I think I've already done my editorial, and I hope you don't mind that it begins on the front page. Any of several items in this issue might have been poured into this space to just get me started on the kind of rhetoric you've come to expect here. And we still wouldn't have made it to the economic crisis or the presidential elections, the dominant stories in what our culture considers to be "The News."

With the role of absentee ballots in Washington, elections could be old news by now for most of us. And I've already whined about the Electoral College, which has already depreciated millions more votes in this election. I only hope it doesn't cost the U.S. a whole election, before we can do something more egalitarian.

As for local elections, it would be inappropriate for me to make a partisan endorsement, or two, but I can say that I'm very proud of the two PJALS members who are active candidates. Senator Lisa Brown should have little trouble in her bid for reelection, while Dr. Kim Thorburn cannot be ruled out after an intense and refreshing campaign against an incumbent county commissioner.

Jeremy Scahill's caution to us about the importance of what we do after the election is still fresh in my mind. I think it applies more to the national scene than to state and local elections, but I hope we will have plenty of energy left to demand more change, more justice, and more hope from the successful candidate for president. Neither the Democratic nor Republican platform pays nearly enough attention to peace and justice.

And if we celebrate a best-case scenario, please don't forget that interest and membership in PJALS went way down when Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush, and then we discovered that our work and our challenges had not changed, except it was harder to raise money.

Speaking of money, we now know what $700 billion looks like. It's in the eye of the beholder, and there is no end in sight for the job of looking out for the poorest and most vulnerable and their/our stake in the future of this country. If any asks, PJALS has been working on this issue for years. The solution is called economic justice. Support the living wage movement. - RN

Too Many Issues? What Else Is New?

An old complaint has resurfaced. PJALS has too many issues on its agenda, and it keeps us from reaching more people and accomplishing some of our more accessible goals.

I've been shifting, sorting, scraping, and screaming around here for too long to try to dispute or deflect that charge. It is undeniably true.

It is also true that this glaring weakness is one of the great strengths of PJALS.

Too many issues is a weakness because it limits the people willing to give more than a token amount of money, stick their necks out to defend the organization in conversation or discussions in other groups, or put time and effort into our bread-and-butter programming. It also offers an easy way for many foundations to winnow their bulging lists of funding applicants.

Too many issues is a strength when it allows us to shift our attention to an area of immediate and universal concern which has been pared from the agenda of other community organizations. Economic justice, for example, is suddenly upon everyone's plate while only PJALS has steadily fought for hope for low wage workers in Spokane.

Surely, there are too many issues in the campaign for the U.S. Presidency, too. Too many issues to let an advocate for a single issue determine for whom you cast your vote; too many to have a campaign of reasonable length or expense; to many to be covered in three debates of 90 minutes or any number of tv spots; too many to allow support of one candidate without making concessions and compromises.

We still make recurring efforts to streamline our work for peace and justice. We prioritize, we assess the passions of our membership, we consider what work might actually support itself or provide an alliance to increase our energy level.

There is no room at PJALS, however, for watering down human rights. No matter the issue du jour or the emphasis of the season, human rights is an overwhelming consideration, no matter the label of the humans at risk.

It was recently suggested that it would be to our advantage to release any claim we might have as ardent supporters of GLBTQ rights. It's true that we haven't been very vocal in that area since the dissolution of INWE, but we cannot abandon the struggle for justice for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered individuals and families. There is still oppression, locally and globally, and there is still a role for PJALS because it is the relentless, nonviolent action approach that will ultimately establish justice where there is now legal discrimination.

As Associate director of PJALS in 1988, I was apprehensive, if not frightened, when my boss, Kathleen Donahoe, insisted we become engaged on behalf of the embattled lesbian and gay community. Not far removed from a culture of homophobia, I knew there was a price to be paid for that integrity. As we worked our way into the issue, lost a few members and dollars, and gained friends and moral strength, my only regret was that I had not been challenged in this way years before.

The most empowering thing I did to prepare myself for the campaign was wearing a button that said, "Don't assume I'm straight." In 1988 Spokane, that was edgy, as was doing peacekeeping for the Pride March.

Peacekeeping at the earliest Pride Marches involved volatile situations. There were self-righteous people willing to be violent and expecting public support when push came to shove. I once lost control of a confrontation and wound up in a body pile that quickly included a police officer's shoe on another man's neck. On the eve of other Pride events, our office on Howard Street was vandalized, and one of our valued lesbian members was threatened at work.

