Natural Born Trespassers
February 6, 2008 | 3 Comments
Look Mom, no record! Arrest record, that is – because the old Drunken Boat album is still out there. Yep, this morning I’m mailing in the letter to the unflappable Chittenden County State’s Attorney, T.J. Donovan, that vouches for the fact that yours truly has completed the 30 hours of community service he required of me in order to drop the two charges of trespassing hanging over my head.
For those keeping track at home, you’ll recall that I went on one hell of a reckless and lawless spree last year in a rather quixotic attempt to wake the sleepers about the fact that we are, indeed, a nation at war. What can I say? I’m a silly boy who is easily lulled into the illusion that the practice of democracy in the full view of the public still matters.
My first act of wanton lawlessness involved the pursuit of a meeting with Vermont’s lone congressman, Peter Welch. But the ambulance-chasing attorney turned double-talking congressman decided it was best to have us arrested at his office rather than agree to meet with us at a time, date and place of his choosing. Welch, however, quickly realized that the cuffing of his anti-war constituents didn’t look all that good – especially when his supposed “number one issue” was trying to stop the war. Go figure.
Only days after having us cuffed and booked for seeking to meet with him, Welch agreed to meet with us. Oh yes, you all remember THAT meeting, right? Yeah, the one where we had the audacity to ask that the congressman take 10 minutes of unfettered blather time in exchange for five minutes of answering “yes or no” to 15 or so questions about the war and its funding. You know, “yes or no,” kind of like the “up or down” votes he has to cast all day long as a member of congress – no middle ground.
But in the age of terror and bombing the holy hell out of foreign nations, we learned that Vermont’s liberal elite are apparently more appalled by the posing of “yes or no” questions than they are about Welch’s dithering doublespeak and its implied support for an illegal war that has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. Priorities, my friends, it’s all about priorities.
The good news on the Welch front is that despite the hand wringing and soft verbal pokes we received from the liberal appeasers, the not-so-good congressman got the message. Welch, as you may know, went on to basically answer our most important “yes or no” question by pledging to not vote for another penny for the War on Iraq. Mission accomplished, indeed.
And so we, the Natural Born Trespassers, turned our attention to the military recruiters in Vermont, with a goal of shutting down their military recruitment efforts for as long as we could. This was surprisingly easy: Put the word out, show up, and see that the big, tough military boys and girls had left and locked up by the time we got there. Hmm, “the few, the proud and the frightened?”
But, lucky for us, the fellows at the Vermont National Guard had a recruitment office right across the street. And so we paid a visit. Well, make that: We occupied the joint and set up our own little “green zone” in their offices. Until, that is, closing time when we were cuffed and carted to the police station and – you guessed it! – charged with trespassing.
In the 90 or so days that have elapsed since our bloodless trespassing spree, I’ve had about four appearances in Chittenden’s District Court – each featuring a friendly greeting from T.J. Donovan himself. You see, he wants us to go away. And so each time we arrived he had an offer for us. First, he wanted us to plead “no contest” to the charges in exchange for 15 hours of community service. Next, he dropped it to 10 hours of community service. And, finally, he offered to dismiss the charges in exchange for 15 hours of community service for each charge. Deal.
As much as we wanted to take this to a jury trial, the annoying drives to Burlington, the scene at the courthouse and the very likeable Donovan made it too easy to accept the deal and wipe our records clean.
Let me tell you, Chittenden’s District Court is a sad place to be. It’s here where Vermont’s under-employed, under-paid and under-belly makes its appearance. Each morning the halls are lined with dozens of people who have been cited for what seems like mostly alcohol-related offenses: DUI’s, fights, thefts, etc.
The case for decriminalizing pot was on the front pages while we were making our court appearances. And, let me tell you, I have to agree with those who say that pot cases are not clogging the courts. I saw only one pot case come before the court, and it lasted about two minutes as the young man accepted the $200 fine as a plea deal before happily making his way to the exit.
But I still support decriminalization – mostly because it certainly seems like we’re focusing on the wrong drug. I didn’t hear one defendant, for example, declare that he put his face in a bong and then punched a wall, his spouse or the neighbor. But I heard several cases where folks hit the bars and then wreaked havoc on a loved one or a neighborhood. It really seemed like it was one, sad alcohol-related offense after another.
My days at the District Court are over now. I did my time – 30 hours of anti-war work on behalf of you, dear fellow citizens, including 5 hours of planning and implementing our little visit to Governor Douglas’s State of the State speech last month. Now, other than the trespassing case involving our little interruption of John Negroponte’s speech in St. Johnsbury in 2006 that is awaiting a hearing before the Vermont Supreme Court, my record is clean!
Which means: We’re in planning mode. Stay tuned.
{Photo Credit: The Fabulous NTodd}
Governor Douglas: Build the Ribbon and He Will Come
January 14, 2008 | 6 Comments
Was that Governor Jim Douglas at the award ceremony for the Vermont National Guard over the weekend? My, oh my, it was. Funny, huh, that the Guv didn’t turn down this invitation and, instead, suggest they invite President Bush to be the guest of honor? Because is was Douglas who told the anti-war folks last week that talking to him about the war was a waste of time since it’s President Bush we needed to be speaking to. But when it comes to war ceremonies or war funerals, Douglas is your war man for sure.
It’s all typical Douglas: Duck, dodge and negate. Come on, the guy’s learned a few things over his 35 years of being a professional politician. Which brings to mind a talent of his that is perhaps his best: Pretending to be an “aw-shucks” outsider when he’s really the king of insiders – 35 years of drawing that government paycheck, baby.
Douglas wants to duck and dodge the war when it’s not involving jingoism (ceremonies) or tragedies (funerals). If he can wrap himself in the so-called glories of war, Douglas is all for being the man Vermonters can cheer or tear-up with.
Just don’t bother him with the “issues” of the war. You know, things like how he, as the commander-in-chief of the Vermont National Guard, communicates to President Bush about the war. Douglas, for example, is following the polls on the war and now says he supports an “exit strategy.” Fine. Welcome aboard the sanity train. But has Douglas expressed this to Bush, the literal war leader, the man he campaigned for, and the man who invited Douglas and his wife over for a sleepover in the White House? Nope.
Douglas also ducked and dodged when the horrors of Abu Ghraib were first breaking. I remember going to his press conference at the time and asking him about the torture and humiliation going on there. Did Douglas, I wanted to know, support those who were calling for Donald Rumsfeld’s firing? Nope. It’s up to President Bush, he said.
And that’s been typical Douglas throughout these war times. He’s ducked and dodged the sticky war issues of the day (torture, funding, effectiveness, legality, etc.) and hoped no one would bother to ask him about his very close connection with the man (and men) who continue to lead us down this ill-fated war path. Aw shucks, he would say, it was just a night in the White House. You know, kind of like a favor for being the chairman of the President’s re-election effort in Vermont.
But when it’s yellow ribbon time, watch Douglas nudge his way to the podium. He did it last weekend when he doled out medals to members of the Vermont National Guard who had recently returned from more than a year of serving in Iraq. He feels your pain. He understands your commitments (will, as much as a non-server could). He mourns your loss. He honors your service. He supports the troops. He supports the President (when convenient). But, please, do NOT ask him about the war.
Our efforts to engage Governor Douglas on the war during his State of the State speech last week was my second attempt to bring some anti-war activism to his doorstep. The first was shortly after the war broke out when I showed about 40 Montpelier High School students how easy it was to get into one of his press conferences. Once there, they demanded some answers, specifically, did he support the war? “That’s an issue for President Bush. You’ve come to the wrong place.” Hmm, the students wondered, it’s up to President Bush to decide if Douglas supported the war? Weird. But welcome to the world of duck and dodge.
And Douglas did the same last Thursday when eight of us begged this question – via banners — during his speech: What About the War? Sorry, folks, wrong house, he said. But feel free to bug the neighbors about it.
Sadly, it’s this kind of obfuscation – ducking and dodging – that we’ve come to expect from Douglas on a wide variety of issues. Douglas punted, for example, on health care reform, thus forcing the ridiculous non-solution known as Catamount Health. He did the same on energy issues and global warming when his fear of the bold – even when the bold is necessary – led to his veto of the energy bill. And the same for campaign finance reform, as his intransigence on that issue is effectively killing it for the upcoming election season.
I guess it’s really not too difficult to understand the Douglas Doctrine. You simply show him the ribbon, and he will come. Otherwise, don’t bother him.
Excuse Me, Governor, But We’re At War
January 11, 2008 | 13 Comments
“We won’t stop until someone calls the cops,
and even then we’ll start again and just pretend
that nothing ever happened.”
– Kimya Dawson, Loose Lips
Well, that was fun. Our little trip to the State House yesterday, that is. Damn, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m becoming a little addicted to democracy. But when that conscience thing starts kicking in, I can hardly stop myself from running into the streets to assert my right to make a complete ass of myself – er, I mean, wax poetically about democracy. But the yawning masses still go gently into each night with nice, happy thoughts about yellow ribbons on their bumpers. Maybe I should just sell coffee. Curses, Starbucks!
Oh yeah, yesterday. I almost forgot. Yep, I was one of the eight fun-loving folks who decided that it was going to be mighty odd for Governor Jim Douglas to get away not even mentioning the Iraq War during his State of the State speech. And our hunches were correct: Douglas fully ignored the war. Not. One. Word. In other words, he issued one, big “never mind” to a war that has claimed 26 Vermonters’ lives, cost the state’s taxpayers an estimated $660 million, and hijacked our national psyche. You’d think that a Governor so obsessed with giving lip service to “affordability” might want to ponder that $660 million figure. But no such luck with Douglas.
Well, we wanted to hear about the war yesterday. Or, better yet, we wanted to put the war on the agenda of our state legislature. Yo leaders: We’re at war! So we put the word out (editor’s note: that means calling Boots). Made some five-minute plans and banners. And then gathered today at the State House about an hour before the Governor’s speech to get good seats and prepare for some afternoon unfurling.
