• Protest Works; Resistance Works Better: a review of Tom Hayden’s book Hell No

    Protest Works; Resistance Works Better   review of Hell No: The Forgotten Power of the Vietnam Peace Movement (2017) by Tom Hayden by John M Repp   Tom Hayden was the primary author of the Port Huron Statement, the 1962 political manifesto of Students for a Democratic Society – SDS. He was one of the defendants in the Chicago 7 conspiracy trial of 1970 where anti-war activists were arrested and charged for what later was determined to be a “police riot” at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Sadly, Hayden died in October 2016. We could use his wisdom now. He wrote Hell No out of concern that the role Vietnam peace movement played in the history of our country was…

  • “why – for many people — war feels better than peace”

    “why – for many people  — war feels better than peace”   a review of Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (2016) by Sebastian Junger by John M Repp  jmrepp@q.com   The title of this review is a quote from the introduction to Tribe (p xvii) where the author tells us what his book is about. In a related TED talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_junger_why_veterans_miss_war , Junger says that we need to understand this counter-intuitive fact if we want to stop war. Junger was a war correspondent for the magazine Vanity Fair. He was embedded in Afghanistan and made the acclaimed documentary film “Restrepo”. Soldiers form a “tribe” when they train together and especially when they go into combat together. They must band together…

  • An Open Letter to the City of Seattle (on Public Banking)

    An Open Letter to the City of Seattle                                             November 16, 2016 On November 4, 2016, Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant proposed legislation to allow socially responsible credit unions and community banks to manage the deposits of the city, deposits that are currently managed by Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has been caught defrauding customers and has fired 5,300 of its lowest paid workers, many who opposed the policies, while giving bonuses to the executives who ordered the fraud to be committed. Seattle can end its contract with Wells Fargo in 2018. http://kuow.org/post/lawmaker-wants-seattle-say-goodbye-wells-fargo Then on November 7, 2016 Sawant and 5 other Seattle City Council members proposed selling bonds to finance affordable housing in Seattle. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/bonds-pitched-as-a-way-to-create-affordable-housing-in-seattle/ Selling bonds means borrowing…

  • America Needs a New kind of labor Movement

    America Needs a New Kind of Labor Movement by John M Repp a review of Thomas Geoghegan. Only One Thing Can Save Us: Why America Needs a New Kind of Labor Movement. New York: The New Press. 2014 This book is full of ideas that could change America’s political and economic landscape. Thomas Geoghegan (pronounced gay-gen) is a veteran labor lawyer and author. He writes this book in conversational style and publishes it at a time when the labor movement is weaker than at any time since 1937. 1937 was when the sit-down strikes pushed General Motors to negotiate with the UAW (United Auto Workers). The Wagner Act of 1935 made collective bargaining legal, but did not make it mandatory.…

  • In Matters of War and Peace, the Real Work Lies Elsewhere

    In Matters of War and Peace, the Real Work Lies Elsewhere By Rob Crawford  first published, Oct 12, 2016 in Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber   Among the many urgent problems that compete for our attention, the political choice between more war, or the courage to seek peaceful solutions to the many and complex problems of global violence begs for our attention and discernment. One might have thought, perhaps naively, that an electoral campaign to be president of a nation that has been at war for the past 15 years would provide an opportunity to debate the grave issues of foreign and military policy. The current presidential campaign has failed miserably in this democratic responsibility. Yet many people yearn for clarity. They…

  • Actually We Can Abolish War

    Actually We Can Abolish War by Thomas Ewell I have spent the better part of this weekend streaming a World Without War conference on war abolition being held in Washington, DC. (For those interested, the conference videos are online. Click on “World Without War” above) We heard speaker after speaker give accounts of the enormous negative impact of war our planet – the suffering of people killed and injured, the hundreds of thousands of refugees created, the economic and environmental cost of preparing for and executing war, the immorality of the arms trade, the failure of the US Congress to audit and control the Pentagon budget, the complete insanity of preparing for a nuclear war, the failure of the US to observe…

  • Sept 2016 Newsletter & Calendar available

    The latest issue of PACIFIC CALL, our newsletter, is out! There is a 4-page print version (click here to see or download the ARTICLES in pdf format) and a 2-page calendar covering September, October, and November (click here to see or download the CALENDAR ).

  • The Mortality Games: U.S. Is Disqualified For Health Olympics

    The Mortality Games: U.S. Is Disqualified In Trials For Health Olympics By Mary Anne Mercer and Stephen Bezruchka   first published in The Huffington Post,  August 1, 2016   The United States has been competing in the modern Olympic Games since they began in 1896, and doing well. We win the most gold medals in the summer games, and we usually stand second in winter contests. The Olympic Games rankings are important measures of status for competing countries, rallying citizens to support their athletes to excel, beat previous world records, make their countrymen and women proud. Books about the intense challenges of competing and winning in the Olympics are best-sellers. Being an Olympic sport requires an international sanctioning body. What would it take…