Pedal For Peace -- What A Great Idea!

Now here's a great idea, I thought. Why not combine my two most favorite things in life: bicycling and peace. How 'bout a bike ride for peace? So I was surprised and delighted when New York -United For Peace And Justice, the local chapter of the great national anti-war coalition, announced just that: a Pedal For Peace fundraising bike ride. The idea? Bring family, friends and fellow activists together for some fun and exercise while, at the same time, raising some money to help promote the upcoming anti-war protest set for October 27th in NYC.

Well the great idea turned out to be a great day. A splendid day! The weather was as good as it gets ... a balmy, first-day-of-fall Sunday with a sky as cloudless and blue as one could imagine. We caught a 10:30 Q train in Brooklyn and rode it, with our bikes and friends, to the last stop, ascended to the street and rode through Cental Park to the ride's launching point: the Naumburg Bandshell inside the park at 72nd Street.

Our first stop: coffee and a bagel at our friendly Prospect Perk, a coffee shop in our hood. Then onto the Q for a quick subway ride to Central Park.

UFPJ volunteers staffed the registration table at the Central Park launching point.

Stacey shows off her Pedal For Peace t-shirt. Our bikes are tagged and ready to ride for peace in Iraq.

Leslie Kielson of UFPJ, addresses the cyclists, promoting the anti-war protest slated for October 27th.

The ride attracted young and old alike. Here, two of the younger riders, Noah and Josh, listen up to ride instructions.

This dude's ready to ride!

And we're off! Nadette, one of several very helpful UFPJ ride marshalls, waves us on.

We rode to the top of Central Park, regrouped at 110th Street, then continued up through the streets of Harlem.

Looking back through my mirror, a sea of yellow cyclists for peace!

Our bike ride for peace was warmly greeted by the residents of Harlem.

The people -- they want peace!

Our rest stop at High Bridge Park overlooking the Harlem River and the historic old bridge that first carried fresh Catskill water to the city of New York.

The final stretch - rolling down Riverside Drive on our way back to Central Park. The view was awesome!

Leslie: Thank you all for coming. And don't forget to go out and build October 27th into a mighty protest of the war.

Thanks to all the marshalls and to Olive, the Peace Pup, who made the ride a wonderful cycling event and a strong and compassionate plea for peace.

This was a memorable day: great people, great weather, lots of fun and, most of all, a very worthy cause. Thanks go to all the folks at NY-UFPJ who worked so hard to make it the big success it was.

And to all my readers, please make a donation to UFPJ so they can carry on their work which is so important to our world. You can e-mail me at nyccyclist@yahoo.com to make a contribution as a sponsor of my ride today. I'll send back details.

The fight for peace is costly and funds are urgently needed to make October 27th the big protest it needs to be. End the war! Bring our troops home NOW -- Safe and alive!

P.S. Take a look at some more photos from Sunday's ride at my friend, Diane Lent's website:
http://dianelent.com/pedalforpeace.htm

We Must Not Be Silent

Aug 20, 2007

Is a curtain of silence descending on our American freedoms? An administration that continues to erode constitutional liberties is unchecked by Congress. The recent wiretapping bill hastily passed by Congress is said to have givem Bush even more power to snoop on Americans - more than he even demanded.

And here in liberal New York which should be the bastion of free speech and civil liberties, an authoritarian mayor repeatedly restricts the ability to protest the Iraq war by using aggressive police tactics or refusing the use of our parks and other public places as rallying points for the tens of thousands who want to express their demands for peace. The police are given new enhanced powers to promulgate uncontestable regulations that restrict freedom of assembly. This is done under the guise of fighting terrorism but in effect the police are rapidly becoming a quasi-military force that is not subject to any civilian control

The latest flashpoint in the struggle to preserve our constitution revolves around a proposed new public school that would teach Arabic language, history and culture. Just as many other New York city schools focus on specific racial, linguistic or national studies so would the new Kahil Gibran International Academy consecrate Arabic studies as the focal point of its syllabus. This is in line with what former Mayor David Dinkins referred to as our city's "beautiful mosaic."

But from the very beginning the school came under vicious attacks from racists and extremists eager to advance their agenda of hatred and right-wing politics. Leading these attacks were the New York Post and the New York Sun. These papers are ultra-conservative rags whose biased pages seem to be designed to inflame passions and to divide people. The Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch whose media empire is considered by many to be the unofficial press agency of the Bush administraiton.

Lies and slanders were unleashed against the woman, Debbie Almontaser, who had been called upon by the city to launch the school and to serve as its principal. Branding her a terrorist or terrorist-sympathizer and the school a madrasah (the Arabic word for school) they implied that it would be a training school for terrorists. Despite the fact that Ms. Almontaser is a decorated teacher widely lauded as a force for peace and inter-faith unity, the lies were repeated over and over again. Do the words witch hunt come to mind?

