Since August 10, I have received emails from MoveOn.org, and many of their partners in the "60 Days to Stop a War"action--encouraging me to advocate FOR the Iran deal in our communities, and with our elected Representatives.
War. What. Is. It. Good. For?
Every Congressional/Senate Representative needs to ask this . . . and come up with an educated, and well researched answer, and make a choice-- FOR diplomacy, or FOR war. . .
IF not NOW, WHEN....will we EVER have this chance to see each other as human beings, and work together for a lasting peace? Have we not seen more than enough of war?
In November of 2002, I directed Aristophanes' anti-war play, Lysistrata, on a college campus in central Kansas. We had a week long schedule of anti-war films, poetry readings from Vietnam veterans, and a 'Peace Wall' --formatted after the John Lennon Peace Wall in Prague --in the Theater lobby, upon which students and others could comment on the movement --for, or against, the war to be engaged with Iraq (we were already at war with Afghanistan).
Well, that had little to no effect upon what would happen in the spring of 2003. In the years following, I wrote my own updated adaptation of Aristophanes' play, Liz's Stratagem--which highlights the tragic loss of war upon women, children, our soldiers, the millions of refugees made homeless.
As the ongoing wars swelled, and subsided, the seemingly useless pages were put on the shelf. But with the rise of each new aggression in the Middle East--the demise of the Arab Spring and return to dictatorships, the conflicts in Lybia, Syria; the senseless raids of Boco Haram; the rise of ISIL, etc., I unearthed my writings, dusted them off. . . were these renewed ancient writings really useful?
I didn't realize that it was really my inner being that I was polishing, reviving. I continuously fought against further calls for escalating war actions, advocating diplomacy.
President Obama, thankfully, did not commit us to further aggressions--and held true to his agreement to withdraw troops, even though drone strikes continue, often harming more civilians than aggressors.
Still, the global explosion of violence continues, a bane and grief to all.
In the midst of all this, I became a supporter of Global Zero--an international peace organization that calls for total disarmament of nuclear weapons. In addition to the emails from Moveon.org, I also received a call from the Global Zero activists to present a petition to my local Congressman, Vern Buchanan, requesting that he support the Iran Deal. I agreed. They sent me a 2 x 4 facsimile of 'selfies' taken by activists worldwide--why they supported "the deal": . . .which I and a fellow activist presented to Congressman Buchanan's staff.
Yesterday, Minoo and I entered the Congressman's office. We were greeted very cordially by the staff, and were listened to very respectfully. I told them I was a constituent, communicated the mission of Global Zero, and outlined the response from thousands of people around the globe in support of the Iran deal. Then I mentioned that my fellow activist, Minoo, who is now an American citizen, was born in Iraq, and was there during the Iran/Iraq war in the 1980's. . .she was/is a refugee. . .almost 35 years later. . .is there a chance for accord, for peace, what are we waiting for?
Please, call your Senators, Congressmen--We may never pass this way again: Congressional Switchboard 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121.
Let us send a message --not just of 34 voices overriding a veto--but a strong vote of conscience by all who have the courage to speak out and be counted--to save the humanity still left within each of us.
SENATE DEMS DEMOCRATS - LEANING YES
(1)Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
Senate DEMOCRATS – UNCLEAR/UNDECIDED (10)
Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.)
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.)
Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.)
REPUBLICANS – LEANING NO (13)
Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)
Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.)
Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.)
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine)
Sen. Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Sen. Mike Enzi (Wyo.)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah)
Sen. Dean Heller (Nev.)
Sen. Mike Lee (Utah)
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.)
Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.)
Sen. Mike Rounds (S.D.)
Sen. John Thune (S.D.) . . .
Congressional Whip Count
Yes: 87
Leaning Yes:
12Rep. Sanford Bishop (Ga.)
Rep. Joaquín Castro (Texas)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.)
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (Calif.)
Rep. Chaka Fattah (Pa.)
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas)
Rep. Robin Kelly (Ill.) R
ep. Derek Kilmer (Wash.)
Rep. Rick Larsen (Wash.)
Rep. Bill Pascrell (N.J.)
Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.)
Rep. Terri Sewell (Ala.)
LEANING NO (2)
Rep. Brad Ashford (Neb.)
Rep. Alan Grayson (Fla.)
UNCLEAR/UNDECIDED (73)
Rep. Alma Adams (N.C.)
Rep. Peter Aguilar (Calif.)
Rep. Joyce Beatty (Ohio)
Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.)
Rep. Ami Bera (Calif.)
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.)
Rep. Robert Brady (Pa.)
Rep. Corrine Brown (Fla.)
Rep. Tony Cardenas (Calif.)
Rep. John Carney (Del.)
Rep. Matthew Cartwright (Pa.)
Rep. Kathy Castor (Fla.)
Rep. Judy Chu (Calif.)
Rep. David Cicilline (R.I.)
Rep. Lacy Clay (Mo.)
Rep. Jim Cooper (Tenn.)
Rep. Jim Costa (Calif.)
Rep. Joseph Crowley (N.Y.)
Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas)
Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.)
Rep. John Delaney (Md.)
Rep. Suzan DelBene (Wash.)
Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.)
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.)
Rep. Bill Foster (Ill.)
Rep. Lois Frankel (Fla.)
Rep. Marcia Fudge (Ohio)
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii)
Rep. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.)
Rep. Gwen Graham (Fla.)
Rep. Al Green (Texas)
Rep. Gene Green (Texas)
Rep. Janice Hahn (Calif.)
Rep. Brian Higgins (N.Y.)
Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.)
Rep. Jared Huffman (Calif.)
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.)
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio)
Rep. Bill Keating (Mass.)
Rep. Ron Kind (Wis.)
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.)
Rep. Jim Langevin (R.I.)
Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.)
Rep. Daniel Lipinski (Ill.)
Rep. Dave Loebsack (Iowa)
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.)
Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (N.M.)
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.)
Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (N.H.)
Rep. Grace Napolitano (Calif.)
Rep. Richard Neal (Mass.)
Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.)
Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Rep. Jared Polis (Colo.)
Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.)
Rep. Charles Rangel (N.Y.)
Rep. Cedric Richmond (La.)
Rep. Raul Ruiz (Calif.)
Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger (Md.)
Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio)
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (Calif.)
Rep. John Sarbanes (Md.)
Rep. Kurt Schrader (Ore.)
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)
Rep. Mark Takai (Hawaii)
Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.)
Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.)
Rep. Norma Torres (Calif.)
Rep. Marc Veasey (Texas)
Rep. Filemon Vela (Texas)
Rep. Pete Visclosky (Ind.)
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.)
Rep. Frederica Wilson (Fla.)