Newt Gingrich in Second Life

Guest Post by Ana Herzog

Second Life passed another milestone today (Ouch! That sounds painful!) when Newt Gingrich used Capitol Hill SL today to announce his new plan to take over America.


























This photo of Gingrich is courtesy of Liz Link. Used with permission.
























The metaverse becomes more like real life every day.... the buying of Capitol Hill is nothing new in RL, but in SL this use was groundbreaking in that a precedent was set for Free Speech Zones in SL. I am gravely concerned about the creation of and tolerance for the zoning of free speech in RL, but in SL, well that is probably a good precedent. Capitol Hill folks, TROI Timtam and Kiwini Oe and their group that runs the Capitol Hill SL sim gave five of a very limited number of slots for avatars who could be in SL attendance at today's Capitol Hill SL event. Newt spoke to his minions and groupies in Atlanta and Second Life about the future of corporate politics and the emerging metaverse.

Most of the initial part of the speech was filled with him describing the metaverse. It didn't really take all that long to get Newt acclimated to presentation procedure in Second Life (which he repeatedly called Second Voice). I've been told by people in the know that Gingrich likes to drive his own avatar, but there was no evidence of that today. The avie appeared, sat, then stood in exactly the same spot for the duration of the talk.

In the second pic, above, you can see the back of him, the guests who were allowed invites into the sim, and at the very back beyond a virtual fence, invisible at a distance, there were the five lonely protesters.

It sort of honks me off that the sim folks presumed we would grief folks. I take my civic DUTY very seriously, as do other very courageous protesters. That is civic as in civil and civilization.

Anyway, you can see more photos of the event on flickr. i like the Venice Vandal's and Liz Link's photos of the event. But in these I took you can see the basic setup.

I may get around to the content portion of his speech eventually, but first I would like comment on the meta messages broadcast via this event today.

(Isn't In beautiful as she flies in protest?)
























I'm not sure Newt really understands the whole merging of a personally expansive identity into a new and larger self that encompasses an electronic persona that is every bit as real as a corporate face, or the identity one puts on for family as opposed to the one puts on at church or in the supermarket.

Conservatism and corporatism are starting to "get it" as far as understanding the networking abilities that Second Life affords.

It does seem that Newt understands much more of the metaverse and Second Life than most RL politicos do.

This isn't surprising to me. Newt is intelligent. This is the thing that makes him most dangerous. It always has been. Newt took out his Contract on America with the help of Tom DeLay. Newt was major player in the creation of K Street and the corporate coup d'etat that knocked off the last semblance of the representation of the people of the U.S.A. His contract was such a snow job. He promised the conservative Chrisitian right that the contract would help to clean up Congress and America. It carefully tended the seeds of the demise of America that had been sown by Ronnie Raygun. Bush is harvesting that demise.
















The hypocrisy shown by so many of the supposedly moral men who came into power in '94 by lying through their teeth to the American People about what their intentions were has become common knowledge and well documented. The longer serving hypocrits became emboldened. Foley, Craig, Stevens, Vitter, rode in with Newt. Opiate addicted Linbaugh served as a cheerleader. Stevens became the pork barrel king. Just look at this list of Republican scandals -- a major one every week this year. The Culure of Corruption is real and was orchestrated by Newt, Delay, Abramoff.....

So today Newt sang the praises of IBM (Yes the same IBM who allowed certain South American leaders to be tortured to death in their buildings a few decades back...) and the corporatization (is that a word) of SL. And this as the IBM Strike is going on. Oh, the irony... The double speak of Gingrich is scary. I believe he was well aware of the allusion to taking out a Contract on America. His current American Solutions campaign smacks of Dachau and Germany's Solution. He had to be aware of the similarity to Final Solution. This man is a soulless, corrupt maggot. He served divorce papers to his wife as she received chemotherapy for cancer. He told his second wife he wanted to divorce her over the phone at a holiday dinner. What a cowardly little sleeze bag. There is nothing honorable about this man and I am disturbed that so many folks continue to revere him.

Now back to the event itself.




















Here (above) you can see the paltry presence the five allowed protesters made ion the Capitol Lawn But this Cap Hill group's dedication to showing there was dissent is good.

It would have been better if I could have had a banner drop off the Washington Monument but they nixed that.

Guess that is it for now.

So we were left to our rather "normal" protest signs. I had some problems in that I couldn't get the shake fist animation to work so I had a wilted protest sign most of the time. Oh well.

Probably the avie schmoozing after the event had as much impact as the avie attendance at the event. Gingrich just wanted to make a pr statement. We felt compelled to dissent. But as always, talking to people is the key to understanding and a better world.
Here you can see Liz Link and I in real discussion after the event.

More police brutality.

So students asking questions in a school sponsored event of national figure are appropriate tazer targets?

Read the article at: http://www.miamiherald.com/466/story/241219.html


Watch this video.


The police in this country have gotten way too full of themselves under this fascist national administration. We need to send a clear message that we will not tolerate this crap! Four cops on top of an unarmed guy do not need to taze him.

Ideas?



Aren't Tazers made in Glendale, AZ?

More on the Assault of the Rev. Yearwood and the illegal abduction of Lori Perdue by the Capitol Police

View the video by IPS of Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. speaking about the attack on him and the police brutality that resulted in his severe injury.

Another video in which the Rev. Yearwood talks about the police brutality he experienced for simply attempting to listen to a hearing on The Hill. He encourages us to not give up and to continue to fight tor justice.

A third video puts his abuse in a broader contast and highlights his military service.

Also listen to/watch Colonel Ann Wright talk about her arrest and about the treatment of Rev. Yearwood. as well as the heinous routine treatment of prisoners in the D.C. jail.

Another ridiculous situation from Capitol Police in the last couple days was police abduction of a woman that consisted of the false arrest, imprisonment, and shackling of Lori Perdue for a nonexistant stay away order. This fifth video includes an interview with her shortly after being released from jail for doing absolutely noting wrong. It also includes a brief interview with a member of Democracy Rising discussing the Reverand's and Lori's outrageous abuse.

Call the Speaker and protest her "boys" assault on the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr.

I'm trying to find out how the Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is doing today after being tackled by 6 Capitol Hill cops who decided Rev. Yearwood shouldn't entrer the Patraeus hearings yesterday. He had waited in line with the women of CODEPINK and other progressive folks for hours in order to get in to the hearing. Of course the Washington Post iterates the police propaganda by saying, "Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., of the D.C.-based Hip Hop Caucus, who allegedly refused to move back after jumping in front of a line of people waiting to get inside the room. "

This so pisses me off! The black man as target of police violence shit has to stop. Non-whites as targets of hate (yes, police can be guilty of hate crimes) is beneath us. The U.S. is still predominantly composed of sensible and generous people, but if we do not collectively step forward and stop the militarization of our protective service forces, insist they live by the laws of our land, we are no better than the creeps who are currently running our country. A peaceful and honorable nation does not allow public servants cleanse our streets of select ethnic groups nor selectively single them out for assault.

Watch the video and join me in outrage and action. Pam's House Blend has the second video (after the police assault) when the medical personnel made the call that Yearwood was injured and needed a wheelchair to be moved.

This is NOT what democracy looks like from firedoglake has the most complete report I've yet found on the bogus charges against Yearwood and verification that the cops broke his leg during their assault on him.

I'm with Siun from FireDogLake:

The Capitol Police work for the Speaker’s Office. I’m calling the Speaker’s office to “discuss” this and I hope you will too. Her office number is:
(202) 225-0100.

This crap has to stop. I've faced off against these same cops doing very similar crap this past February. These tactics are totally bogus and anyone who has spent more than a couple days on The Hill know there is selective enforcement and the "rules" change from day-to-day. They insisted on misdirecting me to the wrong line as I waited to get into a hearing where Condi-LIE-za was to speak. They pulled the same crap but I remained calm and kept repeating, to a storm trooper who didn't deserve the respect, "But sir, may I say something. Sir. Please listen to us. We want to get in to the hearing at which Ms. Rice will speak. I I will move to where you want me to but I would like to ask a question as to how we can get in when we are directed to the wrong line. Sir, please may I speak?" as he was blaring out his orders and not at all assessing the situation. Finally another cop told him to cool the aggression. Yearwood wasn't as fortunate as I was.

Liz from Phoenix arrested at Petraeus hearing today.

Several CODEPINKers were arrested today and many more were removed from the "Betray us" hearings.

The early story coverage can be found here. The CODEPINK press release from before the hearing can be accessed for background on the group and their motivations for action.

Lydia's post on the CODEPINK DC Blog is well worth the read too. Seems they are now refusing entry to Gael. Many courageous women are there to disrupt if necessary -- and those who are carrying on as if this is business as normal after stolen elections, unconstitutional executive branch power grabs, illegal and immoral war that has escalated to all the way to enabling ethnic cleansing have gone from foolish to being criminal.

Hell yes this protestation is right and justified. Thank you CODEPINK! Thank you Ray McGover for yelling out,"SWEAR HIM IN". Betray us Petraeus is a war criminal as his crimes have gone far beyond being a twitchy little puppet. Just following orders doesn't cut it when you are directing a war while knowingl backing a failed tactic masquerading as policy.

According to Lydia, Cindy Sheehan, her sister DeDe, and the Reverand Yearwood were arested in the hall (as they were denied entry) for raising their voices. See the Washington Post article for the "approved for broadcast" version.

I guess the Halls of Congress have lost their status as a free speech "zone." This is one of my biggest causes of outrage. Free Speech "Zones.!!!" When the bleep did the First Amendment become "zoned?"

WAY TO GO, LIZ. Thank YOU for being brave enough to say what the vast majority of the country is thinking. Thanks to Desiree, Mona, Lydia and all the tireless pink souls temporarily "stationed" (voluntarily) in D.C. Special thanks to and request for support of the Rev. Yearwood who undoubtedly got assault charge for being a black man.

News Release per TORTURE ON TRIAL from Nuclear Resister

NEWS RELEASE
from the Nuclear Resister newsletter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2007

Contact in Tucson:
Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697

EFFORT TO PUT TORTURE ON TRIAL SUFFERS MAJOR SETBACK

Three weeks after the conclusion of a pretrial motions hearing for
two priests facing trial for their November, 2006 arrest at Ft.
Huachuca, U.S. Magistrate Hector Estrada issued his rulings on the
various motions before his Tucson, Arizona court. He denied the
defense requests for a jury trial and dismissal of the charges
against Jesuit Fr. Stephen Kelly and Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale. He
also denied the government's motion to use Fr. Vitale's prior arrests
and convictions as prima facie evidence of trespass.

In a significant order that effectively gags the defense, Estrada
granted the government's motion in limine to preclude defenses. The
gag order forbids the defendants from introducing evidence at trial,
either documentary or testimonial, about: the defenses of duress,
justification, necessity, or self-defense; the morality or immorality
of the government's use of interrogation techniques, training of
soldiers in interrogation techniques; the legality of the wars in
Iraq or Afghanistan; any military actions to support interrogations
in any foreign countries; the legality of the Military Commission Act
of 2006; the defense of international law; or the wisdom of any
political question or government policy.

Magistrate Estrada also ordered Fr. Vitale to report to court on
September 21 for a hearing on his conditions of pretrial release.
Because of the unavailability of his attorney, Bill Quigley, on that
day, another date will be scheduled for the hearing. On August 13,
at the end of the pretrial motions hearing, Estrada sent Vitale to
the court's pretrial services for evaluation, after learning that the
priest had been cited a few days earlier for a Nagasaki Day
line-crossing at the Nevada nuclear weapons test site. At their
April arraignment, Estrada had ordered the two priests not to break
local, state or federal laws.

The two are charged with federal trespass and an Arizona state charge
of failure to comply with a police officer following their attempt to
speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture
and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara
Fast, then commander at Fort Huachuca, on November 19, 2006. If
convicted of both charges, they each face ten months in prison.

A trial date is expected to be set later in September.

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org

-

Naomi Klein points out the villain... Disaster Capitalism

This is what I like to see... women leading the way against corporatist evil. Any person can lead the way of course, but so far men haven't been really good at this at Horatio Alger dreams seem to live in most of them.

I was so pleased to open my laptop this morning and see CommonDreams.org leading with a repost of the Toronto Star's piece about Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

My recommendation? Find an Independent Bookstore and order it today.

If you want to get behind a movement that can change the world, and has a proven track record, go anti-corporation, after all it is a major concept upon which our once great United States was founded.

Presidential handlers worried about the ultimate fragging?

How come none of the military folks around Bush today had any weapons? Very interesting.

And the the hoo-ha's sounded rather forced throughout the speech.

Patriot Act Co-author Favored as Gonzales Replacement

Alberto Gonzales publicly announced his resignation as Attorney General of the U.S. publicly today after having turned in his resignation in to Bush on Friday.

This is no victory for America. This is a shuffle of a sniveling little suck-up and power-hungry elitist to a duplicitous situational ethicist. Even his old school legal buddies abandoned Alberto months ago.

Those of you who read Build Peace regularly or have even read it a few times know that I am an old fashioned girl who believes in old fashioned politics at least as they are presented if not how they actually existed--The Great McGinty is one of my favorite films of all time- watch it for a refresher course on how politicians are created and the power of a single act -- Simplification is dangerous in that "flip-sides" are far too simple of descriptive tools to ever be accurate... but the old

Republicans = Big Business
Democrats = Little Guys

dichotomy holds great appeal for me. That is how it was supposed to be in the world in which I was raised. Business versus the little guy. Nice and simple. But now what we have is:

Republican Party = Gigantic Business
Democratic Party = Enormous Business
Current Administration = Fascistic Corporatism

Gonzales was brazenly arrogant in his disregard for the essence of the law and ideology that shaped a pretty damn good country that had continued to expand individual rights while maintaining respect for education and moral training that supports the notion of responsibility in an individually empowered society.

Chertoff was an architect for the Patriot Act. He co-authored that tool used for the atrocious and vile perversion of American Justice. The P.A. is the document that undercuts the great original documents upon which the idea that was our noble America was based.

Gonzales ruthlessly applied the Act, but a greater though less overtly arrogant evil in Michael Chaertoff is set to step into the Attorney General's office. The bureaucrats who actually build a corrupt administration wield tremendous, underestimated power. Joe Demsey might have been talking about Chertoff and company when reviewing Zackary Shore's book. "By creating a climate of distrust, uncertainty, and fear, his regime inadvertently denied itself the benefit of receiving important foreign policy information. Instead of performing their jobs, the first priority for career officers quickly became protecting their own livelihoods (and lives)."

Chertoff knows on which side his bread is buttered, and most assuredly works for his masters, and spews out what is advantageous to him at any given stage in his career. He played both sides after being brought in as a US Attorney in 1990 by Bush the 1st, then he was the sole US Attorney kept on by Clinton in '93, but as the tide turned toward Republican control, his balance shifted to a more partisan stance with his appointment as special prosecutor for Whitewater as he chose to align with the single ascending master of the emergent species of Republican ideology. He currently serves no other master than Bushite Corporatism.

As author of the Patriot Act Chertoff should be considered more dangerous to have in the Attorney General's slot than Gonzales.

A simple rule to follow is do not use an auto-mechanic who has named his or her business "Quality Mechanics," or buy your veggies from the "Fresh Market," or have your taxes done by "Value Accountants" -- adjectives tend to only be put in names when the good or service marketed under the name lacks or falls short in that area. The name doesn't require the adjective if the quality is present in the product or service. This axiom has never been better illustrated than in the case of the Patriot Act.

Another basic element of the Chertoff make-up seems to be his hesitation to act within clear bounds of authority and responsibility before checking with higher ups. Remember Katrina? Well it was Chertoff who effed-up royally and did not take the necessary steps to allow FEMA to begin to act (even under Brownie's "heckuva job" type leadership) until days into the disaster.

Someone stop these people! House? Congress? Last year didn't we as voters tell you loud and clear that we want all this ineptitude and all the duplicitous machinations stopped? I think so. If you are reading this it is your responsibility to make them listen to you and act to stop the Bushite's in their tracks. Now!

Bayh is a Rebu....no, he's a Demo.... what is he?

Probably not one of my last posts about Indiana even though I'm on the road back home to Tucson. I feel more comfortable blogging about it when I'm not there. The place scares me. Conservative doesn't even begin to describe the climate there. Anyway... the supposedly Democratic Senator Evan Bayh finally (after years of Hoosier peace activists efforts ) met with group of individuals drawn from a coalition of constituencies representing the peace movement in Indiana as well as long standing pacifist constituencies.

You can read about the security paranoia in the Gary Post Tribune or at Network for Peace where Sue E. corrects the errors in the Trib article.

Bayh is more conservative than many of his buddies on the supposedly opposite side of the isle. I hope people understand this when re-election time rolls around.

Torture, Texas and Totalitarianism

I won't be going through Texas on my drive back home to Tucson this week. I encourage everyone who reads this to also boycott the state.

On Tuesday, August 7, in a six-to-three decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Kenneth Foster’s final writ of habeas corpus, giving the legal green light for his execution. Foster, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on August 30, is now at the mercy of the merciless Board of Pardons and Paroles. ...Foster’s supporters, who are spearheading a letter-writing campaign to the board and governor, are relying on one particularly salient detail to move their minds, if not their hearts: Foster didn’t kill anyone.

A man from Texas (Kennibunkport is in Texas, right? Sorry, couldn't resist.) sits at the helm of the U.S. administration that authorizes, promotes, and seems to take great satisfaction in torture. More evidence to this effect comes forward every day. A UK resident's family tells the most recent tale of ongoing torture at Guantanamo. The Bush record for sending more people to death as governor than

What the BLEEP is wrong with this country when outrage is more intense against Don Imus than for executing people even when we know that death sentences handed out in our "justice" system are hugely skewed toward executing people when the victim is white.

The rather simplistic summary statement I make based on both the advocacy of torture and execution by persons in power who are from this state -- people from Texas The State of Texas love to kill people.

You can write the Governor of Texas and let him know your feelings on the abuse an already scarred system in order to kill a man who killed no one. (He was involved in a crime in which there was a death. He can and probably should have received a murder conviction, that stands quite apart from being executed/murdered by the state. After looking at the case, you can write to:

Texas Gov Rick Perry
http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
Citizen’s Assistance Hotline: (800) 843-5789
[for Texas callers]
Office of the Governor Main Switchboard: (512) 463-2000
Fax: (512) 463-1849

Mailing Address
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

Our government is rapidly descending into a totalitarian one. YOU have to act to stop it.

The Tide is Turning

Reuters is mainstream, no? Well, they sent out a story that Common Dreams picked up today about the perfectly ripe and ready to be plucked activist spirit fruiting in the U.S.

It's true. I was in Ft. Wayne today and needed to do some personal errands and in the course of human events I ran into a woman I will call C.J. who seemed truly happy to find out about the healthy existence of grassroots progressive activism spearheaded by women.

The country is receptive. I met C.J. at her place of work and she was willing to talk about peace and liberalism in public in one of the most conservative areas of the conservative midwest. This is great news for the country.

Through women banding together, we will restore the best elements of our proud heritage.

I'm so glad I talked about my activism -- we all need to do this. The vast majority of Americans are just waiting for someone to tell them it is ok to act on the feelings they have.

It is ok to act on the feelings you have. Follow your heart.

Intentionality and Activism

At times I find the irony of my situation, a woman who doesn't believe in the inherent worth of politics, in which I spend so much time writing about the whole mess to be a bit sardonic.

I am a dedicated believer that you have to go around obstacles. Trying to plow right through items or processes blocking your intended path, or become one with them so that you can just move them do not make sense to me. But I've also lived in the southwestern U.S. long enough to know that if you go around barricades you might just get swept away by a fast current or a flash flood's wall of water.

In anthropological graduate school there was a distinct disdain shown by mentors and professors for anyone foolish enough to flirt with the idea that any one person can impact a cultural system in a predictable fashion. Individuals have influence, sure, but intentionality and emergence are problematic concepts or so say some of the most informed discussants in fields that discuss such things over coffee and for fun as well as to make their bread and butter.

That's right, I'm talking post-modernist thought. (Run away, run away!) No really, it is okay. I'm talking thought not application. Premature application is almost as devastating as premature .... well, you know. Sorry. Couldn't resist and just had to see if you were paying attention. (And no I wasn't one of those undergrads who salted term papers with sentences like, "check here if you read this.") The banality of unnecesary use of complex tools for analysis of simple procedures is evident when you watch a group of young persons listening to literary "theorists" applying post-modernist thought to specific written works or performances. The truly profound can turn to mush when used by someone who really doesn't have a handle on the complexity of systems and the narrowness of any interpretation.

Any way let me talk about this via some examples.

• When you are inside you can't observe from the outside.
• All singular entites have a viewpoint from which they collect information and from which they act.
  
• You will choose a different path when you are walking with a group in contrast to when you are walking alone.
  
• Sometimes unintended consequences are small, sometimes large, but they always are.
  

For years I stayed away from any attempt to influence anything, taking this "knowledge" about systems to the extreme, but then I realized I would still have influence as "to not make a decision is to make a decision." I finally reached the point where I HAD to act. It was a selfish act. I didn't want the guilt or bad karma of "knowing without acting." . I don't know exactly how I reached and recognized that point, but I knew it when I was there. It was in D.C. while I was participating in a CODEPINK march around the end of February or beginning of March 2003. For me the appeal was about the organizational structure that was networked and self-organizing rather than imposed, rigid and bound to breakdown. This was the first time I had encountered a group of people working for change who were doing so in a way that accepted and encouraged the worth of networks rather than hierarchy, emergence and its unpredictable nature over status quo predictability, as well as the noncompartmentalization of the groups actions that allowed and promoted integration over disintergration.

