A couple of days ago, I met my daughter, Samantha, and my Grandkids, Charlotte and August at Ft. Baker. In mid 1965, I was stationed there. Well, not actually, I lived at Ft. Baker, I was stationed at Hamilton Air Base. Well, maybe not actually, again, I slept at Ft. Baker, worked out of Hamilton, and lived during my off hours in the Haight. Let me explain.

I was a sergeant in the Army and a driver for Army General Andrew Lolly. I had been stationed at Ft. Bliss Texas, teaching HAWK – Homing All the Way Killer air defense missile – to German Air Force troops but was transferred to California for my last six months in the Army. I know, I know, rough duty, but somebody had to do it.

As an aside: General Lolly was an Army general but had been given command of the 8th Region of NORAD -Wikipedia says that NORAD pronounced  NORR-ad means North American Aerospace Defense Command but, I think, at the time it meant North American Air Defense – making him the only Army commander of what was basically an Air Force show. Rumor had it that Lolly was given the 8th because it was the worst preforming Region. General Lolly was an all around great guy – especially to enlisted men – and by the time he left, the 8th Region was the best unit in NORAD. end aside.

So I was working for General Lolly who was stationed at Hamilton. Because I was in the Army, I was assigned to Headquarters Company at Fort Baker which was really the headquarters for a Nike Hercules missile battalion deployed around the Bay Area and assigned to NORAD.

The Nike missiles, armed and ready to go, were there because we were scared shitless that the Soviets were going to attack us at any minute. The Soviets were even worse than the Germans because they were Godless heathens, just like the Islamic Jihadists are even worse than the Soviets because they are religious fanatics who don’t believe in our merciful, compassionate God. But, don’t worry, the next enemies will be even worse (sarcasm intentional).

Meanwhile, I had met a woman who lived on Masonic Street just above Haight and I spend all my free time with her. But Ft. Baker was a great place to sleep and it has now been turned into a upscale retreat center. So I thought it would be fun to take a look at the place. Since it is in Marin, meeting Samantha and the Grandkids seemed perfect.

Ft. Baker looked good as did the view from one of the Herc Batteries.

And the grandkids looked great!

I love Jon Stewart but I am still constantly amazed at how much actual influence he packs. I'll see a bit, like when he goes after Fox and I'll think, Man, that's great, too bad people in the media who seem to think that Fox is real news don't see it.Then I'll see it referenced in Time or some other mainstream outlet. Here is a bit on a website that….well, I'll let Jon explain it.  

I just got my credit card bill and I am still wondering how they could have been more cynical. The new bill says, at the very top, in big type on a bold black background, We're continuing to make your statement clearer than ever. It then goes on to say that I'll see an estimate of how long it will take to pay off your current statement balance if you only make the minimum payment on each time period. Now that sound very nice of them except that is required by a new law that went into effect last Monday.

Now here is the cynical part – OK, it is all pretty cynical because the banks fought against this law and now they are acting like it is their idea – so here is the most cynical part. My statement came out just before the new law went into effect and it doesn't have the payoff information on it. They are telling me how they are continuing to make my statement better but they are keeping the information off the statement as long as they legally can.

Every once in a while, I'll get in an argument with somebody over how much big government is weighing us down. I think that Capitalism is great – and BTW, when people say Capitalism, they usually mean Entrepreneur-ism – and Capitalism is largely responsible for us having more shit than any other country, but one thing Capitalism will not do is protect us – or our environment. The purpose of business to make money and get bigger. And that is especially true about banks. 

To NOT pass bank reform is nutty except that banks spend billions to get Congress NOT to pass a bill. Check this out and call your Senator.

Tom Ricks has an editorial in the New York Times – herein after called NYT – on why we should stay in Iraq

As a longtime critic of the American invasion of Iraq, I am not happy
about advocating a continued military presence there. Yet, to echo the
counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen, just because you invade a
country stupidly doesn’t mean you should leave it stupidly.

I like Ricks – alot – and read his blog on a fairly regular basis and I will readily admit that he know more about Iraq than I ever will but I think he is dead wrong. We should get out and let the chips fall where they might. It just seems to me that staying in Iraq because the Iraqis can not govern themselves smacks of the old time White Man's Burden. It is just plain chauvinistic.

Imagine how we would feel if Britain had used the Civil War as a reason to occupy the United States. About 625,000 soldiers were killed in the Civil War and an estimated additional 325,000 civilians in the lead up to the Civil War and the aftermath. That is probably more than have been killed in Iraq since 2003 and the US then and Iraq now are about comparable populations.Every pole I have seen – which I'll grant is not very many – says that the Iraqis want us gone.

But, more importantly to me, is that our being in Iraq is hurting us. Us as in the United States. We are spending money we don't have to be there.It seems to me that every country that has tried to do what we are trying to do – fight endless wars – destroys itself.