Congress, the public and self-defeat

What happened to the generations of American citizenry and politicians that had the iron in their backbone to stand firm in their commitments despite hardship? Our nation grew strong on a can-do attitude that our wealth and prosperity seems to have removed from our government and the media. The current generation of leadership, particularly on the left, with the support of the media seems intent on leading the nation into defeat again by tying the hands of its troops overseas and refusing to lend any support to the Commander-in-Chief who was elected by the people to do his job.

I cannot say that I thought going to war was the best idea when the President decided to liberate Iraq back in 2003, but that does not mean that I think cutting and running is an acceptable idea. Doing so would ruin the remaining respect our nation has in the halls of governments around the world and only embolden our enemies. It also is a statement of the greatest disrespect to our armed forces in thinking that we cannot succeed despite having the best trained and equipped armed forces in history. Watching clips from the Senate proceedings yesterday made me almost physically ill as Senators confirmed a new general to lead the effort in Iraq while passing a resolution against the very support he stated necessary for the opportunity to succeed. "So long, good luck, we hope you fail" seemed to be the message of the day. The cowards should be sent out to the front lines themselves. Were it not for the knowledge that I would not be accepted by the service, I would have volunteered to go a while ago.

Success in war is never guaranteed and wars of liberation are longer and bloodier than others. Despite that, we have a track record of success from our own Revolutionary War (8 years) through the Philippines (4 years) and the Banana Wars (two decades). None of these campaigns were short and yet each ended in a measure of success. Not always the desired outcome, but at least stability. More recently the intervention in former Yugoslavia is finally showing some results in relative stability in the region. A good counter-example is Somalia where we intervened in 1993 and then pulled out leaving a much smaller nation without the deep seated cultural animosity to boil with anarchy until just this past month or so when Ethiopia of all nations helped a new government begin to take control. Imagine that scenario with a much larger population, fueled by ethnic hatred and ambitious, unscrupulous neighbors. The death toll is awful to even contemplate and the chaos it would breed would bring catastrophe to the region unseen in ages. On a much more cold-blooded note, the price of gas would skyrocket beyond the $3+ spike as the main oil producing part of the world became too unstable to allow for reliable supply.

I have no desire to see our friends and family die in a foreign country, but they volunteered to serve and in doing so are keeping their end of the bargain. The best our nation can do is to keep up its end and support them fully with the equipment, funds and people they need to achieve their mission. Congress needs to do its job which is to approve the funds, which is their only remaining ability to influence the war since they declared it, and get on with doing its real job of legislation on domestic issues (not that I want the Democrats to succeed in their announced plans, but at least they'd be busy elsewhere). Give the generals their mission and the support they need to complete it. The liberal Senators who fancy themselves generals will be surprised by what our troops and their leaders can do when allowed to do their job.

I have even less use for the mainstream media than the liberal members of Congress. I won't repeat my rant about them in full here. My point on this topic is that fair and balanced does not mean preaching a pre-ordained opinion from only one viewpoint and vilifying anyone who dares have a different perspective. I prefer to decide for myself what to think.

We can succeed, but we have to believe in ourselves in order to do so. If the ability to have hope and optimism in what we do as a nation is gone its time to pack our bags and let some other people take up the burden of history. I for one think that would be the worst thing in the world.

Not So Slow

Things this new year haven't been so slow as I hoped to start out. So, here's some notes from the last two weeks:

• Being sick sucks. I was sick for about about a week and a half with an on-again, off-again flu bug. It was the most TV I've watched in a long time. I really don't like commercials. I did work some, but it was definitely not my best work.
• I've been greatly enjoying watching the syndicated broadcast of Jake 2.0 on Sci-Fi Friday. I had watched it a bit when it was originally on mostly because of the title. This time around I find that I can feel a kinship with "Jake" (short of the whole having lots of nanobots in me giving me super abilities although that would be good) particularly in the whole gawk factor around attractive women not that this has been an issue in Sheboygan as I haven't found any unattached ones of interest--no, I don't think I'm being too picky.
  
• My year-end review was decent and comes with a good raise. The actual rating was good, but came with some cautionary notes. Chief among those was completing things sooner than the last minute... Success this year is the only option if I want a promotion in 2008, which I do.
  
• Our annual Klondike Derby was run again without snow following a week of 40+ degree temperatures. It was however plenty cold being in the 20's. Funny enough, it snowed the following Monday and Tuesday. Go figure.
• Did a lot of planning for this year. The first part was a series of meetings with Brian and I going through our plans for the year. This was followed by our staff planning conference this week. It was actually not too bad. We were in the Dells again at the Chula Vista Resort staying in very nice double condos. Also participating were 4 other councils from Wisconsin and Minnesota; all of which were smaller than ours. This year we actually left the conference with a plan which was my main complaint last year. We had a great presentation by one of our volunteers about connecting with our customers and keeping them. I showed during it that I cannot make a paper snowflake blindfolded. Our staff had a bit too much fun on the off hours and looked like it by Friday. Many stories will be told from this conference. After the marathon that was the conference, Brian and I went directly into a meeting that evening with our key volunteers for the last part of the planning. I spent yesterday not moving much.
• Saw Children of Men yesterday. It was good, but a bit different than I expected and rather dark. Once again it was in a small theater with stadium seating this time. There were a total of five people in the showing.
• The Saints lost today. This makes me sad. I really don't care much for the Bears and was put out a bit by the 39-14 finish. The Colts-Bears Bowl will be a good game, but I have no real interest in either game. I'll root for the Colts simply because I don't much care for Chicago. It is a bit funny that both teams are from the heart of the Midwest.
• I already finished my taxes. It took all of a half an hour online today to file both state and federal through H&R Block. I end up receiving a nice refund that will go directly to paying off my remaining credit card in preparation for paying for my dental work at the end of February which will be about $1,600 for a bridge to replace a missing tooth.

I think that's good for now. Time for some Jake 2.0 from Friday.

Happy New Year and Other Tales

I know it's late, but Happy New Year.

I spent New Year's Eve and early morning at Saucy's Sports Bar in Manitowoc. As you might imagine this is the home of Manitowoc's finest. It's not where I would have picked had I known better, but I was out with Brian, his wife and some of his friends so I really didn't object. Dinner and hanging out at his place was entertaining and relatively relaxing, the bar not so much.

I try to be modest and accommodate other people (honestly) but I couldn't help but feeling arrogant/superior/holier-than-thou while I was at the bar. First off, I don't drink by personal choice so folks whose sole idea of fun is getting tanked are not going to impress me. Second, I hate rap music (demeaning, low brow, no talent, uncivilized...in the main) and it was played loud to the point that my ears were still ringing during the Rose Bowl. Third, smoking is stupid and the smoke was so thick that my lungs and eyes burned after we left until I woke up in the morning. Fourth, there are some people who don't understand that their figure is such that tight/revealing clothing is a bad idea; many were there dancing at that--my skin crawls thinking about it. With that all pointed out I really did feel superior knowing that I have greater depth in my pinky than was shown by the majority of the people there. I did, however, find it amusing in the sense of a scientist watching rats in a maze. These rats wouldn't have found the cheese. I really think that the end of the gene pool represented there wouldn't be hurt by chlorine. It was better than not doing anything at all, but is not something I am soon to repeat. My goal will be to find a classier place to guide folks to for next year.

Another entertaining saga was shelf building. I decided before Christmas to reorganize my office now that I am planning to stay in this slot for a while longer. Part of this involves reorganizing the closet which therefore needed shelving. I shopped for pre-made shelves and was horrified at the cost ($50 for the cheapest in the right size) so I decided to build my own. Brian let me use his tools and basement to work on the project so I met him in Manitowoc and we purchased supplies for my project and a project he was working on in his basement. My material cost was about $26 total. As I began building the shelving unit in stages, I began to realize that while I know the procedure and design techniques for the project, my skills in the actual execution are rusty. It did end up working out in the end after about three times the time it should have taken and it certainly is not going to break any time soon.

My last note for this post is that as of this morning Brian and I officially made Quality District. I'm relieved that we're done and excited as it looks really good on both of our records and I know that it was really a team effort. The daunting part is to repeat it for 2007 which will be a challenge still, but we certainly know what we did right and wrong and hopefully can finish earlier this year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!