Full Moon Rising

"I see a bad moon arising,
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today."

"Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise."

Credence Clearwater Revival

No moon is a really a bad moon. Beautiful, inspirational, indicators for planting, spiritual rituals, mood enhancing or depressing. Full moons are the times often hospitals see more accidents, more violence. Something about them does impact people...

So is that my excuse for thinking right now about what's going on in our country? Is it why I'm worrying about our media and why it seems to be so far off base with its lack of dealing with what really matters? Does anyone else notice we are being bombarded by 'non' stories when there are things we need to know; but if they get noticed at all, it's on the back pages.

Why is it even a story if an American actress, married to an English musician, said the English are brighter and more intelligent than Americans? The woman has since denied she said it, but would it matter if she had? First, is it wrong to look at other countries and decide they might be superior to ours for one reason or another? Secondly, who cares what she thinks? Why does this hit the newspapers and TV? Will Bill O'Reilly suggest boycotting her films? Is this crazy to you or are you one who thinks everyone in any country should be effusive on how wonderful it is-- no matter what it does?

Why didn't the murder of the male teacher in Afghanistan, who had the effrontery to educate girls, receive more coverage? He knew he was taking a risk, but he felt girls should receive educations like boys. First Lady Laura Bush even visited Afghanistan awhile back to emphasize how wonderful it was girls were finally being educated. There's sure a bad moon on the rise there. The Taliban types kidnapped that teacher, partially disemboweled him; and then tore him limb from limb, leaving those limbs on display to frighten others from daring the same thing.

"Looks like we're in for nasty weather. One eye is taken for an eye." CCR

Our media's constant drumbeat has been on Iraq, which makes sense, as it's a terrible problem; but why aren't we hearing more about how Afghanistan is slipping back under the thumb of the Taliban types? It's evident to all but the most rabid Bush supporters that he rushed us into Iraq for no reason (that has yet been revealed anyway) leaving behind a half-finished job in Afghanistan which is currently in the process of unraveling.

Then there has been all the 'news' about whether a certain pop star was making a comeback, getting a divorce, losing weight, making new friends that weren't such good choices, and wearing underwear... not! First of all if a photographer went into a local mall here and photographed up ordinary women's skirts, he'd be the one arrested... But the main thing is why was it a story on any news program, let alone most of them?

Current news that should matter to all of us is the hearing for Gates as Secretary of Defense. He is going to be approved and maybe he should be. I don't know enough about him and given the type of people Bush usually picks, maybe this man is the best we could hope for; but was it a significant item to you when he said we have to stay in Iraq or the whole region will go up in flames?

Irrespective of these hearings, we are being told if we stay in Iraq, it will still blow up the whole region if we take the side of the Shiites over the Sunnis... same thing if we do the reverse. Whichever side the US picked, the other side has friends ready to enter into the fray. In the case of the Sunnis, that would be Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Sunnis in Iran.

Our presence in Iraq galvinizes the terrorist element in that country. Nobody likes invaders and to many there we are perceived as that most especially when we build bases and say we are staying far into the future. It's also obvious to anyone, impartially looking at the situation, that those terrorists are mostly home-grown. Al Qaeda doesn't need to go to Iraq to cause trouble. They can save their energy for retaking Afghanistan or attacking innocent people around the world. Terror is doing just fine in Iraq without their help.

Could it be our news is screwed up because Americans can't handle the truth any better than their president? Bush was taking away as many of our liberties as he could get away with and what slowed him down? Not his usurption of power but rather his failures. Suppose he'd been efficient, would Americans be nodding their heads to his power grab and saying Amen?

Dissent is threatened in this country. We hear so much talk about the need to spread freedom around the world while we are seeing people try to erode our freedoms here. Even a blog that dares to write about things that are going wrong, about Bush's ineptness can receive death threats. The Dixie Chicks lost most of their fan base for daring to say what they thought about Bush.

If it is said enough times that Bush is and has been a good president, will it make it so? I guess he thinks a half a billion dollar presidential library will convince everybody.

One last thing-- if anyone thinks that the problem is just Bush, they are not facing the whole picture. He represents, and has all along, a certain political movement which wasn't born with his presidency-- hence we have Gingrich speaking on limiting freedom of speech to control dangerous... uhm exactly what was he worried about stopping? Dissent that upsets people and interferes with the plans of those in power perhaps? We might need protecting all right, but it's not from someone peacefully arguing against what a president has been doing but rather those who would stifle such dissent.

And then there is McCain who wants the presidency so bad he doesn't care what it takes to get there (yes, you can insert Hillary's name there too). McCain's latest is blaming the end of Bolton's term as UN Ambassador as being the fault of Democrats. Might we say instead credit goes to the Democrats given what I have heard about Bolton's abrasive style while holding that job! Do we really need more enemies around the world? Do we believe we are in any position to demand others follow our dictates? Bolton was what Bush wanted because he represents the kind of bullies Bush admires; and while Bolton might be gone, our country and the world have two more years of Bush, who feels he must regularly remind us he is the Commander in Chief, the Decider. Like who can forget?

(Moon pictures taken December 5, 2006 at 6:45pm using Canon Rebel. No tripod and no timed shots thanks to the 100-400mm Image Stabilizer Zoom Lens. And thanks to Parapluie for the idea of taking pictures of this beautiful winter moon.)