Protest March to End the War in Iraq and say NO to the Bush agenda
Kennebunkport, Maine, Saturday morning (August 26, 2006)
President George W. Bush will be at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport this weekend. Drop what you are doing -- rearrange your schedule, change your plans, do whatever it takes -- and join with me and other people of conscience from all around the region, to protest the Iraq War and the destructive Bush agenda.

Now is the time to take to the streets -- one street, in Kennebunkport, Saturday morning -- to peaceably but publicly demonstrate our displeasure with the President, the illegal and immoral Iraq war, and the siege mentality being hoisted upon us by people in power who have a vested interest in keeping us afraid.

(For the latest march and rally plans, schedule and directions, along with a partial list of sponsoring organizations, go to www.kportprotest.org)

Maine is the perfect place for this action right now. According to a recent poll, three out of four voters in Maine do NOT believe the Iraq war -- the war my Republican opponent Olympia Snowe voted for, continues to support and refuses to help end -- is worth the cost and casualties. Many members of the Maine Legislature have publicly spoken out about how this continued war has cost this and other states, in terms of lost revenue, reduced security here at home -- and the lives of some of our best and brightest citizens.

Yet Bush has stated flatly that we will still be in Iraq when his Presidential term ends in 2009. He has no intention of ending this war. In fact, he needs it to maintain his claim that he's a "war president," thereby justifying his squandering of taxpayers' money, crippling the U.S. economy, denying Americans and war detainees their civil rights, and disregarding -- violating -- the U.S. Constitution he swore on a Bible to uphold.

This is not a time to sit back and let someone else do it. Those of us who are concerned about these issues MUST speak out, MUST let our voices be heard. We must work both inside and outside the political structure, we must do what we can to show the world how we feel.

And, come November, we must vote for, and regain, the America WE want to live in.

Please join us in this protest.

Jean Hay Bright, Dixmont, Maine
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate