FRESH BREAKING NEWS! Midnight Raid Demolishes Soldiers' Memorial At Camp Casey ... Stand Up With Cindy Against This Intimidation [From TrueMajority Website]
Last night a pickup truck dragging chains ran over the rows of white crosses on the side of the road next to Cindy Sheehan's vigil in Crawford, Texas. And you probably already saw the news yesterday about President Bush's neighbor firing a shotgun into the air trying to scare the mothers of fallen soldiers who have gathered around Cindy. Cindy and the other moms in Crawford have vowed to stay, and now a neighboring rancher, who is a veteran, has offered them some of his nearby land if they need it. He is standing up. Tomorrow night [Wednesday, August 17th] all of us can do the same, at more than a thousand candelight vigils across the country. Here's a page listing the vigils planned near you:

http://political.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=24&search_distance=30&search_zip=11222&submit=Search

(If you don't see one near you, sign up to host. All it takes is a candle and a box of matches.) The spirit of that rancher in standing up in his own pro-Bush community is the sort of spirit against the war that is growing across America. [Duchess Note ... That rancher/veteran is a true patriot. Bravo!] Tomorrow's vigils for Cindy Sheehan will be your chance to do the same. By standing together we will show the president and the media that our nation is against this war. Thank you for your support.

DOT MAVER - THE PEACE ALLIANCE - HAS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING CINDY SHEEHAN & THE DEPT OF PEACE CAMPAIGN
When I first heard that Cindy Sheehan had camped out in front of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, it reminded me of another woman who sat down in the front of a bus because she was tired and had had enough. Then I thought, here is yet another painful example in our world today. We are tired of young men and women around the world dying needlessly, without purpose, and leading to escalating violence between nations, in our country, in our communities, in our schools. Women from around the country are uniting in Texas. It is time to ask ourselves why we are not using the knowledge and methods we already have to resolve conflict in nonviolent ways! We have not yet invested in organizing the wealth of information and resources we currently have and creating the structure to do so. It is time to do this.

The focus of a cabinet level Department of Peace is the nonviolent resolution of conflict internationally and domestically. What would a Department of Peace be doing? How might it make a difference? We would be working within our government, the Iraqi government and governments of other concerned countries - with professionals trained in alternative dispute resolution, mediation, truth and reconciliation. We would call upon those who have worked in community building successfully around the world. We asked Louise Diamond, founder of The Peace Company, and co-founder with Ambassador John McDonald of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, if she were part of a peace team right now what would be possible?

Louise responded: "Our approach to peace building is threefold

1] Social - working with the hearts and minds and direct experience of the people
2] Political - working with politicians and leaders; and
3] Structural - working with institutions in society that affect lives, i.e. education, economics, military."

She also indicated: We would look at needs and programs in Iraq, in this country and in partner countries and facilitate understanding and agreement on a peaceful direction. These discussions would be based on the premise that the cornerstone of freedom is the opportunity for all voices to be heard and for all people to have the opportunity to make a difference. Through dialogue and with the willingness of leadership to hear the voices of the people to create respectful and open-ended dialogue, we would resolve conflict. President Bush recently called for a conflict response team in our government. We encourage that dialogue. Our troops need our support. Let us quickly move in the direction of providing them with training in de-escalation of conflict, nonviolent communication, how to effectively manage potentially violent situations, and more!

In the documentary "Gunner Palace", the closing scenes are of interviews with U.S. soldiers in Iraq commenting on how killing has not proven to be an effective solution in the past and that it is no different today. It is time for all of us, individually and as a group, to speak up in conscience as part of the new politics of hope. It is time to focus on creating a world that will work for everyone. Thank you Cindy Sheehan for your willingness to demonstrate how one person can make a significant difference on behalf of the common good. We are grateful to be part of the dialogue. Please support the much-needed Department of Peace!

http://www.thepeacealliance.org
http://www.dopcampaign.org

[Duchess Note ... I'm a proud member of the NYC Chapter Dept of Peace and very much excited about attending the upcoming Dept of Peace Conference in Washington DC. Won't you join us in learning, experiencing and spreading peace, joy, nonviolence and justice throughout the U.S. Amen!]

LATEST UPDATE REGARDING THE NORMAN SIEGEL NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE CAMPAIGN
Last Thursday, DC 37 endorsed me. DC 37's Executive Director, Lillian Roberts, said OUR campaign "best represents the interest of our members and of ALL New Yorkers." On Tuesday, the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion said we trail the incumbent Public Advocate, by just seven percentage points (20%-13%), with a whopping 50% of voters as yet undecided. As we enter the last four weeks before Primary Day, September 13, our message continues to resonate with ALL New Yorkers. We need your help ... http://www.norman2005.com/contribute. Our success depends on getting our message to the undecided 50%. We need to saturate local TV, radio, Internet and print media in the final two weeks leading up to the September 13th primary. At every street corner, every subway stop, each New Yorker must know this city needs a Public Advocate who will actually work and fight for them. I'm asking you to make the contribution http://www.norman2005.com/contribute that will take us on to victory. Contribute today at ... http://www.norman2005.com/contribute

Thank you for your past generosity and support; it's what got us within 7 percentage points of leading the incumbent. Our first televised debate is on Tuesday, August 23 on NY 1 from 7 - 8 PM. The next two weeks are critical - the incumbent will saturate the airwaves in September; undecided voters make their decision based on name recognition. Please help us http://www.norman2005.com/contribute get our message out to ALL of them.