Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 350

this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters

we honor courage in all its forms

we love and support our troops, just as we love and support the Iraqi people – without exception, or precondition, or judgement.

cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune,  My Left Wing, and TexasKos.

image and poem below the fold

An Iraqi nurse checks the wounds of a two-year-old Iraqi girl at a hospital in Baghdad. The Iraqi capital was struck by another devastating car bomb that killed at least 66 people at a crowded Baghdad market in a Shiite district despite a massive security crackdown in the city.
(AFP/Sabah Arar)

Of Politics, & Art
by Norman Dubie

        –for Allen

Here, on the farthest point of the peninsula
The winter storm
Off the Atlantic shook the schoolhouse.
Mrs. Whitimore, dying
Of tuberculosis, said it would be after dark
Before the snowplow and bus would reach us.

She read to us from Melville.

How in an almost calamitous moment
Of sea hunting
Some men in an open boat suddenly found themselves
At the still and protected center
Of a great herd of whales
Where all the females floated on their sides
While their young nursed there. The cold frightened whalers
Just stared into what they allowed
Was the ecstatic lapidary pond of a nursing cow’s
One visible eyeball.
And they were at peace with themselves.

Today I listened to a woman say
That Melville might
Be taught in the next decade. Another woman asked, “And why not?”
The first responded, “Because there are
No women in his one novel.”

And Mrs. Whitimore was now reading from the Psalms.
Coughing into her handkerchief. Snow above the windows.
There was a blue light on her face, breasts and arms.
Sometimes a whole civilization can be dying
Peacefully in one young woman, in a small heated room
With thirty children
Rapt, confident and listening to the pure
God rendering voice of a storm.
– – –
a personal note: I apologize for the sporadic nature of these diaries over the past few weeks. I made a commitment to post one every day, but have lately fallen short. I hope that will not remain the case in the coming weeks. Thanks
– – –
read This is what John Kerry did today, the dKos diary by lawnorder that inspired this series

love and support the Iraqi people

join CIVIC’s “I Care” photo campaign

raed in the middle’s blog

support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)

support CARE

support the victims of torture

read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning

read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches

read Today in Iraq

love and support our troops

read Ilona’s important blog – PTSD Combat

support Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

view the pbs newshour silent honor roll
(with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)

take a private moment to light one candle among many
(with thanks to TXSharon)

support Veterans for Peace

remember the fallen

support Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS

support Gold Star Families for Peace

support the fallen

support the troops

support Iraq Veterans Against the War

support Military families Speak Out

put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet

support a young heart with an old soul peace takes courage (multimedia)

poetry matters poets against war

support the troops and the Iraqi people

witness every day

While speaking at the YearlyKos 2006 Convention in Los Vegas, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner said (and I paraphrase from memory): “George Bush, incompetent idiot, blah blah blah, went to war in Iraq when the real threat is in Iran.” (my emphasis)

There was a brief pause after his statement, and I regret that I wasn’t brave or quick-witted enough to yell “Bullshit!” into the silence. But the moment passed, Warner picked up his next thread in perfect cadence, and I bit into my box lunch apple.

So now what?

I’m gonna let him know that I think his statement is bullshit, and why. I’m starting here. If anyone knows of other ways, please put them in this thread.

Thanks.

Author: RubDMC

I'm a PROUD Massachusetts Liberal who lives just a short stroll from the site of the first armed resistance to another insane tyrant named George in 1775.