The Maui Peace Blog

Retired U.S. Colonel Ann Writer to Speak on Maui, Jan 22

2010-01-15T11:45:00.001-08:00

On Friday, January 22, Retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience, will speak on Maui about “The Plight of Gaza: An Eyewitness Account of How U.S. Policies Are Causing Harm.”

Wright has just returned from Egypt where she participated in the Gaza Freedom March. The free public talk is at 7pm January 22 in MCC Ka Lama 103, sponsored by the MCC Peace Club, Koa Books and Maui Peace Action, www.mauipeace.org

Jan 13 Hawaii DU Hearing

2010-01-15T11:04:00.000-08:00

Click below to read the Hawaii Tribune-Herald's coverage of the Depleted Uranium Hearing held on Wednesday of this week.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2010/01/14/local_news//local02.txt

Aidan Delgado: Conscientious Objector Speaks with HPR

2009-03-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

An army reservist who served in Iraq and was later granted conscientious objector status is visiting high school students across the state this week. Speaking by cell phone from the Big Island, Aidan Delgado told Hawaii Public Radio's Kayla Rosenfeld his goal is to offer students a balanced perspective of military recruitment currently taking place around the country. Have a listen to the conversation HERE.

Bay-Peace Youth Manifesto Campaign

2009-03-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a Bay Area youth-produced and acted statement against recruitment and involuntary release of contact info to the military:

IMPORTANT FUNDRAISER THIS TUESDAY (at Flatbread Company in Paia, HI)

2009-02-22T14:03:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, February 24:

Come enjoy delicious pizza at the Flatbread Company in Paia from 5 to 10pm, and help build a school in rural Nicaragua. There's a silent auction of valuable items until 9:30. Manali'i plays Hawaiian and Jawaiian reggae from 5:00, and Seth and Shelly do bluegrass and jazz from 8:30 to 10. Part of the proceeds of every pizza sold will go to Somos Amigos - Nicaragua, a Maui non-profit that partners with several small Nicaraguan villages to build schools and bring clean water and health services. For more information, call Charlotte or Dan Flavin at 572-9898.

Tell your friends about the Obama Hope letter for Middle East peace

2009-02-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

Jewish Voice For Peace sends this message:

Look – we believe that reaching President Obama with our message isn’t going to be easy. We know that. That’s why it is so very critical that you take that extra step of sharing our open letter with people you know. For every six people you tell, only one might join us – so please don’t hold back! We have until Monday!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION.

Call Senator Inouye!! Ask him to STOP the $50B Nuke and Coal Bail Out!!!

2009-02-11T12:16:00.001-08:00

A letter from NIRS

Dear Friends in Hawaii:

The Senate has passed its economic stimulus bill. Unfortunately, it still includes $50 Billion in loan guarantees intended for new nuclear reactors and "clean coal" plants.

Fortunately, the House version does not include this provision. The Senate-House conference committee will now decide whether that provision stays in the final bill.

Rep. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii is one of the five Senate members on the conference committee. Thus his position on this issue will be crucial.

Please call Sen. Inouye today: 202-224-3934 (Honolulu office, 808-541-2542) and tell him that the Senate should not have been added to the stimulus bill. Ask that he ensure that the House position on nuclear and coal loan guarantees prevails, and that the Senate provision be removed from the final bill.

Also, follow up your call with an e-mail to Inouye, which you can do by going to http://inouye.senate.gov/abtform.html

Thanks for your help!

Michael Mariotte

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

nirsnet@nirs.org

www.nirs.org

Salon.com begins "Coming Home" Series

2009-02-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

Death in the USA: The Army's fatal neglect

Returning U.S. combat soldiers are committing suicide and murder in alarming numbers. In a special series, Salon uncovers the habitual mistreatment behind the preventable deaths.

Editor's note: This is the introduction to a weeklong series of stories called "Coming Home." Read the first story in the series here; see photos of Heidi Lieberman painting over her son's suicide note, and a copy of the "Hurt Feelings Report," here.

By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna

Feb. 9, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Preventable suicides. Avoidable drug overdoses. Murders that never should have happened. Four years after Salon exposed medical neglect at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that ultimately grew into a national scandal, serious problems with the Army's healthcare system persist and the situation, at least at some Army posts, continues to deteriorate.

