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PeaceAction
Montgomery and
PeaceDrum meet
Walter Johnson Students
Students at Walter Johnson
have organized to have a Peace Club. last Friday, March
30th, the peace club held an Activists forum where student
could engage directly with advocates from various
organizations. peace drum was helping Peace Action
Montgomery register for peace voters at the event. There
were about 15 other organizations.
Students walks around
and asked questions to all the organizations. People were
fairly eager to talk and ask questions about the war. The
school is very in tuned to the undesirable notion that the
military already has their private information for the
purpose of soliciting jobs into the Military. There were
plenty from all sides of the issues. Interestingly those
who do favor the war had many of the same issues as those
who support the President.
A more notable chat was
with the High School head of the Young Republican's party.
He came directly up with three sheets of paper testimony.
Many lines with yellow highlights pointing to citations of
military experts stating they had proof of weaponry in
Iraq, maybe not WMD, but enough proof to pose a threat. He
was slightly surprised when I answered ""So?". His point
was that these were definitely bad guys and definitely
extremist. My answer was indeed they might be and I will
repeat my answer of "So?"
He asked what about the
extremists. So we started talking about bell curves. We
both agreed that there was a bell curve. So I asked if he
is indeed telling me he has the capability to ever make a
bell curve permanently flat. No, of course not, he
replied. Then "so" as an answer still holds. We should not
be doing things not becoming of us as a people and certainly
not as a Nation. Consider we are engaged in non supported
behavior based on a hunch. We THINK something might
happen. "What IF.. What IF we leave now? All those
people" What IF is devoid of substance to make any type of
decision. So why decide based on a void, a fear, except
that we are strong strong enough not to succumb to our fears
and act in ways we would not otherwise see us acting like.
Instead of what if, think
about what we know. Many more innocents are dying over bad
guys because we invaded a country that did not attack us.
The situation continues to worsen. The more troops we
send, the higher the loss of life. It has not reversed in
four awful, dreadful years. The only way to be a part of
stopping anything is to stop. That is what we are saying.
That is what we want Congress to do. Stop and force the
negotiating table to begin because that is where all wars
end.
We left an good terms, me
and the young GOP. We may do some things together. An
interesting question for him which I did not ask is, could
he balance being pro Peace Republican. The thoughts of free
markets and things are likely candidates for solutions to
this and any war. In an odd way, we could use true
republican ideas. It is hard for them. WJ is in a pretty
liberal minded community. it is probably quite hard to be a
Republican in a school like that. I bet you get jeered some
if you are in a minority. Look to take good and leave the
bad to make a better good and you have a place more
befitting for anyone to reach their potential. There is no
victory in war nor peace. There is war in war and peace in
peace.
Links to Clubs at
Walter Johnson High School
Student Alliance for Justice in Education
Republican Club
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Does Buying Citgo Help?
Many people
have an opinion on Citgo gas. Many who do not support
war suggest buying it. Many in the Military say don't
buy it. The premise is that the oil does not come from
the Middle East. But is it like Perrier saying it is
bottled at source? After all oil is a commodity which is
traded globally. So we asked Citgo Corporate Offices if
gas that I buy from Citgo actually
comes from Venezuela and not the Middle East. Here is
the response.
Dear Sir,
As a subsidiary of Petróleos de
Venezuela (PDVSA), CITGO's primary source of crude oil is
Venezuela. However, CITGO also runs large volumes of crude oil
from the United States, Canada, Northwest Europe (North Sea),
West Africa, and several Latin American countries (other than
Venezuela). To a much smaller extent, CITGO purchases crude
oil from other parts of the world, which may include Russia,
Mediterranean countries, the Middle East, and the Far East.
The individual grades and their origin depend upon a variety
of market conditions, which may tend to favor certain parts of
the world over others within specific time frames.
Thank you for your interest in CITGO.
Fernando J. Garay
Manager Public Affairs
Discussion with a Military person about Citgo
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