Margaret,  I got a lot of crap.  How about you?    If it’s the thought that counts then I want to know what some of my family members were thinking? Candles and exotic soaps are gifts that tell me the giver didn’t give much thought.  To all my loved ones:  Please stop buying me things for the sake of buying me things.  In the future, bake me something nice and if you don’t bake,  a hug will do just fine.  And for the record, Harold hasn’t done anything that requires a screw driver set for almost twenty years.  We have people for that now.  And speaking of people…

Welcome back everyone.  I hope you had a wonderful holiday.  We had a lovely time with family stopping by for long overdue visits.  It was even good to see the vegetarians, but I couldn’t get them to try some stuffing.  Honestly, how can someone not like bacon?  It just doesn’t make any sense.

But I was so happy to see my nephew home from Iraq.  At least that is where I think he’s been.  As a  member of  the special forces, he can’t tell me what he’s been up to.  Instead he gave me a hug and told me he’s been getting the bad guys.   I hugged him back and held my tongue because I support the troops.

Support the troops.  You know saying those words takes about as much energy as putting one of those god awful yellow ribbon stickers on your car.  It’s meaningless unless you follow it with action.  When dealing with war, it’s more than the thought that counts. 

If you want to support the troops then you do everything you can to work for peace.  You march…  you write letters to your editor…  you call your elected officials…. and you teach your children that bad guys are rarely found on the field of battle. 

When it comes to war the real bad guys are usually hundreds of miles away surrounded by men with money to gain and power to loose.  It’s a shame that the guns are almost never aimed at the bad guys.  But I understand why the army has to convince my nephew and other soliders to see it that way.   I imagine it would be hard to pull the trigger if you realize the guy you’re aiming at is probably just like you.  Yep.  You don’t win many wars that way.  Instead you have to turn “us” into “them” and “we” into “they”.   It’s hard to hate people.  It’s much easier to just hate a country or a regime.  It’s hard to kill someone’s son or father or brother, but pulling a trigger when you are aiming at a terrorists… well that’s another story entirely.  You know, I can’t help but wonder what color the ribbons are in Irag.    I mean you realize that mothers in Iraq support the troops too, don’t you?

So my New Year’s resolution was going to be to stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch and to kiss and make up with George W. Bush.  But you know what they say about New Year’s Resolutions… they’re too easily broken.  Besides Sarah ” I see terrorists” Palin is a bitch.  And the only kiss that will ever happen between me and George W. Bush will be when his lips meet my ass.

So let’s see if we can all come up with a better resolution.  One that we can  actually keep and one that is in keeping with the spirit of this blog.   For me, in 2009, I resolve to point the gun at the bad guys…starting with myself.  

I have no idea if my little rants on this internet have had any type of positive impact, but I cannot point the gun at Palin and Bush without blaming myself as well.  I sat by for eight years when I should have been getting active every day in our politcal system.  It’s the only way democracy works.  So until they put me in a rest home, I’ll be watching – and writing.   I voted for Obama, but that doesn’t mean I gave him a free pass.   And I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of that moose hunter in heels.   Trust me, I’ve learned my lesson.  There will always be bad guys – at home and abroad.

So Happy New Year everyone.  Leave your New Year’s Resolution before you go and make it one you can keep.  Thanks for stopping by again.  I mean it.  Really.