The Transit Workers - Which Side Are You On?

Dec 21, 2005

Come all you good workers,
Good news to you I'll tell
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.

CHORUS:
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

My daddy was a miner,
And I'm a miner's son,
And I'll stick with the union
'Til every battle's won.

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there.
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J. H. Blair.

Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?

Don't scab for the bosses,
Don't listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven't got a chance
Unless we organize.

CLICK ABOVE TO PLAY BILLY BRAGG'S version.


CLICK ABOVE TO PLAY the orignal WEAVER'S version.

My advice to New Yorkers - get a supply of cotton wadding and stick it in your ears. This will help you resist the onslaught of intense, anti-union, corporate media diatribe to which we are being subjected.


Closed. But a good opportunity for walking and biking and...supporting the just cause of Local 100 and its members.

I refer to the press coverage of what is a just and noble strike by NYC transit workers and their union -- workers who have been beaten down and treated as if they were robotic machines and not the hard-working human beings that they are. They are abused by a truly-selfish and corrupt MTA, which just a year ago was the target of news stories exposing its cynical deceipt and corruption as they foisted a fare increase on New Yorkers based on phony pleas of poverty and justified by the keeping of a secret set of books.

"They are greedy thugs," shriek Billionaire Boss Bloomberg, Prince of Darkness Pataki and King Kong Kalikow. Pathetic. When the likes of MTA-Chair Kalikow, who is a giant landlord, acquired his billions by bilking tenants with exorbitant rents, he's lauded as "Bold! Daring! A good businessman." But workers who want to be treated with dignity and respect and who want to raise their standard of living (not to mention resist the reduction in those standards) are selfish. But what is selfish about resisting cuts to their living standards from the meager levels that were legally acquired in previous contracts? And what is selfish about saying NO to the never-ending give-backs that the MTA demands of its workers and which will be used to set the pattern for the other city workers and indeed, workers throughout the city, state and country? In my dictionary those actions are defined as courage not selfishness.

The fury that pervades the membership of Local 100 is anger born of decades of abuse at the hands of an aristocratic and scornful MTA. The workers, having been pushed to the wall, are saying enough is enough and they're saying it loud and clear. Roger Toussaint and the union leaders are listening to their membership. They've called a strike in the face of unacceptable demands for givebacks by the MTA. A strike is never to be taken lightly as it causes immense pain and suffering to the very workers who are striking as well as to the public. But to cave in to the pressure of the wealthy elite that run this city is to acquiesce to the further decline of organized labor.

Story after story can be told of the very trying conditions these workers toil under. In the December 12th Daily News, columnist Errol Lewis describes such conditions:

The great and growing disconnect between white-collar and blue-collar workers in our town makes it hard for office workers to see, understand or respect what is at stake in this labor standoff. Few riders know, for instance, that transit workers have to ask for a day off 30 days in advance. Back in October, in an annual ritual, some MTA workers slept on cots in bus depots so they could be first on line the next morning to ask for permission to take Thanksgiving off.

Such accumulated humiliations fuel much of the fury leading up to Tuesday's threatened strike. Train operators complain about the fear of driving through tunnels filled with debris; female workers recently went public with descriptions of the rusted, filthy, freezing bathrooms provided for them.

And again in the News today, columnist Juan Gonzalez writes:

There is, of course, never a good time for any strike.

The timing was especially tough for Casiano, who landed his mechanic's job at the MTA after the 1980 transit strike.

On Monday, his doctor broke the news that the cancer in Casiano's spine had spread to his lung. He's already endured months of grueling chemotherapy. Now he faces applying to the MTA for disability.

What happened to this sick worker and to so many other employees at the MTA is as much the reason for this strike as a wage increase, pension or health care benefit.

"Ever since I started missing work for chemo treatments, my supervisor's been accusing me of chronic sick-leave abuse," Casiano said.

