tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19030170345907331672024-02-07T11:00:52.211-08:00Veterans for Peace ActionsVeterans for Peace, Veterans for Peace Actions, Activist Vets, VVAW, IVAW, General Smedley D. Butler Brigade, Cape Cod Veterans for Peace, Codepink,jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-90070266807543638582011-03-09T20:33:00.000-08:002011-03-10T05:43:35.566-08:00<h1 style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Virginia may create 'veterans courts'</span></h1><div class="dateLine" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 10px;"><div class="date" style="float: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">By Jeannette Porter</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">RICHMOND - The House of Delegates has unanimously passed a bill that could provide treatment instead of jail for veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and run into trouble with the law.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">House Bill 1691, introduced by Del. Christopher P. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, allows localities to establish "policies and procedures for service members who are nonviolent offenders." The initiative is popularly known as "veterans court," although no separate court is established. Such programs exist in 18 states.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"It would afford veterans charged in nonviolent crimes the opportunity to be addressed in a separate docket that has access to treatment programs that are specifically designed for veterans that may have post-service disabilities," Stolle, a medical doctor, said in an e-mail.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">His bill enables localities to coordinate judicial and treatment services to seek prompt identification and placement of eligible participants; intensive offender supervision, counseling and treatment; and prompt response to non-compliance with program requirements.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The measure would direct the Virginia Department of Veterans Services to cooperate with localities in this effort.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The bill would not fund such efforts; localities would be responsible for that.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury are considered the "signature injuries" of the Iraq and Afghan wars, according to a recent Virginia Tech report on the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program, a network of community-based services for veterans suffering from stress and brain injuries.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Unlike the visible injuries of earlier conflicts, these afflictions attack a veteran from the inside.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"They can manifest in a lot of ways," said Jack Hilgers, director of development for the Virginia Department of Veterans Services. "Traumatic brain injury often manifests through drug and alcohol abuse. The veteran attempts to self-medicate."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Even visible wounds from Iraq and Afghanistan may be more severe than those of previous combats, because improved medical technology and faster battlefield reactions mean that more wounds are survivable now than ever before.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Del. Harvey B. Morgan, R-Gloucester, a pharmacist and a co-patron of HB 1691, said veterans are surviving with more severe penetrating injuries and corresponding challenges in pain management.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Veterans in pain, reliving their trauma, may fall back on the reactions that kept them alive in a combat situation, said John Clickener of Tappahannock, a retired Marine infantry officer and the state legislative coordinator for the Virginia Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"Those skills don't work in a civilian situation," Clickener said. "We have men and women who have served three, four, even five tours of duty. There are no 'lines' in this war - nowhere is safe. And the dwell time (time between tours of duty) has been reduced. The normal social filters are not working for many of these folks."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">An estimated 820,000 veterans live in Virginia. About 260,000 of them have served since 2001, meaning they most likely served in Iraq or Afghanistan.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Estimates of the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury range from 20 percent to 40 percent of the returning population, Hilgers said.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The bill will afford responders from law enforcement officers to magistrates and commonwealth's attorneys the opportunity to be aware of the exceptional circumstances" affecting some veterans, Clickener said. HB 1691 would cover all veterans, not just those from Afghanistan and Iraq.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Senate is considering similar legislation.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Senate Bill 1063, introduced by Sen. John C. Miller, R-Newport News, is a little broader than Stolle's bill; it would include "other individuals who are offenders or defendants in the criminal justice system and who need access to proper treatment for mental illness."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"Under the Virginia Constitution, you can't have a special class of citizens," Miller explained in a phone interview.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The Hampton Roads area has more veterans than any other part of the commonwealth. Judges in my district came to me last year with this idea, and we brought together stakeholders like community service boards and the VA, trying to find a way to get these people the help they deserve."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That help must provide an alternative to jail, Hilgers said.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"We've got enough people in jail," he said. "These veterans want to do something about their condition. They don't want to be a burden."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Many states and localities have modeled their veterans courts after the program in Buffalo, N.Y.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The Veterans Court in Buffalo has a zero percent recidivism rate," Hilgers said. "You offer veterans a chance to do something to not be a burden; you put a potentially productive person back into the community."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Stolle said that by creating veterans courts, Virginia would be demonstrating its support for military personnel in a significant way.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"We often talk about supporting our troops," Stolle said. "To me, supporting our troops means more than waving the flag when they come home. Supporting our troops means providing the help they need when they most need it. I think this bill is a small step in helping those veterans most in need.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The website for the Buffalo Veterans Treatment Court is www.erie.gov/veterans/veterans_court.asp</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The 18 states with veterans courts are:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Alaska Arizona</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Arkansas California</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Colorado Florida</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Georgia Illinois</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Michigan Minnesota</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Missouri Nevada</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">N.Hampshire New York</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Oklahoma Pennsylvania</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Texas Washington</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />
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Read more: <a href="http://progress-index.com/news/military/virginia-may-create-veterans-courts-1.1101619#ixzz1GASudP7d" style="color: #003399; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://progress-index.com/news/military/virginia-may-create-veterans-courts-1.1101619#ixzz1GASudP7d</a></span>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-67559636356840700342011-03-09T20:23:00.000-08:002011-03-10T04:55:22.423-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-CH15B84IvxSb533_EefcAXUuCpYdKtEL1bRrZFpGwg9r0AXUb37bj1OPzuqe_OM18APPGenFm_vLsdCzdjS6W0hdmuGWOAZSzDwwlJmwVrzpvn01u4awPpIp1exLzGGfhF1AIZsGwpb/s1600/veteranscourtseal.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-CH15B84IvxSb533_EefcAXUuCpYdKtEL1bRrZFpGwg9r0AXUb37bj1OPzuqe_OM18APPGenFm_vLsdCzdjS6W0hdmuGWOAZSzDwwlJmwVrzpvn01u4awPpIp1exLzGGfhF1AIZsGwpb/s320/veteranscourtseal.png" width="317" /></a></div><br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Philadelphia Veterans Court represents the latest problem solving court initiative, in Municipal Court, addressing a holistic Treatment Court approach to dealing with justice involved Veterans. The Judicial leadership in Municipal Court recognizes the tremendous service members of our Armed Forces provide to our Country. This initiative started with the premise of providing Veterans involved in the criminal justice system with a program and services to overcome the challenges they face.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Veterans are directed to representatives of the Veterans Administration, who are on site in one of our courtrooms. The VA staff schedules eligible Veterans for an assessment to determine appropriate needs and levels of care, and directs them to benefits to which they may be entitled. The assessment determines the Veterans suitability for an array of VA programs, including any required treatment (alcohol, drug, mental health or medical) as well as housing, job training and job referrals. After consultation with a defense attorney, if an eligible Veteran chooses to accept the terms of the offer from the Philadelphia District Attorney to participate in this voluntary program, we pair the VETERAN with a <a class="topmenu" href="http://www.courts.phila.gov/veteranscourt/mentorprogram.asp" style="color: #0069a5; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><strong>Mentor</strong></a>. The <a class="topmenu" href="http://www.courts.phila.gov/veteranscourt/mentorprogram.asp" style="color: #0069a5; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><strong>Mentor</strong></a> will assist the Veteran in working toward a successful resolution of the criminal charges, including a change in life choices, so that future contacts with the criminal justice system can be avoided.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">To learn more about becoming a mentor, vist our <a class="topmenu" href="http://www.courts.phila.gov/veteranscourt/mentorprogram.asp" style="color: #0069a5; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><strong>Veterans Court Mentor page.</strong></a></span></div><ul class="pdf-list" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px;"><a href="http://www.courts.phila.gov/pdf/notices/2011/Veterans-Court-Mentor-cal-2011.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.courts.phila.gov/images/pdf.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #000040; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 1px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mentor Training schedule for 2011</span></a></li>
</ul><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This collaborative initiative between the Court, the District Attorney, the Public Defender, the Veterans Administration and numerous Veterans agencies, although a bit more challenging than normal criminal case processing, will witness a tremendous benefit to Veterans, as they overcome the burden carried from service to our country, now exacerbated by involvement with the criminal justice system.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We are extremely fortunate to have Philadelphia Municipal Court Judges presiding, who are Veterans, and fully aware of the burdens and the sacrifices these Veterans made.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><strong>Janet Ditomasso Director, Veterans Court Coordinator</strong><br />
<a class="topmenu" href="http://www.courts.phila.gov/locations.asp" style="color: #0069a5; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><strong>408 Criminal Justice Center</strong></a><br />
1301 Filbert Street<br />
Philadelphia, PA 19107<br />
(215) 683-7275</span></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-64062358446675671472011-03-09T11:07:00.000-08:002011-03-09T12:26:49.358-08:00VETERANS COURT - A Proposal for Legislation to Establish Veterans Court<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQwGylPiiyACDxGC2p89G2SzXHiCc4cNGBJuSVfaAb7-KamY_8pb1wqrictpF2MJFw8Ky3X7sqRP2NiYwNo6oD6njBX3xSvV06Ob7-G7DM87dw2z6uPiNHRmVlgJGjIRbDr5dpP-aEkw6/s1600/Justice+for+Vets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQwGylPiiyACDxGC2p89G2SzXHiCc4cNGBJuSVfaAb7-KamY_8pb1wqrictpF2MJFw8Ky3X7sqRP2NiYwNo6oD6njBX3xSvV06Ob7-G7DM87dw2z6uPiNHRmVlgJGjIRbDr5dpP-aEkw6/s400/Justice+for+Vets.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif;"><b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif;"><b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What are Veterans Treatment Courts?</span></b></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Veterans Treatment Courts are hybrid Drug and Mental Health Courts that use <a href="http://www.nadcp.org/learn/what-are-drug-courts" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the Drug Court model</a> to serve veterans struggling with addiction, serious mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders. They promote sobriety, recovery and stability through a coordinated response that involves cooperation and collaboration with the traditional partners found in Drug and Mental Health Courts, with the addition of the<a href="http://www.nadcp.org/node/438" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care networks</a>, the Veterans' Benefits Administration, <a href="http://www.nadcp.org/node/439" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">volunteer veteran mentors</a> and veterans and veterans' family support organizations.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">NADCP is working with national experts and our federal partners to help the Drug Court community</span></div><ul style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">gain better understanding of <a href="http://www.nadcp.org/node/442" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the struggle veterans experience</a> upon return to civilian life after combat;</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">learn how to establish partnerships with <a href="http://www.nadcp.org/node/438" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Veterans Affairs Offices</a> and provide effective services such as <a href="http://www.nadcp.org/node/439" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">veterans mentor programs</a>;</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">learn how to address the needs of veterans who do not qualify for VA benefits; and</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">learn about <a href="http://www.nadcp.org/node/436" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pending legislation</a> that would provide funding to Veterans' Treatment Courts.</span></li>
</ul><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.nadcp.org/sites/default/files/nadcp/VTC%20Brief.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img height="36" src="http://www.nadcp.org/sites/default/files/nadcp/pdf_icon.gif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="39" /></span></a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.nadcp.org/sites/default/files/nadcp/VTC%20Brief.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #a5363c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Read more in the new NADCP Veterans Treatment Court Brief</span></a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="font-family: 'lucida Grande', 'lucida Sans-serif', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.nadcp.org/JusticeForVets-news/events">Read up on them here:</a></span></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-4096820981802772472008-02-09T06:24:00.000-08:002008-02-09T06:35:25.459-08:00Presentation of ‘Winter Soldier’ by Fiachra 'O Luain Bangert<strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Presentation of ‘Winter Soldier’<br />by Fiachra Ó Luain<br /></span></strong><a href="mailto:foluain@yahoo.ie" target="_blank">foluain@yahoo.ie</a><br /><br /><br /><em>‘War at Home’ category Berlin Film Festival<br />8th of February 2008<br /></em><br />The name ‘Winter Soldier’ in a homage U.S.A. founding father Thomas Paine’s 1766 phrase:<br />"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."<br /><br />This quote came from the American revolutionary war when in Valley Ridge, Pennsylvania, the American Continental army wintered from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1777" target="_blank">1777</a><a name="0.1_01000001"></a><a name="0.1_01000002"></a> through to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1778" target="_blank">1778</a>. This was a time of great suffering for George Washington’s army, but it was also a time of retraining and rejuvenation. The fighters at Valley Forge were suffering terribly from hunger, frostbite, and missing their families. Many deserted. In a mood of desperation and despair, George Washington called in the best of the revolution's writers -Tom Paine- to raise people's sprits in the middle of the winter, which is when he coined the term "Winter Soldier" to describe the few men who remained in the trenches of the revolution through the toughest of times.<br /><br />Based on the Nuremburg Principles the <strong>‘Winter Soldier Investigation’</strong> took place in Detroit, Michigan from the 31st of January until the 2nd of February 1971. This film was made out of reels and reels of footage filmed in a Howard Johnson hotel over the three days with over 125 veterans from all over the country. It was an act of collective confession. Noam Chomsky also attended a number of these war crimes trials by these veterans, who he said were “really impressive people doing wonderful work”.<br /><br />It is the testimony of U.S. servicemen returned from Vietnam who spoke of war-crimes that they had witnessed and indeed committed. This was only one month after the My Lai massacre became public. My Lai was a U.S. military action in which the whole population of a village was systematically asassinated. This was also immediately after the military draft had ended, and with it the large scale student opposition to the war which up to that point had been growing steadily, though of course the broad societal rejection of the war was still smouldering. This made the soldiers at home and abroad feel more vulnerable of being scape-goated for the crimes of the Whitehouse and the Pentagon.<br /><br />Lt.. Rusty Calley was the highest ranking officer to be charged with responsibility for the My Lai atrocity. A lieutenant is the lowest rank of officer in the United States Army. The Pentagon’s statement on the matter was that My Lai was “an isolated instance of abherrent behaviour.” The soldiers felt that Lt. Calley was being used as a scape-goat to detract attention from the larger picture of the genocidal warfare being played out from Washington. These are the consciences, the voices, the prayers and the tears of soldiers who were asked to go beyond their call-of-duty. Men and women who personally paid the price of becoming a player in a racist test-ground for the Military industry-complex as the Vietnam war was.<br /><br /><strong>‘Winter Soldier The Film’</strong> was edited in New York following the investigation in Detroit. My father was one of the Winter Soldier Collective who made this film. ‘Winterfilm’ had their headquarters in a loft at 405 E. 13th Street near Avenue A in Manhattan. The film was edited in the summer of 1971 at the Peter Styvesant Familial Estate in Allamuchy, New Jersey. My father <strong>( Joe Bangert ),</strong> tells me that it made him think when he saw a tiger's head labelled 'Indochine- 1890' mounted over the fireplace in the main dining room of the mansion where the editing was done. Another aspect of 'Winter Soldier' that has never been written about was that as they were editing the film at 'Tranquillity Camp' in Allamuchy two of the female editors had miscarriages. Such were the psychological effects of editing this film going over hundreds of hours of testimony and inevitably learning each frame by rote, each phrase and utterance.