Why not welcome Russia to ISIS hunt?

The whole Syrian thing confuses everyone.

ISIS has ripped off the back half of Syria and the northern half of Iraq.  The US is bombing ISIS to hold Iraq together, but at the same time wants to remove Assad from power in Syria.  If you are confused, take comfort that so is everyone else.

Why does the US want to remove Bashir Assad from Syria?  You can all ready see the anarchy that has broken loose with him there.  If Libya is any guide--and Iraq--if you remove the government, then everything turns into "Road Warrior Country"

Assad is not a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination, but at least we know who he is.  Who does the US want to succeed him?  Our record with Arab Spring is not that great.  Taking out Khadaffy lead to Libya's disintegration, removing Mubarak in Egypt lead to a Muslim Brotherhood takeover, followed by a coup by the Egyptian military.

If you thought Libya and Iraq were bad, Syria's five sided civil war would be completely off the rails.

Why not welcome Russia aboard the ISIS hunt?  That would help US-Russian relations and even US-Iranian ties too since they are mixed up in this, but at least they are shooting at the people we don't like.  Even IRAQ is helping the Iranians and Syrians.  If we help keep Assad in Damascus, he might even be grateful...possibly.

Russia, Iran and Iraq is not going to let him fall.  If Assad survives, he will remember who helped and who did not.  Even the Israelis--who have little love for Syria--pragmatically recognize this and have coordinated with the Russians to avoid any accidents.  They would rather have Assad in power in Damascus rather than lunatics from ISIS trying to storm the Golan Heights.

Look ahead for once, DC!

October 21, 2015

Thirty years ago, the film "Back to the Future" debuted in theaters.  I did not see it until 1987....

Nonetheless, the real year 2015 looks more like 1985 rather than 2015 in the movie.  This is not the first time I have seen something like this.  Take the  movie "2010". There, we saw a US-Soviet mission to Jupiter.  We have not been past the Moon since 1972 and there is no USSR anymore.  We are heading for another Cold War, so maybe there is a little accuracy there...

Back in the 70s, there was something called "Space 1999" about a manned Moonbase.  Now, we don't even have a shuttle program.  Now we have to depend on the Russians to get us to space.

The point is our government wants to be involved in everything and it just does not get much right. Maybe it is time for all of us to get thirty years of taxes back.

Don't see it happening :-)

On the other hand, our technology has made the world more interconnected and we have access to things such as the Internet and cell phones that was just beginning in the 80s.  So, we are making progress.

It just is not as fast as we want.  Civilization is not always an constant rise.  There will be dips and valleys.  Say what you want about 1985-2015....the worst of it is certainly not like 700 AD!

Let's not complain too much.....

...just enough to keep everyone on their toes!

Visting from Pittsburgh!

Over the weekend, my cousins from Pittsburgh came south to visit...of course they picked to arrive in the middle of a quasi-hurricane and at a time when we haven't seen the sun in a couple of weeks.  They could have gotten that in Pittsburgh!

It is always amazing to see people who knew you as a kid.  Sometimes I wonder if they realize I am adult  (chronologically anyway!), but on the other hand, I still like dinosaurs.  And I still am a fanatical Steeler nut.

So are they :-)

They finally got to meet Michelle and they love her and may have attempted to kidnap her so they could bring her back to Pittsburgh.  I, of course, would have followed.

The question is whether we would have ever come back!

Back when I was an ugly, little kid, the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team was a World Series contender.  Since then, they have been cellar dwellers.  Now, predictably enough, they have made the playoffs for three straight years (cue Jesus Jones, "Waking Up From History"...)

Now they need to start winning!

And now hockey season kicks off today!

Go Penguins! Go Pirates! Go Steelers! Go Pittsburgh!

Our Anniversary!

I LOVE YOU, MICHELLE!

Looking back at 1861-1865..

When I read or see something about the Civil War, I often hear the phrase, "brother vs brother" in some form or other.  I can understand that since it was a war between two parts of the same country, hence, "civil war."

