The Christian Radical

Passed Torch

2011-05-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

Greetings All: I’m Matthew and I’m now heading up the Christian Radical online Zine here. As such I’ll be posting local happenings and mishappenings that are relevant to those fallowing Christ in this broken world of ours. I though I’d start with some postings of summer events that might get your radical engines fired, see the below, and pray on!

Grass Roots Summer Program. July 17-23. New Hope Catholic Worker Farm and Agronomic University near Dubuque presents its second annual Growing Roots program. Focus of the week will be on how Peter Maurin's thought relates to the economic conditions of the 21st century. Each day will include four hours of study and four hours of manual labor. Housing in tents. Cost: barter or $50. Registration is by phone or in person only at 563-556-0987.
New Hope CW Farm
6697 Mitchell Mill Rd.
La Motte, Iowa 52054

August 12-14, 2011, a couple hundred Christian activists, new monastic contemplatives, recovering addicts, First Nations leaders, pastors and practitioners amongst the poor will gather in Mission, British Columbia, Canada on Stolo Nation land for a weekend of music and conversation inspired by God's vision of justice and creativity. Invited speakers and musicians include Ched Myers, Shane Claiborne, Elaine Enns, Cheryl Bear and many more.
www.creativeworldfestival.org

Wild Goose Festival, June 23-26 Shakori Hills North Carolina
The Wild Goose is a Celtic metaphor for the Holy Spirit. We are followers of Jesus creating a festival of faith, justice, music, and the arts. The festival is rooted in the Christian tradition and therefore open to all regardless of belief, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, denomination or religious affiliation.

People who want to be part of a movement for change; people who want to connect with each other at the intersection of justice, spirituality and art; people who like to have FUN! The Wild Goose Festival is not just about relevant topics and probing conversation. The Wild Goose Festival offers a truly remarkable lineup of musicians, artists, speakers, performers and events all in a beautiful camp-like setting in rural North Carolina. The festival is family-friendly, and we're seeking to nurture a space that is both entertaining and transformational. We’ll have great local food and fun activities, space for kids and adults alike to enjoy anything from making art to dance workshops, conversations with leading figures in spirituality and social justice from around the US, music from bluegrass to hip-hop, or just relaxing and spending time with friends. So whoever you are, wherever you come from, and whatever you're looking for, you're welcome to the Wild Goose Festival.
www.wildgoosefestival.org

riding off into the sunset.

2011-03-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

I no longer have time for this project, I've tried scaling it back from being a daily to a thrice weekly to a once weekly news service but my inbox gets swamped with stuff most of it I end up deleting and the rest usually ends up here but too late to matter I'm tired of doing what I feel is a half assed job and to be honest my heart's not in it any more anyway you reading this deserve better... much better. and I can't give it to you. I don't know if there's anyone interested in taking this blog over but if you read this and you want the job please contact me.

Chris

very very sick

2011-03-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

I came back from my vacation with the worst flue I've ever had I'm slowly on the mend but for now updating will continue to be delayed until the sweats and tremors subside.

Chris

I'm taking a break

2011-02-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

unless I can get someone to update the Christian Radical will resume weekly updates March 12th.

thank you
Chris

SMOKIN

2011-01-29T10:31:00.000-08:00

May passion keep its flame
For things creative and artistic,
Care and humble, in a barbaric world
As we are invaders, outlaws
Plowing across Vietnam
Trampling their way of life
Leaving behind widows and orphans
Coming here at eighteen a
Newbie knowing nothing of war
Learning quickly I should have
Went to college or caught the
First train smokin to Canada
Rather than let my government
Put me in harms way for money
And businesses we peons will
Never receive one dividend tonight
There is a battle raging in the valley
I am standing guard with two men
At a bunker on side of a mountain
Soldiers are resting inside
The fly boys are carrying the fight
Explosions in the night sky like
Fire works I step into the bunker
My relief is late the smell of reefer
Pirouettes through the air
A negro soldier walks over to me
Gives me a make shift pipe
Made out of a soda can
Places a white cube on the bowl
Then strikes a lighter, “Hit this”
I hold in smoke then exhale a cloud
Sounds become sharper heart pounding
“What was that?” He says, “Crack”
I return to my post and walk the
Perimeter every sensation is more acute
I think of my older sister
Who got me a fake I.D.
On my seventeenth birthday
To go clubbing with her girlfriends
I stepped into a red haze
Of sexual tension working
Young adults lust and morality
Tomorrow we will be in the
Valley using bayonets against
The enemy, eye to eye, hand to throat,
Very aware of our mortality
And that our sovereign country
Sold us out a low price.

Arnal Kennedy

8th Letter posting from from LACW - SOA Prisoner, David Omondi

2011-01-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

Michael Wisniewski
Jan 27, 2011

Greetings of peace, all,

Attached is another letter from LACW community member David Omondi,
who is now in McRae Correctional Institute. David's new address where
you can write and send funds:

Michael David Omondi #94638-020
McRae Correctional Institute
P.O. Drawer 30
McRae, GA 31055

Peace,

Mike Wisniewski, LACW
http://lacatholicworker.org/
--------------------

Dear Friends,

It’s around 9:30pm Sunday night as I begin this letter. The Jets are losing to the Steelers (aargh!), but my celly is standing in the doorway singing along to his radio, completely off time, thick Cuban accent, broken English. The Bob Marley song is unidentifiable from his rendition, but entertaining nonetheless. We are in cell 220 on the top range of the SHU (Special Housing Unit), aka “the hole”, where we are being held in “administrative detention pending bed space” after our recent arrival at McRae Correctional Facility. He told me our one-station receiving radios (dollar store variety) actually has good music on tonight, so we are both listening now—Michael Bolton, etc. Classics. He’s loving it, dancing all over the cell, quite entertaining. Enrique Mora (just farted and broke out in laughter), 26 from Cuba—in the States from 15 years of age, sleeps all day, snores up a storm, and comes alive at night. We are looking at about two weeks in the SHU, while space opens up in general population. (...)

This is very much the same as USP—23 hours lockdown five days a week, and all weekend long; but there are some key differences. There is no computer access at this facility, and we only get one phone call a week in here and must wait seven days before the first one. So it seems my birthday present will be a phone call to L.A.—haha! The shower schedule is the same as well, Monday, Wednesday, Friday but thankfully they run showers and rec separately, so at least we get out of the cell twice on those days, albeit in handcuffs while being escorted to the shower or the caged-in two person rec units. No TV! The reason I know the score is that the CO is giving us updates as he goes by on counts/walk through. They have at least provided us with pen, paper, and indigent envelopes to do some letter writing, which I quite appreciate. And despite how unpleasant this situation may sound, I am actually enjoying it here; appreciating the peace and quiet, the warmth of our cell, and the little bit of reading material we have been able to acquire (a few magazines and newspapers). Enrique can be quite moody, but when he is feeling alright, we have a riot of a good time.

Well, I do not have much writing paper, and need to try and make it last for as long as I am in here—as much space as this has already taken, I now see I am going to have to severely limit everything I had planned on writing. So here comes the bare minimum.

The move to McRae happened rather suddenly. I had been awake all of Wednesday night trying to catch up on mail—was in quite good spirits. Excellent actually. Writing and chatting it up with my new cell at USP, Joseph Smith (doing a two year bid off a buy-bust cop sting in D.C.—much like Skid Row) Eventually I could not hold off exhaustion and crashed a couple hours before breakfast, expecting that if indeed I were to be moved that morning, that it would happen around 10:00ish and that I would be given about an hour’s notice. In fact I was half expecting another week at USP—I had relinquished concern/consternation over whether that would indeed be the day, and was feeling very at peace about whatever was to happen. Around 7:30 as I was quietly enjoying my breakfast, a tap on the window and King’s voice (head orderly) “Michael pack your stuff, you’re leaving.” Fifteen minutes later the door opened as the officer on duty came to usher me away. I was reminded of my own words “for blessings came when least expected.”

I could spend hours and many, many pages recounting all the remarkable little ways, and big ways, I have seen God’s hand at work in all of the events leading up to and surrounding this move—the introduction of a new cell mate just days prior, who is now enjoying the commissary order I left behind, the forced release from seemingly endless amounts of work as I was simply unable to finish organizing mail stacks, the fact that I had given up caring about whether I would
actually be moved, and countless other little details. Once again, despite the limitations, I have a sure sense that I am where I am supposed to be and that God is in control.

It’s about 11:30 pm right now. I stopped writing to snack on some leftover food, and shortly after that, Gurman (one of the orderlies from whom we have been getting reading material) tried to give us another tray (one of his own when they get extras) when the CO opened the flap to let us have a book—but the CO wouldn’t let him.

Now it’s 1:30-2:00. Had to stop writing again because I could not concentrate at all with the random noises and drumming Enrique was carrying on. Funny that I wrote about peace and quiet—when he’s had some coffee, peaceful and quiet is the last thing it is in here. He can carry on like a 7 year old. Anyhow, the comment on the CO was just to introduce the subject of private/federal facilities. More observations to come later, but it is interesting to spend time observing their behavior—there are those who are laid back, and those who are very picky about the rules, then there are those who seem to relish their ability to make life difficult for inmates. The whole Mcprison industrial complex, with private run federal prisons, must really make for some interesting mixes. Often times here at McRae I have felt as though there are too many of them who take too much pride in the fact that they are helping their country deal with the “immigrant problem.” White ones especially. Most of the Black guards tend to be laid back and amenable. Anyhow, now I am tired and just rambling—a good sign than I just need to be done with this.

I am glad to be here at McRae amongst so many different nationalities. Though I am designated to be in a camp, a low-security prison affords more exposure to real prison (as did USP), and the
atmosphere, I expect, will be quite fascinating as there is a completely different prison attitude amongst an assemblage of international inmates. A good combination of a whole bunch of different characteristics—private, low-security, immigration spot, etc.

As far as I can tell thus far, being designated here does not necessarily mean that the INS is attempting to deport you; it just means that the BOP assigned you here because of foreign birth in order to facilitate deportation efficiently if that is indeed to be pursued. Already some guards and counselors have given me strange looks when I have informed them of my U.S. citizenship, one of them outright saying “you’re not supposed to be here.” So we will see what happens. I want to finish my sentence here. I have spent way too large a chunk of a 6 months sentence in the hole simply because of being in transit and really don’t want to endure that rigmarole again—although should it happen again I guess I will have much more warning and be better prepared. It is not the hole part that is bothersome so much as the interruption in communication and separation/loss of items like books, large amounts of mail and other property items. Being strip searched all the time is kind of annoying as well, but quite bearable. I should have known what was to come in being transferred here—it was unsettling at first to find out I would be on lockdown for another couple weeks without much opportunity for communication. But I was well prepared by past experiences, and I am adjusting very well. Even enjoying it. Quite a bit actually. Ok. I am talking in circles now. Time to go to sleep.

Peace, Love, and Exhaustion,
Michael David

Michael David Omondi #94638-020
McRae Correctional Institute
P.O. Drawer 30
McRae, GA 31055

Minor explosion in Davos hotel, nobody hurt

2011-01-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

Reuters

Left-wing activists claimed responsibility for a minor explosion on Thursday at a hotel in Davos, close to where top executives and world leaders were meeting, but nobody was hurt.

Devin Wenig, CEO of Thomson Reuters' Markets division, was in a breakfast meeting of senior executives at the hotel when the explosion happened.

"A huge boom went off. The whole ceiling lifted. Everyone was convinced it was a bomb," he said. "It took a half hour to reassemble the meeting."

read the rest here

Longest Jailed Nuclear Resister Helen Woodson Needs Support

2011-01-29T09:56:00.000-08:00

January, 2011

Dear friends,

Over the years we have spent time in prison and/or supported other activists who have been in prison for acts of conscience. We write to you now with a special request on behalf of Helen Woodson.

Back in November of 1984, Helen was part of the Silo Pruning Hooks action. She went to a Missouri nuclear missile silo along with Larry Cloud-Morgan, Fr. Carl Kabat OMI and Fr. Paul Kabat OMI. With sledgehammer and jackhammer, the group followed the biblical mandate of Isaiah to turn swords into plowshares. They were convicted and received a varied number of years of prison time for their action. (...)

With the exception of a few days, Helen has been in prison ever since. (A couple of times in past years when released, she immediately engaged in an action that resulted in arrest and being returned directly to prison for violating parole.)

She is scheduled to be released in September of 2011 after 27 years behind bars.

Helen is looking forward to getting out, and at the age of 67 and with health issues, has decided to now retire from activities that might return her to prison.

It's been a long time since she's lived on the outside. She'll leave prison with a sweatsuit, plus books that she's accumulated. That's it.

Since she will leave prison with no source of income or health coverage, she plans to apply for government assistance, but it can take six or so months for someone to find out if they are eligible to receive benefits. In the meantime, in addition to things like food and clothes, she'll need to purchase medications for multiple health problems, at quite a significant cost. So she has asked friends to raise funds on her behalf (not money to be used while she is in prison, but for the things she'll need once she's released).

Her living situation once she's released is still uncertain. It has been challenging for her to develop a plan that the Bureau of Prisons and Department of Justice find suitable since Helen will be subjected to many conditions and restrictions after her release. The couple who have invited her to live with them are still waiting to be contacted to answer the questions and receive the home visit needed to determine if Helen will be allowed to live there. Helen is very much hoping that they and their home will be approved. If not, she is not sure where she will be able to live, and it's possible additional money will need to be raised to enable her to rent a small place to live.

In the meantime, until this becomes more clear, it will ease her mind significantly if she can at least know that she'll be able to pay for the medicines she needs, and things like a winter coat. Can you help?

Since the beginning of the nuclear age, many thousands of people in the U.S. and around the world have been arrested for anti-nuclear civil disobedience, and hundreds have spent time in prison for these actions. None of these people (not even long-imprisoned Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu) have spent more time in prison than Helen Woodson. We ask that you join us now in providing her with needed support as she embarks on this huge transition after her many years in prison.
Please be as generous as you are able! Any amount, from $1 to $1000, will be gratefully received. Checks and money orders can be made payable to the Nuclear Resister (with "for Helen" written on the memo line) and sent to the Nuclear Resister, PO Box 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733. Secure online donations can be made via paypal at the Nuclear Resister website at www.nukeresister.org/donate (on the final screen please click on ³add special instructions to the seller² and note that the donation is for Helen).

Thank you.

Peace,

Jacqueline Allen-Doucot
Hartford Catholic Worker

Elizabeth McAlister
Jonah House

Felice Cohen-Joppa
The Nuclear Resister

Anna Brown
Kairos Community

The Very Best of Howard Zinn, Who Has Been Gone for 1 Year

2011-01-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

A New-Old Call to Radical Christian Community

2011-01-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

Eda Uca-Dorn
Jesus Radicals
January 27, 2011

“Community”, “Radical Discipleship”, “Prophetic Witness”: An urgent and self-giving Christianity has taken hold of the imaginations of a new generation of the faithful. Group houses of sincere young folks earnestly desiring to live for Christ and serve the poor are springing up like daisies after a summer rain. It is humbling to witness the movement of the Spirit in their work. Yet it is mournfully apparent that the language, aims, and means of our Christian communities are often defined by a narrow contingent of the movement or what might be the movement if our communities were accountable to anti-oppression work and in solidarity with those under the foot of kyriarchy in its many forms. In fact, the voices of women, queer people, people of color, those of immigrant or non-North American status, the economically disadvantaged, and the disabled are often secondary to the voices of celebrated white heterosexual North American men. And while certainly, our God’s cause is the cause of the poor, there is something troubling about our communities’ rhetoric and movement “to the margins”: it is a dangerous sense of entitlement that gives some of us the notion to obtain property and create ministries and services- often while lacking training or outside accountability. Many community houses have been started without the members having first developed a meaningful relationship with the community leaders and projects already underway, without having been invited to come nor having undertaken a serious analysis of the kinds of unjustly gained power that make some service providers and others receivers of services.

read the rest here

Nuclear Weapons Plant Class at Cherith Brook CW in KC MO on Tuesdays in Feb.

2011-01-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

What: Nuclear Weapons Plant Class
Date: Tuesdays in Feb.
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Cherith Brook CW in KC MO

Dear Friends,

During the month of February we will be talking about the new nuclear weapons plant in Kansas City and how our faith in Jesus informs our response to weapons of mass destruction.

So all are welcome to come to Cherith Brook Catholic Worker every Tuesday in the month of February at 7 PM, to learn and deepen our faith.

Classes will include discussion of scripture as it relates to war and nuclear weapons, a documentary on nukes, information about the current state of the nuclear weapons plant in Kansas City, and we will conclude the class with a time to discuss ways we can act on what we have learned durning the class. We hope to see you next week!

Micah Waters
Cherith Brook Catholic Worker
3308 E 12th St
Kansas City, MO 64127
cherithbrookkcmo@yahoo.com
cherithbrookcw.blogspot.com

Maryknoll reinstates School of Americas Watch funding

2011-01-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

Joshua J. McElwee
National Catholic Reporter
Jan. 27, 2011

U.S. missionary order Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers has reinstated grant funding to School of Americas Watch, the antimilitary organization founded by Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois.

Maryknoll suspended their support of the group in May because Bourgeois publicly supports women’s ordination. The reinstatement of funding came after talks with Maryknoll Fr. Michael Duggan, SOA Watch organizers told NCR yesterday.

read the rest here

Creech 14 Found Guilty, Sentenced to Time Served

2011-01-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

Felice & Jack Cohen-Joppa
Jan 27, 2011

This just in from Las Vegas, Nevada via Dan Gregor and Leslie Klusmire: In a 20-page written decision, Judge William Jansen found fourteen people guilty of trespass as charged, ruling that their defense did not meet the legal requirement of immanence for acquittal based on necessity.

The Creech 14 were arrested during an April 2009 demonstration at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada, protesting the remote piloting of armed killer drones from Creech in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All were sentenced to time served.

The Creech 14 are Fr. John Dear; Dennis DuVall; Renee Espeland; Judy Homanich; Kathy Kelly; Fr. Steve Kelly; Mariah Klusmire; Brad Lyttle; Libby Pappalardo; Sr. Megan Rice; Brian Terrell; Eve Tetaz; Fr. Louie Vitale; and Fr. Jerry Zawada.

More information and updates as they come in (and background) at: The Nevada Desert Experience website - http://www.nevadadesertexperience.org/involved/Creech14updates.htm

The Nuclear Resister website - http://www.nukeresister.org/2011/01/27/creech-14-guilty-sentenced-to-time-served/ with background at Vegas Drone Trial Makes History.

Call for Expressions of Interest and Nominations for Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Full-Time Co-Director

2011-01-29T09:38:00.000-08:00

Tim Nafziger
Jan 27, 2011

CPT http://www.cpt.org/ seeks applications for a co-director to work with Carol Rose, current co-director. Position begins in July 2011. Job description is flexible depending on the intersection of skills of applicant with current co-director. Applications from members of racially-marginalized groups and from outside North America are warmly welcomed. As with all Support Team members, compensation is a stipend based on need. The initial appointment is for a period of three years.

Qualifications include spiritual grounding in Christianity; strong skills in organizational processes and administration; experience leading or working in an international organization committed to violence reduction, nonviolent resistance campaigns and movement building; strong English with at least minimal Spanish; background and skill in undoing oppressions; and ablity to mobilize economic and human resources. Knowledge of CPT is important.

Traits include the ability to articulate and promote the CPT mission and vision; to make collaborative decisions; to listen well; to be flexible; to articulate and promote an organizational vision; to lead in organizational change; and to network between religious, political, geographical and social groups.

Persons with the required experience and skills who have not been members of CPT are welcome to apply. See www.cpt.org for background. If chosen as the most promising applicant, the individual must participate in a CPT delegation and month-long training and discernment process prior to final appointment.

Please share this message widely and pray for God's work through this appointment process.

How to Apply

Contact Susan Mark Landis at SusanML@MennoniteUSA.org with expressions of interest and nominations by March 1. She will respond with a more complete job description and application materials.

