Category: Archive

â€˜Mad as Hellâ€™ in Madison

by Oregon PeaceWorks • March 2, 2011 • 0 Comments

RALPH NADER – The large demonstrations at the state Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin are driven by a middle class awakening to the spectre of its destruction by the corporate reactionaries and their toady Governor Scott Walker.

For years the middle class has watched the plutocrats stomp on the poor while listening to the two parties regale the great middle class, but never mentioning the tens of millions of poor Americans. And for years, the middle class was shrinking due significantly to corporate globalization shipping good-paying jobs overseas to repressive dictatorships like China. It took Governor Walkerâ€™s legislative proposal to do away with most collective bargaining rights for most public employee unions to jolt people to hit the streets.

What Kind of Society Do We Want?

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 28, 2011 • 3 Comments

ROBERT WEISSMAN – We are now having a major dispute about what kind of society America should be. Right now, the flashpoint in this controversy is Wisconsin, where tens of thousands of people are demonstrating every day in an effort to block Governor Scott Walkerâ€™s plan to all but end collective bargaining rights for public employees. But the debate is a national one. The Wisconsin showdown is only the first in a whole series of pending state conflicts. And, over the next 10 days, a corporate-friendly Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives may decide to shut down the federal government.

Your 1040 Tax Form Lies to You

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 26, 2011 • 0 Comments

DAVID SWANSON –
Pick up a copy of a 1040EZ US income tax form with all the instructions, particularly pages 36-37. Here are those two pages in a PDF. You’ll discover that the U.S. government only spends 22% of its money on “National defense, veterans, and foreign affairs.” The form admits that you could leave out the “foreign affairs” part and still be at 21%. However, take a look now at the pie chart created by the War Resisters League, which shows 54% of the budget going to the military.

Global Warming: The United Nations Courts Tinseltown

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 24, 2011 • 0 Comments

MARGOT ROOSEVELT – The United Nations has long courted celebrities for its peace-keeping and anti-poverty efforts, from Mia Farrow and Ricky Martin to George Clooney and Angelina Jolie.

It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. Hollywood stars grasp at gravitas; the U.N. pushes for publicity.

Now the beleaguered multi-national agency, fresh from a disappointing round of climate negotiations in Cancun, wants something more concrete: actual story lines in movies, television and social media drawing attention to the dangers of global warming.

Trading Self-Destructive Activism for Nonviolence

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 22, 2011 • 3 Comments

ALEX DOHERTY – [It gives me especial pleasure to present this article to PeaceWorker readers because I recall hearing Mark Rudd speak at a rally on the U of California campus in 1968, just after the occupation he refers to below. I thought his rhetoric was wrong-headed at the time and am delighted that he â€“ who later became one of U.S. movementâ€™s most ardent supporters of violence â€“ has now come to appreciate the importance of nonviolence. â€“ Editor]

[From 1965 to 1968, Mark Rudd was a student activist and organizer in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter at Columbia University. He was one of the leaders of the Spring 1968 occupation of five buildings and the subsequent strike against the universityâ€™s complicity with the Vietnam war. After being kicked out of Columbia, he became a full-time organizer for SDS, where he helped found the militant Weatherman faction. Mark was elected National Secretary of SDS in June, 1969, then helped found the â€œrevolutionaryâ€ Weather Underground, which had as its goal â€œthe violent overthrow of the government of the U.S. in solidarity with the struggles of the people of the world.â€ Wanted on federal charges of bombing and conspiracy, Mark was a fugitive from 1970 to 1977. He spoke to NLPâ€™s Alex Doherty on the dangers of self-indulgent activism and his thoughts on current anti-war organizing in the United States.]

Egypt-Like Outrage in Wisconsin

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 20, 2011 • 0 Comments

AMERICAN RIGHTS AT WORK ACTION TEAM – Have you heard? 30,000 protesters flooded the Wisconsin state house, and a group of state senators have literally fled the state to fight against the worst union-busting state bill in recent memory.

Governor Scott Walker has proposed a draconian bill of cuts targeted at public workers who make our lives better every day. It’s a bill he says will fix the state’s budget shortfall â€“ but here’s the catch: he himself helped feed that shortfall with a slew of corporate tax breaks in his first months in office!

