In
his trial today at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo., Long will
plead guilty to charges of deserting the U.S. Army with the intent to
stay away permanently. The plea is part of a pre-trial agreement with
military prosecutors last week. "In
exchange for him pleading guilty, they've agreed to (lower) the
three-year maximum sentence that usually comes with those charges,"
Long's Oklahoma-based lawyer, James M. Branum, said in an interview. He wouldn't specify the length of the new maximum. The
army also gave up its right to prosecute Long on other potential
charges related to the outspoken stance he took against the Iraq war
while living in Canada, Branum said. But, he said, prosecutors would
likely use evidence from interviews Long did with Canadian media to try
to convince the court his actions harmed army morale. "I think they want to prosecute him for free-speech issues without actually charging him for them."
As Long prepares for his court-martial, US war resister Jeremy Hinzman waits to see what happens in Canada. August 13th, Hinzman was informed he would be expelled from Canada if he did not leave by September 23rd. The War Resisters Support Campaign is really working overtime to address this very recent development and stop the expulsion:
ALL OUT SEPTEMBER 13...
September
13th is a pan-Canadian Day of Action to support U.S. Iraq war resisters
and to demand that the Harper government immediately stop the
deportations. Actions, demonstrations, and pickets will take place in
cities and towns all across Canada. Click here to see a list of actions and to download materials.
If
your city is not listed, consider organizing a local action for
September 13th. Whether it is petitioning in your local farmer's
market, picketing a Conservative MP's office or rallying at a federal
building, we need to go all out to stop the deportation of resisters
like Jeremy Hinzman and Corey Glass!
… and on September 14th, organize local screenings of Breaking Ranks Canada's
Prime Minister is about to deport Jeremy Hinzman, American
Conscientious Objector to the Iraq War, as well as his wife Nga and two
children by September 23rd. Jeremy is featured in Michelle Mason's
documentary BREAKING RANKS.
• USE THE FILM:
Check your local library or borrow a copy of BREAKING RANKS featuring
Jeremy Hinzman, from the National Film Board Of Canada (contact Jane
Gutteridge at j.gutteridge@nfb.ca) and host a day of action and/or living room screening. Check www.nfb.ca for upcoming screenings of Breaking Ranks in Toronto this September, and in your community.
Coordinated
screenings of Breaking Ranks on the eve of Parliament reconvening gives
supporters the opportunity to organize letter writing parties
afterwards, so that federal ministers' mailboxes are stuffed in the
first days after MPs return to Ottawa.
And
here's Diane Finley making an ass out of herself in public. (What's
with the sun glasses? Is she hung over or has she mistaken herself for
Simone Signoret?)
Independent Catholic News reports
that demonstrations will take place in support of war resisters
(10-hour vigil outside Canada House in Trafalgar Square) and "members
of Pax Christi, the Oxford Catholic Worker and Fellowship of
Reconciliation will join Voices in the Wilderness".
I
believe, in general, that Canadians are very proud of some of their
unique traditions. I believe that Canadians feel good about way we
assisted Americans who did not wish to serve in the Vietnam War. There
is a strong sense that it was the right thing to do and it has become a
proud part of our national identity. For a moment in history, we stood
up for a justice that transcends borders and nationalities. We stood up
for humanity and decency.
Unfortunately,
I am concerned that this Government is moving us farther away from some
of the positions that made Canada the envy of the world. You are
beginning to change the face of Canada in ways that many of us are
uncomfortable with. I am beginning to feel like the Government of
Canada is attempting to adopt an ideology as our national identity and
I am very disturbed by that. I feel that some of your polices are
beginning to depart from deeply held traditional Canadian values. And
you are transforming the face of Canada with the mandate of a minority
Government. You also have a majority in the House of Commons who voted,
on behalf of Canadians, to support the request made by American War
resisters to remain in Canada. I believe you are turning your back on a
majority of Canadians on an issue that is very important to us. That is
not the sign of a democratic Prime Minister. Somehow Canada has always
been a little bit different and we have always been proud of that. We
don't want to be more like anyone else.
Sir,
I believe that the Iraq war lacked any justification whatsoever. The
evidence now makes this painfully clear. America has lost its
credibility at this time in our history. This war in Iraq is only a
notch above the Vietnam War in terms of sheer brutality and the lack of
any meaningful justification. The main difference is that the lies and
the spin this time around have convinced some people otherwise. Others
have just concluded, "Well, there is no justification for it that I can
see. However, there must have been a good reason for it." Most people
are now wising up and recognizing the truth about this war and we are
all seeing and reading about the unbelievable toll it is taking on
young American soldiers and their families. Many returning veterans,
especially those had to undergo the psychological torture of the "stop
loss program", are coming back completely destroyed. Many of them are
beyond the reach of others who would like to help them. The number of
suicides amongst returning vets of the Iraq War is so very high. This
tragedy has to cause your heart to sink, as it does mine. Would you
really want your own son to serve 2 or 3 tours of duty in Iraq sir?
Wouldn't you worry terribly about his physical and mental health?
Sir,
in the name of decency, compassion, and a higher justice, I request you
to allow American War resisters to remain in Canada as conscientious
objectors. Please don't send them off to have their lives and families
desroyed by an unjust war. Your decision to begin deporting American
war resisters lacks decency and compassion. I strongly urge you to
reconsider your position.
Sincerely,
Spencer Spratley
Mississauga, Ontario
Shows airing in most PBS markets (and most start airing tonight, but check your local listings), NOW on PBS:
Can a fast-food business model save lives in Africa? Next on NOWSNEAK PREVIEW FOR BLOGGERS: See the entire show RIGHT NOW at: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/433/index.html Show
Description:Can the quality of healthcare in developing nations be
transformed by the same principle that makes fast food such a success
here? NOW travels to Kenya to continue ongoing coverage of an
enterprising idea: franchising not burger and donut shops, but health
services and drugs in rural Africa. American
businessmen have been teaming with African entrepreneurs to spread
for-profit clinics around the country in the hopes of providing
quality, affordable medical care to even Kenya's poorest people. In
this show, NOW chronicles how the Kenyan facilities weathered recent
violent unrest, as well as the program's expansion into Rwanda. Also
on the show, a massive program to dispense medicine for people with
HIV/AIDS in poor countries is changing lives and restoring hope. A
small team of photographers is capturing those amazing transformations
on film, hoping their compelling images will bring attention to the
importance of drug access in the developing world. The NOW on PBS website (www.pbs.org/now)
will feature personal stories and more photos from the front lines of
the fight for global health, including amazing photographs of those
suffering from HIV/AIDS and discovering hope.
Meanwhile both Bill Moyers Journal and Washington Week
travel to Denver but not to cover Robin Long's court-martial. No to
cover the same old and tease it out and tease it out. The DNC
convention (barring a surprise shocker) is nothing but a pageant and
shouldn't even be broadcast, let alone covered. It's garbage, it's
trash and IT'S OLD AND OUT OF DATE. But let's all pretend there's
something to be learned in Denver at a political convention. (And let's
pretend like either show gave a damn when the Green Party had their
convention last month.) (They didn't and they didn't provide coverage.
So much for the 'diversity' of public television.)
Independent journalist and artist David Bacon continues to cover labor immigration when few others can. His latest book is released at the start of next month:
Available September 1
Illegal People
How Globalization Creates Migration
and Criminalizes Immigrants
For a schedule of coming book discussions and photography exhibitions, go to:
In Illegal People Bacon explores the human side of globalization, exposing the many ways it uproots people in Latin America
and Asia, driving them to migrate. At the same time, U.S. immigration
policy makes the labor of those displaced people a crime in the United
States. Illegal People explains why our national policy produces even
more displacement, more migration, more immigration raids, and a more divided, polarized society.
Through
interviews and on-the-spot reporting from both impoverished communities
abroad and American immigrant workplaces and neighborhoods, Bacon shows
how the United States' trade
and economic policy abroad, in seeking to create a favorable investment
climate for large corporations, creates conditions to displace
communities and set migration into motion. Trade policy and immigration
are intimately linked, Bacon argues, and are, in fact, elements of a
single economic system.
