Yesterday I got to stand with Women in Black again for the first time since going to Crawford. Today I will present the appropriate awards:

The Saddest Message Award goes to: The man in the truck who yelled, "Peace is the result of war." I HOPE he doesn't use this philosophy to bring peace to his wife and children.

The Most Poignant Act Award goes to: The man who walked up to us, shook the hand of each of us and thanked everyone of us. We don't get much foot traffic where we stand. This man had to make an effort to walk to where we were. He told us that he served in the military for 20 years and his son is in Iraq. He didn't appear to be against war, but he seemed sad and angry, saying that this is the wrong war.

The Most Dedicated Women in Blackers That I Know Award: The awesome women who stand in Lakewood, Colorado week after week. I love you guys!

We have reached 2400 U.S. dead from the Iraq war. My heart goes out to all of the families and friends of those who have died - Americans, Iraqis, Afghans, and all nationalities. My heart goes out to us all. We are all affected in so many ways.

"In dealing with a madman, people of common sense try not to provoke him to greater acts of madness. How Saddam's acts of violence were to be satisfactorily limited or controlled by our own acts of greater violence has not been explained...[The Gulf War] was, as any war must be, in part a war against ourselves. Even in winning, we lost. Many of our young people were killed or hurt - though we look on this as a bargain price for the massive slughter of our enemies. Our war industries are richer, but as a nation we are poorer...It was not just Saddam Hussein's world that we damaged; it was our world..."

Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community (quoted in Hell, Healing and Resistance)

Photo of Gaye and other women whose sons or husbands are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I have been reading Hell, Healing and Resistance by Daniel Hallock. I don't recommend this book. Then again, it should be required reading. It is awful. It is a compilation of war veterans stories. The stuff that makes nightmares. Vets get to live these nightmares every day.

The more I read and the more I am around Gaye, the more I realize that it is CRITICAL that we support these families and their sons and daughters, husbands and wives.

Here is the info on the Bake Sale for Body Armor that we will be holding. If you live in the area, please help us out. Not only are you helping to provide needed supplies to our soldiers (guess our defense budget isn't BIG ENOUGH), but you will be supporting Gaye and other family members who get to live with this catastrophe every day. Thank you.

What: Bake Sale for Body Armor (to benefit Gaye's son and other soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan)

When: Friday, May 5th and Saturday, May 6th (times to be determined)

Where: In Front of Applejack Liquor, 3320 Youngfield, Wheat Ridge, Colorado

Why: To support our troops by keeping them safe while they are overseas

How You Can Help:

1) Donate baked goods. Of course this only applies if you live in the Denver area ;-) Contact me, if you live here and can contribute.

2) Visit our table at Applejack's and purchase mouth-watering goodies

3) Donate funds at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
Or send a check to Bake Sales for Body Armor, PO Box 1118, Helena MT 59624

Background

Recently, Denver area women, Gaye, Karen, Judy, and Carol went to Crawford, TX to be a part of Camp Casey at Easter. Gaye's son is stationed in Afghanistan - previously serving in Iraq for seven months. While at Camp Casey, we met so many wonderful people, including vets and military families who took us in as a part of their family. We also met the co-founders of Bake Sales for Body Armor. Gaye's son previously had to buy his own gun cover in order to protect his gun from the desert sands. Troops are supplied with body armor, but are lacking in protection for sides and deltoids, and this is costing lives.

Mission of Bake Sales for Body Armor

Bake Sales for Body Armor! was formed in response to a Department of Defense Study that showed that 74 out of 93 Marines killed between March 2003 and June 2005 could have been saved by side protecting body armor that was not being provided for our troops. After a story outlining the plan to hold bake sales to purchase the armor ran in Stars and Stripes, a military journal, the army began sending large shipments of the much needed armor to troops in Iraq. While the urgent need for body armor seems to have passed, this has not been substantiated. Furthermore, we have learned that there are still unmet needs in Iraq including, medical supplies, and communications gear. Bake Sales for Body Armor will supply as much equipment as possible for soldiers deployed around the world.
For more info, go to http://www.bakesalesforbodyarmor.org

I posted the link to Peace Takes Courage earlier this month. At the time, I didn't realize that the site and videos were created by a fifteen-year-old! Check out Ava's site and, if you are moved to, send her words of encouragement. We need our young people to rise up and speak out. Ava is doing just that.

Peace Takes Courage
Cindy Sheehan

I have a new friend. She is a 15 year young peace activist named Ava Lowery. She is disgusted with the war and with the Bush regime and she started to use her talents for animation to make cartoons that oppose Bush and the war in Iraq.

She first came to my attention when I read an article about all of the ugly hate mail she is getting on her site for a particularly poignant and brilliant animation she has called: "WWJD." It is a heartbreaking piece that has a child singing: "Jesus loves me" and during the song she shows pictures of dead, wounded, bloody, and screaming Iraqi children. She wanted to show how Jesus loves Iraqi children also which is apparently a frightening concept to the people who practice Bushianity.

