I’m off to the San Francisco Peace Rally!

And will have photos and reports upon returning.

The weather should be perfect, 60 or so with no wind. I, and many others from L.A. will be leaving in caravans of buses at about midnight tonight, returning midnight Saturday night. (Ugh!).

If you happen to be in S.F. at Justin Hermann square tomorrow at 7 AM, and see dozens of buses dropping people off, who then wander zombie-like and sleep-deprived looking for strong coffee - that will be us!

I’ll be on the security, oops “Harmony Keepers” team again. The S.F. turnout looks to be bigger than last time while D.C. will be cold, in the 20’s, which dampen turnout.

More when I return!

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ABC censors booing at Bush?

“WHEN THE BAND Alabama received the Award of Merit, the elder Bush’s face appeared on screen. “I’m very proud to be part of tonight’s tribute honoring one of the most highly successful bands country music has ever known,” said the former president, but his image was met with a loud chorus of boos.

One source says Randy Owen, the lead singer for the band, was “pretty shaken” by the crowd’s reaction.  
 
The boos from the crowd, however, were not audible in the broadcast, leading some to believe that they were deleted by censors.”

If a country music audience is booing Bush, then things are DEFINITELY changing in this country!

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Chicago City Council resolution opposes Iraq War

“Chicago’s City Council voted 46-1 to oppose a pre-emptive military attack on Iraq unless the country is shown to be a real threat to the United States. The resolution makes Chicago the biggest U.S. city to speak out against war. Anti-war statements have been passed in other, smaller cities, including San Francisco; Seattle; Ithaca, New York, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. “[Blog Left: Critical Interventions]

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California GOP leader makes Trent Lott seem moderate

“A California Republican Party leader has called on the highest-ranking African American in the state GOP to stop “parading” his race by complaining about “how awful it is to be a black Republican.”

In an angry letter distributed to GOP activists statewide, Randy Ridgel, a member of the party’s Board of Directors, responded to an accusation by fellow board member Shannon Reeves, who is black, that Republicans have treated African Americans as “window dressing.”

Ridgel, a retired white rancher from rural Lake County, also endorsed an essay suggesting that there would have been an upside to a Confederate victory in the Civil War.

Regarding blacks freed from slavery at the end of the war, Ridgel wrote: “Most of the poor devils had no experience fending for themselves, so they fared worse than before the war and during the war.”

Reeves called Ridgel’s letter “an ignorant, offensive statement of the highest order.”

In his own open letter to fellow GOP board members, Reeves said Republican leaders expect African Americans to “provide window dressing and cover to prove this is not a racist party, yet our own leadership continues to act otherwise.”

He recalled that during the 2000 Republican national convention in Philadelphia, delegates asked him six times to “fetch them a taxi or carry their luggage.”

In an interview, Reeves said he was disappointed that none of the scores of GOP activists who got copies of Ridgel’s letter had made any public statements about it.

“When that letter was sent out,” he said, “there should have been a mass outcry within the party.”

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And the award for the exceptionally stupid criminal goes to…

Bank Robber drops money, lock keys in car, flees, shoots self, then gets shot.

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The momentum builds

Antiwar protests planned in 32 countries for Jan. 18

From an ANSWER email

“As of Jan. 14, demonstrations have been scheduled in at least 32 countries in solidarity with the call from the International ANSWER coalition.

International protests will target Pentagon bases, and in some cases activists will attempt to carry out inspections of the facilities for U.S. weapons of mass destruction. This is true in Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Korea and Spain.
 
Demonstrations will also take place in Argentina, Austria, Bahrain Britain, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland.”
 

Over 50 labor unions will be marching in S.F.

“The march down Market Street and to the Civic Center will include representatives of more than 50 Bay Area labor unions — twice as many as attended October’s big anti-war demonstration along the city’s main drag.”

Back in the 60’s, union members sometimes attacked antiwar marchers. How nice that is now ancient history.

17 arrested in non violent civil disobedience in L.A.

“Seventeen Los Angeles County residents were arrested Thursday at 11:00 AM outside the downtown Federal Building when they staged street theater to dramatize their opposition to a new invasion of Iraq and express their hope for a peaceful US foreign policy. Participants in the action held a mock “funeral ceremony for the casualties of war” and called on the Bush Administration to reconsider its drive for another Gulf War.”

Die-in at Federal Building in L.A. All were arrested. (Photo via LA IndyMedia)

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