They are a mighty clean and shiny bunch at the State House. Yikes. You’d think none of them had been shoveling horse shit – or snow for that matter. Of course not. Not the shiny people. The King of Shiny Senators, Peter Shumlin, spoke for the shiny, liberal masses when he told the Vermont Press Bureau that while he “understood our frustrations” he didn’t approve of our choice of venue. Of course not. They never do. Whatever we do. But they always share our frustration. How nice. And it is just really “frustrating” that 4000 soldiers have died, tens of thousands are coming back with serious physical and mental disabilities, more than 150,000 Iraqis have died and millions displaced and terrorized and the world remains destabilized by it all. Bummer, huh? Oops, I mean “frustrating.”
Yeah, you’re right, we shouldn’t have brought that up to the Governor. I mean, he had lotteries to talk about. And “tax equity” (good luck with that). And, oh yeah, health care. But wait, they’re connected – the war and domestic issues. Which leads us back to that $660 million that Vermonters have sent to prosecute this war. According to the National Priorities Project, that amount of money would provide full health care for 240,000 people. Or it would pay for providing renewable electricity to nearly a million households (four times the number of households in Vermont). Or provide 61,000 college scholarships. Or hire nearly 12,000 teachers. You get the point: It’s a whole-lotta-loot. And it’s our loot.
But Governor Douglas told the media that we brought our protest to the wrong place. Go to the federal government, he counseled us. Oh yeah, we’ve been there. Just ask Peter Welch. But Governor Doulgas wants us to forget a few important facts. First, he wants us to forget that as the governor, he’s also the commander-in-chief of the Vermont National Guard. And as we all know, the Vermont National Guard is in Iraq. Next, Governor Douglas would like us to forget about the above-mentioned tax figures. And, finally, Douglas really, really, really wants us all to forget that he was the chairman of the Vermont Committee to Re-elect President Bush and has been an overnight guest at Bush’s White House.
Hmmm, sounds like a good anti-war target to me.
But we accomplished our goals yesterday. We wanted to make sure the war was mentioned in the State House yesterday. And we wanted to ask the Governor and the legislature to do whatever they can to help put an end to it. Here’s the “communiqué” that we circulated after we unfurled our banners and were dutifully removed from the House Chamber during Douglas’ speech:
Vermont Troops Home Now.
Today, in the Vermont People’s State House, a group of students, veterans and citizens decided it was time to put the issue of the War on Iraq on Vermont’s legislative agenda. And so we’ve come to Governor Jim Douglas’ State of the State address to remind him, the Legislature and all Vermonters that we are a nation waging an illegal war against Iraq – a war that has left tens of thousands dead, cost nearly $500 billion, and diverted our nation’s attention from other pressing issues that deserve our attention. This war must end now. And every elected official – indeed, every citizen – must take action now to end the Iraq War and re-focus our national and state priorities.
The Governor’s State of the State address is traditionally a time to set the state’s agenda. It is a time to assess our past and look toward the future. But the “elephant in the room” that will probably go unmentioned is the war and its impact on all of our lives. So, we ask the Governor and members of the Legislature to consider these facts:
- 26 Vermonters have lost their lives in the Iraq War.
- It has been estimated that Vermont’s share of the cost of the Iraq War is over $660 million (see reverse).
- Vermont’s National Guard is participating in the occupation of a sovereign nation.
- U.S. Military and National Guard recruiters are actively preying on Vermont high school students and others to join the armed services and serve in this illegal war.
- More than 70% of Vermonters oppose the Iraq War.
Therefore, we ask that the Governor and the Vermont Legislature listen to the people and begin to take immediate action to help end the Iraq War and/or Vermont’s role in it, including:
- A call for an immediate end to the war directed at the President, Congress, and Vermont’s Congressional delegation.
- A demand that all Vermont troops come home now.
- An end to military recruitment in Vermont’s high schools.
Out of Iraq, Out of Our Schools
Our Moment in Court
December 5, 2007 | 23 Comments
Another day. Another court appearance.
Yesterday we made the snowy trek to Burlington’s District Court to stand before a judge and T.J. Donovan, the state’s attorney, and very proudly plead “not guilty” to the charges of trespassing at the offices of our congressman, Peter Welch. Basically, it was a three-hour trip for a mere 30-seconds of the court’s time. And I got to utter these words to the judge who seemed like she wasn’t going to have much patience for any more: “I am not guilty, your honor. And I will be seeking a jury trial and invoking the necessity defense.” Next.
T.J. Donovan – sorry, but that’s just one cool name for a prosecutor – wants to cut a deal of some type. He told us before the court hearing that he’d be willing to drop the charges if we agreed to do some community service. Well, T.J., our actions WERE a community service. So our response to him was: Declare our attempts to meet with our congressman and ask him to stop funding the war a court-recognized “community service” and we’ll sign on the dotted line for a dismissal. Otherwise, let’s go to trial.
Personally, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to pick a jury and put on a trial that will seek to prove that our minor legal transgressions were necessary to prevent the larger legal evils of the Bush war and Congressman Welch’s continued double-speak on whether or not he’s going to continue funding it. And how much fun will it be to serve Welch and his staff subpoenas to be witnesses at the trial? I guess we might get another chance to ask him some “yes or no” questions, huh? Priceless.
People spend thousands of dollars to get Welch’s attention by way of campaign contributions – he’s now collected nearly $700,000 for his next campaign. This trial – with all the free legal help we’re being offered – will be, in comparison, a very cheap way to have a little one-on-one with the Congressman.
Welch has handled this all with the kind of fumble-fingers that one would expect from a rookie. Remember, when we went to his office in October we we’re simply asking for a meeting with him. He refused. And then his staff instructed the Burlington Police to have us arrested.
But Welch quickly realized that having constituents arrested for trying to meet with him looked kind of old-school Soviet Union and all. And so he agreed to meet with us in public, mostly to stem the tide of his political capital oozing like a sieve from a perplexed left. But, just to show that the vengeance will be his, Welch has never requested that the trespassing charges be dropped.
Whatever, Congressman. We’ll just keep picking the scab that is your very confused and confusing record on Bush’s war with Iraq. And, who knows, someone might even use the trial as an opportunity to announce a challenge to your re-election bid. This should be fun.
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While awaiting our 30-seconds of court time yesterday, the very affable T.J. Donovan took the time to introduce us to Ian Carlton, the chairman of the Vermont Democratic Party. No, Carlton wasn’t there to discuss Donovan’s promising future as a statewide politician someday in the near future. Instead, Carlton was there to go head-to-head with his fellow Dem on a legal matter before the court. Carlton, you see, is a practicing attorney and – thus – had some non-partisan work to do involving a client who got caught stealing. Let’s just hope for the Dem Party’s sake that Carlton is a smoother party chair than he is a lawyer. In the three minutes of court time we witnessed, Carlton seemed to be doing his best Jerry Lewis imitation. Carlton, for example, got softly reprimanded for filling out the wrong paperwork for a plea deal and then almost fell into the lap of Donovan while tripping before the court. And why, oh why, did his clumsiness remind me of a certain political party and its relation to important issues of the day? Just wondering.
Quick Thoughts On Williston Anti-War Action
December 3, 2007 | 3 Comments
Wow. And that about sums it up – the anti-war event last Friday, that is. Well, let me add this: It was moving. It was inspiring. It was energizing. It was empowering. And it was nothing short of an honor to be a part of it. To each and every one of you who helped make it happen: Thanks. I needed that.
If you haven’t read about the event here, here or here, go there, there and there to read about it. They’ve got all the facts and figures – and photos, too! — to give you a sense of what happened. The movers and shakers behind this event, the Peace Club at Mount Mansfield Union High School, deserve one, long moment of recognition and honor for putting this action on the agenda and then working with the “old timers” to make it happen.
These students were tired of seeing the U.S. military recruiters coming to their school week in and week out to hand out recruiting propaganda in the pursuit of more young war fodder. And they didn’t just bitch and moan about it, they took action. They decided that they wanted to return the “favor” and visit the recruiting offices of the military to give them a message of their own: “Out of our schools, out of Iraq.” And so they did.
These students also had a goal of shutting down the recruiting offices while delivering their message. They wanted to participate in a peaceful act of civil disobedience to add a little punch to their message. Specifically, they wanted to hold a sit-in at the offices while also doing “counter-recruitment” by handing out anti-war materials and forming a coalition with Iraq Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out. And so they did.
But before embarking on their act of civil disobedience, they realized they needed a plan and they needed training. And so off they went for an all-day session at Wheelock Farm on a snowy Saturday in November, where they got advice, made a plan, and were trained in the fine arts of civil disobedience.
And then they made a media plan. They made signs. They rehearsed the various scenarios. They met and met again. They checked and checked again. They changed their plans when the military folks let them know that they knew they were coming. But they kept coming. And meeting. And planning. And checking. And just making sure it all worked. And so it did.
On Friday, November 30, 2007, all five military recruitment offices in Williston, Vermont were shut down for the afternoon and evening because of the dream of these students. No, make that, because of the dream and the willingness to act on that dream of these brave students. Better yet, the event was peaceful – even joyful – as 70 or more people made their march with the students to spread the original “Out of our schools, out of Iraq message.”
In the end, thirteen of us – myself included — were arrested for trespassing in the offices of the Vermont National Guard. Standing before a judge and – eventually — a jury to answer these charges will be a small price to pay for having the opportunity to be a part of such an uplifting and hopeful event. Getting to spend those hours with the students, the veterans, the family members of soldiers and the other activists was pure nourishment for the activist soul. I was moved. And I remain moved. Thank you, MMU students.
Onward.
Anti-War Blogging
November 29, 2007 | 1 Comment
Vermont Anti-War Action: The next action by the ad hoc anti-war group that has been upping the ante of late will be tomorrow (Friday) at 3:00 p.m. at the military recruiting center in Williston (166 Sycamore Street – near the box store hell zone). This action has been in the works for weeks and was the brainchild of about a dozen Mt. Mansfield High School (MMHS) students who are both opposed to the war and fed up with the continued presence of military recruiters at their school. Interestingly, the last Vermonter killed in the Iraq war was a MMHS graduate. The message of the rally is “out of our schools, out of Iraq.” The group had been planning to make the action a bit of a surprise but military recruiters somehow got wind of it and – yesterday — let the MMHS students know that they knew about it. So the surprise is over but the action will go on as planned. Join us. Support these budding activists. And, better yet, help stop this war and the military’s preying on the youth of this nation to be war fodder.
Speaking of Iraq: There’s been a lot of talk lately about how “the surge is working.” File it under “p” for propaganda, please. The problem, though, is that many of the lily-livered Dems – especially those at the top – are falling for it. On Sunday, for example, the New York Times ran this article on its front page with this headline: “As Democrats See Iraq Gains, A Shift in Tone.” Good grief. And this means that the latest round of so-called tough talk from the Dems in Congress about blocking future war funding is just plain nonsense. The writing’s on the wall. The Dems will be – once again – whipped into submission after failing to stand up to what is obviously nothing more than war propaganda.
The truth about Iraq is that it is still a mess and any of the so-called “gains” there of late are more about the strategies of the moment for the warring factions than any U.S. military strategies. In the November 19, 2007 edition of The New Yorker, Jon Lee Anderson details the current situation in Iraq in a fine piece titled “Inside the Surge.” Read it. And then you’ll see that – like most of the Iraq debacle – the U.S. military is fumbling and stumbling like they always have been over there. Anderson details, for example, how the current slow-down in deaths and attacks is more a result of a temporary changing of alliances in the religious/civil war the U.S. is now trying to referee. The entrenched Sunnis and Shiites are basically re-tooling and re-adjusting for the skirmishes on the horizon. And the U.S. war machine is so damn hungry for any semblance of positive news that they’re jumping on this and running with it straight to the front pages of the New York Times and the evening news. Worse, the ninny Dems are bowing to it instead of challenging it and exposing it for what it truly is: bullshit.
Iraq is mired in a vicious civil war and, worse, the U.S. presence there is fueling it. On some days the Shiite leaders will use the U.S. military to put the screws to the Sunnis. And on other days the Sunnis will return the favor. But the clumsy U.S. military will take these strategic overtures as “evidence” that things are getting better. Until, that is, the next strap-on bomb goes off on the body of a so-called friend.
There is no rationality in this struggle. It is filled with religious hatred and vengeance. Take, for example, the story Anderson tells in his New Yorker piece about two brothers and their mother seeking revenge for the death of their brother/son. The brothers declare that “ten people per finger” must be killed as revenge for their brother’s death. Yes, they decide that “justice’ will be served only after they’ve personally killed 100 people. And so they set out to kill and kill and kill, notching each new death as another step toward “justice.”
But the pathology gets worse. The mother tells her vengeful sons that she wants body parts of the new victims brought to her. “Yes, I want revenge,” she told Anderson. Don’t believe her? Here’s an excerpt from Anderson’s article:
Um Jafaar [the brother] went on to tell me that she took the body parts of Amar’s victims, wrapped in cloth, to his grave, in the holy city of Najaf, and buried them there. “I talk to my son, I tell him, ‘Here, this is from those who killed you, I take revenge.’” Moving one hand in a horizontal circle, she said, “I put them around the grave. So far, I have taken one hand, one eye, an Adam’s apple, toes, fingers, ears, and noses.” (Karim told me that the hand had made the house stink for days.) I asked her how many Mahdi men Amar had killed. “I don’t know: eighteen, twenty? But still my heart hurts. Even if we kill all of them, I won’t have comfort,” she said.
And that, my friends, is what the U.S. military is in the center of. Good luck with that. Here’s what one U.S. officer told Anderson:
Balancing the Shia and the Sunni – the politics of it – that’s the hardest part of my job. ‘Hunt bad guy, kill bad guy’ – O.K., that’s what I’m trained to do. But they don’t train you for this.
If you need a little more proof that the “surge is working” nonsense is, well, nonsense, check out this piece from Editors & Publishers. It’s an article on a recent report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism that chronicles Iraq war reporting. And the conclusion: It’s worse than what’s being reported. Far worse. Here’s a brief excerpt from the article:
Above all, the journalists — most of them veteran war correspondents — describe conditions in Iraq as the most perilous they have ever encountered, and this above everything else is influencing the reporting,” the report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism stated. “A majority of journalists surveyed say most of the country is too dangerous to visit. Nine out of ten say that about at least half of Baghdad itself. Wherever they go, traveling with armed guards and chase vehicles is the norm for more than seven out of ten surveyed.
Hmm, it seems like a pretty good time to protest. I hope I’ll see you all in Williston tomorrow.
Thursday Random Blogging
November 15, 2007 | 3 Comments
Bring on the snow. The horses are ready. The sleighs are painted. And the teamster is tired of politics. Come for a ride, my friends. You know how to reach me.
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Channeling Snarky: Tonight’s another night of Dem presidential debates. And – oh-my-god – I’m on the edge of my seat wondering if Hillary will rebound. And what will Obama be wearing? And will that thing come back on Edwards’ lip? Oh, and what about Dodd, will anyone notice that he’s there? The same for Richardson. But, most of all, I’m totally anxious about the crowd. I hope they behave. The last thing I want is to have to sit through any rude questions. I mean, a nation at war should not have to tolerate rude questions aimed at those funding the war. It’s just so….uncivil.
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And while I really didn’t want to slide into this pit again, some video clips of Sunday’s meeting with Welch have been posted on YouTube. I’ll be posting all three here soon if you can’t get over there yourself to check them out. I have, for now, posted the speech given on Sunday by Dottye Ricks in the bottom right corner of this site. Looks pretty peaceful to me. Until Welch threw his tantrum…
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Speaking of the meeting, the fine fellow who got all the head-bloating publicity over his blogging recap of the Welch meeting, JD at Five Before Chaos, has posted a little update at his site. And yours truly jumped in for a little commentary. Go give JD some traffic love and check it out.
But, if you’re like me, you’ll find his clip of the Norman Mailer fight with Rip Torn a hell of a lot more interesting. Good stuff.
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Speaking of Norman Mailer, I found a nice little personal account of Mailer by my friend, Jeff St. Clair, over at CounterPunch. Check it out. My favorite line was Mailer’s advice to St. Clair about writing:
Just write, man. And do it every fucking day.
And the best news is that St. Clair has been following that advice. Thanks, Norman.
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While Vermont ties itself in knots over the etiquette of anti-war meetings, people all over the nation are turning up their activist heat. The folks at Iraqmoratorium.com, for example, are reporting that more than a 1000 students from 40 different schools in Minnesota will be skipping class tomorrow to descend upon military recruiting stations to deliver and anti-war message. Cool.
In Virginia, the Washington Post reported yesterday that more than 800 citizens turned out for a – gasp – heated meeting with their liberal Dem congress member to express anti-war demands. Good for them.
And in Washington State over the weekend, more than a dozen anti-war activists were arrested for attempting to block shipments of military cargo. Commondreams has the story.
But don’t worry, Vermonters, the pot is being stirred here too. The energetic lads and lassies who emerged from the Welch meeting over the weekend have been meeting and corresponding all week about the next steps of this new ad hoc group. We’ll be meeting and training all day on Saturday to rev-up for the next action. Email me if you’re interested in getting involved.
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And for those questioning my assertion that these actions are necessary to put the war agenda back on the front-burner, consider this news from the Pew Institute: Currently only16% of the public mention the Iraq war as the top story on their mind. Last January, that number was at 55%.
Wake up America. Naptime is over.
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And what’s on your mind?
Friends in All the “Right” Places: On Welch, Pollina and The Kingdom
November 14, 2007 | 6 Comments
Well, well, well, I knew someone out there in Vermont’s dwindling media ranks would find the importance of Sunday’s “accountability session” with Congressman Peter Welch. But I was a little surprised at first by who it was: The Caledonian Record . Yep, as in: the right-wing Record. And after reading it a few times and thinking about it longer, it actually makes sense.
Vermont’s mainstream media establishment, especially the elected liberals’ favorite lapdog journalist, Peter Freyne, rushed to Welch’s defense after the intense meeting in which more than 100 Vermonters showed up to empower themselves and demand some accountability from our one and only member of the House of Representatives. Instead of focusing on the issues at hand – Welch funding the war while saying he’s opposed to it — most of them focused on the manners of the audience, the planning of the agenda and other such matters akin to rearranging the chairs on the sinking Titanic.
But the Caledonian Record got it. Taste this from the conclusion of the editorial in today’s edition of their paper:
Vermont has a U. S. congressman and two U.S. senators with lifetime jobs who will be reelected as long as they wish without even having to break a sweat. The blame for that sad state lies squarely with the Vermont voter who is too lazy to compare the candidate on the campaign trail with the candidate’s voting record once the election is over. Wouldn’t it be revolutionary if all Vermonters showed the tenacity and backbone of the folks who challenged Welch on Sunday and demanded he do what he said he would do? Wouldn’t it be revolutionary if conservatives, moderates and liberals all followed their example? Just imagine. Candidates having to make realistic campaign promises and then having to stick to them! What a concept.
Indeed. That was the vision of running the meeting the way we did.
And I can see the eyes rolling amongst the liberals out there. “Oh sure, The Record is saying that because they hate Welch,” you’re collectively saying. Sure, there’s probably plenty of the old neener-neener two-party nonsense in the mindset of the editorial writer – about as much as there is in the hardcore Dem Welch backers who’s party blindness refuses to let them be outraged by his funding of the war.
But before the party hacks either cheer or jeer over this, let’s dig a little deeper. As you’ll recall from Vermont’s Progressive Party, Anthony Pollina and Progs in general have been doing well in the traditionally conservative Northeast Kingdom that the Record services. Why? My guess is because of the sentiment expressed in this editorial: People from the left and the right are fed up with politics as usual and a growing percentage of the population is begging for some political truth. The neener-neener nonsense is, indeed, wearing thin, especially as so-called conservatives like Bush run up government spending and so-called liberals like Welch vote to condemn anti-war activism. You don’t have to have your bullshit detectors on very high to pick this up.
Pollina and the Progs are blowing it, of course, with the current game of footsie they’re playing with the Dems. People don’t like it when they’re seduced by rhetoric and then dunked into a sobering shower of “never mind” as political expediency trumps political principles.
Pollina has spent more than a decade talking the talk of standing outside of the “two-party establishment,” even taking on the popular Dean in an effort to prove his anti-establishment credentials. But now it’s one, big “never mind” that Pollina and the Progs are declaring as he readies the faithful for what he hopes will be a Dem/Prog run for governor. Principles? Forgetaboutthem, baby. Because this is about one guy winning.
But Pollina should be reminded of two words before he gets too far into this mess: Peter Clavelle. Yep, the fellow who tried the same thing and got his political ass handed to him. Why? Because people sniffed out the obvious principle problem inherent in years worth of bashing Dems and then a sudden (read: personally opportunistic) transformation. Sorry, but that creates a hell of a lot of electoral cognitive dissonance from the gitgo.
And Welch is facing the same problem. Welch ran and was elected on a record to “change the course” in Washington but, since being there, has all too often been voting in favor of the same old course. Welch to Vermonters: Never mind. Welch was always a moderate but ran as fire-breathing liberal, thus creating an expectation that he cannot and probably will not live up to. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this Welch advertisement from last year and pay close attention to the promise that he’d be “changing the course on Iraq” with a Democratic majority in Congress. It’s also fun to note the fuel prices in the ad: Gas at $2.34 and he promised to change that, too. Hmm, I guess at $3.05 it did change.
As we learned from the large and passionate turnout last Sunday, Vermonters are looking for some truth and consistency in their political leaders. The Record gets it. And growing numbers of Vermonters get it. But by the time the likes of Welch and the increasingly principle-less Progs get it, the party will be over – for them.
The voter’s message is really quite simple: Just give us some truth.
Oh, the Luxury of Discussing Manners in a Time of War…
November 12, 2007 | 12 Comments
Oh boy, democracy can be difficult sometimes. And that’s about how I’d summarize yesterday’s meeting between Congressman Peter Welch and the ad hoc group of anti-war activists in Barre. It wasn’t pretty, for sure. But it was necessary and essential for the public to have those opportunities and for our elected officials to participate in them. So, to everyone who took the time to come out and speak up – including Peter Welch – I say: thank you.
Frankly, I was moved by the passion of the day. I thought of other great passionate moments during our nation’s history when emotions were on high as a result of a military or civil liberty mess we were caught up in the time. You know, sometimes when things are stuck as they so obviously are with the Iraq occupation, the people of this democracy need to provide a little push and pull to get things moving. And so it was.
And I thought of Ethan Allen yesterday, too. I envisioned how proud he would have been by the total and complete unstructured “realness” going on in that room. It was power and the powerless. It was passion and frustration. It was a whimper and a primal scream. It was – by and large – a room crammed with people who basically want the same thing but feel absolutely and completely stuck.
Was it perfect? Hell no. But this little leaderless group busted our asses to try and make it work on three days notice. Try it some time. Pick your issue. Gather your friends. Rent the room. Secure the microphones. Contact the media. Set the agenda. Arrange the speakers. Try to think about and plan all the things that might go wrong – or right. Make contingency plans. In other words, make it happen. Take an issue you believe in, stand on a soapbox of your choosing and ask everyone who will listen if they want to join you. Don’t spend a nickel. Just use your voice, your phone and friends. And then, if you’ve got anything left, hold the meeting. Go for it.
I’m proud to have been one of the more than thirty people who pulled this meeting off. As I’ve written here before, I have been nothing but inspired and energized by these very fine people who are willing to ignore Bush’s war-time advice to basically shut-up and shop and, instead, stand up and speak.
Oddly, much of the post-meeting pontificating has centered on the “manners” displayed at the event, with much of it coming from the same good people who ate the pill of hope last year that led them to the rather starry-eyed proclamations that a Democratic-majority in Congress would solve all our problems. Yeah, you know the folks, the same ones who are now telling us to just wait until Hillary/Obama/Edwards get into office and then – then! – it’ll all be solved. I really wish I could believe in that. Life would really be much easier. And I wouldn’t have to worry about actually taking a public stand beyond writing a check and pulling a lever.
