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Iraq Accountability Act

The House passed the Iraq Accountability Act last night. The Senate is expected to pass the same legislation early later today [ed. 1:30pm cmt The Senate just passed the bill]. This is the act that will finally cause a showdown between Congress and the President. Bush has threatened to veto the act because it calls for phased withdrawal of troops beginning in October.

The Whitehouse and Republicans are using the tired meme that by setting a date for withdrawal we are sending a message of defeat to the Iraqis. The problem with that meme is that we have nothing to win or loose anymore in the area. The war has left our hands and entered into the Iraqi hands. They are in the middle of a civil war now, and we are nothing but bullseyes for target practice.

Our troops tours have been extended from 12 months to 15 months (this is how the president is initating his "surge".) Appatently there is talk to extending them to 18 months. This is happening at the same time as their traing and RnR is being cut. They are required to have at least 12 months inbetween tours. That is being cut. They are required to train during those 12 months. No, they are getting, according to Tony Snow, on the job training.

The Iraq Accountability Act takes care of these and other issues our soldiers face, and yet, our president wants to veto legislation that would do more for the troops than anything he has proposed becasue he is being taken to the woodshed.

Here is a video of Rep. Murtha explaining what is in the Act (the candidate he mentions making a joke about putting an IED under a desk is in reference to John McCain on The Daily Show the other night):

Sir Ian: On Acting

It is nice to know Sir Ian and I have the same method:

Stonehenge In The Backyard

This fellow from Flint, MI thinks he figured out how Stonehenge was created, and is proving it in his backyard. Moving and lifting multi-ton stones by himself. It is pretty darn cool.

(h/t Godgirl)

Easter

An anonymous commenter left the following poem in a previous post. It is a memorial to those freedom fighters martyred in the 1916 Easter Rising, leading to the freedom of Ireland.

As we approach the time of the Resurrection, may we remember those who are still stuck under the yolk of tyranny. May they see the light of the Resurrection, and be inspired to continue their struggles for freedom and peace.

Easter, 1916 -- WB YEATS

I HAVE met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

That woman's days were spent
In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our winged horse;
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road.
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute they change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it;
The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call;
Minute by minute they live:
The stone's in the midst of all.

Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse --
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

In The Name of Love

39 years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was martyred for the cause of love. Let us never forget him. Let us continue to work toward the Dream!


Pride (In The Name of Love)--U2

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One come he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...

Wrong Sounding Muppets

Friday humor, courtesy of Family Guy

Whipped

My goodness, I am exhaused. It has been and extremely long, yet seemingly short weekend. It seems like the last time I was at my desk was only hours ago, but those hours moved slowly.

On Friday, I got a call from my wife telling me she got a call from her mom telling her that her cousin's three children all died in a house fire early Friday morning. From that moment on things have kind of been a blur until now.

There was the initial shock of hearing such news. The stunned silence. What can I say? Words just were not there. I could not even be there with my wife. She was at work, and so was I. I wanted so much to just hold her. Let her rest in my arms. But I could not.

Saturday and Sunday went as planned, but still in the haze of the news.

Sunday night we got the news that a window of our car had been smashed in, and so we were unsure of how we were going to get to the funeral Monday. Luckily we have grace filled friends. We went to our pastors house and were invited to supper and were given the keys to thier youngests' car. It was so nice to get out of the house and just be with people. I don't think they know how much those couple of hours helped.

Monday, yesterday, we headed to Plymouth, WI to attend the funeral. 2 closed caskets and one open. Three angels in heaven. Many broken here on earth.

The whole drive to Plymouth and the drive home I was thinking about death, dying and life. I am going to attempt to put some of those thoughts down here, forgive the rambling nature of them ... these are just some of my thoughts...

On Death and Dying

My reaction to death is not necessarly one of tears or anger. It tends to be one of relief, or at least calm. I have the understanding that it happens to us all, and we are in the process of dying from the moment we exit the womb. This is a hard view to have. But since the fall, that has been our lot, and I am comfortable with that.

I believe in a life after death, and maybe that helps me in my reaction to earthly death.

I lost my dad almost 9 years ago. It was expected for a long time, but when it happened it happened over the course of 24 hours. He was diabetic and had been suffering complications from that disease for years, and we knew it would eventually take him. But he had a heart attack, and as a result of the disease no effective treatment was able to be done. Diabetes calicifies the blood vessels and as a result they are very fragile. To attemp an angioplasty or stint or other treatment would cause the vessle to burst, doing more damage than the inital attack. We had a DNR signed and allowed him to pass.

I cried and grieved at the loss of my father, but I cried and grieved more for my mom, my brother, my uncle and aunt, my grandpa and especially my grandma (parents should not have to burry their children). That was the first time I realized this.

I grieve for the survivors, for the living. After one dies, there is nothing we can do to stop that. They have moved on.

