MELTING SNOW

It's was up to 54 degrees here in Maine today.  The snow is melting.  Our dog Homer likes seeing grass again.  The way things are going we might not need the big huge snow plows in the future.  Maybe the one above just might do the job.  It would certainly fit in well with our dramatically declining state budget.

BOYCOTT SODASTREAM

You Should Know . . . SodaStream is manufactured in an illegal settlement on the West Bank. So boycott SodaStream, have a cup of Palestinian tea instead!
  
David Zirin is a rarity - a progressive political activist who also happens to be a sports writer.

See more here

NEWS ROUNDUP

•  The region of Sicily on January 11 moved to suspend US plans to construct a satellite communications system called Mobile User Objective System, on the Italian island after activists blocked construction crews. The move came after protesters blocked trucks and cranes overnight in the town of Niscemi and later clashed with police near an American military base. There are only three other ground stations like the MUOS in the world, producing very high electromagnetic fields, in Virginia, Hawaii and Australia.
•  The ‘reset’ in relations between the US and Russia is dead, as the Obama administration has never truly cooperated with Moscow, instead pushing the same policy Washington has been imposing on Russia for the past 20 years.  Stephen F. Cohen— professor of Russian Studies and History at New York University and Princeton University told Russia Today, “That policy is advancing NATO toward Russia’s borders, building missile defense on Russia’s borders, interfering in Russia’s internal politics....Increasingly we are plunging into a new Cold War. But it’s not a surprise ....Obama has continued the policy toward Moscow begun by President Clinton, a Democrat, and continued by President Bush, a Republican."
•  The US and New Zealand conducted secret tests of a "tsunami bomb" designed to destroy coastal cities by using underwater blasts to trigger massive tidal waves. The tests were carried out in waters around New Caledonia and Auckland during the Second World War and showed that the weapon was feasible and a series of 10 large offshore blasts could potentially create a 33-foot tsunami capable of inundating a small city. The top secret operation, code-named "Project Seal", tested the doomsday device as a possible rival to the nuclear bomb. About 3,700 bombs were exploded during the tests.
• In 2011 one corporation, Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine, received a $3.5 million “credit against withholding taxes otherwise due” from the state government. Individual employees were credited for their withheld taxes, but since 2000 BIW has retained and will continue to retain $3 million-$3.5 million annually. This subsidy lasts 20 years, or until $60 million of state income tax revenue has been captured by the company. After being given $197 million in state and local tax subsidies to modernize its Bath plant, employment went from nearly 7,700 in 1999 to below 5,200 in 2011. BIW builds Aegis destroyers for the Navy that are outfitted with so-called "missile defense" systems and are being used to surround Russia and China's coastal regions.  See more here 

OPEN SEASON FOR AFGHAN MINERAL WEALTH

As President Obama announces a shift in the U.S. role in Afghanistan, we talk to the Woodrow Wilson Center's Michael Kugelman about a potential economy booster lying under the surface of the embattled country.

DRONE PROTEST AT CIA HQ

An estimated one hundred people assembled outside the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters on Saturday expressing their opposition to the US presidential assassination lists, killer drone death squads, illegal rendition, torture, and the continued confinement of prisoners at the Guantanamo prison camp in US-occupied Cuba.

Anti-killer-drone activists were joined by participants of Witness Against Torture who were on the last day of their week-long fast and work calling for the closing of Guantanamo, justice for the prisoners there, and an end to torture everywhere.

See Malachy Kilbride's full article here

SUNDAY SONG

A SACRED FILM

I guess I was lucky to be able to watch this film in full early this morning....it's now been pulled from the Internet.  Money rules once again.  Here is something else that gives a glimpse of this great film.



A documentary on a Palestinian farmer's chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.

There is no doubt in may mind - this is fascism in action.  And remember, the US taxpayers are paying for Israel's stealing of land from the Palestinians and we are paying for the building of that damn separation wall.

And somehow, in the midst of all the horrible treatment of the Palestinian people, they remain non-violent.  It is truly amazing what they do.  This brilliant film is their story.

I saw filmmaker Emad Burnat a few months ago when he came to speak at Bowdoin College in nearby Brunswick.  I was moved by his quiet determined nature and when he was finished I stood to honor his courage and love for his people and his land.

HERE WE GO.....

Boston Dynamics Inc. has won a $10.9 million contract to develop and build a set of identical robot systems for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Robotics Challenge Program.

The oligarchy plans to get its slaves one way or the other.

