Unsolicited Opinion

Not an American Value

2012-01-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

"Empathy is nothing more than imagining how the world is perceived by someone who is not you."

Bill Clinton, speaking at American University

But it should be.

Odious, Vile and Smarmy

2012-01-29T07:10:00.000-08:00

Those words sum up my view of Newt Gingrich, a man who is truly odious, vile, and smarmy. That he is a candidate for president at all, much less a major one speaks volumes about American politics. Gingrich has little to offer beyond bluster and bombast yet he is what passes for a serious candidate in 2012. But even by the low standards presidential politics Gingich is a particularly unpleasant manifestation. Here's a quick tour.

Odious: highly offensive; repugnant; disgusting. Gingrich's speech and judgments are highly offensive. He speaks sweepingly of ghettos and dismisses entire classes as unworthy, all ideas other than his own as dubious. He promises much but delivers only to the few, including himself.

Vile: highly offensive, unpleasant, or objectionable. Serial infidelities show the value of Gingrich's word and attest to a lack of any true moral compass. His only guide is What's Best for Newt.

Smarmy: excessively or unctuously flattering, ingratiating, servile, etc. Gingrich flatters himself excessively. He claims vast knowledge. He makes promises. He deludes himself that he is a public servant when he largely serves himself.

This rant was sparked by a Washington Post article about Newt's latest hypocrisy: working your way through college. I am particularly incensed by accounts of Gingrich's first wife and others putting him through grad school so he could avoid taking a job, something he now recommends for students.

Work was not the only thing Newt avoided during his college and graduate school years. He also famously avoided military service in a war he supported. "Given everything I believe in, a large part of me thinks I should have gone over," he told Vanity Fair in 1989. That's easy to say now. These days he continues to support a militarized America and more foreign wars.

As a rule, I don't question anyone's decisions about military service in Vietnam. We made those decisions long ago under difficult circumstances. My one exception is public officials who advocate war and were eligible for military service then. Newt fails that test. I find it hard to imagine anyone with less moral character in public life. I can imagine no one less fit to be president of the United States.

Odious. Vile. Smarmy. Hypocritical. Newt Gingrich. A complete package.

Change of View

2012-01-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

Last week's snow and ice storm wrecked havoc on Olympia's trees. No more so than Legion Way where the green canopy is a prominent landmark in a region where green is simply a matter of fact.

Here's what it looked like last weekend.

Neighbors with chainsaws cleared some brush in the immediate aftermath. On Sunday contractors cleared more but our block remained closed. By mid-week some 10 to 15 of the trees were clearly marked with orange X's.

On Thursday a city crew began removing the oak tree on the left immediately behind the large pile of fallen branches in the photo above.

By Friday morning they were done.

Scavengers picked the remains pretty clean.

A wood carver wants the large trunk but it may end up going off in rounds if he's not quick about it. Trucks cruise by slowly this morning one or two stop to look but no one is yet prepared to tackle the task. Chainsaws have been the soundtrack in the 'hood lately. I'm sure this Saturday will be no different.

I hope the wood carver gets the big piece. A stately tree becoming some form of art or even timbers seems a more appropriate transformation than someone's firewood.

Whatever its fate, that tree has been my view for over four years. I will miss it.

Note the X on the tree in the upper left of the last photo. My view will be radically changed this time next week.

Better After the Fact

2012-01-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

HorsesAss has a great live blog of last night's GOP talkathon. Darryl watched it so I didn't have to.

6:18: CNN continues the fluff, “Coming up…why would your wife make the best first lady.” I want to hear Newt: “Which one?” Ron Paul: “I think Rick Santorum’s wife would be the best first lady.” Santorum: “My wife did not live in sin with an abortion doctor!!!!” Mitt: “Mine is certainly the richest…can’t beat that.”

6:24: Newt: “All three of the wives of these gentleman would make terrific first ladies” or future wives for me!

[...]

6:29: It’s the Reagan cuddle session part of the debate. Newt: I am vastly more cuddly with Reagan then my opponents.

6:31: Santorum on Cuba: “despots and their reign of terror in Cuba…like a cancer that keeps growing. Reward those who bring in Jihadists, and setting up terror camps…” What the fuck has he been snorting tonight?

[...]

6:48: Santorum has some pretty fucked up ideas about where rights come from–from God Apparently, Americans are the ONLY people whose rights are endowed by God. He is one fucked up puppy!

In the Eye of the Beholder

2012-01-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

Senate Bill 6467 introduced in the Washington State Senate would allow Japanese-Americans interned during World War II to display prisoner of war license plates.

No doubt heads will explode at Legion halls and VFW posts throughout the Evergreen State.

Update: Wandering not too much deeper into the related documents I discovered that yesterday was special license plate day at the Senate Transportation Committee. Japanese-Americans were not the only ones up for special plate legislation. Bills would also create new license plates for National Rifle Association members, 4-H members and the state flower (coast rhododendron).

A Southern Tale

2012-01-22T08:25:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina Republican primary is in the finest tactical tradition of General Robert E. Lee. Lee earned his reputation for brilliance largely because he was often forced into dire circumstances where his only hope was to try something unconventional. It worked for a while. Until the he met Grant. And then he lost.

Newt went into South Carolina in dire circumstances, out of contention if he didn't pull off a good showing. So he cut loose with the Full Newt. Like Lee, Newt had little to lose. And it worked. He strutted through the debates in full bombast, giving South Carolina Republicans what they wanted. They could appreciate a fighting gamecock. Meanwhile, Romney who, like those Union generals, had much to lose, played it cautious.

So Gingrich is Lee early on in the war. We know how that one turned out.

Unlike Lee, Gingrich has a $5 million super PAC. Romney is no Grant but he has a shitload of money, including his own super PAC, and the party establishment is terrified at the prospect of Newt Gingrich as nominee.

The campaign will become more evil now.

Also evil is the prospect that one of these two men will be the party candidate in the general election. But that's another story.

Update: Juan Cole has an even better framework for his analysis of the SC results.

Comparative Decoration

2012-01-21T19:07:00.000-08:00

The previous post comments about the level of decoration on an American general. I will point out, by way of contrast, that the Commanding General of Allied Forces in WWII was somewhat more modest in his accoutrement.

Even when meeting with other senior commanders, all of whom are showing off decorations to their peers, the Commanding General was lightly adorned. None are as highly adorned as today's senior officers.

Just sayin'

Force Projection

2012-01-21T07:59:00.000-08:00

A very animated and confident Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu handles a timid looking American General Martin Dempsey. Netanyahu has all the motion and animation. He's larger. The general stands rigidly smaller behind his ample decoration and ornamentation. He looks at Netanyahu with a supplicant's eyes.

Or maybe the image is a fleeting one, an unrepresentative photo that does not convey the true strength the general brings to the encounter.

"U.S. military chief in Israel for talks on Iran"

Constitutional Irony

2012-01-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

Only in the bizarro world that is contemporary America would a president with a background in Constitutional law "will forever be known as the president who signed into law.”

I can think of nothing more antithetical to American ideals, although many other actions of my government certainly vie for that dubious distinction.

And while I am angry at Obama for signing a bill with that allows indefinite detention without charge or trial, I remember that he was presented that steaming plate of shit by a Congress comprised (compromised?) of both Democrats and Republicans.

That Old Time Depression

2012-01-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

Reported from a Mitt Romney event:

“I’m crazy about him,” said Blanche Gibbes, a stately 91-year-old Columbia matron in a gray sweater and matching hair. She stood for more than an hour to see Romney, although she said that any Republican will get her vote in November. “We’ve got to get this country back in order. This depression feels so much different than the last one.”

That would be the Great Depression. She was a teenager for that one.

If it felt like the last one, then things would be okay?

Ms. Gibbes is right that "any Republican" is capable of making this depression just like the Great Depression.

Martin Luther King, 1929-1968

2012-01-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

The speech every American should hear on MLK day. Four decades later, his words still ring true.

Text available here.

(via Chuck Palazzo)

Mid January Velo Weather News

2012-01-14T15:45:00.001-08:00

Today's forecast was for morning rain showers turning to rain and snow showers this afternoon continuing through tomorrow night. The hourly forecast included a small window of reduced precipitation around mid-day, the only time even remotely likely for a bike ride. The morning was indeed showery but clouds broke a bit and I had sunshine as I took off around 1:30. Fifteen minutes later I rode in a in a driving storm of mixed rain and snow thinking how I might eke out a few miles before I am totally soaked. But at my first bailout opportunity, the rain and snow had ended so I continued north. Each time I had the chance to cut short, the weather held enough for me to stay on my route. I even got a few more sunny skies

Just after reaching my turnaround at the northern end of the Chehalis Western Trail, the (mostly) snow and rain began again but never as hard as the earlier squall and occasionally giving way to sunshine. By the time I reached home I had covered 17 miles and was looking at black sky to the west.

About 20 minutes later the weather looked like this.

Timing is everything.

Stark Reality

2012-01-14T06:46:00.000-08:00

Sebastian Junger speaks the truth about war:

[W]e may be disgusted by seeing U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters, but we remain oddly unfazed by the fact that, presumably, those same Marines just put bullets through the fighters’ chests. American troops are not blind to this irony. They are very clear about the fact that society trains them to kill, orders them to kill and then balks at anything that suggests they have dehumanized the enemy they have killed.

But of course they have dehumanized the enemy — otherwise they would have to face the enormous guilt and anguish of killing other human beings.

War is an ugly business. It makes the obscene normal. Every now and then that obscenity may intrude on the public consciousness but mostly we leave it to the soldiers.

And we wonder why they explode when they come home.

Numbers and Words

2012-01-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama, 05 January 2012:

And I firmly believe, and I think the American people understand, that we can keep our military strong and our nation secure with a defense budget that continues to be larger than roughly the next 10 countries combined.

Kudos to the president for stating the obvious. Obama may be the first president ever to say "Enough" when it comes to military spending. But hedistinctly low-balls America's spending advantage. Actually, the US outspends the combined total of the next 15 countries. Ten of those countries are US allies of one sort or another.

And with all that might we still can't make the world work like we want it to. Perhaps alternatives to military force may also be useful.

Ya think?

A Small Victory

2012-01-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

Chile's center-right government has backed off its attempt to convert Augusto Pinochet from a military dictatorship to a "regime". The change was proposed by the National Educational Council and explained by Education Minister Harald Beyer as being "...about using the same expression that is used around the world, a more general term such as military regime." His words suggest that this is a small technical matter, nothing of significance.

Chileans knew it was bullshit and reacted strongly. The government caved quickly. The wounds left by the dictatorship are too real in the memory of many Chileans who lived through the Pinochet years. Telling them that Pinochet was not a military dictator was bound to ignite opposition. Even the hapless Mr Beyer admitted that he personally "had no problem" in recognising that Gen Pinochet led a "dictatorial government".

The current government is Chile's first conservative government elected since the end of Pinochet's dictatorship. The right wing of that center-right coalition no doubt includes some who look back on the dictatorship with at least nostalgia if not righteous and complete justification. Perhaps the attempt to lessen the stigma associated with Chile's leaders during those years was a favor to those members of the governing coalition.

It won't be the last attempt to re-write Chilean history. History is constantly revised by time, distance and knowledge. Chile's living memory of the dictatorship is the knowledge that strongly defines that history at present. As the living memory fades, opportunity arises to create alternate understanding of and apologies for the Pinochet years. The proponents of the textbook revision (or their successors) will be there.

This small victory keeps the truth of experience and memory alive to contend with future lies.

End of Year Velo Numbers

2012-01-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve was a fine day, not as warm as Christmas Eve but a perfect day for the final bike ride of 2011. I rode north and did the Fish Trap Loop to Dickenson Point and back along the Chehalis Western Trail. 26 miles in all. That ends my year at 1233 miles, my best ever. Better than any mileage are all the hours spent communing with this wonderful environment. Since I ride year-round I get to see this area up close in all of its amazing diversity.

Looking Back

2011-12-31T07:08:00.000-08:00

Introvert that I am, the best way to look back on the year almost past is through the books that I read. Reading is my ultimate escape and my most cherished way to relax. It goes back to my parents, neither of whom I can recall ever being without a book or magazine close at hand. It also goes back to Vietnam where a book or magazine provided a welcome escape from that most unwelcome reality.

With that prologue, here are my favorites for 2011.

Fiction

Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver (2000)

Kingsolver lushly presents the stories of three women and one man coming to terms with life. Deanna Wolfe has it all figured out until a man unexpectedly walks into her hermit existence as a National Forest caretaker. Lusa Maluf Landowski must figure it out after she is suddenly turned into an inexperienced farm widow. Two elderly neighbors slowly discover their shared values after many years of hostility. Kingsolver laces all of the stories with lush descriptions of the plant and animal life, including newly-arrived coyotes, in southwest Virginia. The stories gradually move toward each other and resolution but that resolution is left to the reader to imagine. Kingsolver ‘s ending shows the trajectory but doesn’t waste the reader’s time with a lot of specific detail, only that each character has come to understand her and his place in the grand scheme of things.

Driving on the Rim, Thomas McGuane (2010)

Small Montana town doctor Irving Berlin Pickett never quite fits into the world he lives in. He’s certainly not even a typical small town doctor. Despite his medical degree and obvious skills, he never shakes of the unusual circumstances of his early years—the Pentecostalist mother or his itinerant carpet-cleaning father. He manages to figure it out, though, mostly by trial and error. Along the way, author McGuane offers a fair amount of humor (at times laugh out loud funny) and insight.

The Ancient Child, N. Scott Momaday (1989)

Well-told story of culture and identity among Native Americans. The story weaves between the present, New Mexico in the days of Billy the Kid and ancient stories. This tale brings together the death of Kope’ Mah and old medicine woman, young medicine woman and dreamer, Grey and Native American artist Locke Setman, long removed from his cultural roots, living and working in San Francisco. Momaday’s art is how seamlessly it all becomes once the reader understands that the story happens in different dimensions. That the story ends on the Navajo Nation, in places I know, makes it all the more real.

Dog Boy, Eva Hornung (2009)

Set in post-Soviet Russia, Dog Boy tells the story of four-year old Romochka, a four year-old boy abandoned in the economic collapse that impoverished many Russians. Romochka is adopted by a pack of feral dogs and becomes an integral member of the pack. Hornung tells the story in a believable fashion with a keen understanding of canine and human behavior. Events fall in a logical order with the main characters—canine and human—acting realistically and plausibly. The dogs are always dogs and Romochka straddles the divide between dog and human without ever losing his humanity. It’s a grim tale of survival in difficult circumstances.

While Mortals Sleep, Kurt Vonnegut (2011)

These clever previously unpublished Vonnegut short stories showcase his sense of irony, humor and outrage. Set in an era where ten dollars was a meaningful amount, these stories present men and women in their full range of behaviors and beliefs and circumstances. The circumstances are sometimes unusual and altogether normal at once (the relationship between man and machine in “Jenny or the voice of the $12 million Kilrane fortune in “Money Talks”). “Humbugs” dissects the world of art with a neat dexterity and perfect pitch. Vonnegut is a master writer with the attention to detail that makes his portraits of life entertaining and illuminating.

Girl By the Road At Night, David Rabe (2010)

A strikingly small but genuine encounter between Whittaker, an American GI, and Lan, a Vietnamese prostitute. The two edge closer to a more personal relationship that leaves each uneasy in his and her own culture. Rabe, a Vietnam veteran, captures time and place pitch perfectly. The details are different but the sight and sound of the Vietnamese “hospitality industry” are familiar to this veteran’s ears. The two main characters are fully developed, complete individuals, not the stereotypes so typical of Vietnam fiction. Their love is far from unrequited and the ending is a downer but that was Vietnam during the war.

Non-Fiction

A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich, Christopher B. Krebs (2011)

The story of German nationhood involved much fictional interpretation of the Roman historian Tacitus’s description of tribes on the Roman Empire’s periphery in 98 CE. Krebs history of begins with the assumptions and errors of Tacitus’s second hand account of Germanic tribes and follows the idea of German culture, nationhood and separateness to become the Nazi racial ideology. Krebs gives a good account of how a manuscript survives the pillaging of great ancient libraries into future generations as well as development of “the idea of a German nation that came into being as a state only in the late 19th century.

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram, Dang Thuy Tram (2007)

Dang Thuy Tram was a young physician from Hanoi who volunteered to serve as a doctor with the National Liberation Front in what was then South Vietnam. Her diary was captured after she was killed by American forces in 1970 at age 27. The American officer assigned to dispose of non-intelligence documents kept the diary after his translator told him “Don’t burn this one….It has fire in it already.” Years later, the diary was returned to the Tram family and published in Vietnam. The diary is an intimate view of life on the Other Side, where Americans are bloodthirsty killers and The Enemy. Ms. Tram recounts the difficulties of treating wounded with limited supplies and often under fire. At the same time, she is also a young woman grappling with her emotions and personal relations and a determined cadre striving to serve Party and Nation, even if it means hardship and death. For me as an American, Ms. Tram’s words are difficult to read—we don’t think of ourselves as the bloodthirsty enemy. We were fighting for freedom, after all. Weren’t we?

Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention, Manning Marable (2011)

Manning Marable presents Malcolm X, warts and all, as a work in progress, evolving from a small-time, petty criminal to advocate of black nationalism. The criminal begins to assimilate knowledge while in prison that puts his own experience as a minority in white America into perspective. The Nation of Islam offers him opportunity to further expand that knowledge and provides an intellectual framework for his understanding of man and society. Ever-changing, Malcolm X finds the strictures of NOI to be limiting and begins moving toward a different, perhaps more mainstream approach in the year before his assassination. Marable clearly sees the changes in Malcom’s thinking and the flaws in his character but he also recognizes Malcolm’s unwavering commitment to black self-determination and autonomy. That is the one constant in Malcolm X’s life of reinvention.

Afterword

The reader will note Vietnam shows up in both fiction and nonfiction selections. Both books remind me that the so called "enemy" is a real person who differs from me only in geography and culture. My trip to Vietnam at the turn of 2011 brought that lesson to me in clear, unambiguous terms.

The Way It Is

2011-12-26T07:37:00.000-08:00

Legislative Lobbying 101:

"You need to get with the guy in your district. If you live at the pointy end of the state and you’re going to see somebody from Tidewater, if they see you, they’re just being nice to you."

From a Washington Post story on the Tea Party's influence on the coming political year in Virginia.

Christmas Eve Velo Images

2011-12-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

We had a most unusual Christmas Eve day--sunny and bright with a high temperature of 57 degrees. Needless to say, I rode my bike. The images are from the Chehalis Western and Olympia-Woodland Trails.

Somehow it just doesn't look like a December day in Cascadia

The Dark

2011-12-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

7:30 am here in Olympia and the sky is just beginning to lighten. Civil twilight has begun and the sun will soon rise for its eight and a half hour run from east to west. And then it will be dark again for the next fifteen and a half hours.

Something about the dark here feels profound to me, that it's a dark unlike any I've experienced before. That feeling is pretty amazing since I spent five years looking at the deep black skies above the Navajo Nation when I lived in Window Rock, Arizona. I find it hard to imagine any dark could compete with that dark and certainly a not in a city with all of its light.

And yet the dark in Olympia does compete. It's a different kind of dark but no less encompassing. In Window Rock I could look into that deep sky and feel myself a part of the universe, the vast land on which I stood was encompassed by an even more vast cosmos. In Olympia the dark seems to descend on the entire community, holding us all in its grip. Either way I see myself as part and parcel of the natural cycles that govern this planet and the universe. I am at once liberated, humbled and aware.

If this morning's Olympia sky was as clear as those Window Rock skies, I would have seen Saturn and Mars high in the west and south. Yesterday I might have seen the last slim waning crescent of the moon as it slips toward New. The evening sky here features Jupiter very bright and well up in the east and an even brighter Venus perched above the western horizon. Trees are all bare now so those moments of clear sky are wonderfully visible this time of year.

Maybe it's the amateur astronomer in me that attracts me to the dark. Or my preference for for staying out of sight. Whatever the attraction, these long nights are always welcome on my calendar.

