dancewater

Water

2012-01-30T19:28:00.000-08:00

This picture was sent to me via an email from Asheville PARC (People Advocating Real Conservancy). It is a picture of the source of my drinking water. I love my drinking water here in Asheville, even with the fluoride and chlorine in the water. I think it tastes pretty good, and I know it is from the rain that falls locally, and there is no industrial plants near the source of our water, and there are no other cities using our water first. After we are done with our water, it gets treated and then put into the French Broad river. Newport and Knoxville are two cities who re-use our water via the French Broad river. It is not as good for them as it is for us.

And today, Asheville's water is under threat. A local Representative is threatening to privatize our water system, and rumor has it that the water is needed in the eastern part of the state for fracking. I will fight this.

Here is the email message I got about this:

Control of Asheville's water is under threat!

A legislative committee in Raleigh is considering forcing the City of Asheville to transfer control of its water supply to an outside agency.

While the Asheville system serves customers throughout Buncombe County, the majority of customers live in Asheville.

Still, we may find ourselves at the mercy of people who did not pay for the system, we cannot vote for or against, or hire or fire.

At the same time, in a separate committee, a majority of these same legislators are working on a process that could lead to privatization of water utilities all over the state.

We are told the two are unrelated...

The first meeting of the committee eyeing Asheville's water is in Raleigh on Monday, Jan. 23rd.

The second will be in Asheville sometime in late February.

There will be a third and a fourth, and then the committee may put forward legislation that takes away control of our water and gives it to someone else.

This is wrong, and it must not be allowed.

Visit www.ashevillewater.blogspot.com for more information and ways to get involved.

You can listen to the first meeting on Jan. 23rd starting at 2 pm, by going to the City of Asheville website, www.ashevillenc.gov, and clicking on the "NCLEG.NET" button.

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2012-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

Occupy Asheville camp, January 29, 2012

UPCOMING EVENTS

01/30/12 DEMOCRATIC PARTY CAMPAIGN/JOB FAIR
If you would like to work or volunteer for a campaign in 2012, come out to the Bar of Soap on Merrimon Ave. near UNC Asheville between 7 and 9 PM. This event will focus on state and local races in 2012. There will be District maps, lists of races (with declared candidates), and lots of room to discuss how to help folks find the work they want in the various campaigns this season. All of our local candidates are invited to attend as well and will hopefully be there to talk with you.

02/01/12 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
River Canoeing Adventures and a brief update from Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson, about the new French Broad River paddling camps. Social is at 7 PM and program starts at 7:15 PM. Location is Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Place in Asheville.

02/02/12 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street (the corner of Haywood and Roberts), Asheville. VFP CHAPTER 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

02/04/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING BREAKFAST - BLACK MOUNTAIN
The Rev. Aubra Love is the keynote speaker for the Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast in Black Mountain, NC on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at Camp Dorothy Walls, AME Conference Center. All are invited and encouraged to attend. For more information, please contact Tom Cannon, MLK Breakfast Committee (828)778-7166.

02/04/12 NO WAR ON IRAN DAY
A Call for a National Day of Actions Nationwide to say: NO WAR, NO SANCTIONS, NO INTERVENTION, NO ASSASSINATIONS! Plan a street protest in your location.

02/04/12 GREEN PARTY MEETING
The Buncombe County GREEN Party's business meeting is free & open to the public. It will be held from 10AM to noon, upstairs in the Fortune Building, 729 Haywood Rd., West Asheville. Contact Ronald @ 828-LUCK180 or Larry @ 828-225-4347 for more information.

02/04/12 PEACE CONCERT
Cecilia St. King is a Peace Troubadour (www.ceciliastking.com). Her concert will last an hour and a half -- Saturday, February 4, 6:30 PM at Bo Thomas Auditorium at Blue Ridge Community College in Hendersonville. She is sponsored by the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence -- is very interfaith and is being sponsored by the United Religions Initiative of Henderson County in celebration of Global Interfaith Harmony Week sponsored by the United Nations. Do Come!

02/05/12 BUSKERS FOR CHANGE
A benefit for the buskers of downtown Asheville as well as the Asheville Homeless Network. Performers are Matt Getman, Sparrow, Fox Black, Nathan Robicheau & Kayvon Kazemini, Drayton and more. This event is not during your normal business hours for Rosetta's Kitchen. Rosetta will be providing a cauldron of delicious soup. Time is from 6 to 9 PM.

02/10/12 UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH MOVIE NIGHT
The movie “A Sense of Wonder - the Rachel Carson Story” will be shown at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville at the corner of Edwin and Charlotte Street. Time will be 7 PM. Donations accepted. Contact David Williams for more information at devwilliams@juno.com.

02/17/12 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EVENT
Marjory Wentworth, who is the co-author of Taking a Stand, The Evolution of Human Rights, will be speaking about a book that she co-wrote with former Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience, Juan Mendez. Méndez is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and boasts a long and fearless legal career as a human rights defender. Marjory Wentworth is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet whose books of poetry include Noticing Eden, Despite Gravity and The Endless Repetition of an Ordinary Miracle. Her award winning book Shackles, is a children's story. She is the Poet Laureate of South Carolina. It's open to the public and free! Starts at 7 pm. Location is Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe in downtown Asheville.

02/17/12 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEETING
Bring a brown bag lunch around noon. The meeting will officially start at 12:30 and end about 2:00. Physicians, health personnel and, yes, everyone; all are welcomed at our monthly meetings! DIRECTIONS: (Location is in vicinity of Veterans Hospital) Proceed east on Tunnel Rd./US 70 (away from downtown Asheville) to about one short block prior to the Blue Ridge Pky overpass. Turn right (south) on Pleasant Ridge Dr., then turn right on the second street, Wagon Rd., then immediate left on Birchwood Lane to #18 on the left side of the street. For more information contact Dr. Terry Clark, Chair, 633-0892 or Dr. Lew Patrie, 299-1242.

02/18/12 SKILL SHARING SCHOOL
On Saturday, February 18th, Transition Asheville's Skill Sharing Action Group is co-hosting an all day free skill share at UNCA's Highsmith Union. Please follow this link for more information and to fill out a brief questionnaire about a skill you have to offer on the 18th, other skills you have, other places you might be interested in sharing your skills, and skills you have an interest in learning more about. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dEZLM29tZjBpa3BldG9oaGFHQmNZeGc6MQ We thank our partners for distributing this survey through their networks: Transition Asheville, Freeskool Asheville, the True Nature Country Fair, ASHE (Active Students for a Healthy Environment), the UNCA Student Environmental Center, and Wild Abundance (the organizers of the Firefly Gathering). The School is from 9:30 to 5:30 PM and location is UNCA Highsmith Union. For more information: http://transitionasheville.org/event/skill-share-school

02/23/12 MOVE TO AMEND MEETING
Time and place TBD.

02/27/12 to 03/11/12 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF ACTION AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE USA

03/07/12 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
The Executive Director of Riverlink will discuss current initiatives, including the use of oil eating bacteria to help clean some of the French Broad riverfront soil. Social is at 7 PM and program starts at 7:15 PM. Location is the Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Street in Asheville NC.

03/13/12 - 03/15/12 CARING FOR CREATION WEEKEND AT CAMP JUNALUSKA
Dr. Bill McKibben, environmental author and founder of 350.org, will be a featured presenter at Caring for Creation 2012 March 13-15, 2012, at Lake Junaluska. Caring for Creation, a faith based eco justice event, will explore ways individuals and churches can become more environmentally conscious and good stewards of God's Earth. Named for the safe level of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, 350 parts per million, 350.org is an international grassroots campaign that aims to mobilize a global climate movement. For over 20 years, McKibben has been environmentally active, releasing over a dozen books and various articles examining climate change. More information at this link: http://www.lakejunaluska.com/caring-for-creation/

03/17/12 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Bring a brown bag lunch around noon. The meeting will officially start at 12:30 and end about 2:00. Physicians, health personnel and, yes, everyone; all are welcomed at our monthly meetings! For more information contact Dr. Terry Clark, Chair, 633-0892 or Dr. Lew Patrie, 299-1242.

05/01/12 OCCUPY CHICAGO
Adbusters has issued a Call to Action to Occupy Chicago for the G8/NATO summit this coming May: “Hey you redeemers, rebels and radicals out there, Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a rare simultaneous summit in Chicago this May. The world’s military and political elites, heads of state, 7,500 officials from 80 nations, and more than 2,500 journalists will be there. And so will we. On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen.”

05/11/12 to 05/12/12 ALEC SPRING MEETING
Spring Task Force Summit Meeting in Charlotte NC. “ALEC, ALEC, YOU CAN’T HIDE, WE WILL FIND YOU NATION-WIDE!”

05/18/12 to 05/21/12 NATO and G-8 SUMMIT IN CHICAGO
“Won’t you please come to Chicago, for the help that we can bring? We can change the world, rearrange the world, it is dying - to get better.”

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ONGOING EVENTS
*******************************************
SUNDAY
Episcopal Peace Fellowship holds a weekly vigil from 4:30 to 5 PM at All Soul's Cathedral.

TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument

WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood Country Courthouse in Waynesville.
Asheville Cop Watch meeting at 5 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

FRIDAY
Women in Black have a vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square (Asheville) on the first Friday of the month.
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the Old Courthouse in Hendersonville

SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in Brevard.

OCCUPY WALL STREET ASHEVILLE
Go to www.occupyasheville.org for more information, or call 888-378-0788. Information on Occupy Asheville late breaking events: http://occupyasheville.org/calendar/. General Assembly will be held at 6 PM on Tuesday and Thursday and at 3 PM on Saturday. Location TBD.

PROTEST THE DNC!
Already, organizations and Occupy movements across the country are making plans to mobilize to be in the streets of Charlotte during the DNC. For more information on the Coalition to Protest at the DNC and to find out how your organization can join, please visit http://protestdnc.org.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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Take action: Sign a petition to stop SOPA and the money the vote on SOPA brings to US Congress members.

Our nation's laws can't be bought. Tell Congress to give back the MPAA’s dirty SOPA money:

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Take action: No immunity for mortgage banksters:

The Obama Administration has been working on a sweetheart mortgage fraud settlement with the big banks, but attorneys general in several states are pushing back.

Encourage leading attorneys general to stand strong.

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Take action: Sign the statement letting Schneiderman know that if hejails Wall Street lawbreakers, the American people have his back.

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Take action: The Town of Chapel Hill: End theunconstitutional limits on the use of public places in Chapel Hill

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TRANSITION ASHEVILLE DISCUSSION GROUPS FORMING NOW

Coming soon to your neighborhood! Learn why the transition movement is sweeping the world. Discussion groups are forming now for the Transition Handbook and Transition Companion! The Transition Handbook is the vision for the future: Hope instead of fear - learn how we can create the kind of future we want to see. The Transition Companion is the latest book by Rob Hopkins, reporting on all the wonderful activities that have and are taking place in all the Transition Initiatives around the world - chock full of great ideas!

CONTACT INFO: To join the Transition Handbook discussion Group: Contact Stan Corwin colnstash@att.net or 254-3515.

To join a Transition Companion discussion group, find the one nearest to you:

Discussion group West - contact Chas Jansen cjansen@mtsu.edu 768-1449

Discussion group North - contact Maureen Linneman reenielin@gmail.com 254-9115

Discussion Group East - contact Stan Corwin colnstash@att.net 254-3515

(Handbooks and Companion books can be purchased from Stan Corwin)

******************

First we take Manhatten

2012-01-29T03:30:00.000-08:00

First We Take Manhattan
REM

Leonard Cohen

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom

For trying to change the system from within

I'm coming now I'm coming to reward them

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens

I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin

I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

[Lyrics from www.EasyLyrics.org]

I'd really like to live beside you, baby

I love your body and your spirit and your clothes

But you see that line there moving through the station

I told you I told you I told you I was one of those

You loved me as a loser but now your worried that I just might win

You know the way to stop me but you don't have the discipline

How many nights I prayed for this: to let my work begin

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I don't like your fashion business, mister

I don't like these drugs that keep you thin

I don't like what happened to your sister

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin (chorus)

And I thank you for those items that you sent me

The monkey and the plywood violin

I practiced every night and now I'm ready

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

Remember me, I used to live for music

Remember me, I brought your groceries in

It's Father's Day and everybody's wounded

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

[Lyrics from www.EasyLyrics.org]

I don't like what happened to your sister

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin (chorus)

And I thank you for those items that you sent me

The monkey and the plywood violin

I practiced every night and now I'm ready

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

Remember me, I used to live for music

Remember me, I brought your groceries in

It's Father's Day and everybody's wounded

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

Energy and resources

2012-01-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

How we get our energy to function in this modern age shows a real lack of respect for the environment. So does our quest to get materials for our consumer products. It also shows how we are destroying our planet - and thereby committing mass suicide.

Coal ash spill in TN in 2008

Cooper mine in Utah
Open pit copper mine run by London-based mining conglomerate Rio Tinto/Kennecott in Bingham Canyon, Utah. It is the world's largest open-pit mine and has created the world's largest mining-related water pollution problem. (Photo: arbyreed)

Fracking in Washington County, PA

Gas explosion

A massive fire is roars through a mostly residential neighborhood in San Bruno, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010. Firefighters from San Bruno and surrounding cities are battling the blaze that started on a hillside and is now consuming homes in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Coal pollution in China

Mountain top removal in West Virginia

Polluted water

Coal pollution in the USA

Fracking

Just a week after Halliburton had refused to release information on its hydraulic fracturing fluids to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company promised to disclose the chemicals generally associated with fracking—and it announced the creation of a new, safer fluid.

Nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl

Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

Cumulative BP oil slick footprint as of July 16, 2010 (graphic: SkyTruth.org via Flickr)

Oil spill

Red Tide:
Fertilizers in the gulf of Mexico

Making war possible....

2012-01-27T01:01:00.000-08:00

Chuck Brodsky "We are each other's angels"

2012-01-26T02:31:00.000-08:00

Obama

2012-01-25T17:04:00.001-08:00

For anyone on the left who's tempted to relapse into 2008 euphoria by the president's early-campaign turn to rhetorical populism, this remains as true as it always was: Obama is not your ally who's been co-opted; he's your enemy who is co-opting you. — John Caruso

Protest and actions at the DNC in September 2012

2012-01-25T02:07:00.000-08:00

Subject: Elena Everett is the state contact for those groups interested in joining the broad coalition to protest at the DNC in Charlotte

I hope all is well for you all as we move into 2012 - what's sure to be an insane political year. I've been working with a number of groups in Charlotte, the South, & across the country to start to form a coalition of independent organizations to work together to coordinate plans, actions, and activities for the DNC in Charlotte this year.

We are formally launching the coalition on January 18 at a press conference in Charlotte. We currently have 30 organizations from around the country, and 8 prominent social justice leaders who have endorsed the coalition.

Below is the Call to Action & the Principles of Unity. All groups are asked to endorse the call to action & the principles, they would then be invited to have up to 2 folks on the steering committee of the coalition. The primary goals are to help facilitate communications between groups, help to promote each other's events, and to coordinate some larger events, outreach, and media messages together. Please give me a call with any questions. I'd be happy to talk to anyone at more length about the coalition.
Take care,
Elena Everett

---------- Forwarded message ----------

TEXT OF THE CALL TO ACTION & CHARLOTTE PRINCIPLES SEPTEMBER 2012: COALITION TO PROTEST AT THE DNC IN CHARLOTTE, NC

We Demand:
Good jobs for all! Economic justice now -- Make the banks and corporations pay for their crisis!
Money for education, health care, housing and all human needs, not for war and incarceration!
Justice for immigrants and all oppressed peoples! Stop the raids and deportations!

In September of 2012, the social justice movements of the United States have an opportunity and obligation to use the spectacle of the Democratic National Convention as a platform to raise people's demands for justice on the world stage. Progressives from around the state, from across the South and from all over the country will converge in Charlotte to oppose policies of the Democratic Party and their banking cronies. Charlotte is the "Wall Street of the South." With the world headquarters of Bank of America and the East Coast headquarters of Wells Fargo, it is the second largest concentration of finance capital in the U.S., after New York City.

We need a people's movement for justice for the 99%.

Economic crises at home and abroad intensify while jobs and vital services have been cut at municipal, state and federal levels. The Democrats and Republicans are pushing austerity programs while simultaneously brokering deals that bail out and benefit banks and large corporations. Public workers in North Carolina and Virginia are denied their right to collectively bargain, and workers elsewhere across the country are seeing this right under attack. Under the Democratic Party, the reach of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) expanded and deportations skyrocketed. U.S. wars abroad have extended and the US continues to spend billions in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. war drones fly over the Middle East and Africa. Antiwar and international solidarity activists are targeted in FBI raids and Grand Jury witch hunts while we continue to fight for freedom for long-incarcerated U.S. political prisoners like Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal. We have seen a rise in bigotry and political targeting of Muslim and Arab people. We want to see justice and equality for Black, Native, Latina/o peoples, for women and for LGBTQ peoples. We must call for a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions! We oppose the attack on our planet by big corporations; we must continue the fight for environmental justice and demand our right to a healthy air, land, and water.

Now more than ever we need a powerful mass movement that can challenge the pro-war, pro-Wall Street agendas of the two corporate parties. We see the seeds of this movement all around us. Join the Coalition to Protest at the DNC to plan actions and events that will take place during the convention. Read through our Principles of Unity (adapted from the St. Paul Principles & Chicago Principles). Then begin working with us to develop plans for Charlotte, as we come together in resistance to the economic crisis, the banks, the wars and all the attacks on working people!

OCCUPY THE DNC!
OCCUPY WALL ST SOUTH!
----------------------------------------
Charlotte Principles
Adapted from the Chicago and St. Paul principles

a.. We are opposed to all forms of oppression. We condemn and oppose racist, sexist, or homophobic demonstrations planned for the DNC.
b.. Our solidarity will be based on respect for the widest possible diversity within the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice. As individuals and groups, we may choose to engage in a diversity of tactics and plans of action but are committed to treating each other with respect and working towards a common goal of peace and justice.
c.. As we plan our actions and tactics, we will take care to maintain appropriate separations of time and space between divergent tactics.

d.. We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, limiting our action to "free speech zones," and violence, or attempts to divide our movement through the conscious creation of divisions regarding tactics, organization, strategies, and alliances.
e.. Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.

US Marines murder 24 innocent people, all let off the hook for the crime

2012-01-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

Today, the final person to be charged in the Haditha massacre entered into a plea bargain.

The final US Marine to face charges over the killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 has pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty. Sgt Frank Wuterich was one of eight Marines charged with murder or failure to investigate the killings. but now faces just three months in jail. The charges against six were dropped or dismissed, and one was acquitted. Sgt Wuterich reached a plea deal to bring an end to the most notorious case against US troops from the Iraq war. He faces a maximum of three months confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a demotion to the rank of private. Before the plea, he faced several counts of manslaughter.

The above quote came from BBC News.

