CRACKDOWN STARTS ON JEJU ISLAND

This just in from South Korea:

Update: Current situation at 10:30am (Korean time) - Monday

About 500 policemen were mobilized to the village Gangjeong at 5am this morning.

Not only 40 village people including the Mayor, Kang Dong Kyun, and Yang Hong Chan, Chairman of the Committee against the military base, but Go Yu Gi, Secretary of the Pan-Island Committee against the Military Base were captured by the police at 10:20am (Korean time).

In the press interview at 10am, the village people and activists had announced the total struggle to prevent the South Korean navy’s plan to have the ceremony to starting to work on the naval base on Feb. 5, 2010.

About 40 activists including the Catholic fathers and sea-diver women have been protesting sitting in front of the navy-contracted cranes.
_____________________________________________________________________
Dear all,

Many of you would probably know Bruce Gagnon’s international petition against the Jeju naval base construction and have heard about the Gangjeong village people’s struggle against the naval base.

I just got the message from a key activist in the Jeju organization.
He said the police raided the Gangjeong village early this morning in large number.

He got the news at 6:30am this morning in the Jeju city which is about an hour distance by car from the Gangjeong village. As soon as he heard the news from the people in Gangjeong, he is now heading to the village.

According to him, the police captured three people. The mayor is not heard to be among those. We don’t know yet whether people were wounded or not.

The village people and the Jeju organizations were supposed to have the press interview this morning, to announce the organized tent vigil, joined by the activist organizations.

The Gangjeong village people had set up the fence in their village, to prevent the crane cars contracted by the navy. The navy has planned to work on the ceremony of the starting to work on the naval base on Feb. 5 and the crane cars first entered the village on Jan. 6 but at the time the village people blocked it.

The Jeju organizations and village people have appealed the lawsuit against the Jeju special self-government and provincial assembly for improper and illegal processing and enforcing of the Jeju naval base. The case had the high probability of victory for people and the Navy should at least wait for the result.

The people in Gangjeong which is the most beautiful and pristine village in the Jeju island, but faces the horrible missile defense system in their loved village, need your strong support.

Please email to Bruce Gagnon for your sign against the Jeju naval base construction.

Please post in your website his petition.

We need all your strong solidarity messages as well.

I will send you the updated news again as I heard.

Thanks very much,

Sung-Hee Choi
South Korea
http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/

REPORT ON CIA DRONE PROTEST TRIP

I love taking the train. The seats are comfortable and I ride in the quiet car. They have electricity so I can plug my laptop in and read my emails and answer them for mailing once I hit the next wireless hotspot.

I spent my two nights in Washington DC at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House where I usually stay during such trips. Longtime friend Art Laffin has lived there for years and when I was organizing big space center protests in Florida he would come and help coordinate our nonviolent civil disobedience actions. Art is a tall guy who played small college basketball and excitedly told me about how his adopted three-year-old son can now dribble the basketball without looking at it. I told Art that on my next trip I hoped Carlos would be the point guard for my hapless Washington Wizard NBA team. (The team’s current star has been in the news recently for taking five handguns into the locker room. He is now facing sentencing after pleading guilty to a felony charge.)

On the train ride home on Sunday it was a reflective cloudy rain soaked day. The stark and barren trees, with patches of snow on the ground, added to this thoughtful mood as I wrote this report.

I was invited by activist Cindy Sheehan to speak at the CIA drone protest held on Saturday afternoon (January 16) outside their Langley, Virginia headquarters. As we arrived we saw big orange barricades all along the road with yellow “crime scene” plastic tape stretched all along the highway and also draped from tree to tree in the narrow spit of woods separating the four-lane road and the CIA fortress. A 50-yard open area was our protest “zone” and was totally encircled by the yellow tape. The clear message to the many cars blasting by us was: “Don’t go near those inside the yellow tape. A crime is now being committed by them.” A massive number of CIA cops and Fairfax County police had us surrounded, even from inside the patch of woods.

