Fristibusters Having a Great Day

Go Fristibusters go!!!

Take it to the deep red south too!

Qustions:

Kenneth Starr is an unusual supporter of the filibuster. Why would he break with Scaithe,Delay, Frist,Dobson and the other neocons supporting this nonsense.

Do you guys see the similarities b/w Frist' bowing to Dobson's push to end the filibuster and Tom DeLay's strong arm tactics during Texas' ReDistricting fight?

Hey Ira,

For Starr it must be quite Simple...the old addage goes...

Honor among theives being what it has always been...

Great Pictures. Thanks.

My question: is it possible for some of these exceptional and inspirational students to bring the filibuster experience to their home towns? Could they export their movement beyond college campuses to include other small towns, and suburban locations?

Great pictures Karen! Especially love that first one with the Capitol in the background.

Late last night my son told me he was going to stop at PU today to check out the Frist filibusterers. I told him, too late they're packing up for their DC gig today.

He just moved back home for the summer, from law school in DC... They swapped places with him. Too bad, I'm sure he would have gotten a kick out of being able to do some filibustering with them in DC.

Keep up the good work Karen! Nice to have a wonderful DCP mother in DC helping those great kids where she can.

Remember the Mighty Oak...

...it too was once just a nut who stood it's ground!

=]

I'm proud of these students. They have withstood rain, cold, rude comments, and yet they've stood up for our country.

People...you just don't know what you've got til it's gone! Don't let that happen.

Create the message and bring it home.

I stopped by the filibuster around 7:30. The sun was setting in a clear sky, with just the smallest sliver of the new moon high above the Mall. The speaker when I arrived was deep into Homer; off in the background, a small caravan of six Segways went by, followed a few minutes later by a much larger flock of bicycle mounted police, riding across and then around one side of the site.

Being on the Mall felt a little weird after the fighter jets swooping back and forth across the city earlier n the day. When I first heard the jets, I wondered if maybe this was it, my last few moments on the planet before a fireball turned downtown DC into a nuclear hole in the ground. I read an interview shortly afterwards with Sen. George Allen, who was almost incoherent. These people have no idea what they're doing on the terrorism front.

But this evening was as beautiful a night as Washington serves up in the late spring, and I was glad that the filibusterers did not have to cope with a nasty cold rain. I spoke with several of the Princeton students, as well as people who'd come over from local schools. One of the Princeton students said how happy they were at all the support they'd been getting, and we talked about how that kind of support was available everywhere in the country, but you had to ask for it.

Cheers to the Next Generation!

What a noble and patriotic rally was had today! These young people are our living heritage, and today, as on so many days that have come and gone, they make us proud to be Americans.

They stood up for themselves...for their rights and most precious beliefs...and for the best interest of us all as a people...

Hail to the fighters! Hail to those daring enough to stand up...to speak out...and to have their voices heard!

This is indeed a great day for democracy!

Thanks for the update Dick! Yeah, those students seemed like a real great bunch of kids when I stopped by PU.

I'm just ticked I've been so backed up at work while their filibuster has been taking place. Hey, if I'd had time and they had let me, I could have done a nice little rant for a half hour or so with my eyes closed. I do ranting filibusters of longer that that to friends, family, co-workers etc when someone mistakenly says one little thing that can set me off about Bush, the religious right, general right-wingers or pretty much anything of that ilk at this point :-) Unfortunately, my oratory is a tad below the quality of those fines students...

Really nice to see the recent years of seeming apathy of many college students disappearing. As you well know, coming of age during Vietnam and Nixon woke up many of our generation pretty fast. It is so great to see the future leaders of our country really coming forward and making a LOUD statement against the further attempts of the far right to finish destroying our once fine country.

BTW, I'll likely be down in DC a few times over the summer for long weekends etc. Since my son has an apt a few blocks from the White House(yech at the moment) I'm planning on going down to play tourist some, since I didn't have a chance to check out enough in my quick trips down to-date.

people---

it's the young people who end up carrying the day. they have energy and light and conviction. they hold us up. they respect us oldsters who have
been there and done that. they are making a new statement. we support them, we applaud them, we are with them. any battle worth winng takes courage. i would sometimes make a dorian gray deal to be young again, but then i see the princeton youth, and i know that the baton has been passed. my spirit is eternally young because of them. go princeton!!!!