The risks in those actions seems as far away today as the risks of racial integration in my native Georgia, but we are not past harsh challenges. Quite recently, a same sex couple, good friends and PJALS members, came by the office and the conversation turned to retirement. One must reconsider retiring because their long term commitment to each other does not mean health coverage for both under one plan.

The frontier in Spokane is no longer physical safety. The frontier removal of the artificial barriers which continue to deprive GLBT individuals of full personhood and citizenship. It seems especially onerous to proclaim marriage off limits for faithful and responsible gay couples when it is so easy for flighty, and even perverse, amoral or unbalanced heterosexuals.

Marriage equality was once considered too much to ask. In 2008, it is too much to ask to keep it off the mainstream agenda.

For me, the only part of the recent vice presidential campaign debate that indicated social progress came when Sen. Biden and Gov. Palin discovered they agreed on gay rights. Too bad, from my perspective, that neither sees the inherent unfairness of denying the benefits of marriage to loving and committed couples.

As long as sisters and brothers are denied equal justice through no fault of their own, accused of demanding special privileges for asking for rights most of us take for granted, as long as secular or religious groups find far-fetched excuses for excluding people who have a different expression of responsible sexuality, this item remains on the agenda of PJALS. -RN

Indigenous communities in northern Cauca and sugarcane workers on strike in the neighboring province are asking for honest dialogue with the Colombian government to address serious social problems. Rather than listening to these marginalized communities, the Colombian government -backed by U.S. military funding- responds with repressive force.

Witness for Peace urges you to contact William Brownfield, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, asking him to demand that Colombia respect human rights.
Since October 12th, indigenous and other social organizations have been protesting militarization of their lands, the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and the failure of the government of President Alvaro Uribe to comply with agreements on indigenous land, education, and healthcare. Over 12,000 indigenous other social justice activists are congregated, resisting the hostile and massive presence of state security forces who have been ordered to remove them. Recently, the communities participating in the indigenous protest blocked a portion of the Pan American Highway to force the government to meet with them.
Instead of a response to calls for negotiation, there has been violence between elite police units and the assembled communities, with at least two people killed and over 50 indigenous activists severely wounded, just days after two other Nasa Indians were assassinated. The National Organization of Colombia's Indigenous (ONIC) reports that in two weeks at least 19 indigenous leaders have been killed across the country.

Thousands of sugarcane workers in Valle de Cauca have been on strike since September 15, calling for basic improvements to their labor conditions. Sadly, sugarcane companies and the Colombian government refuse to negotiate and have instead responded with violence and tear gas. State forces, attacking the workers and their families, reportedly receive US funding, and detainment and deportation of international observers by Colombia seem an attempt to keep the international community unaware of grave human rights abuses.
The sugarcane workers are in an ever more critical situation after a month of the strike. Workers receive poverty wages to begin with and now face a hunger crisis along with continuing repression..

Uribe has declared a "state of internal commotion", which allows him to govern without oversight of the legislature, and with unprecedented security and "public order" powers.

Please contact Ambassador Brownfield to demand that the Colombian government respect the rights to assemble, to protest and to unionize. Please also consider donating to Witness for Peace to support our partners in Latin America. - witnessforpeace.org

RESISTANCE UPDATE

Wed., Nov. 19, PJALS hosts an informal meeting with several state counter-recruitment activists. PJALS members and others interested in protecting young people from military propaganda may join our discussion in the Community Building lobby, beginning at 6:30 pm.   2 recent items from Courage to Resist:

Blake Ivey says "No" to Afghanistan

"I believe war is the crime of our times," Blake Ivey, a specialist in the U.S. Army, says from Ft. Gordon, Ga.. The 21-year-old is refusing to deploy to Afghanistan. Ivey filed for conscientious objector status in July but was ordered to deploy while his application is processed.

Ivey joins what appears to be a growing number of troops refusing to fight in the so-called Global War on Terror. Since 2002, the Army has court-martialed twice as many soldiers for desertion and other unauthorized absences per year than for each year between 1997 and 2001. The AP reports AWOL rates in the Army at its highest since 1980, with the desertion rate (30 or more days of unauthorized absence) having jumped 80 percent since the start of the Iraq War. More than 150 soldiers have publicly refused to fight in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an estimated 200 war resisters are living in Canada.

Judge bars retrial for Lt. Watada

A federal judge said Oct. 21, that Lt. Erhen Watada cannot be retried on the most serious charges against him, because he's protected by the ban on double jeopardy.

Lt. Watada refused to deploy to Iraq in June 2006 on the grounds that the Iraq war is illegal, and his U.S. Army court-martial in February 2007 ended in a mistrial.

