OMNI's Fourth of July newsletter: End usurpation of freedom by shopping malls

OMNI'S 4TH OF JULY NEWSLETTER‏
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Fri 7/04/08 1:53 PM
Reply-to: Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)

NEWSLETTER ON 4TH OF JULY, 2008, FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE, Compiled by Dick Bennett



OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON’S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. INDIVIDUAL AND NATIONAL NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH.



CONTENTS: We, the People: Thinking Outside the Box is Fireworks

OMNI’s Early July Events

FSTV July 4 Presentation of Zinn’s Voices

Essay on Shopping Malls vs. Freedom

The Shalom Center on Pres. Bush and a New DoI

FREE SPEECH TV
OMNI provides FSTV via CAT every morning. Many of today’s excellent programs focused on themes related to July 4; for example, readings from Howard Zinn’s Voices of the People’s History of the United States. Zinn gave linking narration to notable actors and authors (Danny Glover, Harris Yulin, Kurt Vonnegut, et al.) reading from John Brown, Fredrick Douglass, Mark Twain, and others, all protesting injustices of race, wealth, class, and empire.

FREE SPEECH AND SHOPPING MALLS

"Shopping Malls vs. Freedom?" By Dick Bennett

In 1938, the United States Supreme Court unanimously struck down an ordinance authorizing the arrest in Griffin, GA, of a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses for distributing handbills without a license. A year later the Court struck down an ordinance in Jersey City that required speakers to obtain a permit from city authorities. And in 1941 the Court affirmed the right of peaceful picketing as an expression of First Amendment Rights. Ordinances prohibiting free expression, the Court ruled, because they can be made the instrument of arbitrary suppression of free expression of views, are unconstitutional and invalid. These victories for free speech were victories especially for working people (the rich can hire a hall), for they guaranteed the right of all citizens to express their views freely on public sidewalks and parks hroughout the land. But defenders of freedom had not anticipated the restrictive consequences of shopping malls on free Communication.
In the towns of our country the people shopped by public streets and sidewalks. That's where the people were; that's where communication to the greatest number of people was possible. But then shopping malls gradually arrived. We didn’t know what had hit us. Suddenly they had replaced thousands of miles of shopping by public sidewalk.
Now, not only inside a mall, but in the parking outside, you could be expelled and even arrested for leafletting or picketing. The constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression was replaced by private property, real estate, shopping malls!
Whereas formerly private property had been the foundation of freedom-the yeoman farmer, the small businessman--, suddenly private property shopping malls had become a bastion against freedom all across the land.

By itself this extreme and now deeply entrenched reduction of freedom might not be so threatening. But recent years have witnessed increasing secrecy, censorship, surveillance, harrassment, arbitrary detention, and heavier methods of police state control as illustrated by rejection of Geneva Conventions, the "Patriot" Act, and the Military Commissions Act. While we are struggling to remove these

repressive barriers to democracy, we should also attempt to regain the sidewalks and streets taken from us by the owners of shopping malls.
How might we begin?
First, we can turn to the Constitution of the State of Arkansas. Although the Nixon Court modified the strong free speech laws of 1937-41, many state constitutions offer an affirmative declaration of the individual's right to free speech. For example, in Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robbins, the USSCt says the 5th amendment takings clause does not trump California’s free speech right. It has not been litigated in Arkansas, but our free speech clause is almost identical to California's.
Second, we are supported by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a treaty signed by the President and ratified by Congress. Article 19 of the UDHR declares: "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: This right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
This 4th of July, 2008, let us begin a campaign against the usurpation of freedom by shopping malls by talking up the original commitment to freedom in the 1937-41 Supreme Court rulings and these state and treaty rights.








A Prophetic Voice in Jewish, Multireligious, and American Life

Dishonoring Jefferson or renewing America?--

Two responses to the Fourth of July


I am shocked to learn that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has invited President Bush to speak on the Fourth of July at Monticello.

George W. Bush has replicated more of the ill deeds charged by the Declaration of Independence against King George III than any other President in our history. He is the first President to claim that torture is legitimate and to proclaim that he is violating the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution (requiring warrants to examine citizen's communications).
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration precisely to resist that kind of usurpation of power. To invite Mr. Bush to speak on the Fourth of July at Monticello makes a travesty of that sacred day and the sacred work of Mr. Jefferson.
Of course, the far deeper dishonoring is the way the President has behaved toward the Declaration and the Constitution themselves --
And on the other hand, what would we write today if we ourselves were "Jefferson"? This is a brief passage from "Declaring Interdependence" (on our Website at http://www.shalomctr.org/node/656 ):

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for the peoples of the earth to declare -
our interdependence with each other and with all the life-forms of the planet,
and our independence from efforts by the most powerful and most reckless among the national governments to create a new and global Empire;
Then a decent respect to the opinions of Humanity requires that we declare the causes that impel us to rise beyond the present Powers of the earth and to embody our planetary community in new social, political, and economic forms.
We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That all human beings are born with equal dignity and worth, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: -
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
to the sharing of community;
to a rhythm of worthy work and shared rest that frees time for family, neighborhood, citizenly service, and spiritual reflection;
to a life-sustaining share of the earth's abundance;
to peace among all peoples;
and to a responsible relationship amidst the whole web of life upon this planet.
...
The present government of the United States has violated our rights, broken our laws, thwarted our hopes, and blocked many of the paths to change.
Within the United States, its actions are concentrating undemocratic power in the hands of the super-rich and a few favored corporations;
In the world at large, its actions are concentrating undemocratic power in a small group of gigantic global corporations and its own military.
To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world: _______________ [See our list in web site above or name your own.]


What do we do about this? We might take the opportunity of the Fourth of July to reflect on our lives in the body politic, to read this new Declaration and reread the old one and discuss their meaning. To treat these texts the way some of us treat the Passover Seder -- learning it, teaching it, enriching it. And then, like those who in 1776 with courage and determination pledged to each other "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor" -- we might redeem the promise of our forebears and bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old, as they did.

Shalom, salaam, peace -- Arthur





SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.

Fayetteville office: 251-1380

Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908

CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.

DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.









Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu

July is buttonbush month in Northwest Arkansas wetland areas and along streams and ditches

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE PHOTO of Buttonbush inflorescence on World Peace Wetland Prairie on June 2, 2008.


I have been asked why I discourage people from using radical clearing methods on wetland prairies, especially small parcels and urban parcels such as World Peace Wetland Prairie.
One of the main reasons is that some prairie and wetland native species need to grow tall and strong and not be cut bank or burned off if they are to reach their full potential.
The buttonbush is among the easiest to identify in this category at this time of year. The buttonbush is a sure marker of wetland when found growing in the wild. Its value to many species of wildlife is well-documented. And it is among the better native species for protecting riparian zones of streams from eroding.

Read what Texas A&M's Aquaplant Website has to say about the amazing buttonbush.
http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/emergent_plants/buttonbush.htm

WWW AQUAPLANT
Plant Identification

Bulrush
Cattail
Buttonbush

Description Management Options Other Photos


Cephalanthus occidentalis
Buttonbush is a woody shrub (3-10 feet tall) that occasionally grows into a small tree and can be found above water or in water up to 4 feet deep. It has shiny dark-green spear-or egg-shaped pointed leaves 3 to 6 inches long. The leaves are opposite or whorled in 3's or 4's along the stem. Flowers of buttonbush are easily identified by their greenish-white tube flowers in dense ball-shaped clusters about 1 inch in diameter. Seed heads are brown.
Submerged portions of all aquatic plants provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates. These invertebrates in turn are used as food by fish and other wildlife species (e.g. amphibians, reptiles, ducks, etc. ). After aquatic plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food (called "detritus") for many aquatic invertebrates. Buttonbush seeds are occasionally eaten by ducks but the bush itself is used for nesting by many bird species.

Emergent Plant Index
Alligator Weed
American Lotus
Arrowhead
Banana Lily (Floating Heart)
Blue Flag
Bulrush
Bull Tongue
Buttonbush
Cattail
Common Reed
Cow Lily (Spatterdock)
Dollar Bonnet (Water Shield)
Floating Heart (Banana Lily)
Fragrant Water Lily (White Water Lily)
Frog's-bit
Giant Reed
Horsetail
Lizard's Tail
Maidencane
Mexican Water Lily (Yellow Water Lily) Pickerelweed
Sedges
Smartweed (Water Pepper)
Soft Rush
Southern Watergrass
Spatterdock (Cow Lily)
Spike Rush
Three-Square
Torpedograss
Waterleaf
Water Pennywort
Water Pepper (Smartweed)
Water Primrose
Water Shield (Dollar Bonnet)
White Water Lily (Fragrant Water Lily)
Willow
Yellow Water Lily (Mexican Water Lily)
Back to Top

Copyright (C) 2000-2008 Texas AgriLife Extension Service. All rights reserved.

Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission fails to add carbon dioxide to state list of air contaminants

Panel denies air-code changes
BY MICHELLE HILLEN
Posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/229886/
Saying the request was premature, the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission on Friday unanimously rejected a request by environmental groups to change Arkansas’ air code to consider carbon dioxide an “air contaminant.”
“I do think this is putting the cart before the horse,” commission member Scott Henderson, explaining that he believes the governor’s Global Warming Commission should have first crack at determining how carbon dioxide emissions should be regulated.
The commission, established last year, is studying ways state agencies can offset factors that might contribute to climate change.
“I don’t agree with the discussion about waiting for the federal government to do it, but I do think the Global Warming Commission has to do its work,” Henderson said.

The Arkansas Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas and the Environmental Integrity Project had filed a petition seeking to amend definitions included in Regulations 18 and 26 of the state’s airquality regulations. The proposal called for the definitions in both regulations to eliminate carbon dioxide from a list of emissions not considered air contaminants, including water vapor, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and inert gases.
The petition cited concerns that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can lead to higher maximum temperatures, more hot days, higher minimum temperatures, fewer cold days, more intense “precipitation events” and increased risk of drought.
Environmentalists argued their proposal wouldn’t immediately require regulation of carbon dioxide by the Environmental Quality Department. But industry and department officials disagreed.

“We are not opposed to the removal of this exemption.... We realize that global warming is a global problem,” department Director Teresa Marks said. “Our concern is unintended consequences, and the practicality of what we would do if the exemption was removed immediately.”
Marks said existing regulations would require the department to regulate anyone who emits more than 25 tons per year of an “air contaminant.” The department today doesn’t have the technology available to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide, she said.
After more than a half-hour of comments from industry leaders and environmentalists, the commission approved an order supplied by the Arkansas Environmental Federation, an organization that lobbies on behalf of companies on environmental matters.
The order states that the request from the environmental- ists was defective for a number of reasons, including that it failed to include an economic impact statement and an environmental benefit analysis. Such statements are required by state law if the proposed change is more stringent than federal requirements.

Glen Hooks, regional representative of the Sierra Club, said he was surprised by the decision.
“I think what these guys have done is stand up and say we know CO 2 is a pollutant, we know it is a contaminant, but we don’t want to do anything about it,” Hooks said.
“They said it publicly, and I found it amazing.”
He said he and other environmentalists expect to bring forward a new petition that addresses the commissioners’ concerns sooner rather than later.
“We’ll be back,” said Ilan Levin of the Environmental Integrity Project.
The concerns can be addressed in a number of ways, including by increasing the allowable emission threshold from 25 tons per year, Levin said.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

Telecom Board's recommendation to council doesn't please administration

Please click on images to read Susan Thomas' letter and Richard Drake's letter to the Fayetteville City Council.

Petition to protect council-, citizen-initiated forums on government channel

PLEASE KEEP OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHANNEL ISSUE FORUMS OPEN!

The City Administration recently cancelled issue forums about Fayetteville High School and Walton Arts Center, although the forums were requested by a City Council member. The City has arbitrarily decided that they will not allow such forums, although they have served our community for over 15 years. Please keep television Channel 16 open to requests by city council members and citizens, so that the channel can continue to help create an open and participatory city government, as called for in Fayetteville Ordinance 4504 and current Government Channel policy.


SIGN HERE TO ENSURE THAT OUR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS AND ALL CITIZENS
CAN CONTINUE TO REQUEST LOCAL ISSUE FORUMS ON CITY 16 TV:



I, being a registered voter, living within the city limits of Fayetteville, ask that the Telecommunications Board and City Council continue the current policy and procedures of allowing City Council members and citizens to request forums, about issues faced by local governments, to be produced and shown on the Government Channel.


Printed Name Signature Address Telephone and/or E-mail¬¬¬¬¬

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Ozark Highlands Group of Sierra Club to meet with James Burke to discuss fight against dirty coal burning in Arkansas at Smiling Jack's at 7 p.m. Wed.

Our June monthly meeting will be this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Smiling Jack's just off Dixon Street behind the Dixon Street book shop.

James Burke will be joining us to talk about the coal campaign and the progress we are making in that area. It will be very informal; this is a great opportunity to learn more about what we can do to make sure Arkansas doesn't build any new coal fired power plants. Bring your coal questions for James to answer!

Our Arkansas Chapter chair, Adrienne, will be bringing some yard signs protesting dirty coal if you would like one.

As always, please forward this email along to others you think might be interested.

Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620

Despite congress' effort, impeachment off the table

NEWSLETTER 5 ON IMPEACHMENT‏
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 6/21/08 11:29 AM
OMNI NEWSLETTER, SPECIAL NUMBER 5 to IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY, JUNE 21, 2008, WE, THE PEOPLE FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE

Editor: Dick Bennett (Previous Impeachment Newsletters, available in OMNI’s web site, www.omnicenter.org: 1) Dec. 7, 2006; 2)June 17, 2007; 3)October 25, 2007; 4) Feb. 12, 2008. Plenty of material for your own analysis and letters and calls against attacking Iran and for impeach ing Bush and Cheney ! )



CONTENTS

Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment

Iran and Impeachment

Possible Iranian Reactions to Attack

Ray McGovern

[Go to www.omnicenter.org for full newsletter]

Second Statement by McGovern

New Play in San Francisco for Impeachment

Impeachment Movement

New Hampshire Resolution

Brattleboro, VT on War Crimes





Kucinich Introduces Impeachment Articles Against Bush

Tuesday 10 June 2008 by: Christopher Kuttruff, t r u t h o u t | Report

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush late on Monday during a speech on the House floor.

Kucinich, a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, pointed to "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by the Bush administration, including misrepresenting intelligence in the lead-up to the war, violating domestic and international laws against torture, illegally spying on American citizens, obstructing justice and governmental oversight, and dozens of other violations.

The impeachment resolution came four days after a June 5 Senate Select Intelligence Committee report that vigorously challenged statements made by the Bush administration regarding military intelligence in the runup to the invasion of Iraq. Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee John D. Rockefeller said in a press release, "Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence."

"It is my belief that the Bush Administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by al Qa'ida as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein," Rockefeller noted.

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and other members of the Democratic leadership maintain that such a resolution is "off the table," Kucinich, along with a group of his colleagues, has consistently pressed for a more urgent and direct response to the often unilateral and controversial actions of the Bush administration.

Despite the unlikeliness of impeachment gaining much traction in Congress, advocates of such a resolution continue to demand greater accountability of the executive branch.

As Kucinich began to issue his remarks, shuffling and talking could be heard in the background of the House chamber. Responding to the disarray, Kucinich objected to the Speaker, "The House is not in order." After several strikes of Pelosi's gavel, Kucinich started reading his articles into the record.

"In violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of president ..." Kucinich stated, "George W. Bush ... both personally and through his subordinates ... illegally spent public dollars on a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false cause for war against Iraq."

Kucinich started his speech by referencing a variety of news and intelligence reports regarding White House communications, specifically the White House Iraq Group, which was composed of senior officials (then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Karl Rove, then-Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, former chief of staff Andrew Card, then-chief of staff to the Vice President I. Lewis Libby, then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan and others) who "produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of Iraq's nuclear threat that later proved to be false." These papers included later-debunked claims that Iraq sought uranium and specialized centrifuges for enrichment.

These claims, which were central to the administration's rationale for preemptive action against Iraq, were used, according to Kucinich, to "market an invasion of Iraq to the American people."

Kucinich also noted that the White House Iraq Group papers "were written at same time and by the same people as speeches and talking points prepared for President Bush and for some of his top officials."

Congressman Kucinich went on to challenge the administration's policies toward Iran, as well as its conduct regarding military interrogations.

The resolution comes days after a sharply written letter by 56 Congress members requesting that Attorney General Michael Mukasey investigate potential crimes committed by the Bush administration during the course of its interrogation program. The letter, signed by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Barney Frank, Jan Schakowsky, Dennis Kucinich and other House Democrats, urged that the seriousness of the evidence on the program warrants a thorough investigation by a special counsel.

Revelations about the Bush administration's interrogations policies, along with its systematic practice of controlling information provided to the media and the American people, led Kucinich to conclude that the president has "misled the Congress and the citizens of the United States" and should be held accountable for violating his oaths of office to "faithfully execute the office of the president" and "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution."

CHRISTOPHER KUTTRUFF IS AN EDITOR AND REPORTER FOR TRUTHOUT.

Articles of Impeachment

Dear Friend:

Under circumstances that can best be described as "suspicious," the www.kucinich.us website was crippled early this morning a few hours after Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 extensively documented Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.

Until we can restore the website and implement additional security measures, you can find the full list and detailed Articles at
http://www.democrats.com/files/amomentoftruth.pdf
and http://chun.afterdowningstreet.org/amomentoftruth.pdf

If you would like to show your support for the Congressman's efforts, please go to myinfo.kucinich.us to offer your comments and provide us with contact information so that we can continue to keep you informed.

