Tulane , slums, contraception and whining.

According to the temporary web site for Tulane "Nine of the leading higher education associations, which represent hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, have developed a plan to accept Tulane students, as well as those from other institutions adversely affected by the hurricane, for the fall semester only." Educational bureaucracy is a massive lethargic monster -- and they are moving more quickly than recovery efforts by response entities that are supposed to move quickly.

Planned Parenthood needs your help. 100% of donations to PP for Katrina relief will go to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. One of the aspects of disaster (including war, by the way) that is rarely given attention is the lack of access to contraception and reproductive health care. Because it is, in my estimation, a woman's problem, and thus relegated to the back burner even though inattention in this area will create misfortune for generations. The burgeoning ranks of displaced, unemployed, homeless people may not be able to care for any new children for years. This is heart-breaking. But we must insure that no unwanted children come into the world accidentally to face a life of abuse and in about 15 years to dramatically raise the crime rate. (Stanford economics research has shown this to be the case. I will supplement with the complete reference soon.)

Chain-of-command requires effective top down leadership. Ultimately some orders that needed to be given were not issued until days into the disaster. Even a Junior Congressionional Member should be able to trace the chain-of-command to see what orders were issued when. The New Orleans Atrocity is what happens when you allow, at best, self-serving intersts, or, in the worst case, criminals, to take over a political system. Fedblog is a site by and for government employees, those people who are the ones likely to be blamed by their bureaucratic bosses for failure, and who are most often not to blame. Excellent set of Katrina resources.

Okay, now to address the Republican whining that has already begun to protest that people are being mean to them by saying, "Democrats will seek to politicize this." Hell yes. It is a political issue. Their whining supports a madman who is a crude s.o.b.. The political system needs to cut off the heads of those elements of governance (not actual decapitation, folks!) that failed. Isn't that the point of governance -- to be able to throw the bums out and from time to time; to at least, change bums?

The analogy that I have heard that makes sense to me is: "This" is no different the slum lord who knowingly builds a sub-standard building that collapses killing its occupants. It is about time for the American people to realize we do not have the highest standard living in the world. People here face horrors in their daily lives that other affluent western countries would never tolerate. Katrina has brought this out in a way that cannot be ignored.

flood aid
Hurricane Katrina

Slow response to Katrina, Interview with Mayor Nagin, and Nat. Guard Shortages

This opinion piece in the Guardian by the former editor of the NYT pays tribute to the city of new orleans while mourning its fate.


----------------------------

Mayor Ray Nagin interview transcript

http://edition.cnn.com/video/
from this page you can load the audio of the same interview with the Mayor

-----------

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/
Five part series that shows the knowledge of what was needed to be done to prevent just what has happened was there long before Katrina hit.

--------------------


The Democrats provide the following bits of information:

National Guard Units In US Recently Forced To Give Up Equipment. Already suffering from manpower shortages, the National Guard's overstretched forces are being confronted with another problem: not enough equipment to supply Guard troops at home. "To fully equip troops in Iraq, the Pentagon has stripped local Guard units of about 24,000 pieces of equipment. That has left Guard units at home, already seriously short of gear." [Detroit Free Press, 6/13/05]



The GAO Found Army Reserve Facing Increasing Equipment Shortages. In July 2005, the GAO found that "Army Reserve units are not generally allotted all of the equipment they need to deploy." Since September 11th, commanders have required deploying units to have 90 percent of their required equipment, yet in February 2005 the Army Reserve reported it had about 76 percent of the equipment it requires, an estimate that includes older equipment. [GAO, "An Integrated Plan is Needed to Address Army Reserve Personnel and Equipment Shortages." Rpt # GAO-05-660, 7/12/05]


Nearly Half of Army Reserve Equipment Needs to be Repaired. The Army Reserve estimates that "currently as much as 44 percent of its equipment needs servicing." [GAO, "An Integrated Plan is Needed to Address Army Reserve Personnel and Equipment Shortages." Rpt # GAO-05-660, 7/12/05]

Hurricane Katrina

Camp Casey to be set up outside Clinton & Schummer offices

A friend just sent me this email:

Did you Know:
On Wednesday morning, August 31, a coalition of Peace Groups, (Pax Christi, Suffolk Peace Network, etc.) including representatives from Code Pink LI, visited Senator Clinton & Senator Schummer's offices at their Melville Long Island location, to demand that they retract their 'war vote', admit it was a mistake, and actively work toward getting our troop out now. Since there seems to be a lack of adequate response, these groups will be setting up:


Camp Casey Long Island
A "Presence" at
Senator Clinton's & Senator Schummer's Offices
135 & 145 Pine Lawn Road
Melville, Long Island
Daily from
Tuesday, Sept. 6 through Friday, Sept. 9, 2005
4:30- 6:30 p.m.

