  Today was an idyllic summer day. I can't say I accomplished anything, but I had fun. Upon waking up, I showered and headed up to the Oselands to see what they were doing. After some arguing, we agreed on swimming. Then, we couldn't decide on where to swim. I wanted to go to the Point, and Chris wanted to go to Grand View.
Erik didn't care, but it was his turn to drive today. After I pointed out to Chris that he lived on a lake and it would be stupid to go to Grand View, he said he would be right back. I went back to reading Auto Trader , only to hear a strange noise a few minutes later. Erik burst into the house, and attacked me with a leaf blower, blowing things everywhere, while Chris stole my keys, wallet, and phone. Then, they left me at their house for an hour while they went to Grand View. A brief interjection about GV: It really sucks, if you haven't been there.
The tourists there are always of the rich asshole variety, and everyone is condescending to you. I don't mind going in the winter but in the summer it is really unpleasant. As this is the weekend of the Fourth, I knew it would be packed with Tourons from the Twin Cities. When they got back, we went out on the boat on Nisswa Lake. At first we swam, but after a while we just drifted around the lake in the boat, enjoying the day. While doing this, we discussed the parade and the BACP.
I have to work tomorrow, but Chris and Erik said that they would be would be marching with them. I don't think that I would anyway, because I am mad at them for bowing to pressure. Really, BACP isn't a group of people looking to stir up trouble. It is just a bunch of middle-age hippies looking to placate everyone. When I first went there, I expected to see revolutionaries, people seriously committed to far-sweeping social change. Instead what I got were people who only wanted unconditional peace.
It is something I agree with, but I think that they go about their methods wrong. However, I applaud their courage to show their displeasure with the current state of affairs in front of 50,000 (according to the parade organizers) red-blooded, short-sighted, naive Americans on the day when you are supposed to be showing your love for America. If I get to the parade in time, I will give them my whole-hearted support. I won't, however, march with a group of people who bow to pressure. The whole point of the coffins were to bring home the realities of the war to people. We protest the war because it came around under false pretenses .
There is no evidence of WMD's, no evidence of an Iraq-Al Queda link, no threat to our nation. The reason these soldiers went into combat is because they thought America would be attacked, and it wasn't going to be. I know Saddam is a bad guy (Even though some of his worst atrocities, including the Kurdish massacre, are now being refuted by the CIA and the British government). However, that doesn't mean that tens of thousands people should die to get him out of office. Look at the consequences of the war. Can you really say America is safer now that it was when Saddam was in power?
Is Iraq safer? Absolutely not. The ill will we have brought upon ourselves by invading and occupying a soverign nation is horrifying to think about. Not only did we occupy Iraq, we also humiliated Iraqis. The Abu Gharib prison scandal has set back relations with the Middle East decades. The Red Cross said 90 percent of the people in Abu Gharib were innocent, that some of them were being held for things such as traffic violations, and that the Army didn't even keep track of where which prisoners were held where.
Iraq is teeming with suicide bombers, different fundamentalist Islamic sects, and American war profiteers. Iraqis hate Americans, and 80 percent of them want us out of their country now . This was a war waged for oil and money, and instead of putting together a cohesive message that this is an unjust war, the BACP gets wishy-washy and chooses to send out a unconvincing message that war is not the answer. This is their biggest chance they'll ever have to send a message to the people, and they weaken it so as to make it to not make an impact at all. Sure, you'll have your conservative hecklers, your liberal supporters, but you won't sway the undecideds. Anyway, let me move on.
After we drifted around for a couple hours we went to Rafferty's, and had some breadsticks and lemonade. I didn't even have to pay, as Chris got his first paycheck yesterday. Right around the time we left it started to pour. So, we repaired to the garage for an evening of mindless entertainment. The Oselands have two garages: Gail, and Poop's shop. I use the word garage loosely, because Poop's garage has a stage for concerts, complete with PA and instruments, an office, bathroom, and big screen TV.
It also has your more traditional garage things. I hooked up some video games, Erik banged on Mike's beautiful new Pearl drums, and Chris somehow managed to hook my iPod into his record player/garage sound system. We played video games and listened to Wesley Willis all evening. And that brings me up to here. I think I am done now, so good night. 
