ok. before reading this, let it be known that i have exactly three news sources:

1) the quad-city times marquee that scrolls headlines
2) late night with david letterman
3) usa today (i'm on the road, and it's free)

and now, i ask, is there anyone in their right mind that thinks that there is some shred of positive benefit that has come from entering iraq.

things that have happened:
- everyone hates us
- we have no idea whose going to take over their government come the end of the month
- we've embarrassed ourselves...sunk to a lower low than any torture chamber stories could have taken iraq...they're supposed to be savages, after all
- the fine, hardworking soldiers in our military are being killed
- the fine, hardworking soldiers in our military are also performing duties that they're woefully underprepared for, owing to the fact that we're spread so thin militarily.


i think, it's pretty safe to say, that nothing at all positive has been generated as a result of the bush presidency. and, if we didn't know that the day he was 'elected,' i think that it was pretty apparent during his state of the union 2003 address, when he said, with a cocky, seven-year-olds swagger... 'let's just say they're not a problem anymore.'

you need a living, thinking breathing man with his hand on the trigger. not a war-mongering idiot, which is what we've got.

and, now, of course, is the scary part: as bad as president bush is, with the inequality of his tax cuts and the ineffectiveness of no child left behind and the general downturn in quality of life for the average (median) american, kerry's such a dunce that bush might just still win the freakin' election.

i haven't been following this whole democratic nomination thing, but i sure hope edwards is chosen as a running mate. i know nothing about him, except for the fact that he's an engaging, friendly, southern guy who could probably steal south carolina and a few other evil states (apologies to southerners reading this).

in other news, there's a table outside the elevators in my building, and oftentimes people put their old publications on the tables for public consumption. day-old newspapers. better homes and gardens...redbook...things like that.

for the past two years, i've been occassionally snagging a copy of the new yorker, and reading bits and pieces. it's generally interesting stuff. well, this person left a copy of the atlantic monthly a few days ago. it's so much more...more...readable. it's taken the place as my stuck-up publication of choice, but only when i find one around.