Tuesday, October 11, 2011

October 5, 2011


     A new poll from the Pew Research Center says one third of the U.S. veterans of the post 9/ll wars--Iraq and Afghanistan—think those wars were not worth fighting.  A majority think the U.S should be focusing more on problems at home and less on foreign affairs.  I'm surprised the numbers aren't higher.

 

     Nearly 4500 American troops have died in Iraq and about 1700 in Afghanistan.  War costs have topped a trillion (yes, that's "t") dollars.  You have to ask, what for?

 

      And there's another factor.  When I covered the war in Vietnam in the 1960s, we had a draft.  Most GIs did only one tour in the war zone.  Now, our volunteer troops serve three or four.  That's a lot of war for anyone to bear.

 

     And you keep coming back to, why?  What are we gaining in those places?  Beats the hell out of me.  It's been ten years now;  haven't we lost enough?   


Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fwd: OCTOBER 2, 2011

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Ann Hawthorne" <aphawthorne@verizon.net>
Date: Oct 2, 2011 10:53 AM
Subject: OCTOBER 2, 2011
To: "Wittenberg, Holly" <holly.wittenberg@gmail.com>

 

 

 

     We're into the baseball playoffs again.  Wait a minute!  Grab that man who shouted "So what?!"  Get his name, please.

 

     Anyway, we're here.  We have some unsurprising qualifiers, like the Yankees, and some unsurprising losers, like the Chicago Cubs, who last won a pennant in 1945, a World Series in 1908.  But there are some surprising losers too.  Boston Red Sox fans—and a lot of their players, probably--thought they'd be out there.  They're not.

 

     So it's Yankees versus Tigers (I'd bet NY), Rays versus Rangers (have to root for Tampa Bay, they're new to all this), Cards versus Phillies (bet Phillies, I guess) and Diamondbacks versus Brewers (no idea, your call).

 

     Anyway, you know what I'll be watching these early days of October.  It'll all be good fun and when we get down to two teams, not eight, it'll probably be easier to pick a Series winner.

 

     Good luck. 

 

    














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