Unbelievable.  Simply unfathomable.  The depth to which the Vice President of the United States is willing to sink just never ceases to amaze me.  The latest came on the very day that the U.S. death toll in Iraq reached 4,000.  Now I have to preface this by saying I find one death as heinous as any other, and so these arbitrary milestones are relatively meaningless to me.  It's mildly interesting that the 4,000 mark passed in the same week as the 5th anniversary of the war, but really both numbers just serve to drive home the pathetic pointlessness of Bush & Cheney's little oil vendetta.

So what did he say?  How did he (the VP) respond to a reporter's request for comment on the death toll?  Simple.  He blamed the deaths on the soldiers themselves for being naive enough to sign up.  He also said the real burden was being borne by President Bush, not the dead soldiers' families.  The man has no conscience.   In an interview with ABC news, Mr. Cheney said, "The president carries the biggest burden, obviously, he's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us." 

The words of Jack Kirkpatrick in the fictionalized version of 'Point/Counterpoint' in the movie "Airplane" echoed in my head when I read that.

"Shanna, they bought their tickets...they knew what they were getting into.  I say, 'Let 'em crash!'"

The pack of lies that's been promulgated by this administration lo these last five years just makes me sick.  These kids didn't sign up to destroy Iraq and stand in the way of a civil war.  They signed on to go grab Osama bin Forgotten.  Remember him?  The guy responsible for flying the planes into the buildings?  Ever wonder what happened to him?  I'll remind you.  Seven years later bin Laden is still a free man even as President Bush is set to leave office.  Like father, like son.  The global war on terrorism has been hopelessly botched by the two men who decided to ignore the warnings of Colin Powell and go steaming into the one place on Earth we knew bin Laden wasn't!

"They bought their tickets...they knew what they were getting into..."

But that's not even the punchline.  The true, vomit-inducing punchline to Tricky Dick, Jr.'s latest foray into pressville came in Ramallah in the West Bank.  The veep was on hand to try and insinuate himself into Mideast peace talks (irony anyone?).  While there, he uttered the following statement: "the future belongs to the advocates of peace and reconciliation."

Can somebody tell me how the hell he would know?

I thought not.

Is this nightmare over yet?  Somebody wake me on January 22, 2009.