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It turns out the wounded soldiers from the Iraq and Afghan wars recovering at Walter Reed in D.C. have to pay for their own phone calls. Most of these folks are from poor families and can't afford to call home as much as they would like, and a lot will still be there over the holidays.

So, send pre-paid phone cards! Any amount - even $5 - is appreciated, from what I've read.

Here's the address to send the cards directly to:

Medical Family Assistance Center
Walter Reed Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Building 2, Third Floor, Room 3E01
Washington, DC 20307-5001

There is now a second Phantom of the Opera movie trailer!

I also found a clip from the "Angel of Music" section.

Definitely Best Picture material!

And in this one we get to hear Mr. Butler singing! (and he's not bad - he sounds more manly than Crawford, actually) I can tell I'll have to swear off my Sarah Brightman/Michael Crawford version until after the movie or my ears will be expecting one thing and hearing another.

Here's a couple of photos I was able to capture from the new trailer:






Such a tragic love story...

I may just have to put Timeline on my Blockbuster Video online rental list - I thought it a really bad movie, but maybe I was too hasty in my judgement - perhaps it needs a few more viewings...

OK, time for me to go back into my cage now...

Today is November 2nd, Election Day in the United States of America. Most everyone by now is tired of the campaigns and wishes the election process were just over and done with. Tomorrow (hopefully), the wait will be over and we will know who our next President is.

It's really a very remarkable event - we get to participate in the election of our political leaders.

A good friend of mine recently lent me a book to read: Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara - an historical novel (based on primary source documents) chronicling events leading to the creation and signing of the Declaration of Independence. I believe my friend - who states he would have been a loyalist in the American Revolution - wished for me to gain more exposure to a balanced and not overtly pro-American viewpoint. The book did accomplish that; however, something magical happened, as well: for possibly the first time in my life, I gained a true understanding of what it means to be an American and a deep appreciation for the efforts and sacrifices of those we call our Founding Fathers (including the women :-)

(Goodness, an emoticon...there goes any attempt at being profound...)

It is hard to adequately communicate to those who haven't read the book the emotions it evoked; a bit sheepishly I have to confess that on several occasions I was moved to tears whilst reading it (slightly awkward at a courthouse and again on an airplane - you wouldn't think from the title and book's cover that it was a tearjerker). They were tears of pride and of sadness: pride that my country was born of such noble ambitions and sadness that at times my country has not lived up to that nobility. Pride in what was accomplished and sadness in the efforts of some to misinterpret and twist the ideals for which my country stands. Pride in the men and women who risked (and lost) their very lives - not just in the American Revolutionary War, but other wars since then - for the right to have a say in their government; sadness that today some do not exercise the right so many have died to give them.

So, go read it: go read the Declaration of Independence - read one of those unique documents that makes being an American special! Contemplate what was meant by "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"

Ponder, especially, the last paragraph:

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Those men felt so strongly that they put their reputations, their money, and their lives in peril so that Americans could control their own political destiny.

And some of us can't be bothered to go and vote?

America, as a country, may not always do the right thing, and other countries and people around the world may not like us, but this country is special and part of what makes us special is that we have the ability, fought for and hard-won, to elect our own leaders.

In the words of John Adams, July 1776, "God does not give us strength, He rewards it. We are a people who have shown the world we can help ourselves, that we have the God-given strength to stand for our liberty. God help us? No, sir. May God bless us."