Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Cheney, the Ultimate American Terrorist

http://www.truth-out.org/ultimate-american-terrorist/1314801556

 

Cheney, the Ultimate American Terrorist

by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed

Vice President Dick Cheney in a June 20, 2007 file photo. (Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times)

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

- Dick Cheney

It is axiomatic by now: when someone leaves government service, especially from a high-profile position, they write a book. They all do it, sometimes more than once. Richard Nixon is the main example of one who produced a multi-volume apologia; by the time he went into the ground, he'd penned enough books to fill a wide shelf. Henry Kissinger was similarly prolific, which leads one to wonder about the relationship between criminal activities and the printed page. Nixon was chased from office after a series of crimes that, at the time, had no precedent, and Kissinger is still so infamous that he cannot travel abroad for fear of arrest. Both wrote enough books to take up half the political science section of any local bookstore, perhaps in the vain attempt to explain away the lasting damage their actions did to the republic.

Speaking of damaging the republic, Dick Cheney has a book out. I'm sure you've heard about it by now; he laid the groundwork for its release by claiming the contents would cause heads to explode in Washington, causing a lot of people who should know better by now to say, "Ooooh, this should be good." It isn't, at all, but I must confess that my head did come very close to launching itself off my shoulders...not because of what's in the book, but because I have to deal with the rancid reality of a free and un-convicted Dick Cheney appearing in the public eye once again.

If there were any justice to be found in this deranged country, Dick Cheney would have penned his pestiferous, self-serving little memoir by the light of a bare bulb inside the cell of a federal prison. If there were any justice to be found, Mr. Cheney would be forced to contend with the "Son of Sam Law," which, according to World Law Direct, "refers to a type of law designed to keep criminals from profiting from their crimes, often by selling their stories to publishers. Such laws often authorize the state to seize money earned from such a deal and use it to compensate the criminal's victims."

The Son of Sam, a.k.a. David Berkowitz, killed six people and wounded several others during his notorious summer-long shooting spree in New York. Berkowitz is an absolute piker compared to Dick Cheney, whose actions directly caused deaths and injuries that number in the hundreds of thousands. The deaths he is responsible for are ongoing to this day, in fact. If there were any justice to be found, whatever profits he earns from his book would be spread out between the families of dead and wounded soldiers whom he lied into war in Iraq, between the families of dead and wounded Iraqi civilians, and between Americans like Valerie Plame, who along with numerous other intelligence figures, had their lives bulldozed by Cheney's eight-year rampage through our system of government.

It would hardly amount to a pittance paid to each injured party - there are so many to account for! - but it would be a kind of justice all the same, for nary a dime of profit would line Dick Cheney's already-stuffed pockets.

Alas, the generations to come will be forced to reckon with one of the great and lasting failures of the Obama administration: the simple, unbelievable fact of Dick Cheney's continued freedom. He and his ilk committed enough brazen crimes to keep a brace of federal prosecutors busy for the next twenty-five years, and yet Mr. Cheney remains unmolested by the system of law he so vigorously disdained. According to Wikileaks, not only has the Obama administration failed to seek a reckoning with Cheney, they worked vigorously behind the scenes to ensure that no such reckoning will ever come to pass.

And so we have Dick, and his book, and yet another hard lesson on the absence of justice. He'll make a few bucks off the thing, which he can bank next to the obscene millions he gained through his nefarious Halliburton war profiteering. He was still getting paid by Halliburton while in office. Remember that? They called it a "deferred retirement benefit," an annual check with six zeroes to the left of the decimal, and all the while Cheney was steering your tax dollars into Halliburton's coffers with a blizzard of bald-faced lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

There is so much to remember about Dick Cheney's time in office. There was the Office of Special Plans, which he created to formulate the most effective lies possible about Iraq, WMD, and connections to September 11. There was the torture in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, which he referred to as "the dark side" and which he championed with great vigor. There was his dismissal of lawfully-issued congressional subpoenas, and his dedication to the idea of a "Unitary Executive" which is beholden to nothing and no one. There was his broad plan to spy on millions of Americans without a warrant, which he wanted to continue even after the whole thing was declared to be illegal. There was (and remains) the program of indefinite detention without due process of law, which was his baby, and there was the coddling of known criminal and double-agent Ahmed Chalabi, who was his pal.

There was all this, and so much more besides, but one incident stands out in my mind above all else. It was only an accent in the symphony of wrongdoing Cheney directed from his office, and was barely noticed at the time, but I will never forget it.

