1,000-plus war protesters in Berkeley spell out opposition to Bush

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1,000-plus war protesters in Berkeley spell out opposition to Bush
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-10-09 05:01. Impeachment

By Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle

BERKELEY -- It all began with a simple conversation around the kitchen table on a Saturday afternoon. Sarah Newsham, 9, asked her dad if he knew about Google Earth. Taking one look at the satellite images, Brad Newsham had an epiphany: The anti-war movement needed visuals.

On Sunday, nearly one year later, Newsham directed more than 1,000 people to lie on the grass at the Berkeley Marina to spell out "IMPEACH!" while photos were taken from helicopters whirring above.

Anti-war Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, who recently announced her run for Congress against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, appeared at the rally and took a spot on the lawn to help form the letter C. She called ending the war in Iraq "the most important issue of our time."

Brad Newsham, a San Francisco cabbie whose taxi is a Prius and has backpacked around the world four times, stood on a ladder directing the demonstrators when to lie down, when to sit, when to stand, and when to wave. An author of travel books, he has spent $20,000 of his savings on the "Beach Impeach" project. Three other impeachment lie-ins were held earlier in the year, at Ocean Beach and Crissy Field.

"These are crushing events to put on," Newsham said, smiling as he surveyed the bodies sprawled on the grass at Cesar Chavez Park. There were activists clad in "Guantanamo orange" shirts and jumpsuits, activists in pink, activists in green.

"It's amazing what an idiot with a laptop, cell phone and credit card can achieve," he said before jumping off the ladder and sprinting away to make a correction to a letter.

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