Thursday, December 20, 2007

VFP AK December Update

Vets,

 

It has been too long since I have been in contact with you. I have really been agonizing over what we can do and I am feeling paralyzed. It looks like we are going to have our war for another year. I think the American people have concluded that we are will just have to wait for the next president to clean up the mess. I don't agree with this assessment but I have grown weary trying to get more folks to see it our way.

 

I didn't call for a meeting this month because I honestly don't know what direction to go in. Let's hope for some renewal in the new year that will show us our way.

 

I hope you all have a chance to relax with friends and family over the holidays.

 

I appreciate all the good energy we have shared as we try to steer the imperial ship away from the icebergs. Maybe the neocons see it as well except that they are using global warming to try to melt if before we hit it. At the rate it is going, maybe they have something. As Naomi Klein has recently written, global crisis are good for disasters capitalism.

 

I just posted Paul Krugman's piece on Obama/Edwards on the Peace Coalition blog. It boils down to Obama's charismatic gradualism vs Edwards' claim that he will confront corporate power. Let me know what you think. 

 

Jon Lockert

Jon4Paz@AcsAlaska.net

 

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

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Saturday, November 17, 2007

the Marlboro Marine

My friend Tom sent this to me:

This is a video from the LA Times "the Marlboro Marine" that tells a bit of the story of one Marine from Kentuky's struggle with PTSD from an embeded reporter who knew him in Falluja and has tried to help him in the U.S. I found it poingiant and illuminating and I think that many vets and friends and families of vets will recognize the situation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/marlboromarine/la-na-marlboro12nov12,1,5613373.story?coll=la-news-marlboromarine&ctrack=1&cset=true

It leaves me thinking that we who have opposed the war since before it started are the ones who really supported our troops. We did not want to see friends and family members chumped, pimped and punked by moraly depraved, mentaly ill,profiteering, chicken hawks and judas goats. I am sorry that we were not able to mount enough of a resistance to keep them all safe at home with their friends and loved ones.
TakeCare BeWell DoGood Tom

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

VFP Meeting, 11/15 My House

Vets,

 

I just found out from St. Mary’s that they do not have room for us on Thursday night. So I invite you all to my home at 7 pm on Thursday, 11/15.

 

I am at 1576 Karluk St (Fairview). Going east on 15th, make a right onto Karluk and then make the first right on to the little street Tyonek. Turn left at the first driveway—it is a log house with an attached garage.

 

Call me with any questions.

 

As for an agenda, let’s make this less formal and just talk about where we think we would like to take the chapter.

 

Jon Lockert, 250-4986

jon4paz@acsalaska.net

Breathe, smile & work for Peace

 

 

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Real Iraq We Knew

The Real Iraq We Knew

By 12 former Army captains

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101500841.html?referrer=emailarticle

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the authorization of force in Iraq. As army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we think it's time to make a choice.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Anti-War Demo Sat. 10/27 1-4 pm

Let’s discuss on Thursday at our meeting.

OCT. 27th

On this day 5 years ago, the U.S. Senate voted to give George W. Bush the authorization to go to war in Iraq.

If you agree that this war needs to end then join us

This Saturday Oct. 27th

On the corner of Lake Otis and 36th from 1:00 to 4:00pm

United for Peace and Justice

National mobilization

Jon Lockert

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Agenda for VFP 10/25

Ernest Gruening Chapter (Southcentral Alaska), Meeting Agenda

Thursday, October 25, 7 pm, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Tudor & Lake Otis, Room 3 (downstairs)

