Now would Barney Frank be taking as courageous a stand on cutting the military budget had his office not witnessed the Hunger Strike and my Occupation on Capitol Hill these last two months, ("Cut the Military Budget,," Barney Frank, The Nation 2/13/09)? That I'll never know."
Diane Wilson, another activist who joined the hunger strike weeks later from her home in Texas after Start loving began the strike and round the clock occupation of Capital Hill on December 19, said, "Our action is informed by what Gandhi called for, 'Be the change you wish to see.' We cannot expect courageous action from others unless we citizens live it ourselves. This especially applies to Congress"
On day 35 of the Hunger Strike and after many positive moves by the Obama administration came into view, Wilson and Loving went into "hold" mode - half rations. Today, Start said he was concluding the campaign because Congress, the target audience, was going home for a week and also positive moves continue come from the Obama administration, and from many Democrats on the Hill.
Loving stated, "With the Congress away we will use the time to regain strength for the next leg of the battle. I expect, however, to spend many more months on the Hill lobbying for sanity. With the economy in shambles, it is insane for the US to spend $1 trillion on war-making. Just yesterday, Russia announced they are cutting their $45 billion budget by 15% due to their financial crisis. We should be doing the same. Now."
