Open Comment to US Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, NY 5 CD

President Obama has given us an OUT, if we can get our congressional representatives to listen to the American people who believe in peace. The following was posted on US Representative Gregory W. Meeks's Facebook page, under some MLK 50th Anniversary photos. Please say something to YOUR congress member about #NoWarWithSyria.

Please say NO to the President's request for confirmation of a surgical strike. A humanitarian crisis should not be addressed by compounding it. Dr. King would be appalled. Go read HIS Nobel Peace prize speech or the speech he gave at Riverside Church about Vietnam. Do not, please, allow the President to add "deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars" as "Returning violence for violence multiplies the violence." We must not multiply the evil. Please listen to Martin Luther King Jr. and say no to President Obama.

PS I live in your district by Jamaica Ave in Richmond Hill. Please represent me and the views of the majority of the US people. Think of what MLK would do and vote NO on more violence and killing to say that killing is wrong. Yes we need "appropriate action" but it is diplomatic nonviolent action, NOT more killing, that makes sense. More atrocity compounds atrocity. PERIOD. Whether Syrians are killed by chemical weapons or bombs, they are equally dead. Peace please. Thank you!!!

*** Pleased be moved to ACT in "the Fierce Urgency of Now" to say to your own congress member, "Represent me: Say NO to more killing and violence. To follow atrocity with more atrocity makes no sense and sends no logical message."

Thank you.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Open Letter to President Obama

We need a true leader right now, President Obama. What happened last night in WISCONSIN is part of the corporate Republican attack on unions and working people nationwide. Rachel Maddow, Michael Moore, and independent media folk like Amy Goodman and Laura Flanders are talking about it -- NOT the corporate mainstream media. PLEASE listen and DO something to fend off this corporate Republican power grab. We need FDR reincarnated NOW.

Most sincerely,

Kate Anne ...

The above was my message posted at the WhiteHouse.gov/contact link -- Join me in leaving President Obama a message. These are challenging times -- are you up for it? You better be. These are the times we are in. Thanks for doing whatever you can for peace and justice.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Don't Ask Me About the Tax Giveaways

It may go into a black hole or return unread, but I responded to the Obama letter sent today after the passage (finally) of Don't Ask Don't Tell, after changing the subject to Don’t Ask me about Tax Giveaways.

Truly, do you think I should forgive you for the awful tax giveaways that threaten Social Security and get us more indebted to China? All because you are allowing a few more poor souls to go to war for no noble cause? Please. I believe in peace. I believe in equity. I NO longer believe or believe in Barack Obama. I don’t know how you can undo the evil you have done and ill-will you have sown through your neglect of your base and your pandering to people who will never love you. God forgive you. I don’t know if I can.

Most sincerely,
[my full name]

I am so O-ver O-bama. Not feeling so peaceful. I so need....

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

John Dear S.J.: "End all These Evil Wars!"

Fr. John Dear, SJ, inspired my involvement with the interfaith Fellowship of Reconciliation. His words at this June 13, 2010 event in Lafayette Park in Washington DC sponsored by the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) should be given wide play and we should hold President Obama accountable for spending more on nuclear arms than any president since Ronald Reagan (counter to his words about a nuclear free future). Listen and act, please and thank you.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Obama: Courage to Rethink Afghanistan?

Rumor of Afghanistan troop increase continues, but I join with Ray McGovern (as well as producer Robert Greenwald) in urging the President to Rethink Afghanistan [see the film segments on the website] and know that this is HIS Kennedy moment (read the McGovern article).

Obama may also wish to ponder the words of W.E.B. Dubois:

"Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow...."

Please call the White House Comment Line at 202-256-1111 to convey YOUR thoughts. Please, President Obama, Rethink Afghanistan -- troops out, diplomacy now, aid to assist reconstruction, money for helping people there AND at home.

Thank you.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Deeds Not Words, President Obama!

PLEASE WATCH and CONSIDER. In this GRITtv video, Laura Flanders reminds us that President Obama needs to follow through on the great words he used this past week, before more needlessly die at Guantanamo. Deeds not Words, President Obama.



Perhaps you will be moved to contact President Obama by form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ or by phone, 202-456-1111.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Barack, a new day, and a much needed prayer

Thanks to some thoughtful folks in my company, we got to eat lunch together and share the inauguration experience with others in corporate America. Wow -- food for the spirit and body.

