[Sust-mar] Please, please read this - Lockheed Martin propaganda campaign

[Tamara Lorincz]

Hello friends who care about peace and sustainability, 

Please read this - I desperately want you to know this information. It will
take you 2 minutes to read. Thank you in advance for your time. 

As you may know, the Canadian government wants to buy 65 Lockheed Martin
F-35 stealth fighters for at least $16 billion, the largest military
procurement in this country's history.

In an unprecedented move, the Department of National Defence went across the
country this fall trying to sell the Canadian public on the stealth
fighters. They were NOT honest in their presentation, I attended and also
got a copy of the presentation. 

Last week, Lockheed Martin put up a web site "Canada's Next Generation
Fighter": http://f-35.ca/ though Canada has NOT signed any contract to
purchase these fighters. DND also put up a web site
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/pri/2/pro-pro/ngfc-eng.asp using the same
pictures, text etc... as the Lockheed Martin F35 web site. 

*It has been revealed in the Wikileaks cables that the US Government and
Lockheed Martin worked for a year in 2008 to manipulate the Norwegian public
to support the Government of Norway in buying the F35s. Here is part of the
cable:

CLASSIFIED Cable from U.S. Embassy in Norway to the U.S. Secretary of State
and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
http://213.251.145.96/cable/2008/09/08OSLO522.html 
NORWAY FIGHTER PURCHASE: HIGH-LEVEL ADVOCACY NEEDED NOW
"The GON (Government of Norway) decision making process on the purchase of
new fighter aircraft has entered a critical phase. Public opinion has swung
away from the F-35 due to negative coverage, and private contacts warn that
the GON may decide to purchase the Saab Gripen or leave the decision to a
future government. High-level Washington advocacy on this issue is needed to
help reverse this trend. Norway's decision on this purchase will either end
or sustain one of the strongest pillars of our bilateral relationship and
could impact subsequent Danish and Dutch decisions on the F-35, affecting
NATO joint operational capacity and the vulnerability of the Northern
Flank."

"Action needed to counter negative trends 
3.(C) After extensive efforts by the Embassy and Lockheed Martin, the public
debate over the summer consisted of largely balanced coverage."

There is much, much more that reveals the U.S. Government, U.S. Embassies
and Lockheed Martin have worked very hard to try to "sell" the F-35. Please
see the other cables here: http://213.251.145.96/origin/42_0.html 

**These classified cables from the U.S Embassy in Oslo were filed by U.S.
Deputy Chief of Mission at the time Kevin M. Johnson *He is now the U.S.
Consul General in Toronto!
http://toronto.usconsulate.gov/content/content.asp?section=about&document=bi
o He is pushing the F-35 propaganda campaign here in Canada. 

So, there is a HUGE push by the Department of National Defence, the U.S.
Embassies, the U.S. Government, and Lockheed Martin to try to get our
federal government to buy the stealth fighters and we need to stop it. 

We don't need fighter jets - we need our precious tax dollars to be spent in
education, health care, child care, the environment, and affordable housing
etc...

*These stealth fighters will carry/burn 18,500 lbs of jet fuel (more carbon
intensive and climate change causing) and will be more costly than $16
billion. 

Please do what you can to stop the purchase of stealth fighters - email/call
the PM, your MP, write a letter to the editor, make the links and spread the
word.

Join Me:
***********
Minister MacKay: Don't be a Grinch and Steal Our Future

Outside Minister Peter MacKay's Constituency Office
980 East River Road
New Glasgow
Thursday, December 16
12:00-1:00 pm

A peaceful vigil during this season of peace to bring these messages:
1. Cancel the stealth fighter, invest in child care and education 
2. Don't extend the war in Afghanistan, bring the troops home 
3. Cut oil subsidies, take action on climate change and the environment

All welcome to join us. Please bring your children. We will be delivering a
letter to Minister MacKay, holding a banner outside his office, and singing
the song "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch".

Organized by the Halifax Peace Coalition. Endorsed by the Voice of Women for
Peace. For more information, please visit www.halifaxpeacecoalition.ca or
email: hfxpeace at chebucto.ca

*Snow date is Friday, December 17
************

I need your help. We really need to work together on this - federal spending
affects us all. Please don't let the federal government waste OUR tax
dollars on stealth fighters. 

Thank you very much for your support.

Tamara

Tamara Lorincz
BA, BComm, MBA, LLB
55 Willowbend Court
Halifax, NS CANADA B3M 3L3
Phone: (902) 443-2423
Cell: (902) 478-1379
tlorincz at dal.ca
ECJ: http://www.ecojustice.ca
GN: http://www.space4peace.org/
HPC: http://www.halifaxpeacecoalition.ca/ 
NSEN: http://www.nsen.ca
"A better world is possible"

"Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary
spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility
to poverty, racism, and militarism." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1967

"Without a doubt, military spending represents the single most significant
perversion of worldwide priorities known today." Former President of Costa
Rica, Oscar Arias, 1999