Sheehan and other riders are available for interviews.
WHAT: Gold Star
Mother and "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan will lead a Tour de Peace bike ride across the United States
from the grave of her son Casey in Vacaville, Calif., to
Washington, D.C., following the mother road, historic Route
66 to Chicago, and other roads from there on to D.C.Bicyclers will join in for all or part of the
tour, which will include public events organized by local groups along the way.
Complete route: http://tourdepeace.org/the-route.html
WHEN: The tour
will begin on April 4, 2013, nine years after Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq,
and 45 years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed in Memphis.It will conclude on July 3, 2013, with a ride
from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House.
WHY: This August
will mark 8 years since Cindy Sheehan began a widely reported protest at
then-President George W. Bush's "ranch" in Crawford, Texas, demanding
to know what the "noble cause" was for which Bush claimed Americans
were dying in Iraq.Neither Bush nor
President Obama has yet offered a justification for a global war now in its 12th
year.The Tour de Peace will carry with
it these demands:
To end wars, To end immunity for U.S. war crimes, To end suppression of our civil rights, To end the use of fossil fuels, To end persecution of whistleblowers, To end partisan apathy and inaction.
Ross is a US Marine veteran of the 2nd Siege of Fallujah in November, 2005 and his partner, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi is a peace activist and they have both founded the organization:
Between April 4 and July 3, the entire country (and the other 96% of humanity too) is invited to join in a bicycle ride from California to Washington, D.C. You can join as a bicycler or as a sponsor.
This won't be a ride to raise awareness about cruelty to animals, but it will raise awareness about war -- by many measures the greatest destroyer of the natural environment we have, as well as consisting first and foremost of the mass killing of that peculiar animal we're all rather fond of: the homo sapiens.
This won't be a ride to raise money for cancer research, but it will raise money for the campaign to abolish war -- a carcinogen if the people of Fallujah ever saw one.
This paragraph is exclusively for supporters of President Obama. If that's not you, please skip to the following paragraph right now. With Republicans out of the White House and no election this year, there is no need to fund election campaigns or to work against particular wars. This is a moment in which our time and our resources are freed up to support long-term structure building so that the plague of war never returns. Remember all those promises to engage in policy-based activism once the most important election of our lives was over? This is the time to get in better physical shape before phone banking season. Pump up your tires and polish your handlebars! Stop reading and get riding right now.
With presidential war powers expanding rapidly and war gaining widespread acceptance among liberals there is an urgent need for an educational and organizing effort that pedals under, over, and around the barricades of the corporate media. U.S. forces are in more nations than ever before, the military budget is still rising and will still be rising even if the sequester "cuts" go through, the CIA has been handed war making powers, the president has claimed the power to spy without warrants, imprison without trial, and murder at will. Wars are launched on nations like Libya in defiance of Congress and the United Nations, with blowback spreading rapidly. Pentagon friendly dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are backed against their people's nonviolent movements for democracy, while violence is encouraged in Syria and Iran. Palestinians are left to their fate, while a new kind of war launched from flying robots slaughters men, women, and children, traumatizes populations, and generates refugee crises, engulfing nations in boiling hatred of the United States of America.
When MSNBC assigns David Axelrod (who refused to deny that President Obama maintains the power to torture anyone as he sees fit) to analyze and punditrify John Brennan's refusal to deny that President Obama maintains the power to murder U.S. citizens within the United States (never mind anyone at all outside the United States or 96% of humanity within it), the triumph of freemarket journalism will have reached a pinnacle unsurpassed in history, putting the Soviet Union's efforts to shame and finally concluding the Cold War, unless nobody notices.
You know who just might wake some people up to what's staring them in the face?
Cindy Sheehan. Cindy has proposed the Tour de Peace. She's been lining up events and participants along the route. She's ready to ride, and to me she is an inspiration. Cindy's appeal, both before and after the corporate media made her a story in Crawford Texas seven-and-a-half years ago, was he uncensored honesty. She's still got it. I've seen a lot of people dump their heart and soul into the peace movement over the past decade and burn out and quit. I appreciate their efforts. We need sprinters, just as the Tour de Peace needs short-distance riders.
