As we now pass into a new year, the window on our planet is closing even more. Recent events are making it clearer that Al Gore's words of warning in bringing the message of climate scientists to the people are coming true. This is not the time to continue to sit on our hands waiting for some event to come along to magically bring it back, because that will not happen without our intervention. This year of 2007 is going to be crucial for the future sustainability of this planet. Which is why I ask for your help.

Yesterday the Washington Post reported that Fran O'Brien's Stadium Steakhouse, a restaurant beloved by our on-the-mend combat vets at Walter Reed Medical Center, has been refused a lease renewal by landlord Hilton Hotels. The restaurant's basement location in the Capitol Hilton will have to be vacated by May 1, 2006. [See this heart-tugging WUSA Channel 9 video report.]

The decision has created an understandable uproar in the veteran's community: Fran O'Brien's has been treating our severly wounded veterans to complimentary Friday night steak dinners for the past 2 1/2 years. Their generosity has become legendary, and going out for dinner at Fran O'Brien's has become a "rite of passage" after difficult months spent recovering from serious injuries in a sterile hospital bed. Veteran's families have begun asking Hilton Hotels to re-think their decision. To help them to do that, a petition has gone up...

Update [2006-2-16 11:46:46 by Tom Ball]: I Edited this post to remove the Valentine's day theme because the day has come and gone but the content is truly valuable and holiday independent. Hopefully ilona won't strangle me.

Let's share our loving side with the ones who need it the most: our troops. Let's get busy and show them who really supports them, ok?

I've tried to make this as pain-free and fun as possible. Some of the action items can be done right in front of your computer screen. Other items will require you to get up and move about into the fresh air outside - maybe even mingle with other people. Still others will require you open up your wallet, if you so choose to do. No pressure there from me.

You ready to start showing the troops you care?

For your signing pleasure:

Help Ensure that Abstinence-Only Programs are Accurate! (NARAL)

Stand up against right-wing smears in Washington (Progressive Majority)

For your viewing pleasure:

Barack Obama appears on the Daily Show tonight.

For your spending pleasure:

PFAW is soliciting donations for its efforts to ensure America's courts represent everyone fairly.