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Stefan Wray | 09.08.2005 20:52 | Anti-militarism | World

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Cindy Sheehan News..... Help Wanted...
by Stefan Wray Tuesday, Aug 9 2005, 2:34pm
stefwray (nospam) io.com
national / war and peace / action alert

Here is an update from VFP member Dick Underhill regarding Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, including a list of needs.

Cindy Sheehan is still outside Bush Ranch in Crawford waiting for Bush to come out
and face up to her..and thereby face up to the truth about what he has done to this
nation and the world.

The Crawford Peace House, Code Pink, MFSO, VVAW, VFP and a host of other
organizations are working together to support Cindy...Many thanks to Cindy and the
Volunteers.

It rained real hard this morning things are wet...but they are holding out and
standing up magnificently. We have some needs. More info follows listing:

1: A camcorder to record any confrontations with authorities or hecklers.
2: 30 people to help set up 1000 crosses and someone to take charge of this effort
3: People to manage the Crawford Peace House...answer phones, keep in clean, make
sandwiches etc.
4: Someone to help organize a commemorative/interfaith service for Sunday
5: A BIG TENT say 8-10 feet wide and 15 feet long, other tents?
6: People on site
7: Jail Watch

We are told that Condi Rice and Rumsfield are coming to Crawford on Wed or Thur for
a party of $100,000 fund raisers at a ranch near the Bush ranch and along the street
where the encampment is set up. They may declair the encampment a threat to
National Security and demand we clear out. I'm not 100% sure what Cindy will
do..she has declaired that she will stay until the President talks with her, she is
arrested (which she is prepared to accept), or until the end of August.

Now a review of our needs by the numbers..

1: We really need one or more camcorders to record any confrontations with hecklers
or authorities. Make sure batteries are charged. I am going to and from Crawford
daily and will take care of transortation if necessary..better yet..take it to
Crawford yourself.

2: The folks from Arlington West are bringing our 1000 crosses to set up a memorial
for the US dead in Iraq. We need 30 people to help set them up on
Wednesday...probably starting between 9 and 10 AM. We also need a volunteer
coordinator for this task. Someone with email and a cell phone who can keep a
volunteer contact list and coordinate...

3: We need a volunteer Coordanator and volunteers to be in and manage the Peace
House. Keep it neat, make coffee and sandwiches and....answer phones, and...

4: We need volunteers to organize and folks to attend a commemorative or interfaith
service for Sunday..

5: Any one who can loan us a big tent say 8-10ft wide and 15ft long..please let me
know. We might also need some smaller tents. There is room for storage at the
Peace House. Be sure to tag any 'loaned tents' with your name and contact
information.

6: We need people in Crawford. Folks are coming in from around the Nation and the
World. The next 2-3 days are critical...start your engines and point your nose
toward Crawford ASAP.

7: In case Cindy or others are arrested we will need to discuss a 'jail watch/vigil'
If you can volunteer for this, let me know.

Cindy has given us a once in a lifetime opportunity to get the pendulum moving
toward a peaceful tomorrow...press all over the nation and the world are paying
attention. Take Vacation, Play Hookie, Run away from home...what ever it takes...get
in your cars and get to Crawford.

