Journey for Humanity
From Bwtm
Summer of Love 07 On a Journey for Humanity
- update Walk will kick off from Camp Casey on July 10
We are going to walk from Atlanta, GA to Congress beginning July 13th and ending up in DC on July 23rd to send the mis-leaders back home to face the music of justice in their own districts.
It is about time us “peasants” (in the eyes of the Fascist Ruling Elite) march on DC with our “pitchforks” of righteous anger and our “torches” of truth to demand the ouster of BushCo. I have a dream of the detention centers that George has built and filled being instead filled with Orange Clad neo-cons and neo-connettes.
If Congress won’t dig BushCo’s political grave, it is the People’s job to do so. Thomas Jefferson said that we need a Revolution every 20 years, or so, to keep our Republic honest. Over 225 years have passed since our last Revolution (if you don't count the War Between the States) and we are long overdue for one. Turn off your TVs, kiss your pets goodbye, bring the kids and flock to the federal seat of corruption, or join us on our walk there, for a People's Accountability Movement to be in the face of the Criminal BushCo and the Complicit Congress for the last week of session before they go on their undeserved vacations (why do they get vacations when the Iraqi parliamentarians don’t?)
On the eve of our first revolution: You know it’s right!
http://www.thecampcaseypeaceinstitute.org/
Contents
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breaking news links
New York, July 29, 2007
Empathy for Sheehan in her quests http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/COL10/707290546/1068/OPINION
Dear Congressman Conyers: Ted Lang http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/07/29/p18525
New York, July 29, 2007
McFeatters: With friends like these ... http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x368750809
New York, July 27, 2007
A Debate with Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan, Ex-CIA Analyst Ray McGovern and Democratic Strategist Dan Gerstein http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/27/144218
The political meaning of the conflict between Cindy Sheehan and the Democratic Party http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jul2007/conf-j27.shtml
Justice Should be Color-Blind, Day 16, Cindy Sheehan
Justice should be color-blind, but we all know that it still is not.
There are many perhaps thousands if not millions, historically, cases disputing the blindness of justice but when I think about this contradiction a few cases jump to my mind.
The incident in Georgia where the young man was given a sentence of ten years in prison for consensual sexual contact between minors is one example. Paris Hilton got a slap in the wrist for breaking parole, but she's white and rich. White, rich people rarely have to pay for their crimes.
Black people in New Orleans were shot or arrested for "looting" after Katrina and if white people did the same thing, they were only trying to "survive."
Mexican illegal immigration is now being blamed for all of our economic woes in America when the blame lies with the military industrial war economy and such entities as Wal-Mart sending our jobs and manufacturing to Asia. In previous times of economic challenges, the Irish and Chinese were blamed.
Now, incredibly, I am being accused of being a racist for demanding that Congressman John Conyers do his job as is Ray McGovern. When I think of the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, I don't think of a black man, I think of a legislator that should do his/her job whatever color their skin is.
Why does everything have to be divided along lines in this country? As Rev. Yearwood (who is black and is challenging Rep Conyers to do his job, too). We need to look at the human and not their political party, religion, color, or economic status.
When I have challenged George Bush, does that make me a self-hating Caucasian?
When I challenge Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress, does that make me a female chauvinist pig?
Bringing up the race issue in this case is irrelevant and sleazy. It's like being labeled an anti-Semite because one is against the policies of Israel toward Palestine, or being called anti-American because we are against the anti-humanitarian policies of the Bush regime.
I have stood with Cynthia McKinney when she was up for re-election because I believe she is a woman of principle, even when it wasn't popular to do so. I have stood and been a guest of other members of the Black Caucus in Congress because we all stand for peace. I believe the Democrats used the anti-war left of which I am a leading member to regain both houses of Congress and many, including John Conyers appeared at events and in photos with me, and to know label this a "white activist" vs. black man is further proof of this exploitation of the anti-war movement.
