As those who know me are aware, I have something of the activist in me. I enjoy debating nuances of policy that effect the human condition, and I like to think that I at least try to help things get better.

However, since I wrote my Senators and Representative last week (see disclaimer at bottom), I find I'm exhausted by discussions about the impending war on Iraq and the way that our current Administration is systematically dismantling every treaty and gesture of good faith that have been put in place over -- oh, the last half-century.

I feel ill. And it's not just me. Here's the resignation letter of John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat who has served in US embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca to Yerevan. (It's an NYT clip, which requires free registration.)

I'm getting flashbacks to when Netanyahu took over after Rabin was assassinated, destroying the burgeoning peace with as much ease as a bully stomping on a sand castle. Why is it so much easier to destroy than create?

Speaking of Israel, Ha'aretz published an essay by Umberto Eco that brings some hope that we haven't yet completely alienated every last non-American on earth -- but we really do need to grow up and start acting as responsible, respectful adults.


"What I do know is that safety does not arise from the use of weapons, that fear cannot be slain by force of arms, and that peace is not accomplished by acts of subjugation." -- Graydon Saunders

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Disclaimer: my arguments were, to a good extent, compiled from discussions on Patrick and Teresa's weblogs. In fact, the letter to my Heil W Representative is lifted almost directly from one of the above-quoted Graydon posts.