My protracted silence of late is a measure of my utter disgust with the course of events in Syria. Or rather what our president's reaction to it has been. Where do I start with a bill of particulars? Here is a guy who for reasons not at all clear to me other than he gave "peaceful" campaign speeches was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, putting him in the same company with Ghandi and Martin Luther King. How can it be? Here's a man who's killed how many civilians with drone strikes? Who killed American citizens in the same way with no due process even considered. Who has yet to get us out of Afghanistan, and who now proposes that the U.S. launch strikes on the Syrian regime as punishment for using chemical weapons on their internal enemies, many of whom are the very jihadists we despise and fear. A man who has presided over the most horrific intrusion of into our privacy by NSA over the past several years, simply carrying on the policies of that crazy man George Bush and enhancing them.
This guy cannot be trusted. The last thing on earth the American people should be doing is even contemplating the idea of getting involved in another conflict in the Middle East? Are you crazy? I trust that Congress will soundly tell Obama that they don't approve of this proposal. Indeed, they would only be reflecting, for once, the will of the majority of the American people, who want no part of this madness.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
If You Can't Say Anything Good . . .
So they say if you can't say anything good, you shouldn't be saying anything at all. It appears that that's been the case since I've gotten back from Florida, which now seems like it was a long time ago. But in fact this been very little good news since my return. (Aside from the wonderful winning ways of the Texas Rangers lately.) But rather than say nothing at all, let me just give you a few short bullets about what's happened in the past week – all the good news:
- The Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan has leaked another 300 tons of radioactive water into the soil. You will not believe how much radioactive water has been released into the ocean and into the ground there since the 2011 tsunami. It is staggering. Scientists don't really know what the long-term effects of this is, but – surprise! – They are concerned about marine life. Check out this article.
- A military judge has sentenced Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for leaking classified information. Manning is a whistleblower, he's not a traitor, he's not a criminal. It used to be that whistleblowing was adjudged an honorable thing to do. We are a long way from that in paranoid America today where terrorism and terrorists are everywhere.
- Along with the security state apparatus, which is everywhere. We just found out that NSA "accidentally" collected the email communications – or was it Internet transactions? – of over 50,000 Americans who had no connection whatever to terrorism. Does anybody really believe these people at NSA or in the White House when they say anything at all about this domestic spying and how they've got it under control now? I don't.
- Another crazy rube, admittedly "off his meds" with a gun in an elementary school. This time in Atlanta. Some brave soul in the school actually managed to talk him out of killing anybody, so nobody was hurt. But don't you worry: some idiot perfectly protected by the laws that the NRA has stifled will succeed in blowing a bunch of innocent people away with a gun in the not-too-distant future. There is no safer bet in America.
- The Syrian government has killed hundreds of its own people with poison gas near Damascus. The USA Today this morning had a picture of about 25 dead bodies laid out on sheets, and most of them, or I should say all of them, were kids. There's something so repulsive about this so repugnant to human decency, that it puts a serious question to my pacifism. The last thing I want is for the United States to get involved in punching the Middle Eastern tar baby again, but the moral dilemma presented by something like this is almost insoluble.
- Closer to home in the little city of Duncan, Oklahoma, three teenagers shot and killed a 22-year old Australian baseball player who was jogging near his girlfriend's home. They were bored and just decided to kill somebody, one of the thugs explained. They did it "for fun." Does this really need any commentary? It was a .22 caliber handgun. Story here.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
What Is This?
I'm talking about this new attitude I seem to have developed as I approach age 70. All of a sudden I just don't seem to care too much about all the things that used to rattle my cage. For example, I'm on the verge of quitting to watch the PBS News Hour every night every night. Why? Because it doesn't seem that important to me anymore. Plus, I've got disgusted with the way they are doing the news. Everything is a contest. In the political realm they have signed on to the silly notion that one idea is as good as another and that "balanced" coverage requires that idiocy be given equal time. The program, which I have never missed, doesn't engage me like it used to. In fact, it's just pissing me off now more than it is enlightening me. Is this a sign of terminal decrepitude, not to really care much anymore about all the foo-rah-rah going on. Seems like I've heard it all before.
