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Peace Activism Category

I have always felt a curious natal affinity for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The U.S. destroyed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, 62 years ago. I was born a year after the war on August 8, and became aware early on of how the anniversaries of these bombings bracketed my birthday.

I grew up in Norfolk, VA in the 1950s. The city proclaimed itself the world's largest naval base, and whether it was or wasn't (it was), the presence of the Navy was overwhelming. Where else would it have been considered a romantic way to spend Christmas Eve driving your girlfriend down to the Navy base and riding along the piers with the destroyers, cruisers, battleships, subs, and aircraft carriers all decorated with strings of Christmas lights? (I doubt this quaint custom survived 9/11).

At my elementary school, which was located about 3 miles from the Main Gate of the Naval Base, we learned from Burt the Turtle about how to "Duck and Cover" if the evil Russians should launch a surprise attack on our wonderful Navy base.

What did John Conyers want?

That’s the question I kept asking myself while watching the highly stylized kabuki-theater-like unfolding of the impeachment drama yesterday afternoon outside Conyers' office.

Getting arrested for civil disobedience in the District of Columbia isn’t what it used to be. If you go through the process of applying for a demonstration permit, there is a check-off box on the form asking if you are planning to have people arrested as part of your demonstration.

Knowing that people intend to risk arrest, leaves the police to determine the timing of the arrests, and things stay under control (from the police point of view) -- in contrast to the arrests at a World Bank demo a few years ago in which DC police sealed off whole city blocks and arrested everyone who happened to be on the street at that moment -- an unconstitutional procedure for which arrestees have won huge judgments against the city.

Don’t get me wrong -- even in such a well-choreographed encounter, there were moments of very high emotion. I was standing a bit down from Conyers’ office in the long, narrow, high-ceilinged hall when the crowd broke out into a single-word chant: IMPEACH. IMPEACH. IMPEACH.

[Photo credit of eggs frying on sidewalk: operapixels]

All the kids I know are asking if you can really do this...yes, you can, but it's disgusting. I give that answer alot these days.

[UPDATE: Harriet Miers blows off the subpoena. Conyers responds here. My response? Throw her ass in jail. Now. What's your response?]

Speaking of these days, you don't need me to tell you that it's summertime. The mercury is through the roof, and we're all seeking a little shelter. And while you seek that shelter, what are you talking about with your friends and neighbors? More important, what are you talking about with strangers? You know, the folks in line at the grocery store, or in my case, at the town pool.

I usually know what's on the minds of my close friends and neighbors, but I've found that what's on the minds of strangers usually provides the most insight as to what the country, as a whole, is talking about.

So here's what people are talking back about:

Like many of you, for the past four years, I've been active and vocal in my opposition to the war in Iraq. But holidays honoring our veterans mess me up.

I can't watch a parade of marching veterans without getting choked up. I can't pass by collection cans for veterans without giving a donation. I can't visit a national cemetery or pass by a military monument without thinking of those who died for us. And I can't read the daily news about the dead and wounded from the war in Iraq without getting angry and asking "Why?!".

As the descendant of military veterans from the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War I & II, I was raised to believe it my patriotic and familial duty to honor all veterans & soldiers. Yet, on this Memorial Day weekend, in the midst of an unjust and illegal war, I find it very difficult to celebrate a "Happy Memorial Day." What happiness is there in 3455 American lives lost in the last four years and anywhere from 25,000 to 100,000 soldiers wounded? And for what?!

I want to lose the resentment I feel when I see someone in fatigues or full dress uniform. I want to feel more compassion for the sacrifices they're making to fight a war we have no business being in. I want to be able to offer them my solemn gratitude for making those sacrifices as well as my strong commitment to peace.

Every day -- but especially today -- I want to honor our dead & wounded without honoring war.
 

A certain senator of our acquaintance posted this on dKos, at Huffpo, and on his own blog a little while ago. We repost it here not out of any partisan agenda for said senator or anyone else in particular, but because his statement speaks directly to a crucial issue on which the DCP community has made its feelings unequivocally known.

Round One is Over

Let’s be really clear about the Iraq vote coming down the pike in Congress this week.

I’m voting no on this bill. I’m tired of the false choices of Republicans and all the recycled spin of old battles and the political calculations that do nothing for our troops who bear the real costs of this war. Bottom line: we support the troops by getting the policy right, and this bill doesn’t do that. I’ve said it again and again and I’m not about to stop: we need a deadline to force Iraqis to stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, not watered down benchmarks and blank check waivers for this President. We support the troops by funding the right mission, not with a White House that opposes a pay raise for our brave men and women in uniform. Do we need to bring out the hand puppets and make the case again?

Reality about this legislation is as simple as it gets: The original Senate legislation offered a roadmap to change course in Iraq. I was proud of the progress we’d made. (I’ve still got the scars of the lonely fight Russ Feingold and I made in the summer of 2006 when we first introduced legislation to set a deadline to redeploy combat troops and only got 11 votes. But it was perseverance, not pessimism that made that a majority position less than a year later.) I’m voting no on this new version of the supplemental because it enables the Administration and Iraqi politicians to deliver more of the same.

So what do we do now that we’ve hit a bump in the road? Fold up our tents? No way –- doing so would be ignorant almost of the long hard legislative struggle and forceful pressure it required to get to this point. I am determined to continue pressing this issue until President Bush changes course. Why? Because we owe our troops nothing less than a strategy that is worthy of their sacrifice.

Three years ago I met some very committed students at one of Seattle's Street fairs. This is a letter about what they have done in the last couple of weeks. They just don't stop!

Hi Everyone,

We created quite a sir at the Seattle School Board meeting Wednesday, keeping the pressure on the School Board which we generated two weeks ago in the city wide walkout of 800 students against the war in Iraq.

Students and community activists spoke forcefully throughout the one hour public comment period, and were frequently interrupted with loud applause. We explained why military recruiters have no place in our schools and demanded the School Board implement its existing policy restricting recruiters access to schools, close the loopholes recruiters have found, and send the federal government a letter protesting the “No Child Left Behind Act” and the military recruiters’ presence in our schools. Many also spoke against the School Boards plans to shut down seven schools next year, demanding money for education rather than the war!

Our action was covered by one of the main local TV news programs, Komo TV, as one of their main news stories (though as usual full of inaccuracies and misstatements). You can watch their coverage at: http://www.komotv.com/news/7306801.html

However, once again the Board members basically failed to discuss or respond publicly to the issues we raised in an all too familiar pattern, as we saw the Board also ignore the issues raised at this meeting by dozens of parents, teachers, and community activists from African American Academy over the recent imposition of a new principal without the agreement of the local school. We received many promises that the issue of military recruitment is being discussed and worked on, but it is clear that the School Board will need to feel more pressure from students, parents, teachers and the antiwar movement to finally force them to take meaningful action.

--

Philip Locker
Youth Against War and Racism
http://www.yawr.org

KOMO TV coverage: http://www.komotv.com/news/7306801.html

Four years in and counting.

Over the last few days, anti-war actions have been taking place all over America (and all over the world) in acknowledgment of the fourth anniversary of the Bush administration's launching an illegal, immoral war of conquest in Iraq.

We-the-People seem to be rising up everywhere and demanding that our badly misused troops be brought home safely and that the neokonzertruppens' disastrous military adventure for profit in the Middle East be stopped NOW.

Sure, there were large and widely-publicized protest gatherings on the Mall in Washington on Saturday. Aren't there always? That's certainly the primary place for activists to see and be seen, donchaknow. But on Saturday and Sunday, and still today, there are also plenty of equally impassioned anti-war rallies being held in lots of other places outside the Beltway as well.

And not just in big fancy places like New York City and San Francisco and Seattle, either. But also -- and, arguably, much more significantly -- out in the hinterlands, in flyover country where people don't generally make that much noise about this sort of thing unless some sort of major sea change is taking place. No more fife-and-drum parades down Main Street -- now they're marching to the beat of a different kind of drummer in between the coasts.

Brave warriors come in all shapes and sizes. Some fight with swords, some with pens. One of the bravest of the pen-fighters lost her final battle yesterday, when Molly Ivins passed away after a years-long and painful struggle with cancer. She kept on fighting right until the very end. And in her final column, published on January 11 of this year, she charged us all to do the same:

The purpose of this old-fashioned newspaper crusade to stop the war is not to make George W. Bush look like the dumbest president ever. People have done dumber things. What were they thinking when they bought into the Bay of Pigs fiasco? How dumb was the Egypt-Suez war? How massively stupid was the entire war in Vietnam? Even at that, the challenge with this misbegotten adventure is that WE simply cannot let it continue.

This video montage featuring images from the past weekend's big peace march in Washington was made by GlobalVillage using music by McWorm and photos that she and her co-activist Island Blue took in D.C.

The "Set A Deadline" initiative that GV ended her montage with was launched by a certain senator from Massachusetts. This entry on his blog asks for input and suggestions on how that goal can best be met.

This is your chance to add your two cents to the discussion. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity, because all of us are pulling on the same end of the rope and all of us have good ideas to contribute. There are a number of suggestions posted on that site already, including the following -- but please feel free to add your own suggestions here, and we'll make sure they get passed on to the right people as well.

Today hundreds of thousands marched on Washington DC to protest the war. In Seattle, it wasn't so much about the crowd but about confronting the recruiting process. I had forgotten the exact times and routes and realized that as I set off late in my car. I've lived here long enough (28 years) that I was able to kind of intuit where the people were.

To my horror, I realized that there is an Army Recruiting station, there is a Navy Recruiting station and there is a Marine Recruiting station - all in close proximity, in a mostly minority neighborhood. This is where those aggressive recruiters can hope to find those with dim prospects of higher education, with dead-end jobs.

The focus was also on local resisters who question the war on moral and/or legal grounds, such as Lieutenant Ehren Watada. Signs and slogans were attached to the doors of the recruiting centers. As I walked back to my car, I spotted the boy with the giant Condi head. I heard the voice of another little boy, saying "War is Terrorism."

_____________________________________________________________________________________
My husband just brought me an article by Danny Westneat, a Seattle Times columnist, wherein he writes about something that we are very familiar with, because it happens every Sunday a few blocks from our house. We have been involved from time to time, but have sometimes slacked off, though if we drive by we will honk sympathetically, like most of the other cars.

The reporter interviewed one of the protesters who has shown up every Sunday at Green Lake, Seattle, with a protest sign, with no exceptions. Once, before the invasion, so many people turned up that they ringed the lake, which is almost three miles around. Then it dwindled to 50, then 20, then finally a dozen or so. Then finally it was only the one man. This went on for a month.

Some thought the numbers would increase after the 2006 election, with numbed people newly energized. The polls have been showing that the Iraq war has become as unpopular as the war in Vietnam was. Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose this war, and more than that in this city. The concensus is that the entry into and conduct of this war exceeds all previous foreign policy blunders and is unthinkably ill-conceived and tragic.

So where are the people? Why aren't they taking to the streets? Why aren't people talking about the war more? "I'm as puzzled as I've ever been," a vet tells the reporter. "Are people in a state of shock? I don't know. Sometimes i think we're spoiled in this country, that we don't understand suffering or sacrifice any more." This Vet's son was killed by a bomb in Baghdad in 2003.

Others tell the reporter the turning point is now. Organizers say that a peace march in Washington DC next week will be the largest since the war began. The lone protester fears that the press wouldn't report it if it's the biggest protest in the history of the world.

I wanted to start with a tribute to some of those who have dared to exercise their freedom of speech in my community. I am often moved to tears by them but I suspect it is also frustration that there aren't more of us and that we have not had more influence. Reading the article about the lone protester, and strolling through memory lane with photos of fellow citizens, I think that we should go out this afternoon and join those stalwarts at Green lake.

Perhaps in some sense, the voting in 2006 was a referendum on the war, especially since independents and more moderate and conservative Democrats voted their conscience. Maybe it is encouraging that a few Republicans in Congress are listening to people at home, or questioning at all. Let's try to grab on to that momentum by being relentless and not giving up.

(The article referenced is at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003534202_danny21.html) (Photos taken over the last four years by D Grieser)

That's me .. in 2003

NonnyO let us know that mainstream media took some notice of actions by concerned citizens in the Twin Cities area on Jan. 11. My friend Bert participated in and photographed both events -- in the morning, in front of Senator Norm Coleman’s office -- to demand an end to the US occupation of Iraq; in the evening, the marking of 5 years of incarceration of prisoners at Gitmo.

...the more they stay insane.

As we start off this week, the shadows of an immoral, illegal war being escalated by an unethical, untrustworthy administration loom long over our souls.

As we start off this week, celebrations and retrospective honorifics once again mark the passing of one of America's most charismatic leaders, one of America's boldest and brightest voices for change -- a man who won the Nobel Peace Prize but was still cut down in cold blood by those who would choose hatred over love, war over peace, polarization over inclusiveness.

As we start off this week, we can hardly avoid hearing echoes and recollections of two of this man's greatest speeches. We hear once again how he had a dream, that he had been to the mountaintop, and we remember once more how very different things were in his day than they are in ours.

But are they, really?

Date Iraq War Began: March 19, 2003
Date of 1000 Deaths in Iraq: Sept. 9, 2004 (18 months from start)
Date of 2000 Deaths in Iraq: October 25, 2005 (13 months from 1000th death)
Date of 2500 Deaths in Iraq: June 15, 2006 (8 months from 2000th death)
Date of 3000 Deaths in Iraq: December 31, 2006 (6 months from 2500th death)

3,000+ US + 655,000 Iraqi Deaths = 658,000 TOO MANY DEATHS!

In Seattle, we lined Westlake Mall downtown with candles, then circled part of Green Lake.

In Minneapolis, they lined both sides of the street along the Lake Street Bridge.

Both vigils were to remember persons killed and injured in Iraq. The impetus was the crossing of the milestone of 3000 US killed in Iraq, but the participants of the vigil also grieved for Iraqis. Iraqis have suffered disproportionately more than US citizens in the war and occupation. A study published in the respected journal Lancet estimates that 650,000 Iraqis have died in the conflict.

In addition, many more wounded military are saved via current medical technology than would have been in previous wars. Many of them will need to relearn to walk if they are physically injured, need to relearn to read if they are brain injured, and so on. Thus, the reported milestone, though sobering, underestimates the true cost in human misery.

Lake Street, Minneapolis: (photo Robert Schlaugh, Minneapolis Vets for Peace)

Westlake Mall, Seattle: (photo DiAnne Grieser, Seattle SNOW)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
(more photos below the fold)

[Author's note: I've already written about this elsewhere in the progressive blogosphere, but I think it's important enough to put forth here at the Democracy Cell Project as well. The meaning of a soldier's sacrifice and the monetary value of military action are complex issues that transcend partisan politics. They need to be addressed in as many ways as possible by as many people as possible. Debate and discussion of difficult topics that affect the common welfare are what active citizenship is all about. I'm looking forward to reading what the thoughtful, informed people who come to visit this site have to say about these complicated questions of life, death, and the value of valor.]

The other night I was watching Larry King interview a sitting Senator, and like other pundits he kept trying to pin the Senator down on a question that is, at its heart, unanswerable: Are Americans dying in vain in Iraq?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 20, 2006: DCP will be there!

Aguayo v. the Secretary of the Army: The first military conscientious objector case to come before the powerful and influential D.C. Circuit Court in the 35 years since the Vietnam War. U.S. Combat Medic Facing Up to Seven Years Military Prison For Refusing a Second Deployment to Iraq Could Be Freed by U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C.

Press briefing Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Who: American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project and U.S. citizens abroad supporting U.S. soldiers stationed abroad

What: Press briefing 8:15 to 8:45 am Tuesday, November 21, 2006 re: Aguayo vs. the Secretary of the Army

Where: John Marshall Park (between the U.S. District Court & the
Canadian Embassy) 4th & Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001 (near Judiciary Square Metro Station)

When: Press briefing 8:15 to 8:45 am Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Informal Interviews to follow until Court Session begins at about 9:30 am Security Clearance of Press & Visitors; *

John Marshall Park Entrance to the U.S. District Court
333 Constitution Avenue, NW (Photo ID is required. No cameras are allowed.)

Oral Arguments follow, about 9:30 to ca. 11:00 am**
U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Floor, U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia

---------- Background Information ---------

U.S. Combat Medic Facing Up to Seven Years Military Prison For Refusing a Second Deployment to Iraq Could Be Freed by U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C.

Agustin Aguayo’s full statement to the court, as well as pleadings and court decisions, can be found on www.AguayoDefense.org. Also see http://agustin-aguayo.blogspot.com/

Washington, DC: Army Specialist Agustin Aguayo, age 34 – a Mexican-born, naturalized U.S. citizen from Los Angeles and a decorated Iraq War veteran – is facing a sentence up to seven years in military prison for refusing to deploy to Iraq for a second time. His refusal to deploy, at the beginning of September, 2006, followed a more than two-year struggle to get the Army to grant him an immediate honorable discharge on the grounds that he is a conscientious objector (CO). In 2005, he decided to challenge the Army’s denial of his application in a civil court – the federal U.S. District in Washington, D.C., which has jurisdiction over all U.S. military personnel stationed outside the U.S.

On November 21st, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will consider Agustin’s appeal in his civil court case, Aguayo vs. The Secretary of the Army, and decide upon the merit of his claim that the Army wrongfully denied his 2004 application to be recognized as a CO. The three judges hearing the appeal are: Douglas H. Ginsburg (Chief Judge), David R. Sentelle, and A. Raymond Randloph. This is the first military conscientious objector case to come before the powerful and influential D.C. Circuit Court since 1971, during the Vietnam War. Decisions on appeal are often issued only after several months, but the judges could also rule immediately from the bench to free Aguayo.

Aguayo, who is a combat medic with the 1st Infantry Division, enlisted in the Army prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He was initially assigned to the Schweinfurt Army base in Germany. In February, 2004, at the beginning of his first deployment from Germany to Iraq, he filed his application for recognition as a conscientious objector. In preparing his application, he was counseled by Military Counseling Network (MCN), in Bammantal, Germany, a project of the German Mennonite Peace Committee and a member of the GI Rights Hotline. While in Iraq, Aguayo refused to load his gun as required when on guard duty or patrol.

Although the officers and experts who interviewed Aguayo found him to be sincere and recommended granting his CO application, it was ultimately denied by higher officers in August, 2004. No reasons were given. With the assistance of American Voices Abroad Military Project (AVA), a network of U.S. peace activists in Europe and the Center on Conscience and War in DC, Aguayo’s wife Helga after several months raised enough funds to retain attorneys Peter Goldberg and Jim Feldman of Philadelphia to file his civil lawsuit as a plaintiff against the Secretary of the Army. In this suit, Aguayo argues that the Army has given no grounds for rejecting his application. “Under compulsion of conscience,” Aguayo wrote in his statement to the court, “I will risk court-martial and imprisonment rather than deploy.”

Helen Thomas is a pretty iconic kind of gal. When we got to Mimi's Bistro (another Andy Shallal restaurant) today, she was sitting along the wall, looking, well, like Helen.

