'Cos I move like THEY do...

Eight days ago, I saw the video of the second meeting Veterans for Peace held with Congressman John Conyers and ran completely out of patience.

The wrongdoing of this administration is clear. We have been presented with lie after lie and excuse after excuse by this complicit Congress for a lack of movement on the impeachment issue. The Bush administration has been cited with NINE subpoenas by Congress that they have completely ignored.

Yesterday the excuse was that "they aren't getting enough calls". Are we not supposed to know due to the media blackout on the subject that Veterans for Peace presented 23,000 signature petition for impeachment on June 11th? Are we supposed to be unable to see the 1011478 signatures here or the 249184 signatures here?

Hopefully this won't get missed in all the FISA/Obama fallout.

Today, members of Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, Pax Christi, Veterans for Peace and of course... CodePink descended en masse upon Rep. Ackerman's office in Bayside, Queens. Pictured are myself, Judi Gardner, our wonderful "peace crone" Charlotte Koons, and Sue Donnelly.

While Judi met with Rep. Ackerman's Long Island staffers, Medea Benjamin and the DC group confronted Ackerman himself in Washington DC - ironically enough, IN HIS OWN HOUSEBOAT!

More below the fold...

Sorry for the short diary...

Early this morning I found an unusual email from Medea Benjamin waiting for me in my inbox. It seems that last week when she was arrested in Florida, they confiscated her Global Exchange press pass, and could I make her another one?

Ever since I figured out how to duplicate Medea's press pass for other members of CodePink, I have been doing so with her blessing. Since Medea is the founding director and CEO of Global Exchange as well as one of the founders of CodePink, how I implemented it may be a bit of a hack; but it is quite legitimate insofar that yes, these are valid press passes for a news organization, created with the full knowledge and permission of the company director.

Now, ironically, I was going to have to whip out a copy of the document that served as the original.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearing on detainee treatment will feature David Addington and John Yoo (under subpoena to appear) at 10:00 am (EDT).

It'll be on c-span3 and also on the committee website.

Please do not recommend this diary, recommend the Mothership.

While our rights are steadily eroded in the halls of Congress, the minions of fascism have been very busy this month on my local suburban streets. Their little trucks have been everywhere, administering to the telco infrastructure like bees to a well flowered meadow. Verizon and Optonline are the two big providers in my area, and if I was supposed to think that whatever they were doing over the last few weeks to our local wires boded any kind of well for me and mine, sorry to say but that wasn't going to happen.

But then Thor decided he'd had about enough of this.

On Thursday, June 5th, several members of CodePink's NYC and DC chapters attended a meeting with John Conyers on the subject of impeachment. Nancy Kricorian, the CodePink NYC coordinator, returned with a full report stating that Conyers had presented five points against impeachment that he wanted them to address. marktheshark wrote an excellent diary addressing that request which made the recommended list.

On June 9th, Dennis Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Bush which as of today have been sent to the House Judiciary for consideration.

It's time we let ourselves be heard in the offices of the members of the House Judiciary. My letter to Conyers is below the fold, along with some suggestions for how you can help.

On May 8th, Jes Richardson, Leslie Angeline and Medea Benjamin of CodePink crashed a Hillary fundraiser and managed to unfurl a banner protesting her remarks about "obliterating" Iran. Clinton's dismissive reaction as Jes was led from the room was to hope that "he didn't step on any of the cookies or the cakes."

Well Hillary and supporters, I am sorry to have to go to this extreme, but here it is...

Warning: graphic picture of some cookies and cakes that got stepped on below the fold...

Congress has heard from politicians, pundits, and generals, but not, up to this point, from the average boots-on-the-ground soldier.

On May 15th, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) begin the process of righting this imbalance with Winter Soldier on the Hill. Nine members of IVAW will testify under oath before the CPC about rules of engagement, the killing and abuse of civilians, the use of drop weapons, and the true consequences of the "surge."

"THE BLOOD OF A MILLION IRAQIS IS ON YOUR HANDS!"

Photo by Charles Dharapak of the Associated Press

Desiree Fairooz, CodePink's "house mama" and the gutsiest librarian from Texas you'll ever have the honor and pleasure to meet, has been found guilty only of a single "disorderly conduct" charge and given a 5 day suspended sentence, a $50 fine and 3 months unsupervised probation. She WAS facing up to a 180 day jail sentence and two counts of assaulting a police officer that were dismissed.

More beneath the fold...

Viggo Mortensen's "Master Chief" slaps around Demi Moore as "GI Jane" pretty badly at one point in the movie. They're doing SERE training, and he starts getting carried away with it because he doesn't want to actually see her pass the course and go into live combat situations.

