More political thoughts

I am listening to Bush and it gots me thinking. When I was a Naval Officer, I managed right at 100 people and I was still a speck compared to the Captain of the ship. I had to depend on people that I had no direct control over to get the job done. The Captain had 6,000 or so people to depend on, some people he never even saw. Now, extrapolate that to the level of a Mayor, then a Governor, then a frickin President. Holy crap. If the people that worked for me, honestly/realistically, didn't want to support me, they could easily have made me fail, easily.

That is one of the conveniences that spoiled Americans have. There is a President that can be a figurehead to take the blame for everything that is wrong in their lives and in the country and the world. This Iraq war has been mismanaged in a lot of areas, but I don't think it's fair or very informed to just lay all the responsibility on one man. Like the Guantanamo situation. He was prolly completely unaware that it was even happening. For example, the Captain of my ship had no idea of what I was doing with my troops, unless something exceptionally bad or good happened. Does that mean he's a bad leader.

He's 'responsible' for everyone and everything on and around the ship. So, shouldn't he know what's going on in a small 3-man work center, buried in the belly of the ship, 10 floors down? It's silly to me to blame one man for the mistakes of thousands of others. The war idea was supported, but the mismanagement was/is not. I agree, but I don't think it can all be pinned on one man.

Furthermore, I believe that we have become Big Brother to the world and for damn good reason. When our country was started, we were escaping the oppression of a big, greedy, selfish country. Then, when our Navy was formed, we were helping the rest of the world to be free from the frickin criminals that the big, greedy, selfish country was too self-interested to do anything about, even though they were the only country in the world with a Navy adequate enough to face criminals like the Barbary pirates who kidnapped cruise ships of harmless civilians.

I am glad that we still do this for the world. Sitting back and talking about peace is nice but it's frickin selfish. We can sleep safely, without threat of someone busting down our door to take someone who speaks an opinion that is contrary to the current leader, who happens to be yer frickin brother. We can drive on maintained roads and drink frickin gourmet coffee and stop just about anydamnwhere to use the restroom on the way to a job that protects us from abuse and insures us in the event of harm.

Yes, there are other countries that have something that is better than ours. But, why is it that everyone's not moving to one of them. The money it would take to move there just isn't worth it, is it? And I'm not buying the, 'it's too expensive to go' idea. If someone wants a frickin SUV or a college education or a mortgage, they will find a way to get that down payment and make that monthly payment. Well, not lately, because credit's a bit too readily available, but that's a whole nutha story.

The changes/improvements in Iraq are undeniable. Usable roads, women having rights and businesses even, clean drinking water, development of a working government that will actually support it's people instead of raping them... So, I would rather have more countries enjoy the freedoms that we do than sit back and selfishly enjoy them while criticizing those who believe in the undeniable truth that we have a responsibility to better the world, because we are in a position to do so, but also because of simple self-interest. The world is not so big anymore. Besides helping other countries, we do have to concern ourselves with our freedoms being threatened by strongholds around the world.

Ok, I'm tired.

Listening to: Get Up, Get Out, by Godsmack.

My two cents about politcal stuff

This picture illustrates my feelings on peace. Yeah, it's a nice thought, but no matter how nice you are, someone will smash yer face and take yer stuff.

That is not my two cents, it was just worthy of comment

I was just reading a few articles in The Economist, including the one below, and it just got me thinking about writing my two cents.

An excerpt from an article in The Economist:

Both Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton talk of getting out of Iraq, and Mr Obama makes much of his opposition to those (such as his Democratic rival) who authorised the invasion in the first place. Many voters like his anti-war stance; his broad promise to end the war is popular too. He says that he would get troops out by the end of 2009. But Democratic peaceniks might cheer less heartily at some of the details of his plan. He would withdraw one or two combat brigades from Iraq each month, thus keeping American troops present in large numbers for a long time yet. Even after that, he says he would leave soldiers to protect America’s embassy, to fight al-Qaeda where necessary, and that he would “reserve the right” to re-enter Iraq to stop a genocide.

