Heard the President's appearance at Fort Bragg last night. I was in the car so I got to listen to most of his address on the radio. I thought he hit several of the right points that he needed to emphasize.

Once we removed Saddam Hussein from power, there was no turning back. We have to see Iraq through to a stable, new government. We cannot pull our troops out until the job is done.

I agree with the president that all the talk about setting a date for withdrawing troops is ridiculous. His timetable that "As the Iraqis step up, we will step down" is the right approach, and it is all that should be said.

I think he addressed several of the things that America needed to hear to keep our support up for a difficult task.

He did not address the issues that have me upset, though.

The insurgency will lose an enormous amount of its support once we are gone and Iraq governs itself. But as long as we keep the policies in place that create the problems at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, we are a huge liability to the new Iraqi government.

As long as we mistreat our prisoners, we villify ourselves in the eyes of the Iraqi people who were just recently so grateful to us for their liberation. To whatever extent we make ourselves evil, we taint the new Iraqi government that we helped establish, and we encourage young idealists to join the insurgency.

Here is my list of what I would like to see:

1. We need to recognize that all our prisoners are regular prisoners of war and re-instate their Geneva Convention rights.
2. We need to comply with the Supreme Court ruling about hearings for Guantanamo prisoners.
3. We need to help the new Iraqi government claim the moral high ground. There are several ways this could happen.

• The new Iraqi government should vehemently and publicly call us to task for the mistreatment of prisoners. Every time the new Iraqi Prime Minister meets with a U.S. official, he should publicly mention that he hopes we will soon respect the human rights of our prisoners.
• Use Saddam's old television network to greater advantage in highlighting the difference between the agenda of the insurgency and the agenda of the new government.
  - We want to rebuild the infrastructure for your electricity. The insurgents want you to sit in the dark without air conditioning.
  - We want you to be able to speak your opinion freely. The insurgents want you to feel the silencing oppression of the old regime.
  - We want a government that fairly represents the needs of Shias, Kurds, and Sunnis equally. The insurgents want our children to spend their lives killing each other in hatred.

This kind of campaign needs to co-opt the idealism that is driving young men to join the insurgency by portraying the bravery and heroism of the citizens who stand up to the insurgents. Very simple 15-second TV and radio spots with different "every man" individuals saying, "My name is Ali and I am a clerk at the new Parliament. I know I am in danger, but I go to work every day anyway because I believe in my future and the future of Iraq." or "My name is Ahmed. I am an emergency room doctor. I am in danger every day, but I stay because I want a better life for my children." or "My name is Moayad. I make repairs at a power plant. The insurgents threaten me but I carry on because that is best for my family and all Iraqis."

Then, when a car bomb kills a doctor or a maintenance worker, the people relate it to the face they've seen and the statement of a suicide bomber is no longer "I hate America", but it becomes "I hate Iraq."

The Iraqis will only defeat the insurgency if they can believe that the insurgents are evil and resisting them is noble. As long as we continue to confirm their opinion that we are evil, the young, dedicated idealists will blow themselves to oblivion to undermine the new government instead of joining the forces to defend their new homeland.

We cannot be both the benevolent liberator and the regime of torture. It is immoral, and it is strategically flawed.

Sidenote: a friend of mine says that modding computers is this generation's version of the 60's hot rod. Except that in the 60's a souped-up hot rod attracted women, whereas a guy that tricks out his computer sees the opposite effect.

I have to show off the computer I just built. I went crazy and descended into my deepest nerdness. Here are the results.

I am building the computer to use as a movie editor. I already had a Matrox RT.X100 card, but my old computer wasn't powerful enough. I decided to build a computer with one of Matrox's tested and approved setups, so here are the parts I put into it and where I bought them.

• ASUS Dual processor motherboard - used from eBay
  
• Matrox dual monitor video card - also used from eBay
  
• 2 Jet engine shaped CPU fans - from Directron (my favorite part of the whole rig)
  
• 480 watt power supply - from Directron
  
• 16X DVD burner - from Overstock
  
• 300 GB hard drive - from Fry's Electronics in Sacramento (already had this lying around)
  
• 2 removable hard drive docks - from Outpost (1 for footage, 1 for exporting)
  
• Matrox real time video editing card - from Guy Graphics (already had this)
  
• Antec Mid Tower case - from local CompUSA store
  
• 2 Antec case fans - from local CompUSA store
  
• Glowing IDE cables - from local CompUSA store
  
• 2 LCD monitors - from Wal Mart (where I hate to take my business, but it was late and I didn't want to wait. Aaargh, the guilt.)
  
• Superman case badge - from Directron

If I had planned ahead, I probably would have bought a case from Xoxide, but I waited until the motherboard was already here, and if there was a problem with the used motherboard I wanted to be able to address it immediately. As it is, I'm glad I got the plain case because I like the idea of modding the case myself. I plan to cut a window in the side shaped like a Superman shield.

Utah is fascinated with the unfolding Warren Jeffs story, and anything that has to do with polygamy. Jeffs and his group have their own town where they can be away from the rest of civilization, but Utah has polygamist families scattered all over the state. I haven't learned to pick them out yet, but everyone else seems to have perfected the art of spotting a member of a polygamist family, because I am constantly surprised when someone leans over, nudges me with their elbow and says "See that guy over there? He's one of them."

It all has a very familiar feel to it. It feels exactly like when I was a kid and someone would nudge me and say "See that guy over there? He's gay."

Last week I was buying something and the lady behind the counter was telling me she had some polygamist clients "and they're the nicest people".

A neighbor tells me "Don't get me wrong. I used to know a guy who was a polygamist, and he was a great guy."

It makes me wonder if the parallels go even deeper.

I look at the issue of gay marriage, and I think it's just a matter of time before it's a reality. When it is accepted, though, how will the law be able to say that gay marriage is all right but polygamist marriage is not?

I wonder if in ten years polygamists will be coming out of the closet. They'll be "Polygamist And Proud".

I wonder when Salt Lake will have Polygamy Pride Parades.

Today I talked to a friend I haven't heard from in several years. She tells me she got a degree in women's studies. We laughed a bit about how useful that degree is to her career, and when I got off the phone I thought what a travesty it is to even offer Women's Studies as a degree.

Universities are taking all the people who are interested in women's issues and offering them degrees that do absolutely nothing to advance women's interests. If you really want to do something about women's issues you should get a law degree and lobby for issues, or get a business degree and start challenging the glass ceiling, or get a degree in engineering or airline mechanics or any other field where women are underrepresented.

Any of those choices would help advance the cause. You would be qualified to make a difference.

Getting a degree in women's studies doesn't advance anything. It only qualifies you to complain, and you could have done that with a GED.