[Peace-discuss] From Cynthia McKinney: Oh What a Day!

[Jan & Durl Kruse]

> Message from GPW's friends (the Smith family) in Stone Mountain  
> Georgia:
> Phil and Elaine Smith write:
> We received this today, December 31, 2008, from Congresswoman Cynthia  
> McKinney.  The Smiths

>> December 30, 2008:  Oh What a Day!
>>
>> I'm so glad that my father told me to buy a special notebook and to  
>> write everything down because that's exactly what I did.
>>
>> When we left from Cyprus, one reporter asked me "are you afraid?"   
>> And I had to respond that Malcolm X wasn't afraid; Dr. Martin Luther  
>> King, Jr. wasn't afraid.  But little did I know that just a few hours  
>> later, I would be recollecting my life and mentally preparing myself  
>> for death.
>>
>> When we left Cyprus, the Mediterranean was beautiful.  I remember the  
>> time when it might have been beautiful to look at, but it was also  
>> filthy.  The Europeans have taken great strides to clean it up and  
>> yesterday, it was beautiful. And the way the sunlight hit the sea, I  
>> remember thinking to myself that's why they call it azure.  It was  
>> the most beautiful blue.
>>
>> But sometimes it was rough, and we got behind on our schedule.  We  
>> stayed on course, however, despite the roughness of the water and due  
>> to our exquisite captain. 
>>
>> There were no other ships or boats around us and night descended upon  
>> us all rather quickly.  It was the darkest black and suddenly, out of  
>> nowhere, came searchlights disturbing our peace.  The searchlights  
>> stayed with us for about half an hour or so.  We knew they were  
>> Israeli ships.  Who else would they be?
>>
>> They were fast, and they would come close and then drop back.  And  
>> then, they'd come close again.  And then, all of a sudden there was  
>> complete blackness once again and all seemed right.  The cat and  
>> mouse game went on for at least one half hour.  What were they  
>> doing?  And why?
>>
>> Calm again.  Black sky, black sea.  Peace.  And then, at that very  
>> moment, when all seemed right, out of nowhere we were rammed and  
>> rammed again and rammed again the last one throwing me off the couch,  
>> sending all our food up in the air; and all the plastic bags and  
>> tubs--evidence of sea sicknesses among the crew and passengers--flew  
>> all over the cabin and all over us.  We'd been rammed by the  
>> Israelis.  How did we know?  Because they called us on the phone  
>> afterwards to tell us that we were engaging in subversive,  
>> terroristic activity.  And if we didn't turn around right then and  
>> return to Larnaca, Cyprus, we would be fired upon.  We quickly  
>> grabbed our lifevests and put them on.  Then the captain announced  
>> that the boat was taking on water.  We might have to evacuate.  One  
>> of my mates told me to prepare to die.  And I reflected that I have  
>> lived a good and full life.  I have tasted freedom and know what it  
>> is.  I was right with myself and my decision to join the Free Gaza  
>> movement.
>>
>> I remembered my father's parting words, "You all will be sitting  
>> ducks."  Just like the U.S.S. Liberty.  We were engaged in peaceful  
>> activity, a harmless pleasure boat, carrying a load of hospital  
>> supplies for the people of Gaza, who, too are sitting ducks,  
>> currently being bombarded in aerial assault by the Israeli military.
>>
>> It's been a long day for us.  The captain was outstanding.   
>> Throughout it all, he remained stoic and calm, effective in every  
>> way.  I didn't know how to put my life jacket on.  One of the  
>> passengers kindly assisted me.   Another of the passengers pointed  
>> out that the Israeli motors for those huge, fast boats was U.S.  
>> made--a gift to them from the U.S.  And now they were using those  
>> motors to damage a pleasure boat outfitted with three tons of  
>> hospital supplies, one pediatrician, and two surgeons.
>>
>> I have called for President-elect Obama to say something.  The  
>> Palestinian people in the Gaza strip are seeing the worst violence in  
>> 60 years, it is being reported.  To date, President-elect Obama has  
>> remained silent.  The Israelis are using weapons supplied to them by  
>> the U.S. government.  Strict enforcement of U.S. law would require  
>> the cessation of all weapons transfers to Israel.  Adherence to  
>> international law would require the same.  As we are about to  
>> celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, let us remember  
>> that he said:
>>
>> 1.  The United States is the greatest purveyor of violence in the  
>> world, and
>> 2.  Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about things that  
>> matter.
>>
>> I implore the President-elect to not send Congress a budget that  
>> contains more weapons for Israel.  We have so much more to offer.   
>> And I implore the Congress to vote "no" on any budget and  
>> appropriation bills that provide more weapons transfers, period.
>>
>> Israel is able to carry out these intense military maneuvers because  
>> taxpayers in the U.S. give their hard-earned money to our  
>> Representatives in Congress and our Congress chooses to spend that  
>> money in this way.  Let's stop it and stop it now.  There's been too  
>> much blood shed.  And while we still walk among the living, let us  
>> not remain silent about the things that matter.
>>
>> We really can promote peace and have it if we demand it of our  
>> leaders.
>>
>> --  
>> The shock, awe and heart attacks that followed Madoff's confession  
>> that he was 'running a Ponzi scheme' drew as much anger for the money  
>> lost and the fall from the moneyed class as for the embarrassment of  
>> knowing that the world's biggest exploiters and smartest swindlers on  
>> Wall Street, were completely 'taken' by one of their own.  Not only  
>> did they suffer big losses but their self-image of themselves as rich  
>> because they are so smart and of 'superior stock' was utterly  
>> shattered:  They saw themselves as suffering the same fate as all the  
>> schmucks they had previously swindled, exploited and dispossessed in  
>> their climb to the top.  There is nothing worse for the ego of a  
>> respectable swindler than to be trumped by a bigger swindler.  As a  
>> result, a number of the biggest losers have so far refused to give  
>> their names or the amount they lost, working instead through lawyers  
>> fighting off other losers.
>> --James Petras
>>
>> "And advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific  
>> genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror  
>> to a politically useful tool."
>> --PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60
>>
>> The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and  
>> policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a  
>> foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers.  
>> Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the  
>> American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without  
>> leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.
>> --Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our  
>> Time
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