Friday morning and all was well. The Old Bastards met for the monthly breakfast. One of the members who is a died-in-wool Democrat and proud of it showed up. There are only about a half-dozen of us who are of the "Democratic persuasion". There were some pointed remarks that everyone expected Jesse to show up to make some comments about the election results.
Jesse does not hide his beliefs and is quick to take the Republicants to task. We are all concerned about his health, but know that he speaks from the heart when he gives his opinion.
There was some agreement that the prognosis for removing troops from Iraq will be a long drawn-out affair. It won't be easy due to the unrest.
As usual, when you have a crowd (26), there will be many small conversations. In our group there was some discussion about the similarities in the blindness of the high leadership to the views of the combatants in Vietnam and Iraq. In Vietnam the American leadership thought a high body count would stop the war. On the North Vietnamese side their leadership thought that taking out our sophisticated equipment would stop the war. Both sides were wrong. The North Vietnamese had enough bodies to continue the war indefinitely. And the American leadership had the equipment to continue the war. Had each side discovered the opposite point of view the outcome would most likely been much different.
We realize that there seems to be a very real parallel to the situation in the Middle East. It is a positive thing to give your life for your way of life if you are the "terrorists" from the Middle East. Granted these folks who believe this are Muslim extremists who do have a unique view of the world. Theirs is one of a male dominated society wherein women have no voice. A woman's place is to serve the man. (I am willing to be corrected in this view if necessary.) Women are not even second-class citizens, they are chattel.
Interestingly enough at the end of our breakfast meeting when discussions were winding down, we "liberals" and those "conservatives" agreed that our political/military leadership continues to deal with symptoms, i.e., the "terrorists". We should be dealing with causes. Could it be that easy. In the considered opinion of a number of retired military folks, yes, it could be that easy.
Granted we do have some very heated discussions. We don't always agree with each other. We do respect each other. We recognize that when push comes to shove, we can rely on each other.
Is this country great, or what? Some of you will say or what and I might just agree with you.
#22
6 comments:
Do you all at least agree on a breakfast menu Jack?
Absolutely. It is always the same.
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Sausage patties
Potatos
Biscuits and sausage gravy
Waffles
No fruit other than orange juice.
And, of course, coffee.
We take what we want. Most guys take some of everything.
As for me, I like the eggs, sausage patty and biscuits and gravy.
It is also an honor to serve those among our crew who are not as mobile as they once were.
We may not always agree, but we do like spending time together.
Thanks for asking.
what then are the causes?
i have rather quickly come down from my day-after-the-electin high (maybe has something to do with having been incarcerated for a bit....)
flap.flap. thud.
bird, I believe some of the causes are the same for most of the world--poverty, lack of education, male domination, organized religion, greed, just to name a few.
They should be enough to us busy for a while.
I do look forward to the coming year. Too bad the 2008 presidential election will interfere with getting much meaningful stuff done.
Had I known you were incarcerated I might have made an effort to bring a cake.
yes, a cake would have been helpful.what flavor would the file have been?
you can still make one...
let us eat cake!
yes, it *IS* a great country and even became greater last Tuesday! :+)
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