DEMS STUDY AND LAMENT AS NATION CRUMBLES

The Washington Post is reporting today that, "The economic costs to the U.S. of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far total approximately $1.5 trillion, according to a new study by congressional Democrats that estimates the conflicts' 'hidden costs'-- including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars."

"That amount is nearly double the $804 billion the White House has spent or requested to wage these wars through 2008, according to the Democratic staff of Congress's Joint Economic Committee. Its report, titled The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War, estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have thus far cost the average U.S. family of four more than $20,000."

"The report argues that war funding is diverting billions of dollars away from 'productive investment' by American businesses in the United States. It also says that the conflicts are pulling reservists and National Guardsmen away from their jobs, resulting in economic disruptions for U.S. employers that the report estimates at $1 billion to $2 billion."

Sadly, the very same Democratic party that commissioned the study will soon hand Bush-Cheney even more money for the Iraq-Afghanistan occupations and the ballooning Pentagon budget. Here-in lies even more evidence of the very cynical strategy of the "party now in power" as they disclose to the American people their intention of doing nothing to stop the chaos that they so strongly lament.

These weak-kneed Democrats stand back rubbing their chins and wringing their hands in grave concern but do nothing to hold the Bush pirate team accountable for their crimes against international law and humanity as a whole. They are doing their level best to kill the national campaign for impeachment.

Thankfully the peace movement is not sitting back waiting for Godot. People are protesting locally in record numbers, getting arrested as we saw in Boston yesterday when 18 Veterans for Peace were locked up for standing with gags over their mouths in protest of once again not being allowed to participate in the Veterans Day parade in that community.

In Olympia, Washington demonstrations continued against shipments of military cargo through the Port of Olympia. Activists were pepper sprayed by police as they tried to block military trucks hauling equipment to Fort Lewis after it was unloaded from a ship carrying the gear back from Iraq. More than a dozen have been arrested in recent days.

Even in conservative St. Augustine, Florida folks held a Veterans Day die-in to protest the war. Our 96 year old friend Peg McIntire, with a sign on her walker that said "Granny for Peace", was right in the middle of the action.

People are stretching themselves to go beyond their normal protest boundaries which is just what we need as our nation descends deeper into fascism and endless war.

REMEMBERING WAR AND PREPARING FOR MORE

Our Maine Veterans for Peace chapter walked today in the annual Veterans Day parade in downtown Portland. Last year they tried to keep us out of the parade and it caused quite a stir in the local paper. Watching the clowns, uni-cycle riders, Girl & Boy Scouts, and other assorted entries in the parade made me wonder how the right-wing veterans groups that organize the event can justify their presence while wanting us out.

Year after year we have about the largest contingent of veterans in the parade. Quite a few folks applaud as we walk by. I saw about 6-8 older guys today turn their backs on us as we passed them by on the street. In one instance it was two guys with "Vietnam Vets" hats on - I'm sure they want to be proud of their time in that war and we remind them that "their war", just like the current one, was illegal and immoral.

Veterans for Peace in the Boston area held a great action when they were denied the right to participate in that parade and 18 were arrested. See the moving video here: http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=-YnwXHBxD9s

On another matter, today the Washington Post ran a story called Pakistan Nuclear Security Questioned. This is a very important article because they seemed to be floating a trial balloon when they mentioned in the article, "Protection for Pakistan's nuclear weapons is considered equal to that of most Western nuclear powers. But U.S. officials worry that their limited knowledge about the locations and conditions in which the weapons are stored gives them few good options for a direct intervention to prevent the weapons from falling into unauthorized hands."

The last few words really got my attention, "direct intervention to prevent the weapons from falling into unauthorized hands."

I've been toying with a wild theory the last few days. What if Bush-Cheney had told Musharraf to crack down on democracy advocates knowing that chaos would ensue? (Many people in Pakistan are now calling their "leader" Busharraf because they say he is under the control of the U.S. administration.) Then after martial law is declared, and the society erupts as it now has, we start seeing articles like the one today in the Post saying that the nukes in Pakistan are in danger of falling into terrorist hands. So what does that leave us to do?

Could it be that the Bush administration intends to widen the chaos beyond Iraq and Afghanistan into Iran and Pakistan? Take a look at the map and see how this all lays out.

I know what your first question is: Ok, Bruce, how would the U.S. be able to put enough troops on the ground to control all of this?

The guy that was Donald Rumsfeld's "strategy guy" has an answer to your question. Thomas Barnett, the futurist, and former instructor at the Naval War College has been laying out the answer for some time now. In a recent article called How our military evolves in this long war he says, "In my 2004 book, The Pentagon's New Map, I argued that our military would inevitably split into a Leviathan-like combat force and a 'system administrator' [sysadmin] force optimized for everything else: postwar stabilization and reconstruction, nation-building, crisis response, and counter-insurgency."

" Eventually, all these sysadmin activities will require a bureaucratic center of gravity. In my 2005 book, Blueprint for Action, I proposed a new agency to complement our departments of 'war' (Defense) and 'peace' (State). I wasn't the first and won't be the last to issue that call. Indeed, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani proposes creating such an independent agency -- serious political progress in its own right."

"Every year I address the student body at National Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed Forces, briefing the strategic concepts from my books. Well, this year the students are engaging in a 'senior leadership capstone exercise' in which they'll brainstorm how to go about creating a new Department of Global Development that aims to win both the prewar and postwar in this long war against radical extremism."

"That gets me to my last sign of progress: the emergence of industry players associated with the sysadmin's rising profile. Last year Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense corporation, acquired Pacific Architects & Engineers, a long-time contractor to the U.S. State Department. PA&E is essentially State's version of Kellogg Brown & Root, the Pentagon's premier contractor for overseas base construction and support services."

"Lockheed's purchase was a shot across the bow of the entire defense industry, signaling its historic decision to focus more on serving the U.S. military's ballooning postwar portfolio. Within a generation, I predict Lockheed will evolve from being primarily a U.S. defense firm to operating as a global security contractor -- less Leviathan and far more sysadmin."

