• The Manifesto by William Rivers Pitt and Matthew W. Condon
• Patriots or Pirates by Don Hones
• Constraints for a National Security Solution by John S. Lemberger
• Fox Locks Watch: White Perch Alert!

* The Executive Branch
* The Legislative Branch
* The Judicial Branch
* The People

The Executive and Legislative branches were created to enact laws and protect the interests of the people. The Judicial branch stands as final arbiter, and is created through nominations by the other two. Each of these three branches is utterly worthless, and indeed profoundly dangerous, without the active involvement of the People. We are the fourth branch of government, the owners of the democracy, and we have been terribly remiss in our duties. All of the problems that afflict us and sap our strength stem from the fact that this fourth branch of democratic government has been absent from the equation.

There are reasons and reasons again for this dereliction of duty, too many to list here. This state of affairs must be reversed, and we seek to undertake the formulation of that change.

This Manifesto does not protest against anything per se; there exists such a galaxy of problems that focusing on some or all of them would yield a divided effort whose strength would become depleted and too-thinly spread. This Manifesto has been created as a means to protest for something: The dynamic and active reinvestment of the People in the ways and means of government in America. There is no other avenue for change that has a hope of being effective.

Having stated this, it is clear that there are several glaring issues to be addressed. The following pages will describe these issues in detail. In short, we seek with this Manifesto to draw active citizen participation to stand against:

1. The ruination of our Constitutional protections. Congress, wallowing in fear after 9/11, passed the USA PATRIOT Anti-Terror Act at the behest of George W. Bush and his Attorney General, John Ashcroft. This Act has delivered unprecedented powers of surveillance and harassment into the hands of the Federal government. John Ashcroft is not a man to be trusted with these powers, nor is any government as powerful as ours. We stand against this Act, and seek to inform the citizenry of exactly what is at stake here.

Continued on page 3

Patriots or Pirates

By Don Hones
Oshkosh-Despite the apparent lack of support from allies, members of the military, former national security advisers, and even hawks in the Republican party, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and crew continue to promote an invasion of Iraq. We are told that Iraq may possess weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein, is being heralded as the world's chief villain, just as he was in that long ago Autumn and Winter of 1990, when George Bush Sr. rallied the American public to "Get Saddam". The ongoing War on Terrorism is once again being used as a reason why the United States must topple a sovereign nation, unilaterally if need be. Yet, it seems clear that even among the rich and powerful this proposal to invade Iraq is not fully embraced. George Sr. saved Kuwait for its princes and saved its oil business for his family and friends; but, in an apparent gamble to corner the Iraqi oil fields for his backers, George Jr. could risk seeing the entire region, including Saudi Arabia, go up in flames.

So much for the oil business, and for piracy masked as patriotism. Behind the war talk is the certain knowledge that many young Americans would be killed in such an invasion, and thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians would die. Saddam, thus far, has found protection in his bunkers. But what of the other Iraqis who may not even like Saddam Husein? Estimates suggest that 150,000 Iraqis died during the Gulf war. In a report to the U.N. Security Council two years ago, Ramsey Clark attributed the destruction of Iraq's water, electrical and other systems and ten years of sanctions with the deaths of an additional 1.5 million people. Iraqi Women routinely die in childbirth. The children and the aged are special targets to be struck down by diseases spread through unclean water. A rationing system within the country allows everyone just1,100 calories a day, and the children who have survived the 1990s have been referred to as the stunted generation. As to the destruction of the Iraqi people which the U.S.-led war and sanctions have accomplished, Clark asks, "If this is not genocide, what is?"

Genocide, the destruction of an entire people, overwhelms us. Let me put a face and a name to it: Heddef Essaid.
When I was a little boy growing up in southern Michigan, Heddef was a girl who often slept over at our house. She would share our bed, our toys, our birthday parties, and the attention from our mother (there were eleven of us children). I remember an old Christmastime photograph of Heddef, with two of my brothers, two of my sisters and myself: She was definitely photogenic, with her reddish-brown hair, her bright brown eyes and a toothy smile-and straight teeth, something I may have envied. The Essaids, for whom my eldest sister babysat, became very good friends with my parents. They shared stories of their country Iraq, one of the most prosperous in the Arab world, where their was a strong social welfare system, and where women were not only in the workforce, but in many positions of authority.

