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| Bradley Manning's Legal Duty to Expose War Crimes The trial of Pvt. Bradley Manning is the last and most sordid chapter in the most sordid American war since Vietnam. We lost the Iraq War. We lost our reputation. We lost our young men. We lost our soul and we lost our treasury. We even lost the oil. They Chinese have won the oil of Iraq, and the rapacious Fascist corporations and war profiteers stole our treasury. The domestic enemies who committed these war crimes have not been held accountable. None of them have gone to trial, and none is in jail. But Pvt. Bradley "Manning fulfilled his legal duty to report war crimes. He complied with his legal duty to obey lawful orders but also his legal duty to disobey unlawful orders", writes San Diego Constitutional lawyer Marjorie Cohn. Read More American MEDIA cowardice enables our destruction |
Event Reminders: World noted experts on NUKE power accidentTuesday, 06/04/2013 Three top world experts closest to nuclear power accidents to convene in San Diego. Those individuals closest to the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Fukushima will discuss what it is like to have to stare down a melt down when millions of lives are at stake. Includes former Prime Minister of Japan, Honorable Naoto Kan, during Fukushima disaster. -- Tuesday, June 4 in San Diego. James Kimber to address Fallbrook Dem Club Student loan interest to double this summer Lake San Marcos Dem Club Meets Monthly Writers Read Moves to Fallbrook Library Escondido Dem Club Meets NCFC Presents: Your Sister’s Sister Free Bradley Manning marchers in SD Pride Parade This 'N ThatFor as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.- Pythagoras An act of love, a voluntary taking on oneself of some of the pain of the world, increases the courage and love and hope of all. People have power when other people think they have power. Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. To see reality--not as we expect it to be but as it is--is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily; that there can really be life only where there really is, in just this sense, love. There are three truths: my truth, your truth and the truth. Nonviolence doesn't always work -- but violence never does. There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. Dust turned to hope. Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely an absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people. It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. We do not inherit the earth from our fathers. We borrow it from our children. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Don't ever let them pull you down so low as to hate them. (also cited as: I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.) When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart. In April, we cannot see sunflowers in France, so we might say the sunflowers do not exist. But the local farmers have already planted thousands of seeds, and when they look at the bare hills, they may be able to see the sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They lack only the conditions of sun, heat, rain and July. Just because we cannot see them does not mean that they do not exist. I am part and parcel of the whole and cannot find God apart from the rest of humanity. If you obey all the rules you will miss the fun. The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of nonviolence has been the organization of violence. And then to each other. The peace process we all aim for will not necessarily be a result of the mere signing of a treaty or agreement. It must become a matter of our everyday lives, so that peace settles and lasts and becomes supported by everybody. We therefore have to give peace all the required care and preserve it and promote it. If you live alone, whose feet will you wash? The soul of our country needs to be awakened . . .When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders. The arms race can kill, though the weapons themselves may never be used...by their cost alone, armaments kill the poor by causing them to starve. Violence produces only something resembling justice, but it distances people from the possibility of living justly, without violence. When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? Our friends show us what we can do; our enemies teach us what we must do. We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life. Peace is an environment where conflicts are resolved without violence, where people are free, not exploited, living so they can grow to their full potential. The idea of absolute freedom is fiction. It's based on the idea of an independent self. But, in fact, there's no such thing. There's no self without other people. There's no self without sunlight. There's no self without dew. And water. And bees to pollinate the food we eat....So the idea of behaving in a way that doesn't acknowledge those reciprocal relationships is not really freedom, it's indulgence. Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. If we emphasize the life and works of our greatest contributors . . . people will come to realize that moral courage is bravery of the highest type, and America will be called the "Champion of Peace." Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while. If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed for. The pens which write against disarmament are made with the same steel from which guns are made. We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace. If we could raise one generation with unconditional love, there would be no Hitlers. We need to teach the next generation of children from Day One that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.. Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict -- alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence. If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having. In the struggle rewards are few. In the fact, I know of only two, loving friends and living dreams. These rewards are not so few it seems. The evils of government are directly proportional to the tolerance of the people. Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction. There never was a war that was not inward; I must fight till I have conquered in myself what causes war. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. The two kinds of people who exist in this world [at any one time] are the decent and the indecent. Color, religion and nationality are irrelevant. Kindness, decency and behavior are what matters most. Our collective challenge, it seems, is to create a city and community where decent people of all races, ethnicities and religions can look into the faces of other decent people and see only one thing -- God's image smiling back. To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. By logic and reason we die hourly. By imagination we live. What is man? A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular. | Articles & News: It appears Edison 'misled' public on San Onofre News LA TIMES - A letter sent by a Southern California Edison executive in 2004 shows the company was concerned about the possibility of design flaws in replacement steam generators manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that could lead to the type of "disastrous" equipment problems that ultimately led to the San Onofre nuclear plant's yearlong shutdown. -- The letter was released by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who argued that the letter shows that Edison may have misled federal regulators about the extent of design changes in the new steam generators. Teachers & Union - a necessary partnership Ellsberg to march for Bradley Manning at SF Pride
Apr 29, 2013 -- Vietnam War whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg speaks at the protest of San Francisco Gay Pride's decision to revoke the previous choice of Bradley Manning as an Honorary Grand Marshal of its 2013 parade. "Bradley Manning did not harm or place in harms way a single serviceman", stated Ellsberg, who proclaimed his total support for Manning. It was Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz who placed our solders in harm's way, declared Ellsberg, age 82, will be marching to support the honor, patriotism, courage and integrity of the young soldier. The imperious retraction of the selection of Manning has created a virulent backlash against the new conservative board leadership. Manning Video:American troops slaughter civilians
Video depicts a US Apache attack helicopter killing 12 civilians and wounding two children on the ground in Baghdad in 2007. The helicopter then fired on and killed the people trying to rescue the wounded. Finally, a US tank drove over one of the bodies, cutting the man in half. These acts constitute three separate war crimes. All with calloused video-game contempt for human life. - Manning fulfilled his legal duty to report war crimes. He complied with his legal duty to obey lawful orders but also his legal duty to disobey unlawful orders. -- The Army covered up the evidence and declared the war crime "justified". Now they say that exposing the massacre is criminal. INFO CLICK HERE: 'Wet areas will get wetter, dry areas get drier' Cartoons of the Week Obama, the negotiator24-hour Cable NewsUnions & the Middle ClassObama plays poker with GOP PFC Manning - Aiding the enemy or American public?
If Pfc. Bradley Manning is convicted of 'aiding the enemy,' it could be the end of whistleblowing as we know it in the United States Armed Forces. This video, entitled "Aiding the Enemy," is to raise awareness of the dangers posed to the American public by leveling this charge at Bradley Manning, and recruit people to our campaign urging Major General Michael Linnington to drop the charge immediately. Manning written testimony Feb. 2013: "The dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as quote “dead bastards” unquote and congratulating each other on the ability to kill in large numbers. At one point in the video there is an individual on the ground attempting to crawl to safety. The individual is seriously wounded. Instead of calling for medical attention to the location, one of the aerial weapons team crew members verbally asks for the wounded person to pick up a weapon so that he can have a reason to engage. For me, this seems similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass. While saddened by the aerial weapons team crew’s lack of concern about human life, I was disturbed by the response of the discovery of injured children at the scene. In the video, you can see that the bongo truck driving up to assist the wounded individual. In response the aerial weapons team crew — as soon as the individuals are a threat, they repeatedly request for authorization to fire on the bongo truck and once granted they engage the vehicle at least six times. Shortly after the second engagement, a mechanized infantry unit arrives at the scene. Within minutes, the aerial weapons team crew learns that children were in the van and despite the injuries the crew exhibits no remorse. Instead, they downplay the significance of their actions, saying quote "Well, it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle" unquote. -- The aerial weapons team crew members sound like they lack sympathy for the children or the parents. Later in a particularly disturbing manner, the aerial weapons team verbalizes enjoyment at the sight of one of the ground vehicles driving over a body -- or one of the bodies." CPUC evicts cameraman from 'Public Meeting'
