great essay on the vigil tonight

Why I'm Getting Arrested at the White House Today
October 26, 2005
by David Swanson
http://www.opednews.com/
The first reason I'm going to lie down, refuse to move, and wait to be arrested outside the White House today is my belief that massive civil disobedience is needed if we are going to end the war and forestall the next war. The power of nonviolent sacrifice has been tried and tested. It may not work this time, but nothing else seems remotely likely to do the job, not even my most extravagant hopes for indictments. I'm being as practical as I know how to be. Public opinion is widely against the war in this country, in Iraq, and around the world. Talk is cheap. Our democracy is a shell. Something more is needed.But there are other reasons for my action. A few of them are…* Solidarity – I've been encouraging civil disobedience and reporting on it, but have not been engaging in it. If I miss another useful opportunity to engage in it, I become a hypocrite and a bad example. And were I to miss it, I would miss the bonds of solidarity that are formed in such actions. If you think I am right, what do you think about what you, yourself, are doing? Or not doing?* Admiration – I plan to get arrested together with Cindy Sheehan and other leaders of the movement for peace, including veterans of the war and family members of the dead. I greatly admire these people and consider it an honor to act with them.* Honor – I want to honor and remember the people whose lives have been most directly destroyed by this war, including those who have fought in it on both sides, and those – the vast majority of the dead -- who have died in this war without ever picking up a gun. These people have been brutally attacked from behind a desk in an oval-shaped office. Children have lost limbs and minds by the tens of thousands for the greed and power of a small number of cruel people............