ROB OKUN – Okay, guys, white guys—all guys—this is our moment to say, “Enough!†This is the moment to start a national “Men Against Gun Violence†campaign. Right after Newtown, women launched “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense†the day after the murder of 20 six and seven year-olds, and six staff at Sandy Hook elementary school. The day after!
Author: Contributor
Biggest State Party to Obama: Get Out of Afghanistan
NORMAN SOLOMON: There’s a significant new straw in the political wind for President Obama to consider. The California Democratic Party has just sent him a formal and clear message: Stop making war in Afghanistan.
How Patriotism Can Save America
PAUL K CHAPPELL: As a soldier in the United States army, I have often pondered what it means to be patriotic, what it means to serve our country, and what it means to love America. In Will War Ever End? I described a dangerous misconception of patriotism that I witnessed while deployed in Baghdad.
How Television Affects Our Lives
A C NIELSEN: Approximate number of studies examining TV’s effects on children: 4,000
Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 3.5
Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680
Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70
Percentage of parents who would like to limit their children’s TV watching: 73
Percentage of 4-6 year-olds who, when asked to choose between watching TV and spending time with their fathers, preferred television: 54
Opium, Rape and the American Way in Afghanistan
CHRIS HEDGES: The warlords we champion in Afghanistan are as venal, as opposed to the rights of women and basic democratic freedoms, and as heavily involved in opium trafficking as the Taliban. The moral lines we draw between us and our adversaries are fictional. The uplifting narratives used to justify the war in Afghanistan are pathetic attempts to redeem acts of senseless brutality.
Obama to Native Americans: You Will Not Be Forgotten
OBAMA: President Barack Obama vowed not to forget American Indian tribes as representatives gathered for a White House conference on native issues.
Beltway Bulletin
The focus of this month’s Beltway Bulletin is “We Are the Climate Catastrophe Deniers”.
Study Claims Meat Creates Half of All Greenhouse Gases
MARTIN HICKMAN: “A vegetarian driving a Hummer leaves less of a carbon footprint that a non-vegetarian driving a Prius.†– Reader’s comment.
New MPO Task Force Rolls Up Its Sleeves
1000 FRIENDS OF OREGON: As the issue of global warming occupies center stage on the national and international arena, here in Oregon, attention is focused on a newly appointed committee looking at how Oregon can combat global warming pollution from cars and trucks.
British Challenge: Cut Your Emissions 10% in 2010
10:10 is a mass movement that is signing up people and organizations from every corner of British life. From councils and hospitals to faith groups and scout troops, organizations across the country are deciding to get on board at the start of the journey to a low-carbon society.
British Government Pledges to Cut Carbon Emissions 80% by 2050
DEBORAH SUMMERS & DAMIAN CARRINGTON: The government has committed the U.K. to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 80% by the middle of the century in a bid to tackle climate change. In a move that was widely welcomed by environmental campaigners, Ed Miliband, the new energy and climate change secretary, said that the current 60% target would be replaced by the higher goal in the climate change bill.
What About Carbon Offsets?
Every time we heat our homes, take a flight or drive the car, fossil fuels are burnt and CO2 is released into the atmosphere causing climate change. Carbon offsetting enables you to take responsibility for the carbon emissions you create by paying an organization to reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere on your behalf.
Mullen Announces Afghanistan Strategy: Prepare to Nonviolently Resist
JEFF LEYS: Last month, Admiral Mullen (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) announced that the Pentagon will seek additional war funds for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2010. While he did not give a firm dollar amount, the New York Times reported that defense budget analysts are kicking around the number of $50 billion.
Tell the State Not to Give Sweetheart Deals to LNG Companies
The State of Oregon is leasing 92 acres of waterfront industrial state-owned land for a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal for just $38,400 per year. This is 3000% less than comparable leases.
Calendar
To offer calendar items, post them at www.oregonprogressivenetwork.org or email them to: updates@oregonpeaceworks.org before the 12th of the month for following month’s issue.
Starting Another Year of War in Afghanistan
NORMAN SOLOMON: October 2009 began with the New York Times reporting that “the president, vice president and an array of cabinet secretaries, intelligence chiefs, generals, diplomats and advisers gathered in a windowless basement room of the White House for three hours on Wednesday to chart a new course in Afghanistan.”
The Myth of the Powerless
KEN McCORMACK: When they dismiss myth as merely a lie, scientists display enormous ignorance. Myth, as students of literature know, is the ultimate framework of consciousness. It is Meta-Fact — the arena wherein thought takes place — and an expression of the collective mind.
Moving Beyond War in Afghanistan
WINSLOW MYERS: The challenge of helping Afghanistan while also serving U.S. security goals includes four aspects: first, U.S. fear of more terrorist attacks mounted from the region, second, fear that other powers, such as Russia or Iran, could assume undue influence, third, the potential use of the territory as a route to move resources such as oil and natural gas, and fourth, U.S. unwillingness to admit that the application of power may not part of the solution at all.
Letters to the Editor
LETTERS: This month’s letters include: 1) Drug and Insurance Companies Run DC by Ed Hemmingson; and 2) Schrader Responds re: Afghanistan by Rep. Kurt Schrader.
Obama Peace Prize: Three Views
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE: Three points of view: 1) Fred Miller, Regional Peace Action Organizer; 2) International Peace Bureau (Geneva, Switzerland); and 3) Filmmaker Michael Moore.
Army Prisoners Isolated, Denied Right to Legal Counsel
DAHR JAMAIL: Afghanistan war resister Travis Bishop has been held largely “incommunicado†in the Northwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Lewis, Washington. Bishop, who is being held by the military as a “prisoner of conscience,†according to Amnesty International, was transported to Fort Lewis on September 9 to serve a 12-month sentence in the Regional Correctional Facility. He had refused orders to deploy to Afghanistan based on his religious beliefs, and had filed for Conscientious Objector (CO) status.
Schrader, DeFazio Call on Obama to Deescalate in Afghanistan
SCHRADER & DeFAZIO: Reps. Kurt Schrader (OR-5) and Peter DeFazio (OR-4) have joined a bipartisan handful of House members in signing the following letter to President Obama:
“Michael Moore’s Action Plan: 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Nowâ€
MICHAEL MOORE: You want something to do? Well, you’ve come to the right place! ‘Cause I got 15 things you and I can do right now to fight back and try to fix this very broken system.
We Were Arrested for Speaking
DAVID SWANSON: The president was holding a press conference inside the White House fence with a bunch of doctors who oppose serious healthcare reform. Donna Smith, star of Michael Moore’s “Sicko”, was standing next to me and telling me that every patient who had appeared in that movie had determined that the healthcare…
News Reports from Inside the Financial Coup
DAVID DEGRAW: The past few days have been very revealing when it comes to the financial coup that has occurred here in the U.S. When we say financial coup, we’re not giving you hyperbole. We’re telling you the technical term for what has occurred.
Beltway Bulletin
Phil Carver’s Beltway Bulletin will not appear this month because Phil spent the month of October participating the 350-mile Oregon 350 Climate Crisis Walk. The column will return next month.
Humanity Reconstitutes the World — As Never Before
PAUL HAWKEN: When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.
Obama and Medvedev Cut Nuclear Weapons
BEN SPENCER: Barack Obama last July thrashed out a deal which could see Russia and the U.S. scrap about 1,000 nuclear warheads each. Obama, determined to rebuild relations with Russia, signed a preliminary agreement with President Dmitry Medvedev at a Moscow summit.
Rev. Gail McDougle — 2009 Salem Peacemaker Award Winner
PETER BERGEL: Each year during the annual Salem Peace Lecture, the Salem Peacemaker Award is bestowed upon an outstanding peace advocate. This year the award was given to Rev. Gail McDougle, pastor of Salem’s First Congregational Church (First Church of Christ) in recognition of her many years of service to the homeless, immigrant communities, the peace community and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender/Transsexual (LGBT) community.
Sgt. Kevin Benderman, An American Hero
CYNTHIA McKINNEY: On July 28, 2005, in a small nondescript courtroom at Ft. Stewart in Georgia, Sgt. Kevin Benderman was sentenced to 15 months for his refusal to deploy to Iraq. Benderman is just one of thousands of modern heroes who have followed their conscience and taken the difficult stand of resistance within the armed forces.
Making Nature Sacred Again – The Politics of Enchantment
WILLIAM JAMES GIBSON: Like Special Forces commandos, the L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters came at 2 a.m., Jan. 10, 2002, when they knew their enemy would be asleep. After a 71-day siege, the lone warrior knew the end was coming and chained himself into place for one last stand. Mesmerized, the public watched the arrest of a tree-sitter, who was charged with trespassing.
WWII Pacifists Served in Oregon
JEFFREY KOVAC: Largely overlooked and unmentioned in the discussion of America’s military entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan is the story of some 12,000 conscientious objectors who refused to fight in World War II and instead performed free labor in Civilian Public Service camps across the United States.
Brief-ings
Brief insights: 1) Website to Help High Schoolers Opt Out of the Military; 2) Former OPW Staffer Arrested; and 3) Sign of the Times.
Obama at the U.N.: Securing Our Future
ROBERT F. DODGE: President Obama reestablished the United States global leadership role in creating a secure tomorrow as he made his U.N. debut this past week. Speaking before the General Assembly he put forward “four pillars” that he said are “fundamental to the future that we want for our children — for a safer America and world.
Another Nobel Controversy
LAWRENCE S WITTNER: The swirling controversy over President Barack Obama’s receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize brings to mind another controversy that began in October 1985, when the Norwegian committee announced that that year’s prize would go to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).
Imagine Eugene City of Peace
DAVID HAZEN: Imagine what it would mean to you personally if peace were the guiding principle for everyone around you. Imagine meeting face-to-face with people who already focus on living peacefully. Would that be fun or what? Eugene City of Peace will demonstrate the joy, wonder, and power of community connection and cooperation. Imagine the freedom to be different and be safe!
350.org Walk, Other Oregon Actions, Join Worldwide Event
PETER BERGEL: October 24 marked a day of world-wide demonstrations drawing attention to global heating. It was billed as “the biggest day of action the world has ever seen.” Whether that is true or not, it surely signaled a new level of awareness about the threat posed by the climate crisis.
Dolores Huerta Brings Her Message to Salem
PETER BERGEL: Legendary labor organizer Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Worker Union (UFW) with Cesar Chavez, was the Salem Peace Lecture speaker this year. She spoke at Willamette University on October 21. She also spoke with The PeaceWorker and other alternative news media. This is a summary of her message from the lecture and the interviews.
Holiday Party, Annual Meeting and Great Getaway Raffle
PETER BERGEL: Terrific vacation packages to be raffled off in OPW’s popular Great Getaway Raffle are being secured. Tickets will be on sale as soon as all packages are complete. If we have your address, we will mail you a raffle entry form. If we have your email address we will also email you the form. Otherwise, you can check our website www.oregonpeaceworks.org for details.
Calendar
To offer calendar items, post them at www.oregonprogressivenetwork.org or email them to: updates@oregonpeaceworks.org before the 12th of the month for following month’s issue.
The Afghanistan Gap: Press vs. Public
NORMAN SOLOMON: This month, a lot of media stories have compared President Johnson’s war in Vietnam and President Obama’s war in Afghanistan. The comparisons are often valid, but a key parallel rarely gets mentioned the media’s insistent support for the war even after most of the public has turned against it.
Spooks on the Loose
KEN MCCORMACK: The CIA and over 20 other such agencies are rapidly spreading our national disease — much more dangerous than the flu — diagnosed by doctors “terminal hypocrisy.” Hypocrisy syndrome appears with two levels of truth. Truth one is public. Truth two is simply the dirty laundry.
Recovering to Death
TOM H. HASTINGS: If stimulus packages for corporate sinkholes are good enough for the American taxpayer, why can’t we find $5.4 billion to create minimum wage jobs, with full health care benefits, for the 216,000 Americans who lost their jobs in August? Coincidentally, $5.4 billion is the amount the Pentagon will spend next year on unmanned vehicles, such as the Predator, which is killing so many civilians in Pakistan and turning our friends into our sworn enemies.
When “Public Options” Serve the Public — and When They Don’t
LAWRENCE S. WITTNER: Currently, there is nothing more controversial in President Barack Obama’s health care reform proposal than the “public option.” Much of the controversy, of course, has been generated by private insurance companies, determined to safeguard their hefty profits, and by Republican politicians, eager to destroy anything that might redound to the benefit of the Democrats. Even so, a little clear thinking on the subject of public programs might illuminate their advantages and disadvantages.
Major Religions Call for Investigation into Torture
CHARLES BUSCH: Our nation is presently involved in a debate about the sanctioned use of torture by the United States since 9/11. Is it enough to denounce torture and focus on the future, or do we need to investigate the past and seek accountability?
Letters to the Editor
This months LETTERS include: 1) Resist Tearing the Tops Off Mountains to Mine Coal; 2) Recruiters: Replacing Those They Have Killed; and 3) Obstructionists Ignore American Health and Well-Being.
Insitu Deserves a Harder Look
SUSAN GARRETT CROWLEY: Insitu, a local drone developer now owned by Boeing, has recently approached cities in the Columbia River Gorge as a part of a public relations campaign to develop public support for its operations. Since Boeing/Insitu has initiated this discussion, Washington and Oregon citizens may want to carefully consider the true nature of what it is designed to do for the U.S. military.
News That’s Not Fit to Print
PROJECT CENSORED: Some news is just too hot to cover and Project Censored for 34 years has been exposing the most under-covered censored news stories of the year with their annual release of the Censored yearbooks.
Racial Profiling and Domestic Terrorism: Making White Terror Invisible While Blaming the Victim
DR. BEAU GROSSCUP: Since the 9/11 attacks, racial profiling has become an accepted component of the War on Terror. Given that the perpetrators of 9/11 were assumed to be members of Al Qaeda, anyone looking “Middle Eastern” or Arab or Muslim was/is racially profiled as suspicious. But in combating domestic terrorism, racial profiling of people of color makes no objective sense.
Beltway Bulletin
PHIL CARVER: This month’s Beltway Bulletin includes: 1) Ending the Afghanistan War; 2) The Health Care Bill; 3) Debunking Climate Change Deniers; and 4) More Information.