Medea, I hope you get what you want.

Women have been the victims of male terrorism since the beginning of time. I hope and pray that Medea can continue to resist and fight against the longest war in history.
Hoa binh

I want that too.

I'm planning to have next year's Mother's Day brunch with Congresswoman Sheehan!

I'll bet if these initiatives were actually put into practice our own Earth Mother might devise her own way to re-ingest the methane gas and give mankind another shot at it all... never underestimate the power of miracles. The Course in Miracles relates that ANY time two persons formerly seized by hate/anger/grievance/resentment come together and put aside these feelings, a miracle can be generated. If this was done on a massive scale-- and where better than along the seismic division of belief structures that has turned the Middle East into a smoldering volcano of unhealed emotions and broken beliefs-- there's no telling how Nature might respond with her own Goddess knows it's needed healing!

Little Brother: I want to be there, too. Maybe we should start a pre-paid eelebration lunch date fund (to also help Cindy win) here at CD?

Medea wants to be celebrating 100 days of a new administration? She wants to be enjoying all these fantastic dreams coming true? Well, shoot! So do I! But I don't think we're going to have much to celebrate because we're going to be stuck with another neoliberal coporate imperialist hack no matter who wins (McCain, Obama, or less likely Clinton).

Medea, wonderful dreams, but impossible - unless a miracle occurs and someone other than McCain or Obama wins in November. And unless we have somehow gotten the Dems to apologize for their irreprehensible behavior the last two years, where they have BROKEN EVERY PROMISE they made back in 2006! Of course, a miracle could happen and Cynthia McKinney (or Nader or some other true progressive) is elected, and the DEMS apologize & do the right thing consistently for us. Even if Obama (unlikely) wins in November, I'll be saying one year from now: "I told you so". He's not our friend. He is our enemy. Wake up america!

What you'll be celebrating next Mother's Day is more of the same. Probably much more of the same if the probablility of an attack on Iran is anywhere near as high as I believe it to be.

In fact, I'm inclined to agree with Professor Gary Leupp's argument (Counterpunch) that it's not only probable, but inevitable given the evidence of recent history and the apparent non-impact of "exposures" to date:
Voting for "antiwar" Democrats two years ago didn't end the war. Even millions in the streets, peacefully demonstrating as the system encourages, didn't prevent the assault on Iraq over five years ago. Now there's no feasible political recourse to stop an attack on Iran. And little time to mobilize mass demonstrations against it. It will come as a thief in the night, presented to the American people as a fait accompli. As the Bush-Cheney cowboys ride off into the sunset, smirkin' and grinnin' and slapping each other's backs, the people will start to pay.

A character in Bertolt Brecht's The Beggar's Opera asks what's worse---robbing a bank, or owning a bank? The system itself, that is to say, is the criminal product of wrongly acquired wealth, much of it obtained through imperialist war. Exposure alone, no matter how voluminous, eloquent and persuasive, will not change it.

If we really want to send a message to the status quo - one that will shake the system to its foundations - we can work and defeat Nancy Pelosi, the powerful speaker of the House of Representatives. A message from the people of San Francisco to the world, the democrats, the republicans - that we've had enough. Nancy, you let GW Bush get away with all his crazy schemes-now you must pay with the loss of your position. ELECT CINDY SHEEHAN!!!!!!!

Rev. Jeremiah Wright said, in effect, that God commands us to reconcile with our brethern around the planet. He said that God condemns (i.e. "damns") the killing of innocents. These radical thoughts caused the wingnuts to explode with rage.

What else do you need to know about the USA in 2008?

Elements in the second and third paragraphs, respectfully requires further comment.:

'... I want us to be welcoming our soldiers home from Iraq... - Why didn't you include the illegal US war in Afghanistan?

