War, Peace, Tolerance and Our Soldiers: Expressing Gratitude at Holiday Time

Suggested Reading: War, Peace, Tolerance, Soldiers and How They're Linked

Beaufort by Ron Leshem, translated by Evan Fallenberg, Delacorte Press. Called a "heart-breaking, and haunting first novel." About Israeli combat.
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Charlie Wilson's War, the book, by George Crile.
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My City by the Sea by Gary Carter, a book of poems that includes "Universal Soldier."
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For the Good of the Many, by Gary Carter, a military/political thriler.
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Tracings, a chapbook of poetry by Carolyn Howard-Johnson that includes "The War Museum at Oslo." Finishing Line Press. Award of excellence from Military Writers' Society of America.
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Support Our Troops, a gift book of patriotic sayings by Eric Dinyer. Published by Andrews-McMeel. Foreword by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Proceeds to Fisher House.
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Eugene Richards is also the author of War Is Personal, "a series of phtographic and written essays about people--in and out of the military--whose lives have been changed by the war in Iraq." He is using a $50,000 grant for photography from National Geographic to write it.
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An occasional newsletter from a veteran who says the subject is "usually conservatively political, patriotic or honors our troops. I am try to include an original poetry or commentary commentary.To subscribe send an email to HancockREMOVE@PoetPatriot.com (REMOVE the "REMOVE") with Subscribe in the SUBJECT field.

Friday, December 5, 2008

My researcher pal (and photographer extraordinaire!) May Lattanzio sends thise links for you to explore if you're looking for a way to support troops this Christmas (and a few other ways to express our gratitude to others, too! ):

http://www.asoldierswishlist.org/events.php

hubpages.com/hub/A_Christmas_Present_for_Our_Troops

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/571233/posts

http://www.operationgive.org/

http://neworleanswebsites.com/cat/co/c-et/c-et.html

http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/2559/44/

http://www.operationshoebox.com/

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holiday gifts for troops, operation shoebox, to the point news, new orleans swebsites, operation give, free republic,
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence. Find it at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599240173/

Here's How to Help Our Soldiers--Now

~~The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center, Inc, 215 923 VETS (or go to http://www.pvmsec.org/). Ed Lowry, 215-8970-5233, will tell you how to help a program in a community where 30% of the homesless are vets.

~~You may send a greeting (think Christmas, get well or just plain good wishes!) to an injured soldier

THIS IS A NEW UPDATED ADDRESS!

Any Recovering Soldier

c/o American Red Cross

PO Box 419

Savage, MD 20763-0419

~~Books for Soldiers is a fun way to help our troops! http://www.booksforsoldiers.com/index.php

~~Move-On is helping the USO to provide thousands of phone cards to servicemen and women stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world, so that they can call their friends, family and loved ones this holiday season. Give $15 to buy a phone card for our troops? Click here for information:

https://civ.moveon.org/donatec4/holiday_troops.html?id=11829-3256130-FOqrta&t=2

Click here to contribute:

https://civ.moveon.org/donatec4/holiday_troops.html?id=11829-3256130-FOqrta&t=3

To learn more about the USO, a non-governmental, non-partisan organization, please visit http://www.uso.org/.

~~Label your package "Cell Phones for Soldiers" and send your old cell phones to

Cell Phone Recycling Center

2555 Bishop Cir W Dexter

MI 48130-9828

Or go to http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

~~A kind of clearing house for soldiers in need: http://www.anysoldier.com/.

~~Babysit a soldier's pet while he or she is on deployment. This site will help you do just that: http://www.operationnoblefoster.org/

~~Try the services of http://www.operationusocarepackage.org/ and http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/ for ways to make a difference.

~~For a list of items soldiers need and perfect directions for how to get them there go to http://www.komando.com/operationkomando

~~It's now cheaper to send items to APO and FPO addresses. Order free shipping boxes online. Ask for APO FPO rates at the post office. The boxes will be available online Feb. 20 at http://www.usps.com/supplies, or by calling (800) 610-8734.