This story is no longer just about lack of medical care. It's far worse than sighting mold and mouse droppings in the barracks. Late last month the Army released data showing the highest suicide rate among soldiers in three decades. At least 128 soldiers committed suicide in 2008. Another 15 deaths are still under investigation as potential suicides. "Why do the numbers keep going up?" Army Secretary Pete Geren said at a Jan. 29 Pentagon news conference. "We can’t tell you." On Feb. 5, the Army announced it suspects 24 soldiers killed themselves last month, more than died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

To read more of this article, visit the Salon.com article here.

Obama: Tough Decisions about Iraq, Afghanistan Loom

2009-01-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

From the Associated Press.

Obama's missing timetable for Afghanistan | csmonitor.com

2009-01-30T09:59:00.001-08:00

With a coming NATO summit, he must be clear on his goals for a war that isn't going well.

Few doubts exist that Barack Obama will pull the US out of Iraq. But when will the US exit Afghanistan? That depends on what he wants to leave behind in the former Al Qaeda haven. By April, when Mr. Obama goes to a NATO summit, he must form a consensus on Afghanistan's future to create a US path out of this historic quagmire country.

Before his election, Mr. Obama talked of a need for democracy in a land that had largely been ruled by kings, warlords, and Islamists before the 2001 US-led invasion. But that Bush-era goal of Western-style, peaceful government in a medieval and tribal culture seems far more fragile these days.

Read the rest of the article here:
Obama's missing timetable for Afghanistan | csmonitor.com

Posted using ShareThis

Obama Promises Iraw Withdrawal, Works Through Details

2009-01-30T09:53:00.000-08:00

After Promising Quick Iraq Withdrawal, Obama Works Through Details
By Al Pessin Pentagon 29 January 2009

President Barack Obama is working toward a decision on how quickly to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. He has had two meetings with senior military commanders, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said they prepared a series of options for the new president - including, but not limited to, his campaign pledge to remove most American combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

Click here to continue reading the article from Voice of America.

From Greg Palast: "Obama is a two-faced liar. Aw-RIGHT!"

2009-01-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

By Greg Palast

January 29, 2009

Republicans are right. President Barack Obama treated them like dirt, didn't give a damn what they thought about his stimulus package, loaded it with a bunch of programs that will last for years and will never leave the budget, is giving away money disguised as "tax refunds," and is sneaking in huge changes in policy, from schools to health care, using the pretext of an economic emergency.

Way to go, Mr. O! Mr. Down-and-Dirty Chicago pol. Street-fightin' man. Covering over his break-you-face power play with a "we're all post-partisan friends" BS.

And it's about time.

(From www.gregpalast.com)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

THIS JUST IN: Israel Shells UN Headquarters in Gaza

2009-01-15T12:43:00.000-08:00

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, engulfing the compound and a warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees.

Another Israeli bombardment on Thursday killed the Hamas security chief.

U.N. workers and Palestinian firefighters, some wearing bulletproof jackets, struggled to douse the flames and pull bags of food from the debris after the Israeli attack, which was another blow to efforts to ease the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Dense smoke billowed from the compound.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, demanded a "full explanation" and said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a "grave mistake."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who met with Ban later Thursday, said the military fired artillery shells at the U.N. compound after Hamas militants opened fire from the location. Three people were wounded.

"It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad and we apologize for it," he said. "I don't think it should have happened and I'm very sorry."

The U.N. Security Council requested a briefing on the attack.

Interior Minister Said Siam was killed in an Israeli airstrike that flattened a home in Gaza City. Israel and Hamas both confirmed the death of Siam, who oversaw thousands of security agents and was considered to be among the militant group's top five leaders in Gaza.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING.

Jimmy Carter's "An Unneccesary War" (REPOST from washingtonpost.com)

2009-01-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

An Unnecessary War

By Jimmy Carter
Thursday, January 8, 2009; A15

I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.

After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens in his office to meet us and complained that the government of Israel was not stopping the rockets, either through diplomacy or military action.

