For families of soldiers at war, endless worry

Hi all,

If you have not already, I encourage you to read "For families of soldiers at war, endless worry" in the Sunday 1/6/2008 SJ Mercury News.

You can also read it online at http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion

Here is the letter I sent to letters@mercurynews.com regarding the editorial and the other letters so far:

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I am outraged when others tell me that I can only support our troops if I support the war. That is FALSE. It's falsity is proven many ways. The outpouring of letters from people supporting the troops but not the war proves it. Almost all taxpaying Americans support the troops but a large majority of them are against the war (as shown in numerous polls). I personally support our troops (through taxes and donations) but do not support the war. I salute Stephen Wright's son for doing his patriotic duty while at the same time I work to end this stupid war.

The waste of lives and resources due to the Iraq war is atrocious. 9/11 resulted in 2,752 people dead. The Iraq war has killed nearly 4,000 American troops, wounded 40,000 American troops, killed over 400,000 Iraqi civilians, and cost over 483 billion US dollars so far.

Furthermore, President Bush lied to fool the rest of us -- there were no weapons of mass destruction and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

Democracy is based on people choosing for themselves. Forcing democracy on others is so undemocratic and hypocritical it almost leaves me speechless. I want my country to be a noble role model for others, not a big bully.

Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, CA

Poetry in Motion -- Is Democracy...

We had about 16 peace rally people this past Friday July 6, 2007 including 6 who helped with our Poetry in Motion project where 6 individuals held 6 signs that collectively formed a poem. The rally was at a busy intersection in Sunnyvale. We had US flags and peace signs waving. We got hundreds of positive honks, hundreds of other cars whizzing by with no comment, and just one person who gave us the finger.

Here is a picture of the signs that the 6 people held during the rally.

The poem itself reads:

Is Democracy...
...forced on others?
...freely chosen?
...for the people?
...by the people?

Sunnyvale Voices for Peace...

...now has a blog!