Rush Limbaugh has announced that he is quickly loosing his hearing and may likely be completely deaf in a matter of months. I feel for the man, but I couldn’t help but wish he was loosing his ability to speak instead. At least he made the announcement with some humility and not with a pompus spout like most of his rants. Leave the pompus spouts to us Llamas. It’s the only thing I’m good at, as my boss often points out.

I won’t rant, but instead I will implore for feedback. Do we need this to be another “TV War” like we had in Desert Storm? Does the American public really need to know the exact number of missiles fired and planes involved? Do we really need to know every single target and it’s success rate? Is it smart to actually give this information out? Is it smart, when battling terrorists, to let them know that Reserve Troops are gathering in Paducah, KY to be deployed? This is a new and different war.

Perhaps, we need to return to the press blackouts that we saw in WWII. Maybe we should all think less about our supposed “need to know” and think a little more about how our watercooler chit-chat might not be hindered be a little less specific information, and that that discretion might actually save a life somewhere. This is not a far off war happening to “other people” as Cosbysweater put it. It is here in our backyards.

I don’t mean to draw lines between Americans, but I can imagine that anyone who has studied some Civil War history might understand a little better the intense destruction and disruption that fighting in the backyards and the houses causes. This is much different than the missile cams and nightvision camera shots we got in Desert Storm. You won’t need any fancy equipment to this war because in all reality it is being fought as much in our hearts and minds as on any battlefield. I have noticed that a lot of the post on our site recently have been filled with rhetorical questions. That can sometimes be the sign of bad writing or poor journalism. I would like to offer a reason for this recent spate of rhetoric. I think that we as very opinionated writers have become bewildered like I think many of our readers are. We don’t know what to expect will happen in the next few days or months or years. For many of us to young to experience firsthand the horror that was Vietnam (the official peace treaty was signed on my birthday), we can only guess at the ways our lives will change. I take this opportunity to implore any of you who read this site to become more active and voice your opinions by commenting on the posts or posting on the forums. We are often cynical and sarcastic and perhaps even blasphemous but only through discourse can we find our path. Won’t you join us?

“This is no ordinary time, but we must get back to normal,” advised the newscaster (or actor, or political figure). But what is normal? Is it when life doesn’t deviate from the regular, everyday, utopian pattern? Is it when people grow sick, die, and become victims of unimaginable savagery? Is it when children go hungry because their homeless parents can’t afford to feed them? Is it when families don’t feel safe because the local pizza joint could explode at any moment? Or is “normal” when those things happen only to other people? On the other side of town. Out west. Across the ocean. Is that . . . normal?

As I’m sure you all know by now, yesterday the United States began it’s response with an attack on Afghanistan.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the attacks “were carried out without regard to world public opinion and particularly the Islamic countries. These attacks will result in loss of life among civilians, and, therefore, they are not acceptable.”

I wonder, did Osama Bin Dover ask about world opinon before he attacked the US? Does our civilian lose of life not matter? Isn’t Hillary looking more and more like Ellen everyday? For the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman to be correct, the Islamic nations would have had to answer yes to all three question. Yes, even the Ellen question.

Oh well, at least we didn’t have to watch the Emmy’s.