Friday, December 16, 2005
Purple Fingers
What an amazing day December 15, 2005 turned out to be! 11 million Iraqi voters showed up at the polls, over 70% of the country's registered voters. In Tikrit, where Saddam is from, the turnout was over 80%! That's incredible.
A mortar shell hit a polling station and when the smoke cleared, all the people simply got back in line to await their turn to vote. In America a simple rainy day will keep voters away from the polls. What kind of reaction would we have if a mortar shell hit one of our polling places? I can guarantee you that the people would not get back in line to vote.
I am proud as hell of the Iraqi citizens. They are a courageous people and they deserve a whole lot of respect from the rest of the world. Despite all the naysayers they held an election and it was taken seriously and it was wonderfully successful.
To listen to the US media one would think the situation in Iraq was indeed a quagmire. John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry and Howard Dean and all the other loudmouth Liberals with their severe negative attitude about the Iraq situation were proven dead wrong. Good! I think that is just desserts for their idiotic ranting about cutting and running from this fledgling coutry that we have vowed to protect and help rise up from the ashes of Saddam's dictatorship. Thank God for sane Democrat voices, like Joe Lieberman. He is in a minority but he gets my respect for reporting on the situation in Iraq as he saw it.
I think the simple act of an Iraqi voter dipping his/her finger into a jar of purple ink to prove they had voted, and cannot vote again, sends a powerful message to the anti-Iraqi crowd. We are teaching these people how to fish and they are gobbling up the lessons and running with their newfound knowledge. It just makes me feel good inside.
Why there are people, like the ones mentioned above, who like to look on the negative side of an issue and ignore any news that contradicts their precious left-wing view of the world is beyond me. Me mother taught me that if you have nothing good to say about someone then don't say anything at all. Politicians who preach America's defeat do not get any of my respect. They receive only my scorn.
I know that this war is really no different than any other wartime situation as far as politics go. In every conflict, there are always people who strongly believe that America is wrong in its actions. They want to avoid war at ALL costs. The avoidance of war is a noble idea but it is not always a practical idea. Sometimes shit happens and war is an inevitable result. I am not advocating war at any cost but certainly there are just reasons for going to war.
Whether you think Iraq was a just or unjust war really doesn't matter anymore. Just look at what is happening in that country as a result. I heard an Iraqi citizen say on voting day as he held up his purple finger, "All of you people out there who think George Bush and America was wrong to go into Iraq, you can just go to hell!" Hooray for Iraqi insight.
Perhaps we should consider using purple ink in this country to show you have voted. On second thought, that would only spur a bunch of lawsuits from idiots who think their rights are being abused by staining a part of our bodies.
We should look proudly at the Iraqi people and congratulate them on a fine showing. They know how to make an election work. I wish them the very best in their government.
My nickel.
OH
A mortar shell hit a polling station and when the smoke cleared, all the people simply got back in line to await their turn to vote. In America a simple rainy day will keep voters away from the polls. What kind of reaction would we have if a mortar shell hit one of our polling places? I can guarantee you that the people would not get back in line to vote.
I am proud as hell of the Iraqi citizens. They are a courageous people and they deserve a whole lot of respect from the rest of the world. Despite all the naysayers they held an election and it was taken seriously and it was wonderfully successful.
To listen to the US media one would think the situation in Iraq was indeed a quagmire. John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry and Howard Dean and all the other loudmouth Liberals with their severe negative attitude about the Iraq situation were proven dead wrong. Good! I think that is just desserts for their idiotic ranting about cutting and running from this fledgling coutry that we have vowed to protect and help rise up from the ashes of Saddam's dictatorship. Thank God for sane Democrat voices, like Joe Lieberman. He is in a minority but he gets my respect for reporting on the situation in Iraq as he saw it.
I think the simple act of an Iraqi voter dipping his/her finger into a jar of purple ink to prove they had voted, and cannot vote again, sends a powerful message to the anti-Iraqi crowd. We are teaching these people how to fish and they are gobbling up the lessons and running with their newfound knowledge. It just makes me feel good inside.
Why there are people, like the ones mentioned above, who like to look on the negative side of an issue and ignore any news that contradicts their precious left-wing view of the world is beyond me. Me mother taught me that if you have nothing good to say about someone then don't say anything at all. Politicians who preach America's defeat do not get any of my respect. They receive only my scorn.
I know that this war is really no different than any other wartime situation as far as politics go. In every conflict, there are always people who strongly believe that America is wrong in its actions. They want to avoid war at ALL costs. The avoidance of war is a noble idea but it is not always a practical idea. Sometimes shit happens and war is an inevitable result. I am not advocating war at any cost but certainly there are just reasons for going to war.
Whether you think Iraq was a just or unjust war really doesn't matter anymore. Just look at what is happening in that country as a result. I heard an Iraqi citizen say on voting day as he held up his purple finger, "All of you people out there who think George Bush and America was wrong to go into Iraq, you can just go to hell!" Hooray for Iraqi insight.
Perhaps we should consider using purple ink in this country to show you have voted. On second thought, that would only spur a bunch of lawsuits from idiots who think their rights are being abused by staining a part of our bodies.
We should look proudly at the Iraqi people and congratulate them on a fine showing. They know how to make an election work. I wish them the very best in their government.
My nickel.
OH
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Half a Glass
Is the glass half full or is it half empty? This little play on words is supposed to describe your view as optimistic or pessimistic, depending on your answer.
If you decide the glass is half empty, you are considered basically pessimistic because you see the dwindling supply and can look forward enough to expect that the glass will soon be completely empty.
If you decide the glass is half full, you are considered optimistic because you look at the contents as it is and consider how easily it would be to be completely full.
Both answers, of course, are correct. There is just a little bit of insight into the point of view of how you look at things in your life. Are you an idealist or a pragmatist? Bobby Kennedy once said, "Some people look at things as they are and say, why. I dream things that never were and say, why not." Bobby Kennedy was an idealist.
There are limits to what idealism can achieve. Have you heard the mantra that if you believe in something hard enough, strong enough, it will come true? Do you believe that is possible? Can faith in an event actually influence that event to come about?
I believe that it is possible but not likely. And I prefer to deal with most likely possibilities not most preferable. I think that makes me a pragmatist. Dreaming about things that never were and wondering why not is a good exercise but blood doesn't come from a turnip no matter how much you wish it were so.
So when I look at a glass I prefer to think about the practical aspects of the glass not the potential. There is half a glass. It really doesn't matter if it is half full or half empty, it is still half a glass.
Idealism vs Pragmatism. Dreams vs Reality. Creativity vs Logic. Both points of view are valid and necessary. The physics of the universe cause all things to work toward a stasis, for the end result to be virtually neutral. All things fluctuate from one side to the other, from left to right, from good to bad, up to down, backward to forward. There is a left side of your brain focusing on logic and there is the right side of the brain focusing on beauty.
Yin and Yang. We cannot have good in the universe without the complementary bad to even things out. Both sides are necessary. One cannot focus on one side of the equation all of the time and be satisfied. We need music and art just as much as we need mathematics and science.
Now I think I'll go get half a glass of water to drink until it is completely empty. At that point there is no question as to its contents.
OH
If you decide the glass is half empty, you are considered basically pessimistic because you see the dwindling supply and can look forward enough to expect that the glass will soon be completely empty.
If you decide the glass is half full, you are considered optimistic because you look at the contents as it is and consider how easily it would be to be completely full.
Both answers, of course, are correct. There is just a little bit of insight into the point of view of how you look at things in your life. Are you an idealist or a pragmatist? Bobby Kennedy once said, "Some people look at things as they are and say, why. I dream things that never were and say, why not." Bobby Kennedy was an idealist.
There are limits to what idealism can achieve. Have you heard the mantra that if you believe in something hard enough, strong enough, it will come true? Do you believe that is possible? Can faith in an event actually influence that event to come about?
I believe that it is possible but not likely. And I prefer to deal with most likely possibilities not most preferable. I think that makes me a pragmatist. Dreaming about things that never were and wondering why not is a good exercise but blood doesn't come from a turnip no matter how much you wish it were so.
So when I look at a glass I prefer to think about the practical aspects of the glass not the potential. There is half a glass. It really doesn't matter if it is half full or half empty, it is still half a glass.
Idealism vs Pragmatism. Dreams vs Reality. Creativity vs Logic. Both points of view are valid and necessary. The physics of the universe cause all things to work toward a stasis, for the end result to be virtually neutral. All things fluctuate from one side to the other, from left to right, from good to bad, up to down, backward to forward. There is a left side of your brain focusing on logic and there is the right side of the brain focusing on beauty.
Yin and Yang. We cannot have good in the universe without the complementary bad to even things out. Both sides are necessary. One cannot focus on one side of the equation all of the time and be satisfied. We need music and art just as much as we need mathematics and science.
Now I think I'll go get half a glass of water to drink until it is completely empty. At that point there is no question as to its contents.
OH