Knowing that we would soon be seeing Hamas leaders from Gaza and also in Damascus, we promised to assess prospects for a cease-fire. From Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was negotiating between the Israelis and Hamas, we learned that there was a fundamental difference between the two sides. Hamas wanted a comprehensive cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis refused to discuss anything other than Gaza.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

Democracy Now's Gaza Debate Transcript from Jan 12th

2009-01-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

For those of you who missed it:
Former Clinton Special Counsel Lanny Davis vs. Israeli Professor Neve Gordon: A Debate on the Israeli Assault on Gaza

Israel has poured thousands of reservists into Gaza as Israeli troops push deeper into Gaza City in the seventeenth day of fighting. Nearly 900 Palestinians have now died, including 275 children. Another 4,100 Palestinians have been injured. The Israeli death toll is at thirteen. We host a debate on the crisis with Lanny Davis, senior adviser to the Israel Project and the former special counsel to President Clinton, and with Neve Gordon, an Israeli professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TRANSCRIPT.

Op-Ed Piece from the NY Times re: Obama and Afghanistan

2009-01-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

The Afghan Quagmire

By BOB HERBERT

Published: January 6, 2009

"The time to go all out in Afghanistan was in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks. That time has passed...."

To read the full piece, click here.

Author Ties Zionism to the Gaza Conflict

2009-01-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

The Bloodbath In Gaza: Separating the Truth from the Hype
By Mike Whitney

"Bandits with planes ...
came through the sky to kill children
and the blood of children ran through the streets
without fuss, like children’s blood."
(Poem by Pablo Neruda)

January 06, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" -- In a rare moment of honesty, the New York Times divulged the real motive behind the bombardment and invasion of Gaza. In Ethan Bronner's article, "Israel Weighs Goal: Ending Hamas Rule, Rocket fire, or Both", Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said, "We need to reach a situation in which we do not allow Hamas to govern. That is the most important thing. If the war ends in a draw, as expected, and Israel refrains from reoccupying Gaza, Hamas will gain diplomatic recognition...No matter what you call it, Hamas will obtain legitimacy.”

According to the Times: "In addition, any truce would probably include an increase in commercial traffic from Israel and Egypt into Gaza, which is Hamas’s central demand: to end the economic boycott and border closing it has been facing. To build up the Gaza economy under Hamas, Israeli leaders say, would be to build up Hamas. Yet withholding the commerce would continue to leave 1.5 million Gazans living in despair." (Israel Weighs Goal: Ending Hamas Rule, Rocket fire, or Both; Ethan Bronner)

To continue reading, click HERE.

Robert Scheer on Our Indifference to Gaza Death & Destruction

2009-01-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

I had to re-post this article, posted this morning at Truthdig. Scheer really hits it on the head. The original post is here.

Why do so few people speak up for Gaza?
Posted on Jan 6, 2009
By Robert Scheer

Why are we so indifferent to the death and destruction in Gaza?

The major news outlets meekly accepted Israel’s banning of journalists from entering Gaza as an excuse for downplaying collateral civilian casualties, our president-elect, Barack Obama, has had little to say about an invasion that will much complicate his future Mideast peace efforts, and most commentators easily rationalize Israel’s many-more-eyes-for-an-eye killings.

Why is it that there is such widespread acceptance, beginning with the apologetic arguments of President Bush, that whatever Israel does is always justified as necessary to the survival of the Jewish state?

It is not.

The story continues...
Click HERE to continue reading.

Photos from Gaza (Warning: Some of these images are quite graphic.)

2009-01-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Below is a series of photos taken recently in Gaza. We are hoping to find the photographer's name and location. These were passed on to us by a friend of Maui Peace Action.

Sign the Online Appeal to Stop the Attack on Gaza!!!

2009-01-05T20:11:00.000-08:00

Sign the Online Appeal from Ramsey Clark to Stop the Attack on Gaza!

More than 500,000 messages have been sent to President Bush, President–Elect Obama, members of the U.S. Congress and Senate, UN officials and missions, Israeli officials and many media. Sign at www.iacenter.org/gazapetition/

TruthOut.org's "Oral History of the Bush White House"

2009-01-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

"Farewell to All That: An Oral History of the Bush White House"
Tuesday 30 December 2008
by: Cullen Murphy and Todd S. Purdum, Vanity Fair

The threat of 9/11 ignored. The threat of Iraq hyped and manipulated. Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Hurricane Katrina. The shredding of civil liberties. The rise of Iran. Global warming. Economic disaster. How did one two-term presidency go so wrong? A sweeping draft of history - distilled from scores of interviews - offers fresh insight into the roles of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and other key players.

Click here to get the play-by-play.

New Year's Eve Potluck & Peace Sing-in at MOA

2008-12-31T09:05:00.001-08:00

TO: MAUI PEACE ACTION & the Maui Interfaith-Community Peace Coalition
RE: Potluck and Peace Sing-in at the M.O.A. Center, 5-7pm December 31, a short get-together, early on New Year's Eve. Everyone's invited.