It was a simple thing, really: the National Archives, by dint of two different federal laws, annually collects the official papers of the Executive Branch for the edification of future historians, researchers and government officials. It is a by-rote requirement, one small cog in the wheelworks of government, but not this time.

Dick Cheney said no. No, you cannot have any papers from the office of the Vice President, and for one reason: the office of the Vice President, because I say so, is not part of the Executive Branch.

It deserves to be written twice: Dick Cheney actually claimed, with his bare face hanging out to all the world, that the office of the Vice President is not part of the Executive Branch. The unmitigated gall required to utter such a claim, especially after so much talk about the "Unitary Executive," is unparalleled in modern American history.

There, right there, is everything you need to know about the man. Dick Cheney is the ultimate American terrorist, one who not only lacks respect for American law and government, but who spent his eight years in office actively working to destroy and dismember the functions of that government. He tore the place up, deliberately and with intent, because he hated the law and the government it supported, and we will be a long time recovering from his deeds. He is directly and personally responsible for thousands of deaths and injuries. If this is not terrorism in the raw, then the word has no meaning.

Dick Cheney has blood on his hands, but will remain free for the foreseeable future because the administration that replaced his lacks the honor, integrity and intestinal fortitude to address what he has done. Until such a reckoning is at hand, all I can do is remind Mr. Cheney, and anyone who will listen, of another fact of law that, God willing, will be brought to bear against him someday.

There is no statute of limitations on murder, and murder is exactly what he did.

William Rivers Pitt is a Truthout editor and columnist.  He is also a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: "War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know" and "The Greatest Sedition Is Silence" and "House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation." He lives and works in Boston.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Videographer needs financial help/Military Widow confronts Donald Rumsfeld at Tacoma Book Signing About Husband's Suicide

Friends: I got some good news earlier from a patron who challenged me to increase the # of backers supporting my current project - TAKING FREEDOM PLAZA (even if those people only back the project at ONE DOLLAR) and then she will make up the difference before the pledge drive ends (midnight ET Wednesday).


Right now there are 187 backers who have pledged over $21,000. My challenge is to reach 400 "backers" - even if those 400 backers only yield another $400.
Can I ask you to help?

Can you get 10 people to chip in at least ONE DOLLAR for this project in the next 24hrs?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/736352510/taking-freedom-plaza


Why only one dollar?

Again - I have a patron who has challenged me to reach a plateau of 400 "backers" – yes- even if they only pledge one dollar- and if I can demonstrate that kind of widespread support, that she will make up the difference.

So, this project will get fully funded- with your help.

Do you have the power of persuasion over 10 people to convince them to take a few moments and pledge A SINGLE DOLLAR?

I think you do.

And I thank you in advance for your support.

Dennis
Trainor

 

Find me on twitter facebook & on YouTube

 

Steering Committee October2011.org

Take the pledge @ www.October2011.org

Military Widow confronts Donald Rumsfeld at Tacoma Book Signing About Husband's Suicide

By Lefty Coaster, DailyKos
Posted on August 29, 2011, Printed on August 30, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/657458/military_widow_confronts_donald_rumsfeld_at_tacoma_book_signing_about_husband%5C%27s_suicide

 This was such a poignant story in the local news here in Western Washington I need to share this Military Widow's tragic story here. Ashley Joppa-Hagemann's husband  Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann an Army Ranger, who as HIS NINTH DEPLOYMENT approached, committed suicide rather go back. Ashley with a companion confronted Donald Rumsfeld at a book signing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just south of Tacoma.

Army Ranger's widow expelled from Rumsfeld book signing

Ashley Joppa-Hagemann said on Saturday that security officers for the former secretary of defense escorted her out by the arm.

She and the executive director of a Lakewood-based anti-war group confronted Rumsfeld as he promoted his memoir, "Known and Unknown."

She had introduced herself to Rumsfeld by handing a copy of her husband's funeral program to the former defense secretary.

She told him her husband had joined the military because he believed the lies told by Rumsfeld during his tenure with the Bush administration, then later killed himself because he didn't want to be deployed for the ninth time.

"My husband joined the military, and it was his (Rumsfeld's) lies that cost my husband his life," Joppa-Hagemann said in a later interview. "And as soon as I mentioned my husband, he said, 'Oh, I heard about that.'"

