Not One More
Mother’s Child.

Written by Cindy Kaylor, whose son is a soldier in Iraq. May 20, 2007.

Kaylor says that she has given up writing to the editors of newspapers because she knows they won’t publish them. This and other Kaylor writings were provided to us by Simone Delgado, our Peace Correspondent.

May 14th, 2007 there was a “Mother of a March” planned that would take place in D.C., as well as sister marches in other cities, such as L.A. and New York. It was made up primarily of mothers and was held the day after Mother's Day. Before the D.C. March began, there was a speaking event in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Among the speakers were: Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Presidential candidate Mike Gravel, Col. Ann Wright, Cindy Sheehan and military moms, Sara Rich, Tina Richards and myself.

We started the march in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Those of us who were military mom’s (Cindy Sheehan, Marte-last name deliberately omitted, Sara Rich, Tina Richards and myself…maybe one or two others that I don't know) led about 300-400 people in the march with a banner that read, “NOT ONE MORE MOTHER’S CHILD.” Along with us was a flag, flying upside down, which is a Navy signal meaning, "we are in distress". During the majority of the march, which ended at an intersection at Independence Ave. between the Cannon and Longworth Congressional Office buildings and the Capitol Building, we chanted, “no more funding, no more war, mothers say, not one more.”. We circled the intersection and tied up traffic for about a half and hour. At that point, we were warned by the Capitol Police, once and then twice to leave if we did not want to be arrested.

I was not planning to be arrested, as I had to fly home the next morning, but at the time the warning seemed like a dare and I felt I would be abandoning my son, who is in the hellish hardship of a purposeless war in Fallujah, away from his wife and children. How could I walk away? It was a desperate plea to my congressman, Ray La Hood, who I have called, emailed and even had a face to face meeting with the day of the McGovern bill…and who still wasn’t going to vote for the troops to come home…still was going to give the President until September to let the troop surge work.

Thirty-three others felt the same way as I did and risked arrest to make a point to our government that we are desperately trying to get them to see how serious we are…and the sad state our country is in. The rest of America needs to wake up, because the next step may have to be a draft and your child may have to go to Iraq…then maybe it will be more understandable to you why we was so willing to be this drastic and go to jail for the sake of bringing our children home from Iraq.

The troop surge is using and abusing our soldiers who are exhausted and battle scared with PTSD and severe brain trauma. Send them back for more…ruining them, their bodies and their minds and their families in a war for what? OIL? These same congressmen who continue this war…and this administration…are their children in this war that they think is so righteous? NO and they never will be.

How long will this administration continue to take lightly the sacrifice of our soldiers and their families? How long will our congress continue to not speak for the people and bring our troops home? How long will this President-Dictator, continue to stand in his pride and not admit this war was wrong or at least that he made a mistake?

We are not currently being ruled in a democratic fashion. When 70 percent of American is saying, bring the troops home and Congress isn't doing it and our President is vetoing everything that is passed. All of this is why I have begun doing protest and become an activist.

Ray, isn't it nice you can sit in your office with pictures of your grandchildren who have their parent safely with them...whose fathers are not in a SENSELESS war? So nice you can be comfortable and ignore the people who elected you, while our children are in danger and yours are safe. How lovely for you.

—Cindy Kaylor

EDITOR’S NOTE:
See the march and Kaylor’s arrest on the RLTE’s War & Peace Page.

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“Dear Congressman”

Written by Cindy Kaylor to each member of the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, of the Judiciary Committee, April 24, 2007.

Dear Congressman,
This letter has been sent to everyone on the committee for Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. I realize you are not my congressmen…but I am sending this to you because of the committee you represent. Please impeach the President and the Vice President. It is this countries only hope. It is our soldier’s only hope.

As the mother of a soldier who has been in Iraq since January and has had his tour extended for another year (at least until April or May of 08’), I am continuing to apply pressure to the Congress and the Senate. I want my son (my only son) home with his wife and children as soon as possible, alive and in one piece. What will 15 months in theatre will do to him and the other soldiers psychologically?