But as I was reading one pontificating blogger comment after another today about the “manners” and the “civility” and the “process” of yesterday’s meeting from people who didn’t bother to attend it but cherish the right to sit on their asses and bitch – oops, was that not polite? – I zipped over to an Iraqi blogger site and read the report of a family who had their house riddled with American-made bullets recently. And I envisioned this poor family, crushed and agonizing over their now crippled child, witnessing the debate happening in Vermont today over whether or not 100 anti-war activists were fair or polite enough to their elected official who has repeatedly voted to fund the war he says he hates. Oh, if they only had the luxury to ponder such nonsense.
The truth of the matter is that the group that organized the meeting yesterday served up softballs to Peter Welch that he should have hit out of the park. While the do-nothing crowd continues to feign sleepy “outrage” over the “yes or no” questions we wanted to ask Welch, no one has actually printed those questions. What, for example, is so “hostile” about asking Welch these questions: Will you vote against any and all bills that include funding for the Iraq war? Will you do everything in your power to prevent war with Iran? Will you support reparations for Iraq? Will you support Iraq sovereignty over their oil and water? Will you support efforts to bring home all contract and mercenary troops now?
Peter Welch and the entire Congress have to vote “yes or no” all day long on questions like these that come up in specific legislation. And yesterday we asked Welch to mimic the congressional model of having time to speak and then providing “yes or no” answers – or vice versa. But it was Welch who had the tantrum about the process, a tantrum that turned a civil meeting into the chaos that ensued.
Personally, I think everyone should take a deep breath and ponder the fact that we are a nation at war. There are bombs dropping and bullets flying at this very moment that are taking and changing people’s lives and continuing to devastate what is supposed to be a sovereign nation. That is what matters. And that is what needs to be stopped.
We took a stab at putting this war back on the agenda and, frankly, given all the discussion and media coverage, I think we succeeded. If you don’t like how it transpired, show us how you’d like it done. We’re all ears. Our meetings are open to the public. But, please, don’t just sit on your hands, do nothing, and, worse, turn an urgent need to stop an illegal and immoral occupation into a discussion of meeting etiquette.
Because there’s nothing civil about a civil war.
It’s Democracy Day in Barre — Come Meet Welch and Speak Out Against War
November 11, 2007 | 1 Comment
Here we go again, launching into yet another dance with democracy. This time, however, we’re actually going to have the opportunity to converse with our congressman, Peter Welch. Yep, today’s the day we throw open the barn doors of discourse, invite the public and our elected official to sit down for a long chat, and – hopefully – come together with a plan to jumpstart the anti-war movement and end the Iraq war NOW. Mmm, nothing like the smell of hope on a chilly November morning.
For those who’ve been donning their orange, scouting for their big buck or otherwise placing themselves in a self-imposed media blackout, let me repeat the specifics of the day: Peter Welch will be meeting with anti-war activists today (November 11th) at Barre’s Aldrich Public Library at 1:30 pm to answer our questions and talk about what we hope are our mutual plans to end the Iraq war.
We worked hard for this meeting. Many of us were arrested (twice) in our efforts to speak with Welch. And four of us are still facing a court appearance on December 4th to answer to the charge of trespassing in our congress member’s office while trying to have the conversation we’re going to have today. To Welch’s credit, he did reverse course and he has agreed to meet with us. And for that, we thank him.
Hopefully, today’s meeting will be about turning the page and breathing new life and energy into the task of stopping the war. It has been an unspeakable tragedy for countless people – the Iraqi people, especially, who have seen their homeland wrecked and ravaged. But thousands of U.S. soldiers have also given their lives for this ill-fated and illegal mission. Sadly, they followed the orders handed down by a Bush administration that has so obviously lost its moral compass and sense of justice.
There is no disputing the facts when it comes to how devastating and unjust this war has been. That’s why poll after poll shows that more than 70% of the public want it to end now. And it’s our duty – as citizens and, in the case of our meeting partner today, congressmen – to do whatever we can right here and right now to come together, to be creative, to be strong in our numbers, and to be relentless in the single-minded pursuit of ending this war. That, my friends, is what we owe our soldiers, the Iraqis, and the world on this Veteran’s Day.
People also need to understand that this meeting with Peter Welch is only a small part of what the newly formed ad hoc anti-war group has been working on. Yeah, it’s nameless and leaderless, but it’s been filling rooms with its energy and ideas for taking anti-war activism to the streets and halls of power. Because we’re not just working to get better votes from our congressional delegation, we’re working to create a peace culture that will reject future war endeavors (with Iran, for example). And if you want to be a part of it, send me an email (mcolby@broadsides.org) and I’ll get you on the list.
I hope you can get to Barre today to be a part of the meeting. It’s certainly got its fair share of media coverage (click here for the Burlington Free Press article). And, speaking of media coverage, I’ll be on WDEV’s Mark Johnson Show on Monday morning at 9:30 to discuss the meeting and whatever else Mr. Mark wants to discuss.
Let’s roll.
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