Joan Wile Blog

DOWN BUT FAR FROM OUT: ZUCOTTI PARK AFTER THE POLICE RAID

2011-11-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

Zucotti Park is greatly changed from the bustling, overflowing, colorful encampment it was only a week ago when I was there. All the tarps, tents, flags, banners, food tables, various outreach tents with busy computers and phones, are gone. There are fewer people there.

But, it IS still there, and still embodies the spirit that catapulted it overnight into the nation's consciousness just two months ago.

It is still there despite the iron fences that surround every inch of space making it look like an open-air prison compound.

It is still there despite the plethora of police and security guards that now occupy Occupy. One can't help noting the irony of so many of "New York's Finest" deployed on one square block of Manhattan real estate while there are whole neighborhoods, even vast sections of New York City rampant with crime, poor sanitation, and safety threats with no police presence at all. These conditions are the avowed reason why Mayor Bloomberg sent the troops in to demolish Zucotti in the first place. Something is wrong with this picture.

Today, Monday, Nov. 21, I had the great privilege of going to Zucotti Park with a delegation of senior citizens, union retirees, people with disabilities, health and social justice advocates and just plain people concerned about the threat of cuts to the safety net, particularly those affecting seniors. We went there after a meeting held at the United Federation of Teachers premises a couple of blocks from Zucotti. Approximately 7 or 8 young Occupy people had joined our meeting and expressed solidarity with our concerns. We, of course, thanked them for all that they are doing. As one of the elders said, "You have awakened the sleeping giant!"

At the iconic site, we held a rally, Zucotti style, following their "Mic Check" method of human amplification wherein a speaker says a few words and then the audience loudly repeats them. As we spoke, beginning around 1 p.m., the crowds began to thicken in the park. A couple of us authors found that there is still a library, vastly depleted by the cops' vicious confiscation of all the occupiers' property, and we donated copies of our books. We were told by Jonathan, who was manning the meager little collection, that it was probable that the books would be grabbed again at the end of the day.

After we finished our program, a delightful bit of street theatre was presented by a batch of college and university students affiliated with studentloanjustice.org. Wearing caps and gowns, they were presented with Debt Diplomas inscribed with various amounts of money
-- one was $57,000, another $35,000, and so on. Each recipient was identified by name -- Penny Less was one. Bill O'debt another. You get the idea. I thought it was cute (are we allowed to apply that adjective to such serious people as Occupiers?).

A professor from New York University told us that the Federal Government would need $70 billion to cover all 2- and 4-year public college and university students today. He told us that 70 billion dollars was equivalent to that lost by the Pentagon for unaccounted-for spending.

I must add to this my own concern as founder of Grandmothers Against the War that the money wasted on our wars/occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan total far more than that amount, and we should all be pressing for an end to those unconscionable conflicts.

So, Zucotti Park goes on. Given the dedication and creativity of the wonderful young people there, physically and symbolically, I have full confidence that the movement they have sparked will continue to grow and flourish until the urgent changes we 99 percent seek are implemented.

DISCOURAGED ABOUT TODAY'S YOUTH? FUGGEDDABOUDIT!

2011-11-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

If you, like me, have concluded that today's kids are practically a throwback to the Neanderthals, with their faces buried in video games instead of books or their fingers texting i-phone messages instead of tapping piano keys, conclude again.

I recently had occasion to attend one of Occupy Wall Street's near-daily Direct Action meetings, and I've never been so impressed. There were approximately 30 or 40 people seated in a circle in a building near Zucotti Park. Almost all of them were very young, except for two or three middle-aged persons and this one old broad, me.

The meeting was conducted -- no, that's the wrong word, they don't have leaders -- facilitated by a young, probably college-age, girl. In a most efficient manner, she adhered to a beautifully conceived structure that provided for anyone to speak, in a carefully allotted and monitored amount of time, and then allowed for the group to respond quickly to their requests. It was all incredibly civil and, by golly, MATURE. Actions were speedily arranged and points of contention were briskly resolved, courteously. Not a minute was wasted on irrelevant chatter. One couldn't help wondering what it would be like to have these intelligent and purposeful young men and women dominating the Congress. Hopefuly, someday they will.

But, most of all, one was struck with the completely democratic way the youngsters managed their complicated agenda. A number of events were planned, fundamental decisions were made, and all without an iota of rancor or ego conflict. And, make no mistake. These kids are ideologically committed to building a better, more economically just society, but with political savvy befitting much older, more experienced elders. They mean business!

Heretofore, I had observed through my grandchildren that the new generation has made great strides in terms of prejudice. They have gay friends, and friends with different racial and ethnic origins. I have noted several of my grandkids railing against bias of all kinds. That, of course, is very heartening, but I was not aware of their generation's stance on other social and economic inequalities....until I visited Occupy.

Don't pay any heed to the Murdoch-controlled New York Post and other media entities that try to paint the Occupy movement as presided over by a bunch of hippie hoodlums. No, Occupy is composed of serious, dedicated and truly democratic people.

Don't pay any attention to Mayor Bloomberg's rants about how badly Occupy is affecting the local businesses. I went into the atrium at 60 Wall Street across from the Stock Exchange last week, and its shops were humming with business. Murdoch and Bloomberg are at the top of the one percent and have a vested interest in discrediting this grass roots movement sweeping the nation and the world. They know their days are numbered in terms of manipulating the system to increase their massive wealth to the detriment of the rest of us.

I left the meeting with a singing heart. I absolutely believe these marvelous young justice-seekers will change the world for the better. So, stop bemoaning the deficiencies of the younger generation, my aging peers. The future is in very capable and caring hands.

POLICE BACK OFF AFTER THE GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE OCCUPIES LINCOLN CENTER

2011-10-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Culture seekers streaming through Lincoln Center Tuesday evening, Oct. 18, were undoubtedly surprised to see a tableau not usually seen at the arts complex. Approximately 60 members of the Granny Peace Brigade and their followers formed a semi-circle around the fountain located in the midst of the plaza surrounded by the Koch Theatre (home of the New York City Ballet); the Metropolitan Opera House, and Avery Fisher Hall.

The mostly elderly women, interspersed with a few men, stood silently from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. wearing placards with messages such as "AGAINST WARS, INVASIONS, OCCUPATIONS" and "AGAINST U.S. MILITARFY BASES ABROAD." The main purpose of the action was to challenge the rules forbidding private public spaces being used to advance political agendas, in essence preventing freedom of speech. And, as always, the grannies meant to convey their anti-war, anti-militarization message. They chose the date to celebrate the six years since 18 of them were arrested and jailed on Oct. 18, 2005, when they tried to enlist to replace America's grandchildren in harm's way in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq.

The grannies believe that because of the national and international crises currently prevailing, which sorely demand resolution, it is essential that there be opportunities to rally, to vigil, to demonstrate on behalf of peace and social justice wherever people congregate.

After about 20 minutes, an official from Lincoln Center came over to the group and said that they would have to disperse, and, if not, the police would be called. The peace people stood their ground. No police came, though they were at a nearby location ready to pounce. More time passed, and again the woman from Lincoln Center warned the grannies to leave the premises or the police would be called. The grannies continued standing silently, and again there was a notable absence of the men in blue to carry out the threat.

Promptly at 8 p.m., the grannies broke ranks and, as cameras flashed and the watching crowd burst into applause, spoke happily about their feelings of having accomplished their mission. They had, after all, held their vigil without interference.

One wondered why the police backed off from removing and presumably arresting the vigilers. Was it because they retain vestiges of their childhood respect and fear of their elders -- they were psychologically unable to clamp handcuffs on old women like their grannies?

Or was it because they've been getting a bad rap lately as stories have circulated about young women being pepper sprayed while peacefully marching with the Occupy Wall Street people, and for randomly brutally mistreating OWS persons on Brooklyn Bridge, in Citibank? If so, it was a wise decision. YouTube videos circulating throughout the world showing cops dragging white-haired old ladies into paddy wagons would not exactly enhance the reputation of New York's Finest!

So, have the grandmothers created a new precedent paving the way for future vigils and rallies to take place in public private spaces (or is it private public spaces)? Was this a unique event resulting from intimidated police confronted with their elders? Or if it's a younger assemblage next time, will the police revert to their old aggressive tactics?

Time will tell. One hopes, however, that a new chapter is beginning, allowing for more freedom to peaceably assemble in order to alert the public to the perilous circumstances confronting us all.

THE DESPAIRING FACE OF OCCUPY WALL STREET

2011-10-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

There are so many different people with so many different causes at Occupy Wall Street that it's almost impossible to find one person who symbolizes its message. One sees the weathered faces of the Granny Peace Brigade trying to spread awareness of the immense costs of our immoral wars to the detriment of our domestic needs, the middle-aged union workers coping with job scarcity and benefits cuts, young mothers concerned about not having coverage for their children's health needs, and all other specimens of humankind fed up with a system that ignores their critical needs.

Even so, I encountered one young man who I submit is surely a strong candidate as the Face of Occupy Wall Street. He's not a scruffy, weed-smoking hippie out to party, as some of the media have suggested is the portrait of the Wall Street protester. He is Nathan Tumazi, a polite, clean-cut young man of 25, who has been looking for a job for one year and four months. He has submitted over 977 resumes, gone to career fairs, contacted recruiting agencies, networked online and even applied for more than 60 jobs overseas.

Nathan is a graduate of the University of California Irvine with a degree in international relations and a GPA of 3.4-3.8.. He was accepted into Columbia University for graduate work, but, denied financial aid, was unable to attend He supported himself through college with student loans, leaving him in debt to the dissonant tune of $60,000..

Further, he was mentored by the Foreign Secretary of the United States National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Michael T. Clegg, and was Founder and President of the first Evolutionary Biology Club at UC Irvine. And, most impressive of all for such a young man, he is an author of a book, Concerns of Human Reality: Essays in Domination Politics (published by VDM - available on Amazon.com).

Is there something wrong with this picture? You bet there is! And, this is one of the scenarios that prompted the revolt. Our young people are despairing. Did any of you feel that way on the brink of adulthood? Today's youths, including those with graduate degrees, CANNOT find jobs, even on a level beneath their skills and training. They are saddled with huge debts that they can't repay and may never fully repay. They will have little access to health care, even those who can stay on their parents' plans until age 26.

In other words, the American Dream has turned into a nightmare for our young people. And, yes, it can be traced largely to the financial industry's immoral use of its power to control Congress. Wall Street rules the roost -- killing regulations protecting consumers and the environment, taking over health care for profit, outsourcing millions of jobs to foreign countries to avoid paying living wages, and on and on. Wall Street has even invaded the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court -- note its recent decision to declare corporations as people with the right to finance political campaigns.

So, yes, Nathan Tumazi is a symbol of the uprising at Zucotti Park. He and his peers desperately need a systemic change to transpire so that they can have hope for the future. They must be enabled to have the careers they have been educated for, to afford to start families, and, in Wall Street's own interest, to afford to buy its products to keep the wheels of industry turning. We must support Nathan and Occupy Wall Street in order to bring about changes so that he and his greatly burdened contemporaries can have the lives they so richly deserve.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CONG. RANGEL'S VISIT TO "OCCUPY WALL STREET"

2011-10-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

There are so many people at Zucotti Park, the locale for the New York City Occupy Wall Streeters, that it's hard for the many media journalists there to keep track of what's happening.

It was particularly difficult on Saturday, Oct. 1, when thousands descended on the little space to gather for the march which wound up disastrously on Brooklyn Bridge. On that day, Congressman Charlie Rangel came down to lend his support shortly before the walk began. He was the highest-level elected representative to make an appearance at Occupy Wall Street thus far, a fact that others of his ilk might contemplate. It can't have been easy to make the decision to join the demonstration, as it is to be expected that given the nature of the protest, there are bound to be those who are angry with government officials.

I met him as he entered the park and walked with him while a horde of media persons and protesters descended on him. He began to speak to the crowd, encouraging them to "take back your country" and generally supporting their grievances and hopes. In the middle of his impassioned talk, a man started screaming at him -- I couldn't decipher his remarks, but they were obviously hostile. Immediately, the crowd started booing and yelled, "We're sorry. This is a peaceful gathering." It was very obvious they were apologizing to the Congressman. I am being very explicit about this because a few of the media reports I've read have implied that the "boos" were aimed at Mr. Rangel, and I want to make absolutely certain the true facts are recorded correctly.

Mr. Rangel has long been an advocate for economic justice and does not deserve any misinterpretation of his intentions or his sincere feelings concerning his courageous visit on Saturday.

If only there were more sitting in the hallowed halls of Congress like him! Sen. Schumer, won't you pay a visit to Zucotti Park? Congressman Nadler? Congresswoman Maloney?

AFGHAN PEACE YOUTHS FEEL HOPELESS: SAY CONDITIONS WORSENING

2011-08-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Aug. 21, I had the privilege of speaking via conference call with several young people from the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers. It was the occasion of what they have termed the "Global Day of Listening," during which the kids spoke with supporters and sympathizers all over the world for approximately 5 and a half hours.

I was immensely saddened to hear that they are discouraged about the prospects of peace in their beleaguered country. The kids stated more than once that things are worse than they were the last time they held the conference call a few months ago, and that their hopes for peace have dwindled down to almost zero. This was in marked contrast to earlier conversations in which I participated, when they projected a sense of ebullience and hope. I had the impression in those past talks that they felt confident that they could make a difference through their admirable efforts to end the conflicts within their nation.

Yesterday, they expressed their belief that the Afghan people desire that our troops leave their country in a responsible manner as soon as possible, that our military presence there essentially contributes to the decreasing potential for peace. Yet, they see little chance of our withdrawal in the foreseeable future.

The publication recently of a report in numerous Online publications that an agreement is about to be signed which would allow thousands of U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan until at least 2024 certainly reinforces the young peoples' despair. US Troops May Stay in Afghanistan Until 2024 | Common Dreams

The group (AYPV) of mostly teen-agers is located 100 miles to the north of Kabul in a mountainous province called Bamiyan. Their lives are extremely difficult. By contrast, an average middle-class American youngster's life seems like a rhapsodic fantasy. One of the younger ones, for instance, walks miles daily to obtain fresh water for his family. School is a luxury oftentimes, given that some must work the farms or market potatoes full-time to help support their families. The landscape is desolate, and there is a lack of warm clothing to protect against the extreme cold. Despite their hardships, though, this group of juveniles manages to devote themselves to the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers. Among their many activities, they cleared through substantial debris to create a Peace Park, in which they planted trees and shrubs.

They have made a number of beautiful short videos very effectively urging peace. (See below.) They've traveled 100 miles through difficult and even perilous terrain to Kabul for their periodic Global Days of Listening.

Their mentor and interpreter is Hakim, a doctor from Singapore, who has spent several years organizing the AYPV, writing eloquent articles promoting their cause, creating and producing their videos, and interpreting in several languages, including excellent and fluent English, for their global conference calls. Influenced by Gandhi and Noam Chomsky's writings, Hakim gave up his private medical practice to focus on leading the young Afghans to pursue peace.

I tried to help them feel more positive as best I could, telling them I had lived many, many years and learned that things often change, even when you don't expect them to. I urged them to keep up their wonderful and inspiring actions, and that we peace grannies (the Granny Peace Brigade, Grandmothers Against the War, Grandmothers for Peace International, and the Raging Grannies, among many) would do the same.

But, they need so much more solace and stimulation than I or any one person could provide. I hope readers of these words will be moved as I was by the plight of these kids we threaten with our instruments of war. Please contact them by writing journeytosmile@gmail.com. They are very heartened by words of encouragement from people from other locales, particularly the United States, a principal cause of the chaos they must endure. Ask to be notified of the various ways you can help them

Finally, please watch this very brief video made by the youngsters. They will steal your heart.
- Afghan Children Smile for Love Forgiveness Peace Humanity -- CLICK ON
http://youtu.be/0XUiFp-kTzk

WAKE UP, AMERICA! YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE!

2011-08-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED TO MAKE IT CLEAR
THAT DOOMSDAY IS GETTING PERILOUSLY NEAR
OUR SAFETY NET IS TORN TO SHREDS
TAX BREAKS ARE GIVEN TO CORPORATE HEADS
WHILE WE ON THE BOTTOM AND IN THE MIDDLE
LOSE MORE EACH DAY WHILE THE LEADERS FIDDLE

WE'RE MAKING WAR ALL OVER THE PLANET
THOUGH OUR CITIZENS DAILY URGE, "PLEASE BAN IT"
SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS ARE DYING FOR NAUGHT
SO BOMBS AND GUNS CAN BE PROFITABLY BOUGHT
VETS COMING HOME ARE UNEMPLOYED
BODIES AND MINDS TOO OFTEN DESTROYED

WHAT MORE WILL IT TAKE TO AWAKEN US ALL
TO SCARE US OUT OF OUR LISTLESS PALL
SO WE'LL TAKE TO THE STREETS AND TOSS THEM OUT
A THOROUGH, CONCLUSIVE AND ALL-AROUND ROUT
AMERICA, THIS IS WHAT IT WILL TAKE
OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURES ARE AT STAKE

WAKE UP, AMERICA, ORGANIZE
THE TIME HAS COME TO MOBILIZE
WE MUST HAVE MORE THAN MOANS AND GROANS
WE'VE GOT TO LEAVE OUR COMFORT ZONES
AND FINALLY TAKE ACTION, NOW, TODAY
LET'S HIT THE STREETS, WITHOUT DELAY!

JOAN'S DAILY DOGGEREL TWEETS

2011-06-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing my Daily Doggerel TWeets, commenting on the headlines of each day. Here's my latest batch through June 13.

WEINER RESIGN?/NOT BOEHNER/CANTER & RYAN/& EACH TAX CUT CONDONER/& THOSE WHO PROFIT/FROM ARMS & OIL/AT MEDICARE SCOFF,IT/MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL
8 Jun

NEWT'S DESERTED/ANTHONY'S PERVERTED/THIS HOCUS POCUS/IS MEDIA'S FOCUS/MEANTIME, NO JOBS/ WALL STREET ROBS/BANKS FORECLOSE/DEPRESSION GROWS
9Jun

PALIN'S EMAIL/OUT IN THE OPEN/DEVIOUS FEMALE/WE'RE BUSY HOPIN'/ASK 4 SUPPRESSION/DESPITE WHAT'S REVEALED/END PALIN OBSESSION/KEEP IT SEALED
11 Jun

CONGRESS DEBATES/CUTS IN BUDGET/THE REPROBATES/WRECK & MISJUDGE IT/THEY CHOOSE/WE LOSE/INSTEAD, BRING THE TROOPS BACK/FROM AFGHANISTAN& IRAQ
12 Jun

SAGA OF WEINER/GROWS EVER OBSCENER/AS MORE SHOTS EXPOSE/THIS JERK WITHOUT CLOTHES/MEDIA DUCKS/THAT ECONOMY SUCKS/JOBS R GONE/& WARS GO ON
13 Jun

REPUGS DEBATE/HOT AIR SPEWED/EMPTY PRATE/WE'RE REALLY SCREWED/MITT'S THE PITS,NEWT A BRUTE/MICHELLE DUMBBELL/TIM DIM/END'S NEAR/NEED A BEER
14 Jun

WISCONSIN COURT/ CRUELLY SMITES/LEGAL SUPPORT/OF BARGAINING RIGHTS/PLEASE RECALL/THE G.O.P LUGS/WHO CAUSED LABOR'S FALL/OUST THE THUGS
15 Jun

WEINER'S GOING/WHO IS NEXT/FOR PACKAGE SHOWING/AND TAWDRY TEXT/ONE THINGS IS SURE/MORE SCANDAL WILL RISE/THERE'S NO CURE/FOR WANDERING EYES
16 Jun

Joan's Daily Doggerel: LET'S BOYCOTT THE AARP/CAVING ON SOCIAL SECURITY/THE TRUTH IS OUT/THEY'RE ONLY ABOUT/SELLING STUFF TO THE ELDERLY
18 Jun

BARRY AND JOHN/OUT ON THE LINKS/HOSTILITIES GONE/NO PARTISAN STINKS/BUT TOMORROW AGAIN/STALEMATE BACK /EACH CITI-ZEN/DROPPED THRU THE CRACK
19 Jun

Daily Doggerel: TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT/MCELROY HAS GRABBED YOUR LIGHT/YOU THOUGHT YOUR REIGN UNENDABLE/NOW LEARN NOONE'S EXPENDABLE
20 Jun

IT'S TIME TO END/EACH FUTILE WAR/WE'VE GOT TO MEND/THE ROT AT OUR CORE/RETURN EACH SOLDIER/DO NOT WAIT/OBAMA, BE BOLDER/BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE
21Jun

OBAMA,NOT ENUF/WE NEED MORE/U SHOULDA GOT TOUGH/ STOPPED THE WAR/WE DON'T GAIN/BY KEEPING TROOPS THERE/ONLY MORE PAIN/MORE DEATH & DESPAIR
22Jun

IF WE CUT/TROOPS BY 10 THOU/TELL US WHAT/CASH WE'LL GET NOW/TO BE REDEPLOYED/TO DOMESTIC NEEDS?/OR STAY IN A VOID/& SUPPORT WAR MISDEEDS?
23Jun

NEWT SPENDS BIG BUCKS/4 TIFFANY WARE/THEN FEEBLY CLUCKS/WE'RE A THRIFTY PAIR/WHY SHOULDN'T U TRUST/ME 2 CUT DEBT/THO I LUST/4 ALL I CAN GET
24Jun

JOAN'S DAILY DOGGEREL RE CURRENT EVENTS

2011-06-07T09:59:00.001-07:00

Joan Wile, founder of Grandmothers Against the War, and author, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace" (Citadel Press, '08), as well as an award-winning ASCAP lyricist and composer, recently launched "Daily Doggerel Re Current Events" online. Joan is writing a short poem (observing the mandatory 140-character cap) every day on Facebook and Twitter about current events as they unfold. "It's a good mental exercise to write a poem within those constraints...maybe it will help stave off Alzheimer's," the 79-year-old songwriter said. "At least I'm not posting sleazy photos of myself."

Here are the first six:

JoanWile - Thursday, June 2
PALIN, A TWIT/BACHMAN, A DUNCE/AN EMPTY SUIT, MITT/ALL BRAINLESS RUNTS/WHAT A BUNCH OF CRETINS/KEEP EXPOSIN' THEM IN YOUR TWEETIN'S.

JoanWile - Friday, June 3
JOBLESSNESS RISING/BENEFITS DIPPING/COMPANIES DOWNSIZING/ ECONOMY'S SLIPPING/BOEHNER IS CLUELESS/WE'LL ALL WIND UP SHOELESS

JoanWile - Saturday, June 4
WEINER SEEN STALKING/UNDERWEAR SIGHTED/PUBLIC GAWKING/ IMAGE BLIGHTED/EDWARDS INDICTED/PRESS OVERJOYED/RIGHT WING DELIGHTED/IMAGE DESTROYED

JoanWile - Sunday, June 5
ECONOMY'S WITHERING/EVRYTHING'S CRUMBLING/CONGRESS JUST DITHERING/FUMBLING AND BUMBLING/NEOCONS SLITHERING/BUT NOBODY'S GRUMBLING

JoanWile - Monday, June 6
5 GIs DEAD TODAY/TWAS IN IRAQ/WHY'D THEY STAY/THEY SHOULDDA BEEN BACK/AND IN AFGHANISTAN/MORE GIs DYING/TO STOP THE TALIBAN?/ IM NOT BUYING

JoanWile - Tuesday, June 7
WEINER'S DISGRACE/ IS TAWDRY AND BASE/FAR GREATER SLEAZE?/THE WARS OVERSEAS/NO JOBS, HUNGRY KIDS/ AS ECONOMY SKIDS.

You can follow Joan's poetic output every day on Twitter -- joanwile@twitter.com -- and Facebook -- joanwile@facebook.com.

BROOKLYN HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS STATE IRAQ WAR A CRIME

2011-06-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

It was a well-used music room in a slightly beat-up ancient school--the Brooklyn Collaborative School. Approximately 20 kids piled in. They appeared to be all Latino and African-American. They were seniors about to graduate. We were told by their teacher, Stephen, that every single one was going on to college, some with full scholarships.

We were invited guests for a special occasion on June 2 -- Carol Huston, an active member of the Granny Peace Brigade; Alicia Godsberg, currently Executive Director of Peace Action New York State; Hugh Bruce, a Vietnam veteran member of Veterans for Peace, and me, founder of Grandmothers Against the War.

We were there to witness the reading of several essays the kids had written on the question: Was the Iraq war a just war? Unbelievably, Stephen had made this the primary focus of his Social Economics class. We wondered if there were any other teachers in the United States who were daring and RESPONSIBLE enough to introduce this inflammatory topic to their students. We would like to think so, of course, but given the general aura of apathy about these illegal and misguided wars, we figured it was an unmentionable subject in the temples of education.

What could we expect from this bunch of chattering school kids? The giggling girls, the high-fiving brash boys slumping toward their seats? Looking at them, you'd figure they were most likely thinking about the latest rap record, or maybe the new movie, "Thor," or probably some were ruminating about the coming prom. They couldn't be seriously thinking about our disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan....or could they?

After a brief speech by Ms. Godberg, in which she told them all the things that the huge amounts of money wasted on the war could do for their community. the first student, a slim young man calling himself Fran, got up and read his paper. He argued that the rules of war were broken by the very nature of why the war was waged -- not for defense of a people or nation or safety, just business.

Five others followed. They talked of the illegality of invading a sovereign country that had not attacked us. They talked of the fact that Congress had not authorized our invasion. They discussed the catastrophic economic ramifications of our spending a trillion dollars to wage these conflicts. They discussed our defiance of the Geneva Convention with our illegal torture and imprisonment.

In short, all the billions of words we Progressives have read over the years by professors, experts, pundits in the annals of Online publications such as this one were intelligently summarized by these youngsters in one hour.

What did these amazing children conclude? Each made the firm determination that the war in Iraq was definitely an unjust war. They also determined that we had no business in Afghanistan, either, and we should get out....Now!

Hey, there's hope after all for the new generation, especially with hero teachers like Stephen to guide them. Teachers like him should get quadruple their salaries....but, then, that's the subject of another article

SURPRISE! THERE IS, TOO, A PEACE MOVEMENT. IT'S JUST THAT THE TEA PARTY GETS ALL THE MEDIA COVERAGE

2011-04-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

You'd think there is a huge Tea Party group in the U.S. and virtually no opposition. But, that is strictly a myth created and perpetuated by the media. To the contrary, there is an alive and well anti-war movement populated by people from all over the country. One wonders why the media seems so intent on promoting the Tea Party and ignoring the probably larger but less visible peace movement.

In New York City and environs alone, there are countless regular peace vigils
-- to name a few, my own Grandmothers Against the War vigil at Rockefeller Center, which has been flourishing non-stop every week since January 2004. The Women in Black hold two long-standing weekly vigils -- one at the Public Library on Fifth Ave. and one in Union Square. There has been a vigil at Ground Zero for years and years. There is a regular vigil in Queens, on Staten Island, in Brooklyn, in Rockland County, and on and on and on. These are just ones that I personally know of. If it were possible to compile a complete list of vigils in this area, I'm sure it would approach 100 or more.

Nationally, there are enduring California vigils in the Bay Area of San Francisco, Marin County, Sacramento; and Los Angeles; in Philadelphia, West Chester, Pottsville, to name just a few in Pennsylvania; Brainerd and Saginaw, Minnesota, a partial list; Fort Worth, and others, Texas; St. Petersburg and Inverness Fla, two of many.

But, peace vigils are just part of the picture. There are continuous actions, events, protests, and demonstrations everywhere. And, I don't mean only the few large-scale marches that periodically pop up in Washington DC and New York City. For instance, here in the Big Apple, the Granny Peace Brigade has bi-weekly street events employing their Mz. Gizmo gadget, in which passers-by pour pennies into tubes labeled with 10 budget categories, revealing their wishes for a much better-prioritized national budget. The grannies also encourage people to use the grandmothers' cell phones to make free calls to their legislators.

Theatres Against the War (THAW) in New York City has held street theatre events. An artists group periodically has had banner drops in Grand Central Station. A coalition of peace organizations held a song-fest in that venerable venue, as well.

Military Families Speak Out have set up "cemeteries" in public spaces throughout the U.S. containing a hundred or so white crosses to represent the war dead. A group of protesters in Derry CA erected a blockade at the Raytheon plant producing bombs. Anti-war groups are endlessly creative and endlessly dedicated.

The problem is that these actions operate independently from each other for the most part, and don't inter-connect enough to be a visible grass roots tide. We have to learn to coalesce into a mass movement as the Tea Partiers are reputed to have done (questionable?) so that we, too, can influence policy and put our candidates into office.

Accordingly, I hereby call on everyone reading this article who is part of a regular peace action to contact me at joanwile@grandmothersagainstthewar.org so we can begin to build that connection. I also suggest that those involved in peace activities write your local newspapers and TV stations demanding that they cover your events. Please submit other ideas to me for encouraging greater press and media attention.

