Monday, March 22, 2004
Sunday, March 21, 2004
The Year of Iraq. You really didn't think I would keep my opinions to myself, did you? After all, I know just as much as the talking heads on every news outlet in creation. And since this blog is all about me, I get to spout here. Feel free to skip to another item if you're on a spout-free diet.
Where we went right. (We, of course, meaning the United States.) We toppled a murderous dictator and killed his sociopathic sons, thus ending his dynastic ambitions. We formed and led a coalition of some 60 nations in order to do this. We are rebuilding the infrastructure left to rot for the last decade or more. We are training the Iraqi people in the fundamentals of democracy and in how to defend themselves against the inevitable day when the coalition forces go home.
We refused to let the United Nations' unwillingness to enforce its own resolutions hamstring our actions. We refused to let foreign policy be dictated by those whose motives for opposing action, it was later revealed, were tainted by financial scandal involving Iraq. And we reaped several benefits in the region: the voluntary elimination of Libya's nuclear program; Syria's huge reluctance to get itself involved in Iraq; increasing protests within Iran against its mullah-cracy.
Where we went wrong. Immediately after 9/11, top heads of the CIA and FBI should have been sacked for their mismanagement of intelligence leading up to the attacks, and for their fatal territorial battles over gathering and sharing intelligence. Also immediately after 9/11, instead of creating a dangerous Patriot Act grab-bag of civil rights reductions, the Vietnam-era laws forbidding intelligence sharing between CIA and FBI should have been repealed.
Although the intelligence used to justify invading Iraq was agreed to by not only the USA but the UK, France, Germany, Israel, and the UN (just to name a few), once it was discovered that the intelligence was not highly accurate an explanation (not an excuse) should have been given to the American people, and to the world. It wasn't, and that decision will come back to haunt us in the future.
Regime change in Iraq was always stated as the goal of this invasion. However, there seemed to be no base plan for achieving a change from dictatorship to democracy, nor was there any sort of best guess on the amount of time or money this would take. Bad planning on the part of the executive branch will inevitably lead to cost increases that simply should have been avoidable.
Congress doesn't get let off the hook, either. Several authorizing resolutions regarding the use of force in Iraq should not have been followed by the wrangling over funding that use or the ways in which that funding was to be used. It is particularly odious to see leaders in the opposition party (as well as members of the ruling party) vote to allow force yet vote against funding -- sending the message that all the American leadership is prepared to do is make threats without teeth.
And the final analysis is that although the wrong reasons for action were stressed in making the case to the public, the outcome was a good one. The US and its coalition partners are managing to construct hope in Iraq, and by extension throughout the Middle East. And yes, it's not perfect. What thing made by the hands of man is? It's better than hoped for and less than ideal. The initial stages were done more rapidly and with less loss of life than expected.
And the future? As a wise and dear friend used to say, "My name's not Clara Voyant and I don't have crystal balls."
Where we went right. (We, of course, meaning the United States.) We toppled a murderous dictator and killed his sociopathic sons, thus ending his dynastic ambitions. We formed and led a coalition of some 60 nations in order to do this. We are rebuilding the infrastructure left to rot for the last decade or more. We are training the Iraqi people in the fundamentals of democracy and in how to defend themselves against the inevitable day when the coalition forces go home.
We refused to let the United Nations' unwillingness to enforce its own resolutions hamstring our actions. We refused to let foreign policy be dictated by those whose motives for opposing action, it was later revealed, were tainted by financial scandal involving Iraq. And we reaped several benefits in the region: the voluntary elimination of Libya's nuclear program; Syria's huge reluctance to get itself involved in Iraq; increasing protests within Iran against its mullah-cracy.
Where we went wrong. Immediately after 9/11, top heads of the CIA and FBI should have been sacked for their mismanagement of intelligence leading up to the attacks, and for their fatal territorial battles over gathering and sharing intelligence. Also immediately after 9/11, instead of creating a dangerous Patriot Act grab-bag of civil rights reductions, the Vietnam-era laws forbidding intelligence sharing between CIA and FBI should have been repealed.
Although the intelligence used to justify invading Iraq was agreed to by not only the USA but the UK, France, Germany, Israel, and the UN (just to name a few), once it was discovered that the intelligence was not highly accurate an explanation (not an excuse) should have been given to the American people, and to the world. It wasn't, and that decision will come back to haunt us in the future.
