'Tis the season: hold a peace vigil at your Congressperson's house

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Isn't it time?

While Christians worldwide prepare to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, isn't it time to bring a message of peace home to our Congresspersons and Senators?

Wouldn't the next few weekends be a great time to hold peace vigils in front of our Congresspersons' and Senators' homes?

Wouldn't that help remind our elected officials and their neighbors (whose neighborhoods aren't usually on the route of major peace marches) that the peace movement will not hibernate as winter approaches?

And wouldn't we be wise to do this NOW, before the Iraq mess gets any worse and before war spreads to Iran, Syria, Sudan, or any of the other countries in the Bush/Neocon crosshairs. (See the note below; plans for many more "preventive" wars were laid years ago.)

In the same spirit with which Cindy Sheehan visits Bush's neighborhood, let's visit our elected officials' neighborhoods and urge our officials to STOP FUNDING the Iraq war and to WITHDRAW all U.S. forces and military contractors from Iraq.

Let's do it legally, with whatever permits are required.

Let's do it creatively.

Let's sing peace songs.

Let's read poems.

Let's hold up signs with slogans like "World War III begins with W and ends with you."

Let's dress up as blood-soaked, mutilated war casualties (got a pair of crutches in the attic?) and stand in silent witness to the horrors of war.

And let's do it now. 'Tis the season. Gather some friends together and spread some peace.

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A NOTE ABOUT THE PLANS FOR MORE WARS

By late 2001, Bush & Co. had PLANS FOR WAR AGAINST SEVEN COUNTRIES OVER FIVE YEARS. Iraq was merely a stepping stone.

As retired General Wesley Clark wrote on page 130 of his 2003 book, Winning Modern Wars:

'As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan. ...I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned.' "

All of this is consistent with the Neocons' master plan, "Rebuilding America's Defenses," written in 2000 by PNAC, the Project for the New American Century.

And remember; PNAC's website (http://www.newamericancentury.org) identifies the lead author of that plan as a top official of Lockheed Martin, a company familiar with war and its profit potential.