For this inspired bit of courageous matriotism, Ava has been the object of intense and horribly ugly hate emails and not too subtle threats to do her bodily harm. As soon as I heard about her troubles, I emailed her and she phoned me right away so we could talk.

Even before I went to Crawford last summer, I was the object of these attacks by many people who touted themselves as Christians doing God's work. The attacks are rabidly obscene and horrible in their rage and just downright meanness. There are entire websites dedicated to assailing me and my character and where such comments as: "Someone ought to do the world a favor and shoot the bitch in the head to shut her up," are common. During Camp Casey we had to refer more than one death threat to the FBI.

One particularly wicked threat was sent to me the night before I testified at Congressman Conyers' Downing Street Memo Hearings in June, I got an email from a man who said that he hoped that my other three children would die. I think these people level pretty harsh punishments at other people who are only exercising their freedom of speech when the person who is responsible for killing American soldiers and executing innocent Iraqi children and making them orphans is touted as a fine Christian man.

God help anyone who speaks out against the anti-American Bush regime that condones torture and use of chemical weapons of mass destruction. God help anyone who refuses to be silenced in the face of our government that commits war crimes and crimes against humanity. The individuals who call 15 year old girls and Gold Star Moms vile names and threaten our lives are the lowest denominator in our society and these people are the ones who need to be marginalized and stopped. Open and honest discourse in our society is welcomed and encouraged and our differences are only eclipsed by our commonalities, but obscene and destructive assaults on fellow human beings only adds to the violence in our already all too violent society.

Ava is not calling for a violent overthrow of our government nor is she the one who is being obscene. Ava is not the one who sent our troops into harm's way thus condemning the innocent people of Iraq to death and heartache. Ava is only showing the images that have been brought to the world by BushCo and the people who crassly try to intimidate a 15 year old girl are threatened by the truth and should be ashamed of their support of the disorganized crime mob in DC and ashamed of the way they talk to a young lady who is doing her best to make the world a better place.

How many scandals will it take for the 32 percent of the population who still support murder and mayhem dressed up in suits and ties to wake up and honor people like Ava and not trash them?

Ava is one tough and compassionate cookie and she needs our support and love, please go to her site: PeaceTakesCourage and drop a note of support to our little sister in peace. Her type of behavior needs to be encouraged, emulated and rewarded and I can guarantee you, she will be one of the first recipients of a Camp Casey Peace Prize for young activists.

I honor Ava and I am proud to be her friend. She is a true American who wants to grow up in a country that is honorable and just. This is her right and she is properly claiming it. I hope she inspires you to do the same.

Cindy is the founder of Gold Star Families for Peace and mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan who was a victim of the Bush Regime's war of terror on 04/04/04. She is the author of Not One More Mother's Child.

http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs3860

Colombian musicians turn guns into guitars to make music - as well as a point.

BOGOTA, Colombia - It's not long after you enter the world of Cesar Lopez that you realize he doesn't color inside the lines.

He is a classically-trained musician and composer who studied at Colombia's best conservatory. But instead of concert hall performances he chooses to play his music on the streets of Bogota. He writes all of his songs on air-sickness bags he collects during his travels.

"It's appropriate," he says, "because I feel I'm vomiting up what I have inside me."

But despite the description, the music he composes and plays is haunting and beautiful — hardly repulsive.

His comfortable Bogota apartment is filled with the tools of his trade, a baby-grand piano, guitars, amps — as well as the evidence that his subversively creative mind has few boundaries.

Near the piano, on a black stand that resembles a bipod, sits a Winchester lever action rifle. On its polished barrel are four hash marks, representing, says Lopez, the four people killed by it.

But there's much more to the gun than its history: six metal guitar strings stretch from the mid-point of its wooden stock, across the loading chamber, past the fret board threaded over the weapon's barrel, ending at a guitar neck flaring past the muzzle.

It's part of project in which Lopez transforms weapons of war into instruments of killer sound, using them in a kind of political performance art.

"What we want to create is an invitation to an attitude of change," he says. "It says a lot of different things — but the main idea is that weapons can be changed from an object of destructiveness to an object of constructiveness."

To read the rest of the article, watch the video and hear Cesar's songs, go to http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs3860

This is Chun Pan, the film-maker who made two great documentaries: Skipping in Camp Casey - about Camp Casey last August - and What Democracy Looks Like - about last September's protests in D.C. I have two photos of him on this posting because I like the first one best, but Chun says that you should always take a photo of a director in the "pointing" position. So my second photo is here to make him happy.