This is beyond disgusting. These Marines murdered 24 innocent people after they were hit by an IED. And now, NONE of these murderous Marines have suffered any punishment, and they are walking around the USA scot-free.

Here are some video reports on the Haditha massacre.

The US Marines lied about this massacre, and the US military covered it up. And then they thought so little of the whole murderous incident, they did not even bother to destroy the evidence:

One by one, the Marines sat down, swore to tell the truth and began to give secret interviews discussing one of the most horrific episodes of America’s time in Iraq: the 2005 massacre by Marines of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha. “I mean, whether it’s a result of our action or other action, you know, discovering 20 bodies, throats slit, 20 bodies, you know, beheaded, 20 bodies here, 20 bodies there,” Col. Thomas Cariker, a commander in Anbar Province at the time, told investigators as he described the chaos of Iraq. At times, he said, deaths were caused by “grenade attacks on a checkpoint and, you know, collateral with civilians.”

The 400 pages of interrogations, once closely guarded as secrets of war, were supposed to have been destroyed as the last American troops prepare to leave Iraq. Instead, they were discovered along with reams of other classified documents, including military maps showing helicopter routes and radar capabilities, by a reporter for The New York Times at a junkyard outside Baghdad. An attendant was burning them as fuel to cook a dinner of smoked carp.

The documents — many marked secret — form part of the military’s internal investigation, and confirm much of what happened at Haditha, a Euphrates River town where Marines killed 24 Iraqis, including a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair, women and children, some just toddlers.

The above information came out in December 2011 in the NYT.

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2012-01-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

UPCOMING EVENTS

01/23/12 BUILDING BRIDGES
“Going Beyond Racism through Understanding and Respect” This Building Bridges session will last for nine consecutive Mondays, from 1/23/12 to 3/19/12. It will be held at 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, which is the new MAHEC campus. Time is 7 to 9 PM. Register at www.buildingbridges-asheville.org or call 828-777-4585.

01/26/12 MOVE TO AMEND MEETING
Time and place TBD.

02/01/12 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
River Canoeing Adventures and a brief update from Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson, about the new French Broad River paddling camps. Social is at 7 PM and program starts at 7:15 PM. Location is Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Place in Asheville.

02/02/12 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street (the corner of Haywood and Roberts), Asheville. VFP CHAPTER 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

02/04/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING BREAKFAST - BLACK MOUNTAIN
The Rev. Aubra Love is the keynote speaker for the Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast in Black Mountain, NC on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at Camp Dorothy Walls, AME Conference Center. All are invited and encouraged to attend. For more information, please contact Tom Cannon, MLK Breakfast Committee (828)778-7166.

02/04/12 NO WAR ON IRAN DAY
A Call for a National Day of Actions Nationwide to say: NO WAR, NO SANCTIONS, NO INTERVENTION, NO ASSASSINATIONS! Plan a street protest in your location.

02/05/12 BUSKERS FOR CHANGE
A benefit for the buskers of downtown Asheville as well as the Asheville Homeless Network. Performers : Matt Getman, Sparrow, Fox Black, Nathan Robicheau & Kayvon Kazemini, Drayton and more. This event is not during your normal business hours for Rosetta's Kitchen. Rosetta will be providing a cauldron of delicious soup. Time is from 6 to 9 PM.

02/10/12 UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH MOVIE NIGHT
The movie “A Sense of Wonder - the Rachel Carson Story” will be shown at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville at the corner of Edwin and Charlotte Street. Time will be 7 PM. Donations accepted. Contact David Williams for more information at devwilliams@juno.com.

02/17/12 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EVENT
Marjory Wentworth- Co Author of Taking a Stand, The evolution of Human Rights. Marjory will be speaking about a book that she co-wrote with former Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience , Juan Mendez—Taking a Stand, The Evolution of Human Rights. Méndez is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and boasts a long and fearless legal career as a human rights defender. Méndez draws on both his expertise and personal experience as a political prisoner to deliver a comprehensive treatment of the core human rights concerns that the world faces today. Marjory Wentworth is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet whose books of poetry include Noticing Eden, Despite Gravity and The Endless Repetition of an Ordinary Miracle. Her award winning book Shackles, is a children's story. She is the Poet Laureate of South Carolina. It's open to the public and free! Starts at 7 pm. Location is Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe in downtown Asheville.

02/18/12 SKILL SHARING SCHOOL
On Saturday, February 18th, Transition Asheville's Skill Sharing Action Group is co-hosting an all day free skill share at UNCA's Highsmith Union. Please follow this link for more information and to fill out a brief questionnaire about a skill you have to offer on the 18th, other skills you have, other places you might be interested in sharing your skills, and skills you have an interest in learning more about. We thank our partners for distributing this survey through their networks: Transition Asheville, Freeskool Asheville, the True Nature Country Fair, ASHE (Active Students for a Healthy Environment), the UNCA Student Environmental Center, and Wild Abundance (the organizers of the Firefly Gathering). Time is 9:30 to 5:30 PM and location is UNCA Highsmith Union.

02/23/12 MOVE TO AMEND MEETING
Time and place TBD.

02/27/12 to 03/11/12 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF ACTION AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE USA

03/07/12 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
The Executive Director of Riverlink will discuss current initiatives, including the use of oil eating bacteria to help clean some of the French Broad riverfront soil. Social is at 7 PM and program starts at 7:15 PM. Location is the Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Street in Asheville NC.

03/13/12 - 03/15/12 CARING FOR CREATION WEEKEND AT CAMP JUNALUSKA
Dr. Bill McKibben, environmental author and founder of 350.org, will be a featured presenter at Caring for Creation 2012 March 13-15, 2012, at Lake Junaluska. Caring for Creation, a faith based eco justice event, will explore ways individuals and churches can become more environmentally conscious and good stewards of God's Earth. Named for the safe level of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, 350 parts per million, 350.org is an international grassroots campaign that aims to mobilize a global climate movement. For over 20 years, McKibben has been environmentally active, releasing over a dozen books and various articles examining climate change. More information at this link: http://www.lakejunaluska.com/caring-for-creation/

*******************************************
ONGOING EVENTS
*******************************************
SUNDAY
Episcopal Peace Fellowship holds a weekly vigil from 4:30 to 5 PM at All Soul's Cathedral.

TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument

WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood Country Courthouse in Waynesville.
Asheville Cop Watch meeting at 5 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

FRIDAY
Women in Black have a vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square (Asheville) on the first Friday of the month.
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the Old Courthouse in Hendersonville

SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in Brevard.

OCCUPY WALL STREET ASHEVILLE
Go to www.occupyasheville.org for more information, or call 888-378-0788. Information on Occupy Asheville late breaking events: http://occupyasheville.org/calendar/. General Assembly will be held at 6 PM on Tuesday and Thursday and at 3 PM on Saturday. Location TBD.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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Take action: Sign petition against war with Iran

We won't wait for the bombs to drop to make our voices heard. Tell President Obama that another war isn't what this country needs! The crisis in the Straits of Hormuz and reports the US is backing off efforts to stop a military strike by Israel represent a threat to our security greater than that posed by Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. Recent history proves war isn't working. We expect the US to use every means at its disposal to prevent a strike on Iran by Israel and pursue a diplomatic resolution to the dispute over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program.

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Take action: Write letter to Senator Burr and SenatorHagan against military action on Iran:

I just wrote a letter against war with Iran through the Friends Committee on National Legislation's website. I hope you'll take a look at their action alert and do the same. Take action now - use the Friends Committee on National Legislation's website.

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Take Action: Sign Senator Sander’s petition to overturn Citizen’s United decision.

http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=f1c2660f-54b9-4193-86a4-ec2c39342c6c

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And here is Rep. Kucinich’s petition on overturning Citizen's United:

Overturn Citizens United: Sign the petition today to support H.J. Res 100. Let us change our campaign financing system so that we can truly claim to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

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Take Action: Sign petition against censorship in Arizona

Banning books. Erasing History. Save Ethnic Studies in Arizona.

Last week, the Tucson school board outraged the nation when they cancelled its high schools' Mexican American Studies program and forcibly banned a series of books dealing with race. The reason? Apparently teaching respect for other cultures amounts to "racial hatred" and is in violation of Arizona's statewide ban against ethnic studies - passed in conjunction with SB1070. With Latino students in Tucson making up more than half of the student population - educators, parents, and students are fighting back. Can you sign this petition to Superintendent John Pedicone and the school board to reverse the decision to ban the books and reinstate the program?

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Take action: Protect Egyptian protestors from U.S. weapons

Last year, Egyptian protestors stormed Tahrir square and braved violent government crackdowns. One year later, Egypt’s new military government is still attacking protesters with weapons and equipment that sometimes say "Made in the USA." As recently as July 2011, the U.S. government authorized the sale of tear gas to the Egyptian military government - despite the fact that since February 2011, the armed forces in Egypt have repeatedly used tear gas and other weapons to forcibly disperse protesters. Urge the U.S. State Department to stop authorizing the shipment of weapons, ammunition, and equipment that Egypt's government could use to violently suppress human rights.

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Take Action: Write an email:

A NEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 60 MILES FROM ASHEVILLE? ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF CORPORATE GREED OVER PUBLIC NEED!

A new nuclear power plant is proposed near Gaffney, SC just 60 miles from Asheville. Below are instructions on how to make a public comment on this proposed nuclear plant (to be called the William States Lee Nuclear Plant or Lee Nuclear Plant) and talking points that you can use. The deadline for written comments is March 6. 2012. Always reference document by putting this in the subject line of email or at the top of a written letter:   “76 FR 79228, December 21, 2011”

You can email your comment to:   LEE.COLAEIS@NRC.GOV

You can mail your comment to:
Chief, Rulemaking and Directives Branch
Office of Administration
Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

TALKING POINTS CONCERNING THE PROPOSED LEE NUCLEAR PLANT

1) Nuclear Power Is Dangerous: Radiation exposure damages reproductive cells, immune system—causes genetic mutations and cancer, spontaneous abortion, mental retardation, spina bifida, heart disease, leukemia and more. (National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization).   The truth is we are all are at risk. According to the National Academy of Science, there is no safe level of radiation. You cannot taste it, smell it or see it. Health effects can show up 10-30 years later. The NRC chief reported to Sen. Barbara Boxer in a recent report that 26 million potassium iodide tablets have been distributed to States. US population is 310.5 million. The so called 10 mile and 50 mile risk area around nuclear plants doesn’t hold true to the people and children of Belarus, victims of 1986 Chernobyl fallout who are still suffering debilitating diseases as a result of contamination from 124 miles away. In Japan, Fukushima has sent fallout to Tokyo and Asheville is 3 times closer to Gaffney’s proposed nuclear site. The NRC quotes the research done from the Chernobyl accident where thyroid cancer in children who ate radioactive food supplies OUTSIDE the safety zones was reported. There is also Chernobyl Heart, a genetic disorder in which children in Ukraine are born with holes in their hearts. Is nuclear worth this kind of risk and human suffering?

2) Broad River: Lee Nuclear Plant would use 47 million gallons of water per day with 75% loss through evaporation. Two large cooling lakes, (one is a 3 day back-up) would steam and cool 2 reactors that produce as much heat as 1200 atomic bombs. Even the NRC calls the Broad River “small” and climate changes suggest possible droughts. Shut down could happen due to lack of water for cooling; a very dangerous occurrence. It currently supports a hydropower station, the huge Cliffside coal plant only 16 miles upriver and Summer nuclear plant (1 reactor, 2 more proposed) downstream near Columbia, SC.   After use, water is returned to the river as “thermal pollution” (warm water) which stresses fish, other animals living in the area and negatively impacts the surrounding environment. The SC Dept of Natural Resources lists the Carolina Fantail Darter fish that lives in the Broad River as “critically imperiled” in South Carolina & warns of “high conservation priority”.

3) Money Problems: Price tag for the 2 nuclear reactors has grown from $11 to $14 billion. Duke Power wants customers, 70% in NC and 30% in SC, to pay pre-construction costs through rate hikes in addition to taxpayers shouldering the entire financial risk through Federal Loan Guarantees. Another Bail-Out in the making! Wall Street won’t invest because as the Congressional Budget Office says, default rate on loans for new reactors “very high well above 50%”. Duke and Progress said their proposed merger was the only way to build more nuclear but the Fed. Govt. has refused the request twice in opposition to such a large monopoly. The estimated start-up date is from 2018 to 2020.

4) Uranium Mining: Uranium fuel is not a renewable or clean source of energy. Miners have been diagnosed with lung diseases, cancer. Uranium mining releases radon from the ground into the atmosphere. Mines and mining waste can release radionuclide, including radon and other pollutants to streams, springs, and other bodies of water.

5) Nuclear Waste: Storing radioactive waste on-site has contaminated ground water at many reactor sites. After more than 40 years of commercial radioactive waste generation, there is no long term location to keep it safe and contrary to many claims, no way to “recycle” it. Out of 104 US reactor sites, 100 have contaminated soil leading to contaminated ground water. Why will Lee be different? Nuclear waste remains radioactive for millions of years. This is critical to safety planning. There is Currently 145 million tons of waste at 77 US sites.

6) AP1000 Westinghouse Reactor: Rep Ed Markey’s statement: “Instead of doing all they should to protect nuclear reactors against seismically-induced ground acceleration, these Commissioners (NRC) voted to approve the acceleration of reactor construction. They have fast-tracked construction of a reactor whose shield building could ‘shatter like a glass cup’ if impacted by an earthquake or other natural or man-made impact”. This is a new design, that has never been built, that is proposed for 14 new reactors in the Southeast.

More info:       NIRS.ORG / NCWARN.ORG / BREDL.ORG / CLEANENERGY.ORG / MARKEY.HOUSE.GOV / NRC.GOV

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Stay informed to protect Asheville’s water!

Control of Asheville's water is under threat! A legislative committee in Raleigh is considering forcing the City of Asheville to transfer control of its water supply to an outside agency. While the Asheville system serves customers throughout Buncombe County, the majority of customers live in Asheville. Still, we may find ourselves at the mercy of people who did not pay for the system, we cannot vote for or against, or hire or fire. At the same time, in a separate committee, a majority of these same legislators are working on a process that could lead to privatization of water utilities all over the state. We are told the two are unrelated...

The first meeting of the committee eyeing Asheville's water is in Raleigh on Monday, Jan. 23rd.

The second will be in Asheville sometime in late February.

There will be a third and a fourth, and then the committee may put forward legislation that takes away control of our water and gives it to someone else.

This is wrong, and it must not be allowed. Visit www.ashevillewater.blogspot.com for more information and ways to get involved. You can listen to the first meeting on Jan. 23rd starting at 2 pm, by going to the City of Asheville website, www.ashevillenc.gov, and clicking on the "NCLEG.NET" button.

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Photos from Move to Amend Rally in Asheville on 1-20-12

2012-01-22T01:29:00.000-08:00

The rally was held in Pritchard Park, and after three speakers, the protesters moved to the sidewalk in front of the Federal Building. This was part of the "Occupy the Courts" movement and was organized by the Move to Amend Asheville group and the Nonviolent Direct Action Working Group of Occupy Asheville. It was a great rally.

Theresa Cusimano

2012-01-21T02:36:00.000-08:00

There is but one law for all: the law of humanity and justice. - Jimmy Carter

From an email from SOA Watch:

Those words adorn the wall inside the courtroom of Judge Stephen Hyles at the Columbus Georgia courthouse. And there they remain - strong words that ring hollow in face of injustice, merely adornments.

Theresa Cusimanocrossing the line.

For her act of peacefully crossing the line at Fort Benning, Georgia – a misdemeanor offense - a 6-month sentence was imposed on Theresa Cusimano. Those who train men with guns at the SOA/WHINSEC, those who created those torture manuals, have never had to defend their actions, yet Theresa is being sentenced to six months in prison for nonviolently calling attention to the US military's role in the violence carried out against her sisters and brothers in the Americas.

Theresa Cusimano wrote the following statement to Judge Stephen Hyles before her sentencing, telling him that his complicity goes on record today as obstructing international justice and U.S. Rule of Law, and that she wished that he had the courage of Father Roy and the honor of being a subversive.:

"22 years ago, Father Roy Bourgeois played a recording of Bishop Romero's final homily from the day before he was assassinated by School of the America graduates. Romero was labeled a subversive for identifying with the poor. Roy was so sure that once Romero's community heard this homily, their hearts would be changed. So he climbed a tree with his friends, replaying Romero's words to Salvadoran soldiers who were being trained at the School of the Americas to kill their brothers and sisters. Roy wore a Navy uniform representative of his military service in Viet Nam. Because of this action, Roy and his friends joined this circle of "subversives" by shining light on the truth of how the
U.S. was spending our tax dollars on its gambling game known as U.S. foreign policy. In this dirty war business "subversives" become fair game for U.S. trained and financed militias while the U.S. continues to profit, sitting back and watching the body count grow, with mass graves filled with hundreds of thousands of mutilated children, raped women and countless, faceless corpses of unknowing communities.

Who are we?

Columbus is a proud community that does not deserve the stain that the Schools of the Americas brings. The Fort's barbed wire fence was not built to aid and abet the U.S. from international accountability for the human rights crimes facilitated by the SOA, violating U.S. statutes requiring transparency, not to mention military ethics. Yet you handcuff, videotape and fingerprint me as a criminal.

It seems we are in a bit of a stalemate. Our prisons are over filled, and our courts underfunded. Yet, you, Stephen Hyles, allow this expensive stalemate to continue. You pretend we are here for trespass, wasting precious resources, ignoring talent and idealism that could be put to better use. Because the Columbus magistrates do not recuse themselves despite their conflicts of interest, because you continue to deny defenses that would allow this debate to come to light. Since international law experts are not granted admission to this hearing, you and I are here today on Friday the 13th... you forced to listen and me sentenced to your prison, as a peaceful protestor. Nowhere else but in Georgia can such extreme sentencing be found to protect a base with a tagline, Maneuvers in Excellence. Is this what you call excellence? I want my tax dollars back. I suppose I should be grateful to make use of my tax dollars in another boondoggle economy that lacks accountability, the U.S. prison system.

I beg your pardon while you make a mockery of justice and we pay the price. General Eisenhower warned us of this stalemate as he left the White House. He warned that the military complex would suck all of the resources our country needed for its people, our schools, our hospitals to fuel its addiction to war. Nobel Peace Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu begs Americans to, "Stop exporting U.S. warfare." My witness today Judge Hyles, is to hold you accountable, for the schools that will close this year, the veteran benefits that will be too expensive to make good on, the national service programs like AmeriCorps that will be threatened because you sat silent as precious resources fund the renamed School of the Americas in its latest Honduran coup. You may not hold a machete, or ask children to detonate the landmines used in U.S. financed coups with the protections of a soldier trained here, but your complicity goes on record today as obstructing international justice and U.S. Rule of Law. You have other choices. I only wish you had the courage of Father Roy and the honor of being a subversive.

With employment at an all-time low, who are we to challenge Georgia's largest employer? We are 300 prisoners of our conscience who have served more than 100 years in prison, collectively. We are supported by hundreds of thousands of protestors. Our legislative campaign with no real funding comes within ten votes of inviting accountability. Today you could choose justice, Judge Hyles... it's well within your reach."