In the grassy area south of the White House and north of the Mall an effigy of Bush was pulled down by a web created when women encircled the effigy and, while hanging onto one end of the thread, threw balls of yarn over the Bush effigy to the woman on the opposite side of the circle. A web was woven in this process and it then pulled down the Bush effigy.

The metaphor was beautiful and illustrative whether I believed in, acknowledged or even knew about Wiccan aspects of the action. There was also direct action and with it the consequent arrests. Women had banded together and taken back control over symbols associated with them,
this allowed the budding network of women to sprout and grow it's own frame (and trunk) rather than attempt to layer change over existing structure.

Ignoring is bliss. We don't have to pound through barracades, or go through channels to have them removed. We can go around them, tunnel under them, or even remove them spoonful or splinter at a time.

I'm wondering whether now is the time to start going around our Government in a new way? I'm not sure what that means. We have to grow it.

41 Dems Vote For Wiretapping

Grijalva and Giffords were both on the right side of this vote.

The 41 Dems from all over the U.S. who voted for this are selling out the American people. For example, why did Harry Mitchell (AZ LD 5) vote with the Republicans to continue giving Bush the expansive power to do whatever the hell he wants in the arena of invading our privacy.?

Women, framing, blogging and more.

I've so many things to blog about, and I've still so little time to blog. But only one more week and I will be on the road back in the general direction of Tucson.

Yesterday I ran a bunch of errands. Dropped stuff at Goodwill. Met a progressive friend at a great little lunch restaurant (and breakfast on Saturday) in the one time burg of Dunfee, IN. It is just north of the train tracks north of State Road 14 on the County Line Road between Whitley and Allen County. It is in the back of an antique and country crafts store that has a sub-specialization in equestrian items. The building obviously was a general store -- long rectangular and narrow clapboard, now weathered gray with occasional specks of the original color clinging to the wood.

A perfect setting to begin my good-byes.

I've been in the mid-west, bible belt, rust belt, old union land for 6 months now, and this will be my last week here. I can't say that I will miss the fear driven conformity that underlies so much of everyday life here.

There is a lot made of the supposedly close-knit communities in the small towns of this region. They are held up as supposedly wholesome iconic communities worthy of emulation.

Bull. Bull. Bull. When I walk down the street here, strangers don't smile as they do in large cities. I see looks of intolerance flashed as soon as someone "different" walks by. For heaven's sake, Wal-Mart is the new town square. Plastic junk from China surrounds our center of social information exchange. Far too many of the churches unite groups in their damnation of others who don't believe as they do rather than in the love of all people as the person they name themselves after professed.

There are drawbacks and perks within every sort of living. Both the small town and the international urban metropolis have positive and negative elements, but the success of both are built via social networks. i think it is actually harder to build a supportive community based on distinction when surrounded by a small community rather than a large one. It isn't about anonymity as must as it is about respect.

Community -- that is the core of peace building. The recognition of community across time exists. Community across vast spaces exist. We must build community across socially constructed class to stop the acceleration of artificially enhanced divisive difference.

I'm thinking of starting a "tour" to show any interested women how to connect and communicate via currently available communication technologies.

Is it soincidence that as I was writing this that I flipped through TV channels to find Bill Moyers interviewing Barbara Ehrenrich and found out about her book:

Dancing in the Streets: the History of Collective Joy

Here is the table of contents of the work:

I've always been rather outspoken when it comes to lambasting the "Big Frog in a Small Pond" phenomenon. But now rather than fixate on the big frogs, I'm shifting to simply attempting to have all the women look around at the pond and decide what they want to do with it.

Attendance at BlogHer '07 in Chicago helped this goal solidify into something concrete enough I can begin to meander toward it.

Personal BlogHer Debriefing

AT THE MOMENT

I want to begin my personal debriefing per the BlogHer Conference. I’m sitting at the bar at Uno’s in Chicago. I tried to get a Spanish meal down the street at Emilios Tapas but the server obviously did not want to serve (per his non-attentiveness) a single female who wasn’t going to drink alcohol. So back to the familiar. Was really looking forward to some pan con tomat and some calamari. Sigh. I’m sure my dissing it isn’t going to impact their Zagat’s rating, but I feel better for having vented.

UNCONFERENCE

Today was wonderful. Informal. Made connections. Learned a bunch. And I made some connections which is the element I felt was missing from my conference connection.

I participated in a focus group for Revolution Health that allowed me the opportunity to vent about some holes in the health care system that I’d noticed these past few months that they may be able to address and fill. This meant that I missed part of the first session and part of the second, but I came in on the second session and stayed there for the rest of the day.

Blogging with accessibility, wikis, and embedding wikis within in web pages are all topics I wouldn’t have sought out had it not been presented in a small non-hierarchical manner. I’m so glad I attended. Codepink AZ now has a wiki! This is going to allow all the groups and individuals to coordinate actions, plans, information of all types. Of course public sites are attractive to trolls, but there are ways to circumvent folks who are maliciously motivated. I really, really want to go home to Tucson. Anyway, back to the conference.

DAY 2

Elizabeth Edwards interview and open answers to whole large group questions was a highlight, but the entire day of political speak was quite interesting. Edwards and Clinton were the only Pres. camps who chose to be present at the conference.

Pizza arrived. More later. Will add links too.

Elizabeth Edwards

Notes from Elizabeth Edwards questions.

Listening to Elizabeth Edwards talk about the magic of the medium and how we don't sep. ourselves in this medium as we do in RL.

She has dealt with all the issues of blogging while not having her own blog. She writes her own diary entries on the Edwards size.

"He's come a long way since his days on a Southern Baptist pew.

She believes in actually answering questions.

Feels John is more supportive of "women's issues" than Hillary Clinton.

Universal healthcare is a key issue , childcare also.

Birth to death education is another significant education.

Youth need to feel their voice is heard in order to want to participate. One Corps per local level. Larger issues at national Iraq. Global warming. Darfur. Operation engage (young people who do not go to college.)

Iraq as a woman's issue. Women serving in Iraq - 10%. Fiancee.

Didn't mention the civilian casualties. Although she did mention that if mother's were in charge, there would be no war.

Also talked about the class divide in the military.

Medium consolidation and Telecom Act of 1996 - John doesn't want Rupert Murdoch to be the gatekeeper of information. She recognizes the uniformity.

Net neutrality is important. (See Laura Scott on Blogher Ads.)

No one person should be the sieve through whom all information flows.

Trails of following from one blog to another.

35 Google alerts.

Eldercare/sandwich -- coverage of chronic care and long-term care. Need to increase number of people who can navigate the eldercare issue. Who watches out for elders who have no children. We are at capacity for training nurses. We need nurse educators.

People dye their hair purple in order to stand out in a very crowded world.

Howard Dean is right.... we need a campaign in all 50 states.

From audience member: "?" Religious liberal. Reclaiming the F word. F is for faith.

