A Word for HM2 Xin Qi

Petty Officer Second Class Xin Qi, 25, of Cordova, TN, died January 23, 2010, while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. His dismounted patrol was reportedly attacked by a suicide bomber.

Doc Qi (Chee) was assigned to Fourth Light Armored Recon Battalion, Marine Expeditionary Brigade - Afghanistan.

He was a reservist and volunteered for the deployment. A commenter in the Memphis paper, responding to the report of Qi's death, wondered what the country was coming to allowing this son of Chinese immigrants to serve under our flag. I saw that and wondered why Qi would want to. We can be such assholes.

Semper Fi, my brother.

Putting California Behind Me

I have learned - or recognized or admitted - some things about myself lately.

I'm not a good mover. I told my sisters I was fine because I only had a few pieces of furniture that I was taking and six or seven 32-gallon tubs of 'stuff.' I thought about renting a 17-foot U-Haul, but got the 14-footer instead. I was wrong. It turns out that I'm something of a packrat.

I can be unreasonably stubborn about things. I was sworn, bound, and determined to be out of California before 2010, and so I spent a ridiculous amount of time (including twelve hours on New Years Eve) in an effort to cram a 17-foot truckload of crap into a 14-foot truck. I drove away at 4:30PM on New Years Eve leaving a substantial donation to Goodwill behind, and didn't stop until 11PM(PST) in Kingman, AZ. I guess that means I "won," but I've already had to replace several of the small appliances and other items I left behind.

I do enjoy driving across the country, and I caught a huge break on the weather. Having said that, I really should avoid trying to back up while towing a trailer - or get a lot better at it. A couple of times it's provided some laughs from my fellow Red Crossers when I've had to back a shelter trailer, but there were several minutes on that freeway off-ramp in Arkansas when I seriously wished I was better at backing off of that freeway off-ramp before someone tried to exit there.

Putting all of that behind me, I now live in an apartment on a hillside overlooking Asheville, NC, with a really nice view of the sunsets over the Smokey Mountains. I'm unloading boxes, and too often finding things that have me asking myself what the hell I was thinking when I packed that instead of my toaster oven or whatever.

My baby sister has already asked when I'm going to see the error of my ways and move back. I told her that, even if I were to admit to missing an El Nino winter in Southern California and California politics, I recognize that I suck at moving and I'm staying put.

Getting Ready to Move

If I was superstitious at all I might start to wonder if this transition wasn't snake bit, but I recognize that a lot of the tsuris is self-inflicted.

I sat here for a week unable to access the internet before I called Verizon. Of course, the first thing the tech asked was if I had a dial tone which I did not. (In the seven years I've lived here I've received no more than a dozen personal calls on my home phone so I don't answer it. It never occurred to me to see if it worked.) Then it took another week for a tech to come out and fix the problem - a corroded connection out on the panel.

My older sister came over from Arizona at Thanksgiving to help me pack, but she and I don't seem to work well as a team. She wanted to get rid of things I wanted to keep (or resisted getting rid of at her suggestion) so, although I took several bags of donations to Goodwill, I didn't get much packed before she went home.

I'm donating books to the county library and most of my furniture to the Salvation Army. I'm pretty much down to a U-Haul truck towing my Jeep on a trailer now, and there is a major winter storm moving up the Eastern seaboard - a foot of snow in Western North Carolina. Que sera sera. I expect to be underway for the Asheville area in ten days.

It looks like we might get health care reform legislation this year although it will fall short of providing universal health care. We let the oil industry write our energy policy and Wall Street banks write their own regulations, and now we're passing a health care financing plan that satisfies no one except the insurance industry.

I read that the commander of US forces in Iraq has just banned pregnancy among his troops. Way to keep it real, General. Outlaw physiology.

Life Transitions

It occurs to me, as I advise Kay to beware of paralysis by analysis, that I told her a little bit ago that I'd start writing again if she would; and she started up again awhile ago.

I am conscious of a degree of hopelessness in terms of seeing significant improvement in the state of the Union, and of a lack of any optimism at all about the State of California. I am conscious of some level of anxiety about the change in my personal situation from employed to 'retired' and my impending move away from California. Having said all that, I really can't say why I stopped writing. (I am bitterly disappointed that we appear to be letting the opportunity to enact universal health coverage get away from us, but I don't think that alone was the issue.)

It has occurred to me that I write about politics, etc., because it's easy to identify the issues and potential solutions. I seldom write about what's going on with myself because I don't believe I'm that interesting in the first place and I tend to deny the issues anyway. I confess that I was concerned about losing 30-some pounds over a six-month period, but that seems to be due to ulcerative colitis which apparently will aggravate me for the duration but won't kill me - much like that big honking clot in my right leg.

