Madison-Oneida-For-Peace

2007-09-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

TRIBUTARIES 2007: TO MY FRIENDS AT CITIZENS OF MADISON/ONEIDA FOR PEACE

Think you that we are strangers one to the other?
We're not. Both you and I arise from one Mother.
From her, toward private paths, we indeed twist and flow ,
Proud to sculpt a new bed; ever eager to grow.
We are like tributaries from the selfsame Source,
Thinking we're alone, pursuing our lonely course.
But look you! In this time and in this place
We converge; and as our beings join they interlace.
And somehow in that merging, we're forever changed,
Our future flowing forth forever rearranged.
That Source, I say, is our common humanity
From which we must never struggle to be free.

Yet, at this very moment, in places distant,
Other tributaries struggle to join us; insistent
On being part of our vibrant common stream,
Yet dammed, and damned, by violence obscene.
Such obstruction, by force and fear is cruel and wrong,
'Gainst the nature of tributaries to belong
At last to the common river of human life,
Where within one cataract there's no real strife.
Connected as we are, do we really have a choice?
So here and now we must speak with determined voice
For tributaries, converged in surges and swells,
And 'gainst soldier surges with a toll of death knells!

Sandra Miley

2006-09-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

ACTIVITY AT THE SHERRILL GAZEBO LAST THURSDAY A group of area residents took the time to come together Thursday night to celebrate the concept of living in a peaceful nation. The event was organized by members of MOCFP to commemorate the International Day of Peace established by the United Nations in 1981. It was originally celebrated on the third Tuesday of September. But in 2001, Sept. 21 was established as the permanent date and the resolution was amended to allow for global ceasefire and non-violence. A moment of silence was observed and Marcia Newsom asked everyone to "visualize a world of peace and justice for all who share our beautiful planet." Music was provided by Colleen Katau, a singer, songwriter and peace activist from Cortland. "I wanted to celebrate International Peace Day," she said. "We need to generate peace especially in rural communities." Katau was joined in song by about 50 people in attendance as she sang about young men going to war and the importance of learning another language. "The best way to learn about another culture is to learn their language," she said. Oneida Mayor Leo Matzke read a proclamation saying the International Day of Peace should foster cooperation among individuals and organizations."Geese naturally know that they have to depend on each other for support," he said as a flock flew overhead. Matzke said people need to learn that kind of cooperation. Cynthia Banas, a peace activist from Vernon who was in Iraq before and during the U.S. invasion, said "we all come from the same religious faith because we are all human beings." Many different religions were represented at the celebration. A Jewish perspective was presented by Sandy Miley of Sherrill, Robert Mann, of Oneida presented the Buddhist perspective and the Rev. Virginia Anderson, of Syracuse, recited a prayer allegedly written by George Washington. "The Founding Fathers realized that there was potential in bringing together people from many different backgrounds," Anderson said. During his presentation of the Buddhist view of peace, Mann said it's human to seek happiness. "Happiness is found in compassionate service to others," he said. "Even a simple application of the Golden Rule can lead to that happiness." Miley said the formation of a Department of Peace that could support disarmament and focus on economic and political justice. She said that the Department of Peace could also deal with violence problems in the United States including spousal abuse, child abuse and domestic violence. "The foundation for repair is peace," Miley said. "Without peace we cannot do the other things we need to do for one another." Many people attended the event to express their opposition to the war in Iraq. "We are grossly offended at the amount of money being spent on the war," said Sylvia Skinner-DeFrancisco, of Canastota. "We have so many poor and indigent people in our own country that need our attention and resources." Kathryn Newsom-Smith of Oneida, read a letter written by Ahmed Kobeisy, who is the director of the Islamic center of the Capital District in Albany and a professor at Le Moyne College. He wrote that the cost of the Iraq war is expected to reach $318.5 billion by Sept. 30, the end of the 2006 fiscal year. "In war everyone loses except the war machine producers and manufacturers," Kobeisy wrote. "In peace, everyone wins."
For more information on the movement to create a Department of Peace visit: www.thepeacealliance.org

2006-09-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Madison-Oneida Citizens for Peace
CONTACT: Marcia Newsom, 363-1385
15 September 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE" CELEBRATION
PLANNED THURSDAY BY MADISON-ONEIDA GROUP

Residents of Oneida, Sherrill, and surrounding communities are invited to participate in an ecumenical program at the Sherrill gazebo dedicated to peace and nonviolence. The candlelight event will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday 21 September.
The program will include songs by singer, songwriter and peace activist Colleen Kattau.
September 21st was designated an "International Day of Peace" in 1981 by a unanimous vote of the United Nations General Assembly and is being commemorated at more than 2,500 locations in 179 countries.
At the local event, a proclamation will be read by Mayor Leo Matzke of Oneida. A similar proclamation will be read by a representative of Mayor Joseph Shay of Sherrill, who will be traveling on the day of the event.
Speakers representing Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, Moslem, and Protestant traditions have been invited to offer perspectives on peace.
Sandy Miley will outline a proposed law creating a Department of Peace in Washington to actively promote a better understanding the social, political, and religious institutions of other countries and to promote skills necessary for peaceful conflict resolution.
Cynthia Banas will share some of her experiences as a lifelong peace activist who has traveled to war-torn countries in the Middle East.
Spokesperson Marcia Newsom says Madison-Oneida Citizens for Peace, which holds monthly vigils at which the names of fallen American soldiers are read aloud, decided to put on the program in order to join with other groups around the world that are observing the International Day of Peace.
In the event of rain, the event will be moved across the road to St. Helena’s Church at 210 Primo Avenue.
More information about the International Day of Peace is available on the world wide web at
www.internationaldayofpeace.org

2006-08-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

Where Bush's Arrogance Has Taken Us
By Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown. Posted August 23, 2006 on alternet.org

An illegal war, a long list of eroded rights, and a country run by and for the benefit of corporate campaign donors -- all courtesy of the imperial presidency.

