The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
State Legislator To Bring Back Equal Rights Amendment Resolution
By John Lyon
THE MORNING NEWS
LITTLE ROCK -- A state legislator said Tuesday she would propose again that Arkansas ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Rep. Lindsley Smith, D-Fayetteville, whose resolution proposing state ratification of the ERA was narrowly defeated in committee during the 2007 session, said she plans to bring back the resolution during the 2009 session and is confident it will pass this time.
"I've had legislators who've questioned it in the past say, 'Hey, I'm going to support it this time.' ... I think everything's in line to pass it in the next session," Smith said.
Jerry Cox, the executive director of the conservative Family Council, said his group will oppose the resolution, which he said would obliterate legal differences between men and women.
"I think it'll be a little easier to stop that, since we've already talked about it during the recent session," Cox said, noting that some of the legislators who initially signed on as co-sponsors of the resolution in 2007 later withdrew their sponsorship.
Congress passed the ERA in 1972, but to date only 35 states have ratified it. Approval in 38 states is required for the amendment to become part of the U.S. Constitution.
The amendment reads, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
Ratifying the amendment in Arkansas would send a message, Smith said.
"We're now in the column of 15 (states) that say gender equality is a bad idea. What this would do would make us No. 36 of the states that say gender equality is a good idea, and that's a great column to be in," she said.
Smith's 2007 resolution, which Gov. Mike Beebe supported, received a 10-10 vote in the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, falling just short of the 11 votes needed to advance.
Longtime ERA opponent Phyllis Schlafly testified before that committee that the amendment would cause women to be placed in combat, legalize same-sex marriage and eliminate restrictions on abortion.
Schlafly's arguments defied logic, Smith said Tuesday.
"Maybe people at the time believed that, but I don't think they'll fall for some of that this time," she said.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
More about January OMNI book forum
Re: OMNI BOOK FORUM IN JANUARY
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 12/27/08 6:40 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
I did get confused! For I thought the forum on CT was what you wanted or would want. I am delighted to have you join this forum on PREVENTING WARS.....through CRITICAL THINKING. I'll make the correction at once, and will advertise again. Lisa hadn't chosen her book yet, nor had I, waiting for Lisa.
On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 11:25 AM, Dick Bennett wrote:
NEWS RELEASE
DECEMBER 23, 20008
CONTACT: DICK BENNETT, 442-4600
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND ECOLOGY
OMNI PREVENTING WARS BOOK FORUM, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009, 6:30 PM at NIGHTBIRD BOOKS
OMNI BOOK FORUMS bring together people from all backgrounds to explore subjects of urgent importance to the people of the United States and of the world. The forums are another expression of OMNI's civic engagement in the creation of a living democracy. We do not accept the false idea that democracy can meet today's challenges without us. Rather we understand that freedom is most realized when practiced, both with each individual and as a body politic.
PREVENTING WARS (along with preventing further rise of CO2 and reducing it) will determine whether species will have a future. We have left the 20th century of slaughter from wars but the same causes of wars and the same horrendous weapons for mass killing remain and are being improved, and new weapons are being developed. One of the most urgent opportunities calling to us as citizens today is opposition to wars, particularly learning how to prevent them. One purpose of this Forum is to remind people of the numerous excellent human thought and practice that have preceded us. We need not reinvent the wheel while we are seeking new methods of resistance. A list of ways to prevent wars accompanied by illustrative books will be available.
Specifically EACH PANELIST will present one or more books, and then discussion will be opened to the audience of other citizens engaged in practicing living democracy.
PANELISTS
CLIFF MIKKELSON, author of Gospel of One, Letters of Aul
GLADYS TIFFANY, Co-President of OMNI
LISA SHARP, Proprietor of Nightbird Books:
EDRENE MCKAY, History Instructor, NWACC:
Moderator: Dick Bennett
Video: Jim Bemis
Camera: Paul Johnson
Refreshments: Paul Johnson
Nightbird Books is located on the NW corner of S. School/71B and 5th St./Highway 62 in the Mill Building.
Among Books to be Discussed:
Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson
The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux.
The Following is not part of the News Release, but offers additional ways to prevent wars for those of you interested:
PREVENTING WARS, A SELECTIVE, CLASSIFED LIST
(A small sample of the categories of resistance, and an extremely small sample of the books. )
Asterisk * indicates book has a panelist.
HOPE FOR PEACE BECAUSE WAR NOT INEVITABLE
The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence by Douglas Fry
CELEBRATE THE ONENESS OF ALL CREATION
*Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson (Cliff)
The Art of Non-War by Kim Michaels
Coon, Carl. One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them." Humanist P, 2007. Identifies a trend toward increased inclusiveness and world community.
ALTER AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
Changing the Bully Who Rules the World by Carol Bly
EXPLODE THE ILLUSIONS THAT LEAD TO WARS
American Wars: Illusions and Realities, ed. Paul Buchheit
ELIMINATE POVERTY AND OTHER ECONOMIC ORIGINS OF WARS
(countless books)
STOP KILLING
Consistently Opposing Killing ed. MacNair and Zunes
CHOOSE NONVIOLENCE
Non-Violence in an Aggressive World by A. J. Muste
*The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp (in 2 books) (Gladys)
JOIN THE PEACE MOVEMENT
Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941-1960 by Lawrence Wittner
Peace Movement Directory (North America) by James Richard Bennett
EDUCATE FOR TOLERATION
Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-Minded, Empathetic Children by Sara Bullard
SPREAD INCLUSIVENESS AND COMMUNITY
One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them" by Carl Coon
FREE EDUCATION FROM INDOCTRINATION FOR WAR
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux (EDRENE)
STUDY THE HISTORY OF US MILITARISM
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power by James Carroll
INSIST UPON ECONOMIC CONVERSION FROM MILITARIZED TO CIVILIAN ECONOMY
CHAMPION CRITICAL THINKING
Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas by Ronald Lindsay
Trilogy by Coralie Koonce, 2nd and 3rd vols. forthcoming.
ACKNOWLEDGE US IMPERIALISM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer
EXPOSE THE HARM DONE BY RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges
RECOGNIZE THE GOOD IN RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKING
New Testament Basis of Peacemaking by Richard McSorley
Christian Pacifism by Daniel Dombrowski
REDUCE THE COST OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND CONTROL OF POLITICIANS BY THOSE WHO SEEK WARS.
(instant runoff elections)
PROMOTE PEACE STUDIES AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROGRAMS
Global Directory of Peace Studies and conflict Resolution Prgrams (7th ed.) ed. Ian Harris and Amy Shuster
UNDERSTAND AND REFUSE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO WAR AND EMBRACE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO PEACE
DECRY THE HUBRISTIC DOCTRINE OF US EXCEPTIONALISM
COUNTER MILITARY RECRUITING, CUT OFF THE SUPPLY OF WARRIORS
REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN WARS
We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now ed. Murray Polner and Thomas Woods, Jr.
Dissent: Voices of Conscienc, Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq by Col. (Ret.) Ann Wright and Susan Dixon
CONFRONT THE CONSEQUENCES OF WARS
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer
EXPRESS YOUR REVULSION OVER THE EXPENSE AND WASTE OF WAR
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes,
PROSECUTE MASS MURDERERS AND WAR CRIMINALS
Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney by Loo and Phillips
.The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld : A Prosecution by Book by Michael Ratner
REVERE NONVIOLENT PEACEMAKERS, NOT WARRIORS
Great Peacemakers by Ken Beller and Heather Chase
Waging Peace II: Vision and Hope for the 21st Century, An Anthology of Essays ed. David Krieger and Frank Kelly
STRENGTHEN HUMAN RIGHTS
Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11 ed. Anne Fagan Ginger
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. From the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
GIVE YOUR MONEY FOR PEACE
Peace Is Everybody's Business: Half a Century of Peace Education with Elizabeth Evans Baker by Mara Daniels
REALIZE AND RESIST MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM
The End of America by Naomi Wolf
Killing Hope, Rogue State by William Blum
KNOW HOW TO RESIST
Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism ed. Benjamin and Evans (Code Pink)
Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries by Naomi Wolf
Peace First-- a New Model to End War by Uri Savir
Lessons From Iraq: Avoiding the Next War ed. by Miriam Pemberton
.Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement by Scott Ritter
Knowledge of nonviolent war prevention (alternatives to violence and threats of violence and armed force) is extensive, but little reported by mainstream media, which is why you and I must speak up! Send Dick your suggestions of additional categories (corporate profits, bureaucratic inertia, militaristic conditioning of youth, etc.) and books. Arrange the categories as you consider best. And buy the books as you are able: we will not have them if we do not buy them. These are concrete actions. And then do more. We are not helpless and will not be silent. For a CULTURE OF PEACE inside the US War System.)
Additional topics:
ignorance and fear
bigotry
religious intolerance
economics, desire for resources
economics, pursuit of profit
military-industrial complex
Corporation-Pentagon-White House-Congress-Mainstream Media System
ideas, ideologies
nationalism
masculinity
territory
lack of empathy and compassion
alienation from our true being and unity
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 12/27/08 6:40 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
I did get confused! For I thought the forum on CT was what you wanted or would want. I am delighted to have you join this forum on PREVENTING WARS.....through CRITICAL THINKING. I'll make the correction at once, and will advertise again. Lisa hadn't chosen her book yet, nor had I, waiting for Lisa.
On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 11:25 AM, Dick Bennett
NEWS RELEASE
DECEMBER 23, 20008
CONTACT: DICK BENNETT, 442-4600
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND ECOLOGY
OMNI PREVENTING WARS BOOK FORUM, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009, 6:30 PM at NIGHTBIRD BOOKS
OMNI BOOK FORUMS bring together people from all backgrounds to explore subjects of urgent importance to the people of the United States and of the world. The forums are another expression of OMNI's civic engagement in the creation of a living democracy. We do not accept the false idea that democracy can meet today's challenges without us. Rather we understand that freedom is most realized when practiced, both with each individual and as a body politic.
PREVENTING WARS (along with preventing further rise of CO2 and reducing it) will determine whether species will have a future. We have left the 20th century of slaughter from wars but the same causes of wars and the same horrendous weapons for mass killing remain and are being improved, and new weapons are being developed. One of the most urgent opportunities calling to us as citizens today is opposition to wars, particularly learning how to prevent them. One purpose of this Forum is to remind people of the numerous excellent human thought and practice that have preceded us. We need not reinvent the wheel while we are seeking new methods of resistance. A list of ways to prevent wars accompanied by illustrative books will be available.
Specifically EACH PANELIST will present one or more books, and then discussion will be opened to the audience of other citizens engaged in practicing living democracy.
PANELISTS
CLIFF MIKKELSON, author of Gospel of One, Letters of Aul
GLADYS TIFFANY, Co-President of OMNI
LISA SHARP, Proprietor of Nightbird Books:
EDRENE MCKAY, History Instructor, NWACC:
Moderator: Dick Bennett
Video: Jim Bemis
Camera: Paul Johnson
Refreshments: Paul Johnson
Nightbird Books is located on the NW corner of S. School/71B and 5th St./Highway 62 in the Mill Building.
Among Books to be Discussed:
Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson
The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux.
The Following is not part of the News Release, but offers additional ways to prevent wars for those of you interested:
PREVENTING WARS, A SELECTIVE, CLASSIFED LIST
(A small sample of the categories of resistance, and an extremely small sample of the books. )
Asterisk * indicates book has a panelist.
HOPE FOR PEACE BECAUSE WAR NOT INEVITABLE
The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence by Douglas Fry
CELEBRATE THE ONENESS OF ALL CREATION
*Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson (Cliff)
The Art of Non-War by Kim Michaels
Coon, Carl. One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them." Humanist P, 2007. Identifies a trend toward increased inclusiveness and world community.
ALTER AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
Changing the Bully Who Rules the World by Carol Bly
EXPLODE THE ILLUSIONS THAT LEAD TO WARS
American Wars: Illusions and Realities, ed. Paul Buchheit
ELIMINATE POVERTY AND OTHER ECONOMIC ORIGINS OF WARS
(countless books)
STOP KILLING
Consistently Opposing Killing ed. MacNair and Zunes
CHOOSE NONVIOLENCE
Non-Violence in an Aggressive World by A. J. Muste
*The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp (in 2 books) (Gladys)
JOIN THE PEACE MOVEMENT
Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941-1960 by Lawrence Wittner
Peace Movement Directory (North America) by James Richard Bennett
EDUCATE FOR TOLERATION
Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-Minded, Empathetic Children by Sara Bullard
SPREAD INCLUSIVENESS AND COMMUNITY
One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them" by Carl Coon
FREE EDUCATION FROM INDOCTRINATION FOR WAR
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux (EDRENE)
STUDY THE HISTORY OF US MILITARISM
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power by James Carroll
INSIST UPON ECONOMIC CONVERSION FROM MILITARIZED TO CIVILIAN ECONOMY
CHAMPION CRITICAL THINKING
Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas by Ronald Lindsay
Trilogy by Coralie Koonce, 2nd and 3rd vols. forthcoming.
ACKNOWLEDGE US IMPERIALISM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer
EXPOSE THE HARM DONE BY RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges
RECOGNIZE THE GOOD IN RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKING
New Testament Basis of Peacemaking by Richard McSorley
Christian Pacifism by Daniel Dombrowski
REDUCE THE COST OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND CONTROL OF POLITICIANS BY THOSE WHO SEEK WARS.
(instant runoff elections)
PROMOTE PEACE STUDIES AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROGRAMS
Global Directory of Peace Studies and conflict Resolution Prgrams (7th ed.) ed. Ian Harris and Amy Shuster
UNDERSTAND AND REFUSE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO WAR AND EMBRACE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO PEACE
DECRY THE HUBRISTIC DOCTRINE OF US EXCEPTIONALISM
COUNTER MILITARY RECRUITING, CUT OFF THE SUPPLY OF WARRIORS
REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN WARS
We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now ed. Murray Polner and Thomas Woods, Jr.
Dissent: Voices of Conscienc, Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq by Col. (Ret.) Ann Wright and Susan Dixon
CONFRONT THE CONSEQUENCES OF WARS
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer
EXPRESS YOUR REVULSION OVER THE EXPENSE AND WASTE OF WAR
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes,
PROSECUTE MASS MURDERERS AND WAR CRIMINALS
Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney by Loo and Phillips
.The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld : A Prosecution by Book by Michael Ratner
REVERE NONVIOLENT PEACEMAKERS, NOT WARRIORS
Great Peacemakers by Ken Beller and Heather Chase
Waging Peace II: Vision and Hope for the 21st Century, An Anthology of Essays ed. David Krieger and Frank Kelly
STRENGTHEN HUMAN RIGHTS
Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11 ed. Anne Fagan Ginger
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. From the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
GIVE YOUR MONEY FOR PEACE
Peace Is Everybody's Business: Half a Century of Peace Education with Elizabeth Evans Baker by Mara Daniels
REALIZE AND RESIST MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM
The End of America by Naomi Wolf
Killing Hope, Rogue State by William Blum
KNOW HOW TO RESIST
Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism ed. Benjamin and Evans (Code Pink)
Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries by Naomi Wolf
Peace First-- a New Model to End War by Uri Savir
Lessons From Iraq: Avoiding the Next War ed. by Miriam Pemberton
.Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement by Scott Ritter
Knowledge of nonviolent war prevention (alternatives to violence and threats of violence and armed force) is extensive, but little reported by mainstream media, which is why you and I must speak up! Send Dick your suggestions of additional categories (corporate profits, bureaucratic inertia, militaristic conditioning of youth, etc.) and books. Arrange the categories as you consider best. And buy the books as you are able: we will not have them if we do not buy them. These are concrete actions. And then do more. We are not helpless and will not be silent. For a CULTURE OF PEACE inside the US War System.)
Additional topics:
ignorance and fear
bigotry
religious intolerance
economics, desire for resources
economics, pursuit of profit
military-industrial complex
Corporation-Pentagon-White House-Congress-Mainstream Media System
ideas, ideologies
nationalism
masculinity
territory
lack of empathy and compassion
alienation from our true being and unity
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
OMNI book forum on Jan. 8, 2009
ibe
OMNI BOOK FORUM IN JANUARY
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 12/27/08 11:36 AM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
NEWS RELEASE
DECEMBER 23, 20008
CONTACT: DICK BENNETT, 442-4600
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND ECOLOGY
OMNI PREVENTING WARS BOOK FORUM, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009, 6:30 PM at NIGHTBIRD BOOKS
OMNI BOOK FORUMS bring together people from all backgrounds to explore subjects of urgent importance to the people of the United States and of the world. The forums are another expression of OMNI's civic engagement in the creation of a living democracy. We do not accept the false idea that democracy can meet today's challenges without us. Rather we understand that freedom is most realized when practiced, both with each individual and as a body politic.
PREVENTING WARS (along with preventing further rise of CO2 and reducing it) will determine whether species will have a future. We have left the 20th century of slaughter from wars but the same causes of wars and the same horrendous weapons for mass killing remain and are being improved, and new weapons are being developed. One of the most urgent opportunities calling to us as citizens today is opposition to wars, particularly learning how to prevent them. One purpose of this Forum is to remind people of the numerous excellent human thought and practice that have preceded us. We need not reinvent the wheel while we are seeking new methods of resistance. A list of ways to prevent wars accompanied by illustrative books will be available.
Specifically EACH PANELIST will present one or more books, and then discussion will be opened to the audience of other citizens engaged in practicing living democracy.
PANELISTS
CLIFF MIKKELSON, author of Gospel of One, Letters of Aul
GLADYS TIFFANY, Co-President of OMNI
LISA SHARP, Proprietor of Nightbird Books:
EDRENE MCKAY, History Instructor, NWACC:
Moderator: Dick Bennett
Video: Jim Bemis
Camera: Paul Johnson
Refreshments: Paul Johnson
Nightbird Books is located on the NW corner of S. School/71B and 5th St./Highway 62 in the Mill Building.
Among Books to be Discussed:
Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson
The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux.
The Following is not part of the News Release, but offers additional ways to prevent wars for those of you interested:
PREVENTING WARS, A SELECTIVE, CLASSIFED LIST
(A small sample of the categories of resistance, and an extremely small sample of the books. )
Asterisk * indicates book has a panelist.
HOPE FOR PEACE BECAUSE WAR NOT INEVITABLE
The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence by Douglas Fry
CELEBRATE THE ONENESS OF ALL CREATION
*Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson (Cliff)
The Art of Non-War by Kim Michaels
Coon, Carl. One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them." Humanist P, 2007. Identifies a trend toward increased inclusiveness and world community.
ALTER AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
Changing the Bully Who Rules the World by Carol Bly
EXPLODE THE ILLUSIONS THAT LEAD TO WARS
American Wars: Illusions and Realities, ed. Paul Buchheit
ELIMINATE POVERTY AND OTHER ECONOMIC ORIGINS OF WARS
(countless books)
STOP KILLING
Consistently Opposing Killing ed. MacNair and Zunes
CHOOSE NONVIOLENCE
Non-Violence in an Aggressive World by A. J. Muste
*The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp (in 2 books) (Gladys)
JOIN THE PEACE MOVEMENT
Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941-1960 by Lawrence Wittner
Peace Movement Directory (North America) by James Richard Bennett
EDUCATE FOR TOLERATION
Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-Minded, Empathetic Children by Sara Bullard
SPREAD INCLUSIVENESS AND COMMUNITY
One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them" by Carl Coon
FREE EDUCATION FROM INDOCTRINATION FOR WAR
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux (EDRENE)
STUDY THE HISTORY OF US MILITARISM
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power by James Carroll
INSIST UPON ECONOMIC CONVERSION FROM MILITARIZED TO CIVILIAN ECONOMY
CHAMPION CRITICAL THINKING
Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas by Ronald Lindsay
Trilogy by Coralie Koonce, 2nd and 3rd vols. forthcoming.
ACKNOWLEDGE US IMPERIALISM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer
EXPOSE THE HARM DONE BY RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges
RECOGNIZE THE GOOD IN RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKING
New Testament Basis of Peacemaking by Richard McSorley
Christian Pacifism by Daniel Dombrowski
REDUCE THE COST OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND CONTROL OF POLITICIANS BY THOSE WHO SEEK WARS.
(instant runoff elections)
PROMOTE PEACE STUDIES AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROGRAMS
Global Directory of Peace Studies and conflict Resolution Prgrams (7th ed.) ed. Ian Harris and Amy Shuster
UNDERSTAND AND REFUSE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO WAR AND EMBRACE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO PEACE
DECRY THE HUBRISTIC DOCTRINE OF US EXCEPTIONALISM
COUNTER MILITARY RECRUITING, CUT OFF THE SUPPLY OF WARRIORS
REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN WARS
We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now ed. Murray Polner and Thomas Woods, Jr.
Dissent: Voices of Conscienc, Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq by Col. (Ret.) Ann Wright and Susan Dixon
CONFRONT THE CONSEQUENCES OF WARS
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer
EXPRESS YOUR REVULSION OVER THE EXPENSE AND WASTE OF WAR
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes,
PROSECUTE MASS MURDERERS AND WAR CRIMINALS
Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney by Loo and Phillips
.The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld : A Prosecution by Book by Michael Ratner
REVERE NONVIOLENT PEACEMAKERS, NOT WARRIORS
Great Peacemakers by Ken Beller and Heather Chase
Waging Peace II: Vision and Hope for the 21st Century, An Anthology of Essays ed. David Krieger and Frank Kelly
STRENGTHEN HUMAN RIGHTS
Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11 ed. Anne Fagan Ginger
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. From the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
GIVE YOUR MONEY FOR PEACE
Peace Is Everybody's Business: Half a Century of Peace Education with Elizabeth Evans Baker by Mara Daniels
REALIZE AND RESIST MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM
The End of America by Naomi Wolf
Killing Hope, Rogue State by William Blum
KNOW HOW TO RESIST
Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism ed. Benjamin and Evans (Code Pink)
Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries by Naomi Wolf
Peace First-- a New Model to End War by Uri Savir
Lessons From Iraq: Avoiding the Next War ed. by Miriam Pemberton
.Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement by Scott Ritter
Knowledge of nonviolent war prevention (alternatives to violence and threats of violence and armed force) is extensive, but little reported by mainstream media, which is why you and I must speak up! Send Dick your suggestions of additional categories (corporate profits, bureaucratic inertia, militaristic conditioning of youth, etc.) and books. Arrange the categories as you consider best. And buy the books as you are able: we will not have them if we do not buy them. These are concrete actions. And then do more. We are not helpless and will not be silent. For a CULTURE OF PEACE inside the US War System.)
Additional topics:
ignorance and fear
bigotry
religious intolerance
economics, desire for resources
economics, pursuit of profit
military-industrial complex
Corporation-Pentagon-White House-Congress-Mainstream Media System
ideas, ideologies
nationalism
masculinity
territory
lack of empathy and compassion
alienation from our true being and unity
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
OMNI BOOK FORUM IN JANUARY
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 12/27/08 11:36 AM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
NEWS RELEASE
DECEMBER 23, 20008
CONTACT: DICK BENNETT, 442-4600
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND ECOLOGY
OMNI PREVENTING WARS BOOK FORUM, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009, 6:30 PM at NIGHTBIRD BOOKS
OMNI BOOK FORUMS bring together people from all backgrounds to explore subjects of urgent importance to the people of the United States and of the world. The forums are another expression of OMNI's civic engagement in the creation of a living democracy. We do not accept the false idea that democracy can meet today's challenges without us. Rather we understand that freedom is most realized when practiced, both with each individual and as a body politic.
PREVENTING WARS (along with preventing further rise of CO2 and reducing it) will determine whether species will have a future. We have left the 20th century of slaughter from wars but the same causes of wars and the same horrendous weapons for mass killing remain and are being improved, and new weapons are being developed. One of the most urgent opportunities calling to us as citizens today is opposition to wars, particularly learning how to prevent them. One purpose of this Forum is to remind people of the numerous excellent human thought and practice that have preceded us. We need not reinvent the wheel while we are seeking new methods of resistance. A list of ways to prevent wars accompanied by illustrative books will be available.
Specifically EACH PANELIST will present one or more books, and then discussion will be opened to the audience of other citizens engaged in practicing living democracy.
PANELISTS
CLIFF MIKKELSON, author of Gospel of One, Letters of Aul
GLADYS TIFFANY, Co-President of OMNI
LISA SHARP, Proprietor of Nightbird Books:
EDRENE MCKAY, History Instructor, NWACC:
Moderator: Dick Bennett
Video: Jim Bemis
Camera: Paul Johnson
Refreshments: Paul Johnson
Nightbird Books is located on the NW corner of S. School/71B and 5th St./Highway 62 in the Mill Building.
Among Books to be Discussed:
Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson
The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux.
The Following is not part of the News Release, but offers additional ways to prevent wars for those of you interested:
PREVENTING WARS, A SELECTIVE, CLASSIFED LIST
(A small sample of the categories of resistance, and an extremely small sample of the books. )
Asterisk * indicates book has a panelist.
HOPE FOR PEACE BECAUSE WAR NOT INEVITABLE
The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence by Douglas Fry
CELEBRATE THE ONENESS OF ALL CREATION
*Gospel of One, Letters of Paul by Cliff Mikkelson (Cliff)
The Art of Non-War by Kim Michaels
Coon, Carl. One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them." Humanist P, 2007. Identifies a trend toward increased inclusiveness and world community.
ALTER AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
Changing the Bully Who Rules the World by Carol Bly
EXPLODE THE ILLUSIONS THAT LEAD TO WARS
American Wars: Illusions and Realities, ed. Paul Buchheit
ELIMINATE POVERTY AND OTHER ECONOMIC ORIGINS OF WARS
(countless books)
STOP KILLING
Consistently Opposing Killing ed. MacNair and Zunes
CHOOSE NONVIOLENCE
Non-Violence in an Aggressive World by A. J. Muste
*The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp (in 2 books) (Gladys)
JOIN THE PEACE MOVEMENT
Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941-1960 by Lawrence Wittner
Peace Movement Directory (North America) by James Richard Bennett
EDUCATE FOR TOLERATION
Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-Minded, Empathetic Children by Sara Bullard
SPREAD INCLUSIVENESS AND COMMUNITY
One Planet, One People, Beyond "Us vs. Them" by Carl Coon
FREE EDUCATION FROM INDOCTRINATION FOR WAR
The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex by Henry A. Giroux (EDRENE)
STUDY THE HISTORY OF US MILITARISM
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power by James Carroll
INSIST UPON ECONOMIC CONVERSION FROM MILITARIZED TO CIVILIAN ECONOMY
CHAMPION CRITICAL THINKING
Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas by Ronald Lindsay
Trilogy by Coralie Koonce, 2nd and 3rd vols. forthcoming.
ACKNOWLEDGE US IMPERIALISM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer
EXPOSE THE HARM DONE BY RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges
RECOGNIZE THE GOOD IN RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKING
New Testament Basis of Peacemaking by Richard McSorley
Christian Pacifism by Daniel Dombrowski
REDUCE THE COST OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND CONTROL OF POLITICIANS BY THOSE WHO SEEK WARS.
(instant runoff elections)
PROMOTE PEACE STUDIES AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROGRAMS
Global Directory of Peace Studies and conflict Resolution Prgrams (7th ed.) ed. Ian Harris and Amy Shuster
UNDERSTAND AND REFUSE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO WAR AND EMBRACE THE PATRIOTISM THAT LEADS TO PEACE
DECRY THE HUBRISTIC DOCTRINE OF US EXCEPTIONALISM
COUNTER MILITARY RECRUITING, CUT OFF THE SUPPLY OF WARRIORS
REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN WARS
We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now ed. Murray Polner and Thomas Woods, Jr.
Dissent: Voices of Conscienc, Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq by Col. (Ret.) Ann Wright and Susan Dixon
CONFRONT THE CONSEQUENCES OF WARS
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer
EXPRESS YOUR REVULSION OVER THE EXPENSE AND WASTE OF WAR
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes,
PROSECUTE MASS MURDERERS AND WAR CRIMINALS
Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney by Loo and Phillips
.The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld : A Prosecution by Book by Michael Ratner
REVERE NONVIOLENT PEACEMAKERS, NOT WARRIORS
Great Peacemakers by Ken Beller and Heather Chase
Waging Peace II: Vision and Hope for the 21st Century, An Anthology of Essays ed. David Krieger and Frank Kelly
STRENGTHEN HUMAN RIGHTS
Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11 ed. Anne Fagan Ginger
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. From the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
GIVE YOUR MONEY FOR PEACE
Peace Is Everybody's Business: Half a Century of Peace Education with Elizabeth Evans Baker by Mara Daniels
REALIZE AND RESIST MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM
The End of America by Naomi Wolf
Killing Hope, Rogue State by William Blum
KNOW HOW TO RESIST
Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism ed. Benjamin and Evans (Code Pink)
Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries by Naomi Wolf
Peace First-- a New Model to End War by Uri Savir
Lessons From Iraq: Avoiding the Next War ed. by Miriam Pemberton
.Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement by Scott Ritter
Knowledge of nonviolent war prevention (alternatives to violence and threats of violence and armed force) is extensive, but little reported by mainstream media, which is why you and I must speak up! Send Dick your suggestions of additional categories (corporate profits, bureaucratic inertia, militaristic conditioning of youth, etc.) and books. Arrange the categories as you consider best. And buy the books as you are able: we will not have them if we do not buy them. These are concrete actions. And then do more. We are not helpless and will not be silent. For a CULTURE OF PEACE inside the US War System.)
Additional topics:
ignorance and fear
bigotry
religious intolerance
economics, desire for resources
economics, pursuit of profit
military-industrial complex
Corporation-Pentagon-White House-Congress-Mainstream Media System
ideas, ideologies
nationalism
masculinity
territory
lack of empathy and compassion
alienation from our true being and unity
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Spain becomes a democracy in 1978 on this day in history
1978: Spain becomes a democracy
After four decades of dictatorship, Spain became a democracy today when King Juan Carlos approved the country's new constitution. "Assembled members of the Cortes (Parliament) rose in a standing ovation as the 40-year-old king, who was the chosen heir of the late Generalisimo Francisco Franco, signed the document erasing the last vestige's of Franco's rule," informed The Newport Daily News on December 27, 1978. "The historic ceremony completed Spain's transition to a democracy following Franco's death Nov. 20, 1975."
After four decades of dictatorship, Spain became a democracy today when King Juan Carlos approved the country's new constitution. "Assembled members of the Cortes (Parliament) rose in a standing ovation as the 40-year-old king, who was the chosen heir of the late Generalisimo Francisco Franco, signed the document erasing the last vestige's of Franco's rule," informed The Newport Daily News on December 27, 1978. "The historic ceremony completed Spain's transition to a democracy following Franco's death Nov. 20, 1975."
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Truce of 1914 from newspaper archives
1914: "Christmas Truce" observed
Soldiers on the Western Front laid down their arms this evening in observance of the Christmas holiday. The "Christmas Truce," as it has been referred to, was proposed by Pope Benedict XV earlier in the month but was roundly rejected by commanders on both sides. Although the first denial had come from the Russians, whose Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7, eventually all sides refused to honor the truce.
Despite their commanders' refusal to honor the day, soldiers in the trenches on the Western Front embraced the truce by singing Christmas carols to each other across the area known as "no man's land." "[Foreign Legion officer Phil Rader said,] ‘We had been in the trenches for twenty consecutive days, before Christmas dawned. For twenty days we had faced that strip of land, forty-five feet wide, between our trench and that of the Germans that terrible no man's land, dotted with dead bodies, criss-crossed by tangled masses of barbed wire,’" reported The Sheboygan Press on March 25, 1915. "‘Thoughtlessly I raised my head, too. Other men did the same. We saw hundreds of German heads appearing. Shouts filled the air. What miracle had happened? Men laughed and cheered. There was Christmas light in our eyes and I know there were Christmas tears in mine. There were smiles, smiles, smiles, where in days before there had been only rifle barrels.’"
NOTE: Soldiers emerged from both sides of the trenches and entered no man's land, exchanging gifts, singing songs and in at least one area, playing a game of soccer. Groups of soldiers removed the bodies of their fallen comrades behind the lines, and for a brief time, were able to leave the war and rejoin civilization as they had once known it. Unfortunately, the war resumed the following day and where there had been smiles and songs the day before, there were again only the sounds of artillery and machine gun fire.
Soldiers on the Western Front laid down their arms this evening in observance of the Christmas holiday. The "Christmas Truce," as it has been referred to, was proposed by Pope Benedict XV earlier in the month but was roundly rejected by commanders on both sides. Although the first denial had come from the Russians, whose Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7, eventually all sides refused to honor the truce.
Despite their commanders' refusal to honor the day, soldiers in the trenches on the Western Front embraced the truce by singing Christmas carols to each other across the area known as "no man's land." "[Foreign Legion officer Phil Rader said,] ‘We had been in the trenches for twenty consecutive days, before Christmas dawned. For twenty days we had faced that strip of land, forty-five feet wide, between our trench and that of the Germans that terrible no man's land, dotted with dead bodies, criss-crossed by tangled masses of barbed wire,’" reported The Sheboygan Press on March 25, 1915. "‘Thoughtlessly I raised my head, too. Other men did the same. We saw hundreds of German heads appearing. Shouts filled the air. What miracle had happened? Men laughed and cheered. There was Christmas light in our eyes and I know there were Christmas tears in mine. There were smiles, smiles, smiles, where in days before there had been only rifle barrels.’"
NOTE: Soldiers emerged from both sides of the trenches and entered no man's land, exchanging gifts, singing songs and in at least one area, playing a game of soccer. Groups of soldiers removed the bodies of their fallen comrades behind the lines, and for a brief time, were able to leave the war and rejoin civilization as they had once known it. Unfortunately, the war resumed the following day and where there had been smiles and songs the day before, there were again only the sounds of artillery and machine gun fire.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Bill of Rights Day December 15, 2008
OMNI CELEBRATES BILL OF RIGHTS DECEMBER 15
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 12/14/08 4:07 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
OMNI BILL OF RIGHTS DAY DECEMBER 15 NEWSLETTER, Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, December 14, 2008
Contents:
Celebrate December 15
Free Materials
Patriot Act vs. Civil Liberties
Bill of Rights Day 2008 and ACLU
Related Protections of Liberty:
Habeas Corpus
Posse Comitatus vs. Militarism
Celebrate Bill Of Rights Day, December 15, 2008
I hope you are making plans to make December 15 a special day. The first ten Amendments to the United States Constitution, our Bill Of Rights were ratified on that day in 1791. If you have young family members take a little time to read the Bill Of Rights aloud with them. Ask them if they feel these rights are as important today (Dec. 15) as they were 217 years ago. Take it a little farther, talk to your friends, find out if they feel we are losing our rights. See if they feel some of them have been forgotten or are being ignored. Contact your Mayor and City Council. Urge them to pass a resolution making December 15th Bill Of Rights Day in your area. David Schantz of the Constitution Party
BILL OF RIGHTS DAY AND CONSTITUTION DAY
FREE DOCUMENTS Constitution Day Materials, US Constitution, Pocket Constitution ... The US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Articles Of Confederation. ... Please join us as we celebrate Constitution Day 2008, ...
PATRIOT ACT VS. BILL OF RIGHTS
"Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA Patriot Act, according to the ACLU: 50."
1. American Civil Liberties Union : USA PATRIOT Act
Reform the Patriot Act, rtpa.org Just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. There are ...
www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12126 - 30k - Cached - Similar pages -
2. Taking Back America: USA Patriot Act and Civil Liberties
Oct 26, 2001 ... The following databases will help you identify other material relating to the USA Patriot Act and civil liberties. ...
www.lib.washington.edu/Suzref/patriot-act/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages -
3. Reform the Patriot Act | American Civil Liberties Union
In early 2006, Congress reauthorized the Patriot Act without fixing the law's most fundamental flaws. On March 9, 2006, President Bush signed the flawed ...
www.reformthepatriotact.org/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages -
4. Video results for patriot act and civil liberties
1. Patriot Act - The War on Civil Liberties (1/3)
10 min
www.youtube.com
Unconstitutional - The War on Our Civil Liberties
68 min
video.google.com
5. VoteMatch: The Patriot Act harms civil liberties
VoteMatch Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz: The Patriot Act harms civil liberties.
www.ontheissues.org/VoteMatch/q19_2006.asp - 12k - Cached - Similar pages -
BILL OF RIGHTS DAY 2008 AND ACLU AROUND THE COUNTRY
ACLU of Northern California : Bill of Rights Day Celebration 2008
BOR Day - Special Events - Welcome to the ACLU of Hawaii Bill of Rights Day 2008! ACLU of Hawai'i Seeks Volunteers for National Bill of Rights Day! Monday, 12/15/08 Marks the 217th Anniversary of its Ratification ...
2008 Bill of Rights Day Celebration :: American Civil Liberties ... Our honorees have generously given their time and talents to the ACLU of Eastern Missouri over the course of our history. They have served as cooperating ...
ReadWriteThink: December 15, 2008: Bill of Rights Day is observed ... Bill of Rights Day is a good opportunity for students to explore a of Rights and the ...
HABEAS CORPUS AND POSSE COMITATUS: RELATED PROTECTIONS OF LIBERTY
HABEAS CORPUS
"Number of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African men detained in the U.S. in the eight weeks after 9/11: 1,182. Number of them ever charged with a terrorism-related crime: 0." "Harper's Index" (Jan. 09).
Habeas Corpus Defined and Explained
A habeas corpus petition is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or another's detention or imprisonment.
Habeas Corpus Defining habeas corpus, and how to petition for a writ. ... A petition for habeas corpus asks that a court order the custodian of a prisoner to bring the ...
The Restoration of Habeas Corpus Petition Steering Committee
The Restoration of Habeas Corpus Petition Steering Committee.
POSSE COMITATUS: PROTECTION AGAINST MILITARY
"More Troops Planned Inside U.S.: 20,000 would aid in disaster relief by 2011, officials say." ADG (12-1-8). An active duty combat brigade is now assigned to the Northern Command for the first time "to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials." But we should be alarmed. Thankfully the ACLU and the Cato Institute are speaking up against this expansion of executive authority. Disaster relief….and crowd control, terrorist attack….and arresting demonstrators. This is another leap in militarization by Homeland Security. Alert your legislators to keep our longstanding democratic tradition of wariness toward the use of standing armies to keep the peace. This breach of the Posse Comitatus Actis a heartbeat away from dictatorship. (Dick)
"The Law of Posse Comitatus: Police and military powers once statutorily divided are swiftly merging"
by Lynne Wilson, CovertAction Quarterly magazine, Fall 2002
Terrorism is escalating to the point that Americans soon may have to choose between civil liberties and more intrusive means of protection...
Former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen
Army Times, October 27, 1998
President Bush unveiled his broad "Homeland Security" department proposal in mid-July, including "a review of the law that could allow the military to operate more aggressively within the United States." The proposal champions a "greater involvement of military personnel" in "domestic preparedness and response efforts." Prior to this broad proposal, Department of Defense (DOD) officials repeatedly stated that they had no intention to recommend rewriting or repealing the Posse Comitatus Act, a post-Civil War statute that restricts the military's ability to participate in civilian law enforcement. That cautious approach has now been openly abandoned.
At this point, it may not matter. Not much of the Posse Comitatus Act is left to repeal. Whatever viewpoint you come at it from, whether from the perspective of an Army Delta Force commander or an antiglobalization activist, the Posse Comitatus Act no longer provides the strong wall between the military and domestic law enforcement for which it was originally intended.
"The military has been dragged into various internal security roles for a long time now," recently commented Peter Kraska, an expert on the militarization of local police.
BACKGROUND
The Posse Comitatus Act states simply:
Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878 to end military occupation of the defeated Southern states during the Reconstruction period. Southern Democrats had complained bitterly about the oppressive use of the military in a law enforcement role. The Act incorporates a founding American principle of keeping the nation's military forces separate from and subordinate to the "Civil Power.''
The Act embodies the long-standing principle in Anglo-American law that there should be a total separation of military from civil law enforcement. As one southern Senator stated during debates over the Act, "whenever you conclude that it is right to use the Army to...discharge those duties that belong to civil officers and to the citizens, then you have given up the character of your Government; it is no longer a government for liberty...it has become a government of force.''
That the Act provides much less of a shield against a "government of force" than its framers intended is the result of complex factors. Part of what has led to the erosion of military/civil law enforcement separation is the language of the Act itself. Unlike a constitutional provision such as the Fourth Amendment, it does not have the status of Supreme Law and can be amended or repealed or excepted by a simple congressional majority. Also unlike the Fourth Amendment, courts have consistently admitted, rather than excluded, evidence obtained in violation of it.
The Posse Comitatus Act is relatively narrow in its scope. For example, the Act appears to prohibit indirect involvement such as the supply of support, training, intelligence and equipment to civilian law enforcement. But courts have consistently interpreted its language to proscribe only direct military involvement in the execution of laws. Only one court has interpreted the Posse Comitatus Act broadly, finding the Act "absolute in its command and explicit in its exceptions.'' When applied in the context of an individual case, most courts essentially look the other way when a military officer is involved.
Furthermore, the Act only applies on its face to two military branches, the Army and the Air Force. It has been held to apply to the Navy and Marines by DOD regulation. It does not apply to the Coast Guard.
Because the federalized National Guard is part of either the Air Force or the Army, it is covered by the Act. When acting as a militia, however, a state's National Guard is exempt from the Act's proscriptions. By definition, state militias are armed and trained separately from regular armed forces. Under this "State Militia" exemption, state National Guard troops are free to make arrests and to conduct otherwise prohibited searches at airports and elsewhere.
Congress has approved the direct use of military troops during civil disturbances. These provisions grant the President the authority to use military troops to enforce civilian laws where a state has requested assistance or is unable to protect its citizens or property. An order to disperse must first be given. This statutory exception potentially encompasses any civil disturbance that might arise from "terrorist activity." It was used to justify the presence of active duty Army personnel in Los Angeles during the 1992 rioting subsequent to the Rodney King incident. The mere potential for a "civil disturbance" or a terrorist attack at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta drew over 10,000 U.S. troops and only a faint protest from Congress.
On its face, the Act only provides criminal sanctions as a remedy for violations. However, no one has ever been prosecuted for violating it. Criminal prosecution by the government is the only remedy, as the act by its terms does not give individuals the right to sue. Although attempts have been made to obtain civil damages for violations of the Act, recovery has only been successful against military officials for violating a plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents.
Courts have also consistently upheld military involvement in local law enforcement where a military purpose such as a "sting" operation justified the involvement. Consistent with the act's language, courts require the active involvement of military officers at the request of local law enforcement before a violation will be found. Such cases are almost nonexistent. Under this interpretation, U.S. Army Delta Force involvement during the 1999 Seattle anti-WTO protests did not violate the Posse Comitatus Act because the involvement occurred at the request of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, not the mayor of Seattle.
THIS JUST IN
One of the most hawkish congressional enthusiasts for Bush's plans to send U.S. troops to the streets of Baghdad is Joseph Biden, Democrat of Delaware. Apparently he wants to see the same troops on the streets of U.S. cities. Interviewed on Fox News on July 21, he strongly endorsed giving power of arrest to U.S. soldiers. Posse Comitatus, said Biden "has to be amended." Even Mr. Homeland Security Tom Ridge begged to differ.
WOUNDED KNEE
Prior to the "War on Drugs," military involvement in local law enforcement efforts was a relatively rare occurrence. The key exceptions were the use of military equipment and advisers during the large student demonstrations of the early 1970s and in the 1973 American Indian Movement occupation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Criminal litigation arising out of Wounded Knee did much to simultaneously clarify and confuse what military behavior does and does not constitute a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. The litigation also illustrates how fluid the boundaries of the Act are.
During AlM's takeover of the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, Army officers and the South Dakota National Guard supplied local law enforcement officials with military equipment including ammunition, weapons, flares, and armored personnel carriers. Mechanics from both the Nebraska and the South Dakota National Guards repaired and maintained the personnel carriers.
The U.S. government charged four AIM defendants with obstructing justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. §231(a)(3), an offense requiring interference with any "law enforcement officer lawfully engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties.'' Each federal court assumed that the National Guards had been federalized and were thus subject to the Act.
Each of the four defendants argued that the government could not prove "lawful performance" because civil reliance on military assistance at Wounded Knee violated the Posse Comitatus Act. Although the four federal courts looked at the same evidence, each came to a separate conclusion. The Banks court granted the motion for acquittal on the obstruction charges, stating that civil law enforcers had used the military "as a posse comitatus or otherwise." The Jaramillo court held that while the Act does not per se prohibit the furnishing of military equipment such as armored personnel carriers, advice rendered by military officers and the equipment maintenance performed by military personnel so "pervaded" the activities of civilian personnel that there was a reasonable doubt as to whether law enforcement officers were lawfully engaged in the performance of their duties.
The Red Feather court agreed that "direct active use" of military materiel violates the Act. But the Red Feather court went further to list what "active" military roles are forbidden in civil law enforcement: arrests, seizing evidence, searching persons or buildings, investigating crimes, interviewing witnesses, pursuing escaped prisoners and searching for suspects. In addition, the Red Feather court held as acceptable certain "passive" military roles that indirectly aid civil law enforcers, including the presence of military personnel giving advice or recommendations on tactics or logistics, delivering and maintaining military materiel, training civilian officials in the use and care of equipment and conducting aerial reconnaissance.
Significantly, the McArthur court, like the Red Feather and Jaramillo courts before it, concluded that the Act forbade neither the military's giving materiel or equipment to civil law enforcers, nor the lending of military advisers. However, although three of the four Wounded Knee courts came to this conclusion, none agreed on the standard to be applied to determine when the Act has been violated.
The disagreement among the Wounded Knee courts has created confusion about the Act's parameters. Four different levels of military involvement have been ruled to be acceptable:
* as long as citizens are not subjected to military compulsion;
* if it does not involve direct active use of troops in civil law enforcement;
* presence of military personnel must not pervade or influence the actions of civil officials; and
* mere presence of military advisers is unacceptable involvement.
On appeal, the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Wounded Knee convictions. In so doing, however, it merely agreed with the McArthur court's rationale that so-called "passive" military involvement is not prohibited. It did little to clarify what military activities, especially in the context of a mass protest, cross the Act's boundaries.
AMENDMENTS
Then came the Drug War in the early 1980s. This was the beginning of an almost obsessive congressional determination to insert a military presence into domestic drug law enforcement, regardless of Posse Comitatus. After the inconsistencies of the Wounded Knee cases, confusion persisted in the courts over what level of military involvement constituted a violation of the Act. Of particular concern was just where "active" participation ended and "passive" participation began. Because of conflicting court interpretations, military authorities expressed reluctance to assist civil law enforcement in the drug war even if the aid might be considered "legally proper."
Congressional hearings were held in 1981 to consider whether amendments to the Act were needed that would more clearly enable the military to "passively" provide intelligence, materiel, transport services, and training to local law enforcement agencies. In debating the proposed amendments, members likened drug smugglers to an "invading army" that was pitted against local law enforcers so lacking in resources that they could interdict only 15% of the then $80 billion worth of drugs flowing into the country annually.
Congress passed amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act as part of the DOD Authorization Act of 1982. The amendments passed over the numerous objections of civil liberties groups. Most important of these was the prediction that even passive military assistance, such as the provision of equipment and equipment operators on a routine basis, would unduly threaten the civil-military separation. Further, the ACLU warned that permitting military personnel to train civilians in the operation of military equipment would allow the military to assume functions that should be the responsibility of police academies.
The 1981 amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act permit the military to provide civilian law enforcement officials with information, equipment and facilities as well as training and advice. They further give military personnel limited authority to actually operate or maintain equipment made available to civilian forces in certain situations such as aerial reconnaissance when enforcing drug laws. Courts have interpreted these amendments as permitting the use of both military equipment and military operators to assist local police officers in searches for drugs.
Later amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act include a 1987 requirement that the Secretary of Defense conduct an annual briefing for local law enforcement personnel in each state regarding the "information, technical support, and equipment and facilities available to civilian law enforcement from the Department of Defense." This section also requires that the DOD make available to these law enforcement officials a comprehensive list of all the "suitable" military equipment available.
In addition, Congress specifically amended the Act in 1993 to provide procedures for states (and local agencies) to purchase "law enforcement equipment suitable for counter-drug activities" through the Department of Defense. What these amendments have meant is the proliferation of local police use of military equipment (flash-bang grenades, assault rifles, armored personnel carriers) that are accouterments of war. Anyone who has participated in anti-globalization protests such as those in Seattle or Washington, DC, has witnessed the proliferation of armored personnel carriers as weapons of intimidation. The use of such equipment is permissible under both amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act as well as court interpretations that approve of the use of military equipment by civilian law enforcement.
Other courts have gone further to say that there are no limits on a state governor's powers to use the National Guard "to execute the laws." Further, courts have also said that all a governor has to do is to "generally authorize" use of the National Guard, leaving implementation and supervision up to local police. At least one state court has held that such an arrangement (almost by definition) does not violate a state constitutional requirement that the "military must at all times be subordinate to civil authority."
COUNTER-TERROR AND BEYOND
In January 1999, the Department of Defense asked President Clinton to appoint a "military leader" in the event of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The powers of this "Homeland Defense Command" leader were left unclear. Also left unclear was just how far the U.S. Army can exercise "Homeland Security" law enforcement activities in light of what is left of the Posse Comitatus Act.
We now have a "terrorist attack" and the formation of a new "Homeland Security Department" seems imminent. What is left of the Posse Comitatus Act is being bent into strange contortions. At least 1,600 federalized National Guard troops now patrol "homeland security" activities along U.S. borders under the supervision of federal law enforcement agencies. These troops are considered exempt from the Act since they are somehow no longer part of the Army or Air Force once deputized and are rather under the operational control of a federal law enforcement agency. State-controlled National Guard troops patrol airports. The Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended expanding the use of federally funded state National Guard troops to perform other "homeland security" activities "as has been the practice for more than a decade in connection with counter-drug activities" authorized under 32 U.S.C. §112.
Other congressional discussions encompass the last Posse Comitatus barrier, that of involving the U.S. Army directly in routine state and local law enforcement activities of search, seizure and arrest. Last October, Senator John Warner (R-Va) ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, openly questioned the value of retaining the Posse Comitatus Act. Most military leaders don't even want the burden. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz rejected a suggestion that Army Delta Force troops be used to provide airliner security by saying: "This is fundamentally a civil function. It doesn't require all the exotic training that Delta Force members have. It requires law enforcement training that our people don't have."
But the last wall erected by the Posse Comitatus Act has more to do with our basic values and the democratic principles on which our country was founded and by which we profess to live than it does with the practicalities of training. As former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger stated bluntly, military involvement in civilian law enforcement is "extremely repugnant to a democratic society." It is truly a frightening thought that Americans might out of fear of terrorism choose "a more intrusive means of protection" over democracy, civil liberties and egalitarian values.
Lynne Wilson is a Seattle attorney who writes about police misconduct and new police technology for CovertAction and the National Lawyers Guild. She received the 2002 Paul Robeson Peace and Justice Lawyer of the Year award from Mothers for Police Accountability.
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380; www.lincoln.senate.gov; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/index.cfm; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
SENATOR Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908. www.pryor.senate.gov ; http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
SOME OF OMNI'S HOPES: PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AND WARS, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON'S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH. These are OMNI's ideals. Read our brochure and our newsletters, attend our Steering Committee, become an active member of one or more of our committees, participate in our dozens of activities to see how these broad goals for building a Community of Peace are realized in action.
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 12/14/08 4:07 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
OMNI BILL OF RIGHTS DAY DECEMBER 15 NEWSLETTER, Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, December 14, 2008
Contents:
Celebrate December 15
Free Materials
Patriot Act vs. Civil Liberties
Bill of Rights Day 2008 and ACLU
Related Protections of Liberty:
Habeas Corpus
Posse Comitatus vs. Militarism
Celebrate Bill Of Rights Day, December 15, 2008
I hope you are making plans to make December 15 a special day. The first ten Amendments to the United States Constitution, our Bill Of Rights were ratified on that day in 1791. If you have young family members take a little time to read the Bill Of Rights aloud with them. Ask them if they feel these rights are as important today (Dec. 15) as they were 217 years ago. Take it a little farther, talk to your friends, find out if they feel we are losing our rights. See if they feel some of them have been forgotten or are being ignored. Contact your Mayor and City Council. Urge them to pass a resolution making December 15th Bill Of Rights Day in your area. David Schantz of the Constitution Party
BILL OF RIGHTS DAY AND CONSTITUTION DAY
FREE DOCUMENTS Constitution Day Materials, US Constitution, Pocket Constitution ... The US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Articles Of Confederation. ... Please join us as we celebrate Constitution Day 2008, ...
