Homeland

Congressman Dennis Kucinich held a new conference today in Cleveland explaining pulling out of the Presidential election. In short, Kucinich explained that the reason he ran for the nations highest office was to fix the problems that Washington created but was his chances were hindered by the media who shut him out of numerous debates. He said:
"I deeply and sincerely believe that we fought the good fight -- in large part because of the support from all of you here and from hundreds of thousands of people just like you all across this country. I stood strong because you gave me strength. I spoke out because your voices needed and deserved to be heard. And I told the truth, no matter how unpopular or inconvenient, because, no matter how long it takes, the truth really will set us free."
The Kucinich campaign will keep up a website called www.integritynow.org which will focus on the issues that he brought to the table his bid to become President.
Here is a video of the press conference he gave today:


Kucinich also posted a plea for funds to his Congressional campaign. He said that corporate interests found a challenger who "has a for sale sign on his back." The person he was referring to is undoubtedly Joe Cimperman who has began airing negative attack advertisements that are running non-stop on local media outlets. Here is his message that he posted on YouTube:

Greg Brown @ Falcon Ridge 2003

I want my country back
and a good dream to stand up for.
Got my hand over my heart,
but I don't feel at home here anymore

Big, big flag above the big, big mall,
and the shake rattle and roll to the core.
Things sprawl after they fall,
and I don't feel at home here anymore

Homeland of Sojourner Truth
and Chief Joseph before,
Many quiet words of wisdom drowned out by TV
and I don't feel at home here anymore.

Blind engineer, war train on the track,
many many a heart is sore.
We want our country back;
we want to feel at home here once more.

I want my country back.

Amy Martin

Home Uninjured

Martin Luther King, Jr. on War

Martin Luther King, "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"

This speech was released by Black Forum records, a subsidiary of Motown, and went on to win a Grammy in 1970 for the Best Spoken Word Recording.

Excerpts of a Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967.

Text of entire speech: http://husseini.org/2007/01/martin-luther-king-jr-why-i-am.html

Real Audio file of entire speech:http://www.africanbynature.com/Resources_2/mlk_vietnam-1967-speech.ram

Sister Rosetta Tharpe singing "Down by the Riverside"

PTSD

Talking Post-Trauma Blues (PTSD)



Tom Smith, vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and other instruments.

http://tomsmithmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/tomsmithfolksinger

PTSD and Veterans: Beyond the Yellow Ribbons
This video explains the "natural reactions to unnatural events" that cause PTSD. Made for combat veterans, their family and friends and community leaders.

Happy New Year

Hey all,
Just writing to wish everyone a happy new year. It's 10 AM on New Years Even here in sunny chilly Iraq and the mood is anything but festive. But I know that all of you are probably celebrating in one way or another so I figured I'd make somewhat of an attempt to live vicariously through your celebrations.

But definately enjoy yourselves, if you're in or around my immediate family, enjoy the pickles, artichoke hearts and onion dip, and have fun ringing in the new year!

I, for one, will not allow myself to not enjoy it. It's a whole new beginning!

Lucas

Bells

Christmas in Iraq

Merry Holidays!


I just wanted to wish everybody a merry christmas. We're having a grand ol' time here in sunny Iraq. We're here watching Elf, eating candy canes and christmas cookies, and drinking cocoa. Santa just came by and we have an abundance of candies and snacks around here. The mood is overall slightly joyous though most of us have spent 4 out of the last 5 christmas's deployed so their spirit is low.

But we're definately making the best of the situation. Yesterday we had a dove hunt and we got maybe 40 birds. We've been playing christmas music, wearing santa hats and eating joyously. For dinner yesterday we had stuffed pork chops and bacon wrapped dove. Though I didn't partake in the bacon wrapped dove for obvious reasons, the pork was excellent and we got to watch Jingle All The Way during our meal. We topped of the evening by bringing hot cocoa to the guard positions around the base, where some soldiers were standing there freezing their cojones off.

Now, with most regular activities on hold for the holidays, my main duties are to ensure plenty of cocoa and coffee is available, and shuttle in helicopters carrying VIPs who want to wish us happy holidays.

I even have my own christmas tree set up in my room surrounded by presents. It's christmas, I think I shall open them.

Take care all and enjoy the holidays.

Lucas

And yes, I've introduced my comraderie to Dominic the Donkey.

