REPORT ON COLORADO TRIP

This trip began on April 2 with a very early morning drive to Portland so I could catch the bus from there to the Boston airport. After a three-hour wait in Boston I flew to Chicago where I ended up with a seven-hour delay due to major thunderstorms throughout the Midwest. I finally arrived in Colorado Springs at 12:30 a.m. and gratefully Bill Sulzman still came to the airport to pick me up.

Bill Sulzman was one of the founding members of the Global Network when it was created in 1992. At that time I was the state coordinator of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice. Bill's group, the Colorado Springs-based Citizens for Peace in Space, had been working with us in Florida since the 80's. For some time the two groups were really the only local organizations in the country doing on-going space organizing. It became clear to us by 1992 that we needed to grow this movement, and with the help of journalist Karl Grossman, we created the Global Network to do just that.

This year marked the 22nd annual meeting of the Space Symposium, an event put on by the aerospace industry. It was reported that this year almost 8,000 military personnel, aerospace industry executives and technologists were in attendance. In addition the Space Symposium brought in hundreds of students from elementary, middle schools and high schools as a way to recruit them to work in the industry.

This event draws a protest each year by Citizens for Peace in Space. The symposium is located at the very posh Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. I was told that a membership to the Broadmoor Golf & Country Club has a $100,000 entry fee and there is a waiting list to join. The setting for the protest could not be more ideal. We were able to stand with banners on the sidewalk directly in front of the main symposium auditorium thus every person entering the event passed directly by us.

The theme of the protest this year was "Only You Can Prevent Truth Decay" and T-shirts were made with that message on the front and the schedule of protest events for the week was listed on the back similar to a rock-and-roll concert tour. The sub-theme was "Blow the Whistle on Crime and Corruption!"

The theme could not have been more timely as the New York Times reported in its April 2 edition that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington has been covering up a scientific fraud among builders of the expensive "missile defense" system. The Times reported that the GAO ignored evidence that the two main contractors for the program (Boeing and TRW) had doctored data, shewed test results and made false statements in a 2002 report.

Our first protest at the symposium began at 5:00 p.m. on April 3, just as the confab was to begin with a banquet. Our group of about 25 folks blew whistles and handed out leaflets urging the vast assemblage entering the building to "blow the whistle on the deception that is rampant in the military space program." We even handed out baloney sandwiches to those willing to take one, suggesting our baloney was better than the baloney being passed out inside the space symposium.

On April 4 we got to the symposium at 7:30 a.m. just as the crowd arrived. I held a banner that read "Beware of the power of the military industrial complex. - Dwight Eisenhower" and would routinely ask military officers passing by if they would like to take a turn holding it for awhile. I got no takers.

From the space symposium that morning we drove north to Aurora, Colorado where Buckley Air Force Spy & Space War Base is located. We held a vigil outside the main gate with the huge white golfball looking "radoms" in view. Loring Wirbel explained how these systems "suck in" all phone, fax and e-mail communications from throughout the entire world as part of the U.S. program called Echelon. I told the story about how Global Network affiliated groups in Australia, Germany, England and the like continually protest at U.S. "downlink facilities" that collect this information regionally and then send it via satellite in "real time" to Buckley AFB for final processing.

We were met at the Buckley vigil by the three Dominican Nuns, Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson who were found guilty in 2003 for having symbolically "disarmed" a Minuteman nuclear missile silo in northeastern Colorado. Their action, called Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares, put them in jail for a considerable amount of time and Ardeth was the last to get out just a couple of months ago. This was the first time they had been back in Colorado since their trial. Following the vigil at Buckley we made the two hour drive further north to Weld County where the sisters had done their act of disarmament at the N-8 missile silo.

When we arrived we decorated the missile silo gate with yellow crime scene tape and hung an eviction notice, signed by all who were there, on the gate. A team of reporters from several newspaper and radio outlets listened to the sisters make a statement about what motivated them to do the action in 2002. They spoke about their Dominican order being one of preachers who were obligated to tell the truth. The non-violent Jesus called on them to publicly witness against weapons of mass destruction. Their mission at the N-8 silo in 2002 was to open the gates so the world could see that the U.S. had WMD's as Bush lectured the rest of the world about the evils of nuclear weapons. Having worked with the poor all their lives, the sisters insisted that the funding of WMD's was a theft from the poor.

Next we drove back to the nearby town of Greeley where the sisters had been taken to jail following their 2002 action. On this April 4 evening we were to show the new documentary video called "Conviction" that told the story about the nuns and their peace witness at N-8. The only place that would host the event in Greeley was a Mexican restaurant - and fortunately they had a wonderful buffet. Following dinner the filmmaker introduced the film and a good crowd of local people, in addition to those on the protest caravan, watched the documentary. The film not only featured the sisters but also included extensive interviews with the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals who is based in Colorado Springs. During the film Haggard explains how U.S. military technology keeps the world free and called the disarmament action by the nuns misguided and criticized their theological interpretations.

On April 5 we were back out to the Broadmoor Hotel for a lunch time vigil. Bill Sulzman remarked that he had never seen so many military personnel as this year. Many generals (one star, two stars, three stars, four stars) walked past us. Former Republican Congressman Robert Walker, a 20-year veteran of the House of Representatives, where he served as Chairman of the House Science Committee, passed by us on three different occasions. While in Congress he was a big critic of "liberal big spending" so each time he walked by I would ask him why we were not reading any quotes from him in the newspaper about the "big spending" Bush administration. He groaned and gruffed as he slinked by. At one point I also noticed former Sen. Chuck Robb (D-VA) enter the symposium. Robb, a former Marine, became the first senator ever to simultaneously serve on the Senate Armed Services, Foreign Relations, and Intelligence Committees. All these politicians are now working as consultants and lobbyists for the military industrial complex. I also noted their business suits were cut from very expensive cloth these days.

Following this mid-day vigil I was invited to speak to a Philosophy class at Pikes Peak Community College. The class, I was warned, had a couple of recent Iraq war veterans in it and some wives of soldiers at nearby Fort Carson, an Army base that regularly sends troops to the war in Iraq. About 20 students were in the class and I was asked to speak about Ethics and the Military Industrial Complex. My talk went quite well with no real opposition expressed during our lively question and answer period. It was clear to me that this working class group of students clearly understood that the rich were getting richer in today's America and that the war in Iraq was a war for control of oil that would only benefit the big corporations. It gave me confidence that the public increasingly has figured out the big picture.

The primary question posed by one student was, "What do we do now?" I answered by saying that as I walked from the parking lot to the main building on campus, I was nearly blown over by the powerful wind. Why, I asked, can't you have some windmills here providing power for this college? Think of the money and energy saved, the oil not needed, and the jobs that could be created in America building windmills. Why not solar too with so much abundant sun in Colorado? Why not a public transit system, here in Colorado and across the U.S., giving you an option other than your expensive car? Why can't we build these sustainable technologies instead of weapons and endless war? And why can't the peace movement, the environmental movement, and the labor movements create a unified campaign and political demand around this issue? The students got it.

My trip to Colorado ended with another early morning vigil at the Broodmor Hotel on April 6 as the symposium was wrapping up "business." On my first day in Colorado Springs the local newspaper had carried an article about the event and one space symposium organizer was quoted as saying the whole event was about "business." He said the aerospace industry sponsors would be cutting business deals during the week. There is huge money to be made moving the arms race into space and the rats are gathering around the cheese. In order to pay for, what the weapons industry calls the "largest industrial project in the history of the planet Earth," the aerospace industry has targeted the "entitlement programs" for defunding. The space business community wants Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and what is left of the Welfare Program, to be defunded with the money moved into the new space arms race.

The open question is how will the American people respond? If my talk to the Philosophy class was any indication they are not eager to see the dismantling of social progress. But first they must learn about the issue. The week-long protest at the 22nd Annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs was an important contribution to this much needed public debate. I'll be back next year for more. I hope more of you will join us.

WHISTLEBLOWING IN COLORADO

Had a great time in Colorado. Each day we spent some time protesting out in front of the space symposium where we had very close contact with the legions of military personnel and aerospace corporate executives who were attending the space war confab. We handed out leaflets asking them to be whistleblowers and Bill Sulzman kept inviting the people entering the event to stop and “give their testimonies” about graft and corruption inside the Pentagon. We also blew whistles and invited the military officers to hold a banner with us for awhile. None did.

Saw the new film called “Conviction” twice that tells the story about the Dominican nuns (Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson) who spent 2-3 years in jail for their symbolic act of disarmament at a nuclear silo in northeastern Colorado. The nuns were with us and on Tuesday we all made the long trek out to the N-8 nuclear silo – returning to the scene of the crime – where they did their plowshares action. I love these women and they bring tears to my eyes each time they speak about the need for people to stretch themselves and do just a bit more to help end the senseless insanity of the USA’s foreign and military policy.

The nuns base much of their disarmament work around their interpretation of the non-violent Jesus. They also remind us that we can’t feed the poor and the military industrial complex at the same time.

I also spoke to a Philosophy class at Pikes Peak Community College. There were two former Army soldiers who were stationed in Iraq and several wives of GI’s in the class. I talked about Ethics and the Military Industrial Complex. My message was well received by the class and I enjoyed the time with them.

I will write more about the trip once I recover from the travel.

IT'S ALL ABOUT BUSINESS!

Bill Sulzman (above) picked me up at the Colorado Springs airport last night at 12:30. I had sat in the Chicago airport for 7 hours due to a huge storm that hit the midwest. By the time I got to sleep it was 2 am so you could say it was a long day for me.

