The flu, TiVo, and Oprah

I've been home with the flu for two days, so I've had plenty of time to catch up on shows that I have TiVo'd. One thing that I have noticed about myself is that I have been complacent in my convictions. There has been so much going on the world lately and I feel I must comment. Those of you who don't know me very well will probably not like what I have to say. Those of you who do know me may still not like what I have to say, but you will understand that even though my views may be different than yours, I still respect your opinion, and I still love you. So here goes.

I'm concerned. I'm really concerned. What are we going to do about North Korea? I saw Lisa Ling talking about going into North Korea with a group of eye surgeons that performed about 1,000 cataract surgeries. The people in that country don't have any clue what's going on in the rest of the world. They only have country-sanctioned news, they don't have the internet, and they don't have cell phones. They are malnourished, they don't have proper medical care, which is why their cataracts have gotten so bad, and the only thing they believe in are their leaders (because of brain washing). Lisa Ling said that after they got their surgeries, and they could see again, they bent down in praise of their great leaders for their sight - not the surgeons, and not the corporations that paid for the surgeons to go in. They are taught to believe that Americans are waging a war against them, and they are so thankful that their nuclear weapons program is progressing so that they will have a fighting chance against us. This is not their fault - they don't know any better.

So what do we do? With our troups spread so thin between Afghanistan and Iraq (my next rant), it's almost like there isn't much we can do.

Yesterday Oprah had on The New York Times columnist Frank Rich who wrote the book - "The Greatest Story Ever Sold."

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200610/tows_past_20061012.jhtml

Frank believes, and I agree, that we invaded Iraq based on mistruths. Soon after 9/11, everyone in the current administration spoke the words "Iraq" and "9/11" in the same sentence every time they spoke so that the American public would believe they are connected. I still can't believe that this continues five years later. Even the President admitted in his August 21st news conference that one had nothing to do with the other.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060821.html

So we went war on mistruths. Even I don't think it's right to pull up shop and leave today, but why don't we have an exit strategy? I see comments from soldiers who say we are building schools and hospitals and such, which are good and noble things, but I say - what about New Orleans? Who's building their schools and hospitals? And believe me - I DEFINITELY support the troops. My heart goes out to each and every person that is fighting the war. One of the things that REALLY pisses me off is when the pro-war people try to say that people who are against the war are somehow disrespecting the troups (such a cop-out argument). The exact OPPOSITE is true - we respect the the troups enough to want to bring them home safe and sound.

So what do we do? I certainly don't have all the answers. Number one priority should be an exit strategy - I don't care which side it comes from. It's not like I've seen any great Democrats stepping up to the plate lately.

I also saw Oprah interview the first female tourist in Space. She was there for 10 days, and she got to see a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes. She said if the world leaders could travel into space, they would understand what a beautiful, small space we live in, and there wouldn't be any more wars. I wish more people had this view - a worldly view, a Godly view - that we should all love our neighbors as ourselves.

Ok, so I've seen a lot of Oprah shows this week. After all, "It's Oprah's America - we're just living in it!" - Dave White