President Obama: Give Peace a Meeting

September 30, 2009

President Obama,

I know that you are only fulfilling your campaign promises to increase the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan and I notice that not a significant amount of troops have been withdrawn from Iraq. However, even with your hostile rhetoric and promises to escalate the violence, many people voted for you because they believed you were the peace candidate.

Since the election, you have betrayed the progressive base that gave you victory on many occasions already, but the cause that keeps many of us motivated is the continued carnage in the Middle East. What bothers me even more, especially, is the fact that the so-called anti-war movement has given you a nine-month free pass and thousands of people have died, including hundreds of our own troops.

Since you took office, 125 of our irreplaceable young have been killed in what you called a “dumb war” in Iraq and 223 in what I call the "other dumb war,” Afghanistan. I have been waiting for a mother of one of those needlessly killed troops to demand a meeting with you to ask you: for “What Noble Cause?” her child was sacrificed.

No such mother has come forward and since your rhetoric is eerily similar to the Bush regime and you are reportedly considering strategies for Afghanistan before you condemn more than the 21,000 troops you have already condemned, I am requesting that you meet with a contingent of the true Peace Movement that will be assembling outside your house this Monday, October 5^th at noon.

You are listening to your “Afghan War Council.” McChrystal, Clinton, Gates, Mullens, and Petraeus who have all fully demonstrated their Hawk credentials, and what do you really think they will tell you? It is a War Council after all and will inevitably lead our country further down the path to ruin.

Many people supported you because they say you are “smarter than Bush.” Bush would never meet with voices of reason and it appears that the voices you are listening to are extremely unreasonable, also.

President Obama, meet with us and show the country and the world that you are at least willing to listen to opposing view- points.

Give Peace a Meeting.

Peace is the only logical solution to the human made diseases that plague our planet and Peace never gets a seat at the table.

Peace will heal the economy.

Peace will heal the environment.

Peace will heal the geo-political tensions.

Peace is the only way out.

Our Peace Contingent will be ready to meet with you any time on Monday the 5^th. Just say the word, we’ll clear our calendars!

Cindy Sheehan

Peace Contingent Representative

Cindy@CindySheehansSoapbox.com

415-841-1321

Demands from Cindy Sheehan to the Mayor and Police Chief of Pittsburgh and the Gov of Pa and Prez of the UPSA

September 26, 2009

To: Luke Ravenstahl: Mayor of Pittsburgh

askpgh@city.pittsburgh.pa.us

412-255-2626

Nathan Harper: Chief of Police, Pittsburgh

Click on his name for a form or call: 412-323-7800

Ed Rendell: Governor of Pennsylvania

Click his name for a form, or call: (717) 787-2500

Barack Obama: President of the UPSA (United Police States of America)

president@Whitehouse.gov

202-456-1111.

Dear Men,

I am calling you “Men” because I am loathe to call you “gentlemen” due to fact that the behavior of your hired thugs in the City of Pittsburgh on the days of September 24 and 25 was shameful. True gentlemen would never allow such violence to be perpetrated from heavily armed and armored grown men to our children.

I have been watching the propaganda news about the protests against the G20 meetings here in Pittsburgh and all of the blame is placed on the activists. These are pure fabrications.

I was in the thick of things here in Pittsburgh for two and a half days and I can assure you that ALL of the violence I witnessed, and I witnessed many acts (I, myself, was even tear gassed, threatened with drawn guns, attacked by an LRAD {Long Range Acoustic Device} and verbally abused and harassed by your storm troopers) was instigated/perpetrated by cops/military that seemed far better equipped than our soldiers in combat zones. My son would probably still be alive if he had the equipment of your Urban-American invaders/occupiers.

Besides resisters being targeted, the weapons that were used by the paid thugs were used in residential neighborhoods or college campuses with accompanying and significant “collateral damage.” I witnessed a 60ish year-old woman having a panic attack on her doorstep in Lawrenceville and mothers with babies getting caught in your crap-storm.

I saw one young student name Matt on his bike near his dorm at UPITT being violently tackled by one of your goons and he was just trying to get to his dorm room. I saw two young people named Emily and Max shot with rubber bullets for the crime of walking down the street.

