EllaGoes.com

Dead Fish - Dead Turtles

Earlier this spring, Ella and I were walking around the lake across from our house. A kid who was down by the edge of the lake shouted "Hey lady - there are like a thousand dead fish down here."
He was exaggerating - but just a little.

The view from the shore was phenomenal and creepy. Hundreds of fish, ranging in size from three inch sunnies to 20" Channel Catfish, were floating dead in the lake.
Obviously there was a fairly substantial problem, so I wrote an email inquiry (Download powderhorn_lake_discussion.pdf )to local City and MPRB (MInneapolis Park and Rec. Board) officials.

In short, the official response is that:

a) This was a MN DNR action to eradicate an invasive plant from the lake

b) The public was notified of the pending action through a press release (generated by the DNR with no mention of a fish kill, or other issues besides the plan to eradicate the invasive plant).

Basically, this was an MPRB in-house operation. There was no real effort made to notify the community directly impacted, nor the greater Minneapolis area

And that is not how good government works. Successful outcomes are a result of community engagement and involvement - even when that makes a project a bit more complicated.

So we  have called a meeting (Download dead_fish.pdf) . Join us tomorrow night - Wednesday, April 30, at 6:30 in the Powderhorn Park Rec. Center. It is your opportunity to as questions of MPRB officials regarding what has happened to the lake, as well as what future plans are. Below are questions which have already  been sent to MPRB:

- Will there be follow-up measures in the spring? If so, what?
- Is MPRB or DNR the decision-making body re: Powderhorn Lake?
- What is the plan for public notification going forward?
- Were frogs or other marsh animals affected?
- Powderhorn Park supports a unique and diverse wildlife population. What is the
Potential impact from the MPRB/DNR project to non-aquatic animals in around the lake i.e. wood ducks, kingfishers, coopers hawks, and any other animal that depends on the lake for all or part of its subsistence.

Think about what questions you'd like to ask, and we will see you Wednesday.

Jack Is Back

The Minnesota 2008 Senate race finally has a Peace Candidate. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer has officially entered, and is challenging Norm Coleman (R), for the seat formerly held by Paul Wellstone. He is challenging Al Franken, Mike Ciresi and Jim Cohen for the DFL endorsement.
Jack is a professor of Justice and Peace Studies at St Thomas University in St. Paul, MN.
It is appropriate that a highly qualified and experienced professor from a small Minnesotan liberal arts college reclaims the seat held for two terms by a highly qualified and experienced professor from a small Minnesotan liberal arts college.
Norm Coleman holds the senate seat due to a tragic plane crash that took Senator Wellstone, his family and staff, just thirteen days before the 2002 election. Coleman's six year tenure has been a devastating failure.
Be a part of history - take responsibility for positive change. Jack is an ideal candidate - learn everything you can about him. Support him.

"What I did on my summer break..."

Ella has been going and doing lots...and her mom has been doing a poor job of documenting our travels and projects. Here is a re-cap of spring and summer.
In early April, Ella and I drove down to Crawford, Tx for Easter at Camp Casey.  We co-organized and participated in a 24 hour Vigil for Peace outside of Senator Coleman’s office. We camped, visited farms, played with friends, and hiked in State and National Parks. We spent lots of time at the zoo, swimming at the Y and playing in neighborhood parks.
And, as Ella would say: “we’ve been workin’ for peace.”
There is a new photo album with pics from our summer – we’ll be adding to that.
We will follow-up with posts that go into detail about some of our summer projects and experiences.
Hope you all had a beautiful summer.
Peace and love.

Arrests in Senator Coleman's Office

The Occupation Project came to a close last week. The majority of Minnesota's' elected officials opened and/or continued a dialogue with their constituents on the topic of the Iraq War. Some who were not talking about the war decided to convene Town Hall Forums - even Rep. Kline (R - MN 2nd).
But not Senator Norm Coleman (R - MN). Although we had spent the previous eight weeks sitting vigil in his office, the Senator could find no compelling reason to convene a Town Hall Forum. In fact, he wrote a letter to us stating that we were welcome to attend any Forums and ask questions on any issues that were relevant to his office.
And at that point, we decided that we would not leave his office until he agreed to talk to his constituents about the Iraq War. This topic is too big to be treated "politically" - the Senator is avoiding a conversation because he is headed into a difficult, uphill reelection bid. He does not want to speak publicly about how he has supported the Bush Administration at every opportunity because his constituents have opposed President Bush's destructive War Policy. 
So his office decided to have us arrested instead.

Here is Sister Betty McKenzie in handcuffs while we were still in the Senate Office waiting to be transported to St Paul for processing.

And in the background, you can see the other dangerous agitators.
Polling consistently shows that Americans do not support the Bush Administrations War Policy. Yet Senator Coleman would rather have twelve constituents arrested than talk to us about an issue that is politically dangerous due to his voting record. No spin can make that look good.

The Occupation Project

The Occupation Project: Minnesota

Minnesotans began our vigil in Senate and Congressional district offices on Tuesday, Feb. 6th

We had a strong turnout in both Senator Coleman's and Senator Klobuchar's office, as well as offices for seven or the eight Congressional Districts. Congressman Keith Ellison has already stated that he will not vote for continued funding of the war in Iraq.

During the course of the day, 30 constituents sat in the lobby of Senator Coleman's office. Our contingent included a member of Military Families Speak Out and her son (pictured above), as well as other committed peace and social justice activists. Some of our actions included displaying signs with personal messages, reading names of Americans and Iraqis killed since March 2003 and submitting personal statements to the Senator.

I played the Vote Vets ad on my computer. Vote Vets targeted Norm Coleman (MN), Susan M. Collins (ME) and John Warner (VA) in television ads played during the Super Bowl last Sunday. 

2nd CD Rep. John Kline wins for "least hospitable office" in the state. When constituents from his district arrived at his Burnsville office they were told to leave and the police were called. Constituents were told that the 2nd Congressional District office was private property - a claim that police repeated - and they were told to leave or be arrested.

As this is an eight week campaign. There will likely be more developments regarding Rep. Kline's office and status of constituent access.
 

Ms. Molly Ivins

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, “Stop it, now!”

                                                                                - molly ivins 1/26 Enough is Enough

Bless her soul, I love this woman. Honestly.

Ms. Molly Ivins has passed. But she has left an invaluable record for us all to reflect on. Her words and works are inspirational, as is the furiously happy way she attacked life.

Speaking truth to power is the best job in any democracy, she explained.

"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."

                                                        - excerpt from John Nichols piece in The Nation.

Minnesota Public Radio ran excerpts from two appearances - one in 1997 another in 2002 this afternoon. There are countless other tributes to be found today. But the best tribute to Ms. Molly is spend a few minutes reading Enough is Enough which was published six days ago.

Then go do something, make change, raise hell. And do it with joy in your soul, a smile on your face and the confidence that you are right.

1/29 - National Call In Day

Today - Monday, Jan. 29th is National Call In Day. Call Congress: Cut Funding For War.

Call, email, write...tell them that the majority of Americans do not support this war. Tell them to bring our troops home. Tell them to use funds to support our veterans and their families, and to use peaceful means and international diplomacy to foster peace in the Middle East and around the world.

Why Protest?

Yesterday was a good day. It was cold (here, at least), but that did not stop 400 or more people from hitting the streets of Minneapolis. We filled the intersection of 26th and Franklin, as well as a block north to the Hwy 94 overpass. To date, I have not heard as much "solidarity honking" as I did on Saturday. The six lanes of I94 was a cacophony of sound. There were great actions all across the country - coast to coast - people standing-up and demanding an end to the Bush Administration's war policy.

Those of us in the Twin Cities had a bone-numbing motivation that sent us out the door Saturday morning. On the front page of the StarTribune was the story of Jonathan Schulze, a 25 year old marine who had served in Iraq.

Jonathan Schulze suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. According to the article:

He sobbed on his parents' couch as he told them how fellow Marines had died, and how he, a machine gunner, had killed the enemy. In his sleep, he screamed the names of dead comrades. He had visited a psychiatrist at the VA hospital in Minneapolis.

But when this young man sought help at the local VA hospital, he was told there was no room. he was placed #26 on the waiting list. Four days later he committed suicide.

How is it, again, that we are appropriating money to deploy an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq when we cannot appropriately fund the hospitals these men and women need upon return?

This war is wrong. The overwhelming majority of Americans know it is wrong. Where is everybody? There should have been 10,000 people on our intersection in Minneapolis. There should have been one million or more in DC. There should be tens of thousands standing-up for Lt. Watada and others who refuse to participate in this immoral war.

There is no more time to sit on the sidelines. Everybody needs to do something - demonstrate, write letters to congress, write to local papers...be creative or mundane, just do something.

Protests today

Today, Saturday, Jan. 27th, people around the country and world will call-out for Peace. There is the national march in Washington DC, as well as local events in cities and towns across the country.

Most events start between 11am and 1pm. Find time to be present, to be counted and to be heard.

And have fun doing it. Remember that although we are fighting an uphill battle over media coverage and political games, we are the Majority Voice. We are the voice of Peace. We are the voices calling to stop violence and save lives. We are calling for an honest dialogue, fairness, peace and social justice.

Follow-up with your local media. Watch the news and read the paper. If your event was not covered, call and ask why, and write and editorial. If it was covered well, write a letter of thanks or a commentary letter.

Every single person needs to be more accountable in making sure our message is heard. The first step is being at an event, so BE THERE. The next step is to make sure the mainstream media is fairly and accurately tracking this movement.

Be the Change. Peace.

Camp Resistance

re·sist·er:

Function: noun

one that resists; especially : one who actively opposes the policies of a government

I received a text message from my friend, Dennis Kyne, two weeks ago. Dennis and the rest of IVAW Deployed have parked their bus outside the gates of Ft. Lewis, Washington and established Camp Resistance. They are supporting Lt. Ehren Watada - the first commissioned officer who has refused deployment to Iraq.

Lt. Watada needs you. The U.S. Army will begin a court martial on Monday, Feb. 5th - we need to show our support for him. As the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq, he is the first leader to put himself on the line because he will not lead troops to war.

Go to Camp Resistance between now and Feb. 5th. Or set-up a FOB (Forward Operating Base) in your town.

Polling shows that, by far, the majority of Americans do not support the Iraq War. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press asked in a Jan. 2007 poll:

"Now thinking about the benefits to the U.S. of succeeding in Iraq versus the costs the U.S. would have to bear to achieve them, do you think the benefits outweigh the costs, or the costs outweigh the benefits?"

31% of respondents felt that the benefits outweighed the costs. While more than double - 65% - felt that the cost of this war outweighs the benefits. That is 180 Million Americans who no longer buy into the disastrous war policy of the Bush Administration. If you are one of those 180 Million, do something.

Go to Camp Resistance. Set-up a Camp Resistance FOB in your area. Write a letter of support for Lt. Watada and all the other war resisters. Write to your congressperson, your president, your family members and neighbors. Talk to everyone you can about how wrong this war policy is.

Be accountable, be responsible and be the change. Peace.