In 1856, the Republican Party met for the first time to put together a platform

http://alpha.furman.edu/~benso…

and ready itself for the first presidential run.  Chicago was chosen for the first convention.   The convention was held at the Wigwam,



a wooden structure built expressly for the convention.  The Republican Party appointed delegates at the state level.  These people were chosen to determine the best candidate to represent the party in the general election.

Cross posted at EENR

This convention was called to order May 16, 1861 before the “largest, most brilliant, and most enthusiastic party gathering yet seen in the country”.(Allan Nevins, historian).  Governor Morgan of Illinois began with…guess what…you got it, an attack on the Democratic Party.  The evil Democratic Party, among other nefarious things “which, if done directly would bring a blush even to the cheek of modern democracy” (Governor Morgan, in opening speech), was mounting an attempt to amend the constitution to insert a slave code.  Yes, Virginia, the Republican Party was once the party dedicated to humanity and decency.  

Let us pause for a moment and look at Abraham Lincoln.  

About his lawyering ability:

“The idea that Mr. Lincoln was a great lawyer in the higher courts and a good nisi prius lawyer, and yet that a child or student could manage a case in court better than he, seems strangely inconsistent, but the facts of his life as a lawyer will reconcile this and other apparent contradictions,” maintained partner William H. Herndon. “I easily realized that Lincoln was strikingly deficient in the technical rules of the law. Although he was constantly reminding young legal aspirants to study and ‘work, work,’ yet I doubt if he ever read a single elementary law book through in his life. In fact, I may truthfully say, I never knew him to read through a law book of any kind. Practically, he knew nothing of the rules of evidence, of pleading, or practice, as laid down in the text-books, and seemed to care nothing about them. He had a keen sense of justice and struggled for it, throwing aside forms, methods, and rules, until it appeared pure as a ray of light flashing through a fog-bank.”

About his future in politics:

The polls had barely closed on the 1858 election when Jeriah Bonham wrote an editorial for the Illinois Gazette predicting the candidates for the 1860 presidential nomination: “Douglas will lead the cohorts of slavery. Lincoln should lead the hosts of freedom in this ‘irrepressible conflict.’ Who has earned the proud position as well as he? as he is in himself the embodiment and exponent of our free institutions.

Does this sound familiar?

Abraham Lincoln nurtured his 1860 presidential candidacy while politely denigrating it. During 1859, Mr. Lincoln was simply one of many Republicans who were mentioned as a possible alternative to the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination: New York Senator William H. Seward. But several actions occurred in 1859 and early 1860 which helped advance Mr. Lincoln’s chances. The first was the selection of Chicago as the site of the Republican convention – a decision shrewdly engineered by the Illinois Republican chairman Norman B. Judd to give Mr. Lincoln the home court advantage. The second was reaction to Mr. Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech in February 1860 – which thrilled Northeastern Republicans unacquainted with this western lawyer and his unique approach to discussing national issues.

Republicans who sought an alternative to Senator Seward had a new option. Presenting his case for why he should allow his name to be promoted as a Republican presidential candidate in 1860, friend Jesse W. Fell argued: “What the Republican party wants, to insure success in 1860, is a man of popular origin, of acknowledged ability, committed against slavery aggressions, who has no record to defend, and no radicalism of an offensive character….”

Back to our story.  

The Republican Party was jubilant as it went with great national approval to their first convention.  The brave anti-slavery stance had made them popular with the northern states, which had the greatest voting populations.  William Seward, a New York lawyer and statesman,

promoted progressive political policies including prison reform and increased spending on education. This included the idea of schools for immigrants taught in their own language.  But this was not the least of his radicalisms.

In 1848 Seward entered the Senate and over the next few years emerged as the leader of the anti-slavery wing of the Whig Party. An opponent of the Fugitive Slave Act, he defended runaway slaves in court. In 1850 Seward claimed in a speech that if slavery was not abolished America would become embroiled in a civil war. He continued to argue this point of view over the next ten years.

Going into the Republican convention, Seward made an error in campaigning.  He began to move to the center, softening his views on slavery in an effort to gain the nomination.  This had the usual ugly result of adding people who questioned his honesty to the batch who feared his radical stance that black men should not only be free, but have the right to vote.  

Lincoln fast emerged as the true centrist, unifying candidate in many people’s eyes.  He speechified that slavery should not be “decided by violence, but by the ballot box,” on the day John Brown was executed in Kansas.  His road tour was often met with so many people that they had to move his speaking sites.   Lincoln publicly called for peace with the south and asked for patience and faith in the system to work out the slavery issue.

The convention drew delegates from 24 states.  A Texas delegate arrived (yea, Texas!), but its origins were disputed and they were not allowed to join in.  

The largest delegation of 70 men was from New York and unofficially led by Sewards political manager, Thurlow Weed, who was certain Seward would gain the nomination.  Horace Greely led the anti-Seward forces, but even he thought Seward was the sure bet.   Lincoln had David Davis, a trusted friend and Norman Judd as his representatives.  Neither Seward or Lincoln attended the convention as that was viewed as ‘unseemly’.

Weed plied the delegates with champagne and promises of ‘oceans of money’ to follow them home once the nomination was secured.  Davis and Judd worked the anti-Seward factions quietly.  Seward marched his group of followers to the Wigwam on the third day behind a uniformed brass band.  They walked to streets to the tune, “Isn’t he a Darling.”  When they arrived at the Wigwam, they found themselves outfoxed by Lincoln and his gathered allies.  Counterfeit tickets to the convention had been printed up and distributed.  The gallery was already filled with noisy Lincoln supporters before the Seward followers hit the front door with their properly attained tickets.   No one will ever know how much difference the crowd made who cheered and stomped the gallery floor every time Lincoln’s name was uttered.  

The first vote was 173 for Seward and 107 for Lincoln.  On the second ballot, Vermont was the first state to begin the defection with 4 votes switching to Lincoln.  It was a vote here, a couple there, but the way was becoming clear.  The final tally on the second vote:  Seward 184, Lincoln 181.  

A hush fell over the great hall.  Lincoln’s numbers continued to increase.   At the end of the third vote, Lincoln had 231 and ½ votes.  Note sure how the heck he got a half vote, but people, these fine tales do not have to be made up.  They are the gospel.  Lincoln was 1 ½ short the needed votes to take it home.  All eyes turned to D. K. Carter of Ohio (later a great representative and senator for Montana) who stuttered, “I- I rise, Mr Chairman, to a-anounce the ch-change of four votes, from Mr. Chase to Abraham Lincoln!”  The cheering crowd within the Wigwam was so deafening that the only way people could tell that cannons were being fired outside was from seeing the smoke drifting from the barrels.

Seward went on to become Lincoln’s secretary of state.  The civil war was to be inevitable.  Would it have come quicker had Seward gained the nomination and the presidency?  No one knows.  One never knows what the future might bring when selecting a leader.  But the shenanigans of the primary were quickly forgotten and the America moved on to a piece of history even the centrist Lincoln could not stave off.  

As Kurt would say, so it goes.



Want to learn more?

http://www.chicagohs.org/histo…

http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T…

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet…

http://www.abrahamlincolnsclas…

On Sunday, 3-9-08, a fundraiser was held at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach for Iraq veterans eager to talk about the war they saw; a war rife with death, anger, courage and lies. The fundraisers intent was to help defray the costs needed to send the same vets to speak in Washington D.C. at Winter Soldier II, to be held from Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16, prior to that  The District Weekly of Long Beach asked several of them to tell them their stories.

Below you will find some snips about each and what they had to say, with the link above taking you to the rest.

“IT’S BEYOND ME” | SPECIALIST WENDY BARRANCO, COMBAT MEDIC | ARMY

Wendy Barranco was 19 when she served as an anesthesia technician at a Tikrit field hospital-from October 2005 to July 2006. She was just out of high school, like so many of her patients, including the first one she saw die.

Now she is 22, a full-time student and anti-war activist

Barranco still sounds young, with the sleepy voice of a teenager. She’s deferential, too-true to her military training-and wonderfully patient as she spells out every acronym and explains every bit of army shorthand. Her poise falters occasionally: When describing three badly burned Iraqis, she suddenly stops speaking, pausing for a full 12 seconds to steady herself. And certain aspects of the military experience are so ludicrous as to absolutely require the strongest of obscenities.

