Dances with Carburetors, amongst other things.....

I'm sitting here on a Saturday night, kinda mad at myself for not having come up with another FANTABULOUS post for this blog in so long, but I think I have a valid excuse, between work, launching Freedom's Place, saving the universe, and being a husband and all. So, in an attempt to keep These Thoughts Escaping Me, I will attempt to create something worth reading in the time I have between wolfing down some of THE Wife's fantastic chili ala' leftover and having to leave to go get her from work. Wish me luck.

Awhile back THE Wife had some of that miracle lube they make from chicken feathers injected in her knee to keep it working awhile longer before the dreaded joint replacement is called for. It was suggested that it would work for maybe six months, but it's been roughly a year now and it finally wore back down, the sad event heralded by new knee pain. So, it's back to the orthopedic guy to inject some more into her knee, hopefully for another year of lubricated, pain free function.

I'm about to add small engine repair genius to my repertoire of "figure-it-out-myself" abilities. The shredder wouldn't start for me, and I attempted to pull the carburetor apart to see what was the matter, screwing it up even more. The parts guy at Sears explained to me what was the most likely voodoo going on in this complex part, and ordered me the parts, explaining to me which part did what and why and how to put humpty back together again. Next time I'm off I'll clean it real good, reassemble it, put it back on the shredder, pull the starter cord, and hopefully continue my fine tradition of mucking my way through things as only a journeyman layman could. The back forty has a fine crop of leaves that have to be danced with, organized into neat piles, and shredded for the greater glory of our gardens, which we hope to get established once we can figure out when Winter has actually ended, Spring has finally sprung, and it is safe to plant seed and seedlings before Summer comes along and kills every living thing on the planet, or at least our little acre of sand.

Meanwhile, on the political front, it seems as though the whole country is holding it's breath, as we seem stuck between the intransigence of the Bush Administration and it's old, discredited right wing congressional dynasty, and the new, more centric hammer that's poised to put some hurt on it. Now, I say POISED, because right now the newly elected congress is taking baby steps, working to pass some much needed legislation that the old guard kept hidden in the basement, and making some "we don't like that" noises at Bush's stupid "damned the torpedos, stay the course" prosecution of this war that should never have happened to begin with. The main concern that everybody, even alot of liberals, seem to have is that leaving Iraq too abruptly could invite chaos and leave the Middle East in shambles, resulting in a breeding ground for terrorists...........HELLO? Am I the only one that sees an Iraq already in chaos, a Middle East in shambles, already a prime breeding ground for Muslim extremity, THANKS TO US? Geeze, I must be fucking seeing things! The only way I can see a "surge" in troop strength accomplishing anything is if we are given complete freedom to go into Sadre City, shooting anything holding a gun, and taking out anyone who even LOOKS like a member of a sectarian death squad. Enough of this bullshit! Put American and Iraqi cops and police on every damn street corner, and every time a bullet or shoulder launched grenade comes flying out of a building, you take out that entire block with a KC-130 Specter Gun-ship. Do that once or twice and I think the good citizens of that part of town will get the message. Don't allow it! If an IED goes off in a neighborhood, you tell everybody living on that block they have one hour to pack up their belongings and get out, because it's going to disappear, because no one reported someone planting the damn thing in broad daylight! Again, a message well understood; DON'T ALLOW IT! It's called the rule of law, folks. It's called social responsibility.
But, we won't do that, will we? So just get the hell out, and let them have at it. Last man standing gets to rule over a wasteland, and nobody is going to send them money to rebuild. They make their choices, let them live with them.

That's why I am so far attracted to the idea of Berack Obama running for President. Not only is it time to elect a man for his ideas rather than how light skinned he is, but this is the only man I have heard suggest that we should divide Iraq into three regions, one each for the Kurds, the Sunni's, and the Shiites. These people simply can't live together without the iron fist of some maniac tyrant making them behave. We can put a base in Kurdistan and sign a security agreement with them; they still love us despite how often we betrayed them, and they are the least bloodthirsty of the three. Let Syria and Saudi Arabia keep the Sunni's safe and armed, and allow Iran to keep the Shiites supplied. If the two factions down South want to duke it out even more, then fine, let them. All we have to do is mine the border up North near the Kurds and carpet bomb any move from the Sunni's. End of story, Goodbye Sadam, sorry we messed up your country, we elected an idiot.

Well, that's my rant, rave, and report on the goings on here a Pendragon Hold. I hope it was worth the visit. Any thank you all for the wonderful times we are having in our home town, Freedom's Place, where all the men are rock stars, the women all diva's, and the kids are behaving for once.