NPP Analyses Obamaâ€™s FY 2012 Budget Request

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 18, 2011 • 0 Comments

JOE COMERFORD – On February 14, the White House released the Obama Administration’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins on October 1, 2011. As expected, the estimated $3.7 trillion FY2012 request contains a number of critical policy and fiscal goals, including:

Reducing the government’s annual deficit by placing a five-year freeze on so-called “non-security” discretionary spending, while eliminating a series of fossil fuel-related tax breaks and projecting an end to the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in 2012;

Investing in education, with a goal of training more than 100,000 new science, technology, engineering and math teachers over the next decade;

Rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure with a substantial infusion of federal funds into high-speed rail, nationwide wireless, the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank, and a $28.6 billion (68%) increase in highway planning and construction; and

Promoting clean energy technology with the goal of one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

Breaking the Chain of Command

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 16, 2011 • 0 Comments

MICHAEL NAGLER – When is a whistleblower not a whistleblower? When heâ€™s a scapegoat. Pfc. Bradley Manning is an unfortunate â€“ and a challenging â€“ case in point, and to understand why we need to see it in context.

A Strong Wind Blows Mubarak Into History

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 15, 2011 • 2 Comments

URI AVNERY – We are in the middle of a geological event. An earthquake of epoch-making dimensions is changing the landscape of our region. Mountains turn into valleys, islands emerge from the sea, volcanoes cover the land with lava.

People are afraid of change. When it happens, they tend to deny, ignore, pretend that nothing really important is happening.

Public Says Cut Pentagon, Obama Says Increase It

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 14, 2011 • 2 Comments

DAVID SWANSON – Did you know that the U.S. public wants military spending cut? Did you know that President Barack Obama wants to increase it for his third year in a row? Actually I already know that most of you didn’t know either of these things.

PATRIOT Act Extension Blockedâ€¦ For Now

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 13, 2011 • 0 Comments

REP. JOHN CONYERS, JR – On February 8, we were able to vote down the House Republican Leadership’s effort to extend the PATRIOT Act surveillance law. It was a bipartisan victory, as most House Democrats and 26 brave Republicans voted to stop the bill under the special rules the Republicans invoked. I was proud to take the lead in fighting this effort to further erode our civil liberties and even more pleased to be joined by Republican civil libertarians like Ron Paul of Texas.

Blind Faith in Militarism Serves U.S. Poorly

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 12, 2011 • 1 Comment

MICHAEL TRUE – Blind faith — adhering to a proposition with no reasonable justification of its truth — is more dangerous for politicians than it is for religionists. True believers may acknowledge their blind faith in religious dogma, while foreign policy wonks seldom acknowledge their blind faith in political dogma. Yet many legislators and administrators â€” as well as columnists and academics â€” adhere to the dogma of â€œmilitary supremacy,â€ which dominates U.S. foreign policy. American tax payers, who have invested heavily in that dogma, may have serious questions about whether it works. The evidence?

ReVisioning Value 2011 Conference Set to Take Center Stage March 7th & 8th

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 11, 2011 • 5 Comments

DAVID BALL – Those who have followed Oregon PeaceWorks peace visioning will find this event to be a natural tie-in. Often when proponents of social change are asked if they are succeeding, the answer is ambiguous. Identifying a problem is easyâ€¦finding a tangible working solution becomes the trick. Amy Pearl, executive director of Springboard Innovation, has been at the forefront of finding alternative ways to create, develop, and fund sustainable solutions to societal ills like poverty, hunger, and homelessness (to name just a few). Included in her work has been the development of the ReVisioning Value conference â€” held this year at the Gerding Theater in NW Portland March 7-8 â€” which brings together a host of experts from diverse fields (civil engineering, economics, impact investing, sustainability) to create a unique two-day symposium focused on innovative techniques aimed at producing immediate results.

Why I May Run for Congress

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 10, 2011 • 2 Comments

NORMAN SOLOMON – Norman Solomon has been a regular PeaceWorker columnist since the PeaceWorker began in 1988. By then he was already a widely published author, but I had met him more than a decade earlier as an activist in the struggle to stop nuclear power development in Oregon. From that time to this he has never stinted to tell the direct truth as he saw it and to act upon it as he was able. These are qualities we could use a lot more of in Congress. â€“ Editor

One of the most inspiring political leaders in recent decades, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), famously declared: “I represent the democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” Today we need progressives in Congress who will represent the progressive wing of the Progressive Caucus.

