Random Thoughts

Last Sunday, on one of the Sunday morning shows, Valerie Jarrett referred to Michelle Obama as the first "woman", rather than "first lady" and I wondered if it was intentional. She is most definitely not cut from any previous mold. I think she is, in fact, the founder of the First Woman role. Michelle Obama walks the talk, for example, not only admonishing kids to exercise and eat healthfully, but also donning a hula hoop and going a good 142 rounds, I heard, before it dropped to the ground. She also did double dutch jump rope. She is 47 years old, I believe. Thank heaven for little girls! Michelle's obviously been hanging with Sasha and Malia, maybe even teaching them a thing or two.

What used to be known as the War on Drugs, in which the U.S. government, it might be said, allegedly, vigilantly enforced drug possession statutes, begrudgingly funded rehabilitation programs and facilities; can now be known as The War on Terror. According to Obama's War on PBS, the bulk of the bajillions in profit from increasing heroin addiction around the globe, are financing operations for numerous bands of extremists. Maybe when Obama releases his thought on the Afghanistan War, whether he increases troop levels or not, maybe he'll have some multipronged exit strategy for the U.S. that entails---
*cutting off the funds of the terrorists (some of whom are incited to despise us for generations)
* providing economic development assistance to develop livelihoods, (evolving a community that is not dependent on income generated from opium products)
*while simultaneously offering rehabilitative and other incentives--stateside as well, like job training, counseling, the full gamut of resources for addicts).

By simultaneously working to reduce supply and demand, we may have some chance of getting out of Afghani/Talibani affairs sufficiently to save face and lives, and cease contributing to finance our own demise in the process. History shows Non-Afghanis don't win wars on the ground in Afghanistan; let's spend resources wisely.

In other news, I think there was some hanky panky going on in that Northwest Airlines cockpit.