<br /><br />I know from my own family’s experience that these people who were courageous enough to make such a film still suffer for their sacrifice of bringing the reality of the war home, fighting for a future worth living for.<br /><br />On one particular evening 'Winter Soldier' was screened in the uptown apartment of then Senator Jacob Javits. David Frost showed up with Diane Carole and Zufikar Ali Bhutto, the father of the late Benazir who was also present. After the screening Mr. Bhutto said: “What is amazing about this country, is that it is possible to see such a wonderfully honest film while this war actually still goes on.”<br /><br />This film first came to Europe via ‘L'Assemblie Mondiale pour la Pas y la Independence de la Peuples Indochinoise’ being shown in the Palace of Versailles. This was during the hiatus in negotiations between the Vietnamese and the Americans at all levels, including the Whitehouse. It was a time when the cynicism of a war-mongering Nixon administration became untied and started losing its grip on the control of their citizens’ minds. Delegates from more than 80 countries attended. <strong>Jean Paul Sartre</strong> was present along with soldiers from both sides of the war. My own father <strong>Joe Bangert</strong>, went with<strong> George Katsiaficas and John Kerry</strong>, along with others from the the <strong>Vietnam Veteran’s Against the War</strong>.<br /><br />In the metro on his way to Versailles a copy of the film was snatched from my father’s bag by a CIA agent who later dissappeared into the crowd: though he was found out later to be the Philip Agee who at the time worked for the CIA posing as a leftist in the Liberation New Service though he consequently opposed the agency with his book ‘Inside the Company’. Luckily there was a second print of the film also taken to Paris. The screening went, drawing tears from international eyes and engaging hearts at a continental level in the negotiation that followed.<br /><br />The Vietnam Veterans Against the War was the main organizational force behind this film, but we have to remember that here as well as in any and every movement it is about the people, individuals from every walk of life, each with their own personal reasons who take the time to think, travel, write, argue, discuss the reality of an unjust war in attempt and determination to end it. This film is about the right of each person to have their voice heard, particularily if they have been asked to kill or be killed for any reason. The Anti-Vietnam War Movement was a massive movement in every country in the world, none more so than in Germany. This is clearly evident from the exhibition here in the Amerika Haus.<br /><br />The Vietnam War was parralelled in so many other countries with similar struggles. It became the metaphor for a much larger struggle for freedom of expression and the right to hope and transform the world for the better like the Anti-Nuclear movement did in Germany long into the eighties, inspiring the citizens of my own country to also successfully do so in Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford in an unprecedented movement of all strata of Irish society that lasted three years before ultimate final victory.<br />‘Winter Soldier’ is a film that is relevant to the U.S.A., Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom and France, it is relevant to Darfur, Chad and to Afghanistan and Australia.<br /><br />It is a rescue of the soldier. A rescue of morality. A rescue of our human selves.<br />Our voices, before any other, are the parts of us that allow us become more than a lone soul in the ether-drift. Our ears are needed to recognise this process as the sound of the bedrock being hit by those who dig deep to build futures for humanity, to fortify our relevance and keep in tune with the world that owns us.<br /><br />One of the participants in Winter Soldier was a young John Kerry, the man who gave testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee marking a move in the establishment consensus towards ending it. Thirty three years later that man ran for President against George W. Bush but failed to win. In 2004 just as in 1971 a whole industry developed to try to discredit the testimony shown here today, gloating in a few items they found - which in the words of Chomsky “could well have been planted by infiltrators”. John Kerry lost in 2004 perhaps because he failed to speak out and convince in the way he did in Washington D.C. in April 23rd 1971.<br /><br />That is great problem of our times: For all of our technology we cannot always communicate. There remains a lot to be said. There are many simple truths to be told. If they were told, listened to and acted upon we could all easily overcome the foregone gloomy conclusion that if a large-scale war breaks out we could not do anything about it other than fall in line behind our respective governments’ positions.<br /><br />This is “the great urgency of now” that Barack Obama cites from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and we can all help each other make the difference that is needed if we listen and act as humans, we always have and we always will, the question is when, sooner or too late?<br />On the 30th of April 1975 the Vietnam War finally ended, after a decade long campaign that started off as being very unpopular. For example in October 1965 a demonstration in which Noam Chomsky was going to speak at in Boston Common was broken up by counterdemonstrators, many of them from universities such as Harvard. Chomsky recalls of the events:<br /><br />“Not a word could be heard. There were hundreds of state police. For once I wasn't sorry to see them. That day the radio was full of bitter denunciations of the demonstrators who dared to say a critical word about the bombing of North Vietnam --awful, but a sideshow; it was the South that was always the main target, but in those days talking about that was like talking Greek to a speaker of Swahili. The next day the Boston Globe, the supposed paper of the liberal intellectuals, chimed in with its own hysterical condemnations.”<br /><br />Carol Chomsky and their daughters also needed police protection when in the very beginnings of the resistance to the war an angry group of people stoned the Women’s meeting they had organised to discuss the war. They just stood in silence while they were attacked with cans of food. People now call the Vietnam War the first defeat of the United States of America but I would rather call it the first victory of its kind for American soldiers and their colleagues who were brave enough to speak their truth and state the obvious in a very graphic way that could not be ignored. By naming and opposing the atrocites that they had witnessed and themselves commited, they ended them.<br /><br />We as Europeans cannot help end this war until we stop blaming Americans as a whole for the war we resisted in 2003 while everyday we become more tangled up in the overall plan for a large scale war ourselves. It is again time to give recognition to the Americans who do make a difference, as was done in 1968 and until the end of the Vietnam war. We must all realise what we can do ourselves and offer the resisters in the United States an arm of support and exchange by helping stop our own countries’ collusion with the focus group of the most cynical corporations who seized power in Florida in 2000. One obvious thing that needs to be done is the establishment of a War Crime Tribunal in The Hague to examine and deal with those responsible for what happened in the run-up to the war in war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each country needs to make its efforts and we cannot let them hide behind Bush when he is gone but perhaps some countries will have more to answer for than others.<br /><br />It saddens me to tell you that the very leadership of Ireland has wilfully broken the country’s constitution time and time again. Along with Frankfurt, Shannon airport is the single biggest gateway for the U.S. military to the Middle East as they send their troops and armaments. This is a very constitution, one that makes us the only European country to have a referendum on such issues as the Nice treaty and also soon on the Lisbon Treaty. We rejected the Nice Treaty in 2001 with no consequence other than being asked to vote again on the exact same treaty again in 2002.<br /><br />Our defense minister Willie O’Dea who allows the U.S. military send over half of the American troops in Iraq through our regional civilian airport in Shannon putting Irish citizens at risk in a war that they do not agree with. Minister O’Dea has shares in and is a political ally of an oil company that operates in Iraq called ‘Petrel’, personally providing them with seed investment in another venture of their’s with ‘West Africa Diamonds’. Africa - where most of our Irish U.N. peacekeeping troops are now stationed - more including friends of mine who will soon be deployed to try stop the bloodshed in Chad.<br /><br />We would always like to think that when our soldiers leave home it is for the best reasons but it is not always like that. That is why it is important for citizens and soldiers alike to speak out. Efforts to point out the Irish government’s collusion in the illegal war against Iraq have been quite successful, even validated in the Supreme Court. Yet somehow although the accusations have been upheld, the same courts have so far failed to punish those guilty of International War Crimes. The fact is that activists in Ireland are still being tried by judges who at least in one instance are personal allies of George Bush, one who was invited to his inauguration. I just speak from an Irish point of view but every land has its own tale about these last eight years and it’s time to spill the beans on the planners, perpetrators and facilitators.<br /><br />Nearly upon us is the 5th anniversary of the February 15th demonstations that gathered millions of people in the largest worldwide protest in human history. At the moment the real struggle against the war is coming from inside the U.S.A. and the U.S. military. Like servicemen and women, veterans of the Iraq invasion who watch the strings being pulled for an attack on Iran. For example last week’s sabotage of the underwater communication cables that connect Middle East, South Asia and Africa to the rest of the world and to eachother. These are operations that can only have been commited by United States Navy submarines according to an article by Richard Sauder.<br /><br />And let us also keep in mind that the Internet is a stated objective for some military experts in Washington D.C. While just before their last budget the outgoing U.S. administration signed a $22 billion dollar deal to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. This and the whole backdoor approach of the Bush-Cheney Administration towards an attack on Iran, sucking in Pakistan and the whole region, including both Israel and Palestine, is another simple truth that needs to shouted and stopped right now. It must be shown up, spelled out and denied. Perhaps the best people to do this are those who know about it personally.<br /><br />In very many cases the same men and women who are asked to perform the very deeds that could condemn us all if their human reaction and voice were absent. Such is the importance of this film.<br />This film is a call on citizens and patriots of all countries to put our flags aside and stamp out this international treachery, as right now, as it was in the early seventies, we are late and it is now an emergency matter.<br /><br />The same is happening again and the same or similar and up-dated response is again needed from those soldiers of honour, Winter Soldiers. The Iraq Veterans Against the War are currently organizing: <strong>“Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan”</strong> This event will take place in Silverspring, Maryland, just outside Washington D.C. over the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. It will be the biggest gathering of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans so far, alongside Iraqi and Afghan survivors. Eyewitnesses will share in this public investigation and a film will be made of what comes out.<br /><br />Please watch this film with your utmost attention and if it rings true to what is also happening right now perhaps you could support the Iraq Veterans Against the War in any way you can. This ia film about soldiers coming home to themselves as they courageously spell out a far-too-long unspoken truth.<br /><br />‘Winter Soldier’ is all about standing up and speaking one’s truth without fear of the consequences in a rearguard defense of society’s morality and is about the answer being the latter when people in their position ask themselves the question:<br />“Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer<br />The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?”<br /><br />Further information is available at: <a href="http://www.ivaw.org/" target="_blank">http://www.ivaw.org/</a><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020408C.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020408C.shtml</a><br />DISTRIBUTION Winter Soldier is distributed by: Milliarium Zero P.O. Box 128 Harrington Park, N.J. 07640 Email: <a href="mailto:winterfilm@aol.com" target="_blank">winterfilm@aol.com</a> 201.767.3117 800.603.1104201.767.3117 800.603.1104jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-58282108581077364132007-11-28T07:00:00.001-08:002007-12-02T07:11:05.851-08:00Why VFP Likes General Smedley D Butler!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcpq53GiIGrBkRqfF7ySrvSsIhvBk6RT_uSRXz0HthFRYLCUxhmqtsjkEOA_qloweOM8pumM_avBUHpRFAGssRCy9E9tKgaH-Lu7GIFA5_MOFNBFVSl-wPABO7UFN3o1qk_GBh7XJ0wmtu/s1600-h/0007b_Hitler_Thyssen-1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137913845193821378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcpq53GiIGrBkRqfF7ySrvSsIhvBk6RT_uSRXz0HthFRYLCUxhmqtsjkEOA_qloweOM8pumM_avBUHpRFAGssRCy9E9tKgaH-Lu7GIFA5_MOFNBFVSl-wPABO7UFN3o1qk_GBh7XJ0wmtu/s400/0007b_Hitler_Thyssen-1.jpg" border="0" /></a> George Herbert Walker and his Son-in Law Prescott Bush worked direct to finance Hitler with the Union Banking Corporation. The reason Auschwitz was located where it was is because it was close to Fritz Thyssen's coal, steel, and railroads. Through the Union Banking Corporation, Prescott Bush, and his father-in-law, George Herbert Walker, along with German industrialist Fritz Thyseen, became Hitler's banker. <a href="http://warisaracket.com/"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">War is A Racket!<br /></span></strong></a><br />This made it possible for I.G. Farben to synthesize fuel from coal gasification, to make aviation fuel, gas for their tanks and war machines, and for synthesizing rubber for making tires. They also made Zyklon B gas, which the Germans used to annihilate two million Jews according to the trial testimony of the Auschwitz camp commander.<br /><br />Fritz Thyssen published a book titled I Paid Hitler in 1941. It described how Hitler used the money he received from Fritz Thyssen through Prescott Bush, sponsored the Storm Troopers of Ernst Roehm as early as 1933, allowing them to build up to 4,500,000 strong to take over Germany.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfuFfzdgaoGExzPFAUR1bdveaBxwpjIQCIC3nDbZmsAhdPeHsLbFV8pl-5qhEVIRTJOeIlxHJNWPTRy7CjzQEC2mLF6QOHy9IxAAIG1ZXZqQ7VEDhQh6jEkvwpCrsYVJFB0eGK-bFlC1U/s1600-h/butler.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137909009060646034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfuFfzdgaoGExzPFAUR1bdveaBxwpjIQCIC3nDbZmsAhdPeHsLbFV8pl-5qhEVIRTJOeIlxHJNWPTRy7CjzQEC2mLF6QOHy9IxAAIG1ZXZqQ7VEDhQh6jEkvwpCrsYVJFB0eGK-bFlC1U/s400/butler.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://cambertunnel.blogspot.com/2007/11/whos-heard-of-this.html">Another Blogger </a>connects the dots ... between General <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/butler.jpg&imgrefurl=http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/butler.html&h=313&w=250&sz=11&hl=en&start=6&sig2=MP45en60Yepne2T2tq83fQ&tbnid=_lP5kWqHGSV1YM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=93&ei=jYRNR6U5loZ4yZqlkw4&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSmedley%2BButler%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG">Smedley Darling</a><a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/butler.jpg&imgrefurl=http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/butler.html&h=313&w=250&sz=11&hl=en&start=6&sig2=MP45en60Yepne2T2tq83fQ&tbnid=_lP5kWqHGSV1YM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=93&ei=jYRNR6U5loZ4yZqlkw4&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSmedley%2BButler%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG">ton Butler</a>, USMC and Prescott Bush pictured with his son George Hubert Walker Bush, grandaddy to George W. Bush</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://rationalrevolution.net/special/library/war_is_a_racket.htm"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137909494391950498" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi87yONKEEaOYaszDWbhqrQgpj0f4BxxfD7OduQi1l5kW-UI78YRgF6fAEddw7chzIl2w4GSc862op_GqfA5lodzBSrRu5M3YbytKH2AVgLbHBzvCdhzwkRAEYz5yRhaA3mi7DQHl0Eq_62/s400/MDbushMD1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iE8OHTBC5W4HMulWZtXYxIYGGluWNt-inlT-96kaX8lVwo_gbUdNhQpXAGIhvz7anyUMoVMPa2leZtLj4tCC4esfX9_R4bG17vxZrglx3pD7lIj9LkVbqx1EDujmsXUzMbIXOuv0C5LC/s1600-h/warracket1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137910486529395890" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iE8OHTBC5W4HMulWZtXYxIYGGluWNt-inlT-96kaX8lVwo_gbUdNhQpXAGIhvz7anyUMoVMPa2leZtLj4tCC4esfX9_R4bG17vxZrglx3pD7lIj9LkVbqx1EDujmsXUzMbIXOuv0C5LC/s400/warracket1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://rationalrevolution.net/special/library/war_is_a_racket.htm"><span style="font-size:180%;">WAR is a RACKET!</span></a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">Click and read above link! </div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-74136456846455248182007-11-24T09:34:00.000-08:002007-11-29T10:32:29.595-08:00The Century of the Self BBC DocU-education<div align="center"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="color:#333333;"><span style="font-size:180%;">The Century of the Self</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">You see it, you want it, you buy it, on credit of course!</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Not because YOU NEED it, but because we have been manipulated into <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">agreeing</span> with the psychology of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">advertisers</span> who show us this that these products will make us feel happy inside, if we only buy them today before the sale ends with 0% interest and no money down!</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Pursuit Of Happiness of the individual, marries the corporate concept dictum of -- " buy our products first and feel happy now."</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">General Motors Sign and Drive</span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#000099;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2y1Ax0W-XU0_gVctkLQg9KjoiFHFW5_i0KcXqXVqEcvD0hnra6uEpAR-1o-2gCQf1udkb69G8Y_OLaVnUo6Xv7CE0Y3pb9rCi06Pr8NjTJLGr1cSvFiLGjAl5c2we6LL_xyzOML90nWc/s1600-h/Self2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136487817267301490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2y1Ax0W-XU0_gVctkLQg9KjoiFHFW5_i0KcXqXVqEcvD0hnra6uEpAR-1o-2gCQf1udkb69G8Y_OLaVnUo6Xv7CE0Y3pb9rCi06Pr8NjTJLGr1cSvFiLGjAl5c2we6LL_xyzOML90nWc/s400/Self2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZr9dOM2tseDWuZrqASw8U4R14XOodf2mm2fLdFa6ywKDMzhlxg-lvZXrfaI-SYw6NuVgzUU9J9HcOzKhsVo_mHoczagzXxveIAWzmEbiDceuKifR2FMzCPuq4e7n6n2FfNEHk2aSWxyKw/s1600-h/Self4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136487825857236098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZr9dOM2tseDWuZrqASw8U4R14XOodf2mm2fLdFa6ywKDMzhlxg-lvZXrfaI-SYw6NuVgzUU9J9HcOzKhsVo_mHoczagzXxveIAWzmEbiDceuKifR2FMzCPuq4e7n6n2FfNEHk2aSWxyKw/s400/Self4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BGwhTSmFYyrcDB9PilvErMi7qZSL9sQvSyx2OglCwVTXrI72KEX6Asrow9cYY_xYiAlr_obPIU1N7ouzXGFcIeFcRCHAq8vLonM6xMaZ8WthrbCtJogUKuS42uOaGgvFYJL015RBG-S6/s1600-h/Century+of+the+Self1.