John Littrell, Public Defender for Mike Wisniewski, filed a motion (see Attorney Submissions page) for full dismissal of charges. After listening to Mr. Littrell’s motion presentation, Magistrate Rita Coyne-Federman decided to continue the motion until the December 4 date, when a evidentiary hearing will take place on the motion. If the motion is denied, a bench trial will immediately follow.

Dennis Apel, Jeff Dietrich, Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J., Fr. Louie Vitale, O.F.M., and Mike Wisniewski were arrested for trespass on May 19, 2007, while attempting to persuade Vandenberg personnel present to leave their posts, cross the “green line” to join the peacemakers gathered.

No Weapons in Space! Stop U.S. First-Strike Deployments in Poland and Czech Republic! Convert the Military Industrial Complex! Fund Human Needs.

Join us for a vigil and protest on Saturday, October 11 from 1 - 3pm at Vandenberg main gate - Intersection of Hwy 1 and Casamila-Lompoc Road. (Six miles north of Lompoc on Highway 1 in Santa Barbara County, CA.)

Speakers include: Sanderson Beck, PhD - Author and peace activist Sanderson Beck
Steve Stormoen - Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

For more details e-mail macgregoreddy@gmail.com or call 831-206-5043

Sponsored by Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

Nevada Desert Experience

and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom DISAR

MacGregor did not “cross the line” or do anything to provoke arrest, which has drawn the interest of the ACLU, as it believes the military is unlawfully attempting to exert authority over civilians and deny them their constitutional right of assembly and free speech.

MacGregor received two citations, one for trespassing and one for resisting arrest and obstructing an officer. The second citation because she declined to give her name or produce identification when confronted as the presumed and alleged spokesperson of the protest.

MacGregor can be contacted at 831-206-5043

Statement for Sentencing Hearing, Jul 17, 2008, in Santa Barbara Federal Court

Edwin G. Ehmke

Shortly before or after the United States attack upon Iraq, I attended a large march in San Francisco. Among those in our group were a number of Italian nuns dressed in their traditional white habits. Upon entering Civic Center Plaza, I was approached by a TV reporter who focused a camera on me, stuck a microphone to my mouth and asked, “What does religion have to do with this war?” I was speechless, partially because of the surprise factor, and partly because of the question, the answer to which I thought was obvious. All I could do was stammer: “It’s immoral.”

I have thought about this often since then, wondering what I could have said had I greater presence of mind. So far, however, I really haven’t come up with a better answer. All I can do in this statement is elaborate on this.

When people learn that we have committed civil disobedience, they are often puzzled. What good does it do? It won’t change anything. Why risk your freedom or stain your record on behalf of a cause you can’t do anything about? My answer is similar to that given by my wife Mary Jane before this court on May 15. We do this as a witness against an evil that has become so banal that it is often ignored. We take for granted what President Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex, a set of interlocking governmental and corporate relationships that feed on each other to produce a mindset that has one focus: power. This is no secret. What would our founding fathers think of what many in our government have publicly said or published: The Project for the New American Century, with its blueprint for American world mastery; the lavishly illustrated Space Command published by the Department of Defense, calling for complete American militarization and dominance of space? The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, headed by a recent vice-president of the world’s largest weapons manufacturer and exporter? The list runs on and on, going as least as far back as studies from 1960’s think tanks, that blandly divorced strategic policies from the fates of those they affected the most. In the meantime we sit before our televisions, insulated from the insecurity we might experience were the media to report the military caskets and civilian deaths the way it did in Vietnam. America has changed.

We spend more than $50 million dollars a shot in order to pummel an atoll in the Marshall Islands, whose inhabitants have nothing to say in the matter. These missiles, coming from Vandenberg Air Force Base, have one purpose only—to kill as many people as possible. I’m sure they are quite effective. With 4 shots a year that makes $200 million. The war in Iraq is costing us 700 or so million a day. I don’t recall much attention several weeks ago when President Bush magnanimously offered $3 million to help the untold numbers of Burmese cyclone victims. I guess this was enough to make us feel good. No need to mention the poor, inadequate medical care, roads full of potholes, and most of our neglected infrastructure . The stock of Lockheed Martin has gone up sixfold.

Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, William Parry, and Sam Nunn have several times during the last year jointly called for an end to the nuclear madness. Speaking and acting against it is not unreasonable. And—most importantly—my recollection of the Fifth Commandment does not include exemptions for preemptive strikes and the massive taking of any human life. America may have changed, but this commandment has not.