This just in from the Complaint Department...

Since the HaloScan comments thingamabob cuts you off, and since I'm naturally longwinded, I thought I'd reply to something a new reader left on my Hey Utah, Are You Ready for Some Football? post. Not exactly sure why she chose that particular post mind you.

Norena took exception with my point of view, politically speaking. Certainly not a shocking development, but I felt I should reply out here where I've got elbow room.

I just read some of your blogs and my one problem with your political news is that you have decided to wrap yourself in what they are saying instead of what is happening.

Huh? I actually do both. Deal with what's said and deal with what's actually going on. I especially dig in when what's said and what is going on don't jive up.

There have been over 1000 USA men killed in Iraq.

Yes, many brave American men and women have fallen in the liberation of Iraq. But don't forget about the 66 Brits, the 13 Poles, the 11 Spaniards, the 19 Italians, the 8 Ukrainians, the 6 Bulgarians, the 3 Slovaks, the 2 Thais, the 2 Dutch, the 1 Estonian, the 1 Salvadoran, the 1 Latvian, and the 1 Hungarian that also died liberating Iraq. And those are just the soliders.

No one ever said this was going to be easy. No one ever said this was going to be bloodless. The reconstruction and conversion from a brutal dictatorship to a representative form of government takes time. In addition to that, what we hope for, a representative or democratic Iraq, is what worries the dictators that surround it. It threatens their dictatorial and/or theocratic power. The last thing they want to see, the last thing they want their people to see, is a free Iraq flourish.

Why do you think countries like the old Soviet Union and Cuba and North Korea keep such tight controls on what their people learn about the US? They know that if the people saw what we have, they'd rise up and overthrow those in power.

Since I am a woman, I abhor your attitude about freeing Iraq.

I'm sorry. Did I give you the impression that I was opposed to the freeing or Iraq? That I was opposed to ending a regime that had professional rapists on the government payrolls? That I was opposed to ending a regime that used rape as a means of torture and/or punishment? That I was opposed to ending a regime that had the pair of brutal thugish sons of the dictator who would routinely rape brides on their wedding day?

If I gave you the impression that I opposed the freeing or the Iraqi people, and by default, supported leaving in place a government that had institutional, systematic rape I sincerely apologize.

To clear things up, I supported the freeing of the Iraqi people. I supported the ending of a regime that had professional rapists, that used rape as a means or torture and/or punishment, and I even did a little happy-dance when I learned that Odai and Qusai had reached room temperature.

There ara supposedly 19,000 troops of USA men in Afganistan.

One of the main problems, policy mistakes if you will, was pulling out of Afghanistan out after we helped the Afghan people drive out the invading Soviets. Now that we've driven out the Taliban, surely you don't suggest we repeat the mistake? It was that mistake that made it possible for the rise of the Taliban (by the way, as a woman I'm sure you are aware of how well the Taliban treated women) and their giving aid, shelter and support to Al-Qaeda as they plotted and carried out attack after attack on the people of the US. Many of whom Al-Qaeda killed during these attacks were innocent civilians. Men, women and children.

Maybe you should stop showing your white streak that is down your back and ask for the USA to send their men back home to their women.

First off, what "white streak"? Do you mean yellow streak? Are you implying that I'm a coward, willing to send folks off to do something I wasn't willing to do myself?

Norena, you don't know me, so I'll let you in on a little secret. I've already "been there, done that". I was fortunate in that the war I signed up to fight remained, for the most part, "cold". I'm too old to reenlist now. And with my job being what it is, I'd actually being doing less to help out if I reenlisted.

If you mean that I'm a coward for not standing up and demanding the troops come home, that is because I understand that they can't come home just yet. (See above for an explanation of why we cannot pull the troops out of Afghanistan just yet.) I mean, short of nuking every living thing off the face of the Middle East, we can't exactly just pull the troops out.

There are thousands of Americans dying in the USA for no food.

Don't believe the hype Norena. Do you know what the leading health problem is for the poor in America?

Obesity.

Maybe you should do something about that!

We ("you" collectively) are doing something about helping feed the hungry... the world over. Everywhere in the world where people are in trouble the odds are very good that you'll find an American organization there trying to help. Maybe the rest of the world should get off its collective butt and do something similar. If we have as many people starving to death in the US as you believe, why aren't there EU or UN relief organizations feeding them? Heck, I'd like to see some EU or UN outfit trying to help with the Floridians that have just been hit with their fourth hurricane in a row. As for myself ("you" individually) I contribute regularly to the local foodbank.

By the way Im responding to your blog because you didnt have any comments today. I have a blog also. Look me up.

Ah, I was wondering why you chose a posting about the AFL to say what you said. I mean, sure, if you were some NFL purist ripping me about liking arena football instead of "real" football (BTW, the Cards are 0-3... ugh), that I could understand.

Thanks for stopping by. This was my first fisking as a blogger. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.