What I Do

[cross-posted from the Democracy Cell Project]

When did we know we had to leave?

Certainly the first indication was right before the 2004 election, after a year-plus of working hard, 24X7, to elect a smart, good, thoughtful, honest man to the White House. Richard (Blogmaster for johnkerry.com, initiator of the first national party website and first online political community sponsored by a political party) and I were sitting in the car on the Sunday prior to election day. He hesitated before turning on the car. "I have a bad feeling," he said. "I have a sense that in churches all over America, people are being told to vote for Bush."

For my entire life - years before Hurricane Katrina - I've fantasized about New Orleans. I dreamed of being decadent in the French Quarter in clubs where my music heroes played. I dreamed of tasting the food, studying the architecture, hearing the accents, and being cradled in the arms of the city – in the cream, black, brown and white blended arms of the city. I wanted to earn my beads at Mardi Gras, search the bayous for magic, and be transformed beyond the boundaries of my physical world. But the rigors of my life quashed my momentum and I didn’t visit the one American city I'd always longed to see -- until just last weekend -- nearly three years AFTER Katrina.

Code Pink Fasts for Cheney's Impeachment
Monisha Bansal | Crosswalk.com

Hundreds of anti-war protesters are on a hunger strike, trying to urge House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) to begin impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I'm really concerned that the Bush and Cheney administration have committed so many impeachable offenses," Leslie Angeline, a member of Code Pink told Cybercast News Service.

Angeline and her followers are urging the Judiciary Committee to take up articles of impeachment introduced by former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in April. In November, Kucinich introduced a similar bill, but the Democratic leadership tabled the motion.

"The only way to move forward is to start impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney to hold him accountable, for the sake of the United States and for the sake of the world," Angeline said.

The Doo Dah Parade

Three weeks ago, on January 1, 2008, the White Rose Coalition (WRC), a diverse consortium of pro-peace/pro-impeachment patriots, challenged the simplistic Happy New Year message of the 119th Pasadena Rose Parade by penetrating the festivities and infusing it with critical issues of war, war criminals, and Constitutional accountability. Three to four hundred patriots brazenly appeared on the scene to infiltrate one of Southern California's most conservative communities for one of America's most conservative events. The WRC wore Revolutionary era clothing, displayed signs reading "Impeach Bush & Cheney," and held as prisoners bobbleheaded semblances of war criminals George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld, dressed in prison stripes with requisite balls and chains.

The instant it was reported that John Edwards placed second in the Iowa caucus, I ran to my purse, grabbed my wallet, pulled out my credit card, and donated to the Edwards campaign. Not for the first time. And likely for not the last. I don't have much money to give, but with this nation in peril, it's necessary. There's too much to lose if I don't ante up. America NEEDS John Edwards!!

After my little donation, this is the message I got:

Cindy Sheehan speaking at WRC Press Conference

With our Democracy in decline, an immoral war raging on, criminals and cowards controlling our government, and H.R. 1955 and S. 1959 threatening our First Amendment freedoms, our White Rose Coalition believed it had a duty to begin 2008 with the clarion call to Americans that this is the year to RISE UP. After weeks of strategizing under the inspired and frenetic leadership of Los Angeles National Impeachment Center (LANIC) Director, Peter Thottam, we ventured forward with our action. With visuals in tow, our group of 350 to 400 patriots from a dozen pro-peace/pro-impeachment organizations, embarked on our mission to usher in 2008 with THE WHOLE WORLD WATCHING.

Much to the delight of our 2008 White Rose Coalition, a substantial number of media actually did turn out. While the coverage was no where near what we would have liked, it exceeded our expectations.

Here's the follow-up report to my article: "Will Media Broadcast THE PEOPLE'S PARADE At The Rose Parade New Year's Day?":

By Barbara Cummings

We left San Diego at 1:30 AM and got to Pasadena at around 4 AM. The metro runs all night long so that was easy enough to find our way to the parade venue. We were told to look for ORANGE. At first we were so excited because there was ORANGE everywhere! After being rebuffed by the first group I approached, we understood that one of the teams playing in the Bowl was orange so it would not be so easy to find others. Wrong again. People were very helpful and mostly positive in these predawn, cold hours.

