The Cost of War

I'm still digesting the President's speech last night. Mostly, he did a good job being serious, focused and being honest about the problems we face.

I found one part of what he said particularly interesting... "We will never again hide the price tag of war."

It brought to mind the image of shopping for wars. Strolling down the aisles with your cart, looking at what you can afford. Taking over Canada would be a Bergdorfs item- way too expensive. And really, we'd have to allow all that marriage equality and import all those good social programs like universal health care.

Iran, not enough room on the credit card for that one.

Afghanistan seems to be attractively priced. Like shopping at Costco, we can get an enormous amount of grief and death at a low price.

Personally? I think we can't afford any of it. Not on any level.

Here Comes the Sun...

The sun is in the perfect spot on the horizon and the light is pouring into my office. Sure beats a SAD light box, not quite as good as Hawaii. It almost seems to radiate enough heat to go sit outside in but I know better.

Our president-elect has been making the rounds in the last couple weeks. Most recently, splashing the airways with his Surgeon General nominee. While the media seems thrilled with opining over the choice, I can help but wonder about the real tasks of the administration ahead.

We love a sunny outlook in this country. Perhaps because we were weaned on Bambi losing mom, but when anyone even begins to tell a happy tale, we are quick to believe.

I love the sun. I don’t particularly like reading about the bombing in Gaza, children found huddled with their dead mothers. Or the reality that one out of every seven homeowners will be foreclosed on this coming year. Or how billions upon billions of dollars are needed to move our public school systems forward in order to remain competitive with the rest of the world.

I know I have to. I am in the sun. So many are not.

I hope Obama stays clear of the media drama. That he stay focused on the war, the economy and education and not the pictures of his “abs” from the beach or his choice of an appointment to a relatively minor post.

The LGBT community has been disrespected- see Rick Warren’s part in the inauguration events next to our, um, marching band- and passed over in this administration already. I’m not surprised. He said “gay” a lot in his campaign speeches which was great but the actual embrace, a real seat at the table, is still a far away dream.

To be honest, if he gets the war, Gaza and the economy right? I’m happy to let him slide until he builds the credibility to go ahead and make a few things happen- like the end of DOMA, DADT and a fully inclusive ENDA. If you’ve fixed those things, some civil rights should be a piece of cake.

Let’s not forget, rights are free to give. They don’t increase the budget. Leaves the country with good feeling, no raised tax ceiling.

This is Obama’s moment in the sun. He may never again reach such high levels of popularity. Please, for the country’s sake, may he not be blinded by it. I don’t mind a somewhat goofy choice for Surgeon General and as long as the General in Regional Command is dedicated to leaving Iraq.

I hope he uses the power of words carefully, especially when talking about the economy. A single Hank Paulson speech can tank the markets for weeks. What we need is economic stability, not the current panic driven roller coaster.

Mostly? Let’s all stay focused on the real issues of the day and not be suckered by some of the ratings-driven, sexed up nonsense the mainstream media throws at us.



Because just like now, as the sun is slipping down behind the house next door, the sun will go away. I hope we have the real change we need when it does.

Back To Reality

I have to be honest- I did not read the paper or watch the news while I was away. In the airport, CNN was reporting on the mess in Israel.

At the same time, as we waited in Atlanta for our flight to Savannah, there were many soldiers walking about, obviously going back to work after a break. One in particular caught our eyes.

He was young, only 18, and looked scared. I'm sure he wouldn't like that description of himself but he did. Walter couldn't stand it and went and struck up a conversation with him. He had just finished basic training and was going back to base after a short break.

He was from a small town in Florida and the army was the only way out. The army recruiters did a number on him and he took it, hook line and sinker. He did not think he would see any combat and if he didn't like his deployment, he could transfer.

Well, we thought, you could ASK. Doesn't mean you could change.

In the meantime, Israel's ground forces were moving forward. Rocket attacks were being reported on the television just over our shoulders. It broke my heart, this young man's belief he could pick and choose.

Would he be alive in a year, I wondered.

I have three sons. People have always said to me that boys are easier than girls. Sure, they're rough when they are young but then they tend to mellow and you never worry about them getting pregnant.

No, you worry about them being drafted.

I don't believe this country can enter one more conflict without having a draft. Our military is stretched to it's limits. Young, poor kids will continue to sign up as a means to get out of hopeless situations but not in the droves needed.

Not even Obama will be able to fix that. Bodies are needed. Period.

Six years, he said. The last two are cake, just on the reserves. I wondered if he had any idea how many reservists are on their third and fourth tour in Iraq.

Catching up on the news has been hard. The Rick Warren debacle is nothing compared to this nightmare brewing, again, in the Middle East. My hope for the end of war is gone.

And my fear for my boys renewed again.

McCain Supports the Draft

No shit. Two minutes after I wrote, Queerty.com puts this up.

Text This: WE WANT TO WIN

I have read that Obama’s VP will be announced by text message, on Friday this week. New, unusual, different. I think it’s a brilliant grassroots effort and an excellent start to the head to head campaign season. It’s a least something interesting to liven up the otherwise dull campaign of late.

I know. I shouldn’t complain.

I’ve heard that some folks, like Michael Moore, are calling for Caroline Kennedy to be the Vice President.

Hey, why not Oprah? I tell you why not, BECAUSE WE WANT TO WIN THIS RACE.

I’m a little edgy, can you tell? Might be the three boys I am raising, one of which will be draft age soon. Or all the boys I know that already are draft age. The one thing that strikes me about all of them?

They are only boys.

I do have a plan. I have a friend with a second home in Canada. Yes, I really would go there rather than have my kids fight in a war that is about oil and greed and conflicts older than the sand they are fighting on.

I am awake late at night wondering if any of the conspiracy theories could possibly be right- could Bush cancel the election? Could there be a catastrophic event that would lead the American people to hand over their final, few civil rights?

Could we all be so blind to the flip-flopping angry, crazy man McCain is? I’m not talking simply about calling his wife a cunt; I’m talking about all the documented cases of him losing it on the Senate floor. Can we afford to have this nutcase control the big red button?

Time and time again, I come back to the war. Sure, I want marriage equality, and I want a decent, balanced supreme court. I want social progress and taxes that make sense for everyone. I want universal healthcare, even though I want Clinton’s plan, I’ll take Obama’s as a start.

Mostly, though? I want the war to end. Now.

I talked with a friend today who is from Dansville, New York. It’s is a rural community in central New York State and very poor. 75% of the kids in the public school qualify for free or reduced meals. Deeply rooted poverty that grabs people by the throat and holds them barely above water. There is no hope it will ever get better.

Unless, she said, you join the service.

And now, imagine the opportunity it is to serve next to convicted felons because enrollment is so low. Proud families with little choices now have even fewer.

The war also sucks up all the money for the programs they need to claw halfway out of the water.

When we become a nation without hope, without opportunity, with giant divides between the haves and have-nots, will we even recognize ourselves in the mirror?

I’m glad the Obama campaign has come up with an exciting, new way to get the news out. I look forward to the technological moment far more than I do the announcement- Bayh will be a tremendous disappointment for me.

Mostly, though, I will sit on the edge till November’s election. I fear our country’s very soul is to be chosen.

And whether or not I’ll be able to stay here.

Bird Diplomacy

For the last few weeks, I have been watching a particular bird- a Robin- fight with himself. Over and over, I watch this bird fling himself into the window reflection- although not very hard- bounce off, flutter a way briefly, only to go for it again.

And again. And again.

I asked Jake to make a scary picture. He did.

The bird went to the other window.

I asked Jake to make two more.



Doesn’t matter. The bird still sits in the crook of the Japanese maple tree, takes aim, and boom.

I have a few observations about this bird. For one, the bird is stubborn. It refuses to “lose” to a superior foe. After about an hour of bouncing, he leaves for the day. Does he learn? Nope. The very next day, he comes back, and tries again.

