Most important things you can read this week

As you prepare to vote next week (unless, like me, you've already voted absentee), here's some food for thought:

• After Pat's Birthday -- If you haven't yet read this scorching essay by Kevin Tillman, posted on truthdig.com, you should. It is past time, as the saying goes, to "speak truth to power."

• "The Army has recently completed a new center in San Antonio specializing in amputation, [called] the Intrepid Center...." -- This passing mention came in the next-to-the-last paragraph of a lovely NYT article about service dogs being trained to assist disabled veterans of the Iraq War. Just think about that. Then think about the more than 100 U.S. service members killed this month alone, and who knows how many more severely injured and disabled for life. This is the Iraq War. No plan, no strategy, no way out. No end in sight. Don't you think it's time to shake up the deadly status quo in DC?

• Still not sure? Read The Forgotten Wounded by Ron Kovic, a Vietnam vet , also posted at truthdig.com.
  

• Voters Can Spark an Energy Revolution Before It's Too Late -- This chilling article on global warming, by Bill McKibben, appeared in Sunday's Mercury News. I wish I could make it required reading for all California voters...maybe that would offset the torrents ofnegative ads funded by Big Oil money against Prop. 87. Time is running out.

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