Jury selection for anti-nuke protesters delves into American history

Nuclear weapons are the biggest threat to our survival; and people seem to be getting comfortable with them - I guess because they've been around for a while. That the US, with the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world, can be ruled by idiots like Bush/Cheney should scare the hell out of everyone.

Here's a description from two summers ago.

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For 18 years I was engaged in Appalachian ministry in Tennessee, and I’m now completing one year at the Presentation Lantern Light in New Orleans where we minister to people who are homeless. So it was exciting for me to return to TN for a visit from August 1-9. My plans for these days included a peace presence retreat from August 3-7 at the Gate of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. At 5 a.m. each day I was at the plant as workers came in and I left at 5 p.m.—workers are there around the clock. I had made 3 large signs out of plastic tablecloths reading PEACE PRESENCE and hung them for all to see. I was alone at the gate most of the time for the first 3 days—a few people stopped by to visit. I’m so grateful for the gift to time to pray and witness for peace. Two Buddhist friends from Atlanta, Utsumi, a monk, and Denise, a nun, had arranged to pray and fast at Y-12 from August 6-9. I did not know about their plans until I arrived. On the 6th and 7th I had the opportunity to pray with them in drumming and chanting. My peace presence retreat was truly a time of grace. On August 6 from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. OREPA holds a Hiroshima Remembrance ceremony at Y-12. Names of victims of Hiroshima are read, a peace bell is tolled, and peace cranes are hung on the barbed wire fence surrounding the bomb plant. There are also readings about the devastation caused by the bomb. During this Remembrance three people came with the intent to cause a disturbance. They have done this before at our peace activities. They yelled and screamed during our solemn ceremony and then went to the fence and jerked off the peace cranes. The nonviolent response of the 40+ people present was profound. It was such an opportunity for us to “walk our talk” of striving to be nonviolent. As the ceremony continued, people picked up the crumpled peace cranes from the ground and retied the ‘wounded’ cranes on the yarn strings still attached to the fence.

The Buddhists had brought large posters depicting the devastation of Hiroshima and they were displayed around the area. The three people who shared a different view of the bombing, began picking them up and tossing them all over and threatened to stomp on them. These three are members of Citizen Soldiers for the Atomic Bomb. Another event that was just as sacred took place on August 9 in remembering the bombing of Nagasaki with a Lantern Light ceremony. What a beautiful sight to see the peace lanterns floating in the moonlight on the Tennessee River. No disturbance! While in Tennessee I also had the opportunity to attend two Sunday peace vigils held from 5-6 p.m. at Y-12. These vigils have been uninterrupted for 10 years. PEACE…PEACE…PEACE…PEACE…PEACE

http://www.presentationsisters.org/ministry/social-justice-news.php?ID=403