I watched our president come off the plane and talk to the people of Utah last night,  I thought that was a very classy move for him to make.  I thought that it was great that he took the time to speak to those who still support him.  The speech, on the other hand made my blood boil.  Again naming the war on Iraq as the war on terror.  I don’t recall Iraq’s involvement in the terror attacks on the U.S.  Maybe I am missing something.  He also said, as he has before, that we are fighting them there so that we do not have to fight them here.  It’s a good thing, because of the overly stretched military, we do not have the means to fight them here. 

I also watched a sound bite with a member of the American Legion who stated that we (meaning members of the legion) fought so that they (Rocky and the boys) could protest.  Well, I fought too.  I was in the navy during the first bush war and feel that has at least earned me the right not to be called they.  The fox people showed the patriotism of the people who rallied and then implied that those who protested were un-patriotic.  I think that Thomas Jefferson would disagree and so do I.  I love this country.  I love our government.  I think that the electoral college has out-lived it’s usefulness, but that is another story. 

I think that this president does not realize what a lot of poor people do, that joining the military is a patriotic and very brave thing to do for some people; it is often the only available option for some.  It comes down to turning to life of crime or joining the military to survive.  A lot of people have no other choice.   I think that anyone who joins now is a hero, but some are more heroic than others.  I do not think that a lot of them join because they support the war and want to “free Iraq”.  I think most join for the insurance, the home loan, and a chance to get an education and a job for a few years.

I don’t think that a stable middle east is possible.  The people in that region has issues that date back thousands of years, and we cannot possibly understand, let alone fix them.  The problem with a democracy is that it has to have the support of the people.   A country formed of rival tribes cannot work in a democracy.  If a tribe within the country will never bow to the rule of someone from another tribe, and the rival gets elected, how odes that work?  Ask Palestine how well a democratic election worked for them.