Foreign Policy Stupidity

Maybe most of us are just tired of the US acting as the world's policeman, but there seems to be little public appetite for blowing up real estate in Syria as retaliation for the regime's use of chemical weapons against their own people.   Thanks to the system set up by the US after world war 2, the UN is basically  a toothless tiger when it comes to the policing department.  Russia will use its veto to hamstring any action by the Security Council.  This power was supposed to be used by the US and its allies to keep the world "safe".   Thanks to the Cold War and its legacy, this little loophole has drastically reduced the role of the UN to enforce penalties for use of WMD.  Also thanks to xenophobic US foreign policy, we will not suffer the UN to dictate our actions in any given situation.  So now we are stuck as lone actors in a deteriorating situation which has little to do with our national interest.  If we strike the Assad regime, the arabs will probably come down on his side and the Iranians will be faced with a put up or shut up moment vis-à-vis Israel.  The whole episode could spiral out of control and for what.  We blow up a few radar installations because we can't allow any of our servicemen to be killed and then have to deal with the  fallout listed above.  Can't we ever learn?

wishing and hoping

I spent the evening transplanting lettuce and killing (hopefully) flea beetles.  This time of year, transplanted lettuce is a little bit of a gamble.  A warm beginning to Sept. and some timely showers and I will have beautiful lettuce by the equinox.  A cold, dry Sept. and I'll be hoping for a late frost and anticipating harvest in mid-October.  The same goes for spinach planted now.  With a little luck we will be eating spinach frittata in November.  The fall garden is more of the same for me and most gardeners; plant it and hope the vagaries of the weather are in your favor.  With costs for seed, fertilizer and land escalating every year, many commercial growers who used to do the same thing can't afford to gamble that way unless it is a desperate toss of the dice.  An early frost or a too wet fall can be the difference between a good year and clinging to your business life.

Here we go again

As the media and political pressure mounts for some sort of retaliatory strike against Syria, I hope the president ponders the words of Martin Luther King who spoke in Washington 50 years ago today.  King never avoided confrontations, but usually defused them before violence broke out.  What if blacks had confronted Bull Connors and his police dogs and water cannons with AK-47s.  I can't think the Civil Rights movement would have been advanced.   The Arab League condemned Syria, but won't condone an attack on the country.  Israel is caught in the middle and would likely be attacked by the Syrians which would draw the Arabs in on their side if the Israelis retaliated, which they would certainly do.  The best thing we can do is let the  U. N. weapons inspectors do their job.  If they find evidence the Syrians used nerve agents, then let's lead a coalition in the U.N. for a worldwide condemnation of Syria and for a U.N. force to bring peace to Syria.  I think that is what Dr. King might have proposed.  Let's hope we have grown enough in the past 50 years to live up to his legacy.

The pleasure of late season gardening

We got a good 3/10 inch of rain last evening and this morning it was a pleasure to survey the late planted garden.  Aside from the porcupine I surprised and the deer tracks in my lettuce that is.  All the weeding and fertilizing I did over the weekend, along with the transplanting is poised to reward me with a bountiful Sept.  Kohlrabi, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach will be the stars of the coming month.  The lettuce continues to thrive and the late planted bok choy and nappa cabbage will be prime if I can keep the flea beetles at bay.  The weeds keep coming, but they are not overwhelming at this point and the forecast is for enough dry weather to keep them in check with judicious use of the wheel hoe.  Meanwhile, the crops of summer are not major producers, but tomatoes, peppers, basil, cilantro, summer squash etc. are continuing to fill containers.  And of course the carrots and beets brighten up the tables at the Saturday market.  It's a fine day to be a grower.

The new possibilities

I'm reading a series of sci-fi novels set in the far future.  The dominant society in the galaxy is call the Culture.  Money has no meaning to the people in this society since the machines they have created have produced so much wealth the human members can pursue whatever jobs they want to or not.  Some people specialize in playing games.  Others pursue planetscaping.  Still others help the machines run the galaxy.  As opposed to the terminator vision of the future, machines are benevolent and view humanity as a feature, not a bug.  What fascinates me is a future where you are not forced to chase dollars at the expense of what you may perceive as your true vocation.  Which brings me to the article in today's times saying the middle class must educate its way out of the current lack of middle skilled jobs.  If productivity is so high, why do we have to dream up new ways to make money.  Let people pursue their muse and see where society goes.  Of course there will be some who decide an 18 hour day watching ESPN is there idea of productivity, but some are already doing that.  Let a million flowers bloom and there will be enough bouquets for everyone.  We may be approaching the ability to make money superfluous. 

Limping toward the finish line

Got a quarter inch of rain yesterday.  That's fine short term, but in a perfect world we would have gotten a nice slow inch of rain over the course of the day instead of a quarter in about 10 minutes.  It would seem we only get precipitation fast and hard these days.  I won't have to water the spinach plantings to get them up.   My fifth planting made on the 17th is up this morning.  The lettuce continues to thrive and the blast of heat early this week is bringing on the tomatoes and peppers.  The fall greens look good also.  The market should be well stocked this weekend.  I hope the shoppers are looking for cooking greens and salads.

World Views

Concentrating on summer pursuits, either selling, golfing or gardening.  Every once in a while, the world intrudes and demands some thought.  The situation in Egypt and the middle east as a whole is volatile and important to us, but perhaps not as much as 10 years ago.  With the boom in fracking and Canadian tar sands, we can meet most of our energy needs without the Arabs.  Of course we are speeding down the road to an uninhabitable planet, but I'll put some trust in science and capitalism and hope for the best.  The whole democracy thing seems questionable at this point.  We preach to the world about how wonderful our system is and meanwhile prosecute people who speak out and try to make the government transparent.  No wonder the majority of the world's population is ruled by authoritarians. If the "shining city on the hill" can't get this democracy thing right, how can we expect the third world to come along.  When getting enough to eat is a daily struggle, self rule can seem pretty futile.  Maybe that's why we are having some problems with government.  Up to 30% of US population experiences hunger on a regular basis.