Random Thoughts

It’s been a long cold winter for most of us. The snow and temperatures have kept me from writing because my focus was absorbed in the pain this winter brought. Now that some semblance of warmth has begun to return, I find myself wanting to see if the fingers are willing to pound around the keyboard. The problem is what to address. There are so many things that can be talked about. So, tonight will just be random thoughts on what’s going on in the world.

In an earlier post I addressed the ACA and my experience with trying to get signed up. I finally logged on and found the policies that would fit our needs. The premium for a scaled down plan was $174.00 a month with a $12,500.00 deductible. How is this a better plan than no insurance? The whole idea was that no one should have to go bankrupt to have adequate health care. Am I the only one that would have to go bankrupt to meet that deductible? The ACA has some very good programs that would help those that need them, but the mandate that I buy insurance to prevent financial disaster, that in itself would cause the same disaster is ludicrous.

Let’s move to money for a minute. It now costs more than 2 cents to produce a penny, and a dime to produce a nickel. I’m not talking profit margins; I’m talking to actually mint them. We are spending twice the face value of the coin to produce it. This would seem an easy problem to solve and save millions of dollars a year. Why can none of our elected officials recognize and fix such an obvious waste of money?

It would appear that Russia is no longer the ally we thought. I don’t know about you, but I’m shocked; Not. When the US discontinued its space program and announced we would depend on Russia for transportation to and from the ISS, I believed it to be a huge mistake. If Putin pushes further into the Ukraine and we impose the sanctions that are being discussed, we as a country will no longer have a way to reach the ISS and Russia will control the space station we built. How could that be bad? I do not think it is in the best interests of our country to try and police what Putin is doing. This has to be a problem that our European allies address. It’s their backyard, it should be their lead.

Then there is that corrupt president we put in power in Afghanistan, Mr. Karzai. He was willing to play along with democracy until his term limit approached. He has had years with us backing him, while he focused on making himself powerful and wealthy. He has avoided signing a continuing agreement with the US, while at the same time eagerly coming to terms with Iran and the Taliban. He now wants all US troops out of the country by years end. I have no problem with that. As we are leaving we can use unused munitions to destroy anything we built that may be of use to him. I believe that we should also warn him that we will not tolerate, but obliterate anything within his borders that would support terrorism. We do not need boots on the ground to do that. Let's make that our policy for all countries that harbor terrorists.

A quick note about our continuing agreement with Afghanistan; the tribal councils and leaders of Afghanistan met and ratified this agreement in ONE weekend. Karzai has refused to sign it. The point I’m making is that this group of leaders who primarily live in what can only be described as just above Stone Age conditions, discussed it, made compromises, and agreed to it in a weekend. Our representatives in Washington should be ashamed. The Afghan representatives put their country before their personal wants or needs and moved forward in the best interests for the people, something our representatives have forgotten how to do.

It would seem the Middle East is in complete turmoil again. We took out a brutal dictator in Iraq, occupied the country so they could form a government and learn to protect themselves, and then left. The result is worse than before we went in. Afghanistan seems to be heading the same direction quickly. Did I mention that Libya finds itself in the same predicament? How many times do we as a country have to repeat the same mistakes before we figure out that some of these populations require a dictator to control all the factions within the country? Are they typically brutal? Yes. Is there a better way? Apparently not. Until the people of these countries rise up and gain their own freedom, they’ll not have it. We as a country need to understand that you cannot give or enforce freedom for a people that are not willing to fight for it.

The Malaysians seem to have misplaced a very large airplane, its passengers, and cargo. After days, they now believe it to have been hijacked by someone with a vast knowledge of that airplane. We've all seen the many theories that are discussed endlessly on the news networks. The latest baffles me somewhat. Agreeing with the assumption that it was hijacked, I am stumped as to why officials think it was flown south, only to crash into the ocean. Why commit a terrorist act by hijacking the plane and then fly it into the ocean where no one will know it happened? If it was flown north it could easily have reached a Middle East destination. I would think that route would be the most scrutinized for obvious reasons. I hope the officials are correct. I shudder to think of the many ways a plane the size of a 777 could be used as a weapon in the right hands. If terrorists have indeed pulled this off, they already have the right hands to weaponize the plane.

I’ll finish with a positive note. It was reported today the Fred Phelps Sr. is on the edge of death. As founder of the Westboro Baptist Church and its endless hate campaigns, his eminent demise can only bring a smile to my face. Sadly, I also have to report the he was excommunicated by his own church last fall which leads me to believe the church’s hate campaigns will continue. It has been repeatedly stated by folks commenting that his funeral and burial receive the same type of protest that he and his church gave to our honored dead. I hope that no one stoops down to the same level as the Westboro group. It is my hope that his death does not make news anywhere. It won’t happen, the news organizations will be all over it. Wouldn't it be nice if they just refused to report it, thus giving his death and the church the amount the amount of attention they truly deserve?

Rant Over!