Wednesday maybe hump day

But we don't seem to be getting over it, this week. Everything seems stuck, including the news.

I just got an email from Ron, friend, confidant and apparently someone used to reading this blog, asking if I was ill? There was no blog. I'm just late, that's all. But it's been hard getting started today. But of course I'm ill, Ron. Haven't you been reading this long enough to figure that out?

Anyway, most everything I've read today has been a story about how little was said in the congressional hearings, yesterday (and today, it seems). And from the sources I have that allow comments, they are almost universal in a sense of dismay, disillusionment and downright despair. Little is said about Crocker, per se, but the gloves have come off big-time about Petraeus, Be-Trayus, or whatever you chose to call him. Everyone feels betrayed, yet again, everybody knows he's just a portable, military mouthpiece for W&Co., and there are lots of people quoting Dwight Eisenhower, when he warned us long ago of the "military industrial complex". Well, he got that one right.

WWII was a long time ago, now, but it was followed closely by more wars from Korea first, and then on around the globe, and we haven't stopped killing one another since. Petraeus isn't going to say anything to slow or stop this: his paycheck is on the line. And Crocker...well the first part oif his name is crock, you figure out the rest.Another stuffed shirt diplomat. We have wasted another year and several hundred more lives and another trillion dollars and are being told to expect the next act to look just like the last, and cost about the same. And, as someone asked in an op-ed I read this morning, "To win WHAT, exactly?"Beats me.

And the congress, no matter which side of the aisle they sit on, has everyone equally angry and disgusted. I guess they are all Repugnicans and Damocrats, after all. No guts, no will, no capacity to do the job they were hired for. In all of the moaning and bemoaning I read this morning, one blogger asked why these elected officials can't seem to remember that they work for US? Well, we pay them too much and don't hold them accountable and then we reward them by re-electing them. And you are surprised? Mindless, greedy (often salacious)twits.

Then you have beautiful, not-downtown Eldorado, TX. A small, quasi-religious compound in the southwestern desert, where older men can, in plain sight and with seemingly complete sanctioning, rape and molest young girls and women, practice physical pornography and exercise pedophilia to their hearts content. The comments here have been all over the place as well. Some have shared my personal horror at these atrocities of sexual abuse (and its simply contorted ape-like thinking), some have defended the rights of the occupants there to "opt out" of conventional society, some have blamed it all on Mitt Romney (I really like that one!) and one woman even asked why it was always one man and multiple women, and not the other way around? I wonder what she is looking for?

But it is troubling and disturbing and needs to be dealt with. Unfortunately, the freedom to express one's self in this country has also promulgated the opportunity to repress someone else, mentally, physically and sexually, and do it in the name of God, to boot. The male ego and the psyche that can go with it is sometimes frightening. Going back to where I started this blog, that ego and psyche combo must surely have alot to do with that military industrial complex and why we go on feeling the need to blow one another up, subjugate the powerless and make disenfranchisement a standard practice for those who have the most money (oil)...but I'm not a shrink.

Slorider (Jen) has expressed reluctance to enter her comments on this blog. Not necessary. I know you all have things to say, because you send them to me in emails. Put it out on here. See what everyone else thinks. I'm getting a little nervous, now, wondering just exactly who DOES read this, anyway?

And you should all read Mark Morford today (www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/archive/), if you haven't already. You all need the juice. Meanwhile,

Life goes on in Texas.

Slow day

I was a little surprised to see how bland and dull the news was this morning. There is not much going on unless you realize that most of the world is finally getting on board with boycotting the Olympics. It looks like this morning the French tried to blow out the torch. I know everyone has different feelings about this, but why the IOC ever decided to have the games in China is beyond me. The place is dirty, corrupt, economically off-balance, greedy, growing too fast...wait a minute...that's sounds like most places...never mind.

But mostly, and especially with the Tibetan furor in full swing, why would a country like that want to draw so much attention to itself? It is as if they holding up and waving a large (red) flag that says, "Hey! Look at us! We really love to oppress people! Please come see us and spend your money but don't talk about all the crap you see going on. And we'll hold your cameras until you leave!"

Of course they already have most of our money and real estate, anyway, so perhaps it doesn't make much difference.

But I am uplifted by one essay I found. Truthdig published a piece this morning by Chris Hedges, called, On Secular Fundamentalism. www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080407_on_secular_findamentalism/.

To fully appreciate the real significance of this, you MUST READ the comments. This one got everybody going. Right, left, WRight, Wrong, happy to hear it, infuriated, and gleeful and really pissed off. This is wonderful. Good writers don't write to get people to agree with them: they write to get people to start talking and chew on the issues. Mr. Hedges did a great job of that, read it yourself and decide. The truth is, I suppose I fundamentally dislike fundamentalists of any ilk, religious or secular, so I can't really fault the author on any point he makes. This essay isn't worth a street brawl, or bloody noses, but some heated discussion would be nice.

Speaking of bloody noses, there's always the Democrats to talk about. But let's don't. While they waste time, McCain is making hay. Condi for VP? Oh, please. I wonder who HER pastor is?

Barack says that the WAR in Iraq is costing the average American family $100.00/mo. Others say that is conservative. I say it's obscene. Just look at it this way, that $100.00 won't even keep gas in the car for a month. And let's see....we went over there to protect the oil supply, right?

Remember the 4,000 from last week? Most have forgotten, already. And two more killed in the Green Zone, over the weekend? Look out, here come the Petraeus Chronicles. It's a good thing, that,

Life goes on in Texas.