HERE'S WHY WE WERE THERE:

In Maine, 7 in 10 homes heat with oil. We insulate, buy locally, car-pool, use (when possible) mass transportation or energy efficient cars, turn to wind & solar energy, etc.

Meanwhile the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority (MRRA), a quasi public agency, invites the Pentagon's Blue Angels to Maine. The Navy requires MRRA to provide 48,600 gallons of fuel per weekend show.

In FY10 the Blue Angels used 97,610 barrels, or 4.1M gallons of fuel, emitting 88M lbs of CO2. In the meantime, low income heating assistance is threatened.

MRRA must also provide space for military recruiters. Thus the Blue Angels pollute & recruit.

In this era of deficit cutting, the Blue Angels program will cost $40M in FY11 (per Asst. Sec. of Navy Pfannenstiel), a drop in the bucket in the Pentagon's $1.5 billion spent in Afghanistan to purchase 329.8M gallons of fuel for vehicles, aircraft, & generators from Oct. 2010 to May 2011.

The Blue Angels are unnecessary for national security. Like the National Guard jets in western Maine, they are "a want, not a need." (Thanks, Gov. LePage!)

The Pentagon "uses more petroleum (and energy) than any other organization on the planet---$13 billion to $18 billion worth a year...more than 80 percent of the federal government's energy tab." (Sierra, July/August 2011)

"We've realized that the best barrel of oil is the one we don't use." (Deputy Asst. Sec. of Navy Hicks)

Join our protest (rally at 10 am) against the Blue Angels' waste of taxes & fuel on Saturday, August 27, 2011, at the Cooks Corner entrance of Brunswick Executive Airport (old BNAS). Protest begins earlier as gate opens at 8 am and concludes at noon.

We do not protest the conversion of BNAS (the sword) into a ploughshare (civilian facility).

Principal speaker: Beth Adams from Leverett, Massachusetts Beth is an artist/musician and published poet. She helped organize "Disarmageddon" at the Pentagon last April, hosts an on-line course for activists, is a community programmer (WMCB), has published many articles and presents workshops.

Protest & rally supported by: Bring Our War $$$ Home, Maine AFSC Program on Youth & Militarism, Maine Veterans for Peace

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS:

From Nicole Moreau. . . (need a Facebook account for this one)

From Peter Woodruff. . .

HERE IS A VIDEO:

From Mark Roman. . .

Address:
Veterans For Peace
William Ladd Chapter
P.O. Box 927
Brunswick, ME 04011


e-mail:
vfpmaine@vfpmaine.org


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