Karen thanked us all for gathering to mark the 5th anniversary of the Iraq invasion. She said that for her the war has become a horrible struggle to learn to live without her son, Lt. Ken Ballard, who died in Faluja during an extended tour of duty. It is made worse by the fact that the war is based on lies and wasn't necessary. She said that painful as it is, for some reason nothing seems to stop the carnage. She urged us all to come back when the death toll goes through 4,000 soldiers, probably sometime next week. She also asked all of us to do something every day to help build the peace movement, because if we do nothing then the status quo continues on like a blind machine.

        

Lenny asked everybody that isn't already in it to sign up for the Mountain View Voices for Peace email group. We meet every month or so, and the emails notice time and place. Also, there is a speaker on energy alternatives at noon this coming Tuesday in the Thai restaurant on Castro at Villa across from Kaps Pizza. It should be interesting. Come on down.

     

     

     

John was carrying a sign with the pictures of fallen Americans who died in Iraq. They were spread over both sides. They came from a special section in the Mercury News that came out when the death toll went through the 1,000 mark. He explained that at this point one side of his sign is about an eighth of the total. Each soldiers picture was about the size of a postage stamp. I added the detail to his left to give you a feel for what he was saying.

At the end it was just me, the guy in red, white, & blue stripes and another guy who had given up his car recently. We debated how many angels could dance on a pinhead for a while and then went our separate ways.