OUCH

See Max Blumenthal's shocking footage of the reaction by some Israelis and American Jews in Jerusalem to Obama's speech to the Muslim world.

WOOD AND OTHER THINGS

My wood pile is done and drying out. I take great pride in also collecting all the little wood chips for kindling. Inside of our shed I have about four trash cans full of the pure gold. I think we've got enough wood for this winter. Last winter we ran out of cured wood toward the end but this time we should be all set as they say here in Maine.

Looks like today will be a walk and picnic on the beach. We have a place called Morse Mountain nearby that requires a brisk walk through the woods before you get to the ocean. Along the way you climb a hill and are able to see for miles in every direction. Great exercise and great beauty - all in one.

I am looking forward to a statewide meeting that will be held in Augusta on Saturday, June 13 to develop a coordinated Afghanistan-Pakistan campaign across Maine. The war supplemental is back before the House of Representatives next week and across the nation the opposition is still not where it should be. The public is showing in poll data that they are growing increasingly skeptical about that quagmire but still not at the 70% rate of opposition we've seen against the Iraq occupation. Despite the fact the US has been bombing the hell out of Afghanistan for many years the American people really know very little about that part of the world.

Our Keep Space for Peace Week (October 3-10) posters are now printed and I've just mailed them out to our key folks in the US and across the world. The poster was created to give folks a visual idea how space technology is used these days to fight wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's), or drones as some call them, are essentially flown via satellite with pilots sitting safely in front of video screens at bases in the US (Creech AFB outside of Las Vegas for one). The poster idea came from a remarkable discussion we had in Seoul, South Korea during our annual membership meeting last April. We had several of our members saying how difficult it has been to get the public to understand how space systems are being used to coordinate war on Earth. So we came up with the idea of a collage of images that hopefully will do the trick. The group process really worked that time.

THE "PEACE MAN" IN ACTION

See journalist Robert Fisk's (The Independent, UK) column on Obama's trip to the Middle East here

DEMOCRACY AND CONVERSION - THE REAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY

Another Maine friend writes:

Some SOLUTIONS. Yes I've thought of some of them myself - lots of people have - but maybe someone will LISTEN to Michael Moore - they sure aren't listening to me. Now here is what is bothering me today: The Democrats - once considered the 'party of the people' still TALK LIKE THAT, but when they get into office, they do exactly what the GOP wants them to do - even when in the majority. Of course I know why. Money has poisoned our political system and unless we can take it out of the system, democracy doesn't have a chance. That means no more political paid-for ads, just a requirement that the media present all points of view and cover political campaigns as the vital news they are, without charge or LOSE the damn license that we, the people, grant them! It means rescinding the sick, stupid idea that a corporation is a person with all the attendant rights of a person (except, apparently, Death and Taxes), and that money equals 'speech.' For one thing the corporate 'person' is forbidden to do anything decent socially or environmentally if it will take away in any amount from shareholders' profits!

A corporation is not a person - it is a business partnership involving human beings who must be held responsible for their actions.

Money is not speech - when injected in large amounts into politics, it is bribery.

To perpetrate environmental destruction and ill health without compensation on the people and animals of a foreign country is a human rights violation and if the shareholders don't like paying their share to fix stuff up, they should be fined.
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Now for some suggestions from the filmmaker Michael Moore:

As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned.

The President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices. Within months in Flint in 1942, GM halted all car production and immediately used the assembly lines to build planes, tanks and machine guns. The conversion took no time at all. Everyone pitched in.

We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call "cars" may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.

The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn't give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true -- that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.

President Obama, now that he has taken control of GM, needs to convert the factories to new and needed uses immediately.

Don't put another $30 billion into the coffers of GM to build cars. Instead, use that money to keep the current workforce -- and most of those who have been laid off -- employed so that they can build the new modes of 21st century transportation. Let them start the conversion work now.

Initiate a program to put light rail mass transit lines in all our large and medium-sized cities. Build those trains in the GM factories. And hire local people everywhere to install and run this system.
For people in rural areas not served by the train lines, have the GM plants produce energy efficient clean buses.

Transform some of the empty GM factories to facilities that build windmills, solar panels and other means of alternate forms of energy. We need tens of millions of solar panels right now. And there is an eager and skilled workforce who can build them.
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See this incredible film called Taken for a Ride that tells the story about how GM destroyed the public transit system in America.

So those are very good suggestions by Michael Moore. I might add that we convert the military production system as well toward the same purposes.

Please start to use the "conversion" word in all your conversations. Help people began to understand and dream about the possibilities.

When the government talks about economic "recovery" we must ask them - recovery to what? We don't produce anything but weapons in the USA. We won't recover unless we begin to integrate the coming ecological destruction and militarism into the equation. Anyone who tells you otherwise is living in a day gone by.

MORE ON O'BUMMER - SOUND THE ALARM

Here is another comment, from a Maine CodePink activist this time, in response to my request for reflections on our new president.

The same day I clicked on your blog and saw Barack Obama in a USMC t-shirt playing some basketball, I saw the breaking news story that a Marine recruiter in San Pedro, CA (my old town) had been arrested for pimping a 14 year old girl to two teen aged potential recruits. Nice work, all at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer.

