By Roberto Lovato

Dave, Howdy, Joe Walsh, Malcolm Chaddock, and I attended the 2:00pm city council rate hikes meeting at the Portland building yesterday.  Joe said that "if he was not allowed to testify",  then he would get arrested for speaking out. There was a confrontation with Mayor Sam, who relented and activists were allowed to speak after Department presentations were made. When activists were allowed to speak on the issues or water, sewer, and garbage rate hikes, they thanked Mr. Walsh for making a fuss to make testimony possible. Joe did not have to get arrested to make his point. I yelled out during the confrontation,"This is a democracy, not a dictatorship". I feel that, because of this action that Amanda Fritz voted no on the issue and the full rate hikes were not voted in. Check out the KATU Video .

I am going to work backwards and try to remember all that we have done or tried to do. First, we just came off the Hawthorne Bridge last Friday, it was cold and just two of us stood to announce the war in Iraq was not over, just the removing of the “Uniforms” was reported. We did have the president tell us that the Iraq War was over, but presidents do lie from time to time. I remember another president on May 1, 2003 who announced that major hostilities were over; as he landed on the carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln. There is the hope that this president is telling the truth and we can cheer the end of the war in Iraq, now we only have his word and I have always taken the word of a politician with a grain of salt. What we must do as a first step is stop bombing other nations at will; until that happens these undeclared wars will continue. So, we will continue protesting on the bridges because we need to keep telling all who drive past us to keep up the pressure until all the wars in the Middle East are officially over. Someday all who called for invasion, occupation and the destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, Yemen, Libya, and others will be called before a judge to be tried for violations of the Geneva Convention and our laws. If you think we are finished causing wars, you are foolish. We will control the Middle East or destroy ourselves in the process. Iran is now being called the same names as we called Iraq just before “Shock and Awe.”    Read more ...

We were on the Hawthorne Bridge about 4:00 PM and enjoyed our outside shower. The rain and cold caused both of us to ask, what the hell were we doing, but we did get the sympathy vote. We did have a few people who were walking in the rain thank us for doing what we are doing. The bicyclists were with us and gave us the V sign or rang their bells in support. This was our second protest of the day.