19-yr-old CODEPINK women Lachelle Roddy speaks out at #kerryhearing to stop $ to Israel & speaks out re settlements. She was arrested!!!!
— CODEPINK (@codepink) January 24, 2013
Today, CODEPINK activist Lachelle Roddy interrupted Senator John Kerry’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of State before the Senate Foreign Relations committee. From a Guardian live blog of the hearing:
A protester interrupts Kerry’s statement. She says, “you’re killing people in the Middle East for no reason… I’m tired of my friends in the Middle East dying.”
She is escorted out.
Kerry handles the interruption with aplomb, even grace. He says when he first came before the Senate, testifying before the Fulbright committee about the Vietnam war, “I was testifying as part of a group of people to have their voices heard. That’s what this place is all about.
“I respect the woman and her concerns.”
“I respect the woman and her concerns.”
But I’m gonna ignore them anyway.
Good for her and Code Pink.
Jon Stewart had a show Wednesday night which shows how disjointed our political discussion has become.
First he had a segment about the Israeli election which showed how the grip of the Israeli right on public opinion in Israel and the U.S. is declining.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-23-2013/circumdecision-5773—vote-or-chai
Stewart then engaged in his usual obsequious attitude to the military, making light of drone warfare, with his guest Missy Cummings, an MIT professor who advises the Pentagon on drone warfare.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-23-2013/missy-cummings
This statement by Ms. Cummings was followed by a joke: “”Drone warfare is actually a safer, more effective form of warfare. I think we are having less collateral damage and certainly we have less blue on blue kills, which is when we kill our own people.”
Anyone who believes that should be sure to see the film “Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield” which will be going into wide release soon.
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/22/dirty_wars_jeremy_scahill_and_rick
I was watching the hearing you could not hear her. Senator Kerry said he came to the Senate for the first time for similar reasons the killing of innocent people for no reason.
Code Pink brings much needed attention on critical issues
I was very glad for John Kerry’s response. I was very glad for her protest.
Shame on those who had her arrested.