The showdown came when Ms. Almontaser tried to explain the meaning of the word "intifadah" which had appeared on t-shirts prepared by young women belonging to Arab Women Active in Art and Media. Never mind that she had nothing to do with the production of the t-shirts or the group. Never mind that she was simply attempting to explain the meaning of the word intifadah. Never mind that the struggle in Palestine referred to as an intifidah is an uprising that is in response to an unjust and brutal 40-year old occupation of those lands by Israel. All that aside, the simple truth is that the intent of the Post/Sun extremists was to poison the atmosphere, slander Ms. Almontaser and prevent the new school from ever coming into existence.

The Mayor and the Department of Education, while acknowledging the skill, credentials and the upstanding decency of its own proposed principal, caved into the jingoism and agreed to accept Debbie Almontaser's forced resignation. Even more shameful, Randy Weingarten, leader of the teachers' union, the UFT, joined the chorus of circling vultures and also called for her resignation. Shameful, because the head of a union should have been on the front lines in defense of this woman and not siding with the very forces who are always the the first to attack labor.

It's clear to me that if ever there was a time to speak out, this is it. This is no time for silence. This is the time for all of us who cherish democracy, freedom and liberty to speak out forefully in defense of Debbie Almontaser and the Kahil Gibran International Academy. Letters to your local editors, to the TV and radio stations are important. So are statements from local community organizations of all sorts. And teachers should be deluging their union with calls and letters demanding an apology from Ms. Weingarten. After all, this is New York! This is our city! Our tradition is one of free speech and free thought. Our tradition is diversity not conformity to the philosophy of the New York Post and its ilk. No, we must not, dare not be silent.

It was with that goal in mind that hundreds rallied today outside the headquarters of the NYC Department of Education Chambers Street in Manhattan. A wonderful mix of New Yorkers of all faiths stood together to defend Debbie Almontaser and the new school and to demand her reinstatment. Speaker after speaker called on the city and the mayor to defend civil liberties and to stand up to the politics of bigotry and repression.

"It represents a gift of vision, a vision of tolerance, of cooperation, of community understanding,” said Rabbi Michael Feinberg of the Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition. “That's what New York is about, that’s what New York should be about, and that's certainly the vision that the academy was based on and founded on.”

And a former member of the NYC Board of Education, Luis Reyes, in a prophetic warning to the gathering, quoted the famous German pastor, Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.

Reverend Clinton Miller of the Brown Memorial Baptist Church of Brooklyn, held the crowd in thrall as he chastised the Mayor for his lack of defense of Ms. Almontaser. And he dramatically linked the forces behind the attack on the school to the fundamentalists who helped lead the nation into the disastrous war in Iraq.

A NYC teacher spoke and wanted it to be known that many of his colleagues were very troubled by Randy Weingarten's role in the fiasco when she sided with those attacking the school and its principal. And a young Arab woman pointed to the necessity of such a school in developing pride and identity in her community at a time when it is under attack by the forces of bigotry.

It was an important first step in combatting the curtain of repression that seems to be descending in our country and our city. Next time around there should be thousands protesting, not hundreds. Let us all understand the urgency of the moment and work to bring out those thousands in defense of our democracy.

At the Tweed Courthouse in NYC -- now the site of the NY Department of Education.

One sign poses a very pertinent question to the mayor.

A NYC teacher says Randy Weingarten doesn't speak for him.

A diverse crowd filled the sidewalk in front of the Tweed Courthouse, the headquarters of the NYC Department of Education.

Rabbi Michael Feinberg spoke eloquently of the need for diversity in our schools and cultural institutions.

Reverend Clinton Miller gave a rousing speech which was greeted enthusiastically by the the gathering.

A former member of the NYC Board of Education, Luis Reyes, quoted Pastor Martin Niemoeller, in warning of the danger of remaining silent.

Forty Years Too Long

On June 10th, 1000's of Americans rallied in Washington at the foot of the Capitol. They were there to deliver an emphatic statement of opposition to 40 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine. I joined other Brooklynites in traveling by bus to stand and state my opposition to the depressing and deplorable situation created by that six-day war of 1967 and the continuous occupation of lands and brutal oppression of the people who live there.

