Organizations, Oregon
Grassroots Radio Conference Registration
The Grassroots Radio Conference 13 will be held July 24th - 27th in Portland, Oregon - with registration and reception open on Thursday, July 24th.
The conference will take place at Portland State University and is being co-hosted by KBOO, KPSU, KPCN and others!
Grassroots Radio Conference Registration
Full conference rate is $110, but scholarships are available. If you cannot pay the full amount, please enter the amount you can pay below.
Spring Planting Work Party — Portland Peace Park
Saturday May 17th, 10 am-2 pm
Sponsored by the Peace Memorial Park Foundation
For more information and directions, click here.
The Peace Memorial Park is dedicated to the memory of all people everywhere who have ever perished in warfare, in the hope that like-minded people will join with its sponsors and creators in the effort to put an end to war so that humankind can live in peace.
Portland Jobs with Justice Endorses National Health Care Act (HR676)
How Can You Support the Troops but Hate the War?
The Register-Guard recently ran an op-ed from Katie Dyer, the wife of an Oregon National Guardsman deployed to Iraq. (Click here to read the original op-ed.) She talked about how difficult and lonely it was for her to be separated from her husband. I understand her feelings, because I am the mother of a deployed son on his second deployment to Iraq. His deployment this time is for 15 months. I think about him constantly, and wonder about the danger that he is in. I also was appalled by the story that Katie told about the anti-war protesters in Ashland, one of whom said to her: “You’ll join us when your husband dies.” Fortunately, the majority of Americans who oppose the war do not behave in this way.
Unlike Katie, however, I believe it is possible to support the troops and not support the continuation of the huge American presence in Iraq. I am a member of Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of 4000 military families who are opposed to the war in Iraq and who have family members either serving in Iraq or who have served in Iraq.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what it actually means to support the troops. Supporting the troops does not mean remaining silent in the face of tragic mistakes and deceit on the part of our civilian and military leaders. In a democracy, both soldiers out of uniform and military family members are allowed to have and voice their opinions about the wisdom or folly of any particular war. Our democracy will remain healthy only if our leaders are held accountable for their mistakes. Only in non-democratic systems are citizens expected to acquiesce without question in the decisions of their leaders.
Supporting the troops means electing civilian leaders who will not rush needlessly to war and who will carefully weigh and plan for the dangers that soldiers will face. Supporting the troops also means making sure that they have the armor they need when deployed and taking care of them and their families when they return. And supporting the troops also means giving the troops a higher purpose for which they are willing to sacrifice their physical and emotional welfare.
Unfortunately, the American engagement in Iraq fails all of these standards of what it means to truly support the troops.
We now know that there were no WMD in Iraq and no links between Saddam and al-Qaeda, and so the primary justifications for this war are null and void. To base a war on such biased and faulty intelligence is reckless endangerment of our soldiers. We know how faulty the planning for the war was, and how crucial information about Iraq was ignored in the planning. The insurgency and chaos were allowed to take hold because of such poor planning. We also know that some soldiers have had to buy their own body armor, because of faulty body armor supplied by the military, and that the military lacked enough armored trucks. We know about the lack of care and chaos in VA hospitals, and about the backlog of 400,000 cases for disability benefits in the Veteran’s Administration. We know that wounded soldiers after leaving the hospital have to painstakingly prove they were wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan in order to get disability benefits and, in many cases, have waited years to receive their benefits. We know about the lack of counselors and the lack of psychological counseling for our soldiers. Finally, we know about the destruction that we have inflicted on Iraq: the 5 million Iraqis internally or externally displaced; at a minimum 100,000 civilian deaths; the destruction of much of the Iraqi infrastructure; the destroyed medical system; the sectarian violence unleashed; the lack of asylum for those Iraqi interpreters who have risked their lives helping our soldiers. Some soldiers, in some areas, can be proud of the help they have brought the Iraqis, but looking at Iraq as a whole, how can our soldiers know they have brought something better to the Iraqis?
Do we, the American people, really want to send our soldiers on multiple deployments to occupy countries halfway around the world, and to wage an endless war on one billion Muslims? Or do we want to find and capture Bin Laden? The military is lowering its standards and losing many of its best people because of multiple deployments. Do we want an army of misfits and criminals, or do we want a professional military?
In the coming year I will support our troops by helping to elect a new senator from Oregon, and a president who will refuse to continue funding the greatest strategic disaster in American history. I invite all Oregonians to support our troops by doing likewise.
—- Miriam Reinhart
Eyes Wide Open tours Oregon
May 19th & 20th, University of Oregon — Eugene
May 21 Chemeketa Community College — Salem
July 12 — Grand Ronde
August 28 — Portland
The Eyes Wide Open boot display presented by the American Friends Service Committee is touring the state. This is a very moving memorial honoring American soldiers and Iraqis killed in the war. At each location there will be speeches and reading of the names of the fallen from Oregon. For details, click here.
Spotlight: Bryan Stevens
Bryan Stevens is one of the many remarkable volunteers who work behind the scenes to help KBOO succeed. For almost two years, he has been volunteering 20 to 40 hours per week in our Engineering Department.
How did we come to have an audio professional with years of radio, computer and electronics experience under his belt investing countless hours at the station? Bryan answers that, “I’m damned lucky to be here after two strokes and one heart attack. I stopped working in 2002, sat for three months, and had a heart attack. It was time to get off my keester and do something. John [Mackey, our Chief Engineer] was looking for help down here.”About MFSO Oregon
MFSO Oregon is a chapter of Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of people who have relatives or loved ones in the military and are opposed to the continued occupation of Iraq.
MFSO was formed in November of 2002 and has contacts with military families throughout the United States, and in countries around the world. National membership currently includes over 2,000 military families, with new families joining daily.
MFSO Oregon started as it’s own organization in November 2004 as it was evident the war and occupation was continuing with no exit strategy and that Oregon families needed support and a way to speak out against the war in a safe and protected environment.
MFSO Goals:
- Provide support to families of soldiers.
- Speak out against the war and ensure the voices of families are heard.
- Educate the public on the impacts of war on soldiers and families.
- Engage in advocacy in the community and with elected officials for an exit strategy and proper care for troops returning from the occupation in Iraq.
Press Release: Five Years and Counting
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 17, 2008
CONTACT: ADELE KUBEIN (541-757-0323)
MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT – OREGON
Five Years and Counting
“Does Anyone Else But Military Families Care?”
Corvallis, OR – For members of MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT, March 19th marks an especially tragic event. It has been five full years since the United States began its illegal, immoral, and unjust invasion of Iraq. Nearly 4000 troops and perhaps over a million Iraqi children, women, and men have died in this war already. Continuing it for another year will mean the deaths of at least 350 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.
MFSO-OR Spokesperson Adele Kubein said, “We are five years into a war that should never have happened, and we cannot wait until January 2009 to begin to see a change in this horrific situation.”
“Four thousand of the best young men and women this country has to offer have died as a result of this catastrophic blunder. So many tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed that we stopped counting. The only solution offered by our leaders to this carnage is more misery and bloodshed. When are we going to wake up and demand a change in course?” said MFSO member Steve Weiss, father whose Marine son has recently returned from Iraq.
MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAKS OUT-OREGON calls upon Congress to refuse to authorize funds for the continued operation of this war. We call upon the American people to insist Congress use its power of the purse to end the war and bring the troops home. We call upon all of us to ensure the 1.3 million American service men and women who have returned from Iraq receive the health care and other benefits they have earned.
Suzanne Brownlow, MFSO member, and mother of a soon-to-be stop-lossed war veteran, said, “The brunt and pain of this war seems to be falling only on the shoulders of us military families. It concerns us that the rest of Americans are no longer interested in ending this horrible war.”
MFSO member, and mother of four times deployed Army son, Kathy Kirsch suggested, “Americans don’t seem to be aware that we are still in Iraq. Maybe they wouldn’t notice if we left.”
Maggie Pondolfino, MFSO member and mother of Army son, said, “The majority of military families are against the war, but we represent only a tiny portion of the population. Every American who wants an end to the Iraq war needs to regularly and publicly voice their opposition.”
We are military families. We support our loved ones - we support our troops. We are speaking out to say: bring our troops home now, and take care of them when they get here, and never, ever again send them off to fight an unjust and unjustifiable war, a war based on lies.
# MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT – OREGONP.O. Box 754, Corvallis, OR 97339
(541) 757-0323, www.mfso-oregon.org
Membership Drive
March 22 - April 11
$125,000 goal
Click here to donate, or call Local - 503.232.8818 / Toll-Free - 877-500-5266
MFSO Support Group Saturday, May 3rd
Support GI Rights Rally March 22nd at Fort Lewis, Washington
Support the rights of our soldiers to oppose the war.
It’s critically important to support the rights of our soldiers to protest the war. This event near Fort Lewis is entitled, “Soldier, You’re Not Alone” and will feature speakers, workshops, kids’ activities and a march.
Noon-5:00 at Todd Park in Lakewood.
8720 N. Thorne Lane SW, Lakewood
Take I-5 Exit 123, go east on N. Thorne Lane to the park. For more information and a ride, call Maggie at 971-285-6234
5th Anniversary of the War - March 15th Portland Rally
Thousands March in Portland March 15th
Wednesday, March 19th marked the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the beginning of the 6th year of a war that should never have happened. Amid the current hype that “things have turned a corner” in Iraq, on March 10th, eight U.S. troops were killed, making it the deadliest day for U.S. service members this year.Across the country and around the world, MFSO members engaged in events and activities commemorating this tragic anniversary. Our voices were loud and clear in calling on Congress to use its “power of the purse” to end the funding that allows this war to continue, appropriate all funds needed to bring our troops home quickly and safely, and get them the care they need when they return.
Military Families Speak Out supports all our troops and their families, whether currently serving, returning veterans, or those who choose to resist or seek sanctuary.
Military Mother Opposes Iraq War
Since the war in Iraq began, I’ve written many columns in support of people serving in the military. They are patriots. They make tremendous sacrifices in service to our country.
