I'm sure the cognoscenti (if that's the word I want) have noticed my absence for many pages. Oh, have I been having fun, not.

Well, about a year ago a woman and two kids moved in next door. Occasionally, a man friend would visit her, and stay a while. Okay, but our main concern is that the lady would not use the garbage service! And I felt she had an awful lot of stuff coming into the house for the amount she worked.

Well, early this week she moved out in a hurry! But left a bunch of stuff.

Well, on Thursday, her husband, home from his deployment to Iraq, showed up! To an empty house, his vehicles broken or gone, $76,000 in military pay gone, and $23,000 he had to borrow from his parents to meet her bills, gone!

She "Dear John"ed the hell out of him!

I came home about noon and started talking to him while I put my bike away, and got the story. He was so totally screwed! At this point, he didn't even have a cell phone, let alone a vehicle or any money.

This was his lawfully wedded wife!

Anyway, as tempted as I was (no I wasn't, not really) to tell him deserved what he got ("You and your Army buddies screwed us out of a trillion dollars, now you know how it is to get good 'n screwed, but you are still alive, asshole! And a lot of Iraquis and soldiers aren't!)

So we got in the car and went out to the mall so he could sign up a cell-phone account and start communicating, got him some stuff to keep him comfortable in the empty house, offered him the use of a car while he's here, took him out to eat, and in general tried to act like I didn't think he was the world's No. 1 chump. And his frickin' parents have been married over 50 years! Jesus Christ, couldn't he see any essential differences between his Mom and the girl he picked up from another guy in his unit! See, he got together with her while she was married to this other guy, who hit her, and well, I think she ended up kissing him or something, so naturally they ended up getting married! Good freakin' Lord God on a supercharged, fuelinjected Pogo stick!!!

Anyway, we did what we could. to help. I got out of discussing his marital affairs as soon as I could, (although he was "dumping" like a Mack, you couldn't shut him up!) by telling him I had no experience in the matter. I swear to God, he kept on asking me to adjudicate the distribution of the "X-boxes" he bought for the kiddies. I don't even know what an "X-box" is.

So, in case you wanted to know,(and I'm sure you did) that is how our patriotic ladies are keeping the home fires burning!

Oh, and once he gets things cleared up, gets divorced and some bills payed, why, it's back over to the sandbox. Oh, they get 'em coming and going, don't they.

america's problems are much more serious, incurable most likely. you're just too dim, too ignorant, too arrogant to figure the world out. so you'll keep butting your collective head against reality, until finally the head breaks. it will, reality always has the last word.

al loomis

Al, what country are you commenting from? How I wish someone with your kind of intelligence and character would come here to guide us in the US. Are you available?

I notice that neither you nor Glenn propose a viable alternative to quelling civil war, state sponsored genocide, or rule by mass murder.

Not to mention those awful Weapons of Mass Destruction! Remember those? Those awful weapons were so awful, and there was so much of them!

I notice that neither you nor Glenn propose a viable alternative to quelling civil war, state sponsored genocide, or rule by mass murder.

It's not gonna stop until you go and do something about it, Shooter. Petreaus is waiting, probably pacing and wondering, "What shall I do? Where the hell is Shooter"?

Well there you have it, it's all our fault. All the time, every time. This is why I personally cheer every time an American dies. 911 was a good thing and we can only pray for an atomic sterilization of the American land mass and all the little war criminals infecting the earth from there. Exterminate them all. I am 1 billion percent with you.

-- Electro Robot

Let me remind everyone that this quote will always be available by pressing the "Read Electro Robot's other letters" button.

Such a clear statement of a man's genuine feelings should not be wasted.

I tried being reasonable but here at Salon they don't do sanity all that well.

Electro Robot

Just press the "other letters" button, folks, and you can judge for yourself.

Me, I don't think this one's quite healthy, like Glenn said.

But of course, given Glenn's "provincialism" what does he know?

If there's something I don't know about the nature of our Iraq mission, then I'm all ears.

Did you read my story about the husband of the lady next door coming home after his deployment to Iraq? House empty, wife gone, vehicles gone, all the money gone.(Including $23,000 he borrowed from his parent's retirement savings to pay "bills".

Is that what they call "supporting the troops"?

Terrorism waged in the US is a GOOD thing. Too bad no one's that good at it. If you want change, then start blowing up malls in Iowa.

Wait a minute! Isn't there something you are supposed to do when somebody writes stuff like that. Threatening terrorism and all. Terroristic threats. There's something either I or Salon is supposed to do, but I forget what it is. Oh well, maybe somebody knows. I sure hope so.