When they saw ARREST BUSH and IMPEACH they were only too happy to direct us to the area where others had camped out all night long. The IMPEACH group was much smaller than we had hoped but that did not dampen their spirits. Ours either! We each got a sign and began walking the streets. It was too cold to be still. As the sun came up, the crowds kept getting bigger, constant traffic past where we stood. We were directly across form the press area. For an hour or so we were photographed continuously. I decided then to break out the www.afterdowningstreet banner and display it while we had the chance. Some of the remarks we have all heard but on this day they seemed downright comical.

COMMIES, no that would be our biggest trading partners.

GET A JOB, hello! it's a holiday.

LOSER, not really, I'm retired and doing okay.

YOU LOVE HILARY? um, no, in fact I don't know anyone who does.

So it went until they closed the street. By then the crowd was so big that we had nowhere to go but scuttle off to a side street. We were heartened to see that IMPEACH signs were everywhere and what a cheer for the CHAIN GANG! We passed the next 2 hours walking and talking and getting our photos taken. When the parade ended, we fell in behind the Jesus crowd which had some how gotten to the head of the line first. The CHAIN GANG was great and the giant CONSTITUTION incredible. The speeches by Cindy Sheehan, and others were short and to the point of why we had all come so far today. IMPEACHMENT, RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION, JUSTICE FOR AMERICA.

By Leslie Harris

We met up at Ferris Plaza for a rally, before heading over to the Hyatt Regency, where Cheney was to speak at the World Affairs Council.

Several people got tickets to the luncheon, including Fort Worth Code Pinker Doreen Geiger, who interrupted and was escorted out, wearing her Texans for Peace "Out of Iraq" t-shirt.

This article was AP, so it should go out to lots of other venues.

The media is focused on the peace movement after Desiree Fairooz of CODEPINK confronted Condoleeza Rice in the Senate on Wednesday. Desiree, her hands stained red with faux "blood," accused Rice of having the blood of thousands of Iraqis on her hands.

The Bush administration has murdered and maimed hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our name. We've all been bloodied by it!!

Tomorrow, on October 27th, I'm marching for peace with red "blood-stained" hands. Until this war is over and these murders are stopped, I, as an American, am culpable, too.

Yesterday, being the 3rd Friday of the month,was Iraq moratorium. Of course, World Can't Wait has their wear ORANGE every Friday. I hope that all reading did something yesterday!

We went to stand in a very busy intersection during afternoon "drive time." Not just any intersection, this one is in a very heavily populated military area. To be fair, it is also a beachy, trendy, ecclectic area as well.

Several months ago, it was learned that Congressman Duncan Hunter had pulled strings and prevailed upon the County Board of Supervisors to consider a mercenary training camp in San Diego's pristine east county area. This was done without any public scrutiny. Objectioins were raised and it was discovered that the area in question was not in Hunter's district at all, but in Congressman Bob Filner's.

On Thursday, the corporate media turned out in impressive numbers to cover the pro-justice march in Jena, Louisiana. But last Saturday, just five days before, that same corporate media barely addressed the anti-war march in Washington DC.

Personally, I'm thrilled the mainstream corporate media covered Jena, but I'm not delusional as to WHY:

For the Bush-crony corporate media, which owns profitable "defense" industry businesses and serves the military industrial complex in myriad ways, the march in Jena was viable to promote. It served the interests of both the Bush administration and American media corporations by providing a global view of Bush's exportable democracy. Unlike the anti-war movement that directly targets George Bush and Dick Cheney, the Jena march targeted local officials and local injustice. It never mentioned George W. Bush or his administration. Thus, the Jena march was covered and the anti-war march was not.

Furthermore, if Bush put a media kibosh on the Jena march the way he does on anti-war marches, he would ensure an even greater divide between Black Americans, the Republican party and his administration. Activists know the success of public demonstration is judged by the attention it gets. If the Jena march generates media attention, the march is deemed a success. If the Republicans and George Bush want to keep any faith with Black Americans, they had better let the media do its work.

BY SUSAN ROBERTSON

Week 10 report:

* At least 37 people attended today's rally. 3 of our 4 corners were barricaded, but did that stop us? OF COURSE NOT! They were useful! Please see attached photo! (More photos to come)

* We are SO LUCKY! The "World's Greatest Signmaker, Peter, the Freeway Blogger, sent a bunch of his most excellent signs with Linda, the "World's Greatest Video maker!" So we looked even better than usual! We even had more signs than people, for a change! Check Peter's photos out at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87444429@N00/

By Kevin Martin

While visiting her sister in Cheboygan, Michigan, Barbara Cummings of San Diego joined the local peace movement
at the biggest event in Northern Michigan. Every year tens of thousands of people arrive in two small tourist towns.
On the north side of the Straits of Mackinac (in the upper peninsula of Michigan), in St.Ignace, and on the south side of the straits in Mackinaw City (in the lower peninsula). They gather to walk the Mighty Mack Bridge which spans the straits,
which separate the two Michigan peninsulas. This is THE annual Labor Day event.

This year the estimate is 57,000 persons walked the five mile span from St.Ignace to Mackinaw City. Barbara and her sister,
Karen Martin of Cheboygan were in the first wave of walkers, following close behind the Governor Granholm group.

At the end of the walk were members of several Northern Michigan Peace groups. They were there to protest the war in Iraq, and to show desire for IMPEACHING the criminals in the White House. In the photo is Barbara Cummings getting a "high five" from one of the 57,000 walkers.

In addition to hundreds of thumbs up, peace signs, "thanks", and "wooos" some of the specific comments included:
"Impeach Bush, torture Cheney", "Impeach Bush then hang him at the White House", "you people can't handle prosperity",
"drop the BIG one", "shot 'em all", "I fought for your rights to do this, and I'd take them away in a minute if I could", "you're gonna end up wearing a burka" and in addition several of the National Guardsmen, present for security, whispered to Barbara "love your shirt, and the message" (Barbara wore her Impeach Bush-Cheney shirt).

Last Thursday, a rumor was heard that KLSD 1360, the only progressive, talk radio staion would be flipped to a sports format in the very near future. San Diego already has 2 sports stations, 4 very conservative stations, and a couple of Christain stations.

Clear Channel owns KLSD. Clear Channel has already flipped several progressive cities in the last couple of years. Only 2 cities, Phoenix and Madison have saved their stations. We are determined to save our station.

Lynda Hernandez reports:

Huntington Beach, CA - our efforts continue to encourage the Huntington Beach City Council to add a City Impeachment Resolution to the agenda. We have held two impeachment rallies and have presented to the H.B. City Council twice during the public comment period. We continue to gather signatures and plan to return for a third time to the City Council chambers. One of the Council members must be willing to sponsor before it can be added to the agenda. This is one of the most conservative cities in CA if not the U.S.; passage here would make a profound effect on other cities. Our work in Huntington Beach is spreading from Laguna Beach and moving into Santa Ana, Anaheim and other Orange County cities. www.ocimpeachmentsite.org

There will be a live show at www.kpfa.org on from 7-8pm Pacific time this Friday, August 24. The theme of the show is "Solutions For Peace," and the main solution is impeachment. There will be a short version of the interview I did with David Swanson included in the show. The LONG version will be posted at www.kpfa.org/impeach at that time.

cellphone photo by Carol Huhs

Report by Anne Pritchett and Carol Huhs

In case you haven't heard, last night Kansas Representative Dennis Moore and Kansas Senator Pat Roberts met for a little "kaffeeklatch" at Johnson County Community College (JCCC) near Kansas City, Kansas. It was an attempt at bipartisanship - - a blue dog Dem talking with a Repub - - trying to make all the problems go away. They sat and talked about nothing for about an hour and a half. They took questions from the audience that were written on postcards and screened by the evening's moderator - - who made sure that all questions asked of the gentlemen in public were totally inane. You all know the view of the American public on the war - - an overwhelming majority want it OVER - - and there was NOT ONE WORD mentioned about the w-a-r.

Well, about 9pm as they were wrapping up, there was a sudden unveiling of the truth! The audience heard a "thud-thud-thud" and turned around to find to the dismay of Moore and Roberts, no doubt, a HUGE banner which you will see in the pictures.

Kaedden [last name unknown], an employee of JCCC, willingly "fell on his sword," as activist David Quinly put it. He knew he would be fired from his job working for the theater at JCCC, but still climbed up on the catwalk to push the banner out so everyone could see it. He was taken to the Security office and questioned for about an hour. David asked him later if he had been water-boarded or otherwise tortured. Kaedden wasn't sure if they would press charges of any type. He said that the college threatened to "ban" him from the campus. We were ready to post bail!

Hopefully, this may help to open some folks' eyes.

By Vastleft, http://www.correntewire.com/lets_active

I recently spoke with Mimi Evans, a New York-based progressive activist whose day job is raising money for non-profits.

She’s so passionate and articulate about the peace and impeachment movements that I wouldn’t have felt right about chopping her comments into textbites. So, this runs somewhat longer than I usually post.

Here, she introduces herself: