[PAA-Discuss] Walls, Tunnels and Daily Humiliations

Tue Apr 1 09:31:28 EDT 2008

What I'm saying, Lee, is that those things we have been doing for YEARS now
are not having the desired effect of getting ALL U.S. soldiers and ALL
private mercenaries out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Our efforts have not gotten
Israel to adhere to the UN resolution dictating Israel's borders and have
not gotten Israel to stop the genocide of the Palestinian people. Our phone
calls, e-mails, letters, protests etc. have NOT gotten universal single
payer healthcare in America. They have not gotten the U.S. government to
forcefully address the very real danger of global climate change and take
the necessary steps to reduce emissions, raise CAFE standards, retro-fit old
coal burning power plants and reward industry that uses clean energy
sources. Our efforts have not gotten veterans the care they need and
deserve. Our efforts have not gotten our public school system and our
teachers the money and resources they need to be effective. Our efforts have
not gotten good paying jobs for U.S. workers and have not gotten a living
wage for our working citizens.

All of our phone calls, letters, e-mails and protests make us feel good
because we feel we are doing something more than just sitting on the sofa
watching the boob tube, and that's all well and good, but while we're doing
those "feel good" things, real people are being maimed and killed in
Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places all over this world and
real people are suffering and dying here at home. I'm advocating doing
things or NOT doing certain things and supporting systems that actually
cause systemic change to come about. Voting for Democrats or Republicans is
not going to get us the change we seek, Lee. The current system is broken,
and the two political parties in power are really ONE political party and
that party does not represent the average person.

Yes, Houstonians have been supportive of our bridge blogging efforts and our
protests, and it seems some of them are coming around to our way of
thinking. However, I'm not seeing them participate in our bridge blogging
efforts or protests to any degree, and I'm not seeing them in the streets
with us demanding systemic change. They are happy to honk their horns, give
the thumbs up sign and peace signs, but they are not getting out of their
cars and onto bridges and into parks with us to participate in blogging and
protests.

Remember what Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State, Alexander Haig said, Lee,
"Let them protest all they want so long as they continue to pay their
taxes". OUR money is driving this war machine, Lee. It doesn't matter who
you vote for in November. The war machine will continue to grind our young
people up and spit them into early graves as long as our tax dollars
continue to fund it. As long as our tax dollars continue to fund Israel, you
will continue to see indigenous Palestinians murdered, subjugated, starved
and humiliated from now until forever. As long as our tax dollars go into
weaponry and war, you will see American citizens without healthcare, good
public schools, good paying jobs and a decent way of life and you will see
our infrastructure continue to crumble, our public schools continue to fail,
our citizens drop dead from preventable disease and illness, our citizens
without jobs and without homes and without a decent life. None of us wants
that, so STOP allowing the U.S. government to use your money for weaponry
and war.

I'm supportive of all the efforts everyone makes every day to try and change
things for the better in this country, however, those efforts are not
enough, Lee. We must do more, and I've outlined what I think needs to be
done in other e-mails. Whether or not anyone chooses to do those things is
up to them, but we will not see the kind of systemic change we want to see
until we quit supporting this broken and corrupt system and take a new
direction.

While we are all congratulating ourselves about how much we stand up and
shout for change and how great it is that we can have conventions and votes
and all that fun stuff, people who are hurting and dying and oppressed in
other countries are wondering when we're going to actually DO something
substantial to help them.

It's way past time for us to shit or get off the pot.

Kris

  _____  

From: Lee Loe [mailto:leeloe at igc.org] 
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 6:30 PM
To: graham2639 at mindspring.com; 'PAA discussion'
Subject: Re: [PAA-Discuss] Walls, Tunnels and Daily Humiliations

Well, Kris, I guess I'd vote for you if you are running, but you are not. I
will vote for someone who has a chance of becoming president and who listens
to people, who has had a life that gives him some idea that other cultures
and countries have commendable attributes, who grew up in a multiracial
familly and society and whom I believe will listen to the grassroots. And
you are wrong about all our work and contacting elected officials hasn't
worked. For starters, 77% of the US pop are against this war. They waited
until 50000 US soldiers died in Viet Nam to be against that war. Also,
congress people have changed their minds, hill and obama have changed their
positions, folks on the internet have learned of peace and justice
candidates running for the Cong and supported them with small contributions
tha t have made a difference. We can now hold up an Impeach sign and gete
honks and drive an impeach car in the art parade and get peace signs, claps,
thumbs up, ets. I believe that Obama can be enlightened so he changes his
stance on Palestine. If you want McCain, then don't vote Democrat. I wish
you wouldn't insenuate that we who don't plan to vote as you would have us
do are asleep at the wheel. We are sisters and brothers trying to stop all
of the holocausts going on in the world with global warming getting hotter
every moment. Let's hang together, cry together, laugh together in common
cause. Lee Loe

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