The War in the Middle East

There has been a lot in the news about how we should withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan...or not pull out because there would be chaos. Anna Quindlen from Newsweek wrote,

"Now the party line is that American forces will get out, but they cannot get out now. They cannot get out now because Iraq would become a place of civil war, of untrammeled violence, of complete chaos. Iraq has been a place of civil war, untrammeled violence, complete chaos for a long time now. American intervention has not made that better. It has made it worse." [Click here for her full article.]

She also basically says that other people who say it will become chaotic over there if we pull out our troops now are inferring that it is currently NOT chaotic and violent because we are there. With all the headlines of deaths and suicide bombs, it is certainly not calm now.

My theory is this: It will never be peaceful over there because the people of the country don't want it to be. A system of authority can only work if the masses believe in that authoritative system. If not enough people believe in the authority, it will never work. In Iraq, it is more important to citizens to have only their particular party in charge than it is to have peace in the country. As an example, imagine if the Republicans took to the streets and did massive suicide bombs because the Democrats took over Congress in November 2006. Or the Democrats created massive upheaval because Bush was re-elected president. But we don't do that in the US. Sure, there are a few crazies that always want to try and kill whatever president is in power, but we don't have severe and massive uprisings where Democrats take to the streets and shoot all the Republicans they can find. We all still generally believe in the system our ancestors created, and we all still basically want peace. The Iraqi people don't seem to want peace. That's why I think no matter what we do - pull out now, pull out later, or pull out slowly -it won't make a difference to the country. So I think we might as well cut our losses (of lives and money) and get out now while we still have some soldiers still alive.

Sports Doping Scandals

The Tour de France and Barry Bonds (again) have been in the news a lot lately, in regards to using steroids to enhance performance. Here's my cynical take on it...

Since it seems to be so hard to detect the stuff, and people seem to use it whether or not it is illegal (and deny deny deny), I have a revolutionary idea. First, we will start a new set of sports records books. Then we change the rules so it is no longer against the rules to use drugs or steroids or any type of performance enhancing stuff for sports. Then it puts everyone on the same playing field again (well, on the new set of record books), and they can continue to compete. Then we level the playing field again, and it will come down to whoever is the best athlete at the end of the day. And if someone takes it too far and takes too many drugs - the consequence is clear....death. They will just end up killing themselves from drug overdoses, and that's the catch.

My revolutionary method has fixed the problem, and no one needs to be tested or watched for drug use. It will be clear that everyone is using them, and the dead ones used too much. Problem solved!