I and about 2000 other people were brutally attacked when we were all just peaceably gathering to march to express our First Amendment rights. Not one window was broken, not one trashcan was overturned, when about 10 minutes into the march, we were prohibited from the free expression of our rights.

I was in Schenley Plaza last night with three of my friends just observing the police brutality, when we were chased away with weapons and tear gas and we had to run about two miles from your goons to stay safe. I am still suffering the affects of the tear gas ten hours later and am so sick, I could not get on a plane this morning. We were not, and the young people were not, doing anything illegal.

“Men,” as a mother, I am writing to say that I am extremely proud of our young people who came out to demonstrate against your vicious economic and foreign policies that always orient towards war. I am as proud of them as I am ashamed of you and your paid thugs. I am often ashamed to be an American for what you all do to other countries, but am profoundly ashamed at what happened in the City of Pittsburgh in the State of Pennsylvania this week. I saw dozens of instances of your paid thugs targeting young people and as far as I am concerned, that makes them no better than child abusers.

The G20 meeting declared that you all were masters of the universe, and we just gathered to assert or re-assert our sovereignty as people of conscience, and you all were very effective at shutting our voices off.

You obviously don’t need to use your WMD on peaceful protestors, but the longer and harder that you act like thugs, the more loud, persistent and insistent our resistance will become. We have the basic human right to stand up and fight back against your violence and oppression.

We clearly do not want to hurt you (you're the ones with the weapons, remember), but conversely, you clearly want to hurt us, and very badly.

We can’t allow you to do that anymore!

As a mother and as a citizen of this failing state, I insist, no I demand, the release of any of the G20 political prisoners that you are still illegally detaining. I also demand an apology from you all, to myself, the other resisters, and this nation, for your unacceptable behavior of the past few days.

I also demand disciplinary action taken against the true thugs with the badges who committed these crimes.

Looking forward to hearing from you all,

Cindy Sheehan

Peace Mom and Mother of

Casey Sheehan

KIA in Iraq

April 04, 2004

(Please join your voices with mine!)

"Tell me what a Police State Looks Like" by Cindy Sheehan

“Tell me what a Police State Looks Like”

Cindy Sheehan

“Pittsburgh is what a police state looks like!”

I have been to dozens of protests, large and small, since my son was killed in Iraq, but I have never seen anything like today and the only term I can use is: Profound Overkill. There were easily two cops/soldiers for every one of us protesters…or maybe even 3 to 1.

About two thousand of us gathered in Arsenal Park in Pittsburgh to try and march downtown. We were all peaceful and had no weapons. We had only traveled a few blocks when cops dressed like they were in full combat with heavily armed opponents stopped us and blocked our way with a new weapon called “LRAD:” A new “crowd control” device. LRAD stands for: “Long Range Acoustical Device.” I was, unfortunately near it when the cops turned it on. It’s painful.

The group dispersed and went in many different directions. Some of us got to a corner a few blocks up from where we were initially stopped and I am not kidding, at least 500 cops were stopped in formation at this intersection with their gas masks on and nightsticks at the ready to crack the head of anyone who actually tried to peacefully cross their lines…unarmed, of course.

I spoke to dozens of cops today and tried to explain to them that we peaceful protesters are only trying to exercise our 1^st Amendment rights and the cops should be protecting us, members of their own class, and not suppressing our freedoms and actually physically hurting us.

There was absolutely no reason for the over-reaction of the police state to the protesters today. Do not believe the news propaganda that says the protesters were the cause of the violence…it was the cops. The thugs even dropped tear gas from helicopters. We’re like ants trying to struggle against anteaters.

Seeing the National Guard troops, fresh from Iraq, broke my heart the hardest. I also talked to dozens of them, none had ever heard of posse commitatus, and asked them if my son, their brother, died in Iraq so they could steal the rights of his mother. Most of them wouldn’t even look at me. The cops and soldiers should be ashamed of themselves for allowing their selves to be used as tools of the Robber Class “elites.”

“Just following orders” is not a defense.

The G20 will announce tomorrow that they will become the new “permanent council” for international economic cooperation. Who the hell do they think they are? Who voted for this? Who gives them the authority to have this power over our wellbeing and our very lives?

We do, that’s who.

We allow the Robber Class complete, destructive control over our lives by not taking to the streets and outnumbering the thugs 10 to 1; 100 to 1; 1000 to 1…

There’s so few of them and so many of us.

When we will learn?

From the G20 protests in Pittsburgh, PA...11:38 pm

Combat "Enablers:" DON'T GO!!! Open letter to the troops from Gold Star Mom, Cindy Sheehan

Combat “Enablers:” PLEASE DON’T GO!

Open Letter to the “Troops”

Cindy Sheehan

Gold Star Mom

Dear Combat “Enablers and other Troops,

I read an article in the Army Times recently that said 3000 more troops will be deployed to Afghanistan and 1000 more to Iraq.

“The troops are what the military calls “combat enablers” — noncombat troops who specialize in areas such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; explosives ordnance disposal; medical and mental health; and personnel administration. They will deploy in team-sized elements as opposed to larger units,” according to the article.

This follows close on the heels of Admiral Michael Mullen (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) going before the Senate September 15th to ask for more troops and Stanley “the Goon” McChrystal, (death squad leader and commander in Afghanistan) is expected to request more troops soon in his much awaited assessment of the mess, which will be hereafter be called: "assess-mess" to save time.

Since the Democratic Congress has already appropriated an additional 100 billion dollars and , because their leader has called Afghanistan a “war of necessity,” the followers of your Commander in Chief have stood down in the anti-war arena so I can only regretfully and gloomily predict more future disaster and body bags in the Middle East.

As a mother who had a son killed in Iraq, this is my personal message to you:

First of all, even if the military calls you a “combat enabler” and not a combat “troop,” my son was a humvee mechanic who was killed in a mission he was forced to go on just hours after he arrived on post in Baghdad.

Being a “combat enabler,” especially the “jobs” listed above, “enables” other people to more "efficiently" kill innocents with your complicity. Even if you don’t get innocent blood directly on your hands, in the eyes of the law, you are just as responsible.

Also, Iraq-Af-Pak are illegal wars of aggression that are inherently WAR CRIMES. Your oath is to protect the Constitution. The Uniform Code of Military Justice compels you to disobey illegal orders. Why would you want to go and support the war profiteers by harming yourself or harming others by breaking international laws and our own laws here at home.

Many of your colleagues are being blown to pieces and their loved ones are lucky if they get a scrap of their soldier to bury. Too many more of your Brothers and Sisters are being wounded and will have to exist with physical handicaps for the rest of their lives. I know World War II vets who have lasting illnesses because of their service! UNTIL YOU DIE! Can you imagine living decades with traumatic brain injury, or any other disability?

According to statistics from the VA, 18 vets per day commit suicide, and 1000 more attempt suicide every month. Please don’t think that you can’t become a statistic!

If you can’t think of your own well being, or of your other loved ones, think of your Mother. Do you want her to see what I saw on April 04, 2004?

I was eating a nice meal, watching CNN around 5pm that afternoon. For the two weeks that Casey had been out of the country, I couldn’t eat, sleep, concentrate or function fully as a human being. Having four active children that went on Scouting trips and other youth group trips, I was a champion worrier. However, the worry I felt for my oldest child when he was needlessly in a combat zone far surpassed any other worry I had ever experienced.

That afternoon, as I watched CNN, a report from Iraq came on. It showed a humvee burning and reported (very quickly) that “8 troops had been killed in Baghdad that day.” I looked at Casey’s day and said: “One of them was Casey,” and we didn’t even know where he was stationed yet.

Four hours later, I decided to take our dogs Buster and Chewy for their nightly walk. As I walked around our usual route I was sobbing with worry and anxiety. Unfortunately, when I got home from my walk, I could see through the front door that there were 3 Army Officers standing in my living room. Casey’s dad was standing there with a pair of pants in his hands that he was folding when the Heralds of Death came to our door. Casey’s sister had just come home from work and she was standing there with a stricken look on her face.

I collapsed into the house and fell on the floor screaming in the worst pain I had every felt before, or since. The physical pain of losing a child, which I call childdeath is immeasurably worse than the pain of childbirth. Then there’s the emotional and psychic pain to make things even worse. When I hear of anyone dying from these immoral wars of occupation, the wound is ripped open and I never get a chance to heal.

