Katrina Stories

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

God bless the Big Easy. God bless Biloxi. God bless them all. —T

Fletcher Fiasco

I know we don't normally get into state politics on this blog, but I just couldn't believe my eyes when I read the Lexington Herald-Leader headline this morning.

Our illustrious Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher has been under investigation for questionable hiring practices in his first-term administration. It's complicated, but the gist of it is that a number of higher-ups in the Fletcher government made hiring decisions based purely on politics. Not an unheard-of event in Kentucky government, but evidently they crossed some legal lines, and nine people have been indicted by a special grand jury.

Fletcher has poo-pooed the whole thing from the start, claiming that Democratic Attorney General Greg Stumbo is on a "witch hunt." But then Fletcher started withholding subpoenaed documents and refusing to provide the necessary funding for the investigation. He was called to testify before the grand jury this afternoon. Then last night, the whopper: Fletcher issued a blanket pardon for all nine of the indicted cronies, and then went in and pled the Fifth to the grand jury!

Were it not for Hurricane Katrina, this thing surely would have been on the national news tonight. While I was only mildly annoyed by the whole "PersonnelGate" thing, as it has come to be called, I am completely disgusted by Fletcher's behavior. He is a disgrace to the state of Kentucky, and local politicos like my Republican state representative Jim DeCesare, who claims he "can kind of see both sides," need to hear from us that not only are Fletcher's actions unacceptable, but so is the wishy-washy attitude of Republican lawmakers about this whole deal.
-G

Resisting Recruitment

Everytime I hear about another soldier killed in Iraq, I think of Marine Private named Chad, and I wonder where he is and if he's safe. He was my student, a kid who had struggled with truancy, delinquency and family problems to proudly graduate high school in 2004. Now he's somewhere in Iraq.

I became principal of the alternative school where he was a student during Chad's senior year. At that time he was already committed to the Marines. We talked about the war, and while he knew that I was opposed to it, I never tried to actively dissuade him from going ahead with his enlistment. Chad was not gung-ho in an obnoxious sort of way, but was quietly proud of his plans and wanted to do something good for his community after many years of what he consider a misspent adolescence.

As a teacher and school administrator, I have really struggled with military recruitment in the schools. There is no doubt that the structure and discipline of the military, the sense of purpose and belonging it provides, the escape from poverty and desperation, makes it an attractive option for kids who are "at-risk." And during times of peace, I probably wouldn't hesitate to support their interest in the military. After all, I'm not a genuine pacifist, though I think Jesus wants me to be. I think there may be a slim possibility that such a thing as a just war might really exist, and so we need a military of some kind.

But this war is not just. And while I am proud that Chad is following his dreams, I am just plain pissed that my government is willing to sacrifice such a brave young man for a war based entirely on lies. And as an educator, I can no longer support any military recruitment efforts in our schools.

Others are coming to this realization too. Karen Houppert investigates some of the military's more henious recruitment practices in the current issue of The Nation. I identified some of these tactics personally. Less than six months ago an Army recruiter sat in my office and asked me to lie about a student's graduation status in order to exepdite his recruitment. This kind of nonsense led to a nationwide standdown of military recruiters back in the Spring.

Military service is a proud tradition in the South. We have many friends and relatives who have served. Because of this proud tradition, the government is invested with a sacred trust to never put these men and women in harm's way unless it is absolutely necessary for the preservation of our freedom. Bluenecks need to support the troops by resisting military recruitment efforts that will inevitably make cannon fodder of our best and brightest, like Chad.

I hope he comes home safe...and soon.
-G

What’s Next for Cindy?

Wednesday is the last day of the month, and true to her promise, Cindy Sheehan has waited to talk to the president. It’s clear he’s not willing to give her or the other Gold Star Families for Peace the time of day. What next? Cindy’s decided to take her message on the road.

On Wednesday Camp Casey will pack up into three bus caravans, taking four routes across the country to Washington. Along the way they will take their message to 38 cities. They will drop in on Congressmen, starting with Tom Delay.

On August 31st, the last day of the encampment, the “Bring Them Home Now Tour” will launch three buses from Crawford, Texas, each carrying military and Gold Star families, veterans of the Iraq War and veterans of previous wars. These buses will travel different routes across the country, converging in Washington, DC on September 21, for the United for Peace and Justice Mobilization September 24th-26th. — T

Support the “Bring Them Home Now Tour” in the south. Turn out for the tour stop nearest you:

• Austin, TX: Wed, Aug. 31st
  
• Houston, TX: Fri, Sep. 2nd
  
• New Orleans, LA: Sat, Sep. 3rd — Sun, Sep. 4th
  
• Mobile, AL:  Mon, Sep. 5th
  
• Tallahassee, FL: Tue, Sep. 6th
  
• Montgomery, AL: Thu, Sep. 8th
  
• Atlanta, GA: Sat, Sep. 10th — Sun, Sep. 11th
  
• Savannah, GA: Mon, Sep. 12th
  
• Columbia, SC: Tue, Sep. 13th — Wed, Sep. 14th
  
• Fayetteville, NC: Thu, Sep. 15th
  
• Raleigh-Durham, NC: Sat, Sep. 17th
  
• Richmond, VA: Mon, Sep. 19th

America at Half Mast

“It’s a bad war; it’s a stupid war.” — Karen Lieurance, Knoxville mother of slain soldier Sgt. Victoir P. Lieurance

The flag at our local grocery store is flying at half mast for Victoir Lieurance and Joey Hunt, 2 ETN Guard soldiers killed in Iraq last week. By midweek the families had not received the remains or made funeral arrangements, but the father of Victor Lieurance is one more recruit for Cindy Sheehan. “She didn’t speak for me, but now she does.”

