One of my favourite holidays is the Mexican La Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). It starts on what we old-school Catholics used to call All Souls Day. Behind the celebration is the concept that you can commune with the spirits of your dearly departed. This idea appeals to me. The holiday started before the Christian era, but was co-opted by the priests who came with along with the conquistadors. They even moved the date of the holiday from mid-summer to coincide with All Souls Days in an effort to mitigate its pagan roots.

This year, however, La Dias de los Muertos has another meaning for me. I came across this picture of el Presidente Americano made from photos of many of the soldiers who have died in his vainglorious war.

When we were marching against another war in a distant land; we were jeered by the not-so-silent majority. They accused us of not supporting our troops, when all we wanted were for those poor boys to be brought home. They accused us of not appreciating our country; when, at the same time, they were willing to abrogate our rights to express our views. They sported bumper stickers that said “Our country, love it or leave it;” when we loved the country so much that we were willing to put ourselves in physical peril to defend the freedoms that were supposed to be guaranteed to us and to those who were being slaughtered in our names. Our phones were tapped, our mail was pilfered, our lives became the fodder of FBI files; and all of this because we dared to speak the truth to power.

At this point, we are seeing the end throes of our participation in the current conflict. Looking in my crystal ball here is what I see: After 7 November, we will see a gradual pullout of our troops. This is what the creation of James Baker’s panel is all about. Sen. John Warner (ol’ flannel mouth, himself) will say, “me too, me too.” The administration will leave the Iraqis to twist in the wind. The only thing that we can hope for is that when there is a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, Mr. Bush and co. will also be left to twist in the wind.

If only someone in the administration had read the writings of Gertrude Bell and/or T.E. Lawrence before starting this war of choice; all of this might have been avoided.

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.” – T.E. Lawrence

Beware of those who cannot perceive the difference between their dreams and reality.

Please give what you can to Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders).

And, of course

update: yes, my prediction for the World Series had the wrong team winning; but I did get the number of games right. That should count for something, right?