Sunday, August 19, 2012

Julian Assange: Political Refugee -by Stephen Lendman

Julian Assange: Political Refugee -by Stephen Lendman

19 Aug 2012

International law protects refugees and asylum seekers.

Article I of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees calls them:

"A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country."

Post-WW II, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established to help them.

To gain legal protection, they must:

• be outside their country of origin;

• fear persecution;

• be harmed or fear harm by their government or others;

• fear persecution for at least one of the above cited reasons; and

• pose no danger to others.

Immihelp.com calls asylum and refugee status "closely related." They differ "only in the place where a person asks for asylum status."

Refugee status is asked for outside countries of origin. "However, all people who are granted asylum status must meet the definition of a refugee."

Assange is entitled to political refugee rights. Britain won't grant them.

Ecuador granted him political asylum. His fears are well-founded. If Britain extradites him to Sweden, he'll be sent to America. He'll be unjustly prosecuted for whistleblowing. He'll face many years in prison or capital punishment.

An earlier New York Times report said a secret grand jury convened. At issue is charging Assange with espionage under the 1917 Espionage Act.

Doing so contradicts the law's intent. It doesn't deter Justice Department officials from using it. It passed shortly after America's entry into WW I. Over time it's been amended numerous times.

Originally it prohibited interfering with US military operations, supporting the nation's enemies, promoting insubordination in the ranks, or obstructing military recruitment.

In 1921, its most controversial provisions were repealed. In 2010, Bradley Manning was charged under the Act. Technically its under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). It includes parts of the US Code.

Allegedly a sealed Assange indictment is ready to be made public whenever Washington wishes to do so. Espionage Act violations will be charged.

America twists legal meanings to serve its interests. Bogus charges facilitate hanging innocent victims out to dry. Headlines portray Assange as public enemy number one. He won't get a moment's peace.

Asylum isn't freedom. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said London won't grant safe passage. Britain's Foreign Office said:

"We are determined to carry out our legal obligation to see Julian Assange extradited to Sweden."

"We will not allow Mr. Assange safe passage out of the UK, nor is there any legal basis for us to do so. The UK does not accept the principle of diplomatic asylum."

"It is far from a universally accepted concept: the United Kingdom is not a party to any legal instruments, which require us to recognize the grant of diplomatic asylum by a foreign embassy in this country."

Hague added in part:

"We are disappointed by the statement by Ecuador’s Foreign Minister today that Ecuador has offered political asylum to Julian Assange."

"Under our law, with Mr. Assange having exhausted all options of appeal, the British authorities are under a binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden."

"We must carry out that obligation and of course we fully intend to do so. The Ecuadorian Government's decision this afternoon does not change that in any way."

"Nor does it change the current circumstances in any way. We remain committed to a diplomatic solution that allows us to carry out our obligations as a nation under the Extradition Act."

"The UK does not accept the principle of diplomatic asylum."

Hague omitted saying Britain spurns international law principles repeatedly. Like America, other NATO nations, and Israel, it operates extrajudicially.

On August 19, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) will hold an extraordinary meeting in Ecuador. Assange's situation will be discussed.

Britain and Ecuador are at impasse. Resolution may not come soon. Assange remains holed up in Ecuador's London embassy. WikiLeaks posted his statement on its Twitter page, saying:

"It was not Britain or my home country, Australia, that stood up to protect me from prosecution, but a courageous, independent Latin American nation."

At issue is how to get there safely. More on that below.

Peru holds UNASUR's rotating presidency. A statement released on its foreign ministry website says:

"The Foreign Ministry of Peru lets public opinion know that, in concordance with the statutory responsibilities of the temporary presidency of UNASUR, at the behest of the Republic of Ecuador and after consulting member states, an extraordinary meeting of the Counsel of Foreign Ministers of the Union has been convened on Sunday August 19 in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador."

"The meeting has been requested with the intention of considering the situation raised at the embassy of Ecuador in the United Kingdom."

On August 24, Organization of American States (OAS) voted to meet in Washington. At issue is discussing Ecuador's granting Assange asylum. Twenty-three members voted in favor of the meeting. America, Canada, and Trinidad and Tobago opposed the resolution. Five nations abstained. Another three were absent.

OAS secretary general Jose Miguel Insulza said convening isn't about Assange per se. It's to discuss "the problem posed by the threat or warning made to Ecuador by the possibility of an intervention into its embassy in London."

"The issue that concerns us is the inviolability of diplomatic missions of all members of this organization, something that is of interest to all of us."

What OAS will accomplish is doubtful. It largely defers to US interests. Its history is long and shameful. Chartered to "promote democratic institutions," it defiled them for decades.

Previous leaders include a rogue's gallery of regional despots. They include father and son Duvalier in Haiti, fascist Rios Montt in Guatemala, Pinochet in Chile, an array of Mexican despots, Fujimori and others like him in Peru, Somoza in Nicaragua, Batista in Cuba, and other death squad rulers in Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Honduras, El Salvador and elsewhere in the region.

Instead of combatting terrorism, they practiced it. In countries like Haiti, Honduras and Colombia little changed. Whether or not they'll support Ecuador remains unclear. Perhaps so if they're worried about their own security.

Assange saw his native Australia spurn him when he's most in need. Instead of condemning UK bullying and refusal to grant safe passage, Prime Minister Julia Gillard cynically claimed she can't help.

It's none of Australia's business, she suggested. All nations are obligated to protect their citizens. International law requires it. Core tenets include the right to life and humane treatment. It holds abroad as well at home. Consular support is responsible when domestic help isn't available.

In 2010, Gillard called releasing diplomatic cables "grossly irresponsible" and "illegal." No matter that state secrets weren't revealed. Information at most was embarrassing, not harmful. Australia supports Washington's imperium. It's complicit with Obama officials intent to prosecute and imprison Assange.

On August 17, the UK Telegraph headlined "WikiLeaks: Julian Assange will take Britain to the 'World Court,' " saying:

In 1998, Baltasar Garzon indicted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. He now represents Assange. He's a political refugee, he said. Ecuador granted him asylum status. Britain is obligated to honor it.

"They have to comply with diplomatic and legal obligations under the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and respect the sovereignty of a country that has granted asylum."

"If Britain doesn't comply with its obligations, we will go before International Court of Justice to demand that Britain complies with its obligations because there is a person who runs the risk of being persecuted politically."

Michael Ratner is president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He provides Assange legal advice. He denounced Britain, saying:

"They overstepped, looked like bullies, and made (things) into a big-power versus small power conflict."

Britain should "back off." So should America. Both countries should obey international law and respect Assange's status. "He has a legal right to asylum under the refugee convention."

"Under the UN declarations, there cannot be any adverse consequences for countries granting asylum. It’s considered a humanitarian act."

British officials act like "bullies" for Washington.

On August 16, British MP George Galloway slammed his government for supporting Washington's intent to crucify Assange. He called Sweden's bogus sex charges cover to ship him to America. He hit hard explaining:

"Is there anyone out there that thinks that Britain is doing this, would do that because of charges of sexual misconduct in Sweden? Is there anybody out there really thinks that?"

"Or is it more likely that Britain has done this and will perhaps do the rest in the service of the United States of America, which is salivating at the possibility of getting their hands on the man who with WikiLeaks embarrassed American and British imperialism in front of the whole world?"

On June 20, a Washington Post editorial headlined "Asylum for Julian Assange?" saying:

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is "a small-time South American autocrat." Chavez "has been his political mentor." He boosted his political influence by granting Assange an interview. He hosted a popular Russia Today program.

A litany of canards followed. The Post made spurious anti-Correa accusations. It dismissively ignored likely US extradition, espionage charges and imprisonment. Guilt or innocence doesn't matter.

It acted like Obama's spokesman. It said US-Ecuadorian trade relations may suffer. "If Mr. Correa seeks to appoint himself America's chief Latin American enemy and Julian Assange's protector….it's not hard to imagine the outcome."

It's simple knowing which side the Post favors. It consistently supports US imperial interests. It's firm against whatever compromises them. It's comfortable about policies harming others. It cheerleads America's war machine. So do other Western media scoundrels.

A Final Comment

On August 16, the London Guardian published ways Assange might leave Britain freely. They range from diplomatic status to smuggling him out. Ideas discussed include:

(1) Giving Assange a diplomatic passport. They facilitate travel but don't confer immunity.

(2) Granting him diplomatic status. Doing so immunizes him from prosecution. Article 29 of the Vienna Convention states:

"The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving state shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity."

At the same time, nations are obligated to respect each other's laws. According to former UK Foreign Office lawyer Joanne Foakes:

"In principle, a state can freely appoint anyone as a member of its mission, apart from its head of mission."

"But if they were to seek to do so now, it would be an obvious device to evade the laws of the receiving state, the UK. In these circumstances the UK may feel justified in repudiating such an appointment."

(3) Diplomatic vehicles can't be searched. Provide one for transport to London's international airport. At issue is getting on, off, onboard an aircraft, safely out of British airspace, and not intercepted by US warplanes en route to Ecuador.

(4) Smuggle him out or use a crate, bag or other container. The Vienna Convention says "diplomatic bag(s) shall not be opened or detained." They can be scanned or subjected to thermal imaging. Body heat would reveal something live. Britain might demand to know what.

Other alternatives include diplomacy, pro-Assange world opinion, other nations and British MPs speaking out on his behalf, perhaps a favorable World Court decision, UK embarrassment, or maybe after months of standoff its government deciding it's not worth the fuss, bother, or row.

For now, Assange remains in limbo. Determined Ecuadorean ingenuity and commitment are needed to save him.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen (at) sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour



See also:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com

From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin- Prescott Breslin’s Stardust Memories War

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Hoagy Carmichael performing Stardust to set the mood for this piece.

He was scared, Prescott Breslin was scared. Scared more than he had ever been at any time in his life over the last forty years, at any time since that 1942 night his 1st Marine Division unit, his Bravo company, stationed out in just being built Camp Pendleton, California had gotten orders to move out west the next day, west to the Jap dotted island of the World War II hard fighting west. And while that scare was prospective his current scare was real, life-threatening real. Several days before he had had pains, heart pains so severe he thought, and his wife Delores thought too, that was the end right then and there. Somehow she had gotten help, gotten help that had gotten him to Portland General Hospital, and gotten him there in time for some heart surgery to work him back to life, for now.

And that for now, and that scared about the end had driven a very private Prescott Breslin to call in his kindred (his old time Appalachia word for his family and others), his available kindred to come and, well, he might not have put it this way, comfort him (and Delores). Thus on the morning of April 16th 1983 I, Josh Breslin, his youngest son, and his only daughter, Lissette, were sitting by his home-side bed up in Olde Saco, Maine listening to him tell some stuff about his life, stuff that neither of us had ever heard much about from this hither-to-fore distant father figure.

While he was having his say he asked to have his favorite music, the music of his generation, the one that had survived (just barely) the Great Depression of the 1930s and had fought (or like Delores had anxiously awaited behind) the hard island and continent battles of World War II playing on the record player in the background.

I, mistakenly, thumbing through the dusty pile of LP records had put on Rosemary Clooney’s Come On To My House, a song I had heard wafting through the house on the radio on the now long gone WMEX, his station of choice out of Portland in those days. He yelled, or what passed for yelling in his condition, that he did not want to hear that rock and roll stuff from the 1950s and made it very clear (as he always did on the not many occasions when he made a big deal out of his wants) that 1950, maybe 1952, was the cutoff date for the background music that he wanted played. This told me already that two things were going to happen.

One, that we were not to be entertained by any stories of his life, or of our family life after that time and, two, that he was going to continue to mourn, now apparently to the grave, that his two older sons, Lawrence James (named after his father) and Daniel Francis (named after my mother’s father) were not there at his bedside then. And the reason that those two sons, my brothers whom I too missed, were not available was that Larry was just at that moment serving yet another five to ten stretch for an armed robbery in Bar Harbor (a cheap jack gas station of all places, jesus) up at Shawshank Prison. And Danny had left home heading west (what west, and how far, he did not tell me when he left) in 1966 and had not been seen, or heard of, by the family since despite some serious efforts by Dad to find him.

See, as will become apparent as Prescott Breslin tells his story, or the parts that he wanted told, told by me his son who had made a fair living out of writing up such stories over the previous ten years or so, he was a simple man, with simple values, simple wants, and a simple code. Therefore a most complex man in our go-go times. Larry, Danny and I were his children, his kin, so right or wrong, good or bad, that was it (and Lissette too, but as he told me once many years before when we were in one of our more talkative phases, he never really did understood women, except Delores, and so by the age of puberty Lissette had kind of been a blur to him. She, on the other hand, as was evident that morning between the tears and laughter, worshipped the ground he walked on and, and while I had had my tiffs with him, who was to say she was wrong).

That they (and I) caused him more heartbreak than any simple man should have to endure did not matter, we were his kids, his boys okay, and that was that. So if you sense that Larry and Danny were in the room that April morning and if you sense that the old man just wanted to remember ahead to the early 1950s and no further before the whole thing went awry for him (and Delores) for that reason then that is just about right. And if you hear Lena Horne’ soulful, wistful long gone times past voice singing Stormy Weather to beat away the 1940s blues night that is just about right too. Prescott Breslin expressed himself satisfied when I finally found that gem and placed it on the turntable.

I, by the way, must have eaten up about half of his record collection that day even with many replays of his very most favorite tunes (and some jointly connected with Delores youth favorites). Certainly Lena’s Stormy Weather got several plays as did Tangerine, a mother favorite, Sentimental Journey, a slew of Inkspots stuff, I’ll Get By, If I Didn’t Care, I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire, and Whispering Trees, The Mills Brothers, especially Paper Doll, another mother favorite. A couple of Andrews Sisters things for laughs and, of course their song of songs (or one of them) done by Hoagy Carmichael, I think it was his version, Stardust.

Here though is what he had to say that morning (and after some rest, and lunch, that afternoon) as best I could take it down in my teared-up notebook:

He, at first, kept coming back coming back a few times, to his current frail heart condition and how that brush with death had triggered thoughts about the last time he knew, knew for sure, that he was scared, hard scared. In his in his laconic way he just kept saying he remembered that he was scared, scared silly, and he didn’t care who knew about it. Rugged hills and hollows born, Appalachia mountain Kentucky hard-scrabble farm born, fear hid under the rug, or somewhere else born he was still scared. He, Prescott Breslin, just weeks, maybe a couple of months if he counted it up, out of those hills and hollows, was scared because his unit, his semper fi 1st Marine Corps Division unit had just received orders to head out in the morning, head out west.

He remembered that he was sitting by himself that night before in the make-shift Quonset hut PX at a picnic table munching coffee and cakes and thinking west could only mean the Pacific islands that dotted the way to Japan. Some units had already gone out, gone out quickly all through early 1942 and as 1943 approached all hell was breaking loose with men and material heading west; just like in the old time pioneer west if he had thought about it that way then.

[Prescott Breslin, even forty years later, in relating this story to us would not give the precise day that his unit left California just in case some Nips or Chinks (Prescott’s terms) might be lurking around and could use the information in the future. He was certainly a man of his Great Depression/World War II times. JLB]

Sitting with that cup of black coffee (hell, he said, nobody back home ever had it any other way besides who had extra milk or cream left over for such fixings, and black was fine anyway) and cruller donut (he had grown to love this donut business after a lifetime of his Ma’s old patched-up bread pudding and sunken baking soda-laden cakes) he was not thinking about pioneer west stuff, or even, after he bit into the cruller, scared thoughts so much but about how life was funny. Not funny to have a laugh over but just the way the cards were dealt funny. It might have been the sugar, or it might have been the caffeine but his started to think about all the stuff that he hadn’t done, and some stuff he had done, to keep the thoughts of the days ahead in check.

First off though was his pride in being one of the best troopers in his training unit down at Parris Island, and then his assigned unit at Pendleton. It wasn’t so much that it came natural to him, although coming from the hard rock country didn’t hurt when they went out into the “boonies” on those twenty mile full-pack hikes or when he busted out number one on the rifle range with that silly M-I pop gun. It was more that, at first, guys, yankee city guys from Boston and New York, or northern farm boys anyway, laughed at him about his back mountain drawl, about his not knowing about donuts, about not knowing about how to handle a folk and spoon right and all kinds of yankee stuff that didn’t make sense to him, or them when he asked them to explain what they meant and why.

After a while, after a ton of callouses and blisters, after a ton of KP, after half a ton of pranks, and after about eight weeks of showing guys, yankee guys and farm boys, that he could be depended on if something happened to them they were practically competing to have him as their “buddy.” More than one guy said, said straight out, when they got the news of the move out that as long as Prescott Breslin was going along with them he wasn’t quite so scared. Here was the kicker though, the one that made him beam. A couple of days before they got orders they had all chipped in to by him drinks at the enlisted men’s club to show their appreciation AND a dozen donuts, assorted, the next morning. Still sitting at that piney table Prescott Breslin was scared.

While he was thinking an odd-scared thought or two somebody, a guy he didn’t recognize sitting with a nice- looking tanned Oceanside girl, at another table had gotten up to put some nickels in the jukebox and he, still thinking about life’s ups and downs, could hear the strains of I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire and that song got him kind of choked up at first. He then laughed, not a funny laugh, as he listened to the lyrics and thought that he sure didn’t want to, and hadn’t, set the world on fire. He sure hadn’t.

Getting into the heart of the song, the lonely guy misery part, he hadn’t a girl left behind to think of him while he was away blasting Pacific islands to smithereens. Out there, out there in sunny California, he had had not too much luck finding a girl, not much luck at all really. The girls seemed too fast for him, to ready to dismiss his back mountain drawl and write him down as a damn hillbilly. One time at the Surfside Grille in Oceanside where all the guys went when they had passes he met a girl, a pretty girl who liked his looks she said, liked his black hair, and brown eyes. She nevertheless told him flat out once she found out where he was from that she would pass him by. Why? Well, she, herself was from some podunk okie town and now that she was a California girl she was thinking of becoming a blonde and had definitely shaken the dust off her of okie kind of boys. She wanted, and she said this flat out too, a movie star soldier boy like Robert Taylor. Jesus, women, California women.

[We all laughed at that one. I because two of my three wives had come from there although neither were blonde and neither had been from Podunk but had been born and bred California women. I too though could shout to the high heavens about the perfidies of California women, transplants or born and bred. Lissette’s first husband had been from there as well and he had run back there when things got tough between them and married his high school sweetheart on the rebound. So change the gender and that explained Lissette’s laugh. Dad laughed at his own story but I think I could detect just the slightest anguish as he was probably thinking about whether Danny had perhaps married a California woman and maybe had some things to say about that.]

Sure, back home, he had had a few nibbles, a couple of girls from Prestonsburg and Hazard, girls with nice looks and manners and who couldn’t complain of his drawl. But nothing serious happened, nothing serious because from about age fourteen all the girls where he came from, even Prestonsburg girls, got all moony over being married and, in order to get from under being embedded in their own large families, start families of their own. He had wanted no part of that, not at twenty, no way. But he got just a little melancholy, taking another sip of that sweet black coffee, when he thought that he might never have a chance to get married. Never have a family of his own to take care of him in his old age, if he had an old age.

[He welled up a little as he mentioned that last thought. He was probably thinking that Larry would never be a comfort to him or Delores now that he had spent a good part of his adult life behind bars and hadn’t learned to keep out of jail. And that Danny would probably never come back after all this time and that I, who had my own fair share of estrangements and non-talkative period with him (and Delores), was at best a fifty-fifty proposition. Whether he factored Lissette into his thoughts that day was another matter but probably not, she was still probably that long ago blur, that blur who worshipped him.]

Mainly though he thought that night about the things he did had done over the previous few years before he had enlisted and wished that he had had more time to do some more of them. Hell, it wasn’t nothing big, nothing to set the world on fire, but it was his life. His life, six or seven years before, once he knew the score, knew the hard-scrabble Kentuck farm score, and that if he didn’t want nothing but hard calloused hands and looking eighty at forty (like his pa and grandpa) he had better hit the highway. Since there were twelve kids at home, and only enough to feed about eight right nobody (except Ma, he later, much too much later, found out) missed him when he set out for Lexington one dark night. He got a ride from Colonel Eddie (not really a colonel but everybody with two bucks for a genuine certificate called himself that) the local long-haul driver who was always looking for company on his runs west, and knew how to keep quiet when a guy asked him to about stuff like where he was going, and why.

And he also thought about how once he got to Lexington, after a few crop-picking and dish-washing jobs to keep him alive in the city, he met up with a couple of guys, Doc and Hank, at Lucy’s Diner who wanted form a band and make some money playing what they called the coal-dust circuit. He played a fair guitar for a kid, had a decent voice that had become deeper and more tuneful as he aged, and best of all he knew all the old-timey songs that the hills and hollows folks wanted to hear. Boy, did he know them all. Stuff like Tom Doulas, Ommie Wise, and Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies.

[With some Inkspot tune playing softly in the background he nevertheless started to sing Hank Williams’ Cold, Cold Heart and sounded pretty damn good for a guy in his condition. You could see, see just for a moment, that Kentuck Sheik boy who had all the young girls, the young Prestonsburg and Hazard girls ordering dresses through some mail order catalogue just to be pretty on Saturday night barn dance time. And, hell, easily see how my own mother could have fallen for him, fallen hard for him, when they first met at Old Orchard’s Starlight Ballroom back in 1943 or 44.]

A couple of weeks later with some practice, a small stake, and lots of dreams, they hit the back road Saturday night places where the locals held their weekly barn dances (complete with plenty of moonshine to liven things up). Sometimes they, now known as the Kentuck Sheiks (that sheik name had been made popular a few years before and you just added your state name in front and you had a genuine band name), passed the hat, sometimes when there was no dough they just took a couple of days room and board for their troubles.

He remembered too the time that through some white lightning connections, some Moonshine Johnnie, the king of the illegal local whiskey ring, or whatever the liquid was by the time it got boiled down, packaged, and run through the hills and hollows just in front of the revenue agents, the Sheiks got to play before a crowd in his hometown of Hazard. And they were billed on flyers, handbills, and posters as the Kentuck Sheiks featuring Prescott Breslin. Moonshine Johnnie’s idea was that he would throw a free Saturday barn dance down at Farmer Ben’s, a place where locals had been having their weekly dances since, well, since there was a Hazard as far as anybody knew. Johnnie wanted to introduce those who didn’t know to his product, or who knew and had a thirst. In short to move product, be an outstanding citizen, and listen to the mountain-etched music just like any other hillbilly.

The Sheiks were to pass the hat like they had done at a hundred such gatherings and with a hometown boy on the stage they expected a little extra haul. Additionally, Johnnie, just in case the cash haul was short, threw in five jugs of his premium liquor for the boys. That addition proved to be my father’s undoing. The art of drinking hard liquor, hard still-made liquor takes some cultivation, some time to get used to it. Young men need to grow into it with age like drinking wine is for some Europeans. The night of the barn dance, that Saturday afternoon really, he had started drinking a steady stream out of the jug so that by show time his was in good form (as were Doc and Hank partners), and as far as the show went they were a great success. As far as the show part went.

But this was just flat-out the wrong night to develop his whiskey skills. Just before the dance, while the band was setting up and checking things out, Becky Price, an old Hazard sweetheart came up and started to rekindle some flame. Becky sure did look fine that night he thought with a pretty, frilly store-bought dress (really Montgomery Ward catalogue bought he found out later) and her hair done up in ribbons. She had heard he was playing that night and had gotten herself all pretty for him. They talked some then and some at intermission and agreed to meet after the dance at Lance’s Diner over on Route 5 when he was finished packing up after the show.

But that is where the liquor proved to be a demon. After the show, things packed up, he decided to take a little curse off the liquor in his system by having a couple more hits at the jug. After the second swallow he just keeled over dead drunk. When he woke up the next morning the boys were up front in their sedan, Doc driving, while he laid across the back seat as they headed for a show in Steubenville, Ohio. Poor Becky, he hoped she didn’t wait long that night.

[We laughed again although I noticed that his sweet Delores, my mother, didn’t laugh quite so heartily on this story. She had, if asked, her own stories to tell about fending off a couple of Olde Saco girlfriends who were also taken by his black hair, brown eyes and fine uniform look and who, unlike her, were willing “to do” it, if necessary to win his favor. This information only came to me much later when she was ready for me to tell her story.]

That band job lasted for about a year or so, maybe a little bit more, but then times got so bad about 1937 or 38 that three guys just couldn’t make it on bread and butter, literally. So he got off the road, headed back home, and started to work in Mr. Peabody’s coal mines (not every mine was owned by the Peabody Coal Company as he was at pains to inform his fellow platoon members when they had asked what he did in the “real world” but that is what everybody called it around home when a guy went into the mines).

Now even a hills and hollows boy who grew up in that hard –scrabble country but who grew up on a farm needed to adjust to the hard times in the mines. The early hours, the wash up time that was unpaid for adding to the long day, the damn coal dust, the noise, the deafening noise, from the machines drilling against god’s ancient rock, and the sweat, the infernal sweat even on cold days once you got down in the pits. After a couple of months he adjusted to the routine, got to know real coal-miners who were the third or fourth generation going down there, and got some respect when he told the boys that they were not getting paid nearly enough for the tough work they did for the damn Johnson Coal Company. The boys listened, and knowing Kentucky coalfields traditions, hell Harlan, bloody Harlan, was just down the road they prepared to strike one time. Somehow the company got wind of it and offered a small raise and paid wash-up time just to keep the production moving. That was enough, enough then with plenty of guys out of work, and plenty of guys, scabs, guys from the outside, with hungry mouths to feed, but still scabs, ready to cross the lines if anything happened.

There he was though stuck in the mines, the damn black-lung mines (his mother cried every time he came home at night looking, well, looking like a damn nigra, and coughing the dust out half the night) when the news of the Japs hitting Pearl came over the radio and guys, guys like him, all over the country, were lined up three, maybe more, deep, to enlist. Funny though he could, having worked his way up a little in the mines, have gotten a vital industries draft deferral and been sitting right then in the Prestonsburg hotel with some pretty town girl drinking real store-bought liquor and working up his courage to ask her up into his room. But no, on December 9, 1941 he had gone to Prestonsburg and enlisted in the Marines right on the dotted line. And he never looked back.

Scared, scared to death, or not, sitting at that wooden table having a second cruller and a third cup of mud Private First Class Prescott Breslin thought it over for a minute. He then said to himself, hell, between shoveling coal for Mr. Peabody forever and fighting the damn Japs I’ll take the Japs. And that made him just a little less scared as someone walked up and put another nickel in the jukebox to play If I Didn’t Care.

[After relating that last pearl of wisdom, which my father had actually imparted to me a long time ago when I was about seventeen or eighteen after I had asked him about his uniform that was hanging in a back closet, he expressed a wish for a little rest before lunch. The following is what he had to say in the afternoon after lunch. Of course he was still tired, a little groggy and disoriented from the mix of medications and so he rambled more, at times a lot more, in the afternoon and went back and forth on subjects. He still though adamantly refused somewhere in that deep Breslin reservoir of hurt to go much beyond the early 1950s. And of course he, as he had done in the morning, kept asking me to put his beloved 1940s songs on the record player. I had just put Benny Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing on and that triggered a story that my mother had told him when they first met at the Starlight Ballroom in Old Orchard. Like I said the afternoon just rambled on but this one will tell anybody a lot about my mother and father, their love, and why they had endured in Olde Saco, foreign territory for him, through thick and thin.]

Your mother had had just enough of Elizabeth LaCroix, Aunt Betty, and her tangled love life with your mother’s brother, Jean. [Always called in proper F-C speak, Jeanbon.] Every other week, it seemed, Betty was breaking up with him over one question. Let me give you a hint it starts with an s and ends with an x. [Lissette and my mother blushed but he just plowed ahead and after noticing their discomfort he said that he was well past having to be polite about thing now that he was facing the grim reaper (his words) one on one.]

See Betty and your mother were seniors at Olde Saco High School in 1937. Let me add that they were, and the yearbook photos don’t lie, were both dark-haired French-Canadian [F-C remember?] American beauties, dewy roses like only those with forbears from the north up in Quebec can be. So sex was naturally in the equation, in the eternal boy-girl, Betty-Jean, equation. And for your mother too, since about fourteen when she learned that she could, with just a little effort, get the guys stirring, stirring over thoughts about dewy roses and other material matters. But this is strictly, well almost strictly, a Betty-Jean story so we will leave the Delores-smitten guys to stew. [He laughed a victor’s laugh at that one.]

The friction between your mother and Betty, or rather her momentary wrath at Betty, was centered on the hard fact that in a few months the girls would be having their senior prom, always a highlight in the Olde Saco calendar year, for those who graduated and those who, for one reason or another didn’t. And, graduation or not, the next step was marriage. That was just, as I well know, the established working class and religious ethos of the town, the F-C-inspired culture, and the times. Get out of your parents’ overburdened house and into your own small cold-water flat, maybe over on Fourteenth Street by the river, and dream of your own small white picket fence future house, maybe on Atlantic Avenue toward the ocean. And that cycle, as I also found out although I could never do much about it, had been established for a long while.

It seemed that although Betty and Jean had been an “item” for only a few months that Betty had this Saturday night I am talking about had her fifteenth, no sixteenth, and never make-up with dear Jean fight. And like I said whether the year was 1037, 1537, or 1937 the issue, to put it straight now that I’ve already said it, was sex, or rather to use the latest craze saying then “doing it.” Really though, the real crux of the matter, was that she wanted to wait until that cold- water flat marriage, and not before, no way before, to give in to your uncle, one Jean Claude LeBlanc.

Needless to say All-American boy, really all All-American French-Canadian boy and former star of the Olde Saco High football team, the one that beat Auburn for the state in 1935, Jean, was all for “doing the do” right then as a test run for marriage, or so that is how he presented it to Betty that Saturday (and many a previous Saturday night) down in the dunes of Olde Saco Beach. And Jean had almost made the sale, except by the time Betty decided yes, she was so anxious and the hour was so late that she wasn’t in the mood any longer. Jesus. [More womanly blushes]

You don’t get my drift. Okay, let me go by the numbers. Boy (really man since Jean has already graduated from Olde Saco and been working as a high-grade machine mechanic at the MacAdams Textile Mill over on Main Street for a while then. That defined man in these parts) meets girl. Boy (man) takes girl here and there in his new, well fairly new, Studebaker and they cap the night off watching the fishes swim down at the close-by beach (at the secluded far end, the Squaw Rock end, known by one and all as, well just known for being secluded, okay). Girl successfully holds off boy (man). Got it. [Jesus Dad we all know about Squaw Rock and that stuff although nothing was said while he was speaking.]

But how do you think our boy Jean, champion football mover but a little bashful in the sex department when he came right down to it, tried to get one Betty La Croix in the mood. Take one guess. Backing up the ocean swells and moonlight in the mood department is one Benny Goodman and his gang on that car radio, providing that heavenly deep beat-pacing clarinet that sets those drums a rolling, those trumpets blowing to Gabriel’s heaven, and sets those sexy saxes on fire to blow the walls of Jericho down that I mentioned before. A little Buddha Swings at the right moment will go a long way. So Benny did his part.

[After a little break to take his afternoon medication my father moved on to tell this one. I thought it sounded kind of familiar some of the details anyway. And it was, partially because it was his version of a story my mother had told to me about their courting days when she was in one of her expansive non-blaspheming Josh Breslin to hell and say seven novenas moods. The story had something, actually little, to do with my oldest brother Larry and so my father told it in such a way that even with Larry now serving his third (or was it fourth ) stretch in Shawshank you could tell that he was still the old man’s favorite. It was okay with me by then, and had been for a long time. That was just the old man and his hard and fast loyalties, likes and prejudices.]

“Lawrence Breslin get your dirty hands off that wall this minute,” yelled your mother, Mother Breslin to you then if I recall. I think you kids called her that then over some scheme you Josh had devised to show contemptuous respect or something, and it included the yelled at Larry. She was always honey to me as I never bought into that Mother thing you kept pestering me about, that sounded too much like some Ste. Brigitte’s nun thing to me. I though was only the mother-supporting father to the boy being yelled at just that minute. Just as, hell, let’s call her Delores, was getting ready for cascade rant number two aimed in Larry’s direction wafting through the air, the radio WMEX air, came the melodious voice of Bing Crosby singing in that sweet, nuanced voice of his, Far Away Places. Our song, or one of them. Our forever memory song.

As a result, the proposed rant was halted, momentarily halted, as Delores flashed back and began to speak of the night in 1943 over at the Starlight Ballroom on East Grand in Old Orchard Beach when she, then a typist for the State Insurance Company right here in Olde Saco (and making good money for a single, no high maintenance girl) and one Marine PFC Prescott Breslin, me, stationed after serious service in the Pacific wars (Guadalcanal, etc.) at the Portsmouth Naval Base met while they were playing that song on the jukebox between sets. Sets being performed by the Be-Bop Sextet, a hot, well, be-bop band that was making a national tour to boost civilian morale while our boys were off fighting. We hit it off right away, made Far Away Places our song, and prepared for a future, a joint future, once the war was over, and we could get our dream, shared dream, little white house, with or without picket fence, maybe a dog, and definitely kids, a few although we never specified a number. [My mother silently nodded in agreement with some kind of smile on her face.] The perfect dream to chase the old Great Depression no dough blues and World War II fighting dust away, far away. And to be able to breath a decent breathe, a not from hunger breathe.

As Bing finished up your mother snapped back into the reality of the Larry hands on the wall moment, the two by four reality, of our make due, temporary veterans’ housing set up by the Olde Saco Housing Authority (at the request of and funded by the War Department) to house housing-hungry returning vets and give us a leg up that we had lived in way too long. Add on the further reality that my job at the Macadam’s Textile Mill was none too sure as there were rumors circulating around town that the mill-owners were thinking of relocating to North Carolina. And the biggest reality of all: well, Larry, Danny, Joshua, and most recently still in the cradle Lissette. And four is enough, more than enough thank you.

