Friday May 25, 2007 Give up, yet?

I give up.

I thought that the voters had given a mandate to congress last fall. It was clear to me that the majority of the people in this country wanted this war to end – and the sooner, the better. When George got stubborn and vetoed the money to support the troops and draw an end to the conflict, I thought that our newly elected officials could get stubborn as well and push right back. I was wrong. The new congress knuckled over to George's demands, just like the old one. They didn't have the gumption to stand up to George and say NO!.

I don't know what else we the people can say or do other than vote our thoughts and send our letters and emails and protest when our officials don't do what we elected them to do.

My representative, Mr. Cleaver, did right – he voted against funding. But my senator, Ms. McCaskill, voted for the funding. You win very few and you lose a lot.

I guess stubborness and bull-headedness win out over intelligence and fortitude.

Tuesday May 8, 2007 Stubborn? Who, me?

I'm sorry I sound like a broken record going over the same thing time after time.
It couldn't be because I'm stubborn or anything, could it? Who else in this world is stubborn?

The trouble is that we keep talking about the conflict as a “war”. It may have been a war before with a defined enemy state and defined goals to accomplish, but now it is simply an “occupation” gone entirely wrong. We find ourselves stuck in the middle of two or three parties vying for supremacy of the reconstructed state of Iraq. It has become a civil war for them and an occupation for us.

We did the same thing back in Vietnam, trying to enforce our type of government on people who wanted to determine their own. The main problem we have now is a man with no vision who is stubbornly trying to enforce his will upon their country and ours. He tried to force his will on the rest of the world and caused our previous allies to line up against us. He believes that might is right and stubborness is good leadership. To admit a mistake is somehow weakness. He will drag us down with him before admitting a mistake.

I had hoped that the last election would convince him that the people are not with him and perhaps he would bend to their will. Instead, he has stiffened even more and refused to compromise in the slightest. Unfortunately, his bullheaded attitude is forcing the rest of our government to give in to his will and compromise what should be done to what they believe he will accept. I kept waiting for him to see the light of reason and the choice of the American people, but apparently he doesn't care what we think. He is a willful child in a position of power and everyone else is allowing him to keep up his tantrums. At times he sounds reasonable, but when push comes to shove, he will not budge. I suppose it's because he has always had his own way throughout his life and now he expects it.

Just two more years,
just a few thousand more lives,
just a few more hundred billion dollars,
just wait......