From peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com Thu Feb 1 06:55:01 2007 From: peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com (Alejandro Beltran) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] Bush Targets Iran Message-ID: Bush Targets Iran by Marjorie Cohn http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12203/42/ =========================================================================================================================== *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* JANUARY 31, 2007 3:09 PM *CONTACT: Center for Constitutional Rights *Jen Nessel Phone: 212-614-6449 * CCR and Other Groups Issue Open Letter Warning of Illegality of Any Offensive Military Action by US against Iran * WASHINGTON - January 31 - Today European, international, and U.S. legal and human rights groups issued an open letter warning of the illegality of any offensive military action by the United States against Iran. Signatories include the Center for Constitutional Rights (U.S.), Droite Solidarite (France), European Association of Lawyers for Human Rights and Democracy, Italian Association of Democratic Lawyers, Haldane Society (United Kingdom), International Association of Democratic Lawyers, National Lawyers Guild (U.S.), and Progress Lawyers Network (Belgium). The text of the letter is below. *Open Letter to All Members of Congress, the Bush Administration And the U.S. Armed Forces From Legal and Human Rights Groups* * * There are increasing indications that the Bush administration intends to take military action against Iran. There are also indications that the administration would support military action by Israel against Iran. The undersigned organizations issue this Open Letter to All Members of Congress, the Administration and the U.S. Armed Forces to reiterate their affirmative duties to prevent military action and to refrain from ongoing threats to peace. Such military action would be illegal, and any member of the administration, the military or Congress supporting such action would be aiding and abetting this violation. Offensive military action against Iran would be illegal, as the United States is bound under the United Nations Charter to settle international disputes by peaceful means and to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of any state or act in any other manner inconsistent with the purpose of the United Nations (Article 2 sections 3 and 4). While Article 51 of the charter recognizes the inherent right of individual or collective self defense, such a right exists only if an armed attack occurs and is allowed only until the Security Council can take measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. The UN Charter, as a treaty signed by the U.S., is part of the Supreme Law of the United States under Article VI ?2 of the United States Constitution. If the President and Congress fail to abide by the law as provided in the Constitution they violate their sacred oaths of office. Any military action against Iran in the absence of a military strike by Iran would be a war of aggression outlawed under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The sending of aircraft carriers combined with recent threatening statements constitutes a threat to wage an aggressive war, which is also prohibited by the Charter. Crimes against peace include: planning, preparation, initiation or waging a war of aggression in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy to accomplish these acts. The United States and all countries of the world that have signed the UN Charter are required to abide by their obligations under it. It is in the interests of all countries of the world that the United Nations be a viable multilateral institution capable of carrying out the mission of its charter to preserve peace and promote development and human rights. Actions which violate that charter undermine it. Actions by the US which violate the charter prevent the UN from acting effectively; they also undermine the credibility of the US in the world community. The US cannot demand that other countries obey the terms of the UN Charter while it is violating those very provisions with impunity. The War Powers Act, which requires congressional approval of military action, must be read consistently with our obligations under the UN Charter not to engage in wars of aggression. We urge: 1. The President, Vice President, and all other members of the Bush administration who are in a decision-making role with regard to taking military action in Iran, to immediately renounce such efforts to engage in this war; 2. The members of the military to refuse any requests by the administration to draw up or execute plans for any invasion or other military action against Iran in light of the illegality of such actions; and 3. That Congress immediately pass a binding resolution reaffirming the United States' legal obligations and informing the President and the administration that it will not concur in any proposed invasion of or military action against Iran, would refuse to approve funding for any such military action, and would consider actions taken in contravention of the resolution as impeachable offenses. *The Center for Constitutional Rights* Vincent Warren, Executive Director Bill Goodman, Legal Director *Droite Solidarite* Roland Weyl, President *European Association of Lawyers for Human Rights and Democracy* RA Thomas Schmid, Secretary General Professor Bill Bowring *Italian Association of Democratic Lawyers* Fabio Marcelli *Haldane Society, United Kingdom* Liz Davies *International Association of Democratic Lawyers* Jitendra Sharma, President Jeanne Mirer, Secretary General *National Lawyers Guild* Marjorie Cohn, President *Progress Lawyers Network, Belgium* Jan Fermon ### via common dreams - http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0131-02.htm ============================================================================ [Please consider going to the Armenian National Committee of American, http://www.anca.org/ , and urging your representative to support this resolution.] Armenian National Committee of America 1711 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 Tel. (202) 775-1918 * Fax. (202) 775-5648 * Email.anca@anca.org PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release ~ 2007-01-30 Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian ~ Tel: (202) 775-1918 * * *ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION INTRODUCED IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES* Reps. Adam Schiff, George Radanovich, Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg Hold Capitol Hill Press Conference to Launch Anti-Genocide Measure *WASHINGTON, DC ?* Speaking today at a Capitol Hill press conference, Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA), George Radanovich (R-CA) and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) joined together in announcing the support of more than 160 of their House colleagues for the introduction of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Joining with the four legislators as original cosponsors of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106) are Congressmen Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), both strong supporters of Armenian Genocide recognition as well as senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the influential panel which will first consider this legislation prior to a vote on the House floor. The resolution is similar to legislation introduced in the previous session of Congress, which was overwhelmingly approved in the International Relations Committee (now called the Foreign Affairs Committee), only to be blocked from final passage by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL). With the change in House leadership, the lead sponsors noted during the press conference that this legislation now has the best chance for passage in recent memory. During his opening remarks at the press conference, Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-chair Frank Pallone underscored the importance of introducing and passing Armenian Genocide legislation: "We, as the House of Representatives, have an obligation to send a message to the world that we affirm the [Armenian] Genocide and to send a message to the Turkish government, which is ultimately behind all of the genocide denial on the part of the [U.S.] Administration." Citing the presence of Armenian Genocide survivors Yeretzgeen Sirarpi Khoyan and Mrs. Rose Baboyan, Rep Adam Schiff explained that "there aren't many survivors left and while there are still survivors among us we have, I think, the highest ethical obligation to recognize the losses of their families, the losses of their entire community, and in many respects beyond that, the loss of almost an entire people." Touching on the U.S. responsibility to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Rep. Schiff argued, "How can we demonstrate the kind of moral leadership we need to condemn the genocide in Darfur if we do not have the courage to recognize the murder of a million and half people in the first genocide of the last century?" Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) stressed that, "It is up to the House to bring this important resolution to vote." He went on to explain that, "38 U.S. states have recognized the Armenian Genocide" and that the time had come for the U.S. Congress to enact the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsor in the 109th Congress, Rep. George Radanovich, argued: "I think it is not even in Turkey's interest to successfully keep this [Genocide resolution passage] from happening because it is in their best interest as a growing country to recognize what happened in their country many, many years ago." "We appreciate the leadership of the Armenian Genocide Resolution's authors - Adam Schiff, George Radanovich, Frank Pallone, Joe Knollenberg, Brad Sherman, and Thaddeus McCotter - and are, of course, very encouraged by the broad, bipartisan support for their introduction of this anti-genocide legislation," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "The immoral firing of Ambassador Evans for recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the intense controversy over the Richard Hoagland nomination due to his denial of this crime, and - of course - the brutal assassination of Hrant Dink, all serve as a stark wake up call for Congress to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution." "Armenian Americans across the country look forward, in the coming weeks, to working with all our Congressional friends in support of the early adoption of this legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives," added Hamparian. The introduction of the resolution comes in the wake of the January 19th murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul, Turkey, for his lifelong commitment to Armenian Genocide recognition. The Turkish government had long persecuted Dink for his principled stand on the Genocide, prosecuting him under the repressive Article 301 penal statute for "insulting Turkishness." Dink, who was convicted but given a suspended sentence, had appealed the decision. The resolution also follows the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evans last year, for properly characterizing the Armenian Genocide as 'genocide.' The Administration subsequently nominated Richard Hoagland for the position of Armenian Ambassador - a move blocked by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) following widespread bipartisan concerns by Senate Foreign Relations Committee members about the Evans firing and statements by Hoagland denying the Armenian Genocide. As Members of Congress prepared to introduce the Armenian Genocide resolution, thousands of Armenian American activists contacted their legislators through phone, mail and the ANCA WebFax system urging them to become early cosponsors of the legislation. ANCA regional offices and local chapters held community briefings, press conferences and events in support of the measure, leading to a groundswell of early support. The Armenian Genocide legislation is expected to the referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. A Senate version of the resolution is set to be introduced in the coming weeks. ##### -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070201/3d09969e/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 1 11:44:29 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Fw: Thanks for joining the Virtual March!] Message-ID: <45C2431D.4080409@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Fw: Thanks for joining the Virtual March! Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:29:54 -0800 From: Susan Fischer Can you pass this along? Thank you so much, Susie Fischer 541-264-0268 ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Nita Chaudhary *To:* Susan A Fischer *Sent:* Wednesday, January 31, 2007 6:26 PM *Subject:* Thanks for joining the Virtual March! Hi Susan, Thanks so much for signing up for the Virtual March on Washington! The Senate could vote to oppose the president's escalation plan in days. We've got a pretty ambitious goal: 1 million contacts to Congress in one day, but if enough of us join in, we can definitely hit it. * We have you signed up to call Sen. Wyden and Sen. Smith on Thursday, February 1, between 6 AM and 8 AM. Making calls is important but to reach our goal of 1 million calls, we really need to make sure we get as many people involved as possible. The more people who get involved, the bigger our impact will be. You can forward this link to your friends and contacts to get them signed up: http://pol.moveon.org/virtualmarch/ I'll be in touch in the next few days - and thanks again for getting involved. The work you're going to do in the next few days is critical and we're so glad to have you on board. --Nita Chaudhary and the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq team Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 1 21:48:57 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] GPCA NEWS ADVISORY: Early CA presidential primary hurts voters, say Greens] Message-ID: <45C2D0C9.4080100@peak.org> News Advisory THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA www.cagreens.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, February 1, 2007 Contact: Susan King, spokesperson, 415.823-5524 funking@mindspring.com Sara Amir, spokesperson, 310.270-7106 saraamir@earthlink.net Cres Vellucci, press secretary, 916.996-9170 civillib@cwnet.com Early CA presidential primary hurts voters, turns primary into even more of a ?big bucks' contest that limits ballot box choice, charge Greens SACRAMENTO (February 1, 2007) ? Moving up the presidential primary would only further corrupt an already undemocratic process by turning the primary into even more of a "big bucks" contest and limit choices for voters, charged members of the Green Party of California Thursday. The idea, said the Greens, now being floated by legislative leaders and the governor to move up the presidential primary from June to February is, in short, not good for voters. "Only the best financed candidates can win, or even compete. The big money early primary will destroy an semblance of retail, or meet-the-voters politics in Iowa or New Hampshire, where a dark horse candidate has at least a whisper of a chance," said Dr. Robert Vizzard, a former State Senate candidate from Auburn. "Why not just put the presidency, especially in California, up for bid and stop the pretense? Let's abandon the transparent sham that the people have anything to do with the electoral process. Those with the most money win, and an early primary only accelerate this," said Vizzard. Critics of moving the primary ? from all parties ? have noted that moving it would work to the advantage of candidates supported by "big-bucks" contributors, said Jonathan Lundell of the GPCA Election Reform Working Group. "California is an enormously expensive state to campaign in, and the early primary will bar the way for grassroots candidates even more. All of this ?done deal' talk about moving the primary up is an indication that this entire process is being pushed through without public input, and without regard to the public interest," Lundell said. -30- _______________________________________________ media-states mailing list media-states@lists.gp-us.org http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/media-states From peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com Mon Feb 5 17:59:22 2007 From: peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com (Alejandro Beltran) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] URGENT: Action needed as Senate blocks anti-war debate / First Lt. Ehren Watada: Instead of Iraq, a battle all his own Message-ID: Los Angeles Times latimes.com Instead of Iraq, a battle all his own *Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada was called an exemplary soldier. But then he decided to face court-martial rather than join a war he says is illegal.* By Tomas Alex Tizon, Times Staff Writer February 5, 2007 Olympia, Wash. ? THE soldier stands in his living room eyeing all the cool soldier stuff he never got to use in a real fight. Like the helmet with not a single ding and the sleek body armor with not a scuff. The gear piles high on the carpet. First Lt. Ehren Watada is giving it all back and, out of courtesy, packing it up. The Army had treated him with the utmost respect until the moment it decided to court-martial him. It was nothing personal. The Army does what it has to do. Just as Watada himself did what he felt he had to do seven months ago when he became the first ? and only ? commissioned officer in the United States to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq. His conscience, he said, had overtaken him. He told the world what he had privately told his superiors months earlier: that he believed the war was illegal and immoral, and he would play no role in it. Watada tried to resign; the Army respectfully denied him. He said he was willing to fight in Afghanistan; the Army refused him again ? a soldier can't pick and choose where he fights. As his unit shipped off to Iraq, Watada stayed to face the consequences. Thousands of GIs have gone AWOL or voiced opposition to the Iraq war, but when an officer says he won't go, the whole military machine must take note. It means dissent has crept up the chain of command, potentially undermining the war effort. The Army felt compelled to respond forcefully, charging Watada, 28, with one count of failure to deploy and four (later reduced to two) counts of "conduct unbecoming" for making public statements against the war and against the Bush administration. His court-martial begins today at Ft. Lewis, 15 miles north of here. Watada ponders the prospect of spending four years in military prison, and he muses on his spiral from exemplary military man to reviled antiwar poster boy. "Life has been ? " He laughs nervously and shakes his head, searching for words. "A little abnormal." His living room, like the rest of the apartment complex, feels boxy and new and unmistakably inexpensive ? made for function rather than form. A balcony looks out at a parking lot crowded with pickups and SUVs. In the middle of the room he stands in stocking feet, wearing baggy fatigues like pajamas, hands on hips. He's deciding where to begin the packing. When all the world seemed chaotic, it made sense to organize. Should he start with his barely mussed chemical suit or his spotless all-weather traction-control camouflage boots? His smooth brown face is boyish and devoted, like a child inspecting his most precious toys. He's not a small man, but not big either. Certainly not as big as the Rushmore-sized symbol he's become to the antiwar movement, which hails him as nothing less than an American hero. But he also bears no sign of the sniveling qualities ascribed him by pro-war groups that have branded him a coward. One syndicated columnist posted Watada's Army photo on her website with the caption "The face of a deserter." With everyone judging him, he wants to make one thing clear. "I'm not afraid to fight," he says. "I'm not a pacifist. If our country needed defending, I'd be the first one to pick up a rifle. But I won't be part of a war that I believe is criminal." Watada calls himself "an ordinary American" and a patriot who unwittingly found himself in a moral dilemma he could never have imagined when he first put on a uniform 18 years ago. That's when the story begins, according to his mother, Carolyn Ho, a high school counselor in Honolulu. It all started because she thought Cub Scout uniforms were cute. THE uniforms also represented wholesome activity. Ho and her then-husband, Bob Watada, wanted to keep their two young sons out of the malls and out of trouble. Ehren was the thoughtful one; his older brother, Lorin, the rambunctious one. Ehren thrived on the order and discipline, and the little rewards that marked one's ascension in the scouting ranks. "He was the sort who studied for every merit badge possible," Ho says. Thus Watada's kinship with the uniformed life was born. He went from Cub to Boy to Eagle Scout, and he had an inkling as early as 15 that he would end up in the armed forces. As an Eagle Scout, he got the idea of carving out a hiking trail on a hillside abutting a neighborhood park in Honolulu. Ho tells one other story. At Kalani High School, where Watada was a four-sport athlete, he reported a fellow football player who had been stealing money from the cafeteria coffer. "He risked ostracism [as a snitch] in a very small, tight-knit community," Ho says. "But he's like that, very principled." Ho is calling from a hotel in Indiana. Her ex-husband, Bob, is in a hotel in Washington, D.C. Both parents have spent the last six months speaking at schools and churches across the nation, telling their son's story and lobbying the government to acquit him. The parents shudder at the thought of their son behind bars. Invariably, both Ho and Bob Watada entertain fleeting misgivings: Maybe joining Cub Scouts was a mistake. Maybe, Bob Watada says, he should have tried harder to persuade his son to simply go to Iraq and "lie low." Lying low is better than prison. But there's a counterpart to this parental protectiveness. Rebecca Davis, head of a Maine-based group called Military Families Voice of Victory, prays every day for her son, Stuart, who is serving in Iraq. Davis has publicly called Watada a traitor. "What he's done," she says, "is embolden an enemy who is aiming for my son's head." WATADA, kneeling on the carpet with an arm buried deep in an olive-green duffel, explains his epiphany about the war in Iraq. It was the slo-mo kind, not the brilliant flash of lightning in the night. The way he tells it, the arc of his realization somewhat followed that of many Americans. That is, he believed at the beginning but grew disillusioned as the justifications for the war proved false and the strategy flawed. In 2003, after graduating near the top of his class at Hawaii Pacific University, he walked into a recruiting station in Honolulu and hopscotched from Officer Candidate School to his first tour of duty in Korea, where his superiors rated him exemplary. His battalion commander, whom Watada won't name so as not to drag him into his predicament, spoke long and often of the paramount importance of preparation. "He told us, 'If you don't know all there is to know about your mission, you're failing yourself and you're failing your soldiers,' " Watada says, still kneeling. He folds his hands in front of him now and looks vaguely like someone pleading or about to propose. "I took the lesson to heart." So when he was reassigned to Ft. Lewis in early 2005 in anticipation of deploying to Iraq, he did his job: He got to know everything there was to know about Iraq. He spent nights online, read books, talked to combat veterans, devoured media reports. At the end of 2005, he was convinced that the Bush administration had purposefully manipulated intelligence to justify the invasion and that the congressional approval of the war therefore was based on lies. He said he was so anguished by his conclusion and the knowledge that he would soon be "participating in the madness" that he grew deeply depressed. In December 2005, he sought guidance from a chaplain and a mental-health counselor. Neither helped. He considered filing for conscientious objector status but couldn't in good conscience, he says, because he does not oppose bearing arms. "I was in this situation where I knew something was wrong," he says, still on his knees, "but I was being forced to do it anyway. It felt like I was in an invisible prison of my own making. It's a terrible place to be." Then it occurred to him: He'd rather risk the other kind of prison. It would be difficult but ultimately easier to live with. In January 2006, he submitted a letter of resignation, he was refused, and the process rolled inexorably to where it is today. The Army could have chosen to accept Watada's resignation. Courtmartialing him, however, sends a clear message to other officers thinking about defying orders to deploy. During a preliminary hearing in August, Army prosecutor Capt. Dan Kuecker called Watada's actions "dishonorable" and "disgraceful." For his part, Watada doesn't blame the Army as much as he blames the administration. The Army does what it must to function. Military culture has always presumed that individuals lose certain kinds of freedom when joining the armed forces. "The idea is when you put on a uniform, you put your personal opinions to the side," says Kathleen Duignan, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington, D.C. A military could not be effective if soldiers had the option to choose which wars to fight and which to forgo. Duignan says the best-known case that parallels Watada's occurred in 1965 during the Vietnam War, when 2nd Lt. Henry Howe was caught participating in an antiwar demonstration. The Army court-martialed Howe and sentenced him to two years of hard labor. Watada's unit deployed to Iraq last summer. He has been doing administrative work ever since, barred from traveling farther than 250 miles from Ft. Lewis. His life settled into a workaday routine ? going to work, coming home to his little apartment and wondering what the future holds. Standing up, crossing his arms as if in defiance, he says he believes history will absolve him no matter what happens in court this week. At the base, there have been no blatant acts of hostility. "But, yes," Watada says, "you can feel the seething just underneath." During what was supposed to be a casual football scrimmage among officers late last year, two majors "accidentally" broke Watada's nose. One major shoved, the other smacked. Watada for weeks walked around with two black eyes, a crooked beak and a sneaking hunch it was no accident. But what encourages him is how much quiet support he receives from individual soldiers. The support, he says, isn't showy. "Nobody wants any part of me officially," he says, laughing that nervous laugh again. There are the approving nods, the knowing glances, the subtle remarks about hanging in there and keeping the chin up. "It happens almost every day," Watada says. And it makes him think that maybe, just maybe, a whole lot of other uniformed souls feel the same way he does and just haven't figured out a way to say so. ------------------------------ *tomas.alex.tizon@latimes.com * Ho tells one other story. At Kalani High School, where Watada was a four-sport athlete, he reported a fellow football player who had been stealing money from the cafeteria coffer. "He risked ostracism [as a snitch] in a very small, tight-knit community," Ho says. "But he's like that, very principled." Ho is calling from a hotel in Indiana. Her ex-husband, Bob, is in a hotel in Washington, D.C. Both parents have spent the last six months speaking at schools and churches across the nation, telling their son's story and lobbying the government to acquit him. The parents shudder at the thought of their son behind bars. Invariably, both Ho and Bob Watada entertain fleeting misgivings: Maybe joining Cub Scouts was a mistake. Maybe, Bob Watada says, he should have tried harder to persuade his son to simply go to Iraq and "lie low." Lying low is better than prison. But there's a counterpart to this parental protectiveness. Rebecca Davis, head of a Maine-based group called Military Families Voice of Victory, prays every day for her son, Stuart, who is serving in Iraq. Davis has publicly called Watada a traitor. "What he's done," she says, "is embolden an enemy who is aiming for my son's head." WATADA, kneeling on the carpet with an arm buried deep in an olive-green duffel, explains his epiphany about the war in Iraq. It was the slo-mo kind, not the brilliant flash of lightning in the night. The way he tells it, the arc of his realization somewhat followed that of many Americans. That is, he believed at the beginning but grew disillusioned as the justifications for the war proved false and the strategy flawed. In 2003, after graduating near the top of his class at Hawaii Pacific University, he walked into a recruiting station in Honolulu and hopscotched from Officer Candidate School to his first tour of duty in Korea, where his superiors rated him exemplary. His battalion commander, whom Watada won't name so as not to drag him into his predicament, spoke long and often of the paramount importance of preparation. "He told us, 'If you don't know all there is to know about your mission, you're failing yourself and you're failing your soldiers,' " Watada says, still kneeling. He folds his hands in front of him now and looks vaguely like someone pleading or about to propose. "I took the lesson to heart." So when he was reassigned to Ft. Lewis in early 2005 in anticipation of deploying to Iraq, he did his job: He got to know everything there was to know about Iraq. He spent nights online, read books, talked to combat veterans, devoured media reports. At the end of 2005, he was convinced that the Bush administration had purposefully manipulated intelligence to justify the invasion and that the congressional approval of the war therefore was based on lies. He said he was so anguished by his conclusion and the knowledge that he would soon be "participating in the madness" that he grew deeply depressed. In December 2005, he sought guidance from a chaplain and a mental-health counselor. Neither helped. He considered filing for conscientious objector status but couldn't in good conscience, he says, because he does not oppose bearing arms. "I was in this situation where I knew something was wrong," he says, still on his knees, "but I was being forced to do it anyway. It felt like I was in an invisible prison of my own making. It's a terrible place to be." Then it occurred to him: He'd rather risk the other kind of prison. It would be difficult but ultimately easier to live with. In January 2006, he submitted a letter of resignation, he was refused, and the process rolled inexorably to where it is today. The Army could have chosen to accept Watada's resignation. Courtmartialing him, however, sends a clear message to other officers thinking about defying orders to deploy. During a preliminary hearing in August, Army prosecutor Capt. Dan Kuecker called Watada's actions "dishonorable" and "disgraceful." For his part, Watada doesn't blame the Army as much as he blames the administration. The Army does what it must to function. Military culture has always presumed that individuals lose certain kinds of freedom when joining the armed forces. "The idea is when you put on a uniform, you put your personal opinions to the side," says Kathleen Duignan, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington, D.C. A military could not be effective if soldiers had the option to choose which wars to fight and which to forgo. Duignan says the best-known case that parallels Watada's occurred in 1965 during the Vietnam War, when 2nd Lt. Henry Howe was caught participating in an antiwar demonstration. The Army court-martialed Howe and sentenced him to two years of hard labor. Watada's unit deployed to Iraq last summer. He has been doing administrative work ever since, barred from traveling farther than 250 miles from Ft. Lewis. His life settled into a workaday routine ? going to work, coming home to his little apartment and wondering what the future holds. Standing up, crossing his arms as if in defiance, he says he believes history will absolve him no matter what happens in court this week. At the base, there have been no blatant acts of hostility. "But, yes," Watada says, "you can feel the seething just underneath." During what was supposed to be a casual football scrimmage among officers late last year, two majors "accidentally" broke Watada's nose. One major shoved, the other smacked. Watada for weeks walked around with two black eyes, a crooked beak and a sneaking hunch it was no accident. But what encourages him is how much quiet support he receives from individual soldiers. The support, he says, isn't showy. "Nobody wants any part of me officially," he says, laughing that nervous laugh again. There are the approving nods, the knowing glances, the subtle remarks about hanging in there and keeping the chin up. "It happens almost every day," Watada says. And it makes him think that maybe, just maybe, a whole lot of other uniformed souls feel the same way he does and just haven't figured out a way to say so. ------------------------------ *tomas.alex.tizon@latimes.com * ========================================================================== On the Net: Watada supporters: http://www.thankyoult.com/ ====================================================================================================== [image: ActForChange] [image: brought to you by Working Assets] [image: Urgent Alert!] *Tell Congress: Bring the Troops Home* *Tell Congress: Pass a Binding Resolution to Stop the War* Binding legislative moves are needed to stop the war, including denying the President any more funding for his war. [image: take action now] Just now in the Senate, pro-war members have used the filibuster to stop debate against the escalation of the war in Iraq. It's all up to the House now. Unfortunately, many anti-war members there are feeling timid about acting to stop the war with the strongest possible binding legislation. This is a pivotal moment: The entire Congress needs to hear the booming voice of the American people right now demanding an end to the war loudly and clearly. Many groups will be reaching out to their members this week to raise that voice, and we think it's important for all of us to take every opportunity to act. * Act now by telling your represenative to stop playing games and bring the troops home. * With President Bush planning to escalate the war by sending as many as 48,000 more troops to Iraq, this is not the time for timidity among anti-war leaders in Congress or game-playing among pro-war ones. It's been three months since the American people voted to shake up Congress, sending the clearest possible anti-war message to our national leaders. It's time for binding legislative moves to stop the war, including denying the President any more funding for his war. The stakes could not be higher. A new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows that the real troop increase associated with President Bush's escalation policy could be as high as 48,000, more than double the 21,500 soldiers that Bush has claimed. These new facts about escalation come just as Congress is set to receive a long-delayed National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq, the first such document from the U.S. intelligence community since 2002. According to the Washington Post, the NIE "outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration." The anti-war leaders in Congress know what needs to be done. The Constitution of the United States gave Congress "the power of the purse" precisely so that it could reign in Presidents fighting wars against the reasoned will of the American people. Congress has several means at its disposal to bring an end to the war in Iraq and it should use ALL OF THEM. * Send a message to your member of Congress now.. * * Please share this message with everyone you know who opposes sending more troops into the Iraqi quagmire. * *Thank you* for working to build a better world. Will Easton Manager, ActForChange.com Working Assets If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail info@actforchange.com. Or write to us at: 101 Market Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA, 94105. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070205/137b03f7/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 6 12:32:34 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: kate: Best 1 l/2 hrs EVER spent.Please, get this out to all!] Message-ID: <45C8E5E2.4060100@peak.org> Bill Moyers documentary: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: kate: Best 1 l/2 hrs EVER spent.Please,get this out to all! Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 12:23:02 -0800 From: Bob Fischer From: Kate Date: February 4, 2007 6:38:21 AM PST To: bobfi1@verizon.net Subject: Bob!Best 1 l/2 hrs EVER spent.Please,get this out.I\'ve got an old copy from 80\'s. The following page from the "Information Clearing House Blog" web site has been sent to you by Kate ( yomama462004@yahoo.com ). You can access it at the following URL: http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/299/59/ From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 6 12:37:44 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [cc] Please look at this and then act in any way you can - Rarely seen pictures of Tehran, 20070203] Message-ID: <45C8E718.70605@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [cc] Please look at this and then act in any way you can - Rarely seen pictures of Tehran, 20070203 Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 12:23:51 -0800 From: Tim Hermach To: ForestVoices Subject: Rarely seen pictures of Tehran Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 18:06:46 -0800 (PST) From: Jacquie Chandler View at least a few of the shots and see if you still have the same mental picture of Tehran that you might have had before you watched. Like people in other countries thinking we're all cowboys. > > Rarely seen pictures of Tehran: > http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html Nature can survive without humanity but... Humanity cannot survive without Nature Jacquie Chandler www.walkingmountainyoga.com www.bigwaterrentals.com/videos 775 287-3982 -- Tim Hermach **Native Forest Council** PO Box 2190 Eugene, OR 97402 541.688.2600 541.461.2156 fax web page: http://www.forestcouncil.org **DEFENDING NATURE** - ** **SAVING LIFE, LAND & LIBERTY** * Honest & Fully-Costed Accounting, * Honest & Uncompromised Education, Advocacy & Litigation, * Real Protection for 650 Million Acres of Publicly Owned Land, Rivers & Streams See the industry's report card at: http://forestcouncil.org/learn/aerial/index.html Donate online (call or mail to the address above): http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=93-0977788 From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 6 12:51:15 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] GP RELEASE Global warming: Bush is doing to world what he did to New Orleans] Message-ID: <45C8EA43.9090103@peak.org> GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.gp.org For Immediate Release: Monday, February 5, 2007 Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org Greens call Bush's tampering with scientific research on global warming an impeachable offense ? Congress must hold Bush accountable for placing U.S. and world at risk by manipulating scientific reports to fit reckless, pro-corporate energy policies ? "Bush is doing to the world what he did to New Orleans" WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders demanded that Congress hold the Bush Administration accountable for tampering with scientific research on global warming, calling President Bush's interference and dishonesty an impeachable conspiracy to commit 'high crimes and misdemeanors.' "The Bush Administration is doing to the whole world what it did to New Orleans as Katrina began to descend on the city," said Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York. "By altering scientific research on global warming to fit his political agenda and refusing to take necessary steps to protect the public, President Bush has aggravated an impending environmental, public health, and security crisis. Greens cited mounting evidence of such tampering, including complaints from more than 120 scientists from seven federal agencies that they've been pressured to remove references to global warming from research reports, press releases, and communications with Congress . Last week, scientists from 113 countries meeting at the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris warned that destructive effects of global warming, in which human consumption of energy has led to a global concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere, were probably inevitable, with a likely temperature rises of 3.2-7.1 degrees Fahrenheit . (Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: ) "Congress must recognize the Bush Administration's tampering with studies on global warming and other scientific research as an impeachable offense," said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party. "Ever since Vice President Cheney initiated private meetings with oil company representatives to determine energy policy, the administration has placed the demands for corporate profits over urgent human and environmental needs." Green Party leaders called recent news of a White House directive that gave President Bush greater control over the rules and policy statements that federal government agencies develop to protect the environment, public health, and safety (as well as civil rights and privacy) further indication that the Bush Administration was manipulating public policy in these areas to benefit favored corporate interests. The Green Party has called for the U.S. to sign on to the Kyoto accords and to take the lead on a 70% reduction of CO2 emissions, as well as a rapid transition to clean and secure alternative energy sources, energy conservation, reduced reliance on cars, and a phase-out on fossil fuel dependence and nuclear energy. The party advocates restructuring of local, national, and global economies, with investment and creation of new jobs in conservation and conversion to renewable solar and wind power, taxes on fossil fuel consumption, and bans on new drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other wilderness areas. Greens have already called for impeachment of President Bush and Vice President for deceiving the public about the U.S.'s reasons for invading Iraq and numerous other abuses of power. News of a proposed law giving U.S. and U.K. oil companies lucrative 30-year deals to extract Iraqi oil has confirmed that oil company interests are driving U.S. energy policy, and that desire for U.S. corporate control over Iraqi oil fields was a major motivation for the Iraq War . MORE INFORMATION Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org 1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404 Washington, DC 20009. 202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN Fax 202-319-7193 Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml ~ END ~ From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 6 12:55:07 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [endcorporatepersonhood] General Meeting 2-6-07, 7:00pm] Message-ID: <45C8EB2B.1010205@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [endcorporatepersonhood] General Meeting 2-6-07, 7:00pm Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 09:02:20 -0800 (PST) From: shane parker alan Join the* End Corporate Personhood Action Group* for its February 2007 general meeting on *Tuesday, 02-06-07* at which we will be planing our annual retreat to take place on 2-10-07 and 2-11-07, and *enjoying refreshments*! This is a very inportant meeting as it will be setting up the agenda for the rest of the year, so now is a great time to get involved! * _When_: Tuesday, February 6th at 7:00pm * _Where_: First Unitarian Church, sw 12th and Main in downtown Portland (enter through walkway on 12th between Salmon and Main and through the door on the right * _Contact_: Shane Parker Alan for more information, 503-522-6162 or Shane@ecpOregon.org /See you soon,/ Shane Parker Alan Public Relations Coordinator www.ecpOregon.org From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 7 12:43:57 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: please announce: "RUMI-Journey Through the Life Course, " Feb 28 potluck dinner & free workshop] Message-ID: <45CA3A0D.4020009@peak.org> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: file:///C|/DOCUME~1/ADMINI~1/LOCALS~1/TEMP/nsmail.1 Type: text/enriched Size: 3671 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070207/951c4eee/nsmail.bin From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 8 13:21:57 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: OPW Volunteers Needed in Portland Feb. 21-25. Please forward.] Message-ID: <45CB9475.9030106@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: OPW Volunteers Needed in Portland Feb. 21-25. Please forward. Resent-Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 17:15:21 -0800 (PST) Resent-From: alerts@oregonpeaceworks.org Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 17:16:27 -0800 From: Peter Bergel OPW Email Banner *? * *Hi Friends,* * * If you live in or can get to Portland, please help us with this great opportunity to talk peace to people whom we would otherwise probably not get to talk to. OPW is *staffing a peace table to talk peace with visitors to a ???**Peace** **Garden**??? at the Portland Home and Garden Expo* at the Portland Expo Center from Feb. 21-25.? Volunteers are needed to take shifts on all 5 days.? If you can do this, please contact me at pbergel@igc.org and tell me which shift(s) you can sign up for. Shifts are 3 hours long and times are listed below. Materials will be provided and the Peace Garden designer will be there for all shifts. I am told that 100,000 people visit the Home and Garden Expo. It???s the largest event of its kind in the US! *Shift #* *Day & Time* *Comment* *Person 1* *Person 2* Wed-1 Feb 21, Wednesday 11:00 am - 2:00 pm afternoon & evening busy Peter Bergel Wed-2 Feb 21, Wednesday 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm Peter Bergel Kerry Bassett Wed-3 Feb 21, Wednesday 4:00 pm -7:00 pm Peter Bergel(half shift) Wed-4 Feb 21, Wednesday 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm Thu-1 Feb 22, Thursday 11:00 am - 2:00 pm Not too busy Thu-2 Feb 22, Thursday 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm Thu-3 Feb 22, Thursday 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm John Brown Thu-4 Feb 22, Thursday 6:30 am - 9:00 pm John Brown Fri-1 Feb 23, Friday 10:00 am - 1:00 pm all day pretty busy Ann Huntwork Fri-2 Feb 23, Friday 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm Fri-3 Feb 23, Friday 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm Fri-4 Feb 23, Friday 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm Sat-1 Feb 24, Saturday 10:00 am - 1:00 pm busiest day all day Sat-2 Feb 24, Saturday 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm Sat-3 Feb 24, Saturday 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm Sat-4 Feb 24, Saturday 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm Sun-1 Feb 25 Sunday 10:00 am - 1:00 pm morning less busy then surge for early afternoon and then slows down Sun-2 Feb 24, Sunday 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm Sun-3 Feb 24, Sunday 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm Please forward this email to others who might be able to help and thanks for assisting with this. Peter Bergel Executive Director, OPW If you'd like to make a donation to Oregon PeaceWorks, please click here. -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 8 13:27:52 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [cc] job opportunity at commercial alert] Message-ID: <45CB95D8.80401@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [cc] job opportunity at commercial alert Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 17:55:09 -0800 From: Marnie Glickman To: USGP Discussion , PGP CC *Commercial Alert Jop Opportunity* * * *Title* Executive Director *Start date* As soon as possible *Summary* Commercial Alert is seeking an executive director to lead its efforts to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere. Commercial Alert is a nonprofit consumer, public health and advertising watchdog group. It opposes the commercialization of culture, education and government, and seeks to reduce the incidence of marketing-related diseases, such as obesity, alcoholism and tobacco-related illnesses. This is an excellent opportunity to direct a healthy, growing, high-profile public interest organization. *Responsibilities* Program leadership. Create and implement program strategy and tactics. Chief spokesperson. Promote Commercial Alert?s mission to the media, legislators and the general public. Fundraising. Maintain and expand Commercial Alert?s donor base. Financial management. Oversee Commercial Alert?s financial planning and management, including bookkeeping and cash flows. Administration. Manage all administrative duties, including payroll and all federal and state reporting requirements. Human resources. Hiring and manage all staff except executive director. *Qualifications* Applicants must have excellent writing, public speaking, fundraising and political skills. *About Commercial Alert* Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy. For more information about Commercial Alert, please visit our website at www.commercialalert.org . *Location* Flexible *Salary* Negotiable, depending on skills and experience *Application process* Application review begins immediately. *Please send cover letter and resume:* Marnie Glickman marnie@commercialalert.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070208/f5849d49/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 8 14:17:03 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:56 2007 Subject: [news] Good news, I think Message-ID: <45CBA15F.2080401@peak.org> Mistrial Could Be End of Watada Case http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020807J.shtml The opposition of Watada and his defense team to the mistrial, declared by the military judge and eventually endorsed by prosecutors after their case fell apart, opens the door for a double-jeopardy defense. Double jeopardy, which forbids a person from being tried twice for the same crime, does not apply only after a verdict is rendered, but can apply after a jury is empaneled and witnesses have been called. From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 8 14:52:03 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] A TIME TO ACT OR A TIME TO DIE Message-ID: <45CBA993.30003@peak.org> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ pgp-announce mailing list pgp-announce@list.pacificgreens.org http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-announce From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 8 15:01:59 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: "Competing Christianities" Lecture Series with Marcus Borg at Central Lutheran, Portland] Message-ID: <45CBABE7.6010609@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: "Competing Christianities" Lecture Series with Marcus Borg at Central Lutheran, Portland Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 13:57:41 -0800 From: Jennifer Grosvenor [To download flyer go to: http://www.oregonsynod.org/docs/07coramseries.pdf] ~ ~ ~ ~ please e-share, announce and post ~ ~ ~ *"Competing Christianities" Coram Deo Lecture Series March 9-11, Central Lutheran, Portland* *Dr. Marcus Borg* Renowned author, scholar and speaker Presented by Central Lutheran Church in partnership with the Oregon Synod ELCA Friday, March 9 ($10): ~ *Competing Christianities* (7:30-9pm) Saturday, March 10 ($20): ~ *Rereading Jesus: Conventional Christianity vs Radical Discipleship* (9-10:30am) ~ *Jesus vs Empire* (11am-12:30pm) Sunday, March 11: ~ *Jesus: Executed for Justice and Peace* (9-10 am, Education hour) ~ Sermon (10:15am, Worship service) Central Lutheran, 1820 NE 21st Ave., Portland OR, 97212; www.centralportland.org Registration and childcare information: 503-284-2331, office@centralportland.org *Dr. Marcus Borg* will discuss two radically different understandings of Christianity. Borg often appears on mainline TV news programs and is an internationally acclaimed "Jesus Scholar." His new book, /Jesus: The Life, Teachings and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary,/ together with /Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time,/ and/ The God We Never Knew /hint at his understanding of Jesus and authentic Christianity. ?If he (Borg) did not exist, we would have to invent him for we have no better guide to the recovery of an authentic Christian faith.? - Harvard Divinity, Professor Peter Gomes -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070208/6a0c5840/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 8 22:40:16 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [GPUS-PAX] GPAXERS!!! Will we visibly support this effort in our states?] Message-ID: <45CC1750.7030007@peak.org> How about us in Oregon? March 17 will be the fourth anniversary of the debacle in Iraq. Can we do another Peace Wave? Joanne Cvar -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [GPUS-PAX] GPAXERS!!! Will we visibly support this effort in our states? Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 20:54:36 -0600 From: Joni LeViness Reply-To: peace@gp-us.org Jacqui is in Maine, I will in OK, How about you? Peace and Perseverence, joni http://www.everyvillage-me.us/ DC Statehood Greens! Note how some of these are doing a Fly a Kite for Peace! Remind you of any past laws in DC that was fought by the people with Success? From cvar at peak.org Fri Feb 9 11:12:34 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Fwd: In defense of the "9/11 truth movement."] Message-ID: <45CCC7A2.1050605@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Fwd: In defense of the "9/11 truth movement." Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 07:04:47 -0800 From: dee429@webtv.net (Dee Meyer) This is quite detailed and lengthy, but well worth the effort. Please forward By Sander Hicks, AlterNet > Posted on February 2, 2007, Printed on February 2, 2007 > > _http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20070202125003697_ > > In defense of the "9/11 truth movement." > > [Alternet] Editor's note: The role of the alternative press is to offer > perspectives that the commercial media won't touch. Having run a number of > articles critical of the "9/11 Truth Movement" by Matt Taibbi, Joshua > Holland <_http://www.alternet.org/story/37046/_> , Matthew Rothschild > <_http://www.alternet.org/story/41601/_> and others, we asked Sander Hicks, > a prominent voice within the movement, to share his perspective. For more > of Sanders' views, see his book "The Big Wedding: 9/11, The > Whistle-Blowers, and the Cover-Up > <_http://alternet.bookswelike.net/isbn/097527631X_> ." > > No matter what you believe about who was responsible for 9/11, and how it > went down, we're all amazed at how much political capital the events of > that day produced for this administration: A bipartisan consensus on > torture; an era of permanent war; detentions without trial; "no fly" lists > for activists; the Bill of Rights gone with the wind, and a cowed > professional media willing to self-censor and suppress pertinent > information. The 9/11 "America Attacked" story has distracted us from the > natural outrage we should feel over illegal wiretaps, stolen elections, > hundreds of billions of dollars missing at the Pentagon, war profiteering, > Enron and Cheney's secret energy policy. > > But with Bush's popularity at a record low, a Zogby poll > <_http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2006/05/1355_zogby_poll_show.html_> > shows that over 40 percent of Americans now think there has been a > "coverup" around 9/11. A more recent poll conducted at the > Scripps-Howard/University of Ohio found more than a third of those asked > said it was likely that "people in the federal government either assisted > in the 9/11 attacks or took no action to stop the attacks because they > wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East." > > So, it's probably no surprise that the propaganda mills of the State > Department have recently been cranking out attack websites, targeting 9/11 > skepticism. And it's not a shocker that the normal channels of media have > followed suit (Time, New York Times, etc.) What's weird is how similar the > attacks sound in the hallowed halls of "respectable" left political > opinion. A recent column <_http://www.alternet.org/story/41601/_> on > AlterNet by the Progressive's Matthew Rothschild matched the recent > bromides <_http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10931_> of > Counterpunch's Alexander Cockburn. In both pieces, the way 9/11 has been > questioned was attacked, with no alternatives suggested. Instead, > questioning 9/11 at all was belittled with sweeping generalizations. > > What happened to critical thinking? I thought "the Left" believed that the > system's power is based on lies, exploitation and a media controlled by > its own culture of overly cautious professionalism. The Left should be > leading this 9/11 movement, not taking potshots from outside. > Unfortunately, some of the movement's theories, like "the towers came down > through a controlled demolition" sound esoteric at first blush. The "No > Plane Hit the Pentagon" theory is a loose thread in a maze going nowhere. > > The Left has no right to ignore or insult people for trying to assemble > the puzzle that is 9/11. > > Consider some of the pieces: > > Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage is a figure bloodied by his > work in Iran/Contra. He and then-CIA Director George Tenet had extensive > meetings in Pakistan with President Musharraf in the spring of 2001, > according to the Asia Times > <_http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FD08Aa01.html_> . > > Then, Pakistan's top spy, Mahmood Ahmad, visited Washington for a week > <_http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/09/14/human_spies/index.html_> > , taking meetings with top State Department people like Tenet and Mark > Grossman, under secretary of state for political affairs. The Pakistani > press reported, "ISI Chief Lt-Gen Mahmood's weeklong presence in > Washington has triggered speculation about the agenda of his mysterious > meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council." Did they know > that Ahmad had wired over $100,000 to Mohamed Atta, through U.K. national > Saeed Sheikh in the summer of 2001? (Facts all confirmed, quietly, by the > FBI investigation in Pakistan, and, partially, in the Wall Street Journal > <_http://voxpopnet.net/attaWallStJournal.htm_> .) > > That means that our top people at the State Department enjoyed only a few > degrees of separation from 9/11's lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta. Here's the > real kicker: As this story first broke in the Times of India, in October > 2001, instead of retaliating, the United States gave Pakistan $3 billion > in U.S. aid. Ahmad was allowed to quietly resign. > > Bob Graham, D-Fla., who sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, would > later tell PBS's Gwen Ifill > <_http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/july-dec02/intelligence_12-11.html_> > : "I think there is very compelling evidence that at least some of the > terrorists were assisted not just in financing -- although that was part > of it -- by a sovereign foreign government and that we have been derelict > in our duty to track that down, make the further case, or find the > evidence that would indicate that that is not true." > > Skip forward to Feb. 15, 2006. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer gave a 48-page > statement to the House Armed Services Committee, in which he stated, > unequivocally, that his Defense Intelligence operation, Able Danger, > identified Mohamed Atta as a major terrorist back in year 2000. But > Shaffer and his team of "the 'best and brightest' military operators" were > prevented from sharing this information with the FBI. According to > Shaffer, during a crucial meeting the group's Pentagon supervisors and > attorneys from the Special Operations Command in early 2000, the Able > Danger team was ordered to cover Atta's mugshot with a yellow sticky note. > Military lawyers at the Pentagon claimed it was to protect the rights of > "U.S. Persons." > > Some progressives are turned off to the Able Danger story, since it was > the pet obsession of recently defeated congressman "Crazy" Curt Weldon, > R-Pa., the "patriot" who planned a clandestine trip to personally dig > through Iraq > <_http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/counties/philadelphia_county/philadelphia/14916463.htm_> > in order to find the WMD's for Bush's White House. And the Department of > Defense inspector general recently issued a report claiming that the Able > Danger operation never identified Atta > <_http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/09/the_final_verdict_on_able_dang.html_> > . But author Peter Lance (an Emmy-award winning reporter, formerly with > ABC), author of "Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the > CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI -- and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to > Stop Him," calls the Pentagon IG report a "whitewash ? set out to prove a > predetermined thesis: that these decorated military officers had somehow > lied and risked their careers by exaggerating Able Danger's findings." > Rather, Lance confirms that Shaffer, and his colleague, Navy Capt. Scott > Phillpott, "found links to 9/11 hijackers, Atta, [Khalid] al-Midhar and > [Nawaf] al-Hazmi as connections between al Qaeda and the New York-based > cell of [the blind Sheikh] Omar Abdel Rahman." > > When the critics focus on the wacky theories and not on careful, moderate, > serious authors like Lance, it's a strategy to frame the debate. It steers > the argument from going after the real meat of 9/11: the history of U.S. > foreign policy in strategic alliances with radical Islam. > > Specifically, there are a set of troubling connections between the 9/11 > terrorists and the U.S. State Department, the Pakistani ISI (old friends > of the CIA from working together creating Afghani Mujahadeen during the > Russian occupation), the Saudi General Intelligence Directorate, the > Pentagon, Maxwell Air Force Base and the Muslim Brotherhood. > > Why did the 9/11 terrorists get protected from Able Danger at that > Pentagon meeting? Who covered up Atta with a yellow sticky note? What are > we supposed to think about the news (reported by Knight Ridder news > service 9/15/01) that Atta had attended International Officer School at > Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama? > > Atta was the Oswald of the whole operation. He is an enigma; everywhere > you turn in his story, the details are wildly contradictory. Instead of a > devout Muslim, you have a party-hearty Florida playboy, according to > author Daniel Hopsicker, author of "Welcome to Terrorland: Mohamed Atta > and the 9/11 Cover-Up in Florida." The FBI has sworn for five years Atta > didn't arrive in Florida until June 2000. But in 2000, Hopsicker found and > videotaped Amanda Keller, Atta's American girlfriend, and many other > Florida locals who contradict that story. In fact, Atta lived with Keller > at the Sandpiper apartments, just outside the Venice, Fla., airport, in > March 2000. Thanks to the magic of web video, anyone can see Hopsicker's > footage of Keller's reminiscences > <_http://www.madcowprod.com/newvideo/index.html_> of Atta: in Florida, they > hung out with cocaine-addled strippers doing lines in three-night-long > parties. With them were certain white Germans, including one "Wolfgang > Bohringer" whom Atta called "brother." > > Why "brother?" During Atta's university years in Cairo, the engineering > guild that he joined had made him a member of the group Muslim > Brotherhood. 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is also a > card-carrying "brother." The Muslim Brotherhood has been around since the > 1920's, it was originally an anti-colonial group. Today, it's the most > powerful terrorist force you've never heard of. Their frontmen in Egypt > are nonviolent and run for office. But the real sordid history of the > Muslim Brotherhood is that, since 1928, its anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist > ideologies have turned it into the perfect partner in crime for Nazis, > European fascists, American far-rightists and their contemporary > counterparts, the neoconservatives. > > Hopsicker's original research on Wolfgang Bohringer inspired the Joint > Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) to issue a FBI Terror Alert on Nov. 16, 2006. > According to sources close to the investigation, Bohringer was apprehended > in the South Pacific on Nov. 17, but shocked the arresting agents when he > claimed, "You can't arrest me, I'm working for the CIA." A former JTTF > undercover operative, Randy Glass, confirmed that Bohringer was arrested > and released. > > Oct. 9, 2006, saw the release of leading D.C. muckrakers Susan and Joe > Trento's latest mind-blowing work on "national security." "Unsafe at Any > Altitude: Failed Terrorism Investigations, Scapegoating 9/11, and the > Shocking Truth about Aviation Security Today" made 60 Minutes. The book > savages the incompetence and "eye candy" of the Transportation Security > Administration. This is not a book you want to read on a long flight: It > turns out the "no fly" lists are pathetically inaccurate. The Trentos > report that the CIA regularly lets known terrorists fly as a tactic to try > to catch more of them. > > Some of the Trentos' findings were too hot for 60 Minutes. The book's > blockbuster revelation is that the Pentagon kamikaze Flight 77 terrorist > crew was led by two agents of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) > of Saudi Arabia: Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. Sound familiar? > They should. They are the same two guys Peter Lance found being protected > from Able Danger by top brass at the Pentagon. This same duo lived in San > Diego with an FBI informant. The same duo took money from the wife of Bush > friend Saudi Prince Bandar. > > The U.S. State Department's dirtiest secret is its 30-year habit of > working with the far-right radical Islamists. In 1977, President Carter's > National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski (aka the "Democrats' > Kissinger") started the Nationalities Working Group. According to his > neocon minion, Richard Pipes, the group was tasked with using Islamic rage > in the central Asian republics to stir up "genocidal fury" against the > Soviet Union. (Pipes' son, Daniel, is a well-known neocon who headed the > U.S. Institute for Peace under Bush II.) Brzezinski later admitted in an > interview to Nouvel Observateur that he advised Carter to initiate funding > for the Mujahedeen so that the Soviet Union would have to enter the > region, engage in a Vietnam-like debacle and destroy their economy. > > In fact, according to a Special Report in The Economist > <_http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=780398_> , > the whole notion of "jihad" died out in Islam in the 10th century until > "it was revived, with American encouragement, to fire an international > pan-Islamic movement after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979." > > Throughout the '80s, the Reaganites were superficially opposed to the > Islamic fundamentalists in Iran. But in reality, the Islamic > fundamentalists were happy customers for U.S. arms sales. Care of the > Reagan/Bush team, a triangular trade kept a clandestine flow of weapons, > money and narcotics moving in and out of Central America, all to benefit > the right-wing Contra militia. Meanwhile, the capital was flowing into the > Mujahedeen through Pakistan. Oh, yeah, we were selling weapons to Iraq, > too, so they could fight the Iranians. > > The financial engine that helped run these operations was a well-oiled and > bloody front bank called the Bank of Credit and Commerce International > <_http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE3D91438F931A35756C0A965958260_> > . BCCI was the funding vehicle that American and Pakistani intelligence > used to arm the Afghani Mujahedeen against the Soviets. In the > Pakistan/Afghanistan theatre, it moved guns and bombs in, and shipped > heroin out. In Central America, it moved in guns and advisors, and took > the payoff in cocaine. > > When BCCI got busted in 1991, $10 million in State Department accounts was > discovered. The CIA and the Pakistani ISI, learning to love each other in > their first of many sick trysts, built BCCI into an international network > still very much alive. Sen. John Kerry's investigation into BCCI started > out strong, but eventually caved to political pressure. Under pressure > from Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), Kerry fired his top investigator, Jack > Blum. No major players were ever apprehended, censured, prosecuted or > sentenced for the genocidal, narcotics-trafficking, lucrative top crimes > of our time. Instead, many of them returned to power in 2001. > > According to S.C. Gwynne and Jonathan Beaty, authors of "The Outlaw Bank > <_http://alternet.bookswelike.net/isbn/1587981467_> ," BCCI was "a vast, > stateless, multinational corporation" that deployed "its own intelligence > agency, complete with a paramilitary wing and enforcement units, known > collectively as the Black Network." BCCI wasn't just a fluke; it wasn't > just the biggest corporate scandal of all time. It was the perfect example > of what big money does today in an unregulated global market. > > When George W. Bush, and his gang of bloodstained Iran/Contra suspects > seized the White House, they ushered in a new era of intimacy between the > federal government and international mega-capital. After all, "Dubya" Bush > had wasted a good chunk of his life in a cocaine and whiskey stupor > <_http://alternet.bookswelike.net/isbn/1887128840_> , but the other half was > spent in bad business deals with people like Saudi heavyweight Khalid bin > Mahfouz. Mahfouz, alongside Salem bin Laden (Osama's half-brother), was a > 1977 investor in Arbusto Energy, Bush's first oil company. Mahfouz later > became the majority shareholder of BCCI. Mahfouz helped broker the deal > for Bush when he wanted to unload his Harken energy stock. This same > Khalid bin Mahfouz was branded by a report to the UN Security Council > <_http://www.nationalreview.com/document/document122002.asp_> as one of the > seven top Saudi al Qaeda money men. Shortly after the Bush/Harken deal, > Mahfouz donated a quarter of a million dollars to Osama bin Laden's > Mujahadeen in the late 1980s. According to Forbes > <_http://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0318/047.html_> , he put $30 million > into the Muwaffaq Foundation, which the Treasury Department labeled an al > Qaeda front. (Mahfouz is also legendary for suing anyone who says so, and > has terrified and constrained independent publishers in Canada and the > UK.) Is it any wonder then, that the heavily compromised, Bush-White House > connected 9/11 Commission took a dive to the mat on the "financing of > 9/11" question? They said the money behind 9/11 was "of little practical > significance" when behind the curtain stood an old friend of Bush, > controlling a bogeyman named "al Qaeda." Senator Bob Graham said he was > "stunned that we have not done a better job of pursuing" the question of > foreign financing, and that crucial information had been "overly > classified." > > Money talks. It helps explain why 14 other countries tried but could not > effectively warn the U.S.A. <_http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/41436/_> > about the impending 9/11 attacks. The money connections, the real history > of 9/11, explains why the top bin Laden financial tracker at the FBI's > Chicago office, Robert Wright, was so upset after the attacks. Through > tears of anger and frustration, he told a National Press Club audience, > "The FBI ? allowed 9/11 to happen." What? What did he say? "FBI management > intentionally and repeatedly thwarted and obstructed my investigations > into Middle Eastern terrorist financing." > > Why was Wright thwarted by his higher-ups? And what about FBI translator > Sibel Edmonds' claim that, among the agency's Farsi translators, "it was > common knowledge that a longtime, highly regarded FBI 'asset'" told the > agency in early 2001 that "bin Laden was planning a major attack involving > the use of planes," but after agents wrote up reports and sent them to > their superiors "it was the last the agents heard of the matter"? Why were > FBI agent Colleen Rowley's reports about Zacarias Moussaoui receiving > flight training in Minnesota apparently ignored by Washington, causing her > to charge that key facts, were "omitted, downplayed, glossed over and/or > mischaracterized" by FBI bosses? > > There are important questions that remain to be answered. The > establishment isn't asking them. Instead, the citizen journalists out > there are breaking this story. > > Remember how much political reaction there has been ever since the people > rose up, united across borders and shut down the war machine in Vietnam. > For six years, the neocons have ruled by fear. We, the resistance, must > drive them out with a little something stronger: peace, truth, revolution. > We know history. We have a mission. Taste the clash of history, and you'll > know which side you're on. > > Sander Hicks runs the Vox Pop/DKMC media machine and coffeehouse. He is > publisher at the New York Megaphone newspaper and author of "The Big > Wedding: 9/11, The Whistle-Blowers, and the Cover-Up > <_http://alternet.bookswelike.net/isbn/097527631X_> ." He lives in Brooklyn. > > ? 