[BREAK] The new Amerika! Where enabling illegal and unjustified war is a "good thing" and propagating peace is virulently controversial? Well, based on this month's election, we may be leaving that disgusting time behind . . . maybe! (Of course, having top administration officials still pushing for a stay the course strategy makes on a wee bit skeptical that the bozos running this country even heard of the election results?) Adding more to the worry about our leaders' sanity, we are now in a phase where blaming the Iraqi victims for being angry at our ruin of their country is becoming an acceptable political tactic, and belittling the power and competence of our most recent of the parade of puppets we've made ruler of the mess we've made of Iraq is somehow seen as a move toward aiding him in his tough task of binding together tribes whose hatred of each other predates much of Western civilization. Even if we somehow find ourselves on a path that leads to less than decades of religious war blanketing the planet, we face the internecine battles that are gnawing away at societies from the middle east through eastern Asia and down to Africa. Coming soon to a block near you: The neighbor vs neighbor cage matches in new Amerika! Our idiocy knows no bounds. In a place where consideration of the banning of Muslim religious gear [veil, burka], can be conducted by officials wearing yarmulkes or crucifixes, while civil servants and prisoners can sue if they are denied a religious menu in prison or their "right" to long facial hair [Hasid beards] that makes [fire dept., police dept., EMT, etc.] breathing gear ineffective. Showing our total disregard for being pounded about the head and shoulders by the God of irony, we get our panties in a wad over somebody daring to equate peace with the birth of its "Prince" and "fine" those who would attempt to do so. What fools these mortals be! Update: The Board rescinds order to remove wreath, resigns, sends apology to the couple who had the audacity to visibly wish for peace on Earth.. War in Iraq gets worse, as Muqtada al-Sadr has his followers leave the coalition government and the US mulls retreating from "dangerous Sunni-dominated al-Anbar province" and concentrating on trying to keep Baghdad proper secure. (Bush's need to meet with Iraq's Prime Minister in Jordan, and not in Baghdad, certainly shows that security, even in the much vaunted "Green Zone", is not able to satisfy Bush or the Secret Service. Score: Peace 1 War 1 The tie is a loss, to our troops! [/BREAK]

USATODAY.com - On Deadline | Archives | Local look: Neighborhood fights over peace wreath Local look: Neighborhood fights over peace wreath From the Colorado brief in today's "Across the USA" roundup: "Pagosa Springs -- A homeowners group says it will fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that has offended some other residents as an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. Lisa Jensen said she's not taking it down until after Christmas." More on this story here!