Elections DO have Consequences

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Saturday January 06, 2007 · 5:21 PM PST

2007/01/06 · 17:21

I came home from a wonderful dinner with friends Thursday night to read on my email that Nancy Boyda, a freshman Democratic Congresswoman from Kansas, stated on ABC News Tonight:

"I think we're going to vote to support what the commander in chief and head of military asks to do. At least, I am certainly going to vote to support it."

This is our new House of the People! The fresh blood we all thought was going to make ending the occupation in Iraq a priority. These are the new Democrats we all worked so hard to get into Congress. They were NOT elected to blindly support the Commander-in-Chief, they were elected to support US!

JeeniCriscenzo

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Monday December 18, 2006 · 9:16 AM PST

2006/12/18 · 09:16

Shortly after the election, someone I didn’t even know sent me a copy of the video, The Secret, which describes how our thoughts and words create our reality. Anyone who knows me or was involved in my recent Congressional campaign, knows that I understand the power of positive thinking. Even so, sometimes I need a reminder just how powerful our thoughts and words are, and this video served that purpose. It also reminded me that the words of my fellow activists as well as the media and everyone else around me are also shaping our common future. So it’s not enough to just "think" my future, I’m on a mission to inspire everyone else to envision a world that’s supportive of it.

The moment I awaken each morning, in those seconds before full consciousness, I deliberately extend my dream-state with images of what I expect to achieve in the coming day and what I want our collective future to be like.

JeeniCriscenzo

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Friday November 10, 2006 · 12:02 PM PST

2006/11/10 · 12:02

Finally getting to the bottom of my emails from Election Day, I found this gem from a neighbor: "I just wanted to say that when I first met you, you reminded me of Don Quixote, with his wooden sword fighting the windmills. Despite those terrible odds, you kept persevering, and I just want to tell you that I am very proud you are my neighbor. However it goes tonight, you deserve congratulations for a fight well fought."

Gee, that feels good! I went into the race for U.S. House of Representatives knowing that California's 49th District is probably impossible for a Democrat to win. If an equal percentage of registered Republicans and Democrats were to go to the polls, one third of the Republicans would have to vote Democrat for me to win. Read More

CA-49: A Tangible Difference

JeeniCriscenzo

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Thursday October 12, 2006 · 2:38 PM PDT

2006/10/12 · 14:38

One question I often hear is: "How do I know that you won't be like the rest of them once you get to Washington?"

Voters' mistrust of politicians is well founded. Our elected officials have disappointed us over and over again. The current Congressional scandal and disgraceful behavior of resigned Rep. Foley (and imprisoned "Duke" Cunningham) puts a public face on the deceit, immorality and hypocrisy that most voters suspect. Many voted for George W. Bush because he touted that he was not a Washington insider. He wore his Christianity on his sleeve and people believed him because they wanted leadership that reflected their core values of honesty, courage, and compassion for our fellow human beings. Instead, they got lies, bully tactics, intolerance and mass manipulation of all Americans through fear mongering. And still the lies continue!
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CA-49: Our World REALLY Can't Wait

JeeniCriscenzo

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Thursday October 05, 2006 · 2:20 AM PDT

2006/10/05 · 02:20

Isaac Newton said: Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight ahead, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by forces impressed.

There's no such thing as a political pendulum. Things won't automatically swing back after reaching some invisible limit. Unchecked, the Bush Administration, along with his rubber-stamp Congress, is going full-speed ahead in the wrong direction. It won't change course until something forces it to change course... or it goes over the edge. Economic collapse, environmental catastrophe, fascism--they all loom menacingly on our horizon. Read More

CA-49 - Not In MY America!

JeeniCriscenzo

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Wednesday September 20, 2006 · 9:35 AM PDT

2006/09/20 · 09:35

One of the most disturbing things I learned last month when I joined a group of leading peace activists in meetings with Iraqi leaders in Amman, Jordan, was that Iraqi detainees are being routinely tortured. Victims of Abu Ghraib told us about the unspeakable things that were being done in our name, as Americans, to our fellow human beings. In every case these victims had not been charged with a crime and were eventually released because they were innocent! See my video about our meeting with torture victims.

Americans were so upset that Saddam Hussein had tortured his own people that many of them thought that invading Iraq was actually a mission of mercy! Now we find out that it is America that is torturing innocent Iraqi people and our President wants permission to continue doing it! Read More

CA-49: You Are the Deciders

JeeniCriscenzo

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Tuesday August 29, 2006 · 6:56 PM PDT

2006/08/29 · 18:56

Last Saturday, I participated in the Arlington West Memorial here in my Oceanside, CA hometown. Two young Marines came by and asked what we were doing. I told them that we were honoring the troops who had fallen in Iraq and pointed out that there was a name on each marker for everyone of those who had died in Iraq. "Everyone?" the one young man asked?

