What Do Syrian People Think & Want?

According to an ORB International poll, 81% of Syrians believe ISIS is foreign/American made. We’ve seen ISIS driving around in Humvees and Toyota’s supplied by the US. We’ve seen them using American-made rifles. We know rebels who’ve received money from the American government have become top ISIS officials. A secret Pentagon report revealed that the US not only foresaw the likely rise of ISIS as a result of its foreign policy in Syria, but that it also saw the creation of ISIS as a strategic way to fight Assad. And we also know that our politicians love to use ISIS as a talking point for why we need to keep giving military contractors and other incredibly rich corporations all our tax dollars. And yet still, unlike Syrians, many Americans still don't believe their country created ISIS. 

After all if you really believe in democracy then you must agree that the Syrian people deserve to pick their own leaders - the US mantra that "Assad must go" has no place in a real democratic state.  

Some History of U.S. Anti-Russian Policies

Western Russia-bashing is not new, though it has never been so counter-productive. Unwilling to go along to get along, Russia’s political elite is self-confident when defining what is in the country’s interest. This makes the exceptionalists inside the beltway go mad! CrossTalking with Vladimir Golstein, Gilbert Doctorow, and Peter Kuznick.

Inside the Demented CIA Mind

Author David Talbot’s latest book, Devil’s Chessboard, takes a first-time look at Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA during the 1950s, and a number of deeds and plots that included targeting allies like France. Talbot speaks with Alexey Yaroshevsky and sheds more on light on the book.

Traveling to Support Resistance to U.S. Empire

• I head to Boston early in the morning for Milan, Italy and then on to Sicily where I will be joined by Global Network board convener Dave Webb and our fellow GN member Jo McIntire (Jo who lived in Italy for many years will serve as our translator. His mother was one of our key leaders in the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice when I worked there for many years.) We will speak twice in the coming days in Sicily with activists who have been waging the No MUOS campaign against a US space warfare communications base built in the middle of a nature preserve.  Sicilian citizens and No MUOS activists are worried about consequences of the installation of this system on: human health, the ecosystem of the Sughereta di Niscemi, the quality of agricultural production, right to mobility and to the development of territory, right to peace and security of their homeland and of its inhabitants.
• My mother was first generation Italian immigrant born in the US - her father came from Milan and her mother from Naples.  I intend to spend a couple days in Milan before heading to Sicily.  This will be my first ever trip to Italy - a lifelong dream come true.
• After the trip to Sicily is over I will return to England with Dave who also chairs the UK's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.  He's organized a bit of a speaking tour for me and I will visit Bradford, Menwith Hill (US NSA spy base weekly protest), Leeds, London, Fylingdales (US space warfare base) and Oxford.  I will be get home on November 24.
• The Obama endless war team has taken another step toward ensuring more chaos in Syria and the direct possibility of a shooting match with Russia.  Can there be any doubt that Washington is doing its best to provoke Moscow and Beijing into a roaring WW III?  One local woman here in midcoast Maine recently emailed that I was crazy for suggesting that the Pentagon has been developing a first-strike attack program using 'missile defense' as their shield which is aimed at Russia and China.  The real question is why do the American people allow the psychopaths running the asylum in Washington to remain in charge?  The Wall Street Urinal reported yesterday:

The U.S. and its regional allies [Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel...] agreed to increase shipments of weapons and other supplies to help moderate Syrian rebels hold their ground and challenge the intervention of Russia and Iran on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. officials and their counterparts in the region said.

The deliveries from the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Arabia and other allied spy services deepen the fight between the forces battling in Syria, despite President Barack Obama’s public pledge to not let the conflict become a U.S.-Russia proxy war.

Running from Corporate Looting & US-NATO Wars

Today 60 million human beings are displaced by war and extreme poverty. Many European countries are responding to the crisis with racist hysteria and polices, backed by police measures.

Abby Martin exposes the facts that are left out of the mainstream reporting: the role of criminal wars, disastrous neoliberal economics and why mass displacement is a permanent feature under this system.

The Case of the Wayward Letters

A representative from Bath Iron Works met with three protest leaders last Saturday to accept four letters addressed to Maine's Congressional delegation.  We were told they would hand the letters over to congressional staffers inside the 'christening' ceremony.  Artist Russell Wray (on right in gold sweatshirt) later called PR man Matt Wickenheiser and learned the letters had not yet been delivered.  Maine public radio reporter is shown on the left recording the conversation. Photo by Peter Woodruff

The plan last Saturday was to deliver four letters addressed to Maine Senators Angus King and Susan Collins and House of Representatives members Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin who were inside the Aegis destroyer 'christening' ceremony at Bath Iron Works.  A delegation of protest leaders was going to attempt to enter the BIW gate into the ceremony.  The Bath Police Department (Lt. Savary) called prior to the protest and said that BIW would indeed arrest anyone trying to enter the ceremony from our event.

The Bath police said they'd worked out a plan with BIW to have one of its representatives accept the letters who would then immediately go back inside the event and hand them over to staffers of the congressional leaders.  We agreed to that plan.

A BIW representative took the letters promising to hand them over the congressional staffers.  He also gave artist Russell Wray the phone number of BIW PR man Matt Wickenheiser and Russell called him later that day to inquire whether or not the letters had indeed been delivered.  Come to find out they had not been handed over.