Clearly, he is right. He will win this battle, a battle he is fighting the same way over and over again. It’s arrogant and without thought or examination.

The bird has no sense of its pattern and how it might actually bring danger to it. Its repeated attempts at being right have left behind oily stains on the windows not to mention a pile of bird poop under the maple tree. It is easy prey.

I have contemplated a slingshot. The PETA people can feel free to complain but the pile of poop is actually on my new deck and I’m sorry, a plain ol’ robin isn’t going to win over a brand new deck.

The oblivious disregard for it’s own safety because it is going to get that bird one-way or another, is probably linked to natural selection. You know the female robins are all saying, That dumb bastard is still slamming into that window.

We’re over here waiting to have some babies and he’s just doing the same damn stupid thing, over and over again.

Not to mention Jake’s pictures are fairly fierce.

It’s almost 3PM. Like clockwork, he’s back.

I’ve had more than one human male see the behavior and say, well, anything to get laid.

That’s not it. Not at all. It’s about stubborn arrogance. It’s about the inability to see past itself or to learn from repeated failure. It’s about hopeless dreams of conquest.

Reminds me of a lot of men I know.

It also makes me think of the Iraq war and the ridiculous rhetoric that is spoken about “winning” war that cannot be won and “stabilizing” a region that has been unstable since the dawn of time.

Just as fruitless and pointless as the bird that just did his first daily attack on the window.

Only the cost is so much higher.

Vacation Week

Did I mention this is vacation week for the kids? That's why we were at the Red Sox in the middle of the day yesterday, although I have been known to take one or two of them out of school to go.

In this city, you take your kid out for the Sox, everyone nods their head and encourages you to have a great time. Take your kid out a day early to get out of town before the vacation rush? You get the long look and admonishment that school is far more important than avoiding being stuck on the Mass Pike for 18 hours.

Today, I had arranged for a bunch of appointments- dentist, doctor- all stuff that needs to be done that I'd rather not take them out of school to do. While Ben was in one appointment, Jake and I scoured the South End for a good slice of pizza.



We found one.

The sun was out and we wandered around, going from stoop to stoop, sitting in the sun. At one point, he wanted to ride on my shoulders and I have to admit, I can't heave him up there anymore. Not only is it the clean lift of 70 pounds of squirmy boy up over my head, it's the 70 pounds sitting there.

He's too big and I am starting to accept there are things I can no longer physically do anymore.

I haven't had a chance to read all the blogs, newspapers, yet today. I did glance at the Wall Street Journal earlier to read that even after a 79% pay cut, the CEO of Countryside still made 10.8 million bucks.

Then sold his company to Bank of America because it was going in the toilet.

Nice, huh?

The War, however, made it's way to the front pages of the NYTimes, WSJ, and Boston Globe. While some moron who oversees a company that extended credit to high risk applicants all in the name of profit at any cost makes 10.8 million (did I mention the 121 Million in exercised stock options, too?), we are still at war.

Ben Bernanke can cut interest rates as much as he wants, as often as he can, and as long as we are still at war spending 12 Billion dollars a month it will make no difference.

It's the war, people. We can't afford it. Just like those folks who signed mortgages who could never pay the ballooning interest rate with their salaries, we cannot afford this war.

People are worried the fighting between Clinton and Obama is damaging the Democrats ability to win the election in November. One look at the war that Johnny Prozac McCain wants to keep going for 100 years and I know there is no way he will win.

No way.

Our economy is tanking, we are spending money faster than we can print it, and the War continues to spiral out of control. We have to look at the reality of the budget sheet the same way we do the VISA bill when it comes in the mail.

Even on school vacation week.

McCain on Economics

I'm not advocating for Ron Paul. Everytime I see his name I think of Ru Paul. Who I would vote for.




Someone needs to explain the effect of his 100 year war in Iraq.

4000 US Dead in Iraq

We passed another milestone.

4000 US dead.

82,349 – 89,867 civilians dead in Iraq.

McCain, The Pro War Candidate

Watch carefully as he jokes about bombing Iran.