My first impulse when I read this was to be angry, at Cindy, for so publicly leaving the movement she so inspired and then led, for leaving when there remained so much more to be done, more perhaps now than when she started out, when she decided to work tirelessly to turn her son's needless death into something that might somehow save the lives of so many other mother's sons.

I was angry then again at how soon she would return, almost as if she'd never left, as if those who she inspired and then abandoned could so easily forget their recent disappointment and once again follow this bipolar piper without first hearing from her so much as an apology.

But then my anger changed to embarrassment, as I realized how foolish I would be to forget how much she has done, how many people she has inspired, and, most of all, how human she still is. Who among us hasn't at one time or another these past six years felt tempted to give in, to give up, to stop resisting, to retreat into the comforts of family and friends? Who among us hasn't vacillated between a determination to act, and a desire to desist? Who among us isn't so human as she?

My anger is best remained focused at those who have given us, the American people, so much to be angry, and embarrassed, and saddened about: George Bush and Dick Cheney. So if Cindy wants to return, her batteries recharged, her anger refocused, her determination redoubled, then I want to be the first one to welcome her back. We need all the help we can get, Cindy. Let's get to work.

by Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 1:42:15 AM

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See, Cindy, or anyone else, is one of us. Too many people, however, look for a "leader". Leaders can be handy, but that's not what democracy is about. Democracy is about people doing stuff for themselves, and if a leader is needed for some particular thing, then there is a large pool of people to draw from -- or there should be. Cindy had already done more than most sometime ago -- so why because she has done should she be expected to do more than others, or more still?

Why can't someone else take the job for a while, and why can't other follow along, understanding that real leaders are not superstars but ordinary people filling some function for the rest -- just like someone who volunteers to make the coffee, essentially. If some one make coffee at a meeting, and maybe the next meeting or two -- great -- but is that a good reason to expect them make coffee at ALL the meetings -- forever? And if one day they decide they are tired of making coffee and say they aren't going to do that anymore, that's a reason to be disappointed or angry? Of course not -- and acting is leader is about the same -- it's another function the group needs doing.

Now, if a group thinks that no matter what I do, whether it's leading, taking minutes, making coffee, writing a newsletter, chasing away the crocodiles -- whatever it is -- if I know the group is going to then expect me -- take it for granted -- that I will always have to do that, then I'm going to sit on my behind and not do anything so I don't get stuck with doing it forever -- especially when I hear complaints about whatever work I do. Like -- it's my job -- I'm not getting paid, and I never made a commitment to do it forever: other people should step up and do things too.

So what do we have now? Some people are speakng out, leading marches, and such -- leading in various ways at times, but many others do hardly anything. You where that gets us? Eventually someone decides to put the time and work in and become "The Leader". Because they really WANT to be The Leader -- otherwise known as The Decider. And then it starts all over again and people wonder why they don't have power or influence and are being dictated to.

Near as I remember Cindy never jumped up and announced she was the leader of the movement -- she just wanted to ask her questions, do her part to stop the war, and get stuff straightened out -- but then most people sat back and let her do most of the work -- and then bitched about it when she didn't fulfill their fantasies of some winged angel but started asking questions THEY didn't want to hear. It was fine when Cindy critized the Repubilicans, but God forbid she have objections to what the Democrats were doing (or weren't doing). That's pretty much the impression I get, and I've seen that many times before. I'll bet you have too.

The first rule of real democracy is not to build dependencies on "leaders" -- especially when they aren't elected and agree to the job. Look at how many people depended on Bush and the other politicians to do the right thing -- that's what always happens when people look for "stars". Yup -- that's right -- the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves! (groan...)  (But it's still true.)

by Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 3:27:51 AM

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but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. We do not have a democracy and our current problems cannot be solved with, say the process of ostracism.  In the ancient Greece they did once use that process to remove an ugly demagogue Hyperbol from power and the poet said,' No, the process of ostracism was abused here when we used it  against such a scum.'  We are facing the evil within.  People will not    jump on the bandwagon if there are no tangible victories.  There are none so far: Bush and Co had achieved everything they wanted. In such cases the  losing  but not yet defeated army does ' decimations'-  they clean their ranks.  New leadership must emerge. And I am saying again- those leaders are to come from the Black community. Their silence and disconnection is the primary reason  for the failures.  Cindy and others are to  go to the black people openly and ASK for help! Yes, white people NEED the black people now! We are facing a common enemy and  we have to acknowledge our weaknesses.   Without the active engagement of the black people the loss is imminent. We will  be destroyed. And it has nothing to do with democracy. It has everything to do with life and death.

by Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 7:17:33 AM

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The movement definitely needs a better representation of all people, especially those who have been marginalized already. For the record, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, whom Cindy mentions above, is a young African-American reverend who initially signed up for the Air Force as part of the "poor man's draft." He has been a leader for quite some time. He is director of the Hip Hop Caucus getting young people involved in the process. He has devoted his life to ending the war in Iraq and bringing accountability to the White House. In fact, he will be speaking tonight in Philadelphia at the Impeachment Foum with John Nichols, Debra Sweet and others. Having spent a day with him and Cindy last year outside the White House, I can tell you he is a true leader though I doubt the mainstream media has ever focused a spotlight on him.