Can you imagine the Pentagon invading and taking over country after country (Iran, Pakistan, Venezuela, etc) and then turning it over to the State Department who then contracts with Lockheed Martin to literally "run" these countries - sysadmin - to the benefit of the oil and weapons corporations? Welcome to the New World Order.

You take a countries resources by force.....you then hire Lock-Mart to run the show and pay them from the oil profits. Lock-Mart makes money off the weapons used to destroy the country and then they make money "rebuilding" and "running" the country for the global corporate elite.

Far fetched?

Hang on for the ride folks. Only time will tell.

As the Indians used to say though, put your ears to the railroad tracks and hear the train coming.

CATCHING UP WITH THE WORLD

The price of gas in Maine has jumped quite a bit in the last week or so. It's now starting to make folks stir and just maybe reflect some on our collective future.

Our price per gallon is still much lower than what people in other countries are paying. In Europe they are spending the equivalent of $6-$8 a gallon. We've still got it easy in comparison but then they also have more public transit options than most of us in the U.S. have.

Here in Maine we have virtually no public transit. There is a Amtrak train that runs south from Portland to Boston but other than that forget it. Our state government is still spending the vast majority of our transportation funds on building more and wider roads. That won't do anything to help us deal with the steadily rising cost of gas.

Old timers in Maine talk about the days when they had trains connecting virtually every town in the state. You didn't need a car to get around. Then after the car was invented the automobile industry bought up most of the trolley systems across the country and shut them down so that people had to rely on the car.

I just can't imagine how people driving big fat trucks and SUV's can afford to put gas in them anymore. It must cost $100 to fill the tank. How long can they hold out at those prices before they have to get rid of their gas guzzlers?

How long will it be before most people can't afford to put gas in any kind of a vehicle? And when that day comes how will they get to work?

Years ago, in 1980, a friend and I started an organization in Orlando, Florida called The People's Transit Organization (PTO). We were urging Central Florida governments to stop spending all of our transportation money on roads and instead expand the public bus system and put light rail throughout the region. They told us we were nuts - people love their cars they said. We got a list of the 25 busiest traffic intersections in Orange County and held large signs at these spots for months. The signs said: Tired of Waiting at this Light?, Price of Gas Out of Sight?, We Need Mass Transit Right? We got a great response from the public and soon the politicians were putting pictures of themselves standing at the city bus station on their campaign brochures. Within a couple of years the City of Orlando doubled their bus system. Their public transit system there has grown dramatically since, though still not good enough to meet all the current demand.

We've all got to start talking more about the need for public transportation in our communities. We are hearing alot of stories about senior citizens who can't afford to drive a car anymore as they live on fixed incomes and worry just about paying for their heating bills or food. There are working people that can't afford to get to work. They need someone to advocate for them.

People in the peace movement could do a better job of connecting these issues. We should talk about how public investment in mass transit will help reduce the need for endless war for oil and will also go a long way in helping relieve some of the current pollution that is helping to cause climate change. Imagine the jobs created as we re-connect states like Maine with rail systems again.

We are long overdo for this kind of change.

CALL ON HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO HOLD IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS

Yesterday afternoon about a dozen of us from the Maine Campaign to Impeach held banners on both sides of the overpass of U.S. 1 in Bath. We went at the time when there is a shift change at the Bath Ironworks shipyard so we had a huge viewing audience.

I was actually surprised at the positive response we got from the cars that drove by over the next hour and a half. I'd venture to say that about 50% of the cars that passed either honked, waved, or gave a thumbs up. Of course we got some negatives too but not nearly what one would have imagined.

With the Kucinich maneuver to bring impeachment to the House of Representatives it was a good time to hang the banners. With help from Republicans, who admittedly want to call the bluff of the Democrats on impeachment, the Kucinich bill has now been sent to the House Judiciary Committee for hearings. The committee is chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) who has long been an advocate of impeachment - that is until the Dems took control of the House in 2006. Since he became the committee chair he has echoed the words of Nancy Pelosi that "impeachment is off the table."

So the current strategy is to write Conyers and other members of the Judiciary Committee to demand hearings because they could just kill the Kucinich bill in the committee by saying they don't have time to get to it - other business is more important.

So this is where we come in. We need to send messages to Conyers and to the Judiciary Committee demanding they move on impeachment hearings. Check the list of Judiciary Committee members to see if any from your state are on the list and contact them as well.

We need to create some positive energy around this now. Please help.

CYNTHIA TURNS ME GREEN

I just returned from a breakfast meeting between Cynthia McKinney and some Green Party leaders in Maine. Cynthia has now made it official that she is running for the Green Party nomination for president. She is traveling the country to meet with Green Party members in order to secure their support and build a national campaign.

For the last four years I have been registered in Maine as no party preference. I call myself an Independent voter. At the meeting today I said I would immediately change my registration to Green Party in Maine in order to be able to support Cynthia's run for the presidency.

I've said before on this blog that I am an unconditional fan of Cynthia McKinney. I've followed her courageous career in the U.S. House of Representatives for many years. I used to watch C-SPAN in awe as she took to the floor of the House and said things few others would ever say about what our country was doing. She, long before Dennis Kucinich did, introduced the first impeachment resolution in the House. The Democrats became tired of her speaking truth to power and they helped to get her run out of her House seat in Atlanta, Georgia. The next term she ran again and got her seat back. Then the Dems turned around and ran her out again. Now she is free to speak the truth even more clearly and she is doing it.

McKinney will be focusing on jobs in a green society in her campaign. She told us today about having just visited with the Austria Green Party where they are turning their country into a model green society in order to deal with global warming. Cynthia talked about how people could be put to work learning to build green structures, repairing America's declining infrastructure and creating sustainable technologies instead of bombs.

That is just what we need to be hearing from someone running for president.

Cynthia defined winning as helping to build the Green Party into a viable alternative party in the U.S. that gives the future generations some place to go for political expression and change. Her ability to attract women, people of color, and disaffected Democrats and Republicans will surely provide the Greens the kind of boost they have long needed. How many times have I heard activists ask how do we develop connections to the black community so we can work together? Now is our chance.

For me the whole campaign makes total sense. Mary Beth and I gave Cynthia a $100 donation, which for us is alot of money. We see it as a good investment in the future.

A DAY FULL OF NO IRAN WAR ACTIVITY

Today I spent a couple of hours working at the voting polls here in Bath gathering signatures on a petition calling on the Maine congressional delegation to speak out now and forcefully against Bush's impending attack on Iran. We will have had volunteers there from morning til the polls close at 8:00 pm.

Our local group, PeaceWorks, is doing this in several towns in our MidCoast Maine region today.

The response from the public was better than I had expected. I had little trouble getting people to sign the petition or take the leaflet that we had prepared on the subject.

Earlier in the day we taped my public access cable TV show on the same subject - an Iran attack. We turned the tables and had one of our PeaceWorks leaders, Rosalie Tyler Paul, interview me. Usually I do the interviewing. Eric Herter produces my show, which is called This Issue, and is now editing it and putting maps of Iran and photos of everyday Iranian life into the final product.

The attack on Iran will likely be done with hundreds of cruise missiles fired from Aegis destroyers that are built right here in the town of Bath at the local shipyard. They cost about $1.2 million each and would hit thousands of targets that have already been identified by U.S. Navy and Israeli military personnel. We know this because last year a friendly Navy officer told us these meetings were underway at the time. This person knew about this because they had direct contact with a person in the meetings.

The Washington Post reported on November 1 that former Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld had earlier instructed administration officials to "keep elevating the threat" and "link Iraq to Iran" as a way to build support for an attack.

A really remarkable article in Esquire magazine (October 18 issue) called The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know is a must read. It clearly reveals how the Bush crew has been, one more time, preparing for war and demonizing Iran while refusing to negotiate with them in a serious way when they have offered to discuss key issues without any pre-conditions. The sources in the article are former right-wing Bush officials. Whistle blowers.

We all need to do more now to stop an illegal and immoral attack on Iran. People at the polls today understood the insanity of an attack but they feel desperate. I told people that U.S. citizens have to take responsibility for what is being done in our name. We can't be good Germans and act like nothing is happening.

IMPEACH BUSH-CHENEY NOW

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is set to pull some maneuver in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and bring impeachment to a vote.

According to David Swanson, the impeachment organizer at Afterdowningstreet.org, "He [Kucinich] is going to introduce a privileged resolution on the floor of the U.S. House Tuesday morning to force a vote on his resolution to impeach Cheney (H Res 333). While that bill includes offenses related to Iraq and Iran, Kucinich plans to focus his remarks on Iran and the fact that the current Pentagon bill includes funding to retrofit bombers to carry 15-ton bombs."

"He said that there might be an actual debate on the substance of the charges, for which he said he was prepared, or there might be a motion to table the matter (effectively killing it if successful), or it might be referred to a committee."

My guess is that his effort won't get far in the Democratic party controlled House where Nancy Pelosi has said "impeachment is off the table." But I strongly applaud Kucinich for trying and at the least maybe it will force a vote so we can get these politicians on the record on impeachment. If there is a way though to kill Kucinich's bill without a vote I'm certain the Dems will do it.

I called my congressman's office in Washington today to show support for the Kucinich bill (H Res 333). The congressional staffer on the phone knew the bill number when I called so that must indicate they were getting enough calls for them to take notice.

According to Kucinich, "While the impeachment movement has generated intensely strong sentiment and activism, there have been only two polls published on the question of impeaching Vice President Cheney. In a national poll, 54 % of Americans favored impeachment. In one state poll, 64 % of Vermonters favored impeaching the Vice President."

Some folks think impeachment is a dead issue. The truth though is the campaign is still alive and well out across the country.

Defending the constitution is a full-time job for activists these days. Don't quit now.

LONG LIVE THE DISARMAMENT NUNS!

Dominican Sisters, Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert, spoke in nearby Brunswick last night and showed their excellent documentary video called Conviction. The video tells the story about their 2002 nuclear disarmament action at a Minuteman missile silo in Colorado. They, and one other nun Jackie Hudson, ended up doing more than 30 months each in prison.

I've known the sisters for several years now and they live, when not in jail, at the Jonah House intentional community in Baltimore that was founded by Phil Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister.

Ardeth and Carol have been instrumental in helping to educate people around the country, and the world, about the dangers of moving the arms race into space. Their 2002 plowshares action was called the Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares II.

Ardeth was a speaker at our annual Global Network space organizing conference in Berkeley, California in May of 2002. I will never forget part of her very moving speech when she said, "We are a killer nation. We can kill them fast, and we can kill them slow."

We will be very honored to host these two courageous women at our Addams-Melman House here in Bath tomorrow for a pot luck supper. They are once again able to travel and are back on the road doing what they do best - that is calling on people to do more to stop this deadly cycle of endless war and threatening to use nuclear weapons. Their power lies in their own personal example of speaking truth to power in a loving and non-violent spirit.

They clearly point out the total hypocrisy of the U.S. as our country lectures and attacks others for even thinking of building nukes while new generations of nuclear weapons are today under development in the U.S. Department of Energy nuclear laboratories sprinkled around the nation.

Long live the disarmament nuns!

RAY DAVIES NEW ALBUM OUT

Readers of this blog know that from time to time I mention my favorite band, The Kinks, which has been broken up for the past several years. Their genius singer/songwriter, Ray Davies, has a new album out and sadly it is not available in the U.S. yet. It was distributed free in the British Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago which has spurred a big load of publicity for the CD.

And now the BBC has a link on their web site to a concert Ray did very recently in London which includes several of the new songs and many of his old hits.

Most people don't know much about Ray or The Kinks but when they start listening they recognize many of his songs.

Ray is known for his biting social commentary, excellent story telling, and great British humor in his music.

