• • • • Granny Peace Brigade • • • •

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)

Nine of us here today. It’s hot in the sun, but the terrible heat of earlier in the week has lifted. We set up a table in the shade of a tree. We’re ready to meet people as they come along, up from the subway or across the square during a lunch break. We have our quarter-sheets to hand out, giving people the facts and the numbers to call.

photo - Caroline Chinlund

Beautifully lettered on his sidewalk billboard Owen has chalked:
4096 U.S. Soldiers Dead.
Call Congress: 800-828-0498
A note of tragedy
A note of hope

This is the week of the vote on the supplemental military funding bill. Our messages: No more $ for war. Diplomacy, not war with Iran. Impeach Bush There’s also our campaign to get the NYC City Council to hold hearings on the use of tax $ to fund JROTC classes in high schools.

Calls to representatives are our focus. We have encounters! We win a few and lose a few.

Caroline’s favorite: Amy, resting in the shade after a job interview. She’s new in town. Lives in Brooklyn. We look up her Congressional Rep in The League of Women Voters of NYC (lwvnyc.org) Directory “They Represent You.” It’s Jerrold Nadler. She calls the Congressional switchboard, asks for Nadler’s office and uses the cue card Caroline wears around her neck to pace her conversation with Nadler’s staffer. Amy’s used to relating to her representatives. She’s moved from Cleveland and Dennis Kucinich was her Congressman! She lived near his office and used to drop in. We agree, he’s our hero. Check out his latest heroic act, of defending the U.S. Constitution, 35 Articles of Impeachment for President Bush,and Vice-President Cheney. (Did you know? He wasn’t covered by any major news media) Read the scoop in Gore Vidal’s article at truthdig.

Here’s Eva-Lee’s review of the day:
I got off to a good start with two phone calls right away and then didn’t get any more. Both callers said “Don’t fund the war” and “Impeach both Bush and Cheney.” They had taken the time to use the League of Women Voters NYC book to look up their representatives. A lot of people walked by with their noses in the air, but there were others who thanked us for being there, even though they didn’t stop and make the call. One man took flyers promising to call later. He walked about 20 yards away, turned and came back with tears in his eyes. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you are out here doing this,” he said. “My son is in the navy.” He turned and walked away slowly.

photo - Caroline Chinlund

Barbara W had several intense conversations, and some were painful. Here’s how she sums it up: I believe that it is important to let those we encounter who say our military are killing only “the bad guys” (this was said!) or who see only a stereotyped Iraqi, know that there is, for example, the old head of a family who is scared out of his wits by the soldiers busting into his home in the middle of the night, the school principal who goes into his school to open the door for our soldiers and appears at the door – Middle East hospitality style – with the tray of tea. I sometimes hear myself quoting (to a person who approves of our entry into Iraq) the veteran Mejia who said at the Winter Soldier session earlier this year “We went across the ocean to brutalize a country that had done nothing to us.”

Phyllis reports:
I spoke with a woman from France, and then another, and a woman from Russia, all of them supporting us. Then a young man who was hawking coupons for discount membership at an Equinox exercise place. I asked if we could exchange flyers and he exclaimed, “You ladies are giving out more important things than I am. It’s really good.” He did take our flyer. In talking, I found out that he was not registered to vote, although he had been in the city for more than 6 months. I encouraged him to get registered and vote in the coming elections, and gave him a registration form.

Barbara H:
Maybe people should know about the opposition messages, i.e. “I like the war, we are winning, we’re safer, not many deaths now”, to let people know why we must be out there to speak to those who only get the Rush Limbaugh message.

Well, we’re not quitting. Check the calendar on the Granny Peace Brigade home page for the date and location of our next Phone-a-thon. Join us if you can. No cellphone, no problem.

