Letter from Celeste Zappala

Friday, August 25 - a while back, Rev. Gardner Taylor said "but just when you decide it is all hopeless, that absolutely nothing can be done, someone stands up and does something clean and decent and your whole theory about the hopelessness of humanity goes awry."

-Today I met a man and his son standing on the medial strip of Broad Street at Cherry in front of the Army recruiters office. They were holding signs-"honk to get Out of Iraq" They told me, they do not represent a group, they were there on their own-"We invaded Iraq on a Thursday, so we will come on the final Friday of every month until the war is finally over," he said as the 175th car honked in support. I told them I would be back on September 29 from 5 to 6 with friends to stand with him. Can you come?

The Army has finally decided to tell each family what has really happened to their fallen soldier, after way too many deceptions. 

Today Dante and I met with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D-California) leader of the House Democrats. We told her we were counting on her to be our voice , no more families should lose another loved one to this immoral war, We had been invited to the event by Patrick Murphy, Iraqi Vet, King's College grad, who knew Sherwood and now is running for Congress We met his wife Jen who is expecting their first child in December. Patrick is smart, capable, and has that rare quality in the political world, he is sincere. I urge you to look at his web site. He is a dear and decent young man, and he has a really good chance of winning and taking his integrity and decency to Washington!

Dante and Selma's new baby, Antonin Sher, "Nino" gives us cause for hope every day,. (and of course there is a website for him.)  So many times when I look at his tiny face I think how his Uncle Sherwood would have celebrated this baby. Sher was wild about little kids, and they adored him. I imagine Sherwood holding Nino in his big arms and telling him ridiculous stories and dancing with him: and maybe somewhere he does that.

I live in hope, despite the realities- there is no other choice, Sher would expect no less, how can I?

Please, whatever step you can take for the sake of Peace and for everyone you love, do it, do it today, and again tomorrow. -

From Rich:

There were I guess half a dozen of us at the max.  We all had a good time, waving to cars and encouraging them to honk.  I tried to do a cell-phone call during the vigil and the cars got so loud we had to arrange for me to call later.  A conservative came up and good-naturedly tried to convince us we were all wrong and wasting our time.  I talked to him a few times but he didn't like me as I was able to counter all of his patented Karl Rove Republican Talking Points^TM
Speaking of which, this struck me as a really excellent way to counter one of the really frequent talking points, that of the ol' "Ticking Time Bomb Scenario."  The scenario is an old and familiar one - there's a ticking bomb in the city and you've got the guy who knows where it is and how to disarm it.  You can (a) Allow the bomb to go off and kill lots of people or (b) Torture the guy, find the bomb and thereby avert those deaths.  The answer? Torture is immoral.  You may concede that allowing the city's residents to die is more immoral, but get your questioner to agree that both choices are bad.  Then you can bring up other points.  Just be sure you've clearly established with your questioner that torture is immoral under all circumstances.

A bunch of us are looking forward to Johnstown tomorrow.  Congressman John Murtha is gong to be "swift-boated" on Sunday, so a lot of us vets are going to his town to cheer him up and stiffen his spine and get him ready for their attack the next day.  Details at prawnworks.