Meatstick Opinion: Congressmen Brian Baird (Part 2)

Here is a video of Congressmen Brian Baird just a few short months ago (February) arguing against the surge and further occupation in Iraq:

Here he is getting his ass chewed by his constituents this week back home in Vancouver, WA after he came out and said that the surge is working:


In the first video Baird makes a powerful statement,

"It is irresponsible to allow a Commander in Chief...to continue to sacrifice the lives, bodies, and families of our troops in a mission that lacks a clear end point or successful strategy."

How in the world do you change your mind so drastically in 6 months? How do you go from believing in a statement as powerful as the one I listed above, to believing in a prolonged surge through April 2008?

Also, take note of the pictures of Baird in the second video taken of him in Iraq. He is not wearing a kevlar helmet or vest. It is impossible to evaluate the surge without wearing kevlar and traveling outside of fortified Army bases. I would love to see the list of places this guy visited while he was there. Just so you know, the guy was on ground in Iraq for 2 days. In 2 days he came to the realization that the surge is working.

I applaud the people of Vancouver who showed up for this town hall meeting.
This guy is an embarrassment to the Democratic party.

Meatstick Event: Selling Our Car on Craigslist-Update

In the past 6 months I have tried to sell two cars on Craigslist. It has been an interesting experience. I think part of the issue was the type of cars that I was selling. Both cars were well past their prime and were listed for reasonable, cheap prices. My dad warned me by saying:
"You'll meet all the whackos selling a car yourself, especially in that price range. Wait till you get the guy with 2 screaming kids and a pregnant wife and all he has to his name is $2,351.49 and he wants the car."
My dad was more right than I could have ever imagined.

The first car I tried to sell was a 1998 Chevy Blazer listed at $4,990. Here are some of the emails I got from people 'interested' in the car and the responses I should have given back:

"please call nate for the s10" -- I was tempted to reply back, "Hey asshead, I have never owned an S10 in my life."

"I called and left you a page number what time can we see the car?" -- This guy should have gotten an email back from me that said, "A page number? A pager? I might as well be selling a Delorean from 1986 if we are using pagers in this transaction."

"I do not have the money for the car, but I am willing to trade a lawn mower and an older car for this Blazer." -- This guy doesn't even deserve the bandwith required to reply back to him.

In the end, I ended up selling the car on the military base to a soldier that just moved to the area.

This week I turned to Craigslist again in order to sell my 1994 Honda Accord, clearly priced at $2,990. This listing attracted the majority of the dregs of society found throughout the Puget Sound region. Here is a spattering of the emails I got back:

"hi im len n i wood love to buy your car call" -- I was wanting to reply back, "I will not sell my car to anyone using the phrase 'n i wood.'

"I wonder if you taking offers. if you do my brother have 2000 cash today let me know" -- My response to him could have been, "Yes, I will take $2000 cash along with another $990 cash."

I also ended up fielding an interesting phone call at 10pm the first night I had the car posted. A man from Portland called telling me how badly he wanted my car for his wife. He said he loved Hondas and wanted to drive to Seattle right away to buy it. I did the quick math and estimated he could be in Seattle by 12:30 AM, so I told him I would wait up for him. He thanked me and said he would be in Seattle no later than 1AM. My wife and I ended up sitting on the couch, drifting in and out of consciousness, until 4:30AM. We politely called him the next morning and left him a message saying that we hope the reason he didn't make it was because he contracted Herpes.

I ended up selling the Honda a day later to a guy who had never heard of Craigslist. He just happened to see the 'FOR SALE' sign posted on my car on the side of the road.

I will finish by saying that Craigslist is a great tool in selling any used product because of the fact that it is completely free and is checked by thousands of people each hour. Don't let my experiences ruin your impression of the site. Although I have never personally had success selling anything on Craigslist, I can say that I bought a nice set of golf clubs for dirt cheap on there (Unfortunately I couldn't buy the guy's golf handicap to go along with the clubs).

