So Gold Star peace mom Cindy Sheehan is quitting the American antiwar movement. That’s bad news.
Sheehan lost her son, Casey, on April 4, 2004, in Sadr City, Baghdad. In August of 2005 she set up a makeshift camp outside of George W. Bush’s summer compound, asking for a reason for her son’s death. His arrogance in ignoring her and her anti-war stance quickly caught the media’s attention. A peace movement coalesced around her.
Now, disgusted with Republicans, Democrats, left wingers, right wingers and especially middle-wingers - in fact, with almost all of America - Sheehan has announced that she is leaving the public stage.
“Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale,” she wrote in her impassioned and disgusted farewell letter to America.
“I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither… Casey did indeed die for nothing.”
America is fast descending into “a fascist corporate wasteland,” she said. The Democrats are as blind and spineless as the Republicans. The sacrifices she made while attempting to stop the war have been for nothing. “I 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,” she wrote. “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… I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.”
While I never met Sheehan, we corresponded every now and then - usually when I wrote something that she particularly liked. I was always flattered. She is one of my heroes.
Let me qualify that word.
As a kid, I was inspired by the great heroes, by people like Joan of Arc. Then, as a teenager, I decided I didn’t want to be burned at the stake. The tension in that dichotomy has stayed with me every since.
There are real leaders and false leaders, true heroes and media-created heroes. Abbie Hoffman and Gloria Steinem, for example, were media creations who diluted and eventually destroyed the “movements” they were supposed to be leading.
What about Sheehan? After all, millions of people around the world took to the streets to protest the invasion of Iraq. So why her?
Because her bravery in plunking her lone self down on Bush’s doorstep was extraordinary. Bush may now have a 28 percent approval rating, but back then most Americans supported him and few newspapers dared question his actions.
When Sheehan went to Crawford, she gave a lazy and timid press an alternative to regurgitating Bush’s propaganda. She gave millions of Americans the knowledge that they were not alone. She stood up for what was right.
Yes, Sheehan was the real deal. Her tragic loss gave her dignity and respect. Her fury was real and earned. Her demand for an answer revealed Bush as the coward he is.
Sadly, approval ratings don’t matter much to Bush. He and his neoconservatives live in a different world. They play a different game.
“What would be the consequences of failure in Iraq?” Bush said in a recent press conference. “See, people have got to understand that if that government were to fall, the people would tend to divide into kind of sectarian enclaves, much more so than today, that would invite Iranian influence and would invite al-Qaida influence, much more so than in Iraq today. That would then create enormous turmoil, or could end up creating enormous turmoil in the Middle East, which would have a direct effect on the security of the United States.”
This is the president of La La Land speaking. Iraq couldn’t be more divided into sectarian enclaves than it is today, or hadn’t he noticed? Iran’s influence is already large and growing larger. Bush has made Iraq a recruiting advertisement for al-Qaida.
“Creating enormous turmoil in the Middle East…”? What does he think is going on now? And yes, having the entire Middle East hate us does directly influence the future of the United States. Maybe we should do something about that? Like getting out of Iraq and supporting the Palestinian people as well as the Israelis?
“I recognize there are a handful there or some who just say, get out, it’s just not worth it, let’s just leave,” Bush said. “I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do, as well.” A handful? Most Americans? What are you talking about, Mr. 28 Percent?
As mad as she is toward Republicans, Sheehan is also rightly furious at the Democrats for caving in to Bush on the war financing bill.
Come the next election, however, I think Sheehan will see a change. The Pelosi Democrats - those fat cats still licking the gravy off their paws, people like Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and others - could be voted out of office. The people are angry. They want this war to end.
All great heroes suffer. Many spend time in jail. In America, a lot of them also get shot. America is a big country; it’s hard to upend the status quo here.
Right now, Sheehan is exhausted and dismayed. “Good-bye America,” she wrote. “You are not the country that I love… I can’t make you be that country unless you want it. It’s up to you now.”
Like Rosa Parks before her, Americans will some day praise Sheehan for her courage in standing up for right against the most fiendish kinds of wrong. In the meantime, the rest of us must continue to fight. If we stop, Bush has won. And we can’t let that happen.
Joyce Marcel is a journalist and columnist based in Vermont. A collection of her columns, “A Thousand Words or Less,” is available through joycemarcel.com. And write her at joycemarcel@yahoo.com.
The patient has got to want to change.
Has Cindy Sheehan shown that in the present age there’s another way “to be burned at the stake”? She certainly seems burned out and burned up by what has been done to her. She and the gutsy, motherly leadership she gave to the peace movement in the US will be sorely missed.
I suppose that it’s a fond hope to think that she will rise new, phoenix-like from the ashes, nevertheless, I wish it for her and for us all.
Anyone that dogs Cindy Sheehan for meeting Hugo Chavez is as narrow minded as the next neo-con. Ms. Sheehan must have saw that Hugo Chavez is a hero as well. He stood up to the corporate scum that ravaged his country and gave the wealth back to the people. What’s wrong with fighting poverty? What’s wrong with being Anti War? What’s wrong with being Anti Fascist American Government but pro average American people with a good heart? What the hell is wrong with people? But opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one.
Is there a such thing in this day and age in America PDFee? I bet you if you asked Cindy she would tell you otherwise. It is about making that almighty buck, nothing more, nothing less. It seems people are lost.
I can see why she got fed up with everything. Every once in a while when I feel like inflicting mental pain upon myself, I read the Indy Star forums. My husband tries to stop me… but sometimes I just can’t help myself.
The mass quantity of hateful brainwashed-by-neocon people, oh my. It can be comical at times, if it weren’t so damn venemous.
And these, the average joes of Indiana (ugh, why do I live here? Because I am close enough to Bloomington) hate nothing more than Cindy Sheehan. I have seen lots of hate mongering neocons on those forums.
http://rfe5.topix.net/forum/indy/THBQ8429DPCQLT2LK/p2
But nothing more hateful, venemous, propogated, and full of lies and derision than responses to articles about hers. It is sad, and it makes my heart ache more than it makes my blood boil. So I see what she is up against. Good for her for trying to fight the good fight. I just wish she wouldn’t give up so easily, she’s already invested her time, energy, and soul into this endeavor. Why not continue? Can she not be “hated” any less by throwing in the towel?
PDFee,
So, *this* is what democracy is. People being detained indefinitely without trial. People being prevented from protesting at WTO meetings. Huge amounts of “black program” spending on the war machine. Secret surveillance of most, if not all, of our private communication. Corporate control of the media. And by the way, the corporations and the military are far from democratic institutions. When did you last elect the CEO of your company, or your boss?
As for fascinating reading, Orwell wrote about the horrors of Stalinism in both 1984 and Animal Farm. Funny thing is that the US under Bush/Cheney and the neocons is looking more and more like 1984 every day.
But we do get to vote on one day every 4 years for party A or party B, and quite frankly, it don’t make a damn bit of difference. But I guess that makes this country a democracy, right?
Now, if we could just vote for Hugo Chavez. That would be cool.
Cindy Sheehan is my hero, too. I can understand how she feels. Sometimes I want to give up, because when you stand up for what is right, or as I call it, respond to The Call, the way won’t ever be easy. However, there is a big difference between those of us who struggle to live up to our convictions, our values, our calling, out of the spotlight, and those who do so under such close scrutiny that they attract all the negative energy in the universe. But that is because they bring all the positive energy of the universe with them.
I believe that Cindy will come back; I hope that she will come back. I love her no nonsense, give ‘em hell approach. But I love Cindy Sheehan, and I respect her need to be out of the spotlight for as long as she needs to be. I sincerely hope and pray that she will soon make her presence known and her voice heard. She speaks for me, as a mother of a soldier, and I know that she speaks for many, many more. God Bless You, Cindy! I know God is proud of you, and so is Casey.
PDFee… You like history. Cool! Check out Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States of America”. A whole different perspective.
A couple of people mentioned wearing pink yesterday. I will try to buy three or four pink shirts this weekend. If I have to buy white shirts and dye them pink I will. I will wear a pink shirt everyday.
