Howie Hawkins Calls for UN Peacekeepers to Protect Palestinians in Gaza from Israeli Military Assaults

News Release

For immediate release: November 4, 2006

Renews Call for US Pressure on Israel to End Its Occupation of Palestinian Territories

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for US Senate from New York, faulted Hillary Clinton, his Democratic-Working Families Party opponent, for turning a blind eye to the plight of the Palestinians during her six years in office. Hawkins said that an international peacekeeping force should bedeployed to end the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories and its latest military attacks in the Gaza strip.

Several dozen Palestinians have been killed in the latest military action.

Israeli troops recently opened fire on women in Beit Hanoun who went to a mosque that is under siege.

“The US government and politicians like Hillary Clinton bear responsibility for the killings and sufferings of the Palestinian people, both in the most recent attacks of the Israeli government in Gaza and for the decades of the illegal occupation of these lands. The occupied territories have become little more than a prison camp for Palestinian civilians. The US has supported Israel while it systematically deprived residents in Gaza of access to their means of survival, including food, water, and electricity. It is the US government that provides the economic and military aid and the political support that enable these atrocities to occur,” noted Hawkins.

“How many more innocent civilians must be killed with American tax dollars before the Democrats and Republicans say enough is enough?” asked Hawkins. Hawkins noted that even the Bush administration, with its doctrine of pre-emptive war, has refrained from an “October Surprise” in the form of new military action against Iran or North Korea in the days before the mid-term elections because it is well aware of how the Iraq war has hurt the Republicans’ chances in the coming election. “But since Israeli military operations invariably receive unconditional support from both major American parties,” Hawkins said, “Israel feels free to launch a major military assault in the closing days of the American election.”

The United States has been the principal country blocking implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), which require Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. Israel had been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance for almost 30 years, and since 1985 has received about $3 billion in military and economic aid each year. Approximately 17% of all U.S. foreign aid is earmarked for Israel. American military financing comprises 20% of Israel’s defense budget.

“Ultimately, peace can only be achieved through negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships. But peace cannot come under the oppression of a military occupation. The United States must unequivocally state that Israel cannot expect continued US military and economic aid so long as Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories continues. Palestinian people are being deprived of the most elementary human rights, and are subjected to a never-ending process whose intended outcome appears to be their complete dispossession and expulsion from their homeland,” noted Hawkins.

“Clinton has no sympathy or understanding for the suffering of Palestinian and  Lebanese civilians in her unconditional support for Israel’s destruction of their economic infrastructure. She speaks as if Israeli seizures of land, one-third of the Palestinian parliament, and some 10,000 Palestinians, its extra judicial imprisonment, torture, and execution of Palestinians, its separation wall on the West Bank, and its repeated military assaults in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories over the years had never happened. Such willful ignorance does not serve the cause of peace,” stated Hawkins.

Times Herald-Record: Letter to the editor 11/2/06

A candidate to vote for

I’m not voting for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

She was on the board of Wal-Mart for six years. She receives significant contributions from large corporations, health insurance and defense industry companies.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061102/OPINION/611020315

She voted for the Patriot Act. She still refuses to admit that this war has been a dreadful mistake from the beginning. She’s good on reproductive rights, but she is now inching toward the right. Is she serious about my right to control my own body?

Her refusal to debate Jonathan Tasini in the Democratic primary really ticked me off. What could be more contemptuous of Democrats and democracy?

I heard Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate. I found him sensible: troops out of Iraq now, health care for everyone, increased minimum wage, job growth in this country instead of our taxes subsidizing moving our jobs overseas, etc.

How nice to have a candidate I want to vote for.

Andi Weiss Bartczak

Gardiner

Hawkins Says Clinton Puts Fundraising Efficiency Before Fuel Efficiency

Howie Hawkins for US Senate
www.hawkinsforsenate.net

Media Release

For immediate release: November 1, 2006
For more information: Howie Hawkins, (315) 425-1019
Sally Kim, (518) 364-2968
Calls for Emergency Transition to Renewable Energy to Stop Global Warming

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for US Senate, said today that
Hillary Clinton’s massive corporate fundraising explains her failure to
support a rapid transition to renewable energy and energy conservation to
stop global warming.

