tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702871455804280342024-03-03T16:26:02.144-08:00Subversive PeacemakingLeonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.comBlogger227125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-77383737227275406772023-07-06T15:33:00.000-07:002023-07-06T15:33:42.367-07:00 “No Guilty Bystander” tells the inspirational story of Thomas Gumbleton<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i>Book review by Leonard Eiger; July 6, 2023</i></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">What does it mean to live as a follower of Jesus in the struggle for justice in today's world? “</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://orbisbooks.com/products/no-guilty-bystander-the-extraordinary-life-of-bishop-thomas-gumbleton">No Guilty Bystander: The Extraordinary Life of Bishop Thomas Gumbleton</a>,</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">” tells the inspirational story of one bishop who has lived such a life in a world deeply in need of healing. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The authors of this well-researched book published by <a href="https://orbisbooks.com/">Orbis Books</a>, Frank Fromherz and Suzanne Sattler, IHM, have done a deep dive into the rich and often stormy career of a bishop who took on so many issues – including racism, poverty, war, clerical sex abuse, gender issues and nuclear weapons. Through his story we see that it is possible for a member of the clergy to be a follower of the Gospel teachings within a church structure that is itself flawed and in need of healing.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In my own time leading a social justice ministry in the United Methodist Church some years ago, I regularly read </span><a href="http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/peace/archives1.htm"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The Peace Pulpit</i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">, Bishop Gumbleton's weekly homily in the </span><a href="https://www.ncronline.org/"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>National Catholic Reporter</i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">. His homilies were unlike any I had heard from other priests, and greatly informed my own work in the church and beyond. A bold example of his work was his <a href="http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/peace/pfg122504.htm">2004 Christmas morning homily</a>, in which he spoke of the horrific violence in Iraq and said that, “War will not ever bring peace. That's clearly part of the message communicated to us through Jesus who is the full revelation of God. The only way you can bring peace is by transforming the world through love and goodness, spreading the message of Jesus, spreading the love of Jesus. That's the only way.” </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqJIQGF7CHgpFitx8EH3EgDtJw6r8iGn-s0ML7U272rByeKTvUPuL0qmnAy5nX4hDuNGW8zqDSMVj8VPCe6a464YKcol6bJYzG1m9AuHsRWlWQ_-7tGoLcmYJWHDoQ7RmLsUitnIUGs-95fLOo6cakxbiIo3TnDVz3-Ma9fBD9egfG1JtwHWILBl60DyL/s2775/Fromherz-Sattler_No%20Guilty%20Bystander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2775" data-original-width="1800" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqJIQGF7CHgpFitx8EH3EgDtJw6r8iGn-s0ML7U272rByeKTvUPuL0qmnAy5nX4hDuNGW8zqDSMVj8VPCe6a464YKcol6bJYzG1m9AuHsRWlWQ_-7tGoLcmYJWHDoQ7RmLsUitnIUGs-95fLOo6cakxbiIo3TnDVz3-Ma9fBD9egfG1JtwHWILBl60DyL/w295-h454/Fromherz-Sattler_No%20Guilty%20Bystander.jpg" width="295" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">At that time I was beginning to meet, and work with, Catholic priests, nuns and lay people who were the antithesis of what I had experienced as Catholicism, and Gumbleton was certainly among them. For someone “trained and socialized in a hierarchal-clerical culture,” he broke out of the mold, and with open heart and open mind listened deeply – both to The Word and to those around him who challenged the established and rigid church dogma – and grew as a follower of the loving, nonviolent Jesus. This growth informed his work in the church on every level throughout his career as priest and bishop.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Bishop Gumbleton initially found himself immersed in the issue of the Vietnam war. For him this was what Chapter 1 calls his “Personal Turning Point,” a time of great inner transformation. Many factors came together to inform his understanding, including the writings of Thomas Merton, the pacifism of Dorothy Day, and the statements of young draftees “who faced their own personal and existential questions of conscience.” The sacrifice paid by Franz Jaggerstatter in World War II also had a major impact on his objection to the war and his support of conscientious objectors. Gumbleton admitted that it was no easy journey: “I was struggling to determine what my response to the war should be...” </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Gumbleton's trip to Vietnam in 1973, in which he witnessed atrocities committed on behalf of his own government, was one of many trips he would make in witness to suffering in other countries – including Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan. All of these journeys motivated him find “ways to help and provide effective solidarity” to those in need. As Gumbleton once said, “You can't know the situation of the poor and their suffering from the violence... unless you see some of it firsthand, experience it, and come to understand their life from their perspective.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">It is no small irony that this humble follower of the nonviolent ways of Jesus was once “characterized as 'the most radical member of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference... who is into very questionable stuff.'” This was in the context of El Salvador where Gumbleton was considered a subversive by both the U.S. and Salvadoran governments. After Gumbleton travelled to Nicaragua in 1986, “he told the press: 'We've been lied to in order to promote the current war between the Sandinista government and the U.S.-backed Contra rebels.'” Although it was not the bishop's natural inclination to be in the spotlight, Gumbleton time and time again spoke out strongly about injustice wherever he found it.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In a chapter that could have been titled <i>The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back</i> we learn of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Gumbleton's ministry to, and advocacy on behalf of, victims of clerical sex abuse in the Catholic Church. As with every other issue it began with him compassionately listening to what victims had endured, and in this case he provided testimony for the Ohio state legislature arguing that, “full disclosure of the abuse is essential to hold perpetrators and the church accountable, heal victims and restore the church's 'moral credibility' at a time when 'more than a few feel that church social teachings ring with hypocrisy...” Gumbleton had barely arrived home when the political firestorm began.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">When all was said and done (in 2007), Bishop Gumbleton was removed from both his roles as bishop and as pastor of St. Leo's in Detroit. The book quotes Canon lawyer Thomas Doyle referring to Gumbleton's prophetic stance on clerical sex abuse: “If a bishop stands up for what is right and has the courage to express his stand, he will quickly find himself cast out with the rest of us... Bravo for Tom. He did what Jesus would have done.” Indeed he did!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The authors have not only told the stories of Bishop Gumbleton's experience with Vietnam and the clerical abuse scandal. From ministering to the people of his parish to his support for LGBTQ+ rights to nuclear weapons, the book chronicles Gumbleton's growth and prophetic activism as a member of the human family and as a bishop, doing the work he felt called to do.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I spoke with Bishop Gumbleton in 2021 about his friend and colleague Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen who is remembered for his strong stance against nuclear weapons. During that conversation Gumbleton spoke prophetically about the extraordinary immorality of our nation's worship of nuclear weapons. He noted that while some bishops have said President Joe Biden should be denied Communion for his stance on abortion, Catholics serving on a Trident ballistic missile submarine can receive Communion from a Catholic chaplain. “They reinforce these enlisted people wherever we have these weapons, essentially giving their blessing and that of the church,” Gumbleton said. “You have Catholic chaplains supporting the military people who have the intention to use nuclear weapons.” </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Instead, Gumbleton said, the church needs reform to contend with the evil that threatens to destroy the planet: through war and environmental destruction. “Right now we need a profound conversion within the church if we are going to speak God’s word with any type of authenticity,” he said. “That is not going on right now. ... So that makes someone like Ray Hunthausen stand out all the more. If we had 300 of the bishops speaking out like Ray Hunthausen, we might be getting <span style="color: black;">someplace.</span>” </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">After reading “No Guilty Bystander” I realized that there was much about this humble servant of God that I had not known. It also became clear just how much his earlier homilies inspired my work to this day – that it is (to quote Gumbleton) – “not enough... to be privately, individually moral, in the face of evil embedded in the very structure of the social system... The believing person says, I will try to speak God's name into this madness and stop it.” If there were 300 bishops today speaking out like Tom Gumbleton, the church might be leading the way to a better world. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The authors took the title of their book from Thomas Merton’s 1966 “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” in which Merton wrestled with his contemplative life in contrast to the immense suffering in the world outside of his retreat. Yet, his writings reached far and wide and informed so many people's lives and work including Gumbleton, whose life is evidence that he, too, was “No Guilty Bystander.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Thanks to Frank Fromherz and Suzanne Sattler for this rich and comprehensive telling of the life's work of a humble and, if I may be so bold, radical priest. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">You may order “<a href="https://orbisbooks.com/products/no-guilty-bystander-the-extraordinary-life-of-bishop-thomas-gumbleton">No Guilty Bystander</a>” from <a href="https://orbisbooks.com/">Orbis Books</a>, which will give (as designated by the authors) all royalties from sales of “No Guilty Bystander” to the <a href="https://www.kaylasantehaiti.org/">Kay Lasante Health Clinic</a> in Haiti, which Bishop Gumbleton helped to establish. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">###</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Leonard Eiger is an activist and member of <a href="https://www.gzcenter.org/">Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action</a>.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-39584366928030363212023-02-12T22:43:00.000-08:002023-02-12T22:43:34.282-08:00 The Big Superbowl Scam<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">February 12, 2023</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Many, many years ago I enjoyed sitting in the bleachers, bundled up on a cool fall Saturday evening watching a high school football game and cheering on the local team. It was, for me, real - a bunch of high school kids doing something they were good at, and bringing people together for some good, friendly competition. College football, which even then was more organized and better funded, still had that feeling of simpler times.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Today I certainly don't get that warm, fuzzy feeling about football at any level. As for professional football... where to begin?</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">By the time you read this, Superbowl LVII will be over and the winning team will on its way home for the big parade where the players will brandish their huge trophy and flash their massive Superbowl rings. Yet, even before the game begins you don't have to be a Las Vegas bookmaker to know who the real winners (yes, plural) are in the Superbowl?</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Side Note: This year's carefully scripted military flyover will make history by being the first ever all-women team of Navy pilots. At least it won't involve the Global Strike Command's (that's the folks who would be in charge of the end-of-the-world... you know – NUCLEAR WAR) </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/Wvh0FHtwX0o" target="_blank">Superbowl 55 nuclear-capable bomber flyover</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">involving three (yes, three!) different bombers; a most impressive spectacle that made people go “ooh and aah,” rather than “WTF!!!” But I digress...