No Title Needed...

Will my heart ever recover?

No! Never

Our friend Brian sweet gentle Brian who went into Iraq with his guard unit on the first wave of this war and was stationed there for a little over a year, came home and got addicted to drugs he is off now and is on the right path. Thank God he came home.

I bring this up because of the link that is attached to Suz's post. They wanted to send Brians unit back and he did not want to go so he left the guards before his time was up, he said he just would not survive another tour over there. He was given a dishonerable discharge even though he served his country faithfully. were is the justice in that and how many others are like Brian? that we do not hear about.

Then there is our friend Karen whose husband is on his second tour over there missions used to last 1 or 2 days now they are lasting weeks, its not getting better but they are not allowed to say so on the phone, they use terms like going on vacation and talk about how each vacation seems to get longer and more tiring. They can not tell you verbally if they support this president they are on secured communication so they use phrases like oh we just love him he is our favorite person in a tone of voice that tells you this isnt true.

When they come home in a body bag it would be bad for them to show the flag drapped coffin and honor those brave men and women. This country has a lot to be proud of in its military, it has a lot to be ashamed of in its Civilian leadership of the Military.

God Bless this mom and all the others who have paid the biggest sacrifice of all for this war they are in our prayers as are their sons and daughters and the sons and daughters still serving we hope more make it home safe.

Suz what a moving post.

Has anyone called for Allen's censure's?

Incidentally John McCain is campaigning with Allen today. Hopefully someone from the media will confront McCain and ask him if he has any problem with Allen's racist comment.

More from Virginia's black community on Allen's remarks:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/8/17/15283/6773

Thanks for linking to the Erin Watada speech - he's a local & universal hero. He says he's not but it's heroic to realize the illegal aspects of the war & refuse to continue to participate.

I held my baby in my womb.

Someone talked me into an abortion

Death came
Cold
Darkness
Pain

I never had the joy of her life
well, and nobly, lived

I held my baby in my womb

The Modern Nazis a/k/a Hezbollah decided because he was Jewish, he was not worthy of a life.

Death came
Cold
Darkness
Pain

The first one is true. The second one will never be true, Thank God, because I do not live in Israel.

Amazing how the far right wing-nuts can twist something moving into something hateful.

You can't call yourself pro-life and also be pro-war. Sorry - that's hypocrisy. Take your garbage and spread it elsewhere.

Sex Ed Changes At School With 65 Pregnant Teens

CANTON, Ohio -- An Ohio school board is expanding sex education following the revelation that 13 percent of one high school's female students were pregnant last year.

There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant, WEWS-TV in Cleveland reported.
The new Canton school board program promotes abstinence but also will teach students who decide to have sex how to do so responsibly, bringing the city school district's health curriculum in line with national standards.

more here: http://www.wsmv.com/education/9680361/detail.html

I think we should all be thankful (especially 'thinkmuch63') that we don't live in Lebanon, where so many women, children, grandparents, men and pets have died and the country destroyed - even though the vast majority of them had nothing to do with Hezbollah.

And we should count our many blessings that we do not live in Iraq right now. And we should pray to whatever god we pray to that the terrorists we're creating every day over there with this illegal occupation spare our children in the years to come.

I'm not even so sure we should be grateful we live here.
Just saw Clint Curtis & will write more about it soon - think Election integrity - something we don't have

Wouldn't the world be a better place today if Saddam's and Osama's mothers had chosen abortion?

And if Barbara Bush had brought up her darling little George with a sense of responsibility and sobriety, instead of a sense of entitlement, a taste for escapism, and an Oedipal urge to murder his father's achievements?

And wouldn't it be better if Ike had followed Truman's example, and reached out to a deserving, struggling, duly constituted, secular Iranian democracy, defending its legitimate rights to control its own resources, instead of overthrowing it - and re-installing the thuggish Shah? Would Hezbollah even exist today if Republicans truly supported Democracy rather than their bizarre ideological obsessions?

And if the Iranian revolution hadn’t ever taken place, because secular democracy had actually taken hold instead of being sabotaged, would the United States have had any cause to make common cause with a butcher like Saddam Hussein?

