Yellow Rose of Texas Peace Bus destroyed by Fire

Source: Jim Goodnow

Jim Goodnow and his bus, the Yellow Rose, both have suffered a terrible tragedy.

In recent months, Jim has been providing transportation to Iraq Veterans Against the War for their various tours and other activities. Last night, Jim escaped a fire of suspicious origins that destroyed the bus. Luckily Jim is all right.

The bus was totaled by fire, around 9:30 pm, Friday night, 1/11/08


This bus, often mired in controversy since the IVAW "Dirty South" tour that left Philly in June, and had Active Duty BBQ's @ Ft Meade, Ft Jackson, Camp Lejeune, Ft Benning, and other Southern Military Posts (Including an IVAW benefit by Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and AudioSlave, in Virginia) as well as backdrop for many a Demonstration, and Ft Drum, NY, organizing parties, has finally died.

Owner~Operator~Driver (and Veteran) Jim Goodnow pulled into a South Jersey Truck Stop, to catch a 3 or 4 hour nap. Jim saw, in retrospect, some suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20 minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and back of the bus was engulfed in flames.


Read more: http://www.yellowrosepeacebus.blogspot.com/

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I first met Jim in the House Rayburn cafeteria. We saw his peace attire and asked him to join our table. We were up on the Hill to lobby for impeachment and so was he.

Please help with the bus. Jim has taken Code Pink around as well as the great things he does for the Vets. The effort that Iraq Veterans against the are making is to show up and convince young people not to sign up for the war.

I think it would show our support of peace if DU were to make a group contribution for a new peace bus.

nt

and your comment reflects your lack of knowledge and sympathy.

Who (according to legend) aided in a defeat of Santa Anna's forces in the San Jacinto battle.

I just hope the bus was insured.

:puke:

There IS a Yellow Rose strip club in Austin (on Lamar? Burnet? Dunno; not a patron). But probably both it and the bus refer to the song.

strip club in Austin. It is basically there to offer scholarships for the young UT coeds - you gotta love Austin.

Peace

As I don't know you, but your statement was imbecilic.

Cheers.

They'd have killed Jim just for shits and giggles. We need to treat the rethug bastards the way we dealt with the Confederates and the Nazis, with rifles and soldiers.
Welcome to the Second American Civil War!

getting scary out there...

last weekend we passed a group of "morans" holding up signs supporting Ron Paul. This weekend we passed through the same intersection and there were even more "morans" with Ron Paul signs.

now I'm not saying it was ron paul-ites who torched the bus. I'm just saying the group we passed were just missing one thing - white sheets or brown-shirts

I'm kind of new around here, but why would Ron Paul supporters want to do that? They're totally against the war.

Hey, I read it again. It seems to me that it implies that innocent people may have been involved in committing a violent crime, but comes up short of actually stating that because there is no evidence of it. Then it implies they are racist radicals or Nazis. Why don't you explain to me what I'm missing here instead of providing a snide reply?

There are quite a few of them in our anti-war groups and I feel fairly certain that some have even ridden on this bus a few times.

K&R Thanks for keeping people informed about this sort of thing.

...commonplace in the U.S. after the next false flag operation.

BUSINESS AS USUAL in USAmerika.

Just ask anyone who worked for Civil Rights in this fucked up country...


Or anybody who was active against the last Vietnam war...


USAmerika is a fucked-up, violent, racist outfit. That ain't gonna change soon...

...but I think it will be unprecedented in scale after they pull one more false flag operation.

This will include roundups of people they regard as a threat to the State, which means any political dissidents/opposition. I believe it will be like nothing we've ever seen.


Here's the nonviolent WTO protesters being rounded up in Seattle -- apparently they strayed into a "no protest zone":

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDi34Zysqjk


The Amtrak facility in Beechgrove, Indiana:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e6FI287a_EA


Here's one in near Austin, TX -- again right next to train tracks -- why is that? Are they expecting to receive guests by the train car load? Why are they so secretive about this? What harm would it do to be open about it if they have no sinister intentions, why not be up front about the camps and explain their purpose to the public?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v762H7Iigz8


Here's a photo journal of our internment of Japanese Americans:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=C5PeWdUSNZ0

It already is but just for white people - our brothers and sisters of color have known about and experienced it all forever

http://ccrjustice.org/

Here's what an activist member of my union wrote on our union-related listserve, about WTO Week in Seattle (particularly concerning Sand Point):

Thanks for a great post, Paul!

I wish I had been there yesterday! I was hoping to see you at the Labor
Council on Wednesday. When I got there, I found the meeting cancelled,
but ran into some good brothers from the Inlandboatmen's Union, with whom I
headed down to the WTO teach-in at 1st Methodist.

Driving through downtown was WEIRD! Phalanxes of robo-cops everywhere.
Periodically we were able to see large crowds blocked by lines of cops
a block or two away. We (bunch of middle aged guys on wheels) were
directed through the downtown core without incident, and from inside the martial
law area we could see the WTO delegates going about their Christmas
shopping undisturbed by the local riff-raff. After all, the state and city put
an army at their disposal.

We had some chow with a crowd largely of Steelworkers from out of town,
when one of the IBU brothers got a call from an IBU member out at Sand
Point, who said that the 500 people arrested that morning were being held in
buses at the old Naval Station brig without food, water or access to toilet
facilities.

We organized a small trainload of bagels, bread, and water, and headed
out. Upon arrival, we found that, sure enough, the arrestees had been held
on the busses for thirteen hours, with nothing to eat or drink, or any way to
relieve themselves. We talked to the cops, who said that the arrestees
refused to be separated for "processing" (prudent!) and that they would
be fed when they did. They bluntly refused to let us pass out the food and
water.

We stuck around till 1:00 AM, figuring that in the cops current mood,
police brutality was not beyond the realm of possibility, and that we should
be witnesses. About midnight, the police began moving the busses around
the building to the front door. They placed cops with rifles in a
perimeter around the busses, and proceeded to forcibly remove the demonstrators.

Unable to see or do anything, we left at that point. We know that they
have been taken to King County Jail, which has been surrounded by
demonstrators demanding their release since Thursday. Are they still there this
morning, Paul? (See below)

I got the word, late last night, that the WTO conference has ended
without an agreement!!! Never doubt that that failure was not about specific trade or
agricultural issues. It was about exposing what these bastards are trying to do to
the clear light of day. The whole world was watching, and they COULD NOT
present us with an undemocratic fait accompli.

Any of you who saw those Asian delegates (from countries never
specified) on the news, bitching about what a disgrace it was that we could
demonstate against them with (relative) impunity, showed the true face of the WTO.
In their countries, interfere with the free movement of commodities and
capital in the name of silly ideas like labor standards, human rights and
environmental protection, and you will die, as so many have before.

This is a victory for every worker on God's green earth, brothers and
sisters, and it wasn't just our labor march (and damn sure not our
nicey nice behavior) that sent the pirates home empty handed. We made a
difference, but it was those tens of thousands of kids "pushing the envelope" that
brought the whole world to it's feet and made it take notice.

The question is, did we just "want to be heard at the table" as the
media kept saying about us, the "good" demonstrators? Or do we want to stop
the masters of the world from divvying it up with no regard for or
livelihoods, our rights, or the very air we breathe? If we are serious, we have to
take our allies where we find them.

We have given the WTO a major setback this week. We have shown that it
can be done. Now let's shut the bastards down

pnorman
Edited to respond to that above question: "Are they still there?", with: "YES, they were!"

Many improvised shelters against the chilly drizzle, and stayed through the next few days to the (victorious) end. A soup kitchen was soon organized, and warm food and hot coffee was most welcome! At regular intervals, squads were organized to clean up any litter. We probably left that damn place cleaner than we found it! Speeches were given to an ever packed audience, while cops gingerly made unobtrusive passages through THEIR OWN DAMN COURTYARD! Later we learned that the prisoners above, could hear it all, and were greatly cheered. The jailers too, and they pretty well ceased their arrogant harassment. For MONTHS afterwards, otherwise perfect strangers would recognize each other by the wearing of WTO buttons, and stop to chat! Oh,it was GREAT to be part of that WTO Week!

