This morning [Aug. 17] the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan -- the woman who spent so much time leading well-publicized protests outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas -- announced that she will demonstrate next week at Martha's Vineyard, where President Obama will be vacationing. "There are several things that we wish to accomplish with this protest on Martha's Vineyard," Sheehan said in a statement:[url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Cin...First of all, no good social or economic change will come about with the continuation or escalation of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We simply can't afford to continue this tragically expensive foreign policy.
Secondly, we as a movement need to continue calling for an immediate end to the occupations even when there is a Democrat in the Oval Office. There is still no Noble Cause no matter how we examine the policies.
Thirdly, the body bags aren't taking a vacation and as the U.S.-led violence surges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, so are the needless deaths on every side.
And, finally, if the right-wing can force the government to drop any kind of public option or government supported health care, then we need to exert the same kind of pressure to force a speedy end to the occupations.
Cindy Sheehan goes to Martha's Vineyard
[url=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23313.htm]We Have The Moral High Ground[/url], says Sheehan:
I remember back in the good ol' days of 2005 and 2006 when being against the wars was not only politically correct, but it was very popular. I remember receiving dozens of awards, uncountable accolades and was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.Those were the halcyon days of the anti-war movement [b]before the Democrats took over the government (off of the backs of the anti-war movement) and it became anathema to be against the wars and I became unpopular on all sides.[/b] I guess at that point, I could have gone with the flow and pretended to support the violence so I could remain popular, but I think I have to fiercely hold on to my core values whether I am "liked" or not....
However, while the so-called left is obsessed over supporting a very crappy Democratic health care plan, people in far away countries are being deprived of their health and very lives by the Obama Regime's continuation of Bush's ruinous foreign policy.
I was never dismayed when the so-called right attacked me and called me names for protesting Bush. However, [b]something inside me gets a little sick when I hear people who claim to be peace activists supporting the Obama Administration's foreign policy, a policy that is not like Bush's in the fact that it's much worse.[/b]
I have been called a "racist" from the so-called left. In these people's opinion, I was totally justified in protesting Bush, but I am a racist for protesting the same policies under Obama. When I opposed Bush's policies, I was called traitor, anti-American, anti-Semitic, and other names I cannot print. Name-calling is a great way to shut down critical thinking and discussion. And, not to mention, I think the murder of innocent life in the Iraq-Af-Pak regions is racist and morally corrupt....
If Obama has violent shadow forces around him pulling him in the direction of violence, which begets more violence and more resistance; then we, especially people in the peace or anti-war movements need to gather and organize to pull him in the direction towards peaceful conflict resolution and solutions that aren't based on exploiting people's fears, anxieties or ignorance.
I am going to Martha's Vineyard because we have the moral high ground. The war supporters aren't going to protest Obama's wars. They are strangely silent over his foreign policy, unless they are praising it.
I am going to Martha's Vineyard because someone has to speak for the babies of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan that do not deserve the horrible fate that has been handed to them by the US Military Industrial Complex. The voiceless need a voice, and even if I am called every name in the book by all sides, I will speak up for them.
I am going to Martha's Vineyard because so many people have been blinded to the fact that the system has momentum that rolls on and over and around no matter who is the titular head of the system.
[b]Let's just pretend that elections are fair in this country and my candidate, Cynthia McKinney, won for president. If she wasn't able to rein in the systemic violence, then I would be going wherever she vacationed to protest her policies, too. I guess at that point, I would not only be called "racist," but I would be called a "self-hating female."[/b]
In a recent conversation someone was trying to convince me that I should not be so stridently opposed to Obama's policies and I responded that today 75 people were killed and 300 people were wounded in a bomb blast in Iraq and 26 mostly women and children were killed in a wedding party in Afghanistan this week and she said: "Oh, that wouldn't be acceptable if it happened here."
And that 's the problem: it's not acceptable if it happens anywhere, to anybody, no matter who is President of the USA.
Not only is the death toll mounting for innocent civilians but also is once again climbing for our troops.
While the "festivities" are occurring on Martha's Vineyard next week, there are families all over the world who will never again be able to fully feel festive. Ahhhh.... everyone should just stand down, relax and sip an Obamarita on the beach...Hope reigns once again in The Empire.
And, yes, we are going to Martha's Vineyard to get attention. We vehemently want to call attention to all of the points I have made above.
I read the above column a few days back. Sheehan is amazing.
I remember back in the good ol' days of 2005 and 2006 when being against the wars was not only politically correct, but it was very popular. I remember receiving dozens of awards, uncountable accolades and was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Those were the halcyon days of the anti-war movement
I don't know why but for some reason this comment from her doesn't seem to sit well with me.
If you mean those weren't the "halcyon days" of the anti-war movement, I agree with you.
Famous United States war activist Cindy Sheehan is protesting at Martha's Vineyard during US President Barack Obama's vacation this week."The reason I am here is because ... even though the facade has changed in Washington DC, the policies are still the same," the former California Congressional candidate. Cindy Sheehan, said in front of protesters with a 'Camp Casey' backdrop in Martha's Vineyard, according to AFP.
Sheehan stated, in front of hundreds of fellow demonstrators and media personnel, to "wake up" and realize that Pres. Obama is escalating the war in Afghanistan. She further complained that, while Pres. Obama's anti-war stance throughout the Presidential election campaign, US troops still remain in Iraq.
"We have to realize, it is not the president who is power, it is not the party that is in power - it is the system that stays the same, no matter who is in charge. We are here to make the wars unpopular again."
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/278369
And other MSM are picking up the story. It's a good publicity move on Sheehan's part.
"While the Obamas are here on vacation, people are still dying. There's no vacation from body bags. And the families of dead soldiers will never be able to truly enjoy a vacation again."Just because he's better than Bush doesn't sell me, because practically everybody in the world is better than Bush."
[url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/27/2046262.aspx]MSNBC[/url]
However, not everyone has failed to publicize the event. The Libertarians at Antiwar.com are on the job, and its editor in chief Justin Raimondo wrote a superb column Monday on the hypocritical treatment of Sheehan by the “liberal” establishment. (1) As Raimondo pointed out, Rush Limbaugh captured the hypocrisy of the liberal left in his commentary, thus:
“Now that she’s headed to Martha’s Vineyard, the State-Controlled Media, Charlie Gibson, State-Controlled Anchor, ABC: ‘Enough already.’ Cindy, leave it alone, get out, we’re not interested, we’re not going to cover you going to Martha’s Vineyard because our guy is president now and you’re just a hassle. You’re just a problem. To these people, they never had any true, genuine emotional interest in her. She was just a pawn. She was just a woman to be used and then thrown overboard once they’re through with her and they’re through with her. They don’t want any part of Cindy Sheehan protesting against any war when Obama happens to be president."
Limbaugh has their number, just as they have his. Sometimes it is quite amazing how well each of the war parties can spot the other’s hypocrisy. But Cindy Sheehan is no one’s dupe; she is a very smart and very determined woman who no doubt is giving a lot of White House operatives some very sleepless nights out there on the Vineyard. Good for her.
hooks-Sheehan 2012
[url=http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/09/barack-obama-to-cindy-sheehan-get-lost... Walsh[/url]I spent but a short time with Cindy Sheehan as she carried her antiwar protest from an earlier time at Crawford, TX, to Martha's Vineyard, vacation spot for Obama and many other Democrat Party elite. As Cindy remarked, [b]the real story was not that she was protesting Obama's wars but that the "leadership" of the peace movement did not support her protest.[/b] When the target was Bush in Crawford, she was all the rage with antiwar celebrities, but not so now that the target is Barack Obama. While there is considerable enthusiasm for her anti-Obama protest on the part of the rank and file in the anti-war movement, a refusal of its "leaders" to notify their members far and wide, high and low, crippled the action.
As a result of this betrayal, the numbers at Martha's Vineyard were not large. But Cindy and her fellow anti-warriors were undeterred. While I was there, she mounted a spirited march down the road to Obama's place, no more than a quarter mile away from where she stayed. The purpose was to present the President with a poster of Cindy bearing a signed plea to end the wars. [b]The considerable armed force at the gate and the Secret Service officers would not even bring out the lowliest of staffers to receive the poster. Clearly the message from Obama was "Get lost, Cindy."[/b] And we were quickly told to move a considerable distance down the road. At least in Crawford it had been possible to demonstrate at the checkpoint to the site - not so at Obama's place. [b]Thus, did Obama greet a mother whose son was lost in the wars, which he continues and enlarges by the day.[/b]
Cindy Sheehan deserves everyone's support for her continued activism.