On behalf of Cindy Sheehan and all the voluteers,

Dick Underhill 512-799-9379

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Mother Of Dead US Soldier Protests Bush: Says Emperor has No Clothes: Is Threatened With Patriot Actby eeekkkkk Monday, Aug 8 2005, 7:45pminternational / anti-war / news report'America's Mom' A woman called Cindy Sheehan whose son was killed in Iraq is galvanising anti-war opinion in the USA to an arguably greater extent than any previous anti-war protests. She is camped at the side of the road with a small (growing) number of accomplices at Bush's ranch in Crawford (Waco) Texas for the last couple of days and is demanding Bush meet her and explain a few things to her.cindywatch.jpgShe has now been threatened with arrest on Thursday as a threat to National Security. Some speculate that this could if it happens mean that she may be denied access to a lawyer.After a slow start the generally liberal and timid 'democratic blogosphere' is starting to realise that this woman is setting an extremely popular and populist anti-war troops out of iraq agenda and is getting eormous response from the American public.This is her diary from the dailykos website: http://www.dailykos.com/user/CindySheehanIt documents the progress of the last few days from her decision to head to Bush's ranch to her present tenuous situation at 'Camp Casey' (named for her dead son).This link was where news first emerged that she was to be arrested as a threat to POTUS and the nation on Thursday. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/8/124941/6758She gave up on the politcians the day before heading to Crawford and wrote this open letter:"Dear Elected Officials,When are you all going to take back your constitutional authority from the maniac in the White House?If you all won't protect us, who willl?We are seriously screwed and you all sit back and let the administrative branch take away our freedoms and foist criminals on us: people with no humanity or regard for our American Constitution or humanity. People like Alberto Gonzales and John Negroponte and most recently, John Bolton...torturers and murderers, to name a few. You in fact are complicit in stealing our freedoms by extending the un-Constitutional and un-Patriotic Patriot Act. Have you all lost your minds? Please protect us. President John F. Kennedy said (1962): Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. I travel the country and I see a revolution coming...it won't be violent, it will be a peaceful revolution. We don't want to lower ourselves to the level of our government. People are sick and tired of what's going on in America today. We are wondering where we really live.We have no checks and balances in this government. We don't even have a media to tell us the truth. Please tell me what recourse do We the People have? May we impeach George and Dick and all of the lying cabinet? You all don't follow the Constitution, why should we?Take back your Constitutional power. Come back rested from your vacations and ready to do your jobs. Earn the obscene amount of money you make. Remember who you work for:your constituents, not the lobbyists, or George Bush.Cindy SheehanNow she is setting the national agenda in the US with no mobile phone, no computer, little in terms of infrastructural backup. Will she drag the democrats out of their Vichy-like stupor?Constant Updates at The Lone Star Iconoclast http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/2005/31-40/32news09.htmcindyp1010093.jpgcindysomebody.jpgcindyvietnamp1010100.jpgcindydiefor.jpgadd your commentsCOMMENTSshow latest comments first show comment titles onlyjump to comment 1 2 3 4 5 6The Bush Tribunal on Dissentby The Bush Tribunal Monday, Aug 8 2005, 9:00pmBush: "Sorry to Oil The Death Squads but Oil comes first."add your commentsAbout-Turnby Reality Check Tuesday, Aug 9 2005, 11:35amI don't suppose the fact that she originally praised George W Bush takes away from her credibility.This is courtesy of the Drudge Report:-PROTESTING SOLDIER MOM CHANGED STORY ON BUSHMon Aug 08 2005 10:11:07 ETThe mother of a fallen U.S. soldier who is holding a roadside peace vigil near President Bush's ranch -- has dramatically changed her account about what happened when she met the commander-in-chief last summer!Cindy Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, Calif., who last year praised Bush for bringing her family the "gift of happiness," took to the nation's TV outlets this weekend to declare how Bush "killed an indispensable part of our family and humanity."CINDY 2004THE REPORTER of Vacaville, CA published an account of Cindy Sheehan's visit with the president at Fort Lewis near Seattle on June 24, 2004:"'I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,' Cindy said after their meeting. 'I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith.'"The meeting didn't last long, but in their time with Bush, Cindy spoke about Casey and asked the president to make her son's sacrifice count for something. They also spoke of their faith."The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected."For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again."'That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy said."CINDY 2005Sheehan's current comments are a striking departure.She vowed on Sunday to continue her protest until she can personally ask Bush: "Why did you kill my son?"In an interview on CNN, she claimed Bush "acted like it was party" when she met him last year."It was -- you know, there was a lot of things said. We wanted to use the time for him to know that he killed an indispensable part of our family and humanity. And we wanted him to look at the pictures of Casey."He wouldn't look at the pictures of Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name. He came in the room and the very first thing he said is, 'So who are we honoring here?' He didn't even know Casey's name. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear anything about Casey. He wouldn't even call him 'him' or 'he.' He called him 'your loved one.'Every time we tried to talk about Casey and how much we missed him, he would change the subject. And he acted like it was a party.BLITZER: Like a party? I mean...SHEEHAN: Yes, he came in very jovial, and like we should be happy that he, our son, died for his misguided policies. He didn't even pretend like somebody...ENDOn her current media tour, Sheehan has not been asked to explain her twist on Bush; from praise to damnation!add your commentsResponse to Reality Checkby Checked Tuesday, Aug 9 2005, 11:54amMaybe some Black Ops could squeeze some comfort out of the change. But you have a son killed and see the emotional whirlwind unleashed.Did you see the TV interview with the Vietnam Vet NY fireman so grieved by his child's loss at the twin towers that he had the U.S. military put his name on a bomb to be dropped on Baghdad?As the interview goes on he reveals how he was ripe for state spin in the time of grief. He now acknowledges his government lied to him, that there was no link between Saddam and twin towers attack and the war is wrong.This courageous act by this woman is both one of grieving the loss of her child and confronting the state.add your commentsAbove is a drudge smear where she was quoted out of contextby nyt editorial Tuesday, Aug 9 2005, 12:37pmMr. Bush obviously failed to comfort Ms. Sheehan when he met with her and her family. More important, he has not helped the nation give fallen soldiers like Casey Sheehan the honor they deserve. The administration seems reluctant to have the president take part in events that would direct widespread attention to soldiers' funerals or to the thousands who have returned with serious injuries.Perhaps most troubling, Mr. Bush is not leveling about where things stand with the war. He continues to stay on message, as he did with the platitude he offered last week: "We will stay the course; we will complete the job in Iraq." The public knows that things in Iraq are not going well on any number of levels, and deserves a fuller, more honest discussion led by the commander in chief.Just 38 percent of the respondents in a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll, a new low, approved of Mr. Bush's handling of Iraq. That does not mean the remaining 62 percent agree with Ms. Sheehan that the troops should come home immediately. But it does mean that many Americans are with her, at least figuratively, at that dusty roadside in Crawford, expecting better answers. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/opinion/09tue1.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fEditorialsadd your commentsProofby Reality Check Tuesday, Aug 9 2005, 2:39pmRe the following statement:- "Above is a drudge smear where she was quoted out of context"Show some proof of this. Has she initiated legal proceedings against her local newspaper? Why would a very small publication such as the Vacaville Reporter be involved in a smear?How was she quoted out of context? The article in question was an interview with her about the visit Bush paid to her.Everybody has the right to judge people on their past comments, especially when they make a complete about-turn?Unlike the September 11 fireman who could possibly claim he was mislead, how could she do so?Everything we now know about the existence or otherwise of WMD, alleged connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda had already been completely discredited by June 24, 2004 when she gave the interview.add your commentsSome Proofby 22 Tuesday, Aug 9 2005, 7:27pm http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Drudge_Report_grossly_misquotes_antiw_0808.htmladd your comments

Stefan Wray