I don't want to get into a debate about whether this Iraq war is justified. I think not, but I'm often wrong. What infuriates me is that we at home are being patted on the head and told the most patriotic thing we can do is ignore it and go about our business. ("Take back our lives or the terrorists win.") Why aren't schoolchildren sending pennies to the families of National Guardsmen whose livelihoods are going down the tubes after a year-long mobilization? Why aren't small towns holding bake sales to support underfunded rehab hospitals serving war amputees? Instead we're being told to drive Hummers and obsess over who'll be fired next on "The Apprentice." We're being told -- as when we filthy the air and water and are shocked when you can't swim at the beach; when we demand ever-cheaper goods and are appalled at sweatshop conditions in the third world; when we lionize our firefighter heroes and are amazed when they leave the job because they can't get raises because we want our taxes cut -- that you can have it all without consequences. People are being crippled and killed, ostensibly in the defense of our freedom, and we're not free to see photos of their coffins. I guess because we might realize then that everything costs something. And then we might start thinking about what we're paying, and what we're getting for the price.