Obama had the following to say when appointing a new secretary of the Army yesterday: "... keeping the American people safe demands keeping our armed forces strong..."

Is this the change that many voted for? The third sentence in the quote is a boilerplate talking point that could just as easily have issued from the mouthpiece of Bush Jr., Bush Sr., Cheney, etc.

In America we avoid political discussions because if we don't, relationships with our family and friends may be rendered asunder. I have many well-meaning friends and family who consume mainstream media only. They think listening to NPR is better than listening to Fox News, but this false dichotomy is analogous to thinking that Barack Obama is better than John McCain as president. It may actually be worse, because it allows them to pretend that Afghanistan is "the good war," that they are progressive, against "bad" wars, in favor of universal health care, and so on. Especially, it allows them to ignore the robot drones that President Obama has ordered to bomb civilians, burning up children in their beds at night. It allows them to ignore the fact that single-payer health care advocates aren't allowed to testify during congressional hearings on health care reform. It allows them to ignore...anything that might cause them to rise up and educate themselves about what's really going on. While consuming headlines like "What Nancy Reagan has to say about Obama" and "Obama calls on Congress for swift action on health care."

Noam Chomsky said to hold our noses and vote for Obama, because the alternative could lead swiftly to WW III.

I sure hope he was right.

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So it appears that CodePink gets it....just wish that the MoveOn folks and the mainstream Democrats could develop the perspective that true citizenship is not just about being a "cheerleader" for the person in the White House. I saw an interview with Jesse Jackson yesterday where he was recalling that even though JFK had been elected president, Martin Luther King Jr. still expanded the civil rights movement protests, including the historic march on Washington, because he understood that you must create outside street pressure on the whole government if you wish to move things along.

But right now it's heading the other direction as "liberals" still give Obama a pass as the evidence mounts that he is clearly a captive of corporate interests. Another "brick in the wall" is the news that Obama gave the green light to 42 more mountaintop coal removal permits. So besides his betrayal of environmentalists on climate change his new EPA director is caving on coal strip mining that has catastrophic environmental consequences.

I am heading to a Portland Sea Dogs (farm team of Boston Red Sox) baseball game at noon today. Got free tickets from a friend and hope to distract myself for two hours from the sad state of affairs here in the America of my birth. Sadly though it won't completely work as my "sociological mind" will see something that will trigger me to reflect on the current oligarchy control in our country.

One positive thing I can leave you with though is news from England. They are having a huge scandal there about their elected officials taking all kinds of financial "benefits" and MP's are resigning left and right. European union elections are soon to be held and the public disgust is go great that the Green Party is up to 15% in the polls which would mean they could win seats in the EU parliament from the UK. So slowly the worm turns.

Until next time, get the lantern fired up - and remember - one if by land, two if by sea. Sound the alarm before it is too late.

LET ME AT THIS ONE!

A CodePink friend from New York City wrote last night in response to my request for feedback on the question in the last blog entry. The subject line in her email read "Let me at this one!" Here is her response:

"First I'd like to point out that the smart president who knows he is doing bad things is also doing what he's told. But I don't think he sees them as bad things. I think he is a centrist at best who believes in American exceptionalism, knows exactly what he needs to do to represent the interests of the ruling class and has no qualms about the misery and bloodshed that keeps them in power. Unfortunately, he is articulate, intelligent and supremely self-confident. I believe the Obama presidency is a disaster because millions of people are now lulled back to sleep at a time when alarms are going off all over the place that they should be paying attention to. Americans on the whole are gullible, naive, misinformed and in deep denial about the atrocities done in their name, and clueless about what is coming down the pike for us. Actually, I am terrified by Obama. Look at what he's done already. Look at how little opposition there is to him. What a brilliant selection for president. What a snow job.

"We are doomed if we keep judging our politicians by their personalities rather than by WHAT THEY DO. Obama's record is atrocious, and it's only 100 days into his presidency!

"I am hoping that people will come out of the slumber ASAP! Losing patience with willful ignorance. Thanks for asking!"

In addition she added the following article:

Obama’s Animal Farm: Bigger, Bloodier Wars Equal Peace and Justice
By Prof James Petras
Global Research, May 17, 2009

“The Deltas are psychos…You have to be a certified psychopath to join the Delta Force…”, a US Army colonel from Fort Bragg once told me back in the 1980’s. Now President Obama has elevated the most notorious of the psychopaths, General Stanley McChrystal, to head the US and NATO military command in Afghanistan. McChrystal’s rise to leadership is marked by his central role in directing special operations teams engaged in extrajudicial assassinations, systematic torture, bombing of civilian communities and search and destroy missions. He is the very embodiment of the brutality and gore that accompanies military-driven empire building. Between September 2003 and August 2008, McChrystal directed the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations (JSO) Command which operates special teams in overseas assassinations.

See the rest of the article here

There is some passion out there on this subject even though the corporate media will never give voice to the critique's of Obama coming from the left.

What is in your heart on this subject? If we can't talk about this then we are sunk for sure.

Send me a line at globalnet@mindspring.com

PRESIDENTIAL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN?

