Yah, so what's the biggest debate that's raging right now in the Congress? How to stand up to Commander Bunnypants? Nah... it's how to not let the republican smear machine paint the Democrats as wusses and hang the "loss" of the Iraq War on them.

We all know that they will distort the truth no matter what we do to suit their own ends. So here's my suggestion, as someone who served first under Jimmy Carter and finally under Bill Clinton: Don't let 'em.

Simplistic. Why yes, Gladys it is. Glad you pointed that out. But here's how, and Russ Feingold said tonight on Countdown what I have been thinking for a long time.

Point out that troops at home will not be getting blown up by Iraqi's of every creed who hate them. Keep pointing that out. It's no longer a matter of "winning" that misbegotten adventure. After all, how many Bush children are serving in The Noble Cause. Exactly. None.

So to show that we support our troops and not the bat-shit crazy insane assholes (and Joe Lieberman) who want to keep sending young men and women on patrols in a useless effort to prop up the vanity of Preznit Caligula Nero Bushus here's my humble proposal.

(1) No RIF. Bring the troops home, and put them to work retraining, rearming and rebuilding the Armed Forces. Some attrition will happen, but recruiting and planning can take care of that. RIFFING is bad for morale, and right now bad morale will be blamed on the Democrats. This is not a republican "business-model HR/Management excercise", but the lives of our soldiers willing to lay it all down for us.

(2) Guaranteed Improved GI Bill. Toss that Montgomery GI Bill into the shitter; come up with a plan like what was available after WWII, keep any parts of the current system that are popular, but get rid of the rest and make the bills benefits available for life to honorably discharged Iraq and Afghan vets, retroactive to 9/12/01.

(3) Legislate parity between Guard/Reserve and Active duty units that have served in the Gulf. The guard and reserves have played a vital role in these missions; and they are second class citizens in many ways in terms of benefits and retirement. That ought to change. Now.

(4) Improved VA health care for vets; the VA system has been systematically raped by the republicans for years. It's time to upgrade it, and to build it into a first-class medical care system for all vets.

You know, all this costs money. But so does keeping folks not named Bush on the ground in Iraq. It seems that money spent on keeping our soldiers at home, and doing all the things I mentioned will be dollars well spent as opposed to pissed away on George and Dick's favorite contractors du jour and al-Maliki's Swiss bank account. Oh, and arming Sadr so he can kill more American men and women.

Note: updated this morning to add some additional points.