I worry.

[ambitious_wench]

It's high summer in Australia, and fires have swept through three of their gargantuan states. I worry about Ceredwyn, Lederhosen and Reynardo and Rat Boy. About Evil Goodbye Kitty. Of even 'cuddlebunni'! As far as I know, they are all safely out of the way with the exception of Evil Goodbye Kitty.

I mourn the loss of life and property, of histories being destroyed in the blink of an eye. The loss of the observatory brought tears to my eyes.

This really sucks, you know?

And why the HELL isn't the US sending troops to help fight the fires? In the name of a loving god, why can't we send people to HELP instead of sending planes with bombs to countries that aren't a threat?

:::sigh:::
Edie

Comments

Fighting fires--literally and figuratively

[revalkorn.livejournal.com]

And why the HELL isn't the US sending troops to help fight the fires? In the name of a loving god, why can't we send people to HELP instead of sending planes with bombs to countries that aren't a threat?

Not commenting about the propriety of sending troops to bomb countries that "aren't a threat" (we can discuss that over a beer sometime), but we probably have enough troops to do both.

Then again, we don't even always send troops to fight our own fires.

Re: Fighting fires--literally and figuratively

[ambitious-wench.livejournal.com]

:::sigh:::
True, Alan, true. However, there were times when we would send helicopters up the side of mountains to rescue hikers who'd become lost in Washington State. Until windshear blew one into the side of the mountain, and all hands were lost. The hiker appeared the next day, walked out on his own two feet.

Frankly, as a vet, I would support the use of troops in non-military humanitarian efforts. I don't mean cutting a gridwork of roads in Panama, either. I mean putting out fires in Australia.

I suspect that we are diametricly opposed on the whole war with Iraq thang--in which case, I would not talk over a beer about it, even if you were buying. If I were buying, I'd choose a more convivial topic.

Edie

Re: Fighting fires--literally and figuratively

[revalkorn.livejournal.com]

I suspect that we are diametricly opposed on the whole war with Iraq thang--in which case, I would not talk over a beer about it, even if you were buying. If I were buying, I'd choose a more convivial topic.

Unless you're the one wanting to go in and blow the hell out of Iraq, I highly doubt we're opposed to this one. I'm not sure that I would say that Iraq is not a threat, but I also don't know that we should be going in there right now . . . at least, not without more evidence than we already have. But if my president says to go in there, then we go in, just like the way we sent entirely too many troops to Somalia and any other "police action" throughout Clinton's administration.

It doesn't matter the party of the president; the politics are still the same.

Re: Fighting fires--literally and figuratively

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter the party of the president; the politics are still the same.

At least when you're talking D's and R's, anyway.

I've long thought of myself as center-left but the further to the right the "center" drifts the better the radical left is starting to look....

Re: Fighting fires--literally and figuratively

[revalkorn.livejournal.com]

At least when you're talking D's and R's, anyway.

There's no evidence yet to say that any other party would be different--only, of course, because there hasn't been a non-D or non-R President. Then again, I'm not sure I would want a Libertarian or Independence party president. I'm not sure they'd even bother having a military. Nice in the ideal utopian world, but not realistic otherwise.

[turnberryknkn.livejournal.com]

Natural disasters suck.

Not a very profound observation, but true n'erless.