Dawn Patrol Rides Again

Hey Scarlet, sorry we're late... these are the signs we put up before the election:

Hey Dawn Patrol, good to hear from you, and good to see Smithantics is back.

You guys were one of the very first people to send in a sign picture, way back in May 2004

You said what needed to be said long before it became fashionable to do so, and, of course, you were right. Now that the country's going back to good hands, let's get together soon and figure out how to save the world. Yours, Scarlet

(signs posted in Sacramento, a great town for freewayblogging.)

School of Assassins

Protest this weekend at Fort Benning, GA





from Mimi La Valley and a Hundred Nuns

(one of the funniest protest songs ever written...

Listen Here.)

"Private, either my brain’s going mushy and moist or
they’re cracking Fort Benning in half like an oyster!
Can you get me their headquarters, phone up the cloister?
Can you tell me what this is about?"
"Sir, I ventured outside, and I spoke to a sister,
who put us on a listserve for wartax resisters,
I was going to arrest her, but I’m getting a blister
so I think I’m gonna sit this one out."

Well the boys in the fort were dismantling the mortars
when the Corporal reported to the General’s quarters:
"Three-fourths of the fort would be following orders
if you ordered the fort to surrender.
Because sir I assure you, you’ll be disconcerted
when you learn that the current cadets have deserted,
and I’ve just been alerted that the colonel’s converted
and the sergeant’s rethinking his gender."

And the nuns are invading and they’re calmly persuading
our commander to sign up as a monk.
Besides, Corporal Clone and I just started dating
and he’s probably waiting for me in my bunk.
So we’re abandoning camp ’til the nuns overwhelm it,
sir, might I suggest that you tie-dye your helmet?
You need a few colors, and khaki's as dull as it comes..."

VFP Bannerdrop

On Saturday, November 15, at 8:00 am, at the National Archives Building on Connecticut Ave., eight military veterans and a military mother climbed a 9-foot retaining fence and occupied a ninety-foot high scaffolding to raise two 450 square foot banners stating, "DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION. ARREST BUSH AND CHENEY: WAR CRIMINALS!" and "WE WILL NOT BE SILENT." The same message will also be displayed at demonstrations in the Los Angeles area on Saturday.Members of Veterans for Peace (VFP) chose the Archives for their nonviolent protest because it is symbolic of their military oath to "Defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." In September they occupied the Archives for 24 hours, and plan to stay longer this time.

Veteransforpeace.org

THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED WERE:
Elliott Adams VFP: 61, Sharon Springs, NY, VFP President and former Army paratrooper, Viet Nam.
Ellen Barfield VFP: 52, Baltimore, MD, former Army Sgt.
Kim Carlyle VFP: 61, Buncombe County, NC, former Army Spec 5.
Doug Zachary VFP: 58, Austin, TX, VFP staff, former USMC .
Lance Cpl. Tarak Kauff VFP: 67, Woodstock, NY, former PFC, Army Airborne .
Will Covert VFP: 63, San Diego, CA, VFP lifetime member, former E4 Navy.
Elaine Brower MFSO: 54, Staten Island, NY, Military Families Speak Out, National Steering Committee, mother of USMC Sgt. James Brower on third tour in Iraq.
Matthis Chiroux IVAW: 24, Army Sergeant, served in Afghanistan, refused deployment to Iraq.

New York Times Special Edition

Brilliant.

Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan hadcome to an end. If, that is, they happened to read a "special edition" of today's NewYork Times.

In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street.

PDF Download

Sounding Louder...

What I’m feeling is a slowly building, almost languid sense of joy and inner peace. My country, and by extension this world, is finally back in the hands of the intelligent, and it’s difficult to describe how good that feels.

Imagine someone you’ve loved for a long time suddenly died. A friend you grew up with, or a close family member… suddenly they’re gone and you know they’re never coming back and it just rips your heart out that there’s no way to change it. No hope at all...

Now take that feeling and reverse it.
That’s what it feels like to be a Liberal in America today.