God bless Cindy Sheehan! Her tired, disgusted, finished-with-this-crap “resignation” moved me more than a thousand anti-Bush tirades. She pointed out the real problem - Americans, most of ua anyway, focused on American Idol and Dancing with the Stars - just don’t really care enough to actually do anything about restoring peace and justice to a world gone mad. Frankly, there is no courage, leadership or vision on either side of the political spectrum. In spite of Cindy’s best efforts, she has been unable to rally a divided and lethargic nation to the kind of action which would result in the changes we desperately need to make to end the war and restore American values and freedoms, and American prestige around the world.
America has failed Cindy. We failed Cindy. Cindy tried her best - perhaps more than anyone - and is now suffering from the wounds of her battle. I wish that all of us, the millions who hate the war and what is going on in America under the current administration, would rush to her side, lift her up and march as one against the forces that are destroying America. But we remain divided, and fight and bicker, while the country burns.
Ignorance, fear and superstition, cynically utilized by our leaders to manipulate us, is winning the day against knowledge, courage and reason - something that used to seem impossible to me. Our political system is rotten to the core. Anyone who expects the next election to change that is delusional. It is up to us, the people, to change the system. And that will never happen until enough Americans are motivated and united enough to demand that the system change. Until then, our problems will remain unsolved, and our political and corporate masters will continue to manipulate and control us as they wish.
I watched DemocracyNow today, and what really struck me was Bush telling Cindy in their genairic meeting was, He’s in a better place. Well, if Bush thinks death is better than life why doesn’t he join them, afterall he has sent so so many to an early death. We sure as shit would be better off without him. I just can’t say about the afterworld, or if it even exists, but if he believes he awaits something grand, let him go for it Now.
PDFee May 30th, 2007 3:07 pm
Kahn ~
Oh, sorry.
I was under the impression that Democracy was a universally accepted part of the big picture. My mistake. Perhaps dictatorship is part of YOUR ideology and you’d applaud the ceasing of all personal property and takeover of business.
Ever crack open a history book? Check out around 1933.
I have (read alot of history books) and what we have in this country makes Chavez look like Jesus Christ. Your criticism of Cindy is indicative of the neocon hatred for the truth.
I love “Clark Kent”’s comment: The patient has got to want to change.
I am afraid that the patient still has a long way to go to want to change. It obviously hasn’t reached the bottom yet.
Between the scorn and anger of the right and the criticism of half-assed liberals Like PDFee, it’s no wonder Sindy Sheehan needs to withdraw to her own space. She has committed heroic acts and deserves much respect. I struggle with the often naive and sophmoric rhetoric on many of these sites but we must all do what we can. Cindy has, and if she does not more, she’s done more than most of us.
Good one rbrisbane. A little painful at the end though.
Real glad today that Cindy clarified her position with MoveOn.org with Amy Goodman (DemocracyNow). There was this survey that MoveOn put out and I signed it, frankly it was misleading and pro democratic party, but those of us who read the fine print of bills and study politics know how to make better decisions. Anyways, I voted NO and the results came back and like I was with the less than 10%, and I fuckin quit the MoveOn.org that day and told them why. Fuckin MoveOn.org. used those results for party influence for the progressive left, which is Bull Shit. Just another wannabee for feel good progressive democrats who don’t have the time to check it out. MoveOn.org used many people and their false representation screwed us.
I totally agree with rbrisbane about Democratic Underground. That site is full of brainwashed war monger apologists.
The war’s enablers on the left, including all of the spineless Dems who voted to extend the funding, are in some ways worse than the neocons. At least they remain true to their convictions.
i agree with most of rbrisbane too, i let Truman off the hook he only had bad options, I’ve talked to a lot of ww2 vets who where in the pacific campaign and they would drop it again in those circumstances.
Remember all these blogs have neo-con ringers (PDfee?)
Sorry to see you leave Cindy, but wish you the best Thanks
for the effort, all these politicians have it made 100% when they leave office, health care etc. even if they don’t do anyhting. Why should they care, about you or us.
Specifically, good comments from rbrisbane but the question “And what kind of sympathy does a contract killer deserve?” should not be posed until there is an answer to “Why, in fact, did he join?” - - - More generally, people (at least ‘the majority’) get the government they deserve. Unfortunately, the intelligent and vocal minority gets the same. If nothing much changes after the next president is elected, perhaps even more US citizens will start to consider seriously the second part of that patriotic line - ‘America, love it or leave it.’
