Show a Little Mercy; Free the Cuban Five! by Cindy Sheehan

Show a Little Mercy

Free the Cuban Five!

Cindy Sheehan

Nothing can make injustice just but mercy.
Robert Frost

For quite some time, I have been involved in the call to free the “Hikers,” Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, from Iranian prison. I put “Hikers” in quotation marks, because this is the term they have become known by in the media—not because I believe there was anything more nefarious in their actions. I was first contacted by Josh’s brother, and subsequently have gotten to know Shane’s mother, Cindy Hickey better—I even once had her on my radio show, Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox.

I was delighted on September 21st, the day Shane and Josh, convicted of spying and given a eight year sentence, were shown the highest mercy by the country of Iran and released. I had been invited to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in NYC that day, but financial circumstances prevented me from making a last minute trip from California. I wish I had been able to go to thank him personally, but while I was not in NYC, I was at my home in California basically doing a deathwatch for Troy Anthony Davis who was ultimately “lynched” by the State of Georgia for the 1989 murder of a cop that he most likely he did not commit. However, I have noticed a pattern, if a cop is killed, someone must die—it doesn’t really matter if that person is actually the one that committed the murder.

In another recent case, two Fullerton, California cops beat Kelly Thomas, a homeless and mentally ill man, (who was begging for his life and for his dad to help him) to death on the 5th of July and Kelly died five days later on the 10th—a crime that was videotaped by passersby with cell phone cameras AND a transit camera because the incident occurred at a bus station. The charges against these murderers for a heinous crime were essentially slaps on the wrist, á la Johannes Meserle, the assassin of unarmed, Oscar Grant. What is the common thread in the above cases? The state kills “Cop Killers,” and Killer Cops literally get away with their murders. Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli the murderers of Kelly Thomas, are on paid administrative leave—the taxpayers are funding their little paid vacation (with full benefits intact).

Besides the cruelty of the police state killings of Kelly Thomas and Oscar Grant and more recently a young black man, Kenneth Harding, who didn’t have evidence of paying his MUNI fare in San Francisco, the cops surely must know that their crimes will be videotaped in this age of almost universal citizen access to this technology—yet the police state still commits its crimes supremely confident in the knowledge that they will assuredly “get away” with them. That’s a bone-chilling thought!

To me, the guilt or innocence of a person is not what’s important in the issue of capital punishment—what’s important is that the use of this state murder is barbaric and needs to end. Troy Anthony Davis was not shown mercy by the State of Georgia, or by the Barbaric State of America. Kelly Thomas and Kenneth Harding were tragically not shown mercy by members of the police sate, but the cops will be shown plenty of that elusive virtue because it's usually only reserved for the wealthy or members of this police state.

The day that the Hikers were released, the Prez of this country said, “I am thrilled. They never should have been in prison in the first place.” Well, I would like to tell you about FIVE men currently languishing in US Federal Prison who never should be there, "in the first place," either. It’s the little known case of the Cuban Five, or the “Five Heroes” as they are referred to in Cuba.

Many acts of terrorism against Cuba have been planned from the right-wing Cuban exile community in Miami. These terrorists have killed thousands of Cubans and so the Cuban Five, as they would come to be known, were sent to the US to infiltrate this terrorist cell based in South Florida so as to be able to transmit messages back to Cuba to save lives in their homeland.

René González, Ramón Labaniño, Fernando González, Antonío Guerrero and Gerardo Hernández left their families to go to the US. 

To make a long story short, in an act of good will, Cuban authorities decided to share information gathered by the Five with the FBI, and instead of rounding up the real terrorists, the Five were rounded up, put on trial in a kangaroo court in Miami where a fair trial was just not possible and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

The Five Heroes did nothing against the US and never gathered any intelligence against our government—yet they have been in prison since 1998.

I have met their mothers, wives and children all over the world and I have also been in solidarity with the movement to free the Five for several years.

I know that President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela used his good influence with President Ahmadinejad of Iran (in fact, as I am told, worked harder than the US did for the Hikers’ freedom) and I am wondering after so many have called for the release of the Five if there’s any humanitarian that the leaders of this nation would listen to? Of course, the “Communist Dictator,” Hugo Chávez, has no influence here in the US—he himself is on the same path of demonization that Castro, Ahmadinejad, Qaddafy, et al, are on.

The Cuban Five never should have been in prison, either and 13 years is a long time for innocent men to be incarcerated.

It’s time for Obama to show the same mercy as was just shown two of our innocent citizens by Iran and send the Five Heroes home to their families.

It’s not only the humane thing to do; it’s the just thing to do.


FURTHER READING:


FIDEL CASTRO CALLS OBAMA, "STUPID."


BLACK YOUTH GUNNED DOWN BY SF POLICE


FULLERTON OFFICERS CHARGED IN BEATING DEATH

President Chavez's Letter to the UN on Palestinian Statehood.

Miraflores, September 17, 2011

His Excellency, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations

Mr. Secretary General:

Distinguished representatives of the peoples of the world:

I address these words to the United Nations General Assembly, to this great forum that represents all the people of earth, to ratify, on this day and in this setting, Venezuela’s full support of the recognition of the Palestinian State: of Palestine’s right to become a free, sovereign and independent state. This represents an act of historic justice towards a people who carry with them, from time immemorial, all the pain and suffering of the world.

In his memorable essay The Grandeur of Arafat, the great French philosopher Gilles Deleuze wrote with the full weight of the truth: The Palestinian cause is first and foremost the set of injustices that these people have suffered and continue to suffer. And I dare add that the Palestinian cause also represents a constant and unwavering will to resist, already written in the historic memory of the human condition. A will to resist that is born of the most profound love for the earth. Mahmoud Darwish, the infinite voice of the longed-for Palestine, with heartfelt conscience speaks about this love: We don’t need memories/ because we carry within us Mount Carmelo/ and in our eyelids is the herb of Galilee./ Don’t say: If only we could flow to my country like a river!/ Don’t say that!/ Because we are in the flesh of our country/ and our country is in our flesh.

Against those who falsely assert that what has happened to the Palestinian people is not genocide, Deleuze himself states with unfaltering lucidity: From beginning to end, it involved acting as if the Palestinian people not only must not exist, but had never existed. It represents the very essence of genocide: to decree that a people do not exist; to deny them the right to existence.

In this regard, the great Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo is quite right when he forcefully states: The biblical promise of the land of Judea and Samaria to the tribes of Israel is not a notarized property contract that authorizes the eviction of those who were born and live on that land. This is precisely why conflict resolution in the Middle East must, necessarily, bring justice to the Palestinian people; this is the only path to peace.

