Ever since her son was killed while serving in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan has been a thorn in the side of war hawks around the nation. For the past two years, Sheehan has been a ubiquitious presence in the anti-war movement, appearing everywhere from Camp David to Cuba with her critique of American militarism. Now, after two years of tireless activism, Sheehan has decided to call it quits. Although I am thoroughly disappointed that she’s giving up the fight precisely when we need her the most, I completely understand her frustration with the obstinate Right and the spinless so-called Left. Here is the letter that she penned on her blog:
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a “tool” of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our “two-party” system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the “left” started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of “right or left”, but “right and wrong.”

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt “two” party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an “attention whore” then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a “grateful” country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too…which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the “face” of the American anti-war movement. This is not my “Checkers” moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America …you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

It’s up to you now.

The irony here is that many Black voters despise Fox, in particular its coverage of racial issues.

Why is Dennis Kucinich Undermining Progressives and African Americans and Embracing Fox News?
By Don Hazen 

Going against the grain of many progressive voters thought to be among his potential supporters, Cleveland area Congressman Dennis Kucinich has decided to join Delaware Senator Joe Biden as the only Democratic presidential candidates planning to attend a September debate that Fox News intend to hold in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Kucinich said: “… for Sens. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama to skip the debate simply because it was to be broadcast on Fox was a snub of the Congressional Black Caucus.” He added: “Those candidates planning to skip this debate clearly are trying to avoid a forum where there will be hard-hitting questions from people who may not agree with them.”

James Rucker, head of the on-line group The Color of Change, who along with MoveOn and others has been leading the campaign challenging Fox News’ legitimacy as a news organization, responded, “If Congressman Kucinich actually paid any attention to what African-Americans are saying about the Fox debate, he’d know better than to accuse the leading candidates of snubbing black voters. Refusing to attend this debate isn’t about avoiding an unfriendly forum, it’s about refusing to lend further legitimacy to a network that regularly distorts the truth and attacks black leaders, institutions, culture, and black people in general.”

Rucker added: “If Kucinich wants to help legitimize a race-baiting propaganda network, that’s his business, but he shouldn’t claim black voters are on his side. Rather, this is a cynical political ploy to get press attention and airtime.”

In a press release from May 27th, Kucinich said, “This (boycott of the debate) is particularly troublesome because the concerns of African Americans should take precedent over what network is broadcasting the debate.” The irony here is that many Black voters despise Fox, namely its coverage of racial issues. Two videos produced by Brave New Films and Robert Greenwald have documented Fox’s attitudes about race and, particularly, candidate Barack Obama. These videos have been viewed by many hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube and sparked spirited debates.

For the rest of the story, click here. 

Today’s song of the day is “How We Get Down” by Foxy Brown. According to reports, Fox Boogie is set to release her album on September 6. I’m looking forward to it but I won’t hold my breath!

To hear it for yourself, click here. 

Today’s photo of the day goes to R. Kelly, whose set to release yet another post-urination/pre-trial album.  Is it me or does he get more ridiculous with every effort? Somebody please add a caption, thought bubble, or something to this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today’s video of the day discusses the recent “fake condom” crisis in New York. Apparently, small stores are purchasing bootleg Trojan Magnums and selling them to customers. Of course, there are no guarantees that these condoms work at all so PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!