Regime change in Iraq was always stated as the goal of this invasion. However, there seemed to be no base plan for achieving a change from dictatorship to democracy, nor was there any sort of best guess on the amount of time or money this would take. Bad planning on the part of the executive branch will inevitably lead to cost increases that simply should have been avoidable.
Congress doesn't get let off the hook, either. Several authorizing resolutions regarding the use of force in Iraq should not have been followed by the wrangling over funding that use or the ways in which that funding was to be used. It is particularly odious to see leaders in the opposition party (as well as members of the ruling party) vote to allow force yet vote against funding -- sending the message that all the American leadership is prepared to do is make threats without teeth.
And the final analysis is that although the wrong reasons for action were stressed in making the case to the public, the outcome was a good one. The US and its coalition partners are managing to construct hope in Iraq, and by extension throughout the Middle East. And yes, it's not perfect. What thing made by the hands of man is? It's better than hoped for and less than ideal. The initial stages were done more rapidly and with less loss of life than expected.
And the future? As a wise and dear friend used to say, "My name's not Clara Voyant and I don't have crystal balls."
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Spring will be a little late... Monday, when I pulled my rib muscle, it was sunny and warm -- almost reaching 60. Tuesday, it snowed. Three inches worth, although the accumulation was thankfully much less. Wednesday was grayish, and overnight left a new dusting of snow. Thursday was sunny and relatively warmer, which melted the snowdust. Tomorrow's forecast? Four to six inches of snow, mixing at times with sleet and rain. And Saturday is the first day of spring. April can't come soon enough. Or May or June, for that matter.
Transport of the future. I'm training my nephew-by-friendship, Alex, the right way. For his birthday and Christmas, I get him additional pieces of a monorail set modeled after the real ones at Disney World. I was visiting yesterday, and he took me into the basement to show me the latest setup: a sprawling system going from under the stairs, snaking around and under the air hockey table, and ending...in mid-air. I asked him what happens when the train reaches the end of its track. "I catch it!" he grinned.
Seems he ran out of track. I know he knows how to make connected circuits -- I've seen him make figure-8s and double loops. Guess I'll concentrate on buying extra track for the next gift-giving occasion.
Spain. Some partly-baked thoughts:
The recent change of ruling party in Spain is being credited to/blamed on fear of al-Qaida and the 3/11 train bombings that have killed 201. I'm not so sure. If, as some say, the Spanish electorate are cowards, then why didn't they stay at home instead of going to a public polling place?
And was the Popular Party (the one that was defeated) really doing all that well in the final week leading up to the election? If they were, I don't think reaction to the bombings would be great enough to change the results of the election. If they were running close to the Socialists, or even slightly behind, then I could see it. Yet most polls were saying the PP was ahead...I know that pollsters are not God, yet if the pre-election polls are being reported accurately, then this is the biggest poll blunder since "Dewey Defeats Truman".
I will hand it to the Socialists. By being the first to rush to the microphones and say "We're not going to campaign any more," they grabbed the high ground away from the Popular Party. The PP couldn't do anything that might even smack of campaigning without looking callous towards the dead. Isn't it true that the last, biggest, most effective burst of campaigning is done in the last few days before the election? And that's what the Socialists managed to snatch away from the PP. Clever lads.
Workin' for the weekend... Friday night, there's an open mike event Bill and I go to called "Out of the Box", down in New Brunswick. There's a big Gay and Lesbian Expo at the Javits Center in NYC this weekend. There's also two other possible events for Saturday. Oh, yes, and the guy from PSE&G is coming to read the gas meter Saturday. Sunday, the traditional "breakfast followed by grocery shopping". All in all, it's shaping up to be one busy weekend.
Of course, now that I've said that, everything will fall apart and I'll be sitting here Saturday afternoon saying "I dunno, what do you wanna do?" to Bill. To make the gods laugh, make plans for the future.
Transport of the future. I'm training my nephew-by-friendship, Alex, the right way. For his birthday and Christmas, I get him additional pieces of a monorail set modeled after the real ones at Disney World. I was visiting yesterday, and he took me into the basement to show me the latest setup: a sprawling system going from under the stairs, snaking around and under the air hockey table, and ending...in mid-air. I asked him what happens when the train reaches the end of its track. "I catch it!" he grinned.
Seems he ran out of track. I know he knows how to make connected circuits -- I've seen him make figure-8s and double loops. Guess I'll concentrate on buying extra track for the next gift-giving occasion.
