Barack's speech in Germany, was a message for the 21st Century and for the survival of the Planet -- of Earth.

What if we started to view Peace not as the absence of War, not as its anemic and lethargic shadow, but as the equal and opposite of War?  What would it look like to mobilize for Peace, train for Peace, and have intelligence for Peace - to Go to Peace? We tend to posit Peace not as an active, creative, lively project, but rather as a non-place where we hope our dead will rest.  Can we redefine Peace not as the limbo, the temporary quiet, of a truce, but rather as truly constructive engagement that requires risks and intelligence and strategy?  Can we convince our men, still charged with their mammalian task of protection, that the best way to protect us all is to cleverly engage in Peace?  

Yes, I am not kidding.  A few days ago McCain dropped a whopper: "I know how to win wars"  Well, it's about to get topped.   Remember a few days ago when it was reported that the NY Times rejected McCain's Iraq editorial in essence because it consisted of little more than attacks on Obama and very little about McCain's OWN vision for Iraq?

That really gets to the essence of McCain's problem in a nutshell: his entire campaign is based on slamming Obama, with a few minor policy ideas, and essentially no vision for what a McCain presidency would look like.

Case in point, take last night's interview on ABC News.  Watch his response to a question about the Israeli/Palestinian issue and how he would resolve it:

The Dhammapada teaches

Conquer the angry man by love.
Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness.
Conquer the miser with generosity.
Conquer the liar with truth.

While most of us understand the logic of this approach in theory, it far too rarely spills over into practice.

John McCain said today (Tuesday July 22, 2008) that most of his paid campaign workers were ex-cons on work release.  

This is not true: he was just joking (in response to a statement by a local supporter who was disappointed that the paid staffers weren't doing much for the campaign.)  His staffers are in fact the usual mixture of college kids and older true believers.

That was not the only thing he said which was totally untrue.  He also said that we are winning the war in Iraq, that the "surge" had been a success, and that Iraqis in Basra and Kirkuk were already leading normal lives.

In some ways, much of Kathy Kelly's adult life has been a walk against war. So it was completely in character for her to be walking through Milwaukee Monday, on a 450-mile trek to St. Paul and the Republican national convention.

Kelly, (left) a high school and community college teacher, has repeatedly risked her life and her freedom as an advocate for non-violence.  She is now affiliated with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, based in her hometown of Chicago, which organized Witness Against War now making its way across Wisconsin.

Hello Progressives,

PLEASE GO TO THE NEXT DNC LOCAL PLATFORM SETTING MEETINGS AND SET YOUR OWN TOP CHOICE OF WORDS FOR A CEASE FIRE PLANK - CREATE PEACE NOW - THANKS!!!

Let all candidates know undeclared wars are costing too many generations, too much.

Peace is free, let's take the path of a cease-fire, and get out safely; guard and fix our soil and future.

No matter your party, nor political preference; the DNC and Obama have a great tool to find a meeting to build the ideal Presidential Platform.

I suggest you go to:
http://www.democrats.org/...
to find a meeting in your time & location.

These are some of the latest results from the one held in Santa Rosa, CA last Sunday.

Please share your results. Do what you can to require Congress take back the sole power to declare war; only with majority public consent.

Peace does prevail,

Colleen Fernald

Netroots Nation 08 - Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi Keynote

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Welcome Home Netroots Nation attendees.  You may recall, it began with a dream, an impossible hope for a future unforeseen.  It was your wish, his want, her desire, and my aspiration.  Together we were the inspiration.  We imagined greatness would be if we worked together.  

After reading Benny Morris's article in the Op-Ed section of the New York Times of July 18th, 2008, I immediately had 2 questions: is this the same Benny Morris, a prominent Israeli historian and a scholar who produced groundbreaking work on Israeli-Arab conflicts and who is credited as being the most famous historian of the group of "New Historians", who revised Israeli history and uncovered a plethora of official government documents which portrayed early Israeli history in a more negative light? And if yes, then how could a scholar of such immense proportions give way to such ludicrous arguments as the ones he provided for the NY Times (and therefore for the world) in which he not only advocated attacking Iran, but argued that it's a better option than the ONLY other option left: nuking Iran?

Pelosi 8-11-08 LA
Our very own first woman Speaker of the House...coming to the hotbed of peace and impeachment activists. It's certainly time that we plan a WELCOMING EVENT so that Nancy will know just how much we appreciate her efforts to stop the war, cut off funding, begin the impeachment investigations, and protect us by voting for the new FISA bill that finishes off the 4th Amendment and prevents the telecoms from getting their day in court. Way to GO Nancy!!! The Republicans certainly couldn't have done it without you!!!
FISA VOTE:http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll437.xml

Today is Iraq Moratorium day, a day to take action to end the war and occupation of Iraq.  This month, it leads into three days of action to prevent war with Iran.  A number of Moratorium events will connect the two, as participants in today's events make cell phone calls to Congressional offices, leaflet about Iran, or write or email their representatives.

Much of the focus is on a House resolution which essentially calls for a blockade of Iran.

Does it matter?  United for Peace and Justice reports that two members of Congress already have changed their minds after being challenged by local peace organizations. This report from St. Louis tells of one of the successes.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

WaPO reports that Maryland police infiltrated and spied upon peace and death penalty abolition groups in 2005.  The information the cops gathered was apparently sent to other law enforcement agencies.  No crimes were alleged to have been committed by the activists.

That crushing sound you hear is the crumbling of the First Amendment.

Please join me below.

I've never actually won a war.  In fact, I've never even been in the military. Or studied military history or strategy. Or watched many war movies.

But I'm pretty sure I know at least as much as John McCain (and in my opinion a lot more) about how to win wars.  

Because you win wars the same way you win anything else.

Today brings news that voters appear evenly split between Obama and McCain when it comes to their plans for ending the war in Iraq.

I see this as evidence of two distinct problems:

1.  McCain continues to benefit from a sycophantic media willing to extend him an advantage on all matters military, historical misjudgments notwithstanding, and;

2.  Obama has been unable to frame his arguments on Iraq in such a way that draws a stark enough contrast with his opponent, and in such a way that places them in his larger context of hope and change.

This diary focuses on the second problem, as I think the first is largely outside our control.

Friday, July 18, is Iraq Moratorium day #11.

It is a day, as is the Third Friday of every month, on which individuals and groups across the country take some action to call for the end to the war and occupation of Iraq.

The number of listed events on the Iraq Moratorium national website,IraqMoratorium.org, is approaching 100, with more still being added.  

We've already had 5 years of a disastrous war. Do we really need four more?

Dear Senator Obama,   I met you at your talk with Philadelphia Jewish leaders in April. It was I who as you entered the room handed you a copy of the original Freedom Seder, which I wrote in 1969, and which wove together the freedom struggles of Blacks and Jews. And during Q & A, it was I who asked you how as President you would deal with the peace-obstructing settlement policy of this and many previous Israeli governments.

Though you avoided saying what you would do,  I was satisfied with your answer -- then.

I found this as a fresh angle on the decades-long futile attempt to reconcile Israelis and Arabs.  Incorporating both parties into a greater transnational organization for the betterment of both and all others.

Just as the United Nations accomplished its mission by preventing a third world war and the European Union has erased borders between once warring nations, a Med Union could sew Arab/Israeli relations.

This new angle is being pushed by France's president (a conservative free trader but European conservatives would be more aligned with US Democrats than Republicans, imo).