Mixed Standing

"Canada denies refugee status to American Soldier"

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I'm not sure which way I'm leaning on this. On one hand, I feel people should not be forced to go to war. On the other hand, he was not drafted, he joined the Army because he wanted to join.

Side note: It blows my mind that people join the military or reserves, and then when a war occurs are shocked they have to go fight. Come on people, if you don't want to go to war, don't join the military! I already know if I'm ever drafted I will be shooting myself before I shoot anyone else (not that they'd let me fight, as my ankle is well known for unexpectedly giving out).

Back when Desert Storm started there were families with children where both parents were in the reserves. Why? Because for "only one weekend a month and one week a year", they pulled in extra money from the government. (There's a good example of advertising that worked.) Then the war - I'm sorry, "the conflict" - started, and sets of parents were called to fight. The response from many was: "You can't send us both! What about our children?" The answer was, of course, find someone to take care of them while you are gone. Many of the parents were outraged. But come on! Did they think they could get that money without someday having to serve the purpose it was for?

I had a friend join the reserves after 9/11, and when his unit received orders sending them to war he was surprised and afraid. My question was, "then why did you join?" His answer was, "because I wanted to help after 9/11 and this was the only way I could think of." To which I asked why he didn't expect once joining he would eventually be sent to war, especially knowing 9/11 had just happened and what people's reactions where. He couldn't answer. I'm sure he had never wanted to risk his life like that, but at the time of joining didn't think through what the consequences would be. All the reserves means is you aren't constantly on active duty in the military, but you are on call in case of war.

Back on topic: Now, this man appears to be just fine with going to war. It is only this specific war (on Iraq) he has objections to, because he feels it's not legal and he would be forced to commit war crimes if he were to go. I can agree with these objections, I think he's right in those statements. But I also agree with the Canadian judge that said he would not face cruel or unusual punishment in the U.S. for being a deserter (I will amend 'as a civilian' to this statement - there's no telling how the military will react to him). I believe there are enough of us that feel the war is wrong for him to be just fine here. And perhaps if he even told people what actually is happening in Iraq, and what was and was not found, he could convince others.

Yes, if he were to come back or be brought back to the U.S. he would have to go to jail for 5 years for deserting. But as I've already said, he joined the military willingly. Sometimes when your beliefs go against decisions you have made you have to live with the consequences.

I think he should be fighting the system on this one, but I feel he's fighting the wrong system. This man should be fighting the U.S. for his rights, not Canada. Draft dodgers and deserters are two different things. Canada should not be blamed for wrong doing in this case.

Note to Self

Now that I'm in a good place, I need to start being a better friend.

Hitchhikers

Random thoughts this morning included some on part of a conversation I had last night about hitchhikers, and that I have picked them up before. I definitely remember one, I think there was a second time also. I haven't picked up anyone hitchhiking on a freeway, but that's because by the time you see the person is hitchhiking there's no time to get over and stop. I was thinking about it, and realized (besides my trusting nature) I probably don't worry too much about hitchhikers because once when I was young my Dad hitchhiked with me and we were picked up.

- I was five or six years old. Dad had run out of gas on the highway. We were trying to make it to the next exit to a gas station. -

Then I thought, it's most likely Dad and I were picked up because he had a small child with him. Wouldn't you think a hitchhiker with a child wouldn't be the kind that is dangerous?

THEN I thought... actually it probably looked very not good because my Dad is quite White and I am not. And back in the early eighties such families weren't common place. (Though it would have been less odd than a Black adult with a White child, that probably would have set off a lot of "wrong!" radars.) So now I wonder if the man who picked us up was worried Dad was trying to kidnap me or not?

Then again, Dad had a gas can in his hand too. Perhaps the man saw the car on the side of the freeway, then saw Dad with the gas can and put two and two together.

Days off

*sighs happily* This is the first whole weekend i've had off in a long time. I have no idea what to do with myself other than sleep late and relax. It's so odd that i got my fiance up this morning alittle after 11am. Yes before noon the poor thing grumbled at me however to me 11 hours of sleep is plenty. This being said its been snowing out since morning and doesnt look like its going to stop anytime soon so it's a good thing he got the movies last night. Also spring break is this week however its not a pause to my working full time. Although after working ten days straight im beginning to appreciate what it means to be able to sit down after work and do nothing but stare at the computer or play with my cats. The simple things of life have really been surprising me lately. Now off to go finish Shanghai Knights an odd movie but amusing so far.

~Me

Cooking Tip

I've been slowly braving my way into the world of cooking. VERY slowly. But I've managed to learn a few tricks in the last couple of months. Such as if your noodles are sticking to the bottom of the pan it's much easier to get them up if you move all the noddles and stuff above them so that the sauce can get to the bottom of the pan, for some reason that loosens the noodles off the bottom.

Today I learned that if you put too much liquid in and you get the brilliant idea of dealing with that by turning up the heat so the sauce boils faster and hence boiling off the extra water before the noodles are done cooking, well... you have to stand there and keep stirring or you will burn your noodles. Bummer!

I hate mechanics...

You know when you put your car in the shop to get something fixed and you expect it done right with precision etc and get the car back working great... Right? Well often thats not the case you get it back and something else isnt working or something mysterious happed to make it break again the next day, week, or month even. Well this is what happened to me yesterday. I put my car in the shop friday night with instructions for the mechanic to put in a new ac compressor. Not that hard and only $325 for parts and labor great right? Well it was until i got it back last night. The fiancee had picked me up from work and brought me to my car and i happily bounced back in it and started her up. She purred no bad icky noises nothing. Not until i began to drive her out of the lot. The steering sucked... completely like it was so hard to turn the wheel it wasnt funny. I got pissed of course and naturally so.

We stopped at conquest video to pick up some movies and i told the fiancee he needed to drive her home and see how bad it was. We got home and he told me it was just low on power steering fluid or so it felt like which wasnt that hard to get and not hard to do. I calmed down then and planned to go to autozone before work today. This morning i drove it to autozone got the fluid and yep it was nearly empty! i filled it, closed the cap on both the car and the bottle, and shut the hood making sure everything was in its place etc. I drove it out and everything was fine again Yippe... or so i thought.

I got to dunkin donuts and it was giving me a hard time again i thought it was just adjusting to the lack of fluid that hadnt been in there and would fix out in a moment. Nope. I drive out of the drive thru and its really giving me hell now so i pull over. I jump out cursing again going "i dont need this right now i need to get to work" I pop the hood pop open the cap and the resevoir is dry again... I check under the hood... its a leaking from somewhere. Wonderfingfull.I filled it again and went on my way to work completely pissed off about this cause its the second time ive had my car fixed and then something else has broken in lieu of them fixing it. This time their fixing their mistake for free or else and im never going back to them for anything ever again.

Anyone know a really good mechanic i can use???

me

I wanna be like her

Have you seen that commercial where a Groom and his groomsmen are huddled in a coat closet around a TV with drinks watching a football game? The Bride, with bouquet in hand and bridesmaids and others behind her, open the door to this spectacle. Clearly the wedding is ready to go, people have been wondering where the Groom and company are, and the Bride and crew have been looking for them. All the men look up with surprise and fear. The Bride's reaction? She looks around at all the men, looks at the screen, and as she pushes her way to the Groom she asks "What's the score?" The commercial then cuts to the product. When it comes back to the wedding party, the Bride is sitting on the Groom's lap with a drink in hand watching the game saying "How's our defense?". One of the groomsmen turns to the Groom at this moment and says "You're a lucky man." The Groom nods with a smile.

Yeah. :)

Of course, I know despite my best efforts or genuine interest, I'd not be happy at holding up my wedding. Just means I have to be sure NOT to schedule my wedding when there's a game on.

Man, I love Detroit

So picture it: driving along the freeway, you round a bend and see a sea of brake lights. All four lanes. You grumble as you pull to the right lane (your exit is only a mile up!) and quickly brake as well, easily coming to a stop without hitting anyone. And then you stay there. This isn't stop and go traffic, it's wait and crawl. You look down the breakdown lane to see if you can see far enough ahead to determine the problem, or more likely to see if the lane is clear enough that you can drive to your exit. It's not. And the problem is construction, of course. What do you do?

Well this morning, I looked down the breakdown lane trying to decided if I wanted to risk having to dodge construction signs in my Little SUV. You will Never guess what I saw! There was an entrance ramp that merged with the freeway only several car lengths ahead of me, and cars were pulling out of freeway traffic onto to the ramp and going backwards up it! They weren't backing up it slowly either, they were zooming along up to the road above as if it was their right. Some people even turned their cars around and drove up it like it was an exit ramp! No care or worry about anyone trying to use it to get *on* the freeway, it's actually purpose.

This isn’t the first time I've seen something like this out here. Though the other times it has been people bailing out of the express lanes to the local lanes backwards down the entrance, which isn't actually a ramp like today. I've not seen anyone getting off the expressway with this method before without police telling them to do so!

Only in Detroit.