By: Dan, California Yankee

Dan, California Yankee — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 20:13:08 +0000

Good observation. It is unfortunate that the mainstream media fails to grasp the obvious fact that forming a unity government is indeed a very difficult task.

By: CALIFORNIA YANKEE

CALIFORNIA YANKEE — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 20:11:20 +0000

Cause For Optimism About Iraq...

Iraq's new parliament was sworn in today:Adnan Pachachi, the senior politician who administered the oath in the absence of a speaker, spoke of a country in crisis. We have to prove to the world that a civil war is not and will not take place among our...

By: McGehee

McGehee — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 17:49:32 +0000

Well, I am sure they will be in good shape to take over security after the US cuts and runs in the next 9 months.

Is that anything like the 14-month "rush to war"?

By: Baler

Baler — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 15:25:11 +0000

This is a healthy debate and I welcome it. Every disagreement, however small, which is overcome through debate, lays down the foundation for nonviolent conflict resolution.
A political scientist would tell you that no matter what society you look at, 90% of the people do not care about politics. What is puzzling is that throughout the history of mankind, those who have strong political opinions succeed in compelling other people to kill each other in their stead. Yet most people do not care about the exact wording of the swearing-in ceremony or the shape of the table -- we simply want the politicians to settle it, while the rest of us sell our vegetables in our roadside stands, and then go home to a warm dinner and to play ball with the children.
And so it is worded in the U.S. Constitution -- a document written up more than 200 years ago by men who won a revolutionary war against British Colonialism. The fundamental idea is to set up a form of government to provide for the peaceful expression of political ideas without the necessity for killing one another. And to provide a system where the politicians are chosen by the people of the country. It was brilliant 200 years ago and is still brilliant today.
I do not want my sons or daughters dying in some other country. I want that country to realize it is much more fun to debate the issues openly, and to convince other people to vote for you, than it is to kill yourselves with suicide bombs. Life is worth living. Politics stink. Running a government is no fun. Those who want to run it, you have to convince the people of your country to let you do the job. This is the basic idea of the U.S. Constitution -- to establish a peaceful process for those who care about politics to settle it and get on with life without people killing each other. Life is too short, and the politicians are interrupting my TV program far too often.
We in the U.S. want every strongly opinionated person in Iraq of every political persuasion to stop building bombs and instead run for political office. If you are a radical, don't blow yourself up; instead run for political office, and debate the wording of the swearing-in ceremony and anything else you want to argue about. I, in the meantime, want to sell as many vegetables as I can, and go home. I do not want bullets piercing my skull because you cannot debate nonviolently. Everybody on the streets of Iraq feels the same way. The people of the world want to sell their vegetables in peace. There is no reason for anyone to kill anyone else in Iraq anymore.
One last thing -- people universally hate their leaders eventually. The brilliance of the U.S. Constitution is that it provides a peaceful process for people to get rid of their leaders without having to kill anyone. We in the USA are sick of George W. Bush. We want to change the channel. Come 2008, we can and will do so and no one will die. We will say good-bye to George W. Bush, and we will vote some other monkey in. Then we will get sick of the new monkey, and vote him out. It is the most fun thing about government -- we hate them and we can vote them out. No one dies, and not even a single vegetable gets bruised. Brilliant.
I hope someone reads this and wises up. Pass it on. The U.S. Constitution was written by brilliant insurgents who hated war. Iraq, please control your politicians with a similar constitution, and stop killing each other, so our sons and daughters can come home. We have vegetables in the fields waiting.

By: adsfk

adsfk — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 13:21:53 +0000