Monthly Archives: October 2023

Poke the Bear

22 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by in Israel, Uncategorized

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No, this isn’t about Russia that traditionally is called a Bear but Israel. An old adage is don’t poke a bear because its reaction won’t be pleasant. The moral is to think before acting and think what the results could be. Sometimes the reaction seems like an immediate mistake but will actually get the long term desired result.

Hamas poked the Israeli Bear hoping to get the desired backlash of death and destruction to the people in Gaza. Around the Arab world the people are protesting by the hundreds of thousands in their capitals. How can their leaders stay in power and work with Israel? Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries were opening diplomatic offices with Israel and negotiating trade relations.

If Hamas gets the Israeli army to invade the Palestinian civilian deaths will skyrocket creating more dissent causing problems for Arab and Israeli leaders. History shows urban warfare is a disaster for both sides – think Stalingrad or our misadventure in Iraq.

Continued bombing of apartment buildings kills civilians which generates greater dissent and pressure for other organizations like Hezbollah to join the war. They have over 160,000 missiles to fire at Israel and the army should it invade Lebanon. The last time Israel went in they pulled out after a couple of months. They claimed victory but it was a bloody stalemate. It would be much worse this time because Hezbollah has many more well-trained troops and much more Iran-supplied equipment designed to fight Israel’s army and air force.

Hamas poked the Bear and hasn’t yet got all the results they wanted but those results may be imminent. So far, the PLO on the Eastern side has just been protesting but if all three organizations gang up on Israel it would be very bad for the bear.

Dates to Remember

17 Tuesday Oct 2023

Posted by in Dates

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Our lives seem to revolve around dates. We remember our birth date, our partner’s birth date, and hopefully our wedding date. If we have kids we are supposed to remember those dates. Some try to remember parents and siblings birthdays. Today those dates are plugged into our digital devices so we don’t actually have to use our brains. The devices can even be set up to warn us days in advance.

However, there are many dates we remember that seem to be almost mandatory for most of us. Three holidays we easily remember are January 1, July 4, and December 25. Others are not so happy dates like 9/11-Twin Towers, and December 7. Sometimes it is only the year that is special like 1945 for the end of World War II or 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

As a history buff, my mind was filled with dates for events in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. As a military history student, my dates went back to long forgotten wars thousands of years ago. There does seem to be a correlation between age and memory. As one gets older more and more unnecessary dates are forgotten.

If a person did not live through an event, how many of us would remember the date it occurred? Millions of Americans were yet to be born when 9/11 occurred so how long will that date mean something to them? Many of our holidays today mean little more than a parade, party time, or no-work-day. For millions, Memorial Day is the Indy 500 Race. Many important days are already forgotten by most of us – how sad!

Times Are A-Changing

08 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by in Divisiveness

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My Mother was in her fifties in the 1960s when Rock-N-Roll and the Hippie culture became the norm. Her complaints may have influenced me to keep my hair length at an inch at my nape instead of my former clipper cut. My music choice is now called the golden oldies of the 60s. My hair is thinner and my music is the same so that is what I consider the norm should be.

I cannot understand why anyone would want to shave their head to look like what the movies made aliens look. To be fair we used to use the Dick Tracy term of “Cue Ball.”

Millions of men are growing long beards which can only be to show their masculinity. Are they taken in by some actors trying to look rough cut. I would think hygiene and sex would be a problem.

Why do man and women cover themselves with tattoos that they can’t see? I don’t sit at a table with servers with tattoos up their neck or on their arms. My generation is very likely to associate those people with poor hygiene and therefore holding our plates abhorrent. A big business has sprung up on removing or covering them up. A friend’s daughter put a tattoo on her hip to remind her of a dead cousin. Does she think of him sitting on a commode?

People seem to go out of their way to look tough and gangster-like. Why can’t people look normal now or is this just a fad that will die out in a few years? If the media caused this behavior then perhaps it can bring it back to the normal American Culture. Is the result of, or cause of, the divisiveness today?

Voters Have Rights

07 Saturday Oct 2023

Posted by in Democracy

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Too often people are elected to an office after an election with only thirty percent of the electorate voting. Those people go into office with him or her to do what that small number of constituents want done. If a person voted against the official then they have the right to complain but if they didn’t bother to vote, they don’t have the moral right.

Of fifty, sixty, or even seventy percent of voters staying home a small number of people are able to take control of a government and its people. Adolph Hitler came into power with the support of a few thousand actual believers who controlled a few million supporters who thought his propaganda goals was needed. Of course his Brown Shirts beat up or killed those who complained or were the objects of his scorn. In Germany’s 1930s and 1940s the organization was called Nazi for “NAtional SoZialistiche Deutsch ArBeiterparteI.” Is the Maga-Movement the same just because it has all the same markers? It has the personality, lack of political experience, devotees, lies, political violence, minorities to suppress, and desire to destroy the justice and government.

If Americans value Democracy then they must vote in every election or lose what we value most!