I knew Cindy before she got all famous and it was unpopular to decry this sad farce of a Schlock & Offal war. We lived in Benicia, CA, were a small group of about a dozen of us had established regular weekly anti-war vigils starting the very day after Bush pushed his big-boy Red Button. We were a peaceful group who often faced spewing inarticulate heavy-breather males who would threaten, bellow, veer vehicles dangerously close as threatening weapons, and generally intimidate the mostly elderly female group. I was regularly thanked by the women for my presence as they indicated the nastiness was kept more remote and lower-key when a male was around.
Eventually, the stalwart efforts of a few to make signs and stand in gloomy winter weather drew ever-wider attention and we routinely saw guests trickle in from near and far. Cindy and her {then} husband would periodically drive in for the evening and my wee family got to meet them several times in the face of such adversity. It was always a pleasure and she has been a pillar of strength from the beginning.
She is made of a metal forged as no ne-er do-well son of a dynasty that thinks the CIA is their family business can match, and it's clear that George Bush's will is the brittle sort to shatter against her heat-tempered mettle. This perseverance is rapidly approaching the conviction and critical mass we've seen before in history: Martin Luther King and the merger of Civil Rights with Anti-War movements. When Camp Casey got fired up I was thrilled for Cindy and the boost she gave this effort - which cannot be underestimated. Her Covington, LA, re-directed efforts post-Katrina to help my dear New Orleans cemented the footing she stands on today and widened her appeal with practical applications seemingly beyond most established organizations.
While I admire the works of Thomas Jefferson for high ideals and impressive prose, as well as our Founders and Framers, I know in my heart the rough, spontaneous, and energetic push-back of Thomas Paine and his Common Sense describes my own place in current events. I've spent far too much of my life at the low end of the social totem pole resisting bullies to stand still when abuse is inflicted and I deservedly got the term hot-head around these otherwise peaceful gatherings: When young tuffs would slowly cruise down our little burgs' main drag in throaty hot-rods calling us traitors I made a point of pacing along and naming them cowards for letting someone else expand the Green Zone in their place. I know, not terribly Zen and all, but there is only so much cheek-turning a practical type like me can stomach before getting ill all over the meditation mat. Anyway, this would shut up knuckle-draggers right quick 'cept for the rev of their engines as they scoot away with tailpipe 'tween legs. Strapping lads who have no courage of conviction should not be lecturing {I use the term loosely} those with an internal strength they don't understand, yet envy.
My wiser-than-me wife broke the will of many reactionary knee-jerkers by dressing up as Miss America & waving a sign for World Peace: kinda-sorta hard to flip-off icons we've been ingrained to respect. We all need to think outside the box more and I applaud Cindy's latest effort before the White House to hold a hunger strike.
Watching her on Hardball last night was refreshing and demonstrated more tolerance of the picky sniping Noran O'Donnell displayed than I could have sat still for, and this is why she drives the Reich-Wing so ape-shit frustrated. They would rather spar with someone flavored feisty like myself and change the subject into a food-fight. The deflection Cindy routinely and almost unconsciously exhibits is something we can all learn from.
It has been clear for some time that MSNBC has little real interest in ratings and what the public thinks except how their efforts at mis- and re-direction succeed - for purposes I cannot ascertain from here. From canceling their number one show, Phil Donahue, for his openly anti-Iraq War stance and guests, to the senseless prattle that routinely spews across the sets of Hardball and other major networks clearly flies in the face of public opinion - which only grows firmer despite these shills' best efforts. I don't know who at Fox News it was that Noran wanted to impress for a job, but she certainly showed which side of her news-puppy belly she would roll over and play tricksy love-slut for. Crooks and Liars, and the other gleaning net services, is the only way I will tune this network. Gentle readers, I suggest the same and urge you to write your local station to tell them - they care more about ratings than the national broadcast head-ends demonstrate.
Remember this: to a media company the term Filler and Content is upside-down from what you and I consider. Filler is those shows we tune into, such as Lost -or- 24, whereas their term for Content is the commercial breaks they make the big bucks on. They are a long way from the Fourth Estate principles they are licensed under which demand they present important news and information to the public unable to peer into governmental and corporate activities.
Vigil Update: We've moved away from our Carquinez Straits friends, but the vigil continues unabated each and every week since the invasion & occupation of Iraq began. What started out an even 50-50 thumb-up -vs- flip-off drive-by feedback ratio is now firmly 20 to one against this war now. And growing.
Hooray, for our side!
- Jonathan Gibson -