Because I’m something of a night person, and because my job forces me to get up much earlier than I would like, I tend to take a short nap (around a half hour) at some point after I come home. I’ve not yet figured out exactly how (I suspect there are hidden cameras in my bedroom), but normally, the instant I find a comfortable spot in bed to take my nap, the phone rings. Tonight was no exception.

I tell you that so that you’ll understand that I was already cranky before the caller on the other end of the line asked for Robin Sizemore. When I confirmed who I was, he immediately informed me that he was calling as a representative of the Democratic Party, and wanted to confirm that they could expect my vote for John Kerry tomorrow.

My response, of course, was to inform him that, in protest of the fact that the Democratic party had apparently abandoned those Democrats who wanted a principled, honorable candidate for President, I wasn’t voting for a single Democrat this election. In fact, the only thing keeping me from voting a straight Republican ticket was the County Commission race.

In my opinion, the best thing about being registered as a member of a party you’re not giving a single vote to is to hear their callers sputter when you explain to them that you can’t possibly support them. The second best thing is that you don’t feel at all guilty about hanging up on them.

While perusing blogs today, I stumbled across this post at Jessica’s Well. I’d heard Cameron Diaz’s infamous “If you think rape should be legal…” line before. This was the first time I realized that I agree with her. Well, I agree with her words, at least. I just don’t agree with her intent.

“If you think that rape should be legal, then don’t vote.”

Consider that statement for a minute, then reflect on our “illegal” war that put an end to, among other atrocities, Saddam’s rape squads.

If you think that rape, provided that it’s done only by state-sponsored rape squads in foreign countries, should be legal, don’t vote. If you think that murder, provided that only Iraqis are killed (and only by their own dictator), should be legal, don’t vote. If you can look at the images that inspired Frank’s Blood Red Fury and then pose for a picture while holding a sign suggesting they were better off before and that we apologize, don’t vote.

As Frank said:

What we liberated in Iraq was every bit as bad as the horrors of Nazi Germany. Any reasoning we had for invading was made moot by the discovery of the first “Childrens Prison” on the 4th day of the Invasion. We may not have gone in for that reason, but once we discovered them, and the mass graves, nothing else mattered

To our Eternal Shame, we helped put Saddam Hussein in power. In our defense, we had every reason to believe he was the lesser of two evils, but that doesn’t change the fact that we helped cause this. Far worse, because there was no greater evil to excuse us, we were there in 1991, and we didn’t remove him from power then as we should have. Most of the blame falls on those who are directly responsible (that is, Saddam and his goons), but anyone who tells you that we aren’t at least partially culpable in this is either disingenous or ignorant.

From the same post by Frank:

The US Media, the Democrat Party, The Kerry campaign, The EU and the UN will stop at nothing to tell you tales about how the evil Bush administration has screwed up Iraq, leaving you with a context of lies that Iraq was a quiet little thrid world paradise until we got there and messed it up for everyone.

I’ve said before that I believe this war to be a legal war. Even without these images, I believed it to be the right war, though I would’ve admitted that it was debatable. Even if we hadn’t mentioned the liberation of the Iraqi people (which I’m fairly certain that the President DID do before we attacked, this proves that we needed to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

May God and the Iraqi people forgive us for not getting there sooner.