Last week the Free-Market News Network ran a following headline: "Cheney Says War May Last Forty Years." In their own estimations we are in a multi-generational war. Of course this is what the Neo-Con's set out to do in the first place, planning began back in the late 80's early 90's. For those that don't know what I am talking about, go to Project For A New American Century, and read their manifesto.
it, in America today, things that happened just ten years ago are considered ancient history and have no bearing on our lives. Can the American people even contemplate what changes our society will have to undergo to sustain a war for forty years? Consider the changes we went through in the last six, or the twelve years of Vietnam.
What is it that makes a country strong, being able to force our will on any group of people we choose or is it the quality of life the citizens of this nation could enjoy? I believe that the former makes our nation come off as a bully; So which is it?
What about the human costs, over 3,000 American soldiers have died and more than 150,000 Iraqis. But does anyone collect the numbers of American citizens that have died here at home because there were cuts to human services, medical care for the poor and elderly, absence of funds for heating assistance. I heard on CNN that 58 people died because of the ice storms last week. How many of them where casualties of the military spending sucking the emergency assistance coffers dry? What about the victims of Katrina, how many more could have been saved, and how many more could have returned to their homes by now if it wasn't for this country being bankrupted from wars past and present.
Sitting here taking a little break from bookkeeping for my business, you know that end of year drudgery. I was just think back on the past year and thought I would share a personal story. I usually write opinion posts but this one is a little more personal. A year ago I was sitting in this same chair when I suddenly became dizzy and fell to the floor. It was late a night and no one else was awake so I laid there until the dizziness went away then carefully got myself up and went to bed. I felt much better the next morning and went back to what I was doing the night before. By mid-afternoon I was light-head again, went and got a glass of water and laid down for awhile. I started to feeling better, so I had some more water and went back to work. An hour later I was dizzy again, then I realized I was on my third Mountain Dew Big Slam of the day. I started to wonder if that could have something to do with my dizziness.
Since 1996 when I bought my first computer, I have had either a Mountain Dew or Pepsi bottle sitting right beside it. Getting all ramped-up on sugar and caffeine seemed to help me stay focused on what I was doing on the computer. In 2000 I started to have burning and tingling in my feet, so I went to the doctor. I was told that I have neuropathy caused by the large amount of sugar I was consuming from 3 to 4 big slams a day. I was also informed that if I didn't stop drinking the soda I would eventually get diabetes. So I limited my soda to some extent but by 2006 I was back to 3 to 4 big slams a day.
On the second day after I passed out I tried a little experiment, no sugar for 24 hours, just water and ice tea with no sugar. I was amazed at how good I felt, other than my cravings for that citrus tang of Mountain Dew. I started putting some lemon juice in my tea and that did the trick no more cravings.
I went to the doctor to make sure I was alright and didn't have diabetes, and had a complete physical. I told him about the passing out and was informed that it was probably hypoglycemic shock. If it ever happens again to call the ambulance. My tests all came back good, I didn't have diabetes, or any other ailments. So I resolved to start taking better care of myself.
One thing I realized when I stopped drinking soda was that I was hungry. I was consuming 1700 calories per day in soda alone, with the high caffeine and sugar, I just didn't feel hungry. So I started to make myself eat real food. Since my family has started shrinking, I just don't feel like cooking anymore. So I decided to try another experiment, a diet if you want to call it that.
For breakfast I would drink one Odwalla juice, like Superfood, or Mo' Beta. For lunch I would have a Lean Cuisine Spa Meal or one of the smaller Lean Cuisine frozen dinners. For Dinner I would have one of the large Lean Cuisine Meals, that have a dessert. My number one rule for the first 4 months was, NO high fructose corn syrup in anything I consumed. When summer rolled around I did allow myself 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia per week. I did this from January on until September. By September I had lost 35 pounds, going from 205 to 170. Now that may sound like I am still fat, but unlike most women I am almost 6 feet tall. So 170 is still a little on the heavy side for me, 150 being ideal. I am definitely in a much better shape than I was a year ago.
In September, I had to travel out of state for the funeral of my uncle, that is when I had my first relapse, and started drinking Mountain Dew. By Thanksgiving I was back on track, then another family emergency and I had to travel out of state again. Again I had another relapse, then the whole christmas holiday season with family coming in from out of state, and this time they brought the Mountain Dew into my house. It has been two weeks since they left and I am still drinking the Dew. Sometimes it just seems easier to drink it than to fight it.
First thing tomorrow I will go back to my diet and hopefully kick the habit one more time. I have to kick it because I don't want to get diabetes. One thing I fear the most is becoming a human pincushion, with all those sugar tests and insulin shots. No thank you!
Just a word to anybody out there reading this, especially young people, don't Dew it! Don't get hooked on the sugar from soda. It can kill you just like tabacco, alcohol or drugs. So I challenge you, try it for a week, no soda, no high fructose corn syrup. It is a tricky game, because when you start reading the labels you will be amazed and how much sugar is hidden in the food we buy.
From SFGate.com:The Pentagon has drafted a manual for upcoming detainee trials that would allow suspected terrorists to be imprisoned or put to death using hearsay evidence and coerced testimony.
According to a copy of the manual obtained by The Associated Press, a terror suspect's defense lawyer cannot reveal classified evidence in the person's defense until the government has a chance to review it.
Complete Article Here
This article from SFGate.com makes me think about why our country is in serious trouble. I am no legal genius but I do understand history well enough to understand why the framer's of the constitution included the Bill of Rights for those accused of crimes.
I am a avid consumer of the Law & Order series on television, I know that this is fiction, but it does show to some extent the workings of the US justice system. Or rather how it is suppose to work. On the show they portray the constant tension in the system between the desire for retribution and vengeance by victims, public opinion, and law enforcement and the rule of law. The public's perception that our justice system is broken, is a combination of media exploitation of our fears and an overwhelmed system.
The issue of how the rule of law is applied to "suspected terrorist" is one that I feel a need to comment on.
"[A] bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse."
--- Thomas Jefferson December 20, 1787
I would challenge that the greatness of a country is measured on how the rule of law is applied to anyone accused of a crime. On 9/11 when we learned that the FBI and other law enforcement organizations were conducting round-ups of Arabs whether citizens or not, made my blood boil. Now we sit here almost six years later, with all we are allowed to know about Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and other horrors out of Afghanistan, and now this. How can anyone contend we are even a civilized country, when we participate in, condone or simply ignore the actives our government is engaged in under our name?
Once a bell is rung, it can't be unrung. The same holds true with precedence in the law. Everyone of us should be furious at the this administration for the way inwhich enemy combatants, terror suspects, or whatever the latest buzzword is for US political prisoner. The point being that the people being tried before a military court today, maybe Iraqis, but sometime in the not to very distant future could very well be Americans.
Pictures like this one make me sick, it reminds me of a slave ship in the middle passage, and it makes me want nothing more then to burn that tainted flag hanging over these people's heads. If our current administration continues to insist that these people cannot be tried in a civil court and afforded all the legal right afforded in the Bill of Rights, then they are in fact saying, our country is finished, over, lights out! It is then in fact they are saying it is time for a new American Revolution!
So another year begins, while searching for a topic to comment on for this month's post I found that according to the Chinese calender on February 18th the year of the Fire Pig begins. This is not a very pleasant zodiac according to www.astrolog.com.au.
Could this be the year that we American's get the message of global climate change. I often ponder what natural disaster it will take to make it undeniable to every American. Not that I look forward to such events. I would rather that no one would have to indure such a trial. But I am not so naive to think that it will take anyless to make us change our ways.
