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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
 Posted - 05/29/2007 : 10:42:25 AM
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....of late I have been thinking it could be dedicated to the entire Democratic party after their actions last week(or should I say LACK of action in standing up to Bush). Then today I saw this and thought that Cindy summed it up(sadly)quite nicely.
Anti-War Mom Gives Up on Peace Movement
By ANGELA K. BROWN
AP
FORT WORTH, Texas (May 29) - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush 's ranch, says she's done being the public face of the movement.
"I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush," Sheehan told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.
"I'm going home for awhile to try and be normal," she said.
In what she described as a "resignation letter," Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the "Daily Kos" blog: "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."
Sheehan began a grass roots peace movement in August 2005 when she set up camp outside the Bush ranch for 26 days, asking to talk with the President about the death of her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan. Casey Sheehan was 24 when he was killed in an ambush in Baghdad.
Cindy Sheehan started her protest small, but it quickly drew national attention. Over the following two years, she drew huge crowds as she spoke at protest events, but she also drew a great deal of criticism.
"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," Sheehan wrote in the diary.
On Memorial Day, she came to some "heartbreaking conclusions," she wrote.
When she had first taken on Bush, Sheehan was a darling of the liberal left. "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," she wrote.
"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,'" the diary says.
Sheehan criticized "blind party loyalty" as a danger, no matter which side it involved, and said the current two-party system is "corrupt" and "rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland."
Sheehan said she had sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement "that often puts personal egos above peace and human life."
But she said the most devastating conclusion she had reached "was that Casey did indeed die for nothing ... killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think".
"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," she wrote. 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 am going to take whatever I have left and go home," Sheehan wrote.
"Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas?"
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy         
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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rubylith
Fluffy-Esque
1915 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 11:06:01 AM
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| She worked harder than anyone I know, including myself. She found about some facts regarding 9/11 specifically, came to the obvious conclusion and lost all hope. She can't put herself through it anymore, and I don't blame her. |
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Zachmozach
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 1:46:42 PM
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I'm reading a great book by Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis, which pretty much sums it up for the country. The republic is failing or has already failed. We actually have to subscribe to democratic theory if we want to check and fix our government. That's democratic theory with a small d of course and not the party. Only I don't think mob rule really works, and that's why our empire will like all the others collapse.
I just feel sorry for all the people who are not able to continue on with there efforts because it's cost is too high. In fact I can't remember the name of this guy I saw speak who walked up and started his presentation by showing a slide that had a picture of an elephant and then said this is the elephant in the room no one is talking about and it's 911 and I'm not going to talk about it either. Next he showed a picture of many elephants and said this is peak oil. Then he explained that he just couldn't go on doing it anymore.
Even my political science teacher won't do it anymore on the level he used to because after he presented information on the Iraq sanctions he had to protect his job in court and has put up with more slander than anyone should. It sucks because he was going to do a presentation on 9/11 too.
Anyway it would be nice if we had a two party system. |
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dan p.
Alien Abductee
Uganda
3776 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 2:00:06 PM
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| someone else will climb up on the cross, then, and we'll exchange one "leader" for another. i never cared for ms. sheehan, but in this final letter or post, whatever it was, she makes some sharp insights, which she has filed under "heartbreaking conclusions." those conclusions require stark honesty with oneself, and for whatever it's worth (nothing,) my esteem for her has risen considerably. |
death to false metal. |
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PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 4:31:55 PM
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I too feel very sorry for Cindy, she paid the ultimate sacrifice, her son, and I cannot even imagine what pain she has felt.
I don't blame her for giving up.
Last week my son's friend lost her husband in Iraq. She is now a widow at 23 with two baby girls (twins). So many wonderful human beings lost for nothing. We didn't even learn from our mistakes!(Vietnam)
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"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
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Ranting Thespian
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1283 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 6:21:59 PM
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I want to cry  |
Not communicating can hurt more than any word that can be said -
Nick
-the Ranting Thespian |
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dan p.
Alien Abductee
Uganda
3776 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 8:25:06 PM
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| that's so young, too. there's something so wrong about it. she's only 23, she has a lifetime ahead of her, but that sort of sorrow never really goes away. she has to live with it forever. married couples so often look back on the early days of their marriage with such fondness, and it seems a sort of blasphemy to have it ruined like that. at 23 she's bearing a burden that generally the elderly bear. |
death to false metal. |
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rubylith
Fluffy-Esque
1915 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2007 : 10:37:54 AM
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Cindy Sheehan: Twin Towers' Collapse Looked Like Controlled Demolition
Anti-war icon supports move for new investigation into 9/11
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Anti-war icon Cindy Sheehan has gone public on her support for the 9/11 truth movement after she told a radio show that the collapse of the twin towers looked like a controlled demolition and that there should be a new investigation into the terrorist attacks.
Sheehan, who made headlines this week after she distanced herself from the Democratic party and the establishment left, joined Alex Jones to share her views on her skepticism towards the official 9/11 story.
Sheehan said her decision to desert the Democrats was sparked last week when the Iraq war funding bill was passed and it was at this point she realized the Democrats had co-opted her simply to help them regain Congress and that they had no interest in ending the war.
Sheehan attacked Hillary Clinton as a "warhawk and a "warmonger" and said there was very little distinction between her and John McCain or Rudy Giuliani.
On 9/11, Sheehan expressed her support for the Jersey Girl's petition, which calls for a new independent investigation of the terrorist attacks, slamming the 9/11 Commission Report as a "total travesty and a smokescreen."
Sheehan questioned why U.S. air defenses were distracted by drills and exercises scheduled for the morning of 9/11 and why standard operating procedure for intercepting errant aircraft was not followed for the first and only time in history.
"When you lose control of an airplane, you intercept it with a military jet and that should only take seconds - from what I understand it's not even an order to do that it's mandatory," said Sheehan.
Speaking on the collapse of the twin towers, Sheehan stated, "It does look to me like a controlled demolition - I'm not an expert - but it does look to me like a controlled demolition - I'm looking at common sense."
"I do see some very high profile people saying it was an inside job," concluded Sheehan.
Click here to listen to Sheehan's interview on the Alex Jones Show.
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Zachmozach
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2007 : 1:05:19 PM
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The biggest thing about 911 that I didn't really understand till recently is that we trained the high jackers here in the US to fly planes at a navy flight school. Also the fact that for the first time in history the government paid the families directly effected by 911 on the grounds that they not investigate it or take part in any research for it. Talk about hush money. Not to mention the put options and the real estate stuff. Basically there was a lot of empty office real estate around that time. Shortly before 911 many companies in the towers got the property to sub-lease starting on Sept. 12th. So afterwards they ended up getting money to lease new buildings so that in effect they are paying themselves to lease a property.
Also Rubylith, my Political Science professor who is a very through scholar presented information on 911 last night, although he could actually present his opinions for fear of losing his job he presented a lot in a short amount of time. He said that upon talking to civil engineers that in many large building there are pre-placed explosives in the chance that if an emergency happened the building could be pulled. I think that would be an interesting thing to research more. Also he said that we'd find out what happened on 911 if we found out what happened to this big California Attorney (I think he was an attorney anyway) that came out and said he personally trained some terrorist involved in the attack. Know who I'm talking about by chance I didn't get his name in my notes?
BTW did anyone catch Obama on Letterman when Letterman told him it would be cool to have a smoker in the white house and Obama said basically that then he could take a drag and blow the smoke in the face of the Iranian president. Please don't vote for these war supporting candidates. He's been really trying to talk the tough talk lately because Dem's are always viewed weak on foreign policy. |
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rubylith
Fluffy-Esque
1915 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2007 : 2:59:18 PM
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Man you are so dead on. Yea Obama and Clinton are war hawk scum. Only Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich have real intergrity. I do not remember the guys name you reference but I did hear that.
For the first time a few moments ago I read something about sensitive buildings have pre planted explosives in it just in case, not sure how true it is. We cannot prove that yet, we can prove with science that the buildings WERE demolished, who set then and when would be revealed with a real investigation.
Thanks dude! |
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dan p.
Alien Abductee
Uganda
3776 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2007 : 8:50:23 PM
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"Also the fact that for the first time in history the government paid the families directly effected by 911 on the grounds that they not investigate it or take part in any research for it. Talk about hush money."
i call for a source citation on this one. |
death to false metal. |
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Zachmozach
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2007 : 02:53:29 AM
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| I should have said that differently. It's in legal terms. The families aren't allowed to sue if the signed to receive their money from the victims compensation fund. So if you want to investigate this event and sue the government for either responsibility for anything even if it was their own gross incompetence you can't. It was specifically designed to stop family members of victims from being able to investigate this in a legal setting. So my mistake. Of course this also stops you from suing almost anyone including airlines. Whereas those who did not sign can still only sue on limited grounds. So basically it was here take this money and now you can do nothing to hold us responsible. |
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dan p.
Alien Abductee
Uganda
3776 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2007 : 4:24:17 PM
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| oh, so basically they're covering their asses from getting sued. |
death to false metal. |
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PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2007 : 6:45:42 PM
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quote:
BTW did anyone catch Obama on Letterman when Letterman told him it would be cool to have a smoker in the white house and Obama said basically that then he could take a drag and blow the smoke in the face of the Iranian president. Please don't vote for these war supporting candidates. He's been really trying to talk the tough talk lately because Dem's are always viewed weak on foreign policy.
Come on Zack, you are smarter than that! To vote for or against
someone because of something said in jest on late night TV is ludicrous! You were kidding right? If you are going to attack a candidate at least back it up with quotes from his writings or speeches. Personally I like Obama and so far, the only other candidate I like is Kucinich. Who gets my vote? Won't know until next year. |
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
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Zachmozach
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2007 : 02:40:00 AM
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No, not on what he said on a late night show alone. What is Obama's policy for the war on terror? Well first he wants to increase the size of the army. Now why would he want to do that as such and anti-war candidate? Letting the history of some of the other empires to be your guide, look at what happened to them when they continually increased their military. Ok now how about his policy on pre-emptive war?
"Use Armed Forces Wisely. Barack Obama will never hesitate to use force, unilaterally when necessary, to protect our vital interests and confront imminent threats to U.S. national security. But when using force in situations other than self-defense, he believes the U.S. should make every effort to garner the clear support and participation of other nations. When sending troops in harm’s way, Obama believes the U.S. must clearly define the mission, seek out the advice of our military commanders, evaluate the intelligence, and ensure that our troops have the resources, support, and equipment they need to protect themselves and fulfill their mission." http://my.barackobama.com/page/-/pdf/Fact%20Sheet%20Foreign%20Policy.pdf
So it sounds like to me that without directly mentioning pre-emptive war he is still willing and will not hesitate to use force to protect out vital interests. We can conjecture over what our interests are, but the fact that he is willing to start a war over interests sounds very similar to a certain president who invaded a certain country over oil, and other interests.
"Obama also would keep all other options on the table, including the use of force."
To keep WMD's out of those Iranian hands.
Anyway, he wants to play politics and pretend he's antiwar and all that, but he's raised more money that a Clinton. If he wins he will neither change the policy in Iraq or the war on terror more than a slight shift. He is not even close. As the campaign unfolds look for him to be more against the republicans and for nothing.
As for protecting themselves from being sued. Ya and the reason they don't want to be sued is because they were criminally negligent at the very best. NORAD fails, Bush goes against all logic by not leaving a scheduled event that many people knew about and then returns to the white house, and not to mention the report that Rice received that mentioned Osama planning to use airplanes for an attack, but of course she never considered them flying into buildings. It's ridiculous. They paid people off before they could do anything legally about 911 being at least partially their fault. |
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PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2007 : 07:12:21 AM
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Zack, go back and carefully read the WHOLE speech from which you quoted. Like the press, selective quotes can make something sound completely opposite from what it is.
He makes perfect sense to me. |
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
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Zachmozach
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2007 : 2:33:39 PM
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I already read the whole document. Obama is far from ending our wars or deficit spending to fuel the military industrial complex. He is actually saying we should spend more money annually on our military. We already spend more every year than the rest of the world combined. What are we or is he so afraid of?
All I can ascertain from Obama is that he wants to decrease troop levels and let an Iraq military police force step up to police the state. Nowhere does he mention getting rid of the permanent forward operating bases in Iraq, but in fact just wants to shift troops to Afghanistan. Even if the war officially ends it would unofficially continue just like Korea. How many troops do we have there now? Plus Afghanistan like Iraq will continue to get worse and more bloody month by month. Where's the end to that war?
Not to mention that he stands with the corporate sector of our economy. Where is his talk of ending free trade deals? What about changing the tax code so that rich people once again have to contribute a higher percentage of their money to the society that made them rich? What about universal health care? He like all the other candidates that have been elected will be in the same boat, paying back the people who got him in office with political favors. You can't raise that much money without being corporate friendly. |
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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2007 : 11:57:22 AM
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Sheehan Selling Protest Site to Radio Host
By ANGELA K. BROWN
AP
FORT WORTH, Texas (June 9) - Cindy Sheehan will sell her war protest site near President Bush's ranch to a California radio talk show host, who will preserve it as a peace memorial, her spokeswoman said.
Sheehan, who announced on Memorial Day that she was stepping down as the face of the anti-war movement, will sell the 5-acre site in Crawford for $87,000 to Bree Walker, Sheehan spokeswoman Tiffany Burns said.
"Cindy is happy the land is going to be used for something positive," Burns said. "But Cindy does not plan to have a continued presence there."
A telephone message left Friday with Walker, a former TV news anchorwoman who hosts a weekend talk show on KTLK-AM in Los Angeles, was not immediately returned.
Burns said Sheehan has been a guest on Walker's show several times and that Walker supports Sheehan.
Sheehan initially planned to sell the land on eBay with an $80,000 starting bid but scrapped the idea after getting an offer from Walker, Burns said. Since she bought the property last year for $52,500, Sheehan's group put in gravel roads, cleared brush, planted gardens and made other improvements that boosted the land's value, Burns said.
Sheehan had said she would not willingly sell to Move America Forward, an organization that supports the U.S. intervention in Iraq, which wanted to buy the land to erect a monument. The land in Crawford, about 100 miles south of Fort Worth, is about 7 miles from Bush's ranch.
Sheehan gained national attention from her grass roots vigil in August 2005 when she camped in ditches near Bush's ranch for 26 days, demanding to talk with him about her son's death. Army Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed at age 24 in an ambush in Baghdad in 2004.
Her protest that summer drew more than 10,000 people to the small town that overwhelmingly supports the president. But it also drew counter-protests of Bush supporters, including a large downtown rally after a cross-country tour called "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!" sponsored by Move America Forward.
Sheehan plans to return to Crawford one last time in July to sell the property's remaining items, including a generator, refrigerator, freezer, stove and camping equipment, Burns said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2007 : 12:00:43 PM
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"Good Riddance Attention Whore"
by CindySheehan
Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT
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.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/28/12530/1525
Cindy Sheehan's Diary:
http://cindysheehan.dailykos.com/ |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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Betrayal usually dedicated to John Kerry....