PATRIOT ACT VS. BILL OF RIGHTS
"Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA Patriot Act, according to the ACLU: 50."
1. American Civil Liberties Union : USA PATRIOT Act
Reform the Patriot Act, rtpa.org Just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. There are ...
www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12126 - 30k - Cached - Similar pages -
2. Taking Back America: USA Patriot Act and Civil Liberties
Oct 26, 2001 ... The following databases will help you identify other material relating to the USA Patriot Act and civil liberties. ...
www.lib.washington.edu/Suzref/patriot-act/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages -
3. Reform the Patriot Act | American Civil Liberties Union
In early 2006, Congress reauthorized the Patriot Act without fixing the law's most fundamental flaws. On March 9, 2006, President Bush signed the flawed ...
www.reformthepatriotact.org/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages -
4. Video results for patriot act and civil liberties
1. Patriot Act - The War on Civil Liberties (1/3)
10 min
www.youtube.com
Unconstitutional - The War on Our Civil Liberties
68 min
video.google.com
5. VoteMatch: The Patriot Act harms civil liberties
VoteMatch Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz: The Patriot Act harms civil liberties.
www.ontheissues.org/VoteMatch/q19_2006.asp - 12k - Cached - Similar pages -
BILL OF RIGHTS DAY 2008 AND ACLU AROUND THE COUNTRY
ACLU of Northern California : Bill of Rights Day Celebration 2008
BOR Day - Special Events - Welcome to the ACLU of Hawaii Bill of Rights Day 2008! ACLU of Hawai'i Seeks Volunteers for National Bill of Rights Day! Monday, 12/15/08 Marks the 217th Anniversary of its Ratification ...
2008 Bill of Rights Day Celebration :: American Civil Liberties ... Our honorees have generously given their time and talents to the ACLU of Eastern Missouri over the course of our history. They have served as cooperating ...
ReadWriteThink: December 15, 2008: Bill of Rights Day is observed ... Bill of Rights Day is a good opportunity for students to explore a of Rights and the ...
HABEAS CORPUS AND POSSE COMITATUS: RELATED PROTECTIONS OF LIBERTY
HABEAS CORPUS
"Number of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African men detained in the U.S. in the eight weeks after 9/11: 1,182. Number of them ever charged with a terrorism-related crime: 0." "Harper's Index" (Jan. 09).
Habeas Corpus Defined and Explained
A habeas corpus petition is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or another's detention or imprisonment.
Habeas Corpus Defining habeas corpus, and how to petition for a writ. ... A petition for habeas corpus asks that a court order the custodian of a prisoner to bring the ...
The Restoration of Habeas Corpus Petition Steering Committee
The Restoration of Habeas Corpus Petition Steering Committee.
POSSE COMITATUS: PROTECTION AGAINST MILITARY
"More Troops Planned Inside U.S.: 20,000 would aid in disaster relief by 2011, officials say." ADG (12-1-8). An active duty combat brigade is now assigned to the Northern Command for the first time "to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials." But we should be alarmed. Thankfully the ACLU and the Cato Institute are speaking up against this expansion of executive authority. Disaster relief….and crowd control, terrorist attack….and arresting demonstrators. This is another leap in militarization by Homeland Security. Alert your legislators to keep our longstanding democratic tradition of wariness toward the use of standing armies to keep the peace. This breach of the Posse Comitatus Actis a heartbeat away from dictatorship. (Dick)
"The Law of Posse Comitatus: Police and military powers once statutorily divided are swiftly merging"
by Lynne Wilson, CovertAction Quarterly magazine, Fall 2002
Terrorism is escalating to the point that Americans soon may have to choose between civil liberties and more intrusive means of protection...
Former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen
Army Times, October 27, 1998
President Bush unveiled his broad "Homeland Security" department proposal in mid-July, including "a review of the law that could allow the military to operate more aggressively within the United States." The proposal champions a "greater involvement of military personnel" in "domestic preparedness and response efforts." Prior to this broad proposal, Department of Defense (DOD) officials repeatedly stated that they had no intention to recommend rewriting or repealing the Posse Comitatus Act, a post-Civil War statute that restricts the military's ability to participate in civilian law enforcement. That cautious approach has now been openly abandoned.
At this point, it may not matter. Not much of the Posse Comitatus Act is left to repeal. Whatever viewpoint you come at it from, whether from the perspective of an Army Delta Force commander or an antiglobalization activist, the Posse Comitatus Act no longer provides the strong wall between the military and domestic law enforcement for which it was originally intended.
"The military has been dragged into various internal security roles for a long time now," recently commented Peter Kraska, an expert on the militarization of local police.
BACKGROUND
The Posse Comitatus Act states simply:
Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878 to end military occupation of the defeated Southern states during the Reconstruction period. Southern Democrats had complained bitterly about the oppressive use of the military in a law enforcement role. The Act incorporates a founding American principle of keeping the nation's military forces separate from and subordinate to the "Civil Power.''
The Act embodies the long-standing principle in Anglo-American law that there should be a total separation of military from civil law enforcement. As one southern Senator stated during debates over the Act, "whenever you conclude that it is right to use the Army to...discharge those duties that belong to civil officers and to the citizens, then you have given up the character of your Government; it is no longer a government for liberty...it has become a government of force.''
That the Act provides much less of a shield against a "government of force" than its framers intended is the result of complex factors. Part of what has led to the erosion of military/civil law enforcement separation is the language of the Act itself. Unlike a constitutional provision such as the Fourth Amendment, it does not have the status of Supreme Law and can be amended or repealed or excepted by a simple congressional majority. Also unlike the Fourth Amendment, courts have consistently admitted, rather than excluded, evidence obtained in violation of it.
The Posse Comitatus Act is relatively narrow in its scope. For example, the Act appears to prohibit indirect involvement such as the supply of support, training, intelligence and equipment to civilian law enforcement. But courts have consistently interpreted its language to proscribe only direct military involvement in the execution of laws. Only one court has interpreted the Posse Comitatus Act broadly, finding the Act "absolute in its command and explicit in its exceptions.'' When applied in the context of an individual case, most courts essentially look the other way when a military officer is involved.
Furthermore, the Act only applies on its face to two military branches, the Army and the Air Force. It has been held to apply to the Navy and Marines by DOD regulation. It does not apply to the Coast Guard.
Because the federalized National Guard is part of either the Air Force or the Army, it is covered by the Act. When acting as a militia, however, a state's National Guard is exempt from the Act's proscriptions. By definition, state militias are armed and trained separately from regular armed forces. Under this "State Militia" exemption, state National Guard troops are free to make arrests and to conduct otherwise prohibited searches at airports and elsewhere.
Congress has approved the direct use of military troops during civil disturbances. These provisions grant the President the authority to use military troops to enforce civilian laws where a state has requested assistance or is unable to protect its citizens or property. An order to disperse must first be given. This statutory exception potentially encompasses any civil disturbance that might arise from "terrorist activity." It was used to justify the presence of active duty Army personnel in Los Angeles during the 1992 rioting subsequent to the Rodney King incident. The mere potential for a "civil disturbance" or a terrorist attack at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta drew over 10,000 U.S. troops and only a faint protest from Congress.
On its face, the Act only provides criminal sanctions as a remedy for violations. However, no one has ever been prosecuted for violating it. Criminal prosecution by the government is the only remedy, as the act by its terms does not give individuals the right to sue. Although attempts have been made to obtain civil damages for violations of the Act, recovery has only been successful against military officials for violating a plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents.
Courts have also consistently upheld military involvement in local law enforcement where a military purpose such as a "sting" operation justified the involvement. Consistent with the act's language, courts require the active involvement of military officers at the request of local law enforcement before a violation will be found. Such cases are almost nonexistent. Under this interpretation, U.S. Army Delta Force involvement during the 1999 Seattle anti-WTO protests did not violate the Posse Comitatus Act because the involvement occurred at the request of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, not the mayor of Seattle.
THIS JUST IN
One of the most hawkish congressional enthusiasts for Bush's plans to send U.S. troops to the streets of Baghdad is Joseph Biden, Democrat of Delaware. Apparently he wants to see the same troops on the streets of U.S. cities. Interviewed on Fox News on July 21, he strongly endorsed giving power of arrest to U.S. soldiers. Posse Comitatus, said Biden "has to be amended." Even Mr. Homeland Security Tom Ridge begged to differ.
WOUNDED KNEE
Prior to the "War on Drugs," military involvement in local law enforcement efforts was a relatively rare occurrence. The key exceptions were the use of military equipment and advisers during the large student demonstrations of the early 1970s and in the 1973 American Indian Movement occupation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Criminal litigation arising out of Wounded Knee did much to simultaneously clarify and confuse what military behavior does and does not constitute a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. The litigation also illustrates how fluid the boundaries of the Act are.
During AlM's takeover of the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, Army officers and the South Dakota National Guard supplied local law enforcement officials with military equipment including ammunition, weapons, flares, and armored personnel carriers. Mechanics from both the Nebraska and the South Dakota National Guards repaired and maintained the personnel carriers.
The U.S. government charged four AIM defendants with obstructing justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. §231(a)(3), an offense requiring interference with any "law enforcement officer lawfully engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties.'' Each federal court assumed that the National Guards had been federalized and were thus subject to the Act.
Each of the four defendants argued that the government could not prove "lawful performance" because civil reliance on military assistance at Wounded Knee violated the Posse Comitatus Act. Although the four federal courts looked at the same evidence, each came to a separate conclusion. The Banks court granted the motion for acquittal on the obstruction charges, stating that civil law enforcers had used the military "as a posse comitatus or otherwise." The Jaramillo court held that while the Act does not per se prohibit the furnishing of military equipment such as armored personnel carriers, advice rendered by military officers and the equipment maintenance performed by military personnel so "pervaded" the activities of civilian personnel that there was a reasonable doubt as to whether law enforcement officers were lawfully engaged in the performance of their duties.
The Red Feather court agreed that "direct active use" of military materiel violates the Act. But the Red Feather court went further to list what "active" military roles are forbidden in civil law enforcement: arrests, seizing evidence, searching persons or buildings, investigating crimes, interviewing witnesses, pursuing escaped prisoners and searching for suspects. In addition, the Red Feather court held as acceptable certain "passive" military roles that indirectly aid civil law enforcers, including the presence of military personnel giving advice or recommendations on tactics or logistics, delivering and maintaining military materiel, training civilian officials in the use and care of equipment and conducting aerial reconnaissance.
Significantly, the McArthur court, like the Red Feather and Jaramillo courts before it, concluded that the Act forbade neither the military's giving materiel or equipment to civil law enforcers, nor the lending of military advisers. However, although three of the four Wounded Knee courts came to this conclusion, none agreed on the standard to be applied to determine when the Act has been violated.
The disagreement among the Wounded Knee courts has created confusion about the Act's parameters. Four different levels of military involvement have been ruled to be acceptable:
* as long as citizens are not subjected to military compulsion;
* if it does not involve direct active use of troops in civil law enforcement;
* presence of military personnel must not pervade or influence the actions of civil officials; and
* mere presence of military advisers is unacceptable involvement.
On appeal, the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Wounded Knee convictions. In so doing, however, it merely agreed with the McArthur court's rationale that so-called "passive" military involvement is not prohibited. It did little to clarify what military activities, especially in the context of a mass protest, cross the Act's boundaries.
AMENDMENTS
Then came the Drug War in the early 1980s. This was the beginning of an almost obsessive congressional determination to insert a military presence into domestic drug law enforcement, regardless of Posse Comitatus. After the inconsistencies of the Wounded Knee cases, confusion persisted in the courts over what level of military involvement constituted a violation of the Act. Of particular concern was just where "active" participation ended and "passive" participation began. Because of conflicting court interpretations, military authorities expressed reluctance to assist civil law enforcement in the drug war even if the aid might be considered "legally proper."
Congressional hearings were held in 1981 to consider whether amendments to the Act were needed that would more clearly enable the military to "passively" provide intelligence, materiel, transport services, and training to local law enforcement agencies. In debating the proposed amendments, members likened drug smugglers to an "invading army" that was pitted against local law enforcers so lacking in resources that they could interdict only 15% of the then $80 billion worth of drugs flowing into the country annually.
Congress passed amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act as part of the DOD Authorization Act of 1982. The amendments passed over the numerous objections of civil liberties groups. Most important of these was the prediction that even passive military assistance, such as the provision of equipment and equipment operators on a routine basis, would unduly threaten the civil-military separation. Further, the ACLU warned that permitting military personnel to train civilians in the operation of military equipment would allow the military to assume functions that should be the responsibility of police academies.
The 1981 amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act permit the military to provide civilian law enforcement officials with information, equipment and facilities as well as training and advice. They further give military personnel limited authority to actually operate or maintain equipment made available to civilian forces in certain situations such as aerial reconnaissance when enforcing drug laws. Courts have interpreted these amendments as permitting the use of both military equipment and military operators to assist local police officers in searches for drugs.
Later amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act include a 1987 requirement that the Secretary of Defense conduct an annual briefing for local law enforcement personnel in each state regarding the "information, technical support, and equipment and facilities available to civilian law enforcement from the Department of Defense." This section also requires that the DOD make available to these law enforcement officials a comprehensive list of all the "suitable" military equipment available.
In addition, Congress specifically amended the Act in 1993 to provide procedures for states (and local agencies) to purchase "law enforcement equipment suitable for counter-drug activities" through the Department of Defense. What these amendments have meant is the proliferation of local police use of military equipment (flash-bang grenades, assault rifles, armored personnel carriers) that are accouterments of war. Anyone who has participated in anti-globalization protests such as those in Seattle or Washington, DC, has witnessed the proliferation of armored personnel carriers as weapons of intimidation. The use of such equipment is permissible under both amendments to the Posse Comitatus Act as well as court interpretations that approve of the use of military equipment by civilian law enforcement.
Other courts have gone further to say that there are no limits on a state governor's powers to use the National Guard "to execute the laws." Further, courts have also said that all a governor has to do is to "generally authorize" use of the National Guard, leaving implementation and supervision up to local police. At least one state court has held that such an arrangement (almost by definition) does not violate a state constitutional requirement that the "military must at all times be subordinate to civil authority."
COUNTER-TERROR AND BEYOND
In January 1999, the Department of Defense asked President Clinton to appoint a "military leader" in the event of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The powers of this "Homeland Defense Command" leader were left unclear. Also left unclear was just how far the U.S. Army can exercise "Homeland Security" law enforcement activities in light of what is left of the Posse Comitatus Act.
We now have a "terrorist attack" and the formation of a new "Homeland Security Department" seems imminent. What is left of the Posse Comitatus Act is being bent into strange contortions. At least 1,600 federalized National Guard troops now patrol "homeland security" activities along U.S. borders under the supervision of federal law enforcement agencies. These troops are considered exempt from the Act since they are somehow no longer part of the Army or Air Force once deputized and are rather under the operational control of a federal law enforcement agency. State-controlled National Guard troops patrol airports. The Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended expanding the use of federally funded state National Guard troops to perform other "homeland security" activities "as has been the practice for more than a decade in connection with counter-drug activities" authorized under 32 U.S.C. §112.
Other congressional discussions encompass the last Posse Comitatus barrier, that of involving the U.S. Army directly in routine state and local law enforcement activities of search, seizure and arrest. Last October, Senator John Warner (R-Va) ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, openly questioned the value of retaining the Posse Comitatus Act. Most military leaders don't even want the burden. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz rejected a suggestion that Army Delta Force troops be used to provide airliner security by saying: "This is fundamentally a civil function. It doesn't require all the exotic training that Delta Force members have. It requires law enforcement training that our people don't have."
But the last wall erected by the Posse Comitatus Act has more to do with our basic values and the democratic principles on which our country was founded and by which we profess to live than it does with the practicalities of training. As former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger stated bluntly, military involvement in civilian law enforcement is "extremely repugnant to a democratic society." It is truly a frightening thought that Americans might out of fear of terrorism choose "a more intrusive means of protection" over democracy, civil liberties and egalitarian values.
Lynne Wilson is a Seattle attorney who writes about police misconduct and new police technology for CovertAction and the National Lawyers Guild. She received the 2002 Paul Robeson Peace and Justice Lawyer of the Year award from Mothers for Police Accountability.
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380; www.lincoln.senate.gov; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/index.cfm; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
SENATOR Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908. www.pryor.senate.gov ; http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
SOME OF OMNI'S HOPES: PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AND WARS, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON'S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH. These are OMNI's ideals. Read our brochure and our newsletters, attend our Steering Committee, become an active member of one or more of our committees, participate in our dozens of activities to see how these broad goals for building a Community of Peace are realized in action.
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
December 10 is Human Rights Day and December 15 is Bill of Rights Day
OMNI HUMAN RIGHTS DAY DECEMBER 10
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AT 60. BILL OF RIGHTS DAY DECEMBER 15. For a CULTURE OF PEACE, Compiled by Dick Bennett, December 10, 2008.
HUMAN RIGHTS DAYS IN DECEMBER
DECEMBER 10 IS HUMAN RIGHTS DAY CELEBRATING the UDHR: THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. SIXTY YEARS AGO.
AND DECEMBER 15 IS BILL OF RIGHTS DAY.
On Nov. 16, 2008, TMN printed three articles about rights on the same page: "Election Spurs Threats," about threats against Obama; "Gay Advocates Protest Marriage Ban"; and a protest in Paris over wearing fur, "Activists Throw Flour on Lindsay Lohan." Negro rights, gay rights, animal rights: the great, long, inspiring struggle continues.
