Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Our Complex
“Before the war is ended, the war party assumes the divine right to denounce and silence all opposition to war as unpatriotic and cowardly.”
Robert “Fighting Bob” M. La Follette
Robert “Fighting Bob” M. La Follette
Something “funny” happened on my way to Madison, Wi., yesterday.
I am in Madison to speak at an event against the “War Party” and its wars. I was to speak on how to do this outside of War Party Politics—based on my history of peace activism and my independent run against Nancy Pelosi in 2008. On the way here, I was informed that the room the event was to be held in was withdrawn due to “security concerns” because I am one of the speakers.
Getting down to the bottom of this is not easy. Steve, the student organizing this event here on the ground, was told on Friday that the organizers would have to put on security because I have made “controversial efforts” in the past. There is no basis for any security, because there have been no threats of violence against me. The sponsors could not afford the hefty cost of the security, so the indoor event was canceled.
So, the bottom line is, the University is not concerned FOR me, they are concerned ABOUT me.
Every so often, just for a reality check, I have to have my iPhone pinpoint my location—I am in Madison Wisconsin—not Mobile, Alabama. Mobile was where the only actual physical attempt was made on my life (inside of the front tires slashed in a car I was riding in). I have spoken several times in Madison (and at the Fighting Bob Fest—where I also got an award)--and have never felt anything other than support and love.
I have spoken in colleges and universities all over the world where I have actually received death threats and this is the first time, to my knowledge, that I have ever been shut out.
Hmm—just in the past month, I have been banned by the Catholic Church from any no-cost venue in Scranton, PA (including pressure on churches of other denominations) by the Catholic Bishop-elect, there AND I have a stay away order from the White House—first ever as far as anyone can recall.
Why have I, an avowed Peace Monger, started to get so many bans? Is it because I have changed? Is it because I am saying anything different than I have been saying for the last six years? Is it because the wars are over and I still won’t stop? No, it’s because much of the country has gone insane while I remain the same.
People who should be opposing Obama, support him—people who should be supporting him, oppose him. The Tea Party is serving the purpose of putting a crazy and violent stamp on any kind of opposition at all, and any kind of opposition to Obama is being called “racist” or “seditious” by the very same people who called opposition, “heroic” when Bush was president.
Recently, a 12 year old girl was arrested in a the office of a War Party Senator and I wasn’t the only one who got banned from the White House—five others, including three men who never have been arrested in DC—also got banned from the perimeter of the White House. If one of us should dare disobey the stay-away order, it’s a mandatory six months in jail.
How can I be a “security concern” when all my efforts have been peaceful for peace? If my efforts are ever successful, true security will reign over this planet.
Peace is a threat to only a few entities: the War Party and the War Profiteers.
Why would the University of Wisconsin do this?
Doing a cursory “google” search of the University of Wisconsin and its ties (like most universities) to the War Party and its profiteer-masters brings up some interesting facts.
U of W gets a lot of “research” funding from defense industries and, as a state, Wisconsin is moving up the ladder of war profiteering graft.
It’s not so easy to get current stats, but according to a report from 2004, these are some companies that U of W is invested in:
Weapon Manufacturer
UW Investment*
Boeing 1,015,535
Caterpillar Inc. 74,813
General Dynamics 153,150
General Electric 1,309,462
Lockheed Martin 548,553
Northrop Grumman 762,619
Raytheon 15,831
3,879,963
So, just like everything and everywhere else, the Military industrial Complex has its evil tentacles here in a state that gave us the progressive gift of Robert La Follette.
The tiny, idyllic burg of Hood River, Or, fights for its death merchant, Insitu/Boeing and a University that was a hot bed of activism in the 1960s, UC Berkeley, has an active ROTC program and an evil war criminal teaching in its law school: John Yoo.
Since 9/11/2001, our rights have been steadily and increasingly eroded. I know mine have been suppressed even more under the current administration than the previous one.
We do have a Complex in this country—the Military Industrial one.
The MIC is obviously the boss.
update: the University relented and is allowing us to use the room for the panel.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Bolivarian Revolution and US
"We are not Indians nor Europeans. ... (but are) Americans by birth,"
Simon Bolivar
Simon Bolivar
On April 19, 1810 (200 years ago), Simon Bolivar(the "George Washington of South America") declared independence from Spain in Caracas, Vz, and started to formulate "Gran Colombia" which was his vision for peace and economic growth for the entire continent of South America.
Being an admirer of the American revolution--where colonists in North America defeated the British to form a united nation that had a common language, religion and customs--Bolivar sought to copy that model in South America.
For about 12 years Gran Colombia was a republic that encompassed a great part of the territory of northern South America and part of southern Central America during the years 1819 to 1831. The present day nations of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama and part of Costa Rica were part of this republic of which Bolivar was president.
Most of the Europeans were kicked off of the continent and South America has become a continent of 15 different nations with about 400 million people. For centuries, South America (and Central America) has been a chessboard for geo-political strategies and a region where the U.S. has laid illegitimate claim and has used for economic dumping, pillage, and robbery. The CIA has liberally used the tools of coup and assassination to destabilize the regions against true participatory democracy and the U.S. has supported more than a few evil despots there.
Separately, the countries of South America, are either ineffectual against "il Imperio" to the north, or using their very weakness to align with the U.S. (Colombia) against regional neighbors, thinking such an alliance will bring strength and prosperity. Traditionally, bad things happen in such alliances.
In 1998, Hugo Chavez Frias, was elected from the people to lead Venezuela. In 1999, a new Constitution was written and ratified by the people which instituted the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and President Chavez has dedicated his political career and life to a new Bolivarian Revolution. For Chavez this revolution has several stated goals:
- Venezuelan economic and political sovereignty (anti-imperialism).
- Grassroots political participation of the population via popular votes and referendums (participatory democracy).
- Economic self-sufficiency (in food, consumer durables, etc...).
- Instilling in people a national ethic of patriotic service.
- Equitable distribution of Venezuela's vast oil revenues.
- Eliminating corruption.
“The United States appear to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty”
Simón Bolívar
Simón BolívarLearning about this grass-roots revolution was the driving force that led me back to Venezuela this past February. The U.S. has plagued the Americas with misery, and we up here in The Empire are beginning to acutely feel what other peoples of the world have felt: economic oppression and the theft of liberty; exploiting the terms, "democracy, freedom, and liberty," so much so that many of us up here believe that the Slavery of imperialistic-capitalistic-militaristic society is this mythic "freedom."
Besides Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution, he is also trying to use the ideals of Simon Bolivar to unite Latin America for economic strength and security. He formed ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas) which has eight member nations from Latin America now. Recently in Cancun, an alternative to the U.S. dominated Organization of American States (without the U.S. and Canada) was discussed.
Thomas Jefferson, a man whom Simon Bolivar (although he was anti-slavery) held in high-esteem, once said: "God forbid we should be 20 years without such a rebellion...the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
Our republic is dying on the vine due to the (sometimes deliberate and stubborn) ignorance and lethargy of We the People. In this day of Corporate Ascendancy over our government and other institutions that corrupt our lives, we should be rebelling more, and blindly obeying these systems less.
The revolution in Venezuela has been achieved in a relatively peaceful manner. There has been some unfortunate bloodshed, but I have talked to many people there who have and will defend the revolution with their own lives. Also, in Venezuela I was impressed by the sharing of power between the people and their government--which, to many, truly feels like a government "by and for" its people and not "by and for" the Corporatocracy.
We are working on a movie called Todos Somos Americanos (We are all Americans) that seeks not only to dispel the ugly and false rumors about Chavez, Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution, but is also attempting to inspire people in our country to a healthy, peaceful, people's revolution.
To pre-order your copy of Todos Somos Americanos, go here.
Monday, April 19, 2010
"Real American Values and the Reality of Robotic Warfare"
First published in Islam Times
http://www.islamtimes.org/vdciq3ar.t1apy2lict.html
When I was asked to give this talk, I was also asked what my topic would be. My answer was: “You choose the topic, I can speak at length about almost any subject.” I have the gift of gab.
Anyway, this general subject of robotic warfare is very interesting to me. Recently, in a very ironic move, I was ejected from a Congressional hearing about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles when I was actually there to listen to the testimony. Just because I had a small sign reading, “Drones kill kids,” poised on my chest was no reason to kick me out. I was being quiet and had no intention of disrupting, as I informed the Congressman’s aide—but I got removed, anyway.
This particular topic of “Real American Values” is also very interesting. I guess, before we go any further, we should define two terms in the talk.
“Robotic warfare” is the subject of this conference and there are many people speaking here who are far more qualified to give you a technical briefing. I have mainly concentrated by opposition around UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), but I have seen ground based robotics at work, too.
According to a news story, dated July 16, 2009, Robotic Technology is working on a “long-range/long endurance” robot that will dine on human flesh. Instead of calling this one “ZOMBIE,” its working title is the: ENERGETICALLY AUTONOMOUS TACTICAL ROBOT, or EATR for short. Can you imagine an unstoppable monster attacking your neighborhood and eating anything that moves?
