A week or two ago, I got an email from a retired policeman who wanted to use a tech document I wrote for police training purposes. Cool. However, some of the other documents in that same set really could use some updating (that one remains current). Anyhow, it's nice to see stuff I wrote being used for a good cause. The recruiters are continuing to slowly pick up their activities -- the rate at which I get inquiries is slowly increasing. It's nice to have the knowledge that it might not be too hard to get a job if this one were to go away, but I'm not looking to leave.

I continue to have sleep problems. Maybe I'll start drinking tea again before bed -- it might help. I might also rewrite a program that I lost ages ago that played nature sounds (CD I have) in a nice mix for a specified time, and slowly fades the volume until it turns off after awhile. Hmm.. I wonder if there are wireless stereo cord-replacements.. it'd be cool to have the sound from holly (once I get holly a non-sucky sound card) in my bedroom, leaving forrester's sound in the pooter room. Hmm... I need a laptop too... GAH! I just remembered... with classes starting soon, it's going to really really suck not having a laptop.. but I know I can't afford one right now. Stupid cashflow.. hmm.. actually, I could probably just charge it if/when a certain something happens which'll give me a bit of financial relief. Thing is, in another month or two, it wouldn't be a problem at all. Oh well. So it goes..

I was reading a bit about the vietnam war.. it illustrates a thing about foreign policy that remains true about America (and other countries, probably) today -- American leaders, in order to justify war, need only bake lies that last long enough for there to be enough commitment to get into it, and afterwards, the justification doesn't matter so much, as people will rationalize

• for* their country rather than pay attention to the original public reason for

the war. LBJ lied, and essentially got away with it. What can be done? To borrow a line from some of my more partisian friends, Clinton had impeachment hearings for lying under oath about sex, while BushJr gets nothing (yet) for lying in the State of the Union. Well, I'm not partisian, and I do see it as being problematic that Clinton lied on that, but certainly it's a much much bigger thing for BushJr(pretzels be unto him)'s given reasons for war being unsubstantiated, and for there being no compelling interest to invade. BushJr just had to be the cowboy, and revel in that 'righteous anger' that invading Afghenistan failed to sate. I'd like to see him spend the rest of his years in prison. Consider the stakes -- some sex acts versus a war. Clinton betrayed his family, and that's no small thing, but it's still something on the scale of damage to his wife and family, compared to the many dead, huge sums of money spent, and american arrogance displayed to the world again.

Oh well. Best not to get too focused on the negative. I've had a good amount of humor in my life too.. some thanks (still) to Shirley Q Liquor, a spoken comedy person, findable on mp3.com ... there's a bit in one of the pieces there that I clipped out into a wave that's just hilarous -- "you is a backstabbing lie, and you is going down, baby!" Every time I hear it, it makes me smile.