ASSORTED BITS

* I am in New York city doing some advance work on our May 9 Global Network annual membership meeting that will be held here during the NPT Review Conference events at the United Nations. Just found a good catering service for the lunch that day. Hard to guess-timate how many will be there so far in advance. Am writing this from the huge public library on the 3rd floor where they have wifi connection. There is a wet snow outside.

* My trip to Jeju Island for next week has been cancelled since the Navy base construction "ceremony" appears to have been postponed for another month or so. No one is completely sure the reasons for the postponement of the ceremony but all the recent international solidarity very well could have had some impact on that decision. The South Korean government might think in a month or so most folks will have forgotten about the conflict. It gives the Gangjeong village a bit more time to continue expanding their base of support. I am hopeful that the wonderful video they made will soon be available to us in English. I would imagine it would help the cause alot to get that video out to supporters around the world.

* I watched Obama's speech last night and felt like the magician played it just as would be expected. He talked about creating jobs and then went on to talk about more tax breaks for corporations and of course refused to even go near the military budget. He introduced his freeze on everything except the military so I can't see how he is going to be able to create jobs while freezing spending and cutting taxes on the corporations. More of the same slight-of-hand.

* Another reason I came to NYC is to go to a basketball game on Friday night with my son. We will go see my lowly Wizards play just over the river in New Jersey. Then on Saturday morning I will fly to Boston where I will speak at an exciting New England Anti-War Conference. See more info about it here

* The Feb 13 Draw-a-thon, poetry reading, pot luck supper that will be held at 5:00 pm in Bath, Maine at the UCC church is getting more exciting every day. More artists are signing up to be involved as the word gets out. You are not going to want to miss this event. The event is being organized to support our statewide Bring Our War $$ Home campaign.