Cindy Sheehan - PhillyBlog

Oladybug · #1 (**permalink**) 08-14-2005, 02:05 PM

I don't know who this Steve Cobble is, but I was really moved by what he has to say about the Cindy Sheehan anti-war movement.

08.09.2005 Steve Cobble

Casey's Mom at the Bat
Cindy Sheehan is a one-woman antiwar movement.

Cindy wants to ask George W. Bush exactly what was the "noble cause" that her son Casey died for.

She's camping in a ditch near George W. Bush's fake ranch--built as a stage set when Bush ran for President, so he could pretend to be a cowboy, instead of an oil man--because more Americans like cowboys...

Cindy wants to ask Bush about the Downing Street Memo. Even though the elite media never really put it on the front page, Cindy knows that it proves that Bush & Blair had decided to go to war long before they told the rest of us, that the reasons they gave out to the public were false.

And Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq, has the White House boys in a tizzy.

She's got the President hiding inside, afraid to come out alone and talk to the mother of a soldier. Just like he couldn't talk to the 9/11 Commission without the Vice-President. Just like he's never managed to get himself to the funerals of the 1,800 soldiers killed in Iraq.

He's got time for fundraisers, but not funerals.

Time for mountain biking, but not meeting with military moms.

Time for 5 weeks of vacation, but no time for truth.

He's a would-be Master of War, but he's hiding in his house.

Cindy Sheehan is speaking truth to power outside the ranch gates of the ultimate Fortunate Son.

I'm with Cindy. She's smart, she's tough, and she's brave.

And if you want to help, go to the new web site that David Swanson put up overnight: www.meetwithcindy.org

It's a war based on lies, and Cindy Sheehan wants the truth.

Posted at 12:41 AM | email this post to a friend | permalink | comments
author bio | read all posts by Steve Cobble

SurfDog · #2 (**permalink**) 08-15-2005, 10:33 AM

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/12354320.htm

Quote:

Posted on Thu, Aug. 11, 2005

SMEARING THE MOM OF A SOLDIER
HOW THE RIGHT ATTACKS EVEN THE GRIEVING

AS PRESIDENT BUSH vacations in his Crawford, Texas, ranch, sitting just outside is the American Public.

In this case the American Public is Cindy Sheehan, a 48-year-old mother who lost her son Casey in the war in Iraq. Casey, a soldier and mechanic in the Army, was one of eight soldiers killed in a firefight in Baghdad last year.

Cindy Sheehan sits in a beach chair outside the Crawford ranch, hoping and waiting for a meeting with President Bush. She wants to ask him one question: Why did she lose her son to a war that is becoming more senseless every day.

"I want to ask the president, why did he kill my son?" Sheehan says. "He said my son died in a noble cause, and I want to ask him what that noble cause is."

Sheehan has become an icon among antiwar activists - and a target of right-wing pundits who have little shame in twisting her words.

Conservative blogger Matt Drudge took the first stab and tried to make Sheehan look like a flip-flopper by contrasting her current critical words about Bush with earlier statements she made to her hometown newspaper. Sheehan, along with other families who lost loved ones in Iraq, met with Bush last year and told The Reporter, the local paper in Vacaville, Calif., that she now knows that Bush is "sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis."

Left out of the Sludge - oops, sorry - Drudge Report were the families' concerns about the war, which were also part of the story in The Reporter.

The controversy generated so much attention, The Reporter's editor this week wrote a column to correct Drudge's - and the right-wing media's - cynical spin of the story.

"We don't think there has been a dramatic turnaround," said Diane Barney. "Clearly, Cindy Sheehan's outrage was festering even then."

We're not surprised by the smear tactics of the right in the case of Cindy Sheehan. Critics of this administration - from Richard Clarke to Joe Wilson - know the White House crowd are bullies and moral cowards and would attack a grieving mother if it suited their purpose.

But how are they going to smear the American Public, which polls show is increasingly siding with Cindy Sheehan?

lawmummy · #3 (**permalink**) 08-15-2005, 12:55 PM

I blogged about this on my lawmummy blog awhile ago and I received two really insulting comments from a far right bulletin board who (in addition to spamming my site with their propaganda and links), I am assuming from the comments was doing a Google and just making posts without reading them.

Oladybug · #4 (**permalink**) 08-15-2005, 01:37 PM

Cindy Sheehan has asked supporters to start candlelight vigils in our communities to remind people of the terrible price of war. Below is information about a vigil planned in Philadelphia.

-----------------------------------

Wednesday, 17 Aug, 07:30

Remembering the Cost of War

12th and Pine Streets
21 registered participant(s) (30 maximum)
Philadelphia PA 19147

Hosted by Christina Cantrill

Description: I am hosting this vigil to support Cindy Sheenan and other mothers, both American and Iraqi, in remembering the human cost of this war. We can gather at 12th and Waverly Street (between Pine and Lombard) before the event and then move out onto 12th and Pine Streets when the vigil begins.

--------------------

For more info., go to: http://political.moveon.org/event/ci...3sR7v1XbSQ&t=3

MzzSpellCheck · #5 (**permalink**) 08-15-2005, 11:04 PM

From the American Friends Service Committee (Quaker Values in Action) website: "How You Can Help Cindy Sheehan":

http://www.afsc.org/iraq/us/cindy-sheehan.htm

junebug · #6 (**permalink**) 08-16-2005, 07:25 AM

In addition to the 12th and Pine location, there are other places in town that are also holding this vigil. The link that Oladybug posted is informative and tells where the other vigils are bing held. Here is some of the information:

Events in your area:

17 Aug 07:30
Remembering the Cost of War
12th and Pine Streets
51 registered participant(s) (50 maximum) Event is full
Philadelphia PA
19147
Hosted by Christina Cantrill
Description I am hosting this vigil to support Cindy Sheenan and other mothers, both American and Iraqi, in remembering the human cost of this war. We will gather at 12th and Pine Streets. ... Since this is "full" now you can still come but bring your own candle ... or head over to Washington Square Park, only 6 blocks east of here.

Liberty Lands, 3rd and Poplar
6 registered participant(s) (200 maximum)
Philadelphia PA
19123
Hosted by Elizabeth Kolsky

Washington Square Park
53 registered participant(s) (10000 maximum)
Philadelphia PA
19146
Hosted by Doug Layne

First United Methodist Church of Germantown
87 registered participant(s) (500 maximum)
Philadelphia PA
19144
Hosted by Susan Windle, Beth Stroud

Germantown and Bethlehem Pike
9 registered participant(s) (100 maximum)
Philadelphia PA
19118
Hosted by Jon Landau
Description Candlelight vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan

SurfDog · #7 (**permalink**) 08-16-2005, 11:25 AM

I read today that her husband filed for divorce yesterday.

Oladybug · #8 (**permalink**) 08-16-2005, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgandersen

I read today that her husband filed for divorce yesterday.

More fodder for the right-wing slime machine; just watch.

Scoop0901 · #9 (**permalink**) 08-16-2005, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgandersen

I read today that her husband filed for divorce yesterday.

Yeah, but it wasn't like they were on good terms when she went to Texas, according to one story I read. They have been separated since word of her son's death came. The couple, who were high school sweethearts, said it was due to the stress of his death. Don't most people bond even more in times of crisis?

junebug · #10 (**permalink**) 08-16-2005, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoop0901

Don't most people bond even more in times of crisis?

Either that or it divides them even more.