'... we should provide decent educational benefits to our vets...' - And everybody else, otherwise is it "blood-money" and gives a rational for military service that should not exist! I was instrumental in passing the Pell Grant into law, exactly for that purpose! Full funding of the Pell Grant, amending it to include post graduate students, and as a "peace dividend" end to the usury of student loans for everybody; if the principal has been paid, the interest must be forgiven, banking is rambling and they have been bankrupting students way to long.

'...bureaucratic sinkholes that keep veterans from getting the care they need....' - Agreed, but part of a national medical care system to include their families members, especially those children born deformed from the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons. To include the first Gulf War, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and civilians who where exposed such as journalist.

'... the disaster we have wreaked upon the Iraqi people...' - US imperial war crimes did not start in March 2003, and how many mothers have been murdered in US wars of aggression since WWII, just a narrow it down? Millions most certainly. Certainly what was done overtly and covertly in Central American was horrid enough to remember their suffering. It is not a matter of body counts, although they should never be minimized; it is a matter of a grotesquely criminal US foreign policy and not a matter of which party or individual holds office.

'... ensure a viable homeland for our Palestinian sisters and brothers...' - Then call for Israel to withdraw completely to the pre-1967 borders as stipulated in United Nations Resolution 242 and 338. And what of Lebanon? Was it not a US-Israeli conspiracy to attack as recently as 2006?

'... I want us to rebuild a relationship of trust and respect with our Arab neighbors so that we can mutually address the threat of terrorism...' - Are you telling us you accept the official cover-story of 9/11 ? Even Bush admitted Iraq was totally innocent, and what links should I provide to enlighten your judgment, but if you after all this time, have not grasped the truth of that, then you have a closed mind and just a bleeding heart, or are doing a limited hangout. Giving aid and comfort to the true perpetrators that cleanly including the current and former administrations. 9/11 was a master conspiracy, long in the making. It was Operation Northwoods with a makeover, look to George Bush Sr, the neocons, and their Israeli cousins, most strikingly Bebe Netanyahu.

Medea Benjamin,

may your dreams manifest - thank you for your efforts and wisdom.......

cd editors ... thank you for including Medea Benjamin's voice.........

...peace...

Sorry for branching off. Every time I tell someone that I believe that 9/11 was a Government job, I am told that the US government is too stupid to do something like that. I do not know what to believe. I read and read and whenever I come to a conclusion, someone brings it down.

Nice and hopeful wish. But I must agree with notgoingalong that we need to get the word terrorism out of our vocabulary completely. Next mother's day, let's stop calling each other names.

That's a perfect way to end this blog. Thank you for your thoughtful words, voxclamantis.

Notgoingalong: While I respect your opinion and agree with most of your comments, I must reply that Madea Benjamin has done more than most citizens in trying to put an end to the "wars of choice" by this tyrannical administration and the Congress.

Very few people are actively engaged as Ms Benjamin is, and if 15% of women and 15% of men did so, most of the items you describe would probably be resolved by now.

How many folks do you know that took off from work this past May 1st in support of the west coast longshoreman (and women) who are against our occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and at least shut down the ports for eight hours. Why hasn't the momentum continued? Action speaks louder than words. We need a lot more "May Days" all around the country for all sorts of things which have deteriorated or have been eliminated in order to change the agenda from reactionary laws to progressive ones in creating an egalitarian society based on peace and real brotherhood and co-operation on this planet. It starts with me, then you, then Madea, then Lottie, Dottie, and Everybody!

Peaceman,

I am not disparaging her gallantry as a high profile activist and being adamantly against the criminal policies of the current regime's war crimes in Iraq.

My point was she seemed bracketed in stating the case. I understand pragmatic tact, but that does not justify leaving Afghanistan as justified by omission. Or her reference of Arab terrorism. She did not refer to Israeli terrorism, or US terrorism.

As for the token 8 hour pause by the Longshoremen, it hardly makes it a May Day! It was just an inconvenience for the reestablishment, but a good conscious raising incident.

