Lt. Dan Choi is Speaking in Providence, RI Tonight !

I was slow to appreciate the horrors of Don't Ask Don't Tell in the U.S. military due to my deep belief that we need a much, much smaller military and essentially a retraining of the warriors.

My experiences, of passing as christian (usually accidentally), are not analogous to Passing as Straight, with or without duress.

Clearly, if any military bodies exist, then it is criminal to treat some of its membership as if they are "less than" for being gay.

This blog will always remember our neighbor, Ciara Durkin, who died in Afghanistan.

This blog supports the rights of people who are Questioning, Queer, Transgender, Lesbian,
Gay, Celibate, Bisexual . . .

Human Rights For All.

Dan Choi is providing the Opening Convocation for Asian American History Month at Brown University.

There is a slight chance that I might attend this, but I hope lots of folks are there and that Lt. Choi is given a standing ovation, or two ( perhaps more, why limit ourselves).

I hope some of the newly elected and the re-elected will find a way to listen to this man.

Providence, RI Vigil on March 19: Commemorating the 6th Anniversary of the War and Occupation of Iraq

VIGIL TO COMMEMORATE THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE WAR AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ



Thursday 5:00 - 6:00 PM, March 19, 2009

At the War Memorial, Corner of College Street and South Main Street,
Providence

Rhode Island's Twelfth: Former Senator Claiborne Pell Dies

Rhode Island's Twelfth: Former Senator Claiborne Pell Dies

I believe Senator Pell was the ONLY U.S Senator who did NOT support the U.S. attacking Iraq the first time. He was customarily patrician about it, deferring to International Law. I will always be grateful to him for that position and for many of his humanitarian stances.

Petition For the Release of the Shoe Thrower

This signature campaign demands the release of the Iraqi Journalist, Montadhar Al-Zaydi who hurled a pair of shoes at George Bush on 12/14/2008 in Baghdad in reaction to Bush’s immoral invasion of Iraq and the war-crimes committed by the occupying forces with the aid of local warlords.


We hereby sign below to demand the immediate release of the Journalist Montadhar Al-Zaydi, without any constraints or conditions. We also hold Al-Maliki’s government and the Bush administration accountable and responsible for his life, dignity, and well-being

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iwffomuntatharalzaidi

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!

William Shakespeare

Thank You, Yes People! "Iraq War Ends"

By Michelle Nichols NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A group of pranksters handed out more than 1.2 million fake New York Times newspapers mainly in New York City and Los Angeles on Wednesday with a front page story...

read more | digg story

Iraq War Veteran and Resister, Camilo Mejia Will Speak In Providence October 30

WAR RESISTER CAMILO MEJIA TO SPEAK IN PROVIDENCE

Contact: Brian Chidester, 401-525-1957

(Providence, RI)—Iraq veteran and war resister Camilo Mejia will speak
at two engagements in Providence on Thursday, October 30. Mejia will
give presentations at Rhode Island College at 12:30pm in the Student
Union, room 307; and again at 7pm in List Art Building room 120 at
Brown University. Both events are free and open to the public.

Mejia gained prominence when he became the first U.S. soldier to refuse
deployment to Iraq. Mejia, whose family came to the U.S. from
Nicaragua in 1991, served a six- month tour of duty in Iraq, during
which time he turned against the war. As he writes in his memoir, Road
from ar Ramadi: the Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia
(Haymarket Books, 2008), “I would find myself riding in the back of a
truck through the dusty streets of war-torn ar Ramadi...I was supposed
to be giving all my attention to watching out for the insurgents...But
then I would catch sight of the children running to the front gates of
their homes to watch our vehicles rolling by and they would remind me
of the children I had seen back in Nicaragua.”

Mejia refused deployment in October 2003, filing for conscientious
objector status and going AWOL. He was convicted on a charge of
desertion and served nine months in military prison. Since his release
in February 2005, Mejia has continued to speak out against the
occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. He is now on tour to promote his
memoir as part of the Resisting Empire Tour, a project of Haymarket
Books. His appearance in Providence is one of dozens of tour events
happening around the country in October and November.

The Resisting Empire Tour is sponsored nationally by Haymarket Books
and the Center for Economic Research and Social Change, as well as by
Iraq Veterans Against the War, Alternet.org, and Nation Books. It is
sponsored locally by Operation Iraqi Freedom (the student antiwar group
at Brown University), the Rhode Island Mobilization Committee to Stop
the War, the American Friends Service Committee, and the International
Socialist Organization. For more information, go to
www.resistingempire.org.