I look at the worst war in American history and the more I think about it, the more I really do think it was a war between two separate nations.  They had different social structures and economies and even dealt with France and Britain in different ways.  Toss in climate and geography and you start to wonder how the Northern and Southern colonies ended up in the same country in 1776 in the first place. Don't forget that back in 1776, nearly 1/3 of Southerners remained loyal to Britain and the Revolution began in Massachusetts.

The Northern states became industrialized and the Southern ones took an agricultural path.  Of course, the South had cotton, but Northern looms in New England made a lot of money off cotton coming from Dixie.  The South had slaves,but the North had no problem exploiting immigrants from Eastern and Mediterranean Europe.  Britain was a competitor for Northern factories while London was the major market for the Confederacy.

It is kind of a "more different they are, the more they are alike" sort of observation. 

I am not even sure if the war was inevitable.  Before a couple of idiots from the Citadel opened fire on Fort Sumter, the prevailing opinion in the North was "good bye and good riddance." If the South wanted to leave, then let them.  But when they opened fire on the US flag, that changed everything.

I have heard many Confederate die-hards tell me that they honestly thought the CSA would re-integrate into the USA within twenty years after succession.  I am not sure, but if they CSA had left the Union peacefully, the odds of that happening increase.  A peaceful succession would have probably turned the Mason-Dixon line into another version of the US-Canadian border.

In the end, I would have fought to keep the Union together.  I think that despite the bloodshed, Lincoln made the right call.  If anyone wants to keep fighting the Civil War, do it on a football field.

Believe me, people would watch!

Play it at Gettysburg!

Europe's 9/11?

 Ironic that this post comes from a guy whose parents are legal immigrants to a country with an illegal immigrant population of over 12 million.....

There is going to be a civil war in Europe.  I am not sure where exactly (France, Germany, or Britain are leader on the odds board...) but it will happen in twenty years.  Out of nowhere it seems, nearly a million refugees (?) from Syria (?) are fleeing that countries civil war.  Turkey and Lebanon have absorbed as many as they can and now they are trying to get into Greece on their way further west.  The German government--against the wishes of its people--wants to take in 800,000 (!) people.  Macedonia, Hungary, Croatia, won't let any of these "immigrants" stay and there seems to be problems all ready building up.

Only 15% seem to be from Syria.  We don't know who these people are and what diseases they have or even what their intentions are.  Letting them in wholesale is suicidal and is going to start a war.  Look at Marseilles and what that has turned into.  London is another growing disaster.

Austria as at least woken up and won't let in any train traffic in from Hungary.  How is Greece supposed to take in 150,000 people when it can't pay its own bills?  It looks to me that Croatia and Hungary have the right idea.

Legal immigration is a good thing.  This mass exodus/invasion is not.

What happens next is hard to say, but it won't be good. The idiot governments will screw it up.  You can take care of people and not turn it into the Dark Ages all over again.

We don't owe you squat...US Emabassy in Cuba reopens

It was inevitable that the US and Cuba would reestablish diplomatic relations.  I would have preferred to wait for Castro to kick off, but he did step down back in 2006, so just as well.  There was some talk of re-establishing relations back then, but that had to wait until 2015. 

Neither country is buddy-buddy but no one expected that either.

The US broke diplomatic relations back in 1961 when Cuba became a Soviet ally.  A Soviet ally 90 miles from Miami who a year later tried to have Russian nukes stationed there and nearly start World War III.  Cuba also tried to export Communist revolutions in Latin America--coming close in Nicaragua and El Salvador as well as Soviet requested interventions in Ethiopia and Angola.  Generally Castro like to stir up mischief all over the place.

The US has leased Guantanamo Bay since 1898.  Castro demanded it back in 1961, but we kept sending him rent checks which he never cashed.  In 1997, the ninty-nine year lease was up, but no one said anything, so there we are---still.

Back in 1961, the United States put Cuba under an economic embargo.  It was largely symbolic since the only export they had was sugar.  Furthermore, most of Latin America ignored it.  Still, it was good propaganda for Cuba who blamed the nation's poverty on the embargo. With the embargo lifted, that poverty will still be there.....hmmm...Well, that is brother Raul's problem.

Castro penned an essay demanding that the US pay milllions in debt that seem to exist only in his mind.

You are not getting squat.

Enjoy the new embassy. :-)