Activism

From ACORN:

As we write this to you, thousands of New Orleans residents at the Superdome are stranded and without water. According to many news reports, people are dying from dehydration while 82 buses sit outside the Superdome. There are confusing reports about why they are not evacuating people.

We know for certain that there are ACORN members and their families in the Superdome. They need water. We do not know why FEMA is not bringing water. We also heard there was water available at the Ritz Carlton Hotel nearby, but we can't enter the city or reach folks there.

Please call your Members of Congress and ask them to pressure the Administration and FEMA to save the people at the Superdome. You can call toll-free 1-800-643-9557 and ask to speak to your representative.

From Bob Fertik, Democrats.com

To: Frank Newport, Gallup Poll Editor-In-Chief
cc: Richard Morin, Washington Post Polling Editor

Dear Frank (and Richard),

Thank you for responding to letters from Democrats about your refusal to poll on the impeachment of George W. Bush, even though a Zogby Poll in June found 42% support impeachment if Bush lied about Iraq.

You offer the following justification (copied in full below):

... the general procedure Gallup uses to determine what to ask about in our surveys is to measure the issues and concerns that are being discussed in the public domain. We will certainly ask Americans about their views on impeaching George W. Bush if, and when, there is some discussion of that possibility by congressional leaders, and/or if commentators begin discussing it in the news media. That has not happened to date.

Of course, your justification is completely dishonest. Is Bush's impeachment being "discussed in the public domain"? Unquestionably! Simply Google "impeach Bush" and you'll get 723,000 links.

Yuppies and the Peace Movement
By David Swanson

PART 1

The single biggest reason that the peace movement is not larger and more aggressive is that people with one foot in it are focused on trying to be respectable in the eyes of the corporate media, for their own sake and – in their misguided view – for the sake of the movement.

As an example, take the meeting I went to in Washington, D.C., this evening. About 40 people, mostly in their thirties, mostly doing all right financially, about 37 of them white, gathered at a restaurant to vote on whether their little organization would endorse the September 24th march against the war.

Wed Aug 31st, 2005 at 18:27:01 PDT
Cliff's Notes Version:

$900 in donations have already been made to Gold Star Families for Peace and the Crawford Peace House. Cindy has received her own specially-made bracelet.

September donations will go to the Red Cross.

Later donations will be split between Gold Star Families for Peace and Operation Truth.

Men's/Unisex style now available. Weightier and less sparkly. Available in various sizes (including women's sizes).

Ah, Katrina.

It's hard to think of much of anything else right now. I've been very busy and very committed to these little bracelets and what they mean to people and what they mean to the organizations who get the donations. But I have been mentally consumed with the horror unfolding in our own country for the past several days.

Here's the text of an e-mail I received earlier tonight.

Hope to meet some of my fellow Houstonian DUers there Thursday night!

BTW, this is not too far from where our Harris County Dem Party HQ is located.

Cindy Sheehan
and the Bring Them Home Tour
in Houston
Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

at the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church
located at 2025 West 11th Street (at W. TC Jester)

Let's give Cindy and the military vets and families traveling with her a big, generous Houston WELCOME!
Attendance is free, but donations are appreciated to cover the venue rental and to continue the Bring Them Home Nationwide Tour.

Bring Them Home Now Tour
From Camp Casey, Crawford to Washington DC

From George Bush’s door step to Communities along the way, We Demand That:

Elected Representatives Decide Now to Bring the Troops Home
We Take Care of Them When They Get Here
We Never Again Send Our Loved Ones to War Based on Lies!

We are currently at a significant turning point in how the American public views the war in Iraq. As the death toll in Iraq rises, Cindy Sheehan’s vigil near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans. Bush’s approval rating is falling. The voice of military families, who have lost loved ones and those with loved ones in harm’s way or about to deploy, can activate the American people. The voice of veterans, both of this war and of previous wars will also build the movement to end the war. Together these critical voices can demand that President Bush make the decision now to bring the troops home.

More and more organizations keep joining this coalition.

Current Members.

Join here.

From Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com

http://www.democrats.com/node/5884

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll was published today, and despite record-low approval ratings for Bush (45%), there was no question on impeachment.

I sent the letter below to the authors of the survey - WP's Richard Morin and Dan Balz (morinr@washpost.com,balzd@washpost.com) and ABC's Gary Langer (newspolls@abc.com)

I will post their replies below.

I encourage everyone to write a polite letter of your own and to post any replies you receive.

Gentlemen,

I'm blogging on the reasons why no polling organizations have followed up on the June poll by Zogby which found "42% say they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq."