Perhaps, at long last, the white hot rage in Ms. Sheehan’s awful grief is spent. Now it may be time for her to pass through the other aspects of her terrible, shocking loss.
Go in peace, Ms. Sheehan. Sit in quiet and listen for your heart’s unerring call. Travel the road you find. Godspeed…thank you.
If Dennis Kucinich and Cindy Sheehan would run together in the upcoming prez elections, and if the votes were counted honestly, we could have a winning ticket.
BTW, anyone who is calling Hugo Chavez a “dictator” is grossly mistaken and is propably a victim of the hugest propaganda system of all time.
Thank you Cindy. You inspired me back in 2005 to get back into the fray. I hope that you are able to finally go through all the stages of grief…at your own pace. Having also suffered the loss of a child I know that you will never “get over it” as many will tell you to do. Just live your life and know that one day you will again find the will to live and help this world to become a better place than it is today. One world, one people living together in Peace!
I had the privilege to see Cindy Sheehan speak in person at UC Davis last year. From what I saw, she represented a true grass roots movement which history has shown is necessary to bring about any serious change in this country. The Democrats have shown they’ll back down from change, the Republicans sure in hell aren’t going get us out of the mess in Iraq. The only source for hope in America is in the everyday citizen such as Cindy Sheehan, who is fed up with the lies, the corruption and the killing done by this administration.
Thank you Cindy
Cindy, thank you.
Move-on, I moved on years ago when they tried to silence Nader and Kucinich.
What will it take to end the war? Just another 55,000 dead US Soldiers.
so it goes
AG
Like most Canadians, I used to think there was a real difference between the American nation, of which we are fond, and the American state, of which we are fearful. I’m not so sure that the distinction is all that clear to me anymore. I think I know how Sheehan must feel — a bad way for me to feel, what with Anschluss on the horizon.
Dear American cousins from ‘across The Pond’,
[-this comment applies to a couple of different threads, so I hope I’m forgiven for posting it twice?]
___________________
I see many of you in anguish, anger, torment and deep frustration when you appraise your current leadership; and I feel a strong empathy with you, because we here in the UK suffer a similar situation.
Our UK (mis)-leaders are equally obsessed with helping to casually slaughter thousands of innocents abroad, - and to telling abhorrent lies, even as they live off the fat of the land, - all at our expense.
As with America, the UK leaders (such as the now quite insane megalomaniac Tony Blair) are blatantly ignoring the groundswell of public opinion which has zero interest in murdering innocent people in Iraq (-and elsewhere).
These are crimes against humanity based on shameless lies, just so that our purported leaders can continue to line their own pockets with the proceeds of their numerous follies and umpteen felonies.
UK leaders, -just as yours- are in league with all manner of malevolent devils, such as BAE Systems and other corrupt and evil weapons conglomerates.
Folks, I read your angry and plaintive comments here at Common Dreams: I see that many of you despair, and say that “…there is no hope for America…” etc.
But please forgive me if I disagree with that poignant conclusion?
I honestly believe that there *is* hope for America.
** You!!** … the millions of intelligent and progressive citizens of the USA are it’s Light, - and it’s hope!!
*You* are the flame held aloft in Liberty’s hand in New York!
And, I acknowledge and understand that at present many of you feel powerless and unheard.
And, I don’t underestimate the contemptible influence of your mass media to warp all truths, and to continue it’s hideously incestuous relationship with the rotting vegetables on Capitol Hill (et al).
But hey, … we are acknowledged to now being in the Aquarian Age, and I’m reminded of the British-born American, Thomas Paine, (-a fellow Aquarian) who wrote his ‘Common Sense’ pamphlet back in 1776:
In that stirring and visionary epistle he sought to inspire those who were flagging, - with these lines:
“…These are the times that try men’s souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
Thom Paine went on to call Napoleon, “…the completest charlatan that ever existed…”
But we all now know that in regard to sharks and murderous crooks, the (mis)-governments of Bush and Blair have far surpassed any peccadilloes committed by Bonaparte in Thomas Paine’s era.
