COMMUNAL DU EFFORT TO HELP CODE PINK END THE IRAQ WAR! please help

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Sign Up to Join CODEPINK IN DC Jan 26-30

Sign-up below to join CODEPINK and many others in a massive march on Washington, D.C., during January 26-29, to call on Congress to take immediate action to end the war.


http://www.codepinkalert.org/modinput4.php?modin=68

or at least recommend this thread and keep it kicked!

[fooj]

1. Kicking for Code Pink!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. WOW! damn fine graphic... thanks bunches!

[sojourner]

5. awesome! that image gives me hope for the image of peace i hold in my own heart.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. I really love this accumulation of Gandhi quotes... check it out:

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. You must be the change you want to see in the world. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."

~Mahatma Gandhi~

[Jeffersons Ghost]

8. HERE ARE SOME FINE WORDS OF PEACE BY MARTIN LUTHER KING:

Martin Luther King, Jr., Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution (minor changes and deletions to update content are odvious)

I want to say one other challenge that we face is simply that we must find an alternative to war and bloodshed. Anyone who feels... that war can solve the social problems facing mankind is sleeping through a great revolution. President Kennedy said, "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." The world must hear this. I pray to God that America will hear this before it is too late, because today we’re fighting a war.

I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars... in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war... has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation. It has put us against the self-determination of a vast majority of... people, and put us in the position of protecting a corrupt regime that is stacked against the poor...

This war puts us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation. And here we are ten thousand miles away from home fighting for the so-called freedom of people when we have not even put our own house in order. And we force young black men and young white men to fight and kill in brutal solidarity. Yet when they come back home they can hardly live on the same block together.

The judgment of God is upon us today. And we could go right down the line and see that something must be done—and something must be done quickly. We have alienated ourselves from other nations so we end up morally and politically isolated in the world. There is not a single major ally of the United States of America that would dare send a troop to Vietnam, and so the only friends that we have now are a few client-nations...

This is where we are. "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind," and the best way to start is to put an end to this war, because if it continues, we will inevitably come to the point of confronting _______, which could lead the whole world to nuclear annihilation.

It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence. And the alternative to disarmament, the alternative to a greater suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world -- may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation, and our earthly habitat would be transformed into an inferno that even the mind of Dante could not imagine.

[fooj]

22. I post that quote in my classroom.

It gives us hope.

[WiseButAngrySara]

45. One of my favorite quotes by Gandhi... ...n/t

[Alamom]

17. Beautiful, Fooj. n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

20. please check your PM ASAP fooj...

thanks again for being the first K&R

[Jeffersons Ghost]

47. thanks

[Jeffersons Ghost]

30. since fooj gave the first K&R, he will be the one to present the DU "COMMUNAL" OP next!

thanks again fooj... please check your PM and go get um later this evening!

[sojourner]

3. K&R.........thanks for your efforts, JG!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. thanks for your kick and probable recommendation...

[Jcrowley]

4. K&R n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

11. more wonderful words from Dr. King...

"Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly... This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured."

[mod mom]

9. kick nt

[Jeffersons Ghost]

16. Showing his true character, Dr. King credits John Donne with previous concept both quotes here...

"John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: 'No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.' And he goes on toward the end to say, "Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution."

--Martin Luther King, Jr., Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

John Donne
From "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions" (1623), XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris -
"Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die."

PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.

The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all.
When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member.

And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another.

As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.

There was a contention as far as a suit (in which both piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled), which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that this occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.
Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world? No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.

Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

[rosesaylavee]

10. K & R

Can't go but I can kick this thread back up.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

18. thanks rosesaylavee... WOW! check out this next passage by Dr. King...

--Martin Luther King, Jr., Justice Without Violence- 3 April 1957
{minor changes include altering the word "Negro," which makes the passage very timely)

"Now the question that we face this evening is this: In the light of the fact that the oppressed people of the world are rising up against that oppression; in the light of the fact that America is rising up against oppression, the question is this: How will the struggle for justice be waged? And I think that is one of the most important questions confronting our generation. As we move to make justice a reality on the international scale, as we move to make justice a reality in this nation, how will the struggle be waged? It seems to me that there are two possible answers to this question. One is to use the all to prevalent method of physical violence. And it is true that man throughout history has sought to achieve justice through violence. And we all know the danger of this method. It seems to create many more social problems than it solves. And it seems to me that in the struggle for justice that this method is ultimately futile. If we succumb to the temptation of using violence in this struggle for justice, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate life of bitterness, and his chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.

And there is still a voice crying into the vista of time saying to every potential Peter put up your sword. And history is replete with the bleached bones of nations and communities that failed to follow this command."

[rosesaylavee]

26. "How will the struggle for justice be waged?"

Thanks JG - love the quotes on this thread.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

37. with strength! what is strength? here are a couple of ideas...

Aside from physical attributes like muscles and armored-weapons of war; what is strength?


The Trumpet of Conscience (1968)
"We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in _____ and for justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight."

Two primary attributes of real strength are courage and patience

on violence:
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one -- even at the cost of your life."

on patience:
"An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds." <JG note: indeed, let us not judge or act too quickly but is doing nothing an option?> "Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always. You must be the change you want to see in the world."

on courage:
"Better far than cowardice is killing and being killed in battle. A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history. Adaptability is not imitation. An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Breach of promise is a base surrender of truth. It means power of resistance and assimilation. A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble. A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave."

on strength:
"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love. They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them. It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err. Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

~Mahatma Gandhi~


--Martin Luther King, Jr.