Posted by: thinkmuch63 at August 17, 2006 08:15 PM

Correction: The modern Nazi's, aka The Bush Administration, decided because he was Muslim or Arab or black or poor or not with us but against us, that he was not worthy of a life.

WON DUM PHUQUE

Cheney: 'No guarantee we won't be hit again'

In appearances on behalf of candidates for the US Senate and House in Montana yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney slammed Democrats, defended the war on terror, and touted the nation's "strong and growing" economy. He campaigned for Sen. Conrad Burns, whom he called a "patriot," and for State Rep. Bill Sali, the GOP candidate for the state’s 1st congressional district.

At the Sali fundraiser, more protesters attended than supporters of the candidate. His staffers attributed the poor attendance at the Vice President’s appearance to “scheduling conflicts.”

Excerpts from the Associated Press report of Cheny's speech follow...

#
Vice President Dick Cheney blasted Democrats for not supporting the war in Iraq, and said Montanans need to re-elect Republican Sen. Conrad Burns to make sure the administration can carry out its wartime plans.

The vice president, speaking at a fundraiser for Burns on Wednesday, said the administration is sticking by its plan to stay in Iraq as long as it takes to make sure the country is stable. He said it would be wrong to set deadlines for withdrawing troops.

...

Burns supporters could pay $2,100 to attend a reception before the lunch and get a photo with the vice president. A $5,000 donation allowed a photo with Cheney and some fly fishing with Burns.

‘‘Here in the U.S. we have not had another 9-11,’’ the vice president said. ‘‘No one can guarantee we will not be hit again. But the relative safety in recent years is not an accident.’’

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Cheney_No_guarantee_we_wont_be_0817.html

Republicans Losing The 'Security Moms'

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 18, 2006; A01

CLINTONVILLE, Ohio, Aug. 17 -- Married women with children, the "security moms" whose concerns about terrorism made them an essential part of Republican victories in 2002 and 2004, are taking flight from GOP politicians this year in ways that appear likely to provide a major boost for Democrats in the midterm elections, according to polls and interviews.

This critical group of swing voters -- who are an especially significant factor in many of the most competitive suburban districts on which control of Congress will hinge -- is more inclined to vote Democratic than at any point since Sept. 11, 2001, according to data compiled for The Washington Post by the Pew Research Center.

Married mothers said in interviews here that they remain concerned about national security and the ability of Democrats to keep them safe from terrorist strikes. But surveys indicate Republicans are not benefiting from this phenomenon as they have before.

Disaffection with President Bush, the Iraq war, and other concerns such as rising gasoline prices and economic anxiety are proving more powerful in shaping voter attitudes.

The study, which examined the views of married women with children from April through this week, found that they support Democrats for Congress by a 12-point margin, 50 percent to 38 percent. That is nearly a mirror-image reversal from a similar period in 2002, when this group backed Republicans 53 percent to 36 percent. In 2004, exit polls showed, Bush won a second term in part because 56 percent of married women with children supported him.

-snip-

David Winston, a Republican pollster who advises GOP leaders on election strategy, said married women in particular are often spooked more by the uncertainty of Iraq than the threat of terror. "They are increasingly unwilling to sustain the sort of sacrifices that we have to make over there," even though many support the mission, Winston said.

-snip

Marylee McCallister, a mother of three who was a Republican for 42 years until this April. She voted for Bush because she believed his warnings that the Democratic nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), would weaken the nation.

"I was dumb," she said. "Now, granted, they came here and rammed bombs into us, but I am afraid we have gotten into something full scale which perhaps did not have to be."

more...
http://tinyurl.com/lcg6s

Getting ready for work -

Just read "Katrina refugees are climate refugees" and there will be millions more over time (linking hurricanes of greater strength to global warming).

From email (not having checked news yet) I already know Turkey & Iran are shelling Kurds (which should complicate the situation in Iraq) and HuffPo reminds us that the Chinese premier told Bush to "shut up" about Chinese military spending (which was also on BBC yesterday). "Keep quiet," he said. "It's much, much better."

Off to work!

Hi all -- Karen just called and asked me to give you all a heads up:

Joe Brady, the director of the NYC Fearup production, and Marietta Hedges, the co-editor of the Fearup script, are being interviewed on Virginia Reed's show this morning at 10 am.

Like in 2 minutes on the Progressive Radio Network -- Listen here:

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.org/

10 am. Virginia Reed's show.

Precedents for Presidents

On Tuesday, reporters asked White House press secretary Tony Snow if Bush's failure to endorse Connecticut GOP Senate candidate Alan Schlesinger was unusual.

"No," Snow replied. "Actually, there have been races in the past where candidates didn't meet the expectations of the local parties, and presidents have stayed out, Democrats and Republicans, in the past."

Reporters demanded examples. The next day, Snow produced a list. "In 1970, President Nixon took a neutral position in the US Senate race between [Vietnam war critic] Sen. Charles E. Goodell (R-N.Y.) and challengers Rep. Richard Ottinger (D-N.Y.) and James L. Buckley ." In 1980, GOP officials did not support a Republican in Michigan, the list said.

Then in 1982, President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush did not campaign against 20 House Democrats who voted for Reagan's tax cuts, the list said. (Not really the same as not endorsing the official GOP candidate.)

In 1990, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ronald H. Brown denounced Rep. Gus Savage (D-Ill.), accused of making sexual advances toward a Peace Corps volunteer, and pledged not to give his reelection campaign any funds. (That's not the president, but okay.) In 1991, Bush I "refused to endorse Louisiana gubernatorial candidate David Duke ," Snow's office said.

So, let's see, in the last 26 years, we've got two cases, one involving an alleged sex offender and the other a Klansman. Not unusual at all. Meanwhile, Bush's candidate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), is cruising in the polls.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701354_pf.html

August 18, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Start Talking to Hezbollah
By LAKHDAR BRAHIMI

WHAT a waste that it took more than 30 days to adopt a United Nations Security Council resolution for a cease-fire in Lebanon. Thirty days during which nothing positive was achieved and a great deal of pain, suffering and damage was inflicted on innocent people.

The loss of innocent civilian life is staggering and the destruction, particularly in Lebanon, is devastating. Human rights organizations and the United Nations have condemned the humanitarian crisis and violations of international humanitarian law.

Yet all the diplomatic clout of the United States was used to prevent a cease-fire, while more military hardware was rushed to the Israeli Army. It was argued that the war had to continue so that the root causes of the conflict could be addressed, but no one explained how destroying Lebanon would achieve that.

And what are these root causes? It is unbelievable that recent events are so regularly traced back only to the abduction of three Israeli soldiers. Few speak of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, or of its Lebanese prisoners, some of whom have been held for more than 20 years. And there is hardly any mention of military occupation and the injustice that has come with it.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/opinion/18brahimi.html

Interesting collection of letters in today's Times dealing with Iraq:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/opinion/l18iraq.html

Part Of The Plan
by Dan Fogelberg

I have these moments
All steady and strong
I'm feeling so holy and humble
The next thing I know
I'm all worried and weak
And I feel myself
Starting to crumble.

The meanings get lost
And the teachings get tossed
And you don't know what you're
Going to do next.
You wait for the sun
But it never quite comes

Some kind of message comes
Through to you.
Some kind of message comes through.
And it says to you...

Love when you can
Cry when you have to...
Be who you must
That's a part of the plan
Await your arrival
With simple survival
And one day we'll all understand...

I had a woman
Who gave me her soul
But I wasn't ready to
Take it.
Her heart was so fragile
And heavy to hold
And I was afraid I might
Break it.

Your conscience awakes
And you see your mistakes
And you wish someone
Would buy your confessions.
The days miss their mark
And the night gets so dark
And some kind of message
Comes through to you
Some kind of message
Shoots through --

Love when you can
Cry when you have to...
Be who you must
That's a part of the plan
Await your arrival
With simple survival
And one day we'll all understand...

There is no Eden or
Heavenly gates
That you're gonna make it to
One day
But all of the answers you seek
Can be found
In the dreams that you dream
On the way.

Posted by: monkey at August 18, 2006 10:54 AM

Thank you Monkey!

Hi all-back from NYC where I saw Fear Up and was both impressed and moved.

not that it was anything new-just put together like that....