Leslie Angeline o
f CODEPINK, has been fasting for over 10 days in an effort to meet with Senator Joseph Lieberman. She wants to meet with him to ask him not to bomb Iran. She visited Iran a few weeks ago and wanted to tell the senator about her visit and tell him not to kill innocent people. He agreed to meet with her but broke the appointment. Leslie has tried to meet with Lieberman several more times but he has chosen not to meet with her. Today, Leslie went to his office to ask to meet with the senator but to no avail. Leslie was feeling weak and ask the senator's staff if she could lay on the floor. They told her no and if she wanted to lay down she had to go into hallway to lay down. Leslie sat down on the floor in his office and rested her head on the chair. Capital medical help was called and they allowed Leslie to lay on the floor in his office. The campus police were there too. The police would not allow any CODEPINK people near Leslie. They kept her separated from us which was a bit scary. All we could see was Leslie laying on the floor with 12 to 14 medical and police staff standing around her. They finally rolled her out in a wheel chair downstairs into the medical center in the building. It was scary because Lieberma
n's staff seemed unconcerned and unaffected by Leslie laying on the floor. It was heart breaking to see someone you care about that has such a strong passion about peace laying out on the floor when it could have been avoided if the senator had met with her for just a few minutes to discuss peaceful efforts in Iran. I am very disappointed in Senator Lieberman and the constituents of Connecticut should be outraged as well.
f CODEPINK, has been fasting for over 10 days in an effort to meet with Senator Joseph Lieberman. She wants to meet with him to ask him not to bomb Iran. She visited Iran a few weeks ago and wanted to tell the senator about her visit and tell him not to kill innocent people. He agreed to meet with her but broke the appointment. Leslie has tried to meet with Lieberman several more times but he has chosen not to meet with her. Today, Leslie went to his office to ask to meet with the senator but to no avail. Leslie was feeling weak and ask the senator's staff if she could lay on the floor. They told her no and if she wanted to lay down she had to go into hallway to lay down. Leslie sat down on the floor in his office and rested her head on the chair. Capital medical help was called and they allowed Leslie to lay on the floor in his office. The campus police were there too. The police would not allow any CODEPINK people near Leslie. They kept her separated from us which was a bit scary. All we could see was Leslie laying on the floor with 12 to 14 medical and police staff standing around her. They finally rolled her out in a wheel chair downstairs into the medical center in the building. It was scary because Lieberma
n's staff seemed unconcerned and unaffected by Leslie laying on the floor. It was heart breaking to see someone you care about that has such a strong passion about peace laying out on the floor when it could have been avoided if the senator had met with her for just a few minutes to discuss peaceful efforts in Iran. I am very disappointed in Senator Lieberman and the constituents of Connecticut should be outraged as well. Check out this video interview with Leslie:
Blog by Carla of Cleveland, OH
21 comments:
I rejoice in the courage of my sisters. Thank you Arwindt for the video, and Leslie for bringing the courage of peace into the halls of congress. May you never lie down alone again.
I hope Leslie is going to be OK. Best thoughts from here in CT. I am sorry that our pitiful excuse for a Senator refuses to meet with you.
Why would Senator Lieberman meet with her? She is neither from Connecticut nor is she an expert in foreign policy.
If she wishes to meet with an appropriate member of Congress, she should contact Senator Feinstein or Boxer, or Rep. Woolsey.
Why would Sen. Lieberman meet with her? Because she is an American citizen who feels so strongly that Sen. his foreign policy is cruel and misguided that she is willing to deny herself food until he promises to use diplomacy with the country of Iran. If Feinstein, Boxer or Woolsey made a similar comment about military intervention in Iran, you can bet she would be holding them accountable as well. Protecting human life is more important than politics.
I love you, Leslie, keep strong!
"Why would Sen. Lieberman meet with her? Because she is an American citizen who feels so strongly that Sen. his foreign policy is cruel and misguided that she is willing to deny herself food until he promises to use diplomacy with the country of Iran. If Feinstein, Boxer or Woolsey made a similar comment about military intervention in Iran, you can bet she would be holding them accountable as well. Protecting human life is more important than politics."
