Hecklers dog Gonzales By JACK STRIPLING Nov 20, 2007 Hounded by hecklers and protesters, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended an admittedly imperfect record before a raucous University of Florida audience Monday night.
Gonzales devoted much of his speech to encouraging students to enter public service, despite the criticism that public officials like himself endure.
The fervency of that criticism was readily apparent as several protesters stood with their backs turned toward Gonzales throughout his speech, frequently interrupted him with calls of “liar” and “treason” and, in some cases, stormed the stage...
Two UF students, wearing black hoods over their heads and orange suits that resembled those worn by prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, hopped onto the stage next to Gonzales before they were arrested by UF Police. As the men were removed from the auditorium, Gonzales said, “Our young men and women fight overseas to preserve this kind of freedom of speech.”
In an audience of about 1,500 people at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Gonzales had several dozen supporters who gave him standing ovations. But the former attorney general, who recently resigned from his post under a cloud of controversy, was challenged at times to even complete a sentence because of the disruption from his opponents... (Full story)
As far as I'm concerned those arrested weren't committing any crime. As citizens we have the obligation under international law to resist the criminal actions of our government. Especially torture-mongers the likes of Alberto Gonzales... The real crime is the University of Florida payin' war criminal Gonzales $40,000 for showing up to be abused! Protesters arrested at Gonzales speech By DEVIN CULCLASURE, Alligator Writer In his first appearance at a university since resigning in August, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was met at UF on Monday with a mixture of cheers, boos and scattered interruptions by protesters, two of whom were arrested.
Gonzales, who resigned from his position after a controversial tenure, spoke to more than 800 people at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
During his prepared speech, Gonzales largely avoided discussing the controversies he faced in office, including his dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys.
Instead, he focused on encouraging students to consider a career in public service while describing his own experiences in that field.
About 15 minutes into his speech, two UF students, Richard Gutierrez and Kevin Hachey, climbed onto the stage wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods on their heads...
University Police Department officers scrambled onto the stage to remove them.
Matthew Cox, an employee of the Phillips Center, wrestled with one protester on the far side of stage, grabbing his legs and pulling him down.
The other stood directly next to Gonzales, who calmly avoided looking in his direction.
As police took the protester away, Gonzales glanced in his direction before attempting to continue his speech while he waited for the raucous crowd to settle down after a few minutes.
A few more protesters climbed onto the stage.
Meanwhile, even more protesters stood up, removed shirts or jackets revealing yellow T-shirts that read "SHAME," and stood with their backs toward Gonzales.
They remained standing in their positions for the rest of the event.
Eventually, Gonzales continued his speech and then sat across from Henry Wihnyk, a UF law professor, for a question-and-answer session.
Wihnyk read students' questions, which had been written on index cards before and during Gonzales' speech.
During Gonzales' address, the self-described "son of a Mexican immigrant and cotton picker" said his life was evidence of the American dream.
"I love America for all that she has done for me," he said. "We are not perfect. Sometimes we stumble, but we always get up."
Gonzales said he was proud of his record and defended his work with President Bush, though there were missteps, he said.
Later, he ignored scattered jeers from the crowd to answer questions about his dismissal of the attorneys, the Geneva Convention and torture.
Afterward, UPD Lt. Stacey Ettel said Gutierrez and Hachey were arrested for disrupting a public event.
Ettel said UPD expected most of the protester's actions because they received information about some of the plans prior to the event. However, UPD did not anticipate what Gutierrez and Hachey did, he said.
Still, Ettel said he believed most of the protesters' behavior was acceptable.
"I felt like they were able to express their feelings and voice their concerns from a visual viewpoint," he said.
Steve Orlando, UF spokesman, said the usual number of four security officers was present. He added that he also thought most of the protesters expressed their views reasonably.
"A few crossed the line, but I think it went pretty well," Orlando said.
"I think Mr. Gonzales saw a whole lot of First Amendment tonight," he added with a laugh. "As he said, that's what this place is about."
We had our Veterans Day die-in protest today at 11am (11-11-11). It was a powerful experience with 16 people "dying" 10 minutes at a time... 2 different locations on busy touristy St. George St. In St. Augustine, FL). We had some wonderful support and encouragement but way too much of an angry response. Still, people were yelling.."We got rid of Saddam"," We are fighting for freedom" and a cop overheard calling us "idiots".
