Peacecast

This is a podcast of the full (unedited) FIERY 4th JULY SPEECH given by AFL-CIO union organizer STUART ACUFF (12 min, 2 MB; 32 kbps/24 kHz mp3). Stuart Acuff spoke at the Eastern Maine Labor Council in Brewer, Maine on 7/4/2006. A slightly-edited video version is here at Deep Blade Journal.

Order through McIntire Publishing

Energy thinker and solar developer JOHN G. HOWE spoke on THE END OF FOSSIL ENERGY (56 min; 12 MB; 32 kbps/24 kHz mp3) at the Good Life Center in Harborside, Maine on June 26, 2006 as part of the Center’s Monday night summer series.

This is a serious program on our very critical energy situation. Even so, it is not without moments of levity. The fossil fuel situation is grim while most in America seem aloof and deluded. John pulls no punches on various alternative fuel schemes.

John meets the energy challenge head on with facts, figures, and rays of hope. He describes a potenially sunny solar future if we can get together on a plan to greatly lower overall energy consumption. It is our last chance for our advanced civilization to survive. But people better start waking up if we are to deal effectively with the colossal energy crisis that surely is just around the corner.

This audience at the former homestead of the late Helen & Scott Nearing surely is awake. The questions are intelligent and that keeps the discussion engaging throughout the program.

“You have to put numbers on these delusions.'’

–John Howe

We are pleased and excited to present this podcast of the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine annual General Assembly program featuring an inspiring talk by world-recognized peace activist MEDEA BENJAMIN (73 min; 17 MB; 32 kbps/24kHz mp3). Medea spoke at Wellman Commons on the old campus of the Bangor Theological Seminary, Bangor, Maine on Thursday May 11, 2006.

Medea visited us on her way to a Mother’s Day weekend vigil at the White House for a Mother’s nationwide call for peace in Iraq and Iran including Susan Sarandon, Cindy Sheehan, Randi Rhodes, Dolores Huerta, and Patch Adams.

Original Mother’s Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.”

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Julia Ward Howe
Boston, 1870

Peacecast.us is a project of Eric & Tammy Perry Olson. It is associated with the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine through our volunteer activities. Today we are adding a plea for help in funding Peacecast operations.

Recently, we have taken the initiative to greatly upgrade our audio production capabilities. The first fruit of this effort has already appeared on the site–the excellent 85-min podcast featuring Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobzang Tsetan. Even those of you who attended this wonderful event will appreciate the easy-to-listen-to recording.

Don’t you think it’s worth making a small donation–$5 to $25 per user is the appropriate range–to help us maintain this site and improve our production capabilities?

Over the last three months, we have invested nearly $3000 in mikes, cables, a small video camera, recording boxes, and software we use for producing the programs you can download freely from this site. Our initial goal is to raise $1000 in order to defray this cost.

Does that sound reasonable? Do you like what you hear when you download? Please help. Please click the PayPal “Donate'’ button at right and follow the instructions. You may use your PayPal account, or just supply a credit card number if you do not have PayPal. It’s fast and easy. Please help. Thank you!

This is an external podcast from the City Club of Cleveland. US REPRESENTATIVE JOHN MURTHA 4/7/2006 (19MB, 56 min; 48kbps/44kHz mp3).

This talk just played on Maine Public Radio. Murtha can’t stand what this crazy occupation of Iraq is doing to our troops, it’s heartbreaking…

On Tuesday April 18, 2006, Tibetan Buddhist monk KHEN RINPOCHE GESHE LOBZANG TSETAN spoke (85 min, 38 MB; 64 kbps/48 kHz mp3) in Bangor, Maine on “Finding Inner Peace in a Time of Conflict.”

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobzang Tsetan

This program was sponsored by the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine. Professor Doug Allen of the Peace Center and the University of Maine Department of Philosophy assists in the presentation and Sonja Peronsky introduces the speaker.

From the flyer for the event:

GESHE LOBZANG TSETAN is a Tibetan Buddhist Monk of the Gelug-pa lineage (the same as the Dalai Lama), with the highest degree obtainable in Tibetan Buddhist metaphysics and philosophy. He began his monastic life at age 7. Geshe-la left Tibet in 1960, after the Chinese occupation made it impossible for him to continue his studies there. In the late 1970’s he was invited to the USA where he learned English, and taught classes at the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in NJ, Smith College, Bates College, Hampshire College, Wesleyan University, and conferences at Harvard and Princeton. In 1995, Geshe Tsetan founded The Siddhartha School in his native home in Ladakh. H.H. Dalai Lama, appointed Geshe Tsetan to be the Khenchen or head Abbot of the new Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in India. His new title is Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobzang Tsetan. For more information on this go to the website: www.tashilhunpo.org.

This was an amazing, wonderful event. Even those who attended in person will appreciate this podcast of the program because the cavernous echoes in the church made listening difficult. We were forced to move there after the crowd of over 120 people overwhelmed the Peace Center. For this recording Geshe Lobzang Tsetan was close-miked and the sound of his voice is especially clear in the playback, while the echoes are much muted.

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobzang Tsetan:

… In Buddhism [it is] important to work for the benefit of all sentient beings. Buddha learned during his meditation that all sentient beings become our mothers.

Buddha found in the meditation there is no creator, no beginning. So in beginningless time, we circle in the ocean of [cyclic?] existence under the control of our anger attachment. That you’re learning under the control of [anger attachment], that creates the karma, that in Buddhism is our own karma. The creator is our own karma, not the outside creator.

What creates our own karma? The karma… anger, attachment, … is what you are going to receive–you’re going to receive the suffering, problems, difficulties. That is when you’re inner peace aware. When you don’t have inner-peace aware, you have to suffer.

So therefore, Buddha said, you really want to [have] inner peace. You should learn to stop anger, attachment…

Alex Grab of the University of Maine Department of History speaks on POST-ELECTION ISRAEL (73 min, 17 MB; 32 kbps/24 kHz mp3) in this insightful podcast. Alex is from Israel and has been on the Maine faculty for many years.

Alex referrs to this map of Israel/Palestine with settlements indicated

“The ball is in the Israeli court because Israel is simply so much more powerful, and is the occupying force. So I demand more from Israel…”

See how many of the SMALL CLIPS (3 min; 1 MB; 80 kbps/44.1kHz mp3) you can identify and leave a comment with your answer. Some of them come from files available on this site. I hesitate to call this a game, since many of these are very disturbing.

Here is audio only from the 2004 Maine PBS INTERVIEW WITH THE LATE CASPAR WEINBERGER ( 4 MB; 21 min; 32 kbps/24 kHz mp3), former defense secretary in the Reagan administration.

With the death of Caspar Weinberger in Bangor, Maine on March 28, the Maine Public TV program MaineWatch had reason to dig out and re-broadcast this interview. It forms excellent hagiography since Weinberger is allowed to hold court over essential issues of war and peace with a long string of highly dubious claims, but with nary a whisper of challenge from the interviewer, the former Ms. Charlotte Renner (now Charlotte Albright).

Even though Mr. Weinberger presents some incredible claims–that the people who bombed the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were “still getting paid by Saddam Hussein’s government,'’ for example–Ms. Albright failed even to ask for a source regarding the claim.

Perhaps my favorite quote from the entire interview is Weinberger’s absolutism concerning the former Iraqi president that, “you can’t deal with people like that, you can’t negotiate with liars.'’

Of course, one of Weinberger’s major Pentagon foreign policy projects in the 1980s was the vigorous armament of Saddam Hussein. The effort included removal of Iraq from the terror-sponsor list and the offerings of envoy Donald Rumsfeld during more than one friendly visit to the palaces in Baghdad. Please see Deep Blade Journal here and here for additional analysis of these comments.

We’re “doing the right thing,'’ Weinberger states, no matter how many die or are maimed as a direct result of the US attack, invasion, conquest, and occupation of Iraq. Okay, fine, that’s what he thought. But for the sake of balance, should not MPBN now for a follow-up program, feature peace activists who have opposed this war from the beginning? They’ve hardly touched the issue in the last two seasons of programs.

But I recall from January 2003 when MaineWatch did have a short piece about activists from Maine who had piled into a dozen busses to attend a peace rally in Washington, DC, the segment carefully had to be balanced with an interview of some older military guy who supported war. Should not we as supporters of public TV be afforded an equivalent level of balance?

Anyway, take this podcast as an important historical document revealing some of the thinking of a major figure from America’s power elite near the end of his life. It also encapsulates a sort of othodoxy that infects today’s version of public broadcasting that prevents views contrary to those of such powerful figures from making it to the airwaves. “Balance'’ seems not to be a two-way street at MPBN.

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Oh my! I just noticed that Counterpunch has chosen Peacecast as its Site of the Weekend for March 25/26. This is about the greatest recognition and honor I can imagine this little effort could receive. Thank you Alex and Jeffrey for the amazing resource that is Counterpunch. And thank all of you for giving this site a try.

I hope what you’ll see–and hear–here is evidence that we in eastern Maine are busy day in, day out, building a community of peacemakers with analysis, arguments, influence, and power.

My advice for new visitors wanting to try one of these offerings is to download and listen to the program I just posted featuring Richard and Rita Clement. They are parents of an Iraq veteran who tell a story that with the right projection might just help build the anti-war strategy for which Alex is searching. Their presentation at our event yesterday is at once heartfelt, riveting, full of relief that their son made it home more or less in one piece, and hopeful. They have vision, and they want us to share it with them.

More quotes from the Clements:

Rita Clement: With Maine’s share of the money spent on Iraq, we could have provided 3,603 students with a four-year scholarship at public universities. Do we feel safer yet?

Well, I don’t know what you’re feeling after hearing all of this, but I’m pretty mad. I get mad because I can’t allow myself to get discouraged. Things stay the same when we believe that we don’t have the power to make changes…

Richard Clement: As families with loved ones in the military, we have a special need to speak out against this illegal, immoral war in Iraq–a war based on lies that has resulted in the deaths of over 2300 of our soldiers, and untold thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children.

Even as our loved ones return, they must deal with PTSD, stop loss, extensions of duty, new deployments, and re-depolyments. You can be sure that the team that brought us “bring ‘em on'’ is all safe and sound in Washington, DC. Their loved ones are not at risk, not in harms way…

Truly an extraordinary day. This site is intended to let the world hear how we are doing our part to unite it against war.

This extraordinary podcast is the Introduction and Keynote from the REAL SECURITY HEARING (57 min; 13 MB; 32 kbps, 24 kHz mp3), University of Maine, Orono, ME, March 25, 2006.

The keynote presentation is given by Rita and Richard Clement, Maine parents whose son served in the US Army in Iraq and has since returned. Their story is heartfelt and moving. The Clements show deep respect for the service of their son and the hundreds of thousands of others sent to Iraq, even though they say, “Our real security has been much lessened by the actions of our government.'’

About their son, Rita Clement says, “He appears to be doing all right. I guess we didn’t expect him to come back the way he left.'’

More on the Real Security Hearing in future posts, though it may take a few weeks to sort out all the material.

The regular Thursday series at the University of Maine featured a panel discussion, “The Iraq War: Lessons Three Years after the U.S. Invasion and Occupation'’. The podcast is in two parts:

PANEL PRESENTATIONS (43 min; 10 MB; 32kbps/24kHz mp3)

DISCUSSION (32 min; 8 MB; 32kbps/24kHz mp3)

Panel members include Ilze Petersons, Coordinator, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine; Michael Howard, philosophy, University of Maine; Alex Grab, history, University of Maine; and Doug Allen, philosophy, University of Maine.

My favorite part of this panel is where Ilze recounts the amazing array of peace and justice work that is done by thousands of people day-in, day-out, every day all over the state of Maine:

“But those of us who remember the many years it took to build the movement to end the war in Vietnam, to gain women’s suffrage, to enact civil rights legislation, are heartened by the strength of the growing peace & justice movement. More than ten weekly peace vigils have been held in communities around the state for the past four years–in Presque Isle, in Houlton, in Harrington, …, Deer Isle, Brunwick, Waterville, Farmington, Portland, and every Tuesday in front of the Federal Building in Bangor [at 5 pm]….

“New organizations have sprung up in local communities across the nation… And following the lead of Cindy Sheehan, is the organization Military Families Speak Out, which will be sponsoring the event at [the talk by US Senator Susan Collins in Orono] today….

“And as we all know, there’s been a steady stream of articulate letters to the editor, opeds, many have signed petitions, called and visited Congressional offices, held readings of Iraq war dead, planted flags on lawns, travelled to Augusta, New York, and Washington DC, held Chains of Concern, formed Bridges of Peace, attended town meetings, held hearings.

“One of the most effective, successful collaborations was the statewide response was when the University of Maine had planned a conference on doing business in Iraq, and people from around the state got together, and stopped it. And it just shows the power that we have when we unite.'’

