Second Acts

She comes in colors - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today’s blog entry will be a pastiche of things -- also maybe just some catching up. Yesterday, sun-baked Dallas had a merciful light rain and the temperature dropped down to 83 degrees. We’ve been having a furnace-hot September, the hottest on record. My lawn has dead patches and my new landscape is sweltering .. I may have to spring for a new sprinkler system in the next year. The whole city was alive with bustling sidewalk cafes and action-packed parks -- cool weather brings Dallasites outdoors.

I walked with my friend Joe along the Katie Trail into downtown Dallas. We walked through Kyle Warren Park and I must say I was impressed. It offered live jazz music, food trucks, dancing water fountains and a children’s park to the hundreds of people there. We walked further into Dallas’ downtown which is greatly improved since my last visit (probably 10 years ago). Downtown Dallas still lacks the entertainment element -- friendly bars and sidewalk cafes, which humanize Fort Worth and Austin. We may get there; Kyle Warren Park is certainly a first step.

Alas, on our way back I was trusting Joe’s sense of direction. We ended up dodging cars on Harry Hines Boulevard! We took a wrong turn near AA Center which caused us to do a tour of Uptown on foot. We finally asked for directions and got our bearings. Two guys in their 50’s don’t need to be playing Frogger cross a 6-lane expressway.

IN THE NEWS

I’m glad that we at least temporarily avoided a war in Syria. I don’t care about a “line in the sand” -- the American lives that would be lost in a needless war are far more important than diplomatic props. Here domestically, I’m dismayed that the House GOP, led by Ted Cruz, is threatening to shut down government funding over Obamacare. Note that Republicans are being visually branded with this -- they were gloating triumphantly on the front of today’s paper. None other than Karl Rove pointed out that this could turn independent voters against the GOP in 2014 and 2016.

IPHONE 5C AND 5S

I looked at the write-up of the new iPhones (5S and 5C) just released this week. I have to say, “that’s nice..” in a voice that trails off into narcoleptic boredom. The phones have some pretty new colors, a faster processor and a controversial thumb-scan security mechanism. None of this is game-changing or earth-shaking. Come on Jonathan Ive -- I want a floating TV image or something exciting. You can’t help but wonder if Jobs were alive, would we have had another Steve-quake by now. He turned the entire music, entertainment and publishing business on its head in half a decade so that’s probably a hard act to follow.

NON-CONCLUSION

I’ve run out of things to talk about. I watched an excellent indie movie today, Disconnect with Jason Bateman. It interweaved 3 plots that showed how actions that are variously cruel or thoughtless can create a terrible karma. It was “free” on Netflix and well worth the price of admission.

Starbucks has the a/c on full blast and I can see my breath in here. Must be 48 degrees.. Before I catch cold, I better pack it up here and leave.

© 2013 blogSpotter

Just Say No to Syria

13th Century Mongols at War - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
NOT ONLY NO, HELL NO

I’m in the very unusual position of being in direct opposition to John Kerry and President Obama’s hawkish stance on Syria. I’m also in the strange company of Rand Paul.. He wrote a position paper last week; I could’ve written parts of it myself. We have differences -- I think Paul might actually support a “boots-on-the-ground” occupation and that would be unthinkable to me. Rand Paul and I are in total agreement that a limited strike would serve no useful purpose and it would draw us into a quicksand pit.

Did we learn nothing from Iraq or Egypt? After 10 years, Iraq is having sectarian violence everywhere -- hundreds of deaths reported recently. In Egypt, the democratically elected Morsi tried to turn his country into a 12th century Muslim caliphate.. how’s that for unexpected returns from your “Arab Spring”? Furthermore, limited military involvement is like being a little bit pregnant; you’re in or you’re not. If you’re in, it has to be balls to the wall.

Obama is distraught over the use of chemical weapons in Syria (a fact which hasn’t been convincingly established by the way). To make chemical warfare the worst example of egregious warfare is arbitrary. When we toppled Saddam Hussein, we implicitly put wind in the sails of the militant Shiites, Saddam’s most organized enemies. Their behavior was horrific -- at one point they were using an electric drill to drill holes in the heads of their still-living captives.

SEPARATION OF MOSQUE AND STATE?

The Middle East has no concept of religious freedom, or even true democracy. The choices you have will be between the 7th and 9th circles of Hell in any Middle Eastern country. The people on either side are strident, cruel and nasty. They’re blindly devoted to primitive religious writ and cannot be reached with reason. Not one American life should be sacrificed over these terminally lost people. Really, not even any American equipment or capital should be wasted on this.

To term our role as “world police” is both hypocritical and ridiculous. Our main concern in that part of the world has ever and always been about oil and military access via air space or water. Some might add the entrenchment of Israel to that list, but Israel isn’t compelling its primitive neighbors into self-destructive craziness. They do not figure prominently in this equation.

In America, a dim view is held about organized crime. If La Famiglia shoots itself up we deplore the violence but we are relieved that they mostly direct it toward each other. That's how we need to look at the Middle East. If Baathists and jihadists must tear into each other, so be it. Ready, aim, fire -- just keep it to yourselves.

CAUTIONARY ADDENDUM

The West embraces religious freedom, but we should stay vigilant about religions who seek to replace western law with Sharia, or encourage terrorism to advance their causes. The scourge over there should remain over there, and gain no admittance over here.

© 2013 blogSpotter