A better day

I’m feeling a bit better today. It’s amazing how sleep helps. I got almost 15 hours sleep last night (gotta love depression) and probably would have slept more if Kent hadn’t called at 9:30. It’s ok, I needed to get up and get going. It’s clinical depression - just something I have to deal with that happens to me once in awhile. Certain things trigger it. Sometime I can control it - sometimes not. Anyway, I’m coping at the moment and will go to bed early again tonight. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but I’m happy tomorrow is Monday, just so I can go to work and keep busy. Enough about me...

I went to Charley’s this morning just like Kent and I always do. I miss him. I know, it’s only been two days, but it’s my routine. I was reading the Hartford Courant, and came across an interesting article.

The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.

“What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground,” said a senior official involved in policy. [...]

“We set out to establish a democracy, but we’re slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic,” said another U.S. official familiar with policymaking from the beginning, who like some others interviewed would speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity.

What the hell did they expect? These people are morons. I suppose they were hoping for a “conservative democracy” like say, the U.S. State of Georgia or Virginia? Who knows. From day one, I’ve always said that we assumed a great deal when we stated that the people of Iraq want a democracy. Democracy is simply a definition, and there are as many definitions of that word as there are people.

So, did our boys die in Iraq so a new Islamic republic could be formed? Was it worth it? Will the people of Iraq be any better off after this is settled than they were under the rule of Saddam Hussein? Our government will say “yes”. What else can they say? To say otherwise is to show that this war was a complete sham. Will we ever know the real reason behind this war?

I suppose there’s not much else that can be said about it, except, Bring It On!

On another topic...

Last week, I forget the day, I was eating lunch at a sandwich shop not far from work. I enjoy reading the Hartford Advocate on occasion, and came across an interesting article from Alan Bisbort.

With his appointment, Bush has provided the impetus for his new nickname: the F.U. Kid. His middle finger extended to the U.N., the F.U. Kid goes on vacation. This, by the way, is his 49th vacation and, at five weeks, it’s the longest presidential vacation in 36 years -- this despite the fact that the nation is at war and has just suffered through one of our bloodiest weeks in Iraq. Today, Aug. 11, will be the 327th day that the F.U. Kid has vacationed on our dime. That’s nearly one year out of the five he’s been sheriff.

I was really taken back by that - 327 days of vacation. I didn’t realize that a U.S. President received that much vacation time.