Peace Blog Archive

Letter to the Judge Who Sentenced My Husband to Federal Prison for Protesting Nuclear Weapons

by Michele Naar-Obed. Michele is married to Greg Boertje-Obed who was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison in November 2006 for hammering on the concrete lid covering the missile silo which houses the Minuteman III nuclear missile.

Dear Judge Hovland,

Thank you for making the arrangements for me to visit Greg in jail after you sentenced him to a year and a day in federal prison. The jail officials had been rather adament in their unwillingness to allow me to visit, so your intervention made the visit possible. (more…)

A true giving of thanks for people of conscience
by Silvia Brandon Pérez

On the eve of the celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States, and
while thousands across the land battled each other for yet another
nonsensical and highly expensive toy, I have returned from what I may
characterize as one of the most emotionally and spiritually uplifting events
of my life, and of some 40+ years of activism of one sort or another. (more…)

Want to End the War? Ask for Investigations!

By David Swanson

Public awareness of the lies that led to the war and the crimes committed during the war helps build public demand for the troops to come home. Not every committee in Congress can work fulltime on simply ending the war: a legislative process that must be pursued but which will be uphill and subject to veto or signing statement. Many committees in the House and Senate, without taking any energy away from ending the war, can finally conduct the investigations that have gone undone for 6 years, exposing evidence that could very well lead to criminal, civil, or political accountability, as well as pressure to end the war and precedent to help prevent the next war.

Ask your Representative and Senators to conduct investigations. (more…)

Blood-Pouring Anti-Nuke Clowns Sent to Prison: Weapons of Mass Destruction Protected
By Bill Quigley.

Three men protesting the presence of weapons of mass destruction in North Dakota were sentenced to federal prison terms of over three years and ordered to pay $17,000 in restitution by a federal judge in Bismarck.   The three dressed as clowns and went to the Echo-9 launch site of the intercontinental Minuteman III nuclear missile in rural North Dakota in June 2006.  They broke the lock off the fence and put up peace banners and posters.  One said: “Swords into plowshares – Spears into pruning hooks.” They poured some of their own blood on the site, hammered on the nuclear launching facility and waited to be arrested.   (more…)

The New Media Offensive for the Iraq War
By Norman Solomon

The American media establishment has launched a major offensive against the option of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

In the latest media assault, right-wing outfits like Fox News and the Wall Street Journal editorial page are secondary. The heaviest firepower is now coming from the most valuable square inches of media real estate in the USA — the front page of the New York Times. (more…)

IRAQ TROOP WITHDRAWAL LOOKS FAR OFF

- Bush/Cheney appear benched by Baker/Daddy Bush “Coup”.
- What can we expect from the Baker Iraq Study Group?
- New plans for taming resistance likely to be very bloody.

By Nick Mottern, Director, Consumers for Peace

The removal of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense is being described in the press as a step planned by President George W. Bush even before the Democrats swept both houses of Congress to clear the way for changes in U.S. policy and action in Iraq. It is a step that has raised hopes of less bloodshed and an early return home of U.S. troops. But in spite of Democratic statements calling for quick withdrawal, this hope may not be realized any time soon. (more…)

Robin Hood in Reverse: Corporate and Government Looting of the Gulf Coast

By Bill Quigley. Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at Quigley@loyno.edu. If you want to know more, check out www.justiceforneworleans.org and look at the CorpWatch report, “Big, Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering on the American Gulf Coast.”

Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. On the Gulf Coast, the reverse is happening. Federal state and local governments are teaming up with corporations and developers to systematically steal hurricane relief funds from the poor to enrich themselves. (more…)