This one caught my eye for two reasons: First, and most importantly, it’s a ringing denunciation of the bloody Cabal over the body of a 19-year-old Scottish Fusilier from a true Man of God and Peace.

Second, it occurred in the historic ancestral Land of Pollok in Glasgow, which may (or may not) be whence we sprang.

But this is just awesome. « Shame on You! »

’”I want to believe that if there’s a God in heaven then there will be justice because I want someone to pay for Gordon’s death,” Dr. Mann told a hushed congregation. “But only God may judge who is ultimately responsible and I can only admonish—I’m just a preacher. And if I were to point them out, I would say to president George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, I have only three words of admonishment. “I pray that they may some day be inscribed on the tablets of your hearts—and those three words are ‘shame on you’.”
…
‘George McNeilage, a community campaigner and family friend, said that the teenager was an “economic conscript”, forced into the army because of a lack of prospects on the impoverished Pollok estate. The teenager had simply hoped to get a driving licence and a trade from a career in the service, he said.’

Almost a thousand American families can pretty much say the same of their dead too. But God bless and save and keep you, Dr. Mann; you’re a true man of courage and conviction.

With a great deal of sadness and regret, I withdrew from grad school classes yesterday morning, deferring my enrollment/involvement with the program until next June.

I’ve had tendonitis for 3-5 years now and had surgery on my left wrist in Sept-01. Things haven’t been too bad since, because I don’t hold/grip pens and write—I type. But the pain in my wrists/hands has been growing ever since I started taking undergrad courses to get ready for grad school and started writing things by hand extensively. At one point, during my summer math grad class in mid-June, the pain was so bad and distracting I almost hit a guardrail driving back from Ypsilanti on I-94.

I ignored it as much as possible and pretended things were fine. But they’re not. Truth is, I’m 40 and my tendons are shot and I don’t like it or want to admit it, but I have a problem. When grad school started full-bore last week, each day was more painful than the last. I also tripped and fell on my right arm and that certainly didn’t help. I ended up passing out in the middle of the night a week ago and then in the doctor’s office last Friday morning being pushed, prodded, pained and poked. Now, I’ll be starting physical therapy next Wednesday to try to get things back in order, as well as assessing what has to be done beyond therapy.

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