I slept late this morning. Felt good. Woke to another great Key West morning. Sunshine all over. Blue sky. Water green and moving slowly. It will be another 80° day.
Had a most enjoyable lunch yesterday! With a charming and most intelligent woman. Meredith Eastwood.
Meredith is a loyal blog reader. She reads Key West Lou every day. She also has visited Key West several times in the past. She is seriously considering buying and moving here full time.
Meredith is from Indianapolis. It seems all good people come from Indiana. She has been widowed for many years. Since her son was six years old. He is now a man, married and has two children.
Meredith is a school teacher, risk coordinator at the school, a consuler and tennis coach. She earned two Masters degrees along the way.
We met at Salute’s and enjoyed a delightful couple of hours sitting outside.
Meredith has spent the last seven years writing a book. It is about Key West. However her characters are not real people.They are animals. Primarily cats. The cats all have names similar to Key West persons of note.
The book is probably three books. She has written about 100,000 words.
Meredith is at the fine tuning stage.
I believe that in Meredith I have found a new and long term friend. I shall enjoy communicating with her and eventually having her living here in Key West.
Then it was off to the gym! My second workout with trainer Courtney Aman.
When I arrived, Courtney told me that yesterday’s workout was the easiest one I would have. Good luck! It may have been easy from his perspective. It was difficult from mine. I am sore this morning.
Afterwards, I walked next door to visit with Don. I spent about an hour with him in his office going over some paperwork. Don is a genius businessman.
Last night was Virgilio’s. I rarely go to Virgilio’s. I am always in the front at La Trottatoria. Last night I was to meet friends at Virgilio’s. Gary and Tecia.
I have known them for several years now. They are snowbirds. Gary is a retired deputy sheriff from Oswego County in upstate New York. I did much legal work for and in Oswego County over the years. Never knew Gary and Tecia back then. We met and became friends in Key West. I believe at the Chart Room.
Virgilio’s has a five dollar martini Monday nights.
Gary and Tecia were there with several friends. Some also from the upstate New York area. One of their friends was Gugi. Turns out Gugi is a drag queen at 801!
I spoke with Gugi for a while. He was dressed normally, by the way. Look like everyone else. I could see from his body and the smoothness of his face that when dressed, he was probably one good looking woman!
Gugi is originally from Chicago. Has worked in Key West for several years. Unfortunately, I do not go to 801. I have only been there twice and that was to the bar downstairs. Gary and Tecia see the shows. They also do the drag queen bingo party Sundays at five upstairs at 801.
Now that I have met Gugi, I will have to see the 801 show.
I spoke briefly with Becha and Erin. The subject of our discussion of course was Kathy. Kathy is still out recovering from two heavy surgeries. Hopefully she will be back next month.
My World War II recollection for today is the draft.
There was a draft prior to World War II. It had been instituted relatively close to the beginning of World War II. People could still volunteer to enter the military. However, there was a lottery system. Every male within a certain age bracket was entered into this lottery system. Numbers were pulled. The “lucky” ones received a letter from Uncle Sam advising they were in the the service. You had to go.
With Pearl Harbor, many men volunteered to serve. They did not wait to be drafted. However, a significant number did wait to be drafted. I could not understand why. There seemed to be a benefit to waiting. Why, I still do not recall. What I remember is that the adults were always talking about the draft, the implications of being drafted, the implications of volunteering, etc.
The World War II draft issue brings to mind some thoughts I wish to share.
We no longer have a draft in the United States. It was done away with many years ago. We have a volunteer military service.
We are also in three wars at this time. Some of which, if not all of which, may have been unnecessary. Many lives lost and bodies maimed participating in unwarranted encounters.
There is no question that today’s military services are the best United States has ever had. They are professional soldiers. Most in for the long term. Experienced. How could they not be. Some have been redeployed four or five times.
A couple of points I would like to make.
First, I believe if there were a draft, there would be fewer wars. Congressman would be reluctant to support wars with a constituency back home telling them that they were not in favor of the war. Unless a World War II situation, no parent wants a child to fight in a war. The President and Congress would both be subject to heavier political constraints regarding war if the people of the nation had a greater influence in whether war should be declared.
It is easy to sit in Washington and say we have to go to this country or that country or we need boots on the ground in this country. Not so if those who are doing the actual fighting are generally from a draft program. There would be a severe reluctance on the part of elected officials to engage in wars.
I say bring back the draft.
Second, I am distrustful of a professional military. I have been so for many years. I primarily do not trust the generals.
During the Bush II administration, I always thought the generals were toying with the President. They would agree with him to his face and then go out and do what they wanted. We seemed at that time to be losing civilian control over the military. Do not take my word for it. There are many books and articles written on this specific issue.
I also fear that in times of unrest a professional military might try a take over the government. You say it cannot happen. It only happens in banana countries. It has happened many times in more well developed nations and with well developed governmental structures. In times of upheaval and unrest, the military many times join with the protesters and a new government born. A government wherein the militiary influence is primary and/or significant.
As bad as things are, I do not want a new government. I do not want a military government. I only want a government that works. And I want such a government through the established systems we already have.
I suspect I’m going to get a lot of emails with regard to today’s thoughts.
Enjoy your day!
great to see you my friend! be at the 801 about 7pm sunday as gugi is doing the kareoke then, downstairs. we will attend. he is a great guy and one hell of a good looking woman. your buddy, gary.
When was the last declared war? Korea? The rest have never been actually declared wars by congress. Too many times we have intervined when it was not our responsibility to doso. "A world power" is the excuse use. Too many lives lost when our "allies" don't even get involved.
Suggest that your fears about Congress and wars is understated if anything.
I remember when politicians always had to have a military record to get elected. Preferable having had to have been somewhere getting shot at. The theory was that they'd be less likely to risk our girls and boys. Heinlein was right; only vets should be able to vote. (ref Starship Troopers. The book; not the movie.)
Unfortunately, in addition to not requiring our politicians to be anything but "handsome" (i.e., BHO44 as an example), we've allowed a whole class of "chicken hawks" into the political arena. Tough talk but it's not their [[plural synonym for donkeys]] going out to fight.
As a little L libertarian, I don't want "wars". I won't back away from a fight, but I won't start them either. Who in the current debates, other than Ron Paul, is the "peace candidate"?
With Respect To a military takeover, I'm, more afraid of the civilians who run the current mess in DC. Warfare / welfare state with a dumb "We, The Sheeple" electorate who are too stupid to see we are getting in so many ways we can't keep track of them.
The Dead Old White Guys made some mistakes: (1) should have made it tougher to change the Constitution; (2) should have had the death penalty for malfeasance or infringing rights; (3) should have outlawed Gooferment Skrules; (4) should have had the President have to be Governor and (5) should have made money a commodity — not paper.
… Oh yeah, they did that last one. But the cockroaches in DC got around that WITHOUT amending the Constitution. (The Federal Reserve System, faith-based money [[it's money because of legal tender laws]] is the ROOT of all our problems. Allows "print and spend" and its cousin "borrow and spend" for warfare AND welfare. The inflation tax!)
But, then they couldn't have imagined how stupid "We, The Sheeple" could become.
Korea was a "conflict" not a declared war actually (WWII was the last declared war). My Father-in-Law had the privilege of serving the US Army as a POW in China for three years during that "action". He was captured at the Yalu river when the 1st Cav ran out of ammo thanks to the incompetent leadership believing China would not enter the "conflict". He was one of the lucky 1 outta 3 that survived our good trading partners the Chinese and their hospitality.