hello? i don't know if you forgot while you were doing your little political tap dance... but there is a real war going on.

i came across a disturbing new york times article this morning... discussing the american political debacle over the iraq war. in said article, this passage bothered me the most:

“senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina, who worked to defeat the webb plan, said the republican support for the war could have a political cost. 'the republicans own this war,' he said. 'if it goes bad, the nation loses and the republican party loses disproportionately compared to the democratic party.'”

mr. graham seems to forget that it isn't a matter of political parties looking good or bad when it comes right down to it with the iraq war... he seems to forget that he is talking about the lives of hundreds of thousands of people - americans and iraqis alike. military and civilian alike. when it comes to the iraq war 'going bad,' as mr. graham so eloquently stated, it will not be the republican party or the democratic party that will lose 'disproportionately,' it will be the aforementioned thousands of people actually fighting this war and the countless number of people who have been displaced and/or who are living in constant fear that will suffer 'disproportionately' when compared to the majority of the world. they will certainly suffer more than a certain senator from south carolina, in his cushy government job, safe from the actual war going on half a world away.

i do know that some of the politicians seem to express 'concern' (i use this term very lightly) for the actual condition of those fighting and 'living' in iraq... but they need to seriously reconsider the manner in which they chose to talk about the war and the 'efforts' to shift the 'strategy' in iraq. they need to remember that they are talking about human lives, not loaves of bread, or rocks, or pawns on a chess board. they need to remember that it shouldn't be about party loyalty - or even worse still, party reputation - when it comes to re-evaluating the increasingly-deteriorating situation in iraq... it should be about doing the right thing for the soldiers and civilians there and especially for the iraqi people... but that might be asking a little much.

to think that the republicans have scoffed at a proposal to rely more heavily on diplomacy in iraq makes me so ashamed of and for the american political representatives. they are going out of their way to make sure that the proposal will not pass in the senate. umm... so i have a quick question: what is so wrong with actually trying to discuss a problem that is obviously not being solved by force? for the love of all things... i mean, honestly people... it's like beating a dead horse. it's just pathetic. sad. shameful.

welcome to the 21st century... marvel at how far we have evolved.

a war of tiny proportions

i am still moving... i'm to the unpacking the boxes i filled with all the 'super-important' stuff i schlepped from dubai to stuttgart and trying my damnedest to put my bloody ikea furniture together. we are not friends, ikea furniture and i... not friends at all. actually, one could probably say that we are at some sort of war, in my bedroom... me with screwdriver-used-as-hammer (seriously, don't ask) and ikea furniture with its minions of tiny, dull nails.

war, i tell you. war.

thankfully, my new roommates pulled me away for caffeine and alcohol... so my mood was in a much better state before trying to go to sleep (i say 'trying' because everytime i was about to doze off into one of my freaky dreams - more on that in a post to come, by the way - an ambulance or police car or some such nonsense would come blasting past my house... shattering eardrums with that gut-wrenching siren that i think i can safely say that i hate).

busy nothings amid a relocation crisis of sorts

i arrived in stuttgart, germany yesterday... a full day ahead of my luggage (convenient, you know, moving to a new place without clothes, without a toothbrush, or any of those normal hygienic comforts of home).

i arrived in stuttgart yesterday, to find that my living arrangements are now null and void. i guess that such is life... and i guess that this is what i get for counting on verbal agreements made among friends... but i'm feeling a bit freaked out at the thought of not having a place to live in a strange city where i do not speak the language (this language deficiency also makes looking for an apartment a teeny, tiny bit difficult, if you know what i mean). the current situation that i find the most amusing is that i am supposed to pick up my cargo, all 150kgs of it, tomorrow. i have nowhere to put said 150kgs of my stuff. this is me, almost completely freaking right the hell out. i know that everything will work out ok, but at the moment... at the moment, i'm not really sure what to do first and i'm feeling a bit discouraged about my spontaneous relocation. second thoughts and whatnot, i guess.

three cheers for the proverbial shit hitting the fan.
rah. rah. fucking rah.