor's office is right behind the stairs but he was hiding out on the beaches in Jamaica after only three months on the job)
Dud Hendrick, president of Maine Veterans for Peace

CodePink Maine's Lisa Savage talks about the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign

Former State Senator Michael Brennan (Portland) on impact of proposed social spending cuts in Maine
The view from the top of the stairs during the "mural" controversy portion of the protest double-header

Bruce Gagnon's Organizing Notes
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/double-duty-at-state-capital.html
DOUBLE DUTY AT THE STATE CAPITAL

The view from the top of the stairs during the "mural" controversy portion of the protest double-header

It was a great day in Augusta today. We had long planned this as our day to hold a rally calling on all elected officials in Maine to demand that we Bring Our War $$ Home. Due to bad weather last Friday we were asked by the Union of Maine Visual Artists to share our rally permit with them. Without hesitation we agreed and by the end of the day 400 people had turned out to take part in a protest double-header.


The Bring Our War $$ Home campaign led off the event with an hour of speakers and music. One stirring moment occurred when the fiery Mayor of Biddeford, Joanne Twomey, joined us and took the microphone to say that she is tired of cutting jobs and social programs in her city. She said that at the last city council meeting she brought up cutting war spending as an alternative to these cutbacks and then told the roaring crowd "I offer a challenge to every mayor in Maine to say we need to Bring Our War $$ Home." Maine public radio aired some of her strong words in their evening news report from the capital.


The rally began with singing by the Raging Grannies and then Dud Hendrick, president of Maine Veterans for Peace, underscored the importance of the day as it was the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. who many believe was killed because he spoke out against the Vietnam War - calling it a war on "programs of social uplift" as well as morally bankrupt.


Following a quick change of signs the chanting crowd switched gears and gave their full attention to speakers lined by the Union of Maine Visual Artists who came to protest the controversial decision by our new governor to pull down a labor oriented mural from the walls inside the state Department of Labor. You can see some news coverage of the rally here


Today was a good example of group solidarity and connecting the dots between the issues. I was proud that the Bring Our War $$ Home rally showed how addiction to war is tied to our addiction to oil. Our speakers linked climate change, militarism, social spending cuts, attacks on labor and civil liberties, and the need to protect one another.


In my opening words I said the following: "We're at a crucial time - No more going it alone - no more of the 'business model of organizing' where everyone/every group just looks out for themselves. Those days are over. They will pick us off one at a time if we continue to do that. We are all in this together now - it's gotta be all for one and one for all.....or nothing. It's time we showed the links between all the issues and put out an alternative sustainable vision for the future."

See more coverage here and here

Text Fwd: REMEMBERING PLOWSHARES ACTION 20 YEARS LATER

Organizing Notes
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/remembering-plowshares-action-20-years.html
Saturday, April 02, 2011
REMEMBERING PLOWSHARES ACTION 20 YEARS LATER

Before dawn on Easter March 31, 1991 Phil Berrigan, Daniel Sicken, Barry Roth, Tom Lewis, and Kathy Boylan boarded the USS Gettysburg, an Aegis destroyer that was docked at Bath Iron Works in Maine. They hammered and poured blood on the missile hatches. It became a huge story in Maine. The charges were dropped the day before they were set to go to trial.

On Friday, April 1 the surviving members (Daniel, Barry and Kathy) of the Aegis Plowshares held a 20th anniversary reunion vigil at BIW and then a pot luck supper at the Addams-Melman House in Bath. A severe snow storm that same day though hampered the turnout but still twenty hearty souls turned up for the vigil at the shipyard and the pot luck that followed. Then again this morning another vigil was held at the shipyard as the Saturday shift was getting out of work.

It was a wonderful reunion for the Aegis plowshares and their supporters.

The ships are outfitted with "missile defense" (MD) systems and are key components in the U.S first-strike attack system. Their job would be to knock out a given country's nuclear retaliatory forces after the initial U.S. attack.

One of these Aegis MD systems was used by the Pentagon to hit a falling U.S. military satellite in 2008 proving they also had the capability to serve as an anti-satellite weapon. Obama is now deploying these Aegis destroyers with their MD systems around Russia and China.

A very fine article about the reunion vigil appeared in our local newspaper yesterday. See it here

Text Fwd: SAD NEWS on Maine, Japan, and Libya

During March 20 protest at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia in support of Bradley Manning

Organizing Notes
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
SAD NEWS

The governator of Maine took down the mural from the Department of Labor office sometime over the weekend. Was probably during the dark of night. He has hidden it and won't disclose the location. Even the artist of the mural had no idea her work was being removed nor does she know what was done with it. The Union of Maine Visual Artists is planning a news conference on Friday in the state capital Hall of Flags to demand the return of the mural and have invited me to speak on behalf of the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign. Things will start at noon.

