frightened

Y'know, I've been feeling for the last few days that we need to respond, in a violent but targetted way, once we actually have a target. (We also need to make some long-overdue changes in our foreign policy, in my opinion.) But I'm frightened by the progression in Bush et al's talk from appropriate response to an "all-out war on evil" or whatever he's calling it. We're going to try to root out every terrorist in the world and nuke every country that supports them? This is crazy talk. We are incapable of this, and it's not our decision to make. If world governments united in this larger goal that might be different, but I worry that we are about to make an even bigger foreign-policy mistake than we've made in the past.

We can't return to the pre-WWI days when our goal (as Washington put it) was to be friendly with everyone and allied with no one. But we also shouldn't strive to be the big bully in the public school yard, either.

I truly hope that a middle ground is possible, where we do not roll over and let the terrorists get away with murder, but we also don't launch WW III.

misc

Services Friday night were packed. There must have been 500 people there. On a normal Shabbat (when no one's celebrating a bar/bat mitzvah), we get around 100. We also got more than normal Saturday morning, though the contrast wasn't as pronounced. (This is the early-morning informal singing minyan, usually around 30-40 people. I'd guess we had 60 yesterday. I almost never go to the later more-formal service.)

After services yesterday Dani and I went to Coronation (SCA event), which was in Jennserstown, about an hour and a half from here. (If that name sounds familiar, that's where early reports were placing the PA crash. We were about 20 miles away from the site, though.) The event went well, except that we missed the bulk of morning court (including the actual coronation ceremony) because the starting time was changed after the newsletter announcement was published. Oh well. Even if I had known, I'm not sure I would have been happy about skipping Shabbat services this particular week in order to go. Among things, we have people who are in need of help and support for reasons completely unrelated to Tuesday's events, and with everyone focusing on that, people like Jan (who just lost her father) can get short shrift, and that's not right. This may sound weird, but I felt like I needed to be there to hug Jan on this particular week. (Jan's not the only one.)

On the Mark had its first practice since before Pennsic today. Andrea took a one-year teaching job out in the middle of the state (about 4 hours by bus), which makes things challenging. She can come back to Pittsburgh every other weekend, so that's when we'll practice. Our next scheduled performance is Thanksgiving weekend, though we jut talked about trying to perform at an SCA event two weeks earlier because we'll all be there anyway.

Sign seen while approaching the Turnpike toll booths last night: "please use all lanes". Terribly sorry, but Dani and I do not own a vehicle with which we could comply. :-) (Maybe they mean over time -- every time we visit that toll booth we should use a different lane until done.) They could clarify their intent by changing the sign to "please use any lane".

I'm looking forward to meeting Ralph and Lori's kittens tonight.