But when I see someone become even more aware of the evil that has swallowed up our government, and continually find new ways to confront it, I see a model others should follow. Cindy's gone at it as hard as anyone. She's taken nasty blows from the right and the so-called left. She's burned out and quit, too, but never for more than a day or so. She just keeps coming. Cindy has quit paying her taxes because of the wars they fund. She's been arrested for nonviolent resistance countless times. She's traveled endlessly, speaking and inspiring. She's written a stack of important books. She's hosted a radio show, blogged, and run for Congress and the Vice Presidency. And in this age in which pundits openly say they'd oppose the president's abuses if he were a Republican, Cindy goes ahead and opposed them anyway, with plenty of opposition left over for the Congress, the courts, the funders, the weapons makers, the lobbyists, and the White House Press Corpse.
Creating a mass of people in the streets for peace or justice usually requires money and staff, bus rentals and leg work, coalition building and compromising. Two moments stand out in my mind when none of that was needed. One was when Cindy went to Crawford. The other was when Occupy went to Wall Street. Both were moments of brilliant principled and courageous activism. Neither would have ever been heard of by most who heard of them if not for the corporate media. I've seen Cindy attempt to recreate Crawford countless times since (not to mention before), without the same success. She does so fully aware of the forces at work. She does so with every effort to create our own media and bypass the corporate censors. And she does so knowing that the only way to guarantee failure is to not try.
What if we were to create a movement capable of thinking of itself as real and national or international even outside of our television sets? One of the side effects would be its inevitable infiltration into our television sets. But the primary effect would be the beginning of hope and change as something more than perverse slogans of star-gazing servitude.
When the Tour de Peace leaves Casey Sheehan's grave in Vacaville, Calif., on the ninth anniversary of his death in Iraq and the 45th of Dr. King's in Memphis, it will follow the mother road, Route 66, to Chicago, and other highways and byways from there to D.C. The tour will conclude on July 3, 2013, with a ride from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House.
This August will mark 8 years since Sheehan began her widely reported protest at then-President George W. Bush's "ranch". She was demanding to know what the "noble cause" was for which Bush claimed Americans were dying in Iraq. Neither Bush nor Obama has yet offered a justification for a global war now in its 12th year. The Tour de Peace will carry with it these demands:
To end wars,
To end immunity for U.S. war crimes,
To end suppression of our civil rights,
To end the use of fossil fuels,
To end persecution of whistleblowers,
To end partisan apathy and inaction.
as well as the names of everyone who signs on in support.
Long before it was “cool,”
our family home in Norwalk, Ca (where my three youngest children were born) had
solar space and water heating. We recycled and combined errands to try to use
the least amount of fossil fuel as possible. Still, in California, (as in most
other places in our nation), it’s almost impossible to live and work without a
car: reliable, cheap, and useful public transportation just isn’t here.
However, when my son, Casey,
was killed in Iraq in a war waged for the major, international oil companies
and other profiteers, my opposition to fossil fuel usage grew along with my
guilt for my own oil gluttony.
When I moved to San Francisco
in 2007 to challenge then Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for her
Congressional seat, I detected a perfect opportunity to sell my car and wrench
myself out of the that "prison made of plastic and metal comfort zone" to learn
how to use public transportation. Despite all of ‘Frisco’s faults, it is easier
to be without a car there. As a matter of fact, with the dearth of available and free parking
spaces, the speed with which the tow trucks steal cars (costing hundreds of
dollars to get them released from impound), and the greedy stalking of the parking
Nazis, it’s actually a detriment to have a car there.
So I did sell my car, (a
light blue VW convertible) and timidly began to learn BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). Fortunately, I
found an apartment a few blocks from the 24th and Mission BART
station and the campaign office was a couple of blocks away from the Civic
Center stop. It took me awhile to figure out which side of the platform went
downtown and which side went to Daly City, but within weeks, I was a fairly
competent train rider and am able to navigate even the most complicated systems, now. Once you discover that it's not a big deal to get on the wrong train, or bus, availing oneself of public transportation begins to be an adventure.
