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Timothy S. McTaggart's Archived Blogs Jan-Mar 06

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I actually completed the bills a couple days later and so far the electricity has stayed on. So for now I've had no real similarities to other parts of the world regarding electricity. Ironic to note during our whole time in Kabul in the early 70's I think I remember two power outages. Maybe someday we can get the infrastructure going again, current administration not withstanding. I haven't seen any fallout in regard to the aforementioned release of further pictures from Abu Ghraib. I guess we americans can torture prisoners but woe be to those in the free world who draw satirical cartoons. Seems some folks are finally calling for moderation regarding the deadly protests. Damn if these people aren't their own worst enemy sometimes. Next topic. I really don't feel as concerned about a UAE based company being in charge of security at several of our shipping ports as I do about much of the other antics of the current administration. It would be in UAE's best interest to do a good job on the security end. That is as opposed to how our administration is serving our country's best interests. But enough blog for now. Catch you next time. Ciao.

Well instead of doing bills tonight, I'm gonna make a short blog here. So when I come home and find the electricity off, I guess I'll know why. Just kidding, I hope. Latest news flash: W invites Kerry to go hunting with the veep. So much for gun safety. I think Cheney effectively shot himself in the foot as well with the way he tried to keep a lid on the incident. Horrible, stupid and unfortunate, but at least no fatalities involved. As is opposed to the protests over the political cartoons of Mohammed. And now this Australian TV station lets loose with additional photos from Abu Ghraib prison circa 2003 when all the reprehensible things were happening. I guess that TV station thought they'd ride the wave from the furor over the cartoons. I hope folks in that part of the world have their fire insurance paid up. Here we go again. I may never make it back to Afghanistan if this crap keeps up. So in a general lament I quote lyrics from a folk song, I'm sure you know which one, "Oh, when will you ever learn?...Oh, when will they ever learn?"

The groundhog saw his shadow today. Maybe with a few more weeks of winter, I may be able to head off somewhere to find a ski slope for a day or two. Still needs to snow first. This time of year is when I often head NM direction to drop in on my crazy cousin and hit Ski Apache if there's any snow. Right now, there isn't any snow unless you count the concrete type man made stuff. So hopefully the groundhog prediction will encourage some real snow. Okay, next topic. I read with exasperation, the furor caused in the Muslim world by some editorial cartoons published in a Danish newspaper, which were subsequently published in other papers around Europe. The cartoons (which I found after extensive web searching) depict the prophet Mohammed in somewhat less than a glorious light, to say the least. One portrays him with a bomb in his turban, fuse lit, and the rest of the cartoons go downhill from there. But an open mind such as mine does find some humor. Unfortunately the violence of the protests against these cartoons probably served better to reinforce the very terrorist image of Islam. Uneducated minds that are subjected to dogma in that part of the world are not exactly receptive to logic, and it is tragic that their actions put such a bad name on the religion. Now if an Islamic newspaper published a satirical cartoon of Jesus Christ toting a bazooka, what would our reaction be? Our own uneducated dogmatic fundamentalists, such as Pat Robertson, would probably call for God to smite all involved with publishing the cartoon. And Mr. Robertson would ask God to do something similiar to what He'd already done to Israel's prime minister for giving away the Gaza Strip, I'd guess. Jerry Fallwell and some others would probably chime in too, and say it's all related to 9/ll. For the most part, I'd hope the majority of our Christian population would call these folks nuts. Suffice it to say we'd emphasize that the cartoon is an inaccurate portrayal and press on with our good works. Praise the lord we have education, freedom, open minds and not nearly the amount of dogma. But it is up to us to stay that way.

For the record, I finally repaired the plumbing in my Menard house a couple of Sundays ago. One can really appreciate functional plumbing after being subjected to the alternative. Not to mention the $45 in water it cost to flood three rooms for a couple of days. It took some replacement copper tubing and one Wal-Mart type propane torch, as well as a couple trips to the local hardware store in Menard before I finally got it all working again. Yes, I gave up on plumbers calling me back and did the job myself. I read a blog this week from Marnie Gustavson, a fellow AISK former student, now living in Kabul, where she relates the woes encountered with plumbing at their house. I'll spare the details for now. Given the infrastructure of a third world country, things are a lot more interesting to accomplish. I sure hope they get their house plumbing operational soon. Well it's the time of year to get respiratory crud, and I seem to be working on that as I type. I may say this in jest, but you know you really have a bad cold when you roll down your car window to sneeze and the driver behind you turns on his windshield wipers. Better get some drugs for that now. Okay, on to politics since I seem to be discussing gross things. Even though I tout my affiliation to the Democratic party on my web page (especially given what currently occupies the White House), I am distressed to see this great Democratic party, the DNC, become fewer in numbers, more fragmented and worse, more fringe in these last few years. Where the hell is better than half the voting American population, that according to recent polls, is not happy with the current administration? Are we Democrats now too fringe for these folks to feel welcome as they once were? Are we resigned to such entities as Michael Moore, Howard Dean and to this odd group that will be driving this truck around DC in the next few days? Please see the website regarding that. This truck will have big ads painted on the trailer calling for Bush's and Cheney's impeachment, eviction, and conviction. Despite my appreciation for such an event, I'm not sure us Democrats would have something ready and in-place to serve the country should such a thing occur. As is the case in post Hussein Iraq, there's work to be done. We need to get our act together and welcome back this disenfranchised population. To start, I'd lose some of the fringe elements and suggest a new slogan for the DNC. I'd call it "America's Conscience".

Hello and Happy New Year!! Okay it's nearly a week into the New Year and technically the 7th of January now, but I digress. Probably to the disappointment of our readers, I haven't made any New Year's resolutions against digressing, so once again I digress. But subject resolution is written and signed anyway. One of these years I may make another resolution to stop making resolutions altogether. Meanwhile on to another New Year topic. Our band the Funky Munky played the New Year's Eve gig at Bentwood Country Club. We rehearsed up Auld Lang Syne and did a fine rendition of it at midnight. As we were singing it, we were watching a not quite successful attempt to get the balloons to drop from netting along the ceiling over the dance floor. Somebody then brought in a rake to poke at the netting and the balloons finally cascaded down to cheers and popping as we wound up Auld Lang Syne. We proceeded with our third set, to which the crowd danced enthusiastically. In the middle of "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" (originally by Gap Band), a circuit breaker tripped. The PA system, monitors, and most of our amps went silent to the crowd's whooping and hollering. Nearly all of these folks waited out the eventual restoration of power and then danced through the rest of that set and a three song encore. It was a fine evening and a good time was pretty much had by all. The club appeares to have survived, but the staff has some work to do. I took one picture of the aftermath and it says it all. Picture forthcoming one of these days. In the meantime check out the photo album from that gig currently on the aforementioned web site. Well that's what I get for making faces at the camera while playing bass. So once again I say Happy New Year!! So until my next blog (and even afterwards) I wish peace, prosperity and best to all.

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