Fly the Syrian skies....

Turkey shot down a Russian plane for a seventeen second violation of its airspace while claiming the Russian plane had been warned ten times......ten times in seventeen seconds?  Something sounds weird.

Meanwhile, a Russian plane strayed into Israeli airspace and the notoriously trigger-happy Israelis politely informed the Russians about the intrusion and everything was resolved peacefully.

That might explain why there will be Russian sanctions levied on Turkey and some Turkish ship or plane will meet with an "unfortunate" accident.

This underscores the need for a united campaign against ISIS.  If the US had any sort of meaningful strategy or leadership role, these incidents probably would not have happened.  If you want something done right, please don't give it to DC.....

In other news, the NSA electronic dragnet that has been ruled unconstitutional, not to mention illegal, is supposed to end today.  I hope the Supreme Court is on the ball and makes sure that the NSA does not hand the job off to their British counterparts at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to spy on Americans.

My advice to GCHQ is to (A) mind your own business and (B) worry about the Muslim terrorists wandering around free in your own country.

BTW, you are welcome for those World War things, courtesy not of the US federal government, but the American PEOPLE.

Prayers for France

Prayers for France...

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!