AlwaysQuestion

A Word for Petty Officer Brian K. Lundy

2011-09-12T06:04:00.003-04:00

Hospital Corpsman Third Class Brian K. Lundy, 25, of Austin, TX, died while conducting a dismounted patrol in Marjah, Helmand Province, Aghanistan, on September 9, 2011.

Doc Lundy was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 5, Second Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, NC.

Semper Fi

A Word for Hospitalman Riley Gallinger-Long

2011-08-14T05:55:00.005-04:00

Hospitalman Riley Gallinger-Long, 19, of Cornelius, OR, died August 11, 2011, while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Marjah District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Gallinger-Long was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune.

Semper Fi

A Word for Hospitalman Aaron D. Ullom

2011-07-14T18:32:00.006-04:00

Hospitalman Aaron D. Ullom, 20, of Midland, Mich., died while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Now Zad district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, on July 12, 2011.
Doc Ullom was assigned as a corpsman with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Semper Fi.

A Word for Hospitalman Benjamin Rast

2011-04-08T17:38:00.010-04:00

Hospital Corpsman Benjamin D. Rast, 23, of Niles, Michigan, died April 6, 2011, while conducting a dismounted patrol near Patrol Base Alcatraz in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Rast was stationed at Naval Medical Center, San Diego, but assigned to 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division, in Afghanistan.

Evidence seems to point to this being a "friendly-fire" missile strike from a Predator drone. I don't know what to say to that other than "shit happens."

Semper Fi

A Word for Hospitalman Edwin Gonzalez

2010-10-11T18:33:00.006-04:00

Hospital Corpsman Edwin Gonzalez, 22, of North Miami Beach, Florida, died October 8, 2010, of wounds from an improvised explosive device while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Gonzalez was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, FMF Atlantic.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM3 James M. Swink

2010-08-31T07:49:00.003-04:00

Hospital Corpsman Third Class James M. Swink, 20, of Yucca Valley, California, died Aug. 27, 2010, while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Doc Swink was assigned to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Forces.
Semper Fi.

Keeping Good Thoughts

2010-06-28T07:43:00.004-04:00

Today I am keeping good thoughts for Roger and for all who love him and for all who come into contact with him today as he undergoes and recovers from a colectomy and resection this morning starting at about 10:30 AM in the Eastern Time Zone.

Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude

2010-06-22T17:01:00.003-04:00

I think I'm going to be doing most of my writing in the blog on my web site.
Any anonymity I enjoyed during my working life has pretty much outlived its utility, and I'm not normally that inflammatory anyway.
Keeping good thoughts for NancyB and for all who love her.
Harold/AQ

A Word for Hospitalman William Ortega

2010-06-20T20:46:00.003-04:00

Hospitalman William Ortega, 23, of Miami, Florida, died June 18, 2010, of wounds sustained from an IED blast while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Ortega was assigned to Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, First Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

Semper Fi

Is Homosexuality in the Military Really That Big a Deal?

2010-05-26T10:57:00.004-04:00

I've been kind of aimless in what I want to do with this blog recently. Since leaving the cubicle behind, and working as hard as I want to at jobs I volunteered for, I haven't felt any particular need to vent. I'm not on that edge of aggravation that I used to live on.

Having said that, I want to say a few words about the situation with homosexuals not being able to serve openly in the military. It's been awhile since the Clinton administration enacted "Don't Ask Don't Tell" as a compromise between the then extant ban on homosexuals serving and their being able to serve openly. When people say they want to repeal "DADT" I don't know if they mean they want to go back to the ban or to allow homosexuals to serve openly. Personally, I think the ban should be done away with.

I remember when I reported to the Naval Hospital at Yokosuka, Japan, in September, 1967, and during the check-in process the protestant chaplain spoke at length about being careful because the Naval Intelligence Service (pre-Mark Harmon) periodically swept for homosexuals. I was just two years off the farm, and less than a week out of the US, and had no idea what that had to do with me or the chaplain, or whether or not there was a big homosexuality problem I didn't know about. I did not go to services at the hospital chapel.

Anyway, as I read the Times OpEd by General McPeak that Kay referenced yesterday morning, I was reminded of the denial that the military seemed to live under at the time. There were homosexual sailors at Yokosuka, and in Ranger, and at Miramar, etc., and there probably always had been, but in the "boys will be boys" military of the era there was denial that some of the boys preferred boys.

I always wondered at the degree of homophobia by some of the darnedest people. There was a sailor who worked for me in San Diego who I thought everyone knew and accepted was homosexual, but he was outed when he was arrested for a DUI. One co-worker who shaved his body "to be more aerodynamic while bicycling" - but who never raced on his bicycle - was aghast(!) at the news. Guys in their beers would go on about what they'd do if they were hit on by a homosexual, but I have never to this day been hit on by a guy. Go figure.

It's 2010 and women are serving in ships - submarines now (good luck with that) - and in forward operating areas. Commanders are speaking out on banning pregnancy. It's time to clear the decks and accept that people in the military are sexual beings, set boundaries for their conduct consistent with good order and discipline, and get back to work. There's a freaking war on.

A Word for HM3 Zarian Wood

2010-05-18T05:56:00.004-04:00

Petty Officer Zarian Wood, 29, of Houston, Texas, died May 16, 2010, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device blast while on dismounted patrol.

Doc Wood was assigned as a hospital corpsman to Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, First Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

Semper Fi

World Press Freedom Day

2010-05-03T07:10:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to take a moment this morning to take note of World Press Freedom Day celebrating "Freedom of Information: the Right to Know" today. UNESCO's celebration intends to "highlight the importance of freedom of information as an integral part of freedom of expression and its contribution to democratic governance" and to "foster reflection and exchange of ideas on freedom of information to advance empowerment, transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption, as well as on the key obstacles that the effective exercise of the right to know faces in today’s digitalized world."

As I watch the evening news now I sometimes try to picture Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow "reporting" on Tiger Woods' infidelity or who was voted out - left out, actually - last night on "Dancing With the Stars." It's probably good that the networks are getting away from using journalists as news anchors, and I suspect it's less embarrassing for the journalists, too.

The thing is that I miss the news. Heaven only knows what is going unreported, and that's kind of scary, too.

Keeping Good Thoughts for Sarah

2010-04-23T19:01:00.003-04:00

Sean Dustman's sister, Sarah, whose new blog is now on my sidebar (Drink Water and Breathe), was "just" going to have a mastectomy today until they found "something" in an ovary and cells in her lymph nodes. Now she's looking at a double mastectomy and some level of hysterectomy and oopharectomy. Oh, and she's a single mom with two boys, and her big brother is stationed at NAS Lemoore instead of anywhere near Scottsdale.

I'm keeping good thoughts for Sarah and for all who love her. I'm pretty sure that more wouldn't hurt.

Happy Birthday, Ronni!

2010-04-07T07:35:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By!
Ronni was one of the two people who inspired me to begin blogging, among other things. (The blogging lapses are all my own.) She is thoughtful, mindful, and writes as I wish I could write about the things that I wish I knew more about. In a more civilized world she would still be working eighty hour weeks in producing great television, but the world is what it is so she's 'ours.'
Happy Birthday, Ronni; and Thank You.

Now There's a (Fledgling) Coffee Party

2010-02-28T07:38:00.002-05:00

This morning I logged into Facebook and saw that Tamar - of Mining Nuggets - had discovered and become a fan of the Coffee Party Movement. I looked at their website and watched their founder's video (why is she outside in the snow?); but I have misgivings.

I like the ideal I think they represent - that the function of the government is to represent the will of the electorate and that it is the responsibility of the electorate to be engaged participants in the process - but I liked the idea of the One America organization sponsored by John Edwards' campaign and that wound up going nowhere (as did he). (In fairness to the One America movement, that provided the impetus toward community involvement that has led to my continuing participation with the American Red Cross.)

If I were to parse their Mission Statement, I don't want to see "cooperation in government" so much as I want to see "collaboration..." I want my representatives to work collaboratively with other people's representatives to find practical solutions to the problems before them.

I also reject the call to "support leaders..." because, with the exception of some people in the Defense Department and the American Red Cross, those people aren't my leaders; they're my representatives. Let's not forget who votes for whom in the elections.

If the Coffee Party movement is simply a counter movement to the Tea Bag movement then it's probably a cute idea but not something I want to make time for. I think the bigger issue is that I must compete for the attention of my representatives not only with the other voters in my legislative district but also with the Democratic or Republican Party who bring nothing to the table but their corporate self-interest; and I'm not okay with that.

Journalism Isn't What It Once Was

2010-02-27T11:24:00.000-05:00

I'm no journalist but if my boss sent me to report on an earthquake, and I sent back reports from 200 miles away from the earthquake, my boss would fire me.
As a long-time resident of California I got used to reading the stories "from Sacramento" from San Francisco. Heck, I've been to Sacramento and I understand.
My sister down in San Diego County has been having fits ever since they started getting their "local" weather reports from Los Angeles. I'm not crazy about getting my local weather from Greenville.
I'm just saying that there was an 8.8 earthquake more than ten hours ago just north of Concepcion, Chile, and the media are still reporting on how upset hotel tenants are in their modern accommodations in Santiago.
Can't catch a flight? Can't pool your cash and rent a helicopter? Can't rent a jeep somewhere?

