October 13, 2010
Hey Nan,
How’s that “liberal agenda” going for you these days?
You have had quite a run as the first female Speaker of the House, haven’t you?
In that almost four years now, you have fully funded the wars; rammed through the bankster bailouts and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Modernization Act; refused to hold the criminals of the Bush administration accountable; supported the torture policies of George Bush and wanted even stricter measures against suspected terrorists; obediently supported and defended the murderous Israeli oppression of Palestine; presided over the worst jobs’ hemorrhage since the Great Depression (can you see all the jobless and homeless from your mansion on the hill in Pac Heights?) and the only “victory” that you can claim is a feeble health care “reform” bill that you admit you had no idea what it contained, when in reality, it was just a massive welfare program for your corporate buddies in the industry.
You are going to become a lame duck Speaker early next month when your party loses its majority—now don’t think I am thrilled that the Republicans are returning to a majority, at least in your House, because I think your party and the GOP are just different sides of the same coin—but you can’t say I didn’t warn you back in 2006 that if you and your party didn’t end the wars and hold BushCo accountable that your euphoria would be short-lived.
I literally brought that warning home to you in 2008 when I stood for election against you as an Independent in your district. I again tried to send you the gift of a wake up call through my platform and candidacy that ending the wars;, increasing jobs here in the US; fully funding education; protecting people’s homes from eviction and foreclosure; protecting the environment from destruction; and justice for war crimes were what the people wanted. Nancy, your party’s impending defeat proves that if you ever were in touch with “the people,” that time passed long before you assumed the Speaker’s gavel and when you relinquish the gavel, you will be just another empty lavender pants suit—an obscenely expensive lavender pants suit, but empty all the same.
So you can’t say that I didn’t warn you and your colleagues that the people shouldn’t be ignored. I now realize that the warning fell on deaf ears and was futile, but also that the political game your party and the other party play are far more important to you than the people of this world are, anyway.
With the elections rapidly approaching on November 2, you once again are up for re-election yourself and the people of San Francisco will dutifully obey their Democratic impulses and send you back to DC one more time, no matter how atrocious you have been, (The question of the day, though, Nan, is when you lose your Speakership will you resign your seat? Hey, I know! Maybe you and your good buddy, George Bush, can have play dates in your mutual retirements?) but you do have opponents. I know of two for sure, the firmly antiwar Republican, John Dennis and the firmly antiwar and anti-Capitalist Peace and Freedom Candidate Gloria La Riva.
My good friend, SF politico and former VP Candidate, Matt Gonzalez, has endorsed John Dennis because, as is your custom, you gutlessly refused to debate him. I am also encouraging you (once again, futilely) to not only debate John Dennis, but Gloria La Riva, too.
I like and admire both John and Gloria and support them as human beings who both have the two things that you lack but would have made you a much better person: courage and integrity.
As someone who got a kick in the teeth from the political school of elitism two years ago, I can’t endorse anyone for Federal elections which I believe are only a huge sham and scandal at any rate, but I am convinced that either John or Gloria would represent district 8 in California far better than you have on your best day.
I did warn you many times and I would childishly like to say: “I told ya so,” but there is so much at stake here on proverbial Main Street that I don’t feel like your defeat is going to be a victory (frankly, your party’s unlikely victory would also be a defeat for Main Street) for anybody except the non-partisan ruling class that pulls the levers to propagate their agenda and pad their bank accounts at our expense.
In never-ending struggle against everything you represent,
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan is the Nobel peace prize nominated mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan who was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, April 4, 2004. She has been on an international quest for peace and accountability since then. She has written three books and numerous published articles. Cindy is currently running as a "Decline to State" independent candidate in the 8th District of California against Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
The Hunger Site
October 15, 2010 at 8:01 am
(Shakes fist into the air) Why, You!
The illusion of democracy is more the enemy than Pelosi.
-marc
October 14, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I like Cindy Sheehan’s memo to Pelosi; it is from peace mom who inspired so many of us starting with the campout across from Bush’s “ranch”. It is important for Pelosi to know that we have alternatives, and I am glad that Sheehan mentioned both John Dennis and Gloria LaRiva as anti-war candidates that voters for peace can support.
By the way, I know that the US Senate candidate that Matt Gonzalez is supporting is Peace and Freedom Party candidate Marsha Feinland.
October 14, 2010 at 7:57 am
@Eric, apparently there is no difference between the political lines of the WWP and PSL, the only difference is that the personality at the center of the cult faces no competition. El Salvador, Nicaragua, US OUT!
-marc
October 13, 2010 at 6:10 pm
I would have no problem voting for Gloria La Riva. But John Dennis is an extremist anti-immigrant xenophobe, just like Ron Paul. I feel Matt is being very selective in his portryal of Dennis. What he doesn’t tell you is that Dennis wants to repeal the 14th Amendment in order to deny birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. And Ron Paul voted for the war against Afghanistan. As I’ve stated before, the US is fighting these wars on more than one front: the war(s) abroad and the one being waged here at home. Dennis and Paul are both hawks in the war on immigrants and people of color. And they are both solidly behind the corporate agenda to cut social services, Social Security, Medicare, education (Dennis wants to do away with the Dept of Educ.), etc. As for Matt Gonzalez, the only way I’d vote for him is if he ran for Collage Tzar. Cindy would be the best candidate to run against Pelosi, but sadly she chose not to run.
October 13, 2010 at 2:18 pm
The Workers World Party is indeed a bit whacked. It should be noted however, that Gloria La Riva recently left the WWP to help form the less reactionary Party for Socialism and Liberation, which likely signals a growing maturity in her political perspective.
October 13, 2010 at 9:21 am
Gloria La Fucking Riva? Gimme a break!
Was it back in 1990, when Daniel Ortega was going down to defeat in the Nicaraguan elections, that Gloria La Riva from the Workers World Party (Stalinist) sat up on a sound truck and, seriously, from 16th Street BART all the way to the Federal Building chanted, “El Salvador, Nicaragua, US OUT!” and nothing else. For an hour. I never chanted ever again after that day.
Here’s a piece I saw up on Church Street back in the 1990s:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/07/15/18435637.php
It really says it all.
-marc
October 13, 2010 at 9:18 am
(Sheehan shakes fist into the air) Why, you!
-marc
October 13, 2010 at 8:58 am
apologies for typos
October 13, 2010 at 8:56 am
The coming Federal elections and expected Democratic Party losses are planned I think to shift blame and get Obama reelected in two years. Perhaps. The political landscape is becoming increasingly strange with departures of Emmanuel, Axelrod, and Summers.Ratcheting up of propaganda– including from the so-called Left” is ongoing.
I believe supporting anyone who says they are a Democrat or Republican, even at the local level, is a mistake. To my mind, the corporate parties and corporatism equate to Fascism.
Would the “good” Republicans and Democrats of San Francisco wear a swastika on their lapel? They don’t seem to see it yet, but that is what I see when they call themselves a Democrat or Republican.
Open letters to the Fascists are futile. Forget giving them “gifts”. It is obvious that they don’t appreciate them or want them.
Every morning I check the Dow, and detect a whiff of white phosphorous. Some socialists say we have a crisis of capitalism in a death agony. Perhaps. But capital doesn’t really appear and disappear –someone always has it– and the games the fascists or corporatists play (if fascist is too repugnant a word for people who hold on to American exceptionalism), go ever on with their sucker rallies and austerity wipeouts.
We need to break completely with business as usual.
Some socialists are correct for eschewing crass identity politics which simply divides people by exacerbating prejudices.
I believe we must embrace a humanity politics beyond all identities except our human identity. I adhere to the the notion that “the people united will never be defeated”.
We should be cautious about what or who unites us.