Star Wars, Candidates, and Shot Down Satellites

It's my birthday; I can cry if I want to... getting older isn't what it used to be. I saw Princess Leia live this week and seeing her age just brings home my own aging. But I was really happy to see Carrie Fisher's one woman autobiographical play, "Wishful Drinking", at the Berkeley Rep. Definitely worth seeing if you like her work or if you are a fan of either of her parents. I personally think both her acting and her writing are stellar.

This week, for those of you who haven't heard, the Navy "successfully" shot down a U.S. spy satellite that was plummeting toward the earth... that's what they say. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but there is evidence out there that the government has been working on this and that related to the ol' 80's Star Wars program for a while now, so although I'm not sure what they used to shoot the thing down, it is interesting in that context. And yeah, I'm glad they used the Navy supposedly for something useful to protect innocent people from getting bits of satellite debris dropped on their heads.

Finally, one of the best things I received in email this week was a link to the Star Wars Guide to the Candidates. Most are out of the race now, but it's hilarious! Enjoy.

Then What Exactly Does the Pentagon Do?

Here's a scary article - supposedly according to a retired Major General, the Pentagon's disaster planning "couldn't move a Girl Scout unit". Well, in their defense, a bunch of girls is hard to herd, but this is really sad considering the billions we spend in tax dollars that ends up flowing through the Pentagon. So they send us to wars that blow things up, shuffle regimes around, kill people, make terrorism easier to hide and raise the price of gasoline and they push paper around under the auspices of "defense" and "disaster planning" is just a word. That's fine. Anyone else ready to move to Antigua?

I've never worked in the Pentagon and I'm sure if I did, I'd have a different perspective, but I have worked in government and in security and I know that it's a big bumbling bureaucracy. I also know that when things are urgent and important, it is possible to make progress. So here's a note to them: things are urgent and important - there are still terrorists out there and there are other pseudo-natural (i.e. global warming-enhanced) disasters also waiting to occur.

This is a problem that's much bigger than the Pentagon; it's a problem that oozes through layers of government regarding who does what and when. News to lawmakers and government agencies: we the people don't care who does it. We just want it done so we can have a safe, solid, secure, sensible country again.

As much as I can't wait until we have a new president in office, I still acknowledge this problem is much bigger than one leader alone can solve. It takes a village and another village and another... 'nuff said, end rant.