Forces of Greed in action

The bad news is coming so thick and fast this week, it's hard to keep up, even on vacation.

Latest is this news shared by my sister in pink, Desiree Fairooz, on nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers, and doctors disappearing in Bahrain. Security forces are cracking down brutally in that country, presumably because of the supreme importance of Bahrain remaining a friendly home for a massive U.S. Navy presence which supports, among other things, our occupation of Afghanistan.

Then yesterday in Syria pro-democracy demonstrators were gunned down in large numbers. A Syrian activist I heard on the radio yesterday explained that security forces torturing 13 year-olds for painting anti-regime graffiti was the spark that sent people into the streets a few weeks ago, starting a resistance movement that continues to build.

Then there is a new deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles by the US military, this time in Libya. President Obama completely owns this third undeclared, unsustainable and unaffordable war, which he wages on behalf of profits for his campaign contributors. Codepink says: Ground the drones!

West Athens 4th of July parade '09

Bradley Manning was in the news as he was moved to a different prison at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas. Probably hoped to be further from potential protestors, but don't count on it: plans are already underway for a national level demo there on June 4. You can join the facebook Bradley Manning Support team here.

But keep in mind, you don't need to travel to (my husband's least favorite state) Kansas to protest the prolonged solitary confinement of Pfc. Manning, locked up for nearly a year without trial on suspicion of being brave enough to reveal the ugly truth about US military occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you have big bucks you can buy your way in and creatively disrupt a fundraiser for Obama's re-election campaign. (Disappointingly, the lyrics to the song turn out to say they will vote for him anyway. WTF?)

Or, if no spare bucks, stand outside a make a ruckus about serving the Forces of Greed wherever the POTUS turns up.

Beverly Hills, CA  May 27, 2009 -- Go Pink!