This is the first report I've seen of CODEPINK's campaign to Meet with the Mothers.

I'm gonna do this! I have lots of questions for McCain and Kolbe. Wish Grijalva was my congress person... He's one of the few progressives in Congress.

Cindy Sheehan in Austin (reprint of article)

A Mother's Protest
By Lindsay Mathews
Special to The Star

With signs ready to tout, hundreds of anti-war supporters welcomed Cindy Sheehan at the Capitol building in Austin at 5 p.m. yesterday to participate in a peace rally. Sheehan, who since the conception of Camp Casey located in Crawford, has quickly become the face of the antiwar movement in the US.

After 26 days in Crawford protesting the war and demanding to speak with President George W. Bush regarding her son’s death while serving in Iraq, Sheehan took Camp Casey to the streets making Austin the first stop on the Freedom and Faith bus tour. She led a peaceful march down Congress Avenue to Austin City Hall where additional supporters waited to hear her speak.

The event included poetry readings, musical performances by Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Eliza Gilkyson, and speakers from various anti-war organizations. CodePink is an organization of women against war that has been instrumental in the success of Sheehan’s campaign thus far, was present.

Jim Goodnow, a member of Veterans for Peace, has been with Camp Casey since it began on Aug. and is against Bush’s policies and the war.

“Desperate men do desperate things, like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld,” Goodnow said. “And now that Bush’s approval rating is at its lowest, I’d watch out for some kind of major diversion.”

Voices of opposition could be heard through the constant chanting. Across the street about 20 supporters of President Bush and the war stationed themselves. At one point, Jordan Leu, a government student and a member of College Republicans, crossed the street to engage their opponents in debate.

“I think (Sheehan) is cheapening what her son died for … we need to finish the job in Iraq,” Leu said.

However, many supporters believe that because she took a public stand against Bush and the Iraq war, people who agree will speak up as well, possibly bringing the war to an end.

“Military families are the best message we can use to end the war,” said Jason Kafoury, a law student at Tulane University in New Orleans.

According to an August Gallup Poll, Bush’s approval rating has dropped to 40 percent, the lowest for his administration.

The event culminated when Sheehan took the stage. She expressed her gratitude to the audience for their support.

“This has been the most amazing thing I have ever been involved in,” Sheehan said.

After her son was killed in Iraq, she sent an open-ended letter to President Bush requesting an answer as to why her son died. “For What Noble Cause” has become a popular slogan for the antiwar campaign and was taken from the letter she wrote to Bush.

“We have to hold Bush accountable … don’t give your children to this government when they misuse them,” Sheehan said.

The Freedom and Faith bus tour is destined for Washington, D.C. for the annual Peace Walk on Sept. 24. The next stop will be in Houston. More information about Cindy Sheehan and the bus tour can be found at www.meetcindy.com.

Katrina Resources

Times-Picayune's Everything New Orleans -- nola.com

Those being looked for
Those who are ok

People offering a place to stay


http://www.OpenYourHome.com
This is a site for people who want to offer homes to refugees. It show you how, and lists it securely.


Message boards from
weather.comyou can access two extensive topics (at the moment they are at the top of the bulletin board) one about Katrina Affected Cities, counties, and parishes in the LA/MS/AL area and the other for general information related to Hurricane Katrina.

Donations/Resources:

Red Cross Donations
Washington Post: where to donate
Hurricane Katrina Help Wiki
Network for Good
Houston-area Resources (where many refugees are headed)

Missing Persons Databases and Forums
Times-Picayune forum for Orleans Parrish
Hurricane Katrina Survivor Database with listings for New Orleans, Biloxi, Shreveport, Mobile, and other cities
Gulf Coast Missing Persons Database
Craig’s List New Orleans:

Missing People
Housing

Rebuilding St. Bernard–contains a long list of people missing from St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans
Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network Complete a form to submit information about a missing person. Your inquiry will be sent to the disaster area, where SATERN personnel will attempt to locate the person or persons about whom you are inquiring.

Hurricane Katrina

reprint of Waiting for a Leader

The New York Times
September 1, 2005
Waiting for a Leader

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

We will, of course, endure, and the city of New Orleans must come back. But looking at the pictures on television yesterday of a place abandoned to the forces of flood, fire and looting, it was hard not to wonder exactly how that is going to come to pass. Right now, hundreds of thousands of American refugees need our national concern and care. Thousands of people still need to be rescued from imminent peril. Public health threats must be controlled in New Orleans and throughout southern Mississippi. Drivers must be given confidence that gasoline will be available, and profiteering must be brought under control at a moment when television has been showing long lines at some pumps and spot prices approaching $4 a gallon have been reported.

Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.

While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.

My anger conflicts with peace building

There has been an escalating war going on within me. I have a profound belief in the positive transformational potential of channeling effort, energy and thought into individual peaceful and constructive action. But there is anger growing within me that does battle with the belief in transformation. I want to be positive, but the obvious negligence of the governments (both state and national) to prepare and respond in the first hours of the crisis brings me to tears several times a day. Unless I consciously breathe and maintain focus, the hurt transforms to seething and slow-burning anger. The invisible hand of capitalism, the power of the free market, the let-them-eat-cake ownership socity... this is where it leads. Perhaps this will be a wake up call for the supposedly compassionate conservatives who go along with the obscene usurious accumulation of profit by ruling families and corporations. This level of suffering could have been prevented. Here is a bit of an article that appeared today on Common Dreams that skims the surface of some of the budget cuts that made a bad situation turn into a nightmare:

Budget cuts haven't made disaster preparedness any easier.

Last year, FEMA spent $250,000 to conduct an eight-day hurricane drill for a mock killer storm hitting New Orleans. Some 250 emergency officials attended. Many of the scenarios now playing out, including a helicopter evacuation of the Superdome, were discussed in that drill for a fictional storm named Pam.

This year, the group was to design a plan to fix such unresolved problems as evacuating sick and injured people from the Superdome and housing tens of thousands of stranded citizens.

Funding for that planning was cut, said Tolbert, the former FEMA disaster response director.

"A lot of good was done, but it just wasn't finished," said Tolbert, who was the disaster chief for the state of North Carolina. "I don't know if it would have saved more lives. It would have made the response faster. You might say it would have saved lives."

FEMA wasn't alone in cutting hurricane spending in New Orleans and the surrounding area.

Federal flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana has been chopped from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005, according to budget documents. Federal hurricane protection for the Lake Pontchartrain vicinity in the Army Corps of Engineers' budget dropped from $14.25 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year. Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu requested $27 million this year.

Both the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper and a local business magazine reported that the effects of the budget cuts at the Army Corps of Engineers were severe.

In 2004, the Corps essentially stopped major work on the now-breached levee system that had protected New Orleans from flooding. It was the first such stoppage in 37 years, the Times-Picayune reported.

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay," Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri told the newspaper. "Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

The Army Corps' New Orleans office, facing a $71 million cut, also eliminated funds to pay for a study on how to protect the Crescent City from a Category 5 storm, New Orleans City Business reported in June.

Being prepared for a disaster is basic emergency management, disaster experts say.

You can read the full article here.

Hurricane Katrina

Wrapping up at Crawford for now.

I just got off the phone with Barbara Cummings who acted as a greeter for 15,000 people over 19 days at the Peace House at Crawford. I contacted her to verify phone numbers she gave to Corey (from Tucson) for some people in or near D.C. who might be able to put up 4 of us for the 3 days of action in September plus a day on either side.

The buses have pretty well gone, and everyone there is trying to figure out how to help the flood victims on the Gulf Coast. They offered up their buses to take people out but were told not to send anyone anything into the area.

As we talked of the horror and what we might do to alleviate some small bit of suffering, she shared a hopeful story from two nights ago at Crawford. Even though they had been turned down every time they extended an offer for the "folks across the street" to join them at their end of day services; they extended the offer one last time. This time the group walked across the triangle and the peace circle opened and the two groups became one while taps was played and they sang "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America the Beatutiful" as one. Then, without conversation, each of the two groups went its own way. But for a short the two groups found common ground.

We can build peace. There are always areas of agreement from which we can work, and we will find them - if we look for them.

Criminal Negligence and Corporate Conspiracy.

Envision all the souls lost in huge New Orleans jazz funeral. I try, but I can't. The corporate media is saying hundreds dead. Even a fool can see that the losses will be counted in the thousands. This will eclipse 9/11 in death toll. What follows is a very personal integration of many elements that evidence the disintegration of our once great country.

I started out this year in what now seems to have been a prophetic manner. As 2005 unfolded I planned a trip back to my childhood hometown on the way to D.C. to participate in the "counter-inaugural." I wanted to hold the hand of and say good-bye to my brother who was dying. And I wanted to protest the austentacious imperial inauguration that blatantly mocked the working masses and the gaping distance between the haves and have nots in this country.

My brother was dying far earlier than he should have largely because our country has no reasonable health care system. When he retired he had to give up his reasonable health care "insurance" and lost access to the physician who had found other cancers extremely early on and removed the small bits of the type of slow metastisizing cancer that my brother developed. After he retired (in his 50s) he had to change physicians. The new physician wouldn't authorize the frequent monitoring he needed. The next cancer that developed was not caught until after massive metasticization occured.

