by Zach Bigalke

Created on: January 04, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

So now we are confronted with the realities that have been blinded by the smoke and the mirrors of a national election. With the Democrats overtaking both houses of Congress, there was enough of a tumult and a roar to stir the hearts of the populace into fervent observation and pondering. But now the truth begins to sink in, like a slow-acting nerve-numbing drug shot cleanly into the back of the neck via needle-point dart through a blowgun...except instead of falling into a drowsy stupor, we are instead reawakening to the harsh domestic and international landscape splayed smugly before our eyes. Politics hasn't really changed, nor has the need for a change in the structure to affect change in the streets and ultimately lead for positive change in everyone's lives. Conversely, the old hands still have their hands in the cookie jar of our federal government, and power will never change hands as long as it rests with these cunning bastards...

Everyone's stance is quickly fading toward one of a need for withdrawal of forces from Iraq...but no one has a substantial or even workable solution to that quagmire. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are eagerly awaiting the findings of the Baker Commission, as though there will be some eleventh-hour, Immaculate-Reception-sized solution that will fall into the government's lap and allow everyone involved to save face. But the real problem is that there is no real solution or timetable by which to work off of, and James Baker and company sure as hell won't have the answers. Baker - as Secretary of State under Bush the elder - played quite a role in the first Iraqi conflict, remember...and their precise reasoning for not entering Baghdad was a fear of the strains it would exert on the military. Vice-president Dick Cheney, speaking in 1991 as Secretary of Defense in that administration, eerily predicted what would ultimately happen while he served for his second Bush:

"Once you get to Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime, a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that going to have if it's set up by the American military there? How long does the United States military have to stay there to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens once we leave?"

This was the

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