Militancy

I wonder sometimes about the sanity of people today. Everyone has to have gratification instantly- perhaps it has something to do with all the tools we now have- microwaves, computers and such, but we are an impatient people. Along with that, we have an unpleasant side of this, in that we feel that we shouldn't have to suffer anything we do not like. Take religion- this is always a contentious issue at best, because, regardless of the teachings of any particular religion( and they ALL have, at their core, the teachings of love and tolerence), each religion asserts that they, and only they, are the true religion. This is how wars begin.
And to top it off, now we have the atheists ( no way will I dignify them by capitalizing their "title"), who somehow believe that their right to not be offended aat any display of religion supersedes any one elses right to worship as they see fit.
Is anyone else as confused as I am? I feel like Alice in the looking glass- I know our legal system is full of phrases designed to stun the average person into insensibility, but the twisted logic used by these people is enough to twist your head clean off.
Lets get something straight right now. We, the people, have the freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. This right was intended to keep the State from decreeing that to have your other rights, you had to belong to a particular religion. Still, you would have to be a complete moron not to clearly see that THE MAJORITY of the people who reside in the United States are of Judeo-Christian upbringing. That is a fact that is indisputable. The majority is not atheist. So I kinda get my hackles up when some atheist-come-lately decides he or she doesn't like any display or religious symbol. They feel that their feelings supercede our feelings. They could turn their head, as one might when passing some R- rated movie poster, but no. It has become a " Look at Me, Me, Me!" kind of rudely childish sort of attention- getting thing. I am not amused. This self-serving militancy of the religiously insecure must stop.
And then you have the lawyers who get fat at our public moneytroughs by representing these pitiful excuses for people. They give lawyers a worse name, and believe you me, they really do not need any more negativity, they have their own problems. And yet, there they are, slurping taxpayer money,because they truly are like the pigs in Orwell"s Animal Farm.
If Ethics were injectable in serum form, lawyers' skins would probably bend the needle.

Change

" Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead."
Aldous Huxley


Change is inevitable, indeed needed to proceed in life. People like consistency, they plan on it, so they can plan their lives, and planning is a good exercise in frustration. For every plan you have, there will be at least one thing to mess it up. Think Murphy's Law- If it can go wrong, it will. My corallary to that law would be- If it can go wrong, and will, it will go twice as wrong as you anticipated. What I mean by that is that resistance to change is an exercise in futility, but reliance to plans set in stone are not a good thing either. I do not mean for you to stop making plans, but to recognise that sometimes you just have to go with the flow of events out of your control.
Look at New Orleans- they thought they had a plan, and they found that they were vastly overmatched by nature. Now, they have to change their vision of the city. Some people want it back the way it was, but no way, Jose. The way it was was not good for many people, just familiar to most people. Now things must change, and some people do not like this, but if things are not improved, the next time it could be worse. If it is changed, perhaps the next time won't be as bad. At any rate, some of the people will get left out of the new New Orleans, and that is probably a good thing, as heartless as that might sound. Some people always fall by the wayside during a vast change, and believe me, NOLA has been due for a good flushing for a looooooong time.
That sounds cold, and perhaps it is, coming from someone who doesn't have a dog in the hunt, so to speak, but my advantage in looking at this is that I can be objective. Somewhat, anyway- I have seen the crime increase in Houston because of evacuees, and some of the trashed apartments they have left in their wake- so I can state that, like a spring cleaning of one's house, this was long overdue.
The wonder of it all is that it took nature so long to get around to NOLA. After all, it sits right on the Gulf Coast, TWELVE FEET under sea level, and nobody thought that might not be a good thing? That just shows how resistance to change might just kill you.
Historians can now record that there were nine cities of Troy, each one built on top of the other. Don't you think after the third or forth Troy was dust and ash, someone asks " Do you think maybe we might think of a different neighborhood to settle in?"
A person can find countless examples of people refusing to change. They occur with depressing frequency- Israel and the Arabs, Sudan famine, these are global in scope, but boneheaded none the less. I mean, if all there is sand around you , you might think of moving. If you live below sea level, do not be surprised when Mother Nature pays you a visit, because IT WILL HAPPEN.
Oh, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but one day there will be another hurricane, and if Mayor " Chocolate City" Nagin doesn't get off of his beignet-softened ass, he will end up the most reviled man since Hitler. I mean, let's face it- the people most affected by this don't give a rat's ass if the help they receive is Democrat, or Republican, they just need the help. What's more important is that they get a plan that attempts to minimize the impact. Let us face the facts here, we can not raise the city twelve feet, so other things need to be thought out.
The people of New Orleans need a better plan than Nagin's "bend over and kiss your ass goodbye". I figure that must be his plan, because I haven't heard of any other plan come from his lips.
The people deserve better than him.

