Nuclear War and Weapons As A War Crime and Genocide!

Very few people seem to realize why the use of nuclear weapons raise such serious questions about morality and war. Perhaps now, with the very real threat of the nuclear annihilation of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, the issue will get the attention it deserves before it's too late. We can go back to Ronald Reagan noting that nuclear war should never be fought or nuclear weapons used, ever. We can revisit the reality of the US's use of the A-Bomb in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We can review articles and papers by scientists, religious leaders, generals. If we don't do that, we are as guilty as those who would use these weapons. We have to understand the issues now more than ever.

Obviously, it is also incumbent on leaders who have access to these weapons to study and understand these arsenals and the consequences of their use. It is not important who these leaders are - they can be from the US, North Korea, China, Russia or any other country with access. It doesn't matter if you consider one good and the other bad. It doesn't matter if one is reasonable and the other is unbalanced. What matters, is that more and more people begin to understand the consequences of these weapons of mass destruction and leaders understand what these people think.

It may seem like an elementary exercise but we should all review the fact that nuclear weapons, like many others, do not discriminate between combatants and noncombatants. They don't discriminate at all between men, women or children, the wealthy or the poor, the healthy or the sick, or the young or the elderly. The critical difference, is that nuclear weapons can kill as stated above, hundreds of thousands to millions of people, all at once, in an instant. Whole countries and potentially an entire world can be destroyed in minutes.

You have to let this sink in - every person in a country, the good and the bad, the ones you agree with and those you don't, all destroyed.

I believe such an attack by anyone would rise to the level of a war crime that would make Hitler look like an amateur. The definition of genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Therefore, in my mind, the annihilation of a country would most likely fit the definition of genocide.

As usual, our tribalism, patriotism or nationalism tend to get in the way of our moral compass every now and then. We can't, we just can't let that happen in the discussion about the use of nuclear weapons. Yes, it's always the other guy who we can't trust. It's always their president or prime minister who is crazy or who is wrong. But honestly, we can't spend time worrying about who's right and who's wrong. We, all of us, have to have an understanding of what is so wrong and evil about nuclear war. Yes, the genie is out of the bottle and that's why we need to understand the consequences, work at negotiations and continue efforts at nonproliferation. In addition, it's critical that we educate ourselves and others about the reality of nuclear war, for all of our sakes.

Finally, nuclear weapons and their use, should not be joked about by any world leader. They are very serious business. They are instruments of war crimes and genocide.

Welcome 2018 - Hello Table!

My New Year didn't start out great. Its a bit of a long story but may have some lessons so here it is.

Everything started out fine during that week between Christmas and the New Year Holiday. There was a wonderful visit from my oldest son Nathan, his wife Wendy and my granddaughter Dylan. Busy, busy, busy. Energy oozes out of both Nate and his daughter. Conversation and movement, activity and action, its all the same after awhile and its all good. I've gotten to the point in my life where the only response can really be to sit back and enjoy it and I did. They were only here for a short time but it was a great visit.

While they were here we had to rearrange things for eating playing, etc., so we moved an antique 48" round oak table out from the wall to make room for everyone. As the week progressed, the table stayed where it was until maybe Friday night or Saturday morning long after the kids had gone. We decided the table should be moved back so we lifted it on each side and stood holding it as we heard one of the legs drop to the floor. There we stood, holding a heavy three legged oak table. What to do other than to set it down on its side and work it around to lie on its top with three legs in the air. That's how I was able to assess the damage. A wooden bracket that held the dropped leg in place had split in half from years of rocking and wiggling. I knew the brackets and legs were a bit in need of maintenance since whenever we did lift it to move, I would always have to kick a leg or two to straighten them out.

The table came from my mother and father. I got it from my dad probably 30 years ago. It served my family well. It held a goose one Christmas, many dinners and get togethers. It was loaned to a friend for a Thanksgiving dinner and she even had to have a second leaf made to make things work.

So now, there it sat, upside down on the floor between the two doors leading to the outside deck. I decided to dismantle the other three legs instead of having them sticking up in the air for however long it would take me to figure out where to put the table or how to get it repaired. Oh well, a holiday weekend coming up and no-one would be able to be contacted right away. So the obvious answer was to just leave it where it sat.

Next thing I knew it was New Years Eve. I stayed up later then usual and watched the ball drop, crowds cheer, etc. There was also a Super Moon. One of those rare occasions where the moon either is or looks like it is bigger than normal. From my front room I could see towed the lake side of the house that it was in fact huge and bright. I turned off the TV, shut down the front thermostat and headed to the lakeside of the house. Turned out lights behind me and didn't turn any on in the lake room since the moon was shining so brightly. Here it was about a half hour into the New Year. I decided to go to the deck doors and get a good look at that moon before I went to bed.

As I approached the door to the deck I felt something by my foot but it was too late. The next thing I knew I was falling at a good rate of speed. I felt different parts of my body hit uneven surfaces of wood. First my shin, then my knee. Pain in both areas but the worst was yet to come. Smack - my mouth, specifically my front tooth, followed by my nose hit the tin baseboard cover. I knew I was in trouble. Actually I knew I was in trouble before that. I layed on my belly feeling my tooth, feeling my nose and looking at blood in the moonlight.

