We seem to do it almost subconscious and we do it all the time – why? We judge folks who are driving in a way that does not satisfy us, we call them idiots or dumbasses or worse. We let that anger at them affect our own driving. We grip the wheel a little tighter, we stomp a bit more on the pedals, gas and brake. We stop paying as much attention to others around us, and then someone is saying similar things about us and doing the same thing. The next thing ya know, everyone on the road is pissed off and driving like an idiot and for what? So we can get to our destination a few seconds earlier? So we can get to the red light one car length (15-20 feet) ahead? In comparison to the trip, 15-20 feet will turn out to be a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total distance traveled. Do you think your anger at the dumbass driver is affecting him or her or their health in the same way it is affecting yours? Of course not.
We judge the folks who are slow in the line at the bank, at the grocery or at the pool store, we call them pokey, slow or worse. We think that we must be serviced in an unrealistic time frame, this goes back to a blog I wrote about patience and why I think the world is a mess, here is the link old oratory link We have all seen the person go ballistic in line because the cashier or the customer is slow. If you have not seen that then you have seen someone just sigh a big sigh over and over again and then move to another line that appears to be moving faster – or you have been living in a cave for the last 20 years0. And the funny thing is that Mr. Murphy and his blasted laws will get them every time. Once they are ensconced in a different line the line they were originally in miraculously speeds up. Now the slow poke or idiot has become peppy and speedy and they watch in growing frustration the person who was behind them walk out the door, while they are waiting for three more people to be serviced.
We judge folks who dress in a way that does not meet our standards – we call them bums or slobs or worse. We think wow, their clothes sure are shabby and dirty and might even think – they should clean themselves up. Even though we have ZERO idea about what hand life has dealt this person we think they should just get their shit together. We have passed judgment, instead of asking if they need something or just giving them the change in your pocket we just judge, I try to keep change in my pocket for just such occasions.
We judge folks on simpleton things as well, why are you not pushing the elevator button fast enough, why did that person stop there to tie their shoe, why is that person typing so slow and this list goes on and on and on and on some more. So what is wrong with us, we just seem to be so wrapped up in ourselves that nothing but our needs and desires are important. We judge folks for walking right in front of us, we judge them for the way they eat at restaurants and we judge them for the things they do for entertainment. We judge a lot and I think we are almost taught to judge. Look at media, news and regular programs, look at our work places and places we frequent, this person is a better singer, that person is more glamorous. Instead we should just enjoying them making their music or spend the time to find the beauty in them.
So this morning I was sitting on the beach at a few minutes after 5am to watch the show, it was magnificent as always. When I go I like to just sit and admire the beauty of it. I try hard not to think about any problems I might be having, I try not to think about work I just sit and stare. So this morning I was sitting there and about 5 minutes before the sun came up my friend Roy wandered out on the beach. We talked for a while as we admired the stunning magnificence of a sunrise. We talked about how it NEVER gets old and how excited we get when we get to watch it on the beach. This morning he told me some stories about his parents, we laughed and contemplated life and all the intricacies of it, a hell of ride I said. Since I get there so early I get great parking, usually one of the closest three spots, today was no exception.
When I was leaving I was walking out with my plastic chair and as I get to my car to get the camera and tripod and all put in a fellow pulls up behind where I am and asks I am leaving. I say yes, here in a minute. I have dropped the chair behind the car and am putting the cameras and phone in the front seat and then I go start knocking the sand off my chair, it has been less than 30 seconds at this point, and I can tell by his body movements that the guy who is waiting for my spot is getting frustrated with me and the apparent slowness of my actions. That did not really motivate me to go any faster and to tell ya truth is actually made me want to go slower. I have nearly gotten my chair strapped in the back of jalopy and am ready to dust off my feet and this guy loses his patience with me and drives away in a huff. I would suspect that if I had looked over he would have been telling me I was number one by showing me just the one finger that made him feel better. Me, laughing out loud as he squealed away probably did not help his mood either.
For me the beach is a place to relax, rejuvenate and enjoy myself, I wondered why this man who squealed away would be coming to the beach before 7am. Was it to relax, was it to enjoy himself, was it to meet someone? Who knows but I suspect that his day was not starting out as well as he planned. Well I went through the same routine I go through each and every time I come off the beach and then fired up jalopy and backed out. Although I have never timed it, that routine takes maybe a minute and half, tops. I will never time it either because it does not really matter to me how long it takes. Well somehow I think I inadvertently poured a bit of salt in the wound for this guy because as I pulled away and someone else pulled into my spot, this guy was making his way towards the beach on the sidewalk a few spots down from where my car was parked. I watched him carefully and he never once looked over at me and he looked mad as a hornet whose nest was just sprayed with poison.
I try really hard not to judge folks, the ones on the top of our society or the ones on the bottom. I try not to judge their actions, we most times will only have a very limited amount of information anyway. Not enough certainly to pass judgment. One of the things that has taught me patience is driving cars that are 53 and 48 years old – patience in many areas actually. Because I work on them I have to patient, when working to get a right lower control removed if one rushes it could be disastrous with very costly side effects. When driving you do not want to be aggressive, the old cars do not have the responsiveness of the newer more costly modes of transport. No following too close or going to fast – there could be disastrous with very costly side effects. We have all had adversities in our life that we can use, use to practice patience or use to make things worse. Every bad situation is only bad if we do not spend the time to look for the positive, look for that life lesson that we can take away from that situation.
So I am asking that the next time you find yourself getting frustrated at someone or something for some stupid reason I want you to think of me and remember some idiotic thing that I did in your presence. I have been doing idiotic things my whole life so I know you will each remember a situation that will make you forget the perceived problem that is facing you and hopefully it will make you just smile Even as I write this I suppose I am judging that man from this morning. Please remember that everyone you will ever meet has some personal hell they are dealing with that we will never know anything about and probably could not begin to understand even if we did know. Try judging yourself with the same reckless abandon you might judge others with – it is a hard bar if not impossible bar to get over.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Funerals suck and especially so around the two year anniversary of losing my Mom
Recently a great friend of ours called to let us know that her Mom was being transferred to Hospice care. That sucks and it does not matter who or why! When we got the call, my heart was heavy, for my dear friend and her Mom and the rest of her family. We have been friends for about 7-8 years and have not been in as close a contact as we once were and I am not even sure why. I suppose our lives just got busy and we have not seen each other for a while. I think that is the poorest excuse ever and I am ashamed to admit it but that seems to be the truth of it. Her and her daughter are came over this weekend and spent the night and Bride and I really enjoyed the visit and catching up. My friend is one of the most intriguing and by far the smartest person I know but she is also so down to earth it makes it easy to be friends.
Bride had just met her and became friends right before her husband passed away, unexpected while on a trip to Michigan. That was a terrible time and she was hurting when I first met her. I could not then and cannot now imagine what it will be like to lose a spouse. We spent a lot of time together, her and her daughter and us. Bride and her worked together so it made it convenient for all of us. The more I got to know her the more I realized how much I enjoyed being around her, she is very smart and I like hanging around with smart people, it make me feel smart and I always hope that some of that will rub off on me. Her daughter was a joy as well, we played in the pool and we enjoyed her company. She was insulin dependent so I learned how to do the testing and even administered the shot a couple of times. That is somewhat scary and I was very scared the first time I had to do it. Finger pokey and arm pokey she called it and it was handled almost like a game. Big responsibility having and or caring for a diabetic child, I would wither under that type of pressure.
