The Nuns
About noon Wednesday, April 30, Ardeth, Carol, and Jackie were granted personal
recognizance and were released until sentencing, scheduled for July 25th.
They are in Colorado and at some point, we are not sure when yet, will
return to their homes - Carol and Ardeth to Jonah House and Jackie to
Poulsbo, WA. They will have roughly 2 and 1/2 months before almost certain
imprisonment for many years.
The nuns made the decision to accept release after serious consideration and
in response to many pleas with them to do so. They will have a statement
themselves which we'll be happy to send on to you. We do not yet have it but
we know that it details their reasons for accepting release after almost 7
months in a dungeon of a jail. The release came a week earlier than
anticipated and it may change some of their plans.
But they will be home. We don't know when but soon. They will be seeking
time with friends and supporters before imprisonment; they will be tying up
loose ends; they will be breathing air; they'll be doing a lot of press
work; and, while we can't say for sure that they will be delighted to be
with us, we will surely be delighted to have some time with them. We are
really happy to have this news to share with you. And we will update you
when we have more. Love, all at Jonah House
Please read:
Nuns leave jail until sentencing over peace protest at missile silo
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News, May 1, 2003:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1928712,00.html
The Peterson Patriot Activists
Dear friends;
Warm greetings! Colorado courts are inundated with trials for acts of civil resistance against the war. The Plowshares nuns, the Halliburton group, Buckley Air Force Base, Palmer Park, the "Dairy Queen Dozen" and "Peterson Patriot Activists" to name only a few. These people are our strong allies. They have put their bodies on the line for you and the political changes we are all working for. Now that the demonstrations are over these brave ones are passing virtually alone and unheard through the court system where they are effectively "silenced" and sentenced. In the absence of public interest the judges and civil authorities are free to act with impunity.
On Friday, May 16th seven of us known as the Peterson Patriot Activists will go to trial in Colorado Springs for our civil resistance at Peterson Air Force Base. Colorado Springs is the epicenter for military action, ideals and politics in Colorado. Ours will be the first of probably three trials there resulting from the massive global demonstrations of Feb. 15th when the Colorado Springs police used tear gas, rubber bullets and illegitimate arrests to suppress non violent protest. They were the only police in the world to take such actions on that day, the largest day of peaceful demonstrations in history. We are walking into the lions’ den. Without your support we are likely to be made examples for what happens to peace activists in Colorado Springs.
We intend to use our trial as a platform to demonstrate the power and organization of the Peace movement in Colorado. We need your help in two ways.
1. Phone and email Jeanne Smith, City Attorney of Colorado Springs at:
719-385-5909 and jcrosby@ci.colospgs.co.us
Tell her first that you would like us to have the right to have our
defense be heard by a jury even though courts have previously refused to hear
these arguments.
Also express your strong support for the actions taken by the civil
resisters and your own feelings about US government policies.
2. Come to our motions hearing on May 5th at 10 AM on the steps of the
Colorado Springs city hall at the corner of Kiowa and Nevada Streets this
Monday, May 5th. We intend to pack the courtroom. We will have an array of
witnesses on international law and first amendment rights in addition to a
celebrity witness whose name we cannot yet divulge. They will speak at our
rally plus we will have music and puppet theatre.
Here is some further information on the importance of this trial.
The power of civil resistance lies in focusing public attention on key political issues. What is happening currently is that civil resisters are being denied to present their desired defenses, then fined and or jailed with little or no support or resistance from we whom they represent. A prime example is the three Dominican nuns who DROVE to Colorado from Jonah House in Baltimore to pour their blood on missiles stationed here in Greeley. Already they have spent six months in jail in Georgetown before even being tried.
Their trial, held only weeks ago in Denver, was sparsely attended. Despite the enormity of their moral and political convictions the judge refused to allow them to utter a word regarding the calling of their consciences or US violations of international treaties such as Nuremberg and the UN charter.
Further the books on international law that they submitted as evidence were
ordered by the court to have all the pages removed and only the covers could
be shown to the jury. The legal debate was narrowed to boring, irrelevant
technicalities determining the difference between sabotage and mere
trespassing, i.e. how many feet of fence legitimately needed to be replaced;
were the bills for cleaning up the blood accurate, but NOTHING, not a word of morality, first amendment rights or international law.
