They are still dying for you and me

The movie, "Taking Chance," is a gripping statement about a single war hero. It's among the best, most significant movies I've ever seen.

Remember them and be thankful

Thirteen more Americans died this week in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. That's 13 more families whose Thanksgiving has become a day of grief and whose family gatherings will forever be fractured and wanting.

Add these 13 families to those already having sacrificed a loved one, because of this war without end, and the total is 4,813 families, as of yesterday.

Today I am remembering these warriors and their families. Major Alan Blake Rowe, a man I never knew, was among them. I know, however, he was a daddy, a husband, a son, a friend, a brother and he will be missed today, as always. Thanksgiving is a good day to watch a video tape of him speaking to his family at this link.

Thank you, Major Alan Blake Rowe, and your family - and the other 4,812 families - for what you have given to the rest of us.

So the war isn't about oil?

If you think the Bush Government War isn't about oil, you might want to read "Big Oil Firms Ready to Sign Agreements With Iraq" in a report yesterday by the Washington Post.

Bush Government's Bin Laden charade

I came to believe shortly after Bin Laden "got away" and skipped over the border into Pakistan or wherever he went, that he didn't get away at all, but was given an open gate by Bush's war machine.

Why would he do that? Because the Bush Government was in Iraq supposedly to bring justice to those who attacked the World Trade Center and Bin Laden was said to be their chief. That's the line we were fed. So the longer Bin Laden lives the longer the Bush war machine could pretend to be chasing him.

We fought on, taking over Iraq government and oil wells inch by inch - and all in the name of pursuing Bin Laden. The Bush Government had the perfect excuse to keep pounding away.

Lost, he was. That's what Bush Government said. Couldn't find that slippery guy in those mountains. From then until now the only time we gave focus to Bin Laden was when he gave us a new video lecture.

Bush Government stopped talking about it, but now the election looms and voters will have the chance to repay the Bush Government for this war.

So what would be the one thing that Bush Government might try to do to redeem itself about this Iraq gig? Bring Bin Laden home in a bag, then crow about it.

And guess what the headline was today in London Sunday Times? "Get Osama Bin Laden before I leave office, orders George W Bush" Read it here.

Media attacked (again) for role in war reports

Anyone interested in the media role in spreading Bush's lies about our need to go to war should read the commentary in today's on-line edition of Editor & Publisher by Greg Mitchell. His take-off point is the news about the Scott McClellan book.

War death count

Every morning I have the self-imposed unpleasant duty of checking the number of war casualties and updating the little box at right entitled "They died for you and me."

I hope every visitor checks it religiously and just pauses a moment to reflect on what it means, and I hope they occasionally visit the two links in that box - "see the faces ..." and "the voice of ..." because those visits will intensify your realization of what's happening with Bush's warS.

It isn't just Iraq; it's also Afghanistan. They are virtually the same, yet national media today are reporting deaths over there as having surpassed 4,000 when in fact the total is much higher.

How big media hid as Bush invaded

That the media hid from their duty as "Fourth Estate" regarding Bush's wars is a continuing subject for Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher Magazine.

Today he writes about Bush's press conference five years ago (3/6/03) which was a few days before he invaded Iraq. In an essay entitled 5 years Ago: That Fateful Press Conference, Mr. Mitchell lists "questions we wish they'd asked."

Here's his observation about the tone and behavior of that conference: "Bush smiled and made his usual quips, and many of the reporters played the game and did not press him hard. This was how these press gatherings had gone throughout the run-up to war. But this meeting was heavily scripted with Bush looking at a slip of paper and calling on reporters in a pre-arranged order. No one challenged him on this."

He lists 11 "questions we wish they'd asked," questions that if asked and pursued on editorial pages would have throttled this arrogant president and turned him back, in my opinion.

Anyone interested how the media failed to expose Bush's war lies should read Mr. Mitchell's new book "So Wrong for So Long: How The Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq," available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Bill Moyers said the book is a "razor-sharp critique of how the media and the government connived in one of the great blunders of American foreign policy. Every aspiring journalist, every veteran, every pundit — and every citizen who cares about the difference between illusion and reality, propaganda and the truth, and looks to the press to help keep them separate — should read this book. Twice."

We believed the lies

One of the problems with admitting our President lied us into the war is that the admission points to our own gullibility and the incredibly rotten job being done by this country's media. We hate to be played for the fools we were.

It is no longer deniable. Two non-profit journalism study groups counted 935 false statements in the two-year period following 9/11. Of those Bush made 259, Powell made 244, Rice, Rumsfeld, and others made the rest. Read it here.

About a man who gave you his life...

There is a new feature in the section on the right side of this screen which is headlined "They died for you and me." The last lines that begin "The voice of one of the fallen" link you to a video that features a major in the Marine Corps. It's powerful stuff.

I dare you to listen to this song

It doesn't matter to Washington how we vote

Though the message to Washington was loud and clear during last election, neither Congress nor the President listened; in particular they have not acted to bring a close to Bush's Vietnam.

Ohio's own George Voinovich voted against a measure that would have resulted in reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq. Georgie must think we won't find out how he voted or he thinks we won't remember his rebellion against constituents by next election.

Meanwhile, Congress scored a record-low approval rating of 11 percent in a poll released last week.

Ahmadinejad: Listen to the other side, for a change

Neither Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor his ideas nor his voice are to be feared. I am interested in what he has to say.

That our government and our government-herded media are afraid we'll hear arguments against what's being fed to us from Washington seems evident by the attempt to shout him down before he's opened his mouth.

Shut up and let the man speak.

Because The Decider says so

Our commitment in blood and dollars to the people and politicians of Iraq is open-ended because The Decider says so. This is how I heard President Bush.

Not that exposing his BS is new or fun, but it continues to be informative to read how little this man stands by what he says - ever. Last night's spin on the war seems simply to ignore what he said when he introduced his surge factor last January. The staff at Editor & Publisher has wrote about that yesterday and published it on-line. Here's an excerpt:

The president said then, "I've made it clear to the Prime Minister and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people -- and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act. The Prime Minister understands this....

"To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November. To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis. To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion of its own money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects that will create new jobs. To empower local leaders, Iraqis plan to hold provincial elections later this year. And to allow more Iraqis to re-enter their nation's political life, the government will reform de-Baathification laws, and establish a fair process for considering amendments to Iraq's constitution."

None of this happened.

War death toll is old news, but ...

Americans dying on foreign soil is old news. Day after day the count continues upward without relief or any end in sight. Most recently two men who went to Sheridan High School together died in Afghanistan. Here's the Advocate report.

Day after day and month after month, more people die. Real people with real parents, spouses, children and friends. Many thousands more are injured, maimed for life.

Yet to many of us they boil down to mere numbers and we keep it impersonal in order to avoid the horrible reality behind those numbers. We keep it impersonal so we can forget, though we know they are dying for us.

So far the CNN American death count in Iraq as of 8/27/07 stands at 3,732, of whom 157 are from Ohio and in Afghanistan 426. The number of wounded in Iraq is 27,506, of whom 1,129 are from Ohio.

Real people giving us the ultimate sacrifice. Let's not forget.

Congress is morally adjourned

July 30, 2007 - from Associated Press:

"BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's parliament adjourned Monday for an August recess without receiving from the government a series of U.S.-backed draft laws designed to promote national unity and stem support for the Sunni-led insurgency."

Also in that same report:


"The U.S. military said three soldiers had been killed in fighting in Anbar province west of Baghdad on Thursday. At least 3,651 members of the U.S. military have died since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count."


The United States has a Congress that's letting this happen because our representatives have been morally adjourned for years.

Generations of valor

Click on this link and be grateful.

Zack Space report card so far: Big Attaboy

Zack Space has been voted one of the most independent members of Congress by the non-partisan Congressional Quarterly, meaning he's likely to face off with House leaders on key issues and follow his conscience.

As he put it in his recent mailing to constituents, "Congressman Space has differed with the majority on a number of issues, including pushing for tougher national security measures, preserving gun owners' rights, and demanding tough immigration laws. Space has also taken tough, principled stands in his leadership on greater funding for stem cell research, the most sweeping ethics reform changes in the history of Congress, and lower taxes for working families."

It seems, so far, that he's not just one more political hack who has fooled voters, but is, instead, the person we thought he was.

For his thoughts on illegal immigrants, go here. If you're not among those business managers who profit from labor of criminal immigrants, you're going to like what you read.

His statement on the House floor regarding Bush's "surge" is worth your time, too. Read it here.

It also pleases me that Zack has taken it upon himself to speak directly to constituents through mailings such as the one I received this week. People need to know what he's doing for us, a job we can no longer rely on the media to perform. So he's doing it himself, and he isn't waiting until the next election to begin.

Attaboy, Zack.

Voinovich votes against bringing troops home

Ohio Senator George Voinovich failed to "put his vote where his mouth was" on the question of bringing troops home from Bush's New Vietnam.

Read the Advocate report here.

Patriotism

Here's what I believe to be an authentic account of a real incident that demonstrates the difference between our fire-cracker brand of July-4th patriotism and the kind required by people in the military. It was written by Chaplain Jim Higgins on 5/14/07. LSA Anaconda is at the Balad Airport in Iraq, north of Baghdad

I recently attended a showing of "Superman 3" here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium we use for movies as well as memorial services and other large gatherings. As is the custom back in the States, we stood and snapped to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. All was going as planned until about three-quarters of the way through the National Anthem the music stopped.

Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-22 year-olds back in the States? I imagine there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments, and everyone would sit down and call for a movie. Of course, that is, if they had stood for the National Anthem in the first place.

Here, the 1,000 Soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward. The music started again. The Soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. And again, at the same point, the music stopped.

What would you expect to happen? Even here I would imagine laughter as everyone sat down and expected the movie to start.

Here, you could have heard a pin drop. Every Soldier stood at attention.

Suddenly there was a lone voice, then a dozen, and quickly the room was filled with the voices of a thousand Soldiers

'And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?'

It was the most inspiring moment I have had here in Iraq. I wanted you to know what kind of Soldiers are serving you here.

Dems belly-up; AP smiles

Here's how Associated Press hid the Democrats when they bellied-up on Bush's Iraq war.

"WASHINGTON — Democrats may have lost their fight with President Bush over a timetable for ending the war in Iraq, but they won billions of dollars for farm aid, hurricane victims, veterans and health care for poor children."

PA-Lease. They didn't WIN anything. The federal government reels off billions of tax dollars like toilet paper. Those dollars are not "won." They are taken. Ripped off. Stolen from taxpayers. More pork, more bull crap. $17 billion in add-ons to a $120-billion war-funding bill. Still no release from a war we don't want.

And still no relief from government's grip on mainstream media.