FCNL's Dinner with Ahmadinejad

RAISE YOUR VOICE OF CONSCIENCE AGAINST RELIGIOUS APPEASERS OF TYRANT AHMADINEJAD!

That's the rallying cry for many of the protest groups against Quaker and other religious organizations meeting with President Ahmadinejad last week in New York.

Don’t Legitimize Iranian President Ahmadinejad with Invitation to “Dialogue”, says the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. USCIRF says such a meeting would only "cleanse his reputation as a purveyor of hate."

As Jim Fine, FCNL's Legislative Secretary for Foreign Policy, so eloquently wrote in his description of FCNL's two meetings with Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Mottaki, "We are talking with the Iranian president not because we agree with him but precisely because people and nations who don't agree need to talk."

Since when did talking with someone mean you agree with any of their policies or ideology? As Madeline Albright most recently said when she endorsed talks with Iran along with four other former secretaries of state, "I think the whole point is you try to engage and deal with countries that you have problems with...".

It seems people have forgotten--when it comes down to life or death, war and peace issues, the reason we do diplomacy is to prevent war. This is also the life-or-death reason for democracy; the idea that we can solve conflicts by communicating rather than butcher one another.

I've received calls from constituents asking why we would ever speak to anyone who advocates violence since we are a pacifist organization.

I don't know what better use there is for a pacifist organization than to communicate with different groups advocating violence to improve communications channel and stave off violent conflict.

Imagine what would happen to the state of religious (or any other kind of) freedom in the world if we only talked to countries that upheld even the US State Department's standards of how religious minorities should be treated. The double standards on this issue (that the US props up with billions of dollars a laundry list of real dictatorships that make Iran look like a rich, thriving democracy, such as Saudi Arabia, Equatorial Guinea, Azerbaijan...and not to mention the Shah who formerly ran Iran with an iron fist) are a topic for another day.

Ahmadinejad will (most likely) run again in June of 2009 in the Iranian presidential election. As the Italian journalist Monica Maggioni said in her article in Foreign Policy, "[T]here’s only one man who can keep Mahmoud Ahmadinejad out of the unemployment line: George W. Bush." The point being, his political capital, like so many leaders from Venezuela to the Middle East, depend on the Bush administration's policy of isolation and hostile regime change threats so that these leaders can show that they are standing up to the "Great Satan".

In the US, Ahmadinejad is the poster boy for hardline elements that push for sanctions, threats, and regime change. In Iran, as in much of the world, Bush and other hardline elements are used for the same purpose, and inspire everyone to rally around the flag. When Ahmadinejad holds a holocaust denial conference, when he repeats the same dangerous lies about how the Zionists are in control of the media in the US, we all know what kind of political forces benefit in this country. Why is it so hard to imagine who benefits in Iran when the US refuses to meet with Iran until entirely shut down its nuclear program--for which there is vast support in the Iranian populace?

As Shirin Ebadi told the Los Angeles Times, "If there is a military attack on Iran, people will forget their differences with the government, and they will defend their country. It will also damage our human rights movement, because the government will expand its powers and limit freedoms using the excuse of national security."

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It's time for the U.S. to ban the bomb that keeps on killing

One Lesson of Vietnam That We Can All Agree On... Right?

Last summer I met a 12 year old Vietnamese boy who had recently been crippled by an American bomb outside the former airbase of Khe Sanh. He had been watching his neighbor dismantle a small bomb to sell on the Ho Chi Minh City scrap metal market when it exploded, killing the neighbor and embedding shrapnel deep into the boy’s legs and face.

The American and North Vietnamese armies fought over this remote mountain valley close to the Laotian border in 1968. The armies are long gone, and the most visible remnants of the war are a few rusting American helicopters, sitting admist coffee plants outside the Khe Sanh war museum. But lying on the ground or just below the surface there lurks a more insidious legacy of the war: the hundreds of thousands of tons of unexploded bombs that litter the forests and the farms of central Vietnam.

How many Americans know that bombs we dropped 40 years ago are still killing people in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia? The images of B-52 bombers over tropical forests are burned into the American consciousness But what happened after those mother bombs opened up, spewing 500 baseball-sized bomblets out over villages and forests? Between 10 and 15 percent failed to explode on impact. Ten to fifteen percent of several million tons of bombs...

