HALF WAY HOME IN MAINE WITH DRONE BILL

Drone bill wins in Maine Senate - Goes to House on Tuesday

Great news.  Our drone bill (LD 236) minority report won big in the State Senate in Augusta today.  Your calls and emails worked.

Now we need you to make one more round of calls/emails to House members in Augusta as the bill will come before the House on Tuesday.

You can find their contact info at http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hbiolist.htm (House)

The minority report not only put the warrant requirements back into the bill (which Attorney General Mills repeatedly tried to kill) but also declares a two-year moratorium on the use of drones in Maine.

Great effort by ACLU in Maine and our grassroots supporters made this happen.

So please help us push through this last step - contact your Maine House member now.  Ask them to support warrants before drones can be used for surveillance in our state and the moratorium.

SELLING HIGH TECH WAR

This is video of the Directed Energy Weapons lobby set up in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. The Military Industrial Complex is not shy about courting members of Congress. They had models of some laser weapons on display, sandwiches and drinks, chocolates and little gadgets to give away.

ALI ON TURKEY AND STRATEGY

Tariq Ali is a famous writer and filmmaker. He has written more than two dozen books on world history and politics, and seven novels (translated into over a dozen languages) as well as scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of New Left Review and lives in London.

INSIDE THE BASKETBALL STORY

After making basketball history playing alongside the North Korean National Team, Vice Correspondent, Ryan Duffy and the Harlem Globetrotters sit down for a meal with the North Korean players, sharing highlights from the game and reactions to the surprise appearance of the Grand Marshall, Kim Jong Un.

NO JUSTICE IN NIGERIA

What would white folks say if their communities were turned into oil cesspools like this?  Why do Nigerians have to live this way?

INTELLIGENCE REPORT

TURKISH NIGHT

Last night at 9.00 PM police forces intervened against the Istanbul Gezi Park resistance violently, following the speech of Prime Minister Erdoğan in Ankara.

This is an obvious declaration of war against the people.

All main highways of Istanbul were occupied by demonstrators. Tens of thousands of people were in the streets, trying to march to Taksim square. Police uses not only tear gas but also rubber bullets.

Prime Minister Erdoğan also ordered that doctors and medical volunteers who were treating the victims of police violence should be arrested and many were.  One hotel in the city opened their doors to those needing to escape the police violence and people formed a human chain outside the hotel doors to keep police from going inside.
  
The Confederation of employees in the public sector (KESK) is calling for a general strike on Monday.

SUNDAY SONG

DON'T TELL ME THE DEMOCRATS HAVE SCRUPLES

Right out of high school a friend ran for freshman class president at the local Community College near Beale AFB in California where our father's were stationed.  In high school he was not particularly popular nor was he one to follow the crowd.  When I asked him how he went from being a virtual nobody to class president in his first year of college he replied, "Bruce, people are basically sheep."

This poll on the question of NSA surveillance reflects that sad fact.  Democrats, like most Republicans,  largely "follow their leader" and don't bother thinking for themselves.  My friend was right - most people are indeed sheeple.

We can only hope they will get a spine before it is too late.

SHARING SOME FAN REACTIONS

Another fan posted this photo on the Orioles chat site to make the point that the military has infiltrated virtually all sporting events in the US.....in this case sponsoring the black racing car

I checked the fan reactions this morning to my post last night (see post below) about camo baseball uniforms at the most popular Baltimore Orioles chat site.  There were some and thought I'd share them.  It's nice to see some thoughtful responses.  Makes you remember that you are not usually alone in your feelings about some issues.  Finding a way to make your feelings known can often open the door for others as well.

• On the bright side...we didn't have to see the awful O's hat tonight.

• I agree, totally awful. And, unlike Memorial Day, I fail to see why Flag Day has to be related to the military. Sure, the military is an important part of America, but it is not the only thing the flag represents. I'm not too fond of all the sports uniforms "tributes" lately. Watching the NFL players wear pink all October is probably the worst. I think there are better ways to show respect than to wear it on your sleeve- literally. 

• Crap, does that mean we have to suffer the camo again when it's the b-day of the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, etc? Maybe they can wear suits and ties on the FBI's birthday and ninja outfits on the ATF's birthday.

• Not trying to disrespect the Army. I just find all this dress-up kind of trite. 

• I love the reason they are wearing them..but I absolutely abhor the look. And I missed the Friday night black tops because of it tonight. 

• The military industrial complex? Really? The hats were kind of cool. For winning 4 of 5 people sure do have their feathers ruffled tonight. 

• An eloquent letter that does not take an overt political stance (as in left vs. right or liberal/progressive vs. conservative), but totally reflects my position on the issue (and that of my father-in-law, who's on the opposite side of the political spectrum from me). Yes, enough with the camo hats/uniforms--I'd take the all-orange look 162 days a season if that meant no more camo ever. 

• Bruce, I admire your courage and mostly agree. But what most people don't know is that this MLB merchandise pays a FRACTION to the military families (auctions aside) and the profit margins even on the July 4 hats are huge. To me its very hypocritical of a multi-billion dollar industry taking a PENNY while promoting the men and women who serve. And they take A LOT of pennies. As far as promoting the war "machine", I may not go that far....but there is a ton of manipulation by MLB at the fans expense...literally...
• I'd like to hear Tony's [owner of the chat site] take on this issue because he is a true military hero who has multiple stints in Afghanistan, and as such, has huge credibility for me. As do you.

• This town needs an enema. I think they are kind of cool....for a change of pace. A few times a year won't kill you. 

• Dear Orioles: Please stop wearing those Cam hideous uniforms. Pay tribute to the Army, the Flag, fine, get rid of the caps and uniforms. 

• As a war veteran and still serving member of the USAF, I don't mind it one bit.

• I'd love to have one of the Jerseys held at auction for my man cave. 

• I like the digicamo unis. And I like the hat for July 4th. I've been wearing the red version from a few years ago recently, trying to get it broken in. I have a lot of O's hats to maintain in my rotation!!

• This would explain why the Army stopped sponsoring NASCAR. They decided to go after one of the "Big Three". At this rate the 2025 Superbowl will be held at Airborne Ranger stadium at Ft Bragg! 

• Yet still in National Hot Rod Association.
• I thank you for your service. While I respect your right to your opinion, I'd say the email is fairly heavily influenced by an overt political stance. It doesn't take a real genius to read between those lines. I'm pretty sure the only corporate agenda controlling MLB is trying to make as much money as the NFL. I doubt any other agenda is in play.

THE MILITARIZATION OF BASEBALL

I love baseball and the Baltimore Orioles are my favorite team.  Because I grew up in a military family we moved every 2-3 years.  I lived all over the US and in England and Germany (twice).  I never really had a home town to speak of.  The Orioles were my roots.

It's become harder and harder for me to remain a fan but I keep trying in spite of the big $$$ takeover of sports.  But the worst part for me is the increasing militarization of baseball.  Just tonight, after being at a meeting in Portland to hear a peace movement speaker, I came home to check to see how my O's did.  They beat the Red Sox.  I was excited until I saw the camouflage uniforms the O's wore on the field.  This is happening with increasing regularity.

I feel like we are living in Nazi Germany where Hitler used every manifestation of popular culture to promote his dark war agenda.  He ingratiated himself with youth scouting, he gave awards to families that had been on the land for hundreds of years as many German farm families had, he gave awards to families with certain numbers of kids which was almost all German families...... it went on and on.

In the US we know we've become an occupied country when every where we turn we see indications of the militarization of our culture.  Baseball is just the canary in the coal mine. I often tell the story about the Sears department store trotting out a new kids clothing line a couple years ago - military uniforms for boys. The message: this is your future, this is all you can be.

I had to do something so I wrote the following letter to the Major League Players Association tonight.  It's a small gesture but I can't remain silent about this.  I also posted these comments on a Orioles fan chat site.  It will be interesting to see the responses.

Dear MLBPA,

I am 60 years old and a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan.

I am also a Vietnam-era veteran who learned during that time to be opposed to our endless wars.

I am deeply troubled by the growing takeover of MLB by the military industrial complex.  It is sold as patriotism and "support our troops:" but what I see is the use of baseball to sell the military mindset and endless war to the public.

Baseball belongs to everyone.  Once it begins to come under the control of any particular corporate agenda the sport loses.

The camo hats and uniforms, the constant hyping of the war machine at games indicates that this takeover is well underway.

I can feel myself slipping away from the game that I love so much because I find it hard to watch this dangerous militarization of baseball.

I hope the players are concerned about this as well.  If not, we are all in trouble.

Thanks.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Bath, Maine

MORE TRUTH ON NSA, CYBER COMMAND AND GOVERNMENT DECEPTION

As the U.S. vows to take "all necessary steps" to pursue whistleblower Edward Snowden, James Bamford joins Democracy Now to discuss the National Security Agency’s secret expansion of government surveillance and cyberwarfare.

In his latest reporting for Wired Magazine, Bamford profiles NSA Director General Keith Alexander and connects the dots on PRISM, phone surveillance, and the NSA’s massive spy center in Bluffdale, Utah. Says Bamford of Alexander: "Never before has anyone in America’s intelligence sphere come close to his degree of power, the number of people under his command, the expanse of his rule, the length of his reign, or the depth of his secrecy."

The author of "The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America," Bamford has covered the National Security Agency for the last three decades after helping expose its existence in the 1980s.

RUNNING ON INSPIRATION

Here is the best story yet from Gezi Park in Istanbul, Turkey.  Stories sent via those damn "smart phones".


Piano concert in Taksim

Istanbul, June 14, 1201 hrs.

Dear people,

Every revolution needs its heroes. Ours is called Davide. He is the piano man.

Yesterday and tonight he has been playing in Taksim for twelve hours straight, until ten o’ clock in the morning. When the rain started, people held a canvas over him and his piano, and he continued to play. ‘Imagine’, ‘Let it be’, ‘We are the World’, ‘Bella Ciao’, etc. etc. Fifty meters away there was a row of police buses and water cannons ready for the final attack. On the other side, candles were burning in honour of the people who died in the protest.

Same concert, next morning.

Throughout the night, live streamers had to work in shifts to cover the marathon. People from around the world were touched by so much beauty. Messages of solidarity kept pouring in from every inhabited continent.

Davide is a Sicilian who lives in Germany. He came here with his piano on a truck to defend Gezi park. “This is what I can do,” he told me afterwards, “it’s not much, but it’s loud.” He intends to resist until the threat on the park is lifted.

That threat was reiterated earlier in the day by prime minister Erdogan. He appealed to the Turkish mothers to take their children out of the park, because things could turn very ugly.

In response, the Turkish mothers showed up to form a human chain around Gezi in support of their children.

Afterwards, they swirled through the park by the hundreds, harvesting applause wherever they went.

The threat of brutality didn’t stop the people from gathering in the park. Once again, the place was packed by citizens of all ages determined to resist.

WE SUPPORT BRADLEY MANNING!

St. Pete for Peace, Bradley Manning Support Network, Occupy Tampa, Tampa Light Brigade, Vets for Peace and others protest at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida on June 1, 2013.

MacDill AFB hosts United States Central Command (CENTCOM), United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) and a detachment of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM).

WHAT MORE PROOF DOES ONE NEED?

It's a classic...shows you can't believe a word that comes out of any of these guys mouths....they are all hacks.

Anyone that still believes anything that Obama-Biden say (and the Democratic Party) need to have their heads examined.  The evidence is more than clear that both the Dems and Repubs are playing the American people like a fiddle.

It's time to quit dancing with these crooks. Protest and survive.  Remain timid and we all go down hard.  It's your call.

NEWS RELEASE: INT'L SPACE CONFERENCE IN SWEDEN'S 'HIGH NORTH'

Svalbard Satellite Station in Norway helps serve US war fighting operations thus violating the Treaty of Svalbard 

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Bruce Gagnon (GN Coordinator) globalnet@mindspring.com (207) 443-9502  and Agneta Norberg (Stockholm) lappland.norberg@gmail.com

Concerned activists and writers from around the world will gather in Kiruna, Sweden on June 27-29 to discuss how the ‘High North’ of Sweden has become one of the largest training places (called NEAT) for NATO war exercises and advanced weapons testing. 

The High North also hosts ground stations for military satellites and tests drones that are increasingly being used in the US-NATO war in Afghanistan.

Indigenous Samic people will be present at the conference to talk about the impact of these military operations on their lives.

Swedish Peace Council Vice-Chair Agneta Norberg stated:  “US-NATO wants to control Russia and eventually get a hold of the enormous resources under the Arctic ice cap that is now melting due to climate change. To make Russia obedient the US-NATO is surrounding Russia with missile defense interceptors – key elements in their first strike system. For this purpose huge radars are installed in Vardö, Norway, close to Russian border, and on Thule base in Greenland. Norway and the US have established satellite stations on the Island of Svalbard which violate the Treaty of Svalbard that forbids the deployment of any war making technology.”

Global Network board convener Dave Webb (Chair of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK) said:  “Not many people know that the satellite receiving stations in Sweden and Norway fulfill an important role for NATO and the US military. Space technology is vital to the military’s global reach and we really need to support and stand with those campaigning for alternatives to war in their protest against these installations spread around the world.”

The three days of events are being sponsored by the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (GN), Women for Peace, and the Folke Bernadotte Academy. People will be coming to the conference from Japan, Germany, England, Russia, France, United States, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

2013 marks the 21^st annual meeting of the Global Network.  Each year the organization holds a space organizing conference in a different country.  In 2012 the group met on Jeju Island, South Korea where villagers are protesting the construction of a Navy base for US warships.

The GN was founded in 1992 to stop the nuclearization and weaponization of space.  Today the GN has 150 affiliate groups located on all continents of the world. 

For more information about the conference check the GN's website at http://www.space4peace.org

INCONVENIENT INTERRUPTION

Protesters in solidarity with whistleblower Private Bradley Manning interrupted President Obama as he stumped for Ed Markey's senate campaign June 12 in Roxbury (Boston) Massachusetts. They chanted 'Whistleblowing's not a crime! Free Bradley Manning!' and blew whistles. One protester was arrested.

The loyal liberal base, who hated when George W. Bush waged wars and prosecuted whistleblowers, were not pleased that anyone would interrupt their Democratic Party love fest with such inconvenient issues.

Our Maine friend Ridgely Fuller (top right of screen in black shirt chanting) made the trip and sent me the video.

Being a resister most often times requires one to be a bit of a pain in the ass rather than a go-along-get-along person.

Just yesterday I had a message from Global Network board member Lynda Williams (physics teacher in California) who was at a climate change conference.  She was devastated to realize that not one person there was willing to say a mumbling word about the world's biggest polluter with the largest carbon boot print on the planet - the PENTAGON.  In fact some of the science-niks present were even suggesting that we should hope and pray that the military will come up with the "technical solution" to climate change.  Lynda was talking to various folks at the event but finding no interest in discussing the military.

This morning she sent me this message:

In closing remarks as the microphone was passed around I said, first, how good it is to see scientists working to save the planet but, secondly, that I was disappointed that there was no mention of the military and its contribution to climate change and that there will never be a chance of reducing GHG if the military continues to pollute indiscriminately AND I said, The real inconvenient truth is that you can't be a climate activist without being a peace activist. I said I was interested in hearing people's opinions. Well no one applauded my talk whereas everyone else got applause. Only one person replied saying that we have to be positive and work with the military to green it blah blah blah....it was awful. And this is the film maker who made Cosmos with Carl Sagan. I'm still shaking from speaking up but it is the fact. A young woman came up to me and said, and this is what they all say, 'new technology comes from the military and maybe they can solve the problem." It is mind numbing.

The old saying is stand up and speak out even if your knees are shaking.  It's good to see alot of that going on across the land.