NUKES IN SPACE MAKES A COME BACK

$20M plutonium project at ORNL to support space program

By Frank Munger
Knoxville News Sentinel
March 30, 2012

OAK RIDGE, TN — Over the next two years, Oak Ridge National Laboratory will carry out a $20 million pilot project to demonstrate the lab's ability to produce and process plutonium-238 for use in the space program.

Tim Powers, director of ORNL's Non-Reactor Nuclear Facilities Division, said the technology demonstration will include development of neptunium-237 targets that will then be introduced into the High Flux Isotope Reactor to produce small amounts of Pu-238. Later, workers will remove the targets from the reactor core and process the radioactive materials in hot cells at the lab's Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, separating the Pu-238 from the neptunium and purifying the plutonium.

Powers said the ORNL program will support the U.S. Department of Energy's plan to eventually produce 1½ to 2 kilograms of Pu-238 per year, using existing infrastructure within the DOE complex. For years, the U.S. has relied on purchases from Russia to supplement the inventory of the radioisotope for the space power program. There have been multiple proposals to re-establish a U.S.-based production program, none of which took hold.

According to Powers, very small amounts of neptunium will be introduced into the High Flux Isotope Reactor in the early stages of the demonstration project. Over time, some of the targets will be withdrawn for evaluation, while others will be left in the reactor core for longer irradiation periods, he said.

Pu-238 is a sister isotope to the plutonium-239 that's used in nuclear weapons. It's considered the optimum material for power sources — known as radioisotope thermoelectric generators or RTGs — on deep space missions.

The RTGs supply electricity to spacecraft that are too far from the sun to use solar panels. The heat generated by plutonium's natural decay is converted to electricity, which then powers transmitters and other instruments.

In addition to using the lab's 85-megawatt research reactor and the nearby Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, ORNL plans to do some of the nuclear processing work for the project at Building 3535 — also known as the Irradiated Fuels Examination Lab.

Powers said NASA is providing funds for the project. The research money is funneled through the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy program to the Oak Ridge lab.

ORNL is just one of the institutions participating in the program. The Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory also will be producing Pu-238, and Powers said Oak Ridge would provide information on target development, production evaluation and flow sheet on its processing work to Idaho.

DOE will eventually make a decision on where best to do the plutonium work following the various pilot projects. "We think we're the best choice," Powers said.

PAC-3 TO BE DEPLOYED IN OKINAWA

I've written many times about the Pentagon's plan to surround Russia and China with so-called "missile defense" systems - what many are rightly calling missile offense.

In the Asia-Pacific the U.S. and its allies have been deploying two basic MD systems. One is the SM-3 interceptor missile that is on-board the Navy Aegis destroyer. These ships are being ported in Japan, South Korea, Australia and visiting other nations in the region. The Navy base on Jeju Island would be a port-of-call for these ships. Jeju is just 300 miles from the coast of China.

The other version of MD that the U.S. has been deploying in the region is PAC-3 (Patriot 3rd generation). These systems are now being deployed in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

All of these systems are being used to surround China's coastal region and are unmistakeably key elements in U.S. first-strike attack planning.

The latest news is that PAC-3 will next be plunked down on the island of Okinawa which is already overflowing with U.S. military bases against the will of the people.

The Japanese government is using the possible "threat" from North Korea as an excuse to expand the PAC-3 deployments into Okinawa. I don't believe it. The U.S. and Japan always use North Korea as the reason for their encirclement of China - just like the Pentagon uses the phony Iran threat to justify their "missile defense" encirclement of Russia. By now we should all realize that the military industrial complex are habitual liars.

Activists in Japan report:

The latest news says PAC-3 are to get ready in two places in Okinawa mainland including Naha, and the other islands of Okinawa (Ishigaki, Miyako, Yaejimai).
Some Okinawan citizens are angry, of course. And as for the mainland of Japan, three places including Ichigaya Self Defense Forces (SDF) station in Tokyo.

Currently (that is, in this missile crisis), Japan's SDF's MD troops are under the command of the U.S. MD troops. So the present deployment of PAC-3s and SM-3s must be based on U.S. MD system strategy.

Another rumor has it that this heavy deployment of PAC-3 in Okinawa are to make Okinawa (the mainland and nearby small islands) a permanent and integrated military base.

Okinawan peace activists will hold a rally today against deployments of PAC-3.

It is also reported here that the U.S. is demanding more money of Japanese government to pay costs for its relocation budget of some forces from Okinawa to Guam.

TEARS OF DETERMINATION & SOLIDARITY

Tears of Catholic priest Fr. Chung Man-young at Samsung Construction HQ in Seoul. When the singer songwriter Kwon Seong-il was singing. .."Gangjeong, you are the smallest village on earth, however, the peace of whole country shall start from you. You were broken and torn apart, but we don't forget you. You have fallen and tumbled down, but will stand again, we'll be with you." .... Fr. Chung Man-young, is one of the Jesuit priests, who have led Catholic mass at Samsung since March 12 in Seoul.

In other news from the Navy base fight, the government's prosecutor has demanded 2 years imprisonment and 1 year respectively to Jesuit priest Fr. Kim Jeong-wook and Presbyterian pastor Lee Jeong-hoon at Jeju court. They broke through the fence and entered Gureombi rock on March 9. Catholic mass has been held at Samsung since the two were put into jail on March 12.

OBAMA'S WAR IN YEMEN

Covert U.S. drone attacks on Yemen have increased this month to exceed the number of strikes on Pakistan's tribal areas, a Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports states. Up to 500 people, many of whom were civilians, have been killed since last May as part of the U.S. drive to eliminate al-Qaeda from the Arabian Peninsula, according to the report. But, even after attacks with civilian casualties, there has been little reaction from the Yemeni government. Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reports.

READY, SET.....

Art work by Natasha Mayers from Maine (Click on graphic for better view)

• I have to thank my Southern California speaking tour coordinators Randy Ziglar and Cris Gutierrez. They wrote my excellent news release and have organized a series of talks ranging from San Diego, Oceanside, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Anaheim. In addition they've arranged for me to do two advance radio interviews on the great Pacifica station KPFK based in Los Angeles. Yesterday I taped an energetic show with Leila Garrett and tomorrow I'll do one with Blaise Bonpane. Can't thank Randy and Cris enough. I'll be staying at their home while in the area and Randy is a great veggie cook and gardener. He's also a huge supporter of public transit so all of our comings and goings will be on local buses and trains.
• I also have two other radio interviews scheduled before I head west as folks in other cities are getting their local media to cover my trip.
  
• Most of the rest of my west coast tour train and bus schedule was arranged for me by Global Network board member MacGregor Eddy from Salinas, California. She used her Amtrak travel rewards to book most of my segments from Los Angeles north. What great support that is for the organization. MacGregor is a dedicated WILPF member and regularly organizes protests at Vandenberg AFB in California when they fire rocket launches toward Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
• Yesterday I finished working on my basic talk for the speaking tour and the schedule is now nearly complete. I've been out walking everyday this week trying to build up my stamina and making sure my mind is focused on the month ahead. I am excited and ready to go.
  
• Here is an interesting bit I saw this morning on the email about drone pilots and PTSD:

  Quaker House Counselor Lenore Yarger had a Hotline call from a member of the Air Force whose command was trying to ignore his medical conditions and discharge him at the end of his term of service. He described a number of PTSD symptoms and Lenore asked him if he had been in combat. He explained that he has been working here in the U.S. as a drone pilot. He had seen the effects of the drones he was operating, and was very disturbed by the effects. Even though he was continents away, he found the work traumatic and distressing. Lenore explained to him steps he could take to get his medical issues addressed before his administrative discharge is complete. In fact, according to rules of war, drone pilots are considered legitimate targets and this might alert more U.S. communities to the way the presence of drone pilots can put them at risk.
  