The story speaks for itself: cluster munitions left over by of a war that ended in 1975 are still killing and maiming children. That is the urgency of banning these weapons. It was so frustrating watching the debate on Friday night and hearing John McCain intone about ending the war in Iraq with “victory” and “honor.” The line evokes an involuntary shudder, even among those of us who weren't alive to hear Nixon say it the first time. We have clearly not learned the lessons of the Vietnam War – instead, we seem to have put incredible efforts into forgetting them.

But the issue of cluster bombs brings up one lesson of Vietnam that we should all be able to agree on: that the destructive consequences of our wars stick around long after the fighting has ended.

Of Models and Mortals

Ever heard of a "modelizer"? To make a somewhat ridiculous pop culture reference to the HBO show "Sex and the City," they're men who are obsessed with models.

Apparently the US Congress is a modelizer.

While doing background research on major immigration policy and issues that have come up in the 110th Congress, I discovered that while attempts to enact desperately needed comprehensive immigration reform failed because of partisan politics and the national influence of hate groups and right wing radio and TV talk shows, Congress did in fact manage to take some actions regarding immigration....FOR FASHION MODELS!

They decided to create a new subcategory of visas just for fashion models which grants them an initial period of five years in the United States which can easily be extended to ten. On the other hand, non-specialty occupation temporary worker visas are issued for an initial period of a year or less and cannot be extended past three years.

Not to discriminate against models, but considering the massive human rights violations taking place within the area of immigration--ranging from worker exploitation to illegal and indiscriminate raids to cruel and inhumane treatment on the border and detention centers--Congress is concerned about our visa regulations for models?!?!

I mean, seriously?

The Nefarious Quaker Lobby

Today one of our co-workers sent a rather comical blog post around to the staff which criticized our position on reaching out to the President of Iran and our stance on peace. Apparently, we Quakers and allies have instilled fear in people's hearts with our message that peace is possible.

A few highlights from the comments:

"The worst part is the Quaker Lobby is so influential. It's so bad these days that a politician can't even call for a war for fear of the Quaker Lobby. Even a hint of war-mongering and they start yelling about "anti-Quakerism." It's too bad they so skew the debate that we can't even talk about war rationally any more. "

"Yes, Jamie, the Quakers are fully committed to peace. They will not be remotely useful in Iranian saber-rattling. If only anyone in this world were fully committed to war, to balance those crazy @&$!s out...."

"It's well known that the Quaker lobby has many members of the United States government in their back pockets. The U.S. gives more monetary and military aid to Quakerstan than to any other nation. Their super-secret Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations--the Oatmen--routinely carries out assassinations all over the world, and has frequently been found to be spying on the United States government and military....thus it behooves us to follow Mr. Kirchick's lead and keep a close watch on the nefarious Quaker lobby."


Haha! I love where I work.

Appropriations and the Wall

The Democratic leadership just released the details of their continuing resolution (CR) which is a "stopgap" measure meant to keep the government and discretionary programs funded by the Appropriations Bill running until March 6th.

For the most part, a CR just keeps programs running at their current levels. But the leadership decided to make a couple of exceptions:

Another $1.053 BILLION (yes that is $1,053,000,000) to border fencing, i.e. the wall--both physical and virtual.

Another $516 million to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE as they are commonly known)

And another $60 million to Immigration and Citizenship Services

Total: $1,629,000,000 spent on immigration enforcement.

That's a lot of money. Imagine if that went into education. You could give full tuition scholarships to 38,000 students for a four year degree program. You could fund all of the public schools, including supporting charter schools, in the state of New York for a year providing for a 5% increase in teacher pay and still have $100 million left in discretionary funds.

But instead we want a wall?

Music, Protest, and the Demographic Divide

I went to two concerts at the Kennedy Center this weekend, neither of which I chose myself, and neither of which I paid for. I also hadn’t really listened to any of the music before I went. Given these conditions, I wasn’t particularly invested in the shows, and free to observe the audience as well as the performers.