It is not personal for me with Rep. Conyers or racist. I think the white power elite who has always had the say and authority to enforce or disobey laws at will and has a monopoly about what happens politically in this country since people with my indoor sexual plumbing weren't allowed to vote and people with the color of John Conyers' skin were only counted as 3/5s of a person, need to finally be brought to justice.
There has never been an equality of justice in this country. No one in the Bush regime has ever had to be held to account for the death and destruction they have caused. Their domestic politics have left every child behind, but particularly in disadvantaged communities where we all know there is an inherently racist poverty draft.
Rep. John Conyers was not targeted for the color of his skin, but for his betrayal of the American public and the Constitution.
No matter what color they are, the Bush Crime mob needs to go to prison and no matter what color he is, John Conyers needs to do his job.
When does having a thirst for justice and a yearning for peace make one racist? When the country is run by the Orwellian Rove masters, I guess.
Allentown, July 25, 2007
Reinvigorated Sheehan brings 'journey' to Valley
During her appearance at Sterling Hotel, activist calls for Bush to be impeached.
July 26, 2007 With honking horns, rhythmic chants and indignant bellows, antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan led a stream of like-minded protesters in a march through Allentown on Wednesday, demanding the impeachment of President Bush and that the troops come home from Iraq.
This isn't a just war, Sheehan said later in a speech before an overflow crowd at the Sterling Hotel. Here's Cindy Sheehan's criteria for a just war: A just war is one that you would send your own children to die. And this doesn't fit that criteria.
Sheehan, clad in a tie-dyed shirt with Impeach Bush! emblazoned across the middle, pounded the lectern with the zeal of an evangelist.
George Bush has been systematically destroying the Constitution since he came into office, she said. And if they don't impeach George Bush and [Vice President] Dick Cheney, they might as well shred the Constitution.…If Congress doesn't impeach him, then they are just a rubber-stamp, bobble-headed entity.
But not all shared her aversion to the Iraq war.
She has a screwed perspective on things, said Joann VanBilliard of Bethlehem, who peered at Sheehan and her supporters from across the Curtis Armory at 15th and Allen streets, where the march began. We support our troops and we don't need to go on a street corner to shout it. Our boys know.
Sheehan and about 50 of her supporters paraded to the Sterling, in the 300 block of Hamilton Street, as cars slowed down and honked their horns in support. Some of the protesters brandished signs saying Stop the War, and others waved American flags upside down. A furious man who said he was a Vietnam veteran yelled at some from his porch: Have you ever served? Then you don't know.
At the Sterling, a 24-year-old Iraqi stood up front and endorsed Sheehan's mission. No one deserves to die in this war, whether they are soldiers or Iraqis, Louis Yako, a student at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, said before the speech. The Iraqis didn't get a better life. All the promises made to them were broken.
Sheehan's trip to Allentown was a step in her Journey for Humanity, an excursion that has snaked through Montgomery, Ala.; Richmond, Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; and up to Washington, D.C.
There, Sheehan and roughly 50 of her followers were charged with disorderly conduct Monday after they stormed the office of Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., demanding that he launch the impeachment of Bush. Conyers chairs the House Judiciary Committee, which would start the process.
While in Washington, Sheehan announced she plans to run against the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in 2010 as an independent.
If she won't hold George Bush and Dick Cheney accountable, then someone has to hold her accountable, Sheehan said in a phone interview before the Allentown march, a day after she rallied in Philadelphia. It's all about accountability.
She has one more target on her list of cities to hit: New York, where she will venture today for a four-day stint.
Sheehan retired from the peace movement more than two months ago and launched her three-week, nationwide Journey for Humanity last month on nothing more than a whim.
Tired and broke from years of protesting the Iraq war, she was lounging in front of a blaring TV set in a rundown hotel room in Tucson, Ariz., and learned that Bush had commuted the prison term of presidential assistant Lewis Scooter Libby, convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to federal inspectors.
