Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Carquinez Writers
This Monday the 19th at the L&BH poetry cafe, 6:30pm is scheduled for the group. Let me know only if you will be attending, by the latest, Sunday. This way I can let Tony and Martha know if we’ll need the space in a timely manner.

Thanks-
Hunt

Great love in the press!
Hey all, here is a couple of links showing some great love for independent artists, well OK me!
The Globe Newspaper
http: //www.theglobenewspapers.com/entertainment2.htm

East Bay Express
http: //blogs.eastbayexpress.com/earbud/2007/03/video_of_the_day_tia_carroll_h.php

Never let it be said that Hard Work doesn’t pay off!

Much Love & Respect
Tia Carroll & Hard Work
Visit www.tiacarroll.com for info on the band & more…

Letters of Moments in the Sun

Hi Martha:

Just read through the two reviews for MIRA and Vallejo Music Theatre.
Reviews and photos are truly great. Please give our thanks to Kirsten
for the review of “Sophisticated Ladies” – very nicely written. MIRA
will hopefully mount another production sometime in the spring in our
building. And, if all goes as planned and people in the community step
forward – we’ll have a 184 seat house in the building by the summer of
’08 where we’ll open our 42nd season and MIRA will continue to partner
with us. We’ve got our fingers crossed, candles lit and – hallelujah!

All my best,
Judith H. Brown
Managing Director
Vallejo Music Theatre

A JFK Push for Alternative Fuels

Seven years of dysfunctional incompetence and now gas prices are again
soaring to above $3/gallon. What shall we do? I suspect if JFK were still on the
planet and we had also landed our man on the moon following his direction, he’d
take a serious look around and decide that we needed to once and for all stop
our dependence on foreign oil.

Yes, that might be disruptive to the American oil moguls and the low-fuel
economy iron sled manufacturers who can’t seem to sell their brand of oil
guzzlers anywhere, but despite all that, JFK might convene a collection of bright
people, deciding that if we can get to the moon, we can also end our dependency
on foreign oil.

AND stop global warming at the same time. Alternative fuels, wind, solar,
ethanol…real research, not just sound bytes for shallow photo-op’s sake…if
Brazil can do it, why can’t the US? Duh? All we need is a leader or two in
Washington for a change who aren’t embroiled in their own impeachment(s), felon
fall-guy hijinks, and sinking rapidly daily into the abyss of a civil war which
our own preemptive war incompetence unleashed on a country harboring the second
largest oil reserves on the planet. Would we have given a French Fry for
their freedom from Saddam if Iraq had NOT been sitting on their humongous oil
reserves? Just what did Darth Vader Cheney convey to the attendees at his one and
only Secret Energy Policy meeting anyway? Who else ever ran their
administration on subordinate’s secrets? Who’s running this archaic, collapsing dirigible
known as the George W. Bush administration anyway?

It’s well beyond time to start a JFK Push for Alternative Fuels. Maybe Al
Gore can add that to his list of Things to Do Immediately. His opponent in 2000
has been a complete bellyflopper. Call me, Al. Perhaps even more than an Oscar
can be won, but freedom from foreign oil, and a healthy planet again also.

Peter Bray

A critical time for humanity-

” He that is the author of a war (of aggression) lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.”
Thomas Paine
” I am an anti-imperialist and against having the eagle grasp some other country in its claws.” Mark Twain

I’ve noticed in the news of late that there has been more discussion about the use of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. I wanted to speak to this issue, based on items I have seen in the press.
Some time in 2007 the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)- Never heard of this Orwellian government entity?- plans to conduct a very large explosive test either at the Nevada test site or the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.( Originally scheduled for spring of 2006 was postponed due to outrage amongst citizens living in nearby/ downwind communities.) The test will not be a nuclear explosion; it will detonate 700 tons of conventional explosives. One of its main goals will be to study the effects of low-yield nuclear blast on underground structures.1.

The reason I wanted to let community members know about this event-code named: The Divine Strake- this test, apparently is designed to refine the ability of the U.S. to use low yield nuclear weapons against underground targets, is going forward against a background of reports that the U.S. is considering use of nuclear weapons against underground nuclear plants in Iran.
This is newsworthy, because in the Middle East/Horn of Africa we are fighting three wars simultaneously (Afghanistan-Iraq-Somalia) and all the chatter for over a year, is that, Iran will be the next new target for regime change of the neo conservatives in the Bush administration.( Questions: Are the neo conservatives in this administration a shadow government? Who are they? What role have they played with regard the war in Iraq? What role are they now playing regarding Iran?)
I have been monitoring this story for many months. Let me give a brief run-down on information I have procured from different news source accounts for you to consider how serious a situation this could be.
” Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with ‘tactical nuclear weapons.’ Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up …three prime targets: Natanz; Isfahan and Arak….using low yield nuclear bunker buster bombs.” Note: According to Wikipedia- These cities have population centers ranging from forty thousand citizens in Natanz to five hundred thousand in Arak and over a million people in Isfahan.
Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear program indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a second Holocaust.” 2.
The United States has been ramping up the pressure against Iran by positioning-Dwight D. Eisenhower and John T. Stennis aircraft carrier groups-each equipped with 80 war planes and tomahawk missiles in the Persian Gulf. A third carrier group the Nimitz is steaming toward the Gulf – as this is written.
On the ground, according to reporter Seymour Hersh (writer for the New Yorker Magazine) teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic minority groups. 3.
With these maneuvers/ military actions now in place–along with Security Council sanctions –See: U.N. resolutions 1696 and 1737 against Iran, because they have refused to stop enriching uranium. Note : According to the rules of the Non Proliferation Treaty, Iran is perfectly entitled to pursue a uranium enrichment program for peaceful civilian purposes.
What is interesting about this situation with Iran; is when you start to research the topic you find information that isn’t always disseminated in the mainstream press.
For example: The United States has over ten thousand nuclear weapons and is considered the world’s only superpower. Military budget for 2008 is $878 billion. Surprised! See: Up with the Bullet: Mis-measuring the Defense Budget. Counterpunch.org 3/7/08.
Israel is the regions dominant power: it is the only country in the Middle East to have nuclear weapons-it is estimated to have 100-400 nuclear bombs/with multiple delivery systems; Israel is considered to be the fourth most powerful military in the world.. Israel spends more money on the military than all the countries of the M.E. combined. 4. Its nuclear site (French built went on line in 1964 ) in the village of Dimona in the Negev desert was built exclusively for weapons production. [Note: According to Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Helen Caldicott, Israel, India and Pakistan are the only countries in the world with nuclear capabilities not to have signed the NPT. They have developed their own clandestine nuclear arsenals, and they have never been subject to International Atomic Energy Agency verification inspections.] 5.
Iran is a Third world nation. It has ZERO nuclear weapons. It is a member of the NPT. It has been inspected extensively by IAEA. Iran poses no direct threat to the United States or Israel. Iran’s air force and navy are considered obsolete. Iran, per capita spends the least amount of money on the military than all other nations in the M.E. 6. [Note: Iran is surrounded by nations with nuclear weapons -Pakistan to the east, the Russians to the north, the Israeli’s to the west and U.S. carriers in the Persian Gulf.]
At a Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing ( Feb.27, 2007) Director of National Intelligence- Michael McConnell was asked when Iran would have nuclear capability-He stated,
“We assess that Iran seeks to develop a nuclear weapon. The Information is incomplete, but we assess that Iran could develop a nuclear weapon early-to- mid-next decade.”
When pressed for a definition of -”assessed”- Mr. McConnell, said,” … we are trying to convey analytical assessment or judgement. These assessments, which are based on incomplete or at times fragmentary information are not a fact, proof, or knowledge. Some analytical judgements are based directly on collected information; others rest on previous judgements, which serve as building blocks. In either type of judgement, [‘we do not have evidence’] that shows something to be a fact.” 7.
At this critical time, there are no other countries in the world calling for an attack (nuclear or conventional) on Iran. Nor powerful seated organizations: like the Security Council; NATO; the European Economic Community.
In fact, it was reported that U.S. military Generals and Admirals have threatened to resign if the Bush administration decides to attack Iran. 8.
Let me close with the words of mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima, Japan. He condemned–what critics have called- U.S. unilateralism.
In his speech at the city’s peace park, Mr. Akiba urged President George W. Bush to visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki—to see the destructive power of nuclear weapons.
Just like the phrase, ‘ history repeats itself,’ the threat and possibility of nuclear wars and the use of nuclear weapons are growing as the memory of Hiroshima starts to fade. 9.

Will Gregory

Notes:
1. Western States Legal Foundation: The Divine Strake- Nuclear Weapons Simulation: “A Bad Signal at a Bad Time.” See: wslfweb.org
2. Revealed: “Israel Plans Nuclear Strike on Iran”-Sunday Times/ U.K. Jan 7, 2007.
3. Truthout/Report-website: “Former Bush Officials Accuse White House of Trying to Provoke Iran.” 2/21/07.
4. International Institute for Strategic Studies: ” Israel spends 200 times more per capita on military than Iran.” Feb. 16, 2007. See: Globalresearch.ca
5. Nuclear Power is Not the Answer: Helen Caldicott New Press. 2006.
6. Ibid #4.
7. “Iran’s Very Bad N-Word.” CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Commondreams.org 2/28/07.
8. U.S. Generals ‘Will Quit’ if Bush Orders Iran Attack . Sunday Times/U.K. Guardian 2/25/07. 9. “Hiroshima mayor sends nuclear alert to Bush.” Cnn.com