"Raise hell. That's the best way we can remember Molly!"

[Decruiter]

February 4, 2007 at 11:16:26

Raise hell, for Molly

by Jackson Thoreau

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After living in Texas for most of my 40-something years, I moved away three years ago. Part of my reason was personal, but another part was I just couldn't take the Republican domination and hypocrisy of many red-state, red-blooded residents there anymore.

Molly Ivins could take it. In one of the most hard-core conservative states we have here in the union, Molly found a way to laugh about the Tom DeLays and Dick Armeys of that part of the country and poke fun at them without them even realizing it. Rather than giving the evil-doers more power than they deserved by complaining about how evil they were, Molly made us laugh at their follies, making them appear foolish and thus taking away power from them.

snip to the end:


In 1984, I was a few years out of college, active in the peace and anti-nuclear movement in Texas, attending demonstrations like the 1983 March on Washington, writing and working to avert a nuclear war that the Reagan administration and former Soviet Union seemed bent on initiating. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its traditional "Doomsday Clock," which has marked the danger of nuclear war since 1947, to three minutes before midnight in 1984, the closest to midnight since 1953 when it was at two minutes. People wondered what they could do to avert a nuclear war that many in the Reagan administration insisted was winnable.

In this environment, I heard about a 7,000-mile walk for peace, human rights and environmental causes being organized from California to New York via Texas and the Deep South, then through Europe to Moscow, Russia. I answered the call. It was something I could do, a project I could sink my teeth in, increase my contribution to the causes, and perhaps inspire others to do likewise. While it would be years before group reality television shows like Survivor became popular, this walking group experiment was a type of Survivor, only with a higher cause than getting on TV and making some bucks. The project ended up making it to Moscow to deliver thousands of peace messages and letters, while raising a slew of awareness through the media and personal contacts.


By 1991, the Atomic Scientists' clock was back up to 17 minutes after the Berlin Wall fell and the U.S. and Russia signed new arms control agreements. But today, with the Shrub administration hell-bent on an empire and the seemingly unchecked global warming trend, the clock is back down to five minutes, the closest it has been to midnight since 1984.

It's time for all of us who still give a damn about what Molly wrote about and believed to answer the call, once again. I'm not saying that you walk to Iraq, or even across this country. But find your niche, whether it's as showy as unfurling a banner in some public place, Greenpeace-style, or as low-key as calling your Congress representative.

Raise hell. That's the best way we can remember Molly.



Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
End the Iraq war now

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

Jackson Thoreau is a Washington, D.C.-area journalist/writer. His latest book, "Born to Cheat: How Bush, Cheney, Rove & Co. Broke the Rules, From the Sandlot to the White House," is due out in late 2006. He can be contacted at [e-mail].

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jackson__070204_raise_hell_2c_for_moll.htm

[Decruiter]

1. Is anyone out there? n/t

[Breeze54]

6. Welcome to DU!

I've read all these but thanks for reposting them! ;)

We've all been banging the pots and pans and phones for ending the war and in Molly's honor...
http://pol.moveon.org/virtualmarch/?id=9830-2919065-nG7Mv0cxMZDfkTz4JHgz5A&t=2

Virtual March on Washington
By Scott Shepard | Thursday, February 1, 2007, 11:44 AM
MoveOn dedicated the protest to the late newspaper columnist Molly Ivins,
who died this week. Ivins’ last column was entitled “Stand Up Against The Surge.”
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/washington/washington/entries/2007/02/01/virtual_march_o.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders.
And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside
and take some action to help stop this war," she wrote.
"Raise hell," she urged readers.
"Think of something ridiculous to make the ridiculous look ridiculous.
... We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans
and demanding, 'Stop it, now!' "

~~ Molly Ivans ~~

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070204/COLUMNIST03/702040321/-1/NEWS24

[Decruiter]

2. October 8, 2002 -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/10/08_pilgrim.html

To Be a Pilgrim
October 8, 2002
By Kevin J. Shay

In 1953, the Korean War and McCarthyism raged. The United States and former Soviet Union tested thermonuclear devices within nine months of each other, causing the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to set its traditional "Doomsday Clock," which has marked the danger of nuclear war since 1947, to two minutes before midnight. That was the closest the clock has ever been.

In this paranoid atmosphere, Mildred Norman, a New Jersey native, social worker, and volunteer for peace organizations, left behind her life and took a walk. She didn't stop for almost 30 years until her death in 1981 at the age of 72.

Calling herself Peace Pilgrim, Norman criss-crossed the country six times, carrying petitions to stop wars and the world arms race, wearing a tunic that said "Walking Coast to Coast for Peace." As she said, 1953 "was the proper time for a pilgrim to step forth....There was a great fear at that time, and it was safest to be apathetic....A pilgrim's job is to rouse people from apathy and make them think."