Casey went over to Iraq before the incontrovertible proof that it was based on lies was shown. Now, five and a half years after he died, there is absolutely not one shred of proof that Iraq-Af-Pak are anything but needless wastes of life and our nations’ treasure. Casey didn't want to go, but he felt it was his duty, It was never his duty to die for lies and war profiteering.

Dear Troops, Casey’s Brothers and Sisters, I beg you as a mother: DO NOT GO!

You signed a contract, but you signed a contract with a government that has no feeling for you other than to make you cannon fodder or bullet sponges for the War Machine and for geo-political chaos.

I am pleading with you…do not let yourself be so misused by your Commander in Chief and your military superiors---they are only “superior” to you by their rank; their callousness and cowardice make them realistically far inferior to you.

You may say: “Cindy, but if I don’t go, I may have to go to prison,” which may be true or it may not. Lt. Ehren Watada did not have to go to prison after he refused deployment to Iraq and thousands of you rightfully go AWOL every year.

Even if you do go to prison for taking a principled stand, wouldn’t that be better than killing a baby in one of those countries, or killing your own mother’s baby?

You may also say: “Cindy it’s easy for you to say, you are not risking prison yourself.” But I do, I risk it everyday because I am a conscientious tax objector. I refuse to pay my income taxes. Personally, I find it morally repugnant to be a combat “enabler.”

Please don’t bloody your hands for the Empire.

Peace is only possible if we do the morally upright thing, because our governments will not.

Love & Peace

Cindy Sheehan

Mother of Casey Sheehan: KIA in the USA’s Criminal War on Terror: April 04, 2004

Final Version of the International People's Declaration of Peace (IPDoP)

This is the final version of IPDoP...the committee sent it out for translation services.

We are working on website and an online petition to sign after the translations are complete.

We are also working on an archival quality hard copy document to be taken all over the world for signatures of leading peace proponents.

We are also working on accompanying articles for the Declaration.

We still need commitments for free or very low cost translation services into:

French, Japanese, Arabic, Bengali, and Chinese

International People’s Declaration of Peace

PREAMBLE

We the undersigned, as responsible citizens of this planet, hereby proclaim the urgent universal need for sustained security through peace, for present and future generations of the human family.

In order that we all may live and prosper in dignity, we acknowledge the need for a genuine worldwide commitment by all people to break the dehumanizing chains of the savageries of militarism, of economic exploitation, of slaveries, of torture, of killing, and of all aspects of the culture of war and brutality that compromise the very survival of civilization on this planet.

We proclaim that the present geo-political-economic-social system is fundamentally incapable of delivering us from the merchants of war and exploitation and is completely devoid of offering positive, alternative solutions. Thus we come together as brothers and sisters to strive for peace and our collective freedom from violence and other oppressions.

DECLARATION

We the undersigned as responsible citizens of this planet do declare:

First and foremost, the intrinsic value of each and every human being, is equal, regardless of: race, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, or national origin;

Even though we are individuals with both unique talents and needs, we are also united in the community of humanity;

Enslavement to The Establishment by military service is never an option whether it is for economic reasons or patriotic fervor. We will actively resist for ourselves and/or for our children, as far as humanly possible, enlistment or forcible conscription into the armed services of our nations;

The root of all war is profit and we will not allow the war profiteers to own our labor or steal the fruits of that labor to be used solely for their greed of power and money;

The insidious and uninterrupted preparations for war, along with the act(s) of war, are major environmental destroyers of this planet. In contrast, we will do all we are able within our families and communities to protect all life, conserve natural resources and, as far as possible, utilize sustainable and renewable forms of energy;

We will boycott news sources that promote war, division and/or oppression. We will not buy into the culture of violence that is promoted by movies, video games, television programming, music, toys or other popular culture;

We will boycott products and/or services from companies that profit from war and/or companies that support nations that make war on others;

We will remove ourselves as far as ideologically possible from our governments when unjust war is proposed, propagated, or conceived of in any other way;

We will actively and courageously protest against wars, violence and economic oppression no matter who, or what, rule our nations;

We will proclaim to our nations, families, friends, co-workers, neighbors and others that using violence to solve problems is a disordered and barbaric choice. Except for legitimate and justified self-defense (as a last resort), we refuse to use violence in our own lives and will explore with our children and communities many approaches to peaceful conflict resolution.