NEWS FROM NEW YORK STATE

(10/23/08) The Kingston Board of Education has voted to limit military recruiters' access to Kingston High School to the school's annual College Night and to visits arranged in advance through the guidance office.

The board's Policy Committee had considered the issue since a workshop in April at which trustees discussed how To comply with a provision in the federal No Child Left Behind Act that states schools must give equal access to colleges, employers and military recruiters.

Some board members expressed concerns that military recruiters were allowed too much access to students, particularly
relative to visits from representatives of post-secondary institutions and businesses. Prior to the vote, military recruiters were allowed to table in the high school cafeteria on any school day. Concerns were also expressed about deceptive tactics and recruiting from vulnerable populations.

The full article for your school board: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20174366&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6

Bon Voyage, Al Mangan

My dear friend and mentor, Al Mangan, has left the building. He decided to move back to Chico, California with a friend. Our loss. I first met Al in 1984, soon after my daughter's birth. It was a protest against the WHITE TRAIN carrying warheads to the coast.

I admire Al's willingness to stand up for what he believe, even when that means going to jail.Al is the guy who was always there for protests, particularly anti-war events. He always did his homework on constitutionality and legal obligations of the Nuremberg Principles and remains a strong advocate for social justice.

I had the pleasure to work closely with Al on the Social Concern Committee at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Dean. It was Al who advocated and organized our yearly presence at the Martin Luther King JR Holiday march. And it was with Al's urging that St. Joseph's organized a letter writing campaign to our state legislators. We have continued this tradition at St. Joe's for over 10 years, and it is a huge success.

Al taught me the importance of walking the walk, not just talking the talk. He is one of those rare folks who is always willing to stand up and speak out against injustice. I have not gotten to the point of expressing my convictions to the estent of facing jail, but perhaps that time will come. In the meantime, I will think about Al, his bumper sticker 'WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB?" as he's driving to Northern California.

We'll miss Al at PJALS, but know he'll enjoy milder weather. and may he remain an example to us of doing the right thing.. ALL WE ARE SAYING, IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE. BON VOYAGE, AL. - louise chadez

Milton Spidell

PJALS has lost another irreplaceable member, Milton Spidell of Colville. He died of cancer, surrounded by loved ones, Sept. 25.

Milton began his PJALS membership very quietly while his daughter, Rose, now an attorney, was working in our office on Howard Street. He was a quiet person, but he was emerging as one of the leaders of the Colville Chapter of Veterans for Peace. He soon began making the trip to Spokane for PJALS events and never stopped educating himself on social justice issues.

A Vietnam veteran, he considered Sean Daly, the man who brought Vets for Peace to the West, to be his mentor and has led the Colville chapter since before Sean's death.

Our condolences to Milton's family as we honor him the way he honored all veterans: without honoring war.

 

Jan Westbrook

A significant life, well celebrated by her family, her parish, and her friends, ended on Oct. 27. For some of us, it will be enough to remember that she never flinched under the weight of terminal cancer.

Having lived a life attentive to love and social justice, she insisted only upon living long enough to cast her historic vote for Barack Obama. But we feel the loss, along with Tom and their family.

 

KYRS to broadcast election coverage

KYRS-Thin Air Community Radio, heard on 92.3 & 89.9FM and streaming live at www.kyrs.org will broadcast special election coverage Tuesday the 4th and Wednesday the 5th.

Coverage will include 5-minute updates at the top of the hour from "Free Speech Radio News" from noon until 7PM on election day. Freelance reporters will cover voter suppression, disenfranchisement and problems at the polls. From 6-7PM, John Waite and Terry Sawyer host. Then, at 7PM "Democracy Now!" will have special "live" coverage until midnight.

On November 5th, "Democracy Now!" will be 8-10AM on KYRS to provide complete coverage of the election outcome. - KYRS

9-11 Truth:

Is It OK to Ask Questions? 

Beginning on September 11, 2001, the government and mainstream news media were quick to give us a story line about what had happened. They said, for example, that they had found the passport of one of the hijackers immediately below the point where the airplane had struck the World Trade Center many hundreds of feet above. Somehow his passport had come out of his pocket and out of the airplane and had fallen exactly straight below and had not been singed by the fires and had not been blown away by the tremendous wind created by the falling skyscraper. The mainstream news reported this as evidence supporting the government's contention that it knew who the individuals were who had done it.

On the very next day Dick Cheney said that we needed to respond by attacking Iraq.

Bush told us to just go shopping and let him fight a war. Ordinary people put flags outside their houses and attached "United We Stand" stickers to their vehicles. Bush told us that if we are not "with" his policies, then we're "against" the U.S. The government, mainstream media, and American culture all emphasized the need for patriotism and "rallying around the flag."

