Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Wow

I've been up to a lot recently, including a ghost hunt at a decommissioned prison and using tools to fix things. But the bigger new is that we won. We fucking won! Control of the House AND the Senate. And just as I was enjoying that sweet savory taste I hear on the radio today the Rumsfeld has "Retired". I haven't read the transcript of his announcement, but if he uses the term "Spend more time with my family" it means he was fired. Fired or quit, I don't care. He's gone. I believe i did a little jig in the NAPA parts store.

It's been said by conservatives that the Democrates don't have a plan, well it's better than the Rebublicans who's plans have all been bad. I am inclined to agree with some of the pundits, that America didn't vote for Democrats so much as vote against the Republicans. Whatever, the glass is half full, the glass is half empty. I don't care so long as the glass has less than 50% Republicans, child predators, thieves, secretly gay homophobes and war profiteers.

I stayed up late to watch the results, but the more I watched, the worse my stomach felt, until I realized that I did the same thing in 2004. I stayed up and the news just kept getting worse. What were those people thinking??? I truly felt in my heart that once the American people got into that voting booth, that they could finally have their say without fear of retribution, that they would soudly regect Bush and his ilk. But they didn't. They still believed the lies. This should have happened two years ago. We might be out of Iraq by now.

And to put some numbers behind that:

We might have not have lost 1,472 U.S. and coalition lives
18,540 fewer coalition casualties
20-100,000 fewer Iraqi casualties/fatalities

Of course this is all speculation. But you know the old saying 'Fighting for peace is like fucking for viginity'. I'm wondering how many more kids are going to pay the ultimate price for this failed venture. How many more 'casualties' before we pull the plug. Remember, being wounded in combat can be anything from breaking your leg to having your arm blown off by an IED. And given the nature of this occupation, there are a LOT more amputations. There are also a lot more head wonds. The incidences of PTSD will be skyrocketing over the next few years. We will start to see a surge in the number of homeless vets.

I love my country and I support the men and women who serve. So I consider it my sworn DUTY to make sure that they aren't needlessly put in harms way. To fail in this is to fail as a person. I meet a lot of people in my job. I likely talk to several thousand people a year person to person. One day some young man or woman is going to buy something from me and hand me their credit card. Only they won't have a hand, or even an arm. It will be a prosthesis. I like to shake the hands of almost all my customers. Am I going to be able to shake this persons appendage, the stump thats left over after a mortar killed his friend and wounded him? Only if I know in my mind that I did what I could to prevent it from ever happening.

Uhgg. I know this isn't written very well. But I get worked up whenever I talk about this. It's off to bed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You mentioned a ghost hunt in an old prison, was it the old Mansfield Reformatory? I've been trying to get some friends together to go down there for years now. Either way I hope you post something about the ghost hunt.
Yes, we DID win and it is very sweet. I hope it means that some of that violent hatefulness of the radical right will be marginalized. I had grown so used to it that I had't realized how it had affected people. Someone I had been acquainted with for years recently revealed to me that he was a Wiccan. The shocking thing about this is not that he is a Wiccan but that until recently he had been AFRAID to tell anyone, not even those he considered safe to tell for fear it would leak out and bad things would happen like he might lose his job or have his home vandalized. We are not close friends but he knows me well enough to know that his religious beliefs are no concern to me. It made me realize how me and my friends have been censoring ourselves since the last election and how sad it was that we had felt we had to.

Anonymous said...

Greetings Steve –

I hope you had a spook-tacular time ghost hunting (that’s something the wife and I would love to try, once our daughter is born).

I made it a point NOT to put myself though the same stress and anger I felt two years ago (FOUR MORE YEARS – God help us all). I still think my primal scream from that day can be heard echoing somewhere in the Grand Canyon – I nearly had an aneurism. But thankfully, America’s collective voice was loud enough to even drown out the efforts of Karl Rove to steal yet another one.

Many great things are due to happen in January of 2007... my daughter (Grace Anna) should arrive around then... ACCOUNTABILITY will once again be restored in Washington... life is certainly improving for a lot of people (Iraqis and our troops, most of all – GOOD RIDDANCE RUMMY).

I’m also happy to see the Democrats took the whole “impeach Bush” thing off the table. Believe me, “W” has gathered more than enough rope to hang himself... LET HIM. There are more pressing matters at hand. In a current landscape filled with spin, propaganda, lies, and deceptions, the one thing our soon-to-be updated Senate and House can do is point a searing white-hot spotlight on the shadows and watch the rodents/insects scurry as the truth is exposed. It’s about f***ing time.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Best Regards,
Devin

Anonymous said...

Yes! More Ghost-hunting goodness!

As for the Wiccan thing, I worry a bit at school when it comes up. I don't doubt that it could get me fired, as it did when I worked at 7-11 when I lived out in Olympia. This year a few of my students were discussing Wicca without knowing what they were talking about. ("Devil worship", etc. Sigh.)So I came out of the broom closet to that particular class. I'll probably regret it, I'm sure. But I couldn't just let them continue in their ignorance.
--Cat