Cockroaches are superior creatures..they survive genocide!

Just to inform the reader- that title is totally sarcastic except for the fact that the only thing that can exterminate their species entirely is cold. They have an exit strategy for that too though- hitch a ride with humans to warmer climes. :)

The true reason why I bring this up, is that the other day I saw someone in our Armed Forces 
(NOT my Son-In-Law) comment on the Almighty Facebook that just pulling his military issued weapon out of the holster would "make those Iraqis scatter like cockroaches" and he was not describing the enemy. He was describing the Iraqi Army and/or Iraqi civilians.

Does he realize that those people, who have had their country for the most part, invaded (and I don't care under what pretense) and torn apart by us under the guise of helping them escape a dictator? (Don't worry, I AM thankful that Saddam went the same route as Hitler.)

I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe a few of those Iraqi countrymen probably feel at least a portion of the way the Jewish, Polish, French, Belgian, and Norwegian peoples felt when Hitler decided to roll the tanks in and take over to make them part of the Third Reich where they'd be better off.

ONCE AGAIN I AM NOT COMPARING OUR GOV'T WITH THE THIRD REICH!!! 

I AM COMPARING HOW THOSE THAT WERE OCCUPIED MUST HAVE FELT!

And for one of our men in uniform bragging in a public forum that he can make citizens of another country "scatter like roaches" at the sight of his big ole macho gun that the military gave him absolutely DISGUSTS me. That's why we have had numerous incidents of inhumane treatment of pretty much every level of society in Iraq and Afghanistan from Abu Graib to the recent Marines peeing on corpses. I could perhaps understand a little bit about the enemy combatants, but the people we're supposed to be helping?? 

I mean, come on, we're already looked at as the bully on the block and the "Infidel" by quite a few around the world. Why not change your attitude as someone representing the USA (and ME, a taxpayer and voter!) and QUIT DEHUMANIZING HUMAN BEINGS just to get your macho rocks off? Some civility please!

Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong Il, Milosevich, Hussein and all the other bloody dictator murderers were able to perpetuate their atrocities because they successfully got their people...humans....to DEHUMANIZE the humans they wanted exterminated.  The Jews were called cockroaches and worse...and 6 million later we wonder why they weren't treated as humans or helped by other humans.

The Smallest... 

Victims Of...

Hitler's Holocust

And Victims Of...

Josef Stalin's Gulag

The Evil Handiwork of Slobodan Milosevic
Mass Grave in Bosnia
They were Yugoslavian, just the wrong RELIGION, again.

Widows & Mothers of the
7,500 Muslim men & boys murdered in 1995
Srebenica, Bosnia Masscre

And Finally, The Work of Saddam Hussein...

1987, In Halabja, Iraq

50,000 Kurds Killed by Mustard and Sarin Gas
(Who are Iraqi, btw, just not the same ethnicity as Hussein) 

2,000 Entire Villages as well as their Livestock (wildlife too)
DESTROYED on a whim of Saddam.

There are many other cases in the world that are just as bad.

-2003: Darfur Region of Sudan, over a quarter Million of the Indigenous Non-Arabic Affiliated Islamist Darfur Tribe have been systematically slaughtered in terrifying village raids by the Non-Indigenous Arabic-speaking Islamists called the Janjaweed. This genocide took place solely on the ethnicity, including the systematic "War" rape of every female of child-bearing age, to "breed them out."

-1991-present: In Somalia, the al-Shabab Mujahideen, an offshoot of Hizbul Islam and deemed a terrorist organization loosely affiliated with al-Qaeda. They have actively blocked relief efforts to almost 2.5 Million people that were forced to flee when al-Shabab began killing practitioners of other sects of Islam and Christians in the country. These millions have fled across the border into neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya who do not have the resources to assist the people in refugee camps.

-1994: Rwanda (now The Democratic Republic of Congo) with the majority Hutu tribe, minority Tutsi tribe, and the 1% of the population Twa Pygmies (who were absolutely no threat to the Hutus, they just didn't like them and they were an easy target). This former Belgian colony, with it's converts to Roman Catholicism, The Anglicans, and a smattering of Protestants, had a problem from the very beginning. The Belgians decided to elevate the Tutsi Tribe to the level of aristocracy, leaving the Hutu Tribe the role of second-class citizens. However, the Belgians did one better, upon relinquishing their colony to it's independence, they encouraged the brewing Hutu rebellion into fruition by switching their allegiance from Tutsi to Hutu. The Tutsi were forced into exile and the Hutu took power. At some point those in exile demanded to be allowed back into Rwanda, by force if necessary. Long story short, the Tutsi faction forced their way back, hostilities exploded, France stuck it's nose in to help "support" the Hutu regime but made a bigger mess, President Habyarimana's plane was shot down which started the presidential guard's attempt at a Tutsi and Tutsi sympathizer massacre. In April-May-June of 1994, 937,000 people were murdered. All three Church bodies failed to recognize and condemn the genocide (sound familiar?) Women were raped repeatedly and tortured, "war rape"as it's called. Now 70% of those rape victims are HIV positive. Men weren't immune from sexual attacks either, hundreds were mutilated, their genitals being cut off and hung up as trophies.

Oh, and that Twa Pygmy Tribe, they killed EVERY LAST ONE of them they could find. 30% of their population was murdered, and 30% fled the country. Only 40% of the pre-genocide population remains, and they have been given no help in rebuilding their villages and social structures.

So why didn't we go in to help in these instances?
Simple, they don't have anything WE WANT!

So, I reiterate, YES SADDAM NEEDED TO GO!
Do I agree with how we justified this war? Not necessarily.
Do I think the Iraqi people (especially those
purported to be friendlys) have been through enough?
Absofrickenloutely!!!!
A word of caution regarding things brewing in this country, all of the above atrocities were caused by one of three things: power, religion, or lack of resources. Add a disillusioned population to the mix and you have the recipe for civil war. Don't kid yourself that it couldn't happen again, as it did in the 1860's, here.

