Crawford residents fear challenging busholini

[DenverDem]

Paul McDaniel, a spokesman for the Crawford Peace House, a base of operations for peace activists, said his organization has had silent support from locals.

"We've had people come to us and almost say on the Q.T., quietly, 'Hey, we agree with you guys. I just can't stand here and hold a sign, because my boss might see me, or my neighbor or my church member might see me, but I really agree with you,'" said McDaniel, who has been with the Peace House since it was established across the tracks from downtown in 2002.

(more)

<http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2004/07/29/Opinion/Living.In.Pres.Bushs.Shadow-696486.shtml>

[havocmom]

1. The only way for bullies to win

is for others to let them.

Sad that many of the good people of Crawford may have forgotten the most important lesson from the school yard.

[2Design]

2. tough when you could lose your job, house, etc.

whistleblowers are ones standing up to the bullies and look what happens to them

[havocmom]

4. what is happening to them is done to make the rest of us fear telling

the truth. When that is how they hold power, it is a precarious grip indeed. The more whistle blowers there are, the more there will be and that is what the junta really fears.

Look what happened after F9-11 came out. People realized they were not the only ones uncomfortable with policies of the malAdministration. Then more and more people started actually voicing their concerns and dissent.

I realize the danger of standing up to bullies and brown-shirt thugs. i also realize we are just as screwed if we don't. I would prefer to think Americans are not gonna close their eyes, ears and sense of right and wrong and be like the 'good Germans' who did nothing thereby doing much harm by letting evil triumph.

[2Design]

6. I understand.....it is extremely hard to be a 'truth teller"

I have found telling the truth or standing against wrong can and does get you ostracize. That is difficult.

[havocmom]

10. At one time in my life, I lost everything I valued and everything

I thought made me safe. I lost so much that suicide seemed the only course for a long time.

But I found something which made me a lot stronger and happier. I found that there really is no 'safe'. Once I made that discovery, life became much more interesting, more full of possibilities and much less fearful. Like magic, it was easier to take a stand on many things which were really important to me and those I loved.

I no longer want or need to be accepted by those who are ruled by fear and the illusion of safety. Now I find there are others who are not ruled by fear and they are incredible people. You can meet them too. They make the finest and most rewarding companions as we live life rather than endure it.

FDR was absolutely correct about fear. It really is the only thing we have to fear. Setting it aside doesn't make you any less safe than you already were. Setting fear aside does make you address the illusion of safety, which is quite a thing to come to terms with. But setting fear aside also teaches you what freedom really is. That is a huge gift and makes one more understanding and appreciative of real integrity.

Ask any hero, real hero, if they are different from the rest of us and you will hear that they are the same. They just moved beyond fear when it was necessary to get something more important done.

Fear paralyzes good intentions. That is why the junta uses so many different tactic to keep fear in so many different people. Do not let them do it to you. What you lose is much more valuable to you than the illusion that you are safe at any time.

[DenverDem]

8. I was forced out of my dream job in 2001 in Florida

where I was outspoken about the theft of the White House. The CEO announced in a meeting that he was getting rid of people who didn't "fit in with the organization". I wasn't the only one, but one of the first, to go.

I have never been able to recover economically since. Too old to be hired at the same level of pay. I'm on my second "start up". We have spent all my retirement savings investing in new business and trying to survive. My wife has had to take up the economic slack and the consequent stress has destroyed our relationship.

So, it is easy to cavalierly slam Crawfordians for their silence, but speaking truth to power can have devastating consequences.

[democratreformed]

9. I have been wondering about this for a while.

First, although it's no consolation, I applaud you for having the bravery to speak out. I am sorry for the price you have paid.

Now, I have been wondering lately if we will ever be able to really change things. Economics is such a big thing to all of us. We can do absolutely nothing without money. And, to have money, we have to have a job. I suspect there are very few of us who are willing to risk our very existense, either physically OR economically to really change things. Honestly, I probably wouldn't. I have worked long and hard, as has my husband. It would take something really drastic to convince me to risk it all. I would likely take the less risky road of convincing myself that, if I keep voting, one of these days we'll get the right person and it'll be better.

[havocmom]

11. Not speaking truth to power also has devastating consequences.

No one slammed the good people of Crawford. And I, too, know about losing position, a living wage and a primary relationship in my life.

Freedom is better than the illusion that I am secure. Any of us with less resources than a Bill Gates is really not secure. And I noticed Bill uses a lot of security, so maybe he isn't as safe as I think either.

True, I can't buy what I used to be able to, but I have found I don't need as much as I thought I did. It would be great to be able to afford the medical care I need for a couple of rather bad conditions, but I see people with means and insurance face the same problem there.

Security is an illusion. It gets rather heavy to carry around sometimes. It is difficult to set that illusion down, but the burden one carries can become more lighter without the extra weight of illusions.

I do hope things get better for you. But I hope things get better for America more than what I hope for you personally or even myself personally. Right now, America's needs are more important.

We are all a band of brothers, every one of us, or we are all doomed victims. Either way, in the end, we all die. Might as well live first.

[DenverDem]

12. That is why I took the stand I took and suffered the consequences.

What good it did, I do not see, but I am still shooting my mouth off and working at a grassroots level to get the illegal regime I was destroyed for challenging run out of power.

I'm just saying some of us pay a heavier price than others and if we don't pull together to make a change right here and right now, we will have paid that price in vain.

[Sugarbleus]

3. Perhaps we could let the org and the locals know that we

support them for their beliefs even if they are in a weird place.

It must be eerie to be way out in bumfuc and surrounded by hateful people who would threaten a person's livelihood just for their political beliefs. That's MADNESS!

Crawford Peace House? I'll try to find it online and maybe write to the local paper too. Thanks for the post. :thumbsup:

[Hobarticus]

5. Protest in silence. Just VOTE!!!

I totally empathize with them, but fer chrissakes, VOTE!

[JohnnyRingo]

7. This sounds like a bad Chuck Norris movie

I hope we send "Boss Hogg" back there soon.
Better he intimidate Crawford than the country.