The Hippies Were Right!

Amazing Things

Amazing things are possible
when we all get along

HAPPY NEW YEAR

IMAGINE PEACE

Think PEACE, Act PEACE, Spread PEACE

[click photo]

Imagine Peace Tower 1/1/09, 1:30 AM GMT.
(12/31/08, 5:30 PM PST.)

May this year be much better than the last!

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Veterans for PeaceProtest at the National Archives

[h/t Big Dan]

The Veterans for Peace have once again taken over the front steps of the National Archives building in Washington D.C. calling for the arrest of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney on War Crime charges for the debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From After Downing Street: Link
From OpEd News: Link
More at YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OJFt0Boj1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weAy8OvcfUo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VThVcF0bZY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjVjp4a2PZM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkP1gcq_XjA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-JuMCAl2cE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1CeFMg5EOk

Adam Kokesh

One More Parade

[Phil Ochs]

Universal Soldier

ENOUGH!

4,000
.
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Counting Sheep To the Rythm of the War Drum

Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan

5 YEARS TOO MANY

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Bluebear's Working

BB2's Placard.

[click to enlarge]

LINK

Luminary Peace Sign


Full Moon over Peace Sign

Photo journal of the events of the day.

Yesterday I attended a protest against the Iraq War held on the fifth anniversary of George Bush's escapades in the region. What began as "Shock and Awe" has proven to be just plain awful. Based on lies and doctored evidence we were dragged into this quagmire by Bush's personal vendetta against Saddam Husein as well as a desire to control the worlds second largest oil field. In the process nearly 4,000 American Soldiers have died, thousands upon thousands have been wounded. Of those wounded many are dealing with a life of physical and emotional scars which will never heal.

Blogging about it for a year and a half somehow soothed me enough so as to feel I was doing something. While I was always on the front lines of the protest movement against the Vietnam war it had now become easy to let others stand on the corners with their placards, while I drove by honking and waving a peace sign in support.

Recently I have been moved more towards direct action. Email solicitations from Moveon.org asked me to sign up to attend the candle light vigil being held at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento preceded by an anti-war demonstration.
The thought of attending kept bouncing around in my head until yesterday morning as I was looking at the piece of foam board sitting in the corner of my room.
Suddenly it occurred to me it would be perfect for a protest sign.

I was off and running, digging through all the downloaded photos on my computer, printing them out, cutting them up and pasting them onto the foam board. A grape stake and some duct tape to attach it completed the sign. After a couple of slivers the handle was also wrapped with duct tape.

First I headed downtown to another protest I had heard about, but upon arriving I found that the rechargeable batteries for my camera had gone bad. In the time it took to make the preliminary settings on the camera the freshly charged batteries had already died. Fortunately I have a charger that works in my car, so wishing to take pictures later, I decided to forgo the demonstration at the Capital and instead get new batteries and get them charging for later.

That was the first battery snafu. The second occurred when I arrived at the later protest, parked and walked six blocks to the event only to discover the dang batteries were still in the charger in my car. Not only did I exercise my rights, but my legs as well!

The Sacramento protest was held at the intersection of Howe Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard during the afternoon rush hour from 4:30 to 6:30PM. This is one of the top 2 intersections for traffic volume in the Sacramento region.

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Cynthia McKinney - Green Party Candidate

www.runcynthiarun.org
!

DemoKracy

Abjeez

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DU Storm

When my friend and fellow blogger Homeyra sent me this photo my first thought was that this was a dramatic photo of a natural event which occurs frequently in desert areas such as Iraq.

Then I took a trip to neufneuf where Agent 99 reminded me of something.

For the last 4 1/2 years, as well as during the Gulf War, we have been disposing of tons of radioactive waste in the form of Depleted Uranium all over the Iraqi countryside. Pulverized into minute particles upon penetrating tanks and the like, it is easily inhaled but remains in the lungs causing damage over time.

Also blamed for birth defects and other abnormalities, traces of it have been found on the wind as far away as Europe and other areas surrounding the Mideast.

So not only is that dust cloud obnoxious, it is

RADIOACTIVE!
STOP THE WAR
BAN DU

Before He Invades

Imagine

[click on photo]

IMAGINE PEACE

The Dedication

The Choir

Another Better President Than Ours

Fancy that, without even graduating from Yale....

September 15th Antiwar Protest in D.C.

This past Saturday the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the Iraq Veterans for Peace held a protest in Washington D.C. asking for an end to the war in Iraq and prevention of a war with Iran. Up to 100,000 people took part including a march from the White House to the Capitol Building where 5,000 to 6,000 people performed a Die-in on the steps of the Capitol.

Some of the scenes along the way:


From the Capitol lawn and die-in:


Cindy Sheehan Speaks:


Ramsey Clark Speaks:


Ralph Nader takes the Democrats to task:


AFL-CIO District President Fred Mason speaks:


Iraq War Veterans Arrested:

New National Security Threat: Putting Up Anti-War Posters

From an email issued today by ANSWER coalition:

Police suppress Sept. 15 anti-war press
conference across from White House

Three anti-war activists were arrested in front of the White House today after the U.S. Park Police moved to suppress a press conference called to protest the fines and threats against the ANSWER Coalition for putting up anti-war posters promoting the September 15 March and Die-In in Washington DC.

The arrested were Tina Richards, CEO of Grassroots America and mother of Iraq War Veteran Cloy Richards; Adam Kokesh, the Co-Chair Elect of the Iraq Veterans Against the War and member of Veterans for Peace; and Ian Thompson, an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition.

The press conference became a chaotic scene as U.S. Park Police interrupted the event on the basis that there was no permit for a folding table that was used as a speaker’s stand for media microphones. As U.S. Park Police officers surrounded the group, an officer on horseback rode into the crowd to disperse the media and onlookers.

Tina Richards and Adam Kokesh had announced that they would put a September 15 March to Stop the War poster on a lamppost following the press conference. The ANSWER Coalition has been fined over $30,000 in the last three weeks in an unprecedented action aimed at suppressing the September 15 mobilization. The three were taken to the Central District Substation of the United States Park Police. They will later be transferred to a jail in which they will spend the night before being arraigned in U.S. Superior Court tomorrow afternoon.

Attorneys at the Partnership for Civil Justice have filed a Free Speech lawsuit to strike down the unconstitutional postering law. The ANSWER Coalition has refused to pay these illegal fines.

Momentum continues to build for the September 15 Mass March, which will be led by Iraq War Veterans and their family members. More than 100 cities are mobilizing to bring people by bus, van and car caravan. The September 15 March will culminate with a large scale Die-In/Funeral for U.S. servicemembers and Iraqis who have been killed in this criminal war of aggression.

For details, go to www.Sept15.org.

In Memoriam

Prayers were offered for a nuclear-free world at a ceremony marking the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II, held Monday at the Peace Memorial Park in the city.

"Here in the 21st century, the time has come when problems can actually be solved through the power of the people," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba declared.

Akiba said he would call for the elimination of nuclear weapons, as it is the will of humanity, at a general meeting of the United Cities and Local Governments, an international organization of municipalities, to be held in South Korea in October.

LINK

DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!