While You Were Watching Something Else

2010-02-25T19:00:00.000-05:00

While the media were focused on the non-productive "summit" on Health Care Reform, WLOS in Asheville ran a small piece I saw only once disclosing that last night the Senate had a) passed a one-year extension of the "Patriot Act" b) without any of the new privacy protections approved in the Judiciary Committee. The extension was passed by a voice vote which means any Senator is free to lie his ass off about whether he or she voted for or against it.

According to this AP story, the Democrats were acutely aware that any extension had to pass by Sunday and that any debate would expose them to criticism through the 2010 election cycle, so they simply caved in and passed it on to the House.

I don't know what to say about this right now. Rain wrote a really great rant yesterday that mirrored some of my frustrations at that time. This takes me past that. At their worst the Republican Party seems to represent Libertarians, Teabaggers, NeoFascists, the Religious Right, and even has a new moderate. I have no idea who the Democrats represent other than the Democratic Party.

It is sad but true that there is almost always a good reason to say "no" to anything. The Republicans have learned that simply being the Party of No is working for them. The prison at Gitmo is still open, the Patriot Act is alive and well, there is no Health Care Reform, and the economy isn't really doing that well on Main Street; and all of this when the Democrats had a super majority for most of the year. This was supposed to be a good year for them.

I know that getting the public to reason is a challenge - perhaps impossible. Getting the information out to the public so that they can make reasoned decisions probably is impossible. That there was so little coverage of the Senate's passage of this extension is disturbing. Watching the Party of No and the Party of the Inarticulate battle it out ad nauseum is just incredibly frustrating.

A Word for HM2 Xin Qi

2010-01-28T09:37:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-22T18:46:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-19T20:23:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-23T20:01:00.000-05:00

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

2009-09-11T08:14:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-05T09:14:00.000-04:00

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!

2009-08-18T09:41:00.000-04:00

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

2009-08-07T11:21:00.000-04:00

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

2009-06-02T21:36:00.000-04:00

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

2009-05-26T20:31:00.000-04:00

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.

Happy Birthday, Tamar!

2009-05-24T09:25:00.000-04:00

Tamar of Mining Nuggets is already celebrating this milestone birthday in Paris, but I'll add my best wishes for her to enjoy a beautiful day and many more years of good health and great happiness.

Thoughts on Torture

2009-04-22T09:06:00.000-04:00

I've repeated - I don't know how many times - before that we don't do the things we do because of who "they" are but because of who we are. Dick Cheney insists to this day that, because it yielded actionable intelligence, our torture of prisoners was justified. I think we all need to think about who we are and what, if anything, we stand for.

The Geneva Conventions are pretty clear that placing someone in fear for their life or of being maimed is considered torture throughout the world. We can call it 'aggressive interrogation' if we want to, but in the World Court it's called torture. People who torture are criminals. In fact, given that it's hard to think of anything more terrifying than being killed or maimed, it could be argued that people who torture are terrorists... terrorist organizations... state sponsored terrorism.

We did it. We need to face that we did it, and we need to stop doing it. I was going to say that we need to promise not to do it again, but historically we are also faithless liars. (Seriously, sending prisoners to countries where we know they will be tortured and then using the resulting intelligence makes us what?)

Does the end justify the means? If it does then any behavior can be justifed by a successful outcome. Is that who we are? It kind of looks like that's who we are.

A Word on the Commissioning of USS Stockdale (DDG-106)

2009-04-19T14:01:00.000-04:00

As I noted on his passing, I don't have a lot of heroes - don't believe in them for the most part - but Adm. James B. Stockdale was one of them. Yesterday the Navy commissioned the newest Arleigh Burke destroyer naming it USS Stockdale. In the Navy, that's considered a huge deal and rightly so. It represents a "second bite at the apple" to establish immortality as the ship and crew establish their reputation well into the 21st century while carrying Admiral Stockdale's name.

The LA Times chose to note that many people might be most familiar with the Admiral as Ross Perot's 1992 running mate. I acknowledge that there's a lot of ignorance in the world, but USS Stockdale honors an officer who commanded men with wisdom and courage through a literal hell and in the face of impossible conditions, and who carried his commitment to public service to his grave.

I wish DDG-106, and all who serve in her, fair winds and following seas throughout a long and honorable career.

Happy Birthday, Kay!

2009-04-17T09:12:00.000-04:00

A quick shout-out to wish Kay (of Kay's Thinking Cap) a fantastic birthday, and every happiness for many years to come.

Happy Birthday, Ronni!

2009-04-07T08:01:00.000-04:00

Wishing Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By a fantastic birthday today, and many more years of good health and great happiness.

I know that my path has been smoother over the past five years for the information and resources she's shared, and I owe her. She's a hero and role model, and a dear friend.

Post-Inaugural Frustration

2009-02-14T11:47:00.000-05:00

Did you have the dream that this past national election marked a turning point in the modern American political experience? I confess that I did, but the dream has been mortifying into the same old nightmare since.

Every time I hear the words "Republican," "Democrat," or "bi-partisan" I feel the need to strangle someone. I speak strictly for myself, but I'd be willing to bet that a large part of the reason for low voter turnouts is that 60% of us don't give a rat's ass which party a prospective legislator belongs to; I want you to represent me, irrespective of your fraternity or whatever you call it, and you haven't been doing it.

There are more than 300 million Americans now, and each one of us is experiencing this day from his or her own unique perspective. There are very few, if any, legitimate partisan issues; you people were elected to represent all of the people of the United States. If you want to represent the Republican Party or the Democratic Party or any other party, do it on your own time. On taxpayer time I want you to shut the fuck up, and get to work representing me and my interests in the city, county, state and nation.

California Senator Bob Huff, you should have been fired as an Assemblyman. It's February 14th, and our state budget was due last July 1st. Lead, follow, or get out of the way, but at least have the decency to refuse your salary. Assemblyman Charles Calderon, the same is true for you, too. You people have one deadline and you've missed it by more than seven months this time!

Senator Harry Reid, quit sending me your damned e-mails and solicitations. I sent a little money to the Edwards' campaign, but I'm an independent voter - and you should be, too. This isn't a pissing contest; it's our government.

Reflection on Gaza

2009-01-05T21:04:00.000-05:00

It's in my heart to say something about what's happening in Gaza. I am - praying, if you will - for the people of Israel at this time because I'm afraid that they've lost their way and that they're amassing some really horrible karma.

I think I can see their frustration with the terrorists blindly firing rockets over the fence into Israel, but it's Israel's fence and I think they have a responsibility for the custody of the people confined within it. I try to imagine circumstances - levels of gang activity, etc. - that would justify putting walls around an entire population and then directing fire on them with bombs and artillery, and I can't get there. We don't do this in prison riots where everybody in there is presumably guilty of something.

What is Israel's objective? The Hamas militants firing those rockets are criminals whose objective is to destabilize the relationship between Israel and the Arab world. As with our response to 9/11, certainly Israel has been provoked; but will their response advance their objectives or Hamas'. What is being created inside that fence? Peace?

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, whose sincerity on any topic is open to question, spoke today of the fear in the eyes of Israeli children. Children within the Gaza perimeter have reportedly stopped reacting to incoming strikes because there is no break. Will these children be able to live together when this is finished?

There's an expression I remember from my younger days: "Kill them all and let God sort them out." I understand where that comes from, but it has never, ever led to lasting peace.

Really, Barack? Rick Warren?

2008-12-18T20:33:00.000-05:00

I like to think I'm pretty open-minded, fairly non-judgemental; but I think there are degrees of inclusiveness and I'd like to think that Rick Warren is a degree or two away from giving a benediction at the inauguration of Barack Obama on the Mall in the capital.

This isn't about raising taxes vs cutting spending to balance the budget. This isn't about free trade vs tarriffs. This isn't about states rights vs federalism. This is a man who advocates theocratic interpretations in the application of civil rights in direct opposition to the first and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution of the United States, and I cannot imagine why on earth my President-elect would give Warren a hearing, much less a pulpit on the platform at his inauguration.

This is your inauguration; think "setting the tone." I get that you intend to be the President for all Americans, but it's pretty clear that this guy hasn't got a benediction for everyone; he leaves some people out.

I read a comment somewhere today - I think it was in the Orange County Register - that you appear to be a bit challenged in your selection of clergy, and I've got to go along with that assessment.

Observing a Blogiversary

2008-12-10T22:56:00.000-05:00

I saw a counter on Kay's blog, checked my archives, and - lo and behold - today this blog is four years old.