Pilgrimage to Nonviolence in Strength to Love (1958)

"More recently I have come to see the need for the method of nonviolence in international relations. Although I was not yet convinced of its efficacy in conflicts between nations, I felt that while war could never be a positive good, it could serve as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force. War, horrible as it is, might be preferable to surrender to a totalitarian system. But now I believe that the potential destructiveness of modern weapons totally rules out the possibility of war ever again achieving a negative good. If we assume that mankind has a right to survive then we must find an alternative to war and destruction. Don't ever let anyone pull you so low as to hate them. We must use the weapon of love. We must have the compassion and understanding for those who hate us. We must realize so many people are taught to hate us that they are not totally responsible for their hate. But we stand in life at midnight; we are always on the threshold of a new dawn."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

[rosesaylavee]

39. You are inspired today

Go JG Go. Your heart will carry you and those that walk with you on the 27th far. Thanks for the wise words and encouragement on this post.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

41. I hope DU at least credits me with daring. I just added my humble words to those above in an OP:::

Here are my microscopic musings -- among giant teachings of wisdom:



Media teaches us to love our neighbor and hate our enemies. But I say to you, love your enemies, especially those who persecute us. If we love only those that love us, we become our own worst enemy. If we combat injustice with crime; what inner peace will we attain? It is time for someone to take a higher road. Can we depend on those blinded by hatred to show us the path? Fear has only one opposite: Replace fear with faith. We must have faith that even a few protesters can create real change. Will you be one of them? Keep the faith my friends. It is our real strength and the true path to peace.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3164790

[roody]

12. I'll protest in California, but I don't know where.

I don't see a march in SF.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

23. I bet there's something in SF. also there are rides from there to DC. More MLK quotes...

Ironacally this quote pertains to roody's post and was next in line! How's that for Karma!

The reason I can' t follow the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy is that it ends up leaving everyone blind. Somebody must have sense and somebody must have religion. I remember some years ago, my brother and I were driving from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee. And for some reason the drivers that night were very discourteous or they were forgetting to dim their lights. And finally A.D. looked over at me and he said, 'I'm tired of this now, and the next car that comes by here and refuses to dim the lights, I'm going to refuse to dim mine.' I said, 'Wait a minute, don't do that. Somebody has to have some sense on this highway.' And I'm saying the same thing for us here in Birmingham. We are moving up a mighty highway toward the city of Freedom. There will be meandering points. There will be curves and difficult moments, and we will be tempted to retaliate with the same kind of force that the opposition will use. But I'm going to say to you, 'Wait a minute, Birmingham. Somebody's got to have some sense in Birmingham."


--Martin Luther King, Jr., 3 May 1963

PS, this post also applies to me! If Anyone needs a ride from B'ham. and wants to share expenses, PM me! i'm seriously considering making this trip in my new little fuel-saver (49MPG). Exxon can drill that MPG right down their dry-hole!

[Der Blaue Engel]

13. K'd and R'd

[Jeffersons Ghost]

29. thanks blue angel... more quotes by Dr King... including "GOT MLK?"...

"We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in _____ and for justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight."

--Martin Luther King, Jr., "CONSCIENCE AND THE VIETNAM WAR" in The Trumpet of Conscience (1968)

[SusanaMontana41]

14. A kick for Code Pink,

DU and every American who voted to stop this insane war. :kick:

Wish I could be in D.C. with you.

[Leopolds Ghost]

15. Here's a group that is organizing a concert on that day in DC.

http://www.allourpower.org

http://www.myspace.com/allourpower

[calimary]

19. Consider this kicked and recommended!

I wish I could go.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

43. thanks for the K&R and I'm also giving you permission to go! lol

[The Traveler]

21. Recommended

Go get 'em.

[malaise]

24. K & R n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

57. thanks traveler!

[bonito]

25. K&R n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

59. thanks bonito

[stellanoir]

27. 25th rec

[Jeffersons Ghost]

60. thanks stella...

[nam78_two]

28. K&R.nt

[helderheid]

31. RECOMMEND #30!

[bleever]

32. K&R #33.

Go get 'em!

[Pooka Fey]

33. K&R

[Warren Stupidity]

34. Kick everything that even mentions DC 1-27-07

The buzz is that this march is going to be big. Lets do everything we can to make it even bigger.

[Jcrowley]

35. Kick

[toadzilla]

36. kick n/t

[133724]

38. One of the best threads I have ever seen at DU

[The Straight Story]

40. Kicking for ya my friend! (nt)

[Jeffersons Ghost]

42. kick DU member "fooj" VERSION OF SAME CONTINUING POST TONIGHT PLEASE!

[The Straight Story]

58. aye aye capin :) (nt)

[Swamp Rat]

44. k&r

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[WiseButAngrySara]

46. KNRand bless you for your efforts! How many are expected?..n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

50. a new one with the same title every night! the first person to K&R them...

gets to sponsor the next COMMUNAL DU CODEPINK OP!

[WiseButAngrySara]

51. LOL! I meant how many people are expected to show up in

DC, not how many posts can we expect! (but your efforts are so appreciated, and if I'm online I'll help kick 'em.) I've heard thousands are expected to protest in DC, but that was M$M ...maybe 10's of 1,000s? Wishful thinking anyway. Wish I could be there, but we'll be following it online at DU!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

54. it's looking pretty strong because of help like your kicks! thanks sara

[WiseButAngrySara]

48. Just made #50 Rec! and another kick! ....n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

49. please get ready for it's sequel... appearing soon at a DU near you! lol

[WiseButAngrySara]

52. And here's post #50! I made rec # 50, now post #50! ....n/t

[eridani]

53. I remember making copies of that poster in 1967

A real blast from the past--when will we be able to retire it for good?

[NNN0LHI]

55. The Code Pink people work hard and seem dedicated

My hat is off to them.

Don

[pennylane100]

56. Kick

and recommend

[NMMNG]

61. I can't be there but I'll kick this thread n/t

[Tellurian]

62. CodePink Rules!

K&R

:kick: