Cindy Sheehan's campaign milestone

Things have been extremely hectic at the Sheehan campaign headquarters here in San Francisco. While Cindy and most of her staff were in D.C. to make a showing at John Conyers's "Okay, I guess we can *talk* about impeachment" hearings, an army of paid petitioners gathered petitions by the hundreds, sending our petition totals to well over the 10,000 required to get her on the ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Congress, running against the current Speaker of the House Nancy "Impeachment is Off the Table" Pelosi. Of course, not all of those signatures are going to be valid, but we have several days to make up for any discrepancies.

There's a palpable change in the mood of the campaign, and Nancy Pelosi's constituency. Maybe people have finally had enough with their elected representative selling their constitutional rights down the river, and thumbing her nose at the rising chorus of San Franciscans who demand Bush's crime cabal be held to account.

For anybody doesn't think Cindy Sheehan's campaign is serious, you're wrong. I can't think of anyone more deserving of a seat in Congress than Cindy, or anyone more deserving of getting a seat pulled out from under her butt than Nancy.

Link to old radio shows

Hi, sorry I haven't written for a while ... here's a link to most of my radio commentaries (much faster than the search link I've been giving): http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/1473

Here in San Francisco, there was a die-in in front of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's house last weekend. We covered our bodies with red-spattered sheets and lay down in the street to the eerie sounds of falling bombs. We were protesting H Con Res 362, which urges Bush to blockade Iran, a potential first step towards WWIII. I heard I made a brief appearance on the news (though I wasn't among the three who went on Pelosi's property and thus got arrested). As usual for these kinds of things, Pelosi wasn't actually home to hear us sing protest songs and watch us take direct action -- she was in Texas. Cindy's sister Dede and campaign manager Tiffany showed up at the protest too (Cindy would have been there, but she wasn't feeling well).

The good news is that Cindy's congressional campaign against Nancy Pelosi is really picking up steam -- and a lot of notice. For a while I was worried we wouldn't get the 10,000 signatures we needed to get on the ballot (California is the 4th hardest state to run as an independent), but we're back on track! You can contribute to Cindy's campaign by clicking here: cindyforcongress.org . We don't need an enabler of torture and wiretapping in the Speaker's chair.

The London bombings -- who *really* did it?

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the public transportation bombings in London, England which took 52 lives. I never believed the people on the list of readily supplied names were the ones who were actually responsible. I heard one of them taught little kids in special ed. Excuse me, it takes a special kind of person to choose to do that kind of work (even as a cover, I would suppose). Don't tell me someone like that would turn around one day and indiscriminately blow up a bunch of people on a bus. I started looking into the biographies of all the men described, and it made me sick. These weren't just ordinary people, they were good, *decent* people. And people still think they are terrorists.

I'm tired of the best people in this world being smeared with lies and filth, while bloodthirsty pigs pervade our halls of justice wearing lipstick and perfume to cover their stench. Please look into the history of 7/7/05. There were terror exercises planned on that day that mirror *exactly* what took place [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKvkhe3rqtc ]. Bruce Lait, a passenger on one of the train bombings, is quoted as saying, "The policeman said 'mind that hole, that's where the bomb was'. The metal was pushed upwards as if the bomb was underneath the train. They seem to think the bomb was left in a bag, but I don't remember anybody being where the bomb was, or any bag."

Then, don't forget, days later, innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes was shot several times on the train after being followed by officials from his home. Police used hollow-point bullets! [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-138779977.html ]

Looking at pictures of those I'm sure were falsely accused, and I'm sure whose families have gone through 3 years of pure hell since then, I pray justice will soon be served and we'll soon know what really happened on that day.

More stuff on "psychological manipulation"

I've always been fascinated with this subject, and I've recently run across a couple others on the internet who write/discuss this subject well:

robag88 on youtube
(I particularly liked this commentary [part 1, part 2] on women's magazine covers. It was obvious one magazine is doing something insidiously deliberate. Regardless of whether they're doing it just to sell magazines, I'll agree with Rob that the outcome is highly destructive of family values, and can only serve to needlessly ratchet up our anxiety as we constantly pass them at the check-out stand.)

Peter Chamberlin on wakeupfromyourslumber.com
Fighting Mind Control

Nature Spirits

Yesterday I had the thought to go down to Golden Gate Park's arboretum and "see how my friends the plants are doing." That got me to thinking ... you know, plants can be friends to humans in much the same way animals can be.

We don't talk about it much, but it's evident from sites like Portland Indymedia how much love plants can inspire in human beings. There are kids who will sit in trees for days on end to keep them from being cut down. I remember when I was younger my family was moving out of state and we would soon pull out of our driveway for the last time. It suddenly occurred to me that it would be years (if ever) before I'd see the tree in our front yard again. So when no one was paying much attention I quietly slipped out of the car and gave it a hug, or at least a pat. I still miss the rose bushes from a house I used to rent.

Plants do indeed respond to loving kindness. They cheer us up when we are sad ... this writer claims they can heal us by just being in their presence (more from Zcascadia here). Thank you, plants! :)