The Capital Times
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Benjamin Ratliffe Madison
Dear Editor: Recently activists from the International Socialist Organization, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice and Madison Area Peace Coalition showed up at U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin's new State Street office to confront her about her vote in support of Israel's policy of collective punishment of Gaza and Lebanese civilians.
To make a long story short, reactions from Baldwin supporters who had gathered that day ranged from open hostility to appreciation. Debate and discussion between these groups were mostly civil, though in a couple instances emotions flared.
There was one rebuke from a number of Baldwin's supporters that concerned me most. Considering Baldwin's relatively progressive leanings, were we really going to condemn her for this one issue?
Along with the rest of our elected representatives, Baldwin's vote in support of Israel rubber-stamps the wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians. She could be Mother Teresa on every other issue, and, yes, this one would be enough.
Wisconsin State Journal
Sept. 9, 2006Wisconsin State Journal
Thursday, September 21, 2006
In his Sept. 14 column, James Lileks repeated the false claim that the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better known as the McCain-Feingold law, "forbade interest groups from running broadcast ads that attack a candidate by name within 60 days of the election."
Lileks is either ignorant of what the law says, or is deliberately misleading his readers.
McCain-Feingold does not prevent anyone, or any group, from running an ad at any time. But in the last 60 days before an election, the law does require the ad's sponsors to obey longstanding campaign finance laws that candidates and all other participants in campaigns have to follow, including disclosing how much is spent on the ad and who is paying for it. Voters need that information.
Corporate donations were banned in Wisconsin in 1906 and prohibited nationally a few years later. In the 1990s wealthy special interests developed electioneering practices that let corporate cash in through a loophole in federal campaign laws, until McCain-Feingold sought to close that loophole.
Knowing that defending illicit corporate campaign contributions was a losing proposition, opponents of reform fabricated the myth that McCain-Feingold curbs freedom of speech by banning groups from running ads -- a clever deception, but a lie nonetheless.
-- Mike McCabe, executive director, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Madison
Wisconsin State Journal
Thursday, September 21, 2006
SANDY CULLEN scullen@madison.com 608-252-6137
At age 79, Fred Brancel crawled under the sharp barbs of a wire fence at a controversial Army training camp and was arrested. Months later -- just five days short of completing a three-month prison sentence -- the former missionary awoke to find a razor blade stuck in his neck after offending a fellow inmate.
Though steadfast in his commitment to the principle of nonviolent resistance, the Monona resident struggles with whether he will break the law again to protest "the military-industrial complex about which President Eisenhower cautioned us."
Brancel and others committed to nonviolent civil resistance say such extremes are necessary to shift public policy and spur social change.
"Our dissent has to be strong," said Joy First of Monona, who has been arrested twice in Washington, D.C., and several times in Madison for nonviolent civil resistance in an effort to end the war in Iraq. "We're trying to go up against the big powers in this country."
First, 52, will participate in nonviolent civil resistance planned for today, International Peace Day, at the Madison office of U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, and Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, D.C., as anti-war activists push for Congress to end the war.
After attending two protests at the Army's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly called the School of the Americas, in Georgia, Brancel decided to take part in the nonviolent civil resistance at the annual vigil that drew an estimated 19,000 demonstrators last November. Critics say dictators, death squad leaders and others trained at the facility have tortured, raped and murdered hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans.
"It felt to me, as a 79-year-old, that the time was right and I should stand up and speak out," said Brancel, who was among 41 protesters arrested at the school he associates with a growing national deficit and increasing economic disparity as a result of military spending.
Brancel, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, said he was inspired by a church book study, where he read "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It" by Jim Wallis, who "wrote about changing the direction of the wind."
The Conservancy Creek condominium Brancel shares with his wife, Mary Ann Litwiller, is decorated with peace doves and other artwork from their travels to Africa and South America.
His wife gave her "full support" for his action, said Brancel, who doesn't know if he will repeat his resistance at the annual protest in November.
"Some of my closest relatives and friends feel there are better ways of using one's time, and they might be right," said Brancel, whose frailty of age is overshadowed by the strength of his beliefs shaped by nearly 20 years of missionary work in Zimbabwe, Zaire and Angola, where he was imprisoned for three months then deported.