60 Years of Disaster...an Unhappy Anniversary of the Nevada Test Site

2011-01-29T09:33:00.000-08:00

Jim Haber, Coordinator of Nevada Desert Experience
January 27 2011

January 27 marks 60 years since the first atomic bomb test in Nevada. Codenamed “Able” it was tiny for a nuclear weapon: the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT, about 1/15 the size of the bomb that killed upwards of 130,000 people in Hiroshima. Anniversaries are times to reflect, so what is the legacy of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), now called the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS)? What is the current state of the NNSS and what is going on there? Are the nation and world safer for all the Cold War and post-Cold War efforts? As the NNSS re-purposes itself to focus more on detecting and containing national security threats, it still stands as a world-wide symbol of the making of weapons of mass destruction. The name change is intended to reassert its relevance in the absence of exploding nuclear devices, but the inherent problem of the NTS remains. The NNSS is always able to resume testing nuclear weapons within two years should the president order it. (...)

Testing of nuclear weapons didn't only happen at the Nevada Test Site. Historians even argue that using the bombs on Japan rather than demonstrating them on an unpopulated location constitute human experimentation. Treating victims as research subjects rather than patients was widely reported in Japan, as well as from victims of atmospheric testing in the 1950s. Targeting civilians was and remains a crime against humanity, as does threatening nuclear attack on non-nuclear states, no matter how repressive their leaders.

We, as a people, caused much worldwide grief for our part in the Cold War, which used small countries as battlegrounds with no concern for local populations or environments. Official tours of the NNSS and the displays at the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas exhibit great pride in the NTS' Cold War role. There is little mention in their history about efforts to stop testing and other parts of the nuclear weapons complex. Efforts to shut down the Soviet nuclear test site in
Kazakhstan or French test sites in Africa and the South Pacific garner barely a word. Only a limited view is presented.

At the NNSS which is run by the Department of Energy (blurring the lines between civilian and military in this country), military nuclear waste is buried even as remediation efforts elsewhere are undertaken. The detection and first responder trainings are only defensive in nature if we concurrently support the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its mission to monitor nuclear programs around the world. Unilateral or bilateral agreements that ignore the mandate of the IAEA actually encourage other states to seek nuclear weapons to be seen as worthy players on the international stage.

The United States military budget is on par with military spending of all other countries combined. When the US attacks countries that don't have nuclear weapons, it makes the possession of nuclear weapons seem like a necessary deterrent. But if more countries have deterrent forces, then we've lost the disarmament fight.

Taking the land of the Western Shoshone and other native peoples to use it for nuclear testing is not just. Forcing the people of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands to live on tiny Ebeye Island, creating one of the most densely populated places on Earth is not just. Stealing and contaminating native hunting and fishing grounds is not just.

Thank God so few countries have tested or possess nuclear weapons. The global consensus is clearly to eliminate all nuclear weapons. "Stockpile Stewardship" tests at the NNSS, along with missile tests in the Pacific are undermining the credibility of the U.S.'s agreement to seriously reduce nuclear stockpiles. Sharing nuclear technology with violators and abstainers of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty while threatening countries not in egregious, well-documented breaches of the NPT is not just and promotes horizontal proliferation. Hence, continued testing whether they're full-scale tests or not, signals to the world that the US will keep its finger on the button and will brook no new players in the nuclear game.

When we devise ways for nuclear weapons to be more precise and kill fewer civilians, to be more militarily useful, we undermine the international consensus against all weapons of mass destruction. And how many design upgrades and revisions can be implemented and still not require a real test? At some point, unless we in the United States get serious about pressuring our government to cut its nuclear weapons arsenal, the Nevada Desert will again quake with detonations...and be filled with peacemakers crashing the gates like in the 1980s to shut it down once and for all. This anniversary should serve as a time to work for peace and disarmament.
--

Check out http://NevadaDesertExperience.org for NDE action updates and news about the Nevada Test Site and Creech Air Force Base's Predator and Reaper, "hunter-killer," remotely piloted systems. Get our newsletter, Desert Voices, and even make a donation on-line there too.

Activists fast, call for Guantanamo closure

2011-01-29T09:31:00.000-08:00

Jake Olzen
National Catholic Reporter
Jan. 25, 2011

The Witness Against Torture (WAT) community, including many peace activists and Catholic Workers, just completed a twelve day Fast for Justice. The fast started on the 9th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. military’s Guantánamo Bay detention camp -- Jan. 11 -- and ended Jan. 22, two years to the day President Obama signed an Executive Order to close the facility.

The anti-torture activists chose only to consume juice and water as a witness to demand the closure of Guantánamo, Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, and other secret prisons, said WAT organizers.

read the rest here

Bishop Ruiz, champion of indigenous, dies

2011-01-29T09:29:00.000-08:00

David Agren, Catholic News Service
National Catholic Reporter
Jan. 25, 2011

MEXICO CITY -- Retired Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, known as the champion of the poor and indigenous in southern Mexico, died Jan. 24 of complications from long-standing illnesses. He was 86.

The bishop headed the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas from 1960 to 2000, and from 1994 to 1998 mediated a commission looking for an end to the conflict between the Mexican government and the indigenous Zapatista National Liberation Army in Chiapas state.

read the rest here

Fr Jack McCaslin - Omaha priest, P&J advocate, friend of the poor and CWers diagnosed with cancer - needs your prayers

2011-01-29T09:27:00.000-08:00

Fr. Jack McCaslin is an 82 year old priest from Omaha, NE. He is veteran of the civil rights movement since 1965, the peace movement almost forever, and has been a voice for the poor and voiceless in Nebraska and the halls of D.C. all of his life. He was instrumental in starting and supporting several Catholic Worker communities in the Omaha area. He is currently a major supporter and mentor for the folks at the Omaha CW. He has served jail time for crossing the line at StratCom, demonstrated at SOA, recently he has been ministering to the elderly in nursing homes. He's been a strong advocate for reform in the Catholic Church and a member of Call To Action. He loves being a priest, administering the sacraments and serving people, especially the poor. All his life he has been a person who puts the teaching of the Gospel into action.

Fr Jack last crossed the line at StratCom on Aug 9th last year. See:
http://groups.google.com/group/offitt-list-one/browse_thread/thread/79d2c2aff901ba82/dd48566dc14c3b32?lnk=gst&q=mccaslin#dd48566dc14c3b32

These days he visits death row inmates regularly and lobbies for an end of the death penalty.

Fr Jack recently learned that he has lung cancer. He is at Bergan Mercy Hospital Rm # 386 in Omaha NE to determine what kind of treatment he will receive. He is facing this recent challenge with courage and a strong faith. We ask you to remember him in your prayers and know that as you participate in actions for social justice, he is offering his suffering in solidarity with you.

Letters and cards can be sent to Fr, Jack McCaslin home address at:
7323 Shirley Street ## 305, Omaha, NE 68124

For updates on Fr Jack people can contact:

Omaha Catholic Worker
Jerry Ebner, Mike Brennan
1104 N. 24th St. Omaha, Nebraska USA 68102
www.no-nukes.org/cwomaha
Email: cwomaha@gmail.com

Confidentiality versus transparency: Davos experts examine the choice made stark by WikiLeaks

2011-01-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

Dan Perry
Canadian Press
January 27 2010

DAVOS, Switzerland — What are the lessons of WikiLeaks? The secret-spilling site has been the subject of debate at the World Economic Forum, and one respected historian on Wednesday urged businesses and governments to think hard about what information really needs to be protected, and then protect it better.

"I do not believe that the online world ... means that there can be no secrecy and everyone will know everything about everyone," said Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European Studies at Oxford University.

read the rest here

January 2011 London England CW newsletter

2011-01-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

Fr Martin Newell
Jan 26, 2011

Dear All,

Link to the Jan 2011 London Catholic Worker newsletter:
http://www.londoncatholicworker.org/january2011.pdf

Hope you find it interesting, enjoyable, inspiring and challenging! Please feel free to send it on to anyone you think may be interested.

You may also be interested to check out our new website - same address as before:
http://www.londoncatholicworker.org

Martin Newell martin_newell1967@yahoo.co.uk

for London Catholic Worker
49 Mattison Road
London N4 1BG
http://www.londoncatholicworker.org

Manning's Torture Widespread in U.S. Prisons

2011-01-29T09:20:00.000-08:00

Sherwood Ross
January 26 2011

The corrosive, solitary confinement being inflicted upon PFC Bradley Manning in the Quantico, Va., brig is no exceptional torture devised exclusively for him. Across the length and breadth of the Great American Prison State, the world's largest, with its 2.4-million captives stuffed into 5,000 overcrowded lock-ups, some 25,000 other inmates are suffering a like fate of sadistic isolation in so-called supermax prisons, where they are being systematically reduced to veritable human vegetables. (...)

To destroy Manning as a human being, the Pentagon for the past seven months has barred him from exercising in his cell, and to inhibit his sleep denies him a pillow and sheet and allows him only a scratchy blanket, according to Heather Brooke of “Common Dreams” (January 26th.) He is awakened each day at five a.m. and may not sleep until 8 p.m. The lights of his cell are always on and he is harassed every five minutes by guards who ask him if he is okay and to which he must respond verbally. Stalin's goons called this sort of endless torture the “conveyor belt.”

Not surprisingly, Manning is attracting global attention to the Pentagon's sadism. If anyone did not believe the Pentagon's ruthless treatment of Iraqi prisoners when the Abu Ghraib torture photos were released, they believe it now that it is torturing one of its own. In this assault upon the body and mind of a 23-year-old American soldier, all of the Pentagon's arrogance and clumsiness is revealed to the world. Perhaps not even the French military---when its frame-up on treason charges of Jewish Colonel Alfred Dreyfus was exposed---attracted to itself the global searchlights of opprobrium now bathing the walls of a Marine Corps brig at Quantico.

The kind of isolation torture Manning is enduring in recent years has spread itself quietly throughout U.S. correctional facilities like a deadly gangrene. According to one reliable report, by 2003 between five and eight percent of the prison populations of Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia were rotting in isolation. In some federal prisons the cells are referred to euphemistically as “Communications Management Units” and are, incidentally, “disproportionately inhabited by Muslim prisoners,” according to an American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) law suit challenging them. In another suit, the ACLU has accused the Texas Youth Commission of "throwing children (girls) into cold, bare solitary confinement cells...” and told the TYC bluntly its “reliance on solitary confinement has to stop."

Dr. Stuart Grassian, a veteran of 25 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, wrote in a law school journal of his interviews with prisoners in solitary. He said almost a third of them experienced impaired brain function. They “described hearing voices, often in whispers, often saying frightening things to them.” In an article published in “The Long Term View” magazine of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, Grassian wrote that about a third succumbed to “acute psychotic, confusional states” in which they saw objects “becoming larger and smaller, seeming to 'melt' or change form.” And this was only one of the syndromes experienced.

In a related article published in the same issue (Volume 7, No. 2), Dr. Atul Gawande of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, cited the findings of psychology professor Craig Haney of the University of California at Santa Cruz on isolation's impact. Some inmates in the Pelican Bay supermax, Haney found, even after just months of isolation, suffered “Chronic apathy, lethargy, depression, and despair often result...In extreme cases, prisoners may literally stop behaving, becoming essentially catatonic.” This, of course, is what the Pentagon apparently seeks to inflict on Manning. In June, 2006, the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons recommended ending long-term isolation of prisoners but the so-called “House of War” wasn't listening.

In the 2008 presidential race, Gawande wrote, both Obama and McCain came out firmly for banning torture and closing Guantanamo Bay prison where hundreds have been held in years-long isolation, yet neither “addressed the question of whether prolonged solitary confinement is torture.” McCain spent two of his five years as a POW in Viet Nam in solitary, later stating: “It's an awful thing, solitary. It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than any other form of mistreatment.”

The U.S. willingness to hold prisoners in isolation for years “made it easy to discard the Geneva Conventions prohibiting similar treatment of foreign prisoners of war, to the detriment of America's moral stature in the world,” Gawande wrote, adding, “In much the same way that a previous generation of Americans countenanced legalized segregation, our (generation) has countenanced legalized torture. And there is no clearer manifestation of this than our routine use of solitary confinement---on our own people, in our own communities, in a supermax prison...”

“This conduct (solitary confinement) by the U.S. Federal and State governments constitutes torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which are treaties to which the United States is a contracting party,” says international legal authority Francis Boyle, professor of the subject at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

Boyle believes, “As citizens of America and human beings in the world, we must do all in our power to terminate such illegal and criminal practices that are daily perpetrated by our own governmental institutions in our name against our fellow citizens and human beings.” Boyle is the author of “Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law”(Amazon).

Those supporting Manning need to recognize he is an icon for the bizarre, systemic destruction of tens of thousands of other human beings locked away in perpetual silence by their tormentors, often for mere infractions of prison rules, without the review of any judge or jury. As the ACLU told the TYC, this must be stopped. What action will you take in your community to put an end to it?

Turkey releases report on flotilla incident, accusing Israel

2011-01-29T09:17:00.000-08:00

Turkey publicizes its internal report on the flotilla debacle in response to Israel's Turkel Commission investigation report on Sunday.

Scott Peterson, Staff writer
Christian Science Monitor
January 25, 2011

Istanbul,Turkey

Antagonism between Turkey and Israel is being reinvigorated as each nation's report about the lethal storming by Israeli commandos of the Mavi Marmara ship last May is made public.

Eight Turks and an American citizen of Turkish descent were killed during the 4:26 a.m. raid on the humanitarian aid flotilla, which was cruising 72 miles off the coast in international waters on its way to break Israel's Gaza blockade.

The Turkish report found that Israeli units shot dead two people from their helicopters before fast-roping onto the deck, where they battled passengers armed with sticks, clubs, and knives mostly drawn from the ship’s eight kitchens.

read the rest here

Jan 15th, 2011: Commemorate 20 Years of US War on Iraq!

2011-01-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

Dorothy Day's letters show heartache, faith

2011-01-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

John Dear SJ
National Catholic Reporter
Jan. 25, 2011

“I never expected much of the bishops,” Dorothy Day wrote to Gordon Zahn in 1968.

“In all history, popes and bishops and abbots seem to have been blind and power-loving and greedy. I never expected leadership from them. It is the saints that keep appearing all through history who keep things going. What I do expect is the bread of life and down through the ages there is that continuity.”

read the rest here

Indigenous Peoples Locked In Global Struggle To Survive

2011-01-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

Sherwood Ross
January 25 2010

* While commanding the Continental Army to liberate the colonies from the British yoke, George Washington informed his troops they could “kill every Indian” that had set up a village along the Missouri and Mohawk rivers.

* The same Thomas Jefferson who earlier wrote the stirring words “all men are created equal,” as president called for hunting down Native Americans as they would “a wolf.”

* On the day that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation he approved the execution of 38 Dakota Native Americans for “stealing” a cow that had wandered onto their reservation.

* As for Theodore Roosevelt, whose face appears with the above-cited presidents on Mount Rushmore, he created a 52-million-acre National Park system---much of it taken from reservation land that had been officially designated for Native Americans. (...)

If these disturbing stories are not being taught to American schoolchildren today it may be because Tiokasin Ghosthorse, host and producer of “First Voices Indigenous Radio,” is not in charge of the curriculum. He makes assertions that would surprise most people raised believing traditional American values---and that omit such charges against our presidents. A native of the Lakota tribe of South Dakota, Ghosthorse is perhaps the world's leading advocate for the viewpoints of some 350 million indigenous people from the rain forests of Brazil to the islands of Polynesia, including the survivors of the European invasion of North America, which Ghosthorse dubs “our First World War.”

He says that when Americans next celebrate Thanksgiving Day, it will be regarded by indigenous peoples here as a “National Day of Mourning.” Listeners to WBAI Radio at 99.5 FM in New York City at 10 A.M. Thursdays can hear his commentaries, as can those on a dozen other stations that rebroadcast his show.

With his salt-and-pepper hair hardly contained by his headband, Ghosthorse cut an imposing figure when interviewed on Comcast's “Educational Forum,” presented by the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover and the American College of History and Legal Studies of Salem, N.H. Interviewer Kurt Olson, a professor at the law school, said he was immediately struck “by Tiokasin's nobility of spirit and imposing presence.”

The Lakota native has assumed the task of reminding the world that indigenous peoples “have prior rights to their territories, land and resources, but often these have been taken from them” and they are under “constant threat of territorial invasion and murder, the plundering of their resources, cultural and legal discrimination, as well as a lack of recognition of their own institutions.”

Ghosthorse says, “We (Native Americans) are the only minority in the United States that cannot legally own land. We have a right to occupy land and hold a piece of paper that says we can live (on our land) but we cannot own it.” The U.S. government, he adds, “took away the land of the Native peoples but did not give the rest of America the true knowledge of why they were forcing these relocations.” As recently as the 1950s and 1960s, “international extraction corporations were coming onto the land and drilling holes and they discovered uranium and oil and gold and coal and all the precious minerals and reserves of energy that were on the 'worst lands' where we had been driven to relocate.” Removed from their original lands “we became welfare state people, and we lost face because we weren't beggars in the first place or thieves. That goes against our philosophies of life. We always shared, we were fiercely self-sufficient people.”

Today, he says, even though the public thinks Native American tribes all own gambling casinos and are rolling in profits, many do not and the only people worse off materially than Native Americans as a group are destitute Haitians. He believes the government wants Native Americans off their remaining reservation land so that it, too, can be privatized. “Metaphorically, I say, if you want a piece of the American pie, just don't forget who owns the bakery,” is pure Ghosthorse.

Native Americans saw early on that Columbus and his men “had money in their eyes, and that value was new to us because we gave all the time,” Ghosthorse says. “Our Number One value is generosity and so when they (Europeans) came they took advantage of that generosity with greed. And when you come from a land (Europe) that's divided up among kingdoms and serfdoms and whatnot, you're going to have want. And in our culture, we don't have the word for want as we don't need it because you're in a sharing culture. You're always asking, 'What can I give?' rather than 'What can I have or take?' So we don't have a word for 'ownership.'”

Ghosthorse goes on to say that Native Americans recognized that Columbus and the early settlers were “poor in spirit” and in response “we helped them.” For example, the Tainos, a Caribbean people, helped Columbus salvage the contents of his ship Santa Maria when it ran aground. History books say that the Taino and Arawak tribes that interacted with Columbus “are dead and gone but, in fact, they are speaking Taino in New York City today,” Ghosthorse affirms.

“When we think about Columbus and that mentality,” he continues, “it's like a virus and we have to protect ourselves from the virus of ownership by war, which is a word we don't have in our language.” He notes that when those who had nothing in Europe settled in America acquired possessions they would say, “Look, we're not poor any more. We're somebody now, because we have material (possessions).” And while Native Americans may be poorer materially since their land was taken from them, “spiritually we are in a better state,” Ghosthorse says, “because we are resilient, we are resistant to what they are calling themselves as the power, because it's ruled by greed and war.”

He says the Founding Fathers got some help from Native Americans of the Iroquois Confederacy in formulating the U.S. Constitution. “(Ben) Franklin and Jefferson did go at least thirty years before the Constitution was written into Mohawk territory to learn their jargon, and they thought, 'Wow, these people have equality, men and women.' And there were millions of Native people across the continent at the time, not just 100,000 or so, who lived the same way,” Ghosthorse asserted. Ironically, he adds, when the Founders drafted the Constitution in Philadelphia, they invited the Indian chiefs to Independence Hall only to lock them in an upstairs room where, from time to time, they were asked questions. Like blacks, women, and poor whites, Native Americans were denied the right to vote by the Founders, Ghosthorse says, and so they were treated as property, not human beings.

Indigenous peoples, Ghosthorse says, today live on 71 percent of the land on the planet that is still considered “pristine” as it has “clean water and clean air and clean land.” But if these territories are taken away “by so-called higher civilizations” and they destroy the Earth, “that's not higher thinking.” On the contrary, “you have indigenous peoples who are living the highest form” (of intelligent lifestyles) “by taking care of the land, and not cutting it down to make books to read about what they cut down.”

The so-called higher civilizations of the Occident, including America, he says, “have tended not to use energy properly” and by using too much we are “depleting other parts of the world---like water is energy and pollution is “energy that has gone astray.” Ghosthorse adds, “And that's what we're “looking at, to view things in a positive light so we can use energy in a proper way.” He said that today's American culture, exemplified by “Mickey Mouse and McDonald's” is “not a culture compared to Lakota” because “we've been here 10,000 or 100,000 years ago” and the traditional songs and stories go back to “the time of the dinosaurs. That's how old we say we are.”

Growing up, he recalls, his family lived “in a clean way” and had “clean water, clean air, and even clean gardens long before it was organic.” Then his family was told that they could not live that way and were moved to cluster housing with running water. “But then, because they took the land away or we were moved from those places (where) we lived, they took over and they mined and they polluted the water that we were getting in those running water taps. So I don't know if it's a better way. I don't know if it's a better way to go bomb other people because they threaten you.”

Ghosthorse questions “the atomic bomb mentality that we've all been living with (and) whether or not we are going to exterminate ourselves.” However, he says he doubts extinction will come from the atomic bomb because “we don't know how to treat Earth any more. That's the ultimate.”

“We're not ever going to save ourselves,” he reflects, “because salvation point mentality says it's got to come from someplace out there, and not from within, so we can have a savior or a UFO come down and save us at the last minute.” That, he says, “is not going to happen because that implies there will only be a chosen one, which cannot be within Lakota philosophy since we are all responsible for each other.” Asked how the Lakota perceive Creation, Ghosthorse replied, “We have in our original creation story that life, this planet and the stars was created by thought. We can't understand it in our little brains where thought came from...(but we believe) we came down and we helped create Mother Earth.”

He goes on to say, “As a Lakota, we have no need for a heaven or for a hell. It's right here. We're not worried about going to Hell. We are right here. We are conscious. There's no past. There's no future. It's all right here, right now. So we evolved into this state of consciousness that says, 'I am you and you are me. My body is in the soul. You are my soul and I must respect you.'” This, Ghosthorse says, is preferable to the view, “My soul is only in my body, separate, so I must gather in order to feel like I own and I am somebody because it's about individuality.”

Ghosthorse stressed that in the Lakota language there are no words for “I” or “me” and that the emphasis is on sharing, not procuring for oneself. Western religions, he says, emphasize that the individual who practices their faith will be rewarded with good things.

“The more nicer things you have, well, that must make you a nicer person. And God's going to look at you and give you these things, and then you're going to go to a place up there with pearly gates and streets paved with gold. Now, what thinking Native person would want to go someplace that has pearly gates and streets paved with gold? Not one Native person who knows himself would ever want to go there.” The Lakota language, he continues, has the word “wasicu,” meaning one who takes too much or “fat.”

There is a philosophical clash between the positions of Western and Native American religions, Ghosthorse says, and he is concerned that young Lakota children are being made to want things by TV advertisements, “things that belong to them individually.” More recently, the “new” Lakota language has added the words “I” and “me” first and foremost, a development he laments.

Speaking of religion, Ghosthorse says he believes “We just don't die. Our spirit, our energy just goes back to Earth, and that's a good thing. In the Lakota philosophy we believe we were alive before we came here. We're alive now and we'll be alive, even though physically we may change because all of our reality in this way of rational thinking is contained within our physicality.”

“We don't have words like 'believe,'” he continues, “because, if you think about it, it's a spiritually lazy word. Because a book describes somebody else's experience, is that believable? No. It's not your experience. Your experience says that you know this and that's how you become wise. In Lakota, we have a saying, in order to protect ourselves be careful of the education that they bring you and force upon you because that education may educate the wisdom out of your soul.”

SEND A SOLIDARITY LETTER, Email or Postcard to jailed CWer / Anti-War Resister Chris Cole in H.M.P. Wandsworth (London, England)!

2011-01-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

Ciaron OReilly
Jan 25, 2011

SEND A SOLIDARITY LETTER, postcard or email to CWer/ Anti-War Resister
Chris Cole in H.M.P. Wandsworth!

He's in there for us, We're on the loose for him!

Chris Cole
Prisoner Number: A81 47 AZ
HMP Wandsworth
Heathfield Rd.
London
SW18 3HS
ENGLAND

or

Email support to Chris in HMP Wandsworth ...someone will collate, print off and post to him on a regular basis (...)

Chris Cole
chris at figtree.org.uk

Last Wednesday I accompanied Chris Cole, Catholic Worker/ plowshares activist/ father of 3, to Westminister Court on Horsferry Rd. in central London. This magistrate's court had been the site of December's Julian Assange (denial of) bail hearings. This time the world's media were not assembled to witness nonviolent anti-war resistance. One of the security guys on the metal detectors recognized me from previous weeks giving speeches outside his window pane, seemed
happy to see me!

As it is with these places it's all "hurry up and wait" as we were sent upstairs and then sent downstairs and then sent upstairs again...before the police officer from downstairs came upstairs and took Chris into custody.

When I left Chris he was in good spirits, later that afternoon he was sentenced to 28 days. For the past week he has been unable to make contact with his family (no phone call) from within HMP Wandsworth. Last Wednesday, I text Belfast @ Seamus residing on the south-side of London and he got up to visit Chris on his first morning in custody...due to this new thing they got where first 30 folks who turn up can get a visit with a prisoner brought in the previous day!

Chris's present imprisonment follows 18 months of numerous court letters, bailiffs threats visits and his steadfast refusal to pay the fine.
-----

BACKGROUND ON CHRIS'S 2009 RESISTANCE ACTION TO THE ARMS TRADE

CCTV footage (2 mins 27 secs) of Chris's nonviolent resistance at the opening conference at the Queen Elizabeth II of "Defence and Security Equipment International (Dsei) 2009 Arms Fair"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azHNNesrePw

With spray can in hand Chris went to the conference centre just before the event and sprayed ‘build peace not war machines’ ‘stop this bloody business’ and ‘arms trade=death’ on the front entrance and poured fake blood over the steps. He was shortly convicted of criminal damage and
fined just under £2,000.

You can read Chris's pre-prison reflections on his blog:
http://chrisco1e.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/%E2%80%9Cit%E...0%9D/

PLEASE SEND A SOLIDARITY POSTCARD OR LETTER ASAP TO CHRIS COLE IN WANDSWORTH PRISON!

Chris Cole
Prisoner Number: A81 47 AZ
HMP Wandsworth
Heathfield Rd.
London
SW18 3HS
ENGLAND

*If you are posting from overseas this week (ending Jan 29) post directly to the prison. If posting after Jan 29th. send c/- to GIuseppe Conlon House (see address below)...we will redirect your
correspondence or give it to Chris on release. This will protect against your letter or postcard being returned to you should Chris be released early!

*If you are posting from within Eng/Scotland & Wales.....post directly to Chris in prison until Monday Jan 31st...then from Feb 1st. to Giuseppe Conlon House for redirection

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR FAMILY OF CHRIS COLE. (wife Virginia & 3 Kidz)

Cheques payable to "Virginia Moffatt" post c/-- Giuseppe Conlon House, 49 Mattison Rd.,
London, N4 1BG (as we don't wish to publicize family home address)

**Family will pass on excess donations to anti-war prisoners (Bradley Manning, military & civilian resisters etc)

Check out Chris Cole's drone website
http://dronewarsuk.wordpress.com/

Check out Chris Cole Blog
http://chrisco1e.wordpress.com/

Solidarity
CiaronO'Reilly

Related Link: http://www.londoncatholicworker.org

'I will kill you all': Terrifying scream of Moscow terrorist before he blew 35 - including one Briton - to pieces

2011-01-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

By Will Stewart and Vanessa Allen
The Daily Mail
January 25 2011

A Briton was among at least 35 people killed in a suicide bomb attack on Russia’s busiest airport yesterday.

Gordon Campbell Cousland died after a terrorist stormed into the intentional arrivals hall at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport and detonated his explosives.

Witnesses described hearing the bomber scream ‘I will kill you all’ beforehand.

Footage filmed by bystanders showed smoke and flames engulfing Russia’s premier airport. Survivors used baggage trolleys to carry the dead and wounded from the smoke-clogged terminal.

One said: ‘It was bloody carnage in there, a scene from hell. Human beings were just blown apart.’

read the rest here

DM AFSC Middle East apprentice opportunity

2011-01-29T08:57:00.000-08:00

Kathleen McQuillen
Jan 24, 2011

AFSC Middle East Apprentice Announcement

The Iowa office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is looking for a temporary part-time apprentice to help with the Middle East program work.

Responsibilities include helping to facilitate and implement the program committee’s work related to Israel-Palestine. Particular focus will be on building support on central Iowa college campuses for a Fall 2011 conference addressing US policy in Israel-Palestine.

For more information please read the below text. (...)

Completed applications are due in the Iowa office by 5:00 pm on Friday, February 11 2011.

Thank you. Kathleen McQuillen kmcquillen@afsc.org
----------------

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
Iowa Area Office
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job title: Middle East Program Apprentice Supervisor: Area Program Coordinator Location: Des Moines, Iowa

Position description: This specific-term (February 2011-October 2011), part-time (20 hours per week), temporary apprentice position is intended to support the work of the Iowa Program Coordinator in facilitating the Middle East Peace Education Project, and the planning committee for an October 2011 conference on US Policy in Israel-Palestine. A critical aspect of the apprentice position is outreach to central Iowa college campuses on the issue of peace with justice in Israel-Palestine.

Hours of work include evenings and weekends.

This is an apprentice position requiring orientation and training structured by the apprentice supervisor.

Job responsibilities:

Co-facilitate and staff committee meetings related to AFSC Middle East Peace work. With supervision and guidance from the Program Coordinator- Plan meeting agendas.Support subcommittees in follow through on decisions.Help with materials development. Provide media
and publicity support.

Outreach to central Iowa colleges:Using varied media, including social networks, to connect with campus peace and justice groups to develop support for the October 2011conference. Collaborate with campus groups to present relevant forums on the campus.

Qualifications
Skills:
Excellent people skills, including strong listening skills.
Ability to articulate AFSC’s commitment to nonviolence in social change work.
Respectful of differing perspectives and opinions.
Ability to work toward consensus.
Attention to detail.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Familiarity with social networking tools.
Proficiency in research skills.
Proficiency in computer skills, including MS Word, Excel, Outlook

Commitments:
Commitment to nonviolent approaches to social change, and to
responsible and respectful processes of conflict resolution.
Commitment to upholding AFSC’s affirmative action policy.

Compensation: $13 per hour.

For more information or to request an application, please contact: Kathleen McQuillen kmcquillen@afsc.org

The American Friends Service Committee is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified persons are encouraged to apply regardless of their religious affiliation, race, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

AFSC is a smoke-free and fragrance-free workplace.

The "Golden Rule" Will Sail Again

2011-01-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

Lawrence S. Wittner
History News Network
December 20 2010

The "Golden Rule," the legendary 30-foot ketch that once terrified U.S. government officials, will return to the seas again this coming summer.

The glory days of the "Golden Rule" occurred in 1958, when the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons sent huge clouds of radioactive nuclear fallout aloft and, later, raining down on people around the world. As popular revolt grew against this toxic practice, as well as against the preparations of the Cold War antagonists for nuclear war, a small group of pacifists, led by Albert Bigelow, a retired U.S. Navy captain, decided that the time had come for action. In January of that year, they wrote to President Dwight Eisenhower, telling him that they intended to sail the "Golden Rule" into the U.S. government's unilaterally-declared nuclear testing zone in the Pacific.

read the rest here

Georgia plans to execute Emanuel Hammond - link to source of killer drug

2011-01-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

Amy Vosburg-Casey
Jan 23, 2011

On Tuesday, January 25, 2011, the State of Georgia plans to execute Emanuel Hammond. Mike Vosburg-Casey, who is a member of the extended community of the Open Door in Atlanta GA has been visiting Emanuel on death row for eleven years. Please keep them in your thoughts and
prayers.

This link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9342000/9342976.stm is to an article about what has been the only available source of at least one of the chemicals used in executions in this country, sodium thiopental - a driving school/pharmacy in West London.

The second article is about Hospira, which was the only US maker of the drug, who has ceased production because their manufacturing moved to Italy, and Italy will not allow them to make the drug. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/death-penalty-lethal-injection-drug_n_812267.html

Peace,
Amy Vosburg-Casey
amyvoscas@gmail.com
Open Door CW - Atlantic GA
http://opendoorcommunity.org/

20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF MARY HOUSE IN AUSTIN, TX

2011-01-29T08:51:00.000-08:00

Lynn Goodmanstrauss
Jan 22, 2011

Down here in sunny Texas we had a great party celebrating 20 years of hospitality offered by the Mary House Catholic Worker community. Friends and fellow Catholic Workers from San Antonio, Bell, and Austin (Texas) joined Richard Flamer from Chiapas, Mexico, and Lynn
Goodman-Strauss and Heidi Baker in giving thanks for all the many, many gifts of presence and presents that make such hospitality possible. We are especially grateful for Martha Hennessy's http://spiritualworksofmercy.org/ presence as we celebrated. Heidi and I also thank those of you who could not make it down and sent blessings and congratulations our way. We look forward to visiting you in future gatherings!

Blessings to all!
Lynn and Heidi

maryhouseaustin.wordpress.com
http://www.mary-house.org/

February Craft retreat at Strangers and Guests CW in Maloy IA

2011-01-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

Betsy Keenan
Jan 22, 2011

A few spaces are still available for our Craft retreat:

Again Strangers and Guests Catholic Worker in Maloy, Iowa offers a rich blend of learning, sharing, making useful things and celebrating. This winter's program is planned for February 17th- 22nd.

Tentative schedule:
Thursday- arrivals, organizing, project planning and loom-set-up.
fabric preparation.
Friday-basket weaving class:"twined fabric basket", more rag prep and weaving
Saturday-Window quilts, candle dipping (more weaving).
Sunday- Worship, relaxation, folk dancing potluck and singing
(second loom set-up?)
Monday- Soap shop field trip to Clyde, Missouri Benedictine
Monastery. more weaving and ?
Tuesday-Scripture Study AM clean-up, pack-up

Space is limited. There is no charge for participating, but donations of funds, food and materials are most welcome, as well as "scholarship" support from folks who support the craft retreat mission, but are unable to participate at this time.

More details available as plans develop.

Contact Betsy Keenan
keenanweaving@yahoo.com

"Beauty Will Save the World" - link to 26 paintings by Willa Bickham - Viva CW House

2011-01-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frank_cordaro_and_the_dm_catholic_worker/sets/72157625860744124/

Folks;

Above is a link to a Flick Slide Show of 26 color paintings of Willa Bickham of the Viva CW House in Baltimore Md. Willa and her husband Brendan Walsh started the Viva CW House over 40 years ago and they are still at it! The paintings in the above slide show were done between 1992 to 2010. (The first slide of a painting is a silk screen effort dating back to 1969!) For the most part a print of each of the paintings were used in the annaul Viva House Dec. Year In Review Report mailed sent out to frieneds and supporters.

They are stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am told there are at least another 25 silk screen paintings from 1970 to 1991 yet to be added to this collection. If you like what you see in the above slide show contact Willa and let her know it and also advocate getting the missing silk screen paintings up on the internet!

Beauty will indeed save the world and Willa's paintings are a good start.

You can contact Will Bickham at Viva CW House, 26 S Mount St.,
Baltimore MD 21223 Ph: 410-233-0488 E-mail:
vivacatholicworker@gmail.com

Peace
Frank Cordaro - DMCW

LACW & SOA Prisoner - David Omondi has been transferred

2011-01-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

Michael Wisniewski
Jan 21, 2011

Greetings of peace, all,

David Omondi has been transferred to McRae Correctional Institute, which is three hours south of Atlanta, Ga. All we know thus far is that it is a low security, privately owned facility that often holds immigrants awaiting deportation. An attorney from SOA Watch is in process of setting up a visit with David, hopefully by Monday. David's new address where you can write and send funds:

Michael David Omondi #94638-020
McRae Correctional Institute
P.O. Drawer 30
McRae, GA 31055

Peace,
Mike Wisniewski, LACW
http://lacatholicworker.org/

A CAUSTIC WIND BLOWS

2011-01-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

by Arnal Kennedy

A caustic wind blows
Through his harmonica
Something bluesy
To make you stop and think
Of when your woman
Played you for a fool
And you were the last to know.

It spoke to me soul to soul
Living grammar of music
Articulating the unthinkable
When she said,
“You know you’re boring”
And I retreated
Further into my sanctuary.

He sat in the corner of the
Subway train
In a tattered coat
Soiled blue jeans
No eyes in their sockets
A special part of me
Cousins to love’s uneasiness.

Then he put away his harmonica
And began to sing,
First tenor sweet and easy
Raucous Puerto Rican teenagers
Quieted and listened to revelation.
The train stopped and I got out
Leaving my remains in my seat.

Keith Olbermann gives abrupt goodbye to MSNBC show

2011-01-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

AP News
January 22 2011

Keith Olbermann was MSNBC's most popular personality and single-handedly led its transformation to an outspoken, left-leaning cable news network in prime time. Despite that, he often seemed to be walking on a tightrope with his job. Friday night, it snapped.

Olbermann returned from one last commercial break on "Countdown" to tell viewers it was his last broadcast, and read a James Thurber short story in a three-minute exit statement. Simultaneously, MSNBC e-mailed a statement that "MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract." The network thanked him and said, "we wish him well in his future endeavors."

read the rest here

Punishing Bradley Manning for the Crimes of Others

2011-01-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

David Swanson
War is a Crime
January 22 2011

Bradley Manning, alleged U.S. Army whistleblower, is in two ways -- one likely, the other certain -- being punished for the crimes of others.

On Monday a crowd that I was part of staged a protest at Quantico, where Manning has been imprisoned for several months with no trial. At the last minute, the military denied us permission to hold a rally on the base, so we held it in the street blocking the entrance to the base. This visibly enraged at least one of the guards who attempted unsuccessfully to arrest a couple of us.

read the rest here

Blackwater Founder Said to Back Mercenaries

2011-01-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT
The NY Times
January 20 2011

WASHINGTON — Erik Prince, the founder of the international security giant Blackwater Worldwide, is backing an effort by a controversial South African mercenary firm to insert itself into Somalia’s bloody civil war by protecting government leaders, training Somali troops, and battling pirates and Islamic militants there, according to American and Western officials.

read the rest here

Student's answer on civics test: Death to Arabs

2011-01-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

Tomer Velmer
Ynet News
January 19 2011

Three weeks after the publication of a petition calling on Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar to take action against racism spreading within schools and the general public, teachers told Ynet about the harsh reality they are forced to face daily.

In one case, a 12th grade student of a northern Israeli school wrote "Death to the Arabs" on a test in civics class. In another case, a high school student from Tel Aviv stood up during class, and to the horror of his teacher declared that his dream is to volunteer for the Border Guard, "so that I can spray Arabs to death." His friends welcomed the announcement with applause.

read the rest here

Anti-Terrorism Begins at Home Viva House refuses to sign United Way "loyalty oath

2011-01-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

Edward Ericson Jr.
Baltimore City Paper
January 19 2011

A local charity is refusing to certify that it does not use United Way funds to support terrorism, saying the request smacks of McCarthyism.

Brendan Walsh and Willa Bickham, who since 1968 have operated Viva House soup kitchen and food pantry on the city’s west side, say they were surprised to receive a letter in December from the United Way of Central Maryland asking them to sign and return an “Anti-Terrorism Compliance Measures” form or risk losing money that was pledged to them.

“It’s tantamount to signing a loyalty oath,” Walsh says.

read the rest here

FR. Jack McCaslin

2011-01-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends of the Omaha Catholic Worker:

Prayers needed for Fr. Jack Mc Caslin, father of the CW movement in Omaha.