Senator Leiberman has a duty to his constituents. They have issues that need to be addressed as much as anyone else in this country. You, along with others, may feel very strongly about this topic, but this isn’t about politics. It’s about contacting the correct offices.
If Ms. Angeline wants to discuss her views and set up meetings with elected officials, she should go through the proper channels. Demanding a meeting with a Senator from a state entirely across the country and going on a hunger strike when they refuse is not the way to address the real concerns she may have. It instead turns the event into a circus.
People seem to feel that because they feel passionate about something that they can get whatever they demand. Ms. Angeline has at least three members of Congress she should contact. Their office can then work with Senator Lieberman’s office to try and set up a meeting. Conversely, it would be incorrect from one of Senator Lieberman’s constituents to demand a meeting with Senator Boxer because they would not be a constituent.
Being disruptive in a Senator's office does not accomplish the goal set out. It only hurts any chance of having your opinion taken serious. I have spend several years in the Senate and this type of stunt only hurts the goals that Ms.Angeline and others have set out to meet.
Senator Leiberman is responsible to the American public to defend his public statements.
One could easily argue that he has no right to determine the fate of Iran since he does not live there, or that he has no right to make those statements since he is not advocating that the State of Connecticut attack Iran.
This woman is an American citizen and she has as much right to meet with him to discuss his statements about Iran as he has the right to make them.
What is truly "circus-like" about the current Congress is that sabre-rattling chickenhawks are willing to advocate the insanity of bloody warfare against foreign nations; but they themselves are afraid to look one American female citizen in the eye in their own offices and back their words up to her. GROW A PAIR ALREADY, YOU CHICKENHAWK WUSSIES IN THE CONGRESS!!! Did Leiberman ever do a pushup on a drill pad in his LIFE? It won't be HIM going to kill and die, no, not this wuss who runs away from a little lady in pink!!! Dear GODS how do you pathetic cowards sleep at night!!!
"Senator Leiberman is responsible to the American public to defend his public statements."
Thats incorrect. Like it or not, any elected official is only responsible for his or her constituents. For President Bush, that is the American public. For Senator Lieberman, that is the state of Connecticut.
"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members ... a heart of grace and a soul generated by love."
By Coretta Scott King
Thank you Leslie. You have moved me beyond words this week.
All Power to the People.
Peace.
Anon said: "Senator Leiberman has a duty to his constituents."
I am his condtituent. She speaks for me, and for many others in the state of Connecticut.
"I am his condtituent. She speaks for me, and for many others in the state of Connecticut."
Then call his office, try to make an appointment, and be rational about it.
You would meet with his staff, not the senator because that is what the staff is there for...to work on issues and meet with constituents. Almost all meetings are held with staff, on issues from the war to SCHIP to the Alternative Minimum Tax. Don't act like he is ducking you because he won't meet you in person, because thats just not the truth no matter what some would like to think.
If you are rational, rather than attempting to take over his office and chant, there is a good chance you will be able to meet with someone.
You can't "transfer your constituency" to someone else, but you can do something yourself by expressing your views to the proper individual.
Yo CODEPINKers, it's cool if you want to allow anonymous comments, but somehow I get the feeling that most of the "anonymous" are actually staffers from congressional offices. Is there any way to check?
are staffers in congressional offices not allowed to post here? I've said nothing incorrect, and to be truthful, sometimes groups such as code pink need to hear comments from an outside group so that they can gain perspective.
I would think a group such as this would want to hear comments from all sides and promote free speech rather than waste time looking for the identity of posters.
I, too, rejoice in the courage of my CodePink Sisters! Leslie, be well, we all love you and what you are doing makes us all proud of your convictions. I stand taller because of you.
Anonymous should *attempt* to understand that when Leiberman made his comments, that he wants to bomb Iran, ANY U.S. American can and should respond to stop it, and we will continue to do so, regardless of "Anon's" objections over protocol. CodePink never HAS operated that way, never will, we DO get attention, we do make progress, like it or not. And we DO expect to eventually get what we demand: peace. Leslie put her life on the line, and "Anon" reacts only to her possibly not following "Anon's" ideas of "protocol"?
'If she wishes to meet with an appropriate member of Congress, she should contact Senator Feinstein or Boxer, or Rep. Woolsey."
If she wishes to meet with ANY member of Congress, she has the right to request that meeting. In case you've forgotten, as so many in govt have, this is STILL a somewhat free country.
Ya kinda missed the big picture, Anon. And CodePink has made a LOT of serious changes in the Senate and the House, and we're not going anywhere. You must not have been paying attention. We aren't interested in who you are: you're certainly not interested in human welfare or free speech. Free speech IS what Leslie has been exercising.
(To the second "anonymous", I'm sure all the comments from the first anon are from the same person: nobody.)
ACodepink4Peace
"We aren't interested in who you are: you're certainly not interested in human welfare or free speech."
How is anything in that statement true? What have I said that is against free speech? I've never told anyone to stop speaking their mind, only to understand the reasons why you haven't been getting a meeting in Lieberman's office.
As I said, I've been respectful here and tried to be helpful, while all you have done is call me a nobody who hates human welfare and free speech. Quite a group you've got here...
The reasons you give for Lieberman not meeting this law abiding American citizen are those given by a cowardly bureaucrat.
He has no right to speak for the rest of America and pronounce any sort of doom upon Iran. He does not speak for America - according to your halfwitted reasoning, he only speaks for one state. Any member of Congress who refuses to justify his words to the American people should seriously rethink pretending to speak for all of them.
Pronouncing death and doom upon an entire country of people you have never met, yet refusing to meet with one citizen to justify those statements - this is SUPREME COWARDICE, and nothing you say here will remove our knowledge of that fact. Don't bother wasting any more of your time or ours with your pathetic red tape. How dare ANYONE require her to be a constituent or "an expert in foreign policy"?
All that is required of her is that she be an American: Lieberman spoke for America, let him answer to America for what he said! It's THAT SIMPLE, and the only reason anyone needs to make it more complicated is to COWER and HIDE behind a desk! What part of "Of the people, By the people and For the people" do you not understand?
If you are going to talk tough with words of warfare you'd better damn well be ready to back them up in person to one little lady in pink, or you'll be rightly made a laughingstock! Looks to me like Lieberman's sabre is good for rattling only - when it comes down to whippin' it out up close and personal he needs a bit of moral Viagra!
to the "anonymous" poster and to all code pink supporters, I would like to first say, let's keep this democratic conversation going. Afterall, any good that has EVER come about in human history has been borne on the shoulders of ordinary people. They do all the heavy lifting. From a strictly technical standpoint, I might agree with the person who likes "proper channels" IF the subject at hand was strictly a state issue. This not only involves an international issue, but of the gravest kind....going to war. I hope therefore, you now see the folly of going to war without enough input of opinion,ideas and expertise from all sectors of society brings, don't you? (hint: a mideast country formed after WWI by the British,using arbitrary lines for the border, irrespective of local desires, so that a certain valuable resource could be protected) We now find ourselves, after a long train of abuses, in a situation where life on this planet needs cooperation, for the sake of survival of all living species. Every time we attempt to separate ourselves from each other or the planet that sustains us, we are collectively and individually slammed back to the truth. Everything is interconnected. If Senator Lieberman wants to stop terrorism from ANY other country, he must understand that he needs to quit exporting it. What is a worse form of terror than war? Our chances to get it right are slipping away. This latest war had a predetermined outcome...war is not the answer.....
"The reasons you give for Lieberman not meeting this law abiding American citizen are those given by a cowardly bureaucrat."
Again, more name calling. Sticks and stones...
"He has no right to speak for the rest of America and pronounce any sort of doom upon Iran. He does not speak for America - according to your halfwitted reasoning, he only speaks for one state."
Ah, now you attack my reasoning as halfwitted. Can you have a rational conversation without insulting someone? Lieberman never spoke "for the rest of America", rather he spoke as a member of the Senate who has one vote within the United States Senate. As a duly elected official he has every right to give his views on what he thinks America should do. However, he should not speak on behalf of America, something he's never done...he's just given his opinion, one of the main reasons we elect officials.
What is insulting is that this coward pretends to speak for all of us and from the safety of his granite office building announces that a country which has not attacked anyone in two hundred years needs to be bombed, but when a citizen challenges him and asks for an eyeball-to-eyeball meeting on the matter, he runs away from her and hides behind bureacracy. I call them like I see them and what I see here is pure cowardice. If that is not the case, by all means prove it - but waffling, weaseling and lying aren't going to do that. Only meeting with the woman will do that.