by Cheryl Biren-Wright (30 articles, 42 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 485 comments [8 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 11:52:27 AM

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but  I would say that the ball is in the corner of progressives who first and foremost must ackowledge that if there is  population group in the US which has an experience of being oppressed, those are the black people. Thus we need that experience and that knowledge and also offer them  the unprecedented, total access to our resources and knowledge. That is not happening so far. We love Obama but we shrug at  Sharpton. We prefer dead MLK to the living Farrakhan.  We maker a step forward and two steps backwards. Yes, it is a draft of the poor. So acknowledge it and tell them how much money has been wasted and how that money could be used for them. It is their money stolen.  Yes, they can be on welfare. Yes, Clinton betrayed them but he also betrayed us.   Black people are the key here because, take it or leave it they survived so far and even prospered under the conditions  for decades, the conditions we started to feel only after 9/11. There has to be a slogaan- We are all in it: Life or Death. Stop killing our children, all of them. They are all ours.

by Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 12:47:12 PM

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It is almost amusing to hear you say that "we need blacks," "their experience".  Did you ever think that the efforts of African Americans are what got us this far? Without the marches and protests of this period, the beatings, the water-hoses, the lynchings that blacks endured, not a single immigrant  would enjoy the freedoms they acquire the minute they set foot on American soil.  And then the neo-cons discovered that they could just re-distribute the welfare dollars, and the dollars going into African American community betterment programs and collect that money themselves.  And where were regular white American when all of this happened?

by C.K. White (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 5:26:59 PM

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In 1960s my family lived in Kiev, USSR and we had a corn crisis with bread shortages  and also the local  artificial flood  which cost about 2000 people their lives. Still, I happen to be very knowledgeable about the Civil Rights movement from Zelma to  Malcolm X and from Medgar Evers to  Black Panthers. And still, I have to say- now we are in the same  boat- the danger is equal for all. If you read my comments attentively I ask there the white people to acknowledge the situation and also acknowledge the necessity  to fight the evil together. It si not the ' whites need blacks' We need each other. This is maybe the only good thing coming from all of that crap we have- it proves again that we need each other, desperately in the fight for life  and death. Then, in 1960s  it was not a fight for the Black Civil rights- it was a fight for the Civil rights of all. All people benefited.  No matter how the media presents it as a  black issue, all people are in bondage if one group is.  If we now, on the progressive  side start throwing stones at each other about who was where 40 years ago we will wake up dead or in some Polar Guantanamo erected for us by  dear friends Bush and Putin. And one more thing: even now black young people are the main casualty of war. Beware, if Bush wins they might become  the only casualty for a very long time, the fist overwhelming casualty.  Bush wants to kill all our children but of course, he will start with those he can reach with  better ease.  Bush is not white or black. He is a transparent SOB. Look through him . What do you see?

by Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jul 6, 2007 at 7:07:09 AM

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I knew she'd be back. :-)

by Kathlyn Stone (46 articles, 227 quicklinks, 27 diaries, 690 comments [1 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 9:13:53 AM

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In a world with too few real heroes Cindy Sheehan stands out above all others. Here is a woman who by expressing her feelings has done more to unite people in expressing their dissatisfaction with the status quo than any other person has done in my life of seventy years.  Anyone who believes that she is just acting in a way to bring attention to herself is just as stupid as the Bush Gestapo and is living in a state of Pollyanna denial.  Her actions have done more to bring the truth before the American public than all of Corporate Media put together.  Against horrendous odds she has continued to spread the word and it is not hard to believe that she is the one person on the face of this earth the Bush and company are afraid of.

I would love it if she would relocate here to Minnesota and run for the Senate, ala Hillary Clinton. At least we would have one honest person on Capitol Hill.

by walley (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 108 comments) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 11:51:15 AM

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Glad you're back. Announcing your defeat was not good. All this talk is OK and the marches are OK but what we need to do is storm that fuckin White House!

by James Carvalho (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 12:27:34 PM

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Cindy isn't in a position to just quit this anymore then the rest of us.  Our beliefs are deep seated in our spirits.  We need at times to step back and get a clear perspective of how we are utilizing our energy.

This Battle isn't new it has gone on forever.  The manifestations of the last six years have shown us a clear picture of the complex and well intigrated network of (BUSHCO, SKULL & BONES / Brown, Harriman, & Root / Haliburton) and how they have conducted a global enterprise that is now above our national law or control while it robs our taxpayers and consumers.  This Empire controls governments not just ours, but most of them.  It has been in existence for a long time as it follows bloodlines through the ages.  We must continue to plead the case that the Constitution should be held supreme in our land and the tyrany shall be our sworn enemy.

by Sleeper (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 312 comments [6 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 3:08:07 PM

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Though I knew you would!

Cindy, America desperately needs brave leaders to pull us together - people like JFK and MLK, and many great others who were undeniably poised to radically change America (for the better) and the world too. Unfortunately they were assassinated - which essentially stopped their movements dead (no pun intended) in their tracks. It's sad that such violent and abhorrent tactics worked and made major/radical changes in the direction of America, but if these few leaders had lived, then millions of others around the world would likely be alive today, and America would be the responsible, kind, and honest place that it pretends to be, etc. Anyhow, now I've made the subject too macabre. I'm sure you know the risks that you are taking - anyhow as I said before "I would take a bullet for you". The point that I was tring to make is that America needs leaders - Leaders Make a Real Difference - which is why they are such a threat to TPTB. People who, by the way, are lucky that we do not use such abominable tactics. I mean can you imagine a progressive group having committed the crime of kidnapping a politicians daughter and scaring (like what happened to Perot) him into dropping out or changing his position? Me neither. And it doesn't happen - no matter what the stakes - and that's why we're the good guys. {I don't know what group did that, but although it changed the direction of America - I'd bet my bottom dollar that it wasn't a progressive group.}

Anyhow, sorry for the rant. America desperately needs your voice. Please never give up on the fight against the corrupt, brutal, and heartless criminal mass-murderers that have so gained much generational control over our once great nation.

by RCG (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 348 comments) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 3:08:18 PM

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I admit I am not fully aware of all that you have done Cindy, but your march must include (if you get enough marchers), the possibility of violence against the people by the police, and in force. Your objective MUST include the taking over of the White House and a sit-in. Let Bush go to his ranch, live on air force one or some where in a bunker.

The psychological and world wide impact of occupying the White House would be far reaching and devastating to the Neocon cabal - so much so, that the Main stream Media would not be able to ignore it, it would be on the airwaves world wide, and the vast majority of the people world wide would cheer you to the rafters. The longer the sit-in lasts, the harder it will be for Bush to re-assert himself with the Patriot Act forces, and that would be the end of him and cheney.

Anything less than the take over of the White House would lead to defeat, the talking would go on and on to be whittled down just like they do everything else now.

I bet you the MSM would say that there were only a few thousand people involved, the left wing whacos or some such, even if there were a millionpeople on the march.

Think about it, this is almost the final chance to do anything. The politicians are certainly not going to do anything, they are all bought and paid for. Its up to the people - en masse - or nothing.

by ibrahim turner (26 articles, 32 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 184 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 7:49:35 PM

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Cindy's got a plan. She gets it that Bush has been allowed to do what he's done only through the lack of courage in Congress and that's where she intends to direct her energies. It's great that Cindy is back in the game, but for all the people who are glad because they feel they have a leader back, you need look no farther than in the mirror. You can be a leader in your own congressional district by getting a group of people and lobbying your representative hard, grooming replacements for asleep at the wheel democrats. We all have the ability to shake things up and a responsibility to do so as well. For those who think Cindy's strategy isn't the way they would do it, then go ahead and organize it. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to share the weight. You take the White House, she'll cover Congress. Come on, she's back in one day and you're telling her she's not doing it right?

by Cheryl Biren-Wright (30 articles, 42 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 485 comments [8 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 11:22:00 PM

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For our children, for you and me HRes333. First Cheney, then his boss Start to limit the loss Of liberty and democracy For our children, for you and me HRes333

by Sheila Jackson (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 133 comments) on Thursday, Jul 5, 2007 at 9:34:55 PM

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First, I wish to express my great admiration for you.  As a veteran of over 10 years active duty experience in the US Army during the Cold War Era (translation, I never saw combat, thank God) as an Arabic linguist and counter terrorism specialist in the 1980s, we always need people like you who will support us by questioning and dissenting from government policy when it is not in the best interests of the country.  Those of us who are, or in my case were, in uniform know we can't speak out freely while we are in the service.  That task falls upon the civilian community upon whom we are totally dependent.  We can only vote, nothing more.  Therefore, thank you for your full throated support and real concern for those who have been unnecessarily placed in harm's way due to the promulgation of an operation totally tangential to the mission at hand.

I don't believe you ever "went away."  As someone who was active from a very early age in the Civil Rights and Peace movements of the 1960s and 1970s, I know that burn out is a very real thing.  However, I rejoice that you have been able to recharge and re-engage.  Remember, you do have a great deal of support.

I have read that you plan to challenge Rep. Nancy Pelosi as an independent should she refuse to act on impeaching Bush by July 23.  I would ask you to reconsider.  I have no great love for the Speaker, she tends to be a little too conniving for my taste.  However, I question the wisdom of impeaching Bush until Cheney is impeached, convicted and removed from office.  Then, impeachment of Bush should commence with great speed so that he can't nominate a replacement for Cheney.  That way, should Bush be impeached, convicted and removed, a Democrat will become President.  I realize that Democrat would be Pelosi, but just think what would happen if Cheney assumed office as President after a successful impeachment of Bush.  None of us, indeed no one or thing in this nation, would be safe from his wrath.

I ask you to consider what I have written.

by Kenneth Barr (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 107 comments) on Sunday, Jul 8, 2007 at 8:44:10 PM

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Cidny, please don't listen to people who are afraid of what might happen if you remove one or the other - because Bush and Cheney are already in charge and doing exactly what they want. And you know this.

by RCG (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 348 comments) on Wednesday, Jul 11, 2007 at 10:02:24 AM

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