Now here comes the part where something a little less concrete needs to be defined: “Real American Values.” Hmm—how do we do that? Are there “values” that can be applied consistently across the length and breadth of this beautiful country of ours (and trust me, it is beautiful—I have crossed the length and breadth just this week—from California to the Southern Tier of New York State and back and from California to Dallas and then up here to Oregon)?
Well, the “values” of the group that are here exercising their freedom of speech to protest against this conference (and particularly me), seem to be decidedly contrary to the principles of we who are assembled here, today.
Firstly, how is our new-ish president faring with this issue—especially with the use of UAV’s?
Well, from 2004 to the end of 2008, there were 23 US drone strikes in Pakistan. On January 23, 2009, the brand-spanking new and “improved” resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave authorized his first lethal strike in Pakistan—killing about 30 people.
Since that day, just 16 months ago, 75 more terror strikes have hit Pakistan. These UAV strikes in Pakistan are performed by our CIA with cooperation with the Pakistani military and mostly launched from airbases within Pakistan.
Pakistan is now like the Wild West and our SlayStation program of Murder by Joystick is greatly enhancing this destabilization—yet many people on the American “left” still support the actions of the Nobel Laureate.
Currently, some “Real American Values” are that one life of a US troop is worth the lives about 200 innocent men, women and children, if we take a baseline of 5000 American troops killed and one million civilians—which are both low estimates.
These “Real American Values” also presume that our troops should be fighting in Iraq OR Afghanistan and that the murdering of the occupants of the tribal regions in Afghanistan/Pakistan is justified because somehow these poor and oppressed people might hop a plane over here to strangle one of us in our sleep.
Another thing is that as with this phony “War on Terror,” the very use of drone technology is a system of terror. Every innocent child that is killed; or every woman or old person that has his/her life prematurely stolen, creates hatred towards the U.S. How can anybody be so intellectually impaired, or propagandized (or shall we say “Fox-agandized) to the point that this is not just so fundamentally understood? How can one be so blinded by hatred, or fear to not recognize that humans have a primal need to NOT be occupied and an even more primal need to protect his/her family or community?
To illustrate my point about the willful and stubborn ignorance of the American news-o-tainment consumer, I want to tell you about an email that I received the other day.
After the usual rightwing salutation of “Hey Moron,” Jerry went on to tell me that UAVs don’t kill people and they don’t even carry weapons! I usually don’t even reply to such stupidity, but a reply that took a few seconds with pictures and articles proved my point and I haven’t heard from him since.
On the day my son was killed in Iraq, eight US troops were killed and over one thousand inhabitants of Sadr City, Baghdad. I am now being attacked using the despicable argument that if the US Army had been using UAVs the day my son was dead, he may still be alive. Like the 58,000 US troops during the Vietnam war crime that were that were covered with fighter jets and helicopters and were slaughtered anyway? I would trade places with Casey if I could, but this argument ignores the fact that this country, the one that is supposed to have values, sent him to die in a completely illegal and fully immoral war based on lies.
Casey was also killed in retaliation for Blackwater’s war crimes and for torture in Abu Ghraib—are these American “Values?”
The argument that the use of UAVs saves the lives of American Troops is one that can’t be supported, anyway.
Just one example occurred at the end of 2009, when our attention was being diverted to Tiger Woods and the Crotch Bomber, eight CIA agents were executed on a military base in Khost Province, Afghanistan in direct retaliation for drone bombings in Pakistan.
As with the tragedy of 9-11 most Americans would believe that this attack came out of the blue and was neither expected nor justified—it’s a cycle of violence that can more often than not, be traced right back to the US Empire.
Tragically, although there are some people in this country who abhor killing whether the person killed is brown, black, yellow, or white; Christian, Muslim, Jew or otherwise; most of our fellow citizens are either pathetically apathetic, or lack critical reasoning skills, like our friends who are here to protest us.
If we define “Real American Values” in a realistic way, then “YES” Robotic Warfare conforms to those values. Values where “the other” is held in, not only low esteem, but as less than human. Values where the conquest of land, resources, or wealth is the reason for such demonization of people so their slaughter will conform to our “superiority complex” ideas of “Mom, flag, apple pie and Chevrolet.” Ask our First People about “Real American Values,” if you can find one.
Millions of people have been killed directly, or indirectly by the murderous psychopathology of this US Empire—to me, using robotics, real troops, or dropping bombs from airplanes are all actions of a morally bankrupt nation with very few values.
Now, if you define “Real American Values” as those values that are totally based on myth, then “NO” Robotic Warfare is not in alignment with them.
You know these Mythic Values that I am talking about! The one that says that the US is a force for good in the world—the one that says that the US avoids “collateral damage—the one that says that we always fight fair, and after the fight, we ride off into the sunset with the pretty girl by our side.
Have we ever been this country? In my humble opinion a country built with forced slave labor and expanded on the virtual genocide of an original population was NEVER a country that had positive values.
How do we convince 80-90% of our fellow Americans that if we kill innocent people, the problem is worse? How do we convince these same people that we ARE killing innocent people?
After a couple of centuries of American Exceptionalism, the task is not easy, but I think the use of remotely controlled weapons should ring particularly cowardly if we the people declare that we do have “Values.”
This conference and the resulting “controversy” is a good start—and you know what our friends in Arabic countries say: “How do you eat an elephant—one bite at a time.”
Thank you
http://www.islamtimes.org/vdciq3ar.t1apy2lict.html
(Islam Times) - Cindy Sheehan’s remarks to the “Challenging Robotic Warfare And Social Control”Conference in Hood River, Oregon
Anyway, this general subject of robotic warfare is very interesting to me. Recently, in a very ironic move, I was ejected from a Congressional hearing about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles when I was actually there to listen to the testimony. Just because I had a small sign reading, “Drones kill kids,” poised on my chest was no reason to kick me out. I was being quiet and had no intention of disrupting, as I informed the Congressman’s aide—but I got removed, anyway.
This particular topic of “Real American Values” is also very interesting. I guess, before we go any further, we should define two terms in the talk.
“Robotic warfare” is the subject of this conference and there are many people speaking here who are far more qualified to give you a technical briefing. I have mainly concentrated by opposition around UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), but I have seen ground based robotics at work, too.
According to a news story, dated July 16, 2009, Robotic Technology is working on a “long-range/long endurance” robot that will dine on human flesh. Instead of calling this one “ZOMBIE,” its working title is the: ENERGETICALLY AUTONOMOUS TACTICAL ROBOT, or EATR for short. Can you imagine an unstoppable monster attacking your neighborhood and eating anything that moves?
Now here comes the part where something a little less concrete needs to be defined: “Real American Values.” Hmm—how do we do that? Are there “values” that can be applied consistently across the length and breadth of this beautiful country of ours (and trust me, it is beautiful—I have crossed the length and breadth just this week—from California to the Southern Tier of New York State and back and from California to Dallas and then up here to Oregon)?
Well, the “values” of the group that are here exercising their freedom of speech to protest against this conference (and particularly me), seem to be decidedly contrary to the principles of we who are assembled here, today.
Firstly, how is our new-ish president faring with this issue—especially with the use of UAV’s?
Well, from 2004 to the end of 2008, there were 23 US drone strikes in Pakistan. On January 23, 2009, the brand-spanking new and “improved” resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave authorized his first lethal strike in Pakistan—killing about 30 people.
Since that day, just 16 months ago, 75 more terror strikes have hit Pakistan. These UAV strikes in Pakistan are performed by our CIA with cooperation with the Pakistani military and mostly launched from airbases within Pakistan.
Pakistan is now like the Wild West and our SlayStation program of Murder by Joystick is greatly enhancing this destabilization—yet many people on the American “left” still support the actions of the Nobel Laureate.
Currently, some “Real American Values” are that one life of a US troop is worth the lives about 200 innocent men, women and children, if we take a baseline of 5000 American troops killed and one million civilians—which are both low estimates.
These “Real American Values” also presume that our troops should be fighting in Iraq OR Afghanistan and that the murdering of the occupants of the tribal regions in Afghanistan/Pakistan is justified because somehow these poor and oppressed people might hop a plane over here to strangle one of us in our sleep.
Another thing is that as with this phony “War on Terror,” the very use of drone technology is a system of terror. Every innocent child that is killed; or every woman or old person that has his/her life prematurely stolen, creates hatred towards the U.S. How can anybody be so intellectually impaired, or propagandized (or shall we say “Fox-agandized) to the point that this is not just so fundamentally understood? How can one be so blinded by hatred, or fear to not recognize that humans have a primal need to NOT be occupied and an even more primal need to protect his/her family or community?
To illustrate my point about the willful and stubborn ignorance of the American news-o-tainment consumer, I want to tell you about an email that I received the other day.
