Thursday October 25, 2007....Back from Vacation

I've been on vacation for the last few weeks. I was camping in Missouri state parks near the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri. It was nice enjoying nature and ignoring all the trials and tribulations that mankind seems to create. Out in the woods, life goes on much as it has for millennia with complete disregard for the news of the day. Squirrels are preparing for winter and deer are gorging themselves on acorns. The leaves are just now starting to show their autumn glory and I was able to become a “rock” in the woods and observe. Peaceful and pleasant.


Now that I'm back I see that the globe is still heating up and massive fires are consuming large areas of our forests while the polar regions melt. Not a nice story.

I see that the hawks are beating the drums again with MMDs this time (missles of mass destruction) instead of WMDs like last time. We have certainly turned Iran into a paranoid state with our rhetoric and our threats. If I were Iran, I would be looking at protecting myself by whatever means possible against the big bully on the block. They only have to look at 2 of their neighbors, Iraq and Afghanistan, to see what is the next probable action against them. Last time, we excused ourselves for premptively invading another sovreign country with the “weapons of mass destruction” excuse which turned out to be a lie. Now we are rattling our sabers with “missles of mass destruction” as an excuse and the threat of nucular holocaust as backup. We don't seem to take notice of the larger threat of North Korea which already has nucular weapons and missles and a huge army and hostile intent. No, we seem intent on involving ourselves in the mideast - where the oil is. They now predict that the total cost of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq will amount to 2.4 Trillion dollars. What a waste! What noble purpose could that same money and those same lives have been applied to? Think of all the things wrong in our country that could have been helped with that money and that effort. Why in the world are we still wasting our time over there with our failed strategy and our misguided leadership? I thought that, somehow, our new congress could curb the stupidity and wastefulness, but they seem to be ineffective and unable to consolidate themselves.

Perhaps I can return to the woods and bury my mind in nature and ignore the stupidity and wastefulness until the forest burns down around me.