Rebecca called today and says she'll be gone at least one more week. In case anyone's showing up late to this party, Rebecca's on vacation. I'm her friend Elaine who's never blogged before Rebecca asked me to cover for her so if I do something wrong, don't be surprised.
You can e-mail me at common_ills@yahoo.com and C.I. will forward it. Rebecca's address is sexandpoliticsandscreeds@yahoo.com but she's not reading e-mails while she's on vacation and I don't have the password to it.
C.I. forwarded a batch of e-mails Sunday and a lot of people were wondering what it was like to help out The Third Estate Sunday Review. I'm not sure that I had much to offer but I did enjoy myself. It wasn't one of their usual all nighters so I can't speak to that. They wrapped up very early for them, according to what Ty was saying. They work very had but they have a lot of fun doing it. I was honored to be asked and hope I didn't mess things up too much.
Now I want to note something from Democracy Now! today.
Jimmy Carter: Iraq War Was "Unnecessary and Unjust"
Former President Jimmy Carter has called the Iraq war "unnecessary and unjust" and criticized the Bush administration for its handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Speaking at an international Baptist convention in Britain, Carter said, "I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A." He went on to say "I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts."
And Mike asked me to note a thing Rebecca wrote about The Common Ills awhile back.
Which leads me into the next thing. C.I. and I were on the phone and there's an article that I wasn't aware of. Lisa Sousa's "A Different Duty" from In These Times and here's a small piece of it:
"I don't like doing this. It's not something I want to do," says Aidan Delgado of his public presentations. "I feel like I have to do it."
A veteran of the Iraq war, Delgado, 23, has spoken to students, churches and peace groups across the country. "The media's not giving the full picture," he says. "Nobody's seeing the ugly side, the underside of the war, and it's something that I've seen, so I feel like I have to share it with people."
In March, Delgado participated in a daylong teach-in on military recruitment at Berkeley High School in California. Students and concerned teachers organized the event in response to the increased presence of recruiters, who are able to target high school students like never before, thanks to Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act. "There's a lot about being in the army that recruiters are not going to tell you," Delgado says.
It's a really important article so I hope you'll make some time to read it (online or in print).
"Peace Quotes" (Peace Center)
No matter how big a nation is, it is no stronger that its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise.
Marian Anderson