Cindy had worked hard in recent weeks to promote the event, primarily by Facebook and regular emails. She told us that her Facebook page was “mysteriously” taken down in the last week creating the impression amongst some that the event had been cancelled. As it turned out just over 100 people showed up for the event. A good percentage of the folks there were the Catholic Worker activists (Witness Against Torture) who have been valiantly continuing their daily “no torture” protests in front of the White House. Dressed in their orange prison garb with black hoods over their heads they were a strong reminder of the CIA directed detentions and interrogations at Guantanamo and other such hell-holes run by the U.S. around the world.

Singer/songwriter David Rovics was there to perform but had to do so without a sound system as it didn’t work. A former FBI agent, turned peace activist after being fired for refusing to investigate hunger-striking veterans protesting U.S. illegal wars in Central America in the 1980’s, told his moving story. Kathy Kelly spoke in her usual animated and heart-rending way about the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan who are suffering the reality of drone strikes. Cindy Sheehan told us about the many messages she was getting from Pakistan where people were thrilled to hear that Americans were actually protesting at the CIA’s HQ.

My friend Will Van Natta drove up from southeast Florida for the event. He is a lifeguard in West Palm Beach and in 1997 swam about 20 miles in the ocean to protest the launch of the Cassini plutonium spacecraft. His courageous action was a huge media event and reminded us that if we each just do what we are “good at” then our contributions can be enormous. He has just bought time on a local radio station and will air his own weekly progressive talk show.

When I spoke at the protest I said how glad I was to be there for the first time in my life. The CIA, and their drone attacks, is the symbol of the corporatization and privatization of U.S. war policy. The running of wars has essentially been taken away from a neutered Congress and put into the hands of the secret cabal that now runs our government. We need to shine a light on this.

I also of course talked about how U.S. space technology controls the drones as it does most Pentagon “net centric” war fighting these days. Robotic warfare might be “hands off” and “out of sight-out of mind” but it is still dirty and is killing legions of civilians.

I reminded folks that drone and other robotic devices were ultimately just manifestations of a larger war and domination policy. We need to keep putting in front of the public the big picture and I went on to talk about “security export”, the U.S. role under corporation globalization of the world economy. Endless war is America’s future and social collapse at home will be the end result unless a movement springs up quickly.

On the train ride to DC I began reading a new book called “Democracy’s Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, The Great War, and The Right to Dissent.”

Debs is my hero in American history. He ran for president five times as a Socialist and the last time, 1920, did so from the Atlanta penitentiary where he was jailed for having spoken out against U.S. participation in World War I. Arrested under the “Sedition Act” Debs and many others were jailed for opposing President Woodrow Wilson’s military draft and his decision to move the U.S. into that bloody war.

I began my CIA protest speech by telling a story from this book. Wilson was elected as the “peace candidate” in 1916 saying that he would keep the U.S. out of the European war. But immediately after the election was over Wilson turned and began a massive national war mobilization and cracked down hard on the large anti-war movement that existed prior to the election.

The book, written by Ernest Freeberg, recounts, “For many, the conflict was still distant and incomprehensible. Christian pacifists, agrarian populists, and many progressive reformers believed that Wilson’s decision to intervene in Europe betrayed the nation’s highest principles, while the Socialists still insisted that the country would be fighting ‘for the interest of financial freebooters [corporations] only.’ Most of the liberal peace organizations either disbanded or supported Wilson’s war to end all wars, but many individuals from those groups dreaded the prospect of having to choose between their country and their conscience.”

One man in the crowd outside the CIA HQ yelled out at this point asking me if I was trying to make a “subtle” comparison to Obama? Of course I was. Obama is now doing what Wilson did during his time in office, neutralize the left and fragment the anti-war movement. We need to learn from these lessons of history.

I ended my talk by sharing the story about our recent launch of the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign in Maine. I said, “In Maine we are calling on our two congresspersons to not only vote against further war spending bills but also become leaders in the House against war. The House is where we might have a slim chance to block any more war funding but we are going to have to first enliven our local communities and states. If we want to stop war then we have to fight to save social progress at home. If we want to ground the drones we have to connect them to the suffering people all over this nation who will increasingly be the brunt of this mad war for corporate control.

“Good luck to you all and get organized.”

BRING OUR WAR $$ HOME

Here is video from our news conference kick-off in Augusta, Maine last Thursday launching our Bring Our War $$ Home campaign.

Thanks to Jeffrey Phillips for video taping and Martha Spiess for editing.

