Working and playing on a sunday afternoon in DC...

Being that is was Sunday, we got to sleep in a little bit... however, we still got out and went to one of the Sunday talkshows... "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" is filmed live only a few blocks from the DC CODEPINK house. Desiree, Midge, and our new arrival from Dallas, Mona, walked up to CNN and stood outside with one of the brightly colored "DON'T BUY BUSH'S WAR" banners. We waited a little while, but our vigilance paid off when Senator Luger (R-IN) walked out. Desiree, standing near the door with her graphic photo poster of a dead Iraqi child, was the first person he saw as he came through the glass doors of the CNN building. Luger actually was very cordial to us, and even walked up and said, "I appreciate that you are on Capitol Hill doing the work you do." He seemed sincere, but still we were not there to let him off easy since he has been a big supporter of the Bush's war. Mona took the lead... this was her first encounter with a Congressperson since getting to DC. She asked him in a clear bold voice, "Senator, how can you sleep at night knowing our soldiers are dying over in Iraq for the profit of oil companies." He was left speechless for a second. Midge interjected, "Mona, you're husband spent his career in the Air Force." Mona said, "Yes... he served in the Vietnam War." Senator Luger then responded, "Well, your family has sacraficed for America." Mona was brilliant when she replied, "Yes, and I don't want to sacrafice anymore... I don't want my grandson to die in an unjust war." Midge added, "Please do what you can to get us out of this mess Senator." Before he walked away to get into his chauffeur driven Lincoln Towncar, he reiterated, "Thank you for speaking up for what you believe."

In the afternoon, CODEPINKers spilt up and went to different areas of town to hand out flyers for our Mother's Day events. Midge went to Duponbt Circle while Desiree and Mona went to Eastern Market. There was a festival at Eastern market today, so there were a few thousand people there... The CODEPINK women quickly handed out 500 flyers, then had to go make more copies.

Meanwhile, Midge had gotten back to the CODEPINK house just in time for the arrival of our new peace trike. A local CODEPINK supporter, Jim had ordered a kit and put it all together himself so he could donate it to us... just in time for the Mother's Day Kids Peace Festival. Our friend Jay actually rode the bike all the way from Silver Spring Maryland. We decided to take it out on it's first mission, so Jay pedaled Midge over to Eastern Market where the Market Day festival was still going on. It was a big hit! The kids loved it and we were able to hand out a bunch more flyers inviting families to our event at the White House next Sunday.