U.S. Senators Don't Represent The Public On Gaza Genocide

Pictured above is my friend Ridgely Fuller outside Senator Angus King's home in Brunswick on Christmas Day. She made a sign, wrapped a baby doll in a keffiyeh, and called for a vigil that drew a baker's dozen of people and two dogs.

Back in the day, senators and others in Congress used to meet regularly with anti-war constituents to hear their concerns. At various times I've met with Senator Susan Collins via video from her office in Maine's capital and in person with the 2nd congressional district rep about U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This type of constituent access ended around the time one-term Rep. Bruce Poliquin ducked into a women's bathroom to avoid questions.

Now, even the town hall is a thing of the past and the only way you're going to be able to speak with the people who allegedly represent you and spend your taxes is...by accident.

Kudos to Jack a polite, insistent, well-informed constituent who made a video of Susan Collins spouting talking points and avoiding conversation about genocide in Gaza at Panera Bread in Augusta. The one aide accompanying Collins appears to push Jack, but he remains undeterred.

Those of us who gathered in response to Ridgely's call left messages for King all over his lawn and front porch as a dog barked inside with nobody home (one in the know said the family was likely at their "ski palace" in Sugarloaf). Earlier in the month King sent a fundraising email with the subject line: I've got BBQ on my mind (and received the reply: This makes you a monster).

Congress critters can go on raking in cash and ignoring the people, but they appear to be rapidly losing the consent of the governed. One manifestation of this is the fact that the imperial forces are having even more difficulties recruiting amid "a general disinterest or even distrust of the US Armed Forces following decades of wars predicated on dubious pretexts." 

U.S. senators serve those they consider to be their important constituents: war profiteers.

A report of a recent action at one of General Dynamics' profit centers in Maine may be found here. 

Hey senators, our message is loud and clear: stop funding genocide!

Any Kleptocracy Strives To Capture The Judiciary

In a system of government of, by and for thieves, capturing the judiciary is key. Doing so reduces the possibility that the thieves will be held accountable to the rule of law.

When a drunk man steals a young woman's sense of personal safety and scars her emotionally for life, an independent judiciary might hold the man accountable for his deed.

When a white police woman shoots and kills an unarmed black man (rest in power, Botham Shem Jean) in his own apartment, because she is "scared" by him not complying with her shouted demands, an independent judiciary might hold the woman accountable for her deed.

When a corporation poisons an area and causes the cancer rate among residents to soar,  an independent judiciary might hold the corporation accountable for their deed.

When a nation attacks another nation without provocation, claiming that their preemptive strike is because the other nation intended to attack with "weapons of mass destruction," an independent judiciary might hold that nation accountable for their deeds.

At least, this was the theory of checks and balances functioning in a democracy that I and others of my generation were taught in school.

It has been a colossal failure.

People in my home state are distraught that our female Senator Susan Collins gave a speech yesteday exonerating the Republican Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in advance of voting to confirm his appointment today. People are urging that we donate to a Democratic candidate who will unseat her from a long tenure in that office. This is such a weak response to the problems of our day that I would laugh if it were not so sad. Collins has shown moderation in the past when it was expedient for courting voters, and she is showing fascist loyalties now ever since the demagogue with bad hair moved into the White House without his wife. She sucked up to blatant racist Jeff Sessions for attorney general, and she supported the uneducated, anti-education billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

Now the battle cry is to punish Collins by voting her out as senator. Clearly, she has much higher offices in her sights -- like governor or vice president.

Cigar strike, Detroit, 1937

Only a women's general strike would bring this rotten system to its knees and pry loose the stranglehold of wealth on what was once described as a government by, of and for the (white, male, propertied) people.

Frederick Douglass famously observed, "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." A formerly enslaved man that bought back his own freedom, he saw literacy as the foundation of freedom. I once believed that, too. Now, I'm not so sure.

Maybe it's political literacy that is really that foundation. May we find our way there, somehow. Until then, it's onward, kleptocracy.

Senator Collins Wishes You (Ignore Her Voting Record) Happy Holidays!

A 1% newsletter parody, in the holiday spirit...

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Senator Collins Wishes You (Keep Ignoring the Death and Destruction Her Actions as Senator Have Caused) Happy Holidays!   Click to hear some insincere b.s. about a holiday supposed to commemorate the birth of a nonviolent protester against imperial domination by wealthy elites.   "Wreaths Across America" Obfuscating Event at the Capitol Fools Those Not Paying Attention Into Thinking I Actually Care About the People I Was Elected to "Represent" Members of my staff stand with the wreath that should have never have been laid in front of the graves of the 4,500+ men and women from the U.S. military that died in the Iraq war I funded and defended for eight years.   Members of my Washington, D.C. staff recently commemorated this year's "Wreaths Across America," -- because, as we know, America is a country, NOT a continent -- a feel good-event that spent a negligible amount of taxpayers' money, unlike the wars we endlessly wage. The collateral damage of needless deaths of U.S. citizens and hired mercenaries was papered over by a photo op involving one lousy wreath with flags representing each branch of  the United Corporations of U.S. Armed Forces. The wreath was placed in front of the Capitol, while visitors and attendees held a moment of silence for services members who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the profits of the 1%. The moment of silence was also for the poor dupes who are still abroad in one of many occupations and violent takeovers of natural resources on behalf of profits for my campaign donors, and thus will be unable to spend the holidays at home with their families. Presumably the families who will celebrate the holidays with one ear cocked for the fateful knock at the front door were also the recipients of part of a moment of silence observed by my paid staff on my behalf.   The "Wreaths Across America" project, now in its 20th year of providing cover for the corporate ambitions of the military-industrial complex, utterly ignored the hundreds of thousands -- possibly millions -- of civilian deaths that have resulted from policies I have upheld at every step of the way during my tenure in Congress. Iraq alone saw the documented deaths of between 104,307 - 113,961 civilians due to violence between 2003 and the "exit" from Iraq which involved the withdrawal of all but 13,000 U.S. troops this month. The holiday event was started by the owner of a Maine wreath company who wanted to help with the propaganda effort.  Each year people from across the country including Maine burn tons of petroleum driving to Arlington National Cemetery to lay wreaths on the graves of fallen soldiers. Maine's Tea Party governor flew down there himself this year for a photo op that resulted in front page news above the fold in city daily newspapers across Maine. How dare he horn in on my warm fuzzy holiday tradition marrying fragrant evergreen boughs, mainstream media coverage, and death for profit?     I Push for Additional Physical Therapists for Wounded Veterans Bill inspired by an injured soldier's story is a great way to misdirect attention from the fact that the senator takes enormous amounts of cash in the form of campaign contributions and lavish trips abroad from the corporations who profit while U.S. working class kids gets their legs blown by the resistance to our mutliple  foreign occupations.   From the Portsmouth Herald: After a wounded U.S. Marine told U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, he is not getting the health care he needs from the military, Collins began drafting legislation to increase access to physical therapists for injured veterans.   Collins met the injured serviceman at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Bethesda, Md. He had lost part of his leg and lives with a traumatic brain injury received when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was serving in Afghanistan, Collins said. Collins emphasized that, while the soldier "praised the care he was getting," he was concerned by the lack of physical therapists available for other patients and himself.   "He described a session to me where the physical therapist helps him for a while, then has to turn to other patients to help them, and he feels that is impeding his recovery," Collins said during a hearing.   Read more for the Portsmouth Herald…   Maine Fire Departments Receive Nearly $300,000 in Federal Grants, Diverting Attention from the Fact that the Senate Homeland Security Committee Buys WMDs for Municipal Police Departments All Over the United States As Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I have paid my dues and now stand ready to wield the considerable power of this post-9/11 federal agency with the creepily fascist name. The fact that the department of Homeland Security buys armored tanks, tear gas, and military assault gear for municipal police departments -- seen in extensive use since the 99% got together in the public spaces of U.S. cities and towns -- is an inconvenient truth. Thus we also make sure that Homeland Security does feel-good stuff and publicizes it. Who could object to someone helping fire fighters do their job for the well-being of everyone? “Our career and volunteer firefighters are among our bravest public servants. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is a critical source of funds for our fire and rescue personnel,” one of my aides told me to state. “Since the creation of this program, Maine fire departments have been awarded more than $54 million to help purchase new, used, or refurbished vehicles, and to obtain equipment for firefighting, interoperable communications, chemical detection, and other purposes that are essential to first responders.”   Now We Get Down to The Real News, Buried Far Enough to be Missed By a Casual Glance at My Newsletter: Navy Mandated To Conduct Shipyard Repairs Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, alleged to be a good source of jobs, is in a fact one of the worse possible investments if the goal is to generate full-time, full-benefit employment for the largest number of people.   From the Portsmouth Herald, which as you may be starting to perceive, serves as a convenient mouthpiece for me and the corporate interests I represent: The four U.S. senators from New Hampshire and Maine are hailing a provision in the Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed Thursday that holds the Navy accountable for funding infrastructure improvements at the nation's shipyards.   Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine jointly filed the amendment, which will require the U.S. Navy to submit a plan by September 2012 detailing how it intends to pay for the backlog of improvements needed at the four public shipyards, including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. "I am very concerned with the lack of an investment strategy to address the lack of funding to maintain and repair our shipyards," [Sen. Collins] said. The amendment would require the Navy to "accelerate construction and facility modernization projects."   Read more… By voting "yes" all four of us Senators ignored our oaths to uphold the Constitution, as well as the wishes of constituents who were actually paying attention to the most odious of the NDAA amendments, which makes it legal for either the military or the White House to indefinitely detain anyone, U.S. citizen or otherwise, deemed a possible "terrorist." Habeas corpus and the right to a speedy trial by a jury of ones peers may not mean much in a period of history where a man was convicted last week of being a terrorist based solely on web searches, viewing videos and translating material from the Internet -- no actual acts of violence or plans to commit such in evidence. But at least Tarek Mehanna can and will appeal the decision, something that will be literally impossible under NDAA because you will just disappear and your family or your attorney won't know what you are charged with or where you are being held. Kind of like those poor guys who have been declared innocent but are still, to this day, held incommunicado from their families at Guantanamo. Happy holidays! (Author's note: At this point Sen. Collins' newsletter becomes so cravenly self-serving that there is no longer any need of parody. Emphasis and visual added.)     Congress Approves Final Defense Bill That Includes Senator Collins’ Provisions for Maine   The United States Senate recently gave final approval to the Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Authorization bill, which authorizes funding for the Department of Defense (DoD) and includes several provisions for Maine secured by Senator Susan Collins.  The bill, which has been approved by the House, will now be signed by the President.  It includes opportunities for funding for shipbuilding at Bath Iron Works, and other defense projects at Pratt & Whitney, Maine Military Authority in Limestone, General Dynamics Armament Technical Products in Saco, and other Maine companies.   “This legislation will support our brave military men, women and their families and provide for the continued development of technologies to counter existing and emerging threats,” said Senator Collins, who is a member of both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.   Senator Collins’ Weekly Column: “A Bipartisan Plan to Create Jobs and Opportunity”   Mainers, like so many Americans, are frustrated that our nation’s unemployment rate remains unacceptably high. They are frustrated that people who want to work can’t find good jobs.   And people are frustrated that Washington can’t seem to set aside partisan bickering long enough to agree on a realistic path forward to spur job creation and boost our economy. Frustration could soon result in more harm if Washington doesn’t stop the bickering and come together to extend the payroll tax cut. The 2-percent cut for employees that took effect early this year will expire at the end of December unless Congress and the President take quick action to extend it. Without the extension, 159 million working Americans will face tax increases of up to $2,000 in the coming year.   Read more… E-MAIL UPDATES Yes, please periodically send me e-mail updates.* Click Here *By subscribing to my e-mail updates, you are authorizing me to send regular e-mail updates from my office to your e-mail account. Please Feel Free to Tell a Friend E-mail: E-mail: E-mail:

