Guitar cases, head cases, and...case in point...
I FINALLY bought a new guitar case to replace my current Taylor acoustic guitar case. As more plastic was peeling off the outside of the case, revealing the case's styrofoam interior, I decided that was just too redneck for me - housing a $1,000 guitar in a case where only 2 of the 3 hinges were still attached IS pretty redneck and not necessarily very good for the guitar. Kira at Emiron hooked me up with a nice new one, though, and I also ordered a pickup for my 12-string while I was there, so Ic an start playing that at church.
The dynamic at band practice was a bit different yesterday, since Jeremy was on drums and Allison was on vocals, but it was a good dynamic. It's nice to change things up a bit, 'cause it brings a different type of energy and passion to the stage. Hopefully, Sunday morning will rock as much as rehearsal did. Note to band: Relax on Sunday like we do on Wednesday, and we got it...
(change of subject)
It seems the hot topics this week are the beheading of Nick Berg and the relation of it (if any) to the prisoner abuse scandal. It's in the news constantly. It's referred to in friends' blogs. And, I've talked to several people who see such an event as yet another opportunity to communicate their disgust with America that we're there in the first place (which is a valid frustration for many people)
-sigh-
I wish we weren't there, too. I wish none of our soldiers/civilians had died. I wish the motives behind our going over there were clearer to us. I also wish that loud-mouths on capitol hill (and hollywood) wouldn't just use every incident or opportunity to speak as a way of politicizing every freakin' even that happens. "Ooh...prisoner abuse. Therefore, I ask Rumsfeld to resign." What in the @#$% is up with that? People who use scandal and tragedy to further their own agendas need to be hit on the head with a hammer.
What I REALLY wish for is that we had a better grasp on the reality of what we're dealing with. If you don't know, watch the Nick Berg video in its full version (available on a number of websites, if you can stomach it...which I can't...I had to close the window before I actually saw it, Thank God.). I doubt you could, either. Our prisoner abusers, who should be punished accordingly, took pictures of Iraqis in odd poses while they were naked - Iraqi fighters who have been responsible for killing/hurting/attempting to hurt U.S. soldiers (they weren't just prisoners who just got caught stealing a car or something). In contrast, terrorist forms of abuse involve civilian contractors who are there trying to HELP Iraq...and, in the case of Nick Berg, he was not photographed being naked...he was videotaped being executed...horribly. Wake the @#$% up, people...it's this very cruelty in extremist forms of Islam (or any religion, for that matter...it's usually about the fanatic, NOT the faith itself) that we're fighting. No, I don't naively think we're doing everything right over there, but I recognize evil when I see it.
Why does this bother me so much? Because last week, it seemed more people were upset at the cancellation of "Friends" on TV than they are about the atrocities of terrorism. -Sigh- As we sit in our comfortable, decently protected homes in quiet neighborhoods, it is very easy to disconnect from the realities of war - in spite of the 'streaming' content from news networks. And instead of being outraged at the execution of Nick Berg by hateful people, many people scream "Get us out of Iraq" even louder. But is it right to ignore evil?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke
Will ignoring evil make it go away? Definitely not, but it might get it out of the televisions in our living rooms when we don't want to see it.
Now, I have to go cry because Frasier's last episode is tonight...(yes, I'm just oozing sarcasm...don't get me wrong, it's okay to be sad about such things, but it's GOT to be kept in perspective).
The dynamic at band practice was a bit different yesterday, since Jeremy was on drums and Allison was on vocals, but it was a good dynamic. It's nice to change things up a bit, 'cause it brings a different type of energy and passion to the stage. Hopefully, Sunday morning will rock as much as rehearsal did. Note to band: Relax on Sunday like we do on Wednesday, and we got it...
(change of subject)
It seems the hot topics this week are the beheading of Nick Berg and the relation of it (if any) to the prisoner abuse scandal. It's in the news constantly. It's referred to in friends' blogs. And, I've talked to several people who see such an event as yet another opportunity to communicate their disgust with America that we're there in the first place (which is a valid frustration for many people)
-sigh-
I wish we weren't there, too. I wish none of our soldiers/civilians had died. I wish the motives behind our going over there were clearer to us. I also wish that loud-mouths on capitol hill (and hollywood) wouldn't just use every incident or opportunity to speak as a way of politicizing every freakin' even that happens. "Ooh...prisoner abuse. Therefore, I ask Rumsfeld to resign." What in the @#$% is up with that? People who use scandal and tragedy to further their own agendas need to be hit on the head with a hammer.
What I REALLY wish for is that we had a better grasp on the reality of what we're dealing with. If you don't know, watch the Nick Berg video in its full version (available on a number of websites, if you can stomach it...which I can't...I had to close the window before I actually saw it, Thank God.). I doubt you could, either. Our prisoner abusers, who should be punished accordingly, took pictures of Iraqis in odd poses while they were naked - Iraqi fighters who have been responsible for killing/hurting/attempting to hurt U.S. soldiers (they weren't just prisoners who just got caught stealing a car or something). In contrast, terrorist forms of abuse involve civilian contractors who are there trying to HELP Iraq...and, in the case of Nick Berg, he was not photographed being naked...he was videotaped being executed...horribly. Wake the @#$% up, people...it's this very cruelty in extremist forms of Islam (or any religion, for that matter...it's usually about the fanatic, NOT the faith itself) that we're fighting. No, I don't naively think we're doing everything right over there, but I recognize evil when I see it.
Why does this bother me so much? Because last week, it seemed more people were upset at the cancellation of "Friends" on TV than they are about the atrocities of terrorism. -Sigh- As we sit in our comfortable, decently protected homes in quiet neighborhoods, it is very easy to disconnect from the realities of war - in spite of the 'streaming' content from news networks. And instead of being outraged at the execution of Nick Berg by hateful people, many people scream "Get us out of Iraq" even louder. But is it right to ignore evil?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke
Will ignoring evil make it go away? Definitely not, but it might get it out of the televisions in our living rooms when we don't want to see it.
Now, I have to go cry because Frasier's last episode is tonight...(yes, I'm just oozing sarcasm...don't get me wrong, it's okay to be sad about such things, but it's GOT to be kept in perspective).
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