Go Grannies, Go!

Perfect to start our day! Go Grannies, indeed. Thank you, James.

Remember all the OLF protests to the Navy's misguided attempt to take over Washington County? Well, the Grannies in the northeast part of the state seem to have caught the bug! They're now acting up against George Bush's War in Iraq.

One woman at the center of the firestorm is named Pat Seibert. Pat was born in Pennsylvania, and moved to Kernersville in 1978 with her husband and four kids. She graduated Winston-Salem State 1988 - and earned an MPA from UNC 1990. When she retired in 1998, she moved to Beaufort County.

According to a mutual friend, Pat had this to say about the Gathering of Chickenhawks who harass the Grannies every weekend:

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. It is extremely stressful for me to face the 'buzzards' every Friday night as they are very loud, insulting, and abusive. It is sometimes really difficult not to shout back. They are not there to 'support the troops' as they say. Their ultimate purpose is to shut us down.

The Washington Daily News has some excellent coverage of the Grannies who are setting an awesome example for activism we can all learn from.

Two grandmothers who regularly protest the Iraq war during peace vigils on the Washington waterfront have decided to plunge a bit deeper into the political process. Pat Seibert and Emily Keel, two of the faces behind Grandmothers for Peace, have started a new political group, Progressive Democrats of Beaufort County. The group will have its first meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Beaufort County Courthouse.

That's tomorrow for those of you in the neighborhood.

“There are just a few of us who got together,” Seibert said. “We feel that the Democratic Party is sliding away from its base and we decided we needed to make a change from the grassroots level.” During Wednesday’s meeting, the group plans to show the film “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” The documentary details “how the uncritical news media have presented the prowar government propaganda from (Presidents) Johnson to Bush,” according to a prepared release.

The new group is a county chapter of Progressive Democrats of America, Seibert said. The national group’s goals include seeing an end to the war in Iraq, working for clean and fair elections, implementing health care for all and developing clean, renewable energy sources.

“In my mind, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t be for those things,” Seibert said. “We’re hoping this group will get people out of the closet so they aren’t afraid to say what they believe.”

Out of the mouths of Grannies . . . wisdom we can all take to heart.

James

PS We can also learn about the power of well-written letters to the editor. Grannie Seibert does it right:

To the Editor:

In response to the Sound Off caller’s comment in the WDN July 19 edition, yes; it is OK to protest on the waterfront in Washington, NC. We are a group of grandmothers in Beaufort County who have organized the Peace Vigil held Fridays on the waterfront in Washington because we feel it is our duty and responsibility to our country. We obtained a permit from the Washington Police Department to voice our constitutional right which is granted by the first amendment of the United States Constitution. Others have joined the grandmothers since we started this endeavor.

This seems to be the only way to get our voices heard in this country. Most of the media are unwilling to do real investigative reporting or publish or show the truth. The alternative media and sources outside the country that the vast majority of Americans don’t have access to are reporting the truth. If the people knew all the facts and the truth about government actions we would not need to have peace vigils. If we were allowed to see the pictures of flag draped coffins and burned and dead Iraqi children maybe then Americans would be outraged. 90% of the deaths in this illegal and immoral war and occupation have been civilians.

As of July 20, 2007, 3620 US troops have been killed, 26,806 or more wounded, over 600,000 Iraqis dead and 444,752,453,651 billion dollars spent. The longer our military occupies Iraq the more the number of insurgents and terrorists increases and the more danger we are in. Iraqi people do not want to be occupied; they do not want their oil stolen. Hundreds of Iraqi oil workers protested this week against the dividing up of the oil because the US has been pressuring the Iraq government to divide up 70% of the oil among US and British oil companies; which is another thing that has been hardly mentioned in the corporate media.

Participate in the Peace Vigil August 31 on the waterfront in Washington on Stewart Pkwy from 6 to 8 PM. Signs may be no larger than 2 ft x 2 ft. Sign my Impeach Bush and Cheney petition. We are peaceful citizens and we love our country and our constitution. (Emphasis added.)

Patricia Seibert
Chocowinity