[alternet.org Editor's Note: The August issue of The Hightower Lowdown contains a poster-sized chart detailing the many grievances, lies and miscues of the Bush Administration. Below is the story in text form, you can also download the full poster from The Hightower Lowdown.]
During his gubernatorial days in Texas, George W let slip a one-sentence thought that unintentionally gave us a peek into his political soul. In hindsight, it should've been loudly broadcast all across our land so people could've absorbed it, contemplated its portent?and roundly rejected the guy's bid for the presidency. On May 21, 1999, reacting to some satirical criticism of him, Bush snapped: "There ought to be limits to freedom."
Gosh, so many freedoms to limit, so little time! But in five short years, the BushCheneyRummy regime has made remarkable strides toward dismembering the genius of the Founders, going at our Constitution and Bill of Rights like famished alligators chasing a couple of poodles.
Forget about such niceties as separation of powers, checks and balances (crucial to the practice of democracy), the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, and open government-these guys are on an autocratic tear. Whenever they've been challenged (all too rarely), they simply shout "war on terror," "commander-in-chief," "support our troops," "executive privilege," "I'm the decider," or some other slam-the-door political phrase designed to silence any opposition. Indeed, opponents are branded "enemies" who must be demonized, personally attacked, and, if possible, destroyed. Bush's find-the-loopholes lawyers assert that a president has the right to lie (even about going to war), to imprison people indefinitely (without charges, lawyers, hearings, courts, or hope), to torture people, to spy on Americans without court or congressional review, to prosecute reporters who dare to report, to rewrite laws on executive whim?and on and on.
Here, we are pleased to give you a sense of the enormity of what Bush & Company are doing under the cloak of war and executive privilege in a handy-dandy poster format.
The War President
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."-George W., August 2004
Number of Americans killed in Bush's Iraq war as of August 2006: 2577
What Bush press flack Tony Snow said the day the total number of American dead reached 2,500: "It's a number"
Number of Americans killed since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003: 2,438
Number of Americans wounded (a vague term that includes such horrors as brain damage, limb blasted off, eyes blown out, psyche shattered, etc.) in Bush's war:
Official count: 18,777
Independent count: up to 48,000
Estimated number of Iraqi civilians (men, women, and children) killed in Bush's war since Saddam Hussein was ousted: 38,960
For Iraqis, the bloodiest month of the war so far: June 2006
more than 100 civilians killed per day
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit's advice to Iraqis who see TV reports of innocent civilians being killed by occupying troops: "Change the channel."
Percent of Iraqis who want American troops to leave: 82
Stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction found in Iraq since Bush committed Americans to war in 2003 on the basis that Saddam had and was about to use WMDs: 0
Number of nations in the world: 192
Number that joined Bush's "Coalition of the Willing" (COW) to invade Iraq: 48 (The list includes such military powers as Angola, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Latvia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Romania, Solomon Islands, and Uganda.)
Number of COW nations that actually sent any troops to Iraq: 39 (Of these, 32 sent fewer than 1,000 troops. Many sent no fighting units, deploying only engineers, trainers, humanitarian units, and other noncombat personnel.)
Number of the 39 COW nations contributing troops that have since withdrawn them: 17 (An additional 7 have announced plans to withdraw all or part of their contingents this year.)
Number of COW troops in Iraq: 150,000
Number of these that are U.S. troops: 139,000
Number of White House officials and cabinet members who have any of their immediate family in Bush's war: 0
Follow the Money
We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."-"Howling Paul" Wolfowitz, Deputy Defense Secretary, in testimony to Congress, March 2003
The official White House claim before the invasion of what the war and occupation would cost U.S. taxpayers: $50 billion
As of July 2006, the total amount appropriated by Congress for Bush's ongoing war and occupation: $295,634,921,248
Current Pentagon spending per month in Iraq: $8 billion (or $185,185.19 per minute)
Assuming all troops return home by 2010, the projected "real costs" for the war: More than $1 trillion(includes veterans' pay and medical costs, interest on the billions Bush has borrowed to pay for his war, etc.)
Bonus Stat!
Annual salary of Stuart Baker, hired by the Bushites to be the White House "Director for Lessons Learned": $106,641
Number of lessons that Bush appears to have learned: 0
The Imperial Presidency
"I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."George W., August, 2002.
Signing Statements
When signing a particular congressional act into law, a few presidents have occasionally issued a "signing statement" to clarify their understanding of what Congress intended. These have not had the force of law and have been used discreetly in the past.
Very quietly, however, Bush has radically increased both the number and reach of these statements, essentially asserting that the president can arbitrarily decide which laws he will obey.
Number of signing statements issued by Bush as of July 2006: more than 800 (This is more than the combined total of all 42 previous presidents.)
A few examples of congressionally passed laws he has effectively annulled through these extralegal signing statements:
a ban against torture of prisoners by the U.S. military
a requirement that the FBI periodically report to Congress on how it is using the Patriot Act to search our homes and secretly seize people's private papers
a ban against storage in military databases of intelligence about Americans that was obtained illegally
a directive for the executive branch to transmit scientific information to Congress "uncensored and without delay" when requested
Provision of the Constitution clearly stating that Congress alone has the power "to make all laws": Article 1, Section 8
Provision of the Constitution clearly stating that the president "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed": Article 2, Section 3
Name of the young lawyer in the Reagan administration who wrote a 1986 strategy memo on how to pervert the use of signing statements in order to concentrate more power in the executive branch, as Bush is now doing: Samuel Alito, named to the U.S. Supreme Court by Bush this year
National Security Letters
These are secret executive writs that the infamous 2001 Patriot Act authorizes the FBI to issue to public libraries, internet firms, banks, and others. Upon receiving an NSL, the institution or firm is required to turn over any private records it holds on you, me, or whomever the agents have chosen to search.
Who authorizes the FBI to issue these secret writs? The FBI itself.
Surely the agents have to get a search warrant, a grand jury subpoena, or a court's approval? No
But to issue an NSL, an agent must show probable cause that the person being searched has committed some crime, right? No
Well, don't officials have to inform citizens that their records are being seized so they can defend themselves or protest? No
Number of NSLs issued by various FBI offices last year alone: 9,254
NSA Eavesdropping
In 2001, Bush issued a secret order for the National Security Agency to begin vacuuming up massive numbers of telephone and internet exchanges by U.S. citizens, illegally seizing this material without any judicial approval or informing Congress, as required by law.
Number of Americans who have had their phone and internet communications taken by NSA: Just about everyone!(NSA is tapping into the entire database of long-distance calls and internet messages run through AT&T and probably other companies as well.)
In May of this year, the Justice Department abruptly halted an internal investigation that was trying to uncover the name of the top officials who had authorized NSA's warrantless, unconstitutional program. Who killed this probe, which was requested by Congress? George W himself! (He directed NSA simply to refuse security clearances for the department's legal investigators.)
What happened to NSA Director Michael Hayden, who was the key architect of Bush's illegal eavesdropping program and the one who would've formally denied clearances to Justice Department investigators? In May, Bush promoted him to head the CIA.
This past May, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales warned that journalists who report on NSA's spy program could be prosecuted under the antiquated Espionage Act of 1917.
Times in U.S. history this act has been used to go after the press: 0
Margin by which the U.S. House in 1917 voted down an amendment to make the Espionage Act apply to journalists: 184-144
Interesting Fact:
The New York Times reported this June that Bush was running another spy program. This one was snooping through international banking records, including millions of bank transactions done by innocent Americans. George reacted angrily to the exposure, branding the Times report "disgraceful" and declaring that revelation of his spy program "does great harm to the United States." The White House and its right-wing acolytes promptly launched a "Hate-the-Times" political campaign.
Name the guy who was the first to reveal that such a bank-spying program was in the works: George W. Bush! At a September 2001 press conference, he announced that he'd just signed an executive order to monitor all international bank transactions.
Watch Lists
From the Bushites' ill-fated Total Information Awareness program (meant to monitor all of our computerized transactions) to the robust efforts by Rumsfeld's Pentagon to barge into the domestic surveillance game, America under Bush has fast become "The Watched Society."
Number of data-mining programs being run secretly on us by the federal government: Nearly 200 separate programs at 52 agencies
Number of "local activity reports" submitted to the Pentagon in 2004 under the "Threat and Local Observation Notice" program (TALON), which directed military officers throughout our country to keep an eye on suspicious activities by civilians: More than 5,000 (They included such "threats" as peace demonstrators and 10 activists protesting outside Halliburton's headquarters.)
Number of official "watch lists" maintained by the feds: More than a dozen run by 9 different agencies
Number of Americans on the Transportation Security Administration's "No- Fly" list: That's a secret. (TSA concedes that it's in the tens of thousands. In 2005 alone, some 30,000 people called TSA to complain that their names were mistakenly on the list.)
Most famous citizen who is on the No-Fly list and has been repeatedly pulled aside by TSA for additional screenings at airports: Sen. Ted Kennedy
How can you get your name removed from TSA list? That's a secret.
Name That Guy!
In 1966, a young Republican congressman stood against his party's elders to cosponsor the original Freedom of Information Act, valiantly declaring that public records "are public property." He said that FOIA "will make it considerably more difficult for secrecy-minded bureaucrats to decide arbitrarily that the people should be denied access to information on the conduct of government."
Who was that virtuous lawmaker? Donald Rumsfeld!
Only eight years later, Gerald Ford's chief of staff strongly urged him to veto the continuation of FOIA. Who was that dastardly staffer? Donald Rumsfeld!
Who is now one of the chief "secrecy-minded bureaucrats" who routinely violates OIA's principles? Right, him again!
Regime of Secrecy
"Democracies die behind closed doors."-- Appeals court judge Damon Keith, ruling in a 2002 case that the Bushites cannot hold deportation hearings in secret
Increase in the number of government documents marked "secret" between 2001 and 2004: 81 percent
Number of government documents stamped "secret" in 2001: 8.6 million
Number of government documents stamped "secret" in 2004: 15.6 million (a new record)
Cost to taxpayers of classifying and securing documents in 2004: $7.2 billion ($460 per document)
Number of previously declassified documents that the CIA tried to reclassify as "secret" under a 2001 secret agreement with the National Archives, even though many had already been published and some date back to the Korean War: 25,315
Number of different "official designations" the government now has to classify nonsecret information so it still is kept out of the public's reach: Between 50 and 60(They include such stamps as CBU: Controlled But Unclassified, SBU: Sensitive But Unclassified, and LOU: Limited Official Use Only.)
The only vice-president in history who has claimed that he, like the president, has the inherent authority to mark "secret" on any document he chooses: "Buckshot" Cheney
Number of documents Cheney has classified: That's a secret.(He claims he does not have to report this to anyone -- not even the president.)
Of the 7,045 advisory committee meetings held by the Bushites in 2004, percentage that were completely closed to the public, contrary to the clear intent of the Federal Advisory Committee Act: 64 percent (a new record)
Number of times from 1953 to1975 (the peak of the Cold War) that presidents invoked the "state secrets" privilege, which grants them unilateral power in extraordinary instances literally to shut down court cases on the grounds they could reveal secrets that the president doesn't want disclosed: 4
Number of times the same privilege was invoked between 2001 and 2006: At least 24
Under Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno issued an official memo instructing agencies to release as much information as possible to the public. In October 2001, AG John Ashcroft issued a memo canceling Reno's approach, expressly instructing agencies to look for reasons to deny the public access to information and pledging to support the denials if the agencies were sued.
2005 FOIA requests still awaiting a response at year's end: 31 percent(a one-third increase over the 2004 backlog)
Median waiting time to get an answer on FOIA request from Bush's justice department: 863 days
Halliburton
"Halliburton is a unique kind of company."-- Dick Cheney, September 2003
Total value of contracts given to Halliburton for work in the Bush-Cheney "War on Terror" since 2001: More than $15 billion
Amount that Halliburton pays to the Third World laborers it imports into Iraq to do the work in its dining facilities, laundries, etc.: $6 per 12-hour day (50 cents an hour)
Amount that Halliburton bills us taxpayers for each of these workers: $50 a day
Amount that Halliburton bills U.S. taxpayers for:
A case of sodas: $45
Washing a bag of laundry: $100
Halliburton's campaign contributions in Bush-Cheney election years:
In 2000: $285,252 (96 percent to Republicans)
In 2004: $145,500 (89 percent to Republicans)Plus $365,065 from members of its board of directors (99 percent to Republicans)
Increase in Halliburton's profits since Bush-Cheney took office in 2000: 379 percent
Halliburton's 2005 profit: $1.1 billion (highest in the corporation's 86-year history
"Since leaving Halliburton to become George Bush's vice-president, I've severed all of my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind."Former CEO Dick Cheney, Meet the Press, September 2003
Annual payments that Cheney has received from Halliburton since he's been vice-president:
2001: $205,298
2002: $162,392
2003: $178,437
2004: $194,852
2005: $211,465
Cash bonus paid to Cheney by Halliburton just before he took office: $1.4 million
Retirement package he was given in 2000 after only 5 years as CEO: $20 million
Number of times in the past two years that Republicans have killed Sen. Byron Dorgan's amendment to set up a Truman-style committee on war profiteering to investigate Halliburton:

3
Naughty word Cheney used during a Senate photo session in 2004 to assail Sen. Patrick Leahy, who had criticized Cheney's ongoing ties to Halliburton: "Go #@! percent yourself.
Jim Hightower is the author of "Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush" (Viking Press). He publishes the monthly Hightower Lowdown.

2006-08-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

August Peace Vigil

426 Broad Street, Oneida--faces Grove Street intersection--painted brown brick with green, red and beige trim--large hedges in front

August 30, at 7:00 PM as an anniversary of our first vigil as a group.

The vigil will be brief and followed by a planning session for an Oneida Day of Peace.

2006-08-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

The August peace vigil will be held at my home (426 Broad Street, Oneida--faces Grove Street intersection--painted brown brick with green, red andbeige trim--large hedges in front) on August 30, at 7:00 PM as an anniversary of our first vigil as a group. The vigil will be brief and followed by a planning session for an Oneida Day of Peace. Hope to see you there.

