Travels

I've been blessed with the opportunity to travel all my life. Within the US, I've been to CA, TX, NM, AZ, AR, LA, TN, Nebraska, MO, OK, KS, CO, NV, IA, NY, MA, NH, NC, and UT. I took a couple of short trips to Canada and Mexico, too. I've actually lived in Los Angeles and Monterey in California, in Waco, Houston, and San Antonio here in Texas, and in Clovis/Portales in New Mexico.
I lived in Japan for 5 years, Germany for 10, and spent 4-6 months in Taiwan, Latvia, and Tajikistan. I've been to Iraq twice, plus Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. Those trips were related to Desert Storm and the current Gulf War.
I made the most of my 10 years in Germany. While stationed there with the Army as a Russian linguist, I visited the Netherlands (my wife's home country), France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, the Czech Republic, and England. I've traveled extensively within the countries of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. It was something I always dreamed of, seeing the world. And I never wanted to see it on one of those "10 cities in 9 days" tours. I wanted to go places on my own, take my time, meet people and experience the cultures. All those trips have contributed to my character and personality. One thing I've learned is that the US has no business asserting its moral and cultural superiority. There are wonderful places in the world where people don't dream of coming to America. They even find the notion laughable.
Where do we get this arrogance? It puts blinders on us - we don't see that we're a country of murders, child and spouse abuse, drugs, stupid use of nonrenewable energy resources, poverty, no health insurance, home foreclosures, a shrinking middle class - I could go on, but you get my point. We're a mess - an empire in decline. We could do something to stop this decline, but our arrogance keeps us from even seeing it. I think we'll pay a high price, and I think we'll pay it soon.

Kucinich and Tajikistan

Oh, man, just too much stuff going on in my life. Today I went to a San Antonio Progressive Action Committee meeting. I went as a Veterans for Peace representative. 4 members of the Houston chapter came, and two members of the Military Families Speak Out organization were also there. There were at least three major (well, for San Antonio, anyway) liberal groups meeting and discussing business. I was glad to meet the MFSO reps, since I'll be having brunch with Nancy Lessin, one of the founders of the group, tomorrow. I'm broke, but they gave me a tee shirt to wear at the brunch. Very nice. Anyway, today's keynote speaker was Dennis Kucinich. I will definitely vote for him in the Dem primary. If we lived in a real Democracy where votes count more than dollars, he'd probably be our next president. He's a really good speaker. He also brought his new campaign 2006 wife. She's very pretty and MUCH taller than him.
Anyway, I have a little more than a month before I leave for a six-month teaching assignment in Tajikistan. I'm really excited about going. I mean, how many people do you know who've been to Tajikistan. As it turns out, I know 4. I'll make a little extra money, which will help pay down our bills. I'm hoping we can get out of debt this year. Our Prius will be paid off next month, and then we can focus on other bills.
I'm not quite so angry lately, but I'll probably go back to that if the Dems don't hold Congress or don't win the presidency next year. I really like Kucinich and Edwards. Robertson would be a good VP. Oh, well...six months is a pretty long time. Some people say the "real" candidates will already be determined by the time I get back.