DEMANDING JUSTICE and Honoring LIBERTY

"It was God that kept us afloat."

by Eileen Fleming - Oct 22, 2007

In totalitarian and fascist regimes the people are afraid of the government.

In healthy democracies the government is afraid of the people.

I don't do church anymore, but every day I read and meditate [in Christian lingo that means THINK!] upon the daily readings of the Roman liturgy. This Sunday's gospel [good news] was the story of the Persistent Widow who demanded JUSTICE from the UNJUST Judge, and I spin it for you this way:

Once upon a time, there was an old crone, who lived in a certain municipality with a particularly unjust Judge who cared nothing about people or God; only his own point of view mattered to him. But that old crone kept harping at him with her plea, "Grant me justice against my adversary!"

That old crone became such a royal PIA [pain in the ass] the unjust Judge finally muttered, "Even though I don't care about God or give a hoot about that old crone, she has become such a royal PIA, I will give it to her, just to get her to leave me alone!" [Paraphrased from a parable Jesus told in Luke 18 1-5]

The little bit of persistent good I did yesterday was to FAX President Bush and both my Senators the following demand for JUSTICE:

October 21, 2007

Dear Senator Bill Nelson,

On October 17, 2007 I wrote both my Senators seeking truth and justice for the USS LIBERTY and requested an open independent investigation with Congressional oversight.

I am writing to you, not as my elected official but as my brother in Christ for two survivors of the USS LIBERTY, Phillip Tourney, President of the USS LIBERTY Vets Association and Chaplain Ron Kukall both affirmed that, "It was God that kept us afloat."

I was aggrieved when I received your reply Senator Nelson that stated, "Our symbiotic relationship with Israel serves an important purpose in furthering the United States goal of promoting peace in the Middle East."

President George Washington warned in his Farewell Address of September 17, 1796, "The nation which indulges toward another…is in some degree a slave…a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils."

I have been to Israel Palestine five times since June 2005 and have met with democratically elected members of Hamas in Bethlehem and leaders of El Katib; the underground resistance movement within the Fatah party in Jenin refugee camp.

On July 23, 2007, I met with Krozow, number two leader of El Katib in Jenin. He stated, "We are not violent people, but we do resist the occupation, as is our right. What if Russia came to occupy America, wouldn't you fight? I support Abbas, but he believes in negotiations, I believe in resisting the occupation. Abbas is the political Fatah, they drive Mercedes and roll up their windows and shutout the suffering of the people. We are people under occupation…The Israelis tell the world we are violent, but we are only against their occupation."

I contend that my American government and media is also under Israeli occupation and until an open independent thorough investigation of what happened to our veterans on June 8, 1967 becomes reality I will persist in raising awareness on the world wide web about the injustice done to them just as the persistent widow in Luke 18: 1-5, did in demanding JUSTICE from the unjust judge.

There is nothing glamorous about perseverance, it lacks the nobility of integrity, the sparkle of brilliance, the grace of generosity and all it has on its side is time. Persistent perseverance is fueled by radical hope, a simmering rage, boiling anger and resilient courage that endows one with an unbowed independence of mind, unbridled energy and gutsy fortitude to do the right thing, because it is just; fair and upright.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. ... Genius will not. ... Education will not. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."- President Calvin Coolidge

I am but one little one who will not give up in demanding justice for the USS LIBERTY for I "hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life [and] liberty and…that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it." -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence

Being a concerned patriotic American and committed Christian of the Beatitudes I have hope that my elected officials will soon do the right thing and "HOPE has two children. The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."- St. Augustine

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. The USS LIBERTY survivors have spent 40 years demanding truth and justice.

In His Service,

Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu."

CC: President George W. Bush and Senator Mel Martinez

October 22, 2007 © Copyright Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor http://www.wearewideawake.org/ Author Keep Hope Alive and Memoirs of a Nice Irish American Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory, Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu." Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this credit is attached and the title remains unchanged.