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{ Thursday, January 18, 2007 }

7:16 AM | link

Have you called your House representative this week? If not, this plan is a good excuse to call! You can ask them to support the Bring Our Troops Home Act or at the very least ask them to stop the escalation.

Today in the House of Representatives, I am introducing the Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act, a comprehensive legislative proposal to quickly end the occupation of Iraq. It is a broad measure, capturing ideas from military and diplomatic experts and including provisions offered in previous legislative proposals. Specifically, the bill would, among other things:
Withdraw all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq within six months from the date of enactment.
Accelerate, during the six-month transition, training of a permanent Iraqi police force.
Prohibit the continued funding, except for the redeployment of troops currently in Iraq, of combat troops to Iraq.
Prohibit any permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. (Despite official denials, bases are under construction, including one that includes a miniature golf course and a Pizza Hut).
Authorize, if requested by the Iraqi government, U.S. support for an international stabilization force, which would stay no longer than two years.
Prohibit U.S. participation in any long-term Iraqi oil production sharing agreements before the enactment by the Iraqi government of new regulations governing the industry.
Authorize an array of non-military assistance in Iraq, including reconstruction of a public-health system; destruction of land mines, recovery of ancient relics; and distribution of compensatory damages for civilian casualties.
Honor the sacrifice of our servicemen and women by providing full funding for every health-care treatment, and benefit that they are entitled to under current law.

Labels: Peace, Politics

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{ Thursday, January 11, 2007 }

6:41 AM | link

So. Stay the course + 21,500. Oops, except make that 18,500.

Britain will cut troop levels in Iraq by almost 3,000 at the end of May, the Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday, citing a timetable for withdrawal the newspaper said it had seen. Within the next two weeks, Prime Minister Tony Blair would announce the reduction to Britain's 7,200-strong force based in the south of the war-ravaged country, it said.

Know what I say? Hell NO.

Search to see if there's an event planned for your area today. And go. Please, please go.

Labels: Peace, Politics

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{ Wednesday, January 10, 2007 }

6:51 AM | link

Here's a preemptive petition (appropriate, huh?) to prevent escalation in Iraq. BUT DON'T SIGN IT.

Instead, take those 2 minutes of your life to do something more effective—call your U.S. representative today and register your opinion that way. A phone call is a thousand times more effective than a mailed letter, which is five hundred thousand times more effective than an email.

To find the phone number for your representative, visit congress.org and enter your ZIP code.

Call the DC number or the district office number. Doesn't really matter. Just call. All you have to say is something like "I'm a constituent of Congress(wo)man So-and-So, and I'm calling to ask that s/he oppose any increase in American troops in Iraq." Don't worry—the staffer won't ask you why or challenge you. They'll just record your call and add it to the report of constituent feedback for their boss.

Then if you call, go ahead and sign the petition. It couldn't hurt.

Labels: Peace, Politics

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{ Saturday, January 06, 2007 }

9:09 AM | link

Last night on All Things Considered, Guy Raz did a story on the conservative American Enterprise Institute's latest report on Iraq. Here's a tidbit:

And here's something you can try. Over the weekend, go to AEI's web site, aei.org. Read their Iraq proposal carefully. And then next week, when the President comes out to announce his new Iraq strategy, compare and contrast. And don't be surprised if they look a lot alike.

So to save you all some time, I read through the executive summary of the report myself. Here's an executive summary of the executive summary—their words, not mine:

Victory is still an option in Iraq.
Victory in Iraq is vital to America's security. Defeat will likely lead to regional conflict, humanitarian catastrophe, and increased global terrorism.
We must send more American combat forces into Iraq and especially into Baghdad to support this operation.
The ground forces must accept longer tours for several years.
Other courses of action have been proposed. All will fail.
- Withdraw immediately. Iraq will descend into total civil war that will rapidly spread throughout the Middle East.
- Engage Iraq's neighbors. Iraq's neighbors are encouraging the violence, but they cannot stop it.
- Increase embedded trainers dramatically. Removing U.S. forces from patrolling neighborhoods to embed them as trainers will lead to an immediate rise in violence. This rise in violence will destroy America's remaining will to fight and escalate the cycle of sectarian violence in Iraq beyond anything an Iraqi army could bring under control.
Failure in Iraq today will require far greater sacrifices tomorrow in far more desperate circumstances. Committing to victory now will demonstrate America's strength to our friends and enemies around the world.

So I guess we'll see next week.

Labels: Peace, Politics

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{ Friday, January 05, 2007 }

8:18 PM | link

Does Molly Ivins have a hidden camera in my heart?

The president of the United States does not have the sense God gave a duck—so it’s up to us. You and me, Bubba.

I don’t know why Bush is just standing there like a frozen rabbit, but it’s time we found out. The fact is we have to do something about it. This country is being torn apart by an evil and unnecessary war, and it has to be stopped now.

So. What will we do? We obviously need some new ideas. So here's my best crack at it for right now. Please respond with your ideas!

Find 3 other friends and make a pledge to each other that each of you will "adopt" one of your 3 representatives or the White House and call them once a month to voice your opinion. You'll just make 1 phone call every month, and you can rest assured knowing that you and your friends are hammering on all your reps and the White House! Or you could all agree to make these calls once a week and really put the pressure on.
Set aside one day a month or once a week with your family or with a friend to have a good meal and write a letter to your representatives. Hubby and I have a pancake routine every Sunday morning, so after pancake time we'll write a letter together. A real, live, old-fashioned letter. We'll put it in an envelope and everything!
Hang a peace flag outside your home and/or in your office.
Wear a peace pin on your lapel every day. (Some other pins.)
Have some friends over to watch a movie about the war, then discuss it afterwards over good food and drinks.

Labels: Peace, Politics

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{ Sunday, October 08, 2006 }

3:37 PM | link

I just finished reading Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal by Anthony Arnove. This slim book lays out eight reasons why the US should leave Iraq immediately:

The US military has no right to be in Iraq in the first place.
The US is not bringing democracy to Iraq.
The US is not making the world a safer place by occupying Iraq.
The US is not preventing civil war in Iraq.
The US is not confronting terrorism by staying in Iraq.
The US is not honoring those who died by continuing the conflict.
The US is not rebuilding Iraq.
The US is not fulfilling its obligation to the Iraqi people for the harm and suffering it has caused.

Admittedly, I already agreed with most of these assertions before reading the book. The one lingering doubt I did have about when we should stop the occupation was the 4th point. This book didn't go into great detail on that point (it's less than 120 pages), but it did give some examples of how the US authorities are actually pitting factions against each other in the formation of the Iraqi government -- the ol' divide and conquer approach. The book inspired me to go read more on the subject, and I am now convinced that our presence in Iraq alone is the source of most of the agitation. I am not naive -- I don't believe that as soon as we pull out, the violence will stop. But I do believe that by continuing to be an occupying presence and contributing to the culture of violence, we are only rubbing the wound raw.

Another key part of the book for me was a list of five factors that brought about an end to the Vietnam war:

Mass resistance of the Vietnamese people to US intervention
Resistance of US soldiers and veterans
Domestic opposition on a scale that forced elites in the US to recognize that they had lost the war at home
International protest and opposition that isolated the US politically
Growing economic consequences of the war, which led to inflation and deficits that undermined the position of the US economy

Holy crap, I thought after reading it for the first time. A lot of ridiculously big stuff has to happen to stop a war. But what gave me hope is knowing that we did stop an unjust war in our nation's history, with citizen outcries being a major factor in doing so. And hey look -- we have a roadmap for doing it again! A roadmap with crazy zigzag roads criss-crossing every millimeter, making it unbelievably hard to get where you want to go -- but a roadmap nonetheless.

In the last 2 weeks, I've seen 2 movies that have inspired me to do more in my daily life to work against this war: The War Tapes and The US vs. John Lennon. They were inspiring for very different reasons -- one is raw and upsetting, the other hopeful and admiring.

These movies and this book made me realize that if I care deeply about something, I can't just send an electronic pre-written letter to my representatives when I happen to get a reminder to do so. If you truly care about something, it should be part of your daily life. If you can devote a few minutes (or more) each day to surfing the web, watching TV, or generally just killing time, certainly you can devote a few minutes to writing a real letter or reading an article to learn more or sharing an article with friends and family or volunteering for your local anti-war group or any of the countless things you can do to contribute to the cause in your own way.

Sure, nothing I do is going to stop the war tomorrow. Nothing will. You don't beat back a war machine overnight. To do that requires constant and creative pressure from all types of people. So if writing a letter doesn't seem useful to you, sit down and think about what does seem useful to you. Maybe working against in-school military recruitment is something you feel makes the most difference. Or maybe you want to learn more about the issue so you can make an effective argument with friends and family. Or maybe you have an idea for a new type of action against the war. Just do something, anything. And do it regularly. Ending this war will require more than just one-off efforts from everyone who's against it. It will require us to weave our efforts into our daily lives. People are dying unnecessarily every day in this war. The least we could do is devote a tiny part of our days to honoring that in our own way.

As a wise man once said: "Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it." -- Mahatma Gandhi

Labels: Peace, Politics

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{ Wednesday, July 26, 2006 }

3:12 PM | link

Bill Moyers for President? Hell yeah!

If you agree, write to Moyers and ask him to run—the health of our democracy is at stake. P.O. Box 309, Bernardsville, NJ 07924.

Labels: Politics

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{ Saturday, January 21, 2006 }

10:51 AM | link

From a piece by Molly Ivins titled I Will Not Support Hillary Clinton for President:

The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes. The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

...Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can.

Labels: Peace, Politics

2 comments

{ Tuesday, June 14, 2005 }

7:32 PM | link

About a month ago, Granny D gave a wonderful commencement speech at Hampshire College. You should read the whole thing, but here's a taste:

Accept no leaders who would lead you with fear or angerÂ?who are forever dividing and punishing the people instead of uniting, encouraging and empowering them. Great leaders lead from a better vision of a possible future. Great leadersÂ?and you must include yourself in thisÂ?lead themselves, their families, friends, communities, nations and their world from the great, golden idea that people should be free and should in every way be encouraged to fulfill their highest potentials and live life responsibly as they choose. Great leadership comes from love, and great societies come from confident, mass empowerment.

Labels: Politics

3 comments

{ Monday, June 13, 2005 }

7:43 AM | link

Texas Representative Senfronia Thompson speaking on the anti-gay marriage amendment:

When I was a small girl, white folks used to talk about "protecting the institution of marriage" as well. What they meant was if people of my color tried to marry people of Mr. Chisum's color, you'd often find the people of my color hanging from a tree. . . . Fifty years ago, white folks thought interracial marriages were "a threat to the institution of marriage."

Members, I'm a Christian and a proud Christian. I read the good book and do my best to live by it. I have never read the verse where it says, "Gay people can't marry." I have never read the verse where it says, "Thou shalt discriminate against those not like me." I have never read the verse where it says, "Let's base our public policy on hate and fear and discrimination." Christianity to me is love and hope and faith and forgiveness -- not hate and discrimination.

After this speech, the Texas House passed the amendment.

Labels: Politics

1 comments