Two stories

What a difference 1 hour and 54 minute makes

At 10 am, the following MSNBC new item subject line appeared in my RSS feed folder:

20 Iraqis killed in mosque bombing

I just glanced back at the same folder, and a second story has joined the first, time-stamped 12:54 pm:

22 Iraqis killed in mosque bombing

The opening paragraphs differ only slightly:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomb killed at least 20 Iraqis and wounded 46 at a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad on Wednesday. The attack came after U.S. military officials announced that four more U.S. service members had died in Iraq, two in the western city of Ramadi in a car bomb attack and the crash of a military helicopter.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomb killed 22 Iraqis and wounded at least 60 at a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad on Wednesday. The attack came after U.S. military officials announced that four more U.S. service members had been killed, two in the western city of Ramadi in a car bomb attack and two in the crash of a military helicopter.

Clearly, the second article is the same as the first, but edited to expand and amplify the sadness. Or, are larger numbers not really sadder than smaller numbers?

Between 10 am and 12:54 pm EST, two additional families learned that they would join those grieving. From the article, we also learn:

Wednesday's blast appeared to target shoppers buying fruit and vegetables just before breaking their daily fast during Ramadan, a month of worship by Muslims.

They probably thought that fruits and vegetables would help them live longer and healthier lives. Now, 22 will never again go to sleep or wake up. At least another 60 will have nightmares for as long as they live.

At what point do we, as a planet, say “Enough!” How many people who are simply out shopping for fruits and vegetables have to die?

Our government could make peace. Instead, it chooses to wage war. It’s a choice it has made. Yes, Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. But, nobody can convince me that he was any more evil than the corporate sponsors who promote war for the sake of their stockholders and CEOs.

He was no more evil than the neo-cons who in the early 1990s decided that a Pax Americana was their destiny, and who have decided to pursue that course of action, no matter how many innocent people, simply buying fruits and vegetables, get killed in the process.

He was no more evil than our own government, which kills, maims, imprisons and tortures countless numbers to appease their corporate owners and their warped neo-crusader fascist base.