US actions against Iraq and Afghanistan as well as actions here at home that destroy our civil liberties are frighteningly similar to those of Nazi Germany. Following WW II, the Nuremberg treaties were signed specifically to give both individual citizens and the international community the authority to prevent such occurrences again. These treaties are international law and override all national laws. They state that it is not merely the right but the duty of the citizens of a country to disobey and resist their country's unjust laws and actions which violate international law. This was the basis for finding Nazi war criminals guilty, i.e. they had a moral and legal responsibility to resist the injustices of their government.
We are in historical times. The fate of democracy and the future of our earth are being determined. History will record our courage or our indifference in the face of this challenge. Follow your heart.
Charley Cropley
Charlie Cropley is one of the first naturopathic doctors in Colorado.
Vote for the National Initiative! http://www.vote.org
Photo Adventures: http://www.vote.org/photos
1986 novel portends 9/11: http://www.vote.org/terror
Indian Trust: Cobell vs. Norton
FIRST WITNESS QUESTIONS GOVERNMENT TRUST REFORM PLANS
WASHINGTON, May 2 - A nationally-known authority on banking trust operations has rejected the government's proposal for reforming the troubled Indian trust accounts, saying those plans would not fully account for all the funds that should have gone to approximately 500,000 Indians.
Paul Homan, the former special trustee who oversaw the accounts during the Clinton administration, told U.S. District Judge Boyce Lamberth that "I don't believe it would be anything but a waste of time" to attempt to implement the department's current reform proposal.
Homan said that the government ultimately may have to place the accounts in the hands of a receiver to cure the many problems he observed in the three years he served as Interior's special trustee for the accounts. The former president of Riggs Bank in Washington was the lead witness Thursday as Lamberth opened what is expected to be more than a month-long trial into what plan he should adopt to reform the trust accounts. Homan will continue to testify Friday.
When government lawyers told Lamberth their plan could resolved the long-troubled accounts within five years, the judge was skeptical. "Every time estimate I've been given has slipped and I assume this one would, too," he told the lawyers.
Homan later testified that the government faces huge difficulties in its efforts to verify the balances in more than 300,000 trust accounts that contain the proceeds of government-arranged leases of Indian lands in the West. Most of the records needed are missing and the government's cannot answer "the threshold question": what was the account's initial balance, he said. Without such information it is impossible to know how much money should be in the accounts, Homan said.
Dennis Gingold, the lead lawyer for a group of Indians who have successfully challenged the government's acknowledged mishandling of the accounts, said the plaintiffs will present evidence of how much revenue the federal government should have received from the leases of the Indian lands in West. The trial is expected to continue into June.
For additional information: http://www.indiantrust.com
A Petition
Please "cut and paste" the following:
Dear Friends-
If you are so inclined...
The current Administration is looking to get rid of NPR, the National Endowments and PBS. Even if you disagree with the politics - a voice for both sides must exist for the arts to survive. On NPR's Morning Edition, Nina Totenberg said if the Supreme Court supports Congress, it is, in effect, the end of the National Public Radio (NPR), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)& the Public BroadcastingSystem (PBS).
PBS, NPR and the arts are facing major cutbacks in funding. In spite of the efforts to reduce costs and streamline services, government officials believe that the funding currently going to these programs is too large for something which is seen as not "worthwhile". The only way that our representatives can be aware of the base of support for PBS and funding for such programs is by making our voices heard.
Please add your name to this petition and forward it to friends who believe in what this stands for. This is for anyone who thinks NPR/PBS is a worthwhile expenditure of $1.12/year of their taxes.
This petition is being passed around the Internet and will be forwarded to the President and the Vice President of the United States. Please add your name to it so funding can be maintained for NPR, PBS, & the NEA.
If you prefer not to sign, please don't kill it. Send it to the Email address listed here:
wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu
NOTE: It is preferable that you SELECT (highlight) the entirety of this letter and then COPY it into a new outgoing message, rather than simply forwarding it. In your new outgoing message, add your name to the bottom of the list, then send it on. (Or do a SEND AGAIN.)
If you happen to be the 150th, 200th, 250th, etc., signer of this petition, please forward a copy to: wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu . This way we can keep track of the lists and organize them.
Please also read:
Horror in your own home
Ignore what your children are learning at your peril
By John Kaminski
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3227.htm
Photo of “La Grande Famille”, by Rene Magritte,
courtesy of The Hammond Gallery:
http://www.hammondgallery.co.uk/view_pic.php3?pid=1385&aid=45
About noon Wednesday, April 30, Ardeth, Carol, and Jackie were granted personal
recognizance and were released until sentencing, scheduled for July 25th.