CONCLUSION

War is the unspeakably evil pursuit of The Establishment of this planet. Wars of aggression are inherently war crimes and crimes against humanity. We the people of the world suffer while The Establishment grows wealthy from our sweat and blood.

As a first step to breaking the cruel bonds that most governments hold over us, we firmly declare that peace is the moral imperative and we reject violence in all forms: from personal to state-sanctioned violence.

Since most wars are not the will of the people and are brought on by the will of governments, at the behest of war profiteers, we firmly and with the highest conviction, state, that WE are not enemies to each other and we will stand in solidarity to Declare Peace with the entire planet.

We, the Undersigned of this Declaration of Peace, agree to help each other break those bonds of violence and oppression and affirm our resolve to never again raise a clenched fist of violence against one another. Instead, we will join hands to lead this planet on the path of reconciliation, healing and peace.

"You Have to Learn Lessons from History" by Cindy Sheehan

I was just watching a report on CNN and after the commentator said that support for Afghanistan is rapidly dwindling (58 percent now think it’s not worth fighting), an interview with Obama was shown.

The interviewer asked the president if he was afraid that because war-weary America is growing impatient with the wars, that failing to withdraw and, in fact, sending more troops would look like what Johnson did in Vietnam, and therefore make Obama a “One term president.”

Well, I have been saying that whoever won in 2008 would not do the right thing and would send the USA even farther down the path to ruin (because every president has to follow orders from his masters, the corporations) and be a one term president.

But, Obama incredibly answered the interviewer with: “You have to learn lessons from history.” Somehow, Obama believes, he’s going to stain his hands darker with blood, but he’s not going to pay any political consequences.

That Obama is talking about “history” in relation to trying to subdue Afghanistan is fraught with irony. First of all, the Afghanistan that was invaded in 2001 has very little resemblance to the Afghanistan of today. Many analysts say that our rationale for being there: al Qaeda has long ago moved on. What about the history that Jimmy Carter’s administration was responsible for arming, training and otherwise supporting (and creating) al Qaeda in the first place and that Jimmy Carter signed an order supporting the Mujahadeen against the USSR in 1979 which spurred the Soviet Union’s invasion that resulted in a decade long bloody war that defeated the USSR’s military empire.

Let’s go back to Genghis Kahn and Alexander the Great and Great Britain…no empire has ever been “successful” in Afghanistan and it really makes me wonder what “history” Barack Obama is learning from. Not the “history” where Afghanistan has been the burial place for empire, that’s for sure.

Obviously, obviously our “leaders” are out of control and there is no mass movement of Americans who will be able to get out in the streets to stop the homicidal maniacs.

We need to stop allowing ourselves to be used as weapons of mass destruction against each other and that is by refusing to join the Army of the Empire or by refusing to be deployed to the messes in the Middle East

All of this excess of the War Machine is getting fundamentally ridiculous. The cannon fodder of the US military should refuse to be used as these pawns for idiotic and ignorant Commanders in Chief. Why die or kill innocent Afghans for the arrogance of Emperors?

Bloody hands are bloody hands. Our president, love him or hate him, is a reflection of us, so as long as we quietly sit by and allow him to murder in our names, our hands get bloodier, too!

I will be one that stands up and is counted against Obama and his policies as adamantly as I was against Bush and his---because they are the same and they are wrong.

Nothing Short of Complete Peace on Earth and other Soapbox Actions by Cindy Sheehan

Nothing Short of Peace on Earth

At one of my many events in Kentucky this past week at a delightfully named coffee and beer hangout in Louisville, Ray’s Monkey House, a lovely woman named Trudie came up to me with tears in her eyes and she told me: “Cindy, when you were in Crawford that summer, I thought to myself, ‘this is the beginning of the end of war.’ It might take time, and it might not happen in our lifetimes, but what you started to honor your son will end war.”

If only. If only, we the people could finally realize that it is not up to our governments to end war. Our governments and the War Machine are locked in a violently greedy mutual stranglehold and could not care less about our opinions or our children.

In my opinion, our struggles are in vain when we try to organize each other and ourselves to go begging the Robber Class to reform itself. It’s not ever going to happen. Throughout history we have repeatedly and to no avail, begged for our few crumbs of prosperity and peace and look where it has gotten us…in the midst of an economic depression that is further fueled by the blood of our troops and the blood of strangers thousands of miles away.

The Capitalist system of military conquest to perpetuate itself will never go without a fight. So, we need to forget about our governments and their masters, we need to reach out to each other to make firm promises that we will never allow our governments to use us as weapons of mass destruction to kill or oppress each other again.

That is why I am working so hard on the International People’s Declaration of Peace (IPDoP). It proclaims our essential and intrinsic values as human beings and our basic human right to not be subjected to state sanctioned violence.

We can pour our hearts out in marches, elections, and petitions to beg for what is right and rightfully ours, but it won’t be effective if we avoid the real struggle: the revolution of values and the paradigm shift of peace through rejecting the status quo.

The final version of IPDoP is almost ready and will be available to be signed soon. It will be ready to be proclaimed in front of the White House on October 5^th, 2009.

Join me in the struggle.

We have pledges to translate IPDoP and the Articles of IPDoP into these languages: Spanish, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Farsi, German, Dutch and French.

We still need: Arabic, Hindi, Portuguese, Japanese, and Bengal.

Please contact Cindy if you can help translate for free, or reduced cost at: CindysSoapbox@gmail.com

Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox

This week’s show is up and running. Our guests are Dahr Jamail who has reported as an un-embedded journalist from Iraq and has a new book: The Will to Resist AND Sheila Dean who organizes Beat the Chip.

Rational Radio Forum and Bush Protest

This Saturday, September 20, Cindy will be in Dallas for two exciting events:

No Rest for War Criminals

Saturday morning, September 19th, at 10am in front of George Bush’s Dallas Residence.

Outside John Pershing Elementary School

5715 Meaders Lane in front of the gate to George and Laura's

Join Cindy, David Swanson, David Rovics and all of the peace and justice loving people in Dallas for this event telling George Bush that WE won’t let him off the hook for his crimes!

Rational Radio Progressive Forum

The terrestrial home of Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox, Rational Radio 1360am in Dallas, Texas is hosting a progressive forum featuring Cindy and Thom Hartmann who is also a progressive radio host.

After Downing Street’s David Swanson (bestselling author of Daybreak) will be there with singer, David Rovics and MORE!

At the Lakewood Theater

2-5 PM

1825 Abrams Parkway, Dallas, Tx

G20 Protests in Pittsburgh

After Dallas, Cindy will be heading to Pittsburgh for the G20 protests.

September 24-27 (more or less)

Go to: www.ResistG20.org for more info.

Hey, Prez 44, WE don’t want YOUR filthy war!

Monday, October 5th

National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance

As casualties tragically mount in Afghanistan and the war machine wants to grind more people up, we are planning protests in Washington, DC beginning the week of the 8^th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan.

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9-11 and Oil by Cindy Sheehan

9-11 and Oil

Cindy Sheehan

Today is the 8^th anniversary since the tragedies of 9-11 and before I go forward, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathies to the families of the people who were killed that day, but to also recognize that everyone in this country has suffered whether they know it or not.

On that sunny and bright morning, 8 years ago, I awoke from my sleep to learn that the first plane had hit the first tower. As the events of the day unfolded, I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that this event would somehow lead to the death of my oldest child Casey, who was in the Army stationed at Ft. Hood, Tx. I went into a tailspin of depression that didn’t break until I fell on the floor screaming after I found out he was killed in Iraq on 04/04/04. I wasn’t depressed anymore I was in a pain-soaked, white-hot rage.

9-11 was, of course, the defining moment of this generation. Of course, whether it was an inside job: evil Dick Cheney planning it between heart attacks in his bunker; to the “official story” (yeah, right!); the attacks were exploited to lead to, among other things: get our country militarily mired into three countries by now; torture; Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and rendition (began under the Clinton admin); USA PATRIOT ACT; military commissions act; lack of personnel and equipment to help the victims of Katrina in her aftermath; crumbling infrastructure here in America; collapsing economy; the FISA Modernization Act, etc, etc.

