The Year of Moving Forward

The Year of Moving Forward
At our 4 person wedding reception in DC

Sunday, March 18, 2007

March Madness, and WWJD

There is no excuse for Xavier losing an 11 point lead with just a few minutes to go, and allowing Ohio State to come back and win in overtime. March Madness. And NCAA tournament with no Alabama teams. No Auburn. No Alabama. No UAB. No USA. No any other college. March Madness.

And there is no sense in going to war 4 years ago in March 2003. March Madness. Being hoodwinked by Bush and his faulty intelligence now known as manipulated intelligence. If I were running for president I could truthfully claim that I was against this war from the beginning. It was unjust. It was un-biblical. It was unprecedented. It was unnecessary. It was March Madness.

We call ourselves a civilized society, but does a truly civilized society go to war without cause? In fact, do they go to war at all? If a society is truly civilized, would they not use every means necessary to AVOID war? Apparently we are NOT a civilized society.

Monday is the 4th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Alabamians killed in Iraq: 52. Mostly young men. Dead in Iraq by State They left behind spouses, young children, and parents.

U.S. Dead in Iraq (confirmed by DOD): 3204 (on 3-17-07) Department of Defense List There are 12 more pending, maybe more by the time you read this.

Total wounded in Iraq: 23,417, or 32,544, depending on how you count. Iraq casualties Unfortunately, many, if not most of these, have had their life altered in ways we can not imagine. Some unbelievably were treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, with substandard care and under inhumane conditions. This is how we treat those who are serving their country.

(Remember, others serve their country in clandestine ways, as operatives for the CIA. And how do we honor them? By outing them? Valerie Plame could not believe that she was identified as a covert agent by her own government. But I digress.)

Peace Takes Courage

Ava Lowery is a 16 year old high school student from Mobile, AL whose web site, Peace Takes Courage, gives clear insight in to the war in Iraq and the Bush administration. Amy has been featured on CNN and her piece "WWJD" garnered death threats from Bush supporters. How ironic that those who supposedly support an effort to guarantee free speech in a foreign land by forcing democracy on a nation, would threaten to silence free speech in their own country. But one only has to recall Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks, who also received death threats after expressing their views. What kind of democracy do these people really want?

Ava’s site has received over 1 million hits a month for several of the last few months. Add a few more. She is a patriot.

Watch Ava’s montage: “WWJD

Please visit her site and explore. Really, if you can stand it, watch some of the video’s she has produced. Read the blogs. And they want to kill a 16 year old girl who wants peace. Click on “About” to read about Ava. Click on the videos to the left, under “Updates.”
Ava’s web site: http://www.peacetakescourage.com/page-home.htm


Remember, there is a candlelight vigil Monday at 5:30 at 5 Points South in Birmingham. The service members who have been lost will be honored. Options for the future will be discussed. Disclaimer: I have a midterm at 5:30 on Monday and will not be able to attend.

We can support our troops by bringing them home!


And for later:
Check out the Dixie Chicks Movie here:

http://www.dixiechicks.com/06_dcmovie.asp

2 comments:

Christine McIntosh said...

Thanks for the link, Joe - as a peace activist over here I've had my share of persecution in the past. But they won't shut protest up, and linking like this makes it even harder to do so.

Christine McIntosh said...

Hmm. Just tried the Peace Takes Courage link - it appears to be broken.