AFGHANISTAN WAR GOING SOUTH ON OBAMA

Obama's "good war" is worsening by the day and the pressure in mounting across the nation to get out. Latest polls show at least 56% of Americans now oppose the war.

Obama is dancing with the Pentagon and trying to appear to be taking the middle ground as he prepares to send even more troops. It looks to me though that he is taking the muddle ground, as in stuck in the mud.

Protests around the country will be picking up in the coming days. Help do your bit to advance this anti-war message. We've got to force Congress to stop funding the mess in Afghanistan. Sadly Obama seems is a total captive of the military industrial complex.

Obama appears to see more war as a jobs creation policy as unemployment grows. On the plane to Korea it was filled with young black and Hispanic men in the Army. They have few other choices.

CALLS FOR MAJOR CHANGES AT UN

As he leaves the office of the President of the UN General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto gave Real News Senior Editor Paul Jay a no holds barred interview on the issues plaguing the United Nations.

D'Escoto held the democratization of the UN as a key pillar of his Presidency, but along the way he learned of the various obstacles that keep the General Assembly from becoming an effective body within the UN, and the UN from becoming an effective body within the world. He blames the world's most powerful states for this ineptitude to act, which has resulted in what he calls the failure of the UN to address the two objectives for which it was founded, the avoidance of war and the eradication of poverty.

MEN ON THE MOON

My long trip to South Korea was made manageable by the good service and care on Korean Air Lines. It was my first time flying on that airline. They had a great assortment of films and I watched five of them including a couple really fine foreign films.

One movie of note was called Moon which was made by singer David Bowie's son Duncan Jones. I was expecting the usual crummy pro-space action extravaganza but was pleasantly surprised to find a thoughtful anti-corporate movie that held my interest throughout.

The story is about one of my favorite subjects - a mining colony on the moon where helium-3 is extracted for use back on Earth to power fusion reactors. I've been talking about this for years and always add that these bases are planned to be nuclear powered and that nuclear rockets, with reactors for engines, would launch much of the heavy loads from the Earth to the moon.

I won't give the storyline away except to say the film is worth watching, even if you are not a sci-fi fan. I am not particularly one....I watched the film purely as work related research. It raises some very interesting moral and ethical questions about just what kind of activities could go on once space bases are created on far away places like the moon. Who would be monitoring things there? Who would protect the human rights of workers?

NASA's current "moon bombing" mission is a perfect example of the "dual use" nature of space exploration today. They are looking to "unearth" water they say on the lunar surface and likely also are looking for helium-3. At the same time they are field testing the technologies to fire projectiles from a space craft onto a planetary body - no doubt a part of Star Wars.

Now, during our annual Keep Space for Peace Week, would be a good time to be thinking about these issues.

The space program is out of control. The time has come for the taxpayers to demand transparency, accountability, and a peaceful space program. In the meantime we need to put the brakes on this runaway train.

WHERE ARE THE LIBERALS?

Anti-war arrests at White House yesterday. Obama is getting ready to agree to more troops in Afghanistan for the second time in less than one year in office.

At what point do so-called liberal Democrats get off the dime and speak out against more war?

WRITE TO CONGRESS FOR PEACE IN SPACE

Below please find a letter to Congress that the Global Network and other concerned organizations are requesting that you send to your members of Congress during our current Keep Space for Peace Week.

This letter calls on them to urge the Obama administration to seriously negotiate a treaty at the UN to prevent an arms race in space.

If you are not sure about how to contact your member of Congress just go to this link for details.

Thanks for your help with this important effort.

Bruce


Dear Member of Congress,

With the United Nations about to resume discussions on preventing an arms race in outer space, we ask that you convey to the Obama Administration the need for the U.S. to actively pursue the negotiation of a new treaty to preserve space for peace.

Since the mid-1980s, the United Nations General Assembly has annually voted on a resolution for the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS).

For nearly a quarter of a century, this resolution, calling merely for the "negotiation" of a new treaty to prevent the weaponization of outer space, has had the backing of virtually all the nations of the earth.

Except for the United States, which has essentially stood alone in refusing to support the PAROS resolution.

This obstructionist stance by the world's leading space-faring power has effectively undercut any meaningful efforts to halt the militarization of space. During George W. Bush's presidency, international discussions regarding space reached their lowest point ever, with the administration arguing in 2006 that "There is no, repeat, no, problem in outer space for arms control to solve" and that a proposed treaty submitted by Russia and China in February 2008 was "a diplomatic ploy by the two nations to gain a military advantage."

We believe this view is short-sighted and risky in the extreme.

From the Chinese shooting down their own weather satellite and creating a dangerous debris cloud, to North Korea and Iran test-firing missiles, to the recent showdown between Russia and the U.S. over "missile defense" bases in Eastern Europe, to the United States using that self-same "missile defense" system as an anti-satellite weapon to shoot down a falling satellite, space is daily becoming more militarized.

The political course the U.S. government has followed, in opposing any new treaties governing space, is guaranteed to foster a space arms race and to make both the earth and the heavens more unsafe.

Although American policy in the United Nations has long been the prerogative of the executive branch, we urge you, as a member of Congress, to publicly communicate to the Obama Administration the need for a new space treaty. With more and more nations seeking to become space powers (Iran is just the latest example), the need for a more comprehensive regime of space law has never been greater.

