I just got home from watching Michael Moore's "Sicko" documentary. Michael Moore, as a character in his own movies, isn't my favorite character. His brand of sarcasm and his physical appearance doesn't jive that well with what really gets me going. Nevertheless, he usually hits the nail on the head with the content of his documentaries, and this one is no exception.

While the media has focused on the fact that the film is mostly about the health industry, which, I agree with him is a national disgrace, the film is about much more than that. It is about how this country has become one where big corporations' profits come first and not the welfare of the individual.

As the film points out, that is not the overall attitude of many other countries, including countries that are our strong allies, like Canada, England, and France. It's embarassing to see how poorly we as a nation care for our own, even one's that have served the national interest heroically. But, it isn't a surprise to me. The corporations have had this country by the scruff of the neck for a long time.
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The news talking head shows today were talking a lot about Iraq. There is a huge push by the corporate establishment to whip up support for the war in Iraq. I hope the American people aren't dumb enough not to see this for what it is - an overall corporate push to keep the gravy train going in Iraq. Again, it's a perfect example of what Mr. Moore was pointing out - that as long as the corporations can keep the money flowing in, there is little concern for specific individual's welfare.

If you read a lot of stories about what is going on in Iraq like I do, it seems like what is going on is that we have a very heavy handed military crackdown going on in and around certain areas of Iraq. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been rounded up and put into detention as a result of the surge, at least the accounts I have read and heard. Maybe there is "stability" for the moment in certain areas, but do we think that we can sustain that indefinitely? When you kill people, or detain them, you create ill-will, which will always come back to haunt you. I don't believe we can kill our way to peace. There has been strong pressure to end the war for several years now. Let's hope that the people don't submit to the corporate propoganda campaign and get soft on forcing an end to this stupid, unjustified, and expensive war.

But, for many months the military pundits in the media have been saying that when this next round of extended duty assignments is over, that the surge is over. This is going to happen over the next several months. Whether we want to admit it or not, this so-called "surge" is putting our legitimate national defense needs at risk, and real military people, even ones that are true blue and will follow faithfully the orders of the civilian leadership, won't let that condition go too far before they start objecting - not necessarily in the papers, but they will find ways. But, ending the surge and getting all the troops out of Iraq are two different things, and we need to keep pushing to get all the troops home. Some "reductions" and "redeployments" will not end the war and the killing. It will only change the way the war is fought.