Why Libya?

As an interested student of world events, I am mystified at what the USA has done in Libya. Libya did not, at present, constitute a threat to this country. Qaddafi had voluntary ended his pursuit of nuclear weapons when he saw us take action against Saddam Hussein. Since then he has mostly kept a low profile, with the minor exception of welcoming back the Lockerbie bomber back home. The demonstrators in Egypt did make significant gains and eventually got Mubarak to leave with our approval. The subsequent uprisings in Iran, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Arab Emirates and Libya were mostly surprising and destabilizing. The next thing of which I am aware, we are calling for Qaddafi to leave, and subsequently are launching cruise-missiles at him, utilizing a no fly zone and warning him not to fire at his people. He posed no threat to this country, yet we are hostile toward Libya. There were other areas that were more in our interest, Iran for one. Iran threatens us, has supported fighters in Iraq, continues to ignore the UN request to stop it's nuclear program, targets us as the "Great Satan", keeps hostages and has fired on it's people during the uprising. Iran would be an understandable target. Why Libya?

How Did He Know?

Last January 31st Glenn Beck predicted that the middle-east and North Africa would start to emulate Egypt with disruptions in the street and call for the overthrow of the existing leader. He used a map and checked off each country that would have trouble. It is uncanny that he was so correct. I remember thinking at the time, "that is pretty wild stuff." He is an amazing person, using video of of the people about whom he has chosen as a subject. He never adds more to what they say, merely takes their words and actions and tells the world about it all, and puts it all into perspective. He is a voracious reader and is constantly recommending books for viewers to read. Media Matters has just put on 51 people to help destroy him and Fox. They see him as a threat and seek his silence. He is always entertaining and informative - I don't want to miss a single show.

Sleeping

An air traffic controller was sleeping while on duty and two flights had to land without instructions. That controller has been suspended. A suspension is far too light for such an offense. In the military it is death to sleep while on duty in a combat zone. This person should be summarily fired. His supervisor should be suspended without pay for two weeks and have a reprimand put into his file. The manager should be fined two weeks pay and have a reprimand put into his file. The air traffic controller's instruction manual should be rewritten to include how serious this offense is. Also, that the public has the right to sue and the union has no right to defend with their money. We spend much money to insure the public's safety, here is an opportunity to dissuade such an offense from happening again.

A Blessing - A Curse

In one of the readings this past Sunday there was a portion of the Old Testament read that took me back to St. Gabriel's in Detroit. It was something that I heard a nun talking about when I was in the sixth grade. She talked about "A Blessing - A Curse." It was in reference to the Ten Commandments. Moses told the Israelites: "I bring a blessing and a curse. These ten commandments, if you follow them, will be a blessing to you. Those that do not follow them receive a curse." As I look back on my life, I find that those words are true. The people that I have known that do not observe the ten commandments are indeed cursed, they always have trouble in one way of another. Those that are observant of the ten commandments seem to have happy families and good things happen to them in their lives. I am pained that some of my grandchildren are ignorant of the ten commandments, or ignore them because they do not want to obey them. To follow the ten commandments takes some fortitude, but it is not impossible. Each person recieves the strength necessary to obey along with the ability to resolve to do what is right. It does require self discipline, the ability to postpone gratification to a later time. After that, it is all a piece of cake.

She does not like the stick

After all these years of marriage, I am informed she does not like the stick. I told her if she does not like the stick she should not lick it. She says she doesn't like the taste, yet, she cannot stop licking it. It is the ice cream that is her undoing, there is always a little left and she must lick it off. I do what I can to put her at ease, I discard the paper and even the stick.

Socialism

When I was much younger I was aware that there were socialists, communists and anarchists. The Hearst newspapers were always railing against them, after all, I was a Times carrier. They were so far out of my personal view of life that I gave them no serious thought. Now that a socialist is President it behoves me to be aware. Norman Thomas could never be elected President, there were not enough socialists to get him past a few percent of the total amount of electors. Now, with a black socialist, the assured support of the black electors, the outright lies during the campaign, the money from the unions, the spade work done by college professors and the apathy of many voters, Obama was elected President. He is running the executive part of our government differently than any president before him. His Tsars are quasi-legal, he fights against state governors, he ignores any laws that he does not like, ignores the courts, harms our friends, lavishes praise to our enemies and desires, like a good socialist, to "spread-the-wealth", uses the executive branch to make laws that are the purview of the legislature. He is a threat to our Constitution. I pray that the American people, at the next election, will rid us of this socialist.

Sprinkler Repair

Last year the grass near the driveway began to look very bad. I made an extra effort to water more in order to improve that area. I suspected my neighbor, who shares some of the space with me, (overlap) was not watering enough. The company that does the fertilizing for my lawn recently did it and requested a watering within 24 hours. I did not do it because it was supposed to rain. It did not rain and I was forced to water in the daytime. When I turned the sprinklers on, surprise!, one of the sprinklers was broken, the one that would have protected the poor area. I turned that zone off and watered the other three zones. Now for the repair. It is quite easy to get to a sprinkler head, merely dig around it until the main line is reached. The head, about five inches long, had broken from being run over. Riding on the grass on the left side of the driveway does no damage, no sprinklers on that side. Obviously, Pat or I rode onto the right side and broke it. The head easily screws out and I am off to ACE Hardware for a replacement. They do not have one, I must go to Home Depot. Yep, even though the sprinkler system is eleven years old, they have what I need. Some Teflon tape on the threads, screw the head in, test for integrity, and I am back in business. Cost, $4.76 not counting the driving expense.