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Friday, October 19, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Daniel Ellsberg Speaking In Brattleboro, Vermont
Daniel Ellsberg speaking in Brattleboro, Vermont, at the Brattleboro Union High School, with opening remarks by Bill Holiday, and an introduction by Sarah Levine.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Ellsberg to speak in Brattleboro tomorrow
By CHRIS GAROFOLO / Brattleboro Reformer
BRATTLEBORO -- The most dangerous man in America will appear in Brattleboro this Thursday.
Daniel Ellsberg, a former commander in the Marine Corps and State Department analyst who made headlines when he released the Pentagon Papers, will speak in the Brattleboro Union High School multi-purpose room this Thursday beginning at 12:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by the BUHS organization called Students For Renew.
"We’re studying U.S. history here and to have someone who has had such a great impact on such a momentous 20th century event, the Vietnam War, is outstanding," said Bill Holiday, a BUHS social studies teacher. This is a great opportunity for the community to hear a powerful figure of prominence whether people believe he is a hero or a traitor, Holiday added.
More than 40 years ago, Ellsberg, a former cold war hard-liner, released a top secret 7,000-page document known as the Pentagon Papers to the press. The release of the papers sparked twelve felony counts with a possible sentence of 115 years, but the charges were dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him.
That misconduct later led to convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Richard M. Nixon.
Holiday said the presentation will begin with a brief video clip about those attempting to discredit Ellsberg and put him under surveillance during peace rallies.
"They had instructions to capture him and beat him up one time. Another time they had a plan to infect him with LSD so they he would publicly discredit himself in a speech, so that the Nixon administration could later discredit him," he said. "Undoubtedly he will talk about what happened to his life as a result of the publication of the Pentagon Papers."
Less than 90 seats remain available for the general public. Residents interested in reserving a seat may contact Holiday at bill_holiday@wsesu.org.
Ellsberg will also appear at the Latchis Theatre later in the day to attend a showing of "The Most Dangerous Man in America," an award-winning film directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith chronicling the events leading up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers.
The film will begin at 6 p.m. at the downtown Brattleboro theatre followed by a question and answer session with Ellsberg. This event is open to the public with an $8 suggested donation.
Gail Nunziata, managing director at the Latchis, said they have sponsored several high-profile national figures such as consumer rights activist and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader and well-known documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
"Daniel Ellsberg is the same caliber of notoriety and commitment to their cause, and it’s great to be able to offer the stage and offer the community the ability to hear him speak," Nunziata said. "It’s exciting to hear somebody with his kind of passion. ... It’s a wonderful thing for the town."
After growing up in Detroit and graduating from Harvard, Ellsberg served as a company commander in the Marines before returning to Cambridge, Mass., to complete his doctorate in economics. He joined the Rand Corporation’s economics department in 1959 and was later recruited to serve in the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
After spending time in Vietnam for the State Department and back with Rand, Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers in 1971 to The New York Times, Washington Post and 17 other newspapers.
Ellsberg now is prominent speaker and writer.
BRATTLEBORO -- The most dangerous man in America will appear in Brattleboro this Thursday.
Daniel Ellsberg, a former commander in the Marine Corps and State Department analyst who made headlines when he released the Pentagon Papers, will speak in the Brattleboro Union High School multi-purpose room this Thursday beginning at 12:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by the BUHS organization called Students For Renew.
"We’re studying U.S. history here and to have someone who has had such a great impact on such a momentous 20th century event, the Vietnam War, is outstanding," said Bill Holiday, a BUHS social studies teacher. This is a great opportunity for the community to hear a powerful figure of prominence whether people believe he is a hero or a traitor, Holiday added.
More than 40 years ago, Ellsberg, a former cold war hard-liner, released a top secret 7,000-page document known as the Pentagon Papers to the press. The release of the papers sparked twelve felony counts with a possible sentence of 115 years, but the charges were dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him.
That misconduct later led to convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Richard M. Nixon.
Holiday said the presentation will begin with a brief video clip about those attempting to discredit Ellsberg and put him under surveillance during peace rallies.
"They had instructions to capture him and beat him up one time. Another time they had a plan to infect him with LSD so they he would publicly discredit himself in a speech, so that the Nixon administration could later discredit him," he said. "Undoubtedly he will talk about what happened to his life as a result of the publication of the Pentagon Papers."
Less than 90 seats remain available for the general public. Residents interested in reserving a seat may contact Holiday at bill_holiday@wsesu.org.
Ellsberg will also appear at the Latchis Theatre later in the day to attend a showing of "The Most Dangerous Man in America," an award-winning film directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith chronicling the events leading up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers.
The film will begin at 6 p.m. at the downtown Brattleboro theatre followed by a question and answer session with Ellsberg. This event is open to the public with an $8 suggested donation.