Doesn't believe in an intervening God he (or she) does not think her prayers for intervention about cancer will have any effect.

Renewing their vows on Monday. Service was a part of their vows.

No one edits her posts, sees her posts.....

Will continue to answer questions (with Blogher) from Blogher 07.

Bush's Executive Order 13438 serious threat to activism

Just received this from a CODEPINK friend in D.C.

You're receiving this because time is short to try to stop Bush's Executive Order 13438 from becoming law on August 19. The Executive Order, titled "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq," is unconstitutional but once it becomes law it would likely take years and huge chaos and loss to activists before being revoked. As you know, Congress will recess for August. The Order was entered into the Federal Register on July 19. It becomes law automatically on August 19. Today is July 27. Will Pelosi and Reid call them back to stop this? Yesterday at the Senate subway to the Capitol, I spoke to about 10 Senators about this. After my brief, on-the-run question-description of the Order, they all said they had never heard of the Order (!) but that they would look into it. Your help is greatly needed to quickly study the order and then move Congress to stop it using your broad contacts to mobilize. I will set up a yahoo group site, called "Stop Executive Order of July 17, 2007" to help move communication forward.

Calls and faxes to Congress are urgent! See the contact lists at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/. These lists, by the way, can be moved to a spreadsheet.

White House web site for the Executive Order: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.htmlexecutive order

I've highlighted the most problematic element below:

(i) to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of:...

Holy Mother of the World, we have to stop him!

I'm here!

I'm at BlogHer 07. Arrived last night quite late and have been busy every moment since then. Amazing women per media, politics, technology, business.... The over-layer of corporate gloss conceals a significant network of progressive women.

Monday at Evan's Office

What an amazing day!. Zanne just left "the farm" and headed for South Bend.

We hit the street by the Federal Bldg. in Fort Wayne by 8 a.m. this morning. Zanne and I were the first to arrive, followed shortly by Betty, then Dave, then Phyllis, Bruce, Bonnie and 5 or six others wonderful folks for a Peace Vigil in front of the Federal Building where Evan Bayh's office is located. The specific target of this gathering was awareness of Bayh's vote for war funding in May. Zanne is doing her best to visit the office of every Democratic Senator who voted in May to fund the war. By 8:30 we were organizing to go up to Senator Bayh's office.

No cameras or cell phones allowed in the building. Have to have ID with photo. Once we made it through security two very large burly men stepped up to block our way and ask us what we intended to do. He referred to us as protestors. I didn’t intend to argue with him but I would have loved to have had the time to discuss his labeling of us. “We’ve had trouble with protestors before,” he said. “Laying down in the halls and such.” Was he referring to the three men who were arrested as they prayed in the Federal Building in April? Anyway I didn’t appreciate the physical blocking of our entry, so I politely said, is it okay if we go through (meaning between these two federal marshals.)” Four people had decided to go up, but it soon became clear that only three of us were on the same page with the purpose of this planned visit. But that was good too as it provided a few “educational moments.”

When we arrived upstairs, no one was in Bayh’s office so we stopped by Mark Souder’s office to give his staff some feedback to pass on to him. That was that we watch what all senators and Reps do and we like to give positive feedback where it is appropriate. While Congressman Souder has a long way to go, we have noticed that he has moved toward opposing the war and bringing our troops home.

After we left Congressman Souders office we stood in the hall debating whether we should wait there for Senator Bayh’s office to open. That was when “one of our own” started unloading on us about how she thought Bayh was doing a good job and that we should support him. We tried to calmly reply that Bayh voted to fund the war in May. The viewpoint that this woman espoused was that we have to support any Democrat in Indiana no matter what. My take is that any Democratic Senator in Indiana needs to support the will of the people. We need him to lead, we need him or her to have the courage to do what is right, not mouth the Republican framing of an issue. Even here in the conservative Bible Belt the majority of the people want our troops home NOW.

I pay taxes here in Indiana and have lived well over half my life here in this state. All the branches of my family have been Hoosiers for going on two centuries (not to mention the Indian ancestors who met those folks as they arrived.) We do not want war. We do not want to send our children to fight the wars that benefit the rich families and their corporate manifestations.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell the supporter from the provocateur – this is just my opinion, but I believe some of the internal divisive behavior we experienced this morning is “cornered prey” behavior. In extremely conservative Republican strongholds it can be fairly easy to develop a mindset that works almost totally from dichotomy of us them and to live and work from a mindset of fear that demands fight or flight responses rather than reasoned calm assessments of areas of mutual agreement.

We all come from different places and perspectives. We must look for areas of overlap, areas of agreement, areas where we can cooperate, and we must not sabotage each other. We must support each other and all grow through learning from each other.

I sometimes allow myself to engage in magical thinking and I’m allowing myself that luxury per my thoughts about this morning. Had it not been for the presence of a woman who wants peace but does not feel it is appropriate to “disrespect” Senator Bayh (and who cannot hear me when I say that I don’t feel it is appropriate for Senator Bayh to disrespect the people) we might not have still been on the floor when Brent Wake, the regional Director for Senator Evan Bayh, opened up the office.

Mr. Wake is a well-spoken man. He asked us in, attempted to get us all chairs, and listened intently and politely as we asked him to please make sure the Senator gets the message that the people of Indiana do not believe that his vote for war spending in May was justified and that we expect him to vote to cut off war funding in September. Mr. Wake attempted to explain to us that the Senator didn’t want to abandon the troops in Iraq without money to support their return. We discussed several of the fallacies inherent in that essentially Republican framed argument. We attempted to explain that we need our Democratic Senators to be courageous and to lead without concern about whether that will a prudent political career move for them.

I mentioned my pink sister of the peace struggle being arrested and prosecuted in Hammond, Indiana for reading the names of the American Service men and women who have died in Iraq . She was arrested in front of building that houses Senator Bayh’s office. Why was she ordered away before she had finished reading the names of those who have given their lives to defend our country even though the entire situation we were supposedly defending our country from was a crock of warm spittle? Why does Senator Bayh refuse to meet with the peace community of Indiana? The bright side is that Mr Wake did say he would attempt to arrange a meeting between the Senator and the Ft. Wayne Peace Community. Betty is the contact that Mr. Wake will notify per the meeting. She will contact the rest of the peace community as best she can after she receives the call.

It was so good to talk to people on the street. One gentleman, Jebbar, who has recently completed his military service actually drove past us and then parked and came over to thank us and to let us know that a large, large segment of the men and women of the military wants us out of Iraq. He was articulate, informed and radiated the peaceful confidence of a just man. There is hope for us if he in any way represents our young adult population.

We also talked to a woman with a wonderful presence, Jackie, who said she wanted to mention us on her blog and how she supported the peace work that we are trying to do. She had spotted Zanne’s truck outside and knew we were around somewhere. I’m glad she found us.

A young woman at the FW Food Coop asked for literature and said she would take info about the September actions to her church.

All in all an amazing day.

Fort Wayne for Peace

Came back from the Fort Wayne, IN UU church showing of No More Victims and discussion among the 9 folks who came out to watch the film to find this great film forward from Liz in D.C.



I'm so proud to know these women. The courage and stamina they show inspire me.

9 may not sound like a whole bunch but it was pretty good considering that every body and her sister were headed out to watch the fireworks at the end of the 3 Rivers Festival. As I said in my last post.... the Heartland really is heating up for Peace.