Here is a link to one of my favorite Kinks songs, No More Looking Back.

Enjoy the music.

NATIONAL PETROLEUM RADIO

Tuesday night I was driving to a meeting in nearby Brunswick and had the radio tuned to National Public Radio (NPR) - or National Petroleum Radio as many people call it these days.

The daily business program called Market Place was on and they did a long story about Hugo Chavez in Venezuela having the audacity to "funnel oil revenue funds into social programs." They made it sound as if Chavez was doing some illegal or immoral thing by taking the profits from Venezuela's oil and helping the poor with them.

They interviewed various "oil analysts" who speculated at what point Venezuela's national budget would go into debt if the price per barrel of oil was to drop below a certain point. The experts concluded that if the price of oil dropped below $50 a barrel then Chavez would not be able to continue with this dastardly deed.

This morning the price of crude oil was $96 per barrel. With diminishing supplies of oil around the world it is very unlikely that prices will be dropping, especially as low as $50. So the whole NPR story, built around this theoretical price drop, was a phony. The whole story was intended just to create more antagonism toward Chavez and Venezuela for doing something that we don't do anymore in the U.S. - and that is using national resources to help the poor.

My god, imagine the bad example Venezuela is setting by helping people get medical care, education, jobs, decent housing and food. Chavez must be vilified and National Petroleum Radio has joined the cause.

Expect more of the same in the near future.



[On Nov 11 I got the following email from Andi Sporkin at NPR]

Bruce--

I wanted to point out an error in your recent posting on the public radio program "Marketplace" and its piece on Venezuelan oil revenue."

Marketplace" is not produced nor distributed by NPR. It is a production of another independent public radio production company, PRI, and some public radio stations choose to air it either as a stand alone program during the day or as an insert in NPR's "Morning Edition" program. NPR has no control over the subjects it covers nor its reporting. I've attached a link to "Marketplace" for your information. I'd appreciate you correcting your posting.

Andi Sporkin NPR

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/

THE SYSTEM IS LOCKED DOWN

I was reading an article this morning by Tom Engelhardt called Where have all the protests gone?

In the piece he says, "However, over the years, unlike in the Vietnam era, the [Iraq occupation] demonstrations shrank, and somehow the anxiety, the anger -- though it remained suspended somewhere in the American ether -- stopped manifesting itself so publicly, even as the war went on and on. Or put another way, perhaps the anger went deeper and turned inward, like a scouring agent. Perhaps it went all the way into what was left of an American belief system, into despair about the unresponsiveness of the government -- with paralyzing effect."

Bingo......

In the same article Engelhardt reports that the polls show a continued strong opposition to the Iraq mess. In poll after poll 70% of the public wants the troops home and the occupation to end. But it just keeps going on.

I've always said that the American people are not stupid. They understand that the political system in this country is now under lock-down, similar to the increasing numbers of American citizens living in jail.

While recently in Prague I was on the subway and sat across from a man and I nodded to him and said hello. My guide then translated a conversation I wanted to have with the man. I wanted him to know that I had come to be part of the "No radar" conference. I wanted to take my own personal poll so I could see his reaction.

My guide was amazed when the man said he knew about the conference and that he agreed with our position on the radar. Then he rubbed his fingers together in that universal sign that said it is all about the money. He said the deal has been made, the politicians in the Czech Republic have already been bought off. But he encouraged us and shook my hand as we got off the train.

My experience is that this feeling of powerlessness is universal now. Every country I visit, every place I visit in the U.S., it's always the same story. People care, they want things to change, they just don't believe in the system any longer. It's no coincidence that more people don't vote in the U.S. than those that do vote. It's their one way of actively rejecting the system.

Most people won't join a demonstration these days.....they won't even write a letter to the editor. Most people agree that the corporations run two horses in every race so they don't lose either way.

With so few organizing avenues left to us how do we then make an impact on the system? Many good hearted progressive people I know are just waiting for everything to collapse convincing themselves it is the only way to bring this empire to a halt.

I always ask in return "yeah, it's likely to collapse but how many more people have to die when it falls on them?"

So what do we do?

I am now a firm believer in using the 2008 elections as one more opportunity to have our voices heard by running people from our movements for office as Greens or Independent candidates. Cindy Sheehan's declaration as an Independent candidate for Congress against Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco is already encouraging people across the country to do the same. We need to support this type of activism in our own communities.

We must continue to call for impeachment, even when the Democrats refuse to discuss the issue.

I also think we need more civil disobedience as we face this fork in the road. There is no good reason why active people, especially those retired and financially secure, can't step up and non-violently sit-in a congressional office as a way to dramatize the urgency of our situation.

The world is looking at the peace movement in the U.S. and asking "Why are you people not doing more to stop Bush-Cheney?"

We don't have the luxury of saying that we feel hopeless......that our democracy has been drowned. We must crawl out of our self imposed boxes and stretch ourselves.

As former CIA agent, and anti-war activist, Ray McGovern likes to say, "Necks are a nice and useful thing to have. But necks were not made to be worshiped."

So stick your neck out now....while you still have one.

THE LONG WAR NEEDS MORE MONEY WHILE BLACKWATER SLIPS AWAY FROM PROSECUTION

I watched the new chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, for an hour on C-SPAN yesterday. It was his first speech in his new job.

He used the words "Long war" about 150 times just to make sure we understood his point. We ain't coming home from Iraq, or Afghanistan, and the rest of the Middle East any time soon.

He also made clear several times that this "Long war" was of course about fighting "terrorism" but then slipped in a statement at least twice that we've got to control diminishing supplies of "water and fossil fuels" around the world.

He acknowledged that the Army has a serious manpower problem and made quite a number of references to the "families" of GI's now in Iraq, or who had recently returned, making quite clear to me that there is a mutiny going on with the families. He promised to bring more troops into the Army and Marines in coming years. Where will they come from? The economic draft.

