Tag Archives: anti-war

GOING TO CAMP CASEY!

Posted on August 9, 2006 | Leave a comment

Yes, it’s true!

Camp Casey has opened again this week in Crawford, Texas, to continue a constant vigil near George W. Bush’s ranch. It will be open until September 2nd when it will then become Camp Democracy in Washington DC.

Tom and I are going to go there from on August 17 and will return August 21. We will be meeting Bill Holloway, Texas Green Party of the United States delegate and fellow Green Party Peace Action Committee member. Bill is blogging about his experiences at Camp Casey on his blog, Oliver’s Arrow.

We will be working at the Crawford “Peace House” there and in the Green Party tent. Bill referred to “Rena” working there, a Texas Green. Is this the same Rena from the Green Commons?

One thing we may be doing is helping some folks there build wooden crosses as memorial
headstones of fallen US soldiers. I’m sure there will be other work to do – we’ll be ready to pitch in and do whatever needs to be done.

Most of all we are looking forward to meeting new people and being part of Camp Casey for a few days. I’ll be sure to take lots of photos (as usual) and post them.

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Women in Black Vigil in Tuscon

Posted on July 28, 2006 | Leave a comment

Today the Green Party of the United States convention participants attended the Tuscon’s Women in Black weekly sidewalk vigil. It was amazing. Tom and I did a roving picket, walkiing around the intersection. There were about 75 people participating. Here are photos:


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Troops Home Fast; Ice Cream Not War

Posted on July 12, 2006 | Leave a comment

CodePink is thick in its “Troops Home Fast!” campaign.  A number of people are fasting in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. in a project which began July 4.  Here is what came into my email box:

It wasn’t easy scooping out ice cream for the homeless while on our fast! 

But when we heard about the campaign “I Scream for the Homeless” that during the hot summer months offers ice cream to the homeless in our nation’s capitol, we went to help out.

There we saw the devastating financial costs of this war. 

The $1.5 billion that the District of Columbia is paying for war could have paid for building 10,000 affordable housing units or provided 375 MILLION meals for the homeless! As homeless activist Arafa Speaks told us, “It’s criminal that they’re spending all this money killing people in Iraq and here at home people are dying on our streets because they don’t have jobs or housing.“

Diane Wilson, one of our long-term, water-only fasters, is committed to the “I Scream for the Homeless” project.

“We’d make a lot more friends feeding people ice cream and bringing joy to the faces of people living desperate lives than bombing villages and abusing prisoners.“

So every Friday we’ll be out on the streets dishing out ice cream to show the homeless that we love them and demonstrate our commitment to reversing our nation’s priorities from war to life-affirming efforts.

Please help us. Here’s how:

Donate your lunch money:

Skip lunch for a day, and send your lunch money (or more, if you can) to Troops Home Fast. We’ll use half of it to buy ice cream for the homeless and half to support our actions outside the White House and in the Halls of Congress while we fast.

Fast for one day:

Sign up to join the 3,500+ people who are fasting for at least one day, including Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover and Sean Penn. You can pick any day — or days — between now and September 21, International Peace Day, when the fast ends and we launch a week of actions against the war as part of the Declaration of Peace.

 

Come to Washington DC:

Join us sometime between now and September 21st to be a faster or a supporter. It will be a life-changing experience. Check here for DC activities.


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Planning for Bush’s visit

Posted on July 9, 2006 | Leave a comment

Yesterday I posted a piece on Bush’s visit to Utah for the American Legion Convention. Tonight was the initial planning meeting to decide what to do for this special occasion. It was nice to see new faces from a variety of policital arenas.

Most of the meeting was spent discussing the message to be presented in a rally. Initially I supported the single message of end the U.S. Occupation of the middle east, but at the same time went into the meeting with an open mind. After listening to many different veiwpoints, I have decided I like a more generic message to attract more people:

How Has Bush Let You Down?

With a slogan like this, everyone can come equipped with their own message.

The decision on the slogan has not been made by the group yet, but will be soon.

More to come……

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Iraq Civilians: 50,000 Dead– But Who’s Counting?

Posted on July 9, 2006 | Leave a comment

Common Dreams has posted this piece by Juliana Lara Resende about the death toll of Iraqi Civilians and how the Pentagon is now coming out with figures, even though they have been saying they “don’t do body counts”.

Last year, Bush asserted that, “30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis.”

In terms of population size, this would be equivalent to 570,000 U.S. citizens killed in the same period of time, noted the Jun. 25 LA Times article.

Iraq Body Count estimates an average of 36 violent deaths per day – about twice the amount of the first year of the invasion.

