Thanksgiving...and after

I know that I don't talk in specifics about my son...and where he is or where he is going. He will be deployed within the next couple of months...and that is scary. His job will put him in danger since he is an infantry soldier.

However, due to some good fortune (at least to my way of thinking) he was home unexpectedly for Thanksgiving this year. My son is a drama king when it comes to travel, however. His travel arrangements never work out as planned and this trip was no exception. On the day before Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year, he arrived at the airport 10 minutes AFTER his flight was scheduled to depart, due to car problems. Since there was bad weather in various places in the US, the flight was delayed and he made it home to the most traveled airport in the country. Picking him up was a challenge.

But this year, his chair was occupied at Thanksgiving and for that I am grateful. Too many friends have chairs at their Thanksgiving tables that will be permantly empty.

It is time to bring our soldiers home.

"Cooked Hard Drives"

I have always known that stuff breaks only when you need it the most. Therefore, all I can say is when it comes to computers, back it up!

Mine broke as I worked to research information for an event to "Honor the Troops but Not the War". My talk was the "warm up" to a Gold Star Dad - whose elloquence was not in what he said - but rather in the fact that he said anything at all.

He spoke of his beautiful young son with a life yet unlived taken from his family and the young woman he planned to marry. He spoke with pride of his son's accomplishments: graduation from college, passing the certification test to become a Certified Public Accountant after first serving his country in Kosovo. He spoke of his son's last call home - making plans to leave for the US in just 12 days...but returning instead in a flag draped coffin. He spoke of the mystery surrounding his son's death...on an American airbase in the shower.

And then he told the audience why he now speaks out against the war. To honor his son's life, he believes he must "adopt" his son's comrades and become responsible for their lives. He believes that he must work to educate young people about military service and caution parents of the possibly devastating outcome.

Although he was not born in this country, he and his family have paid the ultimate price for living the American dream. He is a patriot and a friend.

2000 Dead, SCOTUS Nominee Withdraws and Scooter Lies

2000 Americans Dead....Two Parents grieving their children and honoring others at Arlington National Cemetery

On Wednesday communities from all over the US came together to mourn our fellow citizens who have been killed in Iraq. Along with the American Friends Service Committee, Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, Vets for Peace and Iraq Vets Against the War called for "Not One More Death - Not One More Dollar" for war in Iraq.

Mr. Bush, appearing in front of a group of Air Force wives in Virginia once again stated that we must "stay the course" to honor our fallen citizens. He was faced both by a demonstration outside his event as well as hecklers during his speech - one with the same theme echoed in earlier speeches.

His nominee for the Supreme Court withdrew her nomination under pressure from his own party. I guess she, like many of us, are having a difficult time seeing exactly what the course is...

And on Friday, "Scooter" Libby and the rest of the country learned that lying to the FBI and to the Grand Jury has legal and professional consequences. He was indicted in the Plame case and resigned to professional "atta-boys" from the President and Vice President. However the legal charges pan out, his willingness to lie simply shows the length the Administration will go to silence critics and protect themselves. And since official statements made before this indictment by the White House denied any involvement of Rove and Libby in the case at all, it shows that lying is an acceptable strategy to get out of tight spots and to avoid criticism: Rather like WMDS and Saddam's alleged involvement in the events of 9/11.

One thing is certain - more Americans have died and will continue to die as long as this country tolerates lying from public officials. It has already happened. The last I heard, the American death toll had risen by 12 since our vigils on Wednesday.

It is time to bring the troops home and care for them when they get here.

And the people just kept on coming...estimates ranged wildly from "more than 100,000 to 1/2 million. I only know it was more people in one place than I have ever seen take to the streets