They are in Colorado and at some point, we are not sure when yet, will
return to their homes - Carol and Ardeth to Jonah House and Jackie to
Poulsbo, WA. They will have roughly 2 and 1/2 months before almost certain
imprisonment for many years.
The nuns made the decision to accept release after serious consideration and
in response to many pleas with them to do so. They will have a statement
themselves which we'll be happy to send on to you. We do not yet have it but
we know that it details their reasons for accepting release after almost 7
months in a dungeon of a jail. The release came a week earlier than
anticipated and it may change some of their plans.
But they will be home. We don't know when but soon. They will be seeking
time with friends and supporters before imprisonment; they will be tying up
loose ends; they will be breathing air; they'll be doing a lot of press
work; and, while we can't say for sure that they will be delighted to be
with us, we will surely be delighted to have some time with them. We are
really happy to have this news to share with you. And we will update you
when we have more. Love, all at Jonah House
Please read:
Nuns leave jail until sentencing over peace protest at missile silo
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News, May 1, 2003:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1928712,00.html
The Peterson Patriot Activists
Dear friends;
Warm greetings! Colorado courts are inundated with trials for acts of civil resistance against the war. The Plowshares nuns, the Halliburton group, Buckley Air Force Base, Palmer Park, the "Dairy Queen Dozen" and "Peterson Patriot Activists" to name only a few. These people are our strong allies. They have put their bodies on the line for you and the political changes we are all working for. Now that the demonstrations are over these brave ones are passing virtually alone and unheard through the court system where they are effectively "silenced" and sentenced. In the absence of public interest the judges and civil authorities are free to act with impunity.
On Friday, May 16th seven of us known as the Peterson Patriot Activists will go to trial in Colorado Springs for our civil resistance at Peterson Air Force Base. Colorado Springs is the epicenter for military action, ideals and politics in Colorado. Ours will be the first of probably three trials there resulting from the massive global demonstrations of Feb. 15th when the Colorado Springs police used tear gas, rubber bullets and illegitimate arrests to suppress non violent protest. They were the only police in the world to take such actions on that day, the largest day of peaceful demonstrations in history. We are walking into the lions’ den. Without your support we are likely to be made examples for what happens to peace activists in Colorado Springs.
We intend to use our trial as a platform to demonstrate the power and organization of the Peace movement in Colorado. We need your help in two ways.
1. Phone and email Jeanne Smith, City Attorney of Colorado Springs at:
719-385-5909 and jcrosby@ci.colospgs.co.us
Tell her first that you would like us to have the right to have our
defense be heard by a jury even though courts have previously refused to hear
these arguments.
Also express your strong support for the actions taken by the civil
resisters and your own feelings about US government policies.
2. Come to our motions hearing on May 5th at 10 AM on the steps of the
Colorado Springs city hall at the corner of Kiowa and Nevada Streets this
Monday, May 5th. We intend to pack the courtroom. We will have an array of
witnesses on international law and first amendment rights in addition to a
celebrity witness whose name we cannot yet divulge. They will speak at our
rally plus we will have music and puppet theatre.
Here is some further information on the importance of this trial.
The power of civil resistance lies in focusing public attention on key political issues. What is happening currently is that civil resisters are being denied to present their desired defenses, then fined and or jailed with little or no support or resistance from we whom they represent. A prime example is the three Dominican nuns who DROVE to Colorado from Jonah House in Baltimore to pour their blood on missiles stationed here in Greeley. Already they have spent six months in jail in Georgetown before even being tried.
Their trial, held only weeks ago in Denver, was sparsely attended. Despite the enormity of their moral and political convictions the judge refused to allow them to utter a word regarding the calling of their consciences or US violations of international treaties such as Nuremberg and the UN charter.
Further the books on international law that they submitted as evidence were
ordered by the court to have all the pages removed and only the covers could
be shown to the jury. The legal debate was narrowed to boring, irrelevant
technicalities determining the difference between sabotage and mere
trespassing, i.e. how many feet of fence legitimately needed to be replaced;
were the bills for cleaning up the blood accurate, but NOTHING, not a word of morality, first amendment rights or international law.
