Bob Morris @ Apr 20th 2003 11:24 - Category: Unfiled ;
A plan for 2004?
The always perceptive Miss Monica responds to my posting about the need to stop Bush in 2004. The small blue border says “Vote mediocre, semi-honest & invertebrate in 2004″ after my comment to her saying a mediocre, semi-honest, spineless Democrat would be a huge improvement over Bush.
Bob Morris @ Apr 20th 2003 00:10 - Category: Unfiled ;
I am deeply deeply honored
The mail today brought me an invitation to the President’s Dinner in D.C. on May 21!
In the letter, President Bush regrets he can not attend the dinner personally, as he’ll be travelling overseas (stirring up new wars and alienating old allies no doubt). However for a mere $2,500 per person, or $25,000 for a table of ten (what, no quantity discount?), I can be an honored guest.
Hmmm, if I could raise the $25k - even if it is for a despicable cause - then some guerilla theatre would be fun. Let’s see, who to invite? Greens certainly, some ANSWER organizers, someone from Queer Nation would be fun, whoops let’s not forget the Black Bloc Anarchists. Well, getting ten people should be no problem!
We could pull a Medea Benjamin-like stunt, like when she went to the Senate gallery dressed demurely as a Republican housewife to hear Rumsfeld babble about something. Then, at the appointed time, off came the conservative jacket, which had been covering the militant t-shirt, and up came the banners she’d somehow managed to sneak in. Ten suitably garbed participants could bring the President’s Dinner to a screeching halt.
The invite says “Dessert and Dancing 8:30 PM” (8:30? Damn, those Republicans sure know how to party, huh?). We could jack into the sound system and replace whatever drek they have planned with, oh, the Beastie Boys new antiwar “World Gone Mad” single, or that old stalwart “War, HUH, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again!”.
Well, we’d probably get arrested, but it would be fun, and might well make headlines across the globe.
These bozos want to invade and control the world, and they continually assure us of their massive we-always-get-the-job-done competence, yet they are so befuddled that they sent an invite to me, the co-chair of the Green Party of L.A. County and ANSWER organizer. Go figure.
Bob Morris @ Apr 20th 2003 00:07 - Category: Unfiled ;
Speaking of ANSWER
People sometimes ask me about ANSWER, hey, are they communists? The answer is, No!
Some history. The International Action Center (IAC), was started in 1991 by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark after the Gulf War, so the peace movement would have a permanent base, and wouldn’t have to start over each time the US had a war or invaded yet another country.
The ANSWER coalition was formed by IAC and other groups after 9/11 because they surmised another war was coming, and soon. And, obviously, they were correct. ANSWER is a coalition, as a glance at the Steering Committee will show.
Some members of ANSWER are also in Workers World, a socialist group. This is where the red-baiting comes in. I’ve seen cases where someone found an off the wall article from the Workers World newspaper in 1965, then used that as an excuse to attack ANSWER for being Stalinist. It’s a repulsive tactic, and is sometimes used by progressives who ought to know better.
ANSWER is a coalition that in L.A. includes labor organizers, teachers, the Bus Riders Union, several immigrant right groups, Palestinians, Jews, Greens, veterans from the Vietnam protest days, seventeen year olds, Gays, people with a nice car and people with no car, Hip Hop artists, Latinos Against the War, and people from literally dozens of countries of origin. It is unquestionably the most ethnically, religiously, and culturally diverse group of people I’ve ever worked with.
I’ve been volunteering at ANSWER since October. I’d heard the rumors too. They are baseless. There is no hidden agenda. Instead, ANSWER is a well-organized group of hyperactive (and unpaid) volunteers who welcome all who want to stop the endless wars of the U.S.
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