I know you all have been eagerly awaiting my opinion on what's going on in the world. Well, let me start typing and see what comes out.

Hillary's Book

Her $8 million dollar book is out, and while I will not be rushing to the Borders to pick it up, I wish her all the luck. Really, I do. If I could get an $8 million dollar advance on my life story I'd take it in a heartbeat. Even if it was inconsistent with how they treated Newt, I won't have any problem with being a hypocrite for that kind of money.

Iraq

Yeah, we won...sort of. Three thinks:

1) Riots: Predictable and NOT preventable. Hell, anyone whose ever played Sid Meier's Civilization knows that when you change your form of government you are going to have a period of anarchy. In part, this allows the repressed citizens an opportunity to vent some of the steam from the pressure cooker before it exploded in our faces. Better it's against government buildings then against our troops.

The other benefit of letting the riots run their course is that individuals within the Iraqi community decided to organize themselves into protective clusters. Look closely ladies and gentlemen because that is where the future leadership of Iraq is being incubated. How do you find a new generation of leaders? Throw the people a problem and see who steps up to fix it. Tribal leaders, businessmen, and regular citizens are now working with US forces to resolve issues and fight lawlessness. Through this exercise and their incremental successes, Iraqis gain pride which flows into ownership. Nationalism without individual pride, ownership, and freedom of expression is called Fascism.

2) Three States: Likely as not, I really foresee the need for an Iraqi constitution that emphasizes a strong decentralized government. You don't need "federalists" demanding a powerful centralized government in a country with the type of deep historical and religious differences as between the Kurds, Sunni, and Shiite.

As a history lesson, very few people realize that the US Constitution gave all powers not specifically enumerated back to the States. The Continental Congress was not interested in trading one king for another. And while the Articles of Confederation where not long lived, it probably was right for the time as it gave each State the chance to see that they were better off united then divided.

Remember too that it wasn't until the 20th century that the Courts and Congress both altered the relationship we all know and love today with "rules" and "acts" squeezed into life via such elements as the "commerce clause." I'm sure it will be no different for Iraq. Our current form of government wasn't forced on us. I hope we don't force our mammoth on them.

3) WMD: They're there. You know it. I know it. Right now it is just politically expedient to pretend it was all just made up lies aimed to win popular support for the liberation of Iraq. The outcry right now is that if we don't find significant stores of WMD that there should be investigations, hearings, and impeachments across the board. "This President lied to us," they shout their barbaric Yelp! "And he did it on purpose!"

Lets assume for a minute that the intelligence reports were wrong and that he didn't have any active WMD produced (read as "ready to use"). We all know he had the scientists and the equipment to reproduce WMDs on a moment's notice. In a recent FOX News Poll, 69% of those questions said that the United States was justified in going to war with Iraq even if weapons of mass destruction were never found. Are those people dupes, party line followers, or independent thinkers who honestly answer the question "Is the world better off today than it was before the war?" Or how about, "Is the Iraqi people's future brighter today than it was before the war?"

The French

Fuck the French...

Okay, enough for now.

...

Maybe just one more...

Fuck the French...

Anyway, for them what care.

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