Mullen repeatedly talked about the Pentagon not having enough money and needing the country to recognize that in order to fight the "Long war" we were all going to have to pony up more cash. Of course this cash will come from cutbacks in social spending thus ensuring a steady stream of poor and working class kids having to go into the military for lack of jobs, education funding, etc....

It will also mean more reliance on privatizing the military in order to fight the "Long war" and so the headline in the Washington Post today, Immunity Deal Hampers Blackwater Inquiry, comes as no surprise.

The first two lines of the article read: "The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned. The immunity deal has delayed a criminal inquiry into the Sept. 16 killings and could undermine any effort to prosecute security contractors for their role in the incident that has infuriated the Iraqi government."

Well, well. Condi-sleeza has found a way to cut the heart out of the prosecution of Blackwater. Who would have ever predicted that one?

Admiral Mullen also yesterday very lightly touched on the role of the Navy in the coming period of resource wars. He talked about the need to, working with chosen allies, be able to choke off vital shipping lanes at sea. [Naval Aegis destroyers made right here in Bath, Maine.]

Why? Well just keep in mind that China imports 80% of its oil through the Taiwan Straits. If the U.S. could shut down that route then the U.S. would essentially be able to strangle China's economy and hold them hostage to any policy.

But in order to do all this Admiral Mullen says the Pentagon needs more of your tax dollars. So every dime we keep in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Education, environmental programs, public transportation, and the like is money that will not be going to fight the "Long war."

Fight for social progress and make the world a more peaceful place.

Looking at the web site of the Washington Post this morning I have a reaction to several headlines:

Venezuela Increasingly a Conduit for Cocaine - My guess a pretext is being developed to grab their oil....look for more of the same in coming months. Bush-Cheney are going to try to take out Iran and Venezuela before they leave. Maybe Russia too.

Judicial Races Rife With Politics - Corporate funds are transforming the elections for many judge ships into big-budget campaigns. The rich are locking down the whole system. Democracy is being smothered, drowned right before our heavy eyes.

Brothers Ship Out Together - Two National Guards brothers heading to Iraq together. A "nice" family story for the Sunday edition. Patriotism is still alive we are being reminded.

Rudy Giuliani Is All Right - If you liked Bush you will love Rudy. He and Hillary are media creations. Both parties are being told this is all they will get. One more sign that democracy is a thing of the past.

The business of war - Maine profits from the war. The goal of making the American economy dependent on permanent war moves forward.

Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues - A song from my favorite band The Kinks reflecting the mood of many of us today.

Sheep - Do you ever feel like the American people are a flock of sheep now being herded for the slaughter? It seems like we just willingly follow along and head in the direction we are pointed. What happens if we start to turn away from the slaughterhouse?

U.S. 'Iran attack plans' revealed - I got an email this morning from a friend asking me, "What strategies can we develop quickly to prevent an Iran attack?" My answer? Help turn the sheep back to the green pastures.

Water drying up around the country - Because we are such an arrogant and wasteful people the water is disappearing around the country. Global warming will only make it worse.

My policy is to feel the pain. I just want to be real. I don't want to run and hide from it all. I don't want to pretend everything will be ok. I don't want to lose myself in fantasy that hopes that the world will be all bright and flashy in the morning.

So what is the revolutionary thing to do today? I've got my car up for sale. That might be a start. We don't flush the toilet after we pee at our house. Small contribution to life on Earth I know but a start.

We live in a modern form of feudalism. This time we get color TV and a car. (And no coverage of the many regional demonstrations yesterday around the country opposing the occupation of Iraq.)

One prophet once said "Don't be pissed off by the people. The politicians always give them 'just enough' to keep them off the streets and out from in front of the gates/guns/new roads/prisons/nuclear bases/closing hospitals/pipelines/government buildings...just enough...and just enough distraction so they can switch off - - how we would all like to default."

So on we go.....trying our best to save the future generations from the living hell we are now creating by our greed.

What are we doing? Can you hear me cry?

In times like these I always turn to The Kinks. Their music soothes me and smooths off the rough edges. Songs like Shangri-La do it for me.

NEED A REAL MOVEMENT ON IRAN

I am quite upset today. My local newspaper, like most in the country, is playing right along with the Bush crew Iran war drum scenario. The paper's editor claims to be a peacenik and many people sing his praises but the reality is that the paper continues to print the same old tunes which give credence to Bush's claims that Iran is exhibiting "threatening behavior" in the Middle East.

From where I sit the only "threatening behavior" in the Middle East is coming from this side of the Atlantic Ocean - right here in the good old US of A.

So I wrote a letter to editor and sent it in. Helps calm the boiling blood inside me.

Another thing has me fired up. Last night local peace activists in my community were sending around a fund raising email from MoveOn asking folks to send them $200,000 right away so they can stop the U.S. attack on Iran.

Now this is the same MoveOn that has been running cover for the Democratic Party since 2003 on the Iraq invasion and occupation. It is the same MoveOn that has been real slow to come around on the issue of a cut in funding for Iraq and an immediate withdrawal. It is the same MoveOn that won't go near impeachment. And now they want the peace community to send them money to lead the fight on Iran?

Get out of here!

MoveOn will, I promise you, lead the fight on Iran right into the stable of the Democratic Party who up to this point is doing a big fat ZERO to stop any talk of an attack on Iran. When Bush uttered his WW III trash the other day what was the Democratic response? ZIP!

The Dems want that oil in Iran the same way they want the oil in Iraq, the Caspian Sea, the Russian natural gas, the oil in Africa, and the oil in Venezuela.

MoveOn is heavily funded by Democratic party insiders......is MoveOn really going to take the Dems on or are they just going to play more footsie with them?

Save your money and give it to a real peace group in your community that is doing good local work building opposition to endless war. Most of these local groups have virtually no money and don't toe the Democratic Party line.

REPORT ON TRIP TO CZECH REPUBLIC

On October 17 I flew from Boston to Prague in the Czech Republic in order to attend a conference organized by the group No Bases Initiative opposing U.S. deployment of a Star Wars radar facility in their country and "missile defense" interceptors in Poland.

On October 18, soon after my arrival in the country, I met with several key leaders of the Czech campaign opposing the U.S. radar facility to discuss their work and to explain how the Global Network views the relationship between the U.S. radar facility and the larger Pentagon goal of space "control and domination."

Sharing various documents from the Space Command, and aerospace corporations now working on "full spectrum dominance", I agreed that the real goal of these deployments in Central Europe is to surround Russia and are not intended to deal with the non-existent nuclear missiles from Iran as the Bush administration now claims.

I carried with me to Prague a news article by the Associated Press (dated October 14) entitled Scientists Question European Missile Defense that reported, "A number of top U.S.-based physicists have concluded the U.S. used inaccurate claims to reassure NATO allies about missile defense plans in Eastern Europe. They say the planned Polish-based interceptors and a radar system in the Czech Republic could target and catch Russian missiles, thus threatening Russia's nuclear deterrent." The article quotes well-known MIT physicist Ted Postol as concluding, "The claim by the Missile Defense Agency [that the two bases would only be useful against Iran and not Russia] is not correct. And it is hard to understand how they could get something so basic wrong."

On October 19 I participated in a pre-conference news conference in Prague and again shared that news article, and the other documents I brought along, with the assembled media.

Activists came from all over Europe to Prague for the conference. A particularly large delegation also came from Italy, another country where a major U.S. base expansion in Vicenza is stirring up massive European-wide opposition. Many of the European activists who came to the October 20 conference are part of a group called Europe for Peace.

On the morning of October 20 three bus loads of activists were driven about an hour outside of Prague, into the countryside, to a town called Breznice near where the U.S. radar facility is to be built. There, for the whole day, several hundred people assembled to hear speakers and participate in workshops. A recently formed Czech League of Mayors has been created to oppose the radar after many of their local towns overwhelmingly passed referendums against the radar. The mayors had several of their members speak and many of the mayors from local communities were in attendance. A video from Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan was shown outlining his support for the event. Mayor Akiba is president of Mayors for Peace and pledged their support. An impressive letter was read from Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, also expressing his support for the campaign.

I was asked to be a presenter in a workshop called The USA anti-rocket shield WHY? along with activist leader Jan Tamas and political science professor Oskar Krejci. The final report of the workshop, presented to the entire conference body, called for continued non-violent resistance against U.S. bases and conversion of the military industrial complex.

In a recent Missile Defense Agency (MDA) planning document called Proposed U.S. Missile Defense Assets in Europe the Pentagon states, "These assets [sea based and Army mobile interceptor missiles] could be used to support emerging NATO and national capabilities as needed to ensure layered coverage for all European nations requiring such protection." What this means is that in addition to these "first" deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic, the U.S. intends on-going "missile defense" deployments throughout Europe which will absolutely provoke a reciprocal military response from Russia. Russia understands they are being militarily surrounded by the U.S. The fact that Russia is now the world's largest producer of natural gas just might have something to do with aggressive U.S. military expansion around their borders.

It is important to know that many leading Democrats in the U.S. Congress are also supporting these deployment plans by Bush. Just weeks ago Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) took a trip to Poland and the Czech Republic to meet with their leaders. While there she told them, "We have bipartisan support for these deployments in the U.S. Congress." Tauscher serves on the powerful Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives.

I was impressed by the tremendous leadership inside the No Bases Initiative in the Czech Republic. In addition to the Czech League of Mayors they have a group of young, bright, hopeful, and determined activists working tirelessly to prevent these U.S. deployments. Following the conference, which got extensive media coverage in their country, they were planning a 10-day bus trip around the country to 20 cities and towns to take the energy and message from the event directly to the people.

Right-wing Czech leaders have become "loyal servants" of U.S. interests in the region despite the fact that 70% of the public is opposed to the radar base. (Even the Czech Green Party, a part of the present ruling government coalition, now supports deployment of the radar.) As Czech mayor Jan Neoral said, "This is our best hope to show the government that it will remain alone in its servile position."

On November 17 the No Bases Initiative will again hold a major protest demonstration in Prague against the U.S. deployment plan. They are asking groups around the world to hold solidarity actions on that date at Czech Republic embassy's in their countries. They are also asking people to help them identify which aerospace corporations are building the radar.

Prague is a beautiful historic city and remains a prime European tourist destination. Putting U.S. Star Wars systems into Poland and the Czech Republic makes it certain that a new arms race will unfold between the U.S. and Russia making Central Europe once again a target in a high-powered political game that they do not choose to play in.

It is up to all of us to prevent this new mad arms race. We must all work to stop the U.S. from playing chess with the lives of the people of the world.

UNTIL THE LAST DROP OF OIL IS GONE

Just back late last night from Prague. The NO-Radar conference turned out to be excellent and the city is absolutely one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. (More on all that later.)

While there I heard a bit about Bush threatening WW III if Iran does not get on their knees and submit to his every whim. And even if they did he'd likely still attack them since it is really about their oil and his desire to control all of the Middle East until the last drop of oil is gone.

While at the conference I met good folks from all over Europe who are just fed up with the USA. They are convinced that our country is leading a global corporate fascist order.

They also asked this question over and over again: Will the next election in the U.S. bring any real change if the Democrats take over?

My response: NO

Their response back to me: Laughter, because they already knew the answer to their own question.

PRAGUE CONFERENCE OPPOSES U.S. RADAR BASE

I leave this morning for Prague in the Czech Republic to participate in an international conference opposing U.S. deployment of a Star Wars radar base in their country.

I would venture to guess that activists from Poland will also be in attendance as they are protesting U.S. plans to plunk down 10 "missile defense" interceptors in their country as well. (Much to our delight we just learned that they held a protest on Oct 13 in Warsaw as part of our Keep Space for Peace Week.)

As has been stated in this blog several times lately the Russian government sees these deployments in their backyard as intended for them and not Iran as the Bush pirate team claims. While returning on the plane from Iowa the other day I picked up a local paper and found a good article about all of this that reported top U.S. physicists have concluded that Bush's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) used "inaccurate claims to reassure NATO allies about missile defense plans in Eastern Europe."

