Well, as most of you know – last weekend was Easter weekend. Randi and I had planned to head to Bangkok with a few friends and relax for a few days – taking advantage of the fact that Hong Kong gives off more time for Easter than the United States. In Hong Kong you get off Good Friday and Easter Monday. Pretty neat stuff if you want my opinion.
Unfortunately, we had to cancel our plans and head back to CONUS for an emergency. My Grandmother died on Monday (March 17, 2008) after suffering from Alzheimer’s. My Grandmother, June Farage, was an incredible woman and had a “firecracker” spirit that the entire family will miss.
Alzheimer’s is a tragic disease; fortunately advancements are being literally on a daily basis and hopefully one day this disease will be thing of the past. You can aid the fight against Alzheimer’s by contributing to the Alzheimer’s Association. Approximately 78% of the funds donated to the association are used for research, care, support, awareness, and advocacy – with only 22% of the funds being used for general management and fundraising. This is an incredibly high ratio in the “not-for-profit” world. Our family asks that anyone who wishes to offer support to our family during this time – do so by donating a small amount to the association – even a few dollars can make a difference – and you can even donate in the honor of my Grandmother – June Farage.
June Farage was an awesome woman and she raised my father, his two brothers, and his sister with the love and support of my Grandfather – Nyme Farage. My Grandfather took care of June mostly by himself up until the final days when she had to be admitted to a hospice. He took care of her through a knee replacement, a broken hip, and through her Alzheimer’s despite the fact that he himself is in his 80’s. The example of love between my Grandfather and Grandmother is something that I will always aspire to. I know it was extremely difficult and challenging, both emotionally and physically, yet he stuck with her all the way through the end. Our whole family gathered to say goodbye to my Grandmother and it meant a lot to my Grandfather that Randi and I were able to make it to Florida.
So, Randi and I literally flew across the world (20,000 miles) in five days. We left Hong Kong on Tuesday morning (March 18, 2008) and arrived in Orlando on Tuesday evening (thanks to the huge time difference). The memorial service was on Wednesday morning. We then stayed and hung out with my Grandfather on Thursday and left Friday morning (March 21, 2008) for Hong Kong. We arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday evening (March 22, 2008) and let me tell you we were exhausted. I don’t think I have ever flow from one side of the world to the other and then back again – all in less than a week.
Randi and I are back in Hong Kong and back to work. We enjoyed relaxing on Sunday and Monday and then hit it hard on Tuesday – back to work. This coming weekend will be a busy one. I have to head to Southern China for a business trip on Sunday – should be fun. I will be going back and forth over the next three weeks. This weekend is also the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens – which is a world famous global rugby competition. Teams from around the world compete in short matches and it is basically a huge party. This will be my first time to go and I am looking forward to it. A friend and I are going to go – it should be fun – I will take plenty of pictures and be sure to write about the experience.
Well, what else is going on in the world? Apparently Hillary Clinton “misspoke” about landing under sniper fire in Bosnia. I know what “misspoke” is – usually it involves a minor fluctuation in details – say you accidentally said Monday – instead of Tuesday or something similar. However saying you landed under “sniper fire” when you really landed to a “press event” complete with a kiss from a young Bosnian girl with no “sniper fire” what-so-ever is just flat out bull shitting at its finest. The best thing is that there is no way in the world you could remotely mistake a “press event” for landing under “sniper fire”. In the words of Hillary Clinton, “I remember landing under sniper fire, there was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.” Check out this photo; it clearly shows Hillary running for cover from “sniper fire”.
I have seen “sniper fire” in Iraq and it doesn’t look anything like that. It basically involves hunkering down and waiting for someone to take the sniper out. Running with your head down does nothing to protect you from a trained sniper with a heavy caliber precision rifle. This is just another example of the crap that Hillary dishes out left and right. Can’t you just envision the leader of the free world dishing out this crap – that would be great – exactly what America needs – a leader that mistakes a press event for sniper fire. I don’t know about you but, that is what I want in my Commander In Chief.
Now, let’s move onto to Memphis. A bit ago I wrote about the family that was basically massacred in Memphis and the police at first had no leads. Well, five days go by and guess what the brother of one of the victims is arrested and charged for the crimes. Now, I spoke about the “expertise” of the Memphis police department and I am sure that offended a few people – I am not a detective but; I think I could have figured this one out a little sooner than the MPD did. Jessie L. Dotson, Jr. was the brother of one of the victims and guess what – he had just been released from prison in January of 2008 for you guessed it – murder.
So, we have a brother who has just been released from prison for murder and now we have a family that has just been murdered. Now, with my limited knowledge it appears that you usually look to the family first and if you have a convicted murder that has just been released from the prison – I am sure the pieces fall into place relatively quickly. Just from reading the news articles it did not appear that this guy – Jessie – was a master criminal so I am sure there was a lot of “evidence” at the crime scene. However, apparently the MPD was put onto this guy by one of the surviving children. So, here is my question – without the surviving children – would this guy have been caught? Let’s just put it this way – family is always suspected first – I would think especially if one member of the family is a recently released convicted murderer. If I was a detective – that is where I would start my investigation – but, then again I am an accountant and one plus one always equals two.
Last but not least we have North Korea. Do these guys not get the message…your economy is in ruins and the only thing you can do is fire a few short range missiles off. Heck, sell the missiles for scrap and buy some food for the citizens. I am not sure what is or will happen in North Korea – but, let me tell you something has to give.
With the strict control that the regime has over the North – I doubt there will be any “uprising” in the future that could cause a dynamic shift in the stance of North Korea. My feeling is that the North will continue to become more and more jealous over the South and will do something about it.
My greatest fear is that they will try and take part of South Korea. This would be bad – I have no doubt that the South Koreans and the United States can stop the North Koreans – but, mark my words it would be bloody and make Iraq’s 4,000 U.S. causalities look like roses.
Kim Jong-il has roughly 8,000 artillery systems within 90 miles of the DMZ. I once read, and I can’t remember where this was or if it is 100% accurate, that theoretically the North Koreans could fire something like 20,000 artillery rounds in the first minute or two of a move South. This tactic would supposedly “stun” the South Korean and U.S. forces and allow “openings” to be created for the movement of tanks, mechanized infantry, and Special Forces into the South. Now, granted that much artillery flying through the air is very bad news…luckily a lot of the U.S. and South Korean forces have moved further South in response to this threat. Additionally, with the extremely sophisticated radar and counter-artillery systems the U.S. has produced, honed, and tested recently in Iraq – the North Korean’s would probably only get to use their antiquated artillery pieces (most from 1940 through 1960 designs) in the first few minutes. After that, they would receive a lot of counter-fire that would at least quiet them temporarily and force them back into their underground tunnels. Which, would hopefully give enough time for the extremely superior U.S. Air Force to begin hunting and killing anything that moves along the DMZ. No doubt anything that went airborne from the North would be shot out of the sky. The North Korean military has nothing that can take on any of the South Korean or U.S. fighters. It would be ugly, thousands would die – but, I am extremely confident that the South Korean and U.S. forces would be victorious.
Anyway, that is my greatest fear – hopefully the powers that be in North Korea will realize that rather than being jealous and trying to “take” South Korea they can just “join” South Korea and open up their economy and society to trade which would benefit the entire peninsula.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and that everyone takes time out of their day to talk to their family and realize that “good” or “bad” your family is your family and they you need to let them know they are loved and appreciated.