Gael Murphy was singing her praises; not that we needed the background info. She has been a voice of sanity amidst the sideshow freaks of the White House Press Corps for years. I took Larry over to meet her; sharing with her that he is an aspiring writer. "Are you interested in journalism?" she asked. "Not sure," he answered. "Oh," she said. "You want to write sex novels then."

After that, he was smitten. Gael brought Helen up to the microphone and placed a Pink Badge of Honor around her neck. Helen pointed out that Code Pink were the heroes, to her, because "You saw the coming debacle and you asked the obvious question: WHY?"

She went on to speak about the constant changing of the rationales: oil? regime change? upstaging Daddy? All of this would be a joke if it wasn't a tragedy, she said.

"Back when I began, credibility was everything," she went on. "Both Johnson and Nixon went down because of a lack of credibility. Not so, anymore. The fear card gets played instead."

She went on to remind us about John F. Kennedy apeaking at American University after the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty:

In a series of private letters, Khrushchev and Kennedy reopened a dialogue on banning nuclear testing. At his commencement address at American University on June 10, 1963, Kennedy announced a new round of high-level arms negotiations with the Russians. He boldly called for an end to the Cold War. “If we cannot end our differences,” he said, “at least we can help make the world a safe place for diversity.” The Soviet government broadcast a translation of the entire speech, and allowed it to be reprinted in the controlled Soviet press.

"You just never even hear the word 'peace' anymore," she said. But she feels people are waking up; even her colleagues. From the sound of it, she harangues them regularly.

After her talk, she signed books, including one for the rapt Larry:

Our friend, Sonia, ran the event for Code Pink. Sonia came to us through Camp Democracy and she also represents the best of the next generation of peace activists: informed, engaged, and committed to change.

And so, with the history and the future in hand, we are ready to engage once again in the fight for democracy and peace. Ten days to go, folks. Let's be careful out there...

photo courtesy of the Washington POst

I always look forward to the announcement of the Nobel Peace prize winners. Past year's recipients such as Jimmy Carter for his work in election monitoring across the globe, and Wangari Maathi for her work in Africa's Green Belt Project, planting trees to create to sustain, replenish and restore struggling village comunities. The awards are a lesson from the Nobel Committee's group of scholars and leaders of what is possible and what is WORKING in our world's constant struggle for peace.

Introducing Muhammad Yunus Bangladeshi economist, and "Banker to the Poor". This year's Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"There were enough good nominations in the area of conflict resolution in the strictest sense but the Nobel Committee is increasingly taking the fight to the fundamental reasons for which war is waged. "It is not enough to make peace, this peace must be a just peace and the causes of war, such as hunger and poverty, must be treated at their roots."

Over 30 years ago, Mr. Zunus had a novel idea. Make small loans to people, particularly women, to create businesses such as phone call services in rural areas, or purchasing livestock for farming, dairy and eggs. These businesses provide vital necessities for their struggling communities, ultimately creating keystones of stability, growth, prosperity, and of all things, peace. Because there's no want.

Congratulation Mr. Zunus. The world welcomes you into our awareness, and perhaps, to our embarassment, sees how a simple and straightfoward idea: taking care of others in our communities instead of taking advantage of them, can have such a profound effect on our world.

"One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."

Martin Luther King

So ended the speech of Ehren Watada, as he spoke at the national Veterans for Peace convention at University of Washington recently. It was Lt. Watada who inspired me to fast for several days, after I heard him speak out aganst the war on legal grounds, on my radio as I was commuting.

Lt. Watada says he is not a hero. He is though, and a leader, for taking the stance that he has. He will touch many lives, and he deserves support for his courage. As he said, if more American soldiers in Iraq know that they, along with their families, will be supported if they stand up against this illegal occupation, countless more will follow, and this repulsive war will end.

(photo courtesy BayIndyMedia)

About Ehren Watada:

- a First Lieutenant in the United States Army who publicly refused to deploy to Iraq for the Iraq War in June 2006, saying that he believed the war to be illegal and that it would make him party to war crimes.

He is the first commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces to go public about refusing deployment to Iraq. Ehren joined the Army in 2003, after the war in Iraq had already begun. His term ends in December of 2005, but the Army is able to extend officers' commissions at their own discretion, and have refused to honor his resignaton.

The charges against him include conduct unbecoming an officer, missing movement, and contempt toward officials. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Lt. Ehren Watada addresses national veterans convention

Veterans Give Conscientious Objector Standing Ovation

By Dahr Jamail

Lt. Ehren Watada, for those who don't already know, became the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to the unlawful war and occupation in Iraq. While doing this on June 22, 2006, Watada said, "As the order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must refuse that order."

Just as Watada took the stage and began to speak, over 50 members of Iraq Veterans Against the War filed in behind him. Watada, surprised by this and obviously taken aback by the symbolic act, turned back to the audience, took some deep breaths, then gave this speech:

I held my baby in my womb.

Prayed for him to have ten fingers and toes

instead of eleven.

I first attended the Hiroshima Day ceremony in 1994, just after my father died, and have not missed it since. He would have been 84 yesterday, and this ceremony always falls one day after his birthday.

This ceremony has come to be more important to me than Christmas and 4th of July combined. My father was a WW2 vet, stationed in the Pacific, and was expected to fight the Japanese. On this day, I sent out a lantern onto the water, in remembrance of my father, all veterans and their families, and all war dead. My calligraphy spelled out "Compassion." Everyone there created a personal yet communal peace memorial and wish, whether "Love" "World Peace" or a personal letter for a loved one.

We gathered, about 2000 of us, prepared our lanterns with Japanese or Punjabi calligraphy, folded Origami peace cranes, and listened to Taiko music and the Children's Peace choir. These children compose and perform songs of peace in 14 languages. Their music has been taken to Iraq for the benefit of Iraqi children in hospitals and orphanages. They were introduced by young Jewish and Muslim people who alternated their delivery of heartfelt writings.

As we gathered to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, we were torn by many feelings. We grieved at all acts of violence committed during war, however well-meaning the warriors. We hoped that the forces of disunity that are especially strong this year will give way to a deep spiritual commitment by every individual to the oneness of humanity, and that this commitment will bring about peace both locally and globally.

The event was sponsored by area churches, peace fellowships, cultural organizations, the local chapter of the UN Association, and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Imagine an international network of people working as allies, working for justice and nonviolence, fighting for ideals others may dismiss as utopian. Why can't we reject the old paradigm of "political realism" and adopt the new paradigm of "mutual interconnectedness"? Why not reject cynical realism and cultivate compassion?

