Town Hall Meeting

Sign the Senate petition showing your disdain for this decision by President Bush.

http://www.dscc.org/makeadifference/petitions/20070702_libby.htm

Thanks Topy for the link!

I estimate about 20,000 showed up yesterday in Los Angeles to speak up for an end to the Iraq war and occupation. Check out the pictures here. Unfortunately, the local government no longer makes estimates, so we don’t really know, and the news media won’t pick up the duty. I made sure to get a sampling of the media coverage, so I watched the national NBC news and the local CBS news. Neither one covered the voices of the protesters for more than 10 seconds, and BOTH made sure to mention counter protesters. I was at the LA protest, and we outnumbered the counter protesters approx. 20,000 to 4. It is so sad that we can participate in such a huge showing of solidarity, but our voices are suppressed. When we behave peacefully, they don’t air our voices and they give us a few seconds of coverage. What do we have to do to be heard?!? This reminds me of the quote from John F. Kennedy, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.”

It is very inspiring to see so many turnout here, and this wasn’t even the main protest, that was at the Pentagon.

This is a great story about giving a much needed water buffalo to a poor family in China. The amazing part is how this can be done so cheaply for the typical American yet it is so life changing for this family. Its an inspiring story. Check out the video by clicking the link below, it is only about 7 minutes.

http://www.thompsonjazz.com/movies/waterbuffalo/

Thanks Quinn for the link!

Surge the twins, George W. Bush! When will you listen: we reject your manifest destiny for capitalism. Click on the picture below for some images of the protest.

This picture is of a sign on the corner across from the protest. I am amazed at just how much Americans yearn for and idolize power and wealth. I don’t claim to be immune myself, but while protesting war and staring at this sign I have to ask, is there any virtue in wealth and power?

1. Torture
2. Held prisoner without a trial
3. No access to lawyers
4. No right to hear the charges (if any) against them
5. Taken prisoner without charges

Go to shutitdown.org to show your leaders you want the Guantanamo Bay prison center shut down immediately.

Working For Change has sent out an email asking people to email their phone company if you disagree with the NSA spying program and are not happy with paying a company for this kind of phone service. Here are the links:

* Contact AT&T: www.consumer.att.com/contact?source=body
* Contact Verizon: www22.verizon.com/CustomerSupport/ContactUs/
* Contact BellSouth: www.bellsouth.com/contactus/index.html

If you need any more motivation other than just being angry, I truly believe that direct action against a corporation is more effective than asking a politician to do it for you!

I marched in the Los Angeles protest on Saturday to mark the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq invasion by U.S. led troops. The turnout was once again great, I would say around 5,000-7,000 people came to represent. You can see my pictures here. This march was another sign of hope that we are not alone and in fact huge numbers of us want peace and justice. Los Angeles is such a huge, disconnected place with no open spaces and to see such a huge group gather like this for the 3rd time in a year is very promising.

The anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is coming up again. There will be mass protests all around. Demonstrate your disgust for militarism, greed, nepotism, cronyism, or just go out and meet a bunch of fellow peaceful citizens. Try a google search to find a protest near you, or any of the following links:

www.internationalanswer.org
www.unitedforpeace.org
www.campusantiwar.net
www.warresisters.org

If you are concerned about all the illegal actions taken by the Bush Administration, and would like to see them held accountable, Congressman John Conyers is there to help. He has a website made for getting organized to investigate the President and to censure Bush and Cheney.

These are his words from the website:

“I have taken steps to begin the inquiry into possible impeachable offenses by the Bush Administration, and have called for censure of the President and the Vice President. Now I am asking for your help to stand with me in fighting for accountability.”

This web site makes it simple to find places in your community that are looking for volunteers. Just enter your zip code and you will get a list of organizations looking for people near you. www.volunteermatch.org.

Bernie Sanders is an independent running in Vermont. He is honest and fights for very important issues, such as corporate domination of media, workers rights, and protecting the environment. I donated some money to his campaign, which you can do too by going to his website: www.bernie.org.

You can also learn more about what he is doing now in the House of Representatives at: www.bernie.house.gov

Organizers in Massachusetts are sending out petitions to get on the November 2006 ballot an initiative to withdraw state national guard from Iraq. Their goal is “to prevent the [Massachusetts] Governor from sending any more National Guard troops to Iraq, and…are actively exploring similar initiatives in other states.” If you live in Massachusetts or know someone who does, go to http://www.homefromiraqnow.org.

What an outstanding turnout today in Los Angeles. The turnout was announced at 50,000 people. That same number was announced in San Francisco, and an amazing 300,000 announced at the main event in Washington, DC! It was invigorating to see such non-violent support for peace and justice. All of my pictures have been posted here. I’ve already seen the national press say things like “thousands of protestors showed up across the country” and “pro-Bush protestors were there as well.” I have given up on the mainstream media long ago: CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN (I don’t even count Fox since they are in a whole other league). I was there, you can see my pictures. Real reporting would include things like “hundreds of thousands protested across America today” and “people are fed up with militarism and occupations.” Thankfully we still have news programs like Democracy Now!.

September 24, 2005 – mark your calendars! It’s a great opportunity to protest the illegal war on Iraq, the illegal occupation of Haiti, the attempted and failed coup on Venezuela’s president, and any of the other U.S. foreign or domestic policy horrors you can think of. The main protest will be in Washington, D.C. There will also be major ones in at least Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Go to our demonstrations page for links to more information.

U.S. political leaders and their megaphone (also known as the corporate media) are using the Terry Schiavo case to distract Americans from issues that actually affect their lives. If they care about life so much, then how can they let a single Iraqi civilian die from their bombs? And if they believe dying means they get to go be with God, why won’t they let this woman go to heaven when it is obviously her time to go?

Sign MoveOn’s new petition to leaders of Congress to stop using a couple’s tragedy for political gain.

Sign ActForChange’s petition to prevent Congress from slashing the budget for Medicaid, which would genuinely help America’s sick.

I attended one of the protests around the world today, this one in Los Angeles. I was hoping to see 1,000 people come out, on this rainy day. By the time the march through Hollywood started, there were about 10,000 people there. It was a beautiful event, everybody was on the same wavelength-no more war, stopping the ruling elite from killing for their profit, and there is no mistake about the connection of Iraq and Palestine. This protest is just another example that if this many people are willing to march in the rain, how many more are out there that want this vicious, illegal war to end? Of course, if you watch the chicken shit American media tonight, you won’t hear a peep about these protests. 100,000 people protested in London alone today. There were protests all over the world. The people want change, and are showing strong solidarity. The mainstream media is doing everything they can to muzzle us. I have not yet seen (I know, it won’t happen) news coverage from corporate media that actually interviews the protestors or shows footage of some of the speeches. Corporations are against us, but it is very encouraging to see the mass amount of support out there today.

Mark the second year of war on Iraq by demonstrating your opinion in solidarity with millions of others. There will be demonstrations everywhere. Find one in almost all 50 states here, or go to our “Get Involved/Demonstrations” page. Read this amazing speech, from the World Social Forum, about why showing our disgust with this war is so important.

Kathy found this link that will help people find a place in their community where they can get together and help stop the appointments of right wing ideologues to permanent positions in the Federal Judicial system. They will also be discussing privatization of Social Security, the war on Iraq, and winning Congress in 2006. People are meeting this Thursday, March 10.

Stan Goff is a Special Forces veteran following in a long tradition of US soldiers who have seen the inside of US capitalism’s violence and rejected its moral and intellectual presuppositions through a comprehensive and active critique (see Smedley Butler for more on this tradition). Goff has produced several books (his latest focus on gender and misogyny in the US culture and the military will appear this year), many articles (read his vision of a new hegemony), and a new blog and focuses his activism on organizing for peace and radical politics within the US military. In his recent article on “Debating a Neocon” , this past master of combat arms exposes the sham of rightist ideology with a flick of the wrist and notes: “it is truly remarkable how easily KO’ed these neocons are once you step outside the tight little ring of the Republicrats. They’ve got maybe three combinations, and they are slow as a cow. Everything inside has been ritual combat, so they do very badly when someone actually intends to hit them.” HIT THIS RIGHTIST SCUM, HARD!!! Advising intelligent and vigorous resistance, “this burned-out commie vet” suggests that we “keep battering away because these people are weaker than they seem, even if they DO have state power. (I’m ready for my IRS audit, sir.) And quit accepting their premises, or you’ll never end up with anything except their conclusions.” Goff, who lived the frontlines of US imperialism, reminds us all that capitalism is inseparable from militarism and violence at the world scale, regardless of the nation-state.

We at TownHallMeeting want to make constructive change, based on the ideals of social justice, liberty and the welfare of all people. We believe a web site with a blog is one great way to promote learning, discussion, and action. From your experience, what is the most powerful and effective strategy to fulfill these ideals?