I mention TMN's past attention to rights to keep what I will now say in perspective. TMN made no mention of Human Rights Day or the UDHR today. Nor did NAT or ADG. To repeat, Human Rights Day celebrates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the greatest documents ever imagined and created for world peace and justice. Also, the UDHR is inseparable from the creation of the United Nations, for it was a child of the UN. Furthermore, it is inseparable from a United States that in 1945 valued human rights, for the USA was an original and foremost sponsor of the document, and Eleanor Roosevelt was highly influential in its composition. So the silence by our local media should be deeply offensive to us all at this moral crisis of our nation that invades nations without provocation, imprisons without charge or trial, wiretaps without warrants, and tortures. I appeal to you to speak up now, and to help OMNI in 2009 ensure that this media silence is not repeated and that HUMAN RIGHTS DAY is celebrated as it deserves. Write the newspapers, call your schools and ask what they are doing today, call Pres.-elect Obama (http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople)
and of course read the UDHR! Let us celebrate Human Rights Day today December 10 and Bill of Rights Day December 15, 2008 and 2009…...
Contents
Statement by UNA/USA December 10, 2008
Local Rights Organizations
National Rights Organizations
Human Rights Day, UDHR, DECEMBER 10
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Bill of Rights Day, DECEMBER 15
American Civil Liberties Union
Plays about Human Rights
Protest!
More Books about Human Rights
CELEBRATION OF UDHR BY UNA/USA
Print allUniversal Declaration of Human Rights Turns 60: Help Celebrate a Shared Success!
aaveryt@unausa.org
Dear Dick,
Sixty years ago today, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a groundbreaking document recognizing fundamental, equal, and inalienable rights for all individuals that was drafted at the UN under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Thanks in large part to the Declaration, much progress has been made in the realm of human rights. Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go.
In a 21st Century world in which violence, torture, human trafficking, and even genocide continue to persist, the Universal Declaration remains a unique and invaluable instrument for promoting universal respect for basic human rights.
Help commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and honor the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt, by calling on President-elect Obama http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
to recommit the United States to the Declaration's enduring principles and to work through the UN to promote human rights.
LOCAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
American Civil Liberties Union Chapter. Pres. Ann Heffernan, 582-1154.
Washington County Public Defender's Office. The Public Defenders have recently moved to the 2nd floor of the Terminella Building on College Ave.
Catholic Immigration Services, Dir. Frank Head, 927-1996.
NATIONAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
HUMAN RIGHTS/CIVIL LIBERTIES
ACLU
Amnesty International
GLAAD: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Los Angeles)
Human Rights Watch
International Rescue Committee (NY,NY)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, Baltimore)
PFLAG (glbtq)
S!Paz (Chico, CA)
United Farm Workers (Keene, CA)
WOMEN
Ms.Magazine
NOW Magazine,
Planned Parenthood (NY, NY)
CIVIL LIBERTIES (see: Human Rights)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Coalition Against Censorship
Newsletter
Free Press Action Fund (Northampton, MA)
National Coalition Against Censorship (NY, NY)
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Magazine
People for the American Way
Magazine
HUMAN RIGHTS DAY DECEMBER 10
60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
On 10 December, Human Rights Day, the Secretary-General launched a ... of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on Human Rights Day 2008.
UDHR 60 - Introduction
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns 60 on 10 December 2008. On Human Rights Day 2007, the United Nations Secretary General launched a ...
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day. A celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. by Elissa Haney ... 2000–2008 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease ...
The Interdependent (journal of the United Nations Association of the USA) Summer 2008 has several articles on the UDHR. "Expansion and Regression," "Human Rights at Risk? The Arbour Years and Beyond." "Louise Arbour in Her Own Words." And more.
Robert Tapp, "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Still Ahead of Its Time?" The Humanist (Nov.-Dec. 2008) www.thehumanist.org "This December 10, let's celebrate the still-young history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Let's keep it in the forefront of the world's attention….and bring our own country fully back into the UN…."
Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights
Official Website of Amnesty International in the United States. Protect Human Rights worldwide. Stop Torture, Defend Women's Rights, Abolish Death Penalty
Employment
Contact Us
Death Penalty
Take Action Online
Shop Amnesty
News
Student Center
About Us
More results from amnestyusa.org »
Death Penalty
By working towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International USA's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign looks to end the cycle
Amnesty International USA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amnesty International USA (AI USA) is a United States organization that works to end human rights abuses and part is of the Amnesty International network. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_International_USA - 31k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Amnesty International USA: News & Videos about Amnesty ...
On Feb. 5 a court in Hangzhou sentenced dissident journalist Lu Gengsong to four years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" with his critical ...
topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/amnesty_international_usa - 48k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Amnesty International Report 2008 •
Amnesty International presented its concerns to a Justice Department inquiry into taser deaths and reiterated its call on the US authorities to suspend the ...
thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/americas/usa - 80k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Home | Human Rights Watch
Throughout November, Human Rights Watch will honor individuals who defied .... Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 ...
Employment
More results from hrw.org »
IFF | Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700 Global Offices · Film Festival ...
Human Rights Watch: Middle East and Northern Africa
Jordan should end routine and widespread torture in its prisons, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch called on the ...
www.humanrightswatch.org/doc/?t=mideast - 47k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
New York | Human Rights Watch
New York. Voices for Justice. Nov 18, 2008 ... Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700 ...
thinkweb.hrw.org/en/taxonomy/term/791/all - 23k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
www.humanrightsfirst.org/ - 42k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Human Rights Watch - Defending Human Rights Worldwide
Home page for Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of ... Sudan: New Darfur Attacks Show Civilians Still at Risk ...
www.hrwatch.org/ - 35k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
International League of Human Rights
January 29, 2007 (New York) The International League for Human Rights mourns the ... Julie Su for Sweatshop Watch, a California-based coalition fighting
Human Rights First | Home Page
Human Rights First is a human rights advocacy group working on issues related ... of accountabilityAs the New York Times, Wall Street Journal (sub req'd. ...
TWO BOOKS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Ginger, Ann Fagan. Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11.
Hartmann, Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.
BILL OF RIGHTS DAY
United States Bill of Rights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 15 to be Bill of Rights Day, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights - 168k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
American Civil Liberties Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
a b "A Brief History of the American Civil Liberties Union", Champaign County ACLU. ^ "American Civil Liberties Union: The Roger Baldwin Years (1917–1950)". ...
American Civil Liberties Union : The Bill of Rights: A Brief History
In the summer of 1787, delegates from the 13 states convened in Philadelphia and drafted a remarkable blueprint for self-government -- the Constitution of ...
American Civil Liberties Union : The History of the ACLU Women's ...
The History of the ACLU Women's Rights Project (2/14/2002) ... This is the Web site of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation. ...
Aclu history
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defends legal cases involving the violations of civil liberties. It is a staunch supporter of the rights laid out ...
American Civil Liberties Union: Definition from Answers.com
In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the American Civil Liberties Union. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. —Robert C. Cottrell ...
Bill of Rights Institute
Nonprofit organization that works to strengthen civic knowledge and foster civic values among the next generation of citizens.
THREE BOOKS ON BILL OF RIGHTS
Alderman, Ellen and Caroline Kennedy. In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action.
Finan, Christopher. From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.
Romero, Anthony. In Defense of Our America: The Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age of Terror.
PLAYS ABOUT RIGHTS
Speak Truth to Power' Human Rights Play to Honor MLK Legacy Jan ...
Dec 8, 2005 ... The play, by Ariel Dorfman, is based on testimonies from human rights activists collected by Kerry Kennedy Cuomo in her book "Speak Truth to ...
www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/speak_truth.html - 20k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Drama for Life – News - Honours student brings human rights play ...
Sep 9, 2008 ... A play based on interviews with human rights defenders from around the world could have had a somewhat dry, documentary feel. ...
www.dramaforlife.co.za/index.php/news/entry/honours_student_brings_human_rights_play_to_life/ - 13k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Human Rights Play Performs in Doha in Aid of ROTA Charity Drive
Middle East's Leading Actors Portray Human Rights Defenders.
reachouttoasia.com.qa/output/page119.asp - 8k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Wyvern : People : November 2001
Human Rights is the title of a new play written by Jonathan Lichtenstein, ... The 45 minute play was inspired by a real life human rights case which saw a ...
www.essex.ac.uk/Wyvern/2001-11/people.htm - 6k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
PROTEST
Naomi Wolf, Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries
MORE BOOKS ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS
All of these books and films come from OMNI Resource Guide #32
--Bartels, Larry. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age. Princeton UP, 2008. The increasing economic inequality in the US and the failure of the political system to mitigate its effects on poor citizens
--Richards, Eugene. A Procession of Them. U of Texas P, 2008. 71 photos. Advert.: "unflinching ook at the inhuman conditions suffered by the mentally ill and disabled in many countries….the chaos, claustrophobiaw, and loneliness of these living hells."
--Hedges, Chris. American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. 2006.
--Turk, James and Allan Manson, eds. Free Speech in Fearful Times: After 9/11 in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Europe. Lorimer, 2007. Rev. Academe (July-August 2008). Negative reactions to 9-11 extended around the world. Some chapters tell of suffering personal injustices, some are historical accounts, and others give policy and cultural critiques..
--Shepard, Michelle. Guantanamo's Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr. Wiley, 2008. Rev. The Catholic Worker (Oct. Nov. 2008). A young Canadian citizen was kept in Guantanamo and tortured for 6 years without trial. The review also discusses Mohammed Jawad.
--Grant, Robert. American Ethics and the Virtuous Citizen: The Blessings of Liberty. Humanist P, 2008. The humanist moral grounding for all the freedoms we hold dear, including speech, press, assembly, association, the right to be free from arbitrary arrest, and sexual freedom. The book then broadens the case socially to support rights to a basic education and health care as well as the rights to marry and have children. This is the third in the American Ethics and the Virtuous Citizen series. The first two are:
--American Ethics and the Virtuous Citizen: Basic Principles.
--American Ethics and The Virtuous Citizen: The Right to Life. Applies principles to the issues of war, capital punishment, abortion, suicide, and other current concerns.
--Schulz, William, ed. The Future of Human Rights. U of Penn. P, 2008. 13 essays focus on US foreign policies. Schulz was Ex. Dir. of AIUSA and pres. of UUA. He is the author of 2 other books on human rights and a book on torture.
--Nickel, James. Making Sense of Human Rights. 1987. Focuses on bills of rights drafted since 1948 by the UN and the Council of Europe.
--Bacon, David. Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants. Beacon, 2008. Documents how undocumented workers have become the world's most exploited workforce. "Illegals" of all nationalities are central in the global struggle for economic justice.
--Bilal, Wafaa. Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life, and Resistance Under the Gun (with Kari Lydersen). Rev. The Progressive (Oct. 2008).
--Cockburn, Patrick. The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq. Verso, 2007. From the invasion to the quick uprising to the civil war and the "surge," a history of the occupation's continuing destabilization of Iraq and the M --Lambert, Alix. The Silencing. Pereceval, 2008. Advert. in The Progressive (Sept. 2008). About six Russian journalists who were murdered and the murder sites.
--Soldiers of Conscience documentary film. 2007. Publicity: "When is it right to kill? In the midst of war, is it right to refuse? Eight U.S. soldiers, some who have killed and some who said no, reveal their inner moral dilemmas in "Soldiers of Conscience."
--Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Violence. AI 2007 Report. Rev. Amnesty International (Fall 2008).
--Bamford, James. The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9-11 to the Eavesdropping on Americans. Interv. Amy Goodman 10-14-08. NSA eavesdrops on communications worldwide, including the US. PBS is making a film based on his book, to be shown Jan. 13, 2009.
--"Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship" documentary film: Chevron's participation in despoiling land and killing protesters.
--Dematteis, Lou, and Kayana Szymczak. Crude Reflections: Oil, Ruin and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest. Rev. Amnesty International (Fall 2008). Texaco spent 30 years plundering and polluting the Ecuadoran Amazon and then walked away. This book is about the class action lawsuit brought by the residents of the rainforest they trampled.
--Mother Jones March/April 2008, 5 essays: how CIA oursources torture, torture for pre-crime, one of the torturers, Abu Ghraib, etc.
--Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by US Personnel and Its Impact. Third Report by Physicians for Human Rights documenting the systematic use of torture during interrogation of detainees.
--Hilde, Thomas, ed. On Torture. Johns Hopkins UP, 2008. Bush Ad. use of torture is a regression of democracy, which is destroyed in the name of protecting it. History, debates, and calamity of torture.
--Nelson, Deborah. The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth about US War Crimes: Inside the Army's Secret Archive of Investigations. Rev. -PeaceWork (Nov. 2008). Report on the 9000 pages Army archive compiling US war crimes in Vietnam—including 300 atrocities and 500 other cases which weren't confirmed or investigated by the Army. Nelson demonstrates that US war crimes were systemic, tolerated, and even ordered by military leaders. (Has the army committed commensurate atrocities and coverup in Iraq? What will Obama do about them?) www.warbehindme.com
--Barlow, Maude. Blue Covenant. Exposes drive by corporations—Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Nestle, etc.-- to control water. Their propaganda at the Dem and Rep conventions was everywhere, for example.
OMNI'S HOPES INCLUDE: A WORLD FREE OF VIOLENCE AND WARS AND THE THREAT OF VIOLENCE AND WARS, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A CARING COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON'S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS (UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS), CIVIL LIBERTIES (BILL OF RIGHTS), SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE (RIGHTS DEPEND UPON JUSTICE), ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH. These are OMNI's ideals. Read our brochure and our newsletters, attend our Steering Committee, become an active member of one or more of our committees, participate in our dozens of activities to see how these broad goals for building a Community of Peace are realized in action. There is nothing vague about Building a Community of Peace through action.
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AT 60. BILL OF RIGHTS DAY DECEMBER 15. For a CULTURE OF PEACE, Compiled by Dick Bennett, December 10, 2008.
HUMAN RIGHTS DAYS IN DECEMBER
DECEMBER 10 IS HUMAN RIGHTS DAY CELEBRATING the UDHR: THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. SIXTY YEARS AGO.
AND DECEMBER 15 IS BILL OF RIGHTS DAY.
On Nov. 16, 2008, TMN printed three articles about rights on the same page: "Election Spurs Threats," about threats against Obama; "Gay Advocates Protest Marriage Ban"; and a protest in Paris over wearing fur, "Activists Throw Flour on Lindsay Lohan." Negro rights, gay rights, animal rights: the great, long, inspiring struggle continues.
I mention TMN's past attention to rights to keep what I will now say in perspective. TMN made no mention of Human Rights Day or the UDHR today. Nor did NAT or ADG. To repeat, Human Rights Day celebrates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the greatest documents ever imagined and created for world peace and justice. Also, the UDHR is inseparable from the creation of the United Nations, for it was a child of the UN. Furthermore, it is inseparable from a United States that in 1945 valued human rights, for the USA was an original and foremost sponsor of the document, and Eleanor Roosevelt was highly influential in its composition. So the silence by our local media should be deeply offensive to us all at this moral crisis of our nation that invades nations without provocation, imprisons without charge or trial, wiretaps without warrants, and tortures. I appeal to you to speak up now, and to help OMNI in 2009 ensure that this media silence is not repeated and that HUMAN RIGHTS DAY is celebrated as it deserves. Write the newspapers, call your schools and ask what they are doing today, call Pres.-elect Obama (http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople)
and of course read the UDHR! Let us celebrate Human Rights Day today December 10 and Bill of Rights Day December 15, 2008 and 2009…...
Contents
Statement by UNA/USA December 10, 2008
Local Rights Organizations
National Rights Organizations
Human Rights Day, UDHR, DECEMBER 10
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Bill of Rights Day, DECEMBER 15
American Civil Liberties Union
Plays about Human Rights
Protest!
More Books about Human Rights
CELEBRATION OF UDHR BY UNA/USA
Print allUniversal Declaration of Human Rights Turns 60: Help Celebrate a Shared Success!
aaveryt@unausa.org
Dear Dick,
Sixty years ago today, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a groundbreaking document recognizing fundamental, equal, and inalienable rights for all individuals that was drafted at the UN under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Thanks in large part to the Declaration, much progress has been made in the realm of human rights. Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go.
In a 21st Century world in which violence, torture, human trafficking, and even genocide continue to persist, the Universal Declaration remains a unique and invaluable instrument for promoting universal respect for basic human rights.
Help commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and honor the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt, by calling on President-elect Obama http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
to recommit the United States to the Declaration's enduring principles and to work through the UN to promote human rights.
LOCAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
American Civil Liberties Union Chapter. Pres. Ann Heffernan, 582-1154.
Washington County Public Defender's Office. The Public Defenders have recently moved to the 2nd floor of the Terminella Building on College Ave.
Catholic Immigration Services, Dir. Frank Head, 927-1996.
NATIONAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
HUMAN RIGHTS/CIVIL LIBERTIES
ACLU
Amnesty International
GLAAD: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Los Angeles)
Human Rights Watch
International Rescue Committee (NY,NY)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, Baltimore)
PFLAG (glbtq)
S!Paz (Chico, CA)
United Farm Workers (Keene, CA)
WOMEN
Ms.Magazine
NOW Magazine,
Planned Parenthood (NY, NY)
CIVIL LIBERTIES (see: Human Rights)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Coalition Against Censorship
Newsletter
Free Press Action Fund (Northampton, MA)
National Coalition Against Censorship (NY, NY)
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Magazine
People for the American Way
Magazine
HUMAN RIGHTS DAY DECEMBER 10
60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
On 10 December, Human Rights Day, the Secretary-General launched a ... of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on Human Rights Day 2008.
UDHR 60 - Introduction
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns 60 on 10 December 2008. On Human Rights Day 2007, the United Nations Secretary General launched a ...
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day. A celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. by Elissa Haney ... 2000–2008 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease ...
The Interdependent (journal of the United Nations Association of the USA) Summer 2008 has several articles on the UDHR. "Expansion and Regression," "Human Rights at Risk? The Arbour Years and Beyond." "Louise Arbour in Her Own Words." And more.
Robert Tapp, "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Still Ahead of Its Time?" The Humanist (Nov.-Dec. 2008) www.thehumanist.org "This December 10, let's celebrate the still-young history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Let's keep it in the forefront of the world's attention….and bring our own country fully back into the UN…."
Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights
Official Website of Amnesty International in the United States. Protect Human Rights worldwide. Stop Torture, Defend Women's Rights, Abolish Death Penalty
Employment
Contact Us
Death Penalty
Take Action Online
Shop Amnesty
News
Student Center
About Us
More results from amnestyusa.org »
Death Penalty
By working towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International USA's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign looks to end the cycle
Amnesty International USA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amnesty International USA (AI USA) is a United States organization that works to end human rights abuses and part is of the Amnesty International network. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_International_USA - 31k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Amnesty International USA: News & Videos about Amnesty ...
On Feb. 5 a court in Hangzhou sentenced dissident journalist Lu Gengsong to four years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" with his critical ...
topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/amnesty_international_usa - 48k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Amnesty International Report 2008 •
Amnesty International presented its concerns to a Justice Department inquiry into taser deaths and reiterated its call on the US authorities to suspend the ...
thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/americas/usa - 80k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Home | Human Rights Watch
Throughout November, Human Rights Watch will honor individuals who defied .... Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 ...
Employment
More results from hrw.org »
IFF | Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700 Global Offices · Film Festival ...
Human Rights Watch: Middle East and Northern Africa
Jordan should end routine and widespread torture in its prisons, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch called on the ...
www.humanrightswatch.org/doc/?t=mideast - 47k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
New York | Human Rights Watch
New York. Voices for Justice. Nov 18, 2008 ... Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700 ...
thinkweb.hrw.org/en/taxonomy/term/791/all - 23k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
www.humanrightsfirst.org/ - 42k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Human Rights Watch - Defending Human Rights Worldwide
Home page for Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of ... Sudan: New Darfur Attacks Show Civilians Still at Risk ...
www.hrwatch.org/ - 35k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
International League of Human Rights
January 29, 2007 (New York) The International League for Human Rights mourns the ... Julie Su for Sweatshop Watch, a California-based coalition fighting
Human Rights First | Home Page
Human Rights First is a human rights advocacy group working on issues related ... of accountabilityAs the New York Times, Wall Street Journal (sub req'd. ...
TWO BOOKS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Ginger, Ann Fagan. Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11.
Hartmann, Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.
BILL OF RIGHTS DAY
United States Bill of Rights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 15 to be Bill of Rights Day, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights - 168k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
American Civil Liberties Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
a b "A Brief History of the American Civil Liberties Union", Champaign County ACLU. ^ "American Civil Liberties Union: The Roger Baldwin Years (1917–1950)". ...
American Civil Liberties Union : The Bill of Rights: A Brief History
In the summer of 1787, delegates from the 13 states convened in Philadelphia and drafted a remarkable blueprint for self-government -- the Constitution of ...
American Civil Liberties Union : The History of the ACLU Women's ...
The History of the ACLU Women's Rights Project (2/14/2002) ... This is the Web site of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation. ...
Aclu history
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defends legal cases involving the violations of civil liberties. It is a staunch supporter of the rights laid out ...
American Civil Liberties Union: Definition from Answers.com
In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the American Civil Liberties Union. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. —Robert C. Cottrell ...
Bill of Rights Institute
Nonprofit organization that works to strengthen civic knowledge and foster civic values among the next generation of citizens.
THREE BOOKS ON BILL OF RIGHTS
Alderman, Ellen and Caroline Kennedy. In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action.
Finan, Christopher. From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.
Romero, Anthony. In Defense of Our America: The Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age of Terror.
PLAYS ABOUT RIGHTS
Speak Truth to Power' Human Rights Play to Honor MLK Legacy Jan ...
Dec 8, 2005 ... The play, by Ariel Dorfman, is based on testimonies from human rights activists collected by Kerry Kennedy Cuomo in her book "Speak Truth to ...
www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/speak_truth.html - 20k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Drama for Life – News - Honours student brings human rights play ...
Sep 9, 2008 ... A play based on interviews with human rights defenders from around the world could have had a somewhat dry, documentary feel. ...
www.dramaforlife.co.za/index.php/news/entry/honours_student_brings_human_rights_play_to_life/ - 13k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Human Rights Play Performs in Doha in Aid of ROTA Charity Drive
Middle East's Leading Actors Portray Human Rights Defenders.
reachouttoasia.com.qa/output/page119.asp - 8k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Wyvern : People : November 2001
Human Rights is the title of a new play written by Jonathan Lichtenstein, ... The 45 minute play was inspired by a real life human rights case which saw a ...
www.essex.ac.uk/Wyvern/2001-11/people.htm - 6k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
PROTEST
Naomi Wolf, Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries
MORE BOOKS ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS
All of these books and films come from OMNI Resource Guide #32
--Bartels, Larry. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age. Princeton UP, 2008. The increasing economic inequality in the US and the failure of the political system to mitigate its effects on poor citizens
--Richards, Eugene. A Procession of Them. U of Texas P, 2008. 71 photos. Advert.: "unflinching ook at the inhuman conditions suffered by the mentally ill and disabled in many countries….the chaos, claustrophobiaw, and loneliness of these living hells."
--Hedges, Chris. American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. 2006.
--Turk, James and Allan Manson, eds. Free Speech in Fearful Times: After 9/11 in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Europe. Lorimer, 2007. Rev. Academe (July-August 2008). Negative reactions to 9-11 extended around the world. Some chapters tell of suffering personal injustices, some are historical accounts, and others give policy and cultural critiques..
--Shepard, Michelle. Guantanamo's Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr. Wiley, 2008. Rev. The Catholic Worker (Oct. Nov. 2008). A young Canadian citizen was kept in Guantanamo and tortured for 6 years without trial. The review also discusses Mohammed Jawad.
--Grant, Robert. American Ethics and the Virtuous Citizen: The Blessings of Liberty. Humanist P, 2008. The humanist moral grounding for all the freedoms we hold dear, including speech, press, assembly, association, the right to be free from arbitrary arrest, and sexual freedom. The book then broadens the case socially to support rights to a basic education and health care as well as the rights to marry and have children. This is the third in the American Ethics and the Virtuous Citizen series. The first two are:
--American Ethics and the Virtuous Citizen: Basic Principles.
--American Ethics and The Virtuous Citizen: The Right to Life. Applies principles to the issues of war, capital punishment, abortion, suicide, and other current concerns.
--Schulz, William, ed. The Future of Human Rights. U of Penn. P, 2008. 13 essays focus on US foreign policies. Schulz was Ex. Dir. of AIUSA and pres. of UUA. He is the author of 2 other books on human rights and a book on torture.
--Nickel, James. Making Sense of Human Rights. 1987. Focuses on bills of rights drafted since 1948 by the UN and the Council of Europe.
--Bacon, David. Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants. Beacon, 2008. Documents how undocumented workers have become the world's most exploited workforce. "Illegals" of all nationalities are central in the global struggle for economic justice.
--Bilal, Wafaa. Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life, and Resistance Under the Gun (with Kari Lydersen). Rev. The Progressive (Oct. 2008).
--Cockburn, Patrick. The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq. Verso, 2007. From the invasion to the quick uprising to the civil war and the "surge," a history of the occupation's continuing destabilization of Iraq and the M --Lambert, Alix. The Silencing. Pereceval, 2008. Advert. in The Progressive (Sept. 2008). About six Russian journalists who were murdered and the murder sites.
--Soldiers of Conscience documentary film. 2007. Publicity: "When is it right to kill? In the midst of war, is it right to refuse? Eight U.S. soldiers, some who have killed and some who said no, reveal their inner moral dilemmas in "Soldiers of Conscience."
--Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Violence. AI 2007 Report. Rev. Amnesty International (Fall 2008).
--Bamford, James. The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9-11 to the Eavesdropping on Americans. Interv. Amy Goodman 10-14-08. NSA eavesdrops on communications worldwide, including the US. PBS is making a film based on his book, to be shown Jan. 13, 2009.
--"Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship" documentary film: Chevron's participation in despoiling land and killing protesters.
--Dematteis, Lou, and Kayana Szymczak. Crude Reflections: Oil, Ruin and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest. Rev. Amnesty International (Fall 2008). Texaco spent 30 years plundering and polluting the Ecuadoran Amazon and then walked away. This book is about the class action lawsuit brought by the residents of the rainforest they trampled.
--Mother Jones March/April 2008, 5 essays: how CIA oursources torture, torture for pre-crime, one of the torturers, Abu Ghraib, etc.
--Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by US Personnel and Its Impact. Third Report by Physicians for Human Rights documenting the systematic use of torture during interrogation of detainees.
--Hilde, Thomas, ed. On Torture. Johns Hopkins UP, 2008. Bush Ad. use of torture is a regression of democracy, which is destroyed in the name of protecting it. History, debates, and calamity of torture.
--Nelson, Deborah. The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth about US War Crimes: Inside the Army's Secret Archive of Investigations. Rev. -PeaceWork (Nov. 2008). Report on the 9000 pages Army archive compiling US war crimes in Vietnam—including 300 atrocities and 500 other cases which weren't confirmed or investigated by the Army. Nelson demonstrates that US war crimes were systemic, tolerated, and even ordered by military leaders. (Has the army committed commensurate atrocities and coverup in Iraq? What will Obama do about them?) www.warbehindme.com
--Barlow, Maude. Blue Covenant. Exposes drive by corporations—Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Nestle, etc.-- to control water. Their propaganda at the Dem and Rep conventions was everywhere, for example.
OMNI'S HOPES INCLUDE: A WORLD FREE OF VIOLENCE AND WARS AND THE THREAT OF VIOLENCE AND WARS, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A CARING COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON'S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS (UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS), CIVIL LIBERTIES (BILL OF RIGHTS), SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE (RIGHTS DEPEND UPON JUSTICE), ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH. These are OMNI's ideals. Read our brochure and our newsletters, attend our Steering Committee, become an active member of one or more of our committees, participate in our dozens of activities to see how these broad goals for building a Community of Peace are realized in action. There is nothing vague about Building a Community of Peace through action.
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Monday, December 8, 2008
Pearl Harbor Day remembered
OMNI NEWSLETTER FOR PEARL HARBOR DAY, DECEMBER 7, 2008. Compiled by Dick Bennett. Another in OMNI's NATIONAL DAYS series for a Culture of Peace.
OMNI has for seven years believed in preventing wars by advocating world peace through education, the arts and sciences, peacemaking in faith traditions, nonviolence, social and economic justice, human rights, mutual understanding, conflict resolution, diplomacy, negotiation, exchange programs. We have not promoted pacifism. That is, our advocacy has not been absolutist, but has depended upon the search for understanding. Therefore, study of US history has been an integral part of our program. We have tried to understand which of the many US wars and interventions could be justified. While US flag patriots have promoted the righteousness of an expanding empire, we, and the peace movement in general, have tried to discover, through a careful reading of US history, how many regime overthrows, coups, invasions, and occupations were defensible.
Some recent books about this history are American Wars: Illusions and Realities edited by Paul Buchheit, that examines nineteen illusions leading the US to war, and Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, a study of the toppling of fourteen foreign governments. Earlier, two books by William Blum surveyed all of the US interventions since WWII: Killing Hope and Rogue State. "From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggle against intolerable regimes" (Rogue State, p. 2). These books give us a history of the US as global bully.
World War II is not included in these histories; it has been "the good war" that produced "the greatest generation." However, recently US behavior in that war has received closer scrutiny. In Worshipping the Myths of World War II, Reflections on America's Dedication to War, Edward Wood, Jr., examines four myths "that have masked the real nature of World War II and all our wars that followed" (p. x). The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon by Michael Sherry traces the development and horrendous consequences of indiscriminate bombing of cities by air war. John Dower's War Without Mercy shows the similarities of US and Japanese ferocity.
But one book has a special importance for us today on December 7. Roland Worth, Jr. in No Choice But War: The United States Embargo Against Japan and the Eruption of War in the Pacific (McFarland, 1995) finds much to blame in both countries for causing World War II in the Pacific. He expresses no sympathy for Japanese militarism and aggression. But he also shows "the pivotal role of the U.S.-led economic embargo in pushing Japan over the edge into overt hostilities against the West. In other words the U.S. decision to embargo 90 percent of Japan's petroleum and two-thirds or more of its trade led directly to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941." "It was not just a matter of Japanese imperialism; the misjudged American response [of total embargo] sealed off the possibility of a peaceful solution or even of 'hot cold war'" and pushed the Japanese "beyond the point of no return" (ix-x).
During the past two decades, the official, patriotic, illusory enthusiasm for US wars that led to more wars has received significant deflation. The US wars were not inevitable. You and I now have a well-substantiated history that can lead to peace. Our task on Pearl Harbor Day and on all war-making national DAYS is to make that history known to the next generations of young people.
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380; www.lincoln.senate.gov; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/index.cfm; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
SENATOR Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908. www.pryor.senate.gov ; http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
SOME OF OMNI'S HOPES: A WORLD FREE OF VIOLENCE AND ESPECIALLY ON DECEMBER 7 A WORLD FREE OF NATIONAL AGGRESSION, A SOCIETY IN WHICH THE WORTH OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL IS VALUED SO HIGHLY THAT KILLING IS UNACCEPTABLE, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON'S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH. Read our brochure and our newsletters, attend our Steering Committee, become an active member of one or more of our committees, participate in our dozens of activities to see how these broad goals for building a Community of Peace are realized in action.
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
OMNI has for seven years believed in preventing wars by advocating world peace through education, the arts and sciences, peacemaking in faith traditions, nonviolence, social and economic justice, human rights, mutual understanding, conflict resolution, diplomacy, negotiation, exchange programs. We have not promoted pacifism. That is, our advocacy has not been absolutist, but has depended upon the search for understanding. Therefore, study of US history has been an integral part of our program. We have tried to understand which of the many US wars and interventions could be justified. While US flag patriots have promoted the righteousness of an expanding empire, we, and the peace movement in general, have tried to discover, through a careful reading of US history, how many regime overthrows, coups, invasions, and occupations were defensible.
Some recent books about this history are American Wars: Illusions and Realities edited by Paul Buchheit, that examines nineteen illusions leading the US to war, and Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, a study of the toppling of fourteen foreign governments. Earlier, two books by William Blum surveyed all of the US interventions since WWII: Killing Hope and Rogue State. "From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggle against intolerable regimes" (Rogue State, p. 2). These books give us a history of the US as global bully.
World War II is not included in these histories; it has been "the good war" that produced "the greatest generation." However, recently US behavior in that war has received closer scrutiny. In Worshipping the Myths of World War II, Reflections on America's Dedication to War, Edward Wood, Jr., examines four myths "that have masked the real nature of World War II and all our wars that followed" (p. x). The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon by Michael Sherry traces the development and horrendous consequences of indiscriminate bombing of cities by air war. John Dower's War Without Mercy shows the similarities of US and Japanese ferocity.
But one book has a special importance for us today on December 7. Roland Worth, Jr. in No Choice But War: The United States Embargo Against Japan and the Eruption of War in the Pacific (McFarland, 1995) finds much to blame in both countries for causing World War II in the Pacific. He expresses no sympathy for Japanese militarism and aggression. But he also shows "the pivotal role of the U.S.-led economic embargo in pushing Japan over the edge into overt hostilities against the West. In other words the U.S. decision to embargo 90 percent of Japan's petroleum and two-thirds or more of its trade led directly to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941." "It was not just a matter of Japanese imperialism; the misjudged American response [of total embargo] sealed off the possibility of a peaceful solution or even of 'hot cold war'" and pushed the Japanese "beyond the point of no return" (ix-x).
During the past two decades, the official, patriotic, illusory enthusiasm for US wars that led to more wars has received significant deflation. The US wars were not inevitable. You and I now have a well-substantiated history that can lead to peace. Our task on Pearl Harbor Day and on all war-making national DAYS is to make that history known to the next generations of young people.
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380; www.lincoln.senate.gov; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/index.cfm; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
SENATOR Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908. www.pryor.senate.gov ; http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
SOME OF OMNI'S HOPES: A WORLD FREE OF VIOLENCE AND ESPECIALLY ON DECEMBER 7 A WORLD FREE OF NATIONAL AGGRESSION, A SOCIETY IN WHICH THE WORTH OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL IS VALUED SO HIGHLY THAT KILLING IS UNACCEPTABLE, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON'S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH. Read our brochure and our newsletters, attend our Steering Committee, become an active member of one or more of our committees, participate in our dozens of activities to see how these broad goals for building a Community of Peace are realized in action.
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Sunday, December 7, 2008
OMNI group says bring home the troops Saturday on Joyce Boulevard
Please click on images to Enlarge view of OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology demonstrators on Joyce Boulevard on Saturday December 6, 2008.
Please click on images to ENLARGE.
Please click on images to ENLARGE.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
OMNI group says bring home the troops at 1 p.m. today on Joyce Boulevard. Everyone invited
Demonstration to Demand Withdrawl of US Troops from Iraq!
Make your voice heard in Fayetteville!
Northwest Arkansas says Bring the Troops home
Time and Place
Date:
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Time:
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location:
Sidewalks on the Intersection of Mall Ave. and Joyce Blvd
Street:
464 E Joyce Blvd
City/Town:
Fayetteville, AR
Phone:
4795862053
omni.publicity@gmail.com
We will meet on the street corner near the Best Buy parking lot which is just south of the Northwest Arkansas Mall. Signs will be provided.
