Monday, January 30, 2006

Things were getting just a wee bit too serious

In an attempt to lighten up just a tad, I came across this today, and thought it was just too good to pass up. Thanks to bloggerblaster.com.

Public Service Announcement

The Bloggerblaster Guide to Women's Personals Ads:

40-ish ........................ 49.
Adventurous .............. Slept with everyone.
Athletic ...................... No breasts
Average looking .......... Moooo.
Beautiful .................... Pathological liar.
Emotionally Secure ... On medication.
Feminist .................... Fat
Free spirit .................. Junkie
Friendship first .......... Former slut.
New-Age ................... Body hair in the wrong places.
Old-Fashioned ........... No BJs.
Open-minded ............. Desperate
Outgoing ................... Loud and Embarrassing.
Professional .............. Bitch
Voluptuous ................ Very Fat
Large frame ............... Hugely Fat
Wants soul mate ....... Stalker

Not really having any idea what personal ads are all about, this sort of sums it all up, does it not? Marketing in the 21st century for a date has come a long way from the bar scene in the 70's!

My Doctor says the Same Thing

Mike Calloway, managing partner in Heritage Medical Assoicates of Nashville, TN., agrees with this article, Primary Care about to collapse, Physicians Warn Mike says he makes 50% of what he earned 10 years ago, and he is telling his children to think twice about being a doctor---plus this--If you want to be a doctor, make sure you have a speciality if you want to make any money.

More Middle East Thoughts

I just came back from the Downtown Rotary meeting where the speaker today was Daniel Ayalon, Ambassador to the United States from Israel. He is Israel's top diplomat in the United States. Before his post as Ambassador to the U. S., Ayalon was Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Ariel Sharon. He was quite an impressive speaker due to his complete grasp on the whole Middle East situation.

First and most importantly, Ayalon contends that during the course of history, whether that be 5 years, 15 years, or 50 years, the Iraq war waged by (primarily) the U. S. will be viewed as the turning point in the Middle East. He contends that an era of peace and prosperity is just around the corner, because terrorists are an extreme faction in these countries, and they will be brought to their knees, while the more moderate, "normal" people will realize (and are realizing now) that they can join the economic revolution in other parts of the world in relative peace. The U. S. must persist and must press the war on terrorism until a stable government is in place in Iraq. He predicted 3-5 more years of daily struggles for our servicemen.

Ayalon also contends that Hamas in Palestine was only attempting to win 30-35% of Parliment, and was just as surprised as the rest of the world, when they won the majority of seats last week. Ayalon went on to surmise that now that Hamas is in the center of power in Palestine, that they will feel the heat, and ultimately lose the battle, as they will not be able to maintain their popularity amongst voters (because they supplied a lot of the day to day necessities to voters, hence, the voters returned the favor without much thought)---once Hamas is viewed in terms of running the entire country. Hamas is not prepared to be the leading political party in terms of running an entire government is basically the translation I received from Ayalon's talk today.

Ayalon's harshest words were for Iran. He contends there is a 30% unemployment rate, rampant poverty, and an incredibly poor country run by an Islmanic extremist. Why would a country like that pour billions and billions of dollars into nuclear energy when they have the 2nd largest reserves of oil in the world? I admit, that one question stuck with me more than anything from his talk. Ayalon was very reserved and a very steady speaker, but his temprament and his voice definitely rose to another level when speaking of Iran. This is a kettle pot getting ready to boil--Iran/ Israeli/ U. S. relations.

My other thoughts about this speech are that Ayalon sounded a lot like George W. Bush. Both Bush and Ayalon say we are winning in the Middle East, Islamic extremists are on the run such as Hezbellah, Al Queada, the Taliban, Etc. I wish I could see what they see--All I read and hear about is the growing power of Iran, the growing power of Hamas, and the fact that the U. S. is creating instability in the region, and not winning any friends.

I hope these thoughts are a product of the U. S. media, and I hope and pray that Ayalon and President Bush are for more prescient and forward thinking than I. Which they should be (: These factions over there have been fighting for thousands of years, and I see no reason why we (the U.S.) can bring this in-fighting to a close in under 10 years and establish democracies through out the region.

Ambassador Ayalon was very promising and very much gave me hope, however.