  
  

SAMSUNG NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS PROTEST

Why did activists spray red paint at Samsung construction headquarters in Seoul, South Korea?

Yeo Ok Yang interviews with press. Yellow banner says "Don't kill Gureombi. . .Stop Blasting."

Six arrested. Samsung wants huge fines against activists.

Boycott Sumsung - the lead contractor for destruction of Gureombi.

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO

A BIT OF SPACE NUCLEAR HISTORY

A Very Scary Light Show: Exploding H-Bombs In Space from NPR on Vimeo.

Humans playing God again....dangerous, insane, climate altering in ways we can't imagine.

The scientists and militarists are still at this process of playing God.

We need to shut them down. They use our money and they abuse our Mother Earth. They are making life uncertain for the future generations and all other life forms on the planet.

IMPORTANT ACTION DATE COMING SOON

Organize a local action on April 17 in conjunction with groups all over the world calling for an end to militarism.

Fund human needs! Protect the environment! Convert the military industrial complex to peaceful and sustainable production!

Join hands around the globe.

SPEAKING TOUR NEWS RELEASE

Global Network Coordinator Embarks on 30-Day West Coast Speaking Tour


The Deadly Connection—Endless War and the Ecological, Economic Crisis


For Immediate Release

Contact: Bruce Gagnon - 904-501-4494 globalnet@mindspring.com

Recognized by artist Robert Shetterly in his series Americans Who Tell the Truth, Bruce Gagnon, an international peace organizer and activist, will embark on a 30-day west coast speaking tour that will take him from San Diego, California to Bellingham, Washington. The 24-city trip will run from April 1-30.

Gagnon, who coordinates the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space from Bath, Maine, will help local communities explore and confront the reality of the Pentagon’s drive for “full spectrum dominance.” He will discuss the impact that our expanding militarism has on our natural ecosystems and our economic crisis at home. From Maine to Jeju Island, South Korea his indefatigable studying, traveling, and organizing has shown how the Pentagon’s intent to control the planet on behalf of corporate globalization has moved from land to sea to air to space pouring our natural and fiscal resources into escalating war-making and violence.

Gagnon’s assessment is: “The Pentagon will send our kids off to foreign lands to suppress opposition to corporate globalization. How will we ever end America’s addiction to war and violence as long as our communities are dependent on military spending for jobs? We must vigorously work to convert the military industrial complex to decentralized sustainable technologies like wind-power, solar, and mass transit.”

His talks will challenge communities to discuss the strategies behind President Obama’s “pivot” and expanding U.S. militarism in the Asia-Pacific region; current U.S. space technology strategy; the need to promote the conversion of the military industrial complex to sustainable production to mitigate climate change; the 2012 elections, and what Americans can do about corporate domination of Congress.

Gagnon concludes, “U.S. foreign and military policy today is all about control of declining natural resources around the world. The Pentagon is restarting the Cold War by surrounding Russia and China with so-called ‘missile defense’ systems that are actually key elements in U.S. first-strike planning. We do have a real problem today and it is called climate change. We can’t afford the pay for endless war that only benefits the mega-corporations and further pollutes our planet. During this speaking tour I intend to share a spirit of determination and non-violent resistance with people throughout the west coast. We need to make a collective demand across this nation and around the world. We are tired of war, tired of corporate domination, and determined to take back our governments. The future generations depend on our courage and our success.”

Gagnon intends to use Amtrak trains and buses for most of the west-coast travel during this tour.

WEST COAST SPEAKING TOUR SCHEDULE

I leave this Saturday for the west coast. Below is my speaking tour schedule so far. Still a couple more dates/times to be added. Looking forward to the trip. I expect to try to weave many issues into my talks. Most of my presentations will come under the title of The Deadly Connection—Endless War and the Ecological, Economic Crisis.

• April 1 Los Angeles, CA (Overall L.A. coordinator) Randy Ziglar 310-452-0362 & Cris 424-214-8096

• April 2 San Diego Mariah Gayler 619-263-9301 Brethren Peace Campus, 3850 Westgate Place, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

• April 3 Oceanside Oceanside Public Library Community Room, 330 N. Coast Highway, 7:00 – 9:00 pm Carol Jahnkow 619-263-9301

• April 4 Los Angeles L.A. Catholic Worker House, 10:30 am

• April 4 Santa Monica Ocean Park Library, Community Room, 601 Main Street, 7:00 – 8:30 pm

• April 5 Santa Monica Day off

• April 6 – Los Angeles Andy Griggs (Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace) 7:00 am 310-704-3217 Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd. LA (Entrance on Berendo)

• April 6 – Anaheim Unitarian Church in Orange County, 511 South Harbor Blvd at 6:45 pm Randy Ziglar; Ruth Shapin 714-633-0922

• April 7 – Ventura Cindy Piester (VFP) 805-407-7997 Foster Library, 651 E. Main St., 3:00 pm talk (TV interview also)

• April 8 – Ventura

• April 9 – San Luis Obispo Henriette Groot 805-602-1539 San Luis Obispo Library Community Room, 995 Palm Street at 7:00 pm
  

• April 10 – Berkeley Vic Sadot (UU Fellowship Hall) 7:00 pm 302-607-1884 Fellowship: 510-841-4824

• April 11 – Sacramento Winnie (Peace Action) 916-448-7157 cell 916-599-6635 and Riad Bahhur 916-650-2738 & cell is 916-471-8721
  

- Sacramento City College on Wednesday 3:00 - 4:20cpm
- Peace Action Sacramento, Community room at Colonial Heights Library, 4799 Stockton Blvd, 7:00 pm

• April 12 – Santa Rosa Santa Rosa Junior College, 7:00 pm Lynda Williams 415-350-8418, 415-350-8418
  - KAOS Radio interview 12:30 pm
  

• April 13 - Santa Rosa Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County (467 Sebastopol Ave), 6:00 pm Susan Lamont 707-575-8902

• April 14 – Boonville Barbara & John Lewallen 707-895-2996 Lauren’s Restaurant Noon, 12:00-3:30 pm
  

• April 15 – Garberville John Haynes Memorial Veterans Hall, Conger & Locust St, 7:00 pm Fredy Champagne (VFP) 707-599-5378

• April 16 – Day off
  

• April 17 – Eugene, OR Gordon Sturrock (Squadron13) 541-729-7760, Anti-John Bolton rally
  

• April 18 – Corvallis Linda Richards 541-740-3341 Oregon State Univ. Linus Pauling Science Center, Room 125, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
  

• April 19 – Hood River Corie Lahr 909-215-4682 Riverside Community Church, 7:00 pm

• April 20 – Portland Tom Hastings (503-327-8250, Whitefeather House) and Celeste Howard (503-648-7759 cell 503-946-6266), First Unitarian Church, 6:30 pm, Fuller Hall
  

• April 21 – Hillsboro UU Community Church 10:00 – 2:00 pm Talk, potluck, conversation hour (Celeste Howard); and Forest Grove Pacific University, Taylor Auditorium, 7:30 pm Trelaine Ito (World Awareness Council) ito7221@pacificu.edu

