I finally got around to watching Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro’s movie “Body of War,” about a 25-yr old kid named Thomas Young who enlisted in the Army to root out the evil-doers in Afghanistan, was sent to Iraq instead, and, on his fifth day there, was packed into an uncovered and unarmored vehicle with a bunch of other young men so they could be used as AK-47 target practice for insurgents. Kinda like shootin’ fish in a barrel (or wolves from a helicopter). Thomas was shot below the collar bone, his spinal cord was severed around mid-chest or so, and his life was destroyed. He can’t cough, can’t regulate his own body temperature (he has to wear a vest filled with ice packs that he adds or removes like thermal ballast as required), can piss to some extent, but not enough to empty his bladder, so he needs a catheter inserted a few times a day, lest the leftover urine crystallize and lead to urinary tract infections, which he’s prone to), can’t walk of course, spontaneously craps himself, and is for the most part incapable of having sex with his pretty young wife. As the film follows Young through a life filled with pain, massive amounts of prescription drugs, and the eventually dissolution of his marriage, it cuts to speeches from Republicans and Democrats alike spewing the same bullshit propaganda about WMD, mushroom clouds, and “national security” that we all knew at the time (and since been proven) to be lies.

I hadn’t thought this shit could still move me, but there I was, on the verge of tears over what this kid has to deal with for what’s left of his life (having to instruct his mother on how to insert a catheter into his penis is just one indignity he was forced to endure – on camera), enraged by these piece of shit “representatives” who paved the way for Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld to send them there, and proud of Robert Byrd, Teddy Kennedy, and the other 21 Senators (21 + 2 = 23, for those who are checking my math) and 133 Representatives who had the courage to vote “no” just three weeks before election day, 2002. And here we are, seven years, more than 4,000 dead and some 200,000 Thomas Young’s later. After Vietnam, I never thought we’d be stupid enough to fall for it again, but here we are. And what really enrages me is that Barack Obama is doing the same goddamn thing in escalating whatever it is we’re calling this folly in Afghanistan. Maybe the 30 years between Vietnam and Iraq dulled our senses and blurred our vision, but there’s no excuse for Afghanistan. It’s clear, it’s obvious, and it’s shameful.

And the expendable cogs in the machine like Thomas Young will continue to have their lives blown to pieces so profits can be maximized, and politicians can prove how tough they are by sending other people’s kids off to die in our names.

Speaking of shameful, as Sue mentioned yesterday, the NY State Senate had a vote on legislation to legalize gay marriage. It had already passed rather handily in the NY State Assembly, had the support of our Governor, and had already passed a state constitutional test, in as much as the NYS Court of Appeals ruled that same sex marriage was OK – as soon as it was enacted into law. So if the Senate passed it, then gay NYers would have had the same rights (at least as far as marriage and what it entails) as everybody else. In the debate leading up to the vote, no Republicans spoke, and, predictably, all Republicans voted “no.” The Republicans were joined by 8 Democrats (my State Senator voted “yes,” I’m proud to say), and the bill failed 24-38. None of this is particularly surprising, but it’s still disappointing.

Speaking of disappointment, I was supposed to get my new refrigerator yesterday, with the old one being relegated to “beverage fridge” in the basement. I was looking forward to stocking it up, and then getting a big funnel for the floor drain so I’d never have to go upstairs again. Alas, Sears had other plans for me. They brought my new stove and “microhood,” but no fridge. It seems their “system” never kicked off the part that tells the warehouse to actually ship the goddamn thing to me. Because, supposedly, my credit card was never charged. So the only way to get it back into the “system” was to charge it again. Except I checked my statement online, and guess what? They did charge it. Just cancel the second charge, right? Oh, no, can’t do that. I had to go in with receipt and get the original one credited. And they can’t deliver the damn thing until after Christmas now. I was a little peeved, to say the least, but, whattya gonna do? You can’t fight the “system.”

Speaking of the system, time to get ready to go and be a good little cog in it.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my big sister. Hard to believe you’re 29 already.