Back to Parliament
Well here it is, the first full week after the Labor Day holiday, and everyone is returning from his or her summer vacation. School children everywhere dread this week, but it is an annual ritual that must be endured. Of course, this is also the week that many grown-ups return to the normal grind now that the summer season is ending.
The same is true for government workers. The American Congress returns to work from their August recess, an annual tradition which started when people realized how ungodly humid the weather is in Washington during this summer month. The Iraqi government has now adopted this tradition; members of the Iraqi Parliament are also coming back from their month long vacation.
At first it did not seem that the Parliament would get to leave Baghdad at all. Some criticized the move since our men and women were still fighting – and dying – in Iraq while the ruling class got to skip town. The Bush Administration originally stated that the Parliament would not have a vacation until they met the benchmarks America has demanded. Then the Administration back-pedaled giving the reason that the Iraqi summers are so gosh darn hot with temperatures averaging 110 degrees.
I think there was more to it than the weather. My own theory is that the Administration was blackmailed; perhaps someone in the Iraqi government found a discriminating photograph of Dick Cheney wearing a burqa. Or perhaps they had a photo of Cheney in hunting togs posing next to the carcass of a hapless paralegal. I don’t have proof of this, but it doesn’t matter. In the end the Iraqi Parliament left town for their month-long holiday.
I really don’t envy the Iraqi government taking a vacation. The choices of where to go and what to do are limited when you live in a war-torn country occupied by a bunch of people that you didn’t invite. Honestly, how do you get around the highways clogged with your fellow countrymen running for their lives to the border – any border! And we have the nerve to complain about the traffic backing up going to Wildwood!
Then there is the condition of the highways themselves. Are they even passable, given all the bombs set off by the Sunnis or the Shiites or whoever-else-is-pissed-off-at-us today? All in all it might have been safer for the Iraqi government if they had stayed put in Baghdad for the month.
Fortunately, everyone is back in their rightful place doing the work that they should be doing to make the world safer for everyone. By everyone I mean Christians, Jews, Muslims, gay Senators, not-at-all gay Senators, and even Dick Cheney. Poor guy doesn’t realize how fat he looks wearing that burqa. Welcome back everyone!
The same is true for government workers. The American Congress returns to work from their August recess, an annual tradition which started when people realized how ungodly humid the weather is in Washington during this summer month. The Iraqi government has now adopted this tradition; members of the Iraqi Parliament are also coming back from their month long vacation.
At first it did not seem that the Parliament would get to leave Baghdad at all. Some criticized the move since our men and women were still fighting – and dying – in Iraq while the ruling class got to skip town. The Bush Administration originally stated that the Parliament would not have a vacation until they met the benchmarks America has demanded. Then the Administration back-pedaled giving the reason that the Iraqi summers are so gosh darn hot with temperatures averaging 110 degrees.
I think there was more to it than the weather. My own theory is that the Administration was blackmailed; perhaps someone in the Iraqi government found a discriminating photograph of Dick Cheney wearing a burqa. Or perhaps they had a photo of Cheney in hunting togs posing next to the carcass of a hapless paralegal. I don’t have proof of this, but it doesn’t matter. In the end the Iraqi Parliament left town for their month-long holiday.
I really don’t envy the Iraqi government taking a vacation. The choices of where to go and what to do are limited when you live in a war-torn country occupied by a bunch of people that you didn’t invite. Honestly, how do you get around the highways clogged with your fellow countrymen running for their lives to the border – any border! And we have the nerve to complain about the traffic backing up going to Wildwood!
Then there is the condition of the highways themselves. Are they even passable, given all the bombs set off by the Sunnis or the Shiites or whoever-else-is-pissed-off-at-us today? All in all it might have been safer for the Iraqi government if they had stayed put in Baghdad for the month.
Fortunately, everyone is back in their rightful place doing the work that they should be doing to make the world safer for everyone. By everyone I mean Christians, Jews, Muslims, gay Senators, not-at-all gay Senators, and even Dick Cheney. Poor guy doesn’t realize how fat he looks wearing that burqa. Welcome back everyone!
posted by todd gunther | 6:02 AM
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