What I want for New Years'

So, I am assuming that everyone survived the Christmas holiday intact. Now we get to face 2007. We could have done a lot better this year, but we surely could have done a lot worse. And we have some things to be hopeful about.

We won back control of Congress. Now, while I'd like to see subpoenas flying around all over the place, I'll settle for more and better work for America. Real investigations may be too much to ask.

I'd like to see us get the hell out of Iraq, instead of sending more troops in. This may be too much to ask, however, as they are already trying to sneak more troops in. I hope that idiot doesn't decide we need to invade Iran, or to do anything else stupid to them. We don't get to decide who can play with nukes and who can't. While I wouldn't like to see any new country with nuclear weapons, I think that ship has sailed.

I want us to be nicer to each other this year. We spend so much time lost in our own worlds, arguing about such petty things, not showing the least civility. Let's start small, with please and thank you. Let someone in front of you in line, or in traffic. Smile once in a while. After all, it can't be that bad.

I'd just like to go through a whole year without any more misery, suffering, or rudeness than is absolutely necessary. I'm not asking for much. It's not like I asked for world peace or anything. Like that would happen. Happy 2007. good night and good luck....stimp

Merry, Happy, Joyous...

Tomorrow is Yule, the Winter Solstice. I will light the Yule log my husband made for me, complete with candles to sub for a fireplace. I try to come up with something for all the major holidays to post here. I was coming up empty, I admit, because I am depressed. Things around here, and in the world, have me in somewhat of a funk. But then, a phrase crossed my mind, cliche as that sounds. Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.

It seemed so right somehow. It's what I'd ask Santa for (well, that and a job). It's what I hope for, pray for, and despair for. Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.

There seems to be little of either this year, but I suppose if I tried hard enough, it could be said of any year. There is always a war, or poverty, or crime. No peace, and very little goodwill. And still, every year we sing for it in our carols. Some of us work for it, as much as any one person can. We smile at our neighbors. We give our time and our money to charity. We acknowledge the homeless man when he speaks to us, giving him the humanity he desperately needs and deserves. We say please and thank you and have a nice day to strangers, or let someone in front of us at the store, or in traffic. There are a million ways to spread peace, and goodwill.

It is something we can start, right now. One of the greatest losses with all our technology is a bit of our civilization. We rush, and push, and forget that we aren't the only ones in the world. As bad as I have ever felt, and I have felt pretty bad, I always said "It could be worse". Somewhere, for someone, it is.

So this year, before the new one gets here, let's find our civilization. Our own peace on Earth, goodwill to men. My mom always says the only place you can change is your own corner of the world. I think we can do more than that. But either way, we must change, for all of us.

Whatever your holiday, I wish you all the blessings of the season. May you have the brightest of new years. Just in case I don't get back here before then. I'll be making merry with the ones I love. good night and good luck...stimp

If you hear a loud popping noise...

It is probably my head exploding. Didn't we just have a watershed election, where at least some of us made it clear that this shit in Iraq didn't make sense anymore? Haven't we been saying, more and more loudly, that we are tired of this horrible waste of money and life? We have been lied to, frightened purposely, and made to feel disagreement was treason.

Now, from the looks of it, that dumb son of a bitch is going to ignore everything that went before, and try to send MORE troops to Iraq. To expand the military.

To quote MSN news:
Bush said he has ordered Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to develop a plan to increase the troop strength of the Army and Marine Corps, heeding warnings from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill that multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan are stretching the armed forces toward the breaking point. "We need to reset our military," said Bush, whose administration had opposed increasing force levels as recently as this summer.

So instead of listening to the Iraq Study Group, the people of America, the people of Iraq, and everyone else who has more than four working brain cells, he's going to send more troops over there.

Where is he going to get them? Recruitment levels are falling, and the people we have plus those that are joining are not going to go around forever. So what is he going to do? Frighten us some more? I think that ship has sailed. Start a draft? I'd like to see that. I don't think the American people, especially those registered for Selective Service, would stand it. Stop loss the ones there forever? I don't think so. Too many National Guard and Reserve families are having their lives messed up as it is. And don't tell me about "They signed up for it". My husband was in the Guard after he left active duty. It's no mystery to me.

To quote again:
"I've got more consultations to do with the national security team, which will be consulting with other folks. And I'm going to take my time to make sure that the policy, when it comes out, the American people will see that we . . . have got a new way forward."

A new way forward? Who is he trying to kid? The hard core hawks and the idiots who believe anything that comes out of his mouth? The acolytes of Hannity, Bill-o, and Rush? This is not a new way forward. It is an expensive game of cover your ass. He invaded when he didn't need to, didn't send enough folks to get the job done correctly, and then let us get bogged down in a mess. Meanwhile, Iraqis are being killed everyday by their own countrymen, and they are taking our guys with them. I hate to break the bad news, but it is a civil war now, and our meddling started it. We can't end it. And the war we started ostensibly to root out the bad guys who did attack us is forgotten. The Taliban and terrorists are regrouping, and they are coming back.