He is at Bergen Mercy Hospital, Omaha, NE Room number #386.

He called this morning and said" My Doctors think it might be cancer, so I am scheduled for a Biopsy at 11:30 today Wednesday Jan 19.

He said nothing about visitor's.

Please spread this news and request for Prayers.

More details later.

Jerry Ebner

Herb Turner, “Quiet Hero”

2011-01-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

Jack Paulishen
The New Haven Independent
January 17 2011

At 6:30 a.m., I’m shoveling the mound of snow pushed in front of my driveway so I can go meet Herb Turner. “There is no way this guy is going to be there,” I thought to myself. “We just got 20 inches, the streets are barely passable, it’s 20 degrees out, and he’s 79 years old!”

After I clear the snow I’m on my way to Rosette Street in the Hill section of New Haven to meet Turner. This morning, as on every other weekday morning for the last nine years, Herb will be cooking breakfast at the Amistad Catholic Worker House. He’ll arrive 10 minutes or so before 7, put on a pot of coffee and begin preparing a free breakfast for the neighborhood people who rely on the Worker House for a warm meal and even warmer friendships.

read the rest here

2nd Letter from SOA Prisoner Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM

2011-01-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

Michael Wisniewski
Jan 17, 2011

Greetings of peace, all,

Below is a reflection on MLK Day from Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM. You can write to Louie at:

Louis John Vitale, #25803-048, FCI Lompoc, 3600
Guard Rd., Lompoc, CA 93436

Peace,

Mike Wisniewski, LACW
-------

Dear Friends and Family--HAPPY MLK DAY, 2011, from Lompoc FCI

Martin Luther King's writings and speeches all echo the idea that Nonviolence has not been tried and found wanting, and Violence is continually tried and found ever more wanting......The good news this day is that Nonviolence is beginning to be tried! Oh, that we may keep up the nonviolent spirit of Martin. Today is the Day!!!

It is strange to celebrate this day of liberation in such a place of imprisonment. I am still haunted by the discussion I had with some Black activists at the L.A. Press Club during Nixon's Watergate demise. They were discussing Nixon's plan to build concentration camps for young activists (notably of "color".) I told them they were going too far (paranoia). Now I am living in one of those institutions. And, I see the reality all around me... (...)

When shall we truly Overcome Racism and Oppression??? King gave his life. Are we willing to give ours?

Michael David Omondi, “my friend and partner in Civil Disobedience and its consequences," is. We witnessed that as he threw himself over the fence at Ft. Benning, and continues to share it in the Federal containment system, now threatening to deport him to the continent he loves...

Michael David Omondi and Louie

Some time ago I wrote a reflection comparing the King of "I Have a Dream" to his last Speech re: the Vietnam War. It is posted on the Pace e Bene website, and it is reprinted here for your continued reflection on this prophetic day. Pace e Bene--

Louis John Vitale, #25803-048,
FCI Lompoc, 3600 Guard Rd.,
Lompoc, CA 93436
-------------

The following reflection on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was written in 2008 on Dr. King’s birthday by Friar Louie Vitale, OFM while he was incarcerated in the Imperial County Jail following a nonviolent witness at Ft. Huachuca in Arizona calling for an end to torture training.

Nonviolence News Story:
Martin Luther King, Jr: Still A Prophet For Our Time
http://paceebene.org/nvns/nonviolence-news-service-archive/martin-luther-king-jr-still-prophet-our-time

By Louie Vitale, OFM

Two years ago at this time, I was in a Georgia jail. I could not help but remember having lived in southern Georgia (Valdosta) while training with the U.S. Air Force in 1956. It was very shocking to me to see the overt signs of racism. A close friend in the squadron could not meet us in town—he was denied access and subject to segregation in Valdosta. He was an outstanding officer and effective crew member.

I can still remember the day we took off in two different planes to practice intercepts on each other. We were notified that the other crew was not available. I did notice a spume of dark black smoke. Yes, our two companions had crashed on take off. I never have been able to get over his zeal to do his all to defend our country and yet he and his family were denied housing, restaurant seats, even directed to “colored” bathrooms and water fountains. He also had a flyer placed on his windshield—“Vote for Lester Maddox,” with an axe handle in hand, Maddox’s logo.

Yes, we have come a long way since that era – but have Dr. King’s deeper dreams been realized? The local Imperial Valley newspaper today did look back 40 years and asked “have we really achieved the depths of his vision, especially in the latter days of his life: true equality for all peoples?”

In 2006, the racial inequities were obvious in the Georgia jails that I was in. The vast majority of people that are incarcerated are African Americans. Racial bias is patent. Sentences given take away the lives of the youth. This year in Florence, Arizona, where some 3,000 of 3,700 prisoners were Mexican also raised many questions—was the segregation of southern Georgia any match for the wall on the US-Mexico border?

Martin Luther King shared with Cesar Chavez the vision and goal of a multi-racial and multi-cultural society where power, responsibility, visions and burdens are shared. Echoing Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker, “It’s that filthy, rotten system.” King challenged a Capitalism that brings about great inequalities. The gap between the very rich and the poor is extreme, the poor fight our wars—giving their lives and devastating the lives and lands of the poor of the world.

Yes, after the idyllic “I Have a Dream” speech, whose remembering on this holiday evokes an image of children of all races walking hand in hand to live lives together, opportunity & abundance, King later led his marches through the cities of the North. There the fire hoses were unfurled, the dogs unleashed.

I was in Chicago the summer of 1965 as a graduate student, living with the Franciscan friars on the South Side. We went to Allen Chapel and listened to Dr. King preach about “Dives and Lazarus” – a message of great compassion. It was the ingredient for a system that this prophet
advocated to replace runaway capitalism. But on Monday as they marched in the streets King testified that these streets were meaner than in the South—fire hoses, impaled marchers on trees, walls and asphalt. Dogs were unleashed on seasoned bearers of nonviolence. Children were under attack, and even Catholic sisters in their religious habits, accompanying the protestors, claimed to have bricks thrown at them by their former parochial school students.

Yes, Dr. King faced a tougher world after the great peoples’ march in 1963, as he reached hard-core impoverished workers in the South and in the North. He realized we needed a “revolution of values,” based on compassion and justice for all. Yes, he planned to go back to the U.S. Capitol, but not for “a beautiful day” to join hands, but also for an expression of truth. Yes, a million activists who would stay until justice was won.

But something even deeper had radically affected King. The Vietnam War was fought by the poor of the ghettoes against the poor of Asia. For King it was a turning moment – a “teshuva” – he had an urgent message to bear to our world.

We are aware that we are trapped in the same unrestrained madness with its staggering impact on our country and the terrible devastation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Some estimates are they have lost as high as a million lives—largely children, and the devastation of two countries not seen since the war of which King spoke at Riverside Church in New York City in 1967, a year before his death. His words were truly prophetic at that time, perhaps he can once again challenge us today. [Ed. Note: King’s speech at Riverside Church is entitled Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam, and all quotes in the remaining paragraphs are from that speech.

I recall the first time I listened to this memorable speech how startling it struck me. As I reread it this week, I realize that very few proper noun changes would update his message for today’s pulpit. Prophetic voices never die, and still bear the force to change history. Martin had just one year to the day to bear the prophet’s mantle. But his prophetic nonviolence continues to impact the world. The assassin’s bullet found its way to stifle his actions of nonviolence and silence his denouncement of the war. But we cannot afford to allow that bullet to stifle his prophecy for our times.

Dr. King shocked many when he spoke out so forcefully and cogently against the Vietnam War. Even his own colleagues felt he could have a negative impact on the Civil Rights campaigns. But Martin had come to see that poverty was a great part of injustice – and saw that the Vietnam War had a major impact on the poor.

Further, he realized that the bombing was a crucifixion of the poor of Vietnam—in fact he insisted that war inevitably impacts the poor of the world. He stated, “So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”

King was a disciple of Gandhi. He was a student and an activist practitioner of nonviolence. But he fount it very hard at that time to speak out against the violence advocated by activists in our own country. After experiencing the ghettos of the North and trying to convince those who were using violence to attempt to bring about social change to use nonviolent means, he noticed that “They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive violence to solve its problems, to bring about changes it wanted…I knew I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government.”

To those who may think King is exaggerating this sentiment of returning soldiers I can attest to having this discussion in the Las Vegas Ghetto with very disturbed returning Vietnam Vets unable to get jobs, finding impoverished segregated communities who were planning to react as they had in “Nam.”

King continues, “Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read ‘Vietnam.’ It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over…So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children…Now there is little left to build on, save bitterness. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases…We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise…Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and non-violence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view…”

“Somehow this madness must cease. I speak as a child of God…I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop must be ours.”

“Meanwhile, we in the churches and synagogues have a continuing task while we urge our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment. We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative means of protest possible… Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.”

“Now let us begin. Now let us re-dedicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets?

Or, will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.”

Unfortunately, Martin Luther King Jr.’s share of that human history had but a year to go. There is strong evidence of a clear connection between King’s campaign against the Vietnam War, as well as his avowal to fill the Capitol with determined activists on behalf of the poor of America (joined by Anti-War activists) not just to hold hands and sing but in true nonviolence to immobilize “business as usual” until clear actions were taken to address effectively the war on poverty, to bring the troops home to their communities and restore the country so devastated by a grossly debilitating and immoral war.

As we celebrate Black History Month during February, …could we take …to read—perhaps communally. his ’67 vision? Can we catch his prophetic spirit deeper, making our own turning (“teshuva”), put our lives on the line – challenge ourselves to end the massive killing at home and abroad, stop business as usual & ride his dream to a “peaceable new heavens” (“no nukes in space”) and a new earth: no wars anywhere, ever, true peace and sharing of the abundance for all— Pastor Martin truly believed the source of all creation would one day
open the way, we must choose life—of all and for all.

The night before he was assassinated, 40 years ago on April 3, 1968, King spoke these prophetic words: “It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence. It is nonviolence or nonexistence.” Yes, as the proliferation of nuclear weapons spreads far beyond King had imagined we must all resist nuclear war in whatever ways we are able. But ever the man of faith & vision Pastor Martin insisted that to Hope is “to refuse to give up!”

We are created to live in a peaceful world—may King’s prophetic spirit continue to point the way!

Your brother,
Louie

Supreme Court declines appeal for Guantánamo detainee once ordered free

2011-01-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

Mohammed al-Adahi, a Guantánamo detainee, has been held without charge since 2002. A US judge ordered his release, but an appeals court reversed that, and the Supreme Court declined the case.

Warren Richey
Christian Science Monitor
January 18 2011

A longtime detainee at the US terror prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has lost his bid to reinstate a federal judge’s order that he be freed.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal on behalf of Mohammed al-Adahi, a Yemeni national who has been held without charge at Guantánamo since 2002.

The high court’s action allows an appeals-court ruling to stand, authorizing the continued, open-ended detention of Mr. Adahi.

read the rest here

Mercy Without Borders

2011-01-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Nuclear Resisters Arrested Honoring Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday Washington State - Tacoma CWers joined effort

2011-01-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

Leonard Eiger
January 16, 2011

Poulsbo, Washington, Saturday, January 15, 2011 - The Seattle Raging Grannies set the mood for honoring Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday, Saturday at the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington.

Eighty three people from the Center participated in a vigil at the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale with the help of a full scale, 44 foot long, inflatable Trident D-5 missile. Each D-5 missile, deployed on Trident nuclear submarines, carries up to 8 warheads, each with an explosive yield of up to 475 kilotons. Each D-5 missile costs approximately $60 million. (...)

Participants carried signs and banners calling for an end to war and nuclear weapons. Notable was a quote by Dr. King: "When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men."

Back at the Center for, Dr. David Hall, former president of Washington Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, presented the threats posed by these nuclear weapons stored at Strategic Weapons Facility-Pacific and deployed on the Trident nuclear submarines based at Bangor Navy Base in Kitsap County.

The Seattle Raging Grannies chorus entertained participants with a series of musical parodies celebrating the day’s theme of “Billions for Life, Not Billions for Death.” The theme reflected Dr. King’s words: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

After nonviolence training 12 activists risked arrest by symbolically closing the Trigger Avenue gate during the afternoon shift change as an act of resistance to Trident, a first strike weapons system. Blocking traffic symbolizes stopping the horrific threat of Trident missiles, for a short time.

Rosy Betz-Zall, 60, of Seattle, WA; Anne Hall, 65, of Seattle, WA; Larry Kerschner, 64, of Centralia, WA; Brenda McMillan, 77, of Port Townsend, WA; Denny Moore, 66, of Bainbridge Island, WA; and Shirley Morrison, 88, of Seattle, WA walked onto Trigger Avenue with a banner
reading “BILLIONS FOR LIFE, NOT BILLIONS FOR DEATH.”

Kitsap County Sheriffs arrested the six protesters. After initial processing they were transported by Sheriff’s van to the Kitsap County Jail for further processing. They were issued citations for blocking traffic and released.

Then another six Ground Zero Center activists crossed the ‘blue line’ designating federal control. Patricia “Patti” Bass, 63, of Poulsbo, WA; Carolyn Dorisdotter, 72, Seattle, WA; Norm Keegel, 71, of Bainbridge Island, WA; Gordon Sturrock, 52, of Eugene, WA; Sam Tower, 68, of Tacoma, WA; and Robert Friend Weber Whitlock, 32, of Olympia were arrested by naval security personnel, processed and released after being issued citations for trespassing.

Relating to the day’s theme of “Billions for Life, Not Billions for Death, according to Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation, “Washington State is planning to cut schools, health care, public safety and other programs by more that $4 billion. While Washington State taxpayers have paid $28.6 billion so far for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” That figure does not include the annual defense budget or nuclear weapons spending.

The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing as many as 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined. For over thirty-three years Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action has engaged in education, training in nonviolence, community building, resistance against Trident and action toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Contact:
Leonard Eiger, Media and Outreach
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
www.gzcenter.org
subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com

January 2011 issue of Hospitality, the newspaper of the Open Door Community CW

2011-01-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

Calvin Kimbrough
Jan 18, 2011

For our many Catholic Worker Friends:

The January 2011 issue of Hospitality, the newspaper of the Open Door Community, is now available on our web site at:
http://opendoorcommunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/January-2011-web.indd_.pdf.

Included in this issue are a sermon – The Work of Encountering Reality in the Raw by Jenny McBride, an adaptation of Psalm 124 by Murphy Davis, two book reviews - A Radical and Prophetic Voice (The Cry of the Poor by Eduard Loring) by Kurt Greenhalgh and Think Jim Crow’s Dead?, Think Again (The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander) by Jessica Sully, articles – The Imperial Hotel: A Model for Supportive Housing by Houston Wheeler and Why We Need “Obamacare” Now! by Bill Elsea M.D., Bourbon Street Rag by Steve Rhodes in the Poetry Corner, the Open Door Community Advent picture and ¡Presente! a photographic essay on the SOA Watch Vigil at Ft. Benning, Georgia by Calvin Kimbrough.

Calvin Kimbrough
Open Door Community
www.opendoorcommunity.org

Flickr Slide Show of witness at White House Jan 15 for 20 Anni. of the US Lead Wars on Iraq:

2011-01-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frank_cordaro_and_the_dm_catholic_worker/sets/72157625724142439/

These are photos were mostly taken by Frank Cordaro on Jan 15, 2011 in Wash DC during the events surrounding the Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday remembrance to commemorate 20 Years of U.S. War on Iraq and re-dedication of our Lives to living out Dr Kings Dream of Abolishing War and Injustice! organized by the Wash DC CW community and many others... (Photos not taken by FC will be identified.)

The photos begin with the march entering Lafayette Park, setting up a noon vigil in front of the White House. Some of the photos have people identified and named. Most do not. There are photos of some of the speakers. Regrets to all the good folks who were there and are not identified or in any of the photos. There are two photos from the 7 p.m.Candlelight Vigil that took place outside White House marking the time the Tomahawk Missiles exploded in Baghdad.

And the last two photos are of Concepcion Thomas 24 hr/ 7 days a week White House Peace Vigil which started in 1981!!! A truly remarkable effort. To find out more about this remarkable effort to go http://www.prop1.org/conchita/
-----

Over 60 people have been doing the 11-day Fast for Justice in Wash DC to end torture and close Guantánamo started Jan 11th. Over 100 people around the country have signed up in solidarity for the 11-day, liquid-only fast. Plans are in the works to return to the Justice Department for more possible direct action efforts started on Jan 11th.

For the most recent updates go to:
http://www.witnesstorture.org/

3 Arrested During Tucson Anti-War Protest Honoring Dr. King's Birthday

2011-01-22T09:15:00.000-08:00

The Nuclear Resister
January 17, 2011

Following Tucson’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day march on Monday, January 17, 10 people carried Dr. King’s message to nearby Davis–Monthan Air Force Base for a peace vigil to honor his legacy twenty years after the United States began its war against Iraq.

Three men – Dennis DuVall, John Heid, and Jean Boucher – walked into the base with messages for base personnel opposing depleted uranium munitions and armed drones.

read the rest here

WikiLeaks cables: Turkey let US use airbase for rendition flights

2011-01-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

Turkey allowed use of Incirlik airbase as refuelling stop, US embassy cable reveals, after Turkish denials of involvement

Mark Tran
The Guardian
January 17 2011

Turkey allowed the US to use its airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey as part of the "extraordinary rendition" programme to take suspected terrorists to Guantánamo Bay, according to a US diplomatic cable.

Turkey's involvement in the controversial programme was revealed in a cable dated 8 June 2006, written by the then US ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson. The cable described Turkey as a crucial ally in the "global war on terror" and an important logistical base for the US-led war in Iraq.

read the rest here

VIDEO: Free Bradley Manning

2011-01-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

Letter from SOA Prisoner Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM

2011-01-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

Michael Wisniewski
Jan 16, 2011

Greetings of peace, all,

Attached is a letter from Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM, who was sentenced to six months in federal prison along with LACW community member (Michael) David Omondi. Louie wrote this letter in late December. However, since he was in transit and getting settled in Lompoc, there was a delay in receiving it.

You can write to Louie at:

Louis John Vitale, #25803-048,
FCI Lompoc, 3600 Guard Rd.,
Lompoc, CA 93436

Peace,

Mike Wisniewski, LACW

THE PROMISE OF PEACE
December 26, 2010

Christmas has come. It brought a number of surprises. December 22 nd I was awakened early (4AM) at the Irwin County, GA Detention Center. “Prepare to leave.” I was not expecting this, and had but a few minutes to shuffle through papers. I missed 35 notes in response to cards and letter that I had ready to mail to the Cohen-Jappas’ in Tucson for forwarding. I regret I could not recoup them. I basically was not able to take anything with me. (...)

Soon we were on our way in a van headed for Atlanta; final destination unknown. As we approached Atlanta two options appeared; one to the US Penitentiary there to a “holdover unit” for a month of processing, as I had done last year; Michael David Omondi, who I had been sentenced with, is there. The other option was a drop off at the Atlanta airport; happily the latter was my good fortune.

On the way on to the plane I asked a U.S. Marshall reading off my name for my destination, and he said, “LOMPOC!” I must admit my heart leaped for joy. Yes, it had been less than five months since I had departed from that prison on the California Coast (50 miles north of Santa Barbara), and believe it or, I had left many friends there, and had good memories. I then hoped I would be there to join the Christmas festivities in the chapel with a community I had come to
love.

But, heavy pre-Christmas B.O.P. travel resulted in a longer stay at the Victorville, CA U.S. Penitentiary (near Riverside in Southern CA). A good meal, a 10 pound package of goodies each, and I was able to celebrate a liturgy with a small group in a larger cell. It was a joyful and hope-filled moment to welcome the Prince of Peace to that prison.

Many say there is no hope for peace in this world with so many wars, threats of nuclear bomb attacks, trillions of our dollars spent on preparing weapons even into space (as we will experience directly from Lompoc prison launched by our neighbors at Vandenberg Air Force Base—gateway to “space war.”)

But, creation has been evolving for billions of years, and extends billions of light years into space. Its secrets are yet unknown—but harmony and goodness are in its essence. Many who study this evolution: scientists, philosophers, theologians, and such-- have great optimism at these wonders. Christians believe that the “child” born to us came to reveal the secret of the universe at its core, which is compassionate love from the Creator, or the positive creative energy that embraces us all and our universes.

It was a hopeful sign that the Start Treaty passed the Congress before the close of the year. START is still its name. It is FAR short of the full disarmament and actual abolition of all nuclear weapons and indeed all weapons of war—so vitally necessary to urge on “the new creations” that draw us closer to the promised “New Heavens and New Earth” towards which we are all drawn.

On January 1, 2011 we will celebrate “World Peace Day.” Some predict 2011 or 2012 will be the catastrophic end of all creation. Yes, that is a “possibility,” but we hope to see much happier possibilities. We are urged to keep our hope alive, but, to make it “active hope,” is our biggest challenge.

Jesus did show us the way, a way to nonviolence and charity. We can practice it daily and join the many peacemakers who have gone before us such as Sts. Francis and Clare (who achieved peace in their day), St. Franz Jägerstätter, (a conscientious objector and martyr who resisted Hitler’s army), Martin Luther King (wooing peace to the end), Dorothy Day (who gave her life for the poor and for peace), Cesar Chavez (totally committed to nonviolence and justice) and many, many more whom we see today, in every part of the world, in countries such as Palestine, Iran, Latin America, and here in the United States.

My journey so far this year, in Georgia and Northern California, has been filled with opportunities to share this life of compassionate caring, with many. I eagerly await my journey all the way to the Pacific “peaceful” waters of California, and a new year joining in the world wide (or even cosmos wide) journey to its fulfillment: a “New Heaven & New Earth!”

A blessed 2011 to all of you. With love to all Creations….Louie

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And a note from Lompoc FCI on Sunday, January 16, 2011 – Martin Luther King weekend:

It is amazing to me how much more conscientized people here in Lompoc are since I first came last year. They were fascinated with the Missiles; now they share my concerns. So also with SOA, etc. Things are also going well at the chapel. I am enjoying it. Things are a bit fragmented there, so it seems my presence is useful.

In peace on this MLK weekend. Louie

Louis John Vitale, #25803-048,
FCI Lompoc, 3600 Guard Rd.,
Lompoc, CA 93436

Swiss banker hands secrets over to Wikileaks

2011-01-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

Says with offshore account information he hopes to draw attention to abuses in industry

Olesya Dmitracova and Chris Vellacott
Reuters
January 17 2011

LONDON — A former Swiss private banker handed over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday, saying he wanted to draw attention to financial abuses.

Rudolf Elmer, 55, headed the office of Julius Baer in the Cayman Islands until he was fired by the bank in 2002. He is scheduled to go on trial in Switzerland on Wednesday for breaching bank secrecy.

read the rest here

Tucson shooting victim detained at taping of TV special

2011-01-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

MSNBC
January 16 2011

TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson mass shooting victim was taken into custody Saturday after yelling "you're dead" at a Tea Party spokesman during the taping of an ABC-TV town hall event hosted by Christianne Amanpour.

The Pima County Sheriff's Office said J. Eric Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed to an undisclosed medical facility, NBC News reported. The Associated Press said he was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

He faces charges of threats and intimidation and disorderly conduct, according to Tucson TV station KGUN.

read the rest here

7th Letter posting from from LACW - SOA Prisoner, David Omondi

2011-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Michael Wisniewski
Jan 14, 2011

Greetings of peace, all,

Attached is a letter written to the L.A.C.W. Community, and friends, from community member (Michael) David Omondi. David remains in U.S. Penitentiary - Atlanta. David's inmate registration number is 94638-020 if you care to track him at the B.O.P. website http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp

Peace,

Mike Wisniewski, LACW
http://lacatholicworker.org/
------

Jan 6, 2011

Dear Friends,

I am so undeserving of the joy that now enfolds me. And I wonder as I lay on my bottom bunk—why me? But thankfully (i.e. full of gratitude) I now feel I must write and share this feeling immediately. (...)

Today in the mail I received 5 letters: Arnal Kennedy, Grace Morningstar Hill-Speed, Daniel Omondi (brother), Diane Omondi (mother), and Joanna Shenk—read in that order. No-Grace’s before Arnal’s, because after Arnal’s I stopped to write a poem, fulfilling his request of sharing “where [my] mind is at.” And then two more, unexpected, brought tears and spontaneous laughter. My brother Daniel is simply a spectacular human being—his words were an unbelievable balm and blessing—sharing a personal testimony and giving reassurance to me, his elder brother, of God’s active presence in all we are pursuing. And the loving words of a mother who’s gentle, serving spirit has always been my most pertinent example of how to live. Both containing updates and reporting God’s goodness in current events and in future opportunities—happenings that are pulling me homeward with ever-increasing force. So many ways and places to serve.

And then Joanna Shenk—a beautiful letter giving further testimony to God’s active presence in the interweaving of lives and stories— asking me to write my own testimonial on the influence of my Mennonite heritage (in the context of overall Christianity in the U.S.). I pray for the right words, and the focus to be able to do this well.

I am currently enjoying the solitude of being the single occupant of a two-person cell—a situation that will hold at least for one night (tonight), and quite possibly through the approaching weekend. Chris Mathuriu, my most recent “ex-celly” was moved today—he said as he was leaving, “You were right, they came when I had let go and was least expecting it.” Though it required patience on my part, we had a very positive eight-day relationship—sharing most everything, partaking in spectacular food creations (miracles out of scraps), welcoming the New Year with gratitude, prayer and commemoration of those less fortunate. I had the pleasure of sharing last night’s mail with him—an amazing assemblage of pictures from Kenya (prepared by my sister), some of which I am including here, and news clippings from home—Chris read every single one between a serving of one of my prison casseroles (made from leftovers) and a dessert whipped together from some extra bread, apples, my breakfast milk, and our lunch time sponge cakes. He loved all of it—food, pictures, and news clippings—a fitting send off as it turned out to be.

I spent much of the day yesterday in prayer for Bob, Chris, and Nancy. Still no word on the outcome—I know I’ll hear soon. And I am continuing to pray for Chris and Nancy as they begin their terms.

I am now in my fourth week at Atlanta USP, where I actually feel quite settled and comfortable with the routine. Some more opportunity for interaction with others, communication, and exercise would be very nice—perhaps too nice for “prison”. But still I have made some acquaintances/friends beyond three former cellmates, two of whom are also designated to McRae. No telling when they’re coming for us—likely soon. Though it’s not a 100% certainty that’s where I am actually going to end up, I am looking forward to the experience of being at an INS facility with lots of internationals. And if plans are indeed being made to have me deported somehow, I am looking forward to that experience as well, whatever the outcome.

All this is to say simply that I am well, grateful for the outpouring of support I continue to experience through the mail/e-mail/phone calls with family and community. Grateful for each relationship with other inmates and encounters with the “pigs” that are both dynamic and revelatory (of human-ness mostly). Grateful for my quiet, clean, organized cell containing a massive stack of mail, warm clothing, and other comforts (e.g. a chair), and excellent books. Looking forward to the leftover chicken and rice I’m going to fix up with some carrots and wheat bread. Thankful that I have just enough stamps remaining to send this out.

Peace, Love, and Blessings
David Omondi
LACWer
---------

(Untitled) For Grace and Arnal:
ANGELS ALL AROUND ME
IN THE DUNGEONS OF ATLANTA USP
GUIDING LIGHT, THE TRUTH OF LOVE
AND DAILY LEARNED HUMILITY
LISTEN, STILL, PRAY, STILL—
SILENCE CLAMOURS THROUGH THE NIGHT
WATCH, PATIENT, PRAY STILL SILENT—
QUIETLY DESIRES FLEE.

FOR BLESSINGS COME WHEN
LEAST EXPECTED

THOUGH MIND AND FLESH
IN CONSTANCY MAY SEEK
REPRIEVE THROUGH MATERIAL
THE SPIRIT BECKONS
THROUGH THE DIN
TO PEACE
SO SUBTLE
AND ETHEREAL
YET CONGRUENT, TANGIBLE
SIMPLE AND SIMPLY INFINITESIMAL
THE FREEDOM OF CAPTIVITY
ANGELS WHISPER…
…IN A PENITENTIARY

Detained American Says F.B.I. Pressed Him

2011-01-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

MARK MAZZETTI
The New York Times
January 12, 2011

WASHINGTON — An American teenager detained in Kuwait said he underwent a heated interrogation by F.B.I. agents for several hours on Wednesday, in a case that has renewed debate over the Obama administration’s expansion of the no-fly list after the attempted bombing of a passenger plane bound for Detroit in 2009.

The interrogation grew steadily more hostile when the agents pressed the teenager, Gulet Mohamed, on his travels to Yemen and Somalia and began calling him an “embarrassment to his country,” accusing him of lying about his contacts with militants overseas, he said.

Mr. Mohamed said the agents began yelling the name “Anwar al-Awlaki” at him, prompting Kuwaiti officials to intervene and request that the agents end the interrogation.

read the rest here

Should E-Mail and Letters Have Equal Legal Protection?

2011-01-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

CLAIRE CAIN MILLER
The New York Times
January 13, 2011

Over the weekend, we reported that the government had ordered Twitter to turn over private information about users associated with WikiLeaks.

The order was fairly routine, and Twitter and other Internet companies have so far refused to talk more about it. But, as we wrote in Monday’s paper, the high-profile nature of the court order brought to light an issue that cyberlaw experts have been discussing for years: the ways in which the law lags fast-changing technology.

read the rest here

What Eisenhower Got Wrong

2011-01-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

David Swanson
War is a Crime
January 13 2010

Fifty years ago this Monday, President Dwight Eisenhower gave a farewell address in which he famously warned of the dangers of influence on our government by the "military industrial complex." Our current Secretary of War, Robert Gates, has proposed to retire this year and has recommended that his successors stop increasing the military budget. But Eisenhower didn't just bring this up on his way out the door. It was seven years earlier that he had remarked:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed 8,000 people."

read the rest here

Rose Hill: Tivoli estate was once the site of Catholic Worker Farm

2011-01-15T10:50:00.000-08:00

Anthony P. Musso
Poughkeepsie Journal
January 12 2011

In the midst of the turbulent 1960s, an era defined by war protests and domestic unrest, a 25-acre estate in Tivoli served as the epicenter of a major peace movement. Called Rose Hill, the property, which overlooks the Hudson River, boasts a mansion built in 1864 by Gen. John Watts de Peyster.

Dorothy Day, a journalist, pacifist, social activist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker, learned about Rose Hill and purchased it in 1964 from the Yonkers-based Leake and Watts Orphanage.

"The Catholic Worker was founded in Staten Island and as that area continued to grow, Dorothy Day was looking for a place away from the city," Tivoli Mayor Tom Cordier said. "She found the property in Tivoli and moved here."

read the rest here

Longtime peace advocate dies after being struck by car

2011-01-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

By MIKE BLASKY
Las Vegas Review Journal
January 11, 2011

Ever since she was a child, Sister Rosemary Lynch took comfort in daily morning walks.

She maintained her routine when she moved to Las Vegas in the late '70s. Friends and colleagues said she liked to explore her community and examine all its nooks and secrets up close.

On Wednesday, the 93-year-old Franciscan sister and longtime peace advocate was struck by a vehicle while taking one of those walks. She died Sunday night at Nathan Adelson Hospice.

read the rest here

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT BLOCKADED TO STOP TORTURE, SHUT DOWN GUANTANAMO; NO ARRESTS MADE

2011-01-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

Matthew W. Daloisio
Jan 12 2011

WASHINGTON – Sixty anti-torture activists blockaded the entrances to the Department of Justice for an hour and a half this afternoon. The action was to protest Washington's failure to close the Guantánamo detention center and continued use of torture against detainees at Guantánamo and other prisons that comprise the “gulag” operated by the military and security agencies around the world. (...)

“Sixty people blocked three entrances to the Justice Department,” said Matt Daloisio of Witness Against Torture, which organized the day of action against torture. No arrests were made. “Warnings were issued at one point, but the police appeared to change their plans and called off bringing buses to take away the blockaders. U.S. authorities have deeply disgraced this country by refusing to end torture and provide its War-on-Terror prisoners with speedy trials. Rather than call more attention to this fact by detaining activists who put themselves at risk today to bring this message to the public, they backed off.”

The Day of Action extended beyond Washington. Ten were arrested at the Federal Building in Chicago, Illinois this afternoon, and actions were also held in Miami, Pittsburgh, Madison and elsewhere.

“This first day of action was a significant success,” said Cooke. The actions kick off an 11-day Fast for Justice to end torture and close Guantánamo. Over 100 people around the country have signed up for the 11-day, liquid-only fast. Close to 50 fasters will be in Washington for the entire period, holding a vigil each day in front of the Justice Department.

The blockade followed a rally at the White House attended by more than 350 people and that included Witness Against Torture, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International, and British journalist Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files and co-director of the documentary Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.

100 Days to Close Guantanamo & End Torture www.100dayscampaign.org

Close Gitmo, End Torture Demonstration at U.S. Justice Department

2011-01-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

Statement By Catholic Worker Farmers & Gardeners

2011-01-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

On this, the 75th anniversary of Catholic Worker farms, we urban gardeners and rural farmers have gathered in Sheep Ranch, California to celebrate the spirit of Peter Maurin—co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement with Dorothy Day.

All of God’s children deserve access to healthy food, yet hunger, malnutrition and starvation continue to harm people across the planet. Contemporary problems of hunger, mental illnesses, climate change, environmental degradation, industrial food production, and social alienation are interrelated. These challenges can be overwhelming, but our experiences have taught us that the vision of Peter Maurin is now more relevant than ever before.

Peter Maurin put out the call for a Green Revolution consisting of round-table discussions, houses of hospitality, and farming communes. Although houses of hospitality have been the most notable aspect of the Catholic Worker movement, many of us have experienced the need for Catholic Worker farming communities and urban gardens to help us more fully realize Peter Maurin’s vision. Peter encouraged us to follow the way of Jesus Christ as servant rather than master, spending our energy in decentralized food production methods.

To this end, we support the following sustainable practices across North America: utilization of heirloom seeds, conversion of abandoned places into community gardens, local production of organic food, creation of biointensive and permaculture farms and urban gardens. We support the resistance to industrial farming in a movement toward restoring localized production and distribution of healthy organic food.

We acknowledge the momentum of movements calling for a restructuring of our agricultural system and we applaud these efforts. We challenge ourselves, the Catholic Worker movement, the Church, people of all faith traditions, and all people of goodwill to promote sustainable
ways of living.

75th Anniversary of Catholic Worker Farms

2011-01-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

Chris Montesano
Jan 11, 2011

Members of Catholic Worker farms and urban houses of hospitality gathered this past week for a celebration of Peter Maurin’s prophetic vision for a new society in the shell of the old. Peter Maurin co-founded the Catholic Worker in New York City in 1933 with Dorothy Day. Three years later the first Catholic Worker farming commune opened in New York. For the 75th Anniversary of the first Catholic Worker farming commune, 21 people gathered in the remote Sierra foothills of California for workshops and discussions.

Today the Catholic Workers gathered in Sheep Ranch issued a statement reiterating and updating Peter Maurin’s vision in modern language, calling for more urban gardens and local organic farming communities. Urban gardeners and rural farmers came from Catholic Worker communities in California, Colorado, Montana, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico. Richard Bishop of Bitterroot Catholic Worker Farm, MT said, “The beauty of Peter Maurin’s vision has not been realized. All of our discussions need to be illuminated by Peter’s prophetic teachings.”

Contact:
Chris Montesano
chrismontesano@gmail.com
Catholic Worker Farm
16777 Armstrong RD,
Sheep Ranch, CA

6th Letter posting from from LACW - SOA Prisoner, David Omondi

2011-01-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

Michael Wisniewski
Jan 11, 2011

Greetings of peace, all,

Attached is a letter written to the Open Door Community http://opendoorcommunity.org/ in Atlanta from LACW community member (Michael) David Omondi. David remains in U.S. Penitentiary - Atlanta. David's inmate registration number is 94638-020 if you care to track him at the B.O.P. website http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp

Peace,

Mike Wisniewski, LACW
http://lacatholicworker.org/
------
1/08/11

Dear Calvin, (...)

I suppose the twelve days of Christmas are now past, but the spirit of gratitude is still with me, and in a very special way over the past two nights. Last night mail call brought me a beautiful assemblage of photos and news from home that my sister and mother prepared -- a wonderful occasion for sharing and conversation with my (now ex) cellmate, who was transferred today. I have been enjoying the alone time to the fullest -- it is a great opportunity to dust off my vocal
chords, and I have been in song for much of the afternoon and evening. Tonight's mail call (5 letters -- two from family) has again had me breaking out in tears of joy and spontaneous laughter, and since you provided me with some of the lyrics that have been loudly echoing in here today, I thought it appropriate to share with you a poem I wrote this evening at the request of a dear friend (Arnal Kennedy--poet and hippie kitchen dishwasher) to share "where [my] mind is at."

Untitled.
ANGELS ALL AROUND ME
IN THE DUNGEONS OF ATLANTA USP
GUIDING LIGHT, THE TRUTH OF LOVE
AND DAILY LEARNED HUMILITY
LISTEN, STILL, PRAY, STILL --
SILENCE CLAMOURS THROUGH THE NIGHT
WATCH, PATIENT, PRAY, STILL SILENT --
QUIETLY DESIRES FLEE

FOR BLESSINGS COME WHEN
LEAST EXPECTED

THROUGH MIND AND FLESH
IN CONSTANCY MAY SEEK
REPRIEVE THROUGH MATERIAL
THE SPIRIT BECKONS
THROUGH THE DIN
TO PEACE
SO SUBTLE
AND ETHEREAL
YET CONGRUENT, TANGIBLE
SIMPLE, AND SIMPLY INFINITESIMAL

THE FREEDOM OF CAPTIVITY
ANGELS WHISPER
IN A PENITENTIARY

DAVID OMONDI JANUARY, 2011
-----

I hope you are blessed by these words. Feel free to share.

Perhaps you picked up on my British education in some spelling -- also, I'm not sure if the word "infinitesimal" actually exists in the English language, but in this context I intend to convey a peace that is present in minute details of life and being, yet vast and eternal. I don't know how best to describe that.

Nice to hear that you were able to spend some time with Chris pre-trial. I have been in prayer for Bob, Chris, and Nancy, especially yesterday. Looking forward to hearing more about those
happenings. I have also had the Open Door in my prayers -- and am continually thankful for you. The calendar you sent is in front of me on the desk where I write, days 1 through 6 cancelled out and the 27th circled (Jan-birthday). I suppose I should also circle the 15th
(MLK), especially while in Atlanta. I wish I remembered his actual birthday.

As for me, I expect to be here at least through the weekend -- they could still move me tonight, yet that seems unlikely -- probably at some point next week or the following week to give me a full month of the USP experience. And I'm looking forward to my next destination -- designated to McRae Correctional Institution, and INS facility, privately owned about 140 miles south of here I think. So they move me three hours north to sit me here for a month and move me back south again -- go figure. Of course its not 100% certain that's where I'll be, but I am looking forward to being with so many internationals -- have already made connections here with other inmates destined for McRae. Whatever happens, it'll be quite an education I'm sure.

Well, time is short and I really hope to get this out tonight so it makes it through the mail room inspectors and out to you by Saturday or Monday. Thanks again, and greetings to your community. I heard today that Ed and Murphy are in LA. Pleasant thought. Until next time!

Peace, love, and blessings,
David Omondi

PS. New Year's Greetings! May you all be blessed as you continue in the faithful service to the God of Love, Amen.