The last truly relevant action was 'The Battle of Seattle' in 1999. The AFL-CIO hid in an auditorium listening to each others speeches while the youth of this nation faced down police brutality. One that the police chief later lamented with shame for his departments brutal action. But, the activist won, the stopped the IMF-World Bank meeting.

I wish I had been there actually. I was at May Day in 1971 in Washington, D.C., when we blocked the bridges and key intersections, in an effort to close down the federal government. I was arrested and jailed with 16,000 others, in the largest mass arrest in American history.

Coming out of jail, I concluded we should having been the arresting officers, putting officials under 'Citizen's Arrest' and was able to take my fight to capitol hill and instigated the filibuster as my brain-child, that then Senator Mike Gravel took-up, although he got the word from from one of his aides, I had a pack of fellow May Day activist spread out hitting all of the offices. What is shocking was the House of Representatives had passed it 199-198 while be were being arrested, and with tens of thousands of us there, it was never mentioned by anyone on the microphone. I later challenged them for an explanation, and was told that they were a 501 C3 and could not get tax-exempt donations if they took a position of legislation. I was justified in being furious, saw it as a sell-out, and based only on a movie I had seen as a child, Frank Capra's classic film, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington was able to do more than all of us getting busted and people a few hours late to work. A snow storm did that better in several winters I spent there lobbying effective against the US fascist military aggression.

So I do not feel a need for deference in being critical of activist actions. I am an advocate for radical changes in self-government. I have made no secret of my total rejection of so-called, "representative government" as only less than a totalitarian plutocracy in America. And why I proselytize for Pure Democracy, not a hybrid as we have on the state level in 26 states. I am for abolishing the republic period, as a fascist farce and public enemy.

NOT GOING ALONG: Passionate posting, reminds me of Patrick Henry. Hey, I believe in reincarnation... you may well have been among those who cast off the cloak of the British and now recognize the same "cosmic" clarion call. We sure need rousing, except facing tasers and the heavily armed surveillance state seems a little more ominous than dealing with muskets (isn't that what they called those old rifles?)...

I just recalled a relevant line from one of my favorite films, "My Dinner with Andre." Andre, who has more or less traveled the world in pursuit of genuine revelations about the meaning and purpose of life spends an evening with a friend who lives in NYC and is happy just to wake up to his automatic coffee maker. Andre suggests that New York City has become the new model prison camp. He relates that he always hears people say "they want to get out." Instead they remain. He further adds that in NYC the prisoners have effectively become their own guards.

Perhaps the analogy can now be extended for the whole of the US. Lockdown America, where the inmates maintain their own prison. How many recognize it as such? After all, at every juncture, from TV commercials to singing the National anthem at sporting events, we hear the magic word that we are a FREE country! And there's FREE trade! And you're FREE to vote. Orwell meets Pavlov meets Ionesco.

Siouxrose May 13th, 2008 10:56 am -- "facing tasers and the heavily armed surveillance state seems a little more ominous than dealing with muskets"

Anybody who has experienced or even seen the horrendous results of being hit with one of those big old musket balls might feel differently about that.

One can possibly question some of the motivational rhetoric of that day and its relationship to real tyranny versus the ambitions of the colonial elite. (Yes, they existed even then.) But their courage in facing what was the global imperial power of the time cannot be doubted.

Notgoingalong,

I have to eat humble pie on your last post. You have my respect for all you've done since 1971. Yes indeed, you guys and gals should have been making Citizen's Arrests of the crooked politicians.

I was recovering from an injury otherwise I would have been up in Seattle in 99. I watched most of it on Free Speech TV, and sad to say, you are right about the AFL-CIO people in the auditorium. Same thing happened in Miami a few years later when the cops beat the hell out of orderly demonstrators during the anti-Cafta march.

For whatever it's worth, and I've been a trade-unionist most of my life, I advocated the 'GENERALE STRYKE' when anti-worker Reagan fired the Patco air traffic controllers. I spent a lot of time and energy on it and wound up with a nickname by my co-workers, who called me "the commie." I still argue with union officials about not supporting Kucinich since 04, and our war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of my heros, the great George Seldes, who 99% of Americans never heard of, wrote a book which was published in 1968, titled, 'NEVER TIRE OF PROTESTING' and it has been my motto ever since.

