Cheney Visit On Monday?

I posted something earlier but has not appeared for some reason.

As far as I know, PPRC (their website seems to be down) and the Sierra Club are asking people to demonstrate on Monday.

The General Defense Committee has offered jail support for the event and should be posting info soon.

Cheney to stop in Portland






By The Associated Press

PORTLAND - Vice President Dick Cheney will visit Portland next week on behalf of two Oregon candidates for Congress, according to invitations sent to local Republicans.

Cheney is expected to speak Monday at a $1,000-a-head fund-raiser at a hotel near the Portland International Airport, The Oregonian reported.

The event will benefit Republican congressional candidates Goli Ameri and Jim Zupancic, the invitations said. The Iranian-born Ameri is running against Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., while Zupancic, a Lake Oswego lawyer, is opposing Rep. Darlene Hooley.

Cheney's visit on Monday will coincide with the beginning of the Democratic national convention in Boston. President Bush will be on vacation during the rival party's event.

Meanwhile, Cheney's wife, Lynne, will make a separate trip to Oregon on Friday to attend a $250-a-person fund-raiser for the Oregon Republican Party, according to invitations for that event. The event will be held at a private home in West Linn.

Officials from the Oregon Republican Party said they were not allowed to talk about any visits by the Cheneys. Typically, the White House does not release information about their travels until two days before an event.

 http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2004/07/21/news/news12.txt

Not sure where you were looking, but there's plenty here on the Portland indymedia site about protesting Cheney's visit on Monday, July 26. (Admittedly, some of these have been pushed down to the archive, but it's not that hard to scroll to the bottom and click on "Newswire Archive.")

Anyway, see here:
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/07/293120.shtml

and here:
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/07/292982.shtml

and here:
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/07/292961.shtml

and here:
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/07/292956.shtml


and if that's not enough, here's a PPRC press release:

----------------------------------

PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Portland Peaceful Response Coalition

Event: Friday Rally calls for protests at Cheney fundraiser, reviews the record of Bush's champion of corporate cronyism, marks flaws in 9/11 commission report.

Date: Friday, July 23rd, 2004
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square

Contacts:
(503) 344-5078
 pprcnews@yahoo.com
www.pprc-news.org

Friday Rally calls for protests at Cheney fundraiser, reviews the record of Bush's champion of corporate cronyism, marks flaws in 9/11 commission report.

Friday's 5:00 p.m. PPRC rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square reviews the record of Dick Cheney, calling for protests at the Republican fundraiser set for this coming Monday at the Embassy Suites Hotel by the airport. "Dick Cheney was at the very center of Bush's campaign of lies and fear-mongering that defrauded our country into the attack on Iraq," said William Seaman, a spokesperson for PPRC. "This week brought the tragedy of the 900th US soldier to be killed in that criminal war, and Cheney is personally responsible for each of those deaths, and for the more than ten thousand innocent Iraqis who have died, and the thousands more, Iraqis and Americans, who've been grievously injured and traumatized by his war-profiteering plans."

Cheney is the former CEO of Halliburton, the company that has received well over $1 billion in no-bid contracts for the Iraq war, and has since been investigated and found guilty of significant accounting irregularities and overcharging that tracks into the millions of dollars. Cheney himself continues to receive payments from Halliburton in the form of deferred compensation, and reports have linked him directly to the awarding of the no-bid contracts to the company.

"He Lied, They Died: Bring the Troops Home Now!" will be the message this Friday and at the Monday Cheney visit, according to volunteers organizing the protest on Monday. "As always, we invite everybody to join us in what will be a peaceful, constitutionally-protected, loud and reverberating expression of protest against the criminal, immoral policies of the Bush Administration," said Seaman. "We mean to remind the Republicans, and Dick Cheney in particular, that their crimes and corruptions are known to the American people, and there's a growing tide of public opinion calling them to account."

The Friday rally will also review the recently-released 9/11 Commission report. "There's much to be praised in the report, but there is also much to question and much more that is missing," said Seaman. "A cabinet-level post for the intelligence "czar" will only make it easier for an administration to manipulate, politicize and distort the information coming from these agencies, which is precisely what we saw happen to the intelligence leading up to the US attack on Iraq."

Seaman went on to question the way the report characterized the roots of terrorism. "It is not just a matter of improving the opportunities for people living in poverty and under repressive governments," said Seaman. "We must also finally face up to the role that our government has played in perpetuating these systems of oppression, whether it is through our government's support for ruthless, corrupt dictatorships like in Saudi Arabia, our funding and support for the illegal occupation of Palestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza, or the enforcement of unfair and repressive economic structures that have devastated the lives of millions of people throughout the world."

The plans for Cheney's visit call for gathering at the Embassy Suites Hotel beginning at 4:00pm, with the rally and vigil to last through Cheney's fundraiser speech that is currently scheduled for 6:00pm. "We're asking folks to join us whenever they can," said one of the planners. The nearest Max stop to the Embassy Suites Hotel is the Mt. Hood station located at NE Cascades Parkway & NE Mt. Hood Avenue. Updates will be posted on the PPRC website at www.pprc-news.org

- END -

This is a flight restriction notice from the link posted earlier (thank you):


Date NOTAM Facility State Type Description Zoom
07/23/2004 4/7354 ZSE OR VIP PORTLAND, OREGON, JULY 26, 2004 LOCAL. New


Notice that it does not state a time. Also, I don't know if "4/7354" refers to PDX or to Evergreen, or what....

So--Cheney could arrive PDX that day, or, as I suggested before, he may arrive earlier. He could chopper in from Evergreen or a nearby base, too.

It's a sign of the times, if you ask me, that all this monitoring and preparation has to be done for a peaceful assembly to confront an elected official. I think it represents a tacit acknowledgement on the part of Cheney and Co. that their rule is illegitimate and inimical to the interests of the masses.

This is now a feature, and listed under "Actions."
See here:
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/action/cheney-jul26/

Thanks PDX-IMC folks.