Instead Russell was given this convoluted explanation:

Matt Wickenheiser of BIW just called me back a few minutes ago. He told me that the letters would be Fed-Exed tomorrow morning [Tuesday] down to BIW’s DC office. They would then be delivered to our congressional delegation. He expected they would be received this week.

I asked him, as an aside, why they wouldn’t let us in to deliver the letter ourselves. He said it wasn’t because he thought we might do anyone harm, but rather because they feared we would disrupt the event.

Who really knows if BIW is ever going to hand these letters over as promised?  Why would they not just deliver them to the staffers at the 'christening' as they had promised?  Instead this contorted plan to ship them via airplane to Washington DC and have some BIW worker there make the delivery seems like some Laurel & Hardy routine.  It's an interesting example how the weapons industry wastes taxpayer dollars.  BIW will probably ask for a special congressional appropriation to reimburse them for this expensive maneuver!

I forwarded Russell's message about his conversation with Wickenheiser to Lt. Savary of the Bath police and told him that we feel like we got snookered on this one.  I told him that this is no way to build trust.  Maybe BIW mislead the Bath police as well.  This just goes to show that in the future we might have to make the delivery inside the 'christening' ceremony ourselves.

I guess it is fitting in a way though that BIW delivers the letters to Congress.  It's symbolic of the fact that much of Washington is under the control of the military industrial complex.  BIW, by its decision to deliver the letters to the nation's capital, underscores this sad but real truth.

Just to make sure, a volunteer called the four congressional offices in Washington this morning and asked them to notify us if, and when, they do receive our heartfelt communication.

Protest in Sicily Against NATO War Games

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Sicily protesting against Trident Juncture 2015, the largest military maneuvers in more than a decade, which NATO claims are designed to adapt the alliance to “emerging security challenges.” [That is code lingo for aiming NATO's war might against Russia.]

The protesters marched through the streets of the city of Marsala, less than 10 miles (16km) from Vincenzo Florio Airport. The airport is a base for the 37th Wing of the Italian air force and is one of the forward operating bases (FOBs) used by NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control.

Organized by the “No war, no NATO” group, activists from all corners of the Italian island marched with banners reading “Sicily is not laboratory of the war” and "Sicily is no war zone". People urged the Italian government to better invest in education and the medical sector rather than military activity.

NATO is an Expansion of U.S. Power

 

Tommy Raskin interviews Ralph Nader about American militarism and antiwar politics. The Center for Study of Responsive Law created this video in affiliation with the Amherst Political Union.

Sparks of Change Fly at Peace Protests

Vietnam war protest on August 26, 1972 at Travis Air Force Base in California

I've often told the story about being stationed at Travis AFB in California from 1971-1973 during the Vietnam war.  The base had 15,000 permanently stationed personnel with thousands more coming and going because Travis was a key airlift base for the Vietnam war.  GI's would come from all over the country and fly to Vietnam and when the planes returned they carried the body bags of dead soldiers, wounded soldiers, and those seemingly returning in one pieace but sentenced to a life of moral injury.

Upon my arrival at the base, when I checked into the barracks 'orderly room', they repeatedly apologized to me saying, "I'm sorry man, we've only got one room left.  We'll get you out of there as soon as possible."  I had no idea what they were talking about.

At this point it is important to remember that I grew up in an Air Force family, had been Vice-chair of the Okaloosa County (Florida) Young Republican Club in 1968 where I volunteered to work on the Nixon campaign for president, and I joined the Air Force under my own free will.  I wanted to be a career man like my old man. In fact I flunked my induction physical (because of an old high school football injury) and had to get a waiver to get into the military at a time when most guys my age were trying to avoid the draft.

As it turned out my first roommate was one of the leading organizers in the GI resistance movement in the barracks.  They published a newsletter called 'Travisty' and held meetings in our room as I sat in the corner thinking I was surrounded by commies.  One night white guys would come in with chairs, sit in a circle, and talk about the war in Vietnam.  Another night black guys would enter the room with their chairs and talk about racism in the military and across the country.  This is where I got my political education.

But it was the small and frequent protests outside the gate that created the biggest sparks that made the GI's debate the war in the chow hall, in the barracks, and on the job with the 'lifers' who generally supported the war - especially if they hoped to get promoted and make a career out of the military.

After all these years of thinking about these base protesters I finally met someone who was outside the gates at Travis AFB while I was on the inside.  Last Saturday after we finished the Aegis destroyer 'christening' protest at Bath Iron Works (BIW) we invited folks to come over to the Addams-Melman House for lunch.  One of the women, Meredith from Belfast, and I got talking and it came out that she was one of those protesters that helped change my life while I was stationed at Travis.

Protests at military bases and weapons production facilities create large amounts of ferment with those on the inside.  You can't numerically quantify or qualify the direct results but I have faith, based on my own experience, that change is put into motion because of these seemingly unimportant small protests.  The sparks fly as a result of these events and from those sparks of discussion and reflection lives are changed.

Early last evening MB and I walked out of the house to go for a walk.  A neighbor who works at BIW stopped us and said, "If I was an elected official I'd have come out of the shipyard during the 'christening' ceremony and taken the letter you all tried to deliver."  I was surprised by this and asked him how he knew about the letter hand-off story.  "Oh, I read about it somewhere," he replied.

The sparks from our protest last Saturday did indeed fly around Bath and beyond.  May we have the good sense to keep these small fires burning.

Shipyard Protest - Unity of Message

It was a good day yesterday in Bath at our protest at the Navy shipyard 'christening' of another Aegis destroyer.  These warships have nothing to do with defense - they fire offensive first-strike attack cruise missiles, the interceptor missiles on-board have shown they can function as Anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons since one was used to once knock a malfunctioning US military satellite out of the sky.  These same interceptors have been developed to serve as the 'shield' after the Pentagon's first-strike attack is launched against Russia or China.

We had about 75 folks join us from throughout the state. We were very proud of the crew of folks who hung the long banner on the Bath bridge facing the shipyard on the Kennebec River.

The green message was dominant yesterday - virtually every one of our speakers during the three-hour rally talked about the links between climate change and militarism and the urgent need to convert weapons production facilities like BIW to build rail, wind, solar, and tidal power systems.  It is clear that this unified message has now become dominant across the state when it comes to the shipyard.

Ironically, the man who filmed all the video yesterday of our speakers at the rally was recently retired shipyard worker Peter Woodruff.  He is the one who passed around bumberstickers that proclaimed "Save BIW! Build Wind Turbines" at the shipyard and reported that workers pasted them on fork-lifts and their tool boxes.  That indicates a rare unity of purpose and message between many workers inside the production facility and the peace movement on the outside.  We should honor that success.

For the past couple of years several of us throughout the state have been working hard to bring this message, linking climate change and the Pentagon's #1 sized carbon boot print, into the larger discussion being organized by the environmental movement.  Yesterday revealed that this message expansion is indeed working as key leaders from the climate change movement spoke.  One of those speakers was Dr. Jill Stein who is running for the Green Party nomination for president.  She is indeed an important voice connecting all the dots which you can see in the set of videos just below.

Many of the folks who joined our recent Maine Peace Walk were at the BIW rally and our deep connection to one another was surely felt when we saw each other.  In our very large closing circle we held hands and the feeling of common purpose and serious commitment was strong.

Our next visits to BIW will come each Saturday during the Advent season. Beginning on November 28 we will gather at 11:30 am for an hour to be a witness for change as the workers knock off at the noon whistle.  We will carry our signs supporting rail and wind systems as a reminder that we are not opposing the workers but instead offer our support to build political momentum so that an alternative production system can be established at the shipyard.

In the Portland Press Herald newspaper this morning there is a long article about the growing struggle between the unions at BIW and the General Dynamics corporation.  Because of the deep fiscal crisis in the US the Navy shipbuilding budget is unsustainable.  The first approach being undertaken is to squeeze the unions - and many believe the ultimate goal will be to get rid of the unions so that costs can be cut by General Dynamics without impacting corporate profits.  But long-term many of these massively expensive warships will have to be cut which means jobs at shipyards like BIW will be in jeopardy.

Thoughtful community leadership should be planning for this coming day of reckoning by building consciousness and political support for transitioning BIW to sustainable production that helps us deal with climate change.  Anything else is just missing the boat.

Sunday Song

 

 

Speeches at Bath Iron Works Protest Today

Nearly Blew it all from Okinawa

 

At the height of the Cold War between the US and Russia, and right in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis, US Air Force Captain William Bassett averted crisis – and massive devastation – when an incorrect set of nuclear launch codes was sent to a US base located in Japan. Alexey Yaroshevsky has the story.

Climate Engineering

The US military has studied and worked on 'weather modification' programs for years.  One example can be seen here

Do you ever look up and see the sky filled with these long white chemtrails?  I've seen them where they cross each other back and forth across the horizon - a spider web of sorts.  Not at all natural.  The old days of short contrails from planes are now rare but still visible.  Why these long chemtrails?

What happens to the future generations when they can no longer drink the water or breathe the air?  What happens to our relations in the sea?  What about the bees or the birds?  The entire web of life is being threatened.

Is consumerism, climbing the corporate ladder, the success mythology more important than projecting our children's future?

The 'Deep State' Mask

My heart bursts
on fire
tears well up
but are
walled off
men don't cry

the bombs
are still exploding
Plans for more
on the way
the 'deep state'
digging us
deeper
into the hole
of oblivion

the public
largely distracted
Trump-Carson-Sanders
little talk
about the imperial
project
regime change everywhere
except back
in the 'deep state'
where things
roll on
like clockwork

Democracy
now just another
Hollywood production
non-stop entertainment
the illusion
slight of hand
our way of life
'modus operandi'
in Washington
and throughout
the land

It's Halloween time
masks of deception
'Trick or Treat'
give me what I want
or you will suffer
at the hands
of the dark heart

Stein Speaking in Bath on October 31

Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein will be speaking at BIW Aegis destroyer 'christening' protest on Saturday, October 31 in Bath.  The protest is from 9:00 am til noon and Stein will speak around 10:00 am.

Other Side of the Coin....

Expanding U.S. Military Operations in Asia-Pacific & Beyond

Professor Yang Yoon-Mo (right) alongside former Army Col. Ann Wright while she was visiting Gangjeong village on Jeju Island.  Yang did hunger strikes on each of his three long jail sentences for trying to block Navy base construction vehicles.  As the US 'pivots' into the Asia-Pacific region more ports-of-call are needed for Pentagon warships.  Jeju Island thus has been caught in the middle of this US-China confrontation.

• The news release we sent out to media outlets across Maine about our Saturday Bath Iron Works (BIW) protest got picked up by the Bangor Daily News.  See their article here.  That story in turn was surprisingly picked up by the military Stars & Stripes newspaper.  Find it here.
• We are excited that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will be at our Saturday protest in Bath during the 'Christening' ceremony for the next Aegis destroyer.  Jill is the only candidate for president that is connecting all the dots - calling for the conversion of the military industrial complex so that we have the funds to really deal with climate change by building rail, solar, wind, tidal power and expanded energy conservation programs.  
• The Bath Police Department called again yesterday about our Saturday BIW protest.  They were concerned that they might have to arrest our delegation that will attempt to deliver letters to Maine's elected officials (US senators and representatives) who will be at the ceremony.  They said BIW will not let our folks enter the ceremony even though the public is invited to attend.  I told them we are not looking to get arrested but just want to hand the letters over to the politicians.  The police said they'd try to see if the letters could be officially received and handed over to our Maine Congressional delegation.  Have not heard back as of yet.  Either way we will still try to deliver the letters.
• Doctors Without Borders is reporting that another of their hospitals, this time in Yemen, has been bombed. Airstrikes carried out on October 26 by Saudi Arabia in northern Yemen destroyed a hospital supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The small hospital, in the Haydan District in Saada Province, was hit by several airstrikes beginning at 10:30 p.m. Hospital staff and two patients managed to escape before subsequent airstrikes occurred over a two-hour period. One staff member was slightly injured while escaping. With the hospital destroyed, at least 200,000 people now have no access to lifesaving medical care. "This attack is another illustration of a complete disregard for civilians in Yemen, where bombings have become a daily routine," said Hassan Boucenine, MSF head of mission in Yemen. Saudi Arabia's airstrikes are being coordinated by US military space satellites.  
• An online petition has been created to Tell President Obama to Consent to Independent Investigation of Kunduz Hospital Bombing in Afghanistan.  Attacking a protected site such as a hospital is a grave violation of International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions. The precise GPS coordinates of the four-year-old MSF hospital in Kunduz were provided to US and Afghan authorities in Washington and Kabul in the days prior to the bombing, and the hospital contained nearly 200 patients and staff at the time of the attack.   
• The US, as part of Obama's 'pivot' of 60% of Pentagon forces into the Asia-Pacific, is repeatedly poking China attempting to get a military response that would justify even further American military operations in the region.  The latest attempt by the US Navy to sail close to Chinese naval installations in the South China Sea is hailed as being about supporting free navigation of the oceans and the US trots out the Law of the Sea Treaty as justification for this position.  (This is of course more than hypocritical since the US has refused to sign onto the Law of the Sea Treaty.)  China imports 80% of its resources to run its economy through the South China Sea and has upped its military presence in the region largely as a result of the US 'pivot'.  So we are witnessing the classic case of which came first - the chicken or the egg?

More Navy Danger to Sea Mammals

The US Navy continues to cover the oceans with tens of thousands of sonobuoys to monitor and detect submarine movement around the world. The DoD has allocated $178.5 million to buy an additional 136,000 sonobuoys. 

 

About a meter-long, a typical sonobuoy device can be passive or active. The first type ‘listens’ to the noises produced by propellers of various kinds of vessels and pick out those made by a submarine. Active sonobuoys, sited in strategic points such as straits and harbors, can also sonar the water space around them to detect submarines.

The sonobuoys are usually positioned in designated areas from the air, typically by using SH-60F Seahawk helicopters.

“The United States Navy maintains a superior global Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capability with the ability to detect, localize, identify, and track potential hostile submarines,” Global Security outlet said in 2011.

According to CNN, US sonobuoys are first and foremost aimed at tracking Russian submarines, over concerns they are “taking up positions near critical communication lines.”

Scientists say these sonar "intrusions" are proving deadly to marine wildlife, in particular whales. Sonar devices disrupt them and other sea mammals when nursing and feeding, which leads to injury or death of the animals who rely on sound to communicate and navigate, Elisa Allen, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told RT.   

Sonars can confuse and disorient them, terrify these animals,” Allen said. “Animals exposed to sonars have been known to rapidly change their depth in an attempt to escape the noise. This causes them to bleed from their ears and eyes,” she said, adding that whales and dolphins often beach themselves in their attempts to escape sonar.

The lucrative $178,565,050 contract has been granted to ERAPSCO, a defense contractor in Columbia City, Indiana. Five types of sonobuoys are set to be delivered by October 2017.

ERAPSCO, a joint venture between the Sparton corporation and Ultra Electronics, has been producing military grade sonobuoys capable of detecting and classifying manmade objects traveling underwater since 1987. 

