Is There A Nobel Prize For Idiosy?

As loathe as I am to disrespect my elders, I must point out the complete stupidity of the comments made by 2007 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Great Britain's own Doris Lessing. In an interview published in Sunday's El Pais Daily (Spanish newspaper), Ms Lessing remarked that 9/11 was not as bad as the attacks by the IRA, and that Americans were naive about the world.

Ms Lessing should keep her mouth shut about things that she is ignorant about. Granted the bombings by the Irish Republican Army (IRA ... which disbanded in 2005) took more lives than the September 11th attacks, but the IRA attacks killed 3700 people over the course of 15 years. September 11th killed 3000 people over the course of one morning.

Ms Lessing also took the time to denigrate former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, calling him a "little showman", who proved disastrous for Britain. And of course President Bush also came into the cross hairs of this dithering idiot, who said he was a "world calamity".

Besides her writing, Ms Lessing is known for her political views that have embraced Marxism, anti-colonialism, anti-apartheid and feminism over the years.

With views like this, of course she won the Nobel Prize.

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Post Number 100

I never thought that I would ever be posting my 100th post. As the numbers crept up from 95 ... 96 ... 97, well you get my drift ... I started panicking about what I would actually write. Though I don't take myself very seriously, I do take this blog seriously ... so what would be a worthy post for the big 100. It was a toss-up between abortion and education (both extremely worthy subjects that had only been lightly touched upon in this blog), till I had an epiphany and got pissed off. Well, this blog has always been about things that piss me off, so I shelved abortion and education (but I promise, they will both rear their ugly heads later on). But first, I would like to share with you how a came about this revelation.

On Sunday afternoon, I found myself sitting in the wonderful Cinqo Estrella (5 Star) Cantina. As I watched the Cowboy game ... secretly wishing for the Patriots to win, I found myself thinking about my previous post entitled, "What Were They Thinking?". I was still ... two days later wondering about the answer to that question. I had just imbibed my first two beers of the year and was feeling pretty good though a little light headed. I thought about how the region around the Ottoman Empire had been for the past 3,000 years, with warfare between the Turks, and the Kurds, and the Armenians, the Greeks, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire ... the rampant massacres, rapes and pillaging that took place ... sometimes the Turks were on the giving end ... at other times they were on the receiving end of the sword. So why did Congress single them out ... but not the Greeks? As my thoughts turned to Greece, a strange feeling overtook my Michelob fuzzy head, and Dionysus whacked me with this epiphany. This was a back-door play by the Democratic controlled Congress to sabotage our war effort. As I began to write, the muse Caliope guided my fingers on the keypad to make this 100th post one that is worthy of my unworthy blog.

This "non-binding resolution" that Congress is about to vote on is not subject to Presidential veto. Once it is passed (or even considered) it becomes part of history. It will always be accessible through the Library of Congress website for all to see. The Turks are pretty much in denial about everything bad that happened before the new government was formed after World War I. If you read "their" history books, wars were fought, by massacres were "great victories", and genocide is not a word that the Turks want associated with their ancestors. This resolution was designed to piss them off. The hope of Nancy Pelosi is that this will so enrage the Turkish government that they will refuse the US the use of their airspace and the use of Incerlik Air Base, through which 80% of the supplies for the war effort come. The Democrats are too chicken to cut off funding for our troops, but they don't really care about them. If they can get Turkey to cut off supplies for them, they think that this is the way to end the War without having to go through the Executive Branch, or to even put themselves out by cutting off funding. This is actually more ingenious and deceitful than I have given the Democrats credit for in the past ... but the other reason could only be complete stupidity, and though I don't think very highly of the Democrats in Congress, it would be a mistake to consider them stupid. They may do stupid things, but there is always a reason behind them.