Meatstick Opinion: Draft College Republicans (part 2)

President Bush was in the Seattle area for about 2 hours yesterday. A video of the event can be found on Komo 4's website. The video is pretty much what you would expect of any presidential visit. It shows Air Force One screwing up the flights for the day, the motorcade blocking traffic during rush hour on some of the busiest highways in America, and Bush telling a crowd of his most loyal fans that, "we need to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here."

Of course, the video also shows the hundred or so protesters that were there from the time he arrived until well after he was gone. There were also a few Bush supporters in the crowd outside the hotel. These must be Bush's poor fans because they didn't pay the $1,000-$10,000 to see him speak inside the hotel. One of these poor fans was a kid named Timothy. I only know his name because they put it up on the TV screen during his interview. Mr. Timothy had the nerve to make the following statement in regards to the protesters:

"They're saying this an illegal war and innocent people are dying. Not that many people have died compared to World War I, or World War II, or Vietnam."

Holy shit. I had to take a few deep breathes so that I didn't throw my remote control across the room. College football season is coming up, I need my remote control.

A quick myspace search of Timothy reveals that he is an even more hurting than his interview on TV made him out to be. His profile picture, found here, shows him holding a sign that reads, "US out of Iraq and Into Iran." Of course, Timmy doesn't list any military experience in his profile. He appears to be one of the many college aged Republicans who would rather spend their time at protests rather than actually helping us win the "war on terror."

In the meantime, forty minutes down the road at Fort Lewis, there was a memorial held for 2 Special Forces soldiers killed in Iraq this week. I guess that wasn't an important enough event for George Bush and Timmy to attend.

Meatstick Event: Selling Our Car on Craigslist

Selling a car on craigslist can be a painful/funny process. More to follow.

Meatstick Opinion: Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) is Hurting

Have you heard about Brian Baird yet? He's the Democratic Congressman from Vancouver, Washington who went to Iraq for a few days and is now saying we need to continue business as usual over there. He spent most of the last few days appearing on right wing talk shows spewing his crap with Hannity and Tucker Carlson. Baird originally voted against the war in 2002, so his recent change of heart is definitely not normal among fellow Democrats. Baird wrote a lengthy editorial that appears in the Seattle Times today explaining his new position. I like to believe that this is actually his Congressional Obituary because after this flip flop I would think it might be very hard for him to get re-elected. The points he makes in his editorial are horrendous, for example:

The costs have been horrific for our soldiers, their families, the Iraqi people and the economy. If we keep our troops on the ground we will lose more lives, continue to spend billions each week, and, given the history and complex interests of the region, there is no certainty that our efforts will succeed in the long run. We must be absolutely honest about these costs and risks and I am both profoundly saddened and angry that we are where we are. Knowing all this, how can someone who opposed the war now call for continuing the new directions that have been taken in Iraq? The answer is that the people, strategies and facts on the ground have changed for the better and those changes justify changing our position on what should be done.

I'm not sure if this guy has ever taken a class in persuasive writing, but if I was going to argue that we need to keep our troops in Iraq I wouldn't be mentioning the fact that countless more soldiers will die, billions of tax dollars will be spent, and after that we still might not succeed.
He then goes on to say:

Our soldiers are reclaiming ground and capturing or killing high-priority targets on a daily basis. Sheiks and tribal groups are uniting to fight against the extremists and have virtually eliminated al-Qaida from certain areas. The Iraqi military and police are making progress in their training, taking more responsibility for bringing the fight to the insurgents and realizing important victories. Businesses and factories that were once closed are being reopened and people are working again. The infrastructure is gradually being repaired and markets are returning to life.

