Enemies and Evil Do'ers

There was once an EVIL EMPIRE known as the Soviet Union. They had ten thousand nuclear warheads pointed at us. They paraded them around Moscow. Their leaders talked about how they were going to bury us etc. And yet we talked to them, had a phone line between our President and their leader. In the 45 years of cold war between the US and the USSR we never really stopped talking. And we saved each others lives. There were plenty of people on both sides that would have liked us to slug it out in a big horrible, earth-ending, war. But calmer, more adult, minds won out and though we bitched at each other and spied on each other, and faught violent proxy wars in little counties like Vietnam and Afgahnistan (USSR War not our new one) we did not go to war directly with each other. And so you and I are still alive and the earth is not a dead rock.

So when Bin Laden goes out and asks for a truce or to negotiate we should not simply say that he is the bad guy and we don't talk to bad guys. That is a childish response, not the response of a Super Power. The US is too big to muck around in the simplminded world of good vs evil. There are usually a multitude of ways to skin a cat. Some ways require talking. Even if that talking is to the very cat needing to be skinned. This takes skill, leadership, commitment to life, commitment to American greatness, and the ability to actually believe that we are worth fighting for.

I remember the God given opportunity that Bush and Iran passed up when both leaders were in Rome for the funeral for Pope John Paul II. Sometimes the initiative must be siezed when the opportunity presents itself. By asking for a meeting with Bin Laden we would put him on the defensive. IF he shows up he knows he could be killed. If he says no then he appears foolish or cowardly. By continuously allowing Bin Laden or his lueitenent to speak about truces, and meetings, we give them too much power. I would wish to force them to put up or shut up. I would say that in our world people talk to each other not shoot at each other. And If Bin Laden wishes to talk we can talk.

Oh crap...Hamas won an election

Well what did everyone think was going to happen? Look what happened in 1776 when a pissed off population of British subjects voted their conscience. Why is it people think that elections lead only to happy times for all? If a country is filled with people who are poor, under employed, crowded, assaulted, and preached to be hate-mongers, they probably will not for for a peace-nick. The French revolution should be the standard warning to anyone trying to get a democracy out of a tyranny or anarchy. America worked becasue the actaul government after 1776 was little different than the previous one. Accept there was no king or parliment on the other side of the atlantic. With France, the king got his head chopped off along with thousands of other royals and anyone else who got in the way of "liberty". It didn't end until the dictatorship of Napolean.

In the longrun there will be peace and Isrearl and Palestine will exist side by side. But it isn't going to be in my lifetime.

Poll Crunch For January!!!!

Does the Nation like the job ol' W is doing?

Approve 41%
Disapprove 53%
Duh I dunno 6%

So is he doing a good job? I mean just because the naiton thinks he stinks that doesn't acutally mean he is doing a bad job. However whether we look at foreign or domestic policy he looks pretty pathetic. In the time it took FDR to destroy Japan and Germany, W has yet to stabilize Afgahnistan to say nothing of the FUBAR that is Iraq. The number of jihadists in the world is on the rise, Osama Bin Laden is still at large, our civil liberties are under attack, our nations image is in the toilet, and while out economy is "expanding" it is little comfort to the 30,000 people the lost their high-wage jobs at GM or the 30,000 that are losing their jobs at Ford. The healthcare crisis is only getting worse. Chinese investment bankers are taking turns driving the world economy as well as funing the US government. Bush, to me, looks weak and disconnected to the reality of the world and his nation. I think he is not going to be remembered as a good President.

Forgiveness and punishment

There is nothing that test your faith as a Christian more than being faced with a great wrong and then wrestling with forgivenss. The Christian soul wishes to forgive almost at once while the intellect says "What are you nuts? Eye for an Eye!" The Christian approach is the only approach that leads to lasting peace. However the desire for punishment of the offender is strong too. I harken back to Calvery when Christ was hanging on that cross and the two men were haning with him. The one man tells Jesus that if He is the son of God then why doesn't he get down off the cross. The other man says that Jesus is an inocent man while both of the men are being crucified as they deserve. Then he asks Jesus to remember him. Jesus of course tells him that he will be with Jesus in Paradise. However at no time does Jesus get the dude off his cross. He lets the man hang there and die along with him. So I guess the moral is just because you get forgiven your sin, and will be with Jesus in Paradise, doesn't mean you get out of your earthly punishment, whatever that happens to be.

The other great thing about forgivness of sin is that as a Christian I can help redeem a mans soul by that act. God alone redeems souls but forgiving my neighbor I redeem myself. That is a pretty powerful position to be in. Conversely to withold forgivness for those who wrong me is a blight on my soul and I would not wish to meet God and answer for why I could not forgive another's transgressions. We set ourselves up for getting punished in the hearafter if we try to hold onto the sins of those who wrong us. We become the sin eater taking on the punishment we wish to levy on them. I would certainly rather leave eternal punishment to God and not tell the divine whom He should punish and whom He should not.

For the aetheist I would argue that Christain forgivness is the only true path of healing since to not forgive is to keep the wound alive thus propetuating and transfering the wrongs of others from generation to generation. Punishment is another matter. Punishment for a wrong comitted is appropriate in this life. Proper punishment preserves the order of systems. Without it the order breaks down and people feel as though they can get away with anything.

Confusing idiocy from Michael "Weiner" Savage

MS loves to extoll the virtues of the insipid fear monger Joeseph McCarthy and the knucklewalking bafoons that followed him. Currently MS is trying, in his typically mentally retarded way, to link the current furor over wire tapping with red bating in the 50's. What a load of shite. MS should just admit that he is a f'ing NAZI and be done with it.

Review of Dead Like Me

I highly recomend this two year Show Time series, now available on DVD. if you want lots of gore, and excitment you can forget it. This is a comedy drama with good writing, good characters, and high style. In a nut shell this is the story of the mundane, and not so mundane, life of a dead girl who has to spend some time being a grim reaper. The main character is not out of central casting, does not do the typical teenage crap that makes you want to puke everytime you see a teen on TV. Ellen Muth is superb as are the rest of the cast members. Check it out.

Review of King Kong

Remaking King Kong is the hight of Hollywood vainglory. The original is
a great film that despite its age stands up on its own. This film,
while technically brilliant, has a script that is no better than the
1976 version, and in some ways is worse. It is a very beautiful, long,
disappointment. Not only is the script poor the acting is also
lackluster with the notable exceptions of Naomi Watts and the ape. The
island natives are valueless imps with no back story at all to tell us
why they do what they do. They come accross as nothing but a plot contrivance to get us into
the jungle and face to face with Kong. Interestingly the wall scenes in
this film look puny and confusing compared to either the original or
the 76 remake. If Jackson wanted to remake a film from that era that
desperately needs to be remade he should have picked Metropolis.

Gets a 6 out of 10

The Unholy Communion

The parishoners stood in line faithfully. The line snaked back from the altar. Many ministers awaited them. As each approached the altar they placed their items on the counter and the ministers recited methodically with joy and reverence. "Did you find everything you needed?"

The responsorial "grumbling and mumbling" is heard from the congregation as they approach the altar

The minister then solemnly speaks the incantation "Credit or Debit"

The parishoner bows while looking into his wallet or her purse. Then hands the minister the method of redemption.

The minister then weighs the sole of the parishoner.

After the communioin the minister hands the items back in a sack and says "Merry Christmas" As if that last bit matters in this unholy communion.

And still the lines snake our from the unholy altars of excess from malls, and main streets, small towns and megolopoli, from New York, to London, to Moscow. And the hyms of consumption and production rise up off the simmering surface of the dirty little world. And little old ladies stand in the rain with little kettles and ringing bells asking that more metalic mana be dropped into their own little altars for all are slaves and obidient servants to the money god of the little dirt ball and that god does not dwell in heaven or hell or anywhere else but in the stock exhanges, pocketbooks, and debit cards of the faithful. As the people need the god to eat so they need the god to build houses of worship to other gods, peopled by committees of trying to help the poor by relying of the money god to save them. But no one will be saved by worshiping the money god. All goway emptier than they came dispite the heavy loads of packages under their arms. They will open those packages with joy and smiles but all too soon the smiles fade and the vast empty vacume of their sole bekons them like a cliff pulls at a man standing at its edge.