But as that terrific tenor of Dick Haymes started singing Little White Lies right after Bing she fell back again to thinking about that now old dream of the little white house, with or without picket fence, a dog and a few (exactly three, thank you) that was coming just around the next corner when we first started out together . And just as I saw she was winding up to blast young Larry , his forever dirty hands, and that wall, maybe a little less furiously that she intended to before, I sensed that her thoughts had returned to her Prince Charming, me, the Starlight Ballroom 1943, and our song. Our forever memory song. She then said, “We’ll get by.” Yes, we would get by. [Plenty of sniffles and Kleenex all around.]

[I could tell my father was getting tired, he started looking a little gray around the eyes and had a drowsy look, a look of the medications wearing off. I, we, offered to leave and let him rest, and he agreed after this one last story he felt he needed to get straight on. The story about his military uniform in that old back closet that I had asked about when I was a kid getting ready for college and how he had basically dismissed me out of hand ]

Josh was a curious kid even when he was little. Not curious about everything in the world just that minute, although more than one teacher had noted on his early childhood reports cards that little characteristic, but curious about my military uniform, my faded, drab, slightly moth-eaten army dress uniform, World War II version, of course. That curiousness came not from, like the usual, some Josh daydream curiosity but the result, the this minute result, of having come across my suit in an attic closet as he was preparing to store his own not used, not much used, or merely out-of-fashion, excess clothing against time. And that time was the time of his imminent departure for State University and his first extended time away from home.

Funny Josh knew that I had been in World War II, had gotten some medals for my service as was apparent from the fruit salad on the uniform, and that I had spent a little time, he was not exactly sure on the time but his mother had told him 1950 when he asked, in the Veterans Hospital for an undisclosed ailment. But he had not heard anything beyond those bare facts from me. Never. And his mother had insistently shh-ed him away whenever he tried to bring it up.

Oh sure Josh had been sick unto death back in the 1950s when the kitchen radio, tuned into WMEX exclusively to old-time World War II parent music. I can remember the battles like they were yesterday. To the exclusion of any serious rock music of his like Elvis, Chuck, Little Richard and Jerry Lee, but that was parents just being parents and kicking up old torches. Especially when Frank Sinatra sang I’ll Be Seeing You, or his mother would laugh whimsically when The Andrew Sisters performed Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy or The Mills Brothers would croon Till Then. But we never discussed that war, nor was it discussed when my cronies, and fellow veterans, came over to play our weekly card games until dawn.


I guess after having spied the uniform Josh decided it was time to ask those questions, those curiosity questions. Later, he said, it would be too late, he would be too busy raising a family of his own, or he would be doing his own military service, although he hoped not on that count. It just didn’t figure into his plans, and that was that. So with a deep breathe one evening, one Friday evening after dinner, when I would not be distracted by thoughts of next day work, or Saturday night card games, his asked the big question. And I answered- “I did what a lot of guys did, not more not less, I did it the best way I could, I saw some things, some tough things, I survived and that’s all that there is to say.” And I said it in such a way that there was no torture too severe, no hole too deep, and no hell too hot to get more than that out of me.

Later that evening, still shell-shocked I guess at my response, as he prepared to go out with his boys for one last Olde Saco fling before heading to State, he could hear his mother softy sobbing while we listened on the living room phonograph to Martha Tilton warble I’ll Walk Alone, The Ink Spots heavenly harmonize on I’ll Get By, Doris Day songbird Sentimental Journey, Vaughn Monroe sentimentally stir When The Lights Go on Again, and Harry James orchestrate through It’s Been A Long, Long Time. I hope Josh understood, understood as well as an eighteen year old boy could understand such things, that it was those songs that had gotten his mother and me through the war, and its aftermath. And that was all he had to know about the damn war. [And I did understand although not that night, or not for many nights after.]

[After that last one instead of calling it a day my father got a little morose after thinking about those songs and maybe when he thought about how he never did provide my mother with that white picket fence future house on Atlantic Avenue, never did partake of the great golden age that he had promised and could not make good on in a world that he too had no say in. He then blurted this out of the blue.]

Jesus, it had been three months since the mill closed on the first day of our lord, January 1954, as the huge black and red sign in front of the dead-ass silent mill kept screaming at us (and also to not trespass under penalty of arrest, christ,) and I still hadn’t been able to get steady work, steady work anywhere, what with every other guy looking for work too, and I didn’t even have a high school diploma to do anything but some logging work up North when they needed extra crews. I remember talking about my plight to Jack Amber, a fellow out-of-worker sitting on the counter-stool next to his from the same MacAdams Mill that had been in Olde Saco since, well, since forever. This conversation and ones like it in previous weeks between us, and between many guys on those same stools, took place, of course, at Millie’s Diner right across the street from that damn closed, dead-ass mill the place where every guy (and an occasion wife, or girlfriend waiting to pick up her guy) who worked there went for his coffee and, and whatever else got him through another mill week.

Just then I stopped talking and started just staring into space, a silence that had been recurring more frequently lately as I thought of the reality of dead-end Maine prospects and rekindled a thought that first came creeping through my brain when Jack MacAdams, the owner’s son, told me the plant was shutting down and moving south to North Carolina not far, not far at all, from my eastern Kentucky roots. Hearing the announcement there was just a second of self-doubt but now sitting on this unemployed stool thoughts started ringing incessantly in my brain.

Why the hell had I fallen for, and married, a Northern mill-town girl [my mother, the sweet, reliable Delores, nee LeBlanc, met at the Starlight Ballroom over in Old Orchard Beach when he had been Marine Corps short-time stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Base down in New Hampshire just before heading back to the Pacific Japan death battles], stayed up North after the war when I knew the mills were only a shade bit better that the mines that I had worked in my youth, faced every kind of insult for being southern from the insular Mainiacs and had had three growing, incredibly fast growing, boys with Delores and a couple of years before his sweet daughter , Lissette . Then he was able to shrug it off but not now.

[We actually call ourselves Mainiacs with pride, we hicks, and it wasn’t really because my father was from the south that he was insulted although that made him an easy target but because he was not born in Maine and could never be a Mainiac even if he lived there one hundred years.]

The only thing that could break the cursed thoughts was some old home music that Millie, good mother Millie, the diner’s owner (and a third generation Millie and Mainiac) made sure the jukebox man inserted for “her” country boys while they had their coffee and. I reached, suddenly, into my pocket, found a stray nickel, put it in the counter-side jukebox, and playedWill The Circle Be Unbroken, a song that my late, long-gone mother sang to me on her knee when I was just a ragamuffin young boy.

That got me to thinking about home, the Harlan hell home of worked-out mines, of labor struggles that were just this side of fighting the Japanese in their intensity and possibilities of getting killed, or worst grievously injured and a burden on some woe-begotten family, of barren land eroded by the deforested hills and hollows that looked, in places, like the face of the moon on a bad night. And of not enough to eat when twelve kids, a mostly absence father and a fading, fading mother needed vast quantities of food that were not on table and turnips and watery broth had to do, of not enough heat when cruel winter ran down the ravines and struck at your very bones, and of not enough dough, never enough dough to have anything but hand-me-down, and then again hand-me-downs clothes, sometimes sister girls stuff just to keep from being bare-assed.

Then I thought about the Saturday night barn dances where I cut quite a figure with the girls when I was in my teens and had gleefully graduated to only having to wear hand-me-downs. I was particularly lively (and amorous) after swilling (there is no other way to put it) some of Moonshine Johnnie’s just-brewed “white lightening.” And I heard, just like then on the jukebox, the long, lonesome fiddle playing behind some fresh-faced country girl in her best dress swaying through Will The Circle Be Unbroken that closed most Saturday barn dances. As Millie asked me for the third time, “More coffee?” I came out of his trance. After saying no to Millie, I said no to myself with that same kind of December 1941 resolve. A peep-break Saturday night dance didn’t mean squat against that other stuff. And once again I let out my breathe and said to myself one more time- Yes, times are tough, times will still be tough, jesus, but Delores, the three boys, and I would eke it out somehow. There was no going back, no way.

Just then through the door Jim LaCroix yelled, “Hey, Prescott, the Great Northern Lumber Company just called and they want to know if you want two months’ work clearing some land up north for them. I’m going, that’s for sure.” And, hell, I was going too.

[A couple of years after that, maybe three, Larry got picked by the cops stealing some onyx rings at Sid Smith’s Jewelry Store in downtown Olde Saco. Shortly after that Danny started to wander off for days at a time with no explanation. After, well, after that the Breslin kids madness just took over.]
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In honor of Prescott Lee Breslin, 1917-1985, Lance Corporal, United States Marine Corps, World War II, Pacific Theater , and perhaps, other Olde Saco fathers too.

Vamos a redoblar nuestros esfuerzos para liberar privado Bradley Manning-Presidente Perdón Obama Bradley Manning-¡Cada plaza del casco En Estados Unidos (y el mundo) A Bradley Manning Square de Boston a Berkeley para nosotros Berlin-Join In Davis Square, Somerville-The Stand-Out Es Todos los miércoles de 4:00-5:00 pm

comentario Markin:

The Private Bradley Manning caso se encamina a un juicio pleno invierno. Aquellos de nosotros que apoyamos su causa debe redoblar nuestros esfuerzos para asegurar su libertad. Durante los últimos meses se ha producido una semana de espera en el área metropolitana de Boston frente a la Davis Square Redline MBTA parada (rebautizada Bradley Manning Square durante la duración del stand-out 's) en Somerville viernes por la tarde, pero tenemos desde 04 de julio 2012 cambió la hora y el día a 4:00-17:00 los miércoles. Esta posición de salida tiene, por decir lo menos, ha sido muy poca asistencia. Tenemos que construirlo con más seguidores presentes. Por favor, únase a nosotros cuando pueda. O mejor aún si usted no puede unirse a empezar un semanario de Apoyo a Bradley Manning espera en algún lugar en su ciudad ya sea en el área de Boston, Berkeley o Berlín. Y por favor, firma la petición para su liberación, ya sea en persona oa través de la Red de Apoyo a Bradley Manning. He puesto una parada de Manning y Manning Square sitio web a continuación.
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Bradley Manning Support Network

http://www.bradleymanning.org/~~V

Manning Square sitio web

http://freemanz.com/2012/01/20/somerville_paper_photo-bradmanningsquare/bradleymanningsquare-2011_01_13/
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Los siguientes son comentarios que se han centrado en los últimos tiempos para conseguir apoyo para la causa del soldado Manning en stand-outs, marchas y mítines. Nosotros los de la internacional movimiento contra la guerra no fueron capaces de hacer mucho para afectar a la Bush-Obama Iraq calendario guerra o, a partir de ahora, el Afganistán, pero podemos salvar el héroe de una de esa guerra, soldado estadounidense Bradley Manning privado. El caso Manning legal y soldado Manning como un individuo excepcionalmente valiente, puede y debe servir para reunir a todos aquellos que buscan una forma concreta de expresar su indignación contra la guerra a las continuas atrocidades políticas estadounidenses de guerra imperiales. El mensaje siguiente puede servir como justificación para continuar mi (y su) apoyo a esta honorable denunciante.
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Veteranos por la Paz se yergue en la solidaridad y en la defensa de, soldado Bradley Manning.

Me paro en solidaridad con las supuestas acciones de soldado Bradley Manning en sacar a la luz, sólo un poco de luz, algunos de los nefastos hechos relacionados con la guerra de este gobierno, el gobierno de Bush y Obama. Estos bits preciosas de información filtrados a Wikileaks sobre los soldados estadounidenses que cometen atrocidades de la guerra en Irak como una crónica en la cinta conocida en YouTube como "Asesinato Colateral" y el Irak y Afganistán Diarios de Guerra. Si lo hiciera tales actos no son delito. Ningún crimen en absoluto en los ojos o en los ojos de la gran mayoría de la gente que sabe del caso y de su importancia como un acto individual de resistencia a las injustas y bárbaras guerras encabezadas por Estados Unidos en Irak y Afganistán. Duermo un poco más fácil en estos días sombra sabiendo que soldado Manning podría haber expuesto lo que todos sabían, o deberían haber sabido, la guerra de Irak y las justificaciones que la guerra de Afganistán se basaba en una casa Flim-flam de cartas. Imperialismo norteamericano pistolero Flim-Flam castillo de naipes, pero las tarjetas, sin embargo.

Estoy de pie en solidaridad con el soldado Bradley Manning, porque estoy indignado por el trato dado a Manning privado, presumiblemente un hombre inocente, por un gobierno que afirme a sí misma como algo de "faro" del mundo civilizado. Bradley Manning ha sido mantenido en la solidaridad en Quantico, a otros lugares, y ahora en el Fuerte Leavenworth en Kansas durante más de dos años, y ha estado detenido sin juicio durante más tiempo, ya que el gobierno y sus fuerzas armadas para tratar de pegar un caso juntos. Los militares y sus secuaces en el Departamento de Justicia, se han vuelto más tortuoso aunque no inteligente desde que era un soldado en la mira de más de cuarenta años.

Muchos de nosotros nos hemos vuelto un poco habituado a los constantes casos de conducta tortuosa bota militar por parte de los militares estadounidenses en lugares como Guantánamo, Bagram y otros lugares de la seguridad nacional infierno caja negra frente a los extranjeros. También hemos habituado, o al menos ya no sorprende, cuando los ciudadanos estadounidenses civiles están sujetos a este tipo de acciones, y más probable de muerte. Sin embargo, las acusaciones como las recientes de prisión conducta tortuosa tolerada por alta autoridad militar (véase las alegaciones y de movimiento para destituir cargado en el sitio web de Bradley Manning Support Network) por Private civil de Manning abogado defensor Coombs David dejar claro, esos actos no se limitan a ciudadanos extranjeros y ciudadanos estadounidenses civiles. La tortura del soldado Manning, un soldado estadounidense, el gobierno estadounidense debería darnos a todos una pausa. Y debería habernos gritando a los cielos en busca de su liberación.

Estas son razones más que suficientes para estar en solidaridad con el soldado Manning y lo será hasta el día de este valiente soldado es liberado por sus carceleros. Y voy a seguir para estar en solidaridad con orgulloso soldado Manning hasta ese gran día.
Insto a todos a firmar la petición pidiendo a los militares estadounidenses para liberar a soldado Bradley Manning, ya sea aquí o en la página web Bradley Manning Support Network. Y si no podemos obtener soldado Manning liberado de esa manera Insto a todos a comenzar una campaña en su área para exigir al presidente Barack Obama, o quien sea presidente, mientras soldado Manning está encarcelado, perdonar a este valiente soldado. El presidente de Estados Unidos tiene la autoridad constitucional para conceder indultos a los culpables e inocentes, condenados y quienes enfrentan cargos. Pido al Presidente Obama a perdonar soldado Manning ahora.

La retirada inmediata e incondicional de todas las tropas estadounidenses / Allied y mercenarios de Afganistán! Manos fuera de Irán! Manning Free Private Ahora! Presidente Obama Manning Perdón privado!

Vamos redobrar nossos esforços para libertar Privada Bradley Manning-presidente Perdão Obama Bradley Manning-Faça cada praça da cidade em América (e do mundo) Um Bradley Manning Praça de Boston para Berkeley para Berlim-se juntar a nós Davis Square, Somerville-O Stand-Out Toda quarta-feira é de 4:00 - 17:00

comentário Markin:

The Private Bradley Manning caso caminha para um julgamento do inverno. Aqueles de nós que apóiam sua causa deve redobrar os nossos esforços para assegurar sua liberdade. Para os últimos meses tem havido um semanário destaca-se na Grande Boston em frente da Davis Square Redline MBTA parada (rebatizada de Bradley Manning Praça para a duração do stand-out) em Somerville nas tardes de sexta-feira, mas temos desde 04 de julho de 2012 mudou o tempo eo dia-a-04:00 - 17:00 às quartas-feiras. Este stand-out tem, para dizer o mínimo, foi muito pouco frequentado. Precisamos construir-se com mais adeptos presentes. Junte-se a nós quando você puder. Ou melhor ainda, se você não pode se juntar a nós iniciar um Suporte Bradley Manning semanal destaca-se em algum lugar em sua cidade se é na área de Boston, Berkeley ou Berlim. E, por favor assine a petição para a sua libertação, seja pessoalmente ou através da Rede de Apoio Bradley Manning. Eu tenho colocado links para a Rede Manning e Manning website Praça abaixo.
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Bradley Manning Support Network

http://www.bradleymanning.org/~~V

Manning website Praça

http://freemanz.com/2012/01/20/somerville_paper_photo-bradmanningsquare/bradleymanningsquare-2011_01_13/
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A seguir, são observações que venho focando tarde para construir o apoio para a causa de Manning Privado em stand-outs, passeatas e comícios. Nós do movimento anti-guerra internacional não foram capazes de fazer muito para afetar o Bush-Obama Iraque calendário guerra ou, a partir de agora, o Afeganistão um, mas podemos salvar o herói de um de que a guerra, soldado americano Bradley Manning privada. O caso Manning legal, e Manning Privado como um indivíduo excepcionalmente corajoso, pode e deve servir para reunir todos aqueles que procuram uma forma concreta de expressar sua indignação contra a guerra nas contínuas atrozes políticas de guerra americanos imperiais. A mensagem abaixo pode servir como justificativa para continuar o meu apoio (e seu) para este denunciante honrosa.
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Veteranos pela Paz orgulhosamente está em solidariedade e em defesa de, Private Bradley Manning.

Eu estou em solidariedade com as alegadas acções de Private Bradley Manning em trazer à luz, apenas um pouco de luz, alguns dos nefastos relacionados com a guerra ações deste governo, sob Bush e Obama. Esses pedaços preciosos de informação que vazou para Wikileaks sobre soldados americanos cometendo atrocidades da guerra no Iraque como narrado na fita conhecida no YouTube como "Assassinato Colateral" e do Iraque e diários de guerra afegãos. Se ele fez tais atos não são crime. Nenhum crime em tudo nos meus olhos ou aos olhos da grande maioria de pessoas que sabem do caso e da sua importância como um ato individual de resistência para os injustos e bárbaro americano lideradas guerras no Iraque e no Afeganistão. Durmo um pouco de sombra mais fácil nos dias de hoje, sabendo que Manning privada pode ter exposto o que todos sabiam, ou deviam saber, a guerra do Iraque e as justificações de guerra afegãos repousava sobre uma casa flim-flam de cartas. Imperialismo norte-americano arma em punho casa flim-flam de cartões, mas os cartões, no entanto.

Eu estou em pé em solidariedade com Privado Bradley Manning porque estou indignada com o tratamento dado a Manning privados, presumivelmente um homem inocente, por um governo que alega-se ser algum "farol" do mundo civilizado. Bradley Manning foi realizada em solidariedade em Quantico, outros locais, e agora, em Fort Leavenworth no Kansas há mais de dois anos, e foi detido sem julgamento por mais tempo, como o governo e os seus militares tentam colar um caso juntos. O militar, e seus capangas do Departamento de Justiça, ter chegado mais tortuoso embora não mais inteligente desde que eu era um soldado em sua mira mais de quarenta anos atrás.

Muitos de nós nos tornamos um pouco acostumados com os constantes casos de bota comportamento tortuoso por parte dos militares americanos em lugares como Guantánamo, Bagram e outros locais de segurança nacional buraco da caixa negra contra os estrangeiros. Nós também nos tornamos acostumados, ou pelo menos já não surpreso, quando cidadãos americanos civis estão sujeitos a tais ações, e mais provável de morte. No entanto, as alegações como recentes de pré-julgamento conduta torturante tolerada pela autoridade militar de alta (ver as alegações e de movimento para destituir cobrado no site da Rede Bradley Manning Support) pela Privado civil de Manning advogado de defesa David Coombs deixar claro, estes actos não se limitam à estrangeiros e cidadãos americanos civis. A tortura de Manning e privado, um soldado americano, pelo governo americano deve dar a todos nós uma pausa. E deve ter-nos gritando para os céus para a sua libertação.

Estas são razões mais do que suficientes para se solidarizar com Manning privada e será até o dia deste bravo soldado é libertado por seus carcereiros. E eu vou continuar a se solidarizar com orgulho Manning privada até o grande dia.
exorto todos a assinar a petição exortando os militares americanos a livre Privada Bradley Manning seja aqui ou no site da Rede de Apoio Bradley Manning. E se não podemos chegar Manning Privada libertou dessa forma peço a todos para começar uma campanha em sua área de chamar o presidente Barack Obama, ou quem quer que seja presidente, enquanto Manning está preso e privado, para perdoar este soldado valente. O presidente americano tem a autoridade constitucional para conceder perdão ao culpado e inocente, o condenado e as acusações que enfrentam. Eu chamo ao Presidente Obama para perdoar Manning privados agora.

Retirada incondicional imediata de todas as tropas dos EUA / Aliados e mercenários do Afeganistão! Hands Off Irã! Manning Privado Grátis Agora! Presidente Manning Perdão Obama privada!

Nous allons redoubler d'efforts pour libre soldat Bradley Manning-président Pardon Obama Bradley Manning-faire de chaque place de la ville en Amérique (et du monde) A Bradley Manning Place de Boston à Berkeley pour nous de Berlin-Join In Davis Square, Somerville-The Stand-Out Est Tous les mercredis De 4:00-17h00

Markin commentaire:

Le soldat Bradley Manning cas se dirige vers un procès milieu de l'hiver. Ceux d'entre nous qui soutiennent sa cause doit redoubler d'efforts pour obtenir sa liberté. Pour les derniers mois il ya eu une semaine stand-out dans le Grand Boston en face de la Davis Square Redline arrêt MBTA (rebaptisé Bradley Manning place pour la durée du stand-out) dans Somerville vendredi après-midi, mais nous avons depuis Juillet 4, 2012 a changé l'heure et le jour à 04 heures 00-17h00 le mercredi. Ce support-a, pour le moins, été très peu fréquentée. Nous devons le construire avec plus de supporters présents. S'il vous plaît joindre à nous quand vous le pouvez. Ou mieux encore, si vous ne pouvez pas vous joindre à nous lancer un soutien Bradley Manning hebdomadaire stand-out dans un certain endroit dans votre ville que ce soit dans la région de Boston, Berkeley ou Berlin. Et s'il vous plaît signer la pétition pour sa libération, soit en personne ou par l'intermédiaire du Réseau Bradley Manning soutien. J'ai placé des liens vers le réseau Manning et Manning site Place-dessous.
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Réseau Bradley Manning soutien

http://www.bradleymanning.org/~~V

Manning Place site web

http://freemanz.com/2012/01/20/somerville_paper_photo-bradmanningsquare/bradleymanningsquare-2011_01_13/

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Ce qui suit est une remarque que j'ai été axés sur la construction de la fin du soutien à la cause du soldat Manning au stand-out, marches et des rassemblements. Nous de la communauté internationale mouvement anti-guerre n'étaient pas en mesure de faire grand-chose pour affecter l'administration Bush-Obama la guerre en Irak ou le calendrier, à compter de maintenant, l'Afghanistan un, mais nous pouvons sauver le seul héros de cette guerre, soldat américain Bradley Manning privé. Le cas Manning juridique et soldat Manning en tant qu'individu d'un courage exceptionnel, peut et doit servir à rallier tous ceux qui recherchent une façon concrète d'exprimer leur indignation contre la guerre à la persistance des politiques américaines de guerre atroces impériales. Le message ci-dessous peut servir de justification continue pour mon (et votre) soutien à cette dénonciation honorable.
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Combattants pour la Paix se dresse fièrement en signe de solidarité avec et pour la défense de, soldat Manning Bradley.

