From the Eureka Reporter:
Community members are invited to join a protest outside the Eureka office of U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson this and every Monday, to demand an end to U.S. involvement in Iraq.
Local members of the World Can’t Wait group and the Dream Big Coalition are sponsoring a weekly rally outside Thompson’s office to demand Congress stop the war in Iraq and bring U.S. troops home, provide reconstruction efforts in Iraq and begin impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and members of his administration if they do not resign.
The rally begins at 10 a.m. outside Thompson’s office, 317 Third St., in Eureka.
For more information, phone 707-442-8733 or 707-923-4488.
Remind me to post my thoughts as to the many reasons that work-hour demonstrations do more harm to their causes than good.
17 comments
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February 4, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Heraldo
Uh, ok. Hey Eric, remember to post why work-hour demos cause more harm than good.
February 5, 2007 at 1:03 am
Anonymous
yeah, are these people for real? isn’t there something more productive these mike thompson activists could do to better society? suddenly, i feel like a conservative, annoyed at the people who give liberals a bad name. back to eating my yummy salad
February 5, 2007 at 2:21 am
Anonymous
The offices of our representatives are generally closed after work hours; if one wishes to meet with them, or their office staff, one needs to do this during regular working hours.
Clarissa
February 5, 2007 at 5:18 am
Fred
Yes, but that isn’t what the demonstrators are doing in this case- umpteen times I might add. They’re demonstrating, not going in to chat with Mike Thompson’s staff.
I’ll take the first guess at one of the reasons Eric thinks these demos do more harm than good:
When certain people turn up time and time again during work hours to demonstrate (as the Times- Standard made note of this morning) it looks like they’re just a bunch of bums because most people who have jobs can’t take time off in the middle of the day to go to a demonstration.
I agree with the Times- Standard: A demonstration here and there is news. When you do it over and over again, it’s not.
I’ll also admit, despite being against the Iraq invasion from the get- go, I can’t help but wonder if the vast majority of people hanging out at Thompson’s office during work hours are a bunch of bums? They must not have jobs, or do they?
February 5, 2007 at 5:38 am
Hank Sims
There were only eight protestors the day I went to report, and they were all retirees (or of retirement age, anyway). And that was on the big, national “Bring the Troops Home Now” day.
February 5, 2007 at 7:48 am
Anonymous
Hank, this is a case of “if the reporter isn’t there yet, is an event happening?”. You came in the last part of a long ongoing demo, during which people met with Liz, Mike’s aide, in ones and twos throughout the morning and into the afternoon. In the group (estimated around 20 to 30)were a number of younger people, young parents, some with kids, the middleaged, and the few “elderly” you reported upon.
In the hearts of a few there is a sense of emergency.
Personally I was delighted to see Mike introducing the Obama strategy to the House, and I think we are fortunate to have a responsive and mostly ethical guy representing us. (and, hey, he listens to me now and again with intelligence; a lovely quality in a man). But…alas, still not far enough.
Clarissa
February 5, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Hank Sims
Ah, OK. Thanks for the correction, Clarissa.
February 5, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Eric V. Kirk
Pretty close Fred. But it’s not just what they look like, even if they’re retirees. The problem is that they exclude a whole class of people who might be interested in participating (and who make up about 90 percent of the population – conservative estimate).
I also agree that there is an inflationary aspect to demonstrations – there does come to be a point of diminishing returns.
Small vigils are fine, but I recommend Friday evening, right after work, holding signs up for traffic. Or Saturday morning.
February 5, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Anonymous
At least someone is taking the time and trouble to point out the fact that Mike Thompson is not doing enough to end the war and the Bush/Cheney Administration. We want those criminals impeached. Who do I speak for? THE MAJORITY of Americans. Read the polls, Mike. You should be good at that, considering the fact you’ve spent your entire political career with your finger in the wind.
February 5, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Eric V. Kirk
Impeachment won’t end the war. In fact, the push for impeachment is a distraction from, not an asset to, the anti-war movement. IMO.
February 5, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Anonymous
You know, there is no copyright on time of demonstrations, vigils, or other actions. People who are able to vigil, act, lobby during working hours are doing this. Others who have householder duties or business duties may choose other times or other modes of action.
Since when has taking political action or being serious about civic responsiblity had an Official Time Frame?
“You may have a vigil after 6 in the evening only; otherwise confine your efforts to secret phone calls”?
Come on Eric, surely that’s not your thought about how to be effective?
Clarissa
February 6, 2007 at 12:58 am
Eric V. Kirk
I didn’t say anything about an “official time frame,” or secret phone calls. I’m simply pointing out that classism and elitist nature of work hour demonstrations.
