VOTING, POLITICIANS, AND STACKING WOOD

An Aegis destroyer is cut out of steel as a message of opposition to the Navy base on Jeju island. The plan is to pour cement on the rocks to make a huge pier for the naval port.

* South Korea held local elections yesterday and the right-wing ruling party took a beating across the nation. The New York Times put it this way: "The results were a blow to [President Myung-bak] Lee's efforts to rally popular support for his campaign to punish North Korea. He also wanted a fresh mandate to push through his controversial $19 billion project to dredge and dam the country’s four main rivers." The latter issue is one reason he has been nicknamed the "bulldozer" by South Korean citizens.

The Hankyoreh newspaper quoted one anti-Lee voter, "A number of things the government announced about the Cheonan [Naval ship that recently was destroyed] incident early on turned out to be lies," said Kim Seung-jun, 33, resident of Seongnam. "I think the government is very much in the wrong in using this to create tension in inter-Korean relations and drive things toward a situation of war."

Citizens in the Gangjeong village on Jeju island fear now that the election is over that the Navy will move forward with their plan to begin construction of a Navy base that will be a home port for Aegis destroyers outfitted with missile offense systems. The residents are holding a round-the-clock vigil and asking for international solidarity. I have been invited to come to South Korea from June 12-20 along with a delegation of leaders from the Asian-Pacific No Bases Campaign that is visiting Guam, Okinawa, and South Korea in order to build links between the various countries where the U.S. is expanding its military operations.

* Here in Maine we are just now learning about, and dissecting, the sudden vote in the House of Representatives in Washington DC on the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R.5136) on May 28 just minutes before Congress went home for the Memorial Day holiday. The vote passed 229-186 and included in it $160 billion for more war in Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan (220 Democrats voted in favor of the bill). This means the Dems now own these wars lock, stock, and barrel.

Our two Maine representatives split on the vote. Rep. Chellie Pingree (1st District) voted yes on the bill (even though she keeps saying she opposes funding the Afghanistan war) and Rep. Mike Michaud (from the more conservative 2nd District) voted against it. Michaud issued a news release that stated, "He voted against final passage of the bill because it contained $159.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it contained no firm timelines for withdrawal." So now we know who the real leader is and who really means it when they say they oppose the war funding. Word is getting around the state quickly about this vote and people are not happy with Pingree. The guy that previously held her seat in Congress (Tom Allen) used to say "I'm almost there" when he was asked about voting against war funding. Pingree seems to be developing a similar refrain.

The House of Representatives still has not voted on Obama's request for $33 billion war supplemental for the remainder of 2010. So we will still be pressing Pingree on this vote.

* I am almost finished with our Global Network newsletter, just waiting on two more articles before our volunteer doing the layout can finish up with it. I think it is going to be a very good edition. I want to get it printed if possible before I leave for South Korea.

* Yesterday I did a half-hour radio interview with a station in Liverpool, England. It was the second time I have been called by this particular talk show host and he is very interested and sympathetic about our work on space weaponization. He had three other people with him in the studio and they each asked excellent questions. Last Saturday I did an interview from Vancouver, Canada and last week I did an hour on a nationally syndicated talk show - one fellow Veterans for Peace member in Florida heard the show and called in. It's really exciting to know our message is traveling out so far.

* Our little Uncle Sam art contest is over and the first-place winner was #1 and the second place went to #3 .......you can see the art work here

I will send each of the two winners a copy of my book. Thanks to all the artists for sending in their work and thanks to those of you who voted for one of them.

* On the home front, yesterday I finished stacking more than three cords of wood. Housemate Karen Wainberg was a big help in the process.... alot of last weekend was spent on that task. Always feels good to get it done.

U.S. BASES ON OKINAWA PROVE FATAL FOR JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER

AND SO IT BEGINS - TIME TO DEMAND NATIONALIZATION OF ENERGY PRODUCTION

At least 20 sea turtles were found dead this past weekend along a 30-mile stretch of Mississippi beaches from Biloxi to Bay St. Louis.

