• • • • Granny Peace Brigade • • • •

The Major media is too busy glorying in a mud-wrestling match between the Obama camp and the Clinton mob to report anything at the convention with serious content. In his speech Tuesday night Dennis Kucinich gave a straight dose of what people need to hear; the convention crowd was cheering every line.

For all the media attention it got, he might as well be speaking to himself.  The Granny Peace Brigade says, get the real deal here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4EN7ibO1ec

- Fran, Caroline, Phyllis & Eva-Lee

Dear friends,

August 26th is the 2nd day of the Democratic National Convention.
August 26th is the day the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920. August 26th has become known as Women’s Equality Day but what does equality mean in a world of endless war? What does equality mean in a world without peace for without peace there can be no development of the economic, social, political structures necessary for any true equality. Equality for millions to be bombed to death in Iraq? Equality to starve in the US, equality to be homeless in the US because that is the equality women and their families in the US face today because ten billion dollars a month is squandered in an illegal war and occupation of Iraq.

We grandmothers have marched, trekked, sat in, sat down, protested, demonstrated, by foot and by bus we trekked to ten different cities and eventually wound up in DC where we personally met with 100 senators urging, pleading, cajoling, asking them to end the war in Iraq and still the killing goes on. It is a false patriotism that waves a flag and lures over 4000 of our finest and bravest young men and women to their deaths.

That is why we of the Granny Peace Brigade march today with our Platform for Peace with our Planks that differ from the planks in Denver.

Five years of war is too much.
Five years is enough.

NO TO WAR
YES TO PEACE
TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ NOW
CONTRACTORS OUT OF IRAQ
DON’T ATTACK IRAN
RECRUITERS OUT OF SCHOOLS
NO MORE FOREIGN BASES
NO NUKES

-Vinie Burrows

BEWARE THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX:  Granny Peace Brigade Planksters take to the streets and run into a corporate buzz-saw.

A special memo to Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, & Brian Williams.

While we Grannies are deeply troubled by the loss of journalistic integrity, we still have hopes that this once proud profession can be restored to former glory and we’re always more than happy to lend a helping hand to our friends in the Fourth Estate.  We think you all do try to resist the pulls and pressures of your corporate masters at NBC/MSNBC — specifically those folks from General Electric.  In fact, we had our own confrontation with some representatives from your parent company today and knowing how busy you all are out in Denver, we wanted to fill you in.

This morning at 10AM the Granny Peace Brigade, with assistance from our dear friend, legendary civil rights & civil liberties lawyer, Norman Siegel, and members of the Raging Grannies, Grandmothers Against the War and Veterans Against the War, rallied at the Military Recruitment Center at Times Square to hold a press conference and then walk our ‘peace planks’ to the NYC headquarters of the Democratic National Convention.

It is our intention to keep a program for peace and smart, effective diplomacy on the front political burner and today is one of many actions we will be staging in the weeks leading up to the election.

The Times Square Recruitment Center is the birthplace of the Granny Peace Brigade, so we have a certain proprietary interest in what happens here.  Imagine our delight when we arrived this morning to find a built-in crowd — the place was crawling with youngsters in red polo shirts, passing out promotional materials.  Brightly colored laundry was strung high above Times Square and looming in front of the recruitment center were two huge inflated red cubes that we were informed were meant to replicate a new generation of GE “Profile” appliances — in this case, a clothes washer and dryer.

As we started to assemble on the north portion of the area for our own action, we started to get some fishy looks from some of the ’suits’ in charge of the GE event.

We are not going to dignify the conduct of these corporate representatives with exact quotes.  Suffice to say they were unpleasant and in a couple of instances abusive.  In the eyes of these people, it appears that commerce trumps the right to peaceful assembly.  A little constitutional awareness and sensitivity training might be something GE might want to incorporate into their employee training.  While the NYPD officers at the scene found no reason to curtail our action, the GE reps were thoroughly outraged.  Someone needs to explain the concept of ‘public space’ to these people.  As we marched off with our banners, planks and signs, a few of the reps went out of their way to make our exit less than smooth, and a couple of them engaged in some rather unpleasant verbiage.  Strong opinions and criticism is something we grannies are used to, however it doesn’t often come wrapped in a corporate logo.

But speaking of logos — part of the corporate swag getting passed out today were big red tote bags with the familiar GE monogram and the legend: “fuhgeddaboudit”.  After we finished up at DNC headquarters, we took a look at the stuff in the bottom of the bag.  We found some free samples and a pamphlet describing the new appliances that GE is promoting so heavily.  It seems this handsome laundry room pair has been manufactured to Energy Star standards - certainly a good thing - however, the other distinguishing innovation is that the new GE ‘Profile’ washer can store up to six months worth of laundry detergent.  Now that’s something that should truly enhance the quality of life for generations to come.  And for this convenience, the price tag is a mere $3466!  We grannies would like to remind GE that the very best way to reduce our carbon footprint is to reduce what we buy.  $3466 for a washer/dryer duo?  Like it says on the tote bag, FUHGEDDABOUTIT!