The very next month Bush launched a war against Afghanistan, and Congress passed the PATRIOT Act without reading it. Everything was happening at once, and people felt overwhelmed by the rush of events. Author Naomi Klein explains how extremists within the government cause massive "shock" to make the public feel vulnerable to radical change from the top down, and to manipulate and exploit the public to achieve the extremists' selfish goals. They started wars, militarized several aspects of the U.S., pushed laws through, took away our rights, illegally spied on us, and did many other things in the wake of the 9-11 "shock."

Soon after September 11, a few people started challenging some of the bizarre "evidence" that the government and mainstream media were feeding us. People started asking questions but were not getting credible answers.

A growing number of people were discovering evidence that undermined the official story about what had happened on September 11. The Bush/Cheney administration vigorously resisted creating an official commission to study it. When public pressure became too much, they allowed an official commission to be formed, but they staffed the commission with loyalists. The commission did not pursue the most challenging questions, nor consider the most provocative evidence.

The official orthodoxy has been trying to make it "not OK" to ask questions. But a "9-11 Truth" movement has been growing. Increasing numbers of people have been questioning the orthodoxy, and a substantial number of people thinks elements within the government either had a hand in the September 11 tragedies or at least knew they were coming and allowed them to occur.

Most skeptics are not "conspiracy nuts," as the official culture would have us believe. Most skeptics are thoughtful, well informed and respected citizens who have studied the facts, found that the official story has holes in it, found evidence that rebuts the official story, and discovered what seem to be deliberate attempts to prevent the truth from coming out.

Is it OK to ask questions about 9-11 now? - Olympia FOR

 

From Georgia's Death Row:  a Letter from Troy Davis

Troy Davis was sentenced to death despite a tainted case and serious claims of innocence. © Georgia Department of Corrections [This letter was written before the temporary stay issued by the US Supreme Court and distributed by Amnesty International.]

As I look at my mail from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand, I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy.

I can't even explain the emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you, it compounds my faith and shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.
So thank you, and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form, but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you, I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated.
There are so many more Troy Davis'. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can't wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing, "I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!" Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

-- Troy Davis

UPDATE!

The 11th District Court of Appeals has set aside an execution date in October and is considering a full hearing on Davis' case. This significant action comes after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in September, and Georgia set a new execution date to prevent any further delay or any hearing on the recanted and unheard testimony.

In order to execute Davis, now, Georgia will have to get a new death warrant. It is unclear is the appeals court will require a new trial which has been sought for so long. It is still in the interest of justice to urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to TROY DAVIS UPDATE from page 8 order a new trial. Here's contact information:

2 MLK, JR. Drive, SE
Suite 458, Balcony Level, E. Tower
Atlanta, GA 30334-4909
1.404.657.9350, FAX: 1.404.651.8502,
webmaster@pap.state.ga.us,
clemency_information@pap.state.ga.us, or
Gov. Sonny Perdue, Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334

Urge your friends and family to go to

amnestyusa.org/troydavis

or text

TROY to 90999

to add their voices to the over 200,000 that have already taken action on this case of lethal injustice.

 

King County To Seek Death Penalty

King County Attorney Dan Satterberg has announced that he will seek the death penalty against the so-called "Carnation Killers."

He wants to execute Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe.

What is possibly most disturbing is Michelle's desire to actively seek her own execution. Such "volunteers" usually suffer from a series of undiagnosed mental health issues, but Washington has gladly accomodated three others.

The pair's attorney, Tim Ford [a WCADP member], says it's common for defendants facing the possibility of capital punishment to seek execution only to later change their minds.

In a world withered by apathy.
Death in a place no one cares to know,
Seeds of despair are beginning to grow.

Guns and bombs, tears and mud,
Luxury limos race through the blood.
Bound by helplessness and hate
Gotta band together before it's too late.

I watch politicians on the news -
They talk like those children aren't people too.
Nameless folk, a forgotten place
Another sick child with flies on his face.

If we work together we'll all be of use.
Don't use singularity as an excuse.
So cast away all thoughts of doubt.
Our flood of tears can end this drought.

I may be young, I may be naive,
But I know that the world is bigger than me.
The youth of today sure know what to do...
Introducing a new ATTITUDE.

I speak for the hopeless, the abandoned, the ill.
You underestimate our power of will.
We will not be silenced, forgotten or left.
NO, nevermore shall we be bereft.

I say to the empty, you're better than this.
So shout to the heavens and throw up a fist!
Let it be known across the land,
There's no way in HELL this injustice will stand!