This basically should be a no-brainer. Poll after poll reveals that the majority of Americans want the wars ended right away and all troops and armaments brought home. There is so much creative force and passionate commitment among us. We can do this if we just pull our resources together.

THREE MEMBERS OF THE GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE GIVEN THE FIRST CLARA LEMLICH AWARD IN HONOR OF 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE

2011-03-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

As part of the week-long commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirt Factory fire of March 25, 2011, the first Clara Lemlich Award was presented to thirty older women on March 21 in a ceremony at the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation. Three of the recipients are members of the legendary anti-war group, the Granny Peace Brigade. The Award was given "in celebration of unsung activists."

The members of the Granny Peace Brigade receiving the Award were Marie Runyon, 96; Lillian Pollak, 95, and Joan Wile, 79. Another Granny Peace Brigader, actress-activist Vinie Burrows, presented the Awards.

The Granny Peace Brigade came to the forefront of public awareness on Oct. 17, 2005, at which time 18 women were arrested and jailed at the Times Square recruiting center when they tried to enlist in the military as a means of replacing America's grandchildren in harm's way. The grannies felt they had been privileged to live long lives and didn't want young people denied that privilege because of a war based on a lie.

The grandmothers were on trial for six days at the end of which they were acquitted of the charge against them -- blocking a public entrance. Each of the 18 women were given the opportunity during the trial to express their reasons for engaging in civil disobedience and were, in essence, therefore able to turn the tables and put the war on trial.

Marie Runyon, one of the 2005 arrestees, was honored for her life-long work as a housing activist; Lillian Pollak for her years of activism and recent publication of a novel, "The Sweetest Dream," a historical novel about the radical politics of the 30's; and Joan Wile, also an arrestee, for founding Grandmothers Against the War in 2003 which led to the formation of the Granny Peace Brigade. Vinie Burrows, another one of the "Times Square 18,"
in addition to her internationally acclaimed reputation as an actress-playwright, is also known for her role as Permanent Representative for the U.N. Women's International Democratic Federation.

Clara Lemlich was a young woman garment worker who, after the fire, successfully organized women workers in the industry to go on strike for better, safer working conditions. Her organizing was the basis of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).

"We are very honored to be chosen for this significant award," said Ms. Runyon, "particularly in view of the fact that so many of us Granny Peace Brigaders are among the recipients. Three out of thirty is pretty awesome.
And, I hope we inspire elderly people with our ability even at our ages to continue contributing to peace and social justice."

Third Estate Sunday Review: Roundtable

2011-03-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Third Estate Sunday Review: Roundtable

JOIN THE END THE WAR PROTEST IN NEW YORK CITY MARCH 19

2011-03-11T13:43:00.001-08:00

It's encouraging to see the people uprisings abroad and in our own country. The Egypt revolt really sparked something, and, on its revolutionary heels, the workers of Wisconsin came to life and fought Gov. Walker's efforts to strip them of their rights. People in other states being subjected to the same onslaught rose into action, also. It seems as if we might be on the cusp of meaningful fightback in the U.S. against the new robber barons who don't give a damn about you and me but are only interested in swelling their over-bloated portfolios to even greater obscene proportions.

This is a supremely opportune time to apply this welcome surge of People Power to the anti-war movement. We in the peace movement who have been conducting our futile struggle for almost 8 years to prevent, then end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, must grab this moment to pursue our cause with greater force. This does not take anything away from the battle to protect workers rights -- to the contrary, it is a wonderful support. Bring the troops and the war dollars home, and fix our broken economy. Remove all justification that way for cutting benefits and salaries -- then, the greedy scoundrels would have no rationale for busting the unions.

Accordingly, I urge all those within travel distance of New York City who will not be going to the Washington rally on March 19 to attend our adjunct protest on the same day, coordinated by the local Chapter 34 of the Veterans for Peace and by Grandmothers Against the War. As we did on Dec. 16 in support of that day's protest at the White House, we will meet at the Times Square recruiting station at 5:00 pm. In December, 131 people were arrested in D.C. and 11 of us were arrested in New York. We will again carry out non-violent civil disobedience in our continuing efforts to thereby keep the issue alive and, hopefully, to nudge the sleeping citizenry with the urgent need to end these immoral and tragic wars.

Let's turn out in massive numbers in Washington and in the Big Apple. They are doing it in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and other locales. We can, we must, get out on the streets, too, and finally stop the killing!

DATE AND TIME: 5-6 pm, Sat., March 19
PLACE: Times Square recruiting station, Broadway at 44th St.

SPEECHES BY PEACE LEADERS, ENTERTAINMENT AND NON-VIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

endorsed by
Big Apple Coffee Party; Brooklyn For Peace; Catholic Workers; Chelsea Neighbors United to End the War; Grandmothers Against the War; Granny Peace Brigade; Gray Panthers; Pax Christie of Metro New York; Peace Action Bay Ridge Interfaith Peace Coalition; Peace Action Manhattan; Raging Grannies; Veterans for Peace Chapter 34 (NYC); War Resisters League

PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION TO END THE WAR/OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ

2011-02-20T14:16:00.000-08:00

Like me, are you asking yourselves why we can't stop the war in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq by doing as they did in Egypt and as they are doing in Wisconsin? If they can do it, we can do it. We see clearly that people power WORKS. If we can mobilize large enough numbers of people, we can end these brutal, immoral and unnecessary wars. I'm POSITIVE there are millions of people in the U.S. who want to do just that!

Consequently, I just created a petition entitled "Grandmothers for Peace Urge Pres. Obama to Immediately End All Hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan." I'm trying to collect 100,000 signatures, and I could really use your help. Although the petition specifies "grandmothers," I want everybody to sign. The term "grandmothers" seems to grab sympathetic attention, so that's why I tagged it that way.

To read more about what I'm trying to do and to sign my petition, click here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/grandmothers-for-peace-urge-pres-obama-to-immediately-end-all-hostilities-in-iraq-and-afghanistan?share_id=XzNHIHxIui&pe=pce

It'll just take a minute! And, it would be wonderful if you could post it on your web site, if you have one, or post it in Facebook.

Once you're done, please ask your friends to sign the petition as well. Grassroots movements succeed because people like you are willing to spread the word!

CAN WE PEACE GRANDMOTHERS FOMENT AN EGYPT-STYLE REVOLT TO END OUR WARS?

2011-02-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

There we were, last Wednesday as usual, our little straggly group of elderly grandmothers and supporters standing on Fifth Avenue in front of Rockefeller Center chanting, "BRING THEM BACK...FROM AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ! STOP THE KILLING NOW!" We were into our eighth year of our Grandmothers Against the War weekly late-afternoon one-hour vigil begun on Jan. 14, 2004, and held continuously until now without hardly a single break, no matter what the elements threw at us. On this particular Wednesday, we were down to only seven protesters, a disappointing decrease from our usual approximately 15. Of course, the weather had something to do with the meager turnout -- New York City was still recovering from the multiple onslaughts of snow crippling people's ability to get around.

While standing there (our aging bones making it painful after the first half hour), we began discussing the situation in Egypt. We wondered if there were any way at all for there to be a similar eruption of public discontent here in the U.S.

Sadly, we concluded it was extremely unlikely. Oh, yes, we peace grannies and the Veterans for Peace who join us every week are passionate about our cause. We deplore the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are horrified about the loss of American military and civilian life in both countries (still ongoing in Iraq, despite the perception encouraged by the muted reporting in the media that implies otherwise). We lament the obscene amounts of money tossed away on unwinnable and unjustified wars as the funds for our domestic needs dwindle away to the point where our citizens are in desperate straits. Yes, we are concerned enough to take to the streets and try to bring awareness to the indifferent masses of people passing by us that we are in critical trouble, that we must end these wars and occupations for our very survival. But, we are so few.

There are always a handful people walking by who acknowledge us, give us a thumbs up or a "Thank you," as they smilingly continue on their way. Usually, those sympathizers are from other countries -- our sense is that people from abroad absolutely hate our wars. But, mostly, passers-by pretty much ignore us.

We assume that this apathy is wide-spread throughout the United States. We marvel at the fact that the Tea Party has been able to mobilize people to hit the streets, and are displeased that their causes are so antipathetic to our beliefs.
Will the Tea Party be able to foment a revolt similar to Egypt's? I hope not.

But, why can't WE even begin to goose our population into demanding we end the wars? It's a strange dichotomy -- the issues that people are really heated about -- jobs, inferior education, inadequate health care, as prime examples -- cannot be solved until we bring the money home along with the troops; yet, the unconscionable conflicts are almost never mentioned in politicians' speeches or media editorials. PEOPLE DO NOT SEE THE CONNECTION!

I've concluded that the anti-war grandmothers' job is to make that connection in people's minds. I'm trying to dream up an action that will gain enough attention to start infiltrating into people's consciousness.

To that end, I am herewith pleading to all grandmothers everywhere reading this article to contact me -- joanwile263@aol.com -- with their ideas and suggestions as to how we can create a grandmothers' movement that will wake up America. And, beyond that, let me know if you will join with me and my peer grannnies to make it happen.

Grandmothers are thought of as wise, nurturing, and balanced. People will listen to us if our message is made available to them. Let us take off our night caps and don our thinking ones. We know what's at stake -- the future of our children and grandchildren. We must do all within our power to end these wars and foster a world of peace for them.

Hurry -- we have so little time!

11 PEOPLE ARRESTED AT TIMES SQUARE RALLY DEC. 16 IN SYMPATHY WITH D.C. WHITE HOUSE PROTESTERS

2010-12-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

Approximately 75 people braved the freezing temperatures on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 16 to rally against the war in Afghanistan. They gathered on Military Island, the small traffic island housing the Times Square recruiting station (now laughably tagged the Army Career Center) as a sympathy rally for the one held in D.C. earlier that day at the White House, during which 135 people were arrested.

In Times Square, 11 stalwarts blocked a stretch of Broadway for about 10 minutes before they were handcuffed and hauled off by the New York City police to a nearby jail.

The Big Apple event was populated by many Veterans for Peace and lots of peace grannies from the Granny Peace Brigade, the Raging Grannies and
Grandmothers Against the War. Two of the grandmothers were in their 90's but stood for more than an hour in the cold throughout the action. There was a contingent of Catholic Workers, War Resister Leaguers, the Green Party, and other anti-war groups, also.

After the Raging Grannies sang a few of their peace songs, names of New York State war dead in Afghanistan were read. Then, leaders in the peace movement spoke, including Bill Gilson, Vice President of local chapter 34 of Veterans for Peace; Carmen Trotta of the Catholic Workers; Barbara Harris, chair of the Counter Recruitment Committee of the Granny Peace Brigade; Tom Syracuse of the Green Party, and Alicia Godberg, Executive Director of Peace Action New York State.

And then came the civil resistance, at exactly 6 p.m. As the Times Square crowds swarmed around, the bright lights sparkled and flashed, 11 hardy souls fanned out across Broadway at the intersection with 44th St. and refused to move. The other rally participants shouted "Peace Now," "Stop the War," "Arrest Bush and Cheney, not these Patriots," as they observed their comrades loaded into the paddy wagons.

The event was organized by one of the arrestees, Bill Steyert, a Vietnam war vet with the Vets for Peace, who said: "I think it was a travesty that the war in Afghanistan wasn't even brought up as an issue during the recent mid-term elections. This tragic war jeopardizes not only the lives of American troops but directly affects our economy, which is in such dire shape because money spent on war is urgently needed to create jobs at home. This rally showed that those of us who were there have not forgotten what's going on in Afghanistan in our name."

It is hoped that the New York protest along with the big one in Washington served as a wake-up call to the American people about the tragedy of this hopeless and destructive war. Wake up, America!

PRESIDENT PALIN'S FIRST CABINET MEETING

2010-12-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

PRES. P: Good morning, everyone. Sorry I'm late...it took me a little longer than usual to carve up the moose I slaughtered yesterday. May I hear from each of you as to what programs you've implemented? Let's begin with the Secretary of our new Department of Chastity, Christine O'Donnell.

O'DONNELL: Thank you, Madame President. With the help of my Assistant Secretary of Chastity, Bristol Palin, I'm launching policies in my Department that I think will be of great benefit to our constituents. First, of course, I've closed all abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood offices. Instead, I've created a new program, which I call the No Sex Is Good Sex Project. There, we will counsel all young people and all single people that they may not engage in sex in any form. If we catch them in the act, they'll be fined and, if they commit repeated offenses, they'll be imprisoned. I've also had the Bureau of Printing print 50 million posters to be posted in all public schools, youth clubs, etc., that say "KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF YOUR SEX ORGANS -- MASTURBATION IS PUNISHABLE!" We're developing a tracking system so that we're able to keep tabs on people in their bedrooms and bathrooms in order to catch them in the act.

PRES. P: Excellent, Secretary O'Donnell. Those measures should go a long way toward keeping people on the moral path we decide they should follow. Now, let's move on to the Department of Defense. What have you got to report, Secretary McCain?

MCCAIN: We're implementing multiple surges, Madame President. Wherever we are engaged in battle, we will do a surge forthwith. Surge! Surge! Surge! That's the ticket. Let the anti-war yellow bellies scream their heads off, we're going to pour troops into all the hot spots in the world. That's how we'll spread democracy....by cramming it down their throats.

PRES. P: Have you figured out where to get all those extra troops, Secretary McCain?

MCCAIN: Absolutely. We've re-instituted the draft, effective immediately. No deferments for anybody other than the blind, the deaf and amputees. Further, Ma'am, I've proposed an order for the military to invade Iraq again. I never bought that story that there were no weapons of mass destruction. We'll search every home in Iraq until we find them. As for Afghanistan, I've removed all time lines, and we're beefing up the drones and night raids. Our invasions of Iran and Pakistan are going well, and we're mobilizing for an invasion of Mexico. That ought to solve the immigration problem!

And, another thing. I've made sure the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy remains firmly in place. In fact, I've improved it. People can be discharged not only for being openly gay, but for being artists, musicians, and Liberals. We don't want any weepy oddballs in our armed forces.

PRES. P: Excellent work, John. Michele Bachmann, now that you're Secretary of Health and Welfare, please tell us what policies you're pursuing in your new assignment.

BACHMANN: That's easy, sir...I mean, Ma'am. We've ended Medicare and we're phasing out Social Security. Other improvements we've instituted are the reduction of welfare so that the only people who are eligible are unemployed single parents with diagnosed terminal diseases and at least six children.

PRES. P: Very good. You might also want to think about decreasing payments to orphans over the age of 8. And now, let's hear from the Secretary of State. Mr. Beck?

BECK: The most important thing is to get all the oil we can. That means that we've got to take control of all the oil-producing nations, including Russia. Therefore, we are beginning the process of reinstating the Cold War and rev-ing up the arms race so drastically that the Soviets will have to capitulate and give us their most valuable resource. We've eliminated most of our diplomatic corps, also, Madame President, realizing that negotiation gets us nowhere. Force is the tool we will always use to secure what we want. America will now not only dominate the world, we will enslave it to serve our needs. Oh, yes, we're also bailing out of the U.N. and demanding that they leave our shores by the end of the year. Real estate is an extremely precious commodity in New York City, and we can use their buildings and land.

PRES. P: I couldn't agree more. Mr. Boehner, will you give us your progress report for the Treasury Department?

BOEHNER: Certainly, Madame President. I'm happy to report that we've been instrumental in getting the House and Senate to pass a permanent tax cuts bill. Those earning over $250,000 annually will henceforth pay only one percent of their taxable income to the government. With all the jobs that will trickle down as a result of this policy, the middle and lower classes should be able easily to pay their 40% of gross income. But, that's not all. Now that deregulation is permanently installed, we are free to outsource most office and computer jobs to India and other countries, vastly lowering personnel costs and at the same time driving profits way up. We're not sure these new policies will balance out so that we can reduce the national debt, but, oh, well, we'll let future administrations worry about that.

PRES. P: Thank you, everybody. You're all doing a real bang-up job. I think that's enough for today. I have to go practice now at the rifle range. Got to keep my trigger finger in shape. Those of you who didn't get to make reports today, please send them to my Chief of Staff, my husband, Todd. Oh, one more note. I've asked Vice President Sharon Angell to be ready to take over the Presidency when I retire six months from now. I think I can serve America best out of office traveling around signing books, giving speeches, doing reality shows for big fees. I have to support my family in style, don't y'know.

"PLEASE STOP YOUR NIGHT RAIDS," PLEAD AFGHAN PEACE YOUNGSTERS TO OBAMA, CLINTON, PETRAEUS AND OTHER WORLD LEADERS

2010-12-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

My group, New York City's Grandmothers Against the War, recently "adopted" the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, to provide moral and material support for their efforts to end our war in their homeland. The youngsters, who live in a mountain village 100 miles NW of Kabal, have accomplished miracles of peace-building in their community and around the world. They have just sent a letter to world leaders, which I am reproducing below, begging, "Stop your night raids," and inviting participation in a 24-hour Skype conference Dec. 18-19, to be called a Global Day of Listening, with as many people as can be inspired to participate. Among those who have already signed on are retired army Col. Ann Wright, Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative NonViolence, Cindy Sheehan, Mark Johnson of Fellowship for Reconciliation, a number of high school peace classes, a group of our grannies, tentatively called Grannies in Support of Afghan Peace Youths, and many others. Details about how to participate are at the end of their letter. Here is their plea:

OPEN LETTER FROM AFGHAN YOUTHS TO OUR WORLD LEADERS

Dear Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, Gen. Petraeus, Mr. Rasmussen, and all our world leaders:

We are Afghans and we ask the world to listen. Like yourselves, we couldn’t live without the love of our family and friends. We were hurt by your criticism of Mr Karzai for voicing the people’s anguished pleas, “Stop your night raids.”

Please, stop your night raids.

If you could listen, you would have heard 29 NGOs in Afghanistan describe how we now have “Nowhere to Turn”.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/conflict_disasters/nowhere-to-turn-afghanistan.html

If you could listen, you would also have heard Mr Karzai and the 29 NGOs express concern over your Afghan Local Police plan; the world will henceforth watch our militia killing the people, your people and our people, with your weapons and your money.

If you could listen, you would have heard the sound of your drones crystallizing the nights of hatred among the Afghan, Pakistani and global masses.

Instead, we hear your determination to ‘awe, shock and firepower’ us with Abrams tanks. We hear distant excitement over your new smart XM25 toy, a weapon you proudly proclaim will leave us with ‘nowhere to hide’.

Nowhere to turn and nowhere to hide.

Your actions have unfortunately dimmed our hopes that we the people could turn to you. Along with our Afghan war-makers, you are making the people cry. Yet, we understand. You are in the same trap we’re in, in a corrupt, militarized mania.

Love is how we’re asking for peace, a love that listens, and reconciles.

And so, we invite you to listen to the people of Afghanistan and to world public opinion on the Global Day of Listening to Afghans, to be internet-broadcast from Kabul this December.

It is time to listen broadly and deeply to both local and overseas Afghan civil groups and the numerous alternative solutions they have proposed for building a better socio-political, economic and religious/ideological future for Afghanistan.

We have shared the pain of our American friends who lost loved ones on September 11, by speaking with and listening to them. Though, if the world could listen like these American friends did, the world would know that few Afghans have even heard about September 11 and that no Afghans were among the 19 hijackers. The world would have heard our yearnings as we were punished over the past 9 years.

If the world could listen, they would know how much we detest the violence of the Taliban, our warlords, any warlord, or any bullet-digging finger-trophy troops.

And now, for at least another four more years, we will grieve over souls who you are unwilling to ‘count’ and we are unwilling to lose. It is extra painful to us and to your troops because clearly, there are non-violent and just alternatives.

We understand the pain of financial hardships but try telling an Afghan mother about to lose her child or a soldier about to take his life that the only way their illiterate and angry voices can ruffle the posh feathers of our world leaders is when it disturbs not their human or truth deficit, but their trillion dollar economic deficits. How do we explain that without denuding ourselves of human love and dignity?

What more can we say? How else can we and our loved ones survive? How can we survive with hearts panicking in disappointment while perpetually fleeing and facing a ’total’ global war, a war that wouldn’t be questioned even in the crude face of a thousand leaks?

We would survive in poverty, we may survive in hunger, but how can we survive without the hope that Man is capable of something better?

We sincerely wish you the best in your lives.

We are Afghans and we ask the world to listen.

سلامت باشین!

Salamat bAsheen!

Be at peace!

Meekly with respect,

The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers

Global Day of Listening to Afghans
19th December 2010

Why not listen? Why not love?

To share the pain of Afghans and people in conflict all over the world, please join us in Afghanistan by taking a few minutes on the 18th & 19th of December 2010 to Skype call us or call us directly, from wherever you are

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVMVRNrepZY

Email youthpeacevolunteers@gmail

GRAY PANTHERS TELL DEFICIT COMMISSION: "WE WON'T LET YOU WEAKEN SOCIAL SECURITY"

2010-11-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

Representatives of the National Gray Panthers went to Capitol Hill in November to present their position regarding Social Security. They spoke with members of the Deficit Commission and presented their counter proposals against anticipated recommendations by the Commission to cut Social Security benefits.

Susan Murany, Executive Director of the national Gray Panthers, told the Commission: "For 75 years, Social Security has remained a promise of economic protection and stability for the Americans who have paid into this program. As we now celebrate three-quarters of a century of accomplishments for this program, we must also do our part to ensure that Social Security is not weakened by those who wish to balance bailouts on the backs of Americans."

PROBLEM:

Social Security is America's most successful anti-poverty program and remains the most fiscally responsible part of our federal budget. In fact, recent polls from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare indicate that 85% of adult Americans are opposed to cuts to Social Security to decrease the deficit. However, while many Americans remain united on this issue, Social Security continues to face threats from increased polarization in Congress and those with anti-entitlement agendas.

The 2010 Social Security Trustees report shows that Social Security is not facing an immediate threat. The surplus within the Social Security trust fund is estimated to grow to $4.3 trillion by 2023 and remain able to pay benefits in full through 2037, and 76% of benefits thereafter. Yet, the opposition continues to project "doomsday" crisis reports and myths to the American public in their efforts to garner support for cuts to the Social Security program.

Proponents of these cuts, such as House Republican Leader Joe Boehner, would rather cut Social Security in order to pay for the war in Afghanistan. Outrageously, Boehner stated that, "Ensuring there's enough money to pay for the war will require reforming the country's entitlement system." Boehner also calls for increasing the Social Security eligibility age. However, a raise in the Social Security eligibility age would result in about a 20% benefit cut for recipients, hurting lower income beneficiaries working in manual labor and those with shorter life expectancy the most.

While it is evident that our government must make tough decisions to revive our down-turned economy, it is important to remember that cuts to Social Security would not only hurt seniors, but will also detrimentally affect people with disabilities, people who are unemployed, and women and children of deceased spouses/parents. Cuts to this program stand to unfairly burden the most vulnerable populations of Americans. While Former Senator Alan Simpson, the Co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, declares that the “Gray Panthers [...] don’t care a whit about their grandchildren…", we adamantly refute his comment and we vow to continue working to ensure that Social Security remains there for them in their future.

SOLUTION:

Gray Panthers oppose any efforts to cut benefits! Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of Social Security recipients, especially those most dependent on its benefits, here are some of the proposals we support:

- Eliminate the annual cap on taxable income and raise that cap so that wealthier people are paying more to Social Security. Under current law, wages over a certain yearly total ($106,800 in 2010) are exempted from Social Security payroll taxes. This means that a worker earning $106,800 a year pays the same amount of FICA taxes as a CEO who makes millions of dollars a year.

- Let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. The revenues gained from these expirations are far more than enough to fill current state budget deficits for the next ten years while still leaving an additional $2.76 trillion dollars left over to promote further economic recovery. There is no place for tax cuts in a deficit reduction proposal as were suggested by the Chairmen of the Deficit committee last week!

- End the wars. Funds saved from Social Security should not be used to pay for wars; rather, we should cut funds for wars to finance Social Security. The Gray Panthers support the Chairmen’s proposed cuts to Defense spending, but more cuts can and should be made!

- Extend outreach and enrollment. Gray Panthers believes that not only should Social Security be kept intact, but that outreach should be increased and enrollment expanded to get a greater number of older adults in poverty into the program.

The retirement age increase proposed by the Commission is just a particularly cruel way of cutting benefits. The age at which the elderly can retire on full Social Security benefits is already increasing to 67 by 2027. The chairmen’s plan would “index” the retirement age to increase in longevity, meaning it would hit 68 in about 2050 and 69 in about 2075.

New York Times opinion columnist Paul Krugman has pointed out, http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/unserious-people-2/, that “the people who really depend on Social Security, those in the bottom half of the distribution, aren’t living much longer. So you’re going to tell janitors to work until they’re 70because lawyers are living longer than ever."

Is this how a humane society proposes to care for its less fortunate? Not if the Gray Panthers have anything to say about it!

AFGHAN PEACE KIDS TELL U.S. PEACE GRANDMOTHERS DURING SKYPE CONFERENCE: "TELL YOUR COUNTRY TO STOP BOMBING AND KILLING US -- WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS"

2010-11-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

A remarkable Skype conference was held Tuesday, Nov. 9, at which three New York City peace grannies and a California high school peace class spoke at length with seven members of the Afghan Youth Peace Conference (AYPC) in a mutual desire to end the war in Afghanistan. The conference meant so much to the Afghan kids that they came from distant valleys and stayed overnight in a mud-house in order to participate.

For over an hour, the grannies, the U.S. students and Afghan youthful peacemakers all exchanged ideas and expressions of solidarity and affection in what they hope will be a step toward ending the unjustified hostilities in that besieged country. The seven Afghan kids spoke over and over of their desire for Americans to recognize that they are human beings just like us; they spoke of the losses they have suffered because of the war and their fervent wish for it to end. "Tell your government to stop bombing and killing our people," pleaded one of the boys.

The grandmothers were extremely impressed with the intelligence and grasp of issues demonstrated by the youngsters. Two of the grannies, Miriam Poser and Barbara Walker, told the kids they would like to visit them in their small village in the Bamiyam province 100 miles NW of Kabul, and are now making plans to go in April of 2011 "with bags of healthy treats and all kinds of school supplies."

A member of New York City's Grandmothers Against the War conceived the idea of "adopting" the Afghan youths after reading a stirring article on an online blog written by members of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VFCN) who had spent a week with them.

She contacted as many peace associates as she could find and got an overwhelmingly positive response of support from people and groups as diverse as the Atlanta (GA) Grandmothers for Peace and the New York City chapter of the Gray Panthers, plus many individuals such as Gold Star Families activist Dede Miller and her sister, Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan; Lorraine Krofchok, President of Grandmothers for Peace International; Barbara Harris of the Granny Peace Brigade, and so many more.

Dede Miller suggested organizing for a Peace Summit through Skype between the Afghan kids and U.S. high school peace groups and arranged for the peace club of Tracy High School in Cerritos, led by teacher and Military Families Speak Out member, Pat Alviso, to join in the dialogue.

One Afghan kid made the startling statement, "Please tell them (the U.S. government) to stop sending money to our country" in answer to a California student's question, "What should our governments do to bring about peace?" The Afghan boy explained that he had heard of widespread corruption and the result that money never reaches its target, the people in need, but instead is gobbled up by the powerful and rich.

He urged instead that we reach out with their message of peace. The children never asked for any material aid, partly because they are skeptical about their postal service, but mostly out of the purity and urgency of their desire to stop the conflict raging around them. The grandmothers promised to reach out in every way possible, and one of the California students said "We'll do our best to open the eyes of America."

Their admirable leader, Hakim, a young doctor from Singapore who has been mentoring the Afghan group for several years and acted as interpreter for the Skype meeting, stated that they don't believe either government is listening to the people's voices and we must change that. We grannies and our Tracy High School compatriots ardently hope that we can in some small measure be an effective part of that change.

As one boy said, quoting an Afghan proverb, "Mountains can't reach mountains, but man can reach man."

(If any of you reading this article are interested in lending your support to this project, even if only to endorse it, please contact me at joanwile@grandmothersagainstthewar.org)

GRAY PANTHERS TO GLENN BECK: "BACK OFF!"

2010-11-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Glenn Beck recently attacked the National Gray Panthers in his Fox TV broadcast Sept. 28, implying they, along with other organizations supporting the One Nation Working Together March in Washington DC on Oct. 2, were "dangerous revolutionaries, communists, and socialists." The evidence he offered for this off-the-wall and completely false characterization of the Panthers was the their slogan, "People Over Profits." He sneeringly repeated it twice as if it were an evil phrase akin to someone saying, for instance, "Let's invade Canada."

Nasty as this was intended to be, the Panthers really are grateful to Mr. Beck for stressing (though contemptuously) a vision they are so proud of. Yes, they put people before profits. They fight for more affordable health care, which would cut into the obscene profits of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. They fight to end the catastrophic wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which would reduce the profits of the arms manufacturers and potential profits of the oil companies while keeping people alive. They fight to keep Social Security from being privatized, thereby slashing the profits Wall Street would hope to make at people's expense. These are just a few of the many battles the Panthers wage on behalf of citizens young and old.

