A month of musings

Maggie says:
I’m back after a month in North Carolina (kudos to Mikaela, by the way, for keeping m-pyre going strong over the holidays), where politics and the future of humanity were very much on my mind. Back in town and back to blogging, I offer some recollections and observations on the eve of Bush2:

- How ironic that Bush & Co. just formally ended their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But wait… they didn’t find any? Wow, the mainstream press must have reported that with lots of outrage and sarcasm. Wishful thinking! This story seemed to be hidden pretty deeply and wasn’t presented as ironic in the least. And a big caption saying, “Isn’t that why we went to war, you idiot?” did not follow the report.

- When I saw pickup trucks with Kerry/Edwards stickers on them in NC, it made me really, really happy. I did an informal study of political bumper stickers while I was home, and these are the unscientific results: Small Cars – predominantly Kerry stickers; Minivans – Kerry 60%, Bush 40%; Pickups – Kerry 45%, Bush 55% (closer than you’d think, right?); SUVs – predominantly Bush stickers. Fascinating!

- We all agree that the Iraqi prison abuse scandal was terrible, but it seems we agree less about the abusers themselves. This was a topic of debate between my dad and I during our 1,800-mile drive back to Albuquerque. I say that Charles Graner is a monster and made a personal choice to do what he did, despite the obvious structural problems that exist in the military setup there (which should also be cause for a tribunal of their own). My dad says that personal choice is less important than the chain of command, that Graner is a fall guy for the top brass who designed these humiliation schemes in the first place, that he’s paying the price for the administration’s dirty secrets. I agree with the heart of my dad’s argument, but I also have to believe that not everyone would do what Graner did. But having no experience in the military (unlike my dad), and definitely not wanting any, my guess is as good as anyone’s.

- On the drive out to NC, we drove past all kinds of billboards on I-40. Somewhere in Tennessee, it hit me: the Democratic National Committee (with Dean in charge, I hope) should start putting up billboards all across America. Each one would be short and memorable. I’m imagining a solid color background with block letters carrying messages that would change with the times. An example: “Want better benefits? Want a living wage? Vote Democratic.” Or: “Tired of seeing national debt skyrocket while your job gets outsourced? Vote Democratic.” You get the idea. Everyone reads billboards. Small town voters who should be voting Democratic read billboards. How’s that for getting a message across?

- This was so good I had to quote it in full. It’s from the Nation. “Last Saturday a US warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb on a home in northern Iraq that 'was not the intended target,' killing as many as 14 people, including the owner's seven children. The Pentagon then added insult to injury, issuing a statement that 'deeply regretted the loss of possibly innocent lives.' Possibly innocent?!”

- I'm eagerly anticipating Barack Obama's term in the Senate, and I wish him so much luck as he begins. May he carry the torch that expired with Paul Wellstone.