POLITICAL LOGJAMS IN CANADA

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence meets with reporters on Victoria Island as last-minute negotiations broke down concerning today's planned First Nations meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
 
Throughout the week, some First Nations chiefs have been deeply divided over the meeting, with top chiefs from Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories vowing to stand with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence in her refusal to meet with Harper unless he’s joined by Gov.-Gen David Johnston. So far, Johnston has ignored those calls, committing only to hosting a “ceremonial meeting” at his official residence, Rideau Hall, on Friday evening – after the working session has wrapped for the day.

Some of the 630 First Nations leaders in Canada did meet with Harper.

Chief Spence has been fasting for 32 days.

NO RESPECT FOR TRUE DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH KOREA

Evening of Gangjeong on January 11. . .100 full bows for the peace island, Jeju.

SaveJejuNow also reports from Gangjeong village:

On January 8 disabled people stopped illegal construction vehicles with their bodies! Members of the Seongdong Center for Independant Living visited Gangjeong, joining the peoples’ struggle to stop the illegal construction. They stayed all night in front of construction gates to block the construction vehicles. A witness who watched the struggle of the disabled visitors, most of whom are women, testified that the police were embarrassed by their courageous and active protests. He also stated that the police were violent and violated their human rights. The police forcefully lifting their wheelchairs, encircled an each person, and detained them. During the process, many of the disabled women’s cries of pain and distress could be heard.

January 10 was a day to be remembered when the military and police even ignored the state legislative institute. Two National Assembly members, Kim Gwan-Jin and Jang Hana joined people’s press conference and struggle to protest the navy’s illegal construction. The police threatened even the National Assembly woman, Jang Hana, with the charge of obstruction of business and pushed away National Assembly man, Kim Gwang-Jin then encircled him.

National Assembly man Kim Gwang-Jin is encircled by the policemen

HIDDEN BEHIND THE BARBED WIRE FENCES

Experts believe around 1 in 3 women are sexually assaulted while on active duty, far more than die in combat.  Their high rate of PTSD seems to stem as much from the assault on their trust from the way the case is handled as from the physical assault of the rape itself, which is often accompanied by beating and or drugging. By the way, many men are raped while on active duty, too. And as the film makes clear, the families of rape survivors suffer in their own ways. The heroes in this film are the spouses, parents and children who live with someone trying to live with PTSD.

MORE FROM THE OLIVER STONE TV SERIES

The History Of The United States ~ Chapter 2 ~ Roosevelt, Truman & Wallace

BRINGING BACK THE SHAH

This is basically what the CIA is doing these days in Syria.  When will the American people ever learn?  First, they have to know it is going on.  You can't count on the corporate media to report these kind of stories.

Thank goodness for the 10-part series by Oliver Stone called the Untold History of the United States.

REMEMBERING IS IMPORTANT

In an interview with Amy Goodman on March 2, 2007, U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.), explains that the Pentagon planned to take out seven countries in five years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Lybia, Somalia, Sudan, Iran.  Clark was once the NATO Supreme Allied Commander and also served as the commander-in-chief of the U.S. European Command.

It's important to remember gems like this.  It's clear that what George W. Bush didn't finish, Señor Obama is determined to complete.

Thanks to faithful reader Agneta Norberg in Sweden for the nudge to post this one.

INSIDE STORY

• Obama is expected to nominate Jack Lew, currently his Chief of Staff, to serve as Treasury Secretary. Lew is the architect of Obama's "grand bargain" and "fiscal cliff" deals with Republicans. He is said to have been involved in the negotiations with the Reagan Administration that led to creating the "Social Security surplus" which has been milked for corporate welfare through the decades since, accumulating massive debt to the Social Security system that "our leaders" are now working tirelessly to avoid paying back. Lew was head of Citigroup when it got $45 billion in federal bailout, from which he got $944,518 in bonuses. Lew claims the financial meltdown was not due to the Wall Street deregulation by the Clinton Administration, which he was part of as Director of OMB. "I don't believe that deregulation was the proximate cause," he said at a Senate hearing in 2010.

•  The Airline Safety Index Top Ten
  1.  Finnair
  2.  Air New Zealand
  3.  Cathay Pacific
  4.  Emirates
  5.  Etihad
  6.  Eva Air
  7.  Tap Portugal
  8.  Hainan Airlines
  9.  Virgin Australia
  10.  British Airways    

No US airline made the top 20, Southwest Airlines coming in highest at No 21.

• Back in college I took one class where the instructor had us survey the same news story in multiple newspapers so that we got an idea how various media might treat a particular item.  Yesterday I checked three papers in Maine (all owned by the same corporation) to see how they covered our unity rally in the state capital the day before.  The Kennebeck Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel were exactly the same.  But the Portland Press Herald had one slight difference.  Let me illustrate.  The Journal and Morning Sentinel both ended with this:
  
  

  While views ran the gamut from the anti-establishment -- Bruce Gagnon of Bath said "corporations have been very astute" at taking over both Republican and Democratic parties to peoples' detriment -- [Lew] Kingsbury said he's encouraged by rising leaders in the Democratic Party.
  He hopes they won't "buckle to a bullish governor" with veto power.
  "This is the best I have felt about Maine politics in a long time," he said.

