Cindy Sheehan: "Brought to You by Boeing"

Before I headed to our "Gather-In of Hearts" in Central Park this afternoon, I was watching NBC's "Meet the Press." Except for a brief excerpt about the Alberto Gonzales hearing this week, the entire show was about Obama vs. Hillary. Should Obama hit harder? Should Hillary ignore him since she's the frontrunner? How will this affect the primaries? Will it affect the primaries? Fox and CNN are trying to distract us from real news that affects us all by round-the-clock reporting on Lindsay Lohan; and NBC uses the shiny keys of Obama and Clinton, two people whose campaigns together have each raised enough money to pay for about five hours of the illegal and insane occupation of Iraq.

I was wondering when Tim Russert would get around to talking about the refugee crisis BushCo and Congress Inc. have created in the Middle East that is rapidly destabilizing the entire region, not just Iraq. Or, how about we talk about the impending invasion of Iran that Dick Nuke'em the VP of War is jonesing for? And wouldn't it be nice if we heard some cons for an invasion of Iran instead of the neocon pro-war-all-the-time crap? There is so much heartache and violence in the world. There are too many of our brothers and sisters going without the bare necessities; and NBC wants us to care about two people who are co-opted into the power elite and are feuding over foreign policy, when they are both Senators who have power right now, and could affect the process positively if they weren't busy campaigning for elections that are months away.

I was wondering when the real discussion was going to occur until I saw those five words: "Brought to you by Boeing:" the number one aerospace/defense contractor in the world, according to the Fortune 500. The next show after "Meet the Press" is "The McLaughlin Group", that is brought to a gullible American viewership by The Oil and Natural Gas Council.

I was at a Rage Against the Machine concert last night, watching the thousands of young people in the audience from stage right. The crowd was as filled with life as the band, and I was amazed at all the energy. I wondered if the crowd knew how socially and politically radical the words are to Rage's music, and were not just as mesmerized by the pounding music and Tom Morello's amazing guitar playing as I was. I was wondering how the peace and justice movement could harness that energy in a positive direction to really shutting down the machine that is brought to us by Boeing and The Oil and Natural Gas Council, among thousands of other companies that profit off of war, and our politicians who let the machine tell them how to govern to keep that same machine well oiled, while stealing financial and human resources right out from under the noses of families and communities.

Before Casey was killed, I did not rage against the machine that has been grinding up our soldiers and murderously oppressing other populations for generations. As a matter of fact, I practically threw my own son under the wheels of the machine. Despite my vague misgivings about the machine and my desperate worry about Casey going to Iraq, I watched him leave through tear-soaked eyes and a worry-laden heart.

Rage, rage, rage against that machine! Don't let it eat up you or your children because it uses our flesh and blood to engender enormous profits; and while sending our children off to war to use up their airplanes, bombs, guns, bullets, uniforms, helmets and boots, the machine is sending its children off to expensive private schools to raise more machine heads.

It is impossible to bring back the lives that have been stolen by the machine, but it is never too late to save the future. I am hoping my candidacy against Nancy Pelosi in California's 8th will be able to put a little sugar in the tank of the machine.

The machine is powerful and heartless, but if we all stand up to it, we can finally dismantle it this time.

Thanks for your overwhelming support of our Journey for Humanity and Accountability! We have been welcomed everywhere and feel the energy for impeachment building, and the energy for a people's campaign for humanity and accountability growing.

The next stops for our group will be Jordan and Syria to visit Iraqi refugee camps and to take money and supplies to the refugees. To help, go to www.thecampcaseypeaceinstitute.org to donate; and please put "For Iraqi Refugees" in the subject line.

I will be formally announcing my Independent candidacy for Congress in San Francisco on August 6th, which, besides being the day the machine dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, is the two year anniversary of the day we went to Crawford, Texas and established Camp Casey.

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey Austin Sheehan, who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is the author of Peace Mom: One Mom's Journey through Heartache to Activism.

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