By taking that profound, seemingly simple action, Norman touched unknown thousands, perhaps millions of people. She didn't stop wars all by herself, but she helped get the ball rolling. She was by no means the first pilgrim; enlightened souls from Buddha and Laotzu to Christ and Gandhi previously had walked the earth for causes beyond themselves. But Norman did more than her part.

And she touched me. In 1984, I was a few years out of college, active in the peace and anti-nuclear movement in Texas, attending demonstrations like the 1983 March on Washington, writing and working to avert a nuclear war that the Reagan administration and former Soviet Union seemed bent on initiating.

I heard about a walk for peace, human rights, and environmental causes being organized from California to New York via Texas and the Deep South, then through Europe to Moscow, Russia. As I learned more, I discovered Peace Pilgrim's walks and the efforts of others. And for the next four years, I became a peace pilgrim.

In 1984, the nuclear arms race proceeded at a furious pace, and Reagan and others talked of waging a "winnable" nuclear war against the Soviet Union. Reagan and then-USSR Premier Konstantin Chernenko had not as much as met in the previous four years. The Atomic Scientists' clock was at three minutes before midnight in 1984, the closest to midnight since 1953. It had been as high as 12 minutes in 1972, when the U.S. and Soviet Union signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.

To me, the walk was a powerful statement, an affirmation of life in the midst of such dark times, an inspiring project that could make a difference - however small - in helping the world out of its nuclear nightmare. It was something I could do to stretch my limits, to increase my contribution to the causes, and perhaps inspire others to do likewise. While it would be years before group reality television shows like Survivor became popular, this walking group experiment was a type of Survivor, only with a higher cause than getting on TV and making some bucks. As it turned out, we weren't able to walk in Russia, but we visited Moscow to deliver thousands of peace messages and letters, put down some 7,000 miles, and raised a slew of awareness through the media and personal contacts.

[Decruiter]

3. Walking Through the Wall.

About the Book

In 1984, the nuclear arms race proceeded at a furious pace. Some United States leaders talked of a "winnable" nuclear war against the former Soviet Union. Then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan and then-USSR Premier Konstantin Chernenko had not as much as met in the previous four years.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its traditional "Doomsday Clock," which has marked the danger of nuclear war since 1947, to three minutes before midnight in 1984. That was the closest it had been to midnight in three decades.

The crucial times demanded extraordinary action from citizens, and some answered the call. One method of trying to break through this wall of East-West division was a walk of some 7,000 miles from California to Moscow called "A Walk of the People - A Pilgrimage for Life." The author participated in this action when it reached Texas and remained with the project longer than all but two others.

Participants met hundreds of people from all walks of life in many countries, including government officials and religious leaders. They collected letters, poems, drawings, and other messages of peace to distribute to people beyond the wall. They also raised awareness through Athe media, being covered by more than 1,500 newspapers and 500 radio and television stations in the U.S. and Europe.

The author continued to participate in such breaking-down-the-walls projects after that one ended in late 1985. As U.S.-Russia relations improved, the "Doomsday Clock" rose to 17 minutes in 1991 after the Berlin Wall tumbled down. Some observers said it was mostly internal pressure from Eastern European citizens demanding political reforms that caused the wall to fall. These people were inspired by Americans' actions to get beyond our governments' barriers and meet them to tell them we didn't want war.

Walking through the Wall is the author's personal account of those somewhat dark, somewhat exhilarating times. It is a story of not just trying to walk through barriers like the Berlin Wall, but of attempting to break through internal walls, walls between walkers, walls between one's self. The project was similar to the television show, "Survivor," in that it put people together in an intense setting that required them to use all of their resourcefulness, and work with each other towards a common goal. But the goal was something higher than money, fame, and entertainment; it was trying to avert a nuclear war.

Today, the "Doomsday Clock" is back down to seven minutes, as the Bush administration refuses to sincerely work for peace and seeks world domination, or at least domination of the Mideast oil trade. So, it's time for more peace pilgrims to step forward. And they have, including a group of women who walked across the U.S. for peace in 2002. The author has also stepped up his peace work. In telling this story, he hopes to inspire more people to work for peace and justice, to keep attempting to walk through the wall.


About the Author
Kevin J. Shay, 43, has been a journalist for newspapers like The Dallas Morning News and magazines like Minority Business News USA since 1978. He is author of several books and has won writing awards. He is married to Michelle, and they have a son, Preston, and daughter, McKenna.

[Decruiter]

4. Kick for DU and for Molly and for the US. n/t

[Decruiter]

5. Lots are viewing, no one is recommending?

What's up?

[Breeze54]

7. I gave you a kick and a recommend

but begging isn't becoming. ;)