After the usual rightwing salutation of “Hey Moron,” Jerry went on to tell me that UAVs don’t kill people and they don’t even carry weapons! I usually don’t even reply to such stupidity, but a reply that took a few seconds with pictures and articles proved my point and I haven’t heard from him since.
On the day my son was killed in Iraq, eight US troops were killed and over one thousand inhabitants of Sadr City, Baghdad. I am now being attacked using the despicable argument that if the US Army had been using UAVs the day my son was dead, he may still be alive. Like the 58,000 US troops during the Vietnam war crime that were that were covered with fighter jets and helicopters and were slaughtered anyway? I would trade places with Casey if I could, but this argument ignores the fact that this country, the one that is supposed to have values, sent him to die in a completely illegal and fully immoral war based on lies.
Casey was also killed in retaliation for Blackwater’s war crimes and for torture in Abu Ghraib—are these American “Values?”
The argument that the use of UAVs saves the lives of American Troops is one that can’t be supported, anyway.
Just one example occurred at the end of 2009, when our attention was being diverted to Tiger Woods and the Crotch Bomber, eight CIA agents were executed on a military base in Khost Province, Afghanistan in direct retaliation for drone bombings in Pakistan.
As with the tragedy of 9-11 most Americans would believe that this attack came out of the blue and was neither expected nor justified—it’s a cycle of violence that can more often than not, be traced right back to the US Empire.
Tragically, although there are some people in this country who abhor killing whether the person killed is brown, black, yellow, or white; Christian, Muslim, Jew or otherwise; most of our fellow citizens are either pathetically apathetic, or lack critical reasoning skills, like our friends who are here to protest us.
If we define “Real American Values” in a realistic way, then “YES” Robotic Warfare conforms to those values. Values where “the other” is held in, not only low esteem, but as less than human. Values where the conquest of land, resources, or wealth is the reason for such demonization of people so their slaughter will conform to our “superiority complex” ideas of “Mom, flag, apple pie and Chevrolet.” Ask our First People about “Real American Values,” if you can find one.
Millions of people have been killed directly, or indirectly by the murderous psychopathology of this US Empire—to me, using robotics, real troops, or dropping bombs from airplanes are all actions of a morally bankrupt nation with very few values.
Now, if you define “Real American Values” as those values that are totally based on myth, then “NO” Robotic Warfare is not in alignment with them.
You know these Mythic Values that I am talking about! The one that says that the US is a force for good in the world—the one that says that the US avoids “collateral damage—the one that says that we always fight fair, and after the fight, we ride off into the sunset with the pretty girl by our side.
Have we ever been this country? In my humble opinion a country built with forced slave labor and expanded on the virtual genocide of an original population was NEVER a country that had positive values.
How do we convince 80-90% of our fellow Americans that if we kill innocent people, the problem is worse? How do we convince these same people that we ARE killing innocent people?
After a couple of centuries of American Exceptionalism, the task is not easy, but I think the use of remotely controlled weapons should ring particularly cowardly if we the people declare that we do have “Values.”
This conference and the resulting “controversy” is a good start—and you know what our friends in Arabic countries say: “How do you eat an elephant—one bite at a time.”
Thank you
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Truth, Truth, and NOTHING but the Truth!
Truth, Truth, and NOTHING but the Truth!
Here at Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox, we are noted for bringing truth-tellers to your airwaves.
Today is not an exception.
Beginning at 2PM (and available forever thereafter), we have an in-depth interview with returning guest: Eva Golinger.
Eva is a Venezuelan-American who lives in Venezuela and is an investigative journalist who has uncovered some damning facts about US meddling in Venezuelan politics.
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CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO LISTEN TO LAST WEEK'S SHOW WITH LEGEND, DANIEL ELLSBERG!
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There are several ways to support this courageous show that is constantly in the face of US Empire.
We are busy working on our documentary, Todos Somos Americanos, and we are hoping to release it in June.
You can pre-order your copy today by clicking on the image below.
We are currently working on a preview that should be ready soon so we can begin to offer sponsorships--more details to come!
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Order your copy of Myth America II: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution by clicking on the Robbers below!
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Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Where's Cindy?
Come Out and Meet Cindy This Week:
Thursday, April 8: 
Binghamton:
10:30 a.m. - Press conference will be
held at the St. Francis of Assisi church
1031 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY. (Room 104 - School Building)
12:00 Noon - Pot Luck luncheon for press conference attendees, committee members and local peace group leaders - Location: St. Francis church hall
3 - 5 pm - Book signing at River Read Books, Court St. Binghamton
7 - 9 pm - Presentation at Binghamton University - Lecture Hall 8 - Open to Community
For more information on Binghamton events contact: George McAnaman - gmcvet4p@gmail.com
FRIDAY, APRIL 09
Scranton, PA
12 NOON to 2PM
Email Jack Gilroy for details:
Friday Evening:
7 p.m. – Words & Music for Peace – First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY. This event will include a talk by Cindy with Q & A, folk music by Janet Burgan and a performance by Expressive Drumming. The community is invited. Refreshments and Book signing
SATURDAY, APRIL 1OTH:
Ithaca Events:
7 - 9 Evening Event - Women's Community Building - 100 W. Seneca St. Open to the Public
For more information on Ithaca events Contact:
Bob Nape - 607-592-7692 or
Andrea Levine - 908-461-8491
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Listen to the Soapbox
Sunday's guest, available 2pm Pacific Time is
hero: Daniel Ellsberg
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Read Cindy's New Blog:
Take This Empire and Shove It!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Take This Empire and Shove It! by Cindy Sheehan
“Listen, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate it. But there's nothing I can do about it right now... It's all such a long way from here.”
Luke Skywalker in Star Wars
Dear Reader—raise your hand if you don’t know that atrocities happen in war. Now put your hands in the air like you just don’t care.
Psychologist, Robert Jay Lifton, who is a pioneer in the study of what drives otherwise “normal” human beings to commit war crimes calls war: “an atrocity-producing situation.” Atrocities have been committed in every war since the beginning of time, and the sad thing is the barbarity hasn’t decreased. Recently a US soldier tried to justify to me committing atrocities because the "British did it to the Native Americans" in the French-Indian War. This soldier was essentially agreeing with Lifton.
Since war is an atrocity in the first place, war crimes will be committed, period. In many of my speeches soon after Casey was killed, I used to call war “a failure of imagination.” Now I know that’s crap—war is imagined by and for the war machine and gladly perpetrated by its toady elected officials and promoted by its toady media.
This week, several things have upset me about our genocidal foreign policy, but I can’t decide what upsets me more—the genocidal foreign policy or the fact that most of my fellow USAins are sheeple who blindly follow (or not follow) whoever is infecting the Oval Office depending on whether that person has a (D) or an (R) behind his name.
I have spoke in dozens of venues since Obama was inaugurated promoting my e-book: Myth America: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution. Everywhere I speak, someone will ask me this question, and it is almost always this exact question, worded in almost the exact same way: “I didn’t agree with George Bush getting us into these wars, but don’t you agree that we have to stay in Afghanistan to protect the women?” When I ask the person if he/she believed that propaganda when Bush was infesting the Oval Office, he/she says with 100% regularity: “No.” And of course, Afghan women were Mrs. George (43) Bush’s greatest cause. Now we have “peace” groups parroting the same line. Sheeple live in Red AND Blue states. The Robber Class counts on at least ½ of the public being in full compliance with its crimes, that’s why they get away with these crimes on a daily basis.
How’s this for “protecting women?” On February 12th, US Special Forces attacked a home near Gardez and in that attack three women were killed. Two of the women were pregnant. Our military claimed that the women were stabbed to death before the US raid, but the truth finally came out—US Special Forces who subsequently tried to dig the bullets out of the women to hide their hideous crimes killed them, too. Cover up—the specialty of The Empire and The Pope. How can we believe anything that comes out of the mouth of Stainly McChrystalMeth much less that the US is “minimizing” civilian deaths?
At the end of last year, eight Afghan students in Ghazi Khan were handcuffed and executed by US troops. Presumably, these eight students were sons of Afghan women—and where is the righteous anger in this country over our military executing school children? I guess if Tiger Woods would keep Little Tiger in his pants, our toady media might report these outrages—but probably not. When I hear about our troops raping 14 year-old girls in Iraq, or executing Afghan schoolboys, I want to burn something down—but I would rightfully be considered “crazy” if I gave into that temporary impulse—while some US troops (in not-so-isolated incidents) behave like sociopathic maniacs and we don't consider them crazy at all and, in fact, we are supposed to “support" them.
And what about this Cult of Troop Worship? Even the antiwar movement is so careful to not criticize anything The Troops do. We are constantly admonished to “hate the war, but love the warrior.” I am sorry, but I don’t even like that word, “warrior.” It implies that our children join the military to commit war crimes, but we all know that most of our children join for education benefits, or health insurance. “Warrior” also implies that we live in a War State—which we do—but the antiwar movement does not have to use the nomenclature of The Empire. Most of us teach our children the difference between right and wrong, but when our young people become The Troops they receive a thorough brainwashing and get sent off to murder and rape children and pregnant women. Our kids become hired goons for imperial greed—more like victims of a system that neglects everyone’s essential needs, than heroes.
The second bit of news yesterday (not covered in the toady media because Tiger and Little Tiger held a press conference) was the video of The Troops in Iraq slaughtering two Reuter’s journalists, the man who tried to save one of them, and ten others. Oh, and The Troops laughed about it and shot up a van filled with children, seriously wounding two of them. The Troops that did this were in a helicopter, and The Troops that rushed up in a HUMVEE are shown intentionally running over the victims (more laughter). These atrocities happened in 2007 and Reuters has been trying to get the video (shot from the Apache helicopter’s gun sights) for two years now. Wikileaks courageously de-crypted the video and posted it. Warning—it is horrible to watch what The Troops do to these people. Previously, the military’s investigation into these atrocities was ruled as “following rules of engagement.” Which is probably not a lie, since it seems like there are no rules of engagement that protect civilians from The Troops and The Empire.
There have been reports of war crimes for years—from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo to Bagram; and from Falluja to Haditha to Marja—the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are totally and completely war crimes. The Nuremburg war crimes tribunals stated that wars of aggression are: "essentially an evil thing...to initiate a war of aggression...is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." Anyone involved in these war crimes from President to Private must be prosecuted—that includes the new regime—killing is not okay, even if the killer is a Democrat.
This Empire has lost what little of its mind that it had left after the syphilitic Bush years. The Empire is literally living on borrowed time. The expensive occupations, the expansion of Empire into South America, the new threats of sanctions against Iran, the continued and unwavering support of Israel, the increase (66% over the Bush years) in drone bombings, hellfire missiles raining down in Yemen, presidential targeting of American citizens abroad, yadda, yadda, yadda—will lead to the eventual downfall of the American Empire. It always happens and it will happen this time, too.
What can we do about an Empire that is so many noodles short of a full casserole, but divorce ourselves from it? Can we do a full-frontal attack against a psychopath that has nukes? Can we do what the president of Afghanistan recently threatened—join the resistance? I know for sure what doesn’t work—marching around in circles and shaking our fists at empty buildings on the weekend in Washington, DC—or spending a weekend as a “guest” of the DC criminal justice system.
“Only the little people pay taxes.”
Leona Helmsley
I haven’t paid my income taxes since my son was killed in Iraq in 2004. I am ashamed that I ever paid taxes to fund the crimes of this Empire. I started paying taxes around 1974 and this Empire was embroiled in crimes then as it was before and has been ever since. Get this, in 2009, Exxon, a multi-national billion-dollar crime syndicate paid zero dollars in income taxes!
Some years since 2004, I have made enough to be required to file, most years my reportable income has been way below the filing level. I rarely even receive letters from the IRS. However, I would rather go to prison than know that one of my dollars went to pay for the murder, torture, false imprisonment, or oppression of one person here or abroad.
Think of it this way—what if St. Obama himself walked up to you and asked you to write him a check for two-grand so he could have money to buy a water board, or other torture apparatus, or for bullets, or for one square inch of a bomber? Would you do it? Some of you might, but most of you wouldn’t.
There are many ways to be war tax resisters and there are a handful of us doing it. If more of us who really believed in peaceful conflict resolution did it that would be a far more effective and more courageous way of opposing this Empire than marching in circles.
If we don’t come up with more creative solutions to the violence of this Empire, more and more innocent people will suffer.
This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.
From War is a Racket by Major General Smedley Butler
I think as an antiwar-peace community, the only way we can “Support the Troops” is by working as hard as we can to make sure none of our children become The Troops.
If you can’t come to DC to take part in our Civil Resistance efforts for Summer Camp OUT NOW, I suggest the you pour all of your efforts into doing counter-recruitment.
There are so many good organizations doing this work that you can help, or support with donations.
World Can’t Wait—WE ARE NOT YOUR SOLDIERS.
American Friends Service Committee: Youth and Militarism
No “warriors,” no wars.
These are just two of the ways that we can Take This Empire and Shove It—there are many more suggestions in my e-book, Myth America: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
SlayStation by Cindy Sheehan (first published in Islam Times)
http://islamtimes.org/vdcgn79x.ak9x74j5ra.html
“Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the effects they provide have emerged as one of the most "in demand" capabilities the USAF provides the Joint Force. The attributes of persistence, endurance, efficiency, and connectivity are proven force multipliers across the spectrum of global Joint military operations.”
USAF UAS FLIGHT PLAN 2009-2047
Don’t get me wrong, I am not in favor of “Manned Aircraft Systems” raining down bombs on civilians, but the idea of Murder by Joystick with the “Unmanned Aircraft Systems” (UAS,) is especially sickening to me.
UAS, more commonly known as “drones,” are controlled from thousands of miles away and are increasingly becoming the new wave of the Air Force. The Air Force was recently devastated by Congress cutting off funding for the obsolete F22 fighter jet and is very excited about its robotic killers.
Even the names of drones are monstrous, such as: Predator and Reaper—The Grim Reaper drone—choosing who lives or who dies from an air conditioned bunker at Creech Air Force base thousands of miles away from the bombing site:
Thousands of miles away from the carnage;
Thousands of miles away from the screaming and dying;
Light years away from morality and compassion.
With reports stating that, from the top down, the US military is filled with Christian zealots, I wonder who "authorizes" Murder by Joystick? Does the 6th Commandment say: “Thou shalt not murder; unless you can pretend you’re playing a video game?” The mass murder of the 21st century couldn’t have been even remotely conceived of a few millennia ago.
War has become more deadly to persons but increasingly more depersonalized. Today, needless civilian deaths outweigh unnecessary military deaths by a 5 to 1 ratio, but are still referred to as: “Collateral damage.” Our military has become even further depersonalized by the utilization of paid mercenaries.
Not only is this kind of warfare taking a toll on civilians, but also military chaplains have reported that some of the “pilots” who control these weapons are having crises of conscience. Being me, I can’t conceive of sitting in a comfy room and dropping bombs on children, then going home to eat dinner with my children, or attend their Scouting meetings or sporting events. It is uplifting to know that some of our troops have consciences—I wish more would start to refuse these repugnant orders.
The Pentagon recently confirmed that even though US troops are moving out of Iraq, they would be replaced--sometimes by a two to one ratio--by mercenaries from such places as Uganda. This jaded nation of ours barely cares about the soldiers that are dying, how much less will we care about foreign paid mercenary killers and whether they have the right equipment or not?
The US Central Intelligence Agency collaborates with the Pakistani government to execute political enemies in the tribal regions of Pakistan, claiming that “al Qaeda” or “Taliban” leaders are being killed, when that is not the reality at all. While the government in Islamabad gives lip service to condemning CIA drone attacks, some of the drones are being launched from such airfields in Pakistan as Shamsi.
Currently the US is waging two undeclared wars with pre-emptive attacks in Yemen and promising tougher sanctions in Iran. US drones have been spotted over Venezuelan airspace. I predict that the escalating use of UAS’s will just make it easier to wage, not only illegal wars, but un-Constitutional wars, as well.
In US culture today, it’s just a short trip from the violent games on PlayStation and other video systems, to actually killing people with Slay-stations. We parents must be more proactive in banning violent games from our households.
SlayStation's game, Murder by Joystick, is just further moral bankruptcy from the Military Industrial Complex that, according to the UAF Flight Plan, is salivating and looking forward to the day when drones—using artificial intelligence—will carry nuclear weapons and won't need any direction from humans at all.
2047 is the target date for total Armageddon by UAS.
Note: When Bush was president there were 24 drone attacks in Pakistan from 2004-2008. In the 15 months that Obama has been president, there have been 72 attacks. Where’s the change?
© Islam Times
“Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the effects they provide have emerged as one of the most "in demand" capabilities the USAF provides the Joint Force. The attributes of persistence, endurance, efficiency, and connectivity are proven force multipliers across the spectrum of global Joint military operations.”
USAF UAS FLIGHT PLAN 2009-2047
Don’t get me wrong, I am not in favor of “Manned Aircraft Systems” raining down bombs on civilians, but the idea of Murder by Joystick with the “Unmanned Aircraft Systems” (UAS,) is especially sickening to me.
UAS, more commonly known as “drones,” are controlled from thousands of miles away and are increasingly becoming the new wave of the Air Force. The Air Force was recently devastated by Congress cutting off funding for the obsolete F22 fighter jet and is very excited about its robotic killers.
Even the names of drones are monstrous, such as: Predator and Reaper—The Grim Reaper drone—choosing who lives or who dies from an air conditioned bunker at Creech Air Force base thousands of miles away from the bombing site:
Thousands of miles away from the carnage;
Thousands of miles away from the screaming and dying;
Light years away from morality and compassion.
With reports stating that, from the top down, the US military is filled with Christian zealots, I wonder who "authorizes" Murder by Joystick? Does the 6th Commandment say: “Thou shalt not murder; unless you can pretend you’re playing a video game?” The mass murder of the 21st century couldn’t have been even remotely conceived of a few millennia ago.
War has become more deadly to persons but increasingly more depersonalized. Today, needless civilian deaths outweigh unnecessary military deaths by a 5 to 1 ratio, but are still referred to as: “Collateral damage.” Our military has become even further depersonalized by the utilization of paid mercenaries.
Not only is this kind of warfare taking a toll on civilians, but also military chaplains have reported that some of the “pilots” who control these weapons are having crises of conscience. Being me, I can’t conceive of sitting in a comfy room and dropping bombs on children, then going home to eat dinner with my children, or attend their Scouting meetings or sporting events. It is uplifting to know that some of our troops have consciences—I wish more would start to refuse these repugnant orders.
The Pentagon recently confirmed that even though US troops are moving out of Iraq, they would be replaced--sometimes by a two to one ratio--by mercenaries from such places as Uganda. This jaded nation of ours barely cares about the soldiers that are dying, how much less will we care about foreign paid mercenary killers and whether they have the right equipment or not?
The US Central Intelligence Agency collaborates with the Pakistani government to execute political enemies in the tribal regions of Pakistan, claiming that “al Qaeda” or “Taliban” leaders are being killed, when that is not the reality at all. While the government in Islamabad gives lip service to condemning CIA drone attacks, some of the drones are being launched from such airfields in Pakistan as Shamsi.
Currently the US is waging two undeclared wars with pre-emptive attacks in Yemen and promising tougher sanctions in Iran. US drones have been spotted over Venezuelan airspace. I predict that the escalating use of UAS’s will just make it easier to wage, not only illegal wars, but un-Constitutional wars, as well.
In US culture today, it’s just a short trip from the violent games on PlayStation and other video systems, to actually killing people with Slay-stations. We parents must be more proactive in banning violent games from our households.
SlayStation's game, Murder by Joystick, is just further moral bankruptcy from the Military Industrial Complex that, according to the UAF Flight Plan, is salivating and looking forward to the day when drones—using artificial intelligence—will carry nuclear weapons and won't need any direction from humans at all.
2047 is the target date for total Armageddon by UAS.
Note: When Bush was president there were 24 drone attacks in Pakistan from 2004-2008. In the 15 months that Obama has been president, there have been 72 attacks. Where’s the change?
© Islam Times
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
SOS FOR THE CRAWFORD PEACE HOUSE
Dear Friends,
On August 3, 2005, fourteen Marines from a reserve unit in Ohio were killed in Iraq--then president, George Bush, said that they, and all of the war dead, died for a "Noble Cause." I was sitting in my home in Vacaville, California watching the press conference where George said this, and when none of the reporters present asked him exactly what that "Noble Cause" was, I decided to go to Crawford and ask him myself.
I sent out an email stating my intention to go to Crawford, and a few hours later I received an email from one of the founders of the Crawford Peace House, Hadi Jawad, telling me that the Peace House would be at my disposal for that action. Well, that action turned into a movement. And even though on August 3rd, I had never even heard of the Crawford Peace House, the owner, Johnny Wolf, and its staff became an integral and indispensable part of the Camp Casey protests. 
During the protests, the Crawford Peace House welcomed and fed literally thousands of people and managed a large team of volunteers. It took tens of thousands of dollars to keep the protests going while Bush was president.
Even though the wars haven't ended and Bush is out of office, the "action" that turned into a movement is what changed the perceptions and attitudes of a nation.
Our vision for the Peace House would be for a Peace Museum and visitor center for people who want to come to Crawford and visit the historic sites of Camp Casey 1, 2, and 3, and store the vast amount of memorabilia, photos, and cherished mementos.
Now, my friends need help--I am copying a letter from the founder of the Crawford Peace House, Johnny Wolf.
Please contact Johnny directly if you can help!
Love and Peace
Cindy Sheehan
******************************
FROM JOHNNY WOLF:
The Best investment I ever made
Seven years ago, I made a down payment on a house in Crawford Texas. On Easter Sunday 2003, it became the Crawford Texas Peace House.
We committed to being there until Bush was out of the White House, and we kept that commitment. Those years were important years for me and for the peace movement.
For a little over a year we have had a new administration and the
wars we set out to stop continue and have to spread to Pakistan and still threaten Iran. The relevance of Crawford's Western White House and our resistance has all become a significant part of history.
No, the mortgage did not get paid. I have not been able to meet my financial obligations on the Peace House, and I am five payments behind.
The Peace House is scheduled for a Foreclosure Auction
on Tuesday morning on the steps of McLennan County Court House, April 6,
There is an offer to purchase the house for 10,000.00 less than what is owed. My personal situation will not allow me to take the offer. It needs a new owner
48,000.00 is owed on the mortgage .4,000.00 will bring it current and cover legal fees.
If you are interested in a future for the Peace House please email me at wolfishq@gmail.com
If an unfriendly entity purchases the house we will be served an
eviction notice and must vacate the premises
Thanks for all the Brave Souls that came here to make a difference.
In Peace and in Loving service,
Johnny Wolf
Co-founder, Crawford Texas Peace House
******************************
Monday, March 29, 2010
Why I Hate Palm Sunday first published in Islam Times
http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcg339x.ak9xy4j5ra.html
Six years ago, I woke up on Palm Sunday listening to the birds sing and already feeling that it was going to turn out to be a warm one.
I got up and was surprised that the constant anguish that I had been feeling for two weeks since my oldest son, Casey, was deployed to Iraq wasn’t that bad. I chalked it up to the beautiful spring day and the fact that my other children were safe and sound in their beds.
I went about my day doing laundry, shopping, going to brunch with my best friend at the time, and getting things ready for my impending workweek as a benefit’s analyst for the County of Napa. It was also the first Sunday in over two decades that our family didn’t go to mass on a Palm Sunday. Our separation from the church had already begun.
That idyllic day began to shatter to pieces at dinner time when I was watching the news with my husband, Casey’s father, and we saw a humvee burning and learned that eight soldiers had been killed in Iraq that day. The delicious dinner I was enjoying turned to lumps of crap in my mouth and I spit it on my plate and said, “One of them was Casey.” My husband, who probably knew as well, got very upset with me, but I knew. I just knew.
A few hours later, I was walking our dogs and sobbing all the way around our nightly route. I knew if Casey wasn’t dead that he was horribly wounded and our family was in for a lot of heartache.
When I rounded the corner, I saw that my oldest daughter, Carly, was already home from work—I was happy that she was home, but when I rounded the corner of the garage, I could see into my house, and what I saw was going to inalterably change my life forever: three Army officers standing in my living room—I ran into the house and saw the shocked looks on Carly and Pat’s faces, and I collapsed on the floor screaming hoping I could scream loud enough and long enough that my heart would physically shatter and I would die, too.
I obviously didn’t die, but I have never been the same. How can one go on the same when a very important part of ones life has been violently stolen?
My life will never be able to achieve April 3, 2004 status, again. Before I even camped out in Crawford and my life changed, it had already been turned upside down.
Palm Sunday was on April 04, 2004 that year—04/04/04—the date that will live in infamy to our family—and to the other families, American and Iraqi that were killed that day.
Six years and hundreds of antiwar events later, the wars rage on and people’s lives are still being destroyed.
My question was then, and will always be the same: “For what noble cause?”
Today, the new War Criminal in Chief call the war in Afghanistan, “absolutely essential,” when he was there on a surprise visit.
It’s absolutely essential for the war machine, but since US casualties have doubled in 2010, there have been and will continue to be mothers, fathers, and other loved ones all over this world who will marvel at how its possible to live with a heart that is so irreparably crushed.
I know it’s not Palm Sunday’s fault that Casey was killed. It is just another day that brings extra pain to my life where every day is filled with the pain of losing Casey.
Easter time is supposed to symbolize rebirth and new life. I was reborn on Palm Sunday in 2004, but the price was too steep. A price no parent should have to pay.
Sigh.
Six years ago, I woke up on Palm Sunday listening to the birds sing and already feeling that it was going to turn out to be a warm one.
I got up and was surprised that the constant anguish that I had been feeling for two weeks since my oldest son, Casey, was deployed to Iraq wasn’t that bad. I chalked it up to the beautiful spring day and the fact that my other children were safe and sound in their beds.
I went about my day doing laundry, shopping, going to brunch with my best friend at the time, and getting things ready for my impending workweek as a benefit’s analyst for the County of Napa. It was also the first Sunday in over two decades that our family didn’t go to mass on a Palm Sunday. Our separation from the church had already begun.
That idyllic day began to shatter to pieces at dinner time when I was watching the news with my husband, Casey’s father, and we saw a humvee burning and learned that eight soldiers had been killed in Iraq that day. The delicious dinner I was enjoying turned to lumps of crap in my mouth and I spit it on my plate and said, “One of them was Casey.” My husband, who probably knew as well, got very upset with me, but I knew. I just knew.
