Burning bushes

The Institute of Medicine, federally chartered to conduct research requested by Congress, noted that service members are often exposed to prolonged loud noises -- from guns, rockets and other weapons, plus heavy-duty vehicles, planes and ships.... By comparing the hearing of those who had served in Iraq with the hearing of those who had not, researchers concluded that soldiers sent to battle zones were 52.5 times more likely to suffer auditory damage.

Ball players suffer chronic injuries. Miners get black lung; their dugout is deeper. And soldiers, if they survive, often come home to a less audible world.

As more is revealed about the selective hearing practiced by this executive branch that led soldiers to its war, I ask: can we the people tune in to reason and integrity, or are have we been permanently deafened by our leaders' raging fictions?

You say terrorism's real as coal dust, somebody's got to step up to the plate for the sake of the citizens? Terrorism is real. We are told not to question our government's motives or means in this conflict. Why? Because it is the government? If terrorists are lurking in the bushes, the best defense is prolonged loud noises -- guns, rockets and other weapons, plus heavy-duty vehicles, planes and ships of state?

You may be right about terrorism lurking in the bushes. And, just as plausibly, terrorism is the bush menagerie, perpetually aflame with black gold, imitating the gods.