His statement might be true for the areas around Baghdad that he saw through binoculars from his safe haven inside the Green Zone. However, he fails to mention that during the same week that he was visiting Iraq up to 400 Yazidis (Kurdish sect) were killed in a coordinated four part suicide car bombing in Northern Iraq. Since Congressman Baird left Iraq a lot more has happened. I'll give a quick rundown of events this week in Iraq during the same time that Baird has spent giving Hannity and Tucker Carlson reach arounds:

• Suicide car bomb kills 11 Iraqis in Tikrit
• 42 injured in a car bomb in Mosul (the same city that I thought I helped 'secure' 2 years ago)
• Car bomb in Baghdad kills five Iraqis
• 4 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 11 American soldiers wounded in car bomb attack in Baghdad
• 20 Iraqis killed and 50 wounded in a car bomb attack in Baiji
• In the city where 400 were killed in the suicide attacks last week, 2 were killed and 4 wounded by drive by shootings and mortar attacks
• 14 US soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash while supporting combat operations

The timing of Mr. Baird's flip-flop could not have been worse. Three other people have released statements this week that don't help Mr. Baird's cause at all. All three of these sources are much more respected on issues regarding Iraq. First, Republican John Warner called for, "orderly and carefully planned withdrawal." He said we needed to start by bringing 5,000 troops home by Christmas. John Warner is the most respected Republican in the Senate on military affairs. Then, the National Intelligence Estimate reported, "the level of overall violence, including attacks on and casualties among civilians, reamins high; Iraq's sectarian groups remain unreconciled...Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively." And finally, General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Cheifs of Staff, is expected to urge Bush to significantly reduce troop size by next year. It is believed that keeping more than 100,000 troops in Iraq through next year would "severely strain the military and compromise its ability to respond to other threats."

So, it's Congressman Baird vs. the tag team of John Warner and Peter Pace.
Sorry Baird. I hope you can find a job with former Senator Rick Santorum on Fox Noise.

Meatstick News: The Redcoats Are Leaving, The Redcoats Are Leaving!

The British are preparing a complete withdrawal from Iraq and they don't seem to concerned about the comparisons to pulling out of Saigon that supporters of the war in Iraq love to claim. For example, one of President Bush's closest military advisers, Stephen Biddle, recently stated:

"Britain won't be able to pull all its troops out through the airport, which is why they will have to fight their way out. It will be a hard withdrawal. It will be ugly and embarrassing."

As an American, I find his comments to be completely embarrassing. Unfortunately, Mr. Biddle isn't just some insignificant blogger or talking head. He actually has power and influence over military decisions made by our administration and he is making us look bad.

Obviously, the British took offense to these statements. Lord Byce, the former Chief of the Defense Staff in the British military, thinks these comments by Biddle are unwarranted. In response to Biddle he claimed:

"I don't think it's sensible to draw any parallels between Saigon and Basra. The British are not facing what the Americans were facing in Saigon, which was a well-equipped army as opposed to disparate murderers and terrorists."

Lord Byce isn't the only Brit who thinks the British can successfuly pull out of Iraq. Michael Clarke, the director of the Royal United Services Institute, said yesterday:

"The idea that the US would have to deploy two brigades to protect a British withdrawal is overwritten. Our own troops can do the job. It would take about a month, and it might need a short tactical deployment of extra forces to cover it, but we have the numbers for it."

In my mind, our administration should be wishing the Brits good luck and offering our help to remove all 5,500 of their troops safely. Instead we have Mr. Biddle acting like a school kid who hopes it rains on another kid's birthday party just because he didn't get invited. Of course it's much worse than that because he seems to be hoping British soldiers are killed in order to help prove his point.

As for Mr. Biddle...he may have a PhD from Harvard, but he never served a day in Vietnam or Iraq.

