Sunday, January 21, 2007

Wake Up America!!!



This is a picture taken in September, 2005 at a huge anti-Iraq march in Washington, DC.
We made sure we bought the appropriate t-shirts before marching. You will notice that my husband, Sujoy is wearing a t-shirt that says; "Bush Lied, People Died."

I just came across an ad that states that a similar t-shirt is now BANNED in two states:

"Bush Lied They Died T-Shirt
Says "Bush Lied" on the front and "They Died" on the back. With names of all 2,803 U.S. troops killed in Iraq through 0ct. 23, 2006. List of names is preceded by larger text that reads "U.S. Troops Who Died in Iraq from March 20 2003 Through October 23, 2006."

Selling this shirt is illegal in two states and may soon be illegal nationwide. With your support, we will continue to sell this shirt in all 50 states until the troops come home or they throw us in jail, whichever comes first. "


Enough is enough. How the hell can we "export" democracy when we are CENSORING what may be printed on t-shirts? Free speech? Ha!

It's not funny. It is FREAKING ME OUT.

I saw Cindy Sheehan the day we marched. I said hello...I wasn't sure if it was her or not actually, but now looking at pictures of her again, I realized it was her. She was so sad. She was the reason why I marched. I admire a woman with such courage. Being a mother, I understand her pain and heartache. I could NEVER imagine losing my child...for NO GOOD REASON.

I received this bulletin from her MySpace site today. For those of you who are opposed to the war and the loss of many of our Constitutional freedoms, I think it is imperative that you let your voice be heard...while it's still legal!! If you don't want to read the entire message, scroll down to the bottom of it to see how you can help stop this senseless war.

The Price of Freedom
24
Cindy Sheehan



I received this message on my MySpace page. The person’s picture that accompanied the message was of a young man standing next to a bright-shiny red truck. Obviously, he hasn’t taken advantage of his GI education benefits to avail himself of an English Comp class, but that is beside the point.


"Becoming a disabled vet during a time of "peace", I saw things, did things that you average Americans could not fathom. All for the sake of our freedoms.Who cries for my shipmates lost at sea? It was peacetime so no attention was called to it. Who stands out when a pilot goes down on a trianing mission? Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, die every day. EVERY DAY! it's the life we lead. It's a dangerous job, and I did it for the love of my country. The greatest freedom YOU have is not having to worry about weather or not our military will defend you. It is thier(our) duty. It is not a choice.We accepted that when we signed up. No one forced us.And we did not get to pick or chose whom we would defend. I lost friends and loved ones both in peace and in war and thier sacrifice is greater than your lose. But to you, it appears, we should sit on our hands and let madmen destroy the world. So Sorry, I have seen it first hand, this cruelity called terrorism.

Another Jane Fonda.Good Grief.

All that is necessary for the truimph of evil is for good men to do nothing!

Have a Nice day. God bless our troops and America!!"


When I receive a message like this, I have to pay attention to it. This young man has lost friends in what he calls “peace” time. He has served his country unlike the Commander in Chief and the Vice Commander in Chief. He took his oath and service seriously, but I had and have a fundamental question for him---what freedoms did Casey pay the ultimate price for? What freedoms did my family gain from Casey’s death and what price did we have to pay?

I had to carefully explain to the young vet that BushCo can now read our emails, listen to our phone calls, open our mail, look at our phone and bank records and imprison us without our fundamental rights of habeas corpus. The people of Iraq don’t even have the freedom of going to school, mosque or the market without the potentiality of being blown to tiny pieces. They did go out and “vote” in a day that they were finally protected by the US military for candidates that didn’t even get to campaign for fear of assassination.

I would like to tell this young vet and the millions of Americans who disapprove of Bloody George and his war OF terror who don’t do anything but complain what this raping of our freedoms cost my family and 3046 other families to date here in America.

There were 24 of our troops killed in the 3rd bloodiest day for American soldiers since the sinister invasion almost four years ago. Their families don’t even know (but I know the moms suspect) that their loved one has been killed on foreign sands so our land of the free can become the land of the less free. These 24 families are going to discover what the term “hell on earth” really means.

