Lifting the Veil with Cindy Sheehan

Lifting the Veil is proud to welcome Cindy Sheehan! A prominent anti-war activist and voice for the people, and recently a vice presidential candidate running for office with Roseanne Barr! Coming soon!

Cindy Sheehan On The Karel Show - 8/12/2012

No Dancing? No thanks! by Cindy Sheehan

I sent out a fundraising appeal to my contacts earlier today (Aug 12) which HORRIFICALLY said that I was going to have FUN being Roseanne Barr's running mate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket this election cycle.

How dare I think that politics could be "FUN?" Only one person was upset with me, but I don't care, I have to respond.

Of course, the issues facing us are deadly serious and some people have paid MAJOR consequences for the crimes of the US Empire, my son and our family being a good example of this. However, one thing I had to learn very quickly to be able survive the anguish I face on a daily basis, is that no matter how dire circumstances are, "the sun will come up tomorrow." No matter how tragic life is, it goes on, and on, and on.

Emma Goldman, anarcho-revolutionary, famously said once: "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution!"

Notice, she didn't say, "Reform," she said, "revolution" and I think Emma would think our politics and our movements can be trudgingly and mind-numbingly dull!

If I can laugh and have fun, why can't you?

I have been at rallies and protests in Latin America and am always so envious of the spirit and laughter at them. Oftentimes our marches here in the US are funereal as we slog along frowning and singing a very dispirited version of "We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome," (we shall sing this song, we shall sing this song, we shall sing this song till we die-i-i."). In Latin America there is dancing, tambourines, SPIRITED singing and a very liberal amount of "Vivas!" No one in Latin America thinks you are not serious if you are out confronting the establishment: they call you, "Compañera," not "Clown."

I have been known, myself, to treat very serious topics with humor and some say, "warmth." However, here in the US I have to give most of my audiences permission to laugh, then a lot of audience members come up to me after my speech and say, "I didn't know you were so funny!" That's me, that's the way I have always been. Should I allow my tragedy and the obscenity of the US Empire to change me any more than it already has?

Shall we discard being human from our work and become Automatons for Change? Serious, we must be serious; don't smile, don't have fun or the suits in DC won't take you seriously. Oh by the way, speaking of "suits"---don't forget to wear your lavender polyester pant-suit decorated with a tasteful string of baubles around your neck--how will 1950's America know you are serious if you don't do that, for crying in the sandbox?

My being human and acting human allows me to connect in a very real way with other humans on this planet. "Peace" is not an intellectual exercise for me and "Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose," and freedom to not have to struggle so hard just to survive. Thriving is better than surviving and laughing is usually better than crying.

I just thought of something else funny! Maybe if Roseanne and I acted all serious and junk and played the repressive Reindeer Games of the 1%, we might actually have a chance and get on corporate media more like the other very serious 3rd party candidates. Oh, but wait, they ignore them, too, don't they?

Maybe, just maybe, 3rd party politics can't take better root in America because we (not me, we; they, we) think we have to imitate the very cyst-ems (misspelling on purpose) we are trying to overthrow? Our campaign in SF against Pelosi was probably one of the most successful 3rd party/independent runs in a long time and it was against one of the most powerful people in government. Guess what, we worked hard, but we had lots of the F-Word, "FUN!"

How can we reach the masses here in the country with only the dry intellectualism of our ideas? The issues are serious and the solution is simple and elegant: socialist revolution. How can we reach people with the blah, blah, blah of eternal boredom when Mr. and Mrs. Average American mistakingly believes that our current Capitalist in Chief is a frightening shhhhh...socialist?

The bottomline is this: we all work hard, but only some of us have FUN doing it.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having some fun.

I give you permission to laugh and dance.

Try it, you'll like it...or at the very least, it won't kill you!

Roseanne Barr and PandFP Convention - August 4th, 2012

http://www.peaceandfreedom.org

Kill the Obscene Kill List! (Soapbox for 12 Aug 2012)

Sunday, August 12, 2012

At 2pm Pacific, Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

presents attorney, Pardiss Kebriaei, from the 

Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

The CCR and ACLU filed a law suit against SecDef Leon Panetta and others for the extrajudicial, illegal, targeted assassination of

US citizens: Anwar al Awlaki, Samir Khan, and al Awlaki's son, 

Abdulrahman in Yemen.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the families for wrongful death and damages.

