[Imc-newsroom] Headlines!

[Dan Chambers]

Hey everyone. My life has taken a turn for the absurdly busy. Without 
further ado...

Senator Trent Lott praised Strom Thurmond's racist presidential candidacy of 
1948, claiming that "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond 
ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of 
the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems 
over all these years, either." When reminded that Thurmond's candidacy was 
blatantly anti-black, Lott's office stated that his comments were meant only 
to pay homage to a great leader, nothing else.


BALTIMORE - December 6 - Phil Berrigan died December 6, 2002 at about 9:30 
PM, at Jonah House, a community he co-founded in 1973, surrounded by family 
and friends. He died two months after being diagnosed with liver and kidney 
cancer, and one month after deciding to discontinue chemotherapy. 
Approximately thirty close friends and fellow peace activists gathered for 
the ceremony of last rites on November 30, to celebrate his life and anoint 
him for the next part of his journey. Berrigan's brother and co-felon, 
Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan officiated.


*


During his nearly 40 years of resistance to war and violence, Berrigan 
focused on living and working in community as a way to model the nonviolent, 
sustainable world he was working to create. Jonah House members live simply, 
pray together, share duties, and attempt to expose the violence of 
militarism and consumerism. The community was born out of resistance to the 
Vietnam War, including high-profile draft card burning actions; later the 
focus became ongoing resistance to U.S. nuclear policy, including Plowshares 
actions that aim to enact Isaiah's biblical prophecy of a disarmed world. 
Because of these efforts Berrigan spent about 11 years in prison. He wrote, 
lectured, and taught extensively, publishing six books, including an 
autobiography, Fighting the Lamb's War.

*

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has filed a petition to be argued today 
in British High Court, arguing against the UK's support for a war in Iraq. 
The case rests on the text of the United Nations Resolution 1441. The CND 
argues that it is normal to use the expression "any necessary means" to 
denote sanction of military action. "No such expression appears in the 
resolution," Tony Myers, campaigns officer with CND told IPS Wednesday. "We 
are arguing that military action would be unlawful without going back to the 
UN and seeking express approval for it." Myers acknowledged that "there is 
no precedent for a small organization going to court to stop a government 
going to war." But he said the CND is hopeful that the court will admit the 
case at the preliminary hearing on Monday.

All of the leases were signed between 1968 and 1984, before the ban on oil 
drilling was enacted. They have never been developed. But they are the last 
hope that oil companies have to expand operations along a part of 
California's central coast near Santa Barbara that has significant 
quantities of undersea oil. State leaders said the ruling will make it much 
harder for the leases ever to be used, and may even nullify them.


Dan Chambers

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