Tobacco Road

2007-10-05 - 12:42 p.m.

So there I was, sitting at the computer, with Maury on in the background. There was a LOUD sizzle somewhere outside...and everything went dead.

Poof. Gone.

I looked out the window and saw that a lot of the kids in the schoolyard were looking over to an area where I couldn't see. I stepped outside and took a look...and saw that a light post had broken in half and was now resting against the power lines!

Now, this was quite a ways away, at least a block - the kids were NOT in any danger. I saw flashing lights from police cars, so I knew someone already knew about the problem. In less than 5, I heard more sirens. Fifteen minutes later, an oversized crane was attached to the broken part and crews were hard at work. At this point, I was trying to decide what to do for the day. I was going to kick back and do stuff in the apartment, but I needed electricity.

Twenty minutes later the power came back. The power had been out for about 35 minutes total.

So I worked on cleaning up the garage some. I found some stuff I thought had been lost, which is what usually happens when you clean out the garage.

There's much more to do. Some of that'll probably happen today.

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Somehow this comes as no surprise - a Fox News poll says 1 in 5 Democrats think we'd be better off if we lost the war in Iraq.

At the time we went in, Saddam was giving the UN inspectors the runaround. The UN had made a resolution to invade. There was footage of LOTS of very large trucks leaving Baghdad and heading for Syria just hours before we did invade. Saddam was found and brought to justice.

Now? I can understand why we need to get out. But not because it's politically correct. I think we need to get out and let the Iraqi people deal with things. Problem is, they aren't ready...and it's entirely possible that democracy might not be right for them at this time. Another theocracy may rise in place, and it may be a long time before the people of Iraq decide they want to try democracy. Maybe that will happen - after all, the Iraqi troops helped catch this al-Qaeda financier.

It should also be noted that we stayed in Japan and Germany for many years after World War II ended.

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Meanwhile, in neighboring Iran...

Tens of thousands of Iranians marched through Tehran on Friday proclaiming solidarity with Palestinians and chanting "Death to Israel" in the Islamic republic's annual protest against the Jewish state.

Iranians of all ages began the march through the centre of the capital to Tehran University to mark Quds Day, calling for Jerusalem and Israel to be handed to the Palestinians.

Coloured bibs were handed out to protestors with the legend "Death to Israel, Death to United States" while "Palestine will only be free with fighting and faith" was the slogan on one banner.

The whole article is here.

Gee, I guess Iranian president Ahmadinejad wants to make the holocaust "myth" a reality.

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In the Take It Off Dept.:

A woman was denied entrance to a courthouse in Idaho because her bra set off the metal detectors...and they were told they'd have to find a place to remove it, because there were no female guards on duty and no privacy screens.

I can understand - the marshals have a job to do. I had to go through airport-style security when I did my jury duty. It was a pain, but I had to empty my pockets completely and take off my belt before I could go through. I got used to the procedure and just did it. But my courthouse DID have female guards on duty and screens for just such a reason.

Maybe things are quieter in Idaho.

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In the Well, DUH Dept.:

The Royal College of Physicians says that smokers should be treated like drug addicts. I thought they were.

Some cities here in California are working on a smoking ban in new apartments and condos.

What I find interesting is the picture they used for the article - really makes you think smoking is a bad idea, don't it?

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Well, time to get on with the day. I have more stuff in the garage to go through.

Oh, and game 2 of the Angels/Red Sox playoffs is today.

Be seeing you.

John - 2007-10-05 17:01:55 - http://foundertruth.diaryland.com/
Actually, the U.S. STILL has a military presence in both Japan and Germany...and, as you'll note, representative democracy is doing just fine in both countries. So, neener-neener to my clueless fellow Democrats.

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Smed - 2007-10-05 17:47:49 - http://smedindy.diaryland.com
This is all subjective HOOEY from Fox. From TPM: You won't be surprised to hear that Fox News cherry-picked from its own poll to portray Democrats as unpatriotic, but this latest one is so comically dishonest that I feel truly privileged -- overjoyed, even -- to be the one sharing it with you. Fox News is now running with a story that says this: FOX News Poll: Nearly 1 in 5 Democrats Say World Will Be Better Off if U.S. Loses War NEW YORK � Nearly one out of every five Democrats thinks the world will be better off if America loses the war in Iraq, according to the FOX News Opinion Dynamics Poll released Thursday. The percentage of Democrats (19 percent) who believe that is nearly four times the number of Republicans (5 percent) who gave the same answer. PowerLine and a phalanx of other wingnut bloggers are linking to the poll as proof that Dems are unpatriotic. This is buffoonish enough to begin with. But let's put that aside for a sec. Turns out that if you dig into the guts of the actual poll, you find another interesting number. The survey also asked people whether they've ever prayed for the troops in Iraq. The poll's finding? Eighty-four percent of Dems said they had. Needless to say, that number wasn't in Fox's story on the poll. But it gets better. Fox's story included a partisan breakdown of the answers to every question in the poll except that one. You can literally picture the author of the Fox story working through the poll, coming to the number showing that virtually all Democrats reported praying for the troops, and saying: "Whoops, better not include that!" Really, the desperation here is just palpable. Update: TPM Reader V emails in a nice catch from the poll: More Dems than Republicans have prayed for the Iraq War to end.

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Dave - 2007-10-05 19:35:52 -
Actually, Smed:

Large majorities of Americans say they have said a prayer for soldiers serving in Iraq and for the war to end, while just over half say they have prayed for President Bush.
Most people � 87 percent � say they have said a prayer for the troops, and another 77 percent have prayed for the war in Iraq to end. A much smaller 54 percent majority of Americans say they have prayed for the president.
Among groups, Democrats (80 percent) and Republicans (76 percent) are about equally likely to say they have prayed for the war to end, and women (80 percent) are only slightly more likely than men (73 percent) to have done so.
That's in the story I linked to. Maybe you missed that part.

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Bob - 2007-10-05 20:17:43 - http://shadowgm.diaryland.com
Come on, Japan ? Germany ? Iraq. Nothing is that simple when it comes to government, especially when you have a parliament split more along religious lines than political ones. Democracy is more than holding an election, and the Iraqis didn't exactly have a stable infrastructure or experience running the place before we kicked it all over. --- As for who hopes what, what exactly does 'better off if America lost' cover? It can cover not grinding our military force to dust as well as the implied liberal defeatism. Truth remains, as long as our leaders aren't being honest about the mission, we can't win.

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