...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Tuesday, September 27, 2005
      ( 5:47 PM )
 
Proud Mama

I try every so often to put myself in Cindy Sheehan's shoes. I cannot. My son is only 3 years old. I can't imagine losing him. But even more horrifying is the thought of knowing him and loving him for 20+ years and then losing him to a violence that he did not have to face for any good reason. And not a sudden, inexplicable violence like a car accident or plane crash. No, a violence plotted and maintained on purpose by those who have never faced the kind of loss that Cindy Sheehan and other Gold Star families have faced.

Cindy got herself arrested yesterday. One of the tried and true ways to declare your dissent against a government that is committing wrong in your name is to disavow that government's laws. It's called civil disobedience. You declare in a nonviolent way that you cannot honor the laws of a government that does not honor you as its citizen or its soldiers as its servants.


Cindy explains:

Being arrested is not a big deal. Even though we were arrested for "demonstrating without a permit," we were protesting something that is much more serious than sitting on a sidewalk: the tragic and needless deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans (both in Iraq and here in America) who would be alive if it weren't for the criminals who reside in and work in the White House.

Karl Rove (besides just being a very creepy man) outted a CIA agent and was responsible for endangering many of our covert agents worldwide. Dick Cheney's old company is reaping profits beyond anyone's wildest imaginations in their no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans. John Negroponte's activities in South America are very shady and murderous. Rumsfeld and Gonzales are responsible for illegal and immoral authorization, encouragement and approval of torture; not to mention, violating Geneva Conventions, torture endangers the lives of our service men and women in Iraq. Along with the above mentioned traitors, Condi lied through her teeth in the insane run-up to the invasion. The list of crimes this administration has committed is extensive, abhorrent, and unbelievable. What is so unbelievable is that WE were arrested for exercising our first amendment rights and these people are running free to enjoy their lives of crime and to wreak havoc on the world.

The fine for "demonstrating without a permit" is $75.00. I am certain that I won't pay it. My court date is November 16th. Any lawyers out there want to help me challenge an unconstitutional law?


When the mothers of the children who are being killed for ...WHAT??? are the ones being arrested, and yet there are actual criminals running things from the White House, the country MUST sit up and pay attention. ESPECIALLY if you are a parent. This administration does not care for our children or their future.

Whether by draft, poverty, hunger or lack of healthcare, our children are being eliminated from their potential futures. By the government this nation elected. Yes, we ALLOWED a second term for this administration. It's on our heads. If we do not start working now to reverse the damage, there will be hardly anything left to work with. We can't wait for politicians to save us. Lord knows our Democratic Party leaders aren't going to do anything substantial. It's up to us. We've GOT to get involved and start to change things now. Whether that means getting on board with your union's bargaining team, working for your local progressive party, volunteering for someone who's challenging an incumbent, or writing regular letters to your representative, we've got to do SOMETHING. Now. If there is something I'm always grateful to Howard Dean for, it's giving the regular American citizen the idea that they indeed can make a difference. It's time for that spirit to revive itself and start showing the country and the world that no, we actually DON'T agree with what is going on and we are willing to do what needs to be done to change it.

Cindy made that choice. She's lost her son and her heart - her life as she knew it. But she made the choice to do something. Really, can we say we have any excuse not to follow her lead?

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