Hell, I can always read the news if I choose. Fact of the matter is, I'd rather be reading. Television is largely a waste of time, except for baseball games, LSU football (which I'm almost ashamed to admit I am still a devotee of), Masterpiece, and a few other quality shows.
I guess I'm just getting tired of the same old shit, and hearing the same old shit promises and "solutions" from politicians, the same old shit coming out of Hollywood--I mean, how many good movies have you seen lately? The same ole religious shit that makes no sense and doesn't begin to grasp the gospel. Doesn't it seem that they're getting worse, or is that just me? I'm finding advertising, screaming capitalism, commercials – all just totally futile, and maddening. I'm sick to death of lies. Lies everywhere, but mostly from the mouths of so-called leaders. The real leaders, the ones who can see what the actual problems of the world are and want to address them realistically, humanely (instead of with smoke and mirrors or blah-blah-blah or more-for-me-less-for-you-is-the-answer), it seems to me are just ignored. I search in vain for some sort of moral, upright example of courage in leadership anywhere. Don't see it, except from people who cannot change much of anything. It's discouraging, brothers and sisters.
Maybe I've come to realize, after years of saying so, that things really are not going to change. Maybe what's left of my hope is draining away. I say this, but I don't know if I really believe it – that hope is draining away. It just feels that way sometimes, which is why I need to be around my kids and grandkids whose future stretches out before them and who can give an aging, cynical, but earnest historian and aspiring Christian an alternate viewpoint.
In the meantime, I'm just keep on working on my history stuff which certainly holds my attention and keeps me busy. Doing my poems, listening to my music. Loving my dear wife and chugging along. I'm resolved to read. Read more. I just started a new book on Gettysburg which is already got me quite engaged. I also intend to be a little bit more faithful about checking in here. We'll see how that works.
Or maybe, just maybe, all this is temporary and I'll be snapping out of it tomorrow or the next day. This is what used to be known as blue funk . . . now it's known as check your anti-depressant.
Hell, I can always read the news if I choose. Fact of the matter is, I'd rather be reading. Television is largely a waste of time, except for baseball games, LSU football (which I'm almost ashamed to admit I am still a devotee of), Masterpiece, and a few other quality shows.
I guess I'm just getting tired of the same old shit, and hearing the same old shit promises and "solutions" from politicians, the same old shit coming out of Hollywood--I mean, how many good movies have you seen lately? The same ole religious shit that makes no sense and doesn't begin to grasp the gospel. Doesn't it seem that they're getting worse, or is that just me? I'm finding advertising, screaming capitalism, commercials – all just totally futile, and maddening. I'm sick to death of lies. Lies everywhere, but mostly from the mouths of so-called leaders. The real leaders, the ones who can see what the actual problems of the world are and want to address them realistically, humanely (instead of with smoke and mirrors or blah-blah-blah or more-for-me-less-for-you-is-the-answer), it seems to me are just ignored. I search in vain for some sort of moral, upright example of courage in leadership anywhere. Don't see it, except from people who cannot change much of anything. It's discouraging, brothers and sisters.
Maybe I've come to realize, after years of saying so, that things really are not going to change. Maybe what's left of my hope is draining away. I say this, but I don't know if I really believe it – that hope is draining away. It just feels that way sometimes, which is why I need to be around my kids and grandkids whose future stretches out before them and who can give an aging, cynical, but earnest historian and aspiring Christian an alternate viewpoint.
In the meantime, I'm just keep on working on my history stuff which certainly holds my attention and keeps me busy. Doing my poems, listening to my music. Loving my dear wife and chugging along. I'm resolved to read. Read more. I just started a new book on Gettysburg which is already got me quite engaged. I also intend to be a little bit more faithful about checking in here. We'll see how that works.
Or maybe, just maybe, all this is temporary and I'll be snapping out of it tomorrow or the next day. This is what used to be known as blue funk . . . now it's known as check your anti-depressant.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Little Vacation
Off to see the boys in Tampa in less than four hours. I'm taking daily notes, and will have lots to say when I get back. Hang in there.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
If You're Wondering What's Wrong with America . . .
. . . is the title of a piece in Business Insider that my sister alerted me to. You can find it here. Here's a preview.
Five years after the beginning of the financial crisis, the US economy is still staggering. Here's the context: unemployment tops 7%; growth is anemic; consumers don't have money to spend.
Why? "The answer is that our 30-year obsession with "efficiency" and "return on capital" has produced a business culture that believes that companies only exist to make money for their owners, instead of also serving their other stakeholders – customers and employees.
That's what the charts in this piece illustrate. And they are much more graphic and much more sobering than the words that follow.
Chart number one – corporate profits and profit margins are at an all-time high
Chart number two – wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low.
Chart number three – fewer Americans are employed that anytime the past three decades. Reason is employees are regarded as costs, not people.
Chart number four – the share of our national income that is going to the people who do the work ("labor") is at an all-time low.
I continue to believe that this country does not have what it takes to fix these problems. We are a greedy, smug, and ignorant people who refuse to consider that we may not be God's chosen. The country will continue to go down in flames, and nothing will be done about any of this until everything collapses. The country and its government are being run by the corporations who have neither conscience nor soul. I really wish I could be more optimistic. But I know too much history for that.
Five years after the beginning of the financial crisis, the US economy is still staggering. Here's the context: unemployment tops 7%; growth is anemic; consumers don't have money to spend.
Why? "The answer is that our 30-year obsession with "efficiency" and "return on capital" has produced a business culture that believes that companies only exist to make money for their owners, instead of also serving their other stakeholders – customers and employees.
That's what the charts in this piece illustrate. And they are much more graphic and much more sobering than the words that follow.
Chart number one – corporate profits and profit margins are at an all-time high
Chart number two – wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low.
Chart number three – fewer Americans are employed that anytime the past three decades. Reason is employees are regarded as costs, not people.
Chart number four – the share of our national income that is going to the people who do the work ("labor") is at an all-time low.
I continue to believe that this country does not have what it takes to fix these problems. We are a greedy, smug, and ignorant people who refuse to consider that we may not be God's chosen. The country will continue to go down in flames, and nothing will be done about any of this until everything collapses. The country and its government are being run by the corporations who have neither conscience nor soul. I really wish I could be more optimistic. But I know too much history for that.
Monday, July 29, 2013
On the Road Again Soon
We're getting ready to hit the road again . . . to Tampa to see our boys, and then again in September we'll be in Colorado where I'll preside at the wedding of my niece Lindsey. Seems like we just got back from Oregon, although it's been a week. Of course, I'm anxious and excited to see my sons--how I wish they were closer--but I must be getting old. When Susan and I got back last Monday, we each slept over 12 hours that night. This is really unusual for me. These trips just seem to take more out of us. Aging ain't to blame for everything, but it's playing a larger role, I fear.
Speaking of which my friend Cecil had a bout with kidney stones last week. He passed it pretty quickly but told me it was excruciating. I know. My son Stu has had a couple of bouts with them, and testifies to their ferocious pain. Bless him, the guy needs to have this physical stuff leave him alone. There's time enough for that . . .
Speaking of which my friend Cecil had a bout with kidney stones last week. He passed it pretty quickly but told me it was excruciating. I know. My son Stu has had a couple of bouts with them, and testifies to their ferocious pain. Bless him, the guy needs to have this physical stuff leave him alone. There's time enough for that . . .
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Bus Tour
Susan I just got back yesterday from a trip, vacation trip, to Oregon. If you could describe that state in one word it would be "green". It's green, and it's beautiful. I could live in Portland, no doubt about it. We spent three days there and got a pretty good feel for the city. We also saw most of the other things to see when you're in Oregon: Crater Lake, Astoria in the Columbia River bar – there is a great maritime museum there too – the rocky coast where we did some whale watching, and a little further down the road gigantic sand dunes that we rode all over in a buggy that held about 30 people. The wine is fine, but the most common wine you find is from California. Reason being it is cheaper, but not necessarily better. There are some awful fine brews in the state also. We saw lots and lots of beautiful forest, beautiful landscapes, beautiful mountains. Food was good, nothing outstanding to report there. Loved being with Susan and having her to myself for a whole week.
The only problem was we spent far too much time riding on a bus. Both Susan and I have resolved that this will be our last bus tour. The group we went with was called the Oklahoma Retired Persons Travel Club. Groan. Obviously, I couldn't discuss politics with anybody, although we did find one lady of progressive views "except on crime" whom we could talk to about something other than the scenery. A lot of these people made me feel downright spry and almost young, and I'm pushing 70. One lady had a stroke – or at least we think it was a stroke – on the tour. Another couple had to leave because her stepmother died. And there was more than one Okie on that trip who was pokey, real slow getting around. Oh, they were all nice enough, but they weren't my kind of people.
I correspond regularly with the three friends from graduate school, two of whom are excellent writers of trip reports. Such things are not my forte, so I'm sorry to have to leave you with this brief and unsatisfactory report for a weeklong vacation. I meant to post some pictures to the web later on, and I'll point you to them. In the meantime, I'm back. Minus the iPad and iPhone 5 charger cords I left in the hotel on the last night. (I actually got a call from the hotel though that they had found the phone cord. It's in the mail on the way back. No idea what happened to the other cord. Of course, I've replaced both already.)
The only problem was we spent far too much time riding on a bus. Both Susan and I have resolved that this will be our last bus tour. The group we went with was called the Oklahoma Retired Persons Travel Club. Groan. Obviously, I couldn't discuss politics with anybody, although we did find one lady of progressive views "except on crime" whom we could talk to about something other than the scenery. A lot of these people made me feel downright spry and almost young, and I'm pushing 70. One lady had a stroke – or at least we think it was a stroke – on the tour. Another couple had to leave because her stepmother died. And there was more than one Okie on that trip who was pokey, real slow getting around. Oh, they were all nice enough, but they weren't my kind of people.
I correspond regularly with the three friends from graduate school, two of whom are excellent writers of trip reports. Such things are not my forte, so I'm sorry to have to leave you with this brief and unsatisfactory report for a weeklong vacation. I meant to post some pictures to the web later on, and I'll point you to them. In the meantime, I'm back. Minus the iPad and iPhone 5 charger cords I left in the hotel on the last night. (I actually got a call from the hotel though that they had found the phone cord. It's in the mail on the way back. No idea what happened to the other cord. Of course, I've replaced both already.)
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Justice?
Here it is six whole days since my last post, and I'm wondering just what happened to the week. I look back on it, and for my life cannot discern anything all that earth-shattering. Just where does time flee to? I can say this: three days of the past week were taken up with in-house guests. Three of Susan's sisters can to visit us, two from Baton Rouge and one who lives in Houston. This occasioned a couple of nights in a row that we got to see our daughter and her family also.
I've been scurrying about for a couple of days trying to line up a dog-sitter to watch Prozac the Boston terrier when Susan and I take off next week for Oregon. Looking forward to that trip with Susan. I've never been there, although I was to Seattle a few times.
The George Zimmerman verdict is in, which is what I really wanted to comment on. The six-woman jury found him innocent. Of any wrongdoing whatever. Susan says she's not surprised, and she watched practically the whole trial. To tell you the truth I am surprised. I didn't think the state would be able to prove second-degree murder, but I thought the lesser-included charge of manslaughter was not only possible but probable. To me, there would not have been any question. I would have never qualified for the jury. Yahoo with a 9 mm. tracking a black kid at night, getting out of the car he's been following him in. Then the black kid ends up with a bullet through the heart. And this guy is let go pleading self-defense. Please.
To me, a southerner, brought up in the South, schooled in the South, there's only one way of understanding this. Jury in a southern state frees white guy who killed a black guy . . . what else is new?
I've been scurrying about for a couple of days trying to line up a dog-sitter to watch Prozac the Boston terrier when Susan and I take off next week for Oregon. Looking forward to that trip with Susan. I've never been there, although I was to Seattle a few times.
