SO THIS IS WHAT THEY MEAN BY SACRIFICE

You will have to forgive me for this one. I just can't pass it up.

While on the long drive home from Omaha I picked up the local newspapers each day to see how the same, or different, they were from any other paper in the country. Generally they are all the same. Same Associated Press news stories, same wire service photos, same columnists from the big newspapers. No wonder the American people are under control these days. Managed news, managed public.

One columnist who is a bell weather for the power structure is David Broder from the Washington Post. You can always count on him for the centrist line. But on this occasion something he said really jumped out and, well, bit me.

Broder was reporting on the recent congressional hearings where Gen. David Petraeus testified about "progress" in Iraq. Broder said, "Petraeus told [Republican Sen. Richard] Lugar, "We've got to continue. We have our teeth into the jugular, and we need to keep it there."

Broder continued by reporting that after his testimony before Congress Petraeus stopped by the newspaper for more discussions. "The general clearly likes that phrase, because he used it twice more during his visit to The Post. I can see why Bush admires his aggressive tone. And I can understand why his troops revere their commander. "

It all comes together for me now. We always hear the politicians and the media talking about how we honor the troops for their "sacrifice" in Iraq. Maybe there is something to the whole Yale University Skull & Bones Club that Bush, John Kerry, and Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank belong to where they worship in the "tomb" and are known to crawl into caskets for dark rituals.

Listen to the BBC radio story on Skull & Bones.