Nelson Rivera, shop chairman for the 300 mechanics and car cleaners at 207th St., says Casiano is not the only worker penalized for illness. Another mechanic with 30 years on the job recently had a heart operation.

"When the guy came back to work, the MTA demoted him to security guard instead of giving him light duties," Rivera said. "Since then, he's been disciplined twice and is now facing a possible dismissal in 30 days."

Local 100 President Roger Toussaint has repeatedly complained that the MTA issued a phenomenal 15,000 disciplinary actions against his members last year.

When so many workers are being punished and harassed daily by management, something is deeply wrong with the people at the top of that agency.

This is the ugly era of Bush and Bloomberg with its vicious attacks on working Americans and their attempt to cut every social benefit that Americans have fought for over the years. On the national level, multi-nationals, particularly the oil companies and the hi-tech "defense" contractors, are given free reign. They earn obscene profits derived from illegal wars of domination, loot the Treasury of our tax dollars and would despoil the pristine Alaskan wilderness in a quest for more oil, all while health care and hurricane victims go wanting. The Oil President and his minions, willing servants of those corporations, are curtailing our Constitutional liberties, destroying social programs and sending our youth to fight in wars against people who never threatened our country. Talk about greed! Billions of dollars for Haliburton. But no money for our transit systems or the workers who operate them daily.

We should not be deceived. The fight on the local level is the very same fight between the very same forces. The mogul real-estate developers like Trump and Forest City RATner are having a field day with the Stadium Mayor who serves their interests like a glove fits your hand. They would re-make our city in their image and are turning it into a haven for rich people only - others, keep out!

Viewed in that context, it becomes apparent that this strike is symbolic of much more than simply 38,000 workers protecting their livelihoods and standard of living. Our country is at an important crossroads and the strike is taking place in the middle of the intersection. Progressive forces can still the hand of Bush and we can take the path of democracy and peace. The labor movement is, perhaps, the most important and certainly the strongest and best organized component of that coalition. It is a very important ingredient to stopping the Bush-driven path to fascism, endless war and repression. That is why it so very important for people of good conscience and progressive values to support the strike and this union with every bit of their energy. Now is the time to speak to family, friends and colleagues; to organize petition drives; to urge people to phone and write Bloomberg (tel: 311), Pataki (tel:518-474-7516) and the MTA (tel: 212-878-7274) with angry messages urging them to respect the workers and settle the strike fairly. Please leave your comments with any additional ideas you have. Let's get going!

The NY Times -- Redux

Dec 15, 2005

Apropos of the Times story in my post of yesterday, my friend, Henry Foner, sends me a copy of a letter (unpublished) that he sent to them regarding their editorial on Hugo Chavez, the popular leader of Venezuela and one of Bush's (and, apparently, the Times' as well) new evildoers. It seems that Hugo has angered George II, the Oil President, because, as head of his country's nationalized oil industry, Chavez has been using profits to pay for programs to lift his people out of poverty. Sets a bad example, it seems, for the likes of Exxon and Sunoco.

Here's Henry's letter:

Your editorial, "Hugo Chavez and His Helpers" (Dec. 10) missed the opportunity to condemn Venezuela's president for other terrible misdeeds.

Not only has he, in your words, "been able to use high oil prices to increase funds for popular social programs for the poor, making him electorally unassailable" -- a flagrant misuse of power -- but he also has the unmitigated gall to provide oil at reasonable prices for the poor people of the Bronx.-- an unforgivable act of interference in the internal affairs of another nation, as well as an attempt to upset the preordained order of things.

If the oil companies want to charge skyrocketing prices, who is Chavez to interfere with that right?. Well, what do you expect from an elected president who refuses to yield power when the opposition -- with the covert support of our government -- tried to overthrow him through an ineptly planned and executed coup. On that occasion, your cries of outrage were strangely muted. Is that what is known as "selective outrage?" - Henry Foner


Popularly elected Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez.

Joke Headline of the Day

The front page of today's NY Times

Dec 14, 2005
If this war weren't such a tragedy of human lives lost and a civilization destroyed, it would be the stuff that the Joke of the Day website could use as a daily source of material. Take today's headline in The New York Times. The story, reported straight-faced, deals with the recent revelations that the Iraqi government is rounding up Sunni citizens and imprisoning and torturing them in prisons around the country. That government's police force is apparently being run by militias belonging to various fanatical sects with close ties to Iran. These militias have been summarily rounding-up Sunni men, kidnapped from their houses and communities, jailing, abusing and, perhaps, disappearing them.

The incredible part is that the Bush Administration, which installed this "democracy" in the first place and which controls its every action is going to "inspect", (according to the Times), the Iraqi prisons to deter further incidents of torture. Now just you wait a darned second! This paper wants us to accept at face value that the same bunch responsible for the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo infamies is going to put the kibosh on their Iraqi underlings? Letter to the Editor: Did you mean this to be news or satire?

Each day the war grinds on with fresh revelations of the depravity and brutality of the bunch running our country. It seems the worse things get, the more the corporate-controlled media bows down to distort the truth and provides a cover for their dastardly deeds. The charade that the U.S. stands for freedom and democracy, which both Times and Bush so loudly propound, has long ago been seen by most of the world's people for what it is - propaganda to cover the truth. That truth, plainly stated, is that this country, as the playwright Harold Pinter so aptly said in his Nobel prize acceptance speech last week (buried in a blurb way back in the Times of December 7th), "supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship" over the last 50 years.

The American people, despite the media's attempt to keep the truth from them, are beginning to see through the lies. The truth will eventually prevail. As Dr. Martin Luther Kings, Jr. said, "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." Let it be so.

P.S. On Hillary

Dec 7, 2005

And by way of an appropriate postscript to my previous post on Hillary The Hawk, here is today's Times editorial regarding her new, more conservative incarnation as she prepares to run for President in 2008.

NY TIMES EDITORIAL December 7, 2005

Senator Clinton, in Pander Mode

Hillary Clinton is co-sponsoring a bill to criminalize the burning of the American flag. Her supporters would characterize this as an attempt to find a middle way between those who believe that flag-burning is constitutionally protected free speech and those who want to ban it, even if it takes a constitutional amendment. Unfortunately, it looks to us more like a simple attempt to have it both ways.

Senator Clinton says she opposes a constitutional amendment to outlaw flag-burning. In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that flag-burning was protected by the First Amendment. But her bill, which is sponsored by Senator Robert Bennett, Republican of Utah, is clearly intended to put the issue back before the current, more conservative, Supreme Court in hopes of getting a turnaround.

It's hard to see this as anything but pandering - there certainly isn't any urgent need to resolve the issue. Flag-burning hasn't been in fashion since college students used slide rules in math class and went to pay phones at the student union to call their friends. Even then, it was a rarity that certainly never put the nation's security in peril.

The bill attempts to equate flag-burning with cross-burning, which the Supreme Court, in a sensible and carefully considered 2003 decision, said could be prosecuted under certain circumstances as a violation of civil rights law. It's a ridiculous comparison. Burning a cross is a unique act because of its inextricable connection to the Ku Klux Klan and to anti-black violence and intimidation. A black American who wakes up to see a cross burning on the front lawn has every right to feel personally, and physically, threatened. Flag-burning has no such history. It has, in fact, no history of being directed against any target but the government.

Mrs. Clinton says her current position grew out of conversations with veterans groups in New York, and there's no question that many veterans - and, indeed, most Americans - feel deeply offended by the sight of protesters burning the flag. (These days, that sight mainly comes from videos of the Vietnam War era; the senator's staff did not have any immediate examples of actual New York flag-burnings in the recent past.) But the whole point of the First Amendment is to protect expressions of political opinion that a majority of Americans find disturbing or unacceptable. As a lawyer, the senator presumably already knows that

We Won't Support You Hillary While You Support the War!

Dec 7, 2005

It was two tales of the city last night on a dark and cold street on Manhattan's West Side. The wind blew off the Hudson but that didn't deter a small crowd of protesters from turning out at the Hillary Clinton fundraiser held at Crobar, a hip night site just off the Hudson on West 28th Street. On one side of the street, throngs waited in line for hours for a chance to see and listen to former President Bill Clinton expound on the need to reelect his wife as Senator from our state. But on my side of the street, a much smaller group gathered. We wanted to know why, when the majority of the American people are demanding an end to the war in Iraq, our U.S. Senator was supporting the President and the war in vote after vote and, in some respects, outdoing Bush by calling for even more troops to be sent to that debacle.

"Don't support Hillary while she supports the war" was the battle cry and there's reason to suspect that it had a dramatic impact on at least some of the attendees lined up across the street. A few even came over to congratulate us and express their support for upping the pressure on Clinton who typically portrays herself as a moderate but who, on many issues, has moved to the right as she contemplates a run for the Presidency in 2008.

Recently, she has softened her support for the war as the protests have mounted and polls have shown a marked shift in public opinion against Bush and his war. That just proves the point the old adage that "the people must lead and the leaders will follow." Hillary Clinton has disappointed too many of her constituents on this question. Cindy Sheehan eloquently articulated that disappointment when she said at Brooklyn Parents for Peace's Peace Fair, "I can't support a candidate who doesn't oppose this war."


"I cannot support a candidate who doesn't oppose this war."

The Clintons seem to believe that ignoring the question of Iraq will make it go away. A recent questionaire/fund-raising letter, sent out by the Clinton campaign, asked responders to check off a list of their major concerns. Amazingly, the word "Iraq" didn't make it onto the list.

Typical of the Clinton waffling on the issue are these pearls which Clinton said to CNN in May, "You know, I am not one who feels comfortable setting exit strategies. We don’t know what we’re exiting from. We don’t know what the situation is moving toward…. How do we know where we’re headed, when we don’t know where we are?"

After meeting recently with Cindy Sheehan, Clinton told the Village Voice, "My bottom line is that I don’t want their sons to die in vain." (Sound familiar?) And, trying to stake out a nuanced, pro-war line, she added, "I happen to think that fighting for freedom is a noble cause. There are lots of things wrong with how Bush did it. I believe we should have gone through with the inspection process and acted through the U.N. But I believe that standing up against someone as dangerous as Saddam was a good goal.”

Some believe that putting pressure on Clinton is wrong because it is attacking the wrong foe - we should be keeping the fire on Bush, the main culprit, they say. But in my view and the view of many others, the Democratic party, in general, and the party leadership (under the aegis of the Clintons), in particular, are complicit in this war. By giving Bush the votes for an illegal war based on lies and distortions (we and the world knew they were lies in 2003; how come the Dems couldn't or wouldn't see that?) and maintaining that support for the last few years; by remaining totally silent in the face of all the increasing evidence, they have cast themselves as junior partners in the crime. It is an oft-stated question not only on the talk shows but in the streets as well, "Where are the Democrats?" This silent complicity must be pointed out to the people who desperately want to see leadership on exiting Iraq. Not mealy-mouthed waffling, but leadership and articulate oppositon to a war that has killed or maimed tens of thousands of our youth, destroyed the lives and homes of thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqis and turned their homeland into a living hell of bombs, bullets, torture chambers and civil strife. Without pressure on the Democrats, they will simpy continue on their safe and silent road to political suicide and the Republicans will be able to continue their dastardly deeds.

That's why some 50 of us stood in the cold last night outside the Crobar. And more and more will pursue that option (just as we have marched time and again against Bush and his war). We want to know - "Hillary, are you listening?" And we will tell her, loudly and clearly, that we cannot support her while she supports this war.


Outside Crobar last night, dozens protested Hillary's pro-war stand.


Many groups participated - The Raging Grannies, Code Pink, Brooklyn Parents For Peace and Brooklyn Peace Action.


Big ears....to help Hillary listen.

Bush and Cheney vs. the Majority of Americans

Nov 20, 2005

For today, a guest post, courtesy of the Village Voice cartoonist, Ward Sutton.

Wonderful, that a little cartoon can speak such volumes. As their Administration crumbles in front of our eyes, Bush and Cheney are fulminating against the Democrats (who, it seems, have finally found a bit of spine), smearing them with Michael Moor (that's a smear??!!), accusing them of re-writing history, etc. Take a look -- (click on the cartoon for a LARGER version) --

A Bike Ride Back In Time

Nov 4, 2005

Blue Ball.
Intercourse.
Bird In Hand.
Lititz!

No, this is not some sort of torrid post about late middle-aged sexual adventures. These are some of the quaint town names in the Amish farm country of Pennsylvania. Some weeks ago in the Times, I read an article in the Escapes section - Amish Country Over the Handlebar. I called Bob Heisler, my old friend from Camp Kinderland days and, like me, an avid bike rider. Had he read the article, I asked. And I thought that was the end of it. I never thought that Bob and I and a third, new-found friend, Fred Reichman, would actually plan and embark on a mid-week jaunt to Lancaster and environs.

And why not? The weather forecasts were predicting unusual-for-late-October 60 degree temperatures and sunny days. The fall foliage had not quite reached as far south as southern Pennsylvania so it looked like it would be perfect for our arrival. Bob made a motel reservation at a Best Western, we downloaded ride sheets from the Lancaster Bike Club and planned our escape from New York for Wednesday and Thursday.

The guys took their bikes and packs on the subway and met at my house where we packed up the Honda van and headed out of the city at about 8:30 on Wednesday morning. The day was glorious, if a bit too windy, as we sped down the Jersey Tunpike connecting eventually to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. On route we perused the various ride sheets and decided on one humorously dubbed The Boisterous Cloister Clomp. This was a "B" ride - not as hard as an "A" ride but harder than a wussy "C" ride. It would take us through pristine Amish farmland with rolling hills, pass through the lovely town of Ephrata (pronounced ef '-rata), whose claim to fame was the Ephrata Cloisters - a Protestant colony whose buildings date back to 1732.

We started our ride at the Conestoga Valley High School, heading north out of the town of Lampeter (pronounced Lamp'-eeter). We turned up a narrow country road that ran off into the distance, intersecting vast farms. The ride description referred to "moderate rolling hills". But moderate hills, when combined with the soon-to-be detested, strong north wind made the going quite difficult. We pushed on, steeping ourselves in the beautiful scenery, passing hard-working Amish farmers cutting the last of their remaining crop stalks and plowing their fields for the next growing season.


Pedalling up Hartman Station Road we had glorious views of farms spread for miles across Conestoga Valley.


Fred and Bob -- on the road again.


Bob up. Buggy down. We were feeling haimish about the Amish.

Our route took us through several of the area's famous,old covered bridges. The first bridge took us across the meandering Conestoga River. This was the Bitzen's Mill Covered Bridge. The northeast, in general, and Pennsylvania, in particular, have more covered bridges than other parts of the country. That's because the "frontier" of western Pennsylvania was where the westward expansion was proceeding early on in the history of the young United States. But there were many obstacles, not the least of which were the numerous rivers and streams that crisscrossed the area. Therefore, bridges were needed and as wood was so plenitful and resistant to the vagaries of freezing and thawing (unlike paving stones), it was the obvious material of choice and was used as the superstructure of all these new bridges. On the other hand, wood rots easily. So the early bridge builders simply covered them, thus limiting their exposure to the elements and prolonging their useful lives.


Three bike buddies at the Bitzen Mill covered bridge over the Conestoga River.


The bridges are wide enough for a horse and buggy - but not for two cars, side by side. Lancaster County has 28 covered bridges. From 1820 to 1900, 1500 covered bridges were built in Pennsylvania -- today, there are still 219 remaining!

As we drove further into the countryside, we passed farm after farm belonging to Amish or Mennonite farmers. Here, black garments freshly washed, were flapping and drying in the autumnal sunshine - a strange sight. There, a farmer cut back stalks in his field using a machine pulled by a team of horses. Later that night, lying in bed at the Best Western in Intercourse, we learned from a video on TV that there were several differences between the two sects which had been united but had split over questions of excommunication and the severe practice of shunning. The Amish, followers of Jacob Ammann, split from the Anabaptists in 1693. Ammann believed that the Mennonites were not practicing the ban or shunning as it should be. Thus, his followers are more conservative and stricter in their adherence to their separatist ways: untrimmed beards and hooks and eyes in place of buttons on outer garments of the men; horse and buggy transportation; horse-drawn implements for farming; plain and distinctive dress patterns and no electricity in homes.


A team of horses cuts back the last stalks in this Amish field.

The town of Ephrata was about 15 miles north of our starting point in Lampeter and we were tired from the contstant battle with the north wind. Then too, it was getting late - we had forgotten that the clocks had turned back an hour over the past weekend and that the sun would be setting around five. We didn't want to be on the road after dark. So we took a quick look-see at the Ephrata Cloisters but, even though it looked interesting with its ancient log buildings, decided to pass it by on this trip. We stopped for lunch on Ephrata's Main Street, lined with lovely old homes and 19th century office buildings.

It was three o'clock when we turned our attention to the rest of the ride - we would be heading south this time so the wind would be at our backs. We hoped it would speed us along. But we still had 20 miles to go and only two hours to cover it. A good pace was needed and we were sceptical of succeeding.


Beautiful old buildings on Ephrata's Main Street.


We stopped for hot soup and a sandwich at Oakley's Cafe in Ephrata - nice.


Erb's covered bridge - on our way back.


My long shadow. The sun was getting low at 4:30 and we had miles to go.


Still another bridge - the Log Cabin bridge. Note the sophisticated construction using bent timbers for strength.


The sun dips below the horizon - we were almost home.


Fred - tuckered but euphoric from the beautiful day's ride.

We had just a few miles to go when we got held up by a stalled train at a railroad crossing. Dozens of cars were waiting too. After a while, the wheels of the train groaned and it slowly pulled away. The gates opened and we pedalled away, trying to finish before the fading daylight turned to dark.


A blazing red tree set off a monochrome field outside this Amish homestead. The buggy is parked for the night.


Oh no - a stalled train delayed our return ... just a couple of miles to go but the light was rapidly fading.


Bob waves to me from an overpass - we're almost back to the car.

We made it - in the nick of time - tired but elated at the beauty of the ride we had taken. Despite the tough going and the struggle to finish before dark, I wouldn't have had it any other way - the magic of the fading light as darkness covered the fields and countryside was as beautiful a sight as you could imagine. The Times article was right in quoting Ernest Hemingway who wrote --
"You have no such accurate remembrance of a country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle."

We drove to our motel and showered up before venturing out for dinner back in Ephrata. The next day we took a short ride around Intercourse - another lovely adventure with great vistas of the surrounding farmland. Then we headed back to the big city - but not before stopping in Lititz (pronounced litt'-its but pronounced by us guys, humorously, with the accent on the last syllable) for a tour of the country's first pretzel factory.


The Julius Sturgis pretzel factory in Lititz, Pennsylvania.


Fred tries his hand at rolling pretzels.


Um, Fred should probably not embark on a pretzel-rolling career.

Our trip was, simply put, a couple of days in Paradise - a glimpse into a community that lives in the past and tries to coexist with present times. Modernity intrudes all around the Amish - subdivisions and rampant commercial development have been built on pristine farmland and, what were once quiet and remote lands, are now plagued with rush hour congestion and malls. I thought to myself that it would not be long before all this was totally gone and that's a tragedy. What is the meaning of progress if it destroys the beauty and serenity of that which came before? My advice --get to see it while you still can.

