"AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS" SHOWED ME THE STARK REALITY OF IRAQ

A recent string of nightly documentaries by PBS over the last week opened my eyes to the stark realities of the war in Iraq. When Harry Reid said that the war in Iraq was lost, he was right: This war is truly lost.

In so many ways.

Iraq is nowhere near stable like we want it. The violence and bombings still continue despite the troop surge.

The government we propped up is rife with corruption and religious ties to outside leaders like Moktada al-Sadr--but having zero leadership skills or the ability to unite Iraq under a common goal.

The military and security forces we're hinging our withdrawal timetables on, are still ill-trained and ill-prepared to take over security of the country in the near future--with many of its members either having ties to the Iraqi insurgency or religious or community leaders; but not to the Iraqi government itself.

I realize that exposing the reality of this failed war and its hard truths will irritate some war supporters, but I won't play to the 'fantasy democracy' tune that so many in our government has been doing these last several years since we invaded on false premise.

Because this blind attitude won't make what's happening in Iraq today go away any time soon.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

GOVERNMENT SLIPS BACK TO THE 19TH CENTURY

For the longest time, women have been fighting for basic rights. Basic representation. Basic everything which have been--largely--delegated to a man's world: The right to council, the right to a good education, the right to speak publicly, the right to vote...?

And they fought long and hard--winning great legal battles, and historical ones which changed the face of the society we now know.

But now with the Supreme Court's latest decision is threatening to turn back everything women have fought long and hard for.

By telling women everywhere that they no longer have legal rights to their own bodies--is essentially telling us that our own government has gone back to the 19th century mode of thinking: Where men were the dominant force in the household, and women were meek and complient--and having no rights at all to their well being whatsoever.

A sad day for American women everywhere. Only because some men don't like what they see and fear is happening on an every day basis: Abortion.

It's not an epidemic. It's a woman's right. Not a wrong.

So why are we telling them how to properly govern themselves? This is the 21st century! Not the 19th!

Let women decide what to do with their own bodies! Us men are just simply too stupid to know what's good for them!

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

WHAT'S MISSING FROM THIS ADMINISTRATION? GUESS.

It's a bit odd: We can nail a President for lying about Watergate, catch one in the cross-hairs about his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, even impeach a sitting President for lying about an extramarital affair while in office, but we can't:

Impeach a President for using cherry-picked intelligence to start an illegal war. (But we couldn't--because he is a "war" President!)

Get one word of truth edge-wise out of the Republican Party for their actual roles in the Abramoff scandal. (Everything then was a liberal conspiracy to them.)

Get the former Secretary of Defense to at least acknowledge that Iraq was spiraling out of control. (This was fun!)

Get the current sitting (soon to be leaving), US attorney general to explain what was really going on within his department, instead of saying, "I don't know" 70+ times to every question levied by Congress! (Who the heck is running the Justice Department? Homer Simpson?)

So what makes it so hard to tell the truth for this administration and its party?

A few words which Bush promised he would bring if elected President in 2000: "Truth, Honesty, and Accountability."

Can you guess what's really been missing these last six years? I can!

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

SOCIETY NEEDS TO DO MORE

Over the past week, I've gone and added my two sense into this tragedy at Virginia Tech. And as such, I've sought to shine the spotlight on society's ignorance and incapable decision-process when it comes to dealing with people who have either mental incapacities, or are emotionally troubled.

The Herald...how I love this paper! Too many times in the past, have I seen it display people's outright ignorance of basic current events or have shown people living in their own comfort zones--too oblivious to the reality in which we live.

I know one writer suggested of this tragedy that we should act proactively by locking up those people who present themselves such a danger--and therefore eliminating it--and another has suggested more councilors for troubled teenagers early on in school.

Throwing people in the loony bin or throwing more money at the issue, isn't going to make what Cho or any other person who committed school violence in the past--go away.

What is needed is more social awareness and interaction by people like you and me. As a community, we need to reach out to these troubled folks. We need to tell them that they aren't alone in their personal struggles against their demons.

And though many of us lack the resources, we can still embrace these individuals and give them hope. Offer them a friendly face, a giant ear, a smile. But if we keep regulating them to state services and mental institutions, we're just inviting more school shootings in the future.

I know one person tried to reach out to Cho, but it was much too late. That kind of example is the kind we should all follow. Not just one of us, but all of us.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

DON'T BLAME THE GUNMAN FOR HIS ACTIONS, BLAME SOCIETY

Cho shouldn't be blamed for his actions--though he did kill people.

Cho shouldn't be blamed for his actions--though he did commit a crime.

Cho shouldn't be blamed for his actions--though he did buy a gun.

Cho should not be blamed at all.

Why?

Because though he was a murderer, it wasn't him who caused this massacre to take place in the first place.

It was society.

Society says that we can own guns. So we go out and shoot people. Society says that we can write whatever we want, so nobody picks up on the hidden clues or meanings--in case things go bad. Society says that we can act or say whatever we want because we live inside an institution which grants us certain inalienable rights.

And so--through society--we have set into motion events that will have lasting repercussions. And when someone kills students like they did in Columbine and in Virginia Tech--we immediately blame the gunmen who pulled the trigger; without realizing that it was society who gave them the means to do it.

So in a sense, we are all to blame for what happened on April 16th.

Because we--not people like Cho--are the guilty triggermen.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

NIXON WOULD BE PROUD OF W–IF HE WERE ALIVE TODAY

Naturally–in the Bush White House–secrets must be kept at all cost.

Even if it means to accidentally delete certain records, e-mails, transcripts…

You know, those pesky little things which may or may not prove that either the White House or Rove was involved in the political firings of eight US attorneys.

Of course, this is just…you know–politics as usual.

Nothing that a little arm-twisting, blackballing, and extortion wouldn’t cure.

And why not?

It worked for Nixon.

Nixon was a shrewd little man. The best Republican strategist that you could ever lay eyes on in the 20th century. He had his ways of getting around (or skirting) the laws of justice when it suited him.

When 18 minutes of the Watergate tapes were found to be missing, Nixon made the claim that “what was lost; could not be recovered.” (Nixon assumed then that record-keeping was so shoddy back then that there was nothing anyone could do to recover those critical moments which would later implicate “Tricky Dick”.)

Naturally, Bush and company are trying to pull a Nixon. By switching from Microsoft Office to Lotus–they assume the same dangerous presumption that what was lost can never be recovered.

Um…

Has anyone told them that this is the Internet Age?

That anything can be recovered?

Including lost e-mails?

Guess not.

Someone should send them an e-mail to let them know this, huh?

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

CONGRESS ISN'T THE ONE WHO IS HOLDING US TROOPS HOSTAGE

Ever since Congress inserted language into the new spending bill--which required the President to withdraw our troops by next year--there have been a number of opinions, letters, and so on; blistering the legislative body for overstepping its boundaries--when it should've given Bush all he wanted without question.

But wouldn't that make Bush undisputed king rather than President of the United States?

Is this what we want as a nation?

I find it baffling that so many people haven't read the US Constitution lately--while desperately trying to grant Bush more unrestrained power, than to try and reign him in before it's too late.

Under Article 1 Section 8 of that hallowed document, it spells out that Congress has the purse strings to raise and support armies, but can limit the funding of such wars if deemed necessary. (Vietnam was one such example.)

And while some people supporting this war want Congress to give the President another blank check, they are also forgetting--that by doing so--they are giving the President the authority to hold our forces hostage by fighting a war without end.

Something Congress doesn't want.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

WHAT PRICE IS LOYALTY THESE DAYS?

Let me see if I get this right:

I've heard some people say how much they admire McCain and Obama, but when it came down to voting for either one, McCain would top the list in the 2008 election. (Excluding Hillary.)

Only because he's been in Vietnam and understands the situation in Iraq far better than Obama does--and that's good enough for the average (and undereducated) American voter.

But does he really understand what is going on in Iraq? To put it bluntly, McCain is just an old soldier of the Republican guard. The only thing he understands is Cold War threats and blind patriotism to a man whose own world is very much in line to his own.

In a recent trip to Baghdad, Senator McCain was telling the press of how much "progress" was going on with the troop surge in Iraq--but complained that the media wasn't showing it. (A favorite Bush supporter line.)

But why didn't he mention the chaos and destruction going on because of the troop surge? Or the fact that suicide bombings were increasing and not decreasing in Baghdad and parts abroad as the military claimed?

If this is the candidate that people want for President, I really don't pity our country for the mess its gotten itself into. Blind loyalty to one man has cost our nation much more than anyone can possibly imagine.

But what price will America continue to pay just to repeat the same pattern all over again--with a man who doesn't see reality for what it is?

Can we really afford another 4 to 8 years of government ignorance and incompetence at the hands of another Republican President?

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

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