All in the same weekend...mind you.
A very Happy Father's Day for my eldest who whisked his wife and Brenden and Emma off for a camping/fishing Great Outdoors extravaganza. Grandma Nancy watched Aiden and they built a bonfire and had a hobo dinner and early on Sunday I phoned to wish him a Happy Father's Day and he regaled me with stories of Nicole up and busily fixing bacon over the camp-fire! Smiling, remembering all the times when Bill and I took them camping and doing much the same.
A very relaxing weekend here. Perfect weather and spent a while playing in my flowers and container gardens...basking...reading...a long bubble bath and afternoon nap...and snipping fresh herbs from my patio basket to grill with sweet Italian sausages and marinara for sandwiches. And FINALLY tried the quick (<10 minutes) method for making French Vanilla Ice Cream using two ziplock bags. Recipe to follow. Amazingly quick and creamy, smooth and delicious. And a smaller portion. Not that you can ever have too much ice cream!
Reading. Well after taking a look at the NEWS and shaking my head...more on Iraq later...I did the only thing a sentient being would do...turned off the newsfeed and plunged into a re-read of a couple favourite Hunter S. Thompson and enjoyed some of Ralph Steadman's Art...just to get the taste out of my mouth. Hearing Hunter's foreboding of "bad craziness" when my thoughts turned to Iraq.
Possibly one of my very favourite writers.
Who else could drag you instantly into the Nevada desert heat going 100 mph in a bright red Chevy convertible on an Acid trip- with a 300 pound Samoan- quite like this:
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive. ..." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about 100 miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"
Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process. "What the hell are you yelling about?" he muttered, staring up at the sun with his eyes closed and covered with wraparound Spanish sunglasses. "Never mind," I said. "It's your turn to drive." I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark toward the shoulder of the highway.
No point mentioning those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough.
Not even Steinbeck's Dustbowl or King's rabid St. Bernard drags you in this quickly.
(...incidentally King's latest novel is now released Mr. Mercedes...I've heard good things and I am definitely in queue at my local library...)
Anyway after finishing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Sunday afternoon and getting a nice tan in the process (...although I did NOT use beer to facilitate the process...) I was still hungry for HST...and poked around in my personal shelves until I found one of his earliest works (pre-Gonzo): The Rum Diaries. If you ever have a chance to compare these works it is incredible...you can see him hanging thinly to sanity...although questioning the whole business before just saying
"Screw it...I'm going to do whatever I want and I am going to enjoy the hell out of it!"
And of course, the rest is history.
Ah..........HISTORY
And we are back to Iraq. And you knew I had to go there.
George Santayana...philosopher...essayist...poet and novelist once remarked that those who did not
"...remember the past were condemned to repeat it..."
He probably couldn't have imagined the neo-cons would arrive and take care of that whole problem by REVISING HISTORY.
Seriously WTH, people?
In case you've been locked in a closet or live in a cave or simply watching the soccer games...in which the closet or cave might seem preferable right now...the shit has hit the fan in Iraq.
Remember the 47% of us during the Bush years that screamed from the rooftops what a bad idea it was to invade Iraq. And the responses we got that ranged from burning Dixie Chick albums to calling us unpatriotic and spineless...
Or our President...Barack Obama...who was just a nobody from Illinois at the time explaining his opposition to the invasion/war in October of 2002
(...transcript~)
What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.
What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income — to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear — I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.
But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaida. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.
After re-reading this Sunday...the man was a goddamn visionary.
Applauding our President's initial response of "...no boots on the ground..." and seriously hoping he can hold to that conviction in the face of the likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham who are shrieking that we must go in now...now...now...
I think I can safely say that most of the American citizens...and most importantly her troops are absolutely...positively...unequivocally saying NO...possibly even HELL NO...
And I am firmly in their midst.
Have the people advocating for a return to Iraq lost their damn little minds?
To simplify this to nursery school level...and don't laugh because some folks seem to need this (...bless their hearts...)
Once upon a time there was a horrible evil dictator named Saddam. And he was evil and nasty and blood-thirsty and just as awful as you can get...but he kept the three warring tribes in Iraq from warring with each other. He did this because he was so horrible and blood-thirsty that the others were VERY VERY afraid of him. Sometimes he would attack the Kurds...his own people...just to prove how blood-thirsty and bad he was. So they behaved themselves.
A Knight named George the First knew when he attacked years ago that if he removed Saddam the delicate balance in Iraq would be lost and there would be chaos...so he thrashed him good...but left him in power and so the Country remained stable.
Unfortunately, the knight had an idiot son.
Dumb as a bag of hammers.
And as idiot sons often do...wanting to One Up His Dad At All Costs...or maybe because he was an idiot and didn't know a Sunni from a Shiite...or Iraq from Iran for that matter...and certainly had no grasp on how precarious the situation really was in the Middle East...and being kind of a Cowboy-
He declared he was going to rid the Country of EVIL...and by and by he removed the evil dictator and was very pleased with himself.
The Sunni and Shiites were very pleased too...for they knew in time they could get back to killing each other for there was no EVIL enough to frighten them anymore...
And all the kings horses and all the kings men...couldn't put Iraq back together again...
The End.
No...unfortunately where the fairy tale ends real life begins.
Now there is a great joining of Sunni...ISIS...and the Shiites are being rounded up and slaughtered. Along with the Iraqi guard and anyone else that tries to get in their way. Things are blowing up again.
And we need to stay out of it. Completely.
Because as much as the Shiites hate the Sunni and the Sunni hate the Shiites...they BOTH hate Americans even more. So much- that if we would send troops in they would take a break from killing each other to kill us...
Then resume killing each other.
True story.
These tribal factions have been warring with each other for 1,400 years. Leave and come back in a Century and they are STILL going to be warring with each other. It is a Holy War.
Like Catholics and Baptists- but with heavy artillery and IEDS.
We can't fix this.
Iran has the most to gain by helping control ISIS. And the most to lose if they don't. They (hopefully) will not allow Baghdad to fall but we need to stay completely out of it. They will sort it. Maybe breaking the Country into three smaller countries. One are for the Kurds. One for the Sunni...and the lion's share will probably end up (assuming Iran's involvement) to the Shiites.
But it is not our Civil War.
In the last two days I have heard all the "...you break it you bought it..." arguments.
Yes. We broke it. No question. Then we went in and re-built it...financed it with money borrowed from China...and trained their troops..and helped set up their new Government...and when the SOFA by the Iraqi government and President Bush (before Barack Obama ever took office) ended in December of 2011...and they voiced that they wanted us gone...adhering to the pre-agreement...we LEFT. And we have been gone for several years now.
It truly is their problem.
yeah yeah...breathe...
I guess I am still a bit pissed off that we sacrificed 4000+ US troops...killed innumerable Iraqi citizens...trashed the US economy...spent 1.7 TRILLION dollars that could have done amazing things in THIS Country...and destabilized the region after 47% of us said what a mistake it was going to be.
Hopefully somebody will listen this time.
So...I promised you Ice Cream in a Bag...and after putting up with that rant...you have EARNED it.
Ziplock Bag French Vanilla Ice Cream
Two large ziplock bags.
In one bag add 1 cup half and half
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 uncooked egg yolk (...this may be omitted if you are worried about raw egg)
Zip bag closed.
In other bag fill 1/2 full with ice cubes and 1/2 cup rock or table salt...you can use either...
Add bag with ice cream ingredients sealed into ice and salt bag and ziplock closed.
Shake for ten minutes or until ice cream is thick.
Extras can be kept in freezer in bag.
Add anything you like after ice cream is thick. Chocolate chips, peaches, strawberries, nuts..whatever...
Makes 2 servings.
Can be doubled easily.
Made some Sunday with fresh Strawberries...and it really does work!
