Iraq Moratorium: Cornwall Edition - Latest & Highlighted Discussions

Marriage Makes a Word of Difference May 10 at Town Hall

Nancy — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:17:27 GMT

Since someone put the trailer for Love Makes a Family's new film, "Marriage Makes a Word of Difference," on this site, I want to let everyone know that the Litchfield County premiere will be at our own Cornwall Town Hall on May 10 from 4-6:30 p.m. Some of the couples featured in the film will be there to speak and answer questions. Afterwards, there will be discussion and of course FOOD! We thought this would be especially appropriate since it's Mother's Day weekend. Please spread the word and come if you can.

Nancy Dart

Why are we not having hearings?

Glenn — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:02:25 GMT

Bush uses Signing Statements to keep permanent bases in Iraq.

This from Firedog Lake...any comments?

Glenn — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:29:49 GMT

The United States military could stay in Iraq for "maybe a hundred years" and that "would be fine with me," John McCain told two hundred or so people at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, on Jan 3. And U.S. troops could be in Iraq for "a thousand years" or "a million years," as far as he was concerned.

This, of course, would be fine if you have absolutely no grasp of reality:

Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.

At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began. Last year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted suicide, compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan.

The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued far longer than anticipated...

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed severe stress on the Army, caused in part by repeated and lengthened deployments. Historically, suicide rates tend to decrease when soldiers are in conflicts overseas, but that trend has reversed in recent years. From a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2001 -- the lowest rate on record -- the Army reached an all-time high of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006.

And yet, under Bush -- now ending further troop cuts in Iraq -- the war goes ever on, and McCain's platform is that it will go on forever until there is the never achieved and never defined victory, and all other courses are defeat.

How many suicide notes should be passed on to him directly?

local impeachment hearings

Charlie — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:57:30 GMT

This is my first effort to use "this" X or Y. . . hope it's not annoying to "email the entire group immediately"!

I'd like to communicate with anyone who wants to initiate local impeachment hearings at their town hall, the high school, the nearest law school or community college, wherever. If we don't use impeachment hearings to get our Constitution back, signing up for the Iraq Moratorium is like signing up to be visited by Blackwater employees 6 weeks or 6 months or a year or two from now. Democracy is being shut down systematically in the USA and all this primary froth and fever is a distraction from the ongoing reality of no habeus corpus, no privacy, no bill of rights, no home security, no homeland security, no Constitutional protections, no Ninth Amendment rights, etc.

I try to put usefull information, poems, proposals, into the conservingconsensus.us blog most days and any comments most welcome.

Dody's report to the National Iraq Moratorium

Glenn — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:42:17 GMT

Cornwall CT US Iraq Moratorium: Cornwall Edition Go to Event Donations: $ 101

Because of the holiday season we were a little afraid that not many people would come to our event. Since we had asked Elliott Adams, president of Vets For Peace, to drive a ways and because a very favorite local vet was our other speaker we worked harder on outreach. We got a letter to the editor of a local paper describing the Moratorium and announcing our event. We not only got fliers posted in local shops…at least 70, we also talked to people every where we went about the growing moratorium. We learned alot about what people are thinking about the war around here.

We were surprised and pleased at the turnout. About 65 people assembled at the Town Hall on the shortest day of the year.

Elliott Adams called for building an antiwar movement that doesn’t just look big but is big. This makes the task of talking with our neighbors and encouraging them to act as well crucial. The struggle isn’t just to end the war but to preserve democracy itself. The way to do that is to act. Democracy is not given to us by the government…it is an attitude, even a verb.

Dave Cadwell, a medic in the Viet Nam war, came to similar conclusions from a different angle. He had some great quotes that turned out to be from local people we all know.
This emphasizes that every one of us has a meaningful part to play.

We had a good discussion from a varied crowd with cider and cookies afterwards.

Harold Burbank -- Friday's meeting

Gale — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:58:13 GMT

I just wanted to thank Doty and Jeremy and whoever else was responsible for putting together the group and bringing Harold Burbank to speak to us. I have to confess that —things being as they are—the tentacles of despair have been tugging at me lately. It was really inspiring, uplifting and energizing to hear Harold talk and know that he’s willing to spend his time and energy to put himself out there to speak about truth and justice. I’m ready to help in any way I can. I haven’t been doing any local reporting since taking on a staff position, but I plan to do a story with him, hopefully over the weekend, and I’ll let everyone know when it’s posted so you can distribute it to your lists and start getting the word out. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” Martin Luther King said.
Here’s to bending the arc a bit!

Dave Cadwell in this week's Lakeville Journal

Glenn — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:59:35 GMT

Read the Lakeville Journal article on Dave Cadwell and Tom Brokaw’s new book!

Of course they want to privatize the military

Glenn — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:04:15 GMT

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case.
I call it murder. Of course, the article goes on to say: “Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek indictments, and some officials have expressed pessimism that adequate criminal laws exist to enable them to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal wrongdoing. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. declined to discuss the matter.”
No accountability…It seems to be a theme.
And then there’s this conflict of interest
Where on earth is the oversight?

Read the one-pager on the legislation authorizing Warrantless Wiretapping

Glenn — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:50:43 GMT

Read it here on ACLU

Can Democrats muster enough votes to pass $50 billion funding bill?

Glenn — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:46:14 GMT

Read the article on Huffington Post

What do you think?
Have you made any phone calls to Congress to express your views?

50 Words

Glenn — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:11:11 GMT

Give us your 50 words

We invite everyone in Cornwall to post a short note – no more than 50 words – about their current thoughts and feelings about the Iraq war and what ordinary citizens should be doing about it.

Dody forwarded me this post, so please take a moment to add a response.

50 words. It’s a short paragraph! That’s all.

Here’s mine:
I can never think of just one reason why I am 100% opposed to this war. Ultimately, I guess it’s that people are dying so those who entertain delusions of grandeur can further their own agenda.
Remember that when George Bush took office oil was trading at $28.00 a barrel.

Possible projects for Third Friday

Glenn — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:13:32 GMT

Here is where we can start a list of ideas.