According to John Eligon of The New York Times, Thurs. July ,16th, Judge John Koeltl presided over the resentencing of Lynne Stewart after it was deemed that her first sentence of twenty-eight months was too light.  Lynne Stewart – the Terrorists’ Handmaid – will be tucked away for the next ten years.  Maybe she’ll make it in jail until she’s 90 though she’s got breast cancer.

You better watch out, America.  Didn’t she say,  “I’d do it again” ?  And that’s why they have to lock her up for a good, long time.  She’s “potentially lethal” said the prosecuting attorney, Mr Andrew Dember to the grey-haired, school-marm lawyer sitting in  front of him.

He should be feeling good now, Judge Koeltl, he’s done his duty.  Even though he received hundreds of letters attesting to Lynne’s honesty, virtue and loyalty; even though he heard her daughter burst into tears on hearing  the cruel verdict, he can rest easy.  He was so careful about all the necessary legal enhancements that will keep America safe, especailly since 9/11. They – the powers that prevail in this country today – are not stupid. They know a good opportunity when it happens.  9/11 was a gift from heaven – although devastating and horrible as it was – it gave them a chance to “enhance” our laws.   Enhance was once a pretty word – it usually meant to make nicer or better.  Not in this case!  Their aim is to destroy the liberties that the founders of our country fought so hard to create – now with new laws they can  sanction government interference between client and attorney,  wire-tapping and above all, intimidation of the legal profession into fear and ultimately, impotence.  Woe to a hapless victim who appears before the bench.  Between the lawyers’ fear and the enhanced laws, justice doesn’t stand a chance.

Why were we lulled into thinking she might given a mild, fitting sentence?  This isn’t medieval times when men were sentenced to life imprisonment or death for stealing a loaf of bread. We are reasonable people nowadays with reasonable laws – aren’t we?  Or is there now a deliberate choice to destroy all the civil liberties that followed those times? We listened so patiently as Koeltl struggled to justify the numbers of the various enhancements, wondering how he could have forgotten what was crucial to the sad woman sitting in front of him; enhancing prison numbers can do that to you. She was asked by Judge Koeltl why she doesn’t exhibit remorse – a strange question.  She is an innocent woman.  She has nothing to show remorse for.

No, Lynne, you didn’t  fail us.  We failed you.  We failed because we weren’t ready – too sanguine – perhaps stupid – but we should have known and been prepared for that verdict.  We should have proclaimed, exhorted, shouted – Lynne Stewart is innocent – she is guilty of nothing but being human.  She has never aided or abetted terrorists – she is just a good human being – the best among us.  It is the legal system that is now being perverted, destroyed and dishonoring America.  But it is more than that – it is the governing body – the Congress and the President that are guilty as well, playing their parts and letting it happen.

We must have courage.

- Lillian Pollak
reading the U. S. Constitution
July 4, 2010
for the Granny Peace Brigade

The Square – slabs of concrete
Cobbled streets, medieval arches, forlorn dusty parks
Bleak citadels of justice

In these great halls
knowing righteous laws
fear destroys reason
Harsh sentence are pronounced
Innocent actions become
Punishable crimes

Here a bird sings

Legendary – like the Kuninglin-
Who hid in the plumage of an eagle
And soared above him to heaven.
A wren
Known for strong songs
That floods the skies

This a warm-blooded, two legged,
Feathered vertebrate
Plump – gray, sandy-haired
With a fearless grin
Is shut away
A bird who sings only in daylight
Her notes loud and clear
Round crystal globules of sweet sound
Pour through the black bars
Singing of innocence of wrong-doing
Pure of any intent
Only desire to do good
And kindness

We must hear her
She must not be ignored
Her song of sympathy
for all those oppressed,
misjudged, falsely accused
Wafts through the air
Telling us of the meaning of our existence
Empathy for all that lives
Gentleness…

We must hear her message
Above the crushing litany of law
That stifles her voice

If justice ignores her song
We cannot survive
If we forget humanity
we will not survive

…….Listen

- Lillian Pollak
for the Granny Peace Brigade

It is possible to live a full, rich life even if you have never gone caroling with the Raging Grannies, however hanging out with the Ragings is one way to live intensely. If you missed this year, all is not lost. Pencil or tap  a note into your December 2010 calendar reminding you to ask the Granny Peace Brigade what the Ragings are planning for the end of the month. They might even have an extra Santa hat for you.

