CodePINK Protest Torture at the White House on International Human Rights Day.

bonus video below the fold, Col. Ann Wright interview...

Deported at Gunpoint by Pakistani Government
By Medea Benjamin
December 7, 2007

On our tenth day in Pakistan, my colleague Tighe Barry and I, both human rights activists with CODEPINK and Global Exchange, were arrested at gunpoint by agents of the Pakistani government. We had just left a student rally and were driving down the streets of Lahore with a car full of Pakistani journalists and lawyers. Two cars and six motorbikes came screeching up, blocked our car, piled out with guns drawn, dragged the journalists and lawyers out of the car, beat the bystanders, and hijacked the car. With the two of us huddled in the back surrounded by shouting police, our captors raced at breakneck speed through the crowded streets of Lahore. We had no idea why we were being abducted or where we were headed...

Dear All,
Col. Ann Wright is out of jail - they gave her credit for her 1st court date and for yesterday and today was 3 days - we all cried (seriously).

Medea is on the way to the house and we are all going to the Pakistan hearing - NO MONEY FOR PAKISTAN (just in case you want something to call about :-D)

Lastly, check out Democracy NOW today - Sally Newman, our new CP law student was interviewed and she was eloquent. I'm in the black hood (too funny, we're alllll in black hoods) but I have a sign that says Adel Hamad. His lawyer sent me a thank you note today...

Dear All,
What an amazing day. Got settled in last night and up and at 'em at 6:15 am.

One bummmmmmmmmer! Col. Ann Wright was sentenced to 6 months probation (the strictest kind you've ever heard of - she can't even raise her voice near the Hill) - it was a jury trial and just blew everyone's' mind in the room. Check out the video interview with Bill O'Reilly that Deidra posted for the group not too long ago.

When Gen Petraeus spoke in the Senate in September (not the House where I stood on a chair), Ann said "I am a diplomat for peace". She knows Crocker, didn't interrupt anyone..... it was profiling for sure.

The jury was selected in the morning. They found her guilty! (the judge was the same one who recently let Midge off with a $500 fine - Midge was back on the Hill the next day and the judge (a woman) mentioned that when sentencing Ann. "I gave your friend some leniency and she was back here the next day" (Midge didn't do anything but go up there, don't even know how the judge knew that????)

WORST OF ALL, she also got 3 days in jail and they took her away, right there. She looked freaked out, had tears in her eyes. Her sciatic nerve has been so painful it's hard to walk at times. I wasn't there but the group that was came home bummed, bummed, bummed...

Please turn the SOUND DOWN before you check out this video - the microphone on the camera gets saturated at several points.... Tallahassee's Lydia Vickers leads the CodePINK Florida women in song at the Oct27th protest on Orlando.

Now this was interesting. I was ensconced in the basement of the CodePINK house hand coding the Bye Bye Gonzo going away party blog post when a ruckus erupted out front on the sidewalk. Seems a visit was being made by some pro-military types who were expressing their contempt of the CodePINK ladies' peaceful message. Some of the gals were a little ruffled by this appearance and others went outside for an "open meaningful discussion of views". I paid little attention as the situation didn't seem overtly threatening and I sent the wife, Mrs. Cactus, out to take a couple photos and went back to the tedium of preparing a blog post with eleven embedded photos.

Around the time I was making real progress, CodePINK friend Lydia comes in and suggests the pro-military group needs to see some "MEN" come out of the house to show them its not just women in the group. So I figure, what the hey?, and mosey out to take measure of the goings-on...

Report on Monday CodePink disruption of the Petraeus hearing in the House. Led by Tallahassee's own Lydia Vickers (that's her standing on the chair shouting down the 'good' general...

What a fabulous start in D.C. CODEPINK (Desiree, Barbara, Lelsie A., Medea B., Mona, Arizona Liz, and myself), IVAW, Col. Wright, David Swanson and others waited almost four hours this morning to go into the Petreaus Report hearing. CODEPINK co-founder Gael Murphy was refused entrance and tried in vane to get in the room. One of the Capitol officers had his panties in a wad and decided only 7 of us could go in. Even Medea couldn't change his sorry mind. Cindy Sheehan and her sister DeDe arrived about 30 minutes before the hearing started and were refused entrance. The up-tight cop actually gave us little blue pieces of paper with numbers on them 1-7. CPer Debby gave up her number so Col. Wright could get in. In the mean time, The Honorable Rev. Yearwood had been in line with us for about 2 hours. Just as we started to go in he was pulled from the line for "cutting in" - it's sooooooooooo high school.

Full report below the fold....

Let's Whip Congress Into Shape!
The collective power of the peace movement helped the Democrats take control of Congress and turn Nancy Pelosi from Minority leader into Madam Speaker. But in May the new Congress turned its back on the peace movement, granting Bush another $95 billion for war with no timetable for withdrawal. While the Speaker of the House herself voted against the war funding, she failed to put pressure on the conservative Democrats to form a united front against another blank check for war. She also failed to effectively use her power to decide what bills would come up for a vote. In the case of both the unrestricted war funding and the expanded FISA wiretapping, Pelosi had the ability to keep the bills off the floor but refused to do so...

