Thursday was Lodge Night

Iowa State had a Football game tonight. I usually stay away from the campus during these events. You can see the snap I took as I drove by they were gathering to go to the game. Lots of students and cars and fortunately they were going the other direction. What was I doing you say to be in that area at that time. Well you might ask.
It was Lodge night and I had gotten an e-mail from a Brother from Cherokee asking if I knew of anyone who would be going to Lodge who could give him a ride. He has entered ISU and wanted to come to Lodge. He knew my name because I was listed in his Grandfather's address book of Masonic Contacts. His grandfather was Charles Crocker, a Past Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons and a friend of mine from years ago. I of course, said I would pick him up so I went out, braving the mad hoards of students going to the game, to get him.

As I waited for him I could see the Lake where the swans live. Not good lighting to take a great picture because the sun was just over the lake.
We had a wonderful meal prepared by the Order of the Amaranth and a good meeting.
This is Blake and Paul, our Junior Steward. - I think (actually I am pretty sure) that he had a good time and I enjoyed meeting him and I was able to sluff off the part I was going to do next week on him so I can just sit and enjoy the degree.

Cassie is back as you know and except for the little darlings getting me up at 5:45 this morning things are moving along relatively smoothly. I have met a new Brother and life is good.

Bush's lies about the reasons for the war.

I stil don't understand why we were there and neither does Rachel Watch here.. And you know Bush's war took more American lives not to mention others than died in the World Trade Center. Mr Ben Laden is still not captured.

Pictures from the Scottish Rite Kick-off.

Dancing Dog -

Thanks to Terry who sent me this, truly amazing.

Quote of the Day

Over at Margaret and Helen

Palin and Beck don’t care about you, me or anyone except themselves. They are getting filthy rich pandering to angry white mobs so transparent in their racist feelings toward the President that a sheet of Saran Wrap would cast a darker shadow.

Read the entire letter here. It is worth it.

He said it better than I could

Over at Bark Bark Woof Woof I found this and I put it here for you to read as he is a much better writer than I am and (of course) I agree with it.

The Real Cost of The War

by Mustang Bobby

President Obama's speech last night on the end of the combat role in Iraq was appropriate in that it didn't declare "Mission Accomplished," he didn't stride across the deck of an aircraft carrier with a sock in his pants, and he paid homage to the men and women who did their job as they were ordered to do. He also did a nice job of honoring the dead and the wounded from all the countries and then turned our attention to what we can do now. In short, it was presidential without being too platitudinous and preachy.

That said, it still doesn't make up for the fact that we never should have fought that damn war in the first place. No one denies that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who subjugated his people and committed crimes against them and others. In that way he was no different than the leaders of Libya, Syria, Iran, our ally Saudi Arabia, our trading partners China and Vietnam, and even the pariah nations of North Korea, Cuba, and Burma. So why Iraq? Why did we blow nearly a trillion dollars and the lives of so many people? There was no just cause, no righteous vengeance, no direct threat, and certainly no one outside of the Bush administration and a few chicken-hawk think tanks and columnists who live for the masturbatory fantasy of watching other people fight their battles on their idea of a real X-Box who saw it as anything but a disgrace at a terrible cost.

We were lied to, conned, fear-mongered and cowed into going there, and if there was any justice in the world, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and the rest of the Bush administration neo-cons who took us there would be held accountable. Some folks would like them brought up on charges in the International Court in The Hague, but that's show business. Rather, I'd like to see them have to explain to every family of the more than 4,500 Americans who died or the more than 50,000 who were wounded with everything from debilitating physical injuries to PTSD or the more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers and civilians and countless others lost as collateral damage, exactly why we waged war against a country that had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and, for all intents and purposes, was no different than any other sovereign country in the world that doesn't embrace Jeffersonian democracy and Wonder Bread.

It will never happen. President Obama didn't address that; he's not that kind of person, I guess. But the worst thing we can do -- worse than all the tragedies and loss -- is to forget how we got there, who led us there, and how much damage the war really caused. We can't turn the page on that.