To sum it all up�
yes. That is my answer.
By the way, props go out to my few faithful readers. They diligently plow through my inane ramblings to dig out the few interesting comments I accidentaly include with each rant I release.
What was the question? Well I can�t really remember, where this all started out is almost as muddled and confusing as the reasons for the U.S. being in Iraq. I understand that it�s because he has weapons of mass destruction and has supported terrorism, yet there seems to be something missing there. Other nations have weapons of mass destruction that pose a very real threat to their neighbors. North Korea is the much spoken of example that comes to mind. There are plenty of other middle eastern countries that pose a threat to peace. In fact almost all of them.
The problem I see is that the american people have this vague notion that we are taking down an oppressive regime and freeing the Iraqi people. Unfortunately these are people that we know little or nothing about. We arent familiar with their culture, their customs, or their religion. All in all the events in Iraq don�t seem real to most of us in America.
I mostly trust the current administration and our legislative bodies to make the decisions that are best for our country. Unfortunately this means we have to sit back and watch our forces roll across a country and fight a war live on television for a cause that isn�t terribly inspirational. I garuntee you that the media presence in this war will be a mistake. Military forces have to do ugly things in order to win wars. These are things that the american public as a whole will not want to see.
The most I can hope for is that the vast majority of Iraqi citizens will live easier lives after this war is over, and that the U.S. will have cheaper and easier access to Oil supplies and a more powerful presence in the middle east to defend our interests in the region.
This business of maintaining a nation and an empire is tricky. We can�t make everyone in the world happy, but then again, we don�t have to either. I know it sounds arrogant, but history is full of examples of nations rising to power and spreading their ideals around, with force if neccesary. In time every nation falls back into obscurity and the cycle keeps on going. Wars for resources and territory like this is simply the way things are.
My only comfort in this rather cynical view of current events is that our technology has made it possible to severely limit the number of civilian casualties that are inflicted through the course of this war. Remember that during World War 2 the allies effectively obliterated the many German cities such as Hamburg. The american people didn�t heard about it and didn�t care because we were commited to what we thought of as a noble cause. And the U.S. is responsible for one of the most horrific acts of terrorism perpetrated in recent memory: Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. War is war, wether it�s declared or not. Deal with it.
Maybe I was able to communicate my opinion on this matter. If you gained some understanding of my view point then I commend you for you astute attention to the random words and phrases that pour from my mind.
Posted by
sirtimbly on 03/24/2003 at 08:03 PM
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Make war, not love
I am updating this entry from my iPAQ. One wireless network card makes a world of difference. No one is safe now, I can browse the web from anywhere in this building or the Student union. the lines between the real world and the wired are dissapearing. I now return to my regularly scheduled rant. �
There is apparently a group of students on my campus who are opposed to a war in Iraq. This in itself is not that surprising, but the interesting thing is that my college is in the middle of Nebraska, an overwhelmingly conservative Republican state. Most of my political opinions fall somewhere between conservative and libertarian, I think. This group held an anti-war protest rally today. All 90 of them had a short march around campus, and mostly everybody resisted the urge to yell insults at them as they went by. Their turnout wasn�t all that bad considering this is a campus of 6,000 students. One thing that I found funny was that the name they decided to put for themselves on the flyers was �Students 4 Peace�. I find it a little funny that they are too lazy to do anything constructive to further their cause, and they are to lazy to spell out the word �for�. I guess it isn�t really that funny, but I am easily amused.
Right after I observed the protesters, I felt like renting a movie, preferably something to do with guns and war and lots of patriotic cheesiness. So I got Red Dawn. 
This movie is great. �WOLVERINES!!!� Every child who grew up in the country and had some exposure to guns probably had dreams of fighting off Commie invaders. Perhaps I will start a rag tag band of geurilla warriors to fight those darn hippies.
Seriously though, I really like that movie, maybe I�m just a GOB. So I think I will hang out and watch The Professional next. Right after I browse around my favorite web-comic sites. I swear web-comics are addictive, and there is no end to them.
Posted by
sirtimbly on 03/12/2003 at 11:03 PM
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zZzZz�
The term energetic may never be applied to me again. I have been really busy lately. Last night I spent like 6 hours on a video project and was unable to capture video from a DVD player with my video capture card(just so you know this was for completely non-profit, no piracy purposes). I wondered if there was some sort of weird copy protection scheme that prevented me from doing this. So I tried to record it to a VHS tape and then capture from the VHS tape into my PC. I couldn’t seem to get a decent record onto a tape from the DVD player either. I don�t understand this, I didn�t think it was really fair for the MPAA to prevent people from making VHS dubs of their own DVDs. Assuming that there was no way short of downloading and trying to get some DVD ripping software to work, I decided to have a friend run out and rent the VHS copy so we could capture this little 1 minute scene to work into this video project. Either my video drivers are really messed up on my box, or there is some sort of weird magnetic field surrounding my new room. Either way I will probably reformat and reinstall windows at some point just because it is easier than going in to fix things manually.
The point is that I spent several hours working on a video project, which I had fun doing despite the problems. And now I have a number of assignments piling up on me at the end of the week here. And there are still 11 items on my to-do list. What fun�
It�s kinda funny how you start to recognize the symptoms of addiction. I am speaking of my own addiction to Mountain Dew. I woke up this morning a little late and didn�t have time to grab a dew before I left for my first class. I didn’t have any Dew at lunch this� umm� morning I guess. So I sat down in my Lit class after lunch and promptly fell asleep leaning against the back wall. When class was dismissed I woke up and went to get a Dew at the union convenience store, after that first swig I immediately felt better. I really am just about useless without my caffeine in the morning.
Enough of this business, I need to get back to reformatting some annoying staff person�s computer. Work, work, work.
Posted by
sirtimbly on 03/06/2003 at 06:03 PM
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Physical Presence Translocation
I moved physically on umm� friday I guess it was. I joined Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity on my campus and moved to the house. This is going to be pretty fun. I wonder if they realize I am a ginormous Geek. When I am feeling more energetic I may post some pictures of my new spacious room. It�s weird though, I never realized just how much junk I have. I have somehow acquired a great deal of crap within the last semester that I have been away from home. Well, the clock in the corner is telling me I should go to bed. I think I will obey it. Check out the cam to see who is the latest person to fall asleep in my recliner in an embarrasing position.
Posted by
sirtimbly on 03/02/2003 at 05:03 AM
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