Bill said that 300 people had turned out in Denver last night to see the premier of the new documentary about the three nums (Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson) who have all just recently gotten out of jail for their disarmament action a couple years ago. I should see them tonight when they come to Colorado Springs for a second showing of the film. Don't know the name of the film yet.

So the fight truth decay tour is underway. The local paper reported this morning that "thousands" are expected for the National Space Symposium that begins today. Display booths in the arms bazaar will be going for $5,200 each and the registration fee is $1,200 each. You know the taxpayer will be covering those fees as all this money flowing into the aerospace industry is your tax dollar at work.

According to Steve Eisenhart, a senior V-P of the Space Foundation, "It is where the industry comes together. It is all about business."

Yeah well said Mr. Eisenhart. It is about business alright. The business of moving the arms race into the heavens. The business of profiting off a new arms race in space. The business of destroying social progress in American so our tax dollars can be moved into the coffers of the military industrial complex. It's all about business. The business of control and domination.

FIGHT TRUTH DECAY

I'm heading to Colorado Springs on Sunday to participate in protests outside the 22nd National Space Symposium. As you can see by clicking the link in the title above, the event is a who's who of the Pentagon and aerospace industry. Last year over 6,000 military and weapons industry personnel were there.

Our Global Network affiliate group, called Citizens for Peace in Space, is once again organizing the protest outside the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. They are calling it the "Only You Can Prevent Truth Decay" protest. The protests will also be taken out into the larger community through a public forum at Colorado College and a visit to the Buckley Air Force Spy & Space War Base in nearby Aurora, Colorado. We will also take folks out to see the several local space command sites in an action that will be called "2006 Space Expose 'Um."

Citizens for Peace in Space (CPIS), particularly its coordinator Bill Sulzman, is a founding member of the Global Network. In a leaflet CPIS says, "We expose this propaganda offering for what it is, an arms bazaar for fat cats and war lords who run the U.S. space program. The official story is full of half truths, coverups, and outright lies. Exposing that is a tall order but someone has to do it."

It should be fun as CPIS is one of the more creative groups around. They always use street theater to get their message out to a wider audience. I am looking forward to the trip and will try to put some short reports from the action on the blog while in Colorado.

WHO VALUES LIFE THE MOST?

I sometimes hear people say that people in Iraq do not value life the way we do in the U.S. I find that an arrogant statement. Do the people of Iraq love their families any less than Americans do? People in the U.S. have learned to use statements like this to justify our unending empire building that results in legions of dead people that resist U.S. control and domination.

Did the U.S. show how much we valued life when we virtually exterminated the Native Americans? Did the U.S. show its reverence for life when it created the institution of slavery - selling human beings on the auction block in cities throughout the country? Do we value human life today when 46 million of our citizens have no access to health care - the only industrialized nation in the world without a national health care system?

Politicians like to talk about values a lot these days. So do many right-wing conservative groups who consider themselves "right with the Lord." But how do they feel about the war in Iraq, or national health care, or the death penalty? All values issues for sure.

This kind of arrogance, that we in the U.S. are the "exceptional" nation, is a major reason why America is so hated and mistrusted around the world. Until the American people begin to deal with our arrogance, we will remain the laughing stock of the world.

WHITEY ON THE MOON

The Washington Post ran a story yesterday called "U.S. Planning Base on Moon to Prepare for Trip to Mars." The story said that NASA is now planning for a permanent moon base by 2020. The problem - money. Over 40% of NASA's budget is now being spent on the troubled and expensive Int'l Space Station. We were told the space station was originally going to cost tax payers $10 billion but it ended up costing us $100 billion and it is still not completed...probably never will be.

Imagine the cost of a permanent moon base. Do you understand why the Congress keeps talking about the need for "entitlement programs reform"? What are the entitlement programs they want to reform to free up money for the aerospace industry? Try Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and what is left of the welfare program.

Why the big rush to get to the moon? "The new thing is China, and they've announced they're going to the moon. The Europeans want to go; the Russians want to go; and if we don't go, maybe they'll go with the Chinese," Mars Institute Chairman Pascal Lee says. "Could we bypass the moon and go to Mars while India and China are going to the moon? I don't think so."

So what is the big deal on the moon that everyone wants to get a hold of? It's called helium-3. Scientists say helium-3 could be used to provide power for fusion reactors here on Earth, making the profits of the oil corporations look like nothing. So the race is on. Who pays for the technological race to the moon? Right, you the taxpayer. Who would profit? Right again, the big aerospace industry corporations. You the taxpayers get left in the dark - without your "entitlement programs."

"Power is the big challenge," says Larry Toups at NASA. NASA and the Department of Energy want nuclear reactors on the moon so they are now laying the groundwork to convince the nation that multiple launches of nuclear reactors heading to the moon will be acceptable. Hold onto your hats folks.

Then add to all that the expensive military space weapons technology that would be needed to ensure that the U.S. "controlled and dominated" the pathway between the Earth and the moon and you've got a whole new arms race. Mucho gravy for the weapons industry.

Someone sent me the words to a Gil Scott-Heron song about the moon. Here it is.

Whitey on the Moon
by Gil Scott-Heron

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man jus' upped my rent las' night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's uppin' me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I wuz already payin' 'im fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that shit wuzn't enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made las' year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll sen' these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)

CAN'T TURN YOUR BACK ON THE WAR

Yesterday I went north to the University of Maine - Orono to be part of a peace witness during a speech by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). The senator was invited to talk about “The Ethics of Conscience: Continuing the Legacy of Margaret Chase Smith” by the school and 60 peace activists, dressed in black, sat in the auditorium wearing the number 2,319 on their backs - the numbers of dead GI's killed in Iraq so far. The auditorium seats 515 and was nearly full.

The senator made a mundane speech talking about her support for lobbyist reform, her dissatisfaction with former FEMA director Michael Brown and his poor handling of the Katrina hurricane and her great respect for Margaret Chase Smith, the much acclaimed former senator from Maine during the 1950's who publicly challenged the red-baiting tactics of then right-wing Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Sen. Collins is considered a moderate but keeps voting with the Bush administration on all the big issues. The question and answer period was highly regulated with the university staff taking written questions before the event began. A graduate student then read about 4-5 of them to Sen. Collins. The first one was "When can we leave Iraq?" Sen. Collins responded that we don't want to stay any longer than necessary, it will all depend on how quickly the U.S. can train a new Iraqi police force. The basic Bush line if you will.

When it was announced that there would only be one more question the 60 peace people in the audience, spread out throughout the hall, stood up and Robert Shetterly began to raise a question to the senator. Someone yelled out "Sit down" then someone else quickly yelled out, "No...let him speak". There was a pregnant pause and Robert kept going by asking Sen. Collins how she could support this Bush war policy. I could not hear it all from where I was sitting but the scene was more important than the question anyway. As he concluded his question, an applause broke out in the hall, not just coming from the people dressed in black. People whistled as well and the applause was a long one... the senator stood there glaring at Robert but she said nothing.

Finally, after what seemed like a longer applause than she got when she was introduced, Sen. Collins said to the university student handling the questions, "Next question." And before we knew it the whole thing was finished. Our 60 folks in black quickly made their way out into the lobby and opened banners that said things like "What are the ethics of Guantanamo?" and "What are the ethics of tax cuts for the rich?" and so on. The media came out and interviewed some of the protest leaders and one alternative radio station, WERU, did live interviews with several folks over the phone.

Sen. Collins has been refusing to hold a town hall meeting on Iraq for the past year. A town hall meeting on the war has now been set for Friday, April 21 at USM in Portland and we are inviting the entire Maine Congressional delegation to come and listen to the people about the war.

The senator was not going to talk about Iraq yesterday. The war, now shown in the polls as the number one concern of the American people, was going to be ignored by the senator. But as much as they would like to ignore the topic the peace movement in Maine is forcing the political elite to have to respond to it.

After the event the senator told the Bangor Daily News that she meets with peace groups all the time. That is a lie and especially troubling from one who claims the mantle of ethics and the legacy of Margaret Chase Smith.

PROTEST AT THE PENTAGON

On Sunday, March 19 I attended an anti-war protest in downtown Portland that drew a good crowd. From there I went to the airport and flew to Washington DC. I was invited to speak at Monday's march on the Pentagon called From Mourning to Resistance: 3 Years Too Many - Stop the War! The event was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance which is led by Gordon Clark and Max Obuszewski.

When I arrived in Washington I went directly to the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House where my old friend Art Laffin lives. Art is a long time war resister and I've stayed at the Catholic Worker house many times over the years when in DC. Art has been a loyal supporter of our resistance efforts to keep the arms race from moving into space. He, and others from the Catholic Worker community, each year organize protests at the White House and/or NASA headquarters when the Global Network puts out a call for actions during Keep Space for Peace Week or at other times.

Art woke me up before 6:00 am on Monday, March 20 and we made our way to an entrance that has been designated a "protest zone" at the Pentagon. We were joined by 20 others for an hour long vigil as Pentagon employees arrived. Holding my simple sign, "Stop the war," I was amazed at the sheer numbers of people entering the Pentagon. Art told me 20,000 work there and each Monday he and others hold their vigil at the same spot. Art has been arrested more times than he can count at the various entrances of the Pentagon over the last 20 years.

Few of the military or civilian Pentagon employees made eye contact as they passed us. I counted positive responses from about 1 out of every 50. One woman, an Air Force officer, gave me a courageous "thumps-up" as she passed by. Another woman in civilian dress said, "You people are making progress" as she hurried by. I was struck by the large numbers of black and Hispanic civilian employees entering but most of them too would not make contact. I thought it sad that so many people must work inside this "shrine of domination" to feed their families. It made the conversion message resonant even more for me.