</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">As the New York Times said this morning, “Super Bowl Sunday is akin to a national holiday, one of the few times of year that tens of millions of Americans do the same activity at the same time.” Ain't that the truth. And, of course, being the most-watched program on American TV by a huge margin means huge advertising revenue, and that will likely be dominated by... BOOZE ads, along with cars (well, mostly BIG, manly trucks), pizza and chicken wings.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">On a positive note I will mention, although it's barely a blip on most of America's Superbowl Sunday radar, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/us/iyw-puppy-bowl-shelters-rescue-groups/index.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20230212&instance_id=85191&nl=the-morning&regi_id=95852391&segment_id=125123&te=1&user_id=dad41d8c767c3a9302927342529ef62e" target="_blank">Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">special, an annual televised event featuring dozens of cute puppies taking to a scaled-down football stadium. A “rufferee” oversees “Team Ruff” versus “Team Fluff” as they play for the coveted “Lombarky” Trophy. There is no flyover, and likely no beer advertising, so it's understandable why it's so overshadowed by the Superbowl.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">But let's get down to the real issue (I have) with the Superbowl. OK, aside from the fact that it is a massive feel-good opportunity for the Pentagon, boosting people's patriotic fervor for the Forever Wars, and likely boosting visits to military recruiting offices, it is, above all really, really good financially for the team owners.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Aside from the profits from advertising and merchandising, the team owners benefit hugely from taxpayer dollars. </span></span><a href="https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-stadium-sham?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">As economist Robert Reich points out</span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">, “Since 1990, franchises in major North American sports leagues have intercepted upwards of </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.sportico.com/business/finance/2022/study-table-sports-stadiums-1234685843/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#:~:text=Since%201990%20over%20$65%20billion%20(in%202020%20dollars)%20has%20been%20spent%20on%20stadium%20construction%20in%20North%20America%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%9CBig%20Five%E2%80%9D%20sports%20leagues,%20with%20over%20$30%20billion%20coming%20from%20taxpayer%20subsidies." target="_blank">$30 billion worth</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">of taxpayer funds from state and local governments to build stadiums.”</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">And that's just part of their (sweet) deal. Aside from the Green Bay Packers that, miraculously, is owned by over half a million “Cheeseheads,” the rest of the franchises are privately owned by very rich people, each owner worth at least a billion dollars (and it's not just football teams...).</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">One would think that public funding would bring public benefits, yet, as economist Reich points out, this does not appear to be the case, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4022547&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">as studies have pointed out.</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">As one article said, “</span></span><span style="color: #04151a;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">There are a lot of things economists disagree about, but the economic impact of sports stadiums is not one of them.”</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #04151a;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Instead, between tax breaks, reimbursements on everything from utilities to maintenance and repairs, and all the revenue on tickets and concessions, it's a cash cow (with apologies to our bovine friends).</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #04151a;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capping all this off is the extortion exerted by franchise owners! How many times have we heard about owners threatening to move a team to a different city if they didn't get their way. Here is sunny Seattle, </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Starbucks’ founder Howard Schultz, who owned the Seattle Supersonics basketball franchise, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://time.com/5514970/howard-schultz-seattle-supersonics/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#:~:text=Schultz%20%E2%80%94%20exasperated%20by,of%20their%20team." target="_blank">failed to get public funding</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">to build a new stadium. So what happened? That's right; the coffee billionaire sold the team to another wealthy businessman who </span></span><a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nba-approves-sonics-move-to-oklahoma-city/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">moved it to Oklahoma</span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">. In all fairness, it is a lot sunnier there.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">And, it's not just state and local money; it's also our Federal tax dollars that help fund Superbowl. The 600+ </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nba-approves-sonics-move-to-oklahoma-city/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">Department of Homeland Security</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">(DHS) personnel are just the beginning of the Federal largesse bestowed upon this year's sacred event (all in the name of National Security). The Federal government's involvement in protecting Superbowl is so massive that even before the kickoff of this year's game, the DHS is already preparing for next year's game in Las Vegas. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">So what is all this really about? Well, to let the people's economist Robert Reich have the last word: “The most egregious part of how the system currently works is that </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2017-05-01/the-economics-of-subsidizing-sports-stadiums/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#:~:text=Taxpayer%20money%20to%20subsidize%20a%20stadium%20also%20has%20opportunity%20costs.%20An%20economist%20might%20ask,%20%22Of%20all%20the%20things%20my%20city%20could%20do%20with%20$500%20million,%20is%20a%20sports%20stadium%20subsidy%20my%20best%20option?%22" target="_blank">every dollar we spend building stadiums</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">is a dollar we aren’t using for hospitals or housing or schools. We are </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704461304576216330349497852?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">underfunding public necessities</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">in order to funnel money to billionaires for something they could feasibly afford. So, instead of spending billions on extravagant stadiums, we should be investing taxpayer money in things that improve the lives of everyone — not just the bottom lines of profitable sports teams and their owners. Because when it comes to stadium deals, the only winners are billionaires.”</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">You've probably guessed by now what I will be watching this year on Puppy Bowl Sunday...</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-49362732622394902032014-11-05T18:40:00.000-08:002014-11-05T18:40:22.724-08:00Subversive Peacemaking going on sabbatical Dear Friends,<br />
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This blog was the beginning for me, the beginning of blogging that is. As my peacemaking work continued to evolve I found myself engaged on a deeper level in the work of abolishing nuclear weapons. I started getting a large amount of feedback that I should consider splitting off the nuclear stuff, and that is what I did. The Nuclear Abolitionist was the next step, and after that came the Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.<br />
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Aside from having some fun and blowing off steam once in a great while on The Loose Nukes, I have recently been focusing all my attention on mounting a campaign to scuttle the US Navy's plans to build a new generation of ballistic missile submarines. Known as the OHIO Class Replacement Program or SSBN(X) in Navy circles, I call it New Trident.<br />
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Of course, what campaign is complete with its own website or blog, so I created NO To NEW TRIDENT (the name of the campaign) at <a href="http://notnt.org/">NOTNT.ORG</a>. New Trident will cost at least $100 billion, just to build 12 replacement subs. Building a new generation of ballistic missile submarines will not only waste a huge amount of our nations human and financial capital, it will also accelerate a growing nuclear submarine arms race and increase the risk of nuclear war.<br />
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So Subversive Peacemaking is taking a sabbatical so that I may put all my energies into this important campaign. Check it out at notnt.org and get involved; I think it is a worthy effort.<br />
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And to those who have read this blog over the years (and hopefully gotten something useful from it); THANKS!<br />
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In Peace,<br />
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Leonard<br />
The Subversive Peacemaker<br />
<br />Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-83270241486559333462014-09-21T08:49:00.000-07:002014-09-21T08:52:46.102-07:00Be The (CLIMATE) Change!!!Dear Friends,<br />
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Today, Sunday, September 21st is the International Day of Peace, one day each year designated by the United Nations as an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. During the General Assembly discussion of the resolution establishing Peace Day it was suggested that:<br />
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"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."<br />
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So it is appropriate that today the largest climate march - <a href="http://peoplesclimate.org/" target="_blank">People's Climate March</a> - in history takes place in New York City, headquarters of the UN. Ahead of the September 23rd UN summit on climate change over 100 world leaders have gathered in NYC, and there will be 2808 solidarity events in 166 countries. <br />
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Why a Climate March on Peace Day??? It is the very endless cycle of militarism and war making directly tied to an unsustainable means of existence that drives the war against the planet. Most of the effects over past decades were isolated, and felt by only a fraction of the Earth's inhabitants. Yet now, with Carbon Dioxide levels at dangerously high levels, we are seeing the beginnings of more far reaching effects on climate that will most definitely affect all of us.<br />
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We can no longer plunder our way to maintain an unsustainable way of life. And a key factor in stopping the plunder is accepting that we MUST change (for the sake of future generations) and make the hard choices now. Such a huge paradigm shift will be extremely difficult, and yet the stakes are also huge. <br />
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Conversion from a fossil fuel consuming, war making society to a sustainable one that utilizes resources intelligently and resolves conflict nonviolently will be a massive challenge. We (the people) have been so acculturated and indoctrinated to accept and support the very system of our planet's destruction that we are blinded to the reality of the impact of our choices on our planet (and all of its inhabitants).<br />
<br />
Today in countless cities in the US and around the world people who have removed their blinders are rising up to say no more status quo. They are saying yes to "a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities." They are saying yes to a "just, safe, peaceful" and sustainable world.<br />
<br />
Yet for the massive turnout for today's <a href="http://peoplesclimate.org/" target="_blank">People's Climate March</a>, it will take so many more of us to engage the issues that are dragging us down and to change direction. As their website says, <strong>"TO CHANGE EVERYTHING, WE NEED EVERYONE."</strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Mahatma Gandhi once said, we must "be the change we wish to see in the world." May we ALL be that change!!!</strong><br />
<br />
Peace,<br />
<br />
Leonard<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><a href="http://peoplesclimate.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><em>People's Climate March</em></span></a></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em></em></span></strong> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><a href="http://org.salsalabs.com/o/859/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=5283" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><em>Campaign Nonviolence</em></span></a></strong></div>
Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-14604591613232307662014-09-02T15:02:00.001-07:002014-09-02T15:04:18.139-07:00Refugee (a poem by Bruce Gagnon)<strong>Editor's Note: I first read this poem by friend and colleague Bruce Gagnon back in July. I find myself going back and re-reading it after looking at the accompanying photo over and over. At any rate, this is certainly a poem for our time. It speaks to the madness of the Combine, the Machine, the Military-Industrial Complex, the Kleptocracy... whatever you wish to call it. It also speaks to us as citizens and asks, in a subtle way - "Will we resist the madness?"</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>*****************</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Refugee</span></strong><br />
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<br />
<br />
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<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We all are running<br />
from something<br />
throughout our lineage<br />
our people ran<br />
from the wild<br />
woolly<br />
Mother Earth<br />
our home<br />
<br />
Now those who run<br />
get locked inside<br />
cages<br />
even the babies<br />
from south<br />
of the border<br />
<br />
NAFTA took them down<br />
but we don't talk about that<br />
we just turn on the brown people<br />
and drive them away<br />
keeps us distracted<br />
from what Mr. Big is doing<br />
to all of us<br />
<br />
Some are paid to<br />
divide and<br />
incite chaos<br />
quite a job<br />
killing your own people<br />
find it hard<br />
to understand<br />
<br />
It's Mr. Big's<br />
favorite play<br />
Modus operandi<br />
MO<br />
every criminal<br />
has a routine<br />
<br />
Some call it <br />
the Strategy of Tension<br />
worth noting<br />
it's our future<br />
create chaos<br />
and militarize in response<br />
<br />
Seeing the coming storm<br />
some run from it<br />
refugees <br />
others stand and resist<br />
as best they can<br />
try to give hope<br />
and strength to those<br />
hiding in the shadows<br />
refugees in their<br />
own right<br />
<br />
<br />
<em>Bruce K. Gagnon</em><br />
<em>Coordinator</em><br />
<em>Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space</em><br />
<em>PO Box 652</em><br />
<em>Brunswick, ME 04011</em><br />
<em>(207) 443-9502</em><br />
<a href="mailto:globalnet@mindspring.com"><em>globalnet@mindspring.com</em></a><br />
<a href="http://www.space4peace.org/"><em>www.space4peace.org</em></a><em> </em><br />
<a href="http://space4peace.blogspot.com/"><em>http://space4peace.blogspot.com/</em></a><em> (blog)</em>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-49823416036951168492014-07-05T15:00:00.002-07:002014-07-05T15:00:13.799-07:00Desparately Seeking Genuine Patriotism After the Fourth of July<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>FOR A NATION TO BE, in the truest sense, patriotic, its citizens must love their land with a knowing, intelligent, sustaining, and protective love. They must not, for any price, destroy its health, its beauty, or its productivity. And they must not allow their patriotism to be degraded to a mere loyalty to symbols or any present set of officials.</i></b> (Wendell Berry: from <i>A Citizen's Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America</i>).</blockquote>
Friends,<br />
<br />
I haven't checked the news today, although I' pretty sure that our mighty nation survived the Fourth of July. Based on the police presence just about everywhere I went on the 3rd, we were well protected against those pesky terrorists who (as I believe G. W. Bush once said) "hate our [disappearing] freedoms." I hunkered down and avoided the parades and fireworks displays yesterday as I get a bit twitchy when I see the flags waving everywhere in the nation that brought the world "You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror" (thanks G.W. for taking it way over the top). It is not easy when one does not walk in lockstep with the patriotic crowd. Granted, declaring independence from the mother country was quite a big deal in its time, and we do, in fact, live in a nation of democratic ideals. The problem is that there are powerful interests that have undermined those very ideals.<br />
<br />
The founding fathers understood the wisdom of avoiding foreign entanglements. As George Washington stated in his Farewell Address in 1796: "The Great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign Nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. . . . ‘Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign World." Thomas Jefferson elaborated, saying that the foreign policy of a free society such as ours must mean “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship, with all nations – entangling alliances with none."<br />
<br />
John Quincy Adams, author of the Monroe Doctrine said that, "America... does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." The founding fathers were unanimous in their opposition to forcefully exporting American values (particularly at the point of a gun). These were no country bumpkins. These were individuals who understood Lord Acton's Dictum that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."<br />
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Over the next two centuries our nation has all but forgotten the words (and intent) of the founders, and the quenchless thirst for resources and power has led to the creation of a phenomenal Military Industrial Complex and its mate, the National Security State that have allowed the U.S. to impose a global hegemony of unbelievable magnitude. With well over 700 military bases in roughly 150 countries (as of 2013, <a href="http://www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2013/01/04/veterans-peace-demand-keep-us-troops-out-africa" target="_blank">courtesy of Veterans for Peace</a>), the sun never sets on the <strike>Roman</strike> American Empire. We have already forced "democracy" on Iraq and Afghanistan, and are working on others now (and they all have oil and/or other strategic resources).<br />
<br />
The founding fathers were likely once again rolling in their graves on this past Fourth of July, and for good reason(s). For all the patriotic fervor (and associated drunkenness) of the Fourth, our nation has slumped into an absolute stupor as our "leaders" have squandered the gifts of liberty. John Quincy Adams warned us of this while celebrating the Anniversary of Independence on July 4, 1821:<br />
<br />
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her [America’s] heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force…. She might become the dictatress of the world: she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.<br />
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We are, indeed, no longer the ruler of our own spirit. As the corporate-military-nuclear-industrial monster swallows up the world, it also swallows up our nation's once great spirit, the spirit of independence. And so I call upon all who believe in the possibility of “peace, commerce, and honest friendship, with all nations – entangling alliances with none" (as Jefferson said) to recapture that revolutionary spirit of the founders (as imperfect as they were), and declare our independence from the powers of death that go out "in search of monsters to destroy." <br />
<br />
It's worth citing Berry's quote one last time - "<b>FOR A NATION TO BE, in the truest sense, patriotic, its citizens must love their land with a knowing, intelligent, sustaining, and protective love. They must not, for any price, destroy its health, its beauty, or its productivity. And they must not allow their patriotism to be degraded to a mere loyalty to symbols or any present set of officials"</b> (from A Citizen's Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America). <br />
<br />
As Berry says at the end of the same essay from which that quote comes, <b>"If we are serious about peace, then we must work for it as ardently, seriously, continuously, carefully, and bravely as we now prepare for war." </b><br />
<br />
May it be so on this Fourth of July (and on every day).<br />
<br />
Peace,<br />
<br />
Leonard<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0209-11.htm" target="_blank">Click here to read </a>Wendell Berry's A Citizen's Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America (published in 2003).<br />
<br />
<b>Note:</b> This post is a revision of one written in 2009.Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-45891386446422836712014-05-08T20:33:00.005-07:002014-05-09T12:37:09.192-07:00"Arise, then, women of this day!"Friends,<br />
<br />
Long before the holiday we know as Mother's Day was established, Julia Ward Howe wrote her Mother's Day Proclamation (in 1870), responding to the horrible carnage of the U.S. Civil War, in which so many women lost their sons and husbands.<br />
<br />
Howe and so many other women of that time were committed to abolishing war, and in 1872 Howe proposed the establishment of an annual Mother's Day for Peace. Long since that time (the commercialized version of) Mother's Day has, for the most part, been sanitized to remove any trace of women's civil, political activism. And - Men (am I wrong???) continue to perpetuate the horrific trans-national violence and war that consumes our young, our treasure, our future. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia Ward Howe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was an extraordinary statement declaring that women should not allow their children to be taken from them to learn to kill the children of the women of other nations, nor should they allow their husbands go to war. Howe's disdain for the warring actions of the men running the show was clear as she said that such "great questions" must not be "decided by irrelevant agencies."<br />
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The final paragraph of Howe's proclamation was a call to women to come together in a "general congress" for peace, which is conceptually a framework for what the United Nations might look like if the nations of the Security Council (including the United States) would honor its noble intentions.<br />
<br />
So, "Arise, then, women of this day", just as many women did in response to Howe in 1870. Men have had their chance, and failed miserably. The world continues (paraphrasing Howe) "to reek with carnage." Women - Refuse to send your husbands, your sons and your daughters off to kill the children of others.<br />
<br />
It is high time to create the conditions whereby (as Howe stated it), "the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God."<br />
<br />
With great thanks to nurturing women everywhere,<br />
<br />
Leonard<br />
<br />
<b>P.S. - </b>This Saturday, May 10th, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action will hold its annual Mother's Day weekend observance with a tea party (vigil and nonviolent direct action) at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, which houses the largest operational concentration of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal. Learn more at <a href="http://gzcenter.org/">gzcenter.org</a>. Join us for tea and cakes and much, much more.<br />
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<b>Mothers' Day Proclamation: Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.</i></blockquote>
Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-64632352889539775662014-04-19T17:32:00.000-07:002014-04-19T17:32:05.659-07:00(Finally) officially revising the history of the 1953 coup in IranDear Friends,<br />
<br />
One of my favorite reads is Secrecy News, published by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Project on American Secrecy (and there is plenty of that!!!). I find it in my email inbox on a fairly frequent basis. It provides insights and resources on secrecy, intelligence and national security policy that I would not know about or find elsewhere. Among other things, FAS makes public scores of government documents (paid for with our tax dollars) that would otherwise be kept secret. Steven Aftergood is the mastermind behind Secrecy News.<br />
<br />
Here is one of the items from this weeks email, regarding the kind of "revision" of history I can get behind (oh, you mean the CIA was behind the 1953 overthrow of the governent of Iran?!?!?!). You can read this and more at <a href="http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/">http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/</a>, and sign up to receive Secrecy News. Nothing like a little light shining on those dark and dusty corners of secrecy to strengthen democracy.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Knowledge is Power,<br />
<br />
Leonard<br />
<br />
********************<br />
<br />
<b>HISTORY OF 1953 CIA COVERT ACTION IN IRAN TO BE PUBLISHED</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<i>By Steven Aftergood, April 16, 2014</i><br />
<br />
In 1989, the Department of State published a notorious volume that purported to document U.S. foreign policy towards Iran in the early Eisenhower Administration. The volume triggered an avalanche of criticism because it omitted any mention of the CIA's role in a 1953 covert action that helped overthrow the government of Iran.<br />
<br />
Later this year, after the passage of more than two decades, the State Department will rectify that error by publishing a supplemental volume of declassified documents in its Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series that is expected to fill in the missing pieces of the documentary record of the 1953 coup against the Mossadeq government of Iran.<br />
<br />
The publication of the 1989 Iran volume was a milestone in the history of U.S. government secrecy that prompted widespread outrage and ridicule, but it also inspired remedial efforts that had some lasting impact.<br />
<br />
The episode was recounted in detail in an impressive history of the FRUS series that was also published by the State Department last year (Chapter 10).<br />