Chun lives down the street from me, so I am getting to know him and his story. Now I know why he is doing what work he can to help end the war. Chun's grandfather was a physician who lived in Taiwan. In 1947, Chiang Kai-shek's troops landed in Taiwan and immediately mowed down the dozens of protesters that were waiting at the train station. Chun's grandfather helped as many of the injured as he could. Soon after, leaders of the community, including Chun's grandfather, brought a petition to the governor protesting the murders of the innocents at the train station. This group of eight community leaders were immediately and surprisingly taken into captivity and sentenced to death. Chun's grandfather wrote a letter to his wife the day before he was executed. Chun showed me that letter. In it, the grandfather asks that his eldest son (Chun's dad, who was 17 at the time) not attend his funeral, because the grandfather feared for his son's life. Another son was witness to the public execution, though. Chun's father eventually had to immigrate to the U.S. in order to earn enough to support the rest of his family. Chun knows how war and violence affect lives for generations - he never met his grandfather and was raised in the U.S., away from the rest of his extended family in Taiwan.

Chun is now putting together his next documentary which will show footage from Camp Casey at Easter. This will be a VERY powerful video with footage of Daniel Ellsberg, Joseph Lowery, Cindy Sheehan and much more.

He is not making much money on these projects - in fact, if he is covering his costs, I'd be surprised. If you are interested in purchasing one of the above DVDs, you can contact him at chunpan9@yahoo.com. Not only are his videos moving, but you will be helping out a talented artist who is doing good work in the world. I didn't see any major media reports on this past Camp Casey gathering. It is vital that independents keep telling the stories that the corporate media isn't telling. Please support Chun and other independents.

Bright Eyes sings When the President Talks to God. It may take a little while to download.
Thanks to Anne, from Camp Casey Alumni.

Labels: Bright Eyes, W

Robert Rouse, (Left of Centrist) from Indiana, has a blog that has some good photos of the motorcycles and "calvary" that invaded Camp Casey while we were there. I didn't get to meet Robert, but I think that I rode in a shuttle with his friend, Bruce. We experienced the same family and magic at Camp Casey.

The web is huge!!!

Here are photos of some of the entertainment at Camp Casey.

First photo: The Djembabes African Drumming group from Austin got us movin' and groovin' with their drumming, singing and dancing.

Second photo: Emma's Revolution. You can hear them at CDBaby.com and buy their Salaam Shalom Peace shirts and CD's at Emma's Revolution.com. They were moving out of NY as the events of 9-11-01 were happening, and the words "peace, salaam, shalom" kept going through Pat's head. They printed the words on their t-shirts and now the song by that name is sung at peace events around the country - probably around the world. I hope so. All of their songs have important messages and speak from the heart. On the way home from Crawford, we Colorado women played the CD at least twice, but we kept rewinding Peace, Salaam, Shalom over and over again and belted it along at the top of our lungs. Ahhhhh.

I found this at NorthernSun.com, but you can find it all over the place.

Wish I would've had one two years ago.

I took this photo outside of the Crawford Peace House. I didn't know what I would do with it. But now I know that it is for the Soul from South Carolina.

On April 15th, while I was in Crawford, I received this email from a total stranger in South Carolina:

"Our friend LH suggested that I check out your blog. Fear and pessimism silence too many. NOT YOU! Thank you very much for your efforts for peace. S... South Carolina"

On that same day, S wrote to his friend, LH, saying:
"I am so glad that Carol and others are trying to teach that course...Remedial Humanity 099. But I suspect that George missed some of the prerequisite material along the way."

LH just notified me that the following day, April 16th, Easter Sunday, S died in his sleep at the age of 54.

We don't know when we will die. We don't know what impact we make on others' lives. It is so important to live each moment supporting others and creating the world that we wish to live in and leave for our children. Fear silences me too often. I will put S's email on my computer and on my altar, so that I don't forget to live up to his comment.

I'm so glad that I found the time to respond to S the day he emailed me. Living life with no regrets...

S, I wish you a blessed journey...

This world is full of kind and loving people. Carlos Arredondo is the definition of kind and loving. Here, you see him and what he has left, on the physical plane, of his son. In the following article, you can read what this father's immediate grief looked like. I don't know what Carlos' private grief looks like now, but in public, his presence is a real and healing salve for our world.


John Pain
Associated Press
August 25, 2004

Hollywood, Florida -- Melida Arredondo said her husband knew what was coming as three uniformed Marines approached their front door.

And when they told him Wednesday afternoon that his Marine son, Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo of Randolph, Mass., had been killed in combat in Iraq, police say Carlos Arredondo simply snapped. Arredondo climbed into the Marine Corps van parked outside his home and set it ablaze, suffering severe burns.

"This is his scream that his child is dead. The war needs to stop," Melida Arredondo, who had rushed home from work when she heard the news, said Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

The military had informed her husband that his 20-year-old son, who is Melida Arredondo's stepson, died Tuesday in Najaf, family members said. The father then walked into the garage, picking up a propane tank, a can of gasoline and a lighting device, police Capt. Tony Rode said. He smashed the van's window, got inside and set it ablaze, despite attempts by the Marines to stop him, Rode said.

The Marines, reservists who are members of a military Casualty Assistance Calls Officer team, pulled Arredondo, 44, from the burning vehicle and extinguished the flames on him, police said. None of the Marines was injured but the van was gutted, Marines spokesman Maj. Scott Mack said.