Boasts, Prevarications, and a Rattlesnake

On Tuesday August 7th ten members of Florida For Peace traveled to Kissimmee, FL to meet with Senator Bill Nelson at the public library. They represented over fifty groups from from all parts of Florida.

When the group arrived a staff member directed us to a conference room where the senator was waiting. A local news crew had a camera set up. After shaking hands and sitting down, Senator Nelson mentioned how he was having town meetings, three just yesterday in Jefferson, Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Lydia Vickers - CODEPINK Tallahassee, Co-Founder/Florida For Peace - began by stating she had traveled to all eight of his offices around the state and had meetings with his staff and thanked the Senator for meeting with us.

Senator Nelson began by thanking us for coming from all over the state to see him. He then talked about what he termed as townhall meetings, two of which he had the previous day in the Tampa Bay area. He said that 150 people had attended one meeting and 130 had attended the other one and that no one had brought up the issue of the Iraq War...

Senator Nelson’s PR spin on “Town Hall” meetings
by Deidra Lynch -- Orlando, FL August 10, 2007 -- Florida’s Senator Bill Nelson's office is falsely reporting that he is touring the state doing "Town Hall" meetings yet his meetings are not being announced publicly until just hours before he arrives and most of them have only been with city and county officials, not the public. These "invitation-only" audiences with selected press only are costing Florida taxpayers and lulling them into believing the he is concerned about public sentiment. His office has refused to even announce his travel schedule or place any requested alternative press members on the pre-notification list. This is open government? NO, this is a PR spin!...

Florida Groups Push For End To War POSTED: 3:03 pm EDT August 7, 2007
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Florida For Peace pushed for a meeting with Sen. Bill Nelson at the Kissimmee library on Tuesday.

Members said they want Nelson to stand against President George W. Bush and end the war in Iraq.

Many groups congregated at the library to meet with Nelson, including Code Pink: Women For Peace.

Members said they feel Nelson has been supporting the war and want him to be one of 67 senators to override a presidential veto and bring troops home.

"I think he needs to realize he's hurting these troops more by not saying, 'Enough is enough' it's time to come home, and let's come up with a plan,' so the only way that's going to happen is to stop funding," Deidra Lynch of Florida For Peace said...

FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY TO THE SENATOR’S DESK
August 8, 2007

FAX TO; Senator Bill Nelson
All District Offices and
Washington, D. C.

FAX FROM: Lydia Vickers, CODEPINK
Florida For Peace/Focus on Nelson
Phone: 850-385-5322

Dear Senator Nelson,

I would like to thank you for attending the meeting with Florida For Peace members in Kissimmee, Florida yesterday, August 7, 2007. Many of us traveled a very long way to share our concerns about your support of the war in Iraq, funding torture, terrorism, Iraqi civilian atrocities, our 1st and 4th Amendment Rights, support for our troops and their families, Florida’s financial deficits, homeless and veteran issues, your responsibilities to your Florida constituents, permanent bases in Iraq and your voting record on these issues.

For me, personally, I was disappointed that you tried to put me in the uncomfortable position of arguing with you, or even worse, being lectured to about your recent yes vote on S. 1927 (to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978). It was totally unnecessary and a little unkind. None of us at the table were swayed with your lengthy discourse regarding your vote. And is was disturbing that you might use most of the little time we had with you talking rather than listening. Senator, we desperately need you to listen to us....

August 1, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Lydia Vickers
850-241-3191 or 850-385-5322

Deidra Lynch
407-385-3183

FLORIDA FOR PEACE MEMBER GROUPS Scheduled to meet with Florida’s Senior Senator

11:00AM – August 7, 2007 – Kissimmee, Florida

A coalition of Florida peace and social action groups joined forces in May, 2007 to begin a state-wide campaign. Their goal was to ask for meetings with Senator Bill Nelson, Florida’s senior senator, in every district where he has an office.

Senator Nelson has agreed to meet with 10 Florida For Peace members in Kissimmee, Florida at 11:00AM on August 7, 2007. Request for meetings in additional Florida locations will be made at this meeting. “We feel that it is his responsibility to meet with us rather than having his constituents drive all over the state to meet him” said Florida For Peace co-founder Deidra Lynch. Request for Town Hall meeting dates around the state will also be requested.

Florida For Peace member groups include: CODEPINK, Military Families Speak Out/Florida, Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans for Peace, Environmental and Peace Education Center, Tallahassee Network for Justice and Peace, Food Not Bombs, Democracy For America and others...

Please join other Florida For Peace members in our bi-weekly, state- wide conference call to discuss the final 6 weeks of Phase III and how to start Phase IV in our Focus on Nelson campaign.

Also, Senator Nelson has agreed to meet with us in early August. We will discuss specifics on the call.

The call info is:

Florida For Peace/Focus on Nelson Campaign
State-Wide Conference Call
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
8:30PM (EDT)
Call 1-712-945-0210 then enter 26337465# to enter the call. Please
announce your name when you enter the call. You can push 6 to mute
and listen and 6 to un-mute and share your thoughts....

Please join the state-wide conference call on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 at 8:30PM (EDT).

Phase IV of the Focus on Nelson campaign is from July 9th - July 31st. This portion involves loud street actions, props and banners, Home for the Holidays balloting boxes and phone-a-thons outside of some of Senator Nelson's district offices.

We will discuss different types of street actions, locations, dates and times on this call....