After the campaign, I moved
back to Vacaville, where NOT having a car poses some serious challenges.
Because I travel so much, getting to and from airports is challenging, but I
have started to take buses and trains when I travel within California—I feel so
free—no car payments! No insurance crap to pay for and deal with! No repair
costs and a secret little place inside of me sniggers as gas prices rise while I outwardly (and truly) am outraged at speculation and exploitation. It’s an obvious assertion, but high gas prices
hit the poor and working-class hard because it raises prices on everything, and
we have very little options, as stated before.
Eventually, I thought that
getting a bike with a basket would help me run my errands, so I bought a
Schwinn Legacy cruiser and named her “Roxy.” I got a basket and a bell for her
and away we went!
I absolutely LOVE to ride my
bike (though, I have now upgraded to a Schwinn hybrid 21-speed). Either
walking, or riding, through a town at ground level, rather than speeding
through from Point A to Point B, only concentrating on the destination and not
the journey, is so eye-opening and enlightening!
For example, I have met many
“attack squirrels” on my rides. It seems like the squirrels are intentionally
trying to make me dump my bike! They rush out just close enough to my front
wheel to make me swerve, but they always stop abruptly and run back to their
tree. I learned their game quickly so I no longer panic when I am under the
attack squirrel game, but I also learned rather quickly, that my bike bell only
made them bolder and more aggressive. Thus, the title for this article.
Figuring out the squirrel
games is an amusing side affect of outdoor cycling, but a more sobering
observation about riding or walking all over town is the amount of homeless
people in our bedroom community.
I am not talking about the
mostly scam artists that hold signs asking for money at the entrance to shopping
centers. Living in Oakland and San Francisco gave me a very good idea what
chronically homeless people look like.
Vacaville has a few creeks
running through town and riding over bridges, I see much evidence of camping and
the invisible souls with their lives in shopping carts become very apparent
when one travels at street level where these street people live. My town wants
to promote its “family friendliness” and with concerts in the park in summer
and traditional Christmas Tree lightings in the winter, that can be very, very
true; but the Dino-Mobile commuters can’t, or don’t want to see what I see.
Once, I happened to be walking and I passed a young homeless woman who had parked her bike near an abandoned orchard where she was picking fruit. I asked her what the fruit was and at first, she didn't answer me. Finally, she turned and told me that she didn't mean to be rude, but recently, someone had called the police on her when she was picking fruit from this obviously abandoned orchard. So, one of the "good citizens" of my "family-friendly" town would rather see perfectly good food go to waste than see it eaten? Being an urban forager is another unexpected benefit of car-less travel. Oftentimes, I come home from one of my rides with my basket filled with fruit that I glean off of the street or sidewalks. One home, near downtown, with a very prolific lemon tree, even generously lines the delicious and healthy fruit up on a wall for anyone to take! And, of course, stating the obvious, walking, or cycling, is light years better for ones body than Dino-Mobiling.
Our economy runs on fossil
fuels. Gas, diesel, natural gas, plastic, fertilizer: it’s difficult to totally
avoid and even harder to defeat. However, I am committed to creating a life and
community where our addiction to fossil fuels is greatly reduced, if not
completely eliminated.
The future of human life on
our planet demands that public transportation that runs on clean, renewable and
sustainable energy be made free and readily accessible. Purchasing used goods and food that is grown as close to where we consume it is also something that WE can do today to help reduce energy consumption and costs.
Fossil fuels need to be
eliminated from fertilizing our food. Not only do we breathe the fossil fuel pollution, but
we ingest it and the dirty energy is being insidiously incorporated into every
aspect of our lives.
The Pentagon and US Military
Industrial Complex is the biggest consumer of fossil fuels in the world, and US
addiction to war must be ended by the people. There's wrong and then there's Army WRONG. Don’t participate.
To highlight these things and
educate people that the Empire is an able servant of oil companies and/or the war
machine, I am organizing a ride (Tour de Peace) across the US from Vacaville,
Ca to Washington, DC: from April 4th to July 3rd.
To join us for all, or par of
the way, to volunteer to host the Tour, or to help financially support this
cause, please go to: www.TourdePeace.org.
The US President and US Congress: End wars and the attack on our civil liberties here in the US
We the undersigned, exercising our human right to petition our government for redress of wrongs, hereby do demand:
That all wars against our brothers and sisters in other
countries are ended, and all U.S. military bases on foreign soil be
closed and the money spent on Empire be spent on social programs and
infrastructure improvement here in the U.S.
That indictable Members of previous and current U.S. administrations and Congressesare tried for war crimes, and crimes against humanity
That the Obama regime end the assault on our Bill of Rights
by ending the practices and policies of warrantless spying, indefinite
detention, and targeted assassination
That all use of fossil fuels be replaced with clean energy
sources through a process of conversion that draws on funding and
resources currently devoted to wars and war preparation.
That government and corporate whistleblowers be protected and not persecuted.
That governance by Wall Street and war profiteers be ended, and that public servants begin serving the interests of the people.
We have biked across town or across the country to
present these demands to the President and the Congress of the United
States. We are serious and we pledge to continue and increase our
activism until our demands are met.
Tonight, the joint powerhouses of Cindy Sheehan and Diane Gee combine their immeasurable passions to debut "The S-Word."
They will be giving a primer on what Socialism is, and decidedly
IS NOT; including fully discrediting the laughable suggestion made by
some that President Obama is worthy of the word.
Joined by the talented Ruth Hull the 2nd half of the hour, they
will discuss the case of Christopher Dorner the way it should be
discussed... as indicative of a fully operational Police State, abetted
by the compliant Press.
Be sure to join The S-Word at 3pm Pacific / 6pm Eastern (5 MT, 4 Central) Today, Monday February 18th on Blog Talk Radio!
It was "the" story for almost a week, yet after the premeditated incineration of him and all evidence by the Police State? The story has all but disappeared. In the immediate aftermath, the predominant memes went from hero to terrorist, with a ton of arm-chair projected mental health diagnosing going on throughout the spectrum of opinions.
What was not discussed at length was the "Vengeance is Mine, sayeth the Lord LAPD" attitude or the careful timeline followed by the pigs and the ever-subservient press.
Two more officers have come forward with complaints substantiating Dorner's experiences; Joe Jones who is no longer on the force, and active duty Sergeant Wayne K. Guillary both claim endemic racism, police brutality and retaliation for attempting to whistle-blow.
The first message is clearly, they will let you be part of the Blue brotherhood, as long as you give up your Blackness. If you refuse to cover up Blue crime? You become sworn enemy.
The second is far more subtle, in a totally obvious sort of way. They didn't tie him to a stake or anything, but we just watched them burn a man alive on public TV. Think about that. That is the new "normalized" in the Police State.
To start with there were many discrepancies in the story as reporter on the scene Ruth Hull points out. She is not just a blogger, but a former criminal defense attorney and PI. Science, evidence, and FACTS are supposed to matter in our system.
Brett Berens (son of the owner of The Oaks Restaurant on Highay 38) said the truck was flooded with bullets and went down a 20 to 30 foot cliff and crashed. According to PIO Hughan, this all took place in 3 to 4 minutes from when the truck was spotted.
Ok, somehow Chris survived a hail of bullets, a vehicular smash down a cliff, had hostages, then didn't have hostages, lit a fire in the cabin, then shot himself? Seriously?
But in the new America? If you point out these inconsistencies, you are either defending a man who is a "cold blooded murderer of the innocent daughter of..." or a "conspiracy theorist."
I prefer my facts unfiltered by such emotional manipulation.
Lets take the audio.
"Number 3 side, heads up, heads up, we are boarding the 1-2"
This means they were entering the cabin from that side, and did not want to be shot at by their team when moving in.
"Tear that whole wall down, that door and that window, make a big port window for me there."