Word about this campaign is now circulating nationally and we are getting some nice comments from other activists. It is clear that most people want to see more of this kind of coordinated action campaigning rather than the hit-and-miss isolated actions we often do in our movements.

SOLIDARITY IS IMPORTANT

This is the area where the Navy base would be built to homeport Aegis destroyers on Jeju Island

The mayor of Gangjeong village on Jeju Island in South Korea was seen on the mainland in Seoul for a protest last Tuesday. The sign (above) being held by Kang Dong-Kyun reads, "The naval base is not getting along well with the Island of Peace."

Reports about the petition I am now circulating worldwide have been appearing in Jeju media and several strong solidarity messages have been sent to Korea from other places around the world that have, or are now, fighting against similar odds.

The folks in Vieques, Puerto Rico have sent solidarity words to Jeju recalling their long effort to stop a US Navy bombing range on their beautiful island. Often the US planes would bomb the coral reefs just off shore of Vieques.

The activists in Vicenza, Italy, who are now organizing against a massive expansion of a US military base in their city, have also sent word to Jeju. When people are under the boot of militarism they understand how it feels for others experiencing that same smothering footprint.

The names are still rolling in for my petition. I'm going to give it one more week before submitting my final tally to the South Korean and US governments. If you have yet to add your name and/or organization to the list please do so by sending me an email at: globalnet@mindspring.com Be sure to give me city/state and country too.

I am writing this from the train station in Boston on my way south to Washington DC to speak at the Saturday CIA HQ drone protest being organized by Cindy Sheehan. A march from there to the nearby home of former V-P Dick Cheney will follow the protest.

NEVER SEE THIS ON U.S. TV

Ex-Guantanamo prisoners meet former US GI prison guard.......

CAN'T HAVE GUNS AND BUTTER ANYMORE - TIME TO SPEAK OUT

Former state senator Michael Brennan from Portland was instrumental

in helping to organize the news conference
School teacher and CodePink activist Lisa Savage from Solon outlined the purpose of the campaign and called on everyone to acknowledge the "elephant" in the middle of the room Rev. Gary Vencill, United Methodist Church minister from Prospect, spoke about the moral implications of on-going wars and cutbacks in human needs programs

Social worker Mary Beth Sullivan from Bath connected homeless issues to massive military spending and made an emotional appeal for an end to the madness

We had about 70 people join us at the Maine state capital in Augusta for our Bring our War $$ Home campaign kick-off news conference this morning. Some key media turned out so our message will make its way across the state.

Just as I began typing this post my radio was tuned to Maine Public Radio and I heard a news spot about our protest. They quoted Lisa Savage saying that Mainers have paid $2.5 billion toward the wars in Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan since 2001.

Each of our speakers did a fine job of talking about the serious cuts facing education, health care, social programs and infrastructure across the state. Sadly up to this point those opposing the $438 million in education and social spending cuts in Maine's budget have called for tax increases to make up the difference. But the Democrat Governor John Baldacci has vowed to veto any tax increases and the state legislature has virtually discounted any "revenue enhancements". Thus no one across Maine has been talking about the real "elephant" in the middle of the room which is Pentagon spending and endless war. Today we broke that silence in our state.

Following our news conference a large group of us went to a legislative hearing room for a combined meeting of the state House and Senate Appropriations and Education Committees which are overseeing a massive slashing of programs. After a series of agency directors stood up and spelled out the cutbacks in their programs the floor was opened for public comments. At that point five of us from across Maine got up one after the other and talked about the creation of our Bring Our War $$ Home campaign before the overflowing committee hearing room.

In my brief statement I said that constituencies are now in competition with one another to save their particular program and this was no way to run a state or a country. I asked them if they could find a way to spend the $2.5 billion that Mainers have contributed to our wasteful wars. I ended with an appeal to all Maine politicians - local, state, and federal - to stand up and really represent their local constituencies by speaking out against war spending.

We can't have guns and butter anymore..... the public must demand that all elected officials find the courage to give voice to our growing opposition to endless war.