We need to support peacemakers in the middle east who are working for nonviolent solutions. We need to emulate their courage wherever we are.

Spinning out of control...

Pakistan has begun building what independent analysts say is a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move that, if verified, would signal a major expansion of the country's nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential new escalation in the region's arms race.

Satellite photos of Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site show what appears to be a partially completed heavy-water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year, a 20-fold increase from Pakistan's current capabilities, according to a technical assessment by Washington-based nuclear experts.

IMHO, the most bizarre sentence in the story has to be this, from a senior Pakistani official:

"Pakistan's nuclear program has matured.[...]"

It's a frightening society which thinks that the words "nuclear weapons program" and "matured" belong in the same sentence, especially when discussing the expansion of that program.

It feels so familiar. The kidnappings, the raising of rhetoric, the accusations, then, the bombings. Strike. Counterstrike. Airports, then ports. The mass exodus of foreign travelers, and the local populations seeking shelter and safety from the latest attack.

When it comes to the situation in the Middle East, why does this feel like time has stepped backwards? Are you feeling like me, that this situation has added a new heavy burden to the heart of the world?

"With God on our Side" Bob Dylan

Oh my name it is nothin' My age it means less
The country I come from is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there the laws to abide
And that land that I live in has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it they tell it so well
The cavalries charged the Indians fell
The cavalries charged the Indians died
Oh the country was young with God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American war had its day
And the Civil War too was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands and God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys it closed out its fate
The reason for fighting I never got straight
But I learned to accept it accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead when God's on your side.

When the Second World War came to an end
We forgave the Germans and we were friends
Though they murdered six million in the ovens they fried
The Germans now too have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians all through my whole life
If another war starts it's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them to run and to hide
And accept it all bravely with God on my side.

But now we got weapons of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to then fire them we must
One push of the button and a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions when God's on your side.

In a many dark hour I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you you'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin' I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin' ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head and fall to the floor
If God's on our side he'll stop the next war.

It's way too hot everywhere. Pray for rain.

The real swiftboating of Murtha is beginning.

The Agonist and Taylor Marsh are tracking things down. They are conducting a full and detailed fact-finding investigation on those behind it. They could always use help.

If you read through the comments, it's an interesting unfolding of how the smear merchants behind the campaign operate. The internet research line is very instructive.

Reporters should take note. This is how it's done.

United for Peace and Justice folks suggest the following actions for people opposing the Iraq War. On this Saturday morning, following yesterday's thread header and passionate discussion, it seemed to me that we might be craving some sane actions to take. So here we go:

As horrible as the November 2005 massacre in Haditha was, it appears to be the tip of the iceberg. Today's news brings reports of another alleged mass killing of civilians by U.S. troops in Iraq, including a 6-month-old baby, last March.

While the details of that incident remain murky, the story of Haditha has now been told in chilling detail by numerous respected sources. In a several-hour-long rampage, a group of U.S. Marines shot 24 Iraqi civilians execution-style, at close range -- among them a 77-year-old amputee confined to a wheelchair and seven children ranging in age from 1 to 15. A 41-year-old woman was killed while trying to shield the youngest baby with her body.

U.S. soldiers shot these innocent people. But ultimately, it was U.S. policy that killed them. We need to be sure that /all/ of those responsible for these deaths are held accountable -- not just the individual Marines who snapped and committed terrible atrocities, but every politician from Congress to the White House who has supported this indefensible war.

*TAKE ACTION* We need to keep the public dialogue going about Haditha, the war, and political accountability. We encourage you to call into the talk shows on your local radio stations and to write letters to the editors of your local newspapers. (Click here to take action.) See our talking points for more detailed ideas about how to frame the issue.

Here's a comment from an earlier thread from Monkey for a Memorial Day meditation as the war in Iraq drags on:

I'd like to throw this lure out into the cyber-pond and get some feedback on something that has been really setting me off this weekend...

Tell me what goes through your mind when you hear Memorial Day references like "they gave their lives so you may enjoy the freedoms you have today"?

Some of you may remember Gilda, the woman who spoke out at the vigil we ran for CIndy Sheehan last August. Her speech is located here. She is also the woman who came to the vigil where Cindy was arrested, and who was so deeply upset about the freepers yelling at Cindy and all of us that she had to leave.

Comment I wrote at that time:

Gilda is the woman I ran into tonight who was standing in front of one of the vilest people I have ever run into. She was shrieking at Gilda about her son, who was killed in Iraq, but she is OK about it because he volunteered and knew what he was getting into.

Nothing wrong with believing your son died for a good cause, but she was yelling at Gilda for grieving for her own son.

Gilda had moved away from her, and was starting to tear up, so I put my arms around her and told her that the woman was not worth listening to.

She began to sob, and she said, "There are so many more like her out there." I pointed across the street, at the good people lying on the sidewalk, many of them intending to be arrrested for the truth. I hoped to get her to see that there are many of us working hard every day to bring our children home, many more than there are people who feel compelled to scream at people at a peaceful protest.

She shook her head, I stepped away for a minute and she was gone.

So to all you good people, let's make sure that Gilda's pain is not replicated over and over. Leave her a message on that thread in the forum, or here, and show her how many of us do care, and are doing whatever we can.

Posted by: Karen at October 26, 2005 10:38 PM

Well, her son Alex was critically injured in a convoy expolsion in Iraq and he died May 10.

Fulvio (his father) has set up a blog and you can send them our regret, anger, concern, and love.

I will add only the last paragraph of Gilda's words in front of the White House last August:

“'We would send the wrong signal if we pulled out?' you say, Mr. Bush. What signal do you think we’ve sent to the world since we invaded Iraq? You’ve destroyed our credibility and our good standing in the world. Most of all, Mr. Bush, what’s unforgivable, is that you betrayed our idealistic American sons and daughters who trustingly placed their lives in your hands. We, their mothers, will not let you ‘move on with your life’, Mr. Bush. We hold you accountable for their deaths and injuries. And we call now for an immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Now, not next year, not in 10 years! Go meet with Cindy, Mr. Bush!"

There is an important piece of legislation before the Commerce Committee in Congress this week and everyone who reads this should get involved.

The Democracy Cell Project, as a 501(c)(3) will not argue one way or another on this piece of legislation, except to point out that we think neutrality of access on the net is a principle of democracy, part and parcel of freedom of speech, or in this case, freedom to be heard.

One commentor, as noted over at Eschaton this morning, called this legislation, Medicare Part D for the internet. Kevin Drum doesn't understand it, or why people think it's so bad. You see the problem.

Fortunately, there are MANY MANY posts on blogs about this issue that will help you to understand the fate of the internet is this legislation passes.

Please get involved. Here's a short list of blogs that are posting on this matter with links to the issue. There are also several blogs that have been started to deal specifically with this issue.

My DD - Has a good round-up on the issue

Taylor Marsh guest posting over at FireDogLake with a more in-depth essay and great links

You Tube - This short video explains the issue.

SaveTheInternet.com - The name says it all

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo - Josh gives the crisp explanation

Political Animal - Comment section helps to answers the questions on the issue that Kevin poses that you may share.

Get involved now. The vote could come as soon as tomorrow. The National Journal reports that the raised profile of this issue is making a difference. Be part of that difference.

Go visit the links and make your voice heard today on this important issue.

One of the wonderful outcomes of last week's production of FEAR UP in London was connecting with the antiwar and peace and justice communities there. I will share that these entities are no more on the same pages than organizations here are--there are alliances and coalitions and disagreements about strategies and tactics there as well. One interesting point of discussion that came up in the post-performance talk-back was a concern on the part of Houzan Mahmoud, the UK Head of the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq and co-founder of the Iraq Freedom Congress, that the antiwar forces are supporting a government in Iraq that is bound to be anti-women, just to get troops out of there. It was a moment in which the full complexities of what has been created were apparent. (Read more here)

However, the Stop the War Coalition is attempting to hear all the voices. Here is their latest newsletter, in the interest of continuing discussion and understanding of all the complexities. And, of course, seeing what is happening that our own msm is NOT covering.

Karen has told us many times and in many ways to speak out, to do something -- anything -- to help make visible the reality that this administration has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. It's easy to read her words and say, "Yes, she's right. I'll do something...soon..."

Guess what? Time is running out.

That's the bad news. The good news -- if there can be good news about this subject -- is that people are starting to realize that time is short and are doing something about it...people like Ray McGovern.

Senator Russ Feingold didn't waste any time endorsing his fellow Senator John Kerry's call for pulling out of Iraq on a firm timeline. There is the usual grumping around the blogosphere about who went first, etc. People need to lift up their eyes unto the hills: something is happening in the House and the Senate, and instead of gimlet-eyed examination of "who's on first," we should be excited to see Murtha and Kerry and Feingold all lining up in the same direction: it's time to get out of Iraq. Senator Feingold's quick statement in support of Kerry (see below) is a tribute to Feingold's selflessness in pursuing this goal.

Could there be any doubt that the millions of people who've been working to end the war are seeing some results for all their hard work? It wasn't the DNC that sent Murtha and Feingold and Kerry out there to take these positions. It was us. We're not sitting in the water anymore, with no one to champion our cause inside the Capitol. Now we have to get more Senators and Reps to get off their butts and sign on ASAP. One of the basic rules in politics is that if your opponent is down, whether he/she slipped or you put him/her there, so you want to get your foot on his/her neck and never let up on the pressure.

In Wednesday's New York Times, John Kerry issues a call for ending the war in Iraq: if the Iraqis cannot form a government by May 15th, Kerry wants to withdraw U.S. troops immediately. And if they beat this May 15th deadline, Kerry wants the new government to accept the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops by the end of 2006.

Kerry's proposal overlaps Rep. John Murtha's previous withdrawal proposal, but Kerry goes one better thanh Murtha by setting specific dates and conditions.

Here's what Kerry wrote in the Times:

Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America’s leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion. We want democracy in Iraq, but Iraqis must want it as much as we do. Our valiant soldiers can’t bring democracy to Iraq if Iraq’s leaders are unwilling themselves to make the compromises that democracy requires.

When I started to even THINK about writing letters to the editor, Gore had lost the recount and Bush was installed. I thought, but I didn't do anything.

Eight months later I had a baby, and six weeks after that I was nursing my baby at about nine in the morning and watching the Today Show. The date was September 11, 2001.

A week later, as I watched the manipulation of fear turn into a grab for what would eventually look an awful lot like a fascist government in our midst, I knew I needed to DO something.

I was a political and media professional. I had skills and experience. How could I stand by and do nothing?

I began to feel real terror, but not from the terrorists who attacked us in New York. I felt terror at watching the freedoms and liberties I was raised to fight for, be traded off like the cheap items and a silent auction. A very silent auction.

But I had a big problem. I had a new baby.

What if Mommy says a word that the government doesn't like and they drag Mommy off to jail? Shortly after 9-11 the Congress gave the President the power to determine who is an enemy, and then pick them up, never to be seen again.

Of course, we come to find out five years later that both Congress and the Courts are just an irritating formality to the Executive. The President did not need Congress to pass legislation approving that. He would have done it anyway. And that is what I suspected in the first place.

If I had been single and childless, it would have been much easier, but now I had a baby to consider.

I called my sister (not the Bush supporter, the one who believes in the Constitution), to complain about the government. I call her everyday with a "Daily Disgrace" political report. She had been already getting these calls for sometime, when finally one day in October she asked me pointedly, "Look, when are you going to do what you know you should be doing about this? When are you going to get involved and start writing and going public with all of this stuff?"

I said, "I can't. I'm afraid. What if they don't like what I am saying? These are some seriously scary people."

I still remember the tone of her voice when she said to me, "That's why you have to do it. Because these are very scary people."

I looked at her hard. "Hey, I'm not kidding. These are scary people and they are NOT going to like what I am saying."

She put her coffee cup down, and as she stood and turned to put on her coat to leave she looked down at the baby and said, "Well then, you better be sure that whatever you have to say, you shout from the rooftops so as many people hear as possible. The more people that know what's going on, the safer we'll all be. Really, it's our only hope."

And she was right. She still is.

One foot in front of the other. Keep moving, keep going. Each thing builds on the next.

Hope conquers despair, and action vanquishes fear.

By now, of course, you've all heard the sad news:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- An aid worker from Virginia taken hostage with three other peace activists was found dead near a railroad line in Baghdad with gunshots to his head and chest and signs of torture on his body, Iraqi police said Saturday.

Tom Fox, a 54-year-old member of Christian Peacemaker Teams from Clear Brook, Va., was the fifth American hostage killed in Iraq. There was no immediate word on his fellow captives, a Briton and two Canadians.

(You can find a more complete news report on the death and the life of Tom Fox here, learn more about his work with the CPT organization here, and read more about him in his own words on his personal blogsite here.)

