(no subject)
After 4 long months of extended contract-employee status, as of last week I am officially a full-time employee. Bring on the benefits, business cards, and having to fill out only one timesheet each week. It's been a long time coming, but I finally got there.
I was disappointed with my performance at the Cha-Ching 'n Zing disc golf tournament two weekends ago. Granted, I took home 9th out of 27 players in my division, but I compared my scores to those at this same tournament 3 years ago. They were worse, by about 3 shots. That's depressing. I've worked very hard lately and hope that the next tournament this weekend will be more successful.
In other news, here's my latest political rant on the Iraq War. Enjoy:
Note - this rant was written in response to the follow link:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/04/hypocrisy_has_a_human_price_on.html
The stories coming out of Baghdad on a local level have been quite moving, I'll grant you. Our soldiers have been hard at work over there for 4 years. I have a friend in Afghanistan putting his civil engineering and architectural degrees to use. And yes, on a local level, my friend and our troops in general are having a significant impact. That of course isn't the problem.
The problem is the lack of leadership, political foresight, and diplomacy on a national and international level. The Bush Administration has not gotten the Iraqis to stand on their own. They orchestrated the destruction of the former regime, and in turn they are responsible for putting it back together.
From the latest report, they've done an atrocious job doing it.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/12/news/14web-prexy.php
4 years later the Iraqis can't run their own national security. 4 years later and the government exists in name only. 4 years later we still have Shia, Kurds, and Sunnis killing each other, that is when they're not killing us. 4 years later... Al Qaida is evidently back on the rise.
Yes, I understand why we need to stay. We need to stay to help nurse the fragile Iraqi government to health. We have to protect the Iraqi citizens so they can resume some semblance of normality in their lives. We have to stay because, damnit, we are responsible for fixing what has been broken. This is all well and good, but....
Someone please tell me what we're DOING to make some actual PROGRESS. 4 years isn't long enough to at least have a semi-functional government? 4 years isn't long enough to have an Iraqi led security force to monitor Baghdad? 4 years... and Al Qaida isn't any weaker... it's STRONGER.
All this, and we've degraded ourselves in the international community. We've seen our British allies fall by the wayside. The US is now more vulnerable to attack than ever before. Why? Because we've sat in a foreign nation for 4 years, and the some people just seem to take offense to this.
I support the US troops. I believe they are doing an exceptional, downright admirable job. But those efforts are for nothing unless the Administration, the one that ordered them there, pulls the strings to get progress going at the national/international levels. Without it, the troops are nothing more than sitting ducks for ongoing terrorism. I support our troops... enough so that if they're hard work is being abused... I will demand that they be brought home.
Mr. President, you are NOT waiting on the troops to finish the job. They are waiting YOU. Put them in a position to win, or get them the fuck out.
I was disappointed with my performance at the Cha-Ching 'n Zing disc golf tournament two weekends ago. Granted, I took home 9th out of 27 players in my division, but I compared my scores to those at this same tournament 3 years ago. They were worse, by about 3 shots. That's depressing. I've worked very hard lately and hope that the next tournament this weekend will be more successful.
In other news, here's my latest political rant on the Iraq War. Enjoy:
Note - this rant was written in response to the follow link:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/04/hypocrisy_has_a_human_price_on.html
The stories coming out of Baghdad on a local level have been quite moving, I'll grant you. Our soldiers have been hard at work over there for 4 years. I have a friend in Afghanistan putting his civil engineering and architectural degrees to use. And yes, on a local level, my friend and our troops in general are having a significant impact. That of course isn't the problem.
The problem is the lack of leadership, political foresight, and diplomacy on a national and international level. The Bush Administration has not gotten the Iraqis to stand on their own. They orchestrated the destruction of the former regime, and in turn they are responsible for putting it back together.
From the latest report, they've done an atrocious job doing it.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/12/news/14web-prexy.php
4 years later the Iraqis can't run their own national security. 4 years later and the government exists in name only. 4 years later we still have Shia, Kurds, and Sunnis killing each other, that is when they're not killing us. 4 years later... Al Qaida is evidently back on the rise.
Yes, I understand why we need to stay. We need to stay to help nurse the fragile Iraqi government to health. We have to protect the Iraqi citizens so they can resume some semblance of normality in their lives. We have to stay because, damnit, we are responsible for fixing what has been broken. This is all well and good, but....
Someone please tell me what we're DOING to make some actual PROGRESS. 4 years isn't long enough to at least have a semi-functional government? 4 years isn't long enough to have an Iraqi led security force to monitor Baghdad? 4 years... and Al Qaida isn't any weaker... it's STRONGER.
All this, and we've degraded ourselves in the international community. We've seen our British allies fall by the wayside. The US is now more vulnerable to attack than ever before. Why? Because we've sat in a foreign nation for 4 years, and the some people just seem to take offense to this.
I support the US troops. I believe they are doing an exceptional, downright admirable job. But those efforts are for nothing unless the Administration, the one that ordered them there, pulls the strings to get progress going at the national/international levels. Without it, the troops are nothing more than sitting ducks for ongoing terrorism. I support our troops... enough so that if they're hard work is being abused... I will demand that they be brought home.
Mr. President, you are NOT waiting on the troops to finish the job. They are waiting YOU. Put them in a position to win, or get them the fuck out.