Accomplishing extraordinary things - CNN Hero

You are so right - the amazing thing is how much ordinary people can accomplish.

Most recent example - the Cuban peasant woman, Irania, who cleaned up a dump heap and turned it into The Garden of Eden - captured on camera by CNN. Was awarded the Save the Planet $l0,000 prize. BUT our government prohibited CNN from giving the money to her - gave it to Unicef instead.

Kristi Weeks, a friend who has been to Cuba on several occasions, with delegations which included her husband and children as well) visited Guantanamo, saw the Garden, returned to St. Augustine and as owner of a highscale beauty salon pledged to raise $10,000 for Irania. Their fashion show, with her staff as producers and modelers of crazy, gorgeous, outrageous creations using only recycled material (bottle tops, plastic bags, newspaper, used computer posters, etc.) raised not $l0, not $15 but $20,000 last Sunday evening. Admission was only $25 or $35 for a reserved seat. All the rest came from donations, program ads,and auctioning off several of the dresses -- the one, fitting like a body shield, made entirely of shiny bottle tops, went for $260. Another, entirely of sheer recycled Publix plastic bags, went for $200 -- amid cheers, applause, , incredibly happy vibes.

This effort, originally, to make Baracoa a sister city, was foiled mostly by ex Cubans from Miami who came in bus loads to our City commission meetings to defeat the initiative. So my son and daughter in law, Jo and Sali, with just a few others, opted to withdraw the resolution and go for it on a people to people basis. Six years ago. Since then, there have been some three delegations to Cuba each year, 20 40-ft. containers sent down, packed with humanitarian aid, art shows, books published, concerts, and more.

Ordinary people, accomplishing extraordinary things, for ordinary people. Amazing.

Earth Day 2008

Indroducing Stetson Kennedy:

Stetson Kennedy was born Oct.5, 1916 in Jacksonville. He is an award=winning author and human rights activist, and is also known as a pioneering folklorist, a labor activist, and environmentalist. A prolific author, his books , distributed worldwide and translated into many languages, include Palmetto County, Southern Exposure, the Jim Crow Guide, the Klan Unmasked and After Appomatox.

As a teenager, he began collecting white and African American folklore material while he was collecting “a dollar down and a dollar a week” accounts for his father, a furniture merchant.

He left the University of Florida in 1937 to join the WPA Florida Writers Project, and soon, at the age of 21, was put in charge of folklore, oral history and ethnic studies. He was Zora Neale Hurston’s friend and boss in the WPA.

After World War II Kennedy infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Living dangerously, working undercover, he provided information, including secret code words and details of Klan rituals, to the writers of the Superman radio program and to the FBI

A Stetson Kennedy Foundation has been established, dedicated to human rights, social justice and environmental stewardship. His home at Beluthahatchee has become a museum, housing his books and papers, manuscripts and memorabilia, including guitars, letters and songs by Woodie Guthrie, a dear friend and neighbor.

Stetson Kennedy was to have presented the prize to the winning Peace Essay contest. He had an ear infection, and consequently couldn't make it.

Peg's follow-up letter to The St. Augustine Record:

I do not want to be a whiner, but I can't understand why no mention was made of the Peace Essay contest winner. Several months of effort and preparation by high school students and guidance counselors were involved. The winning essay was sent to you.

It was enthusiastically applauded when read from the stage on Earth Day at l pm by Leda Balch, l7 years old, a graduate of St. Augustine High School. She was awarded $500 by the sponsoring groups, People for Peace & Justice, Grandparents for Peace, and Veterans for Peace. She and the two young ladies who tied for 2nd place were given Certificates of Appreciation.

The suggested theme for the essay contest was taken from a song by a popular lyricist and musician, Michael Franti:

"We can bomb the world into pieces,We can't bomb it into peace."

Is that why the Record ignored this event?

Peg McIntire,
Chair Peace Essay Competition

PS You may print this as a letter to the editor, or reply to me personally.

Anne Feeney and Tom Santoni

At the UU:



The concert was sponsored by Amnesty International, the St. Augustine Peace and Justice Association, Veterans against the Iraq War - and Grandparents for Peace.

The first song sung was dedicated to Peg.

Obama party - March 2

Hi Friends!

We just signed up to host a "Yes We Can" Obama party run by MoveOn.org Political Action.

