PHIL CARVER: On Feb. 11, two key Democrats, Sen. Charles Schumer (NY) and House member Chris Van Hollen (MD), outlined a bill to reform spending on elections. The bill will seek to undo the worst effects of the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Jan 21 in the case of Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission.
Author: Oregon PeaceWorks
Kremlin Source: New Arms Treaty Ready for Signing
LYNN BERRY: A senior Kremlin official says the United States and Russia have reached an agreement on “all documents” necessary to sign a new nuclear arms treaty.
War in a Box
NORMAN SOLOMON: The event on the House floor on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, was monumental — the first major congressional debate about U.S. military operations in Afghanistan…
Rest in Peace, Granny D
RIP: Legendary campaign finance activist Doris “Granny D” Haddock died peacefully in her Dublin, New Hampshire family home at 7:18 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, 2010. She was 100 years old.
Attend Give Peace a Dance April 17
GIVE PEACE A DANCE: Oregon PeaceWorks is proud to announce that it will again sponsor Oregon’s best peace party for the 26th straight year. Give Peace a Dance will take place April 17 at the First Congregational Church of Salem (not the Grand Ballroom this year), 700 Marion St. NE, from 6-11 p.m.
Preserving the Golden Rule as a Piece of Anti-Nuclear History
LAWRENCE S. WITTNER: The Golden Rule is in danger. No, not the famed ethical code — though proponents of selfishness certainly have ignored it — but a thirty-foot sailing ship of the same name that rose to prominence about half a century ago.
Breif-ings
BRIEF INSIGHTS ON: 1) Yucca Mountain eyed for nuclear reprocessing; 2) PBS to cancel “NOW” and retire Bill Moyers’ “Journal”, 3) Be more persuasive; and 4) 2 out of 3 Americans ready to drop “don’t ask, don’t tell.
Howard Zinn and Other Heroes Transformed History
WILLIAM LOREN KATZ: In less than a year the battle for truth has lost three of its most innovative and stalwart voices, historians John Hope Franklin, Ivan Van Sertima and Howard Zinn. Each challenged aspects of the cheerfully bigoted narrative that has passed for history in schools, colleges, texts and the media. Each created works that made history by awakening millions of fellow citizens to a new host of heroic men and women whose daring contributions had been shamefully ignored.
Glimpsing the Depth of U.S. Polarization
DAILY KOS: From January 20 through January 31, 2010, the Daily Kos website commissioned a poll of self-identified Republicans which was conducted by Research 2000. A total of 2003 self-identified Republicans were interviewed nationally by telephone. The results will be, to say the least, startling to progressives.
Group Proposes Free Speech for People Amendment
FREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE AMENDMENT: The group has written a resolution in support of the “Free Speech for People Amendment†and is collecting signatures on it at its website.
Haiti Disaster Highlights Need for International Law on “Lootingâ€
BECKEY SUKOVATY: When desperate Haitian earthquake victims tried to save themselves or rescue others by looking for resources needed to survive in the collapsed buildings of Port-au-Prince, they were often branded “looters.†New Orleans residents in dire need after Hurricane Katrina were similarly condemned.
Beltway Bulletin
BRIEFING REPORTS ON: 1) Federal Debt vs. the Current Deficit; 2) Social Security; 3) The Federal Debt; 4) Obama’s Energy and Global Warming Plans; and 5) Tethered Wind – Emerging but Ignored by the Feds.
Give Peace a Dance Slated for April 1
PETER BERGEL: Oregon’s best peace party and Oregon PeaceWorks’ largest fund raiser is the annual Give Peace a Dance extravaganza, now scheduled for April 17 at the First Congregational Church of Salem, 700 Marion St. NE. from 6-11 p.m.
Army to Strip Jailed Hip-Hop Soldier of Due Process with Iraq Transfer
COURAGE TO RESIST: Fort Stewart, Georgia officials confirmed in early February that the Army will attempt to separate Spc. Marc A. Hall from both his civilian legal team and his established military defender, Capt. Anthony Schiavetti, by immediately sending him to Iraq to face court martial.
Households Enter Voluntary Carbon Market
LIZ GALST: Last month, Tami and Randy Wilson of Harrisburg, Pa., may well have become the first homeowners to ever sell a carbon credit they’d generated at home. The family saved one metric ton of carbon by reducing their energy use and installing solar panels on their roof.
Don’t Call It a “Defense†Budget
NORMAN SOLOMON: The new budget from the White House will push U.S. military spending well above $2 billion a day. This isn’t “defense.†Foreclosing the future of our country should not be confused with defending it.
Army Vet Speaks Out on Resisting Killer Drones
ROLLEAN: The April 19th witness at the Boeing/Insitu military drone factory near Hood River will seek to remind us all that we were raised on the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
U.S. Policy Violates Golden Rule
First Robotic War Conference to Feature Sheehan & Roos
UPCOMING CONFERENCE: The first conference ever organized to challenge robotic warfare will be held here in Oregon, April 16 through April 19, near Boeing’s Insitu military drone factory in Hood River.
National Priorities Project Releases FY2011 Budget Analysis
NATIONAL PRIORITIES PROJECT: President Obama issued his Fiscal Year 2011 budget on February 1, 2010 – a 2,585-page proposed blueprint for addressing the social agonies caused by record-high job loss, a continued sluggish economy and state deficits.
Resources for Peace Visioning
PETER BERGEL: Here, in no particular order, are websites (both articles and organizations) and books that I and others have found helpful in researching peace visioning.
Pressing the Peace Reset Button
WINSLOW MYERS: The hopeful energy that resulted in the election of President Obama has run smack into the depressing reality of the largest military budget ever submitted in the history of the planet. But effective strategizing for peace can only emerge from an accurate perception of where we are.
Peace, Peacebuilding and Peacelearning
NATIONAL PEACE ACADEMY: The National Peace Academy’s understanding of peace is shaped by the definition contained in the Earth Charter: “…peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.â€
Creating a Comprehensive Peace Vision and Strategy is Crucial
PETER BERGEL: Progressives and peace people are probably missing a bet. We could almost certainly be more effective, wield more influence and play a more powerful role in public policy. What we lack is a unified understanding of what we mean by “peace†and a new peace strategy based on that unified understanding.
MyPeace Project Kicks Off on March 13
PETER BERGEL: The progressive movement needs a comprehensive shared vision and Salem’s MyPeace Project is a step in the direction of generating that vision.
Have Americans Given Up?
PETER BERGEL: In an enormously provocative article entitled “Are Americans a Broken People? Why We’ve Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression†psychologist Bruce E. Levine divines what ails the American body politic.
Finances Force OPW Board to End Printed PeaceWorker
OPW BOARD OF DIRECTORS: It is with a heavy heart that we tell you today that financial pressures have forced upon us the decision to end printed production of The PeaceWorker, although our award-winning news magazine continues to be available online at www.peaceworker.org.
Howard Zinn and the State of the Union
TOM H. HASTINGS: Howard Zinn has crossed over. He was a mensch, a historian and a peace and justice activist. He was not convinced that nonviolence was always the answer, but he often provided expert testimony for nonviolent resisters seeking help in conducting a robust defense of their actions in opposition to militarism and injustice.
Calendar
CALENDAR: Late February through June. 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.
PeaceWorker Now Offers Daily Releases Online
PETER BERGEL: OPW’s award-winning publication The PeaceWorker is now available by subscription on the Internet. By entering a free subscription, you will receive a teaser and a link to a PeaceWorker article every day in your email.
Farewell April Wynkoop, Hello Donna Gerry
PETER BERGEL: The friendly voice you’re most likely to hear when you telephone OPW is that of our Office Manager, April Wynkoop. After almost two years with OPW, during which she made the office hum and handled all the details that make the difference between a smooth functioning organization and one that staggers along, April is leaving us.
Tom Hayden to Speak in Eugene March 5
TOM HAYDEN: The Lane Peace Center invites readers to this year’s peace symposium entitled “Confronting Militarism: Democracy vs. Empire.†The event will take place March 5 from 6-9 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) in the Center for Meeting & Learning at Lane Community College.
Politicians Must Respond to Climate Tipping Points
TED GLICK: There’s a famous quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.†However, according to Wikipedia, it may be that this concept was first expressed by a U.S. labor leader, Nicholas Klein of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, in 1914.
Dollars for Death, Pennies for Life
NORMAN SOLOMON: When the U.S. military began a major offensive in southern Afghanistan over the Presidents’ Day weekend, the killing of children and other civilians was predictable. Lofty rhetoric aside, such deaths come with the territory of war and occupation.
USDA Establishes Strong Organic Standards for Pasture, Livestock
MARK KASTEL: After over 10 years of lobbying, family farmers across the country, who produce organic milk, are celebrating the release of strict new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations that establish distinct benchmarks requiring the grazing and pasturing of dairy cows and other livestock.
Nuclear Industry May Not Give Up on Yucca Mountain
STEVE TETREAULT: The nuclear industry’s trade group is signaling it might not go along with the Obama administration’s plan to withdraw from Yucca Mountain and make it difficult, if not impossible, to revive the proposed nuclear waste repository ever again.
Nuclear Power: Still a Bad Idea
RALPH NADER: A generation of Americans has grown up without a single nuclear power plant being brought on line since before the near meltdown of the Three Mile Island structure in 1979. They have not been exposed to the enormous costs, risks and national security dangers associated with their operations and the large amount of radioactive wastes still without a safe, permanent storage place for tens of thousands of years.
Peacebuilding for Conservatives
WINSLOW MYERS: There is big money in polarization, as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other media kingpins understand all too well. But one of the many tragic by-products of our polarized political culture is the demonization of conservatives by progressives.
Paying Extra for Green Power and Getting Ads Instead
KATE GALBRAITH: The solicitations have been flooding people’s mailboxes lately: pay a bit more on your electricity bill for 100 percent clean wind power. Or, the fliers say, buy “green power certificates†to offset your global warming emissions.
Obama’s Afghan “Strategy”  Another American Tragedy
JOSEPH GERSON: Shortly after President Obama’s Afghanistan War escalation speech, I was contacted by the Voice of America’s Russian Language Service. They wanted to interview me. These are the questions they asked: What do you think about Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan? Were you surprised by it? Do you think it would be possible to carry out all Obama’s objectives by 2011? Would Afghanistan, you think, cease being a failed state?
International Criminal Court Complaint Filed Against Bush & Co.
FRANCIS A. BOYLE: Champaign, U.S.A./The Hague, Netherlands — Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a complaint with the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings.
Brief-ings
BRIEF INSIGHTS: 1) Postwar Deformities; 2) Kaufman Bill to Hold U.S. Contractors Overseas Accountable; 3) Stunning Statistics About the War That Everyone Should Know, by Jeremy Scahill; and 4) NRC Looks to Technology to Cut Energy Use.
Western Shoshone Prevail on Mt. Tenabo – Open Pit Gold Mine Enjoined
CORTEZ HILLS GOLD MINE: On December 3, 2009, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling enjoining the construction and operation of the Cortez Hills gold mine, proposed by Barrick Gold Corporation. The Ninth Circuit reversed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, which had denied the motion for preliminary injunction filed by the plaintiffs.
WRL Activist Gets Jail Time for “Blood Money”
MATT DALOISIO: Three Washington DC-area peace proponents interrupted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on U.S. Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy last May 21, calling out “No more blood money for wars!” and “End the wars now.”
Climate Change Ups and Downs in 2009
PHIL CARVER: While the outcome of Copenhagen negotiations on limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was disappointing, 2009 saw good progress on restricting emissions.
Democrats Boosting Right-Wing Populism
NORMAN SOLOMON: In his triumphant speech on election night, the next senator from Massachusetts should have thanked top Democrats in Washington for all they did to make his victory possible.
PSR Announces Greenfield Peace Writing Contest
KELLY CAMPBELL: With great pleasure, I announce the second annual Greenfield Peace Writing Contest, sponsored by Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, and named for Del Greenfield, our first executive director. Any 11th or 12th grade student in Oregon may enter by submitting an original piece of fiction, poem, or essay (maximum 600 words) reflecting on the following question: In a world where we struggle with wars, injustice, violence in our communities and the threat of environmental devastation…what does peace mean to you?
Middle East Conflict: Fighting to Improve the Past
VALERIE SATUREN: With the rising power of Hamas and a rightward shift in Israeli politics, a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians appears farther out of reach than it has in decades. Meanwhile, the window of opportunity is closing on a two-state solution to the conflict.
Lowering the Bar: How Young is Too Young to Recruit?
JON LETMAN: How old is old enough for students to be approached by military recruiters? High school? Junior high? Fourth grade? How about ten weeks into kindergarten?
Privatizing the Military: Full Speed Ahead Under Obama
JEREMY SCAHILL: A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Contract Oversight subcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up the Bush-era war privatization baton and sprinted with it.
Our Security is Threatened and We Don’t Have Time for War
PETER BERGEL: The government and the Pentagon are right. Our national security is definitely at risk. Afghanistan? Iraq? Al Qaeda? Small potatoes. Yemen? Iran? Even smaller. Nope, the big threats are not military. Nor can they be addressed by the military.