- Caroline Chinlund with Eva-Lee, Owen, Edith, Barbara H, Phyllis, Fran, Barbara W, Caroline, Kathy

Oh, how were we challenged Thursday, June 5 in Brooklyn! The park surrounding Brooklyn Borough Hall and the Court Building was saturated with folks attending Brooklyn Day, a pro-Atlantic Yards rally, sponsored by the Forest City Ratner Corporation, a NYC real estate developer with a taste for using eminent domain for their own gain. A reported 3500 were in attendance with many bussed-in (union members and senior citizens), although the crowd was far more interested in a free lunch than Frank Gehrey’s ‘vision’. (Note to Forest City Ratner Corp: the next time you stage one of these extravaganzas, try to order enough food. Hungry people are cranky people.)

When we finally found each other, we relegated ourselves to a place somewhat away from the crowd, and set up our “information table” at the foot of the statue of another dubious achiever, the ‘great discoverer of our country,” Christopher Columbus. The noise, constant cacophony of many decibels was unnerving and almost unbearable — the unanimous winner for truly ear-shattering rhetoric most certainly had to be awarded to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

In spite of all, we were determined to apprise folks about NYC taxes supporting military curriculum in our high schools. Some people found it “shocking” that, just as school budgets were being cut, tax money was supporting JROTC. One gentleman questioned whether the New York City Council had any power to effect change, was encouraged to ask his council person’s representative, did so, and reported that City Council can effect change. Connie, our colleague from Brooklyn for Peace, brought along material for distribution including “Some Objections to JROTC” from California’s Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, which provided effective “talking points” and was well received.

People often engaged us in lengthy conversation, occasionally preventing us from reaching more people.* A group of teenagers found it to be unbelievable that they could call an elected representative’s office and, even with our encouragement and peer daring, didn’t engage in doing so. A young woman with three children, who works for the New York City Board of Education, took flyers and printed materials saying that she was going to bring them to a teacher’s meeting in her school. She requested additional information to be sent and left her contact information. When a caller to City Councilperson Robert Jackson (Chair, Education Committee) requested a public hearing, she was informed that the office had received 46 calls requesting a public hearing on NYC taxes for JROTC and 6, from students, against a hearing (time frame was not stipulated but we are assuming that it was recent).

Owen and Maxie chalked messages on the sidewalk concerning our Phone-a-thon focus and the number of U.S. troop deaths in Iraq, 4091 to date. A counter-chalker wrote that we were liers however, it did not deter us. The Phone-a-thon was considered by all, worthwhile and a success.

*The Granny Peace Brigade & CodePink NYC need more volunteers to talk with folks who are interested in learning about “what’s going on” concerning U.S. militarism at home and abroad. The tax levy funds for JROTC seems to be a really “hot issue” and we need to spread the word with other peace groups, encouraging a City Council Public Hearing for full disclosure and hopefully, a change in policy. So…

…JOIN US AT THE PHONE-A-THONS!

Phyllis Cunningham & Fran Sears with Caroline, Ann, Joan P., Carol, Maxie (Carol’s grandson), Owen, and Connie (Brooklyn for Peace)

FROM THE GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE, CODEPINK, AND RAGING GRANNIES

Coats are off, the day is warm, people are sailing by in Union Square. Ten of us today, from Granny Peace Brigade, Code Pink, Raging Grannies and their Daughters and a new recruit, Carla from Chelsea United for Peace and Justice.

We’re all seizing the occasion of “Iraq Call-In Day” to get people to step up and make a call to Congress, right here and now. Agenda: Saying NO to Bush’s request for $102 billion more for Iraq. Co-sponsoring Lynn Woolsey’s HR 5507 and safely bring the troops home.

In their fine hats, Mercy, Lillian and Corinne are singing Raging Grannies songs. In between numbers, they call their representatives. We get a nice photo of them with Emma, whose outfit is also irresistible.