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. > View this story online (followed by comments) at: > _http://www.alternet.org/story/45726/_ From peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com Sat Feb 10 08:12:38 2007 From: peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com (Alejandro Beltran) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] Watada Beats the Government Message-ID: Mistrial Declared for War Resister Lt. Watada Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet An Army judge has declared mistrial in the court martial of Lt. Ehren Watada, who can't be retried for the same charges. http://www.alternet.org/ - http://www.alternet.org/story/47808/ ==================================== t r u t h o u t | 02.08 *Mistrial Could Be End of Watada Case* http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020807J.shtml The opposition of Watada and his defense team to the mistrial, declared by the military judge and eventually endorsed by prosecutors after their case fell apart, opens the door for a double-jeopardy defense. Double jeopardy, which forbids a person from being tried twice for the same crime, does not apply only after a verdict is rendered, but can apply after a jury is empaneled and witnesses have been called. ========================================= DEMOCRACY NOW!: * EXCLUSIVE: Hunger-Striking Palestinian Professor Sami Al-Arian Speaks Out In First Broadcast Interview of His Four-Year Imprisonment * In a Democracy Now! exclusive, Sami Al-Arian speaks to us from prison where is on a hunger-strike. The Palestinian professor and activist?s case has been one of the most closely watched ? and controversial ? post-9/11 prosecutions in the United States. Al-Arian has been jailed despite a jury's failure to return a single guilty verdict. In the four years since his arrest, Sami Al-Arian has never conducted a broadcast interview - until now. Listen/Watch/Read http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1546227 =========================================================================== common dreams *Published on Thursday, January 25, 2007 by the Los Angeles Times * *Our Mercenaries in Iraq The president relies on thousands of private soldiers with little oversight, a disturbing example of the military-industrial complex. * *by Jeremy Scahill* http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0125-25.htm ============================================================================== Begin forwarded message: *Award winning * BEYOND TREASONis now available for 20.00. *Many thanks to Power Hour productions and William Lewis Films for making this movie which has been shown extensively and is the recipient of the Grand Festival award at the film festival in Berkeley, CA. A cd of documents retrieved under the Freedom if Information act is enclosed. 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It is omnicidal.... http://www.denniskyne.com/beyondtreason.htm to purchase your copy today. ============================================================================= Click here to return to the browser-optimized version of this page. This article can be found on the web at *http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070226/cooper* * * ------------------------------ Lockdown in Greeley by MARC COOPER [from the February 26, 2007 issue] *Greeley, Colorado* * * On the northern edge of this frozen-over city of 90,000 halfway between Denver and Cheyenne, Swift & Co.'s beef processing plant squats like a windowless concrete bunker alongside the snow-covered railroad tracks. The winter air hangs heavy with the stench of animal waste. And the three strings of barbed wire atop the chain-link fence that girdles the facility give the hulking complex all the appeal of some forsaken, remote prison. Nevertheless, the steam snaking high and gently from the plant's smokestacks has for several decades served as a beacon of hope and promise for thousands of immigrants, mostly Mexican, who have come north looking for a better life. Working on the meatpacking floor can be a grueling, monotonous, dangerous routine, making thousands of the same cuts or swipes every day, and annual injury and illness rates might run 25 percent or more, but a union job with a wage of $12-$13 an hour, enough to support a family, seems worth the pain and risk. At least until December 12, the holiday celebrating the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe. What materialized in front of the Swift gates that morning was more like a vision of hell. Shortly after 7 am a half-dozen buses rolled up with a small fleet of government vans, which unloaded dozens of heavily armed federal agents backed by riot-clad local police. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents sealed off all entrances and exits and formed a perimeter around the factory. Then others barged inside and started rounding up the whole workforce. Some of the frightened workers jumped into cattle pens; others hid behind machinery or in closets. Those who tried to run were wrestled to the ground. Sworn statements by some workers allege that the ICE agents used chemical sprays to subdue those who didn't understand the orders barked at them in English. The plant's entire workforce was herded into the cafeteria and separated into two groups: those who claimed to be US citizens or legal residents and those who didn't. While the Greeley plant was being locked down, more than 1,000 ICE agents simultaneously raided five other Swift factories in Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and Minnesota. By the end of the day, nearly 1,300 immigrant workers had been taken into custody--about 265 of them from Greeley. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff boasted that the combined raids amounted to the largest workplace enforcement action in history. ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers would later claim that Operation Wagon Train, as the raids were dubbed, dealt a major blow in the "war against illegal immigration." Now critics of the raids--workers, union reps, clergy, community leaders, policy analysts and lawyers--wonder what the high-profile sweep accomplished other than to traumatize a few hundred Latino families and to cost Swift an estimated $30 million in lost production. If anything, it starkly reveals, once again, a federal immigration policy completely detached from economic and social realities and a Bush White House incapable of moving ahead with much-promised reform. "What has changed because of all this?" rhetorically asks Francisco Granados, a Greeley businessman and volunteer providing relief services to the affected families. "Nothing. *Nada*. The whole system is set up to make you lie." There was one new twist in the December 12 action that distinguished it from earlier headline-making sweeps. Homeland Security and ICE claimed the raids were triggered by a federal probe into identity-theft rings. Eventually, about 240 workers were hit with criminal charges, mostly involving the use of a false or stolen Social Security number. But that meant the other thousand or so detained workers were held only on immigration violations, undermining the identity-theft rationale for the roundup. "By saying these raids were about identity theft, ICE and the Bush Administration suddenly changed the rules of the game," says Mark Grey, director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration. By highlighting the identity-theft angle, DHS officials have cast into a sinister light a common practice, at worst a victimless crime. The undocumented workers caught up in the sweep weren't using other identities to run up someone's credit card bill or push someone into financial ruin but to collect their own paychecks, since they had used others' Social Security numbers to get on payroll. Says Grey: "The game until now has been an elaborate choreography among the employers who need the immigrant workers, the immigrants who want these jobs, the communities who need them, the cattlemen who depend on them and the government whose basic motto has been: Don't ask, don't tell." Swift, whose headquarters are here in Greeley, tried unsuccessfully to head off the raids after company records were subpoenaed by ICE last spring. In early December company lawyers were denied a court injunction against the raids. For the past decade, Swift has used the government's Basic Pilot program, which supposedly verifies the validity of each new employee's Social Security number. But the program doesn't catch a number used by multiple individuals. Swift, then, played "the game" and so was ready, on the day of the raid, to issue a statement saying the arrests "violate the agreements" with the government "and raise serious questions as to the government's possible violation of individual workers' civil rights." What nobody, including ICE, can answer is why, if the real targets were those people with stolen Social Security numbers, federal officials didn't go quietly into the Swift factories and, armed with warrants, simply arrest the suspects. Why the brash paramilitary operation? "I'll tell you why," says an indignant Robert McCormick, a Greeley immigration attorney representing about sixteen of the workers. "This is indeed a declaration of war on the immigrant community. This is about Republicans trying to appease their core bloc of supporters. Yeah, some people got a big kick out of this. But I think most Americans were revolted by it. Here in town, a lot of people have said they want no part of it. And others, I assure you, are going to wind up being very ashamed of it." When I arrive in Greeley about three weeks after the raids, the entire town seems engulfed by cross-cutting emotions of bewilderment, fear, anger and resolve. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, the union that represents the Greeley workers and called the level of the force "totally outrageous," has been struggling to provide minimal legal and humanitarian assistance for those detained and the families left behind. "We still don't know where everybody is. There's still people popping up here and there in different detention centers," says burly Fernando Rodriquez, a director of Local 7, during an interview in his small downtown office. "Things are still chaotic." Spurred by a lawsuit brought by Rodriquez's union, Denver Federal Judge John Kane found that a month after the raids, ICE had yet to disclose a comprehensive list of exactly who had been detained and where they were being held--or whether they had already been summarily deported. On January 12 he ordered ICE to disclose the whereabouts of all 262 Greeley detainees within ten days. "There are people in custody--there is an urgency to this," an angry Judge Kane told ICE lawyers. ICE finally complied with the court order in late January. The aggressiveness of the arrests and what followed have startled many. "I was amazed by the force used, by the heavy armament," says Democratic State Representative James Riesberg. "Amazed that so many didn't have the bond hearings they were owed, that so many were held without their location disclosed." When news of the raids broke, Rodriquez entered the plant but ICE officials prohibited him from getting personal information from the workers to pass on to their families. "ICE treated the workers like animals," he says. "Didn't let people eat or drink anything. Didn't let them go to the bathroom. Wouldn't let workers use phones to make arrangements for kids in school or at home." He adds, "This was something you think you might see on TV, but never did I imagine I would actually live through it." The Greeley Latino community, about 35 percent of the population, was not totally unprepared for the disaster. Political events of the previous year had spurred community organization and generated vibrant new leadership. As word of the raid flashed on local Spanish-language radio, hundreds of worried family members and protesters converged on the factory gates. Local police mobilized to keep the crowd at bay as their loved ones were handcuffed and loaded by ICE into waiting buses. The militarized sweep hit the community like a hurricane, says 33-year-old Sylvia Martinez, one of Greeley's most prominent new Latino activists. "It's frightening to see the power that the federal government has to blow through here and leave a shambles," she says as we eat lunch at one of the town's many Mexican restaurants. "This has been our Katrina, a man-made Katrina. There's no information, no accountability." As I speak with Martinez, we're joined by a number of relief volunteers, all of whom express something between red-hot anger and sullen resignation over the way, as they see it, they were abandoned by the government. As ICE carted away hundreds of workers, no federal or local official stayed behind to respond to questions, offer any information or deal with shattered families. "Just this morning I was with a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who came here two months ago with his mother. Now she's been taken away and is detained in Texas," says volunteer Laura Zuniga. "He doesn't speak English, he barely speaks Spanish, and he's been living with people who share his apartment. He's in shock. And there's no one, really no one, in charge." Swift donated $60,000 to the local United Way. But local activists say too much of the charity money is tied up in red tape. They also cite a lack of solidarity with the detained workers and their families. The local union, they say, hasn't been easy to deal with, and the national labor movement has shown little support. "The Swift raids are a troubling example of the way enforcement is being increased," says Ana Avenda?o, associate general counsel of the AFL-CIO's immigrant worker program. "But, no, we didn't put out any statement on the raids, because [the food workers' union] didn't ask us for anything." That union has affiliated with the new Change to Win coalition--a breakaway from the AFL-CIO--and while both federations support comprehensive immigration reform they have not agreed on a common strategy. "We did feel we were left out there by ourselves in the first couple days," says a national official of the food workers' union. "But then the hotel workers and Change to Win came in with a strong statement of support." Elected Democratic officials--who now hold the Colorado Statehouse and a majority in the legislature--have not offered much significant support. "In Colorado," says Sylvia Martinez, "the politicians think it would be political suicide to support these workers." Just last summer, in a special session of the legislature, state Democrats tried to one-up then-GOP Governor Bill Owens in passing a slate of tough anti-immigrant legislation. "Our Democrats have been as unhelpful as the Republicans on the immigration issues," says Lindsey Hodel, field director for the Colorado Progressive Coalition. State Representative Riesberg, who convened a community forum on the Greeley raids in late January and who supports liberalized immigration reform, readily concedes that the prevailing political atmosphere makes it hard for Democrats to speak out. "The people of Colorado have made it clear they want the law to be enforced and are saying, 'What part of illegal don't you understand?'" he says. "But I'm concerned that some of those feelings are based on disinformation." The vacuum left by elected officials has been filled by new grassroots groups like Martinez's Latinos Unidos and their most reliable ally, Father Bernie Schmitz of Our Lady of Peace church. The 59-year-old bespectacled priest has stepped forward as an ardent advocate and defender of the immigrant workers who make up the bulk of his congregation. His church and its social network have become the command center of community relief and have so far raised more than $80,000 in contributions. Family members left behind by the raids can turn to the union and Padre Bernie, as he's called, to pay the utility bills. A food center funded by donations made through the church provides boxes of food for anyone who walks in the door. On the one-month anniversary of the raids, Father Schmitz organized an interfaith mass that drew dozens on a bitterly cold, snowy weeknight. "Let us pray for the migrant workers," he told those who attended. "Let us who benefit from their labor be grateful to them for what they provide and let us welcome them." In an interview after the mass, Father Schmitz confirms that while his church has been coordinating relief and tending to divided families, he has yet to be contacted by any official from ICE or any other federal agency. "Not that I'd necessarily want to speak to them," he says with a smile. At a cake and punch reception that evening in the church basement, I meet two middle-aged brothers from Guatemala's western countryside. They speak to me in a Spanish heavily accented with their indigenous Quich?. Another brother and the 22-year-old son of one of them were caught in the raid and now languish with sixty other Guatemalans in an El Paso detention center. Judge Kane ordered them returned to Colorado so they can be assisted by counsel and allowed to post bond, but instead they were held for weeks out of state. "We can't go back to Totonicap?n," says Rosalio, referring to the Guatemalan department a lot of them come from. He's been working in Colorado for ten years but has no legal papers. "Back there it's full of organized crime, drug traffickers and injustice." He goes on, "And injustice here as well. It's been very difficult seeing our families taken away from work for no other crime than working." No one I speak to in Greeley--not Father Schmitz, not Sylvia Martinez, not even the Guatemalans themselves--can tell me of any local Guatemalan leaders, any activists or representatives. All anybody knows is that there are several hundred Guatemalans in town and now dozens of them in jail. Greeley was founded in 1870 as an experimental farming community organized by Nathan Meeker, the agricultural editor of Horace Greeley's *New York Tribune*. By the 1920s the almost uniformly WASP community had grown the area into one of America's most important sugar beet providers. During World War II, German and Austrian POWs housed nearby were used to help tend to the profitable crops. Mexican braceros were also imported to take the place of local men drafted into the war. Cattle processing on a mass scale had come to town by the 1960s. And as the meatpacking industry went through its own labor revolution in the 1980s and '90s--breaking some traditional unions, automating and downgrading much of the workforce to less-skilled, lower-paid positions--the local plant became a magnet for Mexican and Central American migrants. Like many other mountain and Midwestern cities experiencing similar "browning," Greeley was until recently making an uneasy cultural transition. The more middle-class Anglos, some commuting to Denver to high-tech jobs, live on the manicured west side of town. The newer, darker immigrant population has mushroomed in the grittier eastern and northern neighborhoods. Jerry's Market, founded by German immigrants, soon added a * taquer?a*, while *carnicer?as* and *tortiller?as* appeared on the edge of downtown. The *Greeley Tribune* started publishing a weekly supplement in Spanish. Latinos still had no political representation, but racial conflict was submerged. Greeley and surrounding Weld County, however, have the misfortune of being a GOP stronghold in an increasingly Democratic state, and thus are vulnerable to hardball partisan manipulation. In the fall of 2005 the politically ambitious county DA, Ken Buck (a Republican married to the current state GOP vice chair), joined forces with Republican US Senator Wayne Allard and conservative US Representative Marilyn Musgrave in proposing that ICE open a local office in Greeley. The trio saw political opportunity in linking illegal immigration to rising crime rates and argued that bringing the immigration cops into Greeley would restore order. The tone for such racially tinged politicking had already been established by fellow Colorado US Representative Tom Tancredo, who built his political profile (and now intends to run for President) on a hard-line anti-immigration position. "Before the raids, I think we were all trying to move toward some sort of adjustment," says Sylvia Martinez. "But that all changed when Ken Buck made his move." The county commission, without public debate, approved Buck's proposal for a local ICE office. As the measure moved forward, the Latino community began to stir. Longtime Chicano activists and 1960s veterans Priscilla Falcon and Ricardo Romero put together some protest meetings, which soon swelled in size, frequency and intensity. New leaders, including Martinez, emerged. The Montana-born daughter of Tex-Mex farmworkers, Martinez had worked the fields in her youth and worked her way up to serving as an investigator for the local public defender. While she followed local politics, she didn't get involved until Buck's proposal for the ICE office. "I thought I would be a coward if I didn't stand up against it," she says. As many as 600 people opposed the proposal when it came before the City Council in late 2005. The council punted, and it was scrapped. Local Latino power had won its first victory. Once again, as the response to the December raids continues to build, that same sort of rising political energy is being felt. "All this stuff has made one great change," says Mexican-born radio announcer Elda Gamez, who became the community's electronic voice as she went live on the air during the day of the raid. "That change is unity. We were hit with a very low blow, but it served us well, and we've gotten support from people we've never heard from before." Father Schmitz is equally optimistic. "This has put a face on the issue," he says. "It's no longer abstract." What drives that optimism, even in the midst of the current turmoil, is a sense of inevitability. The local migrants, their families and advocates know they are riding the tide of a global economic and demographic wave more powerful than any fleeting enforcement or political gesture. "ICE might think it has changed the rules, but the real game here is supply and demand," says Mark Grey. "This industry and several others would collapse if you removed the immigrant workers. There is simply no going back. The only solution is comprehensive immigration reform which recognizes these realities." The Clinton Administration carried out similar immigration raids on the meatpacking industry between 1992 and 1997. But that didn't put a crimp in the northward flow of migrants. For millions of Mexicans, the march across the border is a forced exodus, as a couple from Guanajuato tell me when I sit with them in their cramped, drafty trailer in a mobile home park in Greeley. I'll call them Domingo and Emilia; both are in their early 30s. Domingo, an undocumented Swift worker since 2001, was picked up in the December raid, briefly jailed in El Paso and then dumped across the border into Ju?rez. After a quick trip to see his extended family in Guanajuato, he put together $2,000, paid a coyote and, along with seven other deported Swift workers from his hometown, dodged the Border Patrol and trudged across the Arizona desert back into the United States. He arrived in his Greeley trailer exactly twenty-two days after he'd been arrested. "I walked for three days and three nights. I was already diabetic, but now I think my leg is ruined," he says, massaging his shin. "But I would do it again tomorrow. And tomorrow and the next day," he says, nodding toward his 3-year-old son, who's running on the threadbare rug in Spiderman pajamas. The boy is a US citizen, as is his 1-year-old sister. Their 8-year-old sister, poring over her homework at the tiny dining table, is not. Domingo says that from the moment he was detained, he was determined to come back. He knows he can't return to Swift, where he made $12.75 an hour, but he also knows he can't take his family back to Mexico. "There is no work there," he says. The union paid the couple's gas and light bill and gave Emilia a food card worth $50. But no more aid is available, and the family is five days late on the $389 monthly trailer rent. Emilia says the only option to be discarded is returning to Mexico. "This country may not be our country, but it is the country of opportunity," she says, hugging her husband. "This isn't for us. We are Mexicans. This is for them. The children. They are the Americans." ================================================================================================== *Gitmo Cover-Up* http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020907R.shtml Heather Cerveny, a Marine Corps sergeant, who spent a week at the Cuban base last September working as a legal aide to Lieutenant Colonel Colby Vokey, said she was "shocked" to hear several guards from different parts of the base openly speak of mistreating prisoners. The US Southern Command investigated the claims and concluded "insufficient evidence exists to substantiate the paralegal's allegations." But Lieutenant Colonel Vokey, Sgt. Cerveny's superior officer, called the investigation incomplete and "outrageous." ======================================================================================== for more: Check out TUPOCC's blog "legal activists of color" http://nlgtupocc.blogspot.com/ The United People of Color Caucus (TUPOCC) of the National Lawyers Guild -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070210/633ffcdf/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Sat Feb 10 17:30:10 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [cc] Tentative Agenda: SCC Meeting: Feb. 11, 2007] Message-ID: <45CE71A2.3000204@peak.org> Our 1PM SCC phone conference is still on for Sunday. Dialing instructions follow: The teleconference number we've been using is still the same: 319-256-0100, with the access code 126215#. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [cc] Tentative Agenda: SCC Meeting: Feb. 11, 2007 Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:09:16 -0800 From: George B. Hutchinson To: PGP-CC 1. Introductions 2. Jan 21 SCC meeting Minutes review/corrections/acceptance 3. Old Business (You'll have to help me here, folks) 4. New Business a. Re-visiting the date and location of our Spring Convention b. Forum decisions: 1. SCC Reports, Actions, Agendas & Minutes: Erik proposes changing the meaning of the pgp-agenda list and linking it to this forum. 2. SCC Decision Items: Erik proposes changing the meaning of the pgp-cc-vote list and linking to this forum. 3. SCC Confidential/Secure: Erik proposes creating a new email list that will be linked to this forum. c. Nominations for filling vacant SCC position until June Convention. d. (Add what you think we need to discuss, please.) 5. Decision Items _______________________________________________ pgp-announce mailing list pgp-announce@list.pacificgreens.org http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-announce From cvar at peak.org Sun Feb 11 21:56:53 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] Re: The Journey Of H.O.P.E Message-ID: <45D001A5.6080800@peak.org> *The Journey Of H.O.P.E* *Healing Our People and Earth* / ?Through learning, educating, activating and demonstrating sustainable peace.? / On March 19, 2007, bioneering activists from Oregon will embark on an 8,000-mile, round-trip cross-continental bicycle journey inspired by S. Brian Willson and dedicated to encouraging sustainable peace practices through, demonstrating, educating, and activating grassroots efforts. The H.O.P.E. caravan will leave Portland, Corvallis and Eugene, Oregon, riding down the West Coast, then across the continent. The evolutionary caravan will visit towns, communities, and reservations, facilitating discussions and empowerment forums on topics such as sustainable peace through voluntary simplicity, compassionate communication, and non-violence training. One and two day workshops developed and presented by members of The Northwest Earth Institute, Sarvodaya USA, Veterans for Peace, Love Makes a Family Inc., and Bike4Peace are also a part of our offerings. We welcome additional riders for any portion of the trip. Some will ride across town, some across state. It's especially nice to be joined by riders who know the local terrain when we're trying to find a specific place or determine the safest route. Of course, hosts are the true heart of a bicycle trip. This ride simply could not happen without the support of the generous people who open their homes or churches to the riders. Different levels of support are appropriate at different times. Cyclists are prepared to camp outside, but they really appreciate a warm shower, a lovingly prepared meal, or soft bed. We've found that a simple diet of diverse fruits, veggies, grains & nuts is best. Perhaps a pot luck, with the challenge of using food grown in the county would be appropriate in your community with a discussion after. Journey of HOPE and Bike4Peace are building a network of people devoted to the search for a sustainable lifestyle. We're eager to observe your successes & discuss your challenges. We can use your help with communication, passing the word along to encourage participation. We want you to feel unity with a whole nation full of good people who are only a bike ride away. Together we will build a peaceful world. ** *Michele, a Corvallis mother, and Vernon, new to Portland, are organizing the Journey of H.O.P.E. Please call 425-438-8985 or email **_satyagrahi@riseup.net_* *. **_www.emissaries_* *_ofhope_* Our Wish List: Camping gear **Road Bikes and Biking Equipment**Laptop Computer Bio Diesel Fuel for Our Support Vehicles ** $$$$$ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070211/f8c695a8/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Mon Feb 12 15:23:32 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] How it happens Message-ID: <45D0F6F4.1090001@peak.org> For those of you who aren't subscribed to Information Clearing House: "What no one seemed to notice was the ever widening gap between the government and the people. And it became always wider.....the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting, it provided an excuse not to think....for people who did not want to think anyway gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about.....and kept us so busy with continuous changes and 'crises' and so fascinated.....by the machinations of the 'national enemies,' without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us..... "Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, 'regretted,' that unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these 'little measures'.....must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing.....Each act is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. "You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow. You don't want to act, or even talk, alone.....you don't want to 'go out of your way to make trouble.' But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. "That's the difficulty. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves, when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. "You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things your father.....could never have imagined." Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free, The Germans, 1938-45 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955) From cvar at peak.org Mon Feb 12 15:58:17 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] The World Can't Wait Message-ID: <45D0FF19.10400@peak.org> Has everyone signed the impeach petition at gp.org ? --Rebecca World Can't Wait, along with many others, invites you to an Emergency Summit: Impeach Bush for War Crimes! *Saturday & Sunday, February 17 & 18 New York City* Saturday 9am-10pm; Sunday 10-6 (Exact Manhattan location will be announced shortly) It is time for the people to put impeachment on the table! Iraq spins out of control. Bush escalates and threatens still wider war with Iran. The Bush program of torture and illegal detentions continues. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. Bush's full program remains in effect. NSA Spying, the Patriot Act, the Military Commission Act: all continue. And all are illegal. The whole program of the Bush Administration must be thoroughly repudiated by removing him from office before his term expires; otherwise, the whole direction he has taken society will be condoned, legitimated, and made permanent. A movement to Impeach Bush for War Crimes can quickly advance the whole struggle; making ending the war and removing Bush a reality. As impeachment becomes imminent and his war options grow more limited; the more his war crimes are exposed, the greater the impetus for his removal and repudiation. Join activists, leaders, academics, and writers including Dennis Loo, Ted Glick, David Swanson, Bob Fertik, Daphne Wysham, Steve Cobble, Laura Flanders of Air America radio, and many more. *Saturday plenary, workshops and evening program. Sunday plenary and strategy break-outs on how to advance the movement for impeachment this spring, including among youth and students, the religious community, and others. Stay for a special Sunday afternoon forum: After Bush, What? featuring presenters from differing political perspectives within this movement. Workshops include: * * Become an Expert in the Bush Regime's Crimes * Banner Drops and other Creative Protest * Strategies & Grounds for Impeachment * Legal Action Against Bush and Cheney * Make Hip-Hop, Not War * Why the US has Iran in its sights: How do we Stop an Attack on Iran? *7pm Saturday: Impeach Bush for War Crimes with Cindy Sheehan, Ramsey Clark, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Debra Sweet * Everyone who sees the need and opportunity to remove George Bush and his regime from office for its crimes and repudiate his program needs to be at this conference to plan how to accomplish this in 2007. Suggested registration fee: $25-$50 per person; students/low income: $10-$20. *Co-sponsors to date: * AfterDowningStreet.org Brooklyn Greens Democrats.com Progressive Democrats of America Gold Star Families for Peace Grandmothers Against the War Granny Peace Brigade Green Party of the United States Hip Hop Caucus ImpeachBush.org ImpeachforPeace.org New York Greens Not In Our Name Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, NYC Chapter 9-11Truth.org Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Cynthia McKinney, Laura Flanders. Help make this happen. If you want to suggest or plan a workshop, contact summit@worldcantwait.org or 866 973 4463. Register on line here . From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 14 11:41:19 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: The Case Against LNG] Message-ID: <45D365DF.4080505@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: The Case Against LNG Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:47:54 -0800 *Please join us for "The Case Against LNG" on Monday March 5 at the First Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon.* Come hear from two experts about the climate, environmental, and social impacts of massive LNG import terminals proposed in Astoria, the Lower Columbia River and Coos Bay. *Speakers:* */Loretta Lynch/* chaired the California Public Utilities Commission under Gov. Gray Davis, and expertly describes how LNG proposals in Oregon are unnecessary, destructive to our climate, and California-driven. She is featured in the movie /Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room/, continues to monitor energy market manipulation, and is now an Executive Scholar at UC Berkeley. She also acts as a board member for Pacific Environment. */Dmitry Lisitsyn/* is Board President of Sakhalin Environment Watch. He is traveling from Russia to inform West Coast residents about resistance to oil and gas development on Sakhalin Island, Russia. He brings first-hand knowledge of the environmental justice implications of liquefied natural gas development. *Monday, March 5, 7 p.m. First Unitarian Church. Portland, Oregon. Corner of SW 12th and Salmon St.* * * * This event is free and open to the public * * * ******************************************* Event is sponsored by the Columbia River Clean Energy Coalition, Energy Options, Pacific Environment, Columbia Riverkeeper, and the RACE Coalition. For more information, contact Dan Serres at (503) 890-2441 or dserres@gmail.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070214/68f37684/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 14 15:20:35 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Give Peace a Dance/Mardi Gras Gala on Feb. 24. Reserve tickets now.] Message-ID: <45D39943.9040404@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Give Peace a Dance/Mardi Gras Gala on Feb. 24. Reserve tickets now. Resent-Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:28:57 -0800 (PST) Resent-From: alerts@oregonpeaceworks.org Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:30:11 -0800 From: Peter Bergel Reply-To: Organization: Oregon PeaceWorks OPW Email Banner *Give Peace a Dance/Mardi Gras Gala on Feb. 24. Reserve tickets now.