Marcia K Newsom

2006-08-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

CONCERNED CITIZENS OF ONEIDA

CONTACT: Robert Mann 363-3991

557 Broadway, Oneida

August 8, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SATURDAY CEASE FIRE DEMONSTRATIONS TO CONTINUE IN ONEIDA

Last Saturday morning, fifteen participants in a peaceful demonstration in Oneida calling for an immediate cease fire in the Middle East agreed to continue to demonstrate on the next three Saturday mornings (August 12,19, and 26).

People will gather in front of City Hall at 10 o’clock. At 10:15, carrying banners in rainbow colors, they will walk to Allen Park, where an informal memorial service will be held at 11 o’clock for the war dead.

"We are calling on President Bush to take a clear stand against the violence that has killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians, including many children, and is bringing a rain of rockets on civilians in Northern Israel," says event organizer Robert Mann.

# # #

2006-06-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

The International Day Against Torture

I thought about you all this past Monday night. Sandy and I went to Cortland, NY, to attend Cortland's Day Against Torture Prayer Vigil. Their state senator and one of the state representatives from that district managed to get a resolution through our state legislature in solidarity with the UN's declaration of The International Day Against Torture, and their city council followed through with its own declaration.
Because of the rain, the ceremony was moved from the courthouse steps to the Unitarian-Universalist Church, an 1837 cobblestone with the most gorgeous, simple bead-board ceiling and altar. (Okay, so I am really rambling, but this was a truly blessed experience for me--so please try to cope!!) Robert Mann and Joan had arranged for us to meet some of the organizers of the service for dinner before the ceremony. They told us about their organization and programs they had sponsored . And they told us some interesting stories about the church. Someone mentioned that they had been very impressed when they first moved to Cortland and were told of Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson and others addressing the congregation there, but then they learned that those venerated people had spoken in just about every Unitarian Church in Central and Upstate New York. The minister of a Presbyterian church in Cortland who moderated the ceremony, found it very ironic that on one of the occasions when Thereau addressed the Unitarian church, 3 members of what is now her church, slipped off to hear him and were excommunicated, so that to this day members of her church usually informed her when they were attending anything at the Unitarian Church, "to make sure they would not be excommunicated".
The service was opened informally by a young woman playing her guitar and singing very simple, wonderful peace songs in an idealistic, pure and sweet manner. Her voice was clear, and her smile infectious. It set the tone for the night.
Their mayor read the city proclamation (which included regret for the fact that the President had attached a "signing order" to his signature of Congress's recent act reaffirming our nation's policy against torture).

Sandy wrote about the evening to the newspaper in Cortland. I cannot improve on her story so here it is:

On June 26, at the invitation of a friend, I and another friend drove through driving rain from Oneida County to attend the Day Against Torture program at the Unitarian-Universalist Church. (State legislators, Barbara Lifton and James Seward, had lobbied Governor Pataki to make the statewide proclamation). The Cortland program was arranged through the efforts of the Social Justice Cluster of Cortland Area Faith Communities---a very large name for a very brave group. I learned that they have been working on human right issues for over a decade. Cortland is very fortunate to have such a group. And Cortland is also fortunate to have a mayor, Thomas Gallagher, willing to have his city join the state in recognizing the inhumanity that seems to be even more prevalent now that the Cold War is over than it
was in the last century of so many hot wars.
Besides the mayor, the program had a survivor of the Holocaust and speakers from four major faiths. It was inspiring to see all of them, but I was particularly moved by the comments of Sheila Cohen who spoke of the Jewish tradition. She said that of course we must pray, but in her tradition there is a belief that human beings have been given by their Creator the tools to deal with problems such as
torture; and therefore our Creator expects us to act.
So much is said of globalization in terms of economic benefits; it is high time indeed we recognize the humanity that binds us together. And heeding Sheila Cohen's words, when we step into the voting booths in November, we should act in defense
of that humanity.

2006-04-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

Anti-War Protest in New York April 29 06

With buses not available to the Syracuse Peace Council and car pooling being organized out of Syracuse, Marcia found the Albany peace groups had room on their 4 or 5 buses going to the anti war demonstrations in New York on Saturday, April 29. We were some 300,000 strong, marching down Broadway from around 23rd Street to the Federal Building and Federal Park, some 22 blocks. I personally only encountered one heckler, who pointed to a group of red flag-carrying young Communists who were marching near me. "See who you are marching with? Go home and be proud," he said to me from the sidewalk.

"I'm not marching with them, they are marching with me and I am proud. Join us," I retorted, thanked him and walked on.

Marcia made sugar cookies frosted with the peace sign on each. We passed them around the bus and she got a round of thanks from a great group of people!

Charles's sign got a lot of attention. It shows on one side, the photo of each soldier killed in Iraq and the date he or she was killed. He says it needs to be updated, especially when on Saturday, as we marched, we learned that yet another soldier had been killed over there, bringing the total to 2400.

On the other side, he shows the demographics of states where the most war dead come from and compares it to the "red states" and "blue states" voting patterns of the last election. Interestingly, the heavy war loss states voted "blue."

Here are some pictures from the march. In my late 50's and an old rabble rouser from Vietnam War days, I found things a little different. When I finally sat down after the march to rest, I could't get up easily again! Too, I had to check out where some public bathrooms were located as the old bladder isn't as resilient as it once was. I was grateful to all the young people who danced, did street theater, mime, singing, chanting and drumming. THANKS for your energy!!

And although there were many events that may have taken people away from the anti war demonstrations, like demanding action to stop the genocide in Darfur and action to protest pending immigration legislation that would make it a felony to be in the country illegally, I was personally glad that people are TAKING IT TO THE STREETS more than ever. See what happens when PATRIOTISM is in action!! See how much power the people really have when they are together, demanding redress from a government gone amuk! They did it in Eastern Europe, they did it in Tibet! We can do it, too!

Taking it to the streets!
Wanted for Illegally Crossing Borders!
The Empire State - The Empire Nation
Billionaires for Bush
Gas Holes Bush and Cheney
Take it to the streets!
Think It Over!
Gas Hole Bush

Osama Bin Forgotten
Oneidacontingent
redbluestates
nobloodforoil

2006-03-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

"I just can't do it, Mom."

A Moment of Silence Is Not Enough
By Sara Rich
t r u t h o u t | Statement

Monday 20 March 2006

On March 18th Sara Rich, mother of an AWOL US soldier, gave this address at
an anti-war rally in Eugene, Oregon.

Hello - I came to you in September praying for peace as I was bound by
the fear of my daughter's impending redeployment to Iraq.

WHO SAYS LIGHTNING DOESN'T STRIKE TWICE? We got the date for her
redeployment 9 months before her entitled 18 months decompression time. Her
commanding officer forced her to sign a waiver of her rights to
decompression time between deployments and gave her a date 11 months after
she returned from Iraq the first time. Then, a few weeks later, she got her
readiness papers - that 6 months after she hopefully returned from Iraq the
second time, she was scheduled to go over for yet another year. Making it
three deployments to Iraq in less that four years.

All of our hearts were heavy. Three days before her actual redeployment,
she was packed and ready to go, she had her car keys in her hand, and she
turned to me and said, "I don't think I can do this." I was shocked but knew
any type of coercion on my part would not help, so I said, "Are you
serious?" She replied, "I just can't do it, Mom." She could not go back
there to the misery. She told me that being separated from her family and
living and breathing Army for a year at a time in a war zone was a constant
source of distress for her. Where nobody cares whether you live or die as
long as you do what you are told and they look good afterwards. Nor could
she handle another deployment, dealing with the daily hour-to-hour sexual
harassment that she endured from 99% of her male officers and fellow
soldiers. The isolation and fear of being attacked, harassed, molested and
raped was a huge part of her life in Iraq. She was always full of anxiety
and stress just keeping herself safe when her commanding officers would show
up banging on her door in the middle of the night, intoxicated and wanting
to have sex with her. The intimidation and sexual harassment that our female
soldiers are enduring is leading to massive stress and in some cases even
death for our military women in Iraq. They are not supported but shamed when
they bring these to the attention of their superiors.

I TOOK A DEEP BREATH and I told her either way she is my hero and I will
support her decision. She decided that she was going to go AWOL and to leave
the Army.

That the US is in Iraq for something that is pointless was a common
feeling for many of the soldiers she was stationed with. (Here's where she
went off.) The US is not the world police. Why can't we focus on the
multiple crises we have in our own country? The hurricanes that took
thousands of lives. Or why not go to Afghanistan, where there are actually
terrorists? It is abominable that we are sending our troops over there and
paying them a pittance - the average soldier that is married and has a
family to support gets about $2,000 a month, and at the same time we are
sending contractors from Blackwater over to do the same security jobs and
paying them $15,000 a month to be there and risk their lives. This makes no
sense, especially to our soldiers.

She kept asking, and now I'm asking you, WHAT IS THE PURPOSE? This is an
outrage and is just adding to the growing evidence that we are losing
thousands of lives and causing permanent injuries to our soldiers, for what?
Oil? Money? Why are we not trying to educate the Iraqis, if liberating them
is so important.

My daughter tells me, "Mom, while I was in Iraq, the children were never
in school, they were out in the street begging for candy. They were never
being watched or supervised, just allowed to run wild. I was never sure what
we were or still are trying to accomplish in Iraq. I never saw the US do
anything to make things better while I was there. My unit would go out on
useless missions and end up being shot at in the dark by our supposed allies
because communication between the US and our allies was so poor. We need to
get the hell out of Iraq and let them solve their own problems. Most Iraqis
don't want us there anyway. We should have done this years ago, but I guess
our government saw it as making us money in some weird way. I think the
reason that post traumatic stress syndrome is so huge is because this was an
invasion/war without a purpose. NO one benefited from us being there. Except
that Saddam Hussein got a free ticket out of Iraq.... Why do we think we
should be liberating all these countries when we can't even feed or house
our own children in the United States. How about working on oppression and
racism here in the US? Maybe we need someone to come liberate us!!" I could
tell that my daughter felt liberated herself and finally touched on some of
her anger for the Army as she went on. Here are some more thoughts for us
here today.

Listen closely to me now.... We Need to Bring Our Soldiers Home NOW and
Take Care of Them When They Get Here. The most controversial part of this,
for many people, is the "Now." We are moving into the fourth year of a war
that should never have happened. The largest air assault since the invasion
of Iraq three years ago has just been launched by the US.

