...the spirits of love and harmony.

My trip to another part of the world began yesterday. After a thunderstorm. The clouds parted. A brilliant and vivid double rainbow arched in the sky. Yes, a good omen. I feel well-connected to the spirits of love and harmony. --Jim Broede

Every sunrise. Every sunset.

I'm on an adventure. In pursuit of happiness. First stop. Frankfurt. In Germany. Then Switzerland. Then Venice. And the north of Italy. Ah, this is the way to live. And to love. Savoring. Savoring. Savoring. Every day. Every sunrise. Every sunset. --Jim Broede

...healing our racial divide.

Barack Obama is still my man. My choice for president. Some folks tell me they are a little disenchanted with Obama. And that maybe they'll have trouble voting for him. Well, the only other choice will be John McCain. I suppose that means these folks would rather have a third term of George Bush than Obama. If that happens, heaven help us. I'm still encouraged. And optimistic. I think America will finally right its ship by electing Obama. I thought I'd never see the day that a black man got elected president. It'll be a thrill to see that happen. It would be more of a thrill than if my Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Anyway, the way I see it, if Obama wins it'll be because he's black. And if he loses, it'll be because he's black. In other words, I see us either healing our long-time racial divide, or telling the world we're still a racist society. --Jim Broede

...a citizen of the planet Earth.

In case you haven't noticed. The value of the American dollar is shrinking. I just had to pay $1,000 to buy 605 euros. Six years ago, I would have received 1,000 euros for $1,000. Now's a bad time for we Americans to travel abroad. Bad for the pocketbook, that is. But still, it's nice to get away. To see other parts of the world. Makes me feel like a citizen of the planet Earth. --Jim Broede

Solitude.

I think it's possible to learn to appreciate and savor solitude. That may be a cure for loneliness. It means being alone, but liking it. Because you find comfort in what's around you. Nature, for instance. The great outdoors. Being in the woods. Or on the seashore. Or in the desert. Being able to appreciate a good book. Or a work of art. Or being with a cat. Or a dog. Or communing with a spirit. Just appreciating the wonders of life. Just feeling like an alive and conscious being. --Jim Broede

The right to start preemptive war.

There's a guy in Texas who saw two guys burglarizing his neighbor's house. So he called '911' and notified police. But under Texas law it's all right apparently for one to shoot someone in the act of a felony. Especially if it's on your property. In or around your home. So as the guy talked to the '911' operator, he threatened to go out with a 12-gauge shotgun and shoot these fellows. The operator cautioned him against such an act. Urged him to wait for the police to show up. Well, the guy didn't want to wait. Didn't want to risk the burglars getting away. So he went out and shot the two unarmed men in the back, and killed them. A grand jury exonerated the man. There'll be no charges brought against him. Yes, more and more, we are being armed to the hilt in America. The right to bear arms. Shot guns. Pistols. Even AK-47 automatic weapons. Yes, maybe we do live in a police state. We're all being turned into policemen. Ah, we have that violent mentality. As a nation, we've even become the policeman of the world. We reserve the right to start preemptive wars. --Jim Broede

Patriots...in different ways.

Let me tell you, there's one thing I especially like about America. There are so many, many ways to be a proud American. So many ways to be a patriot. For some, the best way is to wave the flag. And pledge allegiance. And sing the star-spangled banner. For others it's to protest what's happening. The unjust and obscene war in Iraq. The stripping of constitutional rights. The racism. Some of us like to accept America as it is. And others would like to bring about change to make for a better America. Yes, we're all patriots. We just go about it in different ways. --Jim Broede

Why we Americans went to war.

Nowadays it's too easy for a president to start a war. And wage a war. Indefinitely. Take the war in Iraq, for instance. In days of old, if we had a war, we'd have a draft. We'd mobilize the nation, so to speak. Citizens would have to be convinced that it was a just war. Otherwise, they wouldn't support the draft. That happened, for instance, with Vietnam. But now we wage war with volunteers. And hired mercenaries. We don't ask citizens as a whole to make sacrifices. Such as risking their lives in battle. So George Bush and the neo-conservatives get away with waging a war in Iraq that has lasted longer than World War II. And some economists say it may end up costing trillions of dollars. With much of the debt being postponed. For payment by future generations. It's one reason why our economy is in such bad shape. We're wasting money and lives in Iraq. On a foolish, so-called pre-emptive war. One that really is immoral and obscene. People all across the world recognize that it's a bad war, and some have even suggested that Bush should go on trial for war crimes. Yes, that's a glaring example of how badly they perceive the war. I'm not saying whether they are right or wrong. That's still open to debate. But pardon me if I'm rather cynical. I have to wonder if that war would have been started if not for the oil that lies beneath Iraq. I see that American oil companies are being awarded non-competitive contracts to get the Iraqi oil industry on its feet again. Yes, makes me wonder why we Americans went to war. --Jim Broede

Could that be?

Sometimes, I feel like I'm being stalked. By a handful of women. Maybe two or three. Women who don't like me. Nasty women. Mean women. They send me letters. E-mails, really. And they call me names. Bad names. And they collect my words. Quotes. Often picking them up out of context. Maybe they aren't all women. I don't know for sure. But they sound like women. Women I have encountered. Sometimes on a message board. They give me clues. That they don't like something I've said or written. And even years later, they send me the quotes. Strange, isn't it? That's why I think I'm being stalked. That's why I'm beginning to insist that they identify themselves. Could be they are sick. It doesn't seem natural to me that they stick around. Or keep coming back. If they dislike me or detest me, I'd think that if they were mentally healthy, they'd just let it go. Get on with the rest of their lives. Forget me. Rather than keep letting me know of their discontent. Their obsession. Maybe they feel rejected. Maybe that's why they keep coming back. Could that be? --Jim Broede

...the words of love.

I'm in love with words. With language. Words can have so many, many meanings. Even the same combination of words. In a sentence. In a paragraph. In a poem. And so much depends on how the reader or listener wants to interpret the words. Anyway, the words I like best are the words of love. --Jim Broede

Some voters bought that baloney.

I suspect that good politicians are good liars. A truthful politician probably would have a difficult, if not impossible task, of getting elected. George Bush is a successful politician, of sort, because he's a darn good liar. And he knows how to get away with it. And it could be that Barack Obama is an even better liar than Bush. And I'd vote for Obama. Without hesitation. Because he's a liberal liar. Deep down. Underneath. He's a progressive, the new name for liberal. And if he gets elected, he'll push for relatively liberal programs. Oh, he'll compromise to some extent. Because he isn't as mean-spirited as Bush. Liberals tend to be kinder than conservatives. Some conservatives have a take-no-prisoners mentality. Liberals are more likely to make trade-offs. More likely to move to the middle. For the sake of harmony and decency. Obama, it seems to me, is a shrewd liberal. He knows he has to shift positions during the election campaign. To move toward the middle, and even to the right, on some issues. So he's in a position to move to the left when he's in office. George Bush got elected, in part, by pledging to be a uniter. Some voters bought that hunk of baloney. --Jim Broede