Two Words, Congress: Grow Up.

Okay, believe it or not, I've always been mature for my age. Really. I may act immature sometimes, but that's mostly a screen, because when I'm by myself I very rarely act younger than I am. So immature people annoy me. A lot. I have little to no patience with people that can't act their ages. I'm fine with acting silly or childish, when I'm goofing off with friends. But I don't like people that can't be mature about their relationships, their actions, and anything that really matters.

That said, I will now address the MoveOn.org ad regarding General Petraus's testimony before Congress.

First, I will say that while MoveOn.org, as an organization, tends to be a little strident, I agree with them on most things. This ad wasn't necessarily one of them. The idealist in me wishes that General Petraus, who is clearly an intelligent individual, had been more forthright about the situation in Iraq; however, the realist in me recognizes that if he was, he would no longer have a career in the military, and for the military to be cleaned up -- as it desperately needs, after Rumsfeld -- anybody that's remotely competent will need to stay involved.

However, MoveOn.org was making a point -- and one that somebody had to make. I mean, nobody calling anyone out on anything is how we got into the Iraq quagmire anyway. And under the First Amendment, they're entitled to make that point however they want. I may not agree with their tone, but the fundamental message I got was an important one: People cannot tell the truth to or about this administration without ramifications, and that's not indicative of a healthy government. It certainly isn't indicative of a healthy executive branch.

So when Congress wastes time reprimanding a nonprofit grassroots organization that started with a Web site and which is not really heeded by anyone that doesn't already oppose the war in Iraq, and when President Bush decides to call them names, it just pisses me off. I mean, goddamn. This is the US government we're talking about. They're supposed to be above namecalling and "reprimands." What's next, a time out? What does this accomplish, in the big scheme of things? More importantly, why are they even thinking about this when there are larger issues at hand -- like, oh, say, an amendment that would've given the hard-working servicemen and servicewomen they love taking photos with, more time at home to recuperate from an extremely stressful war?

Honestly. If as many Democrats had voted to overturn that filibuster as voted for that resolution of war to begin with, we might be a step closer to taking care of the people in the armed forces. First they order them over there; then they send more people over there that shouldn't even have to go to begin with (i.e. the National Guard); then they suck in people that thought they'd served their time; then they order more of them over there, extend their tours of duty, and endanger more and more lives; then they won't even guarantee them longer periods of time to rest at home!

So while MoveOn's name-calling might have been immature, it's really about what I'd expect from them. Their purpose is to call officials out on this sort of thing. And the government's purpose is to represent the American people in ways that we can't represent ourselves. We're all very capable of reprimanding MoveOn directly on our own time.

Perhaps the problem is that Congress has too much time on its hands. In that case, here's a to-do list for it:

1) Give the servicemen and servicewomen the time at home that they have earned, 10 times over.
2) End a war that shouldn't even have been started in the first place.
3) Take a good, hard look at the legality of the Bush administration's actions, and start demanding some respect from them. Seriously. They are making you into a national joke, and like all of Bush's jokes, it really isn't funny.
4) GROW UP. MoveOn.org's purpose is to run these sorts of ads. You may not like them, but that doesn't change the fact that they have the right to, and you need to learn to gracefully accept that and...well...move on. No pun intended.

There we go, House and Senate Democrats. Now get back to work.