The World Peace Sing project of Maui Peace Action (www.mauipeace.org ) will be celebrated and "Let There Be Peace on Earth" and lots of other songs sung at a potluck and peace-song "sing-in" and sing-out from just 5:00 to 7:00pm on New Years Eve at the M.O.A. center, 164 Kamehameha Ave., Kahului (next to the Christian Science church and 2 doors down from the Kahului Library. Please bring the family, any dish to share, your preferred non-alcoholic beverages, and if you'd like, an acoustic instrument &/or your favorite songs. The M.O.A. center will provide dishes and serving utensils. If you can't stay until 7, drop by for a bite and a song with us.

Maui Peace Action and the Maui Peace Education Foundation thank all of our network of members and supporters for being part of our peace ohana between 2003 and 2008.

Wishing you all peace and hope for our world in the new year, we are -
The Maui Peace Action and Maui Peace Education Foundation boards and steering committees.
---------------------------------------------
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
First meeting of 2009: Monday, Jan. 12, 6pm MCC Ka Lama 102. Peace projects for 2009 will be planned.
First activity of 2009: Walk with us in the Dr. Martin Luther King Day March, Monday, Jan. 19. Details to follow.
--------------------------------------------
Maui Peace Action is on the web at www.mauipeace.org, and our voice mail is 808 573-3255.

Cynthia McKinney Peace Mission/Relief Boat Attacked by Israeli Military

2008-12-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

McKinney relief boat hit by Israeli ship
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, December 29, 2008

A boat carrying international peace activists, including former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip sailed back into a Lebanese port on Tuesday after being turned back and damaged by the Israeli navy, organizers of the trip said.

The crowds on the docks in the Lebanese port city of Tyre were jubilant and cheering as they welcomed the vessel.

The boat, which set off from Cyprus Monday wanted to make a statement and deliver medical supplies to embattled Gaza. The trip’s organizers said the boat was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza, at the time of its close encounter with the Israeli navy.

“Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side,” McKinney told CNN Tuesday morning. “Our mission was a peaceful mission. Our mission was thwarted by the aggressiveness of the Israeli military.”

To read more, click here:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/12/29/cynthia_mckinney_gaza.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab&imw=Y

SHOES OF COMPREHENSIVE DESTRUCTION

2008-12-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

THE SHOES WE LONGED FOR: The young journalist who took on Bush has become a unifying Iraqi symbol, a national hero
by Sami Ramadani

Within a few unlikely seconds, a pair of size 10 shoes have become the most destructive weapon the people of Iraq have managed to throw at the occupying powers, after nearly six years of occupation and formidable resistance. One Iraqi writer called the shoes, hurled by a journalist at George Bush, "Iraq's weapon of comprehensive destruction".

While the uprisings of Falluja, Najaf, Basra and Baghdad against the occupation will always remain as landmarks of a people resisting occupation, these incredible seconds have united Iraqis in the most dramatic fashion.

Contrary to most media coverage, the 28-year-old TV reporter Muntadhar al-Zaidi made history not by merely throwing a pair of shoes, the highest expression of insult in Iraqi culture, at the US president, but by what he said while doing so and as he was smothered by US and Iraqi security men. He groaned as they dragged him out of the press conference. They succeeded in silencing him - and according to his brother he was beaten in custody - but he had already said enough to shake the occupation and Nouri al-Maliki's Green Zone regime to their foundations.

Strip the words away, and his and the Iraqi people's cry of deep pain, anger and defiance would amount to no more than a shoe-throwing insult.

But the words were heard. "This is the farewell kiss, you dog," he shouted as he threw the first shoe. The crucial line followed the second shoe: "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Once those words were heard, the impact of a pair of shoes became electrifying. A young journalist has put aside the demands of his profession, preferring to act as the loudest cry of his long-suffering people.

If one considers the torture and killings in Iraqi and US jails that Muntadhar often mentioned in his reports for al-Baghdadia satellite TV station, he was certainly aware he risked being badly hurt.

As the Iraqi and Arab satellite stations switched from the live press conference to reporting reaction to the event, the stunned presenters and reporters were swept away by popular expressions of joy in the streets, from Baghdad to Gaza to Casablanca. TV stations and media websites were inundated with messages of adulation.

