Saturday, September 01, 2007
Don't Be Fooled Again
As an unpopular Congress returns to DC to make decisions regarding our loved ones futures, one Gold Star Mom speaks out in response to a new "stay the course" campaign funded by Washington powerbrokers in a bid to shore up support for a war that the voters do not support.
Multiple, lengthy deployments, rising casualty rates among US Soldiers and dismal progress on meeting the Presidential benchmarks on "success" in Iraq are combining to further erode voter support ahead of a critical funding bill.
Our message is simple: Funding the War is Killing Our Troops. Support our Troops - Bring Them Home NOW and Take Care of Them When They Get Here.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Mother's Day
From CK:
May 14th, 2007 there was a “Mother of a March” planned that would take place in D.C., as well as sister marches in other cities, such as L.A. and New York. It was made up primarily of mothers and was held the day after Mother’s Day. Before the D.C. March began, there was a speaking event in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Among the speakers were: Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Presidential candidate Mike Gravel, Col. Ann Wright, Cindy Sheehan and military moms, Sara Rich, Tina Richards and myself.
We started the march in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Those of us who were military mom’s (Cindy Sheehan, Marte-last name deliberately omitted, Sara Rich, Tina Richards and myself…maybe one or two others that I don’t know) led about 300-400 people in the march with a banner that read, “NOT ONE MORE MOTHER’S CHILD”. Along with us was a flag, flying upside down, which is a Navy signal meaning, “we are in distress”. During the majority of the march, which ended at an intersection at Independence Ave. between the Cannon and Longworth Congressional Office buildings and the Capitol Building, we chanted, “no more funding, no more war, mothers say, not one more”. We circled the intersection and tied up traffic for about a half and hour. At that point, we were warned by the Capitol Police, once and then twice to leave if we did not want to be arrested.
I was not planning to be arrested, as I had to fly home the next morning, but at the time the warning seemed like a dare and I felt I would be abandoning my son, who is in the hellish hardship of a purposeless war in Fallujah, away from his wife and children. How could I walk away? It was a desperate plea to my congressman, Ray La Hood, who I have called, emailed and even had a face to face meeting with the day of the McGovern bill…and who still wasn’t going to vote for the troops to come home…still was going to give the President until September to let the troop surge work.
Thirty-three others felt the same way as I did and risked arrest to make a point to our government that we are desperately trying to get them to see how serious we are…and the sad state our country is in. The rest of America needs to wake up, because the next step may have to be a draft and your child may have to go to Iraq…then maybe it will be more understandable to you why we were so willing to be this drastic and go to jail for the sake of bringing our children home from Iraq.
The troop surge is using and abusing our soldiers who are exhausted and battle scared with PTSD and severe brain trauma. Send them back for more…ruining them, their bodies and their minds and their families in a war for what? OIL? These same congressmen who continue this war…and this administration…are their children in this war that they think is so righteous? NO and they never will be.
How long will this administration continue to take lightly the sacrifice of our soldiers and their families? How long will our congress continue to not speak for the people and bring our troops home? How long will this President-Dictator, continue to stand in his pride and not admit this war was wrong or at least that he made a mistake?
We are not currently being ruled in a democratic fashion. When 70 percent of American is saying, bring the troops home and Congress isn’t doing it and our President is vetoing everything that is passed. All of this is why I have begun doing protest and become an activist.
May 14th, 2007 there was a “Mother of a March” planned that would take place in D.C., as well as sister marches in other cities, such as L.A. and New York. It was made up primarily of mothers and was held the day after Mother’s Day. Before the D.C. March began, there was a speaking event in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Among the speakers were: Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Presidential candidate Mike Gravel, Col. Ann Wright, Cindy Sheehan and military moms, Sara Rich, Tina Richards and myself.
We started the march in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Those of us who were military mom’s (Cindy Sheehan, Marte-last name deliberately omitted, Sara Rich, Tina Richards and myself…maybe one or two others that I don’t know) led about 300-400 people in the march with a banner that read, “NOT ONE MORE MOTHER’S CHILD”. Along with us was a flag, flying upside down, which is a Navy signal meaning, “we are in distress”. During the majority of the march, which ended at an intersection at Independence Ave. between the Cannon and Longworth Congressional Office buildings and the Capitol Building, we chanted, “no more funding, no more war, mothers say, not one more”. We circled the intersection and tied up traffic for about a half and hour. At that point, we were warned by the Capitol Police, once and then twice to leave if we did not want to be arrested.
I was not planning to be arrested, as I had to fly home the next morning, but at the time the warning seemed like a dare and I felt I would be abandoning my son, who is in the hellish hardship of a purposeless war in Fallujah, away from his wife and children. How could I walk away? It was a desperate plea to my congressman, Ray La Hood, who I have called, emailed and even had a face to face meeting with the day of the McGovern bill…and who still wasn’t going to vote for the troops to come home…still was going to give the President until September to let the troop surge work.
Thirty-three others felt the same way as I did and risked arrest to make a point to our government that we are desperately trying to get them to see how serious we are…and the sad state our country is in. The rest of America needs to wake up, because the next step may have to be a draft and your child may have to go to Iraq…then maybe it will be more understandable to you why we were so willing to be this drastic and go to jail for the sake of bringing our children home from Iraq.
The troop surge is using and abusing our soldiers who are exhausted and battle scared with PTSD and severe brain trauma. Send them back for more…ruining them, their bodies and their minds and their families in a war for what? OIL? These same congressmen who continue this war…and this administration…are their children in this war that they think is so righteous? NO and they never will be.
How long will this administration continue to take lightly the sacrifice of our soldiers and their families? How long will our congress continue to not speak for the people and bring our troops home? How long will this President-Dictator, continue to stand in his pride and not admit this war was wrong or at least that he made a mistake?
We are not currently being ruled in a democratic fashion. When 70 percent of American is saying, bring the troops home and Congress isn’t doing it and our President is vetoing everything that is passed. All of this is why I have begun doing protest and become an activist.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
What They Say
Army Specialist Garret Reppenhagen
Lt Col.Andrew Horne (retired)
The series of short videos depicted above is a joint project of Moveon.org and VoteVets. MFSO-Chicago does not endorse political action committees, specific candidates for office or their projects and campaigns.
However, MFSO-Chicago believes that it is important for members of the public to HEAR the stories of those who serve and the loved ones who support them every single day. That is the core of our mission when we say Support Our Troops - Bring Them Home Now and Take Care of Them When They Get Here. The stories are compelling, first hand and relevent to our mission. To learn more about the project, please visit moveon.org
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
3,000 Dead - America Mourns
On December 31, 2006, the Pentagon announced that 3,000 Service Members had died in Iraq. MFSO-Chicago members from all over Illinois hosted and participated in community vigils to mourn the deaths of these brave individuals and to call for an end to the war and occupation in Iraq. The pictures is from a vigil held in the 8th District at the College of Lake County on January 2nd. We lit luminarias to mark the lives lost and noted with sadness the loss of potential these lives represented.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