I grieve for the path surviors have to take.

I grieve because the end of a life is the beginning of a new life for those of us remaining. Some of us are able to move on and grow. Others are not. I don't know how I could grow from the loss of my three children. I cry of the mother and the father of Cheyenne, Hunter and Rae'ven.


That is ramling and incohearant, but I just needed to post. Pray for Tara, Donny, Mae and their families.

May they see the glory of the ressurection.

God's Gonna Cut You Down

From Johnny Cash's Last album...

Prayers



Elizabeth Edwards has announced that her cancer has returned. During a press conference this morning, she and her husband, John, told us the cancer had returned and was affecting her bones. She has survied breast cancer, which began to make her ill towards the end of the 2004 presidential campaign. But now the beast is in her rib.

John will continue to run for president, and Elizabeth will be with him while she is undergoing treatment. They and the doctors are extremely optimistic about the potential for treatment, as right now she is asymptomatic, so they caught the diease very early.

The tumor was discovered in a similar way to my friend Tony's was. He slipped and fell on some ice and cracked a rib this winte. Upon getting chest x-rays for his ribs, spots in his lungs were discovered. He has been treated and is doing well. Mrs. Edwards went to the hospital for a cracked rib, and they discovered something worrying on the other side.

Mrs. Edwards would make a fantastic first lady. She is part of the reason I am in the Edwards camp now. Sen. Edwards and I agree on many issues, and I think he is the real deal. Mrs. Edwards is a brilliant, compassionate, and overall lovely woman. She would be a wonderful person to be the face of the USA.

When they blog on Daily Kos (and how many time in a presidential campaign to you hear the words they when talking about a candidate and his/her spouse?), she and the Sen. both stick around and answer comments, but she will still be there long after John has had to move on.

Please pray for Mrs. Edwards. She has gone through a lot (breast cancer and the loss of their oldest son), and says they can handle this, but they can use a little boost. Send them good thoughts.

jt

Apple's Newest...The iRack

h/t Crooks and Liars

"Love thy neighbor is not a suggestion. It is a COMMAND!

Bono at the NAACP Image Awards.

Be patient...towards the end you see the Holy Spirit fill the auditorium. Amazing

Tom Waits--Lie To Me

This is a really cool video:

Respect the Veterans

Currently the VA system is severely overwhelmed. We have veteran's waiting 2 years to get a prescription for prosthetics. We have veterans whose teeth have been blown out of their head unable to get dentures becasue all 23 of the necessary forms have not been filled out.

The Drs. and nurses at Walter Reed medical center do fantastic work, but the bureaucratic nightmare for release is driving some veterans to the brink.

You can read more about the system in crisis here.

The Washington Post Story (Part 1, Part 2)

A caller on The Randi Rhodes Show had a brilliant idea of a way for us to help this problem. Our fearless leader thinks all we can do to help the country is to go shopping and pawn off the cost of this war to our grandchildren, but we can do something else. The caller's idea was for us to call upon our governors and ask them to claim our veterans currently stuck waiting release from the VA system. Have local public hospitals and private benevolent hospitals care for them, and to get students (high school, college, law school, med shcool) help them fill out the reems of paperwork. Also, on the day our veterans are due back to our state have a welcome home parade. Let them know they are not forgotten, even though an amputee was not allowed to see the president because he had no pants, only shorts (after all he has no need for slacks since he has no legs.)

Here is the email I sent to our Gov, and CC to my members of congress. Please take a similiar action. Show you care:

I am writing to ask you to claim all Illinois veterans currently stuck in the bureaucratic black hole that is currently overwhelming the VA system. I am writing to ask you to request state run hospitals and private benevolent hospitals provide state assisted pro-bono care for our veterans. I am writing to as you to provide our veterans a welcome home parade; to ask you to ask high school and college students, law students, and medical students, to volunteer to help our veterans fill out the necessary forms. I am writing to ask you to step up and help, as our VA system is currently overwhelmed.

Thank you,
Justin Thornburgh

Cc: Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn
Sen. Dick Durbin
Sen. Barak Obama
Rep. Jan Schakowsky

Go to House.gov and Senate.gov to find out your congresspersons info.

go to (your state).gov for your state's leadership contact info.

Mae and Mal

Mae
Originally uploaded by AngloBaptist.

Tripp took this...i love it!

Franken for Senate

Al is in the race in my other homeland

Awesome

ht cliff

What a wierdo!
Originally uploaded by meggomae.

I have a blog now...what else am i gonna do home alone all day...huh?

It is here at Dogster.

Teddy and Minimum Wage

Teddy Kennedy goes of on Republicans and their fillibuster by amendment of the minimum wage increase. This is a thing of beauty...whoever thought one would say that about Teddy Kennedy ;-)

"Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments until other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something! What is the price that the workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"

awards night
Originally uploaded by AngloBaptist.