**We, -the intelligent, perspicacious progressives of the world are, in truth, the light and hope for this world!!** -let us not be the ” summer soldier” or “sunshine patriot”? (-or the stoned out, drunk, depressed ones either?) - but instead commit our wonderful potency to winning out over the reprobates currently infesting the corridors of power?
*If we fully commit to winning, then they will not.*
Because it is we who have, in fact, the power and force of ‘right’ on our side.
Do any of us imagine that ‘the angels’ or ‘gods’ – the unseen powers of ‘Righteousness’, are for one millisecond backing or supporting those rotten and toxic toads at present in power?
~ Not a chance!
If we give up, -or give in, we are letting both ourselves, and our countries down.
We are also letting the world, - and all it’s downtrodden, impoverished and suffering people down.
__________________
Personally speaking, I have been ‘fighting the good fight’ since I was about 16 years old, (I’m over 50 now) and nothing any rotten-to-the-core government does, is going to stop me.
I have committed to carry on fighting till my very last breath, - and where I leave off, my children will follow in my footsteps…
_________________
I know it’s hard guys, -really damned hard!! -but whoever said ‘the revolution’ was gonna be a walk in the park?
It takes effort, and sacrifice, and it may even involve turning off our TV’s asinine twaddle occasionally, -or deciding to creatively act or protest in some way or another, -in place of going out shopping, or sporting, -or drinking!
[Oh no! ~ Heaven forefend!]
But hey, … every single ounce of energy put in, to following Thom Paine’s (or Cindy’s) great example is really worthwhile, is very important and very useful.
Even if we don’t see immediate results, it still always has a beneficial effect.
Patience is a real virtue when revamping the world!
And we will, ~ ABSOLUTELY~ and assuredly, eventually see the end of rule by greedy, murderous villains, and then the start of a whole new era of more enlightened governance.
So let’s not give in, but ‘give out’ a little more?
~~ And never, ever, give up…
_____________________
If you have been, -thanks for reading!
Yan, UK
Sheehan’s critique of the Democrats should be a wake-up call to progressives. The Democrats have been on the side of Bush and Israel from the beginning. They approved, if only by their silence, the power of the “unitary” executive; never challenged his signing statements; voted for anti-labor free trade agreements; voted for Bush’s right-wing Supreme Court appointments; gave Bush the power to invade Iraq despite “knowing then what we all know now”; refuse to put an end to this racist, illegal war; approved Israel’s summer invasion of Lebanon; never speak out against Israel’s illegal and immoral Occupation; ignore Israel’s ethnic-cleansing attacks on Palestinian civilians; continue selling military weapons, including cluster bombs, to Israel; make no attempt to stop Bush’s nuclear weapons buildup; and have fully funded the Iraq war under the cover of supporting the troops (who still lack proper protective armor, which this latest round of war funding still won’t buy). Now, does this sound like a progressive party? The Democrats are now attempting to let the Republicans take all the heat for the mess this country is in, but only a true fool would let them fool us again. Time for a third, or fourth party.
I have seen something terrible take over our country in the last 7 years. Maybe it was there before this time and I just didn’t see it. But, it seems to me our sense of morality left the day when the planes hit the World Trade Center! We as American’s no longer have a sense of what is right and wrong! We have chosen to take our anger for 9/11 out on a country that had nothing to do with that tragic event. We have chosen to overlook things in this administration that would have brought on impeachment and jail time in any other administration. Even religion has taken a serious nose dive in the moral’s department in the last 7 years. When ‘Knights of Columbus’ chanting ‘4 more years’ for a pathological liar, cheat and theft you know something is seriously wrong!!! I know they preach that abortion is morally wrong while ignoring a corrupt President! What kind of a message does that send to their young children at home. They seem to have the misguided notion that moral’s begins and ends with sex! They deal to much on this issue and ignore all the other immoral lapses! Such as starting a totally unnecessary war that a lot of people are getting killed in. As a mother I admire Cindy Sheehan in her efforts to stop a war. If it had been my son I would have made Bush regret the day he were born! But, at the same time, I can understand why she is quitting! Sometimes finances dictate that one takes a different coarse. I can see where she has a right to be fed up with American’s apathy to this war. There isn’t much anyone can do until American’s say ‘enough’! Until American’s get off the couch and do something about the fascist regime that has taken over Washington. In short, we are going to have to help ourselves out of this mess. No one can do it for us!
Un-common-dreams: Inspired message friend from “across the pond.” And since you raised the “Aquarian Age” distinction, as a professional astrologer, allow me to clarify. Years ago I tried to get an article published by Harper’s, when Lewis Lapham said of astrology, “It’s a voice cast in an idiom few understand.” We live in a society that blatantly accepts sexual indecencies and bloodshed but finds “looking up” to expand meaning, to recognize the age-old equation, “As above, so below,” as he great taboo.
Briefly, for any interested (or open-minded), there is a grand paradox currently at work in the heavens above. Aquarius, as a sign-entity (one of the sacred 12) is “ruled” by the maverick planet Uranus. How many readers know that the ancients were only aware of 7 planets, and that since the onset of the 19th century (and the industrial revolution) three “new” planets have been discovered. A vast synchronicity has been involved as the discovery of Uranus coincided with Edison recognizing that invisible force that had always been with us, i.e. electricity. Uranus has been linked with all forms of radical invention, innovation, new amalgams, serendipitous discoveries and revolutions! Before its discovery, like Dr. Seuss’s comment, “most people stop at Z but not me,” the old planets/gods Jupiter (New Testament, premise of faith) and Saturn (Old Testament, premise of fear and in my view the chief signature of the modern day authoritarians) were KING. Uranus was mankind’s first movement beyond these old gods, and indeed its discovery coincided with many revolutions around the globe. Right now Uranus is passing through Pisces, the sign where fish faces fish. It is a sign associated with “self-undoing,” acts of sacrifice, even maryrdom, and mostly of deception (including self-deception). Thus the planet of Truth is passing through the zodiac region characterized by deception and duplicity. And… Neptune, which “rules” Pisces (the sign of sacrifice and deception), is currently moving across Aquarius (the sign of truth). This phenomenon, which is to say each planet in the other’s sign-kingdom, is called “mutual reception.” Ultimately it seriously muddies the water… Aquarius’ call for truth is the means to liberation, “And the truth shall set them free.” The powers invested in blocking (they can’t for long) humanity’s evolution into the more liberated Aquarian Age have so polluted the airwaves with dis-information that for a great many, the Truth that WOULD set them free cannot be discerned. For skeptics, Uranus’ orbit is 84 years and Neptune’s is about 165, thus the synchronicity of each traveling through the other’s domain, and in this case, those domains representing the very signs moving through a transition of Ages (this occurs every 2200 years) is NOT just caprice. It shows why this time period is so muddied by lies and why so many are acting against their own interest, it also suggests why the church has played a role in (there ARE exceptions, but the fundamentalists of all 3 patriarchal religions are the ones clammoring for war and destruction) this cycle of massive deception. The gridlock is broken in 2010 when Uranus enters Aries, the sign ruled by Mars. Whether we see many guerilla type wars, Blackwater doing its part to quiet US citizens or small fringe groups going ballistic, this will NOT be an easy cycle for the U.S. And Neptune leaves Pisces in 2012, the year the Mayans held very serious reservations about. This is a global phase or AGE transition, that too many term “end times.” Ironically, those who believe the end has come, or that it’s “god’s” will are doing their utmost to bring a war or environmental collapse about. And this is faith? Just thought I’d clarify… may the stars be with you… Sioux.
One correction: Neptune leaves Aquarius FOR Pisces in 2012.
PDFee –
– Regarding the poll you link to: I think the widespread dissatisfaction with Congress stems from the fact that they have failed to stand by the values they claimed to represent and that won them the support of the voters. Given their refusal to promote any real change in U.S. foreign policy, health care policy, environmental policy, etc. its hard to see the Democrats in Congress (with a few brave expressions) as left at all let alone far left. I think people are hungry for leaders who stand for something.
– Regarding Hugo Chavez: Chavez was democratically elected multiple times, and restored to power by a nonviolent mass movement when he was removed in a coup. How does that make him a dicatator? I do cringe watching the drama unfolding over RCTV — but at the same time, the situation is not that different from the situation in this country. In both Venezuela and the U.S. the airwaves are regulated and temporary licenses are leased by corporations and those corporations have to meet certain standards to maintain those licenses. And frankly if a television station in this country played a role in trying to overthrow the government I think the owners would have much bigger worries than losing their broadcast licenses — they would find themselves in federal prison at best.
