Navy Testing: Here’s Your Chance to Speak Up, Says Letter to the Editor

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Navy [Taken on 23 November 2015 By Official U.S. Navy Page from United States of America MC3 Nathan Burke/U.S. Navy – 151123-N-OI810-749, Public Domain]

Dear Kym,

The Navy will be giving a presentation to the Public to address their Supplemental Environmental Impact Report

for the military testing and training they do just a few miles off our coast. Our local visitation will be at the Red Lion Inn on May 2nd between 5-8 PM. [Other locations and times found here.] They are required to do this and they are hopping down the coast talking with The Public to meet this requirement. In the past they have had real hearings. People spoke, Navy staff listened, recorded opinions and answered questions. They could get a sense of how the community regarded their activities.

Opinions expressed were almost universally negative. So they switched to a different format where they just set tables around with materials and young Navy officers presenting the improvements to people who stop at their tables.

This presentations was disrupted at one of their last visits. There was a rally outside. Ken Miller dressed up as a Commodore and gave a rousing speech. The crowd insisted on having a proper hearing and the Navy had to give in. There were lots of speakers. I dressed up as Uncle Sam and handed the Navy Constitutions, pointing out that the Navy was to “win wars and deter aggression” not to start wars and incite aggression.

This year they’re doing the tabling again. The Sinkyone Intertribal Wilderness Council, which includes ten tribes from Mendocino, asked the Navy if they would hold a hearing again, so everybody could hear other peoples’ opinions and everybody could hear their answers to questions.

They refused.

There are many issues involved regarding these training exercises:

1) The US has Armed Forces which dwarf any other country. It spends 6 times more on its military than China, more than 10 times more than Russia. We spend more every year: right now Congress is hassling over President Trump’s demand for $750 billion, while the Democrats bargain with $736 billion. Congress votes “aye” in lockstep practically every time, doubtless a tribute to campaign contributions.The US is CAUSING an arms race by developing ever more deadly weapons. And its policies now are frankly imperialistic.

Take Obama’s “Pivot to the East” where we have the 7th fleet harassing countries and performing aggressive military exercises right along the coast of Asia. Take John Bolton’s recent praise of the Monroe Doctrine which says the US gets to rule Latin America. As the Arctic melts the Navy draws maps to militarize it.

The people get NOTHING out of this except more debt and impoverished infrastructure, and the burden of knowing our tax dollars facilitated war crimes around the world and put our security further at risk.

And of course the arms manufacturers get rich.

2) The issues which hold the Navy up in courts are lawsuits from the Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations against NOAA and the Navy. These organizations are concerned about marine mammals and other wildlife and ocean water deterioration. NOAA has allowed the Navy to “take” sea creatures (whales, dolphins fish etc) meaning kill or maim them. As a response the Navy makes little adjustments to their sonar which deafens disorients and kills, or they move their explosions and new weapons trials a little further offshore. They continue their exercises.

3) The US Military is the largest single polluter in the world. It engages in the most oil-exhaustive activity on the planet. It has a blanket exemption from all international climate agreements. It uses huge amounts of fuel so it can defend its access to oil so it can get the oil it needs to protect its access to oil and on and on. It pollutes the air and the sea. The ocean is getting more acid and life is becoming more and more difficult for sea creatures. Phytoplankton, which produces oxygen for 2 out of every 3 breaths we take, has died off 40% in recent years. Weapons manufacturers do not concern themselves with any of this, they view climate disruption as a chance to profit.. As giant defense contractor Raytheon observed to stockholders: “expanded business opportunities will arise as a result of security concerns and the possible consequences due to climate change”.

4) The Navy certainly needs training. In 2017 their destroyer Fitzgerald got rammed in the night by a container ship 3x its size as it came tearing out of Yokosuka Navy base. This base is right in the middle of crowded Tokyo harbor. The Fitzgerald was on a secret mission into Chinese territorial waters. Seven sailors were killed and the Captain got a traumatic brain injury. The crew was green and very tired, very overworked, and poorly trained in the navigation of the ship. The equipment was failing, including the ship’s internet. The radar was faulty. It happened again with the USS McCain 2 months later. This time, ten sailors were killed.

In Congressional testimony after the catastrophes, there were loud complaints about ship maintenance, understaffing, safety. This is unimaginably reckless and insane. The money doesn’t go into training, it goes into weapons purchases.

AND THE NAVY SHOULDN’T BE OVER THERE ANYWAY!

The presentation in Eureka on May 2nd at the Red Lion was poorly publicized. But it should be attended by lots of people who care about our country, the enormous damage we cause, and the dangers our governments subjects us to and makes us pay for. We cannot allow ourselves to get snowed by pamphlets and videos. We need to avail ourselves of every opportunity we have to get through to them.

Yours,

Ellen Taylor

Petrolia California 95558

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21 Comments
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Chas
Guest
Chas
4 years ago

AND THE NAVY SHOULDN’T BE OVER THERE ANYWAY! Yea, and if not they will all be over here, Remember the saying about history repeating itself. We will be fighting Chinese and Russian next time on home turf. Sounds like a Good Idea for all you commie liberals.

Anotherop
Guest
Anotherop
4 years ago
Reply to  Chas

What an ignorant comment. Very sad for your confusion over who are ‘pals’ with the Chinese and Russians, and who are not. Please turn off Fox and maybe read a book, friend.

“A Couple Of Facebook Ads”
Guest
“A Couple Of Facebook Ads”
4 years ago
Reply to  Anotherop

Asking Trumpkins 🎃 to read 📚 is asking too much. They won’t even read the Mueller Report, because Trumpkins 🎃 are terrified their veil of ignorance and gullibility will be lifted.

#YachtCocaineProstitutes @ Devin Nunes

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
4 years ago

🕯Not to be a potus nazi but the great President Obama isn’t our present potus and the name of the real potus that has sent the Fleet over there should be stated. 😁 And he be not my potus Trump.

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
4 years ago

🕯Hello Kym, it’s not Obama that in bed with Russians and harassing the Asians.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
4 years ago

You do know the Mueller report found no collusion between Trump and Russian parties?

Carlotta Resident
Guest
Carlotta Resident
4 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Now now, let’s not go confusing them with terms like “innocent until proven guilty” and “no evidence”. We all know that emotions mean more to them than actual facts…

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

🕯I have to agree with the nicely built wall of plausible deniability. 👍🏾

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
4 years ago

– Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its “finger men” to point out enemies, its “muscle men” to destroy enemies, its “brain men” to plan war preparations, and a “Big Boss” Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Sad but true
Guest
4 years ago

Avoiding the non-issue of politics, were any of you (especially the letter writer) aware that the navy dumps ALL of the landfill AND recycling garbage generated by their sailors RIGHT INTO THE OCEAN?!?

Well, they do. Every ship, every day.

A sailor who refuses to “push the button” and dump gets a dishonorable discharge, plus a military trial.

REALLY.

Central HumCo
Guest
4 years ago

Thank you Ellen Taylor for bringing this to our attention -and, of course, thank you Kym for posting it.

I know zip about all of this, however, i’ll be there May 2nd for support.

All wars are banker’s wars.

HUGS
Guest
HUGS
4 years ago

Ellen, you are a living treasure!! “They shouldn’t be there anyway…” Thanks for bringing this up, hope to join you on May 2!

I know me
Guest
I know me
4 years ago

Lauren of KMUD news interviewed the Navy this morning and you can hear it on KMUD’s news tonight at 6PM or if you miss it tomorrow at 8AM. We need to organize carpooling for May 2 up to Eureka.

It cometh
Guest
It cometh
4 years ago

Go Navy

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
4 years ago

🕯So I guess we’re suppose to leave protecting our coast to the one’s out hunting deceased deer and eating it our we?

Buzz
Guest
Buzz
4 years ago

Would a hydrogen powered fleet of minimal impact vessels, manufactured of biodegradable-materials and outfitted with marine-mammal-safe propellers be a solution?

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
4 years ago

sorry but the letter writter made no points avout the impacts of training on our coast. the letter writters views were nothing but a complaint about our nations military. navy training saves lives on and off the field of battle , i am sorry you dont like living in a country that has very few fears of being taken over or a mostly stable goverment where you are allowed to run your mouth on topics that dont include favorable views of the goverment, however i do enjoy living here and i also support the military training is the best way they can spend their budgets. we had a saying back in tje CAV , it went like this. THE MORE WE BLEED IN TRAINING THE LESS WE DIE AT WAR. so with that in mind ,does the letter want the navy to train or to die ?

Kimp
Guest
Kimp
4 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

We can love living here and still publically criticize the government. Lots of blood shed to protect our free speech rights. Ms. Taylor never said she wanted a poorly trained Navy. So don’t use loaded language in an effort to silence the letter writer. Free speech is not just for speech we like.

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
4 years ago

I went to one of these Navy-sponsored meetings a few years ago. A good crowd showed up, overwhelmingly against these unnecessary animal killing exercises. The kicker was when they told everyone that their comments would not be taken into account in the planning of their war game exercises. It was just to jerk off the public.
Didn’t I hear recently that they ruled that this part of the coast was off limits?

David Simpson
Guest
David Simpson
4 years ago

We here in Humboldt and elsewhere along the coast need to wipe the lenses of our glasses clean so as to be able to see the main through lineto the future. Here we have the most powerful force that has ever sailed the high seas–the US Navy–and running beneath them is an ocean that is enduring increasingly dangerous levels of pollution and toxicity. What an incredible opportunity.

Repurpose the Navy! Or at least some significant part of it. Who better to take on the job clearly at hand. If we put all the power and sea-going know-how that the Navy can still muster and merge it with our vast technical ingenuity and creativity, we should surely be able to figure out how to make great strides against the massive incursions of plastics the seas are enduring. These incursions, I fear, are far more dangerous to our future than those of our armed competitors.

Maybe we can figure out something about other wastes that are blighting our oceans Maybe we could make the vast productivity of the seas once more available to us and to other creatures dependent upon it. We could then shame those sorely misled Chinese and Russians into doing their share of what’s right. A whole new way of looking forward beyond wasteful antagonisms. Why not?

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
4 years ago

The trouble with asking the Navy to be a cleanup crew in the ocean, assuming you could even trust them to do what they say, is that they are major polluters wherever they go. And toxic stuff like nuclear waste, heavy metals, spilled fuel. It’s better if they just stay out. If they want to clean up something, they could start with the Farallon Islands.