  Quality time in the house today. From the thorough cleaning of little nooks of the house to the over 30-minute conversation to catch up with my lovely Jennifer, I feel properly entitled to a nice big dinner.
Invented a marinade with the West Indies hot sauce Amy brought to me as a gift (wow! thats hot), balsamic, chopped garlic, sugar, garlic salt, and olive oil. Its fabulous, and I cant wait to taste the chicken bathing in the mix in the fridge. Now to find someone to eat with me. Fresh asparagus, skewers of mushrooms and onions, and a loaf of bread from scratch. Its far too much for me to devour.
But it feels good to fain functionality. Ok, an amendment to a past posting. I dont condone the prison abuse. Far from it. And truthfully, I didnt hear about the actual extent of it. I just thought they were making the guys strip in front of each other, pose them for photos to look like they were engaging in homosexual sodomy. Apologies for not being clear about this. Hearing what I heard today (I dont have TV; my information is limited), Im appalled.
And embarrassed for my comments before. The only pleasure I take is grounded in the treatment of women and queers in that country by hetero men. It seemed like just desserts for their oppressive behaviour. So I, along with most of you, am shocked by the revelations brought by the photos. Yet, its war. Whos to say that murder is ok and sexual assault is not? Not a direct question, but I have a hard time when the news that X amount of Iraqis died today is brushed aside as compulsory and all this attention is placed on this, another crime of equal evil. You have to figure that this stuff happens in war. Were just not experienced as a nation with actually seeing the crimes that are routinely committed in such a situation.
The real issue is this: this war never should have happened. Because this is what a war entails. There is no clean and just war. There just isnt. 