Next we moved to the assembly point for the 9:00 am rally and march to the Pentagon. Located near the Vietnam war memorial, over 200 people and tons of media from all over the world gathered. It was here that I stood on a plastic milk crate and made my speech. I talked about how in Maine, the day before, anti-war protests were held on bridges all over our state. I shared how we have for the past year been organizing occupations of Congressional offices in our state and how we must cut funding for the war if we hope to ever end it. I also said that we must prevent the next round of the arms race from moving into space if we hoped to have social progress in America. We can't afford guns and butter. We must, I concluded, develop and promote a transformative vision that calls for production of sustainable technologies with our tax dollars or we will never end our nation's addiction to war.

Following all the speakers, including Cindy Sheehan and Michael Berg (whose son was also killed in Iraq), we marched the final steps to the Pentagon where we were met by a large continent of police. Most of the cops were African-American and they stood on the other side of a closed gate blocking our entrance onto Pentagon grounds. Art Laffin led us in singing protest songs like We Shall Overcome as 51 people slowly climbed their way over the fence into the waiting arms of the police. The large contingent of media filmed the entire exciting scene. I knew that sadly few of these images would broadcast on the TV news in the U.S. though.

It was a very long walk back to the center of DC. I made my way to the White House where I wanted to stop and say hello to a woman who has held here vigil there since 1981. Day and night for 20 years, Concepcion Picciotto has occupied a small slab of pavement across from the White House, braving the wind, rain, and police harassment. Connie has been keeping an around-the-clock vigil for world peace and nuclear disarmament since Ronald Reagan first entered the White House as president. She says that many people stop and talk but she wonders when the American people will rise up to resist our current move toward fascism.

Every time I go to a big city I always wonder how our seemly small efforts for peace can reach the millions of people who rush around their city leading their busy lives. On the flight home I sat next to a man returning from a winter vacation in Florida. I asked him how he feels about the war. I discovered he works at Bath Iron Works in Maine where the Navy's Aegis destroyer is built. The Aegis is now being used by the U.S. to surround China with Theater Missile Defense (TMD) systems on-board. I talked to him a long time about the need for conversion of the military industrial complex. He listened intently and when he discovered that I am an organizer of protests in our local community he laughed and shook my hand. At one point he said, "People like me need to get more involved or nothing will change." I took that as a good sign.

Maybe people are listening more than we know. Maybe as the woman said at the Pentagon, "You people are making progress." We just need to keep believing in ourselves and our message for peace....and conversion of the military industrial complex.

CONVERT THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

I went north yesterday to Farmington, Maine to attend an event called "Sustainable Maine Conference: Turning Toward Peace Through Jobs and a Clean Environment." It was organized by Peace Action Maine and the Global Network was a co-sponsor. I facilitated a workshop called "Corporate Takeover & Military Transformation."

It was held at the University of Maine at Farmington and my good friend Doug Rawlings, president of Maine Veterans for Peace, who teaches there was the host. He turned out a great number of students for the event...and peace and environmental activists came from all over the state.

The whole idea of the conference was to introduce the idea that we need to convert the military industrial complex to peaceful production. Why can't we build mass transit systems or windmills at Bath Iron Works here in Maine instead of Aegis destroyers that will be used to surround and provoke China?

I notice that when you ask that question, some folks who would otherwise agree, just roll their eyes. They say, "Well, the politicians will never agree to that." I tend to respond, "Well, if we don't make a political demand on them they never will." I thought that was our job as activists, to create an alternative vision and then go out and organize support for it. How else can we ever stop this endless war cycle unless we demand an alternative? Of course it is going to be hard - but what meaningful change has ever come easy? How long did it take to end slavery? Imagine when abolitionists started saying, "You know we should end slavery." And the response was, "Yeah sure, the entire country's economy is hostage to the institution to slavery and you want to change that. Can't we work on something easier?" But in the end the moral outrage won out and slavery was ended. It was a long bitter struggle though that ended with civil war.

So today our country’s economy is hostage to the institution called military production and endless war. The more wars we have the more weapons we need. The more weapons we need the more jobs we have in local communities producing them. And please, don't close our bases and military production facilities, our local leaders say!!!!!!

So our job today is to make a political demand. We want our tax dollars used for peaceful production of sustainable technologies that give our children a future on this Earth. We know that building solar, windmills, mass transit systems and the like will provide more jobs than military production does - because the military industrial complex is capital intensive. That means that per million dollars we get less jobs building weapons than we would by spending the same amount of money on any other kind of production.

Our job in the peace movement is to advance an alternative vision that unites the peace movement, the environmental movement and the labor movement. Think of the good jobs that could be created by converting the military industrial complex. Think what happens when weapons are no longer the number one industrial export of our nation. We could be proud of our country again. We can reduce the need for oil. We can slow global warming. Let's make this change, now, before it is too late.

CORN FOR FOOD NOT CARS!

In a rare moment of honesty, George W. Bush recently admitted the U.S. was "addicted to oil." I don't think he made the statement out of any genuine concern for our future. Instead I think he made the statement in order to convince the American people that we need to expand the use of nuclear power and turn to biofuels like corn and soybeans to provide fuel for our auto addicted culture.

Lots of people these days are talking about ethanol production as a key cure to our oil woes. With fossil fuels running out, and becoming more expensive, the idea of fuel from organic products seems to make sense. Right?

Well not so fast. According to David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, "There is just no energy benefit to using plant biomass for liquid fuel." For every gallon that an ethanol manufacturing plant produces, it uses the equivalent of almost two-fifths of a gallon of fuel (usually natural gas), and that does not count the fuel needed to make fertilizer for the corn, run the farm machinery or truck the ethanol to market. Although Pimentel advocates the use of burning biomass to produce thermal energy (to heat homes, for example), he deplores the use of biomass for liquid fuel.

In terms of energy output compared with energy input for ethanol production the facts are that:

- Corn requires 29% more fossil energy than the fuel it produced...
- Switch grass (a favorite of George W. Bush) requires 45% more fossil energy than the fuel produced....
- wood biomass requires 57% more fossil energy than the fuel produced...
- soybean plants requires 27% more fossil energy than the fuel produced...
- sunflower plants requires 118% more fossil energy than the fuel produced....

With this said then, why is everyone talking about ethanol as our savior? You've seen the new Ford truck commercials on TV where these young environmental activists are standing in a corn field, next to the huge new model Ford pick-up truck. They have an ear of corn in their hands saying, "This is it folks...we've got it...the solution to our problems...nature's corn...keep driving and don't worry about it."

The agri-business corporations that control corn and soybean production these days in the Midwest are also behind this new scam. Archer Daniels Midland Co. Chairman and CEO G. Allen Andreas told analysts in February that rising demand for American-grown corn will push corn prices through the roof. Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates has invested $84 million in ethanol production plant expansion.

And the American people, with their big gas hungry trucks and SUV's, love the idea that a new fuel has been found just in time as oil prices keep rising. And it is environmentally pure!!!!!!!

One more thing to think about. As fossil fuels decline in availability, Peak Oil it's called, the cost of farming goes up thus the price of food dramatically rises. The entire agriculture industry is totally dependent on fossil fuels - tilling the soil, planting and harvesting are all oil dependent....trucking products to market also is oil dependent. We won't be able to afford to fly Kiwi fruit in from New Zealand, tomatoes from Mexico, or even avocados from south Florida. We are going to have to grow our food locally.

But there is a problem. I am told by Maine farmer and engineer John Howe who wrote the book called "The End of Fossil Energy," that it will take virtually all available agriculture land in the U.S. to grow enough corn and soybeans to provide the needed ethanol to replace the oil we now use in our cars. And that assumes you can even do it efficiently, which I think I've shown is not possible.

Howe says that we are going to need this available farming land to produce our food because food production, without the heavy use of fossil fuels will become more labor intensive. That means we will need more land and more humans working in the fields just to feed ourselves. If we have the fields committed to growing fuel for cars then we will starve to death.

So once again our very human desire for the easy answer, the magic bullet, proves to be a pipe dream. We are going to have to turn to public mass transit, bicycles, walking and solar cars if we are going to make it. Instead of putting corn in the tank, we are going to need to eat it.

MINING THE TAXPAYERS POCKETBOOK FOR SPACE

Two important developments concerning space this week. First NASA announced that their Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had safely reached the red planet and is now one of four functioning spacecraft in orbit there. The $720 million mission will survey the planet to identify minerals on the Martian surface. Looking for the origins of life you ask? Well no, not really. In fact NASA, doing the bidding for the aerospace industry that hopes to one day mine Mars, is setting up the infrastructure to make it possible in the future to have the industry go in and reap major profit from mining operations. The Halliburton Corporation is today creating a drilling mechanism to do Mars mining. Once NASA has successfully created the ability the mine the skies the entire operation will be privatized. And you know who is paying for it. Understand?

The other big story is Star Wars and the Pentagon. The military is asking Congress for hundreds of millions of extra tax $$$$$ to test weapons in space. According to a story in the Boston Globe today, "The DoD's budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 includes money for a variety of tests on offensive and defensive weapons, including a missile launched at a small satellite in orbit, testing a small space vehicle that could disperse weapons while traveling at 20 times the speed of sound, and determining whether high-powered ground-based lasers can effectively destroy enemy satellites."

So here we go. The veil is off the bride. The Bush team has broken down the door. They are now on record that they intend to move forward with offensive weapons in space. Pentagon spokesman Rick Lerner told the Globe, "We just want to do some experiments" on weapons technology in space. Yeah, just experiments...that's all.

