Square Footage

I'm constantly hearing about how Americans can't find Iraq on a map. It even came up last night on the Daily Show, in Jon's interview with Rick Shenkman, who was there to pimp his book, "Just How Stupid Are We?" Perhaps I'm just making excuses for my poor geography skills, but does it really matter? I'm not promoting ignorance and I'm certainly not arguing we're on top of everything we need to be. I think Americans should know that Iraq is in the Middle East and generally where that is and I was appalled by Shenkman's claim that "only two out of five Americans know we have three branches of government and can name them". But what's the fascination with being able to find a specific country on the map? What exactly does that information do for us? We're not going to need to navigate there, are we? Most can find the US and our immediate neighbors. My guess is most can find Australia, China, Russia - the big ones (and by big I mean 'large', not 'important'). There are a lot of countries in the world. Isn't it more important that we know the issues we're dealing with in Iraq than where exactly it is on a map?

For those of you who are curious, here it is:

Not Too Important?

John McCain told Matt Lauer today it's "not too important" when the troops come home from Iraq. He went on to say that what is important is keeping the troops who are in Iraq safe and eliminating casualties (for the record, he didn't say when that might happen, either). As he has repeatedly told us, McCain thinks that Iraq will be another Germany or South Korea. We'll have troops working there "for 100 years". Why has no one pointed out the faulty logic of this? Culturally, Iraq couldn't be more different from Germany or South Korea, countries that don't have warring ethnic groups or intrinsic hatred for imperialists from the West. The middle east is home to complicated conflicts that have gone on for thousands of years. Does McCain think our presence in Iraq is going to bring peace to the region? Because I don't know how he's ever going to stop angry people from strapping bombs to their bodies and plowing through US military barricades. We need to leave this nation we never should have invaded and let the people it rightfully belongs to figure it out for themselves (In fact, the current Iraqi government is already bristling at US plans to stay indefinitely).

That's the international answer to McCain's statement. As for the domestic one, it's not important when the troops come home? Please tell that to their families. I found the Senator's words chilling, thinking about the wives, mothers, fathers and sons who most certainly heard them and hope and pray desperately every day for their loved one's safe return. Please also tell that to our economy, which could use the three billion dollars a week we're spending in Iraq (up from the 2 billion I'd previously reported). If John McCain thinks his plan will work, I need him to show us why. I need him to tell us when the military can stop forcing soldiers to stay for double and triple tours of duty. I need him to tell us when most of the troops will come home, when we can reduce the amount of money we're spending on this war, and when those casualties will disappear. Because if he can't, all we're getting is more of what we have now, an indefinite statement that "the surge is working" and let's wait and see. It's just not good enough. It may not be too important to John McCain when the troops come home, but it is really important to us.

Well, duh

I know Jon Stewart begs us not to get our news from him, but seriously, is there a better way? He sheds light on dark corners, points out sides to stories we hadn't noticed and makes us laugh, all at the same time. Last night, he was crazed about the fact that no one is reporting on the just released Senate Intelligence Report Number Two that states the Bush administration misled us to garner support for the war in Iraq:

I love me some Jon Stewart, but it seems to me that the reason no one is bothering with this story is that we all ALREADY KNOW THE BASTARDS LIED THEIR ASSES OFF TO US!!! Really, is the fact that the Senate finally put it down on paper all that newsworthy?