Israel Attacks Under Cover of Egypt

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 9, 2011 • 0 Comments

PAM RASMUSSEN BAILEY – I am living right now in northern Gaza. Israeli F-16s struck early this morning (1 a.m. Feb. 9). These were the closest I have ever been and the blasts were so loud and close I felt them in my bones. The child who was killed lived just a couple of streets over. The revolt in Egypt is crucial, but the world must not forget Gaza.

Backstory of the New START Treaty Revealed

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 8, 2011 • 0 Comments

JOHN LAFORGE – Last May the Obama administration promised $80 billion to the nuclear weapons establishment for â€œmodernizingâ€ the arsenal. Three large H-bomb laboratories will share about $10 billion annually to â€œupgradeâ€ U.S. warheads, and they will get equal sums for the next 10 years. The funds are for a new $4.5 billion â€œChemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacementâ€ complex at Los Alamos, New Mexico; a new $3.5 billion â€œUranium Processing Facilityâ€ at the Y-12 lab in Tennessee; and a couple billion more for a replacement â€œKansas City Plantâ€ in Missouri that will make nonnuclear parts for the warheads. With the buildup, the U.S. will be able to quadruple its current warhead production capacity from 20 to 80 per year, according to Nuclear Watch New Mexico.

FBI, Police Call Peace Center Presence “a Misunderstanding”

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 6, 2011 • 3 Comments

JACKIE OROZCO – It’s just a “misunderstanding.” That’s the F.B.I. explanation about what happened at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center in Memphis, TN last week. Agents went to the center and the Memphis Police Tactical Squad surrounded the place last night for what they are calling “safety” reasons. F.B.I. agents said they showed up because they thought there was going to be an anti-war protest. They described it as a “courtesy” call and standard procedure to send agents in case things got out of hand.

Rep. Kurt Schrader Shares National Security Views with OPW

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 4, 2011 • 0 Comments

PETER BERGEL – On January 31 I met with Representative Kurt Schrader to find out what his attitudes were on several of Oregon PeaceWorksâ€™ issues. Here are the questions I asked him followed by my notes on his answers.

Beyond the Arizona Shooting: Personal Responsibility

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 2, 2011 • 1 Comment

DORIS MORRIS – I needed a way to express my feelings about the recent shooting involving our representative, Gabrielle Giffords, so began writing this reflection a few days ago. I am open to comments.

Act to Prevent Honey Bee Extinction

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 31, 2011 • 1 Comment

ADAM KLAUS – Since 2006, U.S. honey bee populations have been in precipitous decline, with some estimates suggesting losses as high as 30% per year.1 While that’s terrible, the problem is far greater than just the loss of a species. Without bees, a big piece of our food supply is in serious danger. Pollination by honey bees is key in cultivating the crops that produce a full one-third of our food.

A Time for Action — Not Servility

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 29, 2011 • 0 Comments

JEFF COHEN AND NORMAN SOLOMON – While Washington pundits are talking up a new civility, many progressives are bracing for the old servility — a bipartisanship that is servile to a corporate elite that is unquenchably greedy and more powerful than ever. But this is not a time for despair. Itâ€™s a time for new activism — built upon one of the great achievements of the last decade: the rise of independent media.

It’s Still the Same Old Story â€” from Guns to Nukes

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 27, 2011 • 0 Comments

LAWRENCE A. WITTNER – The discussion of the Tucson tragedy should be familiar, as we witness similar massacres in U.S. schools, shopping centers, and other public places played out periodically. Each time, the NRA and other gun apologists tell us that the easy accessibility of firearms, including assault weapons, had nothing to do with it. Indeed, they argue that the key to our safety is to obtain more guns. But does the fact that nearly 100,000 Americans are shot with guns and nearly 10,000 Americans are killed with them each year really have no connection to the remarkable availability of guns in the United States?

Red Alert for U.S. Residents: Dollar Fades in International Oil Trading

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 25, 2011 • 1 Comment

ROBERT FISK – In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading. Iran announced late last month that its foreign currency reserves would henceforth be held in euros rather than dollars.

The Third Force Idea: Creating a New Political Voice

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 23, 2011 • 6 Comments

TED GLICK – â€œThose who take the meat from the table teach contentment.
Those for whom the taxes are destined demand sacrifice.
Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry of wonderful times to come.
Those who lead the country into the abyss call ruling too difficult for ordinary men and women.â€ – Bertolt Brecht

Several times in columns over the last year or so I have written about the need for a â€œthird force,â€ a broad, inclusive, independent, and progressive united front.

12 Honor MLK with Arrests at Trident Protest

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 21, 2011 • 1 Comment

LEONARD EIGER – Last Saturday, January 15, the Seattle Raging Grannies set the mood for honoring Martin Luther King, Jrâ€™s birthday 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.

5% Solution Take Personal Action: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 19, 2011 • 1 Comment

CLIFF BOYER – A great New Yearâ€™s resolution would be to take the 5% Solution pledge to reduce your carbon footprint 5% in 2011. Scientists say that 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the safe limit to support human life on earth. Right now we are at 388 parts per million (check out Bill McKibbenâ€™s web site at www.350.org for more information). The need to act is becoming more urgent every day. We canâ€™t rely on the federal government to address this issue meaningfully anytime soon. It is up to each and every one of us to take the steps necessary to change our behaviors and make conscious and deliberate choices about how we individually impact the environment.

Open Letter to President Obama: Meet with Civil Society Leaders

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 17, 2011 • 1 Comment

RALPH NADER – Dear President Obama: The sentiments expressed in this letter may have more meaning more for you now that the results of the mid-term elections are clear. You have seen what can happen when a number of your supporters lose their enthusiasm and stay home or do not actively participate as volunteers.

Iranâ€™s Green Movement: Why Peace Activists Should Care

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 15, 2011 • 1 Comment

DANNY POSTEL & NADER HASHEMI – We are peace activists and supporters of the Green movement in Iran. We adamantly oppose any military attack on Iran, and we stand in solidarity with the democratic struggle in Iran. We see these positions as inextricably linked, as forming a consistent position based on the principles of peace, social justice, and human rights. But thereâ€™s a lot of confusion about this in the peace movement. We offer the following food for thought in hopes of clarifying some of the issues at hand and encouraging peace activists to learn more about the Green movement.

Pakistan is Urdu for Cambodia

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 13, 2011 • 0 Comments

JOHN LAFORGE – U.S. attacks on Pakistan using missiles fired from remote-controlled â€œdroneâ€ warplanes have been increasing under President Obama. These covert bombings often kill civilians in violation of the law of war. Even when the missiles somehow blow up targeted individuals, they kill mere suspects. The U.S. denies that its Green Berets, Navy Seals and CIA assassination squads are waging war in Pakistan from bases in neighboring Afghanistan, but the Pentagon has long wanted to expand its regional war there to attack suspected militants — much like President Richard Nixon secretly bombed and then sent thousands of soldiers into Cambodia.

After New START: Where Does Nuclear Disarmament Go From Here?

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 11, 2011 • 6 Comments

LAWRENCE WITTNER – With U.S. Senate ratification of the New START treaty on December 22, supporters of nuclear disarmament won an important victory. Signed by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last April, the treaty commits the two nations to cut the number of their deployed strategic (i.e. long-range) nuclear warheads to 1,550 each â€” a reduction of 30 percent in the number of these weapons of mass destruction. By providing for both a cutback in nuclear weapons and an elaborate inspection system to enforce it, New START is the most important nuclear disarmament treaty for a generation.

New Deal for Local Economies

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 9, 2011 • 1 Comment

STACY MITCHELL – Let me begin by sharing some good news. Scattered here and there, in my country and in yours, the seeds of a new, more local, and more durable economy are taking root.

Obama Pushes NAFTA-Style Korea Trade Deal

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 7, 2011 • 0 Comments

JAMES PLOESER AND BEATRIZ LOPEZ – Itâ€™s the moment we hoped would never come. President Obama has announced heâ€™ll submit to Congress the Bush-negotiated, NAFTA-style Korea trade deal. Obama is moving forward on this job-killing trade deal with Korea without living up to his fair trade campaign commitments. The Korea vote will be the first major congressional trade vote of the Obama presidency, and itâ€™s going to come up fast in the New Year.

