It appears that 100 or so countries are going to stop using cluster bombs because of the detrimental effect of them on civilians, i.e. people. I'm not entirely sure what that means, even though the article at CNN went into detail.
What perplexes me is this: why is it okay to shoot someone (I haven't heard about not using bullets, etc.) and kill them but to simply maim is inhumane. There is a huge flaw in this logic. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see cluster bombs used, either. My main concern is that, in being humanitarian and, oh, so politically correct, we ban the cluster bomb while the merchants of death devise some other way of killing and maiming those whose property they admire or whose way of life offends them.
Years ago, when I heard of the neutron bomb that ostensibly would destroy sentient life without destroying buildings, etc., I felt that humankind had truly lost its humanity. I am not being convinced otherwise, despite protestations to the contrary.
Killing is killing, maiming is maiming - does it really matter how it's done?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Life Rules
I have rules. I call them my life rules, though I do not impose them on anyone else. They are few and simple, and help me keep my direction in life. I propose to introduce you to one today.
Life Rule: I do not work harder at fixing someone else's life than they do.
I have had the experience when, in earlier days of messiahdom, I have worked very hard to help fix someone's situation, only to realize they are sitting on their butts throwing down a cold one while I make myself crazy trying to help them. It was very helpful for me to realize that this is more often the case than the exception, for out of it came my rule about helping others. I will go the extra mile (hell, an extra TWO miles) for someone who is really making an attempt to help themselves better their situation, but if it's too much bother for them, it's too much bother for me. There are better uses for my resources.
So, with this Life Rule in mind, I turn to the foreign policy of the US. Now I am not going to cite all kinds of statistics and all that because my mind generally doesn't work that way, but I am going to say that if the US were to adopt my rule with regard to foreign policy, we might have avoided some of the messes in which we currently find ourselves, such as Iraq.
We simply HAD to save those people from tyranny, right? Did we? Really? Um, did they ask us?
Please don't misunderstand. I was very upset to find out what living under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship meant to so many; however, I am not sure we really ARE the watchdogs of the world - at least not anymore. We need to fix our own ship before we go forth to mess up someone else's.
This leads me to my point (yes, darlings, there IS one!): Are the Iraqis working as hard to fix their own lives as we (the US in the form of the military) are? Really?
Life Rule: I do not work harder at fixing someone else's life than they do.
I have had the experience when, in earlier days of messiahdom, I have worked very hard to help fix someone's situation, only to realize they are sitting on their butts throwing down a cold one while I make myself crazy trying to help them. It was very helpful for me to realize that this is more often the case than the exception, for out of it came my rule about helping others. I will go the extra mile (hell, an extra TWO miles) for someone who is really making an attempt to help themselves better their situation, but if it's too much bother for them, it's too much bother for me. There are better uses for my resources.
So, with this Life Rule in mind, I turn to the foreign policy of the US. Now I am not going to cite all kinds of statistics and all that because my mind generally doesn't work that way, but I am going to say that if the US were to adopt my rule with regard to foreign policy, we might have avoided some of the messes in which we currently find ourselves, such as Iraq.
We simply HAD to save those people from tyranny, right? Did we? Really? Um, did they ask us?
Please don't misunderstand. I was very upset to find out what living under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship meant to so many; however, I am not sure we really ARE the watchdogs of the world - at least not anymore. We need to fix our own ship before we go forth to mess up someone else's.
This leads me to my point (yes, darlings, there IS one!): Are the Iraqis working as hard to fix their own lives as we (the US in the form of the military) are? Really?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Puppies
If you become a frequent reader of this blog, you will hear of the puppies, so I'd might as well get it out of the way. We have three giant dogs, all of whom are rescues.
Zeke (Ezekiel) is a Great Dane/Mastiff (and rumored Rottie) mix. He is brindle and weighs in at a handsome 160 lbs. His feet are bigger than mine are. He has a great disposition and is a totally devoted mama's boy. He's almost 8, which is getting up there for the giant breeds. He is my heart and when he leaves me for his next assignment. He does this really cute thing with me where he krinkles up his nose and sneezes when he's particularly delighted at my antics or trying to look cute. I say he's laughing.