The problem remains: This war was wrong from the beginning and
continuing it will not make it right. A continuation - and now escalation -
of the war in Iraq will only lead to more deaths among US troops and Iraqi
children, women and men. It will make us less safe in the world. It will
mean more troops suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We
also need to take care of the troops when they get home, giving them the
support - medical, psychological and economic - that they need. The
administration has failed at this as well.

Some say a phased withdrawal is not a good strategy. Partial withdrawal
of the troops will only leave those who remain in Iraq at greater risk.
Phased withdrawal was attempted in the Vietnam War, resulting in an
increased death rate for troops who remained in Vietnam as others were
"phased out." The safest thing for our troops, the best thing for our
nation, and the best thing for the people of Iraq is to get the troops home
now. Military people with whom we have spoken say that all troops could be
pulled back into Kuwait in a matter of a month or so; and from there, planes
and boats could bring them on home.

I WOULD TELL YOU THAT ... Congress is responsible for allowing the
president to take the nation to war; Congress continues to fund the war,
which allows it to continue; and Congress has failed to show leadership and
take action to bring the war to an end. We are calling on Congress to show
some leadership, take a stand and bring our troops home now. Although it is
true that the president ordered the troops into Iraq, and the president used
and continues to use fear of terrorism and of Al Qaeda to try to justify his
policies and to keep the American people from asking the questions that need
to be asked, Congress has been complicit with the president's plan. They
have gone along with George Bush's war plan and have consistently failed to
challenge and question his actions. It is past time for both Republicans and
Democrats in Congress to show some courage, speak out and bring our troops
home now.

Leaving Iraq now is the best way to honor those who have already
sacrificed in this war. The President would like us to think that leaving
now would be dishonoring those who have already died, those who have already
been wounded, those who have sacrificed so much. But more deaths, more
wounded, more troops suffering from PTSD, more families suffering both here
and in Iraq will not honor the sacrifices that have been made.

Yet there are those who would ask for a moment of silence. Tell that to
the grieving mother, the young wife, the orphaned child of the 2,314 dead
soldiers this war has caused. They will listen to that silence FOREVER. A
"moment of silence" isn't enough! Many politicians want to offer a moment of
silence at times like this, "to honor the sacrifice of our service men and
women." A "moment of silence" is not what is needed from our political
leaders, who are allowing the violence in Iraq to escalate with the recently
launched large-scale US air assault. Politicians who want to honor the
fallen and support our troops need to show some leadership and speak out to
bring our troops home NOW!

YOU here today are part of a massive groundswell of opposition. My
family is asking you to reach out to friends who have not yet taken action,
and encourage them to get involved now. Actions that can be taken: War tax
resistance, counter military recruitment work, letters to newspapers,
supporting peace candidates and delegations, bringing Iraqi women speakers
here, full page newspaper ads, speaking out in their own circles and showing
that dissent is patriotic. And as we spiritually pray for peace, let's start
demanding peace from our nation's leaders. Demand an end to the killing and
the violence. We have over 16,000 injured soldiers who are receiving
sub-standard care. Now is not the time for passivity. Now is the time to
write the letters, make some noise.... Do not be complacent anymore. Do
something every day to demand peace and the safe return of everyone of our
soldiers NOW!

2006-03-20T06:40:00.000-08:00

Stop the Reverse Robin Hood Budget

Bad things continue to happen because good people are too quiet. The will of the people is not being carried out. You can help stop the direction of this government.

The event details are:

Stop the Reverse Robin Hood Budget
John McMugh's Canastota Office
McHugh's Office - Rt 13
Canastota, NY 13421
Thursday, 23 Mar 2006, 12:00 PM

2006-02-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

The March Vigil will be held Sunday, March 19, at 6:15 PM. At this time, the gazebo in Sherrill seems like the better location to me. Does anyone have a better idea? I am also seeking ideas for a short program and names and emails to add to this group.

I am attempting to contact the Kearney Area PeaceWorkers in Nebraska to exchange sentiments and ideas and to let them know we changed our vigil for March to the 19th "in solidarity" with them. There must be hundreds of groups like ours nation-wide.

NOW is sponsoring a Peace March April 29 in New York City. Is anyone interested in going? Join the March for Peace, Justice, & Democracy.

Peace and Love,
Marcia

2006-02-26T05:49:00.000-08:00

JOIN THE MARCH FOR PEACE, JUSTICE & DEMOCRACY ON APRIL 29

Join activists from women's rights groups, the peace movement, environmental groups, civil rights, labor, and religious communities on April 29, 2006 as we march in New York City to call for an end to the war and to change the direction our country is going in.

NOW encourages activists, supporters, friends, and family to prepare for a mass mobilization to call for an end to the war and to change the direction of our country. Join with progressives from women’s rights organizations, the peace movement, environmental groups, civil rights, labor, and religious communities on April 29, 2006 to march in New York City.

We cannot continue to allow the security and human rights conditions to further deteriorate in Iraq. We cannot stand by while U.S. corporations like Halliburton and Bechtel continue to receive contracts worth billions of dollars for reconstruction and other activities in Iraq. We cannot let our country continue toward a trillion dollar debt.

Our call, enough is enough.

Now is the time to give peace a chance. Now is the time to make a difference.

Organize to join the march. Organize to make a difference. Organize because our soldiers need to come home and because U.S. and Iraqi lives depend on it.

2006-02-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

JOIN THE PEACE VIGIL

Vigil for slain soldiers and their families tonight, Wed., Feb 15, at 6:00 P.M. at the Gazebo next to the ice skating rink in Sherrill.

2006-01-29T07:12:00.000-08:00

Moveon Action Against Corruption in Congress - last Saturday in Oneida, NY!!We had a great day today collecting over 200 signatures on the petition. The "fat cats" made an impact as well as the personal communicatons with people of the area.
Charles

2006-01-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

ABOUT YOUR VOTE!

SEE A DOCUMENTARY FILM THAT WILL CHALLENGE YOUR THINKING ABOUT

THE QUALITY OF AMERICA’S VOTE COUNTING!

“INVISIBLE BALLOTS: A TEMPTATION FOR ELECTRONIC VOTE FRAUD”

Three showings at three different times in three different places!

Sunday, January 29, 2006, 1:30 pm at the Hamilton Movie House, Hamilton

7 Lebanon Street

Wednesday, February 1, 2006, 7:30 pm at the Kallet Civic Center, Oneida

159 Main Street

Thursday, February 9, 2006 7:00 pm at the Common
Ground Coffeehouse,

35 Albany Street Cazenovia

Free Admission. Free refreshments.

Open discussion to follow

Attend this film and find out how your voting rights will be impacted by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed by Congress in 2002 to address the problems that surfaced in the 2000 election. Gone are the lever action voting machines which in some cases date back to the 1930s. Enter the computer-age voting machines which all of us will soon encounter.
Invisible Ballots summarizes the history of election systems and will demonstrate the pros and cons of two new voting systems in a clear and forceful manner.
The film is highly relevant to New York since our appointed county election commissioners will choose a new voting machine system in the very near future.
Their decision will impact voters for a long time.

For more information, please call Bill Todd at (315) 824-0824.

Sponsored by New Yorkers for Verified Voting www.nyvv.org

2005-12-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

Bush Strategy Understood

This just in via email from a member, forwarded to her from Hawaii:

Dear Editor,

I'm beginning to understand President Bush's strategy for solving
the problem of illegal immigration. We invest our resources in an
unnecessary war, we make torture a national policy, we ignore the
plight of the poor, we eliminate social security and health care, and
we teach religious superstitions in school science classes. Pretty
soon nobody will want to come here anymore.

2005-12-07T06:27:00.000-08:00

Christian Peacemaker Team Taken in Iraq

Dear Friend,

As you may know, four members of the Christian Peacemaker Team were taken in Iraq. Thursday is a pivotal day. FaithfulAmerica is working with a number of religious organizations to help win their release. Please go here to add your name to a letter calling for their release. Also there is information on putting together a prayer vigil. Thank you!

http://ga3.org/campaign/releasehostages?rk=c7SIvyF1NX41W

2005-11-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

TWO IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE AREA THIS WEEK

Events this week include the Peace Vigil on Wednesday evening, November 16 at 6 pm in Sherrill at the Gazeebo. A list of Iraq war dead will be read. Bring a candle and a friend.

Friday night, November 18, there will be a free showing of the movie, "The High Cost of Low Prices," better known as the Walmart movie, starting at 7 pm. the movie lasts about an hour and a half. We hope to have a bit of discussion over coffee and doughnuts afterward. Now, we don't expect that all the thousands of Walmarts across the country will go away. But is there such a thing as "conscious capitalism?" Can Walmart be pressured to be more fair to its employees and its competitors? We'll decide together! The movie will be shown at my house, 8037 Herder Road, Blossvale, 1/2 mile up Herder Road from Rte. 49. RSVP 337-6463.

2005-11-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

The next vigil will be held Wednesday, November 16, at the gazebo in Sherrill at
6:00-7:00 PM. If the venue is changed becouse of a severe weather forecast, that will be announced in the Upcoming Events Section of The Oneida Daily Dispatch on Tuesday, November 15.

2005-10-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

VIGIL TONIGHT IN ONEIDA

Candlelight vigil at 6:30 p.m. tonight night—Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at Janet McMahon's home, 447 Broad Street, Oneida.

2005-10-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

CNN just reported grim news:

2,000 American soldiers have now died in Iraq.

Their caskets have been hidden from view, and the news of their deaths has receded to the back pages. But the men and women who died in recent days were no less brave or less honorable than those who died in the first days of the war. It's time for us to publicly honor them—to remind the country that they're dying every day in the quagmire of Iraq—and ask, "How many more?"

Together we're organizing candlelight vigils at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow night—Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at Janet McMahon's home, 447 Broad Street, Oneida.

2005-10-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

Report on Anti War Demonstration in Washington DC Sept. 24 2006

Janet and I will not be able to attend the vigil in body, but will be there in spirit. Janet is working at the hospital and I am in Washington DC on business.