An international accord on PAROS could complement the 1967 "Outer Space Treaty" for the peaceful uses of space (the only significant space agreement left since the Bush/Cheney Administration abrogated the ABM Treaty). By establishing appropriate and effective verification mechanisms to prevent an arms race in outer space, and by prohibiting space weaponization and programs such as "missile defense," satellite-guided weapons launched from earth, and spy satellites collecting and using data for aggressive military purposes, a PAROS treaty could help us preserve this final frontier for the benefit of all life on earth.

With the annual PAROS discussions poised to resume in the United Nations, we are requesting that you send a message to the President urging the administration to actively negotiate a new treaty. Such a statement by members of Congress would alert the White House of your concern on this critical matter (as well as help set the stage for future legislative initiatives).

The Obama Administration has an unprecedented opportunity to break with the past and demonstrate to the world that it is again committed to participating in the community of nations. We urge you to make sure this opportunity is not lost.

Additional information about PAROS can be found at the Reaching Critical Will website.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

Sincerely,

(Your Name and Address)

- Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
- Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
- Nebraskans for Peace

BLACK IS BACK

Glen Ford and Paul Jay for part two of their interview. This time they talk about how the black left has gone south since the election and discuss organizing plans to revitalize it.

STELLA WORKERS THROWN TO THE STREET

On our trip to New York City (NYC) this weekend MB and I stayed with friends who live in the Bronx. On Friday afternoon we spent a couple hours at a labor rally outside the Stella D'Oro bakery. The smell of the Italian cookies filled the air throughout the neighborhoods surrounding the factory.

On July 7, after 325 days on strike, workers at Stella D'Oro went back to work under a contract that the company management had previously ripped up.

Stella D'Oro was founded by an Italian immigrant couple in 1922 and was bought by Nabisco
in 1992. The company was sold to Kraft soon after, and in 2006 was sold again to Brynwood Partners, a private investment fund.

Brynwood demanded a 20% cut in wages and the 136 workers, many who have worked there for up to 30 years, went on strike and lived on the $100 per-week union strike fund for nearly one year. In June the National Labor Relations Board found that Brynwood had illegally refused to disclose its economic situation to the union. The workers were ordered reinstated with two months' back pay. Upon losing the case, the "company" announced they would sell the firm to Lance, Inc. and move the bakery to a non-union Ohio town.

The city of New York have given tax rebates to the company in recent years to buy new ovens and other equipment, likely under the threat of moving if they didn't get the taxpayers subsidies. Now union leaders from many other NYC unions are saying they will use this key point as a way to build support for the Stella D'Oro workers inside city hall.

The remarkable thing was that during the 325 day strike not one of the Stella workers crossed the picket line and went back to work. That kind of real solidarity has shaken the beaten-down union movement in NYC and has made the Stella workers a shining light for the national labor movement.

You can help by contacting the Lance, Inc. at mcarter@lance.com and tell them if they break the Stella D'Oro union by moving the plant to Ohio then you will boycott their products.

This is yet one more sad example of how free-wheeling capitalism puts profit above all else. The workers, who made this a profitable company, are thrown to the street because greedy investors want more, more, more......

I won't be buying anymore Lance peanuts or peanut butter crackers.

LAST LIBERTY NEWS TAKES CRACK AT DRONES

This short video on drones is done by Matt Power who has been creating Liberty News for the past five years. We ran into Matt on the Boston-Portland bus yesterday on our way back from New York City. He told us the sad news that this will be his last show unless he gets some magically huge donation from an angel. He has been subsidizing the show for some time and just can't keep doing it anymore.

But Matt is very creative and bright so it won't be long before he comes up with some other way to communicate his outrage with the American people. Keep at it Matt!

SWANSON ON ENDLESS WAR

Interview with David Swanson who has a great web site called AfterDowningStreet.org which is one of my favorite places to visit each day. At this site you can find many reports about local peace and justice activity in the US and around the world.

David will be here in Maine promoting his new book with talks in Bangor on November 5 and Portland on November 6. The November 6 event in Portland will begin with a anti-war protest rally at 5:00 pm.

More details later but put these dates on your calendar now.

THINGS OF INTEREST

* The Washington Post reports this morning that Obama could now be turning to the Republican Party to help support his war in Afghanistan. I immediately think of all those liberals who told me they had to vote for Obama to keep McCain from winning but I think now the evidence is pretty solid that Obama governs largely like a Republican.

* MB and I are heading to New York City today to visit my son. He moved there a couple of weeks ago to coach high school debate. He had lived in Texas for the past 10 years. It will be great to see him and its wonderful knowing he is now much closer to Maine. Although I'd prefer to take the train the bus turns out to be much cheaper. Be back Sunday for a drone public forum we are holding in Brunswick at the library at 7:00 pm.

* We are hearing from people across the state of Maine telling us not to trust John Richardson who runs the state economic development office for the governor. He was one of those on the MRRA who told us Monday night that there were "no proposals on the table" to test UAVs at the Naval base in Brunswick. One of the people we have heard from is a former state legislator and others who have worked extensively on progressive issues in Augusta are also warning us about him. He is rumored to be running for governor and it appears his ambitions trump everything else. Power and influence come before truthful dealings with the public. We don't expect human perfection in our politicians but would like them to at least be real with us.

* I watched a great interview on Democracy Now last night with Cornell West. If you don't know of him, you should. Watch it here

* My lowly Baltimore Orioles have lost 13 games in a row and are on course to lose 100 games this year.....it's hard to watch a game.