Washblog

I had to get my boys out of school to go to a doctor's appointment on the same day. When I was checking them out, another parent was getting her son at the same time. I whispered to her, "After the doctor's, we're going to the anti-war rally!" She burst into a big smile and whispered back, "THAT'S WHERE WE'RE GOING TOO!!" She wrote "appointment" on the signout sheet, although I suspect the ladies in the office would understand.

What great pictures!! I'm glad the rain didn't prevent people from showing up.

by Lefty Mama on Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 06:43:19 PM PST

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The only way our aspirations for peace will be realized is if we can get a country run by the people instead of the war profiteers.  That means electoral and corporate reform that is deep and wide.  Publicly financed elections is an essential part of this.  

I notice that  HR 1281 and S453: The Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2007, were introduced this month. This would be a big step in addressing voter intimidation and suppression.  S936 was introduced yesterday  by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).  It would create a voluntary system of public funding for congressional campaigns modeled on successful public financing systems used for the past three election cycles in Maine and Arizona.  Both bills can be found in the Thomas Guide.

One of the people in your photos is holding a sign: War is a Racket.  Here's an excerpt from General Smedly Butler's War is a Racket:

From: The Wisdom Fund
Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by General Smedley Darlington Butler, United States Marine Corps. General Butler was the recipient of two Congressional Medals of Honor - one of only two Marines so honored.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. . . .

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents. . . .

by noemie maxwell on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 01:14:08 PM PST

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by Particle Man on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 09:32:22 PM PST

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Allow me a minor ego trip...

The fourth anniversary of the Seattle anti-invasion protest is also:
the fourth aniversary of MY FIRST political action (besides voting).

Before that, I was a spectator. I left political actions to those who were good at it and liked that sort of thing. I read and had opinions, but I never gave money, contacted a representative, or wrote a letter to the editor. The Nixon and Reagan years, especially, were spent feeling turned-off and cynical.

In 2003, something snapped! Since then I've done this: DINA'S POLITICAL HISTORY.

I found it very satisfying to document the past few years on one page (and make it easy for Homeland Security to add me to the  Enemies list!)

If anyone asks me what I've been doing to save my country while it was turning a fascist hue, there it is.

by dinazina on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 02:16:53 AM PST

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