It is upsetting and painful that the same people who suffered one of the worst examples of genocide in history have become the executioners of the Palestinian people: it is upsetting and painful that the heritage of the Holocaust be the Nakba. And it is truly disturbing that Zionism continues to use the charge of anti-Semitism as blackmail against those who oppose their violations and crimes. Israel has, blatantly and despicably, used and continues to use the memory of the victims. And they do so to act with complete impunity against Palestine. It’s worth mentioning that anti-Semitism is a Western, European, scourge in which the Arabs do not participate. Furthermore, let’s not forget that it is the Semite Palestine people who suffer from the ethnic cleansing practiced by the Israeli colonialist State.

I want to make myself clear: It is one thing to denounce anti-Semitism, and an entirely different thing to passively accept that Zionistic barbarism enforces an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people. From an ethical standpoint those who denounce the first, must condemn the second.

A necessary digression: it is frankly abusive to confuse Zionism with Judaism. Throughout time we have been reminded of this by several Jewish intellectuals such as Albert Einstein and Erich Fromm. And today there are an ever increasing number of conscientious citizens, within Israel itself, who openly oppose Zionism and its criminal and terrorist practices.

We must spell it out: Zionism, as a world vision, is absolutely racist. Irrefutable proof of this can be seen in these words written with terrifying cynicism by Golda Meir: How are we to return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people. It is not as people think, that there existed a people called Palestinians, who considered themselves as Palestinians, and that we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist."

It is important to remember that: from the end of the 19th century, Zionism called for the return of the Jewish people to Palestine and the creation of a national state of its own. This approach was beneficial for French and British colonialism, as it would later be for Yankee imperialism. The West has always encouraged and supported the Zionist occupation of Palestine by military means.

Read and reread the document historically known as the Balfour Declaration of 1917: the British Government assumed the legal authority to promise a national home in Palestine to the Jewish people, deliberately ignoring the presence and wishes of its inhabitants. It should be added that Christians and Muslims lived in peace for centuries in the Holy Land up until the time when Zionism began to claim it as its complete and exclusive property.

Let’s not forget that beginning in the second decade of the 20th century, Zionism started to develop its expansionist plans by taking advantage of the colonial British occupation of Palestine. By the end of World War II, the Palestinian people’s tragedy worsened, with their expulsion from their territory and, at the same time, from history. In 1947, the despicable and illegal UN resolution 181 recommends dividing Palestine into a Jewish State, an Arab State, and an area under international control (Jerusalem and Belem). Shamefully, 56 percent of the territory was granted to Zionism to establish its State. In fact, this resolution violated international law and blatantly ignored the will of the vast Arab majority: the right to self-determination of the people became a dead letter. 

From 1948 to date, the Zionist State has continually applied its criminal strategy against the Palestinian people with the constant support of its unconditional ally, the United States of America. This unconditional allegiance is clearly observed by the fact that Israel directs and sets US international policy for the Middle East. That’s why the great Palestinian and universal conscience Edward Said stated that any peace agreement built on the alliance with the United States would be an alliance that confirms Zionist power, rather than one that confronts it.

Now then: contrary to what Israel and the United States are trying to make the world believe through transnational media outlets, what happened and continues to happen in Palestine —using Said’s words— is not a religious conflict, but a political conflict, with a colonial and imperialist stamp. It did not begin in the Middle East, but rather in Europe.

What was and continues to be at the heart of the conflict?: debate and discussion has prioritized Israel’s security while ignoring Palestine’s. This is corroborated by recent events; a good example is the latest act of genocide set off by Israel during its Operation Molten Lead in Gaza.

Palestine’s security cannot be reduced to the simple acknowledgement of a limited self-government and self-policing in its “enclaves” along the west bank of the Jordan and in the Gaza Strip. This ignores the creation of the Palestinian State, in the borders set prior to 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital; and the rights of its citizens and their self-determination as a people. This further disregards the compensation and subsequent return to the Homeland of 50 percent of the Palestinian people who are scattered all over the world, as established by resolution 194.

It's unbelievable that a country (Israel) that owes its existence to a general assembly resolution could be so disdainful of the resolutions that emanate from the UN, said Father Miguel D’Escoto when pleading for the end of the massacre against the people of Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.
Mr. Secretary General and distinguished representatives of the peoples of the world:

It is impossible to ignore the crisis in the United Nations. In 2005, before this very same General Assembly, we argued that the United Nations model had become exhausted. The fact that the debate on the Palestinian issue has been delayed and is being openly sabotaged reconfirms this.

For several days, Washington has been stating that, at the Security Council, it will veto what will be a majority resolution of the General Assembly: the recognition of Palestine as a full member of the UN. In the Statement of Recognition of the Palestinian State, Venezuela, together with the sister Nations that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), have denounced that such a just aspiration could be blocked by this means. As we know, the empire, in this and other instances, is trying to impose its double standard on the world stage: Yankee double standards are violating international law in Libya, while allowing Israel to do whatever it pleases, thus becoming the main accomplice of the Palestinian genocide being carried out by the hands of Zionist barbarity. Edward Said touched a nerve when he wrote that: Israeli interests in the United States have made the US’ Middle East policy Israeli-centric.

I would like to conclude with the voice of Mahmoud Darwish in his memorable poem On This Earth: We have on this earth what makes life worth living: On this earth, the lady of earth, Mother of all beginnings/ Mother of all ends. She was called… Palestine./ Her name later became… Palestine./ My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.

It will continue to be called Palestine: Palestine will live and overcome! Long-live free, sovereign and independent Palestine!

Hugo Chávez Frías

President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Source: MINCI

It's OUR Soapbox! Two listeners submit their news pieces to the Soapbox!

It's Your Turn (Up on the Soapbox)!  Click here to listen or download, beginning at 2:00 PM San Francisco time.  Today, (Sunday, September 25th) the subject is the star of the show.  Cindy welcomes two contributors who sound off!  She features reports contributed by each of these gracious journalists, one from James Rhodes, and the other from Lisa Barr.  Jim leads off with his interview of displaced Californian expatriate Rick Peltier, formerly a licensed building contractor in that state who had the good sense to get out - while the getting was still good!  This interview was conducted in Hanoi, the once feared Communist domino capitol - which Rick says is now a wonderful and peaceful place to live.  Lisa follows up with an OUSTANDING report, discussing the corporate stranglehold on our political process and the social chaos and devastation that engenders.  She proposes and advocates evidence-based social policies.  (Do we instead currently feature "the best democracy money can buy"?) 

