Greetings fellow Roman.

Yes, you are correct that the Turks loathe the idea of a Kurdistan popping up on their southern border, rich with oil money to fund Kurdish separatists and rable rousers in Turkey.

Here's what you're missing: The Turks want ever so badly to join the European Union. Their application is up for review. If they choke off the supply of Kurdish oil through pipelines across their territory, they can be sure that Europe (a natural consumer of Kurdish oil) will retaliate when it comes time to vote on their bid to join the EU.

Furthermore, the Turks run the existing pipeline, making money with every barrel of throughput. There's a new "super-pipe" in the works. They'll own a big piece of that one too. Turks are good businessmen. They will not screw around with easy money coming into the treasury. And still further, the Turks will not mess with the U.S.A.

You're a smart fellow. You know that there are nettlesome enclaves of Kurds not only in Turkey, but also Syria and Iran. By brown-nosing the Kurds, America can agitate the Syrian and Iranian Kurd populations to cause all kinds of mayhem if the political situation calls for it.

It's all good.

Of the vast numbers of military veterans in the U.S., only a tiny fraction of them belong to either the V.F.W. or the American Legion. Even fewer still belong to the AmVets. Unfortunately, far too many of them belong to the D.A.V. but certainly not by choice.

The veterans who belong to patriotic clubs like the V.F.W. and the American Legion are not only few in numbers when compared with the pool of potential members, they are the most visible, the most vocal, and the most right wing of all veterans. They join these clubs for a lot of reasons, but bipartisanship is not one of them.

I have said this before, but here goes again: If you want to see how enlisted men and women feel about being in the service today, you need to subcribe to Army Times. It's an independent broadsheet that doesn't take orders from the Information Office at the Pentagon.

If you want to know how commissioned officers feel about being in the military, forget it. They are bound by oath and penalty of being passed over for promotion if they say anything untoward about the war or the Commander in Chief.

Many civilians who don't have any connection to the military assume in error that they are all a bunch of right wing Republicans. That's probably due to the V.F.W. and the American Legion. In fact, you will find among the enlisted non-coms, a seething resentment toward Republicans in general and Bush in particular. Only they are cautious when speaking out.

Republicans and idiots like Rush Limbaugh don't want to admit that there are thousands of registered Democrats serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Non-commissioned enlisted men and women are constantly having to tighten their financial belts and endure all kinds of extra hardships, including the damned "Stop Loss" program. Uber Gruppen Fuhrer Von Rumsfeld is the most hated man in the chain of command.

Our troops are getting screwed. They are screwed when they go over. They are screwed when they come back. They are really screwed by the Republicans in Congress who vote to cut VA hospital funding as they create as many as 200 to 300 permanent cripples every month.

"It is...

hilarious how quickly the "progressives" are co-opting Baker and thinking that he will deliver them from Bush. Do they understand Bakers background?

He will come out with a well thought out proposal and Bush will spin it so that it is completely his own, remember Homeland Defense? The details will be leaked just prior to the election and lo and behold, republicans will start moving back up.

-- joe"

Oh-my-god. Is this the original "joe"? This is a sign we are surely in the End Times. I can't breathe. I think I'm going to throw up. I don't know whether to shit or wind my watch.

You must be up to something "joe." Until we find out what, I'll just take you at your word.

I saw James Baker on Jon Stewart of all places. Not a word about Baker's dirty hands. Are we progressives/liberals so desperate for a savior that we are ready to forget everything we know about James Baker? This bastard is as close to pure Machiavellian evil as you can get. He's toxic waste. He's radio active Carlisle Group plutonium. And yet here we have Salon speaking of him as some "voice of reason"?

I'm going back to bed. I must have awakened in the wrong universe this morning.

Two million ain't much. We are a nation of 300 million now. That leaves 298 million who either never heard of him (most) or those who think he's just an asshole with triple chins and skin damage.

In any case, he's going to get caught again one of these days. This telephone masturbator and office letcher has deep psychological problems that will surface again. It's only a matter of time.