As a Jew, I was brought up by my parents to raise my voice against injustice. When it is Jews that are doing the injustice then, I believe, it's more important than ever to take a stand. The Jewish people who suffered terrible injustice and oppression througout the years, who survived the Holocaust - the Nazi attempt to exterminate them - must stand up and loudly say "no" when a government that says it represents all Jews, perpetrates injustice against another people. It's particularly important because the occupation, as are all occupations, is based on appeals to national, racial and religious superiority. By saying "no" we are asking people to remember the oppression and brutality that we, as Jews, suffered and to understand that we must never ever be a party to the same kind of treatment of other people.

Likewise, as an American citizen I oppose this occupation. This is an occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people that is bought and paid for by staggering sums of money given the Israeli government by my government. Israel is the single largest recipient of U.S. aid, way out of proportion to its population and its needs. Over $84 billion has been transferred to that state from the taxes of U.S. citizens. In our government's attempt to control the oil resources of that region, Israel has been our staunchest ally. Thus, if one wants peace with justice in the Mid East, one must oppose the military funding and one-sided support of our government for the state of Israel. Without that support, Israel would not be able to hold the lands it has occupied illegally for 40 years.

The conditions in Gaza and the West Bank today are horrendous and getting worse. Gaza could rightfully be called the world's largest prison. The Israelis have formally left and removed their settlements but control every aspect of that area's life and well-being (or lack of well-being): transportation, water resources, trade, etc. Aided and abetted by the Western powers with the United States at the helm, assistance has been cut off and people there forced into dire circumstances, living below a bare subsistence level. Bush bleats and endlessly preaches to others about the blessings of democracy but when people actually hold a free election and the results go against American strageic interests, then do all pretenses of democracy and the "right to choose" go out the window. So it was when Hamas unseated Fatah in the Palestinan election and the West cut off all aid sending Palestinians into even deeper poverty and misery.

It's the occupation. The entire situation of Israel and Palestine can be summed up by that single phrase. This is an occupation that has been enforced and expanded by illegal settlements on land grabbed from its rightful owners; an occupation implemented on the back of thousands of despicable and immoral house demolitions; an occupation built on the wholesale bulldozing of age-old olive orchards; an occupation to be made permanent by the construction of an Apartheid-like separation wall that cuts entire Palestinian villages in half, depriving the residents of their farmland; an occupation designed with hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints that cause interminable waiting times for people to go about their daily lives or to carry out even the simplest chores such as getting to work or going shopping or attending schools or reaching hospitals.

It's the occupation. Suicide bombings, the rise of extremist fundamentalism, the internecine strife that is now thrusting Palestine toward civil war, all this and more can be laid at the door of the Israeli occupation. Brutal injustice and occupation supported by naked military force breeds desperation. Desperation breeds terrorism and fanaticism because people feel that their situation is hopeless. End the occupation and peace will prevail. End the occupation and terrorism will lose its raison d'être. It's the occupation that underlies all the seemingly intractible problems and the endless warring, hatred and animosity that permeate the region. Once that basic fact is understood then the road to peace becomes pefectly clear: To end the occupation is to move towards peace and justice for both Israel and Palestine.

And so we travelled to Washington by bus, boarding early Sunday morning and returning late that night. The bus was organized by Brooklyn Parents For Peace. I give them high credits for that act and for their principled opposition to the ocupation. The same kudos to United For Peace & Justice, the country's largest peace coalition. It's not been easy to speak out on this issue. The tiny, but powerful, right wing in the American Jewish community has conducted a campaign of intimidation and rigid censorship, smearing anyone who is critical of Israeli policy as an anti-Semite. Thus do Jews, who know in their hearts that Israel is wrong or who have misgivings about its policies, fail to speak out and keep their disagreements inside themselves for fear of being villified. And thus, has former President Jimmy Carter been reviled and marginalized for bravely speaking out against the injustice of the occupation, properly noting its similarity to the Apartheid that reigned for so long in South Africa. Carter is surely not an anti-Semite but he certainly is a man of principle and refuses to be silent as obvious injustice continues for decades.

It is very late, but not too late, for progressives and thoughtful Americans, and particularly for Jews, to speak clearly and loudly. We must break through the curtain of silence that has been fostered in this country on the question of the Israeli occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people. Indeed, if we love Israel and want to see it fulfill its destiny of a humanist and democratic state, then we must never turn away from criticizing the failed policies it has pursued for 40 years; polices which take it in the very opposite direction. That is why I believe it is imperative for us all to say clearly and forthrightly: End the occupation!

May a just peace prevail for both the Israeli and Palestinian people.

At 6:30am on Sunday, June 10th, Brooklynites lined up to board the bus to Washington.

The Brooklyn Parents For Peace delegation. BPFP sponsored the bus.

The protest was organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United For Peace & Justice, the country's largest peace coalition.

The demand is made to Congress - we want a just peace for all the region's people.

