Well, I’m back from D.C. I accumulated a grand total of 2 business cards, but I more than made up for it in information that I garnered, and the cute military guys that I saw. Can’t post long, but there’s a lot more to come. Just wanted to let you know I was still alive! Summer is taking an interesting turn, in that I’m getting a job for the first time, taking a class, and reading lots. I finished my Tom Clancy book, that’ll probably get a review, and I’m studying for the ASVAB. It’s past 0200 hours now, and I’m dead tired, so I better go. Have a nice night morning.

Well, it’s finally over. For three months, that is. Summer is here– sort of. The weather still involves unwanted droplets of moisture, and I have the ACT to take tomorrow, requiring me to wake up around 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday. This is anathema to a night-owl who loves her hours of sleep, since for the past three weeks have been limited to perhaps 5 or 6… per week.

Hopefully, when this is over, I’ll have much more time to blog. As you all can see, my posting has been spotty at best and I really need to start talking about all of the things going on… Because there’s a lot! Hmm, let’s see. Next Thursday I’m leaving for D.C., for the LEADAmerica Intelligence & Diplomancy conference; I’ll have lots of posts for you guys about that after I get back. Some nice networking opportunities! My goal is to come away from it with a plethora of business cards. I have a red-eye flight over there, and I get to change planes around 6 am in Detriot. And I can never sleep on planes, so I’ll have to entertain myself by reading books. I just got a lot of them! I went to the public library today after school and checked out about 40 CDs, and a few books. One is on covert digital encryption and quantum computing, which should be a really riveting read (I love quantum cryptography), and the other two are on espionage– tools of the trade and how they play into operations, and another one of the CIA (True Men and Traitors, I believe it’s called). Should probably do some reviews on those. I have my summer reading list for AP Literature that I need to get started on too. Oh, and I bought a used book on a wife who set out to rescue her journalist husband who was held hostage in Beirut during the Iran-Contra situation. I also got a Tom Clancy. Gotta love ‘im.

Well, I should probably go now. I wore myself ragged this past week, and I’ve wound up with a heavy cough. Yesterday I had that tickly feeling in my throat. I started coughing and couldn’t stop for twenty minutes. Seriously, I thought I was going to die right then and there. I couldn’t say a word, I could only cough so hard that tears were leaking out. It felt like I couldn’t breathe! So I went to the doctor and she said that my chest was spasming because of some sinus drainage that had drained into my lungs, so she gave me a nice narcotic cough syrup perscription and told me to not operate machinery, since it’ll get me stoned. I’ve never been stoned before, and I honestly don’t know why people do it on purpose, when they don’t have to. I woke up last night fully drugged and felt stifled, heavy, light, and bemused. It was quite disconcerting. So, I’ve taken my dose, and I’m starting to get that fuzzy feeling again. I’ll probably hate this entry after I wake up tomorrow, it’s probably rambling and very uninteresting and I probably sound drugged.

Yes, well, anyway, I’m not dead (yet), and… Well, I hope to be posting more! Pray for me to pass AP Chemistry is quarter please! I’ve been so sick that I had to turn in a lot of things late; so I need all the help I can get! I’ve gotten A’s and B’s the past three quarters, but I need some grace this time around. God bless everyone, and be safe!

Another comment posted on another blog– must find the link– responding to someone who asserted absolute transparency…

“Transparency is best no matter how the chips fall.”

Excuse me while I retch into a Koran-swallowing toliet. If transparency is _always_ best, this country wouldn’t be here. There was a lot of secrecy during WWII, and that kept millions of people alive. Say Winston Churchill had been a totally transparent kind of guy and decided to broadcast that the Nazis were progressively bombing into less populated areas since they were trying to do it blind? Great, have them redirect. Or, say, what if Roosevelt and his staff has been really transparent folks and told Congress, which had its share of isolationists at the time, that they really were operating a foreign intelligence agency on American soil (an intelligence agency that oversaw D-day and many other hugely important operations)? Roosevelt would have been impeached, the British Security Coordination disbanded, and WWII lost, probably. Or, better yet, maybe we should have told the Soviets straight out how to build an atomic bomb? ‘Cause Stalin was our ally and all…

Come ON! Some information simply should not be disclosed because it would cost lives. Transparency that leads to death? What liberty is that protecting? We have the freedom of the press, and the freedom of speech, and have rights to certain information. But the rights of the press should not impede on MY individual rights, and the individual rights of other Americans– to stay alive, and live in a country that operates suffienctly because it’s national security (and national secrets) remain intact.

NOTE: I posted this comment at the Ace of Spades HQ, where there was a post and commentary on unlawful combantants that have been detained. Ace, referring to the terrorists, called spies “common criminals”, I disagree:

I understand the points [behind his words], however, I must point out that spies are not “common criminals.” Would you call the folks at the CIA and military intelligence common criminals? These people risk their lives, reputations, and even sometimes inadventantly put their family and friends in danger, all to bring us information that allows us to combat these terrorists. The reason unlawful combatants are bad is because they are terrorists who would use information/civilian to harm anyone who disagrees with their ideology, peaceful or not. Guerrilla warfare and espionage are not just tools of insurgents, they are also used by the United States and our allies– and without it we probably wouldn’t even be a country right now. Our spies collect intelligence to stop the destruction of civilians, their spies conduct espionage to kill all who get in their way. The “common criminal” distinction lies not in in the classification “spy”, but in the who the spy is spying for, and why they are spying.

Bush has broken his silence on Darfur– at last. What took you so long, Mr. President? I know you’re busy with social security and all, but there are people dying out there. Yes, this is something I am angry with him about. He’s the most powerful man on earth– merely devoting two minutes a day to discussing it in the public would produce drastic results. He waited far too long. At least he’s doing something about it now. I must disagree with him and the South American president, though. I think some troops should be there (yes, ours). We’re streched thing, I know, but I’m sure we could pull together some show of force from the persian gulf and North Korea. Even just a tiny one would make a difference. When people’s lives are at steak, you don’t try and be nice, not wanting to step on political leader’s toes. You do something about it, whether they like it or not. And so far I haven’t seen that from this president. I’m not asking for a lot– just a couple of platoons even. But, seriously. Africa hasn’t handled this properly and I’m tired of waiting on the UN. We need to get off our butts and haul some serious a**. We can talk about how we shouldn’t have to do it, that there are other countries working on it, that we’re busy at the moment, blah blah blah. None of that matters because people are being massacred over there. Forget the politics and start remembering the humanity– you don’t stand around when people are being murdered– that makes you a sharer in the guilt. I don’t want Rwanda all over again. We turned our heads from Germany, from Cambodia, from Bosnia, from Rwanda, will we do it to Darfur, too? I pray not. I won’t. The day I saw the movie “Hotel Rwanda” I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to help the Darfur crisis. So I am. I can only hope that others will do the same– hopefully anyone out there reading this. The best thing to do is to write to your congressman/woman and demand action– more action than what is happening, that is. I’ll make this very clear: no action is good enough unless the killing stops.