PROTEST AT BATH IRON WORKS

Video by Regis Tremblay from our protest yesterday at Bath Iron Works.  We had 100 folks from all over Maine show up. 

We kept our eyes peeled for Jesus Christ but did not see him - we think it must have been an impostor who went inside the shipyard and did the 'christening'.

I flew early this morning (Sunday) from Portland to Toronto, Canada where I will speak tomorrow at the university.  On the plane I sat next to a Navy man and noticed that he was typing an email to someone about having been at the 'christening' ceremony in Bath.  I told him I was the person that organized the protest and said we were particularly upset about the use of the word 'christening'.  I asked him if he really thought Jesus would bless a warship.  He refused to answer.

I also noticed that he had been typing about the Aegis Ashore 'missile defense' (MD) testing program now underway on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.  He said the testing program was going well.  I know that Obama has announced that the MD interceptors being tested there will be deployed in Romania, and likely other NATO countries, within range of Russia.  I asked him if he thought it was provocative to militarily surround Russia.  He replied that we have to be "proactive".  Provocative or proactive?

The one thing he kept saying is "It's a great country we live in where people can disagree."  I always see that remark as sort of a default phrase used by people with little imagination or courage to have a real discussion.  After all, if we are such a great country, and what the Pentagon is doing is so great, then why not defend it.  Make your case.

The Navy man did say he was stationed in San Diego which is the home for the Pacific fleet.  It's already been announced that the new Zumwalt destroyer will be ported there and sent into the Asia-Pacific to sneak up on China.  The Navy man would call it "proactive" but I'd call it provocative and clearly part of the dangerous US first-strike attack strategy now being developed.