Approximately 250 people turned out in Monument Square last night for the statewide Take a Stand day, sponsored by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, the organization that's been putting the heat on Maine's congressional delegation (and politicians nationwide) all summer. State House speaker Glenn Cummings (D-Portland) spoke at the rally, along with activists and military family members. There were also Take a Stand events in Augusta, and in Orono, where about 100 people attended a town meeting.

Representative Tom Allen attended the Orono town meeting in person; Rep. Mike Michaud and Sen. Olympia Snowe sent a video and a written statement, respectively. But Senator Susan Collins, who recieved a hand-delivered invitation, told the Lewiston Sun Journal that she would not attend. Americans Against Escalation in Iraq never got an official response from Collins' office.

A new TV ad, which will run for roughly one week on six channels in Portland and Bangor, calls on Senator Susan Collins to vote to end the war in Iraq -- and lambastes her "continuing support for the war, support for the president and her repeated votes against efforts to bring [the war] to a safe and responsible end." The ad, sponsored by the non-profit Americans United for Change (which also led the charge against Social Security privatization a couple years ago, and which has paid for similar ads targeting other senators in other states), splices together clips of chaos and destruction in Iraq with a shot of Collins and Bush smiling together. This is part of a statewide effort to pressure Collins to join the other members of Maine's delegation in their opposition to the war.

Watch the ad:

Portland air-guitarist McNallica took fourth place in the US Air Guitar national championship Thursday in New York City, and was the only woman in the five-person final, and the only person to get a perfect 6.0 score (and she got two, both from New Yorker writer and social thinker Malcolm Gladwell!). The Portland Phoenix has exclusive photos and video - technical problems prevented us from posting them yesterday, but check back on Sunday for more, and Monday for even more.

The well-known environmental Web site Grist.org has crowned Maine's College of the Atlantic, located in Bar Harbor, the greenest college or university in the world. COA held the first-known zero-waste graduation in 2005, according to a press release sent out by the school.

Here's the accolade from Grist:

"College of the Atlantic
This small school in Bar Harbor, Maine, has just one major: human ecology -- or "the study of our relationship with our environment." So it only makes sense that it was the first college in the U.S. to pledge carbon neutrality. And it kicked off quite a trend: Now more than 270 other U.S. colleges and universities -- including many of the following -- have pledged to do the same as part of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment."

What's more, New England schools in general made a great showing on Grist's list of the 15 top eco-friendly schools. Vermont is represented by Middlebury and Green Mountain College, and Connecticut by Yale; Massachusetts boasts two of its elite Cambridge institutions -- Tufts and Harvard -- and New Hampshire's UNH got a runners-up nod.

“Iraq, politically, is a mess,” Tom Allen said at a press conference held this morning to mark his return from a trip to that country, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. “The increase in American forces has led to very little progress on the political front.”

The Democratic representative who’s running against Republican Susan Collins for her seat in the Senate – and highlighting his opposition to the war in Iraq on the campaign trail – returned from his first-ever trip to Iraq on Friday night. While there, he visited with American troops and had lunch with US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and General David Petraeus, who oversees all US forces in Iraq. (Petraeus, Allen was quick to note, “knows he’s not commander in chief…he’s a military commander, not a policy maker.")

What he saw reinforced his conviction that “we need a change of policy in Iraq,” he said. That change can only come in the form of Congress voting for withdrawal, he added, because he doesn’t believe that President Bush will act “unless we basically force him.”

“Setting a deadline is an indication that we’re leaving,” Allen said. “It’s impossible to referee this civil war” between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

His evaluations of the political and military situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan were much more optimistic.       

We weren’t able to make it to last night’s City Council meeting, at which a resolution to impeach President Bush and Dark Lord Cheney was discussed. The measure failed, 4-2, with two council members missing and one walking out of the proceedings.

We got a day-after briefing from a couple of councilors today. District 1 councilor Kevin Donoghue, who voted against the resolution because “nobody elected me to speak for them on federal issues,” proposed an amendment that would have allowed Portland’s constituents to speak their own mind – in the form of a referendum – about impeachment. That amendment was struck down.