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136487001223515218" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BGwhTSmFYyrcDB9PilvErMi7qZSL9sQvSyx2OglCwVTXrI72KEX6Asrow9cYY_xYiAlr_obPIU1N7ouzXGFcIeFcRCHAq8vLonM6xMaZ8WthrbCtJogUKuS42uOaGgvFYJL015RBG-S6/s320/Century+of+the+Self1.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Here is a BBC video series that should be view by all interested in the politics of elections or the Selling of a Candidate!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhoDDdKF3weEdmzFfS3RHPUltpTK4DUcCRey2958WE10zV217yVMWpccLUs6u27yHwlxfIRLZhZCFYCXufC-JjwlqQGKlVDlnBKf2Gz6C4-s_Q5Z9QjxMXIcsb9jmDvhq5NhoNL1e5mQ3/s1600-h/Self3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136487160137305186" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhoDDdKF3weEdmzFfS3RHPUltpTK4DUcCRey2958WE10zV217yVMWpccLUs6u27yHwlxfIRLZhZCFYCXufC-JjwlqQGKlVDlnBKf2Gz6C4-s_Q5Z9QjxMXIcsb9jmDvhq5NhoNL1e5mQ3/s320/Self3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhoDDdKF3weEdmzFfS3RHPUltpTK4DUcCRey2958WE10zV217yVMWpccLUs6u27yHwlxfIRLZhZCFYCXufC-JjwlqQGKlVDlnBKf2Gz6C4-s_Q5Z9QjxMXIcsb9jmDvhq5NhoNL1e5mQ3/s1600-h/Self3.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">"This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." - Adam Curtis</span></em></strong><br /><br /><a title="Sigmund Freud" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud">Sigmund Freud</a>, the founder of <a title="Psychoanalysis" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis">psychoanalysis</a>, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings profoundly. His influence on the <a title="20th century" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century">20<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> century</a> is widely regarded as massive. The documentary describes the impact of Freud's theories on the perception of the human mind, and the ways <a title="Public relations" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations">public relations</a> agencies and <a title="Politicians" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politicians">politicians</a> have used this during the last 100 years for their "engineering of consent".</p><p><br />Among the main characters are Freud himself and his nephew <a title="Edward Bernays" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays">Edward Bernays</a>, who was the first to use psychological techniques in <a title="Advertising" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising">advertising</a>. He is often seen as the "father of the public relations industry". Freud's daughter <a title="Anna Freud" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Freud">Anna Freud</a>, a pioneer of child psychology, is mentioned in the second part, as well as <a title="Wilhelm Reich" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich">Wilhelm Reich</a>, one of the main opponents of Freud's theories.<br /><br /><br />Along these general themes, <i>The Century of the Self</i> asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern <a title="Consumerism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism">consumerism</a>, <a title="Representative democracy" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracy">representative democracy</a> and its implications. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitude to fashion and superficiality.<br /><br /><br />The business and, increasingly, the political world uses PR to read and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population. He cites a Wall Street banker as saying <i>"We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's <a title="Motivation" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation">desires</a> must overshadow his <a title="Needs" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needs">needs</a>."</i><br /><br /><br />In Episode 4 the main characters are <a title="Philip Gould" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Gould">Philip Gould</a> and <a title="Matthew Freud" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Freud">Matthew Freud</a>, the great grandson of Sigmund, a PR consultant. They were part of the efforts during the nineties to bring the <a title="Democratic Party (United States)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29">Democrats</a> in the US and <a title="New Labour" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Labour">New Labour</a> in the <a title="United Kingdom" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom">United Kingdom</a> back into power. Adam Curtis explores the psychological methods they now massively introduced into politics. He also argues that the eventual outcome strongly resembles <a title="Edward Bernays" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays">Edward Bernays</a> vision for the "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Democracity</span>" during the <a title="1939 New York World's Fair" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_New_York_World%27s_Fair">1939 New York World's Fair</a>.</p><br /><p>To quote the BBC site:</p><blockquote><p>To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the <a title="United States" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">United States</a>. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?</p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:180%;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></p><p align="left"><em><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:180%;">Watch them for Free by clicking the links below. </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:180%;">Each segment is about an hour long. John Bangert</span></span></em></p></blockquote><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>~</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Part One:</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151">Crowds and </a></strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151">Their Behaviour</a></strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">~</span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Part Two:</strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-678466363224520614">The Engineering </a></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-678466363224520614">of Consent</a></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><em><strong></strong></em></span></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></em></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">~</span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Part Three:</span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6111922724894802811">There Is A Policeman </a></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6111922724894802811">Inside All Our Heads </a></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6111922724894802811">and He Must Be Distroyed</a></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:180%;">~</span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><em><strong></strong></em></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><em><strong></strong></em></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Part Four:</strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1122532358497501036">Eight People Sipping </a></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1122532358497501036">Wine in Kettering</a></span></strong></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-79847476553125090552007-11-14T10:49:00.000-08:002007-11-15T15:27:55.781-08:00WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ?<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZl5ywbMI_GLRCjW9lsRVNsmv4xAj7rJyDGGUnPksImGdnvNqnXGbFij3lyvbHX95oK9Of-_Oina3XGumu1cDstXiJQQGszuBcY-6voYio_WOly6c3Ehylnk08NFgReQGIPlyY8r8GBo2/s1600-h/800px-Flag_of_the_United_States_%2528upside_down%2529_svg.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132770194089329042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZl5ywbMI_GLRCjW9lsRVNsmv4xAj7rJyDGGUnPksImGdnvNqnXGbFij3lyvbHX95oK9Of-_Oina3XGumu1cDstXiJQQGszuBcY-6voYio_WOly6c3Ehylnk08NFgReQGIPlyY8r8GBo2/s400/800px-Flag_of_the_United_States_%2528upside_down%2529_svg.png" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;"><strong>The Veterans Day 18</strong></span></div><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Ann Smith, Arthur Brien, Bruce Macdonald, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Dick Smith, Doug Stuart, Henry Deeks, Joe Bangert, Kathleen Dailey, Ken Farr, Mark Alston-Follansbee, Mike Tork, Nate Goldshlag, Pat Scanlon, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Paul Brailsford, Sev Bruyn, Terrence Rothman, </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Tony Flaherty, and</strong> <span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong>CodePINK's</strong></span> <strong>Trish Gallagher </strong></span><br /><br /><em><strong>This letter from Nate Goldshlag!<br /></strong></em><br />Hi folks,<br /><br />The Veterans Day 18 have been arraigned on charges in Boston of disturbing a public assembly, which we did not do. In the description of the charges it is alleged that we were "loudly chanting anti-war slogans" which is absurd since we had gags in our mouths.<br /><br />I have gotten lots of emails asking how people can help us. At this time the best support you could give us is to write, call, fax, and email the Mayor of Boston, Tom Menino. Or do all four. The thing that is best is regular mail, then calls, then fax, then email. Let's inundate the Mayor's office with outrage at our arrests. Please do this in the next day or so, while the story is hot. And please forward this email to friends and political mailing lists, far and wide. If you live outside Massachusetts please write anyway. This story has gone out worldwide.<br /><br />Mayor Menino's contact information is given below. And to make it really easy we are including a template of a letter you could write. Feel free to copy and paste it into a Word document and modify it as you see fit, or write your own.<br /><br />Phone 617.635.4500 Fax 617.635.2851<br /><br />Email <a href="mailto:mayor@cityofboston.gov">mayor@cityofboston.gov</a><br /><br />Address given below in letter<br /><br />Thanks for taking the time to do this. And apologies if you receive this email more than once.<br /><br /><br />Best Regards,<br />Nate Goldshlag<br />Co-Coordinator, Smedley D. Butler Brigade Chapter 9 Veterans For Peace<br /><br /><a href="http://smedleyvfp.org/">http://smedleyvfp.org/</a><br /><br /></div>P.S. Here are some interesting links:<br /><br /><br /><br /><p><br /></p><ol><li>Keith Olbermann's Countdown show on MSNBC:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8-VQbbgCKo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8-VQbbgCKo</a><br /></li><li>VFP member's blog on Democratic Underground:<a href="http://tinyurl.com/yr29uk">http://tinyurl.com/yr29uk</a></li><li>Paul Rifkin: YouTube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YnwXHBxD9s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YnwXHBxD9s</a><br /><br /></li></ol><p align="center"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Mayor Thomas Menino</span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Mayor’s Office</span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">City Hall Plaza</span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Boston, MA 02201</span><br /></p><p>Dear Mayor Menino,<br /></p><p>I am writing to express my outrage at the arrest of 15 veterans and 3 supporters on Veterans Day for silently, peacefully protesting the exclusion of Veterans For Peace from speaking at the city-sponsored Veterans Day event on City Hall Plaza. The pictures of these gagged and silent men and women being carted off, which have gone out around the world, are an embarrassment to a city that calls itself the Cradle of Liberty, and to its Police Department.<br /></p><p>What has happened to free speech in Boston? Why is Veterans For Peace being prevented from speaking at this event, which always features pro-war, pro-Bush administration messages? Why are these men and women being charged with “loudly chanting anti-war slogans” when it is obvious to the world that these gagged people did no such thing?<br /></p><p>The only thing these real patriots are guilty of is their expression of free speech and dissent against this illegal and immoral war. You were in a position to prevent this travesty from occurring but did nothing. Your lack of intervention serves only the interests of those who would eliminate our constitutional rights - the American Legion and George Bush. Shame on you.<br /></p><p>Sincerely,<br />XXX<br /></p>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-66700438393204645162007-11-13T06:56:00.000-08:002007-11-15T15:24:41.809-08:00Keith Olberman Veterans for Peace Cannot be Silenced!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjHA18wssA5uoEeR_nMBrsi1u5CHZ-Tb-mSQNS3EwIWGn9gsa4m1VT4R6INa5HPXThm60Lkk3SR6dCc8YyI1uMEjnfxo1RV9k8ZdSAXrd86IGd7q_2BRNpl-vTT-71oan-xNdmd21z7tbH/s1600-h/Msnbc.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133211504544762946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjHA18wssA5uoEeR_nMBrsi1u5CHZ-Tb-mSQNS3EwIWGn9gsa4m1VT4R6INa5HPXThm60Lkk3SR6dCc8YyI1uMEjnfxo1RV9k8ZdSAXrd86IGd7q_2BRNpl-vTT-71oan-xNdmd21z7tbH/s400/Msnbc.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qr6LEEoc5TpNDKV5SFL8kX1-Yh4ioeZzLdZazl6CnhyphenhyphenWZ-8QC49H_iXnHjwpI4S0bgaZJX92EinNL00pQO9dHicZbsuRn3CFQh3mvf9ewAsaVj8tYOJcFI0_QKSz31uk5gSNPhLQzn7w/s1600-h/Keith-Olbermann-750775.jpg"></a><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=H8-VQbbgCKo"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;" >Veterans for Peace Silence Heard Around the World!</span></a><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132339225623753394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qr6LEEoc5TpNDKV5SFL8kX1-Yh4ioeZzLdZazl6CnhyphenhyphenWZ-8QC49H_iXnHjwpI4S0bgaZJX92EinNL00pQO9dHicZbsuRn3CFQh3mvf9ewAsaVj8tYOJcFI0_QKSz31uk5gSNPhLQzn7w/s400/Keith-Olbermann-750775.jpg" border="0" /><br /></div><div align="center"><br /><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbKVQgA2CaYzS8mTMaQM08h9REGPitHNQ3wjUlApXbk4itpe6jmgEKPY36YezoQKms_bmgnLZfLkXE9C35e1qbYk7woc8nwGOTdDDF-IL0iGRxU_XAbTDVdPGdxrq-7CtU-PXukz3nWa0/s1600-h/Msnbc.jpg"></a><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,255)"><strong></strong></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=H8-VQbbgCKo"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,255);font-size:130%;" ><strong></strong></span></a></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-3971458522129308902007-11-13T06:09:00.000-08:002007-11-15T14:53:38.647-08:00VFP MEET THE PRESS<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4Dpiu63WZv9DQxFrltyK2I6JEb4gAfbPzv8w8OygaSAwA0hUTEepJGUZjXlHw0f4XUF6cPGa05OAhqVySS_2iirVwZpR1OJ9KyfF7w5NUu0j2hljg55KiCXtpUuMPzxeQI7CaK_Dwo4R/s1600-h/Phoenix.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133069684724648994" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4Dpiu63WZv9DQxFrltyK2I6JEb4gAfbPzv8w8OygaSAwA0hUTEepJGUZjXlHw0f4XUF6cPGa05OAhqVySS_2iirVwZpR1OJ9KyfF7w5NUu0j2hljg55KiCXtpUuMPzxeQI7CaK_Dwo4R/s400/Phoenix.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">A stand against silence<br />The patriots’ offensive line<br />By </span><a href="http://thephoenix.com/Author.aspx?name=NEELY"><span style="font-size:130%;">NEELY STEINBERG</span></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">November 14, 2007 4:50:48 PM</span></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>CAN’T ASK, CAN’T TELL: Denied a spot in the American Legion’s Veteran’s Day Parade, members of the local Veterans for Peace showed up anyway, and were arrested for their silent protest against censorship.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Their hearts were warmed by passion, despite the cold temperatures. Armed with signs, upside-down flags of distress, and anti-war fliers, the Smedley D. Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 of Veterans For Peace (VFP), refused to be censored — their request to participate in this past Sunday’s annual Veterans Day parade was denied by the American Legion, which coordinates the event each year. But official exclusion did little to deter the group from marching at the end of the parade, behind the street sweepers, and carrying out its objectives: promoting peace, speaking out against the war in Iraq, and supporting the troops by calling for their immediate return home. </div><br /><br /><div><br />“We want to put our message out to the crowd along the route, and make it clear that we will not be silenced by the American Legion,” said Nate Goldshlag, an Army veteran and one of the Brigade organizers who led the rally of about 40 disgruntled vets down Tremont Street to City Hall Plaza. (Goldshlag is no stranger to activism: in 1969, he and fellow Vietnam War opponents participated in the infamous student takeover of Harvard’s University Hall, an incident that garnered national attention and got him expelled.) </div><br /><br /><div><br />Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, a strong supporter of VFP, also weighed in on the Legion’s decision, calling it “an insult to vets everywhere.” The Legion, however, asserts the parade is a non-political event, a claim hotly contested by Goldshlag and Turner, who argue that in previous years the parade’s speakers have been “pro-war.” </div><br /><br /><div><br />For the most part, the crowd along the parade route was supportive of VFP. But Jeff Monico of Saugus, a Marine and Iraq War veteran, was angered by the anti-war group’s display of upside-down flags. “It’s disrespectful at this event to be holding the flags like that,” he said. A young boy next to him agreed. “You’re not holding the flag the right way,” shouted the youth. “If I were a cop, I'd put you in jail.” His words were all too prophetic.</div><br /><br /><div><br />As people trickled into the plaza, a single line of VFP members began to form in front of the podium. Faces stoic and mouths stuffed with handkerchiefs, the demonstrators now silently protested with signs draped across their bodies that read: AMERICAN LEGION SILENCES MESSAGES OF PEACE FROM VETERANS. The American Legion band played on as people anxiously waited to see what would happen next. Slowly, one by one, the veterans were handcuffed and arrested by the Boston Police, the rat-a-tat-tat of the drums ringing in their ears as they were led off into the distance. </div><br /><br /><div><br />Eighteen of the VFP vets were subsequently charged with disturbing a lawful assembly of people, and, at press time, were scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday and Wednesday in Boston Municipal Court. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2007/11/13/News/Antiwar.Vets.Arrested.In.Parade.To.Honor.Troops-3096997.shtml">Boston University U-Wire</a></span></strong></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT95wmYZQ_VNz8pG3VZ9MKjWquVwcweLlO0Ns-GwUFwkfgdcdgIZOTTZBBWBqFs3u1P13SJWyECGH74J2bn_xuLvk_NnXnJaZMHhV-kPyvTS-W5fUgbaN45FLIHvawot-X6nt3jKXI-xVL/s1600-h/American+Legion+Drummer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133203631869709362" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT95wmYZQ_VNz8pG3VZ9MKjWquVwcweLlO0Ns-GwUFwkfgdcdgIZOTTZBBWBqFs3u1P13SJWyECGH74J2bn_xuLvk_NnXnJaZMHhV-kPyvTS-W5fUgbaN45FLIHvawot-X6nt3jKXI-xVL/s320/American+Legion+Drummer.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>U-WIRE<br />By Rachel Leamon<br />The Daily Free Press ( Boston U. )<br />(U-WIRE) BOSTON -- Patriotism and antiwar passion collided Sunday when 18 former soldiers turned activists were arrested during a Veterans Day parade at City Hall in front of the uniformed, whom they blamed for unnecessary bloodshed in Iraq. Members of Boston Veterans for Peace, a group of former soldiers who oppose U.S. involvement in the war, were reprimanded by police when they refused to move away from the main podium after continued warnings. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The city permitted the group to march in the parade Sunday, but banned carrying antiwar signs. "The American Legion sponsors this parade and doesn't like veterans who are against war," Veterans for Peace member and Vietnam veteran Jim Packer said. "The Legion thinks that to support the soldiers, you have to be for the war, but I think that the best way to support soldiers is to bring them home." Packer, who stood near the rear of the crowd, said he developed a new perspective on war after he graduated from Boston University in 1966 and enlisted in the Marines. "I came back from Vietnam with a commitment not to allow this country to start another war based on lies," he said. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>According to its website, Veterans for Peace, which has four chapters in Massachusetts, aims to peacefully stop hostile intervention in foreign affairs and eradicate war as a policy tool. Veterans for Peace member Paul Atwood, also a BU graduate, said Veterans Day pageantry glorifies militarism. "A day like this should be a day of sovereign reflection," Atwood said. Other protesters turned American flags upside down. "The upside-down flag is a symbol of soldiers in distress," said Montserrat College of Art freshman Casey Furtado. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>"Our country is in distress as a result of the war." According to the Boston Police Department website, those arrested are being charged with disturbing a lawful assembly. Other spectators said they recognize anti-war activists' right to free speech, but their message had no place at a Veterans Day event. "I think everyone here should support the war and the soldiers," said Lizbeth Sanchez, a junior Reserve Officer Training Corps member. "They're entitled to voice their opinions, but making a demonstration due to their political opinions is inappropriate at this occasion," Suffolk County American Auxiliary Legion officer Albert Ashe said. "They can't protest anywhere they feel like it."<br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-65833265414639032902007-11-12T06:55:00.001-08:002007-11-29T10:27:09.799-08:00Veterans Arrested on Veterans Day in Boston<div align="center"><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span><u><span style="color:#0066cc;"></span></u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YnwXHBxD9s"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132028944301388338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOgUjF6S3s6G60dzGDfcDEJIX6J2KlhrUG_eaXOCLM2ixBlcTpxD_vEVN0pzbrCk0wwa231k646Ai_26GdRbdjv75VoixyAXphbyUt5GwNNQ70ZgUDZgv69_06k8gdeTDDN7vUA2NrB7WT/s400/JVB+VFP+arrested.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132782610839781794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYz-T4h62wEo9nJWQS93B2IF-zZrvzo6epiMkBHuTRdmq7Krl4cTMDCZABcnZynBle7JqiC7PPF23A18chaWZmU1Ko2Gwh2dxoJjOLRgHanuSsTY1dKUXYYbZt4bRIDSM4qO7y7bwH2yOf/s400/VFPParade_large.jpg" border="0" /><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0)"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;color:#000000;">Here is a picture of the pro-war thug who assaulted 76 year old Korean and Viet Nam Navy Veteran, Tony Flaherty in front of hundreds of cops on City Hall Plaza. Did this Boston cop, capture Tony's assailent ? Let's ask the Mayor! 3-ways to do just that below. </span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">Phone 617.635.4500 ~ Fax 617.635.2851 ~Email <a href="mailto:mayor@cityofboston.gov">mayor@cityofboston.gov</a></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YnwXHBxD9s"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">REAL NEWS by Cape Cod Veterans for Peace member-Paul <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Rifkin</span></span> who filmed and downloaded this on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">YOUTUBE</span></span>!</span> </a></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,0,0)">To View click:</span><span style="color:#000099;"> </span><a href="http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=CECE97D4A9AD01FD87F731F528F7AAF0?contentId=4902649&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1"><span style="color:#000099;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">FAUX</span></span> NEWS Fox 25 News Story Link </span></a></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></div></span><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131967822621798930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95IbkYh0i6v8Tb7eSchW3RA05Jr3oF8gGUO8YzEl54r8d5RR-Bkhyphenhyphenohx_NX9ALPLNJZouwAaExM-BoTGFrPqEWwDOxlCfFCYvUpTmauqQNJ6xk4U3H07KQW6j6uhPgMD4pGWaEBLiwxF5/s400/Joe+Bangert+Tony+Flariaty.bmp" border="0" /> <span style="font-family:times new roman;">On Veteran's Day, 76-year-old <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Viet</span></span> Nam veteran, Tony <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Flaherty</span></span> from South Boston, was beaten and thrown to the ground as a war supporter stole his American flag. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Flaherty</span></span> was arrested by Boston Police along with 17 other peaceful protesters in front of City Hall. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Flaherty's</span></span> assailant was NOT arrested.</span><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Tony <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Flaherty</span></span>, we salute you for your great poise and non-violent <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">dignity</span>. Many chicken-hawks, who not unlike George W. Bush, can sucker punch the brave, then run away like the coachroach cowards which they really are.</span></div><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132348601537360578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjofJIXrUYs_DyLQuED6xYfImgAXwyh_ITW9Do8P-KMcdMaJok8-q3ZgGOvDvRLk6M2OqvEm5yXrqZrHo_zSmtTpUlJG1PjyI-rfi6A_lhFHLt_yTCYwsiN7OBB_ns66U9zq4PhuUvPp0S/s400/carlos-1.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">The Gathering of Idiots, seen in the photograph above, did the same thing to Carlos <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Arredondo</span></span> in Washington, DC. </span></div><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">We shall be more vigilant, yet, peacefully, non-violent, unlike our violent and ignorant oppressors.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Viet</span></span> Nam veterans, Joe <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Bangert</span></span>, from Brewster, MA, as seen in photograph above was one of 18 protesters including 4 women veterans who all were arrested in front of City Hall Plaza on Veterans Day. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Falmouth</span></span> US Navy veteran, Mike <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Tork</span></span>, and former USMC Capt. John Niles, from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Barnstable</span></span>, were the three Cape <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Codders</span></span> arrested as well. </span><br /></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA4MM-v9aE6COZRjnPds6KXEzkSm_hlaoCCk_LXCXDwvuekPC03KJo31CJn8xp6F6SgVv29eq4DbYbBq6F8_1AIg5MnkV6LWzcshdvP5TbH8pyr7Tp2D6PsJcC38v-k29i4qKzb6LTB4m/s1600-h/paul3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131973874230719010" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA4MM-v9aE6COZRjnPds6KXEzkSm_hlaoCCk_LXCXDwvuekPC03KJo31CJn8xp6F6SgVv29eq4DbYbBq6F8_1AIg5MnkV6LWzcshdvP5TbH8pyr7Tp2D6PsJcC38v-k29i4qKzb6LTB4m/s400/paul3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>Boston, Mass, -Paul <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Brailsford</span></span>, a 92 year old WW ll Veteran, and member of Samantha Smith Chapter of Veterans for Peace Chapter, was arrested and his cane was taken from him as he was handcuffed and dragged away to Boston Police headquarters.<br /></strong><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br /><br /></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132696964896932114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQh6kfg6GrWCTT2aGqqtYfRSnJhIHMV5iPGQvDQYpkRy5c4W7_Z2K1Mg99VW1eFT6yyjTPDM2hb3J3ziEb4pm5eOhUf6IRltSQhPG6FwvuEy_Y09T0IjcwfNdjs6RHEdQQTu0l3Hu2_3r/s400/WCVB+TV+LOGO.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">TheBostonChannel</span>.com<br /></span><span style="font-size:180%;">Arrests Made At Veterans Day Event<br /></span>City Hall Ceremony Sparks Controversy<br /></div><br /><br /><p><br />BOSTON -- Several anti-war veterans were arrested Sunday when they protested their exclusion from a Veterans Day event outside Boston City Hall.<br /></p><br /><br /><p>The Boston chapter of a group called Veterans for Peace estimated that 15 of its members and supporters were arrested when they refused to move away from the podium at an event sponsored by the American Legion. Boston Police said several arrests were made, but did not have an exact number.<br /></p><br /><br /><p>"We're opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we're opposed to the planned invasion of Iran," said Winston <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Warfield</span>, a Vietnam War veteran and member of the group. "A lot of veterans view us as traitors."<br /></p><br /><br /><p><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Warfield</span> said the American Legion rejected their request to have a speaker at the event on City Hall Plaza. An after-hours call to the American Legion office in Boston was not immediately returned Sunday.<br /></p><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p>"From our point of view, it's a public affair," <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Warfield</span> said, despite U.S. Supreme Court precedent that allows private groups that obtain proper permits to choose who can participate in their events.<br /></p><br /><br /><p>Earlier Sunday, Gov. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Deval</span> Patrick and U.S. Sen. John Kerry honored five surviving members of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of black fighter pilots allowed into the U.S. Army Air Corps.<br /></p><br /><p>Patrick presented the men with their Congressional Gold Medals. They are William M. Bennett, Charles <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Diggs</span>, George W. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Giddings</span>, James <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">McLaurin</span>, and Willis Saunders.<br />"It is an honor to formally recognize these heroic pioneers," said Patrick, the state's first black governor. "Their bravery and ability to rise to the challenges of the time and of war will be forever remembered, as will the great courage of all the men and women who have served our country in the past and who do so now across the world."<br /></p><p>The Statehouse event included a tribute to women veterans, led by Air Force Capt. Jenny <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">D'Olympia</span>.<br /></p><div align="left">Eighteen members of Veterans for Peace, an outspoken fraternity of former servicemen and women opposed to the Iraq War, were arrested by Boston police for disturbing the Veterans Day ceremony on City Hall plaza yesterday, after they lined up across the speakers’ platform with gagged mouths.<br /></div><div align="left">The group was made to bring up the rear of the annual parade - for which hundreds of patriots lined <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Boylston</span></span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Tremont</span></span> streets - and were even placed behind the street sweepers.<br /><br />“They do not want to adhere to our rules of conduct,” James <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Lawler</span></span>, commander of the American Legion in Suffolk County, told the Herald, suggesting the protesters’ time would be better spent in Washington, D.C., fighting for benefits and better VA hospitals.<br /><br /><br />“This is not a political parade,” said <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Lawler</span></span>, an Air Force veteran of the Korean War and former Boston police officer, “it’s to show our veterans respect. </div><br /><br /><div align="left">It kills me that we have service veterans coming back maimed, but all we can do is help them.”<br />Veterans for Peace member Winston <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Warfield</span></span>, a veteran of the Vietnam War, acknowledged <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Lawler</span></span> was right about his organization’s political motives, but said, “We’re all servicemen. Some of us have wounds to prove it.”<br /><br />Both sides were met with applause, whether by tots in strollers waving flags, Marines calling out “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Semper</span></span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Fi</span></span>!” or modern-day hippies chanting for peace.<br /><br />Cynthia Johnson-Smith, on behalf of 9,000 members of the Massachusetts American Legion Auxiliary, said the turnout alone “means that we appreciate our freedom at the price these veterans have paid.”<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Brookline</span></span> native Sue <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Gracey</span></span>, 73, who calls herself “a raging granny,” chose to march with the war protesters, but said she still supports the troops.<br /><br />“Our country’s in trouble,” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Gracey</span></span> said. “I love the flag, but it needs to be shown with humility.”<br />Kristine <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Galeota</span></span> knew her kids’ thoughts were on hot chocolate after the parade, but before they left the ceremony there was so much more she wanted them to drink in.<br /><br />“With children, you never really celebrate the holiday the way that it’s supposed to be,” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Galeota</span></span> of Townsend said, her daughter, 8, and son, 10, at her side, their cheeks stung pink by the cold.<br />“Whether you agree with the war or not, you should still support the veterans,” she said. “There are opposing sides. You need to deal with it. It’s the United States of America.”</div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-14947665135040992382007-11-11T05:24:00.000-08:002007-11-29T10:29:28.164-08:00You will not shut us up!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCOthOqqPjUkbzVJSXvnKtUqQKtA36CYn5vjUXPv4LpmvEWH-Pr_qFjT8nOVgAeEVG6Gjyz3bZdzzT1UgnPRqrai8ieI_eWBF4IpkqFvul-8WwYzVJkv1ek7iP8R8x7r8AHccOXj8Eb0i/s1600-h/page25-1001-full.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132318390737400482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCOthOqqPjUkbzVJSXvnKtUqQKtA36CYn5vjUXPv4LpmvEWH-Pr_qFjT8nOVgAeEVG6Gjyz3bZdzzT1UgnPRqrai8ieI_eWBF4IpkqFvul-8WwYzVJkv1ek7iP8R8x7r8AHccOXj8Eb0i/s400/page25-1001-full.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1akOdOrdxIaUqxELaLvRMfA2Zf5OkWwH1E92WGyqOJ17a-5Ui3wKGKggb1-HvjrLatMjZekhdQWPKb2cpYyNFF28m9641v-I__8Qrr0i7bcR6GucFaGpCo2pXrbUfU5uLfu2kqdFYrrlg/s1600-h/vdp-022-re.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132318038550082194" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1akOdOrdxIaUqxELaLvRMfA2Zf5OkWwH1E92WGyqOJ17a-5Ui3wKGKggb1-HvjrLatMjZekhdQWPKb2cpYyNFF28m9641v-I__8Qrr0i7bcR6GucFaGpCo2pXrbUfU5uLfu2kqdFYrrlg/s320/vdp-022-re.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglLR-7nfgz1eF0ZI7GYgV-Y-rBdzpwAV4a6dh4kknb-OifsctsN3frA1vcnGAYgbRP36FyWe_UFtcqQf3K84TXDhY-mSrX-M-AMgdf1X_y996LCbB7ZrfMTZWTSJttNQ2rVtNMp0phg2K_/s1600-h/vdp-020-re.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132317836686619266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglLR-7nfgz1eF0ZI7GYgV-Y-rBdzpwAV4a6dh4kknb-OifsctsN3frA1vcnGAYgbRP36FyWe_UFtcqQf3K84TXDhY-mSrX-M-AMgdf1X_y996LCbB7ZrfMTZWTSJttNQ2rVtNMp0phg2K_/s320/vdp-020-re.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_h3ALQj-ym0oc_qRPJpXdv3-Y-2DnAGRQjADCepVBMEhOiAo2C6lHZbOTnDi-HV4a76b-KHxeyMWdGwijriviysMzXBoV6WF87pWLeAo6gOrk3vGk0WxFdX1c3YqlwzPfI05-qJ45t8WY/s1600-h/vdp-021-re.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132317634823156338" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_h3ALQj-ym0oc_qRPJpXdv3-Y-2DnAGRQjADCepVBMEhOiAo2C6lHZbOTnDi-HV4a76b-KHxeyMWdGwijriviysMzXBoV6WF87pWLeAo6gOrk3vGk0WxFdX1c3YqlwzPfI05-qJ45t8WY/s320/vdp-021-re.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFghSOl-jgCHZg-cncT0PJFAzVRrdxHmjftxx8uv2Ch4qVbOmaNh_eaLjxq-dh1NeaRJV257feeyNYQebi3M57bFC6dBSmB5iKUGlqiNpt24BG9Pu27DIa8G9BczFPqnzfa5EYYs7TnGa1/s1600-h/vdp-011-re.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132317475909366370" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFghSOl-jgCHZg-cncT0PJFAzVRrdxHmjftxx8uv2Ch4qVbOmaNh_eaLjxq-dh1NeaRJV257feeyNYQebi3M57bFC6dBSmB5iKUGlqiNpt24BG9Pu27DIa8G9BczFPqnzfa5EYYs7TnGa1/s320/vdp-011-re.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTyT1KGgEwJk-yJ7UWVbesvAH-1CuMU4JzB8SXqKXdAOkIEjtnKGOzEErECujgCgnlIRU8Zcr7Acg3GZ8MDy1vw5GpkcEGWxQL3tsvYWPbNUdqRZMvT0tMla6coOW7xyRIC3zjE4rqzR-/s1600-h/vdp-007-re.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132317269750936146" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTyT1KGgEwJk-yJ7UWVbesvAH-1CuMU4JzB8SXqKXdAOkIEjtnKGOzEErECujgCgnlIRU8Zcr7Acg3GZ8MDy1vw5GpkcEGWxQL3tsvYWPbNUdqRZMvT0tMla6coOW7xyRIC3zjE4rqzR-/s320/vdp-007-re.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN35Q-QDlAk2aFu0zecy7Yb4jfOWdEmQej7YjxEa4H_xASEvzSJI8VN2J8vIw8VGAMj5g3EnKmqH_TjMK1b-Dxq_VL7KNyLyZNqfxrwlNRN_U9EaXY4te3HHeMDc7HXi-4CBi6F8a1h7Ys/s1600-h/vdp-002-re.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132317097952244290" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN35Q-QDlAk2aFu0zecy7Yb4jfOWdEmQej7YjxEa4H_xASEvzSJI8VN2J8vIw8VGAMj5g3EnKmqH_TjMK1b-Dxq_VL7KNyLyZNqfxrwlNRN_U9EaXY4te3HHeMDc7HXi-4CBi6F8a1h7Ys/s320/vdp-002-re.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>"Wow! I have a DD-214 in my back pocket that shows I have nine years, ninths and six days of honorable service in Uncle Sam’s Army.<br /><br />That stint included two trips to Nam and two Bronze Stars. I was ‘lucky’ enough to see Tet of ’68 up close and personal. My second trip included about six weeks in Cambodia in April of ’70.<br /><br />I know how to fly a helicopter, shoot a four deuce mortar and fix pretty much anything electronic. Not exactly an REMF, but I was there.<br /><br />Now I realize that my anti-war views are not welcomed in some quarters, but don’t diss me because I disagree with you.<br /><br />There are a few facts that we should be able to agree upon:<br /><br />1. Veterans are treated like shit by the Veterans Administration.<br />2. Veterans represent 25% of the homeless population of the United States, yet comprise only 11% of the adult population of this country.<br />3. The Veterans Administration is woefully under funded.<br />4. Jobs and Veterans are problematic.<br />5. PTSD and TBI are going to become epidemic as time passes.<br />6. Depleted uranium is going to dwarf Agent Orange in terms of scope and toxicity.<br /><br />You will not shut us up.<br />On Sunday the Veterans For Peace marched behind the American Legion’s Veterans Day parade in Boston, about a block behind the parade. Led by five motorcycle Officers.<br />My pics of the day are somewhat spotty, as I was attending to business.<br /><br />We assembled!"<br />Un-Happy Camper</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-90669322052488711032007-10-24T08:28:00.000-07:002007-10-24T08:38:19.713-07:00Veterans for Peace New York<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDF3y5M0yZ0suDTVLAwThmopSkursZpOKqlKyUaxwlOrIiQf6exi1POWCgtEQ_PR0ni6L6m628Kvxk9iNJO0TRzfrsZq0jUSAf9CSoxRTAsRCKL8XJtGQHNpOCSzp8XLbw73Hu8YovSE6O/s1600-h/kidsabbaspalace.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124928033732891026" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDF3y5M0yZ0suDTVLAwThmopSkursZpOKqlKyUaxwlOrIiQf6exi1POWCgtEQ_PR0ni6L6m628Kvxk9iNJO0TRzfrsZq0jUSAf9CSoxRTAsRCKL8XJtGQHNpOCSzp8XLbw73Hu8YovSE6O/s400/kidsabbaspalace.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpnruGLZZxPBAhW8Rt48gJa55f_jVCRtczlJTSSUagKiW0_j7r_93CpMapstFkV_ObUlxrR5kHkHJu3pRF01ZDPwZmzyOVKlXRhOB3Yv6wTZOrNiDmT-wTUsJ7GoJG95z0TbGA9gfVqk2/s1600-h/iraq-iran.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124927836164395394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpnruGLZZxPBAhW8Rt48gJa55f_jVCRtczlJTSSUagKiW0_j7r_93CpMapstFkV_ObUlxrR5kHkHJu3pRF01ZDPwZmzyOVKlXRhOB3Yv6wTZOrNiDmT-wTUsJ7GoJG95z0TbGA9gfVqk2/s400/iraq-iran.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-poq0bfPwPN0Reb-Op-w7TXZBd77iSWklW7l8eHFLKr7BhzcT8MokLMvWGwAhndZGf6Wwjp-CYdaLR92abHUi85AAQR0NSN6YitcXPqzOYIKtC2ZTW3h_84WwUi1nEUF4fYBBNfWYYJl/s1600-h/VFP+Jim+Murphy+iranhafeztomb.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124927114609889650" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-poq0bfPwPN0Reb-Op-w7TXZBd77iSWklW7l8eHFLKr7BhzcT8MokLMvWGwAhndZGf6Wwjp-CYdaLR92abHUi85AAQR0NSN6YitcXPqzOYIKtC2ZTW3h_84WwUi1nEUF4fYBBNfWYYJl/s400/VFP+Jim+Murphy+iranhafeztomb.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div>Click here to see what<a href="http://www.veteransforpeaceny.org/iranfaces.htm"> VFP- NY </a>Jim Murphy has been up to!