How to Stop Terrorist Attacks!

 “If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and impoverished, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. Then I would announce, in all sincerity, to every corner of the world, that America’s global interventions have come to an end, and inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the USA but now — oddly enough — a foreign country. Would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims. There would be more than enough money. One year’s military budget of 330 billion dollars (now 686 billion dollars) is equal to more than $18,000 an hour (now $36,000 an hour) for every hour since Jesus Christ was born. That’s what I’d do on my first three days in the White House. On the fourth day, I’d be assassinated.”  

• William Blum, author of “Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II,” and “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower”

U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower was right in 1960 when he warned about the undue influence of the military-industrial complex (MIC). It’s much worse today than he could have ever imagined 58 years ago.  Here’s a quote to ponder from American novelist E.L. Doctorow:

“The bomb was first a weapon.  Then it became our diplomacy.  Then it became our economy.  Then it became our identity.  We have become the people of the bomb.”
I would add that in spiritual terms the military-industrial complex and the bomb are forms of demonic possession.

The US is great at telling other countries to give up the bomb: Libya, North Korea, Iran, etc. but God forbid the US consider giving up the bomb.  What ever happened to the spiritual principle of leading by example?  And what about us leading by example?

Make Peace Not War!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties.
   4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
   5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Contact: Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622. Email: ja@malu-aina.org

Sign up on our website to receive our posts  http://www.malu-aina.org/

June 1, 2018 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet — 871st week – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

May 25, 2018 Press release  on Connections Public Charter School and Pohakuloa Earth Day

By Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

For Immediate Release  8PM

further contact: Jim Albertini 966-7622, email ja@malu-aina.org

The information leaflet below was handed out this afternoon between 1-1:45PM to students and parents at the Connections Public Charter School in downtown Hilo in the Kress Bldg on Kamehameha Ave. Principal John Thatcher (935-2395) and his security team of 5-7 people ordered students not to accept our leaflet as they were leaving school, getting on the school buses, or being picked up by parents.  Security attempted to block our access on the public sidewalk from offering the leaflets.  Still, 4 people associated with Malu ‘Aina were able to hand out a few dozen leaflets to parents, staff and students.  What is the school afraid of?  We were being courteous in our efforts. We would be willing to do educational sessions on the dangers of Depleted Uranium (DU), even inviting Dr. Lorrin Pang. MD retired Army Medical Corps to be part of the presentation for principles, trustees, and parents of Public Charter Schools.

A Public Service Announcement (PSA) was sent out to every school on the island one month in advance of Earth Day events held at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on April 20, 2018.  We do not know if the PSA was shared with students, parents, teachers and staff of Connections.   Additional recent efforts to contact the school by phone and email have gone unanswered so Malu Aina offered information to Connections students and parents today outside the school.

PTA is an 133,000-acre military base contaminated with Depleted Uranium (DU), lead, and other military toxins from more than 70 years of military live-fire training. More than 14 million live-rounds are fired annually at PTA from a wide variety of weapon systems by all branches of the military. Even global strike B-52, B-1 and B-2 strategic bombers fly non stop from Louisiana, Missouri, and Guam to bomb Pohakuloa as practice for nuclear war.

-- 
Jim Albertini, President
Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box 489
Kurtistown, Hawaii 96760
Phone 808-966-7622
email ja@malu-aina.org
visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org
sign up on our website to automatically receive our posts

To Students, Parents, Teachers and staff of

Connections Public Charter School

Please make the CONNECTIONS on Earth Day field trip to the

Military Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA)

*Between Earth Day and Depleted Uranium (DU) oxide contamination at PTA.  Depleted Uranium (DU) is a radioactive material that has been used in weapons firing at Pohakuloa. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years.

*Between DU oxide and cancer and genetic damage.

*Between possibly being exposed at PTA and the health of children.  At least 3 Connections classes attended the April 20, 2018  “Earth Day” at PTA.  Connections classes also attended the 2017 PTA Earth Day events. On Earth Day 2018, Malu Aina monitors recorded spikes of 68 CPM (Counts per minute) at PTA, which is above background count.

      Please view the short video of Dr. Lorrin Pang, M.D., public health officer and retired Army Medical Corps explaining the health dangers of inhaling DU oxide dust particles (See https://vimeo.com/19153948). As Dr. Pang explains, especially vulnerable are young children and pregnant women.  Dr. Pang says the inhalation of Depleted Uranium (DU) oxide dust particles are “the most deadly form of radiation.” If anyone inhails DU oxide particles those particles can remain in your body for decades causing a wide range of problems including cancer, and genetic damage to future generations. 

      If school administrators don’t take responsibility, it may be up to parents to hold the school liable if their children get sick from DU exposure.

Mahalo. 

