Robatoy wrote:
| On Sep 12, 1:21 am, "Morris Dovey" wrote:
|
|| My _preferred_ weapons are keyboard and ballot.
|
| I so wish I had a ballot.

Y'know, I was thinking about that a while back. Not your (r's) ballot
specifically, but the notion that citizens of a country aren't the
only stakeholders in choosing that country's leaders.

It was just idle thinking, of course, because no one in any country
would be willing to give someone from another country a role in
choosing their country's leadership. Still, it's an interesting
thought - and I've wondered how things would play if the world outside
the USA could elect one senator and one representative to our
legislature...

| That said, it does not render my views and my ability to express
| them as impotent.
| It's that 'forest-from-the-trees' thing, Morris.

Absolutely true - that's the "keyboard' part of the arsenal. Discourse
/can/ bring about change when well-chosen words are spoken/written in
a suitable context.

Well, in a manner of speaking, we're all trees in the forest - even
though we'd each like to speak our own piece and be heard as
individuals.

It's being worth listening to that's the real challenge.

| I peek over the fence and worry myself sick.

I'll be the first to admit that you have noisy neighbors who (at least
sometimes) appear to be completely irrational. :-)

Observe - great. Worry yourself sick - please don't. As a constructive
friend, you're highly valued - and I would prefer you stay healthy.

FWIW, before you get into deep worry mode, it makes sense to ask:
"Hey, what's going on here? Do I need to worry about you?" There are a
couple of benefits to this: first, there may not be as much reason to
worry as you originally thought - and second, you've stimulated your
neighbor to focus (even if just a little) more on what you see as a
problem.

| A lot of my peers were on loan to Iran to build their electrical
| networks. They made a lot of friends. So many Iranians we'd love to
| have as neighbours. What's with the war drums?

Fear and a certain amount of bigotry. Fear that Iran will develop
nuclear weapons as powerful as those we have and fear that they'll act
irresponsibly.

I worked (and socialized) with some Irani immigrants in San Jose. I
was pleased to give 'em all the furniture I'd built for my apartment
when I returned to Iowa, and I'd be still more pleased to have them
living next door here.

In order to beat the war drums, it's necessary to /ignore/ the value
of individuals. I've concluded that "hawkishness" is inversely
proportional to the number of places from which one's friends come and
inverse-squared with one's appreciation for cultures other than one's
own.

| Won't you add impeachement to you arsenal of keyboard and ballot?

That's not really a solution to the problems we've created for
ourselves - for a number of reasons. For instance: How would you feel
knowing the head of household next door had carelessly shot a
_friend_?

IMO, our stars never shone so brightly as when we focused our efforts
on sharing our best with others in need - and they never dimmed so
rapidly as when our politicians changed their focus from 'help' to
'control'.

They _still_ don't have 24-hour electricity in Baghdad.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/