Thank you
Committee to Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich




PO Box 110475 | Cleveland | OH | 44111 | 216-252-9000







FROM DAVE DAVISON OF PN0 ON KUCINICH’S ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

To Members & Friends of the Peace Network of the Ozarks,

We have all heard about Dennis Kucinich presenting 35 articles of impeachment against Bush to the House floor this last Monday night. I watched it on C-SPAN, and he did such a good job to emphasize the gross illegalities of the Bush-Cheny Adminsitration it took him over four hours to make his presentation. On Tuesday night all of the 35 articles were read into the House Record. On Wednesday the House voted to send the impeachment demand to the House Judiciary Committee.

We are planning an updated "Support Impeachment" rally soon.

US PUBLIC FOR IMPEACHMENT

The other day, due to the Kucinich action in the House for impeachment, MSNBC did a live poll on impeachment. Over 700,000 people participated in the poll, which is a large enough segment to make the wishes of America quite plain. I am showing you the MSNBC graph below that indicates 89% of those polled approve, and want impeachment of the white house crazies, starting at the top.



Live Vote



Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment? * 702770 responses











Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial.
89%






No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching "high crimes and misdemeanors."
4.2%

No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching.
4.6%


I don't know.
2%


Not a scientific survey. Click to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.

Peace.



Dave

“Full House sends Articles of Impeachment to Judiciary”

Thursday, June 12, 2008 8:41 AM (from Larry W)

Submitted by Bob Fertik on June 11, 2008 - 2:47pm.

Dennis Kucinich
Impeach.TV
ImpeachForChange
John Conyers
Nancy Pelosi
By a bipartisan vote of 251-166, the full House of Representatives sent Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment to the Judiciary Committee.

That means Chairman John Conyers now has the power to decide whether to hold impeachment hearings - or not.

Incredibly, 24 Republicans voted with 227 Democrats; the 166 no votes came exclusively from Republicans.

So what will Conyers do? After the Downing Street Memo was published on May 1, 2005, Democrats.com worked closely with Conyers to hold the famous basement hearings featuring Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, and John Bonifaz. In August 2006, Conyers published all of the evidence of Bush's crimes in The Constitution in Crisis. Many of us believed he would begin impeachment proceedings if Democrats won the House, which they did that November.

But in the spring of 2006, Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment "off the table." And when Democrats took control and Conyers was sworn in as Judiciary Chairman, he fell firmly into line behind the Speaker. (Conyers insists Pelosi did not threaten to deny him the Chairmanship.)

Since 2005, Conyers has received millions of impeachment petitions. Hundreds if not thousands of activists have spoken to him personally. But he remains adamantly opposed to hearings, for one simple reason: he fears it will hurt the Democratic candidate for President (now Barack Obama) in November.

http://www.democrats.com/house-sends-impeachment-to-john-conyers





LETTER FROM PRES. OF PNO ON IRAN AND IMPEACHMENT: WE, THE PEOPLE, MUST TAKE ACTION

From: peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net [mailto:peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 12:21 PM
To: lgddavison@aol.com
Subject: The Prospective Attack On Iran

To Members & Friends of the Peace Network of the Ozarks,

The prospective attack on Iran is heating up. Many of us are seeing the blathering Bush rhetoric on televsion, and reading the latest internet reports of the Israeli practice attack maneuver that describes the practice utilizing 100 war planes. This is getting more and more serious, and all without correct methods of diplomacy by reasonable minded men. The cowboy diplomacy and considerations of the Bush Adminstration fall far short of understanding what agreements may be made, and what will happen if Iran is attacked by the war mongerinig right wing leaders of America and Israel.

Experts are saying that if the attack occurs the price of oil will increase to $300 per barrel immediately. If we think we are having a hard time in in our daily routines now in just moving around for the necessary purposes of work and family, we haven't seen anything yet compared to the difficultuties that will come to America and the entire world in energy costs. What do we think that will cause in the American transportation industry, the many trucking companies that serve America? Will food and supplies be readily available to American shelves when the independent truckers, the vast majority of trucks on the road, have to increase their prices astronomically in order to stay alive in their business? What will the price effects be in the insurance costs of the ocean going oil tankers who will suffer war risks in their business? What do we think the reaction of the entire world will be who will be equally affected by the tremendously increased oil price?

Regardless of the administration's cowboy bravado, our own military indicates large concerns in what the reaction to the attack will be. Shites throughout the middle east will unite to attack our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan as a minimum. Its no telling what the reaction may be with retaliatory missle strikes on the nearby American bases, and on Israel, and maybe on the oil fields. After all the back and forth blathering for so many months in the poor cowboy tactics, do our leaders really believe Iran has not taken many steps to withstand an attack with their most lethal weapons that will respond to the attack?

This is crazy!!! Consequently there are a growing number of notable Americans who are standing up for impeachment to begin as a method to deter the attack and dramatically expanded war. The former commander of American Forces in Kuwait stood up the other day to recommend charges against Bush for war crimes. Ray McGovern, the former CIA analyst we met in Springfield over a year ago, while undergoing treatment for cancer, and many other notable Americans, are literally pounding on the table for impeachment action before something really bad happens. Kucinich is ready to go with another 25 articles of impeachment additional to the the initial 35 articles presented to the House last week... while the national Democratic leaders and the Judiciary Committee are just sitting on their duff. It is time for our 2006 elected leaders to stop fooling around and rolling over for their Bush tummy rub, and AIPAC money in their bank accounts.

All Peace Keepers... let’s all write a letter to our local newspaper reporter. The Springfield News-Leader has assigned a bright, new, energetic reporter to cover such actions and events. His name is Chad Livengood, and his email address is... clivengood@springfi.gannett.com [WHO ARE THE EQUIVALENT REPORTS WITH TMN, NAT, AND ADG?] Also please send a copy to PNO by pasting it in an email you can punch back on the reply button, and we will print them and hand carry them to the News-Leader. We will also hand deliver them to local offices of Blunt and McCaskill. [GOOD IDEAS FOR US.]

Print this email and give it to others, your friends and neighbors, with our email address... peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net [ANOTHER GOOD IDEA]

