Cindy Sheehan: Stop Voting for Either Wing of the War Party! IMPEACH President Obama!
Original post 2009-12-30
Updated 2010-08-07
at Berkeley Free Speech Movement • December 2nd, 1964 •
• The Only Way to Peace is Through US People •
• Be Part of History! •
• High Time to get Tough •
• When Democratic Presidents are the Same or Worse than Republican Presidents, What do YOU do? •Independent Political Report — by Cindy Sheehan — 21 July 2010 — If there existed an antiwar movement that had integrity — it would have said that “all wars are dumb,” and we withhold our support for just another dyed-in-the-wool warmonger.
DURING THE CAMPAIGN, MANY COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS OF MINE ASSURED ME that Obama was just saying this hostile crap to “get elected” and once he was elected that he would “do the right thing.” Well, first of all, why support such a pandering Jackwagon, and secondly, how has that ever worked? Three days after Obama swore to uphold and defend the Constitution, he drone-bombed a “target” in Pakistan killing 3 dozen civilians — and since that day he has elevated the art of drone bombings to new heights, while the so-called antiwar movement looks on in silent complacency and while Democratic operatives disguised as antiwar groups are hoping against hope that Obama comes out strong with a new antiwar marketing campaign to assure his “re-election.” Even though not one progressive issue has been propagated during his term, these war supporters are looking forward to another four years of the dance of death. Right foot kill — left foot torture — spin around for environmental devastation—allemande left for health care fascism — and shimmy right for bankster bailouts. Wasn’t eight years of this crap during the Bush stain enough for y’all?
Many antiwar groups and people who claim they are for peace lose their minds during election season thinking that the razor-thin difference between the Democrat and Republican is enough to go ape-shit crazy in working for the Democrat. Just take the last two Democratic candidates, for example. Kerry and Obama both supported more war. An “antiwar” movement de-legitimizes itself when it works hard for a candidate who does not promise total and rapid withdrawal of troops from wherever they happen to be at the time AND does not promise to end war as an imperial tool of corporate conquest.
The majority of the so-called antiwar movement, in fact, voted for a candidate that PROMISED to contract one war only to be able to profoundly EXPAND another. Obama all along said that he is not against all war, just “dumb wars.” If there existed an antiwar movement that had integrity — it would have said that “all wars are dumb,” and we withhold our support for just another dyed-in-the-wool warmonger
• Cindy Sheehan • True Progressive • True Leader • True Patriot •Recently, I received an email from Veterans for Peace (VFP) Chapter 136 in Central Florida asking me for an endorsement of its resolution to impeach Barack Obama.
First of all, I would like to commend the Central Florida chapter for its integrity and vision for peace that this resolution exhibits. In my own experience, it’s not even popular to criticize the Dalai Bama, let alone call for his removal from office. Kudos!
Second, even though Chapter 136 uses the EXACT SAME references and charges that National VFP used for its resolution to impeach Bush and Cheney, I have little hope that National VFP will pass a similar resolution at its national convention. It’s unfortunate that standards are rarely applied equally across the board. I “hope” I am wrong.
In 2005, National VFP called for impeaching the Bush criminals even before it was en vogue to be against the regime. I remember being severely and thoroughly attacked by the left, right and in between for riding to Crawford in a bus driven by VFP members that had “IMPEACH BUSH” written across the sides in huge letters. On November 5th, 2004, I was myself in the avant-garde of calling for Bush’s impeachment just a day after his “re-election” to a second term.
In 2007, I announced my electoral challenge to Speaker of the House, Nancy “Impeachment off the Table” Pelosi because I felt so strongly in this Constitutional remedy to a criminal executive. Did I believe I would win? Just about as much as I believe that Nancy will impeach someone from her own party if she wouldn’t impeach a scoundrel like Bush.
But like VFP’s resolution says:
of President Obama for war crimes is not based on whether or not
Impeachment is likely to occur, but rather our call for Impeachment
is based on what we as Veterans For Peace feel is our duty
in the case where war crimes are being committed under
the command and authority of any United States President.”
