Catherine, based on my presumably greater experience in men's rooms than you, I can tell you that men pee not only on the floor, but a good number don't bother to lift the seat in the stalls and pee on those, too. And then there are the guys who don't bother to flush the urinal, and worse, the mutants who don't bother to flush the toilets (yes, we're talking #2). I once witnessed the dean of my frackin' law school exit without flushing the urinal.

On the other hand, my wife complains often about the filthy seats in women's public restrooms, so it may not be a gender thing, but a class thing (as in, too many people lack it altogether).

We men have it better, since we can handle peeing standing up and away from the filth. I never pity my wife more than when we're traveling in a country that has those toilets which are level with the floor -- the old Squat 'n Go.

As for washing up, the United States is devolving into a land of vulgarity and stupidity (Idiotocracy), so it figures that our hygienic habits should go down the toilet along with everything else. Fine, let a thousand plagues bloom.

Fox has given us more T&A and gruesome violence than any other broadcast network, but perish the thought that the term "goddamn wars" should emanate from one of their shows.

Hypocrites and cowards: typical rightwingers.

Considering how many fingers touch ATM buttons, anyone who doesn't wash their hands once they get back home or to the office is playing with fire.

I'm not talking about our troops' attitude, I'm talking about the Bush Administration and their corporate war-profiteering friends like Blackwater and Halliburton. To them, individual Iraqis don't count at all. We don't even bother to keep track of how many of them die. This is a war for oil and the American way of life -- suburban sprawl, SUV roadtrips, plastic water bottles filling the trash bins -- with a little geopolitical chessplay as well (see Liberman, Joe and his party, the Likud).

I doubt anyone from Blackwater will be prosecuted for murder, since it's not murder if you kill an Iraqi. Maybe we'll go after them for breach of contract -- after all, they screwed up and harmed the U.S. mission -- but then, contract oversight is not one of the Bush Administrations strengths, or even concerns.

It could be worse, I suppose: the Administration and its war-profiteer friends might not give a damn whether individual U.S. troops live or die. Wait a second...

Garry:

How old was the demonstrator? Did he or she resist? I'm guessing he or she said something scary like, "Officer, what about the First Amendment," which was enough provocation to get the hell beaten out of them. Can't let the rabble speak up, you know.

Silenced:

Must you bring medical marijuana into every goddamn discussion, no matter the subject?

I don't want to see or smell your old piss, or 9 men's worth of piss, when I go to use the urinal.

I you don't like touching the flush handle, do what I do and use your elbow.

You are absolutely right that this important story of a key Bush ally from Texas, Hunt Oil, signing a deal with the Kurds has been woefully underreported. Unfortunately, I don't think what happens in the rest of Iraq matters much in Kurdistan. Even without mercanaries, they've got the Peshmurga. Between those guys, and their desire for independence and oil wealth, they'll do whatever they must to keep the oil flowing.

Still, they may lose to sabotage or the Shia or angry Turks, or who the hell knows what else in Bush's Grand Folly.

The kid was annoying, the cops had good cause to remove him, Kerry should have spoken up: all true.

However, it is outrageous that those cops used a taser on that guy. If cops cannot use tasers only when necessary, then either fire the cops and hire some with brains, or take away their tasers.

Damned things.

Jeebus, all you people defending the use of a taser on an obnoxious young man being held down by six cops. What is wrong with you? Tasers are meant as nonlethal alternatives to shooting violent people. That kid was being obnoxious, but violent? Give me a break? If you think he was violent, you'll be in for a shock if you ever meet a truly violent person.

Those cops were simply taser happy clods. Don't they teach joint locks to cops in Florida? Can't six cops restrain one college kid, turn him on his stomach, and put cuffs on him? If not, then those cops either slept through cop school and spend their gym time in the local donut shop, or else Florida doesn't know anything about how to train the police.

My cop friend in D.C. would have had that kid in cuffs in no time, without the use of tasers. But then, he's big and strong and actually knows how to physically restrain people, and he's moral enough to do it without electrocuting someone. I guess Florida cops are just losers.

Several thousand U.S. troops, and perhaps up to one million Iraqis, didn't survive Bush. Countless more may still be alive, but have had their lives destroyed. There is no getting a grip, there is no cheering up. The Bush years are a tragedy to be mourned and regretted and atoned for. We will move on, for we have no other choice, but we can never go back. We did not survive the Bush years; we will never be the same.