Suggestion for Laura Bush - When Cindy delivers her letter to you today, the answer is here...

To FR, from summer:

According to one of Cindy's web sites, today, August 18th, Cindy will be delivering a letter to First Lady Laura Bush:

On Thursday, August 18, women who have been sitting with Cindy Sheehan at the vigil in Crawford, Texas, will be writing and attempting to hand-deliver letters to Laura Bush. As part of a woman-to-woman, mother-to-mother appeal, Cindy's supporters will ask the First Lady to urge her husband to take time from his vacation to answer the questions of a grieving mother. Cindy's supporters, led by her sister Dede Miller, will then conduct a three-mile march from Camp Casey to the gate of George Bush's ranch. Join them by writing a letter to Laura Bush that will be delivered by the marchers.

Now, obviously Laura Bush is a smart woman who can figure out what to do, but, here is my polite suggestion for our First Lady --

Remind Cindy that another mother in American history -- a liberal, born of a conservative father -- named Julia Ward Howe, has already answered Cindy's question.

Julia did so when she wrote one of our nation's most beloved hymns in the midst of the Civil War: "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The words are linked here, with one verse below:

... 17 In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

18 With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:

19 As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

20 While God is marching on.

Below is an excerpt of what Julia wrote about her inspiration for this hymn.

Howe describes her composition of this hymn in her Reminiscences (pp. 273-75) as follows:

I distinctly remember that a feeling of discouragement came over me as I drew near the city of Washington .... I thought of the women of my acquaintance whose sons or husbands were fighting our great battle; the women themselves serving in the hospitals, or busying themselves with the work of the Sanitary Commission. My husband ... was beyond the age of military service, my eldest son but a stripling; my youngest was a child of not more than two years. I could not leave my nursery to follow the march of our armies, neither had I the practical deftness which the preparing and packing of sanitary stores demanded. Something seemed to say to me, `You would be glad to serve, but you cannot help any one; you have nothing to give, and there is nothing for you to do.' Yet, because of my sincere desire, a word was given me to say, which did strengthen the hearts of those who fought in the field and of those who languished in the prison...

Lessin, whose son recently returned from his overseas service, said the goal of both protests is to show the war in Iraq is “a reckless military misadventure that never should have happened.”

“Shame on Secretary Rumsfeld for not recognizing these families, and shame on those who sent our children to war based on lies,” she said.

Nancy Lessin and her husband Charley Richardson are co-founders of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), an organization of people opposed to the invasion/occupation of Iraq who have relatives or loved ones in the military.

In February, 2003 Nancy and Charley were two of fifteen parents of soldiers who, along with three active military and twelve members of Congress, brought a lawsuit against George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, seeking to prevent an invasion of Iraq absent a Congressional declaration of war. MFSO has been involved in peace and anti-war activities from the neighborhood level to large, national demonstrations in Washington, D.C., New York City and in the army base town of Fayetteville, North Carolina.

MFSO members have met with Congressional representatives; written the President and local newspapers; and spoken at community organizations, union halls, high schools and universities, and at a Congressional briefing in Washington, D.C. MFSO has initiated or participated numerous press conferences, many held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. In August, 2003 MFSO joined with Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and several other organizations to launch the Bring Them Home NOW! campaign in response to George W. Bush’s comment in July 2003 to "bring 'em on!"

In September, 2004 MFSO held a press conference in Las Vegas across from the hotel where George W. Bush spoke before the National Guard Association of the United States. Seven military families with loved ones in the National Guard who were serving in Iraq or killed in Iraq spoke out about the lies that sent their loved ones to war, and the lack of equipment, training and supplies these soldiers experienced in Iraq.

In September, 2004 MFSO was awarded the 2004 Latelier-Moffit Memorial Human Rights Award by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. In May, 2005 Nancy Lessin was awarded the WAND (Women’s Action for New Directions) Mother’s Peace Day Award in Boston, Massachusetts.

Most recently, MFSO has been assisting member families from across the country get to Crawford, Texas to join Military Families Speak Out member and co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace Cindy Sheehan as she waits in an encampment named “Camp Casey” near President Bush’s ranch for the President to meet with and listen to her.

Nancy Lessin is Health and Safety Coordinator for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and is a member of United Steelworkers Local 9358. She has worked in the field of job health and safety for over 25 years. Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson live in Boston, Massachusetts; they have four children who range in age from 24 to 27.

Nancy Lessin is running the "GET BUSH!" campaign which is now including Cindy Sheehan.

******

June 12, 2005

from Military Families Speak Out

Dear Military Families,

There continues to be mounting evidence that the war in Iraq was based on lies -- most recently the so-called "Downing Street Memo" was written about in the press in the UK -- and finally made its way into the press in the U.S.

To find out more about this memo, go to www.downingstreetmemo.com/ and www.afterdowningstreet.org/. There are many actions and activities to get involved in, including signing a letter to President Bush that Michigan Congressman John Conyers will be delivering to him on Thursday, June 16. This letter requests that the President answer very specific questions about the evidence used in the build-up to the war.

Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace and member of Military Families Speak Out will be testifying at a Congressional hearing on June 16th regarding the Downing Street Memo; she and other Gold Star Families for Peace members, as well as Stephen Cleghorn from Military Families Speak Out, will be accompanying Congressman Conyers when he delivers the letter to the White House on June 16th.

Our voices as military families are more powerful than ever -- we hope they become louder and stronger in the days and weeks ahead!

In Peace and Solidarity,
Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson
for Military Families Speak Out
www.mfso.org
www.bringthemhomenow.org

Don't take any documnets from Cindy!! She'll present a lsit of questions/issues that will allow the leaders of the anri-American, neocommunist organizations using her as a front to claim unlimited and biased access to the President. We would forever hear "The President, who promised to respond to questions regarding future tsunami response times in black counties, has failed to do so and has lied again."

Such lists of demands almost always sets up a "monitoring committee" which allows the organization to tie up the other side's resources and managers at their whim. Since Cindy's sponsors are using her and have no need for ethical or honest behavior, there is nothing they can/will offer and nothing they promise that they can be trusted to deliver. Their only purposes are to make W look bad, harm the US, and enrich themselves.

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