3,611 Dead

Just for those keeping count, we're missing 3,611 troops so far in Iraq. They won't be coming back. Their names will be read with honor in front of the Muskie Federal Building on Sewall Street in Augusta at noon tomorrow, 7-19-2007. Well, starting at noon, and going on for several hours, I imagine. That's a lot of names.
Regretting their loss does not give comfort to the enemy. Wishing we had a president who believed in diplomacy, even though four syllables is a lot for one word, does not support terrorists. Asking for an accounting of the colossal miscalculations that have cost us so much, is not "fuzzy math". My step-son is going back to Iraq, again. The son of a man I went to school with, who still lives a few doors down from me, is going back, again. Real children of real people, just like you and me, continue to risk their lives and limbs, continue to shore up the disaster that has come from hubris, tunnel-vision, and colonialism.
More of the cost can be measured by the systematic stripping of the Bill of Rights by the Bush administration, by the lack of attention and resources available for all the other very real problems we are facing. You know what they are. Those rights are part of what we are so proud of when we say we are patriotic Americans. That's what goes through my mind. I salute the flag, and what goes through my mind is this. Please, Gods, help this country to be the source of pride that it can be. Don't make me overlook corruption, human rights travesties, indifference to tragedy, and rampant religious bigotry before I can feel that pride.
This is the land of the free, and the home of the brave, remember? Let it be so in truth.
Andy ><> ><>