'It's scary'
First, a mother of five grown children and grandmother of three, recently completed a doctorate degree in women's studies at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, and is eager to begin a new career working to prevent child sexual abuse. But before doing that, she is committed to working full time to end the war in Iraq.
"A shy, quiet kind of person" by her own description, First said she had to do a lot of "personal work and healing" to get "the strength to be able to go out in public and speak out strongly against the war." She stepped into the realm of resistance as the possibility of war in Iraq surfaced.
First distinguishes civil disobedience, or breaking a law that is unjust, from civil resistance, which involves breaking a law that might be just in an effort to change public policy.
"It's scary doing this. I don't do this because it's easy or it's fun," she said. "I feel I'm doing important things that need to be done."
First was among 51 protesters arrested last March after scaling a fence Pentagon police erected to thwart their attempt to deliver an anti-war message to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The previous September, she was one of 371 arrested for sitting down outside the White House gate after hanging up posters of people who have died in the war following an unsuccessful attempt to meet with President Bush.
In Madison, First has joined others in blocking access to military recruiting stations and Truax Field, where the Wisconsin Air National Guard is headquartered.
All of First's arrests have resulted in fines. "I hope I never have to go to jail," she said. "If it comes to that ... that's what I will do."
Resistance community
Longtime anti-nuclear activist Bonnie Urfer had to leave Madison to find the support she needed to live a life of resistance.
Urfer, 54, who has been arrested "close to 100 times" and has spent a total of about four and half years behind bars, now lives at Anathoth Community Farm in Luck, in northwest Wisconsin. The community is specifically designed to allow its nine members to do nonviolent civil resistance.
"It's knowing that I have a home to go back to," Urfer said.
Anathoth's five homes are heated with solar energy and wood cut by community members, who make and sell maple syrup and grow much of their own food in a 2-acre garden, Urfer said. When one member is in prison, others pitch in to do their work.
Everyone in the community works a part-time job, but they keep their earnings below the poverty level to avoid paying taxes that support the military, said Urfer, who works in the office of Nukewatch, an environmental and peace action group based at Anathoth that works to abolish nuclear power and weapons.
"Everybody in that community has been in prison or jail at least one time," said Urfer, who served six months in federal prison for sawing down three poles at a former Navy antenna site in northern Wisconsin in 2000, and an additional five months for refusing to pay restitution to the government.
"I don't dwell too much on the consequences," she said. "My decision is to do the action because it's the right thing to do."
Enormous consequences
The consequences of resistance can be enormous for both participants and those affected by their actions.
Mary Beth Schlagheck, a longtime Madison area peace activist, with her late husband, Jim, spent 15 years caring for seven children, six of them developmentally disabled, adopted by Helen Woodson after Woodson's arrest for damaging the cover of a nuclear missile silo in 1984.
Woodson was sentenced to 18 years in prison -- much longer than anyone had anticipated. Paroled in 1993, Woodson used an unloaded starter's pistol to get money from a teller at an Illinois bank, then set the money on fire on the bank floor. She remains in a Texas prison after sending threatening letters to federal officials and pouring red liquid on a security station at a federal courthouse when paroled again in 2004.
"Within the movement, Helen is kind of an anomaly," Urfer said. "She renounced her commitment to nonviolence, which is extremely unusual. In the movement in general, commitment to nonviolence is crucial."
Like Brancel, Schlagheck, 68, remains faithful to the movement, though she has chosen not to participate in civil resistance.
"I think we have to think about in advance the consequences of an action when they relate to other people," said Schlagheck, now married to John Marhoefer, who designed their Windsor home to allow sunlight to stream in through its high ceilings.
"I am not going to risk putting him at any emotional discomfort with what I might be doing," Schlagheck said. "As people of resistance, the idea of turn-taking comes to mind."
Instead of taking part in the nonviolent civil resistance planned for today, Schlagheck will be joining others in a 27-hour fast and vigil outside at Sen. Kohl's office.
"We will be in solidarity with one another," she said.
Peace vigil
A 27-hour fast and vigil calling for an end to the war in Iraq will take place today and Friday in front of the Madison office of U.S Sen. Herb Kohl.
The vigil will begin at 2 p.m. today on the sidewalk outside of Kohl's office, 14 W. Mifflin St., with a candlelight observance from 7 to 10:30 tonight.