Remember after that awful day, our fearful leader, George, came on the TV box and told us to “go shopping and travel” and everything would be okay? Well everything is not okay.

Yesterday, I spoke at a very expensive, private college in Louisville, Ky: Bellarmine. After my talk, a student came up to me and said: “Ms. Sheehan, you said that we are in Iraq for the oil. Doesn’t our country run on oil? Don’t we need oil?" That question made me want to cry for so many reasons.

First of all, as I told the young man, the day before we were attacked on 9-11, the national average for a gallon of gas was 1.54. Today, it is 2.58/gallon, but in my state, California, the price is over 3.00/gallon. We have seen the price rise to over 4.50/gallon since the invasion of Iraq and that brings up a second aspect of that point to how tragically callous was this question.

The US oil companies and refineries could actually buy oil from Iraq. The oil that is under the territory that Iraq encompasses actually belongs to the people of Iraq, not Standard Oil or Exxon Mobil. So, in killing over one million Iraqis for this oil, our nation and the evilly greedy oil companies (which actually drive our geo-political strategy), they have committed first-degree murder: murder that happens when armed robbery is being committed. Why do our corporations have to have all the money? Many oil rich countries need the technology and equipment of our oil companies. Why can’t they “profit share” instead of “profit steal?”

Unfortunately, the young man was correct: our economy and our nation runs on oil, but we are just as complicit as our government and the CEO’s of oil companies. We need to rapidly wean ourselves off the oil tit and use the money we save by occupying Iraq to develop the sustainable forms of energy that have already been invented.

I don’t own a car and I take public mass transportation whenever I can. The mass transportation systems in this country need to be expanded and the fares need to be reduced or eliminated all together in a dream world where green jobs will be created and the environment will improve. When gas got over 4.50/gallon and people started to drive less, the air quality actually improved and that’s a good thing.

This nation wastes 275 million dollars per day on these insane and inane occupations. If we pulled our troops out of the Middle East where they should never have been, we would have the money to actually take care of the first responders to 9-11 who are suffering from health challenges and many can’t access the care they need in this callous medical system we have. We could also provide care to our wounded troops (physically, mentally, and emotionally) that also often find accessing care difficult, still.

At his inauguration, Barack Obama said: “We will not apologize for our lifestyle,” maybe he’s right, most likely he’s wrong, but we definitely need to change our lifestyle.

Wouldn’t it be nice if after 8 years, we had a leader that had the courage to take us in a direction of peace and sustainability?

International People's Declaration of Peace

International People’s Declaration of Peace

PREAMBLE

We the undersigned, as responsible citizens of this planet, hereby recognize the immediate universal need for sustained “security through peace” for present and future generations of the human family.

In order that we all may live and prosper in dignity, we recognize the need for a genuine worldwide grassroots commitment by all humans to break the dehumanizing chains of the inherent savagery of militarism, of economic exploitation, of slaveries, of torture, of killing, and of all aspects of the culture of war and brutality that threatens survival of civilization on this planet.

We recognize that the present geo-political paradigm is systemically incapable of delivering us from the merchants of war and exploitation; and void of offering positive, alternative solutions. Thus we come together, as responsible citizens of this planet, to declare peace and work together as brothers and sisters for our collective freedom now.

May this Declaration of Peace be the spark for this manifest of commitment as initially discussed amongst citizens of this planet upon the sailing vessel, the Mass Transit, in Martha's Vineyard, on August 27^th, 2009.

DECLARATION

We the undersigned responsible citizens of this planet declare:

We will recognize, first and foremost, the intrinsic value of each and every human being;

We will recognize that even though we are individuals with both unique talents and needs, we are also one in the community of humanity;

We will vigorously proclaim that no
person is better than any other person irrespective of: race, religion, occupation, income level, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, or national origin;

We will not allow ourselves, or our children, to enlist in, or be forcibly conscripted into our nation’s armed services recognizing this is never an option whether it is for economic reasons or false patriotic fervor.