And the CEO of BP had the gall to say he wants to get his life back. From behind bars maybe.

Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, writes on his blog, "A petroleum engineer who’s worked in the oil industry tells me BP is doing the minimum to clean up the oil and everything it can to protect its bottom line."

See the full story here

The St. Petersburg Times reports that the oil disasters leading edge could ooze onto Florida beaches sometime late this week.

The oil is arriving just in time for hurricane season. This is also when Florida is supposed to kick off its $25 million advertising extravaganza — financed by BP — touting how clean the Florida beaches are.

"Obviously if that happens we'll have to pull the ads and rebrand," said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

Rebrand, don't you just love these politicians.........BP has just hired Dick Cheney's public relations person so they can retool their whole message.

I am feeling so much rage right now it is hard to keep from screaming.

Isn't it high time to call for the nationalization of all energy production so we can get the greedy, profit grabbing corporations out of the biz before they friggin kill all life on the planet?

SPACE NUCLEAR POWER - OBAMA GIVES GO AHEAD FOR MORE

This video (all in French but with important archival film footage) is about Cosmos 954, a Soviet nuclear-powered space surveillance satellite that was launched on September 18, 1977 and crashed in the region of Great Slave Lake near Yellowknife, Canada. Canada and the U.S. launched an immediate cleanup and recovery, called "Operation Morning Light". This report was aired on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation a few months after the accident.

The Russian satellite disintegrated and rained radioactive debris which covered some 124,000 square kilometers. Two hundred and twenty Canadian Armed Forces and the U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Emergency Search Team combed the area until October 1978, trying to salvage fragments of the satellite. But according to the Atomic Energy Control Commission (now the Canadian Nuclear Safety) only 0.1% of the atomic energy source on Cosmos 954 was recovered.

There have been several other space nuclear power accidents over the years. According to journalist Karl Grossman, "In 1964 a U.S. Navy navigational satellite with a SNAP-9A (SNAP for Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power) nuclear generator on-board failed to achieve orbit and fell to the Earth, disintegrating upon hitting the atmosphere. The 2.1 pounds of plutonium fuel dispersed widely. A study by a group of European health and radiation protection agencies subsequently reported that 'a worldwide soil sampling program carried out in 1970 showed SNAP-9A debris present at all continents and at all latitudes.' Long linking the SNAP-9A accident to an increase of lung cancer in people on Earth was Dr. John Gofman, professor of medical physics at the University of California at Berkeley, who was involved in isolating plutonium for the Manhattan Project."

Then in 1996 the Russian Mars '96 space mission failed to achieve orbit after launch and burned up as it reentered Earth's atmosphere. The space craft was carrying 200 grams of plutonium on-board and the flaming reentry was witnessed by a NASA scientist who was on a star gazing trip as it landed in the mountains of Chile and Bolivia. Those governments, not having the capability to locate the radiological debris, asked then President Bill Clinton to send them assistance. He refused and only the Boston Globe and Christian Science Monitor reported the accident as most of the media ignored this important story.

In 2003 the NASA space shuttle Colombia burned up when it reentered Earth's atmosphere due to heat shields having blown off during launch. All the astronauts on-board were killed. The flaming reentry was watched on TV as the debris was spread across several southern states. NASA immediately sent in search teams and told the public to stay away from the debris. One local sheriff was heard on National Public Radio telling the public that NASA told him the debris could be radioactive. I myself saw NASA personnel in haz-mat suits on TV and it was clear that a nuclear generator or reactor had to have been on the shuttle. To this day NASA denies the story.

In the soon to be published Global Network newsletter, Space Alert, Karl Grossman writes about Obama's plan to restart plutonium production at the Department of Energy nuclear labs across the nation. This is being done as Obama intends to increase the use of nuclear power for missions to Mars and for nuclear rockets.

All we need is one failed rocket, or one falling nuclear powered spacecraft, to spread deadly plutonium-238 across the planet. This stuff lasts for thousands of years and we can't take a chance by playing space nuclear Russian roulette.