February 6, 2007 at 4:16 am
Anonymous
We start tonight with a follow-up to a segment we told you about on Tuesday night’s show. A documentary on British television called “Undercover Mosque” exposes the radical rhetoric of some Muslim clerics in London. We have clips we’ve shown you, and some of them have caused quite a stir. So tonight we have more of these outrageous scenes in this documentary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Money from Saudis has reached some of the best known mosques in Europe, London Central Mosque, also known as Regent’s Park Mosque. It’s the most recognizable symbol of moderate mainstream Muslim life in Britain. It says it acts on behalf of the whole Muslim community in dealing with the government. The Saudi monarchy gave two million pounds to help build it, and in 19909s they built its educational and administrative wing. The mosque’s official book shelf is run by a company called Dar Es Salaam. It’s a British company that is linked to Dar Es Salaam Publications, a global publishing house whose head office is in Saudi Arabia. Our reporter visited and bought another video of Sheikh Said (ph), the Saudi-trained preacher condemning the nonbeliever.
SHEIKH FEIZ: The worst word that can ever be written—a sign of infidelity, disbelief, filth. A sign of dirt.
ANNOUNCER: He calls Jews pigs who will be killed when the end of the world comes.
SHEIKH FEIZ: This creature will say a Muslim behind me is a Jew, come kill him. All of them. Every single one of them.
ANNOUNCER: Regular interfaith meetings with other religions take place at this mosque, yet in a DVD bought from its book shop, a British based convert called Sheikh Khalid Desan (ph), who studied Arabic in Saudi Arabia, condemns the teachings of other religions.
SHEIKH KHALID YASIN: We don’t need to go to the Christians or the Jews, debating with them about the filth which they believe. We Muslims have been ordered to do brainwashing because the kuffar, they are doing brain defiling.
ANNOUNCER: The UKIM works with the police and invited officers to its annual conference.
POLICE OFFICER: I take huge comfort from the really positive messages from the Muslim community.
ANNOUNCER: But in the event which they allowed at another mosque, another invited speaker said Muslims can’t join the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Is it viable to join the police? How you can these infidels be interacting with Muslims? The concept—defiles the whole system (ph).
ANNOUNCER: He mentions the Muslim who joined the British army and was killed fighting the Taliban last summer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: He was an individual who was killed in Afghanistan recently when there was a Muslim name. He came from a Pakistani family. You know what they wrote in the tabloid newspaper? They wrote he was a Muslim who went into the holy city.
ANNOUNCER: Then he praises the Taliban fighters who killed him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: He’s the one who separated his head from his shoulders.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLMES: And joining us now, the director of the Middle East Forum, Daniel Pipes. Thank you very much for being with us, Dr. Pipes. We had this discussion a few times this week. And I always asked and I’d like to get your idea to it. What percent of Islam are we talking about when we use the phrase radicalism?
DANIEL PIPES, MIDDLE EAST FORUM DIRECTOR: In Britain we have a pretty good idea because there have been 10 or 11 opinion surveys, and 50 percent of British Muslims consistently suggest that they would like to see the Sharia Islamic law applied in Britain. That to me says 50 percent of British Muslims are Islamist. That is a very high number.
COLMES: That’s the implication, when you say radical Islamists is that you’ve got a bunch of people who really want to destroy western culture. Are you suggesting that 50 percent of …
PIPES: I’m not suggesting it. The polls are showing it over and over again, that 50 percent of British Muslims want to replace the current order with Islamic law. In American terms, they want to replace the Constitution with the Koran.
COLMES: You think they want to do this worldwide?
PIPES: No. The numbers are different in different countries. But in Britain it’s extremely high. I don’t think it would be anywhere like that in the United States.
COLMES: All right. We talk about the threat of radicalism a lot. And we also hear that phrase radical Islam and some of the things that they would like to do. For example, their war on the kind of culture we have in this country. If they are so proficient and they are so widespread, why have we not had more 9/11′s since what happened five and a half years ago?
PIPES: Because you’re assuming that all Islamists want to engage in terrorism. I think in the long-term, what we’re seeing here is the radicalization of society, something perhaps more effective than engaging in terrorism. In other words, there are many different ways of establishing Islamic law. One is through violence. Another is through working the system, getting politicians elected, influencing the schoolbooks, working with the media, and so forth.
COLMES: If we, for example, go to countries like Iraq and we help create what we call a democracy, and we favor democracy around the world, but in some of those places where the majority decides to vote for Hamas, for example, or for groups or in Iraq, or for example, a constitution says it’s an Islamic regime. Isn’t that us getting, truly, what we asked for? Democratic governments in some cases, but a majority wants Islam?
