March Madness -- again!

It's March again, and again, I'm still mad! and here's why --



I took this photo 42 years ago. Forty-two years!!! And still we've learned nothing. Our president -- who didn't serve in the war in the photo -- keeps us mired in a war with no apparent end. One major presidential candidate, himself a war veteran, says we could be in Iraq for a century. The other major candidates are being a bit vague about getting out, each getting more vague as the campaign continues. Enough is enough.

I'm mad at hearing right wing politicos saying that the 'surge' in Iraq has worked. Yes, it's reduced American casualties. For the moment. But Iraqi casualties have risen sharply. What the surge has done is to protect American soldiers. Which is terrific. Although if they weren't there in the first place, they'd hardly need protection.

and more and more voices are being heard, saying this whole war is futile. what will it take for our 'leaders' in Congress to pay attention? Obviously, the 'president' will pay not heed -- he never has paid much attention to what the public wants. And the delicious news about his favorite painting -- which he thinks is of an evangelist bring the Methodist word to the prairie is, in fact, an illustration of a horse thief! Delicious! Or would be if he didn't have the power of the presidency behind him.

It's also a pretty awful irony that (1) this is the Ides of March and (2) tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the My Lai massacre.

Again, apparently we never learn. Or our leaders never learn, a point made by Seymour Hersh, who broke the story in 1969.

On Primaries and Ohio

Barack Obama in San Antonio on March 4th; photo by Emmanual Durand, AP


Hillary Clinton in Columbus March 4th with Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Ohio Congresswoman, and Governor Ted Strickland. Photo by Mark Duncan, AP


Meanwhile, President George W. Bush demonstrates his tap dancing prowess while being kept waiting by Senator John McCain, coming for hot dogs and endorsement at the White House, March 5. Photo by Jason Reed, Reuters. This is the leader of the Free World, folks; the guy with the red telephone and the button to launch nucular missles.


and McCain arrives at an election night celebration in Texas; photo by LM Otero, AP

After a long day as a precinct judge in Gahanna, Ohio, came home last night and watched returns. Hillary by about ten percent (although provisional votes may change that); received wisdom appears to be that Republicans voted Democratic in order to either vote for Hillary or to vote against Barack. No way to tell, of course. The vote in our two precincts was something like 112 votes for Clinton, 98 for Obama, and only 12 for John McCain -- which indicates a lot of crossover voting, since Gahanna is a heavily Republican suburb of Columbus. At least we can be grateful that Dennis Kucinich beat back a challenge -- heavily funded by special interests -- in his primary in Cleveland.

and a photo from some 40 years ago; a young information specialist in the field in South Vietnam--one of the reasons I worry about bellicose statements from politicians, whether or not they served honorably, as did McCain, or dishonorably, as did Bush, or didn't serve at all, as was the case with Obama.