That a War Criminal like Rumsfeld is free to travel the country on a book tour peddling his self serving attempt to revise and sanitize his role in a dark chapter in our nation's recent history is obscene. Rumsfeld had heard about Ashley's story before the confrontation so he had to know that she had been through numerous wrenching separations before finally losing her husband so tragically. I only hope his blood ran cold when he heard Ashley's words and saw her husband's funeral program.

Joppa-Hagemann and Gonzales say the military doesn't do enough to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

This has been a long festering problem that continues to claim the lives of our service members who are being asked to endure repeated deployments to our interminable wars including one that is dragging on in its 10th year with no end in sight.

Widow: After 8 deployments, Army Ranger takes own life

"It was just horrible. And he would just cry," says Ashley Hagemann.

Ashley says her husband Jared tried to come to grips with what he'd seen and done on his eight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"And there's no way that any God would forgive him - that he was going to hell," says Ashley. "He couldn't live with that any more."

Ashley says her Army Ranger husband wanted out of the military.

"He just wanted to know what it felt like to be normal again," she says.

It's time to care for our all of our service members at risk.

It's time to bring all the troops home.

 

© 2011 All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews//
By Lefty Coaster, DailyKos
Posted on August 29, 2011, Printed on August 30, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/657458/military_widow_confronts_donald_rumsfeld_at_tacoma_book_signing_about_husband%5C%27s_suicide

 This was such a poignant story in the local news here in Western Washington I need to share this Military Widow's tragic story here. Ashley Joppa-Hagemann's husband  Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann an Army Ranger, who as HIS NINTH DEPLOYMENT approached, committed suicide rather go back. Ashley with a companion confronted Donald Rumsfeld at a book signing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just south of Tacoma.

Army Ranger's widow expelled from Rumsfeld book signing

Ashley Joppa-Hagemann said on Saturday that security officers for the former secretary of defense escorted her out by the arm.

She and the executive director of a Lakewood-based anti-war group confronted Rumsfeld as he promoted his memoir, "Known and Unknown."

She had introduced herself to Rumsfeld by handing a copy of her husband's funeral program to the former defense secretary.

She told him her husband had joined the military because he believed the lies told by Rumsfeld during his tenure with the Bush administration, then later killed himself because he didn't want to be deployed for the ninth time.

"My husband joined the military, and it was his (Rumsfeld's) lies that cost my husband his life," Joppa-Hagemann said in a later interview. "And as soon as I mentioned my husband, he said, 'Oh, I heard about that.'"

That a War Criminal like Rumsfeld is free to travel the country on a book tour peddling his self serving attempt to revise and sanitize his role in a dark chapter in our nation's recent history is obscene. Rumsfeld had heard about Ashley's story before the confrontation so he had to know that she had been through numerous wrenching separations before finally losing her husband so tragically. I only hope his blood ran cold when he heard Ashley's words and saw her husband's funeral program.

Joppa-Hagemann and Gonzales say the military doesn't do enough to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

This has been a long festering problem that continues to claim the lives of our service members who are being asked to endure repeated deployments to our interminable wars including one that is dragging on in its 10th year with no end in sight.

Widow: After 8 deployments, Army Ranger takes own life

"It was just horrible. And he would just cry," says Ashley Hagemann.

Ashley says her husband Jared tried to come to grips with what he'd seen and done on his eight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"And there's no way that any God would forgive him - that he was going to hell," says Ashley. "He couldn't live with that any more."

Ashley says her Army Ranger husband wanted out of the military.

"He just wanted to know what it felt like to be normal again," she says.

It's time to care for our all of our service members at risk.

It's time to bring all the troops home.

© 2011 All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews//

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Why the Fukushima Disaster is Worse Than Chernobyl

Why the Fukushima Disaster is Worse Than Chernobyl

 

    Japan has been slow to admit the scale of the

    meltdown. But now the truth is coming out.

 

David McNeill reports from Soma City

 

The Independent (UK)

August 29, 2010

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/why-the-fukushima-disaster-is-worse-than-chernobyl-2345542.html

 

Yoshio Ichida is recalling the worst day of his 53 years: 11

March, when the sea swallowed up his home and killed his

friends. The Fukushima fisherman was in the bath when the

huge quake hit and barely made it to the open sea in his

boat in the 40 minutes before the 15-metre tsunami that

followed. When he got back to port, his neighbourhood and

nearly everything else was gone. "Nobody can remember

anything like this," he says.