Negotiations over the new Constitution are “at the end of the road” and the Pentagon is preparing to ramp up troop numbers again. My buddy Jason Purcell is coming home this week from North Kuwait to get married. We will toast him and his bride, celebrate their wedding, and then send him back — for what?

Jason is pretty gung ho, and he would be the first to say he knew what he was signing up for, even as a Guardsman. He's doing his patriotic duty as a soldier. The rest of us, I believe, should do our patriotic duty as citizens of a democracy and ask our leaders some hard questions. Just what have we done as a nation? Why did we start a war we are not winning for a democracy that isn’t happening?

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas asked these questions two years ago from the floor of the House of Representatives:  

I am sure once the alleged attempt to buy uranium is thoroughly debunked, the other excuses for going to war will be examined with a great deal of scrutiny as well. It is obvious that the evidence used to justify going to war is now less than convincing.

The charge that Saddam Hussein had aluminum tubes used in manufacturing nuclear weapons was in error.

A fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles capable of dispensing chemical and biological weapons did not exist.

The 63,000 liters of anthrax and botulism have not been found, nor have any of the mobile germ labs. There are no signs of the one million pounds of sarin, mustard, and VX gasses alleged to exist.

No evidence has been revealed to indicate Iraq was a threat to the security of any nation, let alone America.  

The charge that Saddam Hussein was connected to the al Qaeda was wrong. Saddam Hussein’s violations the UN resolutions regarding weapons of mass destruction remain unproven.

How could so many errors have occurred? Some say it was incompetence, while others claim outright deception and lies.

The most recent justification for the war is that we are helping the Iraqis bring democracy to their country. As of yesterday the Iraqi Parliament had given up on a Constitution.

Where do we go from here? Our flag is at half mast. How will we raise it again? — T

Rare as Hen’s Teeth: Liberal Talk Radio

For readers in Knoxville (my home), there is a liberal radio show on WNOX, hosted by Mark Harmon. The show is Left Turn, airing 2 – 3 pm on Saturdays. Mark interviewed Cindy Sheehan before she was in Crawford, and he came to our candlelight vigil at Volunteer Landing.

Give Left Turn a listen — we can use a “blue” radio host on conservative soapbox WNOX, a station owned by Citadel Broadcasting. Amazingly, the station’s website says conservative talk show host Michael Savage “fits no stereotype.” Uhh, right. Savage’s latest book (free to soldiers!) is Called Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.

Support the “Homeward Bound” Bill

So you’re asking yourself what you can do to bring our soldiers home? There’s a bill that’s not been in the headlines, but deserves your support. It’s House Joint Resolution 55, “Homeward Bound.” It would require the Bush administration to give us a plan by the end of 2005 for resolving the war in Iraq. The plan would be set in motion by October of 2006.

Sponsored by Hawaiian Representative Neil Abercrombie, the bill has 45 co-sponsors from both parties, including 5 from southern states. The bill went to the Committee on International Relations and the Committee on Armed Services back in June.

According to so-sponsor and liberal hero Democrat Dennis Kucinich, the bill is meeting resistance on three points:

• A feeling that setting a date for withdrawal would encourage insurgents to settle down, wait until the US leaves, and then once again escalate action.
  
• A concern that we have lost so many troops already that it would dishonor the memory of those who gave their lives if the US were to withdraw.
  
• A belief that we are winning the war and now is not the time to talk about leaving.
  

Forget about “playing into the hands of terrorists” as Bush is saying. After all, he put a deadline on elections in Iraq, so why not announce a deadline for troop withdrawal? It could actually help the situation by showing we are not staying perpetually to build bases and steal oil, as many Iraqis may think.

Y’all need to thank the ballsy southern legislators below who co-sponsored this bill, then find out who else needs to be “prodded” onto the peace wagon. The times, they are a ’changin’, — just ask the tens of thousands of Americans who turned out last Wednesday to support Cindy Sheehan. Southern Senators and Congressmen are sensing a changing mood among their constituents. — T

Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee, [TX-18]

Rep Walter B. Jones, Jr. [NC-3]

Rep John Lewis [D-GA-5.]

Rep Cynthia A. McKinney [GA-4]

Rep Ron Paul [TX-14]

Dear Congressman Hagel

Write your thanks to Chuck Hegel, a Republican Congressman and a Vietnam vet from Nebraska who is speaking up against his own party. Here’s my email sent today:

Dear Congressman Hagel:

Thank you for having the courage to compare this war to Vietnam. While other GOPs like Frist are still saying we need to “take the war to the terrorists,” you have spoken truth to power. The “war on terror” was supposed to capture Bin Laden, and America is wondering—what happened to him?