Zanne Joi pulled into the driveway of the old family farm today with that beautiful pinkly emblazoned truck of hers. She will certainly add a degree or two to the heat. Bless her for having the ovaries to travel the U.S. from coast to coast helping motivate local peace groups, stirring the pot, and raising the temperature a bit.

Anyway, hope there are at least that many folks (9) at the vigil in front of the Federal Bldg. in FW tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. We will then take a message up to to Sen. Bayh's office. He votes to fund the war though the majority of the people (even here in the heartland) want us out of Iraq and our troops home now. He won't meet with CODEPINK Indiana (consistently scheduling with CPI and then canceling-- several times over the last few months). His "boys" saw fit to arrest Sue E. for reading the names of the dead U.S. soldiers in front of the Bldg that contains his office in Hammond. Sorta like the three arrested in Fort Wayne for praying for peace in front of Lugar's office in April. (I guess those in charge want prayer in schools but not in government buildings.)

Evan, we want the troops home now! Even Hillary had the balls to finally say no to the war funding. What happened to yours? Can't stand up to the power brokers in D.C.?

By the way, Hillary does deserve kudos and perhaps a pink badge of courage for finally realizing the war must end.

The Heartland Heats Up For Peace

I am pleased to see that some "mainstream" media coverage of CODEPINK's vigilance on Capitol Hill even if it is in the form of an ABC blog.

Things and thinks are rapidly changing here in the heartland. I'm beginning to stick my head out into the community after the time spent with my mother during the last few months before her passing and the following weeks of closing up a very full house.

Sentiment on the streets is decidedly pro-peace... a first ever Peace Float was cheered on in the Three Rivers Festival Parade in Fort Wayne, Indiana last weekend. This weekend there are Peace Church meetings and on Monday CODEPINK's own Mz. Zanne will be at an action at Evan Bayh's office in Fort Wayne. She will also be stopping in South Bend and Hammond.

I'm tempted to leave early and not attend the BlogHer Conference in Chicago so I can caravan with Zanne, but I really want to attend that conference and meet all those wonderful "be the media" women. And truth be told I still have a couple weeks of stuff to get done here.

Anyway the float shown below is evidence of some very good news. Do check out The Fort Wayne Agitator for up to the minute (it seems) info on peace happenings in NE Indiana.

Writing with wisdom.

I have been on such a roller coaster ride these past few months. My ninety-two year old mother passed away one week ago. I'd cared for her for the past three and a half months at her home in the Midwest.

I am only now beginning to be able to write about some of the experience. Caring for an elderly parent gave me the opportunity to develop a new perspective from which to appreciate many aspects of life. In order to be able to give my mother what she needed I had to achieve and maintain a sort of Zen calm, not necessarily a detachment, an acceptance of all things in the moment. The focused inattention to the moment necessary to think and write was in direct opposition to successfully attending to the most important task before me -- caring for my mother. So I did not think too deeply or write. That begins now. I was observing. I was focused. Only now will my thoughts come to the surface of consciousness so that I can process and arrange them in a way that makes sense to me. I am sure that these writings will relate to building peace. Perhaps not directly to war and peace, but definitely to how to build peace within one's self and in one's surroundings. And that is how world peace begins... in daily life and how we choose to live it.

While this has been a largely political blog there will be a shift to include personal perspective on a variety of issues. The personal is political.

Every Arizonan, Every American, should read this Arizona Herald article.

What will they say about us in 50 years?

"The locals had to know what was going on in there!"

I can't put a number on the many times I have heard this said in regard to the Polish people who lived near the worst of the worst of the concentration camps established by Nazi Germany. My suspicions and those of very well informed individuals who have meticulously researched the topic leads me to believe the very same sort of thing will be said about Americans, southern Arizonans to be specific, who now live parallel, consciously blindered, lives around Fort Huachuca.

Is it fair. Probably not. Most don't know. The dumbing down of America has distanced most of our citizens from critical thinking skills once taught in one room schools houses. Our working conditions/hours - among the worst in the "Developed World" keep most folks too tired and too busy to have time to contemplate issues in any depth. But those of us who have slipped through the cracks somehow have no excuse for allowing these attrocities -- albeit at a different networked level -- to be orchestrated from our backyards.

Uber-conservative fundamentalist Christians may not like to have monies go toward reproductive technologies that ultimately liberate women from the tyranny of biological accident -- well Uber-progressive inclusionist Gaiasts (Gaia-ists?) are just as adamant about refusing to allow genocide and radioactive poisoning of our earth and people. But Gaia isn't theological. It is cutting edge understanding of our worlds delicate balance. We have to stop allowing ignorance to be marketed and exported from the U.S. Words are far more powerful than bullets. That is why the words that come out of Fort Huachuca must be stopped.

"Fort Sneezy," some call it as the name spills out, "Waa-chew-kah" in same often mispronouned fashion that the noble saguaros that define the northern Sonoran Desert landscape that surrounds the Fort and its surrounding city of Sierra Vista. Sierra Vista is an Army town. The people there know what goes on inside the fences of the U.S. Army intelligence training post. They just don't like to think about it.

Read this article:
Priests Claim Torture; Arizona Army Post Says No and start thinking Tucson.
We have no excuse to feign ignorance.

The people in Tucson do know. I don't have permission to use her name, so I won't, but I can tell you about the swell of compassion that filled me when I heard a retired woman say in a local church gathering that she does all she can, but that she just cannot risk any political protest that could end up in arrest -- again. Her 6 months in a Federal Prison for protesting at the School of the Americas (renamed WHINSAC in an attempt to say that SOA has been closed) torture training was nothing she can stand to endure again.

I'm not going to compare my experience to hers, that would be ludicrous. My experience is milk sop compared to what she has known and survived. But the techniques that were used to attempt to silence her for her actions at Fort Benning, Georgia in and the techniques that are used to intimidate locals activists in Tucson are of the same ilk and probably carried out by folks responding to the same orders. See: Build Peace: It's Starting To Get Personal the blog post where I discuss the attacts on peaceful demonstrators by thugs who lauch their assaults from the private property that shields the local Armry recruiters from protests. Only Freepers and Republicans can protest or demonstrate on this private property. (Why is the Army allowed to hide behind private property restrictions, anyway? But that is best left for discussion in another post.)

SOA protesters are routinely arrested and jailed or imprisoned in an attempt to silence them. And some voices are more quiet after release, but the voice of their stories continue to loudly and clearly announce to an ever growing group of listeners.

Arrests of peaceful protestors in Tucson are getting to be fairly common place, but the voices will not stop. Reporting will continue through independent media and citizen journalism.

Peaceful marchers shot with "pepper" bullets.

Journalist arested on U of A campus.

Tucson Grannies among scores of "Grannies" across the nation arrested for attempt to enlist.

Christian Peacemakers Arrested

8 arrested in Tucson at Raytheon

To help you understand some of the overall climate in Arizona, we've been taught to turn our heads away from unpleasant governmental abuses for quite some time. This recent incident is a good summary.

"Here is another example of censorship. Louise Benally, Navajo, is resisting forced relocation on Navajo lands at Big Mountain, Ariz., where Peabody Coal attorneys orchestrated the so-called Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute. Louise compared the Long Walk and imprisonment at Bosque Redondo, N.M., in the 1860s to the war in Iraq and the U.S. treatment of women and children in Iraq. The article was censored. Louise's ancestors were among those who witnessed the rapes, murders and starvation of Navajos on the Long Walk and during imprisonment at Fort Sumner."


Okay, that is all I can write for now. Can't even proof this. I wish I had more time to make a smoother presentation and be a bit less in your face, but I am caring for my invalid 92 year old mother 24/7 -- and this even though I'm one of those folks accused of having no "family values." Yeah. Right.

Roll Call article on The Pink House: CODEPINK: On the Hill to Stay

CODEPINK: On the Hill to Stay
By Bree Hocking
Roll Call Staff

May 16, 2007

CODEPINK has staged anti-war demonstrations at the offices of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), disrupted committee hearings, chanted songs in Capitol Hill hallways and unfurled banners in the Hart Building.

But if some Members of Congress were hoping this female-led group would eventually go away, they'll be sorely disappointed.

Earlier this spring, after spotting a listing on Craigslist.org , CODEPINK signed a one-year lease on a row house near Union Station — giving the colorful group a semipermanent base of operation within walking distance of its intended audience.

"I hope [Members] are shaking in their boots," says 60-year-old Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and diplomat, who resigned her post at the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia in protest against the war. Wright, who is now a full-time activist, frequently stays at the house when she's in Washington, D.C.

Aside from a CODEPINK bumper sticker on the front entrance and a feminine doormat out front, there isn't much to distinguish the rather nondescript brick walk-up at 712 Fifth St. NE from its neighbors. A lone green sign in the yard reads: "Impeach Him."

Inside, however, lies a veritable pink wonderland. Living room walls are papered in anti-war and anti-President Bush signs that have been used at protests. There's a communal computer for blogging and a TV nearly continuously turned to CNN or C-SPAN. A pink straw hat is perched on a lampshade. Pink feather boas hang from a row of hallway hooks. There's a board listing contact information for the current occupants of the House and a map with pushpins showing where they hail from. Another board lists potential targeted news conferences, briefings and hearings for each day. A bookshelf is stocked with copies of the Constitution.

About 60 women — ranging from elementary-school-age to grandmothers — have slept in the five-bedroom, four-level house for stays that average about a week. There's an online application for admission to the house, which is typically reserved for "core organizers," says Barnard College graduate Rae Abileah, 24, CODEPINK's local groups coordinator.

"It's like a sorority house but better," says Dana Balicki, a bright-eyed, 26-year-old who grew up in the San Fernando Valley and has been working for CODEPINK since getting involved "right before" the 2004 Republican National Convention.

And like a sorority, there's a house mother. Desiree Fairooz, a 50-year-old former librarian and schoolteacher who left behind her family in Arlington, Texas, to join the cause, is "our mama," Balicki says.

CODEPINK doesn't like the word "rules," Fairooz says, although there are a few house guidelines that include respecting yourself and embracing the "feminist/womanist principles" of "anti-racism" and "cooperation."

That's all good in theory, but how do roughly 20 women share two and a half bathrooms — yes, there are pink shower curtains — peaceably? Just fine, asserts Fairooz, noting that a 15-minute limit in the bathroom is suggested.

Food comes in part from donations — a local activist who collects bread for the needy also helps supply CODEPINKers. "We've been needy lately," Fairooz explains. There also are periodic runs to Costco, and everybody who stays at the house pays $5 per day into a general grocery fund. Given the short stays, the kitchen cupboards' contents are labeled for easy usage. Chores are a shared responsibility. A pink sign tacked to the dishwasher warns that the current load is "dirty."

CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans says the group — which emerged in the months leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and whose name is a spoof on the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded threat level system — was inspired to lease the house after a group of CODEPINK activists had briefly rented a house on the Hill and found the "community" they shared there "nurturing." Having an official house, Evans adds, allows the group "to work closer together" and to respond "more quickly" to events around Washington. The $2,200-a-month rent is paid through member donations.

And the coolest room in the house? That's the basement "peace room," says 8-year-old Autumnrain Symphony, who arrived last week with her mom, Deidra Lynch, to take part in Mother's Day peace activities. "It's my favorite place," the bespectacled fourth-grader confides, before breaking out into a rendition of a protest song to the tune of "God Bless America." In the "peace room," Autumnrain says she can escape the other "crowded" rooms and play dress-up with the various costumes and props the group keeps for its demonstrations.

The costume choices are plentiful, notes Fairooz. For instance, she says, if CODEPINKers were headed to an event with embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, they might "go as pink police" to show they wanted "to arrest him." There also are pink scrubs hanging from ceiling pipes — which are useful when offering prescriptions to lawmakers "to make America well," she says — and even a pink sequined "I Miss America" gown. In other parts of the room, pink tulle is wrapped around the ceiling pipes. A pink curtain attached to the ceiling doubles as a screen for movie nights. There also are stockpiles of paint and brushes for making signs.

It's in the "peace room" that nightly strategy sessions are held to discuss which Members and hearings to target the following day.

Being a female-dominated group, it's not surprising that tips on dressing also come up. "If you went to Gonzales and were wearing torture clothing, you would be appropriately dressed for the Judiciary" hearing later that day, Medea Benjamin, a CODEPINK co-founder, tells the assembled group Monday night. Abileah even models their new pink tunics, the fabric for which was donated by Danny DeVito's wife, Rhea Perlman.

So far, neighbors haven't minded the activity at the house, these women say One family brought a card with a $200 donation that represented part of its tax refund for the year. Another local woman painted scenes of Capitol Hill houses, which now adorn the walls of the house.

While the occasional man who stays at the house is generally relegated to the basement, several men have helped outfit the digs. One drove from Indianapolis to build the women bunk beds. Another bought them a rickshaw-style, pedaled cart, kept out back behind the house, to carry those who have trouble walking.

When the activists return in the evening after a day of "actions," the house serves as a place to regroup and network. Given the flow of people who drift in and out, a relatively low-key vibe dominates. In the tiny backyard — which features pink impatiens and geraniums — a male Army nurse who recently returned from service in Iraq hangs out with a cowboy hat-wearing Vietnam War-era veteran from Texas who sports a ponytail. Both men took part in an anti-war march earlier that day. Inside the house, Midge Potts, a self- described "transgender activist" who lives as a woman though she was born a man and who ran against then-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) in his GOP primary last summer, is on her cell phone organizing people to pick up those who were arrested while protesting that day. In an upstairs bedroom, women count the money they've collected to help bail out those who were arrested.

At the end of the day, lights-out times vary, says Evans, who works out of one of CODEPINK's California offices but stays at the house when in D.C. "We don't have to have rules. You have respect. You figure it out."

And anyhow, at least for the moment, the occupants appear to be mainly an early-rising crew. A few minutes before 8 a.m. Tuesday, several women pile into a car to head over to the National Press Club, where Gonzales is scheduled to headline a breakfast.

Just then, Lori Perdue, 38, stumbles into the kitchen yawning. "We were doing jail support till 5:30 a.m.," says the poet, mother of two and former Air Force radio broadcaster, who was inspired to join CODEPINK by Cindy Sheehan's anti-war activism.

Elizabeth Barger, a 71-year-old woman with long gray braids who lives on a cooperative farm in Tennessee, offers to make Perdue some eggs so she can get ready to take Barger to the Hill to look for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). Barger has been through this before. She remembers marching against the Vietnam War and in earlier anti-violence protests in the 1970s, but this is worse, she believes. "We know better" now, she says.

So will CODEPINK renew its lease when it comes up next March?

Evans hopes the group doesn't have to.

"When that's up we hope the soldiers are home from Iraq," she says

Apply to join us at the CODEPINK House in DC today! Come for the actions or join a weeklong training. Full details: http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?list=type&type=302

Application:
http://www.codepinkalert.org/modinput4.php?modin=74

The Battle Her of the Republic

As you may know, Julia Ward Howe wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic as well as making the proclamation for a Mother's Day where women might get together to take counsel from each other so that we might have our sons (& daughters) no longer kill each other that we all now know simply as Mother's Day.

Here is a reworked version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic that is followed Julia Ward Howe's original Mother's Day Proclamation.


The Battle Her of the Republic

Originally written as The Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe
Rewritten by Beth Osnes

Mine eyes have seen the need
for love and giving to grow strong
I have seen our hungry children
turned away for far too long
Mother‚s when will we assert what
we find right and we find wrong
Our truth has lost its way

Mine eyes have seen our virtues
blinded to us by our greed
We have bought and sold and scavenged
way beyond our real need
Now the poorest just grow poorer
while the richest just succeed
Our truth must find its way
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Sing loud our truth today!
(Refrain)

Not a gal standing before you
wants a war to solve our strife
We have seen the waste and bloodshed
from the workings of the knife
When vengeance is our path
then only hatred will be rife
Our truth can find its way

From our hands to corporations
Governments been bought and sold
We see the power transferred and
Can’t say we’ve not been told
But now its time for people over profit
People! Young and old!
Our truth will find its way
(Refrain)

I see a new tomorrow where the
seeds of hope grow strong
Where our voices sing out loud and
guide the struggle hard and long
But our joy will be the bounty of
well kids who all belong
Our truth is here to stay

Imagine food, health, safety for
our children one and all
Education, dignity in winter,
summer, spring and fall
Rise up you sleeping giant, Motherhood!
You’ve heard your call
Sing loud our truth today!
(Refrain ˆ 2 times!)

Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870 Arise then...women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts! Whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, For caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, Will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs." From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice." Blood does not wipe out dishonor, Nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil At the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace... Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God - In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality, May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient And the earliest period consistent with its objects, To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions, The great and general interests of peace.

CODEPINK in Senate Hearings -- CODEPINK in the Heartland

See what it is like with CODEPINK at a hearing. This is very much like my experience when I was in hearings in Jan -Feb of this year -- except the police appear to not be arresting or tossing out quite as readily as they were when we were first there.



Lest we forget, these are just normal women. Liz from Phoenix. Lori from Indianapolis. Sue and Nina from NW Indiana. The current peace movement has spread into and grown deep roots in the heartland. The peace movement has always been in Indiana due to the presence of significant religious peace-oriented communities, and now is no different. Fort Wayne has peaceful activists from North Manchster, Indiana being arrested in Lugar's office. Hammond has activists outside Bayh's office being arrested for reading the names of the Indiana War dead.

These photos are from the Hammond action outside Bayh's office.





We are not going away. We're just Jane Six Pack and we we're taking our country back.

These Senators KNEW!!

These senators knew the true story per Iraq before we went to war -- I hope every single one of their offices are flooded with calls expressing outrage and asking for impeachment of Bush and Cheney -- and asking for an apology from all committee members.

Or better yet -- get your fannies to their offices and demand accountablility as pink friends in Indiana will be doing tomorrow at Bayh's office. Bayh, Feinstein, Rockefeller, Edwards are very special cases as they are Democrats who voted in committee with the Republicans to go to war despite knowing that the case for war is a lie.

This reprinted from The News Hole for educational/informational purposes only.

Where Were You People

When We Needed You?

Posted: Friday, April 27, 2007 12:15 PM by Countdown

Some of what we're working on for tonight...



Former CIA Director George J. Tenet has a new book out, so apparently he's in the clear now to begin telling us some of the truth about how the administration got us into the Iraq war. In the book, titled “At the Center of the Storm,” Tenet says “There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat,” nor, “was there ever a significant discussion” about the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion.

Tenet complains in the book, and in an upcoming 60 Minutes interview, that the administration misused and twisted his "slam dunk" comment about the evidence of WMD in Iraq to justify the invasion, then later to deflect blame to Tenet and the CIA when the weapons were not found.

It didn't stop him from later accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom (above), though he says in the book, he was "not at all sure he wanted to accept" it.

But he did.

On the TODAY show, White House lawyer Dan Bartlett was the designated hatchet man sent out to discredit yet another adminstration official with a dangerous book. Bartlett said, "I am a bit confused by that because we have never indicated the president made the sole decision based on that 'slam dunk' comment."

But in fact, they did "indicate that." Vice President Dick Cheney on Meet The Press September 10, 2006, told Tim Russert"

"when George Tenet sat in the Oval Office and the president of the United States asked him directly, he said, 'George, how good is the case against Saddam on weapons of mass destruction?' the director of the CIA said, 'It’s a slam dunk, Mr. President, it’s a slam dunk.' That was the intelligence that was provided to us at the time, and based upon which we made a choice."

Much more on this tonight, along with the amazing statement of Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, who said this week that he knew the American people were being lied to in the run-up to the Iraq war, but kept quiet about it, because due to his position on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was sworn to secrecy.

The White House has always said that the Congress voted to go to war based on the same intelligence the president had, but Durbin says that is simply not true.

"The information we had in the Intelligence Committee was not the same information being given to the American people. I couldn't believe it," Durbin said Wednesday.

"I was angry about it. (But) frankly, I couldn't do much about it because, in the Intelligence Committee, we are sworn to secrecy. We can't walk outside the door and say the statement made yesterday by the White House is in direct contradiction to classified information that is being given to this Congress."

Something could have been done. Something should have been done. And while the failures of these two men pale in comarison to those of the administration that used them, we find it difficult to celebrate the forthrightness of Tenet and Durbin, who both suddenly found candor four and a half years too late.

Adding... this is the rest of the membersip of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, each of whom - according to Durbin - would have known that the American people were being lied to (includes how they voted on the Iraq war resolution)

Democrats Republicans

	Bob Graham, Florida Chairman (Nay)		Richard C. Shelby, Alabama Vice Chairman (Yea)
	Carl Levin, Michigan (Nay)		Jon Kyl, Arizona (Yea)
	John D. Rockefeller IV , West Virginia (Yea)		James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma (Yea)
	Dianne Feinstein, California (Yea)		Orrin G. Hatch, Utah (Yea)
	Ron Wyden, Oregon (Nay)		Pat Roberts , Kansas (Yea)
	Richard Durbin, Illinois (Nay)		Mike DeWine, Ohio (Yea)
	Evan Bayh, Indiana (Yea)		Fred Thompson, Tennessee (Yea)
	John Edwards, North Carolina (Yea)		Richard G. Lugar, Indiana (Yea)
	Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland (Nay)

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