Awareness II

Let's talk about another aspect of awareness, and that is, being aware of your surroundings and situations. In my experience, most people are not always as aware as they should be, and that is probably a result of being in soft situations as they grow up. Mom and Dad probably protectedtheir little baby so that nothing bad could happen to their child, but in doing so, they eliminated the need to be aware of danger in situations. Almost all situations have an inherent risk to them, and if a person does not learn about the possibilities of dangers, they will stumble into them blindly.
When I was young, about 6 or 7 years old, I had a knife I had gotten out of the kitchen drawer. I was trying to cut open a beanpod that was really tough, because I wanted to see what was inside the bean. I ended up stabbing myself in the hand, a scar I have nearly fifty years later. My parents didn't ban knives from me, no, they figured quite rightly that pain is a rapid teacher, and I would learn my lesson. I did.
That is but one example. The world is full of them, but most people are locked into a city life, and never really get out into nature to see what's really going on in the world. I was fishing one day, and I noticed a mother duck with about a dozen little ducklings, paddling along the edge of this lake. I noticed that she was desperately trying to keep the ducklings in a tightly packed formation, close to her. As they paddled across some open water, one of the ducklings lagged behind to eat on some moss, or perhaps a bug. It didn't lag behind by much, but it was enough. As I watched, a bass rose up under it, and in a flash it was gone, food for a fish. There was nothing the mother could do, except keep trying to be a mom to the remaining ducklings.
Life can be like that, catching you unawares, but if you try at all times to be aware of where, when and why you are, the chances are minimized. All wild animals have this awareness-( if you watch deer, they eat with their ears perked up, so nothing can sneak up on them)- the ones that do not, become part of the food chain. So will we if we are not careful. In this day and age, there is much less room for error, as there are so many more people. The saying is that only the strong survive, and with people, our main strength is our brain, although sometimes one has to wonder.
Now, there are two kinds of awareness- the kind that helps keep you alive, and self-awareness, that which enables you to at least be true to yourself, if noone else. That is a subject for another day. For now, let us all concentrate on staying alive and free. To do this, you have to live in the moment. You should feel the wind on your face and know the direction it is coming from. Smell the smells the wind brings you. Do not just look at something, but really SEE. See not just the basics, but the completeness. See with your peripheral vision as well as your direct sight. The term ' being blindsided" means that it comes at you from the corners of your vision.
You have to have a complete grasp of what is within your observable sphere at all times, or you might be a statistic, which is another way of saying that you have become a lesson to someone else.
And that would be sad for you.

A Livable Wage

No quote today, either. I cannot find one that adequately states the way I feel about the state of the economy, and the betrayal of the people regarding a minimum wage.
When I began my career as a carpenter, I did so out of a need to pay the rent, and find some extra money for college. As I had no experience as a carpenter, I was paid the minimum wage of the day, 1.75 per hour. Sure doesn't seem like much now, does it? It didn't seem like much then, either, but I was able to save money at that wage. Of course, everything cost much less then- bread was 15 cents a loaf, gas was 20 cents a gallon, cigarettes were 35 cents a pack, even a new truck, right off of the lot, was 2,000 dollars.
Now, fast forward into the future thirty five years-bread is 1.50 a loaf, gas is 2.50 to 3.00 a gallon, cigarettes are 3.50 a pack, and trucks are at least 20,000 dollars if you want one brand new, and in some cases even more. Yet the minimum wage, which if adjusted for the inflation of other goods would be 17.50, is instead at 5.65 per hour. And economists everywhere ask why people cannot save money. I'll tell you why- the federal government, both parties, and both houses, have conspired for years to keep the wages down. They say it is to stay competitive with the rest of the world, but that is flat out bullshit. It would, on the face of it, seem to be their way of dragging us down to the level of the rest of the world, and I think that if this is true, all these politicians should be bitch slapped all the way down Constitution Avenue.
This is just a way for the businesses to have a larger share. These businesses can say all they wish about the rising cost of doing business, but the percentage of their costs was the same in 1970, so I would like to know how they made it then, and can't make it now, if the wages were adjusted fairly to allow for the rise in inflation, which is about 3.3 percent annually.
This is the overriding reason that the illegal horde is allowed to enter so freely- if they will take these jobs cheaper, then there is more money for the CEOs- God forbid they actually pass that surplus on to their stockholders, as they should ( adn they are richly rewarded for their thievery ), but the average working man doesn't really see this money, as he has been " locally outsourced."
I know many people will say, hey, these minimum wage jobs are not meant to be anything but " entry" jobs, and as such, they shouldn't pay as well. Perhaps, but what most economists lose sight of is the fact that ALL other jobs, one way or another, use the minimum wage as a baseline from which they determine the worth of all other jobs. So, if the wage is 5.65, and you are making 20.00 per hour, you feel pretty good. If the wage is 17.50, and you are making 20.00 per hour, you do not feel as if you are advancing as fast or far as you might otherwise. Especially if you have spent 35 years becoming a premier carpenter, and you are told, that your wages would buy the services of two Mexicans. That hurts.
Now I know that my days as a carpenter are numbered, i am getting older, and I have the reminders of accidents on the job that slow me down but I still have knowlege that I use to my advantage, something immigrants won't get for awhile, if they stay in carpentry.
I use my experience as an example, but this is true throughout the whole economy, and the sooner the people wake up to this the better, or we will be down to the level of Mexico, or Bangla Desh, an abhorrent prospect, as we as a people, have spent years trying to get ahead oonly to slip further and further behind, thanks to our Government.
Don't you just love politics in action?

Illegal Immigration

No quote today. What can one say about the hordes of people streaming across the border that hasn't already been screamed? What I have to add to the debate may seem inconsequential to some, but reflect that I probably have more experience with the aliens than you do. I have been a carpenter for thirty five years, and during this time, I have worked alongside quite a few of them, and been friends with some.
I admire them, but at the same time I can see that they are doing the economy no good, and even holding wages down. This hurts both American and illegal wages alike, so they are, in effect, cutting their own throats. You see, it works like this: a person works for X wages, but an illegal comes along and says that they will work for minus- X wages. The employer hires him, which seems to be a good deal for the employer, and a good deal for the illegal, but it puts the established worker out on the street- not a good deal for him or her.
In addition, the illegal has agreed to work for less, thus lowering the bar for wage levels. Add to that whole crews of illegal aliens that undercut established ( and legal) crews of Americans, and they really lower the bar, not to mention the quality of the work. I know it will sound racist, but I have yet to meet a really good Mexican carpenter- Oh, I know some exist, but I have not met them. Part of that may be the attitude that they have a " peon" attitude, that is, they do not wish to spend time learning complex things, because then they would have to take responsibility for their quality. Also, they might not be around for long, so why bother?
I worked for a year on a house that would sell for about 8 million dollars- worked my ass off on this house, because on a house that costs that much, there can be no mistakes, and I spent more time fixing the Mexican crews' mistakes than I did on my own work. Some of these people had been with the same company for years- they should know what was expected of them, and yet, their work continued to be sloppy. This should not be. I would not expect it of an American, why should I excuse anyone else? Why should the rules be special for another group of people? Now, THAT would really be racist, wouldn't it? ( Coincidentally, the same policy is called Affirmative Action.)
Still, my biggest beef with the immigration policy in this day and age is the fact that we do not know who is coming in, nor really how many. Wouldn't YOU want to know who is coming into your house without your permission? I damn sure would. Right now, our government's policy is akin to someone coming into your house, saying that they can stay, you have to pay them under the table, and by the way, they are entitled to a part of your medical coverage. If a baby is born at your house, it is now a member of your family, like it or not.
Well folks, The United States of America is OUR house. I want to know who my guests are, and if they act up, I want, no demand the right to toss them out on their ass. If they stay, I want them to contribute their fair share in taxes ( which they do not- I have seen the scams), learn English, and if they are to be true Americans, quit waving the flag of another country. Unless it is the Stars and Stripes, it only has a place as a memory, not a loyalty. Divided loyalties will simply mean that you are ineffective in two countries- pick ONE.
Some people say that immigrants only take jobs that Americans won't do, but the truth is that the reason that Americans do not take these jobs is that the immigrants have radically down-sized the wages of that job, rendering it useless as a living wage. Until there is accountability for these aliens, from both the security and economic standpoint, they will be aliens here.
That is the Bottom Line.


