IRAQ

Ok.. Let's talk about this Iraq thing for just a second. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to get mad about the conversation in one direction or the other, but I'll just deal with that.

Let's set aside the question of whether we should have started this whole thing or not, and talk about: Is it possible that this thing can end well? I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around a way to "win" this thing. Win here meaning that everybody stops killing one another and moves on to living as, at least, psuedo-reasonable people. Again I don't want to here about why we shouldn't have started this... But I do want to hear your thoughts on how to end it.

Some options I think of: (not that any of them are possible or would work)
1. Everybody that's not supposed to be there just leave.
2. Everybody in the free/psuedo-reasonable world sends 100,000 troops in and the craziest marshall law since the Roman world is commenced.
3. Mind controling drugs in the water...
4. Other...

Grace

One the of the great things about getting married is... that if you
are really lucky you, get to marry into a grandma or 2 that you didn't
have before you said I do.

One of the great things about the grandma that I married into, is that
she loves to get her family together. Even though we don't all live
close together, in fact, she lives on the the other side of the
country, there's one thing you can be sure of... When grandma is in
town everyone is going to get together, at least once. And at least
once we're all going to share a meal together. Probably at one of
those big ole' all you can eat buffet houses.

And when you get there it doesn't matter if they take checks or
plastic, or if you've got any cash on you. The only thing that
matters is that you belong to grandma. Because if you do, you're in,
and all the graces of that house food are yours. But the best part is not the
meal its the time, what it means, and the way it meshes us together as
family, even if your just married in..