The reason that I espoused that the Democrats don't really care about the troops is because if Turkey stopped being a staging point for military supplies, the troops would be hurt. The new MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles) are staged and shipped exclusively through Turkey. Re-directing them to Saudi Arabia, the delivery of these life-saving vehicles will be delayed by weeks ... way to look after our troops "grand-ma" Pelosi. This is just another attempt by the Democrats to ensure the failure of this war. From Harry Reid's statement that we have already lost the war, to John Murtha's off-handed remarks that US soldiers are committing war crimes in Iraq (and I'm not even going to mention John Kerry), the Democrats have labeled this as "George Bush's War", and they will do everything in their power to make sure that George Bush loses. If a few more of our troops are sacrificed in the process, I guess they feel it is a justifiable expense (after all, these troops were too stupid to go to college and got stuck in Iraq). Sorry, I guess I will mention John Kerry.

This is unconscionable, and can not be tolerated by the American people. Our troops are our best and bravest, when we denigrate their value, we denigrate all of us. This is not George Bush's war ... This is America's war and part of the larger Global War on Terror. We may have different ideas on how to handle the war, but we must come together when it comes down to winning the war. Politics is becoming a very dirty word in the minds of most Americans. Some are getting so disgusted with politicians that they don't even bother to vote anymore. This is as mistake as how can good willed Americans change anything if they don't become informed and vote.

As for the photo ... I didn't want to ruin my 100th post by having Nancy Pelosi's picture on it. I don't know who the girl in the photo is ... but I think she is much nicer to look at than "Grand-ma" Pelosi.

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Let's Get Ready To Rumble

As we all watch in disgust, the do-nothing Congress returns from their summer vacation and start maneuvering for position in the next political show-down.

After all, we don't need to wait for General Petreaus's report on the 15th ... What do we need the input from the generals on the ground for? We have General Pelosi, General Bush, General Reid and all the other generals in Washington. There are two camps being set up right now ... for the GOP we have the "Stay the Course" Camp. With their knowledge that since things are finally starting to work in Iraq, let's continue and win this thing. On the Democratic side we have the "Let's loose this war quickly so we can get our troops the hell out of there camp". Armed with the GAO report and leading the charge is General Pelosi, who will trade America's safety for political power.

It would be nice if these DC Generals would listen to General Petraeus, fairly debate the facts, and render a decision based on the best interests of the country and the world. If we need to withdraw some troops to give the Iraqi parliament a push ... so be it, but what we don't need is to push this fight onto the next generation. Iraq is a hell-hole with extreme heat, blowing sand that hurts like hell and makes it almost impossible to breathe. Not to mention bad guys popping up when least expected and trying to kill you. I have been there, my son in law is there now, and I do not want my grand-sons to have to clean up our mess 10 years from now.

So Congress, do the country a favor and think of US first ... and it is a shame that I have to ask you to do something that should be the most important part of your job.

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President Bush's Symbolic Visit

On the way to a meeting with Asia-Pacific leaders in Sidney, President Bush stopped over in Anbar province in Iraq. It was in Anbar Province that just last year, US forces had just about written the area off as unmanageable. But that was before Sunni tribesmen got fed up with all the suicide bombings and started fighting against al-Quaeda. Now it is one of the safer areas around Baghdad. The President met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and leaders of Iraq's Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish communities. Joining President Bush were Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and US Commander General David Petraeus.

During the meeting, the President urged Iraqi leaders to use the calmer times to work to pass legislation to bring the Iraqi people together (like the oil wealth distribution law). Though the entire US "war council" was there, this meeting was more symbolic than substantive.

Having the Prime Minister (al-Maliki is a Shiite) meet President Bush in Anbar province (a Sunni territory) was set to show that the Iraqi government wants to work with the Sunnis. President Bush just being in Anbar makes a statement on how much has changed in the past year. A year ago, there was no way the president would have been allowed in Anbar ... It was just too dangerous. The arrival of so many high-ranking US government officials is symbolic to the Iraqi parliament that the US is serious about them getting down to business when they re-convene tomorrow. And finally, by the President actually stepping foot on Iraqi soil, he now takes away some of the thunder of Congressional leaders who have visited recently. What this means is that when a Congressman says, "I've been to Iraq and ... ", the President can now say, "well so have I, and ...".

Words are important, actions speak louder than words, and in this part of the world, symbolic gestures are also important.

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