This demonstration will be following by a series of demonstration on the first Saturday of every month at 1pm at Mall Ave. and Joyce Blvd.
Sponsored by the Omni Center for Peace.
For more information, call Chris at 586-2053 or visit http://www.makejobsnotwars.com/ .
This event has 3 confirmed guestsSee All
Adrienne Lopez Ted Swedenburg Chris Delacruz
The Wall
No one has said anything...yet.
Write something.
Remove from My Events
Share
Export
Your RSVP
You still need to RSVP.
Attending
Maybe Attending
Not Attending
Other Information
Guests are allowed to bring friends to this event.
Other Invites
Maybe Attending (9)See All
Susan Idlet Matthew Petty Christina Larson
Not Attending (21)See All
Tymythy Aieran Yonnie Nikki Lucas Ryan Boswell
Awaiting Reply (47)See All
Ryan Denham Jake Curtis Kaci Marie
Event Type
This is an open event. Anyone can join and invite others to join.
Admins
Northwest Arkansas says Bring the Troops home (creator)
Make your voice heard in Fayetteville!
Northwest Arkansas says Bring the Troops home
Time and Place
Date:
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Time:
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location:
Sidewalks on the Intersection of Mall Ave. and Joyce Blvd
Street:
464 E Joyce Blvd
City/Town:
Fayetteville, AR
Phone:
4795862053
omni.publicity@gmail.com
We will meet on the street corner near the Best Buy parking lot which is just south of the Northwest Arkansas Mall. Signs will be provided.
This demonstration will be following by a series of demonstration on the first Saturday of every month at 1pm at Mall Ave. and Joyce Blvd.
Sponsored by the Omni Center for Peace.
For more information, call Chris at 586-2053 or visit http://www.makejobsnotwars.com/ .
This event has 3 confirmed guestsSee All
Adrienne Lopez Ted Swedenburg Chris Delacruz
The Wall
No one has said anything...yet.
Write something.
Remove from My Events
Share
Export
Your RSVP
You still need to RSVP.
Attending
Maybe Attending
Not Attending
Other Information
Guests are allowed to bring friends to this event.
Other Invites
Maybe Attending (9)See All
Susan Idlet Matthew Petty Christina Larson
Not Attending (21)See All
Tymythy Aieran Yonnie Nikki Lucas Ryan Boswell
Awaiting Reply (47)See All
Ryan Denham Jake Curtis Kaci Marie
Event Type
This is an open event. Anyone can join and invite others to join.
Admins
Northwest Arkansas says Bring the Troops home (creator)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
OMNI newsletter Obama from Dec. 3, 2008
OMNI NEWSLETTER ON PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Wed 12/03/08 2:34 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
OMNI NEWSLETTER, OBAMA WATCH 2 FOR A BETTER PRESIDENT, Compiled by Dick Bennett, December 3, 2008, For a Culture of Peace and Justice.
The following is part of a letter from Senator Obama's campaign asking for a donation: "Tuesday we will do nothing less than choose a course for our country. And the feeling in the air right now makes me very hopeful that we will choose a different course this Election Day. Now is our nation's chance to finally live up to our promise as a world leader for freedom and democracy. Now is our chance to say "No!" to more divisiveness, more shrinking of our rights, more abuses of power. Now is our chance to take our country back." These are stirring hopes. Who would not wish these wishes could come true.
The Berlin Wall, built to isolate East Germans from the West, was both a symbol and an instrument of violations of the rights of the East German people. The US celebrated the removal of the Wall. But for many decades the US has been building its own walls to similarly restrict the liberties of people here and abroad. The Pentagon and the CIA, although established to prepare for war, were given the titular wall of Department of Defense to contain the Soviet "enemy" of those days. Simultaneously developed McCarthyism, which became the wall of US homegrown repression that has lasted sixty years and recently under the Bush Administration, the Patriot Act, and Homeland Security distinctly worsened. Also during the last sixty years the US foreign security apparatuses—Pentagon, CIA, NSA--functioned preemptively to intervene in and invade other countries. I have been describing the bipartisan US National Security State.
Now with Obama we hope again. Despite the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the first posting of a military unit on US soil assigned to control civil "disturbances," we have achieved another peaceful transfer of presidential power. And who a year ago would have imagined the election of a Negro as President?
"Now is our chance to take our country back"—yes. But this will be more difficult that the enthusiastic campaigner imagines. Back? From the walls of warrantless surveillance, denial of habeas corpus, and torture, from a militarized economy, invasions, and global antagonism, and from financial collapse?
All of us old enough to remember what happened under President Clinton must feel an uneasy hope, despite the nation's financial success under his leadership. Remember his embrace of anti-democratic measures in the dark year of 1996: anti-terrorism legislation (leading to the Patriot Act), ending the aid to dependent children programs (without adequate transition assistance to the mothers and children), the Telecommunications Act (accelerating monopoly). Remember the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, signed by Bill Clinton in 1999, repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, ending the separation of commercial and investment banks, and leading to the financial disasters and bailouts of 2008. Remember the bombings of Serbia in violation of international law. The same forces Clinton obeyed then remain in power today.
The National Security Corporate-Congressional-Presidential-Warfare-Mainstream Media State remains regnant, and President-Elect Obama did not reject it. During his campaign, President-Elect Obama repudiated neither the corporate state system nor the surveillance /war system. Given the interrelated, concerted power of both, we know he could not.
Still we yearn to take our country back from anti-democratic forces corrupting our nation with money--with lobbyists and large campaign contributions. We want a president who will return to a progressive agenda designed for the people. But President-Elect Obama for his campaign took in millions of dollars from corporations, to which he is now beholden. Now as President he must listen to the thousands of lobbyists of the same corporations that destroyed the people's movement and its living wages and livable pensions.
And we want to hope what the Obama campaigner wrote: "Now is our nation's chance to finally live up to our promise as a world leader for freedom and democracy." But by re-appointing Secretary Gates we know with certainty he listens to the Pentagon. Barack Obama does not, cannot intend to alter anything fundamental in the all-powerful Corporate-Pentagon-Executive-Congress-Mainstream Media Complex that has illegally intervened in and invaded over forty nations since WWII.
"Now is our nation's chance." I understand these words as addressed no more to President-Elect Obama than to me and you and you. The forces of wealth and military power will be too much for our President--unless We, the People now engage in politics like we never have before. You and I exemplify We, the People, the fourth branch of government—the civil society—intended to check and direct the other three. We should stand by our Constitution, look squarely at our country's history and the Corporate-Pentagon System it has produced, understand the strengths and weaknesses of President-Elect Obama and Congress, and organize to help them be wiser, caring defenders of peace, justice, and the environment—to regain a just social contract, to reconfirm the balance among the branches of government. Exhausted as we may be, we must face the reality that the campaign for Barack Obama as a progressive president is actually only just beginning.
What follows is a collection of writings that lay the foundation for the struggle to persuade President-Elect Obama and Congress to be the agents of change candidate Obama claimed to be.
"Let America be America Again" (Langston Hughes, 1938).
"Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be."
See Cynthia Peters' article on the pressure from the grass roots needed for serious change.
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3673
Here is the email address for Obama's Transition Office. Let's flood it with letters and phone calls beginning today. http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
References
Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage, 1995.
Buchheit, Paul, ed. American Wars: Illusions and Realities. Clarity, 2008.
Carroll, James. House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Greider, William. "The Marathon Man." The Nation (Nov. 17, 2008) 7-8.
Hertsgaard, Mark. "Wanted: A Climate Bailout." The Nation (Nov. 17, 2008) 7-8.
Hughes, Langston. "Let America Be America Again," poem. Originally published in Esquire and in the International Worker Order pamphlet "A New Song" (1938). Set to music by Kelly Mulhollan.
Rasmus, Jack. The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George w. Bush, Economic Class War in America. KP, 2006.
Speth, James G. The Bridge at the End of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. Yale UP, 2008.
Stiglitz, Joseph, and Linda Bilmes. The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. Norton, 2008.
CONTENTS
(Of course these topics do not cover all of even the most important. The third newsletter will fill in gaps. Contact Dick with suggestions; forward good materials about Obama's decisions, appointments, revisions of Bush laws.)
Obama's Hope
Hedges' Critique
Cockburn's Analysis (Nov. 10, 08)
Adolph Reed Jr.'s Analysis (Fall 2008)
"Democratic Vistas" Editorial (Nov. 10)
FCNL: Reclaiming the Balance of Power (Oct. 08)
Book: Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy
Editors of The Nation for a Progressive Platform (Sept. and Aug. 08)
Progressive Change
Liberal Critics of Obama
Peace and Justice Movement Engages Obama (Summer 08)
Obama Does It All!
For following contents go to OMNI's website: www.omnicenter.org
Video Analysis of Obama
Mainly International:
Treaty with Iraq
Pentagon, US Warfare State and Nuclear Weapons
Obama's Voting Record for Military
Cluster Bomb Treaty
Appointment of Gates
Nuclear Weapons and War
Nuclear Disarmament
National Security State, Imperialism
Torture
United Nations
Iran
Israel
Palestinian State and Israel
Mainly Domestic:
Impeachment and Prosecution of B&C
Corporations
Deregulation
Health Care
Unions
Food
Energy, health, environment
Environment
Faith-Based Programs
Women
Open Government
Justice Dept.
FISA
Obama's Progressive Base
Adolph Reed, Jr.
Obama and McCain
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380; www.lincoln.senate.gov; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/index.cfm; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
SENATOR Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908. www.pryor.senate.gov ; http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
OBAMA'S HOPE FOR THE WORLD
avaaz@avaaz.org
Dear friends,
The Global Message to Obama Wall in Washington DC is becoming a powerful symbol of unity and reconciliation between the US and the World. Follow the link to sign it online:
Take action now!
In just 24 hours, over 150,000 people from 189 countries have signed and sent a message for Barack Obama to our huge global wall in the centre of Washington DC, and it has been covered on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and in the US on front pages of two of the biggest newspapers and on the evening news!
Together, we're helping to seize Obama's election as a major global moment for unity and reconciliation, when the US can finally join with the world community in facing our common challenges together. Our message congratulates Obama on his election and commitments to stop climate change, withdraw from Iraq, double aid for poverty, ban torture and more.
Avaaz's Global Message to Obama Wall in Washington DC has become THE place for citizens around the world to speak to Obama. If you haven't already, follow the link to add your name, and send this email to friends and family who might want to join in:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/million_messages_to_obama
Change will not come easily to the US or its foreign policy. Entrenched interests -- including oil companies, war contractors, and neo-con ideologists -- stand in the way. But those interests have always sought to divide us -- the greater international unity and goodwill we have, the better we'll be able to confront the challenges head on and make progress as one world. The Global Obama Message Wall is a symbol of change and an investment in the new goodwill between the US and the world -- with major global climate change negotiations coming up next month, it will not be long before that good will is tested. Let's get to a million messages to Obama!
With hope, Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Brett, Paul, Alice, Milena, Paula, Ben and the whole Avaaz Team.
PS: here are 10 key campaign promises made by Barack Obama, you can see his full platform here http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ :
1. Reduce the US's carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol
2. Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months and keep no permanent bases in the country
3. Establish a clear goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons across the globe
4. Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center
5. Double US aid to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses and Malaria
6. Open diplomatic talks with countries like Iran and Syria, to pursue peaceful resolution of tensions
7. De-politicize military intelligence to avoid ever repeating the kind of manipulation that led the US into Iraq
8. Launch a major diplomatic effort to stop the killings in Darfur
9. Only negotiate new trade agreements that contain labor and environmental protections
10. Invest $150 billion over ten years to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015
ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making.
Also see: www.factcheck.barackobama.com
Chris HEDGES' LIST of Obama's key votes and other actions (Hedges is author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and Collateral Damage)
1. He's been lauded by the nuclear power industry which is resuming an attempt to build nuclear power plants all over the country (calling it "Green Energy")
2. He's voted to continue to fund the Iraq war.
3. He opposed Murtha's call for immediate withdrawal.
4. He didn't join the 13 Senators who voted against confirming Condoleezza Rice.
5. He voted in 2005 to re-authorize the Patriot Act.
6. He did not support an amendment that was part of a bankruptcy bill that would have capped credit card rates at 30%.
7. He opposed a bill that would have reformed a mining law of 1872 that essentially allows mining companies to lease federal land for pennies an acre (which is a complete rip-off of the American taxpayer).
8. He did not support the bill Kucinich and Conyers introduced for "Single-Payer health care."
9. He supports the death penalty.
10. He worked to support a class-action reform bill which allows financial firms to escape accountability (a huge lobbying effort by the financial industry who are Obama's second largest donors) by effectively shutting down state courts as venues to hear class-action suits (this has long been a goal of corporations and the Bush administration). This bill effectively denies redress in state courts where most cases have a chance of defying powerful corporate challenges and moves them into corporate-friendly Federal courts which are now dominated by right-wing Republican judges (even Hilary Clinton voted against this bill which allows corporations to engage in flagrant discrimination, consumer fraud, and wage violations).
ALEXANDER COCKBURN, "Against Obama," The Nation (Nov. 10, 2008). Obama is Bush business as usual in several central ways: I. Continuation of Bush militarism/imperialism. He supports the Pentagon budget, the empire, would enlarge the armed forces, pledges to escalate the US war in Afghanistan, to attack Pakistan's sovereign territory if it obstructs US "war on terror," to wage that war in a hundred countries. II. Continuation of assault on constitutional liberties. He voted to reaffirm the Patriot Act and for warrantless wiretapping. The rest of the (one-page) article presents a sweeping, severe attack on Obama. Is it accurate?
"Democratic Vistas" editorial in The Nation (Nov. 10, 2008), contrasts the undemocratic and degrading GOP and McCain to the encouragingly democratic Obama, but reminds us that, "vital though an Obama victory is, it is only the beginning of what's needed to roll back the policies of the Bush years and begin to enact a progressive agenda." Because he "will face massive entrenched power," he will need "a movement that stands up for those without wealth and power," to create "the engaged and expanded democracy that Whitman envisioned a century ago."
Here is the email address for Obama's Transition Office. http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
FRIENDS COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL LEGISLATION'S CALL TO CONGRESS IS EQUALLY A CALL TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
(FCNL Washington Newsletter, Oct. 2008).
"Reclaiming the Balance of Power: An Agenda for the 111th Congress." "Congress Needs to Stand Up."
The anti-democratic Congress ceded far too much power to the anti-democratic President. Will Obama turn to democracy? See Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy: A Tool Kit for Congress and Activists, ed. Ann Fagan Ginger, analyzing all the Bush laws that must be reversed.
FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM TO THE DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION
SPECIAL NO. OF THE NATION ON OBAMA (9-1/8)
Begins with an editorial praising the Dem. Platform as superior to that of the GOP (on SS, healthcare). It points out what is encouraging to the peace movement that some of the planks of the party so far have been the result of progressive pressures (trade, rights of workers). But the editors describe the platform "tepid," pulling "too many punches," and failing to create a "new social contract." They call on Obama and the Democrats to "do more to distinguish their agenda from McCain's empty rhetoric." Democrats should seize this "teaching moment" and "present a bold governing program," and they list four on energy, infrastructure, jobs, and health/retirement. "As we argue in this special issue, these times demand a popular movement on behalf of a vision as bold as the New Deal, Fair Deal, and Great Society."
EARLIER APPEAL TO OBAMA BY EDITORS OF THE NATION
"Change We Can Believe In," The Nation (August 18-25, 2008). After pointing out his "moving away from the core commitments shared by many who have supported your campaign," the editors state four key positions Obama must maintain.
"Change We Can Believe In: An Open Letter to Barack Obama," The Nation (August 18-25, 08). Calls for Obama to stop compromising and flipflopping, to hold to the key positions that have inspired the vigorous backing of his supporters, the grassroots base that will be necessary to "counteract the forces of money and established power that are a dead weight on those seeking real change…." (Key positions: war: withdrawal from Iraq by timetable; economy: reduction of rich-poor gap, job creation, infrastructure, etc.; universal healthcare; sig. reduction of CO2.)
Thursday 11.27.08
Left Strives To 'Keep Faith' As Obama Manuevers
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/27-0
Obama Answers Liberal Critics on Personnel Choices
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/27-3
OBAMA, MCCAIN, CONGRESS, AND THE PEACE, JUSTICE, and ECOLOGY MOVEMENT (Summer 08)
The pje organizations did not sit on their hands during the presidential campaigns, but have plunged into the middle of them. Since neither of the two major Party candidates are adequate in various ways and degrees, several pje organizations I have checked recently have intensified their "educate the candidates and Parties" campaigns.
Most dramatic is Amnesty International, which displayed a full-scale replica of a Guantanamo prison cell at both nominating conventions, to demand of the candidates emphatic opposition to torture, to prolonged detainment without charge, to unaccountability of high-level officials, and other human rights abuses. Larry Cox is Exec. Dir. of AI.
Like AI, Friends of the Earth believes that we cannot take for granted that a change of Administration or of Congress will change the carbon regime to the degree that must happen if we are to bring down CO2 to 350 PPM quickly enough. The Lieberman-Warner energy bill was proposed, but defeated, and anyway it was deeply flawed and would not require the real changes needed to stop climate change. So FOE is keeping the pressure on not only the Bush Admin. but also on Congress and the presidential candidates, to make sure they face facts and seek real solutions, not greenwashing. Brent Blackwelder is President of FOE. www.foe.org
For a third example, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, in their July/Aug. 2008 Newsletter focusing on nuclear weapons, will not "wait until January," but have already started "urging presidential and congressional candidates to embrace a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons." We cannot count on this president and Congress to reverse US nuclear weapons policy, unless we show them we want that change to be much more than generalities—complete nuclear disarmament, no first use policy, renegotiate START, ratify the CTBT, and rescue the NPT.