On Thursday night I settled into my seat in the Concert Hall to listen to Arlo Guthrie play with the National Symphony Orchestra. Until I googled him I wasn’t aware that Woody and Arlo Guthrie were two different people. (What was that? I think I just heard a collective gasp from the Kathy Guthrie and Jim Cason occupied office across from my desk. I apologize. My father was a Bob Dylan man.)

During his two sets Arlo didn’t make any outright references to the presidential election, though he did play a song mocking government bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as generally encouraging us all to be peaceful and encourage peace around the world (during all of this I quietly wondered if there would be a way to collect the entire audience’s email addresses). He also reminisced about some old rallies he performed at and attended, creating a sense of nostalgia in the largely middle-aged crowd that was palpable. It was a feeling similar to one I frequently feel at staff meeting, when certain FCNL secretaries of this and that reminisce about the power of protest music, and regret its absence in today’s pop culture. Filing out of the auditorium I too wondered where it had gone, doubtful that the peaceful, decidedly uncynical songs I had just listened to (and enjoyed!) would have mass appeal to my generation.

On Sunday night I found out where the protest music had gone. I merely had to return to the same concert venue on a different night to find it. On this night Mos Def would be directing his big hip-hop band. The older white men and women at Arlo had been replaced with a younger, largely African-American crowd. There I sat again, on the margins of the concert demographic (mostly. I did fit the young part, so at least most of my concert companions and I were in the same age-range… I am supposed to really like this music, right?) .

I have to admit, I felt Mos Def’s music a bit more than Arlo’s. I think this was mostly about the beat, but perhaps also because it was more confrontational and blunt in its approach. Example of the bluntness: Mos performed a version of the “Star Spangled Banner” that simply repeated the lyrics “And the rockets red glare/the bombs bursting in air” over and over again. I think that FCNL could get behind that message, if not the method of delivering it.

Anger at the status quo was an underlying theme of the evening, and one that spoke to me (being the youngster that I am) more than anything Arlo Guthrie did. For example (warning.. at this point in the post I partially reveal my leanings for the election in November, it is in no way a reflection of my employer), at one point Mos Def shouted “Show me a picture of the President” and a photo of Barack Obama popped onto the projection screen suspended above the stage. Then he said things like, “It’s too important, don’t screw (except he didn’t say screw) this up, you deserve better people, etc.” I will admit, my emotions have been running a bit high about the approaching events of November 4th, and the brashness of this message spoke to me, made me feel as though my opinions had agency, inspired me to take action (in this case vote), and all of those things that the music of Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan inspire in my father and his contemporaries.

Last night as I lay in my bed thinking about these two experiences, so different on the surface and yet so similar in fundamental meaning, I wondered what to make of it all. I wasn’t sure whether to be heartened that some young people had found their music of protest, or deeply disturbed that these different musics of protest were so divided. Or angry, even, that I felt like an outsider at both concerts.

Now, if Arlo Guthrie and Mos Def collaborated, something beautiful and interesting, which could potentially bridge demographics gaps could be achieved. I wonder if it’s the artists who would resist this, or, in fact, their audiences. And maybe that reluctance identifies a deeper problem about why we (the majority of Americans) who oppose the war and want a smaller military can’t unite to get the job done.

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Three doves with one stone

"...how did you manage to kill three doves with one stone?"
~The State of Siege by Mahmoud Darwish

This weekend I reread one of my favorite poems, The State of Siege, by Mahmoud Darwish after going to a poetic tribute to him to honor the 4oth day of mourning his death. As I always am while reading his work, I was struck by his ability to capture the experience of war, exile, indignation and hope of a people under siege.

2008 marks the 60th year of conflict in Palestine. That means that Darwish lived less than 7 years in his country without facing air raids, detention, and check points, without being a refugee in his own country. Two generations, if not three, have grown up in a state of deadly conflict.

Yet how many times has the opportunity for peace been passed up for an obsession with war? For an obsession with erasing a people and their history? As Darwish says so eloquently, one stone can kill three doves, three opportunities of peace.

It can also displace millions.

When we speak about war, I feel our attention is often drawn to the number of deaths, the type of weapons used, or the amount of money spent on destruction. Yet what about the hundreds of thousands and in some cases (like Palestine) millions of people who are displaced as an effect of war?