"The father was in disbelief, same as any of us would be after hearing this kind of news," Rode said. "But then the father basically loses it. You can only imagine what this father was going through. He snapped, to say the least."

Alexander Arredondo, who turned 20 this month, grew up in Norwood, Mass., and moved to Randolph in 1999, according to his mother, Victoria Foley, who told the Patriot Ledger of Quincy that her son "knew at age 16 that he wanted to go into the Marines." He joined shortly after he graduated from Blue Hills Regional Technical School in 2002.

Foley, of Bangor, Maine, was divorced from Carlos Arredondo in the late 1980s. She said she spoke to her son the day he died, the Ledger reported.

"He said that it was going to get bad, and he was really happy where he was, Najaf. He was upbeat," Foley said.

Carlos Arredondo was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood with burns over as much as 50 percent of his body, emergency officials said.

He was later moved to the major burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, about 20 miles south of Hollywood. He was in serious condition with severe burns to his arms and legs. Melida Arredondo said Thursday that he is expected to recover.

She told The Miami Herald that her husband, an immigrant from Costa Rica, "was very proud of Alex serving," though he wished his service would have been during a "more peaceful" time. But Luz Marina Arredondo, Alexander's grandmother, felt the government was at fault for her grandson's death.

"I blame them a lot," she said. "They send them like guinea pigs over there." Marine spokesman Capt. Patrick Kerr in New Orleans told the Herald that the incident was "one tragedy on top of another tragedy."

"Our foremost concern is for the welfare of the father who was burned," Kerr said. "We will do everything we can to help the family through this very difficult situation."

Rode said it was too early in the investigation to discuss possible charges against Arredondo. "We'll see how he recovers before doing anything," he said.

U.S. forces in Najaf have been battling for nearly five months against Iraqi militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Alexander Arredondo will be buried in Norwood, according to his stepmother.

Last night I dreamed that W could imagine peace.

Check out this onegoodmove.org video.

This is from the Camp Casey Alumni group today.

Welcome Home
Cindy Sheehan

"Go home," a Crawford neighbor of Camp Casey, her face deformed with rage, yelled at me as about 50 of us walked the four miles from Camp Casey I to Camp Casey II on Good Friday. We were re-enacting the Stations of the Cross. I was hauling a 12 pound cross on my shoulders which was Station 12: Jesus Dies. The cross kept getting heavier as we walked along in the high noon Texas sun, but it was not nearly as heavy as the cross that George Bush handed me on April 04, 2004.

"We are home, thank you," I replied happily, as I flashed a peace sign to her.

Camp Casey is our home. Whether a person returned this weekend, or it was their first visit to Camp Casey, this Easter, 2006, we welcomed them home. Returning Camp Caseyites had such a happy glow and new Camp Caseyites, like my daughter Carly, had such looks of amazed wonder on their faces. Carly told a reporter that she was so glad that she came to see that her brother's sacrifice has created such an atmosphere of tranquility and awe. Camp Casey brings healing of broken spirits from Vets who have been so damaged by war and we families who have had our hearts trampled and wonderful Americans who realize that if we allow BushCo to continue leading our country down the road to fascism and violence our very souls are at stake from people whom the Rev. Lowery said were "stealing the soul of America."

Camp Casey is the home of everyone and anyone working for peace and justice. It is where we all gather together in solidarity, confident in the fact that what we are doing is transforming the future and sowing the seeds of developing a more peaceful world where the people who promote war are considered the deranged and dangerous traitors and are shunned from polite society. We had 14 more people working for justice who got arrested again in the ditches of Camp Casey I. The DA in the county refuses to file or drop the charges from the arrests at Thanksgiving. We want to challenge the First Amendment legality of the laws which were obviously written to suppress dissent but we can't do that when the complaint lies in the box of the DA for six months. We want our day in court and the DA refuses to allow us to have it. Our next challenge will be in Federal Court.

As for my part, my life is one of frenetic activity where I rapidly move from place to place alone and lonely. I have friends and acquaintances everywhere, but can never stay in one place long enough to establish any kind of meaningful relationships with anyone. Even if I have any time to socialize, I am always too tired. Not when I am home at Camp Casey.

Camp Casey is the place for me where I assemble with my heart family (and now my "blood" family, also) and recharge my batteries for the interminable and exhausting struggles against BushCo and their lies and inhumanity.

When the convoy of the bus and cars filled with people that had picked me up at the airport pulled up in front of the Crawford Peace House, I was so relieved; it felt like a heavy burden had been lifted off of my shoulders. I was really home after months of traveling all over the world and enduring the slings and arrows of the outrageous neocon smear cult. The love and acceptance at Camp Casey is whole and wholesome and safe and secure. No matter where my stuff stays while my other stuff travels with me and long after Camp Casey is needed any longer, I will always feel like it was my home: The place where I grew up to be me in the fullest sense of the word.