Always a Sobering Holiday

2011-12-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

For the past four decades my Christmas holiday has always been shadowed by Vietnam. Thoughts of Vietnam are still very much part of this year's holiday. But after last year's return to Vietnam, the vibe is different. Now I have other holiday memories of Vietnam that contend with those long ago memories.

Still, in a world were war is a part of everyday life for many, I can never escape thoughts of war at this supposed time of peace. I'm just too hard-wired not to pay attention. And if I pay attention then I must begin to think of an alternative.

Like the one these soldiers created.

As told by John McCutcheon.

In the Rearview Mirror

2011-12-18T07:28:00.000-08:00

The last convoy of American forces exited Iraq last night. No doubt troopers are happy to be crossing that international border. The American War in Iraq is over.

But neither war or America will be absent from Iraq. War will continue among Iraqis living in one of the world's most dangerous places. Thousands of US contractors working out of the world's largest embassy will project as much influence as our national treasury can buy. The contractor formerly known as Blackwater has changed its name yet again to reflect the new dawn in Iraq. The beat most certainly goes on.

But for now, Americans can at least find some solace in the ceremonies marking the change of command and an orderly withdrawal. That much, at least, is over. No desperate rooftop helicopter evacuation (*).

With that thought in mind and fully mindful of the America's continued presence in Iraq I can only say,

WHAT A FUCKING WASTE!

Andrew Bacevich offers a similar conclusion in somewhat more temperate language supported with informed observations and clear thought. I strongly recommend reading the whole thing.

But it also helps to scream.

__________

(*) Yet.

Batting Order

2011-12-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

Environmentalists have always had an agenda to put nature above man.

Donna Holt, leader of the Virginia Campaign for Liberty

As an environmentalist I don't have that agenda. I do recognize, unlike Ms. Holt, that man is not above nature. We are part and parcel of nature and subject to its forces. Hurricane Katrina, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and a host of other natural disasters are plenty of evidence that Nature Bats Last.

Forging Links

2011-12-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

The details of the European fiscal crisis are complicated but a very simple explanation is that that Europe, like the US and other nations, has an economic system that does not provide the opportunities for many people to maintain the basic necessities for life. The solution requires international cooperation, so watching Britain refuse to join the rest of Europe out of concern for its "national interests", leaves me less hopeful that the world's nation states will reach consensus on far more challenging problems such as climate change. Add corporate control of finance, communications and government to the equation and real change looks very unlikely.

As a long-time critic of the nation-state, I am embarrassed that that the alternative turned out to be the global corporation. Global corporations, accountable only to shareholders for profit, easily compete with nation-states, pursuing corporate rather than national interests. If not wholly the equal of national governments, large corporations exercise considerable influence in promoting their maximum profit. Large corporations are in many respects a form of supra-national government with interests that transcend geographic boundaries.

The sheer dominance of hyper-militarized corporate thought and culture in America and less militarized, but no less strong, corporatism elsewhere in the world makes me feel like the embattled rebel. Outnumbered by a vastly more wealthy and powerful force. Everything of value at risk of extermination. No way out. It's a daunting and hopeless feeling. My life is not personally at risk in this scenario but other lives--the many in this world (and yes, America also) who lack basic necessities and live on the margin--are at risk. In the long run the entire planet is at risk of a consumption-based economy managed in the interest of short-term profit and narrow private and national intests.

That's why people around the world are speaking out and demanding change. The sheer mobilization of alternative voices, voices mostly ignored and dismissed by the corporate media, this past year is one of the great events of my lifetime. Americans finally began to loudly demand change, to resist a corporate culture that has demonized the idea of collective solution to public issues. This week Russians are protesting in large numbers. I can hope but can in no way assure that all of this direct democracy will create change for the better. It will create change and that change will create opportunity.

My antidote to the embattled rebel feeling is reminding myself that I am part of a chain. I may not actually see or experience the just and equitable society I seek--my "promised land"--but my efforts will be part of that society's heritage as it comes to fruition. This year's outpouring of humanity in demanding change has vividly reminded me of my place in the chain.

That seems like a good attitude to take into 2012.

Basic Wiring

2011-12-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

Even rats do it.

There is a common misconception that sharing and helping is a cultural occurrence. But this is not a cultural event. It is part of our biological inheritance.”

I gather from this that humans and other species are actually hard wired for empathy and caring. History tells me that the human species has been re-wired to ill effect.

A Passing Anniversary

2011-12-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving passed this year without this blog noting the 40th anniversary of The Last Stand Down, Alpha Company's final R&R in in 1971. The memory was hardly forgotten and was in fact shared with another participant in what has been an occasional Thanksgiving Ritual over the past four decades.

The full story as remembered is here. For the 40th anniversary, I am adding photos.

the beach

waiting for the Thanksgiving
feed at the R&R center

A Message From Our Veterans

2011-12-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

Iraq Veterans Against the War Board of Directors Releases Official Statement on Occupy Movement

Shared Ideology

2011-11-29T18:40:00.000-08:00

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell..
--Edward Abbey

Capitalism also begins with the letter "C" and hews to the ideology of growth. Presumably that growth benefits all. Judge for yourself how that has worked out.

We have, however, certainly all experienced the prodigious downside of capitalism.

The Culprit

2011-11-26T12:50:00.001-08:00

Found this bad boy in my bike tire today. Explains a lot about yesterday.

Late November Velo Fashion Transit News

2011-11-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

Today was sunny and calm after yesterday's high winds and rain, a perfect weather window for cycling. Decked out in a newly purchased very bright cycling rain/wind jacket (see below), I rode out to The Evergreen State College on the west side and returned through southwest Olympia, north Tumwater and southeast Olympia to Chehalis Western trail, where I headed north toward home. In all, a very pleasant day. I was comfortable in the new jacket and was able to adjust it as I warmed up.

Yesterday's storm was especially visible on the trails, lots of debris and standing water in places. I had to carry my bike over one small tree that had fallen across the Evergreen Parkway trail. A much larger tree had fallen across the Chehalis Western but had been partially cleared when I passed. I always collect holiday greens along the trail immediately after a storm like this. The pickings were good today. Not surprising after a full day of 20+ mph winds with gusts in the 30's.

I was well on my way to a 28 mile day when my rear tire went flat and would not hold air at mile 23. And me without a spare tube. I started walking and by the second road crossing headed east in search of a bus route. My gamble worked. The first intersection was a street on Route 60 which goes right past my place. When I found a northbound bus stop and checked the schedule, the next bus was leaving Panorama City, which I had just passed, about two minutes ago. Maybe 10 minutes later the bus arrived with bike rack space available. Twenty-five minutes later I was home.

Sure beat walking.

Here are some pictures from the ride.

the new jacket

clock tower at The Evergreen State College

Evergreen Parkway Trail

fish ladder and high water on
Deschutes River below Tumwater Falls

upstream from the fish ladder

Something To Be Thankful For

2011-11-25T07:13:00.000-08:00

Last night I heard an interview with economist Richard Wolf on Between the Lines. He was speculating on the prospects that Occupy Wall Street may have for transforming the US economy, and quite possibly world-wide change as well. He sounded pretty upbeat, noting that in the many years he has observed social movements their focus was typically single issue. Occupy and its related movements question the entire premise of our economic model, they question capitalism itself, something he has not seen before.

That's good news since the Earth is a finite planet whose laws trump human conceits. If we continue to consume everything, then ultimately all we will have is waste, a diminished planet that supports limited life forms (maybe). All of which means that capitalism based on consumption is not sustainable.

Naomi Klein makes a similar argument in The Nation. She argues at length and convincingly that meeting the challenges of climate change with require revolutionary change in the way we think about economic and societal organization. Simply put, capitalism is not compatible with a living ecosystem.

So the ideas are out there and being discussed. They are more visible now than six months ago. And that discussion will continue. Another interview on Between the Lines was with two media organizers from Occupy Wall Street. They said that the movement was more than the encampment; they had offices and other spaces that are sill in use after their eviction. Here in Olympia, the same is true and the encampment received support from the many local progressive organizations.

The discussion will become more lively here in Washington on Monday as the Legislature meets in special session to carve another $1.7 billion from the state budget after receiving the latest grim revenue estimates. Occupy groups, community action programs, other Peoples' Advocates from around the state will converge at the Legislative Building for an extended occupation for the purpose of educating legislators on the reality of life in this capitalist economy. Events are planned each day. It's not necessarily a sleep-in but will certainly be a notable presence.

Of course, all this may come to naught, as so often in the past. But at least the ideas are in play, a necessary first step. I can be thankful for that.

The Logic of Authority

2011-11-24T07:22:00.000-08:00

“She is one professor among thousands of professors in Turkey,” he said. “I have difficulty understanding those saying a professor should not be arrested while thousands of other people are being arrested in Turkey.”

Idris Naim Sahin, Turkey’s interior minister, explaining why he does not understand protests about the detention of Busra Ersanli, a well-known academic detained since a previous sweep this month against the KCK, a shadowy organization that Turkish authorities say includes Kurdish terrorists.

To the authoritarian mind thousands of detentions justify any one of them. Never once will the authoritarian entertain the idea that none of the detentions are justified.

This way to the gulag, if you please.

Sign of the Times

2011-11-24T06:43:00.000-08:00

Military families are using food banks and food stamps to get by. War may be good for business but it doesn't seem to do much for the troops.

Fact of the Matter

2011-11-20T07:01:00.000-08:00

Representative James Clyburn, member of Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka Super Committee:

It would be a sad commentary on our state of affairs if a decade-old political pledge to a corporate lobbyist were allowed to prevent bipartisan progress on our nation’s most pressing issues. Yet with massive across-the-board budget cuts hanging over us like the sword of Damocles, that seems a possible outcome.

It would. And is.

About the corporate lobbyist here.

Not Built

2011-11-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post has a review of "Unbuilt Washington", the National Building Museum's retrospective of plans for monuments, public spaces and buildings in the national capitol that never came to fruition. The photo gallery is especially interesting. My favorite is the National Sofa

This kind of history fascinates me because it provides a glimpse of how people have viewed and interacted with their environment. Many years ago, I purchased Bridges and the City of Washington because I am also fascinated and delighted by bridge design. The book provided a history of the District's bridges in photographs and plans, including many bridges not constructed which intrigued me as much as the ones actually built. So, too, does "Unbuilt Washington"; it tells me what influenced how a city that is part of my personal and national history came to be.