We did attend and participate in the anti war march September 24, 2005. I am attaching some photos. The number and variety of people participating that day was unbelievable. The streets from Washington Monument to the White House were crammed full of people for over 4 hours as a steady stream of chanting, sign carrying and singing people sent a strong message to the Bush administration.

We were energized by the event and heartened to see the turnout. The evening event was a concert by Washington monument with speakers intermixed with a wide variety of music.

On Monday September 26 Janet and I participated in the lobbying effort for our congressman. We spoke for about 20 minutes with staff of Congressman McHugh and provided them with documents regarding the cost of the war in Iraq and our reasons to have him support legislation to restrict funding and push for an end plan for Iraq operations.

Monday at 11 AM Janet and I again marched with those who were participating in the civil disobedience action to the White House. Each carried the name of a fallen US soldier and an Iraqi civilian. This was a more somber event to recognize the human cost of the war. The military families against the war, code pink and other groups all joined in on the march. We witnessed the arrest of over 200 people for refusing to leave the sidewalk in front of the White House after attempting to meet with Pres Bush and being refused access. We stayed until most had been taken away. We were impressed by the committment of those participating with the civil disobedience.
Take heart many many voices are being raised against the activities of this administration.

Charles and Janet

2005-10-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

A plan to win back the world
Syracuse Post Standard Newspaper

Sunday, October 16, 2005

By F. William Smullen

SU Maxwell School

As Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff at the U.S. Department of State for two years, I watched a parade of heads of state and foreign ministers visit him in the wake of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. These foreign leaders expressed their condolences, gave offers of support and indicated a willingness to help us wage a global war on terror. Much of that genuine outreach to America at that history-changing moment has dissipated or even disappeared since then.

I saw this disturbing trend firsthand as a member of a congressionally mandated Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy (ACCD) formed in the spring of 2004. We were asked by the Congress and the State Department to take a truthful measurement of attitudes and opinions toward America by people around the world and to find ways to improve conditions.

Our seven-member, bipartisan committee made a fact-finding trip to the Middle East and Europe in the summer of 2004. Beyond that, we studied attitudes globally by monitoring polls and talking to diplomats, foreign officials and a range of experts. We concluded, without hesitation and reservation, that there is a deep and abiding anger at American policy in general and at some of our political and military actions, in particular. This has grown increasingly evident since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2002 and then Iraq in 2003.

……………………………

continued

Why you ask? The answer is it's the right thing to do. Indeed, destiny has been on the right side of America for over two centuries. We see ourselves as a special brand of people, who reside in a special kind of democratic society. President Reagan called it a "shining city on a hill." That's fine with one exception.

Regrettably, others around the world don't view us the same way. As the result of certain of our policies, they see us as a monolithic empire choosing to do whatever we want and wherever we want.

So what, you say! And you aren't alone if you feel that way. Many Americans simply don't care that foreigners have come to believe that the United States is no longer "cool." In fact, there's a boycott of U.S. products taking place in parts of the world. Of the top dozen U.S. global brands, the likes of Coke, Nike, Microsoft and Levi-Strauss, only one - Ford - improved its sales and "power brand" score in the past year. Meanwhile, nine of the top 13 non-American brands improved their ratings during the same period.

Simply put, the American brand has been badly damaged. And it has economic consequences to one's financial portfolio or to the economy of the nation. One in five European consumers will avoid purchasing products and services offered by many American-based companies, notably McDonald's, American Airlines and General Motors, as a direct result of U.S. unilateral foreign policies. And it's not confined to Europe. Almost one of four people in Asia say they avoid buying American brands.

We can think they're wrong, and we can choose to ignore them, but unfortunately, that won't change the way they feel. As a senior U.S. government official told committee members when we visited Egypt, "We're making enemies faster than we're gaining friends." Now that is a scary thought.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes and Assistant Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy Dina Powell have reflected that in their public comments. They have expressed "the need to listen, and to foster greater understanding, respect, and a sense of common ideals." Our ACCD report offers them some prioritized recommendations that can help.

This is a difficult time for U.S. public diplomacy. The challenges and consequences are enormous. Cultural diplomacy is but one diplomatic tool that can be used to positively influence attitudes and opinions and how we as a nation and a people are perceived. It is the linchpin that can make a difference. But we must set our diplomatic compass correctly and navigate carefully. My hope is that our report will provide the Congress and the State Department certain azimuths on which to proceed.

F. William Smullen is the director of National Security Studies at the Maxwell School and professor of public relations at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.

2005-10-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

Peace Vigil Scheduled for Wed., Oct. 19

Higginbotham Park in Oneida across from the Post Office. It will begin at dusk, which should be around 6:00. A list of those killed in Iraq will be read.

Everyone is welcome, bring a candle and holder.

2005-10-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

No Place for a Poet at a Banquet of Shame
By Sharon Olds
The Nation

Monday 19 September 2005

For reasons spelled out below, the poet Sharon Olds has declined to attend the National Book Festival in Washington, which, coincidentally or not, takes place September 24, the day of an antiwar mobilization in the capital. Olds, winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award and professor of creative writing at New York University, was invited along with a number of other writers by First Lady Laura Bush to read from their works. Three years ago artist Jules Feiffer declined to attend the festival's White House breakfast as a protest against the Iraq War ("Mr. Feiffer Regrets," November 11, 2002). We suggest that invitees to this year's event consider following their example.
- Editors, The Nation
Laura Bush
First Lady
The White House

Dear Mrs. Bush,

I am writing to let you know why I am not able to accept your kind invitation to give a presentation at the National Book Festival on September 24, or to attend your dinner at the Library of Congress or the breakfast at the White House.

In one way, it's a very appealing invitation. The idea of speaking at a festival attended by 85,000 people is inspiring! The possibility of finding new readers is exciting for a poet in personal terms, and in terms of the desire that poetry serve its constituents - all of us who need the pleasure, and the inner and outer news, it delivers.

And the concept of a community of readers and writers has long been dear to my heart. As a professor of creative writing in the graduate school of a major university, I have had the chance to be a part of some magnificent outreach writing workshops in which our students have become teachers. Over the years, they have taught in a variety of settings: a women's prison, several New York City public high schools, an oncology ward for children. Our initial program, at a 900-bed state hospital for the severely physically challenged, has been running now for twenty years, creating along the way lasting friendships between young MFA candidates and their students - long-term residents at the hospital who, in their humor, courage and wisdom, become our teachers.

When you have witnessed someone nonspeaking and almost nonmoving spell out, with a toe, on a big plastic alphabet chart, letter by letter, his new poem, you have experienced, close up, the passion and essentialness of writing. When you have held up a small cardboard alphabet card for a writer who is completely nonspeaking and nonmoving (except for the eyes), and pointed first to the A, then the B, then C, then D, until you get to the first letter of the first word of the first line of the poem she has been composing in her head all week, and she lifts her eyes when that letter is touched to say yes, you feel with a fresh immediacy the human drive for creation, self-expression, accuracy, honesty and wit - and the importance of writing, which celebrates the value of each person's unique story and song.

So the prospect of a festival of books seemed wonderful to me. I thought of the opportunity to talk about how to start up an outreach program. I thought of the chance to sell some books, sign some books and meet some of the citizens of Washington, DC. I thought that I could try to find a way, even as your guest, with respect, to speak about my deep feeling that we should not have invaded Iraq, and to declare my belief that the wish to invade another culture and another country - with the resultant loss of life and limb for our brave soldiers, and for the noncombatants in their home terrain - did not come out of our democracy but was instead a decision made "at the top" and forced on the people by distorted language, and by untruths. I hoped to express the fear that we have begun to live in the shadows of tyranny and religious chauvinism - the opposites of the liberty, tolerance and diversity our nation aspires to.

I tried to see my way clear to attend the festival in order to bear witness - as an American who loves her country and its principles and its writing - against this undeclared and devastating war.

But I could not face the idea of breaking bread with you. I knew that if I sat down to eat with you, it would feel to me as if I were condoning what I see to be the wild, highhanded actions of the Bush Administration.

What kept coming to the fore of my mind was that I would be taking food from the hand of the First Lady who represents the Administration that unleashed this war and that wills its continuation, even to the extent of permitting "extraordinary rendition": flying people to other countries where they will be tortured for us.

So many Americans who had felt pride in our country now feel anguish and shame, for the current regime of blood, wounds and fire. I thought of the clean linens at your table, the shining knives and the flames of the candles, and I could not stomach it.

Sincerely,
Sharon Olds

(originally printed in THE NATION)

2005-10-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Anti-war rallies condemn Bush and Blair
Sat Sep 24, 4:03 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of anti-war demonstrators rallied outside the White House, demanding the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq as public opinion polls show collapsing support for the war effort.

Chanting "Bring the Troops Home Now", a column of protesters stretched for several blocks around the White House, with parents pushing infants in strollers while students beat makeshift drums.

Opponents of the US-led war also marched in central London, protesting the presence of British troops in Iraq. Police said some 10,000 converged on Hyde Park though sponsors said the crowd was much larger.

A small rally was held in Paris and anti-war protests were planned in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle on the US West coast.

In Washington, protest organizers had hoped to attract 100,000 people but neither organizers nor police would give an estimate.

The age and politics of the crowd, many of whom had travelled from across the United States, covered a wide spectrum, with militant leftists mingling with those who had never marched at a demonstration in their lives.

Featured speakers included Cindy Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq last year, and outspoken British member of parliament George Galloway, who received the biggest response.

The Scottish socialist was given a rousing reception after he told the crowd: "There is an absolute need for your country and my country to stand shoulder to shoulder against the war criminals Tony Blair and George W. Bush."

Galloway, who drew international attention for a fiery condemnation of US policy he made to the Senate earlier this year, said the British prime minister and US president had failed to justify the invasion.

"This is not a clash of civilizations, not a war between people of the West and East, not a war between Christianity and Islam; George Bush does not represent any civilization," he said to cheers.

Sheehan breathed new life into the anti-war movement in August when she camped outside the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, demanding to speak to Bush.

The president refused to meet her and was not in Washington for the rally, having gone to Colorado to inspect military preparations for the relief operation after Hurricane Rita.