The instant reply to any criticism of "insulting a guest" was: "Bush is a mass murderer and a war criminal who sneaked into Baghdad. He killed a million Iraqis. He burned the country down."

Expressions of support and demands for Muntadhar's immediate release have spread from Najaf and Falluja to Baghdad, and from Mosul in the north to Basra in the south. An impressive show of anti-occupation unity is developing fast, after being weakened by the sectarian forces that the occupation itself has strengthened and nourished, as Muntadhar himself used to stress.

No one asked after Muntadhar's religion or sect, but they all loved his message. Indeed, I have yet to come across an Iraqi media outlet or website that pronounced on his religion, sect or ethnicity.

The first I heard of his "sect" was through US and British media.

The reality is that Muntadhar is a secular socialist whose hero happens to be Che Guevara. He became a prominent leftwing student leader immediately after the occupation, while at Baghdad University's media college. He reported for al-Baghdadia on the poor and downtrodden victims of the US war. He was first on the scene in Sadr City and wherever people suffered violence or severe deprivation. He not only followed US Apache helicopters' trails of death and destruction, but he was also among the first to report every "sectarian" atrocity and the bombing of popular market places. He let the victims talk first.

It was effective journalism, reporting that the victims of violence themselves accused the US-led occupation of being behind all the carnage. He was a voice that could not be silenced, despite being kidnapped by a gang and arrested by US and regime forces.

His passion for the war's victims and his staunchly anti-occupation message endeared him to al-Baghdadia viewers.

And after sending Bush out of Iraq in ignominy he has become a formidable national hero. The orphan who was brought up by his aunt, and whose name means the longed or awaited for, has become a powerful unifying symbol of defiance, and is being adopted by countless Iraqis as "our dearest son".

* * *
Provided by RightsAction.org

New Year's Eve Potluck & Peace Sing-in at MOA

2008-12-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Cheney Admits Authorizing Detainee's Torture

2008-12-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

Outgoing VP says Guantanamo prison should stay open until end of terror war, but has no idea when that might be

By David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster

December 16, 2008 "Raw Story" -- Monday, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney made a startling statement on a nation-wide, televised broadcast.

When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl whether he approved of interrogation tactics used against a so-called "high value prisoner" at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, Mr. Cheney, in a break from his history of being press-shy, admitted to giving official sanctioning of torture.

Video is from ABC's World News, broadcast Dec. 15, 2008.

"I supported it," he said regarding the practice known as "water-boarding," a form of simulated drowning. After World War II, Japanese soldiers were tried and convicted of war crimes in US courts for water-boarding, a practice which the outgoing Bush administration attempted to enshrine in policy.

"I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do," Cheney said. "And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it."

He added: "It's been a remarkably successful effort, and I think the results speak for themselves."

ABC asked him if in hindsight he thought the tactics went too far. "I don't," he said.

The prisoner in question, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who the Bush administration alleges to have planned the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is one of Guantanamo's "high value targets" thus far charged with war crimes.

Former military interrogator Travis Hall disagrees with Cheney's position.

"Proponents of Guantanamo underestimate what a powerful a propaganda tool Guantanamo has become for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, despite several Department of Defense studies documenting the propaganda value of detention centers," he said in a column for Opposing Views.

"For example, West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center has monitored numerous Al Qaeda references to Guantanamo in its recruitment propaganda materials," continued Hall. "Improvements to Guantanamo’s administration of judicial mechanisms will not make its way into Al Qaeda propaganda. Nothing short of closing Guantanamo will remove this arrow from its quiver."

President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close the prison and pull US forces out of Iraq. Cheney, however, has a different timeline for when Guantanamo Bay prison may be "responsibly" retired.

"Well, I think that that would come with the end of the war on terror," he told ABC.

Problematic to his assertion: Mr. Bush's "war on terror" is undefinable and unending by it's very nature, and Cheney seems to recognize this as fact.

Asked when his administration's terror war will end, he jostled, "Well, nobody knows. Nobody can specify that."

"Grumbles" - A Cartoon by James Burns

2008-12-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

Click on the image below to get a closer look:

Bush in Afghanistan

2008-12-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

President Bush said this morning for the corporate media to relay from Sea to Shining Sea, "Are there difficult days ahead? Absolutely. But are the conditions a lot better today in Afghanistan than they were in 2001? Unquestionably, undoubtedly they are better."

Unquestionably better?

There may be a million Afghanis dead as a result of the Bush invasion (according to some, although corporate media have buried any attempt to report deaths, the most important statistic in war), and heroin exporting has reached record levels. Women say that rape has become common outside of the capitol, now that criminal warlords are in charge of provinces. A primary difference in the landscape, Afghanis say, is that where there were once houses, there is now rubble.

A recent report by the Council on Security and Development said the Taliban currently hold a permanent presence across 72 percent of Afghanistan. Suicide bombings have claimed more than 4,000 lives this year alone in Afghanistan.

It's the Farewell Kiss, You Dog

2008-12-16T13:36:00.001-08:00

The mass media are agog this morning about yesterday's shoe-throwing at President Bush by Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, following the bizarre statement by Bush that while the war in Iraq was not over "it is decisively on its way to being won." All over the Arab world this morning people are calling al Zaidi courageous and a hero.

Bush has been protected in public throughout his presidency, appearing only at controlled settings in which most of those attending were either staunch supporters, military people (a captive audience) or servile corporate media "journalists." Our own corporate press have spent eight years kneeling and kissing Bush's butt, which may be why there is so much surprise at the fact that Bush is one of the most hated people on the planet, inspiring such bitterness.

"Throwing the shoes at Bush was the best goodbye kiss ever... it expresses how Iraqis and other Arabs hate Bush," wrote Musa Barhoumeh, editor of Jordan's independent Al-Gahd Arabic newspaper.

Saddam Hussein's former lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said he was forming a team to defend Zaidi and that around 200 lawyers, including Americans, had offered their services for free. "It was the least thing for an Iraqi to do to Bush, the tyrant criminal who has killed two million people in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Dulaimi.

"All US soldiers who have used their shoes to humiliate Iraqis should be brought to justice, along with their US superiors, including Bush," said Ali Qeisi, head of a Jordan-based Iraqi rights group, calling for Zaidi's release.

"The flying shoe speaks more for Arab public opinion than all the despots/puppets that Bush meets with during his travels in the Middle East," said Asad Abu Khalil, a popular Lebanese-American blogger and professor at Stanislaus University in California.

Not reported in the corporate media is that three weeks ago, Huffington Post blogger Jamal Dajani noted that crowds of Iraqis "gathered in Ferdous Square, where Saddam Hussein's statue once stood" and pelted an effigy of Bush with their shoes, so there is nothing new in this.

Time to get in touch with Lingle....

2008-10-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20081014_Obama_would_destroy_economy_Lingle_says.html

Here she says that Obama would destroy the economy.
Um...Then, I must know, how would she describe what her crony George W. Bush did to the economy?

VOTE THIS NOVEMBER!

2008-09-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

ALSO, TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE REGISTERED TO REALLY VOTE ON NOV. 4, here is the hawaii.gov website where you can check your registration and your polling place: http://hawaii.gov/elections/voters/registration.htm Click on the pink "Polling Place Locator" on the right side of this page. You'll input your name and your birth date (00/00/00) and a map will pop up with your poll.

IF YOU AREN'T REGISTERED, OCTOBER 6 IS THE DEADLINE. You can download the form at this site, fill it out, and mail it in. All islands' clerk's offices addresses are listed.

PEACE DAY FESTIVAL THIS SUNDAY!

2008-09-19T21:10:00.001-07:00

PEACE DAY FESTIVAL & Voices for Peace
Sunday, September 21st, 1 p.m. to sunset
in the Keopuolani Park amphitheater (At the Maui Nui Botanical Garden,
150 Kanaloa Ave., Kahului, also the location of the old zoo).
Free parking across the street at the War Memorial stadium.

To celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace,
we gather as a community to celebrate and affirm our shared vision of peace.

The FREE cross-cultural program includes music, hula, drumming, food,
keiki activities, and community information tables.

Musicians and speakers include Leiʼohu Ryder, Aunty Emma Veary,
Uncle Richard Hoʼopiʼi, Maui Taiko Drummers, Marty Dread, Mayor Tavares,
Ram Dass and many more.

At 3:36 p.m. a weeklong song/chant for Peace begins at the Festival, where Maui
voices will continuously carry the vibration of Peace across the island in increments
of 336 half-hours, culminating seven days later, September 28 at 3 p.m., during a
special closing ceremony at the Maui Arts & Cultural Centerʼs Castle Theater.

