A FAIR BUDGET FOR ALL

• I had a very busy day yesterday.  I spent hours working on the drone bill now pending in Augusta.  Tomorrow is the Judiciary Committee work session on the bill so I sent a news release out about our concern with drones snooping on us in Maine.  I also sent the drone petition with all the names we've gathered to each member of the Maine House of Representatives and many members of the Senate.  (It was interesting to find that Maine Senate Republicans had their emails available while Democrats require you to fill out a form to reach them which didn't allow for the petition with all the names to be transmitted.)

• In the afternoon four boxes full of 10,000 door hangers arrived at the house. In the coming days folks in about 20 communities will spread these door hangers across the state which give information about the ever expanding military budget and urge people to take action to demand a fair budget for all.  They look really great and I can't wait to get started taking them door-to-door in Bath.  I spent several hours dividing them into stacks of 100 and then packaging them up to put in the mail today.

• Last Sunday there was a fantastic Teach-In called "A Budget For All -- Why Not?" at the University of Maine-Orono that was organized by the Peace & Justice Center in Bangor.  More than 120 turned out from all over the state to hear great keynote speeches by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers.  They were followed by an outstanding panel of Maine activists - one of the best talks was by Lisa Savage from CodePink Maine and our co-leader of the Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home.  You can read her speech here. Two workshop sessions were also held and I facilitated one of them on the theme of Bring Our War $$ Home.  Because the event was on Sunday Mary Beth was able to attend - her new schedule at work has her working every Saturday so she's been missing many activist events on those days. 
• In latest news from Jeju island, Gangjeong villagers held a vote to oppose the military residence building project.  In addition to destroying the rocky coastline the Navy has announced they want other parts of the village for housing for military personnel at the base. Among 118 voters present, opposition to the project was 114, in favor of the project was 3 and there was one abstention. There can be no doubt that the Navy will try to take most of the village before all this is over.
• Last night the Santa Monica, California City Council voted for final passage of a Sustainability Bill of Rights Ordinance by the margin of 7-0.  The law is the first in the nation that protects the rights of nature and community rights as fundamental and interdependent.  Natural community and residents rights supersede corporate interests under the law.  See the ordinance here