Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Senator Bill Nelson's Staff Blocking Access to the Senator

Click Pic for info on FOCUS ON NELSONFOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY TO THE SENATOR'S DESK

August 28, 2007

FAX TO: Senator Bill Nelson
All District Offices and
Washington, D. C.

FAX FROM: Lydia Vickers, CODEPINK
Florida For Peace/Focus on Nelson
Phone: 850-385-5322

Dear Senator Nelson,

Thank you again for welcoming Pat, Mary and I to your Lafayette County town halls August 22nd.. We met some very nice people, lots of true "Nelson" supporters. Unfortunately it wasn't easy finding where you would be.

Senator Nelson, we believe that it's important for you to hear what Floridians are thinking and talking about regarding the war in Iraq. Staff in 3 of your district offices refused to give Florida For Peace members any information about where you were going to be and told us to call your Washington, D.C. office. The D.C. office was completely surprised and we were told that we should, indeed, be getting the
local meeting schedules from the district offices.

I felt we should have been informed about the lasagna dinner at the Spirit of the Suwannee. We were embarrassed to have eaten before we arrived when such a nice meal had been prepared. I spoke with Lynn Bannister just one day earlier and she made the decision not to tell me anything about the meal.

This is such a disservice to you senator. I say this because I feel sure that you would never tell your staff to dodge a constituent's questions. I feel sure you would never allow your staff to stand between you and a constituent.

I say that "this is a disservice to you" for three reasons:

1. Surely your sense of what is happening with this war today, and your feelings on what should be done tomorrow, needs to be expressed to your constituents.

2. Your answers to Iraq war questions show compassion and concern for our troops and your constituents need to hear that too.

3. You will never know how Floridians really feel about the war if no one brings the subject up. The war in Iraq is the gorilla in the room. No good can come of your isolation from Floridians' passions and opinions regarding Iraq.


I'll say here that Florida For Peace members don't agree one bit with pulling out SOME of the troops and leaving others there, for any reason. We want those military bases closed. We don't want our soldiers losing there lives in Iraq to protect Haliburton and Black Water employees. And, if the Iraqi army can't stand on their own now, well, they may never stand on their own. Our troops have given their all, and that is more than enough. The majority of Florida Democrats and Independents want the troops home now.

I am encouraged to hear you begin talking about taking the first steps to end this war. I disagree with a plan to leave Americans on the ground in Iraq. What is more important, we are both talking about bring our troops home. Senator Nelson, the finest part of democracy in action, to me, is when we are talking.

When Florida For Peace members attend your town halls they can open the door for questions on Iraq. Our members know that not every Floridian wants to leave Iraq. Fortunately, a majority of Floridians do want to leave Iraq and soon. We also know that you are not hearing much from those who do want our troops to leave Iraq. We are trying to get this message to you. You aren't hearing our voices because you aren't visiting the groups who want to talk about this issue.

Florida For Peace members had to drive hundreds of miles to meet you in Kissimmee on August 7th. Many of us had to take a day off from our jobs. If you are in our area and your staff refuses to let us know where you are the door to a conversation may stay closed and YOU are left in the dark.

Your staff should be ashamed of themselves trying to distract and mislead anyone from Florida who wants to meet with you. They might not agree with my description of their actions but they should know there is no doubt in our minds that we were being put off. If you truly want to stay in touch with your constituents you simply must be able to talk to them. I personally wonder if it is even legal for your staff to refuse to give out information about public meetings?

Senator Nelson, Florida For Peace members will continue to try and meet with you. We will continue to drop in on meetings and town halls. Many of us will be in Washington, D. C. during the month of September. We will stop by your offices and will be sitting in on many of your meetings and activities. Please, open your doors to us. Don't allow your staff to isolate you.

The November election was a "Mandate for Peace" from the American people, and it was all about Iraq. Florida For Peace is dedicated to meeting with every single Florida representative and to meeting with you, often. Thank you again for your time in Lafayette last week. I look forward to seeing you in Washington next month.

Peace,

Lydia Vickers
Florida For Peace, Co Founder
CODEPINK Tallahassee
CODEPINK Florida

Monday, August 13, 2007

Florida For Peace Meets Senator Bill Nelson

Click Pic for full-sized viewFlorida For Peace Meets Senator Bill Nelson
Boasts, Prevarications, and a Rattlesnake

On Tuesday August 7th ten members of Florida For Peace traveled to Kissimmee, FL to meet with Senator Bill Nelson at the public library. They represented over fifty groups from from all parts of Florida.