Meatstick News: New York Times Op-Ed by US Soldiers

People in America are always looking for the truth of what is really going on in Iraq. Conservatives are always skeptical of mainstream media so they turn to pundits like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity (who have the combined military experience of parent's 8 month old puppy). Liberals also like to claim bias in the mainstream media and flock to blogs like the Daily Kos and moveon.org. Well, for anyone interested in an accurate assessment written through the eyes of soldiers who have lived through an Iraq deployment, please read this New York Times published Op-Ed entitled "The War as We Saw It." This piece was written by 7 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division who are about to return from a 15 month deployment.
Here are some quotes from the article:

To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day...Coupling our military strategy to an insistence that the Iraqis meet political benchmarks for reconciliation is also unhelpful. The morass in the government has fueled impatience and confusion while providing no semblance of security to average Iraqis. Leaders are far from arriving at a lasting political settlement. This should not be surprising, since a lasting political solution will not be possible while the military situation remains in constant flux.

This article is not only important because of the content, but also because of the consequences these soldiers will probably face for voicing their opinion. This article was clearly not censored by the military and submitted without the permission of their superiors. Judging by their rank, these soldiers are mid career non-commissioned officers that have a lot to lose by submitting this piece to a major US newspaper. Undoubtedly, these soldiers sat around and discussed the ramifications of sending this article to the New York Times. In the end they chose to stand up for what they believe in regardless of what consequences might come their way.
Do these soldiers a favor and take the ten minutes to read their honest opinion:
LINK TO ARTICLE

Meatstick Congrats: My Friend Will

Big congratulations to my friend Will who starts a new job today working for Senator Jim Webb at the his office in DC. Senator Webb is currently working on some very important wartime issues including:

• Dwell Time: His bill was recently passed in the House to ensure that soldiers receive adequate time at home before they are sent back overseas. Somehow, 44 Republicans in the Senate found fault with giving our troops time at home, even though the bill was strongly endorsed by the Military Officers Association of America and other veteran groups.
• Commission to Investigate Wartime Contracting: An effort to create a bipartisan committee to investigate fraud, waste, and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. This shouldn't have a problem passing the House and Senate...Republicans like saving tax dollars, right?
• Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007: The bill states that returning service members could earn up to 36 months of benefits, equivalent to four academic years, which would include payment of tuition, books and fees, as well as a $1,000 a month living stipend. This bill is endorsed by: Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), the Air Force Sergeants Association (AFSA), the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS), the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). Oh yea, the Bush Administration opposes this too.
  

Feel free to write your Congresssman/Senators and tell them to support Jim Webb's legislation listed above...if you support our troops.
Good job Will! Beat Navy!

Meatstick Opinion: Al Gore Would Have A Good Shot

The Air America talk hosts gathered in Seattle for a town hall forum session a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I was out of town and could not attend. I ended up catching the forum on the Seattle Channel here on local cable, but for anyone else who is interested in watching, it can be found online here.

Cenk Uygur, co-host of The Young Turks (Air America's morning drive program), brought up a really good point on the issue of which Democratic candidate is the most electable. He feels that the most electable candidate is Al Gore, who isn't even currently running for President. His reasoning makes a lot of sense:

"The reason I bring up Al Gore...I know he's electable because he already won once, he won the popular vote...He's already won an election."

He is definitely right on that account. Al Gore had 50,999,897 votes vs. George Bush's 50,456,002 votes.
But the real point of his argument is what he said next:

"Who voted for Gore last time that thinks now, 'you know I should have voted for Bush.' No one, No one! And who voted for Bush that would love to make up for their mistake. A lot of people."

Cenk Uygur is definitely on to something. Another reason I like Cenk is because, like me, he used to be a Republican.

Bottome Line:
If Al Gore could pull the popular vote (and arguably the electoral vote) after the debacle surrounding the Clinton administration, just think of the votes he could pull in the wake of this 8 year mess.

Meatstick Video: Dick Cheney On Why Invading Iraq Would Be A Quaqmire

A big thanks to Seán for bringing this to my attention. This video is a slam dunk for any blogger who is having writer's block.



I'm quite sure Dick Cheney will defend this video by saying that 9/11 changed everything. Even if 9/11 was a valid excuse for invading Iraq, which it most certainly is not, that does not explain why Dick Cheney thought it would be wise to use minimum military force just 9 years after this video was shot. What happened in those 9 years from the time he gave this interview to the day we crossed the berm into Iraq? He obviously knew that invading Iraq would be extremely difficult back in 1994.