*Theresa Cusimano, SOA Watch Prisoner of Conscience, January 13, 2012*

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Before carrying her protest onto the base in November 2011, Theresa addressed thousands of human rights activists at the gates of Fort Benning with a request:

"...Our message is not being heard in Congress, our lawmakers have been purchased by other priorities, so youth and students in the movement ask for you to help us in the Court of Public Opinion and go online to the Daily Show's Facebook page, register in for their Forum. Request that Father Roy be invited onto the Daily Show, and the Colbert Report. Don't stop until we get Roy's voice into the media mainstream, Hardball with
Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann and the Sunday morning circuit. Don't let my civil action go to waste."

"Almost Gone" by Nash and Raymond

2012-01-20T02:45:00.000-08:00

A tribute to Bradley Manning, who is a hero of mine. He has suffered greatly for his release of information about the US Government and US military that the world needed to know. I wish there were more people like Bradley Manning.

The evil the US did in Fallujah

2012-01-19T02:50:00.000-08:00

Of the current problems in Fallujah, the most alarming is a mounting public health crisis. In the years since the invasion, doctors in Fallujah have reported drastic increases in the number of premature births, infant mortality, and birth defects—babies born without skulls, missing organs, or with stumps for arms and legs. Fallujah General Hospital reported that, out of 170 babies born in September 2009, 24 percent died within the first seven days, of which 75 percent were deformed — as compared to August 2002, when there were 530 babies born, only six deaths, and one deformity. As the years go by, the problem seems to be getting worse, and doctors are increasingly warning women not to have children.

Rest of the story here.

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What the American people have done to Fallujah is massively, massively evil.

Protest against the war on Iraq - 9 years ago

2012-01-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

Half a million people marched on Jan. 18, 2003, in opposition to the looming war on Iraq—the largest anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C., since the Vietnam era.

Photo came from an A.N.S.W.E.R. email.

More Ron Paul

2012-01-18T02:18:00.000-08:00

This video is on "Humanitarian Bombing" and the hideously evil results. I don't like Ron Paul's domestic policies, but his positions on war and violence are outstanding in my opinion. I am so sick of US politicians and Americans who don't give a shit about the violence they visit on other people. This video includes scenes from the US/NATO bombing in Libya. It is beyond shameful.

Excellent ads by Ron Paul

2012-01-17T02:08:00.000-08:00

In this first one, Paul tries to show how our occupations of foreign countries is indefensible.

This second ad is about the recent lies concerning Iran. It reflects on how we were lied into war with Iraq. It shows how Ron Paul clearly called out this war propaganda back then, and still is today.

Martin Luther King Jr Holiday

2012-01-16T01:40:00.000-08:00

Pilgrimage to Nonviolence

By Martin Luther King, Jr.

Excerpted from "Stride Toward Freedom" in 1958

The philosophy of nonviolence -  Since the philosophy of nonviolence played such a positive role in the Montgomery movement, it may be wise to turn to a brief discussion of some basic aspects of this philosophy.

First, it must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one used this method because he is afraid, he is not truly nonviolent. That is why Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight. He made this statement conscious of the fact that there is always another alternative: no individual or group need ever submit to any wrong, nor need they use violence to right the wrong; there is the way of nonviolent resistance. This is ultimately the way for the strong man. It is not a method of stagnant passivity. The phrase "passive resistance" often gives the false impression that this is a sort of "do-nothing method" in which the resister quietly and passively accepts evil. But nothing is further from the truth. For while the nonviolent resister is passive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade his opponents that he is wrong. The method is passive physically, but strongly active spiritually. It is not passive resistance to evil, it is active nonviolent resistant to evil.

A second basic fact that characterizes nonviolence is that is does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister may often express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that these are not ends in themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. The end is redemption and reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.

A third characteristic of this method is that the attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who happen to be doing the evil. It is evil that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat, not the person victimized by the evil. If he is opposing racial injustice, the nonviolent resister has the vision to see that the basic tension is not between races. As I like to say to the people in Montgomery: "The tension in the city is not between white people and Negro people. The tension is, at bottom, between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory, it will be a victory not merely for 50,000 Negroes, but a victory for justice and the forces of light. We are out there to defeat injustice and not white persons who may be unjust."

A fourth point that characterizes nonviolent resistance is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back. "Rivers of blood may have to flow before we gain our freedom, but is must be our blood," Gandhi said to his countrymen. The nonviolent resister is willing to accept violence if necessary, but never to inflict it. He does not seek to dodge jail. If going to jail is necessary, he enters it "as a bridegroom enters the bride's chamber."

One may well ask: "What is the nonviolent resister's justification for this ordeal to which he invites men, for this mass political application of the ancient doctrine of turning the other cheek?" The answer is found in the realization that unearned suffering is redemptive. Suffering, the nonviolent resister realizes, has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities. "Things of fundamental importance to people are not secured by reason alone, but have to be purchased with their suffering," said Gandhi. He continued: "Suffering is infinitely more powerful than the law of the jungle for converting the opponent and opening his ears which are otherwise shut to the voice of reason."

A fifth point concerning nonviolent resistance is that it avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of lour lives.

In speaking of love at this point, we are not referring to some sentimental or affectionate emotion. It would be nonsense to urge men to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense. Love in this connection means understanding, redemptive good will. Here the Greek language comes to our aid. There are three words for love in the Greek New testament. First, there is eros. In Platonic philosophy eros meant the yearning of the soul for the realm of the divine. It has come now to mean a sort of aesthetic or romantic love. Second, there is philia which means intimate affection between personal friends. Philia denotes a sort of reciprocal love; the person loves because he is loved. When we speak of loving those who oppose us, we refer to neither eros nor philia; we speak of love which is expressed in the Greek word Agape. Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart.

Agape is disinterested love. It is a love in which the individual seeks not his own good, but the good of his neighbor (1 Cor. 10-24). 'Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes. It is an entirely "neighbor-regarding concern for others," which discovers the neighbor in every man it meets. Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friend and enemy; it is directed toward both. If one loves an individual merely on account of his friendliness, he loves him for the sake of benefits to be gained from the friendship, rather than for the friend's sake. Consequently, the best way to assure oneself that love is disinterested is to have love for the enemy-neighbor from whom you can expect no good in return, but only hostility and persecution.

Another basic point about agape is that it springs from the need of the other person - his need for belonging to the best of the human family. The Samaritan who helped the Jew in the Jericho Road was "good" because he responded to the human need that he was presented with. God's love is eternal and fails not because man needs his love. St. Paul assures us that the loving act of redemption was done "while we were yet sinners" - that is, at the point of our greatest need for love. Since the white man's personality is greatly distorted by segregation, and his soul is greatly scarred, he needs the love of the Negro.

The Negro must love the white man, because the white man needs his love to remove his tensions, insecurities and fears. Agape is not a weak, passive love. It is love in action. Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community. It is insistence on community even when one seeks to break it. Agape is a willingness to sacrifice in the interest of mutuality. Agape is a willingness to go to any length to restore community. It doesn't stop at the first mile, but goes the second mile to restore community. The cross is the eternal expression of the length to which God will go in order to restore broken community. The resurrection is a symbol of God's triumph over all the forces that that seek to block community. The Holy Spirit is the continuing community creating reality that moves through history. He who works against community is working against the whole of creation. Therefore, if I respond to hate with a reciprocal hate I do nothing but intensify the cleavage in broken community. I can only close the gap in broken community by meeting hate with love. If I meet hate with hate, I become depersonalized, because creation is so designed that my personality can only be fulfilled in the context of community. Booker T. Washington was right: "Let no man pull you so low that he makes you hate him." When he pulls you that low he brings you to the point of working against community; he drags you to the point of defying creation, and thereby becoming depersonalized.

In the final analysis, agape means recognition of the fact that all life is interrelated. All humanity is involved in a single process, and all men are brothers. To the degree that I harm my brother, no matter what he is doing to me, to that extent I am harming myself. For example, white men often refuse federal aid to education in order to avoid giving the Negro his rights; but because all men are brothers they cannot deny Negro children without harming their own. They end, all efforts to the contrary, by hurting themselves. Why is this? Because men are brothers. If you harm me, you harm yourself.

Love, agape, is the only cement that can hold this broken community together. When I am commanded to love, I am commanded to restore community, to resist injustice, to meet the needs of my brothers.

A sixth basic fact about nonviolent resistance is that it is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. Consequently, the believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future. This faith is another reason why the nonviolent resister can accept suffering without retaliation. For he knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship. It is true that there are devout believers in nonviolence who find it difficult to believe in a personal God. But even these persons believe in the existence of some creative force that works for universal wholeness. Whether we call it an unconscious process, an impersonal Brahman, or a Personal Being of matchless power and infinite love, there is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole.

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This reading is from The Class of Nonviolence, prepared by Colman McCarthy of the Center for Teaching Peace, 4501 Van Ness Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20016 202/537-1372

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I am posting this piece to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., and all people who struggle for justice via non-violent change around the world.

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2012-01-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

UPCOMING EVENTS

01/15/12 WORLDWIDE CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR UNITY
This will be held at Vance Monument at 7 PM. Please bring your own light. On his birthday and in the spirit of Dr. King's vision for racial and economic equality, peace, and non-violence, we are holding candlelight vigils to unite our world in a global movement for systemic change. Wherever we may be, whether in our homes, in city squares, online, Occupies, or at work, we lift a beautiful message high above the political dialogue. We light the dream of a more equitable world in our hearts. We can overcome! More information at http://j15global.com/

01/16/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR PEACE WALK AND RALLY
This starts at 11 AM with a singing and speeches event and a short rally for the MLK Peace Walk that starts at Noon. The location is St. James Church.

01/16/12 FILM NIGHT AT KENILWORTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Join us Monday, January 16 in the Fellowship Hall for our Second Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration. There will be a community potluck from 5:30-6:30 pm and then a screening of the documentary Freedom Riders. The event will be hosted by Marvin Chambers, a Kenilworth resident and civil rights activist. This will be a special evening of education and reflection.   www.kenilworthpresbyterianchurch.org

01/17/12 OCCUPY THE US CONGRESS DAY

01/17/12 PANEL DISCUSSION ON SNCC AT UNCA
Time is 12:20 PM and the location is Highsmith University Union, Room 224. Isaac Coleman and Carol Rogoff, members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, will discuss their roles in this key civil rights organization on this panel discussion

01/17/12 DOCUMENTARY ON LIBERIA AT UNCA
Time is 8 PM. The documentary film “Iron Women of Liberia,” will be shown at Highsmith University Union, Room 143. In January 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated president, immediately earning a place in history as the first woman ever elected president of an African nation. Since her victory, President Johnson-Sirleaf has appointed women to key positions throughout the government. This diverse group, along with other women across the country, has adopted their popular president’s nickname: They are the “Iron Ladies of Liberia.” The film follows the president and the extraordinary women surrounding her as they develop and implement policies to rebuild their ravaged country and prevent a descent back into civil war.

01/19/12 PUBLIC MEETING ON LICENSING A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN SC
Car pools now being formed to attend and speak at Public Meeting that will focus on the licensing of two new units at a new site near Gaffney, SC on the Broad River. This would be 60 miles from Asheville. We are too concerned about the health of our community to allow this. Contact Laura Sorensen at 545-4443 or Lsredoak@gmail.com for more info. This meeting will be held at Restoration Church International, 1905 North Limestone St., Gaffney, SC. Time is 7 PM.

01/19/12 MOVE TO AMEND RESOLUTION MEETING
Please be reminded that our next meeting is to take place at 6:30 PM on Jan. 19 in classroom #4 which is on the basement level of Asheville's Unitarian Universalist Church, northwest corner on Charlotte St. and Edwin Place. Parking is available on the north side of the building. The easiest way to enter is through the recessed door at the lower level on the northwest corner of the building & that will be unlocked. We will consider progress re proposed AVL City Council resolution. Please incorporate Hal Hogstrom's accurate correction of the resolution to be more correctly worded: "Therefore be it resolved that the City Council of Asheville, NC, on behalf of the citizens of our municipality, calls on our elected representatives in the United States Congress to "initiate the process to amend the Constitution", rather than "enact an amendment to the Constitution", as the former would offer a constitutionally valid course of action.

01/19/12 FILM SCREENING AT UNCA
Time is 12:30 PM and the location is Highsmith University Union, Room 143. The film “Whatever it Takes,” will be shown. This film chronicles the struggles and triumphs of this innovative public high school. While the learning environment is a safe haven compared to many of the students’ former schools, principal Tom’s ideals run up against reality midway through the school year. More than half of his students are failing, detention hall is overflowing, and gang members start recruiting at the school. Even some teachers harbor doubts, exhausted from 16-hour workdays and disillusioned with Tom’s inconsistent discipline policy. Whatever it Takes is a deeply emotional story of dedicated teachers and cutting-edge ideas, united in their vision to restore hope to a community.

01/19/12 DISCUSSION ON RACISM AT UNCA IN OBSERVANCE OF MLK WEEK
Time is 7 PM and location is Lipinsky Auditorium. Change starts with people, relationships and courage. Join our campus community and become empowered as damali ayo—activist, speaker and artist—uses her humorous stories and award-winning art to provide practical tools for building better communities. Her creative, pragmatic and satirical approach makes hard conversations about racial justice more accessible. Audience members will receive a copy of damali’s “I Can Fix Racism” guide following her talk. Free and open to the public. Contact Tracie Pouliot at 828/251-6991.

01/20/12 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The next WNC PSR monthly meeting will be at the home of Steve and Beth Gilman. Brown Bag lunch at noon with meeting from 12:30 to 2 PM. Directions to the Gilman's home: Take Highway 70 – Tunnel Road east from downtown Asheville. (From Interstate 240 going east, take Exit 7 and turn left at end of ramp.) Go several miles past the VA Hospital on left. Just before Blue Ridge Parkway overpass, turn right at stoplight onto Pleasant Ridge Road. Take 2nd right turn onto Wagon Road. Then turn left onto Birchwood to #18 on left. Physicians, health personnel and, yes, everyone; all are welcomed at the monthly meetings! Please go to www.wncpsr.org for more information, which includes how to get there and other details.

01/20/12 OCCUPY FEDERAL COURTHOUSES
A local “Move to Amend” group is considering an action on this date at the Federal Courthouse at 100 Otis Street in Asheville. Time TBD. Also, the local Occupy Asheville group is planning on occupying the Federal Courthouse in Asheville all day. Here is their statement: This is a national event to draw attention to the US Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in favor of Citizen’s United. The Wikipedia page is here. Justice John Paul Stevens, in a dissenting opinion, wrote: “At bottom, the Court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.” If you’re against corporate money controlling our elections, please help occupy our Federal Courthouse!

01/20/12 – 01/21/12 “Come Together and Create,”
This is two-day showcase and celebration of local performing artists at Carol Belk Theatre on the UNC Asheville campus. To learn more contact Lise Kloeppel at 251-6940 or lkloeppel@unca.edu. Performances include:
6:30 p.m. Jan. 20: UNCA Percussion Ensemble, La’Ney West African Dance Ensemble, DeWayne Barton aka BLove, Jonathan Santos and Greg Lynch aka Alpha Lee. Free.
8 p.m. Jan. 20: An original play, “I Hope You Dance,” presented by the Urban Arts Institute. Free.
6:30 p.m. Jan. 21: “Asheville’s Sunday Best,” gospel singing competition to benefit A Bridge to Independence, a nonprofit dedicating to helping homeless youth. $6 in advance at Venus Beauty Salon, 891D Patton Ave., Asheville, or $8 at the door.

01/22/12 BENEFIT FOR A-HOPE
Benefit dance at the Gray Eagle in Asheville. Time is 5:30 to 9 PM, and this is to benefit Homeward Bound’s A-Hope Day Center. Cost is $10. The music will be by Vollie, Kari, and the Western Wildcats. Homeward Bound is working to end the cycle of homelessness in our community.

01/23/12 BUILDING BRIDGES
“Going Beyond Racism through Understanding and Respect” This Building Bridges session will last for nine consecutive Mondays, from 1/23/12 to 3/19/12.   It will be held at 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, which is the new MAHEC campus. Time is 7 to 9 PM. Register at www.buildingbridges-asheville.org or call 828-777-4585.
More information: Envision by 2020 an Asheville where race is just a part of our "flava" and not the means by which we allocate goods, services and access; where concepts like educational disparities and structural racism in health care delivery are a distant memory to our community. Envision a Western North Carolina where employment opportunities are plentiful to anyone who is skilled or qualified for a position. Envision a community burgeoning with commissions and councils, entities and enterprises, collectives and corporations joining to collaboratively help with unlearning racism, yet creating awareness of unearned privilege...thereby cultivating harmony among all of our neighbors. We, at Building Bridges, believe that it is not only possible, but likely that we will restore and reconcile the family, community and global society with dialogue, awareness, justice-making action and mutual accountability.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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Save Asheville’s water

Attached website has information on local issue with Asheville Water. Activist Barry Summers spoke about this recently. He asked that I share this link to his website. Thanks. Clare

Save Asheville's Water (www.ashevillewater.blogspot.com).

******************
From the listserve for Veterans for Peace, Chapter 099:

See http://warcrimestimes.org/ for an article on Martin Luther King that I wrote two years ago and just re-posted (it's accompanied by a Laura Sorensen photo of one of Ole's peace symbols on a well-placed pole). The message is still relevant as are MLK's words from 1967. What's changed is that folks have finally become fed up with the inequality and are taking the initiative that he called for, and are beginning to come together in solidarity. - Kim Carlyle

******************

A NEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 60 MILES FROM ASHEVILLE? ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF CORPORATE GREED OVER PUBLIC NEED!

A new nuclear power plant is proposed near Gaffney, SC just 60 miles from Asheville. Below are instructions on how to make a public comment on this proposed nuclear plant (to be called the William States Lee Nuclear Plant or Lee Nuclear Plant) and talking points that you can use. The deadline for written comments is March 6. 2012. Always reference document by putting this in the subject line of email or at the top of a written letter:   “76 FR 79228, December 21, 2011”

You can email your comment to:   LEE.COLAEIS@NRC.GOV

You can mail your comment to:
Chief, Rulemaking and Directives Branch
Office of Administration
Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

TALKING POINTS CONCERNING THE PROPOSED LEE NUCLEAR PLANT

1) Nuclear Power Is Dangerous: Radiation exposure damages reproductive cells, immune system—causes genetic mutations and cancer, spontaneous abortion, mental retardation, spina bifida, heart disease, leukemia and more. (National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization).   The truth is we are all are at risk. According to the National Academy of Science, there is no safe level of radiation. You cannot taste it, smell it or see it. Health effects can show up 10-30 years later. The NRC chief reported to Sen. Barbara Boxer in a recent report that 26 million potassium iodide tablets have been distributed to States. US population is 310.5 million. The so called 10 mile and 50 mile risk area around nuclear plants doesn’t hold true to the people and children of Belarus, victims of 1986 Chernobyl fallout who are still suffering debilitating diseases as a result of contamination from 124 miles away. In Japan, Fukushima has sent fallout to Tokyo and Asheville is 3 times closer to Gaffney’s proposed nuclear site. The NRC quotes the research done from the Chernobyl accident where thyroid cancer in children who ate radioactive food supplies OUTSIDE the safety zones was reported. There is also Chernobyl Heart, a genetic disorder in which children in Ukraine are born with holes in their hearts. Is nuclear worth this kind of risk and human suffering?

2) Broad River: Lee Nuclear Plant would use 47 million gallons of water per day with 75% loss through evaporation. Two large cooling lakes, (one is a 3 day back-up) would steam and cool 2 reactors that produce as much heat as 1200 atomic bombs. Even the NRC calls the Broad River “small” and climate changes suggest possible droughts. Shut down could happen due to lack of water for cooling; a very dangerous occurrence. It currently supports a hydropower station, the huge Cliffside coal plant only 16 miles upriver and Summer nuclear plant (1 reactor, 2 more proposed) downstream near Columbia, SC.   After use, water is returned to the river as “thermal pollution” (warm water) which stresses fish, other animals living in the area and negatively impacts the surrounding environment. The SC Dept of Natural Resources lists the Carolina Fantail Darter fish that lives in the Broad River as “critically imperiled” in South Carolina & warns of “high conservation priority”.

3) Money Problems: Price tag for the 2 nuclear reactors has grown from $11 to $14 billion. Duke Power wants customers, 70% in NC and 30% in SC, to pay pre-construction costs through rate hikes in addition to taxpayers shouldering the entire financial risk through Federal Loan Guarantees. Another Bail-Out in the making! Wall Street won’t invest because as the Congressional Budget Office says, default rate on loans for new reactors “very high well above 50%”. Duke and Progress said their proposed merger was the only way to build more nuclear but the Fed. Govt. has refused the request twice in opposition to such a large monopoly. The estimated start-up date is from 2018 to 2020.

4) Uranium Mining: Uranium fuel is not a renewable or clean source of energy. Miners have been diagnosed with lung diseases, cancer. Uranium mining releases radon from the ground into the atmosphere. Mines and mining waste can release radionuclide, including radon and other pollutants to streams, springs, and other bodies of water.

5) Nuclear Waste: Storing radioactive waste on-site has contaminated ground water at many reactor sites. After more than 40 years of commercial radioactive waste generation, there is no long term location to keep it safe and contrary to many claims, no way to “recycle” it. Out of 104 US reactor sites, 100 have contaminated soil leading to contaminated ground water. Why will Lee be different? Nuclear waste remains radioactive for millions of years. This is critical to safety planning. There is Currently 145 million tons of waste at 77 US sites.

6) AP1000 Westinghouse Reactor: Rep Ed Markey’s statement: “Instead of doing all they should to protect nuclear reactors against seismically-induced ground acceleration, these Commissioners (NRC) voted to approve the acceleration of reactor construction. They have fast-tracked construction of a reactor whose shield building could ‘shatter like a glass cup’ if impacted by an earthquake or other natural or man-made impact”. This is a new design, that has never been built, that is proposed for 14 new reactors in the Southeast.

Jackson Browne and the Dawes in Zucotti Park

2012-01-15T02:08:00.000-08:00

The US military empire in 2012

2012-01-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

WHAT IS THE UNITED STATES AFRAID OF?
We are a nation of bed-wetting cowards who show their fear via aggression, and do untold damage to the innocent people of the world.

And defense spending is a lousy way to provide jobs.

And I am sick, sick, sick of the cheerleaders for wars and destruction.

I see your true colors, shining through...

2012-01-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

Well, the editor of the NYT has a new column out today, where he asks:

Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante?

And that certainly sheds some light on the concerns I have about the fact that the NYT is lying about Iran, just like they lied about Iraq. Apparently, the NYT does not realize what journalism is all about! I recommend reading the comments below the article, they are quite funny.

The NYT itself, however, is quite sad.

Protest against Guantanamo - 2012

2012-01-13T12:42:00.001-08:00

Photo from a Witness Against Torture email

2012-01-12T01:26:00.000-08:00

How very disgusting that the US has had a prison off-shore for 10 years that shows no respect for the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights or human decency. Hundreds of people still are stuck in Guantanamo, many of whom have never been charged with a crime, and many of whom were told they would be released. How very disgusting that Obama said he would close Guantanamo, but did not. I could say that at least Obama has not sent more people there - but that is due to the fact that her prefers to kill those he thinks are "terrorists" rather than kidnapping and torturing them as Bush and Cheney did.

A STORY FROM GUANTANAMO:

My Guantánamo Nightmare

The fact that the United States had made a mistake was clear from the beginning. Bosnia’s highest court investigated the American claim, found that there was no evidence against me and ordered my release. But instead, the moment I was released American agents seized me and the five others. We were tied up like animals and flown to Guantánamo, the American naval base in Cuba. I arrived on Jan. 20, 2002.

I still had faith in American justice. I believed my captors would quickly realize their mistake and let me go. But when I would not give the interrogators the answers they wanted — how could I, when I had done nothing wrong? — they became more and more brutal. I was kept awake for many days straight. I was forced to remain in painful positions for hours at a time. These are things I do not want to write about; I want only to forget.

I went on a hunger strike for two years because no one would tell me why I was being imprisoned. Twice each day my captors would shove a tube up my nose, down my throat and into my stomach so they could pour food into me. It was excruciating, but I was innocent and so I kept up my protest.

ANOTHER ONE:

Notes From a Guantánamo Survivor

I later learned the United States paid a $3,000 bounty for me. I didn’t know it at the time, but apparently the United States distributed thousands of fliers all over Afghanistan, promising that people who turned over Taliban or Qaeda suspects would, in the words of one flier, get “enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life.” A great number of men wound up in Guantánamo as a result.

I was taken to Kandahar, in Afghanistan, where American interrogators asked me the same questions for several weeks: Where is Osama bin Laden? Was I with Al Qaeda? No, I told them, I was not with Al Qaeda. No, I had no idea where bin Laden was. I begged the interrogators to please call Germany and find out who I was. During their interrogations, they dunked my head under water and punched me in the stomach; they don’t call this waterboarding but it amounts to the same thing. I was sure I would drown.

At one point, I was chained to the ceiling of a building and hung by my hands for days. A doctor sometimes checked if I was O.K.; then I would be strung up again. The pain was unbearable.

After about two months in Kandahar, I was transferred to Guantánamo. There were more beatings, endless solitary confinement, freezing temperatures and extreme heat, days of forced sleeplessness. The interrogations continued always with the same questions. I told my story over and over — my name, my family, why I was in Pakistan. Nothing I said satisfied them. I realized my interrogators were not interested in the truth.

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

These stories make me very, very, very angry. America has become very, very evil in the last 12 years. And Americans, and the US government, is not interested in the truth. The country I grew up in is gone.

NYT and articles on Iran

2012-01-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Public Editor:

It seems your newspaper learned nothing from the Judith Miller fiasco. Now you are printing a bunch of lies about Iran, and how it is a threat to the USA and the "west" -- all of which is total nonsense, as
any thinking person knows. (However, history has shown us that Americans do not think much, unfortunately.)

Several years back, I head a "Judith Miller goes to jail for the wrong reasons" party. It was fun, and I had a dozen friends who knew all about Judith Miller's lies that lead to war. All of us lost respect for the NYT for publishing such nonsense.

I certainly believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe that freedom brings responsibilities. And in regards to the fact that the NYT published lies (that were easy to disprove - just talk to those McClatchy folks), I believe that the NYT and all it's employees are responsible for the many innocent deaths in Iraq from the war that the NYT helped gin up. There is no legal responsibility here - just MORAL responsibility. And I believe the NYT and the people who work there were moral failures in 2002 and 2003.

And, it appears, that you and the rest of the NYT have not learned your lesson at all.

I see the NYT as being covered in innocent Iraqi blood. It is quite grotesque.

Well, I certainly would prefer to see the NYT (and all of you who work there) go bankrupt, and go to jail for the wrong reasons, than to see one Iranian person's blood be shed for another unnecessary war or (as they are doing now) covert action. Those innocent people are much, much, much more valuable than the human garbage at the NYT.

If you send a response, I will post it (and this letter) on my blog.

+++++++
The RESPONSE:

Thank you for contacting the Public Editor. My assistant and I read every message that we receive. Please note that this office deals specifically with issues of journalistic integrity at The New York Times. Due to the number of e-mails that we receive on a daily basis, we can only respond to those e-mails that directly pertain to this office.

If a further reply is warranted you will be hearing from us in a timely manner.

Some messages to the public editor may be published in his column or on his blog. Please let us know if you do not want your message published.

Please note that below the break you will find information on the corrections process, submitting an op-ed, contacting The Times, customer service complaints and more.

Sincerely,
Art Brisbane
Public Editor

Democracy is coming to the USA

2012-01-10T01:37:00.000-08:00

Chase Bank

2012-01-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

Chase Bank had sent me an unsolicited MasterCard back in May 2002. I had called and asked them to cancel the card, and one department said it was cancelled while another letter I received said the opposite. This went on for a few months, and the card kept showing up on my credit report. I wrote this to Chase Bank in January 2003:

“It should be illegal to force accounts on people that they don’t want and did not ask for, but American banks and credit card operations know no limit to their greed and stupidity. There lack of consideration and interest in other people knows no boundaries.”

This was in 2003, and I did not figure out there was a housing bubble until 2005 (driven by the banks/mortgage firms and speculators) or that there was extensive fraud going on in the mortgage industry, and that CDS and CDOs were expanding exponentially until 2007. But even in 2003, I recognized that there was something seriously wrong here.

And the worst is yet to come, in regards to our economic situation.

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2012-01-08T19:25:00.001-08:00

UPCOMING EVENTS

01/09/12 OCCUPY PICKET AND SOAP-BOXING AT CITY HALL ENCAMPMENT
Meet up at noon at the physical occupation in front of City Hall. Come earlier if you want to make signs. Citizens United is the Supreme Court case that gave corporations unlimited campaign financing rights. End Corporate Personhood!

01/12/12 TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF GUANTANAMO BAY PRISON
Amnesty International will be holding a protest in DC to mark this horrible anniversary.

01/13/12 TRANSITION ASHEVILLE POTLUCK & POTLATCH
Interested in sharing resources in order to live? Come join us! Bring a potluck dish to share, your own dishes and utensils, and an item to give away that you no longer need. This could be a book, an article of clothing, a tool, artwork-- whatever still has life and could be passed on to another user. And, you might win a door prize! A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. Extending the First Peoples’ tradition, potlatches now represent an alternative economic system based on redistribution and reciprocity of wealth (versus consumerism). It can also be thought of as a sharing solution that supports community. After the potluck/potlatch, new book discussion groups will form for those wanting to explore the ideas of the Transition Town movement through Rob Hopkins’ Transition Handbook or his brand new Transition Companion. Time is 6 PM and the location is First Congregational Church. For more info, visit www.transitionasheville.org

01/14/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR BREAKFAST
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville & Buncombe County announced that Dr. Boyce Watkins will give the keynote address at the 31st annual Prayer Breakfast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The breakfast will be the highlight of a series of events from Wednesday, Jan. 11 through Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. The Prayer Breakfast, which will take place at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, January 14, at the Grove Park Inn, is among the largest public celebrations in Western North Carolina, attracting more than 1,000 citizens and distinguished guests to the historic inn each year. The Prayer Breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. and includes music by the Asheville Unity & Fellowship Choir, directed by Alaysia Black Hackett. Tickets to the breakfast are $25 for adults ($30 after Dec. 31), $15 for youth under 18, and $35 for patrons. Tickets and additional information are available by phone at 828-335-6896 or by email at editor@myowneditor.com.

01/15/12 ASHEVILLE ETHICAL SOCIETY MEETING
Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday “Peace and Violence, Two Perspectives into Action – MLK, Jr. and Johann Galtung” will be presented by John Spitzberg at the Sunday, January 15th meeting of the Ethical Society of Asheville, 2:00-3:30 PM, held at the YMI Cultural Center, 39 South Market Street in the Ray Auditorium. Spitzberg is a retired special education teacher, social worker, paramedic and currently is a service provider and volunteer with the homeless population in Asheville, president of the local chapter of Veterans for Peace and a member and former Ethical Action Chair of the Ethical Society of Asheville. Tying in his work and belief system to that of MLK, Jr. Spitzberg will introduce Johann Galtung, a Norwegian man in his 80s who is also known for his work for peace and non-violence. There will be a discussion period following the presentation. Following the meeting, there will be time for informal conversation. All are welcome!

01/15/12 WORLDWIDE CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR UNITY
This event will be held at Vance Monument at 7 PM. Please bring your own light. On his birthday and in the spirit of Dr. King's vision for racial and economic equality, peace, and non-violence, we are holding candlelight vigils to unite our world in a global movement for systemic change. Wherever we may be, whether in our homes, in city squares, online, Occupies, or at work, we lift a beautiful message high above the political dialogue. We light the dream of a more equitable world in our hearts. We can overcome! More information at http://j15global.com/

01/16/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR MARCH
This starts at 11 AM with a singing and speeches event and a short rally for the MLK Peace Walk that starts at Noon. The location is St. James AME Church at 44 Heldebrand Street in Asheville. This is an annual event.

01/16/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION

A community potluck will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 PM and then there will be a screening of the documentary “Freedom Riders”. The event will be hosted by Marvin Chambers, a Kenilworth resident and civil rights activist. This will be held at Kenilworth Presbyterian Church in Asheville. Please call 828-252-8872 for more information.

01/17/12 OCCUPY THE US CONGRESS DAY

01/19/12 PUBLIC MEETING ON LICENSING A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN SC
Car pools now being formed to attend and speak at Public Meeting that will focus on the licensing of two new units at a new site near Gaffney, SC on the Broad River. This would be 60 miles from Asheville. We are too concerned about the health of our community to allow this. Contact Laura Sorensen at 545-4443 or Lsredoak@gmail.com for more info. This meeting will be held at Restoration Church International, 1905 North Limestone St., Gaffney, SC. Time is 7 PM.

01/19/12 MOVE TO AMEND RESOLUTION MEETING
Please be reminded that our next meeting is to take place at 6:30 PM on Jan. 19 in classroom #4 which is on the basement level of Asheville's Unitarian Universalist Church, northwest corner on Charlotte St. and Edwin Place. Parking is available on the north side of the building. The easiest way to enter is through the recessed door at the lower level on the northwest corner of the building & that will be unlocked. We will consider progress re proposed AVL City Council resolution. Please incorporate Hal Hogstrom's accurate correction of the resolution to be more correctly worded: "Therefore be it resolved that the City Council of Asheville, NC, on behalf of the citizens of our municipality, calls on our elected representatives in the United States Congress to "initiate the process to amend the Constitution", rather than "enact an amendment to the Constitution", as the former would offer a constitutionally valid course of action.

01/20/12 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The next WNC PSR monthly meeting will be at the home of Steve and Beth Gilman. Brown Bag lunch at noon with meeting from 12:30 to 2 PM. Directions to the Gilman's home: Take Highway 70 – Tunnel Road east from downtown Asheville. (From Interstate 240 going east, take Exit 7 and turn left at end of ramp.) Go several miles past the VA Hospital on left. Just before Blue Ridge Parkway overpass, turn right at stoplight onto Pleasant Ridge Road. Take 2nd right turn onto Wagon Road. Then turn left onto Birchwood to #18 on left. Physicians, health personnel and, yes, everyone; all are welcomed at the monthly meetings! Please go to www.wncpsr.org for more information, which includes how to get there and other details.

01/20/12 OCCUPY FEDERAL COURTHOUSES
A local “Move to Amend” group is considering an action on this date at the Federal Courthouse at 100 Otis Street in Asheville. Time TBD. Also, the local Occupy Asheville group is planning on occupying the Federal Courthouse in Asheville all day. Here is their statement: This is a national event to draw attention to the US Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in favor of Citizen’s United. The Wikipedia page is here. Justice John Paul Stevens, in a dissenting opinion, wrote: “At bottom, the Court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.” If you’re against corporate money controlling our elections, please help occupy our Federal Courthouse!

01/23/12 BUILDING BRIDGES
“Going Beyond Racism through Understanding and Respect”. This Building Bridges session will last for nine consecutive Mondays, from 1/23/12 to 3/19/12. It will be held at 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, which is the new MAHEC campus. Time is 7 to 9 PM. Register at www.buildingbridges-asheville.org or call 828-777-4585. More information: Envision by 2020 an Asheville where race is just a part of our "flava" and not the means by which we allocate goods, services and access; where concepts like educational disparities and structural racism in health care delivery are a distant memory to our community. Envision a Western North Carolina where employment opportunities are plentiful to anyone who is skilled or qualified for a position. Envision a community burgeoning with commissions and councils, entities and enterprises, collectives and corporations joining to collaboratively help with unlearning racism, yet creating awareness of unearned privilege...thereby cultivating harmony among all of our neighbors. We, at Building Bridges, believe that it is not only possible, but likely that we will restore and reconcile the family, community and global society with dialogue, awareness, justice-making action and mutual accountability.

02/02/12 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street (the corner of Haywood and Roberts), Asheville. VFP CHAPTER 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

02/04/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING BREAKFAST - BLACK MOUNTAIN
The Rev. Aubra Love is the keynote speaker for the Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast in Black Mountain, NC on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at Camp Dorothy Walls, AME Conference Center. All are invited and encouraged to attend. For more information, please contact Tom Cannon, MLK Breakfast Committee (828)778-7166.

02/05/12 BUSKERS FOR CHANGE
A benefit for the buskers of downtown Asheville as well as the Asheville Homeless Network. Performers : Matt Getman, Sparrow, Fox Black, Nathan Robicheau & Kayvon Kazemini, Drayton and more. This event is not during your normal business hours for Rosetta's Kitchen. Rosetta will be providing a cauldron of delicious soup. Time is from 6 to 9 PM.

02/10/12 UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST MOVIE NIGHT
The movie “A Sense of Wonder - the Rachel Carson Story” will be shown at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville at the corner of Edwin and Charlotte Street. Time will be 7 PM. Donations accepted. Contact David Williams for more information at devwilliams@juno.com.

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ONGOING EVENTS
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SUNDAY
Episcopal Peace Fellowship holds a weekly vigil from 4:30 to 5 PM at All Soul's Cathedral.

TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument

WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood Country Courthouse in Waynesville.
Asheville Cop Watch meeting at 5 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

FRIDAY
Women in Black have a vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square (Asheville) on the first Friday of the month only.
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the Old Courthouse in Hendersonville

SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in Brevard.

OCCUPY WALL STREET ASHEVILLE
Go to www.occupyasheville.org for more information, or call 888-378-0788. Information on Occupy Asheville late breaking events: http://occupyasheville.org/calendar/. General Assembly will be held at 6 PM on Tuesday and Thursday and at 3 PM on Saturday. Check website for location.