Hawkins called for Congress to pass legislation to reduce carbon emissions
by 70% in ten years. He said this goal, which is what leading climate
scientists say is necessary to stabilize the global climate, should take
priority over the special interests of the auto, oil, nuclear, and suburban
developer industries.

Hawkins also wants to cut the military budget by $300 billion annually and
invest it in a public works program to develop renewable energy and energy
conservation around the world. Hawkins said his plan for a global emergency
transition from fossil and nuclear fuels to renewable energy would “create
hundreds of thousands of new jobs in New York retrofitting our buildings,
industries, and infrastructure for the efficient use of renewable energy.
Such an investment would also be far more effective in promoting world peace
and national security than the so-called war on terror promoted by Bush and
Clinton. The United States would make friends by sharing technology instead
of making enemies in wars for oil in the Middle East and Central Asia.”

“Clinton is more interested in fundraising efficiency than in fuel
efficiency,” Hawkins stated. “She panders to corporate interests. She wants
to fund renewable energy with tax breaks for the giant oil, nuclear, and
auto corporations instead of setting standards they must meet at their own
expense. Clinton says she wants to negotiate with auto companies to get them
to improve fuel efficiency. This continues the reversal of the policy of
government mandated performance standards for environmental impacts that
started with the Nixon administration, and which Jimmy Carter extended to
fuel efficiency standards. This remained standard environmental policy
through the first Bush Presidency. It was the Clinton administration in the
1990s that switched from performance standards to so-called voluntary
compliance, which failed miserably as an environmental policy in everything
from protecting old growth forests to increasing fuel efficiency. The second
Bush presidency has continued this approach and now Hillary Clinton wants to
extend it further,” added Hawkins.

Hawkins also called for increased investment in mass transit, light rails,
inter-city freight and passenger trains, hybrid vehicles, and improved
tires. He proposed carbon-based eco-taxes on vehicles to encourage high
efficiency.

“The bottom line is the America can no longer be the energy hogs of the
world. We can’t all drive to work in single passenger gas-guzzlers. We have
to aggressively stop urban sprawl. We need to mandate energy efficient
buildings, lighting, and appliances. We have to require industries to use
renewable energy and combined heat and power, and to increase production
efficiency. We have to promote sustainability. Otherwise our grandchildren
will condemn us for refusing to take action even when the dangers of
inaction are so clear,” Hawkins said.

“The positive side is that we can create jobs for all rebuilding our energy
infrastructure and urban structures around the sustainable use of renewable
resources. It is a chance to rebuild our towns and cities around designs
that promote vibrant neighborhoods and communities, with homes, work,
schools, and shopping all within walking distance,” Hawkins added.

The Boston Globe blasted Hillary Clinton in an April 17 editorial as a
“climate change no-show.” Hillary was part of the inner circle of Bill
Clinton’s administration that bullied the world with arm-twisting and
horse-trading to water down the Kyoto Accords, and then failed to submit it
to the US Senate for ratification. Earlier this year she refused to sign a
letter from all the Democratic US Senators, except her and John Kerry,
asking the EPA for a waiver to allow California, New York, Massachusetts,
and several other states to set carbon reduction goals higher than the
federal goals.

“Climate change, especially if unchecked, will have a major negative impact
on agriculture production in New York and on coastal areas around New York
City and Long Island. It will produce heat waves and increased storm
severity. The flooding patterns we saw in the Southern Tier and Central New
York this year will become more common. The ocean storm surges downstate
will be devastating, resulting in significant loss of life and property. If
we continue with the same old policies that pander to corporate interests as
Clinton proposes, we are doomed to an ecological Armageddon due to climate
change,” warned Hawkins.

A recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists outlined major climate
changes that will take place in the northeast in the coming decades. While
global warming is too far along to avoid all changes, the actions taken by
state and federal government in the next few years will determine how
devastating the changes are. By the end of the century, if only limited
action is taken, New York will have a climate more similar to present day
South Carolina, with annual droughts, months of summer temperatures
consistently in excess of 90 degrees, and a possible rise in the sea level
of more than 20 feet if the ice caps melt. While rainfall levels might
similar to today, rain would come less frequently, but in heavier storms,
leading to increased flooding, followed by periods of drought.

“Human beings should be smart enough to take corrective action when we
realize that we are heating up to planet to the point where it will
increasingly become unlivable. The problem is that short-term profits and
campaign contributions too often get in the way of common sense. Let us
hope that the collapse of our civilization is not the result. If we learn
the lessons of human history, which show how so many civilizations were
destroyed by undermining their ecological base, we will put our common
interest in long-term survival before the giant corporations’ interest in
short-term profits,” noted Hawkins.

Senate hopeful comes to campus

By Erika Neddenien, News Writer

Stephanie Munoz / Contributing Photographer

Thursday night a crowd of approximately 50 gathered to hear Green Party U.S. Senate candidate Howie Hawkins detail his campaign platform.

Hawkins, a co-founder of the Green Party, focused his speech on three major issues: ending the war in Iraq, health care and the implementation of renewable energy sources in New York.

“It can’t get any worse over there,” said Hawkins of the situation in Iraq. “The violence is aimed at U.S. troops, and they’re directing it back at those people. If you withdraw the troops, the extremists will hopefully be isolated in their communities.”

Hawkins is also calling for a complete overhaul of the current health care system in America.

According to his Web site, Hawkins encourages “a democratic universal health care program, funded by a single public payer out of progressive taxes and democratically controlled by elected local health boards.”

Thursday night Hawkins added, “Every other industrial country has this — even Iraq did before we went in and overthrew them.”

Hawkins has long been an advocate of employing renewable energy sources in New York, as he helped to found the Clamshell Alliance, an anti-nuclear group that opposed nuclear construction in New England in 1976.

Hawkins’ current plan would involve a $300 billion a year investment to “rewire the planet for renewable energy” over the next 10 years, creating new jobs and boosting the economy.

“We’re facing now an ecological Armageddon,” he said. “We need to start investing now so that we have a safe and reliable form of energy in the future.”

Hawkins believes investing in this new technology would not only help the environment, but would also improve foreign relations.

“Instead of fighting wars for oil, let’s share this technology and make friends,” he said. “We can be the world’s humanitarian super power rather than being the world’s bully.”

In addition to these three main issues, he also spoke of “pro-democracy reforms” he would like to see take place. These reforms would include abolishing the Electoral College and developing more publicly verifiable forms of voting. Hawkins, who has been excluded from public debates with competitor Hillary Clinton, complained that his exclusion has caused important issues to be overlooked.

“Everyone is getting worked up over guns, God, gays and abortion — which are all important issues,” he said. “But domestic and foreign policy is hardly debated.”

While Hawkins stated that he did not believe he was likely to win the election, he hopes that will not affect voters’ willingness to vote for the third party candidate. He believes that obtaining even a marginal portion of the vote will help to bring attention to the major issues of his campaign.

“You can all make a difference,” he said. “Everyone can do something and that’s how movements succeed.”

http://www.bupipedream.com/pipeline_web/display_article.php?id=3257 

Veterans Benefits Jeopardized by Rising Iraq War Costs, Hawkins Says

Howie Hawkins for US Senate
http://www.hawkinsforsenate.net

Media Release

For immediate release: October 30, 2006
For more information: Howie Hawkins, (315)425-1019
Sally Kim, (518) 364-2968

Long Term Costs of Vets Benefits at least $1 Trillion

Weekly Bill in Iraq Now Tops $2 Billion as US Builds Permanent Military Bases
Outsourcing Military Work to Corrupt Corporate Contractors Adds to Costs

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for US Senate, has been focusing his antiwar campaign recently on his concern that Iraq war veterans benefits are in jeopardy because the federal government is not planning for the over $1 trillion long-term costs of those benefits.

Hawkins, a Marine veteran of the Vietnam era, raised these concerns on Friday at a news conference for the opening of the first GI Coffeehouse of the Iraq War era near Fort Drum in Watertown. He emphasized them again speaking to antiwar meetings in New Paltz and Brooklyn on Saturday and Cooperstown on Sunday.