I didn't have anything left to give, she said in the phone interview. But Scooter Libby was just another abuse of executive power, the arrogance of the branch. To me it was treason. [Bush] should be removed from office and tried for treason.
Journey for Humanity is Sheehan's most recent exploit in what has become a laundry list of activist movements she has launched across the country.
Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed on his fifth day in Iraq, is possibly most famous for crafting a makeshift camp three miles from Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and naming it Camp Casey. She stayed there for almost four weeks in 2005, all the while demanding to see the president. She never did.
Her visit to Allentown was sponsored by the Allentown Armory Activists, the Lehigh Valley Peace Coalition, the Lehigh Valley Veterans for Peace, the Peace Committee of Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
PHILADELPHIA, July 24, 2007
links
Journey for Humanity July 24, 2007 http://www.flickr.com/photos/restoredemocracy/sets/72157600988848958/
photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/58285552@N00/tags/philadelphia/
Cindy Sheehan: "Challenge the Status Quo" http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070724/cm_thenation/45217182
Anti-war mum to run against US Speaker http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22126269-401,00.html
At the Corner of Shame and Market Streets
What's more disgraceful: slavery, or an unjust war?
July 25, 2007 To make the perfect faux headstone, start by picking out a 1-by-12-foot piece of wood. That'll be enough for six of them, according to Bill Perry of Delaware Valley Veterans for America. Then, prime it, paint it, drill two holes in the bottom and slide in the penny nails that'll enable the makeshift marker to stand upright. Log on to icasualties.org, find the names and photos of soldiers who've died, laminate a name plate and affix it to the wood.
Repeat 606 times and you'll have commemorated the 3,636 American soldiers who've died in Iraq and Afghanistan as of 10 a.m. Tuesday. It was then that Perry and about a dozen compatriots took over the field next to Independence Visitor Center and started setting up about 600 graves to serve as a backdrop for an afternoon visit from Cindy Sheehan, the apparently re-commissioned anti-war mom who, a day earlier, both announced she'd be running against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and got locked up in the Capitol, where she was harassing legislators into voting to impeach a man she considers a warlord. PAID ADVERTISEMENT
As Perry wiped the wages of a microwave sun from his brow with one forearm, he used his free hand to set up the grave commemorating the life of 23-year-old Sgt. Andrew W. Brown, First Battalion, 509th Infantry, of Pleasant Mount, Pa., who'd been killed Oct. 8, 2004.
"The Congressional Democrats, the so-called 'Peace Party,' has failed to honor their constitutional oath," he said. "All they think about is wanting a big issue to run on in '08 and '10 and '12. They want the status quo so they can win elections. It's a disgrace."
A disgrace, indeed, but it wasn't the only one on display. Across the street, tourists lined the platform overlooking the Washington House site and listened to archaeologist Cheryl Laroche talk about the "dichotomy of people here learning about liberty and freedom while trampling over the slave quarters."
Among those listening was Michael Nutter, who took a tour in advance of July 31, when the site will be sealed off while officials decide how best to proceed with memorializing it. Moments earlier, responding to a Fox 29 reporter's stop-snitching question, Nutter noted, "We can't become slaves to violence. People fought hard and died to bring liberty and freedom to this country."
Then, the suit-sporting almost-mayor donned a hard hat, and went down a ladder into a site where people were slaves to the empowered. When he came back out, Nutter seemed moved. "The issue of race is still something we have to come to grips with," he said. "There's more discussion of it on that platform, among people who don't even know each other, than we're having among ourselves in this city."
He was then asked what's worse: a president who kept unwilling slaves around the house, depriving them of human dignity, or one who sends battalions of slaves to an oath off to carry out what some consider the bloody, dirty work he hid from.
"They're both atrocious," he said. "It's a weird juxtaposition of what ultimately is inhumanity to our fellow man. Obviously, we've got to learn lessons from our past."
Which brings us back to Sheehan, with whom Nutter said he disagreed on impeachment. ("What we need to be focused on is making sure our troops get the support and equipment they need to be safe, a reasonable exit strategy, and finding a way to rehabilitate our relationships around the world," he said.)
