Peace Train rally kicks-off without presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich

Saturday, Dec. 22
Get onboard the Peace Train for Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich!
$175 for the full trip Dec. 22 & 23.
Click here to get your ticket NOW!
http://tinyurl.com/2bqhy4

7:30 AM Peace Train Send-off Celebration
Jack London Square (Oakland)
70 Washington St # 207, Oakland, CA 94607

8:50 AM Peace Train Departs Jack London Square
Greet the Peace train with your Kucinich signs
at any of these stops (this train often runs late):

9:55 AM San Jose

11:48 AM Salinas

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December 22, 2007

Being part of the solution: GOOD Congresspeople need support.
Please send Kucinich a card of support.
by Kathryn Smith
OPEdNews.com

There is a noticeable gap in postings here the last few days. That is, concerns for Dennis Kucinich after the death of his brother. I will be honest in saying that I find the gap disturbing. It seems pretty heartless to me.

Kucinich must need our support in order to carry on during a time like this. I can’t imagine how difficult (to say the least) it must be to carry on with a Congress as obstructionist as this current one is. Couple that with the death of his brother, the media black-out and the result is devastation. Kucinich surely needs to hear from the public, especially right now.

While we sit and complain bitterly about our Congress, the moves toward fascism, and all the things of which the people on this website are so aware----and I truly appreciate everyone here for it----I would like to suggest that in order to practice the solution to our problems, it would be very important to offer encouragement to the few good Congresspeople we have.

Dennis Kucinich is one of those men. Now don’t chime in: Anyone who says “Kucinich will not win” is being fed that phrase because someone higher up doesn’t WANT him to win. They are scared of him. He is ethical, has backbone such as we all have been begging for in public office, is smarter than heck and really good. Here a bit of background:

Even the cautiously image-conscious ACLU posted to its website that during the time Bush bullied Congress into voting for the unconstitutional Patriot Act, anthrax was circulating around Congress at that very moment. Just weeks after the attacks of 9-11, a frightened Congress was confronted by Bush with a bill more than 320 pages thick (I’ve googled the bill and taken a look myself), which he gave them only two days to study. (The second time around, he gave them two hours). He told them, according to the ACLU, that if they did not pass the Patriot Act blind, he would publicly characterize them as “Soft on terror”.

No wonder so many of them caved. Not only the threat to their careers were at stake, but anthrax going around at that very moment is no joke to deal with . Hmmmm….could this explain some of the reason why our Congress is so passive and permissive?

Kucinich was not one of those “Lame” people. He read the text of the 320+ page bill in 48 hours, and posted a note to his website: “I took an oath to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution. I will vote no”.

Now if that isn’t the spine we all have been begging to see in public office, what is?

Kucinich also got medical care for the army vets while Congress (and Bush specifically) was neglecting them. As mayor of Cleveland (in his 20s) he brought the city from a deficit budget to a surplus: A major feat for any politician at any age, let alone a young rookie in his 20s. Kucinich has voted against funding the Iraq War every time, has proposed the creation of a department of peace, is environmentally concerned and also is especially vocal about our civil liberties. On the campaign trail, he has stated that our rights to due process of law as civilians are at risk under this current Administration, which is part of the reason why he is pushing impeachment through. “You give me your vote, I will give you your country back” says Kucinich. He is one of those few men who stands for his word. He is not all talk: He walks the talk with his voting record.

Please help to protect, uphold and defend our Constitution: Keep our good Congresspeople in office by offering them hope. Please write Kucinich a postcard with words of thanks and encouragement, telling him never to give up, that we are on his side and to please “Hang in”. He is one of those brave politicians who is inclined to be the lone voice even if it’s only for the sake of doing the right thing (witness: Impeachment of Cheney and more recently, impeachment of Bush). Please send him a sympathy card to let him know he is thought of.

The timing of Dennis’s brother’s death with the articles of impeachment against Bush being in preparation, and the bill to impeach Cheney already on the House Judiciary Committee floor, has me very concerned. I don’t want to sound like I am pointing fingers necessarily, and I will say right off the bat that it’s entirely possible that Kucinich’s brother died of legitimately natural causes.

At the same time, I want to suggest that it’s absolutely important that we keep our eyes (and minds) open to “Foul play,“ even if the coroner says otherwise.

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It is amazing that anyone promotes any Democrat on this website as this website is clearly dedicated to peace and social justice, both antithetical to the twin parties of capitalism, the Democrats and Republicans. Dennis Kucinich had an anti-abortion record before he ran for president the first time, when he suddenly became pro-choice. His role then and now is to funnel the peace movement to the dead-end Democratic Party, telling his supporters to vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is in November. This is the purpose of all of the Democratic Party candidates, and they are all working as a team to make sure all their supporters vote for the Democratic Party candidate on the November ballot. The Democratic Party is a capitalist party, paid for by the same corporations as the Republican Party, to carry out the same capitalist, pro-war agenda. The Democratic Party's role is funnel the workingclass movements into the dead-end Democratic Party to vote for its pro-war, pro-death penalty, pro-Israel, anti-Mumia Abu-Jamal, anti-abortion agenda. They play the same game in every election, so everyone who claims to be for peace should have learned the con game long time ago. Before 1970, the Democrats were known as the Dixiecrats because the Southern segregationists were Democrats. It was just as insulting then as now to have the Democrats to claim to be a workingclass, progressive party. Israel, the US military base that exists to protect US oil profits in the Middle East, to the tune of $6 billion a year from the US taxpayers while we have poverty at home, is supported by the entire US Congress, including Dennis Kucinich.
Dennis Kucinich also voted against renaming a street in St. Denis, France after Mumia Abu-Jamal, effectively supporting Mumia's death penalty sentence. The voting record on House Resolution 527 of December 6, 2006
are at
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll527.xml
Also on that List of Shame are Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo, Barney Frank, Tom Lantos, Zoe Lofgren, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sanchez, Ellen Tauscher, ad nauseum, among the 151 Democrats, joining 216 Republicans, who voted for this reactionary, pro-death penalty resolution. And all 12 Democrats who simply did not vote may as well have voted Yes as they get paid to vote, not play games, and they clearly were playing an opportunistic game with this "Not Voting" insult.
If you want peace and social justice, you have to vote Red (Peace & Freedom in California) or Green. The Green Party will be on the ballot in 50 states plus Washington, D.C. Many states have a socialist party on the ballot.

Please don't mistake my posting this story as an endorsement of Dennis Kucinich for president. I fundamentally agree with you. I attended the rally for Kucinich because I admire him for his sincerity and integrity (misdirected as we believe it to be) and wanted to learn more. I wrote my story because I did not think many people are being informed about him and the people who support him.

As Peter Camejo was fond of saying, "Truth emerges from the conflict of ideas." We have a serious lack of debate in this country.

We also lack information. I was disturbed that none of the speakers at the event mentioned the name of the local politician who has vowed to keep "impeachment off the table"-- until someone in the audience loudly called out Nancy Pelosi's name after one speaker mentioned something about spineless Democrats. That voice was met by unanimous applause, and suddenly the speakers seemed able then to also mention her name.

I was sad that Cindy Sheehan had not attended the event-- but it is probably a good thing she hadn't. The event belonged to Dennis Kucinich-- the more so because of his family tragedy which kept him from attending.

Cindy needn't have usurped attention by stumping there for her own campaign, especially under the circumstances. I suspect that her absence due to illness was a graceful and classy excuse which shows that she is not what many foolish people accuse her of being-- an egotist craving attention. I would have been more pleased had some of the speakers mentioned her themselves, or described why her campaign is significant and helpful to the antiwar cause. I left the event wondering indeed whether or not some of the speakers could support her campaign or not.

Yesterday, Dec. 22, The San Francisco Chronicle published a a story by Carla Marinucci which briefly mentioned the event at the Unitarian Universalist church. Marinucci, known for mostly ignoring all but the biggest horse race candidates in every election, wrote (in a nod to objectivity):

But at least one other Democratic candidate is aiming a message at California voters this weekend.
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and his wife, Elizabeth, were to deliver it in person with a high-profile event in the Bay Area, but the couple had to cancel their appearances with the death of the candidate's brother this week, campaign insiders said.
Still, the Kucinich team planned to go ahead with what it describes as a major "peace rally" Friday at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Franklin Street in San Francisco.
The rally was to be headlined by well-known supporters of the campaign, including John Nichols, Washington correspondent for the Nation; Medea Benjamin from Code Pink; news anchor and talk show host Bree Walker; and peace activist Cindy Sheehan.

Amazingly, Marinucci obviously wrote this before the Kucinich event happened and her story was published after the event.

This may seem trivial-- but it is not. The Chronicle has shown a consistent pattern of misrepresenting or ignoring political candidates who ask simply to be a part of public debate (which now includes Kucinich).