“The US military’s official number of wounded is now around 20,000. But the reality is that hundreds of thousands of troops have already been disabled during their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. One-fourth of the returning veterans have already applied for disability benefits. We can expect that to rise to the over one-third of veterans, as we’ve seen with the veterans of the first Gulf War who are now on disability. With over 1 million troops having already served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the real number of wounded and disabled is in the hundreds of thousands and certainly at least ten times what the military is reporting,” Hawkins said.

“Due to today’s body armor, many more troops survive serious wounds with amputations, spinal injuries, and brain damage. Exposure to depleted uranium on the battlefields is causing many long-term disabilities related to radiation exposure, from nervous and sleep disorders to high rates of cancer and Lou Gehrig’s disease, as we’ve seen with the Gulf War veterans. The military itself has acknowledged that one-fourth of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer mental disorders from the trauma of war. Conservative estimates put the cost of taking care of our veterans at one to two trillion dollars over their lifetimes. But the Administration and the majority in Congress continue to deficit-finance these wars, plan for long-term occupations, and leave it to coming generations to pay most of the bills,” Hawkins said.

“How are we going to pay for taking care of our veterans? We heard nothing about that in the Clinton/Spencer US Senate debates from which I was excluded. They argued over who had the best approach for continuing the war. But they had nothing to say about how the war is bankrupting our country,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins noted the federal discretionary budget for fiscal year 2007 devotes $633 billion to military expenditures and only $350 billion to non-military expenditures, which includes $36 billion for the Veterans Administration (see http://thebudgetgraph.com).

“The one to two trillion dollar cost of Iraq war veterans benefits is equal to the entire non-military discretionary budget for three to six years and the current Veterans Administration budget for 30 to 60 years,” Hawkins said.

A paper by Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz and former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury, Linda Bilmes, released last January estimated that the long-term costs of the Iraq war would amount to one to trillion dollars, an estimate Stiglitz told the London Guardian was “very conservative” (see http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/cost_of_war_in_iraq.pdf).

“US taxpayers are being fleeced, and American soldiers and Iraqi civilians are being killed, in order to support war profiteers and oil companies. We need to bring our soldiers and tax dollars home now. Instead of occupying other countries’ oil fields, we should invest our military budget in developing renewable energy and providing jobs and services for Americans, including taking care of our veterans,” stated Hawkins.

Weekly Bill in Iraq Now Tops $2 Billion as US Builds Permanent Military Bases

Hawkins said the immediate costs of the war are being underestimated as well, citing a congressional analysis released last month showing that the Iraq war is now costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week.

“The congressional report documents that once again the US government is misleading both the American and Iraqi about its intention to build permanent military bases in the country,” noted Hawkins. “Whether you consult the Republican neo-con’s Project for a New American Century documents or Democratic geostrategist Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book, The Grand Chessboard, it is clear that the real mission of military-industrial elite’s so-called bipartisan consensus on foreign policy is to seize Iarq’s oil supplies and to build permanent bases there to serve as a staging ground for military operations throughout the oil-rich countries of the Middle East and Central Asia.”

The Congressional report shows that the war spending is rising despite relatively constant levels of troop deployment due to a dramatic increase in the “investment costs” needed for military bases to sustain a long-term deployment of American troops in the two countries.

Outsourcing Military Work to Corrupt Corporate Contractors Adds to Costs

Other reports indicate that war profiteering is also a major contributor to the escalating costs.

“From criminal mismanagement of Iraq’s oil revenues to armed private security contractors operating with impunity, this war has fueled an appalling amount of corruption. Iraq has become a free fraud zone as well as a free fire zone. It is time to stop the stealing and start the prosecutions. The guilty should not be protected by their campaign contributions,” added Hawkins.

The Center for Corporate Policy reports that the Pentagon’s effort to keep a lid on military force requirements (thereby avoiding the need for a draft) has dramatically increased the hiring of “corporate warriors” (i.e., mercenaries). The General Accounting Office (GAO) estimates 48,000 private security and military contractors (PMCs) are stationed in Iraq. Observers estimate military outsourcing will be a $200 billion annual business by 2010. In early 2005 CIA officials told the Washington Post that at least 50 percent of its estimated $40 billion budget for that year would go to private contractors.

The use of PMCs has put “both the military and security providers at a greater risk for injury,” the GAO says, because PMCs fall outside the chain of command and do not operate under the Code of Military Justice. PMCs, for instance, were implicated in the scandals at Abu Ghraib.

