Veterans for Peace New York

Click here to see what VFP- NY Jim Murphy has been up to!

Thoughts on Cindy Sheenhan and what her leaving may mean!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-sheehan_thinkjun03,0,3178263.story

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

Today's protester, lacking guts, gets no glory

By Rex W. Huppke
a Tribune staff reporter

June 3, 2007

That shrill sound you're hearing isn't coming from the cicadas. It's the cackle of conservatives reveling in war protester Cindy Sheehan's abrupt decision to leave the anti-war movement and return home to California.

Typical liberal, they're saying. Cut and run.

Apparently, Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, was withering from the heat of public activism and grew disillusioned with the apathy of her fellow modern-day peaceniks. She embarked on her crusade two years ago and willingly became the face of the anti-war movement -- a movement that now appears to lack a face and guts.

Despite a rising tide of public discontentment with the war, turnouts at protest rallies nationwide have shrunk precipitously. The Democratic Congress, swept into office on a wave of anti-war sentiment, showed the timidity of a neurotic deer mouse as it handed President Bush the war funding he requested without any stipulation for troop withdrawal.

One would expect at least a smidge of public outrage.

"I think what's extraordinary right now is how there hasn't been a major street presence at any point during the war," said Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and author of the book "Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Detente."

"If anything, that presence has declined in the past months, even as the public outcry against the war has been increasing."

Sheehan's departure and the flaccidity of America's anti-war movement raise deep questions about this country's moral fortitude. Unlike the protesting icons of the 1960s and '70s, members of today's "anti" crowd struggle to maintain momentum.

During the first major Iraq war protest in Chicago in 2003, 10,000 people turned out. This year, on the fourth anniversary of the war, hot on the heels of President Bush's controversial troop surge, only 3,500 Chicagoans took to the streets.

And this lack of follow-through isn't unique to war protesters.

Chicago's first immigration rally last May drew 400,000 people, but the second rally this May brought in only 150,000. In the immediate wake of the Virginia Tech shootings in April, there was considerable hue and cry over gun control -- what happened to that?

Today's activists seem easily bored and distracted, content to simply blog away their angst and then move on to the next issue that flares up. One has to imagine Abbie Hoffman -- Vietnam War protester and proud member of the Chicago Seven -- writhing in his grave.

So what's keeping people from raising hell? Where is the fervor and esprit de corps of the American protester? Why were the rabble-rousers of the '60s and '70s so potent, while those of today are so, to put it politely, "non-potent"?

There are likely several reasons.

For one, there's no military draft. That means fewer opponents are frontline stakeholders in the war. Nothing incites passion quite like fear, and as long as we have a volunteer military, the butts on the line won't be those of the anti-war contingent.

Outlook is another factor. The youthful idealism of generations past has largely given way to a cynical view of politics and life in general. It's harder to get into a good college. It's harder to get a good job. Politicians seem increasingly disingenuous.

"People really feel like they lack efficacy today," said Rachel Einwohner, a Purdue University sociologist who studies protests and social movements. "Despite what lots of people around the world think, despite opposition, this administration just proceeds with a particular agenda. Maybe activists look at that and say, 'What could we possibly do?' They're forced to wonder how they can stop it."

In 1962, a group of college students meeting in Michigan created a manifesto called the Port Huron Statement, which laid out a path for a near-Utopian democracy. Those young men and women truly believed they could change the world, and their fervor carried on through the sweeping civil rights and Vietnam War protests of that generation.

Now when Suri, the Wisconsin professor, shows a copy of the Port Huron Statement to his students, they laugh out loud, mystified that anyone could ever have been so naive.

"It's not that they don't care; it's that they don't believe they can make a difference," he said. "Students have become very risk-averse. They care, but they're afraid that if they go out and get involved in something they might not get into law school or get the job they want."

Indeed, since camera phones and YouTube, would-be rebels engage in sit-ins and other forms of civil disobedience at their own peril, knowing that images some might deem incriminating could easily come back to haunt them.