Sheehan said however there were clear signs that the tide is turning against the president over Iraq.

"I believe momentum is building, I can see it with my eyes. But I also read the polls," she told reporters.

"People ask me if the troops will come home and I know they are, I know they are."

Demonstrators were buoyed by recent opinion polls that show a growing majority disapprove of Bush's handling of the war.

"It seems to be playing out the way it did with Vietnam. As time goes on, more and more people begin to have doubts," said Frank Nicosia, a history professor who came by bus with his wife from the northeastern state of Vermont to attend the march.

Supporters of the Bush administration plan a counter-demonstration on Sunday, arguing that an early withdrawal of US troops could trigger civil war and jeopardize US interests.

Among the demonstrators were some 40 former U.S. soldiers recently returned from Iraq, holding up signs saying "Bring Them Home Now!" and wearing their desert camouflage uniforms.

"This is all new to me. I've never participated in something like this," said John McNamara, 25, who served six months as an army truck driver in Iraq.

"I took part in some destruction in the Middle East and I feel bad about that," said McNamara, who flew from Los Angeles for the event. "Being here won't make up for it but it might make me feel a little better about it."

Organizers said the protest was designed to bring pressure on Congress, including Democratic party leaders who have castigated Bush's handling of the war but not sought a deadline for withdrawal.

Recent polls have signalled a collapse in US support for the war and the president's handling of the conflict.

A New York Times/CBS poll one week ago said support for the Iraq war has fallen to 44 percent, the lowest in the time the question has been asked over the past two years.

Fifty-two percent of the 1,167 adults asked said there should be an immediate withdrawal of the approximately 140,000 US troops in Iraq. About 1,900 soldiers have been killed since the start of the war.

2005-10-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

20 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT VOTING IN THE U.S.

Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://uscountvotes.org/

NOTE: Please copy the above list and distribute freely!
LET THE FACTS BE KNOWN! Thank you!

2005-09-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Edmund Burke said in 1770: "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." Harry Belafonte, last week, wondered if the Democrat Party, of which he has been a lifelong member, is worth salvaging.

Yes, what can we do in this contemptible struggle that has put an unnecessary war and a necessary reconstruction after Katrina and Rita on our children's credit cards?

I would suggest that the two-party system that has been acceptable when we were a more united people and the parties' members had some sense of decorum is no longer serviceable. Yet the throwaway vote haunts every decent candidate who wishes to stand for something and eschews raising a damp finger to the wind. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) is the answer. It is already used in Britain, Australia, and some American cities. Check out fairvote.org/irv/ to learn about what may save our country during this contemptible struggle.

Sandy Miley

2005-09-22T03:13:00.000-07:00

Eighteen People Attended the Oneida Peace Vigil

To those of you who were able to come, thank you. To those of you who were there in spirit, I am gratified to report that at least 18 people were present. We are planning another one next month Wed. Oct. 19 at Higginbotham Park. If anyone wants to suggest another night because of conflicts, please do so. A reporter from the Oneida Dispatch stopped and took pictures.
The OD was very good about placing an announcement in the paper. We are the silent majority, and we must cease our silence. Marcia

2005-09-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

ONEIDA PEACE VIGIL SET FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT, ALLEN PARK
Wed. Sept. 21, 7:00-8:00--not necessary to stay the entire time. Meet near the fountain, bring a candle. Bring a friend.

Anyone who wants can meet at Marcia Newsom' home 426 Broad St., Oneida, afterward, for a brief planning session for other events and future vigils.

2005-09-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

NYPD Break Up Speech by Cindy Sheehan in Union Square
Monday, September 19, 3 pm

As anti-war activist and gold-star mom Cindy Sheehan addressed hundreds of people assembled in Union Square Park in Manhattan this afternoon, around 12 members of the New York Police Department waded into the crowd, confiscated the sound system and arrested "Camp Casey" organizer Paul "Zool" Zulkowitz.

Sheehan was immediately encircled by other members of the Vets for Peace and others in her group and taken to safety. (Cindy Sheehan will be speaking tonight at St. John the Divine Cathedral at 112th St. and Amsterdam Avenue.)

I was standing just to Zool's left and witnessed an NYPD official draw an index finger across his throat (presumably a signal to cut off Cindy's speech) just as the police moved in.

I also witnessed the same NYPD officials point to Zool, who was standing with many others, and several cops went straight for him, knocking me and others out of their way, and grabbed Zool without any of the police saying a word.

The large crowd changed "Shame! Shame!" and "End the War!" as police whisked Zool out of the east side of the Park and into a police van.

A number of Green Party members video'd the entire episode. Please write back to me if you want the contact information for the videographers.

- Mitchel Cohen
Brooklyn Greens, and co-editor of "G"
the newspaper of the NY State Greens

2005-09-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

So many great and encouraging things are being written. Frank Rich's column in the New York Times today was terrific; Doctorow had a wonderful essay recently; and in my old home, Ithaca, some truly awesome peace activists are going on federal trial in Binghamton and their situation made the NYTimes (see articles below).

These sorts of things and talking to Diane from the vigil group at length keep me going. In the darkest days of the Cold War (with the exception of the Cuban Missile Crisis) I never imagined that my country would ever be so badly governed by such blatantly greedy and selfish people so I need to know there are others who are as horrified as I am...Sandy

2005-09-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

War protesters go on trial
Jury selection begins today in Binghamton for ‘St. Patrick's Four'

By NANCY DOOLING
Gannett News Service

Matthew Hinton/Journal Staff

From left, Peter De Mott, Clare Grady, Teresa Grady and Daniel Burns go on trial today in Binghamton. The war protesters face charges stemming from a March 17, 2003 incident at a military recruitment office in Ithaca and splashed blood on the walls, floor, some photographs and a flag.

BINGHAMTON — Clare Grady admits she and three others spilled blood in a Tompkins County military recruiting office on St. Patrick's Day, 2003. What she wants the federal government to admit is that the war in Iraq is illegal and that, under international law, she has the right — in fact, an obligation — to prevent the United States from breaking the law.

Today, the 46-year-old Grady, her sister, Teresa Grady, 39, Peter De Mott, 58, and Daniel Burns, 45, will go on trial in Binghamton's federal court for splashing their blood in the Lansing recruiting office in protest against the Iraq war.

The St. Patrick's Four, as they call themselves, all live in Ithaca and are associated with a Catholic Worker movement. They face federal charges of conspiring to impede an officer of the United States, and entering and damaging federal property. A conviction on the conspiracy charge alone — the most serious of a four-count indictment — carries up to six years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Getting arrested for protesting at U.S. military facilities is nothing new to them. All have arrests related to protests, some going back decades.

“I have anxiety about jail time,” said Burns, 45, a son of the late Binghamton Mayor John Burns Sr. “I can't lie about that.”

But he and the others are willing to go to prison for what they believe in — even if it means having to be separated from his two young children. “What if I did nothing?” he asks. “What would I tell them?”

None of the four have any regrets about what landed them in New York's federal court system. On March 17, 2003 — St. Patrick's Day — just days before the United States began combat operations in Iraq, the four carried containers of their own blood into the recruiting office and splashed it on the walls, floor, some photographs and an American flag in the lobby. They admit to the act, but they dispute the monetary value of the damage they caused. They say about $200; prosecutors say more than $1,000.

And they say what they did wasn't a crime.

It isn't the first time they've gone on trial for the incident. Last year, a Tompkins County jury could not agree on whether the four were guilty of felony mischief charges and the trial ended in a mistrial.

The four protesters represented themselves in Tompkins County and will do so again this week, with legal advisers standing by. Had they been convicted last year, their state prison time could have been as long as four years.

Tompkins County District Attorney George Dentes said that jury was motivated by political ideology and not by the evidence, which determines whether or not a crime has been committed. He turned the case over to the federal prosecutors instead of retrying it in Tompkins County.

But the St. Patrick's Four's defense - that they acted under a higher law to prevent their country from committing further crimes — has been banned this time by Thomas J. McAvoy, the federal judge who will oversee the new trial, court documents show.

McAvoy, a 19-year veteran of the federal bench, refused to dismiss the indictments on the grounds offered by the four protesters that the war in Iraq is illegal, calling their argument without merit. “This Court offers no opinion on the war in Iraq as it is entirely irrelevant to this matter,” McAvoy wrote in a May decision. Even assuming the war is illegal, McAvoy wrote, “it does not provide a justification for violating the laws of the United States.”

Miroslav Lovric, the assistant U.S. attorney who will prosecute the case, declined comment. He earlier argued in court papers that the Iraq war defense was irrelevant to the case.

“The status of the war in Iraq is absolutely irrelevant as to the question of whether defendants are guilty or not guilty of the commission of the criminal offenses charged,” Lovric wrote in court documents. The prosecutor cited a U.S. Supreme Court opinion: “(Defendants') professed unselfish motivation, rather than a justification, actually identified a form of arrogance which organized society cannot tolerate.”

Court documents indicate that Lovric expects to call the military personnel who witnessed the blood-throwing incident, as well as use transcripts from the Tompkins County Court trial, statements made by the protesters and their criminal histories.

The four protesters will be facing a different jury pool for the federal trial. Jurors will be picked from a wider region, including Broome, Chenango and Tioga counties, documents indicate.

McAvoy will let the protesters' legal advisers question potential jurors or conduct questioning himself, he wrote in court documents. The judge also has approved some jury questions proposed by the protesters, although he vetoed more than half of the survey, including queries about religious backgrounds and feelings about protests, court records indicate.

Originally published September 19, 2005

2005-09-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Real criminals make war

More Letters to the Editor, Ithaca Journal

I read about the four activists who are being tried on federal conspiracy charges because they apparently spilled some of their own blood in a protest at an Ithaca recruiting station.

What about those who conspired to invade Iraq, spilling the blood of tens of thousands of American and Iraq people in an illegal and immoral action that has resulted in the death of nearly 2,000 American military personnel and as many as 100,000 Iraqis?