Here is what this year looked like:

Getting started.

We are in full voice now.

A passerby joins us.

Why does Lillian Pollak always seem to wind up with the cute guy?

And how does Barbara Harris make all those friends?

Yes, all those friends.

Eventually the police did throw us out of the station. One officer looked me right in the eye and said “I agree with you absolutely, but I still have to ask you to leave.” Another told us he was evicting us “because I really need this job.”

Songs for listening on the Granny Jukebox YouTube channel.

See you in the street,
Eva-Lee Baird
Photos by Fran Sears
for the Granny Peace Brigade

This is the mind set we are up against.  As an older man witnessing our argument said after the boys got off, “You’ll never persuade them.  They haven’t the knowledge.”  Inasmuch as they are going to probably go off to fight in the deadly wars, they most likely are better off believing that the cause is just. It’s kind of a conundrum — we want them to see the futility of the wars, but don’t want them to feel their service is worthless. If they could be persuaded to rebel and refuse to go, that would be one thing.  But, of course, that wouldn’t happen.

Despite our sadness that the young men are so misinformed and are so convinced they are saving the country, undoubtedly to their eventual peril, we were impressed with their interest in hearing our views and their ability to disagree politely and respectfully.

As for the honors event, we had a most cheerful and happy evening.  The S.I. Peace people are a remarkably warm bunch, and the evening was planned to perfection.  They had a good musician-singer, a raffle and a silent auction, and food like you wouldn’t believe.  There were approximately four long, long tables filled, and I mean, FILLED, with delicious goodies.  Plus, the piece de resistance — tada:  the awards presentations.  Our Barbara looked lovely in an emerald green silk top, and made a strong speech urging counter-recruitment action in the schools. Nydia and I felt a big swarm of pride in her,

But as our subway encounter showed us, the road to our goal of bringing the troops home is a long and difficult one.  We have to keep on keeping on!

-Joan Wile
for the Granny Peace Brigade

I grew up during the Second World War and I remember the warm feeling I had when Israel was formed in 1948, and how at Hunter College I empathized with Jewish students celebrating the 5th Anniversary of the founding of Israel. I believe many have not had reason/opportunity to do so, but for some reason I did later come to know what the founding of the State of Israel caused the Arab Palestinians: The Holocaust was carried out in Europe; subsequently Arab Palestinians lost a significant part of their homeland, where they and Mizrahi and other Jews had lived — lived not without conflict but without widespread displacements.

Never have I heard of any acknowledgement to the Palestinians of their justifiable distress and anger for their having had to move to make possible the establishment of Israel; nor have I ever heard an apology — obviously not that these would resolve the issue but the missing acknowledgement and apology are indicative of lack of understanding or lack of awareness of cause and effect. A result is that Palestinians have been viewed by many as spoilers, not as people with a grievance that required redress In effect, they were required to make compensation for criminal acts (The Holocaust) in which they had no part.

What has happened and is happening to the Palestinians in occupied Gaza is so horrid — for me beyond words to express. And, as is known, we, the United States, provide the wherewithal for the carrying on of this campaign against Gaza.

There have been blockades – land, sea, and air – imposed by Israel. Isn’t this an act of war? Some of the results of the blockades have been life threatening. And so Gaza sends rockets; Israel responds with sophisticated ’state of the art’ power/technology. The residents of Gaza are told to remove themselves from areas of hostilities — where are they to go? They do not have bomb shelters. They are totally vulnerable. And we, the U.S., have rationalized our non-support for a cease-fire!

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 virtually has been ignored. Settlements are developed and expanded in the occupied West Bank with U.S. approval — implicit and explicit (President Bush’s allowing, in a televised talk with the former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, that some settlements were ‘facts on the ground’). The Palestinians were expected to accept, as part of a plan for a Palestinian state, a system of West Bank ‘Bantustans’ proposed by then Prime Minister Ehud Barak and rejected by the then President of the Palestine National Authority Yasser Arafat, toward the end of President Clinton’s second term. Many were incredulous that the plan was rejected.

