Letter to Rep. Betty McCollum on Torture

July 17, 2006

Representative Betty McCollum
165 Western Avenue, N. Suite 17
St. Paul, MN 55102

Dear Representative McCollum,

Thank you for your strong speech of June 26 opposing all use of torture by United States government personnel.

Thank you for working with the International Relations Committee of the House to pass the Torture Victims Relief Act.

Now comes the harder part: the enforcement of the torture ban with no exceptions, the closing of the secret CIA prisons and the ending of extraordinary rendition.

As you may know, the St. Anthony Park Neighbors for Peace, a grassroots organization with over 400 members, has worked to raise public awareness on the issue of torture. Along with the Center for Victims of Torture, we are convinced that

• Torture undermines the moral and legal standing of the United States in the world.
• Torture doesn’t work, since people who are tortured will say anything to stop the pain.
• Torture endangers our troops and citizens abroad.
• Torture and abuse of one human being by another is morally wrong no matter who does it or what the circumstances.

As members of Neighbors for Peace and concerned citizens we urge you to continue your efforts to end the use of torture in all its forms and in all locations.

Sincerely,

Representing St. Anthony Park Neighbors for Peace: Sheila Richter, Gordon and Barbara Scott Murdock, Michael and Regula Russelle, Karen Lilley, Tim Wulling, Kathy Magnuson, Jan Josifek, D.Perry Kidder

Draft FAQ Sheet

by Stephanie O'Donnell, Roseville Area High School, and Christine Wimmer, Cretin-Derham Hall High School

Q. What is the draft? A. The process of selecting U.S. citizens through a random lottery to fight in the war.

Q. How are draftees selected? A. Should the draft be reinstated, the first up for the random lottery would be those turning 20 during the current calendar year. There would be the lottery to randomly assign a number to each day of the year and potential draftees would receive a number for their birthday, which could possibly be drawn.

Q. When was the last U.S. draft? A. The last draft was during the Vietnam war, and although the draft was removed in 1973, there were alterations made by Congress in 1971 which would make it far more difficult for draftees to get deferments. Because of these alterations, if the draft were reinstated today it would hardly be recognizable to that of the Vietnam War.

Q. Would females be included in the new draft? A. Females were not previously included and are not required to register the way 18-year-old men are, however it is a definite possibility that they would be drafted, were the draft reinstated.

Q. Who registers for the draft? A. All 18 year old males must register, or they will have a lot of trouble, especially if they plan on applying for financial aid for college.

Q. What is the selective service system? A. The selective service system is one which registers males over the age of 18 so that the government has the information about potential soldiers in case of war.

Q. If you do not want to fight or are against war, what should you do? A. You have the option of proving that you are a conscientious objector, and should show that you would like to do such when registering by writing "conscientious objector" on the registration card.

Q. What is a conscientious objector (CO)? A. A conscientious objector is a person that objects to "participating in war in any form." Upon being drafted, a conscientious objector would be expected to prove that he/she is against war, by presenting him/herself formally in front of a board, and also by creating a CO folder.

Q. What is a CO Folder? A. Written evidence that proves you are anti-war, including religious affiliation, peace club affiliations, and moral or ethical beliefs, etc. It is used when a conscientious objector presents him/herself in front of the draft board.

Q. What happens if you are a CO, but still get drafted? A. If you are accepted as a CO by the government, you will still be required to fulfill a civilian job, such as an office job, medical job, or some other form of alternative service.

Q. If you participated in a Junior ROTC program prior to the draft, are there any advantages to being drafted? A. Instead of starting at a private, your starting rank would be private first class, meaning a slight increase on salary.

Handout for local draft and military info meetings, May, 2005

Election Redux

by Sue Ann Martinson

The editorial about election fraud (Star Tribune, Sunday, November 14) starts by declaring, " . . . most experts agree that the published vote totals for presidential candidates on Nov. 2 accurately reflect the votes cast." Are they talking about aspirin? Vague terminology like "most experts" belongs to the world of advertising, not journalism, even if America woke up Nov. 3 with a massive post-election headache. Maybe it was tongue-in-cheek? Irony in an editorial? Tit for tat, as many experts disagree the results are accurate as those vague experts who think it was a fair election.

Much of the media has chosen two ways to frame the election fraud issue: conspiracy theories and partisan politics. In the editorial, conspiracies are mentioned in the third sentence: "But this was still a very flawed presidential election, which is a big reason why so many people are ready to believe in conspiracies," implying that if you believe that this election was rigged, you are a gullible person easily swayed into believing in conspiracies.

But who is really being duped? Just how gullible are the American people? "You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time," as Abe Lincoln said.

The second frame, partisan politics, was also evident in the Star Tribune Sunday in "Election is over; trash talk sure isn't," which attempts humor in red and blue America with anecdotes about Kerry and Bush supporters. Robert Butterworth, a psychologist from LA, recommends that people "just have to get over it." As if someone had a bad date, or the flu.

Every morning of election week reports about Fallujah flooded the air waves, in sickening detail. The issues that surround the Iraq War, the lack of an exit strategy, the mismanagement, WMDs (or not), have been hashed and rehashed, But for Danny Schechter (mediachannel.org), WMD means something else, "weapons of mass distraction." The Iraq War is Bush & Co.'s greatest WMD. While environmental protection laws are gutted, the economy remains precarious at best, more and more Americans slip into poverty as jobs are lost, millions lose health care, and the PATRIOT Act flies in the face of the Constitution with loss of civil liberties, in the last four years, over and around us has raged the "war"-the debate about the war in the White House and UN, the WMDs that weren't, the invasion, the supposed victory that isn't (we're still fighting)-distracting us from the issues that effect our fragile day to day existence.

The website for the Star Tribune on Sunday was a good example. The lead story was "31 Troops Killed in Fallujah." Underneath was an Instant Poll: "Will the Fallujah operation stop the violence?" The question is framed wrong. The Fallujah operation IS the violence. Next the "Election is over; trash talk" story link appears. And then another Instant Poll: "How long until the losers get over it?" Did Kerry lose? is not the right question. The question is, Did Bush win honestly and fairly? The constant focused reporting on Iraq and Fallujah has successfully distracted the media and the American people from looking seriously at this election.

Sunday's editorial, actually entitled "Voting/Flaws need federal attention," proposes one national standard (with a paper trail) for all voting machines used in a federal election and more clarity in laws around vote suppression and recommends that Congress make corrections by 2008. These are good things.

Meanwhile, the evidence for election fraud mounts daily with reports of malfunctioning machines, overcounts (for example, in Franklin County, Ohio, where Bush received 4,258 votes in a Gahanna precinct, yet records show that only 638 voters cast ballots), easily hackable voting machines-such as the infamous Diebolds-and the Ohio recount issue. David Cobb, the Green Party's 2004 presidential candidate, has filed for a recount in Ohio, as has Libertarian party candidate Michael Badnarik.

In Minnesota it's easy to say, ah, but we did it right and pat ourselves on our backs. But the issues facing us go far beyond blue vs. red, Republicans vs. Democrats, or any partisan politics, conspiracy theories, or local back patting, and into the essence that is America, who we are, what we are becoming, and what we stand for. That Bush did not win the vote fairly remains to be proved. Sadly, America lost the election. Can we really afford to wait until 2008?

Sue Ann Martinson is a free-lance writer and editor.

Sent to Minneapolis Star Tribune Commentary, not published

Patriot II Act

13 April 2003

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert,
Speaker, House of Representatives
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-1314

Dear Mr. Speaker:

Are you aware of the proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (DSEA)? It is also known as the Patriot II Act. Have you taken a stand on it? What is your opinion about it?

In our view, it is a deeply disturbing document. We consider many of its provisions to be unconstitutional-dangerous to American democracy and to our government's balance of powers. While it has not yet-to our knowledge-been introduced in Congress, we are concerned that it will be introduced, either whole or in part, attached to other bills.

The Constitution of the United States gives citizens certain basic rights that define our democracy. In its draft form, the DSEA would violate Articles 1, 2, 5, and 14, at least. For more detail on these Articles, see the attached page. These articles guarantee:

• Freedom of speech, the right of peaceful assembly, the right to petition the government for the redress of wrongs.
• The right to be secure against unreasonable searches.
• The right to a speedy and public trial by jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with witnesses, and to have counsel for defense.
• The guarantee that no state shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; or deny equal protection of the law to anyone.

In its present form, the DSEA would strip Americans of these basic American rights.

• It would deprive native-born Americans of their citizenship if they provide support to organizations the government labels as "terrorist," even if they support only lawful activities of those organizations. It would imprison them as unlawful aliens (§501).
• It would broaden the crime of "providing material support" to terrorism. It would amend the definition of "international terrorism" to "make it clear that it covers acts which by their nature appear to be intended for the stated purposes… there would be no requirement to show that the defendants actually had such intent," (DSEA §402)
• It would allow cruel and unusual punishments: new death penalties and extradition of citizens, legal residents, and legal immigrants-even to countries whose governments do not respect the rule of law or human rights-in the absence of a Senate-approved treaty (§§ 321, 322, 503, 504).
• " It would allow surveillance and information gathering (wire taps, secret access to credit reports, sampling and cataloguing of DNA) without court orders (§120,121,126,128,129), and secret arrests and detainment without due process (§201). These provisions undermine the Constitutional balance of powers between branches of government.

This Act attacks civil liberties that are the very heart and soul of our nation-it directly attacks the Constitution and the democracy it underpins. There is scarcely a provision described above that does not violate a basic article of the Constitution. The proposed Act is unworthy of our nation and our democracy. We ask your help in seeing that it is speedily defeated.

Yours truly,

Barbara Scott Murdock
and 15 other St. Anthony Park Neighbors for Peace members
St. Paul, Minnesota 55108

CC: The Honorable Tom DeLay, House Majority Leader
Dick Gephardt, House Minority Leader
The Honorable Betty McCollum
The Honorable Martin Sabo

Senator Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader
Senator Tom Daschle, Senate Minority Leader
Senator Norm Coleman
Senator Mark Dayton