Cindy and Craig Corrie addressed the crowd. They are the parents of Rachel Corrie, the courageous young American woman murdered by a U.S.-made Catepillar bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier. She was intentionally run over as she stood to defend a Palestinian family whose house was about to be demolished.

Part of the crowd of thousands demonstrating at the Capitol.

Poetry, People and Peace on the East River

Last night, Brooklyn Parents For Peace held its annual fund-raiser. Several hundred friends and supporters turned out to a spacious loft overlooking the East River and the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. If you weren't there, you missed a wonderful and memorable evening.

Time for old friends to reconnect.

A vast array of delicious food, donated by Brooklyn restaurants and groceries, was set in a side room bordered by windows that looked out on the fabulous view of river and bridge. People stood and sat enjoying drink and food and conversing with friends and fellow activists they had not seen for a while.

A wonderful feast for eye and mouth.

Food, glorious food! Courtesy of Brooklyn restaurants and grocers.

Think it's easy to organize an event like this? It is if you have an Eleanor Preiss as hard-working member and a devoted staffer like Nora Gordon, both of whom worked so very hard to make this the success that it was.

Local activist and Congressional candidate, Chris Owens, chats with Stacey Weinstein (your Blogger's wife).

Good times in DUMBO.

The view from the window of our DUMBO venue.

Perfecting this lovely scene of people, food, wine and peace was the harmonious sound of the Strings For Peace, our talented local musicians playing delightful chamber music.

Strings For Peace.

The shining star of the evening was Brooklyn's own Grace Paley, reknowned short story writer, poet and peace activist. People listened in rapt attention as Grace read from some of her writings which were, in turn, humorous, ironic, compassionate and down-to-earth. Her writing evinces a world view that demands peace and equality. On this night Grace was helped in her readings by two other well known poets and authors, Jan Clausen and Sapphire.

David Tykulsker, Co-Chair of Brooklyn Parents For Peace, introduced the evening's participants.

Poet and performance artist, Sapphire, reads from Grace Paley.

Poet Jan Clausen, talking about Grace.

The audience paid close attention.

An overflow crowd filled the loft to support Brooklyn Parents For Peace.

Rusti Eisenberg, Co-Chair of BPFP, reported on the tremendous work of our members, over the course of the last month or so, to put pressure on Congress to finally stand up to Bush. "But we're not finished yet - gotta keep the pressure on!"

Finally, Grace herself!

Grace reads!

Pausing to make a point.

