Ghost of BiB

A lot of people talk about island fever and what not, I'd love to go back. When I retired out of the Army, I went to work for a company in Honolulu for a while. Did a lot of outer island stuff. Love Maui. I'd schedule whatever I could for a Friday AM, and we'd spend the weekend where we could, fly Aloha Scare on Monday AM for the ride back. Good times. It's a lot different when you live there, as opposed to being a tourist.

Where at in Hawaii? I used to live on the beach in Ewa Beach, on Hapalua Street.

I thought you didn't respect me anymore? It's a little "strong?" in a way, a lot of "lasagna lovers" probably wouldn't like it. I thought about my lemon pepper (with a subtle hint of anise) pasta seafood lasagna, I use shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops and balance some with smoked sausage, with a white sauce. I think you can overpower with cheese, but it's just me. For the seafood version, I use a homemade reduced shrimp stock and work into it. I'm also a fully certified nuclear weapons targeting analyst, among other things, so eat it and like it. If you're going to vote.

No, that's not my point. There's a lot of violence. It is also, to a degree regional. A lot of places are pretty placid. Forget the "5%" figure, that was tossed out there at random. I still don't think the majority are blowing up each other, I think the majority are trying to keep from being blown up. My point there was that if conditions for the average citizen get improved to at least and hopefully better than the standard of living they "enjoyed" under Sadaam, it would reduce frustrations and give some credence to our " a better way through freedom" rhetoric. The sectarian stuff has been stifled for a lot of years, some people have been waiting for the opportunity and now they have it. Once again, I don't get that this is the majority opinion. Iraq under SH was not by any stretch an overtly religious system. But now, in the Mid East Islamic model, the fight is between not only the sects, but the individual leaders of various congregations. Politics and church are the same thing to them. Jihad is not "Holy War". Jihad is the only principle of Islam that has a commonality between peoples. Everything else is the individual and their responsibilities. I'm going by memory, and not a theocracy person, but aren't there 7 main devotions that are individual and just one to the common to advance Islam? Anyway, as there is no seperation of church and state to most middle eastern religious leaders, I would appeal to the secular side of human nature as another "tactic" in getting this under control. I think Iraq has some unique situations going on, and the jockeying for power is often very regionalized, to the point of neighborhoods and has little to do with ideology. A 20 year old guy with no job that can't watch TV and the toilet don't flush is more likely to blow stuff up than the reverse.

I sense Fezmid lurking somewhere. Perhaps I should throw my hat into the ring as well, with my somewhat eclectic home made spinach-basil pasta based venison sausage and duck lasagna.

Andoullie have to continue this nonsense?

FWIW, hate to see Moulds go. I agree with the Davis thought. Definitely should grab him if we can. As for Evans as the only plausible WO threat, we're back to who to grab FA for a receiver. This stuff isn't easy, glad I don't have to figure it out.

You and I would probably have some interesting conversation. Let's round up a few of the others, and come back in april.

No closer to Savannah. Can't think of the name right now, but it was always sold bulk in the pig and winn-dixie and what not. Has a real fine grind to it. Anyone ever order from Usingers in Milwaukee? Good brats.

There's that. Let's go have a beer.

Speaking for myself, I don't, because I don't care. I have no reaction nor interest in anything going on in the community, mostly because none of it affects me.

As long as it isn't microwaved, and has "an unusual odor".

Please. enough of this Quarterback talk. Ramsey? Brooks? What have we become?

An unusual odor?

Do they hot process their sausage? There's a little place in Georgia that makes theirs that way, and it really makes a difference in the flavor.

I've already agreed. But by the same token, if they are already intermixed and living together (and I personally know a few who are, and could give a shidt) is this really an internal problem driven by sects as opposed to other motives? I don't think so. Suggest three states to a common goal, and if it ever for a second looked real to the affiliated "Mosques", they might back up and reconsider. Also remember, that you will always hear about bombs where they blow up, not where they don't. I think a lot of Iraqis want the toilet to flush, and to watch Iraqi Idol. Get that fixed and the 5% who wants to make it something it really isn't will go play somewhere else.

There is that too.

There is that.

I don't want to say "told you so"...but... Is anyone here besides me at least a little scared that we are smarter than Congress?

Cute. Nice shot. Cliff notes are that our overall foreign policy/national security apparatus is geared towards a cold war mentality that existed 20 years ago. I'm speaking of the mechanisms at the "working level". Current geo-political dynamics, not to mention published strategy call for a synergizing of all elements of our national power to address the current world. Military, diplomatic, economic, informational, etc. I don't think we have a single table where everyone sits down and looks at a problem collectively as knowledgeable people in their areas. I think we sit down and put the knowledgeable people together at the point where decisions have already been made, and the only use for the knowledge is to deconflict the principals agenda. Right or wrong. I also think a whole lot of people see this, but it takes a while, a long while to implement new systems within government to effect that. There's a lot of reference out there, maybe start with "Beyond Goldwater-Nichols" by the NDU as a basis point. The Clinton administration had a clue with with PDD-56, complex contingency operations, but never followed through with the mechanism to think about stuff ahead of time, rather than organize ad-hoc to address a problem as it occurred.

There's one on route one near the Belvoir entrance, I think. The Beef people. I haven't seen any others. Ever talk to Cable? She has a sexy voice, and for a Yankee does a good job with "Y'all".

Maybe it's because it's Monday, but when there is a purposeful effort to remove the "Well I might be but so are you" from conversation the post counts drop. That said, I'm really impressed by a lot of what I'm reading today.

You've read my book? I do a lot of jumping up and down screaming pretty much that.

Which rolls back to my original concerns. Is this country going to vote for whoever says they will "make it stop" without anyone examining the consequences of just trying to make it go away? We have to have some kind of Foreign Policy other than not to have one. What direction is right? This administration still has time, and things really haven't been going on all that long. I also have no idea what they really ARE doing, it just looks like they get trumped pretty easy. One thing seems to be pretty clear, and that's red, white and blue ideology isn't going to matter and something practical needs to take place. Iraq was never, and is never going to be the 52nd state. But anyway, my quick answer is still to confederate, with the central government focused to the common good, let everyone regionally play in the adjustment process (if nothing else, to diffuse the idea we are trying to create an American-Israeli puppet) and put a full court press, damn the dollars, to get Iraq up and running. Running water, electricity and cable would go a long way to slowing down the violence.

Oh, I get you now. Yeah, in that scenario they likely would. It makes battle sense to do so, not just as a diversion. Forces coming from somewhere else have to stage somewhere. By the same token, they could hold that over Japan's head to try to keep reinforcements from coming through Japan. Isn't this fun?