Watching Beck's broadcast was a truly bizarre experience. To attempt to prove his contention that the slogan, "People Over Profits," was indicative of a Communist stance, he dragged out before the camera a tiny pamphlet dating back to 1981 which also stated the phrase, and which was printed by the U.S. Communist Party. One wonders how many thousands of times that phrase has been written and shouted over the years by thousands of people representing many different organizations -- middle-of-the-road groups, very likely, or even occasionally, dare it be said, conservative ones?

Beck's broadcast was crazy in other respects, too -- no surprise, of course. He followed his diatribe against the Gray Panthers by disdainfully emphasizing the word ALL in their mission statement, "Working for social and economic justice and peace for ALL people," implying that justice and peace should only be an option for some. Who would Glenn Beck leave out? This is indeed a dangerous man!

Despite poisonous right-wing fanatics like Glenn Beck, however, the Panthers are resolute in their dedication to the very principles he disparages, "working to create a society that puts the needs of people over profit, responsibility over power and democracy over institutions."

The Miracle Operation That Enabled Me to Become an Anti-war Activist

2010-10-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

When I was 72 years old, I felt like 100. Now that I am 79, I feel like 35 (well, most of the time). What caused this turnaround? The scuttling of an arthritic old left hip and its replacement with one made of cobalt chrome and polyethelene.

I had been suffering for more than a year with lots of pain which gradually immobilized me to the point where I couldn't walk more than a quarter of a block without having to sit down. A normally active person, this was, to put it conservatively, a decided nuisance. I visited the eminent New York orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Phillip Bauman, who informed me that I would ultimately require the replacement surgery, but that it was up to me to decide when. Being an inveterate coward, I kept postponing it even long after the miserable old bone had become intensely painful to keep in my body. Finally, the discomfort and inconvenience became great enough to overcome my bounteous lack of courage, and I scheduled the surgery.

Dr. Bauman is right out of Central Casting. He is slim and handsome with just enough gray hair peppered among its darker neighbors to add a big dose of distinction. He is soft-spoken, sympathetic and reassuring. His stellar reputation helped a great deal to give me the guts to undertake the cure. I knew he had operated successfully on many of our great ballet dancers, and I saw that he had been chosen for many years as one of New York Magazine's 100 Best Doctors in New York. How could I go wrong?

Well, I couldn't. The surgery was relatively untraumatic, and I recovered quickly with little pain. In five or six weeks I was walking without a cane and without discomfort. From a crippled old woman, I had materialized into an active young one again. I asked myself, as does practically every hip replacement veteran who postpones surgery beyond a reasonable time, "Why on earth didn't I do this sooner and spare myself all that agony?"

Within a year of my operation, on March 20, 2003, the United States conducted its immoral and unjustified Shock and Awe assault on Baghdad. Like so many other right-minded people, I marched in protests prior to the actual attack -- MARCHED, mind you, inconceivable without my new hip -- and then, once the war was an awful reality, became a full-time anti-war advocate.

A few months after we invaded Iraq, I saw a photograph in TIME Magazine of a 14-year-old boy, Ali, who had lost his arms, was hideously burned all over his torso, and, as if that weren't enough torment for a child to endure, lost his entire nuclear family -- his parents and many siblings. These tragedies were caused, to our eternal shame, by OUR bombs.

I thought, "I have to DO something." And, I did. I started a group, Grandmothers Against the War, and initiated a rally at the Eleanor Roosevelt Statue in Manhattan's Riverside Park. Next, I began a vigil on Fifth Avenue in front of Rockefeller Center on a freezing January day in 2004, which continues every Wednesday to this day. It began with just two of us and now has escalated to an average of 15-20 people. I could never have possibly even considered such an action prior to my surgery. There is just no way I could have stood on my feet for an hour and done the walking necessary to get to and from the vigil site.

Our next big event was the arrest of 18 of us grandmothers, our jailing and subsequent six-day trial in criminal court for attempting to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting center in order to replace the young people in harm's way so they'd have the opportunity to live long lives as we had. We were arrested because, denied entrance to the recruiting station, we all sat down on the concrete ground and refused to move, knowing we were within our Constitutional rights to peacefully dissent. Even with my artificial hip, getting down on the ground was a laborious effort. Getting up was even more problematic. I looked like an ungainly elephant as I untangled myself from the ground and clumsily pulled myself up. But, because of my faux new hip, I did it! Sitting in jail later for five hours on a hard wooden bench would have been unthinkable, also, with my old diseased hip. I tell you, that surgery really opened up new vistas in my life! After all, who wouldn't want the fascinating experience of being incarcerated in a prison cell? Incidentally, we were acquitted of all charges. The whole episode created quite a media stir.

I was able to participate in many activities of the group we now called the Granny Peace Brigade -- song-and-dance performances by us grannies in shows we created; a trip to Berlin to give speeches to peace groups; a ten-day trek from New York to Washington DC with stops along the way at various cities and towns; marches across the Brooklyn Bridge, and many other endeavors requiring LEGS and, therefore, HIPS. By the grace of the good Doctor Bauman, I was able to do all this.

I wasn't the only granny in my group to have a hip replacement. Three others had them, and one, Beverly Rice, had a double hip replacement in one surgery. All recovered well and have marched, protested, stood for long hours, and gone to jail without any physical limitation whatsoever.

There are now 500,000 hip replacement surgeries performed in a year, a huge increase since 1990, when there were 119,000. In Dr. Bauman's vast experience, for instance, he has performed well over 1,000 of such operations. Though it has been reported recently that certain implants have been found to be faulty and are being recalled, Dr. Bauman fortunately never used any of the deficient ones. The increase in such miracle surgeries is attributable, of course, to the fact that so many people are living longer. And, the Baby Boomers, now entering their 50's and 60's, are requiring this type of surgery in large numbers, perhaps because of the exercise and fitness craze indulged in by that generation which wears out joints more rapidly than previous generations with their less physically active life styles. And, even people of advanced ages can have their hips replaced. Dr. Bauman did so recently on an 85-year-old person.

Many complain about the failures of medicine, and its pitfalls. Yes, it is deplorable that there still is no cure for cancer, for Alzheimer's, for ALS, and a slew of other awful diseases. Yes, it is terrible that so many deaths occur in hospitals because of mistakes in medications, and rampant staph infections.

But, modern medicine has made stupendous strides forward, too. Were it not for this advance in orthopedic surgery, I would now be living in a wheelchair, loaded up with painkillers and anti-inflammatories, cranky from pain and restless inactivity. The fact is, Dr. Bauman gave me back my life. In fact, he enabled me to start a new life I had never contemplated. I am able to do what I consider my patriotic duty and go out on the streets to oppose the misguided foreign policies of my government. At this stage of my life, that feels damned good.

MESSAGE FOR OBAMA

2010-10-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

President Obama often expressed during his campaign that if he became President he wanted we, the people, to let him know when we thought he needed a reality check. Accordingly, New York City's Granny Peace Brigade has been out on the City's streets lately conducting a survey of citizens as to how they want their tax dollars spent. I think their results would surprise him and would perhaps motivate Mr. Obama to make some serious adjustments to the federal budget.

The grannies have been conducting their survey with the aid of a unique gadget named Ms. Gizmo, consisting of eight tubes representing eight major budget items. They are marked Arts and Culture; Education; Environment and Clean Energy; Health Care; Housing; Jobs; Military; and Transportation. The women give each person participating twenty pennies which they are then invited to put into the tubes of their choice. At the end of each session, the grandmothers total up the numbers of pennies in each category.

In addition to getting a sense of where people want their tax money to go, the Ms. Gizmo actions provide an opportunity to educate and motivate the public. Those joining in the fun are very enthusiastic, and there is much dialogue between the grannies and the survey takers. It seems to be an excellent way to get people to think seriously about how the obscenely high military budget drastically reduces funding for domestic needs.

It's amazing how the priorities of our citizens differ markedly from the current budget. For instance, whereas today's federal budget spends 48% on current and past military expenses, the survey reveals that altogether the participants want to devote only 5% to the military. Interestingly, the ONLY group that put a good supply of pennies into the military tube were young adolescent boys in East Harlem. We speculate that this is a result of the relentless military recruitment conducted in minority schools and the lack of jobs for these young people forcing them to turn to the military for economic survival.

On the other hand, for example, the U.S. budget only earmarks 38% to ALL human resources, which includes health and human services; education; food/nutrition programs; housing and urban development; and other human resources. That seems woefully small, does it not, when compared to the enormous amounts of money allocated for the military? The Ms. Gizmo participants want to devote 19% to just health care alone, 21% for education alone and 19% solely for jobs.

Of course, it can't be claimed that this is a scientifically accurate poll. However, it does cover a variety of populations -- Brooklyn workers, the lower east side community heavily populated by university students and artists, the upper West Side professionals and yuppies, East Harlem Latinos, the opinionated denizens of Union Square, and the fun-seeking crowds from everywhere who flock to 42nd Street.

It is known that Mr. Obama is a very punctilious person when it comes to getting the facts right, so perhaps he would be interested in learning the full results for the budget which 538 people in six different locations wished for:

Arts & Culture -- 8%
Education -- 21%
Environment & Clean Energy - 9%
Health Care - 19%
Housing -- 12%
Jobs -- 19%
Military -- 5%
Transportation -- 6%

It is urgently hoped that President Obama "gets the message!"

NEW YORK CITY SUPER ELDERLY TAKE A LEAD IN PROTESTING IRAQ AND AFGHAN WARS: Hold NYC Supplement to One Nation March in DC October 2

2010-10-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Just because one is 80, 90 or older, don't think for one moment one doesn't still retain the power to effectively protest the wrongs committed by our Government.

Many old people wished to go to Washington DC Saturday, October 2, to join the One Nation March to advocate an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but were too infirm or disabled to make the long, difficult trek. Did that stop them from participating in the day's protests? Not on your life.

In Manhattan, a group of very old residents of the Hallmark seniors apartment building in Battery Park City, average age 88, solved that dilemma by holding their own alternative demonstration. Approximately 75 people, many in wheelchairs and leaning on walkers and canes, circled a little park on North End Avenue for about an hour and a half carrying such signs as "How Is the War Economy Working for You?" and "Bring them Home from Afghanistan and Iraq," and occasionally breaking into chants of "Peace...NOW," and the like.

One of the main organizers of the event, 94-year-old Harold Hirschlag, a retired CPA, declared, "We at the Hallmark senior residence are shocked that our government has allowed and participated in the killing of thousands of human beings in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the thousands of U. S. soldiers. There is no end in sight. The troops and funds for that war are desperately needed for the very poor conditions here in the U.S."

The Hallmark is unique, it is believed, in having a very active political action committee, the Hallmark PAC. It was begun when the facility was first completed 10 years ago. The group has supported candidates for public office and arranges regular talks by politicians, administrators of government programs and experts in areas of interest to the residents.

Its current president, former New York City public school early education teacher Frances Berrick, almost 90, explains the motivation for their anti-war event: "In the 50's and 60's, our kids were involved in the anti-Vietnam war movement. It worries us that there isn't the same push against these unnecessary wars among the younger people. So, even though we can only walk around the park twice before we have to sit down, we felt it necessary to show our strong feeling that we have to stop this needless slaughter that is going on in the middle east."

The Battery Park City protesters were joined by members of Grandmothers Against the War, the Granny Peace Brigade, and the Raging Grannies, turning the event into far more than a local event but rather an anti-war rally of determined and dedicated Peacenik oldsters from all over the City. There was also a small contingent of Veterans for Peace. The great civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, who had defended the peace grannies when they were on trial for trying to enlist in the military at Times Square in October 2005, also marched in the rally (though he is far from being in the oldster category).

The numbers of marchers were small compared to those in DC, to be sure, but inasmuch as it was the first public protest by the Battery Park old folks, it can be perceived as a hopeful sign that more and more people are waking up to the reality that the U.S. must end these wars right away if we are to solve any of our problems of joblessness, inadequate health care and education, and all the other urgent dilemmas we are facing today.

Perhaps these elderly patriots don't have the energy of their younger days, but nevertheless they continue to struggle to end the wars and build a better society. Ms. Berrick, who is legally blind, sums it up when she says, "You don't give up. You just do what you're able to do."

GRAY PANTHERS URGE AN END TO TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH

2010-09-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

The Panthers are dedicated to creating a humane society where the needs of people are put over profit.

As the tax-cut debate rages through the Senate, the House, and among the prospective candidates for public office, the Gray Panthers are firmly committed to their stance that tax cuts for the wealthy must end.

Bucking the Tea Party and Right Winger presidential wannabes Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and other advocates for the super rich at the expense of all the rest of us, the Panthers have issued a proclamation outlining their proposals regarding tax cuts. Among their many resolutions is one demanding that the progressive taxation system practiced in many other developed democratic countries be adopted here.

Progressive taxation, as I'm sure my well-informed readers know, is a tax system in which those who earn higher incomes pay a higher percentage of their income than those with lower incomes. A graduated tax is one example. Seems very logical, doesn't it? If such were the case, then the current system of granting tax cuts to those earning $250,000 or more annually would be obviated.

Susan Murany, Executive Director of the National Gray Panthers, wants to know, “We do have to ask ourselves - as Americans- Is it fair that the rich continue to benefit from our financial policies while the people who are poor, the working poor and the middle class continue to suffer? Because as most of us continue to experience the recession, the number of millionaires continues to increase. “

The gap between the wealthiest Americans and middle- and working-class Americans has more than tripled in the past three decades, according to a June 25 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities." Murany says, “It’s no surprise that over 60 percent of all income growth since 1979 has gone to the top 10 percent.”

According to this information, it would certainly seem that eliminating their tax cuts would hurt the pocketbooks of the rich a lot less than eliminating cuts for ordinary folks, doesn't it?

In addition to recommending a progressive taxation policy, the Panthers offer a number of other suggestions to reform the tax system. Among them, they advise the elimination of tax loopholes which support consumption and accumulation of wealth by corporations and wealthy individuals at the expense of ordinary wage earners. They also call for laws and policies which hold corporations accountable for delivering social benefits (living wage jobs, pollution controls, environmental protection, workplace safety and more) to states and localities which compete for corporate investments in their jurisdictions.

The Panthers further state that they oppose war, and believe it would be less likely if it were not funded with debt but with current taxes, and therefore counsel Congress to enact a separate, dedicated and progressive tax sufficient to cover the costs of war in Afghanistan and each and every future war.

The Gray Panthers are tired of such statements as that of, for example, Newt Gingrich, "I think to raise taxes on people who create jobs in the middle of a 9.5 percent unemployment rate is, frankly, crazy." Inasmuch as more and more corporations are transplanting jobs to low-wage workers in other countries, that comment seems a bit disingenuous. Our history has shown more than once that expanded wealth at the top does not trickle down into the pockets of the less fortunate. Such pronouncements are simply not true and it is sort of mind-boggling to imagine that ordinary people would swallow them.

The Gray Panthers have committed themselves to working for social and economic justice and as such, see the extension of tax cuts for the rich as a justice issue. The well-to-do have been getting richer for decades. They now have the responsibility like all of us to contribute their fair share for the benefit of all.

2010-09-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore just posted an article on various web sites, "NEVER FORGET: BAD WARS AREN'T POSSIBLE UNLESS GOOD PEOPLE BACK THEM," in which he argues that the leading liberals of the time and the liberal media were largely responsible for the Iraq war by supporting rather than opposing it. Moore also details the public abuse and threats he took as a result of his principled anti-war stance. I felt moved to write a response.

Dear Michael Moore:

I applaud you for opposing the war back then when most people, including liberal big leaguers, were so gullible and cowed that they actually supported the Bush crime syndicate's sinister plot. I know you were razzed and attacked for speaking out and I am certainly sympathetic for the hard times you endured, knowing as you did how correct you were. But today at least you have the satisfaction of knowing that the world knows you opposed the war when others didn't dare to, and that you were right and they were wrong. You are now, justifiably, a hero to millions.

As you state, you weren't the only one, though your anti-war stance had the advantage of being widely noted, thus having the possibility of persuading people to rally against this iniquity being jammed down our throats. For instance, a group of us old New York City grandmothers, calling ourselves the Granny Peace Brigade, knew the war was wrong, too. We also never believed for one moment that there was any reason to invade Iraq. We read the New York Times and we, too, didn't believe. We heard that Hillary Clinton agreed we should attack Iraq, and we, too, still didn't believe. Our hearts broke when Al Franken went along with the program, and John Kerry, and Chuck Schumer and all the other Limp Liberals, and we didn't believe them, either.

And, Colin Powell, a man supposedly of impeccable character. Huh! We didn't believe him for one minute, either, as he shuffled all those maps in front of the cameras claiming they were proof of the WMDs. We knew there would be terrible consequences and that thousands of innocent people and our own military kids would die and be horribly wounded, physically and mentally. We knew it was a complete crock.

We trembled with outrage as CNN whooped it up during the hideous, unprovoked "Shock and Awe" bombing of Iraq as if it were the latest action movie. For shame!

So we, too, went out on a limb and tried to stop it. Soon after the war began, eighteen of us elderly grandmothers ranging in age from 60 through 90 went down to the Times Square military recruiting station and tried to enlist. We figured we'd had the good fortune to live long lives and we hoped to replace the kids so they'd have the same opportunity.

They didn't want us, though. In fact, they locked the door on us. So, we laboriously lowered our sore old joints and bones to the ground and sat. The cops came and asked us to move, but we wouldn't budge. We knew we were within our rights to hold a peaceful demonstration. Strangely, the police weren't as well acquainted with the Constitution, and they arrested us and took us to jail where we old ladies languished the afternoon away.

After that, we had several court appearances, always pushed along to the next one until finally we were put on trial in criminal court for six days. Wow, isn't it a credit to the City of New York that they caught us dangerous criminals and tried to convict us so the city would be safe?

Well, we were acquitted. We got some notice in the media, too, although it was short-lived. We decided to take advantage of our fifteen minutes of fame by doing everything within our power to try and alert the public of the folly, the immorality of our occupation of Iraq. We girded our over-the-hill but still kicking selves into one action after another. We began a weekly vigil in front of Rockefeller Center, called the Grandmothers Against the War vigil, which has continued without missing a single one through today no matter what the elements throw at us -- pouring rain, debilitating heat, freezing cold. We didn't incur national wrath, as you and the Dixie Chicks did, but we had to deal with our share of hecklers passing by, especially in the first few years.

We did parades across Brooklyn Bridge, a 10-day trek to Washington DC stopping at cities and towns along the way to spread the word. We wrote and performed shows with skits, comedy monologues, songs, and dramatic readings. We traveled to Europe and Central America to speak at peace meetings. We organized a national action wherein 100 grannies descended on the Capitol to lobby 100 senators for peace. We did a song and dance in the middle of Times Square. And more and more.

But, it didn't really do what we hoped. The war went on and on, and then our new President, who most of us old broads supported eagerly, went and increased the troops in Afghanistan. Yes, he had indicated during the campaign that he was going to focus on Afghanistan, but either we were too dazzled by him to notice or we figured once he was in office he'd see the light and bring them home. So, now, we are struggling to end TWO wars. Don't think for a minute we are hoodwinked into believing the war in Iraq is over. Uh uh! Fifty thousand troops is not chopped liver, and they are dying, too, in smaller numbers, to be sure, but that's immaterial to a worried parent.

So we go on and on without much applause or acknowledgment, because we HATE what we have done to Iraq and Afghanistan. We DEPLORE threats to Iran and Pakistan. We DESPISE every goddamned criminal war act we commit, always trying to justify them with phony rhetoric about democracy and safeguarding the homeland and all that blarney.

President Obama may not know about us. Our senators and Congress people may not, either, nor much of the media. But, we will go on and on even if nobody but passersby on the street see us. We will go on and on as long as we can stand up. We have our grandchildren to consider, you see. We must try to leave them with the world a modicum more peaceful than it is now. If only we had a lot of years ahead of us so we could keep on keeping on until that is achieved.

But, unfortunately we don't. And, it looks, sadly, like this state of war and chaos is going to continue for a long, long time. We urgently hope there are patriots out there to replace us when we are unable to continue.

A STUDENT ANSWERS MY QUESTIONS

2010-09-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Please read this wonderfully articulate and insightful response to the blog I posted immediately before this (see below), as follows:

A Young Person
Posted September 8, 2010 at 10:58 PM
Dear Ms. Wile,

I think you are absolutely right to remark on the apathy of the young in modern times. You may find it revealing that despite the size and location of a campus like NYU, the students at large are vastly apathetic. The largest campus political club are the College Republicans (a tragedy) and even they are not especially well-populated.

I think most young people accept a state of war as a common feature of the political landscape. I was 13 during 9/11, so in the crucial years when one strikes out to form an independent view the default state of the world was one of war.

Perhaps more importantly, it is a state of great detachment from the realities of war. I am sure you are well aware of the US government's policies about keeping caskets and dead bodies off of the air waves. I believe this explains the shock that accompanied the release of Wikileaks' video "Collateral Murder," which was not especially graphic given the sort of imagery that war so often creates. I cried when I saw the video, not just because it was disturbing, but because I (and many, many more like me) routinely play video games that simulate this sort of activity with great accuracy. Our so-called "brave men in uniform" murder indiscriminately using an interface (and with the same sort of sanitized, black-and-white feedback) that I can experience at my desk at home. I've even read that Playstation controllers are being used inside APC's because the youthful machine gunner recruits are already acclimated to the control scheme and attuned to staring at screens hosing human forms with bullets.

Young people are also generally spoiled and materialistic. Many young people do not hold jobs and have never held a job; but instead of using this fortunate position to improve their thinking and thus the world, most seem content spending all of their time indulging their vanity by buying designer clothes and slouching around coffee shops talking about foreign films. This appears especially true for the "radical leftist' types that, perhaps in a past era, one would expect to be kicking over the traces to end the war. Instead they study social work or write dissertations on airy notions of "social justice' to get a perpetually secure union job working for the government -- the same institution that perpetrates the greatest injustices towards peaceful society the world over.Many smart students are also siphoned off into high-paying military jobs or into the massive network of private firms that support the military. Two young people that I knew as a child, both of high intelligence and associated with religious pacifism growing up, now work for the military doing high-level computer science.

Perhaps a draft would interfere enough with a young person's life that the opposition would become audible. Or maybe young people would simply look at it as another opportunity to be cared for from cradle to grave, with all of life's troubles taken care of by a mysterious paternal force. At least until the bullets started flying!

Young people also know almost nothing about the history of American imperialism, nor do they know about the rich (and bipartisan!) antimilitarist tradition in America. Years of government school has only served to leave Uncle Sam looking strapping in his camouflage. This is probably why inanities like "they hate us for our freedom" have such currency in America.

Finally, most young people are more interested in remaining in the good graces of those around them than learning about the world. Despite all the adages about youthful folly and boldness, many young people do not have any opinions whatsoever: not even bad, ill-thought out ones waiting for mature reflection. War and peace? That sounds like a topic that would require reading a book or talking intelligently to adults -- I might even form an unpopular view if I entertain these ideas! Pshaw! Pass the Heineken!

Sincerely,
A Young Person.

GRANDMA WANTS TO KNOW

2010-09-09T08:55:00.001-07:00

Dear Grandson (a senior at New York University):

Those of us actively engaged in the anti-war movement have had a spectacular lack of success in bringing the current wars to an end. We can’t help feeling that if the youth of America were part of our movement, things would be vastly different. Unfortunately, we’ve seen little signs of student involvement or even, to be frank, concern. To us, it seems as if there is tremendous apathy among our youth as to caring about or even noticing that your peers (in age) are dying and suffering horrendous wounds every day in wars which we among the anti-war people deplore as unwise and unconscionable, as well as unproductive in terms of making the U.S. more secure.

During the Vietnam War, there was a massive student movement opposing that conflict. I don’t have the expertise to analyze how large a role that played in bringing the war to an end, but I suspect it may have been one of the key (if not THE key) factors in persuading President Nixon and his cabinet to withdraw from that trouble spot.

Of course, as we all know, there was a draft at that time, which probably fueled the huge numbers of students protesting the war. Or, were there other reasons, also, for student participation? Was there a difference in political consciousness or even character in a young person of the 60s and 70s … or what? Would a return of the draft now have a similar effect? Would it mobilize you and your ranks to revolt against the wars in numbers large enough to stop the occupations? Or would it simply add to the carnage of young people being slaughtered in Iraq and, now, particularly, in Afghanistan without effecting a change in policy?

Those are the questions I pose to you. I hope to provoke you to pay some attention to this matter, and, in so doing, stimulate discussion among you and your friends which will assist us in understanding your attitudes. Perhaps, then, we can figure out ways to engage you in our struggle.

It really is more YOUR struggle than ours — the trillions being spent to fund these wars decrease assets for education, housing, health care, and most pertinent to your needs, JOBS. And, I don’t want to alarm you, but in years to come, perhaps there will be a conscription and your lives will be on the line. Not a happy thought.

If you oppose the wars, as do I, then I should expect you to have some interest in trying to stop them. If you support them, I wonder if perhaps you are at all motivated to volunteer to fight in them. Tell me, I want to understand. Maybe you are so despairing about citizen action having any discernible effect that you just want to concentrate on the things at hand — your studies, your fraternity, your college-related activities. If that’s the case, I don’t blame you, certainly. I am very discouraged, too, and sometimes think, “What’s the use?” I also realize that you haven’t got the time, in all likelihood, to add protesting to your schedule. I remember college well — that feeling you’re always lugging a hundred-pound weight on your back as you try to do all the required reading, write the essays, and prepare for the tests. Ye gods, what pressure!

Manhattan Congressman Charles Rangel has introduced a bill every year since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq to bring back the draft. Part of his reasoning is that there would be such a giant student uprising that the wars would be over within a few months. What is your opinion about that?

I queried some of the people in my anti-war groups -- Grandmothers Against the War, Vets for Peace, Peace Action, the Granny Peace Brigade, et al -- regarding the draft. Some feel it would not achieve the same results today as it did in Vietnam and that creating jobs and a better economy are what is needed. Some feel it is the missing ingredient in our unsuccessful quest to bring the troops home. Others, like me, are uncertain.

I really want to know your thoughts and earnestly hope you and your fellow students will think a bit about the questions I’ve raised and let me know what your conclusions. We grandmothers and other older people amongst the war opposition groups will not be here much longer to fight this fight. At some point, you will have to take on the battle yourselves.

Or not?

STOP THOSE EMAILS!!!

2010-08-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Every day I receive an email
saying, "If you want to win a Venus
you must strive to be a he-male.
Increase the dimensions of your penis"

It says they will add an inch
or two or even three
It assures me it's a cinch
to have Superman's anatomy

It promises to enhance
It vows I'll have more girth
that girls'll swoon at a glance
at my member's huge rebirth

But that's not all that they assure
There's more within my powers
They claim my erections can endure
even at times to four long hours

They urge me, "try Cialis"
They insist I take Viagra
"Your ever-erect and giant phallus
will trump the wonders of Niagara!"

It does no good to say "No more --
please don't send another email"
Still they come, though I implore
that I happen to be a penisless FEmale!

THE DISAPPOINTMENT

2010-07-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Barry, things have run amok
Take the blinders off your eyes
Don't you see that we're stuck
in a lethal, tight'ning vise

You helped us hope once more
Got us wired and inspired
We expected there'd be no more war
Fear and despair were retired

But, things didn't change as expected
Where did the promises go?
Bad policies stayed uncorrected
Your "Yes" slowly transformed to "No"

Heading the list is Afghanistan
Yes, you mentioned that you would go there
But, being an intelligent man
we thought you would soon be aware

It's a useless, destructive dead end
A hopeless unsolvable quagmire
They will never give in, never bend
Please order our troops to cease fire

We're killing the innocent, killing our own
Much of the world thinks we're evil
Cancel the bomb, cancel the drone
Finally end this upheaval!

Put the billions to work here at home
for schools, for housing, for better health care
In Dallas, Chicago, San Diego and Nome
We need jobs, public transport, and far cleaner air

Be the President you promised you'd be
It's never too late to change course
Restore peace and recover prosperity
Don't cause us to file for divorce!

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GRANNY! Peace Grandmothers Leave Rocking Chairs Behind and Take to the Streets

2010-07-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

If granny hasn't been making cookies and knitting sweaters for you lately, it's because she might be one of the anti-war grandmothers on the streets protesting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In New York City, just about everywhere you look there's a gaggle of women of a certain age holding banners, shouting slogans, doing demonstrations and singing protest songs. We are, respectively, the Granny Peace Brigade, the Raging Grannies, and Grandmothers Against the War. Sometimes we join forces and sometimes we act independently. But, we all have the same goal -- bring all our suffering troops home ....NOW!

