[Sosfbay-discuss] Read This & Weep - CINDY SHEEHAN

[JamBoi]

Seems to me it just goes to show that it has always
needed to be a broad-based effort.  Our human
mentality and probably even more so in America is that
we latch onto individuals, turn them into symbolic
celebrities and then expect them to carry the load. 
It doesn't work that way.

I heard Pastor Rick Warren (author of 'The Purpose
Driven Life') say in America we have a "pray, pay and
stay out of the way" attitude.  In other words we
expect to be able to hire mercenary gunslingers to do
our hard work for us.   Very true!  We have to break
this attitude and learn to all participate in
Grassroots Democracy.  Direct Democracy.

Speaking symbolically if there are potholes in our
city, why do we wait for the politicians to do
something about it.  Let's get up off our collective
couches and connect with other fellow citizens, and
start figuring out how we are going to address the
problems.

We Greens are in an especially key position to lead
the way on this.  I suggest we start by getting our
own house in order.  This last weekend's plenary amply
demonstrated how dysfunctional our own party is.  We
need to work together to get it into a functional
state so that we can lead the rest of our society into
a saner way of problem solving and self governance.

And even closer to home we need to really get our
locals up and running!  That is where we'll be able to
get truly local issues addressed, precincts walked and
Greens elected. Let's put our heads together on what
we can do to get our GPCA act together.  After all,
its the GPCA that we'd be asking Cindy Sheehan to
join!!!

Organize, Energize, Coalize!

Drew

--- Duende <egroups at duendevision.com> wrote:

> Alex
> 
> I've been weeping for a decade. Most people who are
> on this, yourself  
> included wept decades ago...yet they still keep
> stepping up and  
> valiantly doing battle with windmills.ce
> 
> Duende
> 
> 
> Pea
> On May 29, 2007, at 7:25 AM, alexcathy at aol.com
> wrote:
> 
> > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
> = = = = = = =
> > Posted on The Daily Kos, Monday, May 28, 2007.
> > http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/28/12530/1525
> > "Good Riddance Attention Whore"
> > by Cindy Sheehan
> > I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since
> Casey was killed and  
> > especially since I became the so-called "Face" of
> the American anti- 
> > war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie
> I have remaining  
> > with the Democratic Party, I have been further
> trashed on such  
> > "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground.
> Being called an  
> > "attention whore" and being told "good riddance"
> are some of the  
> > more milder rebukes.
> > I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this
> Memorial Day  
> > Morning. These are not spur of the moment
> reflections, but things I  
> > have been meditating on for about a year now. The
> conclusions that  
> > I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are
> very heartbreaking  
> > to me.
> > The first conclusion is that I was the darling of
> the so-called  
> > left as long as I limited my protests to George
> Bush and the  
> > Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and
> libeled by the  
> > right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party.  This
> label was to  
> > marginalize me and my message. How could a woman
> have an original  
> > thought, or be working outside of our "two-party"
> system?
> > However, when I started to hold the Democratic
> Party to the same  
> > standards that I held the Republican Party,
> support for my cause  
> > started to erode and the "left" started labeling
> me with the same  
> > slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid
> attention to me when  
> > I said that the issue of peace and people dying
> for no reason is  
> > not a matter of "right or left", but "right and
> wrong."
> > I am deemed a radical because I believe that
> partisan politics  
> > should be left to the wayside when hundreds of
> thousands of people  
> > are dying for a war based on lies that is
> supported by Democrats  
> > and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who
> are sharp on the  
> > issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, 
> 
> > misrepresentations, and political expediency when
> it comes to one  
> > party refuse to recognize it in their own party.
> Blind party  
> > loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on.
> People of the  
> > world look on us Americans as jokes because we
> allow our political  
> > leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t
> find  
> > alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system
> our Representative  
> > Republic will die and be replaced with what we are
> rapidly  
> > descending into with nary a check or balance: a
> fascist corporate  
> > wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see
> party affiliation or  
> > nationality when I look at a person, I see that
> person’s heart. If  
> > someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like
> a Republican,  
> > then why do they deserve support just because
> he/she calls him/ 
> > herself a Democrat?
> > I have also reached the conclusion that if I am
> doing what I am  
> > doing because I am an "attention whore" then I
> really need to be  
> > committed. I have invested everything I have into
> trying to bring  
> > peace with justice to a country that wants
> neither. If an  
> > individual wants both, then normally he/she is not
> willing to do  
> > more than walk in a protest march or sit behind
> his/her computer  
> > criticizing others. I have 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. 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 because I have
> used all my energy  
> > trying to stop this country from slaughtering
> innocent human  
> > beings. I have been called every despicable name
> that small minds  
> > can think of and have had my life threatened many
> times.
> > The most devastating conclusion that I reached
> this morning,  
> > however, was that Casey did indeed die for
> nothing. His precious  
> > lifeblood drained out in a country far away from
> his family who  
> > loves him, killed by his own country which is
> beholden to and run  
> > by a war machine that even controls what we think.
> I have tried  
> > every since he died to make his sacrifice
> meaningful. Casey died  
> > for a country which cares more about who will be
> the next American  
> > Idol than how many people will be killed in the
> next few months  
> > while Democrats and Republicans play politics with
> human lives. It  
> > is so painful to me to know that I bought into
> this system for so  
> > many years and Casey paid the price for that
> allegiance. I failed  
> > my boy and that hurts the most.
> > I have also tried to work within a peace movement
> that often puts  
> > personal egos above peace and human life. This
> group won’t work  
> > with that group; he won’t attend an event if she
> is going to be  
> > there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the
> attention anyway? It  
> > is hard to work for peace when the very movement
> that is named  
> > after it has so many divisions.
> > Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been
> abandoned there  
> > indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move
> them around like  
> > pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the
> people of Iraq have  
> > been doomed to death and fates worse than death by
> people worried  
> > more about elections than people. However, in
> five, ten, or fifteen  
> > years, our troops will come limping home in
> another abject defeat  
> > and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s
> children will be  
> > seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because
> their  
> > grandparents also bought into this corrupt system.
> George Bush will  
> > never be impeached because if the Democrats dig
> too deeply, they  
> > may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves
> and the system will  
> > perpetuate itself in perpetuity.
> > I am going to take whatever I have left and go
> home. I am going to  
> > go home and be a mother to my surviving children
> and try to regain  
> > some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain
> and nurture some  
> > very positive relationships that I have found in
> the journey that I  
> > was forced into when Casey died and try to repair
> some of the ones  
> > that have fallen apart since I began this
> single-minded crusade to  
> > try and change a paradigm that is now, I am
> afraid, carved in  
> > immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious
> marble.
> > Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale.
> Anyone want to  
> > buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I
> will consider any  
> > reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be
> moving out soon,  
> > too...which makes the property even more valuable.
> > This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the
> American anti- 
> > war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment,
> because I will  
> > never give up trying to help people in the world
> who are harmed by  
> > the empire of the good old US of A, but I am
> finished working in,  
> > or outside of this system. This system forcefully
> resists being  
> > helped and eats up the people who try to help it.
> I am getting out  
> > before it totally consumes me or anymore people
> that I love and the  
> > rest of my resources.
> > Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I
> love and I  
> > finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I
> can’t make you  
> > be that country unless you want it.
> > It’s up to you now.

___________________

JamBoi: Jammy, The Sacred Cow Slayer
The Green Parties' #1 Blogger
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com

"To the brave belong all things"
Celt's invading Etrusca reply to nervous Romans around 400BC

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)


       
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