Spain. Some partly-baked thoughts:
The recent change of ruling party in Spain is being credited to/blamed on fear of al-Qaida and the 3/11 train bombings that have killed 201. I'm not so sure. If, as some say, the Spanish electorate are cowards, then why didn't they stay at home instead of going to a public polling place?
And was the Popular Party (the one that was defeated) really doing all that well in the final week leading up to the election? If they were, I don't think reaction to the bombings would be great enough to change the results of the election. If they were running close to the Socialists, or even slightly behind, then I could see it. Yet most polls were saying the PP was ahead...I know that pollsters are not God, yet if the pre-election polls are being reported accurately, then this is the biggest poll blunder since "Dewey Defeats Truman".
I will hand it to the Socialists. By being the first to rush to the microphones and say "We're not going to campaign any more," they grabbed the high ground away from the Popular Party. The PP couldn't do anything that might even smack of campaigning without looking callous towards the dead. Isn't it true that the last, biggest, most effective burst of campaigning is done in the last few days before the election? And that's what the Socialists managed to snatch away from the PP. Clever lads.
Workin' for the weekend... Friday night, there's an open mike event Bill and I go to called "Out of the Box", down in New Brunswick. There's a big Gay and Lesbian Expo at the Javits Center in NYC this weekend. There's also two other possible events for Saturday. Oh, yes, and the guy from PSE&G is coming to read the gas meter Saturday. Sunday, the traditional "breakfast followed by grocery shopping". All in all, it's shaping up to be one busy weekend.
Of course, now that I've said that, everything will fall apart and I'll be sitting here Saturday afternoon saying "I dunno, what do you wanna do?" to Bill. To make the gods laugh, make plans for the future.
Monday, March 15, 2004
Ouch. One of my early morning rituals is to roll over in bed and snuggle with Bill the Boyfriend. When I did it this morning, I got a sharp pain in my right side, going from under my armpit to under my breast. It hurt to breathe deeply, it hurt to roll over, it hurt to sit up. Scared? Hurting? You better believe it. I managed to shower, dress, and call in sick to work, then Bill took me to the doctor. His opinion: I had managed to pull one of the rib muscles. He prescribed a high-powered anti-inflammatory (naproxen) and the use of heat pads, told me today would be the worst day, smiled and left.
I got the prescription filled and have spent today letting the miracle of modern medical science (aka drugs) work on my achy self. Improvement is expected to be slow and steady (the doctor's words).
Yesterday I found a piece of yesteryear. Just for something to do, Bill and I went driving westward, following the tracks of the Raritan Valley Line. (For those of you not from New Jersey, that's a branch of New Jersey Transit that serves my town. For those of you from New Jersey and old enough to remember, the branch used to be part of the Jersey Central Railroad.) We made it to three of the five stations, because at the third station (Lebanon) I saw something that made my jaw literally drop:
The Hickory Creek. A fully-restored round-ended observation car once owned by the New York Central Railroad. And not just any round-ended observation car: this car had been part of, and still carried the illuminated sign proclaiming, the 20th Century Limited. The car is owned today by the United Railroad Historical Society, which purchased it, refurbished it, and allows it to be shown off at events like last year's big railroad fair at Hoboken Terminal. I got to stand next to it, and touch it, and have my picture taken with it. I was in heaven.
They also had, at Lebanon station, other pieces of equipment in various stages of refurbishment, including a Pullman car with markings from the Frisco line, and another NY Central lounge car, number 47.
By the way: the URHS is one of the main driving forces behind the creation of a New Jersey Railroad Museum in Phillipsburg. Go to their website at http://www.urhs.org, see what they're doing, and consider either volunteering or giving them money.
We also had dinner afterwards, at our hometown branch of the Lone Star Steakhouse. If you can get steak anywhere else, do so. Not that the food was bad, it just wasn't very good, and the decor was just trying too hard to make it feel like Texas but not succeeding. The staff, however, was just fine. (Note for beer drinkers: Bill ordered a bottle of Kilian's Red, and got two: one opened, the other one unopened in a little tin bucket of ice. A nice touch.)
I got the prescription filled and have spent today letting the miracle of modern medical science (aka drugs) work on my achy self. Improvement is expected to be slow and steady (the doctor's words).
