No nukes today and always! (Remembering Japan on 3/11) Statment from Cindy Sheehan

 Kyoko and Cindy in Tokyo

As most of you already know, three years ago today, the island-nation of Japan suffered a major earthquake and tsunami.

The original damage was quite devastating and we mourn and remember everyone who lost their lives that day and their friends, family, and fellow citizens of Japan.

I also stand in solidarity with the demand of millions in Japan and around the world: No More Fukushimas!

That disaster is a continuing worry for us all and demonstrates that nuclear power was never safe or viable.

I also stand in solidarity with millions of people around the world who are demanding an end to the use of nuclear and fossil fuel technology for power and bombs. We demand investment in safe, renewable, and sustainable forms of energy.

I was in Japan just five months after the natural and nuclear disaster in 2010 and I formed many close bonds with my brothers and sisters who are working to hold the Japanese government and TEPCO accountable for the negligence, cover-ups, and other crimes against the people of Japan and the spreading poison that could potentially affect the entire Western Hemisphere. 

A Cindy Sheehan administration in California would work with activists on both sides of the Pacific to work to make sure all nuclear power plants are shut down and the poisons and radiation emanating from Fukushima be stopped and cleansed for the future!

You are not alone.

Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox
Cindy Sheehan for Governor, 2014

Vote Socialist! Cindy Sheehan for Cal Gov: Day One of Official Campaigning

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Governor Campaign:
Day One!

 Gubernatorial Candidate Sheehan

L.A. Convention Center

March 8, 2014

March 7^th was the final day that any candidate for the California 2014 Open Primary in June could declare as a candidate and my campaign met that deadline.

These are the requirements for Governor of the California Constitution, which I have fulfilled:

A.  Be a U.S. citizen. Cal. Const., art. V, §§ 2¹ & 9

B.  Be a registered voter and otherwise qualified to vote for that office at the time that nomination papers are issued to the person. § 201²

C.  Not have been convicted of a felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes. § 20

D. Not have served two terms in the office sought since November 6, 1990.
Cal. Const., art. V, §§ 2 & 11

But with the passage of the so-called Top Two Primary here in California in 2010, there was an additional and very heavy burden put on candidates of all political parties, and potential candidates with no party affiliation: to qualify for any office (besides POTUS which is exempt), each candidate has to pay a filing fee of 1% of the first year’s salary of the office that he/she is seeking, or get 10,000 signatures in lieu of the filing fee.

For example, in my case, rounding up, the first year salary for the Gov. of California is an incredible and immoral (public servant, my eye) $350k per year! So, that means that I had to pay almost $3500 for the filing fee, or try to get 10k signatures. Each signature is “worth” 35 cents.

This new requirement puts a horrible onus on grassroots campaigns and effectively eliminates many otherwise qualified and good candidates from even trying to run for office here in the Golden (for the Democrats and Republicans) State.

The incumbent Jerry Brown (D apparently, but R realistically) has already raised over 17 million for his re-election campaign, so he can, without blinking an eye, walk into his County Registrar’s office and deliver a check for the entire amount for the filing fee (democracy?). Most campaigns of the establishment parties can also do that. We who challenge the corruption of the status quo don’t have that “luxury.”

The voters of California passed Proposition 14 in 2010 and we fought against it then and we struggle against it now. Instead of the hype that it would “increase participation” it is predictably killing it. 

For my own race, there are 20 candidates running for Governor in the primary and only the top two vote getters will advance to November. There’s a candidate with 17 million in his campaign account right now and one of the Republican candidates Neel Kashkari is a former Goldman-Sachs executive! Jerry Brown is a multi-millionaire also and our “democracy” should not be stacked in favor of the wealthy and against candidates like me who struggle and sacrifice to truly make a difference!

Saturday, March 8^th was our first day of campaigning as an official candidate and, although it was long and hot, it was very successful and invigorating.

I have to give some more background before I continue:

I was a registered Democrat until 2007 when I feel that the Party used me specifically and the energy of the anti-Bush; anti-Iraq War movements to get a majority in the House of Representatives, then repeatedly stabbed us in the backs! I publicly left the Party and that’s when the concentrated attacks by Democratic Party hacks joined the concentrated attacks of Republican Party hacks against me.

I then ran for Congress in San Francisco against Nancy Pelosi (D-1%) and subsequently subjected myself to the most humiliating rudeness from the “liberals” that live there. I ended up coming in second with a respectable 50k votes, but I will never forget how mean many of the Democrats were to me.

“FRACK YOU, BROWN! I’M VOTING FOR CINDY SHEEHAN”

When my campaign heard about the California State Democratic Party holding its convention (DSC) in Los Angeles from March 7^th to the 9^th, even though I had a commitment to be in San Francisco in the evening on the 8^th, we thought it would be very important to have a presence there at the L.A. Convention Center. We were positive that most of the 3^rd party campaigns (and some Republicans) would also be out to show that there are alternatives.

However, Cindy Sheehan for California Governor was the only other campaign there and the only other protest was an anti-fracking protest. Many of the
ANOTHER DEMOCRAT AGAINST FRACKING” protesters sauntered surreptitiously over to our area to inform us that they would be voting for me instead of Brown. We probably had about 30 convention attendees tell us that, as well. The DSC wasn’t the only thing that was happening that day and we were able to do some amazing outreach with the dozen, or so, volunteers that joined us.

With all my past bad experiences with Democrats, I was leery of attending this event, but was so pleased with the positive responses to my campaign and seeing some old friends that I am very glad we took the time and expense to be there.

After the protest at the DSC, I was taken to the airport and flew to San Francisco to what I knew would be a wonderful time kicking off the Vote Socialist Campaign with two of my fellow Peace and Freedom Party candidates: Nathalie Hrizi (Insurance Commissioner) and Frank Lara (running for Congress in SF against Nancy Pelosi).

ARTICLE ABOUTANTI-FRACTIVISTS INTERRUPTING BROWN

ARTICLE WITH PARAGRAPH ABOUTOUR DEMO

IS JERRY BROWN OUT OF HIS FRACKING MIND?
By Cindy Sheehan

CINDY SHEEHAN’S PLATFORM

PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY PLATFORM

 

Cindy with old friend, actress, and clean elections' activist,

 Mimi Kennedy

 Team Cindy, L.A.

Cindy Sheehan in Calaveras County for Earth Day Celebration

President Hugo Chavez, Presente! (Soapbox Podcast: March 9, 2014)

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

March 9, 2014

For this week's Soapbox, we present

the interview that Cindy Sheehan sat down with

President Hugo Chavéz to do three years before his death.

With more US-inspired unrest in Venezuela which is

designed to undermine and destroy the Bolivarian 

Revolution of Chavéz, this interview is as

relevant as always!

The translator is our friend, Eva Golinger!

CLICK BOOK IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
CINDY SHEEHAN'S LOVE STORY TO THE BOLIVARIAN
REVOLUTION!

Cindy Sheehan and Supporters to Campaign at California State Democratic Convention in Los Angeles: March 8, 2014

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For Immediate Release                                          March 8, 2014

Attention Day Book/ Assignment Desk

Contact: Dede Miller-562-500-9079 or dede@cindy2014.org

Press Availability 9am

Cindy Sheehan and Team at the Democratic State Convention

When: Saturday May 8, 9am-12pm

Where: Los Angeles Convention Center

1201 S. Figueroa St, L.A. 90015

Join Cindy Sheehan, Peace & Freedom Party's Candidate for Governor at the L.A. Convention Center this Saturday morning.  

Cindy Sheehan's EPIC campaign to:

*End Poverty In California*
*End the Prison Industrial Complex *
*Environmental Protection in California*
*Educate People in California *

All are a real alternative to neo-Republican Jerry Brown's ongoing policies of enriching the banks and the 1%, fracking, filling the prisons, while California's schools continue to fail.

Unashamed, Unabashed, Unrepentant Admiration of Hugo Chavez (28 July, 1954 to 5 March, 2013) by Cindy Sheehan

Revolution, A Love Story

By Cindy Sheehan

INTRODUCTION

(Written March 2011 before President Chavéz was diagnosed with Cancer)

Five years ago, shortly after my first trip to Texas to confront the person who I felt murdered my son Casey, George Bush, I was invited to Caracas, Venezuela to attend the World Social Forum. 

