If only I could reach through my radio...

and smack Sean Hannity in the face. Ann Coulter sent out an email the other day saying the it was the Democrats fault that we were failing in the Iraq war. Similarly, President Ford's hands were tied when South Vietnam asked for our help. Even though we had given them our word, the Dem's wouldn't allow the US to help. We didn't keep our promise and the rest of the world knew it. That does indeed suck, and was it the Dem's fault? Yes, and everyone else who was tired of seeing their sons and neighbors killed in a senseless war.

Last week, I heard Neal Bortz say that the reason we were losing Iraq was because our country was divided over the issue. When a caller brought to his attention the fact that we all agreed to find Osama Bin Laden and try to destroy Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but we still haven't "won" there either. But Boortz was ticked that the caller had claimed to disagree with him about Iraq and then brought up Afghanistan. Personally, I think the caller made his point. I don't know how these folks sleep at night.

So, back to smacking Sean Hannity. His claim was the same as Ann Coulter's--it's the Democrats who want the US to fail in Iraq. They like to fail on purpose is the claim. So, Sean, what exactly would failure look like? What would success look like? Well, you probably can't answer either of those questions because no one has actually planned for either. So, in essence, I would say that "we" have planned to fail, because we failed to plan--period. It does sound stupid, but we all know that it's true so quit blaming the Democrats. In an interview with one Iraqi, it was said that the insurgency will continue to grow if the US doesn't leave. That doesn't sound as if it's a war on terror, it sounds like there are a bunch of folks in Iraq who are tired of the fighting and don't want us there anymore. Can anyone prove me wrong? (9/11 is not an acceptable answer.)

Then, I'm not understanding how folks can claim that "we were lied to and went into war under false pretenses". Hello, did you not watch Colin Powell on the tv when he was claiming that they believed there were WMD in Iraq? Did you seriously believe him? And did you miss the part where no one, NO ONE in the U.N. would form a coalition with us except for Britain? Granted, Britain is not like Luxembourg, but that was it. Don't act as though you didn't know that you were being lied to. It was blatently obvious why we were getting into this war from Day 1. I didn't agree with it, but didn't bash anyone once we were there. I was always taught to respect the commander-in-cheif even if I didn't agree with their policies. Okay, but here we are years later and no end is in site. They said there would be an end, but that was the day after the election. Then they postponed the State of the Union to tell us that they wouldn't be pulling out troops and then there was a bomb that went off at our Embassy in Greece. Oh, how convenient was that? The boogey man is out there. We've been telling you he's out there and see what he did? He bombed something else--that could have been in your town. Let's send more troops and spend more money to fight the invisible target.

If I sound crass, it's because I feel like I've taken crazy pills or something. Am I seriously the only person in the world who sees this? I know there's that crazy guy from "In Plane Site" who thinks that the sunspot on the side of plane as it's going into one of the twin towers is some piece of military equipment. But seriously, I don't see it. I don't see the thing that guy is talking about and I don't see a target either. What are we aiming for? Do we just think we are that much better than everyone else that we must force our ways on every other country in the universe?

I was downtown yesterday and I saw a lady looking out the bus window at me. She had that same look as the civilians in Iraq, or Sierra Leon, or anywhere else where there is fighting and hopelessness. Where they feel that they have no control over what will go on in their day. That's really the only difference between them and the rest of us. It's not really about money, it's about the inability to change the situation. I believe that is why the Iraqi's are fighting. They are fighting because they are angry about what their world is today, what it has become. It may have been bad with Saddam, but at least they knew what to expect (to a point). Now, it is mayhem, every hour of every day, of every week. Here, we take a gun and shoot our old co-workers or classmates, or commit suicide when life is overwhelming. Please tell me, what is worse?

GM's play for fuel-efficiency

If you haven't heard about the Volt, the new plug-in hybrid from GM, here's a good article to teach you more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16580894/from/ET/

New Year is coming, like it or not...

so you might as well make the best of it. This week, in my journaling (aka Morning Pages based on the Julia Cameron book, "The Artist's Way"), I've been spending time on finding out what I really want out of life. I'm asking the tough questions like, "Where do I want to be this time next year?" "What are my values?" and "Which color skin case should I order for my new Treo 700wx?"

