There was an old woman who lived in a shoe

she had so many children, she didn’t know what to do

so she raised up a bronze shoe monument

dedicated to a news reporter who threw a shoe at our former President.

You’ll have to pardon the attempt at poetry on my part. It’s been awhile since I read Mother Goose (the artist from whom I sampled). However, inspiration struck me as I read about the controversial monument of a shoe at an Iraqi orphanage. As the poem states, it WAS dedicated to the Iraqi journalist who threw a shoe at George W. Bush last month during a press conference.

I emphasize the word “was” because it today’s news reported that the Iraqi government has ordered the monument to be dismantled. The last time a statue in Iraq made the news, it was when Saddam Hussein’s larger than life effigy was torn down in 2003. Apparently the expected life span of a statue in Iraq is not very long. The government’s reasoning for removing the shoe was that a monument of political bias should not be on government property.

Hmmm. A political statue should not be on government property. Does anyone else see the contradiction in this reasoning? It seems like when the Iraqi government was drafting the constitution for their new “democracy”, they mistook the word politics for religion.

But that should not come as a surprise, for religion AND politics are one in the same in Iraq, as it is in the majority of the Middle East. There is no separation of mosque and state. You cause dissension in one arena, it carries over into another arena. It’s been that way for ages over there, and I’m not entirely sold on the occupancy of the U.S. military changing anything.

On the flip side (to be fair), the regional elections for the Iraqi government occurred today with a relatively small amount of violence. A few bombings here and there, but that’s to be expected at any Iraqi social or political gathering. No casualties, and that truly is a landmark.

So with hardly any casualties during an election process, and having to remove a statue that celebrated the ultimate disrespect of our former President, maybe these are telltale signs that it’s time for us to move on from Iraq and pursue other endeavors. Like getting our economy in order. After all, $800 billion here, and $600 billion there, and before you know it, we’ve spent a lot of dough. And those are just bailouts so we can break even!

I suppose the desecration of the shoe statue puts a halt to any plans that were being made to design the amusement park, Iraq Journalist Land, in honor of the Iraqi journalist. (By the way, isn’t it funny that when people refer to him, it’s the Iraqi Journalist, and not his name?) And as for the old lady and the orphanage, there’s plenty of old woman in nursery rhymes she could model her life after to replace the shoe. Like getting a dog and a cubbard.

Peace.