71. Six Hundred Sixty Eight Days is too long to wait.

"When you reach a fork in the road, take it." That was Yogi Berra's line, used by Congressman Rahm Emanuel, to describe where the congress was with regard to the funding v. pullout bill before the House. It seems we are at such a fork, and it is better to get half a loaf than nothing at all. Government by cliche. The bill has some real deadlines in it, one as soon as this summer. The big ones come next year, in March just after all the big primaries, and August just in time for the political parties' conventions.

Meanwhile, the administration has Secretary Gates and Spokesperson Snow warning of the troops running out of money while the congress is on vacation and being left stranded. Everyone knows that isn't going to happen, but it pulls at the heartstrings of lots of folks. More hype, no substance. The president and his flock of war-criminals know the Pentagon is in desperate need of about $100,000,000.00 right now, if they are to keep the war afoot. They must, therefore, give in to the liberals in the congress who are pleading the case of most Americans, who are saying it is time for the war to end.

The bill calls for a $124,000,000.00 appropriation. The add-ons made a date-certain for withdrawal something more than just wishful thinking. It is also not just a suggestion. Over in the Senate, where the bill calls for $2,000,000.00 less in spending, the plan moves the date for pullout up to March, but it isn't a requirement, just a goal. Their bill faces a more difficult path to passage as a handful of recalcitrant Democrats hold the fate of the war in their votes.

Of course, it is all for naught. President Bush has said he will veto any of these bills that make it to his desk. His plan is to ignore the votes of the people from November, 2006. Unlike the Lord, who in Exodus 3:7 recognized the cries of the people, saying to Moses from the Burning Bush, " . . . I have surely seen the affliction of my people, . . . . . and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows." The president isn't willing to accept the true sorrow many Americans feel for our military forces. The president isn't willing to say or do anything any differently than his own original plan, which he apparently believes is inerrant. It isn't and neither is he.

In the last few days, I've emailed my congressman's office over these matters. I've made it clear the frustration felt by me and many others. Everyday brings a new matter of concern. This administration has run roughshod over the laws, the Constitution, and the will of the American people. While it is favorbale that our government operate as seamlessly as possible, there comes a time when one side must out the other for their lack of honesty, lack of sincerity, and lack of humility. Every day we move closer to such a day in the Bush administration. A lot of people are willing to wait another 668 days, until that cold day in January, 2009, when a new president is inaugurated. On some matters, I am too. But on matters of the squandering of the lives and resources of Americans in a war with no end in sight, and one in which America stands to gain very little, a wait of 668 days is out of the question.

I am hopeful that Congressman Yarmuth and others will continue to take the president to task. This will also mean continually forcing the Speaker and others within the leadership of our Party to stay the course in doing so, holding hearings, having press conferences, and proposing legislation aimed at rescuing America from the tyranny forced upon us by a 5 to 4 vote of the Supreme Court. Things must change.

Two readings come to mind. Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, and the speech by Mario Savio on Berkeley's campus in December, 1964.