3.00/Month: Less Than One-Soy Latte!

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Dear Friend,


Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox is one of the most radical and unusual radio show/blogs on the internet today.


Each week, Cindy presents amazingly interesting guests with viewpoints that are counter-cultural (which is a great thing) as well as just plain commonsensical. 


Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox counts on the listeners of the radio show and readers of the blog to sustain the project.


If even 500 people pledged less than the price of one cup of coffee per month--3.00--we could keep the show/blog going AND with more pledges, we could maybe even expand to more shows per week, longer shows, live shows...really, the sky's the limit--but limited by lack of funds.


Let's get 500 people to pledge 3.00/month--or you can make a one-time donation here by clicking this link.


Peace, truth, love & revolution!


Cindy Sheehan

We Are all Troy Davis (Written September 21)

On the ironically named International Peace Day, our country is being "led" (really, I think presidents just do what they are told and the same entities have been in charge since the beginning) by a Nobel Peace Laureate who is in more conflicts than most analysts can count; denies Palestinians the same human rights as Israelis, is getting ready to murder Troy Davis (whenever this state murders anybody--we all lose some of our humanity), and is committing economic terrorism here in our own country.

International Peace Day was instituted by the United Nations in 2002 and it seems that since then the global situation has deteriorated with the US Empire's War OF Terror against the world and the United Nations seems to exist to legitimize those wars and to give Israel a free pass when it commits crimes against humanity in Palestine.

For what it's worth, the only thing I think that we can do at this point is to create healthy systems outside of the ones that are currently oppressing and killing us. This can't save Troy Davis and the people who are being occupied and killed have an urgent need to protect and defend themselves, but the truism of Peace Begins With You has never been more valid. Even in my own case, my son Casey would still be alive if we didn't trust the system that killed him.

Most of us teach our children "well" that violence is not the way to solve problems by using our words and other coping skills when faced with issues. Even considering that most of the "problems" that the U.S. sets out to solve are manufactured or greatly exaggerated, we are constantly bombarded by the State and its propaganda branches of CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox that violence is just about the only acceptable way for problems to be solved. Top down violence from this nation is the overwhelming rule and not the exception and one is considered a lunatic in this truly Orwellian paradigm if a different perspective is proposed.

Shifting paradigms can only originate out of the grassroots and civil societies, so a few years ago, my non-profit, Peace of the Action, proposed a people's solution to war and violence called the International People's Declaration of Peace (IPDOP)--signed by Yoko Ono Lennon and others.
Love & Peace

Cindy Sheehan

TODAY I AM TROY DAVIS AND IT'S NOT TOO LATE.
CLICK HERE
and HERE

BARBARISM BREEDS BARBARISM by Cindy Sheehan

My heart is very heavy as I write this--in three days (Sept. 21), people around the world will be commemorating International Peace Day and the state of Georgia has scheduled the execution of Troy Anthony Davis.

There is much evidence that Davis is not guilty of the murder, with the majority of the witnesses recanting, or saying undue pressure was put on them.

However, the guilt or innocence of Davis is not the immediate point, whether he is guilty or not, our nation has no right to execute anybody--whether here in the US, or in far away places. Is the state so bloodthirsty to take other lives because it hates competition and wants a monopoly on murder?

I saw the mother of the slain police officer on the news today and my heart ached for her as she thinks that executing Troy will bring her some "peace." As the mother of a murdered son, I really don't think more death brings peace. I have been told by people like Hillary Clinton, John McCain and John Q. Public that my son's death must be avenged by murdering more people to "honor his sacrifice." I would love to realize justice for Casey's murder and the murder of millions of more people killed by my country, but even if someone did go on trial for Casey's murder--a monster like Dick Cheney, George Bush, or Donny Rumsfeld--I still wouldn't clamor for their executions. I am not a barbarian like the US Empire. Vengeance is not justice and I don't think anything good can come from it.

Please click this link for more information on Troy Anthony Davis and make as big a stink as you can for clemency. I know this state is not known for its compassion, but we must be loud and clear about our feelings.

Even though we have a great show this week with anti-nuke activist, Michael Leonardi talking about the victory in Italy and the planned national day of action here on October 1st, it may also be a good time to listen, or re-listen to the show I did with my guest, anti-death penalty activist and actor, Mike Ferrell--please click this link for the archived show.

Go to www.CindySheehansSoapbox.com at 2pm pacific time today (or anytime thereafter) to listen to the show with Michael Leonardi and how you can find out if there is an anti-nuke action planned near you on October 1, and if there isn't, how you can perhaps plan one.

Love & Peace
Cindy Sheehan

SOAPBOX LISTENER REFLECTIONS FROM JEFF AND KAREN HAY

TWELVE STEP PROGRAM FOR THE TRIANGULATED

JEFF AND KAREN HAY

As with all 12 Step Programs aimed at releasing the hopelessly addicted and delusional the first step is ending denial.  

In the case of being triangulated by Slick Willy Clinton in the '90's, Al Gore in 2000, and Barack Obama is 2008 the principle of triangulation has remained the same - those who call themselves liberals and progressives have nowhere to go and no one to vote for other than the Democratic candidate no matter how far to the right the candidate moves.  

Those being triangulated protect themselves from despair and disillusionment by excuse making, apologetics, and denial.  So when Presidential Candidate U.S. Senator Barack Obama said that he would filibuster any attempt to give the Telecoms retroactive immunity (by which he apparently meant he would silently filibuster to himself) and shortly thereafter not only did he not filibuster he voted for retroactive immunity, liberals and progressives made excuses.  

After he was elected and threw the Union Card Check under the bus faster than you could say, "Reverend Wright;" liberals and progressives made excuses.  

When President Obama escalated the unmanned drone attacks on Pakistan (Af-Pak became the cutesy brand name) and the accompanying slaughter of innocent human beings accelerated, liberals and progressives made excuses.  

When he ramped up Bush's bailout for banksters and teamed up with Summers, Geithner and the rest of the Goldman Sachs' minions, when he gave the robo finger to those being foreclosed upon by his bankster campaign sponsors, when he showed that there were trillions of dollars available instantly for his Wall Street campaign buddies, when he threw Van Jones under the bus (after the trillions to Wall Street there was no money for Green jobs anyway), when he didn't close Guantanamo, continued kidnapping (extraordinary rendition) to countries that torture -thereby continuing the torture, when he took prosecution of Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and every other war criminal from the Bush regime off the table, when he won the Nobel Peace Prize and celebrated by escalating the Afghanistan war and rebranding the Iraq war and moving on to more war in Yemen and Somalia and Libya, when he threw Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Protection Agency under the bus, when he let BP run the Gulf oil disaster cover-up (a.k.a. clean up), when he scuttled the Copenhagen climate talks, when he made it perfectly clear that his policy towards the Palestinians would be at least as bad as Bush's, when he pushed for more government subsidized nuclear power plants before Fukushima had even finished blowing up, when he okay'd new deep water oil wells in the Gulf, when entirely unprompted and unpressured by Republicans the POTUS set up his "Deficit Commission" whose task it was and is to rationalize cuts to Social Security and Medicare (if not to fulfill Clinton's wet dream of privatizing Social Security), when with his Republican buddies he held the nation hostage over his phony deadline to default, when he decided he had the power to command extrajudicial assassinations of American citizens, when he continued the Patriot Act, when he decided those unlawfully detained in Guantanamo can be unlawfully kept there forever, when he pronounced Bradley Manning, who he is torturing, guilty without a trial, when he came up with his "health care" plan of, by and for the benefit of his Insurance corporation and Pharmaceutical corporation campaign financiers - simultaneously throwing Quentin Young (Obama's one time personal physician) and all single payer advocates under the bus, when he had Michelle plant a tiny organic garden at the White House while putting Monsanto genetic engineering promoters in every position of power related to US Agriculture, when he deported more human beings than even Bush, when he prosecuted more whistle blowers than even Bush, and while he continues and escalates Bush's saber rattling and war mongering and contempt for all things Constitutional - the liberals and progressives who have been blatantly triangulated continue to believe rather than facing their illusions, hitting bottom and breaking free of denial--and of course will end up voting again for him despite vociferous righteous indignation over the same offenses committed by George W. Bush - as he "is still better than Michele Bachman, Rick Perry or Mitt Romney".  

P.S.  Lest we forget when Obama "nationalized the auto industry" he didn't use the opportunity to create a new mission for the industry making high speed trains (a job which he off-shored to Spain - contracting out billions of dollars of high speed trains that could have been built here) Obama used the opportunity to demand cuts from Labor.  And speaking of Labor he also made damn sure the protestors in Wisconsin did not get any support from the Democratic Party hierarchy - a clear signal to Jerry Brown in California and Andrew Cuomo in New York to follow the same "austerity" measures so beloved by Scott Walker in Wisconsin.  

P.S.S.  Obama did, in all fairness, create or extend Bush's jobs program for people of color within the prison industrial complex.

Phyllis Benis often refers to Barack Obama as a "different type of President" (this especially concerning foreign policy - aka war). Barbara Lee and Barbara Ehrenreich proudly call him "calm", "thoughtfully deliberating" and of course he is -  which a judge in a court of law could tell you differentiates him from his hot tempered reactionary predecessor who could be found not guilty by reason of insanity while Barack would have to be found to be a cold blooded premeditated murderer.  Who knew when Barack said he wanted to "change the mindset that leads to war" that he meant he would blow their brains out.

So let's all remember that having the insipid criteria of "anybody but Bush" can lead us to have someone better, or in this case, someone worse.

Jeff and Karen Hays have been in Santa Cruz, Ca for the past few years and are trying to connect with the type of community building that Revolutionary Communities have been covering lately.  Jeff and Karen became aware of Cindy and Casey Sheehan back when Casey's mom camped out in Crawford.  They saw Cindy's courage galvanize the anti-war movement and then sadly watched as many within it distanced themselves from her (and people like the Hays) who felt that Democrats and Republicans and everyone else should be held to the same standard as Bush was held to.  

Prior to 2004, the Hays were in New Zealand for five years and had a front row seat to see how neo-liberal economics and its accompanying "structural adjustment" destroys the many for the benefit of the few.  Jeff and Karen fought against it there and being US citizens decided to come back to the belly of the beast and fight it here.  It's crazy to watch the same movie play out here (i.e. "austerity") that brought such disparity to New Zealand.  

REVCOM VIDEOS FROM THE STOP IN HOOD RIVER, OREGON

These videos below were recorded as part of a 10 day long bus trip across the West Coast. 


Cindy Sheehan and her Radical Vet supporters traveled in the veteran owned and operated Squadron13 Anti-War bus out of Eugene, Oregon, visiting seven communities; Eugene, Hood River, Newport, Arcata, Garberville, Fresno and Oakhurst in a quest to find a new and more effective kinds of activism.

Please feel free to distribute this list unedited and in whole, or any or all of the videos directly via electronic means. Note that any of the videos may be "embedded" on your website by using the YouTube embed code available at each vid.

Here are the videos from Hood River! More to come!


Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan talks about RevCom, our trip, our problems and our future.

9 minutes
http://youtu.be/2cPsFTEhHrg

Sprouts, a middle school program


Maria McHale, educator from Wy'east, shares her passion with the SPROUTS program at her school where composting is as matter of fact, as is having students growing the vegetables to make salsa which is then available at their cafeteria, or selling many variety of veggie plants in the Spring.


6 minutes
http://youtu.be/s1l1Hx_lyOg

Aaron Morehouse on education


Aaron Morehouse, Executive Director of Columbia Gorge Ecology Institute, informs on his role with view of changes in education and what he does in the schools (SECRETS Program) and out of the school. He describes the need for children to be exposed to nature/the outdoors, and how societal influences have led to children being plugged into the screen and into a sedentary lifestyle which negatively affects their health and intelligence.


18 minutes
http://youtu.be/CBwaBLjJxyQ

Dr. Doug Lyon, on medicine

Doug Lyon, executive Director of LaClinica, compared the past models of providing medical service to people ( we have four similar hospitals in the Gorge that have to prove themselves to get costumers) to what is needed to provide the current intensive medical care. LaClinica provides care to the underserved, uninsured, migrants/seasonal farmworkers, as well as those who have insurance. Their staff primarily works there because they believe in the mission, not because the pay is competitive.
32 minutes
http://youtu.be/AnbwMQw-BUc

FISH, a local food bank


Billy Stevens, FISH's (our local food bank) public relations coordinator, spoke on the changes she has seen in the increase of need and response to that need.


7 minutes
http://youtu.be/EP96fJ7pC9A

Gorge Grown, localized food


Ann Kramer provided an overview of how the Gorge Grown supports local farms and consumers to be healthy and have better access to food grown locally.


