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RedditIt makes sense that the best way to honor a mother is to work to end wars that kill her sons, but the true origin of Mother's Day has been buried under an avalanche of flowers and chocolates. (Not that there's anything wrong with flowers or chocolate – but peace is more important.)
It was Julia Ward Howe, writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, who first planted the seed for a day for mothers to come together. It was about 12 years after she wrote that song that she instigated the first Mother's Day Peace Proclamation in 1870. A good article in the News-Messenger explains that Howe's peace proclamation was in protest of the devastation that the nation had experienced during the Civil War and gives an excellent back-story to the holiday's origin.
Gloria Steinem, Vanessa Williams, Felicity Huffman, Fatma Saleh, Alfre Woodard, Ashraf Salimian and Christine Lahti, among others, also honor Ward Howe's legacy and discuss the origin of Mother's Day in a video produced by our friends at Brave New Films.
PS: If you have extra time on your hands and want to follow me on Twitter -- a micro-blog -- click here. You'll find (slightly) more personal posts, breaking news and lots of links.
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Peter Rothberg
Your guide to expressing informed dissent to war, racism, sexism, environmental degradation and market-based solutions to social problems.
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the best way to bring peace is to ensure that your enemies don't defeat you.
none of the "isms" that threatened peace in the past 100 years were defeated by peace slogans or idealistic thinking.
Whether it is Nazism, Fascism, or terrorism, foes dedicated to over taking peaceful people with force cannot be brought to peace by words or idealistic dreams.
No mother wants to see her son die in battle. But better to die in battle defending freedom than to die without mercy at the hands of those who care nothing for humanity (ie terrorists).
Posted by antisocialist at 05/10/2009 @ 10:10pm
No son wants to see his mother die in battle.
Alas, to die in battle sheltering your children from the merciless hands of those who care nothing for humanity (ie clusterbomb makers)......
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2009 @ 12:39am
i miss my mom.
she always had a few choice words for "people" like larry.
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/11/2009 @ 12:40am
Posted by antisocialist at 05/10/2009 @ 10:10pm
In those wars, did we PLAN on killing the enemy who supported those 'isms', Larry?
Posted by Mask at 05/11/2009 @ 06:40am
In those wars, did we PLAN on killing the enemy who supported those 'isms', Larry?
Posted by Mask at 05/11/2009 @ 06:40am
Mask, not going to go through you usual repeat the same questions and answers on something we already discussed ad nauseam.
Posted by antisocialist at 05/11/2009 @ 09:13am
Posted by antisocialist at 05/11/2009 @ 09:13am
No, more just a joke. Kind of like your strained reasoning on how "murder is planned killing, but we don't PLAN to kill anybody when we go to war".
It doesn't bear repeating.
Posted by Mask at 05/11/2009 @ 12:02pm
'It makes sense that the best way to honor a mother is to work to end wars that kill her sons' -- Peter Rothberg
'My son is not dearer than Islam. I have offered him as a gift and a sacrifice to Allah, may he be glorified, and to His true faith....' -- Um Nidal
Posted by HonestLiberal at 05/11/2009 @ 12:51pm
This week the House Energy and Commerce Committee will continue to work towards a compromise to gain a majority of votes to have a mark-up of the Waxman-Markey climate change draft bill. Once done, one can expect a mark up either in the Environment and Energy Subcommittee or at the full committee level. In the interim, several hearings related to climate change are scheduled this week on Capitol Hill.
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Posted by vikassinghania at 05/12/2009 @ 12:27pm