Bush, Part One

I originally started this post not very long after the election. However, I knew that I would need to step away and come back to it. It’s a good thing that I did as the country and the world overall has changed dramatically over the last two months. That is obviously not good news but I was amazed to see one thing that I thought I would never see. What that is, you ask? Read on…

Those who know me would assume correctly that I voted for George W. Bush neither in what I affectionately call The Court Appointment Of 2000 nor when he actually won the popular vote in 2004, albeit not by a landslide. Nonetheless, after September 11th I looked to Bush for leadership like most every other American and trusted that he knew what was best for the country when he chose to go after Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq.

Meanwhile, I was certainly not feeling his domestic agenda. Granted, with both Congress and the Supreme Court leaning to the right, one could not blame Bush for attempting to establish a long-lasting legacy of conservative social and fiscal policies. In fact, I would have expected no less. Thankfully he came no closer to instituting a deregulated theocracy than the secular socialist state that some fear President-Elect Obama will foist onto the country with the legislative branch on his side. Politics and jokes about his perceived intelligence aside, I bet I could have a casual, friendly conversation with him about sports and other light topics. That said, as far as his tenure as President goes, I truly, deeply and honestly dislike him for one simple reason.

We should not have gone to Iraq.

It was a grave mistake for which I believe we will be paying, literally and figuratively, long after our lifetimes.

Not only was the connection between Hussein and Al Qaeda found to be tentative at best, but Bush conceded in his last press conference that the “weapons of mass destruction” – the main premise for going to Iraq - did not even exist. The upshot now is that after underestimating - or at least not revealing to the public - how receptive the Iraqi people would be and how entrenched we would become in their country, we’ve lost over perhaps trillions of dollars and more importantly, the lives of over four thousand soldiers.

“But Saddam was an evil, dangerous man!” some may say. Yes, he was a horrible person who even committed genocide on his own citizens. He may have even threatened his neighbors again one day, most notably Israel. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of oppressive governments in the world. Ironically, one of the most oppressive is the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Not only is that country the birthplace of the vast majority of September 11st hijackers but the Saudi royal family itself has more than a passing relationship with the Bushes.

If Bush would have had more overwhelming support from our country for ignoring the United Nations, it would have been to focus on getting the people who actually claimed responsibility for attacking us, dead or alive, whether or not we were welcome in the countries where he was suspected of hiding. But if we couldn’t somehow stay focused on rooting Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda henchmen out of the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, then why did we not choose to assist those fighting for their interpretation of freedom in, say, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia, Chechnya or Russian Georgia?

Even with the absence of WMDs, ridding Iraq of Saddam and helping establish it as a beacon of democracy for the Middle East while theoretically intimidating the other Axes sounds like a logical if aggressive foreign policy. Unfortunately, I feel that there are two underlying reasons that, if not officially acknowledged, are an open secret nonetheless.

The National Black Holiday Weekend

Happy National Black Holiday Weekend Everyone!

(OK, so the people most likely to read this aren't black... but don't you wish your Jewish friends Happy Hannukah? :) )

The next six days are historic not only for African-Americans but for all Americans.

Of course, today is the birthday of Martin Luther King who encouraged equal opportunity for all by dismantling much of the last vestiges of institutionalized racial discrimination. While some of his personal faults - real and imagined - were uncovered after his death, one can not deny the impact that he had on our nation, let alone wonder how much further we would be along if he had lived a full life.

Tomorrow marks the nationwide release of the movie Notorious, a biography of the life of Christopher Wallace better known as rap artist Biggie Smalls or the Notorious B.I.G. It may seem somewhat facetious to include a hip-hop musician next to MLK, especially if one is not a fan of hip-hop music. And to many "conscious rap" fans, he did not exactly reinvent the wheel on the "gangsta rags to blinged-out riches" formula. Nonetheless, his poetic skills and delivery was appreciated by many in Generation X and Y.

Monday will be the national observation of Martin Luther King's birthday. I'll never forget stumbling across The O'Reilly Factor on that night a few years ago when Bill O'Reilly acknowledged the occasion by reminding viewers of King's alleged ties to the Communist Party. Then Bill went straight to a discussion about Stop Snitchin', an underground documentary featuring would-be Baltimore drug dealers and their efforts to go about their business plans uninterrupted. Way to honor the day, Bill....

The magnitude of the King national holiday on Monday occcuring side-by-side with the inauguration of Barack Obama as our next President on Tuesday can not be understated. In fact, it's hard for me to articulate the significance and irony of it all. Whether or not you voted for Mr. Obama, let's hope that he is able to follow through on finding common ground on solutions for our country so that there will continue to be more diverse choices (including women and minorities) in future elections.

This Weather Sucks!!!

I don't care if this is typical winter weather... and I feel sorry for people in Minneapolis and Fargo with their negative degree temperature... but this weather still sucks!!!

Bring on the Spring! :)

With Resolve

Happy New Year! Of course, this is the time of year that people make resolutions; many people allegedly drop said resolutions to the wayside by the end of the month. One promise I kept to myself in 2008 was to kick-start a career change by "firing" my previous employer and exploring different occupations. My 2009 resolutions are essentially continuations from 2008, all of which I've had moderate success overall.

* It's Mostly 'Bout the Benjamins. I don't expect to find my "dream" career this year. It would be nice to get my foot in the door in the library. In a way, it would be almost better to fall back on my accounting skills to temp through at least the spring. It would allow me to fulfill the vacation goals that Cathy and I set out for this summer.

* Voulez-vous parler avec moi ce soir? My return to French has been successful. I hope to restart Spanish this year. Eventually I would like to learn Portuguese and Italian as well.

* Tickling the ivories. I've been hitting and pushing through a lot of plateaus in my piano playing these past few months. Regrettably I haven't been able to focus enough to sit down and compose music as I had planned.

* Pumping Iron. At the ripe old age of <ahem>, I realize that it's more important to be healthy than to train for Mr. Olympia. But despite my regular workouts, I've reached the point where my middle isn't whittling like it used to. Of course, Cathy points out the older males in my family with their paunchy stomachs being my apparent destiny. It would probably help if I weren't so "allergic" to most fruits and vegetables and "addicted" to baked goods and PB&J... but at least I'm eating (chocolate-flavored) yogurt now.

* My Other Half. Regular readers are already all too aware of the challenges that my lady Cathy faces as she continues to recover from her illness. While I attempted to be helpful by assuming the domestic engineer title during my sabbatical, getting involved in other pursuits probably helped to take my eye off the ball regarding spending quality time together. I intend to find more things that we can enjoy and bond over in 2009.

The second bedroom in our condo has morphed from the Man Room to the Pussycat Lounge.

No fellas, it's not this Pussycat Lounge but the new den for our newest four-legged residents.

In November, still mourning over the early year loss of Cathy's canine daughter Sweetie and my feline son Homes, we came across an local shelter website where we found "Sidney" and "Sheldon", two Siamese cats whose owner (obviously a fan of the novelist) had fallen ill. As they were older cats, we sympathized with the fact that it was hard to find a home for them. And as Homes was about 12 when he passed, I felt that these 11-year-old sister would essentially pick up where he left off.

A week later we were able to bring them home. We also decided to rechristen them "Sydney" and "Shelley". While they are both very vocal, which I found is typical of Siamese cats, they each have their own personalities and preferences.

Sydney (the blue point on the right) is very laid-back. In fact she likes to lay on her back for me to give her belly rubs. Other than whomever is closest to the food at mealtime, she seems to prefer my company.

Shelley (the brown point on the left) is definitely the most assertive. If our alarm clock does not go off, she will not hesitate to let us know what time it is. In fact, she must be on Greenwich Mean Time as she often attempts to wake us even earlier. If Sydney is resting on one of us or otherwise getting attention, she will bogart her way between her sister and us - even when there's no room - to the point of Sydney deciding to concede her position and leave. On the other hand, while Shelley never met a lap she didn't like, she seems to prefer laying on Cathy's belly, often using her head as a battering ram to show her enthusiastic affection for Cathy.

Even beyond the economic situation that most everyone is dealing with, this has been a challenging year for both Cathy and me. The early Christmas present we gave ourselves by bringing Shelley and Sydney into our lives has made a big difference.

God And Guns

As alluded to in a previous post, I’m admittedly not the most spiritual person in the world. Nonetheless, I support any faith that genuinely encourages peace.

I am not a present or future gun owner but I respect the spirit of the Second Amendment. I do think a “happy medium” should be found between responsible gun owners and those who would abuse the system for personal gain.

What I can’t understand is how some people can be so fervent about both their religion and their gun rights. It is one thing to be, say, a gun owner who believes in God but shows up infrequently in the pews… or perhaps a church deacon who carries protection to negotiate his or her way through a troubled neighborhood in order to serve the parishioners. But for someone to be as enthusiastic about God as they are about guns seems so contradictory to me. The obviously radical al-Qaeda killed over three thousand people in the name of Allah. Yet many people consider the military that we sent over to defeat them to be fighting “for God and country”.

Given all of this, I just have to ask: “What would Jesus do?”

Giving Thanks

I hope everyone reading this had a very Happy Thanksgiving. My lady Cathy and I went to South Carolina to enjoy the holiday with my Dad and other relatives. It's a relatively recent tradition that my Dad credits me for starting. Unfortunately, this years gathering was bittersweet as it was the first one without my Aunt Willie Mae whose life was senselessly taken away from her in late August by some thugs who invaded her home. After dinner, we decided to head down to her gravesite and share our thoughts. If it didn't bring closure for all of us, at least it allowed some catharsis. All in all, I think we appreciated each other's presence more than ever this year.