In case you don't know - USMC stands for the U.S. Marine Corps. It's nice to know that our president is helping round up poor and working class kids to go join the military to fight endless wars...........the official U.S. jobs program?

In other news on the "Obama Watch" home front, it was announced today that the president has nominated a Republican Congressman from upstate New York to be the next Army secretary.

John McHugh, who has been in Congress since 1993, is the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. At the Pentagon, he'll join Defense Secretary Robert Gates, another holdover from the Bush administration.

I know, I know, some folks will tell me that Obama has a brilliant tactical strategy underway here....he is going to fill his administration with Republican politicians which will then give the Democrats a chance to take their seats in Congress.......huh?????

It's reassuring (I guess) to think that the Republicans will bring the change (from endless war) that the Democrat promised the voters in the last election.

Are you confused yet?

I just had an email from a friend in New Mexico who is a public health care worker. She wrote, "I am doing an informal poll to see how the people I respect feel. Is it better to have a smart president who knows he is doing bad things and does them anyway; or a fool like Reagan and Bush II who do what they are told? I am beginning to think it is easier to have a president more easily disliked - at least by progressives. It is very hard to organize against Obama's bad decisions because so many people "like" him and still have HOPE. What do you think?"

I'd like for each of my readers to please think that one over for awhile and send me your answer.

One if by land and two if by sea.....

THE DREADED "S" WORD

Leo Panitch, Economist and Professor at York University, talks to Paul Jay from The Real News Network about the relevance of Marxist theories in studying today’s global economy. Panitch discusses the ideological crisis of the free market theory and notes that at this time “Marx would not be offering policy advice to governments about what is to be done in the face of this crisis; he would tell people to overcome their social isolation, form new collective organizations and identities, and make a social revolution.”

Leo Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto. Panitch is also the author of "Global Capitalism and American Empire" and his most recent release "American Empire and the Political Economy of International Finance".

CALL FROM THE PAST

* I got an email yesterday from several folks who I worked with 30 years ago on staff with the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) in Florida. They had gotten together for a weekend reunion and tracked me down. I called them and it was quite a lovely chance to catch up with old friends. We worked together from 1978-80 throughout Florida supporting the 1,200 farm workers in the state who had a union contract with Minute Maid orange juice owned by the Coca Cola company. Today the contract is gone as Coke sold off their citrus groves and moved alot of their operations to Latin America.

Working for the UFW was great organizing training for me. I'd say I learned much of what I know about being an organizer from that experience.

* The rally yesterday in Augusta in support of single-payer health care drew several hundred people and seemed to get decent media coverage. I helped set up the Maine Veterans for Peace sound system that gets loaned out for many of these kind of events in the state. I was also the last speaker at the rally and made the point that we have a "corporate arterial blockage of our democracy today" and that we won't see any real fundamental change on any key issue until that reality is resolved. Of course I mentioned that the Democrat's leadership in Congress and the White House is under virtual corporate control.

* We've got a pot luck supper at our house today - our last Sunday of the month shindig. We had sun for most of the day but now it looks like the rain is on the way. We've had alot of rain this week, the gardens like it but some sustained sunshine would be nice to dry things out a bit. My woodpile is a bit soggy.

JOY IN MUDVILLE

Last night the Orioles won their fifth straight game and had almost 43,000 fans in the stands. A rainbow even was seen above the stadium. Maybe it is a sign from the baseball gods. Prior to last night they were lucky to get 13,000 to a game.

Due to a series of injuries, and a near fan insurrection, the management of the O's has brought up four young rookies in the past week who have all out performed their veteran counterparts. They are pitching like crazy, hitting home runs, and playing good defense. Suddenly, the old-timers on the team, used to losing, are feeling the youthful energy course thru their veins and the team is beating the pants off those they are playing. They just took two games from the Detroit Tigers who are in first place in the Central Division.

Mary Beth told me she actually saw me smile last night while watching the game. During our 11-year relationship, the same amount of time that the O's have had losing seasons, I've never once smiled during a game.......OK that is a bit of an exaggeration but you get the drift.

Let's hope it continues. I'll keep you posted.

ANOTHER GI REFUSES DUTY IN IRAQ

André Shepherd has refused orders from the US Army to go to Iraq.

Shepherd, 32, grew up in Ohio, where he attended college. In 2003, when unemployed, he joined the U.S. Army. He was trained as an Apache helicopter mechanic and was stationed in Germany at the U.S. Army's Ansbach-Katterbach base. From there he was deployed in 2004 to Iraq for six months. In 2007, back in Germany, he received orders to return to Iraq. In April 2007, he went absent without leave (AWOL) and lived underground in Germany. He formally applied for asylum in Germany on November 26, 2008. His application references a directive of the European Union under which soldiers must be granted asylum in the E.U. if they have reason to fear persecution in their home countries for refusing to participate in crimes or actions that violate international law.

Shepherd is currently living in an asylum facility in western Germany together with other asylum applicants, primarily from Iraq and Afghanistan; the facility and a small living stipend are provided by the German government pending the outcome of his case.

This interview was previously published in the national German daily newspaper junge Welt on May 23, 2009, the 60th anniversary of the German Constitution.

Since the "war on terror" began, there have been many U.S. soldiers who have spoken out and many who have refused to serve. But you are the first so far to apply for asylum in Germany. What are the grounds on which your application is based?

Well, it's very simple: In the war of aggression against the Iraqi people, the United States violated not only domestic law, but international law as well. The U.S. government has deceived not only the American public, but also the international community, the Iraqi community, as well as the military community. And the atrocities that have been committed there these past six years are great breaches of the Geneva Conventions. My applying for asylum is based on the grounds that international law has been broken and that I do not want to be forced to fight in an illegal war.

In your asylum application, you mention the Principles of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which were incorporated in the UN Charter. In Nuremberg, the chief U.S. prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, stated: "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." In opening the trial on behalf of the United States, he stated that "while this law is first applied against German aggressors, this law includes and if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment." What does Nuremberg mean to you?

The Nuremberg statutes are the foundation of many U.S. soldiers' refusal of the Iraq war, and to some extent of the Afghanistan war. The United States with its Allies after World War II crafted these laws stating that even though you've gotten orders to commit crimes against humanity, you don't have to follow them, because every person has their own conscience. That was more than 60 years ago. Today the U.S. government seems to be under the impression that those rules do not apply to it. In invading Iraq, they did not wait for a UN mandate, they didn't let the inspectors do their job, and they made up stories about who's a real threat. This totally violated everything stated in the Nuremberg statutes. The U.S. Constitution states that the U.S. is bound to our international treaties, for example with the UN. When we ignore the UN, we are violating the U.S. Constitution, which every U.S. soldier is sworn to uphold. And the U.S. must also respect our own very strict laws against war crimes and torture. Since the Obama administration refuses to investigate and prosecute the previous administration, it's clear to me that the Obama administration is an accomplice to the previous administration's crimes. They're setting a very dangerous precedent for the future of the world, something I don't want to see. The German people are well aware of the history; it is here that the Nuremberg tenets were first set down. Now we have to find a way to restore those tenets, to actually respect the Nuremberg tenets as well as the Geneva Conventions. Germany needs to tell the U.S., "Look, you guys helped create these laws, and now you guys should abide by your own rules. "

When you were stationed in Ansbach-Katterbach, were you aware of the German citizens' campaign to prevent the U.S. from enlarging the base there?

Yes, there were protests outside of the Katterbach base. Being inside, we understood that the German people weren't against us as soldiers. They were just protesting against Germany's further involvement in U.S. imperialism. So the relationship between us Americans and the Germans working on the base was actually still good. We were of course not allowed to join the protests. I am sure the U.S. military assumed that 50% of the GIs would have been out there protesting. A lot of the soldiers understand what is going on - to the point that we realize that we are just a mercenary army for a few rich people. But a significant number of GIs, about 60%, have families, so it's very difficult for them to go AWOL or make massive resistance.

As part of their protest, the citizens of Ansbach and Katterbach circulated a petition citing Article 26 of the German Constitution, pronounced 60 years ago on May 23rd, 1949, in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. Article 26 states that the preparation of aggressive war from German soil is unconstitutional and a criminal offense. In Kaiserslautern and in Ramstein, where there are also U.S. bases, there were also petitions circulated citing this Article. These German believe that the U.S. is violating the German Constitution by preparing aggressive war from German soil. Were the GIs aware of this provision of the German Constitution?

We received almost no information about the German Constitution at all. This seems strange to me, because if we're supposedly in Germany to defend German democracy, shouldn't we know something about it? The fact is that wherever U.S. soldiers are sent, they are taught almost nothing about the people, the culture, the beliefs and laws in the countries we are occupying. When I was in Iraq, they didn't teach us any Arabic. In Ansbach, they do offer an optional German course, but we work long hours speaking English all day, so most GIs don't learn much German. Now that I have been living among Germans for the past eighteen months, I have learned that very many of them are very much against using war to solve international problems or to aggress against people. This comes from what they've learned from their own history. Article 26 of the German Constitution was written in the spirit of the Nuremberg statutes, which state that launching an aggressive war is the most serious crime. The U.S. and the Western Allies approved and authorized the German Constitution. How can the U.S. say we are here in Germany to defend democracy when we are ignoring and violating not only the Nuremberg statutes and the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Constitution, but also the German Constitution?

What is your understanding of why Germany is allowing the U.S. to conduct these wars from German soil?

Honestly, I cannot answer that: you could look at it from the political side; you could look at it from the economic side. Or maybe Germany just has a hands-off approach: "You guys are paying the gas, you guys are paying us for the rental space, so you guys just do your thing, and we're not going to do anything about it."

So in filing this application for asylum, it's not just about finding a place to live or something like that: you're trying to raise a larger historical and political principle?

Yes, that's correct, because it is my sincere belief that the United States has gone too far. In Iraq alone 1.3 million people have died so far, and that includes American soldiers as well. We've attacked several countries over the past eight or nine years: Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and some places in the Sudan. All over the world, we're just destroying property and killing people, all based on lies. And I feel like that I have to do everything I can to help put an end to this. I feel guilty enough for having taken a part in this war for almost five years. I want to be able to atone for that.