I now have a memory that makes me weep with its recall. My tall, blue-eyed, ever kind and gentle fisherman/hunter brother was sitting in a recliner next to the hospital bed in the make-shift bedroom that had been set-up in the first floor living room of this home. He could no longer get to his bedroom on the second floor. He was wrapped in a heavy comforter, hands swollen, flesh loose from the rapid loss of weight, and his eyes no longer blue, just hollow and very, very weary. During that last conversation in which I could look into his eyes, I told him I wanted to stay with him and not go on to the protests. His demeanor changed and he quite determinedly told me to go and continue the fight. Then he smiled at me. I was to continue to fight the ever increasing injustice in this country -- for him.

So I continued on to D.C. to lend support to CODEPINK events and actions. I was at the "Halibacon" action outside the Boots and Black Tie ball where the exceptionally mega-wealthy celebrated and hurled some of the most condescending comments at us that truly let anyone present see just how much contempt these robber-barons have for the serfs". I ended up having a sash put on me at the CODEPINK rally and I helped out with the March by keeping the folks within the permitted area and the flow moving peacefully and properly, and by dispensing information... while Medea and Diane and Jodie and a few others got into the inauguration to remind the world that there is resistance to the corporate coupe that has stolen control of our democracy.

But now, in retrospect, what I look back on is the ironic "theme" of the march. It was New Orleans-style Funeral lead by jazz musicians. We greeted the year and mourned the death of Democracy in an eerily prophetic way.

The situation seems surreal. The europeans must be laughing their asses off at us for our stupidity. I can hear the more cynical of them telling us, this is what you asked for by allowing your country to be taken over by corporate thugs in 2000, and then by believing the propaganda spewed from the media controlled by a fascistic australian who came into power because of the repeal of media ownership laws by his friend Ronald Reagan. And you know what? They have a very stong case. We have allowed the richest corporate "lords" to dismantle the few social programs that protected the poor and looked out for the common good.

From my perspective and understanding, the last few days are a model of what we can unfortunately expect to be a regular occurance as the rich run and hide and the rest of us face the consequences of global waarming, wars for profit, and massive disreguard for sanctity of life.

We know a storm that is on par with the four worst hurricanes in history is headed toward a heavily populated area. What do our leaders do in this situation? Well King George the Yellow continued on with business as usual. He travels to Phoenix for a canned program to a small and carefully selected "stepford" audience. Then he moves on to do the same in San Diego and in an unreal "let them eat cake" moment actually partakes of a celebratory party fundraiser the Hotel Del Coronado that is eerily reminiscent of another Oceanfront community that is dying as the party rages on.

This same man is the one who sent our homeland security forces overseas to fight a war to gain control over the oil reserves (finally he is beginning to admit that oil is the reason we are occupying Iraq) his buddies need to insure their continued rape and pillage of our economy and resources before the environmental collapse begins. Well it is already happening and these purported leaders criminally continue to refuse to acknowledge global warming and continue to CUT funding to essential domestic programs. The environmental collapse is happening. Those of us who live in the "liberal" world near academia have been screaming about the inevitable andrapidly approaching environmental devastation. The government refused to acknowledge this.

Calls are issued for mandatory evacuation, but no assistance is offered to those too poor to drive or fly themselves out or even to afford a hotel room while evacuated. The poor are left to drown. Where were the freight trains and cargo carriers turned into human transsport? Why are the halved guard troops only now being activated. Why was our government sleeping at the wheel? They were not sleeping, they'd jumped out of this unstoppable vehicle a couple of streets back.

This is what communities can expect to experience when weather diasters become common occurance and our largely dismantled social support system fails in the near future.

In spite of the bleakness of our situation, we can build peace. We must build peace. We must establish the human to human links that are our support structure and the reason we have been such a successful species up until this time. We must bring our troops home. We must have at least one-half of our leadership roles filled by women. We must stop war-profiteeering and disaster-profiteering (carpet-bagging). We must build a human governance based in cooperation not competition.

May the Goddess bless the souls of all those who are dying on the Gulf Coast to teach us these lessons. And may the whole U.S. begin to hear truth and hope in the voice of those leaving Crawford today as they make their way in three caravans across the country to the three days of action to Bring the Troops Home Now! in D.C. on Sept. 24, 25, 26.

Namaste and Blessed be.

Hurricane Katrina
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References:

Site that shows the economic and cultural makeup of the areas of New Orleans that were hardest hit and other pertinent info can be found at:http://www.gnocdc.org



President's absenteeism before this year is discussed.


Global warming and emergent weather patterns.

8/29/05 Protest in El Mirage attracts hundreds despite temps over 110 degrees

Bush Stages Propaganda Event While Citizens Die

Yesterday, as I protested with hunreds of others outside El Mirage Country Club in a western suburb of Phoenix, as hundreds if not thousands of citizens were trapped in attics because they were too poor to evacuate the areas where they live.