So let's review. We are needlessly getting our soldiers killed everyday, in part because we wrote checks our military couldn't cash. Billions upon billions of dollars are gone, and we have a deficit my grandkids are going to be paying off, if we aren't owned outright by another country by then. All of it for what? Saddam's show trial? The elusive Osama bin Laden? Summer vacation?

And this asshole wants to make it bigger. What a fucking genius. Start praying, if you aren't already. I have a bad feeling it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. good night and good luck...stimp

addendum

Well, they didn't show up. The loonies who were going to protest at Sgt. Marco Miller's funeral didn't show. Thank God for small miracles.

Of course, it makes me proud to see who did show up. A large number of members of the community were there, to honor the fallen Marine, and to help shield his family in case those idiots did show up. The number of people, including a group of veterans serving as kind of an honor guard on motorcycles, was wonderful. Makes me proud to be from my hometown.

I hope the other families who are targeted by this horrible group (and there were others on the list) are as fortunate. I love and believe in free speech. But the fallen and their families deserve better than this kind of treatment. good night and good luck...stimp

Oh, God, No...

I am a pacifist. I think that over time I have made that quite clear. I have also made clear that I have nothing but respect for those who serve in uniform. My nephew has done a tour in Iraq, working in a hospital in Balad. So imagine my horror and shock when I learned that the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps, was encouraging folks to come to my hometown.

Recently, a young man from here was killed in Iraq. I heard on the news last night that these crazy bastards were going to come here and picket his funeral. I didn't want to believe it. So when I got up this morning, I went to their website, charmingly titled "GodHatesFags.com", and lo and behold, I found this.
http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/dec2006/20061212_marco-miller-funeral.pdf

These people are sick, insane, and without soul. Marco Miller gave his life for his country. And considering that the leaders of his country have thrown his life away, it is even more tragic. That is a discussion for another day. But to picket a soldier's funeral, to disturb those who love and mourn him for an agenda, is nothing less than horrifying. I do not have the words to explain how angry and soulsick this makes me. So I'll share some of their comforting thoughts.

"God himself has become America's terrorist, killing and maiming American troops in strange lands for fag sins."
"They turned America over to fags; they're coming home in body bags."
"Thank God for IEDs"
"America is now in God's eternal crosshairs."

We worry about carry on bags, secular progressives, and terrorists falling out of the sky, when we have these guys sitting in Kansas, doing the "Lord's work". Now I'm no Bible scholar. I have read the book, and tried to understand how the message of peace, tolerance, and love could be so perverted. Hell, I'm even nice to the sweet little old lady who brings me Jehovah Witnesses publications every couple of weeks. And when I think of these things, of the true Christians I see around me every day, who love me in spite of my liberal Pagan soul, I want to explode with anger at these terrible people for perverting God's word, and using Scripture to justify their evil.

Strangely, the most class of all was shown by Sgt. Miller's brother. He suggested on the news last night that free speech was something his brother had died for. He didn't like it, but there it was. Bravo. And Bravo to our local law enforcement, and Trumbull County's American Legion, DAV, police and fire departments, and some 60 school children, all of whom will be there, and will try to shield the family from this atrocity. To mangle a phrase, they can't stop then, I only hope they can contain them.

Go away, Fred Phelps. And flights of angels sing you to your rest, Sgt. Miller. good night and good luck...stimp

A new phrase

There is a new "catchphrase" floating in the air, coming from the general direction of the White House. Like a thought bubble over a comic strip, it is just as substantive from the looks of it. Our Glorious Leader keeps talking about a "New Way Forward" on the war in Iraq. Now I'm no genius, but catchphrases do not bode well for this administration. "Wanted, Dead or Alive" became "I don't think about him very much" as Osama bin Laden slid off the radar like it was Teflon. "Mission Accomplished" was premature celebration at best, a flat out lie and photo op at worst. "Stay the course"? If I had a dime for every time he and his lackeys uttered that phrase or one like it, I could pay off the deficit. And now we have a new way forward. From the looks of things, it is the same way forward wearing new shoes. Mr. Bush has given the least possible time to the very people who he asked for counsel. An hour to the Iraq Study Group, and no questions for them? Why bother with them at all, if you are not going to use what you asked for? A brief meeting with some hand-picked generals, looking for answers? Why? Aren't they going to tell you exactly what you want to hear? How can we have a new way forward if we are doing the same old shit we have been doing all along? Talking to who will agree with us, blowing off those who don't. He says he is not going to accept the recommendations of the ISG in full, because he is not going to "outsource" the job of Commander in Chief. Why not? He has outsourced lots of jobs during this war, particularly to Halliburton and KBR. If the ISG had some better ideas, we need to listen and follow them. We cannot continue to bleed money and kill our countrymen and Iraqis to keep Bush from having to face, to borrow a phrase, and inconvenient truth. It may be a New Way Forward, but it is the same road and driver we've had all along. good night and good luck...stimp