• April 22 – Beaverton Southminster Presbyterian Church, 11:45 am – 1:30 pm Mark Mullins (503-648-0411); Portland Community Media interview with David Delk (Alliance for Democracy) public access cable TV, 2 – 3 pm (503-232-5495) -

• April 23 – Olympia, WA Holly Gwinn Graham 360-866-0257 and Tim Russell (SPSCC & media)

• April 24 – Olympia Traditions Cafe, 6:30 pm, 300 5th Avenue Southwest

• April 25 – Walla Walla Whitman College, Olin Hall Room 130, 7:00 pm Jennifer Doering cell: (858) 945-2813
  

• April 26 - Bellingham 4:00 PM classroom presentation at Western Washington University (Arntzen Hall) and an evening event at Mt Baker Theatre's Encore Room at 7:00 PM, Gene Marx (VFP) 253-653-4423

• April 27 – Bellingham 7:00 PM, Mt. Baker Theatre's Encore Room, 104 North Commercial Street, Gene Marx, 253-653-4423
  

• April 28 – Seattle Leonard Eiger/Tom Shea 425-445-2190 and Rebecca Wolfe (UNA) 425-774-6546 (Mike McCormick KEXP radio Seattle, 7:15-8:00 a.m)

• April 28 Redmond Soul Food Books, 15748 Redmond Way, Talk at 1:00 pm

• April 29 – Seattle 4:00 pm, main Seattle speaking engagement at University Temple United Methodist Church
  

• April 30 – Tacoma 12:30 – 1:30 pm, University of Washington, Tacoma, Carwein Auditorium, 1551 Broadway, Crawford, crawford@u.washington.edu
  

ROCK MY SOUL

Yang Yoon-Mo released from jail last week

Why Jeju Island matters to us

Times Record Op-Ed (Brunswick, Maine)
March 23, 2012
By Mary Beth Sullivan

The rocky sea cost of Maine has been a source of great solace for me. It knows my secrets, receives my tears, and cleanses my soul. It connects me to people around the world who come to the sea for solace. Today, it especially connects me to the people of Jeju Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. Jeju also happens to be 300 miles from the coast of China, giving it strategic significance to my country’s military

On March 20, the multinational company Samsung, under contract with the South Korean Navy, plans to blast dynamite into the heart of an ancient, holy rock formation (Guroembi) in Jeju’s coastal community of Gangjeong. Destruction of Guroembi is the next phase in the effort to build a naval base at this southern coastal village.

The intent is for this naval base to dock U.S. nuclear submarines, Bath-built Aegis Destroyers, and aircraft carriers. President Barack Obama has declared a U.S. military “pivot” toward Asia, while China and the U.S. continue competing for the world’s oil, gas, and underground minerals.

The U.S. has a huge military presence in the Asia Pacific region already, and has an expressed goal of dominating militarily in all corners of the globe “to protect U.S. interests and investments.” A military base in Gangjeong will make Jeju Island a target in future geopolitical struggles between the U.S. and China.

For five years, Gangeong villagers have been fighting this naval base through political and legal means, while physically resisting each stage in the process. The navy has taken over people’s property; felled trees; destroyed greenhouses; built a fence preventing the village’s view or access to Guroembi, their ancient place of prayer.

Jeju is a volcanic island; Guroembi is unique. These living rocks have fresh water springs that lay beneath; colorful coral reefs that sit off shore; endangered red crabs that feed off these rocks. This eco system and the villagers – fishermen, women divers, farmers, lovers of nature – have had no voice in the decision to bury Guroembi in cement to build a naval base. They have been organizing for years to build community, to change the hearts and minds of decision-makers, and to prevent the destruction of their village.

The people also resist. When walls and razor wire prevent a walk to the Guroembi rocks, they kayak. When the kayaks are blocked, they swim. On March 19, I saw the photos of the many young people who, before dawn, went to the site where the dynamite is stored. They gathered with PVC pipes. They put their arms through the pipes to be connected to each other while preventing transport of the dynamite of destruction. Their eyes showed a gentle determination. It took hours, but their pipes were broken apart, and they are now in jail.

This nonviolent struggle also expresses a passionate commitment to a democratic process. The injustice of a navy’s dictate to confiscate land and expose an island to the vagaries of war in this 21st Century is an unacceptable control over people’s lives. The people refuse a quiet acquiescence.

I visited Gangjeong. I prayed on the Guroembi rocks. In our short time on Jeju Island, I got a glimpse of the determination and creativity the villagers have displayed over the years. We have been watching the videos from Gangjeong faithfully, of villagers and activists arrested for laying their bodies down in front of the wheels of the cement trucks, the cranes, the machines meant to blast holes deep into the heart of Gureombi. And, once released from prison, villagers lay their bodies down again.

I also visited Professor Yang Yoon-Mo who recently turned 56 in Jeju City prison. He is in jail for the second time in a year for putting his body in front of cement and construction trucks. The first time, he fasted for over 70 days. When I visited him in February, he was in his third week of another hunger strike. I can never express the emotion of the experience of hearing this gentle, holy man explain so clearly: “If Guroembi lives, I live; if Guroembi dies, I die. Do not cry for me, cry for the future generations who may not be able to know the beauty of Guroembi.”

I live in Bath, Maine. I want my neighbors to have union-jobs, health care, affordable higher education for their kids. But to continue to build more Aegis Destroyers supports our acquiescence to militarism as the 21st Century’s answer to our global problems. The skills and talents of my neighbors can and should be used to create the renewable energy infrastructure Maine needs to get beyond our oil-based heating and transportation systems. We have real problems that we can surely come together to solve in a way that employs people to preserve life and bring hope to the 21st Century. We can look to the courage of the Gangjeong Villagers for inspiration. Their facebook page is No Naval Base on Jeju. May they people Gangjeong win this struggle to save Guroembi, to save Jeju Island.

- Mary Beth Sullivan, a social worker, lives in Bath, Maine. She can be reached at mbsull@gwi.net

SUNDAY SERMON

Chris Hedges talks about the power of truth and love.

I'd add the power of courage to his list.

BLACK AMERICAN GULAG

Just back home from the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) conference. During lunch yesterday a plenary panel was held on the topic of "The War at Home on the Black Community: Mass Incarceration, Unemployment, Stop and Frisk." Eight activists from the black community spoke and their messages are worth sharing.

One talked about how the prison industrial complex is now completely interwoven into the national economy in the U.S. Thus it should come as no surprise that while blacks make up just 12% of the population in the U.S., they comprise 60% of the prison population.

In fact 1 out of 8 prisoners on the planet is an African-American.

Seven million Americans cannot vote these days because they have been convicted of felony offenses - a great majority of which are drug related. More than half of America's 6 million prisoners are in jail for drug convictions, with 80% of those in jail for "possession."

As we look at expected demographic changes in the U.S. in the next 20-30 years, blacks and Hispanics will become the majority population. Thus if the oligarchy successfully removes a significant number of those citizens from the voting rolls, the power elite stand a greater chance of maintaining political control.

By locking up vast numbers of people of color the power elite also successfully fragments the social fabric of black and Hispanic communities thus lessening their chance of developing generations of educated, active, confident, and politically powerful people. It's a form of social genocide.

One of my favorite speakers on the panel was Glen Ford from Black Agenda Report. He strongly made the point that while corporate globalization no longer needed many of what have become superfluous populations due to mechanization, computerization, robotics, and job out-sourcing, the central dynamic responsible for the huge black prison population remains to be white supremacy. He named it the "Black American Gulag."

In the end one of the speakers said that the black community across the nation remains in a state of sustained indignation. All of us should be outraged and indignant over the way blacks continue to be "legally lynched" in this country.

The recent shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida is just one more example of this legal lynching. Still the killer of Trayvon has not even been taken in by the police for questioning, let alone arrest. If the situation was the reverse, if Trayvon had shot a white man, he would have been arrested on the spot and a slam dunk case would be well underway ensuring that he would remain locked up for the rest of his long life - or knowing that it is Florida - he would be facing the death penalty by lethal injection.

BANNED IN NEW YORK CITY

The New York City Save Jeju Action Committee recently tried to deliver a bundle of thousands of petition signatures to the South Korean Consulate.

They were turned away and the South Korean government refused to accept the petition signatures. What does that tell you about the government of President Lee?

Probably most interesting of all was that near the end of the video you see two representatives from the U.S. State Department being used to run interference for the South Korean government. They are used to keep the activists from entering the consulate building. What does that tell you about the government of President Obama?

Can there be any doubt that the U.S. and the South Korean governments are working together to build this pirate base on Jeju Island?

Paco reports from Gangjeong village:

On Saturday morning while I was walking in the public port trying to go to mass, hundreds of yards away from the construction site, in a public area, with no kayak, no wetsuit, and no indication that i had anyway plan to do anything other than attend the mass, I was suddenly assaulted by possibly 7-8 policemen, who grabbed and dragged me tearing my pants, breaking my camera, and eventually pulling almost all my clothes off, before dumping me on the ground at the entrance to the port. All of this again in a frequently used public place, hundreds of meters away from the base. I am truly shocked by this abuse of power and this assault on my body, dignity, and belongings. This is disgraceful and totally unneccesary (about 5 minutes later the police withdrew and we walked to the mass!). This was 100% assault and harrassment with absolutely no legality! I am meeting with a lawyer tomorrow...

SUNDAY SONG

FULL SPECTRUM DOMINANCE MUST BE MET WITH FULL SPECTRUM RESISTANCE

I am in Stamford, CT waiting to speak in a workshop at the national anti-war conference that has drawn several hundred people from thoughout the country - primarily from the east coast.

Two bus loads of Muslim activists just pulled up outside the hotel where the conference is being held. There are quite a number of people of color here - many Asians, folks from Middle East and Latin America - all victims of the U.S. -NATO expanding war on people who live near resources that the corporations want.

There has been alot of talk at the conference about the national protests that will be held in Chicago in mid-May when NATO holds its summit in Obama's home town.

I am doing two workshops today. In the first one I will talk about how Obama's expansion of "missile defense" deployments surrounding Russia and China are leading to a new arms race.

In the second workshop I will facilitate a discussion about the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign that got its start in Maine but has now spread all over the nation.

TURNING SURVELLIANCE ON U.S. CITIZENS

We are all being brought onto the reservation now.

Those who think we still live in a democracy are fooling themselves.

Those who think there are real differences between Republicans and Democrats on these issues are wrong.

The current election campaign is a distraction - the power elite wants you to focus on and worry about Romney or Obama while they are putting us in a technological cage and throwing away the keys.

Wake up, look around, think it through, and come alive. Our real enemies are the corrupt corporate oligarchy that controls our natural resources, the banks, the media, the military (and local police forces), the courts, and our "elected officials".

What they don't have control over is our will and our energies. We need to use them to organize a determined and sustained opposition against their dominance.

See more here

ORGANIZE TO STOP THE WAR SPENDING

On April 17, 2012, thousands from around the world will take part in the second annual Global Day of Action on Military Spending. With actions taking place in more than 30 countries, we will send a message to the 1% who profit off war and destruction, and the governments who do their bidding.

Global military spending reached over $1.6 trillion in 2010, and on April 17th, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) will release the data for 2011. Almost certainly, they'll announce that military spending went up.

As the people of the world face existential crises from climate change, conflict and underdevelopment, the resources we need to solve humanity's problems are being overwhelmingly devoted to death and destruction. In 2011 people spoke in one voice for a global priorities shift. This year, we'll raise our voice even louder.

EVEN RAZOR WIRE WON'T KEEP THEM OUT

• I had a nice long chat with Benji Monnet this morning who is back in France after being deported from Gangjeong village and South Korea. His tired and sore body is recovering from 10 months of intense solidarity work with the villagers and from the very rough treatment by the South Korean police. He told me he feels like a tree pulled up from the ground. I asked him to consider organizing a speaking tour around Europe on the Jeju Island issue and said I'd help him make contact with people there. It would be a huge help to bring this issue to an important part of the world.

• I am going to participate in two workshops at the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) national conference this weekend in Stamford, Connecticut. Then when I get back I have to go full out to get ready for my west coast speaking tour which will begin in San Diego on April 2. I've got my first draft of my basic talk outlined and just need to refine it. Much to do though to get ready.

• Emily Wang writes from Gangjeong:

I would like to share something else about yesterday (March 22nd). Yesterday for supporting navy's blasting work on Gureombi, countless police were deployed in small Gangjeong village, and what made me feel even worse was that these police men were mostly new faces, so that they have even less pity on Gangjeong's struggling. (somehow actually I could feel some police men who had stayed longer time in Gangjeong grows their sympathy on us and that's what the authority is afraid.) But one thing awesome yesterday was that a lot of villagers really showed their anger yesterday. Many villagers ran to port with farming clothes on. For blocking people from going to Gureombi, the police men even didn't allow one villager to enter his own garlic farming land near the port. That was too ridiculous so even one of the pro-naval villager who runs a restaurant in front of the garlic farm also got angry at police men. He said to police how you can block the land owner from enter his own farming land?......

UPDATING FUKUSHIMA

SINGING TO THE GOVERNOR

High school student Morgana Warner Evans singing yesterday at our rally inside the state capital in Augusta, Maine. A surprise guest showed up - tea party Gov. Paul LePage (in the blue shirt).

RUTHLESS CAPITALISM

And it's legal in the U.S.

The U.S. and Britain always seem to lead the pack in despicable practices.

Doesn't the Bible have something to say about usury?

If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.

Exodus 22:25

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Luke 6:35

HOLDING MASS AT SAMSUNG

The Catholics in South Korea are like none other I've ever seen. They put the flesh on the bones. The cut to the chase. They jump in where others fear to tread. They are real Christians. I wish it were the case here in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.

Lately I've been trying to help widen the circle of activists in the U.S. who are working on the Jeju Island Navy base issue. Getting Veterans For Peace involved has been a great gift to the movement. Now my goal is to get Pax Christi in the U.S. to take a more active role and I've been appealing to every good Catholic activist friend I know to help make that happen. Thanks to several of them around the country things are beginning to stir. They will quickly discover that their movement in the U.S. will become strengthened by working more closely with their extraordinary peers in South Korea.

Yesterday in Seoul Catholic priests held a mass in front of one of the Samsung offices. The priests and lay people are escalating their pressure on Samsung and from reports we are hearing from inside South Korea this is starting to have an impact. The right-wing newspapers that support President Lee are increasingly printing articles and Op-eds that support and justify the Navy base construction. For the longest time the Gangjeong village struggle was ignored by the national press in South Korea. That is all changing now. Samsung and President Lee are getting desperate. That's why they blocked the three VFP members from going to Jeju.

It appears that the mass at Samsung was not a one shot deal. Regina Pyon writes from Seoul:

"Samsung, the image of Cain who stains Korean peninsula with the blood of Abel. . ." Path of cross (prayer and meditation walking through the 14 stations of cross during the lent) will be held at exit No. 7 of Gangnam subway station at 7 p.m. toward Samsung. . . It takes about 30 minutes. . and Catholic mass at Samsung at 8 p.m."

My respect for the South Korean Catholic community continues to grow.

YANG SPRUNG FROM JAIL HOUSE

Professor Yang Yoon-Mo was released on bail in the evening of March 20 from Jeju prison. It was 42nd day of his hunger strike. About 20 Gangjeong people including Gangjeong Mayor Kang and Fr. Moon embraced him with broad smile. "Protecting Gureombi rock is my faith. . . hunger strike will be continued" said Prof. Yang.

Paco Booyah also reports, "We had a quite a crowd on Gureombi and managed to occupy it from early morning until after dark! Of course, we had the usual very annoying struggles with the police in the port. There are some new police from Busan who don't seem to really know what is going on here. Anyway no blasting today so of course that makes it a good day!"

Boycott Samsung!

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CALLS OUT MAINE GOVERNOR AT CAPITAL RALLY

During an afternoon rally inside the Hall of Flags in Augusta, Maine today (March 20), a high school student from West Bath publicly scolded a red-faced Gov. Paul LePage and other lawmakers.

The rally, organized by the Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home and Occupy Maine, was briefly interrupted when Gov. LePage entered the Hall of Flags. The more than 100 people in attendance began chanting “Shame, Shame, Shame” at LePage’s continued attacks on working people and social progress in Maine.

At first the governor went into his office, but a moment later came out with his entourage and stood alongside the rally, clearly wanting to see who the group was that was chanting at him.

Morgana Warner-Evans, a student at Mt. Ararat High School, then came to the microphone to sing. She introduced her song (Which side are you on?) by saying both her parents are teachers and that she was tired of “public officials” denigrating teachers as being lazy. She said her parents “work 50-plus hours per week”. She then changed the words of the song to include, “They say up in Augusta, they’re on a big rampage, you’re either with the union, or you support LePage…Tell me which side are you on?”

At one point the governor appeared to stick his tongue out at the crowd.

After listening to several speakers LePage finally left when retired DOT worker Loren Snow (Ellsworth) gave a heart-rending account of life under a state pension that is increasingly under attack by the current administration. Snow’s meager $1,500 a month pension is being eaten up by having to pay larger shares of health care costs, without cost of living allowances, as he tries to care for an ill wife and disabled adult child.

Waterville Mayor Karen Heck was also a speaker and asked, “What kind of country have we become when we are killing and maiming women and children half way around the globe? At the same time we’re abandoning poor women and children here at home.”

Video of the rally (including LePage’s presence) can be obtained from Regis Tremblay at 207-400-4362.

Photos were taken by Peter Woodruff who can be reached at 207-798-2979.

THE HAMMER COMES DOWN

The South Korean Navy and Samsung brought the hammer down hard on the young people who non-violently attempted to block the moving of explosives that would be used to blast Gureombi.

You don't have to understand Korean to know that these kids were hurting but their courage shines through.

Every minute they delay the destruction of Gangjeong village they allow the rest of us around the world to catch up and build support.

Let's remember the bottom line here - save the environment from the world's worst polluter (the military) - save a 450 year old fishing and farming culture from being torn apart - stop the building of a Navy base that will be a spark for U.S. and Chinese military confrontation in the Asia-Pacific.

This fight belongs to all of us. It's a global issue and needs a global response.

We can all do something to help save Jeju.....start by boycotting Samsung.

AMERICA IS ILLUSION

The U.S. is like Hollywood. Democracy, freedom, liberty all sound good on the silver screen but when you try to put these concepts into real life practice the rubber meets the road.

America is illusion. It's like false advertising done by mega-corporations. Nice image but poor product.

Many Americans like to swallow the "freedom" bait because it makes them feel better and it is easier to justify doing nothing to change things. They convince themselves that our nation is superior to the rest of the world. American exceptionalism they call it. But it's all a lie.

Anyone who exposes these illusions is bound to suffer as America has the power to make you pay for pulling the veil off the rotting corpse. But it must be done. The story must be told. The lies must be exposed. The hypocrisy must be challenged. The "friendly fascism" must be confronted.

There is nothing exceptional about America. It's just another bad movie.

BLOCK THE BLASTS - BOYCOTT SAMSUNG

Human shields with arms thru pipes early this morning to block the transportation of the explosives in front of its storage place. . . Gureombi is alive. . . Don't kill Gureombi. Stop the blasting of Gureombi.

By 11:36 am, six peace activists who took sit-in in front of the Dongbang explosives storage have been carried away to the Seogwipo police station. Two were wounded due to police’s violent suppression on them and now being carried to the hospital. More information is now being collected. Otherwise, explosives are now being carried from the Seogwpo port to the Gangjeong sea. Siren rings again and again. (Information by Kyung-Hoon Choi and Regina Pyon)

By around 10:40 am, Pipes that people connected themselves through their arms to prevent moving of explosives were hammered (Information by Yange Gone)

Boycott Samsung!

DER SPIEGEL ON OBAMA'S DRONE WAR

(Click on graphic for better view)

Are Obama's Efforts to Justify Drone Warfare Aimed at Iran?

By Thomas Darnstädt, Marc Hujer and Gregor Peter Schmitz

When it comes to America's security, President Barack Obama has turned out to be just as ruthlessly determined as his predecessor -- particularly when it comes to using drones to wage the war on terror. But the target of his recent legal repositioning might have much less to do with terrorists than with Iran.

See the full story HERE

LAST GAME

• My sister Laura drove over from Orlando yesterday to meet with me and cousins Bob and Kathy at the ballpark. (She took this photo but none of us are in it.) Tonight will be the 4th game I've seen since I got here and I return home tomorrow. It has been very hot in Florida. At the start of each game they announce the temp (85 degrees yesterday) and they also give the temp of the opponents home city. Yesterday it was 47 in Boston. Everyone smugly cheered about the heat in Sarasota. I groaned. I'll take the 47 any day. After 10 years in Maine I am clearly not adjusted to this hot box.
  
• My talk the other night at the Unitarian Church in Bradenton was well received by most. There were a couple Democratic Party loyalists who didn't take kindly to my critiques of their president and their party. Let's just say it got a bit energetic and interesting during the Q & A. I told my hosts that if George W. Bush was still president the "critics" would have all loved my talk and cheered my attacks on him. But with Obama in power the liberals just can't cotton to such bi-partisan accountability. One of the women at the talk just called and asked me to come back next year - she said if I would agree she'd get started working on it now. That's planning ahead!
  

OCCUPY LIVES

A DC Resident, 24-Year-Old Joel Northam, gave RT permission to meet up with him periodically for nearly six months. He discovered the Occupy Movement in DC is much like society itself with a variety of people and ideas. Still he remains committed to changing the system.

As hundreds of people joyously celebrated the six month birthday of Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park (New York) on Saturday night, the largest gathering in months without police barricades, the NYPD declared the park closed at 11:30 pm. They moved into the park swinging batons, beating people attempting to exercise rights that are supposed to be legally guaranteed. The New York Times reported that scores were arrested.

The NYPD has no constraints. They think they can do this with impunity.

As “A Call for Mass Action Against the Suppression of the Occupy Movement” says,

“One thing is clear already: if this illegitimate wave of repression is allowed to stand… if the powers-that-be succeed in suppressing or marginalizing this new movement… if people are once again 'penned in' — both literally and symbolically — things will be much worse. THIS SUPPRESSION MUST BE MASSIVELY OPPOSED, AND DEFEATED.

