Politics

Ah... Here I am about to break my objective ... of not engaging in political rhetoric; but I feel I need to make a prediction.

The latest upheaval in the Middle East is quite scary for us, the US. The riots and protests in Egypt appears to be following an earlier one .. in Iran. The Iranian rioting led to the takeover there by militant Islamists and the ouster of US interests. Egypt could easily follow and be taken over by forces antagonistic towards the US. And, in my opinion, our very weak and incapable Administration is following a similar path that helped lead Iran to its present government by a former weak and ineffective US Administration in 1979.

It appears that the rioters are following a clue that says the US will not help or aid the present Egyptian administration due to some misguided support for a "humane and caring" concern for the rioters, when, in actuality, they are probably as ruthless as the Egyptian Government.

I predict that, unless the US gives full support to the present Egyptian administration, Egypt will become the next Islamist Republic and be totally against the US. Why worry? The Suez Canal and the close proximity to Israel are two obvious answers.

NEW YEAR

This year could probably be much different for me than any previous one in my memory. I now live with only a beautiful Basset Hound for company. The nice thing about this is that when I talk to the dog, she sometimes listens and often just turns away; but, I still am quite comforted by her presence. Fortunately, she has only a limited vocabulary (two words : Bow and Wow) and seldom directs these words towards me.

I still live by a code of honor that I will not (cannot) break that is grounded in being truthful and honest while endeavoring to never intentionally hurt anyone or anything.

The greatest challenge that I face is extreme loneliness. This, for me, is made doubly difficult because of my personality; of being introverted which means that I do not make friends easily and often do not know how to engage in idle conversation. It seems that few people (that I have met), do not enjoy talking or thinking about those things of interest to me.

RESTART

Last year was quite traumatic including some personal tragedy that left all of my rants in this venue as nothing but trite.

But, the world continues to move and maybe, I can start to pick up this exercise with a little more of the information that is interesting to me; and hopefully you as well. And, less political and more history, although, I will occasionally backslide.