Oh yeah, I have a new blog
Sorry for the lack of any writing lately. I've been busy, getting work done before my trip and just getting ready for the trip. I'm off to Europe this weekend, and really looking forward to it. I won't be able to play my quiz while over there (I may try when I get online to check email, but not everyday), so have fun battling it out in my absence.
As for my birthday, it was great! My wife gave me one of the best presents ever: ski jumping. I slid down a small freestyle ramp and jumped into a pool. It was awesomely fun, even though I kind of sucked at it. I've never done much acrobatic stuff, never really used a trampoline, so I didn't try any flips. It was enough just trying to stay upright consistently. I did some splits, and then my time was up. I highly recommend it to anyone, and I hope to go again and jump off a higher ramp.
So one topic I had hoped to write about after starting this blog was the American Conservative. I had the pleasure of hearing Tammy Bruce's radio show one afternoon, and it was interesting to say the least. Click on the link to find out more about this fascinating creature. Basically she's a (self-professed) pro-choice, lesbian Democrat who has become a raging war-monger conservative spewing inflammatory invective against Liberal Evil and critics of the War on Terror. Nothing new to those familiar with ridiculous pundits like Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk. But she does distinguish herself in one way: She's openly critical of Bush, his administration, and has called for Condaleeza Rice to resign! She thinks they're actually being too soft on terrorists, evidenced by their Neville Chamberlain-esque appeasement of Hezbollah and Iran with the UN resolution sanctioned cease-fire. (Interestingly, she compared the Bush Admin to Nazi appeasers before Rumsfeld could do it to war critics). If she had her way, Tammy would let Israel bomb all of Lebanon, and probably the Muslim world, out of existence.
I could go on and on about how ridiculous and shrill Tammy sounds making these points, or about how absurd she is to say that Dick Cheney is a more respectable person than John Kerry because John Kerry only went to Vietnam to improve his political image, dishonorably shot a Viet Cong in the back while he was running away (carrying a loaded rocket launcher, in fact), and asked for purple hearts for wounds that merely required a band-aid. See Snopes' treatment of the facts here. (FYI, Cheney received medical deferments from service, and the only person he ever shot was his elderly friend, in the face and neck, on a bird hunting trip.) You can also google what in Ms. Bruce's past makes her whacko and pretty racist. But all of that is beside the point. My concern is: what if these aggressive neo-cons are right?
I suspect that very few reasonable people believe that the Bush Administration invaded Iraq to fight a legitimate terrorist threat or to altruistically depose a ruthless dictator and spread glorious freedom. I'm not talking about Iraq. I'm talking about the problem of Muslim extremists who want to attack the U.S. and other western nations. Is the only way to stop them by eradicating them? Is it too naive to believe it's possible to understand where the anger of extreme Islamists comes from and do something constructive to end that anger? Sure, we can emphasize the complexity of the issues, point to historical events and foreign policies that have created the situation in the Middle East. But is all that just academic? Is it too late to fix the problem by understanding its roots? Is our only option now to keep fighting until they're all dead? Normally I wouldn't entertain such barbaric, simplistic ideas. But what if the anger and hatred that's developed in the Middle East (and it appears from some of the rhetoric used by leaders there to be quite powerful hatred) cannot be assuaged? If that's the truth, then I am very scared and saddened by it.
I've gone on long enough, but thought I'd throw that out there for your consideration. Please leave some comments about what you think on the topic.
I'll try to do a post tomorrow before I leave on the trip, one that's a bit more upbeat.
As for my birthday, it was great! My wife gave me one of the best presents ever: ski jumping. I slid down a small freestyle ramp and jumped into a pool. It was awesomely fun, even though I kind of sucked at it. I've never done much acrobatic stuff, never really used a trampoline, so I didn't try any flips. It was enough just trying to stay upright consistently. I did some splits, and then my time was up. I highly recommend it to anyone, and I hope to go again and jump off a higher ramp.
So one topic I had hoped to write about after starting this blog was the American Conservative. I had the pleasure of hearing Tammy Bruce's radio show one afternoon, and it was interesting to say the least. Click on the link to find out more about this fascinating creature. Basically she's a (self-professed) pro-choice, lesbian Democrat who has become a raging war-monger conservative spewing inflammatory invective against Liberal Evil and critics of the War on Terror. Nothing new to those familiar with ridiculous pundits like Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk. But she does distinguish herself in one way: She's openly critical of Bush, his administration, and has called for Condaleeza Rice to resign! She thinks they're actually being too soft on terrorists, evidenced by their Neville Chamberlain-esque appeasement of Hezbollah and Iran with the UN resolution sanctioned cease-fire. (Interestingly, she compared the Bush Admin to Nazi appeasers before Rumsfeld could do it to war critics). If she had her way, Tammy would let Israel bomb all of Lebanon, and probably the Muslim world, out of existence.
I could go on and on about how ridiculous and shrill Tammy sounds making these points, or about how absurd she is to say that Dick Cheney is a more respectable person than John Kerry because John Kerry only went to Vietnam to improve his political image, dishonorably shot a Viet Cong in the back while he was running away (carrying a loaded rocket launcher, in fact), and asked for purple hearts for wounds that merely required a band-aid. See Snopes' treatment of the facts here. (FYI, Cheney received medical deferments from service, and the only person he ever shot was his elderly friend, in the face and neck, on a bird hunting trip.) You can also google what in Ms. Bruce's past makes her whacko and pretty racist. But all of that is beside the point. My concern is: what if these aggressive neo-cons are right?
I suspect that very few reasonable people believe that the Bush Administration invaded Iraq to fight a legitimate terrorist threat or to altruistically depose a ruthless dictator and spread glorious freedom. I'm not talking about Iraq. I'm talking about the problem of Muslim extremists who want to attack the U.S. and other western nations. Is the only way to stop them by eradicating them? Is it too naive to believe it's possible to understand where the anger of extreme Islamists comes from and do something constructive to end that anger? Sure, we can emphasize the complexity of the issues, point to historical events and foreign policies that have created the situation in the Middle East. But is all that just academic? Is it too late to fix the problem by understanding its roots? Is our only option now to keep fighting until they're all dead? Normally I wouldn't entertain such barbaric, simplistic ideas. But what if the anger and hatred that's developed in the Middle East (and it appears from some of the rhetoric used by leaders there to be quite powerful hatred) cannot be assuaged? If that's the truth, then I am very scared and saddened by it.
I've gone on long enough, but thought I'd throw that out there for your consideration. Please leave some comments about what you think on the topic.
I'll try to do a post tomorrow before I leave on the trip, one that's a bit more upbeat.
posted by at 3:07 PM
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