BIW Protest News Release

The new Navy base on Jeju Island, South Korea that will host US warships including the Aegis destroyers made in Bath, Maine

Peace Delegation to Attempt to Enter BIW 'Christening' Ceremony to Deliver Letter to Elected Officials

October 31 in Bath


For Immediate Release

Representatives from various peace groups will attempt to enter the scheduled BIW ‘Christening’ ceremony of a new Aegis destroyer on Saturday, October 31 with a letter addressed to Maine’s elected officials who will be present at the event to give their ‘blessings’ to another expensive and destabilizing warship.

The groups will hold a legal rally on the corner of Washington and Hinckley Streets in Bath from 9:00 am to noon with speakers and music.  Near the end of the event they will send a delegation from the rally to attempt to enter the shipyard in order to deliver an “Open Letter to Maine Elected Officials” who will be speaking at the event.

The letter will include the following:

    On this day another Navy Aegis destroyer is being ‘christened’ at Bath Iron Works and many of Maine’s elected officials will be present to give their official blessings.  These very expensive warships are outfitted with offensive cruise missiles and so-called ‘missile defense’ interceptors that in fact are key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning.  The Aegis warship program is not about defending our nation but in fact these ships are being used to provocatively encircle the coasts of China and Russia.

    Under the former Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Russia these ‘missile defense’ interceptors were outlawed because they were highly destabilizing to world peace – they gave one side a clear advantage and an incentive to attack first.  In 2002 Washington unilaterally pulled out of the ABM Treaty which has only resulted in a new arms race.

    Today many of our elected officials will talk about the jobs that come from building warships at BIW.  What they won’t say is that the Navy ship building budget is unsustainable and that very soon the nation will hit the economic wall as aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and destroyers are all over budget.  In fact studies done by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Economics Department have long shown that military spending is the worst way to create jobs – military production is capital intensive.  That means we get fewer jobs building weapons for endless war than any other job creation program.  The studies also reveal that if commuter rail systems were built at BIW we’d nearly double the jobs – something every politician should be demanding.

    We do have a serious problem today and that is to immediately deal with climate change and the growing acidification of the Gulf of Maine.  Increasingly, due to warming oceans, the lobsters and other fish are moving further north to colder temperatures.  That means Maine’s fishing industry will be hit hard.  If Maine is to survive economically we need a crash program to reduce our carbon footprint on the planet.  Building rail systems, solar, wind turbines and tidal power systems would create more jobs and help us deal with the coming reality of climate change.

    It is morally wrong for the US to think it can control the world.  The idea that the US is an ‘exceptional’ nation, better than the rest of the world, must give way to a humility where we see our place in the world as one nation amongst many.  We don’t have a right to control and dominate the world on behalf of corporate interests.

    We call on all of Maine’s elected officials to find the courage to stand up and represent the future generation’s desire for life on our Mother Earth.  Our children and grandchildren cannot survive by us building more destroyers for endless war.  We need a future that is sustainable, practical and peaceful.  We don’t believe that Christ, the Prince of Peace, would come here and give his blessing to more war and violence.

This October 31 peace rally at BIW comes just one week after the conclusion of the 16-day Maine Walk for Peace: Pentagon’s Impact on the Oceans that began in Ellsworth, Maine and followed US Hwy 1 South to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Along the way suppers were held each night in a different community and people were invited to come to BIW to protest the ‘Christening’ of another Navy destroyer on October 31.  Along the journey thousands of people directly witnessed the walking protest that called for an end to the militarization of the oceans.  The public was overwhelmingly supportive of the walk that also demanded the conversion of the weapons industry to sustainable production so that we can deal with our real problem – climate change.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will be one of the speakers at the BIW protest rally.

The October 31 rally is being sponsored by: Midcoast PeaceWorks; Smilin’ Trees Disarmament Farm; CodePink Maine; and the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Congresswoman Hits it Out of the Park

Tulsi Gabbard - a Democrat from Hawaii and member of the Armed Services Committee - demonstrates great knowledge and courage to go against the grain in the US as she explains the Syria situation.  She points the finger at the US who is arming ISIS.  Nice to finally see some politician in Washington telling the truth for once.

Final Days of Peace Walk Video

Video by Regis Tremblay on the final days of peace walk along Maine's coastline.....

From Peace Walk to Next Protest: The Work Continues

Japanese peace activists protesting the US deployment of Aegis destroyers (outfitted with provocative 'missile defense' systems onboard) aimed at confronting China. A similar destroyer will be 'Christened' in Bath next Saturday.

Kittery police outside the gates of the Navy shipyard last Saturday spent most of their time taking photos.  The military security team was on the phone during the entire rally likely reporting every move we made back to HQ. One seacoast local newspaper alarmingly reported that the police had to be called when we arrived at the Kittery shipyard but then acknowledged that we remained on the other side of the road and all went well.

I spent today with one foot working in the past (wrapping up our recent 16-day peace walk) and one foot in the future as I began pulling together the protest at Bath Iron Works (BIW) this Saturday, October 31 where another Navy Aegis destroyer will be 'christened'.

I sent out a news release to Maine media letting them know about the scheduled protest.  I drafted an "Open letter to Maine elected officials" that we will try to deliver to them during the 'blessing of Christ' ceremony at BIW. I shared the letter with Maureen Kehoe-Ostensen who is preparing the flyer for the event.  I went up to the attic and sorted through all of our signs and banners choosing the appropriate ones for the protest on Saturday.  Our double theme on that day will be continuing the timely and important message about the Navy's impact on ocean life and the call for the conversion of BIW to sustainable production so that we might have a chance to impact the coming ravages of climate change before it is too late.

Everyone keeps asking me if I am sad that the peace walk is over.  Sixteen days is a long time to stay on task and walk an average of 11-12 miles per day.  So that part of the walk I can easily let go.  Despite sleeping late the last two days I am still a bit groggy and I of course miss the community of walkers.

I went to the chiropractor to get an adjustment today and was only 1/8 inch off between my legs.  One knee was out of whack as was an ankle.  Not too bad for having walked about 150 miles or so.  (I did not walk each and every mile due to having to now and then shuttle the gear car ahead in the morning.  Fortunately Katie Greenman helped me with that task later in the walk.)

I feel really good about what we did on the walk.  Via numerous radio spots, newspaper articles, social media, handing out 1,500 flyers, many spontaneous conversations, and thousands of car drivers reading our messages and seeing the art work on our van we were able to reach a huge audience with our messages.  Because most of the mainstream media is 'off-limits' to our peace and environmental efforts we have to go around that obstacle to find ways to reach the public in a close and direct way.  I think the walk helped us do that.

I spoke to one of the women who hosted us at one church along the journey.  She told me that despite the church priest trying to cancel their pot luck supper for the walk due to its political nature, the women of the church committee hosting us remained strong and refused to cancel the event.  They had such a positive feeling about the event that since our visit there has been discussion at the church about becoming more active in political issues.  That is a good outcome for sure.

Artist Russell Wray who designed the dolphin and incredible banner on our van kept saying toward the end of the walk that he didn't want it to end.  He dedicated himself each day to carrying a whale windsock and his sign that read 'Navy Sonar Kills!' along with a drawing of a beached whale.  I often walked behind Russell and can attest to the fact that many cars honked at his sign along the way.  Images are important.

We've got to repeatedly ask some serious questions about US Navy policy.  Some of them include the following:

• Where do these Aegis destroyers go when they leave BIW?
• What kind of environmental impacts result from the deployment of US Navy ships at ports around the world?
• What is the military mission of these Aegis destroyers that are being sent to encircle the coasts of China and Russia?
• How much do these ships cost?  Could we use those funds more effectively dealing with climate change?
• Would we create more jobs building rail systems, solar, wind turbines and tidal power at Bath Iron Works or the Portsmouth Navy shipyard in Kittery?
• Would the workers, if given the option, prefer to build something other than destroyers?
• Can we have a successfull conversion of war production effort without the larger community getting engaged?  How can we get the public to think and talk about what we should be doing with their tax dollars - should we continue building for endless war or should we be dealing with climate change?
• What happens when the US economy finally hits the wall and Congress has to dramatically cut the Pentagon budget?  Shouldn't we begin now trying to convert these war industries before it is too late and then they just close their doors and everyone loses?
• What kind of future are we leaving for our children by our silence?

The Gaza Slaughter

 

In this episode of Days of Revolt, host Chris Hedges discusses Israeli military policy in the Gaza Strip with author and journalist Max Blumenthal. Together they recount Palestinian testimonies about Israeli military aggression during Operation Protective Edge as described in Blumenthal’s latest book, and detail the brutal tactics used by the Israeli state in attempt to suppress Palestinian resistance.

Saturday in Bath

Please note: Due to changes to the BIW Aegis destroyer ‘christening’ schedule on Saturday, Oct 31 we have changed the times of our planned protest.

We will now gather at 9:00 am and finish by noon.

We learned today that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will be one of the speakers at the BIW protest rally on Saturday.

Study War No More

https://www.facebook.com/lisa.savage.77/videos/10205310632549723/

">ebook.com/lisa.savage.77/videos/10205310632549723/">Down By The Riverside Leftist Marching Band & June-sanLast day of the Maine Peace Walk: Militarization of the Seas - Pentagon's Impact On The Oceans
Posted by Lisa Savage on Sunday, October 25, 2015

Democracy & Elections?

 

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Abby Martin interviews world-renowned philosopher and linguist Professor Noam Chomsky.

More Walk Photos

Our walk sweatshirt front side logo

Nipponzan Myohoji Monk and Nuns in Market Square as we conclude with closing circle

Lisa Savage from CodePink Maine speaks at shipyard gate rally. She is a teacher and couldn't come on the walk until the last day but was ever present on Facebook and Twitter daily promoting the walk.

At the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard gate

At the shipyard gate

Walking along the ocean in York Beach - just like a herd of Elk

Peter Woodruff filming Eric Wasileski at shipyard gate.  Peter came the last couple days with Regis Tremblay to work on a finale walk short video.

Jason Rawn at shipyard gate - he helped with walk organizing from the start and sang at some evening events.

Eric and Jun-san playing stretching games

Our last lunch on the road - by then we'd collected lots of leftovers from pot luck suppers

 

Mary Beth Sullivan speaking at shipyard gate on Saturday.  She drove to Grafton, New York to bring Jun-san to the walk a week ago.

Amy, holding sign, came every morning for six days during the walk and spent hours running flyers to local businesses and people watching us from the sidelines as we walked.  She was a great help.

At Market Square in downtown Portsmouth before heading to shipyard on Saturday morning

Students from the New School in Kennebunk who cooked for us and walked with us

 

Boston-area VFP member Al Johnson and Mainer Dixie Searway at York Beach.  Al was on the walk organizing committee and helped raise funds for the walk.

Leftist Marching Band - "Our music is better than it sounds"

On last leg of the walk - back over the bridge on Saturday to the Navy shipyard for the final rally

Assorted photos from the last few days of the Maine Peace Walk: Pentagon's Impact on the Oceans.  They are in no particular order.  They were taken by Lisa Savage, Regis Tremblay, Bob Klotz, Nancy Larson and others.  They give a sense of the life of the walk.

I'm likely to get more photos in coming days.....I might post more later.

Sunday Song

The Dancing Buddhist Nun

Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist nun Jun-san Yasuda grabbed the hat of the cheerleader from the 'Leftist Marching Band' this morning and showed us some of her moves before we began the final leg of the Maine Peace Walk.

Jun-san is a real character and is beloved by all.  We were honored to have her walking with us.

Day 15 & 16 - The Big Finish

Lined up across from the Navy shipyard gate in Kittery this morning

Navy veteran Eric Wasileski tells his story at the Navy shipyard rally

MB and I are home and have unloaded the car and cleaned out the coolers and food crates.  The signs and banners are stowed for next week's (October 31) protest at the Bath Iron Works shipyard where the Navy will 'christen' another Aegis destroyer.

In the video posted just below you find about 50 of us having just come over the bridge from Portsmouth, New Hampshire heading for the Kittery Naval shipyard in Maine.  We held a rally at the gate with several good speakers and the band played some more music which we broadcasted with our sound system deep into the shipyard for their listening pleasure.

One of the speakers at the shipyard gate was Eric Wasileski who served in the Navy on a destroyer during Bill Clinton's attack on Iraq (Operation Desert Fox) in 1998.  Eric's ship fired more than 50 cruise missiles into Iraq and he told the story of one of the missiles that misfired and landed in the ocean just minutes away from the ship.  They steamed to the site of impact and discovered massive kills of ocean life - fish, sea snakes, sea turtles and more.  He also told the story of regularly firing 'depleted uranium' shells from onboard the ship into the ocean to test the guns which would have put huge amounts of the radioactive debris into the sea.

On Friday as we neared Portsmouth we arrived at the Kittery Naval shipyard at 3:00 pm just in time for the start of the worker shift change.  Cars poured out of the gates for more than an hour and we stood on both sides of the narrow exit road holding our signs and banners.  Veterans for Peace member Nate Goldshlag handed out many fliers to drivers as they sat at the traffic light waiting to leave the shipyard.  (In the end we got rid of all of the flyers we made for the walk.)

This morning (Saturday) we gathered at Market Square in the heart of downtown Portsmouth to prepare to walk back to the shipyard for our rally at a second gate.  As we waited on folks to arrive the 'Leftist Marching Band' cranked up the sound which drew attention far and wide.  As we walked the two miles to the shipyard the band kept the songs going.  We were also joined this morning by Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist monk Brother Kato who in the past has led several of our walks through Maine.  It was quite a site seeing our long line of marchers going over the bridge.

After the rally at the shipyard gate we walked back to Market Square for our final closing circle.  I thanked this wonderful community, a family, for their cooperative spirit and for their determined effort to walk so far for such good reasons.  While I am sure everyone will be glad to get back to their own beds tonight I know that we all will miss one another and cherish the bonds we formed during this sacred walk.

My hope is that we all find ways to work and walk together again.

I am still collecting photos from the walk.  Probably tomorrow I'll post many more of them.  Thanks to all who helped make this walk such a great success.

Day - 16 Back to the Navy Shipyard

The Maine Peace Walk marches from Portsmouth, NH to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Posted by Bob Klotz on Saturday, October 24, 2015

Day - 14 Biggest Walk Day So Far

A few from the 'Leftist Marching Band' greeted us as we arrived in York Beach

Pat Scanlon (right) greets walkers at they arrive at his York Beach home for the night

Students from the New School in Kennebunk walked with us today

We walked 14 miles today from Kennebunk to York Beach.  Thirty people joined the walk giving us our largest turnout since we began on October 9 in Ellsworth. Eight of the students from the New School walked as did seven folks from a senior intentional community near Kennebunk.  It was an impressive line of walkers during the high point of the day.

Early on this morning it began to drizzle a bit but the sun finally broke through the cloudy sky.  The rain held off until we got to York Beach - just as we started to eat supper outside at Pat Scanlon's house the rains came back for about an hour.  Luckily the Smedley Buter Brigade out of Boston has set up the three canopies where we huddled and ate the pizza, chili, and salads provided for us.

About 10 members of the Smedley's were here to greet us as we arrived at Pat's house.  Many of them will join with us tomorrow as we walk into Portsmouth.  There will be a rally at 5:00 pm at Prescott Park after we arrive in Portsmouth and at 6:00 pm there will be a supper and program at St. John's Episcopal Church (100 Chapel St).

As we pulled into York Beach we were photographed by the York Weekly and then a reporter from the paper interviewed several of the walkers.  Our good string of coverage by local weekly papers continues (except for the Bath area where those weeklies don't like to report on protests at the BIW shipyard - although we did get front page coverage in the local daily paper there).  But circulation numbers show that most small weekly papers often have larger distribution than the daily papers due to the fact that many people are canceling their subscriptions to the dailies and relying on the free weekly papers for their news as a way to save money during these hard economic times.

The Leftist Marching Band that greeted us today in York Beach has a slogan that I just adore - "Our music is better than it sounds".  Gotta love these folks. 

Day 13 - Walking to Spark Thinking, Debate and Action

A member of the Portsmouth-based 'Leftist Marching Band' met us on the road today with his saxophone as we approached Kennebunk.  When we arrive in York Beach tomorrow the band will greet us at our night spot.

Peace walker John Morris (on left) playing guitar with some students at the New School in Kennebunk who are hosting us tonight

Twenty-two folks joined the walk today as we did our 10-mile peace strut from Saco to Kennebunk.  I've been joking today, with a great deal of truth in my words, that we are a moving line of senior citizens.  In fact just as we arrived at the New School this afternoon I got a phone call from a woman who lives at a senior citizen home 1.7 miles from here who said that 6-12 folks from their center want to join the walk when we pass by tomorrow morning.  That will be exciting for sure.  Power to the peaceful elders!

We were joined on the walk this morning by Maine Vietnam veteran Preston Hood (a former Navy Seal) who won the Maine Literary Award in 2012 for his poetry.  While waiting for dinner he read a couple of his poems to us.  One was about his Marine son who killed himself and Preston reminded us that 22 veterans commit suicide each day.

We are hosted at the New School by Olive Hight who is a high school senior and coordinated the cooking of our dinner with a group of her fellow students in the school kitchen.  Olive is the daughter of my longtime friend Matt Hight who brought her to Bath last July 4 for the annual parade.  They both helped us carry our political displays in the parade and she agreed then to inquire about hosting us when the peace walk came through Kennebunk.  It's fun to see the excited students preparing food for our group.

We had two different local newspapers take photos and interviews today as we walked. We are told that another paper will catch us tomorrow as we head into York Beach.  One reported asked me what our primary goal was and I answered that we are trying to break through the silence about the Pentagon having the largest carbon bootprint on the planet.  She remarked that she'd never heard that before but that it made alot of sense.  If that gets into her story we will be happy.

York Beach is likely to be our biggest evening event during the walk.  The Boston-area Veterans for Peace Smedley Butler Brigade is going all out to get people to this event.  Pat Scanlon is getting his neighbors involved in housing some of us and he has arranged for the 'Leftist Marching Band' from Portsmouth to greet us as we walk down the street to Pat's house.  Add in the various activists from around the state who will appear there as well and it should be quite a night.  And the pizzas being donated will be a hit I'm sure.

It seems we had more honks from cars and trucks today than previously.  One family stopped their car right in the middle of the busy US Highway 1 while we were taking a break asking for more information.  It's really fun to watch people approaching us and wanting to talk politics - it happened several times today.  You can see there is a hunger amongst many people for community and answers to their questions about why things are so bad across the country.  We've repeatedly seen that this walk is serving to spark thinking, debate, and action.  Can't ask for much more than that.

Day 12 - Enjoying the Reactions to Our Walk

Twenty-one of us walked 13 miles into Saco today.  We ended at the First Parish Congregational Church which has hosted us on three or four previous occasions.  When we started out early this morning it was misting but after a couple of hours the sun came out and it turned out to be a gorgeous day to walk.

Tomorrow we have an easy day only going 10 miles into Kennebunk where students at the alternative New School will host us for the night.

While on our lunch break in the parking lot of Lois's Natural Market I went inside the store to use the restroom and when I came out standing in the middle of the establishment was an old friend from Florida, Michael Canney.  What a surprise!  Michael came to Maine to visit him mother who, though 86 years old, walked for a couple miles with us during the last legs of today's journey.  His mom, Connie, came the last day of the walk last year when we reached Berwick for our protest at Pratt-Whitney where they build the engines for the boondoggle F-35 warplane.

Our van driver Jeff shared a story about passing Rudy's Diner in South Portland early on this morning and going inside to hand them some literature.  While there he heard some of the customers in conversation about the walk and it appeared that there were folks on each side of the war/peace issue.  Jeff also reported that when he handed a street construction worker a flyer the man said, "I want to walk next year".  It's exciting to know that people are being moved to think and talk about our walk.

Last year we handed out 1,000 flyers during the walk so this year we printed 1,500.  Our distribution has been steady and it appears we'll run out of them by the time we finish up in Portsmouth on October 24.

Starting to hear from more and more folks saying they will join us for the finale on Saturday, October 24 - we'll meet at Market Square in downtown Portsmouth at 10:00 am.  The plan is to walk back over the bridge into Maine and hold a protest at the gates of the Naval Shipyard in Kittery and then head back to Portsmouth - a total walk of about four miles.  We should be done that day by 1:00 pm.