Al Queda Fading?

Could it be that the democracy movements in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere my put Al Queda out of business, or at least make it irrelevant? Could be. According to an article in the New York Times, (Link) that may be happening. The protests have been (relatively) peaceful, non-religious and the protestors have only used force to defend themselves. Not exactly Al Queda's game plan. The question remains whether they will use the uprisings for their own ends or fade into obscurity and become a footnote in the long history of the Middle East. We'll find out soon enough. Let me know what you think about this.

Election Day

Well, it's election day once again and yes, I got out and voted. There are those who think that in the grand scheme of things, one vote won't make a difference. Well folks, it does. It makes all the difference in the world. You have the right to vote, so exercise that right every election. If you don't vote, DON'T BITCH! If you didn't vote, then you have absolutely NO RIGHT to complain about who got or didn't get elected or which party (not that there's a lot of difference these days) has the majority. If you did vote, then gripe away. You've earned the right to complain. We live in interesting times and if you're familiar with it, there's an ancient Chinese curse that goes: "May you live in interesting times". The fact is that "interesting times" tend to be the most turbulent and unsettled. Uninteresting times tend to be rather calm and a bit boring. Once again, the US (and the world) are in a time of flux and change. It's going to be a while (a long one, from the looks of it) before things start to settle down again. Between economic chaos, terrorism, wars, technological change and social upheaval, things are a bit more interesting than most people like. Societies are very resistant to change, yet change they must to survive. If a society stagnates, then it eventually withers and dies. Maintaining the "status quo" is a sure way to kill a society. There are plenty of archeological sites of societies that kept the status quo. That's why they're archeological sites.