The Law

They call it "The Law of Unintended Consequences." By which they mean that any action you take may have unforseen results.

And the United States is seeing its fair share right now in the Middle East.

Iran and Iraq were, for many years, deadly enemies. They held the balance of power in the Middle East, with Iraq's minority Sunni Muslims holding power there and the Shitte Muslims holding power in Iran. And so long as that balance obtained, it is unlikely that we would be facing either an Iraq or an Iran with Weapons of Mass Destruction (no matter what GWB thought).

Iran would have been terrified of Saddam having nuclear weapons for fear he would use them on Iran. Iraq (read Saddam) would never have tolerated a nuclear armed Iran.

But now, we've taken Iraq and Saddam out of the picture. Iraq will not be capable of defending itself against an outside attack for years..... and maybe never if a civil war breaks out as seems likely.

But you only have to look back a few years to what George W. Bush and his crew of Merry Men had to say before we took Saddam down to understand that they never considered that law of unintended consquences. Iran now looks to become a nuclear power and we lack the military strength to do anything much about it.

There is a song, I don't recall the author, that describes the current situation perfectly:

Serpent's Song

There's a price for too much arrogance;
A price for too much greed;
And in complacent ignorance;
You've sewed the whirlwind's seed.

I'm so tired

The purpose of terrorism is to terroize. So, many years ago, said a fellow named Lenin. You may have heard the name.

The purpose of that terror is to make the target people accept changes in their lives which they would otherwise not accept. Anything to make themselves "safe." Is there a single person who reads my words who belives the people of this country would have accepted the changes in our civil liberties known as the "Patriot Act" if it had not been proceeded by the terror known as 9-11?

bin Ladin has won. He set out to terrorize us. He did it. We have bcome a nation, not of free individuals, but of sheep who accept without question that Uncle knows best and that we should just shut up and listen.

My concerns about the "Port Security" issue of our ports being run by a company owned by the government of the UAE is not that there is a big question of security. It isn't even the possible loss of U.S. jobs. It is that, as usual, our government is acting in secret..... concealing what they are doing from the eyes of the public and from CONGRESS! And, when questioned about it, Bush says we shouldn't "worry about security." We are supposed to accept that he knows all, sees all, understands all, and will act in our best interests... whether we like it or not.

We are no longer free. Write a nasty blog about Bush.... the FBI shows up on your door. Pay off a large credit card debt..... it won't be credited until Homeland Security approves. Make negative comments about Bush as a teacher..... get pulled from your classroom.

The latest, which you may not of heard of before today, is the anti-torture law written by John McCain which forbids torturing detainees. A detainee at Gitmo has filed a law suit alleging he was tortured. The State Department response is that, while the law forbidding torture may apply to Cuba, the detainees have no way to enforce it, because the same law severely limits their access to U.S. Courts. So the government says we can torture all we want there, even if it it is illegal, nothing can be done so neah, neah, neah.

59 years on this earth. 38 years of voting. 20 + years in the U.S. Army. 1 year in Vietnam. Who knows how many years of paying taxes. Do I have a direct say in how those taxes are spent? No, I don't. My money is used to suborn torture. The torture done in Gitmo is done in my (and your) name and I have no say in it. Our rights are taken away in my (and your) name and I have no say in it. A war into which we were misled is fought in my (your) name and I have no say in it.

We are limited to voting for Senators and Congressmen with the hope that they will do what we want. Byrd has already proven HE doesn't care what we think. Our other Senator and our Congressmen are stragely silent on important matters.

The politics of our contry have become the politics of anger and vitrubiation. I'm tired of being drawn into "type-casting" those who disagree with my beliefs. I'm tired of being type-cast. In fact, let's face it, I'm just plain tired.