US actions against Iraq and Afghanistan as well as actions here at home that destroy our civil liberties are frighteningly similar to those of Nazi Germany. Following WW II, the Nuremberg treaties were signed specifically to give both individual citizens and the international community the authority to prevent such occurrences again. These treaties are international law and override all national laws. They state that it is not merely the right but the duty of the citizens of a country to disobey and resist their country's unjust laws and actions which violate international law. This was the basis for finding Nazi war criminals guilty, i.e. they had a moral and legal responsibility to resist the injustices of their government.
We are in historical times. The fate of democracy and the future of our earth are being determined. History will record our courage or our indifference in the face of this challenge. Follow your heart.
Charley Cropley
Charlie Cropley is one of the first naturopathic doctors in Colorado.
Vote for the National Initiative! http://www.vote.org
Photo Adventures: http://www.vote.org/photos
1986 novel portends 9/11: http://www.vote.org/terror
Indian Trust: Cobell vs. Norton
FIRST WITNESS QUESTIONS GOVERNMENT TRUST REFORM PLANS
WASHINGTON, May 2 - A nationally-known authority on banking trust operations has rejected the government's proposal for reforming the troubled Indian trust accounts, saying those plans would not fully account for all the funds that should have gone to approximately 500,000 Indians.
Paul Homan, the former special trustee who oversaw the accounts during the Clinton administration, told U.S. District Judge Boyce Lamberth that "I don't believe it would be anything but a waste of time" to attempt to implement the department's current reform proposal.
Homan said that the government ultimately may have to place the accounts in the hands of a receiver to cure the many problems he observed in the three years he served as Interior's special trustee for the accounts. The former president of Riggs Bank in Washington was the lead witness Thursday as Lamberth opened what is expected to be more than a month-long trial into what plan he should adopt to reform the trust accounts. Homan will continue to testify Friday.
When government lawyers told Lamberth their plan could resolved the long-troubled accounts within five years, the judge was skeptical. "Every time estimate I've been given has slipped and I assume this one would, too," he told the lawyers.
Homan later testified that the government faces huge difficulties in its efforts to verify the balances in more than 300,000 trust accounts that contain the proceeds of government-arranged leases of Indian lands in the West. Most of the records needed are missing and the government's cannot answer "the threshold question": what was the account's initial balance, he said. Without such information it is impossible to know how much money should be in the accounts, Homan said.
Dennis Gingold, the lead lawyer for a group of Indians who have successfully challenged the government's acknowledged mishandling of the accounts, said the plaintiffs will present evidence of how much revenue the federal government should have received from the leases of the Indian lands in West. The trial is expected to continue into June.
For additional information: http://www.indiantrust.com
A Petition
Please "cut and paste" the following:
Dear Friends-
If you are so inclined...
The current Administration is looking to get rid of NPR, the National Endowments and PBS. Even if you disagree with the politics - a voice for both sides must exist for the arts to survive. On NPR's Morning Edition, Nina Totenberg said if the Supreme Court supports Congress, it is, in effect, the end of the National Public Radio (NPR), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)& the Public BroadcastingSystem (PBS).
PBS, NPR and the arts are facing major cutbacks in funding. In spite of the efforts to reduce costs and streamline services, government officials believe that the funding currently going to these programs is too large for something which is seen as not "worthwhile". The only way that our representatives can be aware of the base of support for PBS and funding for such programs is by making our voices heard.
Please add your name to this petition and forward it to friends who believe in what this stands for. This is for anyone who thinks NPR/PBS is a worthwhile expenditure of $1.12/year of their taxes.
This petition is being passed around the Internet and will be forwarded to the President and the Vice President of the United States. Please add your name to it so funding can be maintained for NPR, PBS, & the NEA.
If you prefer not to sign, please don't kill it. Send it to the Email address listed here:
wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu
NOTE: It is preferable that you SELECT (highlight) the entirety of this letter and then COPY it into a new outgoing message, rather than simply forwarding it. In your new outgoing message, add your name to the bottom of the list, then send it on. (Or do a SEND AGAIN.)
If you happen to be the 150th, 200th, 250th, etc., signer of this petition, please forward a copy to: wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu . This way we can keep track of the lists and organize them.
Please also read:
Horror in your own home
Ignore what your children are learning at your peril
By John Kaminski
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3227.htm
Photo of “La Grande Famille”, by Rene Magritte,
courtesy of The Hammond Gallery:
http://www.hammondgallery.co.uk/view_pic.php3?pid=1385&aid=45