Closest this will get to a real blog ever.

Rumsfeld: Don't call it an 'insurgency'

My first thought on reading this is a quote I saw the other day.

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it." - Art Buchwald

My second thought? GW, Laura Bush, and Rumsfeld all made the news today, all highlighting Iraq, all with precise and rosy language. This is really the PR equivalent of a blitzkrieg. Whereas Clinton stayed on the strategic defensive at many times, the Bush Administration seems to favor a more heavy-handed approach; swamp the media with a carbon-copy message and flood out the competition. It's brilliant, really, and it has worked remarkably well for remarkably long. They have been able to put an excellent public face on quite a few serious and seriously impolite issues; torture, intelligence skewing and outright failures, the UN ambassador (Who seems to have been made impotent by the controversy surrounding his appointment), the mounting number of casualties, the lack of a clear plan in Iraq, the failure to catch bin Laden (who has killed many many more Americans then Saddam did both times we invaded HIS country), the injustice treatment of the Guantanamo prisoners, et cetera.

We forget that economic prosperity and and a democratically elected leader are not shoe-ins for the moral highground. History is full of corrupt leaders put in place by a willing voting population who prospered under the new regime, Hitler foremost among them. The 'right' line is a thin line, and many before have failed it, but a leader must recognize that might often makes wrong.

Needless to say, the real losers in this story are the Iraqi people. What can these press releases read like to them? It must be a sick joke for many and a cruel dream for the rest. Sixty-two percent of the American public now disapprove of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq and I can only imagine that the numbers in Iraq are higher (I'm sure they mind being killed much more then we mind killing them.) Make no mistake, I am no revisionist; Saddam was terrible. But what have we done to show we're better? I agree with the 'You break it, you bought it' sentiment.

Unfortunately, the 'you' is US.

In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from.
- Peter Ustinov

Obligatory Cryptic Post Title

October is gone once again, and winter has us securely in his sights now. The air has a crisp edge to it, cold and clean; it begs for fire. And fire we had, Saturday night. A few of us (Benson, Travis, Dave) sat around the fire for hours, drinking beer straight from the keg. It was an evening that required nothing more then the knowledge that you were alive to be completely satisfied. Also, I have no idea how much I had to drink because I was drinking direct from the keg, no red plastic cup to interfere with the beer drinking process. It was one step short of straight injecting cold beer into waiting veins.

Took the SAT on October 8, and got a 1920. But this is on the new 600-2400 scale, so to equate to the old 400-1600 scale, 1920 / 3 x 2 = 1280. Which is pretty much what I scored last time. However, this time my percentile scores were good; Math 79th percentile, verbal 91st percentile. Not bad for never having a high school education, ehh?

Meanwhile, check this out: Buck Wild