The fast and vigil will continue overnight at Grace Episcopal Church and resume outside Kohl's office Friday morning, concluding at 5 p.m.
Wisconsin State Journal
September 23, 2006
In last Saturday's guest column, military recruiter Lyman Woodman dismissed former high school guidance counselor Dave Hoppe as a "social mooch . . . hidden behind his cozy, safe desk," and one who "knows nothing about the armed forces," for his column opposing recruitment in high schools.
I do not know how much action Woodman saw while active in the Navy, or how comfortable his own desk was during his 12 years as a recruiter, but it's clear that he's trying to pull rank on Hoppe. He suggests Hoppe is nothing but a lowly civilian who can't possibly know anything about the benefits and values to be found during a stint in the war-time military.
While sharing Hoppe's concerns and sentiments in regard to the military presence in our schools, I also have a common bond with Woodman since I also was in the military. I shed enough blood to bring me alongside Hoppe and others in opposition to military recruitment in our schools. And I never would have gained the understandings I now have if it hadn't been for civilians like Hoppe.
As a combat veteran, someone who has actually been there and back, I would be happy to debate the pros and cons of recruitment in our schools, the outright enticement of our children that Woodman seeks to promote. If he wants to "talk the talk," then he should also be willing to "walk the walk."
-- Staff Sgt. Will Williams, town of Windsor
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
The next theater for the war in Iraq may be Lawrence.
City commissioners are set to decide tonight whether to place a question on the November ballot allowing voters to call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The request — made last week by the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice — is advisory in nature, but it already has sparked debate about what role the city should play in voicing its opinion about one of the more controversial issues of the decade.
"I’m wrestling with it," City Commissioner Boog Highberger said. "I think it would be good for our elected officials to know what Lawrence residents think about the issue, but I’m struggling with whether it is the role of city government to conduct an opinion poll.
"I’m afraid it could be awfully divisive for the community, and not accomplish much."
The issue may have a tough time winning the necessary three votes to be placed on the November ballot. Highberger was one of three commissioners who said last week that he was willing to consider the issue. Commissioner David Schauner was another, but he said Monday that he’s now leaning against putting the issue on the ballot.
"It is such a complicated issue, it may not be appropriate for a referendum," Schauner said. "This is the most complicated issue you could ever ask to be flattened into an in-or-out type of decision."
That hasn’t stopped other communities from doing it, though. The Wisconsin Green Party successfully placed a similar question on the April ballot of 32 communities in that state. Twenty-four of the communities, including Madison, home to the University of Wisconsin, voted to call for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
In Vermont, 56 communities had town hall meetings in March where citizens voted on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. More than two-thirds of the communities approved of a withdrawal.
In 2004, San Francisco became the largest community to speak out on the issue. Voters there approved a referendum calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops by a 2-1 margin. Milwaukee has scheduled a similar vote for the Nov. 7 election.
Allan Hanson, a member of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, said Lawrence has the chance to become part of an important national movement.
"This is a good way to get public opinion expressed in this country," Hanson said. "If we are the only community in the country that does it, nobody will notice. But if we are part of a groundswell, it can make a difference."
Opinions of Lawrence residents Monday on Massachusetts Street were mixed.
"It seems like it is much more of a federal issue," said Lawrence resident Gary Patterson. "It is not something you just simply decide to bring the troops home. Besides, our vote wouldn’t matter."
Denise Diamond, Lawrence, has a nephew who is about to deploy to Iraq.
"He might be mad if the city did something like that, but I would support a vote on it," Diamond said. "I want us to do something to get the troops home. My nephew is 18 years old, and I don’t think he has any idea what he’s getting into."
Members of area veterans organizations said they had some concerns about calling for a public vote on the issue.
"All I can tell you is that I do know that what we’re doing over there is the right thing," said Paul Benner, commander of Lawrence’s Veterans of Foreign Wars post and a veteran of the first Gulf War in the early 1990s. "I don’t have a lot of tolerance for uninformed people, and these folks calling for this seem to be pretty uninformed."
-by Chad Lawhorn
WNPJ member Gail Vaughn featured in this article
By JOE ORSO | La Crosse Tribune
Six war protesters received trespassing citations after what was termed a "friendly" exchange with U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl staff assistant John Medinger in Kohl’s La Crosse office Monday.
The protesters want Kohl to be more active in ending the war in Iraq, bringing the troops home and opposing further U.S. invasions.
Thirty to 40 protesters gathered outside Kohl’s office at 425 State St. about 4:30 p.m. Nine entered the building and spoke with Medinger for more than 90 minutes.
"I would describe the conversation as respectful on both sides," said Keith Belzer, an attorney who attended as a consultant to the protesters. "The La Crosse Police Department handled the matter very professionally."
Gail Vaughn, who received a citation, said the protesters and Medinger decided police should be called, as the protesters refused to leave.
"We know from the Hague Conventions and Nuremberg Principles that if a citizen sees that its government is committing war crimes, it is incumbent upon the citizen to try to stop that," said Vaughn, 54. "Otherwise you’re complicit in the crimes that are being committed by your government."
Vaughn said she’s lost count of the number of times she’s been jailed for nonviolent protests, but her longest stint was three weeks.
"The lawbreakers are those who have voted for this war and are allowing it to go on," she said. "That includes Kohl, because he has voted for every single bill and every single thing to allow this war to continue."
In a statement issued Thursday by communications director Lynn Becker, Kohl said he supports the Levin-Reed resolution that makes it clear to Iraqis the U.S. will not be in their country indefinitely and encourages the administration to begin planning to redeploy forces.
"As I’ve said on many occasions, President Bush misused and abused Congressional authority leading up to the Iraq war, and has made mistakes at virtually every turn," according to the statement.
June Kjome, 85, a longtime peace activist, also was cited in the protest. She said Medinger was open and listened to the protesters.
"Most of us who know John Medinger know that he is an activist and that he is a peace-minded person and that he actively participates in a lot of the demonstrations and peace vigils," Kjome said.
Medinger would not comment, saying it was Kohl’s policy.
Belzer said the six will plead not guilty at their Oct. 25 court date. The other four arrested were Matt Stewart, Jeremy Jansen, Chris Vogts and Anita Zibton.
Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.
The Badger Herald
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
In its July attack on Lebanon, Israel again demonstrated its willingness to murder innocent civilians. Rather than negotiating for the lives of its two soldiers, Israel decided to "turn Lebanon’s clock back 20 years," in the words of Israeli army chief of staff Dan Halutz. Among the hundreds of civilian casualties were 56 in the village of Qana, a town with no Hezbollah presence. As Independent journalist Robert Fisk reported from Qana, "[T]here was no doubt of the missile which killed all those children yesterday. It came from the United States, and upon a fragment of it was written: ‘For use on MK-84 Guided Bomb BSU-37-B.’"
Indeed, the U.S. leant a hand in this slaughter, expediting the delivery of laser-guided missiles to Israel, and stalling a cease-fire resolution in the UN. However, it was not the first time the U.S. unleashed its Israeli enforcer.
The unique relationship America has forged with Israel has not come cheap. Israel receives more than one-third of all U.S. foreign aid, more than all U.S. aid to sub-Saharan Africa. While hunger and disease are rampant in Africa, Israel has an advanced economy, with a per capita income comparable to Europe. Israel boasts the fourth largest air force in the world, which recently sprinkled American-made cluster bombs over Lebanon. The U.S.’s incredible charity to such as wealthy nation is baffling to many.
In return, Israel plays a unique role for the U.S., as a hired thug in the Middle East. In 1953, when the CIA overthrew the democratic government of Iran and installed the U.S.-friendly Shah, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz offered "The West is none too happy about its relations with states in the Middle East … But if for any reason the Western powers should sometimes prefer to close their eyes, Israel could be relied upon to punish one or several neighboring states." Israel proved its mettle to the U.S. in 1967, attacking the left-wing Egyptian government and easily defeating Egypt, Syria and Jordan. After the Six Day War, U.S. aid to Israel quickly multiplied.
Over the years, Israel has been willing to prop up U.S.-friendly dictatorships in the Middle East and around the world. In 1970, the Jordanian monarchy crushed Palestinian guerillas, while Israel provided cover from Syria. In Iran, Israel trained the Shah’s secret police, and sold U.S. aircraft to General Suharto in Indonesia, which he used to kill 200,000 East Timorese. In 1977, Israel broke the international arms embargo against apartheid South Africa, and Israeli military officers trained white soldiers to fight black "terrorists." Time and again, Israel has served as the U.S.’s middleman to regimes too murderous for the U.S. to aid directly.
Israel’s reliability as an enforcer is rooted in the colonialist nature of the Zionist state, originally conceived as a colony of the British Empire. Like America today, the British valued control over the region for its oil and proximity to the Suez Canal, and accepted the Zionists’ offer to become "a portion of the rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism." The Zionist immigrants assisted the British by putting down Arab rebellions, including a general strike in 1936. After WWII, with Britain weakened and abandoning its colonies, Zionist militia established Israel as an independent state, by expelling 700,000 Palestinians from their own land.
The dispossession of the Palestinians is what makes Israel America’s most reliable ally today. Unlike Jordan or Egypt, Israel is a state where the majority of citizens are effectively colonists in a hostile region, while the indigenous people are relegated to second-class citizenship or exile. Although the colonists are fanatical defenders of their "homeland," they are an embattled minority and rely on the patronage of the world superpower.
In this light, it is easy to see how support for Israel and the occupation of Iraq are linked. To secure its interests in the Middle East, the U.S. must also rely on Arab regimes, such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and its new puppet government in Iraq. Israel serves as the lead enforcer, keeping the others in line. Without Israel, one former U.S. general estimated that it would cost $125 billion to maintain an equivalent force in the Middle East, and that Israel was worth "five CIAs." As Ha’aretz predicted in the 1950s, Israel has become America’s watchdog.
For enemies of U.S. imperialism, the lesson is clear: to oppose American occupation in the Middle East is to oppose Israel. If we want to see an end to Bush’s wars for oil, we must build an antiwar movement that challenges the so-called "war on terror," and defends the right of Palestinians and Lebanese to resist Israel’s aggression.
The International Socialist Organization is having a meeting called "Axis of Empire: Why the U.S. Supports Israel’s Terror" at 7 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 27, Memorial Union (T.I.T.U.).
National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance featured in this article
From Lisa Goddard
CNN
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/26/dc.protests/index.htm
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two Presbyterian ministers were among 71 people arrested
during a series of peaceful protests against the Iraq war Tuesday, said a
spokeswoman for a group participating in the protests.
Demonstrators held sit-ins, prayer services and sing-alongs at four
locations in the Capitol complex, including the central atrium of the Senate
Hart Office Building.
The demonstrations were reminiscent of the Vietnam era, with protesters
strumming guitars, singing peace songs, holding flowers and wearing hats
made of balloons. (Watch war protesters face the
music -- 1:28)
Senate staffers watched the demonstrators from their offices. Protesters
said that several workers gave them a thumbs-up or othe signs of approval.
(Watch how the protests are part of a highly
charged day in Washington -- 2:23)
"We are trying to protest a lack of civil liberties and to try and end a war
culture," said protester Alex Bryan of New York.
Thirty-three of those arrested were charged with unlawful conduct inside the
Hart Building, said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the Capitol Police.
Thirty-eight more demonstrators were arrested at separate protests near the
Capitol, she said. Of those, 23 were charged with crossing a police line and
15 were charged with demonstrating without a permit.
All of those arrested were cooperative with police, Schneider said.
The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, which has organized dozens
of anti-war protests around the country, coordinated Tuesday's effort, which
included several religious and secular
groups.
Among those arrested during the demonstrations were two Presbyterian
ministers, a Catholic activist and a member of a Quaker group, said Jennifer
Kuiper, spokeswoman for The Declaration of Peace, one of the groups
participating in the protests.
Both groups apparently expected participants to be arrested. On a notice
posted at The Declaration of Peace Web site, the protests are described as
an "interfaith religious procession around the Capitol, followed by peace
presence and nonviolent resistance, including risking arrest at the U.S.
Senate."
The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance Web site adds, "Those
willing to engage in nonviolent acts of civil resistance against the war and
occupation are encouraged to join us.
We also enthusiastically call upon those who cannot risk arrest, but who are
willing to support those who do."
Despite a rising tide of war opposition, the protesters said they represent
no party or political movement.