<br />
"FRUS historians could have been more assertive in their efforts to promote greater openness in the 1980s," the FRUS history candidly observed. "They should have recognized that the Iran volume was too incomplete to be published without damaging the series's reputation, consulted with stakeholders across the government and the academic community, and devised alternatives to releasing an unacceptable volume."<br />
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Ironically, the defects in the official Iran history generated more broad public attention to questions of diplomatic history than the subject had received for many years.<br />
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"The ostensibly authoritative" FRUS volume on Iran "is 'Hamlet' without the Prince of Denmark -- or the ghost," the New York Times editorialized in 1990.<br />
<br />
"We are poisoning the wells of our historical memory," wrote Senator Daniel P. Moynihan in the New York Review of Books at the time. "The secrecy system has gone loony."<br />
<br />
On the plus side, the scandal over the Iran history galvanized efforts by historians and others to demand a higher standard of fidelity in official history. Those efforts led directly to the enactment of a 1991 statute dictating that the Foreign Relations of the United States series shall provide "a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant United States diplomatic activity."<br />
<br />
The forthcoming publication of the FRUS retrospective volume on Iran was noted in a new annual report from the State Department Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation.<br />
<br />
It was confirmed by Historian of the State Department, Dr. Stephen Randolph, who told Secrecy News that the volume was expected to be released this summer, barring unforeseen events, along with another long-deferred collection on Chile, 1969-1973.<br />
<br />
An initial selection of recently declassified CIA records on the 1953 coup with related background material was posted last year by the National Security Archive.<br />
<br />
"The issue is more than academic," wrote the Archive's Malcolm Byrne. "Political partisans on all sides, including the Iranian government, regularly invoke the coup to argue whether Iran or foreign powers are primarily responsible for the country's historical trajectory, whether the United States can be trusted to respect Iran's sovereignty, or whether Washington needs to apologize for its prior interference before better relations can occur."Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-76141931556426834892014-04-13T16:39:00.000-07:002014-04-13T16:39:33.445-07:00Father John Dear interviewed on The Nonviolent LifeFr. John Dear has been travelling around the U.S. engaging people with <a href="http://paceebene.org/campaign-nonviolence" target="_blank">Campaign Nonviolence</a>, a project of Pace e Bene. In this video, John is interviewed by Mike McCormick on KEXP Radio's Saturday morning show, <i>Mind Over Matters</i>.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hSs0YUAJTmM" width="400"></iframe>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-25550998365561975142014-02-21T15:49:00.003-08:002014-02-21T15:49:48.314-08:00Creating a Just World by Honoring and Defending Human RightsYesterday was the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/events/socialjusticeday/">World Day of Social Justice</a>. It seems fitting to reflect on what precepts would create a solid foundation for a world in which there was justice for ALL. It seems to me that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, goes a long way in stating the essential human rights and freedoms that must be guaranteed for all people everywhere in order to build a just and peaceful world. I share it here, and I hope you will share it widely as well. You can <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/pdf/YESposterUDHR11by17.pdf" target="_blank">download an abbreviated form of the document here</a> (courtesy of YES! Magazine) or <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf" target="_blank">the full version here</a>. Both are PDF files.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3uYeADJkwOoZGRCn402wfRG55HibYoFrrehTH44m3jQ4pmhcbw3w-seXFe_2yrA3nplqekqI2DQZOeJ4W3v_Mvmcee314M1qfnV5ObbtIGO1MYa4TeVOXYqVhIYycm2v7Cw3GmyRw1ic/s1600/eleanor-roosevelt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3uYeADJkwOoZGRCn402wfRG55HibYoFrrehTH44m3jQ4pmhcbw3w-seXFe_2yrA3nplqekqI2DQZOeJ4W3v_Mvmcee314M1qfnV5ObbtIGO1MYa4TeVOXYqVhIYycm2v7Cw3GmyRw1ic/s1600/eleanor-roosevelt.jpg" height="301" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eleanor Roosevelt was instrumental in the creation of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
************************<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Universal Declaration of Human Rights</span></b></div>
<br />
PREAMBLE<br />
<br />
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,<br />
<br />
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the commonpeople,<br />
<br />
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,<br />
<br />
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,<br />
<br />
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,<br />
<br />
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,<br />
<br />
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,<br />
<br />
Now, Therefore,<br />
<br />
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY<br />
<br />
proclaims<br />
<br />
THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.<br />
<br />
Article 1.<br />
<br />
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.<br />
<br />
Article 2.<br />
<br />
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.<br />
<br />
Article 3.<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.<br />
<br />
Article 4.<br />
<br />
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.<br />
<br />
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.<br />
<br />
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.<br />
<br />
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.<br />
<br />
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.<br />
<br />
Article 12.<br />
<br />
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.<br />
<br />
Article 14.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.<br />
<br />
Article 15.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.<br />
<br />
Article 16.<br />
<br />
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.<br />
<br />
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.<br />
<br />
Article 17.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.<br />
<br />
Article 18.<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.<br />
<br />
Article 21.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.<br />
<br />
Article 22.<br />
<br />
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.<br />
<br />
Article 24.<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.<br />
<br />
Article 25.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.<br />
<br />
Article 26.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.<br />
<br />
Article 27.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.<br />
<br />
Article 28.<br />
<br />
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.<br />
<br />
Article 29.<br />
<br />
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.<br />
<br />
Article 30.<br />
<br />
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.<br />
<br />
###
Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-57890020547152818482014-02-03T15:12:00.002-08:002014-02-03T15:12:52.150-08:00The ad you didn't (and wouldn't) see on Super Bowl SundayIf you watched yesterday's Super Bowl, the following commercial is one you most definitely did not see.<br />
<br />
"Proud to Be," was released by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) just in time for the Super Bowl in its effort to eliminate the offensive R--skins from the national vocabulary and let people know that Indians are not mascots!!!<br />
<br />
Of course, beyond the fact that the NCAI could not afford a Super Bowl ad, it is obvious from the ads engaging in patriotic pandering that such a topic is definitely not Super Bowl material (just <a href="http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/02/03/coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-stirs-controversy-with-multilingual-singing-of-america-the-beautiful/" target="_blank">see what happened to Coca Cola</a> after airing their Super Bowl ad).<br />
<br />
The struggle to strip away the many layers of racism that have produced so many offensive mascots, not to mention the mistreatment of the people who inhabited this continent long before the white people came, has gone on for decades, and is not yet over.<br />
<br />
Please watch this powerful video and learn more at <a href="http://ncai.org/">ncai.org</a>.<br />
<br />
Racism doesn't belong anywhere, and doing away with it in sports is an important step towards eradicating an ugly legacy for good.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mR-tbOxlhvE" width="400"></iframe>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-18403391209267664692014-01-20T15:54:00.000-08:002014-01-21T09:28:58.706-08:00Honoring Dr. King... Building The World House<div style="text-align: left;">
Dear Friends,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Each year around the time of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday I celebrate his life and works by revisiting one of his essays, speeches or sermons. I spend time with the document, trying to come to a deeper understanding of Dr. King's state of heart and mind, and the prophetic message he is sending.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This year I chose The World House, having read it before, and finding it the perfect choice for Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action's <a href="http://www.gzcenter.org/2014/01/20/peace-activists-honor-dr-king-by-speaking-and-acting-against-nuclear-weapons/" target="_blank">January events</a> honoring Dr. King. After all, here we are so many years since Dr. King wrote this essay, and we have a long way to go in reaching the goals he has set for us. The very walls that hold up our World House are weakening, due in large part to the actions of the U.S. in the world. Carol Bragg, in the introduction to <i>The World House</i> <a href="http://www.thinkoutword.org/wp-content/uploads/world-house-MLK.pdf" target="_blank">at thinkoutword.org</a>, sums it up best (for me):</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>In “The World House,” Dr. King calls us to: 1) transcend tribe, race, class, nation, and religion to
embrace the vision of a World House; 2) eradicate at home and globally the Triple Evils of racism,
poverty, and militarism; 3) curb excessive materialism and shift from a “thing”-oriented society to a
“people”-oriented society; and 4) resist social injustice and resolve conflicts in the spirit of love embodied
in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence. He advocates a Marshall Plan to eradicate global poverty,
a living wage, and a guaranteed minimum annual income for every American family. He urges the
United Nations to experiment with the use of nonviolent direct action in international conflicts. The final
paragraph warns of the “fierce urgency of now” and cautions that this may be the last chance to choose
between chaos and community.
</i></blockquote>
I hope you, too, will read The World House as a fitting meditation honoring Dr. King, and that you find something for your journey. May it move you just a little bit out of your comfort zone and may you find new ways to help build The World House.<br />
<br />
In Peace,<br />
<br />
Leonard<br />
<br />
************************<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">The World House</span></i></b></div>
<br />
by Martin Luther King, Jr.<br />
<br />
Some years ago a famous novelist died. Among his papers was found a list of suggested
plots for future stories, the most prominently underscored being this one: “A widely separated
family inherits a house in which they have to live together.” This is the great new problem of
mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great “world house” in which we have to live
together—black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant,
Moslem and Hindu—a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we
can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thinkoutword.org/wp-content/uploads/world-house-MLK.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read the rest of <i>The World House</i>...</a>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-9347308321895635392013-12-19T16:09:00.001-08:002013-12-19T16:09:10.041-08:00"NOTHING IS BEYOND OUR REACH"... Ain't dat da truth???Please excuse my spelling. It's hard not to snicker when one sees our government agencies being so blatantly honest about their activities, especially when so many of those activities are immoral, illegal, and often just a waste of taxpayers' dollars. <br />
<br />
Even as we continue to hear of the seemingly endless eavesdropping by the NSA, the previously little-known (at least to most Americans) National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which is one of 16 (count em, 16!!!) U.S. "intelligence" agencies, has been spending like Bernie Madoff and launching sophisticated spy satellites into orbit for several decades.<br />
<br />