</div></div></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-21367924909919515852007-06-04T04:08:00.001-07:002007-06-04T04:11:42.688-07:00Thoughts on Cindy Sheenhan and what her leaving may mean!<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/"><img src="http://www.chicagotribune.com/images/chinews/ctonlineptrfriendly.gif" alt="chicagotribune.com" border="0" height="40" width="160" /></a></td> <td align="right"><br /></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /> <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-sheehan_thinkjun03,0,3178263.story">http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-sheehan_thinkjun03,0,3178263.story</a> <h1>THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING ANTIWAR MOVEMENT</h1> <h2>Today's protester, lacking guts, gets no glory</h2>By Rex W. Huppke<br /> a Tribune staff reporter<br /> <br /> June 3, 2007<br /><br />That shrill sound you're hearing isn't coming from the cicadas. It's the cackle of conservatives reveling in war protester Cindy Sheehan's abrupt decision to leave the anti-war movement and return home to California.<br /><br /> Typical liberal, they're saying. Cut and run.<br /><br />Apparently, Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, was withering from the heat of public activism and grew disillusioned with the apathy of her fellow modern-day peaceniks. She embarked on her crusade two years ago and willingly became the face of the anti-war movement -- a movement that now appears to lack a face and guts.<br /><br />Despite a rising tide of public discontentment with the war, turnouts at protest rallies nationwide have shrunk precipitously. The Democratic Congress, swept into office on a wave of anti-war sentiment, showed the timidity of a neurotic deer mouse as it handed President Bush the war funding he requested without any stipulation for troop withdrawal.<br /><br /> One would expect at least a smidge of public outrage.<br /><br />"I think what's extraordinary right now is how there hasn't been a major street presence at any point during the war," said Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and author of the book "Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Detente."<br /><br />"If anything, that presence has declined in the past months, even as the public outcry against the war has been increasing."<br /><br />Sheehan's departure and the flaccidity of America's anti-war movement raise deep questions about this country's moral fortitude. Unlike the protesting icons of the 1960s and '70s, members of today's "anti" crowd struggle to maintain momentum.<br /><br />During the first major Iraq war protest in Chicago in 2003, 10,000 people turned out. This year, on the fourth anniversary of the war, hot on the heels of President Bush's controversial troop surge, only 3,500 Chicagoans took to the streets.<br /><br /> And this lack of follow-through isn't unique to war protesters.<br /><br />Chicago's first immigration rally last May drew 400,000 people, but the second rally this May brought in only 150,000. In the immediate wake of the Virginia Tech shootings in April, there was considerable hue and cry over gun control -- what happened to that?<br /><br />Today's activists seem easily bored and distracted, content to simply blog away their angst and then move on to the next issue that flares up. One has to imagine Abbie Hoffman -- Vietnam War protester and proud member of the Chicago Seven -- writhing in his grave.<br /><br />So what's keeping people from raising hell? Where is the fervor and esprit de corps of the American protester? Why were the rabble-rousers of the '60s and '70s so potent, while those of today are so, to put it politely, "non-potent"?<br /><br /> There are likely several reasons.<br /><br />For one, there's no military draft. That means fewer opponents are frontline stakeholders in the war. Nothing incites passion quite like fear, and as long as we have a volunteer military, the butts on the line won't be those of the anti-war contingent.<br /><br />Outlook is another factor. The youthful idealism of generations past has largely given way to a cynical view of politics and life in general. It's harder to get into a good college. It's harder to get a good job. Politicians seem increasingly disingenuous.<br /><br />"People really feel like they lack efficacy today," said Rachel Einwohner, a Purdue University sociologist who studies protests and social movements. "Despite what lots of people around the world think, despite opposition, this administration just proceeds with a particular agenda. Maybe activists look at that and say, 'What could we possibly do?' They're forced to wonder how they can stop it."<br /><br />In 1962, a group of college students meeting in Michigan created a manifesto called the Port Huron Statement, which laid out a path for a near-Utopian democracy. Those young men and women truly believed they could change the world, and their fervor carried on through the sweeping civil rights and Vietnam War protests of that generation.<br /><br />Now when Suri, the Wisconsin professor, shows a copy of the Port Huron Statement to his students, they laugh out loud, mystified that anyone could ever have been so naive.<br /><br />"It's not that they don't care; it's that they don't believe they can make a difference," he said. "Students have become very risk-averse. They care, but they're afraid that if they go out and get involved in something they might not get into law school or get the job they want."<br /><br />Indeed, since camera phones and YouTube, would-be rebels engage in sit-ins and other forms of civil disobedience at their own peril, knowing that images some might deem incriminating could easily come back to haunt them.<br /><br />As counterintuitive as it may seem, better communication technology may actually be taking a bit of oomph out of political activism. People once had to come together in smoke-filled coffeehouses to plan demonstrations. Now they just stay home and hammer out mass e-mails, expanding their reach but eliminating the close personal bonds that were the glue of past protest movements.<br /><br />"People can have these virtual online communities and have all these conversations online without ever coming together," Einwohner said. "That might explain why we have this massive disapproval of the war, but we don't see the visible public mass protest. Maybe all those folks who in another era might have been out on the streets, maybe they're home sharing their ideas and opinions with their best blogging buddies."<br /><br />And maybe that, in part, is what drove Cindy Sheehan away. It's unlikely there has ever been a mother of a soldier killed in war who has been so publicly pilloried. And by the end of her two-year run, as she aimed her criticism at Democrats as well as Republicans, Sheehan was getting it from the right and the left.<br /><br />Of course, she put herself out there. She allowed this to happen. But in the end, this Gold Star Mother, who came of age in the '60s and '70s, simply didn't fit in the modern-day world of protest.<br /><br />She was blogged down by a society that seems incapable of clinging to any cause for too long. And like many of us, she was probably disheartened to learn that what's blowing in the wind these days isn't the answer.<br /><br /> It's just a lot of hot air. ---------- <a href="rhuppke@tribune.com">rhuppke@tribune.com</a> <p> <cite>Copyright © 2007, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/">Chicago Tribune</a></cite> </p> <script language="JavaScript"> var st_v=1.0; var st_pg=""; var st_ci="703"; var st_di="d004"; var st_dd="st.sageanalyst.net"; var st_tai="v:1.2.1"; var st_ai=""; </script><script language="JavaScript1.1"><!-- st_v=1.1; //--></script><script language="JavaScript1.2"><!-- st_v=1.2; //--></script><script language="JavaScript1.1" src="http://st.sageanalyst.net/tag-703.js"> </script><script language="JavaScript"> if (st_v==1.0) { var st_uj; var st_dn = (new Date()).getTime(); var st_rf = escape(document.referrer); st_uj = "//"+st_dd+"/"+st_dn+"/JS?ci="+st_ci+"&di="+st_di+ "&pg="+st_pg+"&rf="+st_rf+"&jv="+st_v+"&tai="+st_tai+"&ai="+st_ai; var iXz = new Image(); iXz.src = st_uj; } </script><noscript></noscript>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-8179808657322336302007-05-30T17:35:00.001-07:002007-05-30T17:36:21.358-07:00Bush & Putin in Kport JULY<h1 class="mainHead">Bush to host Russia's Putin in Maine in July 1st & 2nd!<br /></h1> <p class="byline">By Tabassum Zakaria | <span style="white-space: nowrap;">May 30, 2007</span></p> <p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will host Russia's President Vladimir Putin in July amid tensions over U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Europe and criticism that Moscow is retreating on democracy.</p> <p>Putin will visit Bush at his parents' home in the resort town of Kennebunkport, Maine, July 1-2, White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Wednesday.</p> <p>"The president looks forward to the visit as part of the intensive bilateral dialogue with President Putin," Snow said. "Cooperation between the United States and Russia is important in solving regional conflicts, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and combating terrorism and extremism."</p> <p>The two presidents will discuss Iran, civil nuclear cooperation and missile defense, Snow said. They will also see each other next week during the Group of Eight summit in Germany.</p> <p>Putin is opposed to U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe that Bush says is to counter potential threats from other states.</p> <p>U.S. officials emphasize that the United States will keep trying to convince Moscow that U.S. plans to put 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic are not designed to threaten Russia but rather to protect Europe.</p> <p>Russia successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile this week that had multiple warheads, and Putin said deployment of a missile shield in Europe would turn the continent into "a powder keg."</p> <p>Another strain in relations is U.S. concern that human rights and democracy are backsliding in Russia.</p> <p>But despite their differences, Bush still views Putin as a straight-talker and a leader with whom he can have candid discussions.</p> <p>"The fact is, look, there are some areas where we disagree, where we've had open disagreements," Snow said.</p> <p>"And one of the interesting things about the president and President Putin is that they are not afraid to ventilate them and they're brutally honest with one another," he said. "The president has always made the point that when he is talking with President Putin, President Putin's never lied to him."</p> <p>The visit will be "partly social," and inviting Putin to the home of Bush's parents, rather than the White House or the president's Texas ranch was "a reflection of the fact that these guys do get along," Snow said.</p> <p>Julianne Smith, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said discussing contentious issues like human rights and missile defense in the relaxed setting of Kennebunkport might be more conducive to frank talks.</p> <p>"My sense is the president has got a really tough message to deliver to Putin," she said.</p> <p>(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan) <img src="http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/dingbat_story_end_icon.gif" alt="" border="0" height="8" width="6" /></p>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-20551411026785380722007-05-30T16:58:00.001-07:002007-05-30T17:09:53.222-07:00Bush & Putin Kennebunkport, Maine July 1st & 2nd!<span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" >The Kennebunkport PEACE Department has wasted no time and is getting a march permit for Sunday July 1st when President Bush comes to meet Putin in Kennebunkport.<br /><br />I am calling for a mobilization of people of conscience from Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut and Massachusetts.<br /><br />I will be organizing a pre-march rally and will let everyone know the details as soon as possible.<br /><br />However, please get the word out that the Kennebunkport PEACE Department is still having their big event on August 25th, however I believe that we should hold him accountable where ever he goes.<br /><br />Pass the word to your organizations, churches, temples, mosques.<br />for more info:<br /><br />Contact Jamilla at <a href="jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com">jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com</a></span>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-52380093140993431932007-05-30T16:58:00.000-07:002007-05-30T17:00:30.761-07:00Bush & Putin Kennebunkport, Maine July 1st & 2nd!<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" >The Kennebunks PEACE Department has wasted no time and is getting a march permit for Sunday July 1st when President Bush comes to meet Putin in Kennebunkport.<br /> I am calling for a mobilization of people of conscience from Maine , New Hampshire and Conneticutt and Mass achusetts.<br />I will be organizing a pre-march rally and will let everyone know the details as soon as possible. However, please get the word out that the<br />Kennebunks PEACE Department is still having their big event on August 25th, however I believe that we should hold him accountable where ever he goes.<br /> Pass the word to your organizations, churches, temples, mosques.<br /> for more info:<br />contact Jamilla at jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com</span><a href="mailto:jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"></a>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-69934379398389228462007-05-29T05:30:00.000-07:002007-05-29T05:31:49.759-07:00Cindy Sheehan Steps Down :( Daily Kos<div id="story"><div class="entry"><h2><span class="diaryTitle"></span>by <a href="http://cindysheehan.dailykos.com/">CindySheehan</a></h2><h3 class="byline"> </h3><h4 class="date">Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT</h4><div class="intro"><p>I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.</p> </div><!-- polls come after this --> <ul class="catcom"><li><a href="http://cindysheehan.dailykos.com/">CindySheehan's diary</a> :: :: </li><li><br /></li></ul></div><div id="extended"><p>I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.</p> <p>The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?</p> <p>However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."</p> <p>I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?</p> <p>I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.</p> <p>The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.</p> <p>I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.</p> <p>Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.</p> <p>I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.</p> <p>Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.</p> <p>This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.</p> <p>Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.</p> <p>It’s up to you now.</p> </div> </div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-7123007804853279462007-05-28T05:37:00.001-07:002007-05-28T05:37:49.144-07:00Just in from Ted GoodnightNot only have two Marine, Iraq war veterans, in the Inactive Ready Reserves been threatened w/reversal of their Honorable Discharges to Other Than Honorable for their recent, post-discharge protest of the war, now it seems that a Gulf War vet has been arrested for speaking out against recruiting. It seems standing up for truth and humanity is becoming unlawful!! At the least it appears as though the government feels our military is only good enough to fight and die for our liberties, not to enjoy the exercise thereof!<br /><br />------------------------------<div id="mb_0"><wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>-----------------<br /><br /> <h2><span style="font-size:100%;">Vet Prosecuted for Opposing Recruitment in Library</span></h2> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Vet Prosecuted for Opposing Recruitment in Library</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">By Matthew Rothschild</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Tim Coil served in the first Gulf War and now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">On March 12, he and his wife, Yvette, went to the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library in <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Ohio</span>. At 37, she is a student at Kent State and needed to study for a biology test. Tim, 40, was reading some books.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Then they noticed two military recruiters trying to enlist someone in a nearby room, with a large glass window.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">She decided to take action.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">She took out some 3x5 cards and wrote messages to the man being recruited and then put them up on the window sill.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">For the rest of story</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.progressive.org/mag_mc051407" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">http://www.progressive.org/mag<wbr>_mc051407</span></a></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">This is just absolutely unacceptable. A war vet being charged for a crime that doesn’t exist. This is appalling. </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Go here to support Tim and write a few letters Please. He did nothing wrong and should never have been charged. He should be commended for his courage. </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Trial date is June 5, 2007</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.motherspeak.org/articles/coils.php" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">http://www.motherspeak.org<wbr>/articles/coils.php</span></a></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">What are the police thinking?<br /> I support her husband’s decision. He is to be congratulated for his efforts to keep his freedom of speech. It's people like <span>Yvette</span> and Tim that make a difference. He has been charged with a crime that really doesn't exist. All he did was use his freedom of speech in a correct manner. He did nothing wrong.<br /> This should not happen to anyone.<br />I suppose if the KKK put up posters at the Library they would be left there no problem. Seems they have more rights then people like Yvette and Tim. That is a shame.<br />Libraries have become a target of the Bush Gov. Seems all the good people in American are now his targets. Imagine Recruiters having a Vet thrown in jail. Now that is just pathetic on their part. </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">I think letting your member of Congress about this would not be out of line either. </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Use your Imagination. </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">POST and PASS it on to any where you want. You don't even have to change it just copy and past it. These people need some help. Add Ideas along the way. I want the charges dropped and an apology given to these people.<br /> This could happen to anyone in America. Helping them is helping yourself.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Imagine a truck load of letters hitting the Court house.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><wbr>>>>>>>>></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;">Let me add that you can go to this site, they have contact info for media, radio talk shows, government, etc.<br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.conservativeusa.org/megalink.htm" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">http://www.conservativeusa.org<wbr>/megalink.htm</span></a></span></div><br />------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------<br /><br /><pre><tt><tt>Dear<br />IVAW Supporter,<br /><br />I am writing to let you know about an urgent issue that is affecting<br />several of our IVAW members. Adam Kokesh and Liam Madden are both very<br />active members and former Marines. Because of their outspoken<br />opposition to the war, the Marine Corps is threatening to revoke their honorable<br />discharges and change them to other than honorable. We cannot allow<br />this suppression of free speech to occur! Adam and Liam need our help to<br />pay for legal defense and travel to their hearings. Adam just found<br />out his hearing is in <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">Kansas City</span> on June 4th, less than two weeks away!