A few hours later, I was walking our dogs and sobbing all the way around our nightly route. I knew if Casey wasn’t dead that he was horribly wounded and our family was in for a lot of heartache.
When I rounded the corner, I saw that my oldest daughter, Carly, was already home from work—I was happy that she was home, but when I rounded the corner of the garage, I could see into my house, and what I saw was going to inalterably change my life forever: three Army officers standing in my living room—I ran into the house and saw the shocked looks on Carly and Pat’s faces, and I collapsed on the floor screaming hoping I could scream loud enough and long enough that my heart would physically shatter and I would die, too.
I obviously didn’t die, but I have never been the same. How can one go on the same when a very important part of ones life has been violently stolen?
My life will never be able to achieve April 3, 2004 status, again. Before I even camped out in Crawford and my life changed, it had already been turned upside down.
Palm Sunday was on April 04, 2004 that year—04/04/04—the date that will live in infamy to our family—and to the other families, American and Iraqi that were killed that day.
Six years and hundreds of antiwar events later, the wars rage on and people’s lives are still being destroyed.
My question was then, and will always be the same: “For what noble cause?”
Today, the new War Criminal in Chief call the war in Afghanistan, “absolutely essential,” when he was there on a surprise visit.
It’s absolutely essential for the war machine, but since US casualties have doubled in 2010, there have been and will continue to be mothers, fathers, and other loved ones all over this world who will marvel at how its possible to live with a heart that is so irreparably crushed.
I know it’s not Palm Sunday’s fault that Casey was killed. It is just another day that brings extra pain to my life where every day is filled with the pain of losing Casey.
Easter time is supposed to symbolize rebirth and new life. I was reborn on Palm Sunday in 2004, but the price was too steep. A price no parent should have to pay.
Sigh.
Peace Outlaws first published in Islam Times
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”
Henry David Thoreau
A week ago today, I was literally cooling my jets in a freezing cold DC jail for protesting the continuation of the illegal and immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For an offense (crossing a police line) that doesn’t even have any jail time associated with the penalty, if convicted, I stayed in jail for 50 hours. I was arrested with seven others and six of us had the similar fate of spending an unreasonable amount of time in jail for standing up for peace and justice.
After spending two nights in jail, we were taken to the court building where we spent another eight hours in a holding cell in leg shackles. When we were finally summoned to the traffic courtroom our wrists were shackled to chains wrapped around our waists.
During our unfortunate incarceration, two male members of the group had to go to the hospital for numbness in their hands and fingers because of the tightness of the handcuffs. After sleeping on cold concrete for 50 hours, Elaine Brower and I were cramping up in pain.
For minor infractions, we have to return to DC for a hearing on June 9th—since my charges don’t require jail time, and since I have already done 50 hours, I wonder what penalty will be imposed for my inevitable verdict of “guilty.”
While we were standing before the judge, we were also ordered to stay away from the White House as a condition of our release and the parameters were clearly defined and we were told that if we violated that “stay away order,” we would spend a mandatory “six months in jail.”
Six months in jail for walking on a sidewalk near the White House? Three of the people who were jailed for 50 hours had never even been arrested in DC before—and the other three of us have been arrested multiple times in front of the White House when George Bush was president and never had a stay away order imposed. As a matter of fact, activists in the DC area can’t even recall when a stay away order from the White House has ever been imposed.
Stay away orders from Capitol Hill have been liberally applied. My own daughter, Carly, had one for once interrupting a hearing with General Petraeus. Stay away orders seem on the surface to be as un-Constitutional as “free speech” zones, but our soft-core fascist state has continually ruled in favor of these limits on free speech saying that what we say can’t be limited, but where and when we say it, can. Consequently, protesting seems very futile if we can’t even get near the people or things we are protesting. Limiting the “where and when,” does severely limit our “what,” if no one can hear.
The day after I got out of jail, I decided to go to the Hill to attend a robotic warfare hearing and I quickly made a small sign that said: “Drones Kill Kids,” and I was holding it quietly in my lap as I listened to the testimony. Holding small signs is generally tolerated, if you don’t wave it, or hold it up and block anybody’s view. Having no intention of interrupting the hearing since I was interested in the topic, I was surprised when a staffer of the Chairman, John Tierney, approached me and told me to put the sign away, or I would be kicked out, along with my colleague, Josh Smith who was sitting next to me and also holding a sign.
I patiently explained to her that holding a sign was my right and I was being quiet and respectful. Sure enough, during the break, the Capital Hill police came to eject us from the hearing.
The next day, we found out that Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates were testifying on the 33 billion dollar supplemental war-funding bill. The hearing was changed from a Senate office building to the Capitol building and put into a small, small room. We decided that we would try to at least get close to the closed hearing to express our freedom of speech, so we headed to the Capitol and got in line at the visitor center.
About eight of us were in line for about three minutes when a phalanx of Capitol Hill police (including motorcycle and bike cops) approached us and asked what our “intentions” were. I said that if they didn’t ask everyone in line that same question, their presence and interrogation bordered on “harassment.” A female cop averred that she didn’t think it was “harassment”—isn’t that nice, a harasser doesn’t think she’s harassing?
After standing in line to get in, then standing in line to get a ticket for the Capitol Hill tour, and then watching a movie about our wonderful Congress and the wonderful things it does and has done, (even bragging about the brutal Indian Removal Act of 1830) we got into the Capitol and were followed by the same phalanx of cops. At one point, I peeled off and went up a staircase and a member of our group heard a cop say: “oh, oh, we lost Cindy.” Needless to say, we were all promptly rounded up and escorted out of the building.
I was told in the Park Police station by a cop that if I “stopped protesting, I wouldn’t have to keep going through this.” A member of the group that spent two days in jail was told that by one of the cops that he didn’t “like protesters.” I was told in the Capitol building—our House—that our freedoms were just “bullshit.”
As dissent is being more and more criminalized, we have to dissent more.
People, who support the establishment’s wars, whether on the fake right or the fake left, often tell me that my son was a hero who died for “our freedom and democracy.” Yet, his mother can’t even walk down the streets of the Empire’s capital without being arrested, or at the very least, harassed.
Pitiful.
The laws that are imposed on us are imposed from an illegitimate government that has lost its mind and like Henry David Thoreau said:
“Any fool can make a rule and any fool will mind it.”
When the laws are so limiting and arbitrarily applied, it is our duty to become Outlaws.
© Islam Times
Henry David Thoreau
A week ago today, I was literally cooling my jets in a freezing cold DC jail for protesting the continuation of the illegal and immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For an offense (crossing a police line) that doesn’t even have any jail time associated with the penalty, if convicted, I stayed in jail for 50 hours. I was arrested with seven others and six of us had the similar fate of spending an unreasonable amount of time in jail for standing up for peace and justice.
After spending two nights in jail, we were taken to the court building where we spent another eight hours in a holding cell in leg shackles. When we were finally summoned to the traffic courtroom our wrists were shackled to chains wrapped around our waists.
During our unfortunate incarceration, two male members of the group had to go to the hospital for numbness in their hands and fingers because of the tightness of the handcuffs. After sleeping on cold concrete for 50 hours, Elaine Brower and I were cramping up in pain.
For minor infractions, we have to return to DC for a hearing on June 9th—since my charges don’t require jail time, and since I have already done 50 hours, I wonder what penalty will be imposed for my inevitable verdict of “guilty.”
While we were standing before the judge, we were also ordered to stay away from the White House as a condition of our release and the parameters were clearly defined and we were told that if we violated that “stay away order,” we would spend a mandatory “six months in jail.”
Six months in jail for walking on a sidewalk near the White House? Three of the people who were jailed for 50 hours had never even been arrested in DC before—and the other three of us have been arrested multiple times in front of the White House when George Bush was president and never had a stay away order imposed. As a matter of fact, activists in the DC area can’t even recall when a stay away order from the White House has ever been imposed.
Stay away orders from Capitol Hill have been liberally applied. My own daughter, Carly, had one for once interrupting a hearing with General Petraeus. Stay away orders seem on the surface to be as un-Constitutional as “free speech” zones, but our soft-core fascist state has continually ruled in favor of these limits on free speech saying that what we say can’t be limited, but where and when we say it, can. Consequently, protesting seems very futile if we can’t even get near the people or things we are protesting. Limiting the “where and when,” does severely limit our “what,” if no one can hear.
The day after I got out of jail, I decided to go to the Hill to attend a robotic warfare hearing and I quickly made a small sign that said: “Drones Kill Kids,” and I was holding it quietly in my lap as I listened to the testimony. Holding small signs is generally tolerated, if you don’t wave it, or hold it up and block anybody’s view. Having no intention of interrupting the hearing since I was interested in the topic, I was surprised when a staffer of the Chairman, John Tierney, approached me and told me to put the sign away, or I would be kicked out, along with my colleague, Josh Smith who was sitting next to me and also holding a sign.
I patiently explained to her that holding a sign was my right and I was being quiet and respectful. Sure enough, during the break, the Capital Hill police came to eject us from the hearing.
The next day, we found out that Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates were testifying on the 33 billion dollar supplemental war-funding bill. The hearing was changed from a Senate office building to the Capitol building and put into a small, small room. We decided that we would try to at least get close to the closed hearing to express our freedom of speech, so we headed to the Capitol and got in line at the visitor center.
About eight of us were in line for about three minutes when a phalanx of Capitol Hill police (including motorcycle and bike cops) approached us and asked what our “intentions” were. I said that if they didn’t ask everyone in line that same question, their presence and interrogation bordered on “harassment.” A female cop averred that she didn’t think it was “harassment”—isn’t that nice, a harasser doesn’t think she’s harassing?
After standing in line to get in, then standing in line to get a ticket for the Capitol Hill tour, and then watching a movie about our wonderful Congress and the wonderful things it does and has done, (even bragging about the brutal Indian Removal Act of 1830) we got into the Capitol and were followed by the same phalanx of cops. At one point, I peeled off and went up a staircase and a member of our group heard a cop say: “oh, oh, we lost Cindy.” Needless to say, we were all promptly rounded up and escorted out of the building.
I was told in the Park Police station by a cop that if I “stopped protesting, I wouldn’t have to keep going through this.” A member of the group that spent two days in jail was told that by one of the cops that he didn’t “like protesters.” I was told in the Capitol building—our House—that our freedoms were just “bullshit.”
As dissent is being more and more criminalized, we have to dissent more.
People, who support the establishment’s wars, whether on the fake right or the fake left, often tell me that my son was a hero who died for “our freedom and democracy.” Yet, his mother can’t even walk down the streets of the Empire’s capital without being arrested, or at the very least, harassed.
Pitiful.
The laws that are imposed on us are imposed from an illegitimate government that has lost its mind and like Henry David Thoreau said:
“Any fool can make a rule and any fool will mind it.”
When the laws are so limiting and arbitrarily applied, it is our duty to become Outlaws.
© Islam Times
Sunday, March 28, 2010
In solidarity with Mathis Chiroux and Elaine Brower and support of burning the flag
March 28, 2010
To Whom it May Concern:
On Saturday, March 20th (before we were arrested for protesting the wars), my good friends, Mathis Chiroux from Iraq Veterans Against the War and Elaine Brower from Military Families Speak Out, burned an American flag on the stage at the protest rally in Lafayette Park.
Not only do I support this action along First Amendment lines, I also believe that the American flag represents nothing good right now.
Mathis is a war resister and Elaine's own son had three tours in Iraq. Now, both Mathis and Elaine, spend their lives trying to right the wrongs this nation has perpetrated against others in the name of imperial greed and power.
To me, the American flag represents the flag draped coffin that was my son, Casey's, last container home from Iraq when he was killed on April 04, 2004 in a war that has been proven to have been based on lies and one which has killed over one-million people in the seven years it has been immorally and illegally waged.
After burning the flag, Elaine and Mathis took their desire for peace even further and lay on the sidewalk of the White House and were arrested and spent two nights in DC jail.
Anyone who has a problem with burning an American flag has no concept of the human and civil rights that flag is supposed to represent.
If I knew about it, I would have been on that stage with them.
In peace and solidarity for a peaceful future,
Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan, KIA in Iraq 04 April, 2004
Executive Director of Peace of the Action (For identification purposes only)
To Whom it May Concern:
On Saturday, March 20th (before we were arrested for protesting the wars), my good friends, Mathis Chiroux from Iraq Veterans Against the War and Elaine Brower from Military Families Speak Out, burned an American flag on the stage at the protest rally in Lafayette Park.
Not only do I support this action along First Amendment lines, I also believe that the American flag represents nothing good right now.
Mathis is a war resister and Elaine's own son had three tours in Iraq. Now, both Mathis and Elaine, spend their lives trying to right the wrongs this nation has perpetrated against others in the name of imperial greed and power.
To me, the American flag represents the flag draped coffin that was my son, Casey's, last container home from Iraq when he was killed on April 04, 2004 in a war that has been proven to have been based on lies and one which has killed over one-million people in the seven years it has been immorally and illegally waged.
After burning the flag, Elaine and Mathis took their desire for peace even further and lay on the sidewalk of the White House and were arrested and spent two nights in DC jail.
Anyone who has a problem with burning an American flag has no concept of the human and civil rights that flag is supposed to represent.
If I knew about it, I would have been on that stage with them.
In peace and solidarity for a peaceful future,
Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan, KIA in Iraq 04 April, 2004
Executive Director of Peace of the Action (For identification purposes only)
INFO-PACKED SOAPBOX TODAY
Today, Cindy chats with Temir Porras who is the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for Venezuela. Mr. Porras is in charge of the Middle East and Asia.
Cindy and Mr. Porras talk about the difference in Foreign Policy between The Empire and Venezuela.
This is a very interesting and informative show.
It will be up at the website at 2pm Pacific.
*****************************
Todos Somos Americanos
If you ordered the DVD of our trip, we are shooting for a June 1st premiere date.
If you haven't pre-ordered it yet, there is still plenty of time.
Click on the image to pre-order.
to unsubscribe from this list, please send and email to: CindysSoapbox@gmail.com with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Transcript of Cindy Sheehan's Interview with Hugo Chavez
Transcript of Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Interview with President Hugo Chavez
Transcribed by Regina Freitag
Original Translation by Eva Golinger
Interviewer: Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan: Welcome to this video and audio audition of Cindy Sheehan’s SoapBox.
Presidente Chavez, thank you for being on the show, thank you for this interview and thank you for allowing me to bring the truth about Venezuela and about you and about your revolution to the people of the United States.
Before the revolution, Venezuela was a nation that was ruled and used up by the oligarchy, the elite. How did your revolution begin, how did it manage to remain relatively peaceful?
Hugo Chavez: Thank you Cindy, for this interview, for your efforts, that are so honorable and notable, to try to find out our truth and to contribute to its diffusion. And we wish you much luck in your struggles, which are ours as well, against war, for peace, for freedom and equality and against imperialism. We accompany you in your struggles. You and the people of the United States. We love them the same. The bourgeoisie of Venezuela has always dominated the country, for more than a hundred years. And they dominated it with force, using violence, persecution, assassination and disappearances. Unfortunately, the Venezuelan history is a history full of a lot of violence, violence from the strong against the weak. In the 20th century, Venezuela, which was dominated by the oligarchy and the bourgeois state, the rich, the wealthy, produced a reversed type of miracle, we could say. Venezuela was the first exporter of oil from the beginning of the 1920s until the 1970s. One of the largest producers of petroleum in the world throughout all the 20th century. And when the 20th century ended, with the domination of the bourgeoisie, despite all the wealth, Venezuela had more than 70% poverty and 40% extreme poverty, misery, misery, misery. So that generated an explosion, a violent one. All explosions are violent. An explosion of the poor, to liberate themselves. We were remembering just 2 days ago in Caracas. You were there with us, with our people. 21 years ago, the people woke, arose in a big explosion. And as military we were used by the bourgeoisie to massacre the people, children, women, and older people. And then that awoke something in the young military folks, a consciousness of pain and then we joined with the people. We had two rebellions, military rebellions, popular (inaudible ). A revolution isn’t exactly peaceful. As you said it was relatively peaceful.
Cindy Sheehan: Yes, relatively, yeah
Hugo Chavez: Just like all true revolutions.
Cindy Sheehan: But doesn’t the violence of revolutions sometimes come from the counter-revolution? And the Bolivarian revolution that has transferred power and wealth to the people is an inspiration and has remained relatively peaceful.
Hugo Chavez: Yes, we got the power in a peaceful way.
Cindy Sheehan: Right.
Hugo Chavez: Exactly, and we have been able to maintain it relatively peaceful. We’ve never used violence. They’ve used it against us. The counter-revolution. So the central strategy of our peaceful and socialist revolution is to transfer the power to the people. I’m sure you have been able to see some of it with your own eyes, in the neighborhoods of Caracas.
Cindy Sheehan: Yes I have.
Hugo Chavez: We have made efforts were to help the people to be sovereign. When we talk about power, what are we talking about, Cindy? The first power that we all have is knowledge. So we’ve made efforts first in education, against illiteracy, for the development of thinking, studying, analysis. In a way, that has never happened before. Today, Venezuela is a giant school, it’s all a school. From children of one year old until old age, all of us are studying and learning.
And then political power, the capacity to make decisions, the community councils, communes, the people’s power, the popular assemblies.
And then there is the economic power. Transferring economic power to the people, the wealth of the people distributed throughout the nation. I believe that is the principal force that precisely guarantees that the Bolivarian revolution continues to be peaceful.
Cindy Sheehan: Wonderful. In a speech the other day, you said that the United States demonizes you, demonizes Venezuela and the revolution. I of course have seen it with my own eyes and have been a defender of you and Venezuela and the revolution. Why do you think the Empire makes such a concerted effort to demonize you?
Hugo Chavez: I think for different reasons. But I came to the conclusion there is one particular strong reason, a big reason. They are afraid, the Empire is afraid. The Empire is afraid that the people of the United States might find out about the truth, they are afraid that something like that could erupt on their own territory. A Bolivarian movement. Or a Lincoln movement. A movement of citizens, conscious citizens with the goal to transform the system. Imperial fear killed Martin Luther King. The only way to stop him was to kill him and repressing the people of the United States. So, why do they demonize us? They know - those who direct the Empire – they know the truth. But they fear the truth. They fear the contagious effect. They fear a revolution in the United States. They fear an awakening of the people in the United States. And so that’s why they do everything they can. And they achieve it, relatively, that a lot of sectors in the United States see us as devils. No one wants to copy the devil.
Cindy Sheehan: Right.
Hugo Chavez: Unless they are devils too. And the people aren’t devils. The people are the voice of God.
Cindy Sheehan: Well, one of the biggest names they call you in the United States is dictator. Can you explain to my listeners and the people, for the benefit of this documentary why you are not a dictator?
Hugo Chavez: In the first place, personally, I am against dictatorships. I’m an anti-dictator. We are here in Uruguay, in Montevideo. You know how many dictatorships were in this country. The Guerilla army. I’m an anti-Guerilla. In addition to that, from a political point of view, I’ve been elected one, two, three, four times, by popular vote. In Venezuela, we have elections all the time. Every year, we have elections in Venezuela. One time, Lula, the president of Brazil… when he was in Europe, someone asked him “Why are you friends with that dictator Chavez?” And Lula said a big truth: “In Venezuela, there is an excess of democracy. Every year there are elections. And if there aren’t any, Chavez invents them. Referendums, popular consultations, elections for governors, mayors. Right now, soon we are starting national assembly elections, this year. In 2012 there is going to be a presidential election again. What dictator is elected so many times? What dictator convenes referendums? I’m an anti-dictator. I am a revolutionary. A democratic revolutionary.
Cindy Sheehan: Well, I have witnessed this revolution. I’ve witnessed the empowerment of the people of Venezuela, which is very inspiring, because the people in the United States don’t feel this empowerment. I even rode the Metrocable, and I’m afraid of heights. But I went out to San Augustin and then walked down the steps and saw how that so-called dictatorship has made the life of the people much better here in Venezuela. Also in the commemoration of the Caracazo you announced that you will again going to run for president in 2012. You’ve come a long way, but there is still a long way to go. What do you still think needs to be accomplished as far as infrastructure and the needs of the people in Venezuela?
Hugo Chavez: To tell you in a mathematical way, despite everything we’ve done in education, healthcare, infrastructure, housing, employment, social security, etc., mathematically, I believe, of everything we’ve done and we have to achieve for the people, we have achieved about 10%. It’s been 200 years of abandonment. The people have been abandoned. All the wealth of the country was in the hands of the elite. We talk about the bicentennial cycle, 2010 to 2030, we have to work really hard. In every aspect, infrastructure etc. I hope that you, in a few years, won’t just go up in the metrocable in San Augustin, but all of Caracas is going to have metrocables, and everywhere, every place, housing, reconstruction in poor neighborhoods, the construction of new cities for the people and dignified housing, there is still a lot to do, to achieve what Simon Bolivar said. Bolivar taught us...
(Pres. Evo Morales comes in)
Hugo Chavez: Oh look! Evo is here. Evo, come and sit down! Bolivar taught us that the best government is the one that gives the people the best amount of happiness. That’s our goal. The best, the largest amount of happiness.
My friend Evo, the president of Bolivia, who just got here, he is an indigenous leader! Brother how are you?
Evo Morales: Good, good.
Cindy Sheehan: Presidente Morales. Mucho gusto. So nice to meet you.
Hugo Chavez (introduces Cindy): Cindy Sheehan. She is a fighter for peace, against the war. She is a US citizen. One of her sons died in Iraq. So, she’s interviewing us. And maybe you want to answer a question.
Evo Morales: (gives Indian blessing)
Hugo Chavez: To live well. It’s a Mala Indian philosophy. To live well, a good live. To live well, spiritually, intellectually, physically, that’s what it’s about.
Cindy Sheehan: Thank you, that’s what it should be about. I have one final question.
Thank you for your generosity. This has been really wonderful. Maybe Presidente Morales could have some input about this too. We see your rise to power in Venezuela as kind of a grassroots movement that has been spreading and has helped President Morales in Bolivia, and we see people all over South America taking back the power. Because the power belongs in the hands of the people. A couple of weeks ago in the United States, a man flew his airplane into the tax building in Austin, Texas. Did you hear about that?
Evo Morales/ Hugo Chavez: Yes.
Cindy Sheehan: There is much frustration with the system. And there is a lot of that frustration in the United States. But instead of flying planes into buildings we should find each other and organize. In the United States of course, we are now a system that is also for the elite, ruled by the elite, it’s a “corporatocracy”, it’s for the corporate elite. Of course, in my opinion, I believe the United States need the same grassroots revolution, power back to the people, that you’ve all had here in South America. Can you give us some words of inspiration to encourage us, to give us the courage and heart for a true revolutionary change?
Hugo Chavez: We were the same, dominated, persecuted, and also there was a lot of desperation, just like that man who flew the plane into the building. There is a lot of that, of lot of those impulses, suicidal tendencies. Now, that’s NOT the path. The path is consciousness, a conscious awakening. Evo was persecuted, from very young, I met him when he was an Assembly member, and they threw him out of Congress, and they persecuted him, they jailed him, a lot of his fellow strugglers died. And us too, we had our own experiences. A lot of our brothers died as well, a lot of us went to prison. But consciousness. That’s why you’re doing the right thing. The path is not to fly a plane into a building. It’s to create consciousness. And then the rest will come on its own. I’d like to take this moment to say hello to people of the United States. And us here in the South, we have a lot of faith. And the people in the North are going to wake up. Just like you have woken. Just like many have had an awakening. You can do great changes in the United States, and in a peaceful way, I hope. Because, what happens in the United States, those changes in the United States depend a lot...the future of the world depends on that a lot.
(Pres. Chavez addresses Pres. Morales) Evo, would you like to say something?
Cindy Sheehan: Please!
Evo Morales: I just finished a meeting with Eduardo Galliano.
Cindy Sheehan: Oh, I know him.
Evo Morales: He’s so inspirational with the people, about nature. Galliano is also going to the inauguration of Pepe Mujica. (Pres. Morales and Pres. Chavez talk to each other.) And he’s going to bring some strategies, proposals, and we’re going to have a meeting with Galliano and the cocoa workers ...
Cindy Sheehan: Oh. Very wonderful.
Evo Morales: To talk about equality and our experiences. The difficult things, how to unite us and to raise our consciousness. What you’re talking about. The power resides with the people. I was just with Commandante Borhez, Thomas Borhez from Nicaragua. We were talking about issues of consciousness in Peru, in Colombia, on how to build a big political movement. But the issue is unity. In my experience, first the (inaudible), the marginalized, we united first, the farmers and the indigenous. And from that it went on. Just like that unity, we need to do that with the political parties on the left and then the workers unite. Those are the forces that we have, the power that the people have. To get there is hard, you have to raise consciousness.
Cindy Sheehan: My documentary is called “We are all Americans”. It comes from when I was being interviewed on Fox News and Sean Hannity told me how could I meet with the anti-American dictator Hugo Chavez. And I said: ”But Sean, he is an American”. We are all Americans and that’s where the consciousness has to be raised and the unity has to come from in realizing that.
And so, it’s been my highest honor to sit with you, Presidente, thank you for your hospitality and that of Venezuela and to finally meet you. I was invited to Bolivia to help to support you for your recall, but I was running for Congress against Nazi policy in the United States. It was a bad time. I lost. (laughs) I didn’t win.
Hugo Chavez: But we will prevail.
Cindy Sheehan: We will be victorious. Thank you so much.
Hugo Chavez: We have to end, but I want to say something to you. Just about 5 days ago, we were in Cancun. We were on our way out from the hotel and the press was there, and there were some tourists - from California. So I went up to them and I said hi to a woman and her child and another woman. A lot of affection. It was spontaneous. And then I told my friends. I found tourists. I found US tourists. Older adults, young women, men, adolescents. I’ve met with them in Japan, Moscow, Beijing, in the Caribbean, everywhere in the world, in Buenos Aires. I’ve never felt one look of hate, but rather affection, so I think that despite everything, I believe the people of the United States in the depths of their hearts, they know how to appreciate where lies are and where the truth is. That’s why we have such hope. And here is my heart for those people of the United States. They call us anti-US-leaders, anti-American leaders, but we are not. We are anti-imperialist. But we love the people of the United States. We love humanity.
Cindy Sheehan: Muchas Gracias!
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