If you want to join your voice and your commitment to sing or chant for Peace,
however you choose, from wherever you are on Maui, for 30 minutes, register
for your half-hour segment at www.unityonmaui.com or call Bonnie Newman
at 283-0645.

Visit MAUI PEACE ACTION'S table to get copies of Cindy Sheehan's book
"Not One More Mother's Child" for a small donation, courtesy of Koa Books.
Mahalo! World Peace Sing and Careers in Peacemaking information also will
be at our table. Co-sponsored by Unity Church of Maui, Kukuipuka Ohana,
Maui Peace Action, Mandala Ethnic Arts, the Young Buddhists Association
and the Maui Hongwanji Council.

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Maui Peace Action is on the web at www.mauipeace.org, and our voice mail is 808 573-3255.

Mission Statement: Maui Peace Action is a diverse group of citizens
committed to ho'omaluhia (making peace). We encourage disarmament through
peaceful international cooperation, protest pre-emptive aggression, promote
nonviolent solutions to world conflict, and educate for social justice.

New Ann Wright Article from Truthdig - Female Soldier "Suicides"

2008-09-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.truthout.org/article/us-military-keeping-secrets-about-female-soldiers-suicides

Click on the above link, to read the story. It's terrifying.

FREE Japanese Anime Film "Barefoot Gen" Screening Sept. 11th at MCC!

2008-08-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Free film nights move to Thursdays this fall, still at MCC Ka Lama 103, and we’re starting off the season with the full-length Japanese anime film, “Barefoot Gen.” Based on the manga novel by Keiji Nakazawa, it tells the story of a family affected by the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of WW II. The showing is FREE to the public on Thursday, Sept. 11, in MCC Ka Lama 103 at 7:00 pm.

This film was lent to us by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It is an education about the ordinary people of Hiroshima, caught between the harsh military regime of wartime Japan and the American bombing of Japanese cities.

Warning: This film is appropriate and very interesting for teens and adults, but for very young children there are some graphic scenes of the effect of the atomic blast that might be disturbing, even though it is in cartoon form.

The co-sponsors are the MCC Peace Club and Maui Peace Action. For more information, leave a message at 573-3255.

--------------------------------------

Maui Peace Action is on the web at www.mauipeace.org, and our voice mail is
808 573-3255.

Mission Statement: Maui Peace Action is a diverse group of citizens
committed to ho'omaluhia (making peace). We encourage disarmament through
peaceful international cooperation, protest pre-emptive aggression, promote
nonviolent solutions to world conflict, and educate for social justice.
(To unsubscribe from this list, reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject.)

Twenty-one Maui National Guardsmen Redeployed to Kuwait and Iraq Today

2008-08-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

The realities of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" have hit home on Maui today.

Twenty-one National Guardsmen on Maui left their families today - half of them for the second time.

Its a shame that families have to go through so much pain and hardship for an illegal war.

Click on the Maui News article below to learn more:

http://mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/507408.html?nav=10

Important information regarding Military Recruitment and Middle/High School Students

2008-08-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

STUDENT OPT OUT AND ASVAB RIGHTS

Approved by Hawaii State Department of Education for dissemination by Maui Peace Action

ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT MILITARY RECRUITERS IN OUR HIGH SCHOOLS AND THEIR EXCESSIVE CONTACTING OF TEENAGE STUDENTS TO RECRUIT THEM TO BE SENT TO THE WAR? DO YOU, OR MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY, HAVE STUDENTS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY GRADES 7 - 12?

The No Child Left Behind Act requires the Hawaii State Department of Education to release your private information for purpose of recruitment.

Act now if you want to keep your private information private! Here’s how -

1. Get the military recruiting opt out form at the Hawaii DOE website

http://doe.k12.hi.us/forms/OptOutMilRecruit.pdf

write your own request. A parent or legal guardian can do it too. Turn it into your school office by September 15.

2. Many high schools offer a voluntary Career Assessment Test called the ASVAB or Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery", designed by the military for military-type jobs. If you decide to take it, select option 8 on the test. Otherwise your name, birth date, gender, race/ethnicity, Social Security number, and test answers will be handed over directly to the military.

Remember: If you want to protect your privacy by withholding your personal information from military recruiters, get the military recruiting opt out form and select option 8 on the ASVAB.

Hiroshima Event Article in the Haleakala Times!

