McCain! - Hope Springs Eternal?

Time to move off Romney ("That Douchebag"), and focus on the promise of McCain. This really cracked me up:


It helps if you've seen this.

Is "The Surge" Working?

Me, like millions of other Americans, got in an argument with relatives over the holidaze. The "Argument" basically went like this:

The Relative: "You left-wingers won't admit that the Surge really is working."

People Like me: "Are you friggin' crazy? The Surge is not working."

This of course, is followed by more acrimonious disturbances to the serenity of the gatherings.

What People Like Me should have said is: "Indeed, Commander Codpiece truly is a brave and inspiring visionary. I am tickled pink and pleased as punch that the Great and Glorious Surge has worked. Since the Great and Glorious Surge has worked, can we all go home now, so that our grandchildren will not have to continue to fight this Grand and Noblest of Wars?"

I am so sick and tired of this cruel and extremely expensive game of Whack-A-Mole.

Today, Over There:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 30 people and wounded 38 at a funeral in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, shattering a New Year's day that had begun with hopeful celebrations of a kind unseen in years.

Two police sources confirmed the death toll, which would make it the worst bombing in the Iraqi capital since September and one of the deadliest anywhere in Iraq for months.

Yes, we've created this mess by incompetently unleashing these pent up sectarian rivalries in Iraq, but these people are just going to go on killing each other until they figure out the pointlessness of religious warfare. Just as Europe did after the Thirty Years War:

The devastation caused by the war has long been a subject of controversy among historians. Estimates of civilian casualties of up to thirty percent of the population of Germany are now treated with caution. The mortality rate was perhaps closer to 15 to 20 percent, with deaths due to armed conflict, famine and disease. ...

The war had a few other, more subtle consequences:

The Thirty Years' War marked the last major religious war in mainland Europe, ending large-scale religious bloodshed in 1648. There were other religious conflicts in the years to come, but no great wars.

We can stand ready to respond with extreme force if these wars drift onto American or European sovereignty. I have no problem turning great swaths of these nations into glassy plains should we be attacked as a by-product of their internecine squabbles. "Go on and fight your stupid holy wars if you must, Mr. Muslim. Just make damn sure you keep it over there within your own borders."

Basically, these people need to figure this all out for themselves, and no amount of our intervention or treasure is going to stop the bloodbath until they do.