I don't have any of his music

But this Kris Kristofferson is not bad. As protest songs go. Neil Young was on Colbert the other night and I loved his "I hate this stinking war" sentiment.

Someone asked if I was in a funk lately. Perhaps. Lot going on with school. No more stress than anyone else, and less than some. But it is hectic.

The summer heat tends to wear on me too, though I suspect that is less than the wear and tear of living in the shattered remains of our constitutional government. I watched Bush the other night do his little smirking chimp at a Harley factory and thought, "I have avoided saying this, but our President is a dick." I mean, he is a total ass. All respect due to the office, but the man in that office right now is someone that none of us would want to spend time with.

Sigh.

Speaking of that, and the Kristofferson video, I was listening to an interesting discussion on NPR the other night about what to call the recent Israel/Hezbollah war. Interesting how every side chooses those names that most benefit their view of culpability. The mayor of Beirut (I believe) however, caught me off guard when he hoped this would be called "the last war."

Holy shit. I am not a pacifist, though, as Greg over at the Parish and Wasp Jerky ask, if Jesus was one, and we are to model him, then . . . I can't quite get there, but there are a great many things that Jesus asked that I am unable to do. I have no love in my heart for our President, I hold grudges, and against my better nature, I sometimes take pleasure in the suffering of my enemies. (In my own defense, at least I know that isn't right, whereas the Falwell and Dobson's of this world seem unaware).

But back to pacifism and war. I am struck by how many people in our world thrive on war as an idea. Oh yeah, they say they hate war, that "war is hell," blah blah blah, but it is hard to watch the news and not feel that many of these people like the leader of Hezbollah, the President of Iran, some in Israel and Bush and Cheney all like war. They like it. They want it.

I am not arguing for a complete moral equivalency here--some of these demand that Israel be wiped off the map. But our world is a dangerous place because all of them like to put others in harms way and then talk about the costs of war.

There will always be war, I have no doubt. This won't be the last war probably this year. This will continue. But part of that is due to way too many people in power who don't even believe in peace.

And unfortunately, our country is high on that list right now. Call me an idealist. Call me a wimp. Call me a commie. Hell, I don't care. But this isn't working.

Hell, maybe I am in a funk!