Uppity Wisconsin

I'm seldom accused of being too kind in my commentary, but maybe I pulled my punch a little on a recent post about Journal Sentinel Managing Editor George Stanley's series of cheerleading articles for the war in Afghanistan.

An online column by Milwaukee Magazine Editor Bruce Murphy makes my comments seem tame.

Murphy calls the series "...at times, embarrassing, and at its heart a boy’s view of war... It’s a comic book view of war, with no room for nuance."

Murphy on Stanley's insistence that we commit to "winning" the war:

Our government’s leadership has spoken, and Obama has set a deadline of 2011 for ending the war in Afghanistan. Stanley proceeds to undercut this idea, telling us every soldier and Marine he talks to wants to stay there as long as necessary to “finish the job.” Well, yes. And football players always want to go for it on fourth down rather than take the safe bet of kicking a field goal. That’s why you have a coach. The American tradition of civilian oversight of the military has long assured that cooler heads on the sidelines determine strategy.

 

A new film, This Is Where We Take Our Stand from Displaced Films on Vimeo, tells the story of the 2008 Winter Soldier hearings, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War to bring the testimony of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans directly to the public.  This is the third episode, entitled, "Why We Fight."

Conservatives who subscribed last year to the osmosis theory of church and state -- the one that said public officials were responsible for and agreed with everything their pastors say and do, unless they specifically condemn or disavow it -- will be surprised to discover the liberal views of Scott Walker, Republican candidate for governor.

The Heartland Hollar blog features a remarkable video of Walker's pastor, the Rev. Jamie Washam, who -- unlike Walker --- opposed the state's ban on gay marriages.   [UPDATE: Walker now says he attends a different church, although Rev. Washam's church was listed in his campaign biography in 2005, the year she was marching against the Iraq war (above.)  More at end of this post.]

She also -- unlike Walker-- supports women's reproductive rights, and -- unlike You-Know-Who -- was an early, vocal opponent of the war in Iraq. The photo above shows her marching with Clergy and Laity Concerned in Washington in 2005, when US combat deaths totaled about 1,500.

What was Steve Burns, a staff member of Wis. Network for Peace and Justice, doing on an anti-shopping spree in Madison Friday?

Well, it was Iraq Moratorium day, and Burns decided his action this month would be to call shoppers' attention to a little-known connection between a Wisconsin company and deaths of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Burns learned that Wisconsin's National Presto Industries, known to the public for making Salad Shooters and Fry Daddies, has a dark side that it doesn't advertise.

The Eau Claire-based company produced artillery fuses during World War II, artillery shells in the 1950s, and during the Vietnam war, from 1966 to 1975, manufactured more than two million eight-inch howitzer shells and more than 92 million 105mm artillery shells.

These days, it's 40mm cannon rounds. An article by Nick Furse in Tomgram lays it out:

On Saturday, a group of walkers for peace will set out from Chicago on a seven-week walk ending at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Their mission:

To challenge and to nonviolently resist our country’s continuing war in and occupation of Iraq.

The walk, which will cross the entire state of Wisconsin, is organized by Voices for Creative Non-violence, a Chicago-based group with deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003.

Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota peace organizations are supporting the walk, playing host to the walkers and holding events along the route. People can participate by joining the walk for a day, a week, a month or the entire Witness Against War. Those who live along the route could consider making a food donation or organizing with others in your community to provide lunch or dinner to walkers.

The walkers would like to be able to spread the word of the walk a couple days or more in advance of arriving in a community, so volunteers to do advance leafleting would be helpful.

Common sense has prevailed, at least momentarily, in Madison's municipal court.

Trespassing charges were dropped today against three peace activists who had entered an Army recruiting station to discuss the Iraq war with recruiters.

The Army apparently decided to cut its public relations losses. When the officer who was to testify on the Army's behalf failed to show up (was AWOL, in other words), the judge dismissed the charges against the trio.

They were arrested on March 19, the fifth anniversary of the war. Bonnie Block, David Nordstrom, and Joy First went in to talk to recruiters while other activists outside the recruiting station were reading names of the war dead. They were arrested and charged with trespassing, which carried a $424 fine.

They were to appear Monday before Judge Dan Koval in Madison Municipal Court on the charge, which carried a possible $424 fine.

The activists said they were ready to argue that a recruiting station is a government office and therefore public property paid for by taxpayers. As their press release put it:

This article by Julie Byrnes Enslow, director of Peace Action-Wisconsin, is featured on the front page of the June issue of The Mobilizer, Peace Action-Wisconsin's newsletter.

Iraq Moratorium - Friday, June 20
What Have YOU Done Lately to Stop the War?

By Julie Byrnes Enslow

Sometimes we need a good push to get off our duffs and act. The Iraq Moratorium Day on the third Friday of each month gives us the challenge and the opportunity to take creative actions to end the US occupation in Iraq.

Friday, June 20, will be the tenth Iraq Moratorium. What are YOU going to do?People in small towns and cities across the country are taking action together every third Friday. For many it may be an individual act such as a call to their Congressperson, wearing a black armband or peace button to work, writing a letter to the editor of their local paper, flying a peace flag or talking to a neighbor about the war. Others organize a small group of people to act together - a vigil on a street corner, a visit to their Congressperson's office, a prayer service for peace in their church, synagogue or mosque.