I can't begin to tell you my disgust and frustration since the 2000 election, and yes, you and I have plenty of company. The "Daily Lament" on Common Dreams.

I share your views on so-called representative government, which it isn't, I'm an Emma Goldman type of anarchist which might just be the purest form of participatory democracy. The 8 hour shutdown was a brief moment in time, but I was hoping it was the catalyst for further action by our lethargic population. We are only two people, Notgoingalong. We have to encourage the 300,000,000 somnambulists to join us, otherwise it's over, and Orwell and Spengler before him were right.

Great film! One of Capra's finest.

SIOUXROSE: You've been on a roll this past week. Keep em' comin' baby!

Peaceman,

I eat the whole pie, a long time ago. It is about clarity, and I love your comradeship, in fact all of you. Including those who had to decide to allow me to participate and replaced a removed post I had.

Sioux, you are a sage and a saint. And I am duly impressed with your eloquence.

The best quote that I can add is,

Be patient with me, God is not done with yet.

Please be patient with me,
God is not through with me yet.

When God gets through with me,
I shall come forth like pure gold.

If you should see me and I am not walking right,
and if you should hear me and I am not talking right;
please remember what God has done for me,
when He gets through with me,
I'll be what He wants me to be.

by James Cleveland

PRESEHCE: As per being on a roll, thanks for noticing. And the persons you identified in the forum appear to be among those who bring spiritual understanding to the left/progressive community. The right seems to want a monopoly on "religion," and the left requires its own spiritual understanding as counterbalance. Logic can never explain what mystics have witnessed operating, such intangible powers as "when 2 or more are gathered in My name, ask and so it shall be delivered." People mistake "the name" for an individual however exalted, rather than for the Force that is contained in all that is, including each one of us.

Mars just entered Leo and I feel its leadership power. Having been stuck in Cancer (a water sign antithetical to the fiery planet associated with war, but also necessary for HEALTHY egos and the evolving experiment that entering into a human body to experience INDIVIDUALITY affords) since last Autumn, so it's cathartic to finally have its infusion arrive in my sign. You should see me biking with my grandson in tow... one cool go go grandma here!

Notgoingalong, Presence, Siouxrose: The feeling is mutual. Praising each other is fine, and "The Daily Lament" on Common Dreams and other progressive websites are also fine, but overall, we are losing and the the fascist/imperialists are winning. They do not "lament", they act, according to plan.This is why I've been saying, since CD started a comments section, the 'Seven Magic Word' formula over and over again.

"Take To The Streets, Withhold Your Labor!"

Presence: I took a short hiatus from CD, but haven't heard from Starofthesea for some time.

Peace and Harmony to All of You!

Okay. I can understand her reasons.
Thanks!

Dear Media Benjamin, Common Dreams, all posters and readers.

It was just brought to my attention by a friend I had sent much of the exchanges we had today on this message board inspire her to return to posting here.

She had been urging me to proof read my post, and foolishly, I ignored her sound and loving advice.

Well, now it has caught up with me, in a most disheartening way. For I made in all innocence, a terrible typing error, that does not get much worse. The spell check did not detect it for while is was wrong in every other way, it is there nevertheless, and this is my sincerest apology, for that mistake.

Rather than repeat, I will leave the time reference and put in bold, the proper spelling, or mistyped word.

curt

I put in brackets [CORRECTED ABOVE]

It is posted at:

notgoingalong May 13th, 2008 12:54 am
Your comment is awaiting moderation.

'I was hoping to hear from Medea Benjamin, to whom my post was addressed. And are disturbed by her [CORRECTED ABOVE] synopsis of the problem and solution. And stand adamantly about bring forth the victims of DU, including their unfortunate kids,...'

Bill