 

Now living in a refugee centre in the ruined coastal city of

Soma, Mr Ichida has mourned the 100 local fishermen killed

in the disaster and is trying to rebuild his life with his

colleagues. Every morning, they arrive at the ruined

fisheries co-operative building in Soma port and prepare for

work. Then they stare out at the irradiated sea, and wait.

"Some day we know we'll be allowed to fish again. We all

want to believe that."

 

This nation has recovered from worse natural - and manmade -

catastrophes. But it is the triple meltdown and its

aftermath at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 40km down the

coast from Soma that has elevated Japan into unknown, and

unknowable, terrain. Across the northeast, millions of

people are living with its consequences and searching for a

consensus on a safe radiation level that does not exist.

Experts give bewilderingly different assessments of its dangers.

 

Some scientists say Fukushima is worse than the 1986

Chernobyl accident, with which it shares a maximum level-7

rating on the sliding scale of nuclear disasters. One of the

most prominent of them is Dr Helen Caldicott, an Australian

physician and long time anti-nuclear activist who warns of

"horrors to come" in Fukushima.

 

Chris Busby, a professor at the University of Ulster known

for his alarmist views, generated controversy during a Japan

visit last month when he said the disaster would result in

more than 1 million deaths. "Fukushima is still boiling its

radionuclides all over Japan," he said. "Chernobyl went up

in one go. So Fukushima is worse."

 

On the other side of the nuclear fence are the industry

friendly scientists who insist that the crisis is under

control and radiation levels are mostly safe. "I believe the

government and Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco, the plant's

operator] are doing their best," said Naoto Sekimura, vice-

dean of the Graduate School of Engineering at the University

of Tokyo. Mr Sekimura initially advised residents near the

plant that a radioactive disaster was "unlikely" and that

they should stay "calm", an assessment he has since had to reverse.

 

Slowly, steadily, and often well behind the curve, the

government has worsened its prognosis of the disaster. Last

Friday, scientists affiliated with the Nuclear and

Industrial Safety Agency said the plant had released 15,000

terabecquerels of cancer-causing Cesium, equivalent to about

168 times the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the event

that ushered in the nuclear age. (Professor Busby says the

release is at least 72,000 times worse than Hiroshima).

 

Caught in a blizzard of often conflicting information, many

Japanese instinctively grope for the beacons they know. Mr

Ichida and his colleagues say they no longer trust the

nuclear industry or the officials who assured them the

Fukushima plant was safe. But they have faith in government

radiation testing and believe they will soon be allowed back to sea.

 

That's a mistake, say sceptics, who note a consistent

pattern of official lying, foot-dragging and concealment.

Last week, officials finally admitted something long argued

by its critics: that thousands of people with homes near the

crippled nuclear plant may not be able to return for a

generation or more. "We can't rule out the possibility that

there will be some areas where it will be hard for residents

to return to their homes for a long time," said Yukio Edano,

the government's top government spokesman. "We are very sorry."

 

Last Friday, hundreds of former residents from Futaba and

Okuma, the towns nearest the plant, were allowed to visit

their homes - perhaps for the last time - to pick up

belongings. Wearing masks and radiation suits, they drove

through the 20km contaminated zone around the plant, where

hundreds of animals have died and rotted in the sun, to find

kitchens and living rooms partly reclaimed by nature. "It's

hard to believe we ever lived here," one former resident told NHK.

 

Several other areas northwest of the plant have become

atomic ghost towns after being ordered to evacuate - too

late, say many residents, who believe they absorbed

dangerous quantities of radiation in the weeks after the

accident. "We've no idea when we can come back," says

Katsuzo Shoji, who farmed rice and cabbages and kept a small

herd of cattle near Iitate, a picturesque village about 40km

from the plant.

 

Although it is outside the exclusion zone, the village's

mountainous topography meant radiation, carried by wind and

rain, lingered, poisoning crops, water and school playgrounds.

 

The young, the wealthy, mothers and pregnant women left for

Tokyo or elsewhere. Most of the remaining 6000 people have

since evacuated, after the government accepted that safe

radiation limits had been exceeded.

 

Mr Shoji, 75, went from shock to rage, then despair when the

government told him he would have to destroy his vegetables,

kill his six cows and move with his wife Fumi, 73, to an

apartment in Koriyama, about 20km away. "We've heard five,

maybe 10 years but some say that's far too optimistic," he

says, crying. "Maybe I'll be able to come home to die." He

was given initial compensation of one million yen (£7,900)

by Tepco, topped up with 350,000 yen from the government.

 

It is the fate of people outside the evacuation zones,

however, that causes the most bitter controversy. Parents in

Fukushima City, 63km from the plant, have banded together to

demand that the government do more to protect about 100,000

children. Schools have banned soccer and other outdoor

sports. Windows are kept closed. "We've just been left to

fend for ourselves," says Machiko Sato, a grandmother who

lives in the city. "It makes me so angry."

 

Many parents have already sent their children to live with

relatives or friends hundreds of kilometres away. Some want

the government to evacuate the entire two million population

of Fukushima Prefecture. "They're demanding the right to be

able to evacuate," says anti-nuclear activist Aileen Mioko

Smith, who works with the parents. "In other words, if they

evacuate they want the government to support them."

 

So far, at least, the authorities say that is not necessary.

The official line is that the accident at the plant is

winding down and radiation levels outside of the exclusion

zone and designated "hot spots" are safe.

 

But many experts warn that the crisis is just beginning.

Professor Tim Mousseau, a biological scientist who has spent

more than a decade researching the genetic impact of

radiation around Chernobyl, says he worries that many people

in Fukushima are "burying their heads in the sand." His

Chernobyl research concluded that biodiversity and the

numbers of insects and spiders had shrunk inside the

irradiated zone, and the bird population showed evidence of

genetic defects, including smaller brain sizes.

 

"The truth is that we don't have sufficient data to provide

accurate information on the long-term impact," he says.

"What we can say, though, is that there are very likely to

be very significant long-term health impact from prolonged

exposure."

 

In Soma, Mr Ichida says all the talk about radiation is

confusing. "All we want to do is get back to work. There are

many different ways to die, and having nothing to do is one

of them."

 

Economic cost

 

Fukushima: Japan has estimated it will cost as much as

£188bn to rebuild following the earthquake, tsunami and

nuclear crisis.

 

Chernobyl: There are a number of estimates of the economic

impact, but thetotal cost is thought to be about £144bn.

 

Safety

 

Fukushima: workers are allowed to operate in the crippled

plant up to a dose of 250mSv (millisieverts).

 

Chernobyl: People exposed to 350mSv were relocated. In most

countries the maximum annual dosage for a worker is 20mSv.

The allowed dose for someone living close to a nuclear plant

is 1mSv a year.

 

Death toll

 

Fukushima: Two workers died inside the plant. Some

scientists predict that one million lives will be lost to

cancer.

 

Chernobyl: It is difficult to say how many people died on

the day of the disaster because of state security, but

Greenpeace estimates that 200,000 have died from radiation-

linked cancers in the 25 years since the accident.

 

Exclusion zone

 

Fukushima: Tokyo initially ordered a 20km radius exclusion

zone around the plant

Chernobyl: The initial radius of the Chernobyl zone was set

at 30km - 25 years later it is still largely in place.

 

Compensation

 

Fukushima: Tepco's share price has collapsed since the

disaster largely because of the amount it will need to pay

out, about £10,000 a person

Chernobyl: Not a lot. It has been reported that Armenian

victims of the disaster were offered about £6 each in 1986

 

Aid

 

Fukushima: The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of

Humanitarian Affairs reported bilateral aid worth $95m

Chernobyl: 12 years after the disaster, the then Ukrainian

president, Leonid Kuchma, complained that his country was

still waiting for international help.

___________________________________________

A Letter From Prison: Tim DeChristopher Speaks Out

A Letter From Prison: Tim DeChristopher Speaks Out

By Tim DeChristopher, Grist.org
Posted on August 30, 2011, Printed on August 31, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/152222/a_letter_from_prison%3A_tim_dechristopher_speaks_out

The following text appeared in a handwritten letter from Tim DeChristopher addressed to Grist's Jennifer Prediger.

If I had ever doubted the power of words, Judge Benson made their importance all too clear at my sentencing last month. When he sentenced me to two years in prison plus three years probation, he admitted my offense "wasn't too bad." The problem, Judge Benson insisted, was my "continuing trail of statements" and my lack of regret. Apparently, all he really wanted was an apology, and for that, two years in prison could have been avoided. In fact, Judge Benson said that had it not been for the political statements I made in public, I would have avoided prosecution entirely. As is generally the case with civil disobedience, it was extremely important to the government that I come before the majesty of the court with my head bowed and express regret. So important, in fact, that an apology with proper genuflection is currently fair trade for a couple years in prison. Perhaps that's why most activist cases end in a plea bargain.

Since that seems like such a good deal, some people are asking why I wasn't willing to shut my mouth and take it. But perhaps we should be asking why the government is willing to make such a deal. The most recent plea bargain they offered me was for as little as 30 days in jail. (I'm writing this on my 28th day.) So if they wanted to lock me up for two years, why would they let me walk for an apology and keeping my mouth shut for a while? On the other hand, if they wanted to sweep this under the rug, why would they cause such a stir by locking me up? Why do my words make that much of a difference?

With all criminal cases, of which 85 percent end in a plea bargain, the government has a strong incentive to avoid a trial: In addition to cutting the expense of a trial, a plea bargain helps concentrate power in the hands of government officials.

The revolutionaries who founded this country were deeply distrustful of a concentration of power, so among other precautions, they established citizen juries as the most important part of our legal system and insisted upon constitutional right to a jury trial. To avoid this inconvenience, those seeking concentrated power free from revolutionaries have minimized the role of citizens in our legal system. They have accomplished this by restricting what juries can hear, what they can decide upon, and most importantly, by avoiding jury trials all together. It is now accepted as a basic fact of our criminal justice system that a defendant who exercises his or her right to a jury trial will be punished at sentencing for doing so. Transferring power from citizens to government happens when the role of citizens gets eliminated in the process.

With civil disobedience cases, however, the government puts an extra value on an apology. By its very nature, civil disobedience is an act whose message is that the government and its laws are not the sole voice of moral authority. It is a statement that we the citizens recognize a higher moral code to which the law is no longer aligned, and we invite our fellow citizens to recognize the difference. A government truly of the people, for the people, and by the people is not threatened by citizens issuing such a challenge. But government whose authority depends on an ignorant or apathetic citizenry is threatened by every act of open civil disobedience, no matter how small. To regain that tiny piece of authority, the government either has to respond to the activist's demands, or get the activist to back down with a public statement of regret. Otherwise, those little challenges to the moral authority of government start to add up.

Over the last couple hundred years of quelling dissent, the government has learned a few things about maintaining power. Sometimes it seems that the government has learned more from our social movement history than we as activists have. Their willingness to let a direct action off with a slap on the wrist while handing out two years for political statements comes from their understanding of the power of an individual. They know that one person, or even a small group, cannot have enough of a direct impact on our corporate giants to really alter things in our economy. They know that a single person can't have a meaningful direct impact on our political system. But our modern government is dismantling the First Amendment because they understand the very same thing our founding fathers did when they wrote it: What one person can do is to plant the seeds of love and outrage in the hearts of a movement. And if those hearts are fertile ground, those seeds of love and outrage will grow into a revolution.

 Tim DeChristopher is a climate activist and cofounder of Peaceful Uprising.

© 2011 Grist.org All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152222/

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 1

Baltimore Activist Alert Aug. 31 – Sept. 6, 2011

 

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center.  Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com.  If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.  Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

 

Tune into the Maryland Progressive Blog at http://mdprogblog.org.

   

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists  

4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA  

5] Used stamps for humanitarian causes

6] Can you phone bank? -- through Sept. 3

7] Can you risk arrest with 350.org? – through Sept. 3

8] Art Along the Trials – through Sept. 3

9] Philadelphia peace vigil – Aug. 31

10] City Council 14TH District candidate debate – Aug. 31

11] City Council 9TH District candidate debate – Aug. 31

12] Chestnut Hill Peace Vigil – Aug. 31

13] First Thursday vigil against war – Sept. 1

14] Reflections on the Eve of 9/11 – Sept. 1

15] City Council 12th District candidate debate – Sept. 1

16] WIB Frederick vigil – Sept. 2

21] City Council 7th District candidate debate – Aug. 25

22] City Council 2nd District candidate debate – Aug. 25

25] Movement against Drug War – Aug. 25

17] White House vigil – Sept. 2

18] WIB Inner Harbor vigil – Sept. 2

19] WIB Roland Park vigil – Sept. 2

20] Justice for Palestine/Israel vigil – Sept. 2

21] Silent vigil/potluck dinner at Homewood Friends – Sept. 2

22] Film PRINCESS KA'LULAINI – Sept. 2

23] ALC Retreat – Sept. 2 - 5

24] Film PHIL OCHS – Sept. 2

25] Ballroom dancing – Sept. 2

26] Farmers Market – Sept. 3

27] Olney vigil to end the war – Sept. 3

28] Peace vigil in Chester, PA – Sept. 3

29] Peace vigil at Capitol – Sept. 3

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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available.  "God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions" stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him at 410-366-1637.

 

2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/.  Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.


3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR].  It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed.  It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

 

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

 

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe.  It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing.  To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed.  If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.

 

4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale.  For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags.

 

Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month.  Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered.  Send it to Adela Hirsch, 5358 Eliots Oak Rd., Columbia, MD 21044.  Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up.  Contact Adela at 410-997-5662 or via e-mail at adela4peace@verizon.net.

 

5] – Brad Hathaway spearheads an effort to sell donated used stamps to raise money for different humanitarian causes around the world. Go to www.mattapoisettquakers.org, and click the link for the stamp ministry.  Carefully clip canceled postage stamps and send to Quaker Missions, PO Box 795, Mattapoisett, MA 02739. Send no small flag stamps or Liberty Bell Forever stamps.

 

6] – The Tar Sands Action at the White House continues through Sat., Sept. 3.  Volunteers are needed to do phone-banking to convince people to come to D.C. and risk arrest at the White House.  A phone bank operation has been set up for the offices of the Energy Action Coalition in D.C., happening from 4-7 PM each day. You can sign up by contacting Whit Jones at EAC at whit.jones@gmail.com.

 

7] – The Tar Sands Action began on Sat., Aug. 20 at noon, and continues through Sat., Sept. 3 at noon.  The aim is to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline to the Canadian Tar Sands.  This pipeline destroys or puts at risk many vulnerable wilderness areas plus an aquifer supplying water to much of the U.S. Midwest.  The U.S. State Dept. is fighting for business interests and attempting to override environmental and administrative law, defying the slightly less corrupt EPA and in essence refusing to submit any serious environmental impact statements.  The organizers hope to defuse the largest carbon bomb in North America. With people power and time-tested tactics of civil resistance – join thousands of people from across the continent in a wave of sustained sit-ins at the White House.  Go to http://www.tarsandsaction.org/.

 

8] – Art Along the Trails continues at Carrie Murray Nature Center Leakin/Gwynne Falls Park, 1901 Ridgetop Road, Baltimore, MD 21207.  The exhibit is up through Sept. 3.

 

9] – Each Wednesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the House of Grace Catholic Worker holds a weekly vigil for peace in Iraq outside the Phila. Federal Building, 6th & Market Sts. The next vigil is Aug. 31. Call 215-426-0364.

 

10] – There will be a debate between candidates for City Council 14th District on Wed., Aug. 31 from 6 to 8 PM at the Harbor City High School, 2555 Harford Road.

 

11] – There will be a debate between candidates for City Council 9th District on Wed., Aug. 31 at 7 PM at the UM BioPark, 801 W. Baltimore St., organized by the Hollins Roundhouse Neighborhood Association. Contact hollinsroundhouse@gmail.com. 

 

12] – Each Wednesday, the Northwest Greens hold a peace vigil from 7 to 8 PM outside the Borders Book Store, Germantown Ave. at Bethlehem Pike in Chestnut Hill, PA. The next vigil is Aug. 31. Call 215-843-4256 or email nwgreens@yahoo.com.  

 

13] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore will host an End the Wars vigil on Thurs., Sept. 1 from 5 to 6:30 PM in Mount Vernon at Centre & Charles Sts.  The Pledge gathers in Mount Vernon on the first Thursday of the month to protest U.S. wars.  Call Max at 410-366-1637.

14] – "Reflections On the Eve of 9/11: A Conversation with Professors Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and Ed Kessler of Cambridge University's Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths" will take place on Thurs., Sept. 1 from 6:15 to 7:30 Pm at the School of International Service, American Univ., 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC.  The conversation, moderated by new SIS Dean James Goldgeier, will cover some difficult questions including "Where are we ten years after 9/11?  What's changed?  What hasn't?" The event will include a question and answer session with students and a reception afterwards and is sponsored by School of International Service, International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program and others.

15] – There will be a debate between candidates for City Council 12th District on Thurs., Sept. 1 from 7 to 9 PM at St. Francis Academy, 501 E. Chase St.

