Oh, Dear, I Was Wrong----

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I once posited that upon leaving the White House, George Bush 43 would retire to a life of cutting firewood outside Crawford. Instead, he moved to Dallas and stayed hidden (as he should).

Now, we finally know what contributions he is finally going to make for the good of the nation and the world. He is going to paint. And paint.

And the world, my gentle snowflakes, was at peace.....well, maybe not. We are now in the 12th year of the Bush 43's wars. Dead in Iraq as of 4 March 2013 = 4488. Dead in Afghanistan as of  10 March 2013 = 3259. Total dead 7747. And enough wounded and maimed to populate a good sized city. And no end in sight.

Think about it:  That means that this year's (2013) graduating seniors have seen the United States at war since they were in the 1st grade. Quite a record.
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Should There Be a Parade?

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My gentle snowflakes, Perry and Romney and Gingrich and Palin, etc. are running around this mid-week all a-flutter because there has been no parade ordered up to "honor the troops." 


President Obama is somehow being un-patriotic. (Irony here folks.)

Well, it seems to me that a parade is a pretty poor "honor" for what we have put our troops through. 

Now, I will admit that I might be out of touch--never having been a member of the military myself and not understanding the military mindset. But, I can not even begin to imagine that a whole lot of soldiers really want (after years of their lives spent scrabbling around Iraq) to march up and down some city streets just so a few people can feel good about the whole "cakewalk" war thing.

Then there are all those troops who came home already--probably to be rotated back into Afghanistan and combat again next year. And all those sent directly from Iraq to Afghanistan. 

Seems not to be the time for a celebration of a mess that we have not managed to yet clean-up.

How about this? If we want to thank our soldiers, protect and expand their benefits--healthcare and education. Pay them better. Give them body armor--without them having to write home and ask their family and friends to take up a collection to get it. Make sure, if and when they do get home, that they go to the top of any list for any and all jobs available. Stop the big-banks from foreclosing on their homes. 

Hey, I could go on and on and on....  From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Send--that is you, personally--send one or more of them a welcome home card. Put five hundred dollars in it. 

And finally, DON'T EVER, EVER, EVER SEND THEM OFF ON ANYMORE WILD GOOSE CHASES like the last 10 years. No more bizarre, ideological machinations to prove the bona fides of a bunch of slimy, smirking chicken hawks.

Just saying.

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The Cost of Afghanistan and Iraq

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---> Go here.

Watch the numbers roll by.

Enter your state.

Watch the numbers roll by.

We have to stop this insanity.

This country is deeply in debt (Thank you, George Bush 43 & Company), our infrastructure is crumbling around us. Unemployment is high with extremely high numbers in some areas. We alone among the industrialized nations can not find a way to pay for what should morally be a human right for our citizens--health care.

Over 5000 of our troops have given their lives for vengeance because of 2976 victims killed on 11 September 2001. We are upside down in this escapade. We need to to get out.

In addition, our surviving soldiers are deeply hurt by this engagement: too many stop-loss notifications, too many PTSD cases, too many traumatic brain injuries, other injuries/conditions that have not even been identified yet, suicides, family violence & murder, loss--so much loss. We need to get out.

30,000 additional troops to hunt down 100 al-Qaeda members? I don't know where the General that thought up this exercise studied, but apparently there was not even a short course in common sense. (Remember, McChrystal is the same general who tried to cover up the friendly fire death of Pat Tillman. How can McChrystal be trusted?) We need to get out.

"And it's - ONE! TWO! THREE!
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me..."
(Country Joe and the Fish, I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag, 1967)

It's deja vu all over again!

And it is not worth it this time either.