Baptist minister Jamie Washam of Wisconsin, who led an interfaith service
during the protests, said she is adamantly opposed to the war.
"My congregation wants peace," she said. "And I think it's an offense to
God."
Tuesday's events in Washington were part of 375 protests and other
activities being held around the country this week in opposition to the war,
according to The Declaration of Peace.
There were hundreds of arrests in a protest organized by the National
Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance a year ago. On September 26, 2005, 371
people were arrested during the "Resist and Remember" protest in Washington,
one of the organization's founders, Gordon Clark, wrote in an online
article.
Of those, 104 were arrested at the White House for refusing to leave after
being denied an audience with President Bush, Clark wrote.
Wisconsin State Journal
Thursday, September 28, 2006
BONNIE BLOCK
Sept. 21 marked the International Day of Peace established by the United Nations in 1981. This year it also marked the culmination of the Declaration of Peace campaign with 360 communities in all 50 states taking action to end the war in Iraq. (See www.declarationofpeace.org)
Here in Madison a dozen people committed themselves to 27 hours of action. Some of us risked arrest by sitting in at U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl's office, others of us handed out leaflets in front of his office on the Square. Many of us fasted, and all of us spent hours solemnly reading the names of the thousands of U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths. Thursday evening we were joined by scores of people who came for a three-and-a-half hour, rainy, candlelight vigil.
All day Friday people came up to Sen. Kohl's office and wrote letters to tell him, "end the war." Specifically we asked him to sign on to the bill Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced, which calls for a withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2006 and to the eight-point program set forth in the Declaration of Peace. Sen. Kohl still refuses to endorse a timetable for withdrawing our troops from Iraq. He insists it is the responsibility of the Bush administration.
Why would a dozen ordinary people like us take time out of our busy lives to collectively put 324 hours into an effort to "declare peace?" Because we are tired of the lies that got us into the war and the fear that allows a small group of neo-cons, who now control the government, to make us give up our deepest values. And because we know that peace does not come by killing innocent people. Democracy is not built at the point of a rifle. Security is not achieved by dropping bombs. Human rights are not honored by torture.
Our children and grandchildren will be saddled with paying the cost of this war. The National Priorities Project says Congress has already appropriated over $316 billion for the war with no end in sight. Much-needed social and environmental programs will go unfunded because war profiteering and tax cuts for the super-rich are not the basis for a sound economy. We declared peace and stood up for the America we believe in. An America that:
Lives out its ideals by being an equal partner in the community of nations -- not by being a military superpower.
Deals with heinous crimes like 9/11 with the rule of law -- not by waging pre-emptive war or engaging in torture.
Protects our national security by honoring civil and human rights for all -- not by using illegal wiretaps and detentions, secret tribunals, and other unconstitutional procedures.
We acted because we believe in an America where "dissent is the highest form of patriotism, "and we hope for the day when every citizen exercises his or her rights and responsibilities.
We have brought unimaginable death and destruction to Iraq, but this shameful war is also inflicting the same horror on us. This past Friday, the 2,974th American soldier died in Iraq, thus surpassing the total deaths from the attacks of Sept. 11. Twenty thousand have been wounded, tens of thousands are returning from Iraq emotionally and spiritually scarred, and America's moral authority is tattered.Wisconsin State Journal
September 28, 2006
Other countries fear us, like former Gestapo, KGB
The U.S. media have paid great attention to Hugo Chavez's remarks about the "devil," but what is ignored is the common theme referred to by other foreign leaders that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has interfered in their countries, assassinating people, giving harbor to known terrorists and acting as a terrorist institution around the world.
When I was a child, there was great fear over what the Gestapo was doing in Europe. Could that happen to us in the United States? Then it was the KGB in Eastern Europe. Now it is the CIA.
Consider what the Patriot Act does to our local libraries, what the National Security Agency can do to our telephones. What is the difference in the fear that I felt as a child and the fear I feel now?
Fear of the police, the CIA, the FBI is growing. And many distrust the government as controlled by corporate money and policies.
The war in the Middle East is not about democracy, it is about power and control of the resources and wealth that corporations want in that area.
-- Daniel J. (Jim) Guilfoil, Monona
Report from Guy Wolfe, Coulee Progressives