VIDEO: WHO IS IN GITMO NOW

2011-01-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

Thousands Of Egyptian Muslims Show Up As ‘Human Shields’ To Defend Coptic Christians From Terrorism

2011-01-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Think Progress
January 8 2011

On New Year’s Day, a devastating terrorist bombing at a Coptic church in Egypt killed 21 people and injured 79 others. Although the identity of the culprits was not known, it was assumed that they were Muslim extremists, intent on targeting those they saw as heretics. Religious tensions immediately rose in the country, and angry Copts stormed streets, battled with police, and even vandalized a nearby mosque. The riots and heightened tensions between the Muslim and Coptic communities was likely what the terrorists wanted — to divide the Egyptian community and create sectarian strife between different religious groups.

read the rest here

Martha Henessey to speak at the San Antonio TX CW House Jan 17

2011-01-15T10:25:00.000-08:00

San Antonio Catholic Workers
Jan 10, 2011

All are invited to San Antonio Catholic Worker House to welcome Martha Henessey http://spiritualworksofmercy.org/, Dorothy's Granddaughter, Monday, January 17th at 6:30pm! She will be coming to speak to us about her reflections and memories of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement. The event will take place in our newly opened Day House, 626 Nolan Street San Antonio, TX 78202. We will be providing snacks and drinks.

There will also be t-shirts to purchases for $10 to benefit San Antonio Catholic Worker.

We hope you will join us for this VERY special opportunity to hear from Dorothy's Granddaughter and enjoy some Catholic Worker Hospitality!

San Antonio Catholic Worker House
622 Nolan Street
San Antonio, Texas 78202
sa-cwh@juno.com or www.sa-catholicworker.org

Follow up on Sarah Melici -- recouping slowly still in need of prayers.

2011-01-15T10:22:00.001-08:00

Rosalie Riegle
Jan 9, 2011

Sarah Melici is recuperating, but slowly, and has had complications following her surgery. She would appreciate you continued prayers.

Thank you,
Rosalie Riegle

+++Sarah Melici creator and star of the Dorothy Day play, "Fool for
Christ" http://www.foolforchrist.com/,
Cards and notes can be sent to Sarah at:
28 Riverside Ave. Apt. 7L
Red Bank, NJ 07701

Peace Community Mourns the passing of Franciscan Sr. Rosemary Lynch

2011-01-15T10:18:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family--It is with a heavy heart that I write to share the news of the passing of Franciscan Sr. Rosemary Lynch. Louie, Sr. Mary Litell, and all of her friends and family at Pace e Bene, the Nevada Desert Experience (NDE), the Franciscan community, and in many other areas, mourn her loss. She is beloved by so many.

Rose was a tireless voice for justice and peace, and was one of the first witnesses at the Nevada Test Site, calling for the cessation of testing. I am sharing beautiful photos of her 90th birthday celebration at the Nevada Test Site in 2007. All will miss this beautiful and compassionate advocate for peace. Thank you, Sr. Rosemary.

Sr. Rosemary Lynch. ! PRESENTE !

SEE THE PHOTOS FROM THIS SPECIAL EVENT ON THE NEVADA DESERT
EXPERIENCE WEBSITE: http://www.nevadadesertexperience.org/index.htm

LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS

2011-01-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

by Arnal Kennedy

What can we retrieve from a relationship
That went south of the border?
Who knows what direction
A relationship may skip?

One partner gets restless
For the mountain and valley’s
That come with adventure.

The next cannot unite in compromise
Which in the beginning is a surprise
Which makes one wonder
Am I strong enough to stay the course

Another mark in the book
Is the insecurity of a controlling
Person who is a servant to power
Even exhausting himself.

Then the shrewd bureaucracy
Of the one posturing for a meal ticket
And this character is well known.

Do we throw our love into the refuse?
Or stay and watch the house burn?
We hold on until we are white knuckled
Until it is too late until something is dead.
We came into the position one way
And came darting out another.

Later, when love calls with its meanings
There is composure
There is wisdom behind the glare
There is sincerity after the fall
There is a blessing that encapsulates us
There is confidence riding in hope’s car.

Bradley Manning and the Rule of Law

2011-01-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

Kevin Zeese
War is a Crime
January 10 2011

The case of Private Bradley Manning raises legal issues about his pre-trial detention, freedom of speech and the press, as well as proving his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Putting aside Manning’s guilt or innocence, if Bradley Manning saw the Afghan and Iraq war diaries as well as the diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks what should he have done? And, what should be the proper response of government to their publication?

A high point in the application of the rule of law to war came in the Nuremberg trials where leaders in Germany were held accountable for World War II atrocities. Justice Robert Jackson, who served as the chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials while on leave from the U.S. Supreme Court, said “If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.”

read the rest here

Obama Eyeing Internet ID for Americans

2011-01-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

CBS NEWS
January 7 2011

STANFORD, Calif.--President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

It's "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

read the rest here

Is Lieberman the New Israeli Mainstream?

2011-01-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

Mitchell Plitnick
January 8 2011

In an interview given to Newsweek, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman made the following, quite chilling statement: “I am the mainstream. When I started with my vision, I was really a small minority. Today we’re the third [largest] party in Israel.”

Lieberman is certainly no stranger to bluster, so it’s easy to dismiss this as more of Yvet’s (as he is called) hubris. But is that really the case? There’s a good deal of evidence to suggest that Lieberman is absolutely right.

read the rest here

Hi, Joe!

2011-01-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

Uri Avnery
January 8 2011

GOOD MORNING, Joe. At home In the US, your name is mud. But here you can really feel at home.

In your time, you succeeded in infecting all of the US with hysteria. You detected a Soviet agent under every bed. You waved a list of Soviet spies in the State Department (a list which nobody was ever shown). In a hundred languages around the world – including Hebrew – the name McCarthy, McCarthyism, has become a household word. Yes, you made your mark alright.

read the rest here

Hopes of Gaza cast in lead

2011-01-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

Israel is gearing up for another major offensive into Gaza, yet the world community still remains bafflingly silent.

Richard Falk
Al Jazeera
January 4 2010

It is dismaying that during this dark anniversary period two years after the launch of the deadly attacks on the people of Gaza - code-named Operation Cast Lead by the Israelis - that there should be warnings of a new massive attack on the beleaguered people of Gaza.

The influential Israeli journalist, Ron Ren-Yishai, writes on December 29, 2010, of the likely prospect of a new major IDF attack, quoting senior Israeli military officers as saying "It's not a question of if, but rather of when," a view that that is shared, according to Ren-Yishai, by "government ministers, Knesset members and municipal heads in the Gaza region".

read the rest here

GLOBAL CALLOUT(Jan15/16) - to mark the first bombardment of this 20 year ongoing War on Iraq (DC SATURDAY Jan15 7pm, London midnight, *SUNDAY Jan16 Ba

2011-01-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

Ciaron OReilly
Jan 8, 2011

GLOBAL CALLOUT (Jan15/16) -
Simultaneous Vigils to mark the first bombardment of the now 20 year ongoing War on the People of Iraq (SATURDAY Washington D.C. 7pm, London midnight, SUNDAY Baghdad 3 a.m., Sydney 10 a.m.)

STOP THE WAR ON THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ
http://www.collateralmurder.com/
FREE BRADLEY MANNING
http://www.bradleymanning.org/

GLOBAL CALLOUT (Jan15/16) -
Simultaneous Vigils to mark the first bombardment of the now 20 year ongoing War on the People of Iraq (SATURDAY Washington D.C. 7pm, London midnight, SUNDAY Baghdad 3 a.m.,
Sydney 10 a.m.)

STOP THE WAR ON THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ
http://www.collateralmurder.com/

FREE BRADLEY MANNING
http://www.bradleymanning.org/

CONTENTS
1) What's happening in Washington D.C. and London on January 15th. 2011?
2) Tell us if you plan to stage a simultaneous vigil in your time zone on January 15/16 against the war on Iraq and demanding the freedom of Bradley Manning
3) What are your memories of January 15/16 1991 when this war on Iraq was launched? Post them here on this indymedia thread!
---- (...)

1) WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WASHINGTON D.C. AND LONDON ON JANUARY 15TH. 2011?

-7 pm Vigil at the White House...the prim time start of the 1991 Gulf War
What's happening before the vigil in Washington D.C.?
http://dccatholicworker.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/januar...iraq/

-What's happening in England & Ireland at MIDNIGHT (and what is
preceeding the public vigils)?
CONFIRMED at this point

*London at U.S. Embassy
Contact Ciaron 07939 290 576
Public Meeting at Giuseppe Conlon House, Harringey
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/471719.html

*Dublin at U.S. Embassy
Contact: Mairtin 086 103 5091

*Bristol at BAE Arms Factory
Contact Bob (EDO 9)
Film Screening at Kebele Social Centre preceeding the vigil at BAE

*Menwith Hill
Contact Campaign Against American Bases
Ph. 01423-884 076
www.caab.org.uk

Demonstrations are presently being considered at Faslane nuclear
submarine base in Scotland, Fylingdales NSA in Yorkshire, EDO arms
factory in Brighton, Shannon Airport Ireland, MOD Glasgow

* Sunday 10 a.m. Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera, Brisbane, Australia

----

2) TELL US IF YOU PLAN TO STAGE A SIMULTANEOUS VIGIL ON JANUARY 15/16
AGAINST THE WAR ON IRAQ AND DEMANDING THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF BRADLEY
MANNING FROM TORTUROUS PRISON CONDITIONS IN QUANTICO

What's happening where you are?
Tell us, give us an organiser contact and we will circulate it!
Email: dublincatholicworker at yahoo.co.uk
Post your vigil information on this link

-Take photos of your vigil/ demonstration on January 15th.midnight
Geenwich Mean Time
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/asia/iraq/time/

Email the photos to us or post them on this indymedia thread
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/98593

-----

3) WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF JANUARY 15TH. 1991 WHEN THIS WAR ON IRAQ
KICKED OFF?

I had been part of the ANZUS Plowsshares who closed a U.S Force Runway
an disbaled a B52 Bomber. Our 20th.anniverary statements here....
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/98569

On January 15th 1991, I was in a county jail in Catskill, New York. As
war broke out I got into a ruck with the Gideons running the jail
bible study group. This is a letter i wrote at the time, here.....
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/98592

If you have any memories of the start of this now 20 year war on Iraq.
You can post them on the above link as a "comment" on the indymedia
thread

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/98593

THIS CALLOUT WILL BE UPDATED NEXT WEEK WITH MORE SIMULTANEOUS VIGIL LOCATIONS!

Ciaron O'Reilly
Giuseppe Conlon House
49 Mattison Rd.
London
N4 1BG
Landline 0208-348-8212
International +44 208 348-8212
Mobile/Cell 079 392 905 76
International +44 79 392 905 76

Following a nonviolent Jesus while living in a warmaking state

2011-01-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

Susan Crane
Disarm Now Plowshares
January 4, 2011

During the trial of the Disarm Now Plowshares, Arlen Storm, the US attorney, said something to the effect that all of us in this courtroom want a world without nuclear weapons. There is general agreement on that, and the question is, “How do we get there?” The US attorney was objecting to our tactics. And he’s not the only one objecting. Stephen Kent (Catholic News Services) wrote: “Granted, the tactics of the Disarm Now Plowshares were wrong, but not so the philosophy and theology at the root of their action.”

What is the value of a philosophy or theology, if it isn’t practiced?
Or, what does it mean to follow a nonviolent Jesus while living in a warmaking state?

read the rest here

"When Manners Get You Nowhere: 30 Weeks of Protesting Torture in 2010"

2011-01-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

Justin Norman
January 8 2011

Three years ago, if someone had suggested to me that I don an orange jumpsuit, black hood, and haul a cross down the street in opposition to torture, I would have laughed at them. Yet here I am at the end of 2010 having pulled that stunt or something akin to it more than 30 times in the past year. (...)

Street protests in America today are far less common than they have been in years past, but they are particularly out of place in the relatively upscale business districts of West Des Moines, Iowa. There, week after week, a small, rotating group of ordinary people carry out the old tradition of holding signs inscribed with simple messages. These range in tone from straightforward pleas - "Shut down Guantánamo", "No More Torture: Not Here, Not There, Nowhere", "Free Shaker Aamer" - to sarcastic slogans - "USA: Torturing Our Way to World Peace", "Don't Worry, We'll Tell You What to Confess!"

Note from the marketing department: if you are looking to convert strangers to your ideas, waving signs on a street corner is not your best bet. Nor is shouting through a megaphone, waving a corporate logo-stamped American flag, or acting unruly in general. All of this we did on a regular basis in 2010, and all of this was greeted with predictable hostility from those who passed. We were threatened with violence repeatedly, told we were ungrateful for our freedom, accused of being anti-American, and informed that we would soon burn in hell for defending the "terrorists" our brave soldiers had fought so hard to lock away.

It was all of the things I had imagined it would be when street protesting was first proposed to me after a screening of the film, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, in 2008. "Counter-productive", "antagonistic", and "mind-numbingly pointless" were phrases that came to mind back then, and it seemed clear that friendlier modes of communication were abundant. After all, how is it that I learned what I know about torture? It wasn't by observing hippies on the roadside. The books I've read are far more informative than a five-word slogan waved on poster board, and a large number of them—written by people far more knowledgeable than I—are readily available to the general public.

For an American soldier's perspective on torture one could turn to Inside the Wire by Erik Saar or How to Break a Terrorist by interrogator Matthew Alexander. To view US detention and interrogation policies from the eyes of innocent detainees, Moazzam Begg's Enemy Combatant or Murat Kurnaz's Five Years of My Life could be easily acquired. Or to put the latest round of American torture in perspective, a copy of historian Alfred McCoy's A Question of Torture or Darius Rejali's Torture and Democracy would come in handy. Likewise, writings from lawyers, psychologists, scientists, and journalists are no more than a few clicks away for anyone who is interested.

But the problem, of course, is that most people are not interested. Who wants to read a book about some of the most unpleasant things imaginable when you can just believe the brief summary on the evening news? Even the film screening I'd attended—a far less time-consuming affair than trudging through 400 pages of misery—was meagerly visited, with less than 20 people in the room. No, I thought, if people are going to pay attention to this, the issue needs to be brought to a place in which they already gather.

Being raised as Christians, my friend Kirk Brown and I figured that churches would be a prime space for this. After all, one of Christ's central commands was to "love your neighbor as yourself" with specific emphasis on caring for the hungry, sick, and imprisoned. Many innocent captives in the War on Terror easily fit that description. So over the course of a few months we researched and wrote a presentation about two detainees: Dilawar of Yakubi, a 22-year-old peanut farmer who was tortured to death at Bagram Air Base, and Ahmed Errachidi, a London gourmet chef who was held in Guantánamo for five years before being released without charge. Controversy was kept to a minimum as the US itself had declared both of these men completely blameless, and reactionary feelings of helplessness would be partially overcome by inviting our audience to pray for and write letters to torture survivors and their families.

But the project was a near-complete failure. After visiting more than one hundred churches throughout Des Moines, Johnston, Adel, Van Meter, Indianola, and Waukee, and making dozens of follow-up calls and e-mails, we discovered that one thing was consistent across nearly every denomination: Guantánamo did not matter. Or if it mattered, it was not important enough to even warrant reviewing our proposed presentation. The mere fact that it was centered on people who had at one time been labeled "the worst of the worst" was enough to scare pastors away. One of the more forthcoming leaders we spoke to told us that it was simply politically inconvenient. "I agree with you that torture is wrong," he said, "but if you give this presentation we will lose membership." In the end, only one church agreed to let us present, and only if we cut the script in half.

Having been struck down almost unanimously by those worshiping one of the most prominent torture victims in history, our attempts to urgently yet politely point a spotlight on torture had failed. Likewise (and less surprisingly), blog posts I wrote were ignored, satirical podcasts that tackled the issue humorously were shrugged off, and invitations to book studies rejected. Finding myself at a loss to communicate this very important yet very overlooked issue to people, I turned to the method that I least wanted to participate in. Together with Kirk, I bought some black paint, a white board, stenciled the question "Torture for Liberty?" onto it, and perched myself atop a pile of snow by a shopping center in West Des Moines in February, 2010.

And for more than 30 weeks that year, the tradition has continued, looking far less tidy and polite than any of my preferred modes of communication. Security officers from the nearby mall accused us of trespassing, police threatened to arrest us for using a 10-watt bullhorn within a 50-watt sound ordinance, angry drivers fabricated stories about us running in and out of traffic in attempts to have us jailed, and insults, racism, middle fingers, and sodas were hurled at us time and again through both the steaming heat and freezing cold.

Note from the marketing department: you catch more flies with honey. Or so the saying goes. Yet one thing I have learned from all this is that people will do nearly anything to avoid talking about victims and survivors of American torture, regardless of what method is employed to communicate it to them. If it's not complaints about political inconvenience, it's whining about tone of voice, wording of slogans, not having all the facts, or just plain looking like a lunatic. Indeed, many of those who comment on the videos and photographs I've posted documenting the vigils would rather focus on our lack of manners than the spotlighted subject matter, allowing the issue of our rudeness to trump the issue of hundreds of innocent men and children
being tortured and indefinitely detained.

But despite the general unpleasantness of street protests, one thing is certain about them that is certainly not the case for books, films, and multimedia presentations: they cannot be easily ignored. For at least a few seconds between traffic lights, hundreds of drivers are jolted out of their normal routine and forced to reconnect with something their tax dollars are funding. The image of a man in an orange jumpsuit laying on a cross is a visual reminder that Christ was tortured by the "just doing my job" soldiers under the empire of his time much like many of those held in American detention centers today. For a few hours each week, the sight of a hooded detainee is pulled from the shadows where victims have been deliberately hidden and thrust into the light of everyday life. It is, in short, working to remember those whom the government works so hard to make us forget.

Of course, when it comes time to suit up and go out there next week, it will not sound that grandiose. It is nothing new, nothing profound, nothing all that exciting. It is a group of four or five people holding signs on a street corner, sharing gloves and conversation to keep from thinking about how damn cold it is outside.

Note from the marketing department: if you smile more, maybe people will actually listen to you. One common denominator of our critics is that they are almost never willing to do anything about the issue themselves. So they raise a middle finger and drive off. They post a message online about how ineffective our methods are. They do anything they can think of to keep from focusing on the issue at hand, and they go about their day. They do this because to them, it doesn't matter that less than 1% of detainees have been convicted in the nine years of the Guantánamo detention center's existence. Those are just passing statistics that have no bearing on the average citizen despite our financial connection to them. No, sadly, facts do not matter, and neither does emotional resonance, and neither does a kick in the teeth.

But it is no longer in the hope of successfully marketing ideas to people who don't want to hear them that I continue to stand in protest. It is out of the desire to love my neighbors as myself, knowing that if I was locked away in a cell for years, one thing I could not tolerate was people discovering this but doing nothing about it. I do it because if my letters to detainees ever make it past the censors, perhaps somewhere in a dark cell one of them will be reassured that they are not forgotten. Perhaps one of them will be encouraged that they are publicly remembered week after week, and that not all Americans are buying the lie of their universal guilt. Perhaps that is too much to hope for, but it is better than voting for presidents and officials who don't keep their word. In any case, if it was me in the cell and you on the street, I think I'd appreciate the lack of indifference.

Icelandic MP fights US demand for her Twitter account details

2011-01-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

Birgitta Jonsdottir brands efforts by US justice department to access her private information 'completely unacceptable'

Dominic Rushe
The Guardian
January 8 2011

A member of parliament in Iceland who is also a former WikiLeaks volunteer says the US justice department has ordered Twitter to hand over her private messages.

Birgitta Jonsdottir, an MP for the Movement in Iceland, said last night on Twitter that the "USA government wants to know about all my tweets and more since november 1st 2009. Do they realize I am a member of parliament in Iceland?"

read the rest here

One year after earthquake, Haiti advocates question effectiveness of relief efforts

2011-01-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Yolande Cole
The Georgia Straight
January 6, 2011

Vancouver geologist David Putt remembers an overwhelming sense of sorrow in a Cité Soleil camp for earthquake-displaced people the day a family brought a cholera-stricken Haitian woman to him in a wheelbarrow.

