Is Joe Biden really going to be Obama's VP?
Biden was my first choice presidential candidate, so Obama could give me a truly "Just What I Wanted" birthday gift by choosing Joe. Biden has great depth in foreign affairs that could add substance to the excitement of the ticket.
Most national-level politicians are charismatic. Sen. Biden has that quality in spades. A big thrill for my husband and me was being his guests for a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Iraq. Besides letting us chat informally with the committee members, he hustled us with him as he ran to the Senate floor, introducing us to Sens. Carl Levin, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and a number of others on the way.
[UPDATE: Nothing like have USA Today confirm that 2007 meeting by referring to us by name!www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-23-biden-profile_N.htm]
We had been corresponding with Biden on plans for the US to get out of Iraq since Sen. Sherrod Brown (then a Congressman) made the connections in the summer of 2006.
An Obama/Biden ticket would be huge!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Gas increase gives consumers bellyache
$15 million a year? I could live on that. So could many of Dominion East Ohio Gas Company customers.
By giving that salary figure for the Dominion chair, Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s aide set the mood for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) hearings on the company’s rate increase request. When the crowd of about 200 mostly silver-haired men and women heard that number, they were ready to shoot first and ask questions later.
Tim Walters, a community organizer at the May Dugan Center in Ohio City, works with low-income people. At what point, he asked, does the PUCO represent the consumer? Dominion supposedly has seen profits drop because customers have been winterizing and reducing consumption. Winterizing is expensive, people have cold homes, and still the bills rise. If the service charge is tripled, will we receive three times as much service?
Our organization, Walters said, supports people in finding money for winterization and heat bills. “If this increase goes forward, we think it’ll cost consumers over $200 a year more and it’ll wipe out the money from HEAP (Ohio Home Energy Assistance Program).”
Stephen Wertheim, of 211, First Call for Help, said their 24/7 health and human services line logged 9,700 calls two years ago and 17,000 last year for utility-related help, a 74 percent increase over two years ago. He said the organization helped 1,579 seniors aged 60 and above with utility bills. Some $2.5 million went into home energy assistance in Cuyahoga County last year. The Ohio Dept of Development, which provides the money, has said there may be less than $1.5 million this year.
Senior citizen (self-described) Mary Ryan said she kept her heat at 60 degrees and lower when she left the house. “I don’t think I should have to pay so much for so little heat.”
“This increase doesn’t hurt you $150,000 a year guys, but it hurts the people out here [in the audience],” Joe Turek declared to hearty applause.
Denise added, “What can I give you? I’d give you my son, but he just got back from Afghanistan. We’ve given enough!”
“I’m preparing to open a restaurant. It’s not open yet, and we’re only paying to heat water. Even so, we still have a bill of over $100 a month,” complained Tim of Maple Heights.
An Aurora man chimed in, “Automated meter readers should be saving the company money. If not, keep the human readers until the cost gets to the point it’d save money.”
“We had to go green,” Ralph of Garfield Heights noted. “My reward for conserving -- $8,000 in improvements – is a 36 percent increase in this request. Those who use more should pay more.”
The increase is inherently unfair, protested Mark of South Euclid. “This is Robin Hood in reverse. We’ll be penalized for putting in new windows, insulating, etc. Hard work should be rewarded. This flies in the face of what I’ve learned about life.”
Garfield Heights native Gary Smith wasn’t having any of the “negative returns” argument. “Everyone has to make a profit, but there is a difference when it comes to gouging. $15 million in salary is gouging!”
“A for-profit company shouldn’t be supplying our utilities. Utilities should be owned by the people,” insisted Jim, pointing to Dominion’s full-page Plain Dealer “propaganda” (advertisement about the rate increase) as waste.
Here’s the problem, John said. “Four of five of the PUCO officials were put there by Gov. Taft” [actually three of them were], while a fellow North Olmsted resident pointed to the American 39 to 1 ratio of executive to worker pay.
If you haven’t put in your 2 cents yet, you can send your comments to: Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Attn: Docketing Division, Case Number” 07-0829-GA-AIR, 180 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215.
By giving that salary figure for the Dominion chair, Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s aide set the mood for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) hearings on the company’s rate increase request. When the crowd of about 200 mostly silver-haired men and women heard that number, they were ready to shoot first and ask questions later.