I met and saw my friends Mom on various occasions and I learned quickly that she was a great cook. She was a fantastic woman and we enjoyed going to her home in the World Golf Village. She was German and I was fascinated by tales of World War II Germany from the perspective of non military normal folks. She had lots of stories from that time in her life, a young girl living in Germany when a tyrannical leader was waging a war against everyone who was not Aryan. She once made this absolutely beautiful standing rib roast and we dined like kings. She later brought out the desert, Tiramisu. I have had Tiramisu before and since but she ruined the desert for me. I have not before or since had that desert where it even came close to comparing to hers. I am not sure what she did or how she created that masterpiece but I am here to tell ya, it was FABULOUS! That was just one delicacy I sampled, everything she made was the same, really good and better than my previous experience with it. Hell even her mashed potato’s were stellar and how do you do that, mashed potato’s are just that – mashed potato’s.
When we received the call that “Liz” had passed it was sad, especially so for me as I had been thinking a lot about my Mom. My Mom passed on March 17th of 2009 and I know how hard it is to lose your mother. I got to pondering the differences between Liz and my Mom and they were MANY! I loved them both and they both had outstanding traits and they both had some not so outstanding traits. I loved my Mom and I wish she had been a better cook, she sucked when it came to cooking and meal planning in general. There are myriad stories in our family about a burned meal here, not enough food for this function or that. She was a chronic underestimater when it came to determining how much food was needed for an event she was hosting. I remember more than one occasion when it was just family that she had to start cutting orange Danish’s into three pieces. Yep, a 3 inch pastry that is about an inch think was cut into three individual pieces and served. The memory is making laugh out loud as I am typing this. This was never an issue that Liz had, I suspect not ever.
The ceremony was held at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church on Route 16 close to the end of World Golf Village drive. It is a beautiful church and the father gave a beautiful service. I could tell he knew her well and liked each other. He made me cry a couple of times with stories and especially when he explained his reasoning for the scriptures that were read. He knew her very well indeed to have picked those three readings. My Friend gave one and she also gave the eulogy, I cried again during that. It was weird, as much as I knew Liz and loved the time I got to spend with her I think I was sadder for my friend because I could relate to that pain she was feeling. I know that may sound callous but I was sad for my friend and the pain she was feeling, her mother was already out of pain had made the trip up to heaven already so for me it was all about my friend. She was a rock, there is no way I would be able to deliver a eulogy, I tried speaking once at a funeral for a very good friend of mine and it was VERY difficult for me. I guess I was not blessed with the ability to express myself in such situations, those who are able to do that are my hero’s.
So as the Father was speaking he told the story of the church dinners and how she would bring special treats to those who were volunteering to cook and serve. Did I mention that she was a GREAT cook and her pastries were unrivaled? Anyway he related a story of one of the volunteers who would great her and take the trays of goodies, and believe it or not he would hide them all for himself, these are the Fathers words so I have to believe him. Plus I could see myself doing the same thing, I laughed about the story. Then he mentioned the man’s name, it was even funnier that I know him. I have yet to speak with him since the funeral but you can rest assured I will be poking a bit of fun at him about that. I am sure we will each have Liz stories to share as well. After the service there was a graveside ceremony and interment, this was going to be problem I could tell because it was raining and I mean throwing it down. We drive through this monsoon down to the south end of St. Augustine and when we arrive at a very small tent that is completely drenched, including the chairs. It was funny really, to me it was like, a thing where she got the last laugh. We all huddled together as the wind blew rain in sideways and the Father said a few words and we were back in our cars within 15 minutes.
Back to the church we went for the reception and food, of course. We had a great time, I was not sure I would but we sat next to a fascinating lady. We told stories and I listened to some incredible stories of hers. She told us of a trip out west and how her husband died and about her 75 acres of commercial timber. She was fascinating. She told of this three week trip out west to see Rushmore and Crazy horse and some of the other national monuments and parks. She was so happy that they just did it, even though it was very difficult for her to get the time off from her nursing job. She was just so happy to have done it and kept saying, if you get the chance to do something like that to just do it. I am still fondly remembering both my friends Mom and my Mom as well. Death always brings deep contemplation for me. Not necessarily to determine the meaning of life but to relive in my mind the great times I share with the deceased. I miss my friends Mom, I hurt for my friends loss and I hurt myself remembering my Mom at the anniversary of her death.
Bride had just met her and became friends right before her husband passed away, unexpected while on a trip to Michigan. That was a terrible time and she was hurting when I first met her. I could not then and cannot now imagine what it will be like to lose a spouse. We spent a lot of time together, her and her daughter and us. Bride and her worked together so it made it convenient for all of us. The more I got to know her the more I realized how much I enjoyed being around her, she is very smart and I like hanging around with smart people, it make me feel smart and I always hope that some of that will rub off on me. Her daughter was a joy as well, we played in the pool and we enjoyed her company. She was insulin dependent so I learned how to do the testing and even administered the shot a couple of times. That is somewhat scary and I was very scared the first time I had to do it. Finger pokey and arm pokey she called it and it was handled almost like a game. Big responsibility having and or caring for a diabetic child, I would wither under that type of pressure.
I met and saw my friends Mom on various occasions and I learned quickly that she was a great cook. She was a fantastic woman and we enjoyed going to her home in the World Golf Village. She was German and I was fascinated by tales of World War II Germany from the perspective of non military normal folks. She had lots of stories from that time in her life, a young girl living in Germany when a tyrannical leader was waging a war against everyone who was not Aryan. She once made this absolutely beautiful standing rib roast and we dined like kings. She later brought out the desert, Tiramisu. I have had Tiramisu before and since but she ruined the desert for me. I have not before or since had that desert where it even came close to comparing to hers. I am not sure what she did or how she created that masterpiece but I am here to tell ya, it was FABULOUS! That was just one delicacy I sampled, everything she made was the same, really good and better than my previous experience with it. Hell even her mashed potato’s were stellar and how do you do that, mashed potato’s are just that – mashed potato’s.
When we received the call that “Liz” had passed it was sad, especially so for me as I had been thinking a lot about my Mom. My Mom passed on March 17th of 2009 and I know how hard it is to lose your mother. I got to pondering the differences between Liz and my Mom and they were MANY! I loved them both and they both had outstanding traits and they both had some not so outstanding traits. I loved my Mom and I wish she had been a better cook, she sucked when it came to cooking and meal planning in general. There are myriad stories in our family about a burned meal here, not enough food for this function or that. She was a chronic underestimater when it came to determining how much food was needed for an event she was hosting. I remember more than one occasion when it was just family that she had to start cutting orange Danish’s into three pieces. Yep, a 3 inch pastry that is about an inch think was cut into three individual pieces and served. The memory is making laugh out loud as I am typing this. This was never an issue that Liz had, I suspect not ever.