Hours after Putt pointed the family in the direction of a medical-aid tent, he received word that the middle-aged woman had died. Her passing followed shortly after the cholera-related death of another resident of Cité Soleil, one of the poorest communities in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince.

read the rest here

Feb 1-14: Commemoration Events for 20th Annual Womens Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women

2011-01-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

2011: 20th Annual Feb 14th Womens Memorial March for Missing and Murdered
Women

~ 20th- year commemoration events from Feb 1 – 14. Details to be
confirmed.
~ Annual Women’s Memorial March on Monday, February 14 2010, begins at 12pm. (...)

* Tues Feb 1 – Community Exhibit and Display, Carnegie Centre (Main and
Hastings) 3 pm
* Wed Feb 2 - Women's Talking Circle at DEWC (302 Columbia) 5 - 8 pm.
Dinner served at 5pm. Open to all self-identified women residents of the
DTES.
* Thurs Feb 3 - Art Auction Fundraiser at Interurban (1 E. Hastings) 6 - 9
pm * Fri Feb 4 - Craft Night at WISH Drop-in 6 pm. Open to members of WISH
Drop-in.
* Sat Feb 5 - “Honouring Our Women”: Poetry Night, Carnegie Centre (Main
and Hastings). 7 pm
* Tues Feb 8 - BWSS Women's Craft Night at DEWC (302 Columbia) 5 - 8 pm.
Dinner served at 5pm. Open to all self-identified women residents of the
DTES.
* Wed Feb 9 - "Struggle Survival Strength": Launch of the DTES Power of
Women movie and speakers from the Downtown Eastside, followed by screening
of “Finding Dawn”. Vivo Media Arts Centre (1965 Main Street). Doors at
6pm, Screening at 6:30 pm.
* Thurs Feb 10 – Fundraiser at Langara College with Film Screenings
including “Finding Dawn”.
* Fri Feb 11 – “Their Spirits Live Within Us” Night of Music at W2 (151
W.Cordova). Doors at 7pm, performances at 8pm with Bitterly Divine, Murray
Porter, Faith Nolan, Little Hawk, Dalannah Bowen & more.
* Mon Feb 14 - 20th Annual Womens Memorial March. Noon at Carnegie (Main
and Hastings)

The first women’s memorial march was held in 1991 in response to the
murder of a woman on Powell Street in Vancouver. Her name is not spoken
today out of respect for the wishes of her family. Out of this sense of
hopelessness and anger came an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express
compassion, community, and caring for all women in Vancouver’s Downtown
Eastside, Coast Salish Territories. Twenty years later, the women’s
memorial march continues to honour the lives of missing and murdered
women.

In its twentieth year, we are hosting a series of events leading up to the
memorial march from Feb 1- Feb 14. These events will include film
screenings, educational events, art installations, DTES women’s poetry, a
music night, and more to honour the voices of women and women’s leadership
in the Downtown Eastside. Details, as they become available, will be
posted to http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/ and
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179000328797540

On Feb 14th, we will gather at the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401
Main Street (corner Hastings, Vancouver) where family members speak in
remembrance. At 1 pm, the march takes to the streets and proceeds through
the Downtown Eastside, with stops to commemorate where women were last
seen or found; speeches by community activists at the police station; a
healing circle at Oppenheimer Park around 3 pm; and finally a community
feast at the Japanese Language Hall. This event is organized and led by
women in the DTES because women, especially Indigenous women, face
physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis.

Increasing deaths of many vulnerable women from the DTES still leaves
family, friends, loved ones, and community members with an overwhelming
sense of grief and loss. Over 3000 women are known to have gone missing or
been murdered in Canada since the 1970s. Two years ago, the United Nations
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued this
statement: “Hundreds of cases involving aboriginal women who have gone
missing or been murdered in the past two decades have neither been fully
investigated nor attracted priority attention.” The February 14th Women’s
Memorial March is an opportunity to come together to grieve the loss of
our beloved sisters, remember the women who are still missing, and to
dedicate ourselves to justice.

* SUPPORT THE WOMEN’S MEMORIAL MARCH
There are many ways to support the Annual Women’s Memorial March:

1) Join us. Please join us (all genders welcome) to our events and to the
Feb 14th march. We respectfully ask that you please do not bring your
banners, flags, or leaflets as the Women’s Memorial March carries five
banners only to honour the women.

2) Plan a memorial march in your community. We encourage women in other
cities and communities to journey and heal together by organizing
memorials on this day because women face violence on a daily basis. Last
year, memorial marches were held in approximately ten other cities and
communities. If you are organizing a memorial march please email us the
details at marlene.george@vancouver.ca so we can maintain communication,
compile the information on our website, and build strength in our
coordinated efforts.

3) Organize an event. If you are a community centre, youth association,
union, women’s group, educational institution, Indigenous organization,
social justice collective, or artist space in the Lower Mainland and want
to host an event during Feb 1-Feb 14, we encourage you to do so and to
contact us. We can provide suggestions for speakers or films for your
event, and we support a wide spectrum of individuals and groups raising
awareness about the issue of missing and murdered women. We are compiling
events on our website, so please email us details of your event at
hwalia8@gmail.com.

4) Please donate. The February 14th Women’s Memorial March is made
possible by organizations and individuals like you. Each year the Memorial
March committee must raise funds to pay for such things as hall rental,
sound system, food, red & yellow roses, memorial brochures, blankets,
posters, candles, tobacco and other expenses. Please make cheques payable
to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, and include Women’s Memorial
March on the memo line. Mail cheques to the Downtown Eastside Women’s
Centre, 302 Columbia St. Vancouver, BC V6A 4J1. All donations over $10
will be gratefully acknowledged with a tax deductible receipt.

Violence against women is always unacceptable; every life is precious and
we must continue to honour and work for justice for murdered and missing
women.

Thank you all for your support and commitment,
Women’s Memorial March Committee

Website: http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/
Email: marlene.george@vancouver.ca (Committee Chair Marlene George)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=264380380945 or search
“FEBRUARY 14 WOMEN'S MEMORIAL MARCH DTES VANCOUVER”

Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks

2011-01-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Wil Longbottom
The Mail
January 8 2010

Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe.

Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks.

Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.

Read the rest here

2 More SOA protesters sentenced to 6 months prison -- White Rose CWer Chris Spicer one of the two

2011-01-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

Justice Denied: Activists Imprisoned, SOA Remains Open

SOA Watch
January 6 2011

Federal Judge sentences SOA Watch activists to six months in prison

Once again, the justice system's complicity with the abuses taught at the School of the Americas was exposed yesterday at the trial of anti-militarization activists Nancy Smith and Chris Spicer. Nancy, from New York, changed her plea to no contest and was immediately sentenced to 6 months in prison by Magistrate Judge Stephen Hyles. In the SOA Watch tradition of using the court to put a spotlight on the SOA/WHINSEC, Nancy affirmed that she “felt a strong moral imperative” to carry out her nonviolent act of civil disobedience “on behalf of those who have suffered so terribly”. (...)

Chris, (a member of the White Rose CW in Chicago) from Illinois, plead not guilty but was declared guilty by Judge Hyles and sentenced likewise to 6 months. In his closing statement before sentencing, Chris addressed the ongoing human rights abuses in Latin America carried out by graduates of the School of the Americas, and his need to confront the “paralysis of fear” that has gripped the country in recent times.

In November, Franciscan priest Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM and David Omondi of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker Community both pled no contest and were sentenced to the maximum 6 months in jail.

The decision by Judge Hyles to impose the maximum penalty for a nonviolent act of civil disobedience exposes the political nature of the trials and the justice system. However, we take the energy of Nancy, Christopher, David and Louis, along with the thousands of our brothers and sisters who have been massacred, raped, tortured and disappeared in their fight for a culture of peace with justice, and we will continue to move forward.

We hope to see you all in Washington, DC, in April to bring the fight to close the SOA and end US militarism to the doorsteps of our policy makers. http://www.soaw.org/take-action/lobby-days

The struggle is long, but we will prevail!
________________________________

Nancy Smith gave an interview to Tamar Sharabi following Father Louis' trial in November in front of the courthouse in Georgia: http://www.soaw.org/presente/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=340&Itemid=81
________________________________

Current Updates on Nancy and Chris:
Nancy and Chris have now been transferred to the Irwin County, GA detention center where they will remain until further notice. Nancy can be written at the following address:

Nancy H. Smith
#7059
Irwin County Detention Center
132 Cotton Drive
Ocilla, GA 31774

Chris can be written at the following address:
Christopher Spicer
#7060
Irwin County Detention Center
132 Cotton Drive
Ocilla, GA 31774

Click here for tips about how to write to prisoners of conscience:
http://soaw.org/about-us/pocs/150-articles/3578-tips-for-writing-to-prisoners

We are not sure how long they will be there or when they will be transferred. Please be sure to check the webpage for the current addresses of Nancy and Chris. April Action DC

Contact us.

Our mailing address is:
SOA Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, D.C. 20017, USA

PEACE WORK: DAVID GOODNER HAS DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO STANDING UP FOR JUSTICE

2011-01-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

Abby Wolner
Drake Magazine
Jan 7, 2011

Christmas morning, 2009. David Goodner stands on a corner, holding a picket sign in the heart of occupied Jerusalem. An unmarked, white van pulls up, and a hand wrenches Goodner inside. He is taken to a prison. For six hours, security guards grill him about who he is, where he came from and what he is doing in Jerusalem.

"I was trying to enter a closed military zone," Goodner, 29, says. He and other volunteers intended to protest the eviction of Palestinian families from the area. When the volunteers tried to enter the zone, security guards arrested them. "I had no idea where they were taking me," Goodner says. "I didn't know what my rights were." As scary as it sounds, Goodner is matter-of-fact as he describes his experience in Jerusalem. He and his fellow activists believe putting themselves in danger to fight injustice is the very least they can do.

read the rest here

Catholic Worker Hospitality House Serves Dignity, Respect with Meals

2011-01-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

Multi-service shelter nurtures a sense of community.

Maura Hurley
The San Bruno Patch
January 5, 2011

It's Tuesday morning four days before Christmas. About 60 men and women sit at lunchroom-style tables eating cereal, eggs and toast at the Catholic Worker Hospitality House, tucked away in a small building on the grounds of St. Bruno's Catholic Church. Many say they were drawn by the four-day-a-week free breakfast, but keep coming back for the friends they've made and a sense of belonging.

"Our aim to create a space that's calm and peaceful, and to treat guests with dignity and respect," said Peter Stiehler, who founded the center with his wife, Kate Chatfield, in 1996.

read the rest here

Sr. Rosemary Lynch, osf of the Nevada Desert Experience in need of urgent prayers

2011-01-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

Jan 6, 2011

Many of you probably know Rosemary. If not, she is a co-founder of Nevada Desert Experience (orgzanizing interfaith resistance to nuclear weapons and war), from before NDE even was NDE. If you were ever in Las Vegas for an action or prayer service at the Nevada Test Site, you probably ran into her. She is in her 90s, and until now has been hard of hearing, but lucid and quick of thought and word, a beautiful poet. Here are some particulars of the accident and Rosemary's condition:

Yesterday, Wednesday, Rosemary Lynch, osf and Klaryta Antoszewska osf were walking near their Las Vegas home when a car brushed up against them and knocked Rosemary down (not sure about Klaryta, but she evidently is okay). She has at least a broken arm and also an elbow or
other joint. She's had bleeding inside her head too. She isn't conscious. Klaryta has things in order, as official things go. Rosemary is at Valley Hospital on Alta near Shadow Lane on the first
floor, intensive care, room 4. Only 2 at a time are allowed into her room, but people can stop by if you like.

Prayers for her comfort and well-being, please. I will update you all as things develop and I find out more.

Giving it up to God,
Jim Haber jim@nevadadesertexperience.org
Nevada Desert Experience
http://www.nevadadesertexperience.org/index.htm

ENGLAND - CWers given hearing date for Aldermaston (AWE) Break in - May 24th (Bob Dylan's 70th.!)

2011-01-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

Ciaron OReilly
Jan 6, 2011

ENGLAND - Catholic Workers given hearing date for Aldermaston (AWE) Break in - May 24th (Bob Dylan's 70th.!)

Ploughshares activists Chris Cole ("BAE Ploughshares" 1993), Sr. Susan Clarkson ("Riverside Plowshares" 2003) from St. Francis House/ Oxford Catholic Worker and Fr. Martin Newell ("Jubilee 2000 Ploughshares") from Giuseppe Conlon House/ London Catholic Worker appeared in Newbury Court for a plea hearing Thursday January 6th..

The three are charged under SOCPA legislation with "criminal damage" and "criminal trespass".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Organised_Crime_and_Police_Act_2005

Charges arise out of their Sept '10 actions at Aldermaston (nuclear) Weapons Establishment (AWE).

Father of three Chris Cole, Sr. Susan Clarkson and Fr. Martin have been given a hearing court date of 24th May. Bob Dylan’s 70th! (the old 3 score and 10!)

..........must be a good sign!

The Crusades

2011-01-08T09:23:00.000-08:00

Richard Flamer
January 6 2010

"The Crusades, too, were founded on a neo-conservative theology. The knights were going to protect the Christians of the Holy Land; they were going to 'liberate' Jerusalem- 'Mission Accomplished'- and ended up taking the spoils of the Levant, creating petty kingdoms which they claimed to control, living fearfully behind their stone defenses. Their Arab opponents of the time did indeed possess a weapon of mass destruction for the Crusaders. It was called Islam." Robert Fisk, THE INDEPENDENT, 2 April, 2005

Robert Fisk reminds us that the dangers of fanaticism are not new. I sometimes ponder the dangers of fanatacism, wherever I see it.. Sometimes in the churches of Guatemala with their Saints like Moximon (Or San Simon) who is clad in western wear with a string tie carrying a rifle and honored with rum; the supplicants standing in line for hours rubbing their hair, their bodies and drinking while waiting to offer a pint bottle of cheap rum sometimes accompanied by a cigar. Or, as I mentioned in my last email (for which I received quite a quantity of criticism) the Cult of Mary. Or, now in Mexico, the cult of Santo Muerte (Saint Death) paraded through the poor barrios of the Federal District or in the North along the border cities- the Saint who gets prayed to by the drug dealers, the kidnappers, and the murderers. (...)

Speaking of drug dealers and death, the recent count of killings, many gruesome with decapitacions, etc. now total more than 30,000 since President Calderon started his drug war in 2008. (To give you an idea of this tally, 3000 U.S soldiers have been killed since the war in Afghanistan has started- though no one seems to keep a total of Afghani's who have died in the conflict.) Some cynical women friends tell me it was started to take attention away from the feminicides in Ciudad Juarez though I have my doubts. Though the majority of the killings here in Mexico are in the North near the U.S. border the violence hasn't escaped us down here in Chiapas. Fifty Salvadoran migrants were kidnapped in Ixtapa in Oaxaca, 16 miles from the home of Araceli's parents and, what might be worse, a block away from a Refugee shelter run by a local priest (the Salvadorans had been kidnapped getting off the freight train and had planned on staying at the shelter but were waylaid by the "Zetas" a major drug Cartel looking for "mules" to take the cocaine and marijuana North to the U.S.) Every week there are news reports of ill treatment for the refugees, not least the killing of 72 in Tamaulipas some months back.

As a side note, 4 police have been arrested in Ixtapa for working with the Zetas in the kidnappings. Which, in itself, is not uncommon, but again, they live near Araceli's parents, one a distant cousin. We, of course, in our little farm are not exempt from the "coyotes" (the people who are paid to bring refugees across the border.) As a matter of fact, two weeks back our neighbor, Julio, bought a two year old car with, what he brags about, money in housing and bringing refugees across the border. We also have a neighbor now living a fairly good life with a decent house, some land, a wife and family who, when I asked if he'd been to the U.S. to work said: "No, I used to work with a kidnapping gang in Mexico City but retired last year."

So how do we, Araceli and I and the friends here at our little Catholic Worker Farm, change the cycle of violence? With Julio, who used to make $15. U.S. a day for working as a mason's helper for a ten hour day, but now makes $1000. U.S. for two days of hiding refugees and transporting them North some two hundred miles?

"Where does it all begin? History has no beginnings, for everything that happens becomes the cause or pretext for what occurs afterwards, and this chain of cause and pretext stretches back to the paleolithic age, when the first Cain of one tribe murdered the first Abel of another. All war is fratricide, and here is therefore an infinite chain of blame that winds its circuitous route back and forth across the path and under the feet of every people and every nation, so that a people who are the victims of one time become the victimizers a generation later, and newly liberated nations resort immediately to the means of their former oppressors. The triple contagions of nationalism, utopianism and religious absolutism effervesce together into an acid that corrodes the moral metal of a race, and it shamelessly and even proudly performs deeds that it would deem vile if they were done by any other." from Louis de Bernieres BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS.

Prayer helps sometimes. For Christmas I went to a wonderful Mass early in the day. In the afternoon Magdalena and her two children came to show the new gifts the children had received- a new pair of trousers for Carlos and a warm sweater for Lupita. I had been cooking a rooster from our little farm, stuffed with breadcrumbs, dates and lemons so we all shared a wonderful meal together. Later Araceli and I went to a superb party for the English speaking friends of a long term expatriate couple here in San Cristobal.. All in all a wonderful day..

I am off to the U.S. to do talks and work in construction so that we might finish our house at the farm. I will be visiting the San Antonio Worker, the Austin Catholic Worker, the Houston Worker than wending my way towards Sarasota, Florida for some work and fraternity with my cousin Jimmie. If you have any ideas of where to talk, or work, let me know via email.. Saludos a todos, Richard Flamer

P.S. We can always use money to keep us going- the checks should be made to The Chiapas Project, C/O Holy Family Catholic Church, 1715 Izard Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68102... Thanks.. RF

Vigil and Nonviolent Direct Action at Trident Base to Honor Dr. King's Birthday

2011-01-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Leonard Eiger
Jan 5, 2011
For Release before January 15, 2011

Vigil and Nonviolent Direct Action at Trident Base to Honor Dr. King's Birthday

Nuclear abolitionists will come together on Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, Saturday, January 15th, to honor King's legacy of nonviolence and resistance to war.

"Billions For Life, Not Billions For Death" is the theme for a full day of education and action at the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action near the Kitsap-Bangor Naval Trident submarine base, Poulsbo, Washington. The day, planned by the Seattle Raging Grannies, will include a vigil at the Silverdale Mall and a nonviolent action outside the Trident base. Dr. King urged our nation to focus on goals for "social uplift' vs. the billions budgeted for weapons of war. (...)

The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles west of Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. This kill force weighs against all that Martin Luther King stood for. In his honor the day will include a morning vigil at the Silverdale Mall with a full size inflatable Trident D-5 missile, and an afternoon vigil and nonviolent direct action at one of the gates to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, West Coast home port of the U.S. Navy's Trident nuclear submarine fleet, and Strategic Weapons Facility-Pacific (SWFPAC).

Members of Disarm Now Plowshares, who were recently convicted in Federal court on charges associated with their November 2009 Plowshares action at Bangor, will participate in the MLK event.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Peace Walk, which begins on January 12th at the Tacoma Catholic Worker, will end at GZ after making its way through Seattle and Bainbridge Island in time for the January 15th event.

The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined. It has been rebuilt for the deployment of the larger and more accurate Trident D-5 missile system. Each of the 24 D-5 missiles on a Trident submarine is capable of carrying eight of the larger 455 kiloton W-88 warheads (each warhead is about 30 times the explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb) and costs approximately $60 million. The D-5 missile can also be armed with the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead. The Trident fleet at Bangor deploys both the 455 kiloton W-88 warhead and the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead.

Click here to view the full January 15th schedule of events:
http://gzcenter.org/events_2011.html

Contacts: Leonard Eiger & Tom Shea, Media and Outreach
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action www.gzcenter.org
Disarm Now Plowshares http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com
Email: subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com

One last promo: Seven reasons why should you attend our BCM February Watershed Institute!

2011-01-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries
Jan 5, 2011

Dear friends:

We’ve extended our registration deadline for the February 7-11 Bartimaeus Institute to Friday, Jan 21st. There’s still room, and we wanted to send out one last list of reasons why this is a unique opportunity, to help you help us recruit: (...)

Why? The ecological catastrophe that stalks our history compels us to rethink our worldviews and organizing priorities, and has led us to embrace bioregionalism as our central paradigm for organizing, advocacy and education. This Institute, our second annual “Watershed Seminary,” represents a unique space and approach; it is the only place in the country (that we know of) where you can explore what we are calling “watershed discipleship.” This intensive workshop is
designed to help activists, church workers and educators build capacity to change conventional thinking about Christianity and place-based identity. We will work together to develop and amplify more sustainable biblical, theological and political perspectives on these themes, discussing how to preach, teach, write and organize in faith communities around issues of ecojustice. What? Our theme is “Healing Rivers: Where Hydrology Meets Theology and Bible Meets Bioregion.” This Institute will enable participants to deepen and broaden their own critical literacy concerning their home watershed. Because we can’t save places we don’t love; we can’t love places we don’t know; and we can’t know places we haven’t learned. We’ll introduce participants to practical and political bioregionalism, focusing on water and exploring the spiritual, environmental, and economic dimensions of Brock Dolman’s “basin of relations” framework. And we’ll look at local examples of river and riparian habitat restoration as we gather together near the banks of the Ventura River. It’ll be a “full immersion” into the problems, prospects and theological symbols of our watersheds.

Special Guests and Features. We are delighted to announce the following exciting components:

o Artist-theologian Tevyn East (right) will offer a special public performance of her one-woman show on faith, ecology and Sabbath Economics titled “Leaps and Bounds”!!! Learn more at www.affordinghopeproject.org.

o Permaculturalist-theologian Chris Grataski from Virginia will talk about basic principles of sustainable design, and help us strategize about building a national “Network for Watershed Discipleship” with church allies around the country. This will include a brainstorm about how to better use distance education and organizing habits to reduce our carbon footprint.

o California State University Channel Islands professor and Los Padres Forest Watch president Brad Monsma will talk about his book The Sespe Wild: Southern California’s Last Free River (see interview at: www.metacafe.com/watch/1303286/the_sespe_wilderness_part_2/).

o As we did during last year’s Ecojustice Institute, we’ll hear from the women of The Abundant Table Farm Project http://abundanttableorganicfarming.blogspot.com/) and visit Nopalitos Native Nursery (www.nopalitonursery.com). And we’ll offer a hike into some local righteous, unspoiled oak savannah.

o And we’ll showcase our own home-scale efforts to embody an environmentally sustainable, “reinhabitory” lifestyle, including green retrofitting of an older house and intensive food-gardening and native species

This Institute runs from Monday 5 pm thru Friday 1 pm. Costs: Commuter: $400; Residential: $575 (double occupancy), $695 (single occupancy). Academic credit and limited scholarships are available (especially for those under 40).

Register thru our website or contact us at 323-449-5170 or inquiries@bcm-net.org.

www.bcm-net.org/node/32

Kat Friesen, Administrative Assistant
Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries
PO Box 328 Oak View, CA 93022
www.bcm-net.org
www.chedmyers.org
www.wordandworld.org
On Facebook: Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries

All Charges dropped against supporters in Veterans For Peace Dec 16th action in DC

2011-01-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

Judge Dismisses Cases Against Military Veterans and Anti-war Activists Following December 16th Washington, D.C. Arrests

January 4, 2011

Washington, D.C. – January 4, 2011: Anti-war military veterans and other activists celebrated a breakthrough victory today in DC Superior Court, when charges were dropped, following arrests in front of the White House, on December 16, 2010. Over 131 people were arrested in a major veteran-led protest while participating in non-violent civil resistance in a driving snowstorm. US Park Police charged all 131 protesters with “Failure to Obey a Lawful Order,” when they refused to move. All remained fixed to the White House fence demanding an end to the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and further US aggression in the region. (...)

Among those arrested were members of the leadership of the national organization Veterans for Peace , Pentagon Papers whistleblower Dr. Daniel Ellsberg; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges; former senior CIA analyst Ray McGovern; and, Dr. Margaret Flowers, advocate for single-payer health care.

Forty-Two arrested opted to appear in court and go to trial with the first group appearing in DC Superior Court on January 4, 2011. Prosecutors from the DC Attorney General’s office stated that the Government “declined to file charges due to missing or incomplete police paperwork.” Presiding Magistrate Judge Richard Ringell confirmed that the cases were dropped and defendants were free to leave.

Those who participated in this action make this statement:

“This is clearly a victory for opposition to undeclared wars which are illegal under international law, have led to the destruction of societies in Iraq and Afghanistan, bled the US Treasury in a time of recession, and caused human rights violations against civilians and combatants. Many of us will return to Washington, DC, to support an action on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 to protest the continued use of Guantanamo detention facility, including torture of detainees in violation of international law.”

The defendants were represented by co-counsels Ann Wilcox, Esq. and Mark Goldstone, Esq. Ms. Wilcox stated: “clearly the Government and Police felt that these veterans and their supporters acted with the courage of their convictions, and did not wish to spend the time and funds necessary for a trial proceeding. This is a major victory for the peace movement.”

For more information visit www.stopthesewars.org or on facebook.

London CW Ciaron O'Reilly interview by Press TV about fellow Australian Julian Assange - 6 1/2 min video clip

2011-01-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

Signing Statements More Dangerous Than Guantanamo

2011-01-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

David Swanson
War is a crime
January 4 2011

When George W. Bush was president, everybody to the left of Karl Rove was offended by his signing-statements in which he announced his intention to violate laws as he signed them into law. Congressman John Conyers held one of his countless and toothless hearings, heard all about it, and went home self-satisfied.

Many of us warned that if the next president did the same thing it would be considered legal, even if blatantly unconstitutional. Then Obama did it. Even Republicans acted vaguely annoyed. Then Obama did worse. The congressional response was almost undetectable.

read the rest here

China's "Secret" War Plan Revealed By U.S. Magazine

2011-01-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

Sherwood Ross
January 4 2011

China's “SECRET WAR PLAN” (Be amazed!) has leaked out and fallen into the hands of none other than “Popular Mechanics”(PM) magazine, which plastered it on the cover of its December issue. How this TOP SECRET info got into the hands of the intrepid editors at Hearst Publishing in New York on west 57th Street in Manhattan is not disclosed. But it reveals the sophisticated new technology of “China's most dangerous new weapon,” the (shudder!) antiship ballistic missile, or ASBM, “specifically designed to target a moving aircraft carrier.” Writer Erik Sofge says it could take out a carrier as powerful as the USS Nimitz, a 100,000-ton leviathan that carries 90 warplanes capable of making an excellent start at obliterating all of China, regardless of how that might impact Wal-Mart sales. Sofge speculates the Nimitz would race to Taiwan's rescue IF China attacked, say, in 2015. Taiwan, of course, is an island 100 miles from the Mainland, long considered the private property of every ruler in Beijing. (...)

Sofge prudently observes, “Chances are that war between China and the United States will not happen in 2015, or at any other time. Under normal circumstances, a war for Taiwan would simply be too costly for either side to wage, especially given the chance of nuclear escalation. But circumstances are not always normal.” He quotes retired Rear Admiral Eric McVadon of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis in Cambridge, Mass., as saying, “They, (Beijing) are obsessed with Taiwan” and that “it's entirely possible” someone in Beijing's Politburo “gets the ball rolling and when it stops we're at war.” McVadon also told the magazine, “I get criticized often for saying this, but I think Beijing is capable of acting irrationally when it comes to Taiwan.”

Of course, the Admiral says nothing about other countries that act irrationally to start wars. He might have mentioned one country in particular that got “the ball rolling” against Viet Nam, Nicaragua, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and which overthrew by force and violence Iran in 1953, and Chile in 1973. A certain irrational country also meddled in the Chinese civil war in the first place back in the 1940s, giving aid to the Nationalist armies of dictator Chiang Kai-shek whose troops, defeated on the Mainland, fled to, and overran, Taiwan, a country whose defense the lucky U.S. taxpayers have paid billions for ever since. (The official Chinese Website publication “Global Times” claims the U.S. has given Taiwan as much as $60 billion in total military aid.)

“Preparedness is the cornerstone of deterrence,” author Sofge writes, “and some analysts say that the Pentagon must match Chinese advances to prevent conflict. 'Part of what keeps the probability of war so small is that the U.S. and Taiwan have taken steps to make sure it would be painful for China,'” think tank RAND's David Shlapak is quoted by PM as saying. Even so, “Senior Pentagon leaders are becoming increasingly concerned about the Chinese arsenal,” Sofge continues. He quotes Admiral Robert Willard, head of the Navy's Pacific Command, who told Congress that “the PLA's continued military advancements sustain a trend of shifting the cross-strait military balance in Beijing's favor.” As well, Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that he has “moved from being curious to being genuinely concerned” about the buildup. (Uh-oh!)

“Right now the Chinese seem to have taken the lead in this new arms race,” Sofge writes. “When RAND released a report in 2000 describing the potential outcome of a Sino-American conflict over Taiwan, the United States won the war handily. Nine years later, the think tank revised its analysis, accounting for Beijing's updated air force, its focus on cyber warfare and its ability to use ballistic missiles to take out American satellites. RAND's new conclusion: The United States would ultimately lose an air war, and an overall conflict would be more difficult and costly than many had imagined.”

PM warns, “When it comes to missiles, China may be surpassing the United States. Earlier this year, the Pentagon said China has 'the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile program in the world.' And no one else has developed an ASBM.” And there, dear taxpayers, you have an inkling of where the article is leading----to A MISSILE GAP! Back in 1958, when Senator John F. Kennedy said the Soviets had the lead in intercontinental ballistic missiles(ICBMs), he opined there was a “missile gap” and blamed it on the Republican administration of President Dwight Eisenhower. That “Ike,” the general who did so much to win World War II, would allow anything of the sort to occur on his watch, was dubious to begin with. It is also doubtful that the warmongering Bush regime (2001-2009), awash in “defense” dollars, would allow a new missile gap to develop. (In fact, the original “missile gap” was a fraud and Kennedy later admitted he was sorry he even uttered the phrase. )

What this all means is that, assuming the veracity of China's advances in missile technology, we have here the classic arms race. This is reminiscent of the sort that existed between the U.S. and Japan prior to World War II, as each country studied the latest designs of the others' warships and improved their own accordingly. And we know where that led. According to the Congressional Research Service of May 30, 2003, “Among other things, President Bush has publicly stated that the United States will do 'whatever it takes' to help Taiwan’s defense — an unprecedented statement which no prior U.S. President has made. In April 2002, the President also approved a substantial sale of U.S. weapons to Taiwan, including Kidd-class destroyers, antisubmarine P-3 “Orion” aircraft, and diesel submarines.”

Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois, Champaign, points out: “Starting with the Bush Jr. administration the United States has deliberately exacerbated this volatile situation by providing high tech weapons systems to Taiwan in knowing violation of the 1982 Shanghai Communiqué concluded between the PRC and the Reagan administration.”

That declaration reads: “Having in mind the foregoing statements of both sides, the United States Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and that it intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final resolution. In so stating, the United States acknowledges China's consistent position regarding the thorough settlement of this issue.”

However, Boyle comments, “The Obama administration has indicated its intention to carry-on with the sale of high tech weapons systems to Taiwan in violation of the Shanghai Communiqué. So who is provoking whom?” Boyle is the author of “Tackling America’s Toughest Questions” (Clarity Press).

Boyle says further that Beijing has indicated “it would be prepared to apply the Hong Kong Solution to Taiwan, which would put this dispute on ice for the next 99 years. By then I suspect the Communist System in China will have collapsed. In the meantime, there must also be a bilaterally negotiated and progressive demilitarization of military forces directed against each other on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.” So far, however, no one in authority at the White House or State shows the slightest inkling of bringing the Taiwan issue before the World Court and resolving this interminable and volatile crisis by legal means.

While it is doubtful the Pentagon actually wants a war with China over Taiwan, there are arms manufacturers here who will profit handsomely from this escalating arms race and who march in lockstep with the Pentagon. And as ever more billions are poured down the China rat hole it will only further deprive Americans of needed funds for domestic necessities. But how valuable is housing, education, and medical care next to the production of missiles and aircraft carriers? And might that not explain why “China's Secret War Plan” fell into the hands of Popular Mechanics?

Enough Already: Close Gitmo

2011-01-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

Two years later, President Obama hasn't kept his promise to shut the Guantanamo prison.

Frida Berrigan
Common Dreams
January 03 2011

Remember way back when? President Barack Obama promised to close the Guantánamo prison, restore the United States' moral standing, and end the practice of torture.

It was two years ago. In January 2009, as one of his first acts as president, Obama signed an executive order that committed the United States to closing the prison within a year and ending the practice of torture.

But Djamel Ameziane--and 173 other men--are still waiting.

read the rest here

5th Letter posting from from LACW - SOA Prisoner, David Omondi

2011-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Michael Wisniewski
Jan 3, 2011

Greetings of peace, all,

Blessings in this New Year. Attached is a letter written to the Open Door Community in Atlanta http://opendoorcommunity.org/ from LACW community member (Michael) David Omondi. David remains in U.S. Penitentiary - Atlanta. David's inmate registration number is 94638-020 if you care to track him at the B.O.P. website http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp

Peace,

Mike Wisniewski, LACW
http://lacatholicworker.org/
--------

[mailed 12/30/10 ‐ received 12/31/10]

Dear Calvin!

Thanks again! Thank‐you so very much for everything — the Open Door Community has indeed been in my thoughts and prayers, and I will continue to lift you up. I thoroughly enjoyed the bulletin, especially the songs I can only half remember. “I wonder as I wonder” is one of my all time favorites, as is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” God is indeed with us. Please pass my deepest gratitude on to Jimmy and Jacob — their gift of energy and time was quite handy as you mention — and the joy I have been filled with from knowing my family received that and having heard back before Christmas (via E‐mail) is beyond words. The pictures, ah the pictures! AD loved them — so do I of‐course. Thank you also for your steadfast witness to the inmates at Jackson State Prison. I do not know much about Georgia’s State Prison system, but am gathering that I am pretty fortunate to be on the Federal side of things here. (...)

As for myself, I continue to experience God’s love and guidance amidst so much mental, physical and spiritual oppression. The relationship between my cellmate, AD, and I, has flourished into a true friendship through which I have gained much insight and invaluable companionship in this Christmas season. He will be moving on soon — if not tomorrow then the day after, but there is still no telling when they will come for me. When I do move, it will be to McRae Correctional Institute (‐tion?) about 140 miles from here, though I have no further info. than that. I have heard that it’s a private prison, low‐security, primarily housing immigration inmates — so my journey seems to be getting all the more interesting. I can hardly wait. In the meantime, I am thankful for the peace, refreshing and catch‐up time I have had here, especially now that I am receiving mail consistently.

Speaking of mail/AD etc. — one of the challenges of being here (esp. for me) is the lack of access to envelopes and the requirement of having all addresses input in a computer profile before being able to mail stuff to them. I and my roommate both received mail today from people we cannot write to yet, so enclosed in this envelope are two more, addressed and stamped letters that I hope you can send out for us. There also is a note (loose) for Mike Vosburg‐Casey, who (I think) is a friend of y’alls here in Atlanta. Please kindly pass it on at your convenience. Much appreciation on that. As far as visits, as nice as it would be to see some of your faces, I am pretty sure that as a hold‐over inmate, I can only receive visits after 30 days of being housed here, and even then, only from family members. So the likelihood of that seems nil, but who knows what you might discover — the prisoner manual I have is dated, and the counselor is on vacation, so I have no way of knowing for certain.

Ok, I need to finish up and get this in the mail tonight so I can be sure it will go out to you tomorrow. If the guards pick your mail up in the evening, the chances of it getting through mailroom inspection and labeling by the end of the next day are highly increased. It is pretty late right now, and I can here their keys jingling. Good timing.

Peace, Love and Blessings.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
Michael David Omondi

Austin TX CW celebrates it's 20 Anni. Jan 15 with Martha Hennesssey - Dorothy Day's Granddaughter

2011-01-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

Lynn Goodmanstrauss
Jan 2, 2011

Dear Friends,

On January 15, 2011, Mary House in Austin will celebrate our 20th Anniversary of hospitality. Dorothy Day's granddaughter, Martha Hennessey http://spiritualworksofmercy.org/ , will be our guest of honor.

The schedule is this:
1/14 Catholic Worker confab at Mary House
1/15 11 a.m. Luncheon for all CW's at St. Ignatius Church office
1 p.m. Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Ignatius
3 p.m. Reception at Mary House

Heidi Baker and I live in community here, and we are inviting all our Catholic Worker friends, especially those in the south/southwest regions, to join us on this joyous day.

We have plenty of floor space. Just bring your inflatable mattress and a sleeping bag!

*Also Martha Hennessey St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Auston Jan 16
http://www.stcatherine-austin.org/index.cfm?load=event&event=1446

Love and blessings to all,
Lynn Goodman-Strauss
theegglady@sbcglobal.net
maryhouseaustin.wordpress.com
http://www.mary-house.org/

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Ex-CIA Official Reveals New Details About Torture, Plame Leak

2011-01-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Jason Leopold,
t r u t h o u t
May 12 2010

In a wide-ranging video interview with Truthout, former CIA counterterrorism official John Kiriakou reveals new information about the capture and torture of "high-value" detainee Abu Zubaydah and discloses, for the first time, his role in the events that led to the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.

watch video here

Billions for Life, Not Billions for Death: Honoring Dr. King's Legacy on January 15th

2011-01-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

Friends,

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, with leadership from the Seattle Raging Grannies will celebrate Dr. King's birthday on Saturday, January 15, 2011 with a full day of events including a vigil and nonviolent action at the gates of the Bangor Trident nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County, Washington.

The New Year is upon us and so is the "normalcy" of endless war(s) that the United States continues to wage around the world and at home. We will wake up on New Year's Day much as did Bill Murray each day in the movie Groundhog Day, but for us the stakes are much higher. We cannot, nor can future generations for whom we hold this earth in trust, afford to stand silent as the empire continues to stack the remaining cards in its precarious house of cards.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it so eloquently in his Beyond Vietnam speech, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." He said "that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam," and not that many years beyond Vietnam we continue to engage in war after war, and continue to build a vast empire of military bases encircling the globe to protect the many resources that we covet.

King's prophetic words beckon us: "Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men [and women] do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world.... but we must speak... move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. For we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us."

Dr. King was asking us - and his words continue to do so - to shine a bright light on the darkness imposed by "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: our own government." To parapahrase King, we must "ask our government if it isn't still using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wants." In fact we must demand that our government ask not what it wants, but what its people (and all the world's people) need.

This January we have the opportunity to honor Dr. King's legacy and walk "down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land" and its people, and to speak out for a "shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society."

Join Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, with leadership from the Seattle Raging Grannies as we celebrate Dr. King's birthday on Saturday, January 15, 2011 with a full day of events including a vigil and nonviolent action at the gates of the Bangor Trident nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County, Washington.

Billions For Life, Not Billions For Death is the theme of this year's event that honors Dr. King's message to "recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."

Join us for a full day that will include nonviolence training, planning, potluck lunch, a vigil and leafleting at Target Store at Silverdale Mall, and the vigil and nonviolent action at the Bangor gate.

Click here for the full day's schedule.

Click here for a printable event flyer.

Bring something to share for the potluck lunch. Bring family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. And most of all, bring your nonviolent spirit.

Questions? Contact Jackie Hudson or Sue Ablao at 360-930-8697 or gznonviolencenews@yahoo.com.

Peace,

Leonard