The latest faux pas from the governator was his statement about prisoners in the Maine jail system getting "health care and some education" while old ladies go without. “If it were up to me, I’d find a dungeon very cheaply and house them all," he grunted as his divide the public against one another strategy continues to play out.

The National Police Agency in Japan announced today:

It gave up transportation of a man’s body found in Okuma-town, Fukushima prefecture within 10km from Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. The body showed such a high level radioactive contamination that there is no way to carry it. There is possibility that more bodies are left in this 10km area. The agency says it has to plan “a measure to counter this”. The agency says the man's body was found by the Fukushima Prefectural Riot Police men and others who had been informed of it, in the open lot of a workshop 5 to 6 km from the nuclear plant.

The surface of the body counted radioactivity level of “over 100,000 CPM (count per minute) ” for which a whole body decontamination is required. There is possibility that while carrying it, the body will contaminate the men at work. The agency gave up moving the body because it will contaminate the recipients and the surroundings, too. The body is contained in a sack and laid in the nearby building for the time being.

Washington Post reports: The military intervention in Libya has cost the United States “about $550 million” in extra spending so far, a Defense Department spokeswoman said Tuesday, providing the first official estimate of the mission’s price tag. Almost 60 percent of the total cost has been for munitions — the most expensive of which are Tomahawk missiles, which cost more than $1 million each to replace.

Text Fwd: Two Grandmothers, Two Priests and a Nun go onto a Nuclear Base: Prison for Peacemakers in Tacoma WA

* Text fwd from Frank Coradro with the below words on March 28, 2011: Bill is Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill is part of the legal team supporting the defendants and was in Tacoma for the sentencing. You can learn more about the defendants at disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com. Bill can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com

Two Grandmothers, Two Priests and a Nun go onto a Nuclear Base: Prison for Peacemakers in Tacoma WA
By Bill Quigley

Two grandmothers, two priests and a nun were sentenced in federal court in Tacoma, WA Monday March 28, 2011, for confronting hundreds of US nuclear weapons stockpiled for use by the deadly Trident submarines. Sentenced were: Sr. Anne Montgomery, 83, a Sacred Heart sister from New York, who was ordered to serve 2 months in federal prison and 4 months electronic home confinement; Fr. Bill Bischel, 81, a Jesuit priest from Tacoma Washington, ordered to serve 3 months in prison and 6 months electronic home confinement; Susan Crane, 67, a member of the Jonah House community in Baltimore, Maryland, ordered to serve 15 months in federal prison; Lynne Greenwald, 60, a nurse from Bremerton Washington, ordered to serve 6 months in federal prison; and Fr. Steve Kelly, 60, a Jesuit priest from Oakland California, ordered to serve 15 months in federal prison. They were also ordered to pay $5300 each and serve an additional year in supervised probation. Bischel and Greenwald are active members of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, a community resisting Trident nuclear weapons since 1977. What did they do? Seattle Times: “Old vs. Navy,” Bill Bichsel, SJ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63B_PaQatco In the darkness of All Souls night, November 2, 2009, the five quietly cut through a chain link perimeter fence topped with barbed wire. Carefully stepping through the hole in the fence, they entered into the Kitsap-Bangor Navy Base outside of Tacoma Washington – home to hundreds of nuclear warheads used in the eight Trident submarines based there. Walking undetected through the heavily guarded base for hours, they covered nearly four miles before they came to where the nuclear missiles are stored. The storage area was lit up by floodlights. Dozens of small gray bunkers – about the size of double car garages - were ringed by two more chain link fences topped with taut barbed wire. USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED one sign boldly proclaimed. Another said WARNING RESTRICTED AREA and was decorated with skull and crossbones. This was it – the heart of the US Trident Pacific nuclear weapon program. Nuclear weapons were stored in the bunkers inside the double fence line. Wire cutters cut through these fences as well. There they unfurled hand painted banners which said “Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident Illegal and Immoral”, knelt to pray and waited to be arrested as dawn broke. What were they protesting against? Each of the eight Trident submarines has 24 nuclear missiles on it. The Ground Zero community explains that each of the 24 missiles on one submarine have multiple warheads in it and each warhead has thirty times the destructive power of the weapon used on Hiroshima. One fully loaded Trident submarine carries 192 warheads, each designed to explode with the power of 475 kilotons of TNT force. If detonated at ground level each would blow out a crater nearly half a mile wide and several hundred feet deep. The bunker area where they were arrested is where the extra missiles are stored. In December 2010, the five went on trial before a jury in federal court in Tacoma charged with felony damage to government property, conspiracy and trespass. But before the trial began the court told the defendants what they could and could not do in court. Evidence of the medical consequences of nuclear weapons? Not allowed. Evidence that first strike nuclear weapons are illegal under US and international law? Not allowed. Evidence that there were massive international nonviolent action campaigns against Trident missiles where juries acquitted protestors? Not allowed. The defense of necessity where violating a small law, like breaking down a door, is allowed where the actions are taken to prevent a greater harm, like saving a child trapped in a burning building? Not allowed. Most of the jurors appeared baffled when defendants admitted what they did in their opening statements. They remained baffled when questions about nuclear weapons were objected to by the prosecutor and excluded by the court. The court and the prosecutor repeatedly focused the jury on their position that this was a trial about a fence. Defendants tried valiantly to point to the elephant in the room – the hundreds of nuclear weapons. Each defendant gave an opening and closing statement explaining, as much as they were allowed, why they risked deadly force to expose the US nuclear arsenal. Sojourner Truth was discussed as were Rosa Parks, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. The resistance of the defendants was in the spirit of the civil rights movement, the labor movement, the suffragist movement, the abolition of slavery movement. Crowds packed the courtroom each of the five days of trial. Each night there was a potluck and a discussion of nuclear weapons by medical, legal and international experts who came for the trial but who were largely muted by the prosecution and the court. While the jury held out over the weekend, ultimately, the activists were convicted. Hundreds packed the courthouse today supporting the defendants. The judge acknowledged the good work of each defendant, admitted that prison was unlikely to deter them from further actions, but said he was bound to uphold the law otherwise anarchy would break out and take down society. The prosecutors asked the judge to send all the defendants to federal prison plus three years supervised probation plus pay over five thousand dollars. The specific jail time asked for ranged from 3 years for Fr. Kelly, 30 months for Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald, 7 months in jail plus 7 months home confinement, Sr. Anne Montgomery and Fr. Bill Bichsel, 6 months jail plus 6 months home confinement. Each of the defendants went right into prison from the courtroom as the spectators sang to them. Outside the courthouse, other activists pledged to confront the Trident in whatever way is necessary to stop the illegal and immoral weapons of mass destruction. For more info go to: http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/ Or contact: Leonard Eiger, 425-445-2190, subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action 16159 Clear Creek Road NW Poulsbo, WA 98370

