Nonviolent victory: Keep up the pressure

When Gordon Smith voted against more war funding last Thursday, he did so in the face of a two-year-long campaign marked by thousands of petition signatures, thousands of signed postcards from Oregon voters, numerous arrests of nonviolent lobbyists who merely showed up at his Portland office and were summarily arrested, and a grassroots media outreach campaign of letters to editors and guest editorials submitted to newspapers out beyond the liberal reach of Portland, out into Smith Country.

In other words, we forced him to act as if he has grown a conscience. This is a testament to the power of nonviolence, of approaching the adversarial system of representative democracy with some non-negotiables but in a respectful manner. We never raised our voices, we didn't interrupt anyone, we didn't vilify police or PGE security or even Smith. We won.

But this is a minor, reversible victory. Smith's vote stood out but it was cast knowing that it meant little, since the Senate voted to spend the $165.5 billion on the war on Iraq and Smith's vote was not needed. He took the opportunity to vote against the war funding for the very first time. It is during an election season and he is a vulnerable Republican in a Democratic state. If he doesn't come up with one or two of these he's going to lose.

Now the vote goes back to the House, who rejected it last week and will vote again. We will see. Gordon Smith is malleable for the next few months and then, if he's reelected, he will be invincible and unreachable by our puny grassroots efforts for another six years, during which he can continue to do serious damage to our economy, our ecology, our ethical foundations and our very spirit as Oregonians and as Americans. It is good to know we can push him to act like a spineless politician instead of a rabid ideologue, but wouldn't replacing him be best?

Senate and Smith cave to war spending

The US Senate, excluding Senator Gordon Smith, has nominally "stood up" to Bush by approving another $165.5 billion to occupy another country in another part of the world. The mainstream media are shamelessly portraying this obscene vote as some sort of profile in courage because they "joined" the Democrats who wanted to add a bit for veterans' benefits and they tossed in a bit for Katrina victims. From an Associated Press report:
"Senators voted 70-26 to approve $165 billion to fulfill Bush's request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next spring, when Bush's successor will set war policy."

In other words, nothing changed. This argument ("I've gotta vote for war or Katrina victims won't get help") has been used since the earliest funding of this immoral, illegal war and occupation. Gordon Smith is somehow credited with having peaceloving values. His values are his own business, but his voting record is clear; he is remarkably inconsistent in his rhetoric but rock solid in his war spending when it really matters. The weaponeers, the big war profiteers, and Big Oil all love Gordon Smith.

If you love war, vote for Smith. If you love peace, choose another candidate. His talk and his walk are vastly different and he can vote to spend far more than the government has and hope to make more friends (just look at the Elizabeth Furse-led Democrats for Smith, who seem to benefit from Smith votes), but his war support is unwavering. Vote your conscience.

Hope against Smith and McCain

Yesterday, 18 May 2008, Oregonians showed up in record numbers to stand for Barak Obama. What were we there for?

We want someone who will stop and reverse the kinds of policies that George Bush and Gordon Smith have promulgated on our lives and on this world. We are looking for hope and strength, not the ravages of war that Bush and Smith have brought to us. Finally, we want to hear someone speak in real words that have real meaning. George Bush proclaims that he is a man of peace. Gordon Smith wrings his hands and says he is against some parts of some wars. Neither one are credible; their words are Orwellian, Goebbellian.

Is Obama perfect? Nope--we want him to be much stronger and more specific about getting out of Iraq once he's elected. But all the alternatives to Bush-McCain lies are preferable and we stood to hear the most hopeful.

All the announced alternatives to Gordon Smith are vastly preferable. We are sick of being lied to. We want hope and we will have it, finally.

Senator Smith vote for peace

The US House has cast the first actual vote against the Bush-Cheney-Smith war, voting against further funding at long last.

Now the vote goes to the Senate. Since the vote in the House was close, was historic, and really meant something, only two Republicans joined the peace vote. This will be Smith's chance to prove he is really on the path to peace, since the Republican warmakers will be pressuring every Senator to vote more money for this unjust and lethal occupation.

We will be at Smith's office at 11 a.m. today, insisting that he promise to join in this vote.

We expect to be arrested.

Come offer your thoughts. And contact the Smith office sometime today, expressing them. His office at 121 W. Salmon: Voice: 503-326-3386 FAX: 503-326-2900

War waste: No more, Senator Smith!

We go tomorrow, May 16, 11 a.m., to Senator Smith's office to tell him that his war is immoral, criminal, and that the only acceptable course of action is to promise to never vote another nickel for this bloody occupation.

More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of our invasion and occupation.

More than 4,100 American troops have been killed in Iraq since Senator Smith voted to approve Shock and Awe.

We've wasted $562 billion on this criminal adventure. The final price tag, once we've paid for the long-term care of the tens of thousands of Americans wounded physically and psychologically, will be at least $3 trillion. We will never pay it in full.

The price of gasoline has tripled and oil companies have achieved more net profits than any corporations ever in human history.

Now Congress is contemplating another $163 billion. This comes from your wages. Your salary. Your taxes.

We will be at his Portland office tomorrow, May 16, to insist that he vote against more funding for this criminal enterprise.

Catonsville Commemoration Witness at War Senator's on Friday, May 16

Please join our little group of witnesses to the fires of war as we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the bold action of nine nonviolent resisters at the Catonsville, Maryland Selective Service office, May 17, 1968. The nine were aghast at the ongoing carnage in Vietnam and acted with decisive creativity, taking hundreds of files of young men who would be drafted and sent to Vietnam and lighting those files on fire with homemade napalm in the parking lot outside.

Though our little action is not as bold, and not as creative, we offer our nonviolent resistance to Gordon Smith out of the same agony over the lies and greed that produce our current bloody and illegal occupation of someone else's land--in this case, Iraq.

We will meet at the World Trade Center in Portland, 121 SW Salmon Street, Suite 1250, at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 16 (we choose to go on a business day when we can legitimately expect a response from the Senator or his staff, even though the 40th Catonsville anniversary is actually the following day). If we cannot reach his office--and that is standard nowadays at this guarded private building that merely looks public--we will offer nonviolent resistance at whatever point we are stopped.

This war is unacceptable. We cannot avoid our consciences. We are grateful for those exemplars who came before and showed us how to stand up for the truth of peace and nonviolence.

Running on the record

Gordon Smith is credited by himself and by mainstream media with being an antiwar Republican. This is because he says he is. But what is his record?

When his vote matters, he votes more money for the occupation of Iraq.

Last October (Senate version) and December (final vote), voting for funds for this year, Gordon Smith approved $190 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan. This is his pattern.

How is this a vote to end the war? Smith didn't even vote for the Feingold Amendment calling for the beginning of troop withdrawal.

If Smith runs on his words, let's all vote for him. His empty rhetoric will make us all feel better as our economy and ecology head over the cliff. His heartfelt speeches just might bring back the dead in Iraq.

But if we vote based on a Senator's record, based on reality, and we want peace, any of the other candidates will be a great improvement.