The scene had all the trappings of '68, pitting guitar-strumming hippies and their orange "Impeach" bumper stickers against vets in patch-covered denim handing out pacifiers. Cops and Park Service police were on hand to keep a semblance of peace. They couldn't.
Take Chris Hill, national director of operations for a pro-troops group called Gathering of Eagles, for example. About 15 minutes into the protest, he'd taken all he could take.
"You're a disgrace to the uniform, Bill," he screamed, prompting an elderly protester to punch him square in the chest, which prompted a police officer to pull Hill away. "Those guys do not deserve to be used as a political prop!"
Hill, an Army vet, conceded that "it's us who gave them the right to dishonor us" before giving me the most logical explanation as to why we can't pull out that I've heard: The first wave would see 160,000 military members reduced to 80,000 infantrymen, who'd then cover their whole withdrawal by guarding convoy routes and airstrips. "We'd start losing a whole fucking platoon at a time," he said. "After we left 'Nam, [millions of] civilians were killed. You think Al-Qaida in Iraq is going to go back to making rugs? Every time [these protesters] do something like this, it shows up on Al-Jazeera, it becomes a recruiting tool. What we need to do to bring our boys home with honor is give them what they need so they can come home winners."
I'd have loved to ask Sheehan what she thought of that but, disgracefully, after trying to talk over airhorns, taunts and "Impeach" cheers, she was ushered away from a photo-op that accomplished absolutely nothing. Which, in times like these, is the biggest shame of all.
http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2007/07/26/at-the-corner-of-shame-and-market-streets
Cindy Sheehan joins war protest in Philly
PHILADELPHIA Jul7 25, 2007 — A day after she was arrested at the Capitol, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan arrived in Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon for a raucous rally imploring Congress to impeach President Bush.
Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq, was met by a dozen counter-protesting veterans who blasted air horns during her brief speech and shouted that her son was “spinning in his grave” over her vocal opposition to Bush and the war.
“You're disrespecting your son's service,” shouted Chris Hill, an Army veteran from Center City. “It's a disgrace to her son.”
Sheehan, who wore a T-shirt that read “Arrest Cheney First,” shouted back as about 150 protesters cheered her on.
“My son was a hero and your president is a coward,” Sheehan yelled. “My son hated this war. My son disagreed with George Bush. My son went because he had honor, unlike his president. His life was misspent by the Bush administration.”
Tuesday's protest, which was held on Market Street in the shadow of Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center, was organized by Bill Perry of Middletown, a Vietnam veteran and executive director of Delaware Valley Veterans for America.
“We feel it's imperative to impeach the people that lead us into this war under false pretenses,” said Perry.
While Bush might have started the war, he said, the Democrats who took control of Congress this year have done little to stop it. Before the protest began Perry set up 633 tombstones in remembrance of the soldiers who have died since Democrats took control of the House and Senate in January.
“We just don't have any faith in the Democrats,” Perry said. “They just want to get elected in 2008.”
Sheehan announced Monday that she would run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., next year as an independent candidate since Pelosi has refused to try to impeach Bush.
“The Democrats have definitely betrayed us,” Sheehan said as she walked from the rally.
Sheehan was arrested Monday after she spent an hour in Michigan Congressman John Conyer's office, trying to get the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to start impeachment proceedings against Bush.
While nearly every protester at Tuesday's rally wanted American troops out of Iraq, many focused on a need to oust Bush from office.
“So bye-bye Bush,” sang LisaBeth Weber of Carversville as she strummed a guitar. “You're the biggest liar in the whole universe.”
“This administration is out of control and as long as nobody does anything, it will still be that way,” said Mavra Iano, a protester from Wyncote, Montgomery County. “Our Constitution is being trashed and if we don't say anything, they'll keep doing what they're doing.”
