"Ah Yes, I Remember It Well"

Remember that old song? This guy and this girl are reminiscing about how they met and fell in love. The trouble was that they each remembered it differently. They go back and forth giving their version of the story and, at the end of each verse they sing together, "Ah yes, I remember it well."

The more I think about it, I was against the second Iraq war when they first started talking about it. I figured that Bush was just trying to redeem his father's failure to finish the job when we were there the first time. As I remember it, the U.N. had something to do with that, which was consistent with their history. Every time the good guys start to win, the U.N. wants to call a cease fire, which gives the bad guys time to rest and regroup, thus assuring that the war will go on indefinitely. Anyway, I think what changed my mind was when W made a speech saying that, if we can turn Iraq, the rest of the Mideast will fall like dominoes. I suppose that, in those days, I figured that all those Islamic countries were in it together. Most of the 9-11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, which was supposed to be on our side, but we ended up fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. It didn't matter to me which country we took on next, as long as the ultimate goal was to extinguish Islamic terrorism world wide. I know by now that the situation over there is way more complicated than that, but hindsight is 20-20.

That Israeli-Palestinian thing is also more complicated than I made it out to be, but I was trying to be brief. I must have been about three years old when the modern State of Israel came into being, but I remember people saying how nice it was that the Jews finally had their own homeland. By the time I started school, there was one war after another being fought over the matter, and everybody I knew was rooting for Israel. In 1967, about the time I got out of the army, Israel won a decisive victory and occupied a lot of territory that wasn't part of the original deal. They soon gave Egypt it's part back in exchange for Egypt's recognition of Israel's right to exist, and I suppose people expected the rest of the occupied territory to be returned under similar circumstances. The thing is, the rest of the Islamics still refused to recognize Israel so, naturally, Israel didn't want to give them their land back. Decades later, I found people still arguing about it on the internet. Some people who weren't even alive yet in '67 can't seem to understand why Israel is being so stubborn about this. I remember a few years ago, when Israel returned the Gaza Strip to Palestinian control, rocket attacks were being launched against Israel from that ground within a day or two. Was this supposed to encourage Israel to give back the rest of the occupied territories? Funny thing, the Islamics don't seem to care about Israel anymore, now it's the U.S. that is the "Great Satan".

I understand that crime rates have been declining in this country for some time. There is probably more than one reason for this, but the gun nuts don't seem to be hurting the cause any. I remember that, when the liberalization of the concealed carry law was being debated in Michigan, the antis were ranting about how it would return us to those thrilling days of yesteryear when everybody settled their grievances with a six gun showdown in the middle of Main Street. Well, that hasn't happened, and crime rates continue to decline. Some say the rates are declining because more citizens are packing heat, but that may be just wishful thinking. Be that as it may, guns, like gays, seem to be here to stay, so we might as well get used to them. I won't make you carry a gun if you don't make me marry my gay dog. Deal?