This spoke to me about the 'change hippie's' inexperience and dreamy ideas that just won't get the job done and could, therefore cost many more lives when he pulls out improperly or his failed attempt just returns troops to a Vietnam-like situation where their only expectation is to die for the country they love, in vain, unfortunately.

I would prefer to have McCain as our Commander in Chief, but my next choice would actually be, a close second, Hillary Clinton. I feel that this Iraq war is very much like the Vietnam war. It lost positive management and subsequently support. I think if it would have been managed properly, it could have been finished successfully and would be in the history books as a positive thing instead of the despised occurrence it has become. The same goes for this Iraq war. I think management has failed.

I, however, don't think the solution is to just drop everything and quit. To me, that would be like someone investing $140,000 in a hot rod and then he passes it on to his son, but his son sends it to the crusher because his dad didn't manage the fuel system properly and it doesn't run right. All the goods are there, they just need to be used properly.


This is why I think McCain would be the best choice. I think he, being a Vietnam veteran and 5-year POW after being in an accident that would allow him to be sent home but he stayed in the fight, will be the best to manage and, subsequently, ensure the troops are taken care of. I also feel he can manage the other areas of the job properly, such as taxes, the budget, employment, etc.

My second choice, Hillary, I feel is best equipped to take care of the troops
because she has a bit of experience and if we were to pull-out, I feel she could do it well and manage it properly so that our troops that are the last to leave are not sitting ducks for retaliation. I also feel pretty good about her managing the economy, with the help of her husband. I saw a good bumper sticker the other day, ' When Clinton lied no one died'. So true. Great men throughout history have done amazing things and, at the same time, were weak and fell to this vice of sexual desire. Yes, it's bad and I don't condone it, but men like Einstein, Jefferson, and Kennedy should not have their positive accomplishments ignored because their little brain may have led them down other roads in their spare time. Bill Clinton, regardless of his sexual improprieties, was a good president, in my opinion.

You can read more here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html

In the first paragraph, his achievements are summed up nicely.

I love this quote:

In his inaugural address he declared that:

“	Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.

I was in the Navy for most of his terms. I remember a lot of pissing and moaning about how he was horrible for our country, but mostly the Navy, and why did they say this? Because these were the people who had been doing things the same, inneficient, wasteful way for 20 or so years. The idea of downsizing meant more work, waagh! Now, downsizing in some dreamy, hippie way would be a bad thing, but if it was managed properly and engineered for efficiency, it would be a good thing.

These people , are the same type who moaned and groaned when I became a supervisor of a high-tempo, RADAR electronics work center and wanted to re-design things for efficiency. They moaned and groaned when the Navy adopted the same Kaizen ideas that worked so well for companies like Toyota and Boeing, saving them countless dollars and man-hours.

The old ways were mostly gone when I became an Officer and had the power to allow these young, innovative minds to offer and implement new ideas to better the flow and subsequent success of the organization. Anyway, slimming down, admittedly, is hard, the growing pains of learning to do a job once done by 4 people that is now done by one and with more output required. However, it ended up being a good thing, for the Navy and the tax-payers supporting it.

Ok, I'm compootered out now. I believe I will got git my scrub on, yo.

Listening to: Good Directions, by Billy Currington

Another reminder of why I love humanity

I was just watching The History Channel and on came a show about alien stuff. They were talking about these huge 'radio telescopes' that several organizations use to monitor space for possible signals. There are religions that say that this is nonsense because we are a unique miracle made by God and the other planets are just scenery. I am, however, someone who believes in God, but am not arrogant enough to presume to know who and what God is and, furthermore, motivations and intentions.

I also believe God to be a scientist, our own awesome biology is undeniable proof of this. So, my thoughts, prolly heathen-like thoughts, are that, like us humans scurrying around on this planet, Earth is just a speck. This is more reason for me to think that it is silly to be arrogant enough to presume to 'know' anything and be content that God will allow me to know what I should know. This is not an excuse to be lethargic and not try or learn or research. It is simply a lack of interest in being 'puffed up' and aloof.


So, to wander back to my original thought, this is why I love humanity. There are so many different ideas and passions that people devote their lives to; aliens, the environment, alternative energies, religion, politics, drag racing, animals, and on and on. I love our country and am glad that I sacrificed and others, better than me sacrificed and continue to do so, so that everyone with their differing views are free to think and support whatever the hell they want to. However, my lack of interest in being arrogant is the reason why I'm not arrogant enough to think we are the only group of humans on the planet that have and support such ideas. I'm just glad to be in this country. I like it here.

I may not be as 'religious' about some of the ideas I support to varying degrees, such as aliens, green ideas, machines, animals, etc., but I am glad that these differing ideas are someone's passion. The cool thing is that the age of the dictator is long since past and, likely, the best (to most humans) idea is going to settle to the top of the pile. This is why, although I am not quite hippie-fied enough for the 'green' forums I frequent, I like to hear the ideas and exchange with other people who are interested in a lot of the same ideas that are further developed by our support. An ugly, underpowered hybrid is not long for this earth, in my opinion, but the engineering is good and the popularity furthers alternative fuel ideas in general, so we can end up with a widely useful vehicle.

Listening to: It can't rain all the time, by Jane Siberry

It's about damn time

Ok, my writing has been sparse. I have let myself get all distracted by life and haven't kept a log of it the way I intended when I started this damn thing. I blame having a girlfriend to occupy my time and my mind.

A good illustration of this lack of tracking is, I was just up in Jacksonville at NAS Jax for a required exam for my disability, and I looked at the officer homes again. They are not only beautiful homes, but they are on the water AND the Navy provides them for you at no cost, that includes electricity. Damn, I sure do miss the Navy. The sacrifices and challenges are hard, but it's well worth it, to me, at least. Anyway, I didn't take one damn picture. So, nothing for the blog even.

This writing was inspired by my recent reminder of how I hate hippies and the blog I wrote on Myspace shortly after. I wrote it there instead of here because I thought it would be a good insight for my Myspace family and it was right there at my fingertips and didn't feel like posting here, because I knew I'd do what I'm doing no, which is writing about a lot of unrelated items.

So, without further ado, here bees the blog I writed on Myspace:
***
I linked to this guy’s profile from a hippie’s profile, so it is no surprise to me that he spews the same hippie doctrine that people have said along with the word ’change’. All this stuff is nice but dreamy, fairy tale, ’oh, let’s all hold hands’ crap just isn’t gonna happen, in my opinion of course, and just wastes vital resources, such as money, time, and mental energies, which could be much better spent on researching and developing something useful, like a hybrid or electric car that is not grossly underpowered and ugly.

These guys have nice stimulating things to say, but the unfortunate part, for me, is that it’s a lot of frickin fluff. They say crap like ’we have a plan to bring our troops home and stabilize Iraq’, but the details are never forthcoming, just smoke and mirrors. Yeah, it’s nice to dream of magically poofing all the bad guys away, when yer frickin 10.

I don’t believe this war is being handled properly. However, I don’t think the solution is to just quit. I believe that’s what happened in Vietnam. It’s not, in my opinion of course, that we shouldn’t have been there as much as mismanagement. That was due to Kennedy’s assassination and subsequent lack of support for the ongoing war that had been started. The follow-on administrations did what these ’bring our troops home’ people want to do now, just quit, and let the fallen heroes die in vain and furthermore let more soldiers and civilians die and, no shit, public opinion of the war will be negative, hmmm, funny how that works.

Ok, I’m spent.

Check out this guy’s profile. He ran fer president fer a minute, now he’s running for Congress. It, like the other one(s), sounds good until you realize it’s a lot of fat with not much meat.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=156831770


Listening to: Building a Mystery, by Sarah McLachlan

John