Tuesday - May 22, 2007

Point Of No Return

I apologize for the paucity of posts today, gang. I’ve been at the doctor’s office all morning going over x-rays and scheduling surgery for this messed up lower back of mine. For the record, it’s bad. Real bad. L4 and L5 are compressed and twisted out of alignment. It will require a two hour surgery to “fuse” three vertebrae together with bone from my pelvis. I will be in the hospital three days afterward and then recuperating for 2-3 weeks afterward. This will happen some time in the next week or two. I’ll let you know before I leave to let the sawbones work on me. The really bad news is that, in the meantime, I have graduated from oxycontin to methadone to keep the pain down to a dull roar. This has temporarily brought my mental acuity down to the level of Michael Moore and Jimmy Carter - only one step above neural nihilism.

Anyway .... as I sat here reading Bill Whittle’s recent epic (thanks for the link, Mr. Christian) and contemplating the news from around the world which floods in here every day, I am really beginning to wonder if there is some kind of “Stoopid” epidemic afflicting mankind. I see the Senate backpedaling on the bullshit immigration bill, the candidates for an election that is eighteen months away are stabbing each other in the back, bombs are going off in Turkey, Palestinian gunmen are starting another civil war in Lebanon, Britain and Russia are going toe-to-toe over the Litvinenko radiation poisoning incident, and with hurricane season about to begin the Chicken Littles are screaming doom and gloom for the second year in a row.

Meanwhile, while you slept a few thousand more Mexicans crossed the border last night, Wal-Mart built six more stores somewhere, the trade deficit with China increased by a few billion dollars, the North Koreans and Iranians came up with seventeen more plans to prove they are barking mad and several thousand more non-Muslims were murdered in Darfur by followers of the Prophet For Profit.

Then again, you already know all this and just need a place to get together and figure out what we’re all going to do when the roof caves in - and make no mistake, the rafters are crumbling. Depressing? Sure, but what are we going to do?

We can start to fix our government eighteen months from now in the 2008 elections. The interim is going to be dicey as somebody out there decided in the last election to install a whole bunch of really crazy people in the Congress and Senate. That was not my fault, by the way - and neither was it George Bush’s fault.

As for the rest of the sitrep, we can wall ourselves off from the rest of the world and experiment with isolationism again or we can continue to muddle our way through the minefield of international relations - and that is where the problem comes in. We’re just no damn good at realpolitik. Not this administration, the whole country has never been real good at the devious games diplomats play. We haven’t been at this game long enough to understand all the rules.

All I can really tell you is (a) keep a firm grasp of right and wrong, (b) stay involved in government and watch the bastards in Washignton every minute, (c) use every legal means to make sure you can defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and (d) keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere.

Speaking of which, can someone help me come up with a logo and a motto for The Sheepdog Militia™. You know what I’m talking about ....

_{(I will try to post a little more in the coming days but it will probably be only one or two a day for a while. Hang in there. BTW, Midway USA is having a sale on .45 ACP shells - box of 50 for $30. Tell ‘em Skipper sent ya.)}

Posted by The Skipper     on 05/22/2007 at 03:17 PM   
Filed Under: • International • Personal • Politics • Stoopid-People •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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