~~Really cute bracelets, etc for sale with your soldier's name on them. Part of the proceeds go to USO. http://www.beadworkbysheree.com/deployment-bracelets.htm

~~My soldier in Iraq says that the windshield reflectors many of us use in the summer to protect our dashboards from cracking, our hands from burning on the steering wheel and our bottoms from baking on leather seats are a boon to soldiers suffering Iraqi heat, too. I saw some at the 99 cent store. (-:

~~Celebrating soldiers' words: Give your soldier a creative outlet. Let him or her know about the Poet Warrior Project: http://poetwarriorproject.blogsp[ot.com/ --

~~Get your soldier a bore cleaning kit free of charge with the project Bore Snake. http://www.projectboresnake.com/moreinfo.html. It will save him or her time and assure that their weapons are taken care of. Find guidelines or how to get one on the site.

~~Let your soldier know about this resource for mental health problems. Here's the link: http://www.newsvirginian.com/wnv/news/local/education/article/psychiatrists_offering_free_mental_health_service_to_troops/22456/

~~Adopt a US Soldier. http://www.adoptaussoldier.org/. Please note the disclaimer on the home page.

~~Buy yellow braclets from your PX, BX or Mothers of Military Support (MOMS) at http://www.mothersofmilitarysupport.com/.

~~To buy a soldier Thanksgiving Dinner or donate in some other meaningful way, go to:

https://www.donatefast.com/donate3/index.cfm?id=csahtg2&mailcode=CHL7NEN4

~~Cards for Heroes, an Snopes assures us it's all AOK! (-: http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/soldiercards.asp

~~Do you know a troubled soldier? VETERAN SUICIDE HOTLINE: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

~~A low cost and easy way to help soldiers in harms way is through Any Soldier, http://www.anysoldier.com/

Overheard . . .

Quotations on Our Military -- Without Comment

~~Reported by the Homelessness Research Institute:
Veterans are homeless: Vets represent only 11% of the cvilian adult popularion but 26% of the homeless population. The report asks for screening to learn which soldiers are at risk as they leave the service and for emergency grants for those who actually do fall behind on their rent. Write your congressman for support of this recommendation.

~~From Time Magazine:
Nearly 1/2 million veterans were on the streets or in shelters in 2006.

~~From Nancy Gibbs, Time Magazine Essay
"Private charity can't replace a public commitment to finish what we start, do do the long, hard, expensive work of making soldiers whole when they come home."

Notes on Tolerance . . .

Tolerance, or the lack of it, is at the root of every conceivable ill that befalls our country and others . . .

~~John McCain in response to a complaint that open borders "will destroy this country. . . " said, ". . . on the larger issue you raise, I believe the people who have come here [legally] from other countries . . . are our greatest strength." `Time Magazine, Dec. 10, 2007, page 33.

~~From Time Magazine:"Unholy Fantasy~The Catholic League called for a boycott of the film The Golden Compass, saying it promotes atheism. The league previously boycotted The Da Vinci Code."

~~At the Casden Institute at the University of Southern California (USC): Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-WS) noted that embracing strangers or outsiders is a tenet emphasized in the Torah. He urged particular tolerance for American minorities including blacks, Latinos, and Arabs and Muslims.

~~Tammy Faye Messner (Baker) passed away in 2007. She said "I refuse to label . . . . We're all just people made out of the same old dirt, and God didn't make any junk."

~~J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is a compendium of 4,200 pages about tolerance. Now, after the last has been written, she says, "I did not set out to convert anyone . . . . It's perfectly possible to live a very moral life without a belief in God, and I think it's perfectly possible to live a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in God."

~~"It takes a total shift in perception to realize that you are not in the world, the world is in you." ~ Deepak Chopra

~~"It's about people being two things at once, like Italian Americans or Chinese Americans. He's (Pope Bendict) interested in that idea of coexistence." ~ Raphaela Schmid, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (Time, April 14, 2008)

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Friday, December 5, 2008

Expressing Gratitude at Holiday Time

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