* Oregon PeaceWorks proudly presents the 23rd annual *Give Peace a Dance*, a celebration and benefit for Oregon's largest peace and justice organization. The evening will feature an *auction* with fabulous items and something for everyone, live music by the funkalicious band *The Essentials* of Eugene, political satire by *Dr. Atomic's Medicine Show*, delicious snacks and desserts, and a no host bar! *When:* Saturday, February 24, 7pm (doors open at 6:30) *Where:* Grand Ballroom, 187 High Street NE , Salem *What:* a Mardi Gras-style benefit gala for Oregon PeaceWorks *How Much:* $23 advance, $25 at the door For more information or to order tickets, please visit our website: www.oregonpeaceworks.org or call 503-585-2767. Please forward this email to others who might be interested. Peter Bergel Executive Director, OPW If you'd like to make a donation to Oregon PeaceWorks, please click here. -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From stevethegreen at riseup.net Wed Feb 14 15:16:36 2007 From: stevethegreen at riseup.net (stevethegreen@riseup.net) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] Jeff "Free" Luers appeal decision In-Reply-To: <45D001A5.6080800@peak.org> References: <45D001A5.6080800@peak.org> Message-ID: <2053.stevethegreen.1171494996.squirrel@petrel.riseup.net> Great news for everyone who has followed this horrible case! -Steve Geiger -------------------------------------------------------------- Jeffrey Free Luers appeal decision! The Court of Appeals just unanimously ruled that Jeff's case will be reversed and remanded back to the Circuit Court for resentencing as a result of Judge Velure's errors in imposing the original draconian sentence. Jeff at OSP The Court of Appeals just unanimously ruled that Jeff's case will be reversed and remanded back to the Circuit Court for resentencing as a result of Judge Velure's errors in imposing the original draconian sentence. The opinion just came out this morning and we are still reviewing it for details, but it looks like Jeff could potentially get about 15 years taken off his 266 month sentence. We will provide you with more information as it becomes known. The entire opinion is included below for those who are interested. Congratulations to Jeff and his family! Jeff was sentenced in 2001 to 22 years and 8 months in prison for the arson of the Romania car dealership in Eugene, OR, and an attempted arson of Tyree Oil. The total damage amounted to burned tires on 3 SUVs , the tires were replaced and the SUVs were resold. No harm to any living things. Outrage over the unjust sentence spanned the globe. Jeff is currently imprisoned at the Oregon State Prison and the Civil Liberties Defense Center has continuously assisted Jeff with various legal matters during his incarceration. for additional background on Jeffrey Free Luers, please visit http://freefreenow.org/ From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 15 15:27:47 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:57 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Make Your Voice Heard Today -- UFPJ Plan of Action] Message-ID: <45D4EC73.3000208@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Make Your Voice Heard Today -- UFPJ Plan of Action Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:21:50 -0500 (EST) From: UFPJ Action Alerts /Please forward widely!/ *TODAY, call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to connect to your representative's office*. (Click here to find out who your Representative is. ) When you are connected, ask to speak with the aide responsible for Iraq War issues. After identifying yourself, tell the aide you want to leave a brief message, such as: "Please tell Representative (Name) to take three steps to make the U.S. more secure in the world: 1. Vote "yes" this week on the non-binding resolution opposing the escalation of the war in Iraq. 2. Take a real step forward for peace and stop funding war: Vote NO on supplemental war appropriations. 3. Don't escalate the war into Iran." Be sure to ask the office to send you a transcript of the Representative's House floor speech on Iraq: All members have been given at least 5 minutes to make a statement on Iraq this week. Dear friends of United for Peace and Justice, * */ NO Escalation in //Iraq// /* * */ NO War with //Iran// /* * /* NO More Funding for War*/ *MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD NOW!* We are at a critical time in our movement to end the war. Now is the time to build on the momentum of the November elections, the massive Jan. 27th march on Washington, the ongoing local work, the mistrial of Lt. Ehren Watada, and the vote on Tuesday by the Vermont state legislature to pass a resolution calling for the troops to come home. We are in the midst of a nationwide peace surge. *Over the next six weeks, we have new opportunities to help end this war, and UFPJ has a plan of action! * Below is more specific information on actions you can take now. Whether you are working with a group or taking action alone, everyone needs to be in motion. We have a long road ahead of us, but momentum is on our side! *Plan of Action From United for Peace and Justice -- Urgent Nationwide Campaign Unfolds in the Coming Weeks* *1) TODAY, THURSDAY, FEB. 15TH -- CONGRESSIONAL CALL-IN DAY* Your member of Congress needs to hear from you TODAY, while the House is still debating H.Con.Res. 63. This measure will pass in the House and we can hardly get excited about a non-binding resolution. /But, and this is a very important "but," United for Peace and Justice urges you to help make sure there is a VERY strong show of opposition to the Bush escalation plan/. Last week the Senate discussion was hijacked by procedural maneuvers, so this Friday's vote will be the first Congressional statement of opposition to the President's escalation and could lay the foundation for stronger action in the coming weeks. Keep in mind -- a strong rejection of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq could be an important step in helping to prevent the widening of the war into military action against Iran. The administration continues to throw out accusations against Iran, and we must take the threat of a new front in their war very seriously! *2) LET OUR VOICES BE COUNTED! NATIONAL PETITION CAMPAIGN* United for Peace and Justice initiated a campaign to collect signatures on a petition calling on Congress to use its power to end the war in Iraq and to prevent a war in Iran. We offer this petition as another tool -- a mechanism to send our message to Congress and a way to strengthen the local organizing work that is the heart and soul of the antiwar movement. Take a moment right now to download the petition . Be sure to make copies before you start collecting signatures. And then go out to gather as many names as you can: Talk to your neighbors and the people you go to school with or work with; set up a table in a busy shopping area; bring the petition to your religious institutions, community groups, and professional organizations and unions. *Imagine, we could get tens of thousands of signatures in just a few weeks if we try!* *3) WELCOME YOUR REP BACK HOME! CONGRESSIONAL RECESS NEXT WEEK* This coming week Congress will be in recess, and most members will be in their home districts. *They need to hear from us!* Let them know you want to talk. There may be a meeting already scheduled in your district that you can join. Or you can schedule your own meeting. Find local contact information for your representative here. In addition to meetings, you might want to join -- or help organize -- vigils, pickets, rallies or other public activities outside the offices of your members of Congress. Depending on where your member stands on the war and what contact you have already had with her or him, you might also consider planning a nonviolent act of civil disobedience. The point is to make sure every member of Congress understands our message: We want the war to end, and we want them to use their power to end it! *4) OPPOSE SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING FOR THE WAR* President Bush has sent Congress his request for an additional $93 billion for this war. Remember, that's on top of the over $360 billion already spent on a war that never should have happened! United for Peace and Justice is clear in our demand: Not one more dollar for this war. But it will not be easy to convince Congress to cut off the funding. What is unfolding in Congress is a reminder of the role our movement must play. Our representatives must understand that non-binding resolutions don't cut it -- they have to stand up to the Bush administration and use their power to end the war and bring the troops home NOW! This means voting NO on the war supplemental. In the coming weeks we will provide talking points and other organizing resources to help you do this work. Be sure to keep checking the UFPJ website for updates and information. *5) 4TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR IN **IRAQ** -- MARCH 19TH* With more and more people dying everyday, this anniversary is an important moment to make the cost of war visible and make our growing opposition known! United for Peace and Justice has issued a call for local, decentralized actions against the war in Iraq -- and against a new war in Iran -- in order to make sure our voices are heard. In many places local groups are already planning activities: rallies and marches, educational events, and nonviolent civil disobedience. These actions will include our focus on Congress, as well as continue to put pressure on the war machine by supporting GI resistance, opposing military recruitment efforts and disrupting war profiteers. Check the calendar on the UFPJ website to find out what's being planned in your area , and be sure to list any activities you might be planning or helping to organize. It doesn't matter if your activity is on the exact date of the anniversary -- any actions around that time will be included in our listings. Let's make sure that every city and town in every corner of the country has activities demanding an end to the war in Iraq now! If you have never done something like this before and want some help, get in touch with our national office at 212-868-5545. As always, we welcome and greatly appreciate your financial support in helping us to continue this work. Please help us keep the momentum toward peace growing by taking a moment to make a donation today! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ***ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE* www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545 To subscribe, visit www.unitedforpeace.org/email ** *__ * ** ** ** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070215/4b53f484/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 15 16:19:56 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: MoveOn errors re Holt Bill---] Message-ID: <45D4F8AC.5040505@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: MoveOn errors re Holt Bill--- Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:40:52 -0800 From: rand dawson The below information from "BlackBoxVoting" and other impeachable sources indicates the recent MoveOn support for the *_Holt bill_* was wrongheaded. Please circulate...and then consider if we have no choice but to inform our legislators: Capital Switchboard here: *1-800-426-8073 *877-762-8762 find your local congressperson, along with contact >info, by going to http://www.congress.org and entering your zip code. >From: *_Black Box Voting_* [mailto:blackboxvoting@worldnet.att.net] >Subject: *Beware of the Bandwagon: A concise list of problems in Holt Bill >HR 811 * >*There is a reason you are receiving e-mails (MoveON...) to urge your congressperson to >"hurry" and pass the Holt Bill. _They hope it won't be read. _* >You should know this -- the following groups have come out against the new >Holt Bill: > >- Black Box Voting has publicly come out against the Bill >- Open Voting Consortium has publicly come out against the Bill >- Brad Friedman (BradBlog) has publicly come out against the Bill >- Jon Bonifaz (VoterAction.org / Demos) has publicly come out against the >Bill >- Paul Lehto has publicly come out against the Bill >- Democracy for New Hampshire has publicly come out against the Bill > >Decline to support: >- John Gideon (VotersUnite, VoteTrustUSA) has publicly refused to support >the bill > >and there will be more. > >HERE'S WHY > >1. DECEPTIVE LANGUAGE. Calls a paper TRAIL a paper BALLOT. > >2. BILLION DOLLAR UNFUNDED MANDATE: Requires text conversion technology in >every polling place. At $7000 per machine for 185,000 polling places, you >do the math. See this article for documentation on the billion-dollar >boondoggle: >http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/46649.html > >The bill is not talking about scanner wands, folks. Or if it is, they'd >better specify that, and soon! Except that apparently, it's too late to >make changes. > >Note that only two vendors currently manufacture the needed technology, and >one (Populex) has as head of its advisory board Frank Carlucci, the former >chairman of the Carlyle Group, former CIA director, who was Donald >Rumsfeld's roommate in college. Every polling place in America. Is this >really what you want? Isn't it time to read the fine print on this??? > >3. MAKES THE SCANDAL RIDDEN EAC A PERMANENT FIXTURE AND INCREASES ITS >POWER. Alan Dechert, from the Open Voting Consortium says it best: "Holt >contemplates the invasion of these United States by the Federal government. >If passed, it would BREAK the voting system in the states while >establishing a dictatorship to handle things: the Election Assistance >Commission ("EAC" or just "the Commission") with its four commissioners >appointed by the president of the United States." Bradblog on latest EAC >scandal: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4119 > >4. ALLOWS LOSS OF SECRET BALLOTS for the Military > >5. NO RECOGNITION OF CITIZEN RIGHT TO OVERSIGHT. Audit provisions do not >allow either citizens or candidates access to any records for meaningful >audits. > >6. CONFLICTING REQUIREMENTS -- ie, must have text converters by 2008 and >must study how to best do the conversions by 2010. > >7. LANGUAGE ON DISCLOSED SOURCE CODE CONTAINS AN ERROR in that it doesn't >deal with COTS - meaning, any electronics component with a chip on it would >be required to disclose source code. There are literally hundreds of >commercial off the shelf components in the system -- printers, video >drivers, motherboard components -- that contain firmware, and these are >manufactured all over the world. The bill would require Hitachi, Seagate, >Fuji, Western Digital to open up their code for their commercial products >if used in voting machines. Effectively eliminates the use of electronics >while at the same time mandating electronics. > >8. MUSH LANGUAGE. (Example: "The manufacturer shall provide the appropriate >election official with the information necessary for the official to >provide the information...") > >9. UNREADABLE: People complain about their legislators not reading the >bills -- well the way this is written, it guarantees they won't read it. No >Appendix, so sections of the bill require the reader to actually go find a >different bill and look up sections in it in order to make sense of the >current bill. (example: "Section 301(a)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. >15481(a)(1)) is amended (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking "counted" >and inserting "counted, in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3)"); > >10. AUDIT PROTOCOLS NO ONE AGREES WITH, even fans of audit solutions > >11. LOOPHOLE ALLOWING INTERNET CONNECTIONS for central tabulators and >ballot definition software > >12. LOOPHOLE ALLOWING MANUAL AUDITS TO BE BYPASSED states with >computer-only recount protocols > >13. LOOPHOLE ALLOWING MACHINE COUNT TO SUPERCEDE VOTER VERIFIED PAPER when >fuzzily described circumstances arise. Los Angeles Registrar Conny >McCormack already has tried to co-opt this (Feinstein senate hearing >yesterday) into meaning when there is a printer jam damaging the paper, the >machine count will trump. > >14. SUPPORTS DREs (Touch-screens and other on-screen voting techniques that >are NOT recommended by NIST) > >This is a devastating development. So many people worked so very hard on >this bill, but in the end it isn't about who worked hard. It's about >getting it right. We can't afford another set of HAVA problems. > >And if it's got this many problems now, just wait until the lobbyists carve >it up. > >We're going to have to roll up our sleeves to get what CITIZENS want. More >action-oriented, solution-focused information to follow. Black Box Voting >is working right now with many other group leaders to brainstorm the best >way to deal with this. > >Bev Harris >Founder - Black Box Voting > ># # # # # > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Government is the servant of the people, and not the master of them. The >people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the >right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good >for them to know. We insist on remaining informed so that we may retain >control over the instruments of government we have created. > >* * * * * > >Black Box Voting is a nonpartisan, nonprofit elections watchdog group >supported by citizen donations. The work of Black Box Voting has been >featured on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News Network, MSNBC, the New York >Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, and was featured in the recent >HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy." > >To support Black Box Voting, click to >http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html or send to: >330 SW 43rd St Suite K >PMB 547 >Renton WA 98057 >Contact information and press kit: >http://www.blackboxvoting.org/presskit.html > >* * * * * > From cvar at peak.org Fri Feb 16 17:25:33 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [endcorporatepersonhood] President's Day SweatFree Rally] Message-ID: <45D6598D.7050305@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [endcorporatepersonhood] President's Day SweatFree Rally Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:13:16 -0800 (PST) From: marcia meyers The End Corporate Personhood Action Group is working in coalition with over 35 other Portland Community Groups to pass a SweatFree Portland City Ordinance. Come join us next Monday to support this work. Kate Lore, our Unitarian Church Social Justice Director, will be the MC. Hope to see you there!! *RALLY FOR A SWEATSHOP FREE PORTLAND * Monday, February 19^th (President?s Day) 12pm-1pm In front of City Hall (1221 SW 4^th Ave, between Madison and Jefferson Streets) *Tell City Council to Make Portland Sweatshop Free: * *Support a meaningful sweatfree ordinance that respects labor and human rights* *on city contracts. *Join Portland with cities and states nationwide in a worker rights consortium to monitor labor conditions. *_Hear first hand from:_* Sweatshop Workers: *From Colombia--Beatriz (Betty) Fuentes ---President of Sintrasplendor union at Splendor Flowers, a Dole-owned cut flower plantation *From India: Kotagarahalli Jayaram, an organizer for the Garment and Textile Workers? Union (GATWU) Oregon?s Labor Commissioner, Dan Gardner *------* _Background on the campaign:_ The goal of the sweatfree campaign is to end taxpayer subsidies of human rights abuses. The City of Portland purchases goods from companies known to have partnered with subcontractors accused of labor rights violations. The Sweatfree Coalition is working to pass a sweatfree ordinance that upholds local and international labor laws and respects the dignity of all workers. _How do sweatshops affect us?_ Sweatshops? -hurt worker and human rights everywhere. -undermine local economies and the competitive ability of companies with fair labor practices. -do not support our city?s values. It is time to make Portland sweatfree! _Take Action:_ -Attend the rally! -Download a flyer and encourage your friends, family, and co-workers to attend (http://www. sweatfree. org/docs/ pdx/pdxrallyfull page.pdf) -Learn more about the Sweatfree PDX campaign: www.sweatfree. org/portland Organized by the Portland Sweatfree Coalition. For the full list of the 35+ labor, faith, student, community, and political organizations: _http://www.sweatfre e.org/portlandca mpaignendorse_ . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From cvar at peak.org Mon Feb 19 12:15:37 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] One Voice: youth movmement for peace Message-ID: <45DA0569.1070405@peak.org> ----- Original Message ----- *To:* usgp-int@gp-us.org *Sent:* Sunday, February 18, 2007 10:04 AM *Subject:* Re: USGP-INT Check out this inspiring online video on the peace process in the Middle East > > I found this video to be hopeful. Has anyone heard of this > grassroots > movement called One Voice? > > Check out this inspiring online video on the peace process in the > Middle > East: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34bVcLMrcRs&NR > > Claire Mortimer From gbhutch at charter.net Mon Feb 19 13:43:11 2007 From: gbhutch at charter.net (George B. Hutchinson) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] Monday: tell Smith & Wyden to stop the war Message-ID: <014001c7546e$f860fcf0$020fa8c0@GeoMXR4252113> Begin forwarded message: From: "Michael Munk" Both Oregon Senators will be in town on Monday night for a live televised "Ask you Senator" event at KGW. This is an invitation only town hall type meeting but apparently no one from the peace community was invited. We don't think it's right that the Seantors are unwilling to have a discussion with their constituents unless they were invited and their questions vetted. Several of us peace activists have been talking about greeting the Senators and the audience guests outside the KGW studios. There is a high probability that the No War Drum Corp will be joining us and we thought it would be great to bring pots and pans in a salute to Molly Ivins. Let's make some noise and tell our Senators that they must stop funding the occupation of Iraq and bring the troops home NOW! Monday, February 19th 6 PM Corner of SW Jefferson and 15th Please pass this on to your lists -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070219/dd506523/attachment.htm From politicaltao at taotetao.com Mon Feb 19 19:22:13 2007 From: politicaltao at taotetao.com (Political Tao) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] Announce - February 19th, 2007 Message-ID: Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ pgp-announce mailing list pgp-announce@list.pacificgreens.org http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-announce From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 20 16:54:03 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [GPUS-PAX] The new Iraq oil law..translation from Arabic] Message-ID: <45DB982B.1020309@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [GPUS-PAX] The new Iraq oil law..translation from Arabic Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:34:52 -0500 From: Nancy Allen Reply-To: peace@gp-us.org The proposed new Iraq oil law.. http://www.freefilehosting.org/public/37070/Iraqi%20Oil%20Law.pdf Please send this around. It has been translated and probably is not official. Article 9 defines the role of foreign oil companies. You can find this also at Raed Jarrar's website www.raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/20/1523250 DemocracyNOW Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 New Iraq Oil Law To Open Iraq's Oil Reserves to Western Companies The Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar has obtained a copy of the proposed oil law and has just translated it into English. He discusses the new law with Antonia Juhasz, author of "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time." [includes rush transcript] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In one of the first studies of Iraqi public opinion after the US-led invasion of March 2003, the polling firm Gallup asked Iraqis their thoughts on the Bush administration's motives for going to war. One percent of Iraqis said they believed the motive was to establish democracy. Slightly more - five percent - said to assist the Iraqi people. But far in the lead was the answer that got 43 percent - "to rob Iraq"s oil." Well, with the four-year mark of the Iraq war less than a month away, the answer may come into clearer view. After a long negotiation process involving US officials, the Iraqi government is considering a new oil law that would establish a framework for managing the third-largest oil reserves in the world. What would this new law mean for Iraq? With me now from Washington DC is Raed Jarrar - He is the Iraq Project Director for Global Exchange. He has obtained a copy of the proposed oil law which he translated from Arabic and posted on his website www.raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com . And Antonia Juhasz is on the phone with us -- She has written extensively about the economic side of the US occupation of Iraq and is the author of the book, "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time." Antonia is a Tarbell Fellow at Oil Change International. We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Raed Jarrar Iraq Project Director for Global Exchange. He is an Iraqi blogger and architect. He runs a popular blog called "Raed in the Middle." Antonia Juhasz, author and activist. She is a Tarbell Fellow at Oil Change International. Her latest book is called "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Econony at a Time." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RUSH TRANSCRIPT This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more... AMY GOODMAN: With me now in Washington is Raed Jarrar. He is the Iraq Project Director for Global Exchange, and he has obtained a copy of the proposed oil law, which he translated from Arabic and posted on his website, raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com. Antonia Juhasz is also with us on the telephone. She has written extensively about the economic side of the US occupation of Iraq and is author of the book, The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time. Antonia is currently a Tarbell Fellow at Oil Change International. We welcome you both to Democracy Now!. Raed Jarrar, first, how did you get this document? RAED JARRAR: The document was leaked by Professor Fouad Al-Ameer and published on a website called al-ghad.org. And then it was leaked to other important websites like niqash.org and other places. There are different ways of -- different copies of it. Some of it are scanned, and others of the original document, but it just hit the internet last week. AMY GOODMAN: And explain what it says, now that you've finished translating it. RAED JARRAR: It said so many things. I don't think we can summarize it this short, because it's a very long document, around thirty pages. But majorly, there are three major points that I think we should talk about. Financially, it legalizes very unfair types of contracts that will put Iraq in very long-term contracts that can go up to thirty-five years and cause the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars from Iraqis for no cause. And the second point is concerning Iraq's sovereignty. Iraq will not be capable of controlling the levels -- the limits of production, which means that Iraq cannot be a part of OPEC anymore. And Iraq will have this very complicated institution called the Federal Oil and Gas Council, that will have representatives from the foreign oil companies on the board of it, so representatives from, let's say, ExxonMobil and Shell and British Petroleum will be on the federal board of Iraq approving their own contracts. And the third point is the point about keeping Iraq's unity. The law is seen by many Iraqi analysts as a separation for Iraq fund. The law will authorize all of the regional and small provinces' authorities. It will give them the final say to deal with the oil, instead of giving this final say to central federal government, so it will open the doors for splitting Iraq into three regions or even maybe three states in the very near future. AMY GOODMAN: Antonia Juhasz, what is the significance of this for Western oil companies? ANTONIA JUHASZ: Well, in my mind, the law certainly opens the door to US oil companies and the Bush administration winning a very large piece of their objective of going to war in Iraq, at least winning it on paper. The law does almost word for word what was laid out in the Baker-Hamilton recommendation, which I discussed previously on your show, which is, at the very basic level, to turn Iraq's nationalized oil system, the model that 90% of the world's oil is governed by, take its nationalized oil system and turn it into a commercial system fully open to foreign corporate investment on terms as of yet to be decided. So it leaves vague this very important question of what type of contracts will the Iraqi government use. But what it leaves clear is that basically every level of the oil industry will be open to private foreign companies. And, as Raed said, it introduces this very unique model, which is that ultimate decision making on contracts rests with a new council to be set up in Iraq, and sitting on that council will be representatives -- executives, in fact -- of oil companies, both foreign and domestic. In addition, it does maintain the Iraq National Oil Company, but gives the Iraq National Oil Company almost no preference. It's almost in all cases just another oil company among lots of other companies, including US oil companies. And this council, the new oil and gas council, is going to be the decision making body to determine what kind of contract the Iraqis can sign, and all contract models are still on the table, yet to be determined. I think that's left vague or open, so that the very necessary criticism to earlier drafts of the law, which included specifically production sharing agreements, might be quieted. But the law definitely sets up a very dangerous setup for Iraq's future economic stability, economic development, and certainly sets the stage for a tremendous amount of increased hostility and violence to US soldiers positioned on the ground, as being seen as the implementers of this oil hijack. AMY GOODMAN: Antonia, what about the advocates' argument for Western company involvement, that they need to come into Iraq to kick-start the oil development? ANTONIA JUHASZ: Iraq's oil development has actually been going quite well since the invasion under the guidance of the Iraqis themselves. Prior to the war, Iraq produced 2.5 million barrels of oil a day. Since the war, it's been producing about 2.2 million barrels of oil a day. That's definitely dropped most recently, because of the intense violence in Iraq of late. And there have definitely been targeted actions against the oil system as demonstrations of opposition to the occupation. So I believe there is a very concrete argument that can be made that the best thing that Iraq can do right now to see its oil infrastructure secure and pumping at a reasonable level is to see the US occupation end. Given that Iraq's oil only costs less than a dollar per barrel to pump and oil is selling at over $50 per barrel, the Iraqis are already making a tremendous return on their oil. The danger is that under the different models of oil contract that are being put on the table, that the Iraqis would lose the vast majority of that profit to the foreign oil companies. Now, just really quickly, Iraqis have lost a fair amount of expertise, technical know-how, as technology has increased over the past eleven years and the Iraqis were shut out because of the sanctions. The answer to that is found in the models put forward by their neighbors, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are technical service contracts that countries sign with foreign companies to bring in that expertise, but under very limited time frames and very specific economic benefits to the companies and to the country, not these 35-year contracts, as Raed said, and the potential for vast profits leaving the country. AMY GOODMAN: Raed Jarrar, what is the response of Iraqis, of people in Iraq? RAED JARRAR: No one in Iraq knows about the law. The law has been kept in a very low profile, and there is a huge propaganda campaign by the government trying to portray the law as straight and good for Iraq, a law that will turn Iraq into heaven on earth, because it will bring all of the foreign investments. Even parliamentarians in the Iraqi government, the ones who will have the final say to pass this law, haven't received a copy of this law yet. I sent them the copy three or four days ago, and I sent a copy to many of the other Iraqi bloggers and journalists, because I think it's very important to raise awareness about this and make it an issue. The Iraqi government and the Bush administration are trying to keep a very low profile in Iraq on this law. I think they're planning just to, you know, surprise the parliamentarians one morning and have them vote on it without any knowledge of what the law actually causes. AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk, Raed Jarrar, about the control, the dispute over federal or regional control of oil in Iraq? RAED JARRAR: Most of the control will be under the regional and provincial authorities. They have all of the authority of monitoring and even dealing with small disputes. Now, there is this bigger council that is very complicated, very bureaucratic. This council just has the authority to veto what the regional and provincial authorities decide. So in case the council just stayed silent, everything can go without any interruption. So, you can see that this council is kind of controlled by foreign companies, as well, so the possibilities of the council vetoing what's happening on the regional level will be very small. So we end up having a situation where Iraqis in different provinces will start signing contracts directly with foreign companies and competing between themselves, among themselves, among different Iraqi provinces, to get the oil companies to go to there without any centralized way in controlling this and thinking of the Iraqi interest and protecting Iraq as a country. AMY GOODMAN: This document that you've translated into English was originally written in Arabic? RAED JARRAR: No, the document was originally written in English. It was sent to the Iraqi oil ministry, and some parts of it were changed, and some parts were edited, some parts were added. So when I translated it, I made my translation based on a previously leaked English copy, which is the original version of this law. The English copy leaked in mid-2006. So this -- the Arabic version now is totally based on that one. There are, I think out of the twenty-nine or thirty pages, there are around six or seven totally new pages, and there are new sections here and there. But the major differences, as I mentioned, are regarding the authorities that can control oil, and it can show very clearly what the Iraqi leaders, who are influential and can control these laws, are planning to do. It can show very clearly that there are very influential separatist Iraqi leaders who are trying to use this law to fund the separatist project and to turning Iraq into three states. In fact, one of the things that I did while translating is I kept some traces of the original one and put a line over the -- like struck them, so that people can see the small differences, how many of the authorities that were supposed to be a given to the central government and to the ministry now were shifted to the regional authorities. Like, this is the most interesting thing that happened in the changes. But overall, it's a law that is promoted by the Bush administration and the IMF. It's not at all an urgent item on the Iraqi agenda. It's just an urgent item on the Bush and the IMF agenda. AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Antonia, who has the largest oil reserves in the world, the top three? ANTONIA JUHASZ: Saudi Arabia is one. Iraq is two. Iran is three. And I think in that list, particularly obviously Iraq and Iran, you can see pretty clearly a key focus for the Bush administration in its remaining years in office. AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that is related to this current intensification of focus on Iran, the possibility of a US strike on Iran? ANTONIA JUHASZ: Oh, most certainly. You know, to be clear, oil is about a lot of things. Oil is about profit, and it's about the money that the oil interests in the United States, which of course also include members of the Bush administration, can get. But controlling the second and third largest oil reserves in the world also has a tremendous amount to do with imperial power and global power that the Bush administration wants. Controlling that oil denies it to other countries that want it, like China and India, countries that the Bush administration now sees itself in rivalry to. And it also gets the government in control of a resource that is obviously dwindling in supply and which they want to hold onto. And they have been quite clear, meaning members of the Bush administration, but also the United States government, in its dedication to securing Middle East oil for the United States, and that agenda has hit high speed under this administration, where corporate and oil interests are part and parcel to government interest. And I definitely think that if we in the United States want to end the war in Iraq and want to prevent another war in Iran, we have to pull back this curtain over that three-letter word, "oil," and expose this agenda. The four-year anniversary of the war, coming up March 19th, is a critically important opportunity to do that and in the lead-up to that anniversary to really target our attention on demanding that our members of Congress defund the war and that we direct our attention and our protest energy on revealing this oil agenda. And to that end, Oil Change International, the organization I work with, is going to be in the coming weeks working with our allies to pull together some clear lists of activities and actions that folks can do, particularly on exposing the oil law in Iraq. So I encourage folks to come to our website to check that out. AMY GOODMAN: Antonia Juhasz, I want to thank you for being with us, Tarbell Fellow at the Oil Change International, author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time. And Raed Jarrar in Washington, D.C., is the Iraq Project Director for Global Exchange. His blog is raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com. To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (888) 999-3877. _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace@lists.gp-us.org http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/peace From nengel1 at verizon.net Wed Feb 21 10:49:00 2007 From: nengel1 at verizon.net (Nick) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] Tell Salem and Medford to Curb Global Warming Message-ID: <0JDT00FGKTLVVOI0@vms040.mailsrvcs.net> Salem and Medford are two of the largest cities in Oregon that have not yet made a firm commitment to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The Oregon Cities Climate Solutions Network (OCCSN) is collecting signatures on two petitions - one directed at each city - urging the mayors of Salem and Medford to take action. Local governments are at the forefront of the movement to curb global warming in the United States, and it is essential that all of our largest cities get on board. Please visit the OCCSN Action Dashboard at http://mysite.verizon.net/res70apg/occsnactiondashboard/ and sign the petitions. There is no time to lose! Sincerely, Nicholas Angel-Peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070221/69c89ea3/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 21 12:15:55 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [GPUS-PAX] Mother Jones on Iraq] Message-ID: <45DCA87B.9000709@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [GPUS-PAX] Mother Jones on Iraq Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:44:20 -0500 Reply-To: peace@gp-us.org Unbelievably thorough and detailed article on the Iraq effect in the March issue of Mother Jones. For instance there is a graph at the bottom of the sources section that shows there were 43 instances of Jihadi terrorism worldwide before the Iraq invasion by the US and 688 after the invasion. http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/03/iraq_effect_7.html This is really a remarkable work. Probably best to go and buy the issue if you do not subscribe...nancy Entire article... http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/03/iraq_effect_1.html _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace@lists.gp-us.org http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/peace From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 21 12:17:43 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [GPUS-PAX] The Fierce Urgency of Impeachment by David Swanson] Message-ID: <45DCA8E7.409@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [GPUS-PAX] The Fierce Urgency of Impeachment by David Swanson Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:54:01 -0500 Reply-To: peace@gp-us.org "The Green party publicly stands for impeachment. Every other party should join them." http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/1004/32/ The Fierce Urgency of Impeachment Tuesday, 20 February 2007 by David Swanson Remarks at Emergency Impeachment Conference in New York City, February 17, 2007 It's an honor to be speaking with these panelists and it's great to be back in New York. But I want to ask you one thing about New York, because there's something I heard Senator Hillary Clinton say and I want to know if it's true. Is it true that if you live in New York you have to support this war? Can you live in New York and work for peace? That's what I thought. I got up at 2 a.m. this morning in Charlottesville, Va., my town and the town of Thomas Jefferson, the man whose greatest fear for our republic was of elected despotism. Jefferson and Madison and Mason and the others who drafted the most influential Constitution the world has seen, created a system of elections, but devoted much more attention and many more words to creating a system for maintaining our democracy in between elections. They gave this essential power to the House of Representatives, as the branch most subject to popular control, and they called this power impeachment. The founders knew that democracy could only be maintained through eternal vigilance. But we - or perhaps more G.E. and Disney than we - have substituted for eternal vigilance an eternal election season. I don't know if the founders could have imagined the way in which elections are killing our democracy, but they certainly imagined that the loss of the power of impeachment would mean a return to tyranny. No one can say exactly how long our window of opportunity is to get impeachment up and running before it's effectively blocked by the November 2008 election. Is it too late already? Do we have two months? Three months? Four months? Wiser minds than mine seem inclined to think we may have until roughly the end of April to get the impeachment process up and running. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep pushing until January 2009 if need be. But it does mean that if you or your organization are on the edge of accepting the need for impeachment you should bear in mind that it will be much more helpful for you to make that decision right now than later this year or next year. Seventeen Republicans took a tiny step forward against the war on Friday. They did that because Republican voters are turning against Bush and Cheney. Republicans should think very hard about something. Do you, as a Republican, want future Democratic presidents to have the ability to rewrite laws with signing statements? Do you want them to have the ability to spy on you with no legal oversight? I know Libertarians don't want that. Congressman Ron Paul says Bush should be impeached, but Congressman Paul has not found the nerve to do anything about it - yet. The Green party publicly stands for impeachment. Every other party should join them. Impeachment is not a means of empowering a party. It's a way to empower the American people and the first branch of our government, the Congress. But the fact is that if the Democratic Party takes a stand for impeachment, it will gain the respect and support of Americans and of people all over the world, and it will be rewarded. When the Democrats failed to impeach Reagan for Iran-Contra, thinking they could thereby win elections, they lost elections and put George Bush I in power - and we are suffering from that still. Americans do not vote for cowardice. They voted for Democrats post-Nixon, but not post-Reagan. The current crop of Democrats has shown that it will not act to end the war without some sort of kick-start, something to strengthen the hand of opponents of Bush and Cheney. Impeachment is the one thing that might shift the balance. A labor union member and peace activist sent me an Email yesterday that said: If the peace movement wants to succeed, we can't fail to employ the threat of impeachment any more than a union can promise never to go on strike. Right now, unions are lobbying hard to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore the right to effectively organize unions in this country. But Cheney has promised to have Bush veto it. It is time for unions to threaten a strike. In politics a strike is called impeachment. Environmental organizations are concerned that we only have to many years to reverse our energy policy if we are going to reverse global warming. But any bills to do that will be vetoed or signing statemented. You cannot tell me that you care about global warming and that you're willing to sit on your hands for two full years because impeachment is not your focus. It had better become your focus or the rest of us are going to learn about global warming the hard way. Pick an issue, any issue, and a compelling case can be made that your priority for the next few months should be impeachment. Failing to pursue impeachment will mean two more years of war, detention, torture, and abuse, and the defunding of every useful public project. Two years is a quarter of the Bush, Cheney presidency. Pick any past two years of that presidency, and you have an idea of the catastrophe we're facing. The results of it will last well beyond the end of the two years. To recognize the gravity of the impeachable offenses that Cheney and Bush have committed and yet not work to end them because your focus is elsewhere is, in many cases, to lose your focus. A citizen who does not work for impeachment when it is merited is a neighbor who watches a murder and does not intervene. We're all busy. We all have vitally important missions. But that's a murder outside the window. You wouldn't watch and do nothing. But the Bush Administration is killing hundreds of thousands of people every year by acts of commission and omission, people of Iraq, of Africa, of New Orleans, of the world. And if we fail to impeach, we will establish the precedent to allow future presidents to do the same and worse. Impeachment is the nonviolent answer to this crisis. We should feel no animosity toward any human being, and we should condemn all acts of violence. This is absolutely essential if we are to succeed. But we should act with deliberateness and determination to restore the rule of law and hold accountable those who would place themselves above it. _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace@lists.gp-us.org http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/peace From peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com Wed Feb 21 15:35:40 2007 From: peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com (Alejandro Beltran) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] Peace Activists Use Character, Not Lawyers, to Argue Their Case Message-ID: Kansas City infoZine - http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/21141/ Wednesday, February 21, 2007 Peace Activists Use Character, Not Lawyers, to Argue Their Case By *Michael Famiglietti* - When a group of antiwar activists went on trial last week, they opted for peace buttons and flimsy spiral notebooks instead of two-piece suits and crisp clean legal pads. They didn't even bring lawyers. More than 30 protesters choose to defend themselves in a mass trial on charges of unlawful assembly and crossing a police line after their arrests in September during two days of protests on Capitol Hill. But before they pelted the judge with motions to dismiss the charges and impromptu speeches against the war in Iraq, they huddled in the stark hallway of D.C. Superior Court to cobble together a strategy. They looked anxious and unsettled. The day before, a snowstorm had closed the court, irking many of the defendants who had flown in from around the country. Jobs in Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, Washington and elsewhere remained on hold while prosecutors scrambled to reassemble their witnesses. About 20 others received a continuance to March 14 because the weather prevented their arrival. Day One Max Obuszewski, a self-described full-time activist, lead the group with words of encouragement. He spoke with a confidence rooted in experience, his words tumbling like boulders down a steep hill. Slightly bent over, wearing a beige sweater and black jeans, he looked more like a college professor than a man facing a $250 misdemeanor fine. "We don't know where we're at," said Obuszewski of Baltimore. "We have power, and we don't want to relinquish that power. We don't want to play to their music; we want to go for dismissal." He refused to reveal his age because, he said, "I'm a mature adult and that's all that matters." Eve Tetaz, a 75-year-old former high school English teacher, interrupted him as she ran toward the group. The circle moved to let the white-haired woman with the black spectacles in. "I just spoke to Mark," she said, referring to Mark Goldstone, her court-appointed attorney on another case. "He said he's not coming down." Tetaz, of Washington, told everyone that Goldstone would continue to provide advice by cell phone but wouldn't come to the courthouse unless they wanted him to. Few expressed interest because they said they were determined to fight the charges themselves. "I was arrested, so I want to represent myself," said Timothy Baer, 44 of Nashville, Ind. Tetaz spouted warm greetings and gave hugs to her fellow defendants, her words too maternal to ignore. It was surprising, considering she was the only one who could have ended up in jail, as the only one fighting multiple charges. During the Sept. 26 and 27 protests, Tetaz was arrested twice, for crossing a police line and for engaging in an unlawful assembly. On the 26th she tried to place a mock coffin, covered in pictures of dead Iraqis, on the Capitol steps with demonstrators who had left a permitted protest in Upper Senate Park. On the 27th, Tetaz was one of many who had lain down in front of the Rayburn House Office Building beneath white sheets to mimic those killed in Iraq. Police said it constituted unlawful assembly because it prevented people from entering the building. She was also arrested Jan. 11 when she protested the treatment of Guantanamo Bay prisoners. That trial is set for April 18. Prosecutors asked that she receive jail time because of the repeated offenses. "This was a very dramatic way to bring our horror in a concrete manner to the attention of the American people," she testified. Arrests also occurred at the Russell and Hart Senate Office Buildings on the 26th. Demonstrators from the Upper Senate Park went to the Hart building's atrium, where they sang and chanted their way to charges of unlawful assembly. Others went to Russell, demanding to see their senators, They ended up in cuffs for crossing a police line. U.S. Capitol Police said they set up the lines to protect the Capitol from protesters because they did not know their intentions and to protect them from nearby construction. The unlawful assembly charges stemmed from police worries that the jarring demonstrations would halt daily business at both buildings. Maximum fines are $250 for unlawful assembly and $300 for crossing a police line. At the outset of the trial, the defendants couldn't sit still. Their legs crossed and uncrossed repeatedly, either from a fear of losing or from the leftover Valentine's Day candy that made its way around the room. When Obuszewski entered the courtroom, he tore off his sweater, revealing a black T-shirt with the word "peace" on it. He danced about the room like a prizefighter who had just tossed his robe to a trainer. "We've all got to go into the tiger pit," he said. Tetaz smiled and took a seat near the back. Chief Judge Rufus G. King III began the trial by dismissing a string of the defendants' motions to dismiss the case. He looked amused at the rowdy group. His bow tie seemed similar to that of a referee as he kept the peace between the defendants and the stone-faced assistant U.S. attorneys. Kerslyn Featherstone, prosecuting the Hart and Russell cases, and Brittany Keil, the prosecutor for the Capitol and Rayburn cases, presented only the arresting officers as witnesses. The two argued that the defendants went too far in their protests and the arrests were to bring them under control not to silence their antiwar message. Reconstructing the events took all day. Day Two As the trial resumed, Obuszewski asked King to have his Don Quixote statue, which was confiscated by court security guards, returned to him. He explained that the statue had guided him through all 70 of his arrests since he began protesting in the 1980s. The irony of Miguel de Cervantes' tale about an ordinary man who thinks he's a knight didn't seem lost on King, who had a clerk retrieve the good luck charm. Instead of a statue, Tetaz brought her sister, Ann Barnet, for luck. Barnet, 77 of Washington, read movie reviews from The Washington Post to her sister during court recesses. The two agreed that the Helen Mirren film "The Queen" looked good and that they both dislike Cate Blanchett. The possible 90-day jail sentence hadn't broken Tetaz's mood. "You engage on a journey with the goal of getting there," she said. The protests "were to bring our children home and stop this filthy war." She said she became a peace activist in 1967 when some of her students were arrested during protests against the Vietnam War. In his defense, Obuszewski accused the government of violating the Constitution. "We were targeted because of the content of our speech," he said. He pointed a finger at the prosecutors and looked like he wanted to pounce on them: "You need to stop shredding the Bill of Rights." One of the young prosecutors rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter what the message is," Keil said in her closing statement. "The only issue in this case is whether they crossed the police line." As the tension rose, the activists looked for ways to calm down. They set up origami swans on their chairs and reached across aisles to squeeze each other's hands. But it was Tetaz who ultimately silenced the court with her words. Dwarfed by the court's giant paintings and high ceilings, she pleaded to King for acquittal. "All life is precious. No human life, be it Iraqi or American, should be collateral damage," she said. "Our beloved Constitution guarantees free speech to everyone. The defendants wanted to show the world what democracy looks like." The Verdict After almost two hours in his chambers, King found all but one of the defendants guilty. Catarina Correia, a 36-year-old video editor from Riverdale, Md., was acquitted after a photo showed she didn't cross the Russell Building police line. The others were fined $50, which will go to a fund that helps victims of violent crime. Some said they would pay it for that reason. King said he wouldn't impose jail time because protesters were not violent and they cooperated with law enforcement officials. "If we're going to have demonstrations, these are the demonstrations we want," he said. Tetaz hugged her sister, and Obuszewski asked King to detail the appeals process, including which room he should go to. Before they picked up their crumpled jackets and creased scarves, most of the defendants gathered around Tetaz to thank her for her strength. Wiping tears from their eyes, they just mouthed "thank you." =========================================================================== *Vets for Peace asking Dem to take bite out of Iraq war* By *Emma Ratliff* Boston Herald City Editor Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - Updated: 06:59 AM EST *I*t's was more "Kumbaya" than "Hell No, We Won't Go" at a Veterans for Peace protest at U.S. Rep. Edward Markey's office yesterday. It was so cordial, in fact, that the congressman's Medford office provided doughnuts and coffee. "We are asking that Congress vote 'no' on the $100 billion on supplemental spending in Iraq," said Nate Goldshlag, co-coordinator for the Smedley D. Butler Brigade Chapter 9 of the Veterans for Peace. "The only way this war is going to end is with full congressional support." Markey, who earlier this month urged U.S. House members to adopt a resolution disapproving of the escalation of U.S. troops in Iraq, will meet personally with the protesters today at 6 p.m. The group intends on asking Markey (D-Malden) to sign a pledge not to support supplemental war aid and urge other members of Congress to do the same. "Veterans for Peace and many other groups that I've met with over the last few years are doing good work and I look forward meeting with them again on Wednesday afternoon," Markey said in a statement. ----- http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=184092 ============== ================================================================= town online - http://www.townonline.com/homepage/8998920034474524671 Protestors stage sit in outside Markey's office By Dan Baer/dbaer@cnc.com Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - Updated: 05:28 PM EST More than 20 local representatives from Veterans for Peace began a two-day sit-in protest at the Medford office of U.S. Rep. Edward Markey Tuesday morning, in an effort to sway House Democrats to vote against President Bush's proposed multi-billion dollar supplemental spending measure for the war in Iraq. While Markey did not attend the protest, he released a statement on the issue later in the day and agreed to meet with the group in private Feb. 21 to discuss their request. Campaign representatives provided protestors with coffee and doughnuts and held a press conference inside Markey's office. Veterans for Peace, a non-profit anti-war organization composed of veterans and their family members, organized the sit-in as part of their "National Occupation Project," with which the group hopes to sway at least 218 House members. They said 218 votes would provide the necessary majority to veto the president's supplemental budget request for additional military funding, thereby facilitating the end of the Iraq war. Event organizer Nate Goldshlag, an Army veteran from Arlington, said the group is targeting members of Congress who have spoken out on the war and voted against past supplement requests. "Our goal is simply for Rep. Markey to sign a pledge stating that he will vote 'no' on President Bush's $100 billion supplemental spending request," he said. "We want Congress to stop funding for the war. There is enough money in the pipeline to get our troops safely home. This is a critical time. Congress needs to stand up and say 'no more funding for this war.'" Markey's Chief Aide Joe Dalton told the group that Markey "intends to vote in a way that would bring a prompt end to the war," and said his office supports the group's goals. He said Markey looks "forward to meeting with the group and discussing how to address those goals." Markey also released a statement pledging to vote against the budget if it is "another blank check to continue the war in Iraq." He also said he would continue to direct his energy toward "getting a majority vote in Congress that places meaningful conditions on the President's request, which are concrete steps to disengage from Iraq, redeploy and bring our troops home." Protestors arrived at the congressman's office in Medford Square when it opened at 9 a.m. on Feb. 20 and said they would stay until the 5 p.m. closing time, protesting inside and outside, reading names of the 3,140 American troops killed during the war to date. Group representatives said they planned to continue the protest again on Wednesday morning straight through the meeting with Markey, scheduled for 6 p.m. Many protestors donned signs and banners protesting the war. Some said they were protesting in an effort to end the war before their loved ones could be re-deployed for second and third tours in the Middle East. "It is unbearable to be a military family. To think that we could lose someone so close to us forever because of an illegal, immoral war," said Nina Douglass, a Jamaica Plain resident whose stepson John Paul has done three tours outside of Fallujah. "He is a young man of honor, and that will guide his decisions that he makes." Melrose native Jackie Wattenberg held an "Impeach Bush" sign as she stood in the cold among the other protestors on High Street. She said she is hoping Congress will "step up" and stop future warfare. "We worry about terror, but is killing Muslims in Iraq any way to stop terror?" she said. "Bush keeps saying that the Iraqi people want peace, that they want to live in a peaceful environment. Well, all he is bringing is war and death and destruction to a country that overall did nothing to us. We have to be the leader of the world for human rights and for peace. Then there wouldn't be such a drive for hatred and terrorism." If Congress votes against the president's supplemental budget request in coming weeks, anti-war advocates believe he will have no option but to pull troops out of Iraq and effectively end the war. Protestors said they hope to see all troops back in America by July. "For the people who think that voting against this is unpatriotic, I say that is nonsense," said Goldshlag. "By bringing the troops home now, and not wasting any more lives, we are doing all we can to support them." =============================================================================== Daily Times Chronicle - www.woburnonline.com *Area veterans group marches on Cong. Markey's office in Medford Sq. * By STAFF REPORTS news@woburnonline.com MEDFORD - Area veterans are attempting to make an impression on area Congressman Edward Markey by occupying his offices in downtown Medford. Local members of Veterans For Peace along with members of other area peace organizations are trying to press Congressman Markey to vote against additional funding for the Iraq war. At 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, the group made its move to occupy his offices and held an 11 a.m. press conference on their goals and what they expect from Cong. Markey. Markey on last Tuesday had urged bringing troops home from Iraq in a speech at the U.S. House. Specifically, the veterans asked Markey to sign a pledge to vote against President Bush's $100 billion supplemental budget request now before Congress and to encourage his colleagues to also vote "no". "Two hundred eighteen members of Congress can stop the war in Iraq by using the power of the purse and stop funding the war," said Nate Goldshlag, a U.S. Army veteran from Arlington who is an organizer for Tuesday's event. "In the Senate, the appropriation will fail if 51 Senators vote against it or if 41 Senators filibuster it. There is enough money in the pipeline to safely remove our troops from Iraq once this appropriation is voted down." According to Goldshlag and others, it will be a multi-day occupation. "If Rep. Markey meets with us and signs the pledge, we will leave," he added. Goldshlag stressed the occupation will be peaceful and nonviolent. During the event participants read the names of all the U.S. military casualties in Iraq. The Iraq Occupation Project was initiated February 5th by Voices for Creative Nonviolence and includes occupation events around the country. Other area peace groups who are planning to send representatives to Markey' s office tomorrow include United for Justice with Peace, Maiden Area Communities Against War, Code Pink and others. The Smedley D. Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 of the Veterans For Peace, was established in the mid-1980s and includes more than 100 veterans from the Boston area who are involved in antiwar activities. The local chapter is part of the national Veterans For Peace and is named in honor of Marine Gen. Smedley D. Butler, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history, who turned against war and famously said "War is a racket. A few profit, the many pay." Rep. Edward J. Markey has represented Massachusetts' Seventh Congressional District since 1976. The Seventh District includes 19 cities and towns to include Arlington, Belmont, Everett, Framingham, Lexington, Lincoln, MaIden, Medford, Meirose, Natick, Revere, Stoneham, Waltham, Watertown, Wayland, Weston, Winchester, Winthrop and Woburn. Markey voted for no escalation Over the weekend, Markey had voted along with the entire Mass. delegation for no more escalation of the Iraq war by increasing troops commitments by 21,000. His speech on the floor of the House urged a removal of U.S. troops... ------------------------------------------------- to continue reading go to: http://www.woburnonline.com/frontpage/february07/22007-1.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070221/df4d08e6/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 22 22:06:53 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Dear General Dubik: Let Lt. Watada Resign] Message-ID: <45DE847D.9050409@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Dear General Dubik: Let Lt. Watada Resign Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:21:33 GMT From: Lt. Watada Support Campaign Reply-To: notice-reply-wb7ne6ir16k8bxw@ga0.org Updates & Action Alerts from the Lt. Watada Support Campaign "The war in Iraq is in fact illegal. It is my obligation and my duty to refuse any orders to participate in this war. An order to take part in an illegal war is unlawful in itself. So my obligation is not to follow the order to go to Iraq." - Lt. Ehren Watada *Write to General Dubik at Fort Lewis. Use your own words and include this message:* Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, I urge you to drop all charges against Lt. Watada and to respect the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy by not attempting to court martial him again. I also urge you to allow Lt. Watada to resign; he has now completed his initial service agreement with the Army. Sincerely, _____________ Commanding General Fort Lewis and I Corps Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik Bldg 2025 Stop 1 Fort Lewis, WA 98433 *Fax:* Fort Lewis Public Affairs Office (253) 967-0612 *Phone:* General Dubik's Aide 253-967-0022 *and E-Mail* Army Public Affairs: Mr. Paul Boyce, Office of the Chief Army Public Affairs, Paul.Boyce@hqda.army.mil *Educate your community by writing to the editor of your local newspaper -* You can choose one or more of these talking points to help increase public understanding of Lt. Watada's mistrial and why he should be allowed to resign. Click here for more information . *1. An officer does not swear to blindly obey the orders of the commander in chief.* * A commissioned officer does not take the same oath as an enlisted person. * An enlisted person swears to obey the orders of the president and officers above them. * An officer swears to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic" and "bear true faith and allegiance to the same," i.e., the Constitution. *2. Lt. Watada followed military protocol and went to his chain of command before going public with his statement.* Lt. Watada followed protocol and advice from the affairs officer at Fort Lewis before making his public statement on June 7, 2006. *3. Officers are taught to be critical thinkers. Whether their conclusions are right or wrong, it is their duty and right to question orders.* * Professor Richard Swain, of US Military Academy, West Point, was called by the prosecution as an expert in officership and traditions and customs of officers. Swain testified that he teaches officers to be critical thinkers, and they should think for themselves. * Professor Swain outlined the professional conduct for an officer who disagrees with a commanding officer. According to the testimony of his commanding officers, Lt. Watada followed proper procedures. *4. Lt. Watada's actions have not affected the morale of his company.* Lt. Col. Williams James and Lt. Antonia of Fort Lewis both testified that Lt. Watada's actions caused discussion and controversy. Lt. Antonia said that Lt. Watada's actions did not negatively impact the soldiers in his unit. *5. The army court martial was not a fair and impartial trial.* * In a letter dated October 20, 2006 to U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Lt. General Dubik stated that the military justice system "affords Soldiers extensive rights to ensure fair and impartial investigations and trials, just as in the civil system. If this case goes to trial, 1Lt Watada will have an opportunity to present all relevant evidence." * Decisions from the pre-trial hearing and the court martial were intended to prevent Lt. Watada and others from testifying regarding the legality of the Iraq War. This prevented Lt. Watada from presenting any defense witnesses. *6. The mistrial places Lt. Watada in double jeopardy if a new trial is recommended by General Dubik.* The judge's abuse of judicial discretion and the mistrial that resulted have created a situation of double jeopardy should the government attempt to re-try Lt. Watada. * 7. It's time for the army to accept Lt. Watada's resignation.* Lt. Watada has conducted himself with honor and courage. It's time for the U.S. Army to do the same. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Action Center - Lt. Watada Support Campaign . RSS -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070222/b53f3f1d/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 22 22:30:10 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Re: [GPUS-PAX] DIVINE STRAKE IS CANCELLED!!!!!] Message-ID: <45DE89F2.1020100@peak.org> Congratulations! but beware those alternative methods. Joanne Deanna L. Taylor wrote: > Cancellation of Proposed Divine Strake Experiment > > > The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has decided to cancel the > proposed Divine Strake experiment. ?I have become convinced that it?s > time to look at alternative methods that obviate the need for this > type of large-scale test,? said DTRA Director Dr. James A. Tegnelia. > This decision was not based on any technical information that > indicates the test would produce harm to workers, the general public, > or the environment. > > > > Divine Strake was a scientific experiment designed to significantly > advance the nation?s ability to defeat underground facilities that > produce and store weapons of mass destruction. The experiment would > have entailed detonating a large amount of a common blasting agent > over an existing tunnel at the Nevada Test Site. It was to be the > largest in a series of experiments that relied on the specific geology > at that location. > > > > DTRA will attempt to develop alternative scientific means for > obtaining the important data that this experiment would have provided. > Such methods to assess capabilities to defeat underground facilities > do not currently exist. The agency will develop advanced analysis > techniques and conduct confirmatory experiments at a much smaller > scale to assist in developing new capabilities to defeat underground > facilities. > > > > There is a national consensus on the need to improve conventional > capabilities to defeat underground targets that pose a threat to the > United States. ?DTRA remains committed to help develop non-nuclear > means to defeat underground targets. I am optimistic that we will > succeed,? said Tegnelia. > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace@lists.gp-us.org > http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/peace > From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 22 22:54:22 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] Re: Blumeneaur's binding resolution/ Smith action today In-Reply-To: <177901c756f2$f7910820$34351c40@rand1> References: <177901c756f2$f7910820$34351c40@rand1> Message-ID: <45DE8F9E.2040005@peak.org> First a message for folks in Portland and then a report on another lobbying effort at Smith's office. At least these people got in the building. Some folks from Lincoln County were arrested, and then the next day others were kept outside entirely last week. Joanne Cvar rand dawson wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "gail parker" > To: > Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:15 PM > Subject: Blumeneaur's binding resolution/ Smith action today > > >> Just to let you know that next Weds the Portland City Council will be >> voting on a resolution in support of U.S. Congressman Blumeneaur's >> binding resolution to defund the escalation. In order to give >> testimony at City Council call 503-823-4086 tomorrow or Monday in >> order to get the agenda item number in oreder to know what item >> number to sign up for and what time the resolution will be on the >> agenda ( morning or afternoon. This is so great, ehy?!!!Spread the >> word and maybe other cities can do the same. I thought this was >> pretty fast as the announcement of the effort by Blum was just on >> Thom Hartman this morning. >> The action at Smith's office today was fruitless by all appearances >> and yet we were able to keep the aid with us in the lobby of the >> World Trad Center for 2 1/2 hours and we gave him a >> n earfull. I suggested that if he didn't take our message to his >> boss he could be tried as a war criminal, don't know if he could >> actually but he got tears in his eyes which I thought was a good >> sign. There were 4 very smart talking Grammas with us and the effort >> is to continue daily until he tells us that he won't vote to fund the >> war. Pass the word that even if people don't want to be arrested, >> the constant pressure on the office is good. Tentatively, we may get >> a teleconfrence with Smith though we all belive this to be an empty >> promise. >> The organizer is:thorton@walnutstreet.com >> Yours with happy energy from today's events, gp >> >> > From cvar at peak.org Thu Feb 22 23:18:49 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [or-wa] Oregon women arrested at Gordon Smith's] Message-ID: <45DE9559.8000603@peak.org> From Ray DuRay in Bend: > It looks like Senator Gordon Smith's staff in Portland has created a > wonderful PR fiasco. Two elderly women arrested for trying to merely > speak to their Senator. Get the details at dailykos where you can even vote on what to do with the miserableGordon Smith: > > http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/22/72341/7487 From frank1957nieves at gmail.com Fri Feb 23 00:52:45 2007 From: frank1957nieves at gmail.com (Frank Nieves) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [discuss] [news] [Fwd: [or-wa] Oregon women arrested at GordonSmith's] References: <45DE9559.8000603@peak.org> Message-ID: <000a01c75728$05c78a60$6601a8c0@frankr9udq0gjw> Senator Gordon Smith continues pandering to extremist right wing radio. Repeatedly along with Dick the Vice President of the United States, they appear on the kind of corporate media that destroys careers and willfully collectively denies individual freedom and civil rights "frankly". ----- Original Message ----- From: Joanne Cvar To: PGP News Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 2:18 AM Subject: [discuss] [news] [Fwd: [or-wa] Oregon women arrested at GordonSmith's] >From Ray DuRay in Bend: > It looks like Senator Gordon Smith's staff in Portland has created a > wonderful PR fiasco. Two elderly women arrested for trying to merely > speak to their Senator. Get the details at dailykos where you can even vote on what to do with the miserableGordon Smith: > > http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/22/72341/7487 _______________________________________________ pgp-news mailing list pgp-news@list.pacificgreens.org http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-news _______________________________________________ pgp-discuss mailing list pgp-discuss@list.pacificgreens.org http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070223/5e29ee5f/attachment.htm From peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com Fri Feb 23 08:44:28 2007 From: peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com (Alejandro Beltran) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:58 2007 Subject: [news] 60 Minutes, Sunday, 7 p.m.: GIs Petition Congress Over Iraq War Message-ID: *CBS News, 60 Minutes *GIs Petition Congress Over Iraq WarLaw Allows Them To Denounce War And Remain Loyal *Feb. 22, 2007** (CBS) *They say they are not disloyal. They say they are not shirking their duty and that they do not oppose war. But over 1,000 active-duty and reserve members of the U.S. military are against the war in Iraq and have said so in an unusually public way ? by petitioning Congress last month. Several of them appear to explain their actions to *correspondent Lara Logan * this Sunday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. "I'm not anti-war. I'm not a pacifist. I'm not opposed to protecting our country and defending our principles," says Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto, an Iraq war veteran who, along with another veteran, initiated the petition. A 1995 law called the Military Whistleblower act enables military personnel to express their own opinions about Iraq in protected communication directly to Congress. Hutto and others spoke with *60 Minutes* while off duty, off base and out of uniform as conscientious citizens. "But at the same time, as citizens, it's our obligation to have a questioning attitude ? about policy," Hutto tells Logan. Marine Sgt. Liam Madden, who helped Hutto to found the organization they call Appeal for Redress that has attracted 1,000 other military members, is more blunt. "Just because we volunteered for the military doesn't mean we volunteered to put our lives in unnecessary harm and to carry out missions that are illogical and immoral," Madden says. These GIs and others Logan spoke with expressed frustration with their efforts in Iraq and believe there is no end in sight to the war. Other Iraqi war veterans still on duty there believe Appeal for Redress misses a larger point. "As an American soldier, I feel like we took an oath to obey the orders of our commander-in-chief and officers appointed over us," says Army Spec. James Smauldon. Says another serviceman in Iraq, Army Capt. Lawrence Nunn, "I know what I'm here fighting for, to give the Iraqi people some democracy and hope, so I am 100 percent behind this mission. You don't sign up to pick which war you go to." Another Appeal for Redress member, Staff Sgt. Matt Nuckolls, says, "Our leadership gets to choose the mission. Congress gets to choose the mission." He says he's loyally committed to whatever Congress wants him to do but savors the right to question it. "My Congressman is Lacy Clay," Nuckolls says. "I would like to tell him as a constituent of his, 'Is the mission in Iraq really what you want us to be doing?' And then (if) he responds, 'Yes,' OK, well, we go back to Iraq and keep doing what we're doing." Produced By Peter Klein (c) MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/22/60minutes/main2505412.shtml ================================================================================ "...Any U.S. attack scenario would likely include a combination of cruise missiles launched from B-52s, Navy submarines and surface warships, Air Force long-range bomber strikes and short-range attacks by carrier-based Navy jets, land-based Air Force and Marine Corps jets..." http://www.armytimes.com/news/ 2007/02/ntiran070221/ Army Times February 21, 2007 War with Iran would be Navy, Air Force show Some point to buildup in Persian Gulf region as precursor to attack By William H. McMichael - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Feb 22, 2007 20:08:37 EST The attack would probably come by air. Waves of U.S. cruise missiles and warplanes loaded with smart weapons would swoop into Iran from the sea and land bases to destroy key Iranian nuclear facilities. Out in the Persian Gulf, the Navy would wipe out Iran's navy in a matter of days. Iran's air defenses could possibly take out a few higher-flying Navy and Air Force tactical jets before being located and destroyed. In short, the first round would go decisively to the United States. But it wouldn't be without serious repercussions. And the Navy would likely take the brunt of those. It's the unconventional threat that would vex U.S. sailors. An American public that has turned solidly against the war in neighboring Iraq ? according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted Feb. 12-15, 63 percent of those polled oppose sending more troops to Iraq and 56 percent feel the war in Iraq is "hopeless" ? may find it hard to believe that the possibility of attacking much larger, more formidable Iran is even being broached. But the Bush administration claims Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons and has vowed to prevent that from happening. More recently, senior military and intelligence officials say elements within Iran's government are smuggling to Iraqi dissidents components for ever-more-powerful roadside bombs and are using them to kill U.S. troops. The administration backed up its tough talk by deploying the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group a week earlier than planned in January and, in a surprise move, also "surging" the Ronald Reagan to the west Pacific and dispatching the Stennis to the Middle East. There, Stennis joined the already-deployed Dwight D. Eisenhower group and doubled the Navy's combat power in the region. Iran has reacted with angry words ? mostly by hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ? and recent missile tests near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Feb. 8 that Iran would strike U.S. interests worldwide if Iran were attacked, and a leading Iranian cleric said the following day that the U.S. was within Iran's "firing range." The Bush administration and military leaders deny that a war plan is in the works. The Stennis deployment was simply, in the words of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, "to underscore to our friends, as well as to our potential adversaries in the region, that the United States has considered the Persian Gulf and that whole area ? the stability in that area ? to be a vital national interest." As with many other contingencies, the Defense Department has plans for an attack on Iran ? the Navy reportedly updated its plans last September at the direction of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen. But there appears to be little enthusiasm for such a move within the Navy. And none of the analysts and experts interviewed for this story thinks an attack will take place. "People go to the most dramatic case," said Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, who has written on both Iran's conventional military capabilities and its weapons of mass destruction. "But seapower, and military power in general, is often about containment, intimidation, dealing with limited cases. So I would look at the spectrum, not what is the most dramatic thing we could do." The less dramatic spectrum of possible operations, he said, includes beefing up airstrike support for NATO troops in Afghanistan, keeping an eye on Somalia, as well as demonstrating U.S. strength to Gulf allies. The attack No one knows precisely what it would take to light the fuse, or what the U.S. would choose to strike inside Iran if the standoff came to blows. Would it be a factory where the deadly roadside bombs are made? Iran's publicly known, dozen-odd ? and perhaps many dozens more ? key nuclear facilities? Ballistic missile launching sites, to preclude retaliatory strikes against U.S. or Israeli interests in the region? The Army wouldn't be a factor in an attack that would come from the air and sea, not via land. Army troops, tanks and heavy artillery, preoccupied in Iraq, would stay put. Any U.S. attack scenario would likely include a combination of cruise missiles launched from B-52s, Navy submarines and surface warships, Air Force long-range bomber strikes and short-range attacks by carrier-based Navy jets, land-based Air Force and Marine Corps jets... Staff writer Christopher P. Cavas contributed to this report. To continue reading click here - http://www.armytimes.com/news/ 2007/02/ntiran070221/ ============================================================================================================================= *For Immediate Release: February 22, 2007* * * *Press Contacts:* David Swanson, 202.329.7847, david@davidswanson.org Jacob Park, jacob@a28.org * * *Impeach07 Campaign Launched * A growing network of organizations and individuals has launched a new campaign to pursue the immediate impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney through widespread public protest, creative dissent, media activism, education, and coordinated lobbying. Members of the Impeach07 campaign believe that Bush and Cheney have committed high crimes and misdemeanors, including - among many others - misleading the nation into an aggressive war, spying in open violation of the law, and sanctioning the use of torture. The campaign is demanding that Congress Members hold Cheney and Bush accountable through the Constitutional remedy of impeachment. Impeach07 exists to organize people throughout the U.S. to demand that Congress impeach. Newsweek reported in October that a majority of Americans favor impeachment, and in January that 58% said they wished the Bush administration were over. Impeach07 will draw on this energy to mobilize people from all walks of life. As Howard Zinn, noted historian, has said, "Only a great popular upheaval can push both Republicans and Democrats into compliance with the national will." Speaking of the significance of Impeach07, Debra Sweet, Director of The World Can't Waitrive Out the Bush Regime, said: "To end the war in Iraq, prevent Bush from widening the conflict to Iran, stop the dangerous direction of this administration, Bush and Cheney must be impeached. If we do not demand this now, not only will the death and destruction continue for two more years, but all that Bush has done will be legitimized and we will send a terrible message of impunity. We will not accept war crimes being committed in our name." On March 17, the anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, Impeach07 will mobilize for a march on the Pentagon to demand: "End the War and Impeach Bush Now!" Throughout the spring, Impeach07 will spread across the country through a variety of projects. April 28 will be a nationwide day of protest in towns and cities across the country. Preparations have begun for a massive outpouring of creative dissent including rallies, concerts, public forums, street theater, and more. *Initial participating organizations represent hundreds of thousands of antiwar, impeachment, military family, peace, youth and women activists and lawyers. They include *After Downing Street, Backbone Campaign, Center for Constitutional Rights, Citizens Impeachment Commission, CODE PINK Women for Peace, Constitution Summer, Consumers for Peace, Democrats.com, Democracy Rising, Gold Star Families for Peace, Green Party of the United States, Hip Hop Caucus, Impeach the President, ImpeachBush.org, Military Free Zone, National Lawyers Guild, Patriotic Response to Renegade Government, Progressive Democrats of America, Independent Progressive Politics Network, Velvet Revolution, and World Can't Wait: Drive Out the Bush Regime. *Initiatives being organized include, among others:* *-Early- to mid-March: New impeachment efforts announced by prominent persons in a surprising location *-March 2-4: "Town Meeting Democracy Tour" with Cindy Sheehan, John Nichols, and Vermont Iraq war vets, calling for impeachment and withdrawal from Iraq. *-March 17: A MARCH ON THE PENTAGON FOR PEACE AND IMPEACHMENT *-March 18- 20: Local marches and events *-March 19-April 21: A Make Hip-Hop Not War bus tour promoting peace and impeachment *-April 15- 22: We Are Not Buying It -- a boycott of major corporations that are profiting from the Bush administration's policies, making a killing off of killing *-April 28: NATIONWIDE DAY OF PROTEST DEMANDING IMPEACHMENT *-National, state and local impeachment hearings, resolutions, town meetings, and debates, ongoing since the publication of the Downing Street Memos in May 2005 The Reverend Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, said "While the Bush administration spends hundreds of billions of dollars on an immoral and unjust war, millions of people across America are without basic healthcare, housing, education and jobs. More than a year after Hurricane Katrina, the people of New Orleans remain abandoned by an administration that was criminally negligent of its duty to provide for their well-being. Every day that Congress allows Bush and Cheney to continue to serve sends a clear message to America that they care more about politics than people." Cindy Sheehan, founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, said "The Impeach07 campaign represents an important alliance of the peace movement with those that support impeachment. Congress's refusal to impeach Bush and Cheney for the lies that got us into Iraq has perpetuated an illegal war that has already cost the lives of my son Casey and 3,146 other Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. By turning a blind eye they have laid the groundwork for the Bush administration to lie us into a whole new war with Iran, which they are obviously trying to do." Jacob Park, coordinator of the upcoming April 28 nationwide day of protest, said "The time has come for all Americansspecially the members of a Congress which claims to represent uso decide what they believe in. Do we stand for lying, spying, and torture? Or do we stand for truth, freedom, and justice? Impeachment is a self-evident moral imperative and we hope that all people of conscience will join us in sending Washington a resounding message that to allow Bush and Cheney to continue ruling as self-appointed "deciders" makes a mockery of our most basic values and the very notion of democracy." Elaine Brower, mother of a U.S. Marine who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said "Enough is enough. If we do not demand impeachment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes, the entire world will be facing endless death and devastation. We are allowing our government officials free reign to wreak havoc unless we, the people, get a backbone to stop them." For more information see the campaign website at http://www.impeach07.org A list of speakers available for interviews can be found at http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/speakers # # # -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070223/39af58b1/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Fri Feb 23 13:13:34 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [GPUS-PAX] Scramble for Iraq's oil begins as troops start to pull out (Independent)] Message-ID: <45DF58FE.2020005@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [GPUS-PAX] Scramble for Iraq's oil begins as troops start to pull out (Independent) Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:14:47 -0500 From: Nancy Allen Reply-To: peace@gp-us.org This is immoral, disgusting and illegal and the criminal companies and countries that faked intelligence and perpetrated violence against the Iraqi people to "get" their oil should be taken immediately to international courts and other arenas and tried to the fullest extent of the law. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article2296884.ece Scramble for Iraq's oil begins as troops start to pull out By Saeed Shah Published: 23 February 2007 We are about to find out if the invasion of Iraq really was a war for oil. The country is on the verge of passing a petroleum law, which will set down rules for investing in its oil industry. That will set off a race among the foreign oil giants, scrambling for their slice of Iraq's vast oil riches. Britain's two world-leading oil companies, BP and Shell, both say they want to enter Iraq. Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Total, Russia's Lukoil and the Chinese will also form part of the rush. Even while the security situation in Iraq remains dire, it seems the prize will be just too great for the oil majors to resist. The country has proven reserves of 115 billion barrels of oil, around the same as Iran, but it is thought that its actual reserves could be anywhere up to 300 billion barrels - which would make it bigger than Saudi Arabia. Much of the west of Iraq remains unexplored. John Teeling, chairman of Petrel Resources, the explorer listed on London's AIM market which has had interests in Iraq since 1997, says: "Iraq has 70 discovered, undeveloped fields. You'd die for any one of them. Even the small ones have a billion barrels. If this isn't the holy grail, it's right next door to it." It is hard to exaggerate the scale of the opportunity in Iraq, especially given the fact that foreign companies are, essentially, shut out of the rest of the Middle East and Russia is increasingly hostile to international players. "It costs $1 a barrel to get oil out in Iraq. If you're getting $60 for it, that's good economics. You don't have to go to Harvard to figure that out," Mr Teeling says. War-torn Iraq is currently producing less than 2 million barrels a day, well down on the 2.8 million barrels before the 2003 invasion by the US and Britain. Tariq Shafiq, a former executive in the Iraq National Oil company and one of the experts called in to draft the country's petroleum law, says Iraq could "very easily" get to 3.5 million barrels a day. He says it is "physically" capable of producing 10 million barrels a day - around the current output levels of Saudi Arabia, the pre-eminent producer today. Mr Shafiq, who now works for the consultants Petrolog & Associates, says that foreign involvement in Iraq's oil industry is needed for its technical knowledge, not capital - given the high price of oil, investment is pretty much self-financing. "Iraq has been left behind," he says. The former president Saddam Hussein cut Iraq off from foreign oil technology, first by pursuing the war with Iran in the 1980s, then the international sanctions of the 1990s. Advanced oil recovery techniques, such as water injection, passed the country by. The petroleum law, which is now in its third draft and is expected to go before the Iraqi parliament soon, allows wide-ranging and deep involvement in the sector. It envisages three type of international contract - buy-backs, production-sharing agreements (PSAs) and service contracts. The PSAs are the deals most favoured by big oil, as they allow the foreign company to book the reserves. Buy-back contracts typically require upfront investment from the international company, with a guaranteed rate of return to repay the money. Mr Shafiq says that the draft law does not specify a figure for the permitted rate of return, it talks of a "fair" return. This he interprets as being no more than 20 per cent. The law awards much power to the regions for negotiating contracts, with the central government given an oversight role, a feature that did not exist in the Mr Shafiq's original draft and one that he believes will play into the fracturing of Iraq. However, the oil revenues will be shared between the provinces, according to their populations, not their oil resources - that gives the oil-poor Sunni areas a big stake in the success of the industry. While the oil industry's majors and super-majors are not currently in Iraq, the minnows such as Petrel and the Norwegian group DNO, which is actually producing oil in the relatively safe Kurdish north, have shown that it is possible to operate in the country. The lack of a law setting out the rules for the oil industry and the extreme security problems have kept the big operators formally away. But they have been active behind the scenes and, once the petroleum law is enacted, it is expected that all of them will rush to the Iraq oil ministry's negotiating table. Shell and BP, for instance, have obtained precious knowledge of two of Iraq's biggest oilfields by providing free assistance. These projects do not involve having company personnel on the ground in Iraq. BP has studied the reservoir data from the Rumaila field in the south, to advise on how to maximise future production. BP says: "Once the security situation permits, and the Iraqis seek assistance, we would consider opportunities there, as we would elsewhere in the world." Shell is currently undertaking a reservoir study of the Kirkuk field, in the north, "in order to assist the Ministry of Oil to enhance production from this field". Shell is more forthright. It says: "Shell has a very long history of working in Iraq. We would welcome the opportunity to help Iraq re-build its energy industry, but we will only enter the country once security, living and working conditions are improved. We have had discussions with Iraqi officials from the Ministry of Oil from outside the country, in order to better understand the complex situation in Iraq. We have experience with the technical and operational challenges that Iraq will face in future. This is based on our experience with similar situations in the Middle East. We aspire to establish a long-term presence in Iraq and a long-term relationship with the Iraqis, including the newly elected Government." The Western oil majors will almost certainly have to wait until the security situation in Iraq improves before they are prepared to put their people on the ground. However, they are likely to tie up the Ministry of Oil in negotiations over projects until that happens - assuming that Iraq does not simply dissolve into all-out civil war. And, as the south and the north of the country, where most of the oil lies, are relatively less violent, it may be possible to operate in the country even while the central region around Baghdad continues to be a bloodbath. The Russians and Chinese are almost certain to send their people in, no matter what the risks. Here the US group ConocoPhillips has pulled off a clever arrangement. Lukoil negotiated with the regime of Saddam Hussein for rights to the giant undeveloped West Qurna field. ConocoPhillips has taken a 20 per cent equity stake in Lukoil - a deal approved by the Kremlin - and it has apparently negotiated a 50 per cent share in Lukoil's West Qurna interest. So the Russian personnel would take the risks but Americans would still benefit. Iraq's oil wealth is just too great for the majors to miss. The question is not if they will go in, but when. _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace@lists.gp-us.org http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/peace From pam at nv.net Fri Feb 23 16:33:42 2007 From: pam at nv.net (Pam Vavra) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] JCPGP Announcements 02/23 Message-ID: Dear Jackson County Greens & Friends, Our next meeting, Monday, February 26, 7 PM at the Ashland Library, will feature: Jackson County Clerk, Kathy Beckett speaking to us about the computer glitch on Election Night that resulted in a machine re-count and verification by hand re-count of a portion of Ashland ballots. Please join us! The bill to enable Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) at the State level has been re-introduced as HR 2761. To join discussions aimed at supporting HR 2761, subscribe to the FairvoteOR listserv by sending an email to fairvoteor-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . The bill has been assigned to the House Elections, Rules, and Ethics Committee, which will be meeting IN JACKSON COUNTY on March 1st , 5:30 pm, Jackson County Courthouse Auditorium, 10 S. Oakdale, Medford. Locally, the IRV-Ashland Initiative Petition effort continues -- thanks to MANY of you who are helping to gather signatures. Keep up the great work! Our March meeting (WEDNESDAY, March 28) will focus on candidates and ballot measures slated for the May election. Your participation in our endorsement considerations is most valued and essential to ensure that our endorsement decisions are as thoughtfully based on Green Values as possible. Yours, Pam Vavra Co-Chair, JCPGP Thank you for your interest and support in promoting Green Values. For additions, deletions, or changes to the distribution list for messages relevant to the Jackson County Pacific Green Party and Friends, please contact Pam Vavra, at pam@nv.net . From cvar at peak.org Fri Feb 23 16:30:39 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Stop National Forest Land Sale] Message-ID: <45DF872F.8030500@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Stop National Forest Land Sale Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:57:12 -0800 From: rand dawson To: Rand Dawson *SElling off the national forests--we still need to stop it.* *In Oregon, the pressure to sell off the BLM-managed "O&C" timber lands will be tremendous now that Congress hasnt "bailed out" the O&C counties with more subsidy. Those BLM lands still have old-growth---* * --Potentially worse, we are now seeing "Progressives" supporting "bio-mass" tree conversion plants (at least 3 in Oregon) that will generate "clean" power by scooping "biomass" (read: trees) from state and national forests. (This is another "forest salvage" end-run that results in old trees finding their way to the saw mill)...* *---LINK THRU TO THE QUICK PETITION BELOW---* ** *--rand* ** ** *From:* Caitlin Hills, American Lands Alliance *To:* rdawson@oregonfast.net *Sent:* Friday, February 23, 2007 1:11 PM *Subject:* Stop the National Forest Land Sale To: All Activists From: Caitlin Hills, American Lands Alliance Date: February 23, 2007 *Stop the National Forest Land Sale* *Call to Action: Ask your Representative to sign on to oppose the land sale* *Click Here to urge your Representative to sign on * / / For the second year in a row, the President's Forest Service budget includes a proposal to sell off nearly 270,000 acres of national forest lands in 35 states. You helped stop a similar scheme proposed last year. Thankfully, Reps. Ben Chandler (D-KY) and Ric Keller (R-FL) have written a letter to the Budget Committee opposing the land sale. But they need more co-signers. *Ask your Representative to sign on in opposition to this ill-considered scheme. The deadline to sign-on is Wednesday, February 28. * *Background/What's At Stake** *The President's budget, delivered to Congress last week, presents a vision for America's public lands that is badly out of touch with America's conservation values. One case in point: It proposes to sell off up to $800 million of national forest lands. A similar plan proposed last year met with widespread opposition from anglers, hunters, locally elected officials, businesses, governors, and both Republican and Democratic Members of Congress. Initial news reports indicated that the President's latest budget was DOA - "Dead on Arrival" - in Congress, but this week the proposal to sell off national forest lands appears to be gaining a toehold. Fortunately, Reps. Ben Chandler (D-KY) and Ric Keller (R-FL) have taken the lead to stop this misguided plan. They've written a letter to the Budget Committee expressing their strong opposition to selling off our national forests. *You Can Help!* We need to send a strong signal that selling of our public lands is not only poor fiscal management, it would also rob our children and grandchildren of the chance to enjoy the same national forest lands we all enjoy today. *Please contact your Representative and urge them to sign on to the Chandler/Keller letter by Wednesday, February 28.* Click here for a sample letter you can send yourself. You can make your letter more powerful by adding why these issues are important to you! Subscribe to this Email LIST ------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.441 / Virus Database: 268.18.3/699 - Release Date: 2/23/2007 1:26 PM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070223/940813b1/attachment.htm From epcraig at gmail.com Sat Feb 24 07:36:40 2007 From: epcraig at gmail.com (Edward Craig) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [discuss] [news] [Fwd: Stop National Forest Land Sale] In-Reply-To: <45DF872F.8030500@peak.org> References: <45DF872F.8030500@peak.org> Message-ID: <306c560702240736n6d043c43q2a318df7cfa985c2@mail.gmail.com> Anyone care to enlighten me as to how burning bio-mass loads less carbon into the atmosphere than fossil fuel? On 2/23/07, Joanne Cvar wrote: > > > > -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Stop National Forest Land > Sale Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:57:12 -0800 From: rand dawson > To: Rand Dawson > > > > > > > *SElling off the national forests--we still need to stop it.* > *In Oregon, the pressure to sell off the BLM-managed "O&C" timber lands > will be tremendous now that Congress hasnt "bailed out" the O&C counties > with more subsidy. Those BLM lands still have old-growth---* > * --Potentially worse, we are now seeing "Progressives" > supporting "bio-mass" tree conversion plants (at least 3 in Oregon) that > will generate "clean" power by scooping "biomass" (read: trees) from state > and national forests. (This is another "forest salvage" end-run that results > in old trees finding their way to the saw mill)...* > *---LINK THRU TO THE QUICK PETITION BELOW---* > ** > *--rand* > ** > ** *From:* Caitlin Hills, American Lands Alliance > *To:* rdawson@oregonfast.net > *Sent:* Friday, February 23, 2007 1:11 PM > *Subject:* Stop the National Forest Land Sale > > > > > > > > > > > > > > To: All Activists > From: Caitlin Hills, American Lands Alliance > Date: February 23, 2007 > *Stop the National Forest Land Sale* > > *Call to Action: Ask your Representative to sign on to oppose the land > sale* > > *Click Here > to urge your Representative > to sign on > * > > > > * > * > > For the second year in a row, the President's Forest Service budget > includes a proposal to sell off nearly 270,000 acres of national forest > lands in 35 states. You helped stop a similar scheme proposed last year. > > Thankfully, Reps. Ben Chandler (D-KY) and Ric Keller (R-FL) have written a > letter to the Budget Committee opposing the land sale. But they need more > co-signers. *Ask your Representative to sign on in opposition to this > ill-considered scheme. The deadline to sign-on is Wednesday, February 28. > * > > *Background/What's At Stake** > *The President's budget, delivered to Congress last week, presents a > vision for America's public lands that is badly out of touch with America's > conservation values. One case in point: It proposes to sell off up to $800 > million of national forest lands. > > A similar plan proposed last year met with widespread opposition from > anglers, hunters, locally elected officials, businesses, governors, and both > Republican and Democratic Members of Congress. > > Initial news reports indicated that the President's latest budget was DOA > - "Dead on Arrival" - in Congress, but this week the proposal to sell off > national forest lands appears to be gaining a toehold. > > Fortunately, Reps. Ben Chandler (D-KY) and Ric Keller (R-FL) have taken > the lead to stop this misguided plan. They've written a letter to the Budget > Committee expressing their strong opposition to selling off our national > forests. > > *You Can Help!* > We need to send a strong signal that selling of our public lands is not > only poor fiscal management, it would also rob our children and > grandchildren of the chance to enjoy the same national forest lands we all > enjoy today. *Please contact your Representative and urge them to sign on > to the Chandler/Keller letter by Wednesday, February 28.* > > Click herefor a sample letter you can send yourself. You can make your letter more > powerful by adding why these issues are important to you! > Subscribe to this Email LIST > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.441 / Virus Database: 268.18.3/699 - Release Date: 2/23/2007 > 1:26 PM > > > _______________________________________________ > pgp-news mailing list > pgp-news@list.pacificgreens.org > http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-news > > _______________________________________________ > pgp-discuss mailing list > pgp-discuss@list.pacificgreens.org > http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-discuss > > -- Edward P. Craig "Think this through with me. Let me know your mind" Hunter/Garcia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070224/c8ac1a8c/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Sat Feb 24 12:00:49 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [discuss] [news] [Fwd: Stop National Forest Land Sale] In-Reply-To: <306c560702240736n6d043c43q2a318df7cfa985c2@mail.gmail.com> References: <45DF872F.8030500@peak.org> <306c560702240736n6d043c43q2a318df7cfa985c2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <45E09971.5090301@peak.org> It doesn't. The point of this post is that the BLM (and probably the FS too) is planning to sell off public lands for this use, and that the counties, starved for O and C funds, would eagerly comply. There is a lot of slash out there from logging operations that they burn every spring anyway, unfortunately. Joanne Edward Craig wrote: > Anyone care to enlighten me as to how burning bio-mass loads less > carbon into the atmosphere than fossil fuel? > > On 2/23/07, *Joanne Cvar* < cvar@peak.org > wrote: > > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Stop National Forest Land Sale > Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:57:12 -0800 > From: rand dawson > > To: Rand Dawson > > > > > > > > > *SElling off the national forests--we still need to stop it.* > *In Oregon, the pressure to sell off the BLM-managed "O&C" > timber lands will be tremendous now that Congress hasnt "bailed > out" the O&C counties with more subsidy. Those BLM lands still > have old-growth---* > * --Potentially worse, we are now seeing "Progressives" > supporting "bio-mass" tree conversion plants (at least 3 in > Oregon) that will generate "clean" power by scooping "biomass" > (read: trees) from state and national forests. (This is another > "forest salvage" end-run that results in old trees finding their > way to the saw mill)...* > *---LINK THRU TO THE QUICK PETITION BELOW---* > ** > *--rand* > ** > ** > From cvar at peak.org Sat Feb 24 12:51:13 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] Opposition to HB 2082 Message-ID: <45E0A541.5030801@peak.org> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: hb2082.intro.