Deep down in your heart, you know what to do.
Open the doors, let your conscience shine through.
"Forget all those people", bystanders have said.
But can you live with yourself if you leave them for dead?

Think of your neglect and carelessness.
You leave your children with this mess.
What you take from this world, no one will see.
What you leave behind is your legacy.

The Fig Tree at 25

Bishops and an ecumenical leader will lead a discussion of "25 Years of Ecumenism in the Inland Northwest"-including the impact of The Fig Tree in that period-at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John, 127 E. 12th Ave.

The event launches 25th anniversary celebrations for The Fig Tree as part of its annual dialogue. Negotiations about starting the newspaper to cover religion news began in the fall of 1983, and the first edition was published in May 1984 under what was then the Spokane Christian Coalition.

Bishops Mize of Christ Holy Sanctified Church; Skylstad of the Catholic Diocese; Waggoner of the Episcopal Diocese; Wells of the E. WA.- ID. Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church; and Alice Woldt, transitional director, WA Association of Churches, will be panelists.

The event opens with fellowship, followed by the panel, discussion and a worship service led by the bishops and other area

leaders. For information, call 535-1813.

The Power of Negative Thinking

By BARBARA EHRENREICH New York Times, September 23, 2008

GREED - and its crafty sibling, speculation - are the designated culprits for the financial crisis. But another, much admired, habit of mind should get its share of the blame: the delusional optimism of mainstream, all-American, positive thinking.

As promoted by Oprah Winfrey, scores of megachurch pastors and an endless flow of self-help best sellers, the idea is to firmly believe that you will get what you want, not only because it will make you feel better to do so, but because "visualizing" something - ardently and with concentration - actually makes it happen. You will be able to pay that adjustable-rate mortgage or, at the other end of the transaction, turn thousands of bad mortgages into giga-profits if only you believe that you can.

Positive thinking is endemic to American culture - from weight loss programs to cancer support groups - and in the last two decades it has put deep roots into the corporate world as well. Everyone knows you won't get a job paying more than $15/hour unless you're a "positive person," and no one becomes a chief executive by issuing warnings of possible disaster.

The tomes in airport bookstores' business sections warn against "negativity" and advise the reader to be at all times upbeat, optimistic, brimming with confidence. It's a message companies relentlessly reinforced - treating their white-collar employees to manic motivational speakers and revival-like motivational events, while sending the top guys off to exotic locales to get pumped by the likes of Tony Robbins and other success gurus. Those who failed to get with the program would be subjected to personal "coaching" or shown the door.

The once-sober finance industry was not immune. On their Web sites, motivational speakers proudly list companies like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch among their clients. What's more, for those at the very top of the corporate hierarchy, all this positive thinking must not have seemed delusional at all. With the rise in executive compensation, bosses could have almost anything they wanted, just by expressing the desire. No one was psychologically prepared for hard times when they hit, because, according to the tenets of positive thinking, even to think of trouble is to bring it on.

Americans did not start out as deluded optimists. The original ethos, at least of white Protestant settlers and their descendants, was a grim Calvinism that offered wealth only through hard work and savings, and even then made no promises, at all. You might work hard and still fail; you certainly wouldn't get anywhere by adjusting your attitude or dreamily "visualizing" success.

Calvinists thought "negatively," as we would say today, carrying a weight of guilt and foreboding that sometimes broke their spirits. It was in response to this harsh attitude that positive thinking arose - among mystics, lay healers and transcendentalists - in the 19th century, with its crowd-pleasing message that God, or the universe, is really on your side, that you can actually have whatever you want, if the wanting is focused enough.

Barbara Ehrenreich is the author, most recently, of
 "This Land Is Their Land: Reports From a Divided Nation."

And Now for a Little Good News on the Economy

The Economy that counts for all of us doesn't involve Wall Street and billionaires. It involves real workers being able to make a living or not and consumers who can make decisions for basic fairness and economic justice. Fair Trade.

The Festival of Fair Trade is back in the Community Building on Thanksgiving Weekend, November 28, 29, and 30. It runs from 10 am to 6 pm, each day. There is no admission charge.

The 2008 festival features sweat-shop free handcrafts, clothing, jewelry and pottery from Nepal, Mexico, Chile, Guatemala, Thailand and other far conrners of the world. Your purchase of Fairly traded products supports artisan cooperatives, small farmers and sustainable economic development in some of the world's lowest income regions.

Spokane businesses create real change for local and global economies at the Festival of Fair Trade. PJALS will also have peace resources and literature available at the festival.

Contact Kim at Kizuri: 464-7677.