Peace Train (Live)

What Do We Do With W?

‘What Do We Do With George W. Bush?’
by
Robert Corsini

2008-11-08

Although Barack Obama consistently drew large crowds throughout his campaign, measured in the tens and even hundred of thousands, it must be remembered that the Pro-Peace movement consistently drew similar sized crowds across the country before the invasion of Iraq even started. ‘Dissent Is Patriotic’ Thomas Jefferson once pronounced and it does make a difference. The 2004 Republican Convention in NYC for example, drew massive demonstrations against Bush Administration and 'their' war that clogged streets in numbers that defied tabulation. There is a causal relationship between the size and breadth of the Peace movement and Obama’s election that mainstream media and the Democrats do not like to talk about. Had Obama not been on the right side of the war debate, he never would have had the motivated base he needed to win. Now that same base will be clamoring to hold the Bush Administration accountable.

It’s been just a few days now. The pandemic euphoria of the Obama victory has only been slightly tempered by the news of massive job losses and unemployment claims. Errant military operations massacring scores of innocents in Afghanistan; The impending collapse of Pakistani civil society; And of course, all the new talk of neo-Nazi plotting within the US -- What truly would have been profound elation on my part, witnessing as we did the ascension of an African American to the Presidency of the United States of America, has been muted by reality. We live in precarious times. But the question lingering in the air like a pulse of methane remains, what do we do with George W. Bush?

On January 20, 2009 the President that Americans love to hate, leaves office. The object of profound disdain from all around the world will exit the White House with his wife Laura (maybe) and attack hound Barney under his arm. At the taxpayers’ expense, he'll get into an airplane for destinations unknown - perhaps Dubai - leaving behind a legacy of global catastrophe that redefines ‘biblical’ scale. It’s abundantly clear to the world and at least 50% of the American population that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney participated in criminal conspiracies that have delivered us the ‘War On Terror’, the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, economic collapse, torture, post-Katrina chaos, domestic spying -- the list of failures and crimes is as long as the President’s face. Bush has literally been responsible for destroying millions of human lives and wreaking havoc inside of foreign nations far and wide. He is and will always be remembered in history as a destroyer. A harbinger of global disunity. A tyrant.

So, what do we do with George W. Bush?

Impeach? Indict? Prosecute? Release? Pardon? Forget about? In some countries like Iraq – they simply hang their tyrants. If you thought the trial of Saddam Hussein was a circus, just wait til you get a load of George W. Bush in the docket. But where? And tried by whom? Fellow Americans? The French or Iraqis? God forbid the United Nations! And the obvious issue for President Elect Obama -- how can he display reverence for a former President who has committed so many crimes? How will he direct his Justice Department when the tsunami of post-Bush investigations, litigations and expansive revelations starts flooding the courts, halls of Congress and multi-media platforms? Does Obama have enough political capital to prosecute a former President for high crimes and misdemeanors?

Although President Elect Obama has stated that stabilizing the economic meltdown is his first order of business, the question of accountability in the American system across all sectors, including the Presidency, must be addressed quickly and honestly because they are intrinsically connected. The people of the world, including those who reside in America , have seen notions of justice and constitutionality dismembered and shredded at the hands of George W. Bush. America is being given a chance to redeem herself in the eyes of the world with Obama – but if justice is not rendered, balance cannot be achieved.

The Obama honeymoon was over before it ever started. Holding the Bush Administration to account must be a priority from the moment he steps into the Oval Office or he risks losing the credibility he needs to be the global leader and visionary we need him so desperately to be. Perhaps Nelson Mandela might have some suggestions on how to navigate these treacherous waters?

Dissent is Patriotic Part One

Part Two

Sarah Palin: Ambassador to Africa?