What about the officials at the highest levels who authorized war crimes such as the use of torture of prisoners? What about those who stocked the U.S. arsenal with cluster bombs and weapons made with “depleted” uranium and ordered their use? (These are also war crimes, because these weapons kill indiscriminately, persist after the conflict is over, and kill and maim far more civilians and children than combatants.)

I suggest the Justice Department prosecute those who conspire to kill and injure hundreds of thousands of people (at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars) and drop the charges against these people who spilled only their own blood (resulting in an expense of a couple of hundred dollars) in an effort to save the lives of others.

Peter Crownfield

Bethlehem, Pa.

Originally published September 19, 2005, Ithaca Journal

2005-09-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Peaceful dissent needed
Letters to the Editor in the Ithaca Journal

Almost everyone in Ithaca and its environs surely knows the story of two men and two women who, on March 17, 2003, quietly approached the Marine recruiting station in Lansing and, in an act of symbolic expression against the war in Iraq, carefully poured their own blood on its walls and on the American flag. They did it quietly, making no threats and harming no one. Nor did they try to escape their deed; they waited to be arrested. For that act, they were charged in Tompkins County with a misdemeanor, and their trial resulted in nine jurors voting for acquittal.

One would think that would have ended it. But no, the district attorney of Tompkins County passed it on to the federal government, which is charging the four with conspiracy, and bringing them to trial in Binghamton on Sept. 19. ... What these four did was to deface property, which could easily have been cleaned up. But property, you see, is highly valued in our country. Burning an American flag is regarded as an act of speech, not the destruction of property. On the other hand, pouring blood on the flag in an act of defiance against war is enough to charge them with conspiracy. But the conspiracy is the government's, not the St. Patrick's Day Four's, as the feds are conspiring to squash dissent, and therefore, it is they who should be charged with conspiracy.

So when is dissent not dissent? When the federal government says so, that's when. ...

Fred Madeo

Ithaca

EDITOR'S NOTE: This letter was trimmed, as noted, to comply with out published 250-word limit.

Originally published September 19, 2005, Ithaca Journal

2005-09-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

2005-09-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Subject: Bill Maher's open message to George Bush:
> Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 11:26:37 -0400
>
> "Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any
> more. There's no more
> money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't
> start another war
> because you used up the army. And now, darn the
> luck, the rest of your term
> has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor
> people. Listen to your
> Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed
> out. No one's speaking to
> you. Mission accomplished.
>
> "Now it's time to do what you've always done best:
> lose interest and walk
> away. Like you did with your military service and
> the oil company and the
> baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try
> the next fantasy job. How
> about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're
> saying: there's so many
> other things that you as President could involve
> yourself in. Please don't.
> I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a
> war with Venezuela.
> Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the
> space program over to the
> church... and Social Security to Fannie Mae...
> Giving embryos the vote.
>
> "But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why?
> Because you govern like
> Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm
> surprised that you
> haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe
> that walks like a man.
> Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he
> never conceded an entire
> city to rising water and snakes.
>
> "On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies,
> the surplus, four
> airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the
> Pentagon and the City of New
> Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying
> you don't love this
> country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could
> be if you were on the
> other side.
>
> "So, yes, God does speak to you. What He is saying
> is: 'Take a hint.' "
>
> --Bill Maher
>

2005-09-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

GALLOWAY: DEADLY ANTI-ABORTION THREATS FROM REPUBLICAN'S FAVORITE "LEFTIST"Saturday, September 17, 2005 by Greg Palast

Note: Palast and Cindy Sheehan will be speaking at the Operation Ceasefire concert sponsored by DC Anti-War Network and United for Peace and Justice -- all day and night at the Washington Monument.

by Greg Palast

During his debate with Salman Rushdie at the recent Edinburgh TV Festival, someone asked George Galloway if television should broadcast an adaptation of Rushdie's novel, "Satanic Verses." According to Rushdie, Galloway replied, "If you don't respect religion, you have to suffer the consequences."

Holy Jesus! This was, unmistakably, an endorsement of the death-sentence fatwa issued against Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini.

Add this endorsement of killing for God to Galloway's notorious opposition in Parliament to a woman's right to choose abortion, and you get yourself a British Pat Robertson. What next? Will he be "saluting the courage, strength and indefatigability" of abortion clinic bombers, as he saluted Saddam?

The Honorable Member of Britain's House of Commons has become the new love-child of American progressives for his in-your-face accusations about our own government's mendacity in sending our troops to war in Iraq. I myself quoted Galloway with admiration.

But the man who saluted the "courage" of Saddam Hussein in 1994, who today can't and won't account for nearly a million dollars in income and expenditures for a charity he founded to buy medicine for Iraqi children is not, friends, the best choice as our anti-war spokesman.

Where did this guy come from? Who invited him here? The answer: US Senate REPUBLICANS. As Cindy Sheehan was gathering public sympathy as the Gold Star mom against the killing in Iraq, the Republican party decided to import an easier target to pummel. So they brought over the "I-salute-your-courage, Saddam" religious fundamentalist crack-pot who can't tell us where the money went.

That's why the Republicans chose him for us. This gross cartoon from abroad whose "charity" is stuffed with loot from an Oil-for-Food profiteer is the image they prefer on TV to Cindy Sheehan whom they dare not confront.

Yes, Galloway was the punching bag that punched back, and for that we are appreciative. Now GO HOME, George.

We need to repudiate this guy -- before the warmongers do, with glee.

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let Karl Rove or some sick GOP Senator pick my heroes for me.

Some well-meaning progressives have said that my exposing Galloway plays into the hands of the "other side." Friends, this isn't a World Cup match, with sides; it's a World War, with too many dead bodies piling up.

Galloway says, "I have religious beliefs and try to live by them. I have all my life been against abortion and against euthanasia."

Well, Mr. Galloway, you may live by your beliefs -- anti-choice, fatwas, Saddam's "courage" -- but too many are DYING by your beliefs.

I admit, I was suckered by Galloway. I was the first journalist in the UK to rush to his defense on television when he was accused of wrong-doing. I wanted to believe in him, but the hard facts condemn him -- and us, if we don't act true to our moral imperative.

Mr. Galloway told the Independent newspaper, "I'm not as Left-wing as you think."

Indeed, he isn't.

Next Saturday, September 24, Cindy Sheehan and I will be speaking at the Operation Ceasefire gathering in Washington DC, sponsored by the DC Anti-War Network and United for Peace and Justice. Please join us.

Hopefully, our voices won't be drowned out by George Galloway's antics.

**********
Greg Palast's commentaries can be heard on the CD "Weapon of Mass Instruction" (Alternative Tentacles 2004) produced by Matt Pascarella and Jello Biafra. Jello will host Palast, The Coup, LeTigre, Bouncing Souls and others at the Operation Ceasefire event at the Washington Monument. Research on Galloway was directed by investigator Leni von Eckardt.

2005-09-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

2005-09-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

CRAWFORD BUS TOUR
STOPS IN SYRACUSE

Tuesday, September 13, 5-6 pm
Syracuse Federal Building

Cindy Sheehan is expected to be with the tour.
The Peace encampment in Crawford, TX ended on Aug 31 .... and the road
trip to DC began! Three buses are now traveling different routes
across the country, planning to converge in Washington DC on 9/21,
for the 9/24-9/26 weekend of peace actions in DC.

Nat'l Demo to Stop the War
Saturday, September 24
Washington, DC and Syracuse

Buses from Syracuse for the Saturday Rally or carpooling for the rally and Nonviolent direct action on Mon., Sept. 26.

Local Demo on September 24 at noon at Republican Party Office, 375 W. Onondaga St.

2005-09-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

"Can't Do Government"
Received by a coalition member by email, from New York Times:
Op-Ed Columnist
A Can't-Do Government
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 2, 2005
Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.

Skip to next paragraph

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

More Columns by Paul Krugman

Forum: Paul Krugman's Columns
So why were New Orleans and the nation so unprepared? After 9/11, hard questions were deferred in the name of national unity, then buried under a thick coat of whitewash. This time, we need accountability.

First question: Why have aid and security taken so long to arrive? Katrina hit five days ago - and it was already clear by last Friday that Katrina could do immense damage along the Gulf Coast. Yet the response you'd expect from an advanced country never happened. Thousands of Americans are dead or dying, not because they refused to evacuate, but because they were too poor or too sick to get out without help - and help wasn't provided. Many have yet to receive any help at all.

There will and should be many questions about the response of state and local governments; in particular, couldn't they have done more to help the poor and sick escape? But the evidence points, above all, to a stunning lack of both preparation and urgency in the federal government's response.

Even military resources in the right place weren't ordered into action. "On Wednesday," said an editorial in The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!"

Maybe administration officials believed that the local National Guard could keep order and deliver relief. But many members of the National Guard and much of its equipment - including high-water vehicles - are in Iraq. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," a Louisiana Guard officer told reporters several weeks ago.

Second question: Why wasn't more preventive action taken? After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees. "The corps," an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, "never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain."

In 2002 the corps' chief resigned, reportedly under threat of being fired, after he criticized the administration's proposed cuts in the corps' budget, including flood-control spending.

Third question: Did the Bush administration destroy FEMA's effectiveness? The administration has, by all accounts, treated the emergency management agency like an unwanted stepchild, leading to a mass exodus of experienced professionals.

Last year James Lee Witt, who won bipartisan praise for his leadership of the agency during the Clinton years, said at a Congressional hearing: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded. I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared."

I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.

E-mail: krugman@nytimes.com

2005-09-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Profile of a Coalition Member

I grew up in a household where politics and politicians were not trusted. It could have been the cultural background of my first generation parents, whose own parents migrated to the U.S. from Eastern Europe.

But I learned to root for the underdog, to question what was said to me, especially by the government, to never cross a picket line, or work as a 'scab.' My grandfathers, uncles and even my father, were coal miners in Pennsylvania. Several of them got black lung from the terrible conditions in the mines. The mines beneath Scranton and surrounding areas are considered unsafe by many people. Their roofs are being held up with big wooden posts. One time, a post gave way and an entire wall of my grandparent's house caved in! Another time, the mine's train that brought the coal from the mines to...wherever...hit my grandmother's cow and killed it. So much for fresh milk for her nine children.

