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I hate to get political, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I am not telling, and will not tell you what to think. As an American, I believe we all have the right to freedom of both thought and speech. You must make up your own mind where you personally stand, and then choose what you will - or won't - do. I encourage all to do what they feel right.Phat J Thanks to Glen in Oregon...The speech below is by Doris Haddock, otherwise known as Doris " Granny D."
Haddock, the 93 year old activist who walked across the U.S. in 2000 to call
attention to the corruption of Big Money in our political system. She
presented her speech at the International Women's Day Peace March and Rally
in Washington, DC Saturday, March 8, 2003. Her website presents an action
plan to move forward."We meet in disturbing times but we must not be disturbed. We must be calm
and peaceful, for peace cannot come from hearts disturbed and angry. And
peace, if it is to come, must come first from our own hearts.
Here are some things to give us some calm comfort. France and Germany are
together in something at last, and our man in the White House deserves a
Nobel Peace Prize at least for that, if for nothing else. The man in the
White House is the best political organizer we have ever had. He generated
the largest protest demonstrations the earth has ever seen last month. He
has us organizing on the peace front, the civil liberties front, the
environmental front, the domestic budget front -- everywhere, people are
waking up after a long sleep. It is a dangerous time, but a great time -- a
great awakening -- and we must give credit to the man whose monumental
presumption has made this possible.
Will our hearts be on a roller coaster of his design? Will he control our
happiness and our anger? We must not give him that. There is only one way
off this roller coaster, and that is to focus our lives now on November 2nd,
2004. That is the mountaintop we must have in the center of our vision. Here
is what we must do. We must of course find a good candidate who can
represent all of us well, including the moderate middle of American thought,
where elections are won. We must not look for the perfect candidate, but for
a candidate who believes in the value of life on earth and who will uphold
the Bill of Rights, which is now under attack by Bush's wildly unpatriotic
Patriot Act and the proposed Patriot Act II, which is treason.
The man in the White House believes that, when our American soldiers start
coming home to our communities in coffins, we will rally round him -- That
we will forget what he did to our budget surpluses, our Social Security
funds, our Medicare, our pensions and stocks. Merciless rulers from time out
of mind have tried that bloody distraction. We are not distracted by the
blood of our own sons and daughters, Mr. Bush. Each drop of that precious
blood calls our hearts to an election next year and we are an army of people
who come against you at the ballot box. Harm our children and watch us.
In the 2004 presidential election, we must not split our vote between Greens
and Democrats. I know the Greens have party building to do, but, if Mr Bush
wins again, there will be no America for them to build their party in. So
they must defer this time and earn our respect and admiration for doing so.
Here is what you and I must do. We must arrange to vote by absentee ballot
in the general election, so that we can go to the swing states and work to
get out the vote on election day. I will do that, will you? If you live in a
swing state, of course, you can do your work in your own neighborhood. But
if you live in a state that is clearly on one side of the ledger or the
other, you must get in your car or a bus or an airplane and go, at your own
expense, to an area where you can do some good getting people to the polls.
You can also do some good in advance of that to make sure that people are
registered to vote.
We can be happy in this great adventure, upon which so much depends. We will
not let anger and frustration poison our lives. We will get busy and make
our plans. We look now to November 2nd, 2004. Sign up with me as a swing
state suffragette at < www.Swingstate.org> Let's build an army and be happy
about it. When you were a child, did you not want a chance to save the
world? Well, be happy. We have been given that job.
And a final word, let's stop agreeing to unreasonable police demands when we
do our peace marches and rallies. The police have a duty to provide for the
public's safety, but that isn't just auto traffic. We are the public and we
have a right to peaceably assemble and we don't need permits to do so. They
are our streets and our parks. We must stand up for our Bill of Rights and
use the peace movement as the crowd to do it. No more cooperation with any
police departments who do not take seriously their sworn duty to uphold the
law, the highest law of the land being the Constitution and its Bill of
Rights.
Be happy. Enjoy this great awakening. Enjoy the beauty and love of this
great time."For more on Doris Haddock, whose walk took her from Pasadena, California
(Jan. 1, 1999) to Washington, D.C. (Feb. 29, 2000) - a total of 3,200 miles! - visit Granny D. at: www.GrannyD.com.
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