Random Stuff

Another historic moment.
I am hopeful.

Drilling for more oil off our coast will not lower gas prices. It will be 8 to 10 years before any of the oil that is being prospected for off our coastline ever makes it into the system. Yet both of our presidential candidates have stated their support for it as a means of lowering the price of gas knowing this. In 8 to 10 years we could have alternative fuel derived from grains, grasses, and other means that uses our surpluses and wastes, using most of the current infrastructure we already have.

Gasoline cars can run off alcohol based fuel with very little modification. Not just a few, but all of them. You need to change the fuel tank and fuel lines to be stainless steel or plastic based (no rubber in the fuel system), That’s it. There will be a drop in power output, but only 15%. Yes there are formaldehydes put into the air instead of CO, but this is about supply, not environment. In fact, GM and Ford have already been producing cars that run only on alcohol for several years for the Brazilian market and doing quite well at it.

Diesel engines actually run more effecient than gasoline powered cars. More torque, better miles per gallon. Better yet, corn oil will work as a dielel fuel with no modifications to current engines. In fact, the inventor for which this fuel is named (Rudolf Diesel) originally designed his engine to run off vegetable oil.

With all of these alternatives, why do we keep pushing for petroleum? The only people who win in this are the big oil companies. That is short term at best.

Does it bother anyone that the largest financial institution in the United States is now 80% owned by the US Government? I can’t see how any good can come of that. That means that most of the capital that flows through our financial system is going to be under the control and scrutiny of our government. They’ve already proved they don’t know how to manage money, what makes them think they can do any better with this one?

Then there is the $700 billion deal that is being finalized. The idea is that the government buys the morgages of homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure so the banks no longer have the risk of losing more money. Great for the banks. They don’t lose the money they were about to. They lower their risk exposure. Now they can start lending money again.

On top of that the homeowners now get a lower interest rate from the government to lower their payments to something they can afford. Great for the homeowner who went into a loan they knew they could not afford.They now get to pay less for something they shouldn’t have in the first place.

But what about people like me. I get to pay for all of those through taxes. My kids will pay for it too. I never missed a payment, I don’t live in a house I cannot afford, and I am not a high risk. What do I get out of this? Same payment, same interest, same house. No gain for doing what I was supposed to. Yet my neighbor up the hill who bought that beautiful 5 bedroom, two story home, with two car garage that was way outside his means, now gets a bonus and gets to keep the house.

As for the banks, they won’t open up the credit market. Why? Because they have been burned so badly by their own lack of dillegence, that they are leaning far toward the other direction of not making loans that have any sort of risk. They are getting their money and hanging on to it. Using the bailout to get what they should not have risked in the first place. Leaving someone like me stuck.

I see nothing good in our current presidential race. I will be voting for the Democratic party, but the only real reason I am voting that way is because I currently support the Republican part less.

I listen to Barack Obama and all I hear is rhetoric. I have not heard any solid answers on any of the questions or policies posed to him. I get the feeling he is a politician in the truest sense of the word. It feels like a popularity contest. I want to hear a solid answers. I want to hear what he is going to do about the war in Iraq. I want to hear what his plan is for diplomatic relations with Russia. I want to hear what his plan is for the military. I want an answer not more carefully planned out speaches that run in circles without changing the subject. I want someone to ask him hard questions, then say “bullshit” when he spins the answer in a different direction.

I listen to John McCain and all I can see in our future is war. I do get the impression that he is a decent leader, but I flattly do not support his ideals. It is my belief if he is elected we will wind up at war with more countries than we already are. Nothing good can come of that. And the fact that his new running mate flat out lied, as well as specifically saying she would support a war with Russia over what is happening in Georgia (the country), really makes my blood boil. This point on war is a deal breaker for me. Period.

Why can’t we get a real person in there who has their priorities straight? This has become a battle of the ruling class at its worst.

A few days ago was an open house at my son’s school. I came away very disappointed. Actually, I came away a bit upset.

5. The gym teacher was 5′4 and quite overweight.

4. The science teacher said she if students are bored in her class or the curriculum is boring, or they are bored with the teacher, it is the fault of the student. Huh?

