All people in the USA this month, as it's women's history month need
to honor great women in US history. A few readily come to mind. Here
goes. Susan B Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Coretta Scott King, Jane
Fonda, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Cindy Sheehan all have made
major contributions in this country; and this is in no way a
comprehensive list. But this isn't at all a bad start for honoring
great American women.

To start this off with a real spark for voices for an anti war effort
and ultimately an international peace movement, it would seem a good
idea to refer to those who stand out in
this regard. They would include such women as Cindy Sheehan, Eartha
Kitt, Cynthia McKinney, Correta Scott King, and Jane Fonda.

Women having a stronger feminine side with all the nurturing,
sensitivity, compassion for others, sense of justice, and
identification with standing in solidarity with those suffering
oppression have the wherewithal to provide a vanguard not only for
anti war effort, but a full fledged international peace movement.
Furthermore, it's very appropriate that US women should do this as it
still is, as it was, their "own government" which is "the greatest
purveyor of violence in the world today," as Martin Luther King Jr
said in 1967.

Eartha Kitt, a US activist, cultural symbol, and internationally
renowned singer who had protested the Vietnam War in the White House
in 1968 to the First Lady herself,
died on Christmas Day last year was an outstanding example of women
standing up to US militarism.

Coretta Scott King stood at the side of Martin Luther King Jr, one of
the greatest Americans in all US history, and she backed him in his
struggle for racial justice at home, in his opposition to the Vietnam
War. After he died she would continue his struggle including that
against US militarism and imperialism, for civil rights at home, for
other justice issues at home, and also very importantly she would
provide leadership in opposing W's foreign policy of endless war.

The others are still around.

Barbara Lee, who is now the leader of the Black Caucus in the US
Congress and was the only member of that body to vote against W's
resolution to seek military action after the 9/11 attacks has been,
and surely will continue to be a solid, courageous voice in any anti
war effort and could easily have a leading role in any real
international peace movement.

Cindy Sheehan became active in opposing Iraq War and W's "war of
terrorism," after her son's needless death in W's Iraq War based on
lies and fraud, has led this effort as well other efforts opposing the
insane domestic and foreign policies of W's administration, and she
continues to do so "to her everlasting credit," as the late Wayne
Morse would have said.

Media Benjamin of Code Pink has been in this struggle way back when W
sold his phony Iraq War to the country.

Cynthia McKinney as a presidential candidate of the Greens in 2008 and
since has shown she's willing and able to go all in the struggle as
part of anti war effort and likely help
lead in women moving to form a vanguard of an international peace
movement.

Jane Fonda would show her leadership in opposing the Vietnam War, in
supporting the women's movement, in supporting Tom Hayden, her one
time husband's fight for economic democracy, and not least for certain
she would, and does continue, to oppose the Iraq War.

These women can lead the way toward an all out international peace
movement so desperately needed today. Men and other women as well can
surely be part of such a movement. Those who lead for a time may
become followers later, and those who start out as followers may
become leaders later. Only those with an hierarchal orientation must
have have the same leaders all the time and have any
institutionalization of same.

Along with the women already cited, then let us honor and recognize
others below. These women provided outstanding examples for the
progressive movement on a variety
of issues.

Brought up as a Quaker, Susan B Anthony was an activist in many causes
mainly in the 19th Century, and these included, but aren't limited to
the anti slavery movement, the women's suffrage movement, the movement
to get better working conditions for employees in the labor force, and
the movement to get equal pay for women and other equality for women.
She was a brave woman who in one case during her activism for the anti
slavery movement even encountered, not just the threat of violence,
but violence literally breaking out. But she didn't back down. Nor did
she back down on other great causes which she lent her name to.

Oh, how about Eleanor Roosevelt for a great American woman? She was a
first lady, who, thankfully, never knew "her place" as a woman, as she
always must have been convinced that she had a right to speak out on
the great issues of the day. She was known to be quite outspoken on
racial injustice in the USA, when it was definitely not in vogue to
be. She spoke out on human rights abroad as well. Franklin D Roosevelt
had a great woman at his side in his fight for the mass of people
against the "economic royalists." She was also a supporter of the
United Nations as an organization. For liberals and progressives, she
often showed the leadership which others lacked the foresight or guts
to provide. She may have been, and probably was wrong now and then.
But who the hell isn't?

