Postcards From Myself

Do you still think we went to war with Iraq because of 9/11? Do you still really believe that President Bush believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that he was going to give to terrorists? Then you need to watch this forgotten 60-Minutes interview.

Be prepared though, you will see evidence that all of this was planned well before the 9/11 attacks, and that those attacks were used as a excuse to do something that President Bush was already planning. What’s more, there is proof that much of the desire to occupy, yes I said occupy, Iraq was so that possession of the oil fields could be taken.

This is exactly the type of thing that people, the voters, need to be made aware of. It then forces the question on those who supported going to war then and those, like Rudolf Giullani, who still support it - are they blind? Or are they part of the lie?

And try to ignore the cheesy music and titling in the video.

Came across a very interesting link on PositivelyBarack.com this morning. It was just a brief pointer to a New York Times article that quotes Barack Obama’s entire response to a question about abortion. You can read that story here. The great thing about the story is that it is his entire response, not just little sound bites taken out of context.

Of course the other great thing, at least to me anyway, is that I agree with his response one-hundred percent. I was thinking about posting some of my views on these election type subjects, and this kicks it off perfectly.

The Unitarian Universalist Association is beginning a campaign in an attempt to grow the church. Beginning this week with an advertisement in Time Magazine. This partnership with Time Magazine is part of the larger effort to welcome newcomers to our faith and give the church some much needed new energy. For seekers who wish for a religious home that is guided by a quest for truth and meaning, Unitarian Universalism will be an exciting new experience. Our caring, open-minded religious community encourages exploration of individual spiritual paths, wherever they lead.

There is also a video that has been made available on YouTube entitled “Voices of a Liberal Faith—Unitarian Universalists.” This was produced as a DVD and distributed to all congrations to help acquaint visitors and new comers understand what Unitarian Universalism is.

I have been a member of the Unitarian Church in Charleston for many years now, and I have been attending UU churches for over twenty years. Although I grew up in a wonderful Baptist church here in Charleston, the UU church is now my home and I would welcome anyone to visit.

Oh, and when you do go out skipping the globe please stay in contact and let me hear from you. At least every once in a while, because I am going to miss you.

And now some links for our intrepid travelers.

First, how do you get out there and get going? And once how there, how do you keep yourself going mentally, spiritually and financially? An excellent book that will answer some of those questions is “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel” (Rolf Potts). Well written in a conversational style, Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life—from six weeks to four months to two years—to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel.

There is an accompanying website to the book here, but more interesting than that is the blog site that can be found at vagablogging. This has entries from Rolf Potts as well as others about travel, touring, exploring, and almost anything even slightly related. From books and movies to food and relationships, it will all get hit upon at vagablogging.

Next there is the site Glimpse Abroad. This is not one of those where to go, what to see travel sites. This is mainly a site of personal stories of the experiences you have when you travel and get yourself out of you safe little comfort zone. The glimpses into what happens abroad that you will read at Glimpse Abroad are often personal, sometimes funny, but always thought provoking. This is what happens when you stop looking at a place on your trip and start to experience your travels.

And finally a language site. Unlike a lot of the world, Americans aren’t normally brought up to be bilingual or multi-lingual. Learning another language can be hard for us, not to mention frustrating. LiveMocha attempts to change some of that by making the process interactive. While breaking the process down into lessons, LiveMocha also involves you with a community of people doing the same things so that you have others to interact with and feed off of. Finally there is a motivational aspect where they track your process and actually measure how you are doing. Different approaches to learning work with varied results for different people, but this is one that certainly seems worth trying.

And again, please don’t forget to keep in touch.

A few years back, back before hurricane Katrina, my wife and I drove down to New Orleans so that I could a conference. Just so happens that the conference was during the French Quarter Festival. How convenient! Anyway, it was a long trip and we actually ended up driving through severe storms with hail and tornados. Having never experienced this before, being woken up in the middle of the night in a hotel in Montgomery, Alabama, by the sound of tornado sirens was totally new. Hopefully that will be the last time too.

For me the entire trip was made a bit more enjoyable because we were in my 2002 MINI Cooper S. (Luckily it was not damaged by hail.) On the way back this little car really showed what ot could do. Let me just say that the speed limit was left far behind.

At that time there were not as many of these fine cars on the road as there are now, so there were quite a few enquiring looks and more than a couple of people making comments or asking question. But, that entire trip for me is wrapped up in a picture my wife took of the car sitting on Bourbon Street in front of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. This was taken early on Sunday morning just after a rain and before the sun had risen very high or the residents and tourists had started hitting the streets. The picture to me is very serene and conveys a great sense of the old and the new, and of two of my real loves - New Orleans and great cars.

Call me foolish and sentimental, but I love this picture.