Greetings Fellow Bloggers and other miscreants:
O ho ... remember that oldie, but goodie? I hardly dare haul it out of the closet. It's sort of dusty and wrinkly. But let's take a look at it for a moment. We'll shake it out. And take it for a spin around the block to see what happens.
I was thinking about this the other day. It popped into my head. I remember it from my childhood during the Vietnam War. I remember all the peaceniks chanting it under Nixon's White House. I had no idea what they meant. I'm not sure they did either. They were very earnest, those young people.
But here's what I was thinking about it. There are very few leaders who have honestly ever given peace a chance. I can pretty much count them on one hand. Um, Gandhi. And ... Martin Luther King, Jr. Is there anyone else? Jesus. Anyone else? Even though I consider myself a Christian by calling, I will have to say here that I would not say that Jesus gave peace a chance. I would say that because Jesus was not a political leader, and here I'm talking politics. So, although I call myself one of his followers, I'm throwing his name out of this ring. Back to the drawing board ... I can't think of any others. Can any of you? If you can, please post them in the Comments because I'd like to get a conversation going on this. I'm going to continue on with my thoughts here.
Alright ... here's the problem. For the last, oh, all of recorded history, whenever there has been a conflict between nations or kings, the drums of war roll. It's what we do. But when have we seriously, and I mean seriously, tried peace. Who has given peace a chance? Gandhi did. And with stunning consequences. War has a somewhat less remarkable record. A win usually comes at a very high price.
I just wonder what would happen if we truly sat down one day, banged our swords into plowshares and really did give peace a chance. What would that look like? Take a moment ... Imagine.
28 September 2005
15 September 2005
Osama Won
Greetings Fellow bloggers and other miscreants,
Well, I think we have to finally say that Osama won.
Al Qaeda won.
There it's been said.
We can dispense with that and move along to the important stuff.
They won because we now have to wait in long security lines at airports ... but we're really not any safer.
They won because we've spent untold millions on "Homeland Security" but we couldn't help save a flea in New Orleans two weeks ago. In fact, if Katrina had hit in 2000, I think the residents of New Orleans would have been better off. They would have been safer.
I think it was Ronald Reagan who asked us to ask ourselves whether we were better or worse off than we were before his opponent took office. Well, now we have to admit ... we are much worse off than we were before 2001. I'm not pointing fingers, I'm just saying that we've thrown our money down a rathole.
Now let's combine this rathole with a quagmire that is attracting militants and terrorists to it's cause (Iraq). We are in a world of hurt at the moment.
In the next election cycle we need to elect a real leader. Not just someone who is different from gwb. Not just a democrat. But a "real" leader. Someone who can pull this country's irons out of the fire.
Does anyone have any good ideas?
Well, I think we have to finally say that Osama won.
Al Qaeda won.
There it's been said.
We can dispense with that and move along to the important stuff.
They won because we now have to wait in long security lines at airports ... but we're really not any safer.
They won because we've spent untold millions on "Homeland Security" but we couldn't help save a flea in New Orleans two weeks ago. In fact, if Katrina had hit in 2000, I think the residents of New Orleans would have been better off. They would have been safer.
I think it was Ronald Reagan who asked us to ask ourselves whether we were better or worse off than we were before his opponent took office. Well, now we have to admit ... we are much worse off than we were before 2001. I'm not pointing fingers, I'm just saying that we've thrown our money down a rathole.
Now let's combine this rathole with a quagmire that is attracting militants and terrorists to it's cause (Iraq). We are in a world of hurt at the moment.
In the next election cycle we need to elect a real leader. Not just someone who is different from gwb. Not just a democrat. But a "real" leader. Someone who can pull this country's irons out of the fire.
Does anyone have any good ideas?
13 September 2005
New Aristocracy
Greetings fellow bloggers and other miscreants ...
I firmly believe that we have managed to recreate the aristocracy of Europe. And in our usual fashion we've done it bigger and faster.
It took France (in conjunction with Austria, Prussia and all those other little places) about 1000 years to produce Marie Antoinette and her peers.
It took U.S. about 200 years to produce gwb and his.
Way to go.
Yes, I know that this photo is a fakery. I also know that Marie Antoinette probably never said, "Let them eat cake." ... It's the sentiment that's the thing. She was so out of touch with the people of France (and Austria for that matter) that it could credibly be said of her. And gwb is that out of touch with his people.
If you click on the link embedded in the gwb above, you'll find a post that is far more eloquent than I could ever be about how this person wishes gwb had responded to the crisis of Katrina as a person. As someone with feeling and a heart; as the rest of us did.
The real problem with gwb is not what the government did or didn't do. What FEMA did or didn't do, but it's that he wasn't with the rest of us gnashing his teeth and crying out to the God he claims to believe in over the pain of the death and destruction that was the Gulf Coast and particularly in New Orleans. He was too busy cracking jokes about parties and drinking; a latter day version of "Let them eat cake."
And that's what is so very wrong with his response to Katrina. It has nothing to do with speed, or the lack thereof. It has everything to do with compassion ... or the lack thereof.
I firmly believe that we have managed to recreate the aristocracy of Europe. And in our usual fashion we've done it bigger and faster.
It took France (in conjunction with Austria, Prussia and all those other little places) about 1000 years to produce Marie Antoinette and her peers.
It took U.S. about 200 years to produce gwb and his.
Way to go.
Yes, I know that this photo is a fakery. I also know that Marie Antoinette probably never said, "Let them eat cake." ... It's the sentiment that's the thing. She was so out of touch with the people of France (and Austria for that matter) that it could credibly be said of her. And gwb is that out of touch with his people.
If you click on the link embedded in the gwb above, you'll find a post that is far more eloquent than I could ever be about how this person wishes gwb had responded to the crisis of Katrina as a person. As someone with feeling and a heart; as the rest of us did.
The real problem with gwb is not what the government did or didn't do. What FEMA did or didn't do, but it's that he wasn't with the rest of us gnashing his teeth and crying out to the God he claims to believe in over the pain of the death and destruction that was the Gulf Coast and particularly in New Orleans. He was too busy cracking jokes about parties and drinking; a latter day version of "Let them eat cake."
And that's what is so very wrong with his response to Katrina. It has nothing to do with speed, or the lack thereof. It has everything to do with compassion ... or the lack thereof.
11 September 2005
A Place To Talk Politics!
Dear Fellow Bloggers and other miscreants,
Here's my place to talk politics. A place to rag on the right ... and the left. I'm just done with the way things are going in this country. Where we are is sad. Our forefathers must be turning in their graves. Our promise has been nearly squandered. I hope we can pull our proverbial irons out of the fire. What do you think?
Here's my place to talk politics. A place to rag on the right ... and the left. I'm just done with the way things are going in this country. Where we are is sad. Our forefathers must be turning in their graves. Our promise has been nearly squandered. I hope we can pull our proverbial irons out of the fire. What do you think?
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