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The Curse of GNEP and the Blessing of our Bus |
(left to right) Peter Chabarek, Madeline Smith, Mark Robinowitz, Dr.
Jack Dresser, Louisa Hamachek, and Gordon Sturrock.
This Squadron13-Deployed crew has a grand total of 18 Pro-Peace arrests
between them!!!
The Curse of GNEP
Another trip to speak out against the proposed GNEP (Global Nuclear
Exchange Partnership), this time to Hood River, Oregon where the bussed-in
pro-nuke crowd was severely out-numbered. The tables had turned from the
previous meeting which took place in Pasco, Washington, home base of the
selfish nuclear scientists and workers who clearly were more interested
in putting their own financial welfare ahead of the health and safety of
their fellow humans beings all along the Columbia River and the entire
Pacific Northwest. That hearing was heavily attended by the pro-nukers.
Read Dr. Jack Dresser's summary of that hearing here: http://www.squadron13.com/JackDresser/GNEPreview.htm
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Gordon Sturrock |
This time in Hood River, the roughly two dozen pro-nukers that showed up used arguments that drew heavily on emotional appeal. In stark contrast, the arguments presented by the local opposition were robust and convincing;
-- transporting nuclear waste on our public highways was too risky with
all the terrorist activity occurring these days. Imagine the consequences
of a terrorist attack on one of these transport vehicles happening in Portland?
-- counting on Hanford to process and clean up the worlds nuclear waste
is absurd. They've failed miserably so far. Hanford is the most contaminated
place in the world despite spending billions of our dollars over the decades
to clean it up. Why should we expect anything to change with this "new"
program?
-- Why not send all the nuclear waste to the Cayman Islands where all
the tax evaders are? Or better yet, why not send it all to Crawford Texas
instead?
-- GNEP literature claims that Nuclear energy is a "clean" alternative
to Global Warming contributing fossil fuels and emits NO pollution into
the air. The issue of Nuclear pollution being introduced into the ground
and water is not mentioned. The DOE must think we are stupid.
-- How can we say that our goal is to "clean up" nuclear contamination
while we shoot thousands of tones of low level nuclear waste all over Afghanistan
and Iraq in the form of Depleted Uranium munitions which upon striking
their battlefield targets, turns into an extremely find crystalline
dust which easily becomes airborne, is soluble in water, and effectively
condemns all Middle East people to an eternity of genocide?
-- The effects of DU (depleted uranium) weapons on the people of the
Middle East have made the scientists and workers of the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity. That they
are "unaware" of these effects on innocent humans as one lead scientist
at the Pasco meeting claimed, will be an unacceptable defense in a future
court of law. The Nazis who were tried in Nuernberg after WW2 also used
the lame defense of "I didn't know," and "I was just following orders"
and were summarily executed.
-- Is cleanup really the goal of this program? What about the recently
announced Bush plan to redesign our nuclear weapons, called the "Reliable
Replacement Warheads"? Is this just an elaborate "bait and switch" scam
to extract plutonium from nuclear waste that is already pre-processed for
this new weapons program, a program that completely trashes the Nuclear
Weapons Non-proliferation Treaty?
-- Would all the politicians and Hanford workers like to come to banquet
in their honor where they will be served fresh salmon caught from the Columbia
River? Bon Appetit!
-- Senator Ron Wyden couldn't make it but he sent Mary Gautreaux (pictured above in the late evening Oregon drizzle) to speak for him. Senator Wyden suggested that this GNEP program was the King Midas plan on steroids! Everything touched will be contaminated. Read Wydens full message here: http://www.squadron13.com/deployed/070326HoodRiver/RonWyden.htm
The Squadron13 bus was well received by the locals, some of whom attended
the previous meeting in Pasco. One lady came up to us after the meeting
and told us how much she and the other locals appreciated seeing out of
towners coming to support them, and what a huge morale booster it was for
them. What a pleasure it was to be surrounded by so many sane people, including
some WAND representatives from Eugene! Sadly, this hearing was to be the
last one for public input. No other public hearings are scheduled. Is it
strange that only these two locations were chosen? One in the heart of
NukeLand (Pasco) and the other in the small and out of the way town of
Hood River? Imagine what the public reaction would be if a well publicized
hearing had been scheduled in a town like Portland, Eugene or Salem? Is
anyone surprised that the DOE would "cook the books" this way.
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The Blessing of our Bus
After the meeting, the Squadron13 Deployed crew retired to a nearby campground for the night. This was our first trip sporting our new "Squadron13" lettering which replaced the original "Spirit of Garberville" and seemed to be an appropriate time to give our new bus a blessing. I broke out one bottle of some very special "Parkbrau" beer, fresh all the way from Germany, where I once served in the U.S. Army. Assigned to the 165th Military Police Company near Fischbach bei Dahn, we enjoyed this local beer called "Parkbrau", now called "Park". Having just received a few bottles of the rare brew from a friend still there, it seemed only fitting to use it to bless our bus. One bottle was split up and each of us had a taste, the last one was tossed onto the front of the bus after the following blessing was read:
"May the Angels of Peace watch over us on our difficult and dangerous journey. May they guide our thoughts with the wisdom of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Ghandi, that we may always make the right decisions in our pursuit of a peaceful world, and that this blessing be extended to our brothers and sisters who can't be with us in person, yet are fully with us in spirit. The "Spirit of Garberville" under the loving care and guidance of Fredy Champagne has a solid and proud tradition of promoting human rights, freedom of speech, upholding the Constitution of the United States, and of course, Peace. May the spirit of Garberville live on, under its new name as Squadron13".
Additional relevant articles:
Statement by Senator (D-OR) Ron Wyden, Hood River GNEP hearing
Jack Dresser's statement after the Pasco, Washington GNEP hearing
Jack
Dresser's formal letter to D.O.E. concerning the GNEP proposal
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