Text Fwd: WAR ON THE WORKERS

Organizing Notes
WAR ON THE WORKERS
March 25, 2011

I missed attending a hastily called news conference today in Augusta, Maine, organized by the Union of Maine Visual Artists and the state AFL-CIO, because I was taping the next edition of my TV show. The news confab was speaking out against our reactionary Gov. Paul LePage's decision to take down a mural that is on the wall inside the lobby of the state Department of Labor.

The governor apparently received an email signed by "Secret Admirer" who complained that the mural was inappropriate for the Department of Labor. The photo above is only part of the mural which depicts the history of workers in Maine who have labored in the textile and paper mills and at Bath Iron Works (BIW) among other places. The art piece tells the story of labor strikes and worker victories to bring safe and fair working conditions.

The anonymous email, which precipitated Gov. LePage's rampage against labor history in Maine, is as follows:

February 24, 2011

Dear Governor LePage:

Welcome to Augusta. You are doing a great job. Keep it up.
The purpose of my letter is to express my disbelief of what I saw at the Maine Department of Labor Offices in Augusta during a recent visit. While sitting in the lobby I had the opportunity to study a very large mural which adorns the lobby area. In this mural I observed a figure which closely resembles the former Commissioner of Labor. In studying the mural I also observed that this mural is nothing but propaganda to further the agenda of the Union movement. I felt for a moment that I was in communist North Korea where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.
Mr. LePage with all due respect I must say: "MR. LEPAGE, PLEASE TEAR DOWN THIS MURAL."

Again, thank you for your candor and fresh approach to State Government. Keep up the good work.

A Secret Admirer......


So obviously all it takes is a complaint from one right-winger and the new Tea Party Republican governor tries to wipe out more than 100 years of gritty worker history in our state. Just one comparison to "communist North Korea" and down the mural comes in the tradition of Ronald Reagan's famous Berlin call on Gorbachev to "tear down that wall."

As I am writing this I got a call from Peter Woodruff, union worker at Bath Iron Works, who took the day off so he could attend the news conference. He was asked to speak by leaders of the Union of Maine Visual Artists and he talked about another 100 workers being laid off today at BIW. He concluded his words with a call for the several hundred people to show up for the April 4 Bring Our War $$ Home rally at the state capital.