Amazingly, at the time, I really had no idea that the World Social Forum was about socialism, and I really didn’t know much more about President Hugo Chavéz then he was a very vocal opponent of my opponents: George Bush, and the U.S. Empire. That trip to Caracas was a whirlwind of speeches, meetings, and rallies. 

At one point, I was pulled out of a meeting to go to the presidential palace, Miraflores, to meet with President Chavéz. Along with a few colleagues, he gave us a tour of some of the places where the US - CIA backed coup attempt occurred in April of 2002 — a living “ The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” with our guide being the “star” of the show. Chavéz not only survived that coup attempt, because of his people, but also has thrived as the socialist/anti - imperialist president of Venezuela for over ten years, now. 

That year in Caracas, I stumbled through my meetings and obligations, just knowing enough to survive that trip. However, after I did go down to Venezuela for that WSF and meet with President Chavez (Che Guevara’s daughter, Elena, helped treat me for a migraine), I was “greeted” with deep - seeded hostility when I returned back to Il Imperio (The Empire), even from people whom I would consider on “the left.” 

“Cindy, the enemy of your enemy is not your friend.” “Hugo Chavéz may hate George Bush like you do, but he is an oppressive, anti - American, Communist dictator.” “Blah, blah, blah!” 

I was even hauled in before Arianna Huffington and soundly scolded for my “indiscretion.” (A working definition of irony: I have stuck to my “ peace at all costs ” platform all these years and am nearly broke, yet Arianna is a political chameleon who just sold her soul — oops I mean website — to AOL for hundreds of millions of dollars?) 

In the early years of my activism, I did a lot of things that I wasn’t ready for — and meeting this “anti - American Communist, dictator” was one of them. Because of the criticism from what passes as the left in this country, I started to do a little more research in to Venezuelan politics, Hugo Chavéz, and the Bolivarian Revolution. 

Simon Bolívar, the liberator of Latin America and his vision has been part of the inspiration for the revolution of Chavéz. What I found after my studies greatly relieved me! I felt justified in defending Chavéz and in my support of him and his policies. 

Once when I was invited to be on MSNBC’s Hardball, the guest hostess Norah O’Donnell made some blatantly untrue comments about President Chavez, so I had to correct her and she asked me: “Would you rather have Hugo Chavéz as your president, than George Bush?” What else could I say but, “Yes. ” It’s not everyday one is faced with such a clear - cut choice, but I sure set off a shit - storm of Anti - Sheehan attacks after that rare bit (for TV, but not me) of honesty. 

Since the beginning of 2006 and my trip to Caracas, I have traveled the world and met people from presidents on down to beggars on the streets that can usually “thank” The Empire for the foundation of their poverty; I have run an unsuccessful campaign for Congress against a card - carrying member of the oppressor - class here in the US, Nancy Pelosi; I have been arrested many times and harassed because of my beliefs and activities; I have published five books; been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and have been gifted with three grandchildren (note: four now),— and all of these experiences have combined, along with the death of my son in 2004, to bring me to the conclusion that the system we live under in the US — whether one wants to call it Capitalism, Crony Capitalism, Corporatism, Imperialism, Oligarchy, ( or whatever name for this cyst - em that makes you happy) — is a profoundly diseased and crumbling system. 

For decades, Venezuela suffered under the US corporations, CIA, and “leaders” who were dependent on and supporters of the rape and pillage of their country by the US (kind of like Hosni Mubarak). The people were strangled by this system and rose up against it many times, and failed, but the soil was being prepared for one to step in and show the people of Venezuela a new way — an alternative to the stranglehold US capitalistic imperialism had on his country. 

So, in 2010, after I became what I like to call an “organic Marxist,” writing my own wo(man)ifesto in 2009, called: Myth America: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution, I wanted to go back to Venezuela to chat with Chavéz about something more important than “Senor Peligro,” (Mr. Danger), George Bush. I wanted to witness a socialist revolution in process. I wanted to be able to come back to the US with evidence of a better way. To do that, I also felt it was urgent to dispel the “myths” about President Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution, too. 

