The Price of War

The United States, with Obama wavering at the helm, is poised to enter another conflict not of our own making, the civil war in Syria.   It seems that once again, our president can not make up his mind, which for the first time, I am glad about.  According to the president, we were supposed to begin a bombing campaign this past Saturday in retaliation for the Syrian government using chemical weapons against its own people.  Yet, at the last minute, for whatever reason, he decided to consult Congress about his decision.  As we all know, anything moving through Congress usually moves at a snail's pace, and lets hope that this decision is no different.  The last thing we need at this point is to get involved in another conflict, war, whatever term you wish to label it with.  With our economy slowly on the uptick, we don't need any distractions.  Despite the fact that some people will say that now is not the time to revert back to our isolationist ways, I would say that now is exactly the time we need to focus our efforts and time back on ourselves.  There is some talk that the chemical weapons being used are somehow a threat to our national security.  I would ask for explicit examples of how it is a threat.  The only one's that the chemical weapons are threatening our Syria's own people.  Now, don't get me wrong, I abhor the fact that chemical weapons were used against Syria's own people, if in fact they really were, but that is not our issue.  We are half a world away, and while we used to be the watchdog of the world, it is time for someone else to step up to the plate.   Our country has been involved in some sort of foreign conflict almost continuously for over a hundred years.  Let us now enter ourselves into an era of peace where war is not the answer.  If a country decides to go to war with itself, let it.  As much as I hate the tactics that dickhead Assad is using, and for that matter the rebels fighting against him, that is their problem.  You will find people saying that if we stand by and do nothing that we are in part complicit in the conflict and have share some of the blame.  Yet how are we to help if all they want to do is kill each other.  There is no way unless we start bombing people, and that will only perpetuate the conflict and draw other countries into it, perhaps leading to another global war in which thousands of soldiers from all walks of life are putting their lives on the line, again. 

 

While this is not a topic that I enjoy talking about on a regular basis, I feel that since we are on the verge of entering into this conflict, it needs to be discussed.  The only way we can truly prevent our government from entering into this conflict is by speaking out against it and showing our outrage that we would even consider this.  So what if we are being painted as weak and indecisive, we know ourselves damn well that if we decided to annihilate Syria, wipe it off the face of the earth, that we could do so quite easily.  Would it be humane and justified?  No, but we have the capability of dropping enough bombs that there wouldn't be a corner of Syria left untouched.  The fact that we know we have the capability should be enough.  And while I still don't advocate seeking to end violence by adding violence into the mix, perhaps we should just send up a drone with a few missiles and kill Assad.  Not that that would accomplish anything, but at least he wouldn't be around anymore.  In any case, I have no more to say on this topic.  In large part and regardless of what the citizens of the United States feel our government should do, they will do what they want anyway.  They may claim to listen to us, but we all know in the end that they have other interests that they are attending to and as such, will shove us out of the conversation if need be.  So till tomorrow when I revert back to talking about much happier topics, let us hope for peace, let us hope that don't get involved in yet another conflict, and let us hope that wavering Obama decides to let Syria figure out its own issues, whatever the results may be. 

Puppy Accident!

It was after dark last night and I felt the need to head out for a walk with my dogs.  With my wife in bed and my son at that point sleeping for hours, I collared and leashed my dogs and headed out around the block.  We were about half way through the walk, turning a corner in the road, when I heard what sounded to be a car traveling at a high rate of speed approaching from behind.  We were on the sidewalk, so I wasn't overly worried, and yet, when I glanced back to see what was going on behind me, I saw a car swerving back and forth, bumping the curve, and headed right towards me.  It was traveling extremely fast for the road it, and I, were on, and I barely had enough time to react.  With two dogs in tow, I jumped as far and fast as I could out of the way.  I unfortunately startled my older dog Princess, and as I jumped, she moved right in my way and my boot landed on her paw, snapping it instantaneously.  So if you have gotten this far, you are probably wondering what happened next.  The answer is nothing.  I never went on a walk last night and more importantly, my dog never got hurt.  So why did I spend the time writing a half paragraph worth of fiction at the start of my normally non-fiction blog?  As a joke, more or less.  Let me explain.  There have been a number of times during my blog writing extravaganza that I have alluded to events that I describe on my blog in detail that get taken totally out of context from the blurb that is written.  It seems that some people never click on the link that I post on Facebook to find out exactly what I am talking about and the comment that they leave on Facebook is completely and totally off and has nothing to do with my given topic.  The most recent example I can give is when I wrote about my brother's house and the issues that he is having with it.  I was talking about the leaking shower that he needs to fix, which has nothing to do with pipes, and yet I got a comment about how leaky pipes really suck.  Its not the only time it has happened, but I figured I would play a little joke and see how many comments I got on Facebook that were completely off the mark in terms of what I was really writing about today.  So for all of you who actually read my blog, you will get first hand reporting, tomorrow, of the comments I receive and what actually happens int he world of Facebook. 

 

I find it a little disturbing that so many people readily believe almost anything that is posted on Facebook or any one of the news sites that has popped up over the last few years.  While there is much validity to a lot that is posted, not all of it is true and it seems that many people have lost the ability to verify things for themselves.  Things are taken at face value and not researched or verified often times leading to misinformed people, luckily most of it is trivial and doesn't have much bearing on people's lives, however, if something seriously important were to be passed along, unverified, and believed by thousands of people, it could make a serious impact on the lives of others.  Hopefully that never happens, but it could.  I'm just gonna throw this out there without waxing to political, but didn't our country invade Iraq under the veil of weapons of mass destruction when there weren't any actually present?  It seems reasonable to believe that if our country can believe (or fabricate depending on what you want to believe) in something that isn't true and mount a decade long war over it, people will believe something insignificantly untrue on Facebook and leave comments on it.  I guess I am writing this, not only as a joke to see what kind of comments people leave on Facebook without verifying the story, but also as a warning to check references, verify stories for their validity, and hold onto a little bit of skepticism in regards to what they read and hear about.  Also, I would ask that anyone who is reading this and is a friend of mine on Facebook, not to leave a comment indicating that my fabricated story is in fact just that, a fabricated story.  For today, I actually must end early because for some reason, our son decided to get up an hour before normal, at the ripe hour of 4:55, and is now sitting in his high chair doing a puzzle over and over and over again while I write this blog.  Have no fear, he can not see the screen of the computer, and I am not completely ignoring him while writing this, however, I do feel the need to hurry this along so I can spend a little time with him instead of just keeping him in his high chair.  Right now, he is staring at me, getting a little ornery and tantrumy, and before he completely flips out, I must attend to my child.  So with that said, tune in tomorrow for the update on this little joke that I am playing on Facebook and we shall see what the outcome shall be.  If you are not friends with me on Facebook, my post there will go something like this, "Yesterday a tragedy almost occurred.  While walking my dogs in the evening, a car swerved towards us, I jumped out of the way and landed on my dogs foot, completely crushing it.  She is fine, but in a lot of pain right now..."

Camping the Summer Away

For most Americans, Labor Day weekend signifies the ending of summer as children return to school, the days get shorter and cooler, and life seems to return to normal.  Many people go on their last vacations for the year, try to suck the last bit of fun out of summer, and BBQ to their hearts content before it gets too cool to sit outside with friends enjoying the warm summer days.   Its kind of funny how life for many, revolves around the ever present school year.  Summer doesn't technically end till September 21st or sometime around then, yet we may as well consider it over.  There will be very few if any beach days left and the school year rhythm will commence once again.  For me, summer doesn't end till September 21st as the days are still warm, shorts and t-shirts are the norm, and life ticks on as usual.  Yet, as we always do, Labor Day weekend is one of our last camping weekends of the year.  This past weekend was no different, albeit we had more people camping than we usual do.  My whole family was up "camping" (meaning my wife, son and I camped, and my brother and parents stayed in a hotel).  My wife's mom came up and joined us as well, and a couple of friends made the journey with their dog for the weekend.  All in all, it was a relaxing weekend with no work to be done except cutting and splitting wood.  I left Friday morning with our dogs to get everything set up including trimming the clearing.  I left around 10 in the morning and while I cruised through with no traffic, I was amazed at the amount of cars on the road heading north for the long weekend.  By the time I got up to Vermont, however, the stream of cars dissipated somewhat and I was left with what seemed like just local traffic.  I stopped and got some beer for the weekend and arrived to a campsite that was begging to be cleared and utilized.  So I got to work and within a few hours everything was set and ready to go.  Then it was time to wait for everyone arrive.  I am personally glad I left as early as I did as it took my wife, who left after work around 3, about 4.5 hours to get up to our campsite due to traffic, accidents and slow moving people.  But, she got there safely with our son, and that was the most important thing.  The next group to arrive was my friend, his girlfriend, and their dog, at about 1030 at night.  The three dogs ran around, got to know each other all over again, and began forming their little pack for the weekend.  That was it for Friday as the rest of the family was arriving Saturday morning.

 

Saturday turned out to be a bit rainy with off and on showers, a touch of sun here and there, and yet despite the rain, it was still nice and relaxing.  The best part about the rainy day was that we had a pavilion that was completed to keep the rain off our heads.  On top of that, it didn't seem overly dark and dreary as the roof is clear, corrugated plastic sheets that allow all the light through, yet no rain.  Our son loves camping.  While we brought some blocks and other toys up for him to use, he didn't even bother touching them once as he had plenty of big boy toys to mess with.  He helped build fires, he tried pushing my big trimmer around almost all day, and when he wasn't involved in any of that, he was exploring the cars and trying to get into them to play.  Its pretty safe to say he thoroughly enjoyed himself.  He got to stay up later than usual and even then, there was no part of him that wanted to go to bed.  The same activities continued all weekend.  Simple relaxation.  By the time Monday rolled around and it was time to pack up and go home, I don't think anyone wanted to leave.  I know that I definitely did not want to go home.  I could have stayed up in Vermont for the rest of the week, however, in order to stay there for the week I would need money and without working, I don't have money.  So, life must return to normal.  I must go back to work, slog it out for the rest of this short week, and enjoy this coming weekend when it gets here.  Whenever a vacation ends, whether it be a long weekend or a whole week, there is always a period of depression that sets in.  My dogs sensed it yesterday morning when everything started getting packed up.  In fact, I had a very hard time getting my younger dog Aspen out of the shed and into the van to go home.  As soon as we started driving, the dogs laid down and slept the whole way.  I sank into my little depression almost immediately and didn't come out of it till I was almost home.  Today, I am good, still longing for Vermont, but accepting of the fact that I will have to wait till October to return there.  Normally, I would go up on Columbus day weekend, however, as it is our son's birthday that weekend, I will probably wait till the weekend after, who knows.  For now, time to get my day started and crackin, shuffle my wife and son off to school and daycare, and re-pack my van for work.  Thank God for coffee!