Another day

Another day

Lazing around the house today, at least until we get up and go to church to do stuff. All of this weekend seems to be mildly busy, but not ridiculously so. Unless, of course, we account for Labor Day. Really, who came up with the idea for a holiday that celebrates working? Except for the former communist states that did most of their celebrating on May 1, I can’t think of any other nation that would dedicate a day of relaxation to a year’s worth of work.

Everything’s been going pretty well the past couple of days. Not perfect, mind you, but pretty well all the same. I have been restarting an old novel idea that I came up with about 4 years ago, so of course I won’t tell you what it’s about just yet. Suffice to say that it’s a warped world loosely based on our original (that sounds like most sequels…).

Perhaps I’m just being foreboding, but something big is going to happen soon in our lives. Right now, not much is going on besides “the usual” — church, work, home, but I think I have a reason for feeling this way. Every time I read news headlines, there’s chaos in this world. Going past the subject of Iraq, you have North Korea and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Not to be left out, Pakistan and India both have nuclear capabilities as well. All around this world, the potential for violence has increased dramatically, or at least my sense of being afraid of it has.

Nothing has happened yet, and that’s still a good thing. Tomorrow, of course, is another day, so we’ll just wait and see.

A change in stance, sort of.

A change in stance, sort of.

After reading this article, I’ve modified my feelings about the war in Iraq.

I now believe that going into Iraq was a “good thing to do”. Hussein’s regime is a bunch of murderers.

Unfortunately, I also still believe that the U.S. is being somewhat one-sided about things. Since we’ve invaded Iraq, we should also attack all sorts of other brutal dictatorships in all parts of the world. Where, except for the few in Liberia, are our troops in most of war-torn Africa? Nowhere, but then again, our safety isn’t really threatened, is it?

There is a connection between safety and trade of goods. We trade with China, a very brutal regime (think back to Tianamen Square), but they’re not likely to attack us. It’s easy to pronounce that military actions are motivated by profit or resource potential because one principle of military action is to either debilitate the enemy’s ability to use his resources or simply to take them over. Regardless of whatever noble motivations our actions might have, that principle is still there.

Maybe I’m just bitter because the U.S. is still fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, with more and more people dying on both sides of the battle.

Okay, I’ve rambled.

They call me Kevin, Kevin, Kevin…

Something non-war related

1. Thursday marks 10 years of marriage for Laureen and me.

2. I’m still ridiculously in love with her.

3. I have no clue why she puts up with some of the stupid things I do (no, I won’t elaborate on that).

We went and saw Blue Man Group at Nextstage last night. That was a great show. Battling LED signs, embarrassed audience members, a camera peering into a guy’s mouth (thank God he’d brushed his teeth). The only major disappointment was the vapidity of the second act. They were a group called venushum. It was two guys and a female singer. The gentleman on the left had two keyboards in front of him. One of them was the bass “let’s see if we can make the walls shake” setting. He used it. A lot. The guy on the right (introduced as “Tony Miracle”) had two keyboards, a Mac powerbook that seemed to be running all of the actual music, and a guitar that he cradled in his arms like a newborn baby while he was playing it. The lead singer’s voice could be best described as “I haven’t quite gotten out of the teenage angst mode of wailing words when actual lyrics might have made a better impact.”

Techno music. Slow techno music, not fast enough to exercise to, not slow enough to be decently danceable. Lots of wailing. WOOOOOAAAAOAOAOOAAOAOAOOAAOAOAA. That type of thing.

The lead singer’s movements consisted of sort-of-dancing. She looked pretty much out of place. They had pretty pictures of a hummingbird on the screen.

BMG were incredible. If you get to see Complex, go and see it. You will not be disappointed. Visit Exhibit 13 before you go.

Rock movement #43943: The fawning praise on blogs around the world.

A few sites to keep momentum going:

Ralph Nader gets revenge for the pie in the face
Last words from plane crashes. Train-wreck fascination. I couldn’t help but read some of the transcripts.

Have a good day, eh?

The concept of a just war

The concept of a just war

A lot of what Chris talks about two or three articles down discusses the fact that America had a higher purpose in invading Iraq, that of saving the Iraqi people from the slaughter of the Baath party. While such a slaughter has occurred, the policy, at least to me, remains troubling on moral grounds and the precedent it sets.

Take a look here and follow some of the links at the bottom. They go through the argument of the just war pretty well, decidedly better than I can do.

Is war the right thing to do?

Is war the right thing to do?

An interesting blog

I think one of the fundamental problems with all of the conflict in the middle east and Afghanistan is the idea that there will eventually be peace in an area because of it. Israel’s continuing fight with its neighbors ever since its inception is proof of that. Further evidence of this is the continuing war in Iraq (I’m sorry, but when Americans die due to the presence of foreign nationals with munitions, the war isn’t over. It’s just taken on a new form), with factions reported in the news as “loyalists to Saddam” but much more likely just anti-American for all the influence we’ve tried to spread in the middle east continuing to wage battles against troops. In Afghanistan, a western province’s regional governmental head has reverted to Taliban-style controls over his area, shutting down cafes where young boys were playing video games because they were a bad moral influence (okay, I can kinda see that one, but what comes next?).

Fighting a war because it is the right thing to do cannot ensure that other people will see it the same way. If so, the U.S. should be intervening in Liberia more than we are. We should investigate and openly criticize the Saudi royal family’s ties to al-Qaeda. We should go into Pakistan and take on the terrorists harbored there. We should work harder in Malaysia and Indonesia, too.

Morality is a good thing. Selective morality isn’t.