And it shall come to pass
the mountain of the LORD's house
shall be established in the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow unto it.
And many people shall go and say,
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths:
for out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And he shall judge among the nations,
and shall rebuke many people:
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob, come ye,
and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach Children's Choir

Joan Baez & Steve Earle - Christmas In Washington

... live at the 2004 folk awards.

Christmas In Fallujah - The Original Recording

Another song entitled “Christmas In Fallujah,"

recorded by Jefferson Pepper in 2005.

Jefferson Pepper is a songwriter who

"writes and sings Country music for people who hate Country music…”

“In 2005, Jefferson Pepper took out a second mortgage on the modest, wood-sided home he built in the hills of rural south-central Pennsylvania in order to finance the recording of his debut release, 'Christmas in Fallujah'. His inspiration was David Maples, a 21-year-old neighbor kid, a kid Jefferson and his wife had watched grow up; a kid who went along on family vacations; a kid who caught lightning bugs and frogs and played games in the backyard on warm summer nights. David was a dimpled dreamer with aspirations of becoming a doctor. With no money for college or medical school, David joined the Army to train as a medic. David was shipped off to Iraq…”
From: http://www.americanfallout.com/jefferson_pepper.html

"Christmas In Fallujah"

This is the clip (after an advertisement of course) I heard on TV this morning that inspired me to write down a few lines of what might be a song. I was troubled when the celebrity reporter said:

“It’s …controversial… because it’s Anti-War. Do you worry at all about the message you’re sending to the troops?”
You can see it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3635112n&channel=/sections/earlyshow/videoplayer500202.shtml
When they cut to a commercial, I wrote this down:

“While burning homemade Christmas Cookies
and homemade Christmas CDs
Heard the woman talking
In the other room on my TV.

She asked the young singer
If he was afraid
About his anti-war message that
The troops would take the “wrong way.”

(I guess she meant)

A lack of support
In a time of war
That same old accusation
I’ve heard a million times before

Christmas in Fallujah
I don’t know the song
But hasn’t “Peace on Earth” been
The Christmas message all along?”

I was busy in the kitchen, almost late for work, listening for the song.
I almost heard him play it, and I’m not quite sure I heard it all, but I could be wrong.
I think they cut off the end of the song, went to a commercial break….

So I searched a little this afternoon and found out it’s a Billy Joel song…

Billy Joel introduces Cass Dillon before their first live performance of "Christmas In Fallujah" in Chicago:




"Christmas In Fallujah"
Billy Joel & Cass Dillon

It's evening in the desert
I'm tired and I'm cold
But I am just a soldier
I do what I am told

We came with the crusaders
To save the Holy Land
It's Christmas in Fallujah
And no one gives a damn

And I just got your letter
And this what I read
You said I'm fading from your memory
So I'm just as good as dead
We are the Armies of the Empire
We are the Legionnaries of Rome
It's Christmas in Fallujah
And we ain't never coming home
We came to bring these people Freedom
We came to fight the Infidel
There is no justice in the desrt
Because there is no God in Hell

They say Osama's in the Mountains
Deep in a cave near Pakistan
But there's a sea of blood in Baghdad
A sea of oil in the sand
Between the Tigris and Euphrates
Another day comes to an end
It's Christmas In Fallujah
Peace on Earth
Goodwill to Men...

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

I often recieve emails from Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Christian Palestinian Peace activist I first met at a Students for a Culture of Peace event at Naugatuck Valley Community College.
He used to live 4 or 5 miles from the little town of Bethlehem - near Jerusalem.
I live 4 or 5 miles from the little town of Bethlehem - Connecticut.


He sent me this last year, around this time:

"Christmas Reflections/Greeting 2006"

http://www.qumsiyeh.org/christmas2006/

by Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

"Born in Shepherd's Field near Bethlehem to a Lutheran mother and a Greek Orthodox father, I grew up feeling lucky because we celebrated two Christmases. The Christmas season was a time of family gatherings around kerosene heaters where our fingers were cold but our hearts were warm and stomachs full...



...Since 2002, Bethlehemites have faced the enormous human costs of a massive, concrete segregation wall. During my visit last July, I noticed that the route of the wall zigzagged around Bethlehem, placing fertile Palestinian agricultural lands on the "Israeli side" of the wall. The wall went straight through centuries-old villages - separating Palestinian families from each other and from their jobs, hospitals, schools, churches and mosques..."

Cheney

"The charges are too serious to ignore. There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unnecessary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings..."

See also:
http://impeachforpeace.org/index.php

President Bush Pleads for a Chance to Atone:

Up the Road

“Almost 4,000 U.S. Troops have died in the war in Iraq, and for what "noble" cause? Honor our fallen and demand answers and a safe return for the remaining U.S. Troops in Iraq. The holidays may be the toughest time of year for our troops on the front lines and the families and kids they've left behind.

Please consider making a donation to the USO to help get a care package to a G.I. in Iraq this Christmas.”https://www.uso.org/donate/custom.aspx?i d=571-- Ava Lowery

Ava Lowery is the teenage peace activist from Alabama behind the website, PeaceTakesCourage.com, and has received an amazing amount of attention. Ava's animations show the multidimensional tragedy of the Iraq war- losses of brave young soldiers to American families, and loss of innocent civilians in Iraq. Poignant and raw, Ava's youth and sincerity has attracted support from a broad base of both soldiers and activists.

http://www.peacetakescourage.com/

LUC

What I actually said (over the phone, to the LCT reporter) was something like "My best and most selfish reason (for standing for Peace on the green etc.) is that I have three nephews in the military and one of them, my nephew Lucas, is in Iraq right now. I especially want him home with his family."

In Bethlehem, Calling For Peace

By: Daniela Forte
12/13/2007

"BETHLEHEM-They have stood quietly on the Bethlehem Green every Sunday since 2002. Some have held signs, while others allow their very beings to represent a protest against the war in Iraq and violence in general. If the Bethlehem Peace Watch has spread an underlying message over the course of five years and some 260 Sundays, it might be that wars come and go but peace should be forever.


"We are witness to the possibility that something can be accomplished without violence and with communication, and periodically share information about subjects that are directly related to this conflict and the whole idea of peace and justice," said member Maureen McDermott. According to Ms. McDermott, the group has about 11 core members and four to five of them are present every Sunday. During special events, particularly around the holidays, the group has had 40 people show up and bear witness to the horrors of war and possibilities of peace. "For myself, I have no objection standing solo, but it certainly does become more encouraging and more motivational when there are others that are joined with the same general purpose," said Ms. McDermott.
The group's founder, Al Avitabile, said that since the beginning of time humans have sought to resolve conflict by engaging in warfare. In the 21st century, he believes that all religious and educational institutions should be working to move nations away from resolving conflict by engaging in warfare."It seems inevitable, either by accident or by design, [that war] is going to end this planet as we know it ... ," said Mr. Avitabile. "We should never have gone [into Iraq] and it's like old history. It was sold on false premises; there were no weapons of mass destruction."Mr. Avitabile has been a resident of Bethlehem for 42 years and was raised in Waterbury. This is not his first protest. During the Vietnam War, he was an activist. A retired University of Connecticut biologist, Mr. Avitable has for 17 years owned Columbine Gardens greenhouse in Bethlehem.

According to Bethlehem Peace Watch member Tim MacSweeney of Woodbury, his reasons for being a part of the group were simple-he wanted to exercise his right to stand up and say he opposed the war, and to underscore the argument that it is not a solution to any of the country's problems. "My best and most selfish reason is (that) my nephew (Lucas) is in Iraq right now. I want him home and I want him with his family," said Mr. MacSweeney. "I take comfort [in being] with people who feel the same way who aren't afraid to voice their opinion."

"To fight terror you need plenty of intelligence, which involves money, but you do not need mass killings to win the war on terror," said peace watch member Eva Gierat. Ms. Gierat is a Polish immigrant who came to the United States in 1951. She is an active member of the Friends of the Bethlehem Library and the senior citizens group. She has contributed to charities such as Amnesty International, a world-wide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. She has also been active in Covenant House International, which provides shelters and other services for homeless and runaway children.

The peace group has recently begun a blog through which people may communicate their thoughts on the war and on violence in general. The site also consists of various links to different charities and organizations and has been up and running for just a week. The online address is www.bethlehempeacewatch.blogspot.com. Beginning in January, the group will meet the first Sunday of every month instead of every Sunday."

©Litchfield County Times 2007

Peace on Earth

“Peace on Earth is a 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon short subject directed by Hugh Harman, about a post-apocalyptic world populated by animals...”

Bruce Springsteen "Bring Them Home" - San Francisco 2006

"If you love this land of the free

Bring 'em home, bring 'em home

Bring them back from overseas

Bring 'em home, bring 'em home..."

Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam) – by Pete Seeger
Live performance in 1969: