Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion

As often as we talk about the number, and the tragedy, of US military causalities in the Iraq War we seldom consider the number of Iraqi civilian deaths. A counter is posted to the right that will update this number to keep us aware of the suffering that the Bush administration has caused. The counter is provided by the web site just foreign policy at http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/.

"Clash of Characters"

In the Opinion section of the October 5, 2008 Post-Standard Tod Gitlin in an editorial, "Special to the Los Angeles Times",explores why, other than policy we, as individuals,tend to support a particular candidate for president. The author of the article says in the article, and The Post Standard highlights, "The candidates become, in a sense, walking archetypes. To warm to a candidate is to align not just with a person but with a myth, an ideal." The author supports this idea in the body of the article and then, as our English teachers taught us, tells us what he told us; summarizes. The summary is informative and telling. He says, "So that's the clash. McCain, the known quantity, the maverick turned lawman, fiery when called on to fight,an icon of the old known American story of standing tall, holding firm, protecting God's country against the stealthy foe. Obama is the new kid on the block, the immigrant's child, the recruit, fervent but still preternaturally calm, embodying some complicated future that we haven't yet mapped, let alone experienced. He is impure - the walking, talking melting pot in person. In his person, the next America is still taking shape." The italicized words in the above quote were added by me for emphasis, for they embody an important difference in the candidates. McCane exemplifies the old (and I don't mean his chronological age), the past, he is oh so 20th century. Obama , on the other hand, represents the new the future which is, whether we like it or not, the direction we are always moving in. Common wisdom tell us we can't go back, we can't really return home. The past is just that the past and the future is out ahead of us, new, exciting, and the way we have but no choice to go. So that presents us with our choice. We can vote for the candidate equipped to take us into the future, where we are headed anyhow, or we can choose the candidate that looks back and is stuck in and will stick us in the past; a dangerous location to be in. The choice for me is easy and clear; I choose the future; I choose Barack Obama.