Not for the first time in my life, I look out upon a nation filled with people who believe that our democratic system failed us, big time, in the most recent presidential election. But can we really say that it did, even assuming the vote was fairly counted? No, but I think that determining the legitimacy of an election based on a fair counting of numbers is rather missing the point…
The news these days has been just dominated by speculation over what, if anything, the U.S. should do about the growing “crisis” in Iraq. For those who’ve been living under a rock, the crisis revolves around the murderous advance, through Iraq, of the group known as ISIS (The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), a fanatical offshoot of Al-Qaeda, whose apparent aim is to create the world’s first terrorism-derived Islamic state across the Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria. This group is so extreme that even the leadership of Al-Qaeda itself has purportedly expressed disapproval of their tactics!
You know, ever since 9/11 I’ve had this raging debate going on in my head over what to do about the terrifying threat posed by middle eastern extremists. And over the years, as the craziness has gotten worse and worse, my growing outrage has provided more and more ammunition for the side of my internal debate arguing for extreme action. And then came news appearing to confirm the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against its own people. Well my friends, that pretty much made the case for the side in my head arguing for “radical” intervention…
I’ve been feeling a little hopeless and uninspired lately, as I struggle through one of the downturns of my own emotional roller-coaster. But the following video, posted a couple of days ago by my good friend Alex Autin, is not only a reminder of what I think of as “the highest of the high points” of my life, but a reminder of the source my malaise as well…
A place to stay
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
…
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs don’t blow holes in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no-one kills the children anymore
No-one kills the children anymore
This will no doubt come as a surprise to some of you, but I still get very uncomfortable when the need to speak my mind on a controversial subject arises. But to overcome my discomfort, and to prevent it from keeping me silent, I try to also remember that while…
The following clip is from The Sum of All Fears which, in turn, was based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name. I think that it’s so weirdly ironic that I ran across it on TV yesterday, just when the scene from the clip was playing, right after I published my 53 Years…
My doctors tell me that the chemical imbalance at the root of my depression causes me to see more darkness in the world than what there actually is. Sort of like going through life wearing dark sunglasses. I told them that I think depression is the sane reaction to living in a world filled with…
Yes, how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky ? Yes, how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry ? Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died ? The answer my friend is blowin’ in…
As a non-aligned Libertarian / backsliding Objectivist, I reject both the Democrat’s “give us your money and we’ll let you live any way you want” policies as well as the “you can keep all your money as long as we get to tell you how to live” policies of the Republicans. And yet, despite everything…
I Want Ice Water! 