On the 2nd day after Casey was killed, Sgt. Major “I don’t know, but I will find out and get back with you” Mills came over to our house and nervously opened his Casualty Manual. As with the Sheehan family, Casey was the Sgt. Major’s first casualty. As Casey’s first of kin, I had to sign paper work designating a funeral home and about the funeral and other things I signed in a fog of immeasurable pain and shock. I am not sure what I signed and I don’t think the signatures would hold up in a court of law. Before he gratefully got to escape our house of sorrow, he handed me a check for $12,000 (that has since been increased to $100,000) for incidentals and informed me that I was the beneficiary for Casey’s life insurance.

The $12,000 went quickly for funeral costs. The surviving men in my family needed suits and the sisters needed appropriate funeral dresses. I had no “mother of a hero” funeral clothes. The Army only pays $4600.00 for funerals and a pittance for headstones if you don’t want to use their rigid style. The dozens of people who filled our tiny home every day needed to be fed and supplied with a seemingly bottomless well of alcohol. Our friends and neighbors in Vacaville were very generous, but all of the money we received went to a Catholic summer camp where Casey worked for a few summers. These are just monetary costs of freedom and don’t even approach the emotional and physical costs of freedom that these 24 new families are going to be forced to experience by this insanely greedy administration over the very weak protestations of a complicit Congress.

The sleepless nights; the gallons of tears; the regrets; the guilt; the physical and mental effects of depression; the different ways that each family member grieves; the anger; the unrelenting and unremitting pain; the trips to a cemetery that becomes too familiar---where new graves or headstones are noticed; the dreams; the nightmares; the abandonment of the military and the country that your son died for; the loss of appetite, the gain of appetite; the loss of hope---etc. etc---forever and ever.

Bloody George is sending more of our children to die and kill innocent Iraqis. My one consolation in Casey’s death is that it was swift---in his first battle after only being in country for 5 days. He said that he couldn’t kill anyone and I, gratefully, don’t think he did. What really chaps my hide is that Congress won’t do anything meaningful to stop Bloody George, for example, cut off the money pipeline where the money flows directly from China to the Pentagon. Except for less than a handful of members, no one in Congress, or this administration has had to get one gray hair from worry. None of them will ever sob over their child’s grave or have to stay at a Fisher House while their family member is recovering from the grievous wounds of an IED blast. Not one of the people who send our children off to war will ever lose their jobs or marriages because of their own crimes.

I told my young veteran correspondent that even if we believed that our troops dying in Iraq was securing our freedoms or making us safer, that the price was still too high. Why are mostly white American’s freedoms often bought and paid for by the blood of brown people? From the almost virtual extinction of our own native population, enslavement of Africans, mass murder of Filipinos, war crimes against Japanese in Nagasaki and Hiroshima , Koreans, Vietnamese, and now Iraqis and Afghanis, these peoples have paid and are paying an exorbitant price for our freedoms. If one person has to die to make me free, then I don’t want that freedom. It is a freedom that is purchased by bondage and carnage which is inherently compromised and soiled.

The one thing that I heartily agree with that my vet friend wrote is:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!



In the age of American Idol and Fox News, evidently evil is triumphing. It is time for the ¾’s of our nation who oppose what’s going on to get off of their couches and stop allowing a handful of grieving parents, ballsy women in pink, courageous military families, Raging Grannies, and a bus load of Iraq vets to do the heavy lifting for the peace movement.

We families and vets are already shouldering a heavy burden.

Help us stop Bloody George.

Because of the apathetic inaction of the majority masses, 24 new families will discover the heavy toll of freedom.

Go to United for Peace and Justice and find out how you can join hundreds of thousands---hopefully millions---of Americans around the country the weekend of January 27-29 to say no to the Bush regime and war---yes to impeachement and peace!




Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04.
She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and the Camp Casey Peace Institute.
She is the author of three books, the most recent is: Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache
to Activism.

19 comments:

Suesjoy said...

