Major Dick Winters

In the series Band of Brothers, the central figure is an officer of Paratroops named Richard or Dick Winters.  He leads the Company of soldiers through training and the invasion of France to the victory over Germany and the occupation.  He is an admirable leader, modest, considerate, shares the privations of those he commands.  He did many heroic things.  One of them was to decide, after shooting a young SS soldier in Holland during an attack, that he would not take another life.  As an admiring senior officer remarks later, doing this as a combat leader was extraordinary.  Winters seems to have kept this resolution, all the while effectively leading his men through the Battle of the Bulge and other very rough times.  Winters trained men to fight during the Korean War and beyond, and would seem to have been a most effective teacher.  To me he is an example of the generation of War leaders that have mostly passed now.  He, and they, will be greatly missed.

Surprise!

So the new majority in the U.S. House of Representatives has already sidestepped several of the "promises" made during the election.  They are so intent upon wagging a "finger of honor" in the face of Mr. Obama that they are going to push their "repeal" of the health insurance overhaul through without discussion of the $240 Billion the non-partisan CBO says repeal will add to the deficit over the next decade.  Oh, and the minority rights they promised, and the pledge to allow full consideration of amendments, and all the other feel-good stuff they said would happen--uhhh, not for now.  Perhaps such niceties will be more convenient later.  Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.  If anyone actually expected things to magically get better, wake up.  Both sides promise incessantly, but focus mostly on raising money so they can win the next election.  I love it when a phony "patriot" like Jim Demint says that moderates don't believe in anything.  What we believe in is the good of the country, which is advanced when adults having differing viewpoints talk together and compromise.  When, instead, pols insist upon theatrical shows like reading the Constitution in open session, and refuse to talk to each other, it is not the good of the country they pursue, but rather, it is their own narrow self-interest.

The Followers of the Way of Peace Are At It Again

So in Pakistan a fanatic Moslem killed an official because that person advocated reform of repressive blasphemy laws.  These laws are not traditional at all--they were put in place in the 80s to allow dictator Zia al-Haq an easy way to prosecute opponents.  If one "insults" Mohammed or the Koran, apparently including not acknowledging that they are "holy", one is guilty.  This means that if one is not Moslem and demurs from referring to Mohammed as a prophet, or as "The Prophet", one is guilty and subject to death.  Now, not even Zia actually killed anyone under these laws, but currently a Christian lady is under sentence of death because she responded in kind when she was told by co-workers that just by touching a water can, she had "defiled" it.  A provincial governor spoke out against these evil laws and the threat to the lady's life.  A bodyguard supplied by another province which he was visiting killed him.  It is hard to think of Islam as "The Way of Peace" when one contemplates this kind of thing.  Let me affirm here that the religion looks bad in the face of by such actions, and these kind of occurrences prove to me that the Umma--the Islamic Caliphate that fanatics belief they have a holy mission to impose on the world--must never be restored.  Just in case anyone wonders.

I Heart Facebook (I think)

I changed the name of this Blog just because I wanted to make it clear that it's my thing, not to be taken over by others.  I've noticed that no status or opinion of mine posted on Facebook should be expected to go unchallenged.  Even saying that I like morning church and am happy that our Ward has changed to the 9 am schedule resulted in being told that I'm "crazy" and what a wonderful day someone had on the afternoon schedule.  How nice.  I invite anyone who loves the afternoon schedule and is happy to have it this year, to post such information as their status.  But why they feel the need to try to negate my opinion is beyond me.

It's like when I do a post about some matter of current events or politics, and it elicits a flurry of people saying that they disagree.  OK, that's nice.  Post your own opinions and have fun with them--on your page.  Don't hijack mine.

I suppose that is curmudgeonly of me.  Sorry!