Throughout the time I was across the street from the country club where Bush spoke, I kept thinking about costs and alternatives. I cannot imagine the costs of diverting hundreds of local law enforcement officials, closing roads, doing the research to find the loyalists, busing them in, flying in the president and the various groups of people who comprise the massive entourage traveling with Bush. And all this cost was incurred essentially as a propaganda event for yet another of Dubya's ill-informed bankrupting schemes that would put money in the hands of the few at the expense of the nation.

And while this well-rehearsed event was taking place, horrific destruction was unfolding as sweeping devastation across the Gulf Coast of our Southern United States. The thought that repeatedly flashed through my mind and kept my stomach churning was, "What about all those people who could not evacuate the coastal cities in the path of Katrina because they had no car, could not afford hotels, had ill or extremely infirm parents they could not transport and did not want to leave?" Surely the National Guard troops would have activated all in a several state area helped evacuate people before and help set up camps for the 10 of thousands of people who will be homeless. But where are our National Guard troops? They are off fighting a war started by Bush and his inner circle. States are having borrow troops from neighboring states and hundreds are dying while they travel that distance.

Where were the trains capable of taking thousands upon thousands out of the area? Corporate automobile and oil interests saw those dismantled throughout the 20th Century to to benefit their businesses and create an automobile dependent society.

Who was coordinating the massive evacuation of the poor who did not have the means or connections necessary to leave these cities and parrishes on their own? I did not see any coverage of Guard Troops coming in to help with the evacuation? Why were our guard not out in these areas, pounding on the doors of people who do not have cable and really did not understand the enormity of what was coming?

Our Guard troops are not here. Our president continues on as though nothing has happened. I've yet to see any shots of rescue crews who are not Coast Guard, police or fire. I still can't get my head around the human cost of this devastation. I cannot begin to think about the financial costs. Our surplus has been squandered for no reason tied to National Security. Our social progams have been gutted, and we have a need that is undoubtedly only the first of many, many needs generated by the new intensified and irratic weather patterns or a warming world that the Dubya also refuses to acknowledge.

When will the people awaken to the fact they are being bilked, abused and dying for an illegitimate government who has no concern with the people's welfare or future (including the heroic people serving in the armed forces who are willing to put their lives on the line for our country?)

I will report about the protest soon, but now I'm still in shock that our leadership is so dysfunctional.

Live Streaming coverage from Crawford

Listen to LIVE Broadcasts from The Peace House in Crawford, TX
White Rose Society's Broadcast

or

IBC Radio Network


of the Brad Show or Brad's Blog Broadcast

or something or other (it morphs frequently)
and sometimes simultaneously as Air America -- Laura Flanders)
and others
(seat of the pants radio)
talk and music from ground zero of
Operation Noble Cause

that I have also heard called
aka Operation Enduring Vacation

I think it will be on 8 hours a day for a while.

It's also being broadcast on Air America occasionally (www.AirAmericaRadio.com)

You can check the schedule at www.bradblog.com for the broadcast schedule from Camp Casey this week - I think they'll be broadcasting even if Air America isn't picking them up.

It is official and the MEDIA picked it up! Grannies are free!

I've been busy trying to build peace so I haven't blogged a lot in the last day.... still catching up and trying to figure out how to get to D.C. Sept 24-26 wishing I could go to Crawford, talking about street theater,researching freeway blogging, talking to some Moms who are getting Opt Out Forms to high schools, planning how to protest Chicken George's visit to Phoenix (El Mirage, AZ -- west of Phoenix) but I finally looked at today's local paper and was quite pleased to see that a follow-up piece to the arrest of the Raging Grannies was done that informs the local public that charges against the Grannies and four members of the media were dropped. I was one of those four media folks so I think it is entirely appropriate for me to put the article here.

Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.26.2005
Section: Tucson Region
Raging Grannies charges dropped
By Joyesha Chesnick

Trespassing charges against five members of the Tucson Raging Grannies, who tried to enlist in the Army in July, have been dropped.

"They said they had insufficient information to continue to press charges," Raging Grannie Pat Birnie said of the decision to drop the charges earlier this month.

Birnie was one of eight women protesting at the military recruitment center at 2303 E. Speedway on July 13, as they have done on Wednesdays for three years. The group, ranging in age from 65 to 81, went into the center to enlist despite being decades older than the maximum age for recruits.

"We were naturally quite relieved because the charges were absurd in the beginning," said Birnie, who was one of three Grannies not charged. "But we were disappointed to lose our media audience as a result. Because we still have passion for the issue."

City Prosecutor Laura Brynwood said that the charges had been dropped against the five Raging Grannies and four members of the media because they would have been difficult to prove.

