Observing Precedence

Somehow, I caught a piece of last night's news. The speaker was blasting President Obama for 1) sending air strikes against Libya without consulting Congress, 2) saying we would only be involved in Libya for a few days, and it's been almost two months, and 3) saying that no Americans would set foot in Libya, and they have.

It always amazes me how short some people's memories are. I pay little attention to the news, but I can definitely remember those same things happening at least twice within my memory. The last time got us involved in two wars, where we are still involved. Somehow, those times seem to be 'okay'. I can't figure out why.

There may have been other presidents who did the same things, but I was paying even less attention back then.

I'm not saying President Obama was absolutely right for getting us involved in the Libya mess. I'm just saying he was following the example of previous presidents. Since we let the previous presidents get away with it, why are we so outraged when this president does the same thing? Why weren't we outraged when it was done the first time?

One of the problems of being a president is that everything you do could set a precedent. Including the color of socks you choose to wear to a certain meeting.

No Room for Discussion

Once upon a time, I wouldn't be caught dead making anything that might be construed as a 'political' statement. I hated confrontation, arguments and anything like that, so I refused to comment on politics and religion. Sometimes, even weather didn't seem like a 'safe' subject.

But I've gotten cranky as I've aged. Politicians have gotten even more outrageous, and the sheep that blindly follow one party or the other have gotten even more woolly.

I consider myself an Independent. I pick and choose which way I want to lean on any given subject. I even occasionally express an opinion that might not agree with that of those I'm with, exercising my right to have my own opinion.

Hard-core sheep don't like it when you aren't flowing along with the rest of the herd.

I recently found myself on a chatlist, the purported tenants of which I agreed with – showing support for our military people fighting across the seas. I expressed my support, and was about to skip back to whatever website I'd been on, when I realized that most of the comments on this chatlist were actually an unimaginative bashing of a politician I currently admire. I lost my temper and caustically bashed an entire political party, blaming them for a great deal of what I saw wrong in the country.

A few hours later, I received a message from someone on that chatlist, informing me I should educate myself before exposing my ignorance. Evidently, if I don't agree with them, I'm not entitled to have an opinion. Now, when was that right stripped from me? Somebody forgot to tell me.

Take the Time

There are two old sayings I've heard forever: "Wake up and smell the coffee," and "Stop to smell the roses." They both mean similar things, an urging for people to not be so wrapped up in merely existing that they can't appreciate the beauty and good things around them. I've spent years existing, taking care of my family, my employer, paying my bills.

Early in March, I took a trip to Florida with a friend. We drove, so we'd have a car to use while we were there. Early in the trip, with my family and worries left behind, I looked around at the scenery while my friend drove. The grass in Missouri was brown. The only thing in the countryside that resembled color were the fir trees, which were so dark a green, they were nearly black. I knew Florida would not look like this, and I wondered if I would notice the changes as we drove, or if they would happen too slowly.

Kentucky and Tennessee were still pretty bleak, although the grass was somewhat greener. As we approached Chattanooga, I saw some bushes – or maybe they were small trees – that had purple flowers. No leaves that I could see, but the splash of color was pretty. We drove around a curve, and there was a similar small tree with bright pink flowers. I could feel my spirits rise.

Then we were headed straight south through Georgia, and the landscape got greener and greener with every mile, it seemed. If I had not been looking for these changes, I probably would have arrived in Florida and THEN been surprised by the colors around me. But since I was being observant, I got to have my spirits lifted at least a full day early, by the sight of a few bright bushes and trees.

I've decided to look for those bright spots a little more often.

To Boldly Go

Went to Cape Kennedy a few days ago. Watched one of their Imax movies, talked to an astronaut and some of the staff. I wondered what NASA planned to do, now that the shuttles are being shelved.

This is some of what I found out:

Congress won't allow NASA to have more than one 'project' going at any one time. So if they want to send more people to the moon (and they do), they had to stop sending shuttles to the space station. Russia can take passengers and cargo for us, but the price for a passenger rose from about $20 million per person to $68 million. As you can imagine, that would dig a big hole in NASA's budget, so they looked around for other ways to get people there. There are 2 or 3 private industries that could be ready for fairly regular excursions to the station in 10 years … or as little as 2 or 3 years, with a little help. Whoever I was talking to at the time indicated NASA would help those industries, in order to cut down its dependency on Russia, because Russia could decide to 'pull the plug' at any time. And with more than one entity providing this service, the price per 'seat' would come down.

Out of every $100 of federal taxes, NASA gets 42 cents. It will soon go to 38 cents out of every $100.

NASA asked for an increase of 2.5 billion dollars in its budget and was turned down. What the public doesn't realize is that Americans already spend $35 billion per year in tips for the pizza delivery guys.

The tax dollars that NASA spends are not loaded up on the shuttle and blasted into space. They are spent on the ground, in the form of jobs and contracts. Our exploration of space has produced many discoveries that probably would not have happened without space exploration. For instance, some medical research depends on crystals grown on the station, crystals that cannot be grown on Earth because of gravity.

I've got some research to do. One thing I'd like to know is how NASA's budget compares to the subsidies provided to oil companies, who already make profits in the billions. If nothing else, people, the Earth is getting crowded. Time to start looking for new places for some of us to move.