If they were just experiments, why did the Bush administration vote last fall to block a United Nations resolution calling for a ban on weapons in space? Every country in the world (except the U.S. and Israel) are ready to sign an international treaty banning weapons in space. But the U.S. knows that if the Pentagon can put weapons in space, thus dominating space, they can militarily control the Earth on behalf of corporate globalization. No one would be able to stand against the U.S. in times of hostility because all warfare today on the Earth is directed by space technology.

The Pentagon budget for this year is $450 billion. They not only want to control the Earth but now they are moving to control Mars and soon Bush intends to put bases on the Moon. And as you set up mining operations on the planetary bodies the aerospace industry will seek funding to create new military technologies to "protect their assets" on those bodies from other space-faring nations. Imagine the costs involved in this inter-planetary warfare system they are now setting in motion?

It is easy to understand why the corporate elite have made the determination that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, welfare programs, public transit, environmental clean-up, and the like all have to be cut. The enormous fiscal appetite of the Pentagon for space control and domination technology development is going to overwhelm everything else in the national budget.

What do you think? Should we go along with this madness? Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?

EMERGENCY IRAQ WAR MEETING HELD

We had an emergency Iraq war planning meeting in Portland today. On 48-hours notice we got 40 people out for the meeting. The purpose of it was to get serious about expanding our organizing in the mid-coast and southern Maine region. Our entire Maine congressional delegation keeps voting for all the money for the war and don't seem willing to budge anytime soon.

We went around in the meeting and asked everyone to say how they are feeling about things right now and give any ideas they have for next organizing steps. Many good ideas were brought forward and several of them emerged as common themes in the meeting. One is that Bush must be impeached, the second was the need to do more youth outreach and organizing, and the last was that we should hold our own town hall meeting and invite our Congressional delegation.

So in the end we decided to organize a public town hall meeting on Iraq on Friday, April 21 in Portland. (We are now working on a suitable location.) We will invite the politicians to come listen to the public and will give them time to respond at the end of the meeting if they would like to do so.

We will pass out a leaflet to everyone who comes to the meeting listing upcoming events and have contact information for local peace groups, study groups, book clubs, and any other grouping doing any anti-war organizing in the area.

We also decided to set another meeting up to do follow-up work after the town hall meeting. That meeting, also to be held in Portland, will be on Saturday, May 6 from 1-3pm. (Location to be announced). For now we are calling this the Iraq War Regional Network.

The meeting had a serious and positive energy. Several people running/or representing candidates for Governor, Senator and House of Representatives were there. At the end of the meeting I asked everyone to stand and hold hands. I said that we needed to work together and pledge to each other that we will do all we can to build our regional movement. I said we are on the edge of fascism in America and the time for cooperative effort is here.

AEGIS INVOLVED IN TESTS TO GIVE U.S. FIRST-STRIKE CAPABILITY

The U.S. and Japan tested a new Theatre Missile Defense (TMD) technology Wednesday off the coast of Hawaii. A missile was launched by an Aegis cruiser and successfully deployed a new Japanese-designed nose cone.

These developments indicate that U.S. and Japan's efforts to expand joint military operations in the Asian-Pacific region are moving ahead. The U.S. is now pressuring Japan to get rid of their constitutional prohibition against having an offensive military. Together, the U.S. and Japan are now preparing a major military escalation in the region that is like a dart pointed at the heart of China.

China today has 20 nuclear missiles capable of hitting the west coast of the U.S. The U.S. has over 7,500 nuclear weapons. The new TMD technologies under development by the U.S. and Japan are intended to make it possible for China's 20 nuclear missiles to be taken out during an attack. The idea is that the Aegis destroyer would be based in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, thus giving the U.S. the ability to virtually surround China's coastal region. Add to that the new permanent military bases the U.S. is now building in Afghanistan, right on China's inland border. These bases would also be outfitted with ground-based TMD systems. Together, along with planned airborne and space-based systems, the U.S. plan is to be able to launch a preemptive first-strike attack on China and then take out China's retaliatory response by using the new TMD interceptors.

At the U.S. Space Command, during the past couple of years, they have been war gaming this first strike attack on China. Set in the year 2016, the U.S. launches the attack and then attempts to pick off China's anemic nuclear response.

These joint U.S. and Japanese TMD operations are helping to increase tensions in the region and are forcing China to make defensive military build-ups along their border regions.

It should be remembered that not long ago, Japan was the fascist imperial power in the region that invaded Manchuria, China and Korea that helped kick-off World War II. The Japanese were known to have killed large numbers of civilians during their brutal occupations of these countries. Japan blew up one of its own
trains in September of 1931, blaming it on China, and using it as a pretext to invade Manchuria. The incident was used to justify the invasion on the grounds that Japanese interests had to be protected from assaults by the Chinese. (Sound familiar?)

So the U.S. and Japan are now playing an old game. They are moving to militarize the region, as China defensively responds, the U.S. accuses China of trying to control the region. China gets surrounded, tensions rise and at some point the fuse gets lit. An explosion happens and China will get blamed. The U.S. and Japan do not intend to let China become a major power without first trying to control her. As the Washington Post said in 2001, the U.S. will now double our military presence in the Asian-Pacific region so that "we" can "manage" China.

WHO IS THE CUT AND RUN CROWD?

Last night I was invited to an Iraq war debate at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. I debated on behalf of the College Democrats, while the College Republicans picked a graduate student as their debater. The Greens were also represented in the event.

The Republican debater basically named called and character assassinated the peace movement all night long. He called anyone who disagreed with Bush enemy "collaborators" and named us the "cut and run crowd".

I responded to this nonsense by saying that a recent Zogby Poll showed 72% of GI's in Iraq now say they want to come home. I also noted that USA Today reported 8,000 U.S. military personnel have deserted since the start of the war. The cut and run crowd all......

At another point the Repub debater used the words "We suffer and incur" from the war in Iraq. In a defensive moment, he was pandering and trying to show some kind of solidarity with the GI's in Iraq. This really made me angry and when I had my turn I said that those promoting this war are not "suffering and incurring" anything at all. They are not in Iraq, their children are not going to Iraq, AND the Repubs are making sure that the very rich in the U.S. are getting major league tax cuts. This war I said is being fought by the working class who have to join the military in hopes of a job and the chance for college money. The rich are making the bucks on this war that is being fought for control of diminishing natural resources......The poor get nothing but cutbacks at home and American flags to drape the coffins of returning kids.

Even though I was debating on behalf of the College Dems, I had to be fair and acknowledge that the Democratic party has been a full partner in the war. While admitting there are some noble Dems, like Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)who have introduced legislation calling for a cut in funding for the war, most Dems keep voting for the war. I challenged the Dems in the audience to sharpen the debate within their own party if we hoped to end this war.

Yesterday I read that former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Bush's "Long war" would last at least 70 years. At over $8 billion a month, just how will we pay for this war and still have social progress in America?

The time is now to speak out.....

WHY DO WE STAY IN IRAQ?

National polls are showing today that 80% of the American people believe there is now civil war in Iraq. The majority now believes we must leave Iraq.

The poll found that 56 percent also say the United States is not making significant progress toward restoring civil order in Iraq -- a 17-point drop in optimism since December and the most pessimistic reading on this question since it was first asked in June, 2004.

Our Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is in Iraq and held a "town hall meeting" with Maine National Guard soldiers stationed there. Sounds like the peace movement will have to dress up in Army uniforms before we are able to get our senator to meet with us.

Our friend Dexter Kamilewicz, who has announced his candidacy to run for Congress as an Independent, has a son in Iraq with the Vermont National Guard. Dexter's son Ben came home last week on leave after seven horrid months in Iraq. He returns this week for another five months. In a letter Dexter sent out to supporters Dexter said, "Ben flew home on an airplane crowded with wounded soldiers with lost limbs, disfigured faces, debilitating concussions, and horrific wounds that won’t heal in a lifetime, but nobody sees them, nobody is allowed to see them. There are tens of thousands of them."

Dexter concluded his letter by saying, "Our Maine Congressional Delegation is responsible for the War in Iraq as they vote to fund it. It is impossible to say that you are against the war when you fund it – such is the problem with politicians speaking out of both sides of their mouths. Those who vote to fund an illegal, immoral, cruel war have blood on their hands. Our politicians’ votes to fund the war results in more death and destruction on an ever widening basis, more American deaths and returning soldiers with baggage that we are unprepared to deal with, no health care plan, no retirement benefits, degradation of the planet, higher taxes – just endless, mindless war, and no future. Why?"

Why? Permanent bases to control oil....profits for the weapons corporations....kick-backs (called campaign donations from the weapons industry) to politicians.....belief in empire.....

Are we in Iraq, like my local Congressman Tom Allen (D-ME) says, to prevent a civil war? What will be the next excuse the politicians use to justify permanent occupation? Who will be fooled into voting again for these policians who deceive us so?

DEMANDING DEMOCRACY & TOWN HALL MEETING

On March 1-2 I headed north to the University of Maine in Orono (UMO), where I spoke to a group of students brought together by my friend Dud Hendrick who teaches peace studies at the school. Dud and I are members of Maine Veterans for Peace.

The day before, a one-hour interview on the community radio station, WERU, had been set up for me by Dud. Already several new people have contacted our office who had listened to the show.

It was the second time I have spoken to Dud's peace studies class at UMO. In this case several of his students brought in their friends who don't take the class to hear my talk. I was told by the head of the peace studies department that several students were overheard after my talk saying they wanted to have me back to speak to a larger group of students.

From UMO I followed Dud as we made the 1 1/2 hour drive to Deer Isle, near Acadia National Park, where I was to speak to Dud's local peace group that evening. The meeting of Island Peace & Justice was well attended, and we had a lively discussion following my talk. In both of these talks, I put heavy emphasis on how space technology is used to fight modern war. Thus, if the U.S. can "control and dominate" space, the Pentagon is able to be the world's preeminent military power.

I also told both audiences that day that they were lucky to have Dud around as a teacher and friend. Dud went to the U.S. Naval Academy and was a pilot in Vietnam during the war. He went on to become a successful lacrosse coach at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Dud has been one of the key organizers of our Freqent Visitor Program here in Maine, where we have occupied the offices of our Congressional delegation reading the names of American GI's killed in Iraq and an equal number of innocent Iraqi civilians. Eight times during the past year we have held such events across the state. Dud was one of the 19 people with whom I was arrested on December 15, 2005 when we sat in at the Bangor office of our Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). We have been demanding that our two Republican senators hold a town hall meeting on the Iraq war so that the public may have an opportunity to speak directly to them. So far have they refused to hold such an event.

On February 9, Dud and six others were invited to the Bangor office of Sen. Susan Collins to speak with her via fuzzy teleconferencing technology. She was in Washington DC. The group of peace workers went into that meeting determined only to talk about the need for a town hall meeting on Iraq. Sen. Collins saw it as an opportunity to say she was meeting with small groups of people to discuss the war and thus there was no need for a town hall meeting. When it was Dud's turn, he read from prepared remarks and told the senator that, "I want to speak to you about the notion of responsibility - the responsibility of citizens in a democracy. It is in the best interests of a democracy that it functions at the behest of an informed citizenry....You have a responsibility to listen, to hear your constituents......The longer you refuse to enable us to have this democratic right, the more convinced I become that you are in D.C. to do the bidding of the dinizens of K Street."

Sen. Collins shot back that she found Dud's comments "insulting" thus effectively redirecting the discussion from her refusal to meet with growing numbers of the public who oppose the war. Instead, she could now "justify" her refusal as being necessary because people like Dud had "insulted" her. The games politicians play to hide from the truth are quite astounding.

After spending the night of March 1 at the home of Dud and his wife Jean, he took me to speak to his class at the Liberty School in Blue Hill, an alternative high school that describes itself as a "democratic learning community." Dud also teaches a peace studies class there and this particular morning several parents joined the class to hear my talk. At one point during my talk with the students, while describing the likely consequences of a plutonium release after a space nuclear accident, I asked the class what they thought would happen. "We'd be f_ _ ked," one girl shouted. We all laughed and I said that in older company, I might have given the same answer.

As I left Blue Hill to make the three hour drive home it began to snow. The world always seems to slow down a bit when the snow comes, covering everything with pure beauty. As I drove, the view of the bay was breath taking and I was filled with delight as I thought of how lucky I was to be in Maine. I am thrilled to see such natural wonders and to have such a good friend like Dud Hendrick.

BUSTED

Just back from a two day trip up north to do a couple speaking events. Will write more on that later. On the way home today in the car I heard the news on the radio that a secret government video was given to the Associated Press showing Bush getting a briefing about the severe consequences that were expected as Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast last summer.

Bush is so busted. Now people can see for themselves how this lying SOB (Son of a Bush) just sat back and listened to the briefing and then had the government sit on their hands for a couple of days and let the people of New Orleans suffer. Was it because they are black? Sure it was.

Four days after the storm Bush told the country that, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that broke apart and led to the flooding of the city. The video proves that Bush was being told before the hurricane hit that the levees would not hold.

Now we have even more evidence that Bush must face impeachment hearings. He has betrayed the American people one more time, lied through his rotten teeth to us and now he is caught.

The question is what will the Congress do with this? What will the weak-willed Democrats do with this new evidence of deception by Bush? Every Democrat in Congress should be signing onto the Conyers impeachment resolution now. Bush has just been found, once again, complicit with murder.

THE CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT

The March edition of Harper's Magazine has a cover story calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush. It was written by Lewis Lapham, the editor of Harper's. (Click on the headline link above for the story.)

Lapham begins the article with a quote from Kurt Tucholsky that says, "A country is not only what it does - it is also what it puts up with, what it tolerates." Very well said indeed.

Lapham studied the impeachment resolution being offered by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). House Resolution 635, says Lapham is a description of the "Bush Administration's invasion of Iraq as the perpetration of a crime against the American people."

Asked what he hoped to prove by introducing the impeachment resolution, Conyers told Lapham, "To take away the excuse that we didn't know." So that two or four or ten years from now, if somebody should ask, "Where were you, Conyers, and where was the U.S. Congress?" when the Bush Administration declared the Constitution inoperative and revoked the license of parliamentary government, none of the company now present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity, can say that "somehow it escaped our notice" that the President was setting himself up as a supreme leader exempt from the rule of law.

"I don't think enough people know how much damage this administration can do to their civil liberties in a very short time. What would you have me do? Grumble and complain? Make cynical jokes? Throw up my hands and say that under the circumstances nothing can be done? At least I can muster the facts, establish a record, tell the story that ought to be front-page news," concluded Conyers.

And that is just what many Democrats have done. They have said there is nothing we can do. The Repubs control the House so an impeachment resolution is a waste of time - it will never pass. There is nothing we can do about Bush. You have to elect a Democratic Party controlled House of Representatives before we can do anything. And so they do nothing about major league law breaking by the Bush Administration. They wait for Godot to arrive. This only serves to embolden Bush, as he sees the majority of the Congress just sitting quietly aside on their hands while he shreds the Constitution and imperils the nation with an illegal and immoral war and drains the federal budget. He lines the pockets of his big corporate bosses and social progress in American is set back generations.

Rep. John Conyers is an American hero. So far 27 members of Congress have signed onto his impeachment resolution. Ask your Congressperson to join Rep. Conyers. The time is now to fight for the Constitution.

AFTER THE FALL - THE SUN WILL SHINE AGAIN

I just finished listening to the new solo album by my favorite singer/songwriter, Ray Davies, formerly of The Kinks. His new album is called "Other People's Lives" and it is his first solo venture after many years with the great 60's-90's band that had such hits like "You really got me", "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", "A Well Respected Man", "Lola", "Come Dancing" and many more. I've been a fan since the early 60's and included two of Ray's magical songs at the end of my recent book.

I want to put a couple of verses from one of his new songs here, dedicated to a dear friend in Maine who is having a tough time right now. I hope she will feel much better soon and that things turn out alright. She should always remember that she has lots of friends who love her. The song is called "After the Fall."

I just had a really bad fall
And this time it was harder to get up than before
I cried to the heavens and the vision appeared
I said "Can you help" It replied "Not at all"
After the fall is over
You will be on your own
After the fall is over
They'll be wrecks to clear in this war zone
They'll be much to clean and time to atone
But while it's dark you can shelter here
In the bleak mid winter When you're feeling the fear
But when the mist clears The sun will shine again
I will greet you when the sun shines again
After The Fall is over There'll be a better day

One song on the CD, called "Lonesome Train", is Ray's "American" song as he calls it. This dyed-in-the-wool British rocker, who was influenced by American jazz and blues music, has been struggling his whole career to find his own voice. For years he wrote incredible songs about the grind of being a rock musician having to ride the merry-go-round of the record companies and the pressure to write hits that made the corporations big money. Instead Ray wanted to write about what he saw and felt about life around him. He was always in conflict. At the end of "Lonesome Train" Ray says a voice says to get on the train before it is too late. He wonders, is he running away from something again, or just maybe, finally running toward something. Maybe, after all these years he is finding out who he is. He is finding his voice and is becoming comfortable with it.

Thank you Ray.....

STOP MONKEYING AROUND WITH MOTHER NATURE

This picture above is very special to me. When I look at it I see the sacred.

The monkey looks to be at peace in its environment. The water is part of its home. The cold and snow, on its body, are all part of its world. The monkey needs little more. It knows its place in the world.

But in the news these days is much about global warming and toxification of the Earth. The water is becoming contaminated in most places by human excess. The polar bears in the Artic are threatened as the icecaps, their home, begin to melt.

I read today that Europe is now going to force manufacturing industries to begin a process called "take back". Starting next year European auto manufacturers will be required to "take back" their old vehicles and recover 85% of the content, reformulating the materials for use in new cars and other products. Consumer electronics, computers and cell phones are next in line. Big American corporations like Ford and GM will have to comply with European rules, since they make cars in Europe. But they will resist agreeing to do the same here with cars they make in the U.S.

Even in Maine's winter, mild as it has been, I have been forcing myself to get out on my bike to do errands whenever possible. I am constantly turning off lights in the house, often having the place near dark with just one light on. I am trying to take even shorter showers than I was before. I just went one month before I had to refill my car's gas tank - a first for sure. I am totally dissatisfied with how much energy I personally use and am struggling for ways to cut my consumption even more.

I don't want to appear to be holier than thou because I know I have no room for being critical of others on this question. I am just trying to remove the log from my own eye. I keep asking myself, do I really need this? Do I really need to make this trip?

The monkeys and the polar bears are deep inside my consciousness now. I've got to do more.

A WALK THROUGH THE DAILY PAPER

Last night while reading the paper I found much to make me moan and groan. Thought I'd share some of the tidbits with you today.....

* The oil corporations are collecting at least $7 billion this year in federal relief. Can you believe that? With record profits they surely don't need more taxpayer help.

* With that said, a local politician is organizing a fundraising event in a nearby town this weekend for the "Keep ME Warm Fund" here in Maine. Why must we bake cookies to raise funds so folks can heat their homes while we are giving subsidies to the already rich? Am I going crazy or what?