Tim Walters, a community organizer at the May Dugan Center in Ohio City, works with low-income people. At what point, he asked, does the PUCO represent the consumer? Dominion supposedly has seen profits drop because customers have been winterizing and reducing consumption. Winterizing is expensive, people have cold homes, and still the bills rise. If the service charge is tripled, will we receive three times as much service?
Our organization, Walters said, supports people in finding money for winterization and heat bills. “If this increase goes forward, we think it’ll cost consumers over $200 a year more and it’ll wipe out the money from HEAP (Ohio Home Energy Assistance Program).”
Stephen Wertheim, of 211, First Call for Help, said their 24/7 health and human services line logged 9,700 calls two years ago and 17,000 last year for utility-related help, a 74 percent increase over two years ago. He said the organization helped 1,579 seniors aged 60 and above with utility bills. Some $2.5 million went into home energy assistance in Cuyahoga County last year. The Ohio Dept of Development, which provides the money, has said there may be less than $1.5 million this year.
Senior citizen (self-described) Mary Ryan said she kept her heat at 60 degrees and lower when she left the house. “I don’t think I should have to pay so much for so little heat.”
“This increase doesn’t hurt you $150,000 a year guys, but it hurts the people out here [in the audience],” Joe Turek declared to hearty applause.
Denise added, “What can I give you? I’d give you my son, but he just got back from Afghanistan. We’ve given enough!”
“I’m preparing to open a restaurant. It’s not open yet, and we’re only paying to heat water. Even so, we still have a bill of over $100 a month,” complained Tim of Maple Heights.
An Aurora man chimed in, “Automated meter readers should be saving the company money. If not, keep the human readers until the cost gets to the point it’d save money.”
“We had to go green,” Ralph of Garfield Heights noted. “My reward for conserving -- $8,000 in improvements – is a 36 percent increase in this request. Those who use more should pay more.”
The increase is inherently unfair, protested Mark of South Euclid. “This is Robin Hood in reverse. We’ll be penalized for putting in new windows, insulating, etc. Hard work should be rewarded. This flies in the face of what I’ve learned about life.”
Garfield Heights native Gary Smith wasn’t having any of the “negative returns” argument. “Everyone has to make a profit, but there is a difference when it comes to gouging. $15 million in salary is gouging!”
“A for-profit company shouldn’t be supplying our utilities. Utilities should be owned by the people,” insisted Jim, pointing to Dominion’s full-page Plain Dealer “propaganda” (advertisement about the rate increase) as waste.
Here’s the problem, John said. “Four of five of the PUCO officials were put there by Gov. Taft” [actually three of them were], while a fellow North Olmsted resident pointed to the American 39 to 1 ratio of executive to worker pay.
If you haven’t put in your 2 cents yet, you can send your comments to: Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Attn: Docketing Division, Case Number” 07-0829-GA-AIR, 180 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Tell Dominion what you think
Be nice now. . . .
I have to keep saying that whenever I think about mentioning Dominion East Ohio. Since I manage several Cleveland rental properties, I deal All Too Often with Dominion, and those contacts frequently end with gnashing of teeth. Does the company EVER get billing addresses or service requests straight?
Shutting off the gas at our Lorain Road campaign office turned into such an ordeal that I actually used the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as a negotiating agent. I had spent several days sitting in a cold, dark office waiting for service personnel who never knocked on the office door, just looked at the unmarked back doors and left, even though I had propped our door open. OK, my blood pressure is zooming at the very memory, so moving on . . . .
Here's your chance to get even. . . . I mean, to make your opinions known. The PUCO is having a public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday in Garfield Heights Council Chambers, 5407 Turney Rd., on the company's proposed natural gas delivery rate increase.
The flat-rate charge of $5.70 per month would be increased to $17.50 per month for each customer, but the charge for the gas used would drop a bit. That would penalize the low-users and favor high-use customers.
My husband and I had installed a geothermal furnace/air conditioner in one Cleveland residence. We've been paying about $10 a month to operate the two remaining gas fixtures; the delivery charge is generally close to or greater than the cost of the gas. Whether or not this increase passes, we plan to replace those fixtures and shut off the gas.
