The "bump"

Bush made the right choice - for him. Think about it. What else could he do? After saying f0r years that we could not leave Iraq without a "victory" he obviously could not suggest withdrawing from that troubled land. And he could also not just do nothing because it is apparent that the current situation is intolerable. So short of bombing Iran (let us fervently hope that is not coming up next), he is (apparently) going to announce his plan to send an additional 15,000 or 20,000 troops to "move forward" in Bagdad. This relatively modest increase in troops has been described as a bump rather than a surge. I seriously doubt that anyone (including Bush himself) believes that a bump is going to do anything to settle down Bagdad and will almost surely result in even more American casualties. So what is the point? The point is that Bush had no other choice short of admitting he has been a hopeless lying idiot for the last few years. So we will lose (sacrifice) some more of our finest troops in an absurd attempt to basically just stall for time. Bush obviously wants to be able to dump his incredible mess on the next President, whoever that unfortunate person may be. So far, as near as I can tell, no one, Democrat or Republican, is going to stop him. Perhaps people may actually listen to Kusinich or Edwards, or Murtha, or someone, and just say NO! to this utter looneytunes who pretends to be our "leader," but at the moment that seems doubtful.

I will not bore you with our tale of driving to Seattle through rain and snow and avalanches, the failure of our hotel's internet system, the fact that we got so far behind schedule we couldn't blog at all, and so on. Travel between Bonners Ferry and Seattle in winter is just a joy. Our trusty little Subaru Forester seems to succeed where other more grandiose vehicles fall by the wayside (putting on and taking off chains).

Our slim Democratic party has been seriously decimated recently by accidents. We lost Dan Krumpotich to a fatal motorcycle accident not long ago and now we have lost Julian Bucher in a fatal agricultural accident. Both firm and serious democrats, as well as friends, we will miss them terribly.

Some have extremely high hopes for the new Democratic majority, some do not. I remain optimistic but not overly so. I believe that Republican calls for bipartisanship, after the way they have behaved for the past 12 years, are pathetic. There are no greater hypocrites in the entire world than American Republicans. As far as I am concerned they deserve nothing but the back of the hand. And the more supoenas and investigations the better. I have very high hopes for Nancy Pelosi. I hope she doesn't disappoint.