Take the moral high ground.

Defend that ground.

We have better speakers than Bill O’reilly on our side.

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or
that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only
unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American
public.”
[Theodore Roosevelt] 1918

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. “
[Thomas Jefferson]

I just have to add to that…

“If we suffer ourselves to be frightened from our post by mere lying, surely the enemy will use that weapon; for what one so cheap to those of whose system of politics morality makes no part?”
—[Thomas Jefferson to James Sullivan], 1805.

“It is always better to have no ideas, than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong. In my mind, theories are more easily demolished than rebuilt.”
—Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1788.

“There is more honor and magnanimity in correcting, than persevering in an error.”
—Thomas Jefferson: Batture at New Orleans, 1812.

“I tolerate with the utmost latitude the right of others to differ from me in opinion without imputing to them criminality.”
—Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1804.

“That there should be a contrariety of opinions respecting the public agents and their measures,... is ever to be expected among free men.”
—Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Leesburg Republicans, 1809.

“Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”
—Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801.

Quoting the founding fathers is a very good way to get right wingers to question their beliefs. If you quote Ghandi and Martin Luther King it doesn’t speak to the right wing as much as quotes from the founding fathers do.

Good to see this article made it to the frontpage!

I was pleased with this article. It puts into words thoughts that have been rattling around in my mostly-empty head as of late.

I’m an admitted pessimist. After Gee Dubya is done kicking up his heels at the ranch, I think she’ll be left by the media way-side and forever-after be fated to preach to the choir. I don’t even think the right needs to do anything other than wait the rest of this month out. ‘Course, that’s no fun, so they’re going to do their best to destroy her.

I think they are poisonous scum for their behavior. I don’t look at families who are still pro-war after a war-death in the family and think, “TREASONOUS!!!” I don’t agree with how they feel, but at least I have some semblance of decency and respect their loss. Unbelievable.

Yes, we have better speakers than O’Reilly in PLENTY. That’s not the problem. The problem is that their shitty speakers have been given such huge bullhorns that they usually drown everything else out.

We need a new gameplan.

The Iraq War and MoveOn
by Norman Solomon

The day after Wednesday night’s nationwide vigils, the big headline at the top of the MoveOn.org home page said: “Support Cindy Sheehan.” But MoveOn does not support Cindy Sheehan’s call for swift withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Many groups were important to the success of the Aug. 17 vigils, but the online powerhouse MoveOn was the largest and most prominent. After a long stretch of virtual absence from Iraq war issues, the organization deserves credit for getting re-involved in recent months. But the disconnects between MoveOn and much of the grassroots antiwar movement are disturbing.

Part of the problem is MoveOn’s routine fuzziness about the war — and the way that the group is inclined to water down the messages of antiwar activism, much of which is not connected to the organization.

Consider how the MoveOn website summarized the vigils: “Last night, tens of thousands of supporters gathered at 1,625 vigils to acknowledge the sacrifices made by Cindy Sheehan, her son Casey and the more than 1,800 brave American men and women who have given their lives in Iraq — and their moms and families.” Such a gloss excludes a key reason why many people participated in the vigils: They wanted to express clear opposition to any further U.S. involvement in the war.

Despite its high-profile role in the vigils this week, MoveOn is still not giving a high priority to addressing the Iraq war in its ongoing work. When I went to the MoveOn website today and looked at its roster of “Current Campaigns,” just a single item on the list was focused on Iraq — and that one, from June, involved “demanding that Bush address the evidence in the ‘Downing Street Memo.’”

The political action wing of MoveOn has committed itself to supporting congressional legislation, co-sponsored by Reps. Walter Jones and Neil Abercrombie, which would require the president to start withdrawing troops from Iraq … by October 2006.

In contrast, MoveOn never supported Rep. Lynn Woolsey’s resolution, introduced early this year, stating that “the president should develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.” (Despite the lack of MoveOn’s support, the measure received 128 votes in the House.) Nor has MoveOn gotten behind Rep. Barbara Lee’s more recent bill to prevent the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.

What if MoveOn were to directly ask its 3 million members (people who’ve signed up for its e-mailings) whether they favor the idea of waiting till autumn 2006 before the start of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq — or whether, on the other hand, those members would prefer that withdrawal get underway before the end of this year? I believe that most MoveOn members would opt for the latter scenario. But MoveOn policy is set by a few individuals who have not been willing to put such options in front of members for a vote.

On Tuesday, the day before the vigils, Cindy Sheehan said in a conference call that the Jones-Abercrombie timeline is “not soon enough.” She doesn’t see any good reason to continue the U.S. military occupation; she’s opposed to any delay in pulling out. And while it’s all well and good for MoveOn to tell people to “Support Cindy Sheehan,” the MoveOn leadership should publicly explain why the organization refuses to join her in supporting a swift withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.

During the next few weeks, MoveOn will have an opportunity to devote some of its appreciable resources to strengthening the antiwar movement. With an umbrella theme of “End the War on Iraq — Bring the Troops Home Now,” protests in Washington and elsewhere are on the calendar for Sept. 24-26. The national coalition United for Peace & Justice is playing a key role in creating momentum for those demonstrations, which will begin an autumn of historic antiwar activism. Hopefully, MoveOn will catch up with its grassroots base and get involved in a supportive way.

Norman Solomon is the author of the new book “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” For information, go to: www.WarMadeEasy.com

i posted this in headlines yard yesterday, but oh well…

i though articles had to be wholly original content written by GNN users and NOT republished articles from other sources, otherwise, i would have posted this one in the articles yard myself. arg

Solomon is a GNN contributor
You can publish an article by someone else to the Yard if you have their permission to do so.

Its important to remember Dr King as more than a “black leader” as he is usually defined, he was a people’s leader, a world leader in many respects, generally a good man.

It is strange that we want to install democracies across the whole globe but globally we do not act as a democracy instead we use mob rule through warfare as the driving force of the West in international affairs.

Solomon is a GNN contributor
You can publish an article by someone else to the Yard if you have their permission to do so.

Or if you say they are a “GNN contributor”.

Even Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist for opposing the apartheid government. Even the US had initially joined in calling him a terrorist in the early stages of the struggle. So what’s happening now is nothing new.

However, it is good to see that now, the propoganda can be seen for what it is. Clever wording will only expose you further as a fake.

Peace,
M.

yeah i remember when mandela was being called a terrorist on network news, when i was a kid