3 Book Signing Events in LA with Cindy Sheehan and Emma Rosenthal

These events are even more important and relevant considering what happened to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla last week!

Book Signing: 3 Events in L.A. with Cindy Sheehan and Emma Rosenthal

Both Cindy and Emma are Available for interviews and or promotion



“Through these histories and testimonials, we are taken to a human world where transformation comes early or late, but it always comes. We are privileged to witness such grace.” – Cindy Sheehan



CINDY SHEEHAN and EMMA ROSENTHAL

Read selections and discuss their contributions to



SHIFTING SANDS:

JEWISH WOMEN CONFRONT THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION



The newly-released anthology of Jewish women’s voices for peace and justice.



Edited by Osie Gabriel Adelfang * Preface by Amira Hass * Foreword by Cindy Sheehan

CONTRIBUTORS: Anna Baltzer * Sandra Butler * Tomi Louise Clark * Linda Dittmer * Kim Goldberg * Susan Greene * Hedy Epstein * Maia Ettinger * Jen Marlowe *

Hannah Mermelstein * Emma Rosenthal * Alice Rothchild * Starhawk



- Published by Whole World Press



Cindy Sheehan's book Not One More Mother's Child and orders for pdf file of Myth America will be available at the events as well.



Join us for these three Los Angeles events June 12-13



Saturday, June 12 12 noon to 2 PM

IMIX Books 5052 Eagle Rock Blvd. Los Angeles 90041 www.imixbooks.com

Book purchase, signing, reading and discussion * Sponsored by Café Intifada and IMIX Books

**************

Saturday, June 12 5:30 – 7:00 PM

Bonaventure Hotel, San Jose Room (2nd Floor) 404 S. Figueroa Los Angeles 90071

Book purchase, signing, reading and discussion * Sponsored by CTA Peace and Justice Caucus

**************

Sunday, June 13 3 PM - 4:30 PM

Sabor y Cultura 5625 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles 90028 www.saborycultura.com

Book purchase, signing, reading and discussion * Sponsored by Café Intifada and Sabor y Cultura

**************

“Writing with personal modesty yet great humanity, these courageous women offer richly textured, revelatory accounts that will grip the reader’s thoughts and feelings. All the selections are finely rendered, insightful, and endowed with a determined sense of justice and compassion.” – Michael Parenti



All events are wheelchair accessible and disability affirmative. If you have other accommodation needs, please call the number below 72 hours in advance



For more information about these events or to purchase the book, contact andyca6@gmail.com 310- 704-3217
Andy Griggs
lauslaw2@gmail.com
310-704-3217

PEACE HEROES: The Martyrs of the Mavi Marmara

Martyr: a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause.

The Free Gaza Movement’s purpose is to break the siege of Gaza and get needed humanitarian aid into that concentration camp on the Mediterranean Sea. I have seen many Israelis blatantly lie in interviews that there is “no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

According to reputable NGO’s and other aid organizations: 4/5 of Gazans depend on outside humanitarian aid for survival; 70% are food insecure; there are less than 133 hospital beds for every 100,000 people (less than ¼ the capacity of Israel) with dozens of basic medicines unavailable; because of the profound lack of building materials, homes are being constructed from mud; power is severely limited and Gazans have been isolated from the entire world due to the enormous walls surrounding the region that contains 1.5 million people. Sounds like a humanitarian crisis to me—and indeed, to most people that aren’t easily fooled by Zionist propaganda.

Collective Punishment is the punishment of an entire group of people as a result of the behavior of one or more other individuals or groups and is strictly banned by the Geneva Conventions. This is exactly what the State of Israel is doing to the people of Gaza—with near impunity. Punishing the entire region of Gaza for Hamas is like everyone else in the world getting together to build a wall around the USA and starve us to death because George Bush was “elected,” not once, but twice.

The activists who sailed on the Freedom Flotilla that was brutally attacked by the IDF (Israel Defense Force) that resulted in the deaths of at least 9 people (several are still missing), were not terrorists or terrorist sympathizers—they are sympathetic with the plight of the people of Gaza and have been willing to face the wrath of a psychotically paranoid state to call attention to the blockade.

So many people have died in the struggle for peace and justice all over the world. One of the boats in the flotilla was named after courageous Rachel Corrie, a young American-Jewish peace activist who sacrificed her own life to prevent Palestinian homes from being destroyed by the State of Israel with US made bulldozers. Now, a ship is named after Rachel, and her legacy to free Palestinians from the wrath of an illegal and immoral occupation is still alive.

My own son, Casey, my hero, was also a victim of US Imperialism and arrogance. No matter how hard I struggle, I can’t bring him back, but I hope my efforts help to save other lives and Casey’s legacy lives through my efforts.

What happened to the Martyrs of the Mavi Marmara is beyond tragic—it’s unthinkable and was a shocking act—even for the State of Israel, but it did happen. Nothing can change the fact that at least nine people are dead that should still be here with us today. What is, is. So what do we do about it now?

The autopsy report on the nine confirmed deaths show that 30 bullets were taken from the nine bodies. That’s not self-defense, that’s targeted assassination. From such a negative event, a great positive has occurred—Israel, by this monstrous act, has shone its own spotlight on at least two things: 1) there is no end to its paranoia and its inappropriate and disproportionate reactions, and 2) its barbaric siege on Gaza.

To honor the deaths of the Martyrs of the Mavi Marmara, we must never allow their deaths to be in vain. The Free Gaza and Free Palestine movements must continue to show the courage of the martyrs who were willing to sacrifice even to the “last full measure of devotion” to make the world a better place for the suffering peoples of Gaza.

I stand in awe of such love and commitment as much I wish it wasn’t so, or didn’t have to be so.

This is an installment of Cindy Sheehan’s Peace Heroes.

The Audacity of Israel by Cindy Sheehan

“Until all of Gaza is destroyed the job is not done.”

Words on a sign of a Zionist in San Francisco

Since my son was killed in Iraq and I have come to prominence in the peace movement, the name I am called with the second highest frequency (behind “anti-American”) is “anti-Semitic.’

First of all, isn’t it interesting if one is anti-violence and pro-peace, that automatically makes one anti-American and anti-Semitic? That just tells us that violence and oppression are so inherently institutionalized in our cultures, that if one is against these things, that makes one against the entire culture, race or way of life.

It should be fundamentally understood that criticism of Israel’s program of Palestinian pogrom and the US’s demented foreign policy is not to be construed as hatred of all Jews or all Americans.

Here it should be pointed out that many Jews criticize Israel’s policies, in Israel and abroad, and are immediately branded as: “Self-loathing Jews.” I remember when I first met Pentagon Paper’s, whistle-blower, Daniel Ellsberg, and he was going off on Israel and its policies. I interrupted him and teased him: “Why Daniel, are you a self-loathing Jew?” And he responded: “No, I am a Likkud (rabid Zionist Israeli political party) and Sharon (Ariel Sharon, former terrorist and prime minister of Israel) hating Jew.”

This past Sunday evening, (May 30^th), I was sitting at my home in California having a cookout with my surviving children and grandchildren because we were commemorating Casey’s birthday (Memorial Day and Casey’s birthday always and unfortunately coincide) when I received a call from a friend and colleague who informed me that the Free Gaza Freedom Flotilla was under attack in International Waters by IDF (Israeli Defense Force) commandoes. Immediately, because of previous Israeli crimes against the Free Gaza humanitarians—ramming and firing at the boats and arresting and illegally detaining the participants—my gut reaction was the worst-case scenario. Minutes after I knew what happened, I knew that Israel would turn out to be the aggressor and, once again, justify its crimes with lies and cries of “self-defense.”

Israel’s claims of self-defense are usually delusional and paranoid. It would be like me claiming self-defense if I killed a homeless person for asking me for spare change.

Although all life is precious and all loss of life mourned, these facts should shame anyone who has cried “self-defense.”

Since 2000:

· 124 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 1441 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis (and all of the Gazan children killed from 2008’s Cast Lead massacre have not been counted, yet).

· 1072 Israelis and at least 6448 Palestinians have been killed.

· 8,864 Israelis and 39,019 Palestinians have been injured.

· The US provides about 10 million dollars per day in military and other aid to Israel and ZERO dollars a day to Palestine.

· One Israeli political prisoner is being held in Palestinian jail while 7383 Palestinians are currently being held by Israel.

· Zero Israeli homes have been demolished while 24,145 Palestinian homes have been destroyed to make way for Israeli settlements.

· The Israeli unemployment rate is 6.1%, while the Palestinian unemployment in the West Bank is 16.3% and 41.3% in Gaza.

(These stats are from www.ifamericansknew.org)

I also want to make clear, and I think I speak for many people in the peace community, that, as well as not being a “Jew hater”--I am not a Holocaust denier. How can one not look at the images from the concentration camps and hear the stories without being instantly and deeply moved and repulsed? How can one deny the overwhelming evidence that it did happen and that it was an immense tragedy to, not only Jews, but Catholics, gypsies, homosexuals, political prisoners, and many other fringe groups that Nazi Germany persecuted? But, saying that, in my opinion, what happened to the Jews during the 30s and 40s does not justify in the least little bit what the Jewish State of Israel has been doing to the Palestinian people since 1947. One-genocide does not justify another, especially since the Palestinian people had nothing to do with the Holocaust and any person of conscience or any basic intelligence must realize that the Palestinians have been forced to suffer for decades for the crimes of white Europeans.

I have been impressed by the protests that have arisen all over the world in response to this crime, but even though the latest Israeli atrocity was horrible, people of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan go through this on a daily basis, and we have trouble raising interest for anti-war protests.

We here in the U.S. need to demand that our tax dollars stop going to help Israel violently occupy Palestine and help Israel be a major destabilization force in the region, but we also need to look at our own complicity. What good does it do to go to an occasional protest and hold signs, no matter how clever they are, but still finance our country’s war crimes and crimes against humanity by paying our own pound of flesh to the Empire?

Peace of the Action will address this issue as well as the Gusher in the Gulf, drone bombings and military recruitment this July in our Sizzlin’ Summer Protests.

Words Fail: PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE CONDEMN TERRORIST ISRAEL'S ACTIONS

First and foremost, we mourn the deaths of the 20 humanitarian aid workers that were spinelessly slaughtered by the terrorist state of Israel. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the families in this terrible time of senseless loss. We also wish a speedy and complete recovery to the up to 80 people who were wounded by the IDF in this abominable attack in International Waters.

We severely condemn, with the very harshest tone imaginable, the murderous attack conducted upon the innocent unarmed humanitarians of the FREE GAZA 'Freedom Flotilla' within International Waters.

This act demonstrates the overly sociopathic mentality of the Israeli government in its continuing criminal actions committed upon the Palestinian people and upon those coming to their aid. This act was not simply an international criminal act upon the passengers of the humanitarian 'Freedom Flotilla' but was indeed a rabid, viscous and delusional attack on humanity itself.

In conducting an act of this nature Israel has once again demonstrated to the entire world its arrogance in believing it can continue with its predictable path of violent, arrogant and cowardly behavior. Because of Israel's past-unpunished crimes, it believes it can act with impunity in any form no matter how murderous.

Our response to these terrorist acts must be large and sustained. We people of conscious can no longer sit by idly and watch Israel literally get away with murder, time and time again.

Knowing that the U.S. is criminal Israel's biggest funder and cheerleader and knowing how futile it is to get the murderous U.S. Government to ever do the humane thing and condemn Israel; however, in a perfect world this is what we seek:

The Obama administration MUST declare Israel's actions as criminal and must follow through with harsh and long-term penalties. Any other response from the Obama administration will be deemed as being complicit to murder, oppression and terror.

We demand:

1. The immediate expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador from the United States and the withdrawal of the U.S. Ambassador in Tel Aviv.

2. Complete and immediate withholding of any and all funds (including military aid) from the United States to Israel.

3. That the IDF be designated as "terrorists" and Israel as a "terrorist state."

4. Trials in Nuremburg for Benyamin Nethanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman and the IDF troops that participated in the massacre.

5. The end to the siege of Gaza by Israel.

6. An immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

From people of conscience we call for:

1. Large and sustained public protests outside every Israeli Embassy/Consulate in the United States (see addresses below)

2. Increased effort of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement (http://bdsmovement.net/)

3. Increased efforts to protest the United States' war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

4. Increased efforts to protest nuclear proliferation, especially by Israel and the U.S., two states that have clearly demonstrated their lack of compassion for innocent peoples.

ISRAELI EMBASSY IN THE UNITED STATES:

3514 International Dr. N.W. • Washington DC 20008

Telephone: (202) 364-5500

ISRAELI CONSULATES IN THE UNITED STATES:

ATLANTA

1100 Spring St. N.W. Suite 440 Atlanta, Georgia 30309

Telephone: (404) 487-6500

BOSTON

20 Park Plaza • Suite 1020 • Boston, MA 02116

Telephone: (617) 535-0280

CHICAGO

111 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601

Telephone: (312) 297- 4800

HOUSTON

24 Greenway Plaza • Suite 1500 • Houston, Texas 77046

Telephone: (713) 622 4924

LOS ANGELES

6380 Wilshire Blvd • Suite 1700 • Los Angeles, CA 90048

Telephone (323) 852-5500

MIAMI

100 N. Biscayne [Yitzchak Rabin] Boulevard • Suite 1800 • Miami, Florida 33132

Telephone: (305) 925-9400

NEW YORK

800 2nd Avenue • New York, NY 10017

Telephone: (212) 499-5000

PHILADELPHIA

1880 John F Kennedy Blvd. • 18th Floor • Philadelphia, PA 19103

Telephone: (215) 977-7600

SAN FRANCISCO

456 Montgomery Street, Suite 2100 • San Francisco, CA 94104

Telephone: (415) 844-7510

FOLLOW UPDATES HERE:

http://witnessgaza.com/

This is a message from Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox and Peace of the Action in solidarity with the FREE GAZA MOVEMENT "FREEDOM FLOTILLA" that is currently under sail in the Mediterranean and approaching its destination to the coast of the Gaza Strip. The 'Freedom Flotilla' is conducting a strictly humanitarian mission and carries a total of 10,000 tons of aid, 800 activists and politicians from more than 40 countries. The occupation and blockade of Gaza, by military and police forces of the Israeli government, is an immoral and heinous campaign of systematic oppression, slowly strangling every aspect of the innocent Palestinian people's basic necessities, infrastructure, natural resources and human rights.

The following statement is found on the WWW.FREEGAZA.ORG website: "The FREE GAZA MOVEMENT is a human rights group that in August 2008 sent the first international boats to land in the port of Gaza in 41 years. We want to break the siege of Gaza. We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation."

We ask all people of good conscience to please call/e-mail the US State Department in Washington, DC asking that they actively monitor the status of the 'Freedom Flotilla' and to be in constant communication with the government and military forces of Israel demanding the Flotilla's safe passage in continuing unhindered to their stated destination of the Gaza Coast. No threats or acts of aggression toward the Flotilla shall be allowed. If the Flotilla is acted upon with threats and/or acts of aggression we demand the United States to intervene on behalf of the Flotilla.

US State Department Telephone: (202) 647-4000 (24-hour number)

US State Department E-Mail: publicaffairs@panet.us.state.gov

To keep aware of the Freedom Flotilla's current status on an hour-by-hour basis please monitor their website at: www.freegaza.org

PEACE HEROES: Casey Sheehan by Cindy Sheehan

http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcfjxd0.w6deya7riw.html

First published in Islam Times

Peace Heroes by Cindy Sheehan

(Islam Times) - Memorial Day and the “holiday” weekend lay a double-whammy claim on my emotions every year.

Islam Times

“I can’t kill anyone.”
Casey Sheehan on the eve of his deployment to Iraq

Thirty-one years ago today—May 29—my first child was born—a son. We named him “Casey” because we were huge baseball fans and it just seemed like such a fine Irish-American name. His middle name, Austin, is an old family name of mine.
I went into labor with Casey a week early and I was in labor with him (in those days, knowing the gender of the baby was not routine) all day on Memorial Day in 1979. The labor was not too harsh and he was born at exactly one hour and one minute past midnight.
Casey was just the first of four and along with his younger brother, Andrew, I promised my boys that they would never have to do to war. However, I think I was promising myself that I would never allow them to go to war.
It’s strangely tragic how things oftentimes work out the exact opposite of our good intentions and now instead of having a party for Casey today—I will go and put more flowers on his grave.
Many people who have followed my story know about Casey and I have written about his honesty and integrity. He was a deeply religious man who really strived to follow the Gospels and live out his Christian faith—one thing I have not written about is how deeply Casey cared about the environment.
One evening after Casey’s dad and I had put the kids to bed and were enjoying some quiet time, 10 year-old Casey walked out of his room and he was crying. Shocked, I jumped up to embrace him and ask him if he just had a bad dream and he choked out: “I’m worried about the ozone layer.” How do you comfort a child with platitudes and try to tell him everything will be “okay” when he is very rightly worried about a real problem? Casey wasn’t afraid of monsters—he was scared of grown-up problems and the most frightening thing is that many grown-ups are the monsters.
For his Eagle Scout project, he organized and supervised an effort to plant 1100 trees in the Angeles National Forest—a very smoggy area about 3 hours drive from our old home in Norwalk, California. We learned that the pollution would kill about 90% of the trees we planted and we had to plant them in clumps, because the trees grew better together and at least some would have a better chance to survive. As a Scout, Casey hiked miles in the hills, deserts and meadows in beautiful California. He was always very close to nature and helped repair miles of trails and create barriers on the trails to prevent hikers from going off the trail and trampling fragile plant life.
Since the night Casey cried about the ozone layer and since he was killed by the Military-Empire of the USA, things have deteriorated at a frightening rate. At night, I cry for his niece, nephews, and all the babies that have been born into a terrible Empire that is stealing their future in its abject fealty to the corporations. The War Profiteers and the oil companies drive foreign and domestic policy and I am afraid these monsters can’t be stopped until this planet is ruined for living organisms.
Even though Casey died in a war based on lies in a mission on which he was forced to go, he is a Peace Hero. I never felt adequate as his mom, because I never was as good a person as he was, but his life of courage and integrity have been the inspiration for his mom’s sacrifices for peace and justice.
In these scary days, everyone is needed to pull this world from the brink of disaster—and especially today, I am hearing from many people how Casey’s life has inspired them to action.
On Memorial Day, I hope we don’t fall into the trap of false patriotism, but use the heartrending and mostly needless deaths of millions of our young people to help motivate us to end war for good.
Let’s make Memorial Day as anachronistic as the typewriter.
I do this in my hero’s name: Casey Sheehan.
© Islam Times

PEACE HEROES: Jeannette Rankin

“There can be no compromise with war; it cannot be reformed or controlled; cannot be disciplined into decency or codified into common sense;
for war is the slaughter of human beings, temporarily regarded as enemies, on as large a scale as possible.”

Jeannette Rankin

Jeannette Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973), is probably best known (if she is known at all) as the first female elected to Congress in 1917. Ms. Rankin was elected from Montana, even before females achieved universal suffrage in the U.S. Montana achieved female suffrage in 1914.

Unlike the first female who was given the gavel as Speaker of the House in 2007, Nancy Pelosi—Jeannette Rankin was an uncompromising advocate for world peace. Also, unlike Ms. Pelosi, Ms. Rankin did more than give lip service to her feelings of peace—she actually sacrificed much to live out her values.

As an advocate for peace, Ms. Rankin lived through arguably the most warlike decades of this nation’s history.

She was elected to Congress in 1917, just in time to be one of only 50 reps to vote “nay” on entry into World War I—she served only one term in Congress and was gerrymandered out of her district.

Through the years between the “Great War I” and the “Great War II,” Jeannette worked with various peace groups--Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) being the most prominent and long-lived group that continues to this day.

In 1940, Ms. Rankin was returned to Congress from Montana running on an ant-war platform. Citizens of the U.S. were war weary and the losses from World War I had been immense and the pain caused was immeasurable. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Jeannette was the soul Member of Congress to vote against the declaration of war against Japan stating: “"As a woman, I can't go to war and I refuse to send anyone else. It is not necessary. I vote NO." Up until Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the mood of the country was anti-interventionist, but after that, like after 9/11, there arose a rabid nationalism and thirst for vengeance. Ms. Rankin’s vote against the declaration of war was not popular, to say the least.

Rankin’s lone vote against the war reminds me of Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D-CA) cool head and solitary vote against giving killer-Bush authorization to invade Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack, when the mood of the country was once again fervently pro-vengeance.

For her vote Ms. Rankin again lost her seat in Congress and set out in a quest for peaceful solutions to “problems,” and this quest took her to India seven times to study the tactics of Mahatma Gandhi. Like my first PEACE HERO, Albert Einstein, Jeannette Rankin was a proponent of disarmament.

In 1967, Jeannette said, “It is unconscionable that 10,000 boys have died in Vietnam.... If 10,000 American women had mind enough they could end the war, if they were committed to the task, even if it meant going to jail.” She then led a protest in DC in 1968 with thousands of women. Unfortunately, before that war was over (one that she adamantly opposed, to no one’s surprise) millions of people would be slaughtered.

I became aware of this amazing woman when I was involved in a docu-drama about her life called: A Single Woman, written by and starring in the lead role: JeanMarie Simpson—who is also a peace worker. I highly recommend checking this movie out for the biographical information about Ms. Rankin.

Even being a student of history, I had never heard of this singularly remarkable woman.

I am moved by Ms. Rankin’s work because of the undiluted energy she put into it and how she never wavered even under intense pressure. I have faced a fraction of what she had to endure, so I can appreciate and derive inspiration from her persistence in the face of adversity.

It is my belief, that until the governments of the world are filled with a majority of women like Jeannette Rankin and women who tow the line of the status quo of war, like Nancy Pelosi are sent packing, nothing will change and our young people will still fight, die and kill for old people’s profit.

PEACE HEROES IS A SERIES BY CINDY SHEEHAN OF PEOPLE FROM WHOM SHE DERIVES INSPIRATION.

PEACE HEROES: Albert Einstein by Cindy Sheehan

http://mypeaceheroes.blogspot.com/2010/05/peace-heroes-albert-einstein-by-cindy.html

SIZZLIN' SUMMER PROTEST FROM PEACE OF THE ACTION

Sizzlin’ Summer Protest

Peace of the Action

Start Summer off with a Bang!

Rethink Tyranny

4^th of July

Peace of the Action will be meeting in Lafayette Park (North Side of White House) at 1pm to pass out Peace Literature to the people who flock to DC for the Nation’s Birthday.

The Wars Drone On and On

Monday, July 5^th to Friday, July 9th

We will meet in Lafayette Park everyday at 9:30am to begin our days’ protests.

For this week, Peace of the Action will be targeting the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle display (and educating the public about the horrific toll UAVs take) and drone manufacturers and lobbyists.

Also, on each day, we will be reconvening at Lafayette Park at 3pm to do a little protest in front of the White House—the main focus is to inform tourists, etc, that while the face of the resident of the White House may have changed, the policies have not!

Party Time!

Saturday, July 10^th is Cindy Sheehan’s birthday and we are going to use this as an excuse to PARTAY! Everything is usually so serious and somber, because we are dealing with serious and somber issues—but it’s good to let our hair down every once in awhile.

Place and Time for the bash TBA

Hands off our Kids!

Monday, July 12 to Friday, July 16

For this week, we will be targeting recruiting centers and defense contractors and lobbyists—and we will do some special “lobbying” of our own on Capitol Hill.

Again, we will meet in Lafayette Park everyday at 9:30am, go to our protest site from there, and return to the park at 3pm to spread some Peace literature to our fellow Americans.

Saturday, July 17^th

1pm to 6pm POTA RETREAT

This will be an intense five-hour think tank session on the future of Peace of the Action and the future of anti-war protests in the U.S.

With small numbers, where should our limited resources be focused?

We have to dream up an entire movement based on very low numbers and very limited funds—bring your creative solutions and a positive attitude that a better world is possible!

6pm-7pm Dinner

7pm to ? Concert and Party (Details to follow).

IMPORTANT INFO FOR SUMMER POTA

HOUSING WILL ONCE AGAIN BE PROVIDED AT ST. STEPHEN’S

1525 NEWTON ST, NW

(CORNER OF 16^TH AND NEWTON)

BREAKFAST AND LUNCH ARE UP TO THE PARTICIPANT AND POTA WILL PROVIDE DINNER EACH NIGHT. DINNER WILL BE AT 6PM (SHARP) EACH NIGHT

TRANSPORTATION TO THE PARK AND TO EVENTS IS UP TO EACH PARTICIPANT. WE WILL BE TRAVELING TO EVENTS AS A GROUP AND THE EVENTS SHOULD NOT BE TOO FAR FROM LAFAYETTE PARK

POTA BELIEVES THAT CIVIL RESISTANCE IS THE CORE OF TRUE CHANGE, BUT ONLY IF THE NUMBERS ARE SUFFICIENT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. SO, SINCE OUR NUMBERS ARE SMALL, CIVIL RESISTANCE WILL MORE THAN LIKELY NOT BE A PART OF SUMMER POTA—EDUCATION AND MOVEMENT BUILDING WILL BE OUR MAIN FOCUS

LAFAYETTE PARK WILL BE OUR MAIN CONVERGENCE SPACE FOR THE TWO WEEKS

EVENINGS WILL BE RESERVED FOR THE POTA CORE TEAM TO BLOG AND POST VIDEO AND DO OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS—IF YOU ARE A VIDEOGRAPHER OR BLOGGER, WE COULD USE YOUR HELP—USING ONLINE TOOLS WILL BE THE KEY TO MOVEMENT BUILDING

DRINK LOTS OF WATER—JULY IN DC IS HOT, HOT, HOT!

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT FOR SIZZLIN’ SUMMER FUN, EMAIL:

CINDY@PEACEOFTHEACTION.ORG

OR

JOSH@PEACEOFTHEACTION.ORG

Two Americas

http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcdx50x.yt0k96me2y.html

first published in Islam Times

"Trial of the Century"

On March 20th, three members of Peace of the Action, including Cindy Sheehan, were arrested crossing a "police line" in front of the White House.

After 52 hours in DC jail, Cindy, Jon Gold and Jim Veeder, were brought to court in ankle and wrist shackles.

Along with other three defendents, Cindy, Jon, and Jim were ordered to return to court on June 10th.

The charge the three were arrested for doesn't even contain any jail time (52 hours already) at all and the maximum penalty is $300.

Except for Cindy, who was not given the option, everyone else at the arraignment were given the option to "pay and forfeit."

"Pay and forfeit" would mean that the other five could have been given "time served" and not have to go back to DC for the expense of a trial, etc. The other five plead "not guilty," also and chose to go back to DC for the trial.

Cindy lives in California and will have significant travel expenses for this trial. The other five live in the East and will have some minimal expenses.

We would also like to pay some money to our attorney, Ann Wilcox.

Cindy and the other five were protesting wars that never should have been waged in the first place and have gone on for far too long. Even though there were thousands of people in attendance at the anti-war rally on the 7th anniversary of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, just this handful of activists decided to go the extra step of doing civil disobedience.

If you can help with the legal expenses of these six, who have already suffered so much in jail, and from the Empire, please click the scales to donate to the

Legal Defense Fund

IF YOU WISH TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS LIST, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO CINDYSSOAPBOX@GMAIL.COM WITH UNSUBSCRIBE IN THE SUBJECT LINE

LEGAL DEFENSE FUND FOR THE "POTA THREE"

LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
CLICK THE DONATE BUTTON, OR SEND A CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:

POTA THREE
PO BOX 6264
VACAVILLE, CA 95696

War is Still a Racket

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

Major General Smedley Butler

For this Mother’s Day, I am not going to write about Juliet Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day proclamation and how Mother’s Day is a “Day for Peace.”

By now, most of us are well aware of Ward’s proclamation (if not, click here) that we Mother’s should not send our sons (sic) to kill the sons of other mothers. We have strayed so far away from the original meaning of Mother’s Day, that we might as well call it “Hallmark Hooray Day,” and just let it be what it is. What I am going to write about, however, is the treatise of a military man that I think is profoundly and unfortunately still relevant.

Seventy-seven years ago, Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, Marine Corps, gave a speech entitled, War is a Racket. What made this speech so credible, if not surprising, is the fact that Smedley Butler was the highest decorated Marine of all time. Marines all over still learn about him, but they aren’t taught that he came from Quaker roots and began to castigate the U.S. and its wars of aggression.

General Butler is not too well known outside of military/peace circles. Indeed, even though I was a U.S. History major at University and most of what we learned about was war, I don’t think I had ever heard of him until about a year after Casey’s death.

I received an email from a person who had read one of my articles and he sent me a link to the treatise, War is a Racket. By the time I first read Butler’s work, I didn’t need any more convincing that Casey died for no reason but profit, but after I read it, I began to understand that the concept of “good war,” was a bogus one. Indeed, Butler says this in the first chapter:

For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.

It seems like every generation, more or less, in the U.S. we have a significant war. My generations’ “War on Terror” was Vietnam. Smedley Butler wrote War is a Racket between the “good wars” WWI and WWII.

What also makes this treatise so incredible is that in 77 years, nothing much has changed. If you just change some of the names to the current crop of culprits, it is eerily identical to today.

The rich always benefit during war and the poor always pay—always, no exception.

So as I spend my seventh Mother’s Day without my oldest son on this planet, I want to close with words from Smedley:

Yes, the soldier pays the greater part of the bill. His family pays too. They pay it in the same heart-break that he does. As he suffers, they suffer. At nights, as he lay in the trenches and watched shrapnel burst about him, they lay home in their beds and tossed sleeplessly – his father, his mother, his wife, his sisters, his brothers, his sons, and his daughters.

Listen to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox this Sunday at 2pm Pacific Time for a dramatic reading of War is a Racket.

Here Come Those Chickens Again

“Chickens Coming Home to Roost:”

Proverb:

When one has to face the consequences of mistakes or bad deeds.

As soon as I heard that Pakistani-American, Faisal Shahzad, was arrested for the so-called, “Times Square” attempted bombing (where an abandoned SUV filled with potential explosives was found in Times Square last weekend), my first thought was: “Those chickens are coming back to roost, again.”

Then tonight, as I was driving, I heard on the radio news that Shahzad claimed that he did that because he was upset over the CIA drone-bombing program in Northern Pakistan. So, my initial suspicion was confirmed. Let’s, for the time being, take Shahzad’s “confessions” at face value. We really don’t know what torture, lying, or other pressure was put on Shahzad, or why our government is so readily admitting that he was upset about drone bombings.

However, this incident also puts President Obama’s recent remarks about threatening the Jonas Brothers with a Predator drone if they went near his two daughters in a different light, doesn’t it? So many people on the “left” are defending Obama’s joke—rationalizing it as vigorously as they condemned and attacked Bush over his WMD joke at a White House Correspondent’s dinner in 2004.

What if the bomb in Times Square went off and killed dozens of people, like happens frequently in Pakistan/Afghanistan/Iraq? Would Obama’s joke still seem funny? I never thought joking about bombs that kill babies from the Joker that orders these bombings funny, anyway. But we all know that if Americans were killed, the shoe would be on an entirely different foot.

For example, this past May 4^th was the 40^th anniversary of the Kent State Massacre in Ohio. I spoke at SUNY Cortland at the event that the students put together there to commemorate that awful day.

I was pointing out to the crowd that four students being slaughtered by the US military was horrible 40 years ago, but millions of Vietnamese died at the hands of the same military, and since then millions of more people have been killed, displaced, or economically disadvantaged because of this wicked Empire.

Then, I guess I went too far in some of the young people’s eyes, because I pointed out that on September 11, 2001—almost four thousands Americans tragically died—but on that same day, (and every day since and every day after) tens of thousands of people died of starvation around the world. Then to make matters even worse, I compared the lives of the people who died of starvation favorably with the people who died on 9-11. I think I may have even said that they had the same exact existential right as those Americans! I heard from professors and the students that this caused a pretty big controversy on the campus.

Last December, the suicide bombing in Khost Province in Afghanistan at an American outpost that killed seven CIA agents was a revenge attack by a double agent in revenge for the drone killing of Hakimullah Mehsud and his family and neighbors—but didn’t I just hear that he’s still alive and just released a new video disputing his own recent death?

The one problem I have with 9-11 conspiracy theories is that sometimes the theories and the people who propose them discount one very important fact. Even though I never condone or support violence, Arab-Muslims had legitimate reasons to plan and carry out an attack—if they actually did is another question, though.

There will be a lot of unrighteous indignation over the Shahzad case and no one in power will even give a second thought to his legitimate frustration. The saddest and scariest thing about the entire episode to me is if the bombs did go off and kill innocent Americans, it would have been people who more than likely had no freaking idea that their government is slaughtering other innocent people with these weapons of terror.

Somewhere, sometime, the cycle of violence will have to stop—but who’s going to stop it? We can’t expect occupied peoples to stop resisting occupation. Self-defense and defending ones family and community is not only justified but a primal reaction.

Will the American people finally rise up against our government and demand an end to the U.S. war of military and economic terror against the world, or will we keep electing Jokers thinking, yes even hoping, that anything will change?

The Drone Bomber

Jeez—hasn’t the world suffered enough at the “antics” of the Robber Class at the annual White House Correspondent’s dinner?

I mean, crap, we have been “treated” to George Bush looking for the fabled WMD after so many people had been hilariously killed in Iraq (and that was just the beginning). And how will we ever get the picture of Karl Rove dancing and rapping out of our heads?

Over this past weekend, we were regaled with another lame performance by a president. Of course, with the audience laughing hysterically as if Obama were smashing watermelons, you wouldn’t think the performance was lame—unless you can and do still think.

Obama joked about the new draconian and un-Constitutional law in Arizona—which isn’t funny to millions of people. NAFTA and CAFTA and GMO’s are deadly serious business and instead of joking about human right’s violations, our government should be repealing these programs that force Latinos to risk their lives to come north to support their families.

Since the day the Nobel Laureate was sworn is as emperor, he has increased the use of CIA controlled drone bombings in Pakistan. In fact, the raw numbers are triple those of the final five years of the Bush regime. Obama is the Drone Bomber for sure and thousands of civilians have been killed or chased from their homes into filthy refugee camps by Obama’s war of terror.

To these people, joking about dropping Hellfire missiles on the Jonas brothers is no laughing matter. Are presidents really that freaking insensitive, or do they just not care if their “jokes” are in the poorest of bad taste?

Yes, if you haven’t heard, Obama did inform the Jonas brothers who were in attendance at the dinner that if they had any romantic designs on his two young daughters that he would target them with “Predator drones.”

The ironic thing about this threat is that this president has taken it upon himself to sign death warrants for Americans without due process. Again—not funny, dude.

In fact, you scare the hell out of me.

"Teabaggish" first appeared in Islam Times

“Teabaggish?”

Cindy Sheehan : I think, by now, that I have been called every nasty, dirty, demeaning, and just plain old, mean, name in the book.

Islam Times

I won’t bore you with a list of names, but today, I got called, “Teabaggish,” by a “friend” who doesn’t like that I occasionally point out truths: Truths that were truths on January 19, 2009 and are still true today.
Apparently, with this new epithet, I am being equated with the Glenn Beck following, slogan-slinging, knee-jerk reactionary, Sarah Palin lovers, who criticize Obama and the government. I hate to tell my “friend” but I have been doing this long before there was a Tea Party and Sarah Palin was still mayor of Wasilla. My “friend” knows this because he used to applaud me when I said exactly the same things when Bush was president.
I am still struggling with the Hope-nosis that has inflicted this country and the fact that it has infected the same people who were coming to the certainty that the U.S. is an evil empire while Bush was president. Now, that certainty is fading into the woodwork because there is a New Dawn (hey, isn’t that the name of one of Obama’s murderous operations in Afghanistan?)
In a recent speech the president gave at a commencement address in Michigan, he even said that if we call the government bad names, like “socialist” or “fascist” we are comparing the U.S. to other “murderous regimes.” Well, duh.
Either the killing of innocent and mostly brown people stopped on January 20, 2009, or I am “Teabaggish.”
I can almost give a 100 percent guarantee that if George were still president, or if McCain had won—I wouldn’t be called “Teabaggish,” for speaking out against the escalation of the illegal occupation of Afghanistan and the continuation of the illegal occupation of Iraq. I bet if I pointed out the fact that UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) use has tripled in Pakistan since January 20, 2009, it wouldn’t be met with hostility if it were McCain authorizing that usage.
And what about that Presidential Assassination Program whereupon the new president who is a Constitutional Authority can sign death warrants for any American and the “hit” will be carried out? To me this is one of the most egregious violations of civil and human rights that has ever been perpetrated in this country and there is no bill in Congress to stop it, very little grassroots movement against it, and certainly no hue/outcry from the corporate media.
How can Obama just reserve this right to himself? Why is no one asking this question and demanding the answer? Then the next question that arises immediately following that one (if you’re not Hope-notized) is—what will he come up with next? As my daughter recently said: “why don’t they just take away all of our rights and get it over with?”
Not only have I been called “Teabaggish” recently, but I have also been accused of constantly “whining” without offering solutions. Of course, I offer solutions all the time—but people like my nuevo-critics don’t want to hear them.
As long as we here in our class continue to allow the elites to pull the proverbial wool over our eyes every four years to have us believe that WE have a choice for whom we vote for, or that there is any difference between Goldman Sachs Candidate A or Goldman Sachs Candidate B, these wars, economic degradation and other oppressions will continue.
I don’t offer get-free-quick schemes—I also don’t propose false hope that perpetuates cults of personality and not relevant and positive change.
My solutions offer hard work and long hours, but the benefits are peace, justice and economic equality. We can’t count on our bought and paid politicians to make things right. It ain’t going to happen no matter even if one of them talks pretty or is able to pronounce “noo-klee-er.”
My solutions also require personal integrity and courage. And in this election year, we can exercise these two attributes and vow not to vote for another war-monger—if your Congress Rep votes for the 33 billion dollar war funding bill that is coming up—vote against him/her if there is a viable alternative, if not, have the courage NOT to vote.
I know that the corporate candidate from the War Party (One of the ones with the “D” or “R” behind their name) will probably still win, but at least your own conscience will be clear and your statement will be made.
Try it. You’ll like it.

© Islam Times