As counterintuitive as it may seem, better communication technology may actually be taking a bit of oomph out of political activism. People once had to come together in smoke-filled coffeehouses to plan demonstrations. Now they just stay home and hammer out mass e-mails, expanding their reach but eliminating the close personal bonds that were the glue of past protest movements.

"People can have these virtual online communities and have all these conversations online without ever coming together," Einwohner said. "That might explain why we have this massive disapproval of the war, but we don't see the visible public mass protest. Maybe all those folks who in another era might have been out on the streets, maybe they're home sharing their ideas and opinions with their best blogging buddies."

And maybe that, in part, is what drove Cindy Sheehan away. It's unlikely there has ever been a mother of a soldier killed in war who has been so publicly pilloried. And by the end of her two-year run, as she aimed her criticism at Democrats as well as Republicans, Sheehan was getting it from the right and the left.

Of course, she put herself out there. She allowed this to happen. But in the end, this Gold Star Mother, who came of age in the '60s and '70s, simply didn't fit in the modern-day world of protest.

She was blogged down by a society that seems incapable of clinging to any cause for too long. And like many of us, she was probably disheartened to learn that what's blowing in the wind these days isn't the answer.

It's just a lot of hot air. ---------- rhuppke@tribune.com

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Bush & Putin in Kport JULY

Bush to host Russia's Putin in Maine in July 1st & 2nd!

By Tabassum Zakaria | May 30, 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will host Russia's President Vladimir Putin in July amid tensions over U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Europe and criticism that Moscow is retreating on democracy.

Putin will visit Bush at his parents' home in the resort town of Kennebunkport, Maine, July 1-2, White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Wednesday.

"The president looks forward to the visit as part of the intensive bilateral dialogue with President Putin," Snow said. "Cooperation between the United States and Russia is important in solving regional conflicts, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and combating terrorism and extremism."

The two presidents will discuss Iran, civil nuclear cooperation and missile defense, Snow said. They will also see each other next week during the Group of Eight summit in Germany.

Putin is opposed to U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe that Bush says is to counter potential threats from other states.

U.S. officials emphasize that the United States will keep trying to convince Moscow that U.S. plans to put 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic are not designed to threaten Russia but rather to protect Europe.

Russia successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile this week that had multiple warheads, and Putin said deployment of a missile shield in Europe would turn the continent into "a powder keg."

Another strain in relations is U.S. concern that human rights and democracy are backsliding in Russia.

But despite their differences, Bush still views Putin as a straight-talker and a leader with whom he can have candid discussions.

"The fact is, look, there are some areas where we disagree, where we've had open disagreements," Snow said.

"And one of the interesting things about the president and President Putin is that they are not afraid to ventilate them and they're brutally honest with one another," he said. "The president has always made the point that when he is talking with President Putin, President Putin's never lied to him."

The visit will be "partly social," and inviting Putin to the home of Bush's parents, rather than the White House or the president's Texas ranch was "a reflection of the fact that these guys do get along," Snow said.

Julianne Smith, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said discussing contentious issues like human rights and missile defense in the relaxed setting of Kennebunkport might be more conducive to frank talks.

"My sense is the president has got a really tough message to deliver to Putin," she said.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan)

Bush & Putin Kennebunkport, Maine July 1st & 2nd!

The Kennebunkport PEACE Department has wasted no time and is getting a march permit for Sunday July 1st when President Bush comes to meet Putin in Kennebunkport.

I am calling for a mobilization of people of conscience from Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I will be organizing a pre-march rally and will let everyone know the details as soon as possible.

However, please get the word out that the Kennebunkport PEACE Department is still having their big event on August 25th, however I believe that we should hold him accountable where ever he goes.

Pass the word to your organizations, churches, temples, mosques.
for more info:

Contact Jamilla at jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com

Bush & Putin Kennebunkport, Maine July 1st & 2nd!

The Kennebunks PEACE Department has wasted no time and is getting a march permit for Sunday July 1st when President Bush comes to meet Putin in Kennebunkport.
I am calling for a mobilization of people of conscience from Maine , New Hampshire and Conneticutt and Mass achusetts.
I will be organizing a pre-march rally and will let everyone know the details as soon as possible. However, please get the word out that the
Kennebunks PEACE Department is still having their big event on August 25th, however I believe that we should hold him accountable where ever he goes.
Pass the word to your organizations, churches, temples, mosques.
for more info:
contact Jamilla at jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com

Cindy Sheehan Steps Down :( Daily Kos

by CindySheehan

Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.

• CindySheehan's diary :: ::
• 
  

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

It’s up to you now.

Just in from Ted Goodnight

Not only have two Marine, Iraq war veterans, in the Inactive Ready Reserves been threatened w/reversal of their Honorable Discharges to Other Than Honorable for their recent, post-discharge protest of the war, now it seems that a Gulf War vet has been arrested for speaking out against recruiting. It seems standing up for truth and humanity is becoming unlawful!! At the least it appears as though the government feels our military is only good enough to fight and die for our liberties, not to enjoy the exercise thereof!

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Vet Prosecuted for Opposing Recruitment in Library

Vet Prosecuted for Opposing Recruitment in Library

By Matthew Rothschild

Tim Coil served in the first Gulf War and now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

On March 12, he and his wife, Yvette, went to the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library in Ohio. At 37, she is a student at Kent State and needed to study for a biology test. Tim, 40, was reading some books.

Then they noticed two military recruiters trying to enlist someone in a nearby room, with a large glass window.

She decided to take action.

She took out some 3x5 cards and wrote messages to the man being recruited and then put them up on the window sill.

For the rest of story

http://www.progressive.org/mag_mc051407

This is just absolutely unacceptable. A war vet being charged for a crime that doesn’t exist. This is appalling.

Go here to support Tim and write a few letters Please. He did nothing wrong and should never have been charged. He should be commended for his courage.

Trial date is June 5, 2007

http://www.motherspeak.org/articles/coils.php

What are the police thinking?
I support her husband’s decision. He is to be congratulated for his efforts to keep his freedom of speech. It's people like Yvette and Tim that make a difference. He has been charged with a crime that really doesn't exist. All he did was use his freedom of speech in a correct manner. He did nothing wrong.
This should not happen to anyone.
I suppose if the KKK put up posters at the Library they would be left there no problem. Seems they have more rights then people like Yvette and Tim. That is a shame.
Libraries have become a target of the Bush Gov. Seems all the good people in American are now his targets. Imagine Recruiters having a Vet thrown in jail. Now that is just pathetic on their part.

I think letting your member of Congress about this would not be out of line either.

Use your Imagination.

POST and PASS it on to any where you want. You don't even have to change it just copy and past it. These people need some help. Add Ideas along the way. I want the charges dropped and an apology given to these people.
This could happen to anyone in America. Helping them is helping yourself.

Imagine a truck load of letters hitting the Court house.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Let me add that you can go to this site, they have contact info for media, radio talk shows, government, etc.

http://www.conservativeusa.org/megalink.htm

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Dear
IVAW Supporter,

I am writing to let you know about an urgent issue that is affecting
several of our IVAW members.  Adam Kokesh and Liam Madden are both very
active members and former Marines.  Because of their outspoken
opposition to the war, the Marine Corps is threatening to revoke their honorable
discharges and change them to other than honorable.  We cannot allow
this suppression of free speech to occur!  Adam and Liam need our help to
pay for legal defense and travel to their hearings.  Adam just found
out his hearing is in Kansas City on June 4th, less than two weeks away!
Attached below is a letter from Adam, describing his situation and
asking
for your help.  Besides financial contributions, we also need people
who are in the Kansas City area to gather support for Adam before his
June 4th hearing.  Please contact me at Kelly@ivaw.org if you are in the
area and would like to find out how you can help.  I will keep you
updated on both Adam and Liam's cases as they unfold.
Thank you so much for your time and support, it really means everything
to our veterans who dare to speak the truth.

In Peace,
Kelly Dougherty
Former Sergeant Army National Guard
Executive Director
Iraq Veterans Against the War