For its most recent (and highly classified) satellite mission, the NRO has created a seal that truly lays bare its overall mission (and pretty much the mission of the entire National Security State for that matter). Yes indeed - <b>"NOTHING IS BEYOND OUR REACH."</b> Of course, the octopus with its tentacles around the Earth helps drive home the message.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4IGVYqNMqsqcZD9-bhjhsBNIewxg7zBgtjMY3oInopcog5Ka8G7YWqgsfPfj8tb90asGRgvQl-x1YiKJvGYFG7kATl7reDd7zHCz2AtUWDfbf4FdyY6hcML5FazBwDl8KfJJ721q_4_wr/s1600/NRO+seal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4IGVYqNMqsqcZD9-bhjhsBNIewxg7zBgtjMY3oInopcog5Ka8G7YWqgsfPfj8tb90asGRgvQl-x1YiKJvGYFG7kATl7reDd7zHCz2AtUWDfbf4FdyY6hcML5FazBwDl8KfJJ721q_4_wr/s400/NRO+seal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
One thing is certain - The NSA is one hungry "octopus." </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Read more on the recent launch at the following links:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<a href="http://rt.com/usa/nro-satellite-octopus-emblem-854/" target="_blank">‘Nothing is beyond our reach’: Evil octopus strangling the world becomes latest US intelligence seal</a>, at RT.com<br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/12/atlas-v-launch-nrol-39-vandenberg/" target="_blank"> Atlas V launches NROL-39 from Vandenberg</a>, </i>at NASA Spaceflight.comLeonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-73056764303762757662013-12-09T11:57:00.001-08:002013-12-09T11:57:21.360-08:00Drop Presents, NOT BombsDear Friends,<br />
<br />
This is the month in which people around the world celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. Although those of us who live in developed nations have the luxury of a false sense of peace, so many people in other parts of the world do not. Ironically, it is the developed nations, headed by the United States, that bring suffering to so much of the world.<br />
<br />
The following video of an action by Santa at the Victoria Barracks in Australia begs us to reflect on the violence our nation perpetrates on those with little (or no) voice or power.<br />
<br />
"On December the 3rd Wikileaks Australian Citizens Alliance (WACA) supported Santa and his helpers as they went to speak to the Australian Military about their assistance in the USA drone bombing of Pakistan and other countries. Santa asked the Australian military and government to stop assisting the US via Pine Gap in drone bombing children in Pakistan." (quoted from the YouTube video)<br />
<br />
I invite you to honor the meaning of this Season of Peace by taking some action to bring peace to the world.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6180" target="_blank">Click here to advocate to Ban Weaponized Drones from the World!</a></b> Help Roots Action gain 100,000 signatures on its petition (currently at 88,156).<br />
<br />
Toward Peace for All People,<br />
<br />
<i>Leonard</i><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/738RSak2yBI" width="400"></iframe>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-65230117341654696072013-11-21T19:51:00.001-08:002013-11-24T11:59:12.937-08:00Corporate Welfare... From Sea to Shining SeaFriends,<br />
<br />
Boeing has proven (once again) that it will stop at nothing to increase its profits. Machinists voted to reject a contract that, while guaranteeing that the 777X project be built in Washington, would have been unfair to workers. Even with Washington State Legislators offering an estimated $8.7 billion in tax breaks to Boeing through 2040, the company is already searching for another state to build the mammoth aircraft. And as the Seattle Times headline indicates - "States salivating for 777X feast" - many states are anxious to "give away the farm" to lure the Corporate master to a new home.<br />
<br />
All this unfolds as Boeing's commercial division "<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/23/us-boeing-earnings-idUSBRE99M0G020131023" target="_blank">reported a surprising 12 percent jump in quarterly profit and raised its full-year forecast on soaring commercial aircraft production and margins, sending its shares up as much as 6 percent to an all-time high</a>" (Reuters).<br />
<br />
It's the age old story, whether on the commercial or military side of production, of giving away much while receiving crumbs in return. From coast to coast, it's the same narrative. In Bath, Maine, the story is playing out where Bath Iron Works builds some of the mighty warships that help project the American Empire around the globe. Bruce Gagnon, of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space writes about the continuing saga. I have included his entire article below. <br />
<br />
As you read Bruce's article, remember that Boeing builds not only commercial aircraft (on which the corporate media tend to focus), but also a vast array of systems that make it one of the largest "defense" contractors (Defense, Space & Security), right up there with General Dynamics, which owns Bath Iron Works.<br />
<br />
So here's the news from Bath (as reported by Bruce<a href="http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2013/11/biws-sails-got-trimmed-bit.html" target="_blank"> in Organizing Notes</a>):<br />
<br />
********************<br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">BIW's Sails Got Trimmed a Bit </span></b></i><br />
<br />
The Bath, Maine City Council last night voted 7-1 to give Bath Iron Works (owned by the General Dynamics Corporation) a tax break for the next 15 years. The council approved a 15-year tax rebate for BIW that is expected to save the company about $265,000 annually for the first 10 years and an additional $212,000 annually for the following five years. The entire tax subsidy package is estimated to come to about $3.7 million.<br />
<br />
The one vote against the tax break came from the one member of the council who tried to dramatically reign in the tax break but was unsuccessful when he proposed two amendments to further shorten the years of the tax break and the amount given by the city.<br />
<br />
Initially the city considered a tax break for BIW that would have given them more than $6 million over a 25-year period. But the intervention by concerned citizens successfully trimmed the request by a couple million dollars. To the struggling city, with a population of about 8,500, that is alot of money.<br />
<br />
About 30 people from Bath spoke up during the final public hearing before the council made its decision. The speakers were nearly evenly split with just a couple more opposing the tax break. Virtually all of the speakers in favor of the tax break were BIW workers/management.<br />
<br />
ring the public portion of the meeting was a University of Southern Maine professor of finance who lives in Bath. The professor said she studied the city budget and "strongly recommended against" giving the <br />
<br />
The point was frequently made that BIW doesn't really need this tax break as they have contracts to build multi-billion dollar ships for the next 10 years. (Just as the meeting began last night a story appeared at the web site of the Portland Press Herald about BIW being in the running for a $20 billion contract to build destroyers for Saudi Arabia. This clearly indicates that the Obama administration has extracted economic rewards for the US led campaign to destabilize Syria and Iran who are long-time foes of the monarchy in Saudi Arabia.)<br />
<br />
BIW's strategy throughout this process has been to frighten the community about the boogeyman in some other state that just might steal the shipyard away if the city faltered in the "partnership" with the corporation.<br />
<br />
During my time to speak to the city council I told the story about the Boeing Corporation in Seattle, Washington that has similarly threatened to pull out of that community unless they got more corporate welfare. I said:<br />
<br />
The latest big deal everyone is talking about is Boeing in Seattle where the company is threatening to move manufacturing of their new 777X airplane to an anti-union state in the south unless they get big tax breaks from the state of Washington and major health care and pension concessions from the Machinists Union. Union leaders were quoted as calling the deal “crap” and in recent days union members voted to reject the Boeing proposal with 67% opposed.<br />
<br />
But the state has voted to give Boeing the largest corporate tax break in US history. The tax breaks are expected to be worth $8.7 billion and would run through 2040. Despite this record tax subsidy, Boeing still hasn’t committed to building the 777X in Washington.<br />
<br />
And guess what….Boeing has not been paying any federal corporate taxes in recent years…..zero.<br />
<br />
BIW's chief council, Jon Fitzgerald, told the council, "We are gambling that we can improve our productivity, not certain that we will build the new outfitting hall.... we need this [tax break]."<br />
<br />
Most of the city council talked about how complicated and agonizing the decision was. I'm sure that is true because the pressure on them from the public was heavy. None of the councilors told stories about hearing from the public who opposed the tax break. They only told particular stories about those who said, "Give BIW the break." But in spite of that public posturing by the council they still did vote to trim BIW's request by a couple million dollars.<br />
<br />
They really didn't want to trim the subsidy. Bath is fundamentally a corporate colony. They trimmed it because they heard from residents all over the city and got more than 300 emails from people around Maine that opposed the tax break (thanks to Roots Action for the help).<br />
<br />
Key in this public uprising was the door-to-door work that we did that enabled us to reach about 90% of the homes across the city. It's not easy in Bath to speak out against BIW but many people found a way to make their voices heard.<br />
<br />
I concluded by remarks last night with this:<br />
<br />
This truly is a race to the bottom of the barrel as taxpayers are being squeezed left and right. Its no wonder when I was helping take flyers door-to-door in Bath virtually every person I spoke with opposed these tax giveaways to BIW. I heard over and over again that people were going to have to sell their homes because they couldn’t afford to pay property taxes anymore.<br />
<br />
Not only taxpayers get squeezed by these corporate subsidies but workers do as well. The Boeing workers in Seattle are refusing to go along with the program. Workers at BIW are seeing their health care being cut and continuing layoffs at the shipyard are forcing many workers to do the jobs of 2-3 others. In order to increase profits corners get cut in the production and quality gets impacted. At the same time General Dynamics profits are at record highs and top CEO compensation is larger than the municipal budget of Bath.<br />
<br />
In the end this was a victory for the struggling citizens of Bath. They made it happen and they should be proud that their collective voices forced a reluctant city council to make serious adjustments to BIW's tax break request.<br />
<br />
Our local committee, called Bath Citizens for Responsible TIF Action, did a great job on this campaign. Many of us had never worked together before but we all became friends and I would imagine we'll find other local work to focus on in the future. One of the members last night, a former BIW worker, called for the city to establish an economic conversion commission to begin planning for a new way of providing jobs in the community.<br />
<br />
The work goes on......Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-88419523718712467362013-11-14T20:49:00.001-08:002013-11-14T20:49:14.492-08:00The Resistance (to Save Jeju Island) Needs YOU!Dear Friends,<br />
<br />
<b>For the first time in 200 years of Korean Catholic history, a nun - Sr. Stella Soh Hee-sook - has been indicted by a Korean court. Her crime??? Nonviolent direct resistance to the Naval base being built on Jeju Island in South Korea.</b><br />
<br />
Sr. Stella is one of countless Catholics (and so many others) who have dedicated themselves to supporting the people of Jeju Island (the Island of Peace) in their struggle against the rampant militarism that threatens the peace and environment and the very lives of its inhabitants.<br />
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<br />
The story of Jeju Island and the current struggle against the base, which is being built for US warships (even though the US and Korea both already have more than enough bases from which to deploy around the region!!!), goes back much farther - back to the 1948 massacre (and even beyond that). A new documentary helps us better understand the current struggle in the historical context so that we can engage the issue!<br />
<br />
Please learn about the documentary <b>The Ghosts of Jeju</b> at its <a href="http://www.theghostsofjeju.net/" target="_blank">Website</a>. Order the film and show it in your communities. Sharing this powerful story is a most important way to engage others in this struggle that is about so much more than the construction of the naval base. It is about the larger struggle against militarism and the continuing, disastrous expansion of Empire that threatens all of us and the small planet that supports us.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.theghostsofjeju.net/korean-sister-stella-soh-indicted/" target="_blank">Click here to watch</a> a video interview with Sr. Stella (that is from the documentary).<br />
<br />
