Okay, nonstop problems with the computer today. C.I. had the worst, dictated a post to a friend, it didn't make it to the blog (e-mailed) and C.I. finds out when we're doing a late lunch, whips out the laptop and starts having Blogger/Blogspot problems. C.I. finally gets something together and then Blogger/Blogspot is down so it was just a crazy day. And it continued -- what's up with Explorer? Everytime I open it shuts down, same with everybody here. I don't like to use mozilla for posting because copying & pasting is a problem.
This'll bore all but the techies (and they'll laugh at my attempts to describe it). You have two options when you're trying to write a post: "Compose" and "Edit." If you use "Edit," anything you copy with links in it will end up having the links disappear. If you use "Compose," the links will be there. Does that make sense? But in Mozilla, forget about using "Compose" because copy & paste doesn't work in "Compose" with Mozilla. I mentioned that to C.I. when I was about to give up on Blogging tonight and ended up getting a useful tip (handed on from UK Computer Gurus) which is use shift-insert. That will paste anything you copy into a "Compose" screen in Mozilla.
Rebecca's blogging and I'm blogging and I don't know who else will. But that's what's going on tonight. We're all unable to use Explorer and there are probably half a dozen other problems as well.
Okay, Rebecca just slid something over to me to note too. This is from CODEPINK:
Diplomacy can work. We can choose peace, and we are. Toward this end, CODEPINK is taking to the streets to spread the Declaration of Peace.
The Declaration of Peace is a nationwide campaign to establish a concrete and rapid plan for peace in Iraq. From September 21-28, we will take part in nonviolent action, marches, rallies, demonstrations, interfaith services, candlelight vigils and other inspired ways to declare peace at the US Capitol and in cities and towns across the US. Join CODEPINK for a week of creative and outrageous action in Washington DC, including an Arms are for Hugging "Hug In" at Congress.
Local CODEPINK groups are also taking action in communities from New York City to Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco to Boulder. To join an action in your area, or to get info about planning one, click here.
This week, Yoko Ono, Kate Hudson and Samuel L. Jackson signed on to our Give Peace a Vote campaign. Have you? Consider becoming one of our 1000 Peacemakers who are getting 100 others to vote for peace. And pass on John Stauber's flash video from his new book, The Best War Ever, to encourage voters for peace.
As John Lennon and Yoko Ono said so beautifully, "WAR IS OVER, if we want it."
Declaring peace and gratitude,
Andrea, Anedra, Dana, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Laura, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Patricia, Rae, Samantha, and Sonia
Peace, to reuse one of Bush's phrases, is on the march. Positive signs of change are everywhere we turn.
- In anti-war candidates gaining support from the American public.
- In 102 Iraqi Parliamentarians asking for a fixed timetable for the withdrawal of US troops.
- In the efforts of the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency to find negotiated solutions in Iran.
- In the Israeli/Lebanese ceasefire, monitored by international peacekeepers.
- In the growing grassroots campaign to deploy UN peacekeepers in Darfur.
Diplomacy can work. We can choose peace, and we are. Toward this end, CODEPINK is taking to the streets to spread the Declaration of Peace.
The Declaration of Peace is a nationwide campaign to establish a concrete and rapid plan for peace in Iraq. From September 21-28, we will take part in nonviolent action, marches, rallies, demonstrations, interfaith services, candlelight vigils and other inspired ways to declare peace at the US Capitol and in cities and towns across the US. Join CODEPINK for a week of creative and outrageous action in Washington DC, including an Arms are for Hugging "Hug In" at Congress.
Local CODEPINK groups are also taking action in communities from New York City to Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco to Boulder. To join an action in your area, or to get info about planning one, click here.
This week, Yoko Ono, Kate Hudson and Samuel L. Jackson signed on to our Give Peace a Vote campaign. Have you? Consider becoming one of our 1000 Peacemakers who are getting 100 others to vote for peace. And pass on John Stauber's flash video from his new book, The Best War Ever, to encourage voters for peace.
As John Lennon and Yoko Ono said so beautifully, "WAR IS OVER, if we want it."
Declaring peace and gratitude,
Andrea, Anedra, Dana, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Laura, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Patricia, Rae, Samantha, and Sonia
Be sure to read C.I.'s "NYT: 5,106 dead in Baghdad during July & August (Richard A. Oppel)" which we were all going, "Put this in!" and "Talk about that!" We probably gave C.I. a huge headache. :D And let me add to the issue of peace coverage that Democracy When observed International Peace Day by . . . nothing. They didn't do any reports on peace activities planned or that had taken place, they didn't do anything on peace activists. Democracy When?
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:"To be the last to leave, the last to be gone, stolen from the ones who hung on to it" ("Fireflies," written by Stevie Nicks, available on Fleetwood Mac Live).
The BBC reports that Manfred Nowak (anti-torture expert for the United Nations and Austrian law professor) has stated that torture is not only on the rise in Iraq but it may be happening more frequently than when Saddam Huseein was in power. Nowak's statements were based on a UN report which found that "Victims come from prisons run by US-led multinational forces as well as by the ministries of interior and defence and private militias".
This as Reuters notes: "The Sunni religious organisation, the Muslim Scholars Association, accused unnamed militia and government forces of killing five people in the village of al-Intsar, on the northeastern outskirts of Baghdad late on Wednesday. The group said others were kidnapped and houses burned."
Richard A. Oppel Jr. (New York Times) reported today, in Baghdad alone, at least "5,106 people . . . died violent deathd during July and August". Which is no doubt why, as reported by Sudarsan Raghavan's (Washington Post), The Giddiest Gabor in the Green Zone, William Caldwell IV, US military spokesperson, announced the obvious, after the UN had, that there was "a spike in execution-style murders" and "many bodies found had clear signs of being bound, tortured and executed." Way to stay ahead of the curve, but then he wouldn't look like the third guest, the loopy, bra-less one, if he couldn't state the obvious long after it had already been noted, would he?
Meanwhile Reuters reports that at least 38 corpses were discovered in Baghdad with most bearing signs of torture. Bombings? Reuters reports that a rocket attack on a home in Baghdad killed four and left five wounded, while bombs killed eight in Baghdad and left eighteen wounded and, in Diwaniya, a roadside bomb took the lives of two Iraq soldiers. Shootings? Reuters reports 3 shot dead in Kerbala and three police officers in Baquba. In a combination of the two (mortar attack, followed by gunfire) AP reports the deaths of six Iraqi police officers when their Baghdad police station was attacked.
AFP reports that the so-called coalition of the willing continues to suffer from shrinkage as Italy hands over Dhi Qar to Iraqi forces and, low and behold, there are no reports the Italy's actions "embolden" terrorism or that their action prevents "democracy." Quite the contrary, a US military press release credited to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George W. Casey Jr.
maintains that the handover and Italy's withdrawal predicated on the handover is "another sign of progress." Progress is possible, apparently, for all but the U.S. and England. Reuters identifies Italy as "the last major Western European ally" for England and the US and notes that an Italian soldier died just "hours" before the handover raising the total number of Italian soldiers who died in the war to 32.
The US military fatality count continues to rise and the US military announced today that a US soldier died in Baghdad Wednesday from a roadside bomb while today a soldier died from wounds received while fighting in al Anbar province. The announcements come as the US military fatality count is at 2,693 (seven away from the 2700 mark) and as the AP reports questions remain in another Wednesday US military death in Baghdad ("Sgt. 1st Class Charles Jason Jones, 29, of Lawrenceburg", Kentucky ) which is currently classified as due to "non combat-related causes".
"Suicide bombers" and "suicide car bombers"? The AP reports that term is far from precise and that the Iraqi Defense Ministry issued a warning today based upon the fact that people are being kidnapped, released and then used as unknowing bombers via remote control from devices planted on them or their vehicles.
In peace news, Sue Anne Pressley Montes (Washington Post) reports "A group of ministers, veterans and peace activists attempted to deliver a 'declaration of peace' to the White House today, kicking off a week of vigils and other activities in 350 communities across the country calling for the prompt withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq" and "The day's activities also featured vigils for peace in dozens of cities and towns, including Little Rock, Ark.; Tucson, Ariz.; Pasadena, Ca.; Miami, Fla.; Decatur, Ga.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Austin, Tex. In San Diego Friday, there will be a Dance Action for Peace; on Saturday in Cincinnati, a Peace Tent City will be erected. San Francisco is hosting a mass bicycle ride to protest the conflict, and Madison, Wisc., is holding community forums on the issue." The Declaration of Peace site contains a
Vigils Calendar that will help you find events in your area as well as more information.
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
mikey likes it
the common ills
iraq
the new york times
richard a. oppel
the washington post
sudarsan raghavan
sue anne pressley montes
declaration of peace
stevie nicks
fireflies
fleetwood mac