"All 2600," I replied as I looked over the expanse of markers, flags and votives in the sand. "Is there someone in particular you are looking for?" I asked. He nodded and I brought him over to the table where we had a list of all of the names. He flipped over to the "D's", his finger moved deliberately down the list of names and stopped midway. "He's my brother," he said.

JeeniCriscenzo

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Wednesday August 16, 2006 · 3:53 PM PDT

2006/08/16 · 15:53

Walking past the newsstand, my eye caught a headline on the front of the L.A. Times: Shiites Press for a Partition of Iraq: Creating federal regions would curb the violence backers say...

What a bill of goods they are selling us on Iraq! This headline is counter to everything I heard while meeting with Iraqi leaders last week. To see that headline just as I arrived home last Wednesday from a fact-finding trip to Jordan, confirmed for me that going to meet directly with members of the Iraqi Parliament was the only way I could make an accurate assessment of the situation in Iraq and our options for ending U.S. engagement in that quagmire.
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Listening to the Iraqis With Open Ears and Heart

JeeniCriscenzo

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Sunday August 06, 2006 · 2:49 PM PDT

2006/08/06 · 14:49

For two intense days in Amman, Jordan, some of the leaders in the peace movement in the United States listened and learned from the leaders of the Iraqi people. We didn't always hear what we'd expected and it's going to take a couple of days of re-reading my notes and listening to my audio recordings to digest and absorb everything. But I didn't want to wait too long to share some of the highlights with you. I was honored to be with such extraordinary people, from both countries, who are committed to making peace happen. And I'm certain that, it will be the ordinary people, like you and me, who will bring about this change, simply because we refuse to stand silent while the bullies beat up the world.

Some of the things I heard in the past few days made me sick and ashamed of my country. I'm certain that if you knew about the things being done in our name you would join me in working to put an end to it. Read More

What I hope will come of this Mission

JeeniCriscenzo

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Thursday August 03, 2006 · 12:31 PM PDT

2006/08/03 · 12:31

I am in London and in 3 hours will be on the plane to Jordan for meeting tomorrow and Saturday with members of the Iraqi Parliament - see previous blog and Global Exchange. I have spent the 12 hour layover reading a book that someone gave me a couple of weeks ago - can't recall who - "The End of Iraq" by Peter Galbraith. It is very informative on all aspects leading up to our invasion and what is happening now and the different factions and conflicting interests - a valuable resource and a different perspective that Greg Palasts' book, Armed madhouse. Along with the briefing information provided for this trip, I'm going into these meetings well prepared.

Because I'm a big believer in the power of our visions, I spent some of this travel time creating a picture of what I'd like to see come from these meetings:
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Joining the Peace Delegation in Jordan

JeeniCriscenzo

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Tuesday August 01, 2006 · 7:44 AM PDT

2006/08/01 · 07:44

I start each day with the prayer of St. Francis, "Make me an instrument of your peace," and every day my prayer is answered, sometimes in the most extraordinary ways. This week I will be joining a small peace delegation in Amman, Jordan to meet with members of the Iraqi Parliament to discuss their Reconciliation Plan.

The minute I read the email from Code Pink on Friday that five members of the Iraqi Parliament who were dismayed by their prime minister's refusal to meet with those participating in the Troops Home Fast movement had offered to meet with them in Jordan, I had this gut feeling that this could be the beginning of the end of the occupation of Iraq. This is where the people of America who, by a vast majority want an end to the hostilities in Iraq, can circumvent this war-hawk Administration and work directly for peace.
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Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

JeeniCriscenzo

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Thursday July 27, 2006 · 5:30 PM PDT

2006/07/27 · 17:30

We have a new hell brewing in the Middle East. When I looked at photos of Lebanese mothers and fathers holding their torn-apart children, my heart broke. My opponent, Darrell Issa, is of Lebanese heritage. These could be his own kin being blown apart by weapons the United States has provided to Israel.

First and foremost, we must stop the killing of innocent children on both sides. As a parent, I recall when my children were younger and sometimes a battle would ignite between them, with each claiming the other had started it. I would have been insane if I'd given each of them weapons to use against one another to "resolve" their disagreement. No, instead I demanded that they both "Stop it!" Then I'd call a "time out" and send them to their rooms to calm down.
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Elections DO have Consequences

Painting Our Future

We Did Not Win in CA-49 - But We Are Winners

CA-49: A Tangible Difference

CA-49: Our World REALLY Can't Wait

CA-49 - Not In MY America!

CA-49: You Are the Deciders

Make an end to it!

Listening to the Iraqis With Open Ears and Heart

What I hope will come of this Mission

Joining the Peace Delegation in Jordan

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!