Not everyone can do that. Please consider speaking up.
I have to keep saying that whenever I think about mentioning Dominion East Ohio. Since I manage several Cleveland rental properties, I deal All Too Often with Dominion, and those contacts frequently end with gnashing of teeth. Does the company EVER get billing addresses or service requests straight?
Shutting off the gas at our Lorain Road campaign office turned into such an ordeal that I actually used the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as a negotiating agent. I had spent several days sitting in a cold, dark office waiting for service personnel who never knocked on the office door, just looked at the unmarked back doors and left, even though I had propped our door open. OK, my blood pressure is zooming at the very memory, so moving on . . . .
Here's your chance to get even. . . . I mean, to make your opinions known. The PUCO is having a public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday in Garfield Heights Council Chambers, 5407 Turney Rd., on the company's proposed natural gas delivery rate increase.
The flat-rate charge of $5.70 per month would be increased to $17.50 per month for each customer, but the charge for the gas used would drop a bit. That would penalize the low-users and favor high-use customers.
My husband and I had installed a geothermal furnace/air conditioner in one Cleveland residence. We've been paying about $10 a month to operate the two remaining gas fixtures; the delivery charge is generally close to or greater than the cost of the gas. Whether or not this increase passes, we plan to replace those fixtures and shut off the gas.
Not everyone can do that. Please consider speaking up.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Turning Point for Moscow?
Not all the world-wide judging going on right now is happening in Beijing. Some of it is taking place in a real world context, including the conflict between Russia and Georgia.
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware writes in Financial Times:
"Despite Russia’s overwhelming advantage in size and firepower in its conflict with Georgia, the Kremlin may have the most to lose if the fighting there continues. It is too soon to know with certainty who was responsible for the initial outbreak of violence in South Ossetia, but the war that began there is no longer about Georgia’s breakaway regions or Russian peacekeepers.
"By acting disproportionately with a full scale attack on Georgia and seeking the ouster of Georgia’s democratically elected President Mikheil Saakashvili, Moscow is jeopardizing its standing in Europe and the broader international community – and risking very real practical and political consequences.
"The historic precedents in this case should trouble the Kremlin. The Red Army’s invasion of Hungary in 1956 succeeded in putting down an anti-Soviet rebellion, but simultaneously unmasked the brutality of the Soviet regime and tarnished Moscow’s reputation around the world. Similar consequences followed Soviet interventions in Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. If Russia continues to overreach in Georgia, it might earn a small tactical victory. But it will do so at the expense of a monumental strategic defeat. . . ."
Tell me again, why wouldn't Joe Biden be a great vice presidential candidate? He could add a great deal of depth on foreign relations.
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware writes in Financial Times:
"Despite Russia’s overwhelming advantage in size and firepower in its conflict with Georgia, the Kremlin may have the most to lose if the fighting there continues. It is too soon to know with certainty who was responsible for the initial outbreak of violence in South Ossetia, but the war that began there is no longer about Georgia’s breakaway regions or Russian peacekeepers.
"By acting disproportionately with a full scale attack on Georgia and seeking the ouster of Georgia’s democratically elected President Mikheil Saakashvili, Moscow is jeopardizing its standing in Europe and the broader international community – and risking very real practical and political consequences.
"The historic precedents in this case should trouble the Kremlin. The Red Army’s invasion of Hungary in 1956 succeeded in putting down an anti-Soviet rebellion, but simultaneously unmasked the brutality of the Soviet regime and tarnished Moscow’s reputation around the world. Similar consequences followed Soviet interventions in Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. If Russia continues to overreach in Georgia, it might earn a small tactical victory. But it will do so at the expense of a monumental strategic defeat. . . ."
Tell me again, why wouldn't Joe Biden be a great vice presidential candidate? He could add a great deal of depth on foreign relations.
Spreading the Word about Bioneers
Bioneers: Biological pioneers.
