The Bring Them Home Now Bus Tour

The first stop on the southern route of the Bring Them Home Now Bus Tour originating at Camp Casey was none other than my home city of Austin. I went with Harold of Sanity Island and his wife Donna, and got some pictures. Cindy marched from the Texas State Capitol to Austin City Hall, where we were waiting for them in the Outdoor Plaza, facing the 1st Street Bridge.

Speakers included Cindy Sheehan, Jim Hightower, Texas State Rep. Elliot Naishtat, Brooke Beasley and Julie Cuniglio of Gold Star Families for Peace and Jeff Key of Iraq Veterans Against the War. A number of Austin musicians were there, including Eliza Gilkyson.

I was especially pleased to hear Cindy say that the 5000 lbs of supplies she has left over from Camp Casey are to be taken to the Astrodome in Houston where they will be donated toward relief for the evacuees of New Orleans. God bless her for that! I care a great deal about issues of war and peace, but the devastation of the Gulf Coast looms a little larger in my mind at the moment, as I suspect they are for many on both sides of the Iraq issue. My prayers are with the people of the Gulf Coast. Donations can be made here and here.


Some people (like the guy with the sign) think peace protesters are just chicken. Because war is what you do when someone super double-dog dares ya.


Harold of Sanity Island and his wife Donna


Harold and me, wearing the No Nonsense in November shirt I got last week. I got more comments on this shirt tonight than I've ever gotten on a shirt in one day before. Vote "No" on Constitutional Amendment 2!!!


Half the audience is off to meet Cindy's march half-way. They're actually following the guy with the black umbrella.


Protesters stream off to meet Cindy.


A good point. 35% of the Louisiana National Guard and 37% of the Mississippi National Guard are in Iraq.


"We are the land of the free only because of the courage of the brave." -- the sign makes a good and obvious point. I don't see that it helps the pro-Bush folks though.


Another pro-war banner across the street.


Cindy arrives, bringing the throngs with her.


The crowd is much larger now. I'm guessing around 1000 people, maybe more.


Ann Wright of Honnalulu, HI, a member Veterans for Pease, was a career foreign service officer with the State Department who resigned her position in March of 2003 in opposition to the war in Iraq. (from the Bring Them Home Now Tour website.)


Genevieve is an Austin resident who was married at Camp Casey. She also does a mean poetry slam!


Harold finds a good spot to take pictures and video from.


Jim Hightower makes an appearance. He's very well spoken. He should run for something again.


Jim Hightower introduces Cindy Sheehan.


Cindy Sheehan wants to ask Bush, "What noble cause did my son die for in Iraq?" and "How many more soldiers will have to die?" Cindy also let us in on some of her plans, which include deliverying 5000 lbs of excess supplies from Camp Casey to the Astrodome for relief for New Orleans evacuees, attempting a meeting with Tom DeLay in Houston, and moving to Austin to run for mayor.


Not one more! Not one more!


Eliza Gilkyson has such a beautiful voice! She songs a song about what a man of God would do.


This Presbyterian minister starts up the prayer vigil.


The sound of the bell ringing was beautiful. Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

Less Than 3 Minutes

That's how long Gov. Fletcher of Kentucky, a Republican, took to plead the 5th in front of a Grand Jury investigating his corrupt hiring and firing practices:

Fletcher stayed in the room for 2 minutes and 18 seconds, then proceeded with his attorneys to the office of Franklin Circuit Judge William Graham.

At a news conference later at the Capitol, Fletcher said he gave the grand jury his name, address and occupation but did not answer any other questions.

He said he did invoke his 5th Amendment right against self incrimination.

The Hurricane

I'm praying for all the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The situation there is truly horrific. New Orleans' complete evacuation has been ordered. The city is going to flood completely. Looters are taking to the streets. Martial Law has been declared. In Mississippi, the death toll is expected to be heavy. Power is out across Alabama. Health risks could remain for weeks. The National Guard has been called out to help, but 35% of the Louisiana National Guard and 37% of the Mississippi National Guard are in Iraq. I'm trying very hard not to despair.

The devastating impact of this hurricane is impossible to underestimate. The closure of the Port of Southern Louisiana is a big deal for the United States. The port is the busiest shipping port in the western hemisphere and the 4th busiest in the world. Why is the port so busy? Consider that all of this is happening at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The Mississippi river provides the primary shipping avenue for a large swath of the central and northern United States. Energy prices, already high, are going to get higher. If this port is not in working order at the end of September, harvest time in the US, the world's food prices will suffer.


Through all of this, Bush has been on vacation. Today, while the situation in Louisiana and Mississippi was deteriorating, New Orleans was flooding, and the magnitude of the disaster was becoming apparent, the President was playing guitar in California with Mark Willis. He's still in Crawford until tomorrow morning. He should have gone back to Washington days ago. At the very least he should have returned when a Category 5 hurricane made landfall a few miles from the busiest shipping port in the western hemisphere. It's time to get back to work, Mr. President. Your people need you.

Updates on Katrina as they come in can be found here.

I'll be donating here.

The Red Cross is another good place to donate.

Thoughts on My Trip to Crawford

Every Friday night, we Jews pray for peace. It's in every service. One of my favorite songs from services, which is a prayer for peace, kept coming back to me during my trip. The transliterated Hebrew:

Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu ya'ase shalom aleinu v'al kol Yisrael, v'imru amein

And the English translation:

May the Source of peace send peace to all who mourn and comfort to all who are bereaved.

There were so many there who were mourning. Certainly Cindy Sheehan, but many other parents, siblings, and children of those who died in Iraq. Not to mention friends and co-workers. Many are mourning fellow citizens they didn't even know. And that mourning includes sorrow, anger and frustration, but also reverence and respect.

The peace movement in Crawford is very different in that respect from the caricature of peace protesters in place since the Vietnam era. There is a patriotic love and care for the soldiers and their families, as well as for the Iraqi people that is not just incidental, but integral to the movement that is forming. And although Cindy Sheehan was the genesis of it and remains a powerful spokesperson for the peace activists, that reverence and respect seems to be the force driving the movement.

War always hurts the powerless on both sides more than the powerful. That's the way it's always been. And it's one of the reasons why I'm always hesitant about supporting any war, and why my sympathies are easier lent to calls for peace. That said, I have always been very conflicted about this particular war, as I have written here before. I supported the war initially, largely because of the good I hoped would come to the Iraqi people. (I realize this was not the rationale the President used to convince most of us, but it was my rationale.) I think Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin has the right idea -- probably the best thing would be a gradual winding down of our presence in Iraq, beginning soon. And the peace movement that is being generated in Crawford, I believe, can help bring this about.

One thing that really struck me about the Peace protesters was how organized they were, considering they were mostly spontaneous volunteers. The movement has also been integrated tightly into the progressive new media infrastructure as well -- particularly Air America and the large liberal blogs, like Daily Kos, and streaming audio sites like the Brad Show. The Crawford Peace House had lent its support, and coordinated the needs of Camp Casey online. Cindy posted her diary on Daily Kos, and made regular and eloquent appearances on television and radio. And Bush's supporters in the media attacked her personally and visciously. Together, these things tell me this is a serious movement, and its effects will be long term, and probably have yet to be felt.

This gets me to thinking, why did Bush fail to simply meet with her at the beginning? It doesn't seem like a difficult thing for him to do, and it was fairly obvious to me that it would have defused the situation, probably preventing his recent slide in the polls. I can only assume it was arrogance or personal distaste for a meeting so filled with emotional conflict. Either way, I think it was foolish.

The protesters, both the Camp Casey protesters, and the counterprotesters, obviously had a great deal of emotion invested in their protests. The atmosphere was almost charged with electricity -- I think both sides were expecting conflict could erupt at any time because emotions were running so high. At Camp Casey, we were warned several times to avoid arguing with the counterprotesters. And as far as I know, most did. I only saw one incident of an arrest, and it was non-violent. And at Camp Casey I, a counterprotester tried very hard to start a public and emotional debate, but no one at Camp Casy took him up on his offer. I think because he was very insulting in his comments.

I think I had a misunderstanding at first as to why the counterprotesters were there. I thought they were pro-war. But now, I think they were simply pro-Bush. They didn't show up until Bush's approval rating had fallen and it was clear that support for the war was declining. They were only there for the weekend, and didn't offer as large of a sacrifice of time to the effort as the peace protesters. Their slogans tended to be simple, accusatory chants and signs saying "Support Our Troops" and "IM4W" and "Have you forgotten 9/11?". I think they felt the need to be there not because they loved war (who would), but rather because they love Bush, and the war is his. They were his devout followers, and to them, he could do no wrong. It wasn't about the war. It was about the President.

There was little communication between the two sides in Crawford. Bush refuses to meet with Cindy Sheehan. The police have the protesters cordoned off from one another. The crowd at the pro-Bush rally was said to have been whipped up by angry denunciations of Cindy and the peace movement. I don't see much hope for conciliatory interaction between the protesters and counter-protesters. But I have some hope that the caricature of the peace movement will be dispelled as time goes on. Then, hopefully, the American people will come to a consensus that this is a heartfelt foreign policy disagreement with the President, and it's not a protest against the troops or the flag.

KY-Gov Fletcher to Plead 5th, Pardons 9

Feast your eyes upon a buffet of Republican Governors roasted and skewered and glazed with a scandal compote. Our newest course, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, who today has pardoned nine underlings, throwing a wrench into the investigation of his adminstration's hiring and firing practices. And in the same breath, he announced he will be testifying before the Grand Jury, but would not speak while there. How is this possible? Why, by making use of the 5th Amendment protection against incriminating oneself. Survey USA had his latest approval rating at 34%. Impeachment for dessert anyone?

The Am I Patriotic Podcast

The interview I did for Kyle at Am I Patriotic about my trip to Crawford can be found here. After listening, please go vote for Kyle at Podcast Alley.

Pictures from Crawford - The Pro-War Folks

I almost forgot -- here are the pictures of the pro-war demonstrators:


The Yellow Rose storefront was the Pro-War side's version of the Crawford Peace House.


The guy with the flag tries to goad the Camp Casey I folks into a yelling match.



A mini-parade going past Camp Casey I and the Pro-War Camp.


The Pro-War folks.


I assume this is the Pro-War folks' shuttle. The Camp Casey shuttle of this size only went to from Camp Casey II to the Crawford Peace House.


The sign reads, "Perhaps it's providence. If so, democracy is a prerequisite."


I thought the sign saying "Who's paying you Cindy?" was totally inappropriate. She is not being paid to be there. She is there because her son died in a war that she feels was unjustified.



The complete counterprotest. I wasn't present for the much larger rally held at a nearby football field in support of Bush and the war.

My First Interview

Just got finished being interviewed by Kyle Shank for the Am I Patriotic Podcast about my trip to Crawford. It should be up later tonight. I'll post a link then.

Pictures from Crawford - Camp Casey II

Camp Casey II from the shuttle. The Press calls it the "Cirque Du Soleil Tent". I've heard it also looks like the Denver airport.


Crosses and Stars of David comemmorate fallen soldiers.


Joan Baez sings "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".


Cindy Sheehan announces she's taking her fight to Washington after August 31.


Harold has better zoom on his video camera.


The tent village at Camp Casey II.


The empty boots were haunting.


Terri Hendrix of San Marcos, TX entertains the crowd with a song about media consolidation. An unusual topic, but a very lively song.


The faces of the fallen.


The faces of the fallen go on and on.


I think this soldier's father was among the protesters.

Pictures from Crawford -- Camp Casey I, Part II

The crowd at Camp Casey I.



The crowd at Camp Casey I in the other direction.


America deserves an honest answer. Is Bush capable of giving one?


No peace rally would be complete without a rendition of Bob Dylan's classic, "Blowin' in the Wind". This group was more on pitch and easier to understand than Dylan himself. I don't suppose that's very difficult though.



A display showing the faces of the first 1000 soldiers whose lives were lost in Iraq.



This display is updated to keep the total count of American casualties in Iraq.



The Gold Star Families demand accountability. The Bush Administration tends not to demand accountability of those who screw up. Instead, they give them medals (George Tenet), raises (Karl Rove), and promotions (Condoleeza Rice).



The flag flies at half-staff, honoring the fallen.

Pictures from Crawford -- Camp Casey I

Police cordon off the protestors to protect right from left and left from right.


A meeting of Camp Casey I denizens, the gist of which was "Obey the rules."


This guys was amazing. He was spouting off awesome anti-war poetry off the top of his head. Truly incredible.


A protestor arrested? I don't know why -- she was shouting, "But I didn't do anything!" I heard there were other arrests as well today, but mostly of pro-war activists who got carried away.


As you can see, shuttle service was "sporatdic" and certainly not "on time". We spent the better part of the day on or waiting for shuttles.