Dispatches from a Patriot by Alice Copeland Brown

Dispatches from a Patriot
by Alice Copeland Brown

Alice Copeland Brown lives in Canton, Massachusetts. Her son, Major David Floyd, has served in Afghanistan and Iraq. She is a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to stop the war on the grounds it is illegal (not declared by Congress) and brought against the Bush administration in Boston Federal Court by the parents of active-duty serviceman and a handful of Congressmen. The following letters were received by email. (The AP story was forwarded by Alice)

Varying Coverage of Ashcroft Protests in Boston, September 11, 2003 by Alice Copeland Brown

[From Dave Goodman: U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft came to Boston on Tuesday Sept 9th to tout the benefits of the USA Patriot Act to law enforcement officials, including lawyers and police. The public was locked out - ironically from Faneuil Hall, midwife to democracy, and a featured stop along the "freedom trail."

I was there... the truth is the Boston Herald may have overestimated the number of demonstrators and the Boston Globe definitely underestimated the size of the crowd gathered to protest Ashcroft's visit. The Herald (a conservative daily once owned by Rupert Murdoch) reported that "Attorney General John Ashcroft lauded the USA Patriot Act to cheering Bay State cops at Faneuil Hall yesterday." I can tell you unequivocally that there was absolutely no cheering. Many police officials - facing shortages due to state cutbacks and inability on the part of the feds to help with local security preparedness - are reluctant to endorse unconditionally the Bush administration's agenda. I would characterize the response to Ashcroft on the part of law enforcement officials as polite. On the other hand the Globe featured a photo of the protesters featuring a screaming Noah Cohen; a person I know to be responsible and dedicated to social justice and certainly not an angry subversive as is implied by the Globe photo...]

August 8, 2003 More update on Jamie McLaughlin, the woman arrested July 4th. Charges reduced!

Hallelujah: the bad thing about being an agnostic Christian is that it's hard to verbalize your thanks to a gracious God when something goes right

Today, Susan Church, whom you may read about in the Globe ALSO getting that young Cape Verdean woman freed who was about to be deported for a shoplifting charge years ago in her teens; got the charges against Jamie Mclaughlin reduced to Indecent Conduct and Disorderly Conduct: dismissed upon performing 25 hours of community service.

Five of us were there in support at the Charlestown (MA) Courthouse, including 2 of us who were there on that day of infamy, that 4th of July when she was arrested and carried off in that dark paddy wagon alone. Police brutality could easily have been her counter charge, witnessed by me, but I think she's just glad to be shed of just one more example of the loss of our 1st Amendment rights: giving out the Bill of Rights DOES NOT require a permit at the Hatch Shell or anywhere else. Wait till next 4th of July. If a beautiful nubile young woman aroused such ire from going topless, I'll be executed...a 65 year old chubby woman!!!!!

I know the joys of paddy wagon riding with 11 other wonderful women, singing at the top of our lungs on the way to Harrison Ave. Jail. Jamie had to do it on her own. Maybe next time there will be a concerted effort by naturists to break the topless law, as they've done in New York State.....showing that going topless is part of equal treatment under the law but now was not the time. Those kind of arrests should be carefully planned for, and the disdain from even some sweet liberals (disgusting!!) was in itself disgusting to me.

God, when will we learn tolerance for one another. But for right now, my heart is lifted and I am so thankful to Susan Church. Tune in tonight (Friday Aug 8 & Tuesday August 12 2003) on WMBR 88.1, the furtherest left on your dial, Cambridge FM for an interview with Jamie and myself, Alice Copeland Brown, the Pilgrim

Hurray for Jamie. And here's the punch line. Since she cooks for the homeless in her own apartment and distributes food at Copley Square and Cambridge Common with "Food Not Bombs", we THINK that what she does ANYHOW will be her community service!!!! "Don't Throw Me into that Briar Patch" See ya.

July 30, 2003 Update on Jamie McLaughlin, the woman arrested July 4th. She faces very serious charges.

For giving out the Bill of Rights, you can be jailed for up to 3 years, a specimen of your DNA collected and be filed away in the Sex Register. That was just one of the charges Jamie (see below) was charged with.

I was one of 5 women held for about an hour in front of the Hatch Shell while Trooper Eric Anderson went off to “check out your permit.” You're not allowed to give out leaflets without a permit. This is not on an MDC letterhead (my email 'permit' from Alicia Murphy attorney of the MDC sent to the ACLU because of trouble they had LAST 4th). One young woman in a burka and Jamie had been detained because they had no such 'permit' (not needed, says the ACLU). So we were all facing about 20 laughing, smirking troopers and black-shirted creeps (thus bleeding away all the anti-terrorism troops out to protect the public...a great diversionary tactic, if we were about doing that). This includes the ones that went off with my paper to 'get it checked out'.

At about 4 -10 min. before 5p.m. (when said permit gave out), we were told we could leaflet until 5. Disgusted, we did so, but Jamie was only interviewing us...I never saw her give out a leaflet. At 5, we were talking at the curb about the obvious illegality of what the troopers had done, when another trooper officiously ordered each of us to "Move away..." The woman on my left, another ACLU member did, I did; stepping just off the curb and in a flurry of violence a horde of blue-shirted wolves descended on Jamie. So frustrated was she that she had pulled down her top (Notice I am not accusing them of doing such).