Why didn't you go through the U.S. legal system and apply to the Army for conscientious objector status?

When I asked my NCO (officer) about applying as a CO (conscientious objector), he told me that you have to be against fighting in all wars of every form. And that doesn't work for me, because of course if you're being overrun by a foreign invader, you would have to fight back. According to U.S. Army regulations, this means you are not a conscientious objector. I also learned of the case of Agustín Aguayo and saw how the military treated him. He was based Schweinfurt, Germany, not far from where I was in Ansbach. He tried to go through the military procedures to be recognized as a conscientious objector, and he refused to load his weapon. Twice he turned himself in to the U.S. authorities and said, "Look, I'm a CO, and I can't do this." But the military wanted to force him to go back and fight anyway. Ultimately they put him in jail in Mannheim. This showed me that I could not expect any help from within the military, and I decided to fight for my rights from the outside.

Can you think of any moment when you suddenly realized, "What I'm doing here is wrong?"

I can't pick only one moment, because this was a process that went on for years. Falludja was one. Looking at the aftermath of that battle, especially what the Marines, and the Air Force, and the Apache helicopters did to that city -- the devastation caused by these machines and the air war, also in Basra and in many other Iraqi cities -- I realized that if it weren't for my work and the work of the other mechanics, those Apaches wouldn't have gotten very far. We were constantly working, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, to make sure this sophisticated equipment continued to fly, especially in the hard conditions in Iraq with all the sand storms and the temperature changes from 140 degrees in the day to 60 at night. Had we, the mechanics of these aircraft, not done our jobs and refused from the beginning to take part in this war, a lot of those people would still be alive, and a lot of the infrastructure in Iraq would still be functioning.

And then there was when one of the Iraqi guys working for the U.S. Army on our sandbags told me how he didn't understand why we were destroying their city, destroying their infrastructure, arresting people. And I'm just standing there like "what?!" I can't believe this stuff is happening, because I thought the military is supposed to be fighting for the rights of people. They're not supposed to torture. They're the ones who are supposed to get rid of the torturers and to stop the rapists and to help people to have a better life. And when I heard what we're really doing - it just turns your whole world upside down!

And then there are the 937 lies of George W. Bush to the American people: you just feel like a fool, because we signed up to do X, but we wound up doing Y and Z and who knows what else. We killed people; some of our people got killed. An entire country, two countries, are completely destroyed. I keep wondering: what was this all for?

Ask anybody, why are we in Iraq? And you hear several theories: Israel, oil, strategic purposes for Iran, whatever, but no one really has the answer. Same thing in Afghanistan: the NATO mission only went to Afghanistan because of U.S. insistence. We have to force the U.S. to clarify what the actual objective in Afghanistan is. Are they there to help out the drug dealers cultivating heroin, or for the Unical pipeline, or are they there just to have a forward base to go into China or Russia? Why are we there?

Do you think President Obama is going to change any of this?

No. Obama has the backing of the international corporations. And the people who gave him the most money are the ones whose interests are going to be served first. And it's quite obvious. He won't go after the prior administration for the war crimes; he won't pull out of Iraq. He's leaving 50,000 soldiers to conduct combat missions in Iraq. That means the war is continuing. He wants to escalate the war in Afghanistan. He wants to keep pushing for AFRICOM, the U.S. command for Africa based in Stuttgart, and he's pushing for the missile shield to try to encircle Russia and Iran. These things show me that Barack Obama is not going to change anything. And Obama is only one guy. He still has to deal with the entire Congress, the court system, the Pentagon. The military has been around for over 220 some years, and they're not going to change overnight just because there's a new Commander-in-Chief. They're still arresting people who refuse to fight. They're still putting them in jail, giving them dishonorable discharges, and some are facing possible felony convictions. But Obama has yet to speak of the growing number of soldiers refusing to fight for him - well, first Bush, and now him. So I don't see President Obama granting anyone clemency until the entire "war on terror" is finished, and Afghanistan and Iraq are part of the same war.

How is your asylum application progressing?

We had a hearing on the 4th of February with my attorney, Dr. Reinhard Marx, and myself at the Federal Office of Migration and Immigration. Dr. Marx was recommended to me by Amnesty International. I believe that we presented our case very well, and we're waiting to see what the decision is. If the Office of Migration and Immigration were to deny my request for asylum, then I would bring my case to court in Germany. Because of the political sensitivity of this case, and because this is a precedent-setting case, it could take a lot of time.

Many U.S. soldiers who have fled the military are living underground in the U.S. and dozens more are likely in Europe. In Canada, many of them have applied for asylum, but since last summer they are being deported and then imprisoned in the U.S. What if Germany rejects your asylum application?

Then I'm facing a U.S. military court martial and jail time. I'm not saying I would go back to the U.S. willingly; I would still try to find another way to build a life somewhere.

What if you are granted asylum in Germany?

The day I am legally allowed to go to the German Employment Office, I will probably camp outside so I can be the first one in there, because being 32 years old and healthy, I feel I should be able to make my own way. I'm taking classes to learn German, and I'm trying to get into the University of Karlsruhe so that I can study computer science. I want to get the Bachelor's or even the Master's so that I can eventually start my own business. My ultimate dream job would be to work with German and Japanese companies, which are the foremost leaders in information technology, to develop artificial intelligence.

