Kids: Just say "no" to drugs. Otherwise your brains will turn to mush and you'll end up babbling utter nonsense that has absolutely nothing to do with the real world. Just look at the tragic example set by Donald Rumsfeld, who apparently has gotten into the medicinal marijuana cabinet once too often: "Despite their headline-grabbing violence, the insurgents in Iraq are failing," the Secretary of Defense said on Thursday in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council in Los Angeles, California.

August isn't yet half over, and 54 American soldiers have died in Iraq so far this month, and 1853 since the war began in March of 2003.

That's an intersting definition of the word "failing." One can only conclude that Rummy went to the same grammar school as Vice President Dick "Last Throes" Cheney.

It's all Bush's fault, you know. Remember when he challenged the insurgents to "Bring it on" two years ago? That was at the beginning of July of 2003. Any guess on how many US troops have died since then? Well, if you look at the stats at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, and add up the monthly totals over the last two years (starting with July 1 of 2003 and through August 14 of this year), The number is 1647.

1647!!! That averages out to just over 63 dead per month.

The total for March-June of 2003--prior to Bush's challenge--was 206. That's a five month period, and it works out to less than 52 per month.

So don't blame the insurgents. All they did was accept an invitation from the President of the United States.