Instead we spent over $189 billion to invade and occupy a country that had attacked nobody. To punish Saddam for ignoring the UN we ignored the UN ourselves and bombed Baghdad. There were no WMDs, no Iraqi nukes, and no connection with 9/11. Now our soldiers are dying, a constitution is still not ready for adoption, and America has lost respect from it’s allies.

A recent study by the Pentagon’s Defense Science Task Force on Strategic Communications states that ‛American efforts have not only failed, they may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended.’ This Pentagon report flatly states that our war in Iraq actually has elevated support for radical Islamists. As a Veteran I’m sure you understand the danger our troops have been placed in by a misleading war policy.

I urge you to continue to speak out against this war and to consider supporting Republican Congressmen Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX) , sponsors the Homeward Bound Act with Democrats Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Neil Abercrombie (D-HI).

Sincerely,

Todd Duren

2 Tennessee Soldiers Killed, 2 Injured in Iraq

Two Tennessee soldiers died Monday in Iraq during the most deadly month so far for coalition forces.

Spc. Joseph “Joey” Daniel Hunt, 27, of Sweetwater and Sgt. Victoir P. Lieurance, 34, of Seymour were killed southwest of Samarra when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device at about 12:40 p.m., according to family members. Lieurance was the father of four children. Hunt was the father of two boys.

Two other members of the 276th were injured in the explosion, including Spc. Charles Andrew Newman, according to reports. Last week three three soldiers died from the 278th. There have been 10 total casualties so far for this East Tennessee National Guard unit, with five months remaining in its tour of the Diyala province.

God bless these families in their time of sorrow.

Please click "comments" below to post thoughts about these brave fallen soldiers.

What the Chuck?!

"We should start figuring out how to get out of there...I think our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East."
--Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)

Okay, you know it's gotten bad for President Bush when one of the leading Republican Congressional leaders goes on ABC's "This Week" and compares Iraq to Vietnam. Hagel has always been a bit of a maverick, but the decorated Vietnam vet's criticism of the war effort will no doubt have the Republican establishment in a rhetorical tailspin this week.
-G

Bush Coverup T-shirt

O.K., Bluenecks. You wanted something anti-Bush and and anti-war, and we’ve got it for you! My old friend Scott Combs is an advertising art director in Detroit. He designed this great graphic and we’ve put in on an organic made-in-America t-shirt and baby doll shirt available through the fine folks at Cafe Press. All profits go to Cindy Sheehan’s Gold Star Families for Peace. Click on the title above to buy. This shirt design is not available anywhere else.Click here to buy.

What Now, Losers?

OK, Democrats, here’s the deal. You’re the party of our parents and my grandparents, but you’ve lost widespread support from the generations that grew up with Reagan. You’ve lost the White House twice to a third-rate candidate who first lost the popular vote and was re-elected as a “War President.” You’ve completely lost the South. You’ve lost major labor states like Ohio. You’ve lost the Senate, the House, as well as the majority of state legislatures and governorships. So what do you plan to do about it, you losers?

The chips are down, and your back is against the wall. We Americans love a winner, but we love a come-from-behind winner even more. We’re looking for fourth-quarter miracles and candidates with heart. If the party can provide those candidates, we can wipe the floor with the GOP. It will be Rocky, Sea Bisquit, and the Bad News Bears all rolled into one.

Here’s our Blueneck to-do list for Democrats. It really ain’t complicated. so give it a read, you losers.

• Show some backbone. Paul Hackett did it when he called Bush a “chickenhawk SOB.” Don’t back away from a fight.
  
  
• Speak out against White House war policy. It is illegal. It is based on lies. It is devolving toward civil war. Our soldiers are dying and the White House has abandoned it goals there.
  
  
• Focus on the pocketbook issues like taxes, minimum wage, worker’s rights, and affordable health care for all.
  
  
• Talk about the price of gas and renewable energy! This is the number one pocketbook issue right now. Make it a patriotic duty to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.
  
  
• Preach that tolerance is a family value. The Civil Rights legacy should be continued with women’s rights and gay rights. Reject “marriage bills” and talk about gay rights as American Rights.
  
  
• Stop being afraid to lose. Stand up for democratic principles regardless of the polls. Make unpopular stands. Be consistent. Voters would rather see us lose with strength and conviction than win by imitating the GOP.
  
  
• Stop acting like Republicans. Help the poor, fight for strong public schools, educate the public on real healthcare reforms.
  
  
• Talk ethics, morality and spirituality. God is not a member of the Republican Party. Dems should talk about “beliefs” not just “policies.” Believe in what you say and speak with conviction.
  
  
• Stop boring people. Gore did it in 2000. Let’s not make that mistake again. We want candidates with heart and personality.
  
  
• Give America a heartfelt civics lesson. What would universal healthcare really mean? Who will be paying for the staggering budget deficit? What are justifications for going to war? What does the word “liberal” really mean?
  
  
• Pay attention to the Southern leaders you still have in the South. John Edwards hit all the right themes of economic and social justice.
  
  
• Remind us of our past accomplishments. Franklin Roosevelt saved America from the depression and won WWII. President Kennedy signed a nuclear test ban treaty, created the Peace Corps and inspired liberal values. Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill. Jimmy Carter got a peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel. President Clinton created jobs, balanced the budget, and paid off the national debt.
  
