Thanks George, both of you...

The die was cast 9/11. Our country, our citizens and our symbols (the trade center buildings) were attacked by an organized group of religious fanantics bent on randomly murdering as many innocent men, women and children as they possibly could to make a point. Jihad. Religious war. Our President took a vow and soon John Wayne's ghost inhabited George Bush, a Texan after all and the word from the grave was, "take the fight
to the enemy. It's not time to hunker down and wait for the next attack, George, it's time to establish a beach head in the middle east." And George did. And we did. And the predictions of house to house combat against the Republican guard lasting for months and years with untold sustained deaths was a fairy tale. I have friends who say there was no reason for it. Iraq was an innocent in the fight. Except Saddam Hussein offered a million dollars for all widows of any suicide bomber who killed an American. He offered safe shelter to anyone who promoted jihad. Terrorist cells were openly training "freedom fighters" who were trained to killed themselves and innocent men, women and children. Iraq offered safe haven, political and financial support and openly promoted terrorism and applauded their actions. The United States and Europe were their targets. The key word here is "were." So castigate him, if you will because George Bush listened to and channeled the Duke and boy, we attacked. Interestingly enough, the salutory effect of action was people like Muhamar Khadafi became a lot more friendly, real fast. Where terrorism flourished, it was now discouraged. Rebuilding Iraq took longer than defeating their army. Wonder why. The nah sayers and the dooms-dayers had their say. We lost the war. It will never end. The cost was too high. Then things turned around with the surge and things have gotten a lot better and continue to do so because we didn't cut and run and admit defeat. Duh. So Iraq is no longer news. Wonder why?

So what is the score today? Terrorism hasn't gotten worse. Attacks have decreased. There has been no other attack on the United States. Iraq is coming back as an ally of the United States and now has free elections. Our folks have met theirs and we are getting along. Bush was wrong? Nah. We lost the respect of European Socialists? Anybody in this country who thinks we're going to be liked for using our military muscle to take the fight to those who are plotting to kill us are begging the question. We don't need to be liked and if that's what we're seeking its time to bend over. We need to be respected by those who think we're weak or we're lazy or we're not resolved to protect our interests. That we're not committed to achieving a worthy goal. Anybody who planned to do what was done in New York and believed we'd stand by and wait for another attack miscalculated. They miscalculated badly. I am thankful George Bush stood up for this country and used our military to take the fight to the enemy and those who supported those fanatical enemies. Thank you George Bush. For my other friends who disagree, it's okay to not like Bush and make fun of him. Opinions are like elbows. But Bush didn't create terrorist cells. He did protect us and our interests by using our military might. If that bothers you, stay out of the military and gnash your teeth when you're upset. I'll drop the fictive power of the Duke now and refer to a real reactionary figure. George Smith Patton IV was one mean, blood-thristy son-of-a-bitch who belived in killing your enemy before they had a chance to kill you. The political correctness of that vision lives on only in one way. We today are free to complain about Patton and his ilk. George Patton trained killers so that the innocent could be aghast at his words and actions and live to talk about it openly. There are a few of us who still raise a drink to ole blood and guts. Patton wouldn't like George Bush much either. But it wouldn't be because of what he did to the middle east after 9/11. It would be because George Bush didn't suck every last drop of oil out of Iraqi soil and use it to pay all of our expenses.

Today's Exchange

Try to look at this from my point of view.
Photographers believe they can capture a bit of the style of life through their lens. You begin to wonder what's in a scene. A caption above might be " I always park on the sidewalk."
In this one we add the caption: "Going Home."
Finally here it's "Exchange." That's today's theme.


More later.