Protest in the park (Teacher chains himself to bench over Iraq War)

[RamboLiberal]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/20/MNGJ9HBUTH18.DTL

Hyim Jacob Ross chained himself to a park bench in Oakland on Monday in what he said was the start of a five-day fast to protest the prevalence of inequality and injustice in America when the country is spending so much on a war.

Ross, a musician, teaches music at Coronado Elementary School in Richmond and ethics, spirituality and inter-personal communication at two synagogues in the East Bay.

"The war in Iraq is putting our nation into incredible debt and draining enormous financial, social, economic, industrial and political resources," said Ross, who is in early 30s and was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland.

All that spending comes when 2 million California children are hungry and the state's prison population is at an all-time high, he said.