We will remove ourselves as far as ideologically possible from our governments when war is proposed, or promulgated;

We will actively protest against wars, violence or economic oppression no matter who, or what, governs our nations;

We will not allow the fruits of our labor to be used by our governments to finance wars;

We will boycott news sources that promote war and not buy into the culture of violence that is promoted by certain movies, video games and other popular culture;

We will boycott products and/or services from companies that profit from war and to the greatest extent as possible, we will not work for companies that profit from war;

We will proclaim to our nations, families, friends, co-workers, neighbors and strangers that using violence to solve problems is infantile and barbaric and we will not use violence in our own lives and we will teach our children peaceful conflict resolution.

CONCLUSION

War is the unspeakably evil pursuit of the worlds’ ruling class. Wars of aggression are inherently war crimes and crimes against humanity and we the people of the world suffer while the ruling class grows wealthy off of the flesh and blood of our loved ones.

We firmly declare that peace is the natural law and we reject violence in all forms: from state sanctioned violence to personal violence.

Recognizing that most wars are the will of governments, and not the will of the people, we will firmly and with the highest conviction, state, that WE are not enemies to each other and we will stand in solidarity to Declare Peace with all the world.

Recognizing that the United States of America is still, as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” and the biggest arms dealer and war profiteer; citizens of the USA should acknowledge the special role that must be played and the sacrifices that must be made to help lead this planet on the path to peace and worldwide reconciliation, as the USA has allowed its leaders to lead this planet in aggressive behavior.

This declaration is firmly binding on all who sign it and the human dignity that is proffered on each signatory is its own reward.

DONATE TO CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX TO HELP MAKE PEACE POSSIBLE!

PLEASE GO TO
www.PAYPAL.COM
and put in:
Cindy@CindySheehansSoapbox.com
for the email address

or

send a check or money order to:

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox, LLC
55 Chumasero Dr. STE 5D
San Francisco, Ca 94132

make the check out to:
Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

The S.S. Peace Sets Sail Again! Come meet Cindy this Fall!

Where's Cindy

Kentucky September 8th-12th

9/7 Mon 4:35 PM Cindy arrives in Louisville

9/8 Tue 10:00 AM Ali Center Tour WHAS TV reporter Kelsey Starks interview

11:00 AM LEO interview at Ali Center followed by private tour of Ali Center

1:00-3:00 PM Iroquois High School appearance hosted by Aletha Fields

2-5:00 PM OPEN

6:30-8:00 PM U of L Chao Auditorium speaking event & book signing

(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

9/9 Wed 9:30-10:45 AM Speak in Sharon Wallace’s class at IUS

12:45-2:30 PM State of Affairs (NPR) interview

3:30-4:30 PM WAVE-3 TV Hot Button commentary taping

4:30-7:00 PM Cindy meet and dine with Ky Alliance/Braden Center members

7:00 PM KY Alliance hosts Braden Center appearance

(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

9/10 Thu 11:00 AM-12:00 PM Bellarmine Univ. Speaking event & book signing

(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

12:00 - 1:00 PM Brown Bag lunch at Bellarmine by invitation only

1:00 - 2:50 PM OPEN

2:50 - 4:05 PM Speak at Sharon Wallace’s Sociology class, JCC, downtown

6:30 PM Potluck Party at Ray’s Monkey House, Bardstown Rd.

(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

9/11 Fri 10:00-11:00 AM 9/11 event: Fire Fighters’ Memorial, Jefferson Square Park

(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

Interview with Jim Pence of HillbillyReport.com

11:00 - 4:00 PM OPEN

4:00-9:00 PM Farewell Fund-raiser party at Harold & Carol Trainers’ home

(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

9/12 Sat - Cindy departs for Lexington day trip

9/13 Sun - Cindy departs Louisville




DALLAS, TEXAS


SEPTEMBER 19TH

10 AM: ACTION IN FRONT OF GEORGE BUSH'S DALLAS HOME

(More info TBA)


RATIONAL RADIO FORUM (WITH THOM HARTMANN)


2PM AT LAKEWOOD THEATER

CONTACT RICH HANCOCK FOR MORE INFO

RICH@RATIONALRADIO.ORG

PITTSBURGH

SEPTEMBER 22-26

G20 PROTESTS.

FOR MORE INFO GO TO:

WWW.BAILOUTPEOPLE.ORG

ST. LOUIS

October 2nd


more info TBA





WASHINGTON DC

OCTOBER 4-6

MORE INFO TBA