So at work, we argue about the war. One woman, whose brother was in Desert Storm and who now suffers from the various respiratory and neural ailments that many of our soldiers returned home with, totally supports it, and bristles at any talk about protests. And I just cannot understand it; don't we want to prevent another generation of our armed forces from the chance of a lifetime in pain? I think the war itself is misguided; I would support it if the information coming from our government wasn't so suspect. More people would support this if they were properly informed and the information at hand felt true and demanded action. You can't go into a battle simply on rhetoric; that's schoolyard stuff. And then, how much of our real outrage is based on things that happened prior to the previous engagement with Iraq? Why didn't we finish the job then? So now sonny-boy goes to clean up the mess his father left behind, even while the nation limps along with so many issues to be dealt with on our home soil. So now we're in it, and I hope it's quick, and as few innocents as possible get caught in the crossfire. But even more, perhaps it is time we shift the focus of our protests; use them to remind the president of the issues here, of staggering jobless rates, and deficits, and underfunded schools, and lack of health care for people who need it, and the daily assault on our environment that makes any weapons Saddam has look meek in comparison. Go fight your splendid little war, shrub, but don't forget that nobody elected you for your vast knowledge of foreign policy and awareness of how the world works.