In my hometown: “CANDLES FOR PEACE: Austin Henry, 15, left foreground, Matilda Henry, center, and Arielle Yarwood, 14, all of Sequim, hold candles and flags as they attend a vigil at Port Angeles Veterans Park on Wednesday night to support Cindy Sheehan, the California mother who is demonstrating outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. Sheehan has become the icon of the anti-war movement since she started a protest Aug. 6 in memory of her son, Casey, who died in Iraq last year. About 65 people attended the Port Angeles vigil and 100 were at the Port Townsend vigil, two of about 1,600 held nationwide on Wednesday. (Photo by Tom Thompson/Peninsula Daily News) – 08-18-2005
From Democracy Now!:
More Than 1,500 Antiwar Vigils Held Across the US
Last night, people across the United States participated in more than 1,500 candlelight vigils calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq. The vigils were called by Cindy Sheehan who is continuing her antiwar protest outside of President Bush’s property near Crawford, Texas. Here is the mother of a soldier who was wounded in Iraq, speaking at a vigil in Washington DC.
Cindy Sheehan has been joined by a growing number of people at her protest and has now begun setting up camp on the property of one of President Bush’s neighbors who offered his land to Sheehan. Among the people joining her are several parents of soldiers killed in Iraq, as well as Minnesota State Senator Becky Lourey, whose son died in Iraq, as well as FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley–who is running for Congress in Minnesota. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern [COOL!] is also in Crawford and many more people are expected to pour in for a rally planned for Thursday evening.
Cindy Sheehan:
“Our spirits are always good here at Camp Casey ’cause we feel the support of everybody around the world.” (Video/Audio/Text, which includes clip from another bereaved mother)
Check out Cho’s “Willmantic Frog Bridge Vigil for Casey Sheehan.” SHARE your vigil stories below!
Update [2005-8-18 13:48:58 by susanhu]: Keith Olbermann’s TOP STORY tonight. BELOW THE FOLD:
Update [2005-8-18 13:48:58 by susanhu]: From MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann newsletter:
Supporters of Cindy Sheehan held more than 1,500 candlelight vigils across the country on Wednesday night in solidarity with this mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, who has set up a protest encampment down the road from President Bush’s ranch here. NYT
Cindy Sheehan may be the catalyst of crisis for the Bush presidency. ” Pat Buchanan.
A stream of bad news out of Iraq, echoed at home by polls that show growing impatience with the war and rising disapproval of President Bush’s Iraq policies, is stirring political concern in Republican circles, party officials said. NYT
Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.
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If you have images, and would like help with resizing it to fit the max 400 pixel width, or to reduce the file size, e-mail it to me for editing in Photoshop and I’ll e-mail it back to you for posting (or can post it for you)…. susanhu at earthlink dot net.
Howie in Seattle‘s roundup of Seattle newspaper reports today:
So Ms.Guilt is apparently happy for her 3 grandchildren (!!!) who will be fighting a pointless war. I wonder if she’ll feel the same way if something happens to one of them. Likely not.
bejezus, you can’t make this stuff up!
😉
Okay … this is very interesting. The newspaper got her name wrong, and it turns out that Ray Minchew — who was BIG in the Dean campaign during the primaries, then was hired by Patty Murray’s campaign, and now is the Democracy for Washington chair — and a real sweetie too:
The vigil in New Orleans was the lead news story on the most popular local news channel. Beautiful evening. A marine spoke out at the vigil for Cindy, and for all “marine moms”.
There are some cool photos here
I attended a vigil in Raleigh, NC with two of my children. It was held at a local UCC church and was attended by over 100 people, from toddlers to some very cool older folks. The mood was quiet and reverential as we formed a large circle on the church’s front lawn and lit our candles, one from the other. I kept thinking, with my two teenage sons next to me, that in a year or two I could be holding a candle for one of them. What a chilling thought.
The vigil was partly sponsored by Code Pink and it made me want to join that group.
Here are a few pictures from last night.
Is that you and your kids in the photos?
yes, me and my two youngest boys. Thank God the heat had broken just for yesterday, although the heat from the candles started to get to me after awhile…and is that the smell of burning hair?….
I went to one held at a man’s house, who had been down to Crawford himself. It was lovely. There were over 200 people there. We looked at a slide-show of his pics, and he called down there, so we got to hear the latest from Medea (Code Pink). I was just so glad to be able to participate in something, since I’m not in a position to pick up and go down there.
I really feel the hugeness of this. There is a massive shift in consciousness occurring, in this country. What Cindy Sheehan has set in motion, by following the courage of her convictions, should be a lesson to all of us about the power of speaking our truth.
How wonderful! Do you live in LA?
200 people is quite a crowd for a home … it must have been alive with great energy!
Nope. I’m in VA. I was actually a couple of blocks from Senator Allen’s house, if you can believe that. It was a lovely home, in a beautiful, clearly affluent, neighborhood. It was all outside, on a lagoon. Really gorgeous. He had candles floating in his swimming pool. You get the idea.
I checked the Move-On sight. In addition to the 250 people signed up for his, there were several in and around DC with hundreds of people registered, in addition to numerous smaller gatherings. I think this was very well attended around the country.
I’ll redo this for you … the image byte size is too large .. i’m guessing a couple megabytes at least …
if you don’t have an image editor, you can always send me your image to reduce it in BOTH 1) byte size and 2) dimension size.
It’s not advisable to reduce an image’s dimensions by putting in a width=400….
I’m kind of OJT-ing on the technical part of blogging. I appreciate any and all instruction/suggestions.
That’s totally cool … e-mail me anytime.
btw, that image was almost 18 megabytes … that’s why it was taking the story/comments so long to open, so I had to erase it. SORRY! But I replaced it below with ALL of your comments intact!
It’s a great photo and you have a BEAUTIFUL family!
is a bit over the hill, but the wife and kids kinda make up for it.
I’m blessed.
You look alright to me! (teehee)
Old? Pfffft. I noticed at the vigil we attended that most of the people there were in their 40’s and over…and many attendees were over 80!
Obviously, with age comes wisdom. And I think it is particularly powerful when veterans like yourself stand up for peace. There is a time for war. There are battles worth fighting. This is not and has never been one of them.
Look, I’ve put on a bit of weight recently (the sign I’m holding conveniently conceals the pot belly), and I’m vain enough to be embarrassed about it.
Albany (NY) Times Union coverage
I soooo regret missing this. I had committed to moving furniture out of my sons place. Quite the turn-out.
just learned (none / 1)
how to post a photo in a comment, and I’m so excited.
Here’s the leftvet family at the Cindy vigil in Brookline, MA. About 50 people. Quiet, peaceful, neighborly. Good reaction from passers-by. My son’s poster (his own creation) was a hit.
Soldiers are required to do their jobs when politicians fail to do theirs
by leftvet on Thu Aug 18th, 2005 at 11:33:36 AM EDT
An estimated 800 persons attended a vigil on the mall in front of the Courthouse…the largest vigil in Boulder County:
j.lawton Boulder Daily Camera
Peace
that is great to see! Can’t accuse Boulder of being Bush country. Even so…800!? Awesome.
800 is mind-boggling. GOOD FOR YOU!
Hi folks. Here’s a link to my photos from last night’s vigil in NYC.
Thanks for the head’s up about Olbermann from last night. That’s why God invented DVR! 🙂
Somewhere around 200, maybe 250, gathered on the Arcata, CA plaza. There was another vigil in Eureka, six miles or so away. There wasn’t much pre-vigl publicity, most people seemed to have learned of it from the net. Arcata’s population doubles when the Humboldt State students return, and that happens in force this weekend, so there were a few students, some kids, and lots of older people.
There was a period of silence, some speeches, and a lot of informal conversations among people holding lit candles. One woman was stamping dollar bills for people—the stamp said “Bush Lied, People Died.” Another woman nearby wore a small stickon sign that said, “When Clinton lied, nobody died.”
It appeared the Vietnam Vets for Peace organization which is strong here was there in force. One man spoke of growing up Republican, becoming antiwar during Vietnam after a stint in the Coast Guard. Of how the Bush Republicans aren’t the kind he recalls, like Eisenhower who built the federal highway system for everyone, not just his wealthy pals.
He said one thing that I thought was very striking.
“Cindy Sheehan is the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement.” It’s a beautiful analogy, and expresses what I was getting at in my diary the other day:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/8/17/5330/97203
Hi everyone, I joined you all in the vigils with a small candle on the balcony of my hotel in Ensenada, Mexico. They have a few internet cafe’s around here, pretty cool stuff. I’m wearing my BooTrib shirt as I speak and will snap a picture before the day is done. Paz con todos, mis amigos.
Are you proselytizing the Word of The BooMan like those sweet Mormon kids?
It was a very moving event. Lots of good people and good emotion. We were at a busy intersection and got lots of supportive honking from cars going by. Very few hecklers. We got so crowded we were shut down early by the police because we’d exceeded our 200 limit. Here are some pics: