I got this in my e-mail today.

We Are All Alone

October 26, 2001

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN


So let me see if I've got this all straight now: Pakistan
will allow us to use its bases Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays - provided we bomb only Taliban whose names begin
with Omar and who don't have cousins in the Pakistani
secret service. India is with us on Tuesdays and Fridays,
provided it can shell Pakistani forces around Kashmir all
other days. Egypt is with us on Sundays, provided we don't
tell anyone and provided we never mention that we give the
Egyptians $2 billion a year in aid. Yasir Arafat is with us
only after 10 p.m. on weekdays, when Palestinians who have
been dancing in the streets over the World Trade Center
attack have gone to bed. The Northern Alliance is with us,
provided we buy all its troops new sandals and give U.S.
passports to the first 1,000 to reach Kabul.

Israel is with us provided we never question the lunacy of
7,000 Israeli colonial settlers living in the middle of a
million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Kuwait would like
to be with us, it really would, since we saved Kuwait from
Iraq, but two Islamists in the Kuwaiti Parliament spoke out
against the war, so the emir just doesn't want to take any
chances. You understand. The Saudis, of course, want to be
with us, but Saudis are not into war-fighting. That's for
the household help. Don't worry. Prince Alwaleed has
promised to rent us some Bangladeshi soldiers through a
Saudi temp agency - at only a small markup.

The Saudi ruling family would love to cooperate by handing
over its police files on the 15 Saudis involved in the
hijackings, but that would be a violation of its
sovereignty, and, well, you know how much the Saudis
respect sovereignty - like when the Saudi Embassy in
Washington rushed all of Osama bin Laden's relatives out of
America after Sept. 11 on a private Saudi jet, before they
could be properly questioned by the F.B.I.

And then there's my personal favorite: All our Arab-Muslim
allies would love us to get bin Laden quickly, but the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan is coming soon and the Muslim
"street" will not tolerate fighting during Ramadan. Say, do
you remember the 1973 Middle East war, launched by Egypt
and Syria against Israel? Remember what that war was called
in the Arab world? "The Ramadan war" - because that's when
it was started. Oh, well. I guess the Arab world can launch
wars on Ramadan, but not receive them.

My fellow Americans, I hate to say this, but except for the
good old Brits, we're all alone. And at the end of the day,
it's U.S. and British troops who will have to go in, on the
ground, and eliminate bin Laden.

Ah, you ask, but why did we have so many allies in the gulf
war against Iraq? Because the Saudis and Kuwaitis bought
that alliance. They bought the Syrian Army with billions of
dollars for Damascus. They bought us and the Europeans with
promises of huge reconstruction contracts and by covering
all our costs. Indeed, with the money Japan paid, we
actually made a profit on the gulf war; Coalitions "R" Us.

This time we'll have to pay our own way, and for others.
Unfortunately, killing 5,000 innocent Americans in New York
just doesn't get the rest of the world that exercised. In
part we're to blame. The unilateralist message the Bush
team sent from its first day in office - get rid of the
Kyoto climate treaty, forget the biological treaty, forget
arms control, and if the world doesn't like it that's tough
- has now come back to haunt us.

And who can blame other countries for wanting to shake down
U.S. taxpayers when Dick Armey and his greedy band of House
Republicans are doing the same thing - pushing a stimulus
bill with more tax breaks for the rich, lobbyists and
corporations, and virtually nothing for the working
Americans who will fight this war?

My advice: Try not to focus on any of this. Focus instead
on the firemen who rushed into the trade center towers
without asking, "How much?" Focus on the thousands of U.S.
reservists who have left their jobs and families to go
fight in Afghanistan without asking, "What's in it for me?"
Unlike the free-riders in our coalition, these young
Americans know that Sept. 11 is our holy day - the first
day in a just war to preserve our free, multi-religious,
democratic society. And I don't really care if that war
coincides with Ramadan, Christmas, Hanukkah or the Buddha's
birthday - the most respectful and spiritual thing we can
do now is fight it until justice is done.

It all started in 1972; I was in the 2nd grade. Every week at 7pm I was glued to the television set waiting to see what was going to happen to my super hero. His name was Kikaida. Between the years of 1972 and around mid 1975, Hawaii was taken by storm by a popular Japanese show called Kikaida. In this Honolulu Advertiser article it mentioned that the show was on Wednesday nights. I remember it being on Saturdays. Anyway, I was, and so were thousands of other little girls my age, infatuated with Kikaida … well, actually his human form called Jiro. My friend and neighbor Janelle was completely gaga over him. She used to come over and watch it with me and my brother every week … like it was a religion. We used to make popcorn and kool aid then sit comfortably in front of the television. We didn’t dare budge from our seats. Of course, when it was commercial time, it was a mad dash to the bathroom. Ah, what memories. I mention this because I found out two weeks ago that they plan to bring the series back to Hawaii. Every Sunday nights at 7pm starting on November 4, I will be in front of my TV with my kids watching Kikaida. Several years ago, I believe it was around 1993, the show was brought back and my children got to experience the madness. Back then it wasn’t as hyped as it is appearing to be now. I guess it’s because it’s about to celebrate it’s 30th anniversary. I can recall back then when the show came out that there was an increase in enrollment in karate classes all around the state … or at least the kids in my school. I was amongst many lucky 8 year olds who got an autograph from Kikaida/Jiro when they came here in 1974 to our State fare. Man, that autograph would be worth thousands today.