A man brought me some bumper stickers along with a silver pin in the shape of handcuffs to commemorate all of my arrests for peace. The bumper stickers read: " Texas is Bush Country," with "Bush" crossed out and "Cindy" written over "Bush." Texas is definitely not Bush country with his approval rating even dipping below 50% there, too, but in the heart of McClennan County, it is Bush country. Camp Casey and the Crawford Peace House are oases in the middle of a desert of ignorance, stubbornness and fear.

During our rally on Saturday where there were over 600 people from all over the country in attendance, about 100 "Bikers for Bush" and some people on horseback came by Camp Casey in some kind of misguided and failed attempt to intimidate us and show us how much they still support the failed and murderous policies of one of our close neighbors (who we chased off from his vacation home this Easter).

My friend and Gold Star Dad, Juan Torres, went to the side of the road to confront the counter-protestors with a picture of his dead son, John. One of the horsemen said: "F**k you and f**k your son." Juan's only son is dead and this miserably callous cowboy probably considers himself a Christian out doing the Lord's work as repulsively preached by BushCo. After this incident and when the other hate-filled man plowed over the crosses last summer, I can't believe that we at Camp Casey and in the peace movement are still accused of being the ones who dishonor our sons by what we do!

The horseback rider also had a sign on the back of his poor horse who was probably embarrassed by its rider's behavior. The sign read: "Cindy go Home." He told our security presence that he should: "Go in the tent and shoot that bitch." Don't these people know that I am not the only citizen who makes the pilgrimage to Crawford, Tx to demand answers to the question, "What Noble Cause?" and who are working for an end to this insane and immoral war. Even if I left Camp Casey, as I had to in August for a week, the movement would still continue to grow and thrive. The peace movement is unstoppable and whether I am shot, or quit voluntarily, BushCo is on his way out and peace is on the march even if I am out in front or not.

Our hero, Rev. Joseph Lowery, who stood in from of George and Laura and challenged him at Mrs. King's funeral, came out to Camp Casey for the weekend and he added so much amazing grace to our gathering with his humor and healing presence. The Reverend encouraged us all to be agitators and he also ordained all of us as "chaplains" in the crusade for peace. Along with always remarkable entertainment, Camp Casey, Easter was the best Camp Casey yet and the experience just keeps getting richer and more layered with healing, health, peace and love.

We Camp Caseyites would be honored if you will join us at our Summer '06 edition which will also occur with or without the presence of our annoying and rude neighbor who has never even come down the road to do the neighborly thing by welcoming us and listening to our stories and answering our questions.

We have an ambitious schedule for the summer Camp Casey romp this year. We will be holding a workshop for young activist training; an International Peace Conference (Imagine, World Peace found in the proximity of Bush's faux-ranch!); and an International War Crimes Tribunal where we will petition George Bush to stroll down the road and answer accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

If you would like to be on our list to receive updates about Camp Casey and other important peace events like the major war protest in New York City sponsored by United for Peace and Justice; or our 24 hour vigil in front of the White House on Mother's Day, sponsored by Code Pink; please go and sign up for email alerts on the Gold Star Families for Peace website; and if you want to make donations for our thrilling summer program go to the Crawford Peace House website. We also need donations of frequent flyer miles to assist young Iraq Vets and Gold Star Families to get to Crawford for the summer.

With our government threatening to commit nuclear genocide in Iran to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon and George's insistence that he can commit any crime and flush our constitution down the toilet because "we are a nation at war," even though he is the one who deceived us into this very same war, it is now more urgent and imperative than ever to stand up with us and be counted for peace and justice.

Come home this summer to Camp Casey. Live in peace for awhile. Recharge and restore. There is always room for more.

Last night after arriving home, I called my friend who has pancreatic cancer. I go with her to chemo most weeks lately. She has chemo on Tuesdays, so that meant that today would be treatment day. I really didn't want to go today, because I have to recover from the wonderful experience of Camp Casey. I am tired, physically and emotionally, and I am wondering how Cindy and the others keep going constantly - telling their stories, meeting new people, etc. Being the introvert that I am, I can't imagine being "on" all of the time. Anyway, when I called my friend, I found out that her cancer markers had gone up tremendously over the last week, so now she will add another drug to her treatment. At this point, this is the last thing that they have to throw at her disease. She wanted me to come. I couldn't say no.

I sat in the office while the poison that is to kill her disease entered her body. She and the nurse talked about things that, after experiencing Camp Casey, I had a hard time relating to. At Camp Casey, I was with famous people, people who have courage like I've never seen before, people who have faced grief that changed their lives, people who have no home, but travel for peace throughout the year. In the Dr.'s office, people were talking about things that made no sense to me. The talk wasn't about the real effects of cancer and chemo on our being, our soul, our life. It was day-to-day stuff.

But I know that it is all the same. We all have our stories, our challenges, our "stuff", our dramas. But, being present. Being in love. Letting go of our stories and our being special. Sitting in love. That is all that is real. That can go with us, no matter where we are, what the drama. Breathing.

I have so many stories to tell - stories of the hearts and souls that I met in Crawford. It will wait for another day when I am rejuvenated.

Before I make one more entry about our Camp Casey trip, I want to acknowledge two strong and nurturing women who walk their talk. The day before we left for Texas, I came home to find a BIG RED BAG of all kinds of goodies from Wild Oats sitting in front of my front door. It was from BL - a yummy gift to take on our trip. While we were at Camp Casey, she and M emailed us messages of support, then last Saturday, they were the only two women to stand, in building-rockin' winds, at our Women in Black vigil. Thank you guys!

We went to Camp Casey and got media attention and all kinds of support. These two women, without receiving attention, constantly feed and house the hungry, mentor the oppressed, support others, and just give compassion and sanity to our world. I love them.

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." Mother Teresa

William Sloane Coffin, Jr. died while I was in Crawford. Michael and I joke (only it's not funny) that someone famous always seems to die if we go on a trip. This time, it was one of my heroes, the wise Mr. Coffin. Onegoodmove.org has a video of a nice interview with him.

At Camp Casey, I met Robert Shetterly. I knew that he is an artist who has created a beautiful book filled with his paintings of activists, along with quotes attributed to them. I bought 20 cards printed with these portraits and quotes. I shoulda bought his book. I am GOING to buy his book. But I didn't know who this man was! Common Dreams has an article about Bill Coffin, written by Robert Shetterly.

"The war against Iraq is as disastrous as it is unnecessary; perhaps in terms of its wisdom, purpose and motives, the worst war in American history. Our military men and women were not called to defend America but rather to attack Iraq. They were not called to die for, but rather to kill for, their country. What more unpatriotic thing could we have asked of our sons and daughters?" William Sloane Coffin, June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006

We are home!

Oh, I am so spoiled with my easy internet access here at home!

Click here to read the article that the local news ran regarding our trip.

Go to Truthout.org for an article on Camp Casey and to watch videos of some of the speakers, including Daniel Ellsberg and Joseph Lowery. I highly recommend watching Geoffrey Millard and Rev Peter Johnson also.

The tulips and grape hyacinths are blooming in front of my house, my dog gave me a welcome like no human ever has, and I am going to wash my face and feet.

We are in Dumas, TX on our way home.

Yesterday was an exciting day at Camp Casey. On the way from the Peace House to Camp Casey, we get to pass the Yellow Rose (for photo, see blog entry from last August 21st) and the counter protesters were there for the weekend showdown - all 12 or so of them. There were about 7 men on horseback riding up and down the road, carrying flags. Some of them had "Go home Cindy" and "Get a job" painted on their horse's butts. Then, at the Yellow Rose, people were yelling angrily at the top of their lungs about how we don't support the troops. A few "peaceniks" were over there trying to converse with them, but I would be surprised if they had any conversations, since the pro-war people were yelling all of the time.

We had a great program at Camp Casey. I would guess that at least 500 people went through the Peace House and Camp Casey during the past few days - maybe 300-400 people were there yesterday. A minister from Austin brought 60 of his parishioners down and he gave a wonderful talk. Just when he began to speak, I heard what I thought was the wind taking the top off of the big tent we were all under. Quickly I realized that it was the sound of a herd of motorcycles passing by. The land that Camp Casey is on is situated on a corner. Around 100 motorcycles drove along our south side, then turned and roared down our west side (if anyone reading this was there, please don't point out my directional disability). These people roared their bikes as loud as possible along the two sides of our camp, then turned around somewhere and did it again on the way out. The flag-bearing people on their horses also showed up. The sound was thundering and a little intimidating. A bunch of Camp Casey people went out and stood along the ditch. Juan Torres stood, both arms out, hands in peace signs, his dead son's photo displayed on his shirt, and one of the horse people yelled "Fuck you" to him. "Fuck you" to a man whose son was murdered in Afghanistan by his own people! (See last August's posts for his story) Those people didn't know.... Karen has a BEAUTIFUL photo of him with the horse riders in the background. I will post that after I get home.

I could write all night about the motivational speakers I heard yesterday. But I won't :-) I will write in bits and pieces as I have the energy.

Tammara, a member of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), spoke about her husband who is now in Iraq. She said that he told her that he is there to protect our rights to free speech and it would be a damn shame if we failed to use those rights. She says that democracy is a participatory sport. When someone tells her that they will pray for her husband, she says, "Do you think the families who lost their sons and daughters didn't pray for them? This is not God's war. Thou shalt not kill has no small print."

Dr. Joseph Lowery spoke. I had thought he is now 85, but I guess he hasn't had his 85th birthday yet. He asked if anyone there was older than him, and since no one had him beat, he announced that no one could contradict him - he is the elder. His dry humor continued throughout his talk. He is a cutie. He said that he is concerned about the soul of America. The same people who are war-mongers are also racists, sexists, and homophobic. There is ONE struggle. We need to be AGITATORS. No matter what detergent you use or the brand of washing machine, the dirt is not going to get separated from the clean clothes without the
AGITATOR.

I liked what he what he said about speaking at Coretta Scott King's funeral. He didn't seem to think that W was all that impressed with the focus of his talk, but he said that "At funerals, we celebrate the life of the dead and challenge the life of the living." He was there to do that, not speak about W or be political.

It is so hard to not write a tome. But I am tired want to sleep.

My last words - A man who is working with the Austin Immigrant movement told us that he had just read that Dick Cheney's tax refund for last year is $1.9 million. You may have already read that, but I have been cut off from the news and didn't know. I HOPE that you read it. I hope it made the front page of every paper in the world. I HOPE that all of the poor and middle class people who don't realize what a corrupt government we have read it. Putting his $1.9 million into social services could change their lives, but instead, he will get to use it to buy some more quail to kill.

In all of my name dropping, I forgot to say that Daniel Ellsberg spoke the other night, then marched with us yesterday and got arrested again, with 13 others. They were protesting our rights to park ourselves outside W's ranch. We are perfectly legal on our little plot of land near the ranch, but no longer able to camp or stop along the roads anywhere near here. The sheriff's dept is awesome and supportive, visiting us and protecting us from the locals who don't know how to respect others.

Last year, I wrote profusely as I was here, then entered a shortened story (see August, 2005 entries). This year, I have been trying to blog and am writing very little on paper. Since I don't get to blog much, I am hoping that my feeble memory will serve me when I try to document this trip at a later date.

First I want to thank everyone for their kindness and support. I just read some comments and emails, and they brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, thank you for caring!!! Being here, I am not numb like I can get in suburbia. I feel so deeply. I cry when I read what you write. I cry when I walk up to Joseph Lowery, when I give away money that a friend sent down with me to donate to whatever cause moved me, when I hear the stories of men and women who have had their loved ones die in this war. But I also laugh. These people are FUNNY! I have stood by the road each day, volunteering to do traffic control (and I am such a push-over for people trying to bend the rules!). I get to carry a walkie talkie as I stand out there. I LOVE that - how fun!. I can eavesdrop on conversations that other walkie talkie carriers are having. They give each other shit like only a family member can.

So yesterday after the Stations of the Cross walk, we went back to the motel to get Karen and Gaye, then drove back to the Peace House to get the shuttle to Camp Casey. While we were there, Joseph Lowery arrived. How cute can he be?!? Eighty-five years old, dressed in matching baby blue plaid pants and shirt!!! When I decided to walk up to him to meet him...I couldn't do it, because just the thought made me cry. But I did get it under control and Karen got an awesome photo of me and him together. Since I can't download her photos on my blog yet, I will have to do it another time. I am blown away by the fact that being around people like that can bring me to tears and open my heart until it barely fits in my chest, but they stand there like anyone else and don't appear to know how much they mean to people like me.

Also yesterday, I met Carlos Arredondo whose son died in the war. He is the man who, when he was notified of his son's death, set the military's vehicle and himself on fire. What a loving, open-hearted man! I will write more and post photos as I can.

Walking the Stations of the Cross

I finally downloaded my photos. Here is a good one of the gang before we left. Karen has some awesome photos of me with wonderful people - Cindy Sheehan, Joseph Lowery, but I will have to wait to post themuntil I can get them from her.

Today, Judy and I did the Stations of the
Cross. I was not familiar with this ritual, but it was a very moving experience for me. If I ever get to it, I will write more about it, but for now, I will just tell you that we walked through Crawford - got yelled at by people with opposing viewpoints (not too bad, but boy do they seem like some angry, hateful people), then walked from Camp Casey I to Camp Casey II. Along the way, we stopped 14 times to read different readings about Jesus' death and resurrection. It really was more beautiful than I can express at this hour (midnight). I will post some more photos of that, then I must quit writing.

There is no way that I can put this experience into words that will do it justice. We have heard many stories of people's lives, cried together, laughed together, and worked together. I have not ever witnessed a group of people who genuinely and obviously cared about those around them like I have seen here. Oh... I will be blogging about this for a long time!

Oh yeah, I said that I needed to quit writing. Last thing: the world could be like this - like the way that we are living here, now, with these people in Crawford. People can be caring and can live a life of putting others first. I just know it.

This was a very LONG day! Too much to write. I will try to have some time tomorrow to write from my notes. I couldn't get internet access at Camp Casey, so am blogging at 1:00 a.m.

Short list - Cindy Sheehan (recognized me from when we used to email, and she introduced me to everyone around, telling them that we used to email before she became CINDY SHEEHAN - that felt nice).

Daniel Ellsberg - wow!

The duo, Emma's Revolution. That was exciting. A year ago, I bought my salaam, shalom, peace t-shirt in Boulder and it had a tag in it about Emma's Revolution, so I looked them up on the internet. And I got to meet them and hear them today!!!

Gaye is getting so much support from other families and vets. This is REALLY good for her. She says she feels like being here is like a great big hug.

Oh, and Chun Pan is here! That's another story, but Michael, you'll know what I'm talking about. He got here yesterday and was wondering where we were. He got a standing ovation tonight for his work in filming Camp Casey and the D.C. protest.

I could go on and on if I didn't need sleep... Watch out, Denver. We're getting charged up here!

P.S. Thank you to everyone for your support!!! My heart is so touched. I just can't get on the internet enough to email much, but I will keep trying to get back to everyone.

We had a very interesting time traveling through Texas today! This morning as we were checking out of our hotel in Amarillo, we mentioned to one of the housekeepers that we were "going down to annoy Mr. Bush." She said, "Oh, you be sure to push his buttons for me!" And we were on our way!

Later, we stopped at a rest area outside of Bowie, TX - middle of nowhere. We walked out of the restrooms, and there was a man who seemed pretty typical of the experience we have had with Texans, so far - very friendly and pleasant. Turns out that he is the manager of the rest stop. He pointed at Karen's Vets for Peace t-shirt, which says, "1900 Dead, How Many More?" then asked, "Yeah, for what?" At this point, we weren't sure where he was coming from, but once he started talking about Bush, we couldn't get a word in edgewise. He ranted: "You wanna know what Bush did for this state? The only thing he did for this state is to make it legal for me to carry my gun. We needed money for schools, but what did we get instead? Satellite dishes at every rest stop in Texas. All of these billions of dollars of tax cuts? I'm still waiting to see mine. GW is in Iraq to finish his daddy's business. He is surrounded by his daddy's people and in bed with the Saudi's."

He told us he was a vet who did three tours in Viet Nam. "And what did we accomplish there? Absolutely nothing." We found out his name was G.H. and thanked him for his service. We told him we were on our way to Crawford, and that Vets for Peace would be there. He said he couldn't do something that he felt wouldn't really accomplish anything. But as we were saying good-bye, he said, "well you ladies have fun at your rally."

Now, we've checked in at Waco. Tomorrow, we'll descend upon Camp Casey.

Here we are!!! And the bear... You can read about the bear in my previous post. Guess which one is me. Gaye, whose son is in Afghanistan, is 2nd from right. Karen, who I met by joining her caravan for my first Camp Casey trip, is the babe on the left.

Photo by Justin Sagarsee of Mile High News.

We are in Amarillo. This time, we are taking the smarter and more bourgeois approach - stopping half-way both ways, sleeping in a motel, and actually eating dinner out. Last time, we drove straight through and ate whatever we had in the car. If you are ever in Amarillo, TX, I recommend the Tequila Ruby Restaurant. I think that we were the oldest people in the place, and maybe the only "foreigners". The food was SO abundant and delicious, though! And the margaritas! Worth driving to Texas for.

When I was younger, I thought that people who talked incessantly about politics and the state of the world were tedious bores. Now I am one of them - surrounded by more of them. What else is there to talk about??? We are a single woman who may one day consider whether she wants to have kids, a grandmother, a mother of adult kids, and a mother of semi-adult kids - one overseas in war. How can we not be talking about the world when it is in this state and we have loved ones whose futures we worry about?

Gaye brought her teddy bear. He is dressed in fatigues. When you press into his arm, Gaye's son's voice says, "I love you, mom. No matter where I am, I'll always be thinking of you. Hang in there." He says he loves her three times. It is kinda eerie, sad, touching, sweet, beautiful. I can't write about it any more. My mind goes to what can happen. I can't go there right now.

Onward to Crawford...

Another BBC photo. Just to lighten things up.

Can't figure out if this fish is real. I've never seen a big pink fish before.

Why am I blogging when I need to finish packing then get some sleep???

Just found out that the local Sentinel will be doing photos tomorrow morning as we take off for Crawford. They interviewed us last Friday, so watch for the 4-13-06 Wheat Ridge and/or Lakewood Sentinels for our photos (in our Bring Him Home T-shirts) and story. Hopefully, the article will make the Mile High News website. Otherwise, you'll have to get a hard copy (I'm sure that I will have a collection of them when I get home).

I am taking hundreds of copies of Chun Pan's DVD's to Crawford. Skipping in Camp Casey is film footage of Camp Casey last year, and What Democracy Looks Like is a film of the protest in D.C. last September. They are beautifully done. I alternate between goosebumps and tears when watching What Democracy Looks Like. If you would like to have a copy of either of these DVD's, contact Chun at chunpan9@yahoo.com

This Easter, Camp Casey will be about stopping the potential attack on Iran. The thought of more war makes me sick. SURELY SOMEONE in D.C. recognizes the devastation that war with Iran would bring us and the world.

THE IRAN PLANS
Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Issue of 2006-04-17
Posted 2006-04-10

The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.

For complete article, see The New Yorker