In particular, he analyzes NAFTA's corporate tilt as a cause of displacement and migration from Mexico and shows how criminalizing immigrant labor benefits employers.
Bacon
powerfully traces the development of illegal status back to slavery and
shows the human cost of treating the indispensable labor of millions of
migrants-and the migrants themselves-as illegal. Illegal People argues for a sea change
in the way we think, debate, and legislate around issues of migration
and globalization, making a compelling case for why we need to consider
immigration and migration from a globalized human rights perspective.
"[I]ncisive
investigation . . . Bacon's timely analysis is as cool and competent as
his labor advocacy is unapologetic. In mapping the political economy
of migration, with an unwavering eye on the rights and dignity of
working people, Bacon offers an invaluable corrective to America's
hobbled discourse on immigration and a spur to genuine, creative
action." - review, Publisher's Weekly,
"Bacon, an award-winning
photojournalist, labor organizer, and immigrant-rights activist,
follows the lives of undocumented workers at the Westin Suite Hotel in California and a Smithfield meatpacking plant in North Carolina,
who travel back and forth from Mexico to the U.S. . . . He ties
together interviews, personal histories, and political analysis to
provide a vivid image of what life is like for workers with little
rights or protections in an increasingly globalized economy." review,
Vanessa Bush, Booklist
"David Bacon is the conscience of American journalism: an extraordinary social documentarist in the rugged humanist tradition of Dorothea Lange, Carey McWilliams, and Ernesto Galarza.." - Mike Davis
That's September 1st. Let's turn to the US presidential race. First up, from independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader (Ralph's Daily Audio) this is "Forestalling More of the Same:"
This
is Ralph Nader. This year two and a half to three million Americans
will lose their homes to foreclosures. Next year another two and a half
to three million Americans will probably lose their homes. Instead of
helping these Americans keep their homes, both the Democrats and the
Republicans are bailing out Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Wall St. banks
and their high paid executives -- the same executives who got us into
this mess by betting the house on sub-prime mortgages. I call this
"Socialism for Spectators." Senator
McCain takes a hands-off approach to the mortgage meltdown. Senator
Obama talks about helping the home owners but is surrounding himself
with the culprits: Wall St. bankers. Obama's economic director? Robert
Rubin protege Jason Furman. Rubin
was the Clintons' Treasury Secretary. He engineered the disastrous
deregulation of Wall St. including the repeal of the Glass Steagall
Act. This Depression-era law separated investment banks from commercial
banking. Had it been in effect, the current mortgage crisis would have
been limited. Rubin went on to be an overpaid executive at Citigroup which he helped tank. Rubin is now advising Senator Obama. Nader-Gonzalez would bring back Glass Steagall. Nader-Gonzalez
would re-instate the usury laws that cap interest rates and we would
regulate Wall St. instead of bailing it out on the backs of American
tax payers. This would
include forcing mortgage companies to re-negotiate the mortgages of
millions of home owners who are currently faced with being thrown out
onto the street as a result of foreclosure. Instead
of punishing the home owners, Nader-Gonzalez would bring justice to the
predatory lenders on Wall St. who deceived them and who got us into
this mess in the first place.
Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party presidential nominee. We'll note the following press release on her campaign:
Green Party of Michigan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.migreens.org
For More Information, Contact: ----------------------------- Fred Vitale, State Coordinator McKinney/Clemente Campaign 313-580-4905 FredDetroit@sbcglobal.net OR chair@migreens.org
Cynthia McKinney, Green Party Candidate for President, Will Spend Labor Day Weekend Visiting Michigan ==============================================
(Detroit) --- Cynthia McKinney (www.votetruth08.com), Presidential candidate of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS; www.GP.org) and head of the first nationwide ticket putting two women of color on ballots across the US, will visit Michigan for Labor Day weekend August 30 - September 1.
The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI; www.MIGreens.org) will be hosting a press conference for Congresswoman McKinney at 7pm Saturday, August 30 at the International Institute (111 E. Kirby, Detroit). The press conference will be followed by a rally with other GPMI Federal, state, and local candidates at 7:30pm at the same location. The rally is open to the public, and free.
