Allentown Armory Activists have the following announcement:Cindy Sheehan will be arriving in Allentown Wednesday July 25Th. The Allentown Armory Activists and every other major peace group in the lehigh valley will be welcoming her at our regular protest location of 15Th and Allen st in Allentown. we will gather there at 4 pm. we will walk down 15Th to Hamilton turning left and continuing down Hamilton to the historic sterling hotel. There we will hold Cindy's "journey for humanity" walking tour of the U.S. as it stops in Allentown. Allentown was chosen for it's [sic] representation of the industrial decline in the U.S.
They first had her speaking from Muhlenberg, but never cleared it with anyone. Now Sheehan is scheduled to speak from the Sterling Hotel at 7 PM Wednesday.
In late May, Sheehan dropped out of the peace movement. She claimed to be exhausted and disillusioned. "I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost."
She's baaaack!
This time, she's pissed at the Democrats, too, especially Nancy Pelosi. That's right. Instead of George Bush, who's actually in charge of that goofy war, Sheehan has her sights set on the woman who's actually trying to stop it. Go figure.
Sheehan demands a Bush impeachment, and started a "walking tour" about two weeks ago for 1,452 miles between Crawford TX and the Capitol. She threatened to challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unless a bill of impeachment is filed against Bush by today!
Wait a tic! That's over 100 miles per day! Sheehan should forget about Congress and become an ultrarunner.
Here's what Cindy said as she sallied forth for D.C..
It is about time us [sic] “peasants” (in the eyes of the Fascist Ruling Elite) march on DC with our“pitchforks” of righteous anger and our “torches” of truth to demand the ouster of BushCo. I have a dream of the detention centers that George has built and filled being instead filled with Orange Clad neo-cons and neo-connettes. If Congress won’t dig BushCo’s political grave, it is the People’s job to do so. Thomas Jefferson said that we need a Revolution every 20 years, or so, to keep our Republic honest.
Cindy was charged with disorderly conduct today, and was led away in little plastic handcuffs, but at least got to announce her congressional intentions. Cindy Sheehan arrested? There's a shocker!
I'm sorry her son died. But her shrill threats and publicity stunts just marginalize everyone opposed to the war. She actually hurts the peace movement.
Sheehan, once a daily fixture on Air America, is now having trouble attracting an audience. At DailyKOS, her posting privileges have been terminated.
Now that her little revolutionary war is over, she can pop on up to the Lehigh Valley for scrapple 'n strudel. Who knows, party bosses might ask her to run for Congress here. They've finally found someone even more opportunistic than Spam Bennett.
With Cindy, it's not about the war. It's about Cindy.
I'm all for ending the war in Iraq (obviously), but I never liked Sheehan. I never understood her ways. You'd think someone with so much passion would handle herself in a more respectable manor.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Michael Moore could join the walk and get himself into shape, you know, since he's so concerned with health care these days...
AJ,
ReplyDeleteFor about the first three months, I liked her. She made her point quite effectively. And she's a grieving mother. But I think she has become increasingly shrill and absurd over time. I'm not talking about her views. Noam Chomsky has far more extreme views, but states them quite rationally. Sheehan, on the other hand, makes little sense. Five weeks ago, she claimed she had other children who needed her and that she was done. What happened to them? When she got arrested today, she wasn't beating on Cheney's door. She was at Conyer's office. It's totally absurd, and it marginalizes people who oppose the war for very rational reasons.
I will try to see her on Wednesday, though. Although I think she has made this very much about her instead of what is realistic, I'd love to hear the speakers.
I haven't decided whether or not I'll be going. I'm just not sure I want to...
ReplyDeleteI'll try to go. i'd like to hear her talk about neo-connettes and watch the procession as the cardinals of LEPOCO and Allentown Armory file into a secular cathedral to hear a high priestess excommunicate Pelosi.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Charlies Snelling or Tony Salvaggio will be there. They contribued heavily to the greens in the last election, and I'm sure they're not so cynical that they would try to finance a green just to make it harder for Casey to beat Santorum. And I'm certain no green (like Romanelli or all the greens running for congress in Pa) would accept that kind of special interest money. Why, that would violate the ten key values!
I will note here what I noted on the Morning call blog that savaged this woman.
ReplyDeleteI believe she is misguided in her approach. I try to remember she lost a son in this war and because of that I cut her major slack. Yes Bernie, she does give fodder to the Repub's , but maybe our ability to say we disagree with this grieveing mother, but respect her right to demand a redress of her grievances, seperates us from the neo-con nutjobs. I was appalled by the MC blogs about this woman. I agree that we need to stay rational and realize that both the pro and anti war has grieving parents and spouses and I feel if someone points to them to make a point , I ask can you say how you would react to the loss of a child .
As for Moore, AJ he has actually lost weight and claims since doing SICKO, he is committed to prevention, we shall see. I saw SICKO and it was fascinating. It wa less about the many uninsured in this nation and more about those who think they are covered until they get sick and find their treatment denied. Healthcare is the one issue that is the greatest disgrace in this the wealthiest nation on earth.
Your less than obedient servant
Sir Dude
How much weight has he lost? I just saw him on CNN last week and he looked HORRIBLE!
ReplyDeleteI agree that health care is certainly desgraced. I believe that doing your best to stay healthy is a positive step towards better health care. I believe the system is far too abused by people who care less about their overall health because a doctor can fix almost any problem at someone else's expense.
ReplyDeleteI am well above the title of fat-ass, and am desperately trying to lose weight. A visit to the doctor a while back showed me how I am healthy now, except for my huge weight problem - and how in a few years that all could change.
But onto the subject of Sheehan, I just don't like her. I support her cause, but despise her ways. This neo-hippie lets herself be passed around a protest like a drunken whore until she is finally arrested on dumb charge, one after the other.
Someone needs to tell her that being arrested is not the only way to get a message across.
I wonder if Sam Bennett, since she portrays herself as running for Congress because she is so vehemently against the war in Iraq, will be running down to the Sterling to hang with Cindy.
ReplyDeleteI'll be there to let you know. My money says NO.
ReplyDeleteNo way Sam will be there, she's suckling at the teats of the DNC, and she won't offend Pelosi by cheering Sheehan. I hear what you guys are saying, Sheehan lost her son, but she's over the edge. She needs professional help with her grief, Hiking across America and doing group counseling in public isn't working.
ReplyDeleteSir Dude,
ReplyDeleteShe certainly has every right to march and demonstrate, and there are times when that is the only effective way to make a point. But more often than not, those 60's tactics are ineffective at best, and end up alienating most folks.
For example, she insisted on getting herself arrested yesterday, even though Conyers met with her for at least 80 minutes. I would not call Conyers pro-Bush.
And when you come down to it, she is demanding something we all know will never happen. Bush-Cheney will not be impeached. If he were impeached, he could never be convicted. In the meantime, Congress would become a circus and nothing would get done. Republicans would circle the wagons, and Dems would be unable to enact meaningful laws like the Employee Free Choice Act. Dems would lose credibility, and Bush's approval ratings would soar because we Americans always sympathize with a guy who is being kicked around.
The time to have spoken out against Bush was before he got us into that mess. And truthfully, both parties can take responsibility for failing to look at things more closely.
Now that the damage is done, it does little good to point accusing fingers. My recollection is that most of us were saluting each other and slapping each other on the back when we invaded iraq.
What we really need to do is come together, left and right, Dem and Republican, and try to determine a way to extricate ourselves that does not result in wholesale death and slaughter for innocent civilians, does not leave a power vacuum and still protects out interests. That is the reality. And there are no easy answers. "Get Out of Iraq Now" is not an option, nor is incinerating the place. Those are just visceral reactions. I don't really have an answer, and few of us really do.
I think a surge strategy could work, but not with Bush in control because he has failed to use diplomacy to any signifigant degree. We really need to talk to our enemies, and make the best of a bad situation.
Sheenhan represents a simplistic solution. Dip your hands in red paint and talk about blood on our hands. Great theatre, but it doesn't answer the question about what will happen to Sunnis or Kurds if we pull out. But my idea, that we need to stay, is flawed, too. That's because innocent people are still losing their lives even though we are there in force. It's just a slow bleed instead of wholesale slaughter. I just don't have an answer.
"This neo-hippie lets herself be passed around a protest like a drunken whore" a.j. cordi
ReplyDeletea.j.,
That's disrespectful. Even if you despise her ways, show some respect for a grieving mother.
From,
A neo-hippie mom.