Change of command: Honolulu native takes reins at PTA

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018/05/25/hawaii-news/change-of-command-honolulu-native-takes-reins-at-pta/

LTC Marquez, the outgoing PTA commander, in my view gets an F for working with the community and transparency. I don’t see how things can go lower.

Disasters!

It seems the poor always suffer the most

      Whether it’s natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, lava flows, etc.) or man made disasters (war, climate disaster, toxic pollution, etc.) it seems the poor always suffer the most. The rich have more options. The poor have few, if any, options.

      In most natural disasters, those with money can easily relocate, and often have a second or third home to go. Some poor people don’t even have enough gas money to get to a disaster shelter. Who bore the burden in hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, and hurricane Harvey in Houston? Poor communities also usually bear the burden of toxic pollution. Flint Michigan’s lead water is a case in point. The Hawaiian Homestead area in Keaukaha in Hilo has as a next door toxic neighbor -–the airport, dump, fuel tanks, sewage plant, harbor, chemicals, etc.

      In wars such as Vietnam, the rich like Donald Trump and George Bush, easily found ways to avoid the draft and they certainly didn’t go to jail for nonviolent resistance to the war. The poor end up drafted or enlisting and dying in a rich man’s war for resources. In today’s wars, those being killed, injured and made refugees are disproportionately poor. Look at Palestine, Syria, etc.

      Puna, Hawaii, the site of the current lava flow, is the poorest district in the state, with thousands of lots in substandard subdivisions, many in high risk lava zones or near the toxic neighbor –Puna Geothermal Venture. Read the book “Land & Power in Hawaii” by George Cooper and Gaven Daws. Also read the article by Alan D. McNarie http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/05/big-island-how-land-schemes-turned-lava-fields-into-subdivisions/ By contrast the Kona-Kohala coast on the west side of Hawaii island is known as the Gold Coast with it’s many rich gated communities and high end resorts. The resorts never built housing for their employees, so many employees have to commute from distant Puna and Ka’u poor districts. Economic apartheid!

      I haven’t heard of one hotel offering free or discounted rooms to people displaced from the lava. And what of long range plans for people who have been displaced and have lost their homes, farms, businesses, etc.? Is it not the role of government to help? But where will the money come from you ask? That’s easy. From the FY 2019 Donald Trump proposed U.S. military budget of $681.1 billion. After all, what are we defending? And once we have recovered from disaster, we can begin the work of building a new economy from the ground up. That starts with growing food to feed Hawaii’s population instead of importing 90% of food consumed here. That will demand policy changes away from addiction to war and catering to the rich. The endless growth of tourism and militarism is killing Hawaii and the planet. Pele is telling us we need a fresh start and that we need to work together.

Live Aloha! Blessed are the Poor…

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties.
   4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
   5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Contact: Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622. Email: ja@malu-aina.org

Sign up on our website to receive our posts  http://www.malu-aina.org/

May 25, 2018 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet — 870th week – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Zoltán Grossman

We’re often told that the Israel-Palestine “conflict” is “complex,” and we need to be “even-handed” and “balanced” in the way we “promote dialogue,” since there’s “blame on both sides.”

I couldn’t agree more. So in the spirit of even-handedness, I humbly propose the following 10-point program of action by both sides in the Middle East:

1.) That Israel returns all the Palestinian lands it military occupied in 1967, and the Palestinians likewise return all the Israeli lands they have militarily occupied.*

2.) That the Israelis cede control of the groundwater under the West Bank to the Palestinians who live there, and the Palestinians give back to Israel all the Israeli water supplies that they might control.*

3.) That Israel release its Palestinian political prisoners, and in turn the Palestinians free all their Israeli prisoners.*

4.) That Israel dismantles all settlements that have displaced Palestinians, and the Palestinians dismantle any settlements that have displaced Israelis.*

5.) That Israel halt its nighttime raids of Palestinian homes, and detention of children, and Palestinian soldiers also refrain from raiding Israeli homes and detaining children.*

6.) That Israel takes down the separation wall it has constructed through Palestinian farmers’ lands, in return for Palestine taking down any walls that it may have constructed.*

7.) That Israel stops shooting down thousands of Palestinian civilians trying to cross the Gaza border, and the Palestinians do not shoot Israeli civilians who try to enter Gaza.*

8.) That Israel lifts its siege of Gaza, and in return the Palestinians disavow blocking humanitarian supplies from reaching Israelis.*

9.) That Israel disarms itself of nuclear weapons, and Palestine immediately disarms any nuclear weapons in its possession.*

10.) That Israel no longer receives U.S. military aid, and Palestine likewise receives no U.S. aid for its military.* (This step alone would make all the other steps possible, in a very short order.)

This balanced, even-handed 10-point program would accomplish what both sides should obviously want: a halt (by both sides) of the continuing tit-for-tat violence, and hopefully a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Zoltán Grossman
Geographer

*— (which is none)