Sunday, August 28, 2005


One Year Later


A year ago, I had to make a special shopping trip. I needed to buy a pair of shoes, water and a bag of fruit mix.

Why did I need to pick up these supplies? I was heading to New York City to join 500,000 opponents of war and empire to protest the RNC.

I actually was so keyed up that I only got about four hours of sleep. I had a good breakfast of waffles and bacon, and a cup of coffee. I picked up my hometown paper to read on the way there and headed off to the Catholic Worker house to meet what would in my mind be called the "Harrisburg 5".

I got my 1st surprise there. I was gonna have to drive the group to Lancaster, PA; that's where we were to get the bus that would take us to NYC.

We got there and I handed out my "Bust Cards" that I had made--just in case. From there we were off.

I'll leave the rest to my own voice--courtesy of AudioBlogger:


Of course--I also took pictures of some of the signs I saw as well.



The Harrisburg 4. . .




Plus One!




A Bronx Cheer




A Personal Problem


So one year later, my Dad's question can be raised:"Do you feel you accomplished something"?

At one level, no. The American People still swallowed the GOP campaign of fear.

But from the sense of building a movement, we made a gain. That momentum has continued. The torture of prisioners was brought to light by sites like CommonDreams and BuzzFlash and picked up by the CEO Media later on. The Downing Street Memo would have been "under the radar" of the CEO Media, but this movement picked up on that as well.

And these have gotten more and more Americans to see past the fear, and to start asking questions.

But the "Sheepdogs" of AM-Radio and thier Cable News Affiliate have managed to still counter, by painting us as "unpatriotic". One need only look at how they've sunk their teeth into Cindy Sheehan; the loss of her son has prompted her to ask Bush for answers, and I believe either Bush or his handlers know that the answers will expose the lies that Bush relies on to stay in power.

We have some work to do between now and November 2006, our first chance to break this "War Machine". I have faith in us and myself as well. I have a stake in this now.

You see, since the rally, I became an uncle. And I want my nephew to live in a world at peace, not a realm of fear.

Braeden--your Uncle Jim is lookin' out for 'ya!

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