 

16] – WIB holds a silent vigil mourning all violence, the first Friday of the month.  The next vigil is Sept. 2 from noon to 12:30 PM, War Memorial Park, intersection of W. 2nd & N. Bentz Sts. in Frederick.  Please dress in black; no additional signs.  Call 301-834-7581 or email wibfrederick@mizmail.com.

 

17] – A peace vigil takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at Lafayette Park facing the White House.  Join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and friends. Contact Art Laffin: artlaffin@hotmail.com.   

 

18] – Every Friday from noon to 1 PM, Women in Black, Baltimore, host a vigil at Pratt and Light Sts. in the Inner Harbor. Peace signs will be available. See http://www.peacepath911.com/ or write wibbaltimore@hotmail.com or call 410-467-9114.

 

19] – There is also a noon vigil on Sept. 2 at Roland Park Place at 830 W. 40th St.  Call 410-467-9114.

20] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel (now in its 8th year) takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia (across from Israeli Consulate.  It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.

21] – There is a silent vigil on Fri., Sept. 2 from 5 to 6 PM outside of Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St., in opposition to war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Placards say: "War Is Not the Answer." The silent vigil is sponsored by AFSC, Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings.  Since it is First Friday, there will be a potluck dinner after the vigil.

 

22] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility and Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings are hosting the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES.  The first film

PRINCESS KA'IULANI [USA, 2010] will be shown on Fri., Sept. 2 at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218.  The Meeting hosts a potluck dinner from 6 to 7 PM on First Fridays after the vigil.  At 7 PM, the DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available.  Call Max at 410-366-1637.

 

The film stars Q'orianka Kilcher as the heir to the throne in Hawaii in this epic movie based on a true story. The movie follows the progression of KaÊ»iulani's short life, beginning with a happy life in Honolulu.  Her education takes place in Victorian England, but there is news of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.  She tries to convince the United States to reverse the overthrow. While not a documentary, the film illuminates historical events which most mainlanders know nothing about.  The movie was written and directed by Marc Forby and also stars Shaun Evans, Barry Pepper, Will Patton and Julian Glover.

 

23] – You are invited to the Sept 2-5, 2011 Atlantic Life Community Retreat in Camden, NJ at the Oscar Romero Retreat Center—go to http://www.romero-center.org/.  RSVP to Chrissy Nesbitt at 610 361-3243 or disarmnow@jonahhouse.org. The theme is "Leaving The Corporate War Economy, Disconnecting From The Empire."  The ongoing challenge is to contemplate our place in the world; to question what we as a community of peacemakers can do to convert our death dealing war economy into a Life sustaining economy.  We work to end U.S. war making; we work to obstruct the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the continued presence of nuclear power plants; and we work at being a voice for those oppressed by the injustice and greed of the state and the culture.

 

 The retreat begins on Fri., Sept. 2 with dinner at 6 PM, followed by a discussion on Peacemaking into Afghanistan and Iraq.  On Saturday catch Community presentation on walking away from Empire and Remembering the Camden 28 Draft Board Action after 40 years. There will be workshops and drones, fracking, Plowshares and Fukushima/nuclear power. On Sunday, attention will focus on the weaponization of outer space and our country's # one military contractor, Lockheed Martin.

 

24] – On Fri., Sept. 2 at 7 PM watch PHIL OCHS, There But For Fortune, which is being shown as part of the "JUST-REEL" First Friday Free Film Series at the Peace Center of Delaware County, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, Delaware County, PA. Was he the most passionate voice of his generation?  The evening will include light refreshments and an after-film discussion. It is co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community. Call 610-544-1818.  Email brandywine@juno.com.  Go to www.delcopeacecenter.org.

 

25] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM.  Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St.  Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Sept. 2.  Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

 

26] – Go to the West Baltimore Farmer's Market for fresh fruits, vegetables, breads and other treats every Saturday from 8 to noon.  CPHA has worked with the West Baltimore Marc TOD and Transit Inc. (WBMTTI) to establish a Farmer's Market at the West Baltimore Marc Train stop at Smallwood Road at Franklin and Mulberry Sts.  Since opening in June, over 300 people buy fresh groceries there every Saturday morning. WBMTTI will continue to include the community in the transit-oriented developments on the west side and continue to improve the area around "the highway to nowhere" until it becomes the highway to somewhere. Go to www.cphabaltimore.org.

 

27] Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. in Olney, MD.  The next vigil is Sept. 3. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167. 

                        

28] –  Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.

 

29] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sept. 3. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.

 

To be continued.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs