Sacre Boom!

All I have for today are some brief musings about Libya. I'm also open to any other opinions, as I seem to have run rather low on give-a-damn these days.

I was at Starbucks this past weekend and I heard people talking about the U.S. joining in to help establish a no-fly zone in Libya. I was shocked (for reals this time) and all I wanted to do was to point out to these people that we are already involved in two other wars that no one ever talks about! They were acting as if our military's presence is not already being felt in two Muslim sand lands and has been for the past ten years. But no, I just let them talk. I think I was too stunned to even pipe up, anyway.

Speaking of the no-fly zone, why are we participating in the bombing of things? There have been buildings bombed and trucks bombed and all sort of stuff bombed. Last time I checked, none of those things flew. How is this a no-fly zone and not just a bunch of planes and subs bombing stuff? Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily against it (though I don't think that I can necessarily be for it), I'm just pointing out that those things don't fly.

I'm tired of the U.S. being the world's policeman. There is absolutely no reason for us to be involved in the Libya thing. The U.S. has no vested interest in Libya one way or the other. I'd also like to know who is in charge of picking and choosing which atrocities we get involved in. OK, so the Libyan forces were killing the rebels. (Are we all really so surprised that Gaddafi isn't going quietly into the sand dunes like Mubarak did over yonder in Egypt? I'm more surprised that Mubarak didn't do the same thing that Gaddafi is doing.) There is constant rape going on in the Congo. Or is it just Congo? Whatever it is, it's very rape-y over there. That's not important to stop? What about Kim Jung Il? He's a lunatic in platform shoes and ladies eyewear and likely has nuclear weaponry. Why don't we take him out while we're at it? No, instead we're all focused on Libya for some reason.

I know this is very surface stuff here. Some might even call it trite. Hell, I might call it trite. But I just cannot stomach the thought of the U.S. being the face of aggression in another Muslim dominant sand land and for who knows for how long?! Don't even get me started on what this is going to end up costing us. I can't even stomach adding a couple of pictures to this. I'm just so done with this country putting our soldiers in harms way for no reason. I think I'm also done talking about this unless something overly asinine develops. I'm open to any other opinions, by the way. Feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Last week Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson claimed that were the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (at left, Riverfront Times) still alive, Rev. Dr. King would have supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Without hesitation a wide array of people across the internet decried this evidently nonsensical assertion, and cited many examples, from throughout his life and career, of his anti-war and anti-violence stances.

But why not go directly to Rev. Dr. King's words themselves? Here is one of his most important speeches, delivered on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City, a year before his assassination, on the Vietnam War.  Rev. Dr. King had spoken many times at Riverside, often memorably, but this speech was a landmark for many reasons.  I sincerely hope the President and others who honor Rev. Dr. King's memory take note of this profound speech, among the bravest and most important he ever delivered.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Speech at Riverside Church (with audio)

A snippet from the speech's end:

Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message -- of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.

As that noble bard of yesterday, James Russell Lowell, eloquently stated:

Once to every man and nation comes a moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God’s new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever ‘twixt that darkness and that light.
Though the cause of evil prosper, yet ‘tis truth alone is strong
Though her portions be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

And if we will only make the right choice, we will be able to transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace. If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over America and all over the world, when "justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."