Most often, my stories have come from the parents of soldiers. I’ve quoted parents who strongly support the war in Iraq. I’ve interviewed more parents whose children have served, been injured or been killed — and most of those parents are against the war. But they never wanted to say so in the newspaper.
Suzi Sutherland-Martin is the first person who has contacted me and been willing to say, in print, that her son is serving in Iraq and she is opposed to the war. Suzi’s son is an officer in the Marines. She loves him very much; she worries about him constantly. She writes him letters and sends e-mails. She telephones and ships packages.
And every Saturday she heads for the Portland airport, sits at a table in front of a sign that says “Bring the Troops Home” and tries to talk to people about the war.
After months of this work, Suzi has come to a sad conclusion: “I feel the majority of Americans are not interested in the troops or the war,” she says. “I watch all the people who walk by and ignore us, or say they aren’t interested. “The whole mess just doesn’t touch them. That is the double whammy of the war for families like mine. You are overwhelmed with concern for your . . . Marine, in my case. And not only don’t people seem to care, they don’t even seem to be paying attention.”
Suzi knows well she could be vilified for speaking out against a war in which her son is fighting. People already have told her she’s not being supportive of her son. “How is it supporting your children to send them to a war we shouldn’t have waged, that no one has any idea how to end? Some of them don’t have proper equipment. And the public doesn’t care.”
She knows she will be called anti-military but says she’s not.
“My husband and his brother were in the military. Their father was a career Army officer. My father was in the military. My son grew up in a family” with a tradition of military service. After college graduation, he joined the Marines.
When Suzi’s son was sent in harm’s way, she realized she had no one but her husband to talk to about her fears. “We talked about it obsessively.” But outside the family, “I felt so desperately alone. Nobody I knew wanted to talk about the war.” Suzi says she started writing letters to people who wrote commentaries about the war in the newspaper, “because they were the only people talking about the war.” She felt self-conscious, like she was asking the writers “to be my pen pals.”
Then she heard about the Oregon chapter of Military Families Speak Out. She attended a monthly support group in Wilsonville and “was thrilled beyond belief to feel I was not the only person in this situation.” Here were other parents, and a few wives and siblings, who opposed the war their loved ones were fighting. “We talked about our children, and the depressing things going on for them.” One member’s son returned from battle with severe post-traumatic stress symptoms. One woman’s husband has been sent to Iraq four times.
Many members supported the war at the onset but changed their opinions after hearing what their loved ones had seen. “Their kids don’t like it,” Suzi says. “They’re disillusioned with this war. “We started talking about what we could do. Write letters, go to demonstrations.” To those activities they added the Saturday table at the airport.
Suzi and others pass out pamphlets, bumper stickers, candy. They provide sheets with information about the cost of the war and tell people what they can do to help end it. “While I’m doing this stuff, I feel like it really matters,” Suzi says. “But on the way home, I’m not sure. Because nothing has changed.” She’s dismayed that in an election season there’s not more discussion about ending the war. She thinks she knows why. “This is a terrible thing to say, but I think we should have a draft,” she says. “I don’t like the draft, I don’t like war. But I can’t think of anything else that would cause people to pay attention” to a war she believes we should not be fighting. “I think if we had a draft, we would not have had this war.” The general population would not have wanted to put its children at risk. College students would have protested more.
But since we are at war, Suzi figured this was a good time, “right before the fifth anniversary, for want of a better word, of the start of the Iraq war” to tell the other side of the story: “The one about parents of soldiers sitting at a table in the airport, trying to remind people there is still a war going on.”
Margie Boule: 503-221-8450; marboule@aol.com
©2008 The Oregonian
Washington County Peace Vigil — Every Wednesday, 6:30-7:30
Join Military Families at this Weekly Vigil in Beaverton
Fifth and Hall St.
Military families have been attending this, Oregon’s largest sustained vigil, for over two-and-a-half years. We welcome your support each Wednesday from 6:30-7:30.
KBOO Broadcasts March 14 Mayoral Debate
The African American community will be front and center for Portland’s first debate with candidates running for mayor. The debate will take place Friday March 14 from 6 to 7:30pm at Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus, in the auditorium of the Moriarty Building. KBOO will broadcast live from the public forum, which will feature six of the mayoral candidates.
In an announcement from PCC, Cascade Campus President Algie Gatewood noted, “By placing issues of importance to African Americans and other communities of color before the candidates and the voters right out of the gate, we hope to help set the tone that matters of diversity and inclusiveness are critical to the health of our city."
Spotlight: The Outside World
The Outside World was recently documented in a class project created through Portland Community Media's PBL-Field Class.
2007 Victories!
KBOO Broadcasts March 14 Mayoral Debate
KBOO is proud to broadcast the city's first debate for mayor, hosted at Portand Community College - Cascade. Read below for details.
Issues of critical importance to Portland's African American community will be front and center during the first mayoral forum of the campaign season. Six candidates for Portland's top office will weigh in on matters like education, jobs, gentrification and more at the forum, set for 6 to 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 14, in the auditorium of the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building, Portland Community College Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killingsworth St.