  1. Introductions & Discuss Agenda
  2. Chapter Business-Finances
  3. Eyes Wide Open Recap
    1. See photos from Oct 13 event in Town Square (http://ewoak/blogspot.com)
  4. Anchorage Truth in Recruiting - NEXT MEETING--day, October ?, 7 pm
    1. I’ll find out and let you all know
    2. 2621 Redwood Street (Rogers Park near Northern Lights & Seward Hwy) Contact: Mel 277-5751
    3. http://akcountermilrec.blogspot.com/
  5. IRAQ FOR SALE The War Profiteers (Documentary)
    1. WHEN: Wed. Oct. 17th, 6:00 PM (NOTE: Early Starting Time)
    2. WHERE: Café Felix - Metro Books
    3. The director compiles a horrifying catalog of greed, corruption and incompetence among private contractors in Iraq. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15096.htm
  6. VIETNAM FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE - 3RD ANNUAL SILENT AUCTION
    1. WHEN: Friday, 10/19/7, 6:00 to 9:00 pm, Video Slide Shows
    2. WHERE: Loussac Library, Public Conference Room, Snacks, Oyster Bar (don’t miss this!)
    3. All proceeds will help build a new hospital and improve treatment and education programs for children affected by Agent Orange.
    4. Join our international circle of friends in support of this unique village outside Hanoi built by war veterans and peace makers from six countries.
    5. Bring auction items as donations at 5:30 pm. There is a $5.00 donation expected from the other participants to defray expenses.
    6. For more information contact: Judith Moss 345-5351, E-mail: mossjudith@netscape.net
  7. Upcoming Events
    1. No War, No Warming (October 21st -23rd);
      FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE, NOT WARS FOR OIL! Join a global movement rising up against war and global warming by participating in a massive intervention in Washington DC or your own community. The Declaration of Peace is working with many other anti-war initiatives this summer and fall -- to consolidate our actions to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq. http://nowarnowarming.org/article.php?list=class&class=20
    2. October 27 Massive Regional Actions to End the War in Iraq Regional Mobilizations being planned by United for Peace and Justice and member groups http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
  8. Pressure on Politicians/Congressional Delegation- What can we do?
  9. Next Meeting WOULD BE on Nov. 22nd (4th Thursday of every month) but that is Thanksgiving—Let’s discuss whether to meet earlier or later.

Jon Lockert

Jon4Paz@AcsAlaska.net

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Questions from the bootless & shoeless

All the boots & shoes from the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit got wet in the light rain at the end of the day. I took six tubs of boots to dry in my garage. I spread them out and turned up the heat.

This morning I checked and they were all dry. But in handling them this morning it sank in as I looked at the tags & ages. Young lives wasted for what? How are we honoring their ultimate sacrifice?

As history has shown, wars are easy to start and extremely difficult to stop. We don't have a clue as to how we are going to stop this one. The pile of boots will grow larger as the needless deaths & suffering continues.

We almost all say we don't like this war but responding to a poll or signing an online petition entails NO responsibiltiy to do anything about it. We are all much too comfortable and unburdened by this war. Most of us do not know anyone serving and so the war is abstract--something for the politicians/candidates to blab about and hack at each other with.

The deadly concoction of fears, delayed costs & uncertain responsibilities inevitably points to this war continuing until our vague grasp of what our country is descending toward changes.*

Do we really think we can kill all the people who oppose our arrogance & greed? Is cheap oil worth the price of destroying a country? Who will pay the price of our inattention and refusal to be true citizens?

It is often said that those who served in the military did so to protect our freedoms. Many suffered and died so we could be citizens of a democracy (not the ungrateful and unconscious inheritors of all that came before). How do we explain to them that we were just too busy with all the details of our affluence (managing it or being managed by it?).

* Historical Note. While the German military was putting the final touches on their plans to make war on France in 1914, there was a large and active peace movement in Germany and throughout Europe that had arisen due to the continued buildup of military power in Germany and other countries. But the German military had the ear of the Bismark and he couldn't resist the urge to go to war to restore Germany to its rightful place at the top of the heap. It was all so well planned it was supposed to last only 39 days! Think of the glory of being able to proclaim "mission accomplished."

Of course, what was set in motion led to the deaths of millions of soldiers and civilians throughout the 20th century. The war that was billed as the War to End All Wars did nothing of the kind.

My main source on this is Barbara Tuchman's Guns of August (also August 1914). Here is link to the Wikpedia entry on the book -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guns_of_August

Talk about history being written as we speak--the following is the final paragraph:

"On Semptember 30th 2007, former United States Senator from Alaska and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, Mike Gravel wrote "It's easy to imagine a "Guns of August" scenario that draws in Israel, Saudi Arabia and potentially Pakistan, India, Russia, and China." in a blog post for the Huffington Post. The statement was in regards Hillary Clinton's laughter in response to Gravel's objection to Clinton's yes vote for declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization which Gravel predicts could draw the United states into a wider global conflict."

