I'm a meanie

Can't write much today. My end-of-the-week brain activity is being hampered by heavy work loads and I must save the few struggling brain cells for the big stuff.

However - I do have a couple of things to say.

First - consider me mean, but why exactly is the US government not charging the people they're pulling out of Lebanon some sort of rescue fee? My hard-earned tax dollars are going to ferry their butts on cruise ships in the Mediterranean after they were dumb enough to vacation in war-torn region that’s known for ongoing fighting and bombings?!?

What am I missing?

And before commenting back with nasty remarks – I understand we have government officials and students and innocent civilians living over there. Got it – it’s been noted.

What I’m talking about is the fact there can’t possibly be thousands upon thousands of diplomats, aid workers and exchange students over there. No, it’s the perfect, middle-class families of four who were vacationing in Lebanon. Now, I get that Lebanon is rich in history and culture. I also understand wanting to get a broader world visions and seeing new lands. But must you choose to go to the areas KNOWN for warring with one another. And if you still decide to do it, why must I pay to have your butts hauled out because you were dumb enough to go in the first place?

Isn’t their some sort of visa waiver where the carrier must acknowledge they’ve made the decision to visit the warring region by their own willingness and America is not responsible to save them over and over from their own stupidity?

It’d be like me deciding to vacation in Baghdad expecting to work on my tan by the pool and see the ‘sights’ and THEN expecting Uncle Sam and America to come save me once some terrorist kidnaps my little blonde American self. I’m the stupid one.

And yes, I do want to be saved. But I would expect for my own stupidity to be billed for the rescue.

GRRRRRR to the stupidity of giving stupid people free cruises on my dollar.

And on to a much lighter subject. I was reading this morning about someone recently vacationing in Texas. (A great winter idea – not so much when there’s a heat wave gripping the nation.)

Being a native Texan – it’s interesting to read others’ takes on the Lone Star State. Some good points mentioned…

Just to give you an idea of the kind of driving we're talking about, consider these two facts:

You could cruise from New York City to Chicago in less time than it would take you to go from the Texas Panhandle town of Amarillo to the Mexican border town of Brownsville.

El Paso is closer to San Diego, CA than it is to Marshall, a Texas town near Louisiana state line.

Isn’t that fun? Texas is huge, just incase you didn’t realize that. But it was my home for 24 years of my life, and may be again down the road. I don’t know. But it’s fun to think about how many Rhode Islands could fit into Texas….

So, with 268,581 square miles in Texas and only 1,214 in Rhode Island … that’s more than 220 Rhode Islands in Texas. And that’s your useless fact for the day. Happy Friday everyone. Have a great weekend!