The music, the poetry, the hope.... Barack's speech was inspiring. We will need such inspiration with so much to be done and undone. And while Rev. Rick Warren's prayer was actually pretty good, The Rev. Joseph Lowery's closing benediction was a beacon of shining light. We all joined in at the end with the crowd:

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)

MORE

VIDEO

Yes, much to be done -- and I have a cold brewing and would like to stay huddled up in my covers. I need some energy. Perhaps some post-inauguration coverage will spur me on and out.

Peace hugs,

Kate Anne

Let Barack know YOUR Vision - PLEASE

I attended a meeting of United For Peace And Justice this past week and others like me are not thrilled with some of Barack Obama's appointments. In the article below, Heather Wokusch goes into some of HER thoughts to Barack and they are valid. Yet she is trying to be positive and I ask YOU to be likewise. Accentuate the positive and most importantly LET THE TRANSITION TEAM KNOW YOUR VISION for a better America and world.

FYI, Code Pink now admits to being a part of the Fake New York Times which appeared on NYC Streets and online. They too continue to move forward in a positive direction in their effort to remind Barack that War is soooooo over.

Suggestion: read Heather's piece, then OFFER BARACK'S TEAM YOUR THOUGHTS. THANKS!!!

Published on Friday, November 21, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
You're Scaring Me, Obama: Let the Bush Years Die
by Heather Wokusch

To be honest, Obama, you lost me when you voted for the PATRIOT Act reauthorization in 2006. You lost me again when you voted for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) amendment in 2008. And you lost me every single time you voted for yet more war funding.

Don't even get me started on your vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

I cast a ballot for you in November, but I just can't share in this moment of collective euphoria over your election.

So, if your transition team really wants feedback on "where President-Elect Obama should lead this country," here's a Top Five list:

1. Dump the Bush Doctrine and don't start more wars
You've made it clear that the US has to "take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights" and you've argued for "more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11."

What exactly does that mean?

Take troops out of Iraq and shove them into Afghanistan? Further destabilize Pakistan?

The whole idea of preemptive war (a.k.a. the Bush Doctrine) has no place in a civilized society and must be laid to rest, along with those sacrificed in Bush's military adventurism these past eight years.

Yet your approach to preemptive war, Mr. Obama, is nuanced at best.

During the January 2008 Democratic presidential debate, you said that if the US had "actionable intelligence" and Pakistan didn't "take on Al Qaida in their territory," then "I would strike." You added, " And that's the flaw of the Bush doctrine. It wasn't that he went after those who attacked America. It was that he went after those who didn't."

No, the flaw of the Bush Doctrine is that it's just plain wrong. We've learned that the hard way.

2. Ditch the warmongers
What's with all of the hawks in your new administration? MORE or MORE


[FYI, the rest of Heather's list NOT expanded upon here is:
3. Close Guantanamo – and the whole system of secret prisons
4. Expose Bush & Co., and ditch the national surveillance state
5. Choose Main Street (not Wall Street)]

Please read Heather's WHOLE article and then make YOUR comments at Barack's transition team site's VISION PAGE.

We think it is obvious. It may not be. Please write the transition team your thoughts. (I am going to cite Heather's article and add stuff such as campaign finance reform, instant runnoff voting, healthcare, money for education, homes and infrastructure [sort of Heather's 5], the environment [There is no such thing as "clean coal"] and renewable energy.)

You can darn well be sure they are hearing from Wall Street and the Corporatists. Now let's remind Barack what WE the People want.

THANKS!!!! And thanks for staying positive. I want to believe that Barack is lining people up who know the ropes but also that he plans to TELL THEM the limits, and the limits are what WE define. Now, let's DEFINE 'em. And ask others to do likewise. MORE THANKS!!!

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Vote and Pray

I've been posting the quick takes on Quick TAKES and Tasty Tidbits, facing life on Facebook, working for corporate America, focusing on peace and migrating to my new computer. Life is busy and good. And today is hopeful. Following my friend Michele Maglione's lead, I documented my vote for Barack Obama on Row E, the Working Family Party's line. (This is important as it shows a progressive vote. Read David Sirota's The Uprising on this.)



I went into Gustavino's yesterday to make calls for the Obama-Biden Campaign for Change. Then I rushed home and made calls for True Majority's special election action project. I spoke with Mary Gervargis of Studio City who had not received her absentee ballot and was bereft. She's hispanic and they are for 2-1 for Obama. What happened? Her cousin in Valencia didn't get hers either. So after calling an election protection line last night and learning she could vote provisionally if she got to the polls, I made some more calls this morning to the California Democratic Party who promised to be in touch to help. Let's hope so! I tried. The more votes for Obama-Biden the better chance for them to have the positive progressive impact our world needs so desperately.

Now I'm off to Gustavino's to see if there is anything more they want me to do. Hey, it's just a short walk and a bus ride and another short walk. I'm taking my copy of Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now to read on the way. (The last time I had it with me on the subway, the person next to me tapped me and showed me HER copy. We were both reading the same chapter!! We had a lovely chat) I remember my great grandmother's epitaph -- "She hath done what she could" -- and I go forth to do whatever else I can. Please, God. Breathe. Trust. Believe. Hope. Act. Thank you. Amen.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

John McCain: The Candidate We Still Don't Know

In his New York Times column this weekend, Frank Rich ponders the picture the press paints of Obama vs press favorite McCain.

As I went on vacation at the end of July, Barack Obama was leading John McCain by three to four percentage points in national polls. When I returned last week he still was. But lo and behold, a whole new plot twist had rolled off the bloviation assembly line in those intervening two weeks: Obama had lost the election!

The poor guy should be winning in a landslide against the despised party of Bush-Cheney, and he’s not. He should be passing the 50 percent mark in polls, and he’s not. He’s been done in by that ad with Britney and Paris and by a new international crisis that allows McCain to again flex his Manchurian Candidate military cred. Let the neocons identify a new battleground for igniting World War III, whether Baghdad or Tehran or Moscow, and McCain gets with the program as if Angela Lansbury has just dealt him the Queen of Hearts....MORE

When is the press corps going to follow the lead of a few insightful (and liberal) NYTimes columnists and start reporting on The Real McCain(s)? (Rich also discusses coverage of Michelle vs. Cindy. Puhlease.)

Finally, however, the Obama campaign must press the press to push the differences between the candidates. Bottom line, if the public were to hear more of the truth including the many covered-up gaffes, the cavorting with lobbyists (including his chief foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann having lobbied for the Georgian government until VERY recently!!), the cowtowing to the wealthy, and the many contradictions of John McCain, Obama would be the shoe-in he should be. [For more on how McCain is covered and how he is campaigning listen to AAR's Rachel Maddow's commentary, for example.] The Obama campaign must also give more play to such ads as the radio ad run in York, Pennsylvania [thanks, again, to TRMS], concerning McCain's telling Harley motorcycle enthusiasts that he enjoys the sound of the roar of American-made Harley's even as he opposed a law requiring the government to buy American made motorcycles, just one symptom of McCain's condoning American jobs being shipped overseas. McCain is the wrong choice if Americans care about the economy, jobs, and healthcare.

Keep on keeping on --

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

This BRAVE Nation and Political Action

I've just subscribed to the podcast of This BRAVE Nation, thanks to the ACLU's Anthony Romero's suggestion. It is a video podcast which my aging computer managed the download but I am seriously looking into buying a new Mac so that I can do my peace and justice work without waiting forever for the bouncing fruit mint (used to be a soccer ball in my older Mac) because I just don't have the memory or hard drive space to efficiently do what needs to be done. That said, I thank God I can work around the slowness.

Speaking of working, we also have to work on getting Barack Obama elected. I was over at convention delegate Brent O'Leary's place last Friday to discuss the 2008 Democratic platform and working for Barack. (See first quicky camera photo at QuickTAKES with more to follow on Flickr.com, which currently is featuring my photos from the Wednesday evening DFNYC fundraiser. Dan Jacoby, Brent, and I were there enjoying Jim Dean's and Mark Green's speeches as well as lively political discussion with a number of politicos.) Meanwhile, the Corporate Media is fraudulently aiding and abetting the McCain candidacy by doctoring a Katie Couric interview of McCain after he seriously muffed a question. See the Media Matters report.


Kate Anne and AAR's president Mark Green

BUT all of this follows the Corporate Media pretty much failing to report Friday's Pre-Impeachment Hearings in the House Judiciary Committee. For a blow by blow blog-writeup, check out David Swanson's AfterDowningStreet blog -- and watch Vingent Bugliosi's testimony on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GDAFozFn4kUF. I'm reading his book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder -- available at your local bookstore, on Amazon.com and BN.com and at the NYC Library. (And for a "For Fun" read, I just finished True Believer by Nicholas Sparks. Hey it is the summertime and I need to de-stress.)

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne


DFA's Jim Dean and activist Brent O'Leary

Reviving for a Raspberry re FISA

Some personal matters have taken precedence in my life, keeping me away from my blogs and computer but I am beginning to revive and am returning to emphasize personal peace even as I mourn the passage of the Bush-Cheney Cabal Get out of Jail free bill. FISA, after passing the House (one of Joe Crowley's worst votes, together with his yes vote on the Bankruptcy Bill), passed the Senate last week 69 to 28 with 3 not voting [click title link for roll call]. Voting NAY, my Senators Schumer and Clinton voted FOR the rule of law and against telecom immunity. But too many Democrats caved and joined the shameless Republican lemmings. Richard Greene of AAR's Clout says Obama's vote was justified strategy but I am still uncomfortable.

I want my country back. Obama is our only real option. But I've pledged my Obama bucks to Bob Fertik's special escrow account at Democrats.com to make Obama more progressive. After the FISA bill vote, I wasn't about to finally make my donation. My dollars are progressive not regressive. Obama's vote may be strategic but it still sucked. But I am not going to dwell on it. I am going to be optimistic and work on my personal peace. Then I can be most effective. One thing that is making me smile is that my son is blogging again. Huzzah! Check his blog out along with me for his own quick takes on stuff.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Today - The Black or the White Twin?

Little Super Tuesday and I still haven't removed my John Edwards campaign button from this blog -- I so miss his more populist message. Meanwhile, DLC leader Hillary Clinton and "I'm not a member of the DLC -- why did they list me?" Barack Obama spout words of populism even as they accept corporate dollars via lobbyists and/or big spenders. Yeah, I voted for Obama, in the hope that he will rise to the level of his recent message. (After all, I allowed John Edwards growth and reconciliation.) But then I listened to the Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford being interviewed by WILL Radio's Media Matters' host Bob McChesney and I have real concerns. Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum. The Black or the White Twin. Listen to the February 24, 2008 show and see what YOU think. (Let me know below or via yahoo email to kateanne7.)

One thing for sure, either is better than any Republican who would most certainly finish wrecking the Supreme Court -- let alone allow Bush in essence a third term of lies, illegal wars, torture, spying, signing statements, political corruption, and other miscellaneous evil. Which reminds me, yesterday Thom Hartmann gave me the idea for a political button for Button Buddha Ruth Klein to create: National Exorcism Day Nov. 4, 2008. Vote Democratic. That said, we gotta get on Obama for talking nuclear power (too expensive, too unsecure, too unsafe) and there is no such thing as clean coal. Hope. Ah, Johnny -- the corporate media did you in and now all I can say is may the better twin win.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Krugman: The Edwards Effect

I am feeling a bit better, reading Paul Krugman's column, The Edwards Effect. JRE has made a positive difference in Democratic politics and in brightening America's future. It isn't going to be easy going forward, but at least there really is hope. John and Elizabeth Edwards' issues must continue to be furthered. We have to push Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And YOU know how I feel. Much to do, but let's do it!! Here's to February 5th!

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne

Paul Rogat Loeb: "Why This Edwards Voter Is Now Backing Obama"

While I continue to mourn the corporatist media's murder of the John Edwards campaign, I gather the opinions of others on where-to from here. I think I could have written the first two paragraph's of Paul Rogat Loeb's article published at CommonDreams.org -- Why This Edwards Voter Is Now Backing Obama:

I gave John Edwards more money than I’ve given to any candidate in my life, and I’m glad I did. He raised critical issues about America’s economic divides, and got them on the Democratic agenda. He was the first major candidate to stake out strong comprehensive platforms on global warming and health care. He hammered away on the Iraq war, even using scarce campaign resources to run ads during recent key Senate votes. He’d have made a powerful nominee-and president.

I’ve been going through my mourning for a while for his campaign not getting more traction, so his withdrawal announcement didn’t shock me. But sad as I am about his departure, I feel good about being able to switch my support to Barack Obama, and will do all I can to help him win.MORE

Meanwhile, I have yet to speak to an Edwards supporter who is now supporting Billary errr Hillary Clinton.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne