What's Going On?

It’s been a while . . . since I wrote anything. Nothing going on??? Well, no, there’s perhaps too much to grasp. The upcoming election, for example. Because of Tony and the Supremes (see Citizens United) the election process in America has turned into a money chase. Whoever spends the most money at the end wins. Gee, thanks Tony. I knew you were corrupt ever since you appointed Shrub to be President—remember Florida Tony? But Citizens United—corporations are people??? Really, Tony, that’s the best you can do?  So, now I get 30 e-mails a day asking for $3-5 . . . or more of course . . . more is always nice. And sorry guys, but I can no longer contribute.  We’re fresh out of three dollar bills.  So, I suppose, since the Cocks have an unlimited amount of money and are using it to completely corrupt our formerly nice democratic system, the Repubs will win the day and take over the Senate. Won’t that be fun for Obama?  I mean, he’s had such a nice long run of completely supportive Congressional colleagues that he will have to learn how to run the nation without Congressional support.

And then there’s ISIS/ISIL, or whatever that band of thugs wants to be called. They want to establish a 12^th century Caliphate, or maybe a 3^rd or 4^th century Caliphate. Maybe Attila the Hun is their role model—ruling ruthlessly over a vast swath of territory populated by varying ethnic tribes who paid attention to him because otherwise they would lose their collective heads. I’m always amused at the notion that ISIS-the Taliban-Al Qaeda—all make believe they are governed by some formal religious beliefs. It was amusing, except for the inhabitants, for example, that the Iranians overthrew a king, only to replace him with a king—for what is the Ayatollah but a king dressed in pseudo-religious garb?

And what are we to do about ISIS? Even Al Qaeda and the Iranians think they are grotesque. Too violent for Al Qaeda . . . wow. But whenever we (the West) tries to intervene, we seem to make a bad situation even worse. Look what happened when we intervened when the Russians foolishly tried to imitate the British by invading Afghanistan.  So, we, of course, armed the opposition, in that case the Taliban. We gave them all kinds of nifty weapons, including Stinger missiles. Man that was clever of us.  So, then when the Taliban took over Afghanistan after the Russians retreated with their tails between their legs, they inevitably turned on us—remember 9/11 and those guys hiding out in Talibanland?

Now, we are pretending we can defeat ISIS by bombing them, and, arming the “moderate” opposition. First, bombing really doesn't work to defeat a local resistance—see Vietnam. You need troops on the ground. So, our fallback is to “train” the Iraqi army . . .hahahahahaha. Apparently, the only thing more useless in a combat situation than a French army is an Arab army.  They’re only really useful against unarmed women and children folks.  So, it’s hard to know what, if any solutions exist. I suppose, were the UN an actual functioning body, it could declare the entire Middle East and all of Northern Africa as an anarchic region in need of protection and governance by the UN.  And when that goes over as well as the proverbial turd in the punchbowl, then maybe we can all play pick up sticks.

So, I don’t see any good paths forward. I don’t know, we could try talking, but there really isn't anybody with whom we could talk—they all seem to want to cut off our heads.  So, back to bombing it is, I guess.

And back on planet earth, we attended a meeting last evening of the Cabarrus County Commissioners.  It was supposed to be just a regular meeting . . . nothing special. And we attended because the cretins who pretend to be Commissioners have been playing havoc with our county budget lately and slashing anything that moves.  Apparently, they don’t like books and the idea of folks reading. So, they have been doing the slash and burn thing on the library system.  So Carol and a few other folks were going to speak, asking the Commissioners to take another look for ways to extend the library hours. Just a thought, guys. But then, when they were finished, the local NRA/GOP reps took the stage and began testifying about guns and how terribly important it is for everyone to be armed at all times.  They apparently see no boundaries.  Schools, churches, supermarkets, our local parks, and even the County fair. They want everyone armed and carrying. One local minister even testified that we all had a God-given right to bear arms . . . wow, I did not know that.  Made me wonder whether Wayne (of the NRA Waynes) had spoken directly with God, and whether God speaks in Waynesque. That would have been interesting being a fly on the wall, huh?

So, they seem to want everyone carrying everywhere they go.  They seem vaguely threatened, and just on the edge of violence.  Happily, local ordinances prevented them from entering the meeting hall fully armed.  They were doubtless annoyed at such restrictions.

So, I guess, if they get their way, we will have a return to the 18^th century when everyone carried.  I know, maybe we could have a new Fair entertainment—a redo of the Shootout at the OK Corral. Only this time, instead of those wussy Civil War re-enactments, where they fire blanks, we could have guys actually shooting at one another with their pearl handled six shooters. Oh, I can’t wait.