Tuesday, April 03, 2012

SAN DIEGO NAVAL HARBOR

I was taken on a two-hour boat tour today of San Diego harbor by Carol Jahnkow who has worked at the Peace Resource Center in this community for the past 30 years. I spoke at an event they hosted last night.

On the harbor tour we saw Aegis destroyers, aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, helicopters and war planes. This San Diego Naval yard is huge and you can just imagine the ecological damage that has been done by the dredging of the bay over the years and from the accumulation of various toxins that come from munitions, refueling, paint, nuclear releases and more.

As we rode the harbor tour boat I couldn't help but think of Jeju Island and the damage that is being done to that pristine environmental jewel. The thought that the Navy ships from San Diego would likely be docking there was more than sad. We've got to stop that base from being completed. Boycott Samsung.

It's been fun to spend the day with another experienced organizer who has spent the last 30 years working on many of the same wars and issues that I have organized around - except we were both on opposite sides of the country. We picked each others brain all afternoon.

Tonight I speak again in San Diego County - this time in Oceanside on the north end. In the morning Randy Ziglar and I head back to Los Angeles on the train for a noon meeting at the Catholic Worker House and then an evening talk at the Santa Monica library.

My speaking tour is off to a good start.

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