Mother Sheehan fans will recall that as hurricane Katrina threatened to remove her grieving visage from the front page of the nation’s newspapers, Cindy got together with her pals, the Veterans For Peace, to start a Katrina relief effort.

Even the self-designated higher being, Michael Moore, began vouching and shilling for Cindy and the VFP’s Katrina relief program.

As discussed previously, the VFP asked for donations that they claimed would be used to "support" the Red Cross. (The VFP later falsely claimed that the Red Cross had designated them " the best shelter " doing Katrina relief. Despite the minor fact that the VFP never opened any kind of shelter.)

Meanwhile, the VFP accused the Red Cross of gross incompetence and bragged about looting Red Cross supplies and passing them out to the victims themselves.

Soon, however, the Red Cross and the local authorities were made aware of the VFP’s claims. The VFP were quickly chased out of the school they were using, then their storage facility, and then even the public campground. In each instance the VFP had lied to those in charge, falsely claiming to be with the Red Cross.

Eventually, the VFP scrubbed its sites of most references to their "support" of the Red Cross, but not before collecting untold hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, as well as who knows how much supplies and equipment.

As of this writing, the local police, the Red Cross, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and the US Department of Justice are reportedly conducting investigations into the VFP’s Katrina activities.

Despite their overwhelming success at fundraising, where they claimed to be collecting more than $100K a day, the VFP have apparently thus far spent little or no money helping the victims of Katrina. (Apart from delivering possibly pilfered supplies to the racist Moslem felony ex-con former Black Panther, Malik Rahim.)

Lastly, the VFP’s own lawyers accused them of malfeasance, and the VFP in turn fired said lawyers.

The Veterans For Peacehave long since fled Covington, Louisiana, which was their Katrina relief center. They have even closed down their message board and reportedly fired all the moderators there. Though they continue to ask for donations for their Katrina relief program there and elsewhere on the internet.

Here is a recent update from a purported insider, Paul V. Paul alleges that no VFP money has been spent on hurricane relief. But he says the VFP did try to use their money to try to buy $17,000 worth of "media equipment":

Rumor control about Katrina direct-aid and Veterans for Peace

Last night rumors started popping up about the mishandling of funds meant for direct-aid for the victims of hurricane victims by Veterans for Peace and/or the Spell family.  As someone who has spent some time with most of the individuals involved in this controversy, I decided to look into these allegations myself.  This is my report after talking with Buddy and Annie Spell this morning on the phone.

After Hurricane Katrina, Buddy & Annie Spell set up a kitchen at a park near their home in a suburb of New Orleans. Veterans For Peace (VFP) set up camp in the Spell’s damaged house to man the kitchen and manage the logistics for the disaster. Michael Moore, seeing how incompetent the Feds were at helping the victims of the Katrina, helped raise approximately $300,000 – $500,000 for VFP to be used as direct-aid for hurricane victims. (As of the writing of this post, I do not have an exact number as to the amount raised.)

Apparently, VFP hasn’t used most of the money that was donated to them for Hurricane relief yet. The reason for this is unclear, but I suspect in all the confusion over the past few weeks, no one felt they were authorized to start shepherding the paperwork for the direct-aid account.

On Friday, September 17th, when local hurricane victims started to ask where the direct-aid money was getting spent, Annie Spell was put in charge of the direct-aid account. The next day she was asked by VFP to cut a check for $17,000 for equipment to document the reconstruction, and use, of the donated funds.

When the request for the media equipment came, most volunteers thought that there should have been at least $100,000 in the direct-aid account. (After all, it had been almost 3 weeks since the funds had been promised.) However, when Mrs. Spell looked at the books, she saw that the funds had not transfered yet and there was only $3000 available for immediate use. She cut a check for $1000 to bring potable water to the city of Bogalusa, but refused to authorize the spending for the media equipment because the account didn’t have the money at the time.

Apparently, the refusal of Annie Spell to authorize the $17,000 upset the VFP leadership. They took her name off the direct-aid account and drove to DC for the huge protest coming this weekend… neglecting to explain to the volunteers still in Louisiana what was going on.

In my option, there is no scandal here : It’s an unfortunate spat between the Spell family and VFP. Charity transactions like this take time to fully process, and the VFP people didn’t understand how important it was to follow through with the authorization process.  Everyone involved has been under a tremendous amount of pressure, and at this point the volunteers are exhausted.

The controversy has taken a lot out of the Spell family, and they are disassociating themselves from VFP and the peace movement. I pray that the wounds caused from all this will heal quickly.

Posted by Paul V. — Tue, 09/20/2005 – 2:19pm

This should sound very familiar to those who have been following this story, since we have suspected all along that the VFP only wanted these donations of money and supplies for themselves.

The supplies requested for Katrina relief have always been laughably screwy — e.g., electolytes [ sic] — except for when we go to the bottom of their list, which was remarkable for its precise detail.

Here is an example of their request list from a page (since disappeared) that predates the Katrina relief grift, since the VFP were asking for it for their Support The Terroristsbus tour:

Mobile Multi Media & Internet Access Bus

Here is the needs list for the bus!

(1) Satelite Mobile Internet Unit = $5,000

(1) Apple iMac G5 Computer 20" Monitor = $3,000
(1) 500 Gigabyte Firewire Harddrive = $500
(1) Canon XL2 Digital Video Camera = $4,500
(1) Digital Projector (3000 lunens) =$1000
(2) Apple iPods with recording mics = $600
(1) Canon Printer = $200
(40) Mini DV Tape = $200
(40) DVD Blanks = $200

= $15,000.00

Monthly Satelite Access Fee = $200 pr/mo

Website Hosting = $50 pr/mo

We are asking you to help us get the word out to the world that there are veterans who beleave we did not have the right to invade Iraq. We want to help them express how they feal when they come home. We want to let them know that we care! And since we are veterans of WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Afganistan and Iraq. We are trusted to present them in a respectfull light.

Donations for our traveling multi media equipment will keep our guest speakers and support staff press, sponsors, members, in touch through via email, web, blogs, and teleconferencing.

In order to insure our message get out the way we want it, we most maintain control of the message content as well as the context.

As we said all along, this equipment request had nothingto do with "supporting" the Red Cross or helping Katrina victims. The VFP just wanted this equipment to promulgate their hate America agit-prop.

It’s still not clear whether they have yet actually purchased this equipment or not. You can’t go by the lack of coverage of their participation of last weekend’s Support The Terroristsrally in DC, since the VFP have shown they can’t even operate cell phones or chat forums.

But it’s President Bush and the American Red Cross Cindy Sheehan and the VFP say are incompetent and dishonest.

Hilariously, the taxpayer-supported Communists at Radio Pacificahave recently awarded Mother Sheehan with their prestigious " Unvarnished Truth Award."

Perhaps this will impress the judge at her trial, should she been prosecuted by any of the ongoing investigations.

(All praise to reader Karlila for doggedly keeping track of these behind the scenes doings.)

What with Cindy yesterday’s news and Roberts sworn in, this story could start showing up above the fold again. From the AP:

Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff

Miller Agrees to Testify in CIA Leak Probe

New York Times Reporter Judith Miller Agrees to Testify in CIA Leak Investigation, Leaves Prison

By John Solomon
Sep. 29, 2005 – After nearly three months behind bars, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from a federal prison Thursday after agreeing to testify in the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of a covert CIA officer, two people familiar with the case said.

Miller left the federal detention center in Alexandria, Va., after reaching an agreement with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Legal sources said she would appear before a grand jury investigating the case Friday morning. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings.

The sources said Miller agreed to testify after securing an unconditional release from Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to testify about any discussions they had involving CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Miller has been held at the federal detention facility since July 6. A federal judge ordered her jailed when she refused to testify before the grand jury investigating the alleged leak of CIA officer Plame’s name by White House officials.

The disclosure of Plame’s identity by syndicated columnist Robert Novak in July 2003 triggered an inquiry that has caused political damage to the Bush White House and could still result in criminal charges against government officials.

The federal grand jury delving into the matter expires Oct. 28. Miller would have been freed at that time, but prosecutors could have pursued a criminal contempt of court charge against the reporter if she continued to defy Fitzgerald.

