As my 87 year old mother lies in a nursing home, fading away from the ravages of her latest stroke, I opened a box of her old papers and found a faded envelope addressed to her.  The postmark reads September 15th, 1951, and inside I found a carefully folded piece of brown paper that looked like the back of a grocery bag, or one of those old bookcovers kids used to use.  It is a large piece of paper, at least twice the size of an 8 x 11, and it has rough edges where it was cut with scissors.  The childlike print is widely spaced and large, but time has faded it so much that I had to get a flashlight to read it.  The words brought tears to my eyes.  Step back in time with me 56 years.  Step back in time and see what could be your future.

My move in February forced me to deal with the overflowing contents of my basement.  Many of the boxes that were stashed away contained items belonging to my mother, who now, at 85, lives is an assisted living facility.  Mom is a saver.  I went through box after box of old phone bills, insurance bills, even canceled checks from my brothers high school tuition drawn on a bank called the Chemical Corn Exchange Bank in 1958.  I got rid of tons of old paper, but then the move happened so the rest of the stuff went on the truck. I was unpacking the last of the boxes the other day I came across an old, red lacquer box that I vaguely remember seeing as a child.  When I looked inside, I found a folded up old paper with the words "Landed in America, March 17th, 1903" scrawled on the back.  There was also the name of a ship, but I cannot make out the letters due to the childlike penmanship.  I might be SS Invernis.  Sail away with me.

Well, I had just wiped my eyes dry from listening to KOs statement on the gutting of habeus corpus, when I spotted Moyers on America starting on PBS.  I saw the last episode, and could not pass this one up.  
Last weeks topic was Jack Abramoff. This week...

I mentioned this idea in passing on another post and then thought maybe I should post it in my very first diary.  The NYT ran this story yesterday, and I found it yet another maddening example of the misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance of the Bush administration.  This guy is a convicted felon who used some of the money he stole to pay restitution for a PREVIOUS theft he was convicted of, and yet he was able to go to Iraq and stick his filthy hands in the cookie jar.  I'm no expert, but I figure not just anybody can get on a plane and set up shop over there, so how did Al Capone get a backstage pass?

Anyhow, he stole Iraqi money on Iraqi soil.  I propose that we demand he, and any other American civilian charged with corruption or theft during this war be turned over to the Iraqi government for prosecution.  I don't think the word "pardon" appears anywhere in the Iraqi dictionary.

What say you all?