So he pops her a good one in front of the rest of the trainees, who are frothing at the mouth seeing this guy beat up on a woman, and he's explaining to her that this is what the bad guys are gonna do for real and yadda yadda yadda like that, and she replies: "SUCK! MY! DICK!"

This totally destroys the whole scenario. All the guys crack up laughing, and it totally busts the Master Chief's balloon, and SERE training is over for the day, thank you, time to go home now.

Today I went to see Lioness, a movie about some of the women who are being thrust into combat situations for real.

We were at Smith Haven Mall just three weeks ago when the American casualty count reached 4000 wearing T-shirts with the message:  4000 Americans 1 million Iraqis DEAD. ENOUGH!  

The Mall said we disrupted the pleasant environment they strive to maintain for their shoppers.  They say the Mall is private property and their corporate ownership has the right to limit individual freedom of speech.

We say We will not be silent!  The American casualty count continues to climb.  Hundreds of Iraqis are killed each week.  The cost of this war that was based on lies is hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars and continues to grow.

More beneath the fold...

This girl I know peripherally because we follow the same religion... she was just kinda floating her way through life like a lot of us used to do. Making her own way, making her own choices. She'd disappear and resurface a few months later. Bad relationship here. Life lesson there.

She came from an abusive home, had psychological issues which got her kicked out of the Air Force during basic training. She was doing her best to be able to live on her own terms, trying to make an honest living. But she didn't have schooling, skills or support of any kind. So she ended up like a lot of them do.

She's pregnant. And her husband of six months, The One(tm) who finally tied her down, is about to deploy for Iraq.

Yesterday I became aware of an online interview with Jon Anderson. He is the lead singer of Yes (about to go on their 40th anniversary tour, incidentally) for those of you who are not 1970's dinosaurs like myself. As you go to the site, you'll notice some familiar faces at the top of the page. "Big Talker 1210" is yet another wholly-owned right wing talk radio that plays host to such hatemongers as Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Lielly.

Click on the interview links for the brain bleach to wash that crap away... you SO won't be sorry!

Newsday is one of the mainstream media outlets that has picked up the story about Margaret McMahon and Kevlyn Reid, two married Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton in California, who may have gone AWOL together in order to avoid being deployed to Al Anbar this summer. Originally it was thought that Reid had abducted his wife, but the condition of their apartment indicates that their disappearance was a premeditated (if poorly prepared for) decision. McMahon's ATM card was used to withdraw $400 in Missouri.

Coming hard on the heels of the release of the anti-war movie "Stop Loss", this situation highlights the dissent within the US military over the Iraq War more than anything that has come before it. However, it's important that military personnel know that they have resources and help available to them should they choose to go AWOL.

I'm putting this diary together to coordinate information and add a little informed backstory - not to take away from davefromqueens excellent diary on the subject, but to add some information I don't want to see lost in the sheer volume of comments on his diary.

It's ironic that my diary Friday announcing the Smithhaven Mall protest barely got a nod from the community, but I realize that's the way it goes sometimes (and I personally can't wait for the end of the candidate circus, le sigh). We would like to see a lot more of you at the next Long Island mall protest - and there WILL be a next one.

By now most of you know who this guy is: Don Zirkel, arrested for wearing an anti-war T-shirt in the Smithhaven shopping mall on Saturday.

Some of you have asked how to get his T shirt. I have that information and more, below the fold.

A volatile situation will escalate as a united front of New York and Long Island peace groups mark the 4000th American military death in Iraq with a rally at Smith Haven mall, tomorrow at 2pm.

"This is a sad and important milestone. We're saying enough: Bring the troops home," said Janet Egan of the Suffolk Peace Network, a coalition of Suffolk groups that is sponsoring the 2 p.m. rally along with the South Country Peace Group and other organizations.

The Suffolk groups will be joined by Nassau-based groups including the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives. Other organizations expected to take part include North Country Peace Group, Code Pink Long Island Women for Peace, Long Island Veterans for Peace, MoveOn and Pax Christi Long Island, the Catholic peace movement.

Additionally, CodePink will be handing out a certain number of FREE TICKETS to see the movie STOP LOSS the StonyBrook AMC/Loews!

More beneath the fold...

Mr. Spitzer, you might not be too glad to see the sun today, but I am sure you cannot help but notice that it rose, and I am sure it will do that again tomorrow, and a few more times after that.

You are the most recent casualty in a war that rages not overseas but right here at home. It's clear that what's being done to you has effects far beyond your family and your career.

In a way it's almost a compliment that they sat on this information for almost a month, deliberately timing it's release to the public to drive other issues off the front page - issues like the pursuit of a lawsuit to enforce Congressional subpoenas, new and massive exposure of NSA warrantless domestic surveillance, the death throes of our economy, and the impending Winter Soldier hearings.