3.  The math teacher was nice enough but revealed that the curriculum for algebra was written around the WASL test and had very little to do with the kids actually learning the ideas behind algebra and was prepping them to pass the test instead of learn how to figure it out themselves. She said she would try her best, but was restricted.

2.  The music teacher said the only reason they have music and creative arts is that they agreed to teach math and reading directed at passing the WASL. To me that’s a bit of a stretch for a creative arts class.

1. This is probably the most rant worthy. PTA is no longer just for setting up events for students, or providing a line of communication between teachers and students. They now raise funds to pay for a lobbiest to convince our government that teacher pay and funding for student programs really is important. Why the hell should we even have to have something like that?!

I need to write more on this, but I need to figure out just how I am going to put it. I have lots of thoughts on education, money, and curriculum, and need to get it all structured before I go on to prevent it from becoming just another off the wall rant.

From what I saw of the opening performance, it looked magnificent! Though, I could really have done with out the sports announcers giving constant commentary on it. I could also have done without the commercial interruption. From looking at the pictures of it on-line it looks like there was a good bit missed because even though it was recorded earlier they cut the commercials in just like it was live.

Also I have have issue with some of the crowd booing the Iranian team. These are world class atheletes, not the politicians who are causing all of the problems. I have a great deal of respect not for the leaders but the atheletes who have put all of their life into what amounts to a single performance in front of the whole world.

Amidst war, terror, fundalmentalism, and political pressure.

How many people can say they have risked so much for a single chance on a single day to shine?

The price of gas is certainly a hot topic these days. I know personally it has hit my pocket book quite hard. A couple years ago I bought a car I never thought I would buy simply because it was getting too expensive to drive one of my gas hogs every day to work. When I did this I went from no car payment and $1200 a month for gas, down to a $575 per month car payment and a fuel bill of $300 per month. A decent amount of savings. Now that gas prices have doubled since then, I am almost back at the point I started at. For the first time since I was 20 years old, I am seriously considering riding the bus because it is getting too expensive for me to drive.

But I’m not angry about it. Far from it, really.

Over the last few years I’ve been in many discussions about fuel prices, fuel efficiency, electric cars, traffic, and a few other related topics. Usually there are a few different catalysts to the conversation or debate, but my argument as always stood pretty much the same. I usually emphasize two of my opinions. So far they seem to be playing out as expected.

People won’t change unless they are forced to do so. This is common for a lot of systems outside of people. A system does not change unless it gets stressed to the point of being either uncomfortable or even failure. People will not give up their cars unless it becomes too much of a burden to keep it. The environment, global warming, pollution, none of these have an impact on the driving habits of most people. Yes there are a few who take these things seriously, but the majority of the population will take no action regarding these impacts of a car. Why? Because they can still afford to drive.

Stress to the system will also drive innovation. The electric car has been around since the time of Henry Ford. But in the last 100 years, there has been a negligible amount of research to make electric cars go further, faster, and more reliably. Yet look at the gains in automotive technology. The worlds fastest car in 1908 could only go 141 miles per hour. It had only 135 horsepower. My “economy” car has twice the power, and with very little modification could go just as fast. But the electric car, up until recently has not really improved in performance at nearly the same pace. The power may be close, but the range was limited to about 50 miles at best. But recently, there has been real change in this area. Take a look at the Chevrolet Volt or the Tesla Roadster. Real change is coming. Why? Because people has started to demand it as a result of Gas prices. It is getting too expensive to put fuel in your car. Research is now actively happening. Making electric cars that cost less to drive and are just as convenient as gas powered cars. And they look good too.

But what is the price per gallon which people start serious making the change? The point at which it goes from only people who are early adopters to mainstream? I have always argued it will be when gas here in the U.S. goes above $5.00 per gallon. I’ve mentioned this over the course of several years as I talked to people about this subject. Recently when Honda came out with their hybrid car, and again when Toyota came out with theirs, and even yesterday when talking about the Tesla roadster. Daily we seem to get closer to that point. The new technology started to appear around $3.50 per gallon and really started to look like a serious alternative when the price went to $4.00 per gallon. Now, as we get closer to $5.00 it seems more and more like an electric car will be a reality.

