Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

Anti-war protestors prosecuted by government Contact: Ellen Barfield, 410-243-5876; Pete Perry, 202-631-0974 October 11, 2009 WASHINGTON – Three nonviolent anti-war activists go on trial Tuesday, October 13 for an action in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on May 21 of this year. Ellen Barfield of Baltimore, Eve Tetaz of Washington, DC, and Pete Perry of Fairfax, Virginia will argue their case before a jury of their peers. The three are charged with Disruption of Congress. The trial will be presided over by Judge Lynn Leibovitz in courtroom 310 of the H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse. “We were expressing our dissent to the costly and tragic war in Afghanistan,” Perry said. “This is a war based on revenge that has now clearly lost the support of a majority of Americans.” Barfield is a military veteran, Tetaz is a retired DC public schoolteacher, and Perry was instrumental in organizing last week's protest against the Afghanistan War in Washington.

Myself and some of my dearest friends in the peace and justice movement have been working very hard on our government to acknowledge that it has engaged in torture, and that it will not tolerate it any longer. As we near the conclusion of Witness Against Torture's 100 Days Campaign, we want to acknowledge that while there have been some success there's still a lot going on in places like Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan that we don't know about. Anyhow, this recent report is promising: Senate report on prisoner abuse connects dots all the way to the top Ewen MacAskill in Washington April 24, 2009 - 12:00AM AdvertisementA HIGH-LEVEL US Senate report published yesterday directly implicates senior members of the Bush administration in the extensive use of harsh interrogation methods against al-Qaeda suspects and other prisoners around the world. The 232-page report, the most detailed investigation yet into torture by US military and intelligence personnel, undercuts the cl...

On Tuesday, January 6, about 80 anti-war protestors came to Capitol Hill to remind elected representatives of the death and destruction they continue to fund. Laurie Arbeiter and her colleagues in the Activist Response Team (ART) organized another performance of the March of the Dead on the first day of the 111th Congress, followed by dramatic banner drops and arrests for nonviolent civil resistance later that day. The protestors did not gain much media attention, although plenty of cameras were on the scene. It appears at the end of the day their producers and editors only had time for Mr. Burris, the man appointed by a defamed governor to take the president-elect’s seat in the senate. However, Bill Moyers picked up on it and commented on it during his TV show. The rest of the media did not have time for the names of the dead slain by our military, or our proxies the Israelis. I marched in this somber procession of remembrance that rainy day, and I took part in the nonviolent civil re...

The following UPI report was one of the best I saw. 10 were arrested inside the Senate on Wednesday, and about 18 were arrested outside Congress the same day! Both were beautiful actions, and I was proud to be part of the preparation and training. Protesters disrupt Senate floor debate Published: March 12, 2008 at 6:13 PM WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- Anti-war protesters temporarily halted proceedings on the U.S. Senate floor Wednesday by yelling slogans that interrupted budget resolution debate. "We are from the National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance," the group chanted repeatedly as Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., was speaking, The Hill reported. Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., debate floor manager for the Democrats, asked the sergeant-at-arms to remove the protesters. Capitol Police officers removed at least 10 protesters from the chamber after they shouted at lawmakers to stop funding the war in Iraq. The disruption lasted about 10 minutes. Security offic...

U.S. Senator Craig from Idaho has resigned. There is something revealing about the way the Republicans pounced on Larry Craig. It's OK if you are caught with a prostitute, or probably even groping a female staff member -- but if you are not of the straight variety watch out! It is sad, in a way, that Larry Craig lived with such shame and self-denial, but yet he was still hypocritical and hateful. The sad part, was a significant portion of that was self-hate. Here's one of the latest articles BREAKING NEWS: Idaho's Sen. Craig resigns over scandal By Andrew Malcom, L.A. Times Idaho's Republican Sen. Larry Craig bowed to the inevitable pressure of his political party today and officially announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate effective Sept. 30. In an emotional news conference in Boise, standing next to his wife, Suzanne, and two of their three children, the 62-year-old Craig, who was arrested on suspicion of lewd behavior in a Minneapolis airport men's room in ...

By Ron Elving Npr.org August is normally the month when big-time Washington decision makers get out of town to relax and recharge. They spend time with normal people, some of whom may be family members. They remember what life is supposed to be about, and how to treat others with respect. With luck, they return to their offices with their decency and reasonableness restored. That's one reason September is normally a pretty productive month in Washington. But don't count on that happening this year. This August recess has been anything but a time-out for the power structure. The Washington wars have continued without interruption, and casualties have continued to mount. As usual, a lot of the hostilities have focused on personalities and the arc of careers. Most recent of the victims is Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican who may become the first member of Congress to be almost literally laughed out of office. Craig was arrested in a men's room in Minneapolis in June and p...

Vets, military families protest against war funding, 14 arrested For Comment: Tina Richards, 573-247-8059 Pete Perry, 571-271-1313 WASHINGTON – Today the US Senate voted to approve its revised form of the military supplemental, and within the same hour 14 peace activists were arrested inside a Senate office building. The Senate voted 51-46 to pass the $124.2 billion spending bill at around 1 p.m. At the same time a coalition of military families, veterans and anti-war groups held a dramatic protest inside the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. The protest featured the reading of letters from military families calling for a swift end to the occupation of Iraq, two 600 square foot banners and a funeral honoring the next fallen soldier. The arrests began to occur during the funeral portion of the protest alongside the giant Alexander Calder statue in the center of the atrium. Among those arrested were, Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip-Hop Caucus and Adam Kokesh with Iraq Vet...

My friend Midge Potts is back in town and doing some fantastic activist work: I am riding a wave like I can barely describe right now... I went to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this morning knowing it was about "Iraq options," but had no idea Henry Kissinger would be there... My heart was beating SO hard, but could not sit by and listen to Kissinger and a fat cat Republican Senator talk about how we needed to be in Iraq "until the job was done"... SO, I stood up, cutting them off in mid sentence, and yelled, "The American people voted to end the war in Iraq!" and held up a small banner I had made that read "Bring Service People Home Now." I was escorted out of the room by Capitol Police and went with them peacfully... They detained me for about 10 minutes, then let me go without arrest or citation. In fact, they said I could stay in the building if I would not go back in the hearing. So I hung around outside the hearing room so p...