It is better to "talk, talk. talk, talk, talk" for 10,000 years, than to waste even one drop of blood for an unjust and unnecessary war.
Peace Vigils


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Peace in Macon 3-16-07
 - Please join us -
- Silent Peace Vigils on Friday Afternoons 5-5:30
- Rain or Shine, let your silence be heard! 
- Pro-peace or Anti-war messages only, please.
- No personal nor political bashing.
- Join those who share your concerns and take a stand for your convictions. 
- Signs are provided.
-
Meet across the street from the Post Office on College Street in Macon, Georgia. 




March on the Pentagon
Saturday, March 17th 2007 noon
Washington D.C., DC USA


On March 17, 2007, the 4th anniversary of the start of the criminal invasion of Iraq, tens of thousands of people from around the country will descend on the Pentagon in a mass demonstration to demand: U.S. Out of Iraq Now! 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 anti-war march to the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. The message of the 1967 march was "From Protest to Resistance," and marked a turning point in the development of a countrywide mass movement.  Here-->  http://www.answercoalition.org


And/Or
Join a national Christian vigil and march to the White House in Washington on Friday, March16th. There will be workshops on non-violence, strategies for peace in Iraq and much more. Various churches in the ATL area are promoting this event, and the Peacemaking Committee of ATL Presbtery is chartering a bus to take folks who want to go up on Thur. nite, Mar 15th.

The 55 passenger bus will leave from Perimeter Mall Marta Station at 9 pm on Thursday.  Cost is $ 80 (return).  The bus will arrive DC in early morning in time for the group to attend the workshops  and also the various festivities.  There will be a worship service at the National Cathedral followed by a candlelight procession  to the White House. The bus will arrive back in ATL on Sat. pm.

Anyone interested can contact Jonathan Scanlon, Resident Pastor at Central Presbyterian Church  TEL: 404-601-3120   E-mail <jscanlon@cpc.org>

The web site is www.christianpeacewitness.org .

Partner Organizations

Adventist Peace Fellowship
American Friends Service Committee
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
Brethren Witness
Call to Action
Catholic Peace Fellowship
Christian Alliance for Progress
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Council of Churches of Santa Clara County
Declaration of Peace
Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ)
Disciples Peace Fellowship
Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Every Church a Peace Church
Faith in Public Life
Institute for Progressive Christianity
Kairos: A Time to Speak, A Time to Act
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Lutheran Peace Fellowship
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Methodist Federation for Social Action
Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice
No2Torture
On Earth Peace
Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service
Pax Christi USA
Peace and Justice Support Network of Mennonite Church USA
Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Protestants for the Common Good
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Sojourners/Call to Renewal
United Church of Christ (Justice and Witness Ministries)




 Congessman Jim Marshall says he wants fewer troops in Iraq,
but he fails to support resolution against Surge

The following comments were delivered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Feb. 14, 2007, prior to the vote on a non-binding resolution that opposed President Bush's deployment of 21,500 troops to Iraq:

I thank the gentleman. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We're debating today a non-binding resolution to disapprove of the Iraqi/American military surge in Baghdad. We do so knowing Congress cannot manage a war, let alone micromanage one. We do so knowing the surge has begun and will continue despite our debate and vote. We do so hoping our debate and vote will not discourage those called upon to execute the surge. But we also do so knowing that it might. That's enough for me to oppose the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I will vote no on the anti-surge resolution despite the fact that, for three years now, I have consistently contended that we should have fewer troops in Iraq, not more. So the surge is inconsistent with my general view of how to make our effort in Iraq sustainable and winnable. But this anti-surge resolution is akin to sitting in the stands and booing in the middle of our own team's play because we don't like the coach's call. I cannot join mid-play naysaying that might discourage even one of those engaged in this current military effort in Baghdad.

To those soldiers and Marines who are engaged, Mr. Speaker, I would say the following: Don't be discouraged by this debate and vote. It is birthed and sustained by the very democracy that you are defending. If you are successful, Iraqis might one day enjoy the same right to debate and vote like we are debating and voting. If they do, they may well look back at you as having birthed that right for them.

Nearly 40 years ago, I was a grunt platoon sergeant in Vietnam, a kid who dropped out of college and enlisted specifically to go to Vietnam. And at the very time that I was fighting insurgents in Vietnam, our country was torn by anti-war protest and debate. I didn't worry about that. You shouldn't either. I didn't let it discourage me. You shouldn't let it discourage you. You should simply do your duty and be proud of the fact that you've done it. Do it to the best of your ability. Let others - the president and the Congress - debate what that duty actually is.

There are legitimate differences of opinion in the United States, and among our leadership, concerning the best way forward in Iraq. Don't worry about that. No doubt, you have your own ideas. While in combat in Vietnam, I was convinced that the tactics we were using needed to be dramatically changed. Nevertheless, I continued to do the best I could, as I was instructed to do.

