_www.FantasyLibrary.com [Visit Who Is Joseph Teller?] Synthesis & Synchronicity 038

Synthesis & Synchronicity #38

Mr. Bush's Great Escape : Our not so esteemed president of the United States, G.W., is busy grabbing headlines today for his great escape from Texas yesterday to the heart of Iraq for a 2-hour visit with the troops in Baghdad. This was a carefully planned and orchestrated trip to get him, air force one, and a handful of carefully hand-picked reporters into the hot spot for a photo op and a rousing speech to keep the disgruntled troops from talking too much to the rest of the press about how they wanted to go home.

The cost for the taxpayers of America for this obvious publicity ploy is probably in the 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars (between the cost to fly not one but two airplanes around as part of the deception, extra secret service protection, gatheirng & escorting the 'right kind of reporters' secretly etc. Our money, being wasted, for what is no more than another damn publicity stunt to try to jack up his numbers in the polls (where he had recently dropped to a bare 50% approval rating last week) in fear of the Democrats... any Democrats... that will be challenging his throne next year.

I think that someone should put all the 'cost conscious' people on alert in Washington and start an investigation... I thought it was illegal to use the funds or property of the US government for purely campaign purposes. They dragged Al Gore over the coals for using his cell phone in the white house to call someone to solicit support in years past, but this president gets to use TONS of our equipment and money directly to get his face on the front page of papers "serving turkey" to the troops. It's a crime. If nothing else his campaign fund should at least be paying for the fuel for the trip!

The controlled and manipulated press, of course, is busy playing up the "danger" involved in this trip. Right.... sure the Iraqi resistance managed to clip and damage a cargo plan with an ancient portable anti-aircraft missile a week ago near the Baghdad airport. What they don't say is that the chances of hitting Air Force One is a lot less (about a million to one... cargo planes don't have radar, can't track and incoming missile, have no armor, have no anti-tracking stealth technologies or even heat-seeking guidance scramblers, all things that the presidents plane does have in ample quantity). It isn't daring, it's political fear that sent Mr. Bush to Baghdad. And real fear of the Iraqi's that made him stay only a couple of hours before getting back in his plane and fleeing.

Thanksgiving : We had a relatively good holiday this year, although Kiralee needed to work. The afternoon into evening potluck friends gathering went well, although the energy level of folks made it less the gaming event I wanted and more a couch potato video event (ok, we did manage to play about 3 hands of Flux before getting the majority of the group stuck in front of the TV watching some cartoons, a comedy film and finishing up with the Futurama pilot episode). The company was good, the food was numerous (Salmon, two kinds of chicken, 2 kinds of polish Kelbasa, baked potatoes, fancy rice, cranberry sauce, hummus dip, spinach dip, 3 kinds of cheese w/ crackers, grapes, pound cake) and managed to find work arounds for the various allergies and dietary restrictions successfully. I wish more folks could have made it, but these things are always a mixed bag to do. I'm reasonably pleased with the result, and I don't have to cook lunch today, and everyone went home sleepy and happy.

I also managed to keep cleanup requirements to a minimum, only 1 1/2 loads of dishes, which is better than we used to manage for our weekly roleplaying gatherings back when I used to provide an evening meal for them. The only thing was that the cost was higher than normal, but that's to be expected.

Cutting It Short : Normally I'd have a bit more to say in this column, but I'm being forced to cut things short as I am writing from the Central Square Starbucks, while Kiralee has an "Accounting Day" in the condo (never bother the Kiralee when she is doing the books... they bite). Unfortunately the Starbucks has a broken machine, so it only has drip coffee and Tea today. Add to this that the nasty wooden seats that are 80% of the seating here are scientifically designed to cut off circulation to my legs and aggrivate hemeroids, and I have no real choice about how long I can spend writing. My left right leg is numb, my left leg is going and the burnt coffee is bothering my stomache. So I'm going to upload the column and head on out into the rain....

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