If Germany granted you asylum, would large numbers of GIs who are stationed here start walking off the bases?

I would see maybe like 100 or 200, but I don't see 30,000 soldiers applying for asylum in Germany. It's no easy thing, because you're basically saying goodbye to your country, perhaps for the rest of your life. That's a really big step. You have to say goodbye to your family. You've got to learn a new language and try to fit into the culture. You've got to deal with homesickness. It is a very important personal step that a lot of soldiers would find difficult.

But you are taking all these difficulties upon yourself. Why do you feel called to do this?

Because I was sick of watching the United States degenerate into something I can't even recognize anymore. The America that I grew up in isn't there anymore. Between Clinton, Bush, and now Obama, the U.S. is sliding from the constitutional republic that it was to where now the corporations are just taking all the fruits of the American people's labor; the country's really poor, we've got endless war everywhere. 60 years from now people will be saying that we were the country that destroyed half the Middle East for nothing. They're building up a civilian corps that'll spy and turn in everybody, you know, like a modern day Stasi. These things are very disturbing. This is a country that I don't want to live in or raise my future children in. America's going down the exact same path as the Roman Empire, and it's really sad, having grown up there, to watch the destruction slowly happen before your eyes. Sometimes you feel, no matter what you do, it's going to happen anyway. There have been many people before who have been sounding the alarm bells, many peace organizations. And I want to help, put my hand in and try to stop it as well. And this is something that's been building up over time, because I'm totally hurt. I feel cheated. I feel lied to. You know, I helped murder people in Iraq for nothing. These are things I'm not proud of whatsoever, and I want to be able to turn this around and bring the people ultimately responsible for this to justice. Because had I known back then what I know now, I never would have signed up in the first place.

What can people do to help you?

Help raise awareness internationally, because this is not just about me. It's about the other soldiers as well. We're all in this together. And especially it's about the Iraqi people, the Afghan people, the dead soldiers, just everyone. Organizations people can contact are Military Counseling Network (MCN) or Connection e.V., Tübingen Progressive Americans, Munich American Peace Committee, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and it's good to contact with DFG-VK in Germany - they're a national organization. Right now we're collecting letters to give to the German government to show the support of the German people. The German government also needs to know that Americans and people from other countries support my request for asylum. This is an international problem, and I believe in an international solution.

To support André Shepherd, contact:

girights-germany@dfg-vk.de or see http://www.connection-ev.de/

SINGLE-PAYER ISSUE NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT NOW

May 30 will be a national day of actions calling for a single-payer health care program. We have the next 60-days to push hard to break the insurance corporations lock on our health care system.

In this video Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) says that single-payer is not on the table because it can't pass. And why can't it pass? It can't pass because the for-profit insurance corporations have the US Congress in the bag. You see the snide, self-assured, arrogant Max Baucus sit in control of the Senate committee that is putting together the plan and he is the "hired gun" of the corporations.

Baucus is also the front-man for Obama. He is carrying the water for Obama on health care.

The corporate plan the Congress will eventually pass will not work. It will mandate that you have to buy health care insurance just like you have to buy auto insurance. If you can't afford it then the federal government will subsidize your policy. In other words the federal taxpayer will feed these greedy corporations.

And I predict that the health insurance policy that the person gets with government subsidy will be an inferior product that will have large gaps in coverage. So in the end the insurance companies keep getting rich, we will still have a two-tiered system (one for the rich and one for everyone else), and health care costs will keep going sky high.

The only solution is single-payer - everyone in and no one left out. We must take the profits out of health care now.

I will be attending the rally in Augusta on Saturday, May 30 at the state capitol. It begins at noon.

Now is the time for everyone to speak out. Please find a way to help this movement out.

WHAT ABOUT NORTH KOREA?

I've been asked by quite a number of people in the last couple days about my reaction to North Korea's underground nuclear test.

My response has been low-key, more like a shrug than anything else. What I am thinking is basically, what do you expect under the circumstances?

For my Global Network friends in South Korea and Japan it is quite different. They are feeling much more emotion about the situation. They are living right smack-dab in the middle of a region where the US is working overtime to create a new arms race - that will ultimately be pointed at China and Russia. North Korea is just the ploy to establish fear - but not the real "prize".

Sung-Hee Choi from South Korea wrote, "It has been a long time that the western propaganda has manipulated the people to abhor the North Korea and its leaders. They did everything to push the North Korea to the edge. I am not saying the North Korea leaders are immaculate. ..... Regarding Western propaganda, it was so persistent that even many peace activists in the world have been affected by it. It was one of the most difficult things that I had to encounter in the America. [Where she lived for 10 years.] It is not only me. The difficulty to make understand the North Korea's activities to the people outside of Korea has been the most difficult task for many Korean peace activists."

Then from Makio Sato in Japan we heard, "The US has ignited some right-wingers in Japan's Diet [Parliament] in order to rearm Japan and dispatch Japanese soldiers along with their own, and seduced some grudge-bearing economic leaders to drop off the self-restraint of not producing weapons, in order to jointly produce weapons and robot soldiers and planes..... Japan is edging towards rearming. If Japan rearms itself, what percentage of hope will be left in Korean reunification? We have to stop this."

The US goal is to return Japan to its aggressive fascist warlike state which would this time around become a US partner in controlling China. Japan would become the Asian-Pacific regional equivalent of Israel which serves as the US guard-dog in the Middle East. The US is now preparing India for that job on China's other front. Georgia is also being set-up for that role with Russia, as NATO has already been.

It's not at all difficult to see the US "grand strategy" taking shape if you just fit the pieces of the puzzle together.

Obama is on-board with the program. Just days ago V-P Joe Biden sent word to Georgia that we were with them all the way and will be bringing them into NATO real soon. Then once they are in NATO, and the US can use them to stimulate more fighting with Russia, the NATO treaty will "require" that the US rush to "protect" Georgia from an "aggressive" Russia.

Obama's job is to make it all look like the US is the force for good, always reaching out the friendly hand, trying to be Mr. Nice Guy, while in fact we've been setting up the whole deadly scheme.

It is classic empire building and sad to say the US has the disease big-time.

OBAMA NOMINATES CENTRIST HISPANIC TO SUPREME COURT

President Obama will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court.

She is widely considered to be a centrist. What that means in actual rulings remains to be seen. An analysis of her appeals court rulings can be found here. Early indications are that she won't be much of a change from retiring Judge Souter, but will be a bit to his left.

She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx in New York. Her father, a tool-and-die worker with a third-grade education, died when she was nine. Her mother, a nurse, raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, who is now a doctor, on a modest salary.

She went to Yale Law School and was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

See Black Agenda Report's story on her here.

CLAP AND RAVE BUT DO NOTHING

According to an organization I am associated with, called National Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates, "the American Clean Energy Security Act (ACESA) is moving through the House in Washington this week. Though ACESA would establish emission reduction goals for the transportation sector, no funding is made available from the proposed cap-and-trade system to finance public mass transportation investments to reduce emissions.

"ACESA in its present form fails to invest in the transportation sector in an effective and sustainable manner that recognizes the role of public transportation and other strategies that provide Americans with more choices in our transportation system."

In addition, as the video well documents, the bill is a sellout to the banks, big coal and other energy giants. Once again we see Obama and the Democrats cave to their corporate masters and take the path of least resistance.

They talk big about climate change but do little to deliver real substance.

When does the mainstream environmental community get out of bed with the politicians and really fight for the Mother Earth and the future generations?

STACKING WOOD AT AMH

The last two days I've spent many hours in the back yard stacking wood. It's a wonderful meditation and it's one of the few times in my life where I can actually begin something and soon see the results - not like in the political world where "change" is fleeting.

I spent quite a while on-line looking at pictures of different wood piles around the world but this photo I liked the best. It's a small wood pile, compared to the two cords worth I am stacking, but still a lovely shot.

We put our tomato plants in today so our garden is now pretty much totally in the ground. Housemates Maureen and Karen have done most of the planting. I've been doing the wood pile and Mary Beth has been working on the inside of the house. It's a real team effort and tonight we sat out in our garden for dinner enjoying the cool temperatures and all feeling pride about how much we have accomplished. Karen gave thanks for how well we all fit together at the Addams-Mellman House (AMH).

For those not up to snuff on the AMH it is named after Jane Addams who was regarded as one of the founders of the field of social work and was a strong opponent of World War I. She took a lot of heat for being against that war but won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

The AMH is also named after economist Seymour Mellman who taught at Columbia University and is regarded as the father of the call for economic conversion of the military industrial complex. Mellman is also credited with originating the term "permanent war economy" and while alive gave energy and voice to the movement to reorient America toward an understanding that escalating military production creates fewer jobs and a weaker economy than alternative peaceful production.

So considering we have two social workers at the AMH, and that we are all peace activists, the Addams-Mellman name was perfect for us.

We are doing our best to bring the works and ideas of Jane Addams and Seymour Mellman into our home and into our community.

Stop by for a visit if you are ever in Bath, Maine.

WASHINGTON WRESTLE-MANIA

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (an Independent) debates torture on the popular TV show "The View".

Not long ago I saw Ventura on C-SPAN promoting his new book. He told a remarkable story about getting a call from the CIA soon after getting elected as governor. They told them they wanted to talk with him. He said, "Sure where are you?" They told him, "In the basement." So Ventura went down into the basement of the state capitol and the CIA asked him, "What do you plan to do as governor?"

Quite telling I'd say........

Ventura said that politics is like his old business, professional wrestling. After a no-holds-barred match the opposing wrestling "enemies" would go out drinking together. He said he thought there was no real difference between the Democrats and Republicans these days.

I think Ventura is right about that one.

DEJA VU-BAMA ALL OVER AGAIN

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Rachel Maddow at MSNBC does a solid critique of Obama's "rule of law" speech inside the National Archives where he stood directly in front of the US Constitution and finished the job of ripping it to pieces.

This man has a pattern. He gives with one hand and takes with the other. It's called magic or illusion. Or deception.

