I've been in The Great Outdoors since Sunday, away from all things that beep, honk, or report news.

My first glimmer of news came a few hours ago while visiting a relative in a hospital on the way home from the trip. There was a newspaper under her bed. While she slept, I perused the first section of the Contra Costa Times, and read a bit more once I came home this evening. The main story was about the worsening situation in Iraq (entitled "Baghdad and Parts of Central Iraq Chaotic"), including reports of 45 US soldiers' deaths this week alone; the US Marines defensive statements after bombing a mosque complex in Fallujah; word that three Japanese aid workers are being held hostage, and separate violent resistence efforts by both Sunni- and Shiite-backed factions who, despite their differences, all loathe the American occupation. (all links to contracostatimes.com).

It's very sad that things have gotten even worse since I last had access to news.

While there is something of a party line criticism accepting Bush's revised premises for war, yet pointing out the failures even in that context (same), I notice that the peace movement's premise that war and bombings couldn't bring peace and stability to a country are still not part of the discussion.

That's also sad.

The only options of permissable discourse from this limited sample of mainstream press material appear to be a) whether or not to bomb & occupy more (even though bombing and US occupation have not achieved previous stated goals) or b) whether to end the occupation but allow Iraq to descend into violence and chaos in the immediate future (even though violence and chaos are currently extant and appear to be increasing).

Continuing to make the same choices again and again while expecting different results are proverbial dictionary definitions of insanity. It is sad to learn that no wisdom has been gained during recent days (weeks, months, years...).