I received permission to interview the President and I raised the money to travel there with two camera operators — and our “mission” was to interview the president, and talk to people in the “barrios” of Venezuela to see how this revolution was affecting them — screw the oligarchy and opposition that still remain there — their sob-stories of stolen lost wealth to the socialist way are told over and over and over and over and over again in Venezuelan media and our media, too. 

I have no sympathy for the robbers who became a little less wealthy sitting behind their walls in their mansions feeling sorry for themselves. I wish that would happen here in the US — wouldn’t it be a shame if Mr. Rockefeller had to have a few of his oil wells and properties expropriated to pay for healthcare, environmental clean - up, jobs, and education for we the people here in the US? No, it wouldn’t be a shame — the wealth that such people like Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Rothschild, Gates, Soros, Koch, Winfrey, or T. Boone Pickens, have accumulated is obscene and belongs to everyone, not just them. 

I asked one formerly illiterate and disadvantaged person in the barrio of San Agustin what she thought about the amendment to the Bolivarian Republic’s new Constitution (more about the Constitution later) that allows Chavéz to run for president without term limits. She said: “I hope he is president for life, we would die for him and the revolution.” In fact, many people did die in 2002 during the coup attempt defending and supporting Chavez. 

Chavéz loves the people of Venezuela — he owes them his life. But what, if anything, do we owe to such a person and his country that are being unfairly and unjustly demonized at every opportunity by our own country? We owe Chavéz a balanced look at what he’s done, why he’s done it, and what he is still attempting to do with all the obstacles placed in his way from El Imperio and to the less (maybe) sinister problems of global climate change.  

This book is my inadequate attempt at showing appreciation to my supporters and to President Chavéz for helping me see that there is a better way to do things than we do them here in the US. 

Revolution cannot be achieved or accomplished by one person, no matter how dedicated he/she is. Is they way of Chavéz perfect? I don’t think so, (and I will examine the challenges, too) but that’s the beauty of revolution — it’s a continuing process that takes everybody working together to achieve as close to perfection as mere humans can. 

The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela is not an uprising like we see happening in the Arab world and closer to home in Madison, Wisconsin. No, it is a plan and Chavéz told me during our interview in Montevideo because of all the “obstacles” and “challenges,” they have really only accomplished about 10% of what the Revolution has set out to do . (Does that sound like an autocrat? If he were one, at least 90% would be accomplished). 

The Representative Republic that was formed by the plutocracy in the US has only led us to increasing fascistic oppressions and a growing income disparity that is the largest in so - called developing nations.

Chavéz is successfully leading a “Great Experiment” in Venezuela at a time when the “Great American Experiment,” in the US described by Alexis de Tocqueville in the 19th Century is failing. 

Capitalism, US style, is trying so hard to save itself for the wealthy and power mad, that it attacks small countries and leaders like President Hugo Chavéz because the plutocracy still calls the shots and is terrified of, “ the threat of a good example.” 

I want to disclose up front that I love this subject. It is not a non - biased look, but I can promise you it will be an honest look and one that you won’t find in very many other places. I will present statistics and facts, tinted with enthusiasm and inspiration that can’t be woven around a web of Imperial lies. 

I guarantee you that there is a better way — there is a path we can follow to peace and freedom. 

It won’t be easy, but it’ll be worth every step we MUST take. 

Vamos, mis amigos. 

(Let’s go, my friends!) 

March 5, 2014
Update

One of the last times I spoke with Hugo Chavéz in 2010, he greeted me warmly and said, "Welcome home, Cindy. Our country is your country; your son is our son." 

I was called back to Caracas 15-months after that visit and I missed seeing Chavéz because I was told that he had a "pulled groin muscle." Within the next several weeks we learned that he was diagnosed with the cancer that would kill him a little less than two years later.

His dedication to fighting the cancer matched his unrelenting dedication to the people of Venezuela. Chavéz had been young and vibrant: he was not ready to go. I can imagine his agony over leaving three children, his grandson, and his beloved Venezuela. One year ago today, the world lost a great human, father, leader. I was at a grocery store when I received a text from my sister telling me he had passed: I put my head on the cold door in the frozen food section and openly wept. I wondered if people were thinking I was crying because my favorite frozen pizza was not in stock. I didn't care. I replaced the items I had in my hand basket and quickly left and cried all the way on my walk home.

I wept for my friend Chavéz and myself; for the people of Venezuela, and the world.

What President Chavéz and his Bolivarian Revolution were able to do in Venezuela inspired many oppressed Latin American and Caribbean nations to work together to begin to break the chains that bound them to The Empire that has long been crushing them under its neo-liberal/violent boot heel.

Now, of course the US is ramping up its campaign against the transparently and democratically elected government and Revolution in Venezuela, but I have confidence in the people that they will not go back to the way it used to be. The greatest accomplishment of Chavéz was to empower the people and once empowered, never, ever again enslaved.

The Bolivarian Revolution and the leadership of Hugo Chavéz is one of my inspirations for my run for Governor of California. If Venezuela was able to dramatically close the income gap, educate people, improve their access to nutritional food, and empower them, imagine what we could do here in California. 

US Presidents come and go with nauseating, "electoral" regularity, but in my opinion, history will look back on Hugo Rafael Chavéz Frias as one of the most significant figures in the early 21st Century.

CLICK IMAGE FOR ORDERING INFO

More Injustice American Style (SOAPBOX PODCAST 3/2)

CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX

MARCH 2, 2014

GUEST: BILL QUIGLEY

 TOPIC: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND THE CASE OF

SR. MEGAN RICE, ET. AL.

(From Wikipedia) On July 28, 2012, Rice, at 82 years old, and two fellow activists (Michael R. Walli, 63 years old, and Gregory I. Boertje-Obed, 57 years old) broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, spray-painted antiwar slogans, and splashed fake blood on the outside of the heavily guarded Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. 

The three are members of the organization "Transform Now Plowshares", a part of the Plowshares Movement, which references the Book of Isaiah's call to "hammer their swords into plowshares", i.e., convert weapons into peaceful tools. Justifying their infiltration of the Oak Ridge facility, the trio cited both Biblical verses calling for world peace and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as justifications. The New York Times reported that nuclear experts called this action "the biggest security breach in the history of the nation's atomic complex." Rice, Walli, and Boertje-Obed were charged with misdemeanor trespass and "destruction and depredation" of government property (a felony) and may face up to a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison. However they were charged with damaging a defense facility under the sabotage act, a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, and charged with causing more than $1,000 damage to government property, up to 10 years in prison.

On May 9, 2013, the three were convicted. In her testimony Sister Megan said "I regret I didn't do this 70 years ago." Her sentencing was originally scheduled for January 28, 2014, but was postponed to February 18, 2014 due to a snow storm. On February 18, 2014, Rice was sentenced to 35 months in prison, and Walli and Boertje-Obed were each sentenced to 62 months.

CLICK BELOW PLAYER TO LISTEN TO SHOW

 

Michael, Sr. Megan, and Gregory

Bill Quigley

Bill Quigley is a law professor and Director of the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic and Center for Social Justice  and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill has been an active public interest lawyer since 1977. Bill has served as counsel with a wide range of public interest organizations on issues including human rights, Katrina social justice issues, public housing, voting rights, death penalty, living wage, civil liberties, educational reform, constitutional rights and civil disobedience. Bill served as the Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights for two years and has litigated numerous cases with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the Advancement Project, and with the ACLU of Louisiana, for which he served as General Counsel for 15 years.

CLICK IMAGE TO ORDER

War is Costly (Peace Plan for California) by Cindy Sheehan

As someone who is intimately and very painfully acquainted with the personal cost of war, I believe that the carnage and destruction of war is what we need to focus on. We should never give up our struggles for peace and end of Empire as long as one person is being threatened or in harm's way of the US military juggernaut.