I am really sad that Cindy gave up the fight but I don’t blame her and wish her the best of luck she deserves it.
I met Cindy briefly in Crawford and so admired her for her courage to stand up to the Bush mafia.
I to am disallusioned with the democrats and with the political system. I am going on 60 and have always voted and participated in every election but I am dropping out. I feel that all the politicians both democrat and republican are owned and operated by Corporate America. Whenever a politican speaks the truth he is ridiculed and derided by the corporate media until he eventually is forced out of the process. Ron Paul, Dennis Kuccinich and Howard Dean are prime examples.
This country is lost and my only bright point is that I am nearing the end of my life and will not be around for the final destruction. Unfortunately my kids and grand kids will suffer the consequences. Sad Really Sad.
Cindy Sheehan needs to be seen for what she is: an intent, but frail, canary. She has been drawn down into the mines within America where new meanings are forged onto old visages, where compacts are shredded and values burned in sulpherous flames.
The atmosphere there is covert and toxic, but it is rising up around us more rapidly each day. Too many of our citizenry are either too complacent with their worldly goods, too enamored with the trappings of power - having it or knowing someone that has it - , or too burned out from having too little too long despite the too many words about how swell everything is to notice the increasing density of noxious fumes engulfing us.
We need to look scrupulously at the waning of Ms. Sheehan’s commitment and activism. She is collapsing, heart and soul, from something that has us all in harm’s way.
Hopefully she is demonstrating the good sense of flying away, saving herself from both a covertly reconstructed America and the indifference that let her stand alone until, at least, she recognised that continued passivity in the face of utterly corrupt leadership and representation will in all likelihood poison to death all that once made us proud to be Americans.
If we are serious about what we are to mean to one another as fellow citizens with a common, decent social contract, we’d better stop watching the canaries wane and die and forcefully bring government out into the light and make it ethical, representative, and fully accountable to a standard, agreed upon, set of common values, values that reinvest being American with genuine, hard-earned pride.
Thank you, Ms. Sheehan. If you find it pejorative to be called an “American,” then be proud of what you have done as a caring human being who has amply shown that you value “each” life and are willing to confront those who lamely justify war.
Peter M. Stocks
Riverside, CA
I have an idea to show solidarity for Cindy Sheehan.
I suggest the following:
From June 4th until July 4th, WE act in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan, so we quit. No more criticism of the War, no criticism of Bush, no criticism of the Dems, no one utters a peep of dissent (we aren’t being listened to, as she said, anyway). During this time of Deafening Silence, we can each utilize our full academic arsenal using our right to free speech to prepare the speech of our lifetimes, to be presented to whoever will listen to us on the 4th of July.
It will be very quiet when the forums go silent and people know that everyone is using the time to prepare their speech of a lifetime for a live audience.
Imagine on the Fourth of July when people leave their houses with speech in hand and go out into public to Read their speech to those who will listen. If you can you should even memorize your speech to give even greater effect.
The breaking of the silence will break like a wave of refreshing water, soothing the dryness that will surely come about in our absence.
frustration and hopelessness breed nihilism…to recognize the nihilism to which one has fallen victim/proponent is to move beyond it…these are times for Sisyphean patience and resolve…if only the American public could do more with their anger than complain(myself included)…we need to impeach the figurehead of this blatantly fascist regime…seriously, approval ratings are meaningless unless some action is undertaken…a 28% approval rating just means that the people who voted for Bush are still “approving” of him because they will never change their opinion(consider that less than half of the population actually voted in the last election and a little more than half of them voted for Bush! that gives him about a 28% approval rating right there)…this entire dogma of right vs. left splits the populace asunder and renders the people impotent! question your ideology!
But above all, ask yourself this question: “Would the ‘newly’ empowered Democrats actually move forward with impeachment proceedings”?
this is the ONLY solution: IMPEACH BUSH!
Patriotis Veritas - Here’s Mine: Fellow Eternal Flamers, NO MORE MIRRORSPEAK.