I am wondering why you and the rest of our elected officials have not begun the impeachment process. President Bush and V.P. Cheney are lawless and obviously have no regard for the voice of the people or the lives of our troops. How long are you going to stand for this? Do you continue to stand behind him for the sake of the Republican Party? This is not a very good reason to continue to let men die in war based on lies. Only 30 percent of America is behind the President…I used to be a die-hard republican…one of you…and I am not any more. You are losing more party members by the day, whether you realize it or not. I voted Democrat last time, but that doesn’t look as if it will happen again.

If all of you Republican and Democrat, stood up to Bush and Cheney like Murtha and Reid have they might think the people are serious. Murtha and Reid talk to Bush and Cheney they way the people would if we had a chance. Is there any one in the Republican Party or Democratic Party with enough ethics and fortitude to take a stand at all for the American people? Will the Democrats push harder for us?
Kucinich is starting a process for impeachment of Cheney, yet Pelosi says that no one else is behind impeachment for Bush or Cheney. Why not? The people want it. Why aren’t you speaking for us?

Nothing else is making Bush and Cheney listen to the people…IMPEACH them. I am not satisfied to see them impeached and then retire to fish, hunt and play golf…they need to be tried for war crimes. They need to go to jail for forcing our troops to be killed and maimed in a war based on lies. If they don’t, I will have lost all hope for this country.

Question…is it treasonous for a President to ignore the majority of the people and do what he wants? I think so. Is it treasonous to create false information or move into a war on another country by picking and choosing information? I think so. There are plenty of grounds for it. I don’t want to see a scapegoat go to jail for them…I want to see Bush and Cheney behind bars. No one could get away with half the criminal acts they have accomplished and not be prosecuted.

I was a life long republican and I have tried the Democrats and that didn’t work. It may be time for the people to speak with a third party, extreme campaign financing reform and no conflict of interest, as in, elected officials owning stock in war contracts. All of you are on very thin ice with the American people…I hope you realize that. We may all say good-bye to the Republicans and the Democrats.

Please don’t send me a condescending letter about how the president is being micro managed or that the troops are in danger …my son is there, I am aware of how the bill reads and I already have heard arguments from both sides…that is why I am writing this…and please don’t tell me that you empathize and share my concerns for the troops (you have no idea what its is like t have a child there)…don’t tell that you are worried about the troops…blah, blah…I will believe that when I see you take some action against the dictator that we call a president and get them out of there. As the Republicans allowing him to do this you are his henchman (but go ahead and stand behind your party no matter what) and as the Democrats that are watching it take place, you are his paid audience…you’ve got a lot of blood on your hands ladies and gentlemen and hopefully my son’s blood will not be in the mix.

Fed up with politics without ethics,

—Cindy Kaylor

EDITOR’S NOTE:
Members of the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil include:

Majority Members (Democrats)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) [Chairman]
Artur Davis (D-AL)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Keith Ellison (D-MN)
John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)
Robert C. Scott (D-VA)
Melvin L. Watt (D-NC)
Steve Ira Cohen (D-TN)

Minority Members (Republicans)
Trent Franks (R-AZ) [Ranking Member]
Mike Pence (R-IN)
Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Steve King (R-IA)
Jim Jordan (R-OH)

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posted on a daily basis.

New Orleans:
“IF” or “WHEN”?

Written by Richard Paul Hebert to
the New Orleans Times-Picayune,
June 26, 2007.

In a June 15th article about the failure of
the insurance industry to cover claims in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, Times-Picayune reporter Rebecca Mowbray quoted FEMA director David Maurstad as saying, “FEMA will not seek reimbursement from the company when a subsequent review identifies overpayments resulting from the company’s proper use of FEMA depth data and a reasonable method of developing square foot value in concluding claims.”
Not “IF a subsequent review identifies overpayments,” but “WHEN.” In the letter below, the author discusses the disastrous implications of this apparently insignificant distinction.

Dear Ms. Mowbray,
I have been avidly following your coverage of the insurance industry. I could barely believe my eyes when reading your June 15 article where apparently members of the insurance industry claim that they are not criminals in the case of defrauding the US government and by that — the public, because FEMA used the word “when” and not “if” in a directive. If the “if” but not “when” defense is ever accepted in court we will have a lot of crooked SOB’s roaming the streets. Frankly I could not believe that the Times-Picayune deemed this defense worthy of newsprint. Be honest, were you actually able to write that article with a straight face? Do not get me wrong. I am in no way putting down your coverage.

“If” versus “when”!!! To quote John McEnroe, “You cannot be serious.” THEY CANNOT BE SERIOUS! When did “when” trump “if” or become a get out of jail free card? For example, what happens when “when” replaces “if”? In a song titled “If Ever I would Leave You” by Mr. Robert Goulet, was changed to “When I leave You,” the meaning totally changes. The song as sung by Leonard Nimoy is “If I had a Hammer”, not “When we have a True Reconstruction Plan” by C. Ray Nagin and Ed Blakely. The insurance companies game the system in an obviously criminal manner and this ridiculous excuse is given space in our fine daily paper. Please.

Here’s a thought. One additional way to gain an understanding of the insurance companies' high crimes would be to evaluate how often they acted in bad faith or criminally in wind only claims. How often did an adjuster visit a home with an expensive damaged clay tile or slate roof and then pay off for an asphalt shingle roof instead? In the damage caused by Katrina and Rita across the Gulf Coast, how often did they pay out for an entire damaged roof when it was a less expensive built-up roof or asphalt shingle roof but fight tooth and nail to avoid payment (or honoring their contracts) when the damage was to an expensive roof? How often did they pay off in entire for a cheap roof, but in the case of an expensive tile, slate or cooper roof claim that there was only partial damage and that repairs should be made when the damage was actually more severe than ‘partial’? How often did they investigate a home with plaster walls – there are many in our fair city compared to few nationally as a percentage– only to knowingly (and criminally) pay out for gypsum board walls? Both the contracts and the insurance companies' actions are there in front of us in black and white. It should be easy to find wrongdoing and a pattern of corruption.

It is time to show again that we are serious in Louisiana. I do not know any CEO’s or Directors of insurance companies. I am sure that they are good people. But if they committed conspiracy or fraud they are criminals and deserve harsh punishment. I do not know Tony Soprano either. Tony Soprano was a good guy too — one might say a good fella. But he was also a ruthless killer and deserves what he got (or didn’t get?). We all know that the penalties for insurance shenanigans are weak in Louisiana. Unfortunately the insurance companies know too, obviously, and have acted as such. But…..what if we went after them in another way?

Let us pursue these offenses as racketeering and get these Goodfellas. They have not honored their contracts, they have acted in bad faith and performed, I believe, fraudulently. And they have done this by use of the federal mail. The crime in New Orleans is not just in the streets. Too often in the whole matter of wind versus water, federal assistance and the Road Home it seems to be a case of blame the State of Louisiana, the Governor and all Louisianians. It has constantly been blame the victim. By this letter I am asking U.S. Attorney Jim Letten to begin investigations to expose the fraud committed by insurance companies and punish those who are responsible for these crimes against US citizens in our great state and throughout the region. Further I ask that our elected leaders might request the same of Mr. Letten and his good office. Whether in the case of wind, water or both — crimes have been committed and those at the top need to pay and pay dearly.

Again, thank you for your work. I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here.

—Your Ignoble Working Boy,
—Richard Paul Hebert
—New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

P.S. In your May 20th article you quote John Denenea stating that, “For every dollar paid out of the federal treasury under flood, Allstate takes a credit and keeps a dollar. Essentially Allstate is profiting at the expense of the American taxpayer.” If one of you speaks with Donald Powell, ask him why he is so damned worried about the American taxpayer but has nothing to say on the issue of disaster profiteering at the expense of the American taxpayer. If he simply closes his eyes, clicks his heels together and repeats three times, “it’s an issue for the states, it’s an issue for the states, it’s an issue for the states,” please get that on video so that we can post it to YouTube. Thanks. Link to Times-Picayune Article.

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posted on a daily basis.