The following is from an essay on the peace movements in the world

"Today, however, the rhetoric of military action seems to have made a comeback amongst the liberal democracies. An example of this would be the optimistic and "macho" stance adopted by the US and Britain towards Iraq. It has been said that perhaps each generation needs to personally experience war in order to see through political fictions. Today, situations that allow the rationalizing of war abound such as punishing dictators/terrorists or re-establishing legitimate boundaries. In dealing with these situations, the lengthy and often difficult processes of negotiation and non-violent resolution of conflict seem woefully inadequate."


Like all of you, I am just trying to sort out my feelings and what I can do about them. The world has slipped into chaos too easily many times before. Never again?

Eyes Wide Open Pix

Thanks to all the VFP members who supported this event.



Friday, October 12, 2007

Former Top US Commander In Iraq Calls War "Nightmare With No End In Sight"

I know I am preaching to the choir but this might be a good one to send to anyone you know who is still holding out for winning the war. Let me know your reactions to the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit.

Former Top US Commander In Iraq Calls War "Nightmare With No End In Sight"

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/12/former-top-us-commander-i_n_68301.html

In a sweeping indictment of the four-year effort in Iraq, the former top American commander called the Bush administration's handling of the war incompetent and warned that the United States was "living a nightmare with no end in sight." In one of his first major public speeches since leaving the Army in late 2006, retired LtGenRicardo SSanchez blamed the administration for a "catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan" and denounced the current "surge" strategy as a "desperate" move that will not achieve long-term stability. "After more than fours years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism," Mr ... Read the rest at HuffingtonPost.com

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Eyes Wide Open Reminder OCT 13

This is what I just sent out to the folks on the Alaska Peace Coalition list serv.

 

At our last VFP meeting, the idea of a forum on the war before the demonstrations being called for around the country on Oct. 27 was brought up. We will need lots of help to make this happen. Let me know your thoughts

 

TO THE LIST SERV --

 

Is anyone out there? Does history just keep repeating itself over and over? Will we never learn? Are we just too damn comfortable to speak up about things we have convinced ourselves we can’t do anything about?

 

I know it is depressing to see no end to this war. I keep trying to tell myself not to give up just because we don’t yet have a mass movement. To build a mass that Congress will pay attention to, we need YOU! Wars don’t end just because they don’t make sense, Wars don’t end just because lots and lots of innocent people suffer needlessly, Wars don’t end because people tell pollsters that they would like to see the troops come home, some day.

 

No, wars end when people act collectively to say NO! You can bet the war profiteers are acting collectively (and all too effectively) to keep us frightened and isolated. Our biggest power is coming together--RIGHT NOW!

 

Here is your chance to do SOMETHING--The Eyes Wide Open Exhibit will be mounted in Town Square in Anchorage Oct 13. I apologize for not explaining what the exhibit is about in my previous messages. Here it is:

 

The Eyes Wide Open exhibit, created by the American Friends Service Committee, is a living memorial to the military personnel and civilians killed in Iraq --and a stark reminder of the human cost of war.

The exhibit is designed to be reflective—no signs are allowed into the exhibit area. No matter what someone may think of the war, we want them to face the price we all pay for our violent approach to working out our differences.

 

WE NEED HELP IN GETTING THE WORD OUT

 

To see the publicity materials, go to http://ewoak.blogspot.com/

 

Or you can go directly to http://jon4paz.googlepages.com/EWOFlyer.pdf  for the Eyes Wide Open - Alaska poster (PDF file -- need Adobe Acrobat Reader)

 

http://jon4paz.googlepages.com/EWOFlyerTri.pdf  for 3-panel flyer.

 

http://jon4paz.googlepages.com/EWOFlyerQuad.pdf  for 4-panel flyer.

 

Here are a couple of easy ways for you to help with this exhibit:

 

   1) Print copies and post at work, school, church etc.

 

   2) Email the poster/flyer (either the links or the actual files) to EVERYBODY on your email list and ask them to do the same (this is called grass roots organizing and we need a lot more of it).