In 1999 the Army conducted a training war game called "Desert Crossing" which was set up to go over all the possibilities involved with invading Iraq. Retired marine General Anthony Zinni recommended a force of 400,000 soldiers for an invasion saying, "We were concerned about the ability to get in there right away, to flood the towns and villages. We knew the initial problem would be security."

On February 25, 2003 General Shinseki warned the President and Congress that the U.S. was not preparing correctly for the invasion because they weren't considering enough troops.

Carl Levin asked for Shinseki's opinion on how many troops would be needed and he answered, “Something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably a figure that would be required...We’re talking about a post-hostilities control over a piece of geography that’s fairly significant, with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems,” said Shinseki."

This is almost exactly what Cheney said back in 1994.

Instead of listening to General Shinseki, General Zinni, and himself back in 1994...Cheney chose to listen to Rumsfeld and a Mr. Hyde version of himself in 2003. Three days before the invasion of Iraq Cheney declared, "Things have gotten so bad inside Iraq ... we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."

They decided to invade with 130,000 troops, all hell broke loose after some initial success, and here we are 4 years later still playing whack a mole.

You know that bumper sticker that says, "If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention"
Man, is that ever true.

Meatstick Revelation: Time to Re-evaluate Myself

Last night I had one of those moments we all have in life where we ask ourselves, "What is wrong with me?"

I was watching the Northwest final of the Little League Championships. It was a close game between the local Kent, WA team and a team from outside Portland in Lake Oswego, OR.

That wasn't the sad part.

The sad part was the dialogue between my wife and I:

Wife: What are you watching?
Me: Little League baseball...it's a real good game, we're (as if I have any connection to the 11 year olds on the Kent team) up 2-1.
Wife: Do you really care who wins this game?
Me: Of course, we can't let those little bastards from Lake Oswego win this.

I need to refocus on life.

Meatstick News: War Czar and the Draft

The Bush administration has long claimed that the war in Iraq is the epic struggle of our times. A year ago George Bush declared, "Every element of national power is being marshaled in the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century." He also said, "The battles in Iraq will one day rank alongside those at Omaha Beach and Guadalcanal as mileposts on the path to liberty." In the same speech he declared, "the United States must stay the course in Iraq because it is a battleground in an epic struggle between democracy and tyranny." In a similar speech a few months ago Karl Rove was quoted as saying the war in Iraq is, "the defining issue in our generation."

If everything they say is true, then why hasn't the administration asked more of America to help us win this epic struggle? If they really believed everything they say, then how can they think it is fair to ask our Armed Forces (that roughly make up less than 1% of the total population) to be the only ones to help us win the war that is the defining moment of our generation?

These are the questions that I have been asking myself for the last few years. If this is actually the defining moment of our generation, and we are going to continue keeping troop levels at where they are at now, then I feel we need to start asking the rest of our country to pull their weight.

Members of both political parties have stood up in favor of a draft. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel claimed, "Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel argued that restoring the draft would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face." Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel has repeatedly called for a draft because he believes that it would force Americans to be more outgoing in their resentment for the current war in Iraq. In 2006 Rangel declared,

"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way."

Both of these men have very opposite but very good reasons for reinstating a draft. However, if you are skeptical of anything that comes out of a politician's mouth, like many of us are...then maybe you might take the word of our war czar, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, more serious. In an interview with NPR this week, Lt. Gen. Lute made the following comment regarding the draft, "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it."

The administration quickly dismissed their own czar's comments by saying, "The president believes an all-volunteer military serves the country well, and there is no discussion of returning to a draft."

So, to summarize:
The administration believes we are involved in the epic struggle of our generation but they don't plan on demanding that more than 1% of our population do anything about it. They would rather the other 99% of the people stay in America where they can debate the merits of Barry Bonds and the latest gossip on Lindsay Lohan. Oh well, I guess I should be more positive about this. On the bright side of things...if we fail in Iraq at least we have 99% of the people on guard ready to "fight the terrorists over here."

*Here are the numbers:
1,426,713 people in active duty military
858,500 in the reserves

2,285,213 people in the military in the US.
The total population is roughly 300,000,000.

2,285,213/300,000,000 = .772% serving in the US military

Meatstick Followup: Pearl Jam and Net Neutrality

"Net Neutrality" is a movement that looks to keep a free and open internet. Basically, it is preserving free speech online.

Who wants net neutrality? The people.
Who doesn't want net neutrality? The communications companies.

The major communications companies believe that net neutrality isn't really necessary written into law form. They believe that they can be trusted to protect our online interests by themselves.

I have now found out these companies cannot be trusted. AT&T signed on to sponsor the online webcast of the Lollapalooza weekend. After the concert, fans of Pearl Jam informed the band that a portion of their song "Daughter" was censored from the online show. Pearl Jam didn't think it was a coincidence that the very portion of their show that was cut featured ad-libbed lyrics to their famous song "Daughter." In this version of the song Eddie Vedder sang:
"George Bush, leave this world alone." and
"George Bush find yourself another home."

Pearl Jam immediately contacted AT&T to ask them why they censored their performance. They were given a bogus answer along the lines of, "it was a terrible mistake made by our content editor." I bet the content editor was given a promotion.

I now realize why people are so up in arms about net neutrality. Here is the link to the version of the song that was butchered by AT&T and how it should have sounded:


Frig AT&T. Here is a link to help save the internet:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/

Meatstick Opinion: Pearl Jam and Dennis Kuicinich

My people of the week are Pearl Jam and Dennis Kucinich. Let me explain:

I was 12 years old when I attended my first concert. Lollapalooza '92 came rolling into Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA bringing together some of the most popular and influential bands of the last two decades. Among the bands that performed that day were:
Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, and Ice Cube.

Over the last 15 years the Lollapalooza festival has had an interesting history. It exploded with the popularity of the grunge scene and then died in the late 90's as boy bands began to take over the air waves. Well, I'm happy to say that Lollapalooza is back and better than ever. Unfortunately the festival no longer tours the country because they must find it easier to consolidate all the bands in one place for a killer weekend. This years addition just wrapped up on Sunday night with Pearl Jam ending the weekend with a 2 hour set. I couldn't make it to the show because I am an unemployed grad student but that didn't stop me from legally downloading their whole set online.

It was awesome to see Pearl Jam bring up on stage an Iraq war veteran named Tomas Young, who was paralyzed from the waist down. Mr. Young is the subject of a new Phil Donohue documentary named Body of War. Eddie Vedder heard about the Tomas, was touched by the story, and wrote the music for the movie.

What does this have to do with Dennis Kucinich? Well, like Eddie Vedder, Dennis also wants our soldiers out of Iraq. Yesterday, MSNBC hosted another debate with the Democratic hopefuls and I believe that Dennis was once again the most honest, sincere person on the stage. Again, he reiterated the fact that if Democrats really wanted to end the war all they have to do is cut off the funding, "We need to get out of Iraq, and get out of Iraq now. I'm the only one on stage who has had the vision and the foresight to have voted against authorizing the war and voted against funding the war."

In honor of Pearl Jam's performance this weekend I will leave a youtube clip of the band in Seattle back in 1991. Who would have thought that in 2007 this basketball dribbling, long haired singer of a grunge band would know more about foreign policy than Bush and Cheney.

