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Changing Course
I'm reading the newspaper last Wednesday and right there on the front page is "The Shrub" saying he's going to try to follow the Iraq commission's recommendations. Then on Thursday, the day after Wednesday, I'm reading the front page of the paper where, once again, "The Shrub" is saying I'm not going to do what the Iraq commission recommends. Well there is a big surprise! Not really. That little G (for gullible) on my forehead has really worn off these last 6 years.
According to the little snippets I've caught of CNN, Bush is going to meet with other groups to see what they suggest. Like taking a poll. He'll waste those last two years in office searching for the half dozen nit wits who still agree with his strategy of doing nothing and adding a new slogan to it. Being the linguistic genius he is, maybe it will be something like, "Stay the course, it won't get wourse!"
Really, why hurry? It's not like his children are over there on the brink of doom. And as I'm listening to CNN in the background, a bomber lured unemployed Iraqi's with the promise of jobs to a truck loaded with 400 lbs of explosives, 71 are now dead. What could possibly make any of this acceptable?
I kinda follow the "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" rule. Not that I have enemies. It just makes sense to keep communicating. The silent treatment doesn't work so well with our personal relationships and I don't think it works that well out in the big world. Look at Cuba. They don't look like they have been crying the last 40 years because we didn't want to be friends. They didn't shrivel up and blow away, they found new friends and suppliers. Did you hear? Syria and Iran have really warmed to the Iraq commission's suggestions. They are ready to jump in and help in Iraq. Isn't that just down right neighborly? Extend that olive branch. Alright, I'm a little skeptical about their motivations, but the door is open.
The point is do something because what is being done now isn't working. Ooops, CNN has just reported that "the way forward" has been stalled until after the new year. Or as Jack Cafferty said, "the decider has decided not to decide until after January 1st."
And while the clock is ticking, the costs are mounting. I'm not even going to touch the cost in human lives because you cannot put a price on a life. I am talking money, pure and simple. They are estimating the cost of this war and the care of our wounded afterward will top 2 trillion dollars. Now someone out there needs to tell me what the cost breaks down to, per person. I can't do it because I didn't get that new calculator with all the decimal places and I don't know how many zero's belong after the 2 to make 2 trillion. My brain refuses to acknowledge a number that large. So lets keep this simple:
2 trillion divided by 300 million (US population)= ???
Ok, anyone?
Not even going to attempt the math, but agree with you and am saddened that
innocent people are dying the world over, and though you mentioned you
can't put a value on human life, it's obvious that there are people
"running the show" who'c conscience doesn't seem affected, and are willing
to sacrifice the common man for their beliefs/dogma/etc. Life seems
devalued from that perspective. Sorry to be a downer, just thinking . . .
It's a bit less than 7 thousand (I know it's sad, but I can't *not* work
these things out - it's a bit like trying not to read slogans on t-shirts).
As that late great totalitarian dictator Stalin said, "One death is a
tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic."
This would apply to the "cost" of this little Iraq excursion which is now
longer than WW2 at least on American terms.
Remember that the current regime originally came to power by coup so why
would they listen to any advice re Iraq? Also the bogus "war on terror" and
the attack on Iraq was the way for this regime to cancel the Constitution
and install a one party state headed by dictator G.W. Bush Jnr.
I have a rule that anyone with a Jnr. after his name suffers from delusions
of grandeur and is not to be trusted.
JWL
Even though I have been extremely busy I have been keeping u with the sorry
state of the world. Someone stole my shrub clippers a long while back. I
have tried weed poison but it doesn't seem strong enough. Back to the
drawing board...........
And yet, every now and again, I still see a Bush bumper sticker on a car.
Don't these people know they should be mortified?
I just don't know how anyone can still support him. We live in one of the
few places where you can make choices that really count and this is it?
Two days after election day. I said Bush is not going to change. I also
said the gas prices would climb again at the end of December - it's
happening.
Merry Christmas! Hope all is well with you!