Relaxing and listening to Jack Johnson. I really love In Between Dreams. I need to get some more CDs by him. "Better Together" just puts me in a good mood, I don't know why that is. I can be exhausted, taking off my heels, flipping on the stereo with the remote and when the song comes on, it's like a burst of energy. My shoulders will start moving first and then I'm dancing around forgetting all about my tired feet.
I really could just listen to the first two tracks over and over, "Better Together" and "Never Know." And sometimes I do. I love these songs. Cedric told me this weekend to get the Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business because they do a song called "Gone Going" that has Jack Johnson on it. I did buy it today but I'll probably end up listening to the same two songs all during this post and later tonight I've got to meet up with some friends who say they are dying to hear about D.C.
Which transitions us into some news.
Nearly 400 Arrested in D.C. For Civil Disobedience (Democracy Now!)
In Washington D.C. anti-war protests continued on Monday. Police arrested nearly 400 people for taking part in civil disobedience. 41 people were arrested in the morning at the Pentagon. Later Cindy Sheehan and Cornel West were among the over 300 arrested at a sit-in outside the White House. They refused to obey police orders to leave. Sheehan was the first protester to be taken into custody.
I wish that had happened before I left. (I left Sunday night.) I would have liked to have taken part in that. "Cancel all my appointments, I've been arrested." Cindy Sheehan really is amazing. I thought she was before I went to D.C. I knew her experience had touched a lot of people and it certainly touched me but I had no idea of how many. I wonder if she realized it before Saturday? She seemed honestly touched that so many had shown up.
When people look back on the anti-war movement to stop this war, they will have to note Cindy Sheehan. She woke up the nation and got us off our collective butts. Take the next story. Four activists and they're facing imprisonment.
St. Patrick's Four Acquitted of Conspiracy Charges (Democracy Now!)
In Binghamton New York, four peace activists known as the St. Patrick's Four were acquitted on conspiracy charges Monday but convicted of two lesser charges. Their legal advisor Bill Quigley declared the verdict to be a "major victory." The four defendants - Clare Grady, Teresa Grady, Peter DeMott and Daniel Burns - were the first peace activists facing conspiracy charges since the Vietnam War. They were all arrested on March 17, 2003 after spilling their own blood inside a military recruiting station. The jury convicted them of misdemeanor counts of trespassing at a government facility, and damaging a government facility. They each face up to 18 months in prison.
In a better media, a real media, this would have been a huge story during the first trial if not before. But that didn't happen. The media was interested in a number of things but in explaining about the St. Patrick Four wasn't one of them.
I wonder how many more people would be bothered by the verdict if they ... actually knew of it?
Our media has done a very, very poor job for some time now.
So the St. Patrick Four were isolated and who knows how the verdict would have gone if the press had bothered to cover this case with the same interest they do when the case involves a Michael Jackson or a Winona Ryder?
We're isolated in so many ways but the result of all the isolation, including by the media, is that we're less informed and we're less active as a nation. Intentional?
C.I.'s doing something that Mike and I think we all should be doing. This weekend, we all participated for a survey article by The Third Estate Sunday Review.
"'Why Are You Here' and 'What's Changed'" (Third Estate Sunday Review)
15) Leon, 52, Louisianna: Why am I here? I flew on the plane. Funny thing, I don't have my own plane. I had to buy a ticket but I manged to get here with my son and his wife. George Bush got Air Force One at his disposal but how long did it take him to find his way to New Orleans? Maybe the pilot got lost? Hurricane Katrina showed that there were priorities in this country and the people ain't one of them. That's why he doesn't give a damn about the troops dying in Iraq and why he's not worried about bringing them home. They can stay over there forever for all he cares. Most he'll do is show up to have his picture taken and then disappear.The change is Hurricane Katrina and people like Cindy Sheehan. They've exposed him for what he really is.
"Peace Quotes" (Peace Center)
I'm not disturbing the peace. I'm disturbing the war.
Ammon Hennacy, US Labor leader
Cindy Sheehan
Peace
St. Patrick Four
Third Estate Sunday Review