Requiescent in pace, Tom Fox. You gave up your life in service to poor, hungry, desperate persons who were, and still are, in need. In full accordance with the tenets of your Quaker faith and your own sincere humanity, you chose to travel halfway around the world from your comfortable Virginia home in order to help hundreds of people you never even knew.

(Editor's note: Our friend Mike Hersh sent this along as a call to arms. Events continue throughout today and tomorrow.)

Tonight I met some Iraqi women who lost loved ones in the war. At one point, they broke down crying. The whole room broke down crying. Afterward, I hugged them and promised I'd keep doing all I could to end this war and occupation, and to commit the USA to paying for rebuilding Iraq, not building permanent bases. These women traveled 1000s of miles, endured indignities to come to the nation which has shattered their civil society, killed 10,000s of their people. I don't think I could find it in my heart to visit the homeland of those who occupied my home and killed my family.

I heard tonight from an Iraqi engineer, an Iraqi doctor, an Iraqi pharmacist, an Iraqi college professor and other Iraqi women that the Iraqi people - Kurds, Sunni, Shia and others - all believe US forces will never leave their nation. That our media lie to us about them. That the Bush/Cheney regime wants a crisis or civil war in Iraq as an excuse to stay forever. That no one cares about them and their suffering. They told us how each morning Iraqi families say good-bye to each other, not knowing if they will ever see their child or parent or brother or sister alive again.

One of these brave women challenged us. She said Iraqis are people just like us. They want to have what we have in this country. They want to have fun in life. They want to live without fear, violence and death. They are just like us. Why, she asked, do Iraqis deserve the bombing of their homes and hospitals? Don't they deserve the same things we have in the United States? Of course they do. But they don't have those things because our nation - admittedly hijacked by a neo-con and theo-con cabal - has destroyed the fabric of Iraqi society.

Afterward, I spoke at length with her. I told her some Americans know Iraq has 8,000 years of history. She gave me her card, showing she is an engineer at a water treatment company. I explained that you know how our bombing and the years of sanctions before the war killed helpless Iraqi children - dead from wasting diseases from lack of safe water. I made a promise to her and some of the other Iraqi women that I - and you - will make sure all their fears do not come true. That the living hell in Iraq will end soon. She offered to send me pictures of Iraq as it is - devastated, innocent lives destroyed. Soon, I'll be posting links to those pictures, but the pictures she and her sisters painted with their words were more than enough - too much - for me.

I promised we will do all we can to help. So the bombs will stop falling. The blood will stop flowing. That our troops will leave Iraq. That America will leave Iraq to the Iraqis so the Iraqi children, women and men with stop dying in this ugly, pointless, senseless, war which has degenerated into war crimes. That's what drives me to do what I do. I have to do what I can do to help. I know you want to help too, for all the same reasons. We have to help. We have to do more.

Tonight I learned that $6000 from Code Pink helped women in Iraq set up a medical clinic and a delivery room facility in an Iraqi town which had neither. Such a small amount of money in the right hands is saving lives every single day. I want to know if you can do two things to help the Iraqi people. If you can spare $25, $50, $100, $500, $1000 or more, please make a tax-deductible donation to Code Pink HERE.

You can email them to ask that your donation go to help Iraqis, or you can leave it to Code Pink to choose how to use your contribution: info@codepinkalert.org - and as a favor to me, mention you heard about this and contributed based on this email from me, Mike Hersh.

If you can't spare any money right now, please do this: Join Women's Global Call For Peace!

Sign the Women Say No to War Call TODAY!

I will stand with Code Pink and the Iraqi women to deliver the Women Say NO to War petition signed by 100,000 people across the globe to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq if you help and sign now! Do it HERE/

If any of these links break in a post, forward etc. you can get all the info and links here: http://www.codepinkalert.org/

WomenSayNOtoWar.Org is your opportunity to unite with international women everywhere and contribute towards the end of the illegal war in Iraq. Go to: http://www.womensaynotowar.org to sign the call now! Forward this to everyone you know who cares about what's going on in Iraq. We have little more than a day to get another 10,000 people to sign up.

Our call will be delivered to the White House on March 8, 2006. Please celebrate International Women's Day on this date by joining us and visiting this page for action/event ideas.

Thank you for taking action.

Mike Hersh

[Editor's note: Please be advised that The Democracy Cell Project has no financial connection to the organization(s) linked to, and it does not in any way profit from the money contributed above. The views presented reflect those of the writer(s). As a non-profitable charitable organization, the Democracy Cell Project does not endorse any specific piece of legislation or candidate for office. Thank you. ]

Another Monday morning in Washington DC, and here comes the next outrage.

How many of us know that President Bush is about to blow up the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty? Last week's Washington Post buried the article on page A 17, and not much has penetrated beyond that. But please, let people know.

Not that we need any stinkin' treaties...He is, after all, the Unitary Executive--But this quiet little trip he is taking to India has huge ramifications.

Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth, issued this statement today, and he will be at the Capitol at 12:30 today, along with Rep. Ed Markey and others to make sure the message is delivered:

Hell in Iraq just became one giant step closer to Hell in America.

As a result, there will be Hell to pay.

Editor's Note: No, this is not a mistake that this post is still up. We made an editorial decision that this post will remain up for two days in order to give as wide an audience time to see it as possible, and to post about it here and everywhere else you can. This story is being largely ignored by the traditional media, and not just because Dick Cheney shot someone in the face. It's being ignored because the images are disturbing, and nobody wants to think that Americans do that to people.

Well, here's the news. Americans DO THAT to other people. And the media reaction of, "Oh, this is more of the photos from Abu Ghraib, and those people were already tried. Let's move on," just doesn't cut it. These photos represent the cover up of torture of prisoners, sexual abuse, and flagrant violations of the Geneva Conventions.

And it wasn't just some 11 "bad actors", as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was fond of saying when photos first surfaced. It was most likely people hired by the US government, in addition to US military personnel, who were carrying out instructions to torture people at Abu Ghraib. After all, I don't imagine Lynndie England got the studded dog collar, leather helmut and leash in a care package from her family back in West Virginia. I don't think there has ever been a satisfactory explanation for how the chain of command of torture worked. It's past time that there was.

So I would ask that you pass this link around to everyone you know. Put pressure on the traditional media to cover the story, and abandon their heretofore attitude of "torture is icky", in favor of a more dignified approach, like a commitment to finding out and reporting the truth.

