Stop the F-35

The Bread & Puppet Theater is doing an F-35 theme at the May Day March in Montpelier organized by the Vermont Workers Center.

Peter Schumann, Director of the Bread and Puppet Theater, invited members of the Stop the F-35 Coalition and everyone opposed to the F-35 basing in Burlington to join the F-35 Bread & Puppet contingent at May Day march in Monepelier May 1.

Bread & Puppet is marching with a giant F-35 monster. There will also be a big cloth boat with daffodils, people with shields and flags, and choreography involving non-violently attacking the F-35 monster.

All,

This important article in Sunday's front page Boston Globe describes how democracy has gone off the rails in Senator Leahy's office. Unfortunately, the whole story is consistent with the Senator's refusal to attend F-35 impact hearings or meet with constituents, his ignorance and lies about the F-35's environmental impact, and the Senator's blind cheerleading for the basing in Burlington. It's not difficult to see how the Senator could see influence peddling and rigging the basing process as just normal operating procedure.

Current scientific consensus confirms that health effects of aviation noise, in both children and adults, are far more severe than the Air Force acknowledges

A report produced by the Stop-the-F35 Coalition, Vermont
February 2013
Read Full Report at
http://www.stopthef35.com/sites/default/files/F-35%20Health%20Report.pdf

Introduction

If the F-35 is based at Burlington International Airport, thousands of people in the surrounding communities will be exposed to high levels of noise pollution. The scientific consensus that has emerged over the past ten years demonstrates that noise pollution at the level anticipated in most of Winooski, and large parts of S. Burlington, and Williston—a 65 dB average daily noise level—is associated with cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairment in children. The scientific community now regards the evidence as sufficient—the term used to indicate the highest level of confirmation in scientific research—to establish the connection between noise pollution and disease.

Town Meeting Day in Burlington
Join in launching--for next year's town meeting--a ballot item petition to stop the F-35!
Meet at Mater Christi School
50 Mansfield Ave, Burlington
Town Meeting Day
Tuesday March 5
8am to 11am
A news conference is being scheduled for 9:00 am to launch the petition drive
Speakers include Attorney Jim Dumont
and
Burlington and Winooski neighbors in the zone the Air Force says will be rendered "unsuitable for residential use"

Come out for as much time as you can to help launch the petition.

***Coming Soon--Look for the Stop the F-35 Coalition's new independent report on the health effects of the F-35 basing****

***Time Magazine--the most expensive [and unneeded!] weapon system ever
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2136312,00.html ***

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Some leading members of the House General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committee, such as Chair Helen Head (D-S. Burlington) and Jean O'Sullivan (D-Burlington) have replied to our requests for a hearing on the resolution calling for delaying the mad rush to base the F-35 bomber in Burlington by denying the relevance of the issue to the Committee. This is odd, given that in 2010, the General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committee voted a resolution onto the full House that urged the Air Force to base the F-35 at the Burlington airport. The House and Senate approved the resolution. This irresponsible resolution supported the unavoidable consequences of this basing: nearly 10,000 residents forced into a high noise zone that is not suitable for residential use, a significant rise in the number of people suffering negative health and psychological effects from the extreme noise, a rise in the number of children suffering from measurable cognitive harm, and a disproportionate impact on working class and recent immigrant communities. These are the facts from the Air Force’s impact statement and public hearings in Burlington on the environmental consequences.

**
NEXT COALITION MEETING
http://www.stopthef35.com/stop-f35-coalition-organizing-meeting
**

Watch the testimony of Vermont Adjutant General Candidate James Marc Leas.

http://youtu.be/gBrlMs2-TpA

***Contact the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee now and ask for urgently needed hearings on the F-35 basing. Please also consider sending your letter to the Free Press or Seven Days.

Here is their info:

**Burlington’s airport noise**

"The local governments involved with and impacted by the Burlington International Airport have the moral and, under FAA mandates, the legal requirement, to revisit the issue of airport noise intensification in a manner that includes the voices of all residents and interest groups."

1. January Legal Update and Call for Donations

http://www.stopthef35.com/january-legal-update-and-call-donations

In December, we filed a detailed formal request for a “Jurisdictional Opinion” with the District Coordinator for the Act 250 Commission that governs Chittenden County. The opinion we seek is that the Airport must apply for and obtain a revised Act 250 land use permit before it can accept the F-35's........

2. Vision 2030: Airport Jet Traffic to Dramatically Increase

1. January Legal Update and Call for Donations

http://www.stopthef35.com/january-legal-update-and-call-donations

In December, we filed a detailed formal request for a “Jurisdictional Opinion” with the District Coordinator for the Act 250 Commission that governs Chittenden County. The opinion we seek is that the Airport must apply for and obtain a revised Act 250 land use permit before it can accept the F-35's........

2. Vision 2030: Airport Jet Traffic to Dramatically Increase

BY THE NUMBERS

$1.5 trillion: current estimated long-term cost of the F-35 program
$1.5 trillion: Would double the budgets of all 50 states in the U.S.
39,579: Number of tests remaining for Lockheed-Martin’s F-35 development program. Pentagon cites “lack of maturity”
--http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-report-cites-lack-maturity-lockheed-f-35-010125580--finance.html
$375 billion: 10-year cost of estate tax rate cut in President Obama’s fiscal cliff deal.
$4.9 billion: year-end Pentagon award to buy more F-35s from Lockheed Martin