Love & War

It’s easy for me to measure how long I’ve been married, or how long the war in Iraq has been going on. They both started in the same week. My wife and I just celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary last week (the 14th). And today, of course, marks the fourth anniversary of the wonderful decision to invade Iraq (we were in Jamaica at the time, makin’ love, not war – t.m.i.? sorry).

3,220 American soldiers dead. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead. “There’s been good progress”, our president said today… the same tired rhetoric we always hear from him.

But I’ll jump off the soap box, and let the music do the talking….

Bill Evans – Peace Piece – A sparse, beautiful piece by legendary jazz pianist Evans. Appears on several albums, like Everybody Digs Bill Evans.

Michael Franti & Spearhead – Light Up Ya Lighter (mp3) – Franti speaks (sings) his mind on this anti-war track from Yell Fire!.

If you love this land of the free, bring ’em home, bring ’em home. – Pete Seeger

THE SANDBOX: Garry Trudeau, creator of the cartoon Doonesbury, has a great site set up called the Sandbox. He created it as a place for military personnel stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan to share their experiences. It’s a military blog, aka a Milblog.

It’s easy to get sucked in and just read and read. It will make you appreciate these brave souls all the more. Check it out: http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox

Now can we please figure out a way to get these men and women HOME??