"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it." (Orwell)

.....I understand it; I really do. When Hamas was raining down rockets over Israel, I didn't hear or read a peep from any other country, including our own.  After all, it was only Jews who occupied Israel, and what harm did some rockets do over several months? And, I ask, what other country would stand for such attacks without starting to fight back with whatever power or military might available to them?  No other country is the answer. 

.....Now, I recall Colin Powell's advice about warfare; make certain that if you fight, you fight with overwhelming military power!  Now, Hamas and their sympathizers around the world are berating Israel for using their power to stop the rocket launching terrorist organization. The United States lists Hamas as a terrorist organization.  Now, the complaint is that at least 1000 Palestinians have been killed in this fighting.  Did Hamas and the Palestinians think that Israel was going to bomb them with shishkabab and humus? This fighting is a war--not a skirmish. 

.....So, knowing that there would be many civilian losses, why did Hamas not make any effort to move the civilian population from the war zone knowing that their lives were in danger?  Why did Hamas build tunnels that opened on Israeli soil?  And then complain about their destruction without halting the rocket launching?  If Florida was being attacked (by a hurricane, of course) would the people with homes on the east coast remain there--or go to a hotel in Naples? I understand it; I really do.

.....The Russians have annexed the Crimea, and all the world has done is to wring their hands (...a mixed metaphor?).  So, why can't Israel kick Hamas out of Gaza and annex the damned place? What can they do? Start an inter-farter? Bring it on!

 

.....Well, I certainly do not want to continue pontificating on my personal soap box, so the best thing to do when I realize it, is to change the subject.  I have no power to affect worldly issues, and so I might as well get used to it. But I reserve the right to sulk and to brood when the mood washes over me.  At times like these, I recall Wordsworth's lines, "...I'd rather be a pagan, suckled in a creed outworn; so might I, standing by this pleasant lea, have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn."   (...these lines fully symbolic, of course. Figure it out; I don't have the time nor the inclination to do it for you.) OK. Now I feel better. So, now to the mundane things--what else can you do when you're 90 and 5 months?  What's for dinner? What's on TV? Do I have clean underwear? Why do I see even more pills in the container? Shall I write a post for my blog today? Do I have one more book in me? Will I be around for the summer Olympics? Do I need to go to the bathroom? Have a nice day.