It is also not trivial because the news that the Chronicle prints is lapped up by other media-- television and radio stations (especially KQED which is largely subsidized by listener donations) that do not have resources or energy (or integrity?) to investigate stories on their own. Further, search engines like Google regularly give precedence to stories like Marinucci's because such stories are published in a leading paper with a large distribution and a strong web presence. How many people who find Marinucci's article would know that the event had already happened, or even that Cindy Sheehan had not attended it?

To illustrate how news becomes slanted by ommission I did a little research today.

I have suspected that the San Francisco Chronicle purposefully ignores Cindy Sheehan's indpendent campaign. My conclusion from what I found strongly suggests that this is true.

Here is what I found; you decide.

Here is the result of a 90 day SFGate archive search for stories appearing in “Full Articles” about Cindy Sheehan (sorted by date):

1. Clinton-Obama battle heats up as Dems campaign for California primary Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/22/07 [my note: the event had taken place already.]
   
   
2. Enders - Still have time to spare?: Meet fellow singles at an art and wine-tasting party, help the needy, watch an Unsilent Night San Francisco Chronicle, 12/20/07 [my note: this is not a “Full Article, simply a public announcement of the event provided by calfornia4kucinich.com.]
   
   
3. [headline] SF Gate, 12/05/07 [My note: this is not a “Full Article” and appears to have only been published at SFGate, the Chronicle's web presence. Mike Hayden, a reader of Matier and Ross, was rewarded by being declared the winner of a caption contest.  He had compared Cindy Sheehan to Hugo Chavez in a particularly crude and juvenile way.]
   
   
4. SAN FRANCISCO - Rally pushes higher awareness of climate change Heidi Benson, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/03/07 [my note: a rare informative article from about seven weeks ago, and the Chronicle's last. The Chronicle did not cover Sheehan's Campaign Office opening which occurred on December 8.]
   
   
5. Thousands march against the war in S.F., across the country Jim Doyle, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/27/07 [my note: An informative article in which Sheehan is mentioned for attending the Oct. 27 Antiwar Coalition Rally. The Chronicle reports simply, however, that Sheehan: “asked people to vote for her instead of her opponent, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in 2008.” That certainly defines the issues between the two!]
   
   
6. Anti-war activists ramp up for protest on Saturday in San Francisco Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/25/07 [My note: a rare informative article.]
   
   
7. 1,000-plus war protesters in Berkeley spell out opposition to Bush Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/07/07 [My note: an informative article, but the author gives a curious impression that Sheehan gets tattoos when she is “energized”!]
   
   
8. Governor leaves a sky-high trail of pollution

Phillip Matier, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/07/07 [My note: In a terse squib, Columnists Matier and Ross drop a hint that Cindy Sheehan is largely absent from the Bay Area.  I won't drop any hints: the Chronicle is largely absent when it comes to giving us real news.]

Of the eight “articles” mentioning Sheehan in the last 90 days, I consider only four as informative-- and would hardly grade any an “A” for quality or content.

I think it is incumbent for activists to begin to report news themselves when the establishment media fails us.

I encourage “$” to participate in this endeavor, and thank her for her comment.

People of good will on the left can and do disagree on the whole Israel/Palestine ball of wax... or for that matter, whether or not to participate strategically in Democratic Party politics.

It is not not not a litmus test for correctitude.

Written by Kevin Zeese at DemocracyRising.us
Thursday, 29 November 2007


Peace voters have choices in 2008, will they have the courage to support peace candidates?

In recent debates the candidates were asked whether they will support the nominee of their party. Despite increasingly harsh rhetoric between the candidates only two candidates had the courage to put peace before their party and refused to issue blanket support for their party nominee. Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Dennis Kucinich responded they would not support the nominee unless the nominee opposed war as an instrument of foreign policy.

This deserves loud applause from the peace movement. No doubt both candidates will pay a political price for taking such a stand. They may get the “Gravel Treatment” – presidential candidate Mike Gravel was harshly critical of the top tier candidates of the Democratic Party and now is excluded from the debates because the Democratic National Committee no longer considers him a serious candidate and the corporate media, which walks lock-step with the corporate parties, has refused to invite him to any debates. His campaign has all but disappeared.

Kucinich and Paul face other potential repercussions for putting the life and death issue of war and peace before party loyalty. Both are incumbent congressmen and if they are unsuccessful in getting their party’s presidential nomination will seek re-election to Congress. Will they find themselves with a well-funded primary challenger? And, if elected, will they find their committee assignments downgraded? Will they be appointed to subcommittee or committee chairmanships or passed over in favor of party loyalists? There are many ways for a political party to punish lack of party loyalty. So, Kucinich and Paul deserve a great deal of credit for publicly standing up for peace before party.

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