 

   3) Click on the PayPal link for donations. We are collecting money to place the poster in the newspapers or buy radio time (or both). Our goal is to raise $2,000 for publicity. As of 10/3 we are only half way to our goal. We have enough to pay for an ad in the Anchorage Press and three of there other free papers. WE DO NOT have enough funds to put an ad in the Anchorage Daily News. If you would like to see it in the AND, please consider a donation (a down payment toward stopping a war that has cost countless lives & about $500 billion so far).

 

The blog also charts the progress of bringing this exhibit to Alaska by your fellow concerned citizens in this time of seemingly unstoppable war. The blog also has links to the national EWO website.

 

Photos—please bring your camera on the 13th and help us document this history making event. We will post your photos on the blog after the event. The organizers are planning to mount the exhibit again to keep reminding us that we are at war and our tax dollars what is keeping it all going.

 

Please tell us what you think of the proposed exhibit and how we are making it happen.

 

 

Jon Lockert

jon4paz@acsalaska.net

Breathe, smile & work for Peace

 

 

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Pledge of $500 for Eyes Wide Open Exhibit

At their meeting this evening, the members of the local Veterans for Peace (Ernest Gruening Chapter) pledged $500 toward publicity for the EWO exhibit to be held on Oct. 13. In addition, several members will be volunteering on the day of the exhibit.

The members also pledged $100 for the purchase of the brochures beings stocked in the area high schools by the Truth in Recruiting folks. We take our hats off to the dedicated volunteers who have made great strides in reigning in military recruiting in our schools.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

National Demo 10/27

National Demonstrations planned for Oct. 27 -- Click Here

Monday, September 24, 2007

Movie Co-Sponsorship 9/28: WHEN I CAME HOME

Movie Co-Sponsorship w/ Alaskans for Peace & Justice

WHEN I CAME HOME, FRI, 9/28/7, 7 PM

WHERE: UAA, Social Sciences Building, Room 118

Iraq War veteran Herold Noel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives out of his car in Brooklyn. Using Noel's story as a fulcrum, this doc examines the wider issue of homeless U.S. military veterans-from Vietnam to Iraq-who have to fight tooth-and-nail to receive the benefits promised to them by their government.

Dan Lohaus is the maker of the film: click here

VFP Meeting, Thursday, Sep. 27, St Mary's Episcopal

Vets,

Ernest Gruening Chapter (Southcentral Alaska), Meeting Agenda

Thursday, Sep. 27, 7 pm, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Tudor & Lake Otis, Room 3 (downstairs)

  1. Introductions & Discuss Agenda
  2. Chapter Business-Finances
  3. Coordination with Eyes Wide Open
    1. Plans for the Eyes Wide Open exhibit around the state—Anchorage Oct 13 (http://ewoak.blogspot.com) are underway. See national site (http://www.afsc.org/eyes/ ) Next meeting ?, 7 pm at the home of: Taylor and Terry Brelsford 5909 Lynkerry Circle, phone 338-5520, or cell 244-2992 (near Northern Lights and Boniface)
    2. Financial help with publicity
  4. Anchorage Truth in Recruiting
    1. NEXT MEETING--Thursday, October 4, 7 pm, in Rogers Park
    2. 2621 Redwood Street (in Rogers Park near Northern Lights and the Seward highway) Contact: Mel 277-5751
    3. http://akcountermilrec.blogspot.com/
  5. Movie Co-Sponsorship
    1. WHEN I CAME HOME, FRI, 9/28/7, 7 PM
    2. WHERE: UAA, Social Sciences Building, Room 118
    3. Iraq War veteran Herold Noel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives out of his car in Brooklyn. Using Noel's story as a fulcrum, this doc examines the wider issue of homeless U.S. military veterans-from Vietnam to Iraq-who have to fight tooth-and-nail to receive the benefits promised to them by their government.
    4. Dan Lohaus the maker of the film: "When I Came Home" www.whenicamehome.com
  6. Upcoming Events
    1. SEPT 22- 29: Encampment in front of Congress - Cut off the War funds - Build a People Peace Congress--Congress will not end the war, Marches alone will not end the war, It's time to shut down Washington DC -No more business as usual! http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207call.html
    2. No War, No Warming (October 21st -23rd);
      FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE, NOT WARS FOR OIL! Join a global movement rising up against war and global warming by participating in a massive intervention in Washington DC or your own community. The Declaration of Peace is working with many other anti-war initiatives this summer and fall -- to consolidate our actions to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq. http://nowarnowarming.org/article.php?list=class&class=20
    3. October 27 Massive Regional Actions to End the War in Iraq Regional Mobilizations being planned by United for Peace and Justice and member groups http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
  7. Pressure on Politicians Congressional Delegation- What can we do?
  8. Next Meeting on Oct. 25th (4th Thursday of every month)

See you on Thursday—let me know if you are coming on the 27th.


