“I don’t walk about belief – whether or not we should have started this war. Rather, I walk because we shouldn’t live our lives as if all is normal. People are suffering every moment because of this war – U.S. Soldiers and their families, Iraqi soldiers and civilians and their families – and this question of what we can do to end this suffering should be with us every day.”
a Concord (MA) area resident – in a letter to the editor regarding her own participation in a public vigil each Friday morning at the town center – ‘We Walk for All Who Suffer Because of War.’
this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
we honor courage in all its forms
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
image and poem below the fold
An Iraqi man mourns after identifying the body of his relative in a hospital mortuary in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 8, 2006. At least 23 bodies, many of them hanged, were found dumped in parts of Baghdad on Wednesday, out of these, U.S. military patrol found 18 bodies in an abandoned minibus. The victims, all men, had been handcuffed, blindfolded and hanged or shot, police said.
(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
What Wild-Eyed Murderer
by Peter Meinke
We shouldn’t worship suffering: the world’s
a spinning rack where suffering indicates
all goes well we’re alive and not curled
up in the black hushhush death dictates
as its first condition: no screaming there
We crown ourselves with thorns of past
transgressions Sharp spears of deed spare
no rib of pain: around the cross crashed
common lightning usual blood Who earns
our reverence should break both cross and crutch
in the face of suffering: while the rack turns
and tightens they’ll smile at the sense of touch
Suffering’s too common to be worth
anything joy too rare to be priced
The saints we search for will embrace the earth:
what wild-eyed murderer suffers less than Christ?
– – –
put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet
read Ilona’s important new blog – PTSD Combat
view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)
take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)
support Veterans for Peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support Iraq Veterans Against the War
support Military families Speak Out
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read This is what John Kerry did today, the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day
Click on the candle to copy the image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment.
” I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”
from Dirge Without Music
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
NOW, Goddammit. NOW, NOW, NOW…
That poem should be on the frontpage of every GD newspaper. WOW!
IMPEACH the MOFO!
Impeach.
Here is one essay that says it all in the title.
“You can’t vote for war and disown its results.”
You know, I think this quote is one for posterity.
Not lost
the hope and courage
of the dead
was not buried
with their bones
but left here
with us
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
“The most effective means of preventing tyranny is to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts.”
Thomas Jefferson
**
Colonization Of Palestine Precludes Peace
by Jimmy Carter, TomPaine.com
Palestinians must live in peace and dignity, and permanent Israeli settlements on their land are the preeminent obstacle to this goal
*
*
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”
H.L. Mencken
**
Carter On A Roll
The former president is finally speaking his mind. Let’s hope it’s infectious.
*
*
“To consider judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions is a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”
Thomas Jefferson
**
Media Group Opposes UN Human Rights Council Proposal
Proposals for a new-look UN Human Rights Council are a half-measure that will block serious reform for years, according to an international media freedom group.
*
*
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America’s War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War <h6>2304</h6>
The War in Iraq Costs $246,022,838,541 See the cost in your community
**
Hopes Dwindle for Trade Deal That Helps the Poor
World trade talks will fail poor people unless rich countries change their offers and reduce their demands at a key meeting starting tomorrow in London, a prominent development charity said today.
*
*
“Sow Justice, Reap Peace — Strategies for Moving Beyond War” 2006 VFP Annual Convention August 10-13, Seattle, WA
**
Invest in Women Worldwide, Americans Are Telling Congress
Riding the momentum from International Women’s Day, Americans are encouraging their elected representatives to be leaders in empowering women worldwide–it’s the most effective way to defeat poverty, they say. Have you sent a message yet?
*
*
As the state is a soulless machine,
it can never be weaned from violence
to which it owes its very existence.
~ Mohandas K. Gandhi* (1869-1948)
**
Challenging the mighty dollar
By Ramin Davoodi
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that there is a looming crisis brewing over Iran. The true ‘whys’ and ‘whats’ of the issue, however, are clouded to the American public due to our modern press and to the nature of the underlying stakes involved.
*
*
“Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.”
Daniel Webster (1782-1852), US Senator – 185
***
Mein Country
Unforgivable
By Norma Sherry
The truth is right before our eyes if only we open them to see. The fear of seeing I know is almost too great, but if we don’t before too long there will be nothing of memory to see. As we sit on our comfy couches mesmerized by the latest Survivor or Apprentice or handsome Bachelor, we are being dissolved, extinguished. Our jobs are going to China and India and Pakistan; our freedoms are being abolished; our air polluted; our waters putrefied; our forests fallen; our wildlife exterminated; our culture obliterated.
New Orleans, Revisited
Photographs and slide show by Chris Chandler
New Orleans, Louisiana, February-March, 2006
Six months after the city was destroyed by the failure of US government
to protect the critical infrastructure of a major American city
===Remember the bush Bump, on the back, which has been seen again since the debates?
Well Now We Know!!
bush’s Pilot
This fits here as well, I jut put it in mine!
This was just Reported on ABC World News Tonight.
Soldiers Back From Iraq, Unable to Get Help They Need
Department of Veterans Affairs Facing Staggering Burden of Providing Health Care to Returning Troops
Second Header in Report: Audit: VA Fudged Reports
==“Sow Justice, Reap Peace — Strategies for Moving Beyond War” 2006 VFP Annual Convention August 10-13, Seattle, WA
Peace