Of the reporters swept up in Fitzgerald’s investigation, Miller is the only one to go to jail. She was found in civil contempt of court on July 6.

Time reporter Matthew Cooper testified to the grand jury after his magazine surrendered his notes and e-mail detailing a conversation with presidential aide Karl Rove.

Last year, Cooper and NBC’s Tim Russert answered some of the prosecutor’s questions about conversations they had with Libby.

Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus also answered the prosecutor’s questions about a conversation with an unidentified administration official. Under the arrangements for his testimony, Pincus did not identify the official to the investigators, who already knew the official’s identity. Prosecutors also say they know the identity of Miller’s source.

My theory for a long time has been that Rove got it from Libby who got it from Miller who got it from one of the Plames or someone within earshot of them.

This seems to be Cindy’s day for spinning. This comes directly from our good friends at Cybercast News:

Mother Sheehan nobly lectures some reporters free of charge, after just having met with " war-monger " Sen. McCain.

Sheehan: ‘I Have to Pay My Bills, Too’
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Correspondent
September 28, 2005

College Park, MD (CNSNews.com) – Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan recently signed on with a speakers’ bureau, and her appearance on the lecture circuit drew mixed reaction Tuesday night, especially from her younger supporters at the University of Maryland.

Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in the Iraq war in 2004, took part in a discussion organized by the Democracy Collaborative, a university-sponsored group that works to "strengthen democracy" by addressing "democratic dilemmas in theoretical and practical ways," according to its website.

Sheehan left before the floor was opened to students for a question-and-answer session. Event moderator Gar Alperovitz, a professor at the university and the founder of the Democracy Collaborative, told students that Sheehan was not well. "She’s in the back and very, very ill and I think also upset so she’s not going to be coming back." He did not elaborate.

Before the event, Sheehan met with reporters to discuss her plans for the future. She said she didn’t think her contract with Speaking Matters LLC will distract from her message.

"This is a society where people make money doing what they do and I have to pay my bills, too," she told Cybercast News Service.

"I love doing this and I do it for free," Sheehan continued. She said she has been spending her own money to travel around the country in recent weeks to rally opposition to the war in Iraq.

Sheehan previously told Cybercast News Service that she was not taking money from organizations like MoveOn.org or private financiers like George Soros but that her recent 51-city bus tour was funded by "grassroots fundraising."

She said her contract with Speaking Matters, which has not yet disclosed how much a Sheehan appearance will cost, will help her "finally make some money …’cause Casey’s insurance money’s going to run out pretty soon." See Video

One student who supports Sheehan’s activism said she thinks "it’s admirable that she’s not making any money, it shows that her incentives are true."

The student, who identified herself only as Andrea, said "what she’s doing to bring attention to this cause, the fact that she’s actually doing it, overrides any of my very drastic disagreements with it [Sheehan getting paid]."

Andrea’s friend, Megan Hanford, said it makes sense that Sheehan would start charging for appearances. "She can’t work while she’s traveling the country," Hanford said, "and she’s lost any income that her son might have brought her."

Hanford added that "she’s not going to get rich off of these speaking engagements; it’s not going to make her a millionaire, you know, so it doesn’t change my view of her at all."

Another student, Justin Ahn, said he doesn’t necessarily support Sheehan, but that seeing her in person made him more sympathetic to her cause.

He said he has mixed feelings about Sheehan making money off her message. "It does kind of change my perception, but then again it does make sense as well," he said. "I guess everyone’s got to make a living somehow."

Bush supporter Jeff Roman was more hostile to Sheehan’s media attention and public speaking contract. "If you’re going to lose your son," Roman said sarcastically, "why not get 15 minutes of fame out of it."

Roman was one of dozens of Bush supporters at the event, which produced heated exchanges between College Republicans and anti-war activists outside the venue but remained civil during the speeches.

University of Maryland English professor Marilee Lindemann said she fully supports Sheehan making money from her speaking engagements. "She’s given extraordinarily of herself, of her time," she said, "and I will point out that she sacrificed her child in service to this country."

Lindemann added that she’d "be happy personally to pay her for what she’s doing and it doesn’t compromise in any way the cause."

Sheehan said she will speak mainly on college campuses because students are "going to have to pay for the billions of dollars that we’ve dumped into this war. [Students are] going to have to pay for the enemies that we’ve made into generations and generations."

She recalled the large student demonstrations against the Vietnam War years ago, and she said she’s encouraged that today’s college students are so involved in protesting the war, even though there is no draft.

Sheehan said her next goal is to establish a "Camp Casey D.C." near the White House, which she envisions as a permanent vigil until the troops come home.

Damn spoiled kids today:

One student who supports Sheehan’s activism said she thinks "it’s admirable that she’s not making any money, it shows that her incentives are true."

Used to be $30,000 for a five minute harangue was considered good money.

No apologies from Mother Sheehan, by way of the crackpot conspiracy mongers at BuzzFlash:

Why I Was Smiling and Hurricane Rita

by Cindy Sheehan

I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so.

First of all, I was having fun. I was with a group of good-humored, cheerful, happy people. We were singing old protest songs and old Sunday school songs and clapping. I felt I had to be cheerful to set the tone. We didn’t want any trouble or to do anything non-peaceful. Secondly, when I got arrested and the officers lifted me out I was afraid that America would see my underwear and that tickled me.

There is another and more important reason that I was smiling. I had not genuinely smiled since Casey was killed in Iraq.

I thought my hope was buried along with my son and I was in a pit of hopeless despair. Camp Casey gave me back my hope because America came out in huge numbers to support us and they raised their voices with ours in unison to take our country back and to hold this administration accountable for the lies and mistakes that are killing tens of thousands of innocent people. There were hundreds of thousands of regular Americans who came out to protest the war and Bush’s policies this past Saturday. Hundreds of faithful Americans turned out for our interfaith religious service Sunday night next to the Washington Monument. The so-called religious right doesn’t have a monopoly on God. I am so pleased that the people of America are becoming active participants in Democracy and America is ready to put their money where their collective mouths are: to bring our troops home and hold BushCo accountable. It is a wonderful thing to be doing something that makes a difference and it is a wonderful and miraculous thing to have my hope back. That is why I am smiling.

Now about Hurricane Rita: I woke up on Saturday morning filled with excitement. I knew that the rally and march were going to be amazing events and I was thrilled to be a part of them. I switched on the TV and turned on CNN and for 2 hours, I watched one of their reporters in front of the same downed tree and it wasn’t even raining. I knew that there was a hurricane and it was damaging. At the point of the news cycle though, I thought CNN could be covering other news. 40 soldiers have been killed this month so far in Iraq and countless Iraqis have been killed. The war is still going on and the news has been dominated by hurricanes and the terrible aftermaths. I actually think the mainstream media has been doing a good job of pointing out the dropped balls in the Gulf States. However, CNN and other mainstream news outlets ALWAYS report other news besides the illegal occupation of Iraq.

When we had hundreds of thousands of people turn out for protests all over the nation on March 19th, the 2nd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the Terry Schiavo fiasco was occurring. The Schiavo tragedy was bad for one family and I was in agony for them, but I found it hypocritical that Congress would rush into a special session to save one person’s lives when so many were being needlessly killed in Iraq partly because Congress abrogated their Constitutional responsibilities to declare war. I was also disappointed that that tragedy superseded the protest coverage. Wolf Blitzer called our protests "Insignificant."

Saturday was the most important event in peace history in decades. The numbers were underreported and the wonderful energy was unreported by the mainstream media. With the MSM there will always be something more important than covering the atrocity of Iraq: Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Terry Schiavo, The Runaway Bride, etc. It is time we hold our media accountable, too. Balanced coverage of all issues and some investigative reporting would be extremely refreshing.

I am sorry for what seemed to be an insensitive remark about the people who were affected by Rita, but that was not my intention. I am very aware that the failed policies of the Bush administration have all put us in the same boat, so to speak, and we need to take responsibility for righting the wrongs here in our country and in Iraq.

I don’t think I can be challenged for my analysis of the war and for what I say because it is all the truth and comes from my heart, so I have to be attacked for smiling. I won’t apologize for smiling, though, we are making a difference and that is definitely something to smile about!

So shut up, all you poo-poo heads!

Maybe those looks of orgasmic joy on Mother Sheehan’s face weren’t just in our pervy imaginings after all.

