Text Fwd: PROTEST OF AEGIS "CHRISTENING" PLANNED IN MAINE

Japanese peace activists protesting porting of Aegis destroyers outfitted with "missile defense" systems in their country

South Koreans, on Jeju Island, protest the construction of a Navy base on their environmentally sensitive island that will be used to port U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers
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Organizing Notes
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/protest-of-aegis-christening-planned-in.html
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
PROTEST OF AEGIS "CHRISTENING" PLANNED IN MAINE

The Navy will "christen" another Aegis destroyer on Saturday, May 7 at Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine. Peace groups plan to hold a protest at the event from 8:30 - 10:00 am. Following the protest people are invited to come to the Addams-Melman House (212 Centre St) in Bath for a pot luck lunch at noon.

The protest is being sponsored by the Smiling Trees Disarmament Farm, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Veterans for Peace and CodePink Maine.

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

The hard fought struggle of villagers 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 recent cruise missile attacks on Libya, costing $1.2 million each, were launched from Aegis warships.

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.

The public is 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 wasted on endless war, and invest them in building rail systems, wind turbines, and solar systems at facilities like BIW.

For more information please contact (207) 763-4062 or (207) 443-9502.

Text Fwd: [Bruce Gagnon] U.S. LOOKING FOR A FIGHT

* Image source: same as the link

Bruce Gagnon's Organizing Notes blog
U.S. LOOKING FOR A FIGHT
Nov. 27, 2010

The Advent vigils (four weeks in a row) began today at Bath Iron Works (BIW) here in Maine. BIW is the place where Navy Aegis destroyers are built that are presently being used as part of the U.S.-South Korea (ROK) war games which are bumping up against the coastline of North Korea. I noticed that the USS Cowpens is a part of this U.S. naval battle group that is being led toward North Korea by the aircraft carrier named the USS George Washington.

I know about the USS Cowpens because it was the ship that fired the first shot (cruise missiles) in the 2003 U.S. shock and awe attack on Iraq. I know this because the woman who was driving the USS Cowpens at that historic moment has become a friend of our family and was at our home for Thanksgiving just two days ago.

This young woman was a Lieutenant in the Navy and was the Officer of the Deck at the time of the Cowpens attack on Iraq. She has since gotten out of the Navy and is now a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). She has not yet gotten over the pain of her role in that unprovoked, immoral, and illegal attack on Iraq.

North Korea knows all about the U.S. proclivity to attack smaller countries for no good reason. In years past the world has watched the U.S. beat up on Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Granada, Panama, Libya, Somalia, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. North Korea must wonder if their day is coming soon as well.

As I noted in other recent blogs on this subject, the U.S. and South Korea have been running aggressive military war games each month since last July and these massive drills are directed right at North Korea. North Korea must each time put their military and their population on alert because they can't take any chances. Having seen the U.S. record of attacking weaker countries they must consider that this time the war games could be for real.

As I stood on the sidewalk in front of BIW for the hour-long vigil today I held a sign with a picture of a train painted on it by one of our local artist friends. The sign read "Built in Bath". Some of the passing Saturday early-shift workers got the message and smiled as they drove home. The truth is that a number of those working inside BIW know that their "product" is a first-strike attack military machine. They'd rather be building rail systems or wind turbines. But we make weapons and we make war in America today and military production is one of the few jobs around in our declining economy. It's like those who worked in the death camps for Hitler's Army during WW II. It was a job and they wanted to believe that their country was right - Germany uber alles. In America we say - USA, USA, #1!

The U.S. is outfitting these Navy Aegis destroyers with "missile defense" systems and activists in South Korea and Japan clearly understand the role of these warships in U.S. military strategy. The U.S. intends to use these MD systems to pick-off retaliatory strikes after a Pentagon first-strike attack on North Korea or China. The U.S. is doubling its military presence in the Asian-Pacific region for a clear reason.

Like any bully, the U.S. military is poking a sharp stick at North Korea (and China) and basically daring them to fight back. The U.S. (and their junior partners in South Korea and Japan) are out to militarize the region and are just itching for a military response that would then "justify" an overwhelming response.

The U.S. weapons corporations love this game of hardball, or as it used to be called, gunboat diplomacy. The power tripping U.S. government intends to keep pushing North Korea into a corner and will keep pissing on them until they get another response. At the rate things are now going it likely won't take long.

