DebateGate
General Category => 3DHS => Topic started by: Michael Tee on October 12, 2007, 06:46:12 PM
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http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1376
Cindy Sheehan: Leadership Void
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Fri, 10/12/2007 - 3:04pm. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Cindy Sheehan
"They are advocates. We are leaders." -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in regards to "anti-war activists."
People of America, this is truly the problem with what was once a Representative Republic and now is a country run by "elected" officials who believe that they, individually and collectively, are above any accountability and are not answerable to their constituents. Our public servants erroneously believe that they are the leaders!
Ms. Pelosi made this statement to a group of reporters at a luncheon recently and she also went off on activists who have been participating in vigils outside of her chi-chi home in the Pacific Heights district of San Francisco. The people who are vigiling outside her house regularly in a Pelosi Watch are only exercising their rights as American citizens to make their concerns known to a rep who was elected from a district that is wholeheartedly against the occupation of Iraq and for impeaching the liars who got us into the illegal and immoral situation.
No, Ms. Pelosi, you are not a leader. You have proven time and again in what you laughably believe is a "mistake" free run as Speaker of a Democratic House that you will do anything to protect an imperial presidency to the detriment of this nation and the world, particularly the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.
This Democratic Congress supported BushCo's disastrous and deadly surge; handed him over billions of their constituents' tax dollars to wage this murder; have by their silence and votes countenanced an invasion of another country; approved more restrictions on the rights of the citizenry to be protected against unreasonable search and seizure; Ms. Pelosi does not even know if "torture" (which violates international law and the 8th Amendment in our Bill of Rights) is an impeachable offense; and worst of all, the impeachment clauses were taken "off the table" in an ongoing partnership with BushCo to make the office of the presidency a Congressionally protected crime conglomerate that is rapidly sending this Nation down a crap-hole of fascism. So, Congress has led us to a few things: war, poverty, oppression, unemployment, and an inexplicable continuance of the Bush Regime.
No, Ms. Pelosi, you are not even a leader in the very narrowest of definitions. We do not elect our Congressional Representatives to be leaders, not to be used as willing marionettes for the war machine and other special interests that serve the elite to the detriment of the rest of us, but to represent the will of the people. We send our elected officials to DC and pay their salaries and subsidize their benefits to do the "Will of the People."
No matter how many times Ms. Pelosi and George Bush share tea and giggles and no matter how often she "prays' for him, George is not the decider and she is only the leader of the House of Representatives not the people. We are the sovereigns in this country and I tried to demonstrate this when I demanded a meeting with another haughty public servant: George Bush.
I cannot speak for every Democrat, Independent, Green, or disenchanted Republican (and there are many) in America, but the consensus from my travels all over this country is that we put Democrats back in power in both Houses of Congress to be an opposition to the Bush Regime and to stop the annoying "bobble-headed, rubber-stamping" approval of all things criminal and murderous. We did not wish to keep heading in the same direction but desired to go another way, which would have required the Dems to finally step up and forcefully counter and stop the high crimes of BushCo. They have failed.
We are sick of excuses. We are tired of the blame being diffused on the Senate, the Blue Dog Dems, the Republicans, or even, incredibly, the people of Iraq. A true leader accepts responsibility in ways that are not even dreamed of by BushCo or Congress, Inc. A true leader would stand up and do what is intelligent and what is right and if he/she were a leader, then people would follow. A leader does not wait idly by for a crowd of sycophants to gather around her before she does her job with integrity and courage; a leader leads the way and the Democratic Congress with an approval rating even lower than George's had better wake up to whom they need to follow: us!
We have countless examples of true leaders throughout American history and if not for them, women would not have the right to vote, much less be Speaker of the House; Black Americans would still be slaves or at the very least still drinking out of separate fountains; workers would not have the right to unionize and children would still be mining coal; we would still have troops in Southeast Asia, and we would still be under the aegis of our close Cousins in Empire: the British. Some of our courageous leaders have had to pay the ultimate price for their bravery and vision and Ms. Pelosi should be ashamed of arrogantly whining over her rubber chicken that Americans exist who want her to do her job because people are dying and lives are being ruined with her complicity.
We have the right to hold both of the political parties accountable. We not only have the right, but also we have the responsibility.