So I guess I'm not a "senator's daughter," born with a silver spoon in my mouth, as the song goes.

My father didn't fight in World War II because of a deferment, but most of my uncles did. My Uncle Eddie just passed away a few weeks ago at 83 years of age. He was a gunner on a plane in WWII, a handsome guy in his uniform. My folks kept a big scrap book, following the campaigns and fighting throughout Europe and the Pacific. They were mostly interested in Poland and Eastern Europe, where my grandparents had come from and where we still had relatives living. They hated the Nazis, but they also hated the Russians. Poland was squeezed between several opposing forces, all of them wanting the most for themselves.

Somehow, listening to my parents and observing their attitudes about the world, I developed an immature, but political mind. In 1966, I graduated from high school and began to notice at the community college, guys with long hair who weren't interested in "Frosh Squashers." They made me stop and listen to what was going on in the world. In the summer of 1968, I was in New York City when the Democratic Convention went down in Chicago. I remember watching the headlines going around the building in Times Squar and I raced home, staying up all night to watch the TV and find out more of what was going on. I couldn't believe what I saw and heard! In 1969, I took my first bus ride to Washington, D.C. to demonstrate against the war in Vietnam. And again in 1970. I went with a small group of students and faculty to Washington for an interview with our congressional representatives, to tell them what we thought about the war. I was unimpressed with their forked tongued responses and went home angry. I wrote letters to the editor of our town newspaper asking why it was OK for the local store to sell oven mitts and bar-b-q aprons that looked like American flags, but when I had an American flag pinned to the roof of my car, the cops said it was illegal. I was involved with the student strike on my college campus and spent days and nights writing newspaper articles for an ad-hoc paper that we typed up after hours in the English department and ran off on a mimeograph machine, collated the copies and in the morning, distributed around campus.

My world view didn't end with the Vietnam War. I have lived a "semi" alternative lifestyle most of my adult life. I do not get the bulk of my news from national TV, or from local newspapers, but from a variety of sources. When I lived in England for several months and traveled extensively through Europe in the late 1980's, I learned how Americans were viewed by much of the rest of the world. As we traveled with our three children, we were warned to stay away from American places like McDonald's because of possible violence against us, even then. We were glad we had chosen to drive a van with British plates on it. Many people thought we were Brits and that made us a little safer (not any more, though!)

I don't know whether it was my upbringing, or coming of age during the 1960's, or just a culmination of it all that has colored my outlook on life. But I do know that I do not think like some of my neighbors, friends and relatives. I don't know how to think as they do about many things. And yet we have many things in common: faith, love of children and family, love of life, to name just a few.

It was very lonely three years ago when I spoke out against the impending invasion of Iraq in my newspaper column. When I challenged people who wanted to do something patriotic to take the flags off their SUV's and trade them in for cheaper, less toxic transportation. It was great to hear about the people who called for a vigil to support Cindy Sheehan a few weeks ago. It makes me feel almost like I'm a "mainstream American," something I have rarely felt in my life. Something I did not know how to be. Something I wasn't sure I wanted to be.

Geri
Edge City, NY

2005-09-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

Profile of a Coalition Member

I am a retired Department of Labor Employment Representative. From the early eighties until the late nineties I was assigned to Tompkins County Social Services (Ithaca, New York) where I worked with county employees in the Employment Unit. Our mutual task was to find employment for employable recipients of Aid to Families of Dependent Children (Federal program) or Home Relief (State program). There I learned a great deal about bureaucracies and human nature. Where these two merged, I think, was in the man who sat down at my desk and said he really wanted to work, but he had a very ill child, and no job he could get would provide the care his child was getting under Medicaid. Maybe he saw something in me that told him I would have come to the same conclusion were I in his shoes.

Before going to the DOL I taught tenth grade English at Trumansburg High School for three years. Had I spent my entire working career teaching I would probably be dead or sick now. A teacher of English who really challenges the students is working harder than anyone should.

My early years were spent in Philadelphia where I grew up during the Eisenhower years in a neighborhood very much like Sherrill, New York where I now reside. It was a peaceful time and not until later did I think about people of color (of whom there were none in my community) having to drink at separate fountains or sit in the back of the bus; or about my math teacher who just disappeared one day after being called to testify at the House Unamerican Activities Committee. Happy Days!

I married after a year of college at Temple University and followed my Air Force husband to Germany. There I had a daughter. When we returned we had two sons. I completed my degree when my youngest boy entered kindergarten and started working when I was thirty-five.

I soon discovered I should have been a history major rather than an English Education student. I have been trying to see if, like Camus, I can love justice and my country without contradiction. I'm still on that journey.

Sandy

Sherrill, New York

2005-09-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

Demonstration Against the Iraq War
September 24 in Washington DC
The following came to a member via email:

Friends,

There will be an extremely important Demonstration against the Iraq War on September 24th in Washington, DC. I am writing you now to ask you to join me there.

There is no question that the tide of public opinion is turning and it's essential that we continue to build that momentum. It is horrific beyond description that this administration casually kills & mutilates our children. That they dress this slaughter in the dual uniforms of "duty" & "glory" is unforgivable. And then there are the deaths that no one talks about - well over a hundred thousand Iraqis now dead - most of them civilians & more than half of them women & children. All of this perpetrated by an administration that calls it "liberation," an administration that had no right or reason to make war. But make war they did, against every civilized voice in the world.

The only thing that stopped the Vietnam War was demonstrations in the street - the citizens of the nation & the world clearly saying, "No, we will not accept this. We will not participate." And I believe it's the only thing that will make a difference now.

I have to say that I don't like going to demonstrations. I'm not fond of being in the middle of big crowds, and while I'm always interested in the words of the thoughtful & the compassionate, I often find speakers at these events to be just like TV talking heads - too many (not all) just bark rhetoric. But I'm not going to be entertained - I'm going to stand for Truth amidst an administration of ignorance & lies. And I'm going because if I don't, the killers will go right on thinking that killing is okay, even "normal" or "glorious". And I can't accept that. I didn't raise my children with so much conscious love & tenderness, just to turn them over to madmen, to be made to kill or be killed.

I'm concerned too, that while there are many young people who will be at the demonstration, there are many still who won't - either out of a sense of despair, or because they've been taught by a (corporate - manipulated) "pop culture" that it's not "cool" to stand & be counted. Invite them anyway. And whether they go or not, as adults we need to model what true freedom & independence means.

So even if demonstrations aren't your "thing" - Please come & stand with us anyway. It may well be one of the most important moments of your life.

At a time when President Bush's popularity rating is now lower than Nixon's during the height of the Watergate Scandal, you should know that the Defense Dept. is sponsoring what will clearly be the most blatant display of propaganda yet to date. In a "pre-emptive" response to our anti-war demonstration, they are holding a pro-war rally which they will call "Walk for Freedom" to take place on September 11th (!!!). Bush will take full advantage of that situation to again maliciously lie & insist that Iraq brought down the World Trade Towers. The "Religious Right" will be there in force with their children, and it's a fairly safe bet that the event will be heavily covered by the corporate -owned media. That event will be lavishly financed & choreographed indirectly by arms dealers / manufacturers & other mega-corporations facilitated through the Defe! nse Dept.

By contrast, The September 24th Demonstration to Stop the War is financed with very little money, but more so with the hopes & prayers of common people who are willing to stand up, against any odds, for the Truth. It is not likely that the September 24th demonstration will get much media coverage unless we show up in staggeringly undeniable numbers.

Either way, I'm not going to DC to get media coverage or to compete "with them". I believe that the vast majority of the US is opposed to this war, there's no question that the world is opposed to it. And while I'm going to stand with that Opposition, the Opposition to war in itself is not even my reason for attending. I'm going to DC on the 24th because, as Gandhi said, "Even if you're a minority of one, the Truth is still the Truth."

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW & LOVE.
PLEASE ASK THEM TO COME TO WASHINGTON. THE DEMONSTRATION IS ON THE MALL AT NOON.
For more information, go to www.unitedforpeace.org

May All Beings Awake, May All Suffering Cease,

John Terlazzo

jterlazzo@juno.com

www.johnterlazzo.com

2005-09-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

Vigil in Oneida set for September 23.

The Madison-Oneida-For-Peace coalition is planning to meet each month for a vigil to keep the war in Iraq and the desire for peace before the community. Anyone is welcome to attend the vigils which will begin at dusk and last between 10 and 30 minutes. The next vigil will be held at the fountain in Allen Park at dusk on September 23. Bring a candle and holder.

2005-09-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

George Bush promised to unite Americans but it took a heartbroken, brave woman from California to actually do it.

On a beautiful evening in the summer of 2005, thousands of citizens around the United States planned to come together in their respective communities for a peace vigil to support Cindy Sheehan's vigil in Crawford, Texas. She was camped near the vacationing George W Bush's ranch in hopes of asking him for what noble cause her son, Casey, had died on April 4, 2004 .

In Oneida, New York, a place where many Bush supporters live, a physician who just wanted to attend one of those vigils searched the internet for a vigil near her home. When she couldn't find one she posted herself on the internet as a hostess. Seventeen neighbors from different walks of life found that posting and met at her home.

After the lighting of candles and some brief comments the participants spoke to reporters about why they were there; when the reporters left the group lingered and talked. A common thread seemed to unite them: A desire for an America with different priorities than the ones George W Bush had set five years earlier. Thus was born Madison-Oneida-for-Peace.

It could be said that MOP wants to find solutions to the world's problems that do not involve militarism; solutions that fulfill our nation's role as world leader now that the Cold War is over that are true to the noblest part of our heritage. To get there is going to take a lot of mopping up of what the Bush Administration has set in motion in the world since 2000, so our name, based on our geography, seems to be appropriate our mission.

2005-09-01T07:07:00.000-07:00

Introducing the Madison-Oneida-For-Peace (MOFP)coalition, who met in August at the home of Marcia Newsom for a vigil to support Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a slain U.S. soldier while serving in Iraq. Sheehan has been camped outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas and her camp has sparked a renewed anti-war effort, as well as the unfortunate polarizing that unpopular wars do. The MOFP plans to continue vigils in various places in and around Oneida.