[Dialogue] Is something being born here?

[KroegerD@aol.com]

Published on Friday,  August 19, 2005 by the Pittsburgh _Post-Gazette_ 
(http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05231/556345.stm)   
Whatever Happens, Cindy  Sheehan Will not be Moved  
by Tony Norman
Madonna broke her hand and  several ribs when she fell from her horse on her 
47th birthday, but  Cindy Sheehan would not be moved from her vigil outside a 
ranch in  Crawford, Texas.  
Fox News' Greta Van Susteren temporarily abandoned her  ratings-rich search 
for Natalee Holloway of Alabama in the  nightclubs of Aruba to spend a few days 
looking for LaToyia  Figueroa, a pregnant black Latina missing in 
Philadelphia, but Cindy  Sheehan would not be moved from her vigil.  
Copperhead snakes are converging on Chuck Miller's secluded  mountaintop home 
in Yellville, Arkansas, spooking scientists who  have never seen anything 
like it, but Cindy Sheehan would not be  moved from her vigil.  
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Mexican President  Vicente Fox 
was correct to point out that illegal aliens take jobs  in the U.S. that "even" 
blacks refuse to work. "Why are you so  foolishly sensitive when somebody is 
telling you the truth?"  Farrakhan asked a Baptist congregation in Milwaukee a 
few days ago.  Meanwhile, Cindy Sheehan would not be moved from her vigil.  
The price of gas hit $3 a gallon on the West Coast for regular  unleaded, but 
Cindy Sheehan would not be moved from her vigil.  
When counter-protesters showed up to heckle Cindy Sheehan and to  parrot the 
things they'd heard on "The O'Reilly Factor" and Rush  Limbaugh, she smiled 
through their calumny.  
"Her story is nothing more than forged documents," Limbaugh said,  comparing 
a grieving mother's pain to the documents that forced CBS'  Dan Rather to step 
down from the anchor desk.  
"There's nothing about it that's real, including the mainstream  media's 
glomming onto it. It's not real. It's the latest effort by  the coordinated left," 
the expert on shadowy conspiracies told his  audience of Ditto-heads. If Rush 
said it, they believed it. Still,  Cindy Sheehan would not be moved from her 
vigil.  
When a man who owns the adjoining property next to "Camp Casey"  fired his 
shotgun into the air a few days ago to signal his  irritation with the crowds, 
Cindy Sheehan would not be moved from  her vigil.  
Later, Larry Mattlage admitted he was sympathetic to her cause,  but simply 
wished the traffic of protesters would move their cars  farther down the road 
so he could work on his bird-shooting in  peace.  
Rap entrepreneur P. Diddy dropped the "P" in "Diddy," but Cindy  Sheehan 
didn't react. She had other things on her mind. She was  building a makeshift 
cemetery of white crosses to honor the more  than 1,860 Americans who lost their 
lives fighting in Iraq. She  dubbed the roadside memorial Arlington West, a 
move that made crazy  the right-wingers who already suspected her of sedition.  
Several days ago, a cowardly patriot in a pickup truck ran over  the memorial 
of 500 crosses and 60 American flags. According to the  New Patriotism, 
dissent is an even bigger sin than desecrating the  flag. Smashing the most sacred 
symbols of the nation's civil  religion is alright as long as it demonstrates 
blind fealty to the  government's position on war and peace.  
When he was arrested several hours later in town with crosses  still imbedded 
in the undercarriage of his vehicle, the snarling  patriot said he was making 
a point about how much he loved America  and hated traitors like Cindy 
Sheehan. Still, she would not be moved  from her vigil.  
Within hours, the growing crowds of people migrating to "Camp  Casey" to 
stand with Cindy Sheehan had rebuilt Arlington West. Even  those in the community 
who disapproved of the protest pitched in to  help replant the flags and 
crosses.  
It was a testament to reconciliation that is possible when  ideological 
facades are dropped and people relate at a level far  removed from the pugilistic 
background static of "The Drudge  Report."  
After looking into the anguished eyes of a mother so enraged by  the 
senseless death of her son that she is willing to travel  hundreds of miles from home 
to confront the leader of the free world  in the August heat of Texas, there 
is no room for questioning her  sincerity. It would be obscene to do so, 
especially for political  reasons.  
When nameless relatives far removed from her immediate family  criticized her 
"shaming" of Casey Sheehan's memory by opposing the  cause he died fighting 
for, Cindy Sheehan would not be moved from  her vigil.  
When increasingly desperate far-right conservative pundits  attempted to 
smear her as a dangerous anti-Semite, an ally to David  Duke and a pawn of a 
leftist cabal simultaneously, Cindy Sheehan  would not be moved from her vigil.  
Instead of leaving it to the media to dispel the deluge of lies  stirred up 
by Bush loyalists terrified about her protest, Cindy  Sheehan responds to each 
charge, no matter how ridiculous, daily on  her protest diary at 
_www.huffingtonpost.com_ (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/) , one of the few bastions of  
clarity and honesty in cyberspace.  
When "pro-family" zealots tried to spin the sadness of her  domestic life as 
a referendum on her sanity, Cindy Sheehan and her  soon-to-be ex-husband made 
it clear that their divorce had been in  the works long before her protest in 
Texas began. Somehow, the  documents went "public" at a time calculated to 
cause maximum  embarrassment. It didn't. On the contrary, it was such a 
transparent  "dirty trick" that people laughed at its audacity.  
She would not be moved from her vigil even after her critics  reported that 
her husband was allegedly divorcing her because she  had "abandoned" him for 
Camp Casey. It was a sleazy lie cooked up by  folks who sense accurately that 
they've lost the hearts and minds of  the American people. The overwhelming 
majority of citizens now agree  with Cindy Sheehan that the Iraq war was a 
terrible mistake.  
When 1,600 vigils sparked by her protest were held around the  country 
Wednesday night, Cindy Sheehan would not be moved. Citing  her example, an organic 
and principled anti-war movement has begun  gathering steam.  
Yesterday, Cindy Sheehan's 74-year-old mother had a stroke, so  the protester 
left Texas to be by her side in Los Angeles. Sheehan  knew she could leave 
because thousands of citizens have taken her  place. Perhaps one of those 
protesters has motives pure enough to  warrant a few minutes of the vacationing 
president's time. Either  way, Cindy Sheehan's nationwide vigil shall not be 
moved.  
© 2005  Post-Gazette