Cindy Sheehan

By Cindy Sheehan

"I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only
those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell."
—William Tecumseh Sherman

Article I, section 8, clause 11 of the US Constitution says that Congress has the enumerated power of "declaring war" and clause 12 says that Congress has the enumerated power to "raise and support armies." Some argue that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are not wars because Congress did not declare war in either case, but calling something a "war" or an "illegal occupation" is merely an exercise in semantics, because people are dying just like it's a war.

Sheehan to speak at Omni
By Erika Howsare, Cville Weekly

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan will speak in Charlottesville on May 22. She was in town almost exactly two years ago, speaking against the war in Iraq and about the death of her son there, and stopped here again last July for a rally in support of the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney.

At that last appearance, Sheehan was talking about running for Congress in California's Eighth District if the incumbent there, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, didn't join her in calling for impeachment. Well, Pelosi didn't, and Sheehan is indeed running. Having made her reputation by camping in front of President Bush's Texas ranch in summer 2005, Sheehan has evidently lost none of her instinct for frying big fish.

For $50, get your picture taken with Cindy Sheehan at the Omni on May 22. No hat required.

On Wednesday, May 14th, from 8-9 p.m. ET, I'll have the pleasure of interviewing, with your help, one of the most powerful leaders the peace movement has seen, Cindy Sheehan. Cindy is now a candidate for Congress in California's 8th District, going up against Nancy Pelosi. Go to: http://thepeoplespeakradio.net to learn more. Go to http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/listen-live to listen live. You'll find instructions there to enter a paltalk chat room where you can post questions, which I will ask Cindy. You can also phone in and ask Cindy your questions on the air. Call in tollfree from anywhere in the United States or Canada at 888-228-4494 or anywhere else in the world at 877-489-6350. Following the show, the audio file will be posted at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/audio/2008 and you can find there now the recordings of numerous shows with amazing guests. To support The People Speak Radio please donate at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/donate

By Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.)

Cindy Sheehan, a peace activist and candidate for Congress in California’s 8th District, will speak at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel on May 22.

The event will last from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Preston Room. Tickets will be available at the door and cost $10 for students; $20 for general admission; $50 for admission and a photo with Sheehan; and $100 for admission, a photo with Sheehan and priority seating. Free parking will be available at the Omni for people attending the event.

Sheehan is running as an independent in an attempt to unseat House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents California’s 8th District.

Sheehan, who lost her son in the Iraq War, rose to national prominence in 2005 when she set up an anti-war encampment outside of President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Sheehan has visited Charlottesville twice in the past three years, most recently in July as part of her “Journey for Humanity” tour.

By Cindy Sheehan

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
(From Julia Ward Howe's 1870 Mother's Day Proclamation)

Sadly, this is the fifth Mother's Day since Casey was killed in Iraq on April 04, 2004. The people who told me that "time will heal" were wrong, or maybe it just takes more time? I have spoken to many mothers who buried their child years ago, however, that tell me it does not get any easier. I suspect the mothers who have buried children are probably right.

Brought to you by Corporate Democrats
By Cindy Sheehan

The Democrats are working diligently to put a war funding bill on George's desk that will give him two cycles of money for the illegal and obscene occupations in the Middle East connecting anti-poverty programs and VA educational benefits to the appropriation's bill to exploit the horrible condition of poor families and vets who have risked life and limb because Congress is too worried about their political stakes than our children's lives.

By Cindy Sheehan

In the spring of 2000, my oldest son, Casey Sheehan, was at a crossroads. He was completing his third year at a community college and he had finished all of his lower division requirements. Casey earned an AA in Theatre Arts and was hoping to transfer to Sacramento State and get his teaching degree to teach elementary school. However, working full time and going to college was taking its toll on Casey.

It took nearly three years, and it came from a Presidential wannabe rather than President Bush, but Cindy Sheehan finally got an answer to her question: “What is the noble cause?” It’s oil.

Senator McCain, speaking at a campaign stop, said, “I will have an energy policy …which will eliminate our dependency on oil from the Middle East that will then prevent us… from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.” The Senator subsequently attempted to cover up his Freudian slip (or “senior moment”) by claiming that he was referring to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, not the current conflict. Sorry, Senator, but that cat’s just not going back.

By Cindy Sheehan

But it was only over time that I came to understand Sheehan as a Jeffersonian Democrat in the best sense of that term.
John Nichols, The Nation, June 2nd, 2007

What a sorry state we find ourselves in today. We can't get on an airplane without having our rights violated. We can't send an email or make a phone call without risking being spied on by our own government. We can't protest an elected official without being confined to pens in "free speech zones," or blocked from even getting anywhere near an event at all. We can't buy over the counter allergy medication without having our personal info going into a governmental database and landlords of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco are being harassed by the feds for something that has been approved by the people of the State of California.

John Wildermuth, SF Chronicle

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan wants to snatch House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat from her in November, but first she's going to need the help - and signatures - of 10,198 friends and supporters.

