Welcome to 201k.com - A Commonwealth Perspective.

Sorry...childish...serious business...so sorry...

President Bush will give his "State of the Union" address on Tuesday, and the coverage -- pro and con -- will undoubtedly alight on a few pre-approved talking points.

We'd like our Poor Readers to consider something else while listening -- assuming they have the stomach to, which we don't:

The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003. Below is a comparison of the stock prices of some top U.S. defense contractors for January, 2003 and January, 2007.

Halliburton
January 7, 2003: 9.16
January 19, 2007: 29.37

Lockheed Martin
January 17, 2003: 52.5
January 19, 2007: 97.27

Raytheon
January 27, 2003: 29.22
January 19, 2007: 52.30

Northrop Grumman
January 27, 2003: 44.2
January 19, 2007: 70.29

General Dynamics
January 22, 2003: 32.43
January 19, 2007: 79.53

United Technologies
January 22, 2003: 31.9
January 19, 2003: 65.18

L-3 Communications Holdings
January 23, 2003: 42.41
January 19, 2007: 82.20

In other words, a $250,000 investment in Halliburton in January, 2003 would be worth $801,582 today.

Bear this in mind as you listen to Mr. Bush promote his "New Way Forward" in Iraq.

Ok, computer issues resolved - for now. Here's more of our cartoon:

Another Bush has lost another battle, to the betterment of humanity, and this time, the results are delicious.

Ah, the logic of fascism:

January 14,2007 | WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday the Pentagon and CIA are not violating people's rights by examining the banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage in the United States.

"The Defense Department gets involved because we've got hundreds of bases inside the United States that are potential terrorist targets," Cheney said.

It's so simple.

"Of course we have to shove a carrot up the ass of every American who gets on a plane -- those things fly at 35,000 feet!"

201k has suffered its first significant computer catastrophe. In fact, we're posting this from a remote location.

We're sorry not to be able to post our second cartoon; they're all on the hard-drive of the affected machine. We're working to resolve the problem. Not hard -- but we're working. The holiday may delay things. Speaking of which, happy MLK day to all.

Don Cherry, and Sam the Snowman from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer":

From: BJ
To: editor@201k.com

What does the window do for me? Well, for me it was about more light.

I just wanted to see that in print again.

From the Times' "Home & Garden" section:

Jeanne Marie Olson and Aaron Olson have been married for five years and renovating an old Chicago bungalow for nearly four (its progress, or sometimes lack thereof, is chronicled on their blog, houseinprogress.net). Both have master's degrees in organizational development and have taught seminars on how to make organizations work more effectively for an outsourcing company. In their work and at home, the arduous and extensive renovation of which is strictly D.I.Y., they're big on a technique called "chunking up," borrowed from a self-help movement known as neuro-linguistic programming.

"Chunking up is about going meta, elevating yourself to look at the action and its result," Ms. Olson explained. "It's taking yourself out of the very personal, emotionally charged interaction and examining something from a higher perspective. You keep asking questions, like when I wanted to put a window in an alcove upstairs and Aaron didn't like the way it looked, the way I'd drawn it. The question becomes, What does the window do for me? Well, for me it was about more light. We figured out a way to make skylights, and then I could let go of the window I'd drawn."

Thank goodness for neuro-linguistic programming, "chunking up", and "going meta" -- humanity can now, finally, truly understand that what we want from a window is light.

Don't try this at home, though, folks; you need a master's degrees in organizational development.

Troops Sent in Surge to Have Limited Role, Bush Aide Says

Yeah -- to keep the violence down long enough to get it off the front page of U.S. newspapers.

We introduce a new weekly feature to 201k: our own comic, tentatively titled "201k" (clever, eh?).

It'll run every Sunday. Here's the first.

The Iraqi government seems to be following the Bush Doctrine when it comes to dealing with unwelcome revelations.

The Bush Doctrine to which we refer is, of course, to investigate and intimidate whistle-blowers, and not the problem the whistle-blowers reveal:

Hussein Guard Is Arrested, Officials Say

January 3, 2007

By JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD, Jan. 3 -- The Iraqi prime minister's office gave its first public defense today of the way the government carried out the execution of Saddam Hussein, and said that a guard who they believe recorded the moment in a macabre unauthorized video had been arrested. The video and the scenes it depicts have prompted a wave of revulsion around the world.

Iraqi officials sought today to challenge the impression created by the video that Mr. Hussein, for all his brutal crimes, behaved with far more dignity in his final minutes than his seemingly thuggish executioners did.

That's right: the revelation of a "thuggish execution" has prompted the Iraqi government to arrest...the guy who shot the video of it.

Now where do you suppose they learned that trick?

Let's be clear: what happened today in the Commonwealth is that a minority succeeded in getting one step closer to abridging the civil rights of another minority.

Hopefully, the majority will not allow it. Massachusetts should stand for freedom, and turn aside the efforts of those who would dictate the terms for all of us to live by. We have seen no member of the anti-gay marriage minority who does not, at heart, simply want to tell all of us how to live our lives.

They must not be allowed to succeed. If they can tell consenting adults who can marry, who can have kids, and who is entitled -- and how -- to the pursuit of happiness then none of us are free.

Residents of the Commonwealth should brace themselves for the onslaught of anti-gay marriage crusaders who will now descend upon us like locusts, hoping to further their bed-snooping, crotch-sniffing agenda at the expense of our friends and neighbors. We must all stand together in our resistance to the hatred and trickery they'll bring -- and the vast amounts of money that will come with them.

Most importantly, Massachusetts citizens who care about freedom, who honestly believe in "live and let live", who are admirably uncomfortable with the idea of our government sticking its nose in the bedrooms of consenting adults, should let their representatives know how they feel.