mrsronweasley (
mrsronweasley) wrote2004-06-08 04:13 pm
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Row that boat.
I really strongly dislike the summer, because I'm not very good with the whole 'heat and humidity' thing. I mean, I'm Russian. I won't lie and say I cope with the cold any better, but at least there you can bundle up. My ideal temperature is around 70, though probably less. Another reason? I hate summer clothes. Especially shorts. Shorts and I do not go well together. Unfortunately, we have to go together today, but we, neither of us, is liking it.
I just finished ironing. Yeah, for my mom. 'Cause it's really important, you understand, to iron underwear. Without that, it will not serve its purpose and hold things in place. Yes, I am scoffing. Because ironing underwear is right up there with drinking coffee to sleep. Let's not go into what we use starch on, now...
Anyway, I was watching "Highlander" (the TV show) while doing it, and I'm confused. I mean, I generally know very little about the show, but having seen Peter Wingfield twice now, I'm not opposed to finding out more. To put it mildly. So, I'm going to appeal to
rochefort and
miraminx and their expertise in the area. The episode I saw ended with Duncan killing Callus (right?) on top of the Eiffel Tower, and them all going off into the sunset, so did I see the finale of the series? If so, when does Methos first appear? I'm confuuuuuuuuuuuuuused... Help?
And now for something completely different:
I've been writing, and it feels really good. I'm running a good chance of finishing my Fuh-Q-Fest story today. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee... But if not, then soon. The bad part is, it's depressing as all shit, and I think it's causing me to feel depressed myself. I'm torn between feeling accomplished and feeling like drinking myself silly. That's wrong, isn't it?
I'm going to end this silly entry with a letter somebody sent into Time magazine in this week's issue, in response to an article on Bush and the war (I haven't read the article itself, I admit, but I'm guessing it was criticizing his actions):
"Where is a president like Harry Truman when we need him? Truman was willing to drop atom bombs to save the lives of American troops. In the face of enormous public disapproval, he fired General Douglas MacArthur. Truman showed courage and decisiveness when confronted with seemingly impossible situations. The whys and hows of the quagmire in Iraq would not faze him. He would either order the troops home or unleash the full might of the military on those who disrupt our efforts in Iraq. Moreover, he would take full responsibility for the decision."
...or just nuke 'em all. 'Cause, really, what are other people worth if they aren't with us? Like, you know, those Japanese citizens - we couldn't profit from them, they served no purpose, but it showed 'em just how serious we really were about winning.
I understand that war calls for casualties, from all sides. But if you're the sort of person who's willing to drop an A-bomb on millions of innocent people, I sincerely hope you are not in any position to do it. But that's just me.
I just finished ironing. Yeah, for my mom. 'Cause it's really important, you understand, to iron underwear. Without that, it will not serve its purpose and hold things in place. Yes, I am scoffing. Because ironing underwear is right up there with drinking coffee to sleep. Let's not go into what we use starch on, now...
Anyway, I was watching "Highlander" (the TV show) while doing it, and I'm confused. I mean, I generally know very little about the show, but having seen Peter Wingfield twice now, I'm not opposed to finding out more. To put it mildly. So, I'm going to appeal to
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And now for something completely different:
I've been writing, and it feels really good. I'm running a good chance of finishing my Fuh-Q-Fest story today. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee... But if not, then soon. The bad part is, it's depressing as all shit, and I think it's causing me to feel depressed myself. I'm torn between feeling accomplished and feeling like drinking myself silly. That's wrong, isn't it?
I'm going to end this silly entry with a letter somebody sent into Time magazine in this week's issue, in response to an article on Bush and the war (I haven't read the article itself, I admit, but I'm guessing it was criticizing his actions):
"Where is a president like Harry Truman when we need him? Truman was willing to drop atom bombs to save the lives of American troops. In the face of enormous public disapproval, he fired General Douglas MacArthur. Truman showed courage and decisiveness when confronted with seemingly impossible situations. The whys and hows of the quagmire in Iraq would not faze him. He would either order the troops home or unleash the full might of the military on those who disrupt our efforts in Iraq. Moreover, he would take full responsibility for the decision."
...or just nuke 'em all. 'Cause, really, what are other people worth if they aren't with us? Like, you know, those Japanese citizens - we couldn't profit from them, they served no purpose, but it showed 'em just how serious we really were about winning.
I understand that war calls for casualties, from all sides. But if you're the sort of person who's willing to drop an A-bomb on millions of innocent people, I sincerely hope you are not in any position to do it. But that's just me.
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The epsidoe you're talking about on the Eiffel Tower is a season finale. It I had to make a guess, it would be the 3rd season. I think. :/
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But I think the point is that a leader has to be smart, fearless, and unswayed by public opinion to the extent that s/he is willing to make the right decisions, which will benefit the greatest number of people, at the right times, without regard for the personal consequences s/he will face. Someone is always going to have a problem with what you're doing as President, especially in wartime; your job, however, is to protect your entire country, not try to please everyone for the sake of your political career. I happen to think that dropping the A-bomb was a hell of a smart move at that time--we did warn the Japanese civilians days in advance in order to preserve as many lives as possible, by the way--in some cases, and I think this was one, drastic action is the best way to exert one's authority, and there were many reasons why drastic action in this case was warranted.
Would it be smart to drop an A-bomb now? Hell no--everyone's got atomic weapons; dropping even a single one would prove suicidal for... well, the world, really. But there are other courses of action available to us and I think the point remains that to be a good President, Bush should just take a firm stance and stand behind every single one of his actions without regard for his popularity--he should do whatever he thinks is best for THE COUNTRY, not what's best for GEORGE W. BUSH in election '04. That's the difference between a statesman and a politician--and Bush is clearly the latter, which is a damn shame.
Meh. That's my two cents, which you didn't ask for. ;)
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I agree with some of that, but I will never consider the dropping of the bombs on Japan to be a right choice. It's a personal thing, I'm afraid. It never struck me as a right decision, and it never will. Intellectually, I can understand your point, of course - it was swift, it was efficient, and it got the point across. But everything inside me rebels against it and I just can't consider it the right decision.
he should do whatever he thinks is best for THE COUNTRY, not what's best for GEORGE W. BUSH in election '04. That's the difference between a statesman and a politician--and Bush is clearly the latter, which is a damn shame.
Indeed. However, there is one thing that bothers me, but it can never be resolved, because there is too much to consider. If the president does not listen to his constituents and does as he sees fit, it may not be the best decision for his country, after all. This is one of those things that bothers me a lot, and one of the reasons I will never make a good politician. *g*
Dropping in to supply Methos info
He becomes a recurring guest star in S4 and 5 - S5 contains the fabulous back-story episodes Comes a Horseman and Revelations 6:8. PW finally gets added to the opening credits in S6, although, IMO, there are only a few eps from that season worth watching.
Hello!
Thank you for the info! I'll just have to keep watching Spike TV, then, and watch for more of his appearances. So the episode that I thought was Methos's first WAS his first. Good. Yay. More Methos in the future seems a very good thing, indeed.
As for the titles...well, yes. But a lot of shows have their quirks like that, right? Heh. This is one of the amusing ones...
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2. Yay, writing! YAY!!! (Will beta anything whenever, darling, just so you know. :) Your stuff is all a joy to read, and it'd be no trouble at all.)
3. Argh. I've been very bitter about the whole thing today - as you might be able to guess from my earlier post, heh - and just... I don't understand attitudes like that, and I suspect I never will.
4. Love you.
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2. :D :D :D :D :D
3. Yeah, same here. It's so...I don't know...eh. Meh. Feh. You know, the usual.
4. Love you back, of course! :D
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That letter...wow.
When I was in 5th grade my teacher read us a picture book that was written by a Japanese woman who survived the A-bomb. She was a child when it happened. To this day, I still remember that story. Why would you wish that on anyone?
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Happy Birthday
-n
Happy Birthday to YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I've missed you!
*HUGS!*
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Your mother sounds like my mother, so while you're ironing the underwear, remember to iron the sheets and bedlinen too!
Have a wonderful day today!
*HUGE hugs*
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Maybe that's also the source of your dream frustration? It's all subconscious, you see, in your mind, you were really saying to the producers: "Fuckers, see what you've done?!" What else has he been in, anyway?
Your mother sounds like my mother, so while you're ironing the underwear, remember to iron the sheets and bedlinen too!
Oh, she'd already done that, of course! I'm not used to ironing big things, you see, and it has to be perfect, therefore she did that all on her own. And, yes, used spray starch on them. Because it's important that your sheets resemble a white-tie shirt. You are, after all, going out on the town in them.
And thank youuuuuuu!
*HUGS hugs back!*
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It could be; although even Duncan in the dream was infuriatingly in character. I had another dream before that where Duncan and Methos turned up at Minx's house, and not only did she not share, she wrote a story about it and made me beta the bloody thing!
What else has PW been in? Oh, lots of itsy bitsy Canadian thingies. You'd really have to go out of your way to find them. He also had a small part (the only small part he has, I'm sure) in X-Men 2. Interestingly, he used to play the baddie in The Archers, a very, very long-running soap opera on Radio 4 here; you might have heard of it. He was great in that. Everybody hated him. But he left to become Methos and has never been back since.
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First of all - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :)
Second of all - I hate shorts too. Skirts are so much better. :)
And third...
I don't know about the idea that we warned the Japanese civilians in advance. I can't dispute or support that without further research. What I know is this: When Truman announced to the world that we'd dropped the bomb on a *military base*, it was a lie that conveniently omitted 75,000 civilians. And two days later, when we dropped the SECOND bomb on Nagasaki, we brought that conveniently omitted number up to well into the six digits.
Someone (and I'm not going to say who, because I don't want the name to influence people with preconceptions when the words are so astute) once said: When people say that dropping the bomb was what we had to do in order to end the war *faster*, then you can ask them: "If killing 100,000 American children would have ended the war faster, would that have been an acceptable price? And if not, why was killing 100,000 Japanese children acceptable?"
I completely agree that a strong leader should put the good of his country before the good of his career. There are a lot of world leaders whose willingness to act without hesitation has 'impressed' me, even when I don't agree with their actions. I just don't happen to think that a willingness to kill first and embrace law and peace second is a healthy course of action to choose. Yes, there are times when you have to be swift, decisive, and willing to do the ugly deed for the greater good. But I think when the "ugly deed" involves so very much death, you might want to stop and reconsider whether it's actually for the *greater* good, or your own satisfaction.
Anyway, enough spamming. I just remember reading personal accounts of Hiroshima too, and it makes me sad to see that letter. :(
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2) Oh, hell yes!
3) I totally and completely agree with you. This is what I might have tried to articulate had I had more faith in my speeeking abilities, but you said it all perfectly. Absolutely. It makes me sad when horrible events like the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima are considered the right thing to do just because of 'speediness.' Another thing is...yes, it saved the lives of soldiers. But when the soldiers went into the war, they knew what to expect. The children of Hiroshima? Didn't. All the other innocents there didn't either. It just doesn't seem right to me.
Well, anyway.
Yes. Completely agreed. :)