<br />Attached below is a letter from Adam, describing his situation and<br />asking<br />for your help. Besides financial contributions, we also need people<br />who are in the Kansas City area to gather support for Adam before his<br />June 4th hearing. Please contact me at <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204);"><a href="mailto:Kelly@ivaw.org" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Kelly@ivaw.org</a></span> if you are in the<br />area and would like to find out how you can help. I will keep you<br />updated on both Adam and Liam's cases as they unfold.<br />Thank you so much for your time and support, it really means everything<br />to our veterans who dare to speak the truth.<br /><br />In Peace,<br />Kelly Dougherty<br />Former Sergeant Army National Guard<br />Executive Director<br />Iraq Veterans Against the War</tt></tt></pre><span class="ad"><br /></span></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-28575224103129823702007-05-27T05:02:00.001-07:002007-05-27T05:04:05.343-07:00Remember All in War ! MEMORIAL DAY for PEACE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9iT5vZ_V7S1qnI_Y35Iz_iBboEKeUeFK-0yzA3EYRU6fbMdVDZ_VRu68AL4_gXj3qh5BTXnfcGunHCu3x1notpUlVHnrQ6ORwcL0zoevRby16HxL65VDysH1WkiCUfzvN5596Yo2ai-vJ/s1600-h/pace2.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9iT5vZ_V7S1qnI_Y35Iz_iBboEKeUeFK-0yzA3EYRU6fbMdVDZ_VRu68AL4_gXj3qh5BTXnfcGunHCu3x1notpUlVHnrQ6ORwcL0zoevRby16HxL65VDysH1WkiCUfzvN5596Yo2ai-vJ/s400/pace2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5069209858641020322" border="0" /></a>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-15015066573143518412007-05-27T05:00:00.000-07:002007-05-27T05:18:15.602-07:00Meet the People, Not the Press! Media: FULL STORY<div class="content"><div class="flexinode-body flexinode-2"><div class="flexinode-textarea-5"> <div class="label"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="main_headline">Can You Hear Us NOW?</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="sub_headline">Anti-war march gets more coverage—but the message is still muted</span><br /></span> <!-- BEGIN sub_headline_block --> <strong><br /></strong></div> <p style="font-weight: bold;">by Frances Cerra Whittelsey, FAIR Extra!</p> <p>The stage had been set up in front of the reflecting pool below Capitol Hill, facing the length of the Mall and the Washington Monument. Just behind the stage, in a space set aside for media interviews, huddles of reporters moved scrum-like from the Rev. Jesse Jackson to actress Susan Sarandon to Rep. John Conyers before each took their turn addressing the January 27 antiwar rally and march in Washington D.C. </p> <p>Out in front of the stage, two multi-step risers held a phalanx of TV cameras and their operators. Still photographers and reporters edged in for a few inches of space, trying to see the extent of the crowd that poured in from all sides. On this sunny and blessedly mild mid-winter day, with police watching benignly from the sidelines, the full apparatus of the media seemed poised to show the U.S. public a full-throated example of democracy in action, of people who had sacrificed sleep and comfort to collectively affirm their role in the political process. </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Tired images</span></p> <p>To its credit, this literal mass of media did provide more and better coverage of the January 27 Iraq War protest than of ones preceding it. However, with some excellent exceptions, the coverage was narrowly focused—and, among conservative media, radically biased. Story after story, whether print or broadcast, focused on the small picture: soundbites or short quotes from celebrities, other speakers, individual protesters. </p> <p>Despite the many previous protests against this war, most stories conjured tired images of tie-dyed, Vietnam-era protesters, and used actress Jane Fonda’s appearance to support that story line. Conservative media inflamed their audience by playing up the appearance of “Hanoi Jane” and a single exchange of spittle between a marcher and a counter-demonstrator. (See sidebar.) Many stories noted the absence of Democratic presidential hopefuls like Hillary Clinton, and pegged the number of demonstrators at just “tens of thousands,” diminishing the importance of the protest.</p> <p>Many of the stories failed to put the demonstration in political context, even though Conyers, now the powerful head of the House Judiciary Committee, couldn’t have made it easier. Conyers, one of more than 40 speakers, described the protest as a continuation of the antiwar vote in the mid-term elections, and said, “Not only is it in our power to stop Bush, it is our obligation.” He—along with other Democratic House members, including Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey, both from California—promised to block continued funding of the war. </p> <p>The protest also reflected the steady, determined antiwar effort at the grassroots that continued after global protests in February 2003 failed to stop the U.S. invasion, despite their prescient warnings of the consequences of war. Rather than despairing at that failure, the antiwar movement stayed alive in churches and community organizations across the country. Members of these groups repeatedly responded to calls for mobilization by United for Peace & Justice, MoveOn.org and others. But the actions and organizing of these antiwar groups, with the major exception of Cindy Sheehan’s vigil outside the Bush ranch, went largely unreported by media that shunned coverage of dissent as unpatriotic. </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Blink and you missed it</span></p> <p>As a reporter with 30 years of experience, now freelancing and teaching journalism at Hofstra University, I hung my press pass around my neck for this demonstration so I could compare my observations with the versions of events reported by my colleagues. In recent years, I have been a participant in several antiwar demonstrations rather than reporting on them, marching with the crowds as another concerned citizen. Afterward, I have been disappointed with the news coverage because it either made the protests appear inconsequential or failed to report sufficiently on the violations of protesters’ civil rights. </p> <p>For example, I participated in the September 2005 protest in Washington, D.C. As FAIR reported a few days later (Media Advisory, 9/27/05), if you relied on television for news, you’d hardly have known about it. The NBC Nightly News (9/24/05) devoted 87 words to the story. CNN anchor Aaron Brown (9/24/05) used coverage of Hurricane Katrina as the excuse for his network’s near-total silence about the protest. </p> <p>I walked with another enormous crowd in New York City on that bitterly cold day of global protests in February 2003. Denied a permit to march, we were making our way to a rally just north of the United Nations. Suddenly, we found our progress blocked. Police barricades held us locked in a side street where we shivered, shoulder-to-shoulder, for two hours. We were never able to reach the rally. At one point, without warning, stony-faced police rode horses at a trot through the tight crowd just a few yards from where we stood. </p> <p>The next day (2/16/03), the Times’ page-one story, an overview of the global protests, explained that New York police had prevented thousands of people from reaching the rally. Why? Because the pens set up for protesters near the U.N. were full. It went on to report the arrests of protesters who had “tried to breach the police lines.” There was no mention of the hardships endured by the demonstrators, the hostility of the police or the total absence of communication with the crowd. </p> <p>A separate Times story that day devoted one short paragraph to the police handling of the event. Three days later (2/19/03), a follow-up story reported on a videotape showing police using pepper spray and night sticks on protesters. But since no Times reporter had apparently witnessed these incidents in the paper’s front yard, the story described “complaints” of being corralled, and worse, as mere “allegations.” </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Political context</span></p> <p>This time around, the New York Times’ editors used a front-page teaser on the protest to lure readers to a story on page 21 (1/28/07), judging other stories, including one about Barack Obama’s college days, as more deserving of the front page. The protest story, once again, consisted primarily of quotes from a wide range of protesters and speakers, but did place the protest in the context of antiwar sentiment in Congress. </p> <p>The Washington Post (1/28/07) distinguished itself by assigning six staff writers and a researcher to the protest. Its page-one story conveyed the upbeat mood of the crowd and its diversity. It gave prominence to protesters with relatives in Iraq, let us hear a mother explaining the protest to her son as an exercise in free speech, and reported the crowd chanting for impeachment of George W. Bush. </p> <p>But the paper went beyond human interest, explaining the protesters’ political goal of prodding Congress into action. By naming 10 of the organizations that have come together under the umbrella of United for Peace & Justice, which coordinated the event, it showed the political blending of the agendas of feminists, religious organizations, farmers, active and retired military members and others. </p> <p>The Post’s coverage also included two sidebars, one about college student protesters and the other a collection of pictures and quotes from a variety of protesters. </p> <p>The lead of the Associated Press story (1/28/07) told of the presence of a “half-dozen lawmakers,” and was one of the few to quote Conyers, albeit selectively. In AP’s version, his remarks about Bush ended with, “He can’t fire us.” It left out the continuation: “But we can fire him, we can fire him.” At that, the crowd roared, “Impeach! Impeach!” This political message was apparently deemed not to be taken seriously—or else too serious to be reported.</p> <p>NBC’s Nightly News (1/27/07) offered viewers a brief view of protesters chanting for peace, inconsequential soundbites from Conyers and Fonda, and then brought in a political analyst to talk about Bush’s effort to distract Democrats from taking action against the troop build-up.</p> <p>ABC’s World News (1/27/07) offered a similar group of soundbites from Fonda and actor Sean Penn. The story did note that “antiwar demonstrators” had raised $1.5 million to support a lobbying effort that would follow the demonstration, but there was no mention of any organization involved in that accomplishment. </p> <p>The CBS Evening News (1/27/07) similarly settled for soundbites and avoided speaking to any of the leaders of the multitude of organizations involved. It did, however, emphasize that amorphous “activists” were “determined to raise the profile of military families opposed to the war.” It went on with an interview of Larry Syverson, whose three sons have collectively served in Iraq five times, and ended with a line right out of the Bush playbook: “Military families like Syverson’s can provide important political cover here on Capitol Hill, especially for Democrats who are concerned about looking unpatriotic if they stand up to the president,” said reporter Joie Chen.</p> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Same old protest</span></p> <p>When I was still in journalism school, a veteran City Hall reporter told me something I’ve never forgotten: When stories all start to seem the same, it’s time to find other work. The reporters, pundits and editors who saw little new about the protest on January 27 should consider his advice. </p> <p>A major storyline for coverage of the protest was that it was a repeat of the Vietnam-era protests by the very same long-haired hippies—only now their ponytails are gray. Fonda’s appearance at the rally made this slant easy. Ironically, as she explained herself in her brief remarks, she had stayed away from antiwar marches for 34 years knowing she made such an easy target for conservatives. Selectively emphasizing the “same old protest” theme meant avoiding mention of the political goals of the demonstrators, including the demand that Congress bring the troops home by de-funding the war. That focus, of course, is why the march this time did not pass the White House. (Protesters instead circled Capitol Hill.)</p> <p>Despite this clear message, CNN began its morning coverage the day after the protest (1/28/07) with reporter Gary Nurenberg intoning, “The comparison to peace rallies to end another war 40 years ago was a constant theme among demonstrators who want to end the war in Iraq.” Segue to Fonda, the two dozen pro-Bush supporters who staged a tiny counter-protest, and a pro-Bush pundit who drew a bloody contrast with the Vietnam era: “There is something they [the protesters] don’t understand,” said former RNC spokesperson Clifford May (identified as representing the Foundation for Defense of Democracies). “Ho Chi Minh at his worst never thought he was going to send suicide bombers to America to kill American children. The people we’re fighting in Iraq, they intend to do that.” Nurenberg asked for no evidence for such a horrific prediction; none, at least, was provided.</p> <p>Later in the day, CNN showed an interview with an active member of the Navy who had taken part in the protest. But unlike May, who was not challenged, Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto was asked if he wasn’t supposed to simply follow the orders of his commander-in-chief. </p> <p>The headline on the New York Daily News’ protest story (1/28/07) said, “Fonda Leads Army of Celebs at Antiwar Rally.” Accurate if five people make an army.</p> <p>Salon’s Alex Koppelman (1/28/07) wrote that the demographics of the war protests had changed, with “more yuppies, more families with small children, more older people and even a fair number of stylishly dressed young girls.” Still, he felt compelled to take a swipe at “professional protesters . . . the kind for whom protests are a lifestyle choice.” </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">The numbers game</span></p> <p>Accused in the past of biased counting, neither the National Park Service nor the D.C. police will give any count of the number of protesters at any demonstration in Washington. The government, of course, could provide an excellent count by analyzing photos taken from the helicopters that always fly over demonstrations. Looking at the crowd from the ground does not help. When I stood on the top step of the camera risers and peered the 1.5 miles to the Washington Monument, there were protesters as far as I could see. But I could not tell how close together they were.</p> <p>Noting the absence of any official count, the Washington Post (1/28/07) described the crowd size as “thousands.” The Associated Press (1/28/07) settled on “tens of thousands,” and quoted an anonymous police officer saying “privately” that attendance was less than 100,000. The “tens of thousands” estimate was also used by the New York Times (1/28/07), Reuters, NBC, ABC and CBS (all 1/27/07). Only the Los Angeles Times (1/28/07) dared to estimate 100,000. Newspapers that in the past would probably have had their own reporters covering the story used the AP story and therefore its count. That included papers like Newsday (1/28/07) that have suffered major staff cuts.</p> <p>Perhaps the most telling story about turnout was reported on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered broadcast at 7 p.m. on the day of the protest (1/27/07). Jacki Lyden introduced the story this way: “Today’s antiwar protest may be one of the largest in years, but while polls say that most Americans are against the war, most people have not been taking their politics to the streets.” The news staff at NPR seems to have decided on this theme the day before the protest, when reporter Melissa Block, conducting an interview with Judith LeBlanc, co-chair of United for Peace & Justice, said to her:<br /></p><blockquote>When you look at what the antiwar movement has done over the last four years of the war, it seemed like there was a big presence at the beginning. And then for a lot of people, maybe it drifted away. It was hard to see where you were. What do you think the problem has been there, in terms of your presence and people’s recognition of what you’re doing? Why haven’t you been able to push the debate forward more?</blockquote> <p>It does not seem to have occurred to NPR’s news staff that they, like most of the rest of the media, had ignored protest after protest, and now, suddenly awakening, are wondering at the blank in their memory. They might be surprised to learn that the January 27 protest was the eighth since 2003 that “had at least 100,000 people,” according to Leslie Cagan, LeBlanc’s co-chair at United for Peace & Justice. </p> <p>LeBlanc responded to Block by pointing out that if one travels the country as she has,<br /></p><blockquote>what you see is that there is a grassroots movement that hasn’t always gotten the attention of the national media. So . . . in between these big demonstrations, there are people doing some very heavy lifting, showing films and having discussions, and doing door-to-door work in their neighborhoods. . . . We do have the attention of the national media now, and what is going on in our country is a reflection of all of that work that goes on under the radar.</blockquote> <p>LeBlanc’s response was a diplomatic way of saying that the news media suffer from a chronic lack of interest in covering grassroots organizations, preferring public opinion polls with their bloodless and controlled questions to actually reporting on community activists. Grassroots activism has not only pushed the war debate forward but also contributed to the election of many antiwar members of Congress. MoveOn.org, for example, reported that in 2006, volunteers made 7 million phone calls, organized 7,500 house parties, and launched 6,000 in-district events.</p> <p>Antiwar activists, of course, would love the opportunity to “push the debate forward” by participating in media discussions of the war. But as study after study has shown (Extra!, 5–6/03; Extra! Update, 6/99; Extra!, 5/91), they rarely get the chance. </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">How big?</span></p> <p>So how big was the crowd? Cagan estimated the number of protesters at a minimum of 350,000, based on “collective experience over many years of doing large demonstrations.” She pegged this march as “a little bigger” than the September 2005 demonstration in Washington, which she gauged at 300,000, but smaller than the demonstrations in New York City in February 2003 and in August 2004, during the Republican National Convention. She estimated participation at both of those at more than 500,000 people.</p> <p>It’s impossible to know if Cagan is correct, since the media outlets with the financial resources to do an independent count made no effort to do so. It wasn’t the only squandered opportunity, as the reporters and camerapeople massed around the stage on January 27 neglected to interview organization leaders who could have enlightened the public about their ideas for bringing the war to a close. </p> <p>They could also have asked individual protesters about the groups to which they belong and for whom they volunteer, finding out whether there really has been an absence of protest as this war has mercilessly gone on. They could have wondered at their own failure to listen and observe the vigils, local government antiwar resolutions, the barrage of e-mails and letters to members of Congress and the White House. </p> <p>They could have speculated about the health of democracy in America when the executive branch can so easily ignore the voice of the people. And, instead of disdaining protesters of any age or hairstyle, they could have shown respect for people who got up off their couches on a mid-winter day to affirm the right of the people to be part of the political process.</p> </div><div class="form-item"> <label>Source URL:</label><br /><a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3096&printer_friendly=1">www.fair.org/index.php?page=3096&printer_friendly=1</a> </div> </div></div>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-37764881451116463542007-05-26T11:40:00.000-07:002007-05-26T11:45:08.192-07:00Sir, No Sir! Afilm to watch on Memorial Day !