When the group arrived a staff member directed us to a conference room where the senator was waiting. A local news crew had a camera set up. After shaking hands and sitting down, Senator Nelson mentioned how he was having town meetings, three just yesterday in Jefferson, Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Lydia Vickers - CODEPINK Tallahassee, Co-Founder/Florida For Peace - began by stating she had traveled to all eight of his offices around the state and had meetings with his staff and thanking the Senator for meeting with us.

Senator Nelson began by thanking us for coming from all over the state to see him. He then talked about what he termed as townhall meetings, two of which he had the previous day in the Tampa Bay area. He said that 150 people had attended one meeting and 130 had attended the other one and that no one had brought up the issue of the Iraq War.

Lydia Vickers then had the group introduce ourselves and briefly say who we represented.

Lydia then talked to the senator about his voting record in the Senate and how this group, which represents maybe 7000 people on email lists, were disappointed with his vote on the FISA bill (S1927). She then brought up a speech he had made in 2002 on this subject in which he had said that it was important not to adopt the total information awareness program. She went on saying "although he had supported the no confidence vote on the Attorney General, he had then voted for the FISA bill."

Nelson responded saying "that's not what it says", that they (the Democrats) had changed the bill, an approval process has to be gone through, the Director of Intelligence and the Attorney General must sign off. Nelson went on by saying that he was ONE senator out of 100 who was on all THREE National Security committees and that no one was privy to more of the nation's classified information than he. He also mentioned his trust for the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell.

He continued, "that the White House wanted a permanent solution where this was only for 6 months and that it doesn't effect citizens domestically." Adding it was important that they (gov't spies) don't have to go to the FISA court as technology had changed. It used to be mainly by phone but now with the internet, some foreign communications is coming through the United States. With the old law intelligence agencies had to go to FISA for a court order, now when a foreign terrorist was targeted, some may be going through a person in the USA, he continued... At this point the local news camera crew packed up and left the room.

Senator Nelson said as the door shut, "I wouldn't trust the Attorney General", (looking over his shoulder, asking if the media was gone) "anymore than I would trust a rattlesnake."

He continued on about how they would set up a process for FISA and was interrupted by Cactus Pat, Tallahassee Network for Justice and Peace (TNJP) saying, "Senator Nelson, yesterday morning the big news on the blogs said Mr. Bush had signed the FISA bill, the Protect America Act, with a signing statement demanding immunity for '...those who are alleged to have assisted our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001', in other words demanding immunity for his own six years of criminality".

Nelson responded that signing statements from the President has huge problems, as well as the President misleading us and the FISA bill didn't cover what Bush wants i.e.: 6 years of illegal wire tapping protected. He then said he was elected to exercise his best judgment.

Lydia pointed out that Republicans didn't vote for him and that we as Democrats were the ones who voted for him and he should represent our interests, adding that former Senator Graham had voted no on the Authorization to go to war.

Nelson replied that "in his position he had to exercise his best judgment, that he represents sixteen million Floridians, and that he has to represent everyone, Republicans and everybody else".

Deidra Lynch - CODEPINK Orlando, Food Not Bombs, Orlando Progressive Alliance, Florida For Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Artists for Peace - then interjected, "Senator, we're here to say how we feel while we have you eye to eye with us."

Nelson replied "I want to straighten this out" then said that Graham had voted no because he thought AUMF did not go far enough.

Deidra then began by thanking the Senator for voting for monies for education and protecting the Everglades. She went on saying she hoped he would listen to our concerns about stopping the war, continuing with "I'm sure we can agree that this debt has got to stop".

Nelson added that childcare and healthcare was losing out with the cost for war.

Deirdre pointed out that cost estimates for the war had been in the hundreds of billions and the cost estimate as of now was $1.27 trillion, with the total cost to the state of Florida approaching $25,000,000,000, according to the National Priorities Project. She also spoke of the additional cost to our soldiers being trained in violence and sent home with no shut off valve, which affects military families with many women suffering rape and abuse. She then passed paperwork to Nelson to provide him the statistics.