Sarah Harris, a 17-year-old from Cherry Hill, stood on Market Street before the rally started and sold “Impeach Bush & Cheney” T-shirts for $10. Harris said she has attended several anti-war protests but said she has been disappointed in the lack of concern from her generation.
“This war is going to affect our generation the most,” Harris said. “Our generation needs to realize that we need to take a stand.”
Down the street Tom Murtha, a U.S Marine from Northeast Philadelphia who served in Vietnam and Korea, shook his head as he looked at the mock tombstones set up.
“They're using all these tombstones as political props,” Murtha said as he clutched a “Support the Troops” sign with one hand and waved an American flag with the other. “They shouldn't impeach Bush and they shouldn't take the troops out until they've had a victory. If we weren't fighting them over there, we'd be fighting them here.”
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-07252007-1382850.html
Washington DC, July 23, 2007
links
photos of arrests http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynchburgcp/901370681/in/set-72157601014883297/
Sheehan Wants Impeachment, Pelosi's Job http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/washington/congress/8661892.html
It’s Up to Us
Journey for Humanity and Accountability, Day 14
Cindy Sheehan
I am lying in my hotel bed at the end of a very busy, productive, yet sad day.
About 300 people gathered today and marched the 3½ miles from the entrance of Arlington Cemetery to Congressman John Conyers’ office to demand impeachment and accountability from one of the leading figures in American politics for the last four decades.
We were so thrilled with the turn-out and the energy of the group. There was great media coverage and about one dozen freepers on the opposite corner with signs like: “Traitors go to Hell” and “Cindy Sheehan go to Hell.” Nice. I have learned that hell can be on earth and if there is anything worse than burying a child, I don’t want to know about it.
At the end of the march, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, President of the Hip Hop Caucus, Ray McGovern (retired CIA analyst) and I met with Congressman John Conyers to implore him to institute impeachment proceedings against the pretenders to the White House who are destroying our democracy, making a mockery out of our rule of law and who are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
This was my third meeting with Congressman Conyers about impeachment. I hold a special place in my heart for him and I revere him for his decades long service to this nation but for the life of me, I cannot understand why he will not go forward with impeachment now.
A year ago he introduced HR635 to impeach George Bush while he was Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee and not even chairman. He wrote the book on impeachment called: The Constitution in Crisis and he readily admits that BushCo have committed impeachable offenses.
It’s about partisan politics, pure and simple. The Congressman claims that there is absolutely no way that impeachment can go forward and when I was nearing the end of my hope I cried out: “So, if the people’s house won’t help us then we the people have no recourse against the executive branch.” To which he replied: “Yes you do, vote the enablers out in ’08.” Firstly, Congressman Conyers told us to put Democrats back in Congress to end the war and impeach BushCo. We did that and instead of ending the war, they gave George Bush more money to wage it and to conduct his deadly and tragic surge. Secondly, ’08 will be too late to hold George and Dick accountable. Thirdly, thousands of more people will die in these last months of the worst Presidency in American history and lastly: after Dick proclaimed that he was not part of the executive branch and that his office does not have to comply with requests to turn over documents to the National Archives: 435 Congress Reps should have signed onto H Res 333 to impeach Cheney. Only fourteen have co-signed Congressman Kucinich’s bill, so that makes 421 elected Congressional officials enablers of the crimes of the Bush Regime.
At the end of this day, Speaker Pelosi has not supported impeachment and has not upheld her oath of office to “protect and defend” the Constitution. Like Congressman Conyers said almost a year ago, our Constitution is in Crisis and we can’t wait for more meetings and more stalling from Reps who think the problem will go away in ’08. The Middle East is rapidly falling apart under this regime and our country is sliding rapidly into a state of one-branch tyranny while our “heroes” the Democrats fiddle.
It was with very heavy hearts that Rev. Yearwood, Ray, and I reported back to the media that the Congressman had said that with over one million signatures on petitions and with one phone call coming into his office every 30 seconds supporting impeachment and with 300 activists in the hall to support him, he was still not going to move forward with the most urgent duty of his career. The Rev and I were particularly disheartened and broken because we do love the Congressman so much, but we love our country and the people of Iraq and the Middle East more. The Rev and Ray spent many years serving their country in the military and the CIA and I had a son who gave his life to do what the Congress is supposed to do: protect our freedoms, not hand them over to the mob that runs our country.
It is also with a heavy heart that I announce my candidacy against Nancy Pelosi in California’s 8th. If anybody would dare think that I am not serious, I would hope that they would look back at the last three years of my life and everything that I have sacrificed to restore our nation to one that obeys the rule of law and can be looked up to with respect once again in the international community and not as the hated laughingstock on the block.
I am committed to challenging a two party system that has kept us in a state of constant warfare for the last 60 years and has become more and more beholden to special interests and has forgotten the faces of the people whom it represents.
I am committed to using our strength as a country to wage peace and to elevate the status of every citizen in our country by converting the enduring war economy to a prosperous one with lasting peace.
Someone needs to step up to the plate to do this and I challenge other Americans to do the same. Challenge the status quo, because the status quo is no good. We need to become plugged into our government once again as active participants not just passive voters.
It is up to us.
Sheehan: I will beat Speaker Pelosi
July 24, 2007 If Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refuses to bring articles of impeachment against President Bush to the floor of the House, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan said Monday, Sheehan not only will challenge the Speaker in the next election but also will defeat her.
Discussing President Bush and Vice President Cheney, Sheehan said, “We put them there. We can fire them. If Nancy Pelosi doesn't do her constitutionally mandated job by midnight tonight, tomorrow I will announce that I'm going to run against her.
“And not only am I going to run against her, but I will beat her,” Sheehan added.
A spokesman for Pelosi, Nadeam Elshami, said the Speaker and House Democrats are working toward their goals this Congress and would not address Sheehan’s proclamation.
“The Speaker and House Democrats are focused on ending the war in Iraq, holding the Bush administration accountable and delivering a new direction for the American people,” Elshami said. “Those are the priorities of the Speaker and the Democrats.”
Sheehan seized the anti-war spotlight during her extended protest outside the president’s ranch in Crawford, Texas in 2005, after her 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq. Speaking at a demonstration at Arlington National Cemetery, Sheehan argued that it is Pelosi’s constitutional obligation to impeach the president.
“The administration has abused our soldiers. They've abused our freedoms,” Sheehan said. “They have killed my son and countless others. And they must be held accountable.
“Impeachment is not a fringe movement. It is mandated in our Constitution. Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table,” Sheehan said.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/sheehan-i-will-beat-speaker-pelosi-2007-07-24.html
Sheehan arrested in impeachment protest
- Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, and her entourage,arrive at the Capitol Hill office of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., Monday, July 23, 2007, in Washington, where her group was to ask Conyers to begin impeachment proceedings against the Bush administration. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON -- Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Monday at the Capitol for disorderly conduct, shortly after saying she would run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the California Democrat's refusal to try to impeach President Bush.
Sheehan was taken into custody inside Rep. John Conyers' office, where she had spent an hour imploring him to launch impeachment proceedings against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Conyers, D-Mich., chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would have to begin.
"The Democrats will not hold this administration accountable, so we have to hold the Democrats accountable," Sheehan said outside of Conyers' office after the meeting. "And I for one am going to step up to the plate and run against Nancy Pelosi."
Sheehan and about 200 other protesters had walked to Conyers' office from Arlington National Cemetery. She said Conyers told her there weren't enough votes for impeachment to move forward on the issue.
Forty-five of Sheehan's fellow protesters also were arrested. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said that after they are processed, the arrested activists could each pay a $50 fine to be released.
"Impeachment is not a fringe movement, it is mandated in our Constitution. Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table," Sheehan told her group of orange-clad activists before they began their march from the national cemetery.
Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq, has been saying for two weeks that she would seek to oust Pelosi from office by running against her as an independent in her San Francisco district if Pelosi didn't change her mind by July 23 on trying to impeach Bush.
Conyers introduced a bill last term calling on Congress to determine whether there are grounds for impeaching Bush. Pelosi has steadfastly dismissed any talk of impeachment, saying Democrats should focus their efforts on ending the war in Iraq.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153ap_sheehan_impeachment.html
e-mail from Cindy Sheehan
July 23, 2007
Time's Up, Congress! Impeach Now!
Journey for Humanity and Accountability, Day 14
Cindy Sheehan
Our Constitution established a tri-partite system of government, with the notion that each branch of government would act as a check on the other two. Unfortunately, for the last six years, the Republicans in Congress have largely viewed themselves as defenders of the Bush Administration, instead of a vital check on overreaching by the Executive Branch. By doing so, I believe they have acted to the detriment of our Constitutional form of government.
We have seen so many transgressions by this Administration that it is easy to forget last week's scandal amid this week's new outrage. I am hopeful that compiling all of these events of the last few years will help wake all of us up to the gravity of these matters and the cumulative damage to our country.
Congressman John Conyers, Constitution in Crisis
Congressman Conyers wrote this brilliant and stinging
indictment of BushCo almost a year ago. The booklet
outlines and expounds on the crimes of the Bush
Regime, and my question for him the last time we met
in May, was: What has the President and Vice President
done since the Dems regained both houses of Congress
in January to miraculously become "innocent" of
treason and other high crimes and misdemeanors?
Today we march from Arlington to Congress.
We arrived in DC yesterday from Crawford, Tx after two weeks of our journey.
Twenty-five (sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less) of us have traveled from town to town where we were almost universally welcomed with a small amount of protest mostly in the form of the foul-mouthed and gnarly-breathed, Gathering of Eagles (they call us "hippies" "dirty"). All along the way we have encountered our fellow Americans who are sick and fed up with the crimes of BushCo and the slaughter in the Middle East.
Today we will march from Arlington Cemetery where absolutely no desecration is planned by our group, but where desecration has been committed on a daily basis by the neocon war mongers who use our troops unwisely, illegally, immorally and for monetary and political expediency.
When we arrive at Congressman John Conyer's (D-Mi, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) office today we will arrive with over one million signatures on petitions to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney. We will arrive with the sentiments of the majority of Americans on our side. We will arrive with a thirst for justice and armed with the truth and compassion for our children serving in Iraq and our brothers and sisters who have had to suffer there under the corporate greed of US war profiteers.
The other day in San Diego, Rep. Conyers told an audience that he would go forward with impeachment if 3 other members joined him, well he has 15 other members already signed on H(Res) 333 which is Articles of Impeachment for Dastardly Dick introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Both Rep. Conyers and Speaker Pelosi need to be reminded of what their constitutional duties are and must be forced to act now before it is too late. I wonder how many more of our troops and Iraqis they are willing to sacrifice on the altar of partisan politics?
Today there will be dozens of us who will sit-in Congressman Conyer's office until he agrees to do the right thing and we will risk arrest if he doesn't. We are doing it because we profoundly believe that accountability in the form of impeachment is imperative to restore the rule of law and to protect the future from an executive branch that has run amok.
We march for peace. We sit for accountability.
On Tuesday, July 24th, I may become a candidate in California's 8th district. The balls' in Congress' court now. I hope they come through for us.
Go to www.thecampcaseypeaceinstitute.org for more info on our Journey for Humanity and Accountability or to donate to help with expenses.
Sunday
Sheehan: Let's get away from usual party politics, Peace activist voices her independent streak
Cindy Sheehan, Sunday, July 22, 2007
The feedback I have been receiving since I announced that I would challenge U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, for her House seat -- unless she gives impeachment the go-ahead -- has been running about 3-to-1 positive.
Some people have offered to quit their jobs to move to California's Eighth Congressional District to help my possible campaign. People are lining up to donate and help, and I am again very grateful and touched beyond belief by the generosity and energy of my fellow Americans.
I truly understand the not-so-supportive people, though, because I have been in their shoes. Here in the United States, most of us put our faith in a two-party system that has failed peace and justice repeatedly. The Republicans do not have a monopoly on the culture of corruption (although BushCo has elevated it to policy status), and the way we do politics in this country needs a serious shakeup, when all we the people are getting is a shakedown.
I was frightened out of ever voting for a third party, or an independent candidate, but voting out of fear is one of the things that bestowed us with the Bush crime mob and may give us the Republican, if not in party affiliation, Hillary Clinton.
I was a lifelong Democrat only because the choices were limited. The Democrats are the party of slavery and were the party that started every war in the 20th century, except the other Bush debacle. The Federal Reserve, permanent federal income taxes, not one but two World Wars, Japanese concentration camps, and not one but two atom bombs dropped on the innocent citizens of Japan -- all brought to us via the Democrats.
Don't tell me the Democrats are our "saviors" because I am not buying it -- especially after they bought more caskets and more devastating pain when they financed and co-facilitated more of President Bush's abysmal occupation. The Democrats also are allowing a meltdown of our republic by allowing the evils of the executive branch to continue unrestrained by their silent complicity.
Good change has happened during Democratic regimes, but as in the civil rights and union movements, the positive changes occurred because of the people, not the politicians. I will run as an independent because I find the corruption in both parties unhealthy, and I believe we need to have more allegiance to humans than to a political party.
I have nothing personally against Pelosi and have found our previous interactions very pleasant. However, being "against" the occupation of Iraq means ending it by ending the funding, preventing future illegal wars of aggression and holding BushCo accountable. Words have to be backed up by action, and if they aren't, they are as empty as Vice President Dick Cheney's conscience.
If Pelosi does her constitutional and moral duty by Monday, then I believe some balance will be restored to the universe, and my organization, People for Humanity, can carry on with its humanitarian projects. If she doesn't, we will carry on anyway, with a political campaign to boot.
I hope this challenges other people who desire healthy political change and not temporary Band-Aids to replace other Democrats and Republicans who do not conform to the beatitudes of peace, sustainability and the rule of law for everybody, not just poor or marginalized people.
Being a born and raised Californian and being a Bay Area resident for the past 14 years have given me great insight into the people and concerns of San Francisco.
I am concerned with many of the same things: same-sex partnership laws, the environment, health care, affordable post-secondary education, better schools, counter-military recruitment, poverty, AIDS research and cures, decriminalization of marijuana, and especially stopping war and ensuring real peace.
I think I agree with Pelosi on many of these issues, but the difference is, I don't live in a mansion on the hill. Many of these issues have affected me and my family personally, and I am committed to fighting for the people, not the corporate interests.
I wouldn't put myself through this if I weren't dead serious and committed to making America a better country than we have now, and holding people to a much higher standard than politics as usual. I am rested, restored to health and ready to rumble. I realize that if ever there was a time for politics as unusual, it is now.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/22/INGC6R23F41.DTL
Richmond
Cindy Sheehan Stops Through Richmond http://richmond.indymedia.org/newswire/display/13158/index.php
http://www.nbc12.com/news/state/8649331.html
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Sheehan criticizes Charlotte police http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/story/204418.html
photos http://www.charlotte.com/552/gallery/201730-a201237-t3.html
video http://www.charlotteobserver.com/images/video/sheehan_rally/
CARRBORO, N.C
Cindy Sheehan visits Carrboro http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/642547.html
Cindy Sheehan visits Carrboro http://news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/585054/cindy-sheehan-visits-carrboro/Default.aspx
Lynchburg
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan leads rally in Lynchburg http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=6814384
Charlottesville
Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice http://www.charlottesvillepeace.org/node/248
Anti-war protestors' visit, rally spark counter-march, Charlottesville http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP/MGArticle/CDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352085886&path=#rrForm