Once again, Cindy pours out her fulsome heart at the Howard Dean shill site, the Daily Kos:

My First Time

by Cindy Sheehan

Mon Sep 26th, 2005 at 16:04:44 PDT

The rumors are true this time. I was arrested in front of the White House today.

[Cindy is referring to the mistake where her arrest, which had been planned weeks in advance, was accidentally reported a day earlier than it actually happened.]

It was my first time ever being arrested.

[Cindy has tried to get herself arrested several times before in Washington, DC. But she was not a big enough name to get to the front of the line.]

We proceeded from Lafayette Park to the Guard House at the White House. I, my sister, and other Gold Star Families for Peace members and some Military Families requested to meet with the President again. We again wanted to know: What is the Noble Cause? Our request was, to our immense shock and surprise, denied. They wouldn’t even deliver any letters or pictures of our killed loved ones to the White House.

We all know by now why George won’t meet with parents of the soldiers he has killed who disagree with him.

[Of course Bush has already met with Cindy. He even kissed her. He has met with many of the parents of soldiers who have lost their lives. Unlike Clinton, he's never had any of them arrested for back-sassing him.]

First of all, he hates it when people disagree with him. I am not so sure he hates it as much as he is in denial that it even happens.

[Cindy will not answer anything but the most slavering questions. When any other are asked, she develops phone problems.]

Secondly, he is a coward who arrogantly refuses to meet with the people who pay his salary.

[This does not necessarily include Cindy, who has refused to pay her taxes since her son's death a year and a half ago. Mother Sheehan had previous tax liens for 1996 and 1998. The latter seems to have only been paid off by using the insurance from her son's death.]

Maybe the next time one of us is asked by our bosses to have a performance review, or we are going to be written up for a workplace infraction, we should refuse to go and talk to our bosses sighting [sic] the fact that the President doesn’t have to.

[From all reports, Cindy has never really held a job. It is said she was a "youth minister" for her church. She briefly held a job in a Napa Valley human services center. But she was fired from that for not showing up.]

The third reason why he won’t talk to us is the he knows there is no Noble Cause for the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq. It is a question that has no true answer.

[Except the many answers President has enunciated many times. Cindy probably can't remember back that far, but the Iraq war was even an issue in the last Presidential election.]

After we were refused a meeting with the Disconnected One, we went over to right in front of our house…the White House (behind the gate of course) and we sat down and refused to move until George came out and talked to us.

[Speaking of being disconnected, Cindy missed many if not most of her scheduled Support The Terroristsbus tour stops in the prior weeks. And she was often late to the ones she managed to make.]

We actually had a good time singing old church songs and old protest songs while we waited. I tied a picture of Casey on the White House fence and apparently, that is against the law, too. After three warnings to get up and move off of the sidewalk in front of our house, we were arrested.

[I suspect one of the songs Cindy and her friends sang was "We Shall Overcome." What do they seek to overcome? Resistance to terrorism? The fight against brutal oppression and dictators? They turn the meaning of that and most of the protest songs upside down.]

It is so ironic to me that the person who resides in our White House swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The person who is the (p)resident of the White House now has no concept of the Constitution.

[The laws restricting such protests have been many times litigated up through the courts, even to the Supreme Court, and found to be Constitutional.]

He was appointed by the Supreme Court for his first term, invaded and continues to occupy a sovereign country without a declaration of war from the Congress, and violated several treaties to actually invade, Iraq too. Not to mention the condoned torture that pervades the military prisons these days. These are all violations of the Constitution.

[Cindy seems to have no concept of our electoral system. She has no concept of history either. The Civil War was fought without a declaration of war, as have been most of our wars. I wonder if Cindy realizes that Congress passed a Iraq war resolution. And that the Iraq invasion was even authorized by the higher beings of the UN. Also, whatever the horrors of putting panties on the heads of foreign terrorists, there is nothing in the US Constitution that prevents it.]

The Patriot Act and denying us our rights to peaceably assemble are serious breaches of the Bill of Rights. George is so concerned about Iraq developing a Constitution and he ignores and shreds our own Constitution.

[Needless to say, Cindy has never read the Patriot Act. One also wonders how she feels about anti-abortionists and their right to assemble in front of abortion clinics?]

Being arrested is not a big deal. We were arrested for "demonstrating without a permit." We were protesting something that is much more serious than sitting on a sidewalk: the tragic and needless deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans (both in Iraq and here in America) who would be alive if it weren’t for the criminals who reside in and work in the White House.

[Cindy Sheehan should be arrested for slander, since she constantly calls our elected representatives and their appointed staff "criminals." This is especially rich coming from a woman who is up to her neck in the Veterans For PeaceKatrina relief fraud, which is currently under investigation by the Red Cross, the Louisiana Attorney General's Office and several law enforcement agencies.]

Karl Rove (besides just being a very creepy man) outted a CIA agent and was responsible for endangering many of our covert agents worldwide.

[Speaking of slander, this has not been proven. In fact, as it became clear it would more likely be proven false, our one party media lost interest. But they forgot to tell Cindy's handlers.]

Dick Cheney’s old company is reaping profits beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations in their no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans. John Negroponte’s activities in South America are very shady and murderous.

[The South America angle is a new one Cindy must have picked up over the weekend. It doesn't sound like her handlers have filled her in on much of the details yet.]

Rumsfeld and Gonzales are responsible for illegal and immoral authorization, encouragement and approval of torture. Not to mention, violating Geneva Conventions, torture endangers the lives of our service men and women in Iraq.

[More slander, just thrown out for the fun of it. Never mind that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to terrorists. Cindy has never read the Geneva Conventions either. Hopefully, someday she will find some time to discuss their fine points with her peacenik pal, Nick Berg's father.]

Along with the above mentioned traitors, Condi lied through her teeth in the insane run-up to the invasion. The list of crimes is extensive, abhorrent, and unbelievable. What is so unbelievable is that we were arrested for exercising our first amendment rights and these people are running free to enjoy their lives and wreak havoc on the world.

[Mother Sheehan calls the terrorists killing our soldiers in Iraq "freedom fighters." She helped raise $600,000 in funds and supplies for the terrorists in Fallujah. She wants to give money to soldiers to encourage them to desert. But she calls our elected representatives "traitors."]

The fine for Demonstrating Without a Permit is $75.00. I am certain that I won’t pay it.

[Not much of a surprise since she doesn't pay her taxes. It's certainly isn't for lack of money, what with her speakers bureau dates and the hundreds of thousands of dollars her VFP pals raised through their hurricane relief scam.]

My court date is November 16th. Any lawyers out there want to help me challenge an unconstitutional law??

[That's it, Cindy. You can still milk this a bit longer for a few more headlines. Keep pitching!]

The latest of our wannabe martyred mother, from those masters of objectivity at the Associated Press via their spiritual brethren at Al-Jazeera:

Sheehan Arrested During Anti-War Protest

Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who has used her son’s death in Iraq to spur the anti-war movement, was arrested Monday while protesting outside the White House.

Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the sidewalk after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests.

Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She stood up and was led to a police vehicle while protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching."

Sheehan’s 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in an ambush in Sadr City, Iraq, last year. She attracted worldwide attention last month with her 26-day vigil outside President Bush’s Texas ranch.

Sheehan was among several hundred demonstrators who marched around the White House on Monday and then stopped in front and began singing and chanting "Stop the war now!"

The demonstration is part of a broader anti-war effort on Capitol Hill organized by United for Peace and Justice, an umbrella group. Representatives from anti-war groups were meeting Monday with members of Congress to urge them to work to end the war and bring home the troops.

The protest following a massive demonstration Saturday on the National Mall that drew a crowd of 100,000 or more, the largest such gathering in the capital since the war began in March 2003.

On Sunday, a rally supporting the war drew roughly 500 participants. Speakers included veterans of World War II and the war in Iraq, as well as family members of soldiers killed in Iraq.

"I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters don’t be a group of unthinking lemmings. It’s not pretty," said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, W.Va., whose husband died in Iraq last year. The anti-war demonstrations "can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope."

No mention of ANSWER, or who the UFPJactually are. No mention of this being the plan all along, as this was long ago designated to be the day of massive "civil disobedience."

Note too that the AP is now parroting the lie of there having been "100,000 or more" at the Support The Terroristsrally. It’s almost as if our one party media wantsthe US to lose the war — a war we’ve already won. But that couldn’t be, could it?

But we all know this wasn’t a media stunt.

No way.

Update!

Enjoy actual video footage of Mother Sheehan’s agonizing arrest by Bush’s fascist jack-booted hirelings:

Hopefully, while the police have our hero mother in custody, they will question her about the hundreds of thousands of dollars she and the Veterans For Peace scammed under the guise of doing Katrina relief.

Probably Cindy wouldn’t be quite so giddy answering inquiries about her role in that despicable fraud.

Having just embarrassed herself among her fellow crackpots by complaining about losing media attention to hurricane Rita, Mother Sheehan burned the midnight oil to scribe yet another rant for the Howard Dean paid shill site, the Daily Kos.

The self-appointed saint didn't mean what she said before about being ignored. Suddenly, Cindy is now "content." After all, she now has the moral authority of the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as her sword and buckler.

However, Cindy does admit she is a clown, which would seem to be some progress:

We Don't Exist

Sat Sep 24th, 2005 at 21:04:25 PDT

by Cindy Sheehan

Last weekend, Karl Rove said that I was a clown and the antiwar movement was "non-existent." I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up today to protest this war and George's failed policies know that they don't exist. It is also so incredible to me that Karl thinks that he can wish us away by saying we aren't real. Well, Karl and Co., we are real, we do exist and we are not going away until this illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq is over and you are sent back to the depths of whatever slimy, dark, and loathsome place you came from. I may be a clown Karl, but you are about to be indicted. You also preside over one of the biggest three ring, malevolent circuses of all time: the Bush administration.

The rally today was overwhelming and powerful. The reports that I was arrested today were obviously false. The peace rally was mostly very peaceful. Washington, DC was filled with energetic and proud Americans who came from all over to raise their voices in unison against the criminals who run our government and their disastrous policies that our making our nation more vulnerable to all kinds of attacks (natural and "Bush" made disasters).

I led the march for peace along side such venerable activists as the Reverends Al Sharpton, Bob Edgars, and Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Julian Bond. Two of our Congresswomen with cajones from California: Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey also led the march.

Many people told me thank you for coming. I want to tell America "thank you!!" At the Camp Casey reunion this evening, I was so overcome with emotion and gratitude that I wanted to hug every citizen of this country. We in the Camp Casey movement are so proud and thrilled that America showed up in such great numbers.

So much happened today! I am exhausted but very content. I am again filled with a renewed sense of hope that we will get our country back and get our troops home. I was also thrilled at the number of young people who came out today. That is another great sign that the side of good is winning.

With the Reverends, we stopped in front of the White House and said a prayer. After the prayer, I said that we are light and they are darkness. Darkness can NEVER overcome the light, ever. As long as there is one spark, the darkness has lost. We will prevail, we will be victorious. The darkness has lost because our beacons of peace and truth are shining for the entire world to see. And it is a very pretty sight. Take that Karl.

By the way, look how eagerly Mother Sheehan promulgates yet another preposterous lie:

"I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up today to protest this war and George's failed policies know that they don't exist."

No, Cindy, none of these people beyond say 10-15,000 actually exist. Not even using Million Man Math.

As a point of reference, this is what a crowd of 100,000 people looks like. (The Los Angeles Coliseum, whose seating capacity is actually only 93,000.)

In fact yesterday's rally was about the same size or probably even less than the other rallies ANSWER has staged over the last few years.

Compare the photos from ANSWER's rally to a march that most agree reached into the hundreds of thousands, the lesbian baby-killers March for Women's Lives rally, held in April 2004.

By some accounts the MFWL was the largest rally ever to be held in Washington, or at least since the Vietnam War.

The Ellipse, where ANSWER held its Support The Terrorists rally, is a relatively small space, especially compared to the rest of The National Mall.

You will note that the MFWL crowd completely overflowed the entire Mall, an area many times larger than the Ellipse.

But what's another lie when you are overcoming darkness?

Mother Sheehan has taken the time out of her otherwise busy day, lecturing the nation and canoodling with the Reverend Jackson, to tell us we should pay attention to her and not to hurricane Rita.

From the Howard Dean paid shill site, the Daily Kos :

Floodwaters surround damaged homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita Sunday, Sept. 25, 2005 in Cameron, La.

rita ( 3.33 / 3 )

i am watching cnn and it is 100 percent rita…even though it is a little wind and a little rain…it is bad, but there are other things going on in this country today…and in the world!!!!

byCindySheehan onSat Sep 24th, 2005 at 06:29:15 PDT
[ Parent ]

That’s kinda understandable ( 4.00 / 2 ) Rita is just a chicken coming home to roost. And it’s a big chicken. Unfortunately, the other chickens are still coming. byPtolemy onSat Sep 24th, 2005 at 06:35:16 PDT [ Parent ]

 

CSPAN planning to broadcast ( none / 1 ) beginning at 11:30 ET Here byMichael Alton Gottlieb onSat Sep 24th, 2005 at 07:40:40 PDT [ Parent ] It’s On Now. ( none / 0 ) byKdoug onSat Sep 24th, 2005 at 08:50:17 PDT [ Parent ]

 

Shame ( none / 1 ) it is 100 percent rita…even though it is a little wind and a little rain I’m in Southeast Texas with family on the coast and in Lake Jackson, LA. I’d like you to tell us it’s just a little wind and rain. They’ve lost their homes, jobs and businesses and gone through fear and panic while you bask in your fan’s adulation, party with your celebrity friends and play the star. Shame on you, you’re jealous of media coverage of other’s suffering. You’ve become a caricature and I no longer support you. I’m ashamed I ever did. byhibsnet onSat Sep 24th, 2005 at 18:19:40 PDT [ Parent ] i am sorry ( none / 1 ) when i was watching cnn this morning, that’s what it was…i know it was much worse earlier and it was devastating, i didn’t make myself clear and i apologize. i also know that the media will cover anything else besides the war. byCindySheehan onSat Sep 24th, 2005 at 20:08:28 PDT [ Parent ] Before today I would have just believed you, but.. ( 4.00 / 3 ) Cindy, these posts have time stamps. when i was watching cnn this morning, that’s what it was Four hours before your post, the eye hit just east of Port Arthur and west of Lake Charles. Between then and two hours after your post, hurricane force winds were tearing through Beaumont and Orange, TX and all through Vermillion Parrish, LA.. Imagine, if you can, what was happening to those poor people while you were watching tv and getting upset about them covering "a little wind and a little rain" rather than your special day. it was devastating earlier And during. And after. You might also realize that the people in a hurricane’s wake don’t suddenly get happy and whole an hour after the eye passes over. It’s still not a little wind and a little rain to them. Do you know they are still very afraid down there – right now, Cindy, trying to find 1,000 people lost in Vermillion as I type.. You can find the story now on CNN’s website. I’m very sorry, it’s slightly above the story about you – that’s just so unfair too isn’t it. i also know that the media will cover anything

Sorry, but I just can’t resist wallowing in the images from today’s Support The Terrorists rally:

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, center, blows a kiss as she is surrounded by supporters and her private security detail during an anti-war protest march, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005, in Washington.

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, California (C) waves as she takes part in an anti-war march with Rev. Jesse Jackson (2nd L) and American folk singer Joan Baez (blue shirt, next to Sheehan), through the streets of Washington D.C. September 24, 2005.

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan (centre R) of Vacaville, California, and Reverend Jesse Jackson take part in a protest march to end the war in Iraq, in Washington, September 24, 2005.

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan (2nd L) of Vacaville, California, smiles at supporters as she takes part in an anti-war protest march with the Rev. Jesse Jackson (L), her sister Dede Myers (3rd L) and U.S. folk singer Joan Baez (4th L, blue shirt) through the streets of Washington, September 24, 2005.

Cindy’s so happy she forgot to cry.

I wonder if Mother Sheehan and the Reverend Jackson compared notes on how to scam people out of money. Maybe Cindy could teach the master a thing or two.

I don’t think even Jesse has thought to use hurricanes as a way to raise money for himself yet.