After, Grace posed with part of our BPFP Literary Committee.

~~~~

The following is an article about U.S. pilots who were used to drop bombs on Vietnam during that immoral war. This is an excerpt of an article written by Grace Paley for the NY Times in 1972 --

“…none of these men were forced into the job. They were not drafted, they volunteered. They were trained….Each of these men may have accomplished half a dozen My Lais in any evening.

“The Vietnamese have a saying: The man in the sky is a killer, bring him down; but the man on the ground is a helpless human being. The men who were shot down, the human beings who fell alive into the shallow paddies, on beaches, into villages they’d just bombed, became POW’s. Their Vietnamese captors were often half their size, half-starved, stiff with the grief of continuous loss of dear family, but survivors with a determination to win. They shared their squash and water spinach with these captured Americans whose great frames immediately (it’s been reported) suffered the lack of beefsteak.

“Nine prisoners of war have been returned to the United States, the last in 1969. I was a member of the peace movement delegation which escorted the last three from Hanoi to home….With obvious logic, the Vietnamese had asked that the United States government not use these returned pilots against them again. But the United States was not ready then for any easing of war or righteousness.

“Therefore, at the present time, they are all in or associated with the armed forces. Some are training younger pilots to fly out again and again over that tortured country, that laboratory for American weapons engineers.

“I would like to add two recollections that are painful to me, but I want to share the recollections and the pain.

“At a festive dinner in a Hanoi hotel, a celebration of departure after arduous years of imprisonment, one of the pilots turned his ingenuous American boy’s face of about 30 to me. He said, ‘Gosh, Grace, to be truthful I really liked bombing.’

“One summer day before I left for North Vietnam, a woman called me at home. She was a pilot’s wife. She had not heard from her husband in two and a half years. She asked me to get information about him in Hanoi, if any existed. I tried. But no one had seen or heard from him, neither the Vietnamese nor the pilots we talked to. When I came home I had to call and tell her this. She asked me why the Vietnamese insisted on keeping the pilots.

“I explained that they were considered war criminals who had come 10,000 miles to attack a tiny country in an undeclared and brutal war.

“She said, ‘Well, they’re airmen. They’re American officers.

“I told her about the villagers living in wet, dark tunnels for years, shattered by pellets, seared by napalm — I told her only what my own eyes had seen, the miles of maniac craters –

“She said, ‘Oh, Mrs. Paley, villages and people! My husband wouldn’t do that.

“I held the phone for a while in silence. I took a deep breath. Then, I said, ‘Oh? Well, I guess it must have been someone else.”

As the sun set on the East River, we hoped that it's also setting on a disgraced and corruption-filled White House and its immoral war. And many pledged to redouble their efforts to make sure that our long national nightmare finally comes to an end. In its place may we welcome peace for all the world's people.

A Nasty War And How To Stop It

Brooklyn Parents For Peace table at Prospect Park.

It's easy to feel disheartened, depressed and defeated. After last November's tumultuous election, when the American people threw out Republican warmongers and Bush-rubber stampers and replaced them with anti-war Democrats, we rightfully anticipated that Congress would finally find its spine and put an end to the disastrous war and occupation in Iraq.

So when the new Congress with its new Democratic leadership, caved in to Bush several weeks ago and gave him yet another rubber-stamp check of $100 Billion (bringing the total thus far to a staggering $433 billion ) we were furious. But beyond anger, many felt deflated and hopeless. "What's the use?" people thought. "We've demonstrated, petitioned, voted and demonstrated some more. Yet the war goes on." Just as the Imperial President -- with his 29% approval ratings and polls showing nearly 70% of Americans opposing the war -- ignores the will of the people, so has Congress ignored that same message and voted to fund an escalation instead. More tax dollars down the rat hole of war and corruption. More young American lives cut short. More innocent Iraqi citizens killed. More agony of a small and poor country ground down into dust, destruction and civil war.

It's enough to break your heart and to break your will. But that would be the wrong reaction. The entire world is opposed to Bush and this war. But the entire world also depends on the American people to end it! That's right. They depend on us to end this war. And, in the end, it will be the American people who carry out that task on behalf of all humanity.

When working for peace it's important to take the long view. This war has now gone on for a longer amount of time than our country was engaged in World War II. But there was never a guarantee that we could bring it to an end within a prescribed amount of time. The bloody forces of OIL, who launched and maintain this war and who want to capture Iraq in order poket her petroleum, are very powerful. To mobilize the American people in sufficient numbers to defeat that power is not an easy undertaking. But, regardless of difficulty, that's the job that has to be done.

Now is not the time to give up. To the contrary: The reality of where we're at should have us working ever-harder to end the war. The reality is that we've had an immensely profound effect on our country and our people.

It is the American peace movement and nobody else that has shifted a majority of Americans to now oppose this war. It certainly was not the complicit media. It certainly was not our political leaders who cowered for so many years as Bush waged this immoral war. No, it was we who pointed out from day one, how wrong this war was. And now a majority of our citizens agree!

And it was the American peace movement that was responsible for a huge shift in Congress last November. Just look at that last vote of several weeks ago. Pessimists and defeatists will say that Congress caved in. And they'd be right. But that's only half the story. The other part is that 142 members of Congress voted against the Supplemental bill. That would have been unthinkable just seven months ago when opposition could be counted on the fingers of your hands!

Here in Brooklyn, I can proudly point to the work of my peace group (Brooklyn Parents For Peace) who waged a fantastic campaign on the streets of our communities. Six hundred postcards were collected from residents and sent on to our Brooklyn Congressmembers! Thousands of leaflets imprinted with the phone numbers of Representatives to be called, were handed out. Dozens of phone calls to Congress were launched right at our table with a exciting new approach using our own cell phones: a Congressional Call-A-Thon to demand that Congress stand up to Bush.

Brooklyn Parents For Peace's leaflet handed out by the thousands to Brooklyn Residents.

Did we end the war yet? No.

Were we successful? Absolutely! Look at this --

Five of the six Brooklyn reps voted against the funding supplemental (the sixth is the Republican Bushite, Vito Fossella who will go to his political grave in support of the Administration). We were told by one Congressional aide that his boss was voting NO because "you guys have made it impossible to do anything else."

The moral of this story is this:

People in action can push Congress to finally say NO to Bush.

People in action can end this war.

Now is precisely the time to turn up the street heat.

Now is precisely the time to get even more people into action than we've done till now:

• More people, more pressure.

• More pressure, more Congressmembers voting the right way next time. And that means fewer Democrats slipping away to join the Republicans to vote more money for war.

And there are more "next times" coming down the pike right now. Bush has already asked for another $140 Billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

So what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!

The glass is half full and we've got to fill it all the way to the top with the sweet elixir of peace.

Will The Real Congress Please Stand Up

May 1, 2007

A historic battle is shaping up this week between Congress and the Bush administration. Congress, reflecting last November's watershed election, has finally taken a position against the war, albeit a meek and timid one. They have passed a supplemental funding bill that gives the President the money he has requested to run his wars. But attached to that bill is a mandate that he begin withdrawing U.S. troops by October and a non-binding recommendation that he complete the withdrawal by spring of 2008.

Recent polls show that Americans have not changed their minds since the election. According to a New York Times - CBS poll, some 64% of Americans want a timetable for withdrawal. And an NBC - Wall Street Journal poll shows 56% agreeing with this question that was posited:

"When it comes to the debate on Iraq who do you agree with more: the Democrats in Congress, who say we should set a deadline for troop withdrawal from Iraq; OR, President Bush, who says we should NOT set a deadline for troop withdrawal from Iraq?"

So one might well ask -- just why are the Democrats so timid when it's clear that the American people are way out front of them on opposing the disaster that the bunch in the White House has foisted on our country and on Iraq? Just what is Congress so afraid of when it's obvious that they have the support of the American people and that George Bush is increasingly isolated?

One reason is the role of the so-called fourth estate - the press. As Bill Moyers so eloquently pointed out in his PBS special last week, they became, in the run-up to the war, cheer leaders for administration policy and for attacking Iraq. To this day, they play a role more obfuscating than clarifying, turning a matter of the greatest national significance - Congress, defending our Constitution, finding its spine and standing up to an Imperial Presidency - into nothing more than a push-and-pull game of politics as usual.

It's important, though, to realize that it is the peace movement that brought us to this historic juncture. Though marginalized and blacked out by the media, the hundreds and hundreds of thousands who marched, time and again, in protest of this war are largely responsible for shifting public opinion against Bush and his policies. Just imagine for a moment that there had not been a peace movement. Would Congress be challenging the President on the war today? Would the Democrats have been able to retake the Congress had there been no constant and vocal opposition?

And therein lies a very important lesson. Protest and dissent protect democracy and are the engine of progressive change. Or as Frederick Douglas so ably put it -

"Without struggle there can be no progress."

This week is the week to keep the pressure on our Congress. From the progressive members of Congress to the so-called Blue Dog Democrats (on the right of the party) and on to the wavering Republicans - the message must be brought loud and clear -

End this war now!

Bring our troops home now!

No compromise with the war president!

Stand up to his veto!

Don't cave in!

Senators and Representatives must be flooded with calls and emails this week with that message. If you are waiting for someone else to call - don't. It's your turn. Each and every call counts. It takes but a minute and you'll be adding one more voice to the thousands that can succeed in pushing Congress fulfill its constitutional responsibility. And once successful there, perhaps we can move on to finish the job with the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for the terrible crimes they have committed.

Here's the number: (800) 828-0498. Make the call. Call both Senators and your one Rep. If you don't know who your Rep is, go to www.congress.org .

Brooklyn Parents For Peace's table this weekend at Grand Army Plaza outside of Prospect Park -- collecting postcards to Congress and letting people use our cell phones to make a call on the spot. The tables will be set up all this week and next in various Brooklyn neighborhoods to keep pressure on our Senators and Representatives. If you want to participate call (718) 624-5921 or send email to volunteers@brooklynpeace.org .

You can also download this flyer and print it out for your own use. Sorry, out-of-towners, this flyer applies to Brooklyn only.

Wolfowitz, The World Bank and The Times

Warmonger and World Bank chief, Paul Wolfowitz

Some months ago I remember being shocked by an editorial in The New York Times praising Paul Wolfowitz, one of the leading neo-con originators of the war against Iraq. (Why am I shocked by NY Times editorials? Am I falling victim to the Right's constant prattling about the "liberal media" and thus, expecting The Times to actually be so?) In their editorial, they lauded Wolfowitz, who had recently left the Rumsfeld War Department at the Pentagon to fill Bush's appointment as director of the World Bank. The Times wondered about people at the Bank "mistrusting" him and complaining that he wouldn't be given a fair chance to prove himself because they were judging him for "championing the disastrous Iraq war." Huh?

"When Paul Wolfowitz speaks publicly these days, he is usually making good sense. The head of the World Bank (formerly No. 2 at the Pentagon) has criticized Chinese banks for ignoring environmental and human rights standards when they lend to Africa, told the White House it needs to do more to alleviate African poverty, and has vowed that corrupt officials won’t be allowed to siphon off money from projects that are supposed to benefit the poor."

Sometimes, you just wonder whether they're living in the real world at The Times. To take serious the Times' notion that someone of the ilk of Paul Wolfowitz, assigned by the morally bankrupt Bush Administration, could lead a campaign on behalf of the world's poor one would have to take at face value that Bush or his underlings at FEMA really care about the people of New Orleans. Or that the President, touring Latin America recently, really meant it when he told people there that his government is serious about fighting poverty in that part of the world. Please give us all a break!

So it came as no great surprise (and actually a wonderful delight) when I picked up today's newspaper to read that Mr. Wolfowitz is in deep doo-doo at the Bank. It seems that when he entered the directorship of the Bank he came on like gangbusters with an anti-corruption campaign (shades of John Bolton at the U.N.). However, at the same time, it seems he was dictating to subordinates there that his girlfriend be given a post with a salary of $193,00 (more than the salary of a U.S. cabinet member and an increase from her previous $133,000. Wolfowitz wrote his underlings:

“I now direct you to agree to a proposal which includes the following terms and conditions. You should accept immediately her offer to be detailed to an outside institution of her choosing while retaining bank salary and benefits.”

This is chutzbah to the nth degree and not surprising given the history of this arrogant bunch in control of our White House. But The Times, given its history of permitting Judith Miller's sucking up to the war bunch, is ever true to itself. I wonder if tomorrow's paper will reverse its previous editorial which ended with these pathetic words:

"He needs a more inclusive management style and a more diplomatic inner circle, and to articulate broader goals beyond stopping corruption. That way he would have the credibility to fight the good fight."

Someone's got to clue them in how ridiculous and pitiful they sound when they commit such nonsensical words to paper.

Caught by Michael Moore in Farenheit 911 ... Here's Creepy - licking his comb and then combing his hair with it.

Here are the links to the two Time's pieces:

-- The editorial

-- The article

Four Years Too Many

Mar 19, 2007

Today marked the fouth anniversary of the unprovoked invasion, occupation and sacking of a small, poor and broken country, Iraq, by the mightiest country on earth, the United States. Four years of an unjustified, immoral and horrible war that has resulted in the loss of over three thousand American lives, cut short in their youth, the maiming of thousands more, the death of countless thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens and the utter destruction of their country. A war effort, steeped in corruption, that has plundered our national wealth to enrich a handful of crony corporations. A war launched on a platform of lies and distortions against a country that was never a threat to us nor that could harm us even if the intent had existed. A war promoted by men who never fought in war and whose purpose was to remake the Middle East and thus make its oil wealth easily available and safe for looting by American oil companies.

Thus did thousands of New Yorkers march through the streets of Manhattan yesterday to protest the war launched by this president ... the worst president ever; A man who sits atop the most corrupt administration in our country's history. New Yorkers were joined by tens of thousands in cities throughout the country and around the world.

The New York Times, which boasts that it is the "paper of record," ignored the patriots who marched in its own city yesterday. Instead of a headline on the front page, "New Yorkers March by the Thousands to Protest the War," they saw fit to bury any mention of the outpouring on page five of the second section. It was one of nine bulleted entries in its Metro Briefing along with such earth-shaking events as "Off-Duty Officer Catches Suspect," and "Brooklyn: Carbon Monoxide Forces Evacuations." So much for all the news that's fit. Apparently, the justified criticism of its supposedly objective journalism which supported the war in the run-up to the invasion has not made much of an impact on its policies. And so its blackout on news coverage of popular protests against the continuing Bush debacle.

Click picture for a larger view (then hit back to return).

Thousands marched in New York yesterday, braving the cold and snow, to protest the war. Message to the media: This is real news not the diversionary Anna Nicole dribble.

Today Bush pleaded for patience. The chutzpah! We should be patient with a policy that has had such disastrous results for Americans and Iraqis alike? Patient with the lies? Patient with the dying? Patient with the waste and corruption? As Bush, himself, once said, "Fool me once, shame on you...." Oh, never mind, you know what that fool said. The time for patience is long past. It's time for Congress to heed the mandate of November's election and put an end to the war now.

Just trust him one more time. Um, I don't think so and neither do most Americans.

Tonight I attended two candlelight vigils called by Moveon. The weather was cold, dreary and wet, yet folks came to stand in the cold on the steps of Brooklyn's Borough Hall and give witness to the tragedy of this terrible war. The names of fallen soldiers were read and written passages from parents and friends describing their loved ones were recited solemnly and with great dignity. It was quite moving.

Gathering at Brookln's Borough Hall to mourn four years of war.

Candles to mourn those whose lives have been cut short.

People came out in freezing rain to say NO to Bush and NO to his surge.

Later, my friend Sam and I went to another vigil, this one on Strong Place in Cobble Hill. I questioned why they would hold a vigil on a quiet, residential block instead of on a major thoroughfare where more people could witness it. But after, moved by the vision of a group of neighbors standing with their candles in front of a house on a peaceful Brooklyn street, I thought to myself that if this scene were repeated in block after block and neighborhood after neighborhood, the impact would be immense. It takes courage to stand up and proclaim your resolute opposition to your government's policy in front of your neighbors. But if each of us who oppose this war did it instead of retreating to the comfort of silence, might not the war have been over by now? Dr. King said it so eloquently:

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Let us hope that, come a year, we will not be standing vigil with candles once again.

Singer Dan Zanes reads the names of lost Americans, young victims of Bush's endless war.

Reading the names. Pictures of deceased Brooklyn soliders hang above the vigil.

This coming Sunday, March 25th, is the date for a Brooklyn Peace Parade. It's remarkable in that it is being organized by a young, single mom who has not been an activist. Just a mother so upset by the war that she felt compelled to take action on her own. In a few weeks, it has mushroomed into a major community happening. Those of you who live in Brooklyn (and those of you not lucky enough to live here) are invited to participate. This is a kid and family-friendly event. You're invited to bring musical instruments, drums, signs, banners and ballons and, most of all, "your voices for peace" as the flyer urges. By clicking on the image below, you can download a pdf version of the flyer which you can print and distribute for your contacts. Help make this a big Brooklyn turnout for peace! (Details on time and location for the parade are on the flyer. Just click on the image below).

Click on the image above to download the flyer (details on time and location are on the flyer). Print it out, cut it in half - there are two to a page - and distribute to friends and family.

The Greatest Generation

Mar 18, 2007

I came of age in the 1960's. It was then that I cut my eye teeth in the political struggles for civil rights and the fight to end the war in Vietnam. The 60's were just 30 years out from the terrible times of the Great Depression and a mere 15 years from the end of World War II. Today Vietnam is a distant memory and if you asked young people about the Depression and the second world war, many would be hard pressed to give you much insight into either. To a large extent that's a product of our corporate-controlled mass media and culture which would have us forget our history. As they say, those who ignore the lessons of history are bound to repeat it. The Great Depression holds lessons for today's struggles against economic injustice, just as the echoes of Vietnam reverberate from the walls of Baghdad.

I learned important lessons from my parents and incorporated their values into mine. They were of that generation who were the sons and daughters of the immigrant waves who poured into this country in the early part of the 20th century and their parents gave them a keen awareness of economics and politics, having fled the hard times and repression of Europe and other parts.Their parents also imbued them with a sceptical eye critical of the promised blessings of American capitalism where the streets were said to have been paved with gold. More often, those streets were home to those out of work and hungry for a bit of food. They quickly learned that in America they had to stand together or they would die apart. And so they organized. The built the mighty trade union movement and with that came other victories: social security, unemployment insurance, a 40-hour work week, health insurance. Without a knowledge of history and the sacrifices of those who came before, these social benefits have often been taken for granted by the generations that followed (perhaps not so much any longer in the age of Bush) not knowing that they were the fruit of many a bitter struggle and were not given from on high but instead wrested from the political establishment and the corporate power that had run the country without a care for those who worked for a living.

And then that generation went to war as an evil fascism decended on the world. They understood the danger and rose to the challenge and, with great loss of life and limb, defeated it. It's no wonder they were called the Greatest Generation!

It was with this appreciation that I attended, yesterday, the 90th birthday celebration of a dear friend, Ann Yellin. Friends of my parents, forever it seemed, Ann and Jack Yellin were residents of the same Manhattan Beach community that I grew up in. Jack, who died many years ago, was an electrician. He was one of those brave band of so-called premature anti-fascists, joining the redoutable Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight in Spain where Franco, with Hitler's help, was trying to overthrow the democratically-elected government.

Ann was a registered nurse. But she was also a consummate activist, participating in and leading every struggle that confronted the people from civil rights to health care. And she was always, always active in the fight for world peace, be it the movmement to end the war in Vietnam or joining with tens of thousands of others to end the threat of nuclear armageddon. To this day, she remains active in these wonderfully humane activities. So this was not just a celebration of a 90th birthday, an important accomplishment in its own right, it was also a celebration of a wonderful and meaningful life - one dedicated to helping people, caring about people, caring about our planet. If there is anything more eloquent that can be said about a person's life and its meaning, I don't know what it is.

Happy Birthday to you Ann and thank you for all that you've done. May we all appreciate Ann Yellin and others of her generation that stood up to be counted when it mattered most. May we all learn from her generation and use that knowledge as we face the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Here's to you, Ann!

Happy Birthday, Ann!

To see all my photos of Ann's party just click here.