It's not a "military draft"...just an "involuntary activation"

Congratulations, America...we made it 5 days (120 hours) after the election before the first lie of the nouveau Bush administration comes to light.

Remember the claims that we would never have a draft? Well, this story from the Associated Press puts the lie to that one. In the same way that "genocide" becomes "ethnic cleansing," "miltary draft" becomes "an involuntary activation" of 5,600 soldiers.

My next impossible goal will be to introduce legislation that only people who voted for the incumbent president (and his foreign policy) get called up and sent to support his personal multi-hundred-billion dollar ego-fest in Iraq.

This whole war - and its continued anointing by conservative pro-Bush Christian leaders as a "just action" - simply infuriates me. As of today, 1,278 US soldiers have died - and more than 8,000 wounded - fighting this war. (This report, back in February 2004, listed fewer than 600 KIAs - killed in action - and 2,600 US wounded. It's been a busy 9 months, eh?)

Do we really have to run the numbers up to Vietnam-era ranges - 54,000 or so - before we figure out that no one ever changed the hearts and minds of a people with guns? I dare you - go to CNN's site, here, and look at the faces (and ages) of those who have died. Look into those faces and say, "Yup - based on what we now know, continuing to let our men and women die for this cause sounds like a good idea.

Don't call me "un-American." And don't say I'm not supporting my troops. I have the utmost respect for the skills and the commitment of our soldiers, and I love my country - I just hate what is being done in its name, and I hate the waste of humanity on a useless cause. And I hate the incredible waste of our scarce resources that are being sucked up in this desert boondoggle.

The tragic, cowardly actions of the US media mean that we don't get to see the casualties, like we did in Vietnam. We don't hear the butcher's bill on the news each night, or see the mangled bodies of US soldiers, fighting people who don't want us there.

Again. Another Republican administration. Another hopeless, endless "police action."

God, forgive us...we know what we do, even if we don't want to look at it. Give me the strength to object, to call attention to what is happening, to help my anger over injustice overcome my despair. Show me what I can do.