Please click HERE at 2pm Pacific or anytime thereafter to 

download and listen to the show!

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO DONATE TO THE SOAPBOX

My Little Cindy Sheehan C-SPAN Collection

Downing Street Minutes and Pre-War Intelligence - June 16, 2005

VP Candidate, Cindy Sheehan and 15 others, arrested protesting nukes at Bangor Trident Sub Base

Peace activists stopped traffic briefly while other activists leafleted at the Navy’s West Coast Trident submarine base on the Hiroshima anniversary.

Activists with Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent action held a peaceful early morning vigil at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor Main Gate as Navy and civilian employees entered the base.  The vigil commemorated the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Trident submarine base at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, Washington, contains the largest concentration of operational nuclear weapons.  Each of the 8 Trident submarines at Bangor carry as many as 24 Trident II(D-5) missiles, each capable of carrying up to 8 independently targetable warheads.  Each nuclear warhead has an explosive yield up to 32 times the yield of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

Peace activists lined the roadside with anti-nuke signs, banners and a full-scale inflatable Trident II D-5 ballistic missile.  Around 7:00 am Peacekeepers from Ground Zero entered the road to safely stop incoming traffic.  Three activists entered the roadway carrying a banner with the message “Abolish Nuclear Weapons.”  Washington State Patrol officers escorted the protestors to the median for processing.

Almost immediately, another group of activists entered the roadway with a banner bearing the message “Give Peace a Chance. No, Seriously.”  As they were being removed from the roadway two more groups carried banners calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons onto the roadway in the same sequence and were subsequently removed.  Traffic entering the base was stopped continuously until all protestors were cleared from the roadway.

A total of 16 persons engaged in the blockade.  All were issued citations at the scene for “Walking on roadway where prohibited” and released.   Those cited were Tom Rogers, Poulsbo, WA; Cindy Sheehan, Vacaville, CA; Marion Ward, Vancouver, WA; Michael Siptroth, Belfair, WA; Mal Chaddock, Portland, OR; Ann Havill, Bend, OR; Betsy Lamb, Bend, OR; Bernie Meyer, Olympia, WA; Leonard Eiger, North Bend, WA; Constance Mears, Poulsbo, WA; Gordon Sturrock, Eugene, OR; Brenda McMillan, Port Townsend, WA; Mack Johnson, Silverdale, WA; Gilberto Z Perez, Bainbridge Island, WA; George W Rodkey, Tacoma, WA and Elizabeth Murray, Bellingham, WA.

During the vigil and action at Main Gate, another group from Ground Zero leafleted outside the Bangor Trigger Gate.  The leaflets were titled “CAN WE TALK?” They explained that the peace activists were present to raise awareness of the danger of nuclear weapons, and invited recipients to join in a sincere dialogue on nuclear weapons. Activists handed approximately 200 of the leaflets to people entering and leaving the base.

Monday’s vigil, nonviolent direct action and leafleting were the culmination of a weekend of events at Ground Zero Center. Participants commemorated the anniversaries of the atomic bombings and celebrated 35 years of Ground Zero’s resistance to the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Participants had the opportunity to hear from Ground Zero co-founders Jim and Shelley Douglass, persistent peace activist Cindy Sheehan, and the (pepper sprayed) face of Seattle Occupy Dorli Rainey.

The weekend included nonviolence training, letter writing to elected officials, action planning, a vigil at the Kitsap Mall and a screening of the documentary “In My Lifetime.”  The film, a presentation of the Nuclear World Project, is intended to help people develop an understanding of the realities of nuclear weapons.

A number of additional events were associated with the Ground Zero weekend. 

Glen Milner of Ground Zero organized this year’s Peace Fleet, a flotilla of boats that sailed into Seattle’s Elliott Bay on August 1^st to meet the U.S. Navy fleet in a protest against militarism.

Activists representing Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington Chapter, arrived at Ground Zero on Saturday during the Bike to the Bomb bicycle ride.  Bike to the Bomb protests the use of nuclear weapons against the people of Japan, and spotlights the massive nuclear arsenal stored and deployed at Bangor.

Participants in the 2012 Pacific Northwest Interfaith Peace Walk for a Nuclear Free Future, which began in Portland, Oregon on July 22^nd, also arrived at Ground Zero on Saturday to participate in the weekend’s activities.  The walk is organized by Buddhist monks from Bainbridge Island, and carries a message of hope for peace and a nuclear free world.

Ground Zero holds three scheduled vigils and actions each year in resistance to Trident and in protest of U.S. nuclear weapons policy.  The group has been working to stop the Navy’s plan to build a $715 million Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor, and recently filed a lawsuit in Federal court to stop the project.  Ground Zero is also working to de-fund the Navy’s plans for a next generation ballistic missile submarine, estimated to cost $99 billion to build.

For nearly thirty-five years Ground Zero has engaged in education, training in nonviolence, community building, resistance against Trident and action toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Photo of action attached (photo credit: Leonard Eiger, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action). 

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

UPDATE: Members of the "Bangor 16" will be fasting in solidarity with the people of Japan tomorrow on the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki.

Peace activist, Cindy Sheehan, will be joining the fast, saying from her California home, "It's about time that the US renounce the "first strike" doctrine and lead the way in total, global nuclear weapon disarmament. Also, with the people of Japan still suffering from the continued meltdown at Fukushima Daichi, that our resources and energy should go towards promoting safe and sustainable forms of energy production. Our children and grandchildren deserve a better future--or a future at all."

Please fast with us as appropriate to yourself and health.

While your fasting, we invite you to write to the President of the US, your Senators, your Congressperson and/or newspaper to express your disgust that the world is closer to total nuclear war than it has been in more than two decades.

Doomsday clock moved to 5 Minutes to Midnight

Advocacy issues for no-nukes

Bio of Cindy Sheehan for Peace and Freedom Party Ticket

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan who was killed in Iraq on 04 April 2004, in the USA’s illegal and immoral occupation for profit and control of natural resources.

Cindy was a liberal Democrat before Casey was killed, but in her quest for answers as to why her son was killed and why the people who were responsible for his death were not held accountable, Cindy has had a political transformation that eventually led her to Revolutionary Socialism as the solution to the Imperialist/Capitalist two-party stranglehold on not only US politics, but, by extension, the world.

Cindy has traveled all over the world and has seen Socialism in practice and is convinced that a new world is not only possible, but also practical and desirable.

In 2008, Cindy Sheehan, challenged then House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her Congressional seat, and although a political novice and independent, Sheehan received 2^nd place in a field of seven with almost 50,000 votes. Pelosi had not seen such a fierce challenger before and has not been challenged to such a successful degree, since.

Cindy’s platform called for, among other things: end to all wars and profound reduction of US military bases around the world; nationalization of banks and the Federal Reserve; single-payer health care; heavily subsidized education from Pre-School through University; electoral reform; democratization of the economy and the work place; decriminalization of marijuana and the end to the Federal Government’s drug wars and harassment of California’s growers and medicinal dispensaries; sustainable and renewable energy free from fossil fuel production and usage; freedom of political prisoners held in US prisons; and much more. Sheehan had a labor platform that was hailed by workers all over the world.

Cindy learned a lot from that campaign and she has no delusions or illusions about the current US paradigm, but Cindy believes in Roseanne Barr’s commitment, intellect and heart and is honored by the nod and excited to have a larger platform to talk about peace and Socialist Revolution. Sheehan has been a registered member of the Peace and Freedom Party since 2009.

Sheehan has published seven books, is the host and director of Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Radio Show. Cindy still travels the world working for peace and justice and her home base is Vacaville, CA where she loves spending time with her three surviving children and four grandchildren.

Cindy is here for the long haul to insure her grandbabies and all the grandbabies of the world have a sustainable and peaceful future.

Cindy Sheehan at the Ground Zero Center for Non-Violence - 8/5/2012

Cindy Sheehan speaks at Ground Zero Center for Non-violence event "Inconvenient Truth" on August 5, 2012. Sheehan was detained with 15 others the next morning at the front gate to the Bangor Kitsap Naval Base just 20 miles west of Seattle. The Naval base serves about a dozen Trident ballistic missile submarines and probably the worlds largest stockpile of nuclear warheads whose purpose is to destroy large cities.

Thanks to Gordon Sturrock for the video!

Cindy Sheehan On The Karel Show - 8/7/2012

Gore Vidal. Presente! by Cindy Sheehan

The few times I had a chance to visit Gore in his

Hollywood Hills home, or chat with him 

on the phone were very special times for me

of which I will treasure forever.

