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James M. Branum, Attorney at law posted on my Facebook:

Daniel Sandate will be pleading guilty to the charge of Desertion on Monday, November 17th at 1 p.m. at Ft. Carson, Colorado. I (along with an excellent attorney with the JAG’s trial defense services and local Colorado attorney Bill Durland) will be arguing to the court that Daniel Sandate should receive a lesser sentence due to his extreme mental health issues.

Daniel has asked me to share his story with the public. A longer version of this will be published at a later point, but this limited account is what Daniel has asked me to share at this time.

**The case of Daniel Sandate**

Daniel grew up with a horrific home life that is indescribable in nature, so understandably he grew up experiening severe trauma and mental health issues. His adolensence and young adulthood were brutal but he hoped that joining the Army would give him a sense of purpose and a reason to live.

Sandate was a good soldier. He performed reasonably well in training and did ok in the Army until he deployed in Iraq. Like many soldiers, he was forced to see and participate in things that no human should ever have to go through. He came home from Iraq shook to the core and with a strong case of PTSD.

Daniel tried to get help from the Army but he was blown off, time and time again. His situation was quickly spiraling in a negative direction (he was very suicidal at this point, which was scary because he had tried to kill himself before even joining the Army), so when he met new friend online who lived in Canada, he thought it would be nice to take a break from the Army and hang out up there for awhile. He always wanted to come back at some point, but just needed a break and some time to recover his sanity.

However, while in Canada, Daniel was threatened severely by his old unit (he was even told by an NCO that he could be executed for going AWOL) so he ended up staying in Canada for several years.

While in Canada, he became very isolated and saw few people other than his girlfriend. When they broke up, things got really bad and he tried to kill himself. He was stopped (the police came after his downstairs
neighbors reported blood dripping from their ceiling) and at frst hospitalized and then later incarcerated. He was later released from jail but due to his suicidality he reported back to the police and told them he wanted to be deported to the US.

The Canadian authorities did take Daniel back into custody but wouldn’t release him due to their concerns over his safety, so Daniel called the US embassy and asked for their assistance. Daniel was then deported to the US, where he was immediately taken into custody and transported to Colorado. He has been sitting in the county jail in Colorado Springs ever since, and has been on suicide watch pretty much the whole time.
Daniel is an intelligent, articulate man, but he is deeply troubled. Unfortunately the Army and the CJC (the county jail) have refused to give him the mental health care that he needs, so his mental health situation has
declined.

Also, I should add that Robin Long (the first US war resister from the Iraq war to be deported from Canada) met Daniel in jail. If it weren’t for Robin finding Daniel behind bars, Daniel likely would not have any civilian legal assistance or attention.

** How you can help Daniel **

For Daniel’s defense, I am raising funds to cover my expenses and those of Bill Durland’s (who has been invaluable to me as local counsel). At this point, we are short about $1000 of what is needed.

You can donate directly on my website (www.girightslawyer.com) or if you need the tax deduction you can send donations by check to the

Oklahoma Center for Conscience
504 NE 16th St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73104.

(The fiscal sponsor of OCC is Joy Mennonite Church of Oklahoma City.)

Also, supporters in the Colorado Springs area are welcome to attend the trial. Please contact me for more information and directions.

–
James Matthew Branum
www.girightslawyer.com - My law Firm website
www.joymennonite.org - Our church website
www.jmbzine.com - My Blog

Office phone: 866-933-ARMY (2769)
Mailing address: 1306 NW Sheridan Rd., #296, Lawton, OK 73505, USA

****************************************

James is against war, against the military, against serving in the military, however he helps service members with any legal problems they may encounter often at cost.  You know what’s really strange.  People who support the war, believe in the military and believe others should serve in the military are willing to fly their flag and put a yellow ribbon on their bumper and that’s all the support they’ll give to the troops.  What does that mean, something to think about.  That’s like an Atheist man I know who is a member of a theological group and not only has he read the bible, but has actually studied it and concluded that there is a false Paul and a true Paul.  Two different Pauls causing a lot of confusion within the Christian Church.

Well anyways, donate if you can, especially if you claim to support the troops.

Thanks,

Roger

From Timbre’ Wolf

“It’s not about Republican or Democrat . . . now it’s about single-payer healthcare, a living wage, and a less militaristic society.” -~wolf

Barack Obama visited a lot of cities in the last two years. Maybe one of those towns was the one you live in?

He says that he has heard our voices and, for that, we have given him a landslide victory and two houses of Congress stacked in his favor.

But let me ask you this: Where will President Elect Obama spend nearly everyday of the next four years?

It will be in Washington, D.C. and, unless your town falls victim to a natural disaster of immense proportion, he will probably not visit your town again. He will be surrounded by Washington insiders, politicians, and corporate lobbyists. Our voices will be very hard to hear while he’s there.

Ralph Nader has been THE leading consumer advocate for more than 40 years taking on huge corporations and government agencies. Nader has demanded accountability within these organizations and that they respect the safety, health, and wellbeing of America’s citizens.

Ralph Nader has the organizational skills AND the organizations to challenge the corporate and governmental status quo.

President Elect Barack Obama has asked for our sacrifice and our help and we must honor that. The best way to honor that, IMO, is through Ralph Nader’s newest organization november5.org

This is a way to hold Congress accountable and to let Barack Obama know that we are taking him at his word by offering our voices again. According to the website:

By quickly organizing ourselves in each of the 435 congressional districts, over the next 100 days, we can make single-payer healthcare, a living wage, and a less militaristic society our long-term reality. We must do this because the founders of these United States gave us the power to do it.

Together we can make our voices heard over all of the Washington noise that will soon surround the next President of the United States.

Please join me in joining the one useful, and potentially empowering, november5.org

Thanks!

Timbre’ Wolf

Are they like working for big oil and not the general public. I bet you big oil pays a big chunk of their advertising. That’s the way it works folks and that’s why you can’t believe everything you see on TV or hear on the radio. They portray the world the way they want us to see it.

But should you object, you can sign this petition. I signed it, don’t really know if it does any good or not, but it is certainly better than doing nothing.

While we’re on the subject of energy, don’t believe this bull sh*t about clean coal. That’s like clean dirt, there is no such thing. When you burn coal, you get pollution, and the only way to stop it is to stop burning it. All the money they’re going to spend on pollution control equipment will be passed onto the customer and a percentage of that will be for profit for them. So they’re not doing us any favors, they are just making money, and more of it as we become less wealthy. That’s the way it works folks. Their success is our failure.

All this money they want us to spend on “clean coal” could be saved if we invest in wind and solar. There is enough wind alone to power this country. But here is the deal. Who owns the wind? Who owns the solar rays? Who gets the profit off of it’s use, nobody! So there you go, if they can’t make money off of it, they don’t want it and so they work hard to convince you that it is a bad idea. Yes and even convince ABC not to air this commercial.

PROTEST AGAINST MACHINE, OTHER SHORTAGES

No More Stolen Elections! has been carefully monitoring the potential ballot and capacity shortages that voters will encounter when they arrive at the polls on November 4th.  TrueVote.us, one of our coalition partners, is working with us to allow you to simply go to their site and quickly send a message to the election officials of states where we already know this will be a problem.

In 2004 tens of thousands of voters were denied their right to vote in Ohio when election officials provided inadequate voting machines in African American communities.  Some people waited in line to vote for longer than 12 hours.  Many thousands of others gave up and did not vote.  This alone may have been enough to change the outcome of the 2004 election.

Well, it’s happening again. A recent report indicated that college-age and African American precincts in Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia will not have sufficient numbers of voting machines or election staff to handle the number of voters expected on Election Day.

What you can do:

Help us to let these officials know that tens of thousands of people are watching their actions and documenting what occurs on Election Day. Some of us have already written to them (click here to read about it). Even if you do not live in these states it is important for these officials to hear from you. They need to know they will be held accountable for their actions.

Click and send a letter to the governor, congressional delegation (House and Senate), the secretary of state as well as election administrators where questions have been raised about the adequacy of the number of voting machines and staff.

Click here to take action now.

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies — who must soon vacate the White House — are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday’s New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

“Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

“Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

“At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

“Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.”
Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to “consult” in the bailout.
The problem is, nobody truly knows what this “collapse” is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn’t know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can’t figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Falling for whom? NOTHING in this “bailout” package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What’s this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called “collapse” was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people’s home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it’s because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn’t afford. Here’s the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage “crisis” may never have happened.

This bailout’s mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It’s to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It’s to make sure their yachts and mansions and “way of life” go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something — NOW! Here’s what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they’ve made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what’s the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we’ll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say “NO!” If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

******************************
Here is a 1 800 you can call: for the Whitehouse (switchboard). Call and tell them what We The People think of the Wall Street bailout.
1-800-828-0498, Free Call, (White House Switchboard)

Ask the operator to connect you to any Senator or Congressperson. Call all 535 of if you can.

I’m lucky I have a good job and work for a good company that has taken good care of me so far, but it can change tomorrow. I have had a lot of bad jobs, had one trucking company steal 600 dollars out of my paycheck and there is a state organization that supposed to help you with that and I went to them and they wouldn’t help me and this was an out of state company. The government will always side with big business because that’s how they get elected in office. Us little people just vote for who we are told to vote for by a corporate owned media mega blitz. You think it’s your choice, but I ask, where do you get your information from, TV? Wake up will ya.