I have to say that keeping a blog isn't the stupidest thing I've done over the past four years... not by a long shot. I came into this with no particular expectations, with very little awareness of what I wanted to do here, and - given that - I think it's gone pretty well. I think I wrote some decent stuff over on the the other site before it crashed on me. I've 'met' some interesting people. We've lost some interesting people. (I still find myself wanting to tell Joycelyn Ward something now and then.)

I'm still trying to come to terms with blog maintenance, i.e. posting regularly. Ronni Bennett is my hero and role model, consistently turning out a top-quality product day in and day out, and I've disappeared for a month at a time. I am conscious that I don't meet the criteria to make her blog roll today, and then I get this guilt thing going. I know that I fret a bit when I check blogs and there are no entries for an extended period, and I don't want to be that guy.

I saw Ariana Huffington the other night on The Daily Show and was struck by her advice to just go with your first thought. I've had two big posts stuck in park for a year now trying to find time to do some research and develop them. I think I do better by just unloading whatever's in my consciousness and not worrying about the Pullitzers or whatever.

Four years... I had just gotten married on November 1st, 2004, so what the hell was I doing starting a blog? What if I'd discovered blogging a few months earlier?

Anyway, to my readers, thank you for your companionship.

A Reflection on University City

2008-12-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

I remember standing out near the flight line in 1970 shortly after reporting into Attack Carrier Air Wing Two at (then) NAS Miramar. Looking to the west I noticed and asked about the construction going on past the end of the runways, and I was told they were putting in homes. I responded with, "Who the (deleted) builds homes at the end of the runway of a Naval Air Station?" (At that time I hadn't experienced Point Loma where people move under the Lindbergh Field traffic pattern and complain about the noise.)

I am mindful of PSA Flight 182 that crashed in North Park about 30 years ago, and I seem to recall a couple of mishaps out of Montgomery Field up on Kearney Mesa. I think when you live under the flight pattern (not to mention at the end of the runways) of an airport - military or civilian - you need to come to terms with the reality that - sooner or later - gravity always wins and you could be in the bulls-eye.

It's a shame, certainly, when innocent lives are lost. On the other hand, I am thankful that the crew of the F/A-18 was able to eject and will live to fly another day.

A Little About the Red Cross

2008-12-07T10:50:00.000-05:00

I guess I haven't said much about my experience with the Red Cross, and that's kind of a shame because I know I used to only think of the Red Cross in terms of emergency leave (when I was in the Navy) and major disasters. I have been out on two national disaster responses (DRs) this year - in June and in November - and that was fulfilling work, but I've also been out on a dozen house and apartment fires and that was also - and perhaps more - fulfilling.

I spent two weeks in Columbus, Indiana, in June as a client caseworker in the aftermath of the flooding there. You may be asking yourself, as I did, "What flooding in Indiana?" Iowa and the Mississippi got all of the press, but I think we wound up helping more than 400 families in the Columbus area out of the science classrooms at the middle school.

For five days over the weekend before Thanksgiving I was deployed with an Emergency Response Vehicle (or ERV) to Sylmar. With my co-driver (pictured above) we provided snacks and beverages at the bulk distribution site near the client service center, provided meals to the volunteer staff, and drove through the Oak Ridge Mobile Home Park delivering snacks, beverages and clean-up items (rakes, shovels, gloves, etc.) to clients.

The thing is that for every DR that makes the papers there are hundreds of personal disasters, and, when we respond to those, our Disaster Action Teams are responsible for the damage assessment, assessing the clients needs, and providing for their immediate needs consistent with the Red Cross mission and values. I know we did good work in Indiana and in Sylmar, but - pound for pound - I wouldn't trade working with a family through one of the worst times of their lives.

Now, the Red Cross does a lot of other things beside disaster relief: Services to Armed Forces is another program I make time for, Community Education, Health & Safety training, Blood Services, etc. Cop Car takes disaster relief to a whole 'nother level with regional planning.

I'm new to the Red Cross, and still working into my role as a foot soldier; but, on a personal level, my work as a Disaster Assistance Team (DAT) member has been some of the most fulfilling work I've done... which won't keep me from fighting for the keys to an ERV for the next DR.

I'm Not Smart About Economics

2008-12-02T12:25:00.000-05:00

Years ago I took the tests for a Social Sciences teaching credential and I confess that Economics was my weakness, and apparently that weakness persists into the present. I'm not as dumb as I thought I was because there is an increasing body of evidence that everyone who should have predicted our economic meltdown could have predicted our economic meltdown; apparently they just didn't feel like it.

The thing I'm having a problem with today is the idea that the best financial minds in the world (if one believes that salaries are tied to competence) just got the bejeebers scared out of them by the "news" that we have been in a recession for over a year now. I'm just a guy, and I don't manage millions of dollars... billions of dollars in investments day in and day out, but I've got to tell you that I've suspected for awhile now that we were in a recession. I've actually been "planning" my retirement on the assumption that I wouldn't be able to get much - if anything - out of my paltry investments. Can anyone steer me to a decent explanation of why putting that out in public sent Wall Street back into the crapper?

By the way, we were talking over the holiday about Hillary Clinton accepting the nomination to be Secretary of State and decided that it was a bad idea. Hillary Clinton can stay in the Senate as long as she feels like it and possibly be the successor to Ted Kennedy as a liberal icon, or she can take on being Obama's Secretary of State subordinating her world view to his until she can't stand it anymore and then disappear into the landscape. Somebody help me here; has anyone since Jefferson gone from Secretary of State to the Presidency? (I know he didn't go directly from State to the Presidency; he served a term as VP.)

More Lame Excuses

2008-11-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

No, not from the lame duck administration; from me.
I've been busy splitting time between work and the Red Cross and for the next few days I'm going to be exclusive to the Red Cross doing mobile mass feeding (and such other duties as may be assigned).
I'll read your blogs when I get a link-up but won't try to write (which hasn't been working very well for me in the first place).

I'm Not a Particularly Good Person

2008-11-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

Here it is Veteran's Day and I came across this article talking about OEF/OIF veterans connecting online instead of at the more traditional watering holes of previous generations. I'm a huge fan of vets forming their own support systems around them according to their needs, and - for all of my empathy - I have never humped in a climate or terrain like they've experienced and somewhat doubt that I could have. Good for them leaning on each other just as they did throughout their active service.

Eventually I got down to the part where they write about the American Legion and the VFW losing membership, and I confess to a teensy moment of satisfaction because they weren't there for me when I could have used the help. I've written before that I left the Navy earlier than I might have because the VietNam GI Bill was set to expire at the end of 1989. I wrote to everyone I could think of and spoke to everyone I could reach, but except for the Fleet Reserve Association (which at the time still represented career and retired military members of the sea services) the veterans organizations turned a deaf ear to me.

There was a small degree of altruism to my arguments. I finished my 20 years in time to get my four years, and I was unlikely to be promoted beyond Chief if I'd stayed in for 40 years (I had some issues); however, it bugged me that a guy who came in before January, 1966, in time for seven more years of the VietNam War couldn't do his 20 and get the GI Bill. The Legion and the VFW both pointed out to me that their primary concerns were for the WW II veterans and that their membership was predominantly one-term enlistees anyway, and that was it.

So now they can't attract younger vets... imagine that. I wish them well and, in particular, I wish their members well; but you folks coming out of OEF/OIF are on the right track relying on one another for answers and support for your unique issues. At some point every organization I can think of turns its focus away from its membership and toward perpetuating itself.

Not a Good Week for Blogging

2008-11-10T00:08:00.000-05:00

This is not going to be a great week for blogging. Thursday is California's statewide earthquake drill, and I've spent quite a bit of time so far prepping for it and have a lot more to spend participating in it.

All day Thursday I participate with the local Red Cross chapter assessing our readiness to quickly set up a shelter in the immediate aftermath of the simulated 'quake. (There are millions of residents in the LA basin and perhaps a few thousand shelter beds.)

Saturday the Red Cross has an information booth at the county fire expo.

Sunday the county is having an all-day field exercise for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) up in Sherman Oaks.

Getting involved in earthquake recovery is one of those things I've been meaning to do, but never made time for until this year. There's supposed to be a 90-something percent probability of a major earthquake here within the next thirty years. If you sign up on USGS.gov, you can get notified of earthquakes as they occur, and it's sobering to watch them first up in the Aleutians and then down off Mexico and then back up in the Aleutians. There was a good-sized one just off the coast above San Francisco a couple of weeks ago.

California isn't supposed to "fall off into the ocean" but it is supposed to wind up several feet north which will sever power lines, pipe lines (water and fuel), and surface transportation across the San Andreas fault. It's going to be quite a ride.

How about if Obama named Colin Powell as his Secretary of State?

2008-11-06T20:14:00.000-05:00

I know; no one was more disappointed watching him shill for George W. Bush (when he must have known better) than I was. I'm thinking he must have lost a lot of sleep over the past five years thinking about the all of the lives he had a hand in destroying, and his best shot at any redemption is a chance to be the Secretary of State we were expecting in 2001, a chance to be the George Marshall of the post-Cold War era.