The Associated Press story went on to quote MIT professor Ted Postol saying, "The claim [that the interceptors and radar would be used against Iran] by the MDA is not correct. And it is hard to understand how they could get something so basic wrong."

The physicists say the MDA's presentations were misleading and inconsistent on key points.

The MDA has maintained that "The reason we selected Poland and the Czech Republic for the potential positions of these assets is because it was optimum for the Iranian threat. They are not positioned to where we can even catch the Russian missiles with these interceptors."

The AP story reported that, "The dissenting scientists say both claims are incorrect: the interceptors could catch Russian ICBMs."

So there we have it - pure and simple. The Bush team is indeed moving to surround Russia, likely because they are the world's largest producer of natural gas. They also have a lot of oil and have been opposing U.S. plans to put pipelines along the Caspian Sea to move oil to western markets.

The resistance to these U.S. moves is growing daily throughout Europe because they are spurring a deadly new arms race.

We in the U.S. must now stand strongly in support of the European peace movement to resist these efforts. And we must call on both parties in the U.S. to end their support for these deployments.

I just want to remind readers that Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) very recently took a trip to Poland and the Czech Republic to meet with their leaders. While there she told them, "We have bipartisan support for these deployments in the U.S. Congress." Tauscher serves on the powerful Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives.

The Democrats do support the empire.

U.S. ARMY MILITARY POLICE SEIZED CAMERA AT SPACE WEAPONS DEMO IN GERMANY

13 October 2007
From: Regina Hagen, Darmstädter Friedensforum
regina.hagen@jugendstil.da.shuttle.de

Today, at a protest in front of a US satellite spybase in Darmstadt, Germany, a member of the US Army Military Police seized the camera of Regina Hagen, who is a member of the Darmstädter Friedensforum and on the Board of the Global Network.

The Darmstädter Friedensforum (Darmstadt Peace Forum), who had organized the Global Network annual conferencein Darmstadt in March this year, and the German section of the Women's International League for Peaceand Freedom staged the protest at the spy station which onsists of five "golf balls". 16 people met to hear information about the role of the station in the wars led globally by the US military, about the US/UK Echelon system to which the Darmstadt base belongs,and about the increasing move towards the weaponization of space, as well as to listen to political songs from GN member Holly Gwinn Graham.

Before concluding the protest, Regina grouped all rally participants at the gate for a group photo inspite of an announcement by a member of the US Army Military Police that no photos are allowed (which is a bit absurd: hundreds of pictures were taken at the protest in March, and dozens today before the MP arrived at the site). While Regina made the firstpicture, the US MP harshly grabbed the camera from her hand (which you can see on the photo above).

Regina made it clear that she would not tolerate this behaviour. There is no law, she said, that prohibits German citizens standing on German territory to take photos - and she called German police to get her camera back. German policemen showed up, and after lengthy negotiations with the US Military police as well as the German security guards of the US base they let the US Army members know that they would soon receive information about their rights as well as those of protesters in Germany - and brought the camera back. Regina asked German police to stay while taking some more pictures.

The US spy station - dubbed ICE box by the local population - had been built in 2004 to replace older technology withdrawn from Bad Aibling, also in Germany. At that time, along with the "golf balls", an old US grammar school building was upgraded to a high-tech and high security computer and processing center for the downlinked data streams, reaching five levels below earth and housing the US Military Intelligence 66 group.

In June 2007 it became known that the US military will withdraw all personnel from various locations in Darmstadt by the end of 2008 and that all sites will then be handed back to German authorities. A year earlier, by the end of 2007, the MI 66 group is said to be relocated to Wiesbaden, 50 km from Darmstadt. According to media information, the golf balls in Darmstadt will also be dismantled, while it has not yet become known whether the station will be moved to another town.

--* For better resolution photos, contact Regina directly: Regina Hagen, Darmstädter Friedensforum,regina.hagen@jugendstil.da.shuttle.de

NEBRASKA AND IOWA TRIP REPORT

This trip report covers the period of October 4-14 as I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska and northwest Iowa during Keep Space for Peace Week.

My trip to Omaha was hosted by Nebraskans for Peace (NfP) which happens to be the oldest statewide peace group in the U.S. It was created in 1970, the same year I graduated from high school. Tim Rinne, who organized my visit, has been coordinating the group for the last 13 years.

My first talk was a joint event at Creighton University in Omaha with recently retired Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton from Detroit. I spoke about how nearby Offutt Air Force Base, formerly the home of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) had its mission changed in 2002 as it was transformed into the Strategic Command (StratCom). StratCom is now in charge of "full-spectrum global strike" (staging offensive, preemptive attacks); combating weapons of mass destruction; space and computer warfare; ballistic missile defense; and surveillance and reconnaissance (the "warrant-less wiretaps" conducted by the National Security Agency). StratCom is today in charge of preparing the likely Bush attack on Iran.

Bishop Gumbleton minced no words as he called for an end to all war - the abolition of modern war from the face of the Earth. Not many bishops are going anywhere near that message these days but Gumbleton has never wavered from his strong beliefs. In 1997 when I organized the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station demonstration that brought over 5,000 people to the front gate to protest the first flight test of the Trident II nuclear missile, Bishop Gumbleton was there.

We both did essentially the same talks again the next day to a different audience, this time at the annual meeting of Nebraskans for Peace. I also led a workshop at the conference as well. (Afterward Bishop Gumbleton told Tim Rinne that he wants to come back next April 11-13 for the annual Global Network conference in Omaha. He wants to be part of helping the peace movement learn more about StratCom.)

Nebraska is not an easy place for the peace movement to work. According to Tim, "For 84 consecutive years, there has been no more faithful Republican state in presidential elections than Nebraska." The local newspaper did not cover the talks at Creighton University nor did they cover the NfP annual meeting. But they did have a huge front page story about StratCom's mission to protect the American people from "terrorism" the day after the NfP annual meeting.

