This afternoon I took my sister to see the new Indiana Jones movie.  She loves that kind of movie.  I'm more of a documentary kind of girl, but since she's recovering from bilateral knee replacement surgery and I can't in good conscience let her stumble around in the dark alone, we both saw the same thing for once.

Afterwards we went to a local burger joint.  It's a big place and was doing a brisk business, but not totally packed.  I let my sister out near the door and told her to take a seat on the bench outside while I parked the car.  As I was walking to the entrance, I noticed her in conversation with a boy wearing the uniform of the restaurant.  

As I approached her I jokingly said," are you winning friends and influencing people?"

She looked at me with a look of fear and said, "this young man is going to be a Marine."

I know, I know, everyone is wiped out from Mardi Gras and Super-Duper Tuesday, and the urge to write that candidate diary you've been writing over and over again every day for the last few months is overwhelming.  But I'm here to ask you, Nay! to beg you, to put down that mouse and back away from that keyboard, pick up that phone and call as many Senators as possible concerning the FISA legislation.  We don't have a moment to waste here, folks, it's do or die time, shit or get off the pot time, time to put your words into action in an effort to save our Constitution and the way of life we hold dear and would like to see live long enough for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.

This diary has nothing whatsoever to do with political campaigns, the horse race to the White House, or the nefarious behavior of our public officials.  It is about saving lives, plain and simple.

Yesterday the Ohio Senate heard testimony on proposed S.B. No 244.  If passed, this bill would make it possible for law enforcement authorities to use electronic monitoring devices (ankle bracelets) to track the activity of individuals who violate an order of protection issued for stalking, adding a much needed layer of protection to the victims of stalking.  For some history on this issue and why it matters to me, and should to you, join me below the fold.

Over the course of the last few days I've been building images in Photoshop.  Some were to share with this community.  Others were meant to share with people who have touched my life in ways great and small.  The guiding theme for these images is light or enlightenment.  Those of you who read last night's Diary Rescue will have seen one of these images.  The one directly below the fold is a variation of that image...

Saturday turned out to be a great day for a protest in Chicago.  The night before there was rain, but by mid-morning it had stopped and after that it gradually cleared until by the time we were ready to march they skies were blue and the day was beautiful.  Even the wind died away, leaving a lovely fall afternoon.

I was supposed to meet up with sheddhead, but while I was preparing to head for the train I began feeling the unmistakable signs of panic creeping in.  My sister, who isn't able to walk that much due to bad knees, generously offered to drive me downtown and hang around closeby so that I could feel safe and still do what I felt needed to be done.  That did the trick, and I was able to force myself out of the house and into the car to express my anger over the disaster that is the Iraq war.

sheddhead has already put out this fantastic diary on the day's events, so I'll try not to duplicate too much what her thoughts and impressions were or post alot of the same kinds of pics, although that really can't be helped, we saw the same things, just from different angles.  So let's have a look at what my day of protest was like.

Yesterday I read Valtin's excellent diary, Urgent: An Innocent Man is Dying [Updated].  In a response I made to the diary as posted on Daily Kos, I promised that today I would contact the people listed and any others I thought might be important.  Today, I acted on that promise.  I sent faxes to the following people:

Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby
Director J. Alan Liotta
Representative Jan Schakowsky
Senator Richard Durbin
Senator Barack Obama
Former Senator John Edwards
Senator Christopher Dodd

I borrowed heavily from Valtin's excellent post, as words tend to fail me when I'm as upset as I am over this issue.  Join me below the fold to see the message I sent.

Our dependency on oil and the greed of the oil companies that feed that dependency is killing people.  This is a pattern that is repeated all over the world.  It takes many forms.  Sometimes it's a war waged in our name in a faraway country like Iraq.  Sometimes it's the poisoning of the water we drink, bathe and swim in by drilling operations or oil refineries dumping their waste in our own waterways.  And sometimes it takes the form of allowing the suppression of a people whose only crime is to protest the abject misery they're forced to live in.

I just received the following e-mail from Planned Parenthood of Aurora, Illinois.

Dear X,

Finally! Just minutes ago we received our occupancy permit from city of Aurora Mayor, Tom Weisner and we will be OPEN FOR BUSINESS TOMORROW!

Instead of holding a rally at city hall tomorrow night, we invite you to attend a press conference at our Aurora health center to celebrate our first day of business! Here are the details

What: Press Conference
Where: Aurora Planned Parenthood Health Center, 3051 E. New York Street, Aurora, IL
When: Tuesday, October 2, at 10 am

*We encourage anyone who is interested to attend the Aurora city council meeting on their own to monitor the discussion, but we will not be rallying outside city hall.
While it's a travesty that the opening of our health center became such a politicized issue, we never could have won this battle without the incredible support of pro-choice residents in Aurora, Naperville, and other local communities, as well as our supporters throughout the state and the nation. Thank you to every person that stood up for us at City Council, that rallied at City Hall, that gave a donation, that signed a petition, and that supported us in so many ways during this fight.

Last night, September 25th, I attended the City Council meeting in Aurora, Illinois to support the new Planned Parenthood facility in my neighborhood.  From the outside of the building, where over 300 of the clinic's supporters were gathered, compared to perhaps 30-50 of the anti-abortion protesters, it all looked just peachy.  Once inside, however, the view was a little different.  

Several days before the scheduled City Council meeting, I called the number provided on the Planned Parenthood website to ask the mayor to sign the occupancy permit, then called and requested to speak at the City Council meeting and was put on the list.  At that point I thought all was fine, and girded my agoraphobic loins to get up in front of strangers to make my salient points on why this clinic is important to the community.

We've had quite a few great diaries in the last couple of days discussing the March for Peace that was held on September the 15th.  I'm not sure who posted the first, although I know that the drunken live blogging episode from the patio of the Holiday Inn had to be one of them.  There will be more in the days to come.  I know this because I have several more in me, dealing with issues ranging from the Freeper contingent, to trying to build an alternative to take away what I consider to be the poorest excuse of all for not exercising our right to free speech through protest, ANSWER.  But for this post, I'm going to pop open an icy cold Corona, drop in a slice of lemon, and reflect on the goodness of fellowship with dear friends, old and new, and the wonder of raising my voice in opposition to the Iraq War in our nation's Capitol.

There's been alot of talk lately about protest.  I know, because I've been doing some of the talking.  Most people I've talked to seem to be for it, at least in a theoretical way.  Many are supportive of protests, but they have a life, after all, with jobs and kids and previously planned activities that must take precedence.  And in every discussion there are always a few naysayers who say that protest is old hat, its time has passed.  They don't like one group or another, even though that group may be a very small portion of any protest.  Or it's just too damned much work, not enough bang for the buck or they don't see protest as having much effect.  

I've been doing some research to try to debunk the arguments presented against protest.  I won't go into what I've found now, that's for another day.  But what I did find while examining this issue is a group that is wholeheartedly, resoundingly in favor of protest - The Freepers.  Join me over the fold to take a peek into the heart of darkness, won't you?

It's rough being on the private guest list of frequent diners at the White House.  It starts out looking like you're part of the real inner circle.  But before you can say "Texas Barbecue" you may find out that you're the entree, not the guest.  Such is the lot of Alberto Gonzales, sycophant extraordinaire.  His resignation today is but a symbol of the cost of ungoverned loyalty to someone who doesn't deserve it.

I am overcome with sadness.  Karl Rove is leaving the West Wing.  How will we ever survive?  More to the point, how will George W. Bush survive?  Can Cheney keep all those puppet strings hopping on his own?  Who will point Bush towards the right door, straighten his tie, put the proper manipulative words in his mouth, wipe his ass with their nose?  Alright, there's probably a line already forming for that one.  Nevertheless, it brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.

I watched Tony Snow on Hardball again yesterday, defending the White House's support of Alberto Gonzalez yet again and denigrating our Democratic leaders for having the unmitigated gall to demand testimony under oath from the likes of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers.  And once again he has thrown out what has become one of my all-time favorite bullshit phrases when referring to any Congressional attempt to find the truth or hold the administration and their republican colleagues on the Hill responsible for their actions:

                                                          "This is political theater."

Crossposted at NION

Murat Kurnaz has become an unwilling expert on torture.  A legal resident of Germany born of Turkish parents, Kurnaz had turned to the faith of his ancestors and in 2001 had the unfortunate timing to be studying Islam in Pakistan and briefly staying in a hostel supposedly frequented by  Al Qaeda members.  Identified as an Al Qaeda member by "an unidentified officer", he was later told that his name had been sold to the U.S. by Pakistani police for $3000, which translates at the current exchange rate to $177,372.00.

What followed is the subject of a book written by Mr. Kurnaz, "His Fünf Jahre meines Lebens: Ein Bericht aus Guantánamo" (Five Years of My Life: A Report from Guantanamo).  The English version is now being tranlated and is scheduled to be released in January.  For those who would like a more immediate look at Mr. Kurnaz' ordeal, this article at AlterNet has a few of the gory details.  From the article:

Let the wailing and the gnashing of teeth begin!!

Al Gore Jr., son of he who many of have hoped will run for President, was arrested in California this AM.  He was stopped in  his hybrid car (thank God for that), and a small amount of marijuana was found in the vehicle, along with vicodin, valium, xantax,  adderal, and soma (a drug my sister refers to as "soma coma" for its effect on me in times of muscle spasm).  Looks like the boy is in a little pain.  No prescriptions for the medications were found (d'oh!).

Follow me over the fold for the Gore-y details (sometimes I just crack myself up....sorry.)

There has been a diary named "I Guess I'm not Pro-Choice: Sextuplets" on the rec list for some time now that, due to other tasks and commitments, I put off reading until early this morning.  I actually haven't finished it because I followed this link to get context before reading further.  There I found that not only was there the article referred to in the diary, there was a note written to visitors from DailyKos.  Please explore the original article and the other DKos diary, and then join me below the fold...

A young woman will be buried today.  Her mother and father have lost a most beloved child.  Her children have lost the mother whom they loved and depended on.  Her many friends have lost their trusted companion and confidante.  Her beautiful smile will no longer shine, her lovely laugh will never again fill the air with joy and merriment.  A terrible tragedy has occurred, a tragedy that has reached out to touch the hearts and lives of those who knew her and many more who will know her now only through a story of a luminous life cut too short and the ugliness of her death.  And the most tragic thing of all is that it need never have happened, it could have been prevented.......