All Politics is Local

While I was at my parent's house for Christmas I learned of my mother's contribution to the debate on war with Iraq. The neighbors who live directly across from my parents planted a 'No War with Iraq' sign in their yard. These signs are being sold for $10 a piece by a Minneapolis based organization called Women Against Military Madness or WAMM (insert George Michael jokes here) and according a story in yesterday's Star Tribune over four thousand have been distributed in the metropolitan area. If you're looking for "Things you can do today to stop the costly, brutal war the Bush Administration wants to wage" the WAMM web site includes an event calendar full of opportunities.

It's too late to see the "puppet shows about creative, nonviolent conflict resolution" but you can still catch the "Candlelight Service for the Children of Iraq" (I'm sure the Iraqi kids will be grateful, "we're still living under a brutal dictatorship but at least those people in Minnesota lit some candles for us" ), "The 12th Annual Opening Day Protest and Rally at the State Capitol, St. Paul, MN. Not One Dime in Cuts that Hurt Poor and Working People! Stop the Welfare Cut-Offs! (not quite sure how this relates to military madness), and the always popular (and hip) Uptown Anti-war Rally.

And in case you were wondering, yes WAMM does have an "Emergency Response Plan" in place:

We will hold a nonviolent demonstration against the "war on terror" if and when there is a major escalation of the war. A major escalation might include the expansion of the war to another nation. Here is the plan: Gather at the Federal Courts Building at 4th Street and 3rd Avenue, Downtown Minneapolis, at 4:30 p.m. If news of a major escalation is reported before noon, the protest will take place at 4:30 p.m. on that day. If news of a major escalation is reported after noon, the protest will take place at 4:30 p.m. the following day.

Now that I think about it I do seem to recall WAMM demonstrating after the attack on the synagogue in Tunisia, the attempt to sink a French tanker off Yemen, the night club bombing in Bali, and the hotel bombing and attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Kenya didn't I? Wait those things are part of the imaginary "war on terror" created by the Bush administration to justify the waging of their brutal war.

In response to WAMM and amid a "chorus of voices" demanding that they be heard I have created an organization called Militarists Against Whacked-out Women or MAWW and I'm proud to say that we soon will have our own line of signs available for $20 each (I am a greedy capitalist after all). More slogans will be available later but our initial launch will include these choices:

"Kill Iraqi Women and Children Now"

"More Blood for Oil"

and finally...

"Make Iraq(and later the world) An American Colony"

All signs will be in blood red, white, and blue to honor our tyrannical nation as it seeks to oppress and terrorize the world. Place your orders now.

So how did my mom handle the situation with the neighbors? Acting bit more subtly than I would have she taped a Christmas card to her neighbor's sign with a simple question:

Have you forgotten September 11th?