One of the most run from topics in the Israel-Palestine peace negotiations is the question of the right of return. One of the most un-talked about topics of the Iraq war are the millions of refugees caused by the US invasion. The US has "improved relationships with Syria" precisely to let them "deal with" the "refugee problem" that we created.

Syria has resettled nearly two million refugees since the beginning of the Iraq war. Last Monday a senior coordinator of the State Department said that he expects that the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the United States will "significantly increase" in the coming year. "Significantly increase" means 17,000 (or a whole 1/118 of the number of refugees that Syria has resettled in a war that the US created). Sadly, that is 42% more than this year.

When we throw the stone, we don't calculate the far-reaching effects of our actions. We calculate the cost of our weapons, the loss of our troops (however, often excluding their welfare upon their return), and the increase of our debt. But we ignore the human cost of war, or a comprehensive understanding of how deep one bullet actually penetrates.

At this point in time, comprehensive immigration reform in the US is a far off hope for those of us who work on the issue. It's a contentious issue even among Quakers and peace activists. But I would ask, how do we prevent war or the next deadly conflict if we do not care for the effects of this one?

This is one of our doves.


Leave our land and take your dead bones with you.

Where will I go?

To France.

And what will I do there?

What you did in Lebanon.

~A paraphrased section of Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beruit, 1982 by Mahmoud Darwish

a deeper understanding of community

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Yesterday, the new interns had a Quaker 101 lunch session. (Only one out of 5 of us is actually Quaker) and halfway through, I must admit that I was a bit cynical.....okay... maybe a bit jealous. How in the world does one get a couple hundred Quakers in a room to make controversial decisions on issues that most people wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole? Things like sexual orientation and abortion rights only get whispered about in very trusted circles in my own denomination. Could Quakers be any different? I mean, really?

Right before I opened my mouth to voice this "gotcha" question, Ruth Flower told us that decisions like these, while by no means easy and without some controversy, are handled with the utmost care. Valuing the importance of seeing the divine in everyone and knowing that not one person absolutely knows The Truth -- that we all must come together in community and listen is quite remarkable. We all must recognize our opinions, state them in a respectful manner, but in the end let them go.

Wow. What an amazing trust in community. What astounding faith in something larger than "me". I think I could use a little more of that as I work together with this amazing group of people to bring more good in the world.

I love my new job.

No, seriously, we'd really prefer the vote thanks.

Hello all! As mentioned in my post last week, Congress has been trying to push the Supreme Court's overturn of the D.C. gun ban even further, and it looks as if the House has now succeeded.

Here's hoping the Senate is too busy trying to pass a budget to take up this legislation.

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A different look at the US wall

While looking through the AFSC's (American Friends Service Committee) website on immigration, I came across a video produced by PBS on the border fence which provides an alternative perspective on the wall emphasizing property rights rather than immigrants' rights. Given that I posted about the wall yesterday, I thought I would offer a quick summary here.

To see the complete video, click here.

What PBS points out in this video is that the US border fence does not actually follow the exact border between the US and Mexico. At times, the fence comes as far as two miles inward into US territory.

The result of this is that many farmers are cut off from sections of their land and crops. Even more drastic, many people's houses are actually caught in this "no man's land" between the fence and the actual US-Mexican border.

Apparently, neither Congress nor the contractors have thought about how these people will get through the wall to go to the grocery store, the doctor, or to visit friends on the "US side." When a local whose house did fall on the "Mexican side" of the fence asked Homeland Security what she would do, she was told that they guessed she would have to "follow the Border patrol." As she described it to the reporter, she was being "locked out of the US."

As the PBS documentary points out, people in these border towns are not traditional supporters of immigration reform. However, the border fence has become a matter of property rights. What right does the US government have to separate people from their land, houses, and families?

Moreover, the legislation which authorized the construction of the wall also gave the contractors more leeway than any construction project in history. An amendment was tagged to the bill waiving any federal laws which impeded construction of the wall. So far, over 36 federal laws have been broken, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Farmland Protection Policy Act.

Who still thinks this is a good idea?

War is Not the Answer shows up on the National Stage...kind of

Our message was featured on the cover of The Atlantic the other day...well something like that. The cover article is "Why War is His Answer" referring to John McCain and his perspectives on war. It is a good article that gives insight into McCain. Check it out. Even though I just know the writer of the story saw one of our beautiful War is Not the Answer signs and ripped off our slogan and then negated it (well maybe not), I think it is good to talk about why increasing the size of the war machine is the only option both parties are looking at. Literally, both major parties advocate for increasing the size of the military.

When the military is the only program getting adequate federal funding, how do we expect to solve any of our problems with other means besides the military? How can anything but war be the answer when all that we are preparing for is war?

We have to put our money where our mouth is. We have start funding programs that are actually create peace. I had dinner with a friend that has worked in the State Department for a long time and he was saying that they have been chronically underfunded for a long time now, longer than Bush's administration. Obviously, the problem reaches beyond bad policies of the current administration, it is an indicator in a flaw in our national thinking. As a nation, we assume that the military is the most important national priority. We rely on it to solve a great deal of problems that should never be in its realm of responsibility.

So, moral of the story, we need to keep up our quest to get Congress to fund development, the State Department, the UN, and other means that could actually create peace!

-Stephen

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The Bush administration asks Congress for $400 million more to build the Berlin Wall

...I mean Jericho. No, wait...the US wall.

This is the most recent attempt by the Bush administration to "salvage" their plan for a 670 mile border fence between the United States and Mexico (as a point of reference, the Berlin Wall stretched a little under 100 miles long). Congress had designated authorization and funding for the fence through both the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (a bill which was meant to provide the resources to "combat terrorism" and "other measures") and the Secure Fence Act of 2006.

The fence is intended to stretch nearly 700 miles, combining "virtual" fencing with a physical wall. The virtual fence is a complex system of mobile towers, satellite systems, cameras and control vehicles which are linked with "real-time" technology that border agents can constantly monitor. The physical wall is exactly what you think it is, a 15-foot three-layer thick,"unclimbable" wall.

The first section of the fence was supposed to be completed at the end of this year. But according to the latest news, this section won't be completed until 2011. The originally estimated (rather small..?!?!) figure of 4.5 million dollars per mile of wall has now gone up to $7.5 million. If you do the math, the $400 million more requested by the Bush administration won't even be enough to keep the project going, let alone finish it.

It's a shame--really--that such 'tactical infrastructure' may come to a halt and another $400 million wasted on a destructive project rather than spent on something a bit more useful...like food banks or hurricane relief.

Did I mention the environmental consequences of the wall? And that the most likely cause for displacement and refugee resettlement in the near future may be from natural causes like climate change, soil erosion, run-off...?

But I guess that's a subject for another post.

I'm alex, by the way, the new program assistant on civil liberties, human rights, and immigration. This is my first post on "Of Peace and Politics." Apart from keeping you informed on the usual comings and goings of intern life on the Hill, my hope is to use this blog to reinvigorate our current network, as well as reach out to others, on issues like comprehensive immigration reform, habeas corpus, and the ban of torture.

In Remembrance of a different anniversary

Today someone in our network reminded me of a very important thing. They reminded me that 9/11 is the anniversary of the beginning of Gandhi's nonviolent resistance movement called Satyagraha. Gandhi started the movement to protest racist policies in South Africa. Gandhi later used this philosophy to win India's independence from the British. What a powerful movement! King's methods in the Civil Rights Movement were also based off of Gandhi's Satyagraha.

So while today is a sad day to remember the people killed on Sept. 11th, 2001, it is also a day to remember with joy the power of the nonviolent movement that started on Sept. 11th, 1906. Maybe the U.S. would have been much more successful in responding to the attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001 if would have responded with more nonviolent means like Gandhi?

Here's an article about the anniversary.

-Stephen Donahoe (The new Campaigns Intern)

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It's the vote we want, not guns.

After I voted yesterday, for the first time in the District of Columbia, I put on my “I voted!” sticker and fairly strutted home, feeling a gentle yet satisfying sense of superiority that I had done my civic duty when so many others had not (the election yesterday was a not-very-exciting primary in which many of the candidates were running unopposed).