Cindy Sheehan Comes To Brooklyn

Oct 22, 2005

Fall has set in and the rain came down hard and cold as the wind whipped through downtown Brooklyn's streets. But that didn't stop some 3,000 Brooklynites from turning out to attend the third annual Peace Fair. Held at Brooklyn's YWCA on Atlantic Avenue and sponsored by the borough's leading peace and justice organization, Brooklyn Parents For Peace, the fair brought together activists and citizens from all walks of life, communities and organizations to explore ways to advance the struggle for peace and social justice.


Thousands of Brooklynites attended the 3rd annual Peace Fair.

Dozens of members pitched in to make this year's fair the best yet - there were a slew of well-attended workshops on subjects ranging from counter-recruitment and how to build opposition to military recruiting in the city's schools to an exploration of peace in the mideast between Palestinians and Israelis.

Children were invited to create paintings and drawings that could evoke their images of peace while local entertainers performed and sang out with songs of protest and hope.

David Tykulsker, a vice-chair of Brooklyn Parents, opened the session in Memorial Hall at eleven. The auditorium was filled to capacity when David introduced one of Brooklyn's progressive Congressmembers and a veteran champion of peace in his own right, Major Owens. He, in turn, introduced the keynote speaker, Cindy Sheehan, who was greeted with a standing ovation. Cindy Sheehan is a founding member of Gold Star Families For Peace, a mother who lost her son to the war in Iraq and the woman who single-handedly galvanized the nation this summer with her demands to the President at his ranch in Texas that he tell her in person what "noble cause" her son had died for. The President refused to meet with Cindy who camped out on his doorstep. Many believe that his arroagant refusal was the beginning of the long decline in his approval rating that we are witness to today.


The overflow crowd at Memorial Hall.


Brooklyn Parents For Peace vice-chair David Tykulsker opened the Peace Fair at 11 a.m.


Major Owens, one of Brooklyn's progressive members of Congress, talked about the struggle for peace and then introduced Cindy Sheehan.


Cindy, backstage, being interviewed by Turkish television.


Cindy Sheehan addresses the Peace Fair. Her warmth and humanity were evident to all.


An impassioned plea to end the war and bring the troops home.


Greeted with sustained applause and respect.

Cindy spoke for a long time and the audience listened intently to every word. To my ears, her speech came directly from the heart of a mother who knew and felt the reality and meaning of war on the most personal level. Her protest of the Administration's policies was borne of the anguish and loss that she had sustained and the audience could sense the honesty and truth in her gentle manner.

Perhaps the most moving moment of her remarks were words that brought tears to many gathered in Memorial Hall. Cindy recited a poem that her daughter Carly had written. Here is Carly Sheehan's poem --

Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
The torrential rains of a mother's weeping will never be done.
They call him a hero, you should be glad he's one, but,
Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?

Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
They say he must be brave because his boy died for another mans lies.
The only thing he allows himself are long, deep sighs.
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?

Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
They say he died so the flag will continue to wave,
But I believe he died because they had oil to save.
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?

Have you ever heard the sound of a Nation Rocked to Sleep?
The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep,
But if we the people let them continue, another mother will weep.
Have you ever heard the sound of a Nation Rocked to Sleep?

~ A Nation Rocked To Sleep/For Casey
By Carly Sheehan
Copyrighted 2004

After Cindy's address, founder and co-chair of Brooklyn Parents For Peace, Rusti Eisenberg spoke to remind people that a job remained to be done - to expand the peace movement and to make Cindy's quest to bring the troops home a reality. She made a passionate plea to join the movement and to reach out to broader circles to still the hands of the Bush regime - the band of warmakers and criminal profiteers that have usurped our government.


Rusti Eisenberg of BPFP - "Join us so we can help end the war."

The halls of the YWCA were buzzing with excitement as people toured the various exhibits that were on display or headed to the workshops scheduled throughout the balance of the day. On the sixth floor, food was available and peace and justice organizations from Brooklyn and beyond had set up tables to inform people of their activities.


After her speech, Cindy was surrounded by well-wishers and supporters.


A big hug for Cindy ... and a thank you!


A collage by a local artist on display at the Peace Fair.


Express yourself! Children were invited to translate their desire for peace into works of art.


Young artists at work at the Peace Fair.


I made all of these peace buttons!


Finalists in the Essay contest, "How To Be A Peacemaker", read their entries while families and friends listen.


One of the essay writers - "this is why peace matters."


One of the many workshops -- Exiting Iraq, led by (l-r) Professor Jed Arahamian of Baruch College and Professor Rusti Eisenberg of Hofstra University and vice-chair of Brooklyn Parents For Peace.


Local artists entertained throughout the day.


Brooklyn rocks for peace at the YWCA.


Tables were set up by dozens of local organizations to inform people of their activities.

The Peace Fair was an uplifting experience and a fabulous Brooklyn success story. It was a wondrous coming-together of the borough's diverse population, demonstrating the unity of all people and sending a powerful message that cannot be ignored --

We want peace in Iraq and in the world.

We want the resources of our wealthy country to be used for healing and helping not for death and destruction.

We won't stop until we're successful.

New Orleans - BUSHwhacked by Katrina

Sep 8, 2005


Please come to DC on September 24th. On that day, tens of thousands of Americans will gather in their nation's capitol. Their demand - To end the war against Iraq. To bring our troops home now - safe and alive. To change our nation's priorities - away from spending trillions on war, death and destruction.

If Hurricane Kristina did nothing else, it illuminated in the most dramatic fashion the existence of two Americas in a way that dry statistics on poverty could never do. The misleaders of our government - the Bush Administration - that collection of illegitimate, un-elected, parasitical, oil-coated billionaires - fiddled while a great and historic American city burned and sank. The people of New Orleans were the tragic victims of the vitriolic neo-con hatred of government, a bunch of right-wing idealogues who, for years, have been the sworn enemies of the notion that government exists to serve the people. And so, when government was most needed, Bush played his guitar and avoided getting his feet wet as people slowly died. As he said the week before, when asked why he was avoiding Gold Star mom, Cindy Sheehan - "I have to get on with my life." Pathetic, no?

While Kristina was one of the biggest disasters to hit our country, there is one that has been even bigger and more dangerous and destructive ... and that is the Bush Administration, itself. The germ-ridden and poison-filled waters that have drowned the great city of New Orleans will recede in the days and weeks ahead. But the filthy stench of racism and contempt for poor and working people that emanates from the Bush White House and the Republican-controlled Congress grows day by day and hangs heavily over our country and people as the ominous threat to our collective well-being that it is.


The media finally gets it right!

I have been out on the streets of my neighborhood with friends, setting up a table and handing out flyers. My goal? - to promote the national day of protest - a grand peace march that is scheduled for Saturday, September 24th in Washington DC. This is certainly not the time to give in to feelings of disillusionment or despair. The majority of our people now oppose this war and want our troops to begin coming home. Despite the despicable silence of the Democratic party, we, the people, dare not remain quiet or inactive. As they say: "If the people lead, then the leaders will follow." The peace movement can and must move beyond the hundreds of thousands into the millions and become a massive movment of all the American people to still the hand of Bush and his oily minions.


My friend Bob at the peace table at Flatbush Avenue and Sterling Place.


Buttons, flyers, bus tickets and lots of contributions from neighborhood peple.

Busses leave from all over the country. Here, in New York, round trip tickets are available from United For Peace And Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org). In Brooklyn, from Brooklyn Parents For Peace (www.brooklynpeace.org). If you've never been on a peace march or if it's been a long time -- this is the time to get active again.

Don't sit home and be an observer. Be part of history! Get your tickets now. See you in Washington on September 24.