However, I know we made an impact, we made people uncomfortable and reminded them that people actually do die in a war. Here are pictures on Webshot and also here is an article written for our Independent paper, The Collective Press. Enjoy... Marilyn/PPJ/St. Augustine (member of www.solidarityandpeace.org)
Why, Mommy? By Mary Lawrence Why indeed. I died on Veterans Day 11/11/07 at 11 a.m in St Augustine as one of 3860 US soldiers, 141 journalists and 1,100,000 Iraqis. Lying on the hard ground, seeing nothing and hearing footsteps and muffled conversations, throughout it all, one child's plaintive voice broke through: "Why, Mommy?"
"Because they're tired, honey."
Twenty people, dressed in black, solemnly and silently marched the entire length of St George Street to the dirge-like beat of a drum. Signs around their necks noted numbers of dead US soldiers, dead Iraqis, dead children and dead journalists. At predetermined places, the twenty laid down dead on the ground for ten minutes while peacekeepers passed out flyers, outlined bodies with chalk and protected them from any potential injury, intentional or otherwise. The police dutifully showed up to tell the group to move on after their second die-in attempt. They were "blocking the flow of foot traffic".
Tired, hell yes. While this small group protested the Iraq "war", others were celebrating sacrifices made there and in other wars. Care was taken to make sure the demonstration was respectful and peaceful but incredibly, there are still those who equate Iraq with the 9/11 attacks, still those who say "You people disgust me" and even worse, still those who will not meet your eyes, take your flyers or rouse themselves from their apathy and despair to take a stand.
Tired, hell yes. While this small group protested the war, draft dodger Dick Cheney was at Arlington Cemetery giving a ten minute speech honoring Iraq veterans while co-draft dodger George Bush was addressing troops at an Army depot in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania. Clearly wars are fought by the little people, bravely and selflessly, while the power elite sit home safely, making speeches and suppressing dissenters. These two criminal draft dodgers have no business and no right to say anything about those who have sacrificed and died in war yet there is no outrage about this?
Tired, hell yes. While twenty people in the streets is a decent turnout in St Augustine, while countless people thanked us for what we were doing, while many others sadly honored their war dead, why aren't there more of us in the streets? Demonstrators today included members from Veterans for Peace, St Augustine People for Peace and Justice, Grandparents for Peace and Citizens in Action. Where is the general population? Are you dead too? Thank yous are great but actions speak louder than words.
We're all tired but the outrage is building. Many anti-war activists are becoming more radicalized. Orlando's protest on 10/27 was a first in unity with nationwide demonstrations that day. Activists from the sixties are showing young activists how it's done and young activists are adding their own creativity. Status quo government is worried and suppression of dissent and First Amendment rights is growing. Something's got to give.
St Augustine's first "Die In" ended at noon, auspiciously with the church bells pealing loud and long on a beautiful sunny day. Could it be the beginning of the revolution? Could it be the beginning of the truthful answer to the question "Why, Mommy?"
The first ever Peace Fair in Ft Myers was held yesterday. Overall we had a good turn out. Our CODEPINK and Florida For Peace Booth was the busiest and most poupular there and we sold lots of t-shirts and CP stuff, handed out flyers, got petitions and Florida for Peace/Focus on Nelson post cards signed and talked with lots of folks during the day, many of whom never heard of CP.
Quite a few folks signed up to be on our mailing list and we handed out lots of printed material about CP and how to get involved etc. CP activist Faith Fippenger was a keynote speaker and had the whole crowd in tears when she spoke about the women in Iran. We will follow up soon with a CP get together.
I will post photos soon. Because the schedule ran late I got bumped from speaking and also missed the opportunity to be interviewed. But one of our young activists, Dana, did get interviewed by the Naples News. I wish a stronger message was spoken about the war in Iraq and stopping the next war in Iran, but at least we got some press.
Our own News Press did cover the event but did not mention CODEPINK at all. Peaceful Pink, Holley
Row after row of weathered, white crosses lie flat on the grass at a Lee County park, filling the space between the goal posts of a football field.
Each one was hand-lettered with the name and age of a soldier who died in Iraq.
The man behind the display, Naples resident John Riccio, said his collection of about 800 crosses has long since stopped keeping pace with the death count.
This is the same set of markers he will set out on the beach near the Naples Pier on Sunday.
He’s anticipating some won’t be too happy to see the crosses there on Veterans Day.
But Saturday, at a Peace Fair at Rutenberg Community Park in South Fort Myers, he only heard appreciation for the sprawling anti-war statement he usually keeps housed in borrowed trailers and sheds. It was his chance to encourage other peace activists -- a group that at Saturday’s fair included volunteers from a varied collection of environmental, political and religious groups.
“It’s to let them know they’re not alone in their thinking,” Riccio said.
Across the field, standing near a “Women for Peace” sign, Fort Myers resident Dana Foglesong, 25, who supports anti-war efforts but is still discovering her place in the movement, was among those who surveyed the display.
To her, it was a powerful sight.
“I’m not sure what it proves. But it shows we have responsibilities for what has happened and what is happening,” she said.
As an activist with the Fort Myers chapter of Code Pink, a national group that agitates to end the war in Iraq, Foglesong hasn’t hesitated to say what she thinks those responsibilities are: She’s the woman who held a flaming pink peace sign at a protest along U.S. 41 in Fort Myers two months ago.
She said she kept standing there as a driver suggested her kind ought to just move to Iraq.
Yet Foglesong still described herself as an unlikely activist. Or at least, as she put it, she’s not the “good hippy” the way some others appear to her. She has eaten chicken, and she has bought jeans that may or may not have been made in a sweatshop. She gladly voted for Bush in the 2000 elections.
And while she may understand why, across the park, other groups at the peace fair were talking about the link between environmental sustainability and peace, oil and war -- selling T-shirts that blended the arrows of a recycling symbol with a peace sign -- that’s not her passion.
More often, she’s talking about war in the context of conversations she has with friends in the military and their families, talking about their sense of duty, talking about her views on Iraq, and still trying not to offend.
“People think that people who are pro-peace are anti-soldier, but we’re not,” she said.
Those are conversations that don’t easily reduce to the lettering on a piece of poster board.
Looking over the signs Riccio had set up alongside his display, some seemed over-the-top to her, but she agreed with most of them.
“Save lives,” she said. “Yes.”
“Bring them home. ... Yes.”
“Our troops are sitting ducks. ... Hmm. Yeah, probably.”
She plans to continue attending peace events. She said she worries about the cost of the war, about the day-to-day conditions for Iraqi citizens, and she worries about the lives lost. She wonders if people have forgotten to want peace, and instead view it as “something that’s not pertinent anymore.”
But her goal isn’t necessarily to convince others she’s right that it’s time to pack up and leave Iraq -- or even that war ought to be avoided.
Her activism is more about persuading others to at least take notice of her anti-war views.
“There’s a difference between convincing someone of your beliefs and convincing someone to do something about your beliefs,” she said.
Senate confirms Mukasey as attorney general Bush nominee wins backing for post despite waterboarding flap updated 12:56 a.m. ET, Fri., Nov. 9, 2007 WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed retired judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night to replace Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from office in a scandal over his handling of the Justice Department.
Mukasey was confirmed as the nation’s 81st attorney general after a sharp debate over his refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.
President Bush thanked the Senate, even though the margin had been whittled down from nearly unanimous by a sharp debate over Mukasey’s refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.....
My encounter with Senator Bill Nelson Wednesday, October 31 2007 by Samm Simpson Last Saturday I happened to see Senator Bill Nelson in the hallway at the Democratic convention in Orlando. The Saturday night dinner - which I didn't attend - had been in progress for fifteen minutes and Senator Nelson was in a side hallway, looking for an open door. Here's the exchange - to the best of my memory.
The Senator is pulling on a locked side door. I begin to speak.
"Senator Nelson, you know our occupation in Iraq has led to the death of over one million Iraqis. What are you going to do about this? We are controlled by what General Eisenhower told us about, the Military Industrial Complex. . . . it's here!"
The Senator says, "Yes it is." He walks away from the door. I follow.
"What are you going to do about it, and what about nuclear weapons in space? We have criminals running our country, Senator Nelson, they should be impeached!
The Senator smiles, begins to walk down the hall and replies, "We can't impeach the President, look who'd we get."
"I'm not talking about impeaching the President, Dennis Kucinich has a bill, H.R. 333 that will impeach Vice President Cheney. Why won't you support that?
The Senator chuckles. He does not stand still for one moment during this discourse.
I say, "Why are you laughing, this nation is in trouble!"
He dismisses my concern, does a 180 in the opposite direction and while walking away, remarks, "We're on the same side."
He speeds away, still looking for a back door entrance into the Democratic party dinner. I raised my voice as he leaves the area.
"We are not on the same side, you signed the Military Commissions Act last October, you took away the writ of habeas corpus!
The senior Florida Senator disappears. I'm assuming he found an open door leading to the Saturday night dinner at the Democratic State Convention. I'll bet they praised his presence.
Meanwhile, Baghdad burns. The Constitution lies forgotten.
"We the People" are discounted.
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Please turn the SOUND DOWN before you check out this video - the microphone on the camera gets saturated at several points.... Tallahassee's Lydia Vickers leads the CodePINK Florida women in song at the Oct27th protest on Orlando.