Published on May 20, 2013 [Cameraman Ray Lutz] - The CPUC, the California Public Utilities Commission is a state agency that regulates utilities. This meeting is a quasi-judicial hearing regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) outage during 2012 to determine if Southern California Edison, the operator and licensee of the plant, acted reasonably after the emergency shutdown of the Unit 3 reactor after a steam generator tube leak, and subsequent outage of both units at the plant. This video documents the attempt by Administrative Law Judge Melanie Darling to suppress video recording of the meeting. The first day was not recorded at all. -- The next day, she relented and provided a webcast of the hearings. We would not have had the webcast were it not for this assertion of our rights as members of the public to keep tabs on our govt! This partially an attempt by Darling to "strike back" after her ridiculous behavior at this other hearing, were several banners were unfurled AFTER the meeting was adjourned. HELP: Mother of 4 imprisoned at Miramar brig
Kimberly Rivera is an Iraq War Resister who fled to Canada with her husband and two young children. She had two more children born in Canada. == Kimberly is now being held at the Miramar Brig in San Diego. If would very much like to work with the Peace and Justice community to support her, please contact the San Diego Military Counseling Project. It may be possible to work out a schedule so that you can lend your support. Code Pink Destroys Obama's Terrorism Speech
Protester Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, completely rattled Pres. Obama during his speech on GITMO, Drone assassinations and war with 11 questions: * What about the indefinite detention? = * What about the 102 hunger strikers? = * What about the killing of 16-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki? Why was he killed? = * Can you tell the Muslim people their lives are as precious as our lives? = * Can you stop the signature strikes that are killing people on the basis of suspicious activities? = * Will you apologize to the thousands of Muslims that you have killed? = * Will you compensate the innocent family victims? That will make us safer here at home. = * Can you take the drones out of the hands of the CIA? = * You are commander-in-chief. You can close Guantanamo today! You can release those 86 prisoners [cleared for release]. It's been 11 years. = * I love my country. I love the rule of law. = * Abide by the rule of law. You're a constitutional lawyer. These are questions reporters have not had the courage to ask the President. Only Medea Benjamin puts Obama on the hot seat. Obama's Covert Trade Deal - most radical ever Big Brother in the sky is really BIG-G-G-G!
This is the high resolution camera that is carried in drones. The government will not confirm. From 17,000 feet above, ARGUS sees and records everything, even the flight of birds, walking pedestrians, which stall you parked your car in. It can surveil an entire city at one time, 24 hours a day, every day. It is mounted on the Predator Drone, manufactured here in San Diego County. Late-breaking news: This just in ...
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30,000 Drones Over America! Obama's Weaponized Police State! 2012. Nobody can feel safe in his own back yard any more. The police can spy on you for any spiteful or vengeful reason, even for political or financial advantages. Police launch unprecedented on privacy of our citizens.
Late-breaking news: This just in ...
News
News that did not make our deadline:
Mandela's name removed from terrorist list
Article
July 1, 2008: - On this date, five years ago, the name of Nelson Mandela, former South African president, was removed from the U.S. terrorism watchlist under a bill President Bush signed. Mandela and other members of the African National Congress have been on the list because of their fight against South Africa's apartheid regime, which gave way to majority rule in 1994. [EDITOR'S COMMENT: Whose name that is now on that list will removed five years hence?]
30,000 Drones Over America: POLICE STATE
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2012 --30,000 Drones Over America! Obama's Weaponized Police State! The Montgomery County sheriff's dept took deliver of this $250,000 drone (your federal tax money), and plans to arm it with tear gas, and rubber bullets [maybe bombs later?] We are fast becoming a totalitarian military regime, with the Constitution TRASHED!
2013 -- The Montgomery County (Texas) Sheriff's Office had a big day planned. After becoming the first department in the country with its own aerial drone ($300,000!), they were ready for a nice photo op. And then the drone crashed into a SWAT team. All that taxpayer money down the drain! CLICK HERE:
Arlington West - Memorial to our dead soldiers
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Independence Day, July 4. View this short film. Remember our dead from the two present wars. Please honor the living vets. Invite one out to dinner. At least thank one for their service. May there be no more wars.
The Coolest Dog in Southern California
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Southern California is the coolest place in the world, and the coolest dog here loves surfing, skateboarding and "hanging ten". This is A really FUN video -- only in Southern California!
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