Sad reflections.......

2012-01-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

"Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this": Lt Gen William Boykin, speaking of G. W. Bush, New York Times, 17 October 2003

=

"God gave the savior to the German people. We have faith, deep and unshakeable faith, that he was sent to us by God to save Germany.": Hermann Goering, speaking of Hitler

=

"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side": Aristotle

=

"International law? I better call my lawyer; he didn't bring that up to me"; George W. Bush, 12 December 2003

Aftereffects of the war/occupation of Iraq

2012-01-07T01:49:00.000-08:00

Fallujah Babies

2012-01-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

Photo caption: "Findings suggest the enriched Uranium exposure is either a primary cause or related to the cause of the congenital anomaly and cancer increases," says a recent scientific report on the incidence of birth defects in Fallujah. [Dr Samira Alani]

Dahr Jamail writes in Al Jazeera:

Fallujah babies:Under a new kind of siege

"We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine," Alani told Al Jazeera at her office in the hospital, while showing countless photos of shocking birth defects. As of December 21, Alani, who has worked at the hospital since 1997, told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009. Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699.

"There are not even medical terms to describe some of these conditions because we've never seen them until now," she said. "So when I describe it all I can do is describe the physical defects, but I'm unable to provide a medical term." Most of these babies in Fallujah die within 20 to 30 minutes after being born, but not all.

(snip)

In July 2010, Busby released a study that showed a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in Fallujah since the 2004 attacks. The report also showed the sex ratio had declined from normal to 86 boys to 100 girls, together with a spread of diseases indicative of genetic damage similar to but of far greater incidence than Hiroshima. Dr Alani visited Japan recently, where she met with Japanese doctors who study birth defect rates they believe related to radiation from the US nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She was told birth defect incidence rates there are between 1-2 per cent. Alani's log of cases of birth defects amounts to a rate of 14.7 per cent of all babies born in Fallujah, more than 14 times the rate in the affected areas of Japan.

In Babil Province in southern Iraq, the head of the Babil Cancer Centre, Dr Sharif al-Alwachi, said cancer rates have been escalating at alarming rates since 2003, for which he blames the use of depleted uranium weapons by US forces during and following the 2003 invasion. "The environment could be contaminated by chemical weapons and depleted uranium from the aftermath of the war on Iraq," Dr Alwachi told Al Jazeera. "The air, soil and water are all polluted by these weapons, and as they come into contact with human beings they become poisonous. This is new to our region, and people are suffering here."

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I can think of nothing more evil than to take away a community's right to have healthy children. And that is what the American people have done, and it will last for eons. This type of pollution will never go away.

Photos from Iraqi photojournalists

2012-01-06T01:36:00.000-08:00

A Collection of Photos from Iraq by Iraqi Photojournalists

Many excellent photos here, but I could not copy them to post to this blog.

"First we'll take Manhatten" by Leonard Cohen

2012-01-05T01:04:00.000-08:00

Last fall

2012-01-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

My sister Mary and I at the October 2011 event in DC. You can see the Capital and the full moon in the background. We are united in our opposition to the senseless, evil wars and occupations and bombings that the US government is running. OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW!

Iraq on the brink of civil war?

2012-01-04T01:20:00.000-08:00

Slogan in Baghdad: "Baghdad was built by al-Mansour, humiliated by Saddam and destroyed by the Americans."

The aftermath for US troops who are Iraq war veterans

2012-01-03T01:17:00.000-08:00

Regrets

More US Troops dying from suicide than combat

The Legacy, Part Sixteen

2012-01-02T01:15:00.000-08:00

Mercenaries

The Iraq War Ain’t Over, No Matter What Obama Says

But the fact is America’s military efforts in Iraq aren’t coming to an end. They are instead entering a new phase. On January 1, 2012, the State Department will command a hired army of about 5,500 security contractors, all to protect the largest U.S. diplomatic presence anywhere overseas. The State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security does not have a promising record when it comes to managing its mercenaries. The 2007 Nisour Square shootings by State’s security contractors, in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed, marked one of the low points of the war. Now, State will be commanding a much larger security presence, the equivalent of a heavy combat brigade. In July, Danger Room exclusively reported that the Department blocked the Congressionally-appointed watchdog for Iraq from acquiring basic information about contractor security operations, such as the contractors’ rules of engagement.

That means no one outside the State Department knows how its contractors will behave as they ferry over 10,000 U.S. State Department employees throughout Iraq — which, in case anyone has forgotten, is still a war zone. Since Iraq wouldn’t grant legal immunity to U.S. troops, it is unlikely to grant it to U.S. contractors, particularly in the heat and anger of an accident resulting in the loss of Iraqi life. It’s a situation with the potential for diplomatic disaster. And it’s being managed by an organization with no experience running the tight command structure that makes armies cohesive and effective.

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I think mercenaries are fucking evil too.

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2012-01-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

UPCOMING EVENTS

01/02/12 BILL OF RIGHTS DEFENSE COMMITTEE
Join us for a talk by George Friday of the Bill of Right Defense Committee. Federal agencies have used fear and prejudice to undermine what used to be hollowed "freedoms". Since the "Citizen's United" case corporations have become predatory in seeking ways to sap public funds to prop up their economic systems at the cost of libraries, schools, and neighborhoods. What's the connection and how to regular people make the needed transformation to truly secure communities where everyone is fully seen and valued? Join us to explore. Location is Firestorm Cafe in downtown Asheville. George Friday has been Field Organizer for BORDC since Oct 2010, and is a founding Executive Committe member of MTA. Starting time is 7 PM per email, and 10:15 PM per website. Call 828-255-8155 to see which one is correct before going (sorry, but I caught this very late and could not straighten out the confusion).

01/02/12 MOUNTAIN PROTECTORS MEETING
Mountain Protectors meeting starts at 7 PM and will be held at the home of Monica Tilhou at 26 Ivy Street, Asheville. For more information, contact Mary Olson at maryo@nirs.org or 828-252-8409.

01/04/12 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
Richard Kark will discuss his river canoeing adventures over his lifetime. Social is at 7 PM and program starts at 7:30 PM. Location is the Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Street in Asheville.

01/05/12 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street (the corner of Haywood and Roberts), Asheville. VFP CHAPTER 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

01/06/12 UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST MOVIE NIGHT
The movie “Carbon Nation” will be shown at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville at the corner of Edwin and Charlotte Street. Time will be 7 PM. Donations accepted. Contact David Williams for more information at devwilliams@juno.com.

01/07/12 GREEN PARTY MEETING
The Buncombe County GREEN Party's business meeting is free & open to the public. It will be held from 10AM to noon, upstairs in the Fortune Building, 729 Haywood Rd., West Asheville. Contact Ronald @ 828LUCK180 or Larry @ 828-225-4347 for more information.

01/08/12 ASHEVILLE N.O.W. MEETING

Asheville National Organization of Women group will hold a meeting on January 8, 2012. We will be meeting the 2nd Sunday in every month (unless otherwise noted) at the beautiful Roof Garden (top floor) of the Battery Park Apts., located at 1 Battle Square in downtown Asheville (right behind the Grove Arcade - in the same building as Havanna's Cuban Restaurant). If you wish to attend, put in code #0810 at the front door and give the person your name and she will buzz you in. Our meetings are from 3:00pm - 5:00pm. Light refreshments are served. If you have a favorite, bring some to share. Green Tea is always available. We welcome new supporters who share the Asheville NOW philosophy of seeking greater equality for all. Our meetings are informal, because we like it that way.

01/09/12 PUBLIC MEETING - LICENSING A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN SC
Car pools now being formed to attend and speak at a Public Meeting that will focus on the licensing of two new units at a new site near Gaffney, SC on the Broad River. This would be 60 miles from Asheville. Contact Laura Sorensen at 545-4443 or Lsredoak@gmail.com for more info or to carpool. This meeting will be held at Restoration Church International, 1905 North Limestone St., Gaffney, SC. Time is 7 PM.

01/12/12 TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF GUANTANAMO BAY PRISON
Amnesty International will be holding a protest in DC to mark this horrible anniversary.

01/14/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR BREAKFAST
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville & Buncombe County announced that Dr. Boyce Watkins will give the keynote address at the 31st annual Prayer Breakfast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The breakfast will be the highlight of a series of events from Wednesday, Jan. 11 through Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. The Prayer Breakfast, which will take place at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, January 14, at the Grove Park Inn, is among the largest public celebrations in Western North Carolina, attracting more than 1,000 citizens and distinguished guests to the historic inn each year. The Prayer Breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. and includes music by the Asheville Unity & Fellowship Choir, directed by Alaysia Black Hackett. Tickets to the breakfast are $30 for adults, $15 for youth under 18, and $35 for patrons. Tickets and additional information are available by phone at 828-335-6896 or by email at editor@myowneditor.com.

01/15/12 ASHEVILLE ETHICAL SOCIETY MEETING
Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday “Peace and Violence, Two Perspectives into Action – MLK, Jr. and Johann Galtung” will be presented by John Spitzberg at the Sunday, January 15th meeting of the Ethical Society of Asheville, 2:00-3:30 PM, held at the YMI Cultural Center, 39 South Market Street in the Ray Auditorium. Spitzberg is a retired special education teacher, social worker, paramedic and currently is a service provider and volunteer with the homeless population in Asheville, president of the local chapter of Veterans for Peace and a member and former Ethical Action Chair of the Ethical Society of Asheville. Tying in his work and belief system to that of MLK, Jr. Spitzberg will introduce Johann Galtung, a Norwegian man in his 80s who is also known for his work for peace and non-violence. There will be a discussion period following the presentation. Following the meeting, there will be time for informal conversation. All are welcome!

01/17/12 OCCUPY THE US CONGRESS DAY

01/23/12 BUILDING BRIDGES
“Going Beyond Racism through Understanding and Respect”
This Building Bridges session will last for nine consecutive Mondays, from 1/23/12 to 3/19/12. It will be held at 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, which is the new MAHEC campus. Time is 7 to 9 PM. Register at www.buildingbridges-asheville.org or call 828-777-4585. More information: Envision by 2020 an Asheville where race is just a part of our "flava" and not the means by which we allocate goods, services and access; where concepts like educational disparities and structural racism in healthcare delivery are a distant memory to our community. Envision a Western North Carolina where employment opportunities are plentiful to anyone who is skilled or qualified for a position. Envision a community burgeoning with commissions and councils, entities and enterprises, collectives and corporations joining to collaboratively help with unlearning racism, yet creating awareness of unearned privilege...thereby cultivating harmony among all of our neighbors. We, at Building Bridges, believe that it is not only possible, but likely that we will restore and reconcile the family, community and global society with dialogue, awareness, justice-making action and mutual accountability.

02/04/12 MARTIN LUTHER KING BREAKFAST - BLACK MOUNTAIN
The Rev. Aubra Love is the keynote speaker for the Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast in Black Mountain, NC on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at Camp Dorothy Walls, AME Conference Center. All are invited and encouraged to attend. For more information, please contact Tom Cannon, MLK Breakfast Committee (828)778-7166.

The Legacy, Part Fifteen

2012-01-01T01:12:00.000-08:00

Drones

U.S. drones allowed in Iraqi skies

American troops are almost gone from Iraq, but that doesn’t mean the U.S. military will cease its operations there entirely. Baghdad has given Washington permission to keep flying Predator drones on surveillance missions over northern Iraq, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Friday. The unmanned airplanes, which operate out of Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, are being used to look for fighters from the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK.

The U.S. military had flown the Predators on anti-PKK missions since 2007 from Iraqi bases, but had to move them out of the country this fall as part of the American withdrawal from Iraq. U.S. defense officials had previously acknowledged relocating the drones to Turkey, but Panetta’s statement was the first confirmation that they were still authorized to fly in Iraqi airspace.

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I think drones are fucking evil.

Greenpeace - year in pictures 2011

2011-12-31T21:02:00.000-08:00

The Legacy, Part Fourteen

2011-12-31T01:05:00.000-08:00

Mass Graves

Photo: A man excavates a newly discovered mass grave in the desert of western Anbar province in Iraq, in this April 14, 2011 file photo. In the shadow of an earthen dam and buried under rubble and trash scattered across the al-Sadah waste ground lies one of the most frightening places in Baghdad at the peak of Iraq's sectarian slaughter. Tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed or went missing in the sectarian conflict in 2006-2007 unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. Many of the missing were never found. REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadani

Digging up massgraves may heal Iraqwar wounds

In the shadow of an earthen dam and buried under rubble and trash scattered across the al-Sadah waste ground lies one of the most frightening places in Baghdad at the peak of Iraq's sectarian slaughter. Beneath the detritus and shacks since constructed on the killing field is buried what may be one of the largest unopened mass graves in the Iraq capital, a macabre testimony to the darker days of the country's war. Tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed or went missing in the sectarian conflict in 2006-2007 unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Many of the missing were never found, and as the last U.S. troops leave Iraq, the excavation of mass graves that may provide answers for the relatives of the dead is considered a critical step in healing after years of war. Some believe al-Sadah in eastern Baghdad, one of 41 unexcavated mass graves known to the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry in the capital and its outskirts, contains hundreds of bodies buried just a few centimeters beneath the dirt.
…..

The Human Rights Ministry and security officials say al-Sadah is not the largest mass grave left by militant groups since 2003, but it might the biggest created by the Shi'ite militias in Baghdad and still untouched. "The dam extends for a distance of 25 km (15 miles), bordering many large Shi'ite neighborhoods, and was used by all the Shi'ite militias without exception," Mohammed said.

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The people of the US was told, prior to the invasion, that Saddam had put 300,000 people in mass graves. Some of those graves were found, one of the largest in Hilla. But the number of people in those graves did not number even 10% of that number presented. But since the war of aggression on Iraq, many more have been put in mass graves. In Najaf alone, there were 40,000 unidentified bodies buried by July 2007. The mass grave being uncovered above is one of many. Our war and occupation of Iraq resulted in many more mass graves than under Saddam’s regime.

The Legacy, Part Thirteen

2011-12-30T01:01:00.000-08:00

Lots of dead people

Photo: A poster outside Ahmed Hassan's trailer commemorates his three sons killed by militants in 2006. [Al Jazeera]

Lots of dead people

The legacy of the Iraq war for Ahmed Hassan can be reduced to a single image, the faded photograph of his three dead sons, all of them killed by armed groups, which hangs above the cramped trailer he and his family now call home. All three were killed within a span of six months. Muthanna, a doctor, and Thamar, a professional volleyball player, were both shot in the head; Laith, a police officer, was assassinated by a roadside bomb planted near his car. He blames his neighbours in Diyala province, an ethnically and religiously mixed area which became a stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2006. "The ones I was sitting with day and night, my friends, they are the ones who killed my sons," Hassan, a Shia Muslim, said bitterly. "My neighbours told al-Qaeda about us."

Celebrating US Withdrawal from Iraq? Shame on Us!

Iraqi civilians were being killed all the time. Maj. Gen. Steve Johnson, the commander of American forces in Anbar, in his own testimony, described it as “a cost of doing business.” The stress of combat left some soldiers paralyzed, the testimony shows. Troops, traumatized by the rising violence and feeling constantly under siege, grew increasingly twitchy, killing more and more civilians in accidental encounters. Others became so desensitized and inured to the killing that they fired on Iraqi civilians deliberately while their fellow soldiers snapped pictures, and were court-martialed. The bodies piled up at a time when the war had gone horribly wrong.

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

The vast majority of American people does not know or care about all these deaths while our troops were occupying the country. They have no idea, and they have not ever taken the time to educate themselves. Most deaths in Iraq were caused by other Iraqis, but a significant number were caused by US troops. And I believe the Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence was caused by the decisions of the Bush administration, in particular, sending Negroponte into Iraq.

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The Legacy, Part Twelve

2011-12-29T01:54:00.000-08:00

Psychological trauma

Photo: Young Iraqis have held numerous protesters against corruption and poor governance this year [EPA]

Young Iraqis scarred by war

It is difficult to quantify the psychological trauma caused by the war, because the Iraqi government does not have reliable mental health statistics.

But the data points which are available are striking: A United Nations survey found that one in five young Iraqis suffer from chronic headaches caused by stress; one in four show symptoms of PTSD. A 2009 study carried out by the World Health Organisation found that 17 per cent of Iraqis suffer from mental disorders, mostly depression, phobias and PTSD. 70 per cent of those afflicted have tried to commit suicide.

"We survived during the sectarian problems, but we couldn't leave the house, we couldn't do our jobs," Rashid said. "Those were hard days."

The Legacy, Part Eleven

2011-12-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Photo: In this Sept. 16, 2007 file photo, a woman takes her dead son into her arms, six-year-old Dhiya Thamer, who was killed when their family car came under fire by unknown gunmen in Baqouba, capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. (AP Photo/Adem Hadei, File)

Lies and Propaganda

What if they ended a war and nobody cared?

Then, because it is not permissible for a president to acknowledge that wars are sometimes follies that end ignominiously, Obama went on to make the obligatory assertion that America won the Iraq War:

“[E]verything that American troops have done in Iraq — all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering — all of it has led to this moment of success.”

Finally, having conferred this empty stamp of rhetorical approval, Obama whitewashed the motivations that actually led the Bush administration to start the war. In one of the most disgraceful sentences of his presidency, he said,

“That’s part of what makes us special as Americans. Unlike the old empires, we don’t make these sacrifices for territory or for resources. We do it because it’s right.”

If Obama had gone on to add, “They hate us for our freedom,” his impersonation of George W. Bush would have been complete.

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Those are some seriously hideous lies there from Mr. Obama.

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Withdrawing is not enough

2011-12-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

Fallah Alwan, President of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq wrote the open letter to President Obama below, concerning the withdrawal of our troops from his country. Please circulate widely.
Thank you,
Terry Rockefeller

Now That You Have Destroyed Our Country, Withdrawing Is Not Enough

To the American President Barak Obama

Nine years ago your military invaded Iraq claiming two justifications: the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the goal of spreading democracy. The first pretext was proved absolutely false, which even former-president George Bush has admitted. This was shameful. But in the name of spreading democracy, what Iraqis have witnessed instead it that the US spreads killing, looting, sectarian strife, militias, and terrorism. You imposed reactionary ideas, especially about women, so that sexual trafficking and prostitution are now increasing here. Our schools and universities have been destroyed and education has deteriorated. The US authorities you put in power over us, and later the government the US imposed upon us through the elections you administered have devastated our communities’ resources.

During the US occupation, Iraq experienced levels of crime and political chaos never before witnessed here, even during the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongol ruler, Hulagu Khan. Civilized life declined. The gains of decades of struggle to improve life in Iraq were wiped out. Evidence of centuries of historical development in Iraq, the achievements of the great Babylonians and the ruins of Sumer and Akkad were thoughtlessly destroyed as you turned them into army barracks. Your soldiers dug up the ground around the ruins, destroying even the clay tablets on which human beings first wrote letters thousands of years ago.

Not satisfied with merely destroying Iraq, the occupation forces created political structures that planted seeds of hate and enmity, and opposed all that was modern, advanced and striving for freedom. These new political structures created conflicts and renewed old disputes, throwing our society into a vortex of violence and corruption, destroying what had been a modern, urban culture.
Your withdrawal now - which we still do not trust to be total or final - will not solve the problems that our society faces. It will not end the crisis that the US created. We will need many long years to forget the painful memories and suffering of being victims of occupation. We will need decades to restore what you have destroyed and decades to save our future generations. You have left behind an environment polluted by radiation and soil poisoned with chemicals. Our children and our elders are dying from diseases caused by your weapons and destruction. They cry out for treatment, but there is no cure for their suffering. Many hope for death just to end their pain.

You have spent hundreds of billions of dollars that you collected in taxes from Americans who rejected war. Your country now suffers high unemployment. You forced your nation’s youth to kill innocent people under the pretext of fighting terrorism, while your own citizens opposed war and rejected your war policies. American workers declared their opposition to war with Iraq before the invasion. They joined anti-war groups and waged campaigns to stop the war. Your leaders may boast of victory but after withdrawal they will leave behind sorrows that don’t end. How can you withdraw without acknowledging the crimes that you have committed?

You owe the Iraqi people compensation. You must be responsible for the suffering of the innocent victims of your war. The people of Iraq retain the right to make these demands, even if your agreement with the Iraqi government does not mention our right. Our voices are the voices of millions of Iraqi workers, the voices of the masses in our country. We are expressing our outrage over what is happening. At the same time our voices reflect the wishes of billions of people throughout the world, especially the American public who called for freedom from fighting wars and who asked to live in peace with other peoples. The thousands of people who are on Wall Street in the name of the Occupy Movement share this message of peace not war, a message that rejects humans abusing one another. Instead, we call for equality and an end to injustice - a call being heard throughout the world. We stand together with our colleagues in the Occupy Movement against the US war policies and the capitalist system that promotes them.

Fallah Alwan
President of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq

The Legacy, Part Ten

2011-12-27T01:46:00.000-08:00

Widespread Trafficking Of Iraqi Women And Girls Thanks To The Iraq War

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed and another 4.4 million displaced, leaving many women and girls widowed or orphaned. As a result of the conflict more than 50,000 Iraqi women find themselves trapped in sexual servitude in Syria and Jordan, giving rise to a lucrative and growing sex industry that feeds off the chaos from the Iraq war.
Women and girls inside Iraq fare no better, often working in brothels run by female pimps. In an interview with the Inter Press Service, Rania, a former trafficker who now works as an undercover researcher for a women’s support group in Iraq, detailed a visit to “a house in Baghdad’s Al-Jihad district, where girls as young as 16 were held to cater exclusively to the U.S. military. The brothel’s owner told Rania that an Iraqi interpreter employed by the Americans served as the go-between, transporting girls to and from the U.S. airport base.” Although human trafficking is illegal in Iraq, the country lacks a robust criminal justice system to enforce the law. Sadly, the victims of trafficking and prostitution are often the ones who are punished.

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And, no one is looking into this problem, much less taking action.

The Legacy, Part Nine

2011-12-26T01:38:00.000-08:00

Refugees, internal and external

Photo: May 27, 2010

Homeless Iraqis Prompt Fears ofSocial Crisis

Half a million displaced Iraqis face grim future in squalid squatter camps. “We registered 160,000 [squatters] in Baghdad a year ago and this March the number was up to 260,000. This is only for Baghdad, we haven't published figures for the whole country yet but it's at least up from 400,000 to 500,000 for the time being,” Daniel Endres, Iraq representative of UNHCR, said."

Huge numbers ofIraqis still adrift within the country

December 11, 2011

Of all the problems that the U.S. troop withdrawal won't affect in Iraq, what to do about the number of internally displaced people looms the largest. As many as 2 million Iraqis — about 6 percent of the country's estimated population of more than 31 million — are thought to have been forced from the cities and towns where they once lived and are housed in circumstances that feel temporary and makeshift. More than 500,000 of those are "squatters in slum areas with no assistance or legal right to the properties they occupy," according to Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group. Most can't go home: Either their homes have been destroyed or hostile ethnic and sectarian groups now control their neighborhoods. Those who are displaced internally say the Iraqi government has done little or nothing to help them, and in some cases has even prevented them from returning to their homes.

Photo: Staff members from the Baghdad bureau of Knight Ridder, which later became McClatchy, on June 28, 2004, marking the official end of the U.S.-led occupation authority. Clockwise from left, Dogen Hannah, Abdelwahab Abdelrazak, Yasser Salihee, Omar Jassim, Ali Jassim, David George, Tom Lasseter, Pauline Lubens, Ken Dilanian, Hassan Abdul Hassan and Hannah Allam. | MCT

War forever changed the lives of sixIraqis we knew well

More than seven years later, with U.S. troops almost gone from Iraq ahead of the Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline, these are the fates of the six Iraqi staffers in that photo: One is dead, one is an amputee, one was internally displaced and the others are refugees in Sweden, Australia and the United States. Just one still lives in Iraq, and he was forced to move to a different neighborhood after a double car bombing in January 2010 left his house in ruins. The same blasts partially demolished the hotel where the picture was taken and killed a friendly young worker in the bakery where we’d ordered the cake. The postscripts to that photo encapsulate the ruinous aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion, which set off years of sectarian warfare and political paralysis that have touched the lives of virtually all of Iraq’s more than 30 million citizens.

Iraq war commemorations ignore ongoinghumanitarian disaster

And the displacement is continuing. According to a new report by Minority Rights Group International, many minorities “face targeted threats and violence, the destruction of their places of worship, the loss of homes and property and lack of government protection of their rights. This violence has caused significant numbers of minorities to flee Iraq, in some cases decimating communities to the point that they risk disappearing altogether from their ancient homeland.”

……..

Overall, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reports that at least half of Iraq’s pre-2003 Christian community, once around a million strong, has left the country, probably never to return. This trend essentially terminates Christianity’s nearly two millennium-long presence in Mesopotamia. Baghdad’s Jewish population has been reduced to less than ten.

At least some Americans have heard that Christians and Jews are fleeing the country for their lives, but how many have ever heard of Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, Circassians, Baha’is, Black Iraqis, Roma, Faili Kurds, Kaka’i, Sabean Mandaeans, Shabaks, Turkmen, and Yazidis?

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Most estimates are two million to two and a half million internally displaced. And most of them are desperately poor. Another two million or so left the country entirely, and many of them are poor also, although they started out with more money in the beginning. These people have had their lives destroyed.

Occupy Camp Asheville 12-24-11

2011-12-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

The building to the left is City Hall. The area where the picture was taken is City-County Plaza, a city owned park (they renamed it last year, but I don't like the new name).

Two of the occupiers were cleaning up from a late lunch. As I was talking to them, more food was dropped off- cooked chicken and cookies and bottles of water. They guys said they needed to eat more vegetables, so I decided to go to the store, buy some veggies and cook them for Occupy Asheville camp.

Some more tents, with a view of Beaucatcher Mountain in the background. The strip of land that the tents are on is not considered part of the city park system (where camping is not allowed) but is considered part of City Hall. There will be a decision early next year as to whether camping will continue to be allowed in this area. Just past the orange cone above is private property, where there was camping a few years back to save the Magnolia Tree from being torn down for condos. The owner of that property allowed camping back then (I think it was part of his tactics to pressure the city) but has not allowed Occupy to camp there.

A big problem that the campers face is bathroom access at night and on weekends. During the workday, they can use the bathrooms in City Hall. This is also a problem during General Assembly meetings, which are held after work hours. You have to walk pretty far to use a restroom. The Occupiers would be happy to have a port-a-john (which is what is done for events in City-County Plaza), but they have to get a permit, and they don't want to be "permitted" and it is very expensive anyway.

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"This poem is dedicated to the Occupy movement whose courage is changing the world. Stay Strong. We are winning,"

The beginning spills through city veins
Into the arteries
And under powers poison clouds
We move like the shadows
Through the alley ways
Through nightmares bought and sold as dreams
Through barren factories
Through boarded schools
Through rotting fields
Through the burning doors of the past
Through imaginations exploding
To break the curfews in our minds

Our actions awaken dreams of actions multiplied
A restless fury
Once buried like burning embers
Left alone to smolder
But together stacked under the walls of a dying order
All sparks are counted
Calloused hands raised in silence
Over the bonfire of hope unincorporated
It's flame restores tomorrows meaning
Across the graveyards of hollow promises
As gold dipped vultures pick at what is left of our denial

And the youngest among us
Stare at us stoned like eyes determined
And say
Death for us may come early
Cause dignity has no price
At the corner of now and nowhere
Anywhere
Everywhere
Tomorrow is calling
Tomorrow is calling
Do not be afraid

-- Zack de la Rocha

Christmas in the trenches....

2011-12-25T03:50:00.000-08:00

"and at each end of the rifle, we're the same...."

Christmas Day, 1914

My dear sister Janet,

It is 2:00 in the morning and most of our men are asleep in their dugouts -- yet I could not sleep myself before writing to you of the wonderful events of Christmas Eve. In truth, what happened seems almost like a fairy tale, and if I hadn't been through it myself, I would scarce believe it. Just imagine: While you and the family sang carols before the fire there in London, I did the same with enemy soldiers here on the battlefields of France!

As I wrote before, there has been little serious fighting of late. The first battles of the war left so many dead that both sides have held back until replacements could come from home. So we have mostly stayed in our trenches and waited. But what a terrible waiting it has been! Knowing that any moment an artillery shell might land and explode beside us in the trench, killing or maiming several men. And in daylight not daring to lift our heads above ground, for fear of a sniper's bullet. And the rain -- it has fallen almost daily. Of course, it collects right in our trenches, where we must bail it out with pots and pans. And with the rain has come mud -- a good foot or more deep. It splatters and cakes everything, and constantly sucks at our boots. One new recruit got his feet stuck in it, and then his hands too when he tried to get out -- just like in that American story of the tar baby!

Through all this, we couldn't help feeling curious about the German soldiers across the way. After all, they faced the same dangers we did, and slogged about in the same muck. What's more, their first trench was only 50 yards from ours. Between us lay No Man's Land, bordered on both sides by barbed wire -- yet they were close enough we sometimes heard their voices. Of course, we hated them when they killed our friends. But other times, we joked about them and almost felt we had something in common. And now it seems they felt the same. Just yesterday morning -- Christmas Eve Day -- we had our first good freeze. Cold as we were, we welcomed it, because at least the mud froze solid. Everything was tinged white with frost, while a bright sun shone over all. Perfect Christmas weather.

During the day, there was little shelling or rifle fire from either side. And as darkness fell on our Christmas Eve, the shooting stopped entirely. Our first complete silence in months! We hoped it might promise a peaceful holiday, but we didn't count on it. We'd been told the Germans might attack and try to catch us off guard. I went to the dugout to rest, and lying on my cot, I must have drifted asleep. All at once my friend John was shaking me awake, saying, "Come and see! See what the Germans are doing!" I grabbed my rifle, stumbled out into the trench, and stuck my head cautiously above the sandbags.

I never hope to see a stranger and more lovely sight. Clusters of tiny lights were shining all along the German line, left and right as far as the eye could see. "What is it?" I asked in bewilderment, and John answered, "Christmas trees!" And so it was. The Germans had placed Christmas trees in front of their trenches, lit by candle or lantern like beacons of good will. And then we heard their voices raised in song.

"Stille nacht, heilige nacht...."

This carol may not yet be familiar to us in Britain, but John knew it and translated: "Silent night, holy night." I've never heard one lovelier -- or more meaningful, in that quiet, clear night, its dark softened by a first-quarter moon. When the song finished, the men in our trenches applauded. Yes, British soldiers applauding Germans! Then one of our own men started singing, and we all joined in.

"The first Nowell, the angel did say...."

In truth, we sounded not nearly as good as the Germans, with their fine harmonies. But they responded with enthusiastic applause of their own and then began another.

"O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum...."

Then we replied.

"O come all ye faithful...."

But this time they joined in, singing the same words in Latin.

"Adeste fideles...."

British and German harmonizing across No Man's Land! I would have thought nothing could be more amazing -- but what came next was more so. "English, come over!" we heard one of them shout. "You no shoot, we no shoot." There in the trenches, we looked at each other in bewilderment. Then one of us shouted jokingly, "You come over here." To our astonishment, we saw two figures rise from the trench, climb over their barbed wire, and advance unprotected across No Man's Land. One of them called, "Send officer to talk." I saw one of our men lift his rifle to the ready, and no doubt others did the same -- but our captain called out, "Hold your fire." Then he climbed out and went to meet the Germans halfway. We heard them talking, and a few minutes later, the captain came back with a German cigar in his mouth! "We've agreed there will be no shooting before midnight tomorrow," he announced. "But sentries are to remain on duty, and the rest of you, stay alert."

Across the way, we could make out groups of two or three men starting out of trenches and coming toward us. Then some of us were climbing out too, and in minutes more, there we were in No Man's Land, over a hundred soldiers and officers of each side, shaking hands with men we'd been trying to kill just hours earlier! Before long a bonfire was built, and around it we mingled – British khaki and German grey. I must say, the Germans were the better dressed, with fresh uniforms for the holiday. Only a couple of our men knew German, but more of the Germans knew English. I asked one of them why that was. "Because many have worked in England!" he said. "Before all this, I was a waiter at the Hotel Cecil. Perhaps I waited on your table!" "Perhaps you did!" I said, laughing.

He told me he had a girlfriend in London and that the war had interrupted their plans for marriage. I told him, "Don't worry. We'll have you beat by Easter, then you can come back and marry the girl." He laughed at that. Then he asked if I'd send her a postcard he'd give me later, and I promised I would. Another German had been a porter at Victoria Station. He showed me a picture of his family back in Munich. His eldest sister was so lovely, I said I should like to meet her someday. He beamed and said he would like that very much and gave me his family's address.

Even those who could not converse could still exchange gifts – our cigarettes for their cigars, our tea for their coffee, our corned beef for their sausage. Badges and buttons from uniforms changed owners, and one of our lads walked off with the infamous spiked helmet! I myself traded a jackknife for a leather equipment belt -- a fine souvenir to show when I get home. Newspapers too changed hands, and the Germans howled with laughter at ours. They assured us that France was finished and Russia nearly beaten too. We told them that was nonsense, and one of them said, "Well, you believe your newspapers and we'll believe ours." Clearly they are lied to -- yet after meeting these men, I wonder how truthful our own newspapers have been. These are not the "savage barbarians" we've read so much about. They are men with homes and families, hopes and fears, principles and, yes, love of country. In other words, men like ourselves. Why are we led to believe otherwise?

As it grew late, a few more songs were traded around the fire, and then all joined in for -- I am not lying to you -- "Auld Lang Syne." Then we parted with promises to meet again tomorrow, and even some talk of a football match. I was just starting back to the trenches when an older German clutched my arm. "My God," he said, "why cannot we have peace and all go home?" I told him gently, "That you must ask your emperor." He looked at me then, searchingly. "Perhaps, my friend. But also we must ask our hearts." And so, dear sister, tell me, has there ever been such a Christmas Eve in all history? And what does it all mean, this impossible befriending of enemies?

For the fighting here, of course, it means regrettably little. Decent fellows those soldiers may be, but they follow orders and we do the same. Besides, we are here to stop their army and send it home, and never could we shirk that duty. Still, one cannot help imagine what would happen if the spirit shown here were caught by the nations of the world. Of course, disputes must always arise. But what if our leaders were to offer well wishes in place of warnings? Songs in place of slurs? Presents in place of reprisals? Would not all war end at once? All nations say they want peace. Yet on this Christmas morning, I wonder if we want it quite enough.

Your loving brother,

Tom

2011-12-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, the world celebrates the birth of the rebel Jesus (although he was probably born in the spring time). In honor of that, here is a tribute to the rebel Jesus - who fed the poor, gave away free health care, said to turn the other cheek, forgave those who harmed him, overturned the bankster's tables in the temple, and said to give away your possessions to the poor! And he was very poor when he walked on this earth.

Peace bear in the snow

2011-12-24T01:46:00.000-08:00

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. -- The XIVth Dalai Lama

The Legacy, Part Eight

2011-12-23T09:57:00.000-08:00

Divided, fragile, destroyed

"Baghdad was built by al-Mansour and cherished by Saddam," was a slogan that adorned many buildings in the Iraqi capital before the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Nearly nine years later, as the last American troops leave, a new slogan has taken its place: "Baghdad was built by al-Mansour, humiliated by Saddam and destroyed by the Americans."
……….
Many directly accuse the U.S. invasion of stirring up sectarian divisions in a country where Saddam, from the minority Sunni sect, ruthlessly crushed any signs of Shi'ite dissent but minimized sectarian divisions in daily life.

"There were no Sunnis and Shi'ites before the Americans, there was no sectarianism," said Abu Issam as he crossed the bridge. "I am a Shi'ite and my two sons are married to Sunni women."

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

The US played the “divide and conquer” game, and it took them almost three years, and the Negroponte death squads, to get the civil war started. That length of time does indicate that there was little division in Iraqi society between Shi’ites and Sunnis prior to the US occupation. In fact, the original “deck of cards” for US troops to get Saddam’s top people was 40% Shi’ites. Intermarriage between the two groups was very common.

But years of sectarian differentiation, and then death squads targeting Sunnis and car bombs targeting Shi’ites, and the bombing of the mosque in Samarra, lead to a civil war in 2006. It was awful, and lasted for a couple of years. Today, the ethnic cleansing has been completed – the Sunnis and Shi’ites of Iraq are living in separate areas.

And a lot of Iraqis think the car bombs were done by the American and British military and mercenaries. Correct or not, that is what a lot of them think. Below is a photo of a British troop on fire coming out of a tank. The story, as far as I can recall, went like this: Iraqi police stopped a car in Basra with two Brits in typical Iraqi dress. The Iraqi police claimed that there were massive explosives build into the car, so they arrested the Brits and took them to jail. The British military used tanks to break down the wall to the Iraqi jail and set them free, and also confiscated the car with the alleged explosives. The Iraqi people got angry and attacked the troops, throwing bottles with gasoline and set on fire, into the tank below. The soldier, by the way, reportedly survived without serious injuries.

As to the allegations about the car and the intent of the guys in the car – seems to me it would have been easy to prove this wrong to the whole world, by showing the car. The British military never did that. And so the Iraqi people think the British and the Americans were behind the car bombs, don't know if they were correct or not.

In this Sept. 19, 2005 file photo, a British soldier makes his way out of a burning Warrior fighting vehicle in Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani, File)

Happy Winter Solstice!

2011-12-22T14:11:00.001-08:00

The Legacy, Part Seven

2011-12-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

Photo: Yesterday Susan Lindauer, the life time peace and womans rights activist who had the honor of being the first non-Muslim, white Caucasian, and Woman to be arrested under the law of infamy called the Patriot Act sent me a photo of a Depleted Uranium deformed infant from Fallujah, Iraq. She begged that the photo was published, if I dared to publish it.I know Susan Lindauer well enough to know that she is deeply moved by the tragedy.

See, Susan Lindauer is human, that is why she sent the photo. I am human because it makes me cry to look at it. If you dare, try your own humanity, and if you realize that you have humanity inside yourself, which I am sure about that you do, then please act upon it and stop the unadulterated evil that makes you believe that NATO and young boys and girls from the USA, Italy, the UK, France, Qatar, and other are fighting in wars that have anything to do with honor. The honorable thing to do is to stand on the side of peace, and if necessary to die for it.

Photo from this link.

Birth defects,rubble still scar Iraq'sFalluja

As U.S. forces pull out of Iraq, residents and officials in Falluja say they leave behind bullet-riddled homes, destroyed infrastructure and a worrying increase in birth defects and maladies in a city polluted by weapons and war chemicals.

Amir Hussain and Awfa Abdullah got married in Falluja in 2004 but their lives were turned upside by the birth of their two babies.

Their first child, a baby boy born in 2006, had brain damage and died last year. The second, a baby girl who was born in 2007, suffers from severe skin rashes and has one leg longer than the other.

"We've decided to stop having babies. We don't want any more, because it means new suffering and a new battle against new diseases," Hussain said. "It is our bad luck. Maybe because we got married in the wrong time and in the wrong place."

……….

In April, Iraqi lawmakers debated whether the U.S.-led battles in the city constituted genocide, but resolutions calling for prosecution went nowhere.

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

Here in the US, this issue is ignored. But it is not going to go away, just like the poisoning from Agent Orange did not end when US troops left Vietnam. The biggest difference is that this poison in Falljuah and other areas of Iraq, will last for hundreds of years. The US military has left Iraq, but their poison will stay behind. Birth defects are skyrocketing in Fallujah, with one out of four babies dying before they are a week old. Two more of those four births are babies with noticeable birth defects. And the ones who are born looking healthy are likely to have serous health problems and cancers.

It is a massive, massive, massive evil that the US has done to Fallujah.

The Legacy, Part Six

2011-12-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Ahmed, 11, who was wounded by an American bomb during the 2003 U.S. invasion, is fitted for a new prosthetic lower leg at the Hospital for Physiotherapy on December 13, 2011 in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's health care system remains in shambles following two decades of war and economic sanctions. Following the 2003 U.S. invasion, thousands of physicians fled the country while others were killed. Some physicians have since returned but there is still a critical shortage of doctors. Iraq is transitioning nearly nine years after the 2003 U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation. American forces are now in the midst of the final stage of withdrawal from the war-torn country. According to the Iraq Body Count, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died from war-related violence.

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Date created: 13 Dec 2011

Baghdad, the most dangerous city in the world

> GDP per capita: $2,531.15 (66th lowest)
> Adult literacy rate: 74.1%
> Adult mortality rate per 1,000: 291

Nearly nine years after the U.S. began combat operations in Iraq, violence continues to ravage the capital city of Baghdad. Intermittent suicide bombings, random gunfire, roadside bombs and other attacks still occur throughout the city. In the past two weeks, dozens of Iraqi civilians have been killed in separate events.

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

Yes, this is what the US war of aggression and occupation achieved: the capital city is the most dangerous in the world, and the adult mortality rate is exceptionally high. And the child in the photo was two or three years old when the US bombed his home.

The Legacy, Part Five

2011-12-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

A building that collapsed during a battle is seen in Falluja city, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad December 5, 2011. As U.S. forces pull out of Iraq, residents and officials in Falluja say they leave behind bullet-riddled homes, destroyed infrastructure and a worrying increase in birth defects and maladies in a city polluted by weapons and war chemicals. Picture taken December 5, 2011.

REUTERS/Mohanned Faisal

US exit from Iraq:'this is not a withdrawal, this is an act on a stage'

Iraqi casualties are far higher, with civilian deaths well over 100,000, many more maimed, and up to several million people displaced at the height of what became a vicious two-year sectarian war.

Despite two democratic elections, an estimated $62bn in US aid money, and the close diplomatic attention of the war's protagonists, Iraq is still grappling with a range of issues. Basic services remain poor, the political class unaccountable, a rule of law absent, and a government vulnerable to the whims of the region. There has been little progress on other touchstone issues, such as long simmering territorial disputes and national reconciliation.
….
Another man, Mundhar Kamel, 65, said the departure changed little. "This move is them exiting from one door and entering from another," he said. "In the embassy they still have 15,000 people and there is talk about 3,000 more [military] trainers. This is not a withdrawal, this is an act on a stage. We haven't gained anything from the country. They destroyed the country and now they are leaving."

Adham Abul Razzak, 30, saw hope in the withdrawal. "I am very happy because of this withdrawal," he said. "I wish that this step would be the first towards unifying Iraqis and expelling sectarianism. The effect of the occupation is still with us because of the relations between the two sides and the presence of such a large embassy. I don't think there will be violence after the withdrawal – the opposite, in fact. But only if the neighbouring countries do not interfere in our business."

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

This article makes a totally ludicrous statement:

“There are many here who had grown accustomed to the safety net of US forces”

The US forces never brought safety to anyone, including Americans. They bring the democracy of death and the freedom of the grave.

The death toll for Iraqis is hundreds of thousands, maybe over a million. Refugees, both internally and in foreign countries, number in the millions. The number of widows and orphans number in the millions. And the number of injured, both physically and psychologically, number in the tens of millions.

The Legacy, Part Four

2011-12-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of Fallujah residents burn U.S. and Israeli flags as they demonstrate in celebration of the departure of US troops from Iraq, on December 14, 2011.

AFP/Getty Images

Hundreds in Fallujah burn U.S. flag to celebrate troops pulling out of Iraq

Shouting slogans in support of the “resistance,” the demonstrators held up banners and placards inscribed with phrases like, “Now we are free” and “Fallujah is the flame of the resistance.”

Surrounded by the Iraqi army, demonstrators carried posters bearing photos of apparent insurgents, faces covered and carrying weapons.

They also held up pictures of U.S. soldiers killed and military vehicles destroyed in the two major offensives against the city in 2004.

“We are proud to have driven the occupier out of Iraq, at the cost of enormous sacrifice,” said Khalid al-Alwa, the local leader of the Islamic Party, a Sunni Muslim grouping.

Those who destroyed Iraq paid the price because the people here held them accountable.”

The demonstration, which was held in Al-Khadra Mohammediyah Square in the centre of Fallujah, was dubbed the first annual “festival to celebrate the role of the resistance.”

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

I agree that it was the Iraqi people who drove the US military out of Iraq, but they did not do it in Fallujah and they did not do it using force. They did it by pressuring their politicians to make an agreement with Bush to withdraw US troops many years in the future. And then they did it by pressuring their politicians to NOT GIVE LEGAL IMMUNITY to the US troops after the withdrawal date. In other words, they did it non-violently.

And non-violent direct action is the ONLY thing that would have worked, because the US government and US military know very well how to do violence and force, and they routinely use those tools as a means of control. But non-violent direct action is something they do not know how to counter properly, although they clearly tried to get Maliki and the Iraqi people to let the US military stay in Iraq.

The Legacy, Part Three

2011-12-18T21:18:00.000-08:00

A building that was damaged during a battle is seen in Falluja city, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad December 5, 2011. As U.S. forces pull out of Iraq, residents and officials in Falluja say they leave behind bullet-riddled homes, destroyed infrastructure and a worrying increase in birth defects and maladies in a city polluted by weapons and war chemicals.

Picture taken December 5, 2011.

REUTERS/Mohanned Faisal

Whatever happened to Fallujah

When the Americans came, they made a very big mistake. If they had won over the tribal leaders of Anbar in advance, there would have been no problem. If the Americans had not chosen violence, the resistance would not have been so strong. But after the first shooting when people were killed outside a school in Falluja in 2003, and after the two battles of Falluja in 2004 the sons of Falluja were ready to be friends even with the devil if it hurt the Americans.

They were ripe for Salafis, killers, thieves, insurgents, nationalists, Baathists, jihadis, anyone who was against the Americans. If someone was killed in the street by the Americans, all his friends would form a group and compete against each other as to who would be first to take revenge upon the Americans.

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

It was not a mistake, they did it on purpose.

The Legacy, Part Two

2011-12-17T13:27:00.000-08:00

Andrea Bruce for The New York Times
Transcripts of military interviews from the investigation into the Haditha massacre were found at this trailer in a junkyard in Baghdad, which specializes in selling trailers and office supplies left over from American military base closings.

Secret Military Documents, Straight From an Iraqi Junkyard

One by one, the Marines sat down, swore to tell the truth and began to give secret interviews discussing one of the most horrific episodes of America’s time in Iraq: the 2005 massacre by Marines of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.

“I mean, whether it’s a result of our action or other action, you know, discovering 20 bodies, throats slit, 20 bodies, you know, beheaded, 20 bodies here, 20 bodies there,” Col. Thomas Cariker, a commander in Anbar Province at the time, told investigators as he described the chaos of Iraq. At times, he said, deaths were caused by “grenade attacks on a checkpoint and, you know, collateral with civilians.”

The 400 pages of interrogations, once closely guarded as secrets of war, were supposed to have been destroyed as the last American troops prepare to leave Iraq. Instead, they were discovered along with reams of other classified documents, including military maps showing helicopter routes and radar capabilities, by a reporter for The New York Times at a junkyard outside Baghdad. An attendant was burning them as fuel to cook a dinner of smoked carp.

The documents — many marked secret — form part of the military’s internal investigation, and confirm much of what happened at Haditha, a Euphrates River town where Marines killed 24 Iraqis, including a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair, women and children, some just toddlers.

+++++++++

It seems the US military was too stupid to destroy the evidence, and left it behind.

And then the NYT gives the "classified" evidence back to the military instead of publishing it. And the US military cares so little about the war crimes it has committed, it cannot dispose of the evidence properly.

And NO ONE WAS HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS CRIME IN HADITHA. THIS IS MASSIVELY EVIL.

A partial picture of the aftermath:

On Nov. 19, 2005, a group of Marines went on a shooting spree in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed.

From Washington Post website. A photo contained in a Naval Criminal Investigative Service report obtained by The Washington Post shows a Marine inspecting a roadside scene near Haditha, Iraq, where five unarmed civilians were killed Nov. 19, 2005.

Protest at the White House - December 2010

2011-12-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

Daniel Ellsberg flashes a pair of peace signs as he's led away by capitol police on December 16, 2010. One hundred thirty one protestors, including numerous veterans, gathered in the snow outside the White House challenging the war in Afghanistan. (Common Dreams)

++++++++
I saved this photo and caption a year ago. I had no idea at the time that December 16, 2011 would be the start of the trial of Bradley Manning. I know Daniel Ellsberg is very supportive of Bradley Manning and I am sure Daniel is up there next to Ft. Meade where Bradley's trial is being held.

My thoughts are with both of them.

The Legacy, Part One

2011-12-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

Khitam Hamad, 12, whose face and body was burned after a car bomb exploded in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, poses in a hallway at a program operated by Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on November 28, 2011 in Amman, Jordan. MSF has been running a reconstructive-surgery program for war-wounded Iraqis since August 2006. The program, which helps Iraqis irrespective of age or ethnic/religious background, is currently treating roughly 120 cases. MSF was forced to pull out of Iraq in 2004 due to the escalating violence in the country. Following the years of violence in the country, the state of medical care in Iraq is poor. There is a chronic shortage of doctors and nurses and much of the country's hospitals are using outdated and damaged equipment.

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Date created: 28 Nov 2011

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

At Iraq War’s End, Wounds Are Still Fresh for Falluja

They came on Wednesday to bury the war: clerics and sheiks, children and widows from across this scarred city. In the shadow of an overpass, they waved banners, burned an American flag, displayed photos of their dead and shouted well-worn denunciations of departing American forces.

“It’s a festival,” said Sheik Hamid Ahmed Hasham, the head of the local council, whose four predecessors were assassinated.

Once an inner ring of Iraq’s wartime inferno, Falluja is only too eager to say goodbye to nearly nine shattering years of raids, bombings and house-to-house urban combat. At least 200 American troops were killed in this city. Untold thousands of Iraqis died, civilians and insurgents who are mourned equally as martyrs.

Today, Falluja is a city desperately seeking normal.

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

Many people of Fallujah are in deep, deep pain from the US war of aggression and occupation. That pain is obvious in the face of the young girl above. But this pain goes way beyond the physical pain and physical scars. Today, the people of Fallujah are afraid to have a child, because the odds of a child having severe birth defects are very high. The odds of a newborn baby dying in the first week of life are one in four. The odds of a child getting cancer are very high. Adults are getting cancer in record numbers also. And this started in 2005, so we can be sure that something that the US military did in 2004 is the root cause of all these birth defects and cancers.

I can think of nothing more evil than to take away a person’s ability to have a healthy child.

+++++++++++

There are a lot of reports coming out about Iraq, since the occupation is coming to an end. I will highlight some of them on this blog. Pictures are on the blog FACES OF GRIEF.

A question from an Iraqi child.... who was shot by the American people

2011-12-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

"Everybody knows" by Leonard Cohen

2011-12-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2011-12-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

Photo is of City Hall in Asheville in the summer of 2011.

UPCOMING EVENTS

12/12/11 NC POLICY WATCH CRITICAL CONVERSATION
The fall NC Policy Watch road trip continues! Chris Fitzsimon and Rob Schofield will be in Asheville for a noon Crucial Conversation at the Unitarian Universalist Church. They will review what a year of conservative leadership has meant for/inflicted on the N.C. General Assembly. Later that same day we’ll be in Boone at the Cooperative Extension Agricultural Conference Center at 7 PM. Cost is $10 and includes a box lunch. Register for the Asheville event at: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=15#reg-form

12/16/11 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEETING
The next WNC PSR monthly meeting will be at the home of Steve and Beth Gilman. Brown Bag lunch at noon with meeting from 12:30 to 2 PM. Directions to the Gilman's home: Take Highway 70 - Tunnel Road east from downtown Asheville. (From Interstate 240 going east, take Exit 7 and turn left at end of ramp.) Go several miles past the VA Hospital on left. Just before Blue Ridge Parkway overpass, turn right at stoplight onto Pleasant Ridge Road. Take 2nd right turn onto Wagon Road. Then turn left onto Birchwood to #18 on left. Physicians, health personnel and, yes, everyone; all are welcomed at the monthly meetings! Please go to www.wncpsr.org for more information, which includes how to get there and other details.

12/17/11 ENVISION AN OCCUPATION
A local activist presents photography and video of Liberty Plaza, hours before it was raided by NYPD. Prints will be available for sale to benefit the Occupy Asheville Street Medic Team as it creates the Asheville Peoples Clinic, a free health clinic for the people of Asheville! Time is 6 to 9 PM and location is Firestorm Cafe.

01/04/12 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
Richard Kark will discuss his river canoeing adventures over his lifetime. Social is at 7 PM and program starts at 7:30 PM. Location is the Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Street in Asheville.

01/05/12 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street (the corner of Haywood and Roberts), Asheville. VFP CHAPTER 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

01/06/12 UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST MOVIE NIGHT
The movie “Carbon Nation” will be shown at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville at the corner of Edwin and Charlotte Street. Time will be 7 PM. Donations accepted. Contact David Williams for more information at devwilliams@juno.com.

01/07/12 GREEN PARTY MEETING
The Buncombe County GREEN Party's business meeting is free & open to the public. It will be held from 10AM to noon, upstairs in the Fortune Building, 729 Haywood Rd., West Asheville. Contact Ronald @ 828LUCK180 or Larry @ 828-225-4347 for more information.

01/12/12 TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF GUANTANAMO BAY PRISON
Amnesty International will be holding a protest in DC to mark this horrible anniversary.

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ONGOING EVENTS
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SUNDAY
Episcopal Peace Fellowship holds a weekly vigil from 4:30 to 5 PM at All Soul's Cathedral.

TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument

WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood Country Courthouse in Waynesville.
Asheville Cop Watch meeting at 5 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

FRIDAY
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square (Ash.) on the first Friday of the month.
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the Old Courthouse in Hendersonville

SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in Brevard.

OCCUPY WALL STREET ASHEVILLE
Go to www.occupyasheville.org for more information, or call 888-378-0788. Information on Occupy Asheville late breaking events: http://occupyasheville.org/calendar/. General Assembly will be held at 6 PM on Tuesday and Thursday at City Hall, and at 3 PM on Saturday at Pritchard Park.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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OCCUPY ASHEVILLE

From an email on Vets for Peace listserve:

I hope you all can support our local Occupy Asheville, Tuesday at 5pm, City Council Meeting . They need folks inside/out. The camp is being threatened by City Council.

PLEASE go to City Hall for the City Council meeting this Tuesday at 5pm because the City Council is to vote on ordinances to shut down the Occupy encampment and other 24/7 activities. Relevant information can be found at ashevillenc.gov or these links:

December 13, 2011 Meeting Agenda

Staff Report, including proposed ordinances, as requested by Mayor Bellamy

Anthony & others are coordinating a response to this. Legal representation is available now! GLoLady says a concern is sanitation issue: illegal to urinate or defecate in public, but there are NO alternatives provided by the city and the city refuses to allow us to provide our own port-a-johns. Scott emphasizes that these ordinances will also affect the houseless population in general. This is an excuse to take away everyone’s civil liberties. Matthew spoke with Cecil Bothwell who says it is very likely the City Council will pass the ordinances unless an alternative is proposed. We must blow holes in the statements they’ve made. For example, can’t put a port-a-john near the encampment, so how can we deal with sanitation issues? Need a letter of intent for lawsuit because the ordinances are blatant discrimination in response to a political movement. Must draft something else to assure our safety and to ensure re-sodding of grass. City Attorney is on city staff; not an elected official, so this means that Mayor Bellamy asked him to draft the new ordinances that specifically target Occupy Asheville. She said she will not accept civil disobedience in “her town.” Matthew is starting a WG on this issue. Scott suggests being a Sanctuary City for the Democratic Process.

Please read the article below and then email the members of Asheville City Council and tell them what you think:

mayorbellamy@avlcouncil.com, emanheimer@vwlawfirm.com, cecil@braveulysses.com, jandavis@avlcouncil.com, marchunt@avlcouncil.com, chrispelly@avlcouncil.com, gordonsmith@avlcouncil.com,

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City of Cleveland Passes Emergency Vote to Support OWS

The Cleveland City Council pass an emergency resolution 1720-11 in support of Occupy Cleveland and the Occupy Movement in general. The final vote from all the Wards was 18 yea and 1 nay. With the passing of the 1720-11 resolution Cleveland (a US City with a population of 2,250,000 people) joins other cities (Seattle, LA and Chicago etc.) that also have voiced their official support of the Occupy Movement. The following Resolution was sent to President Barack Obama and all members of the U.S. Congress.

We are unstopable - another world is possible!

2011-12-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

"The Occupation" by David Wilcox

2011-12-09T01:29:00.000-08:00

GO OCCUPY GO!!!

2011-12-08T03:13:00.000-08:00

Ry Cooder - Wall Street Part of Town

2011-12-07T01:42:00.000-08:00

A Message for this season.....

2011-12-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

Protest song by Jackson Browne & Dawes

2011-12-05T01:38:00.000-08:00

They sang this at Occupy Wall Street on December 1, 2011. It did not even have a title yet.

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2011-12-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

A bunch of Asheville Santas exercising their free speech rights in front of the police station on 12-3-11.

UPCOMING EVENTS

12/05/11 MUSLIM AWARENESS PROJECT AT WARREN WILSON COLLEGE
“Muslim Economics and the Current World Economic Crisis” Visiting Guest: Dr. Zaid Albarzinji. Dr. Albarzinji is a native of Iraq, educated at the International Islamic University in Malaysia and with a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Utah, he works for the Bank of America in Charlotte. 5:45 p.m. Mierke Dining Room /Gladfelter. For questions, email: spirituallife@warren-wilson.edu

12/05/11 LECTURE AT UNCA
“Where have we been? Where are we? Where are we going? The Ebb and Flow of Empires” with Ann Dunn, lecturer in humanities. Held in Lipinsky Auditorium at 11:25 AM.

12/06/11 MUSLIM AWARENESS PROJECT AT WARREN WILSON COLLEGE
“Embracing Hope/Overcoming Fear” Visiting Guest: Shaikh Imam Yahya of the Muslim American Society in Charlotte. 5:45 p.m. Mierke Dining Room./Gladfelter. For questions, email: spirituallife@warren-wilson.edu

12/06/11 LECTURE AT UNCA
“The Arab Spring: Is it Summer (or Winter) Yet and Why Does It Matter? with James Larocco, director of the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Cost is $8. This will be held in the Reuter Center at 7 PM.

12/06/11 LATINO IMMIGRATION AND US POLICY
Elaine Lacy will discuss Latino immigration and US policy. Held in the Manheimer Auditorium of UNCA’s Reuter Center. Cost is $8 and time is 7:30 PM.

12/07/11 SIERRA CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY
Bring a dish for the potluck and a book to share. Social is at 7 PM. Location is the Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Street in Asheville.

12/08/11 HOMEWARD BOUND OF ASHEVILLE
Homeward Bound will be holding a fundraiser at Battery Park Book Exchange from 5 to 8 PM. They will also be collecting warm winter wear for the less fortunate. For more information please call 828-258-1695.

12/08/11 RALLY FOR THOSE ARRESTED FOR FREE SPEECH
This will be held at 8 AM in front of the Courthouse in Asheville. This is to support the people of Occupy Asheville who were arrested for free speech activities.

12/09/11 SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVIE NIGHT AT UU CHURCH
Tonight’s film will be “Forks over Knives” and will be shown at 7 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville at the corner of Edwin and Charlotte. Donations accepted.

12/12/11 NC POLICY WATCH CRITICAL CONVERSATION
The fall NC Policy Watch road trip continues! Chris Fitzsimon and Rob Schofield will be in Asheville for a noon Crucial Conversation at the Unitarian Universalist Church. They will review what a year of conservative leadership has meant for/inflicted on the N.C. General Assembly. Later that same day we’ll be in Boone at the Cooperative Extension Agricultural Conference Center at 7 PM. Cost is $10 and includes a box lunch. Register for the Asheville event at: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=15#reg-form

12/17/11 ENVISION AN OCCUPATION
A local activist presents photography and video of Liberty Plaza, hours before it was raided by NYPD. Prints will be be available for sale to benefit the Occupy Asheville Street Medic Team as it creates the Asheville Peoples Clinic, a free health clinic for the people of Asheville! Time is 6 to 9 PM and location is Firestorm Cafe.

*******************************************
ONGOING EVENTS
*******************************************
SUNDAY
Episcopal Peace Fellowship holds a weekly vigil from 4:30 to 5 PM at All Soul's Cathedral.

TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument

WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood Country Courthouse in Waynesville.
Asheville Cop Watch meeting at 5 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

FRIDAY
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square (Ash.) on the first Friday of the month.
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the Old Courthouse in Hendersonville

SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in Brevard.

Information on Occupy Asheville late breaking events: http://occupyasheville.org/calendar/

Go to occupyasheville.org for more information, or call 888-378-0788.

Occupy message....

2011-12-04T01:10:00.000-08:00

Wall Street is totally corrupt. AND they own our politicians and our political parties, resulting in crony capitalism. There actions over the last 12 or so years will bring the entire world to financial disaster.
And this corrupt capitalism is also destroying our environment, which will one day bring nearly the entire world to environmental disaster.

The “free market capitalism” that I grew up under is long, long gone, with crony capitalism firmly in its place.

The future will not be boring. OCCUPY EVERYWHERE!!

All those wars were for oil - per John Bolton

2011-12-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

He also shows that he is a totally immoral asshole.

Art show in Iraq

2011-12-02T19:08:00.000-08:00

An Iraqi man looks at anti-US cartoons displayed at an exhibition in Karbala, central Iraq, on November 28, 2011.

AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED SAWAF

Date created: 28 Nov 2011

A cartoon against US security firm Blackwater, which was barred from Iraq over a deadly 2007 shooting, is displayed at an exhibition in Karbala, central Iraq, on November 28, 2011. All US troops are due to depart Iraq by the end of the year, bringing to a close an almost nine-year war that has left thousands of US soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead, and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED SAWAF

Date created: 28 Nov 2011

It has killed HUNDREDS of thousands of Iraqis, maybe over a MILLION. - dancewater

Logos

2011-12-02T01:53:00.000-08:00

"After a recent conversation with a friend about the oil spill, I designed these logos to describe the connections between corporate power, American politics, war, and greed."
- Heather Ault

Occupy Sidney - a run down on our economy and it's problems

2011-12-01T01:51:00.000-08:00

"All you fascists bound to loose" by Woody Guthrie

2011-11-30T03:02:00.000-08:00

Another great song for the Occupy movement.

Military spending costs us jobs

2011-11-29T17:58:00.001-08:00

and even if it didn't, it is still wrong to destroy other people and their lands.

Hypocrisy

2011-11-29T01:20:00.000-08:00

“I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protestors. The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere.” – Barack Obama, 28 January 2011

Students at UC Davis during an Occupy Wall Street non-violent protest were pepper sprayed by police point blank, in the face, and just sat there, passively, and took it. This video in a few short hours has gone viral and rightly so. This will go down in history as a moment that America realized our police forces are not only para-military forces — and out of control, para-military forces — but they have lost their souls.

Link here. Picture taken on 11-18-11. I left a comment on the UC Davis police contact page about this vile and evil behavior.

Some of our military

2011-11-28T01:42:00.000-08:00

In a Friday, June 13, 2011 [should be 2003 – dancewater] file photo, U.S. military police officer Bryan Pacholski, left, comforts his hometown friend, U.S. military police David Borell, both from Toledo, Ohio, at the entrance of the military base in Balad, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Borell broke down after seeing three Iraqi children who were injured while playing with explosive material and then learning that Army doctors refused to treat them. Borrell says eight years later that the moment made him question what it means to be an American soldier, but he still respects the military.

(AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)

++++++++++

Some of our military people have outstanding morals and a very big heart. Too bad the rest of the US military, especially it's leadership, do not listen to them.

Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

2011-11-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

Photo: Student David Buscho, 22, speaks to the crowd during a rally on the University of California, Davis campus in Davis, Calif., Monday, Nov. 21, 2011 after police pepper-sprayed peaceful demonstrators during a protest on Friday. He was pepper sprayed on Friday. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

UPCOMING EVENTS

11/27/11 to 12/3/11 AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT
The AIDS Memorial Quilt “A Tapestry of Lives, Living with 30 Years of HIV/AIDS” will be hosted by the Western North Carolina AIDS Project at Pack Square, 2 South Park Square. Info at www.wncap.org. On 12/1/11, a candlelight memorial will be held to honor World AIDS Day from 7 to 9 PM at Pack Square.

11/29/11 MUSLIM AWARENESS PROJECT AT WARREN WILSON COLLEGE
“Representations of Muslim Women in Jordan and Indonesia: Diversity and Contradiction” . Visiting Guest: Dr. Siti Kusujiarti, a native of Indonesia and a professor of Sociology, Warren Wilson College, returning from a summer research project in Jordan. 5:45 p.m. Mierke Dining Room /Gladfelter. For questions, email:spirituallife@warren-wilson.edu

11/29/11 FORUM ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN NC
“The Real Death Penalty: A Summary of the Data and Scientific Studies” a public forum hosted by Dr. Matthew Robinson, professor of Government& Justice Studies at Appalachian State University. Time is 7 PM and location is UNC-Asheville's Highsmith Union Grotto. Dr. Matthew Robinson is the author of “Death Nation: The Experts Explain American Capital Punishment”. For more information, contact Alexandra at cury.alexandra@gmail.com or (828) 253-5088.

11/29/11 NC CONSERVATION NETWORK
This is part of the NC Take Action Tour, where NC Conservation Network will discuss what is happening in NC in regards to the environment. This will be held at Firestorm Cafe in downtown Asheville. Time is 6 to 8 PM.

11/30/11 BILL MCKIBBEN SPEAKS AT UNCA
At 7 PM, a number of groups, including the Western North Carolina Allliance, the Canary Coalition, Transition Asheville, the Sierra Club and others, will host Bill McKibben at Lipinsky Hall at UNCA. McKibben is the author of a dozen books about the environment, beginning with The End of Nature in 1989, which is regarded as the first book for a general audience on climate change. He is a founder
of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org, which has coordinated 15,000 rallies in 189 countries since 2009.

12/01/11 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street (the corner of Haywood and Roberts), Asheville. VFP CHAPTER 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

12/03/11 GREEN PARTY MEETING
The Buncombe County GREEN Party's business meeting is free & open to the public. It will be held from 10AM to noon, upstairs in the Fortune Building, 729 Haywood Rd., West Asheville. Contact Ronald @ 828LUCK180 or Larry @ 828-225-4347 for more information.

12/03/11 Occupy the Future!
This will be a day of families standing up together. At 12 PM, therewill be a carnival at Pritchard Park with kid-friendly and educational games, songs, performances, art stations, and learning opportunities.
At 3 PM, there will be a General Assembly, with activities and space set up for younger kids so that parents and teens can participate in the General Assembly. At 4 PM, there will be a parade on the sidewalk to Vance monument, and then at 5 PM there will be a picket at Vance monument.

12/05/11 MUSLIM AWARENESS PROJECT AT WARREN WILSON COLLEGE
“Muslim Economics and the Current World Economic Crisis” Visiting Guest: Dr. Zaid Albarzinji. Dr. Albarzinji is a native of Iraq, educated at the International Islamic University in Malaysia and with
a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Utah, he works for the Bank of America in Charlotte. 5:45 p.m. Mierke Dining Room /Gladfelter. For questions, email: spirituallife@warren-wilson.edu

12/06/11 MUSLIM AWARENESS PROJECT AT WARREN WILSON COLLEGE
“Embracing Hope/Overcoming Fear” Visiting Guest: Shaikh Imam Yahya of the Muslim American Society in Charlotte. 5:45 p.m. Mierke Dining Room./Gladfelter. For questions, email: spirituallife@warren-wilson.edu

12/07/11 SIERRA CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY
Bring a dish for the potluck and a book to share. Social is at 7 PM. Location is the Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Street in Asheville.

12/09/11 SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVIE NIGHT AT UU CHURCH
Tonight’s film will be “Forks over Knives” and will be shown at 7 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville at the corner of Edwin and Charlotte. Donations accepted.

12/12/11 NC POLICY WATCH CRITICAL CONVERSATION
The fall NC Policy Watch road trip continues! Chris Fitzsimon and Rob Schofield will be in Asheville for a noon Crucial Conversation at the Unitarian Universalist Church. They will review what a year of
conservative leadership has meant for/inflicted on the N.C. General Assembly. Later that same day we’ll be in Boone at the Cooperative Extension Agricultural Conference Center at 7 PM. Cost is $10 and
includes a box lunch. Register for the Asheville event at: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=15#reg-form

01/04/12 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
Richard Kark will discuss his river canoeing adventures over his lifetime. Social is at 7 PM and program starts at 7:30 PM. Locationis the Unitarian Church at 1 Edwin Street in Asheville.

01/12/12 TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF GUANTANAMO BAY PRISON
Amnesty International will be holding a protest in DC to mark this horrible anniversary.

*******************************************
ONGOING EVENTS
*******************************************
SUNDAY
Episcopal Peace Fellowship holds a weekly vigil from 5:30 to 6 PM at All Soul's Cathedral.

TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument

WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood Country Courthouse in Waynesville.
Asheville Cop Watch meeting at 5 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe.

FRIDAY
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square (Ash.) on the first Friday of the month.
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the Old Courthouse in Hendersonville

SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in Brevard.

Information on Occupy Asheville late breaking events: http://occupyasheville.org/calendar/

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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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VETERANS FOR PEACE INFORMATION

VFP CHAPTER 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

WAR CRIMES TIMES:http://www.WarCrimesTimes.org/
A publication of Veterans For Peace -- exposing the true costs of war.

Visit VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street (the corner of Haywood and Roberts), Asheville, 28801. (828-258-1800). Hours: Tue-Sat 11 to 3 pm

Song for the Occupy Movement

2011-11-26T01:54:00.000-08:00

From Naomi Wolf:

The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. ... No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act. ....No 3 was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.

When I saw this list – and especially the last agenda item – the scales fell from my eyes. Of course, these unarmed people would be having the shit kicked out of them.

NO to Co-option!

2011-11-25T01:52:00.000-08:00

Photo: A demonstrator with the Occupy movement holds a sign November 2, 2011 in Oakland, California (Eric Thayer / Getty Images / AFP)

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

NO to Co-Option and Misdirection By Democratic Party Operatives

Phase Two of Occupy Will Not Be Electoral

A Statement by the General Assembly of OccupyWashingtonDC.org and proposed to the Occupy Movement.

A growing list of media outlets and partisan organizations are urging us to "evolve," "mature," and "move on" to become part of the problem we have been protesting for months. Most specifically Move On and Rebuild the Dream are promoting and attempting to co-opt and divert the Occupy Movement into a policy of electing Democrats and legislative reform--thereby keeping a system based on control by the 1% firmly in place with yet more promises (never fulfilled) of "change we can believe in."

Both Move On and Rebuild the Dream have attempted in insidious ways to hitch their faltering Democratic wagons to the struggle and success of the Occupy Movement. Both have attempted to appear as supporters and organizational spokespersons for the Occupy Movement while in reality they are and always have been front organizations for the Democratic Party.

We believe elections are essential to a peaceful, just, and sustainable future, and we will continue to push for changes in our electoral system that will guarantee every human the right to vote for candidates who are not financially corrupted or filtered through gerrymandering, unreasonable ballot restrictions or corporate media gate-keeping, and to have our votes verifiably and publicly counted.

We believe, however, that elections alone cannot accomplish what is needed. We cannot "vote" against the disastrous influence of Wall Street or war profiteers by backing either of the two major political parties. Next year's presidential election and most congressional races will offer two major-party candidates, neither of whom agrees with the majority of the people on fundamental issues.

We will not divert our energies into electoral work.

We will not identify with or begin to make compromises and apologies for any party, political candidate, or elected official.

We demand that the corporate plutocracy be replaced by majority rule.

We will educate and organize. We will agitate and mobilize.

We will escalate our campaign of cultural and societal change.

We will bring increased pressure to bear on our government in Washington, D.C. We will bring this pressure as the people to the government as a whole, not as cheerleaders for one part of the government against another.

We will not go away, we will not be silenced, we will not relinquish the right to speak freely, to peaceably assemble, and to petition our government for a redress of grievances.

We will not relent. We will not be defeated. We will not be co-opted by either the Democratic or Republican Party, both of which have sold us out in Congress, the Supreme Court, and in the White House.

Tarak Kauff

Veterans For Peace

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

2011-11-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for all the people who have stood for justice, spoken out for justice, marched for justice, fasted for justice, written for justice, occupied for justice, rallied for justice or gone to jail for justice. And some of those folks are my family and friends! I am thankful they are in my life.... what a blessing!

Chimes of Freedom Flashing by Bruce Springsteen

2011-11-24T01:53:00.000-08:00

Chimes Of Freedom Lyrics
Written by Bob Dylan

Well, far between sundown's finish and midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashin'
As majestic bells of boats struck shadows in the sun;
Sayin', it may be the chimes of freedom flashin'

Flashin' for the warriors whose strength is not to fight;
Flashin' for the refugees on their unarmed road of flight.
And for each and every underdog soldier in the night
We gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin'

Well, in the city's melted furnace unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden here while the walls were tightenin'
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowing rain;
Dissolved into the wild bales of lightnin'

Yeah, tollin' for the rebel, yeah, tollin' for the raked
Tollin' for the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked.
Yeah, tollin' for the outcasts burnin' constantly at stakes
And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin'

And then through a cloud-like curtain in a far off corner flashed
There's a hypnotic, splattered mist was slowly liftin'
Well, electric light still struck like arrows
Fired but for the ones condemned to drift or else be kept from driftin'

Well, tollin' for the searching ones on this speechless, secret trail
For the lonesome haunted lovers with too personal a tale.
And for each young heart for each channeled soul misplaced inside a jail
Yeah, we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin'

Well, starry eyed and laughin' I recall when we were caught,
Trapped by no track of hours for they hang suspended
As we listened one last time, and we watched with one last look
Spellbound and swallowed "Has the tollin' ended?"

Yeah, tollin' for the achin' ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless, confused, accused, misused strung out ones at worst.
And for every hung out person in the whole wide universe
We gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin'

Direct action at the SOA Watch this past weekend in Georgia

2011-11-23T01:23:00.000-08:00

The direct actions of the students at UC Davis last week were impressive! They remained non-violent in spite of a violent attack by the UC Davis police, and they remained silent when the leader of their university walked past them. Since those events got so much publicity, I am not putting then on my blog. But here is another recent example of brave non-violent direct action, this time at the SOA protest in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Here are some of her words:

I'm ruined for life! Are you? When you witness injustice, it changes you, you can't function in the world the way you did before bearing witness. I think that's what brings so many of us here today... the human rights crimes, the unjust wars, the decades of terrorizing third world communities. Dick Cheney's greed. John Yoo's unethical lawyering. It's easy to withdraw and become hopeless. But our President, Barack Obama needs our help... it's important we keep showing up, as pacifists, as witnesses, as community activists knocking on the doors of Congress, engaging Columbus magistrates, now Stephen Hyles, in dialog about their complicit role in obstructing justice.

Gov. Walker gets mic checked!

2011-11-22T01:50:00.000-08:00

This happened earlier this month, and boy did they do a good job!