Spread the word on this follow-up NEWS:

We’ve received information that BRITTON ROAD
WILL BE CLOSED because “Bush’s motorcade is
arriving on Britton Road.”
Therefore, demonstrators should gather at Wilshire
and Sooner Road, at 9 am. The “mansion acreage”
(where GWBush and $1000 donors to McCain-Palin are
partying) is on Sooner Road, a quarter mile south of Britton.
GWBush will be in OKC Friday 9/12 for a 10 am to Noon
McCain-Palin Fundraiser at the northeast Okla.City
mansion/acreage of a local Bush-McCain supporter.
Gold Star Parents will Head an Anti-War Demonstration as
near the gate entrance of the 40-acre estate as possible.
Nonviolent demonstrators are invited to participate
Demonstration 9am to 11am.
Acreage main gate is south of Britton on Sooner.
Acreage secondary gate is east of Sooner on Britton.
The Secret Service and local police will be evident, and
will control where demonstrators may stand.
Attorney Rex Friend is in touch w/ local police on
our plans for a nonviolent demonstration taking place.
BRING SIGNS. SIGNS WILL ALSO BE THERE.
Nathaniel Batchelder, Peace House 405-524-5577
NEWS RELEASE:
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Contacts: John Scripsick and Warren Henthorn
More info: Peace House 405-524-5577 (C) 824-2794

Gold Star Families Protest Bush-McCain Event
in Oklahoma City, Friday, Sept. 12.

Three Gold Star parents will protest President George W. Bush’s visit to Oklahoma City on Friday, September 12. The event is being held to raise money for Republican candidate John McCain and the Republican National Committee.

Warren Henthorn, of Choctaw, Kay Henthorn, of Oklahoma City and John Scripsick of Wayne, OK. consider it their patriotic responsibility to show up to ask questions of President Bush about his mishandling of the war that cost their son’s lives. In desperate economic times, many people, who do not have family members or friends serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, are paying little attention to the killing and suffering that is taking place on a daily basis so far across the world.

The fundraiser, being held on the northeast side of Oklahoma City at a private home, will give those attending the opportunity to donate $5,000 to have their photograph taken to memorialize their support of George Bush.

These Gold Star families will not be donating or attending, but will be speaking out against the war which they say is both illegal and immoral and should be brought to an end. Their concern is for the other troops serving, those who will be deployed in the future and those returning, who are seeking medical care, along with the families that also undergo the hardships of war.

Henthorn and Scripsick have sought the advice of legal council to make sure their first amendment rights are secure and observed in demonstrating that morning at the event which takes place at 9200 N. Sooner Road, near Britton Road. They plan on arriving at 9:00 am as the doors open at 10:00 am and will close at 11:00 am.

“I’m sure standing on a corner this Friday, outside the fundraiser, will not get my questions answered. But maybe the right person will hear the message. I do know that doing nothing will produce nothing.” Scripsick stated.

John Scripsick recently observed the one year memorial of his son’s death on September 6, 2007.

WHAT: SAIL FOR PEACE
 
WHERE: WEST SIDE LAKE HEFNER
NEAR RANGER STATION
 
WHEN: SATURDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER; GATHER AT 6 PM
SAIL AT 7 PM
 
WHY: TO  STOP THE WAR IN IRAQ AND TO PROMOTE LOVE, PEACE HAPPINESS, FELLOWSHIP AND TO RAISE AWARENESS OF HOW WRONG THE WAR IS!
 
WHO: EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN PEACE, JUSTICE AND EQUAL RIGHTS FOR EVERYONE.
 
FOR: FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
JOHN 720-6467
ANNYE 501-1299
WWW.PEACETRIATHLETE.COM
Sponsored by: PeaceHouseok.org

Subject: This is America. We don’t jail journalists here.

Dear Friend,

Jailing journalists is unacceptable in a democracy. But that’s exactly what is happening at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Award winning journalist and host of “Democracy Now” Amy Goodman was arrested by St. Paul police while covering a protest outside the Republican National Convention. Though clearly identified as press, Goodman was charged with “obstruction of a legal process and interference with a ‘peace officer.’” Two of her producers were arrested for “suspicion of felony riot.”

To tell you that this arrest was brutal and upsetting simply doesn’t do it justice. Watch this video to see for yourself. Then take action.

I just e-mailed the presidents of CNN and NBC News (which oversees MSNBC) to demand that their networks cover this important story. I hope you will too.

Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/dont_arrest_journalists/?r_by=796-1063048-iMRMpRx&rc=paste

Thanks!

**********************
To watch the clip, see the post before this one posted yesterday:
http://peacefulvet.info/blog/2008/09/01/amy-goodman-arrested/