To: Terry Maloney who wrote (425674 ) 2/19/2014 11:50:26 AM From: Broken_Clock Read Replies (1) | Respond to We still have few American heroes.Reuters , Feb. 18, 2014: A U.S. judge sentenced an 84-year-old nun, Sister Megan Rice, on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for breaking into a Tennessee defense facility where enriched uranium for nuclear bombs is stored.AP , Feb. 18, 2014: Rice asked the judge to sentence her to life in prison [...] “Please have no leniency with me,” she said. “To remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest gift you could give me.”’ [...] God was using them to raise awareness about nuclear weapons and they viewed their break-in as a miracle. […] Rice testified at trial that she was surprised the group made it all the way to the interior of the secured zone without being challenged and that plant operations were suspended. “That stunned me,” she said. “I can’t believe they shut down the whole place.” […] U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar said he was concerned they showed no remorse and he wanted the punishment to be a deterrent for other activists.CNN , Feb. 19, 2014: […] the three cut through a chain-link fence surrounding the Y-12 National Security Complex [...] walked nearly a mile, cutting through three more fences and breaching what was supposed to be the most tightly secured uranium processing and storage facility in the country. It was not until hours later that a guard finally confronted the activists […] In response to the incident, Congress has held a series of hearings […]Guardian , Feb. 19, 2014: Mary Evelyn Tucker, director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale [...] compared the nun’s use of non-violent protest to the “lineage of transformation” employed by Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.WBIR , Feb. 18, 2014: “Please have no leniency on me. To remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest honor you could give me.” […] I hope it conveys how unusual this sentencing hearing was this afternoon [...] there was an overflow courtroom for people that have come from across the country […] As much as he respected — that was actually a quote, he used the word ‘respected’ — their beliefs, he did not think the ends justified the means, so you can’t go breaking into a federal facility because you believe you’re protecting the future of the planet. […] He repetitively said over and over again how much voice he believes these people have and how much sway they can have toward affecting change.