Actually these campaigns are not new, for these organizations and hundreds of peace, justice, and ecology organizations have always been in the middle of politics against the special interests that bribe our politicians, rob the people, and endanger the planet, and especially during presidential campaigns. Let us join with them in educating President Obama and our Congressional delegation about human rights, global warming, nuclear weapons, and other urgent matters, including the power of corporations to determine national policies. If we do not, we can be sure the forces in politics for personal profit and international aggression will fill our vacancy.
Obama's Transition Office. http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
OBAMA DOES IT ALL!
November 12, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPECIAL NY TIMES EDITION BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR
* PDF: http://www.nytimes-se.com/pdf
* For video updates: http://www.nytimes-se.com/video
* Contact: mailto:writers@nytimes-se.com
Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had come to an end. If, that is, they happened to read a "special edition" of today's New
York Times.
In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street.
Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the war.
The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes
International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well aseditorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including arecall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also atimeline describing the gains brought about by eight months ofprogressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama's "Yes
we REALLY can" speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)
"It's all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever,"said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper's writers. "We've got to make sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do. After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start
imagining heaven."
FOR THE WHOLE NEWSLETTER GO TO www.omnicenter.org At bottom of home page click on periodicals.
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Wed 12/03/08 2:34 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
OMNI NEWSLETTER, OBAMA WATCH 2 FOR A BETTER PRESIDENT, Compiled by Dick Bennett, December 3, 2008, For a Culture of Peace and Justice.
The following is part of a letter from Senator Obama's campaign asking for a donation: "Tuesday we will do nothing less than choose a course for our country. And the feeling in the air right now makes me very hopeful that we will choose a different course this Election Day. Now is our nation's chance to finally live up to our promise as a world leader for freedom and democracy. Now is our chance to say "No!" to more divisiveness, more shrinking of our rights, more abuses of power. Now is our chance to take our country back." These are stirring hopes. Who would not wish these wishes could come true.
The Berlin Wall, built to isolate East Germans from the West, was both a symbol and an instrument of violations of the rights of the East German people. The US celebrated the removal of the Wall. But for many decades the US has been building its own walls to similarly restrict the liberties of people here and abroad. The Pentagon and the CIA, although established to prepare for war, were given the titular wall of Department of Defense to contain the Soviet "enemy" of those days. Simultaneously developed McCarthyism, which became the wall of US homegrown repression that has lasted sixty years and recently under the Bush Administration, the Patriot Act, and Homeland Security distinctly worsened. Also during the last sixty years the US foreign security apparatuses—Pentagon, CIA, NSA--functioned preemptively to intervene in and invade other countries. I have been describing the bipartisan US National Security State.
Now with Obama we hope again. Despite the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the first posting of a military unit on US soil assigned to control civil "disturbances," we have achieved another peaceful transfer of presidential power. And who a year ago would have imagined the election of a Negro as President?
"Now is our chance to take our country back"—yes. But this will be more difficult that the enthusiastic campaigner imagines. Back? From the walls of warrantless surveillance, denial of habeas corpus, and torture, from a militarized economy, invasions, and global antagonism, and from financial collapse?
All of us old enough to remember what happened under President Clinton must feel an uneasy hope, despite the nation's financial success under his leadership. Remember his embrace of anti-democratic measures in the dark year of 1996: anti-terrorism legislation (leading to the Patriot Act), ending the aid to dependent children programs (without adequate transition assistance to the mothers and children), the Telecommunications Act (accelerating monopoly). Remember the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, signed by Bill Clinton in 1999, repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, ending the separation of commercial and investment banks, and leading to the financial disasters and bailouts of 2008. Remember the bombings of Serbia in violation of international law. The same forces Clinton obeyed then remain in power today.
The National Security Corporate-Congressional-Presidential-Warfare-Mainstream Media State remains regnant, and President-Elect Obama did not reject it. During his campaign, President-Elect Obama repudiated neither the corporate state system nor the surveillance /war system. Given the interrelated, concerted power of both, we know he could not.
Still we yearn to take our country back from anti-democratic forces corrupting our nation with money--with lobbyists and large campaign contributions. We want a president who will return to a progressive agenda designed for the people. But President-Elect Obama for his campaign took in millions of dollars from corporations, to which he is now beholden. Now as President he must listen to the thousands of lobbyists of the same corporations that destroyed the people's movement and its living wages and livable pensions.
And we want to hope what the Obama campaigner wrote: "Now is our nation's chance to finally live up to our promise as a world leader for freedom and democracy." But by re-appointing Secretary Gates we know with certainty he listens to the Pentagon. Barack Obama does not, cannot intend to alter anything fundamental in the all-powerful Corporate-Pentagon-Executive-Congress-Mainstream Media Complex that has illegally intervened in and invaded over forty nations since WWII.
"Now is our nation's chance." I understand these words as addressed no more to President-Elect Obama than to me and you and you. The forces of wealth and military power will be too much for our President--unless We, the People now engage in politics like we never have before. You and I exemplify We, the People, the fourth branch of government—the civil society—intended to check and direct the other three. We should stand by our Constitution, look squarely at our country's history and the Corporate-Pentagon System it has produced, understand the strengths and weaknesses of President-Elect Obama and Congress, and organize to help them be wiser, caring defenders of peace, justice, and the environment—to regain a just social contract, to reconfirm the balance among the branches of government. Exhausted as we may be, we must face the reality that the campaign for Barack Obama as a progressive president is actually only just beginning.
What follows is a collection of writings that lay the foundation for the struggle to persuade President-Elect Obama and Congress to be the agents of change candidate Obama claimed to be.
"Let America be America Again" (Langston Hughes, 1938).
"Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be."
See Cynthia Peters' article on the pressure from the grass roots needed for serious change.
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3673
Here is the email address for Obama's Transition Office. Let's flood it with letters and phone calls beginning today. http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
References
Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage, 1995.
Buchheit, Paul, ed. American Wars: Illusions and Realities. Clarity, 2008.
Carroll, James. House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Greider, William. "The Marathon Man." The Nation (Nov. 17, 2008) 7-8.
Hertsgaard, Mark. "Wanted: A Climate Bailout." The Nation (Nov. 17, 2008) 7-8.
Hughes, Langston. "Let America Be America Again," poem. Originally published in Esquire and in the International Worker Order pamphlet "A New Song" (1938). Set to music by Kelly Mulhollan.
Rasmus, Jack. The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George w. Bush, Economic Class War in America. KP, 2006.
Speth, James G. The Bridge at the End of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. Yale UP, 2008.
Stiglitz, Joseph, and Linda Bilmes. The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. Norton, 2008.
CONTENTS
(Of course these topics do not cover all of even the most important. The third newsletter will fill in gaps. Contact Dick with suggestions; forward good materials about Obama's decisions, appointments, revisions of Bush laws.)
Obama's Hope
Hedges' Critique
Cockburn's Analysis (Nov. 10, 08)
Adolph Reed Jr.'s Analysis (Fall 2008)
"Democratic Vistas" Editorial (Nov. 10)
FCNL: Reclaiming the Balance of Power (Oct. 08)
Book: Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy
Editors of The Nation for a Progressive Platform (Sept. and Aug. 08)
Progressive Change
Liberal Critics of Obama
Peace and Justice Movement Engages Obama (Summer 08)
Obama Does It All!
For following contents go to OMNI's website: www.omnicenter.org
Video Analysis of Obama
Mainly International:
Treaty with Iraq
Pentagon, US Warfare State and Nuclear Weapons
Obama's Voting Record for Military
Cluster Bomb Treaty
Appointment of Gates
Nuclear Weapons and War
Nuclear Disarmament
National Security State, Imperialism
Torture
United Nations
Iran
Israel
Palestinian State and Israel
Mainly Domestic:
Impeachment and Prosecution of B&C
Corporations
Deregulation
Health Care
Unions
Food
Energy, health, environment
Environment
Faith-Based Programs
Women
Open Government
Justice Dept.
FISA
Obama's Progressive Base
Adolph Reed, Jr.
Obama and McCain
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380; www.lincoln.senate.gov; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/index.cfm; http://www.lincoln.senate.gov/webform.html
SENATOR Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908. www.pryor.senate.gov ; http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
OBAMA'S HOPE FOR THE WORLD
avaaz@avaaz.org
Dear friends,
The Global Message to Obama Wall in Washington DC is becoming a powerful symbol of unity and reconciliation between the US and the World. Follow the link to sign it online:
Take action now!
In just 24 hours, over 150,000 people from 189 countries have signed and sent a message for Barack Obama to our huge global wall in the centre of Washington DC, and it has been covered on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and in the US on front pages of two of the biggest newspapers and on the evening news!
Together, we're helping to seize Obama's election as a major global moment for unity and reconciliation, when the US can finally join with the world community in facing our common challenges together. Our message congratulates Obama on his election and commitments to stop climate change, withdraw from Iraq, double aid for poverty, ban torture and more.
Avaaz's Global Message to Obama Wall in Washington DC has become THE place for citizens around the world to speak to Obama. If you haven't already, follow the link to add your name, and send this email to friends and family who might want to join in:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/million_messages_to_obama
Change will not come easily to the US or its foreign policy. Entrenched interests -- including oil companies, war contractors, and neo-con ideologists -- stand in the way. But those interests have always sought to divide us -- the greater international unity and goodwill we have, the better we'll be able to confront the challenges head on and make progress as one world. The Global Obama Message Wall is a symbol of change and an investment in the new goodwill between the US and the world -- with major global climate change negotiations coming up next month, it will not be long before that good will is tested. Let's get to a million messages to Obama!
With hope, Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Brett, Paul, Alice, Milena, Paula, Ben and the whole Avaaz Team.
PS: here are 10 key campaign promises made by Barack Obama, you can see his full platform here http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ :
1. Reduce the US's carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol
2. Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months and keep no permanent bases in the country
3. Establish a clear goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons across the globe
4. Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center
5. Double US aid to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses and Malaria
6. Open diplomatic talks with countries like Iran and Syria, to pursue peaceful resolution of tensions
7. De-politicize military intelligence to avoid ever repeating the kind of manipulation that led the US into Iraq
8. Launch a major diplomatic effort to stop the killings in Darfur
9. Only negotiate new trade agreements that contain labor and environmental protections
10. Invest $150 billion over ten years to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015
ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making.
Also see: www.factcheck.barackobama.com
Chris HEDGES' LIST of Obama's key votes and other actions (Hedges is author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and Collateral Damage)
1. He's been lauded by the nuclear power industry which is resuming an attempt to build nuclear power plants all over the country (calling it "Green Energy")
2. He's voted to continue to fund the Iraq war.
3. He opposed Murtha's call for immediate withdrawal.
4. He didn't join the 13 Senators who voted against confirming Condoleezza Rice.
5. He voted in 2005 to re-authorize the Patriot Act.
6. He did not support an amendment that was part of a bankruptcy bill that would have capped credit card rates at 30%.
7. He opposed a bill that would have reformed a mining law of 1872 that essentially allows mining companies to lease federal land for pennies an acre (which is a complete rip-off of the American taxpayer).
8. He did not support the bill Kucinich and Conyers introduced for "Single-Payer health care."
9. He supports the death penalty.
10. He worked to support a class-action reform bill which allows financial firms to escape accountability (a huge lobbying effort by the financial industry who are Obama's second largest donors) by effectively shutting down state courts as venues to hear class-action suits (this has long been a goal of corporations and the Bush administration). This bill effectively denies redress in state courts where most cases have a chance of defying powerful corporate challenges and moves them into corporate-friendly Federal courts which are now dominated by right-wing Republican judges (even Hilary Clinton voted against this bill which allows corporations to engage in flagrant discrimination, consumer fraud, and wage violations).
ALEXANDER COCKBURN, "Against Obama," The Nation (Nov. 10, 2008). Obama is Bush business as usual in several central ways: I. Continuation of Bush militarism/imperialism. He supports the Pentagon budget, the empire, would enlarge the armed forces, pledges to escalate the US war in Afghanistan, to attack Pakistan's sovereign territory if it obstructs US "war on terror," to wage that war in a hundred countries. II. Continuation of assault on constitutional liberties. He voted to reaffirm the Patriot Act and for warrantless wiretapping. The rest of the (one-page) article presents a sweeping, severe attack on Obama. Is it accurate?
"Democratic Vistas" editorial in The Nation (Nov. 10, 2008), contrasts the undemocratic and degrading GOP and McCain to the encouragingly democratic Obama, but reminds us that, "vital though an Obama victory is, it is only the beginning of what's needed to roll back the policies of the Bush years and begin to enact a progressive agenda." Because he "will face massive entrenched power," he will need "a movement that stands up for those without wealth and power," to create "the engaged and expanded democracy that Whitman envisioned a century ago."
Here is the email address for Obama's Transition Office. http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
FRIENDS COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL LEGISLATION'S CALL TO CONGRESS IS EQUALLY A CALL TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
(FCNL Washington Newsletter, Oct. 2008).
"Reclaiming the Balance of Power: An Agenda for the 111th Congress." "Congress Needs to Stand Up."
The anti-democratic Congress ceded far too much power to the anti-democratic President. Will Obama turn to democracy? See Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy: A Tool Kit for Congress and Activists, ed. Ann Fagan Ginger, analyzing all the Bush laws that must be reversed.
FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM TO THE DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION
SPECIAL NO. OF THE NATION ON OBAMA (9-1/8)
Begins with an editorial praising the Dem. Platform as superior to that of the GOP (on SS, healthcare). It points out what is encouraging to the peace movement that some of the planks of the party so far have been the result of progressive pressures (trade, rights of workers). But the editors describe the platform "tepid," pulling "too many punches," and failing to create a "new social contract." They call on Obama and the Democrats to "do more to distinguish their agenda from McCain's empty rhetoric." Democrats should seize this "teaching moment" and "present a bold governing program," and they list four on energy, infrastructure, jobs, and health/retirement. "As we argue in this special issue, these times demand a popular movement on behalf of a vision as bold as the New Deal, Fair Deal, and Great Society."
EARLIER APPEAL TO OBAMA BY EDITORS OF THE NATION
"Change We Can Believe In," The Nation (August 18-25, 2008). After pointing out his "moving away from the core commitments shared by many who have supported your campaign," the editors state four key positions Obama must maintain.
"Change We Can Believe In: An Open Letter to Barack Obama," The Nation (August 18-25, 08). Calls for Obama to stop compromising and flipflopping, to hold to the key positions that have inspired the vigorous backing of his supporters, the grassroots base that will be necessary to "counteract the forces of money and established power that are a dead weight on those seeking real change…." (Key positions: war: withdrawal from Iraq by timetable; economy: reduction of rich-poor gap, job creation, infrastructure, etc.; universal healthcare; sig. reduction of CO2.)
Thursday 11.27.08
Left Strives To 'Keep Faith' As Obama Manuevers
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/27-0
Obama Answers Liberal Critics on Personnel Choices
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/27-3
OBAMA, MCCAIN, CONGRESS, AND THE PEACE, JUSTICE, and ECOLOGY MOVEMENT (Summer 08)
The pje organizations did not sit on their hands during the presidential campaigns, but have plunged into the middle of them. Since neither of the two major Party candidates are adequate in various ways and degrees, several pje organizations I have checked recently have intensified their "educate the candidates and Parties" campaigns.
Most dramatic is Amnesty International, which displayed a full-scale replica of a Guantanamo prison cell at both nominating conventions, to demand of the candidates emphatic opposition to torture, to prolonged detainment without charge, to unaccountability of high-level officials, and other human rights abuses. Larry Cox is Exec. Dir. of AI.
Like AI, Friends of the Earth believes that we cannot take for granted that a change of Administration or of Congress will change the carbon regime to the degree that must happen if we are to bring down CO2 to 350 PPM quickly enough. The Lieberman-Warner energy bill was proposed, but defeated, and anyway it was deeply flawed and would not require the real changes needed to stop climate change. So FOE is keeping the pressure on not only the Bush Admin. but also on Congress and the presidential candidates, to make sure they face facts and seek real solutions, not greenwashing. Brent Blackwelder is President of FOE. www.foe.org
For a third example, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, in their July/Aug. 2008 Newsletter focusing on nuclear weapons, will not "wait until January," but have already started "urging presidential and congressional candidates to embrace a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons." We cannot count on this president and Congress to reverse US nuclear weapons policy, unless we show them we want that change to be much more than generalities—complete nuclear disarmament, no first use policy, renegotiate START, ratify the CTBT, and rescue the NPT.
Actually these campaigns are not new, for these organizations and hundreds of peace, justice, and ecology organizations have always been in the middle of politics against the special interests that bribe our politicians, rob the people, and endanger the planet, and especially during presidential campaigns. Let us join with them in educating President Obama and our Congressional delegation about human rights, global warming, nuclear weapons, and other urgent matters, including the power of corporations to determine national policies. If we do not, we can be sure the forces in politics for personal profit and international aggression will fill our vacancy.
Obama's Transition Office. http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople
OBAMA DOES IT ALL!
November 12, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPECIAL NY TIMES EDITION BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR
* PDF: http://www.nytimes-se.com/pdf
* For video updates: http://www.nytimes-se.com/video
* Contact: mailto:writers@nytimes-se.com
Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had come to an end. If, that is, they happened to read a "special edition" of today's New
York Times.
In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street.
Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the war.
The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes
International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well aseditorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including arecall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also atimeline describing the gains brought about by eight months ofprogressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama's "Yes
we REALLY can" speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)
"It's all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever,"said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper's writers. "We've got to make sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do. After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start
imagining heaven."
FOR THE WHOLE NEWSLETTER GO TO www.omnicenter.org At bottom of home page click on periodicals.
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)