The ceremony was held at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church on Route 16 close to the end of World Golf Village drive. It is a beautiful church and the father gave a beautiful service. I could tell he knew her well and liked each other. He made me cry a couple of times with stories and especially when he explained his reasoning for the scriptures that were read. He knew her very well indeed to have picked those three readings. My Friend gave one and she also gave the eulogy, I cried again during that. It was weird, as much as I knew Liz and loved the time I got to spend with her I think I was sadder for my friend because I could relate to that pain she was feeling. I know that may sound callous but I was sad for my friend and the pain she was feeling, her mother was already out of pain had made the trip up to heaven already so for me it was all about my friend. She was a rock, there is no way I would be able to deliver a eulogy, I tried speaking once at a funeral for a very good friend of mine and it was VERY difficult for me. I guess I was not blessed with the ability to express myself in such situations, those who are able to do that are my hero’s.
So as the Father was speaking he told the story of the church dinners and how she would bring special treats to those who were volunteering to cook and serve. Did I mention that she was a GREAT cook and her pastries were unrivaled? Anyway he related a story of one of the volunteers who would great her and take the trays of goodies, and believe it or not he would hide them all for himself, these are the Fathers words so I have to believe him. Plus I could see myself doing the same thing, I laughed about the story. Then he mentioned the man’s name, it was even funnier that I know him. I have yet to speak with him since the funeral but you can rest assured I will be poking a bit of fun at him about that. I am sure we will each have Liz stories to share as well. After the service there was a graveside ceremony and interment, this was going to be problem I could tell because it was raining and I mean throwing it down. We drive through this monsoon down to the south end of St. Augustine and when we arrive at a very small tent that is completely drenched, including the chairs. It was funny really, to me it was like, a thing where she got the last laugh. We all huddled together as the wind blew rain in sideways and the Father said a few words and we were back in our cars within 15 minutes.
Back to the church we went for the reception and food, of course. We had a great time, I was not sure I would but we sat next to a fascinating lady. We told stories and I listened to some incredible stories of hers. She told us of a trip out west and how her husband died and about her 75 acres of commercial timber. She was fascinating. She told of this three week trip out west to see Rushmore and Crazy horse and some of the other national monuments and parks. She was so happy that they just did it, even though it was very difficult for her to get the time off from her nursing job. She was just so happy to have done it and kept saying, if you get the chance to do something like that to just do it. I am still fondly remembering both my friends Mom and my Mom as well. Death always brings deep contemplation for me. Not necessarily to determine the meaning of life but to relive in my mind the great times I share with the deceased. I miss my friends Mom, I hurt for my friends loss and I hurt myself remembering my Mom at the anniversary of her death.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Reposting of a quote from His Holiness, the Dalia Lama - gone crazy on facebook.
So the yesterday I posted a comment, a repost actually, from the Dalia Lama. Here is the post – “Love, compassion and concern for others are real sources of happiness. If you have these in abundance, you will not be disturbed even by the most uncomfortable circumstances. If you nurse hatred, however, you will not be happy even in the lap of luxury. Thus, if we really want happiness, we must widen the sphere of love. This is both religious thinking and basic common sense” and I added “- HH the 14th Dalai Lama”. Well from there , I am not sure how, it digressed into questions about my patriotism and comparing comments I made to doing a disservice to someone’s son, who PROUDLY served in the military – that WAS NOT my intent.
I want to warn you now though, if you are a Fox News automaton who lives, breathes and gets their talking points from the likes of Glen Beck and Bill O'Reilly you should stop reading now because you will not enjoy the rest of this blog. There are still people who believe the United States did not START two wars by invading two different Sovereign Nations and I find that almost incomprehensible to understand. I can tell already, someone kept reading and their blood pressure just spiked, sorry but I told you to stop reading. I cannot be held responsible for any heart attacks, coronaries, strokes or any other malady brought on by reading further - ijs.
I remember 9-11 and I remember the stories about why we needed to invade these countries, testosterone and patriotism run amok is all I saw and it saddened me. Afghanistan did not blow up the twin towers, Iraq did not blow up the twin towers, invading those countries was testosterone and patriotism mixed together at a costly and ridiculous level.
First I guess I need to say that the war on terror is just as stupid as the war on drugs. War, by definition is (from dictionary.reference.com)
1. a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.
2. a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations: The two nations were at war with each other.
3. a contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812.
We have deluded the meaning of war by attaching “war” to ideological differences. A war on drugs, a war on terror, they are nothing more than buzz words and they are silly, stupid and costly. How can you wage war on an ideology, it is an opened ended fool’s errand. Take a look at the war on drugs, how is that going for us and how much has it cost us? So tell me, how exactly, do you send troops to fight an ideology (terror), instead find the perpetrators of terror and systematically eliminate them
Now as much as it may surprise you al-Qa'ida is not a nation, not a place and not something that is tangible, it is a rag tag group of terrorists, who got lucky and were able to commit a horrible attack on the United States. al-Qa'ida, is a global militant Islamist group founded by Osama bin Laden back in the 1980’s, they say it operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad – not a place mind you, another ideology.
The folks who were in charge of Afghanistan were the Taliban, which means students in Arabic in case you did not know, were an Islamist militia group that ruled large parts of Afghanistan from September 1996 onwards. Although in control of Afghanistan's capital and most of the country for five years, the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Those that recognized their country speak volumes on unasked questions I think. While they were bad people who repressed the population in unimaginable ways, they did not plan, coordinate or execute the attacks on the United States. I think it is clear that we started that war and invaded that country. They did nothing but provide al-Qa'ida with a place to hang out. As did, AS DID Pakistan, the Sudan and many others countries that were not so easy to invade, so Afghanistan drew the short straw, sorry you get the shitty end of the stick Afghanistan.
There was one place that al-Qa'ida was NOT and that was Iraq. Saddam Hussein was WAY too much of a megalomaniac to allow ANYONE or ANY THING to block the sun from his presence. There is no way that the boogie men moved to Iraq when we invaded Afghanistan. It would be comparable to saying that the French moved to Austria after Hitler circumvented the Maginot line by going north through Belgium and took up the battle there, it is just as ludicrous. And yet there we are, still in that country, still spending an obscene amount of our taxpayer money. Saddam Hussein did not attack the United States on 9-11, he was a bad man and his government was tyrannical, he was a shit heel, but he did not attack us. There are A LOT of those types of leaders around the world, why not pick that one? We invaded a second sovereign nation within 2 years of invading Afghanistan. We put testosterone and patriotism together in the most heinous way, in a way that if one questioned the motives, asked why are we doing this, we had our own patriotism called into question – what bullshit!!
To me this war on terror is the worst thing our country has ever done and world history will not be kind to us when it looks back on these wars. War is NEVER a good thing and a nation should deliberate carefully before engaging in it. Let’s look back at our own history as a nation. If we go back to WWI the United States did not declare war until after the sinking of seven U.S. merchant ships by submarines and the publication of the Zimmerman telegram, Wilson then called for war on Germany, which the U.S. Congress declared on 6 April 1917, that was 3 years after the war started, and then it was in defense of others and not a proactive attack on a sovereign nation. It was weighed very carefully (3 years) and there were clearly defined goals and a strategy. Same with WWII, Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 (he was being a rascal long before that though) and we did not declare war until late 1941, that day that will live in infamy when Japan perpetrated that horrible attack on Pearl harbor. There is an example of war, Japan attacked us, it was not a group that happened to be in Japan, but the government of Japan itself.
