Whatever your views on whether or not we should be in Iraq, there are an awful lot of our neighbors and friends - most of them very young - deployed there at the moment. If you have wondered how you can do something nice for them while they are overseas, here is a list of specific ways to practice a little lovingkindness when we are powerless to do much else.
Another blog for those with an appreciation for the domestic arts
This blog makes me want to pack up and move my kids to urban Oakland. I want sidewalks! I want Vietnamese noodle stands!
I probably won’t though, for a wide variety of reasons 
One of them is below (see post about SLA shootout and my family history).
Another smart, funny mama blog I’ve discovered: Michelle in a Hand Basket
I was so sad to learn today that Liz Baldwin passed away this month after a long illness. Liz was an attorney, a mother, and an activist who became the leading expert in this country on issues related to breastfeeding and the law. Sound like a silly topic? Well it wouldn’t if you were a woman fired from her factory job after asking for two fifteen minute breaks a day to express her milk so she could continue nursing her baby. It wouldn’t if you were one of the dozens of divorcing women each year whose husbands try to get sole custody of their children on the grounds that there is something wrong with nursing a two year old. And it wouldn’t if you were one of the many women each year who are still thrown out of public places across this country because you dared to sit on a bench and discreetly nurse your child. This stuff happens every day, but Liz Baldwin had begun to change views in this country through her advocacy and legal writing. I had the pleasure of meeting her once and she was extremely kind and gracious. She will be missed.
You know, you can leave comments for me in my guestbook (see above).
Whenever I hear about “embedded” media, I think I’m hearing “in bed with,” which is, in my opinion, exactly what the media is when it comes to the military at the moment. I actually think the military chose that particular term as an inside joke and the media bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
By the by, I have gotten a number of hits in the past few days from U.S. military stationed in Kuwait. Wonder why?
Chris says that the media is missing the obvious concerning the debate over whether the guy who appeared on Iraqi TV last night after the initial U.S. air strikes is actually Saddam Hussein. The guy was clearly another iteration of Andy Kaufman’s Tony Clifton persona.
,
I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out how to add a comment feature to my blog. I signed up for ennetation and inserted the code into my blog template as instructed, but nothing happened. If you can help and are willing, please email me at kgranju@yahoo.com.
Thanks
–Katie
There is something strange and unsettling about the up to the literal minute play-by-play interspersed with punditry that we are getting in the television war coverage. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s freaky.
My father, Hank Allison, just sent me a CD with about two hours of radio coverage of the SLA/Patty Hearst shootout in L.A. in 1974. My father was a 31 year old reporter with L.A.s newsradio station, KFWB, and he was on the scene, pinned behind a car by gunfire and tear gas much of that day. He and several of his colleagues won major awards for their on-the-scene coverage. I remember that day well. I was seven years old and my mother was beside herself with worry listening to the coverage and knowing that my Dad was there. It’s really fascinating for me to hear my Dad’s work. He was a really good reporter.
I will sleep terribly tonight, knowing that bombs I helped pay for are dropping on homes where mothers are huddled on top of their terrified children.
They cannot leave or hide. Unlike during the London blitz, when mothers sent their children to the country to protect them, these parents have no options. There are no subway tunnels or bomb shelters to speak of. The dictator who rules them has sentenced them to certain death and our bombs will carry out the execution.
If we must invade Iraq, I believe that this “shock and awe” air assault is the least ethically defensible way to do it. We should go in on the ground, minimizing potential for civilian casualties.
I believe that Sadaam Hussein should be ousted and that Iraqis deserve a free and democratic government. I believe that there were other options to exhaust before full scale invasion. And if we must invade, we should do so as brave liberators, willing to risk a ground assault in order to avoid the thousands of civilian casualties that will result from large scale bombing from the air.
Pray for peace.
—- Katie
I can’t believe that we lost Joe Strummer and Fred Rogers within 6 months of one another. Very sad 
“Who exactly brought you to power? You are a liar and your grave awaits you.”
– so said Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz to Libya’s Gadaffi.
You just don’t hear much about Gadaffi these days. If you think about it, he was sort of the Osama Bin Laden of the ’80s.
If you feel so inclined, you can vote for me in this “Best of…” poll. To vote, simply click here and scroll down to “Best Local Writer”.
Bad Behavior has blocked 1658 access attempts in the last 7 days.
