How quickly times flies ...

How quickly time flies when you're old and having fun.

The war in Iraq has a kind of surreal experience for those of us in the United States who are making no real sacrifice in waging it. Yet our President calls on us to persevere, to stay the course until victory is achieved.

Does that mean "continue shopping as usual"?

Whatever ... Bush #43 has a strange way of rallying the nation to the barricades. His call to arms seems to be, "Stay where you are and trust me. Unless, of course, you qualify for enlistment in the Armed Services. Then it's "Come on down, the price is right (cuz you're poor and we'll pay you to fight)".

Then over in Iraq itself, when I learn more about the constitution now in effect, I simply shake my head in bewilderment. Are our leaders delusional?

The following words end the lead editorial, "Iraq's Most Important Election", in the NY Times for Wednesday, December 13:

"A more diverse representation of Shiite political views and a smaller role for the sinister party militias, which are now an important element of the Iraqi Army and police forces, would be welcome developments. That could also make Sunni Arab neighborhoods feel less threatened. Democracy entitles the majority to rule, but not at the expense of everyone else."

Let me repeat that, "Democracy entitles the majority to rule, but not at the expense of everyone else."

Are they kidding us? What kind of sophomoric pabulum are "these people" (are they neocon Zionists in liberal smocks?) trying to feed us?

You don't even have to be a majority in the US ... just have the majority of the votes counted, and the opposition is in trouble. And we are supposedly a "mature" democracy! Think DeLay in Texas ... and the Democrats before the Republicans.

Who is dealing with the reality on the ground over there?

If these are our "intelligentsia" on the "liberal" side ... we are in such deep doo-doo that we might as well start learning Chinese.

Somehow the neocons have forgotten that it is the separation and resulting balance of real political power basically outside our military that makes our nation so strong democratically. It is the VERY real sense that the tables can and do turn in one's own lifetime that keeps the semblance of fairness in government we have. Whenever one power center starts believing it has a lock on political power, corruption spreads faster than an oil slick on a pool of water.

In a patriarchal society people do not give up power and control without a fight. (It may be the same in all societies.) In a democracy we decree that the battle is in the ballot. And what happens then? Look at Florida in 2000. Look at Ohio in 2004. Think "easily manipulated electronic voting machines" ... and we are supposedly a mature democracy, for chrissake.

As long as reason is pulled along by testosterone ... and the males engage in pissing contests ... pissing into the wind always has a predictable outcome.