Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

There is a lot going on for me in March. And the weather was warming up nicely today; Bruno enjoyed his walks. March 13th we have the fundraiser for Bradley Manning's Legal Defense Fund. Location: Busboys and Poets at 5th and K Streets NW. March 19th Veterans for Peace lead a big protest and civil resistance action at the White House. March 20th we have a rally and march to the gates of Quantico (similar to what was done on MLK Day). Buses have been reserved to take folks from Union Station. Meanwhile, the resistance to union busting and the further destruction of the Middle Class intensifies in Wisconsin. Hundreds of protesters have reclaimed their state capitol building in Madison, staying overnight in the rotunda. This same beautiful resistance is now beginning to spread to Indiana and Ohio. I really don't think the corporate servant boy, Gov. Walker of Wisconsin will be re-elected in three years from now. It must also be pointed out that this beautiful show of people standi...

Anti-War Group Peace of the Action led by Cindy Sheehan Refuses to Leave and Will Expand Anti-War Encampment, Camp OUT NOW, While Permit Runs Out Press Contacts Robby Diesu 631-241-5966 robby@peaceoftheaction.org DC Coordinator Polly Miller 202-595-5892 polly@peaceoftheaction.org DC Coordinator www.peaceoftheaction.org Monday, March 22nd at 11:30 am Camp OUT NOW (between 15th and 17th on Constitution NW) parking is available on Constitution. Cindy Sheehan has spent the weekend in jail and will be arraigned on Monday. Directly following her arraignment she will join with fellow members of Peace of the Action, and follow through on the plans to continue the camp after the permit runs out. The group is planning on staying in there current location, between 15th and 17th on Constitution NW, and from there moving to directly in front of the White House (Lafayette Park side) after the police force the shut down at their current location. The group will continue their encampment until the...

News Release: Non-Violent Peace Demonstrators Brutalized by Secret Service at White House Today FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kevin Martin, 301-537-8244 (mobile) Paul Kawika Martin, 951-217-7285 (mobile) BY SECRET SERVICE AT WHITE HOUSE TODAY Activists had sought a meeting with the Obama Administration to urge an end to the war in Afghanistan Washington, D.C. – Twenty-three non-violent peace activists calling for an end to the US war in Afghanistan were violently pushed and dragged away from a White House gate by Secret Service officers this afternoon. The activists, participating in a larger demonstration of over 300 people organized by the National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance, had sent a letter to President Obama last month requesting a meeting today to discuss their opposition to the war. After a non-violent “die-in” at the White House gate, the peace activists waited for over three hours while various police departments, including the Washington, DC Metro Police, Park Po...

September 15, 2009 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear president Obama: We are writing on behalf of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance to seek a meeting to discuss the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. We are greatly concerned that the people of Afghanistan, like the people of Iraq, are suffering greatly from the U.S. invasion and the continued assault on this beleaguered country. We feel you are stuck in the same trap, which ensnared President Lyndon Johnson. His decision to continue that awful war in Vietnam brought down his presidency. He failed to listen to the peace movement, and history has not been kind to him. Today's peace movement is baffled by your persistence to wage war on the people of Afghanistan. Not only is your policy flawed, but it is doomed to failure. Afghanistan surely does not need more killing and destruction. It needs financial assistance and the willingness of...

DRAFT PRESS STATEMENT: TASSC Arrests, White House sidewalk, Sat. June 27, 2009 :: Today, five persons of conscience were arrested on the White House sidewalk, in connection with a 24-hour Vigil to End Torture, sponsored by the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC). The group gathered at Lafayette Park, bringing messages of solidarity from organizations and individuals - all calling for an immediate end to torture and support for survivors of torture. Mid-way through the vigil, at about 1:00 p.m., several hundred vigil participants processed from Lafayette Park to the front of the White House, carrying their mesage of an immediate end to torture. Five persons remained on the White House sidewalk, in violation of federal regulations, and were arrested by US Park Police. The five are: Joy First, of Madison, Wisc.; Malachy Kilbride, Eve Tetaz, Harold Nelson, and David H. Barrows, all of Washington, DC. Nelson and Barrows were released from police custody, after ...

William Thomas, dedicated peace and anti-nuke activist, passed away Friday morning at home. He was co-pilot of the 24-hour seven-day a week vigil at the White House for 27 years. He is survived by his wife Ellen and vigil co-pilot Concepcion. I remember Thomas from my high school years years early in on his vigil. Millions of people from hundred of countries visited Thomas as he kept vigiling, warning them of the dangers of nuclear holocaust and the ravages of war. He will be greatly missed by the peace and justice movement. An excerpt from an article in The Washington Post by David Montgomery, published a couple years ago: WASHINGTON — William Thomas first introduced fanny to brick on the White House sidewalk on June 3, 1981. His sign said, "Wanted: Wisdom and Honesty." He's been there ever since, still squatting, still wanting. A few months after he began, he was joined by Concepcion Picciotto, who has remained similarly steadfast. War is not over, but the peace protest...

Washington -- During the Atlantic Life Community's faith and resistance winter retreat, a 76 year-old D.C. peace and justice activist was arrested Saturday for the 11th time this year during a protest against the U.S. government's warmongering policies and commemorating the 117th year since the Wounded Knee massacre. Tetaz, and Patrick O'Brien, a member of a Catholic Worker community in North Carolina, were arrested shortly after 12 p.m. in the picture post card zone directly in front of the White House. They refused to leave the space, declared by the Secret Service and the Park Police as an area with unconstitutional limits on the exercise of free speech. Tourists appeared puzzled as the two peaceful and solemn protesters were placed in plastic handcuffs and lead to waiting Park Police cars. "The killing and bloodshed must end," Tetaz said. "Every life is sacred." A retired D.C. public schoolteacher, Tetaz has been a regular feature of nonviolent civil...

Among those arrested in front of the White House for nonviolent resistance was David Barrows, Father Louis Vitale, Father Jerry Zawada, Harold Nelson, Katie Murphy and myself. Vigil Raises 'Voices Against Terror' By Jenna Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 24, 2007; A06 The mock prison cell, the barking dog belonging to another protester, people asking names and ages. Sister Dianna Ortiz said yesterday that the sights and sounds during a 24-hour vigil and protest at Lafayette Square against torture took her "back to that place" and time -- Guatemala in 1989, when the American nun, then 29, taught Mayan children about human rights. It took her back to the day she was blindfolded and taken to a prison for reasons she still doesn't know. To an interrogation, cigarettes burned on her breasts, being forced to dance naked, raped repeatedly. Back to hell. Ortiz escaped within a day as her captors transported her to another prison. But each year on June 23,...

March through Washington to the White House chained to the the fence. I was very proud to be in this procession.

CHARGES DISMISSED FOR ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVISTS, BUT FOURTEEN OF THEM ARE LATER ARRESTED AT THE WHITE HOUSE On April 18, 2007 at 9:30 AM, around fifty anti-torture activists, including Baltimore's Max Obuszewski and Joy First from Madison, Wisconsin, went to U.S. District Court, 333 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. for trial to face a charge of disorderly conduct as a result of a January 11 arrest in the atrium of the same courthouse. Courthouse officials, though, seemed surprised that the defendants appeared in Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson's courtroom. After the Jan. 11 arrest, most of those in custody refused to provide any identification and simply gave the name of a Guantanamo Bay detainee. Presumably, the government did not expect any of the eighty-nine individuals arrested to appear for trial as they were released with John and Jane Doe citations. While the prosecutors, Judge Robinson and the marshals deliberated behind closed doors, the defendants began read...