This podcast is my own pre-invasion COMMENTARY (3 min., 2.3 MB, 112kbps/44.1kHz mp3). I shopped it to Maine Public Radio on this day three years ago. They didn’t bite, but they had run a very brief excerpt from my remarks from the forum at the Bangor Theological Seminary the day before. Download, listen, and tell me if I couldn’t say just about the same thing today.

Noam Chomsky spoke on Saturday March 4, 2006 at the Anderson Center Osterhout Concert Theater on the Binghamton University campus, Binghamton, NY. This is a tour de force talk largely on the nuclear issues and dangers facing the world. Is it true that, “We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran'’, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this past week? Or is US rejection of any international policy cooperation designed to control nuclear proliferation an even more significant danger to world peace? Chomsky dissects these questions like no one else can.

Here are external links to download audio files for the entire session:

LECTURE (72 min, 33 MB, 22 kHz/64kbps mp3)

Q & A (47 min, 22 MB, 22 kHz/64kbps mp3)

“Article 4 [grants non-nuclear states the right to produce fuel for reactors] is one of two paired articles of the NPT. The other is Article 6, which obliges the nuclear powers to make good-faith efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. It’s a binding, legal obligation–as the World Court determined a decade ago. None of the nuclear powers have lived up to their committments. But the US is far in the lead in rejecting them, and it’s alone in officially rejecting…'’ –Noam Chomsky

This excellent podcast is a reflective and philosophical look at major ideas and forces shaping war and peace over the last six decades. It opens up a chance to discuss and evaluate the peace movements in which most of the audience members have been active. We do too little of the kind of reflection and rarely discuss the philosophical insights that Doug offers in this valuable program.

The program is part of the University of Maine Spring 2006 Socialist and Marxist Studies Spring Lecture Series and is entitled THE U.S. SIXTY YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR II: WAR MAKING AND PEACE BUILDING, SOME HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS, with Professor Doug Allen, philosophy. (69 min; 16MB; 32kbps/24kHz mp3).

“In my view, there is tremendous potential for peace making. It seems to me that the dominant, disastrous US policies in Iraq have shown ever more clearly, the clear contradictions in US policies, and the limits of war making and empire building–even for the world’s only superpower. I have no doubt that US power has peaked. And in the coming decades we shall observe the decline in US power relative to the rest of the world. Pre-emptive war and overt overwhelming military force and domination–instead of mutuality, peace building, and reconcilliation–are short-sighted attempts at maintaining an expanding US empire.

“I feel that US peace makers are gaining much greater voices, and that in the coming decades, there will be more and more opportunities for urgently-needed peace building; local, national, and global consciousness of life-affirming and life-sustaining interrelatedness, and successful struggles for reconcilliation grounded in peace with justice.'’ –Doug Allen

Yesterday I attended a press event and legislative hearing in Augusta concerning the fledging DirigoChoice health insurance program. We are enrolled in this program and consider it vital not only to our own continued health, but to that of the entire state.

Yesterday, the Maine People’s Alliance, a pro-Dirigo grassroots organization in which I am a member, held the press event for the purpose of releasing the results of a small experiential study concerning how the private contractor–the insurance giant Anthem, now responsible for marketing and servicing Dirigo for the state of Maine–is meeting its responsibilities for Dirigo. It’s a checkered report. The situation as described by MPA and supporters is that Anthem is the “fox in the henhouse'’ where Dirigo is concerned.

This podcast is audio from the Tuesday MAINE PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE “FOX IN THE HENHOUSE'’ PRESS ACTION (19:45; 4.8 MB; 32kbps/24,000 kHz; mp3) at the State House in Augusta, Maine.

Please read the report on the Anthem/Dirigo sign-up experience study HERE.

Additional information is posted at Deep Blade Journal.

Below is Eric’s statement given at the press event and in testimony in support of LD 1845 before the Maine State Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Insurance and Financial Services.

My name is Eric Olson and I am a freelance writer and editor from Veazie. After going without health insurance for over three years, my wife and I are now enrolled in the DirigoChoice program.

We love to be in Maine. Our family and friends are here. Running our own business working on mathematics and science textbooks for major educational publishers is a good life. Millions of students have benefited from our work in books they use in school. That is very satisfying. But while our financial life sometimes enjoys very good periods, that is not always the case. Some recent years, the publishing business has been rather lean, especially the time three years ago when our largest client went under owing us thousands of dollars.

Keeping health insurance through these years was just impossible. We looked at plans that were going to cost around $300 more per month than our mortgage payment. All that time, we heard Dirigo might be coming and hoped it would be more affordable.

Then last year, Dirigo became available. We immediately called Anthem to get a quote. We were suspicious that the people who opposed the plan now were servicing it. Now, I’m not going to say our experience getting signed up was particularly bad. But, I will say that when the initial quote of over $750 per month looked quite expensive, the Anthem rep did try to steer us toward an obviously inferior high-deductible plan from their own lines before any discussion that a discount might be possible.

It turned out we qualified for a 40% discount! Still a significant monthly commitment for us, but the very best price we’d seen for decent coverage including lower-priced doctor visits, preventive care, and prescription coverage!

And it’s a good thing we got Dirigo. After getting a regular physician for the first time in about a couple decades, I found out I have potentially-serious health conditions that require treatment. Without Dirigo, I never would have gone in for any of the exams and tests I’ve had that may well be what saves my life in the next few months.

I can’t thank enough Governor Baldacci and everyone who supports this affordable health insurance program. If others are being turned away because Anthem has an political agenda, that would be a real shame. Furthermore I’m nonplused when I hear politicians running against Dirigo. It just sounds crazy that this program that is helping me so much should be called by these politicians a “failure” that should “whither away.”

What I say is Dirigo should be improved and promoted the way it deserves to be. If LD 1845 ensures that Dirigo Health will continue to be a success, than I support it whole-heartedly and urge legislators to pass it.

I am posting good-quality audio of AL GORE’S LIBERTY COALITION SPEECH (66 min; 30 MB; 64kbps/44.1kHz mp3). This file will burn a fine audio CD, if you are so inclined.

GORE: “What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently.'’

This is a very important speech because it makes the case, with historical context, why the current law-breaking administration must be reigned in. Most importantly, Gore lays out a path for Americans of all political stripes to unify against this so-far unchecked executive power.

Sadly, mainstream media coverage of this speech has been poor. Therefore, I am contributing my available bandwidth to help get it out there….

We attended the rally and press conference in support of the Maine Dirigo Health program today in the Hall of Flags at the State House in Augusta, Maine. This is a state-supported health insurance program designed to give individuals and small business owners access to insurance that otherwise is too expensive. See this post at Deep Blade Journal for more details.

This podcast is a brief but powerful STATEMENT FROM THE RALLY (4 min; 1.0 MB; 32kbps mp3). The speaker is Joan Donahue, a woman who runs a home care agency. The Dirigo plan allows her workers finally to get health insurance in a state where this is extremely difficult in a small business setting.

Now the state’s Republicans are threatening to shut down the program, if they can get power next year.

JOAN DONAHUE:“I’m frustrated when I open my morning paper and read yet another negative attack on Dirigo. Peter Mills [Republican candidate for Maine governor in 2006] was quoted in the Portland Press Herald saying, `If Dirigo was [Maine Gov.] John Baldacci’s answer for the uninsured, then it has surely failed.’

“I am appalled at the way people who already have the security of a health insurance plan, or carry a political agenda, can tell people who don’t that Dirigo has failed.'’

Dishartening was the lack of electronic media coverage of the rally. Public radio carried the above quote, but carefully balanced it with the Republican wedge that Dirigo “fails'’ to cover all of the uninsured. It’s going to take more work to get the Republican-friendly media companies to report in any significant way the other side of the story.

This is just a short note to let you know that peacecast.us will be active in 2006. When I get the time to post programs, I will. Meanwhile, we will be going to Augusta on Thursday to rally for the Dirigo health program:

What: RALLY and Press conference

When: Thursday, January 12th at 12:30pm

Where: Augusta, Hall of Flags in the Capitol

Who: As many citizen leaders as possible

Why: Let the voices of real people be heard in support of Dirigo Health!

This is a very special podcast featuring a discussion with anti-war activist, Vietnam veteran, and former Special Forces soldier Stan Goff. Stan has been on a brief tour of Maine and appeared in Neville Hall, University of Maine, Orono, Maine on Tuesday November 15. The program covered many topics, but I will call it IRAQ AND EXTERMINISM (85 min; 20MB; 32kbps mp3).

This one is well worth the download.

“It appears to me that the Iraqis have made up their minds that they are not going to accept foreign domination….It’s time for some escalations in the anti-war movement.'’ –Stan Goff