Gail Nunziata, managing director at the Latchis, said they have sponsored several high-profile national figures such as consumer rights activist and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader and well-known documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
"Daniel Ellsberg is the same caliber of notoriety and commitment to their cause, and it’s great to be able to offer the stage and offer the community the ability to hear him speak," Nunziata said. "It’s exciting to hear somebody with his kind of passion. ... It’s a wonderful thing for the town."
After growing up in Detroit and graduating from Harvard, Ellsberg served as a company commander in the Marines before returning to Cambridge, Mass., to complete his doctorate in economics. He joined the Rand Corporation’s economics department in 1959 and was later recruited to serve in the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
After spending time in Vietnam for the State Department and back with Rand, Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers in 1971 to The New York Times, Washington Post and 17 other newspapers.
Ellsberg now is prominent speaker and writer.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Hundreds of unexploded munitions found dangerously near a local house are safely removed
Trieu Tai Commune, Trieu Phong District (15 March 2012): Pham Thi Thom, 55-year-old mother of three children in An Tru Village, decided to sell the family’s old carambola tree after she heard that her neighbors had earned a lot of money from selling ornamental trees.
Her family started digging up their star-fruit tree yesterday morning when, to their astonishment, five wartime munitions were unearthed at the depth of half a meter. Terrified at what they had found, they stopped digging immediately and called Project RENEW’s hotline number for quick action to neutralize the danger, since the UXO were just 15 meters from their house.
Less than an hour later, Project RENEW’s mobile EOD team arrived at her house. The team set up a safety cordon around the location where the UXO was uncovered and began investigating the area around it.
According to Thom, for 28 years her family has lived since in this area, which is believed to be heavily contaminated with unexploded munitions left from the fighting that ended 35 years ago. She said that the authorities had collected and removed hundreds of UXO in the past; however, she was always worried that some buried caches of munitions remained in her village, in unknown places.
The team completed the task on Thursday, removing the last item of UXO from a depth of 1.2 meters. A total of 193 items, including 60mm and 82mm mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, were safely removed from Ms. Thom’s house and set aside safely for later destruction.
This latest finding is a harsh reminder that Quang Tri Province is still one of the areas most heavily impacted by UXO, which means the cleanup and destruction of UXO will continue for years to come.
Through the integrated Risk Education/Community Reporting Network, which supports the EOD operations, Project RENEW is demonstrating that the UXO danger can be reduced and eventually eliminated – by educating children and adults about UXO risks and enlisting them to report UXO sightings to RENEW’s teams for timely removal. Local people like Ms. Thom now are well aware of UXO risks, they now are on constant alert, and they know when they encounter UXO they should call the hotline number immediately.
With financial and technical assistance from Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), RENEW’s teams continue to provide battle area clearance in response to local development priorities and EOD quick response, as in Ms. Thom’s case, to ensure public safety. Part of this demining funding also comes from the Office of Weapon Removal and Abatement of the U.S Department of State.
Her family started digging up their star-fruit tree yesterday morning when, to their astonishment, five wartime munitions were unearthed at the depth of half a meter. Terrified at what they had found, they stopped digging immediately and called Project RENEW’s hotline number for quick action to neutralize the danger, since the UXO were just 15 meters from their house.
Less than an hour later, Project RENEW’s mobile EOD team arrived at her house. The team set up a safety cordon around the location where the UXO was uncovered and began investigating the area around it.
According to Thom, for 28 years her family has lived since in this area, which is believed to be heavily contaminated with unexploded munitions left from the fighting that ended 35 years ago. She said that the authorities had collected and removed hundreds of UXO in the past; however, she was always worried that some buried caches of munitions remained in her village, in unknown places.
The team completed the task on Thursday, removing the last item of UXO from a depth of 1.2 meters. A total of 193 items, including 60mm and 82mm mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, were safely removed from Ms. Thom’s house and set aside safely for later destruction.
This latest finding is a harsh reminder that Quang Tri Province is still one of the areas most heavily impacted by UXO, which means the cleanup and destruction of UXO will continue for years to come.
Through the integrated Risk Education/Community Reporting Network, which supports the EOD operations, Project RENEW is demonstrating that the UXO danger can be reduced and eventually eliminated – by educating children and adults about UXO risks and enlisting them to report UXO sightings to RENEW’s teams for timely removal. Local people like Ms. Thom now are well aware of UXO risks, they now are on constant alert, and they know when they encounter UXO they should call the hotline number immediately.
With financial and technical assistance from Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), RENEW’s teams continue to provide battle area clearance in response to local development priorities and EOD quick response, as in Ms. Thom’s case, to ensure public safety. Part of this demining funding also comes from the Office of Weapon Removal and Abatement of the U.S Department of State.
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