The hardcore right-wing is feeling empowered right now in the U.S. They are demanding things like taking down murals - thoughts they'd never have entertained before the recent election - which LePage won with only 38% of the vote in a three-way race. Each week we are seeing more and more evidence that the war on the working class is in full-swing in our state.

It's going to take all of us to hold on to social progress at the rate things are going. We are going to be called on to stand up and speak out even when our knees are shaking from fright.

Think of the struggle and sacrifices people made to build the labor movement and to bring forward social progress. We all need to defend that hard won legacy.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Gov Hurts
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Text Fwd: BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME

Organizing Notes
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME

Last night I attended a public meeting at my city hall that was called by the politicians who represent this area in the state legislature. They wanted public input on how they should react to the governor's proposed cutbacks in the state budget. The cutbacks will largely fall on public education and social programs. The governor wants to give tax cuts for those at the top. About 50 people from surrounding towns turned out.

While in Washington DC I had received an email from one of the legislators inviting the public to the meeting so I forwarded it around to a couple key people. Five members from the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign showed up and each of us stood up during the meeting and made statements. I also passed out flyers to everyone about our upcoming April 4 rally inside the state capital.

As usual the politicians were cold and made no comments about what we had to say about cutting war spending as one way to deal with our fiscal crisis here in Maine. As it turns out Maine's share of war spending since 2001 is now $3.4 billion - the same amount that our state will spend this year. One of our supporters last night told the state officials that our congressional Rep. Chellie Pingree in Washington was trying to bring our war $$ home and that she could use some help. (Last Thursday she voted for the Kucinich resolution in the House of Representatives that called for a withdrawal from Afghanistan. It lost badly.) This did not seem to phase them one bit.

But these politicians were not our real target. The people we were actually trying to reach were the 50 people sitting in the hearing - the taxpaying citizens who are having everything dumped on their shoulders by the corporate oligarchy.

As I was walking out to my car after the meeting was over I joked with an older couple, who I had never seen before, that our latest snow storm was not a good sign of spring. They laughed and then the woman said to me in her strong Maine accent, "We'll see ya in Augusta on April 4."

This was a wonderful gift as this woman was letting us know that she truly heard our appeals in the meeting to connect the dots between endless war spending and fiscal collapse at home.

The superintendent of schools, who I had met with last year to explain the campaign, also shook my hand and thanked me for being there before I left city hall. The former chief of police in Bath, who was there to speak against cutting treatment programs for drug addicts, did the same.

It feels good to know that our message seems to be breaking through the ice. Build it and they will come.

Text Fwd: PROTESTING WARS THAT THE MEDIA LARGELY IGNORE

* Poster fwd also from Martha Duenas on March 19, 2011

Organizing Notes
Sunday, March 20, 2011
PROTESTING WARS THAT THE MEDIA LARGELY IGNORE

There were about 1,500 people at the Veterans for Peace protest at the White House yesterday. (More than 100 local protests were held yesterday across the nation.) Following the rally in Lafayette park we marched nearly one mile in a big circle through the streets and ended back up in front of the White House. We quickly climbed onto the fence and waited for the park police to give us our warnings before they started to make the arrests.

These photos are by Peter Woodruff, who was also arrested, and in all there were 113 of us put on buses and driven to the park police headquarters where we were processed in record time and released.

Fellow Mainers Mark Roman and Lisa Savage were arrested and University of Maine-Farmington students Nicole Moreau and Jade Forester were there to cheer us on.

I'll write more later about the day - need to get packed and head to train station for the return trip home.

The Washington Post coverage amounted to a photo of a person's two feet standing next to two empty combat boots with flowers in them. The caption reads: Boots belonging to a soldier who was killed in action were on display Saturday as anti-war protesters rallied in front of the White House to mark the 8th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

And that is all they wrote. The "free press" in action.

Correction: We later discovered that the Post in fact did have an article about the protest in another part of the paper. See it here

Text Fwd: ANOTHER DAY AT THE STATE CAPITAL

Click on the photos so you can read the signs

Organizing Notes Monday, March 07, 2011
ANOTHER DAY AT THE STATE CAPITAL

I left early this morning to head to Maine's state capital in Augusta with friends Dan Ellis and Peter Woodruff. There was a 9:30 am rally inside the capital by organizations representing the elderly, the homeless, and the poor. They gathered to protest our Republican governor's proposed two-year budget that would drastically slash social spending while giving more tax cuts to the rich.

We were there early enough that Dan and I could leaflet every one of the 250 folks who showed up for the event. When they called for people to gather on the stairway behind the podium, seven of our Bring Our War $$ Home supporters took their signs up onto the staircase. Most of the signs made by the groups that organized the event were mild by our standards, ours were more direct and to the point about taxing the rich and ending war spending.

Following the rally people signed up to speak before the joint House and Senate committee that is now holding hearings on the governor's proposed budget. After two hours of listening to a staff analysis they took a couple hours of public comment and then switched back to another hour of staff analysis. I finally got to speak for my three-minutes around 3:00 pm, after an almost five hour wait.

All day long people predominantly talked about their one specific area of concern - don't cut seniors medical care; don't cut HIV patients care; don't cut homeless housing assistance; don't cut aid to families. These were important and at times heart breaking stories but one thing was missing. None of the representatives I heard from AARP, United Way, poor people's organizations, or the legal agencies that represent the poor did any kind of deeper analysis of the situation at hand.

When I spoke I tried to do this by acknowledging that the governor was, despite his claims otherwise, undertaking class warfare on the working class and poor people. I mentioned that the proposed income tax cuts and estate tax cuts for those at the top would only increase the wealth divide between the 1% in the country who now control the equivalent wealth of all the rest of us on the bottom of the pyramid. This is leading us to a new feudalism I said.

The governor's claims that tax cuts for the rich would increase jobs is not supported by economic data that instead shows that state funding for education and infrastructure actually creates more jobs.

And I suggested, this economic crisis will be even worse next year. What was needed is a real solution.

I then read from the leaflet that we handed out today that said: The total debt of all 50 state governments is now $130 billion. The U.S. will spend $170 billion on our wars in Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan this year. Maine's share of war spending since 2001 is now right at $3.4 billion according to the National Priorities Project.

Imagine, I said, how those dollars could have been used to fund education, health care, and other human needs in our state. Many more of our tax dollars will be wasted as long as these wars continue.

We must, I concluded, call upon all of Maine's local, state, and federal elected officials to speak up and tell President Obama and Congress to Bring Our War $$ Home now. I also suggested that the Maine legislature might consider passing a resolution calling on Washington to Bring Our War $$ Home.

At this point I had nine seconds left on the clock to finish my last line. But the chair of the committee interrupted me to say "It's time to wrap up." I'd been watching him for hours let many people go over their time without interruption.

So I increased my volume and stared right into the eyes of the chair and said, "We should all begin to make the connections between endless war spending and our economic crisis here at home. Thank you."

It was a long wait to speak for three-minutes but I think our presence in the capital brought a broader dimension to the day, something I am very proud of our folks for doing. We can talk all day about how bad cuts in social funding are but we have a responsibility to clearly articulate the path out of this deep hole if we hope to restore the economy and protect social justice.

Text Fwd: WORKING AT THE STATE LEVEL

Bruce Gagnon's Organizing Notes
Friday, March 04, 2011
WORKING AT THE STATE LEVEL

It's good to see folks making the key connections in the photos above. Hopefully this will keep spreading. Here in Maine we are doing our bit as last Saturday, yesterday, today, and Monday rallies are being held in our capital city, Augusta, to protest the draconian cuts in our state budget by our new Tea Party Republican governor. He has publicly been giving high praise to the Republican governor of Wisconsin for attacking the unions.

We've had people holding Bring Our War $$ Home signs and banners in Augusta each day and yesterday began handing out flyers for a rally we are organizing inside the state capital on April 4.

I too will join the events today in Augusta as I first attend a morning conference on the state budget cuts and then will head over to the capital building where union teachers, who are under attack, will be rallying. I'll hold a sign that reads "Education not Warfare" and hand out flyers as well.

Our campaign in Maine is also now raising funds to purchase full-page signatures ads calling on the public and all elected officials in our state to make the connections between war spending and economic crisis at home. We have also just paid for radio spots on three stations along Maine's populated coastal region with the same message. So we are trying hard to focus people on the pot of taxpayer gold that is being pissed down the rat hole.

It's the states that are now the central organizing focus for the nation and the peace movement needs to be out there contributing this broader vision of cutting military spending and creating more jobs by converting the military industrial complex rather than destroying social progress.




See this video of yesterday's union rally in the cold in Augusta. At 3:07 check out how the camera zooms in on our Bring Our War $$ Home banner. Right there up front and center! That is the kind of bold action we need.

