Timely

Newspaper headline from "The Onion": "Al Qaeda Also Fed Up with Ground-Zero Construction Delays"

He Didn't Really Mean What He Said, Did He?

As a minor, unproductive theologian who has publicly debated Muslims, I have mixed admiration for and historical-theological criticism of Islamic beliefs. Which brings me to the lady on the bus. When I was riding the city bus to my downtown meeting of H.A. (Hoarders Anonymous), the woman sitting next to me was reading her Bible and mumbling. She eventually complained to me how Muslims are bent on converting or conquering the world in the name of Islam, and that good Christians are not like that, then badgered me with "Don't you agree? Don't you?"

As the bus halted at my stop and I was walking out its door, I quickly said to her, "I think Mohammed speaks in the gospels."

"What? Mohammed? Where?" she angrily demanded.

"Mohammed or Jesus---I can't remember which. Try reading Matthew 28:19-20," I replied as I exited.

September 11th and Beyond: The Bird's Eye View

As large as today's commemoration of the September 11th attack is, you can imagine how much larger it'll be on the tenth anniversary next year. The attack triggered the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also prompts today my "I told you so." Not that anyone listens to me---well, my parrot, Holy Ghost, does and occasionally the little woman. Nine years ago I muttered, "No, no, not another land invasion of Asian countries. Saddam Hussein is being adequately supervised by U.S. air and naval power. Haven't we learned from Korea and Vietnam? Ten or more years from now, we'll still have thousands of troops in Iraq (and Afghanistan). Thousands of American soldiers will be killed and tens of thousands will be maimed for life, and billions of dollars will have been spent. And if the military draft isn't reinstated, we'll see little public protest in the U.S. against these invasions. Then after at least a decade in those foreign countries, things will 'end' in a draw at best. We'll leave, then all of the local interethnic and interreligious and political rivalries will return to their standard of normal. Of course, not a single neighboring country in that region will have lifted a finger to help the U.S., and even most of those we 'helped' eventually will turn on us. Even the Vatican and the U.S. bishops are urging the U.S. not to invade, but watch, after American soldiers have been placed there, the bishops will mute their opposition to these wars."

I wish we had then and will have in the future a U.S. President and backers who will have the courage and wisdom to keep land soldiers the hell out of countries, unless American citizens or significant American property are harmed or are in serious and immediate danger. I wish our leaders will spend those trillions of dollars on increasing U.S. air and naval power around the world and in improving our vital systems of intelligence and security in our homeland. Then announce to the world that any attack on the U.S. by another nation will be answered by devastating and sustained air (and naval) power. Possible attacks by rogue, terrorist groups will simply have to be intercepted beforehand by improved intelligence and security tactics. If terrorist groups can be hit by air in their home region, let it be that (witness the increasing success of air-drone attacks in Afghanistan now), but let us stop ordering Americans to die and be damaged in antiquated land battles. And, lastly, let us think twice before we convince ourselves that our military and our U.S. citizens have the duty to do "nation building" in foreign lands.

My other wish is that one or two decades from now, most of the U.S. military personnel and their families will not have the misfortune of looking back and concluding that their sacrifices were in vain.

Now we have the controversy over the proposed new Islamic mosque near the World Trade Center in New York City. In light of the history of harsh anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism in the U.S., where oh where is the united voice of the American Catholic bishops in defending the religious liberty of American Muslims?

Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it---unless, of course, I hear otherwise from Holy Ghost.

One Man's Junk Is Another Man's Treasure

The little woman and I don't much speak to each other anymore. It's not that we have nothing to say, though I am a man of few words. It's more that we don't see each other anymore. It's not that we're more frequently separated lately from one another. It's more that we can hardly view each other. You see, every room in our house is now piled high with stuff. By "high" I mean at least six feet---and because I'm six feet tall and she's less than that---well, you get the picture. By "stuff" I mean things I myself, not she, have collected and moved to Seine and continue to collect. I think I'm a collector. I have piles and stacks of books, notebooks, old grading books, old textbooks, newspapers, magazines, journals, posters, boxes of videos, etc., dating from today to about ten years back.

Jonka is calling the tv show, "Buried Alive: Hoarders," as I speak.

Cobwebs

I enjoyed again watching the fine H. G. Wells' movie from the 1950s, "The Time Machine." I've noticed that in similar films about time travel by such machines, the occupant of the vehicle never eats or drinks while transmitting through time. I think that if you're riding in such a contraption, you'd enjoy eating corn on the cob. I don't think it would affect things one way or another. But the point I'm trying to make here is that corn on the cob is real good, isn't it?

Ratty Tat Too

All this fuss about tattoos! I think tattoos, especially large ones or several of them on a person, are repulsive, dirty-looking, weird. Yet, after watching a few episodes of tv's "L.A. Ink," and developing a crush on its main woman tattoo artist, I was persuaded to visit a tattoo parlor. First, I received the traditional butterfly tattoo. Then I asked for and was given the image of an anchor. With plenty of time scheduled for this, I next obtained a tattoo of dice. Then she talked me into one featuring the state capitol of Delaware; this was followed by a large one of Popeye. Well, I found that I had to have a second tattoo butterfly to remind me of the first, then a second anchor to have me reflect upon the first one; a second tattoo of dice came next, because I wanted a refresher about the first dice; I had to have another capitol building at Dover in order not to forget the previous one; then, of course, a second Popeye to honor the first one.

Dear Lord, then I realized the addictiveness toward tattoos about which you hear people speak. Good thing my tattoos all were temporary.

In the Wild

I have no desire to visit Africa or any other hot-weather region. But I wonder. I wonder if Africa has zoos. If it does, it seems logical that its zoo cages would be filled with dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, hamsters, and goldfish.