I gave a eulogy for Sgt. [First Class] Victor Anderson, of the Georgia National Guard, about two years ago. Thirty-nine years old, disqualified because of diabetes when the National Guard was called up, he fought his disqualification; he went to Iraq. The week before he died, hit by an IED, he saw some of his men killed. [During his last week,] he sent an e-mail back to his family. In that e-mail, he explained this: "People ask me why I fight. I do not fight for some ideology. I fight for that man to my left, and the one to my right. They are men of their honor. When called, they responded and did their duty. They did not run away. If you believe in nothing else, believe in them." It's that kind of spirit that I hope you have. It's been 40 years since I was in combat. I [regret the many times] I failed [to do my duty]. Do [yours] as well as you can. Don't be discouraged by this debate. We're going to have additional debates. There will be laws, etcetera passed. Don't let this discourage you. Just do your duty as best you can.

Thank you Mr. Speaker, I yield back.

Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Macon, represents Georgia's 8th Congressional District.




   30 Minutes of Silence Can Say a Lot!
Meet across the street from the Post Office on College Street in Macon, Georgia.

  Friday Afternoons 5-5:30 



Military members join the movement ---
 Appeal For Redress .org
and
Vote Vets.org


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February 2, 2007

Op-Ed Columnist

Missing Molly Ivins

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Molly Ivins, the Texas columnist, died of breast cancer on Wednesday. I first met her more than three years ago, when our book tours crossed. She was, as she wrote, “a card-carrying member of The Great Liberal Backlash of 2003, one of the half-dozen or so writers now schlepping around the country promoting books that do not speak kindly of Our Leader’s record.”

I can’t claim to have known her well. But I spent enough time with her, and paid enough attention to her work, to know that obituaries that mostly stressed her satirical gifts missed the main point. Yes, she liked to poke fun at the powerful, and was very good at it. But her satire was only the means to an end: holding the powerful accountable.

She explained her philosophy in a stinging 1995 article in Mother Jones magazine about Rush Limbaugh. “Satire ... has historically been the weapon of powerless people aimed at the powerful,” she wrote. “When you use satire against powerless people ... it is like kicking a cripple.”

Molly never lost sight of two eternal truths: rulers lie, and the times when people are most afraid to challenge authority are also the times when it’s most important to do just that. And the fact that she remembered these truths explains something I haven’t seen pointed out in any of the tributes: her extraordinary prescience on the central political issue of our time.

I’ve been going through Molly’s columns from 2002 and 2003, the period when most of the wise men of the press cheered as Our Leader took us to war on false pretenses, then dismissed as “Bush haters” anyone who complained about the absence of W.M.D. or warned that the victory celebrations were premature. Here are a few selections:

Nov. 19, 2002: “The greatest risk for us in invading Iraq is probably not war itself, so much as: What happens after we win? ... There is a batty degree of triumphalism loose in this country right now.”

Jan. 16, 2003: “I assume we can defeat Hussein without great cost to our side (God forgive me if that is hubris). The problem is what happens after we win. The country is 20 percent Kurd, 20 percent Sunni and 60 percent Shiite. Can you say, ‘Horrible three-way civil war?’ ”

July 14, 2003: “I opposed the war in Iraq because I thought it would lead to the peace from hell, but I’d rather not see my prediction come true and I don’t think we have much time left to avert it. That the occupation is not going well is apparent to everyone but Donald Rumsfeld. ... We don’t need people with credentials as right-wing ideologues and corporate privatizers — we need people who know how to fix water and power plants.”

Oct. 7, 2003: “Good thing we won the war, because the peace sure looks like a quagmire. ...

“I’ve got an even-money bet out that says more Americans will be killed in the peace than in the war, and more Iraqis will be killed by Americans in the peace than in the war. Not the first time I’ve had a bet out that I hoped I’d lose.”

So Molly Ivins — who didn’t mingle with the great and famous, didn’t have sources high in the administration, and never claimed special expertise on national security or the Middle East — got almost everything right. Meanwhile, how did those who did have all those credentials do?

With very few exceptions, they got everything wrong. They bought the obviously cooked case for war — or found their own reasons to endorse the invasion. They didn’t see the folly of the venture, which was almost as obvious in prospect as it is with the benefit of hindsight. And they took years to realize that everything we were being told about progress in Iraq was a lie.

Was Molly smarter than all the experts? No, she was just braver. The administration’s exploitation of 9/11 created an environment in which it took a lot of courage to see and say the obvious.

Molly had that courage; not enough others can say the same.

And it’s not over. Many of those who failed the big test in 2002 and 2003 are now making excuses for the “surge.” Meanwhile, the same techniques of allegation and innuendo that were used to promote war with Iraq are being used to ratchet up tensions with Iran.

Now, more than ever, we need people who will stand up against the follies and lies of the powerful. And Molly Ivins, who devoted her life to questioning authority, will be sorely missed.


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