Okay, Rachel, Chris, Keith & Brian — work hard, work true and stop by at one of our actions.

The Granny Peace Brigade is on the move and we’ll let you know when we are in your neighborhood.

- Frans Sears
- photos Eva-Lee Baird

House Congressional Resolution 362 - sponsored by Rep. Ackerman and co-sponsored by NYC Reps. Towns, Fossella, Weiner, Maloney, & Engel - evokes disappointment, fury, and phone calls from constituents.

Let the word go forth: the good people of New York City aren’t one bit happy with the language and intent of this nasty piece of business*. On Thursday, August 7th, several Grannies, CodePink women and members of Brooklyn for Peace set up shop at Brooklyn Borough Hall to sound the alarm and ask constituents to call their representatives and the response was so terrific, we went back for an encore on August 15th. Once again, Brooklyn welcomed us. Calls were made, conversations were started, voters were registered,

and here are a few of the moments we’ll certainly remember:

• On the 15th, our first call is made by that Politically Endangered Species, a man in a suit! As faithful followers of the phone-a-thoners may recollect, this is not our strongest constituent base and we hope this is the start of a trend.
• Two women from Yvette Clark’s district, giddy with excitement when they discovered ‘their girl’ missing from the Wall of Shame. “You just tell her we love her to bits and we’re proud of her,” they tell her office.
• A man shakes his head over Rep.Towns’ support of H. Con. Res.362. “The man came to my church,” he says. “He seemed like such a good man. What’s happening here?” We wonder the same thing.
• A young couple, just married in Borough Hall, pose for their wedding portraits right near our table. We offer them our congratulations, Granny buttons and we register the bride…to vote!

• A young mom from Anthony Weiner’s district drops by. Her small son has autism and it is a full-time job getting him the support he needs. She calls Weiner’s office, tells the staffer she wants to register her distress at the congressman’s support of H. Con. Res. 362, and wants to see him front-burner domestic issues for ‘real people’. The office hangs up on her. Note to Rep. Weiner: you’ve got one very angry constituent on your hands — and she is not about to keep quiet.
• We are told that Rep. Edolphus Towns and members of his staff were covertly checking out our table. If indeed this was the case, we sure are disappointed he didn’t want to engage us in some discussion.

Next Tuesday at 10AM we’ll be rallying at the Times Square Recruitment Center for a press conference and then marching to the Democratic National Committee headquarters here in NYC to present our peace planks for the national platform. Come and join us! And stay tuned — we’ll be coming to a neighborhood near you!

- Fran Sears
- photos, Eva-Lee Baird

*information on House Congressional Resolution #362

On July 31 members of CodePink NYC, the Granny Peace Brigade and the American Friends Service Committee held a tripartite demonstration in Foley Square, NYC. The AFSC brought material on the cost of war. The Granny Peace Brigade brought the Phone-A-Thon kit with flyers about H. Con. Res. 362* - the resolution gearing up for war on Iran. (Does anyone know who wrote H. CON. RES. 362? Not who sponsored it, but who wrote it which might not be the same person.)

CodePink brought shoes. Children’s shoes. My grandchildren’s outgrown shoes are in this “Walk in Their Shoes” display. Although it was a grim donation to make, my daughter gave the shoes with an open heart.

I can’t find my grandson’s shoes in the display but my granddaughter’s stand out. They are pink and very beat up after many trips to the playground, but the sparkles woven into the cloth still shine. There is a paper tag tied to them. On the tag is the name of a three-year-old Iraqi girl who was killed in the war. There is a tag with the name and age of an Iraqi victim on every pair of shoes in the display.

Stepping away from the phone-a-thon table from time to time to look at the “Walk in Their Shoes” display I pointed out my granddaughter’s shoes to passersby. I wondered aloud if the grandmother survived the event that took the child. I don’t have to wonder very much about a surviving grandmother’s agony.

Foley Square is a hurried place, not the best for a phone-a-thon, but the shoes caused busy people to stop in their tracks.

People took the time talk about the issues and some also made calls to their Representatives right then and there.

Tapping into hidden reserves of compassion and inspiring people to act - “Walk in Their Shoes” does that.

- Eva-Lee Baird, text and photos

* On August 1, 2008 261 Representatives were co-sponsoring H. Con. Res. 362 “Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the threat posed to international peace, stability in the Middle East…” Who wrote this dreadful piece of work? The four below have withdrawn.
Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 6/3/2008(withdrawn - 7/30/2008)
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 6/10/2008(withdrawn - 7/22/2008)
Rep Allen, Thomas H. [ME-1] - 6/11/2008(withdrawn - 7/22/2008)
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 6/17/2008(withdrawn - 7/9/2008)