Readings and End of Year Stuff--

2006 draws to a close; the war in Iraq doesn't, and gets more tragically nutty each day--including the astonishing events of the past couple of weeks--a blue ribbon Iraq Study Group concludes that it's a disaster, the President concludes he'll ignore their report, the new Secretary of Defense has to go to Iraq to see what's going on (hasn't he been watching television or listening to the radio for the past four years?), and yesterday the President admits he hasn't had a strategy, but is now actaully going to get one! And close to 3000 American soldiers are dead, and more will die before there's an official strategy! For this Vietnam veteran, that's uncomfortably familiar. Thousands of American soldiers died in Vietnam after Nixon was elected and revealed he really had no plan, but rejected the North Vietnamese offers, then--years later--accepted essentially the same offers. Why must we repeat history because of the hubris and arrogance of our leaders? Who are now literally swimming in blood, as did the hubristic and arrogant leaders before them, who also ignored the lessons of history. Not to mention common sense.

And the equally tragically and nutty idea of sending still more troops--the 'surge' in troop numbers that's now being widely discussed. Stretching thin an already thin to the point of real danger to our national security military--it's no wonder that active, onduty troops are now organizing in protest against being deployed into combat with no clear mission. More about that movement at www.appealforredress.org --but the sight of active duty military publically questioning the validity of the commander in chief is astonishing. Along with the number of recently-retired generals also saying publically that this whole venture is a colossal blunder.

High expectations for the new Congress and its Democratic majority. As well as for the new Democratic officeholders in Ohio--although there are troubling signs locally. The Republican majority in the Ohio Senate and House has passed a number of bills that will restrict our new, incoming Governor, and a couple of bills changing or limiting initiatives passed by the voters before their majority, which still being maintained, will be reduced beyond the veto-proof level with the new legislature taking office in a week or so. Slimbags.

But at least good response to the reading at the beginning on the month of the short play I wrote for the Senior Theatre League meeting in St. Louis last October; here's the audience at Gallery 202 in Westerville for the reading of Who's Herbert? -- filling out the evening with Nancy Gall-Clayton's Levels of Living.

and the happy playwright with the Westerville cast: Ira "Bill" Simons, Sarah Worthington, and Tatyana Yassenoff. More at www.osureadings.blogspot.com --but putting the reading together was a pleasant distraction from the horrors of what our government is doing abroad.

Also meetings of the Clintonville Area Commission's Education Committee, with further awful news about the effects of "No Child Left Behind"--our government doing to us domestically what it's doing to the Iraqiis in the Middle East. But no more of that--far too depressing a note to end the year on. So we celebrate achievements both personally and politically, and hope that the overwhelming rejection of the Bush program at the ballot box in November will have some effect, and not be simply ignored. Onward to a more just and same world in 2007!