OFFICE OF UNITED STATES SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-2523 Fax: (202) 224-2693

PINKs to Panetta: Bring our war $$ home!

War protesters demonstrate as CIA Director Leon Panetta arrives for testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. " LA Times (Win McNamee, Getty Images / June 9, 2011)

When the CEO of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan becomes the director of the CIA, and the CIA director is named Secretary of Defense, it's hard not to see these as signs of the end times. End times for anyone's naive faith that our government represents the people, that is.

We're bombing five countries that I know about, destroying a coral reef in South Korea to make more places to keep our nuclear destroyers, and my senator, Susan Collins, is sucking up to Panetta to get more, more and more war dollar contracts at Bath Iron Works in Maine.

“I strongly believe the Navy has to project our force throughout the world and that the Navy is obviously crucial to that mission,” Panetta replied to Collins, according to her statement to the Times Record in Bath.

Then I realize it's the end times all over the place, with youth rising up. The Arab spring ripens into summer, with death and torture unleashed -- whatever it takes to keep the power structure in place. In Spain, the UK, the U.S. and Canada they're rising up against no jobs, cuts to education, huge student loan burdens, no health insurance -- and no light at the end of the economic outlook tunnel.

That's why we need to bring our war dollars home, now more than ever.

Senators, are you listening? Are you reading those bright pink signs that Tighe, Allie and Medea are holding right in front of your faces? Almost half of your constituents think the country is headed even deeper into economic distress, maybe even depression. A whopping 30% told CNN they fear they will be unemployed soon. And building nuclear war ships is the only lousy jobs program my senator can come up with?

Senate Page Brigette DePape silently standing in the Canadian Senate chamber with a "Stop Harper" sign to protest budget cuts gutting higher education and other social services. Which she will now need more than ever,  because her courageous act of nonviolent resistance got her fired. Go Brigette, our shero!

POSTSCRIPT: For a good discussion of the policies of economic exploitation affecting us globally, see Mark Levine's op-ed on Al Jazeera, "Arab revolutions mask economic status quo."

Hope and Despair

New trees growing in Surkhrud, Afghanistan

Yesterday I heard that one of our best programs for helping high school students reach college and succeed there had huge cuts in funding. Upward Bound has been very successful with students I know, kids from families with one struggling single parent who works a lot, families in which no one has gone on to college yet.

During the summer, students who are accepted in the program spend several weeks living in a dorm at our local state university campus. They take classes on topics like how to write an essay or ace the SAT, and they work at part-time jobs (for pay) that connect to an interest area – hospital for those who intend to go into health care, etc. They go on outings to climb mountains and such. Last year they met after school once a month with their very fine mentor Elyse Pratt-Ronco who brought snacks and gave seminars in how to identify what you are really interested in, or how to get your scholarship applications in on time. The bulletin board they created to promote Upward Bound showed how much they love the program and the many ways it meets their needs.

A senior in a nearby school district has been in the program for three years. Her mom told me yesterday she could not afford the fees being charged this summer to make up for the budget cuts, so her daughter stayed home instead and looked for a job to save money for college. She hasn't found one yet.

Senator Susan Collins and Senator Olympia Snowe have shamed themselves by voting to borrow $37.12 billion for more war for oil in the Middle East. One minute of war in Afghanistan would have paid for forty kids to attend Upward Bound! NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote this week of "a sobering report from the College Board says that the United States, which used to lead the world in the proportion of young people with college degrees, has dropped to 12th."

Experts agree that Maine will never climb out of the economic doldrums we seem permanently stuck in without a more educated population. Of course those who do earn a college degree seldom return to live in my area, because there are no jobs here. How many jobs could be created next year with $37.12 billion?

My friend Mariam Raqib sent me hopeful news last week. Her project to help local people replant trees in Surkrhud District near Jalalabad City in eastern Afghanistan is thriving.

Afghanistan Samsortya (which means “re-vitalization”) has established nurseries for five drought resistant, fast-growing species of trees using seeds from the the New Forests Project World Seed Program.

One species, Moringa oleifera, is called “the magic tree” because its leaves can be food for both animals and people, and especially support lactation. According to the Samsortya website, “60-80% of trees in Afghanistan have been destroyed over the last thirty years. This affects not only people in Afghanistan, but people everywhere who share our global environment.” No kidding.

Fundraising to re-establish a viable irrigation system is ongoing. You can contribute to the project, and help grow some hope.