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Work 4 Peace,Hold All Life Sacred,Eliminate Violence! I am on my mobile version of the door-to-door, going town-to-town holding readings/gatherings/discussions of my book "But What Can I Do?" This is my often neglected blog mostly about my travels since 9/11 as I engage in dialogue and actions. It is steaming with my opinions, insights, analyses toward that end of holding all life sacred, dismantling the empire and eliminating violence while creating the society we want ALL to thrive in

Thursday, August 17, 2006

The slippery slope of Sacramento or where the hell was Jenny???

We in CodePINK ultimately hold our own selves responsible for working toward the return of our guard and ensuring the end of this war. We hold our legislators responsible for showing up at their own hearings and voting on legislation.

After all the pusillanimous finagling we’ve witnessed over this past year, I suppose we certainly should not be shocked at this latest slimy maneuver by our elected Democrat officials to avoid standing tall for Californians, but I for one, am! Shocked and disgusted.

I’m sure it has been done before – the good ole neglecting-to-show-up for an important vote – but how could they? How could they just not show up to vote on AJR36?

Was this why Speaker Nunez was, after almost a whole year of obstructing, finally willing to allow AJR36 to go forward, because he knew another plan was in the works to stop AJR36?

Was this why Assemblymember Joe Nation was, after refusing to co-author even the version he re-wrote, finally willing to vote for AJR36, because he knew it wasn’t going to get out of his committee?

How could Chavez – Ed Chavez, the same one who told us not once, but twice that he would follow the lead of the chair & the speaker – how could he slip into the hearing for a few minutes and then slip out before the vote?

What did Oropezo gain by staying away from this vote? “Call me Jenny” Oropezo is a co-author of AJR36, for god’s sake. What the hell did she choose to do 2:30p.m. Wednesday August 16th that was more important to her than being at this hearing?

Over 50 of us concerned Californians – who are not even getting paid to show up at this hearing – womanaged to drag ourselves away from our own important busy lives, make it to Sacramento, and many of us even forced ourselves to stand, to speak, to be present for the hearing of AJR36.

Not to mention the work of hundreds and thousands of average Californians who faxed, emailed, called, attended meetings, made appointments, signed petitions, approached city councils and boards of supervisors, and wrote articles and editorials – who stood tall insisting the abuse of our California National Guard end; insisting the security and safety of Californians be put forth before Bush & his war machine, before political election ambitions; insisting that our California ‘contribution’ of our Guard for this war in Iraq end.

We know our California state legislature should morally & politically call for the return of our California National Guard from Iraq NOW, before they adjourn. We know they neglected to spearhead this call in the beginning; we know they certainly have since avoided going on record voting for the return of our guard.

We in CodePINK will not be deterred: we know the lives we are really fighting for.

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