Christmas Poll Crunch

Ho Ho Ho do you approve of Bush or not?

Approve: 41%
Disapprove: 53%
Duh I dunno: 6%

Dufus and his war on America

Okay let me be frank. President Bush is a disreputable destroyer of America. The Administrations argument to ignore laws (break them) is that they are saving America. What is the America they are saving? Land of the Free and home of the Brave? Sorry not anymore thanks to Bush. The land of the spied on is more accurate. Maybe the king dork is spying on me now. Hey dork...yes you...Happy Holidays.

President Bush needs to go. All his people need to go. We have law, the stuff they like to ignore, that can get rid of them. However what happens if we tell them to go and they decide to stay anyway? That is when you have to go to the Declaration of Independance.

" That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it"

Down with king George!

Is anybody listening?

Is it okay to tell you child, while angry, that you cannot weight for the child to turn 18 so she can get out of your house? Is it okay to tell your child that if she talks to her Dad about your adulterous affair with with a stranger, you will make her life a living hell while the divorce proceedings are happening? Is it okay to tell you children if they are fighting that if they don't shut up you will leave them. Is it okay to get drunk and then yell at the kids that they are making your life hell? Is it okay to expose your children to your affair and then force them to lie about it to keep it quiet?

Am I being irrational in thinking that none of this is okay?

Let me know?

Life is Good

The duplicitous nature of man may spell his final doom on this little dirt ball but life is still good. I feel sorry for those afloat in the inky sea of life without a compass. A good compass in this particular ocean allows you not only to find your way but to stand in shallow water and walk in the right direction. The compass is TRUTH

Stopping the A Bomb

B-29 flying fortress takes off from tiny island with one big bomb, an atom bomb.
It flys across the ocean, stayig the course that it has set by the leaders.
Over the target it's bombardier opens the bombay doors.
The pilot stays the course as the bombardier drops the bomb.
Then they realize that the course they have stayed is the wrong one
They circle around and the bombardier jumps out of the bomber.
He plumets earthward, arm outstretched like Superman.
He catches up the the bomb
He places himself between the bomb and the ground.
He leans against the falling bomb putting all his weight into it.
At 1100 feet the presure trigger goes off
The bombardier is vaporzed along with a hundred thousand of the wrong people

Unless we do something different in Iraq we are the bombardier pushing against the bomb.

Migration

All the talk of more border gards, more vouchers, employer scrutiny, won't accomplish anything. Not until the reasons behind the flight to the US is addressed. Men and Women come here because there is NOTHING for them in their own countries. Low wages brought on by endemic corruption, non-responsive governements, dangerous and unsanitary living conditions, all push people to flee to the US. South of the boarder is a hell hole and you'd have to be nuts not to want to get out of it. We need to do a better job of building internally sustainable economies with living wage jobs in Mexico and Centeral America. Free trade is only making matters worse since it is forcing upon these nations the idea that the path to weath is an export economy. This may be a part of national wealth creation but if practiced to the exclusion of internal economies it leads to self reinforced low wages.
The country has its economic star tied to low wage jobs. A rise in wages causes transnationals to leave for cheaper nations and so the incentive is to keep your labor force poor and under control. It would be better for the IMF and World Bank to emphasize internal economic growth and self sustaining growth policies. That have to be based on a nation existing for itself without export economics. Only after a nation has a vibrant self sustaing economy can it bother with export as a serious industry.
Free trade is in the process of becoming a manifest evil since the way it is practiced it enslaves poor naitons. That is why Hugo Chavez is doing what he is doing. He is attempting to curb it in his own nation. It makes him dangerous since if all Centeral American nations took control of their countires and focused on what was best for their own work force the goods you and I eat and wear would be more expensive. He is dangerous since the power of transnational companies is being thwarted and put in jepoardy.
If we really wanted to curb illegal imigration we would be talking to people like Chavez and partenering with them to assist other nations in building internally sustainable economies, not trying to oust him via a coup. The myth that people would simply come to the US if their own nation was in order is just that a myth. It is in America's interest to see to it that the poorer nations to the south have higher wages, less coruption, and better living standards. It would not only reduce illegal imigration but enhance stability in the countries involved and that would better for national security, drug policy, and business.

The Elephant in all his glory

I listened to President Bush outling his definition for victory. He laid out his multi-level approach to when our troops come home. He said the same stuff as before though I do not think he used the term "evil-doers". Punidts on both sides either applauded or denounced it. However the big Elephant was there for all to see.

If the goal is for our troops to leave when Iraqi forces can "stand up" then we are admitting there will be a reason to have those Iraqi troops standing up. We are admitting that there will be war when we leave. Even the President is admitting this. We will leave Iraq at best a land where factions are fighting each other. At worst we will leave and let the Iraqi government fight a civil war for its survival.

That is the Elephant that nobody really wants to talk about. We are getting ready to leave Iraq in a state of destruction. Destruction wrought upon it by Sadam, Bush senior, Clinton, and George Bush. Even the President is not talking about leaving Iraq in peace. Only leaving with the government troops able to fight the war themselves. We are now being prepped by Bush and Congress to accepet Iraq as a war zone and at the same time cheer ourselves as victorious warriors.

I heard a Bush league pundit say that we "cannot walk into the future while looking into the past" regarding our desire to know how we got into this war. Well we better pay attention or we will be duped again. We all are to blame for this mess. Congress did have 90% of the info the White House had. And they are not dumb people. They saw the flimsy evidence but went along. Nobody wanted to act week after 911. So we all gave Bush the benefit of the doubt and trusted our troops to sqwash Iraq. Well this should instruct us not to trust one President when all sorts of other people are saying something different. It should instruct us to the value of real debate. Iraq is an example of letting your hart rule your actions.

Still the Elephant remains. We are getting ready to leave Iraq in a state of war. Not good. Not at all. But probably unavoidable and the best that can be achieved now. But hey we should everyone how tough we are. Right?

Of boots and feet

I calculated that if I replaced my Raichle Montanga's with the La Sportiva Trango S EVO, on a two mile hike I would save my body from having to lift 5,922.56 lbs of boot. The calculation is rough but goes like this....

Old Boots weigh 6 lbs
New Boots weight 3.2 lbs

Two Miles of Trail run 10,576 ft

Average stride 2.5ft

Strides in Two Miles: 10,576 / 2.5 = 4,230.4

Weight per stride (old boot) = 3lbs
Weight per stride (new boot) = 1.6lbs

Total boot wieght for two miles (old boot) = 12,691.2 lbs
Total boot weight for two miles (new boot) = 6,768.64 lbs

That is an amazing amount of lifting your legs do aside from the act of lifting the rest of your body and backpack. Just my old boots make my body lift 6.35 tons on a short little two mile jaunt.

Ae we ready for a pandemic if it comes? What the hell! We already have one!!!!!!!!!

Currently the worst pandemic in human history is upon us. It is not bird flu. It is a virus that is 100% fatal if untreated and even with treatment life is shortened and life quality effected. The pandemic is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. To date this pandemic has killed 25 million people. 5 million people have come down with it this year alone. 3.1 million people die of the disease each year. 40 million more are infected. 40,000 US citizens come down with the illness each year. In africa, where the pandemic is currently hitting hardest only 1 in 10 infected people are being treated. In Asia the pandemic is out pacing all actions to stop it.

Yet here we are worried about Bird Flu. Currently if you become infected with it the odds of you dying are as yet unkown. The mortality rate in Asian cases is 72%. If you put the deaths in context that percentage should not look as frightening. The cases documented are of very poor people living in terrible conditions and treated with substandard care at the outset of their illness. If an American contracted the illness in the US, I would imagine the mortality would be less. Aids is as 100% fatal for the American as it is for the Botswanan, though it takes 10 to fifteen years to manifest itself. At best a patient will live the rest of their lives ingesting loads of anti-retroviral drugs.

Are we ready for bird flu? Bird flu is a cake walk to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has been raging out of control for 20 years.

Info Sources - The Aids Pandemic in the 21st Century - United States Agency for International Development issued in 2004
- Center for Disease Control

Murtha and how to misquote him

I keep hearing how Jack Murtha from Pennsylvania wants the troops out imeadiately. NPR says it, CNN says it, CBS says it. Of course Jack Murtha never said it. But that doesn't matter. It matters more that the story is enhanced if he had said it so lets just pretened that he did. What he actually said, in his House Resolution, was this....

Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That: The deployment of United States forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date. A quick-reaction U.S. force and an over-the-horizon presence of U.S. Marines shall be deployed in the region. The United States of America shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.

What he is saying is that since the President is unwilling to look facts in the face the Congress, who has the power to wage war and conclude peace, has to act. All the resolution would do would be to redirect things so that they are descalating toward no troops in Iraq. "The earliest practicable date" could mean 6 months or longer. And even then the force would not be gone, only out of the site of most Iraqi's. This pretty much gels with what Iraqi leaders want too.

But let us not look at the actual words of the honorable Mr. Murtha. Let us listen to Cheney or Bush or anyone of a hundred pundits all commenting on Murtha without actually discussing the resolution. Let us not discuss what took Murtha to his current way of thinking. Does anyone know why he did what he did? Is anyone discussing the facts? No.

Fact: In recent surrvey's 70% of Iraqi do not approve of being occupied.
Fact: 45% of surrvied Iraqi's consider attacks against US soldiers totally legitamate self defense.
Fact: Insurgent attacks have increased from 150 a week in 2003-4 to over 700 a week in 2005
Fact: Infrastructure in Iraq remains below where it was prior to the invasion.
Fact: 60% of the nation is unemployed

All Jack Murtha is trying to do, like a true patriot who loves his country, is direct our vision to reality and get us to discuss the big elephant in the living room before it stomps on us.

For those of you who do not know who Murtha is:

"This is Jack Murtha, who left college during the Korean War to enlist as a private in the United States Marine Corps, and who later, as a 33-year-old husband and father of three, volunteered to fight in combat in Vietnam, where he was twice wounded and received the Bronze Star with combat "V," two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

Nobody -- not even the most conservative commando with the biggest flag lapel pin in the House Republican leadership -- dares to suggest that Jack Murtha is "soft" personally or politically on communists, terrorists or any enemy of America. He is recognized as the knowledgeable and informed Democratic hawk on defense in the House, whose counsel and support have been highly valued by presidents, national security advisors and defense secretaries in both parties.

Twice Murtha, in the House, voted to back invasions of Iraq by a president named Bush. Today, recently back from a return inspection visit there, Murtha is upset and angry about Iraq, its future and the well-being of this nation's military men and women their civilian leadership have stationed there"

-source May 8th 2004 CNN

The Bush league better catch a clue!

The White House is like a guy who goes into a movie theater and yells "fire" then gets caught and trys to argues that it isn't really his fault since everyone else ran out of the theater too.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire vs Jar Head

HP

For starters this series almost always puts me to sleep. It just keeps going on and on and on. It is like going to prep-school while partaking often of LSD. The weird characters and magical jiggery-pokery just keeps comming at you. There always seems to be some kind of sporting event with lots of flying around and hooliganism. And for all the magical stuff things are pretty squalid. Can't they clean that Hogwart dump up? Does it have to look so shitty? Shouldn't it be at least as advanced as the non-magical world the gandalf-wana-bes come frome? Still the place and stories seem to have enormous appeal to young people and old people. The story in this film, like most of them, while attempting to be vast and expansive, is real two dimensional. I always, about half way through the films, tend to wonder "okay so who is the bad guy? Wormwood...no....thats not it..." and so on. So how does this rate with Star Wars. Very similar. Loud and shallow. It has better acting and much better dialogue but it is pretty much the same. This movie gets a 7

Jar Head

This movie is the least bloody war film I have seen in quite some time. What it lacks in blood it more than makes up for with characters. The main character is solid and is crafted so well that you like, loath, love, and hate him almost all at once. This would be an excellent film to accompany Three Kings and Blackhawk Down as a desert war trilogy. Films like this eat Harry Potter and Star Wars like a couple MRE's. It gets a 9.