I have resigned from my job as of last week, and I expect to leave California in my rear-view mirror within six weeks. In a sense then the hard part is over because without a job I can't afford to stay in California anyway. I'm committed, and it's just a matter of getting up onto I-40 and aiming the vehicle east.

A Word for HM3 James R. Layton

Petty Officer 3rd Class James R. Layton, 22, of Riverbank, CA, was killed September 8, 2009, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Doc Layton was assigned to an embedded training team with Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan.

Doc Crone at corpsman.com first made me aware of this casualty, and he linked to this story of Doc Layton's passing in the Modesto Bee.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM3 Benjamin P. Castiglione

Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin P. Castiglione, 21, of Howell, MI, died September 3, 2009, supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Castiglione was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaisance Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

Semper Fi

Happy Birthday, Millie!

Wishing Millie Garfield of My Mom's Blog a fantastic birthday today.
The woman has a joie de vivre that is nothing short of inspirational.

A Word for HM3 Anthony C. Garcia

Hospital Corpsman Third Class Anthony C. Garcia, 21, of Tyndall, Florida, died August 5, 2009, during combat operations in Farah Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Garcia was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Third Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Marine Corps Base, Hawaii, at Kaneohe.

Semper Fi

My Rant About California Government

If you don't care about California or what I think of it then you won't get much out of today's post.

People keep saying that California may be too big to govern as a state or too complex or too diverse or [insert excuse here]. California has been designed to fail, and it's poised to do that brilliantly.

The kids' mom and I had just bought our first home in 1975 and, at the point that my son was due and his mother unemployed and our property taxes had damn near doubled already, I voted for Proposition 13 to roll back and cap property taxes. I don't remember exactly when the 2/3rds requirement to raise taxes in the legislature was passed, but we did that, too. The only sources of new revenue left then were 'fees' and property reassessments on most transfers or sales.

California has also gerrymandered its legislative districts to protect the incumbent parties so that, although the Republicans may never gain a majority, the Democrats will never have a 2/3rds majority. (I went to a community meeting in January and representatives of both Assemblymen spoke. The Democrat's staff was asked what part of Rowland Heights he represented and they didn't know, which is not surprising because he represents a narrow strip along the 60 freeway connecting the Democratic enclave to the east and the one to the west and in which I happen to live.)

For years now California voters have been asked if we want to spend X percent of revenue for schools to which we say yes, and it gets 'borrowed' and spent elsewhere. We've been asked if we want to commit gas taxes to transportation infrastructure to which we say yes, and it's been 'borrowed' and spent elsewhere. We pass a tobacco tax for anti-smoking programs and it gets hijacked into the general fund. Every election cycle they ask us what we want to spend the money on and, immediately afterward, they 'borrow' it and spend it elsewhere, because it doesn't matter what a majority of Californians want if we can't get 2/3rds of the legislature to vote for a way to pay for it all.

The chickens have come home to roost now. With revenues below 2003 levels, and our existing debt service and fixed expenses, there is no discretionary money and there is no recourse in the legislature. Thirty years of smoke and mirrors and fancy accounting moves have run their course, and California is broke.

I would encourage whomever is left here after the 2010 census to keep control of reapportionment completely out of the hands of the political parties. (I would make party affiliation disqualifying for participation.) By then one might hope that Californians will be ready to rebuild their state... or not because by then I have no intention of being a Californian.

Thoughts on a Parental Government

Stories such as the Hauser family's ordeal offend me in a number of respects.

The first time I heard about Daniel's flight to escape compulsory treatment I was struck by the evident venom in the reporter's voice as she related that the family, although white, believed in the alternative treatment methods of a Native American band. Then it occurred to me that I was hearing of a family being compelled to submit their child to treatment against their will which offended me on a whole other level.

I'm pretty okay with government - including the judiciary branch - constraining my behavior, but I'm of the opinion that compelling behavior is supposed to be the exception. We are compelled to pay taxes and to report for jury duty. Unfortunately we are no longer compelled to make ourselves available for a period of national service. Other examples of compulsory behavior under the law don't quickly come to mind.

I get that Daniel Hauser has Hodgkin's Lymphoma which usually (90%) responds well to chemotherapy and that there is no scientific data to support whatever alternative therapy the family comtemplated. I don't get that society - the government - had any business interfering with the Hausers, particularly with Daniel and Colleen since Anthony Hauser didn't seem up for the challenge.

Unless I learn that no Minnesota child with Hodgkin's Lymphoma is ever left to his or her fate without appropriate chemotherapy, I'm inclined to think that this comes down to an arbitrary abuse of power depriving Mrs. Hauser of her parental rights and responsibilities - probably because they have pretty good insurance - and of her right to give or refuse her informed consent to her son's treatment. (I know she 'consented' in court today but if you think that wasn't under any duress then I've got some 'confessions' from Gitmo for you to read.) There was no compelling interest in this case unless every case of Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Minnesota is handled the same way.