You might like to know some of the things we are up to. The Granny Peace Brigade, which organized after 18 grandmothers were arrested and jailed when they tried to enlist at the Times Square recruiting center in 2005 has enough going on to make one's head swirl. For instance, they've repeatedly gone to schools on Parent's Night to do counter-recruitment, persuading parents and teachers to help the kids opt out of being harrassed by the avid recruiters who haunt their schools; they've had four teach-ins concerning the obscene prevalence of over 1,000 American military bases in foreign countries, and they regularly conduct "Phone-a-Thons," going to well-populated public places and offering cell phones gratis to passersby to call their elected representatives to complain about issues related to the wars. They've done parades across the Brooklyn Bridge; knit-ins to make "stump socks" for amputee vets; original play productions; a trek from New York to Washington DC with stops at about 10 cities along the way speechifying and performing; two trips to Germany to give speeches and join rallies and, once, the Endless War Memorial at the scene of their arrest in Times Square, at which for six days from dawn 'til dusk they organized 300 people to read non-stop the names of dead military personnel and civilians in Iraq. If you'd like to learn more about them and maybe participate in their activities, go to grannypeacebrigade.com.

The Raging Grannies have another kind of shtick. Founded in Canada in 1986-87, they mushroomed into other countries including the U.S. where they now have many chapters. They dress up like caricatures of what's thought of as traditional grandmas -- hats festooned with flowers, shawls and aprons. They sing the most outrageous songs, taking familiar ones and writing new lyrics expressing their Progressive views -- for instance, "There's No Business Like Show Business," which the RG's transformed into "There's No Bizness Like War Bizness." Here's a little sample of the revised lyrics:

"There's no bizness like war bizness
the best bizness we know
Never mind the homeless and the hungry
Never mind the people unemployed
Nowhere can you get that special feeling
Than seeing cities that we've destroyed"

Raging Grannies show up to perform all over the place -- at rallies, campaigns, festivals, you name it. The New York City chapter is very active. Check them out on YouTube.

Finally, Grandmothers Against the War (my group) holds what is very likely the biggest and most famous anti-war vigil in New York City. For six and a half years, we have stood on Fifth Avenue in front of Rockefeller Center every Wednesday for an hour. We began on a freezing January day with just two of us and now have morphed into a substantial presence of at least 15 people. We are joined by members of the Granny Peace Brigade, the Raging Grannies, and Veterans for Peace. We are not in the least bit parochial, as not everyone joining us is actually a grandmother; some, obviously, are men and some are young. Heck, we'll take just about anybody as long as they are sincerely objecting to the occupations in question. In fact, if you're reading this and live in the Big Apple, please join us on a Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.

The above description is only part of the story. The grannies do much more than I've enumerated, too much to detail here. Despite our hip replacements, our groaning knees, our gouts, our high blood pressure, and all the other ailments older people are subject to, we are a non-stop force to challenge in every way possible our government's truly misguided foreign policy.

Now, if we could only stir up the young people to become anti-war activists, maybe we could finally end these horrors. Come on, kids. You did it for the Vietnam war. You can do it again. We want you to join us to end the insanity and take on the struggle when we no longer can. We won't be here forever, you know!

NEW YORK'S ONE-OF-A-KIND JULY 4 CELEBRATION

2010-06-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

There will always be Independence Day parades, picnics, and fireworks, but there is only one Reading of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to be held in Strawberry Fields, Central Park, this coming July 4, starting at noon. For the fourth year in a row, famed civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, and his friends will read portions of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence aloud, interspersed with comments from Siegel and other Constitutional authorities on the status of certain amendments today. THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO ATTEND!!

We've seen many of our Constitutional rights trampled upon in recent years, and it is Siegel's hope that a review and analysis of the Bill of Rights and some of the important Constitution amendments will encourage people to fight to defend those rights as guaranteed in the document underlying our democracy.

"The 4th of July is a special day for all Americans and New Yorkers. We look forward to reading out loud and discussing our Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence to demonstrate that these unique principles and values should be remembered at this time," said Siegel.

Mr. Siegel will be accompanied, as in the three previous years of the Reading, by the granny contingent -- Grandmothers Against the War, the Raging Grannies, and the Granny Peace Brigade, which he defended in 2005 when they were on trial for attempting to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting center. It is no surprise that after a six-day trial in criminal court, they were all acquitted, helped by the expert defense of Mr. Siegel and his co-attorney, Earl Ward.

This unique commemoration began 42 years ago when Siegel started, alone, to read the Constitution to himself wherever he was. In 2007, the grannies promoted the idea to him of making it an annual public event in the beautiful and tranquil oasis, Strawberry Fields, donated to New York City by Yoko Ono in memory of her husband, John Lennon.

Many people turned out for the event all three years, and thus began a beautiful and inspiring tradition, which, it is hoped, will continue on indefinitely as a regular Only in New York feature. It is thought that it may be not only a one-of-a-kind July 4 celebration in New York, but perhaps in the entire United States.

Yoko Ono has always been enthusiastic about the Reading and wrote a statement and poem to be read aloud each year in honor of the occasion, as follows:

"When we stand up for Peace, we are being thanked by the earth underneath
us, the sky above us, and the billions and billions of people on this globe
who wish for the same. Our heart beats in unison with them, and with the
children of the World, who wish not to be maimed or be orphaned. It is
important that each one of us will stand up and be counted. It's time to do
so. I am glad that grannies are making their voices be heard. I want them
to know that I am with them. With my deepest love, in sisterhood."

################################

GRANNYPEACE
Yoko Ono July '07

We're people with
Energy and wit
Let's give our best
For Peace
And put the war to rest

It's time for Action
There's no option.
Spread the word
Peace
To heal the world

Bring back the soldiers
Our sons and daughters
Spread the word
Peace
And heal the world

DATE: July 4, 2010
TIME: 12 o'clock noon
PLACE: Strawberry Fields, Central Park -- enter park at W. 72nd St.., follow the sign down
a short path

NEW YORK'S ONE-OF-A-KIND JULY 4 CELEBRATION

2010-06-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

WE NEED A CHANGE OF POLICY, NOT A CHANGE OF GENERALS

2010-06-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have no expertise about politics, military matters, diplomacy, and all the other things that go into making informed decisions about war and peace. But, it really doesn't take a nuclear physicist to see that we are committing a huge blunder by continuing to fight in Afghanistan.

I am quite disappointed in President Obama -- I was a very enthusiastic supporter of his campaign for the Presidency and continued to believe in him for a long time after he took office. It was a struggle, let me tell you, because he kept making decisions that I thought were not good ones. But, still I clung to my faith in him.

Today, a day after the McChrystal resignation, the thread of belief finally broke. I listened to him utter empty platitudes galore about "our brave fighting men and women" and his "deep distress when he must send them into battle," but "his conviction that their sacrifices are made for a just cause." Where have I heard this before?

I fault myself for swallowing his rhetoric in the beginning. He told us he wanted to end the war in Iraq so we could focus on Afghanistan in order to defeat Al Quaeda. In my enthusiastic desire to see him become President, I let those words slide by me without analyzing them.

But, that rationale, it's clear to me now, has no basis in fact at this juncture. We all know that Al Quaeda is no longer physically headquartered in Afghanistan but concentrated in Pakistan. In any case, Al Quaeda is an idea as much as an organization, and it takes roost wherever there are disaffected young people angry at the United States for what they perceive as unwarranted invasions of their lands and the killing of their people. How do you defeat an idea by killing people?

So, then, why the hell (yes, grannies swear, too) don't we get out of Afghanistan? Why are we allowing our young military men and women to increasingly die in that God forsaken country for misty, ambiguous reasons which can't be substantiated?

All this hoopla about the replacement of General McChrystal with General Petraeus doesn't impress me in the slightest. So what? My God, the Government-media combine is adept at painting over the real issues with fluff, isn't it? If ever there were a non-issue, this is it. We are asked to seriously weigh the appropriateness of one General over the other and to deliberate the wisdom of Obama's choice, thereby skillfully obliterating the REAL consideration -- should we stay or get out of Afghanistan?

We are asked to applaud Obama's decisiveness and commitment to maintaining his policy in Afghanistan. But, we are not asked to question his judgment in continuing to pursue that policy.

I know I speak for the growing legions of anti-war activist grandmothers I associate with --Grandmothers Against the War, Grandmothers for Peace, the Raging Grannies, and the Granny Peace Brigade -- when I say that here's one elderly, ordinary grandma who is decidedly questioning that policy and who is asking that President Obama firm up his guts, aim directly for his moral center, have the courage to admit he is wrong, and take our exhausted kids out of that Hell Hole and bring them home to us.

GRAY PANTHERS BACK IN BUSINESS

2010-05-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is to notify my readers that the famed Gray Panthers has become very active again, not only for older people but for younger ones, as well.

BROOKLYN HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS ENERGIZE THE GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST THE WAR VIGIL AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER

2010-04-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Don't despair, folks. All our young people are not indifferent to the fact that the United States is still engaged in reprehensible occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. We anti-war grandmothers had heartening proof of this yesterday, April 27, when 20 African-American and Latino Brooklyn high school seniors joined our Grandmothers Against the War vigil at Rockefeller Center.

These teens from the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, every single one college-bound, were led on a field trip to our protest by their outstanding teacher, Stephen Simons, and his co-teacher, Jacques Hoffman. The class is entitled Social Economics -- they had been studying the economics of warfare, and came to us for a little enlightenment and, we hope, inspiration. To say we were knocked out by the fact that such a class is in a high school curriculum is an understatement, and the teachers are to be highly commended.

In our six and a half years conducting the vigil, we had often bemoaned the fact that American youths, unlike those during the Vietnam War, seemed oblivious to a crisis we believe is of the utmost urgency to them. After intermingling with these wonderful young people, however, we feel a little more hopeful.

We are well aware that the draft is largely what drew our youth to the anti-Vietnam war movement in the 60's and 70's. They felt threatened, of course, as well they should have. Without a draft in the current combustible circumstances, however, somehow young people feel immune to the dangers confronting them, not only the potential for their someday having to fight in the military, but the effects the wars have on their lives in very immediate terms. They are largely unaware of the relationship between the huge costs of war and the lack of funds for education, health care, and, so important for their eventual lives after school, jobs.

But, not these kids. Mr. Simons and Mr. Hoffman have educated them well in the economics of war. The underlying emphasis of the class is to consider the old dilemma -- guns or butter. To help them draw conclusions in that regard, they've been made aware of the enormous part of the budget delegated for the wars, and they know the impact of military spending on their own Brooklyn community. They've learned that according to the National Priorities Project, $88,000 of Brooklyn taxpayer money goes to the war in Afghanistan every hour.

One of the grannies, Carol Husten, a member of the Granny Peace Brigade, and Peace Action New York State (PANYS), welcomed the students with a review of the statistics of war and our consequent depleted economy. She explained that the United States military budget is almost as large as that of all other countries combined. It was impressive how much the kids already knew of the facts she presented to them. She then gave them a True Majority Scroll pen with its pull-down flag that illustrates with vertical bars the U.S. global military expenditures on one side and domestic spending priorities on the other.

Chaplain Hugh Bruce, a Vietnam War veteran and member of Veterans for Peace who is a regular attendee at the grandmothers' vigil, spoke eloquently about the futility of the wars we are engaged in. He explained that our war in Vietnam in which 58,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese died, accomplished nothing positive and ultimately we retreated in defeat. He discussed the fact that many other countries have non-diverse populations with non-varied mores and cultures not necessarily compatible with our multi-assorted ones and that we can't impose our values on them. "We're not anti-American, we love our country," said Chaplain Bruce, "but if you had a friend who was doing something wrong, you'd try to set him or her straight. That's what we're doing here. We're trying to steer our government onto a path of peace."

The students and the grandmothers and their supporters then fanned out along Fifth Avenue holding banners and signs, some made by the kids, while Mr. Hoffman sang "Guantanamera" and "This Land Is Your Land," accompanying himself on guitar. It was a beautiful sight to behold -- the shining, hopeful faces of these intelligent young people interspersed with our old granny ones.

We women feel so encouraged by yesterday's event. The wars seem to go on and on, and we won't be here forever. We desperately want to be assured that others will take up our quest for peace after we're gone.

The marvelous Brooklyn students who joined us gave us an exhilarating little boost, a feeling that we needn't worry. Perhaps America will be in safe hands.

THE GREENING OF THE GRAY PANTHERS

2010-04-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

One had always thought of the Gray Panthers as an admirable organization advocating for the dignity and rights of older people, as so brilliantly represented by its founder, the magnetic Maggie Kuhn.

But, one would have been not fully informed. On Saturday, April 17, the Panthers celebrated their 40 years of existence, and held two actions in Washington DC which made it clear that they are a multi-issue group on behalf of persons of all ages. Their struggle against ageism is still a very important part of their agenda, but they vest other causes with as much weight.

The first of their actions on Saturday was a mixed-generation rally at the White House with unique features exemplifying the theme of environmental protection. They carried three faux open coffins with fabric effigies of a man, woman and child. Rally attendees wore white protective masks to symbolize the dangers of global warming on the air we breathe. Other colorful touches were the repeated throwing of many facsimiles of Earth globes made of cotton into the air, another symbol of how we are all affected by the dangers of global warming. Two people wore hazmat suits while pushing two participants in wheelchairs. A Hazmat suit is a garment worn as protection from hazardous materials or substances and is generally combined with a breathing apparatus. Further, the demonstrators chanted repeatedly such slogans as "Don't Bury the Earth," and sang parodies of three familiar old songs, "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes," "On Top of Old Smokey" and "God Bless America" with revised lyrics reflecting their environmental theme written by the Raging Grannies. For instance:

ON TOP OF OLD SMOKEY
ALL COVERED WITH SMOG
I LOST MY TRUE LOVER
IN THE POLLUTED FOG

Hundreds of spectators responded with delight as they watched the Panthers' spectacular presentation. "I think we really connected with the crowds and got our message across, which is that the Gray Panthers are going green to protect the environment for all people, young and old, rich and poor," said Brooke Hollister, 28, Vice-Chair of the Gray Panthers National Board and an Assistant Professor at the Univ. of California San Francisco.

On Saturday evening, the Panthers repaired to the International Trades Center where they held a festive awards dinner honoring three persons of stature for their extraordinary efforts in three major areas of concern to the group -- health care, peace and the environment.

The first to be honored was Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was posthumously awarded for his decades-long championship of health care reform, the details of which need no reiteration here.

The award for environmental protection and justice went to Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx. Ms. Carter is credited with many restoration projects in the area, such as, for instance, turning an illegal garbage dump into the Hunt's Point Riverside Park, and creating the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program, one of the nation's first national urban green collar training and placement programs.

Colman McCarthy, long-time journalist, columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, and teacher, received the award for peace activism.
Among his many activities, he founded the Center for Teaching Peace, a nonprofit that helps schools begin or expand academic programs in Peace Studies.

And, reverting back to the issue it is most known for, Sally Brown, immediate past Chair of the Gray Panthers National Board, gave a speech about ageism, in which she stated, "We should be really proud of the ages we are and know that at any age we can contribute significantly to the world and lead productive, fulfilling lives."

The current chair of the National Board, Judy Lear, said that the two Washington events launched 40 actions planned to take place throughout the U.S. for the entire 40th birthday year. "We want to raise awareness of the Gray Panthers and highlight our three top priorities of the environment, health care and peace. We hope to raise our voices for everybody, all ages, about these urgent matters." she stated, "and we want to encourage people to be active -- everybody has a right and a responsibility to take some action in some way."

WOMEN IN THEIR 90'S WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TODAY

2010-04-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

90 is the new 60 these days, it seems, as so impressively demonstrated by several nonegenarians of my acquaintance. In 2003, I founded a peace group in New York City, Grandmothers Against the War, and gradually grannies from all over the Big Apple started gravitating to the group, among them four astonishing women past 90.

I thought I was a real hot shot in that I was in my 70's and still out there protesting what I considered an unconscionable and unnecessary war in Iraq. But, I soon discovered I was nothing special, a mere baby compared to some of the hardy specimens in their 80's and 90's who joined up and often out-walked, out-thought, and out-braved me as they protested and sometimes went to jail for the cause.

I am particularly in awe of those four 90-plus women who are part of my group and amaze me with their energy, intelligence, and passionate commitment.

Allow me to introduce you to Lillian Pollak, teacher and marriage counselor, who will be 95 on April 12. There is absolutely nobody like her, I'm convinced. She hasn't one single symptom, if you will, of her age. Always meticulously made up, coiffured and dressed, she is in good health, goes all over the place to cultural events, and is always on the front lines of every anti-war protest within reach of a subway or bus. But, her youthfulness is not merely in her physical stamina. Her MIND is perhaps the most incredulous aspect of this unbelievable woman. Her brilliant analysis of plays, films, books, for one thing. Her memory of names, places, dates, movements, events from her long-ago past, for another. Her quick and sharp mind without the slightest trace of diminution. Her contemporaneousness -- she knows everything that is going on today. And, to top it all off, this brilliant woman recently published a 376-page novel, "The Sweetest Dream: Love, Lies & Assassination," based on her political life in the 30's. An excellent read, by the way, available on amazon.com.

Three weeks ahead of her is Marie Runyon, who was 95 on March 20. Marie, a former New York State Assemblywoman, housing advocate and founder of Harlem Restoration Project, among her many accomplishments, is not in as great physical shape as Lillian -- she is legally blind and partially deaf -- but her personality and mental acuity are incomparable. She is, quite simply, a firebrand. Marie has never hesitated to speak her mind whenever she sniffs injustice, in often very salty language. When she was 90, despite her hearing and sight impairments, she willingly got arrested when our spin-off granny group, the Granny Peace Brigade, tried on Oct. 17, 2005, to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting station to replace America's grandchildren in harm's way. Denied entrance, we sat down on the cement ground (not so easy for our arthritis-riddled old bodies) and refused to get up when the police came. We were then carted off to jail in a paddy wagon, Marie among its inhabitants. After a six-day trial in criminal court, I'm pleased to say we were acquitted of disorderly conduct and went on to be a powerful symbol of peace activism here and abroad with our lectures, rallies, performances, and workshops. Interviewed many times on television and radio after our legendary arrest, Marie, with her colorful and outspoken personality, served often as our spokesperson, to the delight of audiences.

And, let me tell you about another one of our Times Square arrestees, 91-year-old Molly Klopot, Co-Chair of the New York branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Molly lives way out in Coney Island in the farthest reaches of Brooklyn. It is an hour's subway trip into her office in Manhattan, but do you think that stops Molly? Not on your life. This, despite the fact that Molly is legally blind! She navigates alone, often late at night, the underground trains and the streets of the Lower East Side where her office is located. This is super courageous, given Molly's diminutive size and her almost non-existent eyesight. They just don't make them like her anymore.

In addition to her tremendous guts and commitment, Molly, a former college teacher and union organizer, is a living representation of labor history beginning when she was a shop leader as a young girl in the Ford Motor Company's plant in Detroit during the Second World War.

Another remarkable woman, who is active at the ripe young age of 90, is Lillian Lifflander. Lillian is a Jill of all trades who mainly worked for organizations she felt contributed to the various causes she was concerned about -- unions, education, the destructive use of Vieques for U.S. nuclear testing, and other crusades. She has put herself on the line many times, getting arrested for the issues she passionately supports. Most recently, she did some jail time with the Granny Peace Brigade in protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This indomitable lady has had a late-in-life career in movies beginning in her 80's -- she is often called upon to be an extra. Of late, she appeared in Martin Scorsese's "The Departed," and, to prove that sex is not the province only of the young, she was cast in the film, "Sex and the City."

So, dear readers, you have nothing to fear about old age. Be heartened and inspired by the examples of these wonderful elders, who demonstrate that one can make a difference, contribute to society, and lead rich, productive lives well into one's 90's, and, I daresay, one's 100's as well. Be assured these four wonders will prove that thesis!

MICHAEL MOORE: A LOVE STORY

2010-03-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

If you know the Upper West Side of Manhattan, you know there are probably more progressives per square inch here than in all the 50 states. So, it's no surprise that a big bunch of people showed up this evening, March 27, at my small one-bedroom apartment in this highly liberal neighborhood to see Michael Moore's masterpiece, "Capitalism: A Love Story."

My event was one of MoveOn's 700 parties nationwide tonight to show the film in an effort to generate grass roots action against some of the evil excesses of capitalism rampant in the United States. These evils are powerfully exposed in Moore's movie -- the heartless foreclosures on people's homes; the cancellation of jobs in order to make way for profits; the practice of taking out insurance on employees unbeknownst to them and then collecting large payments when they die (of which not one cent is shared with the family survivors), and all manner of other immoral practices so harmful to decent working Americans.

My fifteen attendees were a typical group of Manhattan Upper West Siders -- among them three educators; two theatre directors; a chef; a photographer an obstetrician/gynecological surgeon, two free lance classical musicians, an administrator for Friends In Need, an organization which provides physical and spiritual support to seriously ill persons; a 95-year-old novelist, and me, a singer-songwriter and political activist (and a partridge in a pear tree).

Our evening began with a delightful treat. We got a call from the master himself, Mr. Moore. We were absolutely bowled over by the tone of his conversation. It felt as if we were talking to a good friend -- simple, no baloney, responsive, open. He asked where we were located, and when told it was 72nd and West End Avenue he informed us that he had lived in this area for a number of years before relocating to Michigan.

One of us asked him if there were any coordination between him and other leading Progressive leaders like Dennis Kucinich, Al Franken, etc. Moore replied that, sadly, there was not much. He said that it was important to form liaisons, that it was one effective thing about the Republicans -- no matter what their ideological differences, and there are many and deep ones, they hang together when it comes to acting against us. "I've been thinking about this for a long time," Moore said, "and I hope we can begin to start working together more."

We also asked him if he thought the health care reform legislation would do anything to resolve some of the terrible ills of capitalism. He stated that we all know there is much lacking in the legislation, but he feels it is a baby step forward and its main value may be to influence Obama to take more bold action in the future.

Michael Moore told us how he'd thought about this film for 20 years and how very important it is to him.

We then proceeded to watch it. It wasn't shown in ideal circumstances by any means. The volume wasn't loud enough, the screen wasn't big enough, and the space was crowded and without enough circulating air. Nevertheless, it received our rapt attention and we gave it a four-star rating.

Afterward, we had some discussion as to what we might do to resolve some of the crises caused by the banks, the insurance companies, and the financial institutions, which, as so convincingly illustrated in the film, don't give a damn for us and are ruining everything we believe in.

Our group was tired and anxious to go home, so we didn't have much time for an in-depth analysis. But, we did agree on one thing. We decided that a good place to begin with unified action was to oppose the recent Supreme Court decision allowing corporations unlimited contributions to political candidates.

Michael Moore tells the complete truth, and we must listen to him very carefully. In his first film, "Roger and Me," he warned that jobs would vanish on a huge scale and that we were facing horrendous times if we didn't do something to stop the damage. We didn't listen. We didn't listen when he exposed the out-of-control gun culture in "Bowling for Columbine," and pleaded for regulation. Nor did we listen when he urged us to reform the health care system in his recent film, "Sicko."

We listened tonight, Michael, and it's very clear that we must act on your warning to suppress the destruction caused by runaway capitalism.

Let's shake off our lethargy, people, and get started. Our democracy is at stake.

New York City's Seven Years Too Many Coalition Protests the Iraq War on Its 7th Anniversary

2010-03-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

This article was co-written with Edith Cresmer of the Granny Peace Brigade

On March 20, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq, a country that posed no threat and that had done us no wrong. The invasion was justified by then-President George W. Bush on the basis that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which it was ready to launch against us. These lies ultimately led to the deaths, maiming and displacement of millions of innocent Iraqi civilians, and the deaths, maiming and mental breakdowns of thousands upon thousands of U.S. and allied troops engaged in this great folly.

On Saturday, March 20, 2010, a beautiful, unseasonably warm day, the eighth year of our occupation of Iraq began. Although we are told that officially we are no longer fighting there, that we have pulled back our forces, nevertheless our soldiers continue to die there. And, so do many more Iraqis.

And, the American people seem to be oblivious to the fact that our young American treasures are still dying and suffering horrendous injuries in these useless and destructive wars.

It is way past time for us to pull out, and yet we remain. Why?

To commemorate the end of our seven years of illegal and immoral attack and occupation of Iraq and to alert the public that the wars are still an urgent issue, a compendium of 10 New York City peace groups called the Seven Years Too Many Coalition gathered at the Times Square Recruiting Center to protest the continuation of the war and to call for the end of all wars.

Cheryl Wertz, Exec, Director of Peace Action New York State (PANYS) introduced the speakers -- Councilwoman Gale Brewer, and Vietnam vet Chaplain Hugh Bruce of Veterans for Peace. They discussed some of the terrible effects of war on people at home -- lost jobs, libraries, fire companies, and teachers -- and even worse effects on the people of Iraq and on our G.I.s.

Literature was handed out with facts about the terrible results and the absurdity of war.

Demonstrators chanted: How do you measure the cost of War? How Many? and How Much?

And answered Too Many, too Many . . . and Too Much, too Much.

Protesters wore signs with the answers: Killed to date: American soldiers - 4,382; Coalition Soldiers - 4,700; Iraqi civilians - 95,606-to 104,304; Journalists - 140.

Wounded to date: U. S. soldiers - 31,616; NYS soldiers - 1,669.

Displaced Iraqis: 4,900,000.

Spent in Iraq to date: $712 Billion. Spent by NYC: $25 Billion

But, this was a two-day demonstration. The day before, on March 19, we stood in front of the Chambers Street recruiting center, laughingly officially named the Army Career Center. Some career, isn't it, to be taught to kill and to look forward to being blown up in a foreign land we have no business being in?

We displayed banners and signs and passed out literature there to the many students from a nearby high school and college walking by, and then moved down the street to the Marine Corps Career Center where we continued our rally.

We ended our march at the site of the World Trade Center where the many visiting tourists, most from foreign countries, and nearby workers enthusiastically greeted us and received our fliers. We couldn't help but think how ironic it was that the tragic explosion of the WTC was used falsely as rationalization for attacking two countries which were not responsible for it.

We earnestly hope that we will not have to demonstrate for an Eighth Year Anniversary of our continued occupation of Iraq.

President Obama, are you listening?

(Participating groups in the Seven Years Too Many Coalition:
CODE PINK NYC; Grandmothers Against the War; Granny Peace Brigade; Greenwich Village Coalition for Peaceful Priorities; North Manhattan Neighbors for Peace & Justice; NYC United for Peace & Justice ; NYC War Resisters League; Peace Action New York State; Veterans for Peace Chapter 34 NYC; West Side Peace Action)

RAIN-DRENCHED, WIND-TOSSED NEW YORK CITY PEACE GRANNIES HOLD MEMORIAL FOR THE 1,000 DEAD G.I.s IN AFGHANISTAN

2010-02-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

It seems as if most of our U.S. populace has forgotten that U.S. soldiers are dying in Afghanistan. Focused on Tiger Woods' sex life and, more understandably, the seemingly endless, unresolvable health reform and jobs battles in Washington, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appear to be ignored.

However, a group of New York city peace grannies and their supporters DO remember, and they publicly so acknowledged on Tuesday, Feb. 23, the just-announced grim tally of 1,000 U.S. soldiers' loss of life in Afghanistan. The event was coordinated by Grandmothers Against the War and the Granny Peace Brigade. Members of Peace Action New York, Veterans for Peace, The World Can't Wait, the Gray Panthers, Brooklyn for Peace, and the Raging Grannies attended as well.

On the cold, wet and windy evening, approximately 30 mostly elderly people assembled in front of Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to pay tribute to the 1,000 American G.I.s sacrificed in the wrong-headed war in Afghanistan. They also mourned the many Afghani deaths caused by our missiles and bombs.

The great actor-author, Malachy McCourt , opened the proceedings with a powerful speech lambasting the tragic expenditure of life and resources in the hopeless pursuit of peace through war. A statement of support by NY State Senator Bill Perkins, who had to be in Albany with the legislature, was read. Following that, the vigil members read the names of deceased soldiers AND deceased Afghani civilians to the accompaniment of a single muffled drum beat.

It was startling and extremely saddening to hear that so many of the Afghanis whose names were read were small children. One wondered: How can we feel morally justified in waging a war that causes so many innocent people to die whom we are supposedly protecting?

Strangely enough, the police erected a barricade around the anti-war stalwarts. This had never been done before in the six plus years that Grandmothers Against the War, the Vets for Peace and the Granny Peace Brigade have been holding a weekly Wednesday vigil on that Rockefeller Center site.

The soggy Peaceniks then walked down Fifth Avenue and over to the Times Square recruiting station where the Raging Grannies sang familiar songs with their revised anti-war lyrics. They kept singing despite the fact that several policemen insisted that the group leave. Finally, thoroughly soaked and shivering, the hardy old folks (and a few young ones) dispersed.

It is worth quoting part of Sen. Perkins' statement: "It is obvious that the lessons of the unjust war launched by the previous Bush administration have yet to sink in on the current administration. Each day the goal of honorable victory will be ever more elusive. The goal of an honorable peace for a dishonorable war will continue to have its price."

As I write, one day later, the tragic number of our young military dead in Afghanistan has climbed to 1,0

PEACE GRANNIES PREPARE MEMORIAL FOR 1,000TH G.I. DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN

2010-02-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Feb. 20, U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan reached a total of 999. With the likelihood of the toll reaching 1,000 in the next day or two, peace grannies in New York City have planned a special commemorative vigil to be held the day AFTER the dreaded number has been announced.

It is requested that people be on the alert for a probable event on either Monday or Tuesday, Feb. 22 and 23. The day after the announcement, all New York City peace groups will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Grandmothers Against the War regular weekly Rockefeller Center vigil site on the west side of 5th Ave. between 49th and 50th Sts. Other peace groups participating will be the Granny Peace Brigade, Veterans for Peace, the Raging Grannies, Peace Action NYS (PANIX), The World Can't Wait, Code Pink, Gray Panthers, West Side Peace Action, and others. A large turnout is anticipated.

In a candlelight ceremony, names of U.S. military and Afghan citizens who have died in war-related incidents will be read, to the somber beat of a drum. Invited political and celebrity speakers, including actor/author Malachy McCourt, State Sen. Bill Perkins, civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, and others will make brief remarks. At 6:30 p.m., the vigil group will walk to the Times Square recruiting center for songs and more comments.

It is the hope of the grannies that this public occasion will send a strong message to the war-makers that it is time to bring the hostilities to an end and replace missiles with missions.... destruction with diplomacy.

"It's the same sad story," said Barbara Walker, associate director of Grandmothers Against the War. "Our bombs increase anti-Americanism, cause death and untold damage to all, and achieve nothing positive. As in Iraq, our "surge" in Afghanistan has caused a dramatic increase of casualties to our American kids valiantly fighting there, for no apparent recognizable goal achieved. We must bring our troops home and rethink our foreign policy."

The Grandmothers Against the War vigil has been held for over six years with only two missed occasions -- the latest Christmas tree lighting ceremony which blocked access, and the recent impenetrable snow storm. Otherwise, the grannies, with their regular cohorts, the Granny Peace Brigade, and Vets for Peace, are there in rain, sleet, snow, cold and heat -- even the several vigil grannies in their 90s.

PLEASE JOIN US IN SENDING THIS URGENT MESSAGE TO THE POWERS THAT BE!!

WHY IS MY LIFE DETERMINED BY 100 CLUELESS, PAMPERED SENATORS?

2010-02-08T11:24:00.000-08:00

I don't think our system of government is really working any more. Maybe it's time to ditch it and try something else.

Because those Washington blow-hards are not concerned at all with me and my problems nor anyone else's, for that matter, except, of course, for the corporations that woo them.

Do they, with their life-long pensions, care that my measly social security benefits have been capped for the next few years? Do they, with their excellent comprehensive free health coverage, care that despite Medicare, a major illness could wipe me out? Do they, with their two residences, care that housing costs are so prohibitive that I am desperately trying to avoid giving up my one small apartment? Do they, with their comfortable salaries, lecture fees and book contracts (to say nothing of their bribes and sometimes mis-used "campaign contributions") care that out-of-sight rising costs for basic necessities of life mean I can't afford a new pair of shoes or a dinner out once in a while?

And, above all, do they, with their ability to manipulate the system and keep their kids out of harm's way, care that my grandson or granddaughter might have to dodge explosives in unjustified and immoral wars for oil championed by men too old to fight?

I think not.

Maybe when our forefathers conjured up our system of government, elected officials had a greater sense of responsibility toward their fellow citizens. Perhaps they really DID try to make decisions that they conceived would benefit people the most. At that time, maybe, our representatives truly represented us, at least as honorably and conscientiously as they could.

But, now, that integrity, except for a few noble souls, seems to have vanished. They are for the most part a bunch of inept, egomaniacal, greedy retards whose only activity, apparently, is to endlessly fight each other, engage in sex scandals, and follow a no-risk path to ensure re-election. THEY ACCOMPLISH NOTHING FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD!

Why should I trust my lot to them? It makes no sense.

It is reported that Sarah Palin is calling for a revolution. Well, so am I, but not her whacky one.

. I call for an end to media advertising, thus obviating the need for huge campaign funds, and necessitating the candidates to speak directly to the people. Remember the Lincoln-Douglas debates. That was how the people got their impressions of the contenders, not through some advertising copywriter's empty slogan or glitzed-up visual.

. I ask that no official be allowed to receive more than $100 in contributions from any source.

. I ask that a national register be put into effect indicating which bills are introduced, sponsored and voted upon by every Senator. It would be published daily in every newspaper in the nation.

. I want a system to be developed whereby every Senator must be held accountable by his constituents on a regular basis, and if he or she doesn't measure up, they have the right to oust him or her immediately.

. I ask that every Senator with eligible children make certain that those kids enlist in the military and request battle assignments.

Those are a few of my ideas. I would love to hear others' thoughts on this matter. In the meantime, I'll continue my Granny Peace Brigade street actions, my petitions, my letters to the editor, my YouTube political songs, and everything else I've been doing to try and stop the wars, reverse the failure to reform health care, stem the economic melt-down and all the other catastrophes our Senators and Congress people have totally failed to resolve. My efforts haven't proved very effective, unfortunately, but it's all I've got -- until we basically change the structure of our government.

Therefore, I say -- throw the rascals out and reform the system!!

NEW YORK PEACE GRANNIES TO MARK 1000TH AMERICAN DEATH

2010-02-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

As the American military death toll nears the 1,000 mark in Afghanistan, anti-war grandmothers and their supporters are preparing in advance to mark the grim occasion. The grannies held special commemorations for the 3,000th and 4,000th American death in Iraq, and now are planning to perform the same heartbreaking task for those unfortunate soldiers sacrificed to the war in Afghanistan.

"Perhaps most of the public is not much concerned with these wars and their casualties, but the peace grannies always have been, are now and will continue to be until they are stopped," said 94-year-old Lillian Pollak, an active member of the Granny Peace Brigade, one of the organizers of the event. "We will publicly acknowledge the carnage in the hope that we will awaken citizens to the fact that the wars are still being waged with their resultant unjustified death and destruction -- not only of our own young people but of countless innocent civilians. We must not let up in our efforts to end these immoral occupations."

Please be advised that a special memorial will be held the day AFTER the 1,000th fatality is announced. People are asked to meet at 5:30 p.m. at the site of the regular Wednesday Rockefeller Center Grandmothers Against the War vigil -- the west side of Fifth Ave. between 49th and 50th Sts. They will vigil there for approximately one hour and then slowly walk to the recruitment center in Times Square for a short appearance. The grannies will be joined by Veterans for Peace, who regularly stand with them on Wednesdays, and other loyal followers.

It is requested that people bring candles and flashlights. Names of the dead will be read. Celebrated persons in in the arts and government have been invited to eulogize the lost lives.

The count is as of this date (Feb. 1) 977, so it is likely that the 1,000th death will occur within the next month or two. Those who plan to attend are asked to be vigilant in observing the count so that they can participate at the right moment.

Regretfully, the casualties continue to mount in Iraq, as well, though not to the extent they have in the past. American deaths there now total 4,375. Hopefully, the U.S. will have pulled out before the total reaches the dreaded 5,000. Rest assured, the indomitable grannies will continue their non-stop efforts to make this a reality.

FIGHT BACK -- FOR YOUR OWN MENTAL HEALTH AS WELL AS THE HEALTH OF THE NATION

2010-01-26T11:32:00.000-08:00

You don't have to tell me how depressed you are. I know, because I have sunk into the black depths, also. More troops sent to Afghanistan -- POW! No single payer, no public option -- ZAP! Republican conservative wins Kennedy seat in Massachusetts -- CRACK! Supreme Court okays corporate takeover of our political system -- BOP! And on and on the litany of assaults hits us in our minds, hearts and pocketbooks.

Gone the hopes for a new and better America. Gone the faith in a dazzling new, seemingly Progressive President. Gone the belief in the people's good sense. It seems so hopeless -- one wants to crawl into bed and pull the covers up and stay there. I know, I know.

BUT -- let's not. I'll tell you why. Fighting back not only fights the evil forces, it fights one's depression. I remember the day after W was re-elected for a second term. Talk about depression! The helpless, aching improbability of it -- we just wanted to give up, didn't we? I certainly did.

However, the day after his 2004 re-election was a Wednesday, the day every week that my group, Grandmothers Against the War, with an assist from the Granny Peace Brigade and some Veterans for Peace, holds a peace vigil in front of Rockefeller Center. We'd been doing it without missing a single Wednesday for almost a year. So, in order to sustain our spotless attendance record, I had to go despite my lethargy, my sadness, my utter misery. The other people standing on Fifth Avenue with me were equally distressed and ready to give up the struggle. You've never seen so many long faces.

Then, an amazing thing happened. As we stood there with our peace signs and banners, the black clouds in our minds began to waft away. Slowly, we began to smile and chatter with our usual good spirits. By the end of the vigil, we were practically jubilant. Nothing had changed -- the grim reality was still the fact that the worst President in history was going to head the government for another four years and reap hideous injustices and catastrophes. But, WE had changed. We had decided to press on and continue battling for our issues.

It was clear that in the act of fighting back, we were able to banish our hopeless feelings. The psychiatrists say that depression is repressed anger. Maybe there's something to that theory. Certainly, in our case it seemed to be at least partly true. By taking action, we were in a sense expressing our anger -- but in a constructive way.

The nation survived that crisis, and ultimately things turned around -- a bit. We got a President who is both a Democrat and a black man. We put a Democratic majority in the Senate. It's true that these promising steps have not yet produced hardly any of the progressive reforms that we envisioned, but I think we could agree that we moved a little bit forward.

All right, we've fallen back. Big time. But, isn't that the pattern of history? I'm no historian, so I can only refer to things that have happened in my lifetime. For instance, the war to end all wars -- that didn't. The war to end poverty --that didn't. The liberals followed by the neocons followed by the liberals followed by the neocons. It seems there is no such thing as lasting progress. But, that mustn't defeat us.

Instead, let's pick ourselves up, yet again, dust ourselves off, and get back into the arena. We may not yet save the planet, we may not yet save our economy, we may not yet save our democratic institutions...but at least we'll save our sanity.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll inch forward more than we slip backward.

GRANNIES' SIXTH-YEAR ROCKEFELLER CENTER VIGIL COMMEMORATION PREEMPTED BY THE TABLOID FOUR -- JAY, CONAN, TIGER AND HARRY

2010-01-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Good God, are our country's priorities mixed up! Imagine! The number one story recently before the Haiti earthquake in what is laughably called The News was about two super-rich show biz boys of arrested development whining like toddlers over their million dollar late-night toys. In addition, the other prominent stories in print and on the air waves which claim to deliver us vital coverage, diddled around about a golfer's sex life and a Senator's time-warped political remark, whipping the unfortunate but not ill-intentioned comment into the politically incorrect gaffe of the decade. Where is the sense of the media functioning as the truth-telling chroniclers of the people's business, I ask you?

One could easily despair of having one's message communicated to the public. Despite that, New York City peace granny groups -- Grandmothers Against the War, the Granny Peace Brigade, and the Raging Grannies -- held an historic event on Fifth Avenue in front of Rockefeller Center Wednesday, Jan. 13, commemorating SIX years of their weekly peace vigil there begun on Jan. 14, 2004. Approximately 30 people stood in the bitter cold on Fifth Avenue to mark the long dedication of the vigilers.

Every effort was made to induce the media to cover the occasion, but no one showed up except for a journalist from Afghanistan radio and press. Perhaps this was attributable to the Haiti disaster, not just the sensation-seeking bent of today's reportage, but nevertheless one would hope there were a few journalists left to cover other substantial stories. The grannies were naturally disappointed at the press and media inattention but welcomed the chance, as they do every week, of showing passers-by, most of whom are tourists from around the globe, that at least some Americans have not succumbed to the apathy of the masses and are passionately struggling to end the terrible and immoral wars.

New York State Sen. Bill Perkins spoke of the importance of the grannies' weekly protest of the Iraq and Afghan wars, and remarked about the appropriateness of the occasion because of its conjunction with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday this coming Friday, Jan. 15. He suggested that the vigil attendees sing "We Shall Overcome," The group formed a circle and sang the stirring hymn out there on the sidewalks of New York, twice.

Names of the dead in Afghanistan, both our American military and Afghan civilians, were solemnly read, each name accompanied by the mournful sound of a ringing bell.

Among those marking the end of six years was a contingent of Veterans for Peace, who have stood with the grannies "On the Avenue" for almost the entire six-year watch. One of them, Chaplain Hugh Bruce, a Vietnam vet, spoke movingly at the vigil, noting that it we weren't pouring billions into these destructive and unjust wars we could ensure health care for everyone. Jenny Heinz, one of the original vigil stalwarts. also spoke to the group. "It's very sad to still be here at the beginning of the seventh year," Jenny said, "and to recognize that things are worse, not better -- policies that we thought were limited to the Bush administration now seem to have become institutionalized."

Said 94-year-old Lillian Pollak, a regular at the vigils, "It is imperative that our presence be known to the public. Mostly, the American people are oblivious to the fact that our young soldiers are dying and being grievously wounded more and more as the Afghanistan occupation is escalated. Also, people need to be made aware that we have continuing casualties in Iraq. This is to say nothing of the many, many innocent civilians who've become victims to our unethical bombs and drones. We grannies have tried in vain to stop these wars, but have to face the fact that we may not be able to do so in our lifetimes. We feel a duty to keep on keeping on as long as we are able and hope the American people will carry on our struggle after we are no longer here."

Barbara Walker, the Associate Director of Grandmothers Against the War, which initiated the vigil in 2004, and a co-founder of the Granny Peace Brigade, made a point of noting that the vigil has been held every single week all six years no matter what the elements throw at it -- rain, sleet, heat or cold. The only time the grandmothers were unable to hold a vigil was recently before Christmas on tree-lighting day when the vigil site was blocked from access. "That's a pretty good record for us old ladies, some in their 90's," she said proudly. One would have to agree, observing several of the women standing for the entire hour hanging on to walkers and canes.

Makes one marvel at the sterner stuff of these elder women of conscience, doesn't it? Let's hope they are not a dying breed.

SINGING PEACE GRANNIES INVADE BROOKLYN'S TARGET STORE WITH SONGS AND PROTESTS AGAINST WAR TOYS

2009-12-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

Weary Brooklyn Christmas shoppers were unexpectedly entertained on Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, when a troupe of approximately 20 Granny Peace Brigade members and Raging Grannies sang revised Christmas carols condemning war toys at the TARGET Store in Flatbush's Atlantic Shopping Center simultaneously with a serious demonstration against the toxic playthings. This was the second protest in the grannies' recently-launched campaign called "NO MORE WAR TOYS, NO MORE WARS." The first action took place on December 4 at the Times Square Toys "R" Us store,

Although warned by the police earlier in the day to not attempt to conduct any mischief inside TARGET, the grannies nevertheless "invaded" the store at approximately 4 p.m. and quickly went to the toy department where they filled up four carts and some baskets with the most violent toys ever conceived.

The grannies then rode them down the escalator while unfurling many bright yellow banners imprinted with the black letters, "WAR IS NOT A GAME" and "NO MORE WAR TOYS." As they rode down to the next floor, they sang the famous John Lennon refrain, "Give Peace a Chance."

They intended to leave the toy-filled carts and baskets at the check-out counter, but by the time the elderly crusaders and the carts reached the bottom of the escalator, however, a bevy of policemen was awaiting them and requested that they leave the store, which they did, singing and displaying their many banners as they wended their way outside.

The toys they gathered are disgraceful, to say the least -- guns with repeat bullets, grenades and all manner of killing machines designed to arouse the bloodlust of impressionable young children and teen-agers. The grannies, who have been trying for years to end the destructive and immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, feel these toys militarize America's young and pave the way to more and more killing in the guise of protecting our homeland, a presumption the grandmothers reject.

Once outside, on Flatbush Avenue, the grandmothers opened their special songbooks and sang a number of Christmas carols which the women have revised with lyrics pleading that people not buy war toys. For, instance:

HARK, THE HERALD ANGELS SING
NOW, AT LAST, LET FREEDOM RING.
PEACE ON EARTH AND MERCY MILD,
NATIONS MUST BE RECONCILED.
LET US PUT THE BOMBS AWA-A-Y!
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME, NOW, TODA-A-Y
WARS ARE NOT FOR TOYS, OR A GAME.
DON'T TEACH OUR KIDS TO KILL AND MAIM!
GIVE THE CHILDREN TOYS OF PEACE,
HELP THEM TO LEARN THAT WARS MUST CEASE.

Passersby stopped to enjoy the concert, and many told the grandmothers that they agreed with them. The protesters gave out hundreds of leaflets listing appropriate toys for parents to buy rather than the horrendous ones glorifying lethal battle.

Other members of the grannies' audience included the eight or so cops assigned to protect Brooklyn from the dangerous aged terrorists. The officers stood across from the women throughout their entire songfest trying without success to hide their delight at the grandmas' vocal offerings.

Said the oldest singer, Lillian Pollak, hale and active at 94, "We won't be here forever, and if we can't stop these deplorable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in our lifetime, we must at least do all within our power to convince our grandchildren that they must end the cycle of killing and waste we have been engaging in for far too long. We're determined to continue this struggle to bring back appropriate and healthy toys."

PEACE GRANNIES TELL TOYS "R" US: "WAR TOYS 'R' NOT US"

2009-12-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

Shoppers in the Times Square Toys "R" Us flagship store were startled
on Friday, December 5, when they looked up at the giant ferris wheel in the middle of the store and saw fifteen people riding it while unfurling bright yellow banners inscripted with the words "NO MORE WAR TOYS" and "WAR IS NOT A GAME!" As the wheel slowly revolved around, the mischief makers sang over and over John Lennon's famous refrain, "All We Are Saying Is Give Peace a Chance."

This caper was how the legendary Granny Peace Brigade launched their latest anti-war campaign, entitled "NO MORE WAR TOYS, NO MORE WARS." Fed up with the proliferation of obscenely violent war toys, the grannies created this latest protest action in an effort to get the poisonous stuff off the shelves, thereby, hopefully, decreasing the militarization of our youth.

The grandmothers think their campaign is particularly timely coming on the heels, as it did, of the President's disappointing announcement of more troops being sent to Afghanistan. "Violence begets violence," said Barbara Walker, a founding member of the Brigade. "These awful toys indoctrinate our young with the concept that war is the preferred tactic to conduct our foreign policy. Such a mind set emboldens our leaders to supplant peaceful negotiation and diplomacy with bombs and bloodshed. We are trying to eradicate the cancer at its core."

While the granny ferris wheel gang rotated through the air, another group of grannies wearing Santa Claus hats sang revised versions of favorite Christmas carols near the inside entrance. For instance:

JOY TO THE WORLD

JOY TO THE WORLD, LET'S END EACH WAR
LET EARTH BE PEACEFUL ONCE MORE
LET ALL THE GIRLS AND BO-O-YS
BUY NO MORE WA-A-R T-O-OYS
AND ALL OUR TROOPS COME BACK
FROM AFGHANINSTAN AND IRAQ
OHH, WA-A-R IS NOT THE WAY
TO LIVE OR PLAY
NO, WA-A-R IS NOT THE WAY
TO LIVE OR PLAY!

After about 20 minutes, store personnel politely asked the troupe of protesters to get off the ferris wheel. The riders stalled as long as they could without creating mayhem, and finally complied. Don't ever think you can't get a free ride in this country, because the grannies did. Store employees refunded each granny's entrance fee to the wheel. So, though we vehemently disapprove of Toys "R" Us's stock of despicable war toys, we must give them credit for treating us with great respect and courtesy.

After all the grannies and their compatriots left the store, including the carol singers, who were also politely asked to leave, they banded immediately outside the store on Broadway and sang the revised carols for another hour. Passersby enjoyed the concert and many gave the singers the thumbs up sign of approval.

Said the oldest Granny Peace Brigade member, Lillian Pollak, hale and active at 94, "We won't be here forever, and if we can't stop these deplorable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in our lifetime, we must at least do all within our power to teach our grandchildren while we are still here that war and violence are not the answer."

BEAUTIFUL RESPONSE TO MY POEM

2009-12-03T10:08:00.001-08:00

DEAR READERS: I RECEIVED A WONDERFUL LETTER FROM ANOTHER ANTI-WAR GRANNY, LIZ AXTELL, WHICH I WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU:

"Dear Joan,

I read your most recent post on the Anti-War Granny website, and felt empathy for you as you expressed your disappointment and dashed hopes regarding President Obama.

Now that it is official that he is escalating our military involvement in Afghanistan, I thought it an appropriate time to tell you some of what I am thinking. Perhaps you may not like what I have to say, but if I were meeting with you and the other grannies in New York, I would be saying the same things.

Let's face it, by and large, the policies and actions of the Obama Administration and the Democratic controlled Congress have been a disaster. Not just regarding Afghanistan-Iraq-Pakistan, but also regarding health care reform, the banking situation, home foreclosures, unemployment, etc. The Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration have no balls; they keep backing down and caving in to the Republicans, Wall Street, insurance companies, etc., and thumbing their noses at the very people who got them elected.

Several years ago, I changed my voting registration from Democratic to independent ( called unaffiliated in North Carolina). Like many people, I have called members of Congress, written letters, signed petitions, called the White House, etc. Folks in Washington D.C. are not listening--they are in a world of their own, divorced from the American people. The only thing they are interested in is remaining in power. It is time to think about a change in tactics. Cindy Sheehan spoke here in Raleigh a few weeks ago to a large audience and said the same thing.

Above all, the anti-war/peace movement must be independent and not be an appendage of the Democratic Party. I refuse to lift a finger to help any candidate get elected who supports our continued occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and votes to fund our wars there. I am tired of the rhetoric; actions (or inactions) speak louder than words.

Sincerely,
Liz Axtell
Raleigh, North Carolina"

THE BROKEN THREAD

2009-11-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

I was such a believer. Oh, how I believed!
The sun would shine again, the stars would twinkle,
the long night would be over and we would start anew.
Gone the wars, the torture, the bombs, the hideous inequities and disgraces perpetrated by his predecessor.

I dipped into my vanishing coffers and sent $10, $15, $25,
over and over again,
I called surly strangers in Ohio and hate-filled racists in Pennsylvania,
I wrote a song, "Grandmama for Obama,"
and paid from my meager pension to have it video-taped for YouTube.
I performed, I spoke, I leaflet-ed, I cajoled, I argued.

The pay-off was delicious!
There he stood in the full majesty of his brilliance and promise
and I wept with joy.

Months passed,
but we were still mired in Iraq, the Guantanamo occupation still flourished,
single payer was dropped, billions were given away to the financial thugs.
On and on the disappointments accumulated.
But, it's Him, the Great One, he will come through!
He WILL come through! He MUST come through!
I waited, clinging ever more desperately
to the flimsy thread that bound my faith to Him.

And, then came the news.
More troops to Afghanistan, he ordered.
More troops into the hopeless morass of the unwinnable war.
More needless death and destruction.
Why?
It was then that sadly, finally, the thread broke.

GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE WOMEN IN THEIR 90'S TO PERFORM IN SKIT FOR THEATERS AGAINST WAR

2009-11-06T09:56:00.000-08:00

Lillian Pollak, 94 years old, and Lillian Lifflander, 90, both members of the Granny Peace Brigade, will be lead actors in a skit to be performed in Manhattan Monday evening, Nov. 9, 6-7 p.m., in the THAW (Theaters Against War) Monday vigil outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where U.S. citizen Syed Fahad Hashmi has been held for two years plus. The skit, written by Granny Peace Brigade author and ASCAP songwriter Joan Wile, also will feature other grandmothers in the group, Jenny Heinz, Ann Shirazi, and Barbara Walker. The sketch is titled, "If They Take You in the Morning, They Will Be Coming for Us That Night," a quote from writer James Baldwin.

This will be the fourth vigil held by THAW on behalf of Fahad, who has been imprisoned so long in complete isolation without a trial. The first vigil featured actors Kathleen Chalfant and Wallace Shawn, the second actor Bill Irwin, and the third was tagged Playwright's Night. Fahad's brother and parents have been present at the vigils, and have spoken movingly about their family's agony.

The vigils are being filmed and are available on YouTube under the heading, "Radio Free Fahad."

THAW has instituted these vigils as a way of hopefully bringing to public attention the plight of Mr. Hashmi, who has been inhumanely incarcerated on the shaky premise that he took part in an act of terrorism.

"We are participating in these crucial actions because we are so upset that our government can hold people like Mr. Hashmi indefinitely in such mind-destroying conditions in defiance of the Constitution and the Geneva Convention," said Brigader Barbara Walker. "We would never allow another country to treat one of our citizens the way we ourselves are treating this gentleman."

The Granny Peace Brigade, a leading anti-war organization, became internationally known when 18 grandmother members were arrested and jailed in October 2005 when they tried to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting center hoping to replace young people in harm's way.

Said 94-year old Lillian Pollak, one of the actors in the upcoming Monday skit, "I hope people will be inspired to keep on keeping on when they see me at my age out there being active, creative and positive."

PEACE GRANNIES EMBRACE THE HEALTH CARE ISSUE

2009-09-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

New York City peace grannies -- the Granny Peace Brigade and its sister group, Grandmothers Against the War -- who have heretofore focused on urging an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have expanded our horizons to the fight for universal health care.

"These are two issues of extreme urgency to the U.S." said Barbara Walker, a member of both granny groups, "and each is at a critical juncture. The issues really can't be separated, as the gross funding for the unnecessary and doomed wars wastes money which could be used to cover all citizens' health needs."

Nine grandmas participated in an action held on Sept. 29, 2009, in front of the Bristol-Myers Squibb and Aetna insurance companies. In addition, there was a gaggle of Raging Grannies singing their satiric new lyrics to old standards. A surprisingly large turnout gathered in front of Bristol-Myers, and after a rally and a picket line which circled in front of the company's building, walked approximately 13 blocks down Park Avenue to the Aetna building, where they again formed a picket line for about an hour. A number of disabled people in wheelchairs participated in the action, adding to the drama of the occasion and demonstrating effectively the need for reform.

Earlier in the day, 16 protesters were arrested inside the Aetna building when they refused to leave until Aetna changed their policies (in both senses of the word). Among the arrestees was another of our Granny Peace Brigade women. She along with the other arrestees, was held in jail for 26 hours.

With the wars and the battle for good health coverage at critical crossroads right now, we grandmothers are busy trying to cover it all. We continue to hold our regular Wednesday afternoon Rockefeller Center peace vigils, with special emphasis on trying to convince Barack Obama to review his Afghanistan policy and withdraw troops there rather than escalate them. This is very important at this time as reports in the media indicate he is conferring on his Afghan policy with the objective possibly of changing it (remember that word, "Change," Mr. President).

We grannies are also holding regular "phone-athons" in public spaces where we offer our cell phones free of charge to passers-by in order that they may call their congressional representatives regarding shutting down the wars.

We are also organizing for our annual No Bases Teach-in Nov. 8, which this year will concentrate on U.S. military bases throughout the Pacific -- Japan, the Philippines and South Korea. It is the grandmothers' conviction that the 1,000 plus installations throughout the world are very destructive and counter-productive, not to mention cost-inefficient, and most should be permanently closed.

Counter-recruitment is another granny focus, in which we distribute Opt-Out literature to students, parents and faculty at high schools and colleges and lecture at PTA and other meetings.

Since our arrest in October 2005, which put us on the map, so to speak, as a significant anti-war force, we grandmothers have engaged in all the above plus many other endeavors. Our grandmother energy, dedication and creativity demonstrate to all that older people can play vital roles all their lives for the betterment of the world and themselves.

And, now we will devote some of that energy and commitment to the desperate need for a single payer health care plan. Maybe we won't live to benefit from universal health care ourselves, but we're going to make damned sure that our kids and grandkids get the opportunity for affordable and decent coverage. Watch for further news on this subject -- we've just begun to fight!

MY NEW SONG VIDEO ON HEALTH CARE, "PLEASE COVER ME"

2009-09-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

HEAR JOAN WILE'S NEW SONG.
"PLEASE COVER ME,"
ON YOUTUBE VIDEO,
ADVOCATING PUBLIC OPTION FOR HEALTH CARE
(sorry, you'll have to copy and paste)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3M_iGyer_g

GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST THE WAR FOUNDER-DIRECTOR AND GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE CO-FOUNDER, JOAN WILE, AN ASCAP SONGWRITER, AND NINA KRSTIK, A PUBLIC TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER, HAVE CREATED A NEW VIDEO ADVOCATING FOR SINGLE PAYER/PUBLIC OPTION HEALTH CARE REFORM, WITH JOAN'S NEW SONG, "PLEASE COVER ME," AS THE TEXT. IT IS HOPED THAT THIS VIDEO WILL ADD SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE PUBLIC OPTION SIDE OF THE DEBATE NOW IN THE FOREFRONT OF THE PUBLIC'S ATTENTION.

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! THANK YOU!

MY NEW VIDEO OF MY SONG, "GUANTANAMO"

2009-08-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

Please listen/watch this new video and pass it around. It is a musical indictment of our distressing policy about Guantanamo. Perhaps its circulation will help get it closed. I speak for myself and my two anti-war organiations, the Granny Peace Brigade, and Grandmothers Against the War. Listen to your granny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_

GRANNIES HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN

2009-07-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

WAR STILL NO. 1 ISSUE FOR PEACE GRANNIES
Two Vigil Protests Held Weekly

As most of America focuses on the death of Michael Jackson, Sarah Palin's garbled resignation interview and Gov. Sanford's marital straying, New York's peace grandmothers still concentrate on the all-important issue of war and peace. As they have since we invaded Iraq, the women and their supporters feel it is urgent that the troops come home from both Iraq and Afghanistan. "There has never been nor can ever be anything to be accomplished by these immoral wars other than death and destruction," said Barbara Walker, one of the peace grandmothers.

They have recently stepped up the momentum of their anti-war actions so that, in addition to maintaining their five-and-a-half plus years Wednesday Grandmothers Against the War vigil at Rockefeller Center, the sister group Granny Peace Brigade now holds a Friday "Costs of War" tableau protest at the Times Square recruitment center (re-named, laughably, the U.S. Military Career Center). In this event, the grannies have a choreographed Q & A routine displaying on posters the answers to such chanted questions as: How much does it cost to keep one soldier deployed in Iraq? How many Iraqi civilians killed? How many soldier suicides? How many starving Iraqi children?

The location at Times Square is very significant for the grannies, inasmuch as 18 of them were arrested and jailed there when they tried to enlist in October 2005 in order to replace America's grandchildren so they could live long lives like the grannies have been privileged to enjoy. They were on trial for 6 days in Manhattan's criminal court and were acquitted after their defense by civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel and his associate, Earl Ward. The story traveled around the world overnight and was instrumental in jump-starting the anti-war movement, which had been largely quiescent before then.

The media is invited to either or both of these events any time. The Rockefeller Center vigil is held religiously every week no matter what the weather. The recruitment center action may be affected by the weather, so it is advisable to call me if it is raining.

ROCKEFELLER CENTER VIGIL
PLACE: West side of 5th Ave. between 49th and 50th Sts.
DAY AND TIME: Wednesday afternoons, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.

TIMES SQUARE RECRUITING CENTER PROTEST
PLACE: Broadway and 43rd St.
DAY AND TIME: Fridays, noon to 1:30 p.m.

I DON'T WANNA HAVE SEX IN TWO BATHTUBS

2009-07-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Commentary on Cialis erectile dysfunction commercials
featuring an older man and a woman sitting in two bathtubs

CIALIS, CIALIS
YOU'RE A PAIN IN OUR NECKS
WHAT INCREDIBLE MALICE
PUSHING TWO-BATHTUB SEX

SEX IN TWO TUBS
WOULD PRODUCE NIGHTMARES, NOT DREAMS
LIKE TWO GIANT SUBS
IN TWO ROCKY STREAMS

DO WE DO IT IN ONE?
OR GET LAID ACROSS TWO?
THAT'S NOT MY IDEA OF FUN
LET'S SEE HOW YOU'D DO

ERECTIONS? FORGET IT!
I'LL LIVE HAPPILY WITHOUT
IF SEX ENDS, THEN LET IT,
I'D RATHER HAVE GOUT

ASTOUNDING GRANDMAMAS RECITE FOUNDING PAPAS' WORDS

2009-07-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

Forsaking picnics and hotdog contests, two staples of New York City July 4 celebrations, area peace grandmothers held a unique holiday event, the Third Annual Reading of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence in beautiful Strawberry Fields. The readings were conducted on a gorgeous day in Yoko Ono's Central Park oasis dedicated to the memory of her husband, John Lennon. It is believed that this celebration is unique in the United States.

More than 100 people attended, many volunteering to read various amendments. Among the readers were 94-year-old Marie Runyon, and 90-year-old Molly Klopot, both members of the legendary Granny Peace Brigade. Marie and Molly were arrested and jailed in October 2005 when they, along with 16 other Brigade women, attempted to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting station.

The grannies were on trial for 6 days in Criminal Court, defended successfully by eminent civil liberties and Constitutional scholar, Norman Siegel, who led the ceremonies today. At times, Siegel commented on how some of the amendments were being subverted today, as well as giving interesting background information on the creation of the documents. For instance, he pointed out how Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution specifies that only Congress shall declare war, and yet since the end of World War 2, we've been involved in too many wars not declared by that body in too many places we shouldn't have been and shouldn't now be. He also explained that the 1st Amendment, which guarantees the right of citizens to peaceably assemble has been abused right in Central Park where it is now forbidden to gather in large groups to peacefully protest. He urged the attendees to fight to "take back our park."

Siegel remarked: "The Constitutional system -- we should try it sometime. If we followed the Constitution, many of our civil rights and civil liberties problems would be substantially reduced."

Other readers included Progressive Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, Jonathan Tasini; long-time gay and civil rights activist, Andy Humm; members of the Raging Grannies (who sang some of their satiric songs about contemporary issues); Grandmothers Against the War; Military Families Speak Out; the Gray Panthers; Veterans for Peace, and Code Pink.

"These are the true patriots," remarked Norman Siegel, "The real Red, White and Blue. People who care about the principles on which our nation was founded and want to see them maintained and celebrated."

"THE GRANNY 7" SCORE ONE FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT

2009-04-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

The "Granny 7," the seven intrepid women of the Granny Peace Brigade who were arrested and jailed on March 18, 2009, when they protested at the Times Square recruiting station against the Afghanistan war escalation and the retention of 50,000 troops in Iraq after the official withdrawal date, achieved a victory April 14 for the First Amendment principle protecting peaceful protest.

At a court appearance at Manhattan Community Court, it was declared that the City of New York "declined to prosecute." It would seem that the decision was influenced by the arrest of 18 Granny Peace Brigade members on Oct. 17, 2005, when they tried to enlist at the Times Square recruiting center to replace America's grandchildren in harm's way in Iraq. Those grannies were put on trial for six days in criminal court at the end of which they were acquitted. The resultant world-wide publicity did nothing to polish the image of the Big Apple -- photographs and television footage of old women being handcuffed and poured into paddy wagons for non-violent protest tended to make New York's Finest look more like New York's Meanest.

One can logically assume that the decision of the D.A.'s office not to prosecute on April 14 indicates a less punitive stance by the authorities toward peaceful dissent, a First Amendment privilege. It is hoped that this is indicative of a softer policy of New York City to public protest. Non-violent demonstrators during the last few years have met with harsh treatment, most notably at the Republican convention of 2004 when many were incarcerated for up to two days in a dirty old pier with no sleeping facilities. Prisoners had to sleep and sit on a filthy and oil-stained cement floor and were given hardly any food. Compensation has been paid to some as a result of lawsuits lodged against the City, and many cases are still pending.

The seven grannies are Jenny Heinz, 65; Beverly Rice, 70; Joan Pleune, 70 (one of the original Freedom Riders); Barbara Walker, 75; Nydia Leaf, 76; Carol Husten, 77, and Lillian Lifflander, 89 (a World War II veteran). Ms. Lifflander was unable to make the court appearance because she was admitted to a V.A. hospital with chest pains the night before.

Once the decision was announced, the Granny Peace Brigade marched down Broadway to the Times Square recruitment center, the scene of both their arrests, and briefly demonstrated, again putting a strip of yellow crime scene tape in front of the military building. They vowed to continue their struggle to persuade President Obama to reverse his Iraq and Afghan policies. The grannies mostly have been enthusiastic supporters of the President, but feel he is making a tragic mistake . "We are doing what he asked us to do -- to let him know when we think he is off on the wrong track," said one of the women.

The eminent civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, who represented the grandmothers in both the 2006 trial and the current case, stated: "These grannies are women of conscience. They acted in the great American tradition of peaceful non-violence. They protested our government's military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. They should be applauded."

BREAKING GRANNY'S HEART

2009-03-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

I poured my hopes into you, Barack. I gave and gave from my limited fixed senior income to you. I hate calling strangers, but I did -- in Ohio and Pennsylvania, saying over and over that you would bring peace, that you would restore our good name throughout the world. I wrung my hands through the Hillary attacks, publishing satirical articles, songs and one-acts on the Internet to humiliate her. Oh, my God, the stress of those months as the polls undulated up and down. It's a wonder I didn't have a stroke.

And, then, Hallelujah, you did it. I rejoiced in your victory and thrilled at your inauguration. Your own grandmother couldn't have been more proud and joyful than I was.

I was sure you would be different than the other, and at last would end the war in Iraq. You said you would and I believed you. Although you did say that by going into Iraq we took our eye off Afghanistan, I was confident that you would manage that issue peacefully,so that we would extricate ourselves quickly from that potential quagmire as well. I was so happy to think that the world would respect us again and I wouldn't have to hang my head in shame any longer.

Then, you spoke of sending more troops to Afghanistan, but I assumed you were testing the waters, trying to accommodate the war heads, but would in short order change course, pull out and bring them home. How could you do otherwise? You were my beloved hero, a man of peace. I started petitions designed to urge you to re-think your policies in the Middle East, but in a respectful way, certain that you were just waiting for a ground swell so you could justifiably change direction.

One day recently, I read that you had ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan and were retaining 50,000 in Iraq even after the official withdrawal. That was possibly the biggest heartbreak I'd experienced since my first love dumped me unceremoniously. Reluctantly, I helped organize a Granny Peace Brigade protest at the Times Square recruiting center. Some of us old ladies got arrested. Still, I thought that in the end you would do the right thing.

Today, you ordered more troops to Afghanistan. Don't you realize what you've done? Don't you see the destruction, the horrors such an action will cause? How is it you, of all people, can't realize that only diplomacy and humanitarian aid, not weapons, can resolve the crisis of terrorism?

You have broken my heart, Barack. Disillusionment happens all through life, so I should be used to it by now. But, this one hurts so bad.

WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO YOUR GRANNY?

PEACE GRANNIES ARRESTED

2009-03-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Relax, everyone! The New York City police are solidly on the job these days. With rapists, murderers, bank robbers and dope peddlers, not to mention corporate thieves, rampant throughout the City, they made a significant dent in the crime statistics yesterday, March 18, when they arrested seven grandmothers aged 67 to 90 in Times Square.

The grannies, all members of the Granny Peace Brigade, were sent to jail while protesting at the Times Square recruiting station. Their arrest occurred during what is believed to be the first antiwar protest of the Obama Administration, in an attempt to urge the President to reconsider his decision to retain 50,000 troops in Iraq after the official withdrawal scheduled to be completed in the next 18 months and his order for 17,000 more troops sent to Afghanistan. The women feel strongly that these measures will only result in increased death and destruction for Americans, Iraqis and Afghanis and further solidify anti-American feeling throughout the world. Said 94-year-old Brigadier Marie Runyon, "Peace can only be achieved through diplomacy and humanitarian aid." The Granny Peace Brigade women are mostly strong supporters of Barack Obama but were responding to his request that his constituency pressure him to do the right thing when they feel he is on the wrong path.

The Brigade is not new to demonstrating at the Times Square recruiting station -- eighteen of the grannies were arrested and jailed on Oct. 17, 2005, when they attempted to enlist in the military to replace America's grandchildren in harm's way in Iraq. After a six-day trial in criminal court, they were acquitted.

The seven grannies were arrested at approximately 1:45 p.m. and taken to the Midtown South police precinct. They were not all released until early the next morning, a total of approximately 12 hours. Some of them became shaky and weak after many hours of not eating, but were given no food for another hour and a half.

Prior to the arrest, about 50 grannies and their supporters gathered on Military Island at which a press conference was held including speeches by mayoral candidate Rev. Billy, legendary Broadway actress and activist Vinie Burrows (one of the original 18 granny jailbirds), and a young member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Matthis Chiroux. A sister group, the Raging Grannies, performed some of their original anti-war songs.

During the press conference, grandmothers wrapped yellow police crime scene tape around the ramp near the recruiting center, after which a group, some in wheelchairs and hanging on to walkers, assembled on the ramp leading to the center.

The team of Norman Siegel and Earl Ward, who successfully defended the grannies in 2005, will represent them in their current case, for which the grandmothers are profoundly grateful. Siegel, currently a candidate for New York City Public Advocate, is a favorite of the ladies for his continuous support of them.

GRANNY PROTEST

2009-03-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Joan Wile, 917-441-0651
GRANNIES TO RAISE CANE(S) AND CONCERNS 3-18
ABOUT OBAMA'S IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN POLICIES
Their Theme: Pack up Iraq, and Afghanistan Not Againistan

The indefatigable GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE is again in the forefront of the peace movement. They will hold the FIRST public anti-war protest of the Obama Administration on Wednesday, March 18, 12 o'clock p.m. at the Times Square recruiting center, 44th St. and Broadway. Their mission is to urge President Obama to re-think his policies toward Iraq and Afghanistan. Supporters of the President, they nevertheless feel he is making a mistake by proposing to leave 50,000 troops in Iraq after the official withdrawal and his order to deploy 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. "He has requested that we let him know when we think he's on the wrong track, and we are taking him at his word," said 94-year-old former NYS Assemblywoman Marie Runyon, the oldest of the peace grannies.

To express their concerns, the grannies plan to symbolically wrap up the wars by wrapping police CRIME SCENE tape around the recruitment station. Prior to doing so, they will hold a press conference, beginning at noon, to which many actors and local officials have been invited. Among those who have agreed to speak are mayoral candidate Rev. Billy; actress Kim Weston-Moran, a star of the new off-Broadway hit, The Lonely Soldier Monologues (Women at War in Iraq); civil liberties attorney Norman Siegel; Broadway and off-Broadway legendary actress Vinie Burrows, and chaplain and Vietnam vet Hugh Bruce, a leader of the local Veterans for Peace chapter.

The GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE has chosen the Times Square location because of its historical importance to them. Eighteen of them were arrested there on Oct. 17, 2005, when they tried to enlist to replace America's grandchildren in harm's way and later were on trial for six days in criminal court at the end of which they were acquitted of all charges. Since then, they have acted as missionaries of peace, traveling in the United States and abroad speaking, performing, protesting and writing of their desire to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The grandmothers will be joined by other granny peace groups -- Grandmothers Against the War, who have held a weekly vigil at Rockefeller Center for over five years, and the Raging Grannies, who will sing a couple of their original anti-war songs. Members of Veterans for Peace will serve as a color guard for the event.

GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE jailbird Eva-Lee Baird explained, "The merchants of war are putting tremendous pressure on President Obama to lead the country down a path of destruction. We the people must pressure him to choose the path of peace."

DATE: Wed., March 18, RAIN OR SHINE
TIME: 12 o'clock noon
PLACE: Times Square recruiting center, 44th St. and Broadway

A PROGRESSIVE GRANDMOTHER SPEAKS HER MIND

2009-03-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

by Joan Wile, founder/director, Grandmothers Against the War
and author, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace" (Citadel Press, May 2008 --available at amazon.com and in book stores)

At 77, I'm supposed to have gained a measure of wisdom. But, funny thing
-- I don't feel a bit wiser than I did at, say, 40. I am absolutely certain about maybe a few things -- I know absolutely, for instance, that it is wrong to discriminate against persons because of their color, ethnicity, sexual preference, or religious affiliations. But, it doesn't take wisdom to recognize this -- only humanity.

I should add Republicans to that list, but I can't quite bring myself to do so, because the Republicans (at least the ones who were in power) caused so much harm not only to our nation but to all people across the globe. Of course, they had a lot of help from the Democrats, I can't deny. I could do without some of the religious fundamentalists, too, if truth be told, but that is discriminatory and really not in keeping with my anti-prejudice beliefs. Still, I'd like to see them vanish from our politics. OK, I'm far from being pure in my ethics. Part of old age is, or should be, the ability to see one's failings, always easier to do in retrospect.

I have a few other certainties, but they have not been formulated from wisdom so much as recognizing the obvious. I try to be kind to children, animals, the poor, the sick and disabled, but it didn't require advancing years to assume these attitudes. I've always had them. Of course, the passing of time has given me a greater sense of responsibility so that I can implement these impulses more effectively.

For the last five plus years I have added a new certainty -- I've learned beyond the shadow of a doubt that our invasion of Iraq was wrong, wrong, wrong, and I have devoted a good part of my time and energy to trying to reverse it. I know now that any preemptive war we launch is wrong. This includes Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and all the countries we have threatened, or, in the case of Afghanistan, actually deployed troops and bombers to. Again, I can't claim wisdom in this regard. Any half-way intelligent person of any age can see the futility and the wrong-headedness of our military ventures.

Having been a child during World War 2, I must exclude that from my list of bad wars. Let the historians hash out whether we were justified in entering it -- I will always think we had to fight to eliminate the Nazis from our planet. And, speaking of WW2, I'd like to state how fortunate I've been to be an American. Despite all its flaws and mistakes, the fact is that we civilians here have never suffered as the people of other lands have. I never had to confront bombs destroying my home, my family or myself. Haven't we Americans been lucky, though? True, my beloved stepfather went off to Europe and didn't return -- not because he was killed but because the war did something to his head which prompted him to, well, not come back to my mother and me. A heartbreak, but not anywhere near the pain experienced by the children outside North America whose lives were destroyed by both sides of the conflict. Certainly, I can't erase Hiroshima and Nagasaki from my mind.

My belief that our invasion of Iraq was a horrendous misdeed led me to one of the most gratifying segments of my long life. Since 2003, I have devoted myself to organizing anti-war grandmothers to protest the war. Eventually, I put together Grandmothers Against the War, which began a vigil at Rockefeller Center on January 14, 2004, There were just two of us at first, but gradually we blossomed into a group of anywhere from 20 to 50 people standing on Fifth Avenue every Wednesday afternoon. We are by now something of a tourist attraction, which we don't mind a bit. People from all over the world see us and thereby learn that there is valid opposition to the war. Who can doubt grandmothers, after all? This was particularly important in the earlier years of the occupation when people from abroad often had the misconception that ALL Americans supported Bush's ill-advised attack.

We grannies then took more daring action. Eighteen of us, named the Granny Peace Brigade, decided to try and enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting station. We were denied entrance, so exercised our constitutional right to non-violent dissent and refused to budge from the site. We were arrested and jailed and then put on trial for six days in criminal court for the ridiculous charge of blocking entrance to the recruitment center, something video footage of the event disproved.

Because of the notoriety we achieved through that incident, we began years of spectacular actions and travels in the U.S. and abroad to spread our message. This made for a fulfilling and adventurous old age for all us grannies, some in their late 80's and 90's. True, we've certainly had much excitement and gratification, but we feel great frustration and sadness, too, in that all our efforts as well as those of so many others have not yet brought America's grandchildren home from the war zones. We earnestly hope that President-elect Obama will rectify this. In that regard, please consider signing my Peace Grandmothers Petition to him requesting that we leave Iraq and Afghanistan now. All are invited to sign, not just grannies.
Peace Grandmothers Out of Iraq and Afghanistan

So, being a progressive grandmother has reaped many rewards in terms of allowing me to lead a productive and interesting life at an age when old women are stereotypically depicted as sitting in their rocking chairs knitting baby blankets and watching continuous soap operas. I tried to get this across in one of the many songs I've written about the grannies (hear it on YouTube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVAsHtitW0).

GRANNIES, LET'S UNITE
words and music by Joan Wile, ASCAP

I WAS SITTING AROUND WATCHING SOAPSJUST A USELESS OLD SAD SACKBUT THEN I HEARD THOSE REPUBLICAN DOPESSAY WE HAD TO BOMB IRAQ

WELL, I JUMPED UP RIGHT OUT OF MY SEATGOT MY BANNERS AND PEACE SIGNS OUT THEN I HURRIED DOWN TO THE STREET AND STARTED TO YELL AND SHOUT
GRANDMAS, GET OFFA YOUR TUSH
WE'VE GOT TO GO AFTER BUSHLET'S TORMENT THAT LYING JERKWIPE AWAY THAT REPULSIVE SMIRKOH, THEY GAVE US THE PATRIOT ACTWATCH OUR RIGHTS DRIBBLE DOWN THE TUBES SEE OUR CONSTITUTION ATTACKEDLET'S KEEP PESTERING THOSE ARROGANT BOOBS

GRANDMAS, GET OFFA YOUR BUTTS
FIGHT AGAINST THOSE MEDICARE CUTS
DEMONSTRATE AGAINST THE WAR
MAKE A STINK THEY CAN'T IGNORE

JUST FORGET YOUR RETIREMENT PURSUITS
AND GET OUT YOUR OLD MARCHING BOOTS
LET’S TELL CONDI, BUSH AND CHENEY
(speak) “YOUR POLICIES REALLY PAIN ME!”

GRANDMAS, GET OFFA YOUR FANNIES
WE NEED MORE FIGHTIN’ GRANNIES
LET’S SHOW ‘EM OUR GREAT GREY POWER
MAKE THOSE EVIL MONSTERS COWER

GRANDMAS, LET’S UNITE
WHILE WE ARE STILL UPRIGHT
LET’S PROTEST THAT PARASITE
WATCH OUT! WE’VE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!

GRANDMOTHERS OF AMERICA, UNITE!

2009-02-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

by Joan Wile, author
Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace (Citadel Press, May 2008)

How could our beloved Barack Obama do this to us? How could this prospective savior who promised peace turn around and promote war? We peace grannies supported him, rang doorbells for him, telephoned strangers for him, contributed small sums from our meager senior citizen fixed incomes to him, in great part because of his vow to end the war in Iraq.

Last night, in his address to Congress, he informed us that he would remove two-thirds of our troops from Iraq within 19 months and leave 50,000 vulnerable G.I.'s there. WHAT? 50,000 is not chopped liver! And, wouldn't a smaller force be in greater danger as those bent on destroying our American kids would be encouraged to attack more boldly a down-sized presence? No, no, no! Bring all our children and grandchildren home, and do it sooner, much sooner.

And, as if that weren't bad enough, President Obama has recently issued orders to send in 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, a policy he restated in his speech. IS THIS FOR REAL? Our Peace President has bought the argument that we can defeat Al Quaeda and the Taliban if we flood Afghanistan with more troops? Surely, he must know in his heart of hearts that we would create an even greater quagmire there than we produced in Iraq, and that the only possible road to the defeat of terrorism is through diplomacy and peacetime assistance. The Soviets, the British learned all too well that YOU CAN'T WIN A WAR IN AFGHANISTAN. And, think of the resultant loss of life, limb and over-all destruction such an increase in the military would cause! The Obama we know and love would not want that on his conscience, would he? Doesn't he recognize that his legacy, if he goes through with this dangerous and foolhardy plan, will be Obama's Failed War in Afghanistan, as Bush is known for his Failed War in Iraq, and Johnson/Nixon are remembered for their Failed War in Vietnam? My God, Lyndon Johnson's catastrophe in Vietnam even managed to eclipse his truly valuable achievements in the civil rights movement.

We just can't let this happen. We peace grandmothers -- members of the Granny Peace Brigade, the Raging Grannies, Grandmothers for Peace International, and Grandmothers Against the War, to name a few -- will once again have to be in the forefront of the struggle to end our immoral and self-defeating attacks on other countries. We were among the early protesters of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, way before most of the U.S. finally woke up and saw the light. Some went to jail when 18 of us grannies tried to enlist in the military at the Times Square (NY City) recruitment center. Others have protested, marched, been arrested and gone to jail. Women in their 80's and 90's, no less. Women in wheelchairs, on crutches and walkers. Women who have fought for peace and justice all their lives, and now in what should be a time for rest and leisure, gird themselves once more for arduous battle.

So, I call upon all you dedicated and noble women to sign the Peace Grandmothers Petition to President Obama requesting that he withdraw ALL troops from Iraq AND Afghanistan NOW. One doesn't have to be a grandmother to sign -- friends and supporters are also asked to be signatories.
Here it is!

Peace Grandmothers Out of Iraq and Afghanistan

Let's deluge this plea with names and heartfelt comments about the futility of this proposed escalation and, hopefully, remind the President of who he is and what he should do to fulfill his enormous potential.

Barack, baby, listen to your grannies!

60'S FREEDOM RIDER NOW PROTESTS WAR WITH THE GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE

2009-02-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

We have many courageous and dedicated grandmothers in the Granny Peace Brigade. In the last few years, our grannies, some in their late 80s and 90s, have rallied, protested, been arrested and jailed, walked miles, traveled here and abroad, given speeches, sung, even done a chorus line dance in the middle of Broadway in an attempt to end the war in Iraq, and now, Afghanistan. Many of them have spent lifetimes fighting for peace and justice. Indeed, they are all certainly heroines, but one of the most gutsy grannies of all has to be Freedom Rider Joan Pleune, now 70 years old, and a grandmother of four and two-thirds.

Think about that. At the tender age of 22, in June 1961, she left the University of California at Berkeley and embarked on an extremely dangerous venture on behalf of the civil rights movement. Riding on integrated buses and trains throughout the racist South exposed one to the potential for beatings, jail and even death. Yet, Pleune, with her sister, Kathy, risked all that because of the strength of her principles. Honestly, how many of us then would have done the same?

Luckily, she was neither beaten nor killed, but she did spend a number of weeks in jail. After riding the rails from California to New Orleans, she took another train to Jackson, Mississippi, where she was arrested in the station waiting room. Pleune doesn't remember the details of the arrest but recalls that she wasn't frightened. "I don't know why I wasn't scared. I still don't know. I knew about the bus bombings in late May in Anniston, Alabama, and I should have been frightened, but somehow I wasn't."

Joan was sentenced to six months in prison and taken to the Hines County jail where she, very tanned at the time and thought to be African-American by the arresting authorities, was separated from her sister and herded with three black women into a windowless storeroom. Anticipating a long incarceration in this cramped and airless space, Joan finally felt the cold stab of fear. But, she was soon moved into a big cell with 41 other women. There was one toilet. Mattresses on the floor were the sleeping accommodations. They were actually ensconced in an area in Death Row, and could hear the doomed inmates from behind a wall. They attempted to communicate with them and even tried to share their food (an inedible blend of lima beans and lima beans) after they learned that Death Row prisoners were barely fed.

After being released early after six plus weeks, Joan returned to Berkeley and got a degree in psychology. She took California state tests for social worker and probation officer, and, though she scored second highest in the State, was unable to get employment. She assumes the State of Mississippi had a hand in sabotaging her job search. She then went to New York City and became a case worker until she began her family. She bore three children, the last at the relatively advanced age of 43 as a single mother. Beginning in the mid-1980's, Joan began work as a site advisor for adult literacy programs in three New York City public libraries, where she worked until she retired three years ago.

At that time, she learned on television of the Granny Peace Brigade action in which 18 women were arrested and jailed when they tried to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruitment center. Joan thought, "This is for me. This is how I'll spend my wind-up years." Appealing to her persistent youthful rebellious spirit, she was spurred to join the grannies and has been one of their most active and daring members ever since. Her protests have led her to more jailings and innumerable protests. Her most recent incident was in Washington DC where she was part of a group arrested for hanging five banners from the Hart Senate Office Building protesting the U.S. policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza.

The story of the brave Freedom Riders lay somewhat dormant through the years until a book, Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, by Eric Etheridge, was published in 2007 and the vital history was resurrected for a new generation. Since the book's release, Joan and other Freedom Riders have participated in public forums about the landmark civil rights episode, and Smithsonian magazine printed a story in their February 2009 issue about the book featuring a dramatic photo of the current Joan. Pleune, a modest person who shies away from the limelight, nevertheless has found it exhilarating to be recognized as a significant player in such a crucial event in U.S. history.

When asked recently what compelled her to risk life and limb for the sake of integrating the South, Joan said, simply, "I couldn't not." This expression exemplifies the courageous and committed spirit of the Granny Peace Brigade. Granny bonnets off to Joan Pleune, Freedom Rider.

GRANNIES' MESSAGE TO OBAMA FROM ROCKEFELLER CENTER

2009-01-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

by Joan Wile, author, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace" (Citadel Press, May 2008 - on amazon.com)

A group of grandmothers and a claque of supporters stood for an hour in the bitter cold at Rockefeller Center in New York City on January 14 to commemorate the end of five years of their anti-war vigil. They were mostly unnoticed by the media, which was rife with the hot news about Bernie Madoff, the inauguration hoopla, Hillary Clinton's testimony before Congress, and, deservedly so, the Gaza crisis.

The women, some as old as 93, and some hanging on to walkers and canes, had a message for President-Elect Obama to dramatize the vigil anniversary. They were telling Mr. Obama that they enthusiastically support his presidency but want him to know they wish he'd bring the troops home from Iraq AND Afghanistan. They hoped to alert him to the fact that they would like him to consider reversing his stance on Afghanistan (which seems to favor an escalation of the war there) and bring ALL the troops home from both areas of conflict as soon as humanly possible. To emphasize their concerns, names of G.I.s and Iraqi and Afghan casualties were read out loud.