Meatstick Guest Blogger-Jayron's Lipstick Jihad Book Review

In Lipstick Jihad, the author/journalist Azadeh Moaveni, writes about her life as an Iranian-American, who after being born in northern California moves to Iran in 1999 to work as journalist for Time magazine. In the first few chapters Azadeh’s depictions of growing up Iranian in America really hit home. Mentions of her grandma making jam and being the master of the kitchen, her mother’s insistence that Madonna was a “jendeh” (whore), the culture’s fondness of BMWs, her American friends being considered rude when they didn’t say hello upon entering the house all were very familiar to my own experience. References to gathering around tea, eating pomegranate and akbar-mashti bastani (ice cream), and hearing the word Jaan (dear) at the end of everyone’s name also warmed my heart.

Azadeh’s parents, like mine, had moved to America to attended college in the 70’s and the revolution in ‘79 made returning to Iran an undesirable alternative, so they stayed. The Islamic revolution of ‘79 changed everything in Iran. The religious fanatics who were threatened by the West’s encroachment upon their culture wanted to take their country back. (And back they did, unfortunately they took it 200 years back!) Women who used to be able to wear bikinis were forced to cover themselves from head to toe. Listening to the Beatles was now out of the question since music was no longer allowed. Men and women were separated, alcohol was banned, and lipstick was forbidden. Many of the best and brightest left the country. To this day, the country remains under religious rule. But little by little, women regained some rights and with the “reformist” President Khatami elected in 1997, women could even wear sandals (how shocking)! Sandals must be accompanied by the long veil/jacket, of course.

Azadeh, more profoundly, writes about her own transformation. She went from living in America, speaking “kitchen” Persian, having no ties to Iran other than through her mother, and hiding from embarrassing associations with her Iranian background to living in Iran where she found herself more at home than ever.

A line in the book really resonated with me. Azadeh revealed her fear of losing the Iranian side of herself. When she was a little girl, listening to Persian music in the car with her mother, she told her mom, “Mom, it’ll be sad when you die, because no one will listen to his music anymore!”

I wonder the same thing. I don’t want my generation to be the one that cuts ties to our Iranian background. I’m not ready to move to Iran, marry an Iranian and make a life there for myself as Azadeh did. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who embraces the culture and is even learning the Persian language himself. But I do want to hold on to the language, the music, and the richness of the culture. So this summer, one of my goals is to learn write the language, improve my “kitchen” Persian, and keep the tradition alive so I can pass it on to our children.

Meatstick Opinion: What Are We Doing in Iraq?

At least once a day I ask myself, "What are we doing in Iraq?" If you've never asked yourself that simple question, take a few minutes to read this story from the Washington Post.

The Government Accountability Office is reporting that the Pentagon has lost track of 190,000 AK-47s and pistols. This should be front page news in every paper from the Marshall Islands to Maine. Not only is our military facing insurgents using Iranian supplied weapons but now we must also deal with insurgents using American supplied weapons. A senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information said, "They really have no idea where they are...It likely means that the United States is unintentionally providing weapons to bad actors." The Pentagon is not disputing the claim and a senior official from the Pentagon admitted to the Washington Post that it is possible our own weapons are used against us.

The next time somebody tells you that they vote Republican because they are "fiscally conservative" please cite this article to point out the ridiculousness of that statement. Since 2003 we have spent $19.2 billion trying to equip and train the Iraqi Army yet 30% of the weapons we supplied between 2004 and 2005 are unaccounted for.

Meatstick News: Summer In Baghdad

Here is an AP article that explains what life is like for residents of Baghdad this summer. If you don't want to believe the AP article, here is another one by Reuters. There are many things in these articles worth quoting, but I'll try to just pick a few:

"I live with five brothers. When the water comes in we stand in a queue waiting to take a shower," said Ali Musa, a security guard from the al-Hurriya district in western Baghdad.
The number of Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies has risen from 50 per cent to 70 percent since 2003, while 80 per cent lack effective sanitation, British charity Oxfam said in a report last month. Baghdad has about one or two hours of electricity a day and most residents rely on neighborhood generators and smaller diesel-powered machines to supplement the supply.

