Cindy is back and has begun a summer long hunger strike.  She has stated she intends to only drink water for the next 3 months or so, or until the troops come home.  I am betting the strike ends first.

As reported at Michael Moore:

GSFP and Code Pink are sponsoring a hunger strike for peace which begins July 04, called Troops Home Fast Some of us like Dick Gregory and Diane Wilson will be fasting until the troops come home from Iraq, and some, like me, will be fasting for a specified time. My fast will begin on 7/04 and end on the last day of Camp Casey: 09/02.

We are announcing the fast from Washington, DC on 07/04 and having our last supper on 07/03 in Lafayette Park.

If you can join us in DC on the 3rd and 4th, or fast in solidarity with us on that day, or any other time, please let me know.

Love and peace soon,
Cindy

Peace or pizza?

Anyway, the link above leads to the official site which says:

 The fasters are demanding that we bring our troops home from Iraq. They want the White House and Congress to call for:

• The withdrawal of all U.S. from Iraq;
• No permanent bases in Iraq;
• A commitment to fund a massive reconstruction effort but with funds going to Iraqi, not U.S., contractors.

That’s a new twist, they want to elimi’nate contractors….oh. wait….I get it…Halliburton.  Gotcha.

Our fasters now include Cindy Sheehan; actress Susan Sarandon, environmentalist Diane Wilson; comedian Dick Gregory; singer Willie Nelson; Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; Dr. E. Faye Williams, National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women; Colonel Ann Wright; Iraq veteran Geoffrey Millard; Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women; and CODEPINK cofounders Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans and Gael Murphy.

Couple of famous names there, Susan Sarandon and Willie Nelson.  A 3 month fast is a serious thing, so I wonder how these people intend to make a living?

The answer is that they aren’t really fasting.  Whiole some are doing a 24 hour fast, other are organizing "rolling fasts".   Star A fasts for a day then hands it off to Star B.  They supposedly have 3000 people signed on.  That makes more sense, but heck, a 24 hour fast in Hollywierd a fad diet, not a protest.  I have heard on the radio rumors that some are doing 8 hour rolling fast.  Sure, late breakfast, skip lunch and have a nice healthy dinner.  No hardship there.  The hollywierdos are underwhelming me with their passion.

No word on whether Michael Moore, who posted the notice, plans to join in.  I will refrain from pointing out that he could really use the diet. 

Look, fasting is a time honored form of protest, and more power to her.  This is going to be grueling and a 3 month fast, even with juice and teas is dangerous.  Out of human compassion i hope she has a medical professional monitoring her health.

But honestly, it just seems futile.  There is no chance of a withdrawal and peace in 3 months.

Cindy is not without her critics of course.  Norah O’Donnell of MSNBC tore Cindy up on this:.  From NRO:

 MSNBC’s O’Donnell Grills Sheehan

O’DONNELL: Cindy Sheehan is America’s most outspoken anti-war activist. But does she speak for America or just the fringes? She’s called President Bush the biggest terrorist in the world and she stood side by side with socialist dictator Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Now she begins a two-month hunger strike to get the American people to join her mission to end the war. Welcome to Hardball, Cindy. Let me begin by asking you, you know, Americans may hate the war, but they don’t necessarily hate the president. How do you expect to get change by going around the world and trashing the president of the United States?

SHEEHAN: Actually, I don’t hate the president either. I don’t trash the president, I trash the president’s foreign policy, which is fundamentally and inherently wrong and immoral. And I don’t tell people around the world anything that they don’t know.

O’DONNELL: But you called him the biggest terrorist in the world. So you are trashing the president.

SHEEHAN: Well you know he says a terrorist is somebody who kills innocent men, women and children, and there has been [sic] over 100,000 innocent men, women and children killed in Iraq on his orders.

That was just the beginning. O’Donnell went on to call Sheehan’s hunger strike "really just more of a publicity stunt," challenge her on her fringe views and confront her over her association with Hugo Chavez. Toward the end, it started to look more like a harangue than an interview, and I thought O’Donnell could have asked more substantive questions. But I was glad to see someone in the media confront Sheehan over her extremist rhetoric, particularly the "Bush is a terrorist" trope.

Video here.

There is more on this at Newsbusters, including a bit more about the Chavez comments"

Sheehan: ‘I’d Rather Live Under Chavez than Bush’, Norah Gives Cindy Rough Ride

As James Taranto suggested Monday in his WSJ ‘Best of the Web’ column, at some point you can question a person’s patriotism. Cindy Sheehan surely crossed that Rubicon long ago. But just in case there was any doubt, Sheehan made things perfectly clear this evening, flatly stating that she’d rather live under Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez than George Bush.

Sheehan made her comments during a Hardball appearance, during which guest host Norah O’Donnell, sitting in for Chris Matthews, gave her a surprisingly rough ride. At one point, O’Donnell asked: "Why go stand by side by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela? Why do that? Would you rather live under him than George Bush?

Sheehan: "Yes. Hugo Chavez is not a dictator like you introduced him. He’s been democratically elected eight times. He is not anti-American, he has helped the poor people of America. He has sent aid to New Orleans, he has sold heating oil to disadvantaged people in America at low cost, and the people of his country love him."

The exchange over Chavez capped a rugged line of questioning to which O’Donnell subjected Sheehan. Other excerpts:

O’Donnell: "Americans may hate the war but they don’t necessarily hate the president. How do you expect to get change by going around the world and trashing the President of the United States?"

Sheehan: "I don’t hate the president either, and I don’t trash the president. I trash the president’s foreign policy."

O’Donnell: "But you called him the biggest terrorist in the world, so you are trashing the president."

Sheehan: "Well he says a terrorist is somebody that kills innocent men, women and children."

O’Donnell: "You have just begun a two-month hunger strike. Isn’t this really just more of a publicity stunt?"

Norah later observed: "You claim not to be in the fringes, not to be an extremist." She then challenged Sheehan to name members of Congress who support her call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

Sheehan claimed bi-partisan support, citing Republican congressmen Ron Paul and Walter Jones, and on the Dem side Charley Rangel and John Conyers.

When Sheehan mentioned John Kerry as an example of senatorial support, O’Donnell shot back: "the bill Sen. Kerry has proposed went down in flames in the Senate."

Continued O’Donnell: "What you’re calling for is in fact an extreme position. There are very few members of congress who support immediate withdrawal. You would, if you could, fly a bunch of planes over there, pick up all our troops, and take them home tomorrow."

Sheehan claimed there is an "Out of Iraq Caucus" in congress with 70 members calling for an immediate withdrawal.

What was it with Norah? Sudden surge of hawkishness or subliminal strategic suggestion to Dems to disassociate from Sheehan?

Glenn Beck in his radio show perhaps had the harshest comments:

Beck labeled Cindy Sheehan a "tragedy pimp" for her hunger strike to protest Iraq war

On the July 5 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn Beck labeled anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan a "tragedy pimp" for going on a hunger strike to protest the war in Iraq. Beck added of Sheehan: "She’s practically Gandhi in a pantsuit." Beck also suggested that Sheehan could use her "D-list fame" to appear on the program The Surreal Life, which features celebrities living together in a house, to which "Stu," the show’s executive producer and head writer, added, "I could see Cindy Sheehan hooking up with Flavor Flav," a rapper who has appeared on that program.

Beck previously called Sheehan a "tragedy pimp" on the January 10 edition of his radio program, as Media Matters for America noted.

Beck also hosts CNN Headline News’ Glenn Beck, a weeknight program that debuted in May.

From the July 5 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Glenn Beck Program:

BECK: Cindy Sheehan is in the news. She has tried everything she can to think — that she can think of to stop the war. After gaining notoriety for setting up a campsite, anti-war celebrities and the press were quick to come to the aid of her plight: "She’s a mother, you know." She was probably thinking, "Great! We were just hoping this would get a little press, and look at this! We should have the home — troops home in a week! They’ll be back by — what day is it now? It’s Tuesday, they’ll be back by Saturday!" Unfortunately for Cindy Sheehan, she’s failed miserably every step of the way. The campaign has been hapless. She’s really not a likable figure to many — others love her to pieces. The only thing that Sheehan really has accomplished is D-list fame. I mean, she might be able to be on one of those, you know — what do they call them? Circus of the Stars kind of things. You remember those — you remember those shows in the ’70s where they’d get all the really D-list celebrities together and they’d do, you know — it was like bad celebrity Olympics. I personally think she could be on that. Stu, what do you think? Do you think she’d — Surreal Life. I think she could — Cindy Sheehan could be on Surreal Life.

STU: I could see Cindy Sheehan hooking up with Flavor Flav –

BECK: In a heartbeat.

STU: In a heartbeat.

BECK: I could see it.

STU: Chemistry.

BECK: All right, so she’s got this crappy book deal, she got that. And that’s, you know, everybody’s — she gets to meet [actors] Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen, which has got to be a dream come true. And here’s the interesting thing: After all of that happens, the war is still going on, and I think that that is — that’s a testament to Cindy Sheehan — it is — and all that she can accomplish. You know, now that I’ve exposed the overall limpness of the Cindy Sheehan movement, which is not exactly the Viagra that people were hoping for — that were carrying peace signs and flowers — but I feel it’s necessary, and this is really not as much — well, it is necessary strictly for your amusement. This is for entertainment purposes only. I feel it is important to tell you about the latest horrible PR stunt from Cindy Sheehan. Again, just for entertainment purposes. Cindy Sheehan, the "tragedy pimp," as we like to call her, is going on a hunger strike. Surprisingly, they’re not doing this because they, you know, want to follow a book deal, they actually think that the press is not covering the true cost of war, and that’s why she’s going on a hunger strike. She’s practically Gandhi in a pantsuit.

(emphasis from the original)

Fox News haters please note that these two critics were from MSNBC and CNN, respectively.

Michelle Malkin had the last word on the Chavez issue.  She priced one way tickets to Caracas, and even suggested a fund raiser.

Now that’s the best idea I have heard yet…