I don’t know for sure. Those are just my opinions. But I think we are ready for this now.

I know with the damage the current presidency has done, the Republican party does not have a lot of support in the popular opinion. With a president who has lied, tried (and in some ways, I believe, succeeded) to take away constitutional rights, Started a war on made up information, continues to say the presidency has the right to override the other branches of government that were put in place as a check and balance system. To continue to make our country resemble what was the former Soviet Union.

The battle between the two Democratic hopefuls has also given a lot of exposure to the Democratic party itself. Regardless of who is chosen as the presidential nominee for the Democratic party the constant barrage of information in the news is as good as any dollar spent on advertising. I personally do not know who I would choose, but regardless, I will be voting for Democratic this upcoming election.

But the big money is Republican. Big industry and big business. Big industry has the capability to influence unions, and in turn, large blocks of people. Big business has the money to influence both advertising and news media.

The Republican party has also done a lot of major re-districting of voting territories litterally making it easier for districts in who are primarily Republican to get to the polls and more difficult for Democratic districts to do the same.

Add a little bit of conspiracy.
Electronic voting machines that have been shown to be easily hackable via wireless connection, other electronic voting machines that have been shown to be inaccurate and investigations stopped by lawsuit.

Polls from the last presidential election that do not match the votes. So much discrepancy in fact, that known corrupt 3rd world elections of dictators have shown closer results.

As much as I want to believe our next president will be Democratic, I can’t help but think the Republicans will win.

I hope I am wrong.

Grand Theft Auto IV came out today. This is the end all be all to violence, crime, and sex in a video game. I’ve played earlier versions of it. And I liked it. And yes, I would let my youngest son play it. I also wouldn’t say no to my oldest son, even if he was under 18. I have also taken my kids to “R” rated movies. I have let them see movies on cable that had nudity in them.

I’m sure there are some parents out there who shudder at the thought. The first thing to do would be to conclude I must be an awful parent for exposing my kids to such thing. That my kids must be, or will be, violent boys. My response would be to get to know my kids and me before you make up your mind about that. But I doubt that will happen if you’ve already made up your mind.

The simple fact of the matter is that I trust my children’s judgement when it comes to telling the difference between what is real and what is not. As well as what is acceptable and what is not. I’ve taken the time to teach them that there are consequences for actions. To think before acting. While I do have some of the typical problems associated with raising kids,  I have on a regular basis been made proud by either choices or direct actions made by my kids.

It is easy to blame video games, television shows, the internet, movies, and even music for the way children behave and how they behave when they grow into adulthood. But the simple fact of the matter is that if your children are behaving badly because of any of those influences, then you are the one who are letting your children down.

Talk to your kids. Talk to them. Ask them what they think. Let them know what you think.  Give them the freedom to make choices. Praise them for good, punish them for bad. Be an example.
Step up and be a parent. Don’t let a video game fill in the holes for you.

In an effort to learn more about photography I began to subscribe to a number of photography related blogs. Most of them are for providing hints and tips. A couple are actually lesson based and have exercises for you to try on your own. And a few are current news as it relates to photography as either a hobby or profession.

One common theme that seems to come up on all of them is about your rights as a photographer and how the government has managed to put a fear into the general public that photographers may actually be terrorists gathering intelligence for an attack of some sort.

“See somebody taking a picture of a building or a bridge? Do they look suspicious? Report them.” Never mind that buildings and bridges are some of the most majestic objects you can take pictures of. But what makes someone look suspicious? It’s never really specified.

I often wondered what would happen if I were to test this out.

What if I went one weekend and wondered around some of the major sights of Seattle with my camera in hand dressed as I normally am and take a bunch of pictures. Have someone along with me taking pictures of me while I am doing this. I’d be taking pictures of things like the tallest building in Seattle, the Space Needle, the Ballard Locks, Pike Place Market, and the ferry boats.

Then I would let my facial hair grow for a couple of months, khaki pants, sandals, a long sleeve white button up shirt, and a turban. Then my companion and I would go do the same thing and see what happens.

I really am curious. Right now, however, I fear something really would happen. Being a responsible parent I cannot justify taking the risk of confrontation or even detainment. Perhaps some other time.

“Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.” –Ronald Reagan

Some time ago I wrote how I thought the United States was gearing up to attack Iran. At that point, if you paid enough attention to the propaganda engine the US uses, you could only hear slight echos of it, yet when you did year it, the story was almost exactly the same as what lead to the attack on Iraq which we now know was based on lies and falsehoods.

Yesterday a report came out from the IAEA that stated there is no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. But the US and France have summarily dismissed the IAEA’s finding.

Remember when the US attacked Iraq? Do you remember the reasons we were given? Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.  At least that what we were told from American Media. While I don’t really believe it was over these weapons at all, it does turn out the information about Iraq having weapons of mass distruction said they didn’t have any and that any information that said they did was not true. This information that said they did not have the weapons in question was dismissed.

Why is does our Government choose to play these deadly games?

I am seriously considering buying a one month bus pass to see if it really helps on my expenses and time when it comes to my weekly commute. I don’t see it helping on weekends because of the various ways I spend my time on the weekend. I think it may help the gas bill, but again I’m not sure.

One of the biggest concerns I have is the time it takes. Oddly enough the bus(s) I would take to work and home again follow almost the exact same route I drive when commuting. The big difference is that I get to pass the bus, I don’t have to pick anyone else up and I don’t have to stop at either the Renton or Bellevue Stations to wait 20 minutes for a transfer.

Is the extra $120 per month I would save in gas be worth the two to three additional hours spent on my commute?

hard choice.

I was sent a survey in the mail today. It was a Microsoft Exit Survey. A nice little paper that coincides with the Microsoft Employee survey with a link to a survey site. It was a bunch of check boxes that were meant to give an idea of why a person would leave such a company. But in true Microsoft fashion it was glossed over so that there was no real way to paint just how ugly of a picture it really was.

Out of 50 choices per page for three pages, you were only allowed to check three items. It’s hard to do when you could easily check 25 or more. The comments box was way to small to say what the survey didn’t cover.

Why did I leave?

1. The manager of my group told me to my face that I would never get a promotion
2. The previous review I got ZERO raise and ZERO bonus.
3. The review previous to that I got a raise that netted me $240 (yes $10 per paycheck) more per year and no bonus.
4. I regularly saw people directly credited for work that I did. Not just work I contributed to, but the work I specifically did. All they did was ask me to do it.
5. A manager suggested that my kids go live with their grandparents.
6. I was told that I just wasn’t excited enough about the company.
7. Management purely self serving there.
8. There is one manager for every three employees, when I started it was one manager for every ten.
9. Projects are no longer done to improve the products, they are done to pad the resumes of managers.
10. No matter how hard you work or how much you do, you are constantly made to feel like you aren’t doing enough.
11. Microsoft just got to arrogant for my taste.
12. During my exit interview, I was offered a substantial raise. Enough to make up for the the two previous years of nothing.
13. During my exit interview I was also offered a promotion.
14. The person performing the exit interview was flabbergasted to learn that it only took me three days to have multiple offers of substantially more money.
15. It would have been so much easier to keep me happy than to try to recover.
16. I couldn’t put up with another year of negative reinforcement to get me to do a good job.

The exit interview was probably the most surreal part of the whole process. It was almost like leaving a cult. “Are you sure you want to leave? It’s so nice here. You’re really going to miss us.”

I don’t miss it, even a little bit. The people I made friends with are still my friends. I am still in an exciting field working on some cool stuff.  I make better money and have better opportunity. My work is appreciated and recognized.

The last question was “Would you consider working for Microsoft again?”

NO.

The only way I would work for Microsoft again is if the company I worked for sold out to them. I would then only stay long enough to cash my stock out.

At the end of this week a person who I’ve been friends with for the last few years is moving to Ireland. Also at the end of this week, another friend who I’ve just met recently is moving to L.A. One is moving for a relationship, the other is moving in the aftermath of one.

It’s interesting how things turn out.

“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” –Mark Twain

Debbie and I spent some time yesterday over at the Ballard Seafood Festival wondering around. In general having a good time. We came across a couple of young men playing music, they couldn’t have been more than 18 or 19 years old. One playing drums and the other playing an electric guitar. A guitar case was open for onlookers to drop money in and it didn’t take long for dollar bills to start appearing. To put it simply these two were amazing! It’s been a long time since I’ve heard someone jam like that. Visions of a young Santana playing on a street corner went through my head as they played.

When we showed up there were about ten people, but after a few minutes a significant crowed had gathered. But then a lady in a yellow shirt with a radio showed up and demanded they stop. They were shut down. No permit, or they didn’t pay a vendor fee, or some other equally inane reason, they weren’t allowed to play. Boos from the crowed ensued as the two young men were asked to leave.

This festival was a place for people to enjoy themselves and clearly people were. In a span of ten minutes these two had gathered a crowd larger than was at any of the stages or side shows that were “official”. This put a serious black mark on the Ballard festival for me. If people were having so much fun, why break it up?

I don’t get it.

The events at Virginia Tech are horrible. My heart and prayers go out to those families who lost loved ones today.

I can’t watch what the reporters are doing any more. They are scavenging. Sensationalizing. Making every last detail big news. Turning tragedy into entertainment. There is something fundamentally wrong when a reporter asks a student who was almost shot how it feels that his best friend is dead instead of him. That was too much. The TV is off.

I think it would do them all some good to watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbVeN13wGFc

This blog may contain strong language, insults, opinions, and references to sex which you may find offending and/or may be inappropriate for people under the age of 18. It may contain pictures that depict violence. It may contain pictures that are sexual in nature. The pictures, comments, and posts may insult you, your religion, your family and/or your country.

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Well, OK, it was more of a guess when I made the comment.

On this blog I made a comment that it would not surprise me if the founder of the Girls Gone Wild videos landed himself in jail because of something he did or said. (or something to that effect, I don’t remember the exact comment now)

I stumbled on this news article while poking around the web tonight.
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/APN/704044207

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6491255.stm

Taiwan will be closing down a mojor highway to allow for the safe migration of the purple milkweed butterfly.

I bet you haven’t heard anything about it on American news. You’ve probably heard a lot of talk about the suspicion of Iran attempting to build nuclear weapons. But I bet that’s all you’ve heard. Well, if you listen to any of the big 4 American news agencies (abc,cbs,nbc,fox).

But it goes quite a bit further than that. And it’s starting to sound quite familiar. Wag the dog.

Iran is trying to build a nuclear power plant. It requires enriched uranium. President Bush says they are trying enrich material for weapons. The bush administration is also telling us over and over that there are no plans to attack Iran.

Yet, listening to foreign news. It came up in UN meetings that plans for a US attack on Iran have leaked out. Both military and civilian targets. As well as reason for going forward for it. These reason include “Reasonable belief that Iran is developing nuclear weapons” and “Iran is supplying the insurgency in Iraq with weapons.”

What happened on the news recently? Oh yea, An “anonymous” source held a press conference showing several weapons that had to have come from Iran that were captured in Iraq.

It all sounds too staged to me.

Iran has a nuclear reactor they purchased from Russia. It requires enriched uranium. So why would Iran not try to enrich uranium? I believe there are thoughts of nuclear weapons on their side, who wouldn’t in their position. But otherwise, they do have justification for enriching nuclear fuel.

Iran was in a war with Iraq for nearly 40 years. Why wouldn’t there be weapons in Iraq that are from Iran. What about the largely unprotected border between the two countries. What about plain old smuggling. Insurgents would be paying top dollar for weapons to use against us. Whose to say that a single person in the Iranian military, some lowly quartermaster in charge of these things sold a few of these things for a buck. We also don’t hear just what the source of these weapons is. Were they captured? Bought? Turned over? Or did a couple of our CIA operatives go steal them from Iran (there really weren’t that many).

Tiny reasons for us to attack. Sounds a lot like the justification for the attack on Iraq to oust a leader we put there in the first place, ironically to be an opponent to Iran.

Should we actually attack Iraq, the results would be disastrous. The United States is already looked upon as the most hated country in the world by most of the world, and only tolerated by the rest. An action like the plan to attack Iraq would bring about an unleashing of power from several countries around the world against us.

If history repeats itself, we will attack Iran.

There are a lot of things my father has taught me that have stuck with me throughout the years. Things that have always come in handy or even the hard lessons learned when I was too young and knew it all so I didn’t have to heed his advice. But he never passed up an opportunity to help me understand how the world worked. Environment and politics. Natural science was his strength. He was also exceptional in explaining what was really going on with politics.

He taught me many lessons about natural science as well as politics. One of the biggest lessons that I got from him was that every event has indicators. You can ignore them because they are so small sometimes, but pay attention and you can’t help but see the bigger picture.

A few weeks ago I bought “An Inconvenient Truth.” with Al Gore. It really is a good and informative show. I sat there glued to it. I watched it several times. It wasn’t really anything new. It’s that I had heard it all before. In fact it sounded a lot like my father and the lessons he had taught me and pointed out to me many, many years ago. I sat there and listened as Al Gore talked about all of the small details that no one was paying attention to.

Early blooms of plants and bugs are indicators pointed out to me by my father 25 years ago. There are many more things to look at. I can’t possibly describe them all as well as my father did.

Things like Hurricanes are heat engines. As it gets warmer, the number and strength of them will increase. But look at the recent hurricanes. Not to mention the first hurricane ever in the southern hemisphere. I learned this lesson after he got off the phone with his family to see out they fared in the recent hurricane in Florida. This was some time in the 80’s.

How forests will begin to be ravaged by bugs because they came out early and the birds weren’t out yet to eat them. This lesson came as I asked him why a forest by where we lived was being clear-cut. It was to try to control some sort of beetle. Al Gore talks about the pine beetle specifically. The trees in my neighborhood have an infestation.

…

Last night as I left a friend’s house, he looked at the swarm of bugs that were gathering around his porch light and said “Huh. These bugs usually don’t get here until spring.” then he noticed that the tree by his porch was starting to bud.

I’m not worried about taxes. On average I pay around $40k per year to Uncle Sam directly from my paycheck, and a lot more for property tax, sales tax, car tabs, etc. But I still have plenty left over after that.

I don’t worry about the roads I drive on. Yes they are crowded, but after spending time in Japan and seeing what real traffic is like, as well as every freeway being a toll way, I can live with what we have. Besides, most of the problem lies in all of those cars that can carry four, five, or six people and yet they only carry one(that includes my car).

I don’t worry about welfare reform or the fact my taxes subsidize the ability for someone else to live. Those that need it, great, those that are exploiting it will never live the lifestyle I have now.

I don’t worry about crime rates, or fire departments. Crime prevention rests on parents and neighborhoods. Fire departments always seem to get the money they need to keep responding to calls.

I don’t care if we get a new stadium, or lose a pro sports team.

What do I worry about? My freedom.

In August of 2004 I had the pleasure of chatting over a beer with a cute, young UW researcher who was from Paraguay. One of the things we discussed was politics and how it related to freedom. She couldn’t believe how blind we were to what was happening in our own country. She had been through a dictatorship and following military coup in her on country. She was scared for us. She couldn’t believe that we couldn’t see how our freedoms were being chipped away little by little in the name of national security and how we were just sitting back and taking it. This is exactly how her country wound up under a dictatorship. Bit by bit. She gave some examples of things we all should be worried about, like how vague some of the security bills were being written so they could be applied to anyone doing anything, how people could be held indefinitly while they were being “investigated” as a “terrorist”. Where the term terrorist was defined and anyone who is perceived as a possible threat. No just cause, no evidence, no rights.

I haven’t talked to her since that night. I imagine she is off in some other country doing the research she does, or back home in Paraguay, or possibly even back over at the UW. I’m not sure, but I do know that since we talked that night, I have continually thought about what she said. And it scares me. I keep seeing things that  really worry me and make me wonder if we are turning into everything she said.

I worry as the department of homeland security proposes that you must have permission to LEAVE our country as well as entery.

I worry as President Bush repeals the only law that protects the US citizens from having it’s own military turn on them.

I worry as we find out that the government has been recording bank transactions of every person in america

I worry as personal history is stored in huge data vaults that track everything about us and can be retrieve in seconds.

I worry as I watch our police look more and more like military complete with camoflage gear and automatic assult rifles.

I worry as I see more and more difference between what I hear on US radio and TV news as opposed to what I hear from overseas stations.

Little by little, freedoms are disappearing. They will all be gone before we even knew we gave them up.

How long until even running as a politician in an opposing party brands you as a terrorist and lands you in detention for investigation for being a possible threat to security?

Maybe this is a stretch, but it is also a tried and true formula used throughout history.

I want politicians to protect my freedom. Can that still be done?

A good friend of mine was uploading her pictures of Thailand yesterday and today when it came across the news that a coup de ta is happening there. Funny timing. It was interesting to hear on the radio about something happening in a place I had a direct link with just a few hours before.

I think this also has to be one of the most polite overthrows in history with comments from the military leaders like “We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience.” and people trying to get their pictures taken with the tanks and soldiers.

I wonder if the guard in this picture was part of it. Anyway click on the picture to go to the gallery where it is posted. There are some spectacular buildings to see as well as a giant reclining Bhudda.

Reviews are done. All things considered, I did better than I really thought I would. But is what I got enough? In the past when I got a decent review, I always felt relief. This time not so much. The wait is over, but otherwise, the work is still there, the level of intensity is still required, and the resource to get my work done are just not there. Do I dare go through this for another year?

I have my trip to Japan coming up. That will give me a much needed break. A bit of time to relax and consider where I stand and what I need to do.

I came across this picture on “The week in pictures.” I find it absolutely haunting. A young Lebonese boy and his mother were trying to escape when their van was struck by an Isreali rocket. I sat and stared at this picture for several minutes.Every time I look at it I cannot help but see an image of my son. He is about the same age, about the same size, and looks just like him when he cries.

His leg is bandaged, he is covered in blood. While he cries he is holding a bandage on what I assume is his mother’s shoulder. It absolutely breaks my heart to see this. His wounds on the outside may heal, but the wounds on the inside will not.

At one point he was probably thinking no more than when he would be playing next, which friends were home, how bored he was, or upset he had to come inside before his friends were done playing. Or maybe didn’t want to come in for dinner, or sit and wait before going back outside. Perhaps he was a joker. Maybe a friendly kid that everyone liked with a big heart.

Now, once the sorrow and some of the fear goes away, he will be filled with hatred. He won’t be thinking about how Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers for a prisoner exchange and without that, perhaps the war wouldn’t have started. No, he will be building hatred for many more years about that Isreali rocket that hit him and his mom while trying to get to someplace safe. “Why would they try to kill me?” he will ask.

I am sure there is an Isreali child thinking the same thing.

I hear both sides talking about how all of the casualties are the fault of the other side. “We would stop if they would stop!” is exclaimed from both sides. I hear it’s about religion or terrorism. I don’t believe that for a minute. It’s about power.

The Isrealies will point to this picture and say “See what the Hezbolla made us do!” and the Hezbolla will say “See what Isreal did!” in an attempt to spin this in their favor. Nevermind that guilt lies equally on the shoulders of both.

I want all of the leaders to see all the pictures of all the children who were killed, injured, scared, terrorized or otherwise affected by war. I want them all to know the stories of the children. Who they were, what they liked, their favorite toy.

Most of all I want to grab each and every leader in the world, shake them as hard as I can, and yell in their face “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING!!! CAN’T YOU SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO OUR CHILDREN!!!!”

I don’t think they can see. To them the children are just casualties. One of the “Necessary Evils.” Whatever that means. If they could see what they are really doing, do you think they would continue?

What if each leader was required to read the story of every child whose life was taken because of some action they ordered? What if they were forced to see? What if every picture that was taken like the one above was mailed to every leader with nothing more than the words “See what you did?” on it.

Comments please.