The Haiti Disaster

I've been watching the aftermath of the Haitian earthquakes and am to the point of being almost numb to the devastation.  When you see the pictures of the dead and injured 24x7 it's almost desensitizing.

I think what brought the situation into focus for me was a young lady from here in Washington state who was down in Haiti working with orphans.  Although her roommate was able to escape and make her way back to the US, 22 year old Molly Hightower was killed and her body recovered two days after the first quake hit.

By all accounts this remarkable young woman was a blessing to all with whom she came into contact.  Never having met her I was still deeply touched by her tragic death ... she had such a passion for life and for working with people and I have no doubt that had she lived she would have done absolutely great things.  As a father I can't imagine having to wait two days to find out if one of my children was alive or dead and my heart goes out to the family as do my thoughts and prayers for their eventual acceptance and gradual recovery from this horrible life shattering event.  We all are indeed the poorer for Molly's loss.

I suggest that we all look within ourselves to determine what we can do to help the survivors of these devastating quakes.  After all, as humans we are all indeed one family.

Well, I finally did it ...

You're looking at my first post on a long considered blog.  I'm not really sure where this will go but I felt that I had to at least put my thoughts out here and see what kind of a response I get.  I truly enjoy a good debate where the parties respect each other while still having sometimes major differences of opinion.

One thing I really do want is an adult exchange of ideas and opinions without demeaning comments, profanity or outright rudeness.  I promise to always try and provide an alternative if I'm complaining about something ... and I'd ask that you do the same.  Let's keep this as a reasonable discussion between reasonable people.

So - who am I?

I'm a 63 year old male who has worked in the computer software industry for most of my adult life.  Retired in 1988 from the United States Air Force I am unabashedly supportive of all branches of our military and, for the most part, the military services of most all countries.

In addition to being 'pro' military I am also 110% behind our first responders - the police, fire and paramedic folks who are the front line when we need help.  I still stand when the flag passes by, I abhor 'singers' who have to interpret our national anthem in their own usually strange style rather than sing it as it was originally written and I have a work ethic that keeps me busy long after the regular work day is over.

Oh, and I'm very pro-animals - my wife and I have nothing but rescue animals (three dogs, one horse and three miniature donkeys at the moment, subject to change at any time ... ).

What are you going to see here?  Pretty much whatever interests me at the moment, from the recent murders of police officers here in Washington state to the Haitian earthquake, the Washington state legislature and governor's shenanigans to our 'friends' on Capitol Hill in the 'other' Washington ... and anything in between.  It will be eclectic, varied but hopefully interesting to the majority of the readers.

That's it for today ... more tomorrow once I decide on which of my personal 'hot button' topics is first out of the chute.


Have a good day and come back soon.  In the meantime, you might want to read this book from Amazon.com ...