FAST TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW

  On September 11-21 our local peace group in my town of Brunswick will undertake a Fast to Bring the Troops Home Now. I will try to fast for the entire 10 days.

The goal of the fast is to bring the issue of the war, and the hideous cost of the war, before the public in a deeper and sustained way. Our Maine Congressional Delegation has voted six times to enable Bush in his war and occupation of Iraq to the tune of $304 billion. The fast will also say No to a war on Iran and will remind us that until there is justice for everyone around the world there will be no peace for anyone.

We plan to go out each day to our town green and hold signs and pass out literature about the fast. We will do this from noon to 1:00 pm. We will also purchase a 1/2 page advertisement in our local paper explaining why we are fasting. Today I had three of the folks who are going to fast on my cable TV show called This Issue that now plays in six Maine communities.

I will try to give reports on this blog during the fast. It should be a great experience for all of us.

One more thing about the Bush protest last weekend here in Maine. In Tuesday's Portland Press Herald newspaper they had an article about three mountain bikers that were asked to take George W. for a nature ride while he was here. They told the newspaper that they had been warned by the Secret Service not to bring up any political subjects during the ride. They did say though that at one point Bush mentioned the anti-war protest being planned last Saturday in Kennebunkport and his concern that his presence might disrupt people's vacations and his cousin's wedding.

Just goes to show that Bush does pay attention, maybe more than we think. I bet he even went on-line to view the photos of the protest taken by the Associated Press. In case he missed the one above we thought we'd share it here. Next time instead of worrying that his presence might disrupt vacations and weddings we'd like to suggest that he be put in jail for disrupting the lives of 2,636 dead American GI's and 20,000 severely wounded soldiers. And on top of that, don't forget the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people who are now dead as a result of his illegal and immoral war.

Click the link in the headline above for a blistering anti-Bush speech by the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah - normally a very conservative place.