For an excellent Impeach Obama overview by Tom Santoni of Central Florida VFP,
see the printable document attached at the end of this post.
Central Florida VFP Co-Chairman Phil Restino published his essay "Our Covenant" June 3rd, 2010 in "Veterans Today;"
it’s attached at the end of this post as a printable document.
The Resolution to Impeach is also attached as a printable document.
PROSECUTE THEM NOW! endorses this call for impeachment of President Obama
This is the text of the resolution:
IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT BARACK H. OBAMA FOR WAR CRIMES
Whereas Barack H. Obama is Commander In Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces and the head of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government; and,
Whereas the illegal U.S. invasion, bombing and occupation of Iraq initiated by the Bush administration continues under the Obama administration; and,
Whereas the U.S. government is currently engaged in illegal wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and Obama has pledged to increase the number of military personnel and the amount of tax dollars spent on the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and,
Whereas the U.S. military has used and continues to use depleted uranium munitions, cluster bombs and white phosphorous in densely populated areas in violation of U.S. and international laws and treaties prohibiting the indiscriminate killing of civilians; and,
Whereas the Geneva Conventions specifically prohibit the use of especially injurious weapons and materials that cause unnecessary harm by remaining active and deadly after a battle and over large areas of land; and,
Whereas a large number of babies born in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from illness and deformity like Down’s syndrome, weak hearts, severe disfigurement and brain damage that doctors believe are caused by the U.S. military’s massive and widespread use of toxic and radioactive materials; and,
Whereas millions upon millions of Iraqi, Afghani and Pakistani civilians have been killed, maimed, poisoned and displaced from their homes as a direct result of the U.S.’s ongoing, illegal acts of war; and,
Whereas illegal, immoral and counterproductive detainee torture and brutalization at the hands of the U.S. military’s Immediate Reaction Force continue at Guantanamo under the Obama administration; and,
Whereas President Obama is an accessory after the fact for obstructing justice by not initiating an investigation into numerous and blatant U.S. war crimes committed by the Bush administration for which it is manifestly accountable under the rule of law; and,
Whereas Veterans For Peace supported the impeachment of Bush/Cheney for the same war crimes that are now being committed by Obama in violation of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. federal laws, the United Nations Charter, the Hague Convention, the Geneva Conventions, The United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Nuremberg Tribunal Charter; and,
Whereas Veterans For Peace is committed to its stated mission to restrain our government from intervening, overtly or covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations, to seek justice for veterans and victims of war, to increase public awareness of the costs of war, and to abolish war as an instrument of national policy; and,
Therefore be it resolved that Veterans For Peace calls on the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Barack H. Obama for failure to uphold his sworn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies foreign and domestic, and for his commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, obstruction of justice and the violation of numerous national and international laws, treaties and conventions.
Note: This resolution to call for the Impeachment of President Barack H. Obama for War Crimes was debated, voted on, and approved by the members of the Central Florida chapter of Veterans For Peace on 7 July 2009.
I endorse this call, as does my organization, Peace of the Action.
If you would like to individually endorse, or as a group:
Endorsed by:
___________________________________________________________
On this _______ day of ___________________________________, 2010
Please return mail or fax to:
Central Florida Veterans For Peace
P.O. Box 9012
Daytona Beach, FL 32120-9012
Phone/Fax: (386) 788-2918
• Swing into ACTION •
• The President’s lost my support •
• If he doesn’t end the wars, I will work to impeach him •
• UPDATE: Learn, Educate, Organize for Peace! •
Peace of the Action
• SIZZLIN’ SUMMER PROTEST FROM PEACE OF THE ACTION •
Start Summer off with a Bang!
Rethink Tyranny
— CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST! —
PLUS read the text and hear the audio
of Mario Savio’s famous 1964 speech!
• HOT TIMES! SUMMER IN THE CITY! •
4th of July
Peace of the Action will be meeting in Lafayette Park
— North Side of White House — at 1pm to pass out Peace
Literature to people who flock in DC for our nation’s birthday.
The Wars Drone On and On
Monday, July 5th to Friday, July 9th
We will meet in Lafayette Park everyday at 9:30am to begin our days’ protests.
For this week, Peace of the Action will be targeting the
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
display — and educating the public about the horrific toll
UAVs take — and drone manufacturers and lobbyists.
Also, on each day, we will be reconvening at Lafayette Park
at 3pm to do a little protest in front of the White House
— the main focus is to inform tourists, etc, that while the
face of the resident of the White House may have changed,
the policies have not!
Party Time!
Saturday, July 10th is Cindy Sheehan’s birthday and we’re going to PARTAY!
Everything is usually so serious and somber, because we are dealing with
serious and somber issues — but it’s good to let our hair down!
Place and Time for the bash TBA
Hands off our Kids!
Monday, July 12 to Friday, July 16
For this week, we will be targeting recruiting centers and defense
contractors and lobbyists — and we will do some special “lobbying”
of our own on Capitol Hill.
Again, we will meet in Lafayette Park everyday at 9:30am, go to
our protest site from there, and return to the park at 3pm to
spread some Peace literature to our fellow Americans.
Saturday, July 17th
1pm to 6pm POTA RETREAT
This will be an intense five-hour think tank session on the future
of Peace of the Action and the future of anti-war protests in the U.S.
With small numbers, where should our limited resources be focused?
We have to dream up an entire movement based on very low numbers
and very limited funds — bring your creative solutions and a
positive attitude for making sure a better world!
6pm-7pm Dinner
7pm to ? — Concert and Party! — Details coming.
IMPORTANT INFO FOR SUMMER POTA
HOUSING WILL ONCE AGAIN BE PROVIDED AT ST. STEPHEN’S
1525 NEWTON ST, NW (CORNER OF 16TH AND NEWTON)
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH ARE UP TO THE PARTICIPANT AND POTA WILL
PROVIDE DINNER EACH NIGHT. DINNER WILL BE AT 6PM SHARP EACH NIGHT
TRANSPORTATION TO THE PARK AND TO EVENTS IS UP TO EACH PARTICIPANT.
WE WILL BE TRAVELING TO EVENTS AS A GROUP AND THE EVENTS
SHOULD NOT BE TOO FAR FROM LAFAYETTE PARK
POTA BELIEVES THAT CIVIL RESISTANCE IS THE CORE OF TRUE CHANGE,
BUT ONLY IF THE NUMBERS ARE SUFFICIENT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
SO, SINCE OUR NUMBERS ARE SMALL, CIVIL RESISTANCE WILL MORE
THAN LIKELY NOT BE A PART OF SUMMER POTA — EDUCATION AND
MOVEMENT BUILDING WILL BE OUR MAIN FOCUS
LAFAYETTE PARK WILL BE OUR MAIN CONVERGENCE SPACE FOR THE TWO WEEKS
EVENINGS WILL BE RESERVED FOR THE POTA CORE TEAM TO BLOG
AND POST VIDEO AND DO OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS — IF YOU
ARE A VIDEOGRAPHER OR BLOGGER, WE COULD USE YOUR HELP
— USING ONLINE TOOLS WILL BE THE KEY TO MOVEMENT BUILDING
DRINK LOTS OF WATER — JULY IN DC IS HOT, HOT, HOT!
FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT FOR SIZZLIN’ SUMMER FUN, EMAIL:
CINDY@PEACEOFTHEACTION.ORG
OR
JOSH@PEACEOFTHEACTION.ORG
Stay Up to Date and JOIN US!
• Declare Your Independence from Oil on the 4th of July •On July 4th, Peace of the Action will be beginning our Sizzlin’ Summer Protests in Washington DC with a protest in front of the White House in Lafayette Square.
Starting at one o’clock in the afternoon, we will protest British Petroleum and its politicians and other friends in our government that led to the conditions that are causing perhaps the worst — and apparently unstoppable — environmental disaster in World History in the Gulf of Mexico.
On July 4th, Peace of the Action will be demanding that President Obama’s Administration punish British Petroleum in proportion to the devastation that it’s causing.
• Reparations to the people who are losing
their livelihoods, homes, and natural beauty.
• Clean-up •
• Wildlife rescue and refuge •
• Investing in renewable, recyclable and sustainable forms of energy •
If you can’t come to DC on the 4th of July to help us protest BP, please consider holding a protest in front of your local BP gas station.
This is just the first step, though. We need to become better citizens of this planet — and instead of following the establishment’s lines about reducing our dependence on “foreign” oil — we must do everything to Declare Independence from all oil — as evidenced by the Gusher in the Gulf — all oil, foreign and domestic is harmful to the planet — and foreign oil is the reason for this country’s addiction to war.
Coming soon: Peace of the Action will have a Declaration of Oil Independence to sign, along with our demands, and these signatures will be delivered to the White House on the 6th of July — the more the better.
In the meantime do not purchase gas from BP gas stations, or ARCO AM/PM, which also sells BP gas.
Also, try to do whatever is in your power to cut back on gas purchases — if you never purchase gas, already — then CONGRATULATIONS.
These are actions that cost us very little — but if enough of us participate, we will have a profound affect on the future of life on this planet.
Peace of the Action — 4 March 2009 — by Cindy Sheehan — THE US MILITARY/CORPORATE EMPIRE IS DESTINED TO CRUMBLE. COME BE PART OF A HISTORIC ACTION! The only way to peace is through the people. Camp OUT NOW is the boldest and bravest action ever envisioned by and for peace. Camp OUT NOW’s stated objective is to: “Clog Washington, DC every week day through diffuse Civil Resistance actions to have the effect of tampering with ’business as usual’ in the Capital of the United States of America.”
Love, Peace and Victory!
Cindy Sheehan
Peace of the Action — 30 December 2009 — by Cindy Sheehan — We’re a bunch of raw materials that don't mean to be — have any process upon us. Don’t mean to be made into any product! Don't mean — Don’t mean to end up being bought by some clients, be they the government, be they industry, be they organized labor, be they anyone! We’re human beings! — Mario Savio, 1964
• Our demands are simple •
• Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones,
permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.
• Reparations for the peoples of these war torn regions and a fully
funded VA system to reintegrate our soldiers healthfully into our society.
We’ve marched, written, called and faxed but the wars continue.
It is time for new creative strategies and bolder action.Peace of the Action will bring forward an historic escalation of Peace Activism like we have not seen in the United States in a very long time.
We cannot allow business as usual go on in the Capital of the American Empire.
On a daily basis, Peace of the Action will perform courageous deeds of civil resistance until our demands are met.
We will show our righteous outrage at U.S. militarism by showing our elected officials that “Peace means Business,” by clogging up government business. We want an end to Empire so we can build a new economy that is not drained by the costs of Empire and war. This Empire does not create jobs abroad and has the effect of destroying jobs here. This Empire builds the profits of transnational businesses while Americans go further into debt and fights wars for oil and resources. It’s time to stop using militarism as the PRIMARY tool of foreign policy. It’s time to start adhering to the U.S. Constitution and International Law.
Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly
across the street from the White House and we began our actions
on March 22nd.
Individual commitment will entail at least a once a week civil resistance mission and support to the group at large through contributing to the running and infrastructure of our encampment.
Your commitment can range from the entire action: Until our demands are met, or any other chunk of time that you are available. Click HERE to join now!
Text Copyright © 30 December 2009 Peace of the Action
* * *
Mario Savio’s Full Sit-in Address on the Steps of Sproul Hall,
University of California at Berkley, December 2nd, 1964
You know, I just wanna say one brief thing about something the previous speaker said. I didn't wanna spend too much time on that ’cause I don’t think it’s important enough. But one thing is worth considering.
He’s the — He’s the nominal head of an organization supposedly representative of the undergraduates. Whereas in fact under the current director it derives — its authority is delegated power from the Administration. It’s totally unrepresentative of the graduate students and TAs.
But he made the following statement; I quote: “I would ask all those who are not definitely committed to the FSM cause to stay away from demonstration.” Alright, now listen to this: “For all upper division students who are interested in alleviating the TA shortage problem, I would encourage you to offer your services to Department Chairmen and Advisors.” That has two things: A strike breaker and a fink.
I’d like to say — like to say one other thing about a union problem. Upstairs you may have noticed they're ready on the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall, Locals 40 and 127 of the Painters Union are painting the inside of the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall. Now, apparently that action had been planned some time in the past. I’ve tried to contact those unions. Unfortunately — and it tears my heart out — they’re as bureaucratized as the Administration. It’s difficult to get through to anyone in authority there. Very sad. We’re still — We’re still making an attempt. Those people up there have no desire to interfere with what we’re doing. I would ask that they be considered and that they not be heckled in any way. And I think that — you know — while there’s unfortunately no sense of — no sense of solidarity at this point between unions and students, there at least need be no — you know — excessively hard feelings between the two groups.
Now, there are at least two ways in which sit-ins and civil disobedience and whatever — least two major ways in which it can occur. One, when a law exists, is promulgated, which is totally unacceptable to people and they violate it again and again and again till it’s rescinded, appealed. Alright, but there’s another way. There’s another way. Sometimes, the form of the law is such as to render impossible its effective violation — as a method to have it repealed. Sometimes, the grievances of people are more — extend more — to more than just the law, extend to a whole mode of arbitrary power, a whole mode of arbitrary exercise of arbitrary power.
And that’s what we have here. We have an autocracy which — which runs this university. It’s managed. We were told the following: If President Kerr actually tried to get something more liberal out of the Regents in his telephone conversation, why didn’t he make some public statement to that effect? And the answer we received — from a well-meaning liberal — was the following: He said, “Would you ever imagine the manager of a firm making a statement publicly in opposition to his Board of Directors?” That’s the answer.
Well I ask you to consider — if this is a firm, and if the Board of Regents are the Board of Directors, and if President Kerr in fact is the manager, then I tell you something — the faculty are a bunch of employees and we're the raw material! But we’re a bunch of raw materials that don’t mean to be — have any process upon us. Don’t mean to be made into any product! Don’t mean — Don’t mean to end up being bought by some clients of the University, be they the government, be they industry, be they organized labor, be they anyone! We’re human beings!
And that — that brings me to the second mode of civil disobedience. There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can’t take part! You can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus — and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it — that unless you’re free the machine will be prevented from working at all!!
That doesn’t mean — I know it will be interpreted to mean, unfortunately, by the bigots who run The Examiner, for example — that doesn’t mean that you have to break anything. One thousand people sitting down some place, not letting anybody by, not letting anything happen, can stop any machine, including this machine! And it will stop!!
We’re gonna do the following — and the greater the number of people, the safer we’ll be and the more effective we’ll be. We’re going, once again, to march up to the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall. And we're gonna conduct our lives for awhile in the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall. We’ll show movies, for example. We tried to get Un Chant d’Amour and they shut them off. Unfortunately, that’s tied up in the court because of a lot of squeamish moral mothers for a moral America and other people on the outside. The same people who get all their ideas out of the San Francisco Examiner. Sad, sad. But, Mr. Landau — Mr. Landau has gotten us some other films.
Likewise, we’ll do something — we'll do something which hasn’t occurred at this University in a good long time! We’re going to have real classes up there! They’re gonna be freedom schools conducted up there! We’re going to have classes on the 1st and 14th amendments!! We’re gonna spend our time learning about the things this University is afraid that we know! We're going to learn about freedom up there, and we’re going to learn by doing!!
Now, we’ve had some good, long rallies. [Rally organizers inform Savio that Joan Baez has arrived.] Just one moment. We’ve had some good, long rallies. And I think I’m sicker of rallies than anyone else here. She’s not going to be long. I’d like to introduce one last person — one last person before we enter Sproul Hall. Yeah. And the person is Joan Baez.
Originally posted 2009-12-26 22:48:00 -0400
Originally posted 2009-12-26 01:30:00 -0400
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| impeach_obama_call_vfp_florida_7july2009.pdf | 88.48 KB |
| vfp_our_vets_covenant_today_pcrestino03 Jun 10.pdf | 235.51 KB |