  
• Show us some new accomplishments. Barack Obama inspired us at the ’04 Democratic convention. Howard Dean demanded change in party leadership and energized grassroots supporters. Paul Hackett showed us how to speak truth to power and run a great underdog campaign.
  

post your suggestions for Democrats by clicking the "comments" link below. — T

Another Mad Mama

"Once you die for this country, they forget who you are...People should find out what they can do to protest against this war tobring these troops home."
--Patricia Roberts
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Cindy Sheehan back home for other family business, other Iraq Moms are emerging to stand in solidarity and call for an end to the war. Patricia Roberts, whose son Specialist Jamaal Addison was the first Georgian to die in Iraq back in 2003, has picked up the banner. Read her story here.

Talking Iraq Headline Blues

There appears to be no good news coming out of Iraq. My latest web surfing came up with these stories:

• HAGEL: IRAQ GROWING MORE LIKE VIETNAM
  (CNN) — Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska on Thursday said the United States is “getting more and more bogged down” in Iraq and stood by his comments that the White House is disconnected from reality and losing the war....GOP Senator Chuck Hagel also did not back away from comments he made in June to U.S. News and World Report that “the White House is completely disconnected from reality” and “the reality is that we’re losing in Iraq.“....On another Iraq-related issue, Hagel said Bush made the wrong decision by not meeting again with Cindy Sheehan.“I think the wise course of action, the compassionate course of action, the better course of action would have been to immediately invite her in to the ranch. It should have been done when this whole thing started. Listen to her.”
  
  
• BUSH’S NUMBERS IN FREEFALL
  A new survey at surveyusa.com shows that Bush’s approval ratings are in the thirties in many blue states. Nixon’s numbers got that low just before Watergate. He resigned to avoid impeachment....His approval is only 43% even here in Tennessee. The national average based on population is 41%.
  
  
• DUNCAN IS DOVE-ISH
  “There is just no enthusiasm for this war,” said Representative John J. Duncan Jr., a Tennessee Republican who opposes the war. “Nobody is happy about it. It certainly is not going to help Republican candidates, I can tell you that much.”
  
  
• “DEAD WRONG” ON CNN TOMORROW NIGHT
  Also from CNN, a special airing Sunday includes an interview with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, aide to Colin Powell, who says his involvement in the former secretary of state’s presentation to the United Nations on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was “the lowest point” in his life....Wilkerson is one of several insiders interviewed for the CNN Presents documentary “Dead Wrong — Inside an Intelligence Meltdown.” The program, which airs Sunday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET, pieces together the events leading up to the mistaken WMD intelligence that was presented to the public. A presidential commission that investigated the pre-war WMD intelligence found much of it to be “dead wrong.”
  
  
• 3 SUNNIS PROMOTING VOTE SLAIN IN IRAQ
  BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Masked gunmen killed three Sunni Arabs in front of horrified witnesses outside a mosque in Mosul on Friday, after grabbing them as they hung posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in a referendum on the new constitution.
  
  
• COMBAT STRESS UNIT RETURNS TO IRAQ
  By Denise Lavoie / Associated Press
  BOSTON — Members of the 883rd Medical Company treat the kinds of wounds that can’t be seen but are sometimes just as damaging as physical injuries. The “combat stress control” unit, which heads to Iraq on Friday for a second deployment, offers counseling and advice to soldiers who may be suffering from anxiety, depression, insomnia and a host of other psychological problems associated with combat.
  
  
• GAS PRICES HIT RECORD HIGH FOR TENTH STRAIGHT DAY
  By John W. Schoen / MSNBC
  With just a few weeks left in the summer driving season, consumers are wondering just what it will take to put the brake on gas prices. For the last ten days in a row, pump prices set new records. And with inventories of gas at a new five-year low, refiners are having trouble keeping up with demand.
  
  
• LETTERS FROM MOMS POUR INTO CRAWFORD
  Craford update from bloggers
  “We definitely deserve some foot massages tonight! This afternoon, over 100 of us marched three miles from Camp Casey to the gate of President Bush’s ranch in 90 degree heat, all to deliver hundreds of letters written by women to Laura Bush. Our marching group ranged from infants to octogenarians, and was led by some really gutsy moms.”
  

Message from a Military Dad

Last night 100 people in Knoxville stood in a circle, lit candles, and said the names of soldiers we know and love in Iraq. People did the same in 1500 other vigils in towns like Westport, Connecticut; Goshen, New York; Lumpoc, California; and Norman, Oklahoma. That’s right, Mr. President, there are people in little burgs all over the country who think you have some explaining to do.

Here’s an excerpt from an email I recieved after organizing a candlelight vigil in Knoxville last night. It’s from a Republican father named William:

I spoke to you after the vigil and I told you that I had a son 9 years old and that I thought that he would be of draft age before this is over. You told me that Sec. Rumsfeld had made statements indicating a 12 year military commitment. That old relic will be dead before this is over but my son will be expected to go and die (or kill) in a mess he helped create? I don’t think so.

This war can be ended now. The political rationale was false and therefore the war was lost from the beginning. The US must negotiate with the Sunnis rebels and end this now. There is no longer a military solution.

By the way, I grew up in the military. My father is a disabled Vietnam veteran and retired from the US Air Force. Also, I am probably best classified as a Republican. But like one fellow said when he spoke out at the vigil. He said, “This isn’t about politics, this is about what is right and what we want America to be…“.

Thanks again for your efforts. Please keep me on your mailing list for future action. My contributions to this effort are not heroic, this is what husbands and fathers do to protect their families.

I have done little liberal gatherings before. Rallies, protests, etc. I’m always glad that I did them afterward for myself, but they seem so limited in their effect. I’m glad the tone was solemn last night, and that we avoided the kind of spleen-venting that might drive away people like William — the folks who have “skin in the game,” as Cindy would say.

I have no family members in the military, but a buddy of mine named Jason Purcell is there. He’s engaged to be married stateside in less than a month. I hope he makes it home. I wish he didn’t have to go back, but because of a trumped-up war, he does.

When my mom said she would want to hit President Bush for calling her “Mom,” she wasn’t reacting politically. She was acting like a parent. William was doing the same. I think Cindy Sheehan has remade her mother’s despair into calm, loving, righteous anger — the kind of unstoppable force that can turn the tide in this war. — T

War News from the Volunteer State

Early Sunday three Tennessee Army National Guardsmen died when their Knoxville-based unit came under hostile fire. Staff Sgt. Asbury F. Hawn, 35, of Lebanon; Sgt. Shannon D. Taylor, 30, of Smithville; and Specialist Gary L. Reese, 22, of Ashland City died at Tuz Khurmatu near Tikrit. In a summer marked by larger I.E.D. explosions, Coalition Forces have now lost 2050 soldiers in Iraq. Tennessee has lost 41.

In related news, a triple bombing at a Baghdad bus station and hospital killed 43 today.

On Monday, Tennesse’s Senator Frist made an unannounced visit to Alcoa’s Midland Restaurant to meet and greet constituents. He talked about stem cell research, social security, and other issues over breakfast with patrons.

When asked by a reporter about troop levels in Iraq, Frist replied that “it is critical that we take the war to the terrorists” or they would bring the war to us “as we saw on 9/11.” He said emphatically that terrorists would come to this county and this state, and that troops would not be out of Iraq for “a long time, maybe years.”

When will GOP leaders stop making the connection between 9/11 and Iraq when the 9/11 Commission reports there is none? Bush decided to invade Iraq shortly after 9/11, despite questions about the hunt for Al qaeda and about a greater threat from North Korea. Furthermore, military leaders like retired Marine General Anthony Zinni said over a year ago that Rumsfeld had ignored warnings about potential problem in Iraq. CIA advisors report that more Muslim extremists are creating terror in Baghdad today than before he U.S. invasion and occupation.

The American peace movement has been slow to build, but Sheehan’s vigil in Crawford. Cindy has captured the attention of American families wondering why we are in Iraq and when we will get out. — T

This Moment

Cindy Sheehan's vigil is giving new life to the peace movement. You can feel the swelling energy even on this blog. This may be developing into a major turning point for anti-war activists. Bruce Shapiro, blogging for The Nation, acknowledges that August is a slow news month and the White House press corps has nothing else to do with the President holed up in Crawford, but nevertheless, something seems to be happening, and time appears to be ripe, what with 61 percent of Americans now saying they oppose our current policy in Iraq.

But Shapiro notes that every major turning point in public perception of the war has come as a result of some brave soul's act of civil disobedience, from the leaking of the Abu Grahib photos to the decision of military lawyers to go public on the abuse of prisoners at Guantanomo. If you are against this war, let's pour it on and see if we can really start shifting the momentum!

Knoxville Vigil

Wednesday August 17, 7:30 PM
Volunteer Landing by Calhouns on the River
Bring a candle

Cindy Sheehan, mother of Army Specialist Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq, continues her vigil outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. She was recently joined by more moms who lost a child in Iraq and other military families. Meanwhile President Bush continues his five-week vacation and pledged Thursday to keep U.S. troops in Iraq—-meaning more moms will lose a child.

Cindy has asked supporters to start candlelight vigils in their communities to support her and call for an end to the war. So, Bluenecks is teaming up with MoveOn, True Majority and Democracy for America to host Vigils for Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday, August 17th, to show our solidarity with Cindy. Over 880 other vigils are being held nationwide.

Our vigil will be simple and dignified. Together, we’ll acknowledge the sacrifices made by Cindy Sheehan, her son, Casey and the more than 1,800 brave American men and women who have given their lives in Iraq—and their moms and families.

Support Cindy!

Cindy Sheehan — the mom that challenged the president — has put a face on the peace movement and become a hero to millions. Cindy says in a recent blog posting that “we have the power,” and I think it’s true. Polls show a large majority of Americans do not support the war. Still, Cindy is being attacked by right-wing ideologues like Bill O’Reilly. She can really use our help.

Here’s our first Blueneck photo showing how easy it is to send a message that you support Cindy Sheehan. This is my vehicle with a simple message on the back window. I got the “window chalk” from a local party store. The whole thing took me five minutes or less.

Write this simple message and see how many honks and thumbs up you get. Better yet, get ten friends to write on their cars and drive in circles honking your horns at the local TV station. Apparently International press coverage is not enough!

Bush’s Bummer Summer

It’s vacation time for Bush — yet again — but he can’t seem to enjoy the little league games, mountain biking and barbeques as much as he used to. The summer has become a bit of a drag for the lame duck “war president.”

In Iraq today the administration announced it has given up on a few little things like a model democracy, an oil industry run by Iraq, or on basic security and economic goals. It’s unclear whether there will even be a constitution to vote on in in Baghdad tomorrow. And fourteen soldiers died recently in the deadliest roadside bombing so far.

Back home things are not much better for Republicans. After years of toeing the line, Frist has split with the President over stem cell research. GOP incumbent Congresswoman Jean Schmidt just barely won an election against Democratic Iraq war vet Paul Hackett after Hacket called the President a “chicken hawk.” Republican Lobbyist Abramoff’s indictment theatens Tom Delay. Republican Senators are promising to amend the president’s defense bill to change the Pentagon’s treatment of terror suspects in U.S. custody. And finally, there’s a grand jury investigation into the Plame outing that has shown Karl Rove to be a little less than truthful on some important points.

Another summer bummer for Bush has been his approval numbers. They are in the toilet at 42%, with more drops likely if the war drags on and more White House scandals are revealed. Back in 1973 Nixon’s approval numbers tanked in the 30s with the help of another blundered war and a scandalized White House.

But the real burr under Bush’s saddle is a sunburned mother standing outside his ranch in Crawford who refuses to go home until she talks to Bush. She has the nerve to want a reason why her son had to die in Iraq. Bush has responded by making a statement to the press, Then cruising past her in his armored limo with the windows rolled up, on his way to another Republican fundraiser.

After all, he is on vacation. — T

Mama’s Still Mad

Supermom Cindy Sheehan is still at it in Crawford, and this is one Mama’s boy that’s cheering her on. Seven days into her protest, there has been more media buzz over this mom standing by the road than any march anywhere. In a few more days she will be able to lead an army of moms on Washington. Friday she had over 700 visitors.

This quote is from her blog at the Huffington Post:

November 2, 2004 was not George Bush’s accountability moment: today is. We are finished allowing him to get away with deceiving the American public and abusing his power. We are mad as hell and we’re not taking it anymore.

Here’s Cindy’s TV spot. It’s being aired in Waco and other markets where Bush can see it.

He’s Made Mama Mad

It’s the “dog days” of summer here in the south, a time to stay inside and run the air conditioner if you have one. For those who work outside there’s not much to do but sweat. It can put you in a real bad mood. Outside the president’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, one California woman has been sweating. Sweating and waiting.

For a week now, Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, has camped out hoping to talk to her son’s Commander-in-Chief. Casey was 24 when his unit was attacked in Baghdad. He was killed April 4 of last year, only five days after his arrival. Now his mama wants to know why. For video coverage of the story, click here.

Bush met Cindy Sheehan and other grieving families in an orchestrated show of sympathy months ago, but Sheehan felt she didn’t get answers from the president she blames for her son’s death. Sheehan said that Bush called her “Mom” during the meeting and gave her the sense that he didn’t know who her son was. W is not known for grace in social settings, but calling someone else’s grieving mother “Mom” is about as smart as waving a red flag in front of a bull.

I read this story aloud to my mother over lunch this week. My steel magnolia mama finished chewing her barbeque and green beans, swallowed, and paused. I knew from years of experience that she Was About to Say Something. I waited.

“I think,” she said evenly, “that if he said that to me I’d want to hit him.”

A Southern blueneck mama speaks. Now, in the interest of National Security I should point out that my mama has never laid a finger on another person, yet alone a politician, though she did put my brothers and I back on the path of righteousness a few times with a yardstick. I hope the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t drag my mama off to Gitmo for speaking her mind. That has become dangerous lately. And speaking of dangerous statements, earlier this week Cindy Sheehan said:

It’s hot out here. I was out here all night. Yesterday I got really sick from the heat. And he’s the leader of the country and he needs to show some leadership. He needs to show that he has a heart and to meet with the mother of a war hero.

Careful, Mama Sheehan. I think complaining about the heat may be covered somewhere in the Patriot Act. Anyway, by this morning the papers were saying that 100 people had joined Sheehan in the Crawford Texas heat. So has a small army of reporters. Cindy Sheehand has buried her soldier son, she wants some answers, and America is waiting. Now that sixty-one percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s Iraq policy, the name “Cindy Sheehan” is burning up the search engines, and op-ed columns are filling the newspapers, it might be time for the president to interrupt his vacation.

I’d suggest that Bush revise his war policy, roll down his limo window, and try a little human decency. — T

related links:

• Real Voices
  
• Iraq Veterans Against the War
  
• Gold Star Families for Peace
  

Witness for Peace

Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he is on a month-long vacation, is getting some great press. Sheehan's son was killed in Iraq. She's posted outside the Bush compound until he goes back to work in Washington or until he agrees to meet with her. Read her blog here.
-G

Bellweather Election?

Don't know how many have heard about this, but a significant special Congressional election took place up in Ohio earlier this week. The election pitted an extremely well-funded Republican lawmaker against an upstart Iraq war veteran running on the Democratic ticket. Veteran Paul Hacket was a long-shot in the overwhelmingly Republican district, and he ran, in part, on the futility of our war effort in Iraq. Hacket lost, but just barely, claiming 48% of the vote. In a GOP stronghold, this is a very good sign for progressives, not only that the tide may be turning on the effort to bring home the troops, but for the 2006 mid-term elections as well. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
-G

Blueneck Jokes

TGIF Folks. It’s the 40th annniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and tomorrow’s the 60th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Both very Important and Serious Things. But I’m feeling goofy. It’s the end of summer. I’m picking peaches and making margaritas. Here are a few Friday Blueneck jokes.

You might be a blueneck if...

• your country club is the local union hall.
  
• you’ve ever taken a job at the Dixie Mart just for the health insurance.
  
• your uncle bought the November 1976 Playboy just for the Jimmy Carter interview.
  
• you’ve ever had to siphon gas from your lawn mower to put into your truck.
  
• you root for the little guy, even if he weighs 280 pounds.
  
• your kid goes to a public school.
  
• your whole family is Democrat—even your cousin at Brushy Mountain.
  

Voting Rights Act Turns 40

Forty years ago President Johnson, a Democrat from Texas, signed the Voting Rights Act into law after decades of brutal racial discrimination. This legislation stopped southern states from imposing restrictions on black voters. Johnson said, “Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes.” This outspoken support for Civil Rights surprised many of the movements leaders after the assassination of John Kennedy, who’d campaigned for a Civil Rights Act before his tragic assassination in 1963.

The previous summer, in 1964, college students had come from New York to the south to register black voters. Three of them had been killed, and their murder attracted the attention of President Kennedy. Their murder was investigated by Kennedy’s brother Bobby, and the Civil Rights Act was signed into law.

The next spring, in 1965 a group in Alabama began a march to the state capitol in Montgomery to protest restrictions against black voters. The marchers were confronted at the Edmond Pettus Bridge where they were beaten and gassed by the Alabama Police before they could get out of Selma. Two days later Martin Luther King came to lead them again to the bridge where the police had turned them back. After a Federal judge ruled that the marchers could continue despite disrupting traffic, 3200 people marched from Selma to Montgomery.

Later, one of those marchers taught high school high in Nashville, Tennessee. Lois R. Dunn was an exacting teacher — the kind that had high expectations and ran her classroom accordingly. I know because she was my Freshman and my Junior English teacher.

When we wrote essays, she circled every misspelled word. When we wrote poetry, she taught us iambic pentameter. When we read To Kill a Mockingbird, we talked about why Atticus Finch defended a black man accused of raping a white woman in the South. Like Finch, Mrs. Dunn was a woman of standards.

The route from Selma to Montgomery has now become a National Historic Trail. Mrs. Dunn has no doubt retired from teaching. But a whole slew of kids from Nashville understand spelling, grammar, poetry and human justice a little better because of a black college student who walked across a bridge in Alabama.-T

Maybe Nobody Will Notice

I believe that John Bolton would have been fired if he’d worked for a major corporation.... Mr. Chairman, it is my opinion that John Bolton is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be.
— Sen. George Voinovich, R-OH

The president did the right thing by sending Mr Bolton to the UN. He is a smart, principled and straightforward candidate and will represent the president and America well on the world stage.
— Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist R-TN

It seems that the President was hoping nobody would notice. In a calculated move to avoid more bad publicity for a lame duck President down in the polls, Bush used a loophole to directly appoint John Bolton to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Congress supposed to debate and discuss this stuff? That’s why we elect these guys, right? Bush doesn’t think so. He slipped it past while they are all out of session.

“Yeah, so what,” you say. “why shouldn’t the President get his choice?”

Well, there is the itty bitty fact that this guy despises the U.N. If I wanted a job I probably wouldn’t bad-mouth the organization during my interview. Not Bolton. He was quoted during hearings as having said that if the UN building “lost 10 storys today, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” Doesn’t exactly sound like the guy who’s gonna get the job, does it? He also said America is the world’s “only real power” and said UN nation-building projects should “be relegated to history’s junk pile.” Sounds more like he was trying not to get the job to me.

And judging by Frist’s comment supporting a loophole appointment, he must have the same attitude. Maybe he’s trying not to be President.

God's Politics

As Southern liberals, we Bluenecks were raised in the church and our sense of social justice is shaped by our faith experience. One of the great frustrations for Bluenecks is seeing how Christianity has been coopted by conversatives. In fact, the so-called Religious Right is probably the single most potent weapon in the Republicans electoral arsenal.

It’s high time that religious progressives started speaking up. Sojourners magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jim Wallis, is one of those progressives who has been speaking up for some time now. His latest book, God’s Politics, has become a best-seller.

Below is Jim Wallis’ latest e-mail message to Sojourners e-mail subscribers. Wallis points out how the newfound interest in bashing the Religious Left by members of the Religious Right is a very good sign:

Joe Loconte is on a mission to make sure all religion in America (or at least the political expressions thereof) will be dependably right-wing, like his Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation. Any moderate or, worse, “progressive” religious deviation from the Republican Party line is anathema to Joe, who feels called to stamp out such heresies.

In his recent Wall Street Journal commentary, “From Gospel to Government,” published July 1, 2005, Loconte, a Heritage Foundation fellow, derides all such progressive religious groups as having “no obvious grassroots constituency,” as being “composed mostly of mainline clergy and church elites who are often culturally out of step with the rank and file,” and as people who “treat traditional religion with either suspicion or outright contempt.” Wow. That certainly is true for the “secular fundamentalists” who exercise the same undue influence over the Democratic Party as the “religious fundamentalists” do over the Republican Party, but certainly not for orthodox Catholic and evangelical Christians (like me) who simply don’t share Loconte’s right-wing politics. It’s hard to find ourselves in Loconte’s diatribes.

He charges that such non-Religious Right heretics “leap directly from the Bible to contemporary politics” without the proper theological and political nuances. Interesting. Wasn’t it Religious Right leaders who in a Nashville “Justice Sunday” event said that Christians who don’t support all of President Bush’s judicial nominees are not really “people of faith?” “Imagine my surprise,” said an evangelical seminary professor from Asbury, Kentucky, at an alternative religious service when he realized that despite his biblically orthodox upbringing, he was not really a Christian unless he backed the Republican president’s choices for the federal court. In his op-ed, Loconte attacked “religious progressives” for being “allied” with George Soros and MoveOn.Org when I know of no connections to those liberal funders and groups that are as direct as the Religious Right’s ties to right-wing funders and think tanks such as Loconte’s Heritage Foundation. Perhaps a good test of religious independence would be to examine how critical faith leaders and groups are of their natural political allies. I’d love to compare the religious left and right on that score.

Loconte referenced the “best-selling book God’s Politics” that I wrote and accused me of deriving from Isaiah a “blueprint for government welfare spending.” On that book tour (in which we spoke to the constituency Loconte claims none of us have), we reached nearly 70,000 people face to face over 21 weeks in 53 cities and reached millions more through the media. What I found was a silent majority of moderate and progressive religious people who don’t feel represented by the shrill tones and ideological agenda of the Religious Right, nor the disdainful attitudes toward religion from the secular left. But they do feel that poverty is a moral value and religious issue (there are 3,000 verses on the poor in the Bible), that protecting the environment (otherwise known as God’s creation) is also matter of good faith and stewardship, and that the ethics of war — whether we go to war, when we go to war, and whether we tell the truth about going to war — are profoundly religious matters. The people I met don’t see federal spending as the only answer to poverty (and neither do I), but they do believe that budgets are moral documents and that all of society is responsible (public, private, and civil society sectors — including faith-based organizations) for working together to overcome poverty.

In a recent National Public Radio commentary, Loconte accused all churches and religious groups who had questions about the war in Iraq of being hopelessly utopian pacifists, and invoked the example of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s opposition to Hitler as the more realistic path. The problem is that Pope John Paul II, who opposed the war in Iraq, and the current Pope Benedict are not pacifists. Nor are the majority of church bodies around the world who studied the rationales for the war in Iraq (including the majority of evangelical churches worldwide) and concluded it did not fit the traditional just war categories. And Niebuhr, suggest many of his students (including his theologian daughter), would have been quite alarmed at the Bush theology in the war on terrorism, which too easily sees our adversaries as evil and us as good, denying the evil that runs through all human hearts and nation states.

So what’s Joe’s problem? I think he’s worried about what I saw and felt around the country as I met the constituency he hopes doesn’t exist. The monologue of the Religious Right is now over, and a new dialogue has just begun on the application of faith and values to politics. Joe wants the Religious Right’s monologue to continue and to make sure that no serious dialogue about faith and politics in America gets a chance to really begin. His attacks do, however, serve one useful purpose. He gives credible evidence to the subtitle of God’s Politics: Why the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn’t get it.”

Stop the Politics—Stem Cells Save Lives!

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s dramatic decision to break with the White House by supporting expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research exposed a deep split among Republicans and set the stage for President Bush’s first veto.
— article from USA Today

Last Friday GOP Presidential hopeful Frist broke with the President over Federal funding for stem cell research. My question is “What took you so long, Doctor?”

Many doctors agree that cell therapies could soon bring dramatic cures for Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease, MS, Alzheimers, Juvenile Diabetes, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, leukemia, cancer, and a host of other diseases. Cell therapies have also shown great promise in helping to repair catastrophic spinal injuries, and helping victims of paralysis regain movement. So why did Frist, who is a doctor himself, go along with Bush in 2001? Could it have been, oh, politics maybe?

Though stem cells can come from adult organs and tissues and umbilical cord blood, the best sources for the multi-morphing pluripotent stem cells are therapeutic cloning, aborted fetuses and frozen embryos from fertility treatments. Many anti-abortion groups want to ban stem cell treatments as somehow “encouraging” abortions. But even conservatives like Nancy Reagan support it’s use for curing diseases like Alzheimers. Proponents see stem cell donation as a way to benefit others after fertility treatments and abortions. Here’s the ethical question for thoughtful pro-lifers: would women have abortions just to get stem cells? Of course not. Let’s stop the politics, Republicans. Stem cells save lives.

Four years ago the Bush administration marched in lock step with anti-abortion groups to ban federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Bush was applauded by many pro-lifers who scarcely understood or cared about the medical issues. Another bill to increase federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is coming up for a Senate vote, but Bush has already promised to veto it. The trouble is that GOP Senators are waking up to the reality that Bush is down in the polls, is a lame duck, and that they need to distance themselves from his extreme positions. I have a suggestion for the constituents back home: vote for the party that is working for real health care. Vote Democrat. -T