Welcome home!!!!

To the shuttle crew. Home being Earth. They landed in Cali instead of Florida due to weather problems. I am not a huge proponent of the space program. I do like that fact that we can do that and I feel that the experiments are somewhat important (whatever they are) but sit and think about what happens when we goto space. It's mind boggling enough to think about what is involved in making several hundred tons of metal fly across the country, along with hundreds of other similar shaped objects flying at the same time, and land safely exactly where they said they would. But space. That is uber-mind boggling. Putting man in orbit around our planet. Through the atmosphere. Landing safely. I can't wrap my pea brain around that. Hell, I am lucky to understand the mechanics of a hamster wheel. The engineering behind the preparation, take-off, flight, the freakin space walks, and the descent and landing. Even if the space program itself is unimportant, the science and brain power and bravery it has taken to get us to this point is amazing.

The other welcome home is not so amazing. I live in Ohio, if you haven't gotten that from previous posts. Southwest corner, Cincinnati. 14 Marines killed the other day. All from Ohio. 5 from my little corner of the world. As I progress towards true middle age and my kids fly through thier childhood, my view point on war changes a bit. I am still very patriotic. I still believe that the sacrifice for this country, the greatest one for a whole lot of reasons, is the greatest sacrifice that can be made. We are free for a reason. And there are 14 more reasons coming home to Ohio. I am sad for the families. I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be free. I am proud to know that I can go down the hall in my office and debate the war, the president, and the local government without worrying that I might be dragged off to jail. But the closer my kids get to the age where they might be the ones fighting the more worried I get. I know it's normal and it doesn't sway my opinion of politics in general but it does make me think just a bit more about the reasons we goto war. Speaking of reasons...gas is $2.50 a gallon!!!! What the hell is going on here? W or someone around him had better get thier you know what together or every republican in Washington is going to be out of a job. I am no idealist, I know one thing sways voters more than any other. What have you done for me lately. I know that morals play a part. I know that character and service and intelligence are all factors. But I also know that if voters have to pay $3 a gallon on thier way to the voting booth in 08, then there are gonna be changes.