Sometimes a person just doesn't know a good thing when she sees it. I grew up in one of the "greenest" environments possible. I lived on a subsistence farm, in which we grew what we ate. We had two cows, two pigs, 100 chickens, and assorted other animals off and on. Our six and a half acres were more than enough for a small orchard, red raspberry patch, and three huge truck gardens. The cows and pigs provided the fertilizer, so we didn't have to worry about chemical runoff. The pigs ate the garbage, and dad took the few tin cans to the dump once or twice a year. We dried the clothes on a line. Dad had a job in town four miles away, but the rest of us only went in once a week, on Saturdays, unless it was a medical emergency. If I wanted to see my friends, I had the choice of walking or riding my bike. And I just couldn't wait to get away from that backward existence to live in town!
Now that I live in the city, those roots keep calling me, and I turn every backyard I've ever had into a mini-farm with what I like to call a "Victorian garden." If a person can't eat something from the plant, why are we growing it? My "city boy" husband puts in flowers, but they have to compete for space with my veggies. (I will admit that the amount of swiss chard last summer was a little excessive, but the red, orange, yellow and green stalks were more colorful than most flowers.).
I've started small this summer in Bay Village, since I don't know what is permitted. The tomato plants are hidden behind the pampas grass, but I'm still considering putting in some fall greens.
That's small scale "greening."
For the larger context, the city of Cleveland is becoming one of the Great Lakes Bioneers. It's hosting several conferences this fall to connect the environment with other networks to combine structured networking to national forums for environmental innovation. Among other things, the conferences aim to go beyond green to creating sustainable cities. To me, that means promoting green industry as well as reclaiming a livable environment.
I've attached a link for your exploring pleasure. If you are one of the subscribers to this blog, I apologize for the earlier, unexplained link. I'm still trying to get the hang of the posts!
Sometimes a person just doesn't know a good thing when she sees it. I grew up in one of the "greenest" environments possible. I lived on a subsistence farm, in which we grew what we ate. We had two cows, two pigs, 100 chickens, and assorted other animals off and on. Our six and a half acres were more than enough for a small orchard, red raspberry patch, and three huge truck gardens. The cows and pigs provided the fertilizer, so we didn't have to worry about chemical runoff. The pigs ate the garbage, and dad took the few tin cans to the dump once or twice a year. We dried the clothes on a line. Dad had a job in town four miles away, but the rest of us only went in once a week, on Saturdays, unless it was a medical emergency. If I wanted to see my friends, I had the choice of walking or riding my bike. And I just couldn't wait to get away from that backward existence to live in town!
Now that I live in the city, those roots keep calling me, and I turn every backyard I've ever had into a mini-farm with what I like to call a "Victorian garden." If a person can't eat something from the plant, why are we growing it? My "city boy" husband puts in flowers, but they have to compete for space with my veggies. (I will admit that the amount of swiss chard last summer was a little excessive, but the red, orange, yellow and green stalks were more colorful than most flowers.).
I've started small this summer in Bay Village, since I don't know what is permitted. The tomato plants are hidden behind the pampas grass, but I'm still considering putting in some fall greens.
That's small scale "greening."
For the larger context, the city of Cleveland is becoming one of the Great Lakes Bioneers. It's hosting several conferences this fall to connect the environment with other networks to combine structured networking to national forums for environmental innovation. Among other things, the conferences aim to go beyond green to creating sustainable cities. To me, that means promoting green industry as well as reclaiming a livable environment.
I've attached a link for your exploring pleasure. If you are one of the subscribers to this blog, I apologize for the earlier, unexplained link. I'm still trying to get the hang of the posts!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Olympics give China "face"
China always puts on a great celebration. No matter what the occasion, you can always count on glorious fireworks and unrivaled pageantry. The Olympics opening was just another example of what the Chinese can accomplish.
The mindset there is that everyone must work together for the good of the country. The unparalleled pomp and circumstances give China “face” with the rest of the world. Anyone who would detract from that -- say the migrant workers who were asked to leave Beijing for the duration of the Olympics or the workers in the nearby pollution-producing factories which had shutdown for the month of August -- understands and makes way so the country looks good.
Americans can’t really get the concept of “face” because we totally buy into individual rights. If we don’t agree with the majority, we can speak up, no matter who it embarrasses or what the consequences. Consider the heckler at the Obama rally on Wednesday. He claimed his “rights” to disrupt a political event to make his point. (That he also claimed press “rights” while demonstrating political bias could make another column.)
According to Wikipedia, “Face refers to two separate concepts in Chinese social relations.). . . . Lian is the confidence of society in a person's moral character, while mianzi represents social perceptions of a person's prestige. For a person to maintain face is important with Chinese social relations because face translates into power and influence and affects goodwill. A loss of lian would result in a loss of trust within a social network, while a loss of mianzi would likely result in a loss of authority. To illustrate the difference, gossiping about someone stealing from a cash register would cause a loss of lian but not mianzi. Repeatedly interrupting one's boss as he is trying to speak may cause the boss a loss of mianzi but not lian.”
In China, as the old saying goes, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. Children are taught not to make waves. When we lived in that country during the mid-80s, we had some leeway because the Chinese knew we were foreigners who didn’t know any better. Our wonderful friends tried to teach us the social rules while bending some other rules to give us the best possible view of the country.
The Hankow sports school an hour away from our home was preparing champions. Everyone was expected to be very serious about the training. Fu Mingxia, a diver training there at that time, has since won four Olympic gold medals (one in Barcelona in 1992, two in 1996, and one in 2000). The coaches were Asian games champions.
The Chinese knew our daughter had been a competitive swimmer since she was tiny, so at the age of 9, she was permitted to train there several days a week. She and I made the trip into the city and back by taxi on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and we stayed at the school on Saturday nights so she could practice both weekend days. It was a big honor for her and required school officials to put themselves out on our behalf. We understood that we had to cooperate as much as possible to continue the deal.
We quickly saw that the coaches had different discipline methods than American coaches. For example, when the children misbehaved by giggling or talking when they weren’t supposed to, her coach hit them over the head with a foam kickboard.
The coach and I exchanged English for Chinese lessons and, after we had become friends, I teased him about his methods: “Big strong man hits small children.” Bewildered, he asked, “How do American coaches do it?”
Sometimes they make the kids “sit out” an exercise or two on the side of the pool, I told him.
The next time our daughter and one of her Chinese girlfriends giggled at the wrong time, the coach first looked over at me, then told the girls to sit at the end of the pool while the others swam laps. The other child started sobbing at the shame of being singled out so publicly. She had lost face (lian).
After one lap, the coach relented and told them to get back into the pool. “I couldn’t do it,” he told me afterwards. “It was too cruel.”
At that, we compromised. Since the smack was what the other children expected, he continued to whack them with the kickboard (it was light enough not to hurt anyone), but he had our daughter sit out a couple of laps if she misbehaved. That way, he didn’t lose mianzi and the children, lian.
In the Olympics context, the glorious opening ceremony gives the nation lian, while any mention of the Tiananmen protests of 1989 or the Tibetan separatist movement could affect mianzi.
In an American context, demonstrators might seize the moment and strike while the iron is hot. What could be more effective in getting something accomplished than demonstrating while the whole world is watching? In a Chinese context, however, doing so could mean the demonstrators would face dire consequences when the foreign television cameras leave.
The mindset there is that everyone must work together for the good of the country. The unparalleled pomp and circumstances give China “face” with the rest of the world. Anyone who would detract from that -- say the migrant workers who were asked to leave Beijing for the duration of the Olympics or the workers in the nearby pollution-producing factories which had shutdown for the month of August -- understands and makes way so the country looks good.
Americans can’t really get the concept of “face” because we totally buy into individual rights. If we don’t agree with the majority, we can speak up, no matter who it embarrasses or what the consequences. Consider the heckler at the Obama rally on Wednesday. He claimed his “rights” to disrupt a political event to make his point. (That he also claimed press “rights” while demonstrating political bias could make another column.)
According to Wikipedia, “Face refers to two separate concepts in Chinese social relations.). . . . Lian is the confidence of society in a person's moral character, while mianzi represents social perceptions of a person's prestige. For a person to maintain face is important with Chinese social relations because face translates into power and influence and affects goodwill. A loss of lian would result in a loss of trust within a social network, while a loss of mianzi would likely result in a loss of authority. To illustrate the difference, gossiping about someone stealing from a cash register would cause a loss of lian but not mianzi. Repeatedly interrupting one's boss as he is trying to speak may cause the boss a loss of mianzi but not lian.”