The George Zimmerman verdict is in, which is what I really wanted to comment on. The six-woman jury found him innocent. Of any wrongdoing whatever. Susan says she's not surprised, and she watched practically the whole trial. To tell you the truth I am surprised. I didn't think the state would be able to prove second-degree murder, but I thought the lesser-included charge of manslaughter was not only possible but probable. To me, there would not have been any question. I would have never qualified for the jury. Yahoo with a 9 mm. tracking a black kid at night, getting out of the car he's been following him in. Then the black kid ends up with a bullet through the heart. And this guy is let go pleading self-defense. Please.
To me, a southerner, brought up in the South, schooled in the South, there's only one way of understanding this. Jury in a southern state frees white guy who killed a black guy . . . what else is new?
Sunday, July 7, 2013
How Big?
I attend a tiny little Christian Church (tiny by the standards of what you normally think of as an urban church community). We're an open, accepting community, theologically and politically left. Not your standard-issue Christian. On a good Sunday we will have 35 people attend services. Our norm is about 20-25, and even fewer at religious ed. One of the brightest events of the day is seeing a new face or faces(s) at services. I've been going to the UCC of Norman for about 18 months, if my memory serves (and it doesn't a lot of the time), and I know that it's seldom a visitor comes back again after a visit. We never know why, and we don't question. People are where they are, and that's fine with us.
But the question of why they did not choose to come back is often nagging. Yesterday we had an engaging discussion about what people thought of growth as a church community. I think it's fair to say that opinion was divided. One the one hand there's the security, safety, and warm fuzzy feeling of being among people who accept you, listen to you, and (for the most part) agree with you. Do we want that endangered or diluted by numbers of "others"? Do we want to bend or fashion our bedrock beliefs to suit the sensibilities of others? These are valid concerns. But on the other, there's the desire to share what we have, to let others know that we follow a Jesus who's human first and foremost and who has taught us how to be authentic human beings ourselves. We believe in a God who is still speaking. Revelation of this wondrous God didn't stop in the first century. What we have to share with others is truly good, liberating, joyous news. We want to share this with people
Why then aren't more people interested in hearing it? That's our dilemma, as I suppose it must be for any group of people outside the mainstream, outside the ordinary. That constant tension between our being and our becoming, and how much choice we have in either.
But the question of why they did not choose to come back is often nagging. Yesterday we had an engaging discussion about what people thought of growth as a church community. I think it's fair to say that opinion was divided. One the one hand there's the security, safety, and warm fuzzy feeling of being among people who accept you, listen to you, and (for the most part) agree with you. Do we want that endangered or diluted by numbers of "others"? Do we want to bend or fashion our bedrock beliefs to suit the sensibilities of others? These are valid concerns. But on the other, there's the desire to share what we have, to let others know that we follow a Jesus who's human first and foremost and who has taught us how to be authentic human beings ourselves. We believe in a God who is still speaking. Revelation of this wondrous God didn't stop in the first century. What we have to share with others is truly good, liberating, joyous news. We want to share this with people
Why then aren't more people interested in hearing it? That's our dilemma, as I suppose it must be for any group of people outside the mainstream, outside the ordinary. That constant tension between our being and our becoming, and how much choice we have in either.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Joe Hill Is Dead
A half century ago America’s largest private-sector employer was General Motors, whose full-time workers earned an average hourly wage of around $50, in today’s dollars, including health and pension benefits. Today, America’s largest employer is Wal-Mart, whose average employee earns $8.81 an hour. A third of Wal-Mart’s employees work less than 28 hours per week and don’t qualify for benefits. There are many reasons for the difference—including globalization and technological changes that have shrunk employment in American manufacturing while enlarging it in sectors involving personal services, such as retail. But one reason, closely related to this seismic shift, is the decline of labor unions in the United States. In the 1950s, over a third of private-sector workers belonged to a union. Today fewer than 7 percent do. As a result, the typical American worker no longer has the bargaining clout to get a sizable share of corporate profits. (Source)Lamestream media, the Supreme Court, and your basic ignorant American all contend (or pretend) that organized labor is somehow a huge threat to the "proper" operation of the free market. It's a crock, like most of the nonsensical assertions of the defenders of the American way.
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