Although much smaller in number, we were drawing a great deal of attention from passers-by and news media.  In bright pink and with signs in hand, several of us flashed peace signs at the traffic and at the group standing on the other side of the street.  Two of us, dressed as McCain and Bush – bride and groom, kissed as the crowd fell silent.   In tow was a little baby carriage with a baby Palin doll and a sign that read “Bush-McCain Love Child”.

After a few minutes of peaceful protest, an elderly man crossed over to the median.  Wearing a red white and blue shirt in the design of a Texas flag and carrying a small U.S. flag, he stepped in front of me, trying to cover up my message.  He turned and looked at me in my McCain bridal outfit.  Trying to keep things cordial, I said “Hi, how are you?”  He responded “I’m better than you.”  After the Palin fans left and the protest dwindled, that simple statement kept floating back into my head. 

“I’m better than you.”  I started thinking about the true impact of that single statement.    If I’m better than you, then my race is better than yours, my country is better than yours, my religion is better than yours.  If I’m better than you, then I deserve to live and maybe you don’t.  If I’m better than you, I can use up all of the resources and save nothing for future generations.  If I’m better than you, then global warming isn’t a problem – I’ll be dead before its impact is felt.  If I’m better than you, then it’s okay for my country to invade yours.  If I’m better than you, then I deserve all of the wealth and you deserve to remain in poverty.  If I’m better than you, then my child deserves to be educated, housed and fed, but yours does not.  If I’m better than you, then peace isn’t necessary as long as I remain unscathed. 

So our mission is clear — to remind each other that no one person is better than another. 

Some media made their way outside the presidential debate at Hofstra University in NY and couldn’t miss us in the crowd of demonstrators. Essence mag included us in its montage on the debate here,  Newsday mentioned us here , a blogger from Huffington Post only recognized our group by name out of all the other groups here (“It was especially fun to walk through the Code Pink crowd and the folks with the creatively grotesque and offensive t-shirts to buy a sandwich”). I enjoyed this story in the Cornell college newspaper here with a photo of us and an interview with Kelly Jacobs: “My 18-year old son just got his drivers’ license,” she said. “I told him that voting is like driving, D to go forward, R to go back.”

Some bailout action again in the press….this photo of Liz and others hassling Lehman Brothers CEO Fuld led a story in the Times Friday about further investigations of Lehman Brothers here. And a Nadar rally at Wall Street Thursday, Lynn Rooks of D.C. was interviewed on Al Jazeera here!

And the Jocelyne Voltaire story!! CNN did a great piece on it (thanks to Linda M. for uploading the clip to YouTube here)  and it made the CBS evening news. Democracy Now! really hit the nail on the head by highlighting CODEPINK’s work to help Jocelyne here.

And, finally, Medea disrupts a mortgage conference in San Francisco. The local ABC affiliate posted a photo and story on its site here. Woo!

WHAT: Pro-peace, pro-diplomacy, pro-America rally outside final presidential candidate debate
WHEN: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Weds. Oct. 15
WHERE: Corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Uniondale Ave, Hempstead, NY
*Interviews available before event

HEMPSTEAD, NY — Forget talking points, scripted questions and winks. At today’s presidential debate at Hofstra University, the best, grittiest action will be outside.
Veterans, teachers, labor workers and other Americans with demands for the candidates — on ending the war and investing in health care and education — will gather there with banners, signs and chants to send the message to both Sen. Barack Obama and John McCain that they want a peace president!  They must stand for diplomacy and avoid war with Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran — after spending $560 billion and losing 4,000 American lives on an unjust war in Iraq, we cannot afford another, especially in the midst of a catastrophic financial crisis.
To get the rally started, CODEPINK Women for Peace, the prominent peace activist group, Iraq Veterans Against War, United for Peace and Justice and others will meet at 4:30 p.m. at Hempstead Turnpike and Uniondale Ave. and walk west toward the university. They will continue the rally until 6:30 p.m.
The women and other activists will also gather Thursday, Oct. 16, outside the Waldorf-Astoria at 51st. St. and Park Ave. where Obama and McCain will be speaking at the Al Smith Dinner, a fundraiser for the Catholic Charities.
For more information, please call Jean Stevens at 508-769-2138.

