Four Years After President Bush Announced Mission Accomplished In Iraq

May 1st, 2007...four years after King George announced mission accomplished on the USS Abraham Lincoln...four years after major combat operations in Iraq had ended according to King George all decked out in his flight gear on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln...if the mission was accomplished, what have the troops been doing for the last four years? Four years later, April 2007 will have one of the highest monthly death totals for US soldiers since the mission was accomplished back in April 2003...Four years later and still no end in sight after major combat operations were completed...the last four years have been only minor combat operations which have killed over 3,000 US soldiers...Keep up the good work King George...a four year reminder of the incompetence of Bush, Chaney, Wolfowitz, Dumsfeld, Rice, etc...

Religion and Science

Yes I am an atheist...but I am not a nihilist...I wish people were more connected instead of divided. I wish compassion hasn't been replaced with condemnation...I try to leave a situation better than I found it...To quote Spock: The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few or the one...I realize faith, organized religion, and science are three distinct entities...The world has battled between science and religion for centuries. Galileo was jailed for his science. Religious dogma wanted the earth to be the center of the universe until science finally prevailed. Most scientists today accept the science of global warming, yet some disagree. Bush even muzzled scientists who were proving global warming; he made them rewrite their data. Reminds of me Galileo recanting his science under pressure from the Church. Science has cured disease after disease, gave us nuclear technology, but nuclear technology lead to Hiroshima and Nagasaki too...Science is a two edge sword, but so is religion...how many people have died in the name of Christianity? The Crusades and the Inquisitions come to mind...our Christian nation systemically destroyed the Native American culture...not very Christian...then the Christian nation enslaved and lynched black people for decades...even reached the conclusion after the Civil War that blacks were 3/5ths of a person...again, not very Christian. Religion is a wedge dividing the world...we have Born Again Yappists as I call them, stating that Catholics are not Christians...the arrogance...what if God and Jesus hate the whole Protestant Reformation? Religion has become my God is bigger than your God...I am saved; you are condemned...But again personal faith is different than Big Religion...Religion, like science is a series of tradeoffs...my faith is in passion, compassion, humor, creativity, and the seasons...I prefer to roll with the changes of the season...the warmth of summer, the chill of winter...I want politicians to represent the people and not Big Business and Lobbyists...I also realized that the people hardly matter anyone...look at Bushworld and King George...Bipartisan to Bush is simply agreeing with him...I hope we change the path we are on...return to a interconnectedness...one world, one people...ain't gonna happen though..we are all out for ourselves...I wish I wasn't cynical...hell, I don't even fit in with the atheists...I have no problem with children saying the Pledge of Allegiance with one nation under god…although I wonder how many people know “under God” wasn’t added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954 as a way to differentiate the suddenly god-fearing USA from the godless Soviet Union. Apparently, god wasn’t important enough to be added to the Allegiance until then…strange since the Pledge’s first incarnation was in 1892! I cringe at the intolerance in America...ban Imus, the word nigger, while racism lives on...Blacks have only had the right to vote for less than 50 years...in a Christian nation...I wonder if gay people are only 2/5ths of a person...I realize the simple idea of we are born in pain, live in pain, die in pain, then become worm fodder isn’t as elegant as a Genesis to Revelation…No justice, no heaven, no reward, no forgiveness is one bleak story...I want to take that leap of faith, but I simply continue to find reasons to live, love, laugh, and heal in a broken world...I enjoy life everyday despite the insanity...most people talk about the glass half full or half empty...I simply see a glass with water in it...not empty or full...I am glad the glass ain't empty since I am thirsty...I hope people wake up and connect to each other again...I wish I had more faith...To quote RD Laing: It is better to insane in a sane world, than be sane in an insane world...

Vietnam and Iraq: Are Soldiers Dying For Nothing Or Something?

My father died in Vietnam when I was seven in 1965. I have struggled since his death with did he die for nothing...when the last American soldier left in 1975, North Vietnam took over South Vietnam...so, in one way he did die for nothing...but he also wrote a letter than ended up being printed in newspapers around the country since he died in 1965 in one of the first big offensives. Dad wrote, ‘The reason I am fighting communism now is so my sons, George and Mike, won't have to five, ten years from now.' His words still give me a sense of peace most days that he died for something he believed in...two years after the death of JFK and three years removed from the Cuba Missile crisis...Many soldiers believed his words. I am grateful he didn't end up going and dying much later, say in 1972 when all the lies and deception were exposed about Vietnam...much like the lies and deception that surround Iraq...fighting another civil to establish a government that doesn't have the total support of the its country's people...the soldiers doing their jobs should always be supported and kept separate from the war machine politics that create war...I believe many soldiers are fighting and dying today like my dad for something they believe in...keeping America from experiencing another 9-11, preserving freedom, whatever they need to believe in...at least I want to believe that despite the ill-conceived notions of our government for invading Iraq...the mystery bullet fired at the US Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin started the Vietnam Police action...war was never declared in Vietnam hence the War Powers Act...the weapons of mass deception and Iraq's phantom connection to 9-11 fueled the invasion of Iraq...we can and should disagree with the reasons for the Iraq War...we still have a first amendment right to address our grievances to the government...But I know the soldiers are at least dying for something they believe in, some ideal beyond a bungled war...whether they agree with the war or not they continue to fight and die...I would think most families believe their husbands, wives, sons, and daughters are fighting for something...even most of us have doubts..I have all the respect in the world for our soldiers. But I detest the politics that create war. I hope the soldiers start to return home soon before more die fighting a civil war only Bush, Chaney, and the diehard Bushworld supporters think we can win...

Virginia Tech Massacre Part Two

I still disagree that guns kill people... And before anyone thinks I support the NRA, I have never owned a gun, never shot a gun, and I have campaigned for the Brady Bill and the banning of assault weapons. The statement guns kill people is too simplistic. Guns are the means for people to kill, but something snaps in their minds before they reach for the gun. Before a trigger is pulled, a mind finds a reason, a twisted reason, to end life and pick up the gun...My point is we need to find a way to stop people before they can pull a trigger. But how? How do we defuse the internal time bombs ticking in people's minds? How can we stop the time bombs? There are reports the killer blamed the victims, saying something to the affect you made me do this...The killer wrote a note railing against "rich kids," "debauchery," and "deceitful charlatans." My point is the 23 year old snapped. But can you really blame the NRA for a 23 year old student snapping? What happen, what experiences made him devalue life? What made him think his life and the lives of others was meaningless. What made him lash out in a desperate attempt for attention? What made him blame the victims for his rage? Guns played a part, the end game, but the killer's time bomb is the reason he pulled the trigger, set the events into action. Tightening the gun laws will help, but it appears he obtained the guns legally. His weapons of choice were two handguns. If he strapped a bomb to his chest and walked into the building or dorm or cafeteria and killed innocent people, would the crime be less heinous? We couldn't blame lack of gun control or the NRA for the bombing. My point is after years of studying human behavior, no one knows or can predict what will make an individual person snap and go on a killing spree, gun or bomb in hand...Jeffery Dahmer didn't use a gun. Another tortured mind, a ticking time bomb. Timothy McVeigh used explosives to make his statement. People can kill in many ways. We have done so for centuries. The invention of gunpowder was the beginning of the end. I detest our gun culture, using guns to solve problems, but gun control is only one part of the solution. I wish guns were the sole reason the student killed, but before his rampage, a series of events happened causing a mind to snap before he bought and used the guns. His mind exploded. If the massacre at Virginia helps to tighten gun control laws, keeping ticking time bombs from getting guns, maybe the students' deaths won't be in vain. But the larger question is how to detect minds ticking on the brink...The killer displayed signs. One professor tried to intervene. The police said they couldn't do anything. I wish I had an answer. Guns are only one way for killers to kill...I detest the NRA, always will. But if the killer used dynamite, poison, or fire, whom would we blame? My heart goes out to all the victims at Virginia Tech and all the victims of violent crime across the country. I would prefer a gun-less America, but the second amendment won’t be repealed. The first and fourth amendments can get repealed, just not the second. More importantly, I would prefer a world where everyone values life no matter the static in their lives..."There is always madness in love, but there is also always a reason in madness." Nietzsche

Stop Blaming the Victims

Neal Boortz should face down a lunatic pointing two guns at him one day, see how he responses...Has anyone read where Cho actually lined up students against the wall? I haven't...so Neal is making up the story besides being out of touch with reality. Most accounts I have heard and read Cho walked into classrooms and opened fire. If you are sitting in a seat, not near the shooter, how can you rush him? Doesn't getting closer to a madmen with two guns make you an easier target? John Derbyshire wrote Cho only had a 22 caliber weapon. DUH!!! I spoke with some friends who have guns and they all said a .22 will bring you down from even 50 feet...As for the Flight 93 comparison, last time I checked the hijackers/terrorists didn't have guns blazing, only box cutters...I would like to think I would fight for my life. But if I was thirty feet away, sitting down, how much of a fight could I have really put up? Lastly, the idea of counting the numbers of rounds going off and then rushing him when he reloads is insane. Reloading only takes seconds number one, and I have no idea how many rounds each gun holds!!! If he had a musket or a blackpowder gun, you could rush him. Reloading those types of guns does take time...Changing a clip takes two seconds maybe three...How close could anyone have really gotten...The compassion of the right wing is amazing...

Tragedy in Blacksburg

Irrational acts cannot be understood in rational terms...What makes, causes someone to snap? Are we all capable of losing control and just lashing out at the world? I hope the answer is no, but I also believe we all have a breaking point. No explanation can make sense of someone killing so many innocent people at Virginia Tech...No explanation will ever give comfort to the families, to Blacksburg, to me...The sun will rise tomorrow, and I hope people close to the edge, with guns in hand, who have a plan in mind to lash out and kill, find meaning somewhere...realize how delicate life is...cling to life and not death...I am all for gun control, but I also know all the laws in the world will not stop someone from imploding and exploding, acquiring a gun, and setting out on a reign of terror, murder, and suicide...How can someone find life so meaningless?...How can someone feel so detached?...I just hope the tragedy at Virginia Tech doesn't further divide the country...Imus did...Bushworld does...Republicans and Democrats do…We don't need more reasons to further divide our country...We need something to unite us...Not cause us to drift further apart...Can we create a world were people don't feel marginalized, hopeless, and desensitized? The gunmen does need to be held accountable for his actions and motives...But let's not indict everyone who owns a gun...We all don't snap...We somehow find a way to cope...We find a creative way to vent...Whatever reasons the murderer had for his rampage are not reasons to indict the music or film industry...as much as I hate to admit it, the NRA too...We all want to assign blame...Assigning blame will only create more of a schism in America...One person snapped for reasons we won't understand...Maybe we just cannot...Let’s hold him accountable, for there is no need for everyone to point fingers anywhere else and create a bigger wedge...I want to believe humor and love are stronger than pain and hatred...a tragedy can unite or divide...

Amazing Disappearing AG Emails

Hard to believe that more lies and deception have surfaced in Bushworld...Emails have disappeared relating to the AG scandal...I am shocked...I am sure all the people involved acted in good faith, following their god, Karl Rove, who can do no wrong according to the kool-aid drinkers...Must be more Rove-ian math...I cannot wait for all of the Bushworld supporters to justify this latest abuse of power; even the supporters who post on this site...Rove needs to be stopped...When will all the Bushworld supporters realize how morally corrupt and bankrupt their King George and Rove are...not to mention Chaney who continues to connect Iraq and 9-11 even though the Pentagon just stated there is no connection...Repeat a lie long enough and Bushworld supporters will believe it...and they all hide behind the party of values and morals...had to imagine how morally corrupt and bankrupt Bushworld really has become...when will people reach their breaking point with all the lies and deception in Bushworld...I know; it must be Clinton and the Democrats fault...ENOUGH OF THE LIES OF BUSHWORLD...

Kurt Vonnegut will be missed

A tribute to one of America's greatest writers...Kurt Vonnegut...two quotes still relevant today, both from Mother Night..."There are plenty of good reasons for fighting," I said, "but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side." "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." Kurt will be missed, but his wit will live on...as a writer, Kurt was one of my major influences...Kurt is another guardian angel watching over our misguided ways..

Imus Land

Imus is held accountable for his racist comments as well he should be, and he loses his soapbox...but he is not alone...many others, as already mentioned in the postings, are just as offensive and racist, but they still have their soapboxes. Ann Coulter always finds places to spew her venom because she doesn't have a network with sponsors behind her to picket. So why Imus? I wonder if the Chappelle show was still on, if Dave did a skit about nappy-headed hos playing for the Rutgers basketball team, would there even have been an outcry? Or if In Living Color did a similar skit back in the day? Even SNL now...so why Imus? I detest censorship, but I also believe free speech comes with being held accountable for what you say...and hate speech is not protected by the first amendment, so I am puzzled. As a writer, can I no longer create racist characters? The racists and sexists are still out there. One could argue our country was founded by racists. The Colonists wiped out the Native Americans, and blacks were enslaved, lynched, and told they were only 3/5ths of a person. Racism and sexism will continue long after Imus is gone. What does firing Imus really accomplish? Howard Stern rages on. Limbaugh too...Will the firing of Imus open new doors for blacks in white corporate America? Racism, sexism, and homophobia will exist tomorrow and long after Imus is silent. What was really accomplished? We all should be held accountable for heinous comments full of hate and ignorance. Imus is gone...racism and sexism live on...when will racism and sexism be silent...when...

Imus should be held accountable for his heinous remarks...but will punishing Imus end racism in America? Will punishing Imus open doors for blacks? Will an employer faced with two equally qualified candidates, one black, one white, pick the black candidate because Imus was fired?...we live in a racist, sexist, homophobic America...getting rid of racist remarks is only one step on a long journey...just like banning the world "nigger" won't end racism either...for all those people who say America has come a long way, 1964 and 1965 are barely forty years ago...blacks have only had civil rights for a short period of time in the history of this country...I have been around longer than the Civil Rights Amendments...getting rid of Imus is a start...but hardly a cure for racism...and hatred...and ignorance...