(Photos by Peter Woodruff and Roger Leisner)

NATURAL GUARD NEEDED

* The terrible earthquake in Haiti is just one more reminder that we need a Natural Guard established to be a quick response unit to help people all over the world after these kinds of disasters happen. Instead of spending ga-zillions of dollars on our military we should be insisting that we use these funds to prepare to deal with the coming harsh reality of climate change. Climate experts are predicting that an angry, and increasingly ailing Mother Earth, will be thrashing about in pain which means more such natural disasters for the people of this planet. Instead of pouring money down the military rat hole we need the Natural Guard.

A good place to go if you wish to send a donation for humanitarian aid to Haiti is here

* The Associated Press is reporting, "The Obama administration plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year." With our current 40 state fiscal crisis, and the need for a Natural Guard more than endless war, we find the magician in the White House going the wrong direction once again.

* In the good news department we just learned that the new space film Pax Americana: The Weaponization of Space has won the award for the Best Documentary at the Whistler Film Festival in British Columbia, Canada. I have seen a sneak preview of the film and it is a stunner. I am proud to say that it features Global Network members Karl Grossman, Loring Wirbel and myself. Not sure when it will be released in the US but people are going to want to show this film in their local community. It is going to be a huge help internationally for our side on this issue. It will also be aired on public TV throughout Europe.

NEWS FLASH: Pat Robertson, the right-wing Christian fundamentalist, had this to say today about the Haiti earthquake on his TV program called 700 Club:

And you know Christy, something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True Story, and so the Devil said OK it’s a deal. And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they’ve been cursed by one thing after the other desperately poor. That island is Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On one side is Haiti on the other side is the Dominican republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc.. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. Uh, they need to have, and we need to pray for them a great turning to God and out of this tragedy. I’m optimistic something good may come but right now we’re helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.

He is one sad, crazy, MF........

WHAT TO DO WITH SUPERFLUOUS POPULATIONS?

Click on cartoon for a better view

Superfluous: exceeding what is sufficient or necessary; surplus; extra; spare

FIGHT INTENSIFIES ON JEJU ISLAND

The proposed Navy base on Jeju Island in South Korea

Mayor Kang Dong-Kyun from the Gangjeong village sits overnight in the cold outside government building in protest of Navy base plan

I try not to visit a place and then forget about the people and the struggle they are engaged in. Since my visit to Jeju Island, and the Gangjeong village last October, I have been closely following developments about the South Korean government's plan to build a Navy base where pristine coral reefs, fishing, and tangerine groves are now integral to the people's way of life.

The base construction is soon set to begin in Gangjeong. The villagers are currently setting up a tent camp along the rocky shore line where the Navy intends to pour concrete to cover the rocks and tiny marine life to make their wharfs where the Aegis destroyers will be homeported. The ships, from the South Korean and US fleets, are outfitted with "missile defense" systems and will surely be used to continue surrounding China's coastal region. Jeju Island, now called the peace island, will thus become a prime military target.

The coral reefs have been named by UNESCO as key environmental treasures that should be saved. Building a naval base on top of these wonders of nature will not ensure they will be protected. The traditional way of life in this small fishing and fruit growing community will be severly impacted.

Last night the mayor of Gangjeong, Kang Dong-Kyun, spent the whole night sitting in the cold outside the Jeju government building in protest of the decision to go forward with the construction of the base. When I visited his town Mayor Kang carefully showed our delegation around the site for the proposed base and took us out to dinner at a local restaurant. He spent this time with us because he hoped that it would translate into more people knowing about the Navy base fight and hoped that support would build across South Korea and beyond to help stop these deadly plans.

As I now hear about their protest heating up, as they prepare to face the bulldozers of destruction, my heart goes out to them. I wish I could join them in sitting in protest against this base. This Navy base will have a direct negative impact on our work to restrain US military expansion in the region and will ultimately provoke more conflict with China .

With that in mind I now intend to compile a list of organizations and concerned individuals from around the world who wish to voice their protest with the US and South Korean governments against this Navy base. If you would like to be listed on this letter please send me your name, group name, and your city/state or country. Write me at globalnet@mindspring.com

It is the least we can do.

REAL FOOD SECURITY

Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) recently visited the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia to check out the work of Geoff Lawton at Zaytuna Farm.

