Yes, the Orwellization continues. Four Years ago today Preznit Tortillas K. Bueno! invited himself into our homes to declare with his customary smirk that he had ordered the invasion of Iraq to begin.

As we swam in a sea of yellow magnetic ribbons, had discourse stifled and were outright lied to by the institutions of government and the fourth estate we expected at least an ounce of honesty from we did not know the terrible path that the half-assed incompetant bastards had set us on. Well, we sure never expected it to be as bad as it's gotten.

Interestingly, as I sat down to write this, I have tried to find quotes from some of the right-wing war-floggers, like the infamous Rich Lowry "We're Winning!" cover on the National Review. One of the biggest loudest low-lifes on the intertubes, Andrew Sullivan no longer has any linkage to any of his work from 2003 that work. I'm sure he'll blame that on his move from being an independant, August-off blogger to his associations with Time and now the Atlantic. I wanted to find a couple of his better quotes ascribing the caution and the diplomacy preferred by most of the sane progressive bloggers to treasonous and seditious behavior, because back then The Duchess of Dupont was real big on that kind of rhetoric.

If I knew how to make my blog pages be white-on-black for the day, I'd do it in honor of the fallen, and the men and women who have given everything only to return to places like Walter Reed and be used for photo-ops by Chickenhawk politicians who passed through and then left them to their moldy, rat-infested rooms.

The republicans, so fast to claim the mantra of the party of "National Security" claim it because they are willing to give big bucks to defense contractors for "outsourcing" and all kinds of whiz-bango hi-tech battlefield crap that never comes in at the prices bid. They are not the party of supporting the VA or the families of enlisted men and women who are left to work other jobs while stateside to support their families or perhaps get food-stamps or other public assistance to make ends meet.

During the early days of the war, while the 1600 Crew was telling us all how evil Saddam was, and that we had 'fight them over there ..blah blah blah" they were taking money away from the VA to pay their rich benefactors off in tax cuts. Now that butchers bill is coming due, and we have senior Pentagon officials telling us that paying for VA care "takes money away from National Defense". Are we getting the picture now, four years later? In what way do republicans give a shit about troops?

The "surge" is not going to end at whatever mythical number Preznit Drunk on Duty lied about a few months ago... his vague number then included no support troops; and I suspect that both escalation in numbers and deaths will continue to occur until he's removed from office via either impeachment (not likely) or the next election.

Today is really a day to remember the men and women whose lives ended for the lies of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their NeoCon cabal. This is also the day to remember the families of those men and women and the men and women who have come back and need our help as a nation to become whole again after their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They gave us their all, and now we as a country owe them the same, no excuses. If we can afford one of Beloved Leaders mythical tax cuts, we can afford the all too real cost of giving them the care they don't just need, but deserve.

And oh, by the way ... is it just me or do I see far, far fewer of those magnetic yellow ribbons these days?