Next Post: A Living Wage

Red State, Blue State?

" We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools."
Martin Luther King
When I was but a small boy, I had my first introduction to politics in the state of Texas. My father was at the time an advertising executive, and while self- promotion is and has ever been synonomous with politics, the advertising industry was just then really getting into it.
As a result, I met many of the movers and shakers of the Democratic party. Most were genuinely good men, but a few of them you wouldn't want to have near you- much the same as real life, I know- but then these were the people we were trying to get elected to an office that would have serious implications on everybodies' everyday lives.
You have to understand, back then the Democratic party was virtually the only party in Texas, indeed the only party of consequence in the south; a result of Lincoln, Reconstruction, and the Republican party's effects on the South after the Civil War. Back then, a Democrat was a social liberal, but very conservative in their defense of this country.
Enter Jimmy Carter, with lust in his heart, and a wild rabbit on his ass. His presidency would be so bad on so many fronts that the people would have to invent words to describe it. It turns out that he had no balls when it came tothe defense of this country and its commitments, and the present mess in Iran can justifiably be laid at his feet. So can the economic mess at the time. Most people I know felt betrayed by him, and they began to take a long, hard look at the Democratic party, a party that made promises that were so shallow, so transparently insincere, that even someone with an IQ slightly more than room temperature knew they were lies.
So, a lot of people switched to the Republican party, since, there are only two ( not a lot of choices, are there?) Lo and behold, there was at least, a better feeling about the country, a feeling like for once in a long time we were not some turd in someone's swimming pool.
That lasted until Clinton got in, and then the Republicans began to act petty. To be fair, Clinton did himself no favors by creating his own seeds of destruction, but it is true that the Republicans were very petty, and thus any hope of working together for the good of America began to disssolve, and the parties would ( and continue to) oppose ANY proposal put forth by the other, simply to oppose it, not on its merits.
Now Bush is in, and the Democrats are acting petty, just because the Republicans did. Kinda makes you want to bitch-slap every one of those assholes, doesn't it. To say that they are childish is to demean the child.
You might think that these people haven't one intellect between them. Don't they know that politics runs in cycles? What goes around comes around. Right now the Republicans are in power, and when the people get tired of them, the Dems will get a shot. I gotta say though, I don't hold out long term hope for the Democratic party if you look at their track record. Like a one-trick pony, it's one term and they are outta there, unless they learn from history, and don't just knee-jerk react to adverse conditions like Carter did, or Clinton did.
Both parties need to learn that there are more people in the center than on the edges. At least Clinton knew you can't win without the center. Still, to get the second term, you have to stay somewhat loyal to the center. Bush won because he pissed off the center LESS than Kerry, not because they liked him more. It is as simple as that, and all the kingmakers want you to believe it is not, because then a candidate wouldn't need a spin doctor. Keep the message as simple as possible, but do not talk down to the people, and if you do these things, you might have a shot.
The edges will foam at the mouth, rabid in their beliefs and hatreds, but it is the center that really holds the power. Remember that.
Next Post: Illegal Immigration

Awareness

' When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity."
George Bernard Shaw


