Voice of Reason in the Senate

Hats off and eternal gratitude to our honorable Senator Patty Murray for standing up and speaking out against the surge and the Republican filibuster preventing debate earlier this week. Makes me proud to be a Washingtonian.

"... I strongly oppose the surge. Escalation is the wrong direction. I will vote to put this Senate on record opposing the surge, if the Republicans will end their filibuster. And I will continue to fight for a new direction in Iraq. For too long, the voices of our troops and our citizens have been blocked, and today Senate Republicans are trying to continue that obstruction. I say - no longer. The debate must begin -- our country will be the better for it."

Now let's just hope the rest of Congress and President will listen and begin true dialogue so I can be proud to be an American again.

Congratulations, America! Molly Ivins, rest her soul, would be proud.

Congratulations to MoveOn.org and my fellow Americans who called their Congresspersons today to protest the Iraq surge and urged them to vote against this senseless, last ditch effort by an executive in denial and delusion.

Over 1 million calls made today. Let's hope Congress is listening. Our president certainly isn't.

And thanks to Senator Maria Cantwell, who has already pledged to vote against the escalation of the war in Iraq.

There are so many reasons this will not work and little evidence that it would make any difference at this stage. It will only put more of our young people in jeopardy. It's time for the administration to take responsibility for the mistakes they've made in waging this war in the first place, give real consideration to the recommendations made by the Iraq Study Group report, and engage the international community to help end the strife between the Shia, Sunni, and Kurds before full scale civil war occurs.

I hope Congress will go beyond this non-binding motion and use their constitutional power to do whatever they can to prevent more bloodshed.

UPDATE: The final tally on calls is 1,057,012 with 467 calls coming from my district, the first district of Washington state.

His name is Fenway

We’ve had him for a couple of months now. He’s an 11 month old Red/Yellow Lab mix. A very loving, energetic guy who is great around the kids. Everyone that meets him thinks he’s quite a handsome chap.

But he has turned our lives a bit upside down right now. We’re trying to train him on some of finer points of good doggie behavior, such as not chewing up the kids’ toys or dragging us when he’s on the leash.

I haven’t had a dog since I was a young boy, but the books and DVD by the Monks of New Skete are helping.