  
  The Portland Press Herald ended with this:
  
  

  Music from Alamoosic Lake, an Indian Island-based Native American singing and drumming band, held the crowd's attention until Lew Kingsbury of Pittston, an organizer of the Occupy Augusta movement, rallied the crowd with a megaphone in front of signs that said "No East West Corridor" and "Money Out of Politics."

  Kingsbury said he's encouraged by rising leaders in the Democratic Party.

  Portland is the bastion of Democratic Party politics in Maine.  Could the "more liberal" Portland paper have pulled my quote out because they didn't want their readers to see anyone claim that the Democrats have been taken over by corporate money?
  
  The majority owner of the three papers is billionaire hedge fund manager Donald Sussman who is married to our Congresswoman Rep. Chellie Pingree, a liberal Democrat.  In the last election Sussman gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to "progressive" organizations in Maine to help them elect Democrats to the state legislature.

EVERYBODY IS WELCOME IN OUR CIRCLE

An excellent discussion by Priscilla Settee and Sheelah McLean about where Idle No More came from, what its goals are as a movement and where it is going.

Priscilla is a noted author/professor and activist of many years in indigenous solidarity nationally and internationally.  Sheelah McLean is a teacher and co-founder of the Idle No More Movement - both live in Saskatchewan, Canada.

MOVEMENTS CAME FIRST TO END SLAVERY

William Loren Katz, African American historian, writes a fascinating critique about about the Lincoln film.  In part he says the following:

Five days before his assassination, “Honest Abe” assessed his historic role: “I have only been an instrument. The logic and moral power of Garrison and the anti-slavery people of the country and the army, have done all.” Sadly, what President Lincoln himself regarded as vital to his political and military success, Spielberg often leaves out.

 Early on, Abraham Lincoln was a frontier lawyer who told “darkey stories” and a Senate candidate who endorsed white supremacy. As President, he returned runaways to their owners and hoped freed slaves would leave the country. He rejected the reasoning of white and African American activists and resented their harsh language.

 Later on, he began to listen, learn and change. And much to his credit, he never retreated from any advanced position he had previously taken. When he finally, finally advocated the right of black veterans and educated men of color to vote, he became the first modern President.

Sadly, this “Honest Abe,” along with many known and unknown African Americans and their white allies, failed to make the movie’s final cut. Yet as runaways, soldiers and anti-slavery agitators they helped determine the course of a war, shaped public opinion, pressed Congress to pass laws and Constitutional Amendments, and altered the thinking and actions of America’s greatest icon.

CONNECTING THE DOTS IN MAINE

YOUR PICK: PIPELINE OR GAME OVER?

As protests continue along the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline, climate change activists can be heartened by the fact, as reported at the Acronym TV blog by Brett Redmnayne Titley: "The Keystone XL pipeline (KXL) will not serve as a vehicle for TransCanada's quest for fifty years of tar sands oil profits unless it obtains two crucial objectives, a federal US permit allowing the tar sands oil to cross the US border from Canada, and a legitimate, legal claim to eminent domain from federal and state authorities."

ALLIANCE FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Well over 200 people gathered at our state capital in Augusta, Maine today for a rally on the first day of the new legislative session.  We were led by Native Americans in dance and song outside the building before entering to hold a rally in the Hall of Flags just next to the office of our Tea Party right-wing Gov. LePage.

This was one of the most successful attempts yet to bring together activists from many different independent progressive groups across Maine.  The "liberal" groups associated with the Democratic Party in Maine largely boycotted the event today.  Somehow they wrongly believe that they don't need to be associated with groups tackling such issues as military spending, climate change, No East-West Highway, Tar Sands XL pipeline that is coming to Maine, and other outside the box issues. They tend to move only when told to do so by Democratic Party leadership and even then in only the most cautious ways.  They never dare offer any criticism of the calcified leadership of the Democrats - either in Maine or Washington.  The fact that many of these groups get money from Democratic Party interests helps explain their cautious nature.

We came together under the banner of the newly created Maine Alliance for the Common Good.  We are committed to connecting the dots between our issues and actively supporting one another.  In a statement read at the rally one line stood out for me:  "We have assembled as a unified front to push back against what we see as corporate dominance in our government."

As we were leaving for Augusta this morning I learned that my Letter to the Editor was printed in the Portland Press Herald today.  In fact I got the headline in the letters section with a photo that quoted from the letter in the caption.  My letter, entitled Money for arms, but little for the people, can be found here.