How can we win a war against people who live to die violently?

Well, Bush has launched his nation-building effort via Iraq and the consequences, as predicted by not a few, have been predictably horrid. Despite warnings that we, as a nation, would have to float Iraq's boat, so to speak (read; pay the bills; feed the people; maintain law and order; suffer attacks from multiple factions and feed our sons and daughters into the gaping maw of the war machine – ever hungry, ever voracious.

Failing miserably, nonetheless, Rumsfeld leads the media on a merry chase down the rabbit-hole, all the while misleading the American public – gleefully, I might add. Meantime, Wolfowitz maintains a low profile but a heavy presence behind the scenes and, as the architect of the Iraqi war he wields enormous power over our beleaguered president. Beleaguered? YES! Beleaguered. What else can one say about a man who speaks in circular logic, deflecting direct questions with carefully crafted obfuscations but, nevertheless, who seems lost and dazed, more often than not.

And then there's the media minions of the GOP: Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly et al. I cannot believe some of the statements I've heard relative to the scandal about prisoner abuse in Iraq. Best one so far – Limbaugh's, who said " ... it's more like a college prank than torture!" Helluva prank when people wind up DEAD! But what the hell, the Iraqis are the enemy, right?

Back during the Vietnam War, lots of 'hawks' wore a T-shirt that had a skull and crossbones image blazoned on its front, with the words "Kill them all. Let God sort out the innocent." Now that's a philosophy that any good soldier can live with, eh? Since the administration appears inept and unable to decide how to proceed with the war, wouldn't it make sense to auction Iraq? Yea, that's the ticket. Throw open the doors of free enterprise and sell Iraq to the highest bidder, nationality be damed! We could use Ebay! Just think of it. If we put a bottom-line bid, e.g. the cost to the American taxpayer thus far, we could probably come out of this mess with a tidy profit. Let that thought percolate through your brain filter for a while.

Horrible what happened to that poor guy who was beheaded yesterday (at least the images of the act was released yesterday). But what the public needs to understand is, mutilation, murder and goulish behavior is normal in war. Those activities are, by its very nature, the central theme of warfare, right? So suck it up and behold the glorious bloody mess we've created in response to 9-11.

Now why we aren't carpet-bombing Afghanistan and turning Syria and Pakistan upside-down in our effort to eliminate Osama bin-Laden and al-Qaida as a whole.

The future is not bleak, it's uncertain. And at times like these, the best we can do is try to be helpful to one another and avoid bloodshed – especially our own.

And so it goes. I now must shave, bathe and dress for work because, lo, my lady hath beckoned and I am bound by love to fly yon and do her bidding. T'is no game, this thing called love. T'is the stuff of misery and joy, suffering and passionate pleasure, oh yea!

So have a good day, my fellow Americans. And though we may disagree, we can still carry the same flag, what ho! Huzzah!