Excerpted from tonight’s Special Comment on tonight’s episode of Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

We ... will have to live with what — of the fabric of our nation — you have already “sacrificed.” The only object still admissible in this debate is the quickest and safest exit for our people there.  But you — and soon, Mr. Bush, it will be you and you alone — still insist otherwise.  And our sons and daughters and fathers and mothers will be sacrificed there tonight, sir, so that you can say you did not “lose in Iraq.” Our policy in Iraq has been criticized for being indescribable, for being inscrutable, for being ineffable.  But it is all too easily understood now.  First we sent Americans to their deaths for your lie, Mr. Bush.  Now we are sending them to their deaths for your ego.  If what is reported is true — if your decision is made and the “sacrifice” is ordered — take a page instead from the man at whose funeral you so eloquently spoke this morning — Gerald Ford: Put pragmatism and the healing of a nation ahead of some kind of misguided vision.  Atone.  Sacrifice, Mr. Bush?  No, sir, this is not “sacrifice.” This has now become “human sacrifice.”

For close to four years, I have railed against this senseless war in Iraq, citing no clear reason for our presence there and no clear evidence Iraq had anything to do with 9/11.  For close to four years, I have spoken out against our tear through the Middle East in which we destabilized the region, caused the destruction and factioning of a country and witnessed the chaos that resulted in the death of thousands of Iraqis and more American soldiers than those who died in 9/11.  For close to four years, I have called for accountability in our government and the exit of our troops before more mayhem and chaos erupted — and yes, more sacrifice by fellow Americans. 

Tonight, things got personal.  Minutes before Olbermann’s Special Comment aired, in which he angrily asked President Bush not to move forward with his reported troop increase in Iraq in the name of “sacrifice,” I got an e-mail from a friend.  She’s being deployed to Iraq. 

I don’t consider today to be the start of the year, mostly because I spent the entire day indoors and watching movies, and I didn’t shave or shower or change out of my pajamas.  Tomorrow, 2007 officially begins for me as I kick back into my routine.  It’s been such an odd holiday break, what with taking the week off from my full-time job, working full-time hours at my part-time job and taking a long weekend up in San Francisco.  And there was the split-second remark a friend made that cut me to the core, and I spent six hours sitting in a car going over and over it (since my brain had nothing else to do) and then imploded completely over the course of a day or so.  Through all of it, I lost all track of time.  I couldn’t actually tell you what day of the week it is right now.  And because it’s 55 degrees outside, my brain still doesn’t accept the fact that it’s January, so it just feels like I’ve spent the last week and a half just kind of floating in ether.

So I’m rather glad to be getting back to work.  Routine… or at least the semblance of it, since my work is definitely not the same every day.  And while it’s nice to get away for a little while and break out, there’s comfort in familiar surroundings, familiar habits and familiar people.  At the very least, I can put my brain towards more constructive endeavors.  Like trying to understand why everyone thinks this stupid “Dick in a Box” thing is the greatest thing since gravity.  And for cryin’ out loud, most of the world had this past week off, so why am I still seeing Christmas decorations up?

Oh, and happy new year.  I’m hoping 2007 is better for all of us.