Always protesting here

Any rational person should know the use of nuclear weapons is stupid at best and mass murder on any normal scale. That being stated, we, the USA, have reduced the number of nuclear weapons in this country through treaties and because of the common sense notion that it cost a hell of a lot of money to keep something on alert with this much overkill. But I do not believe we are in the position to completely dismantle all that we have and change our swords into plowshares just yet. Nuclear weapons are a deterrent to any foolish megalomaniac that thinks about attacking us with any type of weapon of mass destruction. I do not know if the deterrent works or not. I know we have not been attacked since nuclear weapons have been developed.
Over the years I have always been bewildered by those who protest against the US for one reason or another while not saying a word about the governments out in the world that make it their policy to cause hate, discontent and spread violence and death like we spread aid after a earthquake. Here we have a few clowns, and I mean clowns, who find it an important statement to pound on the lid of a 110 ton door of a US Minuteman missile silo. First you could smash a plane into this and I doubt you would scratch the paint. But I do not see these same good hearted folks standing outside the North Korean, Iranian or any other murderous regime's official building in UN land (NY city) protesting those countries move to nuclear weapons or treatment of their own citizens.
I would like to see nuclear weapons made useless, but I know the human race is not capable of becoming one big love in. There are those who hate us because we are not like them, no other reason. And the only deterrent we have against these crazy people is the knowledge that if they try to wipe out our cities and kill thousands of us we will hit them so hard that it will be 5000 years before than can even drink the water again.

Time with the kids

For those fathers out there like me that have to wait weeks to read a story to their children at bed time or can go for days without a hello or the chance to say I love you, this was our day too.

I spent time with my daughter who is 9 and smart and my son who is 7 and bounces off the walls. My daughter has a couple of friends in the neighborhood so she usually has a good time, but there are no boys my son’s age, at least we have not found any.

My daughter went down the street and around the block by herself for the first time. Yes I am paranoid. But of course there was no problems. She visited a couple of younger girls, she like to think she is a mature older girl. She had a good time and I am always happy when she is with friends.

My son and I played video games, watched game show network (he is addicted) and we played rough house. He loves to watch me play video games. We play Spyro, Robots and a new one, Over the Hedge. Not sure about Over the Hedge yet. We watched Match Game, remember that, Lingo and a few others. These shows are a lot better than cartoons so I have no complaints. While we were rough housing he almost killed me, ok maybe he only came close to breaking a couple of bones. He is a little guy but he can actually do a flying drop kick, and he does it often. Usually I catch his feet but today he tagged me twice, once in the ribs and once in the arm.

The really great thing is that my wife, not the mother, is so wonderful she never says a word about the rough housing. She really enjoys the time I have with the children. I adore her.

I wrote some feelings about the legal system, I think I will leave it out. This was a good day and I want to end it on a good note and with good memories.

Thanks LL for the post.

Global Warming?

There is so much talk about Global Warming that it is confusing to figure out what is true and what is garbage. I tend to fall on the side of non-alarmist. The talk about 1 degree increase over a decade may sound dangerous, but what is the change over 1000 years? I do not have the answers but I am always weary of people pushing for us to completely stop civilization advancement because of what might be happening. Of course there are some people who think they know what is best for us and do not have any difficulty telling us, such as Al Gore. But as the article states at least he is giving climate scientists a good laugh.

These people need to stop trying to alter the way we live until they can prove their point. Not by fear, but by true science. I am all for the stopping the use of CF (old air conditioning chemical) because chemical scientist have studied the effects this chemical has on the chemicals in the atmosphere and understand the consequences. But that is not true for all that is being said. Before we make up our mind about what we are going to do about global warming we should know if it is true or not.

Books in the Arab World

This article states that the Arab world, in general, does not have the information to become nations that believe in liberity. There has never been an age of enlightenment in the Muslim world. But today, because of some people craving new ideas and the power of the internet (when not censored) the Arab world is starting to get a small taste of different ideas.

The Arab world is basically an Authoritarian society. Even in a country like Egypt, which elects a president, there is little chance of political diversity.

The article states that only about 10,000 books have been translated from the West into Arabic. This is a United Nations statistic so I am dubious to it estimation. But even if the number is 100,000 books that is such a small number. These numbers are total books translated over 1,000 years.

I think there are cracks in the shell of Arab society, where liberal Western ideas such as individual liberty, personal freedom, political dissent and the rights of minorities may be seeing the light of day. Not in the hallow halls of Arabic governments but in the minds of some of the young. The only way this is going to become effective is if we, the West, push back against these societies when they trample our citizens rights. We also need to export these beliefs and ideas every chance we get.

As it stands most of the Muslim world is dependent on the words of government officials, Clerics and Imams. Anyone speaking out and opposing these people is apt to be murdered or imprisoned. Like we did to the old Soviet Union we need to do these countries. Show them the good that can come from being free. I do not have high hopes that liberal Western ideas can get a toe hold. The authoritarian political beliefs within the religion are very strong. But maybe there is hope.