President-elect Obama, many do not know the post-Second World War history of this part of the Middle East. You do. Please, your incoming Administration, your Office as honest broker, should acknowledge publicly that the Palestinians, as well as the Israelis, have justifiable claims, and should insist that inhumane action against the Palestinians by the occupying power end, that Israeli/Palestinian cease-fires become effective forthwith, and that concrete steps be taken for the creation and necessary support of a viable sovereign Palestinian state.

President-elect Obama, our taxes must not support unacceptable policies and action. This does not lessen the view of Israel as a U.S. ally. In addition, the Palestinians should receive acknowledgement of the loss of part of their pre-1948 homeland. These will not be unreasonable actions to undertake but to do so will require the will of your Administration to promote these actions as (and here I borrow, out of context, from a statement of Archbishop Tutu) possible, desirable, and necessary.

=============

These days this matter has, I know, been of great concern to all of us, and I know we have various views. I think it is generally believed that the lack of a fair resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict is not the only factor but is a significant one in U.S./Middle East antagonisms.

- Barbara Walker
Granny Peace Brigade

photo: helpful passerby

Here’s a taste of what was on those special song sheets:

Muntadhar al-Zaidi
(Tune: “It came Upon a Midnight Clear”)
Lyrics: 1st verse by Jean Norris, 2nd and 3rd verses by Vicki Ryder of the Rochester Raging Grannies 12/08

It came within a conference drear,
That glorious gesture bold…
From a hero bending near the floor
To silence lies being told.

Peace on the earth — a shoe for George
From a throw with a glorious zing.
The world in solemn stillness watched
To see the second fling!

The first was for George, that lying dog,
Who shou-ld be pu-t in jail.
The second for all of the orphaned ones
Whose deaths we now bewail.

We all give thanks to that brave young man,
Mutadhar al-Zaidi his name.
He did what all of us longed to do…
We just wish we had better aim!

Al-Zaidi spoke for all of us
With his gesture that some have called rude,
But George had it coming now don’t you think?
For all of the people he’s screwed.

So thanks, al-Zaidi, for throwing your shoes,
We’re just sorry that Georgie ducked.
We’re grateful you threw both your shoes at George
For all of the people he’s…
[spoken] tortured and murdered and starved and lied to and jailed and bombed and…

photos: Eva-Lee Baird

When listeners asked for song sheets we asked them in return to promise to sing the songs. “Oh I will,” was the universal response with a smile and with passion.

- Eva-Lee Baird

Technical Note:
The first time the stationmaster asked us to move, the Raging Grannies negotiated for a bit more time and then moved to another location. When the same guy asked us to move from the second spot, we moved across the station and down one level to be out of his bailiwick. In our third spot a police officer asked us to move before we got to sing a note. This officer was helpful in suggesting a fourth location where he thought we might not be bothered saying, “I’m with you all the way on this.” Finally, when another officer asked us to move from the fourth spot we packed up and went home. By then we had sung a lot of songs, given out a lot of song sheets, and had some good conversations.

Lillian Rydell gave a fervent appeal to end the war as only Lillian can do in her characteristically convincing no-nonsense, straight talking (for real) way.

Lillian Pollak reminisced about her experiences with the WPA and her political interaction during the 30’s. Her articulateness combined with her age really wowed the audience.

Nydia gave a very concise talk about the work of the three Granny Peace Brigade committees — Legislative Campaign, Counter Recruitment and No Bases. She covered a lot of territory in a limited time frame and gave out literature relevant to her discussion.

I did my usual thing — talking about the grannies, the book, and singing a few songs. Because I had a bad cold at the time, I sounded like something between a foghorn and a grinding cement mixer. But, no matter — the message is the thing.

With all this activity — the three WBAI grannies; the story about Barbara Harris in the NY Times (and picked up widely by other publications and blogs); the counter recruitment actions on Parent-Teacher night; Vinie Burrows’ appearance on WBAI talking about the Teach-In and other GPB matters; the coming Teach-In itself; our Sunday lecture described above, and other events in the planning stage now — we are successfully keeping our message alive. The grannies just won’t fade away.

- Joan Wile

Like fingerprints and snowflakes, there are no duplications in the ranks of the Granny Peace Brigade. When WBAI put out the call for three grannies who survived the Great Depression to participate in an on-air round table discussion, their listeners got a kaleidoscopic look at the 1930s from three different perspectives.

