The news has been off my radar recently, and although I check out headlines once in a while it's more out of curiosity than anything else. I have a good seat in the peanut gallery to observe the clowns' latest performances, and I'll leave it at that despite the decreasing entertainment value of the current social and political trainwrecks.
One thing I can't figure out, though, is if things are so screwed up in these United States, why is Wall Street booming? It's like there are games within games and some smart cookies are making a lot of dough before the bubbles burst. It may also be possible that, deep down, common sense is prevailing in the business sectors despite what may simply be distractions. The show must go on.
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Service to one's country is kind of, sort of, back in the news especially when it is at the cost of one's life. That business in Niger with the four dead GIs is disturbing, as is the fact that there are about a thousand US troops deployed there, allegedly, and nobody in Congress seems to know what they are doing there. Isn't Niger where Saddam Hussein was supposed to be scoring his yellowcake uranium? An interesting tale should be unfolding soon.
Anyhow, it occurred to me that during the Vietnam war Uncle Ken served his nation proudly. I never looked at it that way before, but when Uncle Sam called, he answered in the affirmative and didn't get a note from his doctor to weasel out of his obligations. It's easy to forget that COs also served their country and never received the respect they deserve. This is a minor point but I wanted to put it in the record.
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I never knew about the Native American tradition of sprinkling tobacco to show respect, and the dark side of my brain immediately thought of all the cigarette butts strewn across the land. Mr. Beagles tells a good tale, and I was enjoying it until he dropped the bomb of his grandson's fate and my heart froze. I haven't been the same since reading that and words fail me.
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