Text Fwd: HEDGES ON MARCH 19 PROTEST IN WASHINGTON

Bruce Gagnon's Organizing Notes

Thursday, March 03, 2011
HEDGES ON MARCH 19 PROTEST IN WASHINGTON

Several of us from the Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home will be heading to Washington DC for the March 19 civil resistance action at the White House. This event is once again being organized by Veterans for Peace and other veterans groups.

Mark Roman and I will take the train south together and Lisa Savage will fly down to meet us there. It is crucial that peace activists keep protesting against the Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan wars and occupations. We have a moral responsibility to stand against the insane killing of the innocents and we must also continue to point out the enormous cost of these operations.

It would be great to see many other readers of this blog at that action.

In his recent column called No Other Way Out journalist Chris Hedges writes:

On March 19, the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, I will join a coalition of U.S. military veterans from Iraq Veterans Against the War, March Forward!, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace who will gather in Lafayette Park across from the White House. The veteran-led action will result in numerous arrests, as did a Dec. 16 protest organized by Veterans for Peace. It will seek, because it is all we have left, to use our bodies to challenge the crimes of the state.

It does not matter if this protest or any other does not work. It does not matter if we are 500, as we were in December, or 50. It does not matter if the event is covered in the press or ignored. It matters only that those of us who believe in the rule of law, who find the organized sadism of war and militarism repugnant and who seek to protect the sanctity of life rise up. If we do not defend these virtues they will be extinguished. No one in power will defend them for us. Protests are rending the fabric of the U.S.-backed dictatorships in Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt and Libya. They are flickering to life in the U.S. in states like Wisconsin. And they are beginning to convulse Iraq. Iraqis, for whom eight years of war and occupation have brought nothing but misery and death, are surrounding government buildings to denounce their puppet government. They are rising up to demand jobs, basic services including electricity, a reining in of our mercenary killers, some of whom have been used to quell restless crowds, and a right to determine their own future. These protesters are our true allies, not the hired thugs we pay to repress them.

We are wasting $700 million a day to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while our teachers, firefighters and police lose their jobs, while we slash basic assistance programs for the poor, children and the elderly, while we turn our backs on the some 3 million people being pushed from their homes by foreclosures and bank repossessions and while we do nothing to help the one in six American workers who cannot find work. These wars have taken hundreds of thousands of lives. They have pushed millions into refugee or displacement camps. They have left young men and women severely crippled and maimed. They have turned our nation into an isolated pariah, fueling the very terrorism we seek to defeat. And they cannot be won. The sooner we leave Iraq and Afghanistan the sooner we will save others and finally save ourselves.

Video Fwd: CHOMSKY ON WISCONSIN PROTESTS

Organizing Notes
Sunday, February 20, 2011
CHOMSKY ON WISCONSIN PROTESTS


Democracy Now, Feb. 17, 2011

Text Fwd: Fr Jack McCaslin to join Mark Kenney in Fed Court in Omaha Fri. Fed. 25 for 'line crossing' at STRATCOM Aug 9, 2010

* Text informed by Jerry Ebner and Frank Cordaro on Feb. 15, 2011



Previous postings: 4 Catholic Peace Activist called to Omaha Fed Court
for Aug 9th line crossing at STRATCOM - Mark Kenney due in court Feb
25.....
http://groups.google.com/group/offitt-list-one/browse_thread/thread/27cac8a94b9e32a0

--------
"And any jail sentence given to Fr Jack could be a 'death sentence'
given Fr Jack's fragile health."

What: Omaha Fed Court Appearances of Mark Kenney and Fr Jack McCaslin
Date: Friday, Feb 25, 2011
Time: 2 p.m.
Place: Fed Court House, 111 South 18th Plaza, Omaha, NE


Upon returning home from a rehab hospital after spending a week in the
hospital

http://groups.google.com/group/offitt-list-one/browse_thread/thread/707124a0b4113ec4
Fr Jack McCaslin was informed that you was being summon to the Omaha
Fed. Court House to answer to charges of trespass for his crossing the
property line at Offutt AFB - home of STRATCOM last Aug. 9th.

Fr Jack join three other Catholic peace activists; Mark Kenney, Peg
Gallagher & Charles Wolford who 'cross the line' at STRATCOM on Aug
9, 2010. Fr Jack will be joined by Mark Kenney in Fed Court on Feb. 25
before Fed. Magistrate Judge Thomas D. Thalken. The other two Peg
Gallagher & Charles Wolford are negotiating plea arraignments that
would insure no jail time.


Both Fr Jack and Mark have appeared before Judge Thalken before. Mark
has served a 30 day, 45 day and two six month sentences from prior
Offutt line crossings. Judge Thalken sentenced him to the two six
month sentences. The last time Fr Jack was before Judge Thalken, the
Judge promise to send Fr Jack to jail regardless of his age or health.
We have no reason to expect the judge not to sentence Mark to a six
month jail sentence. And any jail sentence given to Fr Jack could be a
'death sentence' given Fr Jack's fragile health.

