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.

While searching for videos of the student walkout protest of the Martin Lee Anderson Bay County boot camp manslaughter vedict, I ran across this old video of the March 2nd 2004 March on Tallahassee by local film maker and former Tallahassee IMCista Ian Weir.

Dennis Kucinch made a visit to Tallahassee on Wednesday Aug. 29th at the Tallahassee Press center. Several members of the corporate media attended the press conference as well as a few supporters that were able to attend who had received last minute emails.

Congressman Kucinich laid out his platform and answered questions from a skeptical corporate press concerning the recent DNC ruling that Florida may not have delegates at the Dem convention in '08 due to the Republican-led FL legislature's decision to move Florida's primary up to Jan. 29th in 2008. He also answered questions about the impending special session of the FL Legislature to address projected budget shortfalls and the impending cuts to Medicare as well as questions on the viability of his presidential candidacy from a smarmy corporate lackey who also was harping on Karl Rove's talking points about "socialized" healthcare.

That was answered by Congressman Kucinich with counter-questions asking about "socialized" education and "socialized" police and fire protection. He also pointed out the US is the ONLY western country who's government doesn't have healthcare for all its citizens.

Photos and more below the fold.....

Tuesday evening Aug. 28th the Tallahassee area took a stand. Sixty-five plus people came out to rally in front of the Old Capital at the corner of N. Monroe and Appalachee Parkway as part of the MoveOn.org Coalition's National Take A Stand Day to send a message to Congress that it's time to end the Iraq Occupation and BRING THE TROOPS HOME! Over seven hundred rallies and town-halls occurred nationwide as part of the action.

It was a very spirited and vocal demonstration of the public disgust with the ongoing slaughter in Iraq. Car horns were blaring in approval of the action almost non-stop for two hours.

Pics on the flip....

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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...

Finally! After six years the Tally Democrat reports on TNJP's Eternal Peace Vigil Against Iraq War. The vigils in Tallahassee started BEFORE the bombing and invasion of Afghanistan in the early fall of 2001. Our local corporate media gets a clue at last (article below)...

Perennial protesters: Group protests Iraq war twice a week at Capitol By Tabitha Yang July 30, 2007
Tom Baxter, 60, plans to stand outside the Capitol and protest the war until it's over or until he dies, whichever comes first. On Sunday afternoon, he was sitting in a lawn chair near Monroe Street and Apalachee Parkway, holding an anti-war sign and wearing a baseball cap with "Vietnam Veterans Against the War" emblazoned across the front. Over the course of the six years he's been protesting, he said public support for the protesters has risen. He thinks this is because people are not so hopeful about the war's outcome.

"Back in May of '03, people were saying, 'We won! We won!' ” Baxter said. "Nobody says that anymore."...

Hello everyone,

I just returned from the United States Social Forum in Atlanta with some new found insights, ideas, and motivation. The burning question for me in recent days has been " If 70-80% of us oppose this war then why do >1% ever actively work toward it's end". I attended several workshops with this being an underlying theme and feel I finally have a bit of a handle on the reasons.

A few days ago I came up with an idea to hold an event at the Civic Center that has literally something for everyone, is very enjoyable, and holds the possibility of becoming a cohesive community action. I also have ideas on funding the event. It has to be on a Sunday preferably prior to the Petreaus report and before the next supplemental funding comes up in Congress so; Sept 9th is a Sunday following a day that both football teams have home games (out-a-towners will be here as well) and the Center hasn't been booked for that day yet. Consequently TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!!...

A few days ago Tallahassee anti-war activists attended a meeting with Congressman Allen Boyd (D-FL2) to demand an end to the Iraq War and to bring the troops home. Out of that meeting came a heretofore unknown news item.

At the behest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Boyd recently organized a Congressional junket to Iraq for members of Congress (including Republicans) who haven't been to Iraq.

That's where the problems ensued...

Tallahassee Anti-War Activists Meet With Congressman Allen Boyd - Meeting Yields Generalities, Platitudes, and a 'Local Colloquialism'

On Monday June 4th a group of Tallahassee area residents representing several local and national anti-war organizations met with Congressman Allen Boyd (FL-D) to demand an end to the Iraq War and bring the troops home. Congressman Boyd greeted the group in the lobby of his offices on Summit Lake Drive east of Tallahassee and then asked his staff to seat us in the conference room.

The meeting began with Lydia Vickers from CodePINK Tallahassee thanking the congressman for his time and thanking him for his vote on HR1591, which had a timetable to bring the troops home. She read a from list of demands that included taking effective action to bring the troops home, using the power of the purse to achieve that goal, and to reject all future funding for the Iraq War unless it is tied to specific withdrawl plans. She then explained that we would each introduce ourselves and talk to him about our concerns in regard to the war in Iraq and bringing the troops home...

Hi Jerry,

Congressman Boyd requested more info on the 14 permanent military bases being constructed in Iraq. Though I'm sure the Congressman is aware of this issue, at least in a general sense, I'll paste in a few a the recent news articles that highlight concern on this issue (The first item was waiting in my inbox when I returned home home from our meeting with the Congressman on Mon. June 4th, 2007).

The Bush Regime must be made to follow the law on the issue of permanent bases in Iraq, as well as be held to account for the rest of its general lawlessness...

US is building bases in Iraq By Patrick Seale 04 Jun 2007 Last week, almost unnoticed, the war in Iraq entered a new phase. Laconic statements from the White House and the Pentagon confirmed what had long been suspected - namely that the US is planning a long-term military presence in Iraq... It is a clear statement that, in spite of its current difficulties in Iraq... the US firmly intends to maintain control of Iraq and its vast oil reserves.

Why I Fight by Tom Baxter
Now at the fourth anniversary of the proclamation of ‘Mission Accomplished’ and the ‘end of major combat operations’ of ‘Operation Iraq Liberation’ I have been standing on Thursdays and Sundays in front of the Capitol with my antiwar signs for almost six years in the ‘Eternal Peace Vigil,’ People have asked, “Why?” Some of the reasons are the lives and deaths of Dwight H Johnson, David Funchess and Jeffrey Lucey...

On Wed. May 2nd, fifty or more Tallahassee area citizen activists converged in front of the Old Capital to protest Bush's veto of the emergency supplemental bill proferred by Congress. The high energy action was part of nationwide protests called for by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and MoveOn.org....

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