The Washington Post reported: Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said employing preventive detention simply because some cases at Guantanamo are too difficult to prosecute would involve the kind of legal expediency that Obama said was a hallmark of his predecessor's policies.

"My question is not only what happens to those people who may be perpetually in prison but what kind of precedent does that set for the future?" Ratner said. "It's not one I find constitutional or acceptable. Opening that door even for a few Guantanamo detainees is anathema. He is closing Guantanamo physically, but he's repackaging it with a little more legal gloss."

PROTEST TO GREET SECRETARY OF WAR GATES IN BATH, MAINE

Peace activists will hold a protest vigil in Bath, Maine on Friday, May 22 beginning at noon in front of Bath Iron Works (BIW) on Washington Street.

Secretary Gates is expected to meet with BIW workers and tour the weapons production facility at that time.

According to Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Bath-based Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, "The Democrat and Republican politicians will line up to kiss the ring of Secretary Gates. This is what we do in America today - we build weapons of destruction. It's our #1 industrial export product. And when weapons are the number one industrial export product of a nation, what is your global marketing strategy for that product line? War, the more the better. We don't build rail systems, wind turbines, solar systems or other such useful technologies that we need to deal with climate change. But the politicians from both parties understand that the Pentagon has the big money these days so they are on their knees. We think that the time has come for our elected officials to get off their knees and say that we've had enough endless war. The people want health care, full education funding, our infrastructure fixed, and they want to see an end to spending more than $12 billion a month in Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan killing innocent civilians."

In a recent article called "The Disease of Permanent War," former New York Times foreign correspondent Chris Hedges writes, "Citizens in a state of permanent war are bombarded with the insidious militarized language of power, fear and strength that mask an increasingly brittle reality. The corporations behind the doctrine of permanent war... must keep us afraid. Fear stops us from objecting to government spending on a bloated military. Fear means we will not ask unpleasant questions of those in power. Fear means that we will be willing to give up our rights and liberties for security. Fear keeps us penned in like domesticated animals."

Activists from all over Maine are expected to attend the protest. The protest will call for the conversion of Bath Iron Works to useful civilian production.

ITALY AS BASE FOR U.S. DOMINATION OF AFRICA

I included some words on the blog the other day from activists in Vicenza, Italy who were sending their solidarity wishes to the folks in South Korea. The US has two military facilities in Vicenza and wants to build a new base in that community which has created a firestorm of protest by the citizens. They have tried every "legal and legitimate" form of protest and have been repeatedly denied. Finally, after trying to hold a local referendum on the question, they were again denied by their national government. So they went ahead and organized the city-wide vote on their own and found that 95% of the people in the community are opposed to the base.

But why another base in Italy? What is the mission? Below please see an interview with Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-California) who was recently in Vicenza and was interviewed by the local newspaper. She serves on the Military Strategies Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

Sanchez: "The military policy of the United States is passed by Congress. That is why the position of the U.S. has not changed in the transition between George W. Bush and Barack Obama. But all the decisions have already been made."

Newspaper: Why does even President Barack Obama believe in the Dal Molin project? Why hasn't there been, as expected by opponents of the project, any changes in the plans?

Sanchez: "We're working on a plan to consolidate the presence of our troops in the world, to be ready to intervene in sensitive areas such as Africa, the Middle East, the former Soviet republics in Asia. We believe that to give an effective response to these issues, to be closer to the places of possible tensions and conflicts, it is essential to reinforce our troops in Italy. For this reason we have chosen to unite the 173rd Brigade in Vicenza. There will be no second thoughts. All decisions have been made by the two governments. The plan and the allocation of the budget were voted by the Congress. It is no coincidence that Obama has confirmed the Secretary of Defense appointed by the Bush administration, that is Robert Gates."

Newspaper: Why is the role of Italy so important in the eyes of Americans, in the international arena?

Sanchez: "First, because Italy is geographically located close to areas most at risk, between Africa and the Middle East. And because Italy has been our longtime ally. The U.S. shares the same value system and lifestyle. We can count upon the Italian government, which from Prodi to Berlusconi has done everything that was needed to promote the alliance and the plan of consolidation of our troops at Dal Molin."

Newspaper: What type of military installation will be?

Sanchez: "I can guarantee that the project follows the most stringent environmental regulations. There will be no artillery, no aircraft. This will simply be a place where paratroopers will stay with lighter equipment and their families."

Newspaper: Does the transformation of American command stationed at Camp Ederle to Africom [Pentagon's Africa Command] signify a change to the military targets of the Pentagon?

Sanchez: "No, it is the demonstration of an emphasis on the African continent. I spoke with Obama about it. Africa needs help, even if operations are guided by a military command, the objectives are not primarily military. My hope is that the military strategies can be enhanced while investing fewer dollars. I believe a lot in diplomacy and dialogue as President Obama."

So there you see how it works in Washington. The Democrats agree with the expansion of the US military into Africa, ostensibly for "humanitarian" purposes, but we know that the strategy is really about controlling the continent's vast resource base.

Sanchez is considered a "liberal" Democrat - that is until the question of US empire comes up. Then the two war parties link arms and maintain solid support for the corporate-military domination of the world.