Everything that makes a society run is broken in Iraq. The only real structure is the people's own sense of themselves as Iraqis, which was very strong. They're a proud people, and they trace their historic roots way, way back.

Gotta kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight.

Going to places like Honduras, Nicaragua, and various African countries you get to see very clearly what the cause and effect is. We finance the obnoxious elites in those countries and they exploit their people so we don't have to say that we're doing the exploiting but nevertheless we are benefiting from it.

Resisting the powers that be, we are keeping things from getting worse than they otherwise might be. And that effort is very much worthwhile.

And I'm wondering where the lions are.

In between effect and cause and just beyond the range of normal sight, this glittering joker was dancing in the dragon's jaws.

All these years of thinking, ending up like this: In front of all this beauty, understanding nothing.