Monday Wedn ... (or Thursday) Friday

Ok, so the thing is, fiction takes longer than the news. I mean the news writes itself and i have to write the fiction ... if i just didn't have that pesky job i could really devote myself to finishing my story for you. And with that said, i will renew my offer for you to find a ton of friends to send me money so that i can blog full time ... short of that you're going to have to wait for the story (having trouble with the ending). Today's post is brought to you by people who's books i've read that died. God be with you both Howard Zinn and JD Salinger, you will be missed.

Salinger won't really be missed on account of the fact that he was really weird and has been hiding in New Hampshire for the last few decades. Missing someone post mortem sort of requires that you have in fact seen or heard from that person in your life time. Really, i've missed him since i was born, although i have read two of his books and he sold a gazillion copies of Catcher in the Rye, i have never seen the man or heard his voice. I guess it's still sad that he died, even if Catcher in the Rye is the second most overrated book in the history of paper. (First place goes to On the Road, an awful tale of travel written with out leaving a basement).

Zinn, on the other hand, was becoming more and more public as time went on ... i really don't know what to say about the guy other than to tell you to read People's History of the United States. If we know each other and you live in the United States i have been probably telling you to read it for a long time ... you will not regret learning things about your country that you didn't know (sorry European, Canadian and South African readers ... i've got nothing for you here, if you read it you'll just hate America even more so you're not allowed.) I'll just say in closing that there are few people in the world who flood the marginalized with the spot light and Howard Zinn i adore you for you service to your country and you insistence that we never forget the people who built this great nation with their blood, sweat, tears and in many cases with their very lives.

I know that you've all been thinking about Yemen lately and you thinking to yourselves, "Pinko, you said we were going to invade Yemen and you were wrong." So ... in Yemen news, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement yesterday on the subject, and here it is, “We recognize that the challenges facing Yemen cannot be solved by military action alone. Progress against violent extremists and progress toward a better future for the Yemeni people will depend upon fortifying development efforts. The Yemeni people deserve the opportunity to determine their own future, not leaving their fate to extremists who incite violence and inflict harm." Doesn't that sound nice? and then came the news ... the Pentagon is escalating military operations in Yemen with a major new deployment of Special Forces. Military officials say the number of US operatives will “significantly increase” above the estimated 200 Special Forces currently on the ground. The US has been deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops that have killed scores of people, including civilians and suspected al-Qaeda leaders, in the past six weeks. The news comes as the US and other nations met Wednesday in London at an international conference on Yemen. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US won’t just rely on military operations to fight Yemen’s militant extremists. INVASION! It was quiet, there were already 200 soldiers on the ground and then they had a secret meeting to "decide the fate of the Yemeni question" and decided that we would not JUST invade ... we'll do other stuff too. That's nice of us. My only question is that if we want the Yemeni people to have a self determining government, why don't the two massive regions of the country currently revolting against the government count? Why don't they get to determine? It hurts to be right, it hurts to know that we are bringing efficient death to more people. Forget all your other lies President Obama, i forgive you for all of them but this, to promise an end to war and to instead make new wars, to take the Nobel Peace Prize for your good intentions and to melt it down, forming it into warheads to fire at villages filled with women and children. Mr. President, bring our soldiers home to their families, learn that violence strengthens ideologues rather than dissuading them and end this madness once and for all. Where is the diplomacy that you promised? You told the world that you would be rational and firm and talk out problems and the only talking you're doing in the world is with the sound of cruise missiles. Shame on us all for believing the hollow words of a politician.

Happy Thursday?