The reviewer also comments on the architecture of public spaces and how it relates to a city that is both a local community and national capitol. He explores the ideas and imagery that the various built and unbuilt buildings and monuments create or attempted to create. In the process he states that sometimes only the lack of funding has prevented construction of some architectural blunder:

Several projects...which would have radically altered our sense of Washington, were thwarted only by economic downturns or wars that shifted attention away from building projects. The only hope that we won’t be saddled with the badly designed and ill-considered Vietnam Veterans Memorial visitors center, which will eat up public land near Maya Lin’s entirely self-sufficient memorial, now rests on the vagaries of fundraising.

About that visitor center, I could not agree more. Maya Lin's memorial as originally designed--without statue--is fully self-sufficient. The simple listing of names recognizes the absolute equality of death in that war. There are no privates, no officers, no infantrymen, clerks or pilots--only Americans who gave their lives. The memorial leaves interpretation to the viewer. It needs no explanation.

Only thought.

At the Beach

2011-11-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

Long Beach, Washington. Sunrise 15 November 2011.

Art for Army's Sake

2011-11-13T07:07:00.000-08:00

The US Army has an artist in residence, Master Sgt. Martin Cervanteza, 43 year old self-taught painter. The man is accomplished. His work is visually and technically strong. His sketches are especially good, certainly better than my own.

But I have never seen a more pristine studio. I've been in many painter's studios, shared space with them and painted with oil paint. It's a dirty business. Granted, my studio space was not state of the art Fort Belvoir but paining with oils is messy. That's why we always wore painting clothes. I see not a speck on the sergeant's fatigues.

Boat People

2011-11-12T06:36:00.001-08:00

The cult of the presidency in America near deifies the incumbent with all the pomp and circumstance possible. Apparently, visiting aircraft carriers is part of that ceremony and protocol. That said, I think Obama does a much classier entrance than his predecessor.

I give Bush honorable mention for absolute strangeness, though. And Obama looks somehow uneasy in his rigid salute posture.

11.11.11

2011-11-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

Veterans Day is a day of remembrance. To remember the sacrifices and courage of those the nation has asked to serve. As a veteran, I not only remember a long line of comrades but ALL victims of war. I remember the colossal damage inflicted on the earth, its people and cultures. I remember that war is a complete abandonment of what it means to be a thinking human being. I remember, too, that many good lives we remember on this day were wasted in pursuit of extremely flawed perceptions of reality and national interest.

These thoughts put me at odds with the celebration of military culture inherent in Veterans Day in America.

Still, today is not only an American holiday. Today is Remembrance Day or Armistice Day in many parts of the Western World. So I will remember, with those nations, all of the veterans and victims of war.

Prologue

BEAT! beat! drums!--Blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows--through doors--burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation;
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
Leave not the bridegroom quiet--no happiness must he have now with his bride;
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, plowing his field or gathering his grain;
So fierce you whirr and pound, you drums--so shrill you bugles blow.

Beat! beat! drums!--Blow! bugles! blow!
Over the traffic of cities--over the rumble of wheels in the streets:
Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? No sleepers must sleep in those beds;
No bargainers' bargains by day--no brokers or speculators--Would they continue?
Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums--you bugles wilder blow.

Beat! beat! drums!--Blow! bugles! blow!
Make no parley--stop for no expostulation;
Mind not the timid--mind not the weeper or prayer;
Mind not the old man beseeching the young man;
Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties;
Make even the trestles to shake the dead, where they lie awaiting the hearses,
So strong you thump, O terrible drums--so loud you bugles blow.

--Walt Whitman 1862

Epilogue

SOLDIERS are citizens of death's gray land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.

Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.

I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.

--Siegfried Sassoon 1920

Mary Boyd Ellis (1930-2009)

2011-11-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

As a newly published author one of my first tasks has been to recognize the many people who assisted my writing and publishing. That has put me in touch with some folks I'd not contacted in the four years since relocating to Washington State. Renewing acquaintances has been fun.

It can also bring some unwelcome news. I learned that my painting teacher, Mary Boyd Ellis died a couple of years ago at age 78. I took lessons from Mary during the last two years I lived in Window Rock, Arizona. Saturdays I would drive into Gallup, New Mexico to run town errands in the morning and in the afternoon I would join several other students in Mary's studio. She was a wonderful teacher and a generous friend. I have fond memories of those Saturday afternoons.

Despite all of Mary's talent as a teacher, I did not become much of a painter. She did, however, influence my book in a very important way. Part of her instruction was to have me sketch as a way of learning to understand shapes and shadows, form and perspective. Those lessons led me to carry a sketchbook on the Appalachian Trail and many of those sketches are prominently displayed along with the text. "Little windows through the words" as one reader described them.

On my return to the southwest from Maine in 2002, I spent a few days in Gallup and, of course, visited Mary. She was delighted to see the sketches and I would have been delighted to show her the finished product. Unfortunately, the delay in getting the book published precluded that opportunity. Even so, Mary is still very much alive in those sketches and I will always cherish her memory.

I last saw Mary in 2007. Her health was deteriorating but she still lived independently, still taught painting and was continuing a longstanding series of paintings based on TS Eliot's poem, "Ash Wednesday". The first of those paintings were completed when I was her student and she showed the series at an opening in Gallup in February 2008, just over a year before her death. The story about the show mentions that she had begun work on a new series which tells me that she most likely never stopped painting.

Mary faced numerous life challenges but managed to become the painter she wanted to be. In the process she added a great deal to many other lives. One was sufficiently inspired to set her paintings to music as a tribute. I cannot do that but I can certainly remember her influence and kindness.

Godspeed, Mary.

These (Not So) Honored Dead

2011-11-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Veterans Day:

Lost body parts, sloppy handling of troops’ remains uncovered at Dover

More Than I Usually Expect

2011-11-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Give credit to the Washington Post for two provocative opinion pieces today. Taken together they ask some serious questions and offer strong support for their conclusions. Not the norm in the mainstream these days.

Stephen Pearlstein, who wrote cogently about economics as a regular Post columnist before moving to academe, writes about the latest financial bubble, commodities. He concludes:

What’s clear from this tale is how little the financial services industry has really changed since the crisis of 2008. The financialization of the economy continues undeterred, creating a bubble in commodities just as it did with houses and office buildings. The industry is still engaged in clever games to circumvent regulation, increase risk and find the cracks between one regulatory agency and another. And when regulators step in to try to restore some sanity to the markets, they inevitably run into a political buzz saw created by the industry and its Republican allies.

Big Finance is water running downhill. You cannot stop it. You may be able to control it but the force is imperative and always carries the potential for serious damage.

Alec MacGillis writes about additional occupations that will further illuminate the monstrous inequities in the American economy and their root causes. Among his targets is Wal-Mart for its success in destroying organized labor. MacGillis reminds the reader about why unions are important:

Harvard labor economist Richard Freeman says that organized labor diminishes income inequality mainly by forcing employers to give back more in compensation to workers that executives otherwise would claim for themselves. In a strong union environment, this dynamic even applies to nonunion firms, which must pay better wages to compete for workers.

But there’s also a broader contribution to inequality in the decline of organized labor in America — the loss of the “countervailing force” that strong unions used to provide in debates with business groups over, say, financial deregulation.

Which is why Wal-Mart and big business fought so relentlessly to destroy that countervailing force.

Yesterday Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation held a Jobs Not War workshop to explore ways to move toward a peace economy. Among the ideas for action was "shaming" corporations for social irresponsibility. The Occupy Movement has been one form of that shaming for the financial system as a whole. MacGillis has identified some other actors and practices worthy of shame. Pearlstein reminds me of why we need to be always vigilant when vested interests handle large sums of others' money.

Stereotype

2011-11-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Mitt Romney in New Hampshire:

"And his hair was perfect."

Warren Zevon, Werewolves of London

Shameless Self-Pluggery

2011-11-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Now that my book, At the Speed of Foot, is in print I am posting excerpts and other items about my Appalachian Trail hike on my Speed of Foot blog. I invite you to check it out.

I would be remiss if I did not point out that the blog has a convenient purchase link.

More to the Story

2011-10-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Linda Wall, a Republican legislative candidate in Virginia has admitted to "sexual relations with a minor" as a phys ed teacher in the 70's. She blames it on pot, liberal professors and youthful indiscretion! But now she is blessed in the Lord! Angry Black Lady has a fine takedown that whole argument. Ms. Wall is garnering other attention as well.

What really caught my eye was the candidate's statement that she was corrupted by liberal college professors at Longwood College. Liberal and Longwood College is pretty much like military intelligence, a flat-out contradiction. Southside Virginia, where Longwood College is situated, is not a hospitable environment for liberalism.

Since the story is about Virginia politics and a region where I lived, I followed up to find a map of the district. Along the way I found that Linda Walls is indeed getting a lot of attention. But unless the victim files a complaint 40 years after the fact, Ms. Walls is likely to face only ridicule. Certainly, she rates a place in the pantheon of Family Values Perverts and Republican hypocrites.

Surprisingly, I never found a district map. The local media article about the sexual relations story states that the district includes portions of Albemarle, Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell and Nelson counties. I lived in Albemarle. Long-time friends live in Nelson.

Running against Ms Wall and another Republican candidate is a fine, well qualified Democrat, Nelson County Supervisor Connie Brennan.

Read the local media story all the way through and you will see that the revelations about Ms. Wall may work to the Republicans' advantage by unifying the Republican vote behind what I guess is the less controversial Republican, turning a three-way race into a virtual two-way race in an area where any Democrat's chances are slim at best. The last six paragraphs of the article provide a good backstory to the more sensational one.

Maybe rancor and hard feelings from earlier elections will metastasize with Christian resentment against those who question the Lord's forgiveness to still split the Republican vote and give Ms. Brennan the edge. I hope so.

(h/t: Horse's Ass)

Housekeeping

2011-10-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

I made a few changes to the masthead. Some of my links were to blogs that no longer exist and blogs that I no longer read regularly. When I returned to full time work a few years ago, my time available for reading all the wonderful content in blogtopia decreased dramatically and I gravitated to a few out of idiosyncratic interest rather than any disappointment with any blog's content.

During my absence, some blogs went dormant. Since I don't keep up with those blogs I can't guarantee that they are still current. But I don't want to drop the links. So now they are Legacy Blogs. Just because I am no longer a regular reader doesn't mean they are not worth checking out. I still do occasionally. That's how I know that some are no longer extant.

The changes include a couple of additions. I added a link for Coffee Strong, the GI coffee house outside Fort Lewis here in the great northwest. Also added a link to The Rachel Corrie Chapter 109 of Veterans for Peace. That's our local chapter here in Olympia.

Coffee Strong

2011-10-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

My blogging skills are sufficiently poor that I cannot upload a CBS News story about our local GI coffee house adjacent to Joint Base Lewis McChord. Instead, you must follow the link. It's worth the effort.

The camera quaintly shows the stone and timber gateway to "Camp Lewis", a name as remote to the reality of the third largest military base in US as the gateway is to the high-paranoia, high-security traffic lanes that feed the base daily. Snark aside, the story is positive and accurate.

Toward the end of the first minute the camera slowly pans a sign about veterans benefits counseling. That's what I do on alternate Fridays. Needless to say, I am very pleased to be associated with Coffee Strong

It is indeed a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.

But We Were Fighting for Freedom. Right? Right?!?!

2011-10-25T16:07:00.000-07:00

From the diary of Dang Thuy Tram (1942-1970):

25 August 1969

These are harrowing days. Every night the Americans stalk around the hamlet, hide in the rice fields, and then attack a predawn. This morning they surround the hamlet at first light.

I go gown to the shelter, well prepared. Ling in the shelter listening to their shouting and their search above, I feel the full crush of rage and hate pressing down on me.

Sister Thu Huong, who is the village nurse, and her son were wounded in the raid this morning. I used to stay with her. Just last night we sat together and confided our stories and woes until late. It was the first time I'd heard a woman who had born a child out of wedlock confess her pain and mistakes. Her chubby baby, as cute as a European toddler, has two pieces of shrapnel in his lung, near his heart.

I don't know if he will survive.

This is war; it spares no one, not a baby or an old woman, and the most hideous thing about it is the bloodthirsty Americans.

Book News

2011-10-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

My Appalachian Trail memoir, At the Speed of Foot, is now in print. All you folks who comprise my high single-digit readership will surely want to head over to my Speed of Foot website to order a few copies.

A Brief Foreign Tour

2011-10-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

One can get a good overview of what Republican candidates for president may or may not be thinking about national security and America's role in world affairs in a current Foreign Policy article. Nothing too surprising. Except for Ron Paul and John Huntsman, the candidates are basic America Firsters and military enthusiasts. The most interesting part of the article is evidence of growing skepticism among Republican rank-and-file to foreign interventions, military and otherwise, in these dire economic times.

When you're done reading that article, go read Mitt Romney's declaration of trade war against China.

Then go back to Foreign Policy and check out the revolutionary graffiti from the Arab Spring.

The Enemy As a Real Human Being

2011-10-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

From the diary of Dang Thuy Tram (1942-1970)

26 November 1968

It’s my birthday, and the sounds of the enemy’s guns reverberate in all directions. I am used to helping wounded soldiers evade the enemy, wearing a heavy backpack on my shoulders. It’s nothing. Two arduous years have hardened me to the bullets and the fire of war. The forest has gone peculiarly silent, the sound of gunfire gone. Everyone is intently following the status of the battles.

As for me, I suddenly remember the peaceful days in the North—sunlight in the winter, the warmth of great joy, Dad and Mom buying me flowers, having a party, friends coming to congratulate me…Now my desires are different from those of the past. If I have those things, I should save them for those people who have risked death for the last twenty-three years, and for the adolescents growing up with suffering, hatred and sacrifice. And for my dear friends in this land of the South. Oh, Dad and Mom, save your love for us, prepare to welcome me and all your sons from the South when we return. My young brothers will deserve your love.

We're Chasing the Wrong Deficit

2011-10-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

If you want to understand the root causes for the nation's (and the world's) economic distress, you can do no better than get hold of the 17 October 2011 issue of The Nation which features an in-depth article on John Maynard Keynes and his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

Keynes believed that practical leaders would always see the supreme importance of keeping the country out of external debt—indeed, he seemed to see this as the first duty of the state. For Keynes, in his later years, it was the economic analogue to defending one’s country. Avoiding an external debt was an act of patriotism and national self-preservation in a sense that even reducing unemployment was not. ...Keynes would not believe how Obama, the Tea Party, the Democrats, the Republicans—our leaders—pay so little attention to our whopping trade deficit, as if it had nothing at all to do with our slump.

The right, the Tea Party, the Concord Coalition, Mr. Bowles and Mr. Simpson, Peter Peterson—they want to bring down the federal deficit. The left, our side, generally wants to go deeper into debt and get to full employment. Then we’ll bring down the federal deficit. Then we’ll have full employment and all will be well.

But until we bring down the trade deficit and fix our balance of payments, there is no way out of debt.

The bottom line: our corporate overseers have de-industrialized this nation to the point where even if Americans have money to spend, we will spending it on foreign made goods.

There's much more to the article. It's worth a second and even a third read.

The Problem is What is Legal

2011-10-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

Read today's Washington Post article on the US Securities and Exchange Commission and you will understand why people in this country are taking to the streets. Quite simply, large financial institutions and the individuals who run them can commit the economic equivalent of mass murder and not only get away with their crime but actually profit! They can pretty much squelch and undermine any attempt to rein in the laws that allow their crimes because they practically own both Congress and the SEC.

All this is just one of the perversions of public policy rife in America today. We are also plagued with a debilitating militarism that bleeds the civilian economy and an economy that prizes short-term profit over long-term sustainable enterprise. So why the fuck not to take to the streets. When you got nothin', you got nothing to lose.

Whether or not street demonstrations and occupations are a "good idea" or the best "tactic" is irrelevant. What is relevant is energy and anger, the power to make voices heard. And these days, those voices are beginning to be heard in all of their incoherence, conflict and cross-purpose. I'm still a romantic hopeful (or the other way around?) so I want to believe that some real alternatives to corporate-military-capitalism will emerge from this cauldron of ideas and ideals. Maybe the occupations are a spark that will mobilize the many who have been severely harmed by the economic crimes of the speculators and robber barons of the the last decade.

local note

Occupy Olympia held its first meetings yesterday. In true democratic tradition, the meetings were called in different places at different times. The larger of the two, at Sylvester Park downtown drew about 20-30 people after the smaller Capitol Campus group joined in. The crowd was all ages, more young than old. I saw a few friends, met new people and we talked about why we were there. Most of the discussion was general, no one seemed certain about what was supposed to happen. Many made signs and short statements. All knew that a General Assembly meeting was set for 6:00. It being a Friday and nearing vigil time Maggie and I left around 4:30.

A much larger crowd, well over 100, was in the park when we returned after 6:00. The format was much the same, with people taking turns speaking with a bullhorn that was not very loud even when the person actually spoke properly into the mike. As earlier, all ages were there but definitely skewed young. The talk was mostly strategy and timing--to occupy or not, civil-disobedience, where and how to organize any of the above. The group quickly made its first consensus decision--to move under one of the large trees and out of the light rain that had begun to fall. A few committees--food, media, outreach, cop-watch, maybe others--self-selected and met separately from the larger group. Two more Geneal Assemblies are scheduled in the coming week and a mass gathering next Saturday.

An Optimistic Thought. Mostly.

2011-10-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Maybe America is not destined to become a fundamentalist Christian theocracy after all:

The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall to its religious leaders, the US is in fact becoming a more secular country, some experts say."It has never been better to be a free-thinker or an agnostic in America," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The good news comes with a warning, though:

Yet there is little doubt that religious groups still wield enormous influence in US politics and public life, especially through the rightwing of the Republican party. Groups such as Focus on the Family are well-funded and skilful lobbyists.

And a few of them kill doctors.

Okay, that's not a particularly optimistic thought but it's reality. The good usually comes with some strings attached or other complication. Still, I like the trend toward less religious control of public life.

Hallelujah!

Home Safe

2011-10-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Friends Larry Kershner, Doug and Jody Mackey returned safely from three weeks in Afghanistan. If you've not read their blog, I recommend that you do so. You will get an unvarnished view of the hope and despair that is Afghan society these days.

The most notable image from their trip for me is their account of joining the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers picking up litter in Bamiyan Peace Park (September 24). Other Afghans would be surprised because "Westerners never pick up trash here."

Most disturbing image:

Last night two of the local police armed with rifles walked into my room without knocking. They just looked around and then left. Again they didn't appear menacing. Very curious.

Speaking on Behalf of My Client

2011-09-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Why does it not surprise me that even lobbyists have lobbyists?

Class Counter-Warfare

2011-09-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post used the "C" word--Class--today. The word appeared in an opinion piece by Sally Kohn, "President Obama shouldn't be Afraid of a little class warfare".

Between 1979 and 2007, the income gap between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the poorest 40 percent more than tripled. Today, the richest 10 percent of Americans control two-thirds of the nation’s wealth, while, according to recently released census data, average Americans saw their real incomes decline by 2.3 percent in 2010. Though our economy grew in 2009 and 2010, 88 percent of the increase in real national income went to corporate profits, one study found. Only 1 percent went to wages and salaries for working people. ...[A]ccording to the CIA, income inequality in the United States is greater than in Yemen.

Kohn makes a strong argument, noting that class warfare and tactics have been common on behalf of wealth. She even offers suggestions for direct resistance to an economy that oppresses the majority to the favor of the few. Resistance and non-cooperation are not typically among alternatives discussed in the mainstream media. Good on the Post for running the column even if they're almost two years behind Ted Rall.

We don't talk much about class in America but when it comes to economics, there are two classes: have and have not. America's genius has been that we've always believed we were heading toward "have" and away from "have not". Americans could dismiss class as non-existent in an open, free economy such as ours. Even if we weren't yet economically secure we could expect to be so.