One reason for me going to Omaha was to join several days of protests being organized at the "Strategic Space and Defense 2007" conference in Omaha. The space warriors conference, underwritten by the aerospace industry, brought together thousands of military personnel and executives from the weapons corporations to discuss and plan for expanding their profit making space warfare schemes. Protests outside the event were coordinated by NfP and the Omaha Catholic Worker community. (Read my recent blog posts for more details on these.)

On October 9 I was invited to speak to about 40 high school seniors at Creighton Prep by a teacher who heard me speak at the NfP annual meeting. I ended my talk by telling a story from the book called "Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas" by Mari Sandoz. I had read the book some time ago and noticed while in Omaha that the book was being read by communities across the state. The story told how after Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, the last of the Lakota bands to be brought onto the reservation, the weapons corporations at the time were upset because they were no longer making big money from the Indian wars. So they sent out artists and writers to fabricate stories saying that Crazy Horse was back on the war path killing white women and children and burning housing and farms. These stories were planted in major big city newspapers across the country and Congress then swung into action and approved more money for the Indian wars. Of course the truth was that Crazy Horse was sitting in his tepee on the reservation without a horse or gun to his name. I reminded the students that in my lifetime I'd seen the modern day weapons corporations lie about Vietnam, Iraq, and now Iran in order to sell a war to the public, the media, and the Congress.

On October 11 I drove a couple hours north to the tip of northwest Iowa to visit my sister and her husband who live in the middle of corn and pig country in a town of about 350 people. My sister Joan had arranged for me to speak to the only peace group in that part of the state on October 13 in Primghar, Iowa. This was the third time over the years that I had visited this group and they got a big story in their local weekly paper about my visit. The article also reviewed their long history of peace work and in the article my sister, a lifelong Republican, was quoted as saying, "Many people don't know anything about weapons in space, which is Bruce's emphasis." This was very significant for my sister. I doubt that she'd ever been interviewed in the paper before on such a political topic. As I was leaving Iowa Joan asked me to leave my remaining supply of literature with her so she could pass it around. She told me she wants to start a peace group in her town. My heart soared like an eagle.

Nebraska and Iowa are farm country. ConAgra has its headquarters in Omaha and they are the big food processing corporation that announced the recall of chicken and turkey pot pies while I was there because of salmonella contamination.

In Iowa the media was talking all about ethanol as that new industry is trying to get Congress to mandate greater use of the biofuel [made from corn]. But many of the industry's former friends have turned against it amid soaring prices for corn and other grains. Dozens of ethanol plants have been built in the region. They have helped boost grain prices and created some jobs. But oversupply of ethanol has forced prices down and driven some producers into trouble. The "barnyard lobby" (meat, livestock and poultry industry) says high corn prices are hurting profits. The price of corn-based animal feed has grown by 60% since 2005. Consumers can expect to pay as much as 5% more for groceries in coming months because of the rising price of corn. Mexicans have recently been protesting about the increase in price of tortillas.

These rural communities are very spread out and they totally rely on the car. Years ago, just like so many other places across the U.S., passenger rail lines connected all the small towns. Not today.

In all my talks I again called for the peace movement to step up and call for the conversion of the military industrial complex. Why can't we be building rail again connecting the entire country? Imagine the jobs created building a national rail system. Imagine the lessening of dependence on foreign oil and need for endless war. Imagine the lessening of global warming if we got out of our polluting cars. Let's use the rural lands to grow food for people not for cars.

I urged people to come to the Global Network annual space organizing conference in Omaha, Nebraska next April 11-13. This event will feature the military role of StratCom as they now take charge of "full spectrum dominance" for the Pentagon. Please plan to come and help us shine a national and international light on this cruel and crazy plan for endless war using space technology.

Our friends in Nebraska and Iowa are thrilled at the thought that folks will come and support their peace efforts in this rural and conservative part of the country. Help us spread the word.

POWER STRUCTURE CONTROLS SELECTION OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

The media is promoting the inevitability of a Hillary victory to be the Democratic party nominee for president. The decision has been made at the top long ago.

Almost two years ago, at the Rev. Billy Graham's last big evangelical rally, Hillary and Bill Clinton were sitting in the front row. Graham stopped in the middle of his preaching and said, "Bill you would have made a great preacher. And Hillary, you are going to be a great president." Knowing Graham's history as the primary "spiritual advisor" for Richard Nixon and the Bush family this was quite an endorsement. The very next day I watched on the national news as Bill Clinton flew to Maine to play golf with George. H. W. Bush in Kennebunkport. Was a deal being cut?

Just last week I twice saw Hillary say on TV that she'd not be bringing the troops home by the end of her first term in 2013. Hillary isn't talking to you and me - she is letting the power structure know that she will play ball with the big boys.

Obama, I predict, will be Hillary's vice-presidential running mate. He has alot of grassroots support and since Hillary has so many negatives he would balance that all out a bit. Obama would provide energy for Hillary's otherwise lack luster attraction to voters. It would be the mod squad ticket - one black, one white, one blond (?). If for some reason Obama falters along the primary campaign trail (by showing to much independence and integrity) then Gov. Bill Richardson (a Hispanic) from New Mexico is being readied in the wings. He has long ago shown his loyalty to the military industrial complex which rules his state.

On the Republican side I think it will be Rudolf Gulianni for president and very possibly Gov. Mike Huckabee from Arkansas. Gulianni is a shill for the corrupt forces that run the country and would continue the militarist policies of the Bush administration while proclaiming that he is a social moderate. Huckabee, a real hard-line conservative from the south, would balance the ticket out and make Gulianni more acceptable to the fundamentalist elements within the Republican party.

So at the top of the two parties you'd have candidates that are not really popular with the rank-and-file of their parties but really are the choices of the power structure. Thus the need to put someone in the V-P spots that would help keep their core voters loyal to the ticket.

This race, as much as any in American history, will be about ensuring the continuation of the U.S. war for control of oil and to continue the massive profits of the weapons industry.