Hey Garry, a bunch of mediocre stand-up comics called. They want their "somebody just called" routine back, or at least a little credit.

I thought this comic strip did a remarkable job of lampooning the entire sham that is about to be played out once again. It will play out exactly as written last December when Bush decided to tell the Iraq Study Group to go fuck themselves because he was going to have another go at pretending he wasn't a total moron: "See, here's the plan. Everyone wants me to get OUT of Iraq, so I'm going to send MORE troops just to let everyone know that I've got the only say in the country that matters. Now, General Petraeus, that's where you come in. In September, see, you'll just say my plan is working -- even if it's not, all you have to do is SAY IT -- and then we'll get to stay even longer. Because I'm the decider. That means I'm a person who decides things. I'm a deciding maker."

To me, the horror of the whole situation is summed up in the Gene Kelly lamppost homage: "Petraeus! Say it loud and the troops are staying!"

The relentless propaganda campaign is about to pay off. Bush will have his way, yet again. No one will oppose him. As millions of homeowners in America face losing their homes, we will give Bush another bazillion pounds of dollars to play with, and the troops WILL be staying; more troops condemned to death to support Bush's lie, more troops to be maimed and returned to an overburdened healthcare system, more soldiers like Jamie Dean to be marginalized and forgotten until they have their final tragic meltdown.

You did so well in your letters regarding the Jamie Dean story. If you weren't so obsessed with your weekly mocking of "Opus," I think you'd see, in this strip, a better outlet for your anger.

Cheers! Maybe Sparky will be making another guest appearance in this evening's Tom Tomorrow!

People do need a place to live, but I'm with you. So long as they have a sheet of corrugated tin over their head, and plywood walls, and an open sewer running outside and semi-potable water somewhere within walking distance, and maybe a space heater for the winter, then I don't think society owes them any better than that and they are pigs for expecting it, pigs at the trough trying to steal all your hard-earned money, which you earned all on your own, with no help at all, not even a penny's worth, from societal agreements that there should be some sort of infrastructure in place to cover basic needs. You never went to a public school, never drove on public roads, never drank a cup of water that wasn't from a well you dug with your own two hands. You are alive today solely by your prodigious strength of arms, and not because society protected you with a police force or fire department or public health standards that kept you from dying of cholera. You seem truly determined not to get the point here, so fuck you very much. Your point makes no sense; it never will.

You're one of those hardcore Libertarian assholes, aren't you? Please put that on a T-shirt or something so everyone can know. If you are ever in trouble, and I'm on the scene, I relish the idea of doing absolutely nothing about it.

I see you still got nothing. Very disappointing. Garry was right. Get that T-shirt.

Britney at 25, in face and figure, looks very much like my ex-wife did when I met her, also at 25. Mock Britney if you want, but I'll tell you that all my male friends were sure that I'd hit the jackpot with my ex, and I thought so too. Britney looks just fine. She looks great.

But her lifeless performance, those joyless eyes, made me very sad; I feel nothing but compassion for her. I don't understand the many people in these letters who have performed hateful little victory dances, almost gleeful, at Britney's condition. "At last, my lack of fame and wealth is somehow mitigated by seeing her fall!"

I feel compassion for the haters, too, but not as much. Britney's wild ride on the teen fame express did not prevent any of you from setting and achieving your own goals. Why the bitter resentment? What did she do that was so wrong? Maybe she made herself available, body and soul, for career exploitation, but she lived a life that millions of teens imagine to be ideal.

They imagine this because they are teenagers.

I'm sure all the haters, being smug and superior to normal teenage stuff, would have flat-out rejected an exciting career full of wealth and excitement and travel and attention, seeing it also as a potential trap. Such exceptional, wise, and profound young teens you all were! Congratulations! But really, now, you act as if Britney had personally harmed you. How? Knowing what you know now, do you really think she's had a better life than you?

I don't often read the Broadsheet posts, but I'm also amazed that some of the most scornful letters have come from some of the feminists. I think it may be time to do away with feminism and replace it with a focus on humanism. Compassion, caring, and kindness for all, except for those who have led us into war and caused actual harm and suffering.