Thursday, September 13, 2007

VIDEO: Memorial for Iraq War Dead During Heritage Foundation Forum

On Thursday September 13th, Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK took the stage during a conservative think tank forum. She announced that it would be appropriate to have a memorial for those who have died during the U.S. occupation, then she introduced Carlos Arredondo whose sone died in Iraq. After Carlos talked about his son, Medea read the New York Times op-ed written by 7 soldiers, two of which died in Iraq this week while General Petraeus was giving his report to Congress. After the reading, Betsy Rose sang the names of those 2 soldiers killed, and Medea responded, "We remember you."

9 comments:

Deidra said...

Medea, You are amazing!
Much love and support!
peace,
deidra

From AR:
Medea, you did great, and you are one of my favorite people because you are so brave! I wish I was in DC with you.
love you, Autumnrain

Anonymous said...

In my humble opinion, there is a difference between making your opinion heard and disrupting someone else from making their opinion heard. Freedom of Speech is a two-way street and you can't just take over a forum because you don't like the views being expressed. This aciton was inexcusably rude and the folks at Heritage had every right to remove them.

Anonymous said...

Code Pink is shameful.

Your attempts to subvert reasoned discourse do great harm to American democracy.

Shame on Code Pink. SHAME.

Anonymous said...

To the anonymous posts of "inexcusably rude" and "shame": I would agree with your points in most situations however, desperate times yeild desperate actions. The people of Iraq WILL take care of their country much better after our military forces depart. We will still help and must support them since we chose to invade, disrupt, destroy and kill so many innocent people.

Thank you Medea and Code Pink.

JimPreston said...

I know I should never let you all out of my sight, because I'll miss an incredible action. Here you go rubbing it in!!
Peace,
jim

Eileen Coles said...

The time is long past for reasoned discourse. While politically correct pleasantries are exchanged, innocents die by the thousands and money is hemorrhaged by the billions.

We represent the majority of this country and we are tired of having our valid and crucial concerns ignored by this President, this Congress and this Judiciary.

BHHM said...

Way to go Medea.
Sending money and and a few more spines over the weekend.

Anonymous said...

CODE PINK AND THE MANSON FAMILY: EERILY SIMILAR

Code Pink kept the Capitol Police busy this week with their constant interruptions during the testimony of Gen. Petraeus. Then, Code Pink decided to interrupt a private meeting by the Heritage Foundation. The disruptive theatrical tactics of Code Pink are eerily similar to those used by Charles Manson's "family." So, in keeping with the similarities that are well known between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations, it is important to consider the similarities between Charles Manson, "The Family," the Manson girls and the girls of Code Pink.



SIMILAR IMAGERY

Like the Manson family, Code Pink has adopted imagery, a "uniform" of sorts to distinguish themselves from civilized society. In Charles Manson's case, he carved an X on his forehead to make a statement about how he X'd himself out of society and the rest of his "family followed." Code Pink adopted pink as its distinguishing imagery to mock the homeland security alert codes and make a statement that the threat of terrorist attack is not serious.

"X'D" OUT OF CIVILIZED DISCOURSE

More importantly, Code Pink has essentially X'd itself out of civilized discourse by its disruptive Manson family antics. During the Manson trial, the other three Manson "girls" would rise and speak in unison, or individually, during testimony and Manson himself would disrupt the trial with antics such as showing a newspaper headline to the jury. When the verdict of guilty on all counts was read by the court clerk, it had to be read over the shouts of all the Manson Family defendants who screamed that the "Whole system is a game!"

It appears that Code Pink has wholly adopted the disruptive antics of the Manson Family. During the Patraeus testimony, Code Pink members rose, sometimes in unison, and persistently disrupted the hearing just like the Manson defendants did during the 1970-1971 trial.

This week Code Pink even interrupted a private Heritage Foundation meeting on progress in Iraq. Code Pink members took the stage and shouted at the speakers and the audience.

Code Pink is notorious for heckling people it disagrees with. The Manson Family would, from the sidewalk, heckle prosecutors and witnesses on their way into court during the Manson trial.

USE OF STREET THEATER

The Manson Family used street theater such as crawling through downtown Los Angeles on all fours, in a "Crawl In," to protest the trial of Charles Manson and the "family." Code Pink also uses street theater such as dressing with sheep heads and protesting in front of the capitol. Today, Code Pink will be having a "Die In with International ANSWER (a front group for the socialist workers of the world party)."
BOTH OBSESSED WITH DICTATORS

Even in the realm of politics there is some similarity between Charles Manson and Code Pink. Charles Manson was obsessed with the Nazis. Code Pink's leadership has an obsession with another dictatorial regime; that of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Code Pink's leaders Medea Benjamin and Jodi Evans went to Venezuela with Cindy Sheehan. They were photographed hugging Hugo Chavez. Sheehan was quoted as saying that she would rather live under Chavez than Bush. On its website, Code Pink hawks the t-shirt Jodi Evans was wearing for their historic diplomatic moment with the South American dictator.

A TWISTED DOGMA

Charles Manson listened to the Beatles White Album and was inspired to form a twisted philosophy. For Code Pink, their White Album is simply the news. They watch it with paranoia and see conspiracies and lies by every government official.
FRUSTRATION

Charles Manson was frustrated because he could not break into the music industry. Code Pink is frustrated because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not meet with them. They have even camped outside of her house and have an online petition seeking an hour or two of the speakers time.

BUT, ARE THEY REALLY DANGEROUS?

If history is any judge, then it is fair to conclude that Code Pink could potentially be dangerous. The Weather Underground, a faction of the Students for a Democratic Society, opposed the Vietnam War, and advocated peace. Yet, they participated in two dozen bombings and armored car robberies in which murders occurred. So, if recent history is an accurate indicator, just because they are an antiwar organization that does not mean that they do not have the potential to be violent.
These are just a few of the similarities between Charles Manson, the Manson girls, the "family" and Code Pink.

UPDATE: WASHINGTON D.C., SEPT. 15 -- Fox news showed an interview with one of the Charles Manson girls who was participating at the "Die-In" with the rest of the "family" freakazoids. She was quoted as saying General Patraeus is a coward.

Anonymous said...

Hey, you girrls can continue to be angry right up until 2009, but the fact is you accomplish nothing! Any money donated to Code Pink is money out the window. You would be better off sending it to a children's charity. And, more spines to get arrested are quite fine. Hopefully all of you idiots will get on probation.