Melissa McBeaney

Well - I finally got a picture of that elusive "donkeyphant" and her handler! Melissa McBeaney is the brainstorm of the Scheurer for Congress campaign to show the similarities between the party candidates in the 8th District.

Since both party candidates have HUGE budget...and the Scheurer campaign is cash poor, creativity is the key. McBeaney attends some of the Flash Parties that the campaign hosts to draw attention to their campaign. Both seem to be a welcome change to voters since they use fun ways to tell Bill's story rather than the attack ads and mailers so often used in elections today.

The Oak Park Peace Fair

On a cloudy Saturday afternoon, I helped table for MFSO-Chicago at the Oak Park Peace Fair. Many groups from the Chicago area had tables: Code Pink, The Green Party, several faith based Peace and Justice groups, Veterans Groups, etc. It was a bittersweet afternoon since I was finally able to meet Katy and Rosemarie in person. I have been "talking" to both for a while both on internet groups and by phone. Rosemarie's son was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq and Katy's son was severely injured in Iraq in 2005. Our good friend Georgia from MFSO Wisconsin was a featured speaker. She was instrumental in House Calling several Illinois politicians during the DC phase of Operation House Call.

This will be "it" for a couple of weeks since I am preparing to leave town for a cabin in the woods...to watch the leaves turn beautiful colors and read tons of books that I have not had time to read in several months.

A bit of fun

This weekend was a bit of fun in a very serious world.

On Sunday, I went to a concert to table the event for MFSO. I met a new MFSO friend who also "worked" the table. For the most part, we were singing to the choir...but at that particular event, the choir was pretty big indeed. The band was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young...and the featured music was Young's recent "Living with War"...although much of CSNY's older music was played as well. The song "Flags of Freedom" never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

On Labor Day Monday, I anchored a spot in a parade for "Scheurer for Congress" in the town in which I grew up. It poured for much of the time we marched in the largest Labor Day parade in the county (their billing, not mine) but that didn't dampen the spirits or enthusiasm of Team Scheurer or the crowd gathered. Our contigent featured live actor political satire...yellow umbrellas, shades of purple and just plain fun as we promoted our serious message of withdrawal from Iraq, caring for our troops when they get home, working to strenghten working families, and balancing our budget. Many damp parade goers were very responsive to our message of peace, hope and strength and interested in a candidate who presented that message with humor...and a bit of fun.

I gotta quit reading.....

I simply gotta quit reading about all of the good things that we are doing in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, for instance the headlines scream about the gloomy reports on Iraq:

The core conflict in Iraq has changed from a battle against insurgents to an increasingly bloody fight between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, creating conditions that could lead to civil war, the Pentagon said in a report on Friday.

The congressionally mandated report provided a sober assessment of Iraq over the past three months, saying overall attacks rose 24 percent to 792 per week -- highest of the war -- and daily Iraqi casualties soared 51 percent to nearly 120.

The rest of the story which has been picked up by multiple papers can be found here.

In Afghanistan the reports are equally bad:

The U.S.-backed strategy to fight Afghanistan's massive drug trade has been unsuccessful in stemming opium cultivation, which is expected to hit record levels this year, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

"It's bad news and we need to improve it," said Thomas Schweich, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international narcotics. "But we don't feel it's a hopeless situation, and we don't think the overall strategy is the wrong strategy."

The rest of the story can be found here.

And then there is the obvious fact that we still haven't caught the guy who claimed responsibility for 9/11....you all remember Osama...er what's his name again? Oh yes...

Five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the most publicized manhunt in history has drawn a blank. The CIA has dismantled its unit dedicated to finding the al-Qaida chiefs. And the American military's once-singular focus is diffused by the need for reconstruction and a growing fight against the Taliban, the resurgent Afghan Islamic movement that once hosted bin Laden.

American soldiers climbing through the forested mountains of Afghanistan's Kunar province — where in the 1980s bin Laden fought in the U.S.-backed jihad against the Soviets — still hope to catch or kill him. But they say bolstering the Afghan government is their primary mission now, amid the worst upsurge in Taliban attacks in five years.

"It is like chasing ghosts up there," said Sgt. George Williams, 37, of Watertown, N.Y., part of the Army's 10th Mountain Division pushing into untamed territory along the border with Pakistan. "Osama bin Laden is always going to be a target of ours as long as he is out there, but there are other missions: to rebuild Afghanistan and attack the militants still here."

The rest of that story can be found here.

Hmmmm and the President says I am confused about this mess? I think that is the only true thing I heard from the press reports from his speech yesterday.

Just what course are we to be staying? Civil war in Iraq? A War on Drugs complicated by a resurgence of Taleban violence? Hunting for the guy we were going to get "dead or alive" following 9/11?

What "victory" are we looking for, here Mr. President? For what noble cause have the sons and daughters of people I call friends died or been maimed for? Why is my kid sitting on some damn rock in the middle of nowhere counting down the days till a bullet or a bomb catchs up with him?

I don't know a whole lot about military affairs...and I am certainly no politician. However I can recognize a clusterf**k as well as the next guy.

Want a legacy....buy another baseball team and win the World Series. That, at least, doesn't kill people. Want to help your friends win the midterm elections...well I am not sure that is possible - all of the big business money in the world isn't going to cover up this mess. There is no electoral college in Congressional races...and Tom DeLay isn't around any more to hack for you.

Better yet, do the frogmarch out of the White House on your own...and take a flight to the Hague - turn yourself in and face up to what you have done: to your own country and to theirs. That would be accountability and require integrity, I know. Tough to take. But the unpatriotic wimps who tried to tell you fighting an idea was simply bad policy are going to have some cleaning up to do: First in the Congress....and then in the White House.

We are pissed off, motivated and ready. Bring em on, Mr. President.