Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

4 women arrested at Vt. Yankee By SUSAN SMALLHEER Rutland HErald Staff - Published: September 29, 2009 VERNON - Four elderly women living downwind of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor were arrested Monday afternoon when they walked through the first two security gates at the Vernon reactor and sat down on folding chairs, blocking entry to the plant. The four women, members of the Vermont Yankee Shut It Down Affinity Group, are no strangers to Vermont Yankee protests, and each said they had been arrested multiple times outside the Entergy Nuclear corporate headquarters in North Brattleboro but never prosecuted. Entergy Nuclear officials said that the response by the plant's security forces Monday afternoon went well and denied that security had been breached. But the women, wearing tie-dye t-shirts and carrying folding stools and signs, ignored the entreaties of the armed guard at the guardhouse, marched right past him through the second chain-link gate and then sat down with thei...

Anti-war groups demand end to Afghan War, demonstrate at the White House For Immediate Release Sept. 27, 2009 Contact: Pete Perry, 202-631-0974; Gael Murphy, 202-412-6700 Washington – Disappointed with President Obama’s unwillingness to significantly change course from the Bush administration in Afghanistan, and alarmed by the recent troop build-up there, national anti-war groups will be joining together October 5th in a day of nonviolent direct action, during the week the Afghanistan War begins its ninth year. The coalition includes the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, Code Pink, Peace Action, the Black is Back Coalition, Progressive Democrats of America, the War Resisters League, the Washington Peace Center, World Can’t Wait, Veterans for Peace, and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Joining them will be Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Casey Sheehan, a soldier killed in Iraq in 2004. The White House action — the first such protest aimed specifically at the war in Afgh...

Dear Friends, 10/5 will be a great day and will mark a key step in the revival of the anti-war movement, post Obama-mania. Altogether we are at approximately 100 people signed up to risk arrest. As decided on the last conference call, we will have one final planning call before the Oct. 5 action. As Frida noted, we need to talk about media. Are there other specific things that people want added to the agenda? If so, please forward to me. Here is the tentative program for the rally in McPherson Square: MC Welcome and Intro (5 minutes) Poet 1 (one poem) (3 minutes) Song by Emma's Revolution (5 minutes) Poet 2 (one poem) (3 minutes) Elizabeth McAlister (10 minutes) Song by Emma's Revolution (5 minutes) Black is Back Spokesperson (10 minutes) Max Obuzsewski -Closing Remarks (5 minutes) Song by Emma's Revolution (5 minutes) I will make up the agenda and get it out along with a reminder early next week... In peace and resistance, Pete

September 15, 2009 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear president Obama: We are writing on behalf of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance to seek a meeting to discuss the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. We are greatly concerned that the people of Afghanistan, like the people of Iraq, are suffering greatly from the U.S. invasion and the continued assault on this beleaguered country. We feel you are stuck in the same trap, which ensnared President Lyndon Johnson. His decision to continue that awful war in Vietnam brought down his presidency. He failed to listen to the peace movement, and history has not been kind to him. Today's peace movement is baffled by your persistence to wage war on the people of Afghanistan. Not only is your policy flawed, but it is doomed to failure. Afghanistan surely does not need more killing and destruction. It needs financial assistance and the willingness of...

President Barak Obama presses on with an escalation in a war he cannot win. A majority of the Afghan people view U.S. military forces as a foreign occupying force, and now a growing majority of Americans no longer support this war. The United States empire can not sustain this military occupation. The facts on the ground and a myriad of historical examples prove this. Afghanistan's history is replete with the tombstones of foreign occupiers. In the 18th centuries it was the Persians, twice. In the 19th and early 20th century it was the British, three times. In late 20th century the Soviets were thoroughly defeated in what was considered "their Vietnam." Commander-in-chief Obama tells us this is a just war, a war we must fight to avenge those those killed on September 11th. However, President Karzai in his recent campaign and subsequent re-election has indicated a desire to sit down at the negotiating table with the Taliban. Furthermore, his brother-in-law is a known opium...