“On the other hand, this too is true: movements grow, and can only grow, by answering repression with even greater and more powerful mobilization."

SUNDAY SONG

JEJU CHRONICLES

This video is done by Dennis Apel, a Catholic worker from California. Dennis came to our Global Network meeting on Jeju Island in February and put this together.

He gives you a quick view of what happened during the trip.

WORKING IN COOPERATION

In Richmond, California, a city with 17 per cent unemployment, the jobless are turning to 'cooperatives' to create new economic opportunities. Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds reports.

This is the way human beings were meant to work. The economic model of everyone for themselves, dog-eat-dog capitalism is old school. Cooperatives are the real future.

FAIR TRIAL FOR MANNING?

Army Private First Class Bradley Manning appeared in court Thursday morning. At the hearing prosecutors accused Manning of aiding the terrorist group al-Qaeda. For allegedly releasing thousands of documents to the whistleblower site Wikileaks, the government has charged Manning with nearly two dozen crimes.

As he awaits trial, however, many doubt Manning will receive a fair hearing. According to some reports, the soldier was tortured while he was locked up for more than a year in military custody and some say that PFC Manning was treated worse than a terrorist at Guantanamo Bay. Zack Pesavento of the Bradley Manning Support Network is one of those critics, and he brings RT his latest following Thursday's hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland.

WAR WEARY

Politicians in the U.S. are not used to such tough questioning by reporters as we see here from the UK's Channel 4.

It should be remembered that in the 2008 election, when Obama ran against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), it was Obama who got more campaign donations from the military industrial complex than McCain (the war hawk) did.

They play good cop - bad cop with the people's heads but both the Republicans and the Democrats are war parties.

LOTS OF NEWS

• Two members from South Korean Veterans For Peace arrived in Jeju Island today to meet their counterparts from the U.S. who had been turned away yesterday. So the Korean VFP members held a news conference to blast their government for their treatment of their guests. “This is gratitude. I served in Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division defending the people from North Korea, I come back to again defend the people [of Gangjeong] and I am pushed off into no-man's-land,” said Elliott Adams from New York.
• Angie Zelter (UK) was able to return to Gangjeong village today but has to leave the country by March 22. Beji Monnet (France) was immediately sent to Hong Kong by the reactionary South Korean government. (I would not be surprised to hear that Benji makes his way from Hong Kong to Gureombi on a kayak.)
  
• Sung-Hee Choi reports that, "Yang Yoon-Mo is told to stop the fast as of March 15, his 38th day. As his health has become deteriorated, he stopped his hunger strike and is beginning to feed himself with water gruel. He had stopped even water and bits of salts since the Navy’s enforcement of the blast on the Gureombi. But his health was very fragile since more than 70 days’ fast last summer. People in Gangjeong village are glad on the news. Nobody wants him to die for fast."
• I did a radio interview in Sarasota, Florida today and spent a good bit of time talking about Obama's "pivot" of U.S. foreign and military policy toward the Asia-Pacific. I included much about Pentagon "missile defense" deployments on Navy warships that would be ported in Gangjeong if the base is allowed to be completed and the likely resulting new arms race in the region.
• Tomorrow (Friday) I speak at 7:00 pm at the Unitarian Church in Bradenton, Florida.
• U.S. Veterans For Peace members Elliott Adams and Tarak Kauff will hold a protest and news conference on Friday, March 16 at the South Korean Consulate in New York City at 12:30 pm. They are fighting mad and I would venture to say that the South Korean government has just made bad blood with two of the most respected and hardest working VFP members in our country. President Lee, you are going to regret ever denying these non-violent peace warriors entry onto Jeju Island. Your desperate plan will surely backfire now!
• Boycott Samsung....spread the word.
• I had a record of 1,211 hits on this blog today from South Korea. Some of them are from the Lee government (they want to know what we are going to do next) but many are just from interested citizens. My total visits today were 1,917. The most ever in one day. They also came from United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Japan, Russia and various other countries. Thanks for visiting and come back again soon.
  

BOYCOTT SAMSUNG

Samsung is the lead contractor of the Jeju Navy base.

Samsung has a horrible track record of mistreating and abusing their electronics workers.

See more about Samsung here

Send a message to Samsung and the right-wing South Korean government by boycotting this bad corporation.

Tell others about the boycott.

INDIA REFUSES TO DANCE WHEN U.S. SAYS JUMP

The US is reportedly threatening India with penalties, if it doesn't comply with Washington's sanctions against Iran. India is one of the biggest consumers of Iranian oil, and American officials are quoted as saying they are worried that India may sidestep payment restrictions. RT's Priya Sridhar is in New Delhi.

THREE VFP LEADERS DENIED ENTRY INTO JEJU ISLAND

We've just learned that the three Veterans For Peace members who arrived in Jeju Island, South Korea today were denied entry into the country.

Tarak Kauff, Elliott Adams, and Mike Hastie were met by South Korean authorities when they landed on Jeju Island. Tarak and Elliott flew to Jeju via Shanghai, China and Mike from Seoul. The South Korean authorities had a photo of each of them in their hands and told them they would not be allowed to enter Jeju Island.

They were instead taken and put on a plane back to Shanghai and San Francisco.

When Tarak and Elliott arrived in Shanghai they were told that they each had to pay $280 for the change in flight schedule. But Tarak told the Chinese that they had just been denied entry into South Korea because they were going to protest against a Navy base that was being aimed at China. When the Chinese airline staff heard that they waived the $280 fee for each of them.

Tarak, Elliott and Mike are severely disappointed that they will not be able to stand with the people of Gangjeong village on Jeju Island. South Korean members of VFP were planning on flying from Seoul to Jeju Island to meet with the American VFP members.

This case though illustrates just how much the South Korean puppet regime fears the growing international movement to support the fight against the Navy base on Jeju Island. The US military is pressuring the right-wing Lee government to build this base that will be used to port U.S. warships that will be used in Obama's military "pivot" into the Asia-Pacific region.

Just yesterday Angie Zelter (UK) and Benji Monnet (France) were deported from South Korea after being arrested for protesting against the Navy base.

Please help send a strong message to the South Korean government by calling and/or organizing a protest at the nearest South Korean embassy/consulate to your community.

Also call the South Korean embassy in Washington DC 202-939-5692 or 202-939-5600 to lodge a strong complaint about them denying the three VFP members entry to Jeju Island.

Can there be an question that we are now living in a corporate dominated police state?

Please remember too that the South Korean corporation Samsung is the lead contractor building the Navy base on Jeju. Boycott Samsung!

Here is what Elliott wrote in an email:

We, Tarak and Elliott, just arrived back in the US. When we arrived at the airport on Jeju (we flew in from Shanghai) they were looking for us. They had our photos printed out. They put us right back on the same plane. We do wonder if we could have some how mounted meaningful resistance there in the immigration office, but I doubt it. We feel terrible that we are not with everyone in Gangjeong especially after the deportation of Benji and Anne.

Mike Hastie got on the plane to Jeju from the mainland and then after a 10 minutes they came and got him off. 6:49 PM Pacific time he was in the detention room in Seoul due to be shipped out to San Francisco at 4:20PM Korea time.

They obviously plan to try to keep internationals out of Jeju. We, internationals, need to work to raise international awareness, disgust, and pressure.

