There’s a memorial that appears every Sunday on the beach in Santa Monica to acknowledge some portion of the human cost of the Iraq Occupation.

photo by flickr user Brooklyn Hillary

Nothing to do with the Presidential election, or the State Senate race. Just a few events I went to over the last week, and one I missed.

Pride at Work was working hard this morning. At least two very brave members were arrested in the downtown offices of Chevron. They were successful in shutting down the offices for the day.

Claire Bohman and I took pictures and stood outside in solidarity with them and then were happy to see more members marching past after the arrest.

Personnel shifts at the Pentagon are admittedly not part of the normal interest sphere of Leftinsf readers. However, today’s resignation of Admiral William Fallon from his post as Commander in Chief of Central Command should give at least a moment’s pause. Fallon wasn’t horribly enthusiastic about certain beloved Bush Administration ideas. One of these ideas was a military invasion of Iran. Now, with Fallon’s departure, expect his probable replacement to be someone far more willing to start another Mideast adventure.

For another tale of Bush Administration fun in the Middle East, this Vanity Fair article I’ve started reading looks promising:

Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz might not have had the GOP or even the Bush Administration and its appointees in mind when he wrote his new novel Detective Story. The book is the confession of Antonio Martens, an ex-police torturer for a recently overthrown but unnamed dictatorship. But consider the following excerpt:

“‘…I mean, I actually thought we were serving the law here.’

‘Those in power, sonny boy,’ Diaz corrects me…

To that I say, ‘Up till now I thought the two were the same.’

‘Fair enough,’ Diaz concedes. ‘Only you shouldn’t lose sight of the order.’

‘What order is that?’

Please Join Hosts Tim Paulson (Executive Director, San Francisco Labor Council), Mike Casey (President, SFLC and UNITE-HERE! Local 2), Connie Ford (Sec. Treasurer, OPEIU Local 3), Michael Theriault (Sec. Treasurer, SF Building and Construction Trades Council) , Sal RosselLi (President, UHW), Supervisors Chris Daly, Tom Ammiano, Aaron Peskin, and Ross Mirkarimi, State Senator Carole Migden; and State Assemblymember Mark Leno.

For a night of refreshments, hors d’oeuvres, and entertainment in support of

The Queer Youth Organizing Project of Pride at Work San Francisco
and honoring Pride at Work founder Howard Wallace for his lifetime of dedication to the LGBT, Labor, and Peace movements

RESOLUTION OF THE SAN FRANCISCO
DEMOCRATIC COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE

WHEREAS, the people of San Francisco, the Democratic elected officials, and the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee have repeatedly called for an end to the war in Iraq; and

WHEREAS, the Bush administration has made clear its intention to continue the occupation of Iraq throughout its tenure of office; and

WHEREAS, US Labor Against the War; the San Francisco Labor Council; Veterans for Peace; Gold Star Families Speak Out; Declaration of Peace; SF Friends Meeting;
Unitarian Universalists for Peace; Network of Spiritual Progressives; Peace Action West; and the Harvey Milk, Bernal Heights and Wellstone Democratic Clubs have endorsed the Iraq Moratorium

Friday is the third Iraq Moratorium Day. The third Friday of every month, people are spending an hour doing something out of the ordinary to protest the Iraq occupation. Instead of, or in addition to, the giant marches–which get downplayed by the media and criticized by liberals for their plurality of messages–the Moratorium envisions a growing set of small actions, in every neighborhood.

You can go to the Moratorium site to see a full list of the events going on around the country, but a couple that caught my eye in San Francisco are a Bernal Heights Vigil, from 6-7pm at Cortland and Andover, and the Molly Ivins Pots and Pans Brigade, noon at the Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate. Bring flashlights or candles for the former, pots and pans for the latter.

Another one of the US’s generals displays a skewed sense of priorities.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing Wednesday when he said he believes homosexual activity is immoral and should not be condoned by the military. Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he said were misreported.

“Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military? Yes,” he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing focused on the Pentagon’s 2008 war spending request.

There’s a horrific article in Discover this month about the lingering health effects of the 9/11 attack on New York. The magazine, not exactly known as a bastion of radical sentiment, makes no bones about the disastrous effects of what it calls “The 9/11 Cover-Up”.

Civil rights attorney Felicia Dunn Jones, who worked a block from the towers, was caught in the initial deluge of dust when the towers fell. Although her family rejoiced upon her return home, Dunn Jones developed a serious cough the following January. She died barely five weeks later of sarcoidosis, an immune disorder caused by toxic exposure. Dunn Jones’s name will be added to the list of victims when the memorial is completed in 2009, and the honor isn’t just a token gesture. The addition of her name is a hard-won acknowledgment that exposure to 9/11 contaminants can lead to death.