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TAKES SPACE ISSUE TO MAINE MODEL U.N. EVENT

A few weeks ago a high school student here in Maine called me and asked if he could meet with me to talk about space issues. He came to my house and we spent some time reviewing the key issues surrounding the militarization and weaponization of space. I gave him my book and the recent edition of the University of San Francisco's Peace Review which did a special edition on the space issue and was edited by several of us from the Global Network.

It turns out that his mother had seen me speak in Lewiston several years ago and had bought our video Arsenal of Hypocrisy and the Space Command's Vision for 2020.

The student is involved in the Maine high school Model United Nations Program where students spend a weekend each representing a different country and debate key international issues. The young man wanted to bring the Star Wars issue to the event.

Just a couple days ago I got a message from the student telling me about his great success at the Model U.N. and I asked him if I could share it on my blog. He agreed and I told him I'd not use his name. I am very proud of the young man for taking the space issue to the Model U.N. program and for helping other students from throughout Maine learn more about our efforts for peace in space. It appears that he did very well.

Dear Mr Gagnon,

The information you provided about the weaponization of space and the world at large was phenomenal, so much so, that the resolution I wrote won an award. Your novel Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire in particular the piece on space privatization opened the eyes of the General Assembly. Superpowers such as China, Russia, and the United States although somewhat unrealistic decided to sign a treaty that would cancel their ASATs [anti-satellite weapons] and militarization of space programs. The one topic that was unanimously agreed on is that the colonization of space is inevitable...it is the last frontier! Clauses from the PAROS [Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space] Treaty were renewed and ICBM debate took place more importantly the United States, Israel, and Malaysia finally agreed to the PAROS Treaty. I accepted an interesting friendly amendment about a "space elevator" that I had no prior knowledge of, but the idea seemed to help make space for all developed and developing nations. The Peace Review also had a wealth of knowledge. The conference shed light on a fairly unknown issue which transcended to about 175 more advocates for peace in space and the Global Network. It was truly a pleasure meeting with you Mr. Gagnon and I will defiantly keep reading your daily blog!

IT'S YOU AND ME

UP TO 19 KILLED BY ISRAEL FOR DELIVERING HUMANITARIAN AID

Israel is out of control, arrogantly thinking they can attack humanitarian aid shipments and activists who were under a white flag in international waters. U.S. taxpayers heavily subsidize the Israeli military and their deadly operations like this tragic event.

Why is carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza a crime? What gives the Israeli regime the right to attack peaceful people? What gives Israel the right to kill innocent people in Gaza or on the high seas?

This is an outrage. The U.S. Congress must cut all military aid to Israel immediately in response to this criminal act of violence.

Watch live streaming video from insaniyardim at livestream.com

If any other country besides Israel did this (say Iran or North Korea) there would be hell to pay. Let's see what the U.N. and the U.S. do now.

JEJU VILLAGERS CONNECT THE DOTS TO MILITARISM

Gangjeong Village People’s Council, Demands the Navy Base Reappraisal to President Lee

Translation by Sung-Hee Choi (Inchon, South Korea)

While President Lee Myung-Bak, and representatives from Japan and China, visited Jeju Island to be present in the 3rd ROK-Japan-China Summit meeting, the Gangjeong village people’s council announced its position on the whole reappraisal of the Jeju naval base.

The Gangjeong Village People’s Council saying in the press release called The Gangjeong Village People’s Council’s Position on the ROK-Japan-China that, “There is an expectation that the three countries could have a diplomacy with the principal of co-respect and reciprocity. Therefore we could not but be concerned that the Jeju naval base would influence into the diplomacy of three countries of Korea-Japan-China in some degree.”

The Gangjeong village people’s council pointed out that “Originally the Jeju naval base is the business aimed at the protection of the southern trade sea-lane as the 1st purpose and it should be kept in mind that our sea-lane is under the geographical condition that our sea-lane cannot but pass by the territorial waters of China and Japan.”

“Far from that constructing the naval base in the Jeju would help the easing of the tensions in the northeast Asia, there are enough possibilities that it would be seen as part of arms race. For the Jeju to be born again, the plan of the naval base construction should be re-considered.”

The Gangjeong village people’s council announced that, “We request the President to have the meeting with the newly-elected [Jeju Island] governor and review the issue of the Jeju naval base construction from the principal and make a wise decision.”

Following that, “Since the naval base is the strategic business, the [base] candidate area should be chosen after enough study and review considered with the strategic, effective and economic points and its business should be practiced after all the villagers’ agreement procedures such as the public poll and prior environmental review are processed transparently and perfectly."

DESTRUCTION OF IRAQ STILL ONGOING

* Just in case you have forgotten about Iraq the above video should cure your memory loss. It's a perfect example of how corporate globalization is working to destroy every country on the Earth by turning them into slaves of the international banking system.

* Not good news either from the Gulf of Mexico where BP announces their latest "fix" didn't work. How long does the government sit in the front row and watch BP destroy the world's oceans? I heard a report on the radio the other day that oil is traveling via an undersea current to Key West in Florida....this stuff is going global while BP keeps screwing up. Time for some grown-ups to intervene.

* I spent most of yesterday working in our yard on the garden and stacking firewood. Our garden is now mostly all planted with sunflowers, squash, tomatoes, cukes, lettuce, spinach, beets, green beans, carrots, peas, peppers, chard, kale, leeks, and basil. Today I will continue on the wood stacking. It's nice to do something where you can see immediate results.

* I got an email from Denis Delestrac yesterday. He is the Director of Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space. He said he just signed contracts to have the film shown in Spain, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina during our October 2-9 Keep Space for Peace Week. This will be a great step forward for us as we have had little success in outreach to Spanish speaking countries over the years. He feels confidant that we will have the film available on DVD in October as well.

FLASHBACKS

TAKE A HOLIDAY TRIP TO YORKSHIRE

Fylingdales in North Yorkshire
Menwith Hill in Yorkshire

Yorkshire in England is where the U.S. has built the Menwith Hill satellite spy base. Our friends there have been protesting for years to stop the expansion of the base and its upgrading to participate in the U.S. Star Wars program.

Not far from Menwith Hill is a second U.S. Star Wars facility called Fylingdales which sits in the middle of the moors, the national park surrounded by fields of beautiful heather. Fylingdales is a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radar. On June 6 the Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) will hold a protest at Fylingdales.

The people in this part of the world don't want these U.S. bases on their lands. They don't want their countryside to be used to help the U.S. "control and dominate" space and the planet below on behalf of corporate globalization. They don't want to be targets in U.S. created global instability.

We could save lots of money if we shut these bases down and brought our war $$ home.

PLENTY OF $$ FOR MORE WAR

The Democrats control the Senate but yesterday they joined the Republicans in a big way to pass the $33.5 billion war supplemental bill for the remainder of 2010. The vote was 67-28. (Only two Democrats in the Senate voted no - Russ Feingold and Ron Wyden.) Doesn't say much for the party that got into power by running against Bush's wars.

Next it goes to the House for a vote sometime in early June.

Our local Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (under severe pressure throughout the 1st District in Maine to vote against more war $$) sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asking her to allow a clean vote on the war spending bill instead of fattening it with Haiti aid funds and other pork. Pelosi is not likely to respond. So the question is what will Pingree do next? Her letter to Pelosi did not say that she was going to vote against war $$ no matter what Pelosi does.

My guess is that Pingree sent the letter to cover her back side here in Maine and will then turn around and vote for the war supplemental telling us that she had to because it was loaded with all this other good stuff that she had to support.

I notice that she has not posted her letter to Pelosi on her web site homepage. Instead she has a link to a bunch of stories about her fighting to get funding for Pratt-Whitney in Maine to make the jet engines for the F-35 fighter plane. She's in a dog fight with General Electric and Rolls Royce who are trying to keep an “alternative engine” program alive. What about scrapping the whole damn F-35 fighter program anyway? What do we need them for? Jobs in Maine, Pingree responds. Why not convert the weapons plant and make mass transit systems instead? Not on Pingree's agenda - far too controversial for her kind of "go along-get along" brand of politics.

I was told by a mayor of a major Maine city that Pingree would never stand and fight on the war $$ issue and I'm afraid the mayor was right.

But I could be reading this all wrong - we shall she which way she goes in the next week or so. But first the House will come home for the holiday and Pingree will be in Maine raising funds for her reelection bid in November. Rumor has it that a write-in candidate will be running against her on the war $$ issue.

GO HELEN GO!!!

Helen Thomas is one of the few White House reporters with any guts!

U.S. A "FAILED STATE" - SAVE US FROM THE CORPORATE PIRATES!

* Like most of you, I can't stop thinking about the sea life in the Gulf of Mexico. It is just a matter of time before massive amounts of fish and mammals begin washing up on the oily shore. What happens if they can't plug this oil hole for another week, or month, or several months? Why isn't the government suspending its global military operations and putting every researcher, every government scientist, and the rest of their brain power to work on this case?

* Peter Woodruff and I did half of our weekly radio show at Bowdoin College's WBOR station last night on the oil disaster. We played one of Mumia Abu-Jamal's Prison Radio news bits on the subject as well as one from Jim Hightower. The second half of our show was dedicated to war spending and Obama's call for a commission to take down the "entitlement programs" - Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

* Most activists in South Korea have been, and remain, suspicious about the official story surrounding the sinking of their Navy ship. At the time of the incident the U.S. and South Korea were having one of their annual provocative war games where they practice an invasion of North Korea. One has to remember that the U.S. has a modus operandi when it comes to using sunk boats to justify war - "Remember the Maine" that was the prelude to the Spanish-American War and the more contemporary Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that was the kick-off to the Vietnam War. Some are already speculating that the South Korean sinking was timed before their June 2 elections and/or timed to ensure that Japan's new government reneges on its promise to close a U.S. military base in Okinawa. I'm sure there are other good theories on this as well.

Latest News: It appears the ship sunk due to grounding in rough waters. A South Korean maritime expert seems to have solved the case and is trying to get Hillary Clinton and Obama to pay attention. See the whole story here

* Hillary Clinton is proving to be a real war hawk as she runs around beating the war drum against North Korea and Iran. One activist living in Japan wrote last night that most non-Americans are not listening to her but instead are focused on the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and thinking that the U.S. is a "failed state."

* Maybe some country needs to do a humanitarian intervention of the U.S. and help us get rid of the "corporate pirates" who have taken control of our democracy. Maybe they could stuff a bunch of the corporate executives into the oil blow hole in the Gulf. God knows there are enough of the fat cats on Wall Street and in Washington DC to plug up the hole good and tight.

GETTING SICK IN THE GULF

WEAPONS CORPORATIONS ALL GONE INTERNATIONAL - WE MUST AS WELL

I had an email from a Global Network board member in Japan this morning responding to my recent blog about the need to build mass transit systems in the U.S. since we don't make them here anymore.

Here is Makiko Sato's reply:

Japan's national railway system, which is now called JR, was privatized many years ago by the then Prime Minister Nakasone (maybe complying to the U.S. demand).

The old system and management were divided into 4 JR (private)companies, and maybe additionally (I didn't know till recently), two private companies were established for managing its technologies.

Those two are U.S.-Japan High Speed Rail (currently led by Richard Lawless) and U.S.-Japan MAGLEV.LLC (currently led by Torkel Patterson, the former CEO of Raytheon International before taking the current post).

So, the technologies developed during long time by our tax money are now completely under control of these U.S.-Japan companies with American CEOs, thanks to Nakasone.

By the way, it is known to citizens here that many former PMs of Japan were under the clout of CIA.

Now, JR Central wants to sell its technology of bullet train (N700-1 Bullet) along with its SCMAGLEV (super conduction Magnetic levitation transport system) technology to the USA.

JRC expects there are several candidate cities in the U.S. for introduction of the former, and
for the latter, from Baltimore to Washington DC, and other areas.

The head of JRC says that the percentage of technology fee in the sale it expects should be 2-3%, and JRC would invest money in the U.S. projects if Japan's technologies are to be adopted.

