83-Year-Old Activist Priest Held in Solitary Confinement in Federal Prison

[Ichingcarpenter]

Jesuit priest and peace activist Father Bill Bichsel is reportedly being held in solitary confinement at SeaTac Federal Detention Center south of Seattle. According to friends, Bichsel has not eaten solid food since January 10 in protest of his treatment.

Fr. Bichsel, known to friends and colleagues as “Bix,” is a member of the Disarm Now Plowshares group. He has been arrested several times in connection with nonviolent civil disobedience at military bases, nuclear weapons manufacturers, and the School of the Americas. Most recently, he served a three-month sentence at SeaTac for a July 2010 action at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, future site of a new nuclear weapons plant.

On January 10, Bichsel was moved to a halfway house in Tacoma. According to the Disarm Now Plowshares blog, he was told that the facility had a rule prohibiting visitors for the first 72 hours of residency. But on the evening of his arrival, a pair of Buddhist monks and a small group of students, on their way to a local protest, “made a small detour and stopped by the house Bix was in, to drum and pray for him outside the building for a few minutes.” The blog continues:



http://solitarywatch.com/2012/01/23/83-year-old-activist-priest-held-in-solitary-confinement-in-federal-prison/

[Suich]

1. This makes me cry. n/t

[bananas]

2. k&r nt

[newfie11]

3. this country has gone off the deep end for sure n/t

[ForgoTheConsequence]

4. Meanwhile.

Meanwhile pedophiles get moved from parish to parish and the church defends them tooth and nail. Meanwhile banker looters will never see the inside of a cell after stealing millions. My Christian faith and my beloved country are on a path to hell. Where are the priorities?

[chervilant]

5. hmm...

One of the comments under the referenced article includes the line "Wow~! they must be afraid of us!" While this is demonstrably true (look at all the 'peace' officers in riot gear who've trampled on the rights of the brave members of Occupy), we must also be aware that 'they' intend to use every opportunity to marginalize activists, and to make our efforts look unpatriotic and ridiculous.

This incident--and many others like it--should call to mind how differently are treated the 'members' of the Tea Party. If we look at "Tea Party Rallies," and the requisite "news stories" about such events, we can see that our esteemed journalists are complicit in promoting the propaganda that "Tea Partiers" are legitimate activists, while the rest of us are vile, anti-American anarchists.

We should amplify the poll results that indicate that the vast majority of US citizens supports #Occupy. Indeed, I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of the world supports #Occupy.

Please, write a letter to Mr. Obama about Father Bill Bichsel. Surely, our 'democratic' president could--and would--insure that Father Bichsel is treated with respect while he's incarcerated.

[snagglepuss]

6. 'they' intend to use every opportunity to marginalize activists, and to make our efforts look

unpatriotic and ridiculous" and "-should call to mind how differently are treated the 'members' of the Tea Party" . Absolutely bang on.

[barbtries]

7. at first,

i was thinking maybe it was a different country. but no, it's this country.

[SCantiGOP]

8. The US is going insane

The right wingers better hope Jesus doesn't come back any time soon; he would end up in solitary and likely waterboarded.

[Athena66]

13. The right-wing

so-called Christians wouldn't just throw him in solitary or water-board him. They would be the first to line up to crucify him again.

[chervilant]

15. What if God was one of us?

Just a slob, like one of us? Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home?

(One of my fave Joan Osborne songs...)

[gopiscrap]

9. I was with Bix on October 27, 1988

when then VP George Bush caigned in Tacoma...we had the timerity to ask questions..the result was that we were hit, kicked, spit upon, banged over the head with yard sign stakes etc...and it was WE who were arrested. Yes, the PTB will do everything to stifle any expression that goes counter to their views!!! Prayers and strength to you comrade Bix!!! Peace-MSC

[Art_from_Ark]

14. A similar thing happened to a guy at a Reagan rally in Pennsylvania in 1984

Just like you, he had the temerity to ask Saint Ronnie a question. In his case, he was unceremoniously removed from the building. And Saint Ronnie remarked "Gosh, did someone leave?" Oh, how I despised that $#%&!

[madrchsod]

10. 83 year old is a very dangerous age.....

just think of the damage he could do for the rest of his life.

[WildFire43]

11. Get the Facts Straight

A little accuracy here, please...

"...the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, future site of a new nuclear weapons plant."

A 'new' nuke weapons plant? Hell no. Y-12 WAS a weapons plant years ago. But for quite some time now that has ceased to be the case.

The only 'new' building going up there will house the operation to dismantle 'old' nukes, safeguard various materials recovered, and assist in the development of medical isotopes.

That being said...my heart goes out to 'Bix' - we need more humans on the planet like him.

[provis99]

12. no, you are wrong. they are building a new nuclear weapons plant.

http://www.y12.doe.gov/about/history/highlights.php

[chervilant]

16. Wow...

If you peruse their website, you will see excellent examples of 'languaging' their 'mission' so that the functionally illiterate among us will have no clue that they are 'refurbishing' aging nuclear weapons.

To this very day, advanced math and science skills are the millieu of a select few humans. Critical thinking skills are trained OUT of the vast majority of the Hoi Polloi, so that education remains a divisive tool for the cultural elite. Even when the uber wealthy give birth to intellectually challenged individuals (Dubyah comes readily to mind), they can use their perverted system of education to maintain their hegemony.

I find it interesting that those who've usurped the wealth and power of this planet evince a patronizing attitude toward the rest of us, as though their 'superior intellects' justify their 'superiority' over the rest of us. This epitomizes the sociopathy we are beginning to recognize among the corporate megalomaniacs who've usurped our media, our politics, and our global economy.

[tbonefrog]

17. lazy complacent guards, bad technology, or both

They assume when a sensor goes off that it is a deer.

They need to eliminate false positives caused by deer or other animals, AND track down every signal they cannot eliminate.

I think they need better sensors, why be cheap about securing the atomic bomb factory?

I hope they really are on the ball and just didn't have the heart to shoot a nun, but that is still no excuse.

I fear that a bunch of others snuck in on the same night and the three they caught were decoys.