This feeling quickly faded as I walked into the front door of my apartment and heard D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier on the radio saying, “Imagine how difficult it will be for law enforcement to safeguard the public, not to mention the new president at the inaugural parade, if carrying semiautomatic rifles were to suddenly become legal in Washington.”

“Yeesshh….” I thought, “this gun stuff again.”

The District’s hand gun ban was already struck down by the Supreme Court in June, but now certain members of Congress want to allow semi-automatic weapons as well (H.R. 6691). Their argument is that citizens need to be able to protect themselves from crime. Oh, but why is crime so dangerous in this country? Why? Oh right, because criminals can easily obtain handguns and semi-automatic weapons. Even in my neighborhood, which is generally regarded to be one of the safest in the city (and which I shouldn’t really be able to afford – thank you to my generous landlady!), there was a shooting a few months ago, one block from my building. That specific case was of a backpack snatching turned shooting when the victim attempted to recover his property. If only guns hadn’t been a factor at all.

This tussle over gun laws, juxtaposed with my first experience voting in D.C., also reminds me that I am now officially disenfranchised in Congress. The citizens of the district onto which members of Congress are exerting their will have no voting rights in either the House or the Senate. We pay federal taxes, but we have no say in how they are spent. Congress can decide how we run our law enforcement, but we don’t have any representation there. A most excellent and just situation (I get even more fired up about this when I watch the HBO miniseries John Adams, as I have been doing this week, and thoughts of “taxation without representation” start dancing in my head).


Oh, and one more thing. Last Friday more than a few FCNL staffers were thwarted in their attempt to buy lunch at Burrito Brothers on Pennsylvania Avenue. Why? Because the street was closed off when a man was caught driving around the Capitol with a gun and explosive devices in his Jeep. A similar incident occurred a few months ago, when the Capitol police detained a man caught with a gun. Now, I’m against blowing up Congress as much as the next person, but come on, does anyone else sense some hypocrisy? I do.

A mere 5 days after the Jeep incident Representative Dan Burton (IN) argued for “the idea of legislators’ being able to carry arms for protection on their way home from the Capitol at night.” Come on. At least make it a fair fight. That’s exactly what members of Congress are advocating by loosening the District’s gun ban in the first place is it not? If we’re willing to put guns in the hands of criminals, we might as well put them in the hands of average citizens as well, right?

I just hope the Congress knows what it’s getting itself into. I wonder if there are many history majors in bunch. At the very least I hope they too have been watching John Adams. What was it that happened the last time a heavily armed citizenry was taxed without being represented? Oh that’s right. And really, since D.C. residents generally oppose guns, a lot can be done with tar and feathers.

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on being nonpartisan in a partisan world

As the field intern, I spend a lot of time speaking with constituents who want to learn more about FCNL, our positions and how they can become more involved in FCNL's work.

As we enter further into the election season, I've been receiving a lot of messages from constituents asking for advice on who to vote for or requesting that we support their favorite candidate. When I have these conversations with constituents, I usually give them two main reasons why FCNL does not support any candidates for public office:

1. FCNL is not a Political Action Committee. As a 501 (c) (3) and 501 (c) (4) FCNL is legally forbidden from endorsing any candidates for public office.
2. We are able to have stronger relationships with politicians of all political parties if we remain nonpartisan, which makes our lobbying work more effective.

This last July, I inherited a Nalgene bottle from my sister, Claire, who had already decorated the bottle with various stickers. One of the stickers was from an organization that she and I both support. The sticker was endorsing a certain candidate for president of the United States.

After some soul searching, I decided that it was best to cover that sticker up.

First of all, I knew that it would be inappropriate for me to be seen around the office carrying a sticker that was supporting a presidential candidate.

But the more I thought about it, something else bothered me. I agree with the organization that the candidate in question has taken a stance closer to their (and my) position on a certain issue than the other candidate. But his position on that issue is still far from where I would like it to be. I cringe at the idea of congratulating him on his stance, which I believe lacks courage or vision just because I like the other candidate's position even less. I understand why that organization decided to endorse him, but I worry that by doing so, they're saying that this is as good as it's going to get, or as good as the people of the United States deserve. I do not believe that's true.