   
Molly Klopot, Lillian Rydell and Vinie Burrows in action – always

Vinie gave a warm and nuanced recollection of growing up in depression era Harlem, reminding us all of the extraordinary journey of this talented woman. Molly’s account of the 1932 Ford Hunger March from Detroit to Dearborn that resulted in the murder of four of her friends is the stuff of legends. Lillian recounted the deep hardships suffered and life lessons learned in a small coal mining town in rural Pennsylvania. All three women spoke of the dynamic and positive role a responsive and progressive government can have during tough economic times. Citing ground-breaking programs like the WPA (Work Progress Administration) and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), the rise of organized labor, the creation of the Social Security Administration and other programs that helped level the social and economic justice playing fields, they called on concerned citizens everywhere to reach out into their communities. 

Click on the link and listen to the stories of these three life-long advocates for peace and justice — you won’t be disappointed.

- Fran Sears and Lillian Rydell
- Photos: Phyllis Cunningham & Eva-Lee Baird

First Story:
We had a law on the books that might have prevented the present financial crisis if it had been left alone. The Glass Steagall Act was passed in 1933 to get us out of the great depression. It was doing okay for years until it became the victim of some unwise surgery.

In 1999, that good old Glass Steagall Act, was eviscerated when the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was passed by Congress. (Note well: One of the authors, Phil Gramm, had been an advisor to John McCain’s 2008 Presidential campaign, until he said that US consumers were “whiners.”) President Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act but if he had vetoed it, the number of votes in Congress was high enough that it was said to be “veto-proof.”

This change to the Glass Steagall Act allowed investment banking, insurance, and commercial banking to be mingled in firms, rather than being kept separate.

Why is this important? Investment banks help companies raise money by issuing stocks or bonds. Usually they keep some of the stock for themselves, and this stock becomes part of their capital; they also earn fees for issuing and distributing the stock. These activities can be risky especially if the stock declines in price.

Conversely, commercial (and savings & loan association banks) were prohibited under the Glass Steagall Act from the above-noted activities; they could take deposits, and lend money in many ways, especially mortgages. They had to keep on hand enough money to pay out on demand. That all changed in 1999.

Insurance companies jumped into the mix. Insurance companies had a lot of money to invest, so they wanted to combine with investment banks and commercial banks.

Once the two types of banks and insurance companies could be combined, the riskiness of the investment banking activity could affect the health of the resulting institutions and their ability to pay money on demand and, even more important, their ability to continue making loans. However, there were rules, such as the net capital rule, that required maintaining a certain ratio of capital to debt, just in case.

In 2004 the Securities and Exchange Commission met for 90 minutes in April and eliminated the net capital rule for the largest banks, with over $4 trillion in assets.  Examples are Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.  The banks were supposed to monitor themselves.  The SEC was supposed to oversee this but not regulate it, but they only had 7 people to do so, and after a while the unit’s chief resigned and was not replaced.

During 2005-2008 people who thought they were very smart bundled mortgage loans and “sliced and diced them” giving portions to companies that serviced the loan and creating mortgage backed securities for sale to investors, i.e., the securities were collateralized by the mortgages. However, these securities included many mortgages that were sub-prime, although they had higher interest rates on them than prime loans they were, of course, also more risky because the people had less secure jobs or were not careful or able to understand what they were signing. (Dollars & Sense “Predatory Lending story)

Second Story:
Fannie Mae was created in 1938 – the year I was born. It was a government institution created to help people keep their homes.  It purchased Veterans Administration (VA) mortgage loans and Federal Home Administration (FHA) mortgage loans, which it then pooled and sold to investors in the open market. It had a goal of making housing affordable. This worked pretty well for quite some time.

In 1968, because of the Federal budget problems caused by the Vietnam War, Fannie Mae was made a semi-private Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE). It was then allowed to purchase conventional loans originated in thrift institutions (Savings & Loans banks).  When Freddie Mac began operations in 1970, it was specifically created to compete with Fannie Mae for the secondary market for the conventional loans.

In 1995, Fannie Mae began including sub-prime securities (bundles of mortgages) in its purchases; this continued with increasing encouragement until 1999. In 2000 rules were put in discouraging the inclusion of risky mortgages, but in 2004, those rules were dropped.

Call your Senators. Call your Representative. Tell them to reinstate the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act. Then join us in the streets. Granny Peace Brigade “Coming Events”

- Edith Cresmer
for the Granny Peace Brigade