From: Taylor Brelsford [mailto:brelsfot@alaska.net]
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 7:49 AM

Friends,

All the components of the Alaska Eyes Wide Open exhibit are now in place. Those of us who gathered last week to attach name tags to the military boot and civilian shoes have some idea of how powerfully this exhibit will touch the people who come to "engage in the encounter." The first showing is late this week in Fairbanks at the Veterans Memorial Park, (September 20 - 22). The Anchorage Eyes Wide Open showing is just four weeks away, and we are well underway with our focus on soliciting volunteers and implementing a wide publicity effort.

Thanks to all,

Taylor Brelsford
for the Anchorage Host Committee

Friday, September 21, 2007

The War Tapes

From: Anchorage Museum Movies [mailto:newsletters@movie-previews.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 1:51 PM

Subject: Anchorage Museum Movies for Your Mind

September 22-23 at 6 PM

The War Tapes

USA documentary 97 minutes

MPAA RATING: Not Rated (language, gruesome scenes of carnage)

Starring Zack Bazzi, Duncan Domey, Ben Flanders, Mike Moriarity, Steve Pink, and Brandon Wilkins

Directed by Deborah Scranton

In March 2004, just as the insurgent movement strengthened, several members of one National Guard unit arrived in Iraq, with cameras. THE WAR TAPES is the result – a uniquely collaborative film from a team that includes Director Deborah Scranton, Producer Robert May (THE FOG OF WAR) and Producer/Editor Steve James (HOOP DREAMS). Straight from the front lines in Iraq, THE WAR TAPES is the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves. It is Operation Iraqi Freedom as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty and other soldiers. Zack is a Lebanese-American university student who loves politics, traveling, and being a soldier. Steve is a carpenter with a sharp sense of humor and aspirations to write, which he does with insight and candor. Mike is a resolute patriot and father of two, who rejoined the army after 9/11. All of them leave women at home—a mother, a girlfriend, and a wife.

While they battled unconventional forces, they recorded events that conventional journalists have been unable to capture. They mounted tripods on gun turrets, inside dashboards and used POV mounts on their Kevlar helmets and vests. They filmed all of the footage in Iraq, which amounted to over 800 hours of tape.

Zack, Steve, and Mike’s unit, Charlie Company, 3rd of the 172nd Infantry (MOUNTAIN) Regiment, was based at LSA Anaconda in the deadly Sunni Triangle, under constant threat of ambush and deadly IED attacks. They traveled, as a unit, 1.4 million miles during their tour, and lived through over twelve hundred combat operations and two hundred and fifty direct enemy engagements. That’s almost one a day.

The soldiers were not picked by casting agents or movie producers. They selected themselves. One hundred and eighty soldiers in Charlie Company were given the opportunity. Ten chose to take it on, and ultimately 21 soldiers filmed for the project, volunteering to share their eyes with America, not knowing where this experiment would take them. “There was something incredibly profound about the soldiers being the ones to press the record button in Iraq that allows us into their world in a never before seen way,” said director Deborah Scranton Producer Robert May adds, “These soldiers were doubly courageous—as soldiers at war, and as human beings willing to share that experience in an honest, powerful and personal way.”

The filmmaking team shot an additional 200 hours of tape documenting the unfolding lives of the soldiers’ families at home, both during deployment and after the soldiers returned home. The families and girlfriends and mothers had also signed on, ensuring that THE WAR TAPES—like any true story about war—is not just about life inside the war, but the life left at home, and the always difficult and sometimes beautiful way the relationships develop and change.

Finally, the prodigious task of distilling over 1,000 hours of tape into the finished 97-minute film took an entire year. “We had to figure out how to preserve the complexity and rawness of their experience in the course of telling their story—a story we truly believe has not been told before,” said producer and editor Steve James. Although five soldiers filmed their entire year’s deployment with one-chip Sony miniDV video cameras, in the end, the film follows the lives of three. “We wanted to tell a compelling, cohesive story—to focus on just a few soldiers so that, most importantly, audiences will truly get to know the soldiers seen in the film,” said producer Robert May. “After watching this film, we want people who don’t know soldiers in their personal lives to feel as if they know Zack, Mike, and Steve. And to accomplish that, we all had to cut scenes and soldiers that we loved.”

In the end, THE WAR TAPES is a complex, heartbreaking, and completely unique opportunity for millions to witness first-person experiences of war—a modern-day Odyssey—and the experience of homecoming. –Official Website



September 29-30 at 6pm

Snow Cake

Drama Canada/UK 112 minutes

MPAA RATING: Not Rated (language and sexual situations, a car crash scene)

Starring Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Fox, Jayne Eastwood, Emily Hampshire, and James Allodi

Directed by Marc Evans

Marc Evans' small-scale drama focuses on the offbeat relationship between a chronically depressed man and an autistic woman, and with a lesser cast it would be insufferable. But Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman imbue screenwriter Angela Pell's characters with a quiet authenticity that's surprisingly moving.

Middle-aged Englishman Alex Hughes (Rickman) is having a quick lunch before resuming his drive across Canada to meet a former girlfriend when aggressively offbeat teenager Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) sits herself down at his table and initiates a largely one-sided conversation. His efforts to freeze her out fail, and he eventually agrees to give her a lift to Wawa, the tiny town where she lives with her mother. Alex is growing to like Vivienne's cheerful, prattling company — much to his own surprise — when, in an instant, it's snatched away. As they wait at an intersection, the car is broadsided by a truck and Vivienne is killed on the spot. Though he's not to blame in the accident, Alex is so guilt-ridden at having walked away unscathed that he forces himself to look up Vivienne's mother, Linda (Weaver). Vivienne had alluded to the fact that her mother was unusual, but Alex is unprepared for how unsettling her behavior — the product of autism — is. Though Linda is, with help, able to live on her own, she's obsessive, easily distracted, self-centered, impulsive and subject to disconcerting verbal and physical tics. She seems more disturbed that Alex is tracking dirty snow into her home than at Vivienne's death, and Alex's intense aversion to confrontation and excessive displays of emotion render him particularly ill-equipped to deal with her eccentric outbursts. But Linda's own parents are on a hiking trip and can't be reached, and Alex can't in good conscience leave her alone to plan Vivienne's funeral. So he agrees to stay for a few days. During that time, he comes to admire Linda's intelligence and fierce independence, and even forges a tentative relationship with her next-door neighbor (Carrie-Anne Moss).

Taking her cue from Pell's screenplay (Pell's son is autistic), Weaver doesn't play Linda's eccentricities as cute or charmingly childlike — her performance is authentically abrasive. Rickman has the less showy role, but his Alex is just as damaged and their prickly relationship feels awkwardly real. The story comes to an end that is as inconclusive as life itself, gently buoyed by a glimmer of hope that Alex, at least, has taken a step towards engaging with the world. --Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide

Anchorage Eyes Wide Open Exhibit October 13 - Town Square

Vets,

 

Several VFP members have been working on the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit that is touring the state and will be mounted in Town Square on Oct. 13. I would like to devote a considerable portion of our upcoming meeting at St. Mary’s Episcopal on Thursday, Sep. 27 to figuring out how we can best support this effort.

 

I am attaching the PDF of the Fairbanks poster (which we hope to run in the ADN) and a piece from the Fairbank’s News Miner.

 

In addition VFP will be co-sponsoring a movie on Sep. 28:

 

WHEN I CAME HOME, FRI, 9/28/7, 7 PM

 

       WHERE:  UAA, Social Sciences Building, Room 118

 

Iraq War veteran Herold Noel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives out of his car in Brooklyn. Using Noel's story as a fulcrum, this doc examines the wider issue of homeless U.S. military veterans-from Vietnam to Iraq-who have to fight tooth-and-nail to receive the benefits promised to them by their government.

 

Dan Lohaus the maker of the film: "When I Came Home"  www.whenicamehome.com

 

See you next week.

 


 

From: Taylor Brelsford [mailto:brelsfot@alaska.net]
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 7:49 AM

Friends,

All the components of the Alaska Eyes Wide Open exhibit are now in place.  Those of us who gathered last week to attach name tags to the military boot and civilian shoes have some idea of how powerfully this exhibit will touch the people who come to "engage in the encounter."   The first showing is late this week in Fairbanks at the Veterans Memorial Park, (September 20 - 22).  The Anchorage Eyes Wide Open showing is just four weeks away, and we are well underway with our focus on soliciting volunteers and implementing a wide publicity effort.

Thanks to all,

Taylor Brelsford
for the Anchorage Host Committee

Monday, September 10, 2007

Film: WHEN I CAME HOME

WHEN I CAME HOME

WHEN: FRI, 9/28/7, 7 PM

WHERE: UAA, Social Sciences Building, Room 118

Iraq War veteran Herold Noel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives out of his car in Brooklyn. Using Noel's story as a fulcrum, this doc examines the wider issue of homeless U.S. military veterans-from Vietnam to Iraq-who have to fight tooth-and-nail to receive the benefits promised to them by their government.

Dan Lohaus the maker of the film: "When I Came Home" www.whenicamehome.com

COSPONSORED BY VETERANS FOR PEACE

The Dog Days of War

beneath the radar by Gary Younge

The Dog Days of War

[from the September 10, 2007 issue]

On Friday morning, August 17, Nick Travis protested in Crawford, Texas, as George Bush arrived for a barbecue. "We were making sure there was some kind of protest," explains Travis. "That he at least saw a sign. It was a presence." There were four of them. One was arrested.

It's been two years since Cindy Sheehan set up Camp Casey outside Bush's ranch to protest the war in the name of her son, who was killed in Iraq. In those two years we have seen the Democrats take back both houses of Congress; the Iraq Study Group call for a pullback of US troops; and the public, punditocracy and political class all reverse their position on the war.

In that time we have also seen an escalation of US troops, no letup in the vast number of civilian and combatant casualties (including US troops) and the exodus of Iraq's professional class. In short, in the past two years most people's views about what needed to happen changed and what actually happened did not.

Given the outlook in August 2005, even this is no small feat. Back then, demonstrations in Crawford were about more than just a physical presence. They marked a political moment. All the polls suggested that public sentiment on the war had shifted from frustration to despair but had found inadequate and inconsistent expression in Congress and the press. The mainstream had effectively been marginalized.

Then along came Cindy. Packaged as an Everymother just looking for answers, she made the cable shows and supermarket magazine covers. She had in fact been around for quite some time. (The Nation had featured her on the cover four months earlier.) But now the word was flowing beyond our ideological shores. In the space of a month, Sheehan went from being an activist with energy and a compelling story to a household name who could spark 1,627 local vigils in solidarity.

In the absence of a cohesive, media-savvy antiwar movement, she became the face of protest. As such she did not so much lead public opinion as embody it. Her prominence illustrated the actual weakness of the left as much as it did its potential strength. In the American public, progressives had a receptive audience; but we have failed to meaningfully reach them. "It's rare when people seriously publicly engage," Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, told me after Bush announced the "surge." "They watch it on TV. They read about it in the newspapers. They get angry, but that doesn't necessarily mean they engage."

That disconnect remains both our greatest challenge and our weakest link. We may toast Karl Rove's departure and Bush's woes and tout polling figures that show increasing backing for withdrawal and against occupation. But the fact that the Republicans are losing public support for the war doesn't necessarily mean that we have won the argument against it.

For the mounting opposition is primarily informed less by a mass conversion against imperialism than by a far more basic factor: America is losing. "The most important single fact is that the public perceive the mission as being destined for success," says Christopher Gelpi, a professor of political science at Duke University who studies US public opinion and war. "The American public is partly casualty-phobic, but it is primarily defeat-phobic. You can muster support for just about any military operation in the US so long as you can get enough of the defeat-phobic people on board."

True, it would be churlish not to delight in the demise of the neocons and the now-dominant consensus that this war was a mistake. But it would be equally deluded to pretend that we got here by dint of our reasoning and rallying alone. Opposition to the war is broad, but it is not deep. A change of fortunes for the United States in Iraq would erase much of it. The fact that such a change is unlikely is shaped by military reality, not political persuasion. In short, the opposition to "this" particular war has grown, but support for the principle of American-led intervention has barely shifted. The percentage of those who think the war in Iraq was justified stands in the low 40s, but support for the war in Afghanistan stands at 70 percent.

"We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue," wrote George Orwell in his essay "In Front of Your Nose," "and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield."

Which brings us back to Cindy Sheehan. Exposed and increasingly exasperated with the lack of political leadership following the Democratic midterm victory, Sheehan recently retired from campaigning, only to return to the fray soon afterward. But this time she transformed the object of her ire from Bush to House leader Nancy Pelosi, whom she is running against in San Francisco.

This is a strategic error. Not because Pelosi should not be confronted--"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will," said Frederick Douglass--but because the most effective confrontation the Democratic leadership will understand at this point is not electoral; it is political.

Democrats have already proved themselves an inadequate and ineffective vehicle for our antiwar hopes--most of their senators, including all of those now running for President who were there at the time, voted for the war. But they are also the most responsive to pressure from the antiwar movement. Pelosi may prove to be an obstacle--but she is not the enemy. It will take the engagement of the angry at every level to force the conversation in Washington from virtual opposition to the war to actually ending it. Sheehan should learn from her own example; 2005 was not an election year. She has already shown us that, whatever the limitations, our only way to reach those who will only go to the polls and raise funds is by taking to the streets and raising hell.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Agenda for VFP 8/23

Ernest Gruening Chapter (Southcentral Alaska), Meeting Agenda

Thursday, August 23, 7 pm, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Tudor & Lake Otis, Room 3 (downstairs)

 

  1. Introductions & Discuss Agenda
  2. Chapter Business-Finances
  3. Coordination with Anchorage Peace Coalition
    1. Next meeting 8/28, 7 pm Immanuel Presbyterian (near N. Light & Boniface—same place as Alaskans for Peace & Justice)
    2. Truth in Recruiting Training session: Wednesday, September 5, 7 pm, at 2621 Redwood Street (in Rogers Park near Northern Lights and the Seward highway)
    3. Our next Truth in Recruiting meeting will focus on training for adopt a school volunteers. Instead of meeting August 23, I've rescheduled for Wednesday, September 5. That will give us time to the word out and try to get at least one person for every high school.
  4. Upcoming Events
    1. Plans for the Eyes Wide Open exhibit around the state—Fairbanks in Sep. and Anchorage in Oct (http://ewoak/blogspot.com) are underway. See national site (http://www.afsc.org/eyes/ ) The next meeting will be tonite! at the home of: Taylor and Terry Brelsford 5909 Lynkerry Circle, phone 338-5520, or cell 244-2992(near Northern Lights and Boniface)
    2. Sept. 14-21: Declaration of Peace -- a week of coordinated nonviolent actions. http://vcnv.org/project/the-occupation-project
    3. September 15: Turn Up the Heat Protest in Washington, D.C.! http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8553&news_iv_ctrl=3361 (sponsor ANSWER)
    4. National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (D.C. action - September 20th);
    5. The Iraq Moratorium (a monthly day of action beginning September 21st); The THIRD FRIDAY of every month--Wear and distribute black ribbons and armbands, etc. http://www.iraqmoratorium.org 
    6. SEPT 22- 29: Encampment in front of Congress - Cut off the War funds - Build a People Peace Congress--Congress will not end the war, Marches alone will not end the war, It's time to shut down Washington DC -No more business as usual! http://www.troopsoutnow.org/sept2207call.html
    7. No War, No Warming (October 21st -23rd);
      FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE, NOT WARS FOR OIL! Join a global movement rising up against war and global warming by participating in a massive intervention in Washington DC or your own community. The Declaration of Peace is working with many other anti-war initiatives this summer and fall -- to consolidate our actions to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq. http://nowarnowarming.org/article.php?list=class&class=20
    8. October 27 Massive Regional Actions to End the War in Iraq Regional Mobilizations being planned by United for Peace and Justice and member groups http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
  5. Pressure on Politicians Congressional Delegation- What can we do?
  6. Next Meeting on Sep.13th (2nd and 4th Thursday of every month)

 

 

 

Jon Lockert

Jon4Paz@AcsAlaska.net