Category: Daniel Lauridsen
12-Year-Old Massachusetts Girl Speaks at Washington Antiwar Rally
PROTEST
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Danny Lauridsen
Boston University Washington News Service
1-27-07
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 –When she collected more than 100 signatures at her Harvard, Mass., middle school earlier this month for a petition to end the war in Iraq, Moriah Arnold never expected she’d be sharing that message with tens of thousands of people.
The 12-year-old sixth-grader from Bromfield Middle School had plans to attend the March to End the War on Iraq at the National Mall Saturday with her family, watching from the crowd as they cheered and applauded the speakers on the stage. But when her mom e-mailed protest organizers with word of the petition, Arnold soon found herself near the top of the speaker’s list, the target of that applause.
“Me and my family watched the movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and it just made us realize that you can’t just sit around, you have to actually get up and do something about the war and the environment,” she said, adding that she felt she could make a difference.
“I’m here because I have something to say about the war in Iraq,” Arnold said in her speech. “We got into this war because our leaders told us Iraq was dangerous. We know now that that wasn’t true, and they hid the truth.”
Reaction to Arnold’s speech made it clear that both her message and her age sparked excitement in the audience. As she asked the crowd emphatically, “For what?” protesters shouted the question back and cheered.
Arnold shared the stage with many other speakers, including Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Other central Massachusetts residents made the trek to the Capitol as well, but for some it was longer than others.
“Our car broke down,” Rachel A. McCook, a Clark University student, said at the march, “but it was fun. We made the best of it.”
McCook made the trip to Washington with her three roommates at Clark, and said she thought the trip was well worth it even if they spent an hour of it as passengers in a tow truck.
“It was good to gather on such a beautiful day,” she said, noting the temperature in the 50s after a week of much colder weather..
Courtney J. Croteau, one of McCook’s roommates, said she started protesting the Iraq invasion four years ago. “With the timely escalation it was really important to come down now,” she said.
“We sort of already made a mess there, and we should clean it up,” Kristen L. Ethier, another member of the group, said. “But the way that Bush’s administration is cleaning it up is to implement capitalism masquerading as democracy.”
Ethier said she also has been protesting the war since before it began. She added, “The intentions aren’t for their best interest. The intentions are to benefit our economy, and I think that is a terrible reason to destroy an infrastructure of a country.”
McCook said, “I think collectively we’re making a difference. Everyone comes down with different messages, and I think it’s important that we say something. They’ll listen when they want to listen, but I think it’s important that we say it.”
“It’s a starting place,” Amanda L. Breniser, another Clark student who made the trip separately, said, adding that she would like to see more active demonstrations on a more frequent basis.
But other marchers were happy to be protesting the war for the first time.
John G. Pastor, minister of the First Congregational Parish, Unitarian in Petersham, came to Washington with a few members of his church.
“Our congregation hasn’t really made a strong stance against the war. That’s unfortunate,” he said. “I think at the beginning there was reluctance to come out against the war for fear of being called unpatriotic. I hope that our denomination will continue to support antiwar rallies like this.”
Pastor added, “I think Cindy Sheehan really kind of set the pace for protests again. She certainly showed us from a mother’s perspective how war can hurt families.”
“It’s about time to start this movement of peace, not war,” Bob Hall, a member of Pastor’s congregation, said.
“Fantastic,” he said of the march. “Fantastic, capital F-A-N.” The turnout was much more than he expected, Hall said. “I can’t believe how many people.”
Pastor said, “I guess I’d always like to see more, but this is wonderful. It’s a start.”
He said he thought the government would hear the message. “Whether they’ll listen is another thing,” he added.
Hall’s message was simple. “Impeach Bush. End the war,” he said. “I think it will be heard.”
Ethier said, “A lot of people have a lot of different things to say, but we’re still together. I think the collectivity is the most powerful part of the experience.”
Arnold’s sentiments reflected the general message of the march. “The rest of the world sees us as a bully and a liar,” she said. “Enough is enough. We want to end the war now. It’s not too late to rise up and be heard.”
-30-
Massachusetts Congressmen Criticize Bush Proposals
REACTION
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Danny Lauridsen
Boston University Washington News Service
1-23-07
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23-- Massachusetts members of Congress were not convinced by President Bush’s efforts to justify sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq in his State of the Union address last night.
Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Worcester) was especially strong in his criticisms of Mr. Bush’s plan for the future of Iraq, and he stressed that the newly elected Democrat-run Congress will not stand for the war with the same passivity that it did under Republican leadership.
“I think there’s a lot of frustration in Congress, and there’s a reason,” Mr. McGovern said. “The American people want a change. This is a frustrated, concerned Congress.” He added, “I’d like to see some candor and some honesty in articulating how we’re going to get out of Iraq. This Congress is not going to be a rubber stamp like the last one was.”
Rep. John W. Olver (D-Amherst) said in a statement released before the speech, “The president’s escalation strategy is far too little and four years too late. It is time for the president to develop and implement a plan for handing the government over to the Iraqi people and bringing our troops home.”
Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Springfield) said, “No, the mission has not been accomplished. Very little of anything that he has said has turned out to be accurate.”
On health care, members said the president’s tax reform plan would do little to help persons with low incomes afford health insurance.
U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy condemned the Bush health care plan as “an opportunity missed,” in a statement released before the speech. “To solve the health care crisis, we need not just action – but the right action,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Health care in America is in crisis.”
While he acknowledged that presidential attention is the first step in addressing the crisis, Kennedy’s statement was at the forefront of other Massachusetts congressmen who said the Bush proposal benefits the wealthy without addressing the true crisis.
“An end-of-the-year tax deduction is essentially worthless to workers who can’t afford to pay out-of-pocket each month,” Mr. Olver’s statement said. “The president’s proposal is largely empty.”
Mr. McGovern said, “The debate on how we deal with health care is one of the biggest challenges. It’s one of the biggest costs for the government.”
Currently, nearly 47 million Americans are without health care, and members doubted the president’s proposal would significantly change that number.
“It needs to be much broader in context,” Mr. Neal said. “If you don’t have any money you’re not going to get a tax cut, but you still need health care.”
Although they aren’t very confident in the president’s ability to implement most of his plans, including the search for alternative fuel sources, Democrats were at least pleased to see the president mention global warming as a problem.
“For six years he’s rejected science,” Mr. Neal said, adding that this was the first time Bush even acknowledged global warming as a trend.
“At least the acknowledgement invites us to find a way forward,” he said. “You can’t find a scientist in America and for that matter much of the world who doesn’t subscribe to the theory of global warming.”
But the members said no matter what other domestic issues may be looming, the critical topic affecting all else is clearly the war in Iraq.
“Think about what you could do with the $500 billion this president has spent on Iraq,” Mr. McGovern said. “Think about what you could do for health care. Think about what you could do about finding alternative energy.”
“All the things that this White House is doing I think have had a negative impact on the quality of life in this country,” Mr. McGovern said.” The state of the union is not as secure and is not as positive as we would like.”
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