November 2008

Witness Against Torture and other groups will spend the first 100 days of the Obama administration in an intensive effort to persuade our government to end America’s policies of torture.

I’ll be in Washington, DC from January-April 2009 as part of the core organizing team.

We’re first calling for the closing of the Guantanamo prison. With luck, this will happen quickly and we can encourage to government to take further measures against torture.

You can contribute to this project by coming to DC for a week, or by donating via PayPal at the Witness Against Torture site. If you’d like to sponsor me/help me with my costs directly, e-mail pieandcoffee@gmail.com. This money would go to staples like my transportation, food, and (possibly) internet costs, not beer or movies or anything like that. I’ll donate any leftover funds to Witness Against Torture.

• January 11-20: Public fast for an end to torture. (The first detainees reached Guantanamo on January 11, 2002.)
• January 20: Inauguration Day.
• January 20-April 30: 100 days of lobbying, vigils, and education to bring an end to America’s policies of torture.

I’m still getting up to speed on all this. I’ll blog more details here and at the 100 Days site.

Barack Obama, August 1, 2007: “As President, I will close Guantánamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions.”

TIME/AP, Nov 10, 2008: “President-elect Obama’s advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.”

ACLU: “Therefore, on the first day in office, the next president should issue an executive order directing all agencies to modify their policies and practices immediately to: . . . Close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay and either charge and try detainees under criminal law in federal criminal courts or before military courts-martial or transfer them to countries where they will not be tortured or detained without charge . . . .”

Updates
Words & deeds of first 100 days of every president since Roosevelt, via Kottke

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, we feature a conversation with Telegram & Gazette News Editor Mike Elfland about telegram.com, the paper’s website.

Standard Podcast [ 17:38 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Some links mentioned:

• Volohk complains about Slate’s corrections policy a couple years back. I still like their basic format.
• Example: Andrew Sullivan continuing the conversation
• Example: Robert Scoble responding in his comments section

I may have been wrong in my description of how links to old T&G story revisions work. Looking at this moose discussion thread, the old links just seem to break, rather than linking to an old revision.

mp3 link, other formats, feed, low-fi versions

To leave a voice message to be played on the show, call 508-471-3897.

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Two Worcester Catholics were sentenced to community service by Judge Timothy S. Hillman in Worcester District Court today.

Ken Hannaford-Ricardi and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, members of the SS. Francis & Therese Catholic Worker community, were previously found guilty of the petty offense of disobeying a US Marshal when they refused to leave the lobby of the Worcester federal building while praying the rosary for an end to the Iraq War this past March 19.

At the original trial, they had been sentenced to pay the minimum fine of $250, but for personal reasons they refused. Their three co-defendants, Michael Benedetti, Sandra McSweeney, and Roger Stanley, accepted the fine.

At today’s hearing, Assistant US Attorney Karin Bell asked the judge to levy an even heavier fine on Schaeffer-Duffy, who has “a lengthy criminal history.” She said that “a convicted defendant does not have the right to come before this court and say what he will or will not do,” and that “these defendants have chosen the lifestyle they have chosen.”

Rather than increase the fines, Judge Hillman vacated the fines, processing fees, and assessments, changing their penalty to community service. Hannaford-Ricardi will spend 25 hours volunteering at the United Way, and Schaeffer-Duffy will spend 40 hours at the library.

It’s interesting to note that on the list of “Shelters for adults in the area” hanging on the bulletin board in the probation office, the third shelter listed is the Catholic Worker, where Schaeffer-Duffy lives and Hannaford-Ricardi volunteers.

Catholic Anarchy: Why I decided to vote
Iafrate:

Voting in the united states is indeed participation in a corrupt system. Critics of voting are indeed right that casting a vote is, in some sense, to be complicit in that system. There is a real danger, though, in believing that abstaining from voting will make us less complicit with this death-dealing system. While I believe Christians must witness to “the wider culture,” to imagine that we are completely separate from that culture, and that we play no role in making it and perpetuating its good aspects as well as its bad aspects, is an illusion.

Worcester voted….
Against eliminating the income tax 71.7%
For Obama 67.7%
For marijuana decriminalization 66.9%
For the dog racing ban 57.5%

I know that Adam voted against the proposed farm animal care reforms in California, but I’m happy it had enough support from others out there that it passed.

Catholics and the vote
Rocco Palmo lays out the scene:

In record numbers described as “breathtaking,” the nation — and, by the looks of it, the church — have spoken… and they’ve made Joe Biden the First Catholic of the United States.

This post has the details:

Bishops and apparatchiks, you might just want to avert your eyes… not much “good news” here.

I’m looking forward to working hard to oppose or change many of the new administration’s policies, especially the first part of next year. More on this in a few days.
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