We are asking as many people who can to show up in court on Fri. Feb.
25th at 2 p.m. to show support for both Fr Jack and Mark.

***Anyone who plans be in the Omaha Fed Court House must have a photo
ID and can not have a camera or a cell phone that can take pictures in
the Fed building.

If you can't be with Fr Jack or Mark in court we are urging people to
write the Judge at:
Magistrate Judge Thomas D. Thalken
Roman L. Hruska U.S. Courthouse
111 South 18th Plaza, Omaha, NE 68102

For updates or any questions contact:
The Omaha Catholic Worker
Jerry Ebner, Mike Brennan
1104 N. 24th St. Omaha, Nebraska USA 68102
www.no-nukes.org/cwomaha
Email: cwomaha@gmail.com
402- 502- 5887

Text Fwd: WALKING ON SACRED LANDS

Organizing Notes
Monday, February 14, 2011
WALKING ON SACRED LANDS

It’s the second day of the Walk for a New Spring and we are in Northfield, Massachusetts. Today we walked more than 12 miles and yesterday we walked just three miles. Yesterday I felt nothing after walking; today my feet are stiff and a bit sore.

Yesterday in Leveret, we walked from the New England Peace Pagoda (the home of the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji) to the Congregational Church in time for their Sunday morning service. The minister shaped the worship service around the walk and after it was over about 50 local people gathered across the street in the town hall for a potluck lunch to send the walk off with a big cheer.

In the early afternoon we were back at the Peace Pagoda where we watched a fascinating documentary about Native American history in this part of New England. At Turner Falls, which we passed by, white settlers slaughtered Indian refugees in the mid 1600’s as war broke out over control of the land. In 2007 the town of Turner Falls, named after the military officer in charge of the massacre of the Indian refugees, asked Native American elders to come hold a healing ceremony with them. A nice gesture but I couldn’t help but wonder if the town was truly serious about reconciliation they might have considered changing their name.

One of the truly amazing stories in the documentary were the significant discovery of large rock mounds throughout the state that were found to be set up in perfect coordination with the sight-line of the rising sun on the solstice and the setting sun on the equinox. Carbon dating around fire pits at one of the mounds was found to be more than 4,000 years old. Some of the rocks and boulders at several of the sites were not indigenous to that particular part of the state and thus had obviously been moved there. Native people have had difficulty getting the white establishment to see the value of preserving these sacred places.

As we walked along near some of these ancient areas I couldn’t help but think how in our “modern high-tech” world, we are so disconnected from the Earth that we know virtually nothing about the history and profound spiritual nature of our surroundings. Instead we live in ignorant bliss watching our cable TV, gorging on info-tainment and junk food, the whole time believing we are the smartest and “greatest” culture in the world. It’s a mind blower to me.

Tomorrow we head north into Vermont, to Brattleboro, and after that we’ll head east to Kenne, New Hampshire before dropping back down into Massachusetts.

Tim Bullock, who has organized the walk on behalf of the Peace Pagoda, at each stop explains to those who have come to greet and feed us that the purpose of the walk is to attempt to bring a thawing of the frozen hearted people who have learned to live in our militarized culture in a perpetual state of fear and war. This war footing mentality has been blindly internalized by the white culture since the Europeans first came to this land. They quickly became accustomed to living in fear as they stole the land from the Indians. Our walk, coming in the winter and calling for an end to war, invites people to find the peace in their hearts that could come with the dawning of a new spring.

Text Fwd:Fr Jack McCaslin - Omaha priest, P&J advocate, friend of the poor and CWers diagnosed with cancer - needs your prayers

* Text fwd by Jerry Ebner on Jan. 27, 2011

Fr Jack McCaslin - Omaha priest, P&J advocate, friend of the poor and CWers diagnosed with cancer - needs your prayers

Dear Friends of the Omaha Catholic Worker:
FR. JACK MC CASLIN NEEDS YOUR PRAYERS

Fr. Jack McCaslin is an 82 year old priest from Omaha, NE. He is
veteran of the civil rights movement since 1965, the peace movement
almost forever, and has been a voice for the poor and voiceless in
Nebraska and the halls of D.C. all of his life. He was instrumental in
starting and supporting several Catholic Worker communities in the
Omaha area. He is currently a major supporter and mentor for the folks
at the Omaha CW. He has served jail time for crossing the line at
StratCom, demonstrated at SOA, recently he has been ministering to the
elderly in nursing homes. He's been a strong advocate for reform in
the Catholic Church and a member of Call To Action. He loves being a
priest, administering the sacraments and serving people, especially
the poor. All his life he has been a person who puts the teaching of
the Gospel into action.

