This Wendesday, it came to my attention, through an obituary, that my friend Bill Cope had died in car crash in New Mexico. I will be attending the funeral service tomorrow with my family. Bill Cope was one of best people that I’ve had the privelege of knowing. I met him when I was around 13 years of age, an insecure teenage girl who had just joined the Naval Sea Cadet Corps. He was a retired Master Sargeant from the Army. We first met when I was with the Sea Cadets, out rapelling and rockclimbing. He was there, teaching us how to repel off of a 60-foot slab of granite. I might want to mention that I have a horrible fear of heights, but rapelling looks fun, and I’ve always thought the most enjoyable activity in the world was challenging your fears. So, here I was, knobby-kneed, scared out my mind, hanging by a rope, and Sgt. Cope was down below, belaying. I was inching down the wall, when he told me to let go of the rope.

“But.. I’ll fall!” I remember squeaking, trying not to look down.

“Oh no you won’t!” He yelled up at me. “I’ve got ya!” he pulled the rope taunt. “I’m not going to let ya go anywhere! Now let go!”

“Yes, s-sir,” I said, wondering if I would be able to pry my fingers off the rope.

“SIR!” He yelled. “I’m not a ’sir’! I work for a living! Master Sargeant!”

“Yes, master sargeant,” I grimaced, slowly pulling my fingers off one by one. For a minute, I was quaking in fear, sure that I was going to meet my maker. But I was held fast in mid-air, and the feeling was invigorating. I laughed, and I wasn’t so afraid anymore. I grabbed the rope again and bounded down. I met him at the bottom, a huge grin on my face, and a message:
“I wanna go again!”

I tried everything after that– going rappelling again, and trying rockclimbing, which I loved and am doing now. He was even prouder than I was when I reached the top, and he had just met me! He did that with everyone; taking pride in their accomplishments and checking up on them. My family and I had great conversations with him and his wife, Terri. He helped me climb up several other walls during my Sea Cadet career; not all of them tangible. He always had a big smile for me, and reminder that he was enlisted, not an officer. He lit up a room and loved meeting new people. He had a big heart, probably one of biggest I’ve ever seen. If I had just a bit of his compassion, I would be happy with myself.

Lots of nice things are said about people after they die. I would have said all this when Sargeant Cope was alive, too. It’s hard, because I know I’m not going to see his big smile again, and I’m not going to have another good conversation with him. Sargeant Cope, if you’re up there, Amy is down here and she’s very proud of life you lead, and she knows that your wife and children are too! I hope there are big rocks in heaven.

Here is the obituary. God bless Sargeant Cope and his family. My heart is with them.

Look here: is anyone else noticing this opposite crap that Putin has been pulling lately? The US doesn’t like what Iran is doing with nukes, so Russia comes out and supports it. The US is Isreal’s ally, so Putin goes off and does this.

Hmm, kind of like the cold war… This is what you get when you put a former head of the KGB as the president of Russia! This is time when I’m going to go stomping into my house, pull up my family and say very decisively: “I told you so!”

ABC news, naturally, reports it in a kind, gentle way: “Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Friday to give equipment and training to Palestinian security forces and offered to help rebuild the Palestinians’ crumbling infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, from which Israel is withdrawing this summer. “

Nice way of saying it, but hopefully anyone with half a brain can read between the lines. Especially when this background paragraph was throw in:

“The Palestinians and Moscow have a long history of political and cultural cooperation dating to the Cold war, when the Soviet Union backed Arab states and the Palestinians in their fight against the U.S.-backed Israelis.”

Cute, nice long phrases, but the better way of saying it would be: “The Soviet Union has always supported the Palestinians in their fight against Isreal–because Isreal is backed by the United States.”

Update: Edited for greivous and embarassing spelling errors.

Professor Bainbridge post here on John Bolton:

As I understand it, the official case
against John Bolton’s appointment as UN ambassador consists largely of claims
that he’s a lousy boss who is mean to his subordinates. Uh, huh. If being a jerk
at work is disqualifying, I wonder how many Congressmen would have to stand
down?

Hmm, like Barabra Boxer, maybe? She seems to do a fine job of pissing
people off. I saw an editorialy cartoon today right by a column by Molly Ivins saying how Bolton is the worst person for the job– and they had portrayed Bolton as this dog chewing on the symbol of the UN.

Really, if I were to draw a picture of the UN situation, I paint Bolton looking forlornly at the squishy mass of dog crap on the ground that is the UN right now.

Glenn is on a roll today: he has lots of goodies that need to be browsed:

Putin: He’s at it again, and the ‘pro-Putin’ ‘Nashi”… Some random person wanting an autograph? The use of resources, a chessboard? Something designed to give a message? This sounds a little more organized than just an ‘pro-Putin organization’ to me. I’ve mentioned several times before my distrust of Putin and how he is becoming an obstacle, especially with Iran. Every time I log-on my view is reaffirmed. More later on Russia and arms deals.

The links below were found with the help of instapundit:

Just when we think Beijing is stepping up: The government is trying to police internet activities. They’re vying for Taiwan. I’m sticking with Glenn on this and saying that the CCP is facing something a little bigger than they’d like us to believe.

Here from Strategy Page for stuff on military technology (perfect timing too)– I’ll try and dissect later (I’m pressed for time, on my lunch break at school).

From AfricaPundit: stuff about Nigeria, which is interesting because I’m studying it right now.

Finally, the Counterrevolutionary comes just in the nick of time with a nice long post about why we shouldn’t be down on the economy — and for good reason. We live in a 1st world country, our government is stable, there are lots of public services, and we do have a low non-employment rate. Sometimes, many of us need to stop griping and be a little more thankful. We’re the richest nation in the world. It could be worse. Much worse. So suck it up once in a while and thank Uncle Sam.

I know, I know. I’ve been absent for a few days and then I’m doing it again. It can’t be helped.

This weekend I have a choir tour in Seattle, and won’t have time to log on to a computer. Also, tonight will be another all-nighter– I have tons of Hons. English stuff due before the end of the quarter, as well as getting a start on Chemistry. Plus I have to plan, pack, do chores and practice piano. Tomorrow night will be the same. So there will be no times to do much of anything.

There is, however, a very lovely bit of news to relay. A kurd was elected president of Iraq today. Saddam and his henchmen watched the parliament meeting from their jail cells. Take that, naysayers.

Four years ago, no one would have predicted the fall of Saddam Hussein, and the spring of democracy in Iraq, Lebanon, the Ukraine… Revolution, as I have stated before, is in the air. It’s not leaving. It’s not going to go away. I predict that there will continue to be progress in the Sandbox. I also predict that there will start to be more tension in Eastern Europe. And I also think that Europe will more and more see itself eclipsed by Asia. This whole arms embargo thing… They’re going to try to reason with China. It’s not going to work the way they think it will. Laila tov, Europa.

As you can see, I’ve been MIA for a few days. I was hit pretty hard by the whole Shiavo thing, plus the pope and all the other wonderful things happening in the world. There was also a combination of schoolwork, computer problems, and logon issues to add to the mix.

Of course, much as happening in the world during these past few days.

Kyrgyz ousted president resigns. Finally. The Arab ’spring’ is continuing, and it continues to be a source of hope for me as well as for the arab world. This is very particular, because the article is sitting right next the one about Bush forming a ’strategic partnership’ with the Ukraine’s new president. Once again, to borrow from Glenn Renyolds, it is indeed a strategic partnership. I bet Putin is seething in Moscow, because Bush wishes Yushchenko and the Ukraine to join NATO and the WTO (though I’m really not sure the US should be in the World Trade Organization). The Middle East is called the ‘middle’ east because it smack dab in the middle of eastern asia and eastern europe. And from I’m seeing, eastern europe could be having a bit of a thaw too. Our biggest problem in eastern europe right now is Putin. But it appears that the old satellite countries know how to handle him.

There is, of course, more evidence of success in the Sandbox. Those who say that our allies aren’t cooperating with us and that we’re loosing the war on terror: 7 Al Qaida operatives dead in Saudi shootout. Another militant was hospitalized in critical condition. No Saudi security forces were harmed.

And something here at home: Teens view oral sex as safer. Any teens who are reading this: take it from someone who’s in high school, but knows better: it’s not. You can still get STDs, still have the emotional attachment, and still have the social stigma. Furthermore, you shouldn’t be having sex in high school anyway. Don’t give me that BS ‘everyone’s doing it’, because I’m not and many of my friends are not. So not everybody. Grow up, get over it. That’s what I have to say to teens that think oral sex is OK.