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Another face of the war*It was a matter of time. Some become inured to the horrors of war; some find recourse in prayers; others in drugs and/or alcohol. For Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir, Marine Reservist in Mortuary Affairs Unit, the memories became unbearable. He reacted.....violently. There are other soldiers who are struggling with their personal demons after returning from Iraq. They need psychiatric care to help them cope. The incident in Lawrence is an urgent reminder to reach out to them before they,too, go over the edge.Daniel Cotnoir was responsible for collecting remains of fellow marines killed in action. He was selected for this duty because in civilian life he was director of a funeral home in Lawrence, MA.On August 15th Daniel Cotnoir shot into a crowd from his apartment and injured two persons. He said he feared for his family's safety. Comments Wayne World — 2005-08-18 Musafir, I have been warning people since the start of this regrettable, so called war that the soldiers that are coming home are going to be affected by the stress of combat!!But wait...these same people are becoming our police officers, neighbors, etc.

Millions of dollars to spread the word. The Lord will take care of the hungry and homeless...if they are Christians.*According to a New York Times report by Shaila Dewan, evangelical Christians have taken a page out of AOL's direct mail campaign. Christian organizations plan to mail a DVD of the 1979 movie "Jesus" to every household in certain target States.Excerpts:"However dated its production values, "Jesus" has come to be viewed by many evangelical Christians as a singularly modern tool for spreading the Gospel. It speaks, though without special effects or quick editing, to a populace fluent in Hollywood. It comes in multiple languages on one disc. It concludes with a "salvation prayer" the viewer can recite with the narrator. Its local distributors consider it so effective that millions of dollars have already been spent toward the goal of delivering a copy to every household in the United States, as if it were free trial software from America Online.""..................Over the years, the effort, which began using direct mail after Alabama, has been criticized by people who objected to Jesus' being played by a white actor, or who said the money could be better spent on the poor, or who felt that the mailings were unwelcome proselytizing. Perhaps the most vigorous objections came in 2000, when a mailing was done in Palm Beach County, Fla. Thousands of videos in heavily Jewish West Palm Beach were returned, some taped to bricks in hopes that the sender would have to pay the postage, according to news reports."While some viewers might be persuaded to embrace Jesus, other recipients of the DVDwould do what I do with the AOL software---toss it into the trash container. Comments Unknown — 2005-08-16 If I get a Jeezus tape, I'm mailing them back a tape of Caligula. musafir — 2005-08-16 Probably would do them some good. On the other hand it could cause apoplectic fits! Unknown — 2005-08-24 or some kind of fits anyway ;)

Resistance growing against "Pay, pray and obey"*Interesting developments in Boston, a city with strong tradition of faithful Catholics unquestioninly obedient to the church. A sign of the times."We've learned to say 'No' to bishops here in Boston," said Jim Post, a Boston University business school professor and president of Voice of the Faithful, a group of lay people who united because of their anger at bishops who attempted to cover up allegations of sexual abuse against priests.Boston Catholics, David Fahrenthold in The Washington Post Aug.15, 2005 Comments Unknown — 2005-08-15 Well, hallelujah and AMEN!

*There is nothing new about mothers questioning authority about wrongful deaths of their children. They demonstrated in Argentina, they marched in Israel, they protested in Northern Ireland. Now, here in America more and more parents and family members of dead soldiers are raising their voices. They are doing it because they feel driven by the need for answers. Platitudes from on high no longer suffice.Mrs. Sheehan is not alone. All of them are not standing at her side in Crawford,TX, but there are hundreds of women who support what she is doing. Some remain silent. Do they continue to believe that their loved ones died for a just cause or are there other reasons that prevent them from speaking out?This is one instance when the media has brought the spotlight on an issue that needed it. Bloggers too have played a major role in keeping Cindy Sheehan's campaign alive. Yes, there are detractors and Mrs. Sheehan is not going to achieve her objective of another face-to-face meeting with the president---the ground rules have changed and the settings are different than when she met him in the White House as part of a group.Nevertheless, what she has accomplished is nothing to be sneered at. She has made others rethink their position about Iraq. Cindy Sheehan and other mothers of dead soldiers in Iraq are part of a tradition. Whether you support them or not, they do not deserve disparagement.Why mothers push for peace BBC Aug.13, 2005Six more soldiers died in Iraq. The total: 1853Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties"Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace trainOh peace train take this country, come take me home again"---Cat Stevens, Peace Train

*Look at the picture. Young, innocent, happy. This kid should have been home thinking of girls, baseball, school and a career. He ended as cannon fodder. I know that some will say "he volunteered". But did he have the necessary training before he was sent to the war zone in Iraq? In this undated photo released by the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, shown is Nathaniel DeTample. DeTample, 19, of Bucks County,Pa., was killed in action Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005, in Iraq. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs)Casualties in Iraq: Total as of Aug.12, 2005: 1847 Comments Wayne World — 2005-08-13 Very sad and upsetting. These people need to have their photos shown!!!I know for me, when I see the actual photos of the fallen, it makes me realize even more that these people were real, ordinary, every day people!!!It could have been me, or anyone else that I have served with!! I can't understand how the military could vote for .....or support Bush if they knew that it meant that they would have to serve in combat. Charles — 2005-09-12 For 20 Ohio Marines [A Tribute from Butler, Pa.] Did you feel the wave of sympathy surging across the Pennsylvania line and out to you, the families left behind? We know. For we saw your boys here among ours, in our streets jogging, in cars, in shopping malls, in our churches, at picnics, and High School proms, and not too long ago on the Fourth as lads on Main Street watching soldiers pass, and even then they straightened when the flag unfurled. We saw them at gates embracing parents wives and families, grandparents too and friends who couldn't let go— turning then to leave with head held high, yet looking back at the ramp, one last time. Twenty, they reported, had fallen— snatched from us, from us now so far. We weep with you. For yours are ours.

An injured soldier and a bereaved mother talk about the president and his war * "One day a nurse came in to ask Rodgers if he wanted to meet President Bush, who was visiting the hospital. Rodgers declined." "I don't want anything to do with him," he explains. "My belief is that his ego is getting people killed and mutilated for no reason -- just his ego and his reputation. If we really wanted to, we could pull out of Iraq. Maybe not completely but enough that we wouldn't be losing people -- at least not at this rate. So I think he himself is responsible for quite a few American deaths." ...

*I thought of the saying "If the shoe fits, wear it"."It is not really aimed at anyone," Jagger said on the entertainment-news show's Wednesday edition. "It's not aimed, personally aimed, at President Bush. It wouldn't be called 'Sweet Neo Con' if it was."."How come you're so wrong? My sweet neo-con, where's the money gone, in the Pentagon," goes one refrain. The song also includes the line: "It's liberty for all, democracy's our style, unless you are against us, then it's prison without trial.""It is certainly very critical of certain policies of the administration, but so what! Lots of people are critical," Jagger told "Extra."Thank you, Mick Jagger but be on your best behaviour during the forthcoming U.S. tour. The authorities will look for half a chance to put you in the slammer. Comments Unknown — 2005-08-11 Goddess, I love the Stones. Mick, you'll NEVER be my beast of burden. Anonymous — 2005-10-10 I have to say this but you are being a little rough on poor old George B. You should realize that he isn't playing with a full deck and is doing the best he can to accumulate all the possible wealth for himself and his friends before he get booted out. Yes he comes first. With all this to do in such a short time how do you expect him to run a country the size of the US. Just think about it. You first have to get rid of all the pollution standards that were in place. These just cost his friends too much money. Then you have to change the laws so that his friends can export all the jobs they want to third world nations. You can really lower your labor cost doing that. Then you have to make it possible for all the Mexicans that want to come to the US to be able to just walk across the border. Another great cost cutting effort for his friends. You just can’t take the time for all that red tape. Then you have to start a war that will cause oil prices to go through the roof. Again so that his friends can make more money. I know they say that their profit margin has stayed the same but we aren’t that stupid. You see the problem is that most people that are slow in the upstairs dept. really can’t think much above their own level and he only has 8 years to accomplish all this. If he would get some decent help and keep it he might get it done. But you can’t get good people and then fire them just because they won’t say everything you tell them to say/ S you see you are being much too hard on the poor old guy. Please take it easy, OK

*There they go again---the champions of sex only between married couples, the missionary position, and Russian Roulette with pregnancy. Now the women of Wisconsin have become their target. Ever think how obsessed the Mandarins of Morality are with sex. They worry not only about unmarried people having sex, but also about married people having sex for pleasure. Makes you wonder about their colossal hang ups. Cannot be easy to cope. On the other hand, it could be just their public face. In private they probably whoopee just like normal people."College campuses have emerged as the latest battlefield in the nation’s war on women’s reproductive rights. Wisconsin has passed a bill entitled UW Birth Control Ban-AB 343. This bill prohibits University of Wisconsin campuses from prescribing, dispensing and advertising all forms of birth control and emergency contraceptives. Wisconsin State Rep. Dan LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, introduced this bill based on the belief that “dispensing birth control and emergency contraceptives leads to promiscuity.” In reality, full access to all birth control options — including emergency contraceptives — has no effect on the level of women’s promiscuity. Instead, birth control and emergency contraceptives help prevent more than 35,000 unintended births and 800,000 abortions each year"From: mndaily.comSource: You Will Anyway Comments KR — 2005-08-11 One of my best friends was at grad school at University of Wisconsin--and was raped. If emergency contraception had been available, she would not have had to have an abortion. In an imperfect world, we cannot police the morality of others, we can only try to find ways to minimize the detrimental effects. And the effects of such unenlightened policies will be reaped by the welfare system of Wisconsin. Good luck to them. Unknown — 2005-08-11 Perverse and disgusting and completely backward. What is it??? the 1950's??? Yeah, go tell those newly free, hormonally charged, young men and women on WI to forget about sex on campus and gnaw on a hunk of cheddar instead. Yeah. That'll do it. Idiots.

Rosemary Palmer and David Schroeder voice their feelings*Parents of Lance Corporal Edward August Schroeder II were interviewed by Chris Matthews on Hardball. As I read the transcript I thought that if I were in their shoes my reaction would have been no different. I understand grieving parents who are finding solace in patriotism but I would have railed against those who conned the nation into this war. None of them ever faced enemy in battle and they don't have their own children in the war zone. Now they brazenly offer platitudes about deaths of soldiers.Lance Corporal Schroeder died in Iraq on August 3, 2005. He was 23 years old. What a waste; an utterly senseless death for the hubris of a few. The views expressed by Rosemary Palmer and David Schroeder are not representative of other families who have lost their sons or daughters. In fact, as far as going public with their doubts about the war, they are among the minority.The full transcript can be accessed at : M. Kane Jeeves (Ed Naha)Anthem for Doomed YouthWhat passing-bells for these who die as cattle?- Only the monstruous anger of the guns.Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattleCan patter out their hasty orisons.No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;And bugles calling for them from sad shires.What candles may be held to speed them all?Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyesShall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918) "While is is true that the guns will effect a little useful weeding, I am furious with chagrin to think that the Minds which were to have excelled the civilization of ten thousand years are being annihilated - and bodies, the product of aeons of Natural Selection, melted down to pay for political statues."Wilfred Owen died on the Western Front on November 4,1918..... seven days before the end of World War I.

The shameful, deafening silence about civilian deaths in military action *In Iraq, insurgents are killing soldiers and civilians. Their actions are described as atrocities. Dead soldiers are lauded by us as patriots who gave their lives in a noble cause. When coalition soldiers kill insurgents they are fighting to establish democracy and root out terrorism, and when hapless civilians die during military action, they are shrugged off as "collateral damage".If they don't look like us, if they don't speak the same language, live far away some place that we have difficulty spotting on a map, and don't follow our faith then they are expendable. It is true that there are many who remain unaffected by deaths and injuries suffered by civilians in Iraq and elsewhere."When the victims are commuters in London, English-speakers carrying briefcases, we pay attention. When they're tourists in Egypt, maybe it rings a bell -- "Sharm el-Sheikh, isn't that where they have the marvelous scuba diving?" When they're Iraqis, we register the body count the way we note the record-high temperatures in the Midwest, and then we move on. Ninety-five in Chicago, imagine that. A hundred just south of Baghdad."The above is from Eugene Robinson's "Learning to Live with the Boom", The Washington Post July 26, 2005.Demonization of the UN by conservatives and claims by fundamentalist Christians that their God is the one to lead you to heaven encourage and promote such mean-spirited, insular attitude. Some politicians and preachers keep fanning the fire. Interesting that the Muslims' call to prayer include: "There is no God but Allah" and some Muslims in Islamic countries gleefully took to the streets to express support for what the terrorists did on 9/11. A common thread runs between the fundamentalists of all faiths.Latest numbers from the London-based Iraq Body Count: Minimum 23456 Maximum 26559Actions by insurgents have caused many deaths since 2004, but military actions by coalition forces account for a large part. IBC's site states: "As many as 10,000 non-combatant civilian deaths during 2003 have been reliably reported so far as a result of the US/UK-led invasion and occupation of Iraq . These reports provide figures which range between a minimum of 8,235 and a maximum of 10,079 as of Saturday 7th February 2004."