After a few minutes I rolled off of the now famous antique table on to my back and laid on the floor like an old beached whale, trying to get up but not able, holding my mouth and nose hoping for the best. No phone, no life alert like the lady on TV, just me laying there trying to figure out what's next. I began yelling for my partner, best friend and soon to be nurse. She had gone to bed early and was behind a closed door in what turned out to be a very sound sleep. I found myself yelling - "I'm hurt, I fell, I can't get up". The only words I knew came from that stupid ad on TV and they got louder and louder. Finally, like an angel of sorts, she appeared in the moonlight, assessing me, the situation and what to do next. After getting me on my hands and knees, we figured out how to get my rear end up in a chair where my wounds were looked over. Ice packs and washcloths were applied and used to clean me up.  We got up, moved around, bent knees and went to a mirror. It was time for bed so that's where I ended up, with ice packs on my leg and lip. I slept thinking of that damn table.

The next morning I seemed to have come through it all ok. My tooth and nose are better than the whack on my shin. Nothing's broken except the table and yesterday we got it up on its side and rolled it into the garage, leaning against one wall.

So 2018 didn't start out so good but its like everything else - its a challenge. You take a fall and you get up with a little, or maybe a lot, of help from your friends or a friend. That's what we do. The down side is that now every time I go to a doctor they're going to ask me if I've had any falls recently? You know, one of the standard questions for elderly folks like me. I'm going to have to tell this whole story and try to explain myself and more importantly, place blame on the table. But now I have to go find the furniture doctor.

A View On Seneca Lake

Like every where else, the past week or so has given us extremely cold days and nights here on Seneca Lake and throughout the Finger Lakes of New York. Mostly single digits with some readings below zero, especially in the overnight hours. The cold weather accomplishes a number of things. First, the views of the lake and the scenery around it change many times throughout the day. Most mornings a thick mist rises from the lake distinguishing the different temperatures between the water and the air above it. I watch as on most mornings the winter mist moves from west to east opening up unseen portions of the lake's surface a little bit at a time until the entire surface is exposed. Then a quick blast of snow from one of those lake effect engines makes everything disappear again. In an instant the lake and the hillside across toward the other shore are gone, everything a blur. Then in a moment, the vision returns.

The other thing the cold weather does is that it makes it easy for me to stay put. Who in their right mind would want to throw on layers and layers of clothing to fetch the mail or worse yet, venture to town to complete some menial task that can wait. Staying put means finding a chair or placing one in front of the glass doors leading to the deck that overlooks the lake. A fine place to listen to some music, check email, write a bit or just stare out into the wondrous view of Seneca and its eastern shore.

Snow Geese have arrived and create white platforms or islands in the distance up and down the lake. Duck hunters (perhaps not in their right mind) are shooting off in the distance and every time they do another flock of ducks flies by, perhaps missing a few of their friends this time around. If I'm patient and don't get too consumed by my computer, I have a good chance of seeing one of the eagles of Seneca Lake. Once or twice a day I can usually count on seeing an eagle fly a few hundred feet out just above the horizon of the hillside across the lake. He or she is a big one, out for their morning or afternoon scenic fly over of the lake, scanning the water below for breakfast or dinner. I'm never sure if it's an immature Bald Eagle or a Golden Eagle but that doesn't matter much. Just to watch the flight, the ease of movements is enough for me.

So the cold does have its advantages. It forces some of us to sit and stare and wonder. It forces us to see things that we may have never noticed when warmer breezes blow and we become oh so very busy.

Puerto Rico

It has been three months since Hurricane Maria hit and devastated the island of Puerto Rico and still, about half of her residents are without power. Imagine, three months. Many of us can't live without power for three hours. But what about three days, three weeks, three months? And electric power impacts many other things like water, commerce and life in general. The real question however is, where is the outrage? Where is the anger? Where is the accountability?

Would this be acceptable in any state - Texas lets say, or Florida, or New Jersey? We all know the answer. There is no way that any of this would be acceptable or tolerated. So why do we accept it in Puerto Rico? Is it the distance, the fact that it's an island? Is it because most of her people are brown and speak another language? Is it because we don't even realize that her people are US citizens?

I would guess that it's for all of those reasons and more but there's something worse going on that I don't totally understand. It seems that we have accepted the incompetence of the federal government and its leaders. We have accepted Donald Trump's failure in meeting this emergency as well as others and in the process, we have said it's ok. We have accepted the failure of our Congress, FEMA and other federal agencies. Think for a minute about how horrible that is.

We are so engaged in the joke of a reality presidency that we have all lost sight of what used to be our greatest values - those of caring for each other and making sure our government worked. In the meantime the people of Puerto Rico fight for their lives or leave their homes behind as they migrate to Florida or New York.

The media, the resistance movement, and just plain citizens have fallen short in terms of Puerto Rico and that really needs to change. Every White House briefing, every interview, every protest, march or visit to an elected officials' office has to begin with and include questions about Puerto Rico and her people. Demand accountability.

Two Oaks

12/23/17

Two massive Oaks

Stand and watch

Over Seneca Lake.

Still holding leaves

In late December

Brown and brittle.

One leaf dances

In the wind as

Others remain quiet. 

Beautiful Oaks

Guarding the lake

In mist and snow

And waiting.