And this man, Torkel Patterson, the former CEO Raytheon, has some interest in the planned new base development now designated in Henoko, Okinawa. And also Raytheon as well. (This info was brought to us by a famous editor and analyst.)

Both are among the less-than-20 contractors in that development plan. That is why I assume Henoko is probably going to be used for the new deployment of land-based SM3 [interceptor missiles].

The total cost of development of the planned new base in Okinawa, which is thoroughly by our tax, is $4.4 billion. We will pay $6 billion for the Guam base as well, while the rest of $4 billion for the Guam base is from the U.S. tax money.

So all in all, it is beyond our imagination how much money Patterson (and Raytheon) will get from these two big projects ―a military base construction in Okinawa (and in Guam, maybe)
and the new rail way construction in the U.S.

I circulated this info. Some were surprised, but others showed little interest. Maybe they think that it is good for JR technologies to be sold to the U.S. But is Japan really selling the technologies at their proper values, even irrespective of the sacrifice of Okinawans? I don't know. These two should not be bartered, in our sense.

One sure thing is that Japanese citizens have been robbed of our tax-invested rail technologies, by a U.S. weapons company and its top sales agent through the process of privatization.

CALL CONGRESS TODAY - NO MORE WAR $$

THE NEW UNCLE SAM - YOU PICK THE WINNER

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Vote for best new Uncle Sam. Place a vote for the best, and your second choice, by leaving a comment here or sending me an email at globalnet@mindspring.com (Only one vote person - you know the democratic way.)

I'll give it a couple days and will announce two winners - first and second prize. Both of them will get a copy of my book Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire.

Got some good choices here so let me know what you think.

THE NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION

We had about 25 people from around Maine (along with two organizers from the Boston area) meet at the Addams-Melman House yesterday to discuss our campaign to bring our war $$ home. (After the meeting we held a birthday party for Mary Beth Sullivan.)

We started with a review and evaluation of the campaign that began on Martin Luther King holiday last January and officially ran up until Tax day in mid-April. In truth though, the campaign has been humming right along since then.

One of the comments that stayed with me the most was from a woman from Belfast, Maine who said their local group really appreciated having an on-going campaign that they could tap into and that connected them with the peace movement across the state. I think this was a very significant statement as it reflects the desire of most local groups that they want to be a part of something larger and with a focus rather than just plodding along from one activity to another without connection or clear purpose.

A whole calendar of new events related to the war $$ issue are emerging in Maine during the coming months including several more town hall meetings in various communities where our resolution will be presented.

Our friends from Boston talked about how the war $$ home message will be spreading nationally via workshops at the coming U.S. Social Forum in late June in Detroit and the planned national anti-war conference on July 23-25 in Albany, New York. Nationally librarians are picking up on the war $$ home theme as well.

Much was said about the war $$ home message and how it seems to really stick with folks. Our banner has been in such demand that we decided to make two more - one of them will be paid for by CodePink Maine and the other by a person who was at yesterday's meeting. This would give us the ability to move three banners around different regions of the state with much greater ease.

The expected votes in coming days on the $33 billion war supplemental for 2010 and the 2011 Pentagon appropriation of $159 billion for more war were extensively discussed and it was agreed that we must urge everyone to contact our congressional delegations ASAP to express our outrage over these continual war funding bills.

Beyond that though it was also eloquently expressed that we must recognize that in the end the politicians are not going to end the wars - that it must come from the public so our greatest work must be to diversify and expand our movement. One meeting participant asked the question: Are we expanding our leadership base on this campaign? Another responded that we must go to where other people are rather than to wait for them to come to us.

In the end we also recognized that we are facing the reality of corporate domination of politics in the U.S. today. Our members of Congress ultimately do not represent the people - in fact they represent the corporate interests. In this case they represent the interests of the military industrial complex. In order to break their hold on American politics we must do more to help the public connect all the dots to the real sources of power. Once we do that, and begin to take those sources of power on, we will have begun a real new American revolution.

VOTE EXPECTED TUESDAY FOR MORE WAR $$$