While Halliburton, formerly run by Vice-President Cheney, has become synonymous with war profiteering in Iraq, there are lots of other major companies with greedy fingers in the pie. Bechtel received one of the largest no-bid contracts — worth $2.4 billion — to help coordinate and rebuild a large part of Iraq’s infrastructure. But the company’s reconstruction failures range from shoddy school repairs to failing to finish a large hospital in Basra on time and within budget. In July, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), released an audit of the Basra Childrens’ Hospital Project, which was $70 million to $90 million over budget, and a year and a half behind schedule. Bechtel’s contract to coordinate the project was immediately cancelled.

In March, Custer Battles became the first Iraq occupation contractor to be found guilty of fraud. A jury ordered the company to pay more than $10 million in damages for 37 counts of fraud, including false billing. In August, however, the judge in the case dismissed most of the charges on a technicality, ruling that since the Coalition Provisional Authority was not strictly part of the U.S. government, there is no basis for the claim under U.S. law.

A new documentary, Iraq for Sale, by Robert Greenwald, shows a “revolving door” in which high-ranking officers leave the Pentagon to join defense contractors, which in turn lobby members of Congress and contribute millions of dollars to their electoral campaigns. The film shows that billions are being diverted to companies that are overcharging U.S. taxpayers for shoddy services, as illustrated by a $45 bill for a six-pack of Coco-Cola and a $100 fee for washing a bag of laundry.

Hawkins noted that Hillary Clinton is receiving increasing amounts PAC money for her campaign accounts from big military contractors like BAE North America, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.

Letter to the Editor

http://www.ulsterpublishing.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=380585 

I am writing in support of the Green party Peace Slate for statewide elections on November 7. The Green party has gained much momentum in the 2006 election season. Green candidates have received endorsements from renowned individuals, such as Cindy Sheehan, demonstrated impressive showings in statewide polls and have garnered unprecedented support for their efforts from various groups, including the League of Women Voters. Green candidates also have the marked distinction of being the only candidates running on a platform that calls for an end to the war in Iraq, echoing the urgency of public sentiment.

Nationwide, nearly 400 Green candidates are on the ballot. In New York alone, we have a full slate of candidates: Malachy McCourt for governor, Alison Duncan for lieutenant governor, Rachel Treichler for attorney general, Julia Willebrand for comptroller and Howie Hawkins for U.S. Senator. With Spitzer’s enormous margin of support over Faso, anti-war voters need not struggle with the possibility of a perceived “spoiler” effect in these races. New York’s voters can vote their conscience and help ensure that the Green party will have a voice in future elections.

The ramifications of homogenous candidates are extensive and only serve to suppress democracy. If we truly value democracy’s principles, we should seek diverse and unique candidates who will bolster these ideals. If the Green party receives 50,000 votes on its gubernatorial line, a small fraction of the votes expected to be cast this year, Greens will be guaranteed a spot on the ballot for New York elections until 2010. This will enable more Green candidates to run, providing more options for voters on Election Day and raising issues that traditional parties have been reluctant to address during campaigns.

The increase in voter turnout and participation, as well as the increased pressure on traditional party candidates, will ensure that any representative of New York’s voters will be held accountable.

Combine Senator Clinton’s refusal to develop a realistic strategy for ending the war in Iraq with Attorney General Spitzer’s imminent ascent to the Governorship and it becomes obvious that this is an ideal opportunity for voters to do what is right. I will be proud to vote for Malachy McCourt and the entire Green Party Peace Slate on November 7.

Brittany Turner

Saugerties

Cindy Sheehan Endorses Howie Hawkins

Howie Hawkins for US Senate
http://www.hawkinsforsenate.org

Media Release

For immediate release: October 24, 2006
For more information: Howie Hawkins, (315) 425-1019
Sally Kim, (518) 364-2968

Cindy Sheehan has endorsed Howie Hawkins, the Green Party’s anti-war challenger to incumbent Democrat, Hillary Clinton, in the New York race for US Senate.

Sheehan became the most prominent face of the anti Iraq war movement in the summer of 2005, when she announced that she would camp near President Bush’s ranch until he talked to her about the US war in Iraq. Sheehan’s son, US Army Specialist Casey Sheehan had been killed in action in Iraq on April 4, 2004. Bush’s refusal to meet with this mother of a fallen soldier became compelling a national news story that ran on for weeks. Sheehan went on to co-found Gold Star Families for Peace and continues to campaign for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

“Cindy Sheehan’s endorsement will be a big help in getting the word out that I am the anti-war alternative on the ballot to the pro-war incumbent, Hillary Clinton,” said Howie Hawkins.

“Cindy Sheehan sparked a resurgence of the anti-war movement at a time when it had become demoralized after Bush was elected to a second term. When she speaks out against the war, she has the moral authority of someone who has been personally affected by it. Her voice reaches not only the peace activists, but the majority of Americans who now oppose the war, a majority she played a significant role in building,” Hawkins added.

A 64 to 34 percent majority now “oppose the U.S. war in Iraq,” according to a poll conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corporation, October 13-15.

Sheehan met with Hillary Clinton on September 22, 2005 seeking to persuade here to come out against the war in Iraq. In an open letter she wrote about the meeting a few weeks later, Sheehan wrote, “I thought the meeting with Sen. Clinton went well….I thought Mrs. Clinton listened, but apparently she didn’t because immediately afterwards she said the following to Sarah Ferguson of the Village Voice: ‘My bottom line is that I don’t want their sons to die in vain… I don’t believe it’s smart to set a date for withdrawal… I don’t think it’s the right time to withdraw.’…What Sen. Clinton said after our meeting sounds exactly like the Republican Party talking points I heard from Senators Dole and McCain.”

Sheehan added later in the letter, “I think she [Clinton] is a political animal who believes she has to be a war hawk to keep up with the big boys.”

Before endorsing Hawkins for the general election against Clinton, Sheehan endorsed Clinton’s anti-war challenger in the Democratic primary, Jonathan Tasini. Tasini received 125,000 votes to Clinton’s 641,000 votes. While the many media commentators have described that result as a landslide for Clinton, others have noted that the one out of six Democratic votes for Tasini’s low-budget campaign was a strong showing, which indicates Clinton’s pro-war and pro-corporate policies are alienating the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

Sheehan’s open letter to Clinton of October 2005 included an appeal to Clinton that left the door open for future support if Clinton changed her position on Iraq:

“I would love to support Hillary for President if she would come out against the travesty in Iraq. But I don’t think she can speak out against the occupation, because she supports it.

“I will not make the mistake of supporting another pro-war Democrat for president again: As I won’t support a pro-war Republican.

“This country wants this occupation to end. The world wants the occupation to end. People in Iraq want this occupation to end.

“Senator Clinton: taking the peace road would not prove you are weak. Instead, it would prove that you are the strongest and wisest candidate. As a mom, as an American, as a patriot: I implore you to have the strength and courage to lead the fight for peace.

“I want to support you, I want to work for you, but like many American moms, I will resist your candidacy with every bit of my power and strength unless you show us the wisdom it takes to be a truly great leader.

“Prove that you are “passionate” and reflect our nations’ values and refusal to support imperialism, greed and torture.

“Senator Clinton: come out against this occupation of Iraq. Not because it is the politically expedient thing to do but because it is the humane thing to do. If you want to make Casey’s sacrifice count, bring the rest of his buddies home alive.”

A year later, Sheehan, a life-long Democrat, is coming to the conclusion that peace and justice are not going to come from the Democrats.

In an interview published October 23, 2006 on the CounterPunch website(“An Interview with Cindy Sheehan: The Antiwar Movement and Independent Politics” by Joshua Frank, (http://www.counterpunch.org/frank10232006.html), Sheehan said, “Even if the Democrats take back the lower House, the potential Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has already said that impeachment would not be ‘in the cards.’ Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has also backed off of impeachment rhetoric. Since Bush has said over and over again that the troops aren’t coming home while he is president, it is up to us to make sure that his presidency is cut short.”

Sheehan added, “I think that to save our democracy our country needs a viable and credible third party. This nation was founded on rule by a few rich white males, and for all intents and purposes, we are still ruled by a corporate elite. We need a third party that will represent all the people, not just the wealthy.”