DEPORTATION FROM JEJU

Police seek first arrest warrants for foreigners in naval base protests

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea, March 14 (Yonhap) -- Police said Wednesday they have requested arrest warrants for two foreign activists on charges of destroying public property during protests against the construction of a contentious naval base on Jeju Island.

Briton Angie Zelter is accused of breaking into the construction site in Gangjeong Village on the southern tip of the resort island Friday evening after cutting down barbed-wire fences, according to the Seogwipo Police Station. Meanwhile, French activist Benjamin Monnet allegedly trespassed onto the site and climbed a crane on the same day.

The two are the first foreigners facing arrest warrants in the protest against the naval base construction.

The project, first launched in 2007 and scheduled to be completed by 2014, has been one of the most controversial issues in South Korea as local residents, opposition parties, and other environmental activists have staged strong oppositions against it.

Tensions escalated when the Navy and a local construction firm blew up part of a rocky outcropping known as Gureombi last Wednesday, initiating a key part of the construction work.

Zelter, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is most notably known for spearheading efforts to tear down the fences around U.S. military bases in Britain in the 1980s. She has been arrested more than 100 times in half a dozen countries during her work as a peace activist.

Police also sought a warrant for a South Korean activist, only known by the family name Kim, on charges of obstructing police executing their duties during protests along with Monnet on Monday.

Meanwhile, the police said they have released 13 local activists and residents who were arrested on the same day.

WHAT IS THE MISSION?

U.S. - RUSSIAN TENSIONS RISE

On Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Lavrov met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to try to come to a resolution on what to do about Syria. Russia and China have vetoed previous attempts by the UN Security Council for intervention that could potentially lead to the overthrowing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

HOLY DAY ON JEJU

Police detain Song Young-sup, a priest, in Gangjeong Village on the southern tip of South Korea's southernmost island of Jeju on March 13, 2012, as he attempts to demolish a fence for the construction site of a new naval base in the village. The project, which was launched in 2007 during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, has been one of the most contentious issues in South Korea recently as opposition parties, environmental groups and other activists have staged strong protests against it.


Catholic priests' association for Justice had its first Monday pilgrimage mass at Gangjeong port at 4 p.m. on March 12 . . .


There is a great need to expand international support of Jeju Island protests among various constituencies like women's groups, faith activists, environmental community and more.

Appeal: Stop blasting the Gureombi Rock on Jeju Island

Dear friends and supporters of the struggle against the Jeju naval base project

On March 7, the first blasting the coastal rock, known as “Gureombi” has begun in while the government and the navy exercised its power in Gangjeong village and villagers and peace activists were hauled by the police. There was expected to carry the explosives by land but the navy handled sea freight, not to take the road that were blockaded by the villagers and activists. People who were determined to defend the Gureombi were immensely shocked. The navy announced that 43 tons of explosives will be used for blasting the Gureombi and it will takes from 3 to 5 months according to the weather. There have been daily nonviolent direct actions and other forms of struggles for saving Gureombi every day since the first blasting progressed. More than 60 people were already arrested and the numbers of arrests continue to occur as well. There has been an increase in cases of police misconduct and human rights frequently violated. Professor Yoon-mo Yang who was arrested for obstructing police in carrying out their duties is now on his 35th day of hunger strike as of March 13 while inside the prison. The Jeju government demanded on temporal reservation on construction but the Ministry of the National Defense didn’t have an attitude accepting this demand at all.

We ask you to support to our efforts to save the Gureombi and resist the naval base on Jeju Island. Take some time to write letters of complaint to the government and the navy planners and please distribute this appeal among your friends or in your local group.

This appeal will be updated every week.

Thank you.

Extended International Team of the Gangjeong Village


1. Call the Korean Embassy or organize demonstrations in front of the Korean Embassy in your country and let them know that Jeju does not want a naval base!

2. Write and mail to the President Lee Myung-Bak, Kim Kwan-Jin, South Korean Defense Minister and Woo Keun-Min, Island governor. Please refer to the mail address at:

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:33867.7483820829/rid:c5c744865a7b372e77e36ea5fb216220

3.Sign the petitions on Avaaz (http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_jeju/?vl), Care2 (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/Save-Jeju-Island/) or other online sites urging South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak to stop construction of the military base! After signing please share the petition with your social network.

4. Contact the media in your country about this resistance to raise their awareness about the struggle.

5. Stay updated on the resistance by joining the "Save Jeju Island” and the “No Naval Base on Jeju!” Facebook pages. Follow the most recent developments on Twitter at #savejejuisland and #gangjung - then re-post.

6. Consider making a donation to support the international campaign to Save Jeju Island. 100% of your financial contribution will go directly to villagers on the ground waging peace against this dangerous militarization project.

TALKING WITH SAXBY

As I was sitting here in the Atlanta, Georgia airport and posting on my blog I heard a familiar voice sitting next to me. I recognized it from watching Congressional debate on C-SPAN. I looked over and sure enough, it was conservative Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).

I figured I needed to use this chance to say something about Afghanistan since the newspaper he was holding in his hand had a front page story about the U.S. soldier killing 16 innocent civilians in that war torn country.

I introduced myself and told the senator that I am a member of Veterans For Peace. I told him that we needed to get out of Afghanistan right away. He said, "Headlines like this don't help us." But he went on to defend the U.S. military occupation saying that we have to stay until new effective leadership can be developed. He said the people there were not capable of running their own affairs.

I asked him how much we are spending there every month and he quickly replied, "Oh, about $10 billion." I told him we need that money back here at home and that what we spend in one year in Afghanistan could cover all the debt in states across the country that are now in the red.

He kept saying that we are going to be there a long time - and I again pressed him by asking why we have to stay. Was it China? Was it the Caspian Sea pipeline routes through Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Surprisingly he responded that, "It's more about Russia."

I told him he was losing the hearts of the American people on this and he replied, "Yeah, I know that is right."

I then told him that every criminal has an MO - a modus operandi - and that this criminal syndicate called the military industrial complex has one and I'd seen it in operation since the Vietnam War.

At that point he was anxious to move. He thanked me for my service to the country. I responded that I was still serving the country by opposing these current wars.

He got up and left.

LATEST STUFF

The really good stuff begins at 5:00 minutes into the video.

PEOPLE KEEP COMING TO GANGJEONG

Two activists sit atop of a rock busting machine. Mt. Halla is in the background.

Sung-Hee Cho reports from Jeju Island:

A protest high up in the air: 16 people including Benjamin Monnet, Kim Seri and Angie Zelter were arrested in the Gureombi rock.

A long day again for many people here in the village.

I just came back about one hour ago from the Seogwipo police station to meet the arrested on March 12, including above three in the Gureombi rock.

Four people including Dr. Song Kang-Ho have entered the Gureombi by kayaks from early dawn-around 5am and occupied the tetra pods site near the rock, which have also been used on March 7.

Among them, two people- Benjamin Monnet, a French activist and Kim Seri -climbed up to a crane that had drilled a large area of rock , which started in the afternoon.

Seri explains what really happened at the tim .....

“I could not stand any more of the crane destroying rocks. So I crawled underneath wire razor. Then a Daelim thug suddenly came to me and pushed me back toward that wire razor. As I tried to enter forward, another thug also pushed me. At the time I hurt in my left leg and left arm (She was limping when she walked in the police station in the night.) One of them severely pressed my neck so when I was on the crane near for two hours later, I found my leg, arm, neck were all painful. But I could not really feel about my body condition when I ran toward the crane from the thugs from whom I wanted to escape. I was just desperate to stop the rock being destroyed. And I saw Benji who had been trying to protect me from such violence was very quickly running passing by me, already reaching to the top of crane before me. He helped me to climb up the crane then. (Benji was also pushed back by the thugs when he tried to protect Seri).

The two stayed on the top of crane near for two hours, shivering in coldness in thin swim suits. They were eventually arrested under the charge of ‘obstruction of business', by the policemen who flocked like crows underneath them.

According to Seri and Mr. Lim Ho Young, who got information by talking with the construction workers or one’s own research, the site the crane was drilling is where the rock bed is to be eventually blasted after being put with explosives for the formation of caisson-production area, the 2nd work area of 250m length by 70m width size, with the use of 35 ton explosives. (Please imagine how large it is considering that the Gureombi rock is about 1.2 km whole one body.) In the 1st work area where 8 ton of explosives would be used for blast, another crane was working near the coast with strange equipments nearby it and yellow electric codes being laid in inside water. Is if for the blast of the rock bed underwater? Seri wondered.

But not only that… “I was happy today. How long it has been to see the whole Gureombi rock again. How beautiful it is to see from the top of crane.”

How beautiful Seri and Benjamin are today. For near two hours, thanks to them, the destruction of people’s Greombi could stop, to the joy of people who cheered for them!

In the nearby room where Seri was investigated, there was Angie Zelter who bravely cut the wire razor in front of policemen so that about 20 people could enter the Gureombi rock as people gathered into to the coast, risking dangerous files of tetra pods and pitched stone bank to protect the two amidst sun-set.

Though Angie was scared to climb down hanging onto a rope among the dangerous tetra pod files, Angie would later reply to the policemen that her name is ‘Save Gureombi from War Preparation.” And she would be charged of damage on property. Last time, her answer on her name was ‘ Save Gureombi for Peace against War.’ On Feb. 25, her name was ‘Save Jeju.’

Angie knew she would be arrested again only one day after her release. She has been arrested on March 9 when she has entered through a fence, along with about 30 people, breaking it with others including a pastor Lee Jeong-Hoon and Fr. Kim Jeong-Wook who would be imprisoned soon.

Among the arrested today, there were two teenagers –one boy and a girl - who were eventually released hours later. Except for the two, 14 people were eventually carried to the Dongbu police station in the Jeju City to stay night there in its custody room. Some of them were arrested in front of construction gate where they protested against the police’s illegal arrest of people inside the Gureombi that is absolutely public space. Among the arrested, there was Mr. Song Chang-Wook who has been feeding himself only one meal since movie critic Yang Yoon-Mo’s fast.

There were many new faces today including a wife of a renowned photographer Lee Si-Woo. She was hurt her head when she crawled underneath a wire razor.

Thanks to Save Our Sea team who encouraged people to enter the Gureombi, despite the risk of dangerous files of tetra pods and pitched stone bank, about 50 people could enter to the Gureombi, though 16 people would be eventually arrested, surrounding the uniformed police line inside wire razor with their diverse costumes, talents and songs.

The Catholic Fathers held a mass near the port where people could watch what is happening inside the Gureombi. Fr. Moon-Kyun s climbed up to a light house, fluttering his sacred white robe in the wind. A little distant from it, more than 10 young Catholic fathers sat in a line, leading the mass in solemn mode.

By the sun-set, the whole Gureombi rock looked happy in long time again with many people cheering and singing there.

Destruction will go on tomorrow, too. Nobody knows how many arrests and imprisonments would happen tomorrow and coming days. The numbers of arrest since Jan. 2010 is now reaching almost 100. Everyday people here have to endure early dawn siren by which many people have already been suffering for auditory hallucination, confrontation with police, physical and psychological risk, etc. Still more and more people seem to come here. More and more people seem to have concern with people’s beloved Gureombi.

As the sun set, the young policemen also sought for their sleep, too. It is for those young people that we fight to inherit them this Peace Island so that they should not be a cannon fodder by a war base here.

It is told another 4 blasts happened today, too.

OPTING OUT OF THE PIRATE ORBIT

• I "opted out" of the new high-tech x-ray body scanner at the Portland, Maine airport early this morning. Instead I got the blue plastic glove human pat down, more like a rub down at some points, from a nice TSA worker.

He told me he didn't think badly of me for opting out. I thanked him. I told him I didn't trust these machines impact on our health and further more I felt that the government was going overboard with all these security measures. I said it is all over the top. He told me he agreed and I swear at one point he used the word "we" giving me the clear impression that possibly many of his co-workers also agreed.

I also went into a bit more detail about how our government is taking our privacy rights away from us. He agreed again. It was the most pleasant pat down I'd ever experienced. This is just one more reason why so many people love living in Maine. It's motto is: The way life should be.

Other than finding a bottle of water or my sun screen today, how many villainous acts do they stop each day - and how much does all this "technology" cost the taxpayers. Someone is getting rich off this.....I think the TSA workers should speak out. They have a union - they should use it to inform the people that we are being ripped off.

• South Korean Novelist Gong Ji-young chimed in on opponents’ arguments against the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island, adding fuel to raging debate over the project.

Gong wrote on Twitter “You don’t listen to the Jeju people nor budge at the cutting of the budget by the National Assembly. You, who beat innocent citizens and put them into the water, are nothing more than pirates,” referring to the Navy.

Her remarks came after proportional representative candidate Kim Ji-yoon of the Unified Progressive Party wrote that she opposed the naval base construction on her Twitter on Mar. 4.

Kim went to Gangjeong village and joined the protests when she dived into the water after police would not allow kayaks to be used to get to Gureombi rock. When was the last time you heard a story about a person running for office joining a protest by jumping in the water. She's my kind of politician.

See the writer article here

See the swim story here

MIXED BAG

• I head out early tomorrow for Florida where I will be for the next week. I am meeting my cousin in Sarasota to watch three Baltimore Orioles spring training baseball games. I'll be staying at the home of Maine friends Selma & Hersch Sternlieb who spent the winter there. Selma has organized a talk for me on Friday, March 16 at 7:00 pm at the Unitarian Church in Bradenton. She has also arranged for me to do a radio interview while in town so I should be kept busy. I'll have my laptop and cell phone so can be easily contacted.
• Once I get home I will have two weeks to prepare for my 30-day west coast speaking tour that will be hosted in 23 cities from San Diego, California to Bellingham, Washington. I am really excited about this trip and have already sent two boxes of newsletters, books, and bumper stickers to early hosts.
  
• It was sad and disgusting to hear about the U.S. soldier who just killed 16 innocent people in Afghanistan. This comes on top of the recent burning of the Koran by U.S. troops stationed there. Our military occupation of that country, costing us at least $10 billion every month, is becoming more of a flash point every day. The people in the U.S. need to push hard and call for us to bring our troops and our war dollars home now.
• Now that the three members of Veterans For Peace are going to Jeju Island I will next start work on getting another group of three people to go there in early-to-mid April. Let me know if you are interested in spending two weeks protesting alongside the Gangjeong villagers.
• Vermonters went to their town meetings last week to settle questions about local governance. They also decided to take on the corrupt campaign system that is steering the nation toward catastrophe. 64 towns voted that we should amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that said corporations have the free speech rights of people. “The resounding results will send a strong message that corporations and billionaires should not be allowed to buy candidates and elections with unlimited, undisclosed spending on political campaigns,” declared U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). Vermonters are not the first to move to amend. Referendums have already passed in Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin. Cities across the country, including Los Angeles, have urged Congress to begin the amendment process. State legislatures in Hawaii and New Mexico have as well.