What's on our Holiday Table

By Cindy Sheehan

For many people, 2007 started as a promising year: The Democrats had regained both Houses of Congress and we finally had a female Speaker of the House. I, however, had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when this female Speaker took impeachment of the devils, Bush and Cheney “off the table” even before she picked up the gavel.

My organization, The Camp Casey Peace Institute gathered dozens of activists from all over the country to convene in DC on January 3rd because we felt strongly that just because the Democrats were now in “charge” that we would not be able to even slack off a little from our pressure on Congress.

We found a golden opportunity to clue in the duplicitous Dems when we interrupted a Rahm Emanuel (D-Il) pres conference where he was going to talk about the Dem agenda of "ethics reform" (talk about the fox guarding the hen house!). In loud voices, with the media out in force, we started to chant: “Investigate, de-escalate, troops out now.” Demonstrating the lack of spine that would become the hallmark of the 110th Congress, Emanuel turned on his heels and walked away and I was able to outline the “People’s agenda” of: Accountability and Peace. I was roundly criticized by the “lefty” blogs. One popular diary on the Daily Kos that day was titled something like: Cindy Sheehan, Shut the F**k Up. Sadly, with the non-performance of the complicit and corrupt Dems, mis-led by Ms. Pelosi, my worst fears of Democratic co-criminality has been confirmed, We the People wanted a profound and healthy change in the dangerous direction that BushCo has taken our nation, but all we have gotten is more of the same, just with a different label.

The issue of impeachment was my leading cause in 2007, from driving through Vermont in a rickety bus through blinding snowstorms with The Nation’s John Nichols (among others) the weekend before Town Hall meetings (where over three dozen towns voted for impeachment resolutions); to driving through the Deep South in July stopping along the way to DC (where 47 of us were arrested in Congressman John Conyers (D-Mi) after he failed to respond to do his duty after we took a petition with over a million signatures on it to impeach the President and Vice President). Impeachment will begin 2008 for me when I join an impeachment coalition at Pasadena's Rose Parade on January 1st to keep the issue alive.

Accountability is one of the leading reasons that I am running against Nancy Pelosi in California’s 8th District as an Independent.

Not only has Ms. Pelosi been an abject failure as Speaker of the House, but we recently discovered that the reason that she has refused to hold George and Dick accountable is because she has been complicit in their crime of torture and she doesn’t want the spotlight of justice to shine too brightly towards her own connivance.

Accountability will definitely be on the table in 2008 when the people of San Francisco get to join me in sending Ms. Pelosi and the dishonest “two” party system the message of peace and justice and that We the People want to regain our country and what it truly means to be a Representative Republic once again.

Thousands of US troops have been either killed or wounded this past year with suicide and homelessness rates rising among vets. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been murdered or forced to flee from their homes in the continuing deadly "success" of the surge. So many families marked 2007 as the year that their families were destroyed by the Bush-Pelosi pas de deux of violence and pain. We have been bombarded with an almost daily dosage of bad to horrible news and it is too easy to fall into a shell shock of stunned and helpless ennui.

As we head into this holy holiday week, we must not be discouraged, but renew and redouble our efforts for peace and justice, not only for the USA, but for the world. I just received this email from one of our sisters in Jordan:

I've been reading some of your articles and posts, and appreciate what you're trying to do for the good of your country. It will eventually reflect on our part of the world. We have renewed doubts of ever seeing peace in this region, now that Hillary is running for presidency.

We all need a little infusion of Hope.

Happy Holidays and Peace on Earth.

"People before Politics"
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