Important additional local events and actions; more

Sep 21, 2016

(Let us know if you want to be removed from this closed list.)
(Previous letter of 9/9/16: upcoming events; report on our meeting with Rep. Ben Ray Lujan's field staff director; more)

Dear friends --

Please carefully note these upcoming events from the Study Group's calendar, four of which are new.

1. New! Wednesday 9/28, 1:00 pm, Santa Fe, press conference, "Secretary of Defense Ash Carter Visits New Mexico," State Capitol Rotunda, with "Secretary of Defense Ash Carter," "Senator Tom Udall," "Senator Martin Heinrich," and special guests.
   
2. Wednesday 9/28, 6:30 pm, Santa Fe, Center Stage Performance Space, 505 Camino de los Marquez (map), talk and discussion, "New Directions in Disarmament" with Dr. Frank von Hippel, Princeton University.
3. New! Thursday 9/29, 10:00 am, Albuquerque, 400 Gold Ave. SW (map), a Study Group delegation will meet with members of Rep. Michelle Lujan-Grisham's staff. Call Trish at 505-265-1200 if you want to attend.
   
4. Thursday 9/29, 6:30 pm, Albuquerque, UNM Student Union Building (SUB) (map), talk and discussion, "New Directions in Disarmament" with Dr. Frank von Hippel. The UNM Peace and Justice Studies Program and Students Organizing Actions for Peace are co-sponsoring this event with us.
5. New! Saturday 10/1, 10:00 am, Albuquerque, Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB), Gibson and Truman Sts, (map), demonstration to stop U.S. wars (current, future), sponsored by Stop the War Machine, Los Alamos Study Group, and other groups.
   
6. New! Saturday 10/1, 3:00 pm, Albuquerque, Los Alamos Study Group, 2901 Summit Place NE, Albuquerque (map), solar barbecue and party (includes vegetarian options) hosted by the Study Group and Sunpower/Positive Energy. Please RSVP to Trish or call 505-265-1200.
   
7. Monday 10/3, 6:30 pm, Albuquerque, Los Alamos Study Group, 2901 Summit Place NE, Albuquerque (map), talk and discussion with John LaForge, "Nuclear Heartland: A Guide to the 450 Land-Based Missiles of the United States."
8. Wednesday 10/19, 7:00 pm, Santa Fe, The Commons, 2300 West Alameda St. (map), important Study Group update and action planning meeting. (See details here.)
   

We scheduled the 9/28 press conference (item 1.) in honor of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter's visit to the state next week (to KAFB, Sandia National Laboratories, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, apparently to rally the troops in each location). This visit greatly concerns us, especially in light of the recent illegal and bad-faith attacks in Syria by the U.S., apparently in direct support of ISIS. We are also aware from our Washington sources that DoD, in the person of Carter, is now so powerful that important analyses specifically requested by President Obama can be kept from the President merely because the appearance of those analyses might "offend" Secretary Carter. Russia has openly asked, in an emergency meeting of United Nations Security Council which Russia requested, exactly who is in charge in the United States (video in English).

This press conference will be a bit "different," as you will have already surmised. It will be videotaped and will be widely available.

The meeting with Rep. Lujan-Grisham's staff (item 3.), previously scheduled for last week, was postponed at the last minute to the above new date and time by Rep. Lujan-Grisham's staff.

The anti-war protest at KAFB on Saturday October 1 (item 5), is in our view very important and we urge you to carpool from wherever you are in the state to attend if at all possible. We seldom make such a request but in this case we are. Please try to be prompt. Please advertise this event as widely as you can!

After the protest, come on over to our solar party (item 6.) for free barbecue (vegetarian option available) and beer courtesy Positive Energy! Please RSVP to Trish or call 505-265-1200. You can learn more about why household and business solar installations make excellent environmental and financial sense. As you know Positive Energy, as well as our friends at McCune Solar Works, are offering $500 to the Study Group for successful referrals that result in the purchase of a home or business PV system. These are both good companies that serve different parts of the market. Positive Energy is now offering the Study Group $100 up-front for every referral we provide that results in a consultation with a possible customer, with another $400 awarded to us upon completion of a system. This is also a superb networking event for young people who might want to get involved with solar energy. We are sure there are good jobs in this business just waiting for people with the right fire in the belly.

As I said in my previous letter, in these local letters we try to avoid details of larger issues that we would very much like to bring to the attention of our whole email list (which includes you). For issues of wider interest, "stay tuned," and forgive their omission here. We took a week and two weekends to visit our California family, a visit that was long overdue. We didn't mention this trip ahead of time for office security reasons. Our next Bulletin to the wider email list will hopefully appear very soon.

So much is going on now, but that's it for today. Thanks, everybody.

Greg

PS: Many of you may find Part I of a CBS "60 Minutes" program on the New Cold War quite interesting and informative. Watch it here. Its basic premise is however false: the President of the United States, or his or her constitutional successor, may not be around to order the use of nuclear weapons. So who would, in that case? Others also have that contingent power. Think about it.