STAND UP FOR SOMETHING!

* The video just below this blog post really got to me. I did not realize they were burning the oil slicks offshore to this extent. The man who made the video asks, why aren't they out there with big tankers sucking this oil out of the ocean? It's likely a matter of $$$, always cheaper to do it the easy way. To hell with the consequences.

* One of my younger sisters called me the other day and was venting about the Gulf. She's lived in Florida for most of her life. At one point though she started getting into a bit about how we were all going to die, nothing could be done, etc. I've been hearing more of that talk lately and I can't stand the sound of that tune. Years ago I remember showing an anti-nuclear weapons film at a senior citizens center in Florida and some of them were saying the same thing. "Oh, we are going to die soon anyway, the world is screwed." That kind of crap. I remember telling them that "Hey, you have children and grandchildren. You still have life in you, stand up and fight for the future generations." I told my sister the same thing. Who the hell do we think we are, that after thousands of years of human life on this planet, that we think we can just arrogantly give up the ghost? Burns my britches.

We have a responsibility to protect the future generations and to protect our relatives in the plant and animal world. We made this mess and now we have to deal with it. Stand up and fight for something! Fight for life!

* Yesterday I taped by public access TV show with Maine Veterans for Peace (VFP) leader Tom Sturtevant. We talked about the August 25-29 national VFP convention that will be held in Portland, Maine. Tom is a Korean War veteran so we also talked about his experiences on an aircraft carrier during the war as the planes took off and bombed virtually every building in North Korea. We also went into some of the history of U.S. support for a series of right-wing (fascist) dictatorships in South Korea following the Korean War. It was good to be able to air some of these issues after having just returned from Korea.

* Then last night co-host Peter Woodruff and I did our weekly radio show on WBOR at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. We covered the oil disaster (Peter has found some great music on the Internet that has been written since it happened); we talked about Jeju Island and the Aegis destroyer deployments planned there at the proposed Navy base; we went over the expected House of Representatives vote today on another $37 billion war supplemental; the upcoming Veterans for Peace convention; and we concluded with coverage of the G20 police violence in Toronto. A packed show it was. One of our better ones I think.

* This Sunday will be the annual July 4 parade here in Bath. I am told it is the biggest in the state - thousands come to watch it. Our local peace group (PeaceWorks) always participates and this year we are making a much bigger effort to get folks to join us to help carry two big puppets, big banners, and signs. We will be holding the Bring Our War $$ Home banner and making signs with symbols of things we want to fund - education, health care, food, public transit, wind turbines, etc.

The Navy is having the entire crew of the USS Maine Trident nuclear submarine in the parade in order to promote the joys of a nuclear weapons delivery system. We are calling on all available Mainers to join us in Bath at noon for the parade. Stand up and be counted for peace!