2008-08-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki" got a great write-up in the Haleakala Times...follow the link here, or see the text of the article below.

http://www.haleakalatimes.com/newsbriefs/story3161.aspx

“Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” a community inter-faith peace program, will be held on Wednesday, August 6, at 7 p.m., in the Kahului Hongwanji Buddhist Mission at 291 S. Pu‘unene Ave in Kahului. This 21st annual community program commemorates the 1945 atomic bombing of the two Japanese cities and the suffering it brought to the victims. The churches and community groups sponsoring it intend the program to educate about the importance of nuclear disarmament and the public’s awareness of the on-going threat of nuclear proliferation.

Dr. Seiji Yamada, a physician born in Hiroshima who teaches at the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine and who has treated victims of nuclear testing in the Pacific will speak on “The Nuclear Legacy of the Marshall Islanders.” Dr. Yamada also practices at the Kalihi-Palama Health Center. A spokesperson for Maui Peace Action stated, “Dr. Yamada is a dynamic speaker, and he is dedicated to working toward a just and peaceful society without militarism, imperialism, and racism.”

The public is invited to come early at 6:30 p.m. to learn to make, and later take home, origami peace cranes. There will also be on display for the public to browse, large poster photos showing historical aspects of the atomic bombing which are on display at the internationally-famous Peace Museum located in the Hiroshima Peace Park. The museum and the poster display depict not only the terrible aftermath of the bombing but also the rebirth of Hiroshima and its world leadership in the peace and nuclear disarmament movements up to the present day.

Music, hula, a Japanese tea ceremony by tea ceremony teacher Chieko Nagata, and refreshments will accompany Dr. Yamada’s slide-talk. For more information, call 808-573-3255.

(Complete list of co-sponsors: Kahului Hongwanji Buddhist Mission, Maui Peace Action, Unity Church of Maui, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Iao Congregational Church, Maui Peace Education Foundation and the MCC Peace Club.)

Put Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day, August 6, on your calendar for a great local event!

2008-07-30T10:24:00.001-07:00

(click on image to enlarge)

Maui Peace Action joins local inter-denominational churches and MCC Peace Club to co-sponsor the 21st annual Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Wed. Aug. 6 in Central Maui. Besides the dynamic slide talk on nuclear issues by Dr. Seiji Yamada (UH John Burns School of Medicine, physician to Marshall Island nuclear testing radiation victims, originally from Hiroshima), we have a Japanese Tea Ceremony by Mrs. Chieko Nagata, hula, origami crane making (at 6:30), displays loaned from the Hiroshima Peace Museum, inter-faith chants and prayers, and refreshments for all. It's free, program starting at 7pm, at the Kahului Hongwanji Mission, 291 S. Pu'unene Ave. (2nd church Pu'unene side of the Wakea Ave. corner). Don't miss this inspiring and annual Maui Peace Event!

Maui Peace Action is on the web at www.mauipeace.org, and their voice mail is 808 573-3255.
Mission Statement: Maui Peace Action is a diverse group of citizens committed to ho'omaluhia (making peace). We encourage disarmament through peaceful international cooperation, protest pre-emptive aggression, promote
nonviolent solutions to world conflict, and educate for social justice.

March 19th Vigil Featured on MauiToday.tv

2008-04-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

Akaku News Segment filmed at protest on March 19, 2008

2008-04-08T19:14:00.001-07:00

Peace Protest covered in the Haleakala Times

2008-04-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

This link was just found. It's in the 3/25 issue of Haleakala Times.

"Citizens saying ‘nuff already!"

http://www.haleakalatimes.com/newsbriefs/story2930.aspx

Maui Peace Advocates Line Kaʻahumanu Ave on the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War

2008-03-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, at Maui Community College (MCC) in Kahului, HI, the Maui Peace Action organization, MCC Peace Club, CodePink, MoveOn.org, and World Canʻt Wait - Maui hosted a peace vigil on the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Maui News covered the story, and a photo of Maui Peace Action president Mele Stokesberry and CodePink member Nadine Newlight (in orange jumpsuit and black hood) made the front page of the paper. Click here to see the photo and caption.

Akaku: Maui Community Television independent producers were there to get news coverage, which will air on the Maui Daily at 7pm on Channel 54. There is a short video segment to come (look for it here on the blog!).

In the meantime, weʻve got a few more photos in this post to show you the highlights (from photographer Sara Tekula).