When I look at the major presidential candidates' stances on any of FCNL's issues, I find the same to be true. While one or the other may take a position closer to FCNL's stance on an issue, neither come close to our statement of purpose. For instance, both support an increase in the size of the military.

Of course it would be ridiculous and false for me to say that the candidates are the same and it doesn't matter which one you vote for. On November 4th, I'm going to walk into my neighborhood polling place and vote for the candidate that I will have decided best reflects my values, which are strongly shaped by FCNL. I encourage all of you to do the same, and I think FCNL has done a great job of supplying you with information about how both major candidates' positions relate to FCNL's values. But FCNL will not be endorsing a candidate that only partially meets our standards. Instead, we will be encouraging all candidates to take more courageous positions on behalf of peace, equality, simplicity and the earth.

That's why it's great that FCNL is nonpartisan! As politicians, maybe Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain have no choice but to cater to pro-war elements in their parties, but I love that FCNL is held to a higher standard. When I go to the polls in November, I will do so with a heavy heart, knowing that, as a pacifist, I will not be voting for a candidate that holds my most deeply held belief and I probably never will. But I will feel better knowing that in the time leading up to the election I have worked hard with FCNL to encourage Sen. McCain, Sen. Obama and hundreds of congressional and senatorial candidates to embrace a world free of war and the threat of war. It will be a small comfort to know that even if I feel like I'm selling out some of my values in the voting box, at least I never felt like I had to at work.

So, FCNL constituents, friends and staff, embrace the freedom that comes with nonpartisanship! Write to Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama to tell them that you are disappointed that they support an increase in the size of the military. Then, write them both another letter congratulating them on their stances on nuclear disarmament. Write to your congressional candidates demanding a ban on cluster bombs, an end to torture and an earth restored. Hold all of your candidates to a higher standard and refuse to congratulate a candidate for merely being the lesser of two evils. If you want more ideas on how to engage with candidates about issues that matter to you in this election, check out FCNL's Make Peace An Election Issue campaign.

And then, after the election, keep working with them. If the candidate that you voted against wins, don't give up. If the candidate that you voted for wins, don't just go back to sleep. Whoever it is, there will still be a lot of work left to do.

As one FCNL staffer has been known to shout when she's had enough of politicians from both major political parties threatening war with Iran or taking away our civil liberties, "thank God we're nonpartisan!"

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Happy Monday Morning

I've been going through a personally trying time for the past week, but this picture on the front of nytimes.com cheered me up. (Despite the fact that Sarkozy is not really talking to the man who can stop Russia from all the militarism)

I will be sad when the EU presidency passes from France.

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Kate's Summer Reading List

Since we now officially have more reading lists than we do summer, here's another one, this time brought to you by Kate Gould. It should particularly come in handy for those of you on the Mid-Atlantic coast, since there won't be much to do this weekend but sit around and wait out Hanna.

Summer Reading List 9: Kate Gould, Legislative Assistant for Foriegn Policy

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
by Jeremy Scahill
Remember how last fall the Iraqi government charged Blackwater security guards with massacring Iraqi civilians in an incident that US soldiers affirmed was a "criminal event" and concluded there was "no enemy activity involved"? Last month Blackwater's billion dollar contract was renewed by the State Department, and these modern day mercenaries continue to protect US officials from Pelosi to Petraeus. This is a devastating exposé of how not only has Blackwater come to define some of the most brutal elements of the US occupation in Iraq--- but how Blackwater and other private armies are altering the future of the American security system; from Baghdad to Bagram to post Katrina New Orleans.

Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq
by Dahr Jamail
Jamail is one of a handful of Western journalists who consistently put his life on the line to report from Iraq independent from the Pentagon's embed program. He broke the story of the US use of napalm-like white phosphorous that burned civilians to death in Fallujah, and the subsequent devastation of the city. I've never felt closer to the daily destruction of Iraq than when I've been immersed in Jamail's reporting.

Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the US
by Dr. Trita Parsi.
"Iran is Israel's best friend"- Former Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin, 1987. If you are astounded that Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the US have had a thirty year tumultuous love triangle of complimentary geo-strategic interests, put aside all of your other priorities and read this book. This is a revealing saga of secret Israeli weapons deals to Iran, a time when the pro-Israeli lobby was advocating the US to negotiate with Iran, the utility of inflammatory rhetoric towards Israel for Iran in gaining popularity on the Arab street, and an eyewitness account of Iran's "Grand Bargain" to the US.

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I don't know about you... but I need a break from BIG EVENTS

So, last night I hit a wall. Pratically every night since August 8th we have been expected to be glued to our television sets, watching epic feats. During the Olympics we were supposed to be awed by the athleticism of Michael Phelps and the prowess with which the Chinese handled hosting the world. The week after that we were obligated to tear up at the historic candidacy of Senator Obama (which is nothing to sneeze at, but is also emotionally draining). This week even more long dry speeches were thrown at us each night, as the Republican Convention encourages us to be enraged by the comments being made about Governor Palin.

I'm wiped. I can't. watch. another. big. event.

May I suggest some alternative programming? We won't give up our concern for the issues altogether (if you want to, I suggest netflixing Big Love -- you'll be totally absorbed), but will take them with some levity.

So turn off your t.v and turn on your computer (except, this is a blog so you'll probably just have to open a new tab in your browser). Go here. Have you been to Grist before? They work in environmental news and are funny little devils. Enjoy your break from pomposity and grandeur. There is surely more to come before November 4th. (Oh, and then there's January 20th. Take a break while you can!!)

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This is Kamala

Christine has been bugging me about writing on the intern blog for a really long time like maybe since I started here and today is sort of my last day so I am finally unable to avoid her about it any longer. My name is Kamala Russell and I work/worked (?) in the FCNL field department as a sort of summer intern. This summer was hectic apparently so they say and I filled in for a bunch of interns who left for the month of August. I just graduated from Sidwell Friends School and I start at U Chicago in two weeks.

I'm not a Quaker but I've gone to Quaker school my whole life so I guess I'm at least somewhat connected to the Quaker community, and like I had heard of FCNL before I met Joe Volk when he spoke at my school. I would definitely recommend anyone who is interested in FCNL to just get in touch with people here and try to slyly set some sort of volunteer thing up because this is a great place to work. Even though you might be doing officey things like folding a thousand pieces of paper, the paper could be a flyer going out to people in our network urging them to get active in promoting peace issues in the election year. (http://www.fcnl.org/pdfs/wina/flyer-peace02-08.pdf !) Part of my job is also interacting with constituents and that was a lot of fun too because most of the people in our network are cute older folks who like talking to you on the phone or over email.

Everyone should send a photo of themselves with a WINA sign to winapics@fcnl.org so Stephen (the new Nick) can put it on the map!

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The Alaskan Elephant in the Room

FCNL is non-partisan, this blog is non-partisan, and this post is non-partisan.

But there is a big important election going on out there, even though we might dance around it here.

Since last Friday there been only one thing I want to discuss -- Senator McCain's pick for vice-president.

Interesting. Very interesting.

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Claire's Summer Reading List

September has arrived, and FCNL has never been busier! As experienced FCNL staff are returning refreshed from last week's vacations, the new interns are eagerly wandering the halls, enjoying their first day on the job. As Kate pointed out, today has all of the excitement and anticipation of the first day of school.

Even though today marks the official end of summer here at FCNL, there are still just a few summer reading lists to get through. This one is brought to you by Claire, who was such a faithful intern blogger when she worked here.

Summer Reading List 8: Claire Valentin, (former) Legislative Assistant for Domestic Issues

Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri
A beautiful book about what it means to immigrate, what it means to have immigrant parents and what it means to grow up as a child of immigrants. The story tells of the importance of family, of knowing one's roots and of keeping an open mind. Lahiri has a beautiful and easy writing style that is perfect for a summer read.

1984
by George Orwell
For obvious reasons. It's important not to forget the classics; they still have a lot to teach us today.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch
by Gregory Maguire.
A good reminder that life is never so simple as black and white. A fantastic summer read.

As always, we miss you Claire and all the former interns! And, welcome new interns! We look forward to getting to know all of you and hope you're having a fantastic first day of work.

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