After I took some pictures, I went up to her to get her name so I could send support to whatever jail they were taking her to (Leverett Circle barracks, it turned out), the goons threatened me with arrest "There are CHILDREN here" one savage hissed at me...Breasts are obviously more threatening than the dead bodies of the thousands of Iraqis we have pureed or the 200 Americans killed for oil toward which there is little rage.

There is another charge that you need to get from her, dealing with the leafleting. Something between "Disorderly..." and "Inciting to Riot". She is young, naive with no money. She cooks for the homeless, giving out food on the Cambridge Common (right beside Harvard Yard on Sunday). She belongs to "Food, not Bombs" and her family is somewhere up in Laconia Notch/Gulch, New Hampshire. Because these charges are so ludicrous, I'm afraid she thinks the court will dismiss them, but she doesn’t know how wicked, apathetic and incompetent our court system is...where lies are the order of the day. Attention must be paid!!!!

This happened, may I repeat, on the 4th of July at the Hatch Shell where we were celebrating our country's liberty and freedom....God, what a travesty!!! E-mail from Jamie below:

"hi - i am Jamie Mclaughlin - i was arrested on the 4th of July with you - by six angry men - they put the cuffs on so tight i still have marks on my wrists and i have to play the piano lightly because of the swelling.

i got out in two hours- but when i was arraigned on monday. they said that they were going to prosecute me as a sex offender (i think because of the fliers and all of my food not bombs work) they want to put me in the sex offenders registry and take my dna - (along with jail time) the Lawyers Guild is in the process of giving me a lawyer - i am putting together a defense -

it is frustrating - i would rather change the law before they put me in the registry - any input is welcome -(that is, other than i am a stupid idiot)

[from Dave Goodman: write to me david@ibisradio.org and I will pass along to Jamie any suggestions or offers for help]

July 04, 2003 Independence Day on the Esplanade in Boston and folk ARE HARASSED by police and IMPEDED from distributing copies of the BILL OF RIGHTS !! -- More recent Updates in red.

Do any of you know Jamie? She is in the Lafayette Circle jail right now; having been arrested for distributing leaflets, and pulling her shirt down in frustration at police harassment. [ PHOTO ]

I took pictures as she was bundled off in a paddy wagon. When I tried to request that they stop manhandling her as she was not resisting arrest, I was told to step back or I would be arrested. Arriving home upset by the utter superficiality of the TV rendition of our 'celebration of our freedom' from the Hatch Shell where she had been arrested, I tossed and turned, thinking of her in jail at the Leverett Circle barracks. I called the MDC Rangers, not being able to find a phone number for the MA state troopers (still haven't), who gave me the number. I learned from the trooper at the jail that she had been released. Because I don't know her full name, I couldn't find out when she would be arraigned.

We were allowed to wander all over the park (Charles River park runs along Storrow Drive on the Boston side of the river) with my huge sign "R.I.P. Bill of Rights" and explicit examples of how Section 216 and 218 of the USA Patriot Act violate the 1st and 4th Amendments. As we were finishing our circuit around the park, a young woman I know from other protests came up and asked me if I had an official permit to show the Massachusetts District Commission (MDC) highway patrol, who were refusing them permission to give out the Bill of Rights.

I showed the permit (ed. a letter actually) that Alicia Murphy, attorney for the MDC had sent to ACLU members. The officer said, "This won't do. It's not on an official MDC letterhead. It is not a permit." I said, "Officer, we were concerned that we would have problems distributing the controversial Bill of Rights in the cradle of liberty, Boston, on the 4th of July. That's exactly why we got this permit." "But you see," explained Officer Eric Anderson, "you must have a permit. And this isn't official." "You stay here at the entrance, and we'll try to get in touch with Alicia Murray."

Dear Alicia, I wonder if you could give me some reason why the permit I was sent was not accepted by the MA. state police. Had I known this, we could have faxed around a copy of the permit on official MDC stationery, as the policeman requested. On the other hand, as the delaying tactics might indicate, the police officers could have been simply restraining us from doing what we should have been able to do legally. Forbidding the distribution of the Bill of Rights on the 4th of July? Disgusting. With the lawyers involved in this, I never thought to distrust the effectiveness of this 'paper', although I was furious that such was considered necessary. We are in a police state, and I am ashamed for us all.

There we were four of us, surrounded by 8 highway patrolmen, soon joined by other uniformed types. One young woman just dropped her leaflet in front of people wanting one, saying, "I'm sorry, I’m not allowed to use my 1st Amendment rights and give you a copy of the Bill of Rights. But if I drop it, you can pick it up." This foolishness went on for about an hour.

She said they were being stopped by the MA. State Troopers. Officers Eric Anderson and Halfin, Badge 721, as well as Thomas Kerle were three of the six officers gathered around these two young women. I showed my copy to the officers, but they said "This won't do. It's not a permit to leaflet. It's not on official MDC letterhead. You could have written it yourself." (which, of course, is true). I was already furious at being so restricted on the 4th of July in the cradle of liberty from freely exercising my 1st Amendment rights: restricted by time (3 to 5), and number (20). And now, this permit was deemed worthless.

Notice that this permit only allows 20 of us to leaflet between the hours of 3 and 5. It was about 4 pm then. At 3 minutes to 5, the officer told us we could distribute our leaflets for 3 minutes, until the permit timed out. This frustration of our whole reason for being there caused one young woman to pull her top down. Immediately, six burly policemen surrounded her. She did not resist arrest, but they still needed that many. I took pictures as she was hassled off to the paddy wagon, which I’m offering to anyone that wants to print them. (ed. and which I will publish on this site) One officer said, "You see, there are children here. They shouldn't see her breasts!!!"