There are a myriad of things that can kill a person in this day and age, it need not be war. Car crashes, drug deals gone bad, even the weather, as we've seen. So it is our duty to be aware of our surroundings, and how they might unfold. Many people say that something " just didn't feel right", but then they did not heed that feeling, and someone was hurt, or died. You can read so many variations on this theme in the daily paper, if you so choose.
I was once asked why I bothered to read the paper every morning, especially as the paper I have access to is a very liberal rag that I have little respect for. I had to answer that, one, it is the only paper of note I can geet, and Two, almosst any paper is edited with the intent of being basically truthful, something that cannot be said of the internet ( see Wickipedia). I read the paper, because there might be something that drastically affects me and my family, and I want to be ahead of the curve when that happens. Information can save your ass, that is the bottom line, and despite their failures, I truly believe the government believes this also.
I want the government to have all the information they can get as it relates to terrorism- only then can they make the decisions that can keep us safe, and you would have to admit, there have been no attacks since 9/11. I am sure that is not from lack of effort on the terrorists part. As I said in a previous post, THEY WILL NOT STOP. Neither can we, In this day of instant communication, new tools need to be used, and it is the truth that anyone who hinders this will be complicit in any deaths that occur as a result of any obstruction of this process.
At some point, we, as a people, have to trust the government to do right. With the checks and balances we have built into our form of government, the possibility of any one branch grabbing the reins of power is virtually nil. The other two would not have it, and neither would the people.
It wouldn't matter whether it was a red state, or a blue state. The people would kick ass, and that is the way it should be. You see, I have faith in the power of the people- but that means many things to many people, so I will define this further.
The people, shallow though they might at first glance appear, are a formidible force- but like a teenager, we do not want to be rudely awakened. We get grumpy, and tend to take it out on whatever woke us up. Just ask the Japanese. We, as a people, just want what anybody else wants, that is to raise our children in safety. America has been blessed with plenty, and we give plenty back, but we worked hard for what we have, and when that is in peril, we fight back. The muslim fanatics haven't seen us truly pissed yet, or the entire mideast region would be a sea of molten glass--- we really do not use that much of the oil there, regardless of what others say; the Europeans do, so they might get a little irritated. Oh well, don't piss us off.
The whole thing in a nutshell is this- the government MUST be allowed to listen in on calls that originate outside the U.S., but are received inside the U.S.. We need all the tools we can get, because the terrorists no longer take an airliner to voice their demands, then let everyone go. No, that was the old days, and if they had stayed with that, probably so would we have. Things change, and they changed drastically, with people dying. We cannot ignore this for it has come to our shores, and will not willingly go away.
Since the paradigm shifts, so must our techniques, or we shall fail, and die in the failing.


Next Post: Red State, Blue State?