Sunday, 2 Mar 2008, 4:00 PM

We'll be reminding Texas voters about the critical Democratic primary on March 4, which could decide the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
This event is really important, and I'd love for you to attend.

Bring your cell phone, charger and something to eat/drink!
This is a fun-raiser not a fund-raiser!

You can sign up for the "Yes We Can" Obama party we're hosting, or to host your own, at: http://political.moveon.org/event/callforobama/44474

Here are the details of the event:

Yes, we can/ Si', se puede!
A.1.A. South, one mile south of Anastasia Publix
4600 A.1.A. South, 21,
Village Las Palmas Circle
St Augustine,, FL 32080
Tel 904 806 1400

We hope you'll sign up.
Peg/Jo/Sali McIntire

Castlebay - and Celtic Music

Peg met Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee, musicians from the Celtic tradition, when she was a Campobello (Bay of Fundy) last summer while on an Elderhostal trip.

Her enchantment with them resulted in a visit during which they performed at the Ocean Gallery Condominium, Flagler College, and the Center for Positive Living.

The concerts drew enthusiastic audiences.

Martin Luther King Day 2008

These are words from Barack Obama for MLK day:

"And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.

"We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.

"Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation.

"So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others -- all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face -- war and poverty; injustice and inequality.

"We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late.

"Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts. "

Elders who attended the Luncheon at UNF's Peace Week in October 2007


Lloyd Pearson, Stetson Kennedy, John X, Willye Dennis, Henri Landwirth, Peg McIntire, Bob Ragland
- photo by Susan D. Brandenburg

Peg speaking to youth in Jacksonville "truth-in"

97 yr-old Peg McIntire, life time peace activist and founder of St. Augustine Grandparents for Peace, spoke at an anti-recruitment/truth-in-recruitment rally in Jacksonville, FL.
Listen to her speech here.

Bush's Dirty Laundry Protest

St. Augustine, FL/1-4-08
The monthly Friday night protest took place at the Plaza.

John Vandemburg


The flag in the background is at half mast for a soldier from St. Augustine killed in Iraq.Sgt. Bryan Tutten, 33, died when a roadside bomb hit his squad in Iraq on Christmas Day.

submitted by:
people4peacejustice@gmail.com
Marilyn Bagdonas
St. Augustine, FL
32086
marstans@hotmail.com

Please mark your calendars: A POSITIVE VISION

Bruce Gagnon, founder and coordinator of Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, will speak at the UU Fellowshp on Thursday, January 3rd, at 7 pm.

Gagnon has traveled to and spoken in England, Germany, Mexico, Canada, France, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Japan, Australia, Scotland, Wales, Greece, Japan and India. He has addressed thousands in churches and college campuses. He has written for numerous magazines, hosted many cable TV shows, and is presently working to update his book "Come Together Right Now. "

The logo of Global Network is "Keep space for Peace...not for War."

Gagnon will bring news and views of our space program - inventions and experiments, cost and threats - and this will lead to a discussion of the Iraq-Iran situation. Even more importantly, Gagnon promises to conclude with a positive transformative vision for the future.

Gagnon combines a great deal of technological information with a down-to-earth spirtuality, respect for humanity and love for the planet.

Following the talk there will be time for discussion, and time to enjoy refreshments.

The event is co-sponsored by the Social Concerns Committee of the UU Fellowship and Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine. There is no admission charge but a donation will be requested.

For further information, Internet www.space4peace.org,

or
Peg McIntire, phone 904 471 1986..
Member , Social Concerns Committee of UU Fellowship
Coordinator, Grandparents for Peace, St Augustine

December 1 2007 in Jacksonville

Pictures from Terry and Carol

Veterans’ Day Die-In - November 11, 2007

Event sponsored by St. Augustine People for Peace and Justice

Our most recent action was a die-in on St. George Street.

We gathered at the gazebo, all wearing black, walked a ways, then dropped dead for l0 minutes. Walked some more, dropped dead again, until the police came and told us we were blocking traffic and to move on.

We had pledged to comply without arguing, but we continued the funeral walk back to the gazebo.

Along the way we distributed a mini flyer listing the number of dead, in the US and in Iraq. We printed l,000 - had only a few hundred left. This was on Saturday November 10th, in solidarity with demonstrations across the nation.

http://www.common.solidarityandpeace.org/events/111107.html

Orlando Rally - Nov 2007

October 27, NATIONAL MOBILIZATION, Orlando

What a wonderful crowd! Thank you, each of you, for being here. We are part of a national day of protest against the war in Iraq. We stand with thousands acrossthe nation in a fearsome expression of the breadth and depth of anti-war sentiment.



From the beginning of the Bush/Cheney administration, it was clear that they were committed to expanding the American geopolitical role in the Middle East. They knew that those huge oil reserves were crucial to the world’s industrial economy and they wanted US domination over those reserves. So they lied to us, to you and to me. They violated national and international treaties to achieve that supremacy. But their lies and their failures can no longer be covered up. Bush and Cheney must be held accountable. They must be IMPEACHED now: before they leave office – or a terrible precedent with be left for future leaders to fall back on.

We know the numbers of dead in Iraq but we can’t begin to imagine the scale of human suffering, the destroyed infrastructure, the destabilizing daily life for the entire population from severe shortage of water, electricity, jobs, and medical care, and the displacement of over 4 million civilians as a result of the bloody civil war.

We know the number of dead in our country, the wounded and maimed, the broken homes, and we see the incredible financial burden this illegal war in Iraq has placed on current and future US taxpayers. This year, taxpayers in Florida will have paid TWELVE BILLION dollars for the cost of the war. For the same amount of money, close to FOUR MILLION people could have been provided with Health Care, more than EIGHT MILLION homes with renewable electricity could have been constructed, or TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND music and art teached could have been employed in our schools.

But knowing all this, and feeling angry about it is not enough. We must transform our feelings into action. We must call on our elected representatives to demand full investigation. We must demand that Bush and Cheney be IMPEACHED.

We must END THE WAR. END THE OCCUPATION.

Negotiations and diplomacy will be our peace-making tools. Reconciliation our goal. The very culture of our society must be transformed from violence to non-violence. Returning troops must be treated with all-out medical and psychiatric care. Homes and jobs must be provided. Family life restored.

We, the people, must reclaim our civil rights. We must VOTE and ELECT national and local officials who will guarantee us an ethical foreign policy and an ethical domestic policy, providing civil liberty, health care and education to everyone. For this, we need PEACE. An end to war.

No more wars – ever!

Grandmothers March Again - Close the SOA

1000 Grandmothers March Again In Georgia November 18 Calling For Closure of Controversial Training Facility for Latin Americans

St. Augustine’s grandmothers are joining grandmothers across the nation in preparation for the annual mobilization to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation/ School of the Americas (WHINSEC/SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia on November 16-18, 2007.

The grandmothers and their supporters will join tens of thousands of people at the US Army base to bring attention to the notorious training facility and to demand closure of the school.

Last year a campaign to bring 1000 Grandmothers to the gates of Ft. Benning began in Chico, California. Thousands of white-kerchief’d grandmothers swelled the throng at the demonstration, voicing “Presente!”. Six grandparents trespassed on the base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Each spent time in prison, with sentences ranging from 2 to 6 months.

Despite a shocking human rights record, this school continues to operate with US taxpayer money. America’s grandparents are neither afraid, nor hesitant to speak forcefully to what they clearly see: our own nation divided, militaristic and subsidizing other nations’ militarism. As shepherds of the next generations we have a stake in how our country relates to the rest of the world.”

Inspired by the Holly Near song “1000 Grandmothers” that calls on the strength, wisdom and courage of the elders to end violence, grandmother Cathy Webster of Chico, California relayed the call to the grandmas of America . Webster served two months in jail for her actions with fifteen others at the military base during the demonstration in 2006.

The School of the Americas, now called Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Despite this admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school, no independent investigation into the facility has ever taken place. New research confirms that the school continues to support know human rights abusers.

More information about the School of the Americas can be found on the SOAWatch website at www.soaw.org.

I spoke at the demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning last year and will be going again this year. I hope you might consider joining me. It’s an important and inspiring event.

Thanks.
Peg.

Fathers’ and Grandfathers' Day

PEACE AND IMPEACH

Sunday, June 17th from 2-4 pm.
Gazebo, Plaza de la Constitucione

Sponsored by Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine

Bring photos, letters, poems, and memories to share. Bring your daughter, mother, wife, grandmother, and great-grand.

