You Are Not Alone!

Zumwalt 12 after being released by police in Bath, Maine today. Arrested for blockingthe road in front of Bath Iron Works 'christening' of the new $4 billion Zumwalt 'stealth' destroyer.

We told the media that we wanted to "interrupt the celebration of endless war and corporate profit" going on inside the event. All the Maine big wig elected officials were there - Republican and Democrat alike - all on their knees begging for more $$$$ to build more damn warships while the rest of the nation is put on life support.

We continue to call for the conversion of BIW to build rail, solar, wind, and tidal powers systems so the future generations can have a life. We need more help projecting this demand into the public consciousness.

The Pentagon is the recipient of the golden treasure chest that the pirates in Washington have grabbed. Nothing good can happen until we take the national treasury back.

We don't need a war with Russia and China.

We are dealing with fascists here now and we must move into the streets quickly.

We found alot of support from the law enforcement crowd today - one police officer told one of the Zumwalt 12, "You all are the conscience of the community."

Resist and survive.....you are not alone!

Solidarity Statement from Jeju Island to BIW Protest

Dear Friends in Maine, United States,

Hello from Gangjeong village, Jeju Island, South Korea. Despite our struggle against base construction for nearly nine years, there was a ceremony for the completion of the Jeju navy base construction this February. However, despite the navy base, we will do our best to maintain village community. And we cannot get along with the navy as long as it continues to foster conflicts.

We heard that there is a ceremony for the christening of a recently built Zumwalt destroyer in the Bath Iron Works (BIW), Maine, United States on June 18 and that this destroyer is the most threatening naval ship in history, with a production cost of more than 4 billion USD per ship. According to the Korean media, the U.S. Secretary of Defense said that all three Zumwalt-class destroyers, once being made, would be deployed in the East Asia Sea by the end of this year. It is very worrisome as it would intensify tension in Northeast Asia and threaten peace. We heard that you would carry out protest to the christening ceremony on the Zumwalt destroyer and some of you plan non-violent civil disobedience on June 18.  

Many of you have visited Gangjeong and have made solidarity with us with deep concern for the struggle in opposition to the Jeju navy base project. Thanks to you, we came to know that our fight is not isolated but connected to all the peace movements in the world. Therefore we send deep gratitude, friendship, and solidarity to you all who are to magnificently expressing faith on peace in protest to the christening of the Zumwalt destroyer.  We also resolve that we will endeavor more fully to keep our struggle.

Despite the navy and government manipulation 9 years ago, more than 94% among more than 70% of the electorate of the village strongly opposed the Jeju naval base construction. However, the government ignored villagers’ opinion and enforced base construction destroying democracy, environment and human rights. Further, the government and navy filed a wrongful lawsuit demanding around 3 million USD against the people of Gangjeong and are preparing to evict our community protest site, at the entrance to Gureombi Rock, which is now covered by concrete. The Jeju navy base was built on the destruction of democracy and threatens the peace of northeast Asia. That is why we continuously oppose to it and will do so in the future, too.

The Gangjeong sea with UNESCO-designation and the world’s largest soft coral habitat, a place where the 100 remaining Jeju Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins often came, has changed into a site infested with aegis destroyers and submarines. It is currently only used by military vessels of the South Korean navy. However given that Lisa Franchetti, the ex-commander of US naval forces of South Korea mentioned last August that the US wants to ‘send its ships’ to the ports of South Korea, including the Jeju navy base, it is very worrisome to imagine that the Zumwalt destroyer, the so called most threatening military vessel, might enter the Jeju naval port.  

We think peace can be made through peace not through war. Even though the base was completed and oppression on the opponents to the Jeju navy base has been heavy, we will not stop our efforts to oppose militarism and make Gangjeong a ground for life and peace, on behalf of future generations and the living creatures in the sea. 

We thank for your noble dedication and solidarity.

In peace,

The Anti-navy base committee of Gangjeong Village, Jeju Island, Korea

The System's Deep Crisis

In the first episode of ‘On Contact’, host Chris Hedges discusses the global revolt against corporate capitalism with radical intellectual and author Tariq Ali.

Ali talks about how the world banking system got Greece and other European countries in trouble, and how big capital may be behind the impeachment of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.

RT Correspondent Anya Parampil joins the show with a report on global inequality.

Saturday Protest in Bath

Demonizing Russia Non-Stop

As I was getting my breakfast this morning we had National Public Radio (NPR) - what we often call National Petroleum Radio - turned on.  As usual they were doing their daily succession of Russia bashing.  One story jumped out at me as an example of the ridiculous and idiotic 'journalism' we now get in this country.

It was a story about how the Russian people never smiled - that is until McDonald's opened up in Moscow.

They had on a Russian man who told the story that under the old Soviet Union people were ugly, snarly and unhappy.  Then after the fall of the Soviet Union McDonald's came to Russia.  Workers were taught to say Thank you, Have a nice day, Come back again - and suddenly the culture of Russia began to change and now people smile!

This corporate propaganda story is one more glaring example of how U.S. 'exceptionalism' works.  Those poor Russians were saved by capitalism - our consumer culture brings politeness and satisfaction.  McDonald's taught the Russian people what real happiness means.

Fill the American people's thick skulls with this kind of crap and you can sell them anything.  Tell Americans that Putin is the new Hitler and wants to take over the world.  Tell them Putin wants to invade Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as an excuse to put US-NATO troops on the Russian border.

Fly US warplanes along the border - only 85 miles from St. Petersburg - don't worry it's not a provocation - we are just liberating those unhappy Russians!

This is how wars start - when one side convinces themselves that they are god's gift to humanity and that people all over the world are eager to bite into a Big Mac.  Yes we must spend our national treasury to make it possible for those poor Russian people to be happy.  They need us and our McDonald's and Burger King and Pizza Hut! 

The NPR story though didn't mention that in 2014 Russia ordered the closure of four McDonald’s restaurants in Moscow after government health inspectors declared the U.S.-based fast food chain was serving contaminated products.  That same year Wendy’s, the third-largest American hamburger chain, abandoned its Russian operations.  Also in 2014 the iconic golden arches were replaced in Crimea by the bright red insignia of RusBurger.  NPR didn't bother to mention these facts but of course that was not the purpose of their story. 

Have a nice day - on the way to World War III..... 

U.S. Navy Plans for 'Visit' to Jeju Island

South Korean Navy warships already have ported at the new base on Jeju Island, South Korea.  The U.S. Navy has prepared its plans to visit the base as well.  Below are cynical plans outlined in a US Army War College paper from 2013. 

More Strikes Coming in France

Anne Guerrier writes from Paris:

This is the best video to show what really happened yesterday. We have no aerial view to show that Paris thoroughfares were actually clogged for miles. A million people in Paris (1 person out of 60 in the whole country) and 300,000 more in the rest of the country. This video does give a good impression of the numbers though. You can also see the figures showing what happened in other cities all over France. 

The police never allowed us to reach our destination near the Assemblée Nationale, at Hotel des Invalides (which is Napoleon's grave) they split the march into three and blocked some young people at a street corner. We know now that orders were given for the police to immobilize the march at this particular point. This was provocation because the young in the marches we've had systematically smash 'banks and companies offices' glass windows. There was a hospital there for sick children which has ground floor glass walls and after 5 minutes being cornered there, inevitably, one of the young smashed those windows. The result is that the French press focused on the fact that our protest was about attacking children's hospitals. They didn't mention the figures of the peaceful demo that was following (although Paris hasn't seen anything like it in 15 years). 

You can see both the numbers and the atmosphere of the real demo on this video. There was a deliberate media blackout in France and elsewhere about this because it scares the shit out of the system. Lots of workers around the world are looking at us. Well we did it. We had that million-man march yesterday about decency, a reasonable living, the end of cannibal liberalism, for human rights at bottom. And we'll do it again. More strikes have been decided on. 

This is the Great Thaw.

Directing Public Opinion

With thousands of advertisements seen by Americans everyday, and a corporate media that reinforces the needs of Empire, propaganda in the U.S. is more pervasive and effective than ever before.

The manipulation of public opinion through suggestion can be traced back to the father of modern propaganda, Edward Bernays, who discovered that preying on the subconscious mind was the best way to sell products people don't need, and wars people don't want.

To get a deeper understanding of how propaganda functions in today's society, Abby Martin interviews Dr. Mark Crispin Miller, professor of Media Studies at New York University.

Big Spender

No words
are needed here
the picture tells
the whole story

the Russians
are coming
Washington says
we must prepare
to restrain
the 'bear'

No
the Russians
are not coming....
the U.S.
is already
at Moscow's
doorstep

Inuits: Earth has Shifted, Sky has Changed

Inuit observers describe how their traditional understanding of weather patterns is being challenged by unpredictable weather behaviors.

The elders declare that the sun rises at a different position now, not where it used to previously. They also have longer daylight to hunt now, the sun is much higher than earlier, and it gets warmer much quicker. Other elders across the north also confirmed the same thing about the sky changing.

They also alleged that the position of sun, moon and stars have all changed causing changes in the temperature. This has also affected the wind and it is very difficult to predict the weather now and according to them predicting weather is necessary on the Arctic.

