Buy Nothing Day

Today, the Friday after Thanksgiving is Buy Nothing Day. It is the day that is considered the start of the Christmas buying season and many retail establisments put a lot of hopes on this day that people will prove themselves greedyand selfish and spend much more than they really should. Christmas, though should be about more than consumerism. There are other ways to show the people that you love them then buying them something. Adbusters is sponsoring Buy Nothing Day as a demonstration against our unsustainable conumerism. The thought is to reduce our collective footprint and what better day to demonstrate than on the largest retail day of the year.

The American death total in Iraq has risen to 1233 for the war and 112 for the month. Three people have died in the last 24 hours. The month that I will be documenting is January of 2004. 47 people were killed which brought the total for the war up to 529. The military members are:

January 1: Maj. James Stenner, Sgt. Norman Patterson

January 2: Capt. Eric Thomas Paliwoda, Spc. Solomon C. "Kelly" Bangayan, Spc. Marc S. Seiden, Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton, Sgt. Dennis A. Corral

January 5: Spc. Luke P. Frist

January 7: PFC Jesse D. Mizener, Lcpl. Andrew Jason Craw

January 8: Spc. Christopher A. Golby, Spc. Michael A. Diraimondo, SFC Gregory B. Hicks, CWO Aaron A. Weaver, Ssgt. Craig Davis, Sgt. Jeffrey C. Walker, Spc. Nathaniel H. Johnson, CWO Philip A. Johnson Jr., CWO Ian D. Manuel

January 12: Ssgt. Ricky l. Crockett

January 13: Sgt. Keicia M. Hines

January 16: Ssgt. Roland L. Castro

January 17: PFC Cody J. Orr, Sgt. Edmond Lee Randle Jr., Spc Larry E. Polley Jr.,

January 18: Msgt. Kelly L. Hornbeck

January 21: Spc. Gregory T. Palacios, PFC James D. Parker

January 23: CW2 Michael T. Blaise, CW2 Brian D. Hazelgrove

January 24: Spc. Jason K. Chappell, Sgt. Randy S. Rosenberg, Ssgt. Kenneth W. Hendrickson, Sgt. Kenneth L. Smette, Spc. William R. Sturges Jr.

January 25: Ssgt. Christopher Bunda, 1st Lt. Adam G. Mooney, CWO Patrick D. Dorff, PFC Ervin Dervishi

January 27: Sgt. Travis A. Mootheart, Sgt. Cory R. Mracek, Capt. Matthew J. August, Ssgt. Lester O. Kinney II., SFC James T. Hoffman, 2nd Lt. Luke S. James

January 29: PFC Luis A. Moreno, Ssgt. Sean G. Landrus

January 31: Cpl. Juan C. Cabralbanuelos, Sgt. Eliu A. Miersandoval, PFC Holly J. McGeogh

Details on these soldiers can be found at Iraq Coalition Casualties.