I've had a slight headache the last couple of days, and it might be one of those big "brain boils" I get occasionally. It's kind of like a thought I don't take the time to sit down and formulate all the way, and it ends up picking on other things in my brain until I do. So I get up this morning and read the headlines:

            Bank robberies on the rise

Bush seeks big Mideast arms sale

U.S. arms Iraqi residents

Congress OK's major security bill

What in hell is wrong here? The bank robbery story started out by feeding the fear of drugs and drug users. "A boom in bank robberies, many of them fueled by criminals in search of money for drugs…" The thinking goes something like this: Drug users are incapacitated and can't work, or they are lazy slobs, or they aren't like the rest of hard-working Americans, so they buy a gun and rob a bank. Out of their drug crazed haze they see banks as easy pickings with security guards, cameras, alarms, vaults, etc. Clever devils.

Bush wants Congress to approve increased sales of weapons to Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other Persian Gulf nations. The Mideast appears to be one of the most volatile regions of the world. Do we send the Peace Corps? No. It's like walking up to a fist-fight between two kids and handing them pistols. Won't be long before someone dies. And of course there is the Saudi Arabia issue. SecDef Gates calls them moderates! Along with all of this is there is the famous Carlyle Group, the bunch who fund wars all over the world, but that is another headline.

Since we're at war in Iraq, and it seems to be a guerilla war, what better way to keep it going than to provide weapons to the guerillas! The theory is that arming the locals is a "component of counterinsurgency" that will quickly become better equipped than the militias or the Iraqi Army to deal with internal struggles. Or something like that. I guess since they don't have a lot of drunken parties, where the guns come out at the hint of an insult, it should not be a problem. Unless of course you consider that the Iraqis are an "honor culture", where honor is more important than almost anything else. Having a smaller gun than your neighbor could lead to shame which is the loss of honor. That is all beside the point, though. The real catch to this is we are arming the people who might be shooting us tonight.

So now we get to the "major security bill". It was a long time coming, but now we are going to ensure that the urban areas get the stuff that the rural areas have been getting. It makes some sense. Why do we need anti-tank weapons in Idaho? But then if I am Al-qaida, I'm reading the same news and sneaking across the border in Montana. Then I'm going to the nearest gun show with forged identification and pick up a few automatic weapons to use at the local laundromat or day care center. I mean, why pick on high profile targets like the World Trade center if all I really want to do is create "terror?" Striking at rural NASCAR loving America where they least expect it would do that better than blowing up a bunch of New York stock brokers.

So what is the common denominator in all this? Except for one bank robber who uses a knife, all of this has to do with guns. Quit making the fuckers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning

Josh is here this weekend for the 10 year reunion of his high school class. I always enjoy having my kids around, but they usually come in to see people other than us except on holidays. So, Josh came in Friday night, we watched a couple of movies, he went to bed fairly early, then got up and had to study. They (Josh, Matt Seale and his wife, and Wade) went to the reunion about 3. I think Josh was the life of the party, although I'm glad he was riding with someone else because he was really drunk when he came home about 9:30. Then they went back out to Leslie Majors Foster's new house. Don't know what time he finally came home but he was in bed at 1:00AM. Of course he lost his cell phone in the yard, and my ice chest is once again missing.

Whatever, we are still working on Jacob's wedding rehearsal dinner. At least Sherry is doing all the work and asking me for approval. I'll be happy when that is finalized and then when it is done. I'll be a lot happier when Jacob gets back to the States. The last we heard was via email and it seems that he was on the way back to Kuwait. Since we have not heard, I'm hoping maybe they are taking the shrapnel out and that might keep him in Kuwait for the duration of his tour.

Day Two

Not much going on here. It's 5:30 AM and it's thundering outside…again. Like we need the rain. Josh is coming in tonight and he's probably going to want to jack with his Ipod. I hope he's got the thing working correctly now. Later.

First strokes

This is my first attempt at a blog, even though I have been writing for over 50 years and typing on a pc or keyboard for 40 years. That's me on the left by the way, taken a few months ago before my hair got longer. Sort of a self portrait witha digital camera held at arm's length. (Right about now I am wondering about spell check with this blog tool...I depend on Word to fix my screwups). Also, I'm trying to figure out how I should conduct myself as a blogger. Do I censor myself, since anyone who knows me know that i do not censor my language except in the presence of those I feel will be offended. I'm thinking at this point I will probably put a disclaimer on the posts that I express myself profanely so that sensitive readers can decide for themselves if they choose to continue reading. I guess there will be other considerations, too, such as length, topics, add-ins, links, etc. but I'll have to work through those as I go. By the way, I got here by way of Word. The new 2007 version has some kind of blog feature built in and I may end up using it and just copying things to this blog. I wonder what James Joyce or William Faulkner would think if they knew anyone could be posting their "stream of conciousness" for everyone to see.