The key factor in all of this is China. How long will China allow the U.S. to keep pouring gasoline on the hot fire in the Asian-Pacific? They hold our debt yet know that if they cut the U.S. loose then the entire global economy will suffer even more. But China is quickly getting fed up with U.S. military bravado in their back yard.

China must support North Korea because if that country is toppled then the U.S. would put military bases right on China's border. This was an important reason for the Korean War in the first place, the U.S. wanted to take control of the entire Korean peninsula and thus have bases right alongside Russia and China.

If the American people knew half of what was going on in their name they'd be freaking out but due to corporate control of the media, and generations of government brainwashing, most of our citizens are in the dark. Virtually all they know about any of what is going on right now in Korea is what they are told by the same people who are stirring the boiling pot of war.

Sadly most Americans have to learn the hard way. Hopefully it won't take a shooting war with China to wake the public up from their deep sleep.

Text Fwd: [Veterans for Peace in Maine] COVERAGE IN BATH [미 메인주 평화 재향 군인회]배쓰 행진 기사로

Bruce Gagnon blog
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
COVERAGE IN BATH

March message focuses on the cost of war
Peace Activists march along the Sagadahoc Bridge into Bath on Monday.

(Troy R. Bennett / The Times Record)
By Seth Koenig

BATH — For the city of Bath, the total is $20.8 million.

Maine Veterans for Peace marchers in the midst of a 10-day trek from Farmington to Portland are carrying with them a list of dollar amounts. The numbers represent each town or city’s share of the country’s cost, so far, to fight the ongoing war in Afghanistan since 2001. The cost for the state of Maine over that time is $2.9 billion.

Bruce Gagnon, a longtime peace advocate who helped lead the walkers into his hometown of Bath on Monday afternoon, has been among those trying to draw attention to those figures through various events and activities for months. The number of marchers trekking from Farmington to Portland has fluctuated along the way, Gagnon said, but Monday’s contingent was around 40 people.

“We’re talking about the cost of war and going through 43 Maine communities,” he told a reporter from The Times Record as the group paused along the way in Woolwich. “We’re trying to get people to connect the dots between these wars and the economic problems this country is facing.

“We’re spending $8 billion a month in Afghanistan today,” he continued. “How can there be any economic recovery if we’re spending that much a month on a war? We’re trying to ask people how their communities might have been able to better spend that money locally.”

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Organizing Notes
Monday, November 08, 2010
VIGIL AT BATH IRON WORKS
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Text Fwd: Defense Spending Wastes Jobs

* Image source: same as the below blog link

* Text from Bruce Gagnon blog on Jan. 10, 2009

pressherald.mainetoday.com
Editorials

Defense spending wastes jobs
January 10, 2010


*Press Herald file
Peace activists question the value of spending more money on new ships in a time of need.

In your Jan. 1 story on the Navy's DDG-51 destroyer made at Bath Iron Works, you quote a retired Naval officer saying that the ship is the "envy of the world."

These ships, outfitted with "missile defense" systems, are today being used to surround the coastal region of China.

The job of these ships is to take out China's 20 nuclear missiles capable of hitting our west coast. The U.S. Space Command has been annually war-gaming an attack on China in which the Aegis missile defense systems are used to pick off China's remaining retaliatory capability after our first strike.

Your article also mentions that the ships cost $1.2 billion each and that the work force at BIW has fallen to 5,500. We are often told that military spending is good for the economy.

But a recent study, "The Employment Effects of Downsizing the U.S. Military" by University of Massachusetts economics department, found that military spending actually creates fewer jobs than any other kind of investment.

The UMass study reveals that for every $1 billion of spending on military production, 8,555 jobs are created. But when that same amount of money is spent on home weatherization, 12,804 jobs are created, or when spent on education, 17,687 jobs result.

Current war spending is killing our economy. Almost $1 trillion has been wasted on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with no end in sight. Maine's share of these wars is now more than $2.4 billion. Just imagine how those funds could have been used in our state dealing with our budget problems.

Instead of spending our national treasure on war, the time has come for the public to demand real change. We must urge that our Maine elected officials speak out against continued militarism.

Let's create more jobs and promote real peace.

Bruce K. Gagnon


Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Bath