"Essentially, by the time the police arrived, 10 minutes after the initial call, they had already left and were back at their protest on the sidewalk," Brynwood said. "Proving they did not leave after they were requested to leave would be difficult."

Birnie said the Raging Grannies will continue to protest outside the recruitment center once a week "until there is no longer a need to be there."

But trying to enlist again is not in their immediate plans.

"We were feeling unwelcome, you might say, which is awfully unnecessary," Birnie said. "If they're afraid of old Grannies, then we're in trouble."

The Tucson Raging Grannies is a project of the local branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

The Opposition and Cindy

This just about says it all. Watch it. Listen. Send the link to others. Fear betrays the dishonorable...thus they attack.

Bits Of Hope & Things To Look Forward To

There have been some great things happening that far outshone the minor annoyances of being a target for besmirching and such. I smiled and then laughed riotously (and laughter is a very good thing) at the image of a 73 year old VFW member attending one of Bush' canned audience events. The honorable vet wearing Bullshit deflector over his ear. What more can we say? The current attempt to depict the persons protesting or just questioning the war as members of a leftist fringe element is soundly debunked with this image.
You can find deflector patterns here here.


Here's another inspiring although far more moving link to an MP3 of Cindy Sheehan speaking upon her return to Camp Casey.


And one final fantastic article I read this morning is inspiring and explains the motivation of this burgeoning phenomena of women/mothers for peace. Julia Ward Howe called for all mothers to do just what Cindy Sheehan is now doing. Surely the authoress of The Battle Hymn of the Republic cannot be accused of having been a member of a left wing fringe.

And as this week winds down I will carry this inspiration with me as over the weekend I get ready to go to Phoenix to help show anyone watching that Bush isn't welcomedwith open arms in Arizona. The latest details I have on this is circulating in an email that in part give the following info.:

pResident Bush is supposed to be at the Pueblo El Mirage to speak at 10am. The location is 11201 N. El Mirage Road in El Mirage, AZ. (link to map)


Plan to be there well before 10am. The plan is to just gather outside the location and protest the war before his arrival and stay until his departure.
He is supposed to visit Luke AFB after he speaks in El Mirage. The time is not yet known but sometime in the afternoon. I may get more information soon and will let you know. People can gather on Litchfield Road outside of the base. There are three base entrances along Litchfield Road where people can gather. It isn't known for sure if he will make it to the base but he is expected to be there and the base in preparing for his visit in the afternoon.

Namaste.

A Tucson Raging Granny Chronicles Her Time In Crawford

FIVE DAYS AT CAMP CASEY
By – Ellouese Upton
Photos by - Corey Butler

I felt a pull to drive over to Crawford, Texas when I heard that a mother who had lost her son in Iraq was setting up a camp two miles from the front gate of the President’s ranch , after being refused a meeting with him. I did start driving over on August 21st with a fellow Patriot (we had not met but we both recognized each other from Peace Vigils) We took turns driving and made the trip from Tucson in 16 hours, arriving early Wednesday morning.


We stopped at the Peace House in Crawford and was greeted outside by volunteers; shown a place to park, before going inside. Cindy Sheehan was seated on a sofa to the right of the door talking on the phone. (This is a constant with her, because she is being interviewed by reporters every minute, it seemed) After we went into the kitchen to get some coffee, I saw that she was off the phone and took a minute to go over and tell her that I was there as a representative of the Tucson Raging Grannies and expressed the heart felt love they had sent to her. She thanked me, smiled and returned to the phone.

I caught the shuttle up the camp. During the time I was there, I did not spend a dime. Contributions from concerned citizens from all over are being used to provide food and water and gas for the shuttles. This is an experience I would not have missed. I had not participated in any type of rally such as this before. Actually, before the invasion of Iraq, I had never marched in any event; for any cause.

I am 75 years old now and not quite as agile as a few years ago, so I was not able to assist with necessary work in groups like I did when I was doing est seminars during the eighties. However, I noticed a very similar atmosphere of which we were always aware during the est seminars. And, that is the safe place created by the integrity of the assistants for the participants. While assisting with some of the meetings, we were picking up lint from the carpets. Outside, cigarette butts, scraps of paper, foil, anything on the ground or floor was picked up. This was to “create” a safe place. I also experienced this space of safety there at Camp Casey.