Eventually, the Essaids finished their degrees and went back to their homeland. I gave little thought to them, or to Heddef, until January of 1991, when I was visiting my parents at their home. My mom and dad were watching the news of the bombing of Baghdad. You may recall the footage: Lots of streaking lights in the sky, with the dim shapes of buildings in the background. My father fought in the Second World War, he was a member of the American Legion, and politically conservative. Yet, as he watched, he would ask out loud, "I wonder where the Essaids are tonight?" My parents had reduced the bombing of Baghdad to a very personal level: They were concerned about the welfare of their friends.

The more recent talk of an invasion of Iraq has caused me to do some thinking: Where is my old playmate Heddef? Did she survive the bombing of her country eleven years ago? Did she ever get married? She would have been in childbearing years during the 1990s. Did she die in childbirth, like so many other Iraqi women? If her children were born, did they die of malnutrition or preventable diseases? Or if they survived, are they growing up in the new Iraq, members of the stunted generation, struggling to survive each day on bad water and little food, preparing for the next invasion?

It is true that Heddef Essaid and other Iraqis are victims of a false leader who came to power in a military coup. In the United States, we also have false leaders who were brought to power in rigged elections, leaders who cloak their own greed and corruption in a veil of patriotism. They are false leaders who routinely ask Americans to sacrifice their jobs, their constitutional freedoms, and the lives of their sons and daughters in the military in return for "security." But following Bush, Cheney and Company down the road to oblivion will not bring security. Their flag is not the stars and stripes of freedom, but the skull and crossbones of greed, slaughter, and death.

Degrading and destroying the Iraqi people will not bring security to the American people. Security, and justice, will come with a full investigation of the attacks of September 11, an investigation that must reach all the way to the White House.

"Anyone who wants to combat lies and ignorance today and to write the truth has at least five difficulties to overcome. He must have the courage to write the truth although it is suppressed everywhere, the cleverness to recognize it although it is veiled everywhere, the art to make it usable as a weapon; the judgment to select those in whose hands it may become effective; the cunning to spread it among these. These difficulties are great for those who write under fascism…indeed even for those who write in the countries of civic freedom."-Bertolt Brecht
Return to Contents

A Second Opinion October 8, 2002 page 3

The Manifesto
2. The ruination of our economic system. American disinterest in the ways and means of governmental fiscal and economic policy have led us to our current sorry state as much as corporate criminals like Ken Lay have. We stand against these 21st century robber barons who fester like a cancer within our economic system, and seek to inform the populace of all they have let happen, and all they can do to correct the situation.

3. The specter of eternal war. We unequivocally and absolutely denounce and despise those who perpetrated the monstrous acts of September 11th. They have removed themselves from the human community by their deeds. Justice must be done. But justice cannot and must not involve the militarization of the world. To date, the actions by our government to address 9/11 have done little but ensure that another such attack will take place. We seek to inform the citizenry of the war that is being waged in their name, and the consequences of that war. We seek the active involvement of the people to demand answers regarding why 9/11 happened, and to fully involve the people in guiding our government through this deadly time.

We seek simple, direct action. We seek a change of attitude among the citizens who stand today on the firing line with crosshairs targeted on their backs. We believe that this American Experiment will die soon of neglect if that fourth and most vital branch of government does not return to its constitutionally-mandated duties. The founding documents say 'We The People' for a reason.

At bottom, we seek with this to create something that has been missing for decades - a unifying idea. We hope with this to create a broad spectrum of individuals and groups who are against many things that are wrong within our society, but who will join this concept of being for participatory democracy, because in that dynamic social participation lies the cure for so much of what so many are against.

Next week, Defending the Essence

Return to Contents

Constraints for a National Security Solution

By John S. Lemberger
Oshkosh--Recently I have participated in several local anti-war demonstrations. I have been encouraged by the number of passers-by who have given us signs of support with thumbs-up or honking horns, and I thank them. There was one person, however who stood out. He approached me on the line. I could see by the look of concern in his eyes that he was a sincere young man. He agreed that war was not a good path to security, but asked the question, if not war, then what
I've thought a long time about that question. I've always believed that, if you criticize a possible solution, you should be prepared to offer an alternative. It hasn't been an easy task. Security is a touchy matter and Mr. Bush has done a masterful job of keeping a good deal of people sufficiently scared that waging war against Iraq is beginning to seem reasonable to many people. So what might an alternative solution look like? We learn in problem-solving that solutions are defined by constraints. So I asked, what might the constraints for a solution to this problem look like? To answer this question I had to go the roots of my most fundamental beliefs. The constraints spring from the New Testament.

Constraint 1: Jesus demands Peace! Any acceptable solution must be constrained by the ethics of non-violence. Early followers of Jesus were ostracized by the greater Jewish community because they refused to join the revolt against the Romans. There were no pre-emptive strikes against the Roman Empire! There were no Christian terrorists. Jesus himself refused to resort to violence even at his own arrest admonishing Peter to put away his sword. Other early Christians passively accepted their fate in the Roman arenas. But in the end it was the Christians acting on non-violent principles who won the day.

Constraint 2: Jesus demands Courage! Any non-violent solution will require courage. Jesus required his followers to go forth without weapons often times facing hostile crowds and Roman spies looking for seditious rabble-rousers who they were only too happy to crucify. If we pursue a non-violent solution to our security problems, there is no guarantee that people will not die. But people will almost certainly die in a Iraqi war. The difference is, that with a non-violent solution we are all at risk, not just our neighbors' sons and daughter who are in the military. And there is another important difference, with a non-violent solution it will not be us doing the killing.

Constraint 3: Jesus demands Forgiveness! When asked how often we should forgive our enemies, Jesus responded 7
times 70 times. Jesus understood that forgiveness is necessary for healing to occur. We have all been injured to some degree by the 9/11 terrorists. It is, however, unhealthy to continue to fester hate against our enemies no matter how badly they have behaved. Our national pursuit of revenge is becoming a cancer on our society. The policy of pre-emptive war may be just one symptom of this cancer. The loss of civil liberties is another. It is time for healing, not revenge. If we do not begin the process of healing soon, I fear that irreparable harm will be done to our democracy.

Constraint 4: Jesus demands Charity! Generosity and sharing are an integral part of Jesus' message. The United States spends more on the military than all the rest of the countries in the world combined! No wonder we are the world's only super power. If we took just half that money and spent it helping poor countries to develop roads, schools, hospitals and other components of the infrastructure needed to develop a society where all people are can live a reasonable comfortable life, there would be little reason to attack us. Palestinians must be given a sovereign homeland. They must be raised up out of their squalor. We must do the same for other people. Policy experts have suggested a new Marshal plan. The Good Samaritan has shown us the way.

Today we face a historic choice. We might listen to George W. Bush and pursue a military solution to our problems. Israel has tried this. It has led to nothing more than an escalation of terrorist acts in Israel. Today almost no Israeli citizen is safe.

Return to Contents

Fox Locks Watch: White Perch Alert!

(Editor's note: The DNR has confirmed that White Perch have crossed the Rapide Croche dam on the Fox River. Advocates of opening the Fox Locks have proposed that this dam would be the ONLY barrier between Lake Winnebago and the bay of Green Bay. If the Fox Locks were operating today according to the plan put forward the White Perch would be in Lake Winnebago today. Fortunately, other locks upstream have prevented this tragedy. The DNR now has the option of poisoning the river between the Rapide Croche dam and the next dam upstream, at Kaukauna. The dangers of the White Perch are outlined below.)

The introduction of the White Perch (Morone Americana) into Lake Erie in the 1980s led to a decline in the survival of early life stages of the White Bass, and a general decline in population of native fish species. The population of White Bass in Lake Erie between 1982 and 1997 was considerably lower than that between 1969 and 1981. The time of reduced catch of the White Bass in Oneida Lake, N. Y. (which goes from 1955 to the present) coincides with the establishment of White Perch in the lake. From the information gathered through research, the above hypothesis is a conceivable reason for the decline in White Bass catch in Lake Erie. Various studies have shown that White Perch significantly reduce the survival and population of White Bass.
Further research shows that White Perch prey on the eggs of White Bass and Walleye, and perhaps on the eggs of other native species. It seems that the eggs are an important part of the White Perch diet in springtime. At some points, the eggs of the Walleye or White Bass make up 100 percent of the White Perch diet. Also, the White Perch eat a large portion of young minnows, which causes a decrease in survivability. The decline of the Walleye fishery in the Bay of Quinte (north shore of Lake Ontario) was correlated to the increase in the population of White Perch and likely was a result of White Perch predation upon eggs of the native species.

Next week: Other dangerous species lurking below the Rapide Croche dam.
Note: If you wish to help prevent the opening of the Fox Locks, please contact your representatives in Madison.

Return to Contents

Return to Commentary