I had a lot of respect for General Powell when he was in uniform. I think he's better than he ever had a chance to be in the present administration. I think he's just exactly what the Obama administration needs at State, and (coincidentally) it would give him an opportunity to clean up his karma. Richardson would be okay, but I think Powell is ideally suited for 2009.

Election Day

2008-11-04T09:17:00.001-05:00

My connectivity issue resurfaced (Joared, the jury is out on Verizon as well as on your provider.) so I didn't run through all of the California propositions. Today is about keeping good thoughts that America will use wisdom in choosing our government and our future.

I wish I felt more confident in the outcome. It has been frustrating speaking with people I care about and generally find to be agreeable who, at the end of the conversation, turn toward the darkness of the neo-fascists. How on earth can we agree on universal healthcare and then you vote for those who oppose it?

Today is about keeping good thoughts that - this time - enough Americans in the right states will use wisdom in choosing our future.

It's Frustrating

2008-10-30T14:25:00.000-04:00

Seemingly rational people will natter for hours about our dependence on foreign oil as the root of (nearly) all evil while Exxon Mobil breaks another earnings record in the third quarter just ended. The problem isn't the nationality of the oil, it's that Big Oil doesn't give a rat's ass about America or any other country and we all just line up for it: "Please, sir, might I have another."

It's Not That There Aren't Any Appropriate Bond Issues

2008-10-29T09:45:00.000-04:00

Proposition 12 on the California ballot is to fund the CalVet home loan program, and it appears about every other year if memory serves. According to the legislative analyst, since 1921 "the CalVet program has been totally supported by the participating veterans at no direct cost to the taxpayer." I'm willing to bet on the vets.

Proposition 3 is a little bit trickier, but not a lot. Prop 3 asks for $280 Million to fund children's hospitals throughout the state. 20% of the money would go to the five hospitals within the University of California system while 80% would be made available to as many as eight hospitals such as Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Children's Hospital of Orange County. Purists argue that using bond money to support non-government hospitals is wrong and I understand that argument while disagreeing with it. These are California public-benefit corporations such as the Lucille Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford doing cutting-edge work and, to the extent that their legitimate funding needs cannot be met by payments from patients and insurers, they are worthy of our support.

We need to keep faith with our children's hospitals and our veterans. They've earned that.

What Happens When People Like Me Get Pissed and Write Laws

2008-10-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered what draws a person to becoming a sheriff or district attorney? I understand someone wanting to get into law enforcement, wanting to serve and protect their community from criminals, but at what point does one start to see it as a stepping stone to power? And crime victims; who can't empathize with what they must be going through, but some people just get through it and try to get on with their lives while others become crusaders like John Walsh and some become crusaders for some really bad laws. Hook a crime victims group up with a DA and a sheriff and you get things like Propositions 6 and 9.

Bear in mind that California already has an unfunded deficit (this year) of $15 Billion. Without identifying any source of funding, Proposition 6 calls for a billion dollars of additional funding for criminal justice programs, increased jail time for certain offenses, and increased parole costs. Did I mention that California is already under a federal court order to expand its prison system, because the funding for that isn't in here. No new street cops either.

Proposition 9 calls for... well, basically it calls for enforcement and expansion of Proposition 8, "Victims' Bill of Rights" from the 1982 election, restricts early release of inmates, and changes the rules for granting and revoking parole. It prioritizes restitution to victims above any other fines or obligations a criminal might owe, and that's pretty straightforward. It also expands notification to victims of the release of persons prior to trial and, although suspects are presumed innocent until they are convicted, I can see the sense of that. I'm reasonably sure that exempting the victim from providing material for discovery is a Constitutional problem, but it's 2008 and I could be wrong about that.

Prop 9 requires that the Legislature and counties fully fund prisons and jails so that prisoners don't have to be released early to comply with the Federal Court orders. It would also require lifer convicts to wait at least 3 years between parole hearings and give victims' families 90 days notice instead of 30 days notice and a rehearing every year. Once again wading into Constitutional issues, it also seeks to extend the length of time (mandated by federal court order) we can keep a parolee locked up on a parole violation before giving him a probable cause hearing and a revocation hearing.

Prop 6 does address the craziness of releasing undocumented aliens on low bail or their own recognizance. If you don't see the hole in that theory then we should talk about a multi-level marketing opportunity I know of.

There are good reasons why people like me aren't encouraged to write laws - and I'm not under the stress of being a victim of a violent crime. DAs and sheriffs should know better than to take advantage of them, but then they are what they are.

We're $15 Billion in the hole this year and things ain't looking good on the horizon for an early recovery. We're already under court orders to deal with prison and jail overcrowding and health care for prisoners, and then there are those pesky street cops and firefighters and health care providers and educators and... Do you get where I'm going with this? When you factor in the inevitable legal challenges, I think we should just work toward real enforcement of existing law and see how that works for a year or two.

Just This Once I Hope Lindsey Graham is Right

2008-10-27T09:22:00.001-04:00

Senator Graham is supposed to have said that Gen. Powell "was never truly a Republican." I, of course, have been a more than a little pissed at the general since he participated in fabricating and selling the pretext for the war in Iraq, but if he truly did not give his soul over to the forces of darkness that would be reassuring that he was ever a good person.

I always marvel at the convoluted logic of the neo-fascist. We have a trillion dollar debt on the year, and Graham accuses Obama (and, by extension, Powell) of supporting "increased spending." We are ten digits into negative numbers! How delusional are these people?

Questions of Rights and Wrongs

2008-10-26T11:12:00.000-04:00

There are three propositions on the California ballot that, to my mind, deal with what is right and what is wrong.

Proposition 2 deals with (institutional) cruelty to animals, and whether or not economic expediency justifies it. It's interesting to me that the argument in opposition to it centers on egg production and I suspect that's (at least partly) because (almost) everybody likes eggs and (almost) nobody likes chickens, but it includes calves raised for veal, and pregnant pigs as well as egg-laying hens. The prospective standard is that these animals must be confined only in ways that allow them to lie down, stand up, stretch their limbs and turn around. Exceptions are made for transportation, rodeos (!?!), fairs (although the pens at county fairs I've been to exceed these standards), 4H programs (!?!), slaughter, research and veterinary purposes.
The poultry industry argues that if this passes then all eggs will have to be trucked in from Mexico because this is an impossible standard for them to meet, and then we'll all die from salmonella (Mexican salmonella in contrast to the California salmonella that affected the folks around here early this month). They contend that California birds are much healthier and happier in their 8 inch by 8 inch cages (only slightly less plausible than the "happy cows" ad campaign).

Proposition 4 is on the ballot again to require notification of a pregnant unemancipated minor's parents 48 hours before an abortion. I write about this before every election because it gets put on the ballot for every election. To soften the blow this time, they don't seek parental consent - only notification; but it's interesting to me that the measure speaks of a pregnant unemancipated minor. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm reasonably sure that California law still recognizes pregnant minors as emancipated with respect to their pregnancies which would leave California physicians liable for their breach of the doctor-patient privilege in complying.

Proposition 8, of course, is the measure seeking to override the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and ban same-sex couples from marrying. I've written about this enough, and there have been plenty of rulings against "separate but equal" to bolster the argument against it. Someone give me an argument that doesn't begin with "It says in the Bible..." and we can talk.

You Want $10 Billion for a What!?!

2008-10-24T00:20:00.000-04:00

A high speed rail system to connect Sacramento/San Francisco to Los Angeles. No, seriously.

California has a $15 Billion budget deficit, and Proposition 1 on the November 4th ballot asks for the credit card to make a down payment on a $40 Billion high-speed rail system. I don't know very much about very much, but when I first heard this without numbers the first thing that popped into my head was "how many people are queuing up for a better way to commute from San Francisco to LA... apart from the Governor?" People in Northern Califonria and people in Southern California don't even like each other, much less visit that much.

I've seen the traffic in San Francisco and I live with the traffic in the LA metroplex, and if we're going to borrow $10 Billion to improve the commute I think we can do better than giving some guy $10 Billion in walking-around money so he can try to raise the other $30 Billion from the Feds and private investors to try to put in a bullet train between here to there. In fact, this might not be the best year ever for trying to raise $30 Billion from the Feds and private investors because, you know, the global economy is in the tank.

Proposition 10 almost seems rational by comparison. Proposition 10 only asks to borrow $5 Billion; $3.5 Billion to help businesses convert their gasoline powered vehicle fleets to vehicles powered by natural gas, and the rest for research into other alternative energy sources.

Why has T. Boone Pickens picked up the check for this campaign? It might have nothing to do with the fact that he sells natural gas for vehicles, but that's not what got my goat in the first place; what got my goat in the first place was the idea of paying people with borrowed money to make good business decisions. Oil is more expensive than natural gas; how much more incentive do they need to find alternatives? How many of these commercial fleets are even going to be in business next year?

Proposition 10 is only half as expensive as Proposition 1 and it is entirely possible that additional natural gas powered vehicles would get onto California roads in my lifetime (unlike that bullet train), but why in the hell are we thinking about borrowing $15 Billion (another $15 Billion) for either of these projects? Aside from the (lack of) merits of either proposition, $10 Billion isn't going to get that train in, and Pickens already has $3.5 Billion - let him pay incentives.

Connectivity or the lack thereof

2008-10-23T08:37:00.000-04:00

Campaign season and I haven't been able to post... but it looks like I might have put that issue to rest for the moment, and I hope to be able to run through the California ballot propositions. Of course, I'm primarily interested in seeing Obama elected, but California politics has this surreal quality that, after 38 years here, still makes absolutely no sense to me.

How did the global economy get into this condition? Well, in California we're running huge deficits, but there are still things we need (and even more things we want) so we've put up a bunch of pork barrel projects to be funded with bond issues because by the time the bonds mature we'll have the money to pay them, right? Right?

More Thoughts on the Bailout

2008-10-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about this bailout thing quite a bit and, although I'm probably no smarter than I was when I started, I'm pretty sure I'm against it.

For one thing, I admit it, I seriously don't like ultimatums. I've always felt that once the ultimatums started then sooner or later we were going to get to "or else" and so we might as well get on with it.

For another thing, I don't believe the doomsayers. Bankers bank. I don't believe for a second that the finance industry is suddenly going to start burying their billions in their back yards; they're going to invest it - perhaps more wisely but that's not a bad thing. Life will go on and the economy will rebuild on a sound fiscal footing instead of the Potemkin villages we've been putting our savings into.

The finance industry might very well wind up having to write off a trillion dollars in bad loans they never should have made in the first place, but that's what happens when you make bad loans. My 401 may turn into Monopoly money until stocks recover, but that's what I get for letting boneheads hold my retirement nest egg with no oversight. If we give these people, for instance the former CEO of Goldman Sachs who didn't see a trillion dollar loss coming while he was there up until a few months ago, $700 Billion to cover their current bad debt ceteris paribus why are they not going to just run up another $700 Billion in bad debt?

Threats irritate the crap out of me, and I don't want to embark on the rest of my life waiting for the other shoe to drop. Let's call in the markers and get this over with once and for all; and let's do what's necessary to prevent this from happening in the future.

Things I Guess I Don't Understand: Economics

2008-09-24T09:37:00.000-04:00

Okay, is this whole bailout thing one last big grasp for the money before the elections? I ask this because otherwise I don't understand it.

I understand why people want to stay in their homes, including people who financed their homes with loans they had no realistic expectation of repaying. I get that.

I understand why the people who packaged and made those loans, and then bundled and sold and resold those loans don't want to get left holding the sack. I get that.

I don't get why (or how) those of us minding our own business trying to live responsible lives are supposed to give the people who created this cluster-fuck at least three quarters of a trillion dollars that we don't have to get them off the hook. I know that I'm not very smart, but I'm pretty sure that's stupid. We didn't have the money we used to buy an 80% interest in AIG, and now we're going to borrow $700 Billion (from our enemies) to try to cover the current crop of mistakes made by the very same institutions we want to prop up?

Listen, I wouldn't give anyone appointed to anything by George W. Bush change for a parking meter, much less co-sign for $700 Billion.

A Word for HM3 Eichmann A. Strickland

2008-09-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Hospital Corpsman Third Class Eichmann A. Strickland, 23, of Arlington, WA, died September 9 of injuries suffered when his vehicle hit an IED in Afghanya Valley, Afghanistan.
Doc Strickland was assigned to Combat Service Support Detachment 36, Iwakuni, Japan. He was deployed with an embedded Marine Training Team to Afghan Regional Security Integration Command Central. Part of his job was training Afghani soldiers how to treat wounds.
After his service, Doc Strickland wanted to become a physician assistant and become a medical missionary to Africa.
Semper Fi

It Can't be September Already

2008-09-01T20:22:00.000-04:00

Things have been a little hectic lately. For awhile on Friday I didn't know if I was taking my younger sister to my baby sister's for Labor Day or driving a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle to Texas. (I wound up going to my baby sister's, but I got so flustered that I left her birthday card and present behind - her birthday was Friday.

This Wednesday I was supposed to drive a van with five other Red Cross people to San Jose for a Disaster Readiness Conference but we're down to four people in a car now. Happily for us and for the people along the Gulf Coast it doesn't look like the conference will be affected by Gustav. Anyway, this will likely be my post for the week.

The Thing About Oil

2008-08-26T21:35:00.000-04:00

Here's the thing: we're running out of oil. For the near-term new drilling isn't going to help; it's going to take years to bring in the first new oil. For the long-term new drilling is just grasping at straws because we're running out of oil. My advice? Get over the oil and get busy on alternatives.

Up in Santa Barbara, which led the charge against off-shore drilling after a nasty spill years ago, the Supervisors want to allow drilling now. The Government (Minerals Management Service of the Dept. of the Interior) estimates there are perhaps 5.7 billion barrels of oil to be had between Point Conception and Mexico, and the folks in Santa Barbara are having Jed Clampett dreams.

The problem is that, according to World Watch, global demand for oil was almost 86 million barrels a day in 2007, over 20 million a day for the U.S. Assuming that it all comes in with no hitches whatever, we're talking about 66 days worth of oil... 275 days if we don't have to share it with anyone else. What are you willing to destroy for nine months of oil? How hard will you fight to keep from sharing it? What will you do next?

Sadly we've become such passive consumers that we're willing to believe that the oil companies know best about oil... like the insurance companies know about health care. They're in the oil business and they know about making money. Remember a few months ago when they found the leaks in the pipeline coming out of Prudhoe Bay? Pipelines need maintenance? Who knew? Supervisor Brooks Firestone thinks technology will prevent a replay of the 1969 spill because he has blinders on.

There are people running for office who are willing to stand watch while international oil sucks the last bit of blood out of every square inch they can get to and then two things are going to happen: that oil is going to get sold to the highest bidder on the world market, and then the biggest shareholders will sell their shares at the top of the market and move on to the next market leaving you on your bicycles with a scorched earth.

Deal with it.

"Armed Men Were No Threat to Obama"

2008-08-26T21:07:00.000-04:00

I mean to write a few words about off-shore drilling, but first I have to ask what in the hell is going on in Colorado. Here's a suggestion if we're going to continue the trend away from "nominating conventions" toward coronations: have it in a safe place.

These three knot-heads... meth-heads actually... get busted with rifles, ammunition, body armor, disguise materials... oh, and they're white supremacists... and they confess to a "crude" plan to take advantage of Obama's planned Thursday night acceptance speech at Invesco Field to kill him. What do you think happens? Nope, not in Colorado!

The U.S. Attorney there, a guy named Troy Eid out of Jack Abramoff's old law firm appointed in 2005, says their plan wasn't good enough to succeed so he's just going to file weapons charges. "We're absolutely confident there was no credible threat..."

We live in an environment where if you sit in an airport discussing why "comb" is pronounced one way, "tomb" another way, and "bomb" yet another... yeah, your butt's in the slammer for awhile. Three skinheads blow into Denver with weapons and a dream, and that's just three crazy guys on meth in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Seriously people... no more neo-fascists for a while, okay?

People With Challenged Judgment Running for President

2008-08-25T22:14:00.000-04:00

Suddenly there are at least a half dozen things I want to vent about here, but first I think I need to talk about Senator John S. McCain, III. I've given John McCain a pass for the last 35 years because of his experiences as a POW. I think we're past that. John McCain questions Barack Obama's judgment, and it occurs to me that peope in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

I'm not sure what it is about the way McCain dismissed his first wife, Carol, that pisses me off. I'm not a particularly nice person at times, and I've done things I'm not proud of certainly. I can easily see how his life sucked from October, 1967, into March, 1973; but she held up her end keeping a house and raising three kids by herself not knowing if she'd ever see him again. If that's the way he treats a woman like that then how on earth can anyone trust him?

Five Senators were exposed in the Lincoln S&L scandal in 1989; one of them was my Senator, Alan Cranston. Two of them, John McCain and John Glenn, were bulletproof while the other three ended their Senate careers at the end of their terms. Senator McCain was criticized by the Senate Ethics Committee for poor judgment (as was Senator Glenn).

John McCain is supposed to have written "I would very much like to think that I have never been a man whose favor can be bought." Well, he can think anything he wants, but dumping a good woman for an heiress whose father is connected and enjoying the favors of lobbyists and fundraising from them while ostensibly campaigning to limit their access has the taint of corruption.

Senator McCain, I've come to terms with who and what you are. I don't even care anymore whether or not you've boinked Vicki Iseman because it doesn't matter; that's your wife's problem. I question your judgment. Moreover, I question your character.

Happy Birthday, Millie!