No more. America's wealth and prosperity were built on much of North America's vast the vast land and mineral resources, compounded by the advantage of being the only functioning industrial economy in the world at the end of WWII, which also left the US with most of the world's money. That prosperity was broadly shared for a few decades but as Kohn points out, prosperity has been pretty one-sided for the last few decades.

Kohn notes that resistance can take many forms and offers some suggestions. Think of resistance simply as non-cooperation and opting out wherever possible and opportunities for self-empowerment increase greatly.

Walt Whitman has the key: Resist much, obey little.

Pawns and Not -So-Pawns

2011-09-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

As a long-time hiker, I am pleased to see that Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal,the American hikers held prisoner by Iran are now free. Two years in any prison is a difficult ordeal, especially when all you wanted to do was get out and see the countryside. Now free, Bauer, Fattal and Sarah Shourd can get on with their lives as best they can. No doubt Iran will always be part of those lives.

So that's over. Meanwhile, another group of Americans are in southwest Asia--Afghanistan, to be exact. These Americans, Doug and Jody Mackey of Olympia and Larry Kershner from nearby Centralia, are in Afghanistan teaching low-technology water purification and sanitation. Their mission is one of both sharing knowledge and understanding--two-way direct communication between cultures that are now linked by events.

Unlike the American hikers whom I don't believe were ever at risk of death, Jody, Doug and Larry are in an active war zone. They are the same nationality of the foreign occupiers. And they bring ideas and knowledge that some in Afghanistan fear. Knowing the risks, that Larry, Jody and Doug chose to go there shows their essential humanity and courage. Not a surprise to those of us who know them.

Like the American hikers, I wish these three a safe return to family and friends.

Procrastinations

2011-09-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

An article about energy competition and exploitation in the South China Sea tells me that the world will do no better in making the conversion to a sustainable economy than I do in making difficult major life decisions. Difficult decisions are easily postponed because there is still time. Yet one day there is no more time. The shit happens and you deal with it as best you can, knowing all along you could have done something to prevent it. It's happened to me.

In my experience American society and the world seem about the same, only on a much larger scale. We know that an exploitative economy based on growth is not a sustainable option on a finite planet, the only planet we have. It will end. Putting some thought into how it will end and how we will leave a living planet to future generations would be a gift to those who will inherit the aftermath of our capitalism.

But we don't because that would involve confronting contradictions and making hard decisions. We continue to consume and rely upon fossil fuels that are not only limited, but they are also costly (dollars and soldiers). The resulting carbon emissions bid fair to change the planetary climate in adverse ways. We have all these reasons that we should be seeking viable alternatives and yet we do not.

And it's not a new issue. Americans have been talking about "energy independence" since the 1973 Oil Embargo and sustainability has been part of the discussion since the 90's. But we've not moved away from fossil fuel dependence in all that time; real change was never cost-effective. That's genuine procrastination.

Still, change will come and the decisions will make themselves. Real change will be not only cost-effective but also absolutely necessary. Our species will learn to adapt. Or not. It's that simple. Mother Nature truly bats last.

In the meantime nations are rushing to claim, control and exploit fossil fuels, building up military forces and harassing competitors. Same old. Same old. And no real solution at all. Only temporary advantage.

post script

The original title for this post was "I'm No Better" reflecting that like the world, I avoid difficult decisions. But after writing the last paragraph, I realized that I am not "rushing to claim, control and exploit fossil fuels, building up military forces and harassing competitors". I am better in that respect.

Another Epitaph

2011-09-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Back in my grade-school days I was constantly told to fear living in a country like Russia where you always must carry identification. Americans were free and did not have to carry "papers" and show them to the authorities, like the communists behind the Iron Curtain. So I was told by church, state and media.

Flash forward 50 years to today's discussions of changes in voting laws:

“If you have to show a picture ID to buy Sudafed, if you have to show a picture ID to get on an airplane, you should show a picture ID when you vote,” Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said in the spring when she signed the bill into law in South Carolina.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach said. “This is an issue where most Americans recognize that a photo ID is a part of American life today. . . . ”

Today Americans carry and show identification.

We are all Soviets now.

Epitaph for a Generation

2011-09-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

All you need to know about what became of the Boomers:

The original Fillmore in San Francisco became the stuff of rock legend after promoter Bill Graham began hosting psychedelic rock acts in the 1960s — the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone. When Graham opened the Fillmore East in Manhattan in 1968, it became a veritable delivery room for dozens of classic live albums. Since then, Live Nation has turned the Fillmore into a branded chain of nightclubs, with locations operating in Denver, Detroit, Miami and Charlotte.

My 9-11 Memory

2011-09-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

All other media , even The Nation, are observing the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania in lieu of the White House or Capitol. Then surely it is right and proper that this humble blog do so as well.

My 9-11 memory is September 11, 2002. I was hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine. On September 8th I stayed at a hostel and saw a small flash of the media jabber that was leading up to a grand event a few days hence. (Fox News was agog that some of World Trade Center scrap steel had been recycled in Indonesia, a Muslim(!!) nation.) I was quietly cynical about the whole affair and happy to be off in the woods for what was to come. Some of my fellow hikers, though, were genuinely affected by the memory. One hiker, an Air Force veteran, asked us to sign an American flag. I signed “with justice for all” knowing well that injustice is the root of all violence, including the attacks on the United States. The flag was displayed three days later at a shelter farther north.

The brief exposure certainly raised my awareness about the events of the previous year. Since I had a great deal of time to think and ponder as I hiked, I thought about those events and the victims over the next few days. I thought about their routines and how their normal lives intersected with a deadly ambush. I thought about how America had been initiated into the violence so common elsewhere in the world. I thought about ambushes and death in Vietnam years before. I thought of lost opportunities and things left undone, unsaid. Fortunately for my mental health, these thoughts were not obsessive. I had many reasons to be in the present as I navigated about 10,000 feet of elevation gain and loss over the next few days but September 11 was on what I called my daily thought parade during that time.

September 11, 2002 began on Bemis Mountain where I had camped with Red and Gary, my hiking partners for the entire hike from Georgia (and years before that). We start out by dropping about 1300 feet to Route 17. The sky is overcast and a few raindrops fall as we cross the highway. The few drops become more and by 9:00 when, no doubt memorial bells ring and moments of silence are observed, I am walking as quickly as I can in a cold steady rain. My only thought is to cover the next couple of miles to Sabbath Day Pond lean-to (actually a three-sided shelter with a good roof) where I can be warm and dry. Out of the rain in the shelter by noon, we decide to wait out the storm to see what happens. We’d planned to walk another 4.5 miles to a campsite that will put us that much closer to Route 4 which will take us in to town for food and resupply tomorrow but the longer this rain lasts the idea of setting up a tent fast loses its appeal. We’re warm, dry and happy in this shelter.

The rain continues and we end up staying for what becomes one of the most pleasant days on the trail. Another hiker, Rocky Top, and joins us a few hours later. The four of us spend the afternoon watching fall leaves blowing in the wind, listening to rain falling all around and swapping stories, sharing our experience of the trail. Red, Gary and I met Rocky Top in Damascus, Virginia in May. Since then he’s become somewhat of a legend on the trail. On this wet day in Maine, we hear some of his adventures and learn about the person behind the legend. And maybe I thought also about the previous September—I don’t recall it as a topic of discussion—but I was mostly definitely in the present that afternoon. On the trail, on a day like this the rest of the world ceases to exist.

The following morning started out cloudy but the wind chased the clouds away and we walked on a bright fall day. Yesterday’s storm brought down lots of leaves--mostly yellow beech mixed with some red maple. This day’s wind sends more leaves flying making a colorful day to walk. We reach the highway and hitchhike into Rangeley, Maine. At the grocery store I see a newspaper with a large photo of George and Laura Bush walking alone into what looks like a vast plaza at Ground Zero lined with spectators. The image looked disturbingly to me like Nuremberg circa 1935. The thought was fleeting. I had errands to run during a short town visit. I was soon fully back into 2002.

But like Nuremberg 1935, the September 11, 2002 ceremonies were indeed a prelude to war.

We know that now.

http://southsound.remembers911.com/

The Sane Approach to 9-11 After 10 Years

2011-09-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Tom Englehardt thinks we should forget the whole "victim thing" and the endless wars for which that memory is specious justification.

Then maybe we could stop handing Osama bin Laden the victory he planned.

Two Women

2011-09-09T16:54:00.001-07:00

Last week's obituaries included two women who challenged gender roles of their time. Each was a daredevil who managed to live to old age. Betty Skelton earned the nickname "fastest woman on earth". Faye Blackstone moved at a slower pace but her skill on a horse was beyond questions.

I'm always intrigued by stories like theirs. Each managed to find a unique niche at a time when the only place for a woman was as a housewife and mother. They may not have consciously been out to blaze a trail--each just seemed to be doing what she wanted to do--but their achievements pointed the way for future generations of women.

Godspeed, Betty and Faye.

Winding Up for 9-11

2011-09-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

This week is the run-up to the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. The Washington Post is all over it. So is the Guardian. I suspect the broadcast media will be over the top with specials and a great deal of patriotic jingoism and 9-11 24/7. That aside, it is important to remember and understand what came of those events.

The Post certainly gets it right when it describes America accepting endless war and the dismissal of peace as a naive and impossible goal. That's all too true, a reality that's well presented in an article that also seems to fully accept the "enduring nature" of the threats and the dangerous world that require all manner of military mayhem.

The article tells me that military engagement and use of force is the default policy of the United States. Not surprising, but definitely worrisome and saddening. Worrisome in that extended military hegemony is costly and inevitably unsustainable as rivals will seek to weaken that hegemony.

The sad part is that America engaged in endless war betrays its fundamental ideals and loses the opportunity to build rather than destroy.

Chalk it up as a 9-11 casualty.

Friday Evening Sailing News

2011-09-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Harbor Days in Olympia. Among the attractions are the Tall Ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain. Last night Maggie, a visiting friend from Phoenix and I went for a three hour cruise on the Chieftain. Pretty cool.

Setting out

At the helm.

Unfurling the jib.

Almost full sail.

In the rigging.

Lady Washington approaching.

Wisdom of a Pinhead

2011-09-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators! Job Creators!

See Lesson No. 3

The Unthinking Decade

2011-09-03T06:35:00.001-07:00

Anne Appelbaum explains the opportunity costs of 9-11:

In our single-minded focus on Islamic fanaticism, we missed China’s transformation from a commercial power into an ambitious political power. We failed to appreciate the significance of economic growth in China’s neighborhood. ...We also missed, at least initially, the transformation of Russia from a weak and struggling partner into a sometimes hostile opponent.

[...]

Thanks to the war on terror, we missed what might have been a historic deal on immigration with Mexico. Because Latin America was irrelevant to the war on terror, we lost interest in, and influence on, that region. The same goes for Africa, except for those countries that have al-Qaeda cells.

[...]

Finally, we stopped investing in our infrastructure...and we missed the chance to rethink our national energy policy.

September 11, 2001. The day America stopped thinking.

Good News, Bad News

2011-09-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

Slate has a couple of stories that are pretty much the Yin and Yang of America in the second decade of the 21st century.

Fred Kaplan describes how the military has changed over the past 10 years of war. He sees a military that has creatively adapted to the changing and challenging missions this nation has asked of it. That's good, even if I question the mission. The US military has a long tradition as a national institution. I want to know that an important national institution is capable, that it remain able to contribute to the More Perfect Union to which all military personnel swear an oath to defend. Kaplan, who writes knowledgeably about national security, believes our military has shown itself up to the task. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the mission at which they excel has wrecked the economy. Joseph Stiglitz writes about the The True Cost of 9/11 which is high indeed. Along with Linda Bilimes, Stiglitz first estimated the costs of Iraq and Afghnanistan would be $3 to $5 trillion. Now their estimate increases with the addition of another $600 to $900 billion for veterans care and disability. Stiglitz makes a good case that hiding the true cost of the past decade's wars has undermined America's economy.

About the only uncertain note in either piece is Stiglitz's statement that Osama Bin Laden probably never imagined that CheneyBush's response to the 9-11 attacks would compromise America's basic principles, undermine its economy, and weaken its security. That was his stated goal. Maybe Stiglitz means that Osama could have never imagined how utterly and completely successful he would be.

A Master Stroke

2011-08-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

We need much more of this.

Veteran and Military Spouse Dragged from Rumsfeld Book Signing

You can see the military spouse/widow's story here.

Propaganda 101

2011-08-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

David Sirota questions the relationship between the military and the entertainment industry in today's Washington Post. Nick Turse has been writing about this incestuous relationship for years but today is the first for the mainstream media I read. I hope it will not be the last.

History does not exactly repeat itself but human emotions and fears are pretty constant. That's why I can hope that if, as Sirota states, America was tired of and questioning war after years of war Vietnam and southeast Asia, then maybe something similar will happen as America enters a second decade of war in southwest Asia. Maybe Americans will re-think and question a national security policy that demands constant deployment and rotation of military personnel to combat zones for no good reason.

And just maybe if that happens, we will also dismantle the political-military-industrial economy that underpins endless war. We thought we'd slayed that Monster in 1975.

We just slowed it down.

All the more reason to keep fighting now.

Parsing Libya

2011-08-28T04:24:00.000-07:00

Regime change in Libya may simply mean that another set of killers will be in charge. Or maybe all we are seeing is the pent-up frustration of an oppressed people. Hard to say from where I sit.

Pepe Escobar is pretty skeptical about the outcome. He's questioned the motives behind the whole affair since Day One. I'd say about the only safe bet is that the corporations and international banks will do well.

Mid Summer Velo Transit News

2011-08-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today's bicycle route included a ride to Yelm on the 94 Intercity Transit route and return via the Yelm-Tenino, Chehalis Western and Olympia Woodland trails--35.5 miles total. That's my longest distance ever. I occasionally hit 30 or 31 miles but that's rare. High 20's is my usual max. The whole affair took four and a half hours, including the 45 minute bus ride, my first with a bike.

The back of the bus looked full when I boarded. Apparently the people all knew each other as they had a lively conversation going on. It was not a quiet ride at all but the din was just background as we wound our way through southeast Olympia to Yelm Highway, through Lacey and on to The Red Wind Casino on the Nisqually Reservation where everyone else on the bus disembarked. The rest of the trip was quiet.

In Yelm I found the Yelm-Tenino trail and headed west. The trail is in decent shape, mostly flat, with a lot of shade that was much appreciated on this bright, sunny day. I rode to within a couple of miles of Tenino where I turned back to pick up Chehalis Western Trail for the 14 mile ride back to Lacey. Lots of shade here to but by this time the day is warming up but now I'm beginning to feel the extra miles.

Overall, I averaged 12.2 mph which is slightly better than my usual speed. Must be that I had all railroad grades rather than Olympia hills. My total 2011 mileage is 798, leaving 242 to reach my 1,040 annual minimum. With 17 weeks left, I'm pretty sure I will make or exceed that mileage even if I miss a few weeks.

Long nap in the afternoon.

Mainlining to Oblivion

2011-08-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

Further proof of our addiction:

The State Department issued its final environmental impact statement Friday for a controversial oil pipeline stretching from Canada to Texas, affirming earlier findings that its construction and operation will have “limited adverse environmental impacts.”

They always say that, don't they?

More to the point, why the fuck are we building infrastructure and blasting every last iota of fossil fuel out of tar sand to support a world economy that is not sustainable in the long-run?

Oh, I forgot. The big profit is always in the short run.

A Damn Good Effort

2011-08-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

My brother, Neil, rode in the Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur this past week. Randonneuring is long distance cycling writ large. The Paris-Brest-Paris ride is 1,200 kilometers in 90 hours and requires that riders complete a series of shorter events that are still longer than most of us are ever likely to attempt. He almost made it. More than 77 hours and over 1,000 km into the ride he crashed, breaking his clavicle in the process and putting an end to his adventure.

I suspect he'll be back on the road as soon as possible. Neil is certainly the most accomplished cyclist I know.

You go, bro!

Heal well and quickly.

Speaking of Meaningless Gestures

2011-08-22T18:49:00.001-07:00

A yellow ribbon is worth about as much as "Thank you for your service".

And over at Alternate Brain, Fixer tells it like it is with a hat tip to Odd Man Out and Susie.

Quintessential Olympia

2011-08-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 82nd Olympia Pet Parade. Here's some of what it looked like.

More photos at the local newspaper.

Strangling Thanks

2011-08-21T07:46:00.001-07:00

The weekend media have a thought-provoking juxtaposition of articles on the separation of war and the military from the larger population. Foreign Policy presents "Strangle Yourself with a Yellow Ribbon" written by a four-time deployed Marine sergeant. A companion article on the comments to the original included a statement that, when stripped of specifics, fully summarized my own experience and feelings about military service:

I was never convinced by the justification for the Iraq invasion, so I never understood my deployment to be upholding and defending the Constitution or to be protecting the American people. So the only thing for which I can feel legitimately thanked is for abstractly being willing to die had there been a cause worth dying for.

More important than the kindred sentiments, however, is the author's accurate account of the very real and harmful effects of endless war borne by a few. For most Americans the wars are background. For soldiers and their families the wars are life and death. Civilians will never fully understand the consequences of war.

As if to prove the point, the Washington Post reports on the distance between wounded veterans and fans at a major league baseball game. This story features a civilian who actually looked at a legless veteran with his son and tried to imagine how the father's injury would affect the son who was about the same age as her her child. All she could muster was thank you for your service" but at least it came from a considered thought and not an autonomic response to something we'd rather ignore. Civilians do not want to think about the cost of war and are highly uncomfortable when exposed to its human wreckage.

The Post article offers some possibility for bridging the separation. At Georgetown University,

In February, the McDonough Military Association held its second annual “Free Beer and War Stories” night. The event was designed to give students who knew little of the military or the wars a sense of what life was like for deployed service members. It provoked a genuine exchange — more than 10 seconds, more than 60 seconds, more than 63 seconds — between the former service members and the student body.

Even better would be fewer wars but until then, all of us in whose name war is waged, should honestly recognize its full costs on the men and women who wage our wars.

The Wall Over & Over

2011-08-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

On this 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, the Washington Post appropriately reminds us that the end of one iconic wall does not end them all.

This humble blog made the same observation a while back.

The lesson is worth repeating.

Another US Debt

2011-08-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

One very positive outcome for me at the Veterans For Peace convention was learning about the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2011, HR 2634 and the campaign to press Congress to rectify a longstanding assault on the people of Vietnam, their environment and Americans who served there. I cannot think of a more fitting and honorable act that the US government can perform.

Sign the postcard to Congress and then tell everyone you know.

Keeping Some Perspective

2011-08-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

As much as the VFP Convention made me realize how little my society has moved toward greater peace and justice, it also reminded me that I always have the option to resist. Resisting is a difficult and risky choice. That was no more evident than listening to S. Brian Wilson talk of resistance and seeing two prosthetic legs in place of the ones he lost blocking a nuclear weapons train in 1987. The namesake of my VFP chapter is Rachel Corrie, who lost her life at age 23 resisting dispossession in occupied Palestine. That is what I call resistance.

My own resistance has involved far less risk. Hell, most of the time it barely involves inconvenience. I was more willing to risk my life in complying with orders to fight in Vietnam than I have ever been in resisting America's economic and social injustice and inherent militarism. Like most Americans I have cooperated with the economic and social systems that create the injustice and war. For most of my life I believed that American would change and that the progress toward human dignity and security for all would come to pass.

Recent events convince me that I fooled myself, that I am a victim of the "Delusional Revolution" described by Robert Jensen, another convention speaker. Jensen described the three great revolutions in human history. The first was the agricultural revolution which created the hierarchical society that enabled some to dominate others. The second was the industrial revolution which exploited fossil fuels to create even greater concentration of power. And the third is the delusional revolution, the idea that we can continue to amass wealth based on a finite resource. Although I've long known that Earth's resources are limited, I've not really acted on that knowledge. I still drive a private vehicle. I continue to fly. I acquiesce to the power structure that profits from exploitation.