Next Hillary Keyes - CODEPINK South Florida, Florida For Peace, Boca Peace Corner, Palm Beach County Peace & Justice Coalition - brought up the worsening conditions for the people of Iraq. Saying that that's it's gotten so bad that the US has stopped issuing Baghdad electricity reports because there is only one to two hrs. of electricity per day and 130 degrees and no water. She said we need to try to help the Iraqi people, bringing up how Post Traumatic Stress was affecting children in Iraq and that according to Center for Disease Control (from John Hopkins study) 650,000 Iraqis had been killed as of a year ago, and that 70% of Iraqi children suffer from symptoms of PTSD. She then talked about how CodePINK had brought 5 Iraqi women to the USA, showed him pictures and read part of a personal statement from the Faiza Alaraji. She then passed the Senator the women's pictures and bios.

Mary - CODEPINK Tallahassee, Tallahassee Network for Justice and Peace, Florida For Peace said as she had written her statements in a letter and as time was short, she would just pass him the letter.

Cactus Pat - Tallahassee Network for Justice and Peace, Florida For Peace - then talked about the fourteen permanent military bases in Iraq and how Congress has repeatedly passed legislation banning such bases and how it has been ignored. He said he believed Congress had the authority to enforce the legislation banning permanent bases in Iraq and demanded that Congress do so. He then talked about how US Foreign Policy needs to be shifted from one of military domination and use of the military for diplomacy to one of Peace and cooperation.

Carol Stachurski - CODEPINK Tallahassee, Veterans for Peace, Florida For Peace, Progressive Democrats of America - talked about how she felt his job was to represent us pointing out that polls in Florida were saying the majority wanted the war to end.

Nelson responded saying his position on the Iraq war was "evolving", and that she should look at his Senate speech on the Levin-Reed amendment, which he claimed was on his website. (NOT found, only this statement on Iraq on his website). That it was the most important speech he had ever given.

Scott Camil - Gainesville Veterans for Peace, GI Rights Hotline, Veterans for Peace - next talked about 32,000 calls the GI Rights Hotline had received from active duty FL soldiers and veterans with their concerns. He also had a written statement and documents which were passed to Senator Nelson.

Nelson said "I'm a veteran", he again brought up Levin-Reed Amendment and his speech.

Leslie - CODEPINK Orlando, Florida For Peace, Orlando Progressive Alliance, Seminole Democrats - talked about torture, saying how we know it's wrong and how it lowers morale. "We used to be the good guys and we know it's wrong."

Holly Rauen - CODEPINK South West Florida, Florida For Peace, Fort Myers Social Action Committee, EPEC/Board Member - talked about how war undermined our safety and the preservation of our civil rights and how our National Guard was not here to aid the public in times of disaster. She continued by talking about how our Bill of Rights had been negated by executive order. Adding her personal experience by telling the senator how she had been shot with rubber bullets by Miami police at the FTAA protest, how the police had surrounded a group of citizens and fired on them. She also spoke of how her ex-husband had been run over by a military train shipping arms to Vietnam and lost both his legs. She said what's going on now reminded her of Kent State and how the government was chipping away our rights and we were becoming like Hitler Germany.

Nelson responded saying we had a system of checks and balances.

Tom Guelcher - President, Environmental & Peace Education Center of SW Florida, Florida For Peace - talked about terrorism and how there is no military solution to it and how our actions in Iraq are causing more terrorism and how the only way to defeat it was by respecting other people and allowing them to make their own decisions about what is best for them.

Beverley Wiskow - State Coordinator/Military Families Speak Out, Peace NOW Citrus County, Florida For Peace - began by telling the senator how she had a son-in-law fighting in Iraq under terrible conditions, how Iraqis had no air conditioning or water and how we could learn by spending time in our Florida heat with no a/c or water. She went on about how this group before him had probably taken 50,000 hours of labor to bring him this information. Adding that we needed 67 senators. On a personal note she implored him to be "Our Hero" and spoke of meeting him last year in Ocala when she urged him to be a leader and if he would do the right thing the grassroots would rise up to support him. But if he continued to allow the war to continue, we would replace him. She then directly asked him if he would vote for the Levin-Reed amendment.

Nelson replied it would be the first issue in September and how the Democrats all supported the amendment with the exception of Lieberman (the irony of Florida's Lieberman saying this elicited subdued laughter and chuckles all around the table) and there were a few Republicans supporting as well. He said 53 senators had already voted for the amendment and they needed 7 more.

Deidra asked him as he got up to leave, "who we can work on?"