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Bush and Rice coming to SLC

Posted on July 8, 2006 | 1 comment

It’s kind of funny how the media picks up on things.

Last year I and Tom were part of the organizing committee that planned a tremendous program, which Tom emceed, to protest Bush’s appearance in SLC at the VFW convention. (see my account here)It took us only 5 days to develop a program and publicity that attracted over 3,000 people. Rocky Anderson was invited to be a speaker, which he accepted. It was a great program and Rocky was a tremendous part of that. Rocky got the credit for the rally, which was inaccurate, but that’s o.k.

When word got out yesterday that Bush and Condi Rice will be in town for the American Legion convention in August, members of the same committee stepped into action. We already have preliminary planning going on and meetings set up. Media folks contacted us almost immediately and some are in on our planning discussions.

So in today’s news:

  • Deseret News, the headline article (online) is Rocky may protest Bush – If asked, he’ll speak again at a rally when president visits S.L. One of our committee organizers, our media spokesperson, is quoted:

    One of the organizers of last year’s protest, Eileen McCabe-Olsen, said among the goals of this year’s protest is “to reach out to diverse constituencies to build support in this election year to pressure Congress to end the war in Iraq . . . and restrain this imperial presidency.”

  • Salt Lake Tribune: Rocky vows cool welcome for Bush
    Coming in August: The president is scheduled to attend American Legion convention in SLC

    Anderson said Friday he planned to meet with organizers of past protests. He foresees an anti-Bush alliance linking environmentalists, seniors, peace activists, health advocates and others.
    The mayor said the United States has an opportunity for “building relations with nations around the world, to joining the world’s movement toward a non-fossil-fuel economy, to creating better, healthier, safer communities. They’re all unfortunately being ignored and undermined” by Bush.

    Be assured that plans are in progress for a rally. I am part of this planning process for this event and will supply updates here as plans develop.

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    July 4 Fasting for Peace

    Posted on July 5, 2006 | Leave a comment

    Yesterday I participated in a “virutal hunger strike” in solidarity with the Troops Home Fast project.  See photos of actions around the country.

    Common Dreams posted an article last night about the fast at the White House which began yesterday. In the photo below is Father Louis Vitale.  I crossed the line and was arrested with him at the Nevada Test site in May.


    Former Deputy Ambassador to Mongolia, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, Ann Wright; seated left to right, peace activist Cindy Sheehan; Iraq War veteran, former Army Sgt. Geoffrey Millard; and Franciscan Friar Louis Vitale, eat their last meal before beginning the fast at midnight to end the Iraq War, in front of the White House, Monday, July 3, 2006, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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    Fasting for Peace – Virtual Hunger Strike

    Posted on July 3, 2006 | Leave a comment

    I am going to be “fasting from blogging” on this July 4th, in solidarity with Troops Home Fast and Kalyn Denny’s and Laura Rebecca’s Kitchen’s suggestion.

    Since I will be fasting on July 4, I will be posting relevant articles on July 3. Look below this post for those entries.

    Everyone have a safe July 4!

    BRING THE TROOPS HOME! END THE IRAQ OCCUPATION!


    Logo designed by Laura Rebecca’s Kitchen

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    Fast for Peace

    Posted on July 1, 2006 | 1 comment

    Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen has a post on her Blogher Blog on Food Blogs Joining a Fast for Peace. The project encourages bloggers to either fast or engage in a virtual blog fast in a campaign designed to build pressure for withdrawing U.S. troops from the Iraq war.

    Troops Home Fast is the name of the hunger strike by CodePink Women for Peace which initiated the campaign.

    Read Kalyn’s Blogher Blog for more ideas on participating in this Fast for Peace.


    Logo designed by Laura Rebecca’s Kitchen

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    Sir, No Sir! Punk Ass Crusade

    Posted on July 1, 2006 | Leave a comment

    This came across my email desk today:

    Sir, No Sir!, a David Zeiger documentary film about the GI movement against the Vietnam War. Never before seen footage is included in the film and myths are dispelled about protestors during the era.

    The Ruckus Society has produced a
    flash presentation called “Punk Ass Crusade”    , a great little piece geared towards counter-recruitment for young people and promotion for the “Sir, No Sir!” film.

    This film is NOW being shown in Salt Lake City at the Tower Theater during these days and times:

    (2:30), 7:00
    (2:30) Fri – Sun Only, June 20 – July 2
    ———————————————————–
    In other counter-recruitment news, grandmothers for peace were arrested at a military recruiting station in Phildelphia last week for being told they were “too old to enlist”.

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