And all of this means that if my actions and beliefs have any meaning, I must refuse to cooperate with the system that is destroying this planet and the many species that live here. But here's the rub--my non-cooperation is only effective as part of a mass movement. My actions alone will change nothing. So that's why the convention, as frustrating as it seemed, reminds me that I am not alone, that many others share my beliefs. What we need now is to organize and act.

The several hundred VFP members who were in Portland this weekend are one of many core groups that can give meaning to our individual actions. I was especially pleased to see Iraq Veterans Against the War attending and participating in the convention; two IVAW members serve on the VFP national board. I take some comfort in knowing that another generation of veterans is speaking out.

A while back I read somewhere that activism is simply what one person can do and that success is not necessarily guaranteed, that the final outcome may be long in the future. But in the meantime, acting keeps hope alive. So that's what I'm doing--keeping hope alive.

That was worth a trip to Portland.

Sobering

2011-08-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

Today's Washington Post has an article about how the US came to have a $14 trillion debt a mere 10 years after balancing the budget with surpluses projected as far as the eye can see. The major culprits: the CheneyBush tax cuts and wars fought with borrowed money. Combine that information with Jacob Weisburg's observation that this nation is in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression with absolutely no economic leverage and any sensible observer can only fear for this nation's future.

If that is not bad enough, I just spent three days at the Veterans For Peace Convention where it was absolutely clear to me that very little of the just and sustainable society that I have worked to achieve over the past four decades has come to pass or is likely to occur during my lifetime. Perhaps the most telling moment was seeing a photograph of an anti-war protester carrying a sign that read, "I can't believe that after 40 years I am still protesting this shit". All this is a very sobering reminder that I am clearly part in the minority and had best prepare myself to remain in that minority.

So that's the reality as I enter my "golden years" which are more likely to be pyrite years. About the only thing I think I know for certain is that I can either keep fighting or despair. I've lived too long for the latter so I guess I'll just have to keep fighting no matter how unlikely I am to see the society I've always envisioned.

My consolation is that I will be able to say I did not give up. Maybe it will come to something.

Veterans For Peace National Convention

2011-08-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

In Portland, Oregon for the VFP national convention--my first ever. Like most affairs of this sort, it's a whirlwind of panels, people and learning an entirely new venue. Today's events included a session on organizing and one on Peace Trees Vietnam. Tomorrow I am leading a panel on veterans advocacy.

Since all this is fairly esoteric and heavy, here's a photo from my recent trip to Mount Rainier. And, yes, all that snow was still on the ground at the end of July.

Leave It to the Pros

2011-08-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

Whenever I write about progressive taxation and social justice, I always feel totally tongue-tied. That's why I very much appreciate O'Halloran's post at Bad Attitudes for reminding me of a far more articulate advocate of economic opportunity and equality: Thomas Jefferson.

From a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to James Madison in 1785:

...The earth is given as a common stock for man to labour and live on. If, for the encouragement of industry we allow it to be appropriated, we must take care that other employment be furnished to those excluded from the appropriation....

And They Call it Job-Killing

2011-07-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

Health-care law could give rise to entrepreneurs.

The Ripple Effect

2011-07-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

Much of the discussion about the looming federal default focuses on the national government but the repercussions hit everywhere.

Moody’s Investors Service, a major credit rating agency, has said it would review 177 municipal governments for possible downgrades if the federal government loses its pristine credit rating. That could make it more expensive for local governments...to borrow money to build roads, schools hospitals and other important infrastructure projects, if they don’t delay or cancel them altogether.

It all makes sense if your aim is to destroy government.

Inmates Running the Asylum

2011-07-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

Or so it seems. The nutters in Congress will hold the rest of America (and the world) hostage to their Herbert Hoover brand of economics. (Remember how that worked out?) Unless the majority is willing to kowtow to every radical conservative fantasy, they will drive the country off a cliff.

A while back I saw a post that described the Democratic Party as the party of eat your vegetables and do your homework. These days I would characterize the Republicans as the party of "a massive dose of laxative followed by extended chemotherapy."

Of course, all of this Republican bashing would not be happening if the Democratic majority in the previous Congress had the guts to raise the debt ceiling when they could.

postscript

Juan Cole says it better.

The Long War

2011-07-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Republican Congress has already spooked the economy and will forever damage the full faith and credit of the US. But for "starve the beast" Republicans that damage is just another step in the right direction.

It Figures

2011-07-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Strange words even for a Republican:

John Kyl, the Republican whip in the senate, said on This Week: "Unless the president gets off his absolute obsession with raising taxes, Republicans will not do anything that will harm our economy. Job-killing taxes will harm our economy."

So...if the president gets over his his absolute obsession with raising taxes, Republicans will do anything that will harm our economy.

Aren't they doing that now?

Busy, Busy Days

2011-07-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

So not much posting lately. This morning, I'm tabling at the Olympia Farmers Market with Veterans For Peace Chapter 109 members to educate fellow citizens about the adverse effects of America's war economy. This afternoon is a local candidates forum at a friend's potluck gathering.

And like all Americans, I'm wondering if the Republicans are going to drive the US into default in 2011 because the Democratic majority was too fucking scared to deal with the debt ceiling when they had the majority. Reading some of the Republican apologia for default, I keep hearing echoes of "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

Saturday Kayak Trip

2011-07-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

An American Said This?

2011-07-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

“When you have so much it is just human nature that you see the needs of others and you want to help.”

A Republican. From the days when some were still sane.

Betty Ford, 1918-2011

Godspeed.

More Business as Usual

2011-07-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

Water flows downhill. Greed expands.

J.P. Morgan Securities rigged bids in at least 93 municipal bond deals in 31 states for eight years beginning in 1997, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thursday.

The government said the firm agreed to pay $228.2 million to settle charges by the SEC and other state and federal authorities, including the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Municipal bonds are supposed to be safe, tax-exempt investments that help local governments and nonprofit organizations fund public works projects such as roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. But recent enforcement actions have portrayed this seemingly staid corner of the banking world as having been a feasting ground for corrupt financiers.

Read the entire article and you begin to wonder why J.P. Morgan is still allowed to do to business and senior executives not imcarcerated.

How True

2011-07-08T20:56:00.001-07:00

From a comment at HorsesAss:

...cycling consistently broadens and deepens my local understanding in a way nothing else does.

Certainly Not an American Solution

2011-07-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

...to the extraordinarily high cost of health care for seniors.

The principle that we should all as citizens contribute our wealth, where it exists, to our care is fair, equitable and socially ethical.
[...]
Those who have benefited most from the conditions which have been to their advantage, whose means have been most generously enhanced should quite properly be expected to contribute proportionately.

As far as I'm concerned, the idea readily applies to just about any aspect of the social contract. Think about who actually makes our middle-class so comfortable

After all, the services which we have enjoyed in our pre-geriatric years have been provided by the least well rewarded. Our refuse has been collected, streets cleaned, potholes mended, milk and post delivered, bedpans emptied, housework undertaken, meals served, a plethora of services which have brought comfort, convenience and carelessness to our lives, all have been undertaken by the lowest paid, and for many of these, such work has caused greater damage to their biological systems than is the case with those whom they serve.

As long as I'm quoting British sources, the Rolling Stones also recognized who's on the bottom. From Beggars Banquet:

Lets drink to the hard working people
Lets drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Lets drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and
Black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people
Lets drink to the uncounted heads
Lets think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and
Black and white
They don't look real to me
Or don't they look so strange

Lets drink to the hard working people
Lets think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Lets drink to the salt of the earth

Lets drink to the hard working people
Lets drink to the salt of the earth
Lets drink to the two thousand million
Lets think of the humble of birth

On the Mend. Yeah. Right.

2011-07-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

Economic recovery, capitalist style:

Two years after the recession officially ended, companies are adding fewer workers despite record cash stockpiles and healthy profit margins.
[...]
Including discouraged workers and those working part time, but who would prefer full-time work, the “under-employment” rate jumped from 15.8 percent to 16.2 percent.

Unemployment has topped 8 percent for 29 months, the longest streak since the 1930s. It has never been so high so long after a recession ended. At the same point after the previous three recessions, unemployment averaged just 6.8 percent.

And those who do have jobs are earning less.

Job Creators, my ass. More like Freebooters.

Pessimistic Realist

2011-07-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

Juan Cole does not have much faith in America even as he hopes for better in the Arab world. I would like to think he's wrong but have nothing with which to dispute his facts or analysis.

Work-in-Progress

2011-07-04T07:23:00.001-07:00

On this Fourth of July, it is altogether fitting and proper to recall that freedom is incomplete. America has done much to advance the idea of individual autonomy and liberty but much remains to be done.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Much, but not all, has changed for the better since Frederick Douglass spoke these words in 1852.

The struggle continues.

From Serf to Citizen

2011-07-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute(*), has an article in Foreign Policy on the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago. He attributes the complete and sudden disintegration of the Soviet state to a change in mindset: Mikhail Gorbachev's liberalization gave space for Russians and other Soviet peoples to think of themselves as citizens rather than subjects or serfs. That consciousness delegitimized Soviet and Communist authority as people began demanding to be treated with respect, as they said, "No More!"

Those who instilled this remarkable "break in consciousness" were no different from those who touched off the other classic revolutions of modern times: writers, journalists, artists. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed, such men and women "help to create that general awareness of dissatisfaction, that solidified public opinion, which … creates effective demand for revolutionary change."

Aron goes on to predict that this same growing consciousness will further transform Russia and many other nations through out the world as people demand to be recognized as citizens and insist on respect. I can't argue with Aron's basic thesis. Aron clearly recognizes that this consciousness is only necessary, not sufficient to guarantee progress. But Roza Otunbayeva, president of Kyrgyzstan, reminds us that the seed exists in each human heart:

"It is the magic of people, young and old, men and women of different religions and political beliefs, who come together in city squares and announce that enough is enough."

Maybe, someday, Americans will do the same.

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(*) Usually a suspect organization at this location but I'm willing to listen when they make sense or offer information worth considering.

There But For Fortune

2011-07-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

One of my enduring lessons from Vietnam is that being American exempts me from most of the world's truly egregious horrors. The lesson comes back to me today as I read The Least Free Places on Earth, 2011.