Transform Now

On Saturday, 28 July 2012, three Plowshares resisters calling themselves the Transform Now Plowshares visited the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the only production plant in the US for highly enriched uranium, the HEU that makes a nuclear weapon possible--the same stuff that Mitt Romney wants Israel to bomb Iran over. There is no proof that Iran is making HEU, but Bomb First Ask Maybe Later Mitt and his sidekick Bomber Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister) are ramping up toward attack.

Our three peace people--Michael R. Walli (63), Sr. Megan Rice (82), and Greg Boertje-Obed (57)--cut through fences at the secure site and eventually reached the heart of the complex, unfurled banners, spraypainted peace and disarmament messages, and poured their own blood on the weapons site.

They were arrested and taken to Blount County jail, where you can write to them:
BLOUNT COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
920 E. LAMAR ALEXANDER PARKWAY
MARYVILLE, TN 37804-5022
Be sure to use the full name of the recipient and to use your full name and address in the return address or the notorious Blount jail staff will either just toss your mail or send it back. Some dear peace people protested there in 2010 and there were many troubles with the jail staff, mail being one but their refusal to medically attend to Fr. Bill Bischel was by far the worst.


The US government plans to pour another $80 billion of your tax dollars into more development of the next generation of thermonuclear weaponry just at the Oak Ridge Y12 complex. So we arrest dangerous nuns in their 80s and her two avowedly nonviolent friends for protesting this sort of illegal activity, we make plans with Israel to militarily attack Iran for possibly engaging in the production of HEU, and we wonder why the world regards us as unjust and bellicose.


This is the problem of violence, made infinitely worse with the use of the infinite violence of nuclear weapons. $80 billion in humanitarian aid to the worst poverty sites on Earth would radically alter the perception of the US, or $80 billion used to provide health care to US citizens would fix our health care system. Instead, we have sacrificial peace people trying to shine a light on this criminal waste of the fruits of our labors. Will we listen to them?