Snow? Please? But then again...

Perhaps a few wintry scenes and white things might entice winter to come and stay more than overnight before spring's arrival. 

This year it has only snowed three times, not exceeding 2 inches for each event. The past few nights we've gotten just a dusting of wet snow that disappears the next day when the temperature flirts with 50 degrees. 

It's actually fortunate that the snow has melted, because each snowfall has been followed up with high winds a day later. If we all had wind turbines, there would be an abundance of excess electricity with all the 40 mph winds we've had. 

Add even a slight bit of snowfall to that wind and you have blizzard conditions. 

The school-aged kids would be down with that, as they have only had one day off since Thanksgiving, but that was for FOG!

I'm sure some snow days would be welcome for students and teachers alike. I really don't want a bunch of snow, I just want it to stay consistently below freezing. My floor will stay clean because there won't be muddy paws from the constant thawing! Too much snow though and it gets difficult to pick up dog poo.

My backyard, in January 2010

For Thanksgiving this year I drove to Boston to visit my daughter. I planned my trip to avoid the "Snowbelt" area of Buffalo. I certainly didn't want to drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with it's twists and turns if there was even a trace of precipitation. I hadn't driven much since 2009 before attempting 785 miles. Alone.

Raven, Wolf, and Hawk were along to guide the trip!

 So I prepared emergency gear, a snow shovel, the snow brush for the windshield, extra wiper fluid, kitty litter for traction, flashlight with extra batteries, gloves, winter hat, extra coat, blankets, food, water, matches, lighter, and even an emergency candle that could be used to heat water or warm hands. Boy Scout motto is 'Be Prepared" after all. Plus this was the first trip by myself since the lymphoma, and truthfully, I would have probably taken all that stuff even if I had never been ill.

Either it was the gods smiling down on me, or a twist of fate- but the entire time I was in Boston it never got below freezing! In fact, many days it was as warm as 60 degrees! I kind of chuckled at all the locals (including my kid) that were walking around bundled up as if another Nor'Easter was imminent.

In early October they had gotten a snow storm that caused damage from Maine to Vermont. In the city, there wasn't as much wet snow as areas west and north of Boston got. Because leaves were still on most of the trees due to the mild fall weather, tree limbs were going down everywhere, creating widespread outages that took days to rectify. The combination of wet leaves and wet snow exceeded the weight limit of the branches in dramatic fashion.

As I got into Massachusetts there were limbs down all over the place. I stayed overnight in Chicopee at the Motel 6, and had I not needed a handicapped accessible room, I wouldn't have had anyplace to stay. All the tree cutting crews from out-of-state were staying there too, the motel parking lot was packed. When I left in the morning and got back on the MassTurnpike every 10 ft or so, I could see little piles of sawdust where the downed trees had been.

Headstone in Granary Burying Ground.
North End of Boston where Paul Revere is buried also.

I was pleasantly surprised at all the balmy weather, the only precipitation was a bit of rain both Mondays I was there. We took full advantage of it too. Kate took me to The Museum of Fine Art, The Museum of Science, and I went to the Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University. 

Exhibit at the MFA, "Beauty as Duty: Textiles and the
Home Front in WWII Britain"

Entrance to the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston

View from Museum of Science overlooking the
Charles River and the Boston Skyline

Portion of the "Wiyohpiyata: Lakota Images of the Contested West"
at the Peabody Museum. Many sketches from the 1850-60's depicting their most
valuable ally in the wars to defend their lands from hostile takeover: the Blue Roan War Horse.

I drove up to Salem, MA for a day and explored around the unique shops and cemeteries. I would have gone to the Witch Museum, but they all closed for the season on November 1st. Guess they have to recuperate after Samhain. These are pictures from one of the oldest non-indigenous cemeteries in the United States, located a block from downtown Salem. Pretty fall day...After Thanksgiving...in New England....bet those freezing, starving Pilgrims wish they had had Global Warming!

On second thought, I guess I don't want enough snow to build one of these guys, but an inch or so with some good old fashioned 30 degree weather would be awesome!

Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Leonard...

"Remember our work will be unfinished 

until not one human being is hungry, or battered,

not one single person forced to die in war,

not one innocent languishes imprisoned,

and no one persecuted for his or her beliefs."

Leonard Peltier, June 2006

http://www.leonardpeltier.net/theman.htm

http://www.aimovement.org/peltier/index.html

http://www.freeleonard.org/case/index.html

Dig...

We all have a weakness

Some of ours are easy to identify. 

Look me in the eye

And ask for forgiveness;

We'll make a pact to never say that word again,

Yes, you are my friend

We all have something that digs at us,

At least we dig each other.

So when weakness turns my ego up,

I know you'll count on the me from yesterday!

If I turn into another,

Dig me up from under what is covering 

The better part of me!

Sing this song-

Remind me that we'll always have each other when everything else is gone.

We all have a sickness

That cleverly attaches and multiplies, 

No matter how we try.

We all have something that digs at us,

At least we dig each other.

So when sickness turns my ego up,

I know you'll act as a clever medicine!

If I turn into another,

Dig me up from under what is covering 

The better part of me!

Sing this song-

Remind me that we'll always have each other when everything else is gone.

Ohhh oh, each other...

When everything else is gone.

~'Dig" by Incubus~

BTW, this song is the ringtone for my husband :)

Why I must create...

So I can remember to stop and smell the flowers...

     

 So I remember to let loose and be silly once in a while....

So I remember what Pooh must remember...

So I take time to appreciate the beauty that surrounds me...

 And finally, so I remember to do the hardest thing for me to do: