noRNC - Dear New York, Love Chicago

The Republican Party is having their convention in New York.

That's right: NEW YORK CITY.

In over 150 years of existence, the Republican Party has never had their convention in New York. But in over 150 years of existence, there's never been 3000 graves of innocent civilians to exploit all in one major metropolitan city. And you can bet that they'll be exploiting them every second that they're in town. Every photo opportunity, every fundraising dinner, every trinket sold will take full advantage of the tragedy of September 11th to turn Bush's reign of power into a two term affair.

To an administration that has overseen two wars, including the first pre-emptive strike in American history, passed the PATRIOT act, alienated and angered people all over the globe, pissed all over the environment, and ran up an incredible deficit, the concept of tact never really entered into the picture.

New York. Where only 19% vote Republican. One of the most politically informed and active cities in America. On February 15th, 2003, New York City was the site of one of the largest anti-war demonstrations in US history. Four hundred thousand people protested the Iraq war before it even started.

And here we are, over a year later. Iraq has been through hell and back, and shows no sign of settling down. Our troops are dying at a rate of about one a day. Our President won't visit the wounded.

And no Weapons of Mass Destruction found.

Things may change before the convention, but what's already happened can't change. The United States now has it's own Palestine or Northern Ireland to deal with. There's nothing glorious and patriotic about occupation, and every day that goes by, we learn that more and more.

Welcome to the mother of all protests

The reasons for going are immense. The numbers that will be there will be incredible. The event will be historic.

There will be hundreds of thousands. Most of them will be from New York City. Our goal here at chicagonewyork.net is to make sure that the second largest group is from Chicago.

This is not about being an activist or going to just any protest. This is about bringing everybody you know. Everyone you've ever talked to who cringes when they hear Bush's voice. Everyone who ever expressed fear and anger at what's been done in our name.

This is going to be big. REALLY BIG. You don't want to miss it.