We NEED to pay attention to this, and we NEED your help. Everybody please follow through with a letter. We have to make the consequences of the very ill advised attack known to our community.
I am embedding a copy of an article from this morning. See below.
Thanks to all. We all always wish for peace, and now it is time for us to pray in our own various ways for the insanity to be halted in time.
Peace to all, including our many Republican friends who have become much more aware of the poor leadership and their antics in their quest for profit and oil, not to mention the poor economic policies that are breaking our country's economy.
Dave Davison Pres. PNO http://www.ozarkpeace.net/
How Iran would retaliate if it comes to war
Military analysts say the Islamic Republic would strike back in unconventional ways - targeting American interests in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the June 20, 2008 edition
Istanbul, Turkey - Pressure is building on Iran. This week Europe agreed to new sanctions and President Bush again suggested something more serious - possible military strikes - if the Islamic Republic doesn't bend to the will of the international community on its nuclear program.
But increasingly military analysts are warning of severe consequences if the US begins a shooting war with Iran. While Iranian forces are no match for American technology on a conventional battlefield, Iran has shown that it can bite back in unconventional ways.
Iranian networks in Iraq and Afghanistan could imperil US interests there; American forces throughout the Gulf region could be targeted by asymmetric methods and lethal rocket barrages; and Iranian partners across the region - such as Hezbollah in Lebanon - could be mobilized to engage in an anti-US fight.
Iran's response could also be global, analysts say, but the scale would depend on the scale of the US attack. "One very important issue from a US intelligence perspective, [the Iranian reaction] is probably more unpredictable than the Al Qaeda threat," says Magnus Ranstorp at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm.
"I doubt very much our ability to manage some of the consequences," says Mr. Ranstorp, noting that Iranian revenge attacks in the past have been marked by "plausible deniability" and have had global reach.
"If you attack Iran you are unleashing a firestorm of reaction internally that will only strengthen revolutionary forces, and externally in the region," says Ranstorp. "It's a nightmare scenario for any contingency planner, and I think you really enter the twilight zone if you strike Iran."
Though the US military has since early 2007 accused Iran's Qods Force - an elite element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - of providing anti-US militias in Iraq with lethal roadside bombs, and of training and backing "special groups" in actions that the US government alleges have cost "thousands" of lives, US commanders have played down Iran's military capabilities.
Even Admiral William Fallon, who publicly opposed a US strike on Iran before he resigned in April, dismissed Iran as a military threat. "Get serious," Adm. Fallon told Esquire in March. "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."
But that has not kept Iran from rhetorical chest-beating, with an active military manpower of 540,000 - the largest in the Middle East - dependent on some of the lowest per capita defense spending in the region. Iran "can deal fatal blows to aggressor America by unpredictable and creative tactical moves," the senior commander Brig. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid said in late May. "It is meaningless to back down before an enemy who has targeted the roots of our existence."
Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei also warned of far-reaching revenge in 2006. "The Americans should know that if they assault Iran, their interests will be harmed anywhere in the world that is possible," he said. "The Iranian nation will respond to any blow with double the intensity."
Analysts say Iran has a number of tools to make good on those threats and take pride in taking on a more powerful enemy. "This is not something they are shying away from," says Alex Vatanka, a Middle East security analyst at Jane's Information Group in Washington.
"They say: 'Conventional warfare is not something we can win against the US, but we have other assets in the toolbox,' " says Mr. Vatanka, noting that the IRGC commander appointed last fall has been "marketed as this genius behind asymmetric warfare doctrine."
"What they are really worried about is the idea of massive aerial attacks on literally thousands of targets inside Iran," says Vatanka, also an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute. "Their reading of America's intentions in that scenario would be twofold: One is to obviously dismantle as much as possible the nuclear program; and [the other], indirectly try to weaken the [Islamic] regime."
Any US-Iran conflict would push up oil prices, and though Iran could disrupt shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, its weak economy depends on oil revenues.
But nearby US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf provide a host of targets. Iran claimed last October that it could rain down 11,000 rockets upon "the enemy" within one minute of an attack and that rate "would continue."
Further afield, Israel is within range of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, and Hezbollah claims its rockets - enhanced and resupplied by Iran since the 2006 war to an estimated 30,000 - can now hit anywhere in the Jewish state, including its nuclear plant at Dimona.
Closer to home, Iran has honed a swarming tactic, in which small and lightly armed speedboats come at far larger warships from different directions. A classified Pentagon war game in 2002 simulated just such an attack and in it the Navy lost 16 major warships, according to a report in The New York Times last January.
"The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack," Lt. Gen. K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who commanded the swarming force, told the Times. "The whole thing was over in five, maybe 10 minutes."
During the 1990s, Iranian agents were believed to be behind the assassinations of scores of regime opponents in Europe, and German prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Iran's intelligence minister.
Iran and Hezbollah are alleged to have collaborated in the May 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in revenge for Israel's killing of a Hezbollah leader months before. Argentine prosecutors charge that they jointly struck again in 1994, bombing a Jewish community center in the Argentine capital that killed 85, one month after Israel attacked a Hezbollah base in Lebanon.
With some 30,000 on the payroll by one count, Iranian intelligence "is a superpower in intelligence terms in the region; they have global reach because of their reconnaissance ability and quite sophisticated ways of inflicting pain," says Ranstorp. "They have been expanding their influence.... Who would have predicted that Argentina would be the area that Hezbollah and the Iranians collectively would respond?"
Past examples show that "Tehran recognizes that at times its interest are best served by restraint," says a report on consequences of a strike on Iran published this week by Patrick Clawson and Michael Eisenstadt of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
But Iran could target the US, too, depending on the magnitude of any US strike. "Iran's capacity for terror and subversion remains one of its most potent levers in the event of a confrontation with the United States," says the report, adding that "success" in delaying Iran's nuclear programs could backfire.
If "US and world opinion were so angered by the strikes that they refused to support further pressure against Iran's nuclear ambitions, then prevention could paradoxically [eventually ensure] Iran's open pursuit of nuclear weapons," concludes the report.
And the long list of unconventional tactics should not be taken for granted in Tehran, says Vatanka, noting that the Islamic system's top priority is survival.
"So the Iranians have to be careful," says Vatanka. "Just because the US doesn't have the will right now, or the ability to produce the kind of stick that they would fear, doesn't mean the way of confrontation is going to pay off for them in the long run."

Two articles from Ray McGovern. In between is a message from Chris Rice about how to mobilize. (From Babs Bakie)

“Cheney Impeachment Not Off the Table” By Ray McGovern, Consortium News
Posted on March 21, 2008, Printed on May 25, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/79761/
You would not know it for the news blackout, but New Yorkers of Rep. Jerrold Nadler's district held a Town Hall/Impeachment Forum last Sunday to encourage Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney.
Panelists included former congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, former Reagan Justice Department attorney Bruce Fein, human rights attorney and Harper's commentator Scott Horton, and John Nirenberg, the activist who at the turn of the year walked from Boston to Washington, D.C., in a futile attempt to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on impeachment.
The organizers had asked me to be on the panel, but I had to send regrets and submitted a statement instead (see below). A video of the proceedings will be posted on afterdowningstreet.org.

Taking Stock
In a post mortem the next evening, the organizers reflected on what seemed to be a mixed picture of good and bad news.
On the positive side, Judson Memorial Church was crammed to overflowing with 300 folks. And this, despite the fact that most were already aware that Nadler had announced (late Friday afternoon) that he would be a no-show. He did not even send a representative.
The panelists' remarks were compelling. Blame for inaction on impeachment was laid squarely on our invertebrate Congress. (But ouch, that familiar whining can get a bit tiresome.)
The audience was described as well-educated, nonfringe, and polite.
On the negative side, despite Herculean efforts to interest the "mainstream media," no one showed. And the enthusiasm of those hardy souls trying to spur action on impeachment was dampened by continuing frustration at the obstacles, as politicians like Nadler continue to put political expedience above their sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution.

Tories back in charge
It took some 230 years, but the Tories are back in charge -- I mean the Nadlers, the Conyers, the Pelosis, so bereft of the courage of our forebears to defy a new King George, preferring to let him dis us the people and trash the Constitution. Remember those stirring final words of the Declaration of Independence? "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." We have come a long way. Surely, the Founders are rolling over in their graves.
Many of our forebears were also well-educated and nonfringe; fortunately, they were NOT polite.
Is it not clear, finally, that the time for politeness is over?
It is up to us, now, whether we shall have constitutional separation of powers or shall have kings. It is up to us whether an unrestrained executive will be able to march our children and grandchildren off to an endless series of resource wars likely to dominate this century.
The time for talking is over. Impeachment proceedings must begin. And no one is going to get that done but us.
We need to acknowledge that one of the hurdles is outrage fatigue; it is hard to decide where to start among the many high crimes and misdemeanors of which Vice President Cheney is demonstrably guilty. From my perspective as a former intelligence officer, we certainly cannot allow to escape censure Cheney's conjuring up false "intelligence" to justify what Nuremberg defined as the "supreme international crime" -- a war of aggression -- in Iraq.
My colleagues and I in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity could see what was happening early on. That is why, in the first appeal of its kind by an intelligence alumni group, we wrote to President George W. Bush on July 14, 2003: "We strongly recommend that you ask for Cheney's immediate resignation (Memorandum for the President, "Intelligence Unglued").
As I mention in my statement to the NYC Town Hall, former CIA director George Tenet has since written that Cheney's warmongering "went well beyond what our analysis would support," and apparently came as something of a surprise to the president himself.
The Founders knew that, human nature being what it is, abuses like these were inevitable somewhere down the line. That's why they took such pains to provide an orderly political procedure to enable us to deal promptly and responsibly with such high crimes and misdemeanors. I doubt it ever entered their minds that their successors, for perceived partisan political advantage, would shun that orderly procedure upon which so much now depends.
The process is called impeachment; the rules are clear.
All it takes is courage. And I do not refer here to the invertebrates in Congress.
I mean us. Can we handle the truth? Can we press for our rights as courageously as the Founders? Everything hinges on our answers to these questions.
[End of McGovern's first statement]

Chris Rice www.votestrike.com: CALL FOR NATIONAL ACTION SEPTEMBER 11
Sooner or later all freedom loving Americans will realize that the only
way to stop those who would bleed our nation dry, dismantle our
constitution, and dissolve our national sovereignty is to say I will not
work for you, buy from you, fight for you, or die for you, until the
criminals are gone from the halls of our government.
Call to action: No work, No school on September 11, 2008. It also includes "no shopping;" a suspension of all purchasing during the strike. 75% of our economy is consumer spending, when Bush says to shop, we must STOP!
The general strike calls for participants to "Hit the Streets." But why spend our time protesting in DC to be ignored? Unless we get in the streets outside our rep’s personal residences- who is going to care?
We need to mobilize locally- & demand national action. Few of us could go to Washington, DC- but many of us- can go to our city halls or state legislatures- or local Congressional offices.
Tell the government that we're fed up with lies, war, torture, corruption, & special interest funding our elections & our media.
Strikes have brought civil rights in the U.S. & around the world. Help make our voices louder than the mainstream media & corporate dollars.
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error".
U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communication Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442
In order to get involved, here are the five best steps to take now:
1) Sign up with your email address HERE in order to get updates,
e-alerts@votestrike.com
2) Mark the day on your calendar and plan to be at a protest in your community,
3) Send this URL to all your friends, post it to forums, put it on your personal pages, http://www.votestrike.com
4) Be a volunteer activist, CONTACT OMNI .
5) Take the lead and help organize a protest on 9/11 , CONTACT OMNI.
[Go to www.omnicenter.org for full newsletter]
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908 .
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.

OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, 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.
END OF NEWSLETTER #5 ON IMPEACHMENT, June 21, 2008