Justice is Bigger Than â€œDonâ€™t Ask Donâ€™t Tellâ€

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 5, 2011 • 0 Comments

STEPHANIE N. VAN HOOK and MICHAEL N. NAGLER – In 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church called â€œBeyond Vietnam,â€ where he declared that his conscience would not allow him to remain silent on the question of Vietnam, on the horrors of war, on the threat of violence to our existence. In this speech he pointed out the irony that young men of color were welcomed to join the military in order to burn villages and kill the people of Vietnam in the name of a democracy and of freedoms not yet granted to them in the country for which they fought. They could kill and wreak havoc side by side with white Americans in combat abroad, but they could not sit by one another in the same school or eat together at the same restaurant back home.

This “Lame Duck” Had Wings

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 3, 2011 • 0 Comments

CHRIS HELLMAN – After the November elections, members of Congress returned to Capitol Hill for their â€œlame duckâ€ session with one huge piece of unfinished business â€“ the Fiscal Year 2011 budget. And while they failed to complete work on the budget â€“ the government is currently running on a â€œcontinuing resolutionâ€ that funds federal agencies through March 4, 2011 â€“ the lame duck session did pass legislation on a number of serious issues.

Why Did Progressive Media Miss This Important Progressive Story?

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 1, 2011 • 2 Comments

PAUL CIENFUEGOS – On November 17, Democracy Now ran a news story about the historic Pittsburgh City Council vote in their news headlines: “Pittsburgh has become the first Pennsylvania city to pass a measure barring natural gas drilling. In a unanimous vote, the Pittsburgh City Council approved the ban within city limits. Pittsburgh sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation, which has large reserves of natural gas. Opponents say natural gas drilling has contaminated water and air in communities across the nation.”

NYT Columnist Exposes Big Military Taboo

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 30, 2010 • 1 Comment

NICHOLAS KRISTOF – We face wrenching budget cutting in the years ahead, but thereâ€™s one huge area of government spending that Democrats and Republicans alike have so far treated as sacrosanct. Itâ€™s the military/security world, and itâ€™s time to bust that taboo.

A New Year: Time to Envision, Demand Peace

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 28, 2010 • 1 Comment

MICHAEL TRUE – â€œThe same war continues,â€ Denise Levertov wrote, in â€œLife at War.â€ Her lament is even more appropriate for 2011 than as it was when she wrote the poem forty-five years ago. Columnists and academics, including International Relations professor Andrew Bacevich, Boston University, are finally acknowledging facts familiar to anyone â€œawakeâ€ regarding failed U.S. policies, wasted lives and resources during this period, Willfully ignoring such facts, as Professor Bacevich wrote, â€œis to become complicit in the destruction of what most Americans profess to hold dear.â€

No Nuke Loan Guarantees in New Government Bill

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 26, 2010 • 2 Comments

MICHAEL MARIOTTE – Citizen lobbyists sent more than 15,000 letters to Congress in December and made many, many phone calls to stop $8 billion in taxpayer loans for new nuclear reactor construction. And the final government funding bill, signed by President Obama, contains not one dime for new nukes!

The Senate was forced to pull the “Omnibus” funding bill it had proposed, which included the $8 billion in taxpayer loans for the nuclear industry, and instead a “Continuing Resolution” was passed that funds the government through mid-March.

New START Treaty: a Win for the US and the World

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 23, 2010 • 0 Comments

DON KRAUS – The United States Senate has agreed to the New START Treaty. The bilateral nuclear arms treaty passed with bipartisan support by a 71 to 26 margin. The roll call vote came after months of highly partisan debate and despite a packed Senate schedule.

Nissan Hopes Zero-Emission Leaf Will Electrify Drivers

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 22, 2010 • 1 Comment

SPACE MART STAFF — Billed as the world’s first mass-produced electric car, this month’s launch of the Nissan Leaf is expected to send a jolt through an auto industry racing to build greener vehicles. The Leaf — short for Leading Environmentally-friendly Affordable Family car — has enjoyed a crescendo of industry buzz, last month becoming the first electric vehicle to win European Car of the Year.

Looking Back on the Nuclear Freeze and Its Impact

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 20, 2010 • 5 Comments

LAWRENCE S. WITTNER – In Oregon, the Nuclear Freeze movement was led by Citizen Action for Lasting Security, one of the organizations that later merged into Oregon PeaceWorks. As we end one year and begin a new one, it is encouraging to look back at historian Lawrence Wittnerâ€™s chronicle of that exciting movement. – Editor

Thirty years ago, Randall Forsberg, a young defense and disarmament researcher, launched the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign. Designed to stop the drift toward nuclear war through a U.S.-Soviet agreement to stop the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons, the freeze campaign escalated into a mass movement that swept across the United States. It attracted the support of nearly all peace groups, as well as that of mainstream religious, professional, and labor organizations.

White House Dries Out Moral Collapse in Spin Cycle

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 18, 2010 • 6 Comments

NORMAN SOLOMON – On December 5th, in a column about economic policy, Paul Krugman focused on â€œmoral collapseâ€ at the White House — â€œa complete failure of purpose and loss of direction.â€ Meanwhile, President Obama flew to Afghanistan, where he put on a leather bomber jacket and told U.S. troops: â€œYouâ€™re achieving your objectives. You will succeed in your mission.â€ For the Obama presidency, moral collapse has taken on the appearance of craven clockwork, establishing a concentric pattern — doing immense damage to economic security at home while ratcheting up warfare overseas.

The Values That Underlie Peace

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 17, 2010 • 1 Comment

ROBERT RACK – I happened into a conversation with man sitting next to me on a plane ten or fifteen years ago that today seems almost prophetic. It was one of those gradual conversations that can happen when you’re in a car or maybe in a stuck elevator for a long time with someone, where there’s no agenda or expectations and plenty of time to quietly think about what each other is saying.

We Are in a Lynch-Mob Moment

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 15, 2010 • 3 Comments

TOM HAYDEN – We know that conservatives are extremists for order, but why have so many liberals lost their minds and joined the frenzy over Julian Assange and WikiLeaks? As the secrets of power are unmasked, there is a growing bipartisan demand that Julian Assange must die.

Reader: Tea Party is â€œGrossly Racistâ€

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 12, 2010 • 0 Comments

RON LOWE – Let’s cut to the chase about the Tea Party. Do you want to spend another year listening to their hypocrisy and tomfoolery? Could it be that Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, and Republicans, are getting away with their lies because their base and many Americans are simply dumber than they are?

Anti-Earmark Tea Party Caucus Takes $1 Billion in Earmarks

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 10, 2010 • 0 Comments

REID WILSON – Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.

Peace Workers Must Commit to the Long Haul

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 8, 2010 • 0 Comments

PETER BERGEL – Former U.S. Poet Laureate William Stafford wrote in his journal on March 20, 1990, â€œArtists and peace workers are in it for the long haul and not to be judged by immediate results. Redemption comes with care.â€ Seeing the results of last monthâ€™s election, it would be easy to get discouraged. Thatâ€™s why Staffordâ€™s words are important. It reminds us that to deserve the name â€œpeace worker,â€ we must take a long view, dedicating ourselves to a lifelong challenge.

Why North Koreaâ€™s Attack is Not a Crisis

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 6, 2010 • 0 Comments

JOE CIRINCIONE AND PAUL CARROLL – Headlines and pundits once again declare that we have a crisis on our hands in the wake of discovering that North Korea is building a new nuclear reactor and a uranium enrichment plant. More ominously, last Tuesday brought news of direct artillery barrages between North and South Korea, heightening tensions and costing lives. But as provocative and serious as this is, neither is a crisis. Both fit a clear pattern of North Korean behavior — a pattern that ultimately holds out the opportunity for progress.

Will Senate Republicans Torpedo the New START Treaty?

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 4, 2010 • 0 Comments

BY LAWRENCE S. WITTNER – As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote this December on ratification of the New START Treaty, Republican legislators appear on the verge of producing an international disaster. From the standpoint of logic, there are excellent reasons to ratify the treaty. This agreement between the U.S. and Russian governments provides that each of the two nations would reduce the number of its deployed strategic nuclear warheads from 2,200 to 1,550.

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