Sheehan was at San Francisco City Hall on Friday to take out papers for her independent run for Congress, but without those signatures from voters in the district, her name won't show up on the ballot.

"It's an uphill battle," said Sheehan, who vowed to run against Pelosi in July after the speaker refused to start impeachment proceedings against President George Bush. "But I'm excited about the signature-gathering process. It's going to be an opportunity to talk to people about our campaign."

By Cindy Sheehan

PELOSI: I don't even think about it much. You know, I have a day job. We're here trying to –
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Larry King Live
April 24, 2008

I arrived home from Oakland where I had just been doing my day/night job and I turned on my TV in time to see the end of the Larry King interview with my Congressional opponent, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca). I sat on my couch, switched on the TV, and there she was. I watched for a few seconds while she blamed George Bush for taking the billions of dollars that she gives him every six months (like clockwork) to continue the explicitly illegal and infinitely immoral occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pelosi HEARTS Bush! by Linda Milazzo (crossposted from opednews, smirkingchimp)

Thank you, Larry King. When you bring it, YOU BRING IT! And last night, YOU BROUGHT IT!! Thanks to the few simple questions you asked Speaker Pelosi, viewers got a clearer insight into who Speaker Pelosi is, and how Speaker Pelosi feels - about President Bush, her self-described "day job," and her Congressional opponent, Cindy Sheehan.

So how does Speaker Pelosi feel about President Bush? She likes him! She genuinely likes him. According to Pelosi, there's nothing "personal" for her in the decisions and policies of George W. Bush. Why should it be personal? Nothing the President has done regarding the war has personally affected Mrs. Pelosi or her family. No Pelosis have been killed in Iraq, lost limbs, suffered traumatic brain injury, or committed suicide after returning home. And since Mrs. Pelosi dislikes the war, or so she proclaims, no young Pelosi will be prompted to fight it. So for Speaker Pelosi, the Iraq war, with its non-Pelosi casualties, will remain non-personal – and her relationship with its creator, George W. Bush, won't be soured by her pain.

By Cindy Sheehan

On behalf of myself and my congressional campaign, and in memory of my son Casey, I want to thank you for the principled and dignified action that you are taking on May 1st.

The exemplary resolution passed by your Longshore Caucus, and your decision to stop work on the West Coast docks on May 1, 2008 points the way for all of us who struggle to end the disastrous war and occupation of Iraq. This illegal and immoral war has been forced on us by the Republican administration, and has been funded enthusiastically by both the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress. The Democratic Party, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi, continues a policy of full cooperation with and financial support for the Bush administration's war. While many Democrats will utter words that are critical of the highly unpopular war, their party simply will not use its political power to take any action to stop the carnage.

www.cindyforcongress.org

Los Angeles, CA -- The time for being polite to our war-mongering politicians and organizations which support them is over. Cindy Sheehan is today’s leading voice against a doomsday administration whose defining characteristic is a dirty, scorched-Earth partisanship at any price.

Cindy Sheehan, is taking on the Goliath of corporate politics -- California's 8th District Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi , the Speaker of the House and the ranking Democrat who stood stalwart against any talk of impeachment against the most corrupt, most impotent, most undemocratic president in American history . Yes, it's Cindy vs. Pelosi, Bush and Cheney. It’s Davida vs. Goliath. Decision time: November 2008

In response to skeptics who wonder if Cindy can beat Nancy, if she can trounce the House Goliath of corporate politics, Sheehan responds, “ just read the bible to see who wins.”

By Cindy Sheehan

"[Pelosi], too, is frustrated with the ongoing war in Iraq but believes that impeachment would be divisive and distract Congress from improving the lives of working families." -- Spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi, Drew Hammill

The above quote from House Speaker, and my opponent, Nancy Pelosi's spokesperson would be hilarious if it were not so damn tragic. The quote was in an article about my recent visit and speech to students, faculty and the community members at CSU San Marcos. I wonder how long Drew stayed awake to think up this quote and II wonder if Drew and Speaker Pelosi think that we, the American people, are too stupid to realize that our lives have been "improved."

After five years of warfare on the people of Iraq; almost eight years of warfare on the American public and about 15 months of the reign of the Democrats in Congress, working class families of America have paid the heaviest price.

By Cindy Sheehan

One of the founders of the USA, Thomas Jefferson, said that the US should have a revolution every 20 years or so because "lethargy" is the "forerunner to the death of liberty." Many more wars and the suppression of our liberties later, President John F. Kennedy said: "Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent revolution inevitable."

Exactly a year before his assassination (and 36 years before Casey Sheehan's death in Iraq), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said that our nation needs a "revolution of values."

We at Cindy for Congress agree with these statements. We have been first-hand witnesses to the suppression of protest and freedom of speech here in the USA. We have been on the receiving end of police abuse and harassment and we have lost two loved ones to the war machine that Nancy Pelosi supports to enrich two of her major contributors: General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin.

Key Note Speech, 2nd Encuentro Continental
Mexico City, Mexico, April 4, 2008
By Cindy Sheehan

First of all I would like to thank the International Labor Council and the Electrician's Union for such a warm welcome and I would like to assure you all, my brothers and sisters that I represent millions of North Americans who are in solidarity with you, because we are also plagued with an illegitimate President!

By Cindy Sheehan

Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
April 04, 1967

By Cindy Sheehan

Well, not really. But you know what? Hypocrites have always bothered me, and at least Cheney doesn't pretend to be anything but the fascist thug he is.

On the other hand, Nancy Pelosi makes a mockery of the Constitution she swore to uphold by endorsing immoral wars, spying, torture, and rip-offs for the big boys. She even throws a cloak of protection over Bush and Cheney, to block their impeachment. When she did that, I knew I had to run against this pretend-progressive.

Nancy talks our talk, but she is actually an accomplice before, during, and after the fact of Bush's crimes. Is it any coincidence that she is supported by merchants of death, big banks, big real estate operators, and Wall Street? They trust her and back her because she is one of them.

http://www.cindyforcongress.org

We just started a campaign to get 1000 donations of $86 each, which has been our average donation.

Nancy has raised 1.6 million dollars (mostly from corporate pigs) so far! We have raised 49,000.00 and have spent every penny.

$86 is not a huge burden for most people and hundreds of these donations will go towards sending Nancy back home and sending me to Congress to work for the people.

Please pass this to everyone you know and tell them to pass it on.

Please go to our website, the graphic on the front page is great!

-Cindy Sheehan

By Cindy Sheehan

I want to take a moment to note yesterday's heartbreaking news that, five years after the start of this war, there have been 4,000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq. Tens of thousands of our brave men and women have also suffered serious wounds, both visible and invisible, to their bodies, their minds and their hearts. As president, I intend to honor their extraordinary service and the sacrifices of them and their families by ending this war and bringing them home as quickly and responsibly as possible.
Presidential Candidate, Hillary Clinton
March 25, 2008

By Cindy Sheehan

And while the future's there for anyone to change, still you know its seems
It would be easier sometimes to change the past.
Jackson Browne, Fountain of Sorrow

By Cindy Sheehan

I was sitting on my couch writing about the horrors of war on this the 40th anniversary of the My Lai massacre and the approaching 5th anniversary of George's crime against humanity, the abominable occupation of Iraq. Reading about the testimony of Winter Soldier did nothing to alleviate my mood and the only thing that was giving me consolation is knowing that my son, Casey, was a conscientious objector in the last moments of his life.

By Cindy Sheehan

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."
Reverend Jeremiah Wright; Sept. 16th 2001

White America refuses to study, reflect, and learn a lesson from history…
Malcom X in "Chickens Coming Home to Roost"

By Cindy Sheehan

By Cindy Sheehan

One early morning, exactly five weeks after Casey was killed, I was awakened by a disturbing dream. Casey's father, Patrick and I had traveled to Santa Barbara for Mother's Day that year to visit the Arlington West exhibit sponsored by the Santa Barbara chapter of Veteran's for Peace. This was when we still believed that that our marriage was not going to be a casualty of the illegal and immoral travesty of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

By Cindy Sheehan

Once, shortly before the 2004 presidential elections, I was having lunch with a friend from my old life: my life pre-April 4th when Casey was killed in Iraq. She informed me that she was going to vote for George Bush because he is "pro-life." My answer to her was:

By Cindy Sheehan

I have just returned from five days in Egypt. To me, visiting foreign countries is so enlightening as an American who grew up as parochial and nationalistic as the next. However, since my son was killed in Iraq, I have had a crash course in foreign "relations" and cultures that came with a too steep price.

Ironically, I was in Egypt because 40 members of the Muslim Brotherhood are being tried in military tribunals. Trying civilians in a military tribunal is against every law one can name (except in the US where we have the Military Commissions Act that contradicts international law and our own Constitution). While I was in Egypt to stand in solidarity with the families of the accused, I heard on the BBC about six men being tried at Guantanamo for the crime against humanity that occurred here on 9-11.

By running for congress in California's 8th district, Cindy Sheehan hopes to nudge the Speaker out of Iraq—now.
By Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones

One morning last August in San Francisco, six women in pink sweaters marched up a hilly boulevard towing pink roller bags full of shoes. They unzipped the bags in front of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's house, dumped the shoes on her lawn, and went on to arrange loafers, pumps, and pink glittery sandals like hawkers at a yard sale. Anchoring their display was a pair of combat boots, placed on Pelosi's doorstep. The boots, like the other shoes, had been pulled from a dead body in Iraq—the body of Casey Sheehan, in fact, whose mother, Cindy, is running as an Independent against Pelosi for Congress.

I hope a couple of these people live in SAN FRANCISCO!