The old babes call themselves Grandmothers Against the War. Two women began the vigil on Fifth Avenue in front of Rockefeller Plaza on a freezing Jan. 14, 2004, with a healthy amount of trepidation. To be opposed to Bush's war at that time was definitely a minority position and one was possibly subject to some super patriot's verbal or even physical assault. Luckily, the women remained unscathed. Gradually, the vigil expanded as more and more people took up the anti-war cause, including a group of Veterans for Peace who have joined the grannies every week for almost the entire five years. Now, an average vigil has about 25 or 30 participants.

At first, the activists encountered some hostility from passers-by, but as the war progressed and more and more people became disenchanted with it, the grannies saw many thumbs up, often heard smatterings of applause, and once, in a burst of Latin enthusiasm a man from Italy kissed all 20-odd grandmothers on the cheek. Particularly supportive of the vigil all along have been tourists from all over the world, who since the beginning have made it clear that they despised the war (and, no surprise to learn, W himself).

As the weeks turned into months and the months into years, the vigil grandmothers determined that more dramatic action was required in order to get their message heard. Accordingly, they organized, along with members of Code Pink, Peace Action, the Raging Grannies, and others, the protest that was heard around the world overnight. On Oct. 17, 2005, 18 grannies attempted to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting station, were denied entrance and were arrested and jailed. They were put on trial for six days at Criminal Court, and, with the assistance of legendary civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, and his very able co-counsel, Earl Ward, were acquitted of blocking the entrance.

Using their 15 minutes of fame to best advantage, the jailbirds called themselves the Granny Peace Brigade and organized treks to Washington, stopping at cities along the way, to colleges, senior groups, etc. locally and even to Europe, giving speeches, performances and other actions designed to rally grass roots support to oppose the war.

Asked if she thought the grandmothers' efforts have been effective,
93-year-old Marie Runyon said: "You're damned right we've made an impact. In fact, we grannies have been at the forefront of the anti-war movement before hardly anybody else was doing anything about it. We're extremely worried about what kind of world we're leaving to our grandchildren, and that has given us tremendous motivation to do all we can to stop these insane wars."

President-Elect Obama, are you listening?

PREZ OBAMA: PLEASE BRING ALL TROOPS HOME, GRANNIES TO SAY AT VIGIL

2009-01-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

PEACE GRANNIES TO COMMEMORATE FIVE YEARS OF
ROCKEFELLER CENTER VIGIL WITH APPEAL TO OBAMA
TO END WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
Grandmothers Against the War, which began a Wednesday vigil at Rockefeller Center on Jan. 14, 2004, on the west side of Fifth Ave. between 49th and 50th Sts., will commemorate its fifth anniversary this coming Wednesday, Jan. 14, from 4:30-5:30 p.m., with a special vigil dedicated to President-Elect Obama and the grannies' request to him to bring the troops home from Iraq AND Afghanistan as soon as possible upon taking office.

"With the Gaza crisis currently taking precedence over all other international issues, we grandmothers are concerned that the Iraqi and Afghan conflicts are being ignored. We are urgently concerned about Gaza, of course, but do not want the public to lose sight of our vigil's focus of five years, Iraq, where people are still being killed and maimed, and the escalating crisis in Afghanistan," said Marie Runyon, one of the oldest grannies at 93.

"We hope to remind the President-Elect that he was supported by us principally because of his promise to bring the troops home quickly," said grandmother Nydia Leaf. As such the grannies will hold a 10-foot banner with a message to the President-Elect; well-known people will read the names of New York State G.I.s and Iraqi and Afghanistani civilian deaths during 2007, and the Raging Grannies will sing their unique songs of protest. All this will be accompanied by a color guard carried by a group of Veterans for Peace who have been standing with the grannies during the five years.

The Rockefeller Center vigil began with two women and gradually through the years expanded to its present-day average attendance of 25-40 people. Special occasions -- the vigil held for the 3,000th G.I. death announcement, and the one immediately following the arrest and jailing of 18 grandmothers (a related group known as the Granny Peace Brigade) who tried to enlist in the military -- have drawn as many as 100 people.

The fifth year vigil will be held despite any bad weather. The vigilers have never missed a single scheduled vigil no matter what the weather and will certainly be there this Wednesday. Please join us, journalists and camera people.

DATE: Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009
TIME: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
PLACE: west side of 5th Av. between 49 and 50 Sts.

VERY IMPORTANT PETITIONS TO OBAMA

2008-12-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

In the last few days I've had the honor of forwarding two petitions -- both of supreme importance -- to my friends and supporters. Both petitions will ultimately, it is hoped, wind up with President-Elect Obama's transition team. One, requesting that there be a Secretary of the Arts, was initiated by a friend. The other, initiated by me, is on behalf of peace grandmothers who want to end the war in Iraq ASAP and want Obama to reconsider his plan to elevate the war in Afghanistan.

Your signatures would be much appreciatd on both. Here they are:

We endorse the Secretary of the Arts Petition to President-Elect Barack Obama.
Read the Secretary of the Arts Petition.

We endorse the PEACE GRANDMOTHERS PETITION TO PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA

ON FASCISM

2008-11-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

A guest anti-war granny, Edith Bell of the Pittsburgh Raging Grannies, has sent me a copy of her letter published in the Post Gazette. I think it's most important. Here it is:

"President Bush states, he will not close Guantanamo Bay prison (PG 10-26-08) Guantanamo is an interrogation camp. Interrogation camps are illegal according to the Geneva Conventions, revised in 1949 in response to Nazi practices in World War II. Our government unilaterally decided to disregard the Geneva Conventions. Furthermore the 8th Amendment states, “ Excessive bail shall not be required …nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” There are reports on what has occurred at Guantanamo Bay prison, incidents resembling Abu Graib. Somebody asked me recently how Hitler’s rise in civilized Germany was possible. Since I was there, I assured him, that it sneaked up on us gradually. First the fear of external and internal threat was invoked. Secret prisons and a paramilitary force were established. Ordinary citizens were spied upon, and citizens’ groups were infiltrated. People were arbitrarily detained and released. The press was restricted. A few other countries were attacked. Criticism was regarded as treason or espionage. Economically Germany was in dire straits, trying to provide for “guns and butter”. Finally the rules of law were subverted and there was a dictatorship. No one dared to speak out, and a neighbor could no longer be trusted. Evil happens when enough good people do nothing Let’s make sure that it can’t happen again."

DON'T HEED-A THE MED-IA

2008-11-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

a poem by Joan Wile
author, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace" (Citadel Press, May 2008)

The media
they feedya
sensation not sense
you, public, so dense,
allow them to leadya

They milk the inane
until we're insane
They fixate on Palin
day out and day in
until we're in pain

They're hung up on Hill
obsessed about Bill
They force feed us Brittney
Expose ev'ry titty
until we feel ill

Why can't they relate
succinctly and straight
the substantive news
devoid of their views
Let US calculate
our eventual fate

PEACE GRANNIES CONTINUE THE GOOD FIGHT

2008-11-11T15:33:00.000-08:00

Granny Peace Brigade Holds Teach-In To Oppose
Militarization By U.S. Of Latin America And The Caribbean

by Joan Wile,
author, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace" (Citadel Press, May 2008)

The legendary grannies of the New York Granny Peace Brigade, who were arrested, jailed and put on trial for six days in 2005 when we attempted to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting station, are still out there fighting U.S. preemptive war and militarization of foreign nations. Though most, if not all, of us are jubilant about Barack Obama's historic election, nevertheless we feisty grandmothers held a teach-in days after his victory to alert the public and, hopefully, the President-elect to our concerns about the plethora of U.S. military installations and operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The teach-in, held Sunday, Nov। 9, at Manhattan's Church of the Ascension, was the third in a series of teach-ins sponsored by the grandmothers to oppose the more than 1,000 military bases installed in every continent except Antarctica. The first teach-in emphasized Guantanamo, the second stressed AFRICOM, the new U.S. military command for Africa. In this latest forum, moderated by Greg Wilpert, sociologist and author of Changing Venezuela by Taking Power and editor of Venezuelanalysis.com, the 19 countries of South and Central America as well as the 13 countries of the Caribbean were the focus of discussion. To our knowledge, there are a few major bases in Latin America and the Caribbean -- Guantanamo in Cuba, of course, Manta in Ecuador, Soto Cano in Honduras and several in Columbia, as well as a number of smaller installations, termed "lily pads," used for various military purposes, but often disguised as centers for drug interdiction.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations and former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ecuador, a petite young woman (40ish is young to us grannies, at any rate), spoke of Ecuador's refusal to renew its contract with the U.S. for its use of the military base at Manta. According to Ambassador Espinosa, when she was foreign minister she had three meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who applied tremendous pressure upon the government of Ecuador to sign on with the U.S. for another ten years, but Ecuador stuck by its guns -- or rather against the guns and said "No."

The Ambassador said she was hopeful that Barack Obama would make policy changes favorable to Latin America and the Caribbean that would preclude United States militarization and recognize the sovereignty of the countries within. Ecuador has written a new constitution articulating that it is a country of peace, and prohibits military bases for any purpose. It is the only country other than Japan to specify peace in its constitution, and she expressed a wish that the document would become a model for other nations.

Espinosa also revealed that there are now high-level meetings at the U.N. discussing preemptive war and the concept of protection by one nation for others. She urged us to pay attention to what's going on in the U.N. in those respects, and we sensed an optimism in her remarks that perhaps we can anticipate welcome strides forward.

Following the impressive Ambassador, we heard from Greg Grandin, professor of History at New York University and an award-winning author of several books, most recently Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (Metropolitan, 2006). Professor Grandin discussed the United States attempts to curb the growing democratization of Latin America by its imposition of military control. He declared that the Bush policy has been a "disaster" for Latin America, and cited, for example, how its giving resources and support to Columbia to militarize (the Columbia Plan), ostensibly to fight drug trafficking, has in actuality allowed the U.S. to further its manipulation of Columbia into its militaristic web. In his view, it has been a failure in its intended aim to fight drugs but has succeeded all too well in gaining U.S. military domination of the area. He warned that the U.S. is seeking to impose the Columbia Plan across Latin America and in Mexico.

Professor Grandin said that what really matters in stopping United States domination of our neighbors to the south and in the Caribbean is to repudiate preventive war and to recognize their sovereignty. Latin America, he ventured, will be a test case for how substantial the break from past policy will be under an Obama administration.

And, finally, the grannies were pleased to attend the words of our remarkable buddy, Army Colonel (retired) Ann Wright, renowned for resigning her diplomatic post the night before the United States invaded Iraq, and author of an important new book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience (2008). Col. Wright, a dedicated anti-war protester who has spent considerable time in jail for her patriotic efforts, spoke of her shock when she attempted to enter Canada recently and was forbidden entry. The authorities knew of her arrests, such information available only through FBI files, which are to itemize only serious offenders and definitely not Bush protesters. Col. Wright described the incident as "creepy" and warned that undoubtedly access into Mexico will be subject to the same illegal process. She advised us to urge President-Elect Obama to stop this subversion of our rights.

The Colonel referred to the Axis of Evil -- which, according to Bush, is composed of Iraq, North Korea and Iran. However, she reminded us of how the term was implicit earlier under the Reagan administration when the U.S. demonized the Cuban revolution, the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua and, that in Granada. She believes the new administration has the potential for a great presidency, but exhorted us to tell Obama about our opposition to the past and current United States' dangerous policies toward Latin America and the Caribbean.

There followed a most informative question and answer forum ending with the query, "What can we here in New York do about this urgent problem of U.S. militarization of our Latin American and Caribbean neighbors?" Ann Wright stated that our teach-in was a good first step, that educating people was vital. She encouraged participation in the upcoming protest at Ft. Benning against the School of the Americas. It was suggested that we entreat the authorities to bring the national guard home from Iraq, that we march with the Veterans for Peace in the Veterans Day parade. Most of all, we should target Congress. Some of our leading Democrat policymakers, as, for instance, Sen. Christopher Dodd, voted for the Columbia Plan. We must re-educate him and others.

The Granny Peace Brigade, for its part, will keep on keeping on with its teach-ins, its counter-recruitment actions and its various other activities toward its fundamental purpose of ending the Iraq war and preventing other preemptive invasions.

MY LATEST YOUTUBE

2008-10-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of my daughter impersonating Sarah Palin and singing a song I wrote। Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KPM8NdzEA

I ADMIT IT, SARAH PALIN MAKES ME NERVOUS

2008-09-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

by Joan Wile
"Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace"
Citadel Press -- May 2008

Yes, when I first heard the announcement that John McCain had picked Gov. Sarah Palin for his vice presidential nominee, I sunk into an anxious state of depression. I gleaned immediately that he had scored a political coup by copping the media spotlight Obama had enjoyed from his acceptance speech the night before. Then, I had visions of thousands of
Hillary supporters leaping on to Sarah's bandwagon now that there was somebody to represent Girl Power in the national election. "Take that, Obama supporters!" I heard them say in my alarming scenario.

I got calls from other Obama grannies in my group, Grandmothers Against the War, equally worried about McCain's cataclysmic bombshell announcement. I had a very unhappy couple of days as I imagined the defeat of the Democrats at the hands of this pretty young Hockey Mom. The only negative I could discern was when I heard her speak in her shrill, piping Valley Girl voice. This didn't comfort me much, though, as I am a singer, much more aware and concerned about vocal tones than most people.

But, then, as the revelations about Sarah started to roll out, I began to have a little hope. Would the Hillary legions support a woman who was anti-abortion to the extreme, even, of condemning it for victims of rape and incest? Hard to imagine. Next, we learned of her fidelity to the creationism theory. Would any Democrats go for that? Would Independents? By the very nature of the word "independent," it is hard to imagine that they would subscribe to a belief out of the dark ages.

And so much more. She fired a librarian who wouldn't ban books Sarah deemed bad. She didn't want sex education in the schools. The later news that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant was certainly an ironic comment on the questionable wisdom of that stance. She actually supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she felt enough political pressure to turn against it. She was a political pal of the indicted corrupt Sen. Stevens. She's a member of the NRA who loves to hunt -- a synonym, to my mind, for "kill."

Well, I won't go on and on with the long litany of her conservative sins. But, they have relieved me a little bit of my nervousness about her. I tell myself that surely the American women are not cajoled into voting for this person who holds positions and beliefs so contrary to what I assume most women outside the Bible Belt hold, who if elected with John McCain, would be so on the brink of being President.

We couldn't be that dumb, could we?

On the other hand, we elected George W. Bush to a second term!

GENERAL ELECTRIC TAKEOVER OF GRANNIES' PEACE PROTEST SITE

2008-08-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

by Joan Wile, Author,
"Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace"
(Citadel Press, May, 2008)

"All the perfumes in Arabia will not sweeten this little hand," spoke Lady Macbeth after manipulating her husband into murdering Duncan.

We can alter these immortal words to characterize General Electric's copping today, Aug. 26, of the Granny Peace Brigade's historic turf, the Times Square recruiting center, for its promotion of washing machines. We might say that "All the washing machines of GE cannot whitewash this corporate takeover of the grannies' protest site," dating back to October 17, 2005, when we were arrested and sent to jail following our attempt to enlist in the military.

We planned a demonstration there today to let the Democratic convention know that we want them to toughen up their platform concerning the war in Iraq and other peace issues. We made six-foot long faux knotty wood planks (made of foam mattresses cut in half) inscribed with our peace demands, which we carried from the recruiting center island to the NYS Democratic Party offices nearly a mile through midtown Manhattan. But, first, as is our custom, we held a press conference on "our" site. We were shocked to find a huge washing machine contraption occupying almost the entire concrete island, with lots of young Madison Avenue types hovering about. The head honcho pleaded with us not to hold our demonstration, but we remained firm. At one point, a couple of these promotion preppies nastily asked us how we could dare interfere with commerce. We asked them how they could dare interfere with our serious business of trying to save America's grandchildren's lives in Iraq.

So, there we were, legendary anti-war grannies standing next to one of America's biggest multinational giants, we trying to sell ending the occupation of Iraq NOW and they trying to sell yet another household appliance, undoubtedly to finance an infinite number of war machines and contracts.

Why did they choose this spot? We suspect it's because we, the grannies, made it so famous beginning when our arrest became a world-wide story overnight. We've held a number of colorful and unique demonstrations there since -- the March 2007 "Endless War Memorial," for instance, when for six days over 400 people, including a number of celebrities, read non-stop from dawn to nightfall the names of Iraqi and coalition dead in Iraq since the inception of our attack in 2003.

Another event outside the recruiting station was held on March 19, 2008, the date of the beginning of the 6th year of our occupation, when we held a Knit-In and knit stump socks there for amputee veterans. We are so well associated with the Times Square site that the American Friends Service Committee recently added it as the 15th in its Places of Conscience map, beginning in 1637. They explain in the map that they chose the island because of the grannies' act of nonviolent civil disobedience in 2007.

Today, our press conference featured famed civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, who successfully defended us at our six-day trial in Criminal Court; NYC Councilwoman Rosie Mendez's representative, Susan Kingsland; Vietnam vet member of Veterans for Peace, Chaplain Hugh Bruce; legendary actress-playwright, great-grandmother and one of the Times Square arrestees, Vinie Burrows; and songs performed by the Raging Grannies. We then marched on the "sidewalks of New York" to our destination on Park Ave. and 31st Street, where we held another demonstration with songs and speeches and laid our planks into an arrangement that did, indeed, resemble a platform.

We grannies have been trying to end this terrible occupation of Iraq for almost five years. We hope that today's action was our last in that regard, but we fear that it is not. Even if the Democrats get in, it is questionable if they have the courage and principles to do what we believe so strongly is the only right thing to do -- bring the troops home with no further delay and stay out of Iran. It is with great concern that we view the diminution of concern about our continued presence in Iraq by United States citizens. We, too, share an urgency about our failing economy, but we cannot, we will not, forget that our girls and boys in Iraq are still dying, at least 3 a week, and that untold numbers of Iraqis are, also. It still remains our highest priority.

NEW ANTI-WAR BOOK REVEALS THAT WARREN BEATTY'S/SHIRLEY MACLAINE'S FATHER WAS COMPLICIT IN AN ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENT EXPERIENCED BY AUTHOR AS A CHILD

2008-07-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

by Joan Wile, author,
Grandmothers Against the War: Getting off Our Fannies and Standing up for Peace"
published by Citadel Press, May 2008

It is interesting how children sometimes oppose their parents' political beliefs and convert to ones opposite them. A good case in point is discussed in my new book, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting off Our Fannies and Standing up for Peace" (Citadel Press, May 2).

In a brief bio about myself within the book's text, I describe how I was brutalized as a 9th grade student at a junior high school in Arlington, Virginia. I founded, wrote, produced, and raised funds for a new school newspaper by myself, as I could find no teachers to help me. I proudly distributed it one morning to the student body in their classrooms. Shockingly, at lunch I was pelted with wadded up copies of the paper and pieces of food as boys shouted anti-Semitic slurs at me -- "Dirty Kike," and so on.

Mortified, I ran and hid in the girls' bathroom until my mother came and rescued me. I didn't return to school for a couple of weeks.

A year later and now a high school student, I attended a party given by my local theatre company, in which I was a featured actress. The principal of the school where I had been traumatized, Ira Beatty, and his wife were there. I approached Mr. Beatty and asked him why I had never received faculty assistance or support in my enterprise of starting the school newspaper. He informed me that the Arlington County School Board had told him to "keep that Jew off the paper."

Apparently, he complied. Whether he instigated the incident in the lunch room or not, I'll never know. But, I wonder. How did those kids know I was part Jewish, when I hardly knew it myself?

I've often thought of this painful event when reading about or seeing Warren or Shirley on the screen and I marvel at the fact that they are such political Progressives, whom I admire very much. Warren, in particular, is a real hero of mine -- his brilliant film, "Bulworth," made mincemeat of the Bush administration and the Republicans' hypocrisy and assault on our liberties. It seems that the Beatty branches fell very far from the tree, at least ideologically.

By the way, the newspaper won a Virginia state prize the year following my establishing it.

Listen to my new YouTube song video, "Grandmama for Obama"

2008-05-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Joan Wile, Singer/ASCAP Songwriter and author of new book, "GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST THE WAR: GETTING OFF OUR FANNIES AND STANDING UP FOR PEACE," published by Citadel Press, has just made a video of her song, "GRANDMAMA FOR OBAMA," and posted it on YouTube.
She hopes it will assist in helping Obama to pick up the older white woman vote.

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwgpHq4cKC8

TRANSLATION OF HILLARY'S APOLOGY (IN RHYME)

2008-05-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

by Joan Wile, ASCAP songwriter, and author,
"Grandmothers Against the War: Getting off Our Fannies and Standing up for Peace,"
published April 29, 2008, by Citadel Press

IF I OFFENDED YOU, I APOLOGIZE
I DIDN'T MEAN WHAT YOU THINK I MEANT
AND IF BY CHANCE MY OPPONENT DIES
I 'LL DEFTLY HIDE MY MERRIMENT

DON'T TELL ME IT WAS JUST A FREUDIAN SLIP
MY SUBCONSCIUS MIND IS UNDER STRICT CONTROL
MY DEMON THOUGHTS DO NOT ESCAPE MY LIP
I MOSTLY KEEP THEM HIDDEN IN MY SOUL

CAN I HELP IT IF I HAVE AMBITION?
YES, I WANT TO BE THE PRESIDENT
SO WHAT IF THAT'S MY PERSONAL MISSION?
IT'S A MATTER OF ENTITLEMENT

AND FORGET ABOUT MY BEING VICE
THAT'S NOT WHY I'M IN THIS RACE
I DIDN'T IGNORE HIS BIMBOS AND PLAY NICE
JUST TO END IN SECOND PLACE

I WANT IT ALL, WITH BLINDED PASSION
AND IT'S MINE BY EVERY RIGHT
SO, LISTEN, YOU WOULD-BE ASSASSIN
JUST REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE WHITE

HILL AND BILL PILLOW TALK -- SCENE 5

2008-04-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

BILL AND HILL PILLOW TALK -- APRIL 27, 2008
by Joan Wile, author,
"Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies And Standing Up For Peace,"
published by Citadel Press

HILL: AHA! I beat that SOB. I've got him reeling since Pennslvania. He and his campaign people don't know what the hell to do. I'm gaining. I'm gaining.

BILL: Now, hold on, Hillary, you haven't gotten to the Oval Office yet. There are warning signs developing. Congressman Clyburn came out yesterday and trashed our, I mean, your campaign. You might lose the whole black vote. You can't win without them.

HILL: What do I care? At least I've destroyed that spoiler's image enough so that if he's nominated he'll lose the election. Then, it's a cinch for me in 2012.

BILL: You're not getting any younger, Hillary. You may not be up to it in four years when you'll be 64. You're already beginning to look a little ragged around the edges.

HILL: Hey, you pulled that age crap on me already with that dumb-ass remark about being sixty and forgetting things. It cost me some votes. I'm hailed for my energy, my ability to keep on fighting even though I'm sleep deprived and on the hustle 24-7. Lay off that, mister.

BILL: Well, I'm trying to give you a reality check. You're still behind in delegate count and popular vote. So, don't go counting your chickens.

HILL: What do you mean, I'm behind in popular vote? I've got Florida and Michigan to pull me ahead.

BILL: Excuse me, but they're not counting Florida and Michigan. You promised not to include them in your vote counts. Obama wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan.

HILL: Who cares? By hook or by crook, I'm going to get those votes counted, and I'm not going to allow a redo, either. I want them just the way they are -- with no opposition.

BILL: I'm telling you, they won't let you get away with that. And, you've got other problems. People don't LIKE you. The more you campaign, the more your likeability rating tanks. The super delegates pay attention to shit like that.

HILL: So what? You can twist all those arms for me, can't you, Bill? You've got plenty of goods on most of them. The bribes they gave you to push their legislation. The enormous questionable contributions to your Library. The crooked investment deals they've negotiated for you lately. They won't dare cross you.

BILL; Yeah? Well, he's got the supers crossing over to him in droves. Even your own fund raiser, what's his name, that spick, Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon, just switched to Obama. I think you'd better lay off some of the low blows you've been delivering.

HILL: Be serious. That's the only way I can beat him. I'll get as low as I have to. If you think I'm going to let this presidency slip away, you're nuts. He stole it from me. It was mine! You promised it to me if I stuck with you when you got caught fooling around with that fat bimbo. I want it! I'll get it, I don't care what I have to do!

BILL: Hillary, get a hold of yourself. You're going ballistic. You'll hurt your image if word of these tantrums gets out. Why don't you take a snort of cocaine? It always calms you down.

HILL: I used it up. Contact our connection, that Columbian friend of yours -- the one with the mining company. Now, listen, I want you to stop criticizing me. Let's talk about YOU. You're certainly not helping any by cursing when the microphone can pick it up like it did after your interview with that reporter the other day. Talk about dwindling reputations. You've been positively TORPEDOING yours lately. And, another thing. I'd like to know why George asked me that question about Bosnia at the last debate. I thought you took care of him. He was just supposed to get on OBAMA's case. He only asked three of the questions you paid him to ask. What happened to the fourth one -- the one asking him about his mother being an atheist? That was supposed to be the killer.

BILL: I decided not to go there. That's shaky ground. You've blathered on so much about your faith, I don't want to risk you're being exposed as a phony.

HILL: I can lie about anything I want to. This is politics.

BILL: I can't argue with that, that's for sure.

HILL: OK, now go back to your bedroom. I've got to think up my next attack. Maybe I'll pull out the race card all the way and tell Indiana he's a member of the Black Panthers.

BILL: Good one. And, why don't you look over those guidelines again that Karl Rove sent you? Well, g'night.

HILL: (ignoring him -- talking to self) Should I say he's a Black Panther or should I say he's a closet gay? Maybe I'll say he's a secret agent for the Castros....I'll get him....I'll get him. I MUST be President. Nobody else but me is entitled to be.

CAN GRANDMOTHERS STOP WAR?

2008-04-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the first review of my book, GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST THE WAR; GETTING OFF OUR FANNIES AND STANDING UP FOR PEACE, published by Citadel Press, available April 29 in book stores or online at amazon.com or bn.com.
Can Grandmothers End Wars?
David Swanson -- from democrats.com blog --Here is the perfect Mother's Day gift for your mother, your mother in law, your grandmothers, and in fact for the men in their lives as well - who ought to be shamed into action। Joan Wile has published a book called "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace." As far as I know, this is her first book. It is very much an account of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. If more people did the same, we would put an end to war.Of course, the people in this book are extraordinary, but everyone is, and the actions that Wile recounts this group of grandmothers having taken are actions she describes as fun and exciting. If more people understood that and acted on it, we would put an end to war.These grandmothers in New York City hold a weekly vigil against the occupation of Iraq. And they mean it. They are protesting the current proposal by the Democrats to "oppose" the occupation by throwing another $178 billion at it. Quick! Quick! Can somebody "oppose" me like that?The grannies don't just vigil. They generate significant discussion of peace in the media through actions that have included attempting to get themselves recruited at the Times Square military recruiting office. They sat down in front, were arrested, went to trial, put the war itself on trial, and were acquitted, generating more attention all the while.They've traveled abroad, networking with peace activists, and spreading awareness of the depth of American opposition to our government's crimes.They've bird-dogged John McCain and Hillary Clinton. And Clinton recently gave peace activists the credit for her defeat.They've gone to Washington and lobbied for peace. They've performed hilarious and biting song and dance routines. They've inspired and collaborated with grannies around the country and others working for peace. They've knitted stump-socks in rocking chairs in front of the Veterans Administration. If more people took similar actions, we would put an end to war and have more fun at the same time.In case you did ever doubt that a handful of people can make a difference, that one person can make a difference: READ THIS BOOK. Then go forth and do likewise. And order a copy now for every Mother's Day present you'll need.Learn more at http://www.grandmothersagainstthewar.org (Source Link)

READ MY NEW BOOK!

2008-04-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST THE WAR: Getting Off Our Fannies And Standing Up For Peace
Author: Joan Wile
Foreword: Malachy McCourt
Pub. Date: April 29, 2008
Publisher: Citadel Press
Pre-order from amazon.com or bn.com

First signing: May 5 at Barnes & Noble 82nd and Broadway, Manhattan

One Person CAN Make A Difference!

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night thinking, "I've got to DO something," but felt like you were just one person who couldn’t bring about change? Well, Joan Wile woke up one night thinking she had to do something about the war in Iraq.

Little did she know how far she would go…

Joan founded Grandmothers Against the War in 2003. In this outspoken memoir, she tells the amazing story of the courageous, spunky women who stood up for their beliefs and refused to back down. From staging a protest in Times Square and getting thrown in jail, to marching to Washington DC, to speaking and protesting abroad, these activists are sure to inspire you with their hope and determination against all odds.

It’s never too late to change your life—and take action!