The term War on Terror was coined in the aftermath of 9-11 by President Bush, we were all stinging from the chaos our country was thrown into. We had a cowboy President standing on the rubble calling for action, here are the words:
President Bush: Thank you all. I want you all to know -- it [bullhorn] can't go any louder -- I want you all to know that American today, American today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens
Rescue Worker: I can't hear you!
President Bush: I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!
Rescue Workers: [Chanting] U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
President Bush: The nation -- The nation sends its love and compassion --
Rescue Worker: God bless America!
President Bush: -- to everybody who is here. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for makin' the nation proud, and may God bless America.
Rescue Workers: [Chanting] U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.
All patriot stuff, very cool and it all needed saying but the thing that never happened – cooler heads did not prevail. When faced with a crisis of that magnitude cooler heads had to prevail, but did not. We needed our leaders to lead at that critical moment and they lead us into the craziest 10 years in our countries history.
Having served in the Military for 10 years I know we have capabilities that are beyond the comprehension of most, what should have happened is a strategic attack, against the actual terrorists. We could have reached out with any number of assets and jerked a knock in Osama Bin Ladin’s ass and every one of the leaders of that organization. No need to invade a country, just a well-planned mission using highly trained operators sent into a sovereign nation to kill a bad man who did bad things. Hey, wait minute….. isn’t that what we ended up doing to get him anyway? Almost 10 years later the name Osama Bin Laden should be nothing but a bad memory from long ago – him and his organization should have been systematically taken apart by the end of September 2001 - regardless of where the bastards were hiding. There would be no need to invade countries to do that and no need to have spent over a TRILLION dollars to get him – OBVIOUSLY!
I know this will not go over well for many, sorry but I told you to stop reading
I want to warn you now though, if you are a Fox News automaton who lives, breathes and gets their talking points from the likes of Glen Beck and Bill O'Reilly you should stop reading now because you will not enjoy the rest of this blog. There are still people who believe the United States did not START two wars by invading two different Sovereign Nations and I find that almost incomprehensible to understand. I can tell already, someone kept reading and their blood pressure just spiked, sorry but I told you to stop reading. I cannot be held responsible for any heart attacks, coronaries, strokes or any other malady brought on by reading further - ijs.
I remember 9-11 and I remember the stories about why we needed to invade these countries, testosterone and patriotism run amok is all I saw and it saddened me. Afghanistan did not blow up the twin towers, Iraq did not blow up the twin towers, invading those countries was testosterone and patriotism mixed together at a costly and ridiculous level.
First I guess I need to say that the war on terror is just as stupid as the war on drugs. War, by definition is (from dictionary.reference.com)
1. a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.
2. a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations: The two nations were at war with each other.
3. a contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812.
We have deluded the meaning of war by attaching “war” to ideological differences. A war on drugs, a war on terror, they are nothing more than buzz words and they are silly, stupid and costly. How can you wage war on an ideology, it is an opened ended fool’s errand. Take a look at the war on drugs, how is that going for us and how much has it cost us? So tell me, how exactly, do you send troops to fight an ideology (terror), instead find the perpetrators of terror and systematically eliminate them
Now as much as it may surprise you al-Qa'ida is not a nation, not a place and not something that is tangible, it is a rag tag group of terrorists, who got lucky and were able to commit a horrible attack on the United States. al-Qa'ida, is a global militant Islamist group founded by Osama bin Laden back in the 1980’s, they say it operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad – not a place mind you, another ideology.
The folks who were in charge of Afghanistan were the Taliban, which means students in Arabic in case you did not know, were an Islamist militia group that ruled large parts of Afghanistan from September 1996 onwards. Although in control of Afghanistan's capital and most of the country for five years, the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Those that recognized their country speak volumes on unasked questions I think. While they were bad people who repressed the population in unimaginable ways, they did not plan, coordinate or execute the attacks on the United States. I think it is clear that we started that war and invaded that country. They did nothing but provide al-Qa'ida with a place to hang out. As did, AS DID Pakistan, the Sudan and many others countries that were not so easy to invade, so Afghanistan drew the short straw, sorry you get the shitty end of the stick Afghanistan.
There was one place that al-Qa'ida was NOT and that was Iraq. Saddam Hussein was WAY too much of a megalomaniac to allow ANYONE or ANY THING to block the sun from his presence. There is no way that the boogie men moved to Iraq when we invaded Afghanistan. It would be comparable to saying that the French moved to Austria after Hitler circumvented the Maginot line by going north through Belgium and took up the battle there, it is just as ludicrous. And yet there we are, still in that country, still spending an obscene amount of our taxpayer money. Saddam Hussein did not attack the United States on 9-11, he was a bad man and his government was tyrannical, he was a shit heel, but he did not attack us. There are A LOT of those types of leaders around the world, why not pick that one? We invaded a second sovereign nation within 2 years of invading Afghanistan. We put testosterone and patriotism together in the most heinous way, in a way that if one questioned the motives, asked why are we doing this, we had our own patriotism called into question – what bullshit!!
To me this war on terror is the worst thing our country has ever done and world history will not be kind to us when it looks back on these wars. War is NEVER a good thing and a nation should deliberate carefully before engaging in it. Let’s look back at our own history as a nation. If we go back to WWI the United States did not declare war until after the sinking of seven U.S. merchant ships by submarines and the publication of the Zimmerman telegram, Wilson then called for war on Germany, which the U.S. Congress declared on 6 April 1917, that was 3 years after the war started, and then it was in defense of others and not a proactive attack on a sovereign nation. It was weighed very carefully (3 years) and there were clearly defined goals and a strategy. Same with WWII, Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 (he was being a rascal long before that though) and we did not declare war until late 1941, that day that will live in infamy when Japan perpetrated that horrible attack on Pearl harbor. There is an example of war, Japan attacked us, it was not a group that happened to be in Japan, but the government of Japan itself.
The term War on Terror was coined in the aftermath of 9-11 by President Bush, we were all stinging from the chaos our country was thrown into. We had a cowboy President standing on the rubble calling for action, here are the words:
President Bush: Thank you all. I want you all to know -- it [bullhorn] can't go any louder -- I want you all to know that American today, American today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens
Rescue Worker: I can't hear you!
President Bush: I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!
Rescue Workers: [Chanting] U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
President Bush: The nation -- The nation sends its love and compassion --
Rescue Worker: God bless America!
President Bush: -- to everybody who is here. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for makin' the nation proud, and may God bless America.
Rescue Workers: [Chanting] U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.
All patriot stuff, very cool and it all needed saying but the thing that never happened – cooler heads did not prevail. When faced with a crisis of that magnitude cooler heads had to prevail, but did not. We needed our leaders to lead at that critical moment and they lead us into the craziest 10 years in our countries history.
Having served in the Military for 10 years I know we have capabilities that are beyond the comprehension of most, what should have happened is a strategic attack, against the actual terrorists. We could have reached out with any number of assets and jerked a knock in Osama Bin Ladin’s ass and every one of the leaders of that organization. No need to invade a country, just a well-planned mission using highly trained operators sent into a sovereign nation to kill a bad man who did bad things. Hey, wait minute….. isn’t that what we ended up doing to get him anyway? Almost 10 years later the name Osama Bin Laden should be nothing but a bad memory from long ago – him and his organization should have been systematically taken apart by the end of September 2001 - regardless of where the bastards were hiding. There would be no need to invade countries to do that and no need to have spent over a TRILLION dollars to get him – OBVIOUSLY!
I know this will not go over well for many, sorry but I told you to stop reading
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
What I have been doing since 1983 – for those from my past that I am reconnecting with
1983 – Graduated high school and I had a few months off before going into the US Navy. Boot camp in Orlando in July was a mistake – it was HOT and the bugs were HUGE compared to the dwarf bugs I had grown accustomed to in Ohio. After boot camp I went to my first electronics school, basic electricity and electronics. After about 4 months I had completed that training and went moving on up to Great Lakes, Illinois – north of Chicago for 9 months of Electronics school. Once completed I was off to Norfolk Va. For more specialized electronics training. I spent about 4 month’s there learning about an Air Search radar, some navigational systems as well as a main frame computer system called SNAPII. I knew even then that computers would change the world, little did I realize just how much.
I spent from late 84 until early 88 on the USS Stump, (DD-978), a Spruance Class Destroyer - it was a great ship and I learned a lot about life, myself and how to interact with coworkers. The highlight of my time on that Ship, the UNITAS 1985 Cruise. WOW, there were some good times for me on that cruise. We toured around South America showing the flag and then we continued across the pond with a show of flag up the west coast of Africa. I got a tattoo on Copacabana Beach in Rio, WOW now that was a great place. When we were in Africa, Dakar Senegal I think, in what was considered an alcohol related incident I broke my right eardrum. Too much Polar Star beer (I think) out of big gold cans and a quick fall from a high dive into a pool and voila, an alcohol related incident was added to my permanent record. I am laughing as I write this as those were some carefree and CRAZY times, those who were there can testify to that.
I made a lot of friends on that ship, but like any duty station before the internet and social media, ya’ kind of lose track of folks. The only people I kept up with were Mark Eby and Vince Boucher, and it has been in the last 5-7 years that I have lost track of them as well. With the advent of social media, Facebook specifically, I have reconnected with many of my old shipmates from those days when I still drank. Some of them, after friending them, were still the same dirt bags they were back in those days and they were quickly ejected from my list of friends. Some were the same old buddies I remembered. I learned a lot on that ship but I got in trouble there as well -- two Captain’s Masts. Those are non-judicial punishments, for those unacquainted. That is where the Skipper can take some of your pay for a while and take stripes and restrict ya’ to the ship for extended periods of time. One was bullshit charges, dereliction of duty; the other the ship was leaving for 9 days and I decided something else was more important so I did not go. Article 86 and Article 87 were the charges and the Skipper was none too happy with my reasons. Hahahahaha, I always thought he was a prick anyway (it was worth it!).
Once I left the Stump, I transitioned to shore duty in Annapolis MD, the Naval Radio Transmitting facility Annapolis (NRTF). It was a great base, small with only about 50 us of and it was a secret base. We provided one way communication to submarines in the Atlantic, that was all we were allowed to say about that. I was soon off to Vallejo CA for some additional training on a very old piece of gear. Four months later, I was ready to go! New responsibilities and more opportunities to learn about very high power transmitters. Hell we even maintained our own 33kv substation. It was here that I stopped drinking, and I am glad of that. The Skipper of the base was the one who recommended it after finding me passed out buck naked in a pool of my own vomit during a barracks inspection. I knew there was a problem before he pointed it out.
Lucky me, I knew bride since she was stationed on the base as well but we became “better” friends in the months after my drinking stopped. We made a lot of friends there as well, two of them met and married as well. We lost track of them after that though, until Facebook reunited us. They stopped by our place on a trip to Orlando last year. I love those two! Rob and I spearheaded the building of the best volleyball court in the world, right outside the barracks, we played A LOT of volleyball on that court. Bride and I had moved in together, with a zero commitment relationship. We decided that we would hang out together until we stopped having fun. I was so happy that she stayed in Annapolis when she got out and did not make that trip back to TX. The highlight of this tour of duty, meeting Bride.
As my tour was wrapping up there I started making trips down to see the detailers in DC, a short 50 mile ride. They are the ones who assign duty stations to folks and I wanted to get a PreCom Aegis Cruiser really bad. I bought a lot of lunches for the folks down there but I did finally get the USS Gettysburg (CG-64) being built at Bath Iron Works up in Maine. Bride, who was still girlfriend, stayed in Baltimore while I was off to Norfolk for another 8 months of training before heading to Maine. I was to be a communications specialist on the new ship. This was early 1990 and we were just months away from Saddam invading Kuwait. I was watching the movie Lion Heart when the counter attack finally happened. Like a lot of folks, I called the detailer, the guys I had bought lunch for, to get on something that was haze grey and underway to the gulf.
Girlfriend and I were engaged at that point but we had not set a date, it was some years down the road for us, we were in no hurry to legalize our relationship, we loved each other and that was what mattered. When I started trying to get a ship and go, we decided we better get hitched because a girlfriend is not going to get information about her boyfriend but a wife, they can. It was not to be though, too much time invested training me up for the Gettysburg they told me. But we were married and there were some additions to my paycheck to cover housing and others, I can’t remember what all they were but it amounted to about 500 bucks additional money in my check so the marriage thing wasn’t all bad. I had one Mediterranean cruise while I was stationed aboard the Gettysburg. The highlight of that duty station was getting to Naples Italy and taking the trip up to Rome and spending a few days. Sitting in the Sistine Chapel staring at the ceiling for hours – that was moving.
I got out in 1993, when they were paying folks to get out. They had paid me to stay a few years earlier and then, BAM, they paid me to get out so I did. I started a small business doing home repair and remodeling. I had the money, the wife’s approval and I did not want to look back and wish I would have tried so I did it. Almost Anything Handyman Services Inc. was born and it grew over 4 years to a client base that included all the Jacksonville Taco Bell and Wendy’s restaurants and about 1500 residential clients. It was great fun and I really enjoyed it, I learned a lot about home repair and got to purchase a bunch of tools, a hobby gone wild. After 4 years it was getting tough to keep up with all that goes into running a business and I was missing the challenges that electronics offered. I was on the hunt again.
I got a short lived job working for a company that installed and maintained copiers that were just starting to be connected to the networks and I thought that might be interesting. It was, but the ridiculousness of that business soon grew on me and I needed out. I found an ad in the paper for a television engineer. I remember reading the job description thinking, I don’t have that, I am not that and I have none of that, but I remember thinking - damn that looks like a cool job, so I applied. After reading a couple of books on television fundamentals and an interview with a former Navy electronics technician, I was hired. First order of business was to get the transmitter fully operational. It took months and 10’s of thousands of dollars. After that (1998) the station was starting the digital transition and that gave me an advantage, the engineers who were there did not know the digital at all. My training in the Navy covered a lot of digital systems. Those skills, coupled with my own vigorous study program, allowed me to advance pretty quickly with me ending up leading the Engineering, Operations, Traffic and IT departments.
That is a greatly condensed version of what I have been doing since 1983, if you have questions about any specific time or want more stories, or want to share with me stories from any period we may have shared just let me know.
I spent from late 84 until early 88 on the USS Stump, (DD-978), a Spruance Class Destroyer - it was a great ship and I learned a lot about life, myself and how to interact with coworkers. The highlight of my time on that Ship, the UNITAS 1985 Cruise. WOW, there were some good times for me on that cruise. We toured around South America showing the flag and then we continued across the pond with a show of flag up the west coast of Africa. I got a tattoo on Copacabana Beach in Rio, WOW now that was a great place. When we were in Africa, Dakar Senegal I think, in what was considered an alcohol related incident I broke my right eardrum. Too much Polar Star beer (I think) out of big gold cans and a quick fall from a high dive into a pool and voila, an alcohol related incident was added to my permanent record. I am laughing as I write this as those were some carefree and CRAZY times, those who were there can testify to that.
I made a lot of friends on that ship, but like any duty station before the internet and social media, ya’ kind of lose track of folks. The only people I kept up with were Mark Eby and Vince Boucher, and it has been in the last 5-7 years that I have lost track of them as well. With the advent of social media, Facebook specifically, I have reconnected with many of my old shipmates from those days when I still drank. Some of them, after friending them, were still the same dirt bags they were back in those days and they were quickly ejected from my list of friends. Some were the same old buddies I remembered. I learned a lot on that ship but I got in trouble there as well -- two Captain’s Masts. Those are non-judicial punishments, for those unacquainted. That is where the Skipper can take some of your pay for a while and take stripes and restrict ya’ to the ship for extended periods of time. One was bullshit charges, dereliction of duty; the other the ship was leaving for 9 days and I decided something else was more important so I did not go. Article 86 and Article 87 were the charges and the Skipper was none too happy with my reasons. Hahahahaha, I always thought he was a prick anyway (it was worth it!).
Once I left the Stump, I transitioned to shore duty in Annapolis MD, the Naval Radio Transmitting facility Annapolis (NRTF). It was a great base, small with only about 50 us of and it was a secret base. We provided one way communication to submarines in the Atlantic, that was all we were allowed to say about that. I was soon off to Vallejo CA for some additional training on a very old piece of gear. Four months later, I was ready to go! New responsibilities and more opportunities to learn about very high power transmitters. Hell we even maintained our own 33kv substation. It was here that I stopped drinking, and I am glad of that. The Skipper of the base was the one who recommended it after finding me passed out buck naked in a pool of my own vomit during a barracks inspection. I knew there was a problem before he pointed it out.
Lucky me, I knew bride since she was stationed on the base as well but we became “better” friends in the months after my drinking stopped. We made a lot of friends there as well, two of them met and married as well. We lost track of them after that though, until Facebook reunited us. They stopped by our place on a trip to Orlando last year. I love those two! Rob and I spearheaded the building of the best volleyball court in the world, right outside the barracks, we played A LOT of volleyball on that court. Bride and I had moved in together, with a zero commitment relationship. We decided that we would hang out together until we stopped having fun. I was so happy that she stayed in Annapolis when she got out and did not make that trip back to TX. The highlight of this tour of duty, meeting Bride.
As my tour was wrapping up there I started making trips down to see the detailers in DC, a short 50 mile ride. They are the ones who assign duty stations to folks and I wanted to get a PreCom Aegis Cruiser really bad. I bought a lot of lunches for the folks down there but I did finally get the USS Gettysburg (CG-64) being built at Bath Iron Works up in Maine. Bride, who was still girlfriend, stayed in Baltimore while I was off to Norfolk for another 8 months of training before heading to Maine. I was to be a communications specialist on the new ship. This was early 1990 and we were just months away from Saddam invading Kuwait. I was watching the movie Lion Heart when the counter attack finally happened. Like a lot of folks, I called the detailer, the guys I had bought lunch for, to get on something that was haze grey and underway to the gulf.
Girlfriend and I were engaged at that point but we had not set a date, it was some years down the road for us, we were in no hurry to legalize our relationship, we loved each other and that was what mattered. When I started trying to get a ship and go, we decided we better get hitched because a girlfriend is not going to get information about her boyfriend but a wife, they can. It was not to be though, too much time invested training me up for the Gettysburg they told me. But we were married and there were some additions to my paycheck to cover housing and others, I can’t remember what all they were but it amounted to about 500 bucks additional money in my check so the marriage thing wasn’t all bad. I had one Mediterranean cruise while I was stationed aboard the Gettysburg. The highlight of that duty station was getting to Naples Italy and taking the trip up to Rome and spending a few days. Sitting in the Sistine Chapel staring at the ceiling for hours – that was moving.
I got out in 1993, when they were paying folks to get out. They had paid me to stay a few years earlier and then, BAM, they paid me to get out so I did. I started a small business doing home repair and remodeling. I had the money, the wife’s approval and I did not want to look back and wish I would have tried so I did it. Almost Anything Handyman Services Inc. was born and it grew over 4 years to a client base that included all the Jacksonville Taco Bell and Wendy’s restaurants and about 1500 residential clients. It was great fun and I really enjoyed it, I learned a lot about home repair and got to purchase a bunch of tools, a hobby gone wild. After 4 years it was getting tough to keep up with all that goes into running a business and I was missing the challenges that electronics offered. I was on the hunt again.
I got a short lived job working for a company that installed and maintained copiers that were just starting to be connected to the networks and I thought that might be interesting. It was, but the ridiculousness of that business soon grew on me and I needed out. I found an ad in the paper for a television engineer. I remember reading the job description thinking, I don’t have that, I am not that and I have none of that, but I remember thinking - damn that looks like a cool job, so I applied. After reading a couple of books on television fundamentals and an interview with a former Navy electronics technician, I was hired. First order of business was to get the transmitter fully operational. It took months and 10’s of thousands of dollars. After that (1998) the station was starting the digital transition and that gave me an advantage, the engineers who were there did not know the digital at all. My training in the Navy covered a lot of digital systems. Those skills, coupled with my own vigorous study program, allowed me to advance pretty quickly with me ending up leading the Engineering, Operations, Traffic and IT departments.
That is a greatly condensed version of what I have been doing since 1983, if you have questions about any specific time or want more stories, or want to share with me stories from any period we may have shared just let me know.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
facebook stalking, WTF is that!!
So the other day I noticed one of my FB friends were talking about someone “creeping their profile”. I suppose it got me to thinking about my activity on FB, could I be considered a FB stalker. Because I do sometimes go look at my friends walls, their pictures and what interests they may have that I did not know about previously. I thought that was one of the purposes of the social media on the first place, connecting with folks in a new and modern and all digital way. Once I started looking up the definition, I am even more scared.
Evidently a FB stalker is a person who spends large amounts of time on Facebook looking at other people's profiles, often browsing photos, walls (or wall-to-walls), groups, or recent activity posted on the stalked person's mini-feed. Well I would not say that I spend large amounts of time doing those things but I have done them before. I am not sure how an individual can secretly look up people on FB, going through albums, comments and personal information to piece together a picture of this person. I can’t figure out how to look at people unless we are my FB friends, in which case I am not sure it is stalking - is it.
They say you qualify as a FB stalker if you, A) click on someone's profile more than once a day even if they haven't messaged or tagged you in a photo. B) Have dragged and dropped more than 3 FB photos (not from your own profile) C) actually go to a place mentioned on someone's page in hopes of seeing them in real life. Well there have been times that I looked at someone’s profile more than once a day, sometimes a comment they place on their feed, or wall or whatever that area is called, and that prompts me to go look at some picture or some group that they are in, sorry to those of you who I have done that to. I do not know how to drag and drop a facebook photo in my own profile so no chance of that in someone else’s profile. And as far as going to a place mentioned on someone’s page, that happened just recently. I reconnected with an old friend from the USS Gettysburg and on his page we discussed where we were going to meet, and then on our pages again, we planned and he came to our house for dinner.
I do look at my firends profiles, I do look at thier pictures and I do look at what groups they are in, do I spend “large amounts of time” doing it, no. So I guess there are now programs that let folks know who is viewing what and the periodicity of which they are viewing it. Well, I guess I am busted because sometimes I may come to your page more than once a day, hell I might even leave some traces (a comment) that you don’t need a “secret app” tracing my comings and goings. I hope you never need to come watch your house while you are out of town, although I bet you have those little hidden cameras watching me anyway.
You know what else I do, every week or so I pick friends that I have not seen any activity from in a while and guess what, I send them a “secret message” and ask how things are in their world. Not because I am stalking them, because I want to know how my friends are doing and that all is OK in their world. Something else I did was send FB email’s to about 20 different people, all named Marc Gagne asking if they were the Marc Gagne that I served with on the USS Stump by in the 80’s. A number of them messaged back with a comment "not me" but you know what happened yesterday, my buddy Marc from all those days ago checked in with me. I suppose that could be considered stalking as well but you know what, I don’t give a shit and if you care that much about me stopping in on your page then boot me from your friends list and that will stop that activity immediately. If you don’t care then you WILL be seeing me looking in from time to time (God forbid, I might even go look at one of your friends pages) and you might, just maybe, get a message from me asking how things are in your world.
Evidently a FB stalker is a person who spends large amounts of time on Facebook looking at other people's profiles, often browsing photos, walls (or wall-to-walls), groups, or recent activity posted on the stalked person's mini-feed. Well I would not say that I spend large amounts of time doing those things but I have done them before. I am not sure how an individual can secretly look up people on FB, going through albums, comments and personal information to piece together a picture of this person. I can’t figure out how to look at people unless we are my FB friends, in which case I am not sure it is stalking - is it.
They say you qualify as a FB stalker if you, A) click on someone's profile more than once a day even if they haven't messaged or tagged you in a photo. B) Have dragged and dropped more than 3 FB photos (not from your own profile) C) actually go to a place mentioned on someone's page in hopes of seeing them in real life. Well there have been times that I looked at someone’s profile more than once a day, sometimes a comment they place on their feed, or wall or whatever that area is called, and that prompts me to go look at some picture or some group that they are in, sorry to those of you who I have done that to. I do not know how to drag and drop a facebook photo in my own profile so no chance of that in someone else’s profile. And as far as going to a place mentioned on someone’s page, that happened just recently. I reconnected with an old friend from the USS Gettysburg and on his page we discussed where we were going to meet, and then on our pages again, we planned and he came to our house for dinner.
I do look at my firends profiles, I do look at thier pictures and I do look at what groups they are in, do I spend “large amounts of time” doing it, no. So I guess there are now programs that let folks know who is viewing what and the periodicity of which they are viewing it. Well, I guess I am busted because sometimes I may come to your page more than once a day, hell I might even leave some traces (a comment) that you don’t need a “secret app” tracing my comings and goings. I hope you never need to come watch your house while you are out of town, although I bet you have those little hidden cameras watching me anyway.
You know what else I do, every week or so I pick friends that I have not seen any activity from in a while and guess what, I send them a “secret message” and ask how things are in their world. Not because I am stalking them, because I want to know how my friends are doing and that all is OK in their world. Something else I did was send FB email’s to about 20 different people, all named Marc Gagne asking if they were the Marc Gagne that I served with on the USS Stump by in the 80’s. A number of them messaged back with a comment "not me" but you know what happened yesterday, my buddy Marc from all those days ago checked in with me. I suppose that could be considered stalking as well but you know what, I don’t give a shit and if you care that much about me stopping in on your page then boot me from your friends list and that will stop that activity immediately. If you don’t care then you WILL be seeing me looking in from time to time (God forbid, I might even go look at one of your friends pages) and you might, just maybe, get a message from me asking how things are in your world.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Osama Bin Ladin
Osama Bin Ladin
The name itself conjures images of the boogey man. While I am happy that he has received his 72 virgins I am not sure it makes a shit bit of difference in the grand scheme of things. The United States martyred him TEN YEARS AGO!!! I was sleeping when the news broke last night and learned of his demise when I logged onto Facebook this morning. There were lots of comments about the event, mostly involving his arrival in Hell and comments about pride in our Military and the work they have done. All pretty patriotic stuff, me I am not sure how I feel, mostly anger I think is what I have.
Why anger, I was as surprised by it as you might be. Maybe it was anger at the turmoil that this man threw the world into? While he did that and that is good reason to be angry I don’t think that is it. Maybe the anger is at the senseless deaths of the 2,998 folks who died on September 11th 2001? I am not sure that is it either. Maybe it is the 5,978 Military deaths that have occurred in the wars that were started by his heinous acts, this one makes me really angry but I don’t think that is it either. Maybe it is the $1,188,466,004,284 (over one trillion) the United States has spent on the wars tracking this guy down, this is about a quarter million dollars a minute, for every minute, over the last 10 years. That is a BIG problem for me as I feel that is part of the reason our economy is in the toilet, but I do not think that is the root of my anger either.
No, I think what I am mad about it that fact that it took the most powerful nation on the planet 10 years to catch him. I believe in the beginning that we did not want to catch him. I believe we (as a nation) needed him out there to chase. Without a boogey man out there how would we justify the costs of the wars to the tax payers? The very thing that Dwight David Eisenhower warned us about had come true – the military industrial complex was on its way to becoming self sustaining. There were LOTS of companies and LOTS of people who got very rich from lubing the mechanisms of the worlds most powerful military machine.
I served in the Military for 10 years and got out in 1993. I was not exposed to every capability the military has but I did observe quite a number of impressive capabilities and I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that we did not know where this guy was the whole time. When I can get on Google maps and look at the front door of my house and see it from outer frickin space I will never be convinced the government could not find a 6 + foot Arab who needed regular dialysis. I will never believe it, period.
Chopping the head off of a franchise type organization such as Al-Qaeda will do little to slow terrorism and thinking it will reinforces the naïve nature of our citizenry. We live in our insulated world and do not spend the time to learn or even understand the culture of others, that is one of the problems and why he hated us in the first place. We apply our thinking of the world to it and you know what, the world does not think like us, and we are two wrapped up in ourselves to notice.
I guess I am wondering if we should use his death to celebrate a victory over terrorism, why you might ask? Well let me tell ya why. Do you remember when the towers fell and people in foreign lands danced in the streets and we were pissed. Well here we are, doing the same thing – celebrating the death of another human being by dancing in the street. Granted this was a bad man but we are just as bad a society to a lot of people in the world and us celebrating in the streets has to be compared to “them” dancing in the streets. I saw a the view of folks outside the white house, if you were turn the volume down it looked just like what the terrorists were doing when the towers fell, shameful!! Don’t get me wrong, I am happy he is no longer leading the organization but really how engaged in that leadership do you think he has really been. I think he kicked a snowball down the hill by planning the events of 9/11 and then stood at the top of the hill, laughing about the snowballs crazy assed trip, hollering down occasionally to taunt us.
How big of a difference do you think his death will make, 10 years later. Most folks would not consider it a success when it took 10 years and $1,188,466,004,284 dollars to complete a mission. I am not sure I do. A lot of people died because of him, so I guess I am happy that he is gone, but that is not right. What ever happened to forgiveness? He was unable to forgive us for occupying the holy lands in Saudi Arabia, we seem unable to forgive him for a heinous act of terrorism. Forgiveness is not the same as justice and I am not saying it is, he had to be brought to justice for his actions. He needed to be called on the carpet for his horribly heinous acts. But in our hearts we must forgive those who trespass against us, I have heard that someplace before…….. where was that???
I heard a pundit this morning that his death is the most significant event in defeating Al-Qaeda. WHAT??? Most significant event, not sure I agree with that. I am also not sure that the world is any safer with him gone, do you? I am also trying to correlate his death to the heightened security we have to deal with at the airports. I am sure, it is tied in there somehow, but I just cant get there. Investors are doing well though, the stock markets of the world have rejoiced and they are all trading more briskly that normal. Why do you think that is?
You know what I am going to dislike more than anything else, all the media coverage. They will be pulling out people who had some obscure involvement over the last 10 years and put them on the tub as an expert. All of them will be talking about how they knew this day was coming and how important it is in the war on terror. Hell I even heard Colin Powell said that he knew he wasn’t hiding in a cave. Hindsight is 20/20 proves itself once again. Every one of these media types will be drooling over this, some trying to make a name for themselves, some trying to keep their name on top. I listened this morning for about an hour, that is all I really need – the actual news part of it. Like Joe Friday used to say “just the facts ma’am”. Osama Bin Ladin was killed by the Navy Seals in a stronghold in Pakistan that took 40 minutes and he was buried at sea within 24 hours in keeping with his religious beliefs. What is everything after that really – just noise.
The name itself conjures images of the boogey man. While I am happy that he has received his 72 virgins I am not sure it makes a shit bit of difference in the grand scheme of things. The United States martyred him TEN YEARS AGO!!! I was sleeping when the news broke last night and learned of his demise when I logged onto Facebook this morning. There were lots of comments about the event, mostly involving his arrival in Hell and comments about pride in our Military and the work they have done. All pretty patriotic stuff, me I am not sure how I feel, mostly anger I think is what I have.
Why anger, I was as surprised by it as you might be. Maybe it was anger at the turmoil that this man threw the world into? While he did that and that is good reason to be angry I don’t think that is it. Maybe the anger is at the senseless deaths of the 2,998 folks who died on September 11th 2001? I am not sure that is it either. Maybe it is the 5,978 Military deaths that have occurred in the wars that were started by his heinous acts, this one makes me really angry but I don’t think that is it either. Maybe it is the $1,188,466,004,284 (over one trillion) the United States has spent on the wars tracking this guy down, this is about a quarter million dollars a minute, for every minute, over the last 10 years. That is a BIG problem for me as I feel that is part of the reason our economy is in the toilet, but I do not think that is the root of my anger either.
No, I think what I am mad about it that fact that it took the most powerful nation on the planet 10 years to catch him. I believe in the beginning that we did not want to catch him. I believe we (as a nation) needed him out there to chase. Without a boogey man out there how would we justify the costs of the wars to the tax payers? The very thing that Dwight David Eisenhower warned us about had come true – the military industrial complex was on its way to becoming self sustaining. There were LOTS of companies and LOTS of people who got very rich from lubing the mechanisms of the worlds most powerful military machine.
I served in the Military for 10 years and got out in 1993. I was not exposed to every capability the military has but I did observe quite a number of impressive capabilities and I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that we did not know where this guy was the whole time. When I can get on Google maps and look at the front door of my house and see it from outer frickin space I will never be convinced the government could not find a 6 + foot Arab who needed regular dialysis. I will never believe it, period.
Chopping the head off of a franchise type organization such as Al-Qaeda will do little to slow terrorism and thinking it will reinforces the naïve nature of our citizenry. We live in our insulated world and do not spend the time to learn or even understand the culture of others, that is one of the problems and why he hated us in the first place. We apply our thinking of the world to it and you know what, the world does not think like us, and we are two wrapped up in ourselves to notice.
I guess I am wondering if we should use his death to celebrate a victory over terrorism, why you might ask? Well let me tell ya why. Do you remember when the towers fell and people in foreign lands danced in the streets and we were pissed. Well here we are, doing the same thing – celebrating the death of another human being by dancing in the street. Granted this was a bad man but we are just as bad a society to a lot of people in the world and us celebrating in the streets has to be compared to “them” dancing in the streets. I saw a the view of folks outside the white house, if you were turn the volume down it looked just like what the terrorists were doing when the towers fell, shameful!! Don’t get me wrong, I am happy he is no longer leading the organization but really how engaged in that leadership do you think he has really been. I think he kicked a snowball down the hill by planning the events of 9/11 and then stood at the top of the hill, laughing about the snowballs crazy assed trip, hollering down occasionally to taunt us.
How big of a difference do you think his death will make, 10 years later. Most folks would not consider it a success when it took 10 years and $1,188,466,004,284 dollars to complete a mission. I am not sure I do. A lot of people died because of him, so I guess I am happy that he is gone, but that is not right. What ever happened to forgiveness? He was unable to forgive us for occupying the holy lands in Saudi Arabia, we seem unable to forgive him for a heinous act of terrorism. Forgiveness is not the same as justice and I am not saying it is, he had to be brought to justice for his actions. He needed to be called on the carpet for his horribly heinous acts. But in our hearts we must forgive those who trespass against us, I have heard that someplace before…….. where was that???
I heard a pundit this morning that his death is the most significant event in defeating Al-Qaeda. WHAT??? Most significant event, not sure I agree with that. I am also not sure that the world is any safer with him gone, do you? I am also trying to correlate his death to the heightened security we have to deal with at the airports. I am sure, it is tied in there somehow, but I just cant get there. Investors are doing well though, the stock markets of the world have rejoiced and they are all trading more briskly that normal. Why do you think that is?
You know what I am going to dislike more than anything else, all the media coverage. They will be pulling out people who had some obscure involvement over the last 10 years and put them on the tub as an expert. All of them will be talking about how they knew this day was coming and how important it is in the war on terror. Hell I even heard Colin Powell said that he knew he wasn’t hiding in a cave. Hindsight is 20/20 proves itself once again. Every one of these media types will be drooling over this, some trying to make a name for themselves, some trying to keep their name on top. I listened this morning for about an hour, that is all I really need – the actual news part of it. Like Joe Friday used to say “just the facts ma’am”. Osama Bin Ladin was killed by the Navy Seals in a stronghold in Pakistan that took 40 minutes and he was buried at sea within 24 hours in keeping with his religious beliefs. What is everything after that really – just noise.
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