...Ruling Elites are no match for an informed and well organized mass movement of the people. This is inspiring, thanks for posting it.

The second one was truly SCAREY! This country, particularly in the Rust Belt, must be FULL of such disused industrial installations. They'd be perfecto for "maximum security" Detention Centers. Can you provide some more details so that I can Google further? The next and related one, was a little too disorganized for my needs.

The last one about the Japanese "Relocation Centers", was a complete surprise. It stated that not only husbands and wives were separated, but also the children! I've been unable to confirm that by Google yet.

pnorman

...men, women, and children were actually sent to different camps either.

I did find this that suggests it might not have been uncommon to separate fathers from their families within camps:

To neutralize local leadership and forestall any protest, agents first arrested the elders -- fathers of thousands of Japanese-American families. Most were too stunned to disobey the government, said Ichiuji, who went from being a 22-year-old citizen, proud to have been drafted into the United States Army, before Pearl Harbor, to an official pariah discharged as an "enemy alien" and bound for internment.

Families soon followed the fathers into exile solely on the strength of an executive writ from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In the camps, fathers were often separated from their families, and the barracks style of living -- lining up for meals and showers and losing privacy in common rooms -- presented a woeful threat to family integrity, Ms. Tsutsumida recalled.

Source: http://www.mishalov.com/japanese_memorial.html


That last video may well be making an unsubstantiated/inaccurate claim -- I should've paid more attention to the text in it. Thanks for catching that.

For more information on the camps Google "Rex-84" and "FEMA camps." Here's one about the camps and the executive orders that clear the path for them to do what's coming:

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/camps1.htm

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man has all the information you need to figure out how this will play out. The corporate hit men and government black ops will ensure we have conflict anywhere their empire is threatened. Look for either, a) a hit on Ahmendinejad (not very likely) or, b) a big bomb drop on the Iranian Navy and Air Force.

If the Iranians won't play ball, then they'll find excuses to turn it into something even bigger.

...his testimony raises the hair on the back of my neck -- saw him on Democracy Now.

we need support for the Peace Bus

I wonder what he means by "suspicious activity". Was somebody messing with the engine or something?

and I don't know what is more troubling to me:

1. The very real possibility that some fanatical Bushites attempted to harm a peace lover; or
2. The fact that not one single local news station or newspaper has even mentioned this incident.

I live near the NJ Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway - the three main highways in south Jersey that have truck stops. No question in my mind that if it were any other vehicle, our area would have heard about it.

As disconcerting as this is....thank you, demnan, for bringing this to my attention.

and ask them why the hell they didn't report it...

get no respect. The repubs are supposed to support our military and our veterans but as soon as a vet states he doesnt like war anymore they go apeshit, they call us cowards, they call us traitors. In america one has freedom of speech, they are free to speak your mind. You have especially earned this right if you have fought for this country. I guess this is how the repubs shows support of veterans. Maybe instead of jeering and hating you might think maybe us vets have learned something through our personal trials that just cant fit into those pin heads of yous.

on the news.

Unless it's a fire that caused a HUGE delay in traffic and during rush hour, it would be incredibly likely that you wouldn't see or hear about it on the news at all. At least that's from my experience, being a lifelong Jersey resident.

if any other vehicle was deliberately set on fire (while the vehicle's owner was napping in it) at a truck stop in south Jersey, we would have heard about it.

Not tryin to change your opinion, just sayin'....;)

My problem with this story is that as of yet, there hasn't been any real reason to believe foul play was actually involved, other than pure speculation. Maybe in the next few days more info will come out, and we'll know from the police whether or not it is their feeling that there was any foul play.

This is the bus that showed up and lifted our spirits at the anti-torture demonstration at Ft. Huachuca, AZ last November 18th.

We were peacefully gathered, playing music and listening to speeches against the new Rome and its torturous ways. There were about 300-400 of us - a most honorable, peaceful group of Earthlings.

There were about 30 counter-demonstrators who were given MORE ROOM than we were. They had a line of flags on the sidewalk and a bullhorn screaming bloody marches at us from across the flimsy orange plastic barricade during our entire event.

Soon their right-wing corps of idiots on very loud Harleys showed up, flying their bloody flags, and revving their engines to try to drown out the truth we were representing. They continued to circle our demonstration, stopping as long as they could at the stop light near our stage and revving their engines as loudly as they could.

I mentioned to one of the cops that "I guess it's a little tough enforcing the noise ordinance today, eh?" He looked angry for a second and then couldn't keep a little smile from twitching his lips.

The sight of this beautiful bus arriving on the scene and circling our demonstration brought a cheer from our peaceful group and consternation among the pro-war contingent!

Of course, the right-wingers on Harleys didn't even get police notice but the bus got a ticket. We took up a collection and paid it for them.

Welcome to police state USAmerika...

and, as usual, there's no mention in the Corporatocracy's Media.

Thanks for the work you've been doing.

Don't let this bs get you down.

Was there one conducted?

What condition was the Bus in?

http://blip.tv/file/596234 (hope that works)

I also find it quite odd that Jim HIMSELF has to contact the ATF. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm picturing this scenario:

I'm coming home from the casinos and I make a pitstop at one of the truck stops to take a nap. I hear and see disturbance around my vehicle, and then the next thing I know, my car's on fire. The state police and fire dept show up....police ask me if I have any information; they take my info to the fire chief; police contact CSU to do forensics; fire chief contacts arson unit to conduct investigation into the origin of the fire.

I've lived here in south Jersey all my life - and I can assure you that if the above scenario had happened to me, news choppers would have video, reporters would have been on the scene, and all news outlets would have mentioned this story - complete with the exact town location, highway route, down to the freaking mile marker.

I know this may sound naive of me, but I'm pissed off, shocked and embarrassed that something like this can happen in my blue state.

It was in great shape. Jim took very good care of it.

If I was a betting man, I'd wager my life savings it was a Freeper Nazi who did this.

We know it was a pro-war thug who did it. The government needs to watch these people like a hawk.

My dad sent me this video this morning ...

Was the first thing to see :(

Here's something from December 28, on their stay in New Hampshire:

December 28, 2007
3:48 PM

Anti-War Bus Tour to Precede NH Primary

NEW HAMPSHIRE - December 28 -New Hampshire Peace Action and the American Friends Service Committee will dramatize their anti-war agendas in the last four days of the New Hampshire Primary campaign with the help of the Yellow Rose of Texas Peace Bus, a slogan-bedecked, full-sized coach.

During the four days between the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire Primary, the bus will travel around the state to campaign events with anti-war activists, Iraq war veterans, military family members, and religious leaders.

"Peace must be a presidential priority," said Anne Miller, Director of NH Peace Action.

Miller said the Peace Bus participants will challenge all the candidates to:

• Withdraw all U.S. troops and bases from Iraq within one year of taking office;
  
• Commit to resolve conflicts with Iran through diplomacy, not war; and
  
• Transfer money being spent on warfare to meet human needs, including housing, health, education, Iraqi reconstruction, and care for returning veterans.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1228-02.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Indymedia:




This message was passed on by Bill Perry, a vet, anti war activist and member of Delaware Valley Veterans For America.

Bill Perry wrote:

The bus in this photo, is the Yellow Rose. It was totaled by fire, around 9:30 pm, Friday night, 1/11/08

This bus, often mired in controversy since the IVAW "Dirty South"tour that left Philly in June, and had Active Duty BBQ's @ Ft Meade, Ft Jackson, Camp Lejeune, Ft Benning, and other Southern Military Posts (Including an IVAW benefit by Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and AudioSlave, in Virginia) as well as backdrop for many a Demonstration, and Ft Drum, NY, organizing parties, has suffered much damage.

This photo shows the huge "Don't Attack Iran" and "Impeach Bush" logos, that let everybody on the highway know just how the occupants felt about the state of the state.

Owner~Operator~Driver and member of Veterans For Peace, Jim Goodenow pulled into a South Jersey Truck Stop, to catch a 3 or 4 hour nap. Jim saw, in retrospect, some suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20 minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and back of the bus was engulfed in flames.

Mr Goodenow speculates that the cause could have been anything from ARSON, to ATTEMPTED MURDER. He plans to notify the ATF Arson Squad on Saturday morning.
Stay tuned....
Be Well, RAISE HELL !
Bill Perry
Delaware Valley Veterans For America
Disabled American Veteran, VVAW, VFP, VFW, VVA

More:
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/142135/index.php

Any chance someone could find a deal on a bus that runs on natural gas or biodiesel?

I'll keep looking. But in the meanwhile, here's the webpage: http://www.yellowrosepeacebus.blogspot.com/

pnorman

Many of these posts assume that George Bush himself gave orders for his black ops team to destroy the bus. How about a Bartcop Chinaco tequila shot of reality here?

He was at a FREAKING TRUCK STOP! Truck stops are full of right-wingers, usually working 48 hour shifts, high on coke or ecstasy to stay awake and complete their runs, listening to Rush Limbaugh and Faux News, out of their minds. Isn't it more likely that some of these truck drivin' zombies freaked out and decided to torch the hippie liberal bus?

I agree it would be nice to help him, although a bus costs about $100,000 or more, and costs almost as much to maintain and fuel. This ain't no school bus retired from hauling preschoolers; it's a travel bus intended to go on the Interstate. I doubt that DU could raise enough to get him a used Econoline van.

I read through them all and I hadn't seen that.

Seems like most people are thinking that if it was arson, it was probably a right-wing nutjob, like you suggest.

Comments like that set up a strawman argument where people feel they have to say, "Oh no, I wasn't implying George Bush did it. Golly."

When instead we should be noting that the Bush-sponsored fascism has created assholes who think this is a reasonable response to people who protest their government's illegal wars.

So while he probably had not done it, the subtext to all this is that he might as well have done it.

Under hard-right Republicans like Bush, Nixon and Reagan, the creatures crawled out from the woodwork and started showing up in daylight.

I still argue, though, that there are enough paranoids here on DU to fuel this kind of speculation. People here have hated Bush, Cheney and Company so long and so hard that they have come to live for that hatred. Kind of like Sweeney Todd. And like Todd, that hatred can turn on them and destroy them.

Hate can be an aphrodesiac for some people, and not all of them are right-wing.

Anyway, back to the bus thing; if anyone has a $100,000 asset like this bus they want to turn into political billboards, they really ought to get insurance against this kind of thing. That is, if insurance companies are willing to sell insurance to anyone not working for the Bushies.

their bigotry.

"Many of these posts assume that George Bush himself gave orders"

Why would you be so quick to jump in and defend the chimp from accusations that weren't even made?

Deja vu...am I back in the 60's?

Hope he gets contributions.....

DR

Nope, this is worse...

Count me in. Anyone else who wants to contribute, PM me. I will call Jim and get details.

Checks can be made out to:

Veterans For Peace, Chapter 106 (please spell this out) Put in memo line: BUS FUND
Mail to:
Bernie Jezercak
1804 Tree LIne Drive
Carrollton, TX 75007

http://ntimc.org/index.php

IIRC, Jim runs that site.

It's surprisingly easy, and is usually a lot better than "a check is in the mail".

pnorman

You can't just strike a match and burn diesel. A fire like that had to have been started with gasoline.

One of my friends called Jim and got this information:

If you want to help with the bus effort please do the following.


Checks should be made out to:
Veterans for Peace, Chap 106
and should be marked in the Memo corner: Bus Fund.

The checks should be sent to:
Veterans for Peace, Chap 106
1804 Tree Line Drive
Carrollton, Texas 75007

will treat this as an act of terrorism? After all, they set the precedent themselves. In November, 2006, Jonathan Paul pled guilty to one charge of conspiracy and one charge of arson for his role in the 1997 fire at the Cavel West horsemeat slaughterhouse in Redmond, Oregon, that destroyed the plant and led to its permanent closure. Even though no one was injured in the fire, federal prosecutors described it as a “classic case of terrorism.” So, I'm sure the FBI will now bring its vast resources to bear on this new threat to national security, the bus-burning branch of Al Quaeda.