Anon 1:32 -
ReplyDeleteMy apologies if you consider that disrespectful. It was only an observation. But I have a feeling anything I say in place of that will offend you, so I won't try.
But perhaps the idea that she is a grieving mother suggests she should conduct herself a bit more respectfully, more professionally, and even consider her family a bit more.
All that's happened and all that she does can't be easy on her family at all. I don't see how countless arrests are making things better...
Cindy Sheehan saddens me. The loss of her son was a sacrifice he made while voluntarily serving his country.
ReplyDeleteNothing can fill the emptiness experienced by a Mother with the loss of a child, but unlike the impersonal telegrams Mother's of WWII received, she actually got to chat with the President about her loss.
Soon Cindy Sheehan's behavior, and unbridled hatred worked towards destroying her marriage and her relationship with her family.
Today, we see a Mother torn, with no other outlet than pure rage. Had she vented at clouds or the moon, we would have quickly gotten her the help she needs. However since she vents against an unpopular President, who's approval ratings are second lowest only to Congress(her other target), we accept her, use her, patronize her, and ignore her sickness...
"My enemy's enemy," isn't reason enough to allow her to continue to suffer. Please, get her help.
Amen.
Anon 7:13,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the touching and sensitive comment. You put it much better and far more succinctly than I did in my blog.
a.j.- I did not know there was a code of conduct for grieving mothers. If you believe she is supposed to conduct herself "a bit more respectfully" as a grieving mother, then maybe you should conduct yourself a bit more respectfully as an "observer." Your observation of her as a "drunken whore" went too far.
ReplyDeleteAnd why assume that ANYTHING you say will offend me? Is it because I call myself a neo-hippie mom? I usually agree with your comments, and enjoy reading them, but not this time. But thanks for apologizing.
Peace! from Neo-Hippie Mom
Neo-hippie Mom -
ReplyDeleteI think we're both getting a little lost here. I'll try and straighten up why I wrote what I did...
Let it be said - there isn't a code of conduct for grieving mothers. But she is protesting the war, and in that sense she should be more aware of the way she is acting. Obviously, many of us who are also against the war don't appreciate the type of attention she brings to the table.
Sheehan being arrested time and time again takes media attention away from the actual cause we are all protesting and puts it only on the footage of her being arrested.
Bernie summed it up quite well in his post.
And honestly, I thought I was being respectful as an observer. I made a simple comparison and kept it as clean as I could, yet still saying what I wanted to.
When she was being passed around the crowd as she let herself go limp, even while be arrested with a smile on her face, she was certainly not grieving - nor even protesting at that point. It was sick to watch.
So again, I'm sorry if my comment offended you. I appreiciate that you agree with much of what I write, but differences in opinion will arise at times.
Just remember, I was commenting on Sheehan the protester, not Sheehan the griever, and I stick by what I wrote.
If she wants respect from me again, she'll have to respect herself first, as well as the people she claims she is protesting with (i.e. all of us against the war who actually support her cause, just not the way she carries it out - or how she always has to be carried out.)
Pelosi and the dems who won due to anti Iraq feelings have been all bark and NO BITE!
ReplyDeleteLet's not give Pelosi a free pass. She has yet to deliver on any promises. And the Dems have bent too often with the "power" to the repubs.
perhaps if they had balls they would work to screw every bill over that would benefit Conneticut so Joe Loserman could get the screw job the quote "independent" (aka Republican) deserves.
No I think it's time for people to start working together instead of sticking knives in each other. We've been playing that game for too long.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Bernie.
ReplyDeleteWe have to stop dividing the country.
Bernardo, I have as much love for LEPOCO as you do and of course they are using this woman. Personally, I agree she could use some professional help. We all work through our grief differently. I honestly don't think she is even aware of how she really comes across. I say this knowing she is a magnet for the far right wackos who hold her up as the symbol of Democratic resistance. I simply choose to ignore her. When someone throws her in my face during a discussion, I say ,"if you won't hold Sheehan against me I won't hold Coulter against you".
ReplyDeleteI guess of all the evil of the past few years, this one somewhat pitiful figure is the least of my concerns.
OH, is it true you are heading a 'Draft Dertinger for Congress movement'
Your less than obedient servant
Sir Dude
Dreams are nice to have. But eventaully we all wake up.
ReplyDelete