* The Bush team wants military retirees to pay more for their health care. This of course violates the promise the government made to veterans. You give us your service and after you retire we give you free health care for the rest of your life. This won't go over very well at the local VFW bar. I can promise you that.

* You've heard about the furor about having an Arab company take over port security operations in the U.S. To me the issue is broader. It is about foreign corporations buying up virtually every business in the U.S. In the last ten years over $1.3 trillion of American businesses have been bought out by foreign corporations. We are now going to find out what it feels like to be a third-world country.

* Condosleezza Rice is once again lecturing the rest of the world about democracy and non-violence. This really drives me crazy. She is telling Hamas that they must renounce violence and disarm and must recognize the state of Israel. Then she goes to Egypt and lectures them on democracy. How about the USA renouncing violence and disarming? How about the USA having free and fair elections in 2006 and 2008? How about the U.S. recognizing the legitimacy of a series of elections in Venezuela instead of assisting in another coup d’etat ?

* And Bush's favorite lap dog, Tony Blair, is lecturing the Iraqi people saying that they must have a "unity" government and must have a multi-party state where "no party, no ethnic, or religious grouping can dominate." I wish Tony would tell that to Bush who now presides over a one-party state linked to a fundamentalist religious sect here in the good ole US of A.

* Iraq - withdraw or redeploy, withdraw or redeploy? I've just figured out how the Repubs and Dems are going to trick us on the troop levels and the so-called withdrawal from Iraq. They are going to say we are pulling out all "combat troops" from Iraq. Then they are going to leave thousands at new permanent bases but these U.S. troops will not officially be combat troops. They will be called something like "Iraqi administration assistance forces" and that will be the end of that.

* In a recent poll in Iraq, 86% of Sunni's say that if the U.S. leaves Iraq the violence will decrease. When the entire Iraqi population is polled 64% say the same thing.

* On the bright side, baseball spring training has just begun. Unfortunately, my favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles are projected for another losing season and a 4th place finish. But still, baseball is soon to begin.

DEMS NEW STALL STRATEGY - "STRATEGIC REDEPLOYMENT"

The reports are coming in from all over the nation. The Democrats are getting pilloried as they shuck and jive on the war. They have an election coming up in fall of 2006 and they want to take back Congress. They are scrambling to find their footing. The Dems think we can have guns and butter - war and health care. I've got news for them - that tune ain't playing no more.

The Boston Globe (click link above for the full article) reported today that the Dems have put Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), a former Army officer, in charge of coming up with a consensus Democratic plan for the war. His answer? It's called "strategic redeployment." What does that mean? "It's important to note that it's not withdrawal -- it's redeployment," Reed said. "We need to pursue a strategy that is going to accomplish the reasonable objectives, and allow us to have strategic flexibility. Not only is it a message, but it's a method to improve the security there and around the globe."

The Dems new plan is to pull some number of U.S. troops out of Iraq into Kuwait and other new bases in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa. From the new large bases in Kuwait the U.S. would increase Air Force bombing missions over Iraq, increase the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) like the Predator pictured above that fly via satellite direction and can drop bombs and fire missiles. For the Iraqi people this means more indiscriminate bombing and more innocent people killed.

When things get really out of hand in Iraq, the "strategic redeployment" plan (it's just the Murtha plan with a new name by the way) will call for an expansion of U.S. Special Forces teams going back into Iraq for quick hits and killings of anyone who dares resist the corrupt puppet government the U.S. has put into place.

The Democrats will sell this to the American public by saying they are pulling the troops out of the war. A few units will be brought home and big ceremonies held so that the public thinks the war is slowing down. The Dems hope that "strategic redeployment" will mean less troops will be killed day to day in Iraq. They hope it will be their ticket to victory in November. But in truth the war will go on.

In fact, the endless war will be expanded with new basing arrangements in Southeast Asia, Africa and Afghanistan. More territory will be occupied and the field of operations against that faceless "terrorism" will be expanded. All this will be done with the Dems full encouragement and support. And guess what? The Pentagon will need lots more money to build these new bases and outposts and Congress - both Repubs and Dems - will give them the money.

The peace movement had better not fall for this bait and switch. The Dems are running an election game on us. They are feeling our pressure and this is their disingenuous response. Peace activists nationwide must see through this latest shell game and call it for what it is. Strategic deception.

The time has come for the peace movement to unembed itself from the Democratic Party. As long as peace activists see themselves as "party" people they will not have the ability to be critical of these kind of cynical moves to co-opt our energies.

I was in Germany right after the U.S. began the invasion of Afghanistan soon after 9-11. The Green Party in Germany supported that invasion and angered the German peace movement. I saw German peace activists publicly condemn national Green Party leaders for supporting the U.S. war. The peace activists understood where their primary allegiance belonged. To the anti-war movement first, and then to a party. If the party goes astray, the peace movement does not follow. We must do the same here in the U.S.

PROTESTING FROM THE MOON

Well I made it to the moon! Bang! Zoom!

I'm pulling out my protest signs and banners and setting up our Global Network anti-nuclear presence here....

NASA was not very happy when they realized I had arrived but since they can't claim they own the moon they can't kick me out. Look for me the next time there is a full moon. I'll be the guy waving the Earth flag.

I can report that NASA has nuclear materials scattered all over this place. I think the cheese is getting contaminated already. They have nuclear rocket landing zones, nuclear powered generating stations and more. I'm worried that my spacesuit might be contaminated already. I read one story in the daily on-line publication, The Moon News, that they were going to do strip mining here with nuclear blasts. Look out below! Or above! Just lookout!

The word is out that the U.S. wants to keep other countries from putting bases here. I think I will try to grab a moon buggy and see what is beyond the horizon. I heard there might be new U.S. military bases going up there that would be used to "deny" other countries access to the moon. If you don't hear from me soon send someone to look for me.

Our new slogan is "No Blood for Helium-3". Keep me in your prayers.

Bruce

TRIP REPORT - NEW MEXICO

This trip report covers the period of February 8-14, 2006 as I traveled to New Mexico on a speaking tour and to organize a protest outside the 23rd Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion in Albuquerque.

I began the trip by getting off the plane in Albuquerque and seeing three people with colorful protest signs standing in the middle of the airport waiting to pick me up. Bob Anderson, Jeanne Pahls, and Sally Alice Thompson held NO STAR WARS and NO NUKES IN SPACE signs. I loved the unusual welcome, although I was surprised that Homeland Security wasn't all over them. As I approached them, I heard a few other passengers saying "right on!"

On February 9, Bob drove me south to Silver City for a talk. It was my second time to visit this town and a good gathering of folks from the Grant County Peace Coalition turned out. The talk was videotaped for broadcast on the local cable TV. Marta Green and Rod Rees were the very impressive local organizers of the event.

The next day Bob drove me back to Albuquerque the long way, showing me the beautiful countryside. He said one county we passed through, very much loaded with cowboys, had once tried unsuccessfully to secede from the state.

Later that evening, Bob and I were invited to appear on an hour-long local cable TV show called "Connecting the Dots" hosted by Al Cooper. Al is a Vietnam veteran, and was at Wounded Knee in South Dakota with Bob in the early 1970's when they went to show support for the American Indian Movement (AIM). Al has always focused more on social justice issues. He kept remarking after the show that he finally understood how space technology will be used to become the military arm of corporate globalization.

On February 11, Al drove his wife Allison, Bob, Jeanne and me three hours north to Las Vegas, New Mexico. We had to leave early in the morning in order to arrive in time for an hour-long live interview on a popular local radio station. We were met by Las Vegas Peace & Justice Center coordinator Patricia Leahan who joined us on the show and helped the host of the show interview us. The mayor, running for reelection of Las Vegas, was on just before us; I made a point of listening to him a bit before we went on. He was talking about budget problems and the difficulties of providing all the services the community needed. When it was our turn, I began talking about how expensive the Pentagon's plan for Star Wars is, and how social spending cuts will be necessary to pay for it. This continuity of message was important to help the listeners see the connection between weapons in space and the struggle for local community needs.

Following a great lunch at a wonderful Mexican restaurant, we went to the home of a local supporter where 20 people came to watch our video, Arsenal of Hypocrisy. Then in the evening, 80 people turned out to hear my talk at the local college. I was impressed that all day long, as Patricia took us from place to place she was on the phone calling people, or stopping them on the street, insisting they come to my talk that evening.

I spoke at the Albuquerque Peace & Justice Center on February 12 and invited people to join us the next morning for our space nukes vigil.

On February 13, we began our two-day protest at the Hilton Hotel in Albuquerque outside the space nuclear power symposium. The Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico (UMN) is host each year for the symposium. Bob and I have organized these protests for the past dozen years as NASA, Department of Energy, aerospace industry, and nuclear academia come together to plan to move nuclear "everything" into space. The only media coverage we got was a good article in the "Daily Lobo" student newspaper and an interview on the public radio station at UNM.

Later that evening I was invited to address the Albuquerque Chapter of Veterans for Peace. They were very responsive and we had quite an interesting discussion afterward. I talked about how Albuquerque was a key location for the nuclearization and weaponization of space. Besides UNM being a key research and development center for the space nuclear reactor, Kirtland AFB in their city is the directorate for the military space laser program. It is vital, I told them, to expand education and protest action on the space issue in their community. Bob Anderson and Jeanne Pahls, leading a group called Stop the War Machine, have been key leaders in bringing the space issue to Albuquerque for years and need the on-going support of all peace activists in town.

While In Albuquerque I met a woman whose father had been one of the Nazi rocket scientists brought to the U.S. in "Operation Paperclip" right after the end of World War II. Her father, Ernst Steinhoff, had been the guidance department chief at Hitler's V-1 and V-2 test facility at Peenemunde in northern Germany. Once brought to the U.S., the Nazi rocketeers test range moved to New Mexico and the White Sands Proving Ground. One hundred copies of Hitler's V-2 and over 100 former Nazi rocket scientists created the U.S. space program.

Sternhoff went on to work in the aerospace industry on the west coast and eventually returned to New Mexico when he was appointed to a high position at Holloman AFB. Sternhoff's daughter told me that she did not learn about the Nazi holocaust until she was 18 years old. When she approached her mother asking if it was true, her mother said it was necessary and retrieved an old Readers Digest article to explain her side of the story.

The Nazi rocket program in Germany killed tens of thousands of Jews, French resistance fighters, Communists, homosexuals, and prisoners of war, who were all used as slave labor to build Hitler's V-1 and V-2 rocket program. (For more information about this story read Secret Agenda by Linda Hunt.)

On my last day in New Mexico, Bob and I arrived early at the Hilton Hotel and went inside to get a look at the symposium display room. Inside we saw fancy and expensive nuclear power in space displays by NASA, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Department of Energy, among others. We noticed that NASA was taking participants' pictures and putting them onto postcards with a nuclear-powered moon mining base in the background. We both had them take our photos there, on the moon, inside a space suit.

Since returning home I've told friends that NASA has offered me a job as coordinator of nuclear operations on the moon. The only problem, I tell them, is that NASA is only offering me a one-way ticket!

So thanks to Bob Anderson and Jeanne Pahls for hosting another great visit to New Mexico.

The state of New Mexico has been asked by private space "entrepreneurs" for a $250 million gift from the taxpayers of the state to build a "Spaceport" that they say would be used to launch millionaire tourists into space from the sands of New Mexico.....

And so the struggle goes.

AMERICANS WHO TELL THE TRUTH

Maine artist Robert Shetterly recently painted me as part of a series of portraits he has done called "Americans Who Tell The Truth - A Collection of Portraits and Quotes." (Click on link above in the headline to go directly to Rob's web site so you can view all his portraits.)

I've come to know Rob through Veterans for Peace which made him an honorary member last year. Rob is very active in the Maine peace movement and we got arrested together last December 15 in Bangor at the office of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Rob is an artist who has learned to use his talents to help build the peace and social justice movements. It is truly an honor to have been painted by him.

MOONBASE NUCLEAR

I got home at midnight last night after flying in from Albuquerque, New Mexico. We held two days of protests outside the 23rd Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion held at the Hilton Hotel and sponsored by the University of New Mexico's Nuclear Engineering Department.

Bob Anderson and I went into the symposium display room yesterday before the protest began to see what the latest "stuff" was available. We both got our picture taken at the NASA booth and they inserted the photo inside a spacesuit on a postcard with a moon base in the background. Unlike the photo above, all the moon bases we saw in the conference display room had no solar panels. Everything was nuclear. Nuclear rockets took you to the moon and when you get there all power supplies were nuclear. Same with the Mars displays...nuclear rockets to Mars, nuclear powered rovers now driving around Mars, and eventually, nuclear powered mining colonies there too.

Besides NASA, Lockheed Martin and Boeing had big display areas. So did the Department of Energy and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama where the nuclear rocket is under development. The Idaho National Laboratory had a space nuclear battery display called "Reliable Energy for Space Exploration." NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts) had a display called "Grand Visions for Colonization of Space." Included in their PowerPoint presentation were things like "Cyclical Visits to Mars via Astronaut Hotels" and "Redesigning Living Organisms to Survive on Mars".

While in Albuquerque a woman attended my talk, and joined us on the picket line outside the Hilton Hotel, whose father had been one of the Nazi space scientists smuggled into the U.S. after World War II under "Operation Paperclip." She told me that when she learned of the Holocaust at the age of 18 she asked her mother about it. Her mother replied that "It was necessary" and gave her a copy of Readers Digest that had an article explaining that position. Her father was a key member of the Nazi team that created the V-1 and V-2 rockets that Hitler used to terrorize cities like London, Paris, and Brussels with near the end of the war. When the U.S. Army brought the Nazi's to the U.S. they brought along 100 copies of the V-2 rocket that were used to create the U.S. Space Program.

The amount of money now being poured into plans to “colonize” space are staggering. The ultimate goal is to mine the planetary bodies for resources like helium-3, gold, magnesium, cobalt and uranium. The aerospace industry will pocket the profits after you, the taxpayer paid for all the research and development costs. Corporate welfare run amok.

CONVERT THE WAR MACHINE

Been on the road across New Mexico last couple of days. Bob Anderson drove me south to Silver City the other day where I spoke and then we came back to Albuquerque to film an hour long local cable TV show hosted by veteran activist Al Cooper. Then yesterday Al drove us up north to Las Vegas, New Mexico where we did a live hour long radio program on a local station. Then in the afternoon our video, Arsenal of Hypocrisy, was shown to people in the home of a local supporter and following that I did an evening talk at the local university. So a busy day.

Got the day off today back in Albuquerque and have been catching up with e-mails and watching basketball on TV. Tonight I speak at the Albuquerque Peace & Justice Center and in the morning we begin our two days of protest at the annual space nuclear power symposium here in town. The symposium will be loaded with aerospace industry representatives who have their hands out looking for more taxpayer subsidy as they promote the nuclearization and weaponization of space.

We must end the corporate welfare for the aerospace industry if we ever end the arms race and prevent the war machine from moving its deadly and expensive bad seed into space. Our protests in Albuquerque during the next two days are helping to focus the attention of people in New Mexico on how bases like Kirtland AFB here in Albuquerque are central to the development of weapons in space. The University of New Mexico's Nuclear Engineering Department has for years been a central promoter of nukes in space.

My message here is the same as always. Convert the military industrial complex to peaceful production. Build solar power, windmills, and public mass transit systems instead of weapons of war. Use our tax dollars for production of sustainable technologies that provide a future for our children and their children. We must make this demand over and over again. This demand must resonate all over the country and around the world.

OLYMPIA, TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!

Wasting A Lot of Loot (WALL) in Iraq

No, we are not talking about a wall around China Lake in Maine. The wall is the new
one that Sen. Olympia Snowe has built in her Portland office. One end of the wall is to keep Mainers from entering her office to share their deep concerns about the war in Iraq. The other end of the wall reaches all the way to the war torn nation of Iraq where the U.S. is wasting over $10 billion per month - with the full support of Sen. Snowe. (Bush just requested $120 billion for FY 2006 war funding.)

For over a year Mainers have been writing, calling, and visiting the offices of Sen. Snowe asking her to hold a public town hall meeting on Iraq. So far she refuses. Why is she reluctant to share the courage of her convictions with the citizenry?

Now the senator is going one step further. She has just built a wall in her Portland office making it even harder for the taxpayers to visit her with their grievances about the cost of the war. Is democracy being sealed off in Maine?

In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, we say, "Olympia, tear down that wall!"

If you agree, call Sen. Snowe's Portland office at (207) 874-0883. While you are
at it, also ask her to hold a town hall meeting on Iraq.

HEADING TO NEW MEXICO FOR SPACE NUKES PROTEST

I leave Wednesday for Albuquerque, New Mexico to join protests at the 23rd Annual Symposium on Space Nuclear Power & Propulsion. Each year NASA, Pentagon, and the aerospace industry gather to make plans to move nuclear power into space. The Bush administration has been good to this group, resurrecting the nuclear rocket, now called Project Prometheus. Other space nuclear programs are being expanded and thus the chance of a deadly accident becomes greater as the numbers of dangerous launches will dramatically increase in coming years.

I will start out with talks in Silver City, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque with the protests set for Feb 13-14 outside the Hilton Hotel in Albuquerque where the symposium will be held.

I've been attending these events for more than 10 years and local activist Bob Anderson has always been a wonderful host and speaking tour organizer for me. His friendship is something I really treasure and am always happy to hang out with him for several days of action.

Bob is a Vietnam vet and has been teaching college for many years now. Because of his political activity across New Mexico, he has now lost his teaching position at the University of New Mexico. Bob is a true profile in courage as he never let his career ambitions stand in the way of speaking truth to power.

I spent several hours today listening to the funeral service of Coretta Scott King. George W. Bush was sitting right behind the podium and I was shaken to my bones when Rev. Joseph Lowery (former president of SCLC) got up and moved the crowd to its feet by saying that we know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, we can't have war and deal with poverty. Bush was just a bit uncomfortable. I said to myself, now that is speaking truth to power. When he was done, Lowery turned and walked right up to Bush and extended his hand. What a moment!

So from Joseph Lowery I go to Bob Anderson. Good men they are.

Mainers Impatiently & Politely Asking Collins (MIPAC)

Mainers Impatiently & Politely Asking Collins (MIPAC)
for a meeting in our state

We know we don't have a lot of money to give her,but after all she is our senator.....

On March 5-7 the powerful Israeli lobby group AIPAC will meet at the Washington DC Convention Center. Sen. Susan Collins will join other speakers like Newt Gingrich and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton at the event.

People in Maine have been trying to get Sen. Collins to hold a public town hall meeting on the Iraq war for the last year. She says she does not like to speak in front of big crowds and will only speak to those concerned about the war one-on-one. (It would appear that the AIPAC meeting in Washington will have a big crowd.) What is it they have that we Mainers don't?

It's confusing to us here in Maine why Sen. Collins will go to speak about the situation in the Middle East with AIPAC but won't talk with her own constituents. Could it be the name? Maybe we need a fancy name like AIPAC.