Yes, tutt--you know Dick is a Yale guy, but Princeton kids are looking mighty good!

Questions for the Democracy Heros:

Who or what inspired you to do this?

How many people are involved?

Have you been able to educate people about this--people who knew nothing before seeing you in action?

Have you had bystanders join the protest?

The voice of the future of America is being heard today, as well as seasoned veterans. Great Job !

Some media coverage:

http://www.princeton.edu/~petehill/filibuster.html

Filibusterfrist.com cool site

http://progrev.blogspot.com/2005/05/upright-filibusters.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/education/06princeton.html

http://uk.fc.yahoo.com/050506/46/fi90z.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/01/AR2005050100708.html

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7761384/

http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1114762256296650.xml

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155728,00.html

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/new_jersey/11567418.htm

DiANne,

They are just not getting enough attention here in DC. Too much concern with the poor pilots today, who slept in Michael Jackson's bed, etc.

Go PU!!! At least the NY Times gave them a pic and mention... http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/politics/12judges.html?

Of course on Hardball Chris spent much of his show on Ronnie & Nancy and something going on with his library(I think?) or some garbage. Couldn't listen to him slobbering over the great Reagan..

Chris also spent a little time babbling with Andrea Mitchell about the Nuclear option threat and about rumors Reid was going to cave. Then saying he wondered if the Dems would be "smart enough" to back down and let all these judicial appointees go to floor votes since "nobody would even hear from them again then" (what a moron!) and then they could save the filibuster to use against Supreme Court nominees if needed.

Now I know Chris is a Bush loving, anti-Dem proven mindless conventional wisdom right-wing parrot etc but is he really that stupid? Yeah I guess so. Like Frist couldn't just go nuclear as soon as the Dems filibustered a Supreme court nominee. Esp if it was one of the horrible appeals court nominees that Chris says should be allowed to go to the floor and be voted on now. The GOP would just say, this appeals court judge is obviously a qualified mainstream nominee since they were just approved by the full Senate for the appeals court and is qualified for the Suprme Court, the Dems are just being obvious partisan obstructionists blah blah..

Sad to say, i never made it to college. I was more interested in motherhood, and I have done a fine job. On mothers day, my 28 year old son hugged me and thanked me for giving him the courage to face life. He is a strong, kind, and caring man. I can't take credit for him, he is his own person. I am overjoyed to know that it might be at Princeton, or Yale or on any MAIN STREET USA that there are young people who are truly spirited and full of life. Isn't it amazing how life courses through them?!!!!!

Posted by: tutterfly at May 11, 2005 11:51 PM

You did one of the hardest jobs and evidently did it well, I have never been so glad that I was primarily a stay at home mom as I have been these last few months it meant that there were somethings I never had to regret, It enabled late night talks and trips and movies and a host of other times and things I wouldnt have had. Had I been working.

Mothers are often undervalued in our culture and in others and its pretty sad.

Princeton's Mock Filibuster Visits DC

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/11/national/w153513D44.DTL

The Frist Filibuster Hits Washington

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1060378,00.html

Students Filibuster Against Frist At His Alma Mater

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/10/princeton.filibuster

Princeton University's Filibuster Fight Heading to Washington

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--filibusterfight-n0510may10,0,1333844.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey

Princeton's Mock Filbuster Visits DC

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1153&slug=Princeton%20Filibuster

Thanks DiAnne. I still wish we had the Post, local progressive radio, NPR etc. out there. Maybe they will cover the rally today at 11.

I'll let you know.

Karen,

Could you let us know all of the different states represented? I would like to call the Senators of each of the homestate of the student here and advise them that they have constituents across the street, waiting to hear from their elected officials. Maybe they can be encouraged to stop by if they know that students from their state(s) are there.

Karen
Has anyone contacted Air America and Democracy Now? They could put some students on the air. TruthOut and AlterNet? Those are not MSM but the word still gets around. I would get the numbers of the Post (especially individual columnists) and NPR affiliate & alternative radio and call and call and call.

If I weren't headed to work I'd call and call.
DC IndyMedia doesn't have anything that I saw, but they have this: Terrorists on the Mall - about US military equipment on display (with interesting photo). http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/122315/index.php

People can post their own photos & story on this website, which is linked all over the world. You can also put a story up on any other IndyMedia. If it's selected as a featured story, quite a few people see it.