In China, as the old saying goes, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. Children are taught not to make waves. When we lived in that country during the mid-80s, we had some leeway because the Chinese knew we were foreigners who didn’t know any better. Our wonderful friends tried to teach us the social rules while bending some other rules to give us the best possible view of the country.
The Hankow sports school an hour away from our home was preparing champions. Everyone was expected to be very serious about the training. Fu Mingxia, a diver training there at that time, has since won four Olympic gold medals (one in Barcelona in 1992, two in 1996, and one in 2000). The coaches were Asian games champions.
The Chinese knew our daughter had been a competitive swimmer since she was tiny, so at the age of 9, she was permitted to train there several days a week. She and I made the trip into the city and back by taxi on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and we stayed at the school on Saturday nights so she could practice both weekend days. It was a big honor for her and required school officials to put themselves out on our behalf. We understood that we had to cooperate as much as possible to continue the deal.
We quickly saw that the coaches had different discipline methods than American coaches. For example, when the children misbehaved by giggling or talking when they weren’t supposed to, her coach hit them over the head with a foam kickboard.
The coach and I exchanged English for Chinese lessons and, after we had become friends, I teased him about his methods: “Big strong man hits small children.” Bewildered, he asked, “How do American coaches do it?”
Sometimes they make the kids “sit out” an exercise or two on the side of the pool, I told him.
The next time our daughter and one of her Chinese girlfriends giggled at the wrong time, the coach first looked over at me, then told the girls to sit at the end of the pool while the others swam laps. The other child started sobbing at the shame of being singled out so publicly. She had lost face (lian).
After one lap, the coach relented and told them to get back into the pool. “I couldn’t do it,” he told me afterwards. “It was too cruel.”
At that, we compromised. Since the smack was what the other children expected, he continued to whack them with the kickboard (it was light enough not to hurt anyone), but he had our daughter sit out a couple of laps if she misbehaved. That way, he didn’t lose mianzi and the children, lian.
In the Olympics context, the glorious opening ceremony gives the nation lian, while any mention of the Tiananmen protests of 1989 or the Tibetan separatist movement could affect mianzi.
In an American context, demonstrators might seize the moment and strike while the iron is hot. What could be more effective in getting something accomplished than demonstrating while the whole world is watching? In a Chinese context, however, doing so could mean the demonstrators would face dire consequences when the foreign television cameras leave.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Burned into our hearts
Just three years ago, Ohio Marine Reserve families were frantically calling back and forth, trying to find out which of the six men attached to the Brookpark 3/25 had been killed in Iraq.After an anxious day, we learned that the Aug. 1 fallen were snipers: Cpl Jeff Boskovitch, Seven Hills, OH; LCpl Roger D. Castleberry Jr., Austin, TX; Sgt David Coullard, Glastonbury, CT; LCpl Daniel (Nate) Deyarmin Jr., Tallmadge, OH; LCpl Brian Montgomery, Willoughby, OH; Sgt Nathaniel S. Rock, Toronto, OH.
Aug. 3, we awoke to the news that 14 men, plus a translator, had died when their transport had been blown up by an IED. Most of those men, including our son, were from the first squad, third platoon, of Lima Company, out of Columbus, OH.
The squad had earlier posed for this group picture in Iraq. Back, from left, LCpl Eric Bernholtz, Grove City, OH, LCpl Edward (Augie) Schroeder, NJ/OH, Cpl David Kreuter, Cincinnati, OH, LCpl Chris Dyer, Cincinnati, OH, LCpl William Wightman, Sabina, OH, Sgt. Justin Hoffman, Delaware, OH. Front: Living, LCpl Nicholas Bloem, Belgrade, MT, Living, LCpl Timothy Bell, West Chester, OH, LCpl Aaron Reed, Chillicothe, OH. Not shown: LCpl Michael Cifuentes, Fairfield, OH, LCpl Grant Fraser, Anchorage, AL, Spt. Bradley Harper, Dresden, OH, Cpl David (Bear) Stewart, Bogalusa, LA, and LCpl Kevin Waruinge, Tampa, FL.
(I realize that your eyes might have skipped over the names. Those names, like the men who carried them, do matter, however, to every one of their families. Especially for today, I ask you to care, too.)
So many fallen in such a short time sent shock waves through Brookpark and made this area the epicenter of attention on the human cost of the war.
Three years have passed. The level of violence in Iraq has dropped considerably, a matter that Lima Company families are thankful for, since 10 of their Reservists are in California, training to return to the battlefields in a few months. Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, in Cleveland this weekend for the national Democratic platform drafting committee, said his son is among those going back.
Iraq has been pacified to the point that even President Bush is considering a drawdown of troops. The question is, can we bring the troops home, or are we just going to send them to Afghanistan?
What, if anything, have we learned?
a million miles away from home (©2006 Bob Stewart)
”Today we stop to say goodbye to the children who fought and died Far too young, and too alone a million miles away from home . . . .
Flags are flying, they gently wave; soldiers fight on, must be brave Far too young and too alone a million miles away from home . . . .”
Listen to Bob Stewart’s CD "a million miles away from home," released on Aug. 8, 2006, the one-year anniversary of the state of Ohio's "Day of Mourning."
What got you hooked?
Our son, Augie, got too into TV when he was in middle school, so I suckered him into reading adventure novels. I chose “boy books,” adventures by Clive Cussler and Robin Cook, and dropped bombshells into the dinner conversation, such as telling particularly shocking or exciting events. “Where? Let me see,” he would beg.
“When I finish, you can read it,” I’d answer. Before he knew it, he was reading every book Cussler ever wrote.
A former English teacher turned political activist has to be forgiven occasional side trips into promoting reading. I consider reading a political issue because it is connected both to quality schools and to voters who can read and understand complex political issues.
Unfortunately, parents don’t always have the time or inclination to be the nudge who gets kids into books, but you can help. Here’s an invitation to do good and take a gasoline-free trip down Memory Lane. What book turned you on to reading? Why do you remember that one?
First Book (http://www2.firstbook.org/whatbook/) wants you to share the memory of the first book that made reading fun for you, then help get more kids hooked: Vote for the state to receive 50,000 new books for children in need. You don’t have to buy anything. Voting closes at midnight on Sept. 15.
I found the first book question through The Literacy Site (http://www.theliteracysite.com/clickToGive/home.faces)
which has a “Click to Give” feature (See the ad of the side column). If you click on a button, sponsors give a certain amount to literacy projects. You can sign up for daily reminders, and all you have to do is open the site and click on a button. Obviously the sponsors would like you to browse while you are there, but there’s no pressure.
When I was teaching in a Cleveland high school, I found an ad on the Literacy Site that led me to a paperback book series written for inner-city kids. Each book cost only $1, and the kids loved them.
There are also tabs for giving to other good causes: hunger, breast cancer, child health, rainforests, and animal rescue. Click on as many (or as few) as you want!
By the way, if you share your memory on the First Book Site, won’t you share it with us as well?
“When I finish, you can read it,” I’d answer. Before he knew it, he was reading every book Cussler ever wrote.
A former English teacher turned political activist has to be forgiven occasional side trips into promoting reading. I consider reading a political issue because it is connected both to quality schools and to voters who can read and understand complex political issues.
Unfortunately, parents don’t always have the time or inclination to be the nudge who gets kids into books, but you can help. Here’s an invitation to do good and take a gasoline-free trip down Memory Lane. What book turned you on to reading? Why do you remember that one?
First Book (http://www2.firstbook.org/whatbook/) wants you to share the memory of the first book that made reading fun for you, then help get more kids hooked: Vote for the state to receive 50,000 new books for children in need. You don’t have to buy anything. Voting closes at midnight on Sept. 15.
I found the first book question through The Literacy Site (http://www.theliteracysite.com/clickToGive/home.faces)
which has a “Click to Give” feature (See the ad of the side column). If you click on a button, sponsors give a certain amount to literacy projects. You can sign up for daily reminders, and all you have to do is open the site and click on a button. Obviously the sponsors would like you to browse while you are there, but there’s no pressure.
When I was teaching in a Cleveland high school, I found an ad on the Literacy Site that led me to a paperback book series written for inner-city kids. Each book cost only $1, and the kids loved them.
There are also tabs for giving to other good causes: hunger, breast cancer, child health, rainforests, and animal rescue. Click on as many (or as few) as you want!
By the way, if you share your memory on the First Book Site, won’t you share it with us as well?
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