Film crews catch us, young men are asking for Granny Peace Brigade buttons. The voters are with us, it’s just the government that needs to know. Phyllis gets a call from Hillary Clinton thanking her for all the calls and letters and saying she’s finally realizing the war was a mistake…but it’s Barbara, joking. Oh, well, soon…

Charlotte greets people exiting the subway: “Tell your Congressman where you want your tax dollars to go!” She meets a guy who takes the flier and then tells her, “I’m a single parent..it just isn’t working right now.” He’s come from a labor meeting.

One of Caroline’s callers is Richard. He looks like he’s dressed for a job interview. He calls Rangel, identifies himself as a resident of a shelter in the district. His message about how he wants his tax dollars spent is loud and clear.

Phyllis talks with a woman who is a documented resident living in Queens. She says, “I pay taxes. Can’t I call?” Phyllis asks another woman, “Are you from New York?” She turns out to be from Sweden, visiting. Reaching for the leaflet, she replies : “NO, but I can read!”

A couple is picking up the flier at the table near Eva-Lee. The woman looks down at the flier. Eva-Lee thinks she’s reading, so she asks the husband, “Are you ready to call?” He says, “She’s making the call right now” and he is right. She is punching it in at lightning speed. He knows his wife.

Lots of thumbs up, many people taking Charlotte, Owen, Anne, and Phyllis’ literature with phone number of the Capitol switchboard. We hand out all the fliers we bring today! So we are assuming that those intentions are percolating all over town. Springtime! Seeds will sprout. Actual on the spot calls, 25 or so today.

Join us. Check the calendar at www.grannypeacebrigade.org for the date of our next Phonathon.

- Caroline Chinlund with Lillian, Mercy, Corinne, Carla, Phyllis, Eva-Lee, Charlotte, Anne and Owen

- Photos by Caroline Chinlund

It is not an easy business, standing on a street corner with a pink foam crown on your head, waving a cell phone and a passel of leaflets, trying to talk jaded New Yorkers into calling up their members of Congress. Maybe its the time of year, maybe its an Endless War combined with an Endless Election, or maybe its a shaky economy — but a whole lot of folks just aren’t interested. But then there are those other moments:

Three men from three different generations. Each one against the war, one a veteran. Each one articulates his position with passion. The veteran recently home from Iraq thanks us. The father of the soldier now serving in Iraq thanks us. He tells us his son wasn’t thinking about the war when he enlisted. “Eighteen-year-olds don’t think ahead.” The seventeen-year-old student, calls his representative, “Did you ask us if we wanted to go to war?” He tells us that although he is against this war he plans to enlist.

A young woman - right off the pages of W - stops at the table. She wants to buy a button and wants to know if she can take some of our fliers back to her office. We are, she tells us, an inspiration. She presses an Andy Jackson on us, “for your work.”

Random gaggles of high schoolers who stop to talk — in particular the group that swarmed Eva Lee for information - dropping their studied ennui to engage in spirited discussion.

Those hard-working New Yorkers - cab drivers, bike messengers, and delivery guys and gals - who work so hard to service all the ’swells.’ Most of the time, they are too busy to stop for a call, but they smile, give us the thumbs up and tell us to “keep on keeping on.” A lot of them take our fliers, they always leave us with a smile. When they tell us they are going to call later, we believe them.

To all of these folks, thank you so much! And for those fellow citizens who walk right past us, be warned, you’re on our agenda and we will be back! We’re not going to stop until we get everybody talking.

- Fran Sears

P.S. The Granny Peace Brigade joins the Raging Grannies (to sing) and Grandmothers Against the War (to vigil) and we welcome women and men of all ages to work with us for peace. Check the Granny Peace Brigade website for a calendar of events.

That’s what we’ve been asking people to say at our Phone-A-Thons recently. It’s not easy. We stand on a busy sidewalk and ask passersby to call Congress on the spot using our cell phones. (You can find a Phone-A-Thon recipe here.) The amazing thing is that some people actually do stop and make the call. A few of us have gotten hooked on this grassroots action because of these lovely, shy, first-time callers.

