Our Servicemen

Here is a moving video which I hope you will watch.

Recently US Marine Colonel Simcock foolishly asked for 6000 emails to share with his troops in Iraq. See this for details.

I say he is foolish because I believe he will be inundated with emails far far beyond the 6000. As word spreads across the Internet I suspect he may have to do something to turn off the tap on an over burdened Internet - and due to the "timeless" nature of the Internet, they will continue for years to come. Never the less, I'll feel better by sending an email.

And there is this web site that also provides a means of support.

I also want to extend my thanks to Stephanie Coyote. Without patriotic Americans like her we would have no reality checks. It is easy to get complacent until we are reminded that there are people in this country that not only oppose our being in Iraq but literally hate our servicemen. Stephanie is a fringe element thank God. As such she does us a service. Lets keep her fringe.

This is an interesting interview with the San Francisco Capt. Greg Corrales. Many people tend to condemn the entire city for attitudes such as the Coyotes.. I think Capt. Corrales says it well in his interview I've provided above. It will be interesting to see if Gavin Newsom reappoints her to the film commission. It is also amusing to see her cowardice when asked why she banned Marines from a Marine commercial.

Shorten the Campaigns

I think presidential campaigns - particularly for the party nomination have become far too long. They no longer provide a fair vetting process but merely a test of how politically cunning each candidate can be.

Financing a campaign of such longevity requires enormous amounts of money which means fund raising. And, in that process, the potential for corruption (okay, serious corruption) grows. Does the ability to secure massive campaign funds necessarily equate to leadership ability or something else?

I think the idea of "democratically" elected office holders should be changed to those elected that know someone and/or are will ling to compromise their ethics.

Now we find ourselves looking (hoping?) for a candidate to somehow self-destruct, savoring their downfall and welcoming another decision made for us lest we have to continue to think and evaluate. It also makes for great news and raw meat for the braying media hounds to render into pieces of destroyed hope and perhaps career.

Maya Returns

Miss Maya is coming today. She was here to visit us toward the end of August and despite a nagging conscience, I didn't get around to posting any photos from that visit. I guess I could blame Maya for my failure to post more on my blog. After all I shoot my photos in camera raw which are huge 30-40 MB files. Raw images give me a lot control over the finished result but also require me to get them to manageable file sizes to post on blogspot. Therefore I put it off and it is Maya's fault.

Oh you don't buy that. You say that's a cop out and really reprehensible blaming a beautiful, lovable, sweet child like Maya? Okay, I'll concede you are right.

And now that I have started on this I have to admit I enjoy looking at the pictures. Well, since she is coming today, and tomorrow, her friend Tyler will arrive, I expect to have even more pictures so will put off posting more right now. Another cop out.

Tyler coming? Yup and he is bringing his parents Pam and Josh.

Politicians and Military

Democratic Senator Jim Webb has introduced a proposal that would require troops to spend as much time at home as their most recent deployment. The idea is to force a reduction of troop levels in Iraq.

When I started my business career I was given sage advice by the VP of operations in the company I worked. He said "don't cover up a problem, fix it!" It was clear he lived by that standard and was one of the best managers I worked with during my career.

Webb's proposal is a problem cover up and may have serious unintended consequences. I dislike politicians getting that involved with the military operations and more importantly, it is inspired by an immediate situation as a way to achieve an objective without regard to long run consequences. A problem cover up.

Perhaps politician are used to obtaining their goals through such manipulation so think little of it. After all, they routinely achieve ends through compromise and working the system. Never the less, it is wrong. Both from the immediate perspective of being required to force troop withdrawals through such means and wrong from the aspect of an administration that is so adamant that the back door approach must be used. Sure would be nice if the politicians truly worked together for the best interest of the country.

Politics as usual.

Hybrid

Hazel and I have discussed getting a hybrid. We have considered the various qualities and characteristics we would prefer. We do not plan to do anything soon as we do not want to be tied down to the attendant obligations. And, there is a bewildering assortment out there. Labradoodles, labrahounds, dorgi, dorkie (have met a few of them), eskifon, bagle hound, be-apso, wauzer, puggles, whoodles, and more. Its tempting to get one for its name alone. Check out dogbreedinfo. There are some purebred dogs which I dislike and really put off by the idea of a mix of two such as the jack-rat-terrier. Just not my type.

What totally confuses us is this thing called mileage. What does mpg have to do with dogs? Isn't an Escape a cross between an American Eskimo and Chesapeake Bay Retriever?