WWW http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

I have added a new logo to my AfterDowningStreet.org sections. As always, I will donate a portion of sales to AfterDowningStreet.org and Crawford House. Thanks so much for linking to me.

Victoria Love
http://www.CafePress.com/liberalprogdem

http://www.ChurchoftheFrontPorch.blogspot.com

NEW* BUSH in Crawford, TX: President Bush held a morning conference call
at his ranch with federal officials who are coordinating the recovery
effort. [AP, 8/31/05]

NEW* BUSH in Washington D.C.: President Bush will meet with a task force
established to coordinate the efforts of 14 federal agencies that will
be involved in responding to the disaster. [AP, 8/31/05]

NEW* SANTORUM in Honesdale, PA: U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum will visit
Wayne Memorial Hospital today to discuss health care issues. Mr.
Santorum will have lunch in the hospital's boardroom and then tour the
construction site of the new emergency department from noon to 1:15 p.m.

NOTICE: VETERANS at CAMP CASEY I, near Crawford, have issued an appeal for donations of generators and other goods to be taken to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The group plans to leave Camp II at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday to deliver donations and supplies left over at Camps I and II to those in need in areas impacted by the hurricane. Any persons having first-hand information on conditions in New Orleans and the area north of Covington, La. (Washington Parish) are urged to contact this newspaper. Some individuals at Camp Casey have relatives in that area and are anxious for news.
LINK TO ORIGINAL

By Sherry Bohlen, National Field Director, Progressive Democrats of America

It's only three short weeks until we converge on DC for the Anti-War Mobilization! This will be a history-in-the-making event that you won't want to miss!

On Saturday, September 24, hundreds of thousands of activists are expected to gather for a mass rally and March. PDA will announce within the next week or so the specific intersection and time at which PDA members will gather. Watch for details in upcoming alerts and on PDA's web site for the latest information!

On Sunday, September 25, PDA has a stellar "Grassroots Strategy Day" planned. Click here for details of the day. Sign up early for this not-to-be-missed strategic planning day! Click here to sign up now!

Dear UFPJ Member Group:

We're strongly encouraging you to participate in the following

call to action from the Leave My Child Alone Coalition, including:

opting out of military recruiter lists and hosting a back to school event.

Here's an already written email we hope you will send out to your

membership:

BACKGROUND
Buried deep within the No Child Left Behind Act is a provision that
requires public high schools to hand over students' private contact
information to military recruiters. If a school does not comply, it
risks losing vital federal education funds. As if that weren't bad

Bells Will Bear Witness to the Human Toll of War, Commemorate their Sacrifice, and Bring Forth a Moral Consensus on Next Steps in Iraq

Commencement Ceremony Thursday (9/1), 10:00AM;
All Souls Church, Washington, DC

Washington, DC: Religious leaders are calling for a coordinated tolling of bells to remember those who have lost their lives in Iraq. The National Council of Churches, Clergy, Laity Concerned About Iraq and Faithful America along with Democracy Rising are leading the call for churches and other religious institutions to take part in this healing. The groups were inspired, in part, by the actions of Gold Star Families for Peace seeking to understand why U.S. soldiers and Iraqis are dying.

Tuesday August 30, 2005

BUSH in Coronado, CA - 12:00 EDT: Bush makes remarks commemorating the
60th anniversary of V-J Day at a naval air station in San Diego at 12
noon EDT. He's also expected to ask Americans to show the same resolve
they did during World War II in supporting the war in Iraq. [MSNBC,
8/30/05]

GIULIANI in Sydney, Australia: Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani
will attend the annual three-day Forbes global CEO conference at the
Sydney Opera House. The conference attracts some of the world's top
business leaders. George Bush Sr. and Australian Prime Minister John

Sign the Petition of Redress. Either the Bush Kids Put Their Lives on the Line for George's "Noble War" or the Troops Come Home.

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

To forward this petition to all your friends, relatives and colleagues, Click Here.

Uncle Sam Wants You!

Sign this petition, demanding that the eligible children of the extended Bush family, including the twins, serve in George's "noble war for a noble cause" or Bush must bring the sons and daughters of America home now.

"I demand that George W. Bush's daughters, and his eligible nieces and nephews, serve in Iraq to prove their support of Bush's 'noble war for a noble cause.' If the Bush family does not believe in 'sacrificing' for the war and is not willing to put their lives on the line, then Bush must bring the troops of middle class and poor Americans home now."

The Strike for Peace plan is going well, but I want to encourage everyone to spread word that this is all about connecting our 300-plus Pentagon-funded schools across the nation for a sustained information outreach campaign. By striking, I hope to help transfer the energy created by Cindy Sheehan's camp (and that of the national rallies planned for September 24-26) onto our campuses and into our communities from the first day of school, September 26, through the end of the academic year. Others need not strike -- indeed, I advise against it -- but please support this info-out campaign as powerfully as you can.

George Bush may want to take a quick vacation somewhere, anywhere, from September 24-26, unless he wants to spend the weekend surrounded by what is shaping up to be the most important demonstration against the Iraq War since he launched the invasion.

The energy was almost palpable at tonight’s meeting of the United for Peace and Justice mobilization for September 24-26. More than two-thirds of the people present were there for the first time, ready to staff up a rich series of marches, concerts, rallies, festivals, and civil disobedience.

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and Gold Start Mother Tia Steele appeared as guest speakers to start off the evening, before getting down to business.

September 26, 2005

President George W. Bush, The White House
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Department of Defense, The Pentagon
President Nils Hasselmo, Association of American Universities
Governor Ted Kulongoski, State of Oregon
President Dave Frohnmayer, University of Oregon

Dear Public Servants,

As University of Oregon's first graduate student in the field of Peace Studies, it is my responsibility to explore the role of the military in society and those conditions that most promote peace and human welfare. In so doing, I have come to understand the nature of America's war industry, and how that industry has flourished in the wake of the Cold War. I have come to find that more than 300 of our universities are developing weapons for the Department of Defense, and that these schools are increasingly reliant on the industry of war to sustain their education programs. Indeed, the Association of American Universities appears to be little more than a lobby for such funding.

Actions to “Stop the Worship of the Gods of War!

GET OUT OF IRAQ NOW!

Download flyer (PDF)!

____________

On Thursday, September 15, in Washington, D.C., Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey will hold a hearing on exit strategies for Iraq.

A coalition of organizations demanding an end to the war will hold a rally at 5 p.m. that evening in front of the White House.

Please ask your Congress Member and Senators to take part in both events.
Email them here: http://tinyurl.com/7vjej

Or call the switchboard toll free: (888) 818-6641.

And please come to these events yourself if you can (but remember that we are building toward a mass mobilization on September 24; if you can only come to DC once, come then).

And What Did They Die For Once Again?

By Daniel Ruth

08/19/05 "Tampa Tribune" -- -- This may come as something of a shock to some of those yahoos down in Crawford, Texas, who are so upset with antiwar Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside the president's Godforsaken ranch, but if they were to look real close they'd discover she is committing first-degree, premeditated citizenship.

You see, we have this nagging, irritating, troublesome document called the U.S. Constitution. It's all the rage - or at least those dead bodies in Arlington National Cemetery thought so.

There, right at the top of the Constitution, there's this thing called the First Amendment.

Stop Drooling And Read

And if some of you goobers who have been shooting shotguns in the air to intimidate Sheehan and trampling white crosses in the ground honoring the dead troops who have sacrificed their lives for George W. Bush's war in Iraq could stop drooling for just a moment, here's what the First Amendment states:

``Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the FREEDOM OF SPEECH, or of the press; or the RIGHT OF PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES.''

Sheehan has a grievance - her son Casey died in Bush's war and thus she has petitioned the Clausewitz of Skull and Bones to explain why, especially since the administration's alibis for invading Iraq turned out to be more bogus than Burt Reynolds' hair, more than 1,800 American families had to lose a loved one.

If you haven't already, visit this new site:

A People's Petition for an Iraq Peace Process

We propose the following principles as essential to ending the war in Iraq:

First, as a confidence-building measure, the U.S. government must declare that it has no interest in permanent military bases or the control of Iraqi oil or other resources.

Second, as a further confidence-building measure, the U.S. government must set goals for ending the occupation and bringing all our troops home - in months, not years, beginning with an initial withdrawal of troops by the end of this year.

Bush in San Diego! 2 events: Mon. vigil & Tues. protest

As President George W. Bush visits San Diego, let’s ask him…

How Many More,
President Bush?
Support the Troops. Bring Them Home Alive.

Two Events! Attend Both!!

Monday, August 29th; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR PEACE

Coronado Island
Ocean Blvd on the beach, Hotel Del Coronado

Join Gold Star father Fernando Suarez del Solar, military families and veterans for a Candlelight Vigil outside of the Hotel Del Coronado. Bush will be staying at the hotel Monday evening, prior to his speech to a select audience of supporters at Naval Station North Island Tuesday Morning. Bring candles, banners and signs of peace. Anticipate traffic congestion. Carpool or use public transit!

Tuesday, August 30; 6:00 am to 8:30 am
GIVE GEORGE BUSH THE WELCOME HE DESERVES!

North Island Naval Air Station, Main Gate
4th St. and Alameda Boulevard, Coronado

Gather at the base entrance with your signs and enthusiasm to tell President Bush: Stop the Unjust War in Iraq!

If either event is prevented on Coronado Island, please gather in Horton Plaza, 4th St. and Broadway, Downtown San Diego.

Miriam R.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

[Breaking Update]Police just Arrest Driver that honked for peace!
by JR [Subscribe]
Sat Aug 27th, 2005 at 18:51:23 PDT

I'm standing on a street in St Pete as I type. Two cars were just stopped and at least one arrest ensued after the passing drivers honked their horns in support of our protest.

Call the St Pete police and ask when we lost the right to honk for peace! 727-893-7780

Email the mayor and demand he take action here

Here's some backstory:

Six protesters with the anti-war group St. Pete for Peace, including three under 18 years old, were arrested Aug. 6 outside a trendy downtown St. Petersburg development owned by Sembler Co., founded by a former Republican National Committee finance chairman and major contributor to President Bush.

The protesters were demonstrating against the Iraq War outside BayWalk, a complex of shops and restaurants owned by the development firm started by Bush-backer and former Ambassador to Italy Melvin Sembler. Protests by groups such as St. Pete for Peace and the Democratic Uhuru Movement are regular fixtures on the public sidewalk outside the development. Sembler Co. has reportedly attempted to- purchase the sidewalk in question from the city. Metal barricades were recently placed across the sidewalk by the St. Petersburg Police Department. Police spokesman Bill Proffitt has stated that the barricades are meant to aid pedestrian safety. "This is just our attempt to make sure that everyone who goes to BayWalk can go there safely," Proffitt said of the barricades.

Protesters claim the barricades are meant to force demonstrators either into traffic or onto Sembler property, making them subject to arrest for trespassing. At a press conference on August 9, ACLU spokesman Mark Kamleiter rejected police claims, saying, "Nobody is getting pushed into the streets." He later added, "these people have no access to the media. The only way that they can have an impact is to get out on the sidewalk and talk."

Four of my friends and I went to the support for Cindy Sheehan demonstration/anti-war protest in Charlotte, NC, today. There were about twenty people in all who stood on the busiest corner in Charlotte (Central Ave and Sharon Amity). We held signs and waved at drivers. I was SO shocked. I really expected a lot of people to be against our demonstration, but we got overwhelming support from the people who drove past us! We were there for two hours and out of that time, only five people chose to yell uncomplimentary things or flip us off. The vast majority were giving us the peace sign, waving and honking. My signs said "Support our Troops...Ask Tough Questions" and "1900 Dead. $118 Billion Spent...The Truth?? Priceless!!!". My friend's signs were a lot more to the point. She held "Support our Troops, Not our President" and "El Presidente Es Muy Loco." (we wrote that one after we noticed a high percentage of hispanic traffic). We had a blast doing the wave, hollering and waving at people. I had several people who were stopped at the light tell me that they supported what we were doing. One lady asked me about my sign and I told her that I thought that the best way to support our troops was to ask why we were sending them to fight and to make sure that their lives were only endangered to protect America. She said, "Amen!"

It was a really positive experience for all of us. We all plan to take our kids and husbands with us when we go back in two weeks. I also added lawn chairs, sunblock and a cooler with some cold drinks to my list of things to take next time. And more signs!!

LINK TO ORIGINAL

You called for an investigation of the Downing Street minutes, the first direct evidence that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy". Now House Representative Barbara Lee is standing up with already 50 co-sponsors, including at least one Republican, to demand that the administration deliver to Congress evidence of all communications with the British government that caused them to reach this conclusion in their own minds. Please ask your own house member to vote FOR this Resolution of Inquiry (H.R. 375) and join in sponsoring it if they have not signed on already.

t r u t h o u t | One Mother's Stand
Bring Them Home Now Tour
From Camp Casey, Crawford to Washington DC
By BringThemHomeTour.org

Saturday 26 August 2005
1:04 AM

As the death toll in Iraq rises, Cindy Sheehan’s vigil near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans. Bush’s approval rating is falling. The voice of military families, who have lost loved ones and those with loved ones in harm’s way or about to deploy, can activate the American people. The voice of veterans, both of this war and of previous wars will also build the movement to end the war. Together these critical voices can demand that President Bush make the decision now to bring the troops home.