Posted on 08/16/2005 12:57:52 PM PDT by areafiftyone
New York, August 16, 2005 – The General Secretary of the National Council of Churches is urging President Bush to join with Gold Star families and religious leaders in an interfaith prayer service outside the Bush ranch at noon (CDT) Friday,
The prayer service has been called by Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan “as an opportunity for Americans and others across the world to pray for our soldiers in Iraq, their families and in particular the mothers of our fallen.”
Sheehan, along with United Methodist laywoman Celeste Zappala and other Gold Star mothers, has been waiting outside the Bush compound to meet with the President since his five-week vacation began.
“I urge the President and the First Lady to join this brief and simple service,” said the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, NCC General Secretary. Edgar visited the Gold Star mothers and their families outside the presidential ranch and conducted a worship service on August 12. The visit was at the invitation of his fellow United Methodist, Celeste Zappala, whose son Sherwood was killed in Iraq.
“This war, like any war, has generated terrible losses, immense pain and sharp divisions in our country,” Edgar said. “Each day we see the pain in the faces of the Gold Star mothers and their families. It’s evident that President Bush, who has faced agonizing decisions in this war, feels the pain as well.”
“Whether or not we agree with Mr. Bush’s decisions,” Edgar said, “and whether or not he agrees with us, we can agree that we’re all feeling a heavy burden of grief. Let’s suspend the rhetoric for a few minutes on Friday and join together – commander-in-chief and families of the fallen – to seek strength from the God who sustains us all.”
In an open letter to religious leaders August 15, Sheehan urged those who cannot attend to host a prayer vigil in their cities. “We ask you to join us in a simultaneous moment of silent prayer to honor all who have been affected by this war.”
The service will take place at “Camp Casey,” an impromptu encampment outside the Bush compound named for Sheehan’s son, Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Baghdad on April 4, 2004. Camp Casey, which displays white crosses named for those who have been killed in Iraq, has become a gathering place for Gold Star families and their supporters.
The full text of the Sheehan August 15 letter to religious letters follows:
Dear Religious Leader:
Family members of fallen soldiers, who have joined me in Crawford, and I invite you to attend a moment of silent prayer at 12:00 noon (Central Daylight Time) this Friday, August 19th at Camp Casey just outside the Presidents’ Ranch. We’re holding this moment of prayer as an opportunity for Americans and others across the world to pray for our soldiers in Iraq, their families and in particular the mothers of our fallen. We have also invited President Bush and the first lady to join us in praying for the troops.
Several family members of fallen soldiers have joined with me in Crawford and will take part in the moment of silent prayer. Outside the President’s ranch we have set up a temporary camp named “Camp Casey” and a memorial of crosses with names of fallen soldiers has been erected, which is where the prayer service will take place.
If you cannot attend our service in Crawford, Texas please consider hosting a prayer vigil in your city. We ask you to join us in a simultaneous moment of silent prayer to honor all who have been affected by this war. You are welcome to contact your local media and inform them of your vigil.
My son, Casey Sheehan, 24, of Vacaville, Calif., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 4, 2004, when his unit was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. When President Bush began his 5 week vacation, I decided to camp outside his ranch in hopes of meeting with him to ask some unanswered questions about the war and the needless loss of lives of so many. Thus far the President has refused to meet, but my resolve is strong and I will remain in Crawford until the meeting takes place or his vacation ends.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and support of this interfaith prayer service.
Respectfully,
Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Casey Sheehan
Picture courtesy of Lone Star Iconoclast.
If you plan to go to Crawford, travel logistics provided by the Sheehan support team can be found here
Contact: NCC News, Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2252,
Dick "Halliburton" Cheney is really running the show... but wait... he is really being controlled by masters deep withing Halliburton itself... but no... those puppet masters are controlled by shadowy individuals deep within the Trilateral Commission... but no... those individuals are directed by one at the center of the web, at the epicenter of the conspiracy -- the Buildaburger Group. This group consolidated power after Killing the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King, Cutting the legs out from under Johnson, Nixon, and Carter, and propping Castro up for the last 40 years.
Would you like to Buildasize that?
Howdy my friend...
Maybe if we could get some familes of libertated Iraqis out to the prayer she'd have to admit brown skinned people arent worth american blood. That would send them in orbit wouldnt it? Imagine the bind 'ol jesse would be in having this loon sneer at arabs? Just no jews tho. We know she don't like them too much.
Nope, I'm convinced she'll win if she runs, as things stand now. If gasoline goes to $3 a gallon everwhere, I may reduce that to a buck, just to get takers.
Fact. George W Bush is the most real, people President in the modern Presidency. (Clinton was a faux people President, b/c all he wanted to talk about was himself.) You must be avoiding the Daily Photo Thread of President Bush's activities. You must never read the stories of those who have met him, who have interacted with him, who have observed him. You must have missed his events on C-Span.
The man is the most real, down-to-earth charmer it would be possible to imagine.
Your statements about his having no diplomatic skills and being isolated and insulated by handlers are ignorant in the extreme. He visits the Coffee House in Crawford and hangs with the employees that wait on customers. He goes to the kitchen with the cooks. Does the same when he goes to a fancy hotel. He meets the workers, hears their names, signs things they want autographed etc.
People who don't hate him adore him, especially if they have EVER been in his presence. That is just a fact. He hugs people. He visits the wounded from the war. He stays for 2 hours. He talks. He listens. He cries.
When he walks in a room somewhere, unless they hate him already, the room lights up. People's faces light up. People smile. People joke. People laugh. People enjoy the moment and enjoy being alive.
You claim to be above everyone here in your intellectual attainment. But all of this fact, truth, has escaped you. Whatever else is true or not about your self-description, I say you are a fraud.
A young child who follows the President's life knows many times over more than you know about Goerge Bush.
High-Five, Howlin! Nice.
With that I take my leave of you nice people. Gotta motor.
Did it never occur to you that we DO think? We just don't think you are right about this approach. It's not groupthink, it's like-minded thinking. there's a difference.
W is handling this the same way the TANG memos were handled and the DUI were handled. It has not done him in thus far.
Those Moms are already out there (but I agree the White House should be pointing them out more effectively ; )
Is there any law regarding the use of the "gold star" as it pertains to the Gold Star Mothers?
Is it like misusing a purple heart or bronze star?
I agree. Television has chosen sides, and any Republican president would be a loser in such a contest.
George
You REALLY don't get it professor. W comes across as a dullard WHEN it's staged. When it's natural you see the natural charm he has.
Don't react, read.
I don't care who says what to whom as far as the Republican leadereship is concerned. Sheehan's movement is gathering strength, due to favorable television coverage. The White House's strategery of ignoring her isn't paying off.
Read it clearly: they need to shut her up somehow. I never said meet with her. They need to counter her.
Has Cindy and her bunch stolen the Gold Star Mothers name from the original (and real) organization? Aren't there laws against that? This article makes it sound like it's the original group that's meeting--but I believe it's Cindy's?
Where she will grow old and eventually pass on to her reward wherever. President Bush will not give in to this attempt at emotional blackmail.
A dynamic, aggressive leader who can't answer direct questions, is a transparent liar, and can't complete a single sentence without the obligatory "well, you know, well, you know, ah, well, ah, you know, well, ah, you know, well, you know, ah, well, you know."
Also a dynamic, aggressive leader with a sorry record as first lady of Arkansas, co-president, and senator from New York.
After the Witch Queen speaks on television, the media types pee all over themselves in joy, for a long, long time. That's what the boobs see.
Then they go out and buy $3 a gallon gasoline. What is the accumulated effect, do you think?
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