Big doings in phony baloney land!<\/p>\n
First, it was announced yesterday (?) that Kelly Dougherty is leaving her position as Executive Director of IVAW. I like Kelly, have from since when I met her and she was very nice. (Jonn liked her fishnet stockings as well as I recall.) Kelly seemed to be a mollifying factor to the more extreme elements, so her leaving is a good thing from our point of view. And they’re [spelling corrected for all 30 comlpaining] replacing her with a doozey!<\/a><\/p>\n Alex Bacon comes to us from the Fort Lewis chapter, with extensive experience with nonprofit management, finance, fundraising, and administration. As the former Administrative Organizer for Jobs With Justice, he spent the last three years helping organize strategic direct actions and campaigns in support of workers rights. He also comes with a strong commitment to GI organizing and resistance, as one of the two creators behind Coffee Strong, the GI Coffeehouse at Fort Lewis. Alex is also a long time GI Rights Counselor and leader within the GI Rights Network. In 2006 Alex was active in organizing support in the NW for IVAW members like Ehren Watada and Ricky Clousing who were resisting participation in the occupation of Iraq. Alex holds a BA in Labor Studies, and prior to getting involved in this work enlisted in the Coast Guard shortly after graduating high school where he served for two and a half years before being discharged in July of 2003 for going AWOL. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Awesome! A coast guard deserter who left prior to OIF! I mean, you just can\u2019t write humor like that. Add in that he\u2019s an activist with Watada who deserted his men and his responsibilities and has worked with Socialist organizations and this guy is money.<\/p>\n