Because the tents and cars were lined up along side of a two lane county road in the ditches, it was suggested that I leave my car at the Peace House. I had planned to sleep in it. After meeting the coordinator of the Military Families Speak Out, and joining that group because I have three grandsons in the military, two of which are heading back to Iraq for their second tour, I was invited to sit in with their group. When they learned I did not have a place to sleep, I was offered their tent which was on the corner just as this road came off of the one that goes into the Bush ranch. I gladly accepted, and did not know until the next morning when this huge truck came barreling through at 5:30 (before daylight) that there might be a security problem.Everyone was taking care of my safety. This is a safe place. My heroine Tamara from Montana made sure during the night that no one disturbed “her” Raging Granny that was sleeping in the tent on the corner. There have been some efforts to disrupt Camp Casey. I can tell you first hand, there are Vietnam veterans, Iraq veterans, Gulf veterans and Korean veterans that are there supporting this effort to find out from the president just what this “Noble Cause” is that he feels so good about sending the young people of our country over there to be targeted with roadside bombs.

The many people I met there were outstanding. New York was represented from many parts of the state. Indiana, Oklahoma, Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Massachusetts, Illinois, Louisiana, Washington, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Montana, North Carolina and many, many wonderful folks from all over Texas. (These were the people that I met) There were many that I did not personally meet. This was a meeting of kindred spirits. Humble, peaceful people with only a pull such as I had in order to be there. If you have felt this pull, please honor it if you can. You will not regret it.

The candlelight service with Cindy and the Iraq veterans was touching beyond words. We had to move off the road several times, because the ranchers that live there were coming in and out. No one wanted to violate their rights. We were not there for that reason.

Two letters were delivered to the front gate while I was there. I did not walk up with those that delivered the letter to Laura on Wednesday, but did go up on Thursday to deliver the letter to Bush. There had been a press conference earlier in which the spokesman for Military Families Speak Out told the press and speaking into the microphone directly to the President, “We are not leaving”. Also a service had been in front of the crosses with many clergy members from around the country participating, before we loaded into several vans and drove within 50 yards of the gate. Then everyone got out and walked up to the gate where the secret service was standing. Two of the Military Families Speak Out representatives walked up and said, “We have a letter here for the President”. He said, “I cannot accept that.” They said, would you call a staff member out to take it. He said, “There is no one here to accept it.” After a minute or two, they laid the letter on the ground by the gate. All of this was being filmed by Amy Goodman from Pacifica Radio that was also standing in the crowd with us..

Another interesting thing that happened is as follows: Before I came over from Tucson, one of the ranchers that own land along this county road had shot a gun in the air saying, “I am out dove hunting.” I wondered if he meant Peace Doves! His cousin that owns an acre of land at Bush’s back gate donated that acre to this group for the duration of August which is when the vacation is over. This back gate is only one mile from the ranch. The Republicans had hosted a large fund rasing event just down the road from the camp a week before and the huge tent they had used was lying waiting to be picked up. As I heard the story, Ben and Jerry’s (Working Assets) heard about this and was able to rent this same tent and had it erected on the acre there at Bush’s back gate. Then as more new people came in, they could choose to set up their tent up there or down at Camp Casey1. There were also some speakers coming in and I enjoyed hearing the past president of the NAACP (He knew Martin Luther King) speak. He had with him three gold star mothers from Atlanta. He had an inspiring message for us and said that he felt the spirit of this movement as soon as he arrived. He believes, as do I, this will not die down. We as a people have found a voice.




Saturday evening as I stood in line at the “tent” waiting for the shuttle to take me back to Camp Casey 1, I noticed a large boat being pulled into the back gate. I could only see the reflections on the side. One of the young men walked over to the fence to view this scene. When he returned to the line, he said, “The name on that boat was “Invader”. I gasp! Well, this man is consistent in some things.

There are many other things I could mention for instance the young female journalist from Sidney Australia. She was in Fallujah with an aid group and had many pictures of the people of Iraq. The average people in Iraq, like a lot of us. Just humble hard working people. She told me that she can no longer go out and “party” as young people do. She can no longer have fun like she use to. She feels guilty because she knows of the suffering that is going on over there. This suffering has never been addressed (to my knowledge) from this administration.

After experiencing the heat for five days, I realized that I had to leave. I drove back alone and as I got closer to Tucson, when I closed my eyes (Resting for a few hours at the Rest Stops) I could see faces. At first they were women’s faces. Worn, haggard, some with a slight smile, then men’s faces. I did not have a clue what this was about.

After getting some sleep at home, on Tuesday I began to see faces which I believe were Civil War men also men’s faces from other wars. Those that had died serving their country. I believe these were the souls of the pioneer women and men who quietly worked for freedom and those killed in wars; For Freedom. I think it was an affirmation that I had tapped into an energy that will lead us to freedom of the spirit. We must speak out for our rights. If we silently become slaves; lose our privacy; being called traitors by those in charge just because we speak out, then I suppose we will deserve it.

I must comment on the professional way in which the deputy sheriff’s department from Waco handled this event. While I was there, these men were always dressed in full uniform, pressed and looking very neat. They did not ever have a sour look or foul word to us. They did their job to keep everyone out of the road (for our own safety) their performance and the dignity with which they worked was a true picture of what law enforcement is about. I did send an email to their office thanking them.

Also, the people of Texas were absolutely wonderful. Three women from Waco had brought three large trays of sandwiches and other foods the morning that I arrived. There were volunteers from Texas driving the shuttle all the time. Young people, couples, single people from cities all around the state came to offer a comforting hand and to share. I think that Connie from the Tucson Raging Grannies is writing a parody of a Bon Jovi song for them to sing very soon. The title will be, “Bush gave Texas a Bad Name!”

Voices in Wartime

Check out this Film Information if you are interested in the poetry of war times and how we can raise awareness by using it. Even if you don't preorder a copy of the DVD, you can dig around the site for individual poems, engage in dialog, and be encouraged that you you are not alone.

Coming Back to Crawford

Cindy Sheehan is Coming Back to Crawford So few are speaking out for those who have died fighting in a questionable war. I am very happy that Cindy is returning. I am convinced she is speaking for many families and for many of the fallen. How do we know what they thought about the war? We can't in most cases, but my gut tells me even those brave soldiers who seem supportive may just be "soldiering on."

I had the pleasure of sitting next to a member of the Air Force when I flew into Tucson a couple of weeks ago. As we exchanged the polite greetings that strangers sharing such tight quarters for a three hour flight do, he told me he was in the Air Force and was returning to DMAFB in Tucson. In this ritual exchange I then told him that I coordinated a local peace group. This produced an apparently involuntary reaction where he moved his head back in surprise.

I told him that I respected what he was doing, and that individuals willing to fight for our liberty and way of life were some of the most honorable individuals I could imagine. Then I said that because of that willingness to sacrifice themselves, that any violation or explotation of that trust was the worst form of abuse and that those who think like I do feel our troops are being abused in just that fashion. He seemed to relax, and then, rather than denying that that was happening, he just said that he couldn't really say anything detrimental of those from who he had to take orders. I then spoke of understanding the need for absolute observance of strict chain of command or the requisite military discipline and ability to act together as one would disintegrate instantly. He seemed relieved that I understood a bit about the world he lives in. We conversed about many things and he, a man being sent back to Iraq for a second tour in November to actually fight and perhaps die, seemed far more accepting of me than most of the war supporters I meet. I can't help but believe he felt better about all peace activists after having met one who respected him, understood the sacrifices he lives with, and was fighting for him and for increasing the respect and decreasing the abuse of people just like him.

A second tour without choice. Even in Vietnam soldiers had to reup for a second tour. They say this is an all volunteer army. If that were true, a second tour would be the choice of the individual -- it is not.

I'm glad Cindy is returning. Soldiers right now, need the changes she is working for.

Access to discord

Something I stumbled over this morning covered a great deal of information from not necessarily allied camps. Any time I find a place where verifiable facts are being discussed from truly distinct viewpoints, I pronounce the day a worthwhile one.

The people of Iran and Iraq are not backward. And they are not interchangeable entitites as many in the U.S. think. The Neocon Liberal dichotomy here does not map onto the issues in these countries. Social reform, political reform, and religious reform do not necessarily align nor split in ways that make sense to those persons using western mental templates. Nothing is neatly black and white -- both the left and the right in America make tactless errors that are seized upon by the opposition. Take the sticky situation of implying all Americans are racist as Saman Sepehri stated when he quoted Barbara Ehrenrich talking about "camel-riding rapists." The situation she described applied only to Darfur; Christians and Muslims both have been raped, tortured and slaughtered, and camels have been used as transport. A more or less leftist person uses an ethnic stereotyping slur to describe a genocide. Hmmmm. No easy answers there. Just as confounding, to people who like neat divisions -- many folks from these regions are both anti-theocracy and anti-imperialist. Thoughtful discussion of the rich history, ethnic and religious divisions, and long-term strife in this region do not map well into 15 second sound byte corporate media coverage.

This commentary was triggered as I listened to Postel and Sepehri
speaking at a July 2005 conference "The Threat of Intervention in Iran," organized by Chicago Media Action at Chicago Temple. I stumbled across this broadcast of a CAN TV program on Access Tucson.

Long live community media! I cherish access to all information.

Fight 'em until hell freezes over, and then fight 'em on the ice.

The above quote is from Peter Johnson's speech this past weekend at the camp outside Bush's Texas ranch. Yesterday's Democracy Now included a great deal of coverage from the rally at Camp Casey. I recommend reading the transcripts of these personal statements from mothers of active duty soldiers, Gold Star mothers, veterans, brothers of slain soldiers, elders in the peace and justice movement, a wife of an active duty and a formerly homeless veteran who works in Baltimore to assist homeless veterans.


Not up for transcript reading? Get fired up about working for peace by playing the video at We Will Not Be Silenced.