There are also moments of emotional disconnect: She talks about a “guy” with a chronically infected leg, but it soon becomes clear that she is speaking of a child who may be as young as eight.

With all of this in mind, I thank her for her time and willingness to engage in a conversation that must be very difficult-either because the stories are so gruesome and terrible, or because frequent retellings have rendered the subject so tiresome that she feels as if she’s going to go out of her mind if she has to go over it one more time. “Both,” she says.

“HOW WOULD I BE ABLE TO LOOK MYSELF IN THE MIRROR?” | SGT. JASON LEMIEUX | MARINES

“I got to Marine Corps boot camp in Parris Island, South Carolina, on Sept. 10, 2001. Boot camp is a media blackout so we didn’t realize the gravity of what was going on. The drill instructor told us the country had just been attacked by terrorists. But for all we knew he could have been exaggerating to scare us into submission.

“My first deployment was to Kuwait on Jan. 21, 2003, in preparation for the invasion. I was part of a huge boot drop. That’s not official terminology-boot drop-but it’s what they call dropping fresh infantry school graduates straight into combat. Our boot drop comprised 50 percent of the manpower of the unit we were joining. Normally they wouldn’t put so many fresh, inexperienced soldiers together in combat, but that’s the way they’re doing it in this war. I invaded Iraq on March 21, 2003, and went all the way to Baghdad. Most of the units we were supposed to attack fled when they found out we were coming. After the invasion we moved down to Karbala, the safest city in the country at the time. We supported the local businesses with our money, and were welcomed for our ability to maintain order. I came home in September.

“My second deployment was to Husaybah, from February to September of 2004. It was a meat grinder, incredibly violent, a whole different world than the Iraq I had left five months before.

“I SWORE TO THE HOLY FAMILY” | SPEC. EDGAR CUEVAS | ARMY

Edgar Cuevas hated the Iraq war long before he landed in Tikrit where, 24 hours into his first Iraq assignment, he watched medics haul in two soldiers injured in a roadside bombing.

“From the beginning of the war, I was like, ‘Why are we even invading?’ There was no connection between Iraq and 9/11,” Cuevas says.

He grew up in Burbank, joining the Army out of high school, in January 2001.”At that time I didn’t think we’d be in a war, so I thought it was good timing,” he says.

The Army sent Specialist Cuevas to Schweinfurt, with tours in the Balkans-“police actions,” he calls them. “Both the Serbs and Albanians were really happy we were there,” he says. “We helped them and they helped us. Nothing there made me say, ‘I don’t like this, I want to get out.'”

Then, in Nov. 2003, just 12 days from the end of his service, the Army hit Cuevas and thousands of other military men and women with a stop-loss order.

“If you remember the election of 2004, John Kerry was talking about the ‘backdoor draft.’

“WE DON’T GO ANYWHERE” | SGT. JABBAR MAGRUDER | ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

“I joined the Army National Guard in 2000. I was a high school kid who wanted to learn a trade while serving my country. The day of September 11, I called my National Guard unit and asked them, ‘Are we going to get involved, are we going to go anywhere?’ And they told me, ‘We’re the National Guard. We don’t go anywhere.’

Visit The District Weekly to Read the Rest of the interviews.

The Sunday Times Magazine, March 1, 2008 The veterans are not against the military and seek not to indict it – instead they seek to shine a light on the bigger picture: that the Abu Ghraib prison regime and the Haditha massacre of innocent Iraqis are not isolated incidents perpetrated by “bad seeds” as the military suggests, but evidence of an endemic problem. They will say they were tasked to do terrible things and point the finger up the chain of command, which ignores, diminishes or covers up routine abuse and atrocities.

Some see it as their responsibility to speak out – like Jason Washburn, a US marine who did three tours in Iraq; Logan Laituri, a US Army forward observer in Iraq; and Perry O’Brien, an army medic deployed to Afghanistan in 2003. They believe that, as veterans, they are the most credible sources of information. They say they were put in immoral and often illegal positions. They will speak about what they saw, and what they were asked to do.

Read the article from the London Sunday Times

Winter Soldiers march to Valley Forge

Dozens of members of IVAW participated in a 25-mile march in Philadelphia from March 1-2, starting at the Constitution Center and ending at Valley Forge. In spirit, Valley Forge is the first Winter Soldier event. “230 years ago, a group of soldiers gathered at Valley Forge to stand up against oppression on behalf of their people. And we aim to do the same here today,” said Steve Mortillo, president of the Philadelphia chapter of IVAW and former Calvary Scout in Iraq.

Read the Philadelphia Daily News’ coverage of the Valley Forge March

Iraq Veterans Against The War-Winter Soldier

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.

The four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan – and present video and photographic evidence. In addition, there will be panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists to give context to the testimony. These panels will cover everything from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for veterans’ health benefits and support.

When: Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16

For those interested in watching or organizing around the proceedings at Winter Soldier, there will be a number of ways to watch and listen to the event.

**Live television broadcast via satellite tv, accessible through Dish Network as well as public access stations that choose to carry our broadcast – Friday and Saturday only

**Live video stream on the web – Thursday through Sunday { no site url given, as yet, on this video stream }

**Live radio broadcast via KPFA in Berkley California and other Pacifica member stations – Friday through Sunday

**Live audio stream via KPFA’s website – Friday through Sunday

Please return to the IVAW website for specific details in the coming weeks.

You can find out more at the IVAW – Winter Soldier – Site, on the left you will find links to the needed information, as well as some embedded links in page text.

Winter Soldier Preview – Blip TV

Well, here is another GREAT idea from the Bush Administration.  They are going to be sending out letters through the IRS to Americans to remind them of the tax rebates that will begin being mailed in May of this year. Surely they could speak to someone like goodservicetax.com instead to learn about this?

It will only cost $42 million of our tax dollars to send these little love letters!  Just a drop in the bucket in BushWorld.

From CNN:

At a cost of nearly $42 million, the IRS wants you to know: Your check is almost in the mail.

The Internal Revenue Service is spending the money on letters to alert taxpayers to expect rebate checks as part of the economic stimulus plan.

The notices are going out this month to an estimated 130 million households who filed returns for the 2006 tax year, at a cost $41.8 million, IRS spokesman John Lipold confirmed.

That works out to about 32 cents to print, process and mail each letter. It doesn’t include the tab for another round of mailings planned for those who didn’t file tax returns last year but may still qualify for a rebate.

You know, it would seem to me that with our National debt now in the trillions, the illegal war being waged in Iraq costing billions per day, 40-some million Americans without health insurance, poverty levels rising all over the country and people losing their homes to foreclosure due to bad lending practices, BushCo could find a better way to spend that 42 million.  It seems others feel the same as I do.

Democrats accused the Bush administration of wasting time and postage.

“There are countless better uses for $42 million than a self-congratulatory mailer that gives the president a pat on the back for an idea that wasn’t even his,” Sen. Charles Schumer said Friday.

Thats right, Chuck!  You get a cookie.  This time.

Here is the basic idea of what the Egotistical-Megalomaniac-In-Chief has the IRS sending to YOU and I:

“Dear Taxpayer,” the letters will begin, going on to say the IRS is pleased to inform the recipient that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law a plan that will provide payments of up to $600 for individuals who qualify or $1,200 for married couples filing jointly. The rebates are the centerpiece of a $168 billion economic stimulus package.

Note that there will be some heavy emphasis on the “President Bush signed into law” part of the love letter?  JEEBUS!

These guys never fail to do whatever they think will get them brownie points in an election year! At your expense, of course.

What tools!

1 Democrat wins Hastert’s seat in Illinois

By DEANNA BELLANDI, Associated Press Writer

Sun Mar 9, 9:00 AM ET

2 Democrats criticize Bush’s CIA-bill veto

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

Sun Mar 9, 11:31 AM ET

3 Woman earns Silver Star in Afghan war

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 22 minutes ago

4 Upswing in Iraq attacks not a trend: U.S. military

By Michael Holden, Reuters

1 hour, 25 minutes ago

5 Pakistan’s Sharif to join Bhutto party in coalition

By Kamran Haider, Reuters

1 hour, 19 minutes ago

6 FBI begins Countrywide criminal inquiry: paper

Reuters

Sun Mar 9, 5:31 AM ET

7 Bush yearns for Texas in rare singing performance

Reuters

Sun Mar 9, 12:06 AM ET

8 Spain holds general election

by Denholm Barnetson, AFP

5 minutes ago

9 China says thwarted attack on Olympics: state media

AFP

43 minutes ago

10 Tsunami that devastated the ancient world could return

Von Richard Ingham, AFP

23 minutes ago

11 GAO asked to audit Iraqi oil revenue

Associated Press

Sun Mar 9, 4:59 AM ET

12 Stocks may fall anew on recession fears

By Caroline Valetkevitch, Reuters

Sun Mar 9, 11:07 AM ET

13 AP: Water makes US troops in Iraq sick

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

Sun Mar 9, 11:38 AM ET

14 AP probe finds drugs in drinking water

By JEFF DONN, MARTHA MENDOZA and JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press Writers

1 hour, 57 minutes ago

15 Mass grave discovered north of Baghdad

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer

Sat Mar 8, 3:20 PM ET

16 Malaysia PM blunder may be costly to him

By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 34 minutes ago

17 Mufti warns Saudis to watch their money

Associated Press

Sun Mar 9, 3:53 AM ET

18 Final Warning on India Nukes Deal

By MADHUR SINGH/NEW DELHI, Time Magazine

Sun Mar 9, 1:35 AM ET

19 Russia Cashes in on Kosovo Fears

By YURI ZARAKHOVICH/MOSCOW, Time Magazine

Sun Mar 9, 1:45 AM ET

20 Republican McCain planning Europe, Mideast trip

Reuters

1 hour, 46 minutes ago

21 Russia-Ukraine gas war rumbles on: analysts

by Anya Tsukanova, AFP

Sun Mar 9, 7:53 AM ET

22 China’s inflation likely hit 8.3 percent in February: bank

by Peter Harmsen, AFP

Sun Mar 9, 7:19 AM ET

23 German rail strike off: Deutsche Bahn chief

AFP

1 hour, 59 minutes ago

24 Vietnam troops clean oil stained beaches: officials

AFP

Sun Mar 9, 6:55 AM ET

Yesterday, March 8th, was International Women’s Day.

To often when reporting on War the women involved, from those living in the invaded conflict countries to those who are serving in greater numbers and rolls, combat included, are not mentioned enough.

Nor is it brought up enough of the effects of Conflicts on these women involved.

The other day NPR’s The World had a report on about the women serving in Iraq and Afganistan.

Mental health issues for female vets

The World’s Katy Clark reports on the challenges faced by female veterans after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them face mental health issues, but little is known about how they are coping.

You can listen to this report which can be played in the Windows Media Player.

One of many books on PTSD and as the title states also covering studies of combat PTSD on women.

Haunted by Combat: Understanding PTSD in War Veterans Including Women, Reservists, and Those Coming Back from Iraq

A snippet of part of one review of book above:

“The men and women who follow orders to be sent thousands of miles from home, to fight wars in the most dangerous corners of the globe, are the very best America has to offer. They’ve seen destruction and chaos few others can imagine. And too many return home to their families struggling to make sense of their combat experiences and their personal lives. This book tells their stories in their own words and explores treatment options that will enable our nation to fulfill its promise to support our veterans.” – Lynn Woolsey, Member of Congress 6th District, California

I did a little searching and quickly found some interesting reads on women and war.

Two women, one war

This story is about two young women who’ve never met. Christina Penrod, a Mahomet widow, and Stephanie James, a recent UI graduate and Army sergeant, have seen their lives stamped, shaped and unalterably changed by the events in a scorched part of the faraway Middle East called Iraq.

Women in war need greater safeguards

Rapes and other sexual crimes perpetrated against women in specific countries are a weapon of terror that prevent women – who are often left at home to mind children and tend to livestock – from being able to move freely within their own areas and thus get food, water and other necessities which their families depend upon.

Yet, this is just one example of the many ways that women bear the brunt of warfare – and are often the unaccounted for or hidden victims of conflict. Interviews conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross with widows of the Iraqi wars and the Bosnian war, show the impact of the loss of missing husbands on the lives of their wives long after these wars have ended.

What about the families and lives destroyed by our present invasions and occupations:

Heroines – the daily life of Iraq’s war widows

Written by: Iraqi women’s organisations

Eighty-two percent of the 2.4 million people displaced inside Iraq are women and young children under the age of 12. Many mothers have lost their husbands in the sectarian violence that has torn the nation apart. But in the face of adversity, they are proving to be true heroines.

These stories, collected by women’s organisations in Iraq ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, give a rare insight into how Iraqi widows are helping their families survive while retaining their dignity in times of extreme suffering.

“This phenomenon was hardly visible prior to 2003,” says Suhair. “We women face a lot of danger in doing this. The fear of having your children’s lives, your life taken away is constant… Your mind stops functioning when on your way to work you see a car near you and you fear it could explode.”

We seem to be shocked and enraged when we hear about women who become human bombs, yet we are shown little, to nothing, about their past, especially their recent past, how many have lost loved ones, especially children, to the bombs and bullets of war, and so much more. We act like women shouldn’t be considered as wanting to retaliate for what war has done to them and their lives, yet we have women serving and fighting!

Exhibit explores history of women in US military

Mementos of what life was once like for women serving in the military stared at Army National Guard Major Margaret Oglesby from the walls of the forward compartment of the second deck of the USS Massachusetts.

Bill to spotlight issues for female veterans

Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, Murray has spent many hearings questioning VA officials about female veterans with histories of sexual trauma, whether research has been done to determine their health needs and whether VA hospitals are so focused on men’s health issues that women get left behind.

Jaipur hosts novel summit on war and feminity

They claim that women’s ideas, so often ignored, can actually move the world away from war and that feminine gifts, like tolerance and patience, can bring solutions that wars and weapons can never accomplish.

Just one of the many Pro-Peace womens groups, with a great Peace Symbol graphic:

Women Against War

Women Against War brings together Capital District women to work for peace through:

*Direct action

*Educational events on the costs of war and the possibilities of peace

*Outreach to area Muslims negatively impacted by US post 9/11 policies

Women and war

Section covering the specific dangers and suffering confronting women in wartime, whose plight could be improved if the rules of humanitarian law were fully respected. Access to the ICRC study Women facing war as well as related resource materials and links to other sites concerning women.

Countless women and girls all over the world suffer the trauma of war – as widows or orphans, perhaps displaced from their homes, sometimes detained. They are often separated from loved ones and become victims of violence and intimidation.

For the most part they are civilians caught in the crossfire, and show astonishing resourcefulness and resilience in coping with the disintegration of their families, the loss of their home and their belongings and the destruction of their lives.

Women can also be fighters, and as such are due the same respect as men if wounded or captured. They are also bound by the same rules prohibiting illegal acts against other fighters or civilians.

International humanitarian law, which grants general protection to all war victims, regardless of gender, provides extensive specific protection for women in war. If these rules were better observed, the suffering faced by women in war would be greatly reduced.

Women and the Missing: the burden of those left behind

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March), Florence Tercier, ICRC’s women and war adviser, explains the immensely challenging plight of women whose male relatives have gone missing in war and what the ICRC is doing to support them.

Women all over the world face great hardship when their male relatives go missing in war. Can you describe some of the challenges they face?

Military and War: Women’s Roles

Women’s Military and War History: women who fought in the military officially and unofficially, women who served in support roles, plus how women’s roles changed for women who stayed home.

Women bear the children of this world, they carry the seeds of and nurture than give birth to the children. What about those children of war, the ones that survive?

Iraqi Psychiatrist Ali: Iraq’s Future is Wounded

According to Ali, the whole of Iraqi society, but especially the children, bear psychological scars from witnessing violence and death every day: “Iraq needs psychological help, too.”

The situation of women and childre is worst: “There are many nightmares and a fear of going outside. This is a real fear. Many children do not go to school anymore because of it. Also, it is said that US soldiers are detaining 200-500 “child convicts.”

“Domestic violence has increased, as has the number of widows. Since the occupation, the number of premature births and miscarriages has doubled. The number of caesarean births has increased because people are scared of uncontrollable situations. Women are weighed down with life and the stress of daily life has increased.”

Recently a video surfaced showing the training of children of the insurgency. Many condemn the treatment, and condemn it should be, but I doubt most of these kids need any propaganda brainwashing to turn them into a warrior. We’ve stolen all semblance of childhood of these kids, they’ve been living in the hell on earth of war, they’ve lost loved ones and friends, the hatreds have been embedded already, they are seeking a release of the anger and hatred, and the longer they live as they are the greater the want for retaliation and extreme blowback against those that have destroyed their lives!

For few, Iraq war has changed everything

After 5 years, Iraq war has changed little for some people; for others it’s changed everything

Laura Youngblood is just 29 years old, but she insists she will not remarry. Her life is her children, now ages 2 and 7. One day, she says, she’ll be buried in the plot with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery.

“I tell people I’m a happily married woman,” she says, crying.

In a country destroyed, what are we leaving those who survive this carnage, and what will the future bring for all of us!

Tragically Little Help for Sick and Wounded Civilians in Baghdad

She is 16 years old and slowly bleeding to death internally.

Her mother speaks about her daughter with desperately pleading eyes. “Her blood is sick,” she says, standing in the doorway of the local clinic near the Dora market in Baghdad, talking about her daughter’s infection that the clinic’s rudimentary antibiotics won’t defeat. Dr. Mohammad, who runs the facility, is certain of two things: that his patient doesn’t have long to live and that there is very little he can do about it without the trained surgeons Jasim needs for an operation.

A country, though living under a brutal dictator, we helped install and supported, that was well educated and fairly prosperous!

From Craigslist Omaha:

To the guy doing my wife. You know who you are. Yes I know. No I am not angry, I would just ask a few things of you. After all you are giving it to my wife.

1.Please stop leaving the seat up, I keep getting blamed and it is starting to get old.

2.You may be giving me a chance to go fishing more often but please stop drinking all my beer. It is fine if you have a couple while you visit(god knows

I drink plenty before I find her attractive), but please leave me a few as I have to be there longer than you.

3.If you do drink the last one buy more or leave money on the counter I will pick some up.

4.Please replace the toilet paper when you use it all. For some reason my 5 year old son belives if its not there he does not have to wipe. We keep it under the sink, unless you can recomend a better spot?

5.After doing my wife please use something disposable to wipe off with. The basket of clothes on the right is mine and the clothes are clean as my wife does not do my washing, Irun out of time rushing to work. Last week my sweatshirt was crusty(thanks).

6.Please do not tell my children that you are their uncle, they are young not

mentaly challenged.

7.Please stop turning the heat up, You pay nothing and MUD is putting it in my ass, my wife may like it but I think it hurts.

8.When she asks “do these pants make me look fat”, say no. You may think giving a different answer will make her think twice about eating a gallon of ice cream a day but all you are doing is giving her a reason to go buy more pants that she will look just as fat in.

9.Stop eating the baked goods. The brownies you ate were from my mom for my birthday. My wife has not cooked anything that good for years and if she does she will not share.

10.Try shifting your weight when you sit on my chair. The recliner that I rarely have time for (soccer games and practice, basketball camp for the kids takes much of my time and I try to help with school work too)has a grove in it that forces me to roll to the left.

Lastly I would like thank you for taking her to lunch on Valentines Day. She was not as hungry as usual and only orded one meal.I may be able to use the money I saved to take the children to a movie. I hope you can help me with these items, it may become ackward if I have to confront her. If you can do this for me I will give you a heads up on when I will be gone and for how long so that you don’t feel rushed.

P.S. I am going to take the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge on the 3rd of April for four days, I have abottle of vodka above the fridge if you find yourself low on beer.

Thanks This was not writen by anyone named Jack S.