Yesterday I found a piece of yesteryear. Just for something to do, Bill and I went driving westward, following the tracks of the Raritan Valley Line. (For those of you not from New Jersey, that's a branch of New Jersey Transit that serves my town. For those of you from New Jersey and old enough to remember, the branch used to be part of the Jersey Central Railroad.) We made it to three of the five stations, because at the third station (Lebanon) I saw something that made my jaw literally drop:
The Hickory Creek. A fully-restored round-ended observation car once owned by the New York Central Railroad. And not just any round-ended observation car: this car had been part of, and still carried the illuminated sign proclaiming, the 20th Century Limited. The car is owned today by the United Railroad Historical Society, which purchased it, refurbished it, and allows it to be shown off at events like last year's big railroad fair at Hoboken Terminal. I got to stand next to it, and touch it, and have my picture taken with it. I was in heaven.
They also had, at Lebanon station, other pieces of equipment in various stages of refurbishment, including a Pullman car with markings from the Frisco line, and another NY Central lounge car, number 47.
By the way: the URHS is one of the main driving forces behind the creation of a New Jersey Railroad Museum in Phillipsburg. Go to their website at http://www.urhs.org, see what they're doing, and consider either volunteering or giving them money.
We also had dinner afterwards, at our hometown branch of the Lone Star Steakhouse. If you can get steak anywhere else, do so. Not that the food was bad, it just wasn't very good, and the decor was just trying too hard to make it feel like Texas but not succeeding. The staff, however, was just fine. (Note for beer drinkers: Bill ordered a bottle of Kilian's Red, and got two: one opened, the other one unopened in a little tin bucket of ice. A nice touch.)
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Well, that didn't take long. Blog*spot doesn't have the ability for readers to post here -- at least, not the version I'm using. So, for those of you who care to comment, you can reach me by e-mail at neunerdude *at* cs *dot* com.
And I would appreciate a little civility, please. I am not on this earth to make your life miserable with what I post -- it's just too much work, frankly -- so do not assume that is the motivation behind any of my posts. Thank you.
And I would appreciate a little civility, please. I am not on this earth to make your life miserable with what I post -- it's just too much work, frankly -- so do not assume that is the motivation behind any of my posts. Thank you.
One of my friends e-mailed me to tell me what she thought of my new blog, and immediately spotted a goof. I asked for input on how to make the blog better. What I didn't do was give you any way to send input to me. Let me look into how I can provide a link from here to my e-mail; as soon as I find out how it's done, I'll add it to the site.
Thank you for your patience.
Thank you for your patience.
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Good afternoon. You've stumbled across Toad Hall, my first attempt at a blog. As the subtitle above states, this blog is indeed all about me -- or, more precisely, the things that interest me on a long-term basis (e.g. the theatre, passenger rail, Mensa, comic books, gay rights) or that have captured my attention for whatever reason (e.g. items in other blogs, cartoons and comic strips).
Since I'm new to all this, I'll no doubt be making the rookie mistakes everyone else does. A little forbearance on your part, gentle readers, will be much appreciated...as will advice. Understand, though, that advice given may not be followed immediately, if at all. It's all about me, remember?
Some explanation for the title of this blog. For reasons I won't go into at this time, one of my nicknames in college was "Toad". (Oh, all right. Sitting in the dorm common room with my group of friends, my favorite seating position was on the floor, sitting on my haunches, occasionally bouncing up and down if something struck me as humorous. A friend referred to me as "the toad" and the name stuck.) Also, one of my favorite pieces of literature is Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows", wherein the local squire's house is "Toad Hall". Since this is to be my house in the blogosphere, it seemed a logical choice.
I would hope that (1) I post here more often than not, and (2) I manage to provide you, gentle readers, with some amusement. Just remember: It's all about me.
Since I'm new to all this, I'll no doubt be making the rookie mistakes everyone else does. A little forbearance on your part, gentle readers, will be much appreciated...as will advice. Understand, though, that advice given may not be followed immediately, if at all. It's all about me, remember?
Some explanation for the title of this blog. For reasons I won't go into at this time, one of my nicknames in college was "Toad". (Oh, all right. Sitting in the dorm common room with my group of friends, my favorite seating position was on the floor, sitting on my haunches, occasionally bouncing up and down if something struck me as humorous. A friend referred to me as "the toad" and the name stuck.) Also, one of my favorite pieces of literature is Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows", wherein the local squire's house is "Toad Hall". Since this is to be my house in the blogosphere, it seemed a logical choice.
I would hope that (1) I post here more often than not, and (2) I manage to provide you, gentle readers, with some amusement. Just remember: It's all about me.
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