Rosa Parks, who had never had a prominent role in activism before
1955, would on a fateful day that year in Montgomery Alabama take a
stand by sitting and refusing to give up her seat at the front of a
local transit bus to a white man and by doing so start the ball
rolling big time for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
The Brown vs Board Education decision by the US Supreme Court in 1954,
while certainly important didn't trigger the kind of activism in the
civil rights struggle, and especially with regard to legally
sanctioned segregation that Rosa ParKs stand by remaining seated did.

Fannie Lou Hamer, who would become famous for saying, "I'm sick and
tired of being sick and tired," would lead in the civil rights
movement in Mississippi, especially with regard to getting voting
rights for blacks. She
would also lead a challenge delegation to both the 1964 and 1968
Democratic National Conventions to more dramatically seek to get black
representation in the party which has too often, and especially since
the early 1990s, taken blacks, other people of color, and working
class whites for granted. She would later get involved with and in the
National Women's Caucus within the women's movement.

Colin Powell or Chuck Hagel to Be the GOP's Ike in 2012

Look for either Colin Powell with his tremendous credibility as
an authority figure with his top level military background and
opposition to neo con policies both domestic and foreign or
Chuck Hagel, Vietnam combat vet and same basic orientation
on policy issues to be the GOP's Dwight D Eisenhower in 2012
as Barak Obama runs out of gas not following through on his
"change you can believe in" partially due to his own lack of
guts to stand up to the GOP and partially as the GOP will
just keep hammering him, with the media in the old back
pocket right here in the "good old USA, with either Hagel
or Powell, which ever one is the lucky one taking enough
states and areas which Obama took for his party in 2008
to retake the presidency then.

Rash Windbag is just extra baggage in this case,
and probably as far as either Hagel or Powell are concerned,
excess baggage which they aren't all that interested in anyway.
The new GOP national chairman is a definite good sign.

Both Hagel and Powell have taken on Rash Windbag,
radio talk mouth piece for the far right/loony right neo
con, phony lying, BSing, blow hard, who knows the
true meaning of hot air and how to produce a maximum
quantity of same. Oh, and I left out Straussian in referring
to Windbag which fits his gangster crowd of turn ethics on
its head clique believing Straussian garbage about the fact
that not only must those in power lie to keep power, but that
they have a moral right to do so, easily outdoing Machiavellian
types who at least have the good judgment to leave ethics
out of their advice to those holding power.

Hagel and Powell both easily have such a solid grasp on
ethics that they are head and shoulders above the Sarah
Palins both women and men. Oh, and that brings up the
wonderful subject of Powell letting go on Palin with a
blast that wouldn't quit. He just tore into her with that
"There's nothing wrong with my value system from the South
Bronx" in response to Palin's comment about small town
values with said comment about small town values in which
Palin seemed to be saying small towns have a monopoly
on values, which is pure drivel. Powell remarked on how
Palin was pushing the GOP further and further to the right,
which couldn't hold up and that Powell had "talked to a number
of leaders in recent weeks and they understand that." Of course,
many in small towns didn't find the GOP national ticket that
appealing in 2008. Saying the GOP "has to take a hard
look at itself," and that he saw "nothing wrong with being
conservative," Powell warned his party against treating
Windbag like the E F Hutton of US politics. He also favors
taking another look at the "Don't ask. Don't tell" policy on
gays in the military. Referring to Windbag, Powell posed
the question of the GOP, "Is this really the kind of party that
we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to
appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"
Powell concluded that Palin's "polarization" hadn't worked
and had "backfired" on the party. Powell still considers himself
a Republican.

Hagel came on strong against the Windbag and all the
far right/loony right "know nothingism" as he aptly referred
to it, which as he said was really just about tearing down
others and that Windbag really didn't have any answers
even though he claimed to have all the answers. Hagel sardonically
said he wished Windbag "and others like that would run for office.
They have so much to contribute an so much leadership and they
have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly."
Making his case, Hagel insisted, "Engagement isn't appeasement.
Diplomacy is not retreat. . ."

Both Powell and Hagel have opposed AIPAC from time to time
as well, and this could be another positive sign. Of course the AIPAC
and neo con agenda tend to overlap quite a bit if not overwhelmingly.
With either Powell or Hagel at the helm, this could be in sync with Ike's
GOP.