All the elders confirmed that the Earth has shifted, wobbled or tilted toward the North.

Oppression & Violence - It's Our History

Public Comments Needed on New 'Missile Defense' Deployments in Michigan, Ohio or New York

The Pentagon's 'Missile Defense Agency' (MDA) now has ground-based deployments in Alaska and California.  They are presently holding public comments on a third deployment site either in Michigan, New York, or Ohio.  Public comments are due by July 18.

Submit Comments

Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) should be received by July 18, 2016 by one of the following methods:

E-mail: MDA.CIS.EIS@BV.com

U.S. Mail:

Black & Veatch Special Projects Corp.
Attn: MDA CIS EIS
6800 W 115th Street, Suite 2200
Overland Park, KS-66211-2420

The MDA will host open house public meetings at each of the candidate site locations to review the Draft EIS.

All written comments received during the comment period will become part of the public record. Providing private address information with your comment is voluntary and such personal information will be kept confidential unless release is required by law. All comments received by the public, including at public meetings, will be addressed in the Final EIS.


The public hearings and dates are as follows:

• June 21, 2016 - 5 p.m to 8 p.m., Lakeview Middle School, 300 S 28th St., Battle Creek, Michigan

• June 23, 2016 - 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Richland Community Center, 9400 E. Cd Ave., Richland, Michigan

• June 28, 2016 - 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Carthage Senior High School, 36500 New York 26, Carthage, New York

• June 30, 2016 - 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Ravenna High School, 6589 N. Chestnut Street, Ravenna, Ohio

 Below are the comments submitted today on behalf of the Global Network:

    To MDA:

    I am writing on behalf of our organization made up of peace groups around the world.

    We strongly oppose the deployment of a Ground-Based Mid-Course Missile Defense system in any of the three locations now under consideration – Michigan, Ohio, or New York.

    Our primary reason for opposing this so-called ‘missile defense’ (MD) system is that it is provocative and a key element in Pentagon first-strike attack planning.  At the level of this current program US MD only has any real capability against limited retaliatory strikes after the US initiated a first-strike against Russia or China.

    We know that the Space Command annually war games such a scenario – the red team verses the blue team – where the US launches such a first-strike and MD is used to pick off any retaliatory strikes.  Thus this MD system is highly destabilizing and should not be deployed. (In fact this particular GBMD system has the least success in its testing program making it all the more a wasteful program.)

    Beyond that our concerns also center around the outrageous waste of national resources as this boondoggle program would steal from badly needed programs in our social sector like education, health care, needed infrastructure repair, environmental clean-up and more.  At the very time we are facing the reality of climate change these funds could be better used building rail, solar, wind power, and tidal power systems.

    The environmental consequences of building such a deployment site would be massive.  First there is the issue of the environmental damage from the construction process but there are other environmental concerns as well.

    Particularly dangerous is the likely toxic rocket fuel contamination that would result as the fuel is trucked onto the site and then stored to fuel the interceptor missiles.  All across the nation there is an epidemic from perchlorate contamination, a key component in rocket fuel.  Somewhere between 20 million to 40 million Americans may be exposed to the chemical.  We know that the CDC has found perchlorate in 100 percent of the people they've tested, so there's widespread exposure, through contaminated drinking water and also through contaminated food. The concern is that the fuel additive has seeped into the ground and water in dozens of states – that is how perchlorate has ended up in the drinking water and the food supply.

    Clearly no matter where MDA chooses to deploy the GBMD system this issue of rocket fuel contamination and other environmental consequences will be a major sticking point.

    Thus for all these reasons we highly recommend that the MDA make ‘no decision’ on this expensive, dangerous, and highly toxic program.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Sunday Song

 

 

India Signs Up as U.S. Client State

Vijay Prashad says the Indian Prime Minister is eager to have a Logistical Support Agreement with the United States and participate in the US-led encirclement of China.

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, journalist, commentator and intellectual. He is the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College. In 2013–2014, he was the Edward Said Chair at the American University of Beirut.

Stand for What We Believe In.....

More History

Augusto Sandino

By Eduardo Galeano
Memory of Fire: Century of the Wind

1928: Washington
Newsreel

In an emotional ceremony in Washington, ten Marine Corps officers receive the Cross of Merit for distinguished service and extraordinary heroism in the war against Sandino [in Nicaragua].

The Washington Herald and other papers devote pages to the crimes of the outlaw band who slit Marines' throats.  They also publish documents newly arrived from Mexico, with impressive numbers of spelling mistakes, proving that Mexican president Calles is sending bolshevik weapons and propaganda to Sandino through Soviet diplomats.  Official State Department sources explain that Calles began revealing his communist sympathies when he raised taxes on US oil companies operating in Mexico, and fully confirmed them when his government established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

The US government warns that it will not permit Russian and Mexican soldiers to implant the Soviet in Nicaragua.  According to official State Department spokesmen, Mexico is exporting bolshevism.  After Nicaragua the next target of Soviet expansion in Central America will be the Panama Canal.

