OBSERVATIONS

• 700 of the Wall Street protesters were arrested yesterday as they tried to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC. You can see a news article here



• The Wall Street folks have come out with a statement and it is quite good but has one glaring omission. Not a mumbling word about endless war, the cost of war and its enormous contribution to our economic collapse. Hopefully as they get feedback on their statement and meet more anti-war people they will make additions. To try to make any real changes without dealing with a trillion a year military budget is needlessly pushing a huge rock uphill.



• On October 13 Obama will host right-wing South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to the White House for tea and crumpets. A protest is being planned outside the White House by the Save Jeju Island Campaign. Will start at 5 pm. More details as they arrive.



• Today in Bath, Maine I will be attending an event called "A Time for Reflection on 10 Years of War" led by local religious leaders. It is one more of the events on our 30-day Bring Our War $$ Home Care-a-Van across the state. On Friday there was a well-attended Teach-In at Bowdoin College in Brunswick entitled "10 Years of war in Afghanistan: What have we learned, what can we do?" which featured authors Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould who have written a book called Crossing Zero: The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire. I interviewed them on my public access TV show earlier that day. Fitzgerald and Gould have been writing and making films about Afghanistan and Pakistan for more than 30 years.



• This coming week I will be taking the Care-a-Van to the University of Southern Maine (Portland) and the University of Maine (Orono) where we will leaflet and talk with students about the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign. Our finale event for the month-long effort will be held at the University of Maine (Augusta) on Sunday, August 9 from noon to 3:00 pm and our featured speaker will be Chief Kirk Francis of the Penobscot Indian Nation. We will have several great speakers, music, poetry and food so please join us. The event will be held inside the UMA Holocaust & Human Rights Center (46 University Dr).