Heat, heroes, and cowards

It's not too hot right now, but the day is still young. Soon the temperature in this room will exceed the maximum stable operating temperature for this computer, and it will be impossible to use it. Like it was last night.

This is a bit of an obstacle when you're trying to do internet-based job searches, or just want to do regular computer activities like writing blog entries, checking mail, reading other people's blogs, and chatting online with friends. I also need to remember to file for my Unemployment check today, or sometime within the next week. Unfortunately I took all of my necessary information over to my other house in anticipation of my sister's visit. Maybe I'll file by phone later today.

I've got a Memorial Day entry in mind, something I actually thought of years ago, but it's pretty long and I cant imagine the computer holding up for the whole thing. Blogger has recently introduced once-a-minute blog entry autosaving, which works much better than the spotty "Recover Post" feature. So maybe I'll actually be better off writing it online, since WordPad doesn't autosave, and Word is kaput on this computer.

I also need to say one other thing, something I don't want to besmirch my actual Memorial Day post with. And that's the sense of outrage I feel when I think about all the dead that we remember on Memorial Day, all the sacrifices that have been made by men and women who have fought and died not to "defend our freedom" (as the local newsreaders like to say), not for some noble cause or abstract concept, but because they made a promise to their nation that they would serve and fight and die wherever and whenever they were told to go, and they chose to honor that promise and serve and fight and die. And then I look at the coward who sits in the White House, a coward who made that same promise but who then did everything in his power and his rich daddy's power to avoid serving, a coward who decided that working on the political campaign of a family friend was the functional equivalent of the service he had promised to his nation, a coward for whom there are barely enough records to prove he was alive during that term of duty, and I think about how he and his co-conspirators slandered and sullied the reputations of people like Al Gore and John Kerry and John McCain, people who did keep their promise and who did serve their country in time of war, and I think about all the brave and honorable men and women George W. Bush has sent to fight and die who have obeyed his orders because that's what they promised to do. And I am filled with rage.

Memorial Day. Remember those who have served and fought and died. And hang your head in shame if you voted for the coward George W. Bush.