At-large councilor Ed Suslovic says his voting against the resolution “was not about whether or not George Bush should be impeached.” (For the record, he’s not a big fan of W.) “It’s simply reflected the fact that we’ve got more than a full plate on the council agenda” – he mentioned schools, the Maine State Pier project, and the capital improvement budget, or lack thereof.

The resolution’s main sponsor, at-large councilor Jill Duson, could not be reached for comment.

Speaking of the Maine State Pier, there’ll be a public forum on that topic tomorrow night, hosted by Donoghue and fellow councilor Dave Marshall at the Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall from 6-8.

We can’t make it to this one either (too busy practicing our line dancing over at the Lyric Music Theater in South Portland!), so fill us in if you go.

From the press release:

The City Council is holding its own series of workshops to discuss whether to select Ocean Properties of Portsmouth, N.H. or the Olympia Companies of Portland to the private redevelopment and longterm lease of the public pier. The City Council is not expected to conduct a public hearing until September.

Both proposals include a luxury hotel, an office building, and retail as parts of an expanded cruise port.

Donoghue and Marshall said the forum is not intended to measure support for either development team, but sooner to check in with citizens on whether the city is on the right track and how it should proceed.

"The forum will foster a wider discussion concerning the future of our only public pier," said Marshall.

"The public has been missing from this crucial public policy debate for nearly a year," said Donoghue. "The need for meaningful citizen involvement in waterfront projects is no less than a civic emergency."

Donoghue is a member of the Community Development Committee which was charged with making recommendations on whether either proposal had merit. Both Councilors Jim Cloutier and Jill Duson voted in favor of negotiating with Ocean Properties. Donoghue opposed the recommendation after his amendment to send the recommendation to the voters for approval failed with the others voting against.

Markos Miller is also helping promote the public forum and is the recent President of the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization, which represents the interests of residents upland of the Maine State Pier.

"The pier belongs to the citizens of Portland," said Miller. "Any discussion of changing its use should start with a community-based process that articulates the concerns and the hopes for this unique asset."

PROPOSED RESOLUTION FOR THE PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL

A RESOLUTION OF THE PORTLAND, MAINE CITY COUNCIL PETITIONING THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO COMMENCE THE INVESTIGATION OF AND IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS AGAINST PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AND VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD B. CHENEY.

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney, in violation of their oaths of office, which read: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of (Vice) President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”, in their conduct while President and Vice President of the United States have demonstrated a pattern of abuse of office and disregard for the Constitution of the United States.

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney intentionally misled Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war and conspired with others to do so; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have caused this Nation to commence a war in violation of treaties adopted by the United States including the Nuremberg Charter and the U.N Charter which prohibits one nation from using force against another except in self-defense or if authorized by the U.N. Security Council; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney committed, permitted or authorized the torture of prisoners, or conspired with others to do so, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Chapter 113C, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Geneva Convention; and

WHEREAS, the above-mentioned treaties adopted by the United States under Article VI of the United States Constitution are part of the "supreme law of the land”, the President and Vice President are obligated to faithfully execute the laws, and they have intentionally and willfully failed to do so; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American civilians without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of, duly constituted by Congress in 1978, in violation of Title 50 United States Code, Section 1805 and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vice president Richard B. Cheney conspired in the authorization and conduct of such actions; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney acted to strip United States citizens of their constitutional rights by ordering the indefinite detention of citizens arbitrarily designated as "enemy combatants", without access to legal counsel, without charge and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, all in subversion of existing law; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have unlawfully refused to comply, or cause others under their direction to comply, with subpoenas issued by the United States Congress in the conduct of lawful Congressional investigations; and

WHEREAS, in all of this, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have acted in a manner contrary to their trust as president and vice president, subverting constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of Portland and of the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, petitions from the country at large may be presented by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, according to Clause 3 of House Rule XII; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Congress, and our representatives and senators in the United States Congress in particular, be, and they hereby are, requested to cause to be instituted in the Congress of the United States proper proceedings for the investigation of the activities of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney, to the end that they may be impeached and removed from their offices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the City of Portland, Maine be instructed to certify and transmit to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, under the great seal of the City of Portland, Maine, a copy of this resolution as adopted. The copies shall be marked with the word "Petition" at the top of the document and contain the original authorizing signature of the City Clerk.