SwampMan does cut the grass. When it suits him. Which is not nearly as often as it suits me. In order to keep me from going out and mowing the grass myself, he removes lawnmower parts when he is finished so that it can’t be started. At this juncture, since a good deal of the grass to be cut has a few inches of water on it, the point is moot.

I also sent him a link to a company in Austria that has been making scythes a few hundred years, and custom makes them according to a person’s armspan and length of shoulder to ground. SwampMan read the prices and squealed like a little child. (So SwampWoman, you may ask, why didn’t you buy it yourself then? Shut up, I have a crappy job and am out of money until mid month.)

“Sooooo, did you even LOOK on E-Bay for something less expensive first?” “Uh, NO.” So, SwampMan went to E-Bay, found a scythe that had been used hard and then left to rust for about 30 years and was in a state of disrepair. The blade had been resharpened almost to nonexistence. It was probably only good as a wall decoration at Cracker Barrel. “HEY! Check this out!” I looked dubiously at the picture. “One of the handles is missing, and I don’t think the blade is any good.” “But look, it’s only $12.00!” “And the shipping is?” SwampMan bid, and was promptly outbid by the automated process somebody had put in. He bid another $5.00 and was promptly outbid again. He put in $20, and was outbid. I urged caution. “No, trust me, I’m just trying to get this guy a good price on this thing. Somebody obviously wants it really bad. It’s a good deed.” I pointed out that the scythe was probably not useable and would just be another piece of junk around the house as if we didn’t have enough of THAT already. “Nah, this other guy really wants it. I’ll just put in one more bid, and that will be IT.” He did. He was promptly the high bidder. “SUCKER!” “There are 9 hours left. Somebody will probably outbid me. I hope.”

So, I will be expecting a worn out scythe to be arriving via UPS some time this week. I’ll look for some wall space to free up.

He cannot back this statement up with anything other than his fear.

ZAH?
More like his desire, than his fear.
As for polling data on how Iraqis view their government, there isn’t a poll as such, but there are a number of polls, which give an idea, at the Iraq Index.
On page 48, Iraqis are asked what are the most pressing problems facing their nation, they rank security first with 53%, political/military issues as second with 26%.
Despite the quitters like Klein, the Iraqi people indicate that W and Petraeus are on the right path. Establish security first, then the other pressing issues can be dealt with. It’s so easy to forget, that our own nation’s constitution, and the formation of our system of government, took many years…much longer than it has taken in Iraq, and we didn’t have the same security issues.