 

Gore was the most interesting man alive and he was a

true renaissance intellectual whose voice was

desperately needed to counteract the propaganda of the

US Empire.

 

I will miss him on a personal level and we lost a true

international treasure on July 31, 2012.

 

In July of 2009, I had a chance to interview him and we are running this classic Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox with Gore.

 

Please CLICK HERE to download and listen to the interview.

Barr/Sheehan 2012 vs. The War Party by Cindy Sheehan

Just found out today (August 4, 2012) that Roseanne Barr and I were given the confidence and nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party of California at the nominating convention. Even though Roseanne is Roseanne and I have been a member of the party for almost four years, now, the nomination wasn’t in the bag—there were some high hurdles we had to leap first and we did it (with our great, if not small, team) in less than a week!

The Peace and Freedom Party is the only Socialist/Feminist Party with ballot status (for the time being) here in California and many left wing parties or independents vie for the Presidential nomination of our party—so there were originally five tickets seeking the nod: Alexander/Mendoza of SPUSA; Anderson/Rodriguez of the newly formed Justice Party; Durham/Lopez of the Freedom Socialist Party; Lindsay/Osorio of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Barr/Sheehan of the Peace and Freedom Party (I was added to the ticket just one week ago today).

What made our nomination more and more likely as the week wore on were two things that happened. Though Rocky Anderson had won the PFP primary in June, the primary is non-binding and the nomination occurs at the convention. Well, Anderson did not do the work within the party that needed to be done to consolidate delegates in order to secure the nomination and ballot line AND he is decidedly not a Socialist and didn’t even endorse our candidate, Marsha Feinland, for US Senate in June. Anderson discovered that his chances were minimal for getting the nomination and he withdrew the day the convention began. We all wish him well.

However, the most important thing that worked in the favor of Barr/Sheehan was the wonderful act of solidarity that the Party for Socialism and Liberation made on the behalf of our ticket. Peta Lindsay is only 28 and she was leading up the PSL ticket with amazing energy, intelligence and commitment. Being only 28, though, the California Secretary of State pulled her name off the ballot and she withdrew her candidacy for PFP today at the convention and urged her committed delegates and the undecided delegates to vote for Barr/Sheehan.

I spoke on behalf of the Barr/Sheehan ticket at the candidate forum last night in the president’s slot and took questions and gave statements and then Roseanne (who is being roasted by Comedy Central tonight), blew into the convention today and literally blew everyone away with her humorous, yet deep, analysis of the issues and the way socialism can address them and help lead us to the promised land of: full employment; Medicare for all; free education from pre-school to university; housing as a right; a sustainable, clean environment and most of all, peace!

I had another few minutes to speak today and I am always introduced as an "antiwar activist," but my resumé has fleshed out a little over the years. I have been traveling the world working with socialist organizations and, especially in Latin America, witnessing socialist revolution at work. Being a dedicated anti-imperialist, I have seen how the two major parties in this country are both dedicated to war, war, and more war for profit. Looking for peace in the Democratic Party is like looking for integrity in the Corporate Media—it’s just not there in a significant way. All of the socialist-democratic countries I have been to not only recognize, but are committed to the idea of national sovereignty—they rightfully don’t want anyone messing in their countries and they return the favor—much to the consternation of the US/British/Israeli military junta.

Because I believe it’s the only way to peace and planetary disarmament, I am a convert to, and now an evangelical, for socialist revolution. I have witnessed, before my eyes, the transformation of societies from illiterate, disempowered peasantry to educated and empowered vital members of society.

Socialism has an undeserved stigma in this country because the capitalists surely don’t want us to know that there is a better way of doing things and there has been a dedicated smear campaign against socialism since at least WWII yet, I have been in the meetings where dry Marxist jargon is bandied about and sometimes I don’t even know what the hell they’re talking about

Roseanne and I believe that the only way to stop this evil empire from its crimes is to relate to the masses in a way that the jargon can’t. Roseanne is from the working-class and I always have been and always will be. Neither one of us are very fluent in the jargon, but we can speak the language of the worker: he/she; white/black/brown/yellow/red; Republican/Democrat/Socialist/; Christian/Muslim/Jew/atheist—we all face the same issues and we are all having the life sucked out of us by the Evil Empire that has two heads where one looks strangely like Mitt Romney and the other one is the spitting image of Barack Obama. 

