Jumpstart Ford – November 12

The Ruckus Society, Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network have joined forces to call for action by “adopting a Ford dealership” on November 12.
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Green Candidates

Ken Sainhas been regularly updating a list of Greens who will be running for office in 2006 at:
Green Candidates

More on Memorial Vigil

I felt kind of “famous” yesterday.
Someone whom I had never met at the Memorial Vigil saw me taking photos and said, “Hey, I know you – I read your blog!”. Turns out she (sorry I forget “her” name!) is involved with Democracy for Utah, a local group dedicated to Supporting active citizenship and democratic ideals in Utah, and uses info from my blogs in its correspondences. Way cool!

Here is what I was able to find in local news about yesterday’s Memorial Vigil, buried beneath headlines of the White Sox winning the World Series:
Salt Lake Tribune
Deseret News

Photos of Memorial Vigil

About 125 – 150 people attended tonight’s Memorial Vigil in Salt Lake.
There were tv cameras and reporters in attendance. Channel 13 (Fox News) interviewed Tom, but they don’t have it on their website. There is nothing on any of the other tv websites either, even though at least three were there.

Photos of the Memorial vigil this evening can be viewed at:
Fallen Soldiers Memorial Vigil

Here are a few of my favorite:


Info on 2000th soldier death and vigils-Updated

There are lots of websites publishing information and events surrounding the 2000th soldier death in Iraq:

Utah Papers:
Salt Lake Tribune: Toll in Iraq reaches 2000
and A personal look at a few of the 2,000

Deseret News:Toll hits 2,000: Bush laments troop deaths but vows to finish mission.

Tom King is interviewed in the D-News Article. Also, a correction was sent to that reporter. Utah Rally for Peace did not organize tonight’s Salt Lake Rally. The organizing group is People for Peace and Justice of Utah, which organized this long before national calls were made.

American Friends Service Committee
Gold Star Families for Peace
Military Families Speak out
United for Peace and Justice

ABC talk show host deceives us into an interview

Today has been a flurry of activity surrounding the 2000th soldier death. Tom has been contacted by all sorts of media. One person called him from ABC news in Washington DC and told Tom he would be interviewing him and would appear on the Salt Lake Affiliate, KSL (a Mormon-owned broadcast company). At first Tom had reservations because of the conservative nature of this station, but figured an interview would be o.k.

It turns out that the person who interviewed Tom was Lars Larsen of the Lars Larsen Show from Portland, Oregon. He is like a Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly. (blech!)
He really laid into Tom about being unpatriotic, etc. He interrupted Tom in mid-sentence in every sentence and attacked him and defended the reasons for going to war in Iraq.Tom chose not to continue the converstation when he was put on hold during the break.

It was highly deceiving to tell someone they were being interviewed for a news program only to be criticized and ostricized by a talk show host. Very dishonest.

2,000th soldier death reported and confirmed

From Wage Peace:

The sad day that we’ve been dreading is here. Today, the Defense Department has announced the 2,000th military death in Iraq.

I want to thank you all for organizing events in your community. Together, we have more than 400 events in 49 U.S. states, which will involve thousands of people calling for an end to this war. The media has already started reporting on your work, with stories carried by Reuters, ABC News, and Yahoo! News. We are bound to change the perception of this war during this sad milestone. And we are showing that we are the majority.

Here is the plan for the “Not One More Death – Not One More Dollar” event. AFSC, in conjunction with Gold Star Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and with the support of the United for Peace and Justice Coalition, is calling for events tomorrow, Wednesday, October 26. Some of you may have other plans that work better in your community.
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Worrying

Today my 18 year old son is getting all his wisdom teeth extracted (actually as I write this he is just being administered the general anesthesia). I’m at school eating my lunch and my husband is with Brian. Just like with my 21 year old, even though Brian is almost 19, I still worry.

We did not have any kind of insurance for a number of years until about a month ago. I’m glad I have it for this event today.

Brian has always been the one child out of my three that is most susceptible to accidents and illnesses. He has been hit be a car and has had a mysterious disease that paralyzed his whole face that put him down for about a year when he was in 9th grade. So I worry about him the most when he has to go through ordeals like being put under for tooth extraction.

sigh……

I’ll update later today.

2000th soldier’s death closing in

Ken Sain has reported that 1,997 soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion there.

The Iraq casualties website reports 1,999, with 9 not being confirmed by the DOD. I have also heard that CNN has reported that Air America Radio has already reported the 2000th soldier death.

Besides being involved in the Green Party, Tom and I also volunteer for and participate with People for Peace and Justice of Utah, which has been doing outreach during the past month (ironically before UFPJ‘s call for action) for a vigil that will occur when the 2000th soldier is reported to have died. Details on that vigil are at the PPJ website and also at Progressive Utah.

Yesterday Tom was interviewed by a reporter from the Deseret News and also from a reporter from KCPW public radio in Salt Lake.

I had an earlier post containing a video about the 2000th soldier death.

Rosa Parks dies at age 92


Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a section of bus dedicated for white people only.

Article in today’s Deseret News:
Rosa Parks, civil rights pioneer, dies at 92 – has a timeline of Parks’ activities.

Some links to information on Rosa Parks:
Rosa Parks- The Woman Who Changed a Nation
Biography: Rosa Parks – Pioneer of Civil Rights
Rosa Parks – Her simple act of protest galvanized America’s civil rights revolution
The Rosa Parks Portal


AP Photo of Rosa Parks


In 1956, Rosa Parks’s arrest and the bus boycott that followed was big news

CREDIT: Associated Press Photo. “Woman Fingerprinted. Mrs. Rosa Parks, Negro Seamstress, Whose Refusal to Move to the Back of a Bus Touched Off the Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.” 1956. New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.