Friday Stew

Several things are on my mind this evening. Hope you don’t mind me bouncing around a bit.

First, El Presidente

Leave it to O’Bama to smoke Muammar Gaddafi. Go figure. First it was Osama bin Laden, now Gaddafi. If I were Bashra al Assad, I would keep my movements secret, at least from the American president. Mr. O’Bama has shown a keen taste for knocking off rogue heads of state, and their lieutenants. Remember just a few days ago, O’Bama pulled the trigger on Anwar al-Awlaki who was an American citizen. That raised all sorts of questions about a citizen’s civil liberties and rights. Nevertheless, the President steeled his resolve and ordered the hit. You can’t but wonder if O’Bama is doing it because of electoral politics or some sense of historic mission or because he is psychologically trapped – forced to use the power possessed by the Commander-in-Chief while all the time despising the mission of the military. Regardless, I applaud the President. Doesn’t change my mind about his unworthiness for the job but I do admire him for acting with firmness regarding terrorists.

[Some of you may be offended by my use of O’Bama for the President. Accept my half-hearted apology in advance. My use of the fraudulent name honors his lack of qualifications for the office.]

Second, The Winter Garden

A good variety of vegetables are booming in the garden, despite the cooler temperatures. I’ve never grown rutabaga but it seems to like where it is. I had to thin it by pulling up hands full of it. The collards look great. The cabbage is beginning to spin. The broccoli, English peas, spinach, beets, and turnips all are doing well. But, the best thing I am currently doing is growing Romaine and leaf lettuce in the greenhouse. What a treat to have a place to sprout and grow stuff. Just for the fun of it, I sprouted three dozen tomato plants, all heirlooms. I am learning how to use a greenhouse so these are my test cases.

I spent the last couple of days plowing the new garden spots. My plan is to break up the soil only enough to kill the grass then plant winter wheat as a cover crop. I’ll come back next spring and plow the wheat under then plant. There are actually three new garden spots. The biggest is the Melon Field, 36 x 130, designed for watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews, squashes (writ large, meaning all sorts of squashes, including pumpkins), cabbages and okra. The existing kitchen garden will feature mostly beans, peas, onion, eggplants and peppers. In addition to the Melon Field, there is the Flower Garden, 36 x 36, because I really, really like cut flowers in the house. I also am making a specific bed for spuds. From February to May, Irish potatoes will be featured with sweet potatoes going in the ground in May and coming out in October. All in all, the additional growing space is exciting. It even raising the possibility that I might evolve into a regular capitalist if I can ever reconcile myself to sell food.

And, finally, Good-bye Iraq

I spent two years in Iraq. I am proud of that service. I made many friends there and think I advanced America’s best foot forward to the Iraqis. The President announced today that all American troops will exit Iraq by year’s end. The only American presence in the country will be the Embassy in Baghdad. That is most unfortunate. The Embassy is as dysfunctional as any too-big-to-get-it bureaucracy. Did you know that the Embassy in Baghdad is the largest US embassy in the world? It is bigger than the embassies in China, Germany, France, even England. The Embassy saw Iraq only in terms of Baghdad. It is out in the country that the vitality of Iraq is real and palpable. I pray for Iraq daily, the people I know specifically and the society in general. I have deep fears of Iranian interference. The governance is fragile but I trust a genuine desire for democracy and freedom. It is too soon to write the history of the Iraqi adventure. I am confident that decades from now, Iraqis will describe the Americans in terms far kinder than the language in use today.