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 34851 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070224/40a47ef9/hb2082.intro.pdf From nengel1 at verizon.net Sun Feb 25 11:01:16 2007 From: nengel1 at verizon.net (Nick) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] Let's Get a Grip on Global Warming Message-ID: <0JE100G9Y8U9WRD8@vms046.mailsrvcs.net> Global warming may be the greatest threat our civilization faces, but we have the tools we need to stop it in its tracks. With existing technology, we can drastically lower our country's carbon emissions, with no need to make great economic sacrifices. Several of Oregon's largest cities have already begun finding ways to confront the problem, but some still need us to prod them into action. Please urge the cities of Salem and Medford - two of the largest in Oregon that have not yet formed a plan to reduce emissions - to wake up to the reality of global warming. Visit the Oregon Cities Climate Solution's Action Dashboard at http://mysite.verizon.net/res70apg/occsnactiondashboard/ and sign the petitions to the mayors of Salem and Medford. There is no time to lose in this battle. Nick -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070225/378e66f1/attachment.htm From peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com Mon Feb 26 13:59:16 2007 From: peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com (Alejandro Beltran) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] AlterNet - The Next Pat Tillman-Style Cover-Up? Message-ID: AlterNet - alternet.com The Next Pat Tillman-Style Cover-Up? *Posted by Philip Barron at 10:49 AM on February 22, 2007.* The Army has much to answer for in its investigation of Private LaVena Johnson's death. There once was a young woman from a St. Louis suburb. She was an honor roll student, she played the violin, she donated blood and volunteered for American Heart Association walks. She elected to put off college for a while and joined the Army once out of school. At Fort Campbell, KY, she was assigned as a weapons supply manager to the 129th Corps Support Battalion. She was LaVena Johnson, private first class, and she died near Balad, Iraq, on July 19, 2005, just eight days shy of her twentieth birthday. She was the first woman soldier from Missouri to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. The tragedy of her story begins there. An Army representative initially told LaVena's father, Dr. John Johnson, that his daughter died of "died of self-inflicted, noncombat injuries" and initially added it was not a suicide -- in other words, an accidental death caused by LaVena herself. The subsequent Army investigation reversed this finding and declared LaVena's death a suicide, a finding refuted by the soldier's family. In an article in the *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*, Dr. Johnson pointed to indications that his daughter had endured a physical struggle before she died -- two loose front teeth, a "busted lip" that had to be reconstructed by the funeral home -- suggesting that "someone might have punched her in the mouth." A promise by the office of Representative William Lacy Clay to look into the matter produced nothing. The military said that the matter was closed. Little more on LaVena's death was said until St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV aired a story on Thursdaywhich disclosed troubling details not previously made public - details which belie the Army's assertion that the young Florissant native died by her own hand. The video of the report is available on the KMOV website . Reporter Matt Sczesny spoke with LaVena's father and examined documents and photos sent by Army investigators. So far from supporting the claim that LaVena died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the documents provided elements of another scenario altogether: - Indications of physical abuse that went unremarked by the autopsy - The absence of psychological indicators of suicidal thoughts; indeed, testimony that LaVena was happy and healthy prior to her death - Indications, via residue tests, that LaVena may not even have handled the weapon that killed her - A blood trail outside the tent where Lavena's body was found - Indications that someone attenpted to set LaVena's body on fire The Army has resisted calls by Dr. Johnson and by KMOV to reopen its investigation. We have seen in other military deaths, most infamously that of Army Ranger and former professional football player Cpl. Pat Tillman, that the Army has engaged in an insulting game of deny and delay when it comes to uncovering embarrassing facts. Only when public and official attention is brought to bear on the matter - as happened, eventually and with great effort, with the case of Cpl. Tillman - do unpleasant truths come to light. Astonishing as it seems, it takes that level of outrage to compel the Army to find the truth and tell it, to honor its own soldiers. No such groundswell has yet emerged in the case of LaVena; not enough voices have demanded that someone in the military, anyone, speak for her. At first glance, the contrast between the cases of Pat Tillman and LaVena Johnson seems vast, but at the core the situations are the same. In each case, the death of a young soldier in a dangerous place and time was not explained to the families they left behind, the families that gave them up so that they could serve us. An honest accounting of their passing is all the dead ask of us. The mother of Pat Tillman put the matter in stark and honest terms: "This is how they treat a family of a high-profile individual," she said. "How are they treating others?" In the case of Private First Class Johnson, we know the answer. [image: Digg!] Tagged as: *iraq , army, lavena johnson * *Philip Barron is a St. Louis writer. For more on LaVena Johnson's story, visit his blog Waveflux .* *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/48365/ =================================================================================================================== Democracy Now! - http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl *Report: Pentagon Establishes Planning Group for Iran War * The New Yorker magazine is reporting the Pentagon has established a special planning group within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan a bombing attack on Iran. According to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh the new planning group has been charged with a developing a bombing plan that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from President Bush. Hersh also reveals that U.S. military and special-operations teams have already crossed the border into Iran in pursuit of Iranian operatives. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/26/157236 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- t r u t h o u t | 02.26 Hersh: Bush Funneling Money to al Qaeda-Related Groups http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607A.shtml Seymour Hersh reports that the Bush administration is funding anti-Shiite Sunnis linked to al Qaeda without Congressional approval and without appropriate appropriation. Hersh speculates that the money is coming from the pallet-loads of cash floating around Iraq and has already reached "three Sunni jihadist groups." He says, flatly, that the president is "supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11." Link: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607A.shtml ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.commondreams.org/ via common dreams - http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0225-02.htm *Published on Sunday, February 25, 2007 by Reuters * *US Developing Contingency Plan to Bomb Iran: Report * Despite the Bush administration's insistence it has no plans to go to war with Iran, a Pentagon panel has been created to plan a bombing attack that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from President George W. Bush, The New Yorker magazine reportedin its latest issue. The special planning group was established within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent months, according to an unidentified former U.S. intelligence official cited in the article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh in the March 4 issue... to continue reading go to - http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0225-02.htm ================================================= also see: UFPJ Talking Points Escalating Threats of U.S. Attacks Against Iran By Phyllis Bennis http://lists.portside.org/cgi-bin/listserv/wa?A2=ind0702c&L=portside&T=0&P=2520 =============================== *What is Healthcare-NOW?* * * Healthcare-NOW is the growing movement made up of many organizations and individuals committed to a national *quality* *healthcare system* with single-payer financing --an enhanced and improved *non-profit* Medicare for All. If you want to help, join us for our Martin Luther King, Jr. Healthcare Month in April and for 1,000 healthcare TRUTH HEARINGS nationwide. Subject: [Healthcare-now] The Presidential Candidates and Single Payer ...We have to work in a very focused way now. The presidential candidates need to hear from us. The newspapers can be challenged. I received a very supportive response from one newspaper writer after he failed to mention single payer in his sweeping story about all of the corporate plans for enriching the insurance companies and the rest of the industry. The voters need to be loud and clear about single payer. And Congress needs to hear that we want them to hold hearings on single payer, H.R. 676. They need to hear it NOW during this small window of opportunity . Don't put it off. Here is a free number you can use to call your Member and to call quite a few of the presidential candidates who are in Congress. 1-866-338-1015 *Healthcare-NOW!* 339 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10012-2725 800-453-1305 info@healthcare-now.org ====================================== ==================================================================================== Courtesy AFSC [edited] View this email as web page. Dear AFSC Friend, Even as we continue to work for humane changes to the nation's immigration structure, U.S. laws and policies are creating obstacles that keep families apart and force many immigrants to postpone their dreams of becoming U.S. citizens. The newest hurdle: proposed fee increases by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The proposed increases are beyond excessivehey're exorbitant. For example, the current fee to apply for permanent residency is $325; USCIS proposes to raise this fee to $905 (a 178 percent increase). The fee for naturalization ("citizenship") applications would increase from $330 to $595 (an 80 percent increase). *Please take action today* by contacting USCIS and letting them know that the proposed increases are exorbitant and unfair. Encourage USCIS to work with Congressional leaders to identify an alternative and permanent funding stream that supports USCIS operations. View the AFSC website for more information. ... ...If you'd like to speak up and join the raids moratorium letter, please sign up online ... Forward this messageto your friends. *American Friends Service Committee * 1501 Cherry Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 *http://www.afsc.org/ * =========================================================================== for the following see - http://nlgtupocc.blogspot.com/ Fwd: SUPPORT HR 654 - eliminate travel restrictions to Cuba!NLG International Committee Statement Regarding Death Sentences to be Imposed Against Iraqi Citizens *An Interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide *http://www.portside.org/?q=showpost&i=2083 The Right to Return to New Orleans: Eighteen Months After Katrina [http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley02262007.html] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070226/da799d7e/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Mon Feb 26 20:44:59 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: We Have Become Death] Message-ID: <45E3B74B.5080507@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: We Have Become Death Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:32:26 -0500 From: Global Network Monday, February 26, 2007 *Organizing Notes* WE HAVE BECOME DEATH The U.S. now has more firepower stationed in the Persian Gulf than at any time since the beginning of the Iraq war. The photo above is the crew of the USS Eisenhower which is today on alert in the Arabian Sea. Last night before going to bed I read the latest article by Seymour Hersch at the /New Yorker /magazine on U.S. plans for Iran. I now have absolutely no doubt that Busy-Cheney will attack Iran along with Israel. But even more so the article clearly spells out the larger plans to widen the war in the region by funding Sunni terrorist groups in Lebanon, Syria and Iran to create more turmoil in those Shiite dominated nations. The plan is to create an Iraq-style civil war between Sunni and Shiite throughout the Middle East in hopes the U.S. can then divide and conquer the entire region. Just like the crew member in the photo above, with the very sick death mask on his face, the U.S. is now without a doubt the leading death agent on the planet. Our foreign policy is war and death. And the fact that the weapons corporations can make a substantial profit at it - all the better they say. This is worse than Hitler. This is the most horrendous display of evil that one can imagine. According to Hersch, the Bush-Cheney cabal have asked Saudia Arabia to fund Sunni terrorist groups to go into these Shiite countries and create civil war. These are the same Sunni groups that are killing American GI's right now in Iraq. Do you see the insanity here? You must do something immediately. You have to get people to read and publicly discuss this article by Seymour Hersch linked here. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022507Z.shtml People must come to grips immediately with the pure evil of current U.S. plans for endless war in the Middle East. We are in big trouble at this moment. Get busy. Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 652 Brunswick, ME 04011 (207) 443-9502 http://www.space4peace.org globalnet@mindspring.com http://space4peace.blogspot.com (our blog) -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From cvar at peak.org Mon Feb 26 22:25:04 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Hersh's "explosive charge"] Message-ID: <45E3CEC0.2030707@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Hersh's "explosive charge" Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:41:31 -0800 This is sickening, but important information. Please read. At the website there is a videotape, also, of this interview. a. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607A.shtml See also Hersh's article in the original at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022507Z.shtml. I just read it tonight. It's long and it's a shocking revelation. Joanne From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 27 15:20:30 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [ISM Updates] APPEAL: Help South Hebron Villagers Stay on their Land] Message-ID: <45E4BCBE.5050203@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [ISM Updates] APPEAL: Help South Hebron Villagers Stay on their Land Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:02:09 -0000 From: ISM Media Group Reply-To: palsolidarity-owner@googlegroups.com On Wednesday 14th February Israeli Occupation Forces demolished a large number of houses and agricultural structures in four different villages in the South Hebron Hills - Qwawis, M'nezel, Um-Elhe'r and the Abu-Kbeita family near Yatir settlement. The villagers in this area struggle to stay on their land despite ongoing home demolitions, violent attacks and constant settler and military harassment. Please donate what you can to help them remain on the land they have farmed for generations. Illegal Israeli settlements and outposts (illegal even according to Israeli law,) whose residents have stolen most of the area's agricultural land, have tried for years to drive the local Palestinian villagers off their land. Unlike the homes of Palestinians, the illegal outposts are not demolished. Instead, they receive electricity and water supplies, paved roads and subsidies for their agricultural enterprises. The Palestinians rely on water from wells, a few hours of electricity a day from a generator, and an ever decreasing patch of land on which to grow crops and graze their livestock. Despite these hardships the indigenous people refuse to surrender to the state- sponsored land grab, aware that they otherwise face eviction into walled ghettos. With your help, ISM, and Israeli peace groups, Ta'ayush and Rabbis for Human Rights, are working to rebuild the houses and structures as soon as possible. Rebuilding will start over two days in March. Villagers have requested that internationals maintain a permanent presence in the area after the rebuilding to offer protection from settler violence. It is estimated that around $36,000 will be needed to rebuild all these houses and structures. The costs below are for the materials and transportation of them to the different locations. The costs include: cement, blocks, stone, sand, concrete and roofs. Um al Kheir 1 concrete house - NIS 37,000 5 other houses - NIS 62,000 Qawawis 7 houses and 1 agricultural structure - NIS 14,800 Imneizil 1 house and 1 agricultural structure - NIS 9,800 Abu Kbeita Family 2 houses and a tent - NIS 6,700 Lawyer's fees NIS 21,000 Total NIS 151,300 ($36024) For more details on the recent demolitions see: www.palsolidarity.org For more on the Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing in the South Hebron Hills: http://www.btselem.org/english/Publications/Summaries/200507_South_Hebron.asp Checks of any amount may be made out to "ISM-USA" and sent to: ISM-USA PO Box 5073 Berkeley, CA 94705 If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation, please make your checks of $50 or more payable to ISM-USA's fiscal sponsor: A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, (with "ISM-USA" on the memo line of the check), and send to the same address above. You may also use your credit or debit card and use our PayPal account. Donations sent through PayPal are not tax-deductible. To pay by PayPal please visit: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/donations/ After making a donation please send us an e-mail detailing the amount and the date of payment to: info@palsolidarity.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thank you for your continued interest and support for the International Solidarity Movement! Please consider a financial donation to help continue the important work of the ISM. You may donate securely online at our website: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/donations For more information, visit the ISM website at http://www.palsolidarity.org PLEASE FORWARD THIS UPDATE WIDELY From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 27 15:59:33 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: STOP the Bidding War on Measure 37 Reform] Message-ID: <45E4C5E5.6010201@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: STOP the Bidding War on Measure 37 Reform Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 12:58:29 -0800 From: rand dawson Alert from 1000 Friends re revamped Measure 37 reform strategy... --Florence and southerly, Rep. Roblan is on the critical "joint house/senate" reviewing committe; -- but the bill will _go to the Senate next_ (Im told) *so all contacts to your senator will be relevant* for the next phase ((((copy/paste into a new mail---dont just forward or format can change)))) To find your legislator: http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/ *_To automatically email your legislator_*: http://www.leg.state.or.us/writelegsltr/ ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Gerik Kransky *To:* gerik@friends.org *Sent:* Tuesday, February 27, 2007 12:01 PM *Subject:* STOP the Bidding War on Measure 37 Reform Recent news reports indicate that legislators are discussing Measure 37 amendments that would allow claimants to build multiple houses. This is a significant departure from the Governor?s proposal to create an Express Line for claimants that want to build a single family home, the kind of fairness that voters had in mind when approving Measure 37 in the first place. We?re alarmed that a bidding war has begun. A handful of speculators and special interests are working overtime to make sure that the dollar signs in their eyes become scattershot subdivisions, gravel pits, and billboards. We simply can?t let Oregon be sold to the highest bidder. We need your help - *NOW* - to *STOP the bidding and demand Measure 37 reform* so that it?s fair for all Oregonians, homeowners and neighbors alike. Unless legislators hear from you - again - Oregon communities could suffer serious impacts of subdivisions on farmland, increased sprawl, traffic congestion and pollution. The anti-planning interests that support Measure 37 are dedicated to killing all reform efforts. While many claimants have come before the committee to oppose SB 505, lobbyists for big timber and developers sat silent in the back of the hearing room. They only work behind closed doors. Last week, the Joint Special Committee for Land Use Fairness were presented a series of maps showing Measure 37 claims on valuable farm and forest land in several counties. The visual impacts are staggering. This week, the Committee will hear from the Water Resources Department on groundwater impacts of Measure 37 claims. Please take a moment to contact your state representative and senator and let them know: - Real fairness means restoring the homestead right to build a single family home on land as was allowed when claimants bought their property. - Neighbors and communities need immediate relief from the imminent threat of leapfrog sprawl, traffic congestion, and pollution. Please also consider writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. This is yet another way to let your voice be heard. Thanks for your efforts! *_ _*To find your legislator: http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/ *_To automatically email your legislator_*: http://www.leg.state.or.us/writelegsltr/ -- Gerik Kransky | Outreach Director 1000 Friends of Oregon | 534 SW 3rd Ave #300 | Portland OR 97207 www.friends.org | p. 503-497-1000 | c. 503-523-9651 | gerik@friends.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.4/703 - Release Date: 2/26/2007 2:56 PM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070227/7e42358b/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Tue Feb 27 16:42:37 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Hearings on End-the-War Resolution in the Oregon Legislature on Feb. 28] Message-ID: <45E4CFFD.9070405@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Hearings on End-the-War Resolution in the Oregon Legislature on Feb. 28 & 28 Resent-Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:27:58 -0800 (PST) Resent-From: alerts@oregonpeaceworks.org Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:29:10 -0800 From: Peter Bergel OPW Email Banner Dear Members & Friends, There is a resolution (HJM 9) in the Oregon Legislature calling for an end to the war.? We have recently learned that there will be hearings held on this resolution on _Monday, Feb 26, at __8:30 AM__ in Hearing Room E_ and again on _Wednesday at __8:30 AM__ in Hearing Room E.___ If you would like to testify, or if you would just like to help ???swell the crowd,??? please consider attending. Be sure to sign up with the committee staff as soon as you arrive if you want to testify on behalf of an organization or yourself. Oreganizers are planning to lead off with Military Families and a Gulf War veteran. The hearing will be held by the Committee on Elections, Ethics and Rules.? The membership is: Diane Rosenbaum, Chair Vicki Berger, Vice-Chair Peter Buckley, Vice-Chair Sal Esquivel Dave Hunt Arnie Roblan Kim Thatcher Staff: Jim Stembridge Shauna Parker If you can offer a ride, or need one, or if you have questions, please contact: Dan Handelman Peace and Justice Works PO Box 42456 Portland, OR 97242 (503) 236-3065 pjw@pjw.info http://www.pjw.info Please forward this email to others who might be interested. Peter Bergel Executive Director, OPW If you'd like to make a donation to Oregon PeaceWorks, please click here. -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From gbhutch at charter.net Tue Feb 27 17:11:45 2007 From: gbhutch at charter.net (George B. Hutchinson) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] Volunteers Needed PDX March 19 Peace Rally Message-ID: <002001c75ad5$7335ad60$020fa8c0@GeoMXR4252113> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group" To: "Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group" Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 3:40 PM > VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: March 19 2006: "No More Invasions, No More Wars" > > Friends > > We are in need of volunteers for the Monday, March 19, 2007 event, "No > More Invasions, No More Wars" to be held from 12-2 PM and 4-6:30 PM at > Terry Schrunk Plaza. (Incidentally, if you don't get off of work until 5 > PM we really encourage you to come down, we're hoping for the largest > crowd to be at the Plaza from 6:00 to, well, 6:35 PM). > > Please write or call if you can do any of these tasks, and be a part of > our effort to bring the message to the people who work and live downtown > on the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. > > More information on this event, including a current list of cosponsors, is > up on our website at http://www.pjw.info/march1907annct.html . (There you > will also find a link to the march and "peace action camp" that is being > planned for Sunday March 18th by American Friends Service Committee and a > number of other organizations.) > > > ........BETWEEN NOW AND MARCH 19 (Day of info, below) > > PHONE CALLING: > --Call 15-25 people from PJW's mail list to turn them out > > POSTERING/LEAFLETTING: > --Putting up posters/flyers, handing out leaflets > Download an 8.5x11 flyer at > http://www.pjw.info/march1907flyer.pdf > 1/4 page leaflets at > http://www.pjw.info/march1907flyer4up.pdf > > If you need us to provide you copies of 8.5x11 or 1/4 page flyers or 11x17 > posters, please contact us and let us know how many you need and when you > would like to pick them up. Our office is at SE 28th and Stark but we're > only "open" when a volunteer happens to be here. (The Alliance, from whom > we rent space, rarely has anyone here during the day any more.) > > SIGNMAKING: > --We have some specific ideas for signs that will tie into the day's > themes and the Message to the Iraqi People. If you have skills, materials, > and time, please get in touch with us. If you are willing to assist with > sign-making (which may also include the Message) let us know and we'll try > to hook people together. > > ENDORSE/COSPONSOR: > > If your organization isn't already on board with the March 19 event and > would like to be listed as endorser, let us know. Cosponsors are expected > to put in some "elbow grease" (volunteer hours, mass mailing, etc.) and/or > $50. > > DONATE: > Yes, email isn't the greatest place to solicit funds but it never hurts to > ask. If you have a few dollars to send our way it will help cover expenses > for this event, whose overall budget is under $1000. Send your check to > Peace and Justice Works, PO Box 42456, Portland, OR 97242 and mark it > "March 19th event 2007 in the memo field. > > ..........DAY OF EVENT (MARCH 19): > > MESSAGE CARD HOLDER: > We need at least 60 volunteers (we're still working out the details) to > hold up individual lightweight cardboard signs containing the message to > the Iraqi people. You may need to stand still with your arms extended > forward for 5 minutes, then above your head for 10 minutes to be sure that > a picture can be taken. Assembly time will be shortly after 6 PM and end > time will be about 6:35 PM. > > SET-UP/CLEAN-UP > > We probably have enough people in the organizing group and among > volunteers for these tasks, but if you're willing to put your name on this > list and we need more hands we'll let you know. > > PEACEKEEPERS: > > --Help keep our event peaceful and running smoothly. Since we are not > planning a march, we are not at this time planning any extensive training > for peacekeepers. We hope that those who volunteer will have done this > task previously. We envision one of the major tasks of peacekeepers will > be helping us gather all the event attendees back into Terry Schrunk at 6 > PM in time to assemble the Message to the Iraqi People. > > > Thanks > Feel free to write or call with ideas or questions > > Dan Handelman > Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group > PO Box 42456 > Portland, OR 97242 > (503) 236-3065 (Office) > iraq@pjw.info > http://www.pjw.info/Iraq.html > > From pam at nv.net Wed Feb 28 00:39:36 2007 From: pam at nv.net (Pam Vavra) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:34:59 2007 Subject: [news] JCPGP Update 02/28 Message-ID: Dear Jackson County Greens & Friends, Bad weather prevented Jackson County Clerk, Kathy Beckett (among many others) from attending our meeting on Monday night. If you were among those who dared not venture out in the snow, you will be pleased to learn that we are re-scheduling Ms. Beckett?s presentation and discussion of the computer glitch on Election Night, sometime during the 3rd or 4th week in March. With apologies for sending more than the usual one message per month, I will send an announcement as soon as date and venue are confirmed. REMINDER: The Oregon House Elections, Rules and Ethics Committee will meet in Medford on Thursday, Mar 1, 5:30 PM, Jackson County Courthouse Auditorium 10 S. Oakdale. What a great opportunity for local citizens to observe the Committee Hearings process, meet Committee members and provide oral comment, without traveling to Salem! Two bills on which PGP has a position and that have been assigned to this Committee are: HB 2761 - enables counties and cities to adopt Instant Runoff Voting (PGP SUPPORTS) HB 2082 - establishes new rules governing initiative petitions (PGP OPPOSES) Although neither bill is on the Agenda for Thursday?s meeting, there will be opportunity to let Committee members know your sentiments on them. Hope to see you there! Yours, Pam Vavra Co-Chair, JCPGP Thank you for your interest and support in promoting Green Values. For additions, deletions, or changes to the distribution list for messages relevant to the Jackson County Pacific Green Party and Friends, please contact Pam Vavra, at pam@nv.net . From peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com Wed Feb 28 11:23:51 2007 From: peaceandjustice2005 at gmail.com (Alejandro Beltran) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:35:00 2007 Subject: [news] NY Times - Service Members Sign Appeal Calling for Troop Withdrawal Message-ID: The New York Times Service Members Sign Appeal Calling for Troop Withdrawal By LIZETTE ALVAREZ Published: February 28, 2007 In a small but growing sign of dissent, a group of active-duty military personnel and reservists, including many who have served in Iraq, is denouncing the war and asking Congress for the prompt withdrawal of troops. The service members, who number more than 1,600, have sent an Appeal for Redress to their Congressional representatives, a form of protest permitted by military rules. Most of those who signed the appeal, at www.appealforredress.org, are enlisted soldiers in the Army, from the lowest to the highest ranks. "There is a sense of betrayal," said Specialist Linsay Burnett, 26, who recently returned from Iraq with the First Brigade combat team of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee. The division is readying for its third deployment. "These soldiers stand up to fight, to protect their country, but we are now on the fifth reason as to why it is we are in Iraq," added Specialist Burnett, who has served as a public affairs specialist and as a military journalist focusing primarily on the infantry. "How many reasons are we going to come up with for keeping us over there?" The Appeal for Redress reads: "As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home." The protest, which was started in October by two active-duty service members and is sponsored by three antiwar groups, initially drew 65 signatures, growing to more than 1,300 by February. This week, after the CBS News program "60 Minutes" reported on the appeal, about 300 more active-duty soldiers joined the campaign, said Petty Officer Third Class Jonathan Hutto of the Navy, a co-founder of the group behind the appeal. While the 1,600 make up a tiny part of the armed services, the appeal is one of the first official signs of protest from people within the military. An estimated 70 percent of those who have signed it are on active duty; the rest are members of the Reserves or the National Guard, and about 100 officers have signed it. Describing themselves as supporters of the military but critics of the Iraq war, leaders of the appeal say they believe it is their right and duty under the Constitution to question the war and its mission, a position not widely voiced in the military. Their decision to speak out and take their opposition outside the chain of command has been criticized by some veterans' groups that argue that soldiers are obligated to follow orders, not change policy. Critics also say that while service members cannot choose where they will be deployed, they can choose to join the military or not. When the group sent its first letter in October, the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, said it was "not unusual for soldiers in a time of war to have some misgivings," adding that the group constituted a small minority of service members. In a phone call yesterday with three signatories, including Petty Officer Hutto, the service members said their decision to appeal had not been taken lightly. The military does not allow service members to organize and frowns on dissent. "The Army has many ways to make your life very difficult," Specialist Burnett said, adding that she had come forward largely because "there are not many voices out there for the men on the ground." Jeff Slocum, a chief master sergeant of the Air Force who is scheduled to deploy to Iraq next year, said his high rank was one reason he had signed the appeal. "I'm not antiwar, I'm not antimilitary," said Chief Master Sergeant Slocum, who added that the troops were feeling "used and abused." That 1,600 service members have signed the appeal "shows just how much we are willing to risk," he said. "We are trying to raise awareness that we need people to be sticking up for us, because nobody else is." link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/us/28appeal.html ======================================================== Jurist op-ed: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2007/02/why-boumediene-was-wrongly-decided.php *FORUM* Op-eds on legal news by law professors and JURIST special guests... *Why Boumediene Was Wrongly Decided* JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohnof Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild , says that the recent ruling by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on habeas-stripping under the Military Commissions Act was erroneous and is likely to be overturned by the US Supreme Court... ------------------------------ *L*ast week, in *Boumediene v. Bush*, two judges on a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that strips the rights of all Guantanamo detainees to have their habeas corpus petitions heard by U.S. federal courts. If that decision is left to stand, the men and boys detained at Guantanamo can be held there for the rest of their lives without ever having a federal judge determine the legality of their detention. In my opinion, this appellate decision will likely be overturned by the Supreme Court next term. A little background: In November 2001, President Bush established Military Commissions to try non-citizens accused of war crimes. In June 2004, the Supreme Court decided *Rasul v. Bush*, which upheld the right of those detained at Guant?namo to have their petitions for habeas corpus heard by U.S. courts, under the federal habeas statute. The ink was barely dry on *Rasul* when Bush created the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, ostensibly to comply with the *Rasul* ruling. But, as I will explain, setting up these tribunals was really an end-run around *Rasul *. They were established to determine whether a detainee is an unlawful enemy combatant. They are not criminal courts, like the military commissions. On December 31, 2005, Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act, which included the famous McCain "anti-torture" amendment. But it also stripped habeas corpus rights from Guant?namo detainees who had not already filed habeas petitions before December 31, 2005. Some 200 detainees had pending petitions. At the end of last term, the Supreme Court struck down Bush's military commissions in *Hamdan v. Rumsfeld* because they did not comply with due process guarantees in the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions. Then, in October of last year, in another end run, this time around *Hamdan*, Bush rammed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 through a Congress terrified of appearing soft on terror in the upcoming midterm elections. The Act does many things, but it notably strips statutory habeas corpus rights from all Guant?namo detainees, even those whose petitions were pending on December 31, 2005. The two-judge majority in *Boumediene* upheld the Military Commissions Act's stripping of statutory habeas jurisdiction that the Supreme Court had recognized in *Rasul*. (Congress had passed the original habeas statute, and amended it in the Military Commissions Act). The *Boumediene* decision found the Act's elimination of habeas to be constitutional. Art. I of the Constitution contains the Suspension Clause, which says that Congress can suspend the right of habeas corpus only in times of rebellion or invasion when the public safety may require it. As the dissenter in * Boumediene* pointed out, Congress has only suspended habeas corpus four times before, and made findings of rebellion or invasion in each case. We are not now in a state of invasion or rebellion, and Congress did not make such a finding. The two-judge majority in *Boumediene* said: (1) in the absence of a statutory habeas right (which Congress had eliminated in the Military Commissions Act), the Constitution only protects the right of habeas corpus that was recognized at common law in 1789; (2) the law in 1789 did not provide the right of habeas corpus to aliens held by the government outside of the sovereign's territory; and (3) Guant?namo is outside U.S territory for constitutional purposes, even though the U.S. has complete control over it. This reasoning is erroneous for three reasons: First, the Supreme Court held in *INS v. St. Cyr* that the Constitution protects the writ as it existed in 1789 "at the absolute minimum." The Supreme Court in *Rasul* cited *St. Cyr* . Second, although the *Boumediene* majority relies on the treaty that says Cuba, not the U.S., has sovereignty over Guant?namo, the Supreme Court rejected that argument in *Rasul*, when it said: "By the express terms of its agreements with Cuba, the United States exercises 'complete jurisdiction and control' over the Guant?namo Bay Naval Base, and may continue to exercise such control permanently if it so chooses. . . Aliens held at the base, no less than American citizens, are entitled to invoke the federal courts' authority under ?2241." Third, although the *Rasul* Court was analyzing the pre-Military Commissions Act habeas statute, it also cited *Johnson v. Eisentrager*, which construed the constitutional right of habeas corpus. The Supreme Court in *Eisentrager * denied habeas jurisdiction to German citizens who had been captured by U.S. forces in China, and then tried and convicted of war crimes by an American military commission in Nanking. The *Eisentrager* court cited six factors to determine whether an alien is entitled to constitutional habeas jurisdiction in U.S. courts. These factors were cited in *Rasul*, which said: In reversing that determination, this Court [in *Eisentrager *] summarized the six critical facts in the case: "We are here confronted with a decision whose basic premise is that these prisoners are entitled, as a constitutional right, to sue in some court of the United States for a writ of habeas corpus. To support that assumption we must hold that a prisoner of our military authorities is constitutionally entitled to the writ, even though he (a) is an enemy alien; (b) has never been or resided in the United States; (c) was captured outside of our territory and there held in military custody as a prisoner of war; (d) was tried and convicted by a Military Commission sitting outside the United States; (e) for offenses against laws of war committed outside the United States; (f) and is at all times imprisoned outside the United States." On this set of facts, the [Eisentrager] Court concluded, "no right to the writ of habeas corpus appears." The *Rasul* court said: Petitioners in these [Guant?namo] cases differ from the *Eisentrager*detainees in important respects: They are not nationals of countries at war with the United States, and they deny that they have engaged in or plotted acts of aggression against the United States; they have never been afforded access to any tribunal, much less charged with and convicted of wrongdoing; and for more than two years they have been imprisoned in territory over which the United States exercises exclusive jurisdiction and control. Not only are petitioners differently situated from the *Eisentrager*detainees, but the Court in *Eisentrager* made quite clear that all six of the facts critical to its disposition were relevant only to the question of the prisoners' * constitutional* entitlement to habeas corpus. Congress can suspend habeas corpus if there is an adequate substitute for it . In *Boumediene*, the Bush administration asked the Court of Appeals to review the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. But the court declined, saying it had an inadequate record before it. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals do not provide a meaningful opportunity to challenge detention. The prisoner is not entitled to an attorney, only a "personal representative," and anything the detainee tells his personal representative can be used against him. After reviewing the cases of 393 detainees, a Seton Hall legal team found that in 96 percent of the cases, the government had not produced any witnesses or presented any documentary evidence to the detainee before the hearing. Detainees were allowed to see only summaries of the classified evidence offered against them, and that evidence was always presumed to be reliable and valid. Requests by detainees for witnesses were rarely granted. In addition, the personal representatives said nothing in 14 percent of the hearings and made no substantive comments 30 percent of the time. Some personal representatives even advocated for the government's position. In three cases, the detainee was found to be "no longer an enemy combatant," but the military continued to convene tribunals until they were found to be enemy combatants. These detainees were never told of the favorable ruling and there was no indication they were informed or participated in the second or third hearings. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals are not an adequate substitute for habeas corpus. The suspension of habeas corpus will certainly have profound effects on non-citizen detainees. Consider the case of Abu Bakker Qassim, an Uighur from China who was held at Guant?namo for four years. He wrote in the *New York Times*: "I was locked up and mistreated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time during America's war in Afghanistan. Like hundreds of Guant?namo detainees, I was never a terrorist or a soldier. I was never even on a battlefield. Pakistani bounty hunters sold me and 17 other Uighurs to the United States military like animals for $5,000 a head. The Americans made a terrible mistake." How did Qassim obtain his release from Guant?namo? "It was only the country's centuries-old commitment to allowing habeas corpus challenges that put that mistake right?or began to. In May, on the eve of a court hearing in my case, the military relented, and I was sent to Albania along with four other Uighurs," Qassim said. He added: Without my American lawyers and habeas corpus, my situation and that of the other Uighurs would still be a secret. I would be sitting in a metal cage today. Habeas corpus helped me to tell the world that Uighurs are not a threat to the United States or the West, but an ally. Habeas corpus cleared my name?and most important, it let my family know that I was still alive. *Rasul v. Bush* was a 6-3 decision. Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, O'Connor and Kennedy voted with the majority. The dissenters were Justices Scalia, Thomas and Rehnquist. I predict the Supreme Court will reverse the Court of Appeals decision in * Boumediene* , probably in a 5-4 vote with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito voting with the dissent. I doubt whether the Court will decide that Bush has succeeded in placing the detainees beyond the reach of our federal courts by sending them to Guant?namo. It will likely decide that the Combatant Status Review Tribunals do not provide an adequate substitute for constitutional habeas corpus. *Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists. Her new book, Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law, will be published in July. See http://www.marjoriecohn.com/* February 27, 2007 Jurist link: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2007/02/why-boumediene-was-wrongly-decided.php ============================================================== Army Times - http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/TNSreedinspect070227/ Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CNN - U.S. troops to forgo training in rush to Iraq http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/26/rush.iraq.ap/index.html USA Today - 2 Army units will forgo desert training http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-02-27-desert-training_x.htm?csp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070228/315ea822/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 28 14:16:13 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:35:00 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: [GPUS-PAX] contact governors over National Guard training and equipment issues] Message-ID: <45E5FF2D.4090807@peak.org> Weren't we going to take a stand on this with Kulongoski? I seem to remember that this was going to be discussed on one of the forums. We need to get our noses out of our collective Green navel and take some actions that have meaning to others. That's the only way we will inspire others to join us. Joanne -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [GPUS-PAX] contact governors over National Guard training and equipment issues Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:30:21 -0500 From: Nancy Allen Reply-To: peace@gp-us.org Every Green ought to contact their governor and demand that no new National Guard units in their state should be deployed to Iraq until training and equipment issues are resolved. I have already contacted the governor of Maine. nancy http://washtimes.com/national/20070226-115013-6182r.htm Hearing urged on Guard woes By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES February 27, 2007 The ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has called for a hearing to examine the Defense Department's "chronic deficiencies" in supporting homeland security and civil support missions by the National Guard. The request by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia comes in the wake of two reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) saying that Defense has not adequately addressed Guard equipment and training requirements and that Army units charged with chemical and biological attack response are understaffed and underequipped. "As we continue to ask more of the National Guard, it's our job to make sure they're adequately staffed, equipped and trained to perform their missions at home," Mr. Davis said in a letter to committee Chairman Rep. Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat. "I'm asking for these hearings because it's abundantly clear they are not," he said. "First, we don't give them the training and equipment they need. Then we subject them to uncaring and uncoordinated care when they're wounded. Hearings on these issues should be a top priority for Congress." Mr. Davis said one of the GAO reports noted that even though 12 of 15 "national planning scenarios" issued by the White House Homeland Security Council involve chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive response, the ability of Army chemical and biological units, especially National Guard and Reserve units, to concurrently perform both their original war-fighting chemical and biological defense mission and their homeland-defense mission is doubtful. On Jan. 30, the GAO said that five years after the September 11 attacks, the Defense Department has not moved effectively to identify National Guard homeland-defense equipment and training requirements. Mr. Davis said that the types and quantities of equipment the National Guard requires to perform domestic missions have not been identified in any systematic way and that the Defense Department has not acted on comments from state officials about growing strain on equipment and personnel. On Feb. 20, a second GAO report said management actions were needed to "close the gap" between Army chemical unit preparedness and national priorities. The report, which focused on the readiness of Army units assigned to chemical and biological preparedness and response, said most are National Guard and Reserve units that are "woefully unprepared, understaffed and underequipped." Mr. Davis sponsored the National Guard Empowerment Act of 2007 to allow the chief of the National Guard Bureau to establish common requirements and a budget that would allow the Guard to be equipped and trained for crucial homeland missions. _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace@lists.gp-us.org http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/peace From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 28 15:36:24 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:35:00 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Second Hearing on State End-the-War Resolution - Date Change] Message-ID: <45E611F8.4090501@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Second Hearing on State End-the-War Resolution - Date Change Resent-Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:27:53 -0800 (PST) Resent-From: alerts@oregonpeaceworks.org Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:29:22 -0800 From: Peter Bergel OPW Email Banner Dear Members & Friends, We alerted you recently to the anti-surge, End-the-War resolution in the Oregon Legislature -- HJM9. ? The first hearing was held last ? Monday.? The second will be held on Monday, March 5, at 8:30 a.m. in Hearing Room E of the State Capitol rather than today, Wednesday, as previously announced. If you would like to testify, or if you would just like to help ???swell the crowd,??? please consider attending. Be sure to sign up with the committee staff as soon as you arrive if you want to testify on behalf of an organization or yourself. Following is a report by Dan Handelman of Portland Peace and Justice Works about the Monday hearing and some next step suggestions as well as the text of the resolution with proposed amendments. If you can offer a ride on Monday, or need one, or if you have questions, please contact: Dan Handelman Peace and Justice Works PO Box 42456 Portland, OR 97242 (503) 236-3065 pjw@pjw.info http://www.pjw.info Please forward this email to others who might be interested. Peter Bergel Executive Director, OPW I -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 28 16:11:00 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:35:01 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: Pariah or Prophet?] Message-ID: <45E61A14.8020007@peak.org> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Pariah or Prophet? Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:40:36 -0800 */There are times when you have to obey a call which is the highest of all, i.e. the voice of conscience even though such obedience may cost many a bitter tear, and even more, separation from friends, from family, from the state, to which you may belong, from all that you have held as dear as life itself. For this obedience is the law of our being./* *~ Mahatma Gandhi * http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0226-28.htm /Published on Monday, February 26, 2007 by truthdig / *Pariah or Prophet? * *by Chris Hedges* I can't imagine why Ralph Nader would run again. He has been branded as an egomaniac, blacklisted by the media, plunged into debt by a Democratic Party machine that challenged his ballot access petitions and locked him out of the presidential debates. Most of his friends and supporters have abandoned him, and he is almost universally reviled for throwing the 2000 election to George W. Bush. I can't imagine why he would want to go through this one more time. But when Nader hinted in San Francisco that he might run if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton became the Democratic Party nominee, I knew I would be working for his campaign if he indeed entered the race. He understands that American democracy has become a consumer fraud and that if we do not do battle with the corporations that, in the name of globalization, are cannibalizing the country for profit, our democratic state is doomed. I spent the last two years reporting and writing "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America." The rise of the Christian right---the most dangerous mass movement in American history---can be traced directly to the corporate rape of America. This movement, which calls for the eradication of real and imagined enemies, all branded as "satanic," at home and abroad, is an expression of rage. This rage rises out of the deep distortions and dislocations that have beset tens of millions of Americans shunted aside in the new global marketplace. The massive flight of manufacturing and professional jobs overseas, the ruthless slashing of state and federal assistance and the rise of an unchecked American oligarchy have plunged many Americans into deep economic and personal despair. They have turned, because of this despair, to "Christian" demagogues who promise magic, miracles, angels, the gospel of prosperity and a fantastic Christian utopia. And the Republicans and the Democrats are equally culpable for this assault. There are only two solutions left. We must organize to fight the corporate state, to redirect our national wealth and resources to fund a massive antipoverty campaign and curb the cycle of perpetual war that enriches the military-industrial complex and by extension the two political parties that dominate Washington, or we must accept an inevitable Christo-fascism backed by these corporations. Don't expect glib Democratic politicians such as John Edwards, Sen. Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama to address these issues. They are, as Nader understands, hostage to corporate money. Nader, perhaps better than anyone else, has grasped the long, disastrous rise of the corporate state. He and his small army of activists helped write citizen legislation in the 1960s and 1970s that gave us, among many bills, the Clean Air Act, the Mine and Health Safety Act and the Freedom of Information Act. He worked with and was courted by sympathetic Democrats. Presidential candidate George McGovern saw him as a potential running mate, but Nader refused to be enticed directly into the political arena. He was a skilled Washington insider, one of the greatest idealists within the democratic system. But the corporations grew tired of Nader's activism. They mounted a well-oiled campaign to destroy him. These early attempts were clumsy and amateurish, such as General Motor's use of private detectives to try to dig up dirt on his private life; they found none. The campaign was exposed and led to a public apology by GM. Nader was awarded $425,000 in damages, which he used to fund citizen action groups. Lewis Powell, who was the general counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and would later be appointed to the Supreme Court, wrote a memo in August 1971 that expressed corporate concerns. "The single most effective antagonist of American business is Ralph Nader," the memo read, "a legend in his own time and an idol to millions of Americans. ... There should be no hesitation to attack [Nader and others]." Corporations poured hundreds of millions into the assault. They set up pseudo-think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, which invented bogus disciplines including cost-benefit and risk-management analysis, all geared to change the debate from health, labor and safety issues to the rising cost of big government. They ran sophisticated ad campaigns to beguile voters. These corporations wrenched apart, through lavish campaign donations and intensive and shady lobbying, the ties between Nader's public interest groups and his supporters in the Democratic Party. Washington, by the time they were done, was besieged with 25,000 corporate lobbyists and 9,000 corporate action committees. When Ronald Reagan, the corporate pitch man, swept into office he set out to dismantle some 30 governmental regulations, most put into place by Nader and his allies, all of which curbed the abuse of corporations. The Reagan White House worked to gut 20 years of Nader legislation. And, once a fixture on Capital Hill, Nader became a pariah. Nader, however, did not give up. He turned to local community organizing, assisting grass-roots campaigns around the country such the one to remove benzene, known to cause cancer, from paint in GM car plants. But by the time Bill Clinton and Al Gore took office the corporate state was ascendant. Nader and his citizen committees were frozen out by Democrats as well as Republicans. Clinton and Gore never met with him. "We tried every way to get the Democrats to pick up on issues that really commanded the felt concerns and daily life of millions of Americans," Nader says in the new documentary about his life, "An Unreasonable Man," "but these were issues that corporations didn't want attention paid to, and so when people say why did you do this in 2000, I say I'm a 20-year veteran of pursuing the folly of the least worse between the two parties." The Clinton administration pushed through NAFTA, gutted welfare, gave up on universal healthcare, deregulated the communications industry and abolished federal aid to families with dependent children. It further empowered the growing corporate state and exacerbated the despair that has fueled its allies in the Christian right. "For 20 years," Nader says in the film, "we saw the doors closing on us in Washington, on our citizen groups and a lot of other citizen groups, and what are we here for? To improve the country. We couldn't get congressional hearings, even with the Democrats in charge." There is a fascinating rage---and /rage/ is the right word---expressed by many on the left in this fine film about Nader. Todd Gitlin, Eric Alterman and Michael Moore, along with a host of former Nader's Raiders, spit out venomous insults toward Nader, a man they profess to have once admired, the most common charge being that Nader is a victim of his oversized ego. This anger is the anger of the betrayed. But they were not betrayed by Nader. They betrayed themselves. They allowed themselves to buy into the facile argument of "the least worse" and ignore the deeper, subterranean assault on our democracy that Nader has always addressed. It was an incompetent, corporatized Democratic Party, along with the orchestrated fraud by the Republican Party, that threw the 2000 election to Bush, not Ralph Nader. Nader received only 2.7 percent of the vote in 2000 and got less than one-half of 1 percent in 2004. All of the third-party candidates who ran in 2000 in Florida---there were about half a dozen of them---got more votes than the 537-vote difference between Bush and Gore. Why not go after the other third-party candidates? And what about the 10 million Democrats who voted in 2000 for Bush? What about Gore, whose campaign was so timid and empty---he never mentioned global warming---that he could not carry his home state of Tennessee? And what about the 2004 cartoon-like candidate, John Kerry, who got up like a Boy Scout and told us he was reporting for duty and would bring us "victory" in Iraq? Nader argues that there are few---he never said no---differences between the Democrats and the Republicans. And during the first four years of the Bush administration the Democrats proved him right. They authorized the war in Iraq. They stood by as Bush stacked the judiciary with "Christian" ideologues. They let Bush, in violation of the Constitution, pump hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into faith-based organizations that discriminate based on belief and sexual orientation and openly proselytize. They stood by as American children got fleeced by No Child Left Behind. Democrats did not protest when federal agencies began to propagate "Christian" pseudo-science about creationism, reproductive rights and homosexuality. And the Democrats let Bush further dismantle regulatory agencies, strip American citizens of constitutional rights under the Patriot Act and other draconian legislation, and thrust impoverished Americans aside through the corporate-sponsored bankruptcy bill. It is a stunning record. Bush is the worst president in American history. If Gore, or Kerry, had the spine to take him on, to challenge corporate welfare, corporate crime, the hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate bailouts and issues such as labor law reform, if either had actually stood up to these corporate behemoths on behalf of the working and middle class, rather than mutter thought-terminating clich?s about American greatness, he could have won with a landslide. But Gore and Kerry did not dare to piss off their corporate paymasters. There are a few former associates in the film who argue that Nader is tarnishing his legacy, and by extension their own legacy. But Nader's legacy is undiminished. He fights his wars against corporate greed with a remarkable consistency. He knows our democratic state is being hijacked by the same corporate interests that sold us unsafe automobiles and dangerous and shoddy products. This is a battle not for some unachievable ideal but to save our democracy. "I don't care about my personal legacy," Nader says in the film. "I care about how much justice is advanced in America and in our world day after day. I'm willing to sacrifice whatever 'reputation' in the cause of that effort. What is my legacy? Are they going to turn around and rip out seat belts out of cars, air bags out of cars?" These corporations, and their enraged and manipulated followers in the Christian right, tens of millions of them, if left unchecked will propel us into despotism. The corporate state has rigged our system, hollowed out our political process and steadily stripped citizens of constitutional rights, federal and state protection and assistance. This may be the twilight of American democracy. And it is better to stand up and fight, even in vain, than not to fight at all. /Chris Hedges' latest book is "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America." / -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 28 16:58:13 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:35:01 2007 Subject: [news] [Fwd: The Sanity of Jimmy Carter] Message-ID: <45E62525.9040003@peak.org> All good except for the part about Gore, who as far as I know, never mentioned global warming during his run as vice-president. Joanne -------- Original Message -------- Subject: The Sanity of Jimmy Carter Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:52:11 -0800 *Jimmy Carter has become a man for all seasons with the publishing of his book /"Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid." /It is worthy of being read. Respectfully, Lloyd K. Marbet * */The bottom line is this: Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law, with the Roadmap for Peace, with official American policy, with the wishes of a majority of its own citizens---and honor its own previous commitments---by accepting its legal borders. All Arab neighbors must pledge to honor Israel's right to live in peace under these conditions. The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global and American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories. It will be tragedy---for the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the world---if peace is rejected and a system of oppression, apartheid, and sustained violence is permitted to prevail. Jimmy Carter, "Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid" /* */ /*http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0227-27.htm /Published on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 by The Nation / *The Sanity of Jimmy Carter * *by Katrina vanden Heuvel* In an interview with /This Week/, anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter said that his recent book /Palestine Peace Not Apartheid/ has led to the most personal criticism of his life. Carter said that he has been called a "liar," "anti-Semite," "plagiarist," "thief," "coward"--and yet the 82-year-old remains as focused, passionate and articulate as ever on his reasons for writing the book and what he hopes it will accomplish. "If I have had one burning desire in my heart and mind for the last thirty years, I would put peace for Israel at the top of the list," Carter said. "And commensurate with that has to be justice and human rights for the Palestinians next door." (To readers who would still question Carter's commitment to Israel, read the article in /The Nation/ by former national Director of the American Jewish Congress, Henry Siegman). Carter hopes his book will precipitate an open debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict and renew the abandoned peace process- certainly, as both Carter and Stephanopoulos noted, it has already accomplished the former. In Carter's opinion, the need for this vigorous public debate is all the more crucial since he doesn't believe the Democratic Congress will take any more of a balanced approach to peace than its Republican predecessor. Aside from "maybe two or three members" Carter believes that our representatives view any position critical of the current conservative Israeli government as "politically suicidal." The same humanity which leads Carter to speak out fearlessly about the Middle East has led him to address "diseases that no one else really cares about much, or knows about"--like Guinea Worm (now on the verge of becoming the first disease eradicated in over twenty-five years largely through the work of the Carter Center )--that impact "the poorest, most destitute, forgotten and needy people on Earth." He stated plainly that the United States needs to increase our foreign aid--"We're at the bottom of all the developed countries in giving to other people"--and he's right, as a percentage of GDP we are shamefully stingy. Finally, Carter gets the importance of global warming as a defining issue of our time--which is a significant reason why he would support formerly elected by popular vote/Oscar winner, President Al Gore in 2008. "I've put so much pressure on Al to run that he's almost gotten aggravated with me," Carter said, laughing. "He said, 'Jimmy, I'll support you. Don't call.' But he would be my favorite." At a time when there is too little honesty or boldness in our politics, Jimmy Carter speaks his mind, with sanity and humanity. His ideas deserve discussion and debate, not vituperation and ad hominem attack. Copyright ? 2007 The Nation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070228/3e98c321/attachment.htm From reynolds at spiritone.com Wed Feb 28 17:38:04 2007 From: reynolds at spiritone.com (Carl Reynolds) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:35:01 2007 Subject: [discuss] [news] [Fwd: The Sanity of Jimmy Carter] In-Reply-To: <45E62525.9040003@peak.org> References: <45E62525.9040003@peak.org> Message-ID: After the remark below, I expected to see a passage claiming Gore worked against global waarming as VP. There is no such passage. I return to the negative remark about Gore: I agree with Carter; Gore is my choice too. He is green enough for me; probably greener than Nader (who could get my vote for VP). When we get so partisan we cut off our noses to spite our faces, we have clearly gone too far. Carl >All good except for the part about Gore, who as far as I know, never >mentioned global warming during his run as vice-president. >Joanne > >-------- Original Message -------- >Subject: The Sanity of Jimmy Carter Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:52:11 -0800 > > >Jimmy Carter has become a man for all seasons with the publishing of >his book "Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid." It is worthy of being >read. > >Respectfully, >Lloyd K. Marbet > >The bottom line is this: Peace will come to Israel and the Middle >East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with >international law, with the Roadmap for Peace, with official >American policy, with the wishes of a majority of its own >citizens---and honor its own previous commitments---by accepting its >legal borders. All Arab neighbors must pledge to honor Israel's >right to live in peace under these conditions. The United States is >squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying >global and American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting >the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories. > >It will be tragedy---for the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the >world---if peace is rejected and a system of oppression, apartheid, >and sustained violence is permitted to prevail. > >Jimmy Carter, "Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid" > > > >http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0227-27.htm > > >Published on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 by >The Nation >The Sanity of Jimmy Carter >by Katrina vanden Heuvel > > >In an >interview >with This Week, anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, former >President Jimmy Carter said that his recent book Palestine Peace Not >Apartheid has led to the most personal criticism of his life. Carter >said that he has been called a "liar," "anti-Semite," "plagiarist," >"thief," "coward"--and yet the 82-year-old remains as focused, >passionate and articulate as ever on his reasons for writing the >book and what he hopes it will accomplish. > >"If I have had one burning desire in my heart and mind for the last >thirty years, I would put peace for Israel at the top of the list," >Carter said. "And commensurate with that has to be justice and human >rights for the Palestinians next door." (To readers who would still >question Carter's commitment to Israel, read the >article in The Nation >by former national Director of the American Jewish Congress, Henry >Siegman). Carter hopes his book will precipitate an open debate on >the Israel-Palestine conflict and renew the abandoned peace process- >certainly, as both Carter and Stephanopoulos noted, it has already >accomplished the former. > >In Carter's opinion, the need for this vigorous public debate is all >the more crucial since he doesn't believe the Democratic Congress >will take any more of a balanced approach to peace than its >Republican predecessor. Aside from "maybe two or three members" >Carter believes that our representatives view any position critical >of the current conservative Israeli government as "politically >suicidal." > >The same humanity which leads Carter to >speak out >fearlessly about the Middle East has led him to address "diseases >that no one else really cares about much, or knows about"--like >Guinea Worm (now on the verge of becoming the first disease >eradicated in over twenty-five years largely >through >the work of the Carter Center)--that impact "the poorest, most >destitute, forgotten and needy people on Earth." He stated plainly >that the United States needs to increase our foreign aid--"We're at >the bottom of all the developed countries in giving to other >people"--and he's right, as a percentage of GDP we are shamefully >stingy. > >Finally, Carter gets the >importance >of global warming as a defining issue of our time--which is a >significant reason why he would support formerly elected by popular >vote/Oscar winner, President Al Gore in 2008. "I've put so much >pressure on Al to run that he's almost gotten aggravated with me," >Carter said, laughing. "He said, 'Jimmy, I'll support you. Don't >call.' But he would be my favorite." > >At a time when there is too little honesty or boldness in our >politics, Jimmy Carter speaks his mind, with sanity and humanity. >His ideas deserve discussion and debate, not vituperation and ad >hominem attack. > >Copyright ? 2007 The Nation > > > > >_______________________________________________ >pgp-news mailing list >pgp-news@list.pacificgreens.org >http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-news > >_______________________________________________ >pgp-discuss mailing list >pgp-discuss@list.pacificgreens.org >http://list.pacificgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/pgp-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.pacificgreens.org/pipermail/pgp-news/attachments/20070228/e5b5cb9c/attachment.htm From cvar at peak.org Wed Feb 28 23:00:56 2007 From: cvar at peak.org (Joanne Cvar) Date: Sat Mar 3 17:35:01 2007 Subject: [news] Nemesis Message-ID: <45E67A28.3060103@peak.org> George, Watch this (or listen to it) for an example of why I'm so impatient with our Green lack of attention to what really matters. Joanne ?Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic" An interview with Chalmers Johnson In his new book, CIA analyst, distinguished scholar, and best-selling author Chalmers Johnson argues that US military and economic overreach may actually lead to the nation's collapse as a constitutional republic. It's the last volume in his Blowback trilogy, following the best-selling "Blowback" and "The Sorrows of Empire." In those two, Johnson argued American clandestine and military activity has led to un-intended, but direct disaster here in the United States.. Audio and transcript http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17210.htm