Roseanne and I can help form the response that exhibits compassion, intelligence, justice, and peace. Socialism can be defined as "an economic system characterized by social ownership and cooperative management of the means of production, and a political philosophy advocating such a system" but it really is just a system of taking care of each other from cradle to grave and recognizing that we should belong to a community that cares for each other.

There have been a few people who have been appalled by our candidacy thinking that we may "take votes away from Obama" and "cause Romney to win" and there are responses to that one:

Barack Obama does not own your vote.

If you care about peace, justice and economic equality, he has not earned your vote.

If Obama loses this November it’s because he sucks and his presidency has been a failure for the 99% and a windfall for the 1%

Besides, historically, after the US has constantly bounced from Democrat-Republican-Democrat-Republican-Democrat, etc., haven’t you kind of noticed already that it really doesn’t matter very much who is president? 

It’s the cyst-em of control that needs to be overthrown and socialist revolution can do that!

Barr/Sheehan 2012 have two very important people to thank: Cat Woods, a member of the PandFP who worked so hard to get all the ducks in a row and former Georgia Congresswoman and GPUSA presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney, for keeping the dream of Roseanne for President alive.

Go to www.RoseanneforPresident2012.org for more information about the campaign. 
 

Statement For 9/11 Justice, Please Sign

To America, and the world.

We were lied to about 9/11. About the financing of the attacks, about foreknowledge of the attacks, about the air response that morning, and about many other aspects of the 9/11 atrocities.

Each investigation into 9/11, including the Joint Congressional Inquiry, the PENTTBOM investigation, the CIA IG, the DoD IG, the 9/11 Commission (especially the 9/11 Commission), and other investigations each had their own version of corruption and compromise.

Because we don't have subpoena power, access to all of the documentation, and access to all of the people that we would need to speak to, it is impossible for us to determine what actually happened that day, and who was ultimately responsible.

That being said, there are many provable lies and omissions concerning what we were told.

Therefore, we believe there is no justification for the "Post-9/11 World," and everything that entails.

We believe the "9/11 Card" that is often played by our politicians and the media no longer has merit, if it ever did.

We believe there needs to be real justice and accountability for what happened that day, and not the kind you find at GITMO.

We believe the family members who lost someone that day, and the people of the world both require and deserve this.

We believe it is the right thing to do.

Signed,

Click here to sign.

DONATE TO CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX BY CREDIT CARD

Thank you!

I Hella Heart Roseanne from Gene Ruyle (PFP)

I Hella ♥ Rosanne
 
Yep, she’s got my vote. Like many others, I was skeptical at first, but as I’ve learned more about Rosanne and who she is, my skepticism has changed to enthusiasm and I’ve come to believe that the Barr/Sheehan ticket is the best hope for our party and for our class.

Before explaining, let me note that, as the “Top Two” candidate in the 15th Assembly District (Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland), I endorse all the candidates and will be honored to share the ballot with whoever is chosen by our Convention. Until this week, I had planned to vote for the Durham/Lopez ticket out of the great respect I have for the Freedom Socialist Party. I have equal respect the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Socialist Party, and Rocky Anderson and hope they will all continue to work in our Party for real Peace and real Freedom.

To begin, let me stress that Rosanne is a socialist who, for many Americans, defines “working class.” She is one of us. She is an established author (I just ordered her latest, Roseannearchy: Dispatches from the Nut Farm.) Rosanne has expressed her support for building Peace and Freedom and for our Platform. Her endorsement of the strongest platform on the American left should calm the fears of any who might question the “purity” of her socialism. The addition of the “Peace Mom,” Cindy Sheehan, further underscores the left credentials of her campaign. Cynthia McKinney and the Black Caucus of the Green Party have endorsed Rosanne’s campaign. All this adds stength to a Barr/Sheehan/Peace&Freedom campaign.

In a few short weeks, the Barr/Sheehan campaign has put together an impressive web presence, as may be seen in the Rosanne for President website and Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox blog. She has addressed all the questions we have thrown at her in what is, to my mind, a more than satisfactory manner. However, my support for Barr/Sheehan is not based primarily on my intellectual assessment of their program (although that is important), but rather on my feeling that she is uniquely qualified to generate the kind of mass enthusiasm needed to transform us into a mass movement.