PIPES: Yes. And my take on that is yes, we do want democracy in the long-term but long-term, we should be approaching it slowly, cautiously and modestly, not the kind of rush that we’ve seen the last four years.
HANNITY: Hey—hey, Daniel, it’s Sean Hannity. Thanks for being with us, my friend. I think one of the things we have to emphasize here, which is really, really important, is that this was supposed to be what represented mainstream Islam, where this tape, where this undercover tape was taken here. I think that is a very significant part of the discussion, don’t you?
PIPES: Oh, very. These are not seamy little mosques somewhere in the hands of extremists. These are the most important mosques in Britain that are being represented, some of the most important preachers. This is astonishing. Really, I’ve watched this whole documentary, and I was struck by two things that I might point out. One is the utter extremism of what these preachers are saying.
And two, once they’ve been caught out by the Channel 4 “Dispatches” program, their utter denial, saying, no, this didn’t happen. I compare it to the man being caught in bed with another woman and saying to his wife, “No, there’s nobody here. It’s just me and you.” It’s just utter, flagrant, blatant denial.
And what I draw from that is a sense of confidence. One that they can get way with saying these horrible things, and two, they can get away with denying it and no one cares. And in fact, in the two weeks since this program was shown, it’s fallen more or less on deaf ears. There’s really been few repercussions.
HANNITY: But Daniel, as I listen to the comments about Jews, about jihad, about women and subjugating women and the lack of any tolerance for other religions and the desire to spread this form of radical Islam everywhere, as I listen to that and then put it in the context that this is supposed to be mainstream at a mainstream mosque in Britain, I’m thinking, all right, have we fallen asleep? Inasmuch as it seems that the world doesn’t want to face the extent to which radical Islam is gaining hold?
PIPES: Exactly. We have the same problem in this country, not so bad as in Britain, not nearly so bad, but we have the same problem. One prominent Muslim leader back in 1999 estimated that 80 percent of mosques in this country are in the hands of extremists, of radical Islam. They won’t be saying things quite as terrible as what you can see in this documentary, but they’re bad.
The leading Islamic organizations in this country, whether they’re national organizations or mosque organizations or student organizations, are likewise, radical. It is a problem that afflicts the entire West. The larger point is radical Islam is on the ascendant, and moderate Islam is weak.
HANNITY: Let me—let me ask this, especially—it’s somewhat frightening, the rhetoric, more specifically, the anti-Semitism, as it’s so blatant. I guess—what is it specifically when they talk jihad meaning holy war, what specifically are they calling for?
PIPES: These preachers are calling for terrorism, military action, subjugation of the kafirs they call them, the infidels, the Muslim term for Christians, Jews and others. It is a very extreme approach.
COLMES: Dr. Pipes, we thank you very much for being with us tonight. For more on this radical rhetoric, watch “Radical Islam: Terror in Its Own Words” here, hosted by Edie Hill right here on the FOX News Channel, Saturday at 9 p.m.
February 6, 2007 at 7:53 am
Carson Park Ranger
“Impeachment won’t end the war…”
That’s not what impeachment is for. Impeachment is a Constitutional duty of the Congress. This President has committed impeachable offenses, and the Congress is derelict.
February 6, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Anonymous
Eric Kirk said:
“Impeachment won’t end the war.”
That’s the only war this war will end – with the impeachment of Bush & Cheney. Unless you want to wait another 2+ years, Eric? I don’t think most of us are willing to lose any more friends or family over there just to satisfy the Blue Dogs. They need a backbone.
February 7, 2007 at 7:28 am
Anonymous
Eric V. Kirk said…
I didn’t say anything about an “official time frame,” or secret phone calls. I’m simply pointing out that classism and elitist nature of work hour demonstrations.
Health care workers, retail workers, stay at home parents, retirees, unemployed, shift workers, homeless, people who don’t subscribe to the neo-liberal 60 hours a week ratrace are just a few of the people who might appreciate a demonstration during your working hours, Eric and Fred. We demonstrate during our non-working hours. If others would demonstrate at their convenience think how much more effective we would all be.
We do, as a group, go into Thompson’s office and discuss our concerns and exchange information with his aides. I’m there because I feel it is his duty to impeach (he did swear to uphold the constitution and Congress can multitask if they work a full week) and because he is doing precious little to end the war. His H.R. 787 is a farce compared to Lynn Woolsey’s H.R. 508. I look forward to driving by Thompson’s office some evening or Saturday morning and seeing you out there while those mentioned above are working.
One of the retired bums.
February 8, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Anonymous
CPR rants: “This President has committed impeachable offenses . . .”
Are you on drugs? Does CPR stand for the fact that you need CPR? You live in fantasy land pal. You need to wake up.