It seems to me that someone who is afraid of a "circus" - which would constitute a simple one hour meeting where he would have to at least pretend he has the courage to back up his statements - has no real right to call for a war that would last decades and would put hundreds of thousands of other human beings in a far worse situation.
What is Lieberman afraid of? (Actually, at this point I honestly have to ask myself what he ISN'T afraid of...)
""We aren't interested in who you are: you're certainly not interested in human welfare or free speech."
How is anything in that statement true? What have I said that is against free speech? I've never told anyone to stop speaking their mind, only to understand the reasons why you haven't been getting a meeting in Lieberman's office.
As I said, I've been respectful here and tried to be helpful, while all you have done is call me a nobody who hates human welfare and free speech. Quite a group you've got here..."
That's FAR from "all" I've done. I wrote a whole lot more than that, but you seem stuck on being called "names", poor thing. You've clearly demonstrated you aren't interested in human welfare, by arguing nothing but PROTOCOL!! Not ONE word about the welfare of our brave Sister, who collapsed and had to be taken to a hospital. You call that "respectful"? "Helpful"? Secondly, I never said you "hate" human welfare and free speech, I SAID you weren't interested. QUITE a difference. YOUR WORDS express your indifference except to following ridiculous protocol that doesn't apply here. Thirdly, did ANYONE ask for your kind of "help"? If you think you've been helpful in any way, you're even further deluded than I thought when I read your first "post".
Oh yeah, the ONLY thing you are concerned with is so-called "name-calling". Grow up. And teach your staff-positioned-self that if ANY Senator makes comments about committing yet another pre-emptive strike against a country that does not deserve it (what country ever does??), ANY U.S. citizen has the right and better stand up and STOP IT!
Here, I'll add to your list of complaints: you're an ignorant buffoon, who is boring the life out of everyone on this blog. Feel better now?
What say EVERYONE completely ignore this COWARD who stands behind the COWARDLY LIEBERMAN?? (Frankly, I think he works for Lieberman.Yes, he, it's obvious.) No more responses, no answers. Deal? This blog is about our Leslie and her attempts to right a terrible wrong, to simply talk to someone who made terrifyingly ominous comments which could have devastating consequences for OUR world. Let's just leave "anon" out of it.
And YES, we DO have quite a group here! GO PINKS!
ACodePink4Peace
"Not ONE word about the welfare of our brave Sister, who collapsed and had to be taken to a hospital. You call that "respectful"? "Helpful"?"
Her welfare is in her own hands. She didn't eat and still did not et a meeting. That plan is flawed. Next time, hopefully she will realize that starving yourself doesn't get you a meeting with a Senator.
"Here, I'll add to your list of complaints: you're an ignorant buffoon, who is boring the life out of everyone on this blog. Feel better now?"
wow...just wow...and you wonder why people won't take meetings with your group. If you act like an idiot, you'll be treated like one.
"What say EVERYONE completely ignore this COWARD who stands behind the COWARDLY LIEBERMAN?? (Frankly, I think he works for Lieberman.Yes, he, it's obvious.)"
Sorry, I don't, but you can continue to believe that if it makes you feel better.
Out of respect for Leslie and her sacrifice, it would be nice to keep the tone of these exchanges more positive. I think it's great that someone out of our circle is interested enough to engage in a "blog dialogue" with us. That's the kind of thing Leslie would encourage--respectful dialogue. That's what she wants the US to do with Iran. That's what she could like to do with Senator Lieberman.
About her "standing," though, anonymous should know that the Senator is not merely a 1-in-100 senator but also a member of the committee that makes key decisions about war and peace: the Armed Services Committee. According to his own website:
"Senator Lieberman is a member of the Armed Services Committee, where he is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on AirLand Forces and sits on the Subcommittees on Emerging Threats and Capabilities and Seapower. The Senate Armed Services Committee is responsible for all matters relating to defense policy of the United States, including oversight of the Department of Defense and the nation's armed forces."
This means that the Senator has a responsibiity to the entire nation, not just his constituents in Connecticut. Leslie, as someone passionately committed to preventing another war, deserves to be heard.
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