To This Guy...[edit...today!].

Happy bIrthday, Tripp

Bow Down, Minions

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Imperial Majesty Justin the Infinite of Kirkby Overblow Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Debunked

In two minutes, Keith Olberman debunks everthing the president has said over the last 4 years:

Illinois Iraq Casualties
as of 4 Jan 2007
Data from True Majority

requiescat in pace
Forest Joseph Jostes Albion died April 4, 2004
Jerry A. Tharp Aledo died July 12, 2006
William R. Newgard Arlington Heights died December 29, 2006
Timothy Louis Ryan Aurora died May 19, 2003
Hector Ramos Aurora died January 26, 2005
Edwardo Lopez Jr. Aurora died October 19, 2006
Gregory R. Goodrich Bartonville died April 9, 2004
Shawn C. Edwards Bensenville died April 23, 2004
Joshua D. Palmer Blandinsville died November 8, 2004
Ryan Anthony Beaupre Bloomington died March 21, 2003
Debra A. Banaszak Bloomington died October 28, 2005
Branden P. Ramey Boone died November 8, 2004
James T. Grijalva Burbank died October 12, 2005
Andrew G. Patten Byron died December 1, 2005
Brandon Ramsey Calumet City died August 8, 2003
Benjamin K. Smith Carterville died September 22,2004
Nathaniel K. Moore Champaign died January 26, 2005
Oscar D. Vargas-Medina Chicago died May 1, 2004
Edward Smith Chicago died April 5, 2003
Ivory L. Phipps Chicago died March 17, 2004
Torry D. Harris Chicago died July 13, 2004
Sirlou C. Cuaresma Chicago died June 21, 2006
Mario J. Bievre Constantinople died June 23, 2006
Christopher E. Zimny Cook died January 31, 2005
John R. Sullivan Countryside died November 15, 2003
Kristofer C. Walker Creve Coeur died October 2, 2006
George R. Obourn Jr. Creve Coeur died October 4, 2006
Jonathan W. Collins Crystal Lake died August 8, 2004
Ron Gebur Delavan died May 13, 2006
Sean T. Cardelli Downers Grove died February 1, 2006
Thomas M. Gilbert Downers Grove died October 25, 2006
Drew M. Uhles Du Quoin diedSeptember 15,2004
Matthew D. Bush East Alton died August 8, 2003
Terry W. Ball Jr. East Peoria died August 5, 2005
Phillip E. Frank Elk Grove died April 8, 2004
John T. Olson Elk Grove Village died February 21, 2005
Adriana N. Salem Elk Grove Village died March 4, 2005
William D. Dusenbery Fairview Heights died November 15, 2003
Christopher A. Wagener Fairview Heights died July 1, 2004
Terry Lisk Fox Lake died June 26, 2006
Kyle B. Wehrly Galesburg died November 3, 2005
Brian D. Slavenas Genoa died November 2, 2003
Shawn Christopher
Dostie Granite City died December 30, 2005
Steven P. Mennemeyer Granite City died August 9, 2006
Sean P. Maher Grayslake died February 2, 2005
Geoffrey S. Morris Gurnee died April 3, 2004
Shane Mahaffee Gurnee died May 14, 2006
Ernest E. Utt Hammond died June 27, 2004
Evan Tyler James Hancock died March 24, 2003
Jeffrey R. Wallace Hoopeston died May 24, 2005
Peter J. Giannopoulos Inverness died November 11, 2004
Nicholas Brian Kleiboeker Irvington died May 13, 2003
Christopher Belchik Jersey died August 22, 2004
Brian A. Wright Keensburg died December 6, 2005
Caleb A. Lufkin Knoxville died May 25, 2006
Uday Singh Lake Forest died December 1, 2003
Paul R. Syverson III Lake Zurich died June 16, 2004
Philip John Martini Lansing died April 8, 2006
Neil D. Petsche Lena died December 21, 2004
Daniel G. Gresham Lincoln died February 24, 2005
Travis L. Patriquin Lockport died December 6, 2006
Ryan G. Carlock Macomb died September 9, 2003
Jonathan Lee Gifford Macon died March 23, 2003
Lincoln Daniel Hollinsaid Malden died April 7, 2003
Aaron C. Pickering Marion died November 10, 2004
Charles R. Lamb Martinsville/Casey died September 5, 2004
Charles L. Neeley Mattoon died August 25, 2004
Collier Edwin Barcus McHenry died July 8, 2004
Matthew A. Wyatt Millstadt died December 3, 2004
Joshua A. Terando Morris died November 10, 2005
Adam Wade Kaiser Naperville died December 1, 2005
Bradley H. Beste Naperville died August 4, 2006
Andrew R. Pokorny Naperville died June 13, 2003
David M. Caruso Naperville died November 9, 2004
Jack Taft Hennessy Naperville died October 1, 2004
Ryan J. Buckley Nokomis died June 23, 2006
Jessica L. Cawvey Normal died October 6, 2004
Christopher A. Sisson Oak Park died September 2, 2003
Kenneth L. Ridgley Olney died March 30, 2005
Joshua M. Hines Olney died October 15, 2006
Ryan Leduc Pana died September 24, 2004
Jeremy L. Ridlen Paris died May 23, 2004
Shawna M. Morrison Paris/Champaign died September 5, 2004
Torrey L. Gray Patoka died April 11, 2004
Eric P. Pearrow Peoria died November 24, 2005
Wyatt D. Eisenhauer Pinckneyville died May 19, 2005
Thomas C. Hull Princeton died August 2, 2005
Landis W. Garrison Rapids City died April 29, 2004
Miguel Carrasquillo River Grove died August 9, 2005
Jessica M. Housby Rock Island died February 9, 2005
Brandon Jacob Rowe Roscoe died March 31, 2003
Gary Rovinski Roseville died June 5, 2006
Jaime Moreno Round Lake Beach died October 13, 2004
Jakub Henryk Kowalik Schaumburg died May 12, 2003
William D. Chaney Schaumburg died May 18, 2004
Grzegorz Jakoniuk Schiller Park died November 30, 2005
Brian M. Romines Simpson died June 6, 2005
Kraig D. Foyteck Skokie died October 30, 2006
Jacob C. Palmatier Springfield died February 24, 2005
Scott Matthew Tyrrell Sterling died November 20, 2003
Ryan J. Cummings Streamwood died June 3, 2006
Jonathan S. Beatty Streator died January 27, 2005
Michael J. Sutter Tinley Park died December 26, 2003
Kevin Michael Clarke Tinley Park died February 19, 2005
Corey A. Hubbell Urbana died June 26, 2003
Christopher M. Alcozer Villa Park/DeKalb died November 19, 2005
Gary R. Harper Jr. Virden died October 9, 2005
Jeffrey A. Williams Warrenville died September 5, 2005
David L. Giaimo Waukegan died August 12, 2005
Edward G. Davis III Waukegan/Antioch died April 28, 2006
Nicholas D. Larson Wheaton died November 9, 2004
Jonathan Kyle Price Woodlawn died January 13, 2006
Donald B. Farmer Zion died December 19, 2004

What's Going On?
--lyrics by Marvin Gaye

[UPDATE: You can take action protesting this action by clicking here for a gathering in your neighborhood.
Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

Last night the President announced an escalation of troops to Iraq. Last night the President mentioned the need to possibly drag Iran and Sryia into this war. Last night the President said more need to die for this usless war.

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

This morning that escalation began by storming the Iranian embasy in Iraq. A second carrier group has been dispatched to the Persian Gulf. A Navy Admrial has been put in charge of a two front "war on terror" with two virtually landlocked countries (Afganistan totally land locked, Iraq has a small port on the Persian Gulf).

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Ah, what's going on

This President has reserved the right to REMOVE habeas corpus. This President has said he has the right to listen to our phone calls, check our email and go through our mail.

Father, father, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today

This President refuses to listen to the generals on the ground who have said more troops will not work. This President refuses to listen to the Iraq Study Group and instead of talking to Iran and Syria he has decided to confront them with force. This President has begun airstrikes in Somalia with out the knowledge or approval from congress and after discovering there is oil there.

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's going on - Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby


Those of us how believe this war is wrong have a duty to send our thought to our member of congress. Tell them to fight this man with all they have. He has no right to do these actions without the approval of the people. He is our employee and must be reminded of that.

From Larry Greenfield

Partners in the Gospel,

As American Baptists and other Christians gather this evening for prayer and Bible study, President Bush will be addressing the nation about his new plan for Iraq.

It is expected that he will announce an increase in the number of U.S. solders committed to the war and massive new expenditures for programs in that country.

As we all know, there is already great public controversy about these presidential decisions on a highly unpopular war.

I ask that you keep the President, members of Congress, and our Armed Services in your prayers this evening and in the coming days and weeks prayers that these Americans will be genuinely open to God's leading, which surely will be directing us in the ways of peace, lessening the killing and maiming and destruction, and allowing our nation's wealth to be used for meeting human need at home and around the world.

Let us also pray, as Jesus teaches us, for those who are our enemies.

And may our prayers for peace also empower us to be activists for peace in our nation, in which we the people should rule.

May the peace and power of God be with you.

In the cause of the Evangel,

Larry L. Greenfield
Executive Minister
American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago

Blood Map
Originally uploaded by CelticWander.

These red dots represent the Americans murdered by our president and his failed policies.