Met Betty at the Parkway rest stop and gave her the portrait of Norman Schwartzkopf, Sr., then had a cup of coffee together. Later, she came to our place for lunch and to leave Pat's car, bringing a bag of--yum!--Sacco subs. (If you're ever on Absecon Island (A.C., Ventnor, Margate, Longport, that's the only place to get subs; they're the best on the planet.) Suzanne got here a bit later and we had a great lunch. A. then popped in and almost immediately, Ellen called on the web cam, so we had a real girl fest. All too soon, Betty and Suzanne left. Don't know when I'll see her again and it's always a wrench to say goodbye, but we had a great time while she was here. Now I want to relax and stick close to home for a time.
Wider: On Common Dreams.org, Catherine Lutz writes about "Obama's (military) Empire...," a mind-boggling essay that includes these incredible statistics:
"The global reach of the US military today is unprecedented and unparalleled. Officially, more than 190,000 troops and 115,000 civilian employees are massed in approximately 900 military facilities in 46 countries and territories (the unofficial figure is far greater). The US military owns or rents 795,000 acres of land, with 26,000 buildings and structures, valued at $146bn (£89bn). The bases bristle with an inventory of weapons whose worth is measured in the trillions and whose killing power could wipe out all life on earth several times over."
And there's haggling by our Godforsaken "leaders" over money for education, health care, home ownership, and any other spending from which we underlings might derive a slight benefit! Even more blood-chilling, note the last sentence: "...and inventory of weapons...whose killing power could wipe out all life on earth several times over."
Insanity! How in the world did we come to this? And how do we get out of it?