Ok, they are close enough and in no fear to be tearing holes in the cabin. At no point did they say anything about the suspect... or seem to worry they might be shot at.
Then they discuss what is at the front door, and they confirm its a couple trash bags by a calm officer who is inside.
"The blood spatter's in the far corner, ahh, ya got a couple mattresses laying up against the bed."
Ok, whose blood? Note this is long before the cabin is burned, and the "single shot" is heard that was Dorner's supposed suicide.
"Ok Steve, we're going to go forward with the plan, with the burn."
"Copy"
"I want it, uhh, like we talked about."
This totally negates it catching fire by accident of the gas bombs, or Chris Dorner lighting it himself. It shows premeditation, not just an on-scene reaction from Police in fear from their lives. Chris is either dead already, or gone.
"::Inadible:: the burners are deployed, we have a fire."
"Copy 7 burners deployed, and we have a fire."
Now what POSSIBLE reason would they have to burn a building they have already entered and cleared?
"This was a clean out of a house, where a family member located what appeared to be some sort of RPG round. "
What family member? Huh?
"Not in the tube, placed separately then, just jostled around, now sitting on top of a box. We have direct access (inaudible) want a photo for it for you, or get any other intelligence or do you just want it hooked on the theme and wait for your arrival?"
This speaks directly to planned, planted evidence in my world, but even given a reasonable doubt that some "family member" stumbled across it, the cops have possession of it and are asking how to make it fit the theme. "Like they talked about" prior.
"Remember your back-drops."
A back-drop in street jargon is an unmarked weapon you place on a perp to make your kill look like a good one.
This is what they are waiting for as the spent ammo goes off. They had to make it look like Chris was heavily armed. He ran from a crashed truck, carrying an RPG and a bunch of guns? They really think we will buy this?
Well, yeah, the unquestioning sheeple already have. Evidence doesn't matter in a lynching.
Once they call, the contact fire was staging up, they ask for an engine... then they keep that engine away until the place is fully burnt down.
Now? Suddenly? They report one shot from the residence. A residence they have already retrieved a supposed RPG in, seen the blood spatters, bashed a hole in, and burned.
Note, how that reported "one shot" is different from the thereafter reports of exploding munitions. It has to fit the narrative.
"Stand by, maintain your dicipline."
They all know its over, but they can't act like its over. They have to pretend to be on alert for the "terrorist" that had already been executed for the camera. I'm seriously thinking they must offer acting classes now too.
After discussing the fully engulfed, the officer in charge again holds back the firetruck, until no corner of the building is "vulnerable"? Vulnerable to what? A serious inquiry or seeking of evidence?
In this one... you hear them screaming at someone to get down, then order to "Burn this motherfucker."
Had they apprehended him, then chosen to burn him alive?
Make no mistake. This is not about Chris Dorner's guilt or innocence.
This is about living in a war zone. This is about burning witches, public beheadings, and lynchings. This is about lawlessness of the law-enforcers.
“I mean, just knowing they’re out there is terrifying—how can I feel safe when these maniacs are on the loose in my neighborhood?” said a visibly rattled Ashley Stillson, 38, who explained that she strictly observed the city’s advisory to avoid the historically violent, unpredictable predators by going out in groups and avoiding the streets entirely after nightfall. “These guys are volatile and, in many cases, mentally unstable. Something needs to be done about them because I fear for my family knowing these sick people are still at large.”
Seriously.
I have been trying to have this conversation with people. I mean, I have white friends. Lots of them. (heh) But you talk about white privilege to most white people, and they will redirect it to their problems. Male privilege from some white feminist... or reverse racism from a white living in a Black neighborhood. All hate is bad, I dig it. But why can we never talk about SYSTEMIC RACISM without having the conversation be about YOU?
Well, here's a newsflash for you. What is done to the most vulnerable in Society is the canary in the coal mine of the poison entering the system.
If they cannot stand up to the abuse of Black People by the Police, to the tune of 300+ unarmed Black men being assassinated by the Cops last year alone, because they value them as people and citizens? Perhaps the idea that it could happen to them as well will do it. Self-preservation is the most basic of instincts.
Something is not just rotten in Denmark, people... the Occupying forces of Imperialist Capitalism is preparing for a War within our borders.
You have just seen a tiny snapshot of it.
The Press will stand mutely aside, when food riots start, they will cordon off and burn out entire neighborhoods. Collateral damage, baby. Like the children droned to smithereens because they had the bad judgment to be born in Afghanistan. You shouldn't be poor here either. Where is the outcry for the young mother shot in her parked car for stealing a small container of formula to feed her baby?
Its the Street Death Penalty now, and you shall FEAR us, they say.
Think about the Blue-code, codified indeed by law. Killing a cop is worse than killing any other human, because their lives are worth more. Why is that? Surely not because they are better humans, or we are so grateful for their protection from "the evils" - it is to keep people from ever even thinking about protecting themselves FROM the cops.
Suicide by Cop seems to have become some blanket apologia for cops who won't do their job and bring someone in... You argue? You die? You sass? You get beaten. And if you do any of this while Black? We now have public burnings. And nary a peep is heard.
The discussion we need to have is about systemic racism, and that without that racism, there can be no class war, for all class warfare has racism at its root.
The discussion we need to be having is how the number one cause of violence is that racist class war, and the main perpetrators of that violence wear BLUE.
I don't know what Chris Dorner was, or wasn't, or even did, with any certitude. I can no longer believe what information is fed and regurgitated by a press that ignores the above videos and eyewitness accounts and tells us the "story like we talked about" that "fits the theme." Bloggers like Arthur nail it.
Here's the truth I know.
One: The government has always been willing to use excessive force on us, and make examples of a few to keep us in check, and that the brunt of this abuse has been taken by our Black citizens with little recourse. They have just become more overt about it, and like boiling froggies we keep acclimating to it as our new normal.
Two: The system, and its gatekeepers who wear the Blue have always targeted Black People the most. Racism isn't just a few hooded freaks in the woods, it is BUILT INTO OUR SYSTEM at its core.
Three: Trials and evidence are greatly a thing of the past. The pigs make their own kill lists. Those who do enter the legal system are finding out, they are more interested in punishing you and wearing you down so you will not protest than convicting you.
Four: The pigs fear no one like their own, because their dirt and skeletons are so very epidemic. They have been taught to be in the "brotherhood" they must cover for one another, and any betrayal makes Lorena Bobbit look reasonable.
"Burn the motherfucker!"
We watched as this was done, and no one is in the streets. Not over the case itself, but the fact they burned a man alive for revenge. For pleasure. For entertainment.
I guess, it was because it was only "Blue on Black" again...
Cindy and Sibel have a wonderfully enlightening and interesting chat about the increasing US police state, the incineration of Christopher Dorner, and much more!
Also, David Swanson interviews Cindy Sheehan about her proposed action: Tour de Peace
Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox has been on an anti-Empire tangent, lately.
But of course, all crumbling roads, every pothole, every child left behind, every person who falls through the "health" care chasm, every family who is forced from their homes, (etc) leads us back to the over-reach of the US Empire.
Speaking of the "health" care chasm, Cindy has been ill this week, so we are presenting the re-run of an interview that the incomparable Abby Martin (Breaking the Set, RT) did with Cindy Sheehan in January, 2011.
Everything old is new again, so enjoy the interview and Cindy will be back next week with a brand new show!
This tentative route is California and Rte 66 to Chicago
We have several commitments for events/rallies in these cities:
Sacramento, California
Palm Springs, California
Albuquerque, NM
Amarillo, Tx
OKC/Norman, Ok
Tulsa, Ok
Springfield, MO Charlottesville, Va
We obviously need more commitments for housing, rallies, events, etc.
If you check the route and have suggestions for relevant and meaningful sight-seeing, protest, visits, camping, housing, organizing, etc, please email Dede Miller at: Dede4Peace@gmail.com.
We will be posting the route from Chicago to DC as soon as possible.
We will try to adhere to these dates as much as possible, but, of course, conditions due to weather, etc, will likely change things.
