On Leave- from his Senses.

Bush's Vacation Extended- From Common Sense

This is that time of year when people go off on vacation.
That reminds me of someone else on leave- from his senses. That would of course be Bush (and of course his entire posse by sad consequence.) He has taken a vacation from common sense for about five years now, and we are all paying for it.
The discussion about whether we were lied into a war or whether there really was a connection of Iraq to Al-Quaida in the first place is not an academic exercise or introspection in to the morality of our leadership. No- it's a discussion that must take place because it should directly enlighten current strategy.
I am always amused when my mother looks for her sunglasses when they are perched on top of her head ("has anyone seen my sunglasses??"). The issue of whether Iraq actually had anything to do with Al-Quaida when we invaded are the proverbial sunglasses- because if we put them on correctly we will see much more clearly what our strategic position should be.
Let me explain by analogy- If someone comes to my house and vandalizes my car in Washington- punctures the tires, smashes the windows and keys the outside of it, I have every right to become absolutely livid. If it were legal to take matters into my own hands and I had a vigilante spirit, no one might think less of me if I determined to follow the culprit back to his house and crush his car with a bulldozer. But, if I know that the guy who vandalized my car is in, say, Baltimore, and instead I go to Philadelphia (because I think that some one from his family must live there or he once visited the place-doesn't he have a cousin in Philadelphia? There is a company that manufactures bulldozers somewhere in Pennsylvania- I am sure of it!!) and I go to anyone's house in Philadelphia-maybe someone I think met him years earlier- and I not only bulldoze all cars I find in a five block radius in Philadelphia, I also bulldoze all the houses on the street and the elementary school, the hospital the museum, the shopping district, the train station and kill hundreds of people in the process, knock off all the male children of the Mayor, I think people might be rather alarmed that I have gone completely off the ranch and had absolutely no right to terrorize Philadelphians like this. To be sure, Philadelphia is a politically corrupt place, it has done things to its own citizens that the rest of the country doesn't have to live with (a commuter tax, poor garbage collection,bad crime, etc.) But Philadelphia is not to blame for the nut who vandalized my car from Baltimore. Furthermore, its just totally over the top (OTT!) to take out a whole section in Philadelphia - or anywhere- because of a car being vandalized.
Iraq did not deserve our wrath because of 9-11.

Put the sunglasses back on the nose here.

Now, in that case hypothetically, what I have done by taking out a section of Philadelphia is not called "escalation" because Philadelphia didn't do anything to me in the first place. It's called "unjustified battery, assault and because I killed hundreds of people, also murder." It's not called Self-Defense or justified murder in war because no one from Philadelphia did anything to me first. Philadelphians might looks like Baltimorians, they might have the same accent and all dress in the same GAP clothes and have roughtly the same ethnic mix, some of them visit each other's cities as they are relatively close, but Philadelphia is not morally responsible for the sins of Baltimorians. And no one from Philadelphia touched my car.
Iraq did not attack us first. No one in Iraq attacked us first. No 9-11 hijacker was from Iraq (they were for the most part Saudis who oddly enjoy a cozy relationship with Bush's family.)

So here is where the country has gone completely off the ranch (and we need to make sure Bush gets back to his in Crawford.)- We stay insisting we have a right to keep carpet bombing Philadelphia--even though we know no one from Philadelphia touched my car.

It's just insane. It's not that we are just perpetuating error, it is that we have absolutely no moral authority or right to be doing any harm or damage in Philadelphia. It is no excuse that I want to rebuild a nice house with a view of the River at Penn's Landing because it's a nice place. It's no excuse that I want to open a business in Philadelphia and think it might be a great idea to move there.

No one would now think it the slightest bit odd if the Mayor of Philadelphia got on TV and said -that nutcase from Washington has come without any justification to destroy our city. I call on all Philadelphians everywhere to fight him and anyone he sends here to the death before he takes out another elementary school. Someone needs to stop that lunatic. I issue "shoot to kill" orders if the nutcase sets foot anywhere near Philadelphia.
Most of the world would support the Mayor of Philadelphia in that case. Why? Because, I repeat, Philadelphia is not morally responsible for the sins of a Baltimorian.
Mistaken identity is no excuse- the fact that I mistook a Baltimorian for a Philadelphian is absolutely no excuse to continue to bulldoze streets in Philadelphia when I know better.
That's basically where we are people.
And that is why we are kindly invited to leave Iraq alone now. Not in a year or two. NOW.


I strongly suggest that if we do not, Boston is going to come to the aid of Philadelphia and do whatever they can to blow to smitherines the bulldozers before they reach another street in Philadelphia- and all the world will hope that they do.