What to wear to the May Day march?

The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ) has just the thing: "Immigrants Welcome" T-shirts in Spanish and Hmong. (There are yard signs with the same message.)

Justice for immigrants is a major focus of the events Thursday in Madison and Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee event is billed as a statewide action, organized by Voces de la Frontera and endorsed by Peace Action Wisconsin.

Organizers at Voces say:

Next week, General David Petraeus will travel to Capitol Hill and make his report to Congress on the war in Iraq. If, as expected, he announces a pause in the withdrawal in troops from Iraq, our Congress must say "no" for the sake of our military and of our servicemembers.<br><br>We can not pause the withdrawal of our troops because we are seeing, everyday, the absolute devastation our wars, with frequent, long, often extended deployments, are having on our men and women in uniform.<br><br>How can we constantly churn our troops like this? How can we consciously compound the wounds of war? We are sending men and women back for fourth and fifth tours of duty when the Department of Defense, by its own estimation, says that with each additional tour, troops are 60% more likely to develop severe post-combat mental health issues.

---

Sometimes as we struggle for justice and fairness we forget how truly unjust the unending suffering those of our nation's leadership have unleashed upon a mostly unsuspecting world (although not anymore).  If we are to consider that ALL people are just that, people...... only then will we conceive the horrors of the reality that is the American Empire.  The thirteen year sanctions upon the country of Iraq have caused suffering almost incomprehensible to most of us.  Felicity Arbuthnot in an open letter to Britian's Minister of State for International Development at Global Research writes:

"To illustrate the the iniquity, an acquaintance, in desperation, sent a supply if insulin, in a jiffy bag, to his diabetic brother in Baghdad, as none was available. It was returned by the Post Office as needing an export licence.His brother died before the license arrived. I myself was threatened by DFID with prosecution, for taking a year's supply of cancer treatment to a surgeon with cancer, who had worked here at the Hammersmith Hospital, a specialist in pediatric orthopedics, who had enabled numerous British children walk again, able to use their arms, straightened small bodies. Cancer treatments too, were vetoed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee.

What happens when you deploy troops who have seen high intensity combat time and time again with inadequate dwell time between tours? You see skyrocketing mental health issues.

After months of investigative work, talking to our troops and veterans, we released a report on the situation at Fort Drum in Watertown, New York. Since 9/11, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team has been deployed for more than forty months, more than any other brigade in the Army, and we are seeing what is nothing short of a cry for help from the men and women on the base; a cry we will answer in Wisconsin, which has seen many of its soldiers deployed from Fort McCoy.

Assembly Republicans, lacking the time or the inclination to act on any serious issues like health care or campaign finance reform, did manage to insult the voters by passing this piece of trash, seeking to shut up voters who want to talk about issues the politicians would rather duck. WISN-TV reports:

Bill Would Curb Municipal Votes On Iraq War, Other Issues

Measure Passed Along Party Lines, 48-44

MADISON, Wis. -- Citizens could no longer force municipal votes on measures calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq or other issues under a measure approved by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly on Tuesday.

The plan would allow cities and villages to refuse to act on citizen initiatives that don't relate to local governmental functions.

Under current law, anyone who gathers enough signatures in support of a proposal can force city councils and village boards to either adopt it or put it to a vote.

Activists used this tactic to force votes on several symbolic anti-war initiatives in 2006 over the opposition of some community leaders.

The Assembly voted 48-44 along party lines to adopt the plan.

Even before the California Supreme Court's ruling that shopping malls can't bar protestors, participants in Iraq Moratorium #4 last week were taking their message to the malls.

Some of the action moved to the malls because that's where the people were, doing holiday shopping four days before Christmas. Most "mall walkers" did just that -- walked the malls wearing antiwar shirts or singing carols, not staging actual protests.

An exception was Madison, where seven people were "arrested" -- and later "unarrested" at West Towne Mall. Organizer Joy First tells what happened:

If you were looking for excuses for December's Iraq Moratorium to be smaller than previous ones, there were plenty available. It fell four days before Christmas, on the darkest day of the year, with cold weather in much of the country and campuses closed for winter break.

None of that mattered in Hayward, a city of 2,129 in northwestern Wisconsin, which we've reported on previously. When 40 people turned out there in November, we projected that on a percentage basis that was equivalent to 12,000 people in Milwaukee, 160,000 in New York City, or 6 million nationally.

Puffed up by that kind of publicity here and elsewhere, one of the organizers, Steve Carlson, boldly set a goal of 75 for Iraq Moratorium #4 in December. He later had some second thoughts, no doubt.

So, what happened? They doubled attendance. Here's the report:

Just over 80 people turned out in Hayward, Wisconsin Friday afternoon to vigil for peace in observance of the Iraq Moratorium Day #4. The event was co-sponsored by Peace North and Veterans for Peace Chapter 153.

The crowd was lively, talkative and inspired to come again next month. There were long time activists, first time vigilers, young and old, veterans, and family members of servicemen and women.

Do something. Start by clicking on the logo.

UPDATE: Bruce Lee on the Iraq Moratorium.