In 1989 the world stood still as the Berlin Wall fell and massive protests erupted in the Soviet Union. The whole world was watching as ordinary Russian people lay down in front of tanks, risking their lives in the name of freedom. In the resulting months, dramatic changes redrew maps throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The new hopes of an entire generation were born and the US had won the cold war.

The School of the Americas is a military training facility in Columbus, Georgia that trains military forces from Latin America in techniques of torture and counterinsurgency. This facility is taxpayer funded and has hosted more than sixty thousand soldiers since it was opened in 1946. The SOA, which was renamed a few years ago to the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security and Cooperation, is known around the world for the role that it has played as an institution for training soldiers in techniques of torture.

In Memory of One Million Iraqi Dead

In 2006, the Lancet did a scientific study in which they estimated that the number of Iraqis who have died since the beginning of the US occupation in 2003 was greater than 600,000 people. This figure included the results of sectarian violence, revenge killings, suicide bombings and deaths at the hands of soldiers and occupying forces. That number alone is a staggering figure, but now, only two years later the estimate of dead has increased to almost one million. On this Memorial Day, as we gather to remember our loved ones who have died in war let us include the men, women and children who have died in Iraq.

This year, the United States government is scheduled to spend more than $622 billion dollars on the military budget, which includes an additional $171 billion dollars for the occupation of Iraq. In comparison, the US will only spend $56 billion dollars this year on education and only $3.4 billion on energy development. At the current rate of spending it will take 183 years of alternative energy development to match one year of spending on the war in Iraq, and eleven years of funding education for our children will still not match even one year of spending on this war. We have seriously misplaced our priorities, and it driving us further into debt, an estimated $9.357 trillion dollars this year.

Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it.
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The last American to win the prize or share it was former President Carter in 2002.
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"A peace prize is never a criticism of anything. A peace prize is a positive message and support to all those champions of peace in the world."

Macho Repubs thrive on fear. Those wimpy Democrats. All they want is peace.

Two teens from opposite coasts got together to walk the 3,000 miles from CA to DC to "promote peaceful solutions to some of the world's greatest problems."

The two teens, "Ashley Casale, 19, of Clinton Corners, N.Y., and Michael Israel, 18, of Jackson, Calif., had hoped that others who opposed the war in Iraq would join them on their 3,000-mile walk from San Francisco to Washington. But since starting off May 21, it's usually just been the two of them."

They are half way across the country. Let's hope as they enter the more populous states more people will join them. In August, their route will take them through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Kudos to Ashley and Michael! Before they are 20 years old they will have taken on such an important cause and experienced more of the US than most Americans.

CNN reports that Cindy Sheehan is exhausted, disgusted, and giving up the fight for peace...

Poor brave Sheehan, she certainly learned that the peace movement is sometimes a rough river full of alligators and pirhanas, and the pro-war movement is tireless, supported by the evil Fox News, and cruel. I'm sure she feels battered and abused. Her inital entry into this was sincere and innocent. No one can blame her if at times she was manipulated by powerful people on all sides. Now she will mourn her beloved son in private. Something she probably hasn't had a chance to do before.

..."nothing positive" is happening in Iraq...

Rove must be burying his head in his hands.

Happy Easter, everyone! Hope you found your eggs.

A meeting will be held next week to plan a local action that will mark the 4th anniversary of the Iraq war and occupation.

When: Tuesday, February 13 at 6 pm

Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Kingston Pike

Contact: Bob Grimac Link...

All groups interested in planning and participating in this action are urged to send a representative to this meeting.

Some say U.N. peacekeepers are needed to keep the peace in lawless, war-torn regions.  Maybe a better way would be to allow economic development to flower in it's natural, free market form.  Even Sudan's leaders know what Ronald Reagan knew.

UPDATE:  A friend who read the link pointed out that the Sudanese leaders are talking about getting aid.  Water, hospitals, schools, that kind of thing.  At least for now.  But this is only a first step!  Once they get a taste of acquiring things, would they really slide from a culture of shopping back to one of genocide?

Here's a chance to taste one of my peach pies:

On Sunday July 30 People for Peace is conducting a bake sale to raise funds for advertisements in this fall's UT Daily Beacon. The sale will be held in the TVUUC Fellowship Hall, at the free speech corner, on Sunday July 30. We'll sell before the service, 9 to 10, and after the service, from 11 until 11:45 or so.