Cindy Sheehan On "15 Minutes Of Fact" - 10/16/2012

Source: wgrnradio.com

Today’s guest turns that premise upside down. Her name is Cindy Sheehan. She is not voiceless, and she is her own soapbox – literally. He Internet radio show is called Cindy Sheehans’s Soap Box and can be found at www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com/.

Hers became almost a household name – and she a burr under the saddle for ex-President George Bush – when she camped out outside the Bush ranch in 2005 to protest the war in Iraq and the tragic and needless loss of her son’s life, US Army Specialist Casey Sheehan. Her stubborn resolve to get answers from Bush drew national attention and set her on her path of speaking out against that war and for peace.

It could be argued that she was the first “Occupier” in that she went where she wasn’t welcomed, pitched her tent without permission, and spoke truth to power. This became “Camp Casey” and attracted national attention – both to her, and to her anti-war cause. Since those beginnings, she has found herself arrested (many times), harassed by authorities (many times), spoken at countless political and activist rallies, and somehow found the time to author several books.

Fast-forward to today and we find Cindy as the Vice Presidential candidate of the Peace and Freedom party along with her running partner for President of the United States, Roseanne Barr. A nomination which she is walking away from this month because of her dissatisfaction with Roseanne:

“The campaign was a huge disappointment for me,” Cindy says, adding that, in her view, Roseanne was on the ticket primarily as a “vanity issue.”

Harsh words, but not unexpected from a woman who has ruffled a lot of feathers in her pursuit of peace and socialist revolution and who is more than ready to call things as she sees them without regard for her own popularity.

How she choose to associate herself with the Peace and Freedom Party, and her feelings about the importance to have third parties, such as the Justice Party and the Green Party, to offer a contrast to the national tickets of the Democrats and Republicans.

And her thoughts when tents went up at Zuccotti Park? She was thrilled and heartened. However, she has some suggestions that Occupiers may want to take to heart. Set aside the next 15-20 minutes to hear what they are from a woman who, at some time in the future, may be seen as the “patron saint” of this century’s protest movement.

For those of you wishing to know more about Cindy, she can be located at www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com/ where you will also find her upcoming speaking schedule and book tour (yes, she will be on the east coast). Find her facebook page at CindyLeeSheehan, and on Twitter as @Cindy_Sheehan.