Malala....

Malala Yousufzai...the story of children doing the job adults should be doing. And of adults so entrenched in religious belief that they would kill a young girl to make a savage point. Malala is doing better. She's talking now and her physicians are saying there's no sign of brain damage. She was a hero before...now she's been elevated to the stratosphere. She will inspire children...and old men like me...to point out evil when they see it and make a stand. As Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." We must stop doing nothing. 

Update as of 1/5/13: http://news.msn.com/world/pakistani-girl-shot-by-taliban-leaves-british-hospital-3?ocid=ansnews11

Y2K Deja Vu

Deja Vu...all over again. We have once again seen the year 2000...mirrored in the Cleveland Plain Dealer's count of our sons and daughters killed in Afghanistan, the longest war in our history. Months ago I had a slim hope that our kids would come home before today. It wasn't a realistic thought...idealistic, but that's me. Do you remember the hype for Y2K? If we could only raise awareness about what this unwinnable war is doing to families here...like that hype for Y2K.... Another idealistic wish. I have many. Here's some images you may recall of Y2K:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=y2k+images&qpvt=y2k+images&FORM=IGRE

We Again Approach Y2K...in Death.

Today's Cleveland Plain Dealer noted that the death toll for our children in Afghanistan, since late 2001, has reached 1994. Images of the horrors of Y2K again resonate, but pale in comparison to the thoughtless slaughter of our sons and daughters in a meaningless conflict, and now, the longest war our country has ever endured. Speakers at the Republican Convention failed to even mention Afghanistan and what we're doing to our troops. The Afghanis want us gone, to the point that they are frequently killing our soldiers. So...let's leave...NOW. 

And here are your images of 1994: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1994+images&qpvt=1994+images&FORM=IGRE

Something about today....

The sun's light shone in patches on the carpet.... Squeak, our cat, took a patch as her own, like she always does, and scrunched her eyes tight in a moment of happiness. The sky seemed a little less blue...somehow, once I was on my way. Something about today.... Everywhere, people I saw seemed quiet...fewer horns blowing and voices raised. And the sun was warm and memorable...with that September brightness, less yellow than summer, where shadows seemed darker...something about today....  

Heading for the End of the Last Century....

On the 11th anniversary of 9/11, the Plain Dealer reported that we've lost 1987 of our soldiers in Afghanistan since late 2001. The Department of Defense is their source. And there's no doubt we're blowing through the 20th Century as the bodies are counted. Willard chose not to even mention Afghanistan, our longest war ever, in his acceptance speech. Bring our children home now! Here's some memories of 1987:

  http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+1987&qpvt=images+1987&FORM=IGRE

Like Lightening Through the Twentieth Century

Today's Plain Dealer lists the number of our sons and daughters killed in Afghanistan since late 2001 at 1981.... When I began this project, the number warped us back to the 1930's, a time of enormous struggle throughout this nation. We are racing through the last century again...and I present some images of 1981:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1981+images&qpvt=1981+images&FORM=IGRE

The Republican Party failed to even mention our war in Afghanistan at their convention last week. And our children die.

Let's do the time warp, again. (Just a step to the left.)

Today's PeeDee showed that 1,980 of our soldiers have now died in Afghanistan since 2001. After a moment of silence, please, refer to images of that year:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1980+imaged&qpvt=1980+imaged&FORM=IGRE

 And hope to hell they start talking about ending the war at the conventions!

Time Warp to 1972

The PeeDee reported today that 1972 of our sons and daughters have died in Afghanistan. Let's do the time warp again..."just a jump to the left." For your edification, images of that year:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1972&qpvt=1972&FORM=IGRE

The New Right Wants Our Laws to be Religulous

The Tea Party and ultra-conservatives appear to have taken over the Republican Party. Among several  Republican leaders who have jumped the sinking ship, tired of their mutated party, our own Steve LaTourette, of the 14th Congressional District, has jumped as well. I did not always agree with him, but he was what I remember a Republican to be: a reasoned voice in opposition to many of my liberal beliefs. On June 28th, 2012, he was one of only two Republicans voting against the motion holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. A reasoned voice. The Republican Party today is on a mission to make their religious beliefs the law of the land. Separation of Church and State only applies to their unrealistic fear that Sharia Law will somehow be imposed by the current Muslim President, who, of course, was born in Kenya. But that imposition is exactly what they're working toward for their own beliefs, including those laws they've sponsored throughout the country restricting women's rights and endangering women's health. My wife asked me today: Where are all the liberal voices crying out against this unbelievable attack on women and Democracy? I hear some quiet voices...but it's time that we get loud before this gets any worse.

Time Warp @ Warp Speed

Time Warp Update: August 18th, 2012, the death count for our soldiers in Afghanistan as noted by the PeeDee...we have reached 1961. Therefore I present to you all...the image of the day:

http://oldcarandtruckads.com/Ford/1958_Edsel12_ad.jpg  Kinda nails the period, no?

Afghanistan & Death as a Time Warp....

Just a few weeks ago I was reading the Death Toll figures for our soldiers in Afghanistan, as reported in the PeeDee. I realized that the count was a number of a year of the Twentieth Century, some that I had already lived through. On July 31st, 2012, they reported the number of our sons and daughters killed there was at 1,935. Just yesterday we had made it to 1948. Today, we jumped past my birthday and landed in 1950. Then I hear the story that 3 of our men were killed by their host after being invited to dinner. They were not counted in that figure. So. tomorrow, we will time warp to at least 1953. Is it too much to ask to get our people back home before the century ends again?!

Lord & Lady Voldemitt Horse Around....

Lord, Lord, Lord...the London headlines in papers like "The Daily Prophet" read, "Mitt the Twit." Lord Voldemitt was perplexed by the reaction he'd received. And usually they would say "You know who the Twit," leaving him unnamed. But not this time! How could they rain on his foreign policy coming out party? To insure his immortality, he decided he needed to plant another Horcrux...to add to those in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, and Panama. He would stop by Gringotts soon and set it up. He could hide a piece of his soul in his vault far beneath the London streets. His wife, Lady Ann seemed to be faring no better after her "You People" blunder last week. And, in London for the Olympics, for her horse Rafalca's Dressage competition, she could join Voldemitt upon his return from Poland. They would hope for no more gaffes and Rafalca's perfection.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-27/romneys-have-tax-deduction-with-olympic-hopes-on-rafalca

The Changing Conversation.

I talk to my wife more than anyone else. And I listen selectively to most of what she says. Otherwise, though, conversations have somehow become sound bites...pieces, parts...like McNuggets. And I find myself thinking in those terms: "What's the perfect Nugget for that discussion?" And most conversations, now, take place while we are alone and diddling in cyberspace. We communicate, but human contact has almost disappeared. It's like the ultimate evolution (devolution?) of the cocktail party...where we interacted but preferably were anesthetized appropriately first. Is this a bad thing? We do save on deodorant. And it is our choice. And we all force ourselves to interact with others from time to time...it's a necessity. This changing conversation does allow us to think before we speak...write. But...everyday...we see that's not someones choice, as they still figure out how to stick their foot in their post.

Small is Beautiful

Willard and Ann know what they want. Small government. You see...they don't need government. The less of it in their lives the better. Less regulation for any business Willard has a stake in. Less to consider when he practices his faith. Less to declare when he files his taxes. Less to pay when he gets his way. Small is beautiful they say. About government...that's all...that they want small. Most other things in their lives are not small. There once was a Willard that friended rats....

"You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too," - John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - 2006).

Doing the Right Thing....

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Our President may have done himself in, politically, yesterday, with his declaration in support of gay marriage. What a courageous and honorable thing to do. I can't remember another President putting himself in that position in my lifetime. I support and respect his personal belief, but have a sick feeling in my gut that it just may cost him his job and give us an Etch A Sketch President. The opposition has tried to return us all to the "Good Old Days" of illegal abortions and restricted personal liberties all year long and there are "True Believers" out there that scare the hell out of me. How can doing the right thing make me feel this way? It should make me happy...why am I sad?

Inventory....

There are parts of my body I have not seen in years. I am flexible...kind of like an over-starched white dress shirt that maintains my upper torso erection. Bend but not break is an ideal. I've lost a lot of those over time.  But that's okay. Change comes with age...and I refuse to be a whiner. My dad spoke of a fellow he drank with from time to time...a man a little bit older...who would suck the joy from the room as soon as he opened his mouth. They were not friends. Just bar stool neighbors. Dad explained that this man would begin to complain about every pain in every body part as soon as he sat down. And my dad was not there to relive this man's pain...he was there to forget his own. One day, finally, after weeks of trying to seem like a good listener, and neighbor, weeks of complaints, he asked the man, bluntly, "How old are you?" "Seventy-five," he said. "So, what the hell do you expect??" He never sat next to my dad again.

Death at the Box.

The Box is in a corner of our kitchen, farthest from food and nearest a window. That morning, the long legged spider, out for adventure, squeezed through a small space under a window screen and into our lives forever. Leg by leg, claw by claw, each of its eight legs felt their way down that mountainside that is the wall below the window. Each step it took down that mountain had to make the Box grow in size, and, one can only imagine, the spider had been holding its breath during the descent until, just an inch above the Box, it breathed in all the magnificence within and collapsed to the hard vinyl surface upon which the Box sat. By the time we awoke and journeyed upon the crime scene, there were eight legs straight up into the air and what only can be described as a surprised look on the spider's face. That image can never be erased...and the cat was, as cats are, totally unaffected.  

Nuclear Dreams 1950-2001

At night, when young,
We knew the bomb...
I died in dreams so often:
Ending as a flash of white fire.
Decades pass...
I stay alive. I don't Die
In dreams. I won't.
I died again last night...
I felt the bomb, nearby,
A clock set to ring,
In my mind, In my dream,
The trigger clicked, the dream ended.
I died again last night.

Michael James Lawless

Out The Heart of Darkness....

Dick Cheney woke this morning feeling strange...he was happy. A great weight had been lifted from his chest. He felt a new emotion...could this be love? He decided to give up hunting and shooting friends in the face...he called a press conference to admit he lied all the time and was wrong about Iraq...he endorsed Obama for president...he called his daughter Mary to say "I love you," and admitted he always questioned his own masculinity and then he joined the Human Rights Campaign. He was no longer a Dick...he became a Richard.

Who will be the last to die?

The United States is still in infancy as a nation. Afghanistan has been around a while longer...archaeologists have evidence of humans there around 50,000 BC. And, even if you allow that we started this longest war in our history for the meaningful goal of killing Bin Laden...revenge for 9/11...can there be a purpose left? Our children are dying. One of our soldiers will be the last to die. And for what reason? Will they die during the last transport out of Afghanistan? Will they die because we screwed up and burned their holiest book? Will they die at the hands of a mother or sister or father of someone Robert Bales murdered? Can there be a reason left for any of the children we sent over there to die? I often contemplate the meaning of life.... I don't want to have to search for meaning in their death.

Where's St. Patrick when we need him?

Legend credits St. Patrick with banishing all the snakes from Ireland, chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast. There may be some truth to this legend, and there be snakes to chase here, today. The symbology of snakes is as old as time. From the Garden of Eden...near the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq...(ironic...huh?)...snakes have been metaphors for evil, sex, and perversion. And evil lurks in Republican legislation all across this country. At first, I laughed at their agenda, somehow thinking they could never pull this off...bust unions, end Roe V. Wade, turn the clock back for women on battles they won years ago...couldn't happen. Well, now we need St. Patrick again.

Mitt Says "Hi!"...again and again.

Mitt called me the other day. He seemed a little stiff...he would not stop talking. I tried to say "Hi"...and I asked him how he liked our Ohio trees...(were they the right height??). (I prefer smaller trees, myself. Less damage when I run in to one.) Anyhow...he went on and on...and said how I need to get out and vote on "Super Tuesday." I did try to tell him I had already voted...but he would not shut up. I asked him for his phone number - since he has mine - but he just said to tell my friends he said "Hi." So there you go. Then, Ann, his wife called...same thing...she would not listen to me so I had to hang up. The next day, Barbara Bush called and said she wants me to vote for Mitt. I asked how her son Georgie was doing...but she kept talking like the others! No phone etiquette any more! Mitt called again...and said the exact same thing as the first call. A senior moment? And, today, I got "An Urgent call about Mitt" from Rob Portman, our Republican Senator. Guess what? He would not listen to a word I said. The logical conclusion? Republicans are deaf.