Senator Shortridge declares that the citizens of the US deserve as much protection as those of ancient Rome, and Senator Bingham says: We are obliged to accept our function as international policeman.  Senator Bingham, the famous archaeologist who sixteen years ago discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, has never concealed his admiration for the works of dead Indians.

For the opposition, Senator Borah denies his country's right to act as the censor of Central America, and Senator Wheeler suggests that the government send Marines to Chicago, not Nicaragua, if it really wants to take on bandits.  The Nation magazine, for its part, takes the view that for the US president to call Sandino a bandit is like George III of England labeling George Washington a thief.

Can't Vote for Clinton

As Hillary Clinton becomes the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, Abby Martin and Paul Jay discuss the strategy of voting for the lesser evil and the potential foreign policy of a Trump or Clinton administration.

She cleans his clock.

See even more on this whole discussion from a critical anti-establishment and anti-imperial point of view here and here

The U.S. 'Regime Change' in Ukraine....

Ray McGovern….27 years as CIA analyst and former chief of the Russian desk in the CIA. He also was responsible for providing presidents from JFK through GHW Bush with the daily intelligence briefings.

Here’s the background, the lead up on the 2012 coup in Ukraine and the consequences. Ray’s comments are informative and even hilarious. Ray explains how Victoria Nuland, Obama and his national security council planned this coup and how Russian president Vladimir Putin reacted and why.

Ray explains what is behind Russia’s fear about the US missile defense system. What is important here is that most Americans do not know what is happening because they have been told by the administration, the generals and the media that Putin is very bad, and that Putin invaded Ukraine. It was all a lie!

Ray explains the real reason why the neocons planned and orchestrated the coup in Ukraine and it will surprise you. What he has to say about Vladimir Putin is profound not only about Putin the man, but for mutual respect and understanding of all nations.

Words and video by Regis Tremblay

Courage & Truth

Most 'liberal' Democrats don't want to hear the message in this video about Hillary Clinton but it is spot on.

She spells it all out.....the stolen primary election votes, the war crimes, Clinton's slavish support for corporate power.

Anyone who backs Clinton at this point should have their head examined because they are going to be in the same tent with fascists like South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (and a whole lot more like him) who are pledging for Clinton.

To watch Bernie today grovel after meeting with Obama - saying he will be teaming up with Clinton to take on Trump is nothing but betrayal of his 'revolution' and the millions who gave him money and worked their behinds off for him. 

It's disgraceful and sickening to watch.

Christ Would Not Bless 'Stealth' Destroyer at Bath Iron Works

Maine Activists to Commit Civil Disobedience at BIW Destroyer ‘Christening’ June 18 in Bath

Maine peace activists have announced their intention to commit acts of non-violent Civil Disobedience at the planned June 18 ‘Christening’ of the $4 billion Zumwalt ‘stealth’ destroyer at Bath Iron Works (BIW).

The activists maintain that the Zumwalt is a provocative escalation of the already out-of-control arms race aimed at China and Russia.

“It is time for us to stand up and call for the reversal of this endless and illegal war cycle that our country is engaged in,” the peace activists said in a statement released to the media.

“It is the children that these weapons are ultimately aimed at as we see the growing refugee crisis from countries where the US has been waging war. 

“We stand in solidarity with people around the world who are protesting at bases where the US will port these warships.  Not only would these destroyers kill innocent people but their sonar also severely impacts ocean life and the toxic materials released by these ships pollute the seas and the local environments where they are ported.

“Christ would not approve of his name being used to ‘bless’ such violence and the massive waste of the public treasury, especially when so many are hungry, homeless and without jobs and medical care.”

A University of Massassachusetts-Amherst Economics Department study reveals that military spending is actually the worst way to create jobs.  At the very time we face the coming ravages of climate change our tax dollars should be spent on building commuter rail systems, offshore wind turbines, tidal power systems, and solar power – all of which would create more jobs at BIW.

“We intend to stand at BIW on June 18 for those who can no longer stand or speak out, like Fr. Daniel Berrigan who left this world in May. Our elected officials don’t seem to hear the many calls for the conversion of the war machine to peaceful and sustainable purposes.  We feel we must risk arrest to wake up all those whose hearts are closed to the real message of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.”

A legal demonstration will also be held on June 18 at BIW from 9:00 am to noon along Washington Street in Bath.  Speakers and music will be featured.