Fear

" No passion as effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear."-
Edmund Burke
Boy, oh boy is that true. I remember when I first began my career as a carpenter, one of the jobs I had, indeed all of us had, was walking on top of a newly, partially constructed building. Sometimes the height was eight feet, sometimes twenty- something feet tall. Still, someone has to do this, and the natural inclination is to say," What? Are you nuts?"
The guy I was working for used to tell us not to let fear stop us. He was right, and conquering that little fear was a big thing in its own way. That little victory helped pave the way for other victories over other fears.
I sometimes believe that not enough people have had the experience of having to conquer little fears, and so they are easily rooted in their tracks, unable to go forward withtheir lives when confronted by the everyday fears that the media throw at us, and boy, do they throw them at us. Fear mongers, plain and simple, and they do it under the guise of helping us.
When I was growing up, there were no helmets for bicycle riding, no kneepads for skateboarding ( although it was my generation that invented the skateboard). And I am sure that there were damn few seatbelts in the cars of that day. I have a picture of myself as a child, asleep in the back seat of the family car, standing up-something that would no doubt horrify the safety organizations today. Yet, I survived.
True, some people didn't survive- this is the " natural selection" of the evolutionary process everybody has a fit over. The human herd, as well as any other species, will be culled of some of its members, some because they were unfit to live, others because of sheer happenstance.
This might be unfortunate for the people that this happens to, but it is an inevitable fact that it will happen. Where the media are culpable in their fear-mongering is in trying to convince the public that this is preventable. Well, perhaps some of this might be, but then where's the example that parents can point to? " Johnny ran his bicycle into a brick wall, and now he's a vegetable- do YOU want to be like Johnny?"
If there are no examples, then all that is left is folklore, and damn few people heed fables these days.
You see, most people learn from close, personal examples, not from stories- some don't learn even then.
But the media paralyse us in much of what we would do these days. Parents do not teach their kids gun safety, so their kid accidentally shoots another child, because he or she didn't know how to handle a gun. You see, when you know how to handle a gun, you gain respect for that tool. When you know just what it is capable of, you have a little USEFUL fear. This is but one example of the fear that can keep us from doing what we need to do to properly prepare our children for life, and indeed to fully live our own lives. I am not saying that every parent must teach gun safety, but if there is a gun in the house, then it is your obligation to teach the child, or there will be an incident, and it won't be pretty.
Aids is another fear, or the disease du jour that the media " Alert" us to. West Nile, Biological weapons, microwave radiation- you name it and the media will scream it into your ear until you are too scared to move. There is a big difference between caution and fear. Most people, however, do not recognise it.
When I was about six or seven, I began to explore my world, and much to my mother's dismay, I was fascinated with snakes, all kinds. Indeed, at first I couldn't distinguish between the species, and was very lucky not to have been bitten during these early days of exploration.
Instead of discouraging my interests, my parents bought me a book on snakes, so I could tell the difference between the poisonous and non-venomous species. Would that happen today with most parents? I think not.
You see, people need to know that most fear is needless, or can be managed, and turned to a healthy respect for the situation, not a mind-numbing fear. The whole key, in whatever the situation, is to be aware of the risks, knowledgably aware. That means to educate yourself on the true facts of any situation, not the " National Inquirer" screaming headlines.
Be Aware, not Afraid.

Next Post: Awareness

America- PartII

" The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of people who are evil, but because of those who will do nothing about it."
Albert Einstein
Those words are true. That is a plain fact, no getting around that; no spinning the facts to suit any political agenda. Evil, after all, has no politics. So, let us muse some about evil and its various guises today.
Let us begin with the most obvious, the terrorists, whatever their affiliation. I believe it was Karl Marx ( correct me if I am wrong) who said " The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize. " This is true, but a life without a goal is a wasted life, and actions have a life of their own, so if there is no goal, no ends to the means, there is no logic to the action itself. Something like that is, by its very nature, impossible to predict. When the paradigm of terrorist actions changed therefore, the change was not seen. I do not find great fault with the Feds on that score. However, now that we know that the situation is extremely fluid, I would expect that they have the greatest vigilance.
On to the second evil (note no Caps), one that is much more insidious to our collective health. This is the see no evil, hear no evil mentality that seems to pervade members of political parties, rights groups, and some members of the judiciary. These people seem to feel that our "rights" supersede any other consideration today, and I beg to differ. Our security comes first, or nothing else can follow. No rights, no prosperity, no life as we know it can exist without security. In the old days, yes, but then we didn't have maniacs targeting innocent women and children. If there was a war, recognized combatants fought it out on a field of battle. This was the purpose of the Geneva Convention- to lay out the rules of warfare. Terrorist groups, however, didn't sign the treaty, and do not abide by its rules.
Under the rules, in this country, our rights would be largely undisturbed, but the framers of the Constitution didn't know about cell phones, or bomb belts, and they would surely have blanched at the thought of strapping explosives to a child to kill the enemy. To them, that would have been cowardly in the extreme. It is to me as well.
Because we live in a new age, the rules about our rights must be amended as well. I challenge anyone to cite a single case where the NSA wiretapping act has harmed an individual. Go ahead, do a search. Nothing. We need information, and we need it badly. In the Civil War, Henry Stimson once said about spying, " Gentlemen do not read other Gentlemens' mail"- well, a lot has changed since then. Anyone who can't see that should go to Beirut, or Baghdad for a spell. Do we wish this for Birmingham, or Spokane?This country MUST change, or we will fail.
For one thing, we should go after these terrorists no matter where they hide, and not for trial either. We should kill them where they stand, no matter in what country they hide. If the other countries do not like it, too bad- they were harboring terrorists, and THERE IS NO EXCUSE.
Second, we need to hold our politicians much more accountable for their votes. Everybody likes to say that politicians are bought and paid for, but the reality is that the person or corporation handing over the money has but one vote. If everyone votes, then, and only then is true representation achieved, and the money can be overcome.
Only when we as a people demand some actual common sense come out of Congress, will we get it. We must demand the type of security I know we as a nation can achieve. This requires security both in and out of this country, and some will have to be proactive, but if you wish your children to grow up in an atmosphere of fear and death, then just accept the security status quo, and you will get all that, and more, because the terrorists will not stop until we stop them.
That is a fact.

Next Post: Fear

America- One Man's View

" The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight... is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made so an kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." - John Stuart Mill
Let us begin with that quote, because the efforts in the " War on Terror", as the administration terms it, have been packaged in such a way as to be digestable to the media-influenced people they say they are trying to reach. In the end, however, all they do when they attempt to package something in a shiny wrapper, is to make people somewhat cynical about the contents.
The unvarnished truth, sadly, is that they are right. There is a war, and it's one that will probably be played out for a longer time than necessary, due to the Western mentality of misplaced compassion, a quality that the enemy is counting on exploiting.
You see, the paradigm has changed regarding warfare today, and I use the term warfare advisedly, as it is terror with an objective. In the past, women and children died, but they were not intentionally targeted, they were incidental to the objective, which was to kill the enemy combatants. Now, that has fallen by the wayside, as the civilians have become the targets and objectives instead of the soldiers. It is almost too simplistic to say that those who would intentionally target civilians have no honor, but that is certainly true. Witness the difference between the Israelis and Hezbollah in the war in Lebanon recently. The Israelis dropped leaflets letting the Lebanese know that they would be shelled if they stayed in place while the Israelis targeted the enemy missile sites, while Hezbollah merely fired on purely civilian targets for terror's sake alone. There is a moral difference between the two sides.
Let us get something straight right now. I grew up in the shadow of the war in Viet Nam, and I went to college during that tumultous time, so I do not like the idea of war, and even less the idea of a war such as this one, but we didn't choose it. When the President asks if we are safer today than we were on Sept. 10, it is a rhetorical question, one that anyone with a lukewarm intellect could answer-- not really, but, and this is an important distinction-- whether or not we were in Iraq or not is really not the point, as the Dems would have us believe. No, for these terrorists would not stop trying, and as has been pointed out time and again, we have to be right 100 percent of the time, whereas they only need to get it right once.
Our biggest trouble comes on two fronts. First, in that we have not been able to read their mind, a process that has eluded us, possibly because of the cultural gulf that seems to separate us- but a part of THIS equation is the religious component, and here I have a great deal of trouble understanding just why the Islamic immigrants who have assimilated into our country don't both condemn the actions of these perverted terrorists in their loudest voices, and seek to actively help us win this war, bby offering us if nothing else, insight into the minds of these people.
I mean, let's face it-- America at its heart is the best country on earth, and that is why so many seek to come here. We do a lot for other people in other countries- some might say too much, but if we, as a people or country suffer from anything, it is that we do not understand truly those we try to assist. The Japanese have several ways to express gratitude, and all of them have some level of resentment at being put into the perceived "debt " of another.
I have come away from my pondering of this problem with several conclusions, all of which, at their core, are sad.
First, this war, or struggle, or whatever you wish to call it, will not be won until we become as ruthless as they are and,
Second, just as surely as the poor will be with us always, so will the willingly ignorant. They will value the twisted teachings of those "leaders" who are not afraid to fight with the blood of their followers more than they will value their children or their future.


Next Post---Part II

New Beginnings

Well, here I am, a novice blogger with, I hope, something to say. We'll see. In the future,( near future I hope), I'll have probably too much to say, but everyone needs an outlet, and this is mine. See you soon.