August 7, 2004
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Names to the Count
I was going to post about something completely different, but I read on tbird36‘s blog about a 19-year-old who left her class to go to the war and was never heard from again. It occurred to me to wonder if the names of those killed and wounded in Iraq were posted anywhere on the web so if you wanted to reassure yourself someone was still alive you could go there and look. It turns out there are quite a few sites that do this – though with somewhat different approaches – and here is one.
It seems to me like it’s important to know the count and the names – not just of our dead but of the Iraqi dead. The news doesn’t mention names unless it’s your hometown news and it’s a funeral being planned. And have you ever seen an interview with an Iraqi family who has lost say, a child, in the war? It’s pretty much all photos from a distance of smoke rising over various cities where people just like us were living and working and raising their families. I guess in order to free them from ruthless dictatorship we have to kill them first and destroy their country. Now, if they were a poor country like Sudan in a hideous situation with people starving and dying by internal wars but with no oil, what would we do? Oh, I don’t know, nothing, I guess….
Deep Thought: I don’t think I can be hypnotized. This hypnotist tried to hypnotize me one time, but he couldn’t. And I tell him that each time I go over to wash his car, which is every Wednesday.
Today I am grateful for: The freedom I have today to protest a government which may take it away tomorrow
End of Day – 8:47 pm
+ = The perfect weather day, just wafting us in its arms here in PDX.
- = Discovered Diet Ice Botanicals drinks have Splenda in them.
Comments (7)
It is just a strange memory thing, but when I was a little kid in New York Channel 5 ran the “Honor Roll” at the end of their 10 o’clock News each night of those killed and wounded in Vietnam. Back then it was considered the “Patriotic” thing to do. Odd now that we have a government determined to hide those names, and those who wish to remember the faces are often blasted as “Friends of Osama.”
I agree all the dead should be remembered, that there is suffering on both sides (though I think it worse there, but that’s me), that, ah, sigh, that the memorials should be to a war that no longer exists, I wish it were over, all the wars finished, I wish America could live in peace, I wish so many things that will never happen, but just keep wishing them all the same…
The body counts are very sobering indeed. Perhaps, if there were publicized more, greater thought would be placed on negotiations. Re: deep though – I think my kids have me hynotized, every 2 weeks, I put $$ into their accounts. ??!!
Good post. The website http://www.iraqbodycount.net (which links from the site you gave above) has a counter you can use on your own website to show people how many Iraqis have died. I’m not web-savvy enough to figure out how to use it though, but anyone else might like to try it. It’s been frustrating for me though, that, to my knowledge, Kerry has never even dared to mention how many innocent Iraqis have died! Does he not think it’s significant? I’m going to vote for him, since I live in a “battle-ground” state apparently, but I’m going to really have to hold my nose because he’s got the taint of death on him too.
Why don’t you like Splenda?
Because I read this:
“Conclusion
While it is unlikely that sucralose is as toxic as the poisoning people are experiencing from Monsanato’s aspartame, it is clear from the hazards seen in pre-approval research and from its chemical structure that years or decades of use may contribute to serious chronic immunological or neurological disorders.”
The names do matter…I can not be hypnotized either…