CODEPINK, founded in 2002, is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into health care, education and other life-affirming activities. We reject the Bush administration’s fear-based politics that justify violence, and instead call for policies based on compassion, kindness and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODEPINK women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence. Codepinkalert.org.

“I went to see the Palinettes — the supporters of this unspectacular woman who had so readily been won over. I wanted to meet them and speak with them and understand their attachment to this lowest common denominator politician — a woman so unqualified for Vice President that her appointer running mate should be imprisoned for treason. As a patriot and voter, I disagree categorically with the choice of Sarah Palin. I seek knowledge, experience, maturity, integrity, charity, clarity, humanity, intellectual curiosity, and wisdom from the leaders I select. Since Palin, in my opinion, exhibits none of these traits, I wanted to assess her supporters’ rationale (or rational-ity).”

Raises a great question…what if everything you hold dear as a voter (such as those values Milazzo mentions) is totally shunned by others? If person X and person Y view the world in completely different terms with wildly different priorities, and have only two major parties to choose from, how could they agree on one “perfect” candidate?

Alright. While the poll may be too limited to be particularly accurate (anyone really know any white female Obama supporters jonesing for Palin now?), let’s assume it reflects a genuine trend.  And if so, how depressing. “Vagina” politics make little sense. Most women, in the real world, have no trouble distinguishing among women they respect and women they don’t. Or women whom they agree with, and women whom they don’t. They hardly rush to support every woman they meet. A political candidate must be evaluated on positions on the issues, on true merit (and experience, which both McCain and Obama camps accuse the other of lacking). If a CODEPINK woman ran, and Palin were not on the McCain ticket, would a female McCain fan vote for her, just because she’s a woman? It seems just as preposterous as an Obama lover expressing her sudden love for Palin.

I wonder, too, how race plays a part — maybe white women are attracted to Palin’s white womanness more than her gender.

We’re smarter than this. And maybe when more women make their way onto future ballets, it’ll be a moot point.

ST. PAUL — Two activists of the women’s peace group CODEPINK disrupted John McCain’s speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention, immediately following another activist of the anti-war veterans group, Iraq Veterans Against War.

At the start of McCain’s speech, veteran Adam Kokesh of Washington, D.C. emerged from the crowd near the stage inside the Xcel Center here carrying a sign and shouting messages to stop the war. About four minutes into the speech, CODEPINK activist Elizabeth Hourican, 38,  a McCain constituent of Phoenix, AZ and longtime protester of McCain’s support for war, approached the stairs of the center toward the stage wearing a pink slip that said, “McCain = more war” with a banner that said “McCain = war.” Hourican, shouting phrases including “Women say no to war!” and “We want a peace president!”, raised her hands in a peace sign before being carried out. A few minutes later, San Francisco native Nancy Mancias, 38, did the same.

They were both released within an hour with no charges.

They were given their tickets to the speech by Republicans who decided not to attend, based on their displeasure with McCain’s position on war, oil drilling and other issues.

Their disruption follows a similar disruption Wednesday by CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans during Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s speech at the RNC. They approached the stage where Palin was speaking, adjusted their clothes to reveal pink slips that read “Palin is not a woman’s choice,” stood there at the side of the stage for about a minute and yelled “Women say no to war!” and “Women need a vice-president for peace!” They also removed banners that read “Women need a peace vice-president.” After another moment, security then grabbed Benjamin and Evans and escorted them one at a time out of the St. Paul Xcel Center, where they were held until the end of the Palin’s speech and told they would be arrested if they tried to reenter. They were told they’d committed an arrestable offense but they were not charged.(See footage of the event here).

“Sarah Palin is not a woman’s choice,” said Jodie Evans, co-founder, moments after being released. “That’s it.”

CODEPINK is a nonpartisan women’s peace group. They vehemently oppose McCain’s pro-war, anti-environment, anti-choice positions. More details to come. For questions, please call Nancy Mancias at 415-342-6409.