Category: take action

politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.

Memorial Day 2007

Tomorrow (Monday) is Memorial Day here in the U.S.
There are likely many folks who will chose not to take part in the holiday, other than enjoy their day off from work.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of this war. I don’t know that the reasons were just. If we want to go to war to end tyranny, we should be just as involved in Darfur as Iraq. That’s my own personal opinion. And I can’t give you an answer as to how we get out of Iraq or what our next plan should be.
But regardless, I respect our military forces. I hold each man and woman who has served, is serving and will serve in HIGH regard.
I didn’t have the guts to sign-up and serve my country in time of war. They did.
“This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.”
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
So this weekend, we honor, we respect, we remember and we give thanks – to those who gave everything so that we might be free.

A memorial video for encounter.

Posts from previous years:

The View from a Veteran (2005)
The Death of Capt. Waskow (2005)
Just a Common Soldier (A Soldier Died Today) (2004)

Huckabee looking for donations

Press Release: 400 Contributors To Donate Price Of Last Haircut To Mike Huckabee’s Presidential Campaign: Next 48 Hours Critical To Goal
Thursday, May 24, 2007

LITTLE ROCK, AR – Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s campaign announced a new fundraising drive late Tuesday to take in donations at the price of an average haircut from at least 400 individual contributors in 96 hours. Now at its midway point, the campaign has nearly hit its target.
The drive started at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 and will end at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 26, 2007.
Huckabee said the goal of the drive is to underscore comments he made last week at the GOP Presidential Debate in Columbia, SC. “A joke I used in the last Republican debate comparing Congressional spending to John Edwards spending money in a beauty shop seems to have gone over pretty well. While I used humor to illustrate my point, the fact is, most hard-working Americans have to budget for everyday expenses such as getting a haircut,” he said.
“Perhaps if Senators and Members of Congress were more in touch with the real concerns of average Americans, they would be more responsible with the money of their constituents,” said Huckabee, who launched his presidential exploratory committee in late January.
Huckabee said he believes that “connecting with average Americans is critical to the Republican Party’s prospects” of holding onto the presidency in 2008. “I hope my supporters will use this opportunity to weigh in with the campaign while having a little fun,” he said.
Donations in the amount of an individual’s last haircut can be made online at www.explorehuckabee.com or by calling Huckabee’s exploratory campaign headquarters at 1-501-324-2008. Donations are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.
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400 donations at $10 each (what I pay for a haircut) may not go a long way but it does get a number of average people involved.
In addition, Huckabee has posted a video on YouTube about getting rid of the IRS and instituting a Fair Tax.

Fair Tax? What do you think?

Bringing light to Africa

Well, I’ve decided Nigeria is not the place for me this year.
I don’t know why (or why not) but I just haven’t had a peace about going back this year with the “Crazy Texas Team” and the CWF.
Maybe God has something else lined up for me – school, another ministry, I don’t know.
But while I was in Nigeria last year, I kept asking myself, “Why is there not more solar power being used.”
Africa is prime for renewable energy sources. We were constantly fighting with the power going out throughout the day or evening and so many others don’t even have the option for electricity.
But now a guy in Houston has put together a new light for Africa, BoGo.
It’s a solar powered flashlight. Seriously. Watch the video:

The flashlights run for 5 hours on a 10 hour charge. What a way to change a continent.
For $25 you can get your own flashlight and Mark Bent will send one of the flashlights to the African charity of your choice or a member of the US Military serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I’d like to challenge everyone to buy the flashlight and give it to the “Crazy Texas Team” to take with them at the end of September. I’ve sent an email to a couple people on the team, so hopefully they can sign up and be a partner as well, so everyone that is purchased can get another one sent to the group but until then you can pick another African charity to give your second light to as well.
If you’d like more information, let me know.

Branch Davidians believe TTC new government conspiracy

The famed Branch Davidians, known for their 1993 standoff with the Feds outside Waco, are taking up a new battle against the Texas Department of Transportation.
The Davidians see the Trans Texas Highway as a governmental conspiracy, with the planned super-highway running right over the middle of their Mount Caramel.
The property is right in the middle of the TTC 10-mile study area.

“It’ll go right through our buildings, where we live, right through this place I am standing – going to be a swath right through on this corner that runs right through our wellness center, our museum and even our cemetery,” Charlie Pace, the groups new leader said. “It is going to miss that neighbor’s house over here and that neighbor’s house over there. I think that is pretty strategic.”
“This is where the Lord puts the end to it,” he said. “God is going to judge this nation once and for all. And this is where the judgment begins, right here. We were judged here; the government is going to be judged here. That’s what God is saying.”

Listen to the story from NPR’s All Things Considered.

Democrats and Republicans shady about war spending

ChristianConservative has thoughts on how both parties are using war funding to play politics.

Democrats offered President George W. Bush a deal Friday which would have set a non-mandatory deadline for withdrawal from Iraq. He shot it down…
Now, maybe I’m misreading this. I *hope* I’m reading it wrong. But did our top majority leaders in the House and Senate just offer to set a deadline for troop withdrawals, then use voluntary non-compliance as a bargaining chip for getting something else they wanted?
This makes no sense. What are they playing at?…
This seems like a purely political move — the Democrats finally setting a timetable, then saying, “Well, we have some other things we want, and if we get them you don’t have to actually follow this timetable.”
The goal, of course, is to turn around later and say, “We set a timeline, and you didn’t follow it.”…
Unfortunately, the Republicans are engaged in, well, doing the exact same thing:
“The White House chief of staff said Republicans had offered a proposal that was essentially what received 52 votes in the Senate this week. It would establish a series of standards for the Iraqi government to meet, and condition the flow of reconstruction funds on progress toward achieving the goals…
One side of the aisle is doing the right thing. Both are acting for poor motives, and both are going about it in the wrong way.
Democracy at its finest, right?

Going to war

Ever wonder how the US ended up in Iraq? Here’s some information you might find interesting.

  • The House of Representatives adopted the resolution on October 10, 2002, by a vote of 296-133. See the full list
  • 296 Representatives voted in favor of the resolution, 215 of the votes cast were from Republican members, and 81 of members were Democrats.
  • 133 Representatives voted against the resolution, 126 of the votes cast were from Democrats, 6 from Republicans, and 1 from the sole independent.
  • Solomon Ortiz (D-TX 27th), Marge Roukema (R-NJ 5th), and Bob Stump (R-AZ 3rd) did not vote
  • The Senate adopted the resolution on October 11, 2002, by a vote of 77-23.See the full list
  • 77 Senators voted in favor of the resolution, 48 of the votes cast were from Republican members, and 29 of the members were Democrats.
  • 23 Senators voted against the resolution: 21 Democrats, 1 Republican, and 1 Independent.

The resolution, AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ RESOLUTION OF 2002, (a.k.a. Public Law 107-243 107th Congress) justified the use of force because:

  • in 1990 in response to Iraq’s war of aggression against and illegal occupation of Kuwait, the United States forged a coalition of nations to liberate Kuwait and its people in order to defend the national security of the United States and enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Iraq
  • after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq entered into a United Nations sponsored cease-fire agreement pursuant to which Iraq unequivocally agreed, among other things, to eliminate its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs and the means to deliver and develop them, and to end its support for international terrorism
  • the efforts of international weapons inspectors, United States intelligence agencies, and Iraqi defectors led to the discovery that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical weapons and a large scale biological weapons program, and that Iraq had an advanced nuclear weapons development program that was much closer to producing a nuclear weapon than intelligence reporting had previously indicated
  • Iraq, in direct and flagrant violation of the cease-fire, attempted to thwart the efforts of weapons inspectors to identify and destroy Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction stockpiles and development capabilities, which finally resulted in the withdrawal of inspectors from Iraq on October 31, 1998
  • in Public Law 105-235 (August 14, 1998), Congress concluded that Iraq’s continuing weapons of mass destruction programs threatened vital United States interests and international peace and security, declared Iraq to be in “material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations” and urged the President “to take appropriate action, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations”
  • Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations
  • Iraq persists in violating resolution of the United Nations Security Council by continuing to engage in brutal repression of its civilian population thereby threatening international peace and security in the region, by refusing to release, repatriate, or account for non-Iraqi citizens wrongfully detained by Iraq, including an American serviceman, and by failing to return property wrongfully seized by Iraq from Kuwait
  • the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people
  • the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its continuing hostility toward, and willingness to attack, the United States, including by attempting in 1993 to assassinate former President Bush and by firing on many thousands of occasions on United States and Coalition Armed Forces engaged in enforcing the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council
  • members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq
  • Iraq continues to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations, including organizations that threaten the lives and safety of United States citizens
  • the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, underscored the gravity of the threat posed by the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by international terrorist organizations
  • Iraq’s demonstrated capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction, the risk that the current Iraqi regime will either employ those weapons to launch a surprise attack against the United States or its Armed Forces or provide them to international terrorists who would do so, and the extreme magnitude of harm that would result to the United States and its citizens from such an attack, combine to justify action by the United States to defend itself
  • United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) authorizes the use of all necessary means to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 (1990) and subsequent relevant resolutions and to compel Iraq to cease certain activities that threaten international peace and security, including the development of weapons of mass destruction and refusal or obstruction of United Nations weapons inspections in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), repression of its civilian population in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 (1991), and threatening its neighbors or United Nations operations in Iraq in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 949 (1994)
  • in the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1), Congress has authorized the President “to use United States Armed Forces pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) in order to achieve implementation of Security Council Resolution 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, and 677”
  • in December 1991, Congress expressed its sense that it “supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 as being consistent with the Authorization of Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1),” that Iraq’s repression of its civilian population violates United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 and “constitutes a continuing threat to the peace, security, and stability of the Persian Gulf region,” and that Congress, “supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688”
  • the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-338) expressed the sense of Congress that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove from power the current Iraqi regime and promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime
  • on September 12, 2002, President Bush committed the United States to “work with the United Nations Security Council to meet our common challenge” posed by Iraq and to “work for the necessary resolutions,” while also making clear that “the Security Council resolutions will be enforced, and the just demands of peace and security will be met, or action will be unavoidable”
  • the United States is determined to prosecute the war on terrorism and Iraq’s ongoing support for international terrorist groups combined with its development of weapons of mass destruction in direct violation of its obligations under the 1991 cease-fire and other United Nations Security Council resolutions make clear that it is in the national security interests of the United States and in furtherance of the war on terrorism that all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions be enforced, including through the use of force if necessary
  • Congress has taken steps to pursue vigorously the war on terrorism through the provision of authorities and funding requested by the President to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such persons or organizations
  • the President and Congress are determined to continue to take all appropriate actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such persons or organizations
  • the President has authority under the Constitution to take action in order to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States, as Congress recognized in the joint resolution on Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40)
  • it is in the national security interests of the United States to restore international peace and security to the Persian Gulf region

Therefore Congress authorized:

SUPPORT FOR UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS.

The Congress of the United States supports the efforts by the
President to–
(1) strictly enforce through the United Nations Security
Council all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq
and encourages him in those efforts; and
(2) obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security
Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay,
evasion and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies
with all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) Authorization.–The President is authorized to use the Armed
Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and
appropriate in order to–
(1) defend the national security of the United States
against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and
(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council
resolutions regarding Iraq.

So there you have it. That’s most of it. Want to read all of it? Click here.
And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.