I am not a socialist..but I do play one on tv!
:)

Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...

GOOD for you! I just read that 24 troops were killed today in Iraq and can't believe they want to send in more. Thanks for fighting the good fight with your beautiful family!

pictures of lily said...

I second Super Amanda!!
That's right 24 troops, 24 families crushed, devastated. It deeply saddens me too. Good for you Ms. Sue and your fam.
xoxo

Suesjoy said...

Yeah Amanda - I added the Cindy Sheehan part after you commented.
Thank you too Lucy...
xoxox

Amanda and SuperAmanda™ said...

For all of us and our first ladies! ;)


http://superamanda.blogspot.com/2007/01/madtv-condoleezza-rice-comes-to-harlem.html

Anonymous said...

illegal to buy the "bush lied" shirt?

::face palm::

In other news 2+2=5

Big brother is watching you.

Your weeping friend,
L

lryicsgrl said...

Sue,
I am proud of you, for supporting what you believe in!! No lying in on the couch for you!!! We can't just pray for PEACE, can we???

"We can chaaange the world, rearaaange the world, it's dying.... to get better".

xo

Sue

Anne-Marie said...

Hi Sue,
I hope your fellow Americans do wake up and start raging. It is actually frightening to realise the civil rights that had been lost under the Patriot Act, not to mention the fear and disinformation that has been spread across your country. I don't think many Americans realise how hoodwinked they are by their daily news; they'd have to watch foreign broadcasts to see the difference, which is apparent to me as soon as I cross the border and catch CNN or anything else in the hotels. There is little criticism, or analysis of substance. No wonder people don't know enough to react.

My husband is American, which you may not know, but he sadly laments that the America that he grew up living in and believing in no longer exists. Sad indeed.

Keep up the good fight.

Bex said...

Hi Sue
Thanks for popping by and saying hello - and sorry I have been lame in blogland!
Posting again now and trying to be better xx
Very interesting post - and well done you for speaking out.
In fact just think - if we ALL spoke out we actually could make a difference ...........but sadly we don't.

I really hope and pray that all those serving are home with their families soon xxxx

Love Bex

grace said...

Hi Sue, great post, so awesome to stand up for what you believe in. I am there with you on all your thoughts. It is time to wake up! I was in the military, fortunately not in a time of war, and although our troops are there doing what they are told, they have to believe in what they are doing, and they need our support here at home knowing we are there for them. And hoping for their return home, now. You are a good soul.

Marietta Zervou said...

Hi Sue,

It's the neverending story of people getting killed for no reason, or for big boys'financial interests.
It started in antiquity and sadly it will go on as long as there is dirty money around.
I am so proud of you for speaking out!
It should be an example for all of us...

Hope you're well,
xoxoxo
M

Metalchick said...

Way to Go Sue!
I missed the anti-war march that was on the 27th.
Where can I get that shirt, I hope it's not illegal here in California!

Bush pisses me off! It's bad enough that we have lost many of our troops, along with the Iraqi civilians, and now Bush wants to send in more troops!? How many more lives do we have to lose until Bush decides to pull the troops out?

Dan L. said...

The conditons in Iraq are sadly needing remedy, and I am not believing that the occupation has been conducted well at all.

I know that there are many that focus their hatred and/or anger at Bush, and that is their right to do so. I do, however, believe that the problems are so much deeper than to lay so much soley on Bush. Yes, he has made personal errors. Yes, there is a mess. But it is so much deeper than "just" George Bush. It is NOT just one political party, or yet another. I voted for him, and I stand by that, given my convictions on many other subjects as well.

My nephew has recently completed boot camp, and with the USMC, he likely heads into harms way. He believe in what he is doing, and always has faith in God. We have also had many, many other military in our family...sadly, not all have survived, or even survived it well. There is an alarming amount of hatred swelling in the US, and indeed the world today, and should not all be directed at George Bush...if one does not like him. I would like to use this space, if I may, to encourage folks to always speak their mind, and remember that in the thick of so much pain and disconcerting things in our world, there really really is always hope. Always. God is bigger than us all.

I always have visited your blog with an expected sense of refreshment and joy, and I do not believe that will ever change. I just want to be sure folks understand that the "big picture" is still among us, and it is more than all about whoever is president in the US these days.

Thank you, and thanks for allowing my free speech as well.

Peace,

--Dan L.

Suesjoy said...

Thanks to everyone for your comments.
I sent replied to all of you on your bloggies!

Dan:
I don't hate anyone- including George Bush.
I mostly blame Cheney actually.
But I have to disagree with you.
George refuses to listen to ANYONE who disagrees with him- including many many Republicans.
In fact, the higher ups - Republican military leaders -who disagreed with him - were fired by him.
If that isn't facism, please correct me.
Were there WMD found?
NO.
Was that the rationale for going to Iraq?
Yes?
Is that lying?
Yes.
A President who lies and misleads the country, leading to thousands upon thousands of unecessary deaths of both Americans AND Iraqis should be held accountable.
Both Bush and Cheney should be impeached, but the Dems are too gutless.
Oh but it was fine to nearly impeach Clinton for LYING about you know what.
This country is going to the dogs.
It is so surreal.
Sorry , not feeling very joyful.
I honestly cannot understand how people can just stand on the sidelines while being robbed of basic freedoms like freedom of speech.
It's not just sad - it is entirely unacceptable.
Tell me, do you HONESTLY beleive we are in Iraq to "enourage" democracy?
Aren't we a bit hypocritcal then?

I spoke to soldiers, I watch the news. Sorry - I LISTEN to the news on NPR.
There is a backlash that is NOT being covered.
Many soldiers as well as military soldiers are DISGUSTED and DISMAYED.

They DO NOT know why we are in Iraq.
Why are we in Iraq Dan?
Please tell me.
Why?
Sadam Hussein had NOTHING to do w/9/11!! Nothing.

We are becoming isloationists. We have squandered our goodwill.
I refuse to view the world through a "rah rah rah we're #1" lens.
Bob Marley said it best:
"One world, one heart. Let's get together and feel alright."

I pray for our soldiers EVERY day.
I want them to come home as soon as possible - in one piece.
It's funny how we never see body bags and/or the wounded on the news isn't it?
That's because this administration will not allow those images to be seen.
Again...where is the freedom of the Press??

If we were attacked, as in the case of Pearl Harbor, then FINE. Ok. Defend our country, of course.
But this mess - no. It was a huge mistake...and yes you are correct in that we cannot only blame Bush, as many Dems voted for the war.
But they were misled.

Don't worry Dan- I promise to post something happy next ok?

Peace and love,
Suexx

Suesjoy said...

I meant to write "soldiers and military FAMILIES are disgusted and dismayed."

Delbut said...

Actually, i blame Bex

Anne-Marie said...

Sue, you write so eloquently and passionately in your comment follow-up. I think, in part, people have not realised exactly how many civil rights they have lost because it does not affect them. It is sometimes onlhy when you are directly affected that you come to your senses, and as this war has continued, the circle of people affected has grown. SO have the rumblings.
I remember being horrified at the number of people who thought, just before the war began, that Saddam had been responsible for 9/11, when any quick check of the facts would have told you that the perpetrators were mostly Saudis. And yet, if you say something often enough, you can convince people of the big lie.

Shameful that your political leadership has caused all these deaths, and if more than 3000 American soldiers is not horrible enough, think of the tens of thousands of ordinary Iraqis who have died as well.

On a lighter note, dear Sue, I will be in the Bay Are for the spring break. I think you are far south of that, right? (the picture was taken at Half Moon Bay just south of SF).

Take care,
AM

Lannio said...

What a wonderful post, of which I totally agree. Being Canadian, I look at things on your side of the border and see a wider and wider divide everyday between the population and shake my head in disappointment. Such a pity and such a waste. I am one-quarter american and attended a family reunion in Illinois this past summer and even saw the divide within my family - mores the pity. Keep up with your voices ... I for one support you.