Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Here come da judge...

I have long been a fan of The Anchoress...she is easy to read, and generally saying it the way, I haven't been able to.

Today, or at least I first read it this morning, she speaks again of Same ol same ol.

We have a con-gress that is so impotent, the only thing they are able to do is make threats against the President, and hold inquiries. I wonder if this is what happens when the inmates are running the prison; or the assylum.

Come on Scotty, beam me up...

I think; therefore i am...

I don't know why any of this stuff still bothers me...

Took a look at the Argus this morning, and what to me eyes did i see?

A poll with the question: "Should Congress pass a windfall profits tax on the oil industry?"

And the results at 8:30 this morning were: yes = 64.9% and no = 35.1%.

Well, this used to be a pretty conservative place to live: Has it changed that much or is something else happening?

First, the Argus is aligned with the Gannett news organization: If it don't square with the democrat's talking points it don't get printed.

Secondly, polls can be manipulated. I have accessed polls that let me vote over and over again. I just checked the web site again, and sure enough, I can revote. The results on this poll may just reflect a minority "stuffing" the ballot box in order to sway public opinion and get people to believe the state has gone schizophrenic.

Of course, there is always the sense that the liberals in kaliphornia and noo yawk have gotten tired of the high cost of living, and have relocated to south dakota, colorado, and other places where cost of living is much lower. They seem to forget that it is their stoopid ideas that got the cost of living up to such heights back where they came from.

So, since the majority of big oil profits are owned by mutual funds, when con-gress takes away the profits from big oil, how many of us are gonna find our mutual funds, our retirement accounts, depleted? When there are no profits to assess to the stock holders, there can be no growth; and where there is loss of profits, there is also loss of growth in stocks. Wait til you see what happens to your 401K.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Shameless reminiscing...

It was around May of 1968, at Cua Viet, South Vietnam, located on the Dong Ha river, where it poured out into the Gulf of Tonkin.

The day had started out like many of the other Sunday's.

Except, about 0900, we came under heavy attack with mortars and rockets. It seemed a lot heavier than usual.

One rocket scored a direct hit on the comm people's living bunker. One man was killed trying to get into the bunker.

It was interesting how the attack would formulate. The first rounds would hit just north of the Dong Ha river, and then walk across the river, through the AmTrak compound, into the artillery compound, through the main compound and through the camp.

At this time, the great battleships were not laying just outside the Gulf of Tonkin; they had not been moved there yet.

So, response to the attacks came from within our compound, with artillery throwing shells back toward the DMZ and north.

On this particular day, that I recall, after the attack subsided, I happened to come into contact with the Regimental Chaplain.

He asked me if I believed in divine guidance. I don't remember how I answered, but it was a time in my life when God and religion played a very, very small role. My loyalty was to Corps and country. I hadn't been able to incorporate God into that loyalty yet.

The chaplain said, that he never goes to the mess hall on Sunday morning. However, this Sunday morning, he claimed a strong impulse to go up to the mess hall, and have a cup of coffee, and visit with the troops.

Shortly after arriving at the mess hall, the attack started. For the duration of the attack, the chaplain remained at the mess hall. There was no damage to the mess hall, so all was well there.

However, when the chaplain returned to his hootch, and went to sit down at his desk, where he normally would have been. He found a hole, about six to eight inches across, in the screen, right behind where his head would have been had he not gone to the mess hall.

He took me into his office and showed me the hole.

Then he explained how the incident had changed his perspective on religion and that God really did look out for people.

Not being a believer, I was aware of having awakened about 2330 one morning, with a weird feeling; a kind of restlessness. Within a few minutes after getting up and walking around the compound, we came under rocket and mortar attack.

Who knows how I might have come out had I not woke up when I did. I couldn't chalk this up to divine guidance, because I just didn't believe. Instead, I believed my subconscious had heard the small arms fire on the perimeter; which generally came before an attack.

So, in retrospect, I now have a little bit better understanding of divine guidance, and I know, that God sometimes speaks to us in such a still, small voice, that we think it is coming from somwhere deep inside, an existential awareness, if you will.

In spite of the fact that I was not a believer in God, and that I did everything in my life to deny any possibility of deity; I believe today, that God really did watch over me.

I am continually reminded of an old saying we had back then, that God watches over drunks, idiots and Marines.

Why else would we sing; When the army and navy look upon heaven's scenes, they'll find the streets are guarded by United States Marines?

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Health care again...

I have written before about socialized health care, and today I find a really enlightening article by Zendo Deb, entitled "Don't Question the Bureacrats of Health".
Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing. Gone to graveyards everyone, when will they ever learn?