<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoN3gAyl7dEhtwdL2v23-9bSku2h5LO0r42w02LyRKV_33JS4YhisgfQ9i7UnRLSv2sVLlxs0kRyzzi-szZUwDCggwB-VlRoYA3lBd5Fer2tOXatM8WK5pDRUhMFCZgHuWeu3uAcpXM-v/s1600-h/sir_no_sir+poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoN3gAyl7dEhtwdL2v23-9bSku2h5LO0r42w02LyRKV_33JS4YhisgfQ9i7UnRLSv2sVLlxs0kRyzzi-szZUwDCggwB-VlRoYA3lBd5Fer2tOXatM8WK5pDRUhMFCZgHuWeu3uAcpXM-v/s400/sir_no_sir+poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068942286473446802" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDk6Qal2DCI">Sir, No Sir! Trailer</a>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-45921895156641498332007-05-24T06:11:00.000-07:002007-05-24T08:28:52.461-07:00Film on You Tube Bush Protest in New London, CT<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWg4GdMJs7IoE4WG1WvG5uG_7dXTVuw_o5c3YuZojdUZUwXj6yLu3gAv-_VIAY34SyK9DBtb-mT7SL35eI-e01v9k2DL2nTPZ824uSUJrXEtxz3Z_5ZEfL_EOE6uy-5AntTSXOOzH2R9Fk/s1600-h/profess-protest.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWg4GdMJs7IoE4WG1WvG5uG_7dXTVuw_o5c3YuZojdUZUwXj6yLu3gAv-_VIAY34SyK9DBtb-mT7SL35eI-e01v9k2DL2nTPZ824uSUJrXEtxz3Z_5ZEfL_EOE6uy-5AntTSXOOzH2R9Fk/s400/profess-protest.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068131413827831106" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Welcome back home George W !</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Click</span><a style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzb3DVzsh5E"> HERE </a><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">to see Film You can't hide from YOU TUBE! We will see you later in KPORT!</span><br /><a style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_RlvHYutrwfw/RlWeGDQ0xQI/AAAAAAAABDo/SuAbpZWAHB4/s1600-h/Bush+USCG+Graduation.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_RlvHYutrwfw/RlWeGDQ0xQI/AAAAAAAABDo/SuAbpZWAHB4/s400/Bush+USCG+Graduation.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068130782467638530" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RlvHYutrwfw/RlWeGTQ0xTI/AAAAAAAABEA/7KCxcsNR7t0/s1600-h/dancing+protester.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_RlvHYutrwfw/RlWeGTQ0xTI/AAAAAAAABEA/7KCxcsNR7t0/s400/dancing+protester.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068130786762605874" border="0" /></a><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Connecticut Protest of President George W. Bush at US Coast Guard Academy!</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvT81tvssLc">YOUTUBE</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX9bYoodW631l0lZexZUezipiLt9eXTUrFRQFPri5LE0S_KdDyw9RhOCbpwtghgcgySXCO6yGUk-dP2w2gZkk0QW59hzdP3wbIN52xwrcPhUNL9clEeL3hMgEMLiy6aslrcmmbNa2E_J5f/s1600-h/UCGC+CADETS+walk+by.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX9bYoodW631l0lZexZUezipiLt9eXTUrFRQFPri5LE0S_KdDyw9RhOCbpwtghgcgySXCO6yGUk-dP2w2gZkk0QW59hzdP3wbIN52xwrcPhUNL9clEeL3hMgEMLiy6aslrcmmbNa2E_J5f/s320/UCGC+CADETS+walk+by.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068131684410770770" border="0" /></a></blockquote>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-69965363398025396802007-05-21T05:39:00.000-07:002007-05-26T11:40:15.393-07:00The Gathering of Real Peace Patriots!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7J2IiJMVu3-m7NUedMzwK6JMfwKtpiYlKVnL831P1KQFNYfrfD4QajpZIVSj6BYzaj9f8Nif26DI2MsU1G4F24gIHCdmSYzA3z2ptu-C5rZZOVDkmA_K6qt-P87uy7MhfxvNtna1g0etB/s1600-h/daynameplate.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7J2IiJMVu3-m7NUedMzwK6JMfwKtpiYlKVnL831P1KQFNYfrfD4QajpZIVSj6BYzaj9f8Nif26DI2MsU1G4F24gIHCdmSYzA3z2ptu-C5rZZOVDkmA_K6qt-P87uy7MhfxvNtna1g0etB/s400/daynameplate.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066993041335960786" border="0" /></a><span id="lblBody"><b><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Just In Here is the Best Pictures of <a href="http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=cee9505a-824c-4b09-939e-6044eb85996d">theDAY.com</a><br /><br /></b></span><span id="ctl00_CPHMaster_ctl00_lblNotes" class="basicSmallItalic"></span> <span id="ctl00_CPHMaster_ctl00_lblBody" class="basicLarge"><b>Thursday, May 24th New London </b>— So anguished was Carlos Arredondo when three U.S. Marines delivered the news that his son had been killed fighting in Najaf, Iraq, that he took gasoline and a propane torch from his garage and lit himself on fire inside the Marines' government van.<p> Since that day, Aug. 24, 2004, Arredondo has recovered from his severe burns, become a U.S. citizen and created a mobile memorial to his son, Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo.</p><p> He brought that memorial — and a personal plea for an end to the war in Iraq — to New London Wednesday as more than 1,000 demonstrators converged on the city for President Bush's visit to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.</p><p> “The war in Iraq has been mishandled, and we all pay the price for this. My son paid with his life,” said Arredondo, now of Boston. “It is my duty as an American citizen to share my feelings with or against the government and be there for the ones who cannot speak anymore.”</p><p> After speaking to a crowd of at least 250 at a rally at the Soldiers & Sailors Monument organized by the Southeastern Connecticut Peace & Justice Network and Connecticut Opposes the War, Arredondo drove a truck trailing a flag-draped coffin containing some of his son's personal belongings.</p><p> The crowd marched behind the truck to the entrance of the academy at Williams Street and Mohegan Avenue, where they joined hundreds more demonstrators — most protesting war or the president himself, some with pro-Bush and pro-troop messages — who stood for hours bearing signs, banners and flags and speaking in a cacophony of competing megaphones and microphones.</p><p> New London police officers estimated the crowd at more than 1,000.</p><p> The anti-Bush and anti-war demonstrators, affiliated with more than a dozen organizations, including the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition, Connecticut Coalition for Peace, Move On, Connecticut Families for Peace, People of Faith CT and the Raging Grannies of Greater Westerly, gathered on one side of Mohegan Avenue. They faced a clearly outnumbered but equally energized crowd of Bush supporters from the groups Gathering of Eagles, Patriot Guard Riders and American Legion Riders across the street.</p><p> Those protesting the Bush visit included veterans and civilians, children and seasoned protesters, Connecticut residents, and people from Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.</p><p> “There is a difference between patriotism and nationalism, and there is a difference between supporting the troops and supporting a war. It is patriotic to speak out against our country and its wars,” said Ted Goodnight of North Providence. “To promote peace is to benefit all. It is also the greatest honor to all the heroes that have given their lives to our country.”</p><p> Goodnight, a member of Veterans For Peace, is a former Army sergeant who chose not to re-enlist after serving for nine months in Afghanistan and two weeks in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. While in Afghanistan, he said he questioned why military resources were being diverted to Iraq, a country that did not attack the United States.</p><p> Russ Ostlund of Stonington, who served for 14 years as a chief petty officer in the Navy, protested the Bush administration silently by holding an American flag over his right shoulder, a flag with a peace sign over his left shoulder, and lifting a copy of the U.S. Constitution as he looked toward the Bush supporters across the street and, behind them, the path of the presidential motorcade.</p><p> Frances Crowe, 88, of Northampton, Mass., protested the Bush administration with the group Code Pink Women For Peace. She wore a pink shirt and a sign — almost as large as she was — around her neck that read, “Arrest and convict the serial killer in Washington.”</p><p> Trish Gallagher of Boston, a member of the same group, said she believes the money spent on the war and the military ought to be directed instead to “life-affirming programs.”</p><p> A sea of anti-Bush and anti-war signs ranged from hand-scrawled messages like “Support our troops, not our president” and “No blood for more oil” to mass-produced slogans calling for withdrawal from Iraq and impeachment of the president. Some protesters carried American flags turned upside-down or with peace signs instead of stars.</p><p> Douglas Wray of Yantic displayed a print of Pablo Picasso's “Guernica,” depicting the suffering and violence of war, around his neck. He said the print hung above his desk at the Naval Submarine Base for 31 years before he retired from his job as an engineer. He said he attended the protest alone, unaffiliated with a group, adding, “I'm just against war.”</p><p><a id="ctl00_CPHMaster_ctl00_Img_read1_imgLst_ctl02_img" title="Magnify" href="http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=a9abaaa7-a5ea-42a2-89d5-be5d5fdcee11"><img title="Magnify" src="http://media.theday.com/gbl/media/dynamic/lrgimages/12bush0524070.JPG" style="border-width: 0px;" /></a>Mark Lipman, Tom Page, Susan Bueti and Walter Ducharm, of the group Bostonians for the Overthrow of King George, donned oversized papier-mâché heads of Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney, respectively, and wore jail stripes and chains.</p><p> While most protesters Wednesday were showing their dissent over the Iraq war, a small but vocal group of scientists were protesting what they believe would be a greater, disastrous legacy of the Bush administration: its disregard for the environment.</p><p> “Every one of us think the Iraq war is wrong,” said Marc Zimmer, a professor at Connecticut College who teaches environmental chemistry. “Our focus is on the science. In 20 or 30 years, when people look back, the biggest mistake of this administration will be that it did not pay enough attention to the environment.”</p><p> Zimmer helped organize the march of professors, students and dissenters who met at 9:30 a.m. in front of the F.W. Olin Science Center at Connecticut College. About 75 protesters donned academic robes or wore black, and some carried signs with messages such as “Bush + Exxon = Pseudo Science.”</p><p> As the group walked down Williams Street, it was met with jeers from pro-Bush counter-protesters. One man shouted, “Don't forget we fought for you so that you can do this.” Another man screamed, “Hippies!”</p><p> Bridget Baird, a professor of math and computer sciences at Connecticut College, said the Bush administration put unqualified people in positions of power. These people, Baird said, twist facts, especially scientific facts.</p><p> “The long-term impact is that this affects our credibility in the scientific world,” Baird said. “They ignore the science when it doesn't suit their positions. They discount global warming, stem-cell research and evolution. They ignore the recommendations of scientists.”</p><p> Harry Frank, a chemistry professor at the University of Connecticut, said he felt compelled to join the march. </p><p> “I'm here because this administration has failed the American public in all of its science policies,” Frank said. “When it comes to global warming, the administration has taken a worry-about-it-tomorrow attitude. We are losing our competitive edge. We are not training the next generation of scientists.”</p><p> Ann Burke, a professor of biology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, said she is dismayed at how the Bush administration continues to ignore the recommendations and findings of highly respected scientists. </p><p> “This administration has ignored the environment and health of our planet,” she said.</p><p> Demonstrations proceeded largely without incident. State police from Troop E responded in the afternoon to a minor scuffle on Williams Street but charged no one, and New London police, a visible presence all day along Williams Street and Mohegan Avenue, reported no protest-related arrests.</p><p> <i>e.stoll@theday.com</i></p><p> <i>i.larraneta@theday.com</i><img src="http://media.theday.com/gbl/media/images/misc06/ico_endstory.gif" /></p></span><br /><span id="lblBody"><b><br />New London</b> — Dozens of groups from around New England, joining an event planned by two national peace organizations, are setting up a big day of demonstration to coincide with Wednesday's Coast Guard Academy graduation visit by President Bush.<p> The groups won't venture any crowd-size estimates, but they are making bus, van and carpool arrangements all around the Northeast. </p><p> It will start with a march from downtown to a loud rally at the academy gates that is expected to include sign waving, amplified peace music and speeches by parents who have lost children in the war.</p><p> They will be joined not only by demonstrators from <a href="http://impeachbush.org/">impeachbush.org</a> but by marching scientists from an assortment of colleges in Connecticut, who plan to don their academic robes and carry signs protesting the Bush Administration's science policies.</p><p> The peace groups, organized by sponsors <a href="http://www.veteransforpeace.org/">Veterans for Peace</a> and Act Now to Stop War & End Racism <a href="http://www.answerct.org/">(A.N.S.W.E.R.)</a>, will themselves be protested by demonstrators from a new national pro-war group, Gathering of Eagles, which has put out a call on its Web site for people to turn out Wednesday “to counter the left-wing Communist A.N.S.W.E.R. event being held the same day.”</p><p> Protesters from the two sides clashed a bit during a peace rally in Washington in March that attracted tens of thousands of people, although both groups say they don't want any trouble in New London.</p><p> “At previous events these so-called peace organizations have historically been violent,” said James Bancroft of Bristol, a Marine veteran and the Connecticut coordinator for Gathering of Eagles. “If there is going to be any confrontation, we expect them to start it.”</p><p> Bancroft said the group, which has dozens of inquiries on its Web site about travel arrangements to New London, expects as many as a thousand people on each side to come Wednesday.</p><p> “They have a right to be there, but we are not going to engage them,” said John Bangert, a spokesman for Veterans for Peace. “What would Martin Luther King do? He would listen.”</p><p> New London Police Capt. William Dittman said protests sometimes never materialize in the numbers that organizations predict, but he said the department will be prepared. He said New London is working with Connecticut State Police on security for the presidential visit and the demonstrations.</p><p> “I would venture to say, yeah, there will be a lot of people here,” he said. “We don't expect any problems, and if there are any we'll be ready.”</p><p> Tahnee Stair of New Haven, an A.N.S.W.E.R. spokeswoman, said planning for the New London demonstration began months ago. In addition to the demonstration Wednesday there will a series of related events in the city, starting with a forum, slide show and discussion tonight at the Hygienic Art Galleries, which begins at 7 p.m.</p><p> On Sunday, the national group Iraq Veterans Against the War will host a public forum, starting at 1 p.m. at The Oasis on Bank Street. It will feature a panel discussion with U.S. Marine and Navy veterans and the co-founders of Appeal for Redress, which is collecting signatures of active-duty military who support a troop withdrawal from Iraq.</p><p> Veterans for Peace will have a regional peace planning meeting for its members Tuesday in New London, and the region's national president, Elliott Adams, a descendant of the two presidents, will be in town conducting nonviolence training.</p><p> Starting Tuesday evening, the group will conduct an all-night peace vigil at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument downtown. It will be held in honor of Cal Robertson, who has conducted his own vigil there for more than 20 years. Robertson hurt his knee in a fall recently but is expected to attend, Bangert said.</p><p> “Cal has been a constant Gandhian presence in the New London community, and we want to honor his tradition,” he said. “We also want to take the opportunity to stand up against George W. Bush.”</p><p> Also attending the group's demonstration will be Carlos Arredondo, who lost his son in the war and who has become known around the country for the memorial he sets up at peace rallies, with a flag-draped coffin in the back of his pickup truck.</p><p> The Raging Grannies, grandmothers against the war, and Code Pink, women war protesters known for their pink feather boas, will also be here, Bangert said. Bangert said he has been involved in the peace movement since 1971, when he protested with John Kerry, who served in Vietnam with Bangert's twin brother Joe.<br /></p><p> Wednesday's protest by scientists was organized by Marc Zimmer, professor of chemistry at Connecticut College. He said the group will include about 100 scientists, many faculty from schools all over the state, who will march from the college's science building to a lawn at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, across Route 32 from the academy.</p><p> “I got more and more concerned about the way the sciences are being misrepresented,” Zimmer said in describing his idea for the protest, mentioning the debates over stem-cell research, global warming and evolution. “Science used to be science, and you were fairly sure what it meant.”</p><p> Stair of A.N.S.W.E.R. said the demonstration Wednesday is part of a stepped-up campaign, Turn Up the Heat, meant to put pressure on the Bush Administration. They plan to protest at the West Point commencement where Vice President Cheney will be speaking.</p><p> “This is part of a nationwide effort to have demonstrations wherever government officials go, to demand that the U.S. get out of Iraq now,” she said. “It is similar to what happened to the Nixon Administration, when people knew wherever they went there would be an anti-war demonstration.”</p><p> Bancroft of the Gathering of Eagles said his group will be at West Point, too.</p><p> “These are two of the finest military academies on the planet. We want to be there to welcome the families and encourage the graduates,” he said. “It doesn't matter what you think about the president. Their coming is an act of disrespect toward the people they claim to support.</p><p> “They never marched against Osama or the Taliban. The only people they march against are in the United States or Israel. It makes you wonder what their agenda is.” </p><p> <a href="mailto://d%2Ecollins@theday.com/"><i><br /></i></a></p><p><a href="mailto://d%2Ecollins@theday.com/"><i>d.collins@theday.com</i></a></p><p> <a href="mailto://veterans4peace@comcast.net/"><span id="lblBody"><i>veterans4peace@comcast.net</i></span></a></p><p><a href="http://www.answerct.org/"><i>http://www.answerct.org</i></a></p><p><i><a href="http://www.veteransforpeace.org/">http://www.veteransforpeace.org</a><br /></i></p><p> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_DZgzODuzUZgK2TVyjvUd8j_GHVbCI1Du26Tcm4O4H1hUTx_CoHmw5k-KF1ulFvNQcFtwuuuIFFfHh6EPdad2sW_EGajjwtXL-GtghyEMJQAxDRZw9oDM7SsZa8Xydwev8Fvf0uyx_XKK/s1600-h/VFPLogoGrnSmall.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_DZgzODuzUZgK2TVyjvUd8j_GHVbCI1Du26Tcm4O4H1hUTx_CoHmw5k-KF1ulFvNQcFtwuuuIFFfHh6EPdad2sW_EGajjwtXL-GtghyEMJQAxDRZw9oDM7SsZa8Xydwev8Fvf0uyx_XKK/s400/VFPLogoGrnSmall.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066993037040993474" border="0" /></a></p></span> <span id="lblFooter" style="font-style: italic;"></span>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-21538817322087963502007-05-18T11:40:00.000-07:002007-05-21T19:09:25.367-07:00NEW LONDON, CT PROTEST PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Uscga_front_view.jpg/800px-Uscga_front_view.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Uscga_front_view.jpg/800px-Uscga_front_view.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" >Gathering of Peace Patriots at the base of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument in New London, CT Broad & State Streets.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.galenfrysinger.org/us/xmas05086.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 371px;" src="http://www.galenfrysinger.org/us/xmas05086.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNHHlR2zHF-NGakZGcwKhPZLVNwXCYTeEvv-oCEfrHtshtFygT0nZUBwMc5Seb3Jw-rQ9ZN-3UoTcdoeG9TzlKP9pIyZgXoAgNTH1xOHL2GonPPIKAXkSam0eSDR2xRFlB8yKhDijfQD9/s1600-h/Elliot+Adams+VFP.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNHHlR2zHF-NGakZGcwKhPZLVNwXCYTeEvv-oCEfrHtshtFygT0nZUBwMc5Seb3Jw-rQ9ZN-3UoTcdoeG9TzlKP9pIyZgXoAgNTH1xOHL2GonPPIKAXkSam0eSDR2xRFlB8yKhDijfQD9/s200/Elliot+Adams+VFP.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062923277104806802" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Elliott Adams</span>, National President of Veterans for Peace, descendant of 2 US Presidents, and g.g.g.grand cousin to Samuel Adams!</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.newyorkphotoblog.com/blog/photos/FUM2005010G0924-0424.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.newyorkphotoblog.com/blog/photos/FUM2005010G0924-0424.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Carlos & Melida Arredondo</span>, Gold Star Families. Parents of Cpl. Alex Arredondo USMC, Killed in Najaf, Iraq. Carlos & Melida Arredondo are members of Gold Star Families, and members of Military Families Speak Out and will be here for the overnight vigil honor guard at Camp Alex Arredondo's memorial casket and medals, photographs, & boots.<br />Come to what has been hidden from the press by executive orders. Pay you person respects to all of the fallen.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7438AqI83Ty_tjG7yrOP197i1282KoJwBO_MANdh-adQ1eYXPWft15MmfSYaiOSdFjsbyNCDcg60tToxLq9WMSfNQBVciRtB9aU8AxtSLZfmevyermElK3XrBIiVYYGIdz_J21AQl0Vx8/s1600-h/Vet+on+knees+At+Arlington+East.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7438AqI83Ty_tjG7yrOP197i1282KoJwBO_MANdh-adQ1eYXPWft15MmfSYaiOSdFjsbyNCDcg60tToxLq9WMSfNQBVciRtB9aU8AxtSLZfmevyermElK3XrBIiVYYGIdz_J21AQl0Vx8/s400/Vet+on+knees+At+Arlington+East.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067031717516461282" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Ted Goodnight, </span>VFP and IVAW, Veteran of US Army in Afghanistan and North Carolina Army National Guard deployed to Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bixJ0PPKfx-Q1dtHErktmfWysEtwpTASsnIZuvmeMgJXTof0XNl2jGmFrjMAVMxcAO4k4lCm3WP5aR0caulI15Fey05Ieu-G8UPwiaxIMsDsIuUyA1_-nIn_qxFaRGhSZvIb2D70u2n7/s1600-h/John+%26+Joe+Bangert.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bixJ0PPKfx-Q1dtHErktmfWysEtwpTASsnIZuvmeMgJXTof0XNl2jGmFrjMAVMxcAO4k4lCm3WP5aR0caulI15Fey05Ieu-G8UPwiaxIMsDsIuUyA1_-nIn_qxFaRGhSZvIb2D70u2n7/s400/John+%26+Joe+Bangert.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067038872931976434" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">John Bangert</span>, UU, VFP, MFSO, Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, Cape Cod Peace Community. Twin brother to Joe Bangert for Winter Soldier Films, Sir, No Sir acclaim. Presently has a nephew in serving in Afghanistan, an another nephew who served in the Gulf War of 1991. <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br />UU, Friends, VFP and </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 255); font-weight: bold;">Code Pink</span> members have been invited to stay overnight in Unity Hall and may set up their sleeping bags there once the choir leaves @ 9:00pm. No need preaching to the choir:) !<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><br /><br /></span>Early Breakfast will we served before the rally and protest at USGC Academy.<br />If you would be kind enough to e-mail and RSVP so we know roughly how many folks will be here on Tuesday night.<span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">E-mail you RSVP!</span><br /><a style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51); font-family: georgia;" href="mailto://veterans4peace@comcast.net/"> veterans4peace@comcast.net</a><br /></div><h2 style="color: rgb(51, 51, 0); text-align: left;" class="date-header"><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-size:180%;" ></span></span></h2><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Hosting Community of Faith we thank you for your mercy and sense of justice for all!</span><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="font-size:180%;">All Souls Church Unitarian Universalist</span><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:180%;">19 Jay Street, Unity Hall <br />(after 9pm for sleepovers)</span><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:180%;">New London, CT 06320</span><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:180%;">Phone: (860) 443-0316</span></div> <div style="text-align: left; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-size:180%;" ><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAVKXrnJ3n_otUAS8CCoqZBOkSwXVrWYYxNtPsSXNq4xhKxsfto42dbz6jnD6NxIZ9PoFDwg4XXvWM1MGhioYeBMxbEwiZx1wAlj8AXZNuTb6znP55NdzXevvv4ULG3fJfh6kaMft12Ce/s1600-h/Elloitt+Adams.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAVKXrnJ3n_otUAS8CCoqZBOkSwXVrWYYxNtPsSXNq4xhKxsfto42dbz6jnD6NxIZ9PoFDwg4XXvWM1MGhioYeBMxbEwiZx1wAlj8AXZNuTb6znP55NdzXevvv4ULG3fJfh6kaMft12Ce/s200/Elloitt+Adams.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062923174025591682" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Veterans for Peace Actions</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Elliott Adams (518) 441-2697<br />Veterans for Peace, President</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />John Bangert (508) 432-0545<br />VFP, MFSO Event Organizer</span><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></div><h2 style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;" class="date-header"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.answerct.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"></a>All Souls Church, UU in New London, CT has offered Peace Pilgrims, Friends Veterans & UU activist to come stay in their church community for an overnight on May 22nd & Breakfast on May 23rd, their have offered us a place to sleep, eat and have showers for the United States Coast Guard Academy<br /></span></h2><h2 style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;" class="date-header"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" > New England Regional Anti-War Protest!</span><br /></h2><h2 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left;font-family:georgia;" class="date-header"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN23kl0YwXWC-e0az-2Azvxt84tuZt04-oXdaJktJnQJWkTnOGIPBsi_RetrnsBYcL0Juk2FepjEe8fh1hwYEUU8EZcNzTwP5enr1t6JRzw0sMZgmhNLqCiiejmQOs5DCU2JlYp4TU793U/s1600-h/carolynadmin.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN23kl0YwXWC-e0az-2Azvxt84tuZt04-oXdaJktJnQJWkTnOGIPBsi_RetrnsBYcL0Juk2FepjEe8fh1hwYEUU8EZcNzTwP5enr1t6JRzw0sMZgmhNLqCiiejmQOs5DCU2JlYp4TU793U/s200/carolynadmin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062919123871431490" border="0" /></a></span></h2><h2 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" class="date-header"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">All Soul's Minister is the Rev. Carolyn Patierno, UU, and her phone numbers are: (860)-443-0316 - Church Office</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">(860)-443-0092 - Minister's Study</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">E-mail: <a href="mailto://carolyn%2Epatierno@allsouls.net/">carolyn.patierno@allsouls.net</a></span></span><br /></div><br /></div><h2 style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" class="date-header"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="mailto://carolyn%2Epatierno@allsouls.net/?subject=asuu%20web%20site%20inquiry" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"></a><a href="mailto://carolyn%2Epatierno@allsouls.net/"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ></span></a></span><span style="font-weight: normal; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">We also want to acknowledge the constant works of <a href="http://www.stfrancishousenewlondon.org/">St. Francis House</a>, in New London, CT and we salute Cal Robertson VFP member for his 20 + years commitment to his PEACE VIGIL at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial in New London, CT. VFP President Elliott Adams will be meeting at St. Francis House Community this weekend as well. </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);font-family:georgia;" ></span></span><br /></h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAVKXrnJ3n_otUAS8CCoqZBOkSwXVrWYYxNtPsSXNq4xhKxsfto42dbz6jnD6NxIZ9PoFDwg4XXvWM1MGhioYeBMxbEwiZx1wAlj8AXZNuTb6znP55NdzXevvv4ULG3fJfh6kaMft12Ce/s1600-h/Elloitt+Adams.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAVKXrnJ3n_otUAS8CCoqZBOkSwXVrWYYxNtPsSXNq4xhKxsfto42dbz6jnD6NxIZ9PoFDwg4XXvWM1MGhioYeBMxbEwiZx1wAlj8AXZNuTb6znP55NdzXevvv4ULG3fJfh6kaMft12Ce/s200/Elloitt+Adams.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062923174025591682" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51); font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">(Elliott Adams, Veterans for Peace President, is a descendant of US President John Adams, and grand cousin to Samuel Adams, Elliott's g.g.g. grandfather was Thomas Adams, brother to our 2nd President John Adams.) from editor jjb</span></span><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSs3qDkV_3Ad4wAtNmOUGToSHitC_A-q37KhMPadY2EKHzmtYVWpARjmYeso-VhvOukHhj0GOrcHMr1as0HgB-5AQGU5A1p_h0AC1u3u0uCvZEUQzOEPtq2M5k3h17oOsL2jKSUFPa_1kB/s1600-h/01father190.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSs3qDkV_3Ad4wAtNmOUGToSHitC_A-q37KhMPadY2EKHzmtYVWpARjmYeso-VhvOukHhj0GOrcHMr1as0HgB-5AQGU5A1p_h0AC1u3u0uCvZEUQzOEPtq2M5k3h17oOsL2jKSUFPa_1kB/s320/01father190.1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5065347729559176258" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" >Carlos Arredondo will be setting up "Camp Alex" at the base or near the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. We selected this site out of respect for the New London Peace Vigils held here by folks from St. Francis House.</span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Special mention to New London's , Veteran for Peace member </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Cal Robertson</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">, for his presence of conscience for over 20 years. Also VFP members will be assembling at the Memorial to VIGIL for PEACE.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br />We invite folks to stop by and bring and light candles or meditate, stand, sit for and pray for peace</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"> ALL NIGHT at this site.</span></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" ><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903017034590733167.post-63414764204399857162007-05-15T03:38:00.000-07:002007-05-16T07:49:59.030-07:001st Lt. Andrew J. Bacevich, 27, of Walpole, Mass KIA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijUEYB_y2wve1RxCPIDnsaoz30cV51vBhJbACmPVBRnVbKa5ANJNyW6f34TnwqrSS1gIIT0zFXCfAOALi-TvHMf3UfAzSVNNTt3olDlm6lzRdEwbpDQiqp5358k8Jy8IxoiU1qhJrjus_a/s1600-h/bacevich.gif.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijUEYB_y2wve1RxCPIDnsaoz30cV51vBhJbACmPVBRnVbKa5ANJNyW6f34TnwqrSS1gIIT0zFXCfAOALi-TvHMf3UfAzSVNNTt3olDlm6lzRdEwbpDQiqp5358k8Jy8IxoiU1qhJrjus_a/s320/bacevich.gif.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064738961644288994" border="0" /></a><br /><div class="timestamp">May 16, 2007</div> <h1><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "> Former Soldier, Now a Professor, Loses His Only Son to a War He Actively Opposed </nyt_headline></h1> <nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "> </nyt_byline><div class="byline">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/pam_belluck/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Pam Belluck">PAM BELLUCK</a></div> <nyt_text> </nyt_text><div id="articleBody"> <p>BOSTON, May 15 — The father, a longtime military man, from <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_states_military_academy/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about United States Military Academy">West Point</a> to Vietnam to the first Persian Gulf war, became an early public critic of the war in <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Iraq.">Iraq</a>, writing frequently and potently about its causes and effects.</p> <p>But when his only son joined the Army and was sent to fight in that war, the father, Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/b/boston_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Boston University">Boston University</a>, expressed only support, said a family member and colleagues.</p> <p> “My father, he was first and foremost a father to his son,” said Jennifer Bacevich, one of Professor Bacevich’s three daughters. “They loved each other very much.”</p> <p> On Sunday, two soldiers came to Professor Bacevich’s home in Walpole, Mass., with the kind of news that a military man knows is always possible: First Lt. Andrew J. Bacevich, 27, the son, had been killed by a bomb while on patrol in Balad, Iraq. </p> <p>“My father,” Ms. Bacevich said in an interview on Tuesday, “is heartbroken.”</p> <p> Michael T. Corgan, an associate professor in Boston University’s department of international relations, who also has a military background, said Professor Bacevich knew the risks his son was taking.</p> <p> “Having been in combat himself, he knows the amount of chance involved,” Professor Corgan said, “that no matter how careful you are, no matter how well prepared you are, bad things happen.”</p> <p> “But what can you say to somebody who’s lost his only son in Iraq?” Professor Corgan said. “What makes it hard is we all know how Andy feels about this war.”</p> <p>Professor Bacevich declined to be interviewed on Tuesday, but his views on Iraq are well known, and they appeared to be given a certain weight in public discourse, in part because of his background as a retired Army lieutenant colonel, an observant Roman Catholic and a self-described political conservative.</p> <p> Last month in The Los Angeles Times, he wrote: “The truth is that next to nothing can be done to salvage Iraq. It no longer lies within the capacity of the United States to determine the outcome of events there. Iraqis will decide their own fate. We are spectators, witnesses, bystanders caught in a conflagration that we ourselves, in an act of monumental folly, touched off.”</p> <p> And in the May issue of The Atlantic Monthly, he called the conflict a “disastrous war,” and noted that “the thousands of Americans killed in Iraq include no members of Congress and not a single general.”</p> <p> Colleagues said such opinions came from deliberative research.</p> <p>“He was not a sort of ideological, hard-line critic,” said William R. Keylor, a professor of international relations and history. </p> <p>“I got the impression that his stance on the war was the result of very careful study and analysis of the information that he had,” Professor Keylor added. “When he finally came to that conclusion, he spoke out vociferously.”</p> <p> Professor Bacevich did not, however, speak out vociferously to his son, Jennifer Bacevich said.</p> <p> “My father, although he makes no secret of what his opinions are, believes that when his children become adults they can make decisions for themselves,” she said. </p> <p> The younger Andrew Bacevich, like his siblings, was steeped in military life. He was born at West Point, his sister said, and spent his first 13 years moving with the family to military postings in Kansas, Virginia, Texas and Germany.</p> <p> “The army, it takes over everything: where you’re going to live, go to school, who your friends are,” said Ms. Bacevich, who is 34.</p> <p> As a student at Boston University majoring in communications, her brother joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps but was taken out because he had asthma, Ms. Bacevich said. </p> <p>After college, the gregarious young man, who ran marathons, worked in politics, as an aide to State Senator Jo Ann Sprague and later to Gov. <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/mitt_romney/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Mitt Romney.">Mitt Romney</a>, but when he learned that asthmatics were being allowed to enlist, he signed up, his sister said.</p> <p> Professor Corgan said, “I think young Bacevich joined because of what he saw in his father.</p> <p> “I think he felt as his father did, that regardless of what you think of the particular politics of the administration, that service to the country is a pretty high value.”</p> <p> In October, the younger Mr. Bacevich was deployed to Iraq with the Third Brigade Combat Team, and was scheduled to return home next January.</p> <p>When her brother visited in February, “he was very tired,” Ms. Bacevich said. “He described his life as being one day of actually being out doing patrols, one day of rest, one day of getting ready for the next patrol. It was very grueling.”</p> <p>The politics of the war never came up, she said, adding, “My brother was very aware of military duty being a duty, so it was not something that he would feel” was appropriate for him to focus on.</p> <p>His father, with whom he frequently exchanged e-mail, kept his views separate from his feelings about his son. Professor Bacevich insisted that journalists quoting him about the war not mention that his son was serving in it. And when colleagues asked how his son was doing, “he always indicated fine, no problem,” Professor Keylor said.</p> <p> Professor Corgan said: “He didn’t go around wailing or gnashing teeth — it’s just not his way. Stoic, I think is the word. He was proud that his son chose to serve his country and so forth. What I saw was a parent sort of holding his breath.”</p> <nyt_update_bottom> </nyt_update_bottom> </div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvikRSpHLcui19QM2AgKspkpS2-smPkHnS13pLwZLf6JydJcD-9QxoPsuKMloz-TYP8vchlBSQ3xg9d_gZzs-ZE7WAuV26pGKT95VzDZ8gP6limAnOIfrM7c39G0oHGk2HOlrEEzH3GXEw/s1600-h/bacevich.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvikRSpHLcui19QM2AgKspkpS2-smPkHnS13pLwZLf6JydJcD-9QxoPsuKMloz-TYP8vchlBSQ3xg9d_gZzs-ZE7WAuV26pGKT95VzDZ8gP6limAnOIfrM7c39G0oHGk2HOlrEEzH3GXEw/s1600-h/bacevich.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.bu.edu/ir/faculty/bacevich.html">Andrew J. Bacevich</a> is Professor of History and International Relations at Boston University. His most recent book is <a href="http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryOther/MilitaryHistory/?view=usa&ci=9780195311983"><span style="font-style: italic;">The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War</span></a>. His son also named Andrew J. Bacevich was killed in Iraq on Mother's Day!</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><br /><br />NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense</span><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-weight: bold;"> </p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >No. 582-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >May 14, 2007</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" > Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" > Public/Industry(703) 428-0711</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">DoD Identifies Army Casualty</p> <p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.</p> <p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">1st Lt. Andrew J. Bacevich, 27, of Walpole, Mass., died Sunday, May 13 (Mothers' Day) in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit during combat patrol operations in Salah Ad Din Province, Iraq.He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.</p><h1 style="font-family: trebuchet ms; text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYB-bx3dMl7WBELgLcFPef_gPosoQVs_sUw5hwkXPYGYB5UIlMKZvX0z22mORLkStwykRBOIIesifU_KrGGgKrkPdbkrUJC9RcTMod0xwUoIvCcOpjzftx_YaNM53ugrcfNa76p40GbVBm/s1600-h/salute+flag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYB-bx3dMl7WBELgLcFPef_gPosoQVs_sUw5hwkXPYGYB5UIlMKZvX0z22mORLkStwykRBOIIesifU_KrGGgKrkPdbkrUJC9RcTMod0xwUoIvCcOpjzftx_YaNM53ugrcfNa76p40GbVBm/s400/salute+flag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064740761235586034" border="0" /></a> Names of the Dead<br /></h1> <nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "> </nyt_byline> <nyt_text> </nyt_text> <p></p><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >The Department of Defense has identified 3,382 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the deaths of following Americans yesterday:<br /><br />BACEVICH, Andrew J., 27, First Lt., Army; Walpole, Mass.; First Cavalry Division.<br /><br />FARRAR, William A. Jr., 20, Pfc., Army; Redlands, Calif.; 127th Military Police Company, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade.<br /><br />FRANK, Michael K., 36, Specialist, Army; Great Falls, Mont.; 82nd Airborne Division.<br /><br />SAUSTO, Anthony J., 22, Pvt., Army; Lake Havasu City, Ariz.; Second Infantry Division.<br /><br />ZEMBIEC, Douglas A., 34, Major, Marines; Albuquerque; Headquarters Battalion, Marine Corps National Capital Region.</span><p></p>jjbangerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672379129627687785noreply@blogger.com0