Paul Floyd Shot in Iraq

My dear friend, Paul Floyd, was shot yesterday during a raid in Iraq. He was fortunate to have been hit in his right index finger. As my spiritual advisor, Beaman Floyd put it, "He may have to find a new finger to pick his nose with," none the less, we are pleased that he is otherwise safe and sound. His finger was apparently still clinging by a "thread" of skin, and has been sew back on. Hopefully it will return to being a full member of his body. We wish him a speedy recovery.

With luck, Paul Floyd's index finger will have been shot off for a good cause - victory in Iraq. I am still not sure what victory in Iraq might look like. Images of Italians waving American flags as American soldiers march into their cities come to mind, but that opportunity came and went a few years ago. Now we are stuck. We are not literally stuck. The soldiers could leave at any moment. But we are politically stuck because our president has insisted that to leave without victory would be to accept defeat. Well, no American can accept defeat; it isn't in our nature (at least not yet). But not sure what a victory in Iraq might look like, how can we know victory when we see it? Here are a few suggestions for a new vision of victory in Iraq.

1. No Americans shot or killed for 24 hours. "We win, let's go home."
2. Electric power in Bagdad for 12 straight hours. "Now all y'all need is Fox News and this place will be just like America. Mission accomplished, we're going home."
3. Halliburton posts record quarterly earnings. "Mission accomplished, let's go home."
4. We fly a squadron of F-18's over Bagdad while the Navy band plays "God Bless America" in the street. Nobody is killed in the effort. "The streets of Bagdad are safe. Let's go home."
5. Fewer than 10 American's are killed in a month. "The streets of Bagdad are as safe as the streets of Savannah (where Paul is stationed when not in Iraq). Mission accomplished."

Solution in Iraq

The surge is working, if by working we mean that people are still fighting and getting killed. Everyone is sick of the American involvement in Iraq, not the least of which are the Iraqis. So at some point, the troops must go home. But when? After victory? Nobody knows what victory would look like anymore. The opportunity to march into Bagdad with flags waving and folks singing God Bless America came and went in the first month of the war. So at some point, the president must simply declare victory. See my earlier post.

The solution lies in the hands of the Congress. Rather than declaring that the war is lost, Democrats need to congradulate Bush and a great military strategy, declare victory themselves, since the dolt in the White House refuses to, and stop funding the war on the grounds that it is over and won.

Disaster at Virginia Tech

I am pleased to hear that all of my friends at Virginia Tech are OK. I am sorry for those killed and injured. Best wishes to my friends and comrades in Blacksburg.

Duke

It just keeps going. Now that charges against the Duke Lacrosse players have been dropped, there are speculations that they might sue the DA, the woman who charged them, and even Duke University.

Let the suing begin.

Suing their accuser is probably pointless, since their high dollar lawyers would charge more than they could get out of her. Perhaps they could get enough in a settlement to force her to work for them for the rest of her life.

Suing the DA shows promise, but again, even he isn’t worth as much as their lawyers. Rumor has it that the players’ law bills have already crossed the 3 million mark, and that for a case that never went to trail. The DA’s financial statements indicate that he is probably worth less than half a million total. Still, a big enough settlement and perhaps they could make the DA their slave for life too.

Suing Duke University shows real promise. Duke is loaded. Of course, the question is, what did Duke University do that is wrong? I can't imagine what Duke could have done differently. Perhaps they might not have canceled the lacrosse season, but can you really sue a university for canceling its sports games? Duke will settle if they are sued, which will create an interesting precident. While the NFL attempts to crack down on bad behavior, universities will be under legal pressure to take an anything goes approach.

Rape in Durham

The decision to drop charges against the Duke Lacrosse players comes as a surprise to no one. The case against them was tough. Like almost all rape cases, you have nothing to go on but the testimony of the woman. In most cases society is keen to believe the man. So society immediately attacks the woman's credibility. And once she is found incredible, the case against the man collapses.

Still, studies show that 1 in 4 or even 1 in 3 women are raped in their lifetimes. That's a lot of rape. So you would think that society would have an interest in trying to protect women from all this rape.

Instead, the Duke case has radio and TV personalities wondering why the woman isn't being prosecuted. That's rich. Given that charges brought against men rarely stick, and that we may start prosecuting woman who bring charges against men that don't stick, we should ask, would any woman ever bring charges against any man again.

The result would be to make rape virtually legal.

I don't know what happened that night in Durham. It does not bother me that the Duke Lacrosse team lost its season. It does bother me that our society is so worried about lacrosse players playing lacrosse that there is public outcry to start prosecuting women who accuse men of rape.