However, according to the National Priorities Project, since 2001, the total cost of the US's war OF terror has been over 1.5 trillion dollars and,

Every hour, taxpayers in United States are paying
$11.26 million for Total Cost of Wars Since 2001. 

Of course, in a 2010 article in the Washington Post, economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes compute the "true" cost of just the horror the US perpetrated on Iraq at over "3 trillion." 

Not only is the loss of my own treasure, my first born, needlessly relevant in my life, as a candidate for Governor of California, the hemorrhaging of this state's resources to the war OF terror is also needless and significant. 

According to the apparently conservative, but verifiable, statistics of the National Priorities Project:

Every hour, taxpayers in California are paying
$1.45 million for Total Cost of Wars Since 2001. 

Besides the flesh and blood we have had stolen from us, California has ponied up almost 200 billions of dollars that could obviously be used for more positive and life-affirming projects here in our own state.

The National Priorities Project has a tool for re-allocating this tribute we Californians pay to the Empire for its wars OF terror and this is what I envisioned and the State still had billions of dollars left over:

The US Department of War is scaling back its traditional activities, yet expanding black ops and use of drone technology. What we need federally and locally are leaders that know what struggle is and are able to be free of the Military Industrial Complex. 

Californians can say "Hell, no" to war and "Hell, yes" to a state that puts the needs of people over the greed of Empire.

Imagine a state as big and powerful and California saying "Hell, no" to Empire?

We will no longer cede any of our tax dollars or our children to the imperial meat-grinder. This is a good plan for our state, our nation, and the world!

www.Cindy2014.org
 

The Truth About More Imperial Meddling (Soapbox Podcast 2/23/2014)

The Truth About More Imperial Meddling

Soapbox Podcast

February 23, 2014

GUESTS:

 MICKEY-Z

TOPIC: OCCUPY THIS BOOK and Dedicated Activism

GLORIA LA RIVA:

TOPIC: What the corporate media won't tell you about

Venezuela

Venezuelan right-wing gangs’ violence potential prelude to coup attempt

by Gloria La Riva 

Venezuela Beyond the Protests: The Revolution is Here to Stay

 by Eva Golinger

 CLICK IMAGE TO HEAR SHOW

For immediate release: Cindy Sheehan for Cal Gov, 2014 Will Achieve Ballot Access for June Primary!

February 16, 2014

Vacaville, Ca.  

For immediate release:

Cindy Sheehan for California Governor, 2014, is thrilled to announce that despite the attack from the political establishment in California against alternative political parties and voices, the Sheehan campaign has a combination of enough signatures and donations to qualify for the June primary ballot.

In 2010, Cindy Sheehan and the Peace and Freedom Party fought against the passage of Proposition 14 which was designed to destroy 3^rd parties and block political challenges from those with no party affiliation. Before the “Top Two Open Primary” all a campaign needed would be 150 signatures from his/her party and meet Constitutional requirements to run for an office here in California.

Now, each prospective candidate for state office needs 10,000 valid signatures and/or pays a filing (based on the starting pay of each office) fee. In the case of the Office of Governor, each signature is worth about 35 cents, or $3500 total for ballot access.

“This attack on Democracy has seriously hampered our ability to field candidates who are in opposition to the two parties of greed, war, and the wealthy; but we will never give up or go away. We will continue to fight Prop 14 and work to expand the choices of Californians, not contract them.”

Sheehan continues, “I want to also take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to those who have volunteered many hours to collect signatures and who have thus far donated money to our campaign. The people who donate are not the wealthy; they are our brothers and sisters who also struggle and for whom this campaign to End Poverty In California would most benefit.”

Cindy Sheehan for California Governor, 2014, will now shift to full campaign mode and Ms. Sheehan looks forward to continuing meeting as many Californians as possible in the period before the June Primary. 

Keep turning in those signatures, though! The more we have the less we are forced to pay.

FOR MORE INFO, TO SCHEDULE ENGAGEMENTS FOR CINDY SHEEHAN, OR FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH MS. SHEEHAN, PLEASE CONTACT DEDE MILLER AT: DEDE@CINDY2014.org, OR PHONE:

916-905-5167

A New DaY