BANNED FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH

Banned for bringing humanitarian relief supplies into Gaza and telling the truth about the Israel-US war on the Palestinian people

OPENING THE DOOR - WIDE

I had a letter to the editor published in the Sunday edition of the Portland newspaper. It got the top headline in the letters section, a picture with it, and a box featuring a key quote from the letter. Can't ask for more than that.....especially when we are preparing for our news conference in Augusta next Thursday. Helps to focus the public and the media just a bit on the concern.

Yesterday MB and I traveled to the Boston area for lunch with friends and then a surprise 70th birthday party for one of her many aunts in their huge Irish-Catholic family.

While at our lunch visit with friends the man of the house said he wanted to start with some politics. We laughed and said "No...we didn't come here to talk politics...don't blame us if this heats up into an argument." It's a tradition of sorts that when we visit these dear friends that we always get into a bit of a tussle....he being more of a traditional liberal and us being a bit more "radical". He voted for Obama in the last election.

But much to our surprise he began by saying that he was fed up with the two-party system, that big business controls our government, and that no real change could happen in the country until our culture of greed and corporate domination ended. After picking ourselves up off the floor we congratulated him for his courageous statement. I suggested that it was clear analysis like his, coming from a small businessman and traditional Democrat, that could lead to serious break-through in American politics. If mainstream citizens began to give voice to these kinds of feelings (we know that privately many people share his thoughts) then all kinds of political possibilities can be imagined. It's basic physics I told him.

I urged him to write a letter to his local paper and share this feelings with the public. Many people are living in isolated despair thinking that their feelings are not common in our society and thus must be kept under wraps. His articulation can help break open the doors that are now locked in so many hearts.

Each of us must do our bit to stick our necks out just a bit more than we are presently doing. In the hallway of our house we have a poster that has a quote from historian Howard Zinn. It reads:

People are practical. They want change but feel powerless, alone, do not want to be the blade of grass that sticks up above the others and is cut down. They wait for a sign from someone else who will make the first move, or the second. And at certain times in history, there are intrepid people who take the risk that if they make that first move others will follow quickly enough to prevent their being cut down. And if we understand this, we might make that first move.

We owe it to the future generations to speak up now while we still can. It is the least we can do.

WE ARE THE TERRORISTS

I've been holding off on writing about this story since it is hardly being reported in the Western media. But then today I found it on the respected UK Times under the headline: Western troops accused of executing 10 Afghan civilians, including children

I'll quote extensively from it:

American-led troops were accused yesterday [Dec 30] of dragging innocent children from their beds and shooting them during a night raid that left ten people dead.

Afghan government investigators said that eight schoolchildren were killed, all but one of them from the same family. Locals said that some victims were handcuffed before being killed.

President Karzai sent a team of investigators to Narang district, in eastern Kunar province, after reports of a massacre first surfaced on Monday.

“The delegation concluded that a unit of international forces descended from a plane Sunday night into Ghazi Khan village in Narang district of the eastern province of Kunar and took ten people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and ten, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead,” a statement on President Karzai’s website said.

Assadullah Wafa, who led the investigation, said that US soldiers flew to Kunar from Kabul, suggesting that they were part of a special forces unit.

“At around 1 am, three nights ago, some American troops with helicopters left Kabul and landed around 2km away from the village,” he told The Times. “The troops walked from the helicopters to the houses and, according to my investigation, they gathered all the students from two rooms, into one room, and opened fire.” Mr Wafa, a former governor of Helmand province, met President Karzai to discuss his findings yesterday. “I spoke to the local headmaster,” he said. “It’s impossible they were al-Qaeda. They were children, they were civilians, they were innocent. I condemn this attack.”

In a telephone interview last night, the headmaster said that the victims were asleep in three rooms when the troops arrived. “Seven students were in one room,” said Rahman Jan Ehsas. “A student and one guest were in another room, a guest room, and a farmer was asleep with his wife in a third building.

“First the foreign troops entered the guest room and shot two of them. Then they entered another room and handcuffed the seven students. Then they killed them. Abdul Khaliq [the farmer] heard shooting and came outside. When they saw him they shot him as well. He was outside. That’s why his wife wasn’t killed.”

So the story sounds legit and it makes me sick. I hear the voices of American citizens in my mind asking, "Why do they hate us? What do these people have against us? They must be religious fanatics so we'd better kill them over there so we don't have to do it here."

But the reality is, as those paying the slightest bit of attention well know, our own government and NATO forces are the true terrorists today in Afghanistan. And for this we are creating legions of new enemies who want revenge for the killing of their innocent children.

How can any person of conscience remain silent with all this going on?

LEADERS TO ADDRESS STATE FISCAL CRISIS

NEWS CONFERENCE TO CALL FOR CUTS IN WAR SPENDING

AS VEHICLE TO FUND STATE PROGRAMS

For Immediate Release

Contact: Bruce Gagnon 443-9502 or Lisa Savage 399-7623


Leaders from peace, church, health care, education, and social service communities will hold a news conference in Augusta, Maine on Thursday, January 14 at 11:00 am to call for cuts in war spending as a way to help Maine state government deal with its current fiscal crisis. The news conference will be held in the Hall of Flags inside the state capital in Augusta.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost Maine taxpayers $2.5 billion according to the National Priorities Project.

“If not for the money that has been wasted on the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan we would not be in the fiscal crisis that we face today in Maine,” said Lisa Savage, public school teacher and a leader in the new statewide coalition called Bring Our War $$ Home.

“We will bring people together from around the state who are willing to address the elephant in the middle of the room. Our spending on endless war is killing the national economy as more than 40 states are now in fiscal crisis. We are not going to be able to cut our way out of this mess, tax our way out, nor will we be able to ‘grow’ our way out of this. Unless we cut military spending immediately there will be no serious recovery and no real stabilization of our state budget,” Savage stated.

A recent study, “The Employment Effects of Downsizing the U.S. Military” by UMASS-Amherst Economics Department, found that military spending actually creates fewer jobs than any other kind of investment.

The UMASS study reveals that for every $1 billion of spending on military production 8,555 jobs are created. But when that same amount of money is spent on home weatherization 12,804 jobs are created or when spent on education 17,687 jobs result.

“The little reported truth is that military spending is bad for the economy and creates fewer jobs and less tax revenue for state and local government than does other kinds of investment,” said Savage.

Bring Our War $$ Home is calling on all elected officials in Maine to immediately begin addressing this issue of mounting military spending while education, social spending, and infrastructure funding are cut.

Among those planning to speak at the January 14 news conference in Augusta are:

Michael Brennan – former State Senator from Portland
Dr. Robert Hayes - D.O. from Winslow
Rachel Talbott Ross – NAACP from Portland
Lisa Savage – Peace activist and public school teacher from Solon
Rep. Peter Stuckey – State Representative from Portland
Mary Beth Sullivan – Social worker from Bath
Rev. Gary Vencill – United Methodist Church minister from Prospect

Bring Our War $$ Home is a new coalition in Maine that intends to actively take this message to the citizens across the state. The coalition is made up of the following organizations: Americans Who Tell the Truth; Camp Alex For Peace; Code Pink Maine; Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space; The Kennebunks Peace Department; Maine Green Independent Party; Maine Veterans for Peace; Midcoast Peace & Justice; Pax Christi Maine; Peace Action Maine; Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine; PeaceWorks; Peninsula Peace & Justice - Blue Hill; Union of Maine Visual Artists; and Waterville Area Bridges for Peace & Justice

- END -

DRONES AT HOME

The drones made in Hood River, Oregon are now being used by police in Houston, Texas to spy on the public.....constitutional rights being shredded daily in the good old US of A.

Expect more local cops to get this latest new toy. As they say at the end of this piece, the police will figure out the constitutional questions later on - well after the drones are established in the "crime fighting" inventory.

LEGACY OF WAR - DEPLETED URANIUM'S TOLL ON THE PEOPLE

Would you call this genocide?

REPORT ON MAINE WAR $$ CAMPAIGN

As we move toward the Thursday, January 14 news conference to launch our Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home I thought I’d share a few exciting tidbits about things people are already doing to build the effort. If you can do so, please plan to join us at the Hall of Flags in the capital in Augusta at 11:00 am for the media event. Bring a sign that centers around the issue of Bring our War $$ Home (Fund education, health care, social spending, infrastructure not War, etc.).

Sally Breen (Windham) has asked Peace Action Maine to furnish her a membership list for six towns in her area and she is going to call all those people seeking local contacts in each town for this campaign. She is also going to furnish them all a sample letter to the editor and also urge them to check out our new web site. Sally has also written an op-ed for her local paper.

Gary Higginbottom (Portland) is drafting a town meeting warrant for those who wish to take this issue of war spending cuts to their town for a discussion and vote.

Lisa Savage (Solon) got a message from her union (Maine Education Association) asking her to come to a meeting to fight against education cuts. We all know that the state legislature is not going to raise taxes but instead education will have to compete with social service organizations for the diminishing amount of crumbs. At this point virtually no one has been willing to publicly contemplate calling for cuts in military spending. Lisa wrote the leadership of the MEA urging them to come to the January 14 news conference and asked them to begin connecting the dots!

Similarly Peter Woodruff (Arrowsic) has for the last couple weeks been educating the leadership of his wife’s teachers union local about calling for cuts in military spending as they are now working without a contract due to major reductions in the RSU 1 school budget. He has also supplied the union leadership with war spending trade-off information from the National Priorities Project.

Peter and I also have a weekly radio show on WBOR (Bowdoin College station) and we have been heavily promoting the message of the campaign.

Natasha Mayers (Whitefield) is organizing a Draw-a-thon to be held on February 13 that will bring together more than 20 artists and several noted Maine poets to create images and words depicting how our war money could be spent in the state. This daylong event will be held at the UCC church in Bath (150 Congress Ave) and will end with a community potluck supper, poetry readings and music. You are all invited to attend - 5:00 pm. (Snow date is Feb 27).

Jamilla El-Shafei (Kennebunk) is in the middle of putting together an Afghanistan speaking tour for activist Ralph Lopez for late January in several Maine cities. Details to follow.

In Bath we have just completed our fourth straight week of vigiling in our town with the message of Bring Our Wars $$ Home. As our numbers are slowly growing on the street corner so have the numbers of honks from passing cars.

I have had a letter to the editor printed on this theme in the Brunswick Times Record and have submitted one to the Portland Press Herald. We hope you too will write a letter to your local daily (and/or weekly) about this issue.

The other day I was reading an interview with Rep. Chellie Pingree where she said that every time she returns to Maine people are upset about endless war spending. So it is clear that many of the people are with us on this issue. This campaign has been created though to make sure that Pingree and Mike Michaud vote against ALL future war-funding bills AND, most importantly, become leaders in the House to stop all war funding.

We have our work cut out for us as we begin this intense three-month campaign that runs from January 14 to April 15 (Tax Day). We hope you will find some way to help grow this effort in your local community. Even if you do nothing more than urge people on your email list to look at our new web site, you will have been a big help. http://www.bringourwardollarshome.org/ (We must warmly thank Veterans for Peace member Dan Ellis from Brunswick for volunteering to create the web site. He has done a great job on it.)

A key to ending these wars is to connect the dots and make them even more relevant for people in our state who otherwise might not be seeing Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Yemen as top priorities. We must make sure that those who are fighting to save education and social spending begin to point out that the money is there -- in the Pentagon budget.

Working together we can have an impact. Thanks for your support. (Please keep us posted on what actions you take in your community.)

CHANGE IS COMING

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NO MORE BULLETS

For those non-sportsniks out there a bit of an explanation here. My "favorite" basketball team is the Washington Wizards. They are having a lousy season but now their star player, Gilbert Arenas, is in big trouble for bringing three guns into the locker room. On a team flight back to DC from Phoenix Arenas and another player got into an argument over a gambling debt and the next day Arenas pulled out the guns in the locker room and "something happened" ....

The case is now under investigation and Arenas likely faces huge fines and suspension. The team is in upheaval. And now David Letterman has picked up on it.

Years ago the team was called the Bullets but the owner changed the name because he wanted to reject the gun violence in Washington and the world. He recently passed away and must be turning over in his grave.

TAKE AN ACTION TO SAVE YOURSELF FROM THE BIG BOYS

JP Morgan/Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America may be "too big to fail" -- but they are not too big to feel the impact of hundreds of thousands of people taking action to change a broken financial and political system. Let them gamble with their own money, not yours. Let's turn big banks into smaller banks. We'll all be better off -- and safer -- as a result.