Ok, it’s that time … it’s payday and I got bills to pay.

Until later,

Hapa

I’m kinda bummed … I was hoping for a hurricane but it’s been since downgraded to a tropical storm. It was pouring for most of the morning, now it’s all muggy. I like this kind of weather. Great weather for sex. Oh well, I wasn’t up to it … sorry John … perhaps next time.

Hope you’re having a great birthday Logi, ya old fart. Congrats to Nightskye and his bride Angel for they will be getting married tomorrow. Many happy years to the both of you!

I’m out of here for now … gotta get ready for work in a bit.

Have a good one …

Hapa

Just a quick log before I head out to bed.

A big happy third anniversary of your 29th birthday Logi … and many more!

Work was pretty good tonight, considering it was a Wednesday. We had to take some bogus test tonight … stuff from the new menu … I scored a 100%. I can only imagine what Pasco scored, that twit … hehe.

John will be out fishing, this time, in the morning. I have no idea what I’ll be doing.

Laters alligators,

Hapa

I hate Wednesdays …

Wednesdays are my Mondays. I had the last two days off from work and I go back tonight. Not too bad, it’s my bartending shift. I’m trying to get out of my shift next week for Halloween … I still have no clue as to what I will be going as. This Saturday at the Harbor where John’s boat is at is having a Halloween party. There’s some kind of costume contest thing going on. We were talking about going and he was going to be dressed as a pimp and I his hooker. I have to work … crap.

Well, John left early this morning to go diving. That lobster he brought for me the other day was good. I shared it with the kids. He still needs to clean the fish. He better not bring any more fish that he didn’t clean to my freezer. Sianna has been telling her younger cousins that we have a fish swimming in our freezer. I was wondering why they were over the other day to look in my freezer. My nieces are 6 and 3.
Sianna has a wild time with the stories she tells them. Of course there was no fish swimming in the freezer. Sianna told them it swam away, and they got sad. I don’t know where she gets it from.

I need to get ready and psyche myself up for today’s workout. Ever since I met John I’ve been neglecting my running and weight training. I started the weight training last week and I am sore. What I really need to do is get back to running. I usually take Sianna along with her in roller blades several paces in front of me. I’m all dressed for a workout … it’s getting off my ass and off this computer that’s killing me. I’ll get there … it might take hours, but I’ll get there kicking and screaming.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back later … maybe

Hapa

Hope all of you had a great weekend, I sure did. Heck, I got to spend it with the people I love, who could ask for anything more? First of all, I just wanted to respond to a letter I received over the weekend. Apparently, a reader does not like the way I write. He says I use simple words. Who gives a fuck? All I have to say, once again, is that if you don't like what you see here, don’t come back … it’s as simple as that.

The one thing I don’t respond well to is death. It’ll be 10 years on December 7 that my mother has passed away and I still haven’t really gotten over it. I’ve also experienced the passing of a dear friend and his name was Michael. Michael was only 20 when he passed away in a bad car wreck in California. He was ending his 2nd year in college and was checking out some mainland colleges to transfer to. Michael was my boyfriend of 8 months. I was devastated. I know it was only 8 months, but we knew each other for over 10 years … he was my best friend. I still miss him to this day. I just learned earlier today that his father had passed away over the weekend from a heart attack. Michael Sr. was 59 years old. I’m debating if I’ll be in attendance at the funeral on Thursday.

John went diving over the weekend and brought home lobster and a nice sized uhu, or parrot fish. The lobster will be cooked in a few minutes while the fish still needs to be cleaned. It will then be stuffed and either baked, steamed, or grilled. Hey Logi, if you liked the ginger chicken I made for you the last time I visited, you’ll LOVE the fish. I usually stuff the fish with mayo, bacon, tomatoes, green onions and shoyu, all layered and stuffed in the fish, then a squeeze of lemon over the entire fish with a little more bacon for flavor. I know to some of you this may sound weird or gross, but believe me this is awesome. The mayo actually acts like a tenderizer in a way … it keeps the fish moist. I usually eat that with freshly made hot steaming rice. John just needs to hurry his ass and clean he fishy.

Well folks, I got a lobster to cook and shopping to do. Until later, all my love …

Hapa