Stories like these might not be as shocking and interesting to Americans (or Fox Noise) as car bombs in markets that kills dozens of people. However, power shortages and lack of water stories are equally as important to report because they seem to effect everyone in Iraq. Well, everyone except people living in the Green Zone and the other numerous US Army bases across the country.
Here is an interesting quote:

Noah Miller, spokesman for reconstruction at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, said the water shortages were due to a nationwide power cut on Wednesday and possible leakages in water pipes due to old equipment or illegal tapping.

He is obviously talking about the parts of Iraq that aren't occupied by a military base. Here is a quote from the owner of the al-Rasheed hotel in the Green Zone:

"Living here is like living in Europe," says Haider Hassan, a store clerk at the $280-a-night al-Rasheed Hotel inside the Green Zone. "You miss nothing, starting with electricity, power, water and security. Outside the gates is hell."

Although my experience living on a military base in Iraq wasn't exactly like "living in Europe." I will tell you that as temperatures rose to 118 degrees during the Iraqi summer, my air conditioner dropped to a cool 65 degrees. I also managed to watch Ken Jennings' Jeopardy streak on my satellite TV while sipping on ice cold Fanta from my refrigerator. The only time I didn't have power was when a numbnut private forgot to fill up the generator with Turkish pumped oil.
I guess that explains the frustration and why Iraqi insurgents that aren't fortunate enough to live on a US military base in Iraq feel the need to mortar them on a daily basis. That really used to piss me off. There is nothing worse than a mortar landing in your compound while you are trying to concentrate on Final Jeopardy.

Meatstick Opinion: Bill Richardson

I still like Dennis Kucinich but I have begun to realize that I am taking Dennis' presidential run more serious than he is. I went to his website the other day and it wasn't even fully up and running. C'mon Dennis, all it takes is a Craigslist ad for "webmaster needed" and about $2,000 to pry some high school nerd away from his Harry Potter book to run a website for you. So, now that I realize that Kucinich is basically a non-player I have had to shift my focus. This leads me to Bill Richardson.

Bill Richardson has made some recent gains in Iowa. He is now up to 13% in a recent poll. Unfortunately that only puts him in fourth place. However, an interesting thing to note about the Iowa poll is that Richardson leads the independent vote, 25% to Obama's 21%. I think the people of Iowa are finally starting to realize what the rest of America hasn't yet. Bill Richardson is a really good candidate for President. He has a long career of government service (state department, US Ambassador, Sec. of Energy) and good ideas to back up his experience. I like many of his ideas, including:

• Removal of troops from Iraq
• National minimum wage for teachers
• Scrapping No Child Left Behind
• Gym class in elementary school to help combat childhood obesity
• "Heroes Health Card" that would allow veterans to receive medical care whenever and wherever they need it.

I realize that either Obama, Edwards, or Clinton will probably win the nomination of the Democratic party. My hope is that whoever does receive the nomination gives Bill Richardson a serious look as their Vice Presidential running mate. I think Richardson is the type of person that Republicans won't necessarily hate as much as Democrats loathe Cheney. After all, Richardson was endorsed by the NRA as a Governor and he has said that he would accept their endorsement again. That is something all Republicans can like about the man. Am I the only one who thinks it would be nice to get past all the hatred, at least for a few years?

Oh yea, speaking of Cheney...I am sorry to say that I have to finally change my quote at the top of my webpage. Since I started this website my quote has always been the wise words of Dick Cheney who claimed in 2005, "the insurgency in Iraq is in the last throes." You didn't have to be Douglas MacArthur to realize this statement was absolutely ridiculous from he moment the words left his mouth. Yesterday, over two years later, Mr. Cheney finally admitted that he was wrong about the insurgency:

"My estimate at the time - and it was wrong, it turned out to be incorrect... I thought there were a series of these milestones that would in fact undermine the insurgency and make it less than it was at that point. That clearly didn't happen. I think the insurgency turned out to be more robust.''

Maybe someday he'll admit the invasion was a mistake too.