We not only have the right and the responsibility, but we also have the power.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04. She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and The Camp Casey Peace Institute. For more info on her Congressional campaign, go to www.CindyforCongress.org.
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Why doesn't that disgraceful lady that uses her dead son to promote her anti-american
and communist agenda move to Hugo Chavez Workers Paradise?
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/USA2008/8S4BluMomr.jpg)
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LOL.......gotta love with one leftist nutball is singing the praises of another
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She's right. "We are leaders," hah. We have to push and shove from behind and dangle carrots in front and still, many of the very stubborn people in office right now do NOT get it.
We need a few more people like Cindy so we can primary them but good.
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That's what I'm looking forward to. Cindy is going to give Nancy Pelosi a pasting like she's never had before. Maybe those other so-called Democrats will sit up and take notice.
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Yea, just like they did with Joe Lieberman........oh wait ;)
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It's funny. People clamor for leadership, elect leaders to office and as soon as they claim they are leaders they get backhanded and told to mind their betters.
Fact is half the people could care less about government as long as water flows from the tap and their garbage is picked up.
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and they have a decent job.
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<<Fact is half the people could care less about government as long as water flows from the tap and their garbage is picked up.>>
What else is new?
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What else is new?
Atlanta is in the midst of a severe drought and the Corps of Engineers is draining 2 million gallons a day from our major water source to bathe a couple dozen mussels down stream.
Environmental court order, dontcha know.
I'm thinking about expanding into the rain barrel business.
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Sounds like you don't appreciate biological diversity. Are the mussels at least edible? Would there still be a problem if somebody came along and ate them? They're nice if they're steamed in a white wine sauce.
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Sounds like you don't appreciate biological diversity. Are the mussels at least edible? Would there still be a problem if somebody came along and ate them? They're nice if they're steamed in a white wine sauce.
They are allegedly endangered. I am of the belief that people trump mussels.I am also of the belief that food gardens trump mussels. Mussels may or may not trump lawns. I am willing to listen to arguments.
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BT, I feel for you all. I think people and food gardens trump mussels too.
In my old home town, they publish the names of the "water hogs" in the daily paper, how many gallons of water they used and how much their bills were. Then they publish some of the lowest water users. Some of the excessive water users' bills were in the thousands of dollars per month. Staggering.
One of them was Vic Damone...I think he was one of the water savers.
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Like i mentioned previously, rain barrels are an idea whose time has come around. A 1 inch rain captured off a 1000sq ft roof through the downspouts will net you almost 500 gallons of garden water. and they aren't expensive to install. Daisy chain a couple of 50 gallon food grade drums avilable for around $12 and a couple bucks worth of pvc pipe and a hose spigot on the end barrel and you can water to your hearts content.
I handle utilities in this town and we are in the process of reducing the rates for low consumption folks and raising them on the upper tier. Hopefully that will encourage conservation and alternate means of gathering outdoor water sources.
Did you know an air conditioner can give you close to 7 gallons a day of condensate water?
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It's a great idea.
I read about a method of watering in an African country. Had strings going from the water container, to all the plants. Now that is water-saving.
I know the mint grows really good right under the air conditioner drip, but had no idea it was that much water.
Someone in Phoenix told me she had a lawn. I was surprised. She said people who didn't have lawns spent wayy more on A/C than on water, because the houses got so much hotter.
I didn't have the heart to explain to her that there is only so much water out West. Her water bill is like mine, per month, which is really crazy.
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What else is new?
Atlanta is in the midst of a severe drought and the Corps of Engineers is draining 2 million gallons a day from our major water source to bathe a couple dozen mussels down stream.
Environmental court order, dontcha know.
I'm thinking about expanding into the rain barrel business.
I have five rain barrels on my house, and a hose connected to the condensation line on my
AC.
I also am on a well with a one horse submerged pump.
A news item on the local TV said that the water bills will about double in the next three years. People are paying around a hundred a month as it is, and those people are frugal in their use.
I have a small pond which is the excavated hole for raising the house foundation sufficently to avoid paying flood zone insurance. This pond has three kinds of fish, and is a time share for a local otter. It raises and falls with the artesian water table, and not with the rain. If things get bad or my well dries up, I will tie rags together and lay them in the pond--they will carry water, even uphill, to the irrigation rows around my blueberries, bitter melons, and kiwi fruit.
