Back to the day-by-day after a fun-filled weekend away in Branson. We had lots of fun with the Manzellas, and hope to make it a regular trip.

Been reading a lot in the news about Bush's speeches lately. I know that I've held fast to the idea that we "can't" win this mistake of a war...I've been adamant about that to the point of annoyance. Today, I considered the question, "Well, what IF we actually DO 'win' this thing?" (And by "win", I mean doing the best job of polishing the biggest turd in the history of warfare since Vietnam...) "Would the ends justify the means?"

No. No they wouldn't. I'm all for bringing freedom and liberty and justice to oppressed people. I'm definitely with the idea of good over evil. I agree that terrorism has become a problem due to technology, and that efforts need to be made to stamp it out. However, even IF we're able to help Iraq become a self-sustaining engine of democracy, we still were LIED TO going in to get us there. Our troops were still sent in without a plan to protect them with their best interests in mind. They were still sent in ill-prepared. You have to question these things, because the "means" are the soldiers - the U.S. soldiers - that DIED when they might not have, had our current administration not RUSHED INTO THIS WAR without allies and without proper precautions.

I mean, sure - if the end result of all this is that Iraq actually becomes free, that's definitely a great thing. But was that worth lying to the entire country? No. Misleading the entire country by cherry-picking the intelligence to get where YOU want to go, with little to no regard for the people you're putting in the line of fire? No.

More on this to follow...