Back to Reality

Back from "vacation" and back to reality. I say "vacation" instead of vacation because when your three-year-old and your five-month-old get colds the minute you land you would rather be in hell. Florida is pretty close though even without sick kids. Case in point, the county I was in had just voted to NOT fluoridate their water because of health concerns and they trumpeted that as a victory. To be fair I was shocked to read only Illinois and California mandate it throughout their states and only 65% of the other water drinking areas in America require it. Eighty-five percent of America believes in Angels but only 65% believe in fluoridation. I wonder what percentage think we're all nuts.

So the kiddies are up all night and the water has no fluoride and the mosquitoes are eating away at my arms and legs but it's still better than reality back home. Back home I have to read news headlines and see "U.S. Iraq war toll passes 9/11." On 9/11 2,973 people died and as of Christmas day 2,978 U.S. servicemen and women have lost their lives in Iraq. Next may will mark four years after President Decider decided "mission accomplished." And now it appears that despite the November election "thumping" the president and his Iraq policy got he is not just staying the course but it's, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" The "surge" is coming. That's the brilliant new strategy the worst and the dimmest have come up with. Perhaps tens of thousands of troops will be sent to Baghdad to fight the insurgents which is just another name for the people of Iraq. And here's the best part. We have to send more troops rather than withdraw troops because to do otherwise would send the wrong message to insurgents and al Qaeda. At least that's the rationale given from people who haven't been rational in years. So we have to send more troops and, here it comes again, we can't just send them in there temporarily because again, any timetable would signal to the enemy how long they had to holdout. to we can't leave and have to send more troops and we can't set a timetable. Okay, I'm with you so far. So what happens if the "surge" fails to to achieve any measurable reduction in violence or attacks or casualities are the like? Well, then surely we would say, "we gave it one last best effort and it didn't work so now we can pullout, right?" Guess again. If that happens, now I'm reading the mind of the Decider, then of course we can't leave because then we would be admitting defeat and we can't do that so we'll have to stay and maybe even increase troop levels. See how the circular reasoning goes from people who have block heads?

So forgive me if I'd rather be in Florida even if it's sleep-deprived and I'm a buffet for mosquitoes while letting my teeth fall out of my head from lack of flouride. It's better than reading about how we have to keep increasing our troop levels and casualities in Iraq just so the Decider doesn't have to decide that he made a mistake. Jesus, it is said, died for the sins of the people. Now people have to die for Bush's sins.