We are in trouble

Why say this? Why be such a pessimist? History.
We live in a country where we can forget we are at war. We watch baseball instead. And basketball. And football. And American Idol.

Whole segments of the population totally avoid military service. Because its dangerous. This is nothing new, by the way -- just ask all the politicians that received deferments back in the days of Vietnam.

We choose not to face these things in the face of day-to-day living. Because reality can be brutal. And we don't like brutal. Abortion is brutal reality; let's not deal with it and instead hide behind words like "choice."

But eventually events catch up with us that shatter our perfect little world. Just ask those metro New Yorkers that worked in the World Trade Center. Evil is a part of man; it is a part of our world. We can deal with it or we can ignore it until it is too late. And we really like to ignore it.

Israel wakes up and smells the coffee; what about us?

Israel is finally figuring out that there can be no peace with people who are committed to seeing the end of the Jewish nation. All the hand-ringing and kumbaya-singing of those in the West who just want to get along just emboldens Hamas, Hezbollah, and the various other would-be Zaqarwis out there. These people have to be dealt with, because they won't just go away. Meanwhile, a very dangerous situation is unfolding before our eyes, and its easy to see how we could get drawn in to the conflict. Morally, we should but its questionable if there is sufficient political will to do so in an election year. And we haven't even talked about North Korea or Iran yet.

New blog!

I have a new blog at townhall.com, called Pocket Rockets Cracked Again. I'll keep more personal stuff here and do more standing on a soapbox there. I'll put a link to it so you can see what I have got there.

It's July, the Reds are in first!

Here's something that we haven't seen in many years in these parts. The Reds are in first in July! Last night I saw something I've never seen with my own eyes -- bottom of the ninth, two outs, down three runs -- walk-off grand slam game winner! If you can't get excited about that you're probably already dead. They may not be baseball's best team, but they have done far better than anyone expected (Sports Illustrated picked 'em dead last.) Two good teams in Cincinnati in the same year? Say it is so, Joe.