8 minutes
http://youtu.be/a5EiwE3lB_o

Grange Communities


Linda Short explains how granges were/are a powerful community based organization whose missions supports small farmers, community/country living and the environment. Granges are dying out because of the aged membership. Younger community members are starting to join and revitalize the grange, including those newer grange members who have started a 'Green Granges'. Granges started to protect the farmers from the Railroad Barons. They supported labor unions and woman having the right to vote and have positions of leadership. They also brought postal service, electricity (PUD), better roads, farm supplies, the extension services, 4H, and aid to the needy.


4 minutes
http://youtu.be/x-QNN91Ncms

Mike Kitts, local building contractor


Mike Kitts, local building contractor, told his story of building affordable houses using local supplies and workers for the local community members who couldn't necessarily buy a Hood River home. He sells to a lot of working people. His homes have a smaller footprint and are more energy efficient.
16 minutes
http://youtu.be/hjD-TZyiGMk

RiverHours, a local currency


Theresa North explains how important it is to keep our money in our community rather than letting it being sent elsewhere by using a local currency. This concept increases local sustainability and security.
16 minutes
http://youtu.be/OpHNNgd8o_k

TOXIC organic fertilizer


David Berger detailed how his garden, and many others were devastated by toxic "organic" horse manure.


4 minutes
http://youtu.be/QH61SEYZPMo

Paula Friedman on CAT, a local transit system


Paula Friedman urged people to be acquainted with the local Columbia Area Transit system. She urged people to attend the meetings and broaden its scope of services.
7 minutes
http://youtu.be/gPezOZqXDDs

Robbie Lapp, closing comments,

6 minutes
http://youtu.be/DSXe8lz9c-k


Cindy Sheehan, a Gold Star mother, maintains a website and listserve which may be accessed and subscribed to from this link for her latest statements and opinions: http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com/  You may also make donations there to support Cindy's non-stop efforts and legal battles

Squadron13's Radical Vet's publishes the "Radical Vet Gazette", an openly viewable and subscribable list serve at this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RadicalVetGazette/ Donations toward the Squadron13 radical bus and internet projects may be made at the Paypal link on the homepage: http://www.Squadron13.com

MANY, MANY THANKS to the following folks:

To each of the speakers who selflessly contributed their talents and time in the hope others would benefit.
To Trish Leighton for organizing this days amazing array of speakers and events on short notice.
To Sola' & Inayat who hosted us for the night at their beautiful home in Hood River.
To all those present in Hood River who contributed towards our trip expenses.
To Chris Zilca for his numerous days of hard labor getting the bus ready.
To Malcolm Chaddock from Portland VFP 72 who also contributed numerous days of hard labor getting the bus ready, AND "endured" the entire 10 day trip with us!
To Gregory Vickrey http://www.GregoryVickrey.com who funded the start of our trip with generous contribution.
and last but definitely not least, to Tom Dwyer Automotive  http://www.TomDwyer.com in Portland Oregon for the generous support which launched the severely underfunded bus back into pro-peace action, and made this RevCom trip possible. 

Just Say No to the Culture of Death! Classic Soapbox with actor Mike Farrell

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE OCTOBER 2009 SOAPBOX INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR/ACTIVIST, MIKE FARRELL AS WE CHAT ABOUT ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY

SUNDAY'S SOAPBOX: No new nukes, shut down the old! No nukes, Period!

NOW HEAR THIS: Cindy's Internet broadcasts continue!

No new Nukes!  Click here to listen or download, beginning at 2:00 PM San Francisco time.  Today, (Sunday, September 18th) Cindy welcomes the accomplished CounterPunch author Michael Leonardi, also active in No Nuke Action and in the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS).  Planned No New Nukes actions are shown here.  And here he can be seen, writing in CounterPunch, to discuss a Huge Victory in Italian Referendum from June, 2011.  He tells us that now in Italy there is a renewed hope and belief that another world really is possible!  Thank you for illuminating that hope, Michael.  He is a dedicated progressive and a renewable energy advocate.  We here at the Soapbox are oh so happy that he's here today.  Above and beyond his most informative talk, Cindy has a real treat for everybody:  a pre-recorded interview she did with Time magazine.  Enjoy! 

Transcript of 9/04 Interview with Peace Activist, Ann Wright

Ann Wright

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

CS: Welcome back to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox. I am your host Cindy Sheehan and you are listening at CindySheehansSoapbox.com, as usual.

I am back here in California after our wonderful Re-creating Revolutionary Communities or Bust tour that went from Eugene Oregon down to Fresno and many stops in between. 

We had just so many exciting adventures and we talked to so many people who have been creating revolutionary communities or want to help us create these systems outside of these diseased systems that we live under today. 

I have been sending out blasts and information about the tour that we were just on so you can check that out at CindySheehansSoapbox.blogspot.com. 

We’re planning another tour in the spring of 2012 that will go from the West coast to the East however far people want us to stop in their communities. So that would be a gigantic loop around the US. We’re very excited about this project and we’re very excited about the tour that just gave us so much energy and we think we were able to inspire and motivate people in the communities that we stopped in.

Well today we have a very dear Soapbox friend and my very dear personal friend Retired Colonel Ann Wright and she is going to talk about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and she is going to talk about her recent trip to South Korea. 

Ann, welcome back to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox.

AW: Well thank you Cindy. It is a pleasure to be on your show again. It’s been a long time.

CS: Well I think you may be the person we’ve had on the most on Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox. It’s always great to talk to you. How are you doing? How are you holding up?

AW: I’m doing well. I’m back from the Gaza Flotilla after almost two months of being in Greece trying to battle the Israelis. Now I’m back in Hawaii trying to take a little break and just got back from a quick trip to South Korea to be there to work with south Koreans on protesting the construction of a Naval base on a beautiful, pristine little island off the coast of South Korea.

CS: Let’s talk about these things you have been up to. First of all tell me and my listeners--I haven’t seen you since probably April in New York I think was the last time that we actually physically bumped into each other. But tell my listeners what you, well tell them all about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla first of all. That was quite, as you said, a battle wasn’t it?

AW: Oh it was. You know last year in the 2010 flotilla. That’s when the Israeli’s attacked the six ships on that flotilla. I was on one of them. Not the Mavi Marmara the one where nine people were murdered and 15 shot. But this time we had 10 boats as a part of this flotilla that were composed of 22 national campaigns and our US campaign was US Boat to Gaza and we named it the Audacity of Hope as a challenge to US policy as well as Israeli policy.

The Israelis decided they would give us diplomacy this time to try to prevent the flotilla from leaving the waters of Greece and in a diplomatic offensive that started about, well in the springtime, they strong armed lots of countries to try to prevent their nationals from going on the flotilla. But in Greece that’s were they really applied pressure so the Greek government ended up not allowing the boats to sail to Gaza. So it was a real battle within Greece for us to try and keep putting pressure on the Greek government to change it’s mind and finally our US boat tried to escape and break free after 2 of the vessels had already been sabotaged in acts of terrorism by the Israeli Mossad.

We tried to break free and leave and were stopped by the coast guard 3 miles out in the high seas and commandos readied to board us if we did not turn back around. That precipitated of course good protests by our passengers in front of the US embassy on Independence Day where our hunger strikers were arrested twice. Here it is on Independence Day, no freedom of speech, no freedom of assembly, that’s what our country stands for except at the US embassy. It was quite a scene there where the police were arresting in front of the embassy US citizens on Independence Day.

CS: Tell about what you mentioned, the acts of sabotage of two boats by Mossad and what happened then. What gave you the idea that it was Mossad that had done it?

AW: Well the propeller axles, one was in Greece and one was in Turkey, were cut, were sliced in the same manner and although the Israeli government had not yet admitted the responsibility for it they did last year admit that two of the boats on that first flotilla were sabotaged that the steering mechanisms were damaged by Massod. So it is just too suspicious that in two different countries the same type of acts of terrorism were done to the ships in cutting the shafts to the propellers. So I think that Israel will eventually admit that they did that. In the meantime there is just no doubt in my mind that they were the ones behind that.

CS: What is the situation in Gaza right now? We know that recently Israel had started another campaign against them because allegedly rockets have been shot from there to Israel but it seems like that is not exactly what happened anyway.

AW: Well it’s true there has been an increased level of violence. It started again about four weeks ago when a group of people came across the Egyptian border in to Israel and shot up an Israeli bus, killed five people and wounded I think 14 others. Israel has yet to although they initially said that they felt these were militants that had come from Gaza into Egypt back through the border in to Israel. Those claims have been silenced now. They have not been able to provide any evidence at all that it was actually militants that came from Gaza. You know there are other groups in the Middle East to include those that were in Egypt that have been furious that the Egyptian government have been selling oil to Israel when in fact the pipeline that brings oil into Israel from Egypt has been attacked numerous times.

But anything that happens in Israel is immediately blamed on Gaza militants and is used as a rationale for massive retaliation of RPG’s, Apache Helicopters blowing up all sorts of stuff and of course killing innocent civilians. So that’s one of the hot spots now. Of course it comes within a month of discussion within the UN about the future of Palestine. 

So the Israeli’s are doing everything they can to put blame on to Hamas and people in Gaza for anything that happens. So it’s very good to be suspicious and keep prodding to find out who’s really behind these acts that the Israeli’s keep using for retaliation against the people in Gaza and the West Bank.

CS: Speaking of that, this is a little bit off subject but what you just said made me think of something. We’re coming up very closely on 10^th anniversary of Sept 11^th 2001. There’s still many, many questions about what exactly happened on that day. However, whatever happened that day the US government used that to event to go into Iraq and Afghanistan. Now we have a new regime that is still saying we were attacked on 9/11 to continue to the wars that were started but to start some of our own. Do you see any parallels with that and what is happening in Israel?

AW: Well certainly using any sort of incident to curtain civil liberties, to curtail protest, to make people afraid so that they won’t challenge government policy there are definite parallels. Israel does that to scare the Israeli population to make sure that the Israeli citizenry are scared to death of anything called a Palestinian. And it’s tragic now the racism that the state of Israel sponsors. The second-class citizens, the Palestinians, are Israeli citizens and yet are treated so horribly by the government that has given them citizenship. The parallels are very strong and it all boils down to authoritarian government, ours and theirs, who are trying to curtail descent and trying to keep the public in each one of those countries as sheep unwilling to challenge government policy.

CS: Well tell us, I know to raise money to buy a boat from the US for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and to equip it and all of the campaign was a long one for you guys. And I know you were involved, you’ve been on the show talking about it many months ago. Tell us about the process of getting the boat and what you had to go through and, is this something that is being talked about for next year?

AW: Surely, I mean oh what a dream that was. When I came back from the first flotilla, there were only fourteen Americans that were on that first one out of 700 people. When I came back I felt it was critical that we the US public, the US citizens have our own boat to not only challenge Israeli policy but our own US policies. So the whole group got together and we formed a committee and started fundraising for this boat that we were going to call “The Audacity of Hope” to be right in the face of the Obama administration.

We initially thought that if we could raise three hundred and fifty thousand dollars based on a budget given to us by groups that had tried to get boats to Gaza earlier that that would be it. We could buy a boat and outfit it and be ready to roll with that. And so we fund raised and fund raised and fund raised. Oh my God, I was, and many others were out and about all year long fundraising and thank God the generosity of the American public was just heartwarming. People said, "yeah, we’ve got to challenge these policies." and so we raised that money. In fact we raised more than that which was good because it turned out like with most things that deal with boats it never costs what you think it’s going to. That’s the reality.  So eventually we ended up fund raising and getting about four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And with that..

CS: Wow!

AW: Yeah I know it’s amazing. I’ve never, you and I both have been involved in a lot of projects and they are definitely shoestring budget projects. This one, it just goes to show you that if you come up with a concept that really hits the heartstrings that people, in small amounts of money, we didn’t have any major donors, it was all small amounts, they will respond. With that money we went on a search. I was part of the search committee. Laurie Arbeiter, our good friend Laurie Arbeiter and Jane Hirshman and myself. None of us had ever had anything to do with boats before we were the search committee.

So we scoured several countries for boats. Finally found one and got it purchased and outfitted and in my opinion it was the best boat in the flotilla. It was one hundred and four feet long. We had it outfitted with 10 days of food and water to be able to be out on the high seas for a long period of time in case we got stalled out there. But little knowing we would be stalled in Athens as the Greek government forbid these ships to sail for Gaza. But win we did try to sail to escape we were met with commandoes and dragged back to the port.

And then our captain was put on trial, and then fasts going on in front of the embassy, and huge outpourings of telephone calls and e-mails o the State Department and the US Embassy to complain about all of this. We ended up getting a heck of a lot of publicity for the flotilla, which in turn was the question of, "why is the flotilla going to Gaza?" Then you could talk about the issue of Gaza. So although we didn’t make it to Gaza still the publicity for what’s going on and the terrible plight of the people of Gaza out there for the world to see.

CS: What are the plans for next year?

AW: Well we have, there was one of the 10 boats that made it as far as forty miles off the shore of Gaza before it was stopped by the Israeli military. That boat did not sail from Greece. It sailed from France and so it was not caught up in the Greek prohibition against sailing. So we have nine boats that are left and needless to say they will sail again. We’re not saying at this point from where and we’re not saying when. But they will sail again and we will not stop these flotillas until the Israeli government and the US government end the blockade of Gaza. We’ll just keep going and going and going.

CS: Well right on! I find that the pro-Gaza, the free Gaza movement and pro-Palestinian movement in the United States is small but they’re very dedicated and committed aren’t they? Isn’t that movement?

AW: Indeed it is and between working for the Gaza flotilla and that concept about things like the divestment, boycott and sanction program but it’s unbelievable what an impact the last two years that program has had. People are going into their markets and merchandise stores and checking to what is in there and what has been, that comes from Israel but it’s actually products from the occupied territories which is illegal for an occupier to use those things like the Ahava beauty products the mineral resources. So the BDS program is going strong.

In your area the Bay Area and up in Portland Oregon is a remarkable public education tool which is posters that have been allowed to be put on buses and cable cars in the San Francisco area and the Portland area that say, “isn’t it time the US ends military aide to Israel?” They’ve gone through the process of getting the city counsels to approve these messages. It does cause great discussion and controversy in these communities. That’s what we want. We want the discussion of what’s going on in the West Bank in Jerusalem and in Gaza.

CS: Well as you know the pro Israeli lobby is very well funded and very strong so that shows great courage for those cities to allow those posters to be put on the buses and BART.

AW: It really does. It’s a change from last year. What happened in Seattle where some similar types of messages went up and then the Seattle board for their public transportation system caved to tremendous pressure from pro-Israeli groups and had them removed. So this time we hope that both Portland and San Francisco hold strong and say that this is not, it is you know a statement of fact about US government aide and isn’t about time to stop the three-billion dollars a year that we give to the Israeli military just in military aide alone.

CS: Right. Ann we have about 5 or 10 minutes left. Tell us about your recent trip to South Korea.

AW: Yes, I went there last week in support of South Korean activists who are trying to stop the construction of a naval base on a pristine island called Jeju Island, which is one hundred miles off the mainland of Korea. 

This Naval Base which is under construction much to the dismay of the people who live along this beautiful coastline on this tropical Island. I mean it’s really remarkable how close it is to South Korea and in one way it is in a strategic area. It’s to the west of Japan, to the east of China and to the south of Korea. The Koreans say they need yet one more military base and as you well know from your trip to Korea a couple years ago the whole country is filled with military bases: with US bases, South Korean bases and of joint bases. I mean it’s one of the most militarized countries in the world and yet the Korean government at the behest of the US government who wants to have a foothold a little bit closer into the Chinese mainland and it wants to have naval vessels that are carrying the aegis missile system to be a part of the US missile system. So they’ve convinced the Koreans to tear up one of the beautiful islands. And as we well know the Koreans have an activist community that is strong and brave.

CS: Yes they do.

AW: Holy Smokes (laughing)

CS: They are pretty radical

AW: While I was there the mayor of this little village who is furious that this beautiful place that has a very unique shoreline, it’s not a beach it’s actually volcanic clay that’s there that’s quite gorgeous, just gorgeous. The place has been designated as a world heritage place for God sakes and that’s the place they want to put this base. The little island is known as the Island of Peace. It’s known as the Women’s Island. It’s the place where women, free divers, dive for marine life that they come back up and sell. So it’s unique and women are really taking a leading role in trying to stop this naval base. While I was there the mayor of this little town of Kang Jeong heard that they were going to be moving a giant crane in the bay and he went racing down there to try to stop the crane from moving. They did a wonderful mobilization.

They have a community center. They have a siren system that is louder than the tsunami warning system here in Hawaii. When that thing goes off the whole island knows something is happening and little ladies that are the farmers that are out on their lands farming you know with their big brimmed hats their jackets on to protect them against the sun and knee boots, rubber boots, all of a sudden they just throw down their tools, their implements, and hop on their little motor scooters, you see a whole convoy of women on these little motor scooters racing to see what’s happened. What emergency’s going on? The emergency was trying to stop this crane and five people got arrested in stopping it. As the police were bringing them out of the naval base we had a blockade at one of the gates. They brought us through another gate the fast runners raced down and got in front of the trucks that was bringing them out stopped it and then everyone caught up with it and surrounded it and then the police came, the riot police to protect the van. And then a remarkable thing, all of a sudden there were probably about 400 citizens that were there that then surrounded the police and wouldn’t let the police move for hour there was a standoff with the police being encircled by the people.

Well tragically the mayor is still in jail and a Catholic priest who is along the lines of Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Fr Louis Vitale who challenge everything, he’s also now in jail because he climbed on top of the police van trying to exhort the crowd to stay firm to not let this van move. So it was really quite a thrilling sight to see. And certainly neat from our, from the US perspective to put pressure on our government to say that we, the US don’t need to be pushing other governments to have more military bases for our own strategic purposes. So calling the State Department and the Department of Defense to say lay off the, don’t push for this base would be a useful thing to do. Because the Korean embassy, if you call them in Washington and complain about Jeju Island becoming a military base they will say call your state department, call your defense department it’s out of our hands. So let’s try to get this stopped.

CS: That’s a problem everywhere that I’ve gone and you know this too, the people don’t want US bases or military installations anywhere near them. But against the wishes of the people of the area the US government, the local governments or the national government collaborate to overrule these people. 

When I was in Okinawa I went to this beautiful beach on one of the Islands of Okinawa and the people don’t want a US marine base extended there and in fact they were going to put landfill right in the middle of the ocean for a landing strip and those people went out in boats and they took over the construction platform and they wouldn’t leave. And every time a construction ship went out they would be out in their little kayaks and rowboats blocking them. But they asked me, the people asked me: "Japan and the US are supposed to be democracies how come they don’t listen to the people?"

AW: Well that’s the truth. All these governments that claim to be democracies including our own they don’t listen to the people who say we want the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended; that we want accountability for torture; that we don’t want drones to be used as assassination vehicles for the United States and yet neither the Bush administration nor the Obama administration are listening to the people. 

The people of Japan and Okinawa and South Korea are certainly finding themselves in the same position, but we have to just keep pushing. The people in Okinawa have had a dramatic effect on US foreign policy. They have forced the removal of US marines from Okinawa a portion of them who are tragically are going to be sent to Guam and now the people of Guam have mounted major protests saying they don’t want the population of their Island increased by 25 percent which is what would happen with these marines coming in. So it’s the expansion of the US military and the moving around of US military forces that is something we have to be internally vigilant on and raise our voices and help those that are challenging these things.

CS: Well Ann, what’s the next step for you?

AW: Well I will be going back to the mainland next week and be working on the October 6^th event in Washington DC where Stop the Machine and try to tie together all of the issues of the economic national crisis, the wars, you know all of these things together and try to find a platform that’s similar to what you did a year ago with Peace of the Action on the mall and trying to have a foundation where people from all over the country can come in to be there to put pressure on congress and the administration to stop the wars, to you know the whole range of things the issues that we have been working on for so long. So that’s the next big one and continuing to speak all over the country and like you raise our voices about things that we are remarkably dedicated to keep talking about until our governments listen to us.

CS: Well I’m going to be sticking pretty close to home for a while because Janey’s going to have her third baby in a couple weeks.

AW: Oh my goodness how wonderful…wow!! My what a little family she’s got, that’s great.

CS: It’s another little boy.

AW: Give her a hug for me.

CS: That will be my 4^th grandbaby so I will be home for a while. But I just wanted to fill you in on something I learned last night. When I was checking in to work out at my gym I had one of my peace shirts on and the guy that checked me in looked at my shirt and said,” well wars are good for our economy," and I said, ”well if wars are good for our economy then we should have a great economy because we are in about 6 wars right now. How come our economy sucks?”

AW: Ain’t that the truth.(laughing)

CS: So we have to keep connecting those dots. It’s so nice to hear from you Ann, and hear about all your adventures and just you know, keep yourself strong and don’t forget to get plenty of rest along the way.

AW: Oh I will do that and you too. I’m going to be in California in the middle of October. I’m going to the Bioneers and I’m going to be speaking up around your area so let’s get together. I look forward to seeing you.

CS: Oh absolutely, that would be great.

AW: Okay, we’ll be in touch.

CS: Okay Ann Wright talk to you soon,

AW: Okay, love you.

CS: Love you too.

TRUTH: THE CURE FOR THE NATIONAL MOURN-A-THON

Phoenix Rising by
Clinton Fein

The 9/11 decade.  Click here to listen or download, beginning at 2:00 PM San Francisco time.  It's been 10 years since the fall of the towers, and America has been "shifted right" - far to the right; into the realms of Eternal War.  To my mind, the formerly generous and caring American spirit has been transformed into distrustful and suspicious fear of anything that's "alien" and "different", coupled with a lust to punish all "miscreants".  And that's not to even mention the growth of the national Security State and our decling / decaying civil rights!  (See this on civil rights.)  Cindy's first guest is "Paul Thompson", pseudonymous author of the respected history The Terror Timeline: Year by Year, Day by Day, Minute by Minute: A Comprehensive Chronicle of the Road to 9/11 -- and America's Response.  You can read more about him and his work here.  He carefully outlines the American perspective.  Cindy's second guest is Iraqi-American peace activist Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, (who is reputed to "absolutely kick ass" in presenting another perspective, from a country destroyed because of the 9/11 attacks). 

Kicked in the Gut by the Bloody Flag of Empire by Cindy Sheehan

Punched in the Gut by the Bloody Flag

Cindy Sheehan

I went to NYC sometime in June (I think it was June, but I’m not sure) to do a photo shoot interview with TIME Magazine about how the events on 9/11 changed my life and what I have been doing since then.

I think most people would remember the exact date of flying from San Francisco to NYC to do such a shoot that included 39 other people in an ambitious project called: Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience, but since then I have been to Italy, Japan, a few places around the U.S. and a 10 day bus tour on the West Coast—but, I do think the shoot was after my Memorial Weekend trip to Venezuela—for sure—maybe.

Anyway, I was told to bring mementos such as my protest shirts, buttons, signs, and things from Casey—so I grabbed what I could and hopped the plane to NYC.

One of the shirts I brought was my very first Cindy Sheehan for Congress tee shirt that had my campaign website on one sleeve, and  “Arrest Cheney First” on the front. The photographer/videographer for the project, Marco Grob, really, really liked that shirt and he shot a lot of pics with me in it and he assured me that he would push the editors hard to pick a photo of me with that shirt—and guess what? I was so pleased to discover that is the shirt that got in the magazine! 

I like the photo, which is unusual—I did not like the photo TIME used of me in the end of the decade issue last year and I usually don’t like pictures of myself, but I love this one for some reason.

However, while looking at the picture today, I was struck by a few thoughts—first of all, I am cradling the bloody flag of Empire, which covered my son’s coffin, like it’s a baby. Secondly, when I look more closely, it looks like the flag just sucker punched me in the gut!

Solar plexus punched! That’s exactly what happened on 9/11—the day I feel sealed the fate of my son and millions of others.

I even taped a flag I cut out from my local newspaper on my front window for a few weeks—I NEVER hung a flag anywhere before. On 9/11, though, we were united. Shortly after, though, the policies of the Bush Regime deeply divided us. Instead of re-evaluating our national priorities to see how we could live more gently on this planet and more peaceably with our fellow humans around the planet,  we went hog wild in the Arab-Muslim world and in the process destroyed our own.

On April 04, 2004, that bloody flag landed violently on my modest home in Vacaville, California and I was kicked in the gut and stabbed in the heart by my own country's foreign policy. When I was urged to blame the “terrorists” in Iraq, I rejected that thinking and laid the blame squarely where it really belonged—on the policies of the government that my son allegedly served. My son actually served the Robber Class, but we didn’t know it at the time.

Howard Zinn, my late friend and wonderful, radical historian said that, “there is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”

This 9/11, those innocents won’t be remembered yet people who unfortunately went to work 10 years ago are called, “Heroes” solely for being in the wrong place at the very wrong time. People like my son will be remembered, but the five-million people of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been murdered, displaced, or wounded are fading into the ugly history of this never-great nation.

As Dastardly Dick Cheney, with the electronic heartbeat, is roaming around the country showing absolutely not one shred of remorse for his murderous regime, it’s important to never forget that the wrong people have been held accountable for 9/11.

It wasn’t the people of Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan that perpetrated this great crime and they are the ones who have paid the greatest price—they haven’t just been kicked in the gut by the bloody flag—they have been folded, spindled, mutilated, drug through the wringer and stomped on by US troops and mercenaries who proudly display the bloody flag on their uniforms and equipment.

Instead of being able to wrap themselves in the bloody flag of Empire, Cheney, and the other bloodsucking parasites, (who have confessed to their crimes), are the ones who need to be brought to justice.