Palin Hoping to be Named Ambassador to Africa
‘A Darned Important Country,’ Says Guv

(Signs by Scarlet and Kate, story by Andy Borowitz)

Sarah Palin of Alaska has reached out to President-elect Obama's transition team to indicate her interest in being named "ambassador to the nation of Africa," the governor confirmed today.
Gov. Palin said that although she had planned to continue in her position in Anchorage, she was willing to leave the governorship "because Africa is just such a darned important country."


"I have always been very, very interested in the nation of Africa, partly because of it being located where it is," she said. "If you are standing in Africa and you look real close, you can see South Africa." She added that she had received phone calls encouraging her to vie for the post, including one from French president Nicholas Sarkozy.

In other news from the Palin family, Bristol Palin's fiancé Levi Johnston said he was "totally stoked" about Tuesday night's election returns, calling the results "definitely a game-changer for me." "The election of Barack Obama means different things to different people," he said. "To me, it means freedom, dude!"

Letter From a Friend

Dear Friends, I was thinking about everyone as the returns came in last night. I had several thoughts on the election of Barack Obama as president: America has the remarkable ability to find just the right individual to lead the country at moments of greatest peril--Jefferson in 1800, Lincoln in 1860, and Roosevelt in 1932 come to mind. I think Obama is a truly exceptional dude--all the brilliance and rhetorical skills of Clinton (though not quite the ability to evoke empathy) without the latter's disorganization and lack of discipline; he'll run a tight ship and he'll keep his dick in his pants.

Obama and his team ran one of the most brilliant, innovative, grassroots campaigns ever...anytime, anywhere. In two long years of campaigning, he kept his cool and stuck to his guns, with exactly one slip-up--that unnecessary remark about working people clinging to guns and religion. Remember the mockery of community organizers at the Republican Convention--a sneering Guiliani and snickering delegates--well, I just want to say to them: whose laughing at community organizers now, dickheads?

And for all those smug Europeans and foreigners who thought they had America figured as hopelessly racist, xenophobic, and politically-challenged, I have a quick quiz question: what is the only white majority country in the world to elect a non-white leader. France? Mais, non!. Germany? Bitte. Britain? Guess again, mate.

Finally, spare a thought for poor Sarah Palin. With dreams of 2012 dancing through that pretty head, she must be the most self-deluded person in all American politics.

So enjoy the moment. Tomorrow, things get back to reality. President Obama or no President Obama, we're still in fuck of a lot of trouble. But, at least, there's hope.

U.S. Rejoins World

World Headlines

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America..."

Full Text Here

Election Signs

(thanks to Americablog)


(Hanging animal is a raccoon... get it?)

Post Number 1004

“Rights are to be taken, not requested; seized, not begged for.” -Jose Marti

"For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress." –William Blake

“Power does not consist in striking with force or with frequency, but in striking true.” –Honore de Balzac

“You can't decide how you're going to die. Or when. What you can decide is how you're going to live now.” –Joan Baez

“Tomorrow when you go to the polls, make my life difficult. Make the next four years really hard, so that every morning all we can do is come in and go, 'Madonna is doing some Kaballah thing, you wanna do that?' I'd like that. I'm tired.” -Jon Stewart

Death of a Maverick (audio)

It seems kind of a shame that a journey for the Presidency that began in a prisoner of war camp in Hanoi should end like this:

But then, as a Kos diarist points out, they deserve it for agreeing to talk without preconditions.

Story here.

Fun With Yard Signs

Hey Freewayblogger! After my third Obama sign got stolen I decided to take your advice and get myself an overhead projector. You're right, signmaking's easy! Now they can steal as much as they like - I can just paint more... and bigger. This time though I made sure they had to work for it. -Tim in OC


Dear Tim, Nice work! You'll find having an OP is not only good for stolen yard signs, but stolen elections as well. Now if the bastards steal the election, declare martial law or start another one of their wars-for-reelection, you'll be ready. Remember, when used properly, a citizen with an overhead projector has the voice of about ten thousand who don't. -scarlet

Hey Scarlet, saw this over at Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Thought you'd appreciate it.

Voter Alert! Under a McCain/Palin administration, abortions will be performed with flag pins.