There was the man who had just become a citizen and was carrying his papers home. He took the time to make a call to his senator. His message: Stop the war by stopping the funding. It wasn’t so much what he said, as the look of quiet pride on his face as he closed the phone at the end of the call. On another day, a police officer had been watching over us for an hour and a half. As we were packing up, he came up to us and said he had served in the Army in Afghanistan. Then he thanked us and told us we were doing a good thing.

A lot of people are afraid when they make that first call to Congress. They know what they want – to end the occupation of Iraq and get the troops home safely, but they can hardly get the words out. So we have scripts to help them. We hit the streets in May 2007 with “Stop the war by stopping the funding. Fund only the safe withdrawal of the troops.” We also tried “Support House Resolution 333 to impeach Vice President Cheney.” That one didn’t go over so well. People didn’t want to say it, so we dropped it for a while. Then in August we brought it out again and people were ready. They said, “Yes! Impeach them both!” over and over again.

In February we launched a new message. We’d been following a lively debate on the United For Peace and Justice legislative discussion list and decided to add filibuster to our message because:

41 Senators can end the occupation of Iraq.

Then we began our struggle to get a script that would work at Phone-A-Thons. We sent a message to the UFPJ legislative list asking for a simple script. David Swanson of After Downing Street sent an excellent one - the basis of our new flyer downloadable from our Phone-A-Thon page.
“Commit now to filibustering any bill that funds the occupation of Iraq.”
“And, announce publicly you will vote NO on cloture on any such bill.”

The flyer is great for some people but the script is too hard for others, so we wrote another that we wear on our chests:

1. Tell them who you are.
2. Tell the senator to filibuster any bill that funds the war in Iraq.
3. And, tell the senator to vote NO on cloture on any such bill.
4. 41 senators can stop the war by stopping the funding.

We must add one line. “Fund only the safe withdrawal of the troops.” People tell us they are afraid of what would happen to the troops if Congress just stopped the funding. And we may have to take out the “Vote NO on cloture” line. People are tripping over it.

Okay now try saying very fast five times:
“Tell the senator to commit now to filibustering any bill that funds the occupation of Iraq.”

Ready to make the call? Congressional switchboard toll free - 800-828-0498

YouTube video: “Senators, Please Filibuster War Spending Bills”

We can use all the help we can get. Courteous comments will be appreciated.

- Eva-Lee Baird,

Legislative Campaign Committee, Granny Peace Brigade

The sun is out and so are the skateboarders. There is a beat of leisure in the steps of the lunch-bound crowd. Barbara W stops by on her way to round up support and supplies for next Wednesday’s KNIT-IN. Edith has her table and Eva-Lee is packing a camera. Caroline, jet-lagged but glowing from her trip to Iran, Phyllis, Barbara H, Owen and Fran are on hand. Our table is a rainbow of colors - pink, green, orange, yellow and blue leaflets flutter in the breeze. It’s Phone-A-Thon time!

A big man, with a sweet smile and calloused hands stops by. He shyly informs us that he just became a citizen and will vote this November for the first time. He has moved, and we help connect him with his new congressperson. A squad car cruises by and stops. A woman in an EMS jacket stops to talk. She is a 9/11 survivor and is now on disability with a bad case of asthma and worse post-traumatic stress syndrome. She is furious that her pain - and the pain and loss of so many others - was manipulated into this terrible war.

A Brooklynite with attitude to spare makes calls to both senators - informing them that neither one has a ‘blank check’ and it is time to bring some relief to our local communities. Impeachment is something that resonates with this crowd. We also note that the cost of war is on people’s minds and the concepts of filibuster and cloture filibuster are gaining steam. That squad car is still there, so never one to miss an opportunity, Phyllis engages the officers in conversation and persuades one of them to take some of our literature.

As we start to pack up and head out for some chow, a woman with a worn face introduces herself. Her son is on his second tour of duty in Iraq. On his first tour, his vehicle was destroyed in a roadside bomb. Four men in his unit were killed. He was left with a limp and the loss of hearing in one ear. In spite of these injuries, he was called back and now she is holding her breath, waiting for this tour to be over in six weeks. When the war comes home to us like this, it’s hard to breathe.

Over lunch, we mull the day. Calls were made; folks were engaged. But we were also struck with how many people - especially young folks - seem indifferent. With a bit of probing, what we heard was an undercurrent of disgust and distrust. The endless carping and squabbling amongst ‘presidential’ candidates topped with the tawdry news from the Governor’s office has spawned a terrible malaise that manifests itself with a wry “what difference does it make” attitude.

So it’s time to roll out the Granny Power. Put on your t-shirt, pin on those buttons and get out there and engage anyone you can in discussion. We Grannies can’t allow for any “Citizen Drop-Outs”. And please plan to join us on Wednesday, March 19 either here in NYC or in Washington to mark the fifth anniversary of this illegal and immoral war.

KNIT-IN FOR PEACE • Wednesday, March 19 • Noon
IN NYC:
Times Square Recruitment Center
7th Avenue between 43rd & 44th Streets
IN WASHINGTON, DC:
Veterans Affairs Office
810 Vermont Ave

Not a knitter? No problem! We have a full program planned with room for any and all participation. So come join us. Now, more than ever, we need to ‘keep on keeping on’ and show the world that ‘Democracy is not a spectator sport!’

To our sisters who are taking the KNIT-IN to Washington, travel safe, get a good night’s sleep, then get out there and show your stuff! We will look forward to hearing all the details on your return and know you all will be in our thoughts as we rally in Times Square. How wonderful it is to know so many others around the country are rallying in solidarity in their own cities. Hopefully, these folks will be sending us their stories so we can share our experiences and learn more for the next wave.

In Peace…and action,

The Legislative Committee & Friends
Fran Sears with, Eva-Lee, Phyllis, Caroline, Barbara H, Edith, Barbara W., Molly and Owen

P.S. The Granny Peace Brigade joins the Raging Grannies (to sing) and Grandmothers Against the War (to vigil) and we welcome women and men of all ages to work with us for peace. Check the Granny Peace Brigade website for a calendar of events.

Hey, this January Congress passed a law with a section that said there should be no permanent bases in Iraq and the Iraqis should control the oil. Yes, they tucked this lovely section (1222*) into the defense appropriation bill. Maybe our senators and representatives noticed our “No Blood for Oil” signs.

So how’s this law doing? It’s not doing well, at all. As a matter of fact, it is in tatters, in shreds; it’s a wreck. President Bush signed the bill, but he issued a signing statement saying the “no permanent bases” part doesn’t count. Congress says no permanent bases and the president says no way.

But doesn’t the Constitution of the United States say that Congress writes the laws? If a president starts writing them, isn’t it time to call in the constitutional lawyers?

On January 30 the editors of the “New York Times” wrote about this signing statement attached to the defense appropriation bill:

“It’s glaringly obvious why Mr. Bush rejected the fourth provision, which states that none of the money authorized for military purposes may be used to establish permanent military bases in Iraq.

“It is more evidence, as if any were needed, that Mr. Bush never intended to end this war, and that he still views it as the prelude to an unceasing American military presence in Iraq.”

It is time to send a message to the next president that we the people expect to get our Constitution back. Call your Representative and tell him/her to impeach Dick Cheney and George Bush. Toll free number for Congressional Offices (800) 828-0498.

- Eva-Lee Baird

*Section 1222 of the defense appropriation bill enacted this January: “No funds appropriated pursuant to an authorization of appropriations in this Act may be obligated or expended for a purpose as follows:
“(1) To establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq.
“(2) To exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.”

P.S. The Granny Peace Brigade joins the Raging Grannies (to sing) and Grandmothers Against the War (to vigil) and we welcome women and men of all ages to work with us for peace. Check the Granny Peace Brigade website for a calendar of events.