2008-08-18T08:23:00.000-04:00

Sending my best wishes to Millie Garfield of My Mom's Blog for a fantastic birthday today, and for many more years of good health and great happiness!
Many thanks for sharing your life with us... and for teaching us a little Yiddish!

Millie, I have enjoyed your efforts.

A Word About the Trial at Gitmo

2008-08-07T09:45:00.000-04:00

I've said before that the way we treat others, even our enemies, says more about us than about them; we do what we do because of who we are, not because of who they are. The issues of citizenship and territorial boundaries are not mentioned in the Bill of Rights; it's about people and how we, as Americans, treat them.

Yesterday Senator McCain reportedly said, "The fact that the jury did not find Hamdan guilty of all of the charges brought against him demonstrates that the jury weighed the evidence carefully," That's enough? I'm sorry, Senator, but isn't that a little like saying that, because they didn't kill you, the North Vietnamese didn't do so bad?

We're supposed to be the good guys in this picture. I'm not sure that lip service to the Constitution and violation of the Geneva Conventions is the way to go.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

2008-08-05T10:11:00.000-04:00

I haven't been having that much fun, but time has gotten away from me.
I did renew my lease here once again, and I've been trying to find a comfortable, productive niche for myself. I've been more active in the local community and training for CERT. I have more Red Cross training on the calendar in the coming weeks.
I've been tinkering with a piece on health care financing issues (I'm certain that the figures being tossed around for Universal Health Care are hugely inflated by corporate interests) but I haven't made the time to put it together.
The 2008 presidential election leaves me wishing for better choices, and California politics... why is it that in this blue state there are no standout Democrats? Is it simply that, with their gerrymandered districts, they don't need to do anything?
Welcome home, Sean at Doc in the Box!

Sentient Beings and Their Sacred Cows

2008-07-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

I'm having a moment of frustration with the way corporate media and politics can totally bury the lead and change the conversation. General Clark didn't say that Senator McCain wasn't a military hero; he said that a fighter pilot, however great he was as a tactician or heroic in combat and in captivity, isn't necessarily any better or more knowledgeable in global strategic planning than someone who sat out the war entirely. (Witness the lack of military backgrounds in Department of Defense civilians.)

In a country in which W. gets elected to the presidency twice, and Arnold gets elected governor of California twice, one wonders when or if people will ever wake up and appreciate the mess we're in. What will finally be their inducement to recapture the patriotism of their forefathers, or will they finally just submit.

We're talking about the future of mankind and we're talking about it like we're in junior high school... a poorly performing junior high school.

Reflection on Mortality

2008-06-27T23:57:00.000-04:00

My baby sister's mother-in-law's birth anniversary was June 19th. Gemma was a real spitfire, blind as a bat from her diabetes but she hardly ever missed a thing going on around her. Despite her diabetes and complications from it, she was totally aware and engaged and retained a keen mind. She was plain-spoken, totally without guile, and if she liked you she was fiercely loyal. This was the first birthday that her family had to observe without her.

On Wednesday I got a call from my step-brother telling me that his mother had passed away. I only met her in 2004, but everything about her was warm and genuine. She and my step-siblings opened their homes, shared family history with me freely, and I left the next morning with the strong sense that I had just spent the previous day with family. Bernice, in particular, just radiated compassion and, although I have no doubt she had a temper, it has been that loving compassion that I remember every time I think of her.

Today I finally had time to catch up on some blog reading and I learned that Joycelyn Ward, Maya's Granny, has passed as well. I never met her in person, but her writing was so clear and engaging that you have to imagine that she spoke just as she wrote. Of course, she was a Berkley liberal which was initially intimidating to an Iowa farm boy, but she was so articulate and clear in her thinking and writing that I always enjoyed what she had to say, even on the rare occasion when I couldn't agree with it.

Finally, I've been reflecting on mortality. Of course children must expect to lose their parents one day, but these three women were so full of life that it seems impossible that their lives have been lost to us.

I am reminded of a conversation I had with a friend a few years ago regarding her grandmother, and she told me that her grandmother had promised that she'd live forever. Her grandmother passed away, of course, as we must, but her legacy remains very much alive in the way my friend relates to her daughter and her daughter to her friends. Gemma's influence has been imprinted on her son and on my sister, and Bernice obviously gets a lot of the credit for how her children and grandchildren have turned out so far.

It occurs to me that what dies is the body. The love that emanated from each of them does live on, if not forever then at least indefinitely, in the lives of those they touched and in the lives we, in our turn, touch. I think people like Gemma and Bernice and MG don't die unless we let them die, unless we turn away from the gifts they left in us.

There are people I've forgotten, and perhaps I'll be forgotten (that's not for me to say), but there is a piece of Joycelyn Ward in me that I hope I never lose touch with.

Update: Winston Rand... He was a pretty good guy.

A Word for Hospitalman Dustin Kelby Burnett

2008-06-27T15:36:00.000-04:00

Hospitalman Dustin Kelby Burnett, 19, of Fort Mohave, Arizona, was assigned to First Marine Division Detachment, Twentynine Palms, California.

Doc Burnett died June 20, 2008, when an IED exploded near his vehicle in Farah, Afghanistan. There's more about him in this article.

Semper Fi

A Word for Hospitalman Marc Retmier

2008-06-27T15:14:00.000-04:00

Before I get too invested in talking about my "summer vacation," I have two other posts to do.

Hospitalman Marc A. Retier, 19, of Hemet, California, died June 19, 2008, of wounds suffered in a Taliban rocket attack on his unit while caring for Afghan civilians in northern Paktika, Afghanistan.

Doc Metmier was stationed at National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and was assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Sharana in Afghanistan. There's more background on him in this article.

Semper Fi

Thoughts About Retirement

2008-04-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

Ronni Bennett posed a series of questions about retirment at Time Goes By this morning, and it happens that retirement - whatever that means - has been almost constantly on my mind for the past few years.

Actually, I've been telling people for years that I'm a retired Navy Chief Hospital Corpsman because it's true and because it's preferable to admitting that I've spent the third quarter of this life shuffling papers for a medical management company. It's not like working for the IRS and it's paid the bills, but there is not much fulfillment from it. In the past four years I have made choices that have kept me from leaving this job and California, but almost certainly in 2009...

You'd have no reason to remember that back when Ronni was choosing between Portland, ME, and Portland, OR, I was trying to use logic to decide where I wanted to land when I retired (because I really have no roots anywhere). I drew a little circle around the area between Asheville, NC, and Great Smoky Mountain National Park, but it turns out that thousands of other retirees were drawing similar circles on their maps at about the same time, many of whom have already moved there. The idea of getting a Class C motorhome and living a more nomadic life has suffered a critical $4/gallon setback.

I've thought a lot about how I want to live the fourth quarter of this life. (It amuses me to refer to this time as the fourth quarter of my life although no male Babb has celebrated his 70th birthday since my great-great-grandfather.) When I leave here I'll have sufficient means to subsist which I recognize as a blessing; so my goal is to do work that is fulfilling... work that matters. I miss that from the second quarter. Toward that end, I've been volunteering with Red Cross Disaster Services for the past several months, and I have to say that is really working for me so far: I'm going out on local disaster calls (house and apartment fires so far), I can drive the ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle), and they're letting me train other volunteers in Disaster Services. That's like a fulfillment trifecta.

If I could find paying work that is at least as worthwhile as what I'm doing with the Red Cross, I'd sure consider it. My dream job would be to go back to school to become a Physician Assistant because I miss patient care a lot, but at this point I'd have to start from scratch. I'm up for that, but who gives student loans to guys in their 60s? Advocating for returning military wounded sings to me, but I'm not sure that working with the Veterans Administration bureaucracy does. We'll see.

Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. - Henry David Thoreau

Happy Birthday, Maya's Granny

2008-04-23T10:04:00.000-04:00

It was good to read a post typed by Joycelyn Ward's hands this morning (Maya's Granny); and just in time for her birthday, too.
Best wishes for a great day, for your full and early recovery, and for many healthy and happy years to come.

Belated Birthday Wishes for Kay!

2008-04-18T10:13:00.000-04:00

Belated best wishes to my friend and fellow elder blogger, Kay Dennison (Kay's Thinking Cap)! Her birthday was yesterday.
If you got here without having visited there a) what are you doing here; and b) swing over there when you get a chance. She's a good read.
Sorry, Kay!

Happy Birthday, Ronni!

2008-04-07T08:23:00.000-04:00

I want to wish my blogger hero and role model, Ronni Bennett of Time Goes By, a very happy birthday today. Ronni is one of the hardest working bloggers I'm aware of, with a new blog offering almost every day and almost every one is informative and/or meaningful.
Thank you, Ronni; and Happy Birthday!