Fr Jack last crossed the line at StratCom on Aug 9th last year. See:
http://groups.google.com/group/offitt-list-one/browse_thread/thread/79d2c2aff901ba82/dd48566dc14c3b32?lnk=gst&q=mccaslin#dd48566dc14c3b32

These days he visits death row inmates regularly and lobbies for an
end of the death penalty.

Fr Jack recently learned that he has lung cancer. He is at Bergan
Mercy Hospital Rm # 386 in Omaha NE to determine what kind of
treatment he will receive. He is facing this recent challenge with
courage and a strong faith. We ask you to remember him in your
prayers and know that as you participate in actions for social
justice, he is offering his suffering in solidarity with you.


Letters and cards can be sent to Fr, Jack McCaslin home address at:

7323 Shirley Street # 305,
Omaha, NE 68124


For updates on Fr Jack people can contact:

Omaha Catholic Worker
Jerry Ebner, Mike Brennan
1104 N. 24th St. Omaha, Nebraska USA 68102
www.no-nukes.org/cwomaha
Email: cwomaha@gmail.com
402- 502- 5887

Text Fwd: reducing US troops in europe and asia

* Text fwd from Stephanie Westbrook on Jan. 24, 2011


A poll from the New York Times and CBS News:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/nytdocs/docs/562/562.pdf

55% of US citizens polled chose reducing troops in Europe and Asia as a way to cut military spending.

42. If you HAD to choose ONE, which of the following changes to military spending would
you prefer in order to reduce the federal budget deficit: 1. reducing the size of the army and
other branches of the military, OR 2. reducing the number of American troops stationed in
Europe and Asia, OR 3. eliminating some major weapons programs, OR 4. reducing the pay
and benefits of non-combat military personnel and veterans?

Reduce size of Military branches : 7

Reduce troops in Europe/Asia: 55

Eliminate weapons programs : 19

Reduce pay of veterans: 12

DK/ NA : 7

Text Fwd: THEY AGREE WITH US - NOW JUST NEED TO SPEAK UP

Organizing Notes

Sunday, January 23, 2011
THEY AGREE WITH US - NOW JUST NEED TO SPEAK UP

The New York Times reported the other day:

As President Obama and Congress brace to battle over how to reduce chronic annual budget deficits, Americans overwhelmingly say that in general they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Yet their preference for spending cuts, even in programs that benefit them, dissolves when they are presented with specific options related to Medicare and Social Security, the programs that directly touch the most people and also are the biggest drivers of the government’s projected long-term debt.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans choose higher payroll taxes for Medicare and Social Security over reduced benefits in either program. And asked to choose among cuts to Medicare, Social Security or the nation’s third-largest spending program — the military — a majority by a large margin [55%] said cut the Pentagon. [55% of those polled also chose reducing troops in Europe and Asia as a way to cut military spending.]

This is excellent news. It means that even with all the corporate media blathering about the deficit and the need to cut back on "entitlement programs," once again the majority of American people are seeing through the fog. They are able to ultimately understand that it is not in their interests to cut Social Security and Medicare, etc. The corporate sales pitch is not working with the bulk of the people.

Great.

But - as with the numbers of Americans now against the Afghanistan war, about 60%, we've not yet been able to get people to move into action. (Action defined as public protests, more letters to editor on the subject, organizing local meetings to speak out, making demands on both political parties ........)

Maybe with the Republicans in power of the House of Representatives that will change. Possibly people will feel more urgency. (I hear you ask, how much more urgency do they need?)

I think that many of the folks who know better have been relying on Obama and the Dems to save them and they have been frozen from moving into action because in their loyal minds they perceive speaking out as being "against" the Democrats who have been in power. Even though they don't support many of the policies coming from Washington they seem to think that speaking out would make it likely that "Obama's team" would lose. Well, as it turns out, they have lost anyway in the House and are barely holding onto the Senate. Obama is no cinch to get reelected in 2012 either and even if he does he seems most interested in serving the interests of the corporations.

Maybe people will begin to thaw themselves out from this frozen state and begin to move into action before all is lost. Or maybe they will continue in their present state of fearful isolation and wait until all is lost before stepping up. Humankind has often shown the proclivity to do that.

This next year will be the strategic barometer. In the meantime thank goodness there are people out there staying on the case. Sadly though, unless we get some help soon, we are all going down the tubes.