P3: Line up to die

^{(Ali Abu Shish/Reuters).}

I've been having more frequent and notable numbess in my arms at night, not my legs. It's as though the limb "falls asleep" for lack of blood, and that is part of it, I'm sure, but it also feels different from that. I think it has to do with the ALS.

I am pleased to report that the Concreting Evil has made it's play, but the forces of good won out.

Today's left grip is 48 pounds (44, 46, 48), right grip is 94 pounds (94, 90, 92), and inhale volume 4500 mL. Overall, a down-tick day, but there are bound to be fluctuations.

A few days ago a car-bomb exploded in Iraq, killing over 100 potential recruits lining up to apply for jobs in the Iraqi National Guard. It's not the first time a bunch of ING applicants have been killed in line. It has happened several times. One hopes that the American effort to help Iraq is competent. But this pattern of incidents argues instead that our efforts, and the efforts of the Iraqi people, are wasted.

The solution is so simple: Don't let ING applicants line up. That's a basic infantry technique, you've heard the Sarge yell it in movies: "Don't bunch up!"

Accept applicants 24 hours a day, but only a few at a time, or by appointment only, and don't allow them to line up to obtain appointments. Maintain a perimeter and break up clumps of people by force if necessary.

Simple. And yet apparently beyond the grasp of the leaders in Washington.

Yes, Iraq is supposedly a sovereign nation now, and theoretically can administer this process however they like, even if it means periodic bloodshed. However, we allowed this to happen when Iraq was our ward, and as their supposed allies and advisors one would think we would fulfill that role, now, in this regard.