It will be the first time that this important holiday has been celebrated publicly in St. Augustine. Men deserve more than ties and meals. Women couldn’t produce babies without them. There are more men than women in Congress.

We must tell Congress how we stand: We stand for PEACE AND IMPEACH!

This event is open to all. It is suggested that women wear pants and ties. For info, call 471 1986.

History of Father’s Day- Sonra Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, WA, started the observance of the Father's Day on the 19th of June, in 1910. She wanted to express her thanks to her own father, who had reared her on his own, since the death of her mother. Her father, Henry Jackson Dodd celebrated his birthday in June, thus, she chose this month to celebrate the holiday.

Mother's Day celebrations

Sunday, May 13th at the Gazebo, from 2-4 pm


Mothers, Grandmothers, Great Grands, Daughters, Sisters, Aunts:

"Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have breasts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies......

Our sons shall no be taken from us to unlearn
all that we have been able to teach them ..

We, the women of one country, will be too
tender of those of another country
to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Excerpts from Julia Ward Howe's
Mother;s Day Proclamation, a fervent
plea for peace in 1870.

In the spirit of standing up for peace, in solidarity with Mother's Day celebrations across the nation, please come to the Gazebo in the Plaza.

Bring a flower, a poem, the photo of a loved one, a friend.

This gentle gathering is sponsored by Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine.

Mother's Day

To all Grandparents for Peace members & friends,


WOMEN (and MEN)

Stand in the downtown Plaza de la Constitution
(facing the Bridge of Lions) in St. Augustine on


MOTHER'S DAY
Sunday, May l3th
2 - 4 pm


IF you want to express your desire for peace in the world...

IF you want to express your concern that our country continues to wage war in Iraq...

IF you want to gather with like-minded people in a spirit of love and harmony... STAND WITH US!

Bring your friend and neighbor, to chat, sing, or pray.
No signs. No street theatre.

Just a special quiet time to tell your community and your government where you stand.

Please be with us for this very gentle moment for peace on Mother's Day.

Peg McIntire,
Grandparents for Peace,
(904) 471 1986

Earth Day 2007

Dear GFP member and friend (When will you become a member?)

EARTH DAY FESTIVAL:

EARTH DAY coming up. Here in St. Augustine, we are celebrating on Saturday, August 21st.

Grandparents for Peace will share a table at the event with PPJ (People for Peace & Justice). From 10 to noon there will our usual 3rd Saturday rally at the Bridge of Lions. From 10 to 4 the EARTH DAY celebration, sponsored by the Natural Living Alliance, will take place at the Amphitheatre, back to back with the Old City Farmers Market. In this way we will be making the connection between our work of peace and justice and our love and respect for Earth and all her creation.

The following poem came to me from Johnny Zokovitch, who lives in Gainesville, and is the Communications Director for Pax Christi USA. It fits the EARTH DAY theme. It is a prayer of reverence for all creation, telling us that we are irrevocably part of the web of life.

"Spirit of Wisdom,
Bless us wih greater knowledge of'
and compassion for Mother Earth.
Fill us with love for all her sentient beings,
The holy ground on which we step,
The life-giving air we breathe,
The healing water to be shared
among plants and creatures alike,
And the finite resources that are gifts
Never to be taken for granted." Amen.

Go Green is the latest catchword. Global warning is the big issue. Thousands of Americans all across the country are gathering at meaningful, iconic places, calling for action on climate change. They will hike, bike, climb, walk, swim, kayak, canoe or simply sit or stand with banners:"Reduce your carbon footprint"; "Contact Congress to cut CO2"; "Sign the Petition to Cut Emissions"; "Stop Global Warming".

I hope each one of us is planning to celebrate EARTH DAY. I hope we make the effort to use less, give more, and take responsibility for the stewardship of all creation. I hope we realize that we must make some sacrifices in our way of life in order to protect the life of the world that comes after us: our children, their children, and all living beings.

MUSIC FESTIVAL:

The first weekend in May brings a host of musicians from all over the nation to St. Augustine, to take part in the traditional Gamble Rogers Music Festival. Several GFP members will share shifts with me at the T-shirt table.


STUDENT PROTEST!

The hot story of the week is the Flagler College student protest against censorship of their newspaper which carries an article about an attempt to start a club on campus exclusively for gays and lesbians. I'll keep you posted as to how this plays out.

Funding the war, the surge, deployment, Walter Reed hospital scandal, increased violence, more corruption, more homeless, more poverty - oh, there are so many things wrong with our society.
We can only do what we can do, each in our own way. Together, we make a difference.

Happy EARTH DAY!

Peg

Tax Day

Letter to the Editor:

April 17th.

Tax Day is here again. Some U.S. citizens will not pay the dreaded income tax because they are unemployed, or have earned too little, are homeless, or in jail. But a large majority of my fellow citizens will obediently mail their reports and appropriate tax payments.

Not everyone. A significant number of war tax resisters, including some Grandparents for Peace members, wanting a redirection of their tax dollars, will refuse to pay all or even a part of their tax bill..

I endorse Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy of Civil Disobedience, namely: “If a thousand people were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be as violent and bloody a measure, as it would be to pay them and enable the state to commit violence and shed innocent blood.”

I think it is immoral (if not unconstitutional) that more than half of our tax dollars are used to pay for current and past wars. If instead this money were invested in peace initiatives and aid programs, we could truly build a better and more secure world.

The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee was founded in 1982 as a coalition of local, regional and national groups supportive of war tax resistance. They have prepared a”Peace Tax Return” form: Part A is for persons paying their taxes who wish to register a protest with their payment. Part B is for persons who refuse to pay some or all as a protest against for war.

Were freedom of conscience truly honored, it would not be illegal to refuse to pay for war. I quote from the NWTRCC brochure. “You have the right to protest actions by the government with which you do not agree. Using this form ( the Peace Tax Return) is an exercise of your freedom of speech.” But be careful. Do not write any message on official forms, such as the l040 form..

Is it illegal to refuse to pay taxes? Again I quote from the NWTRCC brochure. “ The .Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes “freedom of conscience” as a human right. Many who refuse to pay war taxes believe our government should recognize a conscientious objector status for war tax refusers. However, under current tax laws in the U.S., there is no legal option to send tax dollars to an organization of one’s choice rather than to the IRS, to prevent taxes being used for war. The IRS has full power to enforce collection of taxes not paid to the government,. This is usually done through letters demanding payment, but can involve seizures, such as of funds from bank accounts or salaries.”

Protesting war taxes involves risks. The Thoreau quote reminds us why we take such risks. I strongly advise consulting with the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, PO Box 150553, Brooklyn NY 11215,
1.800.269.7464, email nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org or research the NWTRCC.Aweb.

Peg McIntire, Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine Tel 904 471 1986

Major Peace Rally in St. Augustine

Dictated by Peg:


Hello all of you - and thanks for sending me your email of Thursday Feb 22. It was good but I still have a few tweaks if you approve:


QUOTE

In solidarity with nationwide events marking the 4th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

MAJOR PEACE RALLY IN ST. AUGUSTINE
Saturday March 17, 2007, from 10-12
Downtown Plaza at the base of the Bridge of Lions.

St. Augustine People for Peace and Justice (PPJ), Veterans for Peace (VfP) and Grandparents for Peace (GfP) will hold our usual third Saturday rally “Bring Our Troops Home” on Saturday, March 17 at the Plaza in St Augustine to mark the fourth year of the disastrous occupation of Iraq. Cities across the nation will hold similar events including a massive march in Washington DC. Our rally will feature street theatre, signs, the Peace Dove, the Peace Fairy and a march. Everyone who opposes this “war” is invited to stand with us and with tens of thousands of people all over America from 10 til noon.

Polls clearly show that two thirds of all American voters do not support either the surge in Iraq or the President’s conduct of the “war”.

The Founders of our country did not hesitate to put themselves out on the front lines for their beliefs. They knew their voices would count if they banded together for what they believed. We will speak out on March 17.

Do you believe in what your government is doing in Iraq in your name and with your tax dollars? If so, then stay home. But if you care about our more than 3100 dead troops and their families, our 25,000 wounded troops and their families, and the over 650,000 dead Iraqis and their families, then join us at the Plaza on Saturday March 17 from 10-12 and say NO. Bring a sign. Bring a drum. Bring a friend.

For more information, contact: 904-823.9585, marstans@hotmail.com

UNQUOTE


Peg