Like most of the country, I have sat by horrified and deeply saddened by the incident that took place at Ft. Hood last week. I have been further saddened by how Major Hasan has been portrayed as some fundamentalist Muslim on a religious mission of some sorts and the ensuing death threats against Muslims in the Ft. Hood area. Whatever the reasons motivating Maj. Hasan, of which I am sure there were many, none of them justify further killing or threats of any kind. Hate begets hate. If we all, or even a few of us, respond to this incident by targeting Muslims because one of them made a horrendous decision not in line with their faith, the chasm will grow and more horrible incidents will ensue. As Ghandi said, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
So, I am writing to propose a way to refocus those energies and to respond to the situation with love. Show our troops some love and get yourself educated on S.1963 - the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009. The goal of the bill is to increase mental health services to veterans. Our veterans are suffering tremendously and the VA, and the rest of the country for that matter, are woefully ill-equipped to manage the severity of the problem. We are sending these people out on multiple deployments in a war zone unlike any other before. Whatever your political take on the wars, I think we can all agree that we need to take care of our veterans. I support this bill, but encourage everyone to do their own homework on it.
If you discover you support it, please call Senator Coburn's office and ask him to remove the hold from the bill. He alone is preventing the bill from leaving committee and reaching the Senate floor for a vote. The Committee on Veterans' Affairs has a statement about it here. Senator Coburn has his rebuttal here. If you believe the bill should be supported, please call your senators and ask them to support it. If you don't know how to contact your senators, go here.
I have hesitated for some time to post this because too often well-intentioned posts about how to offer support to our troops get thread-jacked by those wanting to debate the validity of the wars. I am the daughter of a veteran who served in two wars and I am proud of my dad's service. I am also a flaming liberal who vehemently opposes the wars. If I can separate the soldier from the action, then you can, too, and I respectfully ask you to do so here. If you want to say anything hateful, discriminatory, or negative, please make your own post. I don't post publicly very often because it's easier to deal with my small community. But, our troops are part of the larger community and we ALL need to come together to support them. It isn't enough to put a ribbon on the back of your car and wear an American flag pin. The heart of our country is action and I am asking you to take some positive action today to help support our troops and turn the events at Ft. Hood into a forceful, positive response from the country in support of our combat veterans. Many thanks.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
The more I contemplate this movie, the more I dislike it. I wanted to love it. Sam Raimi is the mother frelling man when it comes to cool and movies that I enjoy - Army of Darkness = best movie ever. Drag me to hell was just not that good. The creatures were cool, as were the effects, but the movie was a no go. It was silly. It was not scary, though creepy at times. It was disappointing. I just need to watch Evil Dead for good Sam Raiminess...
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
Last night was a great game. It wasn't a well played game but for anyone who doesn't think baseball is capable of being exciting, that game could be used as example A to disprove them.
That being said, as much as I love the Twins and were pulling for them to win last night it was the Tigers, who are the more complete team, that would have had a better shot at beating the Yankees in a short series. I do think that both Pettite and Burnett are beatable though so if the Twins could somehow steal one tonight from C.C. they'd have a pretty decent chance to take this series.
I hope I am wrong, but here are my annual MLB playoff predictions:
Award Predictions: AL MVP – Joe Mauer and it won’t be close. He had it pretty easily either way but last night’s win cemented it. NL MVP – Albert Pujols will win easily too. There were some great seasons by NL first basemen but he was definitely the cream of the crop.
AL Cy Young – Zack Greinke but I am not sure why no one cares that the Cy comes from a losing team when it’s such a big deal for the MVP too. Then again, I don’t believe in pitchers winning MVPs so that is probably the difference. Greinke was the best pitcher in the AL and deserves the award based on the logic that the voters use.
NL Cy Young – Chris Carpenter had a bigger impact on his squad than anyone else in the NL from a pitching perspective and that’s why he’s going to win.
AL Rookie of the Year – Andrew Bailey
NL Rookie of the Year – Chris Coghlan
AL Manager of the Year – Mike Scioscia (Gardy will finish second)
NL Manager of the Year – Jim Tracy
I think my blog is turning into a recipe site. Oh well. I love goulash because I think there is a million different ways to make it. I feel that if it is to be a true goulash it must have noodles, hamburger and ketchup. Just my opinion.
The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.
Have a great weekend,
daisy, Team Vox