It's been an interesting but mentally stressful year for many of us. Nothing new really, but the war keeps dragging on and everyday there's some new hype out of the White House from a President that no one cares to listen to. Thank goodness the gas prices went down and the stock market has been reaching all-time highs, or everyone in this country would probably have been fighting over who was going to impeach Bush first.

But he's a happy and out of touch lame duck and we're still full from Christmas dinner, so now what? Well, I know for myself, I can't change what he's doing, so I guess that I should finally break down this year and take care of all those things I always say I'm going to do, but never quite get to. I actually really relish this week between the holidays because it gives me a little opportunity to reflect and create my goals and plans for the coming year. I started off today, by opening an online savings account. It's quite a scary process giving someone you don't know all of your personal information, however, I vow this year to keep a better eye on my credit report so hopefully if anything goes wrong, I will know immediately. But, raise your right hand and vow with me to also do these items if you haven't already. Alright? Here we go...I resolve to:

1. Have a will drafted
2. Increase 401k contributions
3. Take out an umbrella policy to cover my personal assets
4. Do something that really helps someone else even if it means getting dirty
5. Get back to __% bodyfat (I'm shooting for 13%, but you can use whatever number you want).

Together, we can make the world a better place by being better individuals.
God Bless Us, Everyone,
Rhonda

Talk to a Senator

Searching the internet for embryonic stem cell successes, I found two things: 1)that there isn't any conclusive evidence that embryonic stem cells can do anything and 2)this really cool opportunity to ask a Senator a question. Yahoo has been hosting this and you can watch the video and realize that some of these folks aren't idiots! That in and of itself was quite exciting to me. Check it out and maybe even ask a question every once in a while.

Nice forum, Yahoo. Two thumbs up!

Man on the Run

So, in case you've been stuck under a rock, I'm sure you heard that Democrats have taken over the house. The Senate is still undecided last I checked, but still, a strong message was sent to Washington: "Fix Iraq."

With the Dems now in some capacity of power, at least the capacity to call for investigations regarding 9/11, the Iraq War and probably a whole host of things that we aren't even aware of, I imagine nearly everyone fell out of their chairs laughing hysterically today with the news that Rumsfeld has resigned. Hello? What does that say?

Granted, as surely as I regained composure, my next thought was that of a scene from the movie Mars Attacks. The one where the martian leader makes the President (Jack Nicholson) momentarily believe that maybe he wants to be friends, but then just finds a really interesting and clever way to kill him. Let's hope that those of you in Washington are less gullible than our enemies and our past representatives.

Welcome to Future...except on Election Day

I'm sure that others have it worse than I did, but I was astonished that I had to wait an hour to vote today. I've never had to wait before, EVER. I was told that there were new electronic voting machines, but in Mason, OH, that consisted of a piece of paper where you had to color in a bubble--yes, just like those standardized tests we used to take back in school. The only difference was that I got to feed it through the machine when I was finished.

But seriously, we had to wait for 7 minutes because the guy in charge of the sign-in sheet lost his pen. Why are there no pens at the polling place? I was highly irritated. That was made worse only because I didn't even get a sticker saying that I voted today. What a rip. Do they not know that if we don't get the sticker then there really is no reward? At least with the sticker, we get to feel good about ourselves everytime we pass someone who isn't wearing a sticker. Yes, it's juvenile, but true.

Granted this is important stuff and unfortunately, way to many people take it lightly and were reading ballot initiatives while they were voting. How can you make a decision about something that you haven't had time to think through. This is not a standardized test where you need to fill-in every bubble just in case you guessed right. You don't get a score for this--it's not about you. At least, not today.

Don't forget to recharge at night

Here's a bevy of info on hybrid cars and the future of hybrid cars from Yahoo.com. If you don't have time to read everything, here's the quick synopsis: If you're willing to plug your car in to recharge the batteries, you could get up to 100mpg. Crazy, eh? Well, check it out. And make sure to read why some manufacturers aren't willing to invest in this technology.