Pepper is a Lab/Pit Bull mix. She's chocolate brown with a blaze of white on her chest - she looks like an eclair. We also call her "the chocolate pig" because she has, uh, weight issues. She's about 120 lbs. Way too heavy for her. We're working on it.
Madeline (Maddie-moo) is our youngest. We adopted her in December 2007. She's a purebred Great Dane, also a rescue. For some reason, when her first family adopted her as a puppy, they did not have her vaccinated for Parvo, which she contracted. They then surrendered her to the local shelter and she was scooped up by a wonderful rescue group in Woodland, CA. Please visit their site and give them all the support you possibly can. This is a grass roots group, and is staffed by a handful of caring and committed volunteers. Maddie is 15 months old, gangly and a terror - we adore her. She prances when she walks, but can do the most absurdly clumsy things, so we say she's 1/2 ballerina and 1/2 Gomer Pyle. My husband calls her Madeline Monroe because she's so pretty. But, Lord, what a dork.
Zeke (Ezekiel) is a Great Dane/Mastiff (and rumored Rottie) mix. He is brindle and weighs in at a handsome 160 lbs. His feet are bigger than mine are. He has a great disposition and is a totally devoted mama's boy. He's almost 8, which is getting up there for the giant breeds. He is my heart and when he leaves me for his next assignment. He does this really cute thing with me where he krinkles up his nose and sneezes when he's particularly delighted at my antics or trying to look cute. I say he's laughing.
Pepper is a Lab/Pit Bull mix. She's chocolate brown with a blaze of white on her chest - she looks like an eclair. We also call her "the chocolate pig" because she has, uh, weight issues. She's about 120 lbs. Way too heavy for her. We're working on it.
Madeline (Maddie-moo) is our youngest. We adopted her in December 2007. She's a purebred Great Dane, also a rescue. For some reason, when her first family adopted her as a puppy, they did not have her vaccinated for Parvo, which she contracted. They then surrendered her to the local shelter and she was scooped up by a wonderful rescue group in Woodland, CA. Please visit their site and give them all the support you possibly can. This is a grass roots group, and is staffed by a handful of caring and committed volunteers. Maddie is 15 months old, gangly and a terror - we adore her. She prances when she walks, but can do the most absurdly clumsy things, so we say she's 1/2 ballerina and 1/2 Gomer Pyle. My husband calls her Madeline Monroe because she's so pretty. But, Lord, what a dork.
Emotion: OUTRAGE!!!
Borrowed from the folks at MySpace, I've chosen to list my inaugural blog post emotion as outrage. Yes, outrage. Why? Because of the state of our world, the state of our nation, the state of our state. Because of these, I am announcing for all: No more Sister Nice Guy.
The sources of the outrage are myriad; today's particular burr under my saddle is what the foreclosure debacle is doing to families. No, not the foreclosures coming directly to property owners (as if that wasn't enough), but those coming to families who are renting properties that are being foreclosed upon. (I reference CNN's "Man pays $30k in rent, faces eviction" story found here.)
When will this country get their bellies full of this crap brought on by the corporate pigfest going on? When will there be a movement of the people who say ENOUGH, already? Why have we abdicated our rights AND responsibilities? And when are we going to wake up from this desensitized moral vacation we've been on?
I really want to know.
The sources of the outrage are myriad; today's particular burr under my saddle is what the foreclosure debacle is doing to families. No, not the foreclosures coming directly to property owners (as if that wasn't enough), but those coming to families who are renting properties that are being foreclosed upon. (I reference CNN's "Man pays $30k in rent, faces eviction" story found here.)
When will this country get their bellies full of this crap brought on by the corporate pigfest going on? When will there be a movement of the people who say ENOUGH, already? Why have we abdicated our rights AND responsibilities? And when are we going to wake up from this desensitized moral vacation we've been on?
I really want to know.
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