The GOP also chose Michael Steele, former Maryland lieutenant
governor, the first black to be its national chair. Steele has called
this 'the dawn of a new party." Steele told those gathered that he
was going to say "to friend and foe alike. We want you to be part of
us. We want you to be with us. And those who wish to obstruct, get
ready to get knocked over." The RNC seemed clearly to be rebelling
against the domination it had been under for the four years of W's
presidency. Clearly the GOP hierarchy is smarting from the 2008
loss of presidency and of diminished strength in congress. Steele
has said he won't concede any segment of the population or any
of the country to the Democrats. Steele's opponents were clearly
to his right, thus making this choice all the more significant. Here's
the GOP hierarchy that appears clearly to show it desires a new
direction for the party away from the current neo con, far right
garbage.

Steele chairs GOPAC, an organization which recruits and trains
candidates for the party.

This is good news for both Powell, Hagel, and others who want to
see a new direction away from the far right, neo con agenda.

Start at the start with Crispus Attucks, one
of the first people to give his life in the fight
by the 13 colonies against George III in
Boston on March 5, 1770, in what became
known as the Boston Massacre. He was
a black man who gave his life for a country
that was to come into being as a result of
the rebellion against the British sovereign,
even though he and blacks then and later
would have no rights in that country. Without
Attucks and others fighting in that rebellion
against George IIII, no independent US history
black or white or otherwise would even exists
for the United States would never come into being
as an independent country.

Then move right on two absolutely indispensable
blacks, Martin Luther King Jr and Charles Richard
Drew. With Dr King so deeply involved in the struggle
to save his country in the 1960s at the end of his life
from "spiritual death" as he referred to it from militarism,
racism, and imperialism that had put the USA on the
wrong side of history. Then put Dr Drew in who as
a surgeon would develop blood plasma which would
literally save so many lives bodily of those in his country.
He would go to England to put in the first blood bank with
the sanction of the British government.

Next it would be good to look at Paul Robeson, an activist politically
and otherwise, and internationally recognized actor and singer who
stood for his ideals of a better for all across the spectrum of issues
at home and abroad, whom the communist bashing fanatics who
got too much power in the hysteria of the late 1940s and 1950s would
destroy the career of due to their hatred of his political ideals and crazy
dogma of knee jerk anti communism and their guilt by association mentality.
Ultimately in 1950 the State Department would take his passport, which he
wouldn't get back until 1958, thus depriving Robeson his best opportunities
which were in countries where he would have to have a passport to travel
to. That Robeson could get as far as he did in this loony right/far right era
was a tribute to his greatness, courage, and brilliance, for deprived of his
passport, Robeson had no real opportunity during that period to continue
with his career at home in the USA, as US communist bashing fanatics had
created there such an atmosphere of hostility, hatred, and anger at Robeson
for his "unAmericanism" which wasn't, but which the US media peddled
as gospel so completely. However, Robeson had his brief moment at a
HUAC (House UnAmerican Activities Committee) when he called out
these low life, foaming at the mouth mad dogs for what they were calling them
the real "UnAmericans," and telling them "You should be ashamed of
yourselves," as he stood there representing the highest and best of
the ideals of the founding fathers and the best of what this country should
stand for and for best of Americanism. But the US media would do its "job"
erasing much of Robeson's life and sending it down a memory hole. For after
all Robeson openly said he was a socialist, even if he put the stress on
democratic socialism. These US media types were much more concerned
with any threat to the US brand of capitalism, which they were, and are still
so much a part of. Robeson proved to be right about the need for negotiation
rather than confrontation with Moscow, as a one time top level CIA official
put it, "The 10 feet tall Russians" was always BS. Robeson would have to
endure many racist incidences in the USA throughout his life, but the worst of
all came in August and September of 1949 in Peerskill NY where he was
scheduled to give concerts, with the first scheduled for August, but cancelled
after violence. Then in September Robeson was scheduled to perform at
another concert which he and Pete Seeger sang at, with people carrying
racist, anti Semitic, and communist bashing signs literally attacking those
attending with baseball bats and bricks, even dragging some out of their cars.
With the fascists and racists and anti Semites attacking the pro Robeson crowd
many of whom were veterans of the Second World War and having fought
against fascism.

Dr King would get pegged by the same media types with the label of "black
leader" and glorified for what he did up through the march on US capital
in August 1963, but the same media types would make sure not to have
much to say about him after that and until his speech attacking the Vietnam
War. Then these media types would go after him all out. Lyndon B Johnson
would refer to that "goddamn (N word pejorative for black) preacher." Was
little bit of racism going on here? Dr King put it well when he said he had "wandered
off the plantation of race and criticized the Vietnam War." These press types
had praised Dr King when he spoke out only on civil rights especially in the
US South, but now that he was taking on the Vietnam War, US imperialism,
and militarism and racism and tying them all together, the torrent of abuse came
in a flood. These media types just didn't get it that as Dr King said, "Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Nor that as he put it, "I've spent
too much of my life fighting segregation to start segregating my moral concerns. I'm
not going to do that." In response to these media types Dr King put it so aptly,
"The thing is I'm a Negro leader. I'm supposed to stay in my place. . ." We can
be so glad he didn't stay in "his place"-- damn glad! Dr King likewise repeatedly
had to endure violence and threats of violence until his assassination in 1968.

In Dr King's case, those high in the US Government and in such outfits as HUAC
or at the top level of the FBI wouldn't take Dr King on openly and publicly, and
they didn't have to as these media types did their hatchet job for them. Otherwise
the FBI with their director's approval, would sneak around looking through peepholes
at Dr King's love life seeking to use that to hurt him.

If the same press types had known that actually like Robeson, Dr King too was a socialist,
they would have really got their "knickers in twist" as folks say on the island of Britain.
Yes, Dr King was a socialist and said that to Caribbean writer C L R James when
insisted, "You don't hear that from me in the pulpit, do you?" "I don't say such things
from the pulpit, James, but that is what I really believe." Furthermore, what a person says
in private and in confidence pretty much is the real person." In public a leader has to
watch the words more carefully, but in private and with some, that same person will
tell it just like the leader actually sees it. This should be less of a surprise to those who
know more about the stress Dr King put on class struggle in the last part of his life and
of bringing poor whites, blacks, and others locked out by the system into a coalition to
change that system to make it better for all. Dr King's real dream wasn't just about getting
rid of Jim Crow, but about a better world for us all, about saving the US soul from damnation
of the "spiritual death" he said in that speech on the Vietnam War which the USA was
"approaching" by spending more on the military "than on programs of social uplift." Today
we still face that same stark choice.

Eartha Kitt standing up against the same insane war in 1968 in the White House and telling
the First Lady the same can't be left out. Kitt paid the price for speaking truth to power, as those
with the power sought to punish her for bringing out the truth. But she persevered as had these
others.

Jesse Jackson Sr, activist, ordained Baptist minister and like Dr King in the social gospel tradition
would break new ground with two campaigns for the presidency in 1984 and 1988, building up
support for progressive ideas and stimulating debate as well building up a grass roots progressive
movement, which is now showing some results. Blacks would get registered in massive numbers.
He would get strong showings at both 1984 and 1988 Democratic Conventions despite the fact
he didn't win. He would go on to be involved in and advocate progressive causes both at home
and abroad.

I won't attempt to list every black American who has made great contributions to this country
so numerous that they are surely way out of proportion to their percentage of the US population.

Let us pay tribute to all black Americans who through about 85 years of this country's existence
of fighting for "freedom," lived in slavery after having been brought over to this country on slave
ships in the worst of conditions, then sold off into slavery to live in chains, then to face Jim
Crowism in the South and de facto segregation and discrimination in the North, to face
lynchings in both North and South-- though with more in the South, to only get enforceable
voting rights nationally here in 1965, then face poverty and racism that stinks to high heaven,
all the while fighting in every war for the same country whose system so oppressed them, and to keep
struggling for a better life, and sometimes not just for themselves but others as well is a great
achievement for any people to have achieved. As the Medal of Honor would say it was, "above beyond
the call of duty."

Their religion, often a social gospel Baptist and AME (African Methodist Episcopal) one, their music
their poetry, and so much else in what they did in the rest of the arts letters and education and otherwise
have kept them going. Bless them. For so many times have their votes in recent times saved the rest
of this country from itself. That on other occasions too many of their white brothers and sisters been
too self indulgent, ignorant, narrow minded, self seeking, and otherwise flawed leading to the worst of
results is no fault of their own with the white vote going heavily enough the wrong way.

Today these same brave and decent black people face a bleak future even as whites begin to face
a similar yet not as dark future. For poverty, homelessness, lack of decent economic opportunity are
their lot today. Whites are now feeling some of the same from the failed neo con/far right/loony right
control by divide and rule policies. Others are also feeling the hard times.

Maybe now we can have the kind of coalition for real change for a better life for all which blacks have been
supporting for so long. That's something that would give hope for all.