More information on the struggle to Save Jeju is at the <a href="http://savejejunow.org/" target="_blank"><b>Save Jeju Now</b> Website</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/nonavalbase/" target="_blank"><b>Justice for Gangjeong Village</b> Facebook page</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Please support Sr. Stella and all those who struggle to Save Jeju Island. <a href="http://savejejunow.org/act/" target="_blank">Click here to learn how</a>! This is OUR struggle... the PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE!!!</b><br />
<br />
In the Spirit of Nonviolent Resistance,<br />
<br />
LeonardLeonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-46925132375770012052013-11-11T09:27:00.000-08:002013-11-11T09:27:29.386-08:00Ring the Bells (for PEACE) on Armistice Day!!!<b>(Editor's Question to consider as you read the following message from Veterans for Peace - Why did Congress (in 1954) change Armistice Day to Veterans Day??? Note: Portions in bold typeface are my emphasis.)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>**********************</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Veterans For Peace calls for the observance of Veterans Day to be in keeping with the holiday’s original intent. Congressional Act (52 Stat.351: 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made November 11th of each year a legal Federal Holiday,“A day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day’.”</b><br />
<br />
The ceasefire on the, “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918 along the European Western Front was such a relief to all those involved as the world had never seen such horror and carnage as World War I. The horrible conflict that had come to be known as the “War to End War” brought the bulk of humanity to contemplate abolishing war.<br />
<br />
Veterans For Peace calls on its members and allies to observe Veterans Day by rejecting militarism and the glorification of war. We call on the nation to honor veterans and all those who have died in war by working for peace and the prevention of war. There is no better way to honor the dead than to protect the living from the fear, terror and morale deprivation of war. <br />
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<br />
VFP Resolution Submitted by Bob Heberle, VFP Chapter 27, (Endorsed by VFP Chapter 27)<br />
<br />
Whereas bells worldwide were rung on November 11, 1918 to celebrate and recognize the ending of WWI, "The war to end all wars",
and<br />
<br />
Whereas to commemorate that peaceful pledge, bells were rung November 11 for over 35 years, and<br />
<br />
Whereas, legislation making November 11 a holiday passed in 1938,<b> " Shall be a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day."</b> and<br />
<br />
Whereas <b>the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans."</b> With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars, and<br />
<br />
Whereas <b>the substitution of the word "Armistice" to "Veterans" changes the focus from peace to war</b> by celebrating and honoring warriors and war, and<br />
<br />
Whereas that November date symbolized the nation's desire to hold to a peaceful future and away from war, and<br />
<br />
Whereas, too often rhetoric and patriotic symbols are used instead of genuine compensation for the extraordinary sacrifices and services of military personnel, and<br />
<br />
Whereas 90% of victims of wars are now civilians and by honoring only veterans, the public is distracted from the awful price paid by those other than military members, and<br />
<br />
Whereas Chapter #27 has for over 17 years promoted the ringing of a bell eleven times at its ceremonies on November 11 and at other solemn occasions such as funerals to remind the public of that Armistice Day peace pledge, and<br />
<br />
Whereas the ringing of bells is so much more fitting and peaceful than the often practiced gun salutes and fighter plane flyovers.<br />
<br />
Therefore Be It Resolved that Veterans For Peace, Inc. urges its membership to adopt the procedure of honoring peace by focusing on bell ringing on Armistice Day, November 11 and other solemn occasions.<br />
<br />
Approved at the 2008 VFP national conventionLeonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-7152713193875672162013-11-05T20:09:00.001-08:002013-11-05T20:09:05.915-08:00One day we'll all be branded terrorists!Dear Friends,<br />
<br />
The National Security Snake continues to lash out as the Empire it represents continues its last gasps.<br />
<br />
Edward Snowden continues to be hounded by the US government, while the information he provided continues to uncover the egregious abuses of power perpetrated by that same government. When the madness will stop, no one can say. One thing, however, is certain. Nothing will change so long as people continue to let their institutions do their sinning for them (paraphrasing South African Methodist Bishop Peter Storey). <br />
<br />
George Orwell once said that "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." Orwell was referring to just this sort of time and this sort of act. Snowden, and all who have preceded and will follow him commit revolutionary acts. And the Empire certainly does not appreciate revolutionaries of any sort.<br />
<br />
In this video, on <i><b>Reality Asserts Itself</b></i> with Paul Jay, Ray McGovern comments on the British Gov. calling journalist Glen Greenwald's partner a terrorist and on awarding Edward Snowden the Sam Adams award. Ray speaks truth to power in a sharp, compelling, and sometimes humorous, fashion, and we should listen and share this truth far and wide.<br />
<br />
Peace,<br />
<br />
Leonard<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jHrApMU70XE" width="400"></iframe>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-34008535633203127202013-10-15T09:05:00.001-07:002013-10-15T20:45:10.788-07:00The Ghosts of Jeju <b>THE PAST</b><br />
<br />
Jeju Island is known as the "Island of World Peace," a name that does not begin to tell the story of the Island's extensive history of conflict, occupation, repression and genocide. The most horrific episode in this history began in 1948 when the South Korean military and national police hunted down and slaughtered approximately 30,000 people. The U.S., which was the occupying power at the time, was directly responsible what is now known as the April 3 massacre.<br />
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<br />
Why did the government do such a horrific thing? 1948 was a tumultuous time of establishing two governments in Korea. The people of Jeju Island rose up to protest the long-term division of the nation by boycotting the elections that were occurring in Seoul. For this they were branded as Communists, and the terror began.<br />
<br />
For decades following the massacre, public discussion of the April 3 massacre was ruthlessly repressed. Following democratization, the slow and painful process of fact finding and truth telling began, and continues today. In 2003, South Korean President Noh Moo Hyun travelled to Jeju Island and officially apologized.<br />
<br />
<b>THE PRESENT</b><br />
<br />
Now, over 60 years after the April 3 massacre the people of Jeju Island are once again protesting. This time they are protesting the U.S. Missile Defense System and a provocative new naval base being built on their island. Why??? If you look at a map of Jeju<br />
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Island, you can see that it lies about 500 kilometers East of the Chinese mainland. This military base is intended to project force towards China and to provide a forward operating installation in the event of a military conflict between the U.S. and China. Ironically, from a military strategic standpoint, this base is totally unnecessary and a tragic waste of money that should be spent on human needs.<br />
<br />
For years, South Korean activists have been protesting the plans for the new naval base on Jeju Island. During that time the response by the South Korean police and military has become more heavy-handed and brutal. Col. Anne Wright (former United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department) reported at one point that "police broke arms of activists who had locked arms inside PCV pipes, beat up activists and threw them from kayaks."<br />
<br />
<b>THE FUTURE???</b><br />
<br />
The ghosts of Jeju cry out for recognition and righting of the wrongs perpetrated long ago. Yet, the hubris of the National Security State (that was responsible for the original crimes) continues to create yet a new generation of crimes. The difference is that today's crimes could lead to disaster not only for the people of Jeju Island, but for the entire region and the rest of the world. The "Island of World Peace" could literally be reduced to a pile of ash and rubble in a major conflict.<br />
<br />
<b>TELLING THE STORY</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Independent filmmaker Regis Tremblay has produced a powerful documentary about the struggle of the people of Jeju Island to stop the military madness that threatens to destroy their island. What is so powerful about this film is how it links the current struggle to the earlier atrocities in a compelling context. Here is the what the filmmaker has to say:<br />
<br />
<i><b>A shocking documentary about the struggle of the people of Jeju Island, S. Korea. Set in the context of the American presence in Korea after World War II, the film reveals horrible atrocities at the hands of the U.S. Military Government of Korea. </b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i><i><b>Using previously secret and classified photos, film and documents, this will be the first English-language documentary about the struggle of the brave people of Gangjeong Village who are opposing the military advance of the United States, just as their parents and relatives did in 1947. As then, they are being arrested, jailed, fined, and hospitalized for resisting the construction of a massive naval base that will accommodate America’s “pivot to Asia,” and will destroy their 400 year old village and their UNESCO protected environment. </b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i><i><b>And yet, the indomitable spirit of the villagers and their supporters, who have not lost hope in spite of overwhelming odds, will inspire and motivate everyone who believes there is a better way to live together on this planet.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
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<br /></div>
This is a story that must be told, must be heard... and its lessons applied to stop the madness that threatens the world with destruction. There are no military solutions to our problems, and the naval base on Jeju Island is ground zero in the struggle to seek a new way.<br />
<br />
<b>SEE <i>THE GHOSTS OF JEJU </i>NOW!!!</b><br />
<b><br /></b><a href="http://www.theghostsofjeju.net/" target="_blank">Learn more about the documentary</a> at the filmmaker's Website, where you can also watch the trailer. You can purchase a copy of the documentary (for just $20) and arrange screenings and subsequent conversations (and hopefully support for Jeju).<br />
<br />
You can also learn more and support the struggle at <a href="http://savejejunow.org/">http://savejejunow.org/</a> or connect via their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SaveJeju" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>.<br />
<br />
If you live around Puget Sound you will be able to see The Ghosts of Jeju and hear from the filmmaker this November. Here are the current offerings. Additional screenings will be posted on <a href="http://psnukefree.blogspot.com/p/events.html" target="_blank">Puget Sound Nuclear Weapons Free Zone "EVENTS" page</a> as they are confirmed.<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, November 7, 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Seattle University </b><br />
Wyckoff Auditorium, Bannan Engineering Building East Entrance<b> </b><br />
901 12th Avenue, Seattle<br />
<a href="http://www.seattleu.edu/maps/" target="_blank">Click here</a> for a campus map.<br />
Sponsored by Seattle University's Asian Studies Program and Korean Student Union<br />
<b>This event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>***************</b><br />
<b><br />Friday, November 8, 2013, 7:00 to 9:30 PM at Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies</b><br />
Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ 5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle<br />
(…Please come at 6:30 and visit with your neighbors!)<br />
WITH THE FILMMAKER, REGIS TREMBLAY!<br />
And Co-Sponsored by VETERANS FOR PEACE<br />
Light snacks.<br />
Download the Flyer <a href="http://www.bridgings.org/images/Flyers/GhostsOfJejuFlyer.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
FILM FOLLOWED BY A Q&A AND FACILITATED COMMUNITY DISCUSSION WITH THE FILMMAKER, REGIS TREMBLAY, AND REPRESENTATIVES FROM VETERANS FOR PEACE.<br />
For more information on Veterans For Peace, go to: http://www.vfp92.org/<br />
(<b>Event is FREE and open to the public!</b> ...but Donations are kindly accepted).Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-58560114007788828252013-10-04T21:36:00.001-07:002013-10-04T21:36:06.536-07:00The Nonviolent Life - a new book on peacemaking<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>An announcement from Pace e Bene</b></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b style="font-size: x-large;"><i><a href="http://paceebene.org/store/item/nonviolent-life" target="_blank">The Nonviolent Life</a> </i></b><br />
A new book on peacemaking<br />
By John Dear<br />
<br />
"In The Nonviolent Life, John Dear articulates a vision of the power, meaning and impact of the spiritually grounded nonviolent life—and invites us to put this into practice in both immediate and long-term ways." -Ken Butigan, author and activist<br />
