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07.03 Notice for Extension of Unemployment Insurance Benefits
07.02 A Cost-Saving Way to Travel: Rent a House
Ref. : Letters to the editor
06.30 An Open Letter to Barack Obama
07.17 Corporate Media Blackouts Continue as Iran War Looms and Impeachment Moves Ahead
07.17 The Pentagon and the Hunt for Black Gold
07.16 Washington Post's McCain-Friendly Poll
07.15 You Can’t Tell a Magazine by Its Cover Or A Candidate by His Rhetoric
07.09 The Forgotten: Somalia's American-Made Road to Perdition
07.03 Press distorts Clark’s comments
06.30 Iran-Contra's 'Lost Chapter'
06.27 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part II)
06.25 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part I)
06.20 Remembering Russert
07.18 Making Americans Unsafe
07.18 I Was a Victim of the Government’s Absurd and Over-Hyped War on Terror
07.15 Thinking About Safety
07.15 The High Cost of Bush's Iraq Gambit
07.11 McCain's Nomination - A Possible September Surprise?
07.07 Is Barack Obama Patriotic? Is Any Politician?
07.07 Obama's FISA Statement is a Mess (Just like his Stand on Faith-based Programs)
07.07 Campaign Notes: Of Flip-Flops and Fly-Bys
07.07 Supreme Court, Inc.: Supremely Pro-Business
07.03 The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July
07.03 Three Amigos: Bush, McCain, Obama Draw a Blood-Red Line on Iran
07.02 Rep. Ron Paul Assails Congress's "Virtual Iran War Resolution
07.02 How Ignorant Are We?
06.28 Primary Season Over, Barack Channels Hillary
06.27 Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Bill to Fund Iraq War Until Mid-2009
06.27 Defending the President as Tyrant
06.25 Critical Malfunction: Misreading Gore Vidal
06.23 Campaign Finance Reform Has Failed
06.23 Thinking About Flip-Flops
06.23 Heat Waves: Burning Off the Fog of the FISA Fiasco
06.23 Alarm over 'Unfair' Campaign Money
06.23 The Supreme Court, Habeas, John Yoo and Murdoch's Wall Street Journal
06.20 Keeping America Safe from Child "Terrorists"
06.20 SuperCorridor Defeat? Don't Bet On It
07.19 'Justifying' Torture: Two Big Lies
07.18 Torture As Official US Policy
07.16 Bush Asserts Exec Privilege; Blocks DOJ From Releasing CIA Leak Documents
07.16 Impeachment Hearings: A Win is a Win
07.15 Torture for the Torturers
07.14 Imperial Wizards: The Nangarhar Massacre and U.S. Plans for Central Asia
07.12 Kucinich Pushes on Impeachment
07.11 Disorderly Conduct: Subverting the Bipartisan Paradigm on Iraq
07.10 Mukasey: Bush's New 'Mr. Cover-up'
07.09 Legitimizing Permanent Occupation of Iraq
07.08 Buchanan, MacDonogh, Pilger Books Explode Illusion Of American Exceptionalism
07.07 Bush-Cheney Crony Got Iraq Oil Deal
07.07 Keeping Count (When Ours Goes Down, Theirs Goes Up)
07.02 Iraq Oil Deals Fulfill Cheney's Goals
07.02 Bush's 'Wonderland' Logic
06.30 Operation Horse's Head: U.S. Raid Sends Message on Iraq "Agreement"
06.30 Invisible Hand: Washington Role in Iraq Oil Deal Revealed
06.27 It Was Oil, All Along
06.27 Big Dog, Little Tail: The American Elite Resolves on War With Iran
06.26 A Totally Lawless Regime
06.23 Top Dems Hand Bush Key Victories
06.23 Democrats Legalize Bush's Crimes
06.20 Torturegate: Truth, But No Consequences
06.20 Bomb Iran? What's to Stop Us?
07.11 Running on Empty
07.10 A Work Force Betrayed
07.08 Paul Krugman and Blindness About the War and the Economy
07.07 Thinking About Turnarounds
06.30 Thinking about Dependence
06.26 Health-Care Crisis Endangers Economy
07.17 Renunciation and Escalation: Conflicting Tides in the Terror War
07.16 Maliki's 'Timetable' Shakes Iraq Debate
07.16 Drought and Israeli Policy Threaten West Bank Water Security
07.14 Enabling Tyranny—Brigitte Bardot And Other Victims
07.14 Duce Bags: Italy Leads Fascist Revanche in Western Democracies
COMMENTARY:
Time to Run for Change, America
Back to reality: on July 25th the International Herald Tribune ran a piece titled "Teens march across America in lonely opposition to war." The article talked about nineteen-year-old Ashley Casale and eighteen-year-old Michael Israel, who started their 3,000-mile walk from San Francisco to Washington to show their opposition to the war in Iraq and express their hope that others would join them.
The pair did pick up a third marcher, nineteen-year-old Tom Garrett, but the masses were absent. What happened to them? What happened to all those Americans opposing the war?
If we follow the old saying of "two's company, three's a crowd," it is evident that we have an anti-war movement growing on the ankles of these courageous young men. Granted that—taking into account the US population numbers of 302,465,868 people, according to the US census Bureau—three people is a tiny representation for opposition to the war, at least there are three.
After all, it was U.S president Lyndon B. Johnson who said, "Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time."
Who knows? Forrest's mum did say that "life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you gonna get." Maybe peace-loving people will understand the need for this run to continue, and just like Jennie yelled out to Forrest, "Run Forrest run!," we will all shout to Ashley, Michael and Tom, "Run guys run!" Maybe then, funding will flow in order for this run to continue. Maybe people will take to the streets and go from coast to coast until they're out of breath. And then, with the war stopped, just like Forrest did, they will proclaim: "We're pretty tired... we think we'll go home now."
Forrest's run across the country took three and a half years. Maybe a run to stop this war will take a lot longer, but then again, running is good for our health, and running for a good cause must be promoted.
Who knows, maybe this is America's chance to embark on an epic journey of healthy change, and they will prompt foreign runners to join their race. After all, many people around the world are waiting to see signs of change, to rally behind the American cause. Three runners marching for peace, is inspiring, but is simply not enough to stop the war.
Hopefully those Americans looking for something bigger than a weekend rally will follow the footsteps of their three fellow patriots. When pro-justice and pro-peace groups chant in unison "Run America run!," America will run and run and run. It will run so much and so hard that the braces will brake from its legs and it will never have to wear them again.
Pablo Ouziel is an activist and a freelance writer based in Spain. His work has appeared in many progressive media including Znet, Palestine Chronicle, Thomas Paine’s Corner and Atlantic Free Press.
Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.
This story was published on August 10, 2007.
