Eyes Wide Open

All too often, we forget that innocent Americans aren't the only ones losing their lives in Iraq.

Eyes Wide Open - the American Friends Service Committee's widely-acclaimed exhibition on the human cost of the Iraqi War - is a short video (2 minutes) well-worth watching. A pair of boots honors each U.S. military casualty, and a multimedia display explores the history, cost and consequences of the war.

If you want to sign a petition to end the war, it's included there as well.

Another interesting AFSC page is just The Facts, which includes graphs, charts, photos, timelines and even an ongoing counter that's tallying the war's cost on a state by state basis.

Eyes Wide Open is a real wake up call. Unfortunately, the numbers keep rolling and there's no snooze button.

Rally Against Bush on Friday

Democrats in congress are standing united against George W. Bush's plan to cut benefits in order to pay for private accounts, and Bush is getting nervous. So after his State of the Union address, the President will launch a divide and conquer approach by trying to break Democratic ranks through a five state PR tour of red states with Democratic Senators.

This week we must show that the people of Nebraska will not be divided, and will not be deceived by the President's plan to jeopardize Social Security. Please join with MoveOn and other progressive organizations for a rally in Omaha to counter Bush's visits.

The details for the rally are below.

WHEN:
Friday, February 4
7AM

WHERE:
Rally outside Qwest Convention Center in Omaha.
Meet at 10 th & Capitol at Qwest Center.
Look for signs and stage by Convention Center. 

Welcome to the new blog of the 5th District Democrats. We decided to call it "The Left Coast of Iowa" because, well, we're the left coast of Iowa (and there are a bunch of left-leaning liberal types out here in western Iowa.)

Several good writers have been invited to write regular features for this blog, and if you want to become a regular contributor, just write webmaster@idp5.org and tell us why you should be given 'author status.'

And of cours, anybody can leave comments (even anonymous comments) about any posting on the blog.

Hope to see YOUR writing on our blog soon.