poor c.i. immersed in the entry on the church committee yet again tonight. c.i. had five friends read it, 3 who weren't alive at the time and two who lived through it and were targeted. 'what's missing, what's not here?' was the feedback c.i. wanted.
the consensus was it was too factual. 'leave the dry report and offer up more commentary and more examples' was the most repeated suggestion. so c.i.'s reworking the thing and i'm calling every hour to ask how it's going. c.i. will read me a passage and ask, 'can you follow? are you outraged?' and if i'm not outraged or if i can't follow, i'm tempted to say 'sure' just because i know how much work has been put into it. but c.i.'s bullshit detector is too strong for me to get away with that if i wanted to.
i just got off the phone before i logged in here and since the last hour when i'd called, c.i. had scrapped the entire opening and created a new 1. it's more powerful but, as i pointed out, 'you know you are going to have to get some sleep tonight.' last night, working on that entry, resulted in 2 hours of sleep for c.i. i'll point that out when i call back later. c.i. sound exhausted so i'm guessing there will be a point of crashing in a few hours anyway.
let me note that amy goodman and democracy now have gone to qatar to broadcast. i've really enjoyed the last two broadcasts and look forward to more tomorrow. i hope you're watching. (or listening, or reading the transcripts, but i watch it on tv.)
another thing i want to note, that c.i. and elaine have already noted, is that england's passed their milestone of 100 troops killed in iraq. some may look at that figure and think, 'it's not as big as ours!' it's not a competition. this is serious and rallies have already been staged and will continue to be staged. british members of the community will tell you that, for their country, this is similar to our outrage and activism when the united states reached the 2,000 mark.
my sympathies and thoughts are with gareth, polly, pru, james and the other british members of the community as well as with those fighting across the atlantic to stop this illegal war. in the tragic death toll may they find the strength for more activism, more speaking out.
no 1 should have died in this illegal war. after awhile, you start to wonder what it takes to wake up those who live in a self-induced coma? i have no idea. maybe numbers do?
and let me applaud england because their protests have been lively and full from the start. we had a clampdown on ours from some on the left following the 2004 election but, thankfully, many chose to ignore the clampdown in march of 2005 and, thankfully, cindy sheehen showed up in the summer of protest to add new life to the movement.
i'll make mike smile and sleep peaceful tonight by noting 2 headlines from democracy now.
World Can't Wait Protesters Arrested in North Carolina
And in Greensboro, North Carolina, seven protesters are facing charges after being arrested Tuesday night during a State of the Union protest. The protesters reportedly got into an altercation with an undercover police officer who was photographing protesters. The Greensboro demonstration was one of 68 protests held around the country Tuesday night calling on Bush to step down. The main group behind the protests -- World Can't Wait -- is also organizing a protest on Saturday in Washington.
protest saturday in d.c. if you're in the area or can get there. the police sure do love to crack down on peaceful protesters, don't they?
Capitol Police Apologize, Drop Charges Over Sheehan Arrest
One day after Cindy Sheehan was arrested for wearing an anti-war T-shirt to President Bush's State of The Union address, Capitol police have dropped her charges and apologized. Sheehan, whose son Casey died in combat in Iraq in April 2004, was removed from the House gallery Tuesday night after unveiling a T-shirt that read: "2,245 dead and how many more?" -- a reference to the number of US service members killed in Iraq. In a statement, Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said Sheehan should not have been arrested. President Bush began his speech shortly after she was removed.
after you stop someone's free speech, a lame apology of it shouldn't have happened makes up for nothing. terrance gainer needs to figure out how to prevent it from happening again and that's what the press should be asking him. 'what steps are you taking to protect the free speech of americans?' wait and see if any 1 asks that.
by the way, did you catch entertainment tonight and their story about angelina jolie's 'emotional journey'? oh wait, that wasn't entertainment tonight, that was nightline. it's hard to distinguish between the 2. just like it's hard to think of cynthia mcfadden as a reporter.
