Collins needs clarity on war and torture

Vacuous senator from Maine thinks we want it ``blurry''


What is happening on one side of this image is abundantly clear.

Obsidian Wings had a piece back on June 15 that rattled me in my chair. The minimizations/trivializations of US torture practices various Republican & Fox News mouth breathers have been spewing forth have kept a pit in my stomach for a long time now. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rep. Duncan Hunter and his Gitmo meal plan, ..., ick, I am so sick inside.

So what is it that could stir me up beyond all that? The inane prattle from my US senator, Susan Collins of Maine, concerning what she thinks about her constituents' reaction to torture conducted in our name, that's what.

As Hilzoy points out, Collins is quoted in a ``somewhat frustrating'' June 12 New York Times Sunday Magazine piece by Joseph Lelyveld:

Members of Congress say they receive a negligible number of letters and calls about the revelations that keep coming. ``You asked whether they want it clear or want it blurry,'' Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said to me about the reaction of her constituents to the torture allegations that alarm her. ''I think they want it blurry.''

I guess I should expect Collins to take us for foolish sheep following leader into the moral basement of responding to terror with terror, including blatantly illegal designation by American presidential fiat of a sub-human species called ``enemy combatant'' -- often located through paid bounty.

It's all so disgusting. So, let's do something to give Senator Collins some clarity! First, please read through and take all the steps recommended in the Obsidian Wings post linked above. Then, if you are in range on Thursday...

June 23 Anti-war demonstration in Bangor
Veterans for Peace and other local Maine groups have decided to protest at the Bangor offices of Senator Collins. The entire ugly ball of death and destruction due to the Iraq war is the target of this protest. The high crime of torture will be included in the list of impeachable high crimes of this administration. Here is the release from Maine Veterans for Peace:



An anti-war demonstration outside the Federal Building in Bangor is being called for June 23.

The demonstration, beginning at 10 a.m., will coincide with a visit by concerned citizens from around the state to Senator Collins’ Bangor office.

Both in front of the Federal Building and inside Collins’ office, people will read the names of the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since March, 2003, and an equal number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed. More than 1,700 U.S. soldiers have been killed and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

A statement to Senator Collins will request that she support:

* curtailing funding of the war
* a timetable for withdrawal, and
* a Congressional inquiry into impeachable offenses committed by the administration

The statement will also request that Senator Collins participate in a town meeting to listen to the concerns of her constituents. Rep. Tom Allen has already agreed to participating in a town meeting.

Gulf War Veteran and peace activist Kim Hawkins will participate in the demonstration joined by other members of Veterans of Peace and members of Peace Action Maine, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Veterans for Peace, Peninsula Peace & Justice, Island Peace & Justice, and Midcoast Peace and Justice.

Bring your signs and puppets. Bring your friends. Help read the names of those killed in Iraq. The demonstration will last from 10 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. If you cannot participate the entire day, come for a few hours at any time throughout the day. The greater our numbers, the more impressive the public display of anti-war sentiment.

The Federal Building is located at 202 Harlow Street, Bangor.

Come demand the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. See you there!

Info: Contact Dud Hendrick [dudhe at verizon dot net] or Judy & Peter Robbins [robbins at downeast dot net].

Note: Those planning to read the names inside Susan Collins’ office are asked to meet at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine at 9am, June 23.