• • • • Granny Peace Brigade • • • •

August 30:  Educational and career outreach, health information, and support groups for teens and families along with food, music, face painting and fun — City Council Rep, Melissa Mark Viverito sure knows how to throw a party.  Nydia, Judy, one Joan and both Barbaras are joined by our new friend, Kevin, from Brooklyn for Peace.  Our table is set up with stacks of Opt-Out forms, Truth in Recruiting information, information about alternative opportunities to the military and candy — lifesavers and lollipops.  Turns are taken holding down the table as the others fan out to engage the young participants and their parents.

We weave through the crowd, distributing the forms and starting conversations.  Several other organizations and their representatives are working the room, offering us opportunities for further networking including the Education Advocate from State Senator Jose Serrano’s office, the Executive Director of Peace on the Street, and representatives from the Center for Employment Opportunities, Harlem Drummers, CodePink and AmeriCorp dedicated activists who are all doing important are work with high school students on non-military educational and career options.

The crowd is lively, responsive and receptive to our message.  One thing is very clear, in the world of  “No Child Left Behind”, all too many parents and kids are not getting the facts about the Opt Out Option.  The vast majority of people we talk to - moms, dads and even their ‘too cool’ teenage offspring - are deeply grateful for the information we give them.

A young video crew from MNN Youth Channel asks to interview us about our work and we are more than pleased to get in front of their cameras.  As soon as we get a broadcast date and time, we’ll let you all know.

To all of you folks who are so generous in your praise of the Granny Peace Brigade, who often ask us, “But what can I do?”, here is a suggestion.

Go on our website - www.grannypeacebrigade.org - and click on the section about Counter Recruitment.  Read up on what we’ve been doing, take a look at our videos and download and print out some Opt Out forms.  Counter recruiting is something you can do on a spontaneous basis — you don’t need banners, buttons, maps, permits or anything other than a good opening line and a smile.  Grab a friend (like swimmers, counter recruiters should use the Buddy System) stake out a spot near a hub for teenagers and/or their parents — then get busy!  Prepare to be welcomed (sometimes hesitantly) and thanked (often effusively) — and when you’re done, be secure in the knowledge that you have helped build a more peaceful and just world.

Okay, get out there — and keep in touch.  We can learn so much from each other and there is much for us all to do.

Peace,
Barbara Harris & Fran Sears with Barbara Walker, Joan Pleune, Judy Lear, Nydia Leaf, Kevin (a college student working with Brooklyn for Peace)

H. Con. Res 362 is the kind of Congressional action that has Granny Peace Brigade members angry, perplexed and deeply concerned.  We can’t help but wonder what possessed Rep. Gary Ackerman to introduce a resolution regarding Iran that contains much of the same dunderheaded, failed logic that got us into the mess in Iraq — especially knowing how well that’s worked out.

However, as stunned as we may be over Ackerman’s introduction of this dreadful bit of saber-rattling, we are REALLY stunned when we see the names of some good people who have signed on in support.  Finding the names of some of our hometown crowd on this “Wall of Shame” is bad enough and we are putting Representatives Maloney, Weiner, Ackerman, Towns & Engel on notice:  you have only begun to hear from your outraged constituents.  But now we are discovering that some of our true heroes have signed on to this outrageous, war-mongering rhetoric — folks like John Lewis and Barney Frank — and that has us truly shocked and deeply grieved.  What is going on here?

In an effort to bring some clarity and understanding to the H. Con.Res 362 travesty, GPB member, Caroline Chinlund has reached out to one of our Congressional heroes, Dennis Kucinich.  Read her letter and then take a moment and send one of your own.  And don’t stop there — find out where your own congressperson stands.  If they’ve signed on, give-’em hell and if they’ve resisted joining in the one-way march to destruction, then make sure you tell them how proud you are of their decision. If you would like to take this a step further, check our our ‘recipe for a phone-a-thon’ on our website.  Discover the power in joining together with like-minded citizens for some voter education.  The Iraq Moratorium is observed on the third friday of each month and that might be the perfect time to kick off your first phone-a-thon.

Remember, Democracy is not a spectator sport — and forgive the cliche, but we all need to be in the game.  Write a letter, make a phone call, reach out to your neighbor and keep us in the loop.  Working together, we can end this war and create a lasting legacy of peace and justice.

Work hard and stay in touch.

Peace.

- Fran Sears

On behalf of the Granny Peace Brigade Legislative Action Committee here in New York City, I’m writing to thank you, as always, for your inspiration.  We know that this is a busy time with you back at home with your constituents, but hope you could help answer a Big question for us.

Here it is:  How could so many  people elected to Congress by United States citizens who are at least 60 % utterly fed up with what the war in Iraq has wrought for servicemen here, for our economy, not to mention for the Iraqi people, sign H. Con. Res 362?

We hold phone-a-thons in various gathering places throughout NYC, helping people contact their representatives by phone to express their opinions about what’s going on in Congress.  We’ve been focusing lately on what we call the “wall of shame”, the list of 20 New York State Congressional Representatives who signed on to Rep. Ackerman’s resolution.

“Wall of Shame” by Phyllis Cunningham

People are astonished to hear that their legislators have signed.  They are routinely told when they call the offices, for example, Nita Lowey’s office, that they are mistaken, that the bill does not call for a “blockade” of Iran.  But, of course, it does just that.  And it also contains at least 80 percent misinformation and outright lies about Iran.

We want to understand the government better.  How did this happen?  How could Jan Schakowski sign this bill?  How could Amy Klobuchar sign the Senate version? How could John Lewis do this?  Barney Frank?  To us, this is an atrocious and dangerous act of government.  Can you help us understand the process?  We do know that probably the resolution was drafted in the AIPAC offices.  But even so, it is so much like what led up to the misinformed attacks on Iraq.  Where is people’s courage?  What are people afraid of?  If you can’t tell us in writing, could we have a conversation sometime via phone, or could you tell Luis what to tell us??

If you’d like to know what we’ve been up to since your hosting our press conference in January 2007, you’ll see on our website, that we’ve been working on several fronts, doing counter-recruitment, holding teach-ins about Africom and the buildup of military bases in South America and the Caribbean.  And of course the phone-a-thons are our outreach to getting people more vocal and involved with their representatives.
Please let us know if there is a time when we could talk with you, or write to us.  You can write to me, or to grannypeace@gmail.com.
May the Department of Peace be born in the next administration.

Thank you,
- Caroline Chinlund

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)

On Wednesday, July 16, Vinie, Barbara Walker and Joan Wile shlepped 2-1/2 hours to Norwich CT on AMTRAK to do a TV show, “TALK with Ben and Gerry,” which broadcasts throughout eastern Connecticut. Attired in our WE WILL NOT BE SILENT t-shirts, we discoursed, acted and sang for a whole hour, and had ample opportunity to condemn the war in Iraq and any plans to attack Iran.

The show is produced by Bonnie Hong, who invited us after reading about Joan’s book in BUZZFLASH (a popular progressive publication), and who is a fiery progressive herself, fiercely anti-war and anti-Bush, holding all the correct political opinions (to OUR minds) in common with us grannies. She was mayor of Norwich for a term, is a registered nurse, and an all-around dynamo. She was on air with us, along with her husband, Dr. Ben Hong, who is co-host of the program. Ben is a nephrologist (kidneys) with a very successful practice in Norwich, and somehow finds time to do the weekly cable television show we participated in. We admire very much this couple’s courage in doing their vehemently peace-promoting program in the midst of a heavily military population.

Vinie gave a most remarkable reading of a letter from a nurse stationed in Vietnam, “Dear America,” which graphically describes the horrible wounds of war. Vinie’s performance of the powerful letter moved Bonnie Hong to tears, right on the air. We were all extremely moved, in fact.

During the program, on air, we officially inducted Bonnie, a new grandmother, into both the Granny Peace Brigade and Grandmothers Against the War. Vinie did the honors, and presented her with the buttons representing the two groups, which she immediately pinned to her dress for all of eastern Connecticut to see.

We enjoyed the Connecticut scenery — parts of the Atlantic Ocean visible from the train, and a glimpse of the naval station in New London on the way. Our hostess, Bonnie, treated us to a delicious dinner at a waterside restaurant — the kind of place you imagine the elite country club set patronizing on a regular basis, with boats serenely floating by as we leisurely dined in our white lounge chairs. Very John Updike!

And, then the long trip back to New York, time passing quickly in the flow of non-stop conversation among us three young women.

A long day, but one well spent, we believe, as we hammered home to all of eastern Connecticut the granny anti-war message.

- Joan Wile

For 40 years civil liberties attorney and champion advocate for the public, Norman Siegel has observed the Fourth of July by reading the Declaration of Independence and selections from the US Constitution with an emphasis on the Bill of Rights.

Last year for the first time he was joined by members of the Granny Peace Brigade in Strawberry Fields, Central Park to read sections of these documents aloud. We were back again this year joined by Grandmothers Against the War, CodePink and Reverend Billy to honor the good principles in these founding documents: free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal protection under the law, and due process of the law.

Norman Siegel reading the Declaration of Independence
Photo - Richard Leigh

Joan Wile assisted by Jonathan Tasini reading a poem by Yoko Ono
Photo - Richard Leigh

Jenny Heinz reading the Bill of Rights
Photo - Richard Leigh

State Senator Bill Perkins reading the Bill of Rights
Photo - Richard Leigh

Molly Klopot reading the Bill of Rights
Photo - Richard Leigh

Listening to Molly
Photo - Richard Leigh

Laura Newman a member of Reverend Billy’s Church of Stop Shopping Choir belting out the 1st Amendment
Photo - Richard Leigh

Thank you, Norman Siegel
Photo - Richard Leigh

We’ve got a lot of work to do to move this country in a better direction. Hope to see you in the streets.

- Eva-Lee Baird