Joan Wile is the founder of Grandmothers Against the War and has been devoted to it since 2003. She is also an award-winning singer/songwriter with an extensive background in recording studios and cabarets. She has written six musicals, four of which were produced off and off-off Broadway. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, www.commondreams.com, www.michaelmoore.com, Opednews.com, and many others. She attended the University of Chicago, and is the mother of two children, and grandmother of five. Visit her at www.grandmothersagainstthewar.org. or her blog, www.joanwile.blogspot.com. Or, listen to her granny anti-war song on youtube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVAsHtitW0.

AN OLDER WHITE WOMAN'S ANGER WITH HILLARY

2008-03-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

AN OLDER WHITE WOMAN'S ANGER WITH HILLARY

by Joan Wile, Founder, Grandmothers Against the War
and author, GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST THE WAR: Getting Off Our Fannies And Standing Up For Peace," to be published by Citadel Press April 29, 2008

I have many reasons for being angry with Hillary Clinton, but one outweighs the others.

I don't like the fact that she is a hawk who morphed into a dove only because she realized it would hurt her campaign if she were perceived as being a supporter of the war in Iraq. I don't like the nasty way she trashes Obama. I don't like her transparent opportunism and heedless ambition. I don't like the thought of a co-presidency with Bill, who is not the person I thought him to be.

But, what I can't stomach most of all is the fact that after almost 400 years since slavery and the continuing racism that has permeated American life and so eaten away at our democracy, she is obstructing the potential to transcend that racism, finally, by electing a black president.

She can insist that her candidacy is breaking the glass ceiling for women, but electing a female president is not as earthshaking a precedent as having a black chief of state would be. Women are not discriminated against the way black people are. They are not called names. They are not ghettoized. They are not socially shunned in many places. Unless, of course, they are black. There is a world of difference between the discrimination accorded women and that accorded African Americans. Barack Obama's presidency would go a long, long way to changing that ugly fact of our culture.

This is what enrages me so. If she were obviously the better candidate, I would not feel this way. But, she isn't. In fact, I suspect she isn't equal to Obama when it comes to "crossing the commander in chief threshold." Why, oh why, then, does she continue this, yes, selfish quest and thereby deny us the most healing event, perhaps, in our history?

So, Hillary, I'm calling on you to put aside your out-sized ambition, your sense of entitlement, so that the United States will have this wonderful opportunity to at long last cross the racial divide in our country and, hopefully, leave it behind forever. Wouldn't that be magnificent, and wouldn't its realization compensate you for your lost dream?

Come on, girl, give it up! Let freedom ring!

AMERICAN GRANNIES IN 20 CITIES CREATIVELY PROTEST ON MARCH 19; SOME ARRESTED

2008-03-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN GRANNIES EXPRESS OUTRAGE AFTER 5 YEARS OF WAR;
Grandmothers in 20 Cities Protest Occupation; Some Get Arrested

With knitting needles, with dirty linen clotheslines, many with songs, and some with acts of civil disobedience, grandmother groups across the United States in at least 20 cities expressed their frustration, their deep rage at the continued occupation of Iraq. This was the granny was of commemorating the end of five years since the bombing of Iraq on March 19, 2003.

The coordinated granny actions, initiated by the Granny Peace Brigade in New York City, were the latest ones demonstrating once again that the grandmothers of America have been in the forefront of the peace movement since Day One of the U.S. catastrophic invasion of a sovereign nation.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of the protests was that carried out in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 17, where 10 members of the Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace were arrested and jailed for 10 hours when they attempted to enlist in the military at a recruiting center. Said Doris Benit, 80, one of the arrestees: "We believe our young people were sent to Iraq on a web of lies and deceit. We believe they are being used as cannon fodder in an illegal and unjustified war against a nation which posed no threat to us.”

Very whimsical Knit-Ins for Peace were held in New York City, Washington DC, Pittsburgh PA, and other cities. They were outdoor events which involved grandmothers knitting stump socks for amputee veterans. The New York Granny Peace Brigade valiantly knit in the rain for about two hours outside the Times Square recruiting center where they had been arrested and carted off to jail in 2005 for attempting to enlist, while calling out the numbers of dead and wounded from each state. The oldest granny, and perhaps the most vociferously protesting one there, was 93-year-old Marie Runyon. Part of the New York group, along with some members of the Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia and Maryland women, went to Washington, where they knit in rocking chairs outside the Veterans Administration, and when they had completed knitting a number of the stump covers, had a Veteran for Peace color guard hand them over to a VA official. Fifteen Pittsburgh grannies, the oldest of which is 84, participated in their Knit-In at a recruiting station, as pictured below.

(Pittsburgh grandmothers knitting at a local recruiting center March 19, 2008; photo by Bonnie Fortune)

Another creative demonstration was that in Philadelphia, where the grannies hung a laundry line at City Hall and hung the dirty linen of the Bush administration on it -- each item of clothing inscribed with a plea to correct the many wrongs of the Government The Philly grannies, like most of the other granny groups, sang anti-war songs during their protests.
(some of the dirty linen hung at City Hall in Philadelphia PA March 19, 2008.
photo by Cathy Clemens)

In Orange County, NY, a group of grandmas met with State University students on campus in Middletown, and urged them to participate in the anti-war movement. In spite of pouring rain, there was a good turnout and the students were surprisingly receptive. The older women had a sense that young people are beginning to take more action in the struggle to end the war.

150 people stood on four corners in Sarasota, Florida. Eight stalwart grandmothers in Boston held a vigil on Boston Common in a drenching downpour. Other groups that participated were in Spokane; Minneapolis; Detroit; Albany NY; Monkato MN; San Francisco; Montpelier VT; San Jose CA; Bloomington IND; Portland, Maine; St. Augustine FL, and Denver.

(Raging Grannies in Tucson AZ hold Knit-In for Peace on March 19, 2008)

Amazingly, a lot of the granny protests got wide media coverage in their areas. This represents a kind of breakthrough, as it has been difficult to get publicity for the many grandmother anti-war activities conducted over the last five years since the war was launched..

At least two grandmothers got arrested when a group of protesters prevented entrance to the IRS in Washington DC -- Beverly Rice of the New York Granny Peace Brigade and Sue Gracey of the Boston Raging grannies। Three other Granny Peace Brigade members -- Ann Shirazi, Jenn Heinz and Joan Pleune, were arrested in DC when they marched on the Capital.

When grandmothers are willing to risk arrest and jail, as so many of us old ladies do on a regular basis these days, you know this war is despised and must be ended. We grannies are not getting any younger and our energy is not what it was in our earlier days -- but we keep on keeping on knowing we will not be here forever and earnestly hoping that we are inspiring other and younger people to carry on our urgent quest when we no longer can.

HILL AND BILL PILLOW TALK -- AFTER HER CINCINATTI TEMPER TANTRUM

2008-02-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

BILL: Now, you've REALLY blown it, Hillary. I said to CHALLENGE him about those leaflets, not have a hissy fit. You came on like the Wicked Witch of the North. Your face was as red as your jacket. And, why'd you have to dis him so viciously right after that love fest in Texas? You seemed positively schizo!

HILL: That wasn't MY idea to suck up to Obama in the debate. That was Mark Penn's cockamamie plan. He said it would make me look sympathetic. That slick upstart, Obama, is stealing what should rightfully be mine. I'm at the end of my rope. I don't know what to do. And, YOU certainly haven't helped any.

BILL: Oh, now it's MY fault, huh? Come on, Hillary. Stop looking for other people to blame. Face it, you're a lousy campaigner. All detail smarts but no retail smarts. All wonk, but no conk. You can't deliver that knock-out punch.

HILL: (shouting shrilly) I WANT TO BE PRESIDENT, DAMNIT. I DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT! He can't do this to me. There's got to be SOMETHING I can do.

BILL: Have your people scoured the records to see if he ever had some hanky-panky? Some little back-room tryst?

HILL: Don't you think if there was anything we could find, we'd have come out with it by now? Besides, it would only remind people of how you made out with that fat little bimbo. It's hard enough to keep bragging about your Presidency without pushing THAT button.

BILL: Well, keep accusing him of plagiarism.

HILL: How can I do that when I quoted YOU in that riff I gave at the end about my troubles being nothing compared to most Americans? Talk about plagiarism.

BILL: Then, Hillary, you're just going to have to cope with the truth -- you might not be President. Learn to live with it.

HILL: No, no, don't even think such a thing. I HAVE to be President. Go away. I don't want to hear what you're saying. And, I know that in your heart you don't really WANT me to be President. That's why you've been screwing up my campaign. You wouldn't be able to take being subordinate to me. (throws pillow at him)

BILL: Hillary, get a grip on yourself. Remember, you have to be controlled and disciplined. Think of your image.

HILL: (throws another pillow at him, throws herself on the floor and has a two-year-old-child like temper tantrum, flailing her legs and arms) I DON'T CARE, I WANT TO BE PRESIDENT! I WANT TO BE PRESIDENT. (keeps screaming until BILL throws a glass of cold water on her -- then she sputters to quiet whimpering)

BILL: That's better. Here....take a hit of cocaine. It always calms you down.
(gives her a sniff, while singing)
FORGET YOUR TROUBLES AND JUST GET HAPPY
YOU BETTER CHASE ALL YOUR CARES AWAY
SHOUT HALLELUJAH, COME ON GET HAPPY...

(END)

2008-02-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

Inasmuch as I am a singer-songwriter with many credits, I have written a number of songs relevant to our group since I founded Grandmothers Against the War in 2003, and have performed them in theatres, cabarets, churches, galas, peace meetings, and so on throughout the United States and also in Europe. I thought you'd enjoy hearing two of them on the following YOUTUBE site. The songs are: "Grannies, Let's Unite" and "I've Got to Take Back My Country," performed by me with two pro singers, Rosie Jun and Helen मिल्स, in our trio, THE NEW YORK GRANNY CHICKS. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVAsHtitW0

HILL AND BILL PILLLOW TALK -- scene 3

2008-02-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

HILL: Can't you keep that big mouth of yours shut and stick to the script? Why on earth did you have to get into a fight with that Obama heckler in Ohio?
Do we have to hog-tie you?

BILL: If you think I'm gonna let somebody insult ME, the President of the United States, you're even crazier than I thought.

HILL: But you're NOT President any more. Your job now is to help ME become President.

BILL: Don't give me that crap, Hillary, I'll do what I want. The only reason you're running for President is because you're my wife, nothing more. Do you think you'd have ever had a serious possibility of running for office on your own? Get real!

HILL: What are you talking about, you egomaniac? I've had 35 years of experience.

BILL: Which experience are you talking about -- when you worked for multi-national corporations in that Arkansas law firm? Or maybe you mean when you were screaming at me when I was Governor about how much you hated living in Arkansas. Or sulking in the White House because you had to organize dinner parties. Some experience.

HILL: You never would have become president if I hadn't agreed to stay with you when the press got wind of your affair with that Flowers bimbo. So, you owe me big-time, Mister. And that means you do what I tell you to do. And I'm telling you to stop getting off-message. You're really screwing things up for me. You're making this about YOUR presidency, not what I'll do in MINE. And, people are beginning to worry about what you'll do when I'm in the White House. They think you'll take over.

BILL: You don't think you'll have a clue what to do on your own, do you? Do you think I'm going to sit there and plan state dinner party menus? No way. I'll be looking over your shoulder every step of the way and keeping you out of trouble.

HILL: Oh, yeah? You'll be too busy scoping out the interns to pay attention to what I do, just like when you threw away your presidency because you couldn't keep your hands off the help. And, another thing, you've got to get a grip on yourself when you're campaigning for me. That fight you got into with the pro-life person was very damaging to my image. I need as many pro-lifers to vote for me as I can get. You watch your mouth, bubba.

BILL: You control freak!

HILL; You tin Romeo!

BILL: Listen to the Ice Queen!

They throw pillows at each other, get into a physical tussle (not a romantic one).

CONTRARY TO CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, OLDER WOMEN ARE FLOCKING TO OBAMA

2008-02-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

joanwile263@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLDER WOMEN ARE FOR OBAMA

A group of well over 150 older women all across the United States organized within the last 36 hours to prepare and sign a statement to counteract the prevailing media spin that Older Women are for Hillary. More names are flooding in by the hour. Here is our statement and the names of those who are currently signed on.

Statement of Older Women for Obama

Why does the media repeat the mantra "older women are for Hillary?" It's not true. We have found each other informally, and found that, far from being alone among our friends, we are many, we are legion. We have discovered one friend after another who has come to the same conclusions. These are a few of many we share: - Senator Obama's intellect is outstanding. His broad and deep grasp of the difficult national and international issues of our day is remarkable. - He has nearly two decades of wide, hands-on, personal experience with difficult major city, state, and national issues. - He has been a subtle and successful legislative strategist.- We have noted that he has won the endorsement of people respected all over the world for their knowledge, experience, and character, such as George Soros and Paul Volcker. - We have seen that Senator Obama had the wisdom to see a war in Iraq for what it would be. Worse than a mistake, it would be a blunder. - Last on this wildly incomplete list, we have been impressed by his personal character. He has lived his beliefs. This week, we started an email tree to see how many friends and friends of friends were of our thinking. Within thirty-six hours, more than a hundred signed on to our statement endorsing Barack Obama, and names are coming in every hour from all over the country: cities, the countryside, the suburbs. These are older white collar, blue collar, pink collar women. We include politicians, television talk show hosts, professors, nurses, women in finance, businesswomen, authors, journalists, telecom workers -- even a cattle rancher. We are not to be pigeonholed by the pundits or the pollsters. All we have in common is more than forty years on this earth (which we share with billions of other people), our gender (which we share with fully half the human race), and our clear conviction that Barack Obama is the best person to be the next president of our United States.

Helen Hill Updike, Older Women for Obama, 2/13/08
owobama@gmail.com

SIGNATURES -- (partial list--many more available upon request)
Julia Widdowson, Millbrook, NY, grass fed cattle rancher
Martha Cornish, Atlanta GA, Photographer
Cornelia Calhoun, San Francisco, retired biologist
Panchita Wadley-Bailey, Montpelier VT, MA, M.Ed
Rosemary Patton, San Francisco
Helen Updike, New York, wealth manager
Louise de Vries, Larkspur, CA, retired bookkeeper
Patty Langdon - Hamden,CT - retired Research Administrator/Antiques Dealer>Cynthia H. Flagg - Tucson,AZ - retired Clinical Social Worker
Carolyn Grave - Guilford, CT - ArtistAlison Steadman - Washington, D.C. - retired LibrarianHarriet Ball - Alexandria, VA. - Clinical Social WorkerRives Carroll - Washington, D.C. - EducatorJenifer Neils - Cleveland, OH - Professor of Art History & ArchaeologyAnna Lawson - Roanoke, VA. - retired AnthropologistAnne Lunt - Temple, NH. - EditorNan Montgomery - Bethesda MD. - ArtistMary Severson - Carmel Valley, CA - retiredAmanda Madar - Cleveland, OH. - retired ESL Teacher
Dorothy Wexler - Washington, DC. - retiredJacqueline Fesler - Lexington, MA - Technical Writer/EditorBetty Arbuckle - Washington, D.C. - Financial ServicesShirley Lindenbaum, New York, anthropologist
Bette McDevitt, Pittsburgh PA, peace activist
Miriam Poser, New York City, retired
Carol Greenberg - Brattleboro, VT - Antiquarian BooksellerGreta Walker, New York City, real estate
Robin A. Samuels. New York City, Educator
Merle Geline Rubine, NYC
Arlene Ellner, New York City, Peace Activist
Tanya Laurer, Chester NY, Artist
Mary Rossabi, Brooklyn, NYC, retired teacher
Mary Geissman, New York City, retired financial manager for international non-profit
Virginia Davies, New York City, Lawyer
Naomi F. Chase, New York City
Ruth S. Meyers, New York City, psychoanalyst
Elaine Ford, Harpswell, Maine, Professor Emerita
Betty "Coqui" Brassell -- New York City, retired telephone operator, peace activist
Linda Saisselin, LCSW, Greenwich Village, New York City, psychotherapist
Hazel M. McFerson, Ph.D, Fairfax VA, Associate Professor of int'l studies
Sarilee Janger, Castro Valley CA, Retired
Roz Boyd, New York City, retired science librarian
Joan Wile, New York City, peace activist and author
Marie Runyon, New York City, former NYS Assemblywoman
Diane Dreyfus, Baltimore, architect
Ronnie Eldridge, New York City, former NYC Councilwoman, now TV talk show hostess
Madelon Holder, New York City, Occupation Therapy Assistant
Deborah May, Bronx, New York, HIV/AIDS Educator
Barbara Walker, Staten Island NY, retired United Nations educator
Rosalyn Fassett, Warwick NY, artist and Professor of art history
Marianne Novy, Pittsburgh PA, Professor
Edith Bell, Pittsburgh PA, retired
Phyllis Behar, New York City, retired businesswoman
Florence Hepner, New York City, retired exec. assistant for an int'l non-profit
Beverly Rice, New York City, retired nurse and currently peace activist
Linda Voorsanger, Brooklyn NY, retired college instructor
Roberta Semer, New York City, consultant
Hilda Meltzer, New York City, retired assertiveness trainer
Susie Himelhoch, Ketering OH, campaign manager for United Way of Greater Dayton Area
Theresea Girouard - Jefferson, NHPatty Mould -Scarborough, ME - Government Relations Professor, retiredMolly R. Martin - Marlboro, VT - retired
Lucy Adams, New YorkMary McCain, Washington, D.C.
Edith Hill Updike, Long Island, University lecturerTheresa Swenson, Long Island JournalistAnnie Blatchey, Long Island, JournalistJane Schneider, New York, retired professor, New York
Mary S. Moffroid, Vermont, Professor Emeritus Frances Fox-Piven, New York, Distinguished ProfessorEvelyn Fox Keller, Cambridge, MassachusettsBobby Cohen, New York, Literary agent, author Barbara Sacks, New YorkMicki Stickford, New YorkLisa Adams -Washington, D.C.- Interior Design/Professor of Interior Design>Linda Levine - NYC - Anthropologist/Teacher-Educator>
Peggy Robin - Washington, D.C. - WriterJoan Chapin Smith - Cambridge, MA - Clinical Social WorkerKatharine Johnson Kahn - NYC - PsychotherapistCarol Greenberg - Brattleboro, VT - Antiquarian BooksellerWendy Innis - Brattleboro, VT
Marcia Spencer - Brattleboro, VT - DesignerPhyllis Komintz - Weston, MA - retired
Susan Train - Paris, France - JournalistNina de Voogd - Lectoure, France - TranslatorPeggy Fleming - Washington, D.C. - PhotographerMiki Clements Collier - Temple, NH - Horse Show Judge/Riding InstructorConnie Kelly - Temple, NH - retiredAnne Impellezeri, New York,Kathleen Ladd Ward - Hingham, MA - Art Historian/WriterJean Thibodeau -Temple, NH - Legal SecretaryLinda Claff - Sharon, NH - Innkeeper
Annelise Brand, Washington DC, retired
Amy Little, New Paltz NY, political consultant
Joan Cadette; retired teacher; Millbrook, NYJulia Widdowson, Millbrook, NY, grass fed cattle rancherDagni B. Senzel, New York, NY, landscape designer Madeleine Swain, New York, NY, leadership consultant
Diane Schor, New York CityGerda Meller, Miami, Florida Connie Colman, Warren, Vermont, Home Health AdministratorBarbara Nagy, Torrance, California Lucy Robinson, Amherst, MA, actorLouise Caldwell, St.Louis, MO, educatorKaura B. Brines, Waitsfield,Vermont, teacher

The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. AOL Music takes you there

OLDER WOMEN FOR OBAMA, NOT FOR HILLARY

2008-02-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

OLDER WOMEN FOR OBAMA, NOT FOR HILLARY
by Joan Wile, Founder, Grandmothers Against the War, and author
"Grandmothers Against the War: Getting off Our Fannies and Standing up for Peace,"
to be published by Citadel Press, April 29, 2008

I'm getting a bit ticked off with all the pundits and polling reports that claim that older women are for Hillary. In my circles, this just isn't true. I can't speak officially for my two organizations, Grandmothers Against the War, and Granny Peace Brigade, because of financing and ethical rules, but I can certainly speak for many individual grandmothers of my acquaintance.

Peace grannies, who have been in the vanguard of the anti-war movement since before Shock and Awe shocked us to our very core with horror, have been consistently opposing Hillary since before the resolution giving Bush authority to start preemptive war was announced. At first, we tried through letters and petitions to get her agreement NOT to vote for the resolution -- I, for instance, was part of a MoveOn team of people who visited with her New York City staff to urge her to oppose the resolution -- but once that failed, we grannies began a number of protests aimed at her, along with Code Pink and others. Many times, we held vigils outside her Third Avenue offices. Many times, we bird dogged her at her fund raisers -- so many of them held here in Manhattan where the big, big money resides.

We have been so angered by her. It wasn't enough that she supported that damned Resolution, she has continually advocated more troops in Iraq. That is, until it became clear to her that such a stance would hurt her Presidential ambitions....very late in the game, it must be said. Then, and only then, did she claim to be opposed to the occupation of Iraq. And, never once has she admitted to making a mistake. She insists that the intelligence was faulty and that it was the correct decision given that intelligence. Excuse me, why is it we old ladies (and so many millions of other people) could see this war would lead only to disaster but she, with all her privileged information, couldn't (or, more to the point, wouldn't?)

Obama had it so right when he deftly punctured the myth she propagates that she is uniquely qualified to be President on "Day One" because of her "35 years of experience" when he said in their L.A. debate, "It isn't enough to have experience on Day One, you have to be RIGHT on Day One." Amen.

And, now that we're on the subject of experience, and specifically her claimed 35 years of experience, never have I heard such blatant false propagandizing in my 76 years of existence. I'm no whiz at mathematics, but even I can add 2 and 2, and I fail to see how a few years in law school, plus some years as a corporate lawyer, many years as the wife of an Arkansas governor and 8 years as the wife (and mostly a disgruntled one) of the President add up to 35 years of preparation for the Presidency. I count 4 years as a Senator and 2 as a part-time Senator while campaigning to reoccupy the White House as the relevant training. That adds up to 4 and 2 part-time years of experience, I believe, unless my arithmetic is out of whack.

On the other hand, I count Obama's approximately 12 years as a community organizer in a large city, his 7 years as a state legislator and his 2 years as a U.S. Senator as somewhere in the vicinity of 21 years of relevant experience to be President. Quite a no-brainer, isn't it?.

I'm thoroughly convinced, therefore, that he will be ready on Day One, and so are many, many other old broads like me. I'm in touch with peace grandmothers all across the nation and I have a pretty sound grasp of where they stand with respect to the candidates. I can authoritatively attest to the fact that there is an enormous pool of un-surveyed older women who enthusiastically support Obama. Not only do we support him, but we will be sorely antagonized if Hillary Hawk is allowed to make her nest in the Oval Office.

HILL AND BILL PILLOW TALK -- SCENE 2

2008-02-03T12:32:00.000-08:00

HILL AND BILL PILLOW TALK -- SCENE 2
by Joan Wile, Founder, Grandmothers Against the War
and Author, "Grandmothers Against the War; Getting off Our Fannies and Standing up for Peace," to be published by Citadel Press, April 29, 2008

HILL: I'm glad you toned down your attacks on Obama a little, but how the hell could you lose Kennedy?

BILL; That old double crossing windbag? And after all the cozying up we did with him sailing on his yacht until I puked.

HILL; You're supposed to be the master politician, so how come you let the big one get away like that?

BILL: Don't have a hissy fit. I got even with him the other day when I said that he voted for the No Child Left Behind bill that Bush sponsored. That'll fix his wagon.

HILL: You idiot!! I voted for it, too. Just wait until the pundits get hold of THAT one. I can just see Maureen Dowd's next column.

BILL: Well, you're making your share of goofs, too. That gobbleygook you spouted in the LA debate about why you voted for authorizing Bush to attack Iraq was an embarrassment! Obama really one-upped you on that one. Why don't you LISTEN to me? I told you years ago to say it was a mistake and apologize and get it over with. But, you can't admit to making mistakes. It drives me crazy.

HILL: That's nothing compared to your relationship with that Canadian mining millionaire. The one who donated $31 million to your Library. The one you helped make a deal with the Kazakhstan mining company. It's all over the papers now. I BEGGED you not to pal around with that guy. I have a hard enough time keeping the press off my tail about our donations from drug companies and PACs.

BILL: If you think I'm going to pass up 31 million bucks just so you can compete with me and become President, you're nuts.

HILL: Aha!! I knew you subconsciously wanted me to lose. You can't STAND to let me steal your thunder. And, you know damned well that I won't screw up like you did. You just couldn't keep your pants zipped, could you?

BILL: I was horny, for Christ's sake. Who wouldn't be with a cold fish for a wife like you? But, there's one thing you can't top me at, sister. They LOVED me, and they still do. You're lucky if they even like you, much less love you. You just don't have it. You're too stern, too icy. Let's face it, no magnetism, lady. I don't care how loudly you laugh, you just don't make it in the personality department.

HILL: Well, that's not our biggest problem. We've got to silence all the talk of a co-presidency.

BILL: So, what do you think I'm going to do if you're President? Make up menus for state dinners? You'd better believe it will be a co-presidency. That was our deal. I campaign for you and I'll run things on the sly.

HILL: You S.O.B. I'M going to make the decisions.

BILL: What? And run the country into the ground? NO WAY!

HILL: You're not going to tell me what to do. Go off to Africa or someplace and let ME handle things. (THROWS PILLOW AT HIM.)

BILL: You don't really want me to leave you alone there, do you? You know you can't cut it. (THROWS PILLOW BACK)

They start to push each other and fall down on the ground tussling.

Joan Wile - Old but Cool

2008-01-29T09:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a little playlet I wrote right after Obama trounced Hillary in South Carolina. Enjoy!

BILL AND HILL PILLOW TALK POST SOUTH CAROLINA ELECTION

by Joan Wile, Founder-Director, Grandmothers Against the War, and author,
"Grandmothers Against the War: Getting off Our Fannies and Standing up
for Peace," to be published by Citadel Press, April 29, 2008

HILL: NOW look what you've done! I TOLD you to lay off Obama. I KNEW it would backfire.

BILL: He said Reagan was transformative and I wasn't! Do you think I'd let him get away with that? And he'd take away my image as the first Black President.

HILL: This campaign isn't about YOU, Bill, it's MY turn.

BILL: Don't give me that crap. There'd BE no you without me. Do you think you could possibly ever have dreamed of being a senator, let alone PRESIDENT, without my popularity? This campaign LOOKS like it's about you on the surface, but we all know it's really about ME. Suck it up!

HILL: Now, just hold on there, buster. If it hadn't been for ME, you'd never have BEEN President in the first place. If I'd gone ahead and left you when I found out about Jennifer Flowers and all the others, how far do you think you'd have gotten? Remember the deal you begged me to agree to? You said if I'd play along and deny, deny, you'd set it up for me to run for the Senate someday. Then when you got caught with that fat little whore, you promised me the Presidency if I'd stick around. There'd be no YOU without ME, and don't you forget it. So, you'd better shut up and let me call the shots from now on.

BILL: Let YOU call the shots along with that gang of sycophant idiots around you? Are you serious? Do you know how hard it was for me to figure out a strategy to get you out from under your vote for the Iraq war? Do you have any idea how I sweated to position you as a dove, not the hawk you've been since Bush started his garbage about WMDs in Iraq?

HILL: What was I supposed to do -- stand on principle and risk killing my good ratings? My polls showed that the American people were in FAVOR of bombing Iraq.

BILL: And, you didn't listen to me when I told you to forget about that ridiculous resolution to ban flag burning. What the hell were you thinking? You knew there hasn't been a public flag burning for years, and you're going to be ridiculed about it for a long time. Don't you think people were wondering why you came up with that in the middle of a war where our troops were dying every single day?

HILL: Well, I had to do SOMEthing to appeal to the neocons. I need their votes and I couldn't think of anything else.

BILL: That's right, you COULDN'T. You listen to ME from now on and you won't come up with limp ideas like that.

HILL: i don't care, you've got to stop going around half-cocked like that. I insist that you tone down the rhetoric. And, another thing. I think you're ambivalent about my winning the Presidency, and that's why you're screwing up so much. You WANT me to win so that you can get back in the White House, but you want me to LOSE because you can't stand the thought of me being President and stealing your spotlight.

BILL: That's a load of B.S. I want you to be President ...... as long as you let me pull the strings. You know you haven't a clue on your own. And, remember -- you'll push for a reversal of the two-term limit or I'll leak the truth about Whitewater.

HILL: If you think I'm going to have a co-presidency, forget it. I'm going to do it alone. You can just attend to the dinners and the decorating. I was stuck doing that stuff ever since you were Governor. Now, see how YOU like it.

BILL: Oh, yeah? We'll see how far you get on your own. Maybe I'll just walk out before the Inauguration.

HILL: DON'T YOU DARE! (throws pillow at him.)

BILL: SHREW! (throws pillow back.)

HILL: HAS-BEEN! (pushes him. They tussle, both winding up on the floor.)

END OF SCENE