Sunday, March 20, 2011

March 20, 2011

I went to sleep late last night, around 2 am. I fell asleep talking to a friend which gave me some comfort as I had a rather vexing exchange with my ex a few moments prior. She wouldn’t reply to me except via text message, and was very selective with what she replied to. I feel I’ve exhausted all the conventions of good will and any expectation of politeness. This unending rudeness and contempt is not something I will long tolerate. If I have to, I’ll change my number. I really hope I don’t have to do that. I may be fooling myself into thinking this hostility is based on a mutual misunderstanding and not some grievance about which I am ignorant; certainly I’m innocent of any crime.

I woke up around 9 am. Had cheerios for breakfast, and two cups of green tea. Today I finished 10 calculus problems, 2 chapters of biology homework, and my chapter 6 tests. All of it was finished near, at, or above 100%, in accordance to my will and my nature. I’m quite sanguine for my prospects at school tomorrow. I believe we will be studying for the upcoming chapter 7 test and I will have questions prepared. I also intend to get the remainder of my calculus finished and I will have the test done within the next few days.
I had a turkey sandwich with lettuce, mustard, swish and cheddar cheese for lunch with pear nectar to drink. We had roast pork, broccoli, and potato al gratin for dinner. I intend to go to bed early tonight. I intend to get some work done before class tomorrow.

I also have a few words on Libya. Gadafi is a tyrant and his people are sick of him. Libya is one of the few countries to have ever been a colony of Italy, both as a kingdom and later during the fascist period. As a result the two countries have long standing economic ties. France also has vested economic interests in Libya so it’s no small thing for both countries to have entered into the allied cause. Which clearly puts their interests at risk. It must also be understood that this is a war, a no fly zone is a military action so yes we are at war, and yes its in the middle east, and in a “Muslim country” as no one in the media will allow us to forget in their vaguely xenophobic white man’s burden esk way. I have no patience for anyone who wants to call this a “war on an islamic country” or “a third war with a Muslim country” first off that’s not even true. We have had dozens of wars that took place in Muslim majority countries, hell entire sectors of world war two took place in north Africa and Egypt. The allied leaders met in Iran for pity sake! In more recent history we’ve been in Lebanon, Bosnia, Somalia, and yes Iraq and Afghanistan. We are also basically fighting a covert war in northern Pakistan, and yes this is illegal under international law, American law, and against the stated wishes of the Pakistani government, but we also know, (thanks to wiki leaks) that the Pakistani government all but begged us to go in and do it. They don’t control that part of their own country anymore than we do. Now, that being cleared up, not only would it not be the “third war in a Muslim country” its also not a war against a Muslim country or people at all. It’s a war against one lunatic and his tribe. Just as in Iraq we were fighting against one man, “Saddam” and his family and the people from his village so we are now acting the part of liberators not “occupiers” we aren’t at war with the people of Libya we are allied to them. It’s also important to note that unlike in Iraq, we didn’t wait until all the rebellions were crushed by gunships and chemical weapons, then repressed and brutalized by 10 years of Saddam plus sanctions to the level of a hobbesian state to intervene. We stepped in, on the side of the rebels, just as Gadafi was ready to carry out his threats. Now if it were up to me, the marines would have been in Tripoli on day one and Gadafis head would have been presented to the citizens of Benghazi along with the keys to the city as a gift from one republic to another. But then that’s asking far too much of our hapless commander in chief. One is hesitant to criticize his behavior given all of what he is facing… but then again I predicted it all and listed what I would have done at every step, and at every step he did something quite different. Occasionally he has impressed me but over all he’s far too conservative, he’s just another mediocre civics class president. We needed a Roosevelt or a Lincoln and we got a cross between Kennedy and Clinton. That might please some people but history tells us that both are highly overrated. Going with the Clinton analogy I hope this turns out more like Bosnia, and less like the al anfal campaign or Darfur, or perhaps Rwanda. Its going to take more than airstrikes in the end but for now I’m just happy we are doing something. Long live Libya, long live the alliance, long live the revolution, and death to the tyrant Gadafi.

Well I’m rather tired, so I’m going to bed.

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