Below is a three year old article by the avowed socialist editor for The Nation, David Corn. In it Corn points out the background of the organizers of today’s ANSWER rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.

Those speaking at the demonstration today are much the same speakers who are always appear at these ANSWER rallies.

Apart from newly arrived star, Cindy Sheehan and her pals, felony ex-con racist Moslem, Malik Rahim, the rabidly anti-Semitic Hadi Jawad, and the convicted terrorist abettor Lynne Stewart – this is the same roster as has appeared at every other prior ANSWER rally. Such as at Bush’s 2005 inaugural.

But as Corn and others point out, ANSWER is a front for the Communist Workers World Party.

As described by Corn, the WWP is "a small political sect that years ago split from the Socialist Workers Party to support the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. The party advocates socialist revolution and abolishing private property. It is a fan of Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba, and it hails North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il for preserving his country’s ’socialist system.‘"

One of today’s listed speakers, Dolores Huerta, left, received the CPUSA’s “Red Flame Award” for outstanding progressive leadership. The award’s name is based on the nickname of Anne Burlak Timpson, an outstanding labor organizer and leader of the CPUSA. (From the Peoples Weekly World.)

Behind the Placards

The odd and troubling origins of today’s anti-war movement
by David Corn

NOVEMBER 1 – 7, 2002

FREE MUMIA. FREE THE CUBAN 5. FREE JAMIL AL-AMIN (that’s H. Rap Brown, the former Black Panther convicted in March of killing a sheriff’s deputy in 2000). And free Leonard Peltier. Also, defeat Zionism. And, while we’re at it, let’s bring the capitalist system to a halt.

When tens of thousands of people gathered near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for an anti-war rally and march in Washington last Saturday, the demands hurled by the speakers extended far beyond the call for no war against Iraq. Opponents of the war can be heartened by the sight of people coming together in Washington and other cities for pre-emptive protests. But demonstrations such as these are not necessarily strategic advances, for the crowds are still relatively small and, more importantly, the message is designed by the far left for consumption by those already in their choir.

In a telling sign of the organizers’ priorities, the cause of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the taxi driver/radical journalist sentenced to death two decades ago for killing a policeman, drew greater attention than the idea that revived and unfettered weapons inspections should occur in Iraq before George W. Bush launches a war. Few of the dozens of speakers, if any, bothered suggesting a policy option regarding Saddam Hussein other than a simplistic leave-Iraq-alone. Jesse Jackson may have been the only major figure to acknowledge Saddam’s brutality, noting that the Iraqi dictator “should be held accountable for his crimes.” What to do about Iraq? Most speakers had nothing to say about that. Instead, the Washington rally was a pander fest for the hard left.

If public-opinion polls are correct, 33 percent to 40 percent of the public opposes an Iraq war; even more are against a unilateral action. This means the burgeoning anti-war movement has a large recruiting pool, yet the demo was not intended to persuade doubters. Nor did it speak to Americans who oppose the war but who don’t consider the United States a force of unequaled imperialist evil and who don’t yearn to smash global capitalism.

This was no accident, for the demonstration was essentially organized by the Workers World Party, a small political sect that years ago split from the Socialist Workers Party to support the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. The party advocates socialist revolution and abolishing private property. It is a fan of Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba, and it hails North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il for preserving his country’s “socialist system,” which, according to the party’s newspaper, has kept North Korea “from falling under the sway of the transnational banks and corporations that dictate to most of the world.” The WWP has campaigned against the war-crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. A recent Workers World editorial declared, “Iraq has done absolutely nothing wrong.”

Officially, the organizer of the Washington demonstration was International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism). But ANSWER is run by WWP activists, to such an extent that it seems fair to dub it a WWP front. Several key ANSWER officials — including spokesperson Brian Becker — are WWP members. Many local offices for ANSWER’s protest were housed in WWP offices. Earlier this year, when ANSWER conducted a press briefing, at least five of the 13 speakers were WWP activists. They were each identified, though, in other ways, including as members of the International Action Center.

The IAC, another WWP offshoot, was a key partner with ANSWER in promoting the protest. It was founded by Ramsey Clark, attorney general for President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s. For years, Clark has been on a bizarre political odyssey, much of the time in sync with the Workers World Party. As an attorney, he has represented Lyndon LaRouche, the leader of a political cult. He has defended Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic and Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, who was accused of participating in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Clark is also a member of the International Committee To Defend Slobodan Milosevic. The international war-crimes tribunal, he explains, “is war by other means” — that is, a tool of the West to crush those who stand in the way of U.S. imperialism, like Milosevic. A critic of the ongoing sanctions against Iraq, Clark has appeared on talking-head shows and refused to concede any wrongdoing on Saddam’s part. There is no reason to send weapons inspectors to Iraq, he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “After 12 years of brutalization with sanctions and bombing they’d like to be a country again. They’d like to have sovereignty again. They’d like to be left alone.”

It is not redbaiting to note the WWP’s not-too-hidden hand in the nascent anti-war movement. It explains the tone and message of Saturday’s rally. Take the question of inspections. According to Workers World, at a party conference in September, Sara Flounders, a WWP activist, reported war opponents were using the slogan “inspections, not war.” Flounders, the paper says, “pointed out that ‘inspections ARE war’ in another form,” and that she had “prepared party activists to struggle within the movement on this question.” Translation: The WWP would do whatever it could to smother the “inspections, not war” cry. Inspections-before-invasion is an effective argument against the dash to war. But it conflicts with WWP support for opponents of U.S. imperialism. At the Washington event, the WWP succeeded in blocking out that line — while promoting anti-war messages more simpatico with its dogma.

WWP shaped the demonstration’s content by loading the speakers’ list with its own people. None, though, were identified as belonging to the WWP. Larry Holmes, who emceed much of the rally from a stage dominated by ANSWER posters, was introduced as a representative of the ANSWER Steering Committee and the International Action Center. The audience was not told that he is also a member of the secretariat of the Workers World Party. When Leslie Feinberg spoke and accused Bush of concocting a war to cover up “the capitalist economic crisis,” she informed the crowd that she is “a Jewish revolutionary” dedicated to the “fight against Zionism.” When I asked her what groups she worked with, she replied that she was a “lesbian-gay-bi-transgender movement activist.” Yet a May issue of Workers World describes Feinberg as a “lesbian and transgendered communist and a managing editor of Workers World.” The WWP’s Sara Flounders, who urged the crowd to resist “colonial subjugation,” was presented as an IAC rep. Shortly after she spoke, Holmes introduced one of the event’s big-name speakers: Ramsey Clark. He declared that the Bush administration aims to “end the idea of individual freedom.”

Most of the protesters, I assume, were oblivious to the WWP’s role in the event. They merely wanted to gather with other foes of the war and express their collective opposition. They waved signs (“We need an Axis of Sanity,” “Draft Perle,” “Collateral Damage = Civilian Deaths,” “Fuck Bush”). They cheered on rappers who sang, “No blood for oil.” They laughed when Medea Benjamin, the head of Global Exchange, said, “We need to stop the testosterone-poisoning of our globe.” They filled red ANSWER donation buckets with coins and bills. But how might they have reacted if Holmes and his comrades had asked them to stand with Saddam, Milosevic and Kim? Or to oppose further inspections in Iraq?

One man in the crowd was wise to the behind-the-scenes politics. When Brian Becker, a WWP member introduced (of course) as an ANSWER activist, hit the stage, Paul Donahue, a middle-aged fellow who works with the Thomas Merton Peace and Social Justice Center in Pittsburgh, shouted, “Stalinist!” Donahue and his colleagues at the Merton Center, upset that WWP activists were in charge of this demonstration, had debated whether to attend. “Some of us tried to convince others to come,” Donahue recalled. “We figured we could dilute the [WWP] part of the message. But in the end most didn’t come. People were saying, ‘They’re Maoists.’ But they’re the only game in town, and I’ve got to admit they’re good organizers. They remembered everything but the Porta-Johns.” Rock singer Patti Smith, though, was not troubled by the organizers. “My main concern now is the anti-war movement,” she said before playing for the crowd. “I’m for a nonpartisan, globalist movement. I don’t care who it is as long as they feel the same.”

The WWP does have the shock troops and talent needed to construct a quasi mass demonstration. But the bodies have to come from elsewhere. So WWPers create fronts and trim their message, and anti-war Americans, who presumably don’t share WWP sentiments, have an opportunity to assemble and register their stand against the war. At the same time, WWP activists, hiding their true colors, gain a forum where thousands of people listen to their exhortations. Is this a good deal — or a dangerous one? Who’s using whom?

“Organizing against the silence is important,” Bob Borosage, executive director of Campaign for America’s Future, a leading progressive policy shop in Washington, said backstage at the rally: “This [rally] is easy to dismiss as the radical fringe, but it holds the potential for a larger movement down the road.” Borosage did add that the WWP “puts a slant on the speakers and that limits the appeal to others. But history shows that protests are organized first by militant, radical fringe parties and then get taken over by more centrist voices as the movement grows. They provide a vessel for people who want to protest.”

That’s the vessel-half-filled view. The other argument is that WWP’s involvement will prevent the anti-war movement from growing. Sure, the commies can rent buses and obtain parade permits, but if they have a say in the message, as they have had, the anti-war movement is going to have a tough time signing up non-lefties. When the organizers tried and failed to play a recorded message from Al-Amin, Lorena Stackpole, a 20-year-old New York University student, said, “This is not what I came for.” And an organizer for a non-revolutionary peace group that participated in the event remarked, “The rhetoric here is not useful if we want to expand.” After all, how does urging the release of Cubans accused of committing espionage in the United States — a pet project of the WWP — help draw more people into the anti-war movement? (In a similar reds-take-control situation, the “Not in My Name” campaign — which pushes an anti-war statement signed by scores of prominent and celebrity lefties, including Jane Fonda, Martin Luther King III, Marisa Tomei, Kurt Vonnegut and Oliver Stone — has been directed, in part, by C. Clark Kissinger, a longtime Maoist activist and member of the Revolutionary Communist Party.)

Let’s be real: A Washington demonstration involving tens of thousands of people will not yield much political impact — especially when held while Congress is out of town and the relevant legislation has already been rubber-stamped. (The organizers claimed 200,000 showed, but that seemed a pumped-up guesstimate, perhaps three or four times the real number.) The anti-war movement won’t have a chance of applying pressure on the political system unless it becomes much larger and able to squeeze elected officials at home and in Washington.

To reach that stage, the new peace movement will need the involvement of labor unions and churches. That’s where the troops are — in the pews, in the union halls. How probable is it, though, that mainstream churches and unions will join a coalition led by the we-love-North-Korea set? Moreover, is it appropriate for groups and churches that care about human rights and worker rights abroad and at home to make common cause with those who champion socialist tyrants?

At the rally, speaker after speaker declared, “We are the real Americans.” But most “real Americans” do not see a direct connection between Mumia, the Cuban Five and the war against Iraq. Jackson, for one, exclaimed, “This time the silent majority is on our side.” If the goal is to bring the silent majority into the anti-war movement, it’s not going to be achieved by people carrying pictures of Kim Jong-Il — even if they keep them hidden in their wallets.

As yet another WWP-in-disguise speaker addressed the crowd, Steve Cobble, a progressive political consultant, gazed out at the swarm of protesters and observed, “People are looking for something to do.” Good for them. But they ought to also look at the leaders they are following and wonder if those individuals will guide them toward a broader, more effective movement or toward the fringe irrelevance the WWPers know so well.

It’s a blind squirrel acorn moment for sure, but give David Corn some credit for doing what our "watchdog" media refuses to do: admit that these people are professional Communist agitators.

ANSWER is no grassroots organization. These people are the lickspittle dupes and hirelings of some of the worst cut-throat thugs in the history of mankind.

From the American Chronicle, which would appear to be yet another organ of the CPUSA/Democrat Party:

Introduction of Cindy Sheehan, Recipient of Pacifica Radio’s Unvarnished Truth Award

By David Swanson

September 24, 2005

I came to know Cindy Sheehan in May, and – like most people – I immediately loved her. She is a very friendly and loving person, and you cannot work on a project with her without being constantly reminded of what it is all about, how important it is, how right it is.

Cindy does not talk about peace movement strategy as if she were working on any old project. She talks about the urgent need to end the vile crimes of the greedy bastards who sent her son to die so that they could grow rich on his flesh and blood. This is Cindy’s language that I am repeating.

Cindy’s directness is – for many people — not off-putting when she speaks it, because it is so recognizably honest. She presents her personal story and her analysis of the war with absolutely no fear. She gives us, in fact, the truth without varnish. And last month she proved that even the corporate media can be attracted to such confrontational truth in a way that it never is attracted to the sort of moderate muddle more often counseled by PR pros and political advisors.

Early on during her protest in Texas, Cindy had a reporter tell her that her story was only taking off because it was a slow news week. She asked whether they thought two dozen American kids dying in Iraq was slow news. "Well, you know what I mean," came the response. "No, I don’t," said Cindy. And she didn’t, and she didn’t want to learn to.

Cindy’s son, Casey, was killed on April 4, the same date on which the person Cindy quotes more than any other was assassinated: Martin Luther King, Jr. Like King, Cindy asks us to refuse to be comfortable with accepted and respectable crimes against humanity. Cindy does not ask politely why the war isn’t run better. She asks why Bush does not encourage his daughters to go.

The first place I heard Cindy give a speech was at the University of DC on June 3rd. She said then, that while 5 Republicans had voted for Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s amendment calling for an exit strategy, 40 percent of the Democrats in the House had not. Woolsey asked one why they didn’t vote with her, Cindy said, and they told her that they voted ‘No’ out of respect for those (Americans) who had died.

"That’s the talk of the bastards who got us into this war," Cindy said. Cindy spoke calmly and deliberately, but always referred to the president as "the lying bastard."

"The evidence is overwhelming," she said, "that the lying bastard lied about the justification for invading Iraq. Now that the smoking gun is burning in our hands, we need a vote for articles of impeachment."

We still don’t have that, but on June 16th, Congressman John Conyers held hearings, and we activists held a rally at the White House to call attention to the Downing Street Memo, to which Cindy was referring. One of the four witnesses to testify at that hearing was Cindy Sheehan. She spoke powerfully of how it felt to see clear evidence that Bush had lied about the reasons he sent her son to die.

That moment in mid-June was a high-point in media coverage of questioning of Bush’s war lies, but it didn’t come anywhere near what we dreamed of. It didn’t approach the sort of saturation coverage that is generally reserved for a Michael Jackson trial or a missing teenage white girl. Action progressed in Congress, but the media turned away. The Washington Post published an article mocking Congressman Conyers’ hearings and editorialized that the Downing Street Memo showed nothing new. Thousands of people Emailed and phoned to complain, and some held a protest at the Post’s offices. The Post reversed course and printed a front page article. The leader of the protest down on 15th Street was Cindy Sheehan.

Two months later, what we’d all dreamed of happened: an unprecedented progressive breakthrough into the mainstream echo chamber. This came when Cindy decided to walk up to Bush’s ranch and try to get herself arrested. This was Cindy’s idea. Various organizations that were later accused of manipulating her would have certainly advised against this. She dragged a number of them into clearer opposition to the war, and then produced for them the largest events they’d ever been part of. She drove the agenda, not the other way around. And she and those inspired by her created in Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas, a community of activists who returned to their communities around the country ready to work as passionately as Cindy to end this war.

And when the fame came, the only thing Cindy lost was the cursing. She took advice, but she stuck to her guns. And she gracefully handled a flood of unsolicited recommendations and proposals, bitter petty rivalries, right wing smear campaigns, family emergencies, and grueling hours. Through all of this she became the leader of a movement, and did so in a way that few others could have handled. Cindy demanded in a voice loud enough for the nation to hear that the war end immediately. And Cindy is able to do this without seeming irrationally impatient: she makes clear that she does not want a single additional mother to go through what she has.

While working the corporate media, Cindy has never stopped criticizing it, and has never dropped her focus on the value of independent and progressive media on the radio and internet. Cindy’s combative approach has forced the anti-war movement onto the radar of major media conglomerates that profit from war. If they give honest coverage to the events of this coming weekend, much of the credit for that must go to Cindy Sheehan.

David Swanson is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA.

And for a sterling example of Mother Sheehan’s award-winning veracity, one needs go no further than this exchange with possum-boy Anderson Vanderbilt Cooper on CNN’s 360 Degrees:

COOPER: You were also quoted as saying, "My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you’ll stop the terrorism." How responsible do you believe Israel is for the amount of terrorism in the world?

SHEEHAN: I didn’t say that.

COOPER: You didn’t say that? OK.

SHEEHAN: I didn’t — I didn’t say — I didn’t say that my son died for Israel. I’ve never said that. I saw somebody wrote that and it wasn’t my words. Those aren’t even words that I would say.

I do believe that the Palestinian issue is a hot issue that needs to be solved and it needs to be more fair and equitable but I never said my son died for Israel.

COOPER: OK, I’m glad I asked you that because, you know, as you know, there’s tons of stuff floating around on the Internet on sites of all political persuasions.

SHEEHAN: I know and that’s not — yes.

COOPER: So, I’m glad we had the opportunity to clear that.

SHEEHAN: Yes, and thank you because those are not my words. Those aren’t — that doesn’t even sound like me saying that.

COOPER: OK. I’m very glad we got that…

SHEEHAN: And I have read it. I have read it. I’m glad you did too.

Of course this is a lie, as proven by the usenet posts discussed here. Our hero mother’s claims that her email had been tampered with was put to bed to here.

But as we students of Sheehan have long since realized, Cindy is quite challenged when it comes from separating fact from her dark fantasies.

That the professional disinformationalists at tax-payer supported Radio Pacifica would honor a pathological liar is hilariously telling.

And her paid Commie cohorts.

From the Charlotte Observer:

Top Dems leave as protest nears

Party split between anti-war activists and prominent critics

Fri, Sep. 23, 2005

STEVEN THOMMA

WASHINGTON As the anti-war movement arrives in Washington this weekend, many Democrats are leaving.

Nationally known Democratic war critics, including Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and John Kerry of Massachusetts, won’t attend what sponsors say will be a big anti-war rally Saturday in Washington.

Today’s leading Democrats head a party divided over the war, and many leaders are wary of standing with anti-war activists, who represent much of the party’s base. The divide between anti-war activists and Democratic leaders underscores a challenge the party faces in the 2006 congressional elections and beyond.

En route to Washington for the rally, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan protested outside Clinton’s New York office. "She knows that the war is a lie, but she is waiting for the right time to say it," Sheehan said. "You say it or you are losing your job."

Spokesmen for the Democrats who are skipping the anti-war event all said they had schedule conflicts. But some leading anti-war activists aren’t buying it.

"There are a lot of people here who are wondering, where are the Democrats?" said Tom Andrews, a former Democratic House member from Maine who’s now the national director of Win Without War.

"The Democratic Party has an identity crisis on this issue. We need voices. We need leadership," Andrews said. "But fear is driving them."

Fear of what? Cindy and her merry band insist they are in the majority. They claim that 62% of the citizenry want our troops to surrender to the terrorists.

They wouldn’t lie to us, would they?

What’s this? From the Associated Press:

Half Katrina Refugees Have Records
Thursday, September 22, 2005

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, federal officials flew Brian Murph and more than 100 other victims to Rhode Island. They were greeted by the governor and cheered by residents.

Then the handcuffs were placed on Murph.

State police did criminal background checks on every refugee and found that more than half had a criminal arrest records — a third for felonies. Murph was the only one with an outstanding arrest warrant, for larceny and other crimes.

Around the nation, state and local authorities are checking refugees’ pasts as they are welcomed into homes, schools, houses of worship and housing projects. In some states, half the refugees have rap sheets.

"It’s a balancing act," said Kyle Smith, deputy director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. "We don’t want to treat them like criminals after they have been traumatized, but we want to make sure they are in no danger nor the families they are housed with."

Civil libertarians call the checks thinly veiled race and class discrimination against people who have suffered already. The checks are made on those evacuated or forced to seek help from charities or others — in other words, people who are often black and poor.

You could knock me over with a feather. Of course society is to blame. ®

Given Cindy Sheehan’s million dollar ad campaign, and that she will be the star of the upcoming "Support The Terrorists" rally on the Ellipse in DC, it is perhaps timely to once again review some of her past pronouncements:

On America

"We began the killing as soon as we stepped foot on these shores [of America] and the killing has gone on unabated for over 200 years."

"There has always been excuses for wars, but NONE of them have been good or valid."  

http://tinyurl.com/7rzr3

"I was raised in a country by a public school system that taught us that America was good, that America was just. America has been killing people, like my sister over here says, since we first stepped on this continent, we have been responsible for death and destruction. I passed on that bullshit to my son and my son enlisted. I’m going all over the country telling moms: ‘This country is not worth dying for.’

I would never have let [Casey] go and try and defend this morally repugnant system we have. The people are good, the system is morally repugnant.

They’re a bunch of f**king hypocrites! And we need to, we just need to rise up. We need a revolution!"

http://tinyurl.com/dd9g3

On 9/11

"9/11 was Pearl Harbor for the neo-conservatives’ agenda."

http://tinyurl.com/b4pb7

On The Jewish Plot

"Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel."

"My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel."

"Am I stupid? No, I know full-well that my son, my family, this nation, and this world were betrayed by a George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agenda after 9/11."

http://tinyurl.com/8jcbw

"[My son] was killed for a neo-con agenda that only benefits a very chosen few in this world. This agenda and their war machine will chew up and spit out as many of our children as they can unless we stop them now.

We should not let Israel/USA invade Syria or Iran."

http://tinyurl.com/avwer

"George Bush and his neo-conservatives killed my son."

http://tinyurl.com/b4pb7

On Abu Ghraib

"In addition, my son was killed after L. Paul Bremer inflamed the Shi’a by taking away their tv station and newspapers. The Abu Ghraib scandal was about to break in America…but it was well known by the Iraqi people that their citizens were being tortured and defiled in the prisons. My son was a sitting duck by the time 04/04/04 rolled around."

http://tinyurl.com/8h3mw

On Administration Officials

"Is there yet an American who can not clearly see that Dick Cheney…will say whatever he thinks is required to ultimately cause wealth and power to move to himself and to his friends? …need I defile this holy place with words like "Haliburton" and "Kellog, Brown & Root" and "torture" and "US weapons industry"?"

Is there anyone in America who cannot yet see that Donald Runsfeld is a liar…that he, as with Hitler and Stalin….will say anything so long as he thinks it will help shape the world to his own liking? Is there even one, sane adult among us who cannot see that Donald Rumsfeld is a threat to our nation’s security and to peace on our beloved earth? 

"As soft-spoken and sincere-sounding as Paul Wolfowitz is, is there yet any sane adult in this country who’s skin does not crawl when this murderous liar opens his mouth and speaks? Am I the only person in this room who clearly sees that Paul Wolfowitz is a threat to our nation’s security…and to peace on our beloved earth?"

http://tinyurl.com/bfpvw

On Our Elected Leaders

"Our country has been overtaken by murderous thugs…gangsters who lust after fortunes and power; never caring that their addictions are at the expense of our loved ones, and the blood of innocent people near and far."

"We’ve watched these thugs parade themselves before the whole world as if they are courageous advocates for Christian moral values…and for the spread of democracy."

"The US government is now ruled by murderous hypocrites…criminals who should be arrested, charged appropriately, confined behind bars."

"In their secret hiding places, while celebrating newly won fortunes with their fellow brass, these men must surely congratulate themselves with orgies of carnal pleasure as they mock the dwindling multitudes who are yet so blind as to mistake them for God’s devoted servants."

http://tinyurl.com/bfpvw

"Every member of Bush’s executive branch (past and present) and every member of Congress who voted to give George the authority to invade Iraq have innocent blood on their hands. For the next State of the Union address, maybe the hypocrites in Congress should shamefacedly display blood-soaked hands, instead of proudly wriggling fingers stained with ink to symbolize sham Iraqi elections."

http://tinyurl.com/9vudv

"Then we have this lying bastard, George Bush…"

"So anyway that filth-spewer and warmonger, George Bush was speaking…"

"We can’t let somebody rise to the top who will pardon these war criminals. Because they need to go to prison for what they’ve done in this world. We can’t have a pardon. They need to pay for what they’ve done."

http://tinyurl.com/d8s7q

"Congress gave away their responsibilities to declare war to someone they knew was a maniac. And they did it anyway."

"[Bush] violates the Constitution every time he opens his mouth."

http://tinyurl.com/bto9d

"We’re watching you [Bush] very carefully and we’re going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people. Beating a political stake in your black heart will be the fulfillment of my life."

http://tinyurl.com/9va7t

"Every person who has been killed since the sham [2004] elections–that is innocent blood on the hands of Congress. They need to pull back the financing, they need to take away the authority from the maniacs who rule our country. The Neo-Con maniacs who rule our country need to have the authority taken away from them."

http://tinyurl.com/c6v5g

"George Bush has been an incompetent failure his entire life. Fortunately, for humanity, he was just partying his way through school, running companies into the ground and being an alcoholic and cocaine abuser for most of that time… Now, though, his incompetence affects the world and is responsible for so many deaths and so much destruction. Innocent people are dying daily in this world. In the crush of the hurricane story, the fact that 950 people (mostly women and children) were trampled to death in Iraq was buried in the back sections. Those are 950 people who would still be alive if George Bush were not president. 950 people in Iraq and how many thousands in the Gulf States died while the emperor strummed a guitar and knocked a golf ball around? I really believe that George and his band of incompetent and dangerous thugs need to resign. It would be the only honorable and competent thing to do."

http://tinyurl.com/8r25s

On Iraq’s Elected Leaders

"And if [Bush] says we have to get a government in place [in Iraq], I say ‘how many hands do you have, to pull everybody’s string?’ You know that is a puppet government. A sham government. It’s people who encouraged the invasion so they could get rich. They are feeding off of our children’s flesh and blood."

http://tinyurl.com/bto9d

On The Reason For The Iraq War

"So it is official, Casey had his blood shed in Iraq for OIL. He died so we could pay over 3.00/gallon for gas. Like I suspected all along, my dear, sweet son: almost 1900 others; and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis died so the oil fields wouldn’t "fall into the hands of terrorists" and so George and his immoral band of greedy robber barons could become wealthier. Like I have said all along: how can these people sleep at night and how can they choke down their food knowing it is purchased off of the flesh and blood of others? We have found our "Noble Cause." And it is OIL."

http://tinyurl.com/czqb3

On Paying Taxes

"Another thing that I’m doing is – - my son was killed in 2004, so I’m not paying my taxes for 2004. If I get a letter from the IRS, I’m gonna say, you know what, this war is illegal; this is why this war is illegal. This war is immoral; this is why this war is immoral. You killed my son for this. I don’t owe you anything. And if I live to be a million, I won’t owe you a penny."

"And I want them to come after me, because unlike what you’ve been doing with the war resistance, I want to put this frickin’ war on trial. And I want to say, ‘You give me my son, and I’ll pay your taxes.’"

http://tinyurl.com/d8s7q

On Terrorism

"You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you’ll stop the terrorism."

http://tinyurl.com/869p6

"When I was growing up, it was Communists’. Now it’s Terrorists’. So you always have to have somebody to fight and be afraid of, so the war machine can build more bombs, guns, and bullets and everything."

http://tinyurl.com/d8s7q

"The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush."

http://tinyurl.com/b4pb7

On Freedom Fighters

"We have decimated [Iraq], the borders are open. Freedom Fighters from other countries are going in. And they have created more terrorism by going into an Islamic country, devastating the country and killing innocent people in that country.

Terrorism is growing. And people who never thought of being car bombers, suicide bombers are now doing it because they want the United States of America out of their country."

http://tinyurl.com/e3k3z

On US Soldiers

"People tell you 1,524 American soldiers [have died]. But that is only the soldiers who die in country. If they get one foot on the helicopter, or they die at Walter Reed, or Wiesbaden, Germany–they’re not counted. The low estimate for our own losses is 4,000. It’s hard enough being the mother of a soldier who counts. I can’t imagine being the mother of a dead soldier that doesn’t count."

http://tinyurl.com/c6v5g

"I DEFINITELY think that we should support war resisters in the military. "

"I know several people who are being court-martialed, and they need support–they need monetary support, they need our moral support, and they need to know that we’re with them."

"We need to encourage more people to do this. "

http://tinyurl.com/dh7ev

On Other Gold Star Moms

"I have been silent on the Gold Star Moms who still support this man and his war by saying that they deserve the right to their opinions because they are in as much pain as I am. I would challenge them, though, at this point to start thinking for themselves… I am starting to lose a little compassion for them. I know they have been as brainwashed as the rest of America, but they know the pain and heartache and they should not wish it on another. However, I still feel their pain so acutely and pray for these "continue the murder and mayhem" moms to see the light."

  http://tinyurl.com/8vxvg

On Hurricane Katrina

"Well, George and I are leaving Crawford today. George is finished playing golf and telling his fables in San Diego, so he will be heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have caused. Recovery would be easier and much quicker if almost ½ of the three states involved National Guard were not in Iraq. All of the National Guard’s equipment is in Iraq also. Plus, with the 2 billion dollars a week that the private contractors are siphoning from our treasury, how are we going to pay for helping our own citizens in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama? And, should I dare say "global warming?" and be branded as a "conspiracy theorist" on top of everything else the reich-wingers say about me."

http://tinyurl.com/czqb3

"What Bush’s Katrina shows once again is that my son died for nothing. If you listen to Bush –- and fewer and fewer are, thank goodness — we are in Iraq in part due to 9/11. All our president has been talking about has been protecting this country since 9/11. That’s why people voted for him in the last election. Katrina shows it’s all as sham, a fraud, a disaster as large as Katrina itself.

Hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of innocent lives wasted. What have we achieved? Nothing. Casey died for nothing and Bush says others have to die for those that have died already."

http://tinyurl.com/czcue

"If George Bush truly listened to God and read the words of the Christ, Iraq and the devastation in New Orleans would have never happened.

George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power."

http://tinyurl.com/94qhe

"The Camp Casey movement has been struggling with how best we can help the government ravaged people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas…

The unnecessary tragedy in New Orleans is directly related to the unnecessary tragedy in Iraq: Unnecessary being the operative word."

http://tinyurl.com/8r25s

"If [Bush] says he is making America safer, I say ‘ask the people in New Orleans if they feel safe.’"

http://tinyurl.com/bto9d

On Concern For Others

"Why does Terry Schiavo deserve to live more than my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan?"

http://tinyurl.com/9vudv

On Brain Damage

"When they came and told me that my wonderful gentle sweet son was killed, I collapsed on the floor and I screamed. I’m sure I did permanent damage to either my brain or my heart."

http://tinyurl.com/c6v5g

From the back pages of the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Posted on Thu, Sep. 22, 2005

Ad campaign faults Iraq war

"They lied, they died," proclaims a nationwide ad campaign against the war in Iraq that is being launched today in newspapers and on television.

The $1 million campaign involves double-page print ads in 14 newspapers, including the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune. The television spots are being carried nationwide on CNN.

Both ads are sponsored by Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization co-founded by Cindy Sheehan, the California mother of a slain soldier who camped outside President Bush’s Crawford, Texas, ranch during his summer vacation. Another sponsor is Win Without War, an organization founded by Tom Andrews, a former Democratic congressman from Maine.

Under a "They lied, they died" headline, the newspaper ad juxtaposes statements by Bush administration officials about the reasons for undertaking the war with a list of the names of the more than 1,900 military personnel who have died.

The newspaper ad asks supporters to send a donation to Win Without War.

Perhaps if Mother Sheehan had raised more money under the guise of Katrina relief she would have been able to add these quotes from Democrat officials as well:

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." — President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program." — President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." — Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." — Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." Letter to President Clinton, signed by Democratic Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others, Oct. 9, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." — Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998

"Hussein has … chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." — Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

"There is no doubt that … Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies." Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), and others, Dec 5, 2001

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them." — Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." — Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." — Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." — Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons…" — Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." — Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years … We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction." — Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002

"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do" — Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members … It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." — Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction." — Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime … He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation … And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction … So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real…" — Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

"I think Iraq is the most serious and imminent threat to our country … And I think Iraq and Saddam Hussein present the most serious and most imminent threat." — John Edwards (D, NC), February 24, 2002.