Caught Unawares

I have been swamped with little things to do before I go home, so I unfortunately haven't had time to keep up with lots of news over the past day or two, so here is your song:



The Rolling Stones - Send it to Me

Again, I apologize, but I've been out of touch the last day or so. We finally got our air conditioning fixed and after sitting in the 98 degree heat for several days, I'm suddenly 4 pounds lighter, which is a little suspicious. At any rate, I did mange to notice a few things. Al Franken was finally awarded his seat in the Senate, officially giving the Democrats the majority. Now we'll see if all of those plans go through (well not now, but at some point - government only works one way: slowly).

We pulled out of Iraqi cities. Although Obama may have voted against the war, he has apparently (or at least, not that I am able to find) not actually said that he is against the war ideologically - I believe he has only called it a "strategic blunder." But in any case, he said that the Iraqi people are "rightly treating this as a cause for celebration." That says to me that he might understand that us being there was (and is - don't forget we're still there) a serious infringement on their sovereignty and that the majority of Iraqis actually weren't happy that thousands of innocent civilians were dying as a result of the violence. Of course, even on the various news shows I flipped through tonight, the only things they talked about were the deaths of American troops. Of course, they mention the various bombs that have gone off in crowded city centers because they have to, but the only thing we are constantly reminded of is the total number of American casualties. Not to say that one death is more important than the other, but I don't see why we aren't reminded of the total civilian deaths which we are either indirectly or directly responsible for in the same way we are reminded of the US armed forces deaths. Any death is a tragedy, so every death is a casualty.

In other news:

Settlements, settlements, settlements.

Iranian firm helping out North Korea's nuclear program?

Oh Iran, you silly goose.