Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

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Location: Brunswick, ME, United States

The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. We must all do more to help stop this western corporate arrogance that puts the future generations lives in despair. @BruceKGagnon

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

POLITICS IN MAINE


Our right-wing Governor LePage here in Maine vetoed the state legislature's drone bill yesterday.  The bill would have required police to have warrants from the court before they could snoop on us with drones.  The bill also sadly allowed for the testing of weaponized drones in Maine.  The governor has vetoed 82 bills during this past legislative session - an all-time record in Maine.  So basically damn near everything that was done in the legislative session was for naught.  To override a veto the legislature needs 2/3 majority and not enough Republicans are willing to go against their own governor even though many of them voted for these bills that LePage then vetoed.  It's called spineless politics.

I got an email this morning from our Congresswomen Chellie Pingree (a so-called "liberal" Democrat) who likes to run around the state promising to bring more Pentagon money to Maine to build more Aegis destroyers.  These ships, outfitted with "missile defense" interceptors are being used by Obama to help surround Russia (by sailing into the Mediterranean, Baltic, Black, Bering, and Barents Seas) and China (Yellow and East China Seas). 

Rep. Pingree loves to complain about cuts to human needs programs but then does all she can to ensure funding for these tragically expensive warships that cost more than $1.5 billion each. At this moment a new high-tech stealthy "Zumwalt class" destroyer is being built here in Bath and the price tag has soared to more than $3.5 billion per copy.

Anyway, in the email from Rep. Pingree this morning she responds to my letter about Syria and Obama's decision to send weapons to the violent jihadists who are killing many Syrian civilians and are attempting to overthrow the government.  She never answers that particular question in her response but ends with this bit of pablum:

The United States, as the global champion of democracy and freedom, must stand with people across the region who are advocating peacefully for their rights and freedoms and to improve their lives. I appreciate hearing from you about this important issue and hope to see you in Maine soon.
Sincerely,
Chellie Pingree
Member of Congress

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