A Barr/Sheehan campaign will speak to millions of working class Americans in a way than our Peace and Freedom Party alone is unable to do. It will also provide an opening to the Occupy forces, our natural allies (although this may not be realized by many in Occupy). Like most Americans, they love Rosanne.

For these reasons, I will vote for Rosanne Barr for our presidential nomination and urge all my comrades on the Central Committee to give serious consideration to the campaign of Rosanne Barr and Cindy Sheehan. They cannot, by themselves, save us. But they do provide an unprecedented opportunity for us to transform ourselves into a mass, national party that speaks to the real issues facing the working class in America and the world.

Eugene E Ruyle Peace and Freedom Candidate, 15th Assembly 

District Retired Anthropology Professor August 2, 2012

Cindy Sheehan Demands that Obama Free the Cuban 5

This August Cindy Sheehan joins the international campaign of the 5th of each month for the Cuban 5 and is sending the following letter to President Obama.

Photo: Bill Hackwell, Cindy Sheehan in front of the White House, April 2012

Cindy Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed during the Iraq War in 2004. From that time on Cindy became a leading voice against the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for setting up Camp Casey right outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch.

After meeting family members of the Cuban 5 in 2006 Cindy started a special relationship with the mothers of the Five based on her sense of justice and her understanding of the suffering that only a mother separated from a son knows.    

LETTER OF CINDY SHEEHAN TO OBAMA

August 5, 2012    

Dear President Obama,

Though I have little faith you will actually read this letter, my passion for this cause gives me optimism that you might take a moment to hear me.

I am writing to you about the case of the "Cuban 5." The Cuban Five are five Cuban anti-terrorist agents from Cuba, who came to the United States to monitor the activities of real terrorists-Cuban expatriates living here who planned violent counter-revolutionary acts in Cuba and have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Cubans over the years.

As you probably know, my son, Casey Austin Sheehan, was killed in Iraq on April 04, 2004. He was lied to by his government and military leadership that told him he was occupying another's land to "fight terrorism." So many injustices have been committed in this so-called Global War on Terror, but these Five Cuban heroes have been in US jails and prisons for fourteen years and their only real crime was not registering as foreign agents-a mild crime that usually carries a mild sentence of expulsion or short prison terms.

However, to obfuscate the USA's training of and harboring of real terrorists, such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, the injustice system of this country has convicted these five Cubans in a travesty of justice and the penalties were inhumane.

I have read numerous other letters to you from colleagues who have also pled with you to Free the Five based on the fact that they are sons, husbands, and fathers who need to return to their homeland and be with their families. Since you are already well aware of the deaths of sons, fathers, husbands, wives, mothers, and daughters due to the expansion of the Bush wars, and starting a few of your own, I am rather certain that approach will not work.

I know and care about the families of the Five-Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González-they are optimistic and wonderful human beings. I have had the fortune of getting to know them over the years during my travels to Cuba and around the world. I am not appealing to you based on compassion as that would be a useless waste of my time and yours-the US imprisons more people per capita than any other nation in the world. Nor am I appealing to you based on the fact that you were a Constitutional Scholar and lawyer, primarily because what happened to the Five was an obscenity of the law, as was the signing of the NDAA into law, drone bombing in countries without a declaration of war, and assassinating US citizens without the due process guaranteed by the Constitution-all clearly in violation of the Constitution and also obscene.

However, I am appealing to you to "Free the Five" based on the fact that you have said, and shown the world, that the USA can "act pre-emptively" to protect our "safety," and I would like to believe that you would extend the Cuban people and government the same right to protect its citizens from acts of terrorism.

Your regime has vigorously violated the sovereignty of several countries in the purported quest to "keep America safe." The Cuban government and the Five Heroes did far less.

As a United States citizen, I do not make appeals of the people who work for me, however, I demand that my government allow the Four still imprisoned people listed above, as well as René González, who is out but on probation in Miami (which is the worst place for him to be because of the counter-revolutionary Cuban terrorists who live there) to return home. They have been punished enough for a relatively small crime.

President Obama, you have also made a statement that "Cuba needs to change its society" before you will consider normalizing relations. The blockade is an anachronism from the Cold War that can be lifted to the benefit of both nations- then you can go visit and see how wrong you've been.

Cindy Sheehan

 

REMEMBER:  THE 5TH OF AUGUST FOR THE CUBAN 5

NEXT SUNDAY AUGUST 5TH, CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AND JOIN THE WORLDWIDE DEMAND FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE FIVE.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO REACH THE WHITE HOUSE   

By phone: 202-456-1111  (If nobody answers the phone leave a message)

If calling from outside the United States, dial first the International Area Code

+ 1 (US country code) followed by 202-456-1111

By Fax: 202-456-2461

If fax is sent from outside the United States, dial first the International Area

Code + 1 (US country code) followed by 202-456-2461

To send an e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov

To send a letter

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20500

EE.UU.

To send an electronic message write to:

SEND AN ONLINE MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Guns: The Deluded Dualistic Liberaloids Explode!

by Diane Gee

There is nothing that can show the binary thinking of modern man more a tragedy in the US. Tragedies are tragic in every sense, but somehow American Exceptionalism feeds into some need for a 24/7 media frenzy disproportionate to the reality of what same Exceptionailsm wreaks upon the rest of the World. A hundred killed at a Pakistani wedding? Nary a peep. A thousand born with grotesque birth defects in Fallujia? Meh. But give us a plane flown into a IRS building, a white girl kidnapped, a fertilizer bomb in Oklahoma, and we go rabid. Add any tragedy involving guns? And it becomes a meth frenzy of polarization, leaving absolutely no room for shades of grey in the reactionary public.

We don't have plane debates, fertilizer debates, racial unfairness in missing kid debates, but god damn. We do have gun debates. And? There is nothing more divisive than this subject.

Somewhere between the crazed militia types and the screeching, preaching abolitionists? Sanity and reason are suffocated under the mountain of invective, stereotyping and panic.

Keep Socialism on the Ballot--Register Peace and Freedom Party in California

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, OR RE-REGISTER

PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY

IN CALIFORNIA 

In the June Primary of 2010, corporate interests misled California voters into passing Proposition 14, which replaces the June partisan primary elections with the first round of a partly partisan, partly non-partisan "top two" election in which political parties no longer nominate candidates for office. The November General Elections are thereby reserved for the "top two" vote getters, usually the two richest candidates. Independent party candidates will not appear on the ballot and even write-in votes will not be counted.

Prop 14 makes an already seriously flawed electoral system even worse by striking a devastating blow against independent parties like Peace and Freedom which receive no funds from corporate interests.

Although touted as an “Open Primary” measure, Prop 14 will in fact close November General Elections to all but the two richest candidates. Voters will no longer be able to choose Green, Libertarian, or Peace & Freedom candidates in the General Election. Prop 14 will thus increase the power of wealth over an electoral system already biased in favor of corporations and the rich.

The Peace and Freedom Party fought vigorously against this ballot measure. We will continue to fight it in the courts and at the ballot box. Meanwhile, we must mount a voter registration campaign. Previously, independent political parties could maintain their ballot status either by receiving two per cent of the vote in a statewide November general election or by maintaining two percent of all registrants. Now, since Peace and Freedom will no longer appear on the November ballot, the only way to maintain our ballot status is by increasing our voter registration. In other words, to meet the new requirements of the new system, we must almost double our registration by the end of 2014 to stay on the ballot.

By registering Peace and Freedom, you are joining with tens of thousands of others who want to take control of our political system away from the ruling capitalist class. You want an end to the war machine that gave us the wars in Vietnam and the Middle East. You want an end to bail outs for bankers and the rich. You want to shift the tax burden to the rich and their corporations and away from the working class and the poor. You want an end to the corporate rape of the environment and no compromise in defense of our Mother Earth.

Friends Help Friends Register Peace and Freedom.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER OR RE-REGISTER

PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY 

IN CALIFORNIA 

For Ralph Nader’s analysis of Prop 14, click here.

Here are links to all of our website materials from this campaign.

War is a Racket by Major General Smedley D. Butler

The very special guest on Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox this week

is, none other than:

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler*

who will present his epic speech:

War is a Racket

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN ANY TIME or

Listen at 2pm Pacific Time

COMMUNITY PROGRESSIVE RADIO

CLICK TO HELP CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX

*PLAYED BY JON GOLD