Je suis debout dans la solidarité avec les agissements présumés du soldat Bradley Manning à mettre en lumière, juste un peu de lumière, quelques-unes des malveillantes liées à la guerre agissements de ce gouvernement, sous Bush et Obama. Ces bits d'information précieuses fuites à Wikileaks sur les soldats américains commettent des atrocités de la guerre en Irak comme la chronique dans la bande connue sur YouTube comme «Assassiner Collateral" et l'Irak et les journaux de guerre afghans. S'il a fait de tels actes ne sont pas un crime. Aucun crime du tout dans mes yeux ou aux yeux de la grande majorité des gens qui savent de l'affaire et de son importance comme un acte individuel de résistance aux injustes et barbares dirigées par les Américains guerres en Irak et en Afghanistan. Je dors un peu plus facile ces jours-ci ombre sachant que soldat Manning ont pu exposer ce que nous savions tous, ou aurait dû savoir-la guerre en Irak et les justifications de guerre afghans reposait sur une maison boniments de cartes. Gun-toting de l'impérialisme américain flim-flam château de cartes, mais les cartes quand même.

Je suis debout dans la solidarité avec le soldat Bradley Manning, parce que je suis outré par le traitement infligé à Manning privé, probablement un homme innocent, par un gouvernement qui prétend lui-même avoir une certaine «phare» du monde civilisé. Bradley Manning a été organisé en solidarité à Quantico, d'autres endroits, et maintenant, à Fort Leavenworth au Kansas depuis plus de deux ans, et a été détenu sans procès pendant plus longtemps, alors que le gouvernement et son armée essayez de coller une affaire ensemble. L'armée et ses sbires dans le département de la Justice, ont obtenu plus sournois mais pas plus intelligent depuis que je suis un soldat dans leur ligne de mire plus de quarante ans.

Beaucoup d'entre nous sont devenus quelque peu habitués aux situations comparables de botte comportement tortueux de la part de l'armée américaine dans des endroits comme Guantanamo, Bagram et d'autres emplacements nationaux de sécurité enfer boîte noire contre des ressortissants étrangers. Nous sommes également devenus insensibles, ou du moins ne m'étonne plus, lorsque les citoyens américains civils sont soumis à de telles actions, et plus probablement mort. Cependant, les allégations que ces dernières avant le procès conduite tortueuse tolérée par l'autorité militaire de haut (voir les allégations et les mouvements de rejeter chargée sur le site Bradley Manning Support Network) par le Soldat civil de Manning avocat de la défense David Coombs clairement, ces actes ne sont pas limités à les ressortissants étrangers et les citoyens américains civils. La torture du soldat Manning, un soldat américain, par le gouvernement américain devrait nous donner à tous une pause. Et aurait dû nous en criant vers le ciel pour sa libération.

Ce sont des raisons plus que suffisantes pour rester debout dans la solidarité avec soldat Manning et sera jusqu'au jour où ce brave soldat est libéré par ses geôliers. Et je vais continuer à manifester leur solidarité avec fierté soldat Manning jusqu'à ce grand jour.
J'invite tout le monde à signer la pétition demandant à l'armée américaine pour libérer soldat Manning Bradley soit ici ou sur le site Web de Bradley Manning Support Network. Et si nous ne pouvons obtenir soldat Manning libéré de cette façon je vous exhorte tous à commencer une campagne dans votre région pour demander au président Barack Obama, le président ou la personne qui en soldat Manning est incarcéré, de pardonner à ce brave soldat. Le président américain a le pouvoir constitutionnel d'accorder le pardon aux coupables et innocents, les condamnés et les accusations qui pèsent contre. Je demande au président Obama de gracier soldat Manning maintenant.

Immédiate retrait inconditionnel de toutes les troupes américaines / Allied et des mercenaires en Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran! Libre soldat Manning maintenant! Manning Président Obama Pardon privé!

Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us In Davis Square, Somerville –The Stand-Out Is Every Wednesday From 4:00-5:00 PM

Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us In Davis Square, Somerville –The Stand-Out Is Every Wednesday From 4:00-5:00 PM

http://www.standwithbrad.org/

Click on the headline to link to the Private Bradley Manning Petition website page.

Markin comment:

The Private Bradley Manning case is headed toward a mid- winter trial. Those of us who support his cause should redouble our efforts to secure his freedom. For the past several months there has been a weekly stand-out in Greater Boston across from the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop (renamed Bradley Manning Square for the stand-out’s duration) in Somerville on Friday afternoons but we have since July 4, 2012 changed the time and day to 4:00-5:00 PM on Wednesdays. This stand-out has, to say the least, been very sparsely attended. We need to build it up with more supporters present. Please join us when you can. Or better yet if you can’t join us start a Support Bradley Manning weekly stand-out in some location in your town whether it is in the Boston area, Berkeley or Berlin. And please sign the petition for his release either in person or through the Bradley Manning Support Network. I have placed links to the Manning Network and Manning Square website below.
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Bradley Manning Support Network

http://www.bradleymanning.org/

Manning Square website

http://freemanz.com/2012/01/20/somerville_paper_photo-bradmanningsquare/bradleymanningsquare-2011_01_13/
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The following are remarks that I have been focusing on of late to build support for Private Manning’s cause at stand-outs, marches and rallies.

We of the international anti-war movement were not able to do much to affect the Bush- Obama Iraq war timetable or, as of now, the Afghanistan one, but we can save the one hero of that war, American soldier Private Bradley Manning. The Manning legal case, and Private Manning as an exceptionally brave individual, can and should serve to rally all those looking for a concrete way to express their anti-war outrage at the continuing atrocious American imperial war policies. The message below can serve as a continuing rationale for my (and your) support to this honorable whistleblower.
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Veterans for Peace proudly stands in solidarity with, and in defense of, Private Bradley Manning.

I stand in solidarity with the alleged actions of Private Bradley Manning in bringing to light, just a little light, some of the nefarious war-related doings of this government, under Bush and Obama. Those precious bits of information leaked to Wikileaks about American soldiers committing war atrocities in Iraq as chronicled in the tape known on YouTube as Collateral Murder and the Iraq and Afghan War Diaries. If he did such acts they are no crime. No crime at all in my eyes or in the eyes of the vast majority of people who know of the case and of its importance as an individual act of resistance to the unjust and barbaric American-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I sleep just a shade bit easier these days knowing that Private Manning may have exposed what we all knew, or should have known- the Iraq war and the Afghan war justifications rested on a flim-flam house of cards. American imperialism’s gun-toting flim-flam house of cards, but cards nevertheless.

I am standing in solidarity with Private Bradley Manning because I am outraged by the treatment meted out to Private Manning, presumably an innocent man, by a government who alleges itself to be some “beacon” of the civilized world. Bradley Manning has been held in solidarity at Quantico, other locales, and now at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas for over two years, and has been held without trial for longer, as the government and its military try to glue a case together. The military, and its henchmen in the Justice Department, have gotten more devious although not smarter since I was a soldier in their crosshairs over forty years ago.

Many of us have become somewhat inured to the constant cases of jackboot torturous behavior on the part of the American military in places like Guantanamo, Bagram and other national security hellhole black box locations against foreign nationals. We have also become inured, or at least no longer surprised, when American civilian citizens are subject to such actions, and more likely death. However, as recent allegations of pre-trial torturous conduct condoned by high military authority (see the allegations and motion to dismiss charged on the Bradley Manning Support Network website) by Private Manning’s civilian defense lawyer David Coombs make clear, those acts are not confined to foreign nationals and American civilian citizens. The torture of Private Manning, an American soldier, by the American government should give us all pause. And should have us shouting to the heavens for his release.

These are more than sufficient reasons to stand in solidarity with Private Manning and will be until the day this brave soldier is freed by his jailers. And I will continue to stand in proud solidarity with Private Manning until that great day.

I urge everyone to sign the petition calling on the American military to free Private Bradley Manning either here or on the Bradley Manning Support Network website. And if we cannot get Private Manning freed that way I urge everyone to begin a campaign in your area to call on President Barack Obama, or whoever is president while Private Manning is incarcerated, to pardon this brave soldier. The American president has the constitutional authority to grant pardons to the guilty and innocent, the convicted and those facing charges. I call on President Obama to pardon Private Manning now.

Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal of All U.S./Allied Troops And Mercenaries From Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran! Free Private Manning Now! President Obama Pardon Private Manning!

From “COURAGE TO RESIST”- A Note From Private Bradley Manning’s Civilian Attorney David E Coombs -Free Bradley Manning! Free All The Military Resisters!

Click on the headline to link to the Courage To Resist website.

Courage To Resist

Supporting the troops who refuse to fight

484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610

www.couragetoresist.org

510-488-3559

"Brad also asked me to specifically thank on his behalf the unflinching support of
Courage To Resist”

From David Coombs Civilian defense counsel for US Army PFC Bradley Manning
July 14, 2012

Over the past two years, thousands of individuals have either donated to thedefense fund or given freely of their time to support PFC Bradley Manning. The support provided has come in many forms:

Signing petitions (standwithbrad.org);

Standing up to say "I am Bradley Manning"
(iam.bradleymanning.org);

Writing to military/government authorities;

Writing letters to the editors of local and national newspapers;

Attending marches, rallies, and other public events to raise awareness about Bradley Manning;

Using social media to write about the case and the events of every hearing;

Contacting government representatives;
Sending messages of support to my law office;

Donating to the legal defense fund;

Or Volunteering with the Bradley Manning Support Networkand Courage to Resist.

At every court hearing, I am given the opportunity to witness this support first hand. The attendance by supporters during these hearings has been nothing short of inspiring. Although my client is not permitted to engage those in attendance, he is aware of your presence and support.

During our latest hearing on 6-8 June, I was particularly struck by the warmth of support by those in attendance. At one point during a break, I had causally mentioned that it was my anniversary.

Apparently a supporter had overheard this statement, and took up a collection to give flowers, a balloon, and a thoughtful card to me and my wife. This kind gesture is emblematic of the type of people who are supporting Brad.

I would like to publicly thank all those who have supported my client over the past two years. I also want to pass on the following message from Brad: "I am very grateful for your support and humbled by your ongoing efforts." Brad also asked me to specifically thank on his behalf the unflinching support of Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network.

What happens in this court-martial is of vital importance to all of us. With your continued support, we will ensure that justice is achieved for Brad.

David E, Coombs-Civilian defense counsel for US Army PFC Bradley Manning
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Courage to Resist hosts the Bradley Manning Defense Fund in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network. The Defense Fund has been, and continues to be, responsible for 100% of Bradley's legal expenses. That's amounted to $200,000 thus far, with at least another $50,000 needed through trial.

If you'd like your tax-deductible donation today to go towards Bradley's defense only (including legal and public education efforts), just note that on your reply and/or write "Bradley Manning" on your check's memo line. Otherwise, we'll use your contribution to support Bradley along with other military GI resisters.

Lo último de The Private Bradley Manning Manning Support Network-Free Bradley ahora! Presidente Obama Perdón Bradley Manning

Haga clic en el título para acceder a la Red de Apoyo a Bradley Manning privado para obtener información actualizada sobre su caso y las actividades en su nombre.

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Nosotros los de la internacional movimiento contra la guerra no pudieron hacer mucho para afectar a la Bush-Obama Iraq calendario guerra o, a partir de ahora, el Afganistán, pero podemos salvar al héroe una de esa guerra, soldado estadounidense Bradley Manning privado. El caso Manning legal y soldado Manning como un individuo excepcionalmente valiente, puede y debe servir para reunir a todos aquellos que buscan una forma concreta de expresar su indignación contra la guerra a las continuas atrocidades políticas estadounidenses de guerra imperiales. El mensaje siguiente puede servir como justificación para continuar mi (y su) apoyo a esta honorable denunciante.
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Los siguientes son comentarios que se han centrado en los últimos tiempos para conseguir apoyo para la causa privada de Manning en stand-outs, marchas y mítines. Veteranos por la Paz se yergue en la solidaridad y en la defensa de, soldado Bradley Manning.

Me paro en solidaridad con las supuestas acciones de soldado Bradley Manning en sacar a la luz, sólo un poco de luz, algunos de los nefastos hechos relacionados con la guerra de este gobierno, el gobierno de Bush y Obama. Estos bits preciosas de información filtrados a Wikileaks sobre los soldados estadounidenses que cometen atrocidades de la guerra en Irak como una crónica en la cinta conocida en YouTube como "Asesinato Colateral" y el Irak y Afganistán Diarios de Guerra. Si lo hiciera tales actos no son delito. Ningún crimen en absoluto en los ojos o en los ojos de la gran mayoría de la gente que sabe del caso y de su importancia como un acto individual de resistencia a las injustas y bárbaras guerras encabezadas por Estados Unidos en Irak y Afganistán. Duermo un poco más fácil en estos días sombra sabiendo que soldado Manning podría haber expuesto lo que todos sabían, o deberían haber sabido, la guerra de Irak y las justificaciones que la guerra de Afganistán se basaba en una casa Flim-flam de cartas. Imperialismo norteamericano pistolero Flim-Flam castillo de naipes, pero las tarjetas, sin embargo.

Estoy de pie en solidaridad con el soldado Bradley Manning, porque estoy indignado por el trato dado a Manning privado, presumiblemente un hombre inocente, por un gobierno que afirme a sí misma como algo de "faro" del mundo civilizado. Bradley Manning ha sido mantenido en la solidaridad en Quantico, a otros lugares, y ahora en el Fuerte Leavenworth en Kansas durante más de dos años, y ha estado detenido sin juicio durante más tiempo, ya que el gobierno y sus fuerzas armadas para tratar de pegar un caso juntos. Los militares y sus secuaces en el Departamento de Justicia, se han vuelto más tortuoso aunque no inteligente desde que era un soldado en la mira de más de cuarenta años.

Muchos de nosotros nos hemos vuelto un poco habituado a los constantes casos de conducta tortuosa bota militar por parte de los militares estadounidenses en lugares como Guantánamo, Bagram y otros lugares de la seguridad nacional infierno caja negra frente a los extranjeros. También hemos habituado, o al menos ya no sorprende, cuando los ciudadanos estadounidenses civiles están sujetos a este tipo de acciones, y más probable de muerte. Sin embargo, las acusaciones como las recientes de prisión conducta tortuosa tolerada por alta autoridad militar (véase las alegaciones y de movimiento para destituir cargado en el sitio web de Bradley Manning Support Network) por Private civil de Manning abogado defensor Coombs David dejar claro, esos actos no se limitan a ciudadanos extranjeros civiles nacionales y americanos. La tortura de soldado Manning a un soldado estadounidense por el gobierno estadounidense debería darnos a todos una pausa. Y debería habernos gritando a los cielos en busca de su liberación.

Estas son razones más que suficientes para estar en solidaridad con el soldado Manning y lo será hasta el día de este valiente soldado es liberado por sus carceleros. Y voy a seguir para estar en solidaridad con orgulloso soldado Manning hasta ese gran día.

Insto a todos a firmar la petición pidiendo a los militares estadounidenses para liberar a soldado Bradley Manning, ya sea aquí o en la página web Bradley Manning Support Network. Y si no podemos obtener soldado Manning liberado de esa manera Insto a todos a comenzar una campaña en su área para exigir al presidente Barack Obama, o quien sea presidente, mientras soldado Manning está encarcelado, perdonar a este valiente soldado. El presidente de Estados Unidos tiene la autoridad constitucional para conceder indultos a los culpables e inocentes, condenados y quienes enfrentan cargos. Pido al Presidente Obama a perdonar soldado Manning ahora.

La retirada inmediata e incondicional de todas las tropas estadounidenses / Allied y mercenarios de Afganistán! Manos fuera de Irán! Manning Free Private Ahora! Presidente Obama Manning Perdón privado!

O último da The Private Bradley Manning Suporte de Rede-Free Bradley Manning agora! Presidente Obama Perdão Bradley Manning-

Clique no título para vincular à Rede Privada de Apoio Bradley Manning para as últimas informações sobre o seu caso e atividades em seu nome.

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Nós do movimento anti-guerra internacional não foram capazes de fazer muito para afetar o Bush-Obama Iraque calendário guerra ou, a partir de agora, o Afeganistão um, mas podemos salvar o herói de um de que a guerra, soldado americano Bradley Manning privada. O caso Manning legal, e Manning Privado como um indivíduo excepcionalmente corajoso, pode e deve servir para reunir todos aqueles que procuram uma forma concreta de expressar sua indignação contra a guerra nas contínuas atrozes políticas de guerra americanos imperiais. A mensagem abaixo pode servir como justificativa para continuar o meu (e seu) apoio a este denunciante honrosa.
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A seguir, são observações que venho focando tarde para construir o apoio para a causa de Manning Privado em stand-outs, passeatas e comícios. Veteranos pela Paz orgulhosamente está em solidariedade e em defesa de, Private Bradley Manning.

Eu estou em solidariedade com as alegadas acções de Private Bradley Manning em trazer à luz, apenas um pouco de luz, alguns dos nefastos relacionados com a guerra ações deste governo, sob Bush e Obama. Esses pedaços preciosos de informação que vazou para Wikileaks sobre soldados americanos cometendo atrocidades da guerra no Iraque como narrado na fita conhecida no YouTube como "Assassinato Colateral" e do Iraque e diários de guerra afegãos. Se ele fez tais atos não são crime. Nenhum crime em tudo nos meus olhos ou aos olhos da grande maioria de pessoas que sabem do caso e da sua importância como um ato individual de resistência para os injustos e bárbaro americano lideradas guerras no Iraque e no Afeganistão. Durmo um pouco de sombra mais fácil nos dias de hoje, sabendo que Manning privada pode ter exposto o que todos sabiam, ou deviam saber, a guerra do Iraque e as justificações de guerra afegãos repousava sobre uma casa flim-flam de cartas. Imperialismo norte-americano arma em punho casa flim-flam de cartões, mas os cartões, no entanto.

Eu estou em pé em solidariedade com Privado Bradley Manning porque estou indignada com o tratamento dado a Manning privados, presumivelmente um homem inocente, por um governo que alega-se ser algum "farol" do mundo civilizado. Bradley Manning foi realizada em solidariedade em Quantico, outros locais, e agora, em Fort Leavenworth no Kansas há mais de dois anos, e foi detido sem julgamento por mais tempo, como o governo e os seus militares tentam colar um caso juntos. O militar, e seus capangas do Departamento de Justiça, ter chegado mais tortuoso embora não mais inteligente desde que eu era um soldado em sua mira mais de quarenta anos atrás.

Muitos de nós nos tornamos um pouco acostumados com os constantes casos de bota comportamento tortuoso por parte dos militares americanos em lugares como Guantánamo, Bagram e outros locais de segurança nacional buraco da caixa negra contra os estrangeiros. Nós também nos tornamos acostumados, ou pelo menos já não surpreso, quando cidadãos americanos civis estão sujeitos a tais ações, e mais provável de morte. No entanto, as alegações como recentes de pré-julgamento conduta torturante tolerada pela autoridade militar de alta (ver as alegações e de movimento para destituir cobrado no site da Rede Bradley Manning Support) pela Privado civil de Manning advogado de defesa David Coombs deixar claro, estes actos não se limitam à nacionais e estrangeiros americano cidadãos civis. A tortura de Manning privados um soldado americano pelo governo americano deve dar a todos nós uma pausa. E deve ter-nos gritando para os céus para a sua libertação.
Estas são razões mais do que suficientes para se solidarizar com Manning privada e será até o dia deste bravo soldado é libertado por seus carcereiros. E eu vou continuar a se solidarizar com orgulho Manning privada até o grande dia.

exorto todos a assinar a petição exortando os militares americanos a livre Privada Bradley Manning seja aqui ou no site da Rede de Apoio Bradley Manning. E se não podemos chegar Manning Privada libertou dessa forma peço a todos para começar uma campanha em sua área de chamar o presidente Barack Obama, ou quem quer que seja presidente, enquanto Manning está preso e privado, para perdoar este soldado valente. O presidente americano tem a autoridade constitucional para conceder perdão ao culpado e inocente, o condenado e as acusações que enfrentam. Eu chamo ao Presidente Obama para perdoar Manning privados agora.

Retirada incondicional imediata de todas as tropas dos EUA / Aliados e mercenários do Afeganistão! Hands Off Irã! Manning Privado Grátis Agora! Presidente Manning Perdão Obama privada!

Dernières nouvelles de l'appui soldat Bradley Manning Manning Réseau sans Bradley maintenant! Le président Obama Pardonnez-Bradley Manning

Cliquez sur le titre pour créer un lien vers le réseau privé Bradley Manning soutien pour les dernières informations sur son cas et ses activités sur son nom.

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Nous internationale du mouvement anti-guerre n'étaient pas en mesure de faire beaucoup pour affecter l'administration Bush-Obama la guerre en Irak ou le calendrier, à compter de maintenant, l'Afghanistan un, mais nous pouvons sauver le seul héros de cette guerre, soldat américain Bradley Manning privé. Le cas Manning juridique et soldat Manning en tant qu'individu d'un courage exceptionnel, peut et doit servir à rallier tous ceux qui recherchent une façon concrète d'exprimer leur indignation contre la guerre à la persistance des politiques américaines de guerre atroces impériales. Le message ci-dessous peut servir de justification continue pour mon (et votre) soutien à cette dénonciation honorable.
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Ce qui suit est une remarque que j'ai été axés sur la construction de la fin du soutien à la cause soldat Manning, à l' stand-out, des marches et des rassemblements. Combattants pour la Paix se dresse fièrement en signe de solidarité avec et pour la défense de, soldat Manning Bradley.

Je suis debout dans la solidarité avec les agissements présumés du soldat Bradley Manning à mettre en lumière, juste un peu de lumière, quelques-unes des malveillantes liées à la guerre agissements de ce gouvernement, sous Bush et Obama. Ces bits d'information précieuses fuites à Wikileaks sur les soldats américains commettent des atrocités de la guerre en Irak comme la chronique dans la bande connue sur YouTube comme «Assassiner Collateral" et l'Irak et les journaux de guerre afghans. S'il a fait de tels actes ne sont pas un crime. Aucun crime du tout dans mes yeux ou aux yeux de la grande majorité des gens qui savent de l'affaire et de son importance comme un acte individuel de résistance aux injustes et barbares dirigées par les Américains guerres en Irak et en Afghanistan. Je dors un peu plus facile ces jours-ci ombre sachant que soldat Manning ont pu exposer ce que nous savions tous, ou aurait dû savoir-la guerre en Irak et les justifications de guerre afghans reposait sur une maison boniments de cartes. Gun-toting de l'impérialisme américain flim-flam château de cartes, mais les cartes quand même.

Je suis debout dans la solidarité avec le soldat Bradley Manning, parce que je suis outré par le traitement infligé à Manning privé, probablement un homme innocent, par un gouvernement qui prétend lui-même avoir une certaine «phare» du monde civilisé. Bradley Manning a été organisé en solidarité à Quantico, d'autres endroits, et maintenant, à Fort Leavenworth au Kansas depuis plus de deux ans, et a été détenu sans procès pendant plus longtemps, alors que le gouvernement et son armée essayez de coller une affaire ensemble. L'armée et ses sbires dans le département de la Justice, ont obtenu plus sournois mais pas plus intelligent depuis que je suis un soldat dans leur ligne de mire plus de quarante ans.

Beaucoup d'entre nous sont devenus quelque peu habitués aux situations comparables de botte comportement tortueux de la part de l'armée américaine dans des endroits comme Guantanamo, Bagram et d'autres emplacements nationaux de sécurité enfer boîte noire contre des ressortissants étrangers. Nous sommes également devenus insensibles, ou du moins ne m'étonne plus, lorsque les citoyens américains civils sont soumis à de telles actions, et plus probablement mort. Cependant, les allégations que ces dernières avant le procès conduite tortueuse tolérée par l'autorité militaire de haut (voir les allégations et les mouvements de rejeter chargée sur le site Bradley Manning Support Network) par le Soldat civil de Manning avocat de la défense David Coombs clairement, ces actes ne sont pas limités à nationaux et étrangers citoyens américains civils. La torture de soldat Manning un soldat américain par le gouvernement américain devrait nous donner à tous une pause. Et aurait dû nous en criant vers le ciel pour sa libération.

Ce sont des raisons plus que suffisantes pour rester debout dans la solidarité avec soldat Manning et sera jusqu'au jour où ce brave soldat est libéré par ses geôliers. Et je vais continuer à manifester leur solidarité avec fierté soldat Manning jusqu'à ce grand jour.

J'invite tout le monde à signer la pétition demandant à l'armée américaine pour libérer soldat Manning Bradley soit ici ou sur le site Web de Bradley Manning Support Network. Et si nous ne pouvons obtenir soldat Manning libéré de cette façon je vous exhorte tous à commencer une campagne dans votre région pour demander au président Barack Obama, le président ou la personne qui en soldat Manning est incarcéré, de pardonner à ce brave soldat. Le président américain a le pouvoir constitutionnel d'accorder le pardon aux coupables et innocents, les condamnés et les accusations qui pèsent contre. Je demande au président Obama de gracier soldat Manning maintenant.

Immédiate retrait inconditionnel de toutes les troupes américaines / Allied et des mercenaires en Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran! Libre soldat Manning maintenant! Manning Président Obama Pardon privé!

The Latest From The Private Bradley Manning Support Network-Free Bradley Manning Now! President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning

The Latest From The Private Bradley Manning Support Network-Free Bradley Manning Now! President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning-

http://www.bradleymanning.org/

Click on the headline to link to the Private Bradley Manning Support Network for the latest information on his case and activities on his behalf .
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We of the international anti-war movement were not able to do much to affect the Bush- Obama Iraq war timetable or, as of now, the Afghanistan one, but we can save the one hero of that war, American soldier Private Bradley Manning. The Manning legal case, and Private Manning as an exceptionally brave individual, can and should serve to rally all those looking for a concrete way to express their anti-war outrage at the continuing atrocious American imperial war policies. The message below can serve as a continuing rationale for my (and your) support to this honorable whistleblower.
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The following are remarks that I have been focusing on of late to build support for Private Manning’s cause at stand-outs, marches and rallies.

Veterans for Peace proudly stands in solidarity with, and in defense of, Private Bradley Manning.

I stand in solidarity with the alleged actions of Private Bradley Manning in bringing to light, just a little light, some of the nefarious war-related doings of this government, under Bush and Obama. Those precious bits of information leaked to Wikileaks about American soldiers committing war atrocities in Iraq as chronicled in the tape known on YouTube as “Collateral Murder” and the Iraq and Afghan War Diaries. If he did such acts they are no crime. No crime at all in my eyes or in the eyes of the vast majority of people who know of the case and of its importance as an individual act of resistance to the unjust and barbaric American-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I sleep just a shade bit easier these days knowing that Private Manning may have exposed what we all knew, or should have known- the Iraq war and the Afghan war justifications rested on a flim-flam house of cards. American imperialism’s gun-toting flim-flam house of cards, but cards nevertheless.

I am standing in solidarity with Private Bradley Manning because I am outraged by the treatment meted out to Private Manning, presumably an innocent man, by a government who alleges itself to be some “beacon” of the civilized world. Bradley Manning has been held in solidarity at Quantico, other locales, and now at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas for over two years, and has been held without trial for longer, as the government and its military try to glue a case together. The military, and its henchmen in the Justice Department, have gotten more devious although not smarter since I was a soldier in their crosshairs over forty years ago.

Many of us have become somewhat inured to the constant cases of jackboot torturous behavior on the part of the American military in places like Guantanamo, Bagram and other national security hellhole black box locations against foreign nationals. We have also become inured, or at least no longer surprised, when American civilian citizens are subject to such actions, and more likely death. However, as recent allegations of pre-trial torturous conduct condoned by high military authority (see the allegations and motion to dismiss charged on the Bradley Manning Support Network website) by Private Manning’s civilian defense lawyer David Coombs make clear, those acts are not confined to foreign nationals and American civilian citizens. The torture of Private Manning, an American soldier, by the American government should give us all pause. And should have us shouting to the heavens for his release.

These are more than sufficient reasons to stand in solidarity with Private Manning and will be until the day this brave soldier is freed by his jailers. And I will continue to stand in proud solidarity with Private Manning until that great day.

I urge everyone to sign the petition calling on the American military to free Private Bradley Manning either here or on the Bradley Manning Support Network website. And if we cannot get Private Manning freed that way I urge everyone to begin a campaign in your area to call on President Barack Obama, or whoever is president while Private Manning is incarcerated, to pardon this brave soldier. The American president has the constitutional authority to grant pardons to the guilty and innocent, the convicted and those facing charges. I call on President Obama to pardon Private Manning now.

Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal of All U.S./Allied Troops And Mercenaries From Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran! Free Private Manning Now! President Obama Pardon Private Manning!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin- The Dance Of The Red Death- James M. Cain’s “Double Indemnity”

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry foe James M. Cain’s classic crime noir novel Double Indemnity.

Book Review

Double Indemnity, James M. Cain, Avon Books, 1943

No question I am under the spell of 1930s crime novelist James M Cain having recently watched Billy Wilder’s 1944 film adaptation of his Double Indemnity starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck and as a result went back to re-read the novella. So part of this review will be a comparison of the two way of presenting a first-rate crime noir and part will be an argument for someone to take up the challenge of doing a remake of that film hewing closer to the line put down by Cain in the book.

Of course one does not need James M. Cain (or contemporaries Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and a few other crime novelists of note) to tell us that crime does not pay, does not pay in the short or long haul as the story line unfolds here. We were mother-wise (or made mother-wise) to that when we were in diapers (and maybe before). Moreover one does not need Brother Cain to pick seemingly average, if perhaps not Iowa-Nebraska corn field normal, 1930s proto-types that inhabited the Southern California landscape before the Joads and the okie arkie invasion scrambled everything up to populate his story. Characters confronted by the end of the road ocean frontier swallowed up a couple of generations of wanderers, card sharks, swindlers, confidence men (and women), faith healers, shakers, quakers, wild boys looking for highway kicks, midnight shifters, drifters and grifters and created California modern. But it does take James M Cain to probe the depths of those two themes, the interaction between them and what kind of red death hell broth mix ensued.

Oh yes, and maybe throw some dough, some serious 1930s dough although every schoolboy (or girl) today would laugh at what the protagonists went through for allowance money. Today it would have to be billions in order to draw the latest generation away from texting or whatever the hell it is that they are doing. So Walter (an insurance guy, naturally since that is where some dough could be found, some dough short of armed bank robberies) and a very married Phyllis, who just happens to be a bored and underappreciated housewife married to a wrong gee, a wrong gee for her. So dough, passion (maybe, maybe for Walter), hell, just ennui and you have all the ingredients for one very dead husband. Damn let’s call it by its right name. Murder, murder pure and simple and the devil take the hinter post. Well we know the end because we know crime doesn’t pay. But what we don’t know is how our two lovebirds will “take the gaff” when insurance companies and cops start eating away at their stories. And eating away at their “love.”

That is where the film and book part company a little. In the end they are going to turn on each other for a simple reason-to shut the other one up and get away clean. But the film just kind of glances at those betrayals and the implication that there is more to Phyllis’ story that just a new found passion for fast-talking insurance salesmen. She has a past and while we can’t blame Walter for being bewitched by whatever fragrance she was swearing he might have dug a little deeper into her biography. No question. The book, more interestingly, gives Phyllis a whole rather bizarre back story, a story that we today have no trouble seeing as pathological, hell, psycho. A ritualistic return to some ancient blood red dance of death most powerfully displayed in the book’s last pages just as the moon rears its head to give its blessing. That almost involuntary activity on Phyllis’ part with Walter dragged in would create a very compelling finish to what otherwise might today just be seen as another ho-hum insurance scam. Somebody should re-write that old film script with Cain’s novella in his or her lap.

From #Un-Occupied Boston (#Un-Tomemonos Boston)-What Happens When We Do Not Learn The Lessons Of History- The Pre-1848 Socialist Movement

Click on the headline to link to the Occupy Boston General Assembly Minutes website. Occupy Boston started at 6:00 PM, September 30, 2011.

Markin comment:

I will post any updates from that Occupy Boston site if there are any serious discussions of the way forward for the Occupy movement or, more importantly, any analysis of the now atrophied and dysfunctional General Assembly concept. In the meantime I will continue with the “Lessons From History ’’series started in the fall of 2011 with Karl Marx’s The Civil War In France-1871 (The defense of the Paris Commune). Right now this series is focused on the European socialist movement before the Revolutions of 1848.

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An Injury To One Is An Injury To All!-Defend The Occupy Movement And All Occupiers! Drop All Charges Against All Occupy Protesters Everywhere!

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Fight-Don’t Starve-We Created The Wealth, Let's Take It Back! Labor And The Oppressed Must Rule!
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A Five-Point Program As Talking Points

*Jobs For All Now!-“30 For 40”- A historic demand of the labor movement. Thirty hours work for forty hours pay to spread the available work around. Organize the unorganized- Organize the South- Organize Wal-Mart- Defend the right for public and private workers to unionize.

* Defend the working classes! No union dues for Democratic (or the stray Republican) candidates. Spent the dough instead on organizing the unorganized and on other labor-specific causes (good example, the November, 2011 anti-union recall referendum in Ohio, bad example the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall race in June 2012).

*End the endless wars!- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Afghanistan! Hands Off Pakistan! Hands Off Iran! U.S. Hands Off The World!

*Fight for a social agenda for working people!. Quality Healthcare For All! Nationalize the colleges and universities under student-teacher-campus worker control! Forgive student debt! Stop housing foreclosures!

*We created the wealth, let’s take it back. Take the struggle for our daily bread off the historic agenda. Build a workers party that fights for a workers government to unite all the oppressed.

Emblazon on our red banner-Labor and the oppressed must rule!