For years, the Bush Administration has been trying to prevent the release of photos that finally saw the light of day in media outlets from Australia.

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Tonight the SBS Dateline program plans to broadcast around 60 previously unpublished photographs that the US Government has been fighting to keep secret in a court case with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Although a US judge last year granted the union access to the photographs following a freedom-of-information request, the US Administration has appealed against the decision on the grounds their release would fuel anti-American sentiment.

Some of the photos are similar to those published in 2004, others are different. They include photographs of six corpses, although the circumstances of their deaths are not clear. There are also pictures of what appear to be burns and wounds from shotgun pellets.

After having seen the photos, I can certainly understand why the Pentagon is concerned these will fuel anti-American sentiment. These images and actions of torture from American or American directed armed personnel, upon Iraqis, are beyond inhumane. If cartoons depicting images of the prophet Mohammed spurred the outrage we are seeing throughout both the Middle East, Asia and Europe are any sign, they going to be some serious hell to pay over these photos.

If you wish to view these photos, you can see them on Kos at Waitingtoderail's diary. They are sick and sickening.

I seriously doubt that the prosecution and convictions of a handful of "bad actors" will do anything whatsoever to mitigate the situation, and I suspect the White House will continue to do everything in its power to shoo this story down the memory hole, just like last time.

But isn't it time for America to demand a little bit more from its leadership?

Isn't it time that the moral outrage in America over what is being done in our name to innocent Iraq civilians, matches the moral outrage of some of the Iraqis?

This is what is being done in your name, America. Shouldn't those responsible be made to take responsibility for their complicity in war crimes?

Isn't it past time for Donald Rumsfeld, the most incompetent Defense Secretary in history, to resign?

If the United States citizens allow Rumsfeld to continue to serve, it does so at the risk of putting its stamp of approval on the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. And God help us all if that happens.

The Democracy Cell Project is reporting live from the Capitol, and will be doing so all evening.

WASHINGTON D.C.-Live Blogging the SOTU, and the Alternative SOTU happenings around Washington DC from today's activities and the plans for the evening events.

Karen is reporting in to us right now.

She is standing directly front of the Capitol. A cold wind is blowing in Washington tonight. Interestingly enough, there are about 14 FEMA trucks between the protesters and the Capitol itself. It's possible, though hard to believe, that these trucks somehow got lost on their way to provide relief in Louisiana, for what other purpose could they be here, when help is still so desperately needed there?

It's sadly heartwarming to see that flags are flying at half-mast in observance of the death of civil rights icon Coretta Scott King. To the program tonight for the Alternative SOTU, we have added a bagpiper who will be playing Amazing Grace at the beginning of the event, to honor Mrs. King's memory.

Right now nationally known performers Chris Chandler and David Roe are setting up the and sound checking their instruments. They will be contributing spoken word and musical performances this evening, along with geurilla poets, jazz musicians, folk musicians, a few tap dancers (and you thought they were all tap dancers in Washington were members of Congress, busily answering corruption charges), along with The Rhythm Workers Union, who will be bringing in the "mother drum ship". We're not quite sure what a "mother drum ship is", but it is certain to be more interesting than watching Mrs.Sob Sister Alito in the gallery sitting with the self-styled Laura "I AM a Desperate Housewife" Bush.

Earlier today, Karen wandered through many alternatives to the State of the Union. One highlight of the afternoon was the large "Impeach Bush" sign being driven around the neighborhood, courtesy of The Velvet Revolution.

Gold Star Mother Cindy Sheehan is doing many events today and Karen has run into her several times, and can report that it's much warmer in Venezuela than Washington, in more ways than one.

As the day wore on, it became clear that more people than ever before, are coming out of their homes and into the street to protest this president's policies and the lies and deceptions he and his administration have used to sell them to an unwitting, and sadly, and unquestioning public. But the public of years before, is not the public this administration will be facing this evening. The public is sending this President a message-his popularity is at 39% for a reason. People are angry, dissatisfied, and remember the sixteen words from the State of the Union of two years ago. And they remember that they were lied to. And the anger and the questions have just begun.

The limosines are beginning to arrive, carrying the scions of political power once more behind the gates, and away from We the People. But not for long.

Evening has fallen in Washington, and the perfume of dissent is sweeping briskly through the air.

Written and reported by Karen B. and Casey Morris, The Democracy Cell Project

[Editors Note: Cross-posted at The Daily Kos. There will be live blogging of the SOTU this evening beginning at 8:45 here on The Democracy Cell Project Blog, and in the IRC Chat Room. Please come join us.]

I just don't understand and maybe someone can help me.

Say, for example, I am the leader of the reconstruction effort in Iraq for 18 months, and during those 18 months, I repeatedly lie about any number of things, including the state of the reconstruction, the state of the war there, the cost of the reconstruction. And not only do I lie, I lie about it on camera, repeatedly, and often, during many, many interviews with journalists covering the war.

Fast forward to a year later. I have now left the job and written a book about it. And almost everything I have to say in the book is in direct opposition to what I claimed was the truth only a year ago when I made statements to the reporters in Iraq.

Moving along, I begin to go on my book promotion tour and, lo and behold, a journalist has some minimum wage staffer pull up the video tape of me lying on camera and shows it to me during our interview and asks the inevitable questions about the discrepencies.

Here's the question, why am I shocked at this? If you had behaved that way, would you be shocked?

So why was former Ambassador-cum-Reconstruction Czar in Iraq, shocked and maybe a teeny bit irritated when Wolf Blitzer did just that? From CNN transcripts:

Twenty five years ago today, many of us were stunned at the meaningless murder of John Lennon on that cold December night in New York -- even those of us old enough to remember John F. Kennedy’s assassination. History taught us that political leaders are vulnerable to political assassinations. But Rock ‘n Roll legends?

It didn’t matter if you weren’t a Beatles fan; and if you were, it didn’t matter if John wasn’t your favorite. That night, we lost more than a musical icon. We lost someone who played a large role in starting the peace movement that helped end the Vietnam War. With music, bed-ins, and other creative means of political activism, John and Yoko helped make the world believe we needed to give peace a chance.

Now, a quarter of a century later, a sense of the profound loss and his sudden absence still remains. As we face being mired in another irrational war for who knows how long, we hope that we can draw on the lessons learned from those who experienced the Vietnam peace movement. We must make the world believe again that "war is over, if we want it."

John Lennon: songwriter, singer, poet, artist, husband, father, feminist, political activist, peace lover…

Imagine what the world would be like today if he had not died too young…