Dr. Who's Reading Room

Here we go again. With the economy showing faint signs of life and their positions on the social issues alienating most moderates, the leading Republican candidates, with the exception of Ron Paul, have returned to the elixir of warmongering to once again sway the gullible masses.

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—	Robert Scheer: “The Gang That Couldn’t Bomb Straight” - Robert Scheer’s Columns - Truthdig 2/23/12

Drop Tuition, not bombs

(Source: desmonsters)

It was on this day in 1914 that the last known Christmas truce occurred along the Western Front during World War I. In the week leading up to Christmas, soldiers all over the battlefields had been decorating their trenches with candles and makeshift trimmings when groups of German and British soldiers began shouting seasonal greetings and singing songs to each other. On occasion, a soldier or two would even cross the battlefield to take gifts to the enemy. Then, on Christmas Eve, the men of the Western Front put the war on hold and many soldiers from both sides left their trenches to meet in No Man’s Land, where they mingled and exchanged tobacco, chocolate, and sometimes even the buttons from their own uniforms as souvenirs. They played games of football, sang carols, and buried fallen comrades together as the unofficial truce lasted through the night.

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—	The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor 12/24/11 John McCutcheon’s song: “Christmas in the Trenches.”

Brian Arredondo, R.I.P.

I wrote about my feelings about this earlier in the week. Here’s what Cindy Sheehan said.

via UJP

“He Suffered So Much”

May 10, 1987 to December 19, 2011
by Cindy Sheehan

Brian Arredondo was 17 when his 20 year-old brother, Alex, a U.S. Marine, was killed in Iraq on 25 August, 2004. He was 24 this past Monday, 19 December, when he took his own life.

To remember Brian Arredondo Carlos Arredondo, the father of Alex and Brian, his only children, was so distraught when the Marines came to tell him that his oldest son was killed, he caught their van and himself on fire, burning over 26% of his body. His recovery from his physical wounds was long and difficult, but his emotional wounds from having his son killed by the U.S. government in its illegal and immoral war in Iraq will never completely heal. However, I know since my son, Casey, was killed in Iraq only four months before Alex, that Carlos was beginning to be able to get through his days without overwhelming pain before his other son committed suicide.

Carlos, and his wife, Melida (stepmother to the boys) are part of our Camp Casey family and the wider peace movement. Carlos credits Camp Casey with giving him his “voice” to be able to speak for Alex and against the war that took his life. When we held our Camp Casey gatherings, Carlos would always be there with his rolling monument to his son, Alex, and he would often be the first one to get up in the morning and the last one to go to bed—he was always working and there for me when I needed a bottle of water, a plate of food, or a hug. However, Carlos could always take a break to talk to a visitor to make him/her feel welcome, and share his son’s story.

Carlos and Melida are wonderful people who have sacrificed much for peace—and even though I wouldn’t wish this kind of pain on anybody—they did not deserve to bury even one son, let alone two.

Honoring Brian Arredondo

Brian Arredondo’s wakewill be held Tuesday, December 27, 4 to 9 pm, Mann and Rodgers Funeral Home, 44 Perkins St, Jamaica Plain.

A funeral mass will be held Wednesday, December 28, at 10am, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, 97 South St., Jamaica Plain.

The funeral mass will be followed by a procession and interment at Rural Cemetery at intersection of Pemberton and North Streets, Walpole. Brian will be laid to rest next to his brother Alexander.

The peace movement will sponsor a reception after the interment, 3pm-6pm, at First Church in Jamaica Plain (Unitarian-Universalist), 6 Eliot St. The church was the scene of the candle-light vigil the night after Brian’s death, and its lawn is home to Camp Alex, a display of antiwar messages created by Carlos Arredondo. Members of the peace movement are requested to bring food to the reception or donate money towards refreshments.

If you are in position to do so, please send a donation to help cover funeral expenses to: Brian Arredondo Memorial Fund, c/o The Cooperative Bank, 40 Belgrade Avenue, Roslindale, MA 02131.

Civil Society and “Arab Spring” in Iraq

Terry Rockefeller – 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 1pm
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, 11 Garden Street, Hastings Room • Harvard Square T

A Peace Action Lunchtime Seminar • $5 donation requested for the light lunch

Terry Rockefeller will report back on her recent trip to Iraq, where she attended the Third Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI), an international conference in Erbil. Under the theme “Another Iraq is Possible with Peace and Human Rights,” ICSSI was attended by about 150 Iraqi and 100 representatives of international civil society organizations. At the meeting participants discussed the challenges that Iraqi people are facing, the issues on which Iraqi civil society is now working, and the kinds of solidarity needed among Iraqi NGOs and international organizations to bring about democratic change, social justice, human rights, freedom, and dignity for all Iraqis.

She will particularly address:

• anger and a search for how to address pollution and the grave health affects due to war damages
• Iraqis’ discussions of privatization of oil resources
• Ongoing obstacles to having a free civil society
• Iraqis’ thoughts on withdrawal of US troops; US peace and justice activists’ need to monitor practices of private security contractors

Listen to Terry Rockefeller’s interview with Callie Crossley on WGBH, September 7, 2011.

Senator Kerry, Represent US!

The Super Committee is due to report its $1.5 trillion budget cutting plan in only one month, and it’s important that Senator Kerry hear from thousands of people across Massachusetts!

A Massachusetts Peace Action delegation (left), including visiting Guardian correspondent Jonathan Steele, turned in 600 petition signatures and 150 hand-written postcards last Wednesday to Ed Birce of Sen. Kerry’s Boston office.

Saying “Don’t Balance the Budget on our Backs!”, the petitions and cards from Massachusetts voters call on Sen. Kerry to end wars, cut military spending, create jobs, preserve services and benefits, and restore tax fairness.

Give your input to Senator Kerry! Send him an online postcard, sign our petition, or read about other ways you can participate in the campaign!

Join Massachusetts Peace Action - or renew your membership today for 2011!
Dues are $40/year or $10 for student/unemployed/low income. Your financial support makes this work possible!

Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
617-354-2169 • info@masspeaceaction.org • Follow us on Facebook or Twitter

After a decade of war, the nation that we need to build — and the nation we will build — is our own.

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Barack Obama “Obama declares Iraq war over with all US troops home at year’s end” - TheHill.com by Sam Youngman, 10/21/11

President Obama announced Friday that the U.S. will complete its drawdown of troops by the end of the year, concluding the war in Iraq after almost nine years.

Some of us have been working for this end for nine years. I want to see all the details, especially about PMCs guarding the world’s largest embassy, but this is a positive step. Next up, Afghanistan.

No doubt Obama’s trying to shore up his base. Bring it.

Tonight!

icancstructures:

Women, War & Peace, a five-part PBS special, premieres Oct. 11, 2011. The series continues on Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. through Nov. 8.

(via Women, War & Peace Series Trailer | Women, War and Peace | PBS

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