Nelson mentioned John Warner of VA, John Sununu of NH, Martinez of FL, Susan Collins of Maine, John Voinovich of OH, and Norm Coleman of MN.

Senator Nelson then rushed off to a meeting with 25 local Seminole County officials.

The Florida For Peace group then held a brief after-action meeting to discuss the events and concluded with a photo-op while the local TV media conducted interviews outside with various members.

Consensus was reached on finding out who contributes money to Nelson by checking www.opensecrets.org and www.fec.gov before exiting for more photos outside.

For more info see -
FFP Florida For Peace Yahoo Group and
TNJP coverage of the Focus on Nelson campaign

Senator Nelson’s PR spin on “Town Hall” meetings

Click Pic for full-sized viewSenator Nelson’s PR spin on “Town Hall” meetings
by Deidra Lynch -- Orlando, FL August 10, 2007 -- Florida’s Senator Bill Nelson's office is falsely reporting that he is touring the state doing "Town Hall" meetings yet his meetings are not being announced publicly until just hours before he arrives and most of them have only been with city and county officials, not the public. These "invitation-only" audiences with selected press only are costing Florida taxpayers and lulling them into believing the he is concerned about public sentiment. His office has refused to even announce his travel schedule or place any requested alternative press members on the pre-notification list. This is open government? NO, this is a PR spin!...

Senator Nelson, who is on vacation from Congress was pressured in June by leaders in the Peace communities across the state to hold true "Town Hall" meetings in August to meet with his constitutents about the 25 billion dollars of the Iraq debt that Florida now owns. Enough is enough, it’s time to come up with a plan to get us out of this endless war and the only way that's going to happen is to stop the funding. Florida For Peace members said they feel like Senator Nelson has been supporting the war sine the beginning and they want him to be one of 67 senators to override a presidential veto and bring the troops home now.

After occupying all eight of his offices with representatives of over 50 different peace organizations including Vets for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Grannies for Peace and CODEPINK to name a few, Senator Nelson finally agreed to meet with Florida for Peace, "We were ecstatic about the opportunity to speak with him and discuss the costs of war, the needs of Floridians, the treatment of our returning veterans and the horrendous rate of female soldiers returning as victims of sexual and physical assault by their own comrades which is 20% to 2/3 depending on the source" said Lydia Vickers of Florida for Peace. We had hoped for true “Town Hall” meetings in August but apparently Senator Nelson doesn’t understand the true meaning of the term.

Originating in New England when everybody in town showed up to speak their piece and then vote on an issue, today's "Town Hall" meetings are now held so people can influence elected officials in their decision-making process, often in large conference centers where people from every part of the community attend to express their opinions. No point of view is excluded or censored which is the very “Essence of Democracy” in action.

When Governor Schwarzenegger made this mistake, he was called on the carpet in "Governor corrupts 'town hall'" by Dennis M. Clausen:
"In his classic essay, "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell warns us that such abuses of language involve more than just semantic differences. "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought," Orwell writes. "A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better."

According to Orwell, politicians corrupt language, and then a corrupted language corrupts the culture ---- which in turn makes it easier for politicians to further corrupt the language. The vicious cycle feeds off itself like a hurricane gathering strength over warm tropical waters.

When we reverse the meanings of certain bedrock democratic institutions and traditions like town hall meetings, and these corruptions of language go unchallenged, we are well on our way to a total corruption of our political culture."

I know it's hurricane season and we face this with half of our disaster equipment still in Iraq with many of our national guard but Senator Nelson's corruption of the "Town Hall" meeting strikes deeply into the center of my heart and raises my radar even more. This week’s PR spin by Nelson gives me even more to worry about then what’s brewing over our very warm waters right now.

*Dennis M. Clausen is a professor of American literature at the University of San Diego. dclausen(at)SanDiego.edu

Friday, August 10, 2007

Florida For Peace Push Nelson For End To Iraq War


Florida Groups Push For End To War POSTED: 3:03 pm EDT August 7, 2007
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Florida For Peace pushed for a meeting with Sen. Bill Nelson at the Kissimmee library on Tuesday.

Members said they want Nelson to stand against President George W. Bush and end the war in Iraq.

Many groups congregated at the library to meet with Nelson, including Code Pink: Women For Peace.

Members said they feel Nelson has been supporting the war and want him to be one of 67 senators to override a presidential veto and bring troops home.

"I think he needs to realize he's hurting these troops more by not saying, 'Enough is enough' it's time to come home, and let's come up with a plan,' so the only way that's going to happen is to stop funding," Deidra Lynch of Florida For Peace said.

"We need to start phasing down, but keeping troops there to train the Iraqi army, to go after al Qaida and to provide protection for our troops there, but start removing our troops," Nelson said.

Nelson will meet with Osceola County leaders next, one of more than a dozen town hall meetings being held in Central Florida in the coming days.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Kendra Oestreich.

For more info see the
FFP Florida For Peace Yahoo Group and TNJP coverage of the Focus on Nelson campaign

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Florida For Peace Representatives Scheduled to Meet With Senator Bill Nelson

Click Pic for full-sized viewAugust 1, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Lydia Vickers
850-241-3191 or 850-385-5322

Deidra Lynch
codepinkorlando@gmail.com

FLORIDA FOR PEACE MEMBER GROUPS Scheduled to meet with Florida’s Senior Senator

11:00AM – August 7, 2007 – Kissimmee, Florida


A coalition of Florida peace and social action groups joined forces in May, 2007 to begin a state-wide campaign. Their goal was to ask for meetings with Senator Bill Nelson, Florida’s senior senator, in every district where he has an office.

Senator Nelson has agreed to meet with 10 Florida For Peace members in Kissimmee, Florida at 11:00AM on August 7, 2007. Request for meetings in additional Florida locations will be made at this meeting. “We feel that it is his responsibility to meet with us rather than having his constituents drive all over the state to meet him” said Florida For Peace co-founder Deidra Lynch. Request for Town Hall meeting dates around the state will also be requested.

Florida For Peace member groups include: CODEPINK, Military Families Speak Out/Florida, Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans for Peace, Environmental and Peace Education Center, Tallahassee Network for Justice and Peace, Food Not Bombs, Democracy For America and others.

“I met peace activists all over the state of Florida in June when I traveled from one district office to another, eight offices in seven days.

Florida For Peace has almost 50 member groups. We joined forces and went to every office, in person, in numbers, to request that Senator Nelson meet with us to discuss his voting record on:

  1. the war in Iraq,

  2. a June, 2007 vote that would allow the President and the CIA to disregard the Army Field Manual regarding torture, and

  3. his continued support of the Republican agenda on the war in Iraq.


The November, 2006 election was a “Mandate for Peace” from the American People. Florida For Peace is committed to helping remind Senator Nelson that he is a Democrat, with a capital “D” and that he must vote the way we’ve asked him to vote. In our minds Senator Nelson had become Florida’s Joe Lieberman,” said Florida for Peace co-founder Lydia Vickers.

“I am delighted that Senator Nelson is meeting with us after just three months of actions around the state of Florida. This group is determined to help get 67 senators (2/3rds of the Senate is needed to override a presidential veto) to stand strong against the Bush administration and end the war in Iraq. Senator Nelson simply must be one of those 67 senators,” continued Florida For Peace co-founder Vickers.

Phase I of the Florida For Peace - FocusOn Nelson Campaign involved letter writing, e-mails and Faxes.

Phase II of the Focus On Nelson Campaign involved traveling the state and meeting with other Florida For Peace members in their districts. These groups met with Senator Nelson’s staff and expressed their concerns. Activists from all over the state called into the offices during these meetings to support the people who could attend.

During Phase III, which has been extended until August 31, 2007, the groups worked together through conference calls, e-mails and meetings to plan what to do if the senator would not meet with us. Activists continued to telephone and Fax his Washington D.C. office and his district offices in Florida.

“Most of us have at least one of his offices on speed dial” said Deidra Lynch. Deidra also helped create an awesome, “postcard” campaign that was launched with the help of Dana Balcki, CODEPINK NYC.




The national CODEPINK offices have helped Florida For Peace organize and strategize from the beginning including allowing time on national, weekly conference calls to discuss what we are doing and to offer suggestions and support. The Focus On Nelson Campaign can be found at www.codepinkalert.org, and is also heavily supported by Florida Action at www.flaction.org and Tallahassee Network for Justice and Peace at www.tnjp.org. CODEPINK women at the CODEPINK House in Washington, D. C. make a point to check on Senator Nelson’s activities regularly.

“Meeting with my representative is the highest form of democracy in action” said Ms. Vickers. I know this meeting will be informed, passionate and empowering for all of the groups and especially for Senator Nelson.