Lets Come Home

The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday that the Commander of the North American Armed Forces is faced with a troubling task. According to this report, this Commander is to determine whether the terroristic threat from the air in these United States warrants continuation of our current level of nation-wide air support. Apparently, since the attacks of 9/11 our armed services have either patrolled our air space or been on stand-by to intercept possible unknown threats. If memory serves, I believe that last year there were 1400 unknown aircraft that warranted going on alert. Of those, 400 required us to be concerned and on 200 occasions we actually launched F18 Fighters to intercept and identify the possible threat.

It should come as no surprise that launching an F18 or keeping a force on call to intercept known threats is an expensive endeavor. To that regard, the Commander is basically being asked to reassess and trim the budget. Is there anyone else out there that finds this a bit odd? Ok, how but insane? The cost of the war in Iraq/Afghanistan is rapidly approaching 1 trillion dollars. Yes, that’s with a T. Our war is costing the U.S. taxpayer around 65 million dollars a day. On average, it costs about 390,000 dollars to deploy ONE soldier. And we’re worried about the budget to patrol our own air space?

Please. I completely understand the battle plan that states it’s better to take the fight to the enemy than for them to take it to us. But here’s my battle plan. If I’m at war, I would much rather hunker down in my own house with food and ammo and a really big fence, and DEFEND my turf than I would roam the streets waiting for the enemy to jump out. Game over. I think maybe it’s time we did the same.

I’ve said before I was the first on the bandwagon that called for Hussein’s head. I was all for going over to Iraq and righting a serious wrong. But let’s face it. It’s time to come home. This is a war we cannot win. We CAN continue to somewhat suppress acts of terrorism by maintaining a presence in the Middle East, but it will never, ever stop. This war has been going on for centuries already. Radical Islamics practice Jihad, from the word Jahada, which means “to strive for” and implies a struggle to overcome some force of adversity. In a nutshell, these radicals believe you should convert or die. AND…they are more than willing to die for that cause. It’s hard to defeat an enemy that isn’t afraid to die.

If I can figure out we can’t “win” an outright war on terror in the Middle East, don’t you think the Commander of the Joint Chiefs knows it? Hell yes he knows. So the conspiracy theorist in me screams that we’re there for another reason, be it oil or huge government defense contracts. If we’re truly serious about ending that fight once and for all, we drop glass cutters in the sand attached to a note. We give our troops a couple days to withdraw, and we turn the Middle East into a giant plate-glass window. I know that’s gross oversimplification, but we’re just dicking around over there and our men and women are dying for it each and every day. Defending our freedom? Sure they are, because they’re under orders. How about we order them home? Let’s spend that 65 million dollars a day patrolling our own shores, watching our own air space, hiring some more CIA spies, etc. etc. etc. I’ll bet we can easily do a better job defending our country against terrorism for a lot less money, by hunkering down right here at home.

Enough is enough. Let’s bring them home.

Something A Little "Lighter"

I recently purchased an Apple iPhone. It seemed like the thing to do. My old Palm Treo was acting up. Sometimes it would take a call. Sometimes not. Sometimes you could actually make a call. Sometimes, well…….not so much. It was time. It was time for me to move fully into the 21st century. I needed the latest and greatest gadget so that I, too, could “get an app for that”.

At the store, the sales rep assured me that my iPhone would sync easily with my old Palm software and all my calendar information would be transferred to my new wonderful device. Again, not so much. I really didn’t feel like I was taking much of a risk, because I WAS only paying 99 dollars (with a two year contract) for this most amazing piece of technology. Oh, well it was actually 160 dollars to get out the door because I DID need the latest and greatest hard cover, protector -thingy for my new toy. You can’t actually INSURE an iPhone so you better be able to protect it.

On my first attempt at HotSyncing, I learned quickly that iPhone does NOT actually sync easily with Palm software. In fact, iPhone ONLY syncs with MicroSoft Outlook, OR occasionally with Google Calendar/Contacts, but it isn’t quite that simple. So, I went gingerly off to my local Best Buy and purchased my brand new version of Outlook. It was only 119 dollars after tax, after all. Upon installation, I found that my old Palm phone, which stored all my previous data, would not sync with Outlook because the software version I had was incompatible WITH VISTA!!  After downloading the latest version of PALM software, I could now sync my OLD phone with Outlook so that I could THEN sync Outlook with my new fancy iPhone. It took two hours on the phone with a really nice guy from India to figure all that out.

But here’s the really good news. This phone is amazing. Today, I downloaded a new “app” which is called “virtual lighter.” It’s a must-have for concert-goers. You open the app and a “lighter” pops up on your screen. Using only your finger, you can open the lighter and actually strike it like the real thing, at which time a flame appears which actually BLOWS IN THE WIND!!!! I know, right?! If you want to share information with another iPhone owner, you need only open the information you need, and bump phones. POOF!! Like magic the phones share selected data. How that works is WAY beyond my shallow mind. But of course, all this has me thinking.

Anyone over the age of 40 must easily remember Dick Tracy. You know, he was the famous comic book detective that used a two-way wrist radio. It was the stuff of fantasy land. How could someone just talk on his wristwatch? That kind of technology was reserved for someone from outer space or some vast frontier. Certainly not something we’d see in our lifetime. Boy, were we ever wrong in a very, very, very big way.

Consider how technology has evolved in only the last 120 years or so. Only 200 years ago we didn’t have things like the internal combustion engine. Electricity, the telephone, cell technology, the internet, micro-chips, ad infinitum. My girlfriend in High School had a party line at her country home. Are you KIDDING ME? Today, I can take a small device from my hip and make a call, send a text message, surf the internet, play on Facebook, check my email and calendar, read my horoscope and get a tarot reading. The things I can do on my “phone” would have taken an acre of computer hardware to handle only 30 years ago. 30 years before that a “computer” was something of science fiction. Imagine all this in only 100 years or so.

Now consider that our earth/universe is billions and billions of years old. Mankind has only been part of that picture a fraction of that time; a very SMALL fraction of that time. We’ve only been around a few million years. It took millions and millions and MILLIONS of years to get to the beginning of where we are technologically today.

Now ponder this. If we’ve developed this much in only 100 years, imagine what will happen in the next 1000!!! We’ve already mapped human DNA. We have the technology to clone actual human beings although it hasn’t been done yet…..at least to our knowledge. Quantum physics is in its infancy. Things that once were thought impossible are now, well…….likely. How about time travel, worm holes, quantum leaps? You’d have to be living in a cave to disbelieve that we’ll someday be traveling on little spaceships. I’d say it’s only a matter of a generation or two before we’re actually considering things like time travel, or literally transponding from one location to another…instantaneously. This of course can all be true if we don’t self-destruct first. We may actually be able to travel to, and explore new galaxies.

Nothing is impossible. Dream big. Imagine the unimaginable. Consider the impossible. I only wish I could live to see the amazing things mankind has yet to invent. If you still don’t believe any of this can happen, you should come take a look at my new “virtual shotgun” app. Amazing……..simply amazing.

The Great Lakes Swimmers

I posted these lyrics previously on my old blog, but thought they deserved another look. Enjoy.




I was lost in the lakes

And the shape that your body makes,

That your body makes.


And the mountains said I could find you here,

They whisper the snow and the leaves in my ear.

I traced my finger along your trails.

Your body was the map.

I was lost in there.


Floating over your rocky spine,

The glaciers made you and now you’re mine.

I was moving across your frozen veneer.

The sky was dark,

But you were clear.

Could you feel my footsteps?

And would you shatter, would you shatter?

Would you?


Your soft fingers between my claws,

Like purity against resolve.

I could tell then there that we were formed from the clay,

And came from the rocks for earth to display.

They told me to be careful up there,

Where the wind rages through your hair.


-The Great Lakes Swimmers-

Freedom Isn't Free

Recently, a lone gunman, who just happened to be a Major in the United States Army and a practicing Muslim, killed 13 military and civilian people and seriously injured 31 others at Fort Hood, Texas. Miraculously, the gunman, although seriously injured himself, survived. How that man came out alive in a room full of military personnel and MP’s is a mystery to me, but that’s another topic for another time.

Once again, we’re left to ponder how such a ruthless act could take place inside our borders. How could someone from a radical Islamic background rise to such a high level in our military and be allowed to carry out a premeditated plot? This man was a psychiatrist for crying out loud. Well, I’ll tell you how it happened. It’s called Freedom, and it’s what our brave men and women in the military have fought and died for in this country and abroad for centuries.

People all around me are shouting from the rooftops about this man moving around freely in our country with the background he has. There is already evidence that he emailed people with known terrorist ties, yet nothing was done to thwart his efforts. I can’t help but agree that perhaps something more could have been done. But then again, haven’t we all been guilty of arm-chair-quarterbacking and looking the other way? As humans, I believe we’re largely preprogrammed to look for and expect the best from people. Maybe those closest to Hasan were simply doing the same thing. It’s a mentality that tells us, “It can’t happen to me.” Or better yet, “This guy would never do something like that. I’ve known him for years.” You hear it every time someone commits suicide. “I should have seen the signs.” “I should have done something.” Hind sight, as they say, is always 20/20.

In the movie, American President, Michael Douglas, who is playing President Andrew Sheppard makes a speech that has always stuck with me (yes, I know it’s a movie). In that speech, Michael Douglas says, “America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ‘cause it’s gonna put up a fight.” What does that mean exactly? He goes on to say that freedom isn’t just being able to display the flag. It also has to be allowing people to burn that flag in protest. Before you hang me for treason, please know that I abhor someone that would burn our symbol of freedom. However, like it or not, that is EXACTLY what being free involves.

When our founding fathers penned the phrase, One Nation Under God, and established freedom of religion through our constitution, they didn’t mean Christianity. Sure, all of those men were from Christian decent, but they were trying to escape the stronghold of a Monarchy that said they HAD to be. What that means, dear reader, is that in the United States of America, we are free to practice whatever religion we prefer….OR….none at all. That is our constitutional right. It does NOT allow us the freedom to kill innocent people in the name of that religion. That is a matter of law.

By now you’re probably waiting on some point to this entry. It’s simply this. Major Hasan should be taken before a Military Tribunal, and if found guilty, hung from the highest rope, and then shot. Nothing is too bad for what he did. But if he’s guilty (and he obviously is), he’s guilty of murder and nothing more. As much as we’d like to, we can’t hold his feet to the fire for following Islam. Agree or not, it’s his constitutional right as a citizen of these United States. Freedom isn’t easy…..and it certainly isn’t free.