There are no words to describe my disgust at the manhandling I just witnessed. When I went to her rescue, I was told to get back or I would be arrested also. The funny thing is, many people refused my Bill of Rights leaflet at the Charles St. station, but when the crowd found out we were not being allowed to leaflet, and with 12 or 13 highway patrolmen in front of us in fear of what????????, I have no idea, people swarmed to get them. I just feel sorry for the girl who was taken to the Lafayette Circle state troopers' jail. If you could give a call over there, maybe we can help her.

One young woman in a burkah told the crowd, "I'm not allowed to give you this leaflet, which features George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founders of our country because I don't have an 'official permit'. I am not allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment rights on the 4th of July in Boston." I am not a talker, but stood there beside her in support.

I'm sick at heart: you don't like to see your fears made physical reality. No, Virginia, you are not free to distribute the Bill of Rights on the 4th of July on the Esplanade, even though the 1st Amendment gives you those rights, and on top of that, you had a Permit (click here to see the MDC letter) to do so.

June 27, 2003 "...they're still killing our people in Iraq and will continue to do so..."

Just think what our forefathers, the colonists, would be doing if the British were occupying our country still., and the French hadn't helped us win the war. They would be picking the Redcoats off from every apple tree in the orchard. Guerilla warfare works best, when you know the terrain and the invader doesn't.....just as in Vietnam.

The Brits found out they couldn't control Iraq, but it took them 58 years to do so. Is that how long our children will be over there, being Bushwhacked (literally) by angry citizens of that country, and rightly so?

Major Dave has been de-activated for the time being. After Afghanistan, he was deactivated for 1 month. How many countries do we have to invade before Georgie thinks he's a man? We are currently occupying Korea, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, have bases in many other countries, including England, and 'Special Forces' in Columbia, the Philippines, etc. etc.. No empire has ever lasted, and ours won't either.

How an un-elected president can claim to 'bring democracy to the world', when he has robbed us of it here.... and be believed by so many Americans... astounds me.!

An old schoolmate sent me this article from Jerry Levin about the deliberate abdication of the US to bring order to the country it has conquered; and I have recently heard Ed Kinane, who was part of the 'Wilderness' group in Bagdad during the bombing. It may be my imagination, but perhaps one small reason that more thousands of innocents were not killed is due to their presence, the presence of all those who were human shields, whether so proclaimed or not.

There are two violations of the Geneva Conventions very deliberately committed by the Bush administration, one alluded to in this article. 1.) An occupying force MUST maintain order, and protect the citizenry from further harm. We haven't, except for protecting the oil refineries. Let there be chaos, more excuse for us to stay (and more American troops to die, by the way).

2.) Iraq was accused of having weapons of mass destruction. That was so obviously a ruse, that their nuclear plants were left wide open to looting. This accomplished the following: the cancers that are sure to proliferate from the use (for example) of radioactive containers for water holders will further decimate the Iraqis. More, any complaints from our occupation GIs to the VA for benefits due to the Depleted uranium used to harden our tanks and our bombs, will be dismissed as "You can't prove that's what your cancer came from. It could have come from the radiating materials dispersed all over the countryside by the looters." So much for "Supporting our Troops", care of the Bush administration.

When will the citizens of our country quit listening to what this puppet says, and look at what he does?

In segregated Birmingham where I grew up, it was well known that no black man should ever file a complaint if a white man beat him up. It was treated with disdain and ignored. In fact, the victim might have been arrested for 'inciting to violence' or 'loitering' or 'refusing to obey a police officer'. Well, guess what happened in Quincy District Court today: the 22 year old thug who attacked me with my peace sign was 'paroled' for a year. In a move that showed complicity with the apathetic and pathetic MBTA police, the clerk told the guy that "I see you are contrite and if you don't get into trouble for a year, this case will be dropped." The Lawyer's Guild representative pointed out to the judge that even the admission he made to "shaking the sign" that I held (lie that it was), still comprised battery. By this time, the die was cast and the false bon homme of the MBTA detective as we went in was revealed for what it was. As we left, the 3 police were huddled up with the two accomplices. The deal was cut before we ever walked in. So the moral is, "You got a grudge against peace activists? go at it.....you can assault (shout, call names) them and physically attack them. They'll just get 'paroled'." Notice that I am staying away from ascertaining how someone can get 'paroled' if they've never been found guilty of anything. This was a 'magistrate's hearing' to determine if he should be bound over for trial. It never got beyond that. I have since been told that I can't even get a record of the findings. "Even though you were the victim, the Commonwealth of MA has ultimate discretion. You are only a witness. Therefore, a judge will have to determine whether you can have a record of the hearing in which you were a witness," said the clerk. In other words, get a lawyer. So goes justice in the Commonwealth of MA, cradle of America's liberty. And now I know what every black person in the South knew: that for me, there is no protection from the police, whose salaries I pay as a taxpayer. Not so long as I protest this war. Wonder if my son knows what he's fighting for in Iraq. This?

Alice asks: "As the Iron Curtain Falls on Free Speech in America: you wonder why I Protest? And we bring the Iraqis 'freedom'? 'democracy' from an administration that stole the presidency? What madness!!!!" -- She then submits the following from Broadcast Network News and Cameraplanet.com Executive Producer Steve Rosenbaum:

TODAY SHOW GOES DARK ON TIM ROBBINS
At 8:15 Monday Morning, Today Show host Matt Lauer introduced the controversy that has
been kicked up by the cancellation of the 15th anniversary of Bull Durham at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In a letter made public on Wednesday - Dale Petroskey, the President of the Hall suggested
that his venue was not the appropriate venue for a highly charged political expression.

Lauer then introduced Tim Robbins, who along with his wife Susan Sarandon, had had their initiations revoked.

Lauer quizzed Robbins on free speech, and pointedly asked Robbins if he had planned to use the
Hall of Fame event as a platform for a political statement. Robbins said 'of course not.'

The discussion went back in forth for a few minutes, with Lauer being neither accommodating nor confrontational.
And Robbins' responses were equally measured. But Robbins did end up saying things that have hardly been
heard before since the war began. "The message is if you speak out against this administration you can and will
be punished" Robbins explained.

"We're sending out messages on an almost daily basis, that they have no right to protest against this President"
said Robbins. To which Lauer responded with a question about the Dixie Chicks and their controversial comments
against the President. Robbins responded - pointing to the fact that the protest and banning of the Dixie Chicks
was by Clear Channel Radio and its connection with the Bush Administration. This conversation was unheard of in
the current environment. Robbins was talking serious politics on a morning chat show - and clearly hackles went up.
By 8:24 Robins was explaining "We're fighting for freedom for the Iraqi people right now so that they can have
freedom of speech, yet we're telling our own citizens they have to be quiet"

Lauer could have called it quits there -but he went on "When you see pictures of Iraqi's dancing and celebrating
-does it change your mind?" "No" said Robbins - "I'm ecstatic that they feel this freedom, I hope we have the resolve
to get in there and make it work."

It was at this point that something happened that has perhaps never happened before in the history of
morning television. [ed. emphasis added]

The music swelled under Robbins... Mid-sentence, answering a question that had been asked just 10 seconds earlier...
"We have a terrible track record" said Robbins, clearly not able to hear that music was coming up to literally 'play him
off the stage'.

The camera cut to a wide shot. Lauer was leaning in and very much in conversation. Either Lauer was ignoring
what must have been the deluge of invectives in his earpiece, or he was just determined that he wasn't finished
with this line of questioning.

But the music ended. The bumper music ended and the studio was in the two shot as Robbins said..."It's for some reason
not in our best interest to keep it going and pursue it to the next level." Lauer nodded, and the camera faded to black
as Robbins - mid sentence - had his microphone turned down.

A conversation about free speech. An anchor asking reasonable questions. A guest responding in equally reasonable tones.
No attempt to close out the discussion - to say "Well thank you, Tim". This was not a filibuster. Robbins was not hogging
the spotlight. Someone in the control room simply decided that it was time to pull the plug. And without grace or ceremony,
or even the face saving of letting Lauer say "We're out of time" as morning shows do on so many occasions.

A conversation about free speech and free expression was cut off mid sentence as the network went to black.

Television history was made, as million of Americans got to watch in real time just how powerful and inescapable censorship
can be. Robbins wasn't revealing troop locations, or giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Remember the war has been won -
by all accounts. He was discussing freedom, free speech, and why his appearance has been canceled at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
NBC should invite him back and let him finish his thought - or admit at least who was on the phone to master control,
demanding that they pull the plug.

April 17, 2003 "We as human beings have a...responsibility to refuse to obey immoral orders."

Let's see. Saddam's palace art is 1970's comic book, but is safe. The treasures of antiquity that were in the museums of Iraq have been looted by our troops? the Iraqis? And the Iraqis who toppled the statue of Saddam were carefully posed by the press, who outnumbered them? And those few Iraqis around were Iraqi dissidents, especially flown in for the occasion? Everything's a photo op these days. As posed as the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima. At least the FIRST one of those photos was genuine. I know. My uncle, Col. Scott Ellington, was there. And the further insanity: NPR is stressing the horrible cost of the war to you and me, the American taxpayer. I am stressing out over the obscene cost in innocent lives. And a lesser horror: the cost in American troop psyches as they live the rest of their lives with the hideous slaughter they have been responsible for. Did any use the Nuremberg trials as reason to refuse to kill or even know of this American-sponsored (ref. Justice Jackson of the Nuremberg Court) lessons for 'all time'? We as human beings have a right and responsibility to refuse to obey immoral orders. Do any of our citizens know history, so we don't have to be continually repeating it, acting as savage as any tribes of primeval time? Oh, yes, that moves us into the Patriot's Act. Anyone up for Civil Disobedience of a law that is as immoral and unconstitutional as the segregations laws of my childhood in Birmingham? How is this for a chilling thought from a Civil Rights lawyer? "The ignorance and amorality of the present Supreme Court majority right now is such that you would molder in jail for years before the wrong was righted." Who says our democracy is dying? Just people who know the truth.

April 14, 2003 "From the Cradle of Civilization - to the Grave?" by Tom Cornell, former National Secretary, Catholic Peace Fellowship

http://www.catholicworker.org/roundtable/essaytext.cfm?Number=195 Alice writes: Why is it that some of the priests haven't heard from the Pope? Why do some still take the attitude of the medieval church which existed primarily to back up the state, and give the kings cannon fodder for their wars of domination. We are still savages, it seems. The madness is that those who speak for peace are 'bully magnets', attacked by thugs both physically and verbally. A slaughter of innocents on a country too weak to threaten its' neighbors, much less the mightiest nation in the world, is called 'liberation' in the tradition of Hitler, as he marched into Austria. What's next? Iran? Syria? World domination?

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind...
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector
enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."

As the media twists the words, lying by omission....omission of the corpses and thousands of wounded Iraqi children, I'm wondering, "What price glory?" Was there ever any question that our technologically superior military might would 'win'? The British thought the same thing, beginning in the 1800s: that they could hold Mesopotamia (Iraq). They finally gave up in 1958 after more than a century of uprisings. How dare these Arabs think they should have self-determination (not necessarily democracy)? How dared WE, our forebears in America, also revolted against the British, desiring self-determination?

If this war was about ensuring that Iraqis are fed, clothed, healthy, and secure, hundreds of thousands are still in serious jeopardy. If this war was about bringing democracy to the Iraqi people, we haven't even begun that project. If it was about removing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, we haven't found any. If it was about reducing the threat of terrorism, we've done nothing -- except perhaps to fan the flames of Muslim fundamentalism. If it was about stabilizing the region, right now there is increased instability. And if it was about bringing the world together to address threats to our security, we've clearly done the opposite. Only if the war was about taking Saddam out of power -- and literally nothing else -- did this week's events signal victory. I don't think for a minute that the Iraqis will lie dormant, rolling over for the occupation of their country. Watch for the war of attrition as it begins, as it has already begun in Afghanistan: and our soldiers continuing to die week by week. Just so that virtual president Cheney/Halliburton could rip off millions from you and I, the taxpayer.

Man, you said it all. Those of us raised in the Christian religion are heartsick. made more so when we go to church, as I did this past week. At St. Gerard's here in Canton, there was a prayer service for the loved ones of the military families in Canton. My son is Major David E. Floyd of the U.S. Army and I am one of thousands protesting this war for its' utter evil on the part of my country. The Pope has spoken out again this war, as has the leader of every religious group. The Pope speaks as the voice of God, it is my understanding. Then how could the priest in good conscious pray, "Dear Lord, pray for our boys who are liberating the oppressed Iraqis from their persecution today?" I can understand the ignorance of the masses, but for the priest to ignore the statements from his Pope....his secular and holy boss, that I don't understand. It just took me back to my Methodist college, where we learned that the medieval church was there to back up the state and provide serfs as cannon fodder for the kings' wars. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" was to ensure that the serfs kept quiet and obeyed the cruel edicts of the state: just so today, it would appear. Thank you, and I thank the (Boston) Globe for NOT censoring you, despite their lies by omission in their reporting of the war.

ONE MOTHER'S WAR 4/4/2003 17:02:24 By HELEN O'NEILL AP Special Correspondent

CANTON, Mass. (AP) - In her cluttered yellow house overlooking a serene pond, Alice Copeland Brown packs her latest box of goodies for the war front _ Oreo cookies, biscotti, Q-tips, goggles.

Then she taps out an e-mail to her son in Iraq.

"I'm going to be arrested tomorrow," she tells him.

From a tent somewhere in the desert comes the cryptic reply.

"That's nice, Mom," writes Army Maj. David Floyd. "Just keep protesting as long as you keep sending food."

The exchange occurred two weeks ago, but similar lighthearted correspondence flies back and forth between mother and son nearly every day.

Their banter masks many things: His true feelings about his mother's anti-war protests, her deepening dread about what could happen to her son the longer the war drags on.

Floyd, a 44-year-old reservist from Birmingham, Ala., is a surgeon's assistant with the Army's 3d Medical Command. His family knows only the bare details about his deployment, that he is based in Camp Doha, Qatar, that he flies into the battlefields of Iraq to treat the wounded _ Iraqis as well as Americans.

Brown bursts with pride when she talks of her son's work. He's saving people, not killing them, she says.

But she cannot bear to watch the television images of smoldering buildings and burning oil-fields without wondering if David is near them. She wonders if he is getting any sleep. She worries about chemical weapons.

"Please wear your goggles and your gas mask every time you go out," she chides in an e-mail. "Don't breathe those fumes."

She can't stop thinking about the images of death and suffering he will carry in his head when the war ends.

And so, every day she gathers up her banners and marches to one of the busiest intersections in town, Cobbs Corner, where she brandishes her son's photograph and pleads with anyone who will listen: "My son is in the army in Iraq. Please stop this war and bring him home."

She knows that many who wave and honk see only a mother's pain.

Others see street theater. To attract attention, Brown dresses in the flowing skirts and white bonnet of a Pilgrim. She waves a colonial flag in addition to anti-war banners.

And some just see another protester who would be opposed to any war.

In a sense, Brown is all these things, this tiny 65-year-old woman with her beatific face, who crams in as many protests as possible, between picking one grandson up from high school track practice and cooking dinner for another.

But she is more.

For years, Brown worked as a software designer, writing encryption software for defense contractor Raytheon Corp. and other companies. She is proud of her computer expertise, proud of contributing to her nation's defense system, especially proud of the top-secret security clearance she held.

She is equally proud of her family's military service.

Her father was in the Coast Guard Reserve. In World War II, one uncle fought in the Battle of the Bulge, another at Iwo Jima, a third in the Solomon Islands.

"You couldn't belong to a military family prouder than ours," Brown says.

So it was natural for her son to join the service too _ and for him to thrive. He loved the marksmanship, the camaraderie, the weekends training with his unit.

Neither mother nor son ever expected him to go to war.

Scheduled to retire in April after 20 years, Floyd told his mother he had seen enough misery in Afghanistan to want to get out. Among other missions on his six-month posting in Kabul, he was one of the medics who treated the Canadians killed and wounded by an American bomber in a friendly fire incident.

Upon his return, Floyd said he was ready to settle back home with his wife and two young daughters and resume civilian life as a nurse at the Cooper Green hospital in Birmingham.

But with the call-up for Iraq duty, he was sent to a war zone again.

His latest deployment terrified his mother. And it convinced her that after years of "sideline" protesting for all sorts of causes _ going back to anti-segregation and Vietnam war protests _ it was time for her to get more deeply involved.

"I was a coward," Brown says, "until my son was sent to the front."

And so she threw herself into civil disobedience courses where she learned tips from veteran protesters: Never touch a police officer, hide small items of food in your clothing, write a lawyer's number in permanent ink on your arm.

She joined peace groups, including an Internet one called Military Families Speak Out. She started speaking at rallies, doing local radio interviews. She became a plaintiff in a lawsuit _ since dismissed _ charging that President Bush had illegally declared war without the proper consent of Congress.

But she also participated in town efforts to support the troops, going door-to-door on drives to collect war-bound goodies, and attending a town meeting to graciously accept a small symbolic flag from a veterans association. The flag, red and white with a blue star in the center, was presented to all 35 families in this town of 20,000 who have members in the military. It hangs in her front window near another small flag with the words "Stop the Slaughter."

Last month, when Bush delivered his final 48-hour deadline to Saddam Hussein, Brown decided it was time to prove she had the courage of her convictions.

At a March 19 rally in front of the John F. Kennedy Federal building in Boston, she joined dozens of protesters who blocked the entrance. In her Pilgrim outfit, Brown lay limply on the ground, eyes closed, arms crossed over her chest. It took four officers to carry her to the police van, where, along with 11 other women, she was handcuffed and whisked off to jail to be booked on charges of disorderly conduct.

"Getting arrested," Brown says, "was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life _ and the most exhilarating."

For the first time in her protesting career she had the strange sensation of being in battle herself, of being part of a unified force with a singular mission.

"I felt like a soldier in a campaign," she says. "And I thought, I'm doing what David is doing. I'm fighting a war."

Awaiting trial, she plans to take her lawyer's advice not to get arrested again until it is over.

But she still goes to rallies whenever she can. She still pickets outside recruitment centers. She still stands on Cobbs Corner every day with her flowing skirts and beaming smile, and the banner that says "Bring my son home."

And she still sends daily e-mails to her son, filling him in on her latest exploits, sending him photographs of her arrest.

From a tent in the desert comes his response:

"I'm sharing your picture with everyone. Most are not impressed until I tell them that the cookies are from you."

April 02, 2003 "Are we missing the full horror of this story, that we are there in the FIRST place..."

'Embedded reporters' or in-bed reporters? Barry Crimmins' suggestion that this brigade of propagandist reporters be given their own division, called the "Blind Eye Brigade" is excellent. If he had his own TV show, I'd be able to keep the TV on for more than the 10 minutes it takes me to get the weather and traffic, its' only use in my house. And, some of the reporters' versions differ from the official military propaganda (7 or 11 family members killed by the gung-ho shell-shocked troopers, which?).....Are we missing the full horror of this story, that we are there in the FIRST place, spreading death? The way the questions are framed is one of the big complaints we have about the TV, and some of the press, reporting. Comments that are blatantly ignorant from the TV generals who keep on saying, "I don't know" when the questions are as simple as "What is your name?" does not even give the sleeping public a good feeling of confidence. In other words, the supreme commander of the U.S. Armed Forces should know more than to say, "Tommy Franks (you know, the one whose wife gets to go at my expense on all those junkets) is doing a great job." I think he was taken from Central Casting, judging by his good looks and empty head, as displayed on "Face the Nation" last Sunday. As more reporters are pressured to 'tell it the 'military' way', we will see more resignations in disgust, and exposes after the fact......after the U.S. public finally realizes, as the Germans did, that they've been fed a pile of fecal matter. Peter Arnett told the truth, and was fired for it: Military Intelligence, as shown by Donald Rumsfeld, is the oxymoron we in the Defense (i.e., War) Industry always referred to it by. Our country will never be free again, if the return of the free informed press does not happen.

"Those who would sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither." Benjamin Franklin
IMPEACH THE SUPREME TERRORIST, GEORGE BUSH

March 30, 2003 (8:20am) "We will continue to get our news from independent sources, knowing how the truth is avoided and distorted by the media."

After having been interviewed by many of you, including French and Japanese journalists, I've decided that most of you are really trying to write balanced news. But something horrible happens back at the press offices: the reports and pictures are censored by Big Business, pro-war editors. How do I know? Let me give you a few examples. Yesterday at the Boston Common, we had some speakers who gave substantive addresses; we had participants with messages of depth about this immoral war that violates the U.N. Charter as well as the Nuremberg Trials resolutions. We had a massive die-in in which thousands took part. Yet the TV channels showed the same coverage: cute hip-hop dancers, and the few pro-war demonstration, sponsored by Clear Channel Communications....all with identical American flags. We ran into them in Atlanta and the entrance to the White House, during Code Pink, International Day of Peace. This fact, a parallel with the government-sponsored 'spontaneous demonstrations' in dictator-ruled countries, is not reported by the mainstream media. The Boston Globe inadvertently proved a major point of contention: undercounting our numbers, showing the numerical differences in past demonstrations. Channel 5 (ABC) got 25,000, but somehow 10,000 people were lost by Channel 4 (CBS). Why are the same pictures shown? Is this lazy reporting? Instead of the zingers, snide remarks made by some of the reporters in print, it would be nice to see "Just the facts, ma'am" for a change.

It has not escaped me that the networks in New York City are now being guarded 'to prevent them being taken over by terrorists who will lie to the people' (and by the way, prevent us from continuing to protest the lying media, propagandists to this Bush administration). There is a connection between Jeanne Engles of Boston being arrested demonstrating outside ABC offices in D.C. and this announcement. We will continue to get our news from independent sources, knowing how the truth is avoided and distorted by the media.

Why do you show the child being cradled by the troop, and not the child with the back of his head blown off, an event much more numerous, given our Iraqi bombings of markets and homes? Is this the 'Cheerios' test in effect or blatant propaganda to make us appear to be the 'good guys'? (i.e., If the reader can't eat his Cheerios in the morning and look at this picture in comfort, we can't print it.) As more Americans experience events in ways that are markedly different from the way they see it reported, this revulsion against the biased media (and by indirection, the war) by the educated classes will be joined by the working classes, our sleeping majority. "Give people the light and they will find the way" was a wonderful journalistic slogan. Try to live up to it, before that light becomes a bomb, obliterating us all.

P.S. It was nice yesterday as I marched in Boston, holding my picture of Major David Floyd, now in Iraq (my son), and American flag in a stiff wind, to look up and see pigeons on the roofs, instead of the snipers I saw, while marching in D.C.. That was at the crowning of this dictator Bush, NOT elected by the people, but selected by 5 highly partisan Supreme Court justices who circumvented the Constitution, knowingly ....and his brother, who threw 50,000 voters off the Florida voting lists because they had committed the 'crime' of having the same name as convicted felons. We will not forget, nor will History be kind to us about our reluctance to act at that time.

March 27, 2003 "Is the new world order worth the lives of the children we've killed...?"

Homeland Uber Alles!!!!! How does it feel to be part of the new world conquerors? Worth the lives of the children we've killed this past week? What would Jesus do, Indeed? The older I get the more sense the fundamentalist of my Bible Belt youth make: Don't drink, don't smoke, don't gamble, and Armageddon is coming with the anti-Christ pretending to be Christ himself. (Hint: look in the White House). And where do they think Armageddon will be fought? In the Mideast, the cradle of civilization, the Biblical lands. Almost makes this agnostic a believer, a believer in truth behind the myths. Alice, the Pilgrim.

I am writing this after watching the battle of Armageddon. I fought in
the second World War and I have seen destruction. I saw the planes that
filled the skies on their way for daylight bombing raids by the
American B17 and B29 bombers and the night raids by the English Lancaster
Bombers on night raids. On my way home after V E Day I passed through the
bombed out cities in Germany. They did not have the precision bombing
capabilities of the battle I watched today. As I watched the devastation
of Saddam's Palaces and all the military buildings along the Tigris
River. It answered a lot of questions that bothered me.

This is the first war that the whole world could watch as satellite
phones and satellite dishes provided. It is the first war in which the
media were allowed to travel with the individual units sending pictures
back to all the networks cable, and commercial.

The administration claimed that the Shock and Awe was to force the
Iraqi high command to surrender. I believe that their motive went far
beyond that premise. I believe that their intent was to instill fear in all
the other nations that did not support them, they wanted to show the
power they might exert whenever they choose or when they are opposed.
Their intentions are documented by many sites on the Internet, the war
against Iraq was planned even before G. W. Bush was appointed President by
the supreme Court.

George Bush Senior let their plan be known when he said there was to be
a new World Order, he belonged to a secret society that started in
Germany before the first World War the primary goal of this society was to
have a New World Order.
The Skull & Bones Society Role in the New World Order Many of the
members of the Bush Administration are from this Society, The have had
prominent positions in the government for many generations. To read more
there is a book on the web The GW Bush Gang: IG Farben 2001 I

Other sites you might study are George Bush: The Unauthorized
Biography. The Bush family had ties to German industry and financial
institutions for many generations.It is free to read.

This is not a time to let them subjugate us by fear, it is time to
spread the word of what they are up to so that we can restore our
constitution and return to a government of the people by and for the people,
not for the Corporations or the New World Order, which in reality is not
new it is the same one that Hitler wanted.

Friday March 21, 2003 "They then dragged me to the edge of the wagon and dropped me onto my knees on the concrete."

"I'm having great adventures fighting this war against the illegal Bush administration: Here's an excerpt:

My jail virginity has been taken. I was one of the 40 arrested two days ago at the JFK Building in Boston, protesting this insane illegal war, under the U.N. charter and our own laws. The lies from the TV networks continue, as they relay Bush's lies as the propaganda channels they are. But while the real criminals continue to run this country and its corporations, we the patriotic many (and growing) will be continuing to protest this war until it is brought down. It is the first time the anti-war movement has started from the beginning of a war, and the first time we have begun the dangerous precedent of launching pre-emptive strikes.

All of this was in my mind as the police handcuffed me and launched me into the paddy wagon to the cries of "Shame, Shame" from hundreds of supporters. Out of the eyes of the camera, and ordinary citizens, once at the jail, the care of the police ended.

I am 65 years old, with bad knees and hypoglycemia, protesting the illegal sending of my son, Major David Floyd, into harm's way in Kuwait (today, Iraq). I could not get out of the paddy wagon, as I was on the floor with my arms handcuffed behind me and weigh about 175 pounds with all the clothes that were on me to protect from the cold of the City Hall Plaza. The cops cleared all others out of the wagon, but one brave woman who told them she was staying behind to ensure no harm came to me. They pulled her out as well. They then dragged me to the edge of the wagon and dropped me onto my knees on the concrete. Screaming at the pain, I was shocked to feel them dragging me by my arms behind my back about 20 feet into the holding cell, and this in full view of the other jail police. When the women asked for medical help for me, still on the floor, an obese white cop shouted, "What's an old woman like that doing at this anyhow?" They replied that I had a son in Kuwait, and he rolled up his sleeve to show him his military tattoo????? It was so surreal, I was in shock at the absurdity of what I was seeing.

They finally agreed to an EMT as my hand began swelling where the handcuffs had been forced into my hand by the weight of my body used as leverage when they dragged me by my arms. About a half hour later, while they're outside laughing about all this, one comes in and tells the others they have to get out before an EMT can come in. One more lie. Again, the same woman, bless her--Rebecca, refuses to leave me alone and hurting. They drag her out. I lie there alone, wondering how long it would have taken had I been truly badly wounded....At this point I don't know if my kneecaps or limbs have been broken, as I can't move my legs, and my shoulders are hurting (as they still do). An EMT enters who takes pulse, blood pressure, discovers that I have lost range of motion to my left leg and left hand. (I am now wearing a brace and a sling). He suggests that I go to the hospital, but having only Medicare, I demur. I also feared any further contact with police outside the sight of witnesses. He put on a sling, I signed a statement and he left.

As they booked me, they removed the sling and of course, the hand continued to swell. In my cell, the pain was helped by the songs we women sung to one another, using Jewish and Catholic chants as well as meditation tones. The acoustics were wonderful!!!! About 2 hours later, we bailed ourselves out to the family reunion atmosphere of our supporters in the jail's lobby. I now know: jail is not a scary place. My 1st Amendment rights have been continually violated over the last few days (see 'Arraignment" and the confiscation of my coat, sweater, purse by federal agents under the excuse "no anti-governments signs allowed" ...I had "Stop War" on the back of my coat.) So when my son is asked "What are you fighting for?" , he can say, "So my mother can live in a police state, and maybe stay out of jail."

Until we try to exercise our rights, we will never know how many we've lost in this day of a military dictatorship. So it will be jail for me between trials, until the war is over. (The law states, "If the person is considered a threat to himself or others, and commits a similar offense ('illegal' trespassing and disorderly conduct, he can be jailed for 60 days with no bail allowed.), Civil disobedience by middle-class, educated people like me is the only way we are going to get the people's attention, and this illegal administration ousted."

Also on March 21, Alice sent a note about people working for peace in Iraq. The following link - including regularly updated diaries from those people - is from the Iraq Peace Team, a project of Voices In Wilderness. e-mail: info@vitw.org

How glorious: Of all the places in the world that would want to unleash the savagery of war and have that feeling understood (since the facade of civilization hangs loosely on all of us these days), it's New York City. Now how many of you let your readers know about this, and the 200+ other towns in our country who have signed a resolution AGAINST this war? Or is it not in your owners' 'best interest'?????? yet? Sho' didn't hit the 'news' networks of CBS, NBC, or ABC last night and their talking puppets, Peter, Tom and Dan. Charlie Rose, shame on you, but at least your conscience caused you to end the show early as you stuttered around trying to justify the shame at the networks. Why?????? Fear? Ambition? Ignorance? PBS now seems to stand for Public Bull Shit, brought to you by Bloomberg & Co, agri-business, Exxon and all those other polluters of our planet. And I wonder why the bias? That woman from Pacifica News with her gentle words, quoting Rather who has admitted he can't ask the hard questions, got to you, didn't she? At least you keep a better facade of 'rationality' and 'balance', in spite of your obvious bias.

NEW YORK - The City Council in the place hit hardest by the Sept. 11 attacks
approved a resolution yesterday opposing war with Iraq except as a last resort.
The 31-17 vote came after months of debate over whether New York should stake
out a position. "We of all cities must uphold the preciousness and sanctity of
human life," said Councilman Alan Gerson, a Democrat who voted for the
resolution and whose district includes the World Trade Center site, where 2,792
people were killed in the attacks. (AP)

I'm more inclined to agree with Gore Vidal, that there is no conspiracy by the press, more that all the members have been 'vetted' by their corporate owners. It doesn't matter what the reporters or the photographers bring in, their input will be censored. So what happens? Behavioral conditioning causes us to do what we get rewarded for, and not do what we're punished for. I spoke with a photographer from Turkey at the rally at Malcolm X Park this week-end in D.C. He said that they tried to get the photographs of the dead, the bombed children, printed from Afghanistan......but the media won't print them. I encouraged him to keep on taking those pictures....he's off to North Iraq: someday the people will be strong enough to view them AFTER the carnage. Just as we can now look at the dead of the Civil War, when if we the people had seen the stupid waste of life BEFORE the shelling started, our country would not have lost more lives than in ANY war. If only........... and now, we're about to allow another carnage, including perhaps my son, who is in Kuwait this beautiful afternoon. Dear God, please send a mighty sandstorm that will last until Iraq is disarmed, and the madmen in charge of the U.S. and Iraqi governments will be toppled.