The following evening -- Sunday, August 31 -- Congresswoman McKinney will deliver a key policy speech on the elimination of poverty at the National Welfare Rights Union (www.MWRO.org) Awards Dinner. The dinner, starting at 6:30pm, will be held at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat House, 23333 Schoolcraft, Detroit.
On Monday, Labor Day, Congresswoman McKinney will be joining thousands of union members in Detroit celebrating Labor Day by marching down Woodward Avenue.
Other campaign events during the visit will be announced as the details are finalized.
The Green Party of Michigan welcomes Cynthia McKinney to Michigan. She will lead GPMI's 2008 slate -- which includes
* Harley Mikkelson of Caro, retired after service with the Army in Vietnam and for 26 years in Michigan state government, for US Senate (www.harleymikkelson.com);
* Rev. Edward Pinkney, a Benton Harbor community activist currently unjustly imprisoned at Hiawatha Correctional Facility, running to represent his home 6th Congressional District in the US House (see also BHBANCO.blogspot.com); and
* 30 other Michigan Greens running for Federal, state, and local offices.
Cynthia McKinney is a six-term former Congresswoman from Georgia who quit the Democratic Party on her birthday in 2007 because the Democratic Party no longer represented her values. She joined the Green Party, campaigned for its Presidential nomination, and was nominated in Chicago at the Green Party National Convention on July 12 (www.votetruth08.com).
During her time in Congress, Cynthia McKinney
* consistently opposed funding for bloated military and secret intelligence budgets;
* introduced Articles of Impeachment for George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice;
* introduced, championed, and passed in the U.S. House the Arms Trade Code of Conduct, prohibiting the sale of arms to known human-rights abusers; and
* passed legislation to extend health benefits for Vietnam War veterans still suffering the health effects of exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.
She currently serves on an International tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and on the Brussels Tribunal on Iraq. She is also participating in War Crimes prosecutions in Spain, and working with the Malaysian Peace organization to criminalize war.
Cynthia McKinney’s long-time advocacy for poor people and her recent participation as a Commissioner in the Truth Commission for Water Rights held in Detroit May 3 prompted anti-poverty leaders to invite her as the guest speaker for the Awards Dinner at the National Welfare Rights Union Retreat.
Currently on the ballot in 25 states that hold a majority of electoral votes -- and with a good chance to make it on in several more states -- the Green Party presidential ticket is breaking new ground, and breaking down barriers, in American politics with the Cynthia McKinney-Rosa Clemente campaign.
The campaign has also crossed the fundraising threshold in 14 states (including Michigan) out of the 20 required to qualify for matching Federal funds for the primary season. The deadline to qualify in at least six more states, and earn matching funds, is September 4.
The McKinney/Clemente campaign offers a profoundly pro- people, anti-corporate program for this election. Congress- woman McKinney will bring the troops home -- all the troops -- not only from Iraq and Afghanistan, but from every country where US troops are stationed. She will reduce significantly the bloated Pentagon budget, and spend the money here at home. She supports an immediate moratorium on foreclosures. She wants to convert the prisons for profit into money spent on education. She supports universal, single-payer healthcare.
As her running mate, Congresswoman McKinney chose Rosa Clemente (www.RosaClemente.com). Ms. Clemente brings strong credentials to this race. She is a founder of the Hip-Hop Convention, a community activist, and a scholar.
For complete information on the Green Party's historic Presidential ticket, please visit the candidates' Websites:
Green Party of Michigan 548 South Main Street Ann Arbor, MI 48104 http://www.migreens.org 734-663-3555
GPMI was formed in 1987 to address environmental issues in Michigan politics. Greens are organized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:
Ecological Wisdom Grassroots Democracy Social Justice Non-Violence Community Economics Decentralization Feminism Respect for Diversity Personal/Global Responsibility Future Focus/Sustainability
nick kyonka
robin long
jeremy hinzman
spencer spratley
independent catholic reporter
david bacon
washington week
pbs
now on pbs
bill moyers journal