So we have created a new group to be called MIPAC. It stands for Mainers Impatiently & Politely Asking Collins (MIPAC) for a meeting.

To join MIPAC all you have to do is call the office of Sen. Collins and request she comes home to Maine to meet with those she presumes to serve. While you are at it, call Sen. Olympia Snowe too. She refuses to hold a town hall meeting on Iraq as well.

Call this toll free number to reach both Collins and Snowe: 1-888-355-3588

LYING AND SPYING FOR THE MILITARY MACHINE

Lying about spying is an impeachable offense. When Congress passes a law, like the FISA law that requires the president to get a warrant to spy on the public, and the president flouts the law then he has made an impeachable offense.

Yesterday the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of individuals and organizations in six states. Included in that legal action was a request on my behalf and on behalf of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. The legal action requested from the Pentagon all documents that would reveal monitoring of lawful activities.

“President Bush claims that expanded intelligence powers are necessary to combat terrorism, yet we have evidence the Pentagon is using counter terrorism tools to spy on peaceful groups,” said an ACLU spokesman. “Under the guise of national security and the need to protect the country from another terrorist attack, the evidence so far indicates that the federal government is engaged in a widespread surveillance program aimed at anybody who criticizes the policies of the Bush administration.”

Earlier this month, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and attorneys against the National Security Agency (NSA) for illegally intercepting vast quantities of the international telephone and Internet communications of Americans without court approval.

In the mid-1980’s, while working for the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice in Orlando, Florida, I got a phone call one day. An unidentified person on the phone told me that our organization had been infiltrated by local police agencies and that it was unconstitutional. I went to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper and a friendly reporter helped find out that the call had come from the lawyer for the Central Florida Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI). This body had been asked by Martin Marietta Corporation (now called Lockheed Martin) to infiltrate and “investigate” our organization. They inserted several operatives we were to later learn and one of them once tried to sell me illegal drugs. Clearly they were doing more than looking out for “illegal” political activity. The newspaper ended up doing a big series of stories on the infiltration and we were able to obtain a portion of the files they were keeping on us. The MBI fired their lawyer and tried unsuccessfully to have him disbarred for violating lawyer-client privilege. The lawyer told the newspaper that he tried to tell the MBI that what they were doing was illegal, and when they would not listen to him, he felt he had no choice but to tip us off to the infiltration.

In the last two years we have learned that NASA, working with the Brevard Sheriff’s Department (space coast) and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) out of MacDill AFB in Tampa, have been infiltrating and “investigating” key leaders of the Global Network. The Florida ACLU was able to again obtain a small portion of their intelligence files.

All of this just goes to show that the idea of an engaged and active citizenry, something that is vital to a real democracy, is now considered a danger to the existing government. My experience reveals that this problem of seeing the citizens as an enemy goes beyond Bush. The military industrial complex, the folks who really run our government, have for many years seen fit to label anyone who speaks out against their plan for global domination as a domestic enemy. Until we deal with the fact that we have lost our democracy to these big corporations, nothing much will change.

DANCING WITH THE POLITICOS

A bit late on this report...been suffering from very bad sore throat last couple of days.

On Sunday we had an activists dream day. Over 180 people turned out in Belfast at a public town hall meeting of Maine's Rep. Mike Michaud. Michaud has now organized two such meetings to hear from his constituency on Iraq. He quietly sat and took notes as about 40 people walked up to the microphone and gave wonderfully moving testimony. Not one person spoke in favor of the war. The same themes flowed in and out of the testimony throughout the meeting. Stop the war, bring the troops home now, cut the war funding now, investigate Bush for impeachment crimes. I had tears in my eyes over and over again. How could anyone with a heart not be deeply touched by such passion and wisdom?

Then, with just a few minutes to go before the meeting was to conclude, the Congressman stood up and commented on a few of the easier points that had come up in the meeting....things like yes he supports full funding for the Veterans Administration so returning GI's can get treatment for PTSD....softball stuff. But, much to my total shock, the "good Democrat" Michaud never said a word about the essence of the meeting. Not a word about bring the troops home, war funding, or his position on Bush lies and impeachment investigations. I couldn't believe it, but then again I could.

After telling one of his staff aides that I thought his response to the town hall was "pitiful", twenty-five of us piled into our cars and drove 30 miles north to another meeting being held by Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME). Maine has two congressmen. Allen represents the more southern part of the state where I live and Michaud the northern part. The interesting thing is that Allen was speaking in the second district, not his own, it was Michaud's district. People have been speculating lately that Rep. Allen has senatorial ambitions and on Sunday was out trying to build a base for an eventual statewide run.

There were already 30 people there when we arrived at the Tom Allen meeting. The momentum from our crew immediately turned it into another Iraq town hall meeting. Allen danced and dodged, as he is known to do on tough issues. He was a Rhodes scholar and my perception of him is that while at Oxford he learned to honor and treasure the empire as such "scholars" are taught to do. On Iraq, Mr. Allen says he is against the war but keeps voting for every $$$ that gets requested. He says we can't come home from Iraq just yet, but he also says he is opposed to permanent bases.

I raised my hand and he would not call on me. He has heard from me a couple of times before and my friends say he remembers my trademark hat. I was sitting in the front row, right next to the woman who appeared to be the organizer of the meeting. Allen kept calling on lots of other people and I kept putting my hand in the air and taking it down. Finally, the woman next to me said, "Tom, he has had his hand up a long time." Reluctantly Allen called on me.

By this time Mr. Allen had said that if we wanted things to change we just had to ensure the Democrats would be back in control of Congress. Then everything would be alright...you know how the story goes. So once called on I told the story about Hillary Clinton's trip to Afghanistan and Iraq a year ago February with Sen. John McCain, Russ Feingold, Lindsey Graham, and Susan Collins. I told how they had held a news conference in Afghanistan where they said the U.S. was building six permanent bases in that country. On her return to the U.S. I recalled, Hillary and the right-wing Lindsey Graham were on the Sunday morning news talk shows. I saw Hillary say that "we are going to be in Iraq for a long-time. The American people need to be patient, we've been in Korea for 50 years," Hillary told us.

I told Mr. Allen that leaders of his own political party were telling us we are not leaving Iraq. I asked him why he won't vote against further funding for the war. He danced, he actually has very swift feet. I hear that when in high school he ran track. Actually, very good training for a politician.

Our 25 person crew left the Allen event and went for dinner together. There we processed the remarkable day and did some brainstorming about future actions. We had representation from all over the state in that meeting. We are moving together now…..we will keep the pressure on those that like to dance.

JUSTICE DENIED AGAIN IN AMERICA

My mind turns to the legal system again today as Sam Alito is likely to be confirmed by the Senate early this week. This morning we hear that top Enron Corporation executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling begin their criminal trial for stealing Enron investors blind. In recent days we've seen George W. Bush squirm and lie trying to deny association with super-crook Jack Abramoff who earlier this month plead guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges. It has been reported that Abramoff donated $100,000 to Bush campaigns for president, but George W. Bush claims they have never met.

But don't despair friends. There is justice in America. If you have any doubts just turn to the case of the St. Patrick's Four. On March 17, 2003, just two days before U.S. bombs began raining down on Baghdad, 40 year-old Teresa Grady, her older sister Clare, Daniel Burns and Vietnam veteran Peter DeMott decided to take action against the impending illegal invasion (excuse me, liberation) of Iraq.

The group of Catholic Workers from Ithaca, N.Y. entered a military recruiting center and poured their blood on the walls, recruiting posters and an American flag in an act of non-violent civil resistance to what they knew would be countless violations of international law the Bush administration would commit with the coming "shock and awe" invasion.

"We are about caring for the poor, needy and disenfranchised," Teresa later said. "We do this while confronting the political and economic structures that cause poverty." They were ultimately found guilty for their act of conscience. Danny Burns got a 6 month jail sentence, Peter DeMott got 8 months, Clare Grady got 6 months, and Teresa Grady got four months.

Now that might seem fair to the average person. But let's put this all in some context. Let's look at Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, the highest-ranker officer charged in connection with prisoner abuse in the U.S. war in Iraq. During a five-day trial prosecutors displayed gruesome pictures of the body of Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush. He was killed by Welshofer when the U.S. Army officer placed the Iraqi general head-first in a sleeping bag, covered his mouth and sat on his chest during a fatal interrogation in November 2003.

Mowhoush's death came two days after he was beaten with rubber hoses by Iraqi contractors working for the CIA. Chief Warrant Officer Welshofer was also present at that interrogation. The next day Welshofer held Mowhoush while water torture was administered.

At the trial Welshofer was found guilty of negligent homicide but found not guilty on the more serious charge of murder. Welshofer was sentenced to a reprimand and fine but escaped jail time. He will forfeit $6,000 in pay and be restricted to the barracks and his workplace for 60 days.

In May, 2005 a similar case resulted in acquittal. Army staff sergeant Shane Werst was found not guilty of premeditated murder for having killed suspected Iraqi insurgent Naser Ismail. Werst shot the Iraqi after a team of Americans had entered the home of Ismail. Werst claimed Ismail lunged for a gun. After shooting the Iraqi, Werst admitted that he fired a pistol into a couch and told another U.S. soldier to put the dead Iraqi man's fingerprints on it.

Can there be any doubt that there are two standards of justice in America today? If you protest for peace you go to jail. The St. Patrick’s Four is just one case in many where anti-war activists are going to jail in record numbers today. But if you murder people in Iraq you are likely to get a slap on the wrist and off you go – back to work.

Something is very wrong here. Who said there needs to be a revolution in America today?