:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 5.27.2003 ::
:: A Walk To Remember ::
From the Cumberland Times-News:
Woman carrying complaints to president, one step at a time
Walk a 'literal interpretation' of First Amendment
By Alison Bunting
CUMBERLAND -- Jeanett Wallis didn't care about politics until she was tear-gassed by Seattle police officers during a protest at the World Trade Organization in December 1999.
“It was illegal to walk inside this radius,” she said, explaining that she didn’t do that. But she said the wind carried tear gas into her own neighborhood and the man next to her became disabled. When she reacted in anger, she said, the police sprayed her and the man with pepper spray.
After that, Wallis helped organize a rally to protest the presidential election. Now she’s walking across the country to personally carry grievances to him — any grievance that anyone cares to write down.
“It’s a literal interpretation of the First Amendment, the right to petition the government for grievances,” she said.
Wallis stopped in Cumberland on Thursday after a brief stay in Frostburg. She plans to finish her trek on the C&O Canal towpath.
With a sign attached to the back of her knapsack that says "5,000 miles on foot for democracy," many people approach her and ask questions. Several people stopped her in Frostburg, she said.
"Lots of people ask me about my dog. She’s a good contact person. "Wallis rescued the dog from a local pound before beginning her trip, naming her Jet. The dog either walks with Wallis or rides in the support car.
"I try to go to VFWs, churches, but mostly I just let people contact me."
Wallis began her walk April 1, 2001.
"The first winter I stopped. Couldn’t make it over the Rockies before winter ... and I stopped on Sept. 11."
Wallis went back to Utah on April 1, 2002, and walked through the Midwest during that winter.
She carries a parcel of letters from people she has met along the way. The letters contain grievances for the president.
"In the beginning it was about the election, reforming the election process, then, the policies of the Bush administration, environmental protection, wanting to find sustainable renewable energy resources.
“Then Sept. 11 happened. People knew it would be a huge war or a time of peace.”
Wallis pulled out a letter from a nun in Indiana, Rita Clare Gerardot, protesting the idea of war against Iraq.
"The amazing thing is, it’s mostly positive. People want to believe a politician can have a change of heart and be concerned about the people in the country," she said.
Wallis also carries a video documentary titled "This is What Democracy Looks Like." She shows it at schools, unions, and in the homes of people who take her in.
A practitioner of Buddhism, Wallis said she doesn’t belong to a political party.
Before starting her walk, Wallis was a psychiatric counselor for 12 years. Originally from Texas, she had lived in Seattle for nine years.
"I don’t think it’s going to be some benevolent politician that’s going to change things, it’s going to be people getting involved," she said.
Further details are available at the Web site.
Here's her latest Road Journal entry. Also, a press release dated today.
posted by me
:: 3:48:00 PM [+] ::
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