As 2006 ends, Hussein is dead. Where is the US on its Hunt for Osama, Anyway?

Right now would probably be a good time (about 6 years overdue, actually) for the White House to develop a Global Political strategy that considers the other countries in the world as neighbors, rather than audience members. After 9/11/01, when we vowed to “hunt down bin Laden”, seemingly in an effort more to puff out our chests and show action that to do what we actually said, we opted to declare war on…..Iraq and topple Hussein. This is specious logic, picture-perfect hypocrisy at its best. “Look, ma, he did it! Now I’m going to go beat up this other guy, because, well, I don’t know where they guy who hit me is, I’m pissed off, and I don’t like this other one!”

Many Americans in their post 9/11 shock bought the buzzword media spin that was hard crafted to drive this. We had to chase terror, in any form. There could be weapons of mass destruction (as long as we didn’t look at any of our friendly countries or in our own back yard). Oh, and Saddam had committed genocide 25 years ago. We created all kinds of bridges and tunnels to subvert the constitution to meet those ends, in the name of ‘preventing another terror attack’. Any dissenting commentary was termed ‘unpatriotic’. Turns out only the genocide piece of Saddam’s blame points was true, and hey – what about the hunt for Osama, anyway? We’ve not heard a peep about that objective in 3 years. Now we’ve installed a puppet government in Iraq (that’s never worked for us when we’ve done it before), watched the country slip into civil war, and handed Saddam over to be hung on the eve of a Muslim holiday which will provide future insurgents with a handy holiday reminder in future years. And will no doubt drive the schism between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq even further, to be echoed elsewhere throughout the Mid-east.

So, if our real objective, instead of finding Osama bin Laden, was instead to spend 5 years toppling a dictatorship that posed no threat to us for the reason that, in the end, the dictator committed genocide, then what does that say to the people of these other countries who have been living with the horror of genocide during that time in which the US has either aided and abetted the genocide or ignored it altogether? (See list below).

What this seems to say to the countries who have either tested their weapons of mass destruction, aimed at their enemies (N. Korea), or who already have them (much of the western world, India, Pakistan, China) is apparently: free pass – welcome to the mutually assured destruction club.

America’s global strategy, be it on perceived terror or otherwise national collaboration needs to be pulled from the state of tangled debris and deceit that it is in currently, or scrapped altogether, for one that is supported by logic and legality. How bout that for a 2007 New Year’s Resolution?

Currently at Genocide (Mass Killing) Stage:

Sudan – south, Nuba region
Sudan - Darfur
Uganda
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ethiopia
Colombia
North Korea
Nepal
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Baluchistan, Sind
Burma (Myanmar)
Sri Lanka
Uzbekistan Fergana Valley
Peoples Republic of China
Russia –Chechnya
Iraq
Israel – Palestine
Lebanon
This list ©2006 Gregory H. Stanton, Genocide Watch
http://www.genocidewatch.org/genocidetable2006.htm

Santa's Very Personal "Screw You"

I suppose I wasn't a very good girl this year, but I'm hard pressed to think of any bad things I've done. We were supposed to get some snow on Christmas Night, except I misunderstood that to be Christmas Eve. So on Christmas Morning, I looked out of one of my front / side windows to check what the snowfall was. I saw no snow - instead, I saw raw sewage - my own (yep, turds'n'all, which is all you can really see in the grass) surrounding my sewer drain access cover. I've had slow drainage issues, which my plumber has previously declared the Fault of the Neighbor's Giant Maple Roots getting into my drain, which would have to be snaked out annually. That's on the calendar for March. Might have to be more than annually. But this being Christmas day, I wasn't going to be calling the plumber out. And I didn't want my little bodily presents out decorating the yard. So I grabbed a dozen or so Kroger bags and went out to do what any good pet owner should do when walking the dog - prepped with bags turned inside out, I went to go pick up my own crap. A humbling start to Christmas day.

You Think You Know Your Geography?

I've been around the world a time or three, and only scored a 62 on THIS test. Oy......By the way, it's World Geography Awareness week. Test your knowledge - and good luck!

Anal? Or Detail-Oriented? You Decide....

--excerpt from an email--

I'm writing to comment on the Chicken Wonton Salad with the Honey Mustard dressing. It's one of my faves here at the cafeteria, but I'd like to offer two improvements:

First, wontons are really pasta-like dumplings for soup - actually the precursors to ravioli - and what is included in the salad seems to be thinly cut strips of flour tortillas then fried. That's fine, but if the salad continues using tortillas instead of wontons then perhaps it should be renamed. Call it the chicken tortilla salad or the chicken fiesta salad, but don't deceive consumers by calling it a chicken wonton salad. Even the deep-fried American variety of wontons still reflect their Chinese heritage and are typically wrapped around a bite of meat or other filler prior to frying. Thin fried strips of crunchy stuff does not a wonton make.

Another suggestion would be to use dark greens in the salad portion of the meal - baby spinach, red leaf lettuce, etc. This is marketed as a healthy meal, but by insisting on using iceberg lettuce, you're including value-less, taste-less filler with the nutritional equivalent of cardboard. The mandarin orange slices are a nice touch!

Lastly, I'd like to comment on the breakfast burritos. You should see what people do to these when they leave the serving line. They unroll the meat, egg, and chese from the tortilla and throw the flour tortilla shell away. I can tell you why - it's too big and too thick. One suggestion is to have someone coordinate with the food services group in our offices in Texas to learn how to make breakfast tacos. For the stuffing in today's current burritos, you could use 1/2 of the wrap material, call it a breakfast taco, and increase revenue to sell 2 for $2. People buy the burritos, as I do, because they want a quick "all in one" breakfast thing that is quick and portable - like the croissant and bagel breakfast sandwiches. I'd venture most people don't like being so wasteful with their burritos. And if time and budget allow, even better to ditch the canned salsa and chop up some freshly - eliminating the tinny taste.

Thanks!!

I suppose you could make the argument either way....but I'd be interested in your opinions!