I fully expect somewhere down the line the county comissioners to pass a regulation demanding that all people on wells must have them disconnected and put on the county water system. This will be about the time Boone Pickens achieves national notoriety.
I have a shotgun for that.
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YC
How do you handle mosquitoes in the barrels?
I'm also looking for an external pump to boost the gravity feed. Any ideas?
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Yea, just like they did with Joe Lieberman........oh wait ;)
You'll remember that Joe Leiberman LOST his Democratic primary. Sure, he won the general but he's no longer stinking up the Dem Party.
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Yea, just like they did with Joe Lieberman........oh wait ;)
You'll remember that Joe Leiberman LOST his Democratic primary. Sure, he won the general but..
....but THAT's the point, the PEOPLE spoke, via their ballot, and it wasn't representative of the far left nutjobs that MoveOn, wanted. So apparently the Dems didn't "sit up and take notice" either, that go-round. Too busy running as the Anti-Bush
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Joe Leiberman headed up the whole Homeland Security bloating of federal government. I find it amusing that you love him so much when he so obviously FOR MORE government spending.
Of course, your precious lord and savior W signed the bill to approve it. So, I guess you're just between Iraq and a hard place.
I was reading a story last night about how in WWII people who couldn't sign up and fight quit their jobs and went to cities where they could work building planes and everything else. What's up with no one doing a gd thing to support the current precious and beloved and honorable war other than bloviating from their keyboards and slandering anyone against that oh, so beautiful and bloody conflict "over there"?
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<<I was reading a story last night about how in WWII people who couldn't sign up and fight quit their jobs and went to cities where they could work building planes and everything else. What's up with no one doing a gd thing to support the current precious and beloved and honorable war other than bloviating from their keyboards and slandering anyone against that oh, so beautiful and bloody conflict "over there"?>>
I think in those days, there was very good money in defense-related jobs and it was also a time when America HAD manufacturing jobs because it made things. There was a government that cared enough about the working class to see that their jobs weren't outsourced to the Third World. That would have been what Howard Dean called "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party."
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Joe Leiberman headed up the whole Homeland Security bloating of federal government. I find it amusing that you love him so much when he so obviously FOR MORE government spending.
When are you planning to start getting things right, Brass. Care to cite anywhere how I "love him so much". Demonstrating how the people of HIS state were the ones that saw thru the garbage the Dems were trying to put forth, and elected Lieberman instead, despite that he wasn't part of any major party at that time, is somehow analogus to me "loving him" or loving Government spending? Oh wait, sorry I forgot. 1st rule of liberal debunking; when unable, throw out the labels Fascist, and/or war lover, and/or Bush lover, or in this case Lieberman lover.
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YC
How do you handle mosquitoes in the barrels?
I'm also looking for an external pump to boost the gravity feed. Any ideas?
Window screen. Put it on the top of the barrel, cinch it on permenantly. It will slow the entry, but not much. You can adjust by just letting it sag some in the middle.
I bought eight large window screens at the flea market because they had a tight mesh, to insure keeping out mosquitos.
Haven't had a problem at all with mosquitoes as a result.
I assume your second question is about speeding delivery from the barrel to wherever.
If that is what you mean, I put mine on concrete blocks, three high, which facilitates the drain.
Any kind of pump to push one rainbarrel full seems impractical.
Where I live, the max pump submerged allowed is one horse power; above ground pump, two horse power. This is about a well water setup, and not water from rain.
But if I have missed your point, there are pumps out there floating all around in all sizes.
I have probably a half dozen, from a Jacuzzi half horse to two swimming pool pumps and assorted small garden pumps. Total investment, about $l6, all products carefully vetted at the flea markets and garage sales.
For emergencies, I have one of the old fashioned, pre-power pump hand pumps they used on all farms, the ones you have to prime and then pump up and down. I made sure I got one that was used only on water, and not some twenty-fourth century super cleaning solvent.
Rain barrels as a business is not a bad idea.
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"People of America, this is truly the problem with what was once a Representative Republic and now is a country run by "elected" officials who believe that they, individually and collectively, are above any accountability and are not answerable to their constituents. Our public servants erroneously believe that they are the leaders!"
Cindy Sheehan shouldn't have been used by pomiseing her somethin that was not possible to give her.
Now it has become hard to explain to her why her ideas are not good ones and would cause disaster , after she was praised and used.