<br />
"How can we become people of nonviolence and help the world become more nonviolent? What does it mean to be a person of active nonviolence? How can we help build a global grassroots movement of nonviolence to disarm the world, relieve unjust human suffering, make a more just society and protect creation and all creatures? What is a nonviolent life?"<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJONUVCQ1bCHfYpOd_kJcGVcdIqy9LKctmjeUgweeuIOwV2KaSqkYBE-rzpGeQNzbGLOs0yEwdNp2Uqv4xxR146BT_ReXBx9znu6tAHVngOwrEEff-vtJjM_HmSnKnXF1y37aEjn-kNSr/s1600/Nonviolent+Life+cover+JPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJONUVCQ1bCHfYpOd_kJcGVcdIqy9LKctmjeUgweeuIOwV2KaSqkYBE-rzpGeQNzbGLOs0yEwdNp2Uqv4xxR146BT_ReXBx9znu6tAHVngOwrEEff-vtJjM_HmSnKnXF1y37aEjn-kNSr/s1600/Nonviolent+Life+cover+JPG.jpg" /></a>These are the questions John Dear—Nobel Peace Prize nominee, long time peace activist and Pace e Bene staff member—poses in this ground-breaking book. John Dear suggests that the life of nonviolence requires three simultaneous attributes: being nonviolent toward ourselves; being nonviolent to all people, all creatures, and all creation; and joining the global grassroots movement of nonviolence.<br />
<br />
After thirty years of preaching the Gospel of nonviolence, John Dear offers a simple, original yet profound way to capture the crucial elements of nonviolent living, and the possibility of creating a new nonviolent world. According to John, “Most people pick one or two of these dimensions, but few do all three. To become a fully rounded, three dimensional person of nonviolence, we need to do all three simultaneously.” Perhaps then he suggests, we can join the pantheon of peacemakers from Jesus and Francis to Dorothy Day and Mahatma Gandhi.<br />
<br />
In his new book, John Dear proposes a simple vision of nonviolence that everyone can aspire to. It will help everyone be healed of violence, and inspire us to transform our culture of violence into a new world of nonviolence!<br />
<br />
John Dear is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. He is a popular speaker, peacemaker, organizer, lecturer, retreat leader, and the author/editor of 30 books. He has organized and participated in nonviolent campaigns for over three decades; been arrested some 75 times in acts of civil disobedience against war and injustice; and spent nearly a year of his life in jail for peace. Recently, John was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. For further information, see <a href="http://www.johndear.org/">www.johndear.org</a><br />
<br />
<b>To order The Nonviolent Life:
Visit - <a href="http://www.paceebene.org/">www.paceebene.org</a>
P.O. Box 1891 Long Beach, CA 90801
510-268-8765 <a href="mailto:info@paceebene.org">info@paceebene.org</a></b>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-48138729593721374532013-09-23T09:47:00.000-07:002013-09-23T09:51:33.628-07:00War is HellToday's <b><i>A picture is worth a thousand words</i></b> offering...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp_TL3_p2LdFTOG-AW8mCMkuOmu46y3sIYUECEStbnADNi_hiInFluPHV1d7yZMv3yZlfrTlxDyEFIP3ml_RhgCn4nI9k9F5SUdLYaf3gbJVf-dtI7RJAm70t0ElKnqaeCT8wFH_D6ARoN/s1600/war+is+hell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp_TL3_p2LdFTOG-AW8mCMkuOmu46y3sIYUECEStbnADNi_hiInFluPHV1d7yZMv3yZlfrTlxDyEFIP3ml_RhgCn4nI9k9F5SUdLYaf3gbJVf-dtI7RJAm70t0ElKnqaeCT8wFH_D6ARoN/s640/war+is+hell.jpg" width="427" /></a></div>
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<b><u>LINKS:</u></b></div>
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<b>Veterans for Peace: <a href="http://www.veteransforpeace.org/">http://www.veteransforpeace.org/</a></b></div>
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<b>National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth: <a href="http://www.nnomy.org/">http://www.nnomy.org/</a></b></div>
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<br />Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-28439629571237696402013-09-06T10:08:00.002-07:002013-09-06T23:07:03.497-07:00NO War on Syria: Violence Begets Violence!!!Dear Friends,<br />
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The Great Plague of violence keeps our nation on its (spiritual) death spiral as President, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Obama continues the push toward war against Syria. And we should be clear that this would be WAR! Call it by any other name, and it still emits the awful stench of war.<br />
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While in Oslo, Sweden on September 4th the President (aka Decider II) was <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/swedish-reporter-asks-obama-if-nobel-peace-prize-presents-dilemma-when-planning-syria-attack/" target="_blank">asked by a Swedish reporter</a> if he could "describe the dilemma to being a Nobel Peace Prize winner and preparing to make war on Syria?”<br />
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The President gave the expected answer - first invoking his Nobel acceptance speech, saying that "what I also described [in that speech is the challenge all of us face, when we believe in peace but we confront a world that is full of violence.” Among other things the President said that he has "made every effort to... strengthen our commitment to multilateral action, to promote diplomacy as a solution to problems." <br />
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Where are these commitments to multilateral action and diplomacy??? Where is the commitment to working with the United Nations (as is required by international law and the Constitution) in this case? Where is the diplomacy with Syria? Above all, where is a commitment to serious nonviolent conflict resolution?<br />
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Speaking of international law, <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/05-1" target="_blank">Howard Friel wrote in Common Dreams on September 5th</a> that:<br />
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<i>The same law—international and constitutional—that applied to the U.S. war in Vietnam and the U.S. invasion of Iraq would apply to any congressional authorization of force in Syria by the United States.</i> </blockquote>
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<i></i><i>Like Vietnam and Iraq, Syria has not engaged in an “armed attack” against the United States, and has no military capability to do so.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>As in Vietnam and Iraq, the UN Security Council has not authorized the United States to engage in any use of force in Syria.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>Thus, a congressional authorization of military force in Syria would violate the UN Charter, and thus, as above, the U.S. Constitution. </i></blockquote>
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<i>This would be the case even if the Obama administration’s claims about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government were accurate, although, like the Gulf of Tonkin incident and Iraqi WMD, there is no detailed or confirmed evidence to date about which entity in Syria used chemical weapons.</i></blockquote>
<b>We The People of the United States of America must continue to say (and a vast majority of the people have said no to war on Syria) - NOT IN OUR NAME!!! We must continue to pressure Congress (and the President) not to make war on Syria! Let us continue to call, email, fax, get out in the streets and the offices of or members of Congress! </b><br />
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<b>Let us not rest until this madness is stopped. Let us stop the onslaught of the violence of war that will only unleash even more violence, much of which cannot be predicted (and much of it that can). Let us invoke NONVIOLENCE - the active nonviolent conflict resolution that has not even been discussed, let alone attempted, in the heat of the moment and its accusations and "red lines."</b><br />
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<b>Violence will only beget more violence, and the blood of innocents will be on OUR hands. This must not stand! Towards peaceful, nonviolent conflict resolution.</b><br />
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<i>Leonard </i><br />
<i><br /></i><b>Some Relevant Reading on the Syrian crisis:</b><br />
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<li><b><i><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18662-another-war-is-not-the-answer" target="_blank">Another War Is Not the Answer</a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (Op-Ed by David Krieger, in truth-out.org)</span></b></li>
<li><b><i><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/06-8" target="_blank">Top 10 Unproven Claims for War Against Syria</a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (by Dennis Kucinich, in Common Dreams)</span></b></li>
<li><b><i><a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/syria-six-alternatives-to-military-strikes" target="_blank">Syria: Six Alternatives to Military Strikes</a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (by Sarah van Gelder in YES! Magazine)</span></b></li>
<li><b><i><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/18559-how-intelligence-was-twisted-to-support-an-attack-on-syria#.UinjNU7CoWM.facebook" target="_blank">How Intelligence Was Twisted to Support an Attack on Syria</a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (truth-out.org)</span></b></li>
<li><b><i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-military-planners-dont-support-war-with-syria/2013/09/05/10a07114-15bb-11e3-be6e-dc6ae8a5b3a8_story.html" target="_blank">A war the Pentagon doesn’t want</a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (Op-Ed by Robert Scales in the Washington Post)</span></b></li>
<li><b><i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/22/us-military-intervention-syria" target="_blank">US military intervention in Syria would create 'unintended consequences'</a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (in The Guardian)</span></b></li>
<li><b><i><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/syria-chemical-weapons-explainer" target="_blank">Are Chemical Weapons Reason Enough to Go to War?</a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (A good primer on chemical weapons in Mother Jones)</span></b></li>
<li><b><i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/03/for-syria-sake-end-iran-isolation" target="_blank">For Syria's sake, end Iran's isolation<span style="font-weight: normal;">: Iranian support to help the west bring an end to the civil war in Syria would be beyond price</span></a></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (The Guardian)</span></b></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fas.org/policy/syria.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Chemical Weapons in Syria</b></i></a> (Federation of American Scientists): </li>
<li><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43201.pdf" target="_blank"><i><b>Possible U.S. Intervention in Syria: Issues for Congress</b></i></a>, September 3, 2013 (Congressional Research Service)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/Syria's%20Chemical%20Weapons:%20Issues%20for%20Congress" target="_blank"><i><b>Syria's Chemical Weapons: Issues for Congress</b></i></a>, August 30, 2013 (Congressional Research Service)</li>
<li><i><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43119.pdf" target="_blank"><b>Syria: Overview of the Humanitarian Response</b></a></i>, September 4, 2013</li>
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<br />Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-87038908989795364992013-08-30T11:00:00.001-07:002013-08-30T18:17:20.128-07:00"Killer Nation": The saga continues with Syria<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Dear Friends,</div>
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For the first time in (my) memory it seems that every remotely "progressive" organization under the sun is sending emails asking people to call or email The White House and/or Congress or sign a petition calling on our government to not engage in military action against Syria.</div>
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In our age of electronic social media one would think that such an approach would have a real impact, particularly if it can engage a huge groundswell of support for diplomacy rather than war-making. I think, however, that we are deluded if we think that this approach can have any real impact on the decision to attack Syria, a decision that (in a very real sense) has already been made long before there was talk of "chemical weapons."</div>
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Bruce Gagnon describes "war" as "the soul of our nation" in his essay published yesterday in Common Dreams (<b><i><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/29-8" target="_blank">The Soul of Our Nation War</a></i></b>). Bruce describes our situation with direct honesty; I would only add that we must ask ourselves what has become of our nation's soul that we seem to have sold off over the course of recent decades in a Faustian bargain.</div>
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President Dwight Eisenhower said (in 1953) that "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." When the Tomahawk missiles are launched by ships, already lining up for an attack on Syria, that theft will continue to feed the coffers of the weapons makers.</div>
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Gagnon puts it bluntly: "We have become a killer nation," addicted to war and the profits it reaps for corporations and the jobs that put food on the tables of our workers. Even before one war ends we are already planning the next one. We truly are losing our very soul.</div>
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I fear that petitions, calls and emails will not be nearly enough to stop the first salvos of Tomahawk missiles aimed at Syria, and the ensuing carnage. Stopping this madness will require much more than a few keystrokes in the midst of our busy schedules. It will require us to get out in the streets of our own communities (small or large) in mass, nonviolent protest. </div>
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So let us call on all these same organizations (that are advocating for nonviolent conflict resolution) to organize local actions around the country to engage citizens in peaceful protests (and a general strike if necessary) to stop the machinations of war.</div>
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It is, indeed, a question of saving the very soul of our nation!</div>
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In Peace,</div>
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Leonard</div>
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<b><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/826/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1281239" target="_blank">Click here for the Veterans for Peace Action Alert on Syria!!!</a></b></div>
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URL for Bruce Gagnon's essay in Common Dreams: <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/29-8">http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/29-8</a></div>
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Thanks to Bruce Gagnon for sharing this political cartoon in his blog, <a href="http://space4peace.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Organizing Notes</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjra6b_EuafgpQMVpoNU9X3PS2aag9B6krZNZgSKfWZTg4fJyAo6g8iY4ZOlpmkhYwg-iWNoY7a6kW4RkabNxpXNuHLng-zayq0y5s8racGbh9fli3-Cp8Il7VF-4M85GfGN-BRizOjqk7f/s1600/corporate-research-university-domination-1024x834.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjra6b_EuafgpQMVpoNU9X3PS2aag9B6krZNZgSKfWZTg4fJyAo6g8iY4ZOlpmkhYwg-iWNoY7a6kW4RkabNxpXNuHLng-zayq0y5s8racGbh9fli3-Cp8Il7VF-4M85GfGN-BRizOjqk7f/s400/corporate-research-university-domination-1024x834.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-85688503282376341282013-08-21T10:28:00.000-07:002013-08-21T10:32:19.751-07:00Bradley Manning Sentenced: A Guest Reflection on TRUTH<i>Editor's Note: This is a reflection on the sentencing of Bradley Manning from Mona Shaw. It provides a deep insight into the nature of truth and the lies through which generations of people in this country have lived. May TRUTH have the final word. Mona's reflection appeared this morning on her Facebook page: </i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/mona.shaw/posts/10151815963105129">https://www.facebook.com/mona.shaw/posts/10151815963105129</a><br />
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<b>Reflections on Bradley Manning's Sentence </b></div>
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I have witnessed throughout my life one consistent truth about truth itself. The truth always comes out. Always. It's like a seedling put in the soil, no matter how deep you bury it or if you bury it upside down, the seedling will wind around until it finally finds the light of day.<br />
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One day all of the lies that are now being told by the U.S. government and the corporations who own the United States of America will be exposed. They will be exposed the same way the Small Pox blankets we wrapped around Native people were exposed, and the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments on Black Soldiers, the slave holdings of twelve American presidents, the fact that our third president was a rapist, the outrageous and unnecessary interment of Japanese American citizens in World War II, the unnecessary dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that there really is an Area 51 and on and on and on. They will know that the American Industrial Prison Complex is not about justice but about profit, places where trumped up charges are waged on the poor who cannot afford a proper defense to build America's fasting growing industry. They will know this nation was built on genocide, slavery, the abuse of working people, and imprisonment, not freedom.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgojb5WIi90phOTHZj8C0FcM8636hGCBbQ9rUjezfi97mvHWk6QnJGeK8vgvV29JKDjjqBQ-g9WfcyxQVSmpsm_jxIbPy-ShqT680WePkM3pdUJHA5RPwCENLzYwmv_8KO2Gd6d8HtWrzk4/s1600/george-orwell-the-further-a-society-drifts-from-truth-the-more-it-will-hate-those-who-speak-it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgojb5WIi90phOTHZj8C0FcM8636hGCBbQ9rUjezfi97mvHWk6QnJGeK8vgvV29JKDjjqBQ-g9WfcyxQVSmpsm_jxIbPy-ShqT680WePkM3pdUJHA5RPwCENLzYwmv_8KO2Gd6d8HtWrzk4/s400/george-orwell-the-further-a-society-drifts-from-truth-the-more-it-will-hate-those-who-speak-it.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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People will finally know and have to face that most American wars have been waged to serve the purses of the wealthy. This has been wholly the case for the past 50 years. They will have to face that their loved ones lives were human sacrifices so the obscenely wealthy could become even wealthier, while those who struggle and work for a living earned less and less until most Americans became wage slaves barely eking out survival.<br />
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One day our great-children will know all the facts about our history. They will know who tried to speak out, and they will know what was done to those brave souls who tried to stop this endless march of tyranny. They will know about the Bradley Mannings, the Edward Snowdens, the Thomas Drakes, the William Binneys, the Kathryn Bolkovacs, the Karen Silkwoods, the Carol Dymonds, the Daniel Ellsbergs, the Frank Serpicos, the Mark Whitacres, the Coleen Rowleys, the Sherron Watkinses, the Jesselyn Radacks, the Katharine Guns, the Julia Davises, the John Kiriakous, along with hundreds, if not thousands, of others who have put their bodies on the line to expose corruption at local, state, national, and international levels. They will know what we did to these to silence them. They will know we crucified them on a cross we call Capitalism. They will know they were lied to about Capitalism itself. They will know it was a monstrous economic system created by the wealth and propagandized by the wealth to keep slavery, in one form or another, legal. They will know, and they will judge us accordingly.<br />
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They will walk to the graves of loved ones sacrificed in war and those who died from the complications of not being rich of lack of healthcare, housing, and adequate nutrition. They will know their loved ones didn't simply die. They were murdered by a plutocracy who used them like they were Kleenex.<br />
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They will know. And, all the seas over all the earth will boil out of their banks in agony when they know.<br />
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God have mercy on us all.<br />
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Source URL for Mona Shaw's original Facebook posting: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mona.shaw/posts/10151815963105129">https://www.facebook.com/mona.shaw/posts/10151815963105129</a>Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270287145580428034.post-64630195398396589782013-08-20T15:38:00.000-07:002013-08-20T15:45:08.866-07:00Seattle: Supporters of Bradley Manning to Protest Prison Sentence<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"><u>Contact</u>:
</b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Gerry Condon</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">206-499-1220</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Anton Black 206-235-3682<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Devin
McDonnell 425-773-1089</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Supporters of Bradley Manning to Protest
Prison Sentence</span></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">5 pm, Westlake Park, Seattle on Wednesday, August 21</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Supporters of Army whistle-blower Pfc.
Bradley Manning will rally in downtown Seattle on Wednesday, </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">the day of his sentencing by a military judge at Fort Meade,
Maryland. Judge Col. Denise Lind has
announced that she will read his sentence on Wednesday, probably in the
morning. The 5 pm rally at Westlake Park, 4<sup>th</sup> & Pine in downtown
Seattle, is being organized by Greater Seattle Veterans For Peace. It will be followed by a march to Capitol
Hill.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">While a 22-year-old intelligence
analyst stationed in Iraq in 2009-10,</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Pfc. Manning witnessed
war crimes, rampant corruption, and covert abuse. He exposed what he saw by releasing hundreds
of thousands of classified military and diplomatic files to the transparency
website WikiLeaks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Bradley Manning has been nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize three years in a row. Last week more than 100,000 signatures in support
of his 2013 nomination were delivered to the Nobel committee in Norway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">The US Army has held Bradley Manning
in prison for over three years prior to his court martial,</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> including over nine months in solitary confinement. The abusive conditions of his confinement
have been condemned by Amnesty International and the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Torture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">This week Army prosecutors asked the
military judge, Col. Denise Lind, to sentence Pfc. Manning to 60 years in
prison.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Col. Lind has found
Manning to be guilty of 20 of the 22 counts with which he was charged,
including violations of the 1917 Espionage Act.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Bradley Manning stands convicted of
doing his duty under the plain wording of international law:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> to report war crimes that he had knowledge of,” said Anton Black,
Bradley Manning Support Coordinator for Veterans For Peace #92 in Seattle. “His chain of command refused to investigate
the 'war porn' contained in records they possessed when he pointed this out.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">In early 2010, Manning gave Wikileaks
a copy of an Army video</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> that showed US soldiers gunning
down unarmed civilians in Baghdad from an Apache helicopter. The video, dubbed “Collateral Murder” by
Wikileaks, has been viewed millions of times on YouTube.</span><b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> “The U.S.
government has a proven track record of not reporting or prosecuting war crimes</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> it orders and its forces carry out,” said Anton Black of Veterans
For Peace. “Cover-up and minimal
prosecution after being reported by whistle blowers is the norm. No one
has been prosecuted for officially ordered torture. The fact that the
invasion of Iraq was based upon bald-faced lies and is therefor illegal has
never been officially addressed. No one has been prosecuted for the
crimes Bradley revealed. Instead, the
whistle-blower is being prosecuted.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">"This has not
been a trial - this has been a witch hunt,” </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">said Devin
McDonnell, a young Seattle activist. “I
am outraged that the Army wants to put someone in prison for 60 years for
obeying their own code of conduct and reporting war crimes. We must stand up for Bradley Manning, for
freedom of the press, and for the value of what he did for the world by showing
us the truth." </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Gerry Condon, a
member of the national Board of Directors of Veterans For Peace who attended
Bradley Manning's court martial, will speak at the 5 pm rally at Westlake
Park. “The government wants to know
everything about us – they have stolen our privacy,” said Condon. “But they don't want us to know what they are
doing in our name and with our tax dollars.
Bradley Manning should be freed immediately.”</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Bradley Manning
Support Network is calling for President Obama to pardon Bradley Manning.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">For more information, go to </span><a href="http://www.bradleymanning.org/"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;">www.bradleymanning.org</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> and </span><a href="http://www.vfp92.org/"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;">www.vfp92.org</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
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Leonard Eigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08211690207308023413noreply@blogger.com0