Getting Back to the Blog

2008-02-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

I have to say that losing John Edwards has taken a lot of the wind out of my sails. I know I have historically been sporadic in posting, but it's 2008 and I have nothing left to write about in February. John McCain promises not to change anything, Hillary Clinton hasn't changed anything but says she wants to start, and I seriously doubt that Barack Obama has the political chops to change anything.
John McCain hurts my heart because (despite the Keating scandal) he's been someone I respected, and now it's painful for me to watch him. I'm reminded of how I felt when Admiral Stockdale stumbled so badly through the VP candidate debates several years ago.
I have a couple of posts working and I hope to get at least one of them out within a couple of days. It won't be anything like Kay's series over at the Thinking Cap... as I've said before, I am not comfortable sharing the fruits of my introspective efforts (and, yes, that has been a topic of discussion with more than one of my exes). I respect folks who are willing and able to do that, and it might be healthy if I did it, but... seriously... no. With me you get superficiality.
Keeping good thoughts, for Maya's Granny. Update here.
Namaste

Thank you, John.

2008-01-30T21:48:00.000-05:00

John Edwards has suspended his campaign.
My first reaction was of disappointment; I really thought this might be when we start to turn things back around in America... and maybe it will be, but it's less likely now. I don't know what precipitated his decision to withdraw today, six days before Super Tuesday with absentee ballots already in the mail, but I give him the benefit of the doubt; I owe him that.
The watchword of his campaign is "Tomorrow Begins Today," and that resonated with me; we don't have to, nor should we, wait until January, 2009, to change America. Since my association with his One Corps organization I've stirred myself to spend a hot day on a Habitat for Humanity build site, I've started getting out on Sunday mornings and helping to set up the Arlington West site in Santa Monica, and I've become a Red Cross Disaster Services volunteer. Having been inertially challenged all my life, I owe John and Elizabeth Edwards a huge debt of gratitude.
I'm not going to campaign for Barack Obama... I still don't know how much of him is sizzle and how much is steak... but I wish him well and I hope there's something to him. For John and Elizabeth, fair winds and following seas.

"All I know is what I read in the funny papers."

2008-01-24T08:27:00.000-05:00

I want to mention "A Town Called Dobson" to whomever might be passing through here. January 22nd's post sang to me, of course, but it's usually right on the money from my point of view.
Go see what you think of it.

None of My Damn Business

2008-01-22T08:29:00.000-05:00

Today, of course, is the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. My comment here will be brief:
I believe that a woman's body is her own; it is not for me or for anyone other than that woman to decide whether or not she may terminate a pregnancy. There is a line, I think, between abortion and infanticide later in a pregnancy, but I don't think it's for me to say that conception defines a woman and her available choices regarding her person. I am eternally thankful that my daughter made the choice that she did, but I am also thankful that she had the choice.
Check out this post by Maya's Granny.

When I Was Young

2008-01-16T21:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've consciously dredged up memories from my 26th year, but both Ronni Bennett and Kay Dennison have posted a meme to list five things we never thought, at age 25, that we would become. It took me back.
I don't remember June, 1972, although I'm reasonably sure drinking was involved. (If I've ever been a role model, it was not in my 26th year.) I was assigned to the air wing about to deploy again in USS Ranger, so there would have been significant predeployment activity as well as working in the medical records room at the Branch Clinic. I did get married for the first time in August... don't ask... and then in September we were embarked and underway for nine months.
Deployments at that time were broken up between time in Subic Bay for refitting and time in the Tonkin Gulf... primariy in the north... incentivizing the Vietnamese to negotiate with us. To make a long story short, we appeared to have been effective because by the end of January the Paris Peace Accords had been signed. I have to say that standing out in the middle of the flight deck during flight operations with a small first aid kit seemed a little nuts, but after the cease-fire I was able to play a little. One night I helped change out a CSD and generator in a F-4J Phantom II, and the damn thing just flew and flew; but we did some good medicine out there, too.
In February, 1973, we visited Hong Kong and, on the last day there, I was to take the Advancement Exam for Chief for the first time. Basically all I had to do was show up on time and sober and I had a shot at making Chief in eight years; but I didn't do that, of course. Later that spring we visited Singapore and crossed the Equator, and finally stopped in Yokosuka on the way home.
1. I never imagined that I would be married three more times or end up alone. I was not surprised that X-1 and I didn't remain married, but I retained the illusion that I could commit and settle down. (I just wasn't ready yet.)
2. I never thought I would wind up as an administrator. If someone had told me that I would argue myself out of a PA school seat in 1981 to take an admin slot in San Diego, I'd have said they were nuts. I never thought I wouldn't be able to find a job doing what I loved.
3. I never thought I would live in L.A. county. Honestly, the future was not a huge priority with me, but San Diego people don't move to Los Angeles. It did not occur to me until much later that finding a job in San Diego might prove to be a challenge. By 1972, going back to Iowa was just out of the question.
4. I never thought I would clean up. I never thought I would run, and I sure never thought I would run a marathon, but I wound up finishing four before I broke my leg in 2005. I smoked like a chimney and drank like a fish at 25; but I was pretty skinny. When I thought about it at all, I thought I might be the guy wandering around the Gaslamp early on Sunday mornings.
5. Of course, I never imagined the internet in 1972. I never thought I'd have conversations with people on four continents; this has been an extraordinary gift. In the same vein, I never imagined most of the technologic advances in medicine... fiberoptics, laparoscopic procedures, nano-technology... and now that we can do some of these things, we still tend to avoid the larger question: Should we?
That's all for now. I'm not comfortable looking back; it's enough to know that I screwed up without dwelling on it.

A Word for HM3 Mark R. Cannon

2008-01-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

Petty Officer Third Class Mark R. Cannon, 31, of Lubbock, Texas died Oct. 2, 2007, from a gunshot wound to the chest while conducting combat operations in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
Doc Cannon was a hospital corpsman assigned to 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
Semper Fi.

In Memory of HM2 Charles Luke Milam

2008-01-16T20:52:00.000-05:00

Petty Officer Second Class Charles Luke Milam, 26, of Littleton, Colo., died September 25, 2007, while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Doc Milam was a hospital corpsman assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Camp Lejeune, N.C. He graduated from Columbine High School in Littleton in 1999, the year of the shootings, and enlisted that summer. He had served three tours in Iraq before deploying to Afghanistan this time.
Semper Fi.

I Can't See from Where I Sat

2008-01-08T10:06:00.000-05:00

I know I said I was going to blog over there from then on; however, stuff happens.

I don't know whether it's WordPress or Globat, but "The View From Where I Sit" is offline at least for the time being. As I think about it, I'm probably okay with that because I'm okay with Blogger, but I hope I can at least recover some of the posts and the non-spam comments.

A Little Perspective on the War in Iraq

2008-01-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

A hat-tip to Sean Dustman at Doc in the Box for pointing me to the blog post that Andy Olmsted left behind.

Andy died of wounds from small arms fire in As Sadiyah, Iraq, on January 3, 2008. He left behind his wife and his parents.

I think he spoke for a lot of men and women when he wrote:

I'm a soldier and I know that sometimes you have to fight if you're to hold onto what you hold dear. But in making that decision, I believe we understate the costs of war; when we make the decision to fight, we make the decision to kill, and that means lives and families destroyed. Mine now falls into that category; the next time the question of war or peace comes up, if you knew me at least you can understand a bit more just what it is you're deciding to do, and whether or not those costs are worth it.

Semper Fi, Andy.

A Word for Hospitalman Daniel Noble

2007-07-25T22:18:00.000-04:00

Hospitalman Daniel S. Noble, 21, of Whittier, Calif., died July 24, as a result of enemy action while conducting security operations in the Dilaya Province, Iraq.
Doc Noble was permanently assigned to 1^st Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force Pacific, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Semper Fi

I Don't Believe I'll Post Here Anymore

2007-05-30T19:25:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: What the heck do I know anyway. I'm not smart enough to maintain a blog on my own domain.

I've been posting over at The View From Where I Sit for the past several months. It seems to work pretty well for me... although I haven't exactly figured out how to upgrade to WordPress 2.2 yet.
I have a separate linked page for fallen Navy Corpsmen there, too.
Please swing by over there if you're looking for my recent posts on whatever, and thank you for stopping by. I appreciate you.

A Word for Hospitalman Lucas Emch

2007-03-05T20:20:00.000-05:00

Hospitalman Lucas W.A. Emch, 21, of Kent, Ohio, died March 2, 2007, when an Improvised Explosive Device detonated in his vicinity while conducting combat operations in Al-Anbar Province, Iraq.

Doc Emch was a hospital corpsman assigned to 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM1 Gilbert Minjares, Jr.

2007-02-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

Petty Officer 1st Class Gilbert Minjares Jr., 31, of El Paso, Texas, died Feb. 7 in the helicopter crash in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Doc Minjares was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Cherry Point, N.C. He was a married father of two children, one only a month old, and had been in Iraq only a week.

Semper Fi

A Word For HM3 Manuel A. Ruiz

2007-02-09T18:05:00.000-05:00

Petty Officer Third Class Manuel A. Ruiz, 21, of Federalsburg, Md., died Feb. 7 in the helicopter crash in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Doc Ruiz was assigned to 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Semper Fi

A Word for Hospitalman Matthew Conte

2007-02-02T21:00:00.000-05:00

Hospitalman Matthew G. Conte, 22, of Mogadore, Ohio, died Feb. 1 while his unit was conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Doc Conte was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii serving under the command of I Marine Expeditionary Force (forward).

Semper Fi

Best Wishes for 2007

2007-01-01T13:07:00.000-05:00

Just a short note to wish the reader(s) and all who love them a healthy and happy 2007.
I hate trying to predict my behavior (I don't know what I'm going to have for lunch today) but I think now that I'm going to be engaged in the partisan political process more this year. I don't expect to impose that process upon you, but I may not be any better this year about posting here consistently.
For those of you who are so inclined, I will be sharing my partisan perspective here.
Please know that I appreciate each of you, and that I wish you every happiness.

A Few Words for HM2 Jaime Jaenke

2006-12-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

I missed the announcement of the death of Jaime Jaenke when it was posted. I know that there are Seabees in Iraq, and I know that they, too, have Corpsmen assigned to them. We just hadn't lost one yet.

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Jaime S. Jaenke, 29, of Bay City, Wis., died June 5 as a result of enemy action when her HMMWV was struck by an improvised explosive device in Al Anbar province, Iraq. She was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25, Fort McCoy, Wis. She had actually moved back home to Iowa Falls last July before deploying.
I'm not very highly evolved. I come from a time before women were getting blown up in their jeeps in forward areas, and seeing the pictures of Petty Officer Jaenke's funeral with her 9 year old daughter following the coffin and receiving the flag... well, I'm not used to it.
Now I read that as a matter of policy her death benefits are to be held in trust for her daughter instead of being used for her rearing as Petty Officer Jaenke had intended. One reads this piece, and hopes that an admiral did not really tell the child's grandmother that in the meantime the child "may have to learn to do without."
It all comes with the territory. People get blown up or beat down or burned out, and some of them now are mothers. You just hope that They know what They're doing this time... against all evidence to the contrary.

A Word About Hospitalman Kyle Nolen

2006-12-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

Hospitalman Kyle A. Nolen, 21, of Ennis, Texas, died Dec. 21 in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, as a result of enemy action.

Doc Nolen was assigned to India Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Regimental Combat Team 7, I Marine Expeditionary Force Forward, 29 Palms, Calif.

Semper Fi

Season's Greetings

2006-12-24T17:30:00.000-05:00

Best wishes to each of you,

and to all who love you

this Holiday Season

and throughout 2007.

I Have A Thing About Heights

2006-12-15T00:44:00.000-05:00

As I was reading this story about the Skywalk that the Hualapai want to build out over the Grand Canyon I was reminded of Tybee Island. You see that picture of me atop the Tybee Island lighthouse and you probably have no idea of what was involved in reaching out to that rail and moving away from the wall of the lighthouse.

A group of MSN 50s Chatters… it was Sheri and Mike’s idea actually… decided to meet out on Tybee Island to put faces to screen names, and there was this lighthouse which, naturally, begged to be climbed. Here’s the thing though… I have an issue with heights.
I get to the top of the stairs inside with Kathy and Linda, and Linda… bless her heart… steps off to the side saying that she’s afraid of heights and wants to stay inside. I’ve fallen into the habit of teasing Linda and there is no way I can say, “Me, too.” I have to talk her into stepping out onto the top.

So out we go… Kathy who is ex-Army and fearless, Linda who is scared to death but game, and me. If you can see the picture you’ll see that Kathy is enjoying herself, and that Linda looks… uncomfortable. Did you notice that my back is pressed to the wall? My scapulae were actually trying to cling to the wall. Then the guilt started. I had talked her out there so after she went back in I had to go around the top… and I had to have my picture taken out on the rail.

Linda, if you see this, it’s your fault. If you hadn’t gone out there I could have just poked my head out the door and come right back in. As for this Skywalk? Not in this lifetime. Not in a million years.

A Word About Hospitalman Christopher Anderson

2006-12-07T08:50:00.000-05:00

Hospitalman Christopher A. Anderson, 24, of Longmont, Colo., died Dec. 4 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Doc Anderson was a Navy Corpsman assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Semper Fi

What Guys Do

2006-12-06T10:23:00.000-05:00

Remember when I said a few words about Chris Walsh? That's okay; it was three months ago.
A HUGE hat tip to Sean at Doc In The Box for this story. You have to go read this story in the Boston Globe (free registration required for the entire story)because this is a great example of what guys do.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T07:18:00.000-05:00

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am increasingly distrustful of the material accretions that more and more seem to encumber me, and mindful of the rich blessings of fellowship with people such as you. So far, even where I have found people to be wrong-headed or disagreeable, I have been able to come away from each encounter with some new piece of an idea or perspective and I have been richer for the experience.
Thank you for sharing the experience of your life with me, and for sharing mine.

I Never Wanted to Hear Him Tell Me About VietNam

2006-11-20T09:46:00.000-05:00

I feel the need to vent my feelings about Dubya sharing his insights on comparisons between the VietNam War and the war in Iraq. "We'll succeed unless we quit," my ass.
How are the wars different?
For starters, Dubya ducked one and started the other. With him it's about his mouth writing checks for other asses to cover... I guess that's a similarity, too.
For another, I think that VietNam has a homogenous primary culture, and we got involved to prevent the foreseeable outcome of their self-determination. Iraq has/had three primary cultures artificially combined eighty years ago and held together only by dictators... and we succeeded in removing the dictator. ("Mission Accomplished") All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put Humpty Dumpty together again.
How are they similar? We lost a lot of good people in pursuit of a foregone conclusion... but we aren't done yet in Iraq.

A Political Observation

2006-11-19T11:54:00.000-05:00

When I sat down to think about this post the only thing I really wanted to say was that I think those who are saying that Republicans lost the recent elections because of Dubya are shifting the blame.
I don't believe they lost because Dubya betrayed them. I believe they lost because they betrayed their constituents.
I know several of you give Dubya more credit for brains than I do, but in any case he couldn't have done what has been been done without the consent of the governed in the guise of our representatives to Congress. It's supposed to be all about the constituents, and Congress blew it.

Then I got down to where the piece mentioned a "crankiness that sets in with any administration after six years," and I was struck by another thought: there are differences between the Republican and Democratic parties!
Don't laugh! I'd never thought about it! I haven't kept registration in a political party since 1964 unless I had to choose for a primary election. PACs I've worked with have focused on specific issues. I have no idea what differentiates a moderate Republican from a moderate Democrat.
Ike probably would have been reelected in 1960 despite his failed diplomatic policies in Europe and Cuba because he was Ike. (We liked Ike!) Nixon was disgraced by the Watergate cover-up. Reagan had his Iran-Contra problem. Clinton got busted for lying about shtupping an intern. Dubya is afflicted with his dumbass blind denial of error in the GWOT.
It is possible that these differences are as much personal as political since many of the same people have been involved in the Nixon, Reagan, and Dubya trainwrecks, but I have to say that there seems to be a tendency toward megalomania on the part of one party. Not for nothing, but for me I'm more put off by uber-nationalism and the abridgment of civil rights than I am by womanizing.

P.S. Crankiness? I'm no journalist, but I don't believe I would have dismissed this as "crankiness."

A Piece I Wish I'd Written

2006-11-14T10:06:00.000-05:00

Please take a minute and read this posted by an Army medic. (Hat Tip to Sean at Doc in the Box)
I had some things I wanted to share about my experiences with Red-Staters during my drive in September, but Sgt. Haibi does a much better job at pointing out the superficial nature of our alleged differences. We despise one another and make war for what; and years from now not even anthropologists can tell the bodies apart.

Veterans/Remembrance Day

2006-11-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

We say "Remember", but so often it feels as though we don't.
Memorial Day, originally in remembrance of Civil War dead, is now the "Unofficial Beginning of Summer."
Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day as it is known in other countries, has become the new start of the Holiday shopping season ("Get a Headstart on the Thanksgiving Weekend Holiday Sales").
This is okay; life goes on as it was meant to.
VA Secretary Jim Nichols suggests that if we wore our medals and ribbons all day as veterans do in other countries it might make society more aware of our presence among them and of our contributions. My sense is that the gesture would be lost on nearly everyone except our brothers and sisters in uniform and their loved ones.
In the U.S.A, we do what we do... or what we did... for however long, and then the more fortunate of us just try to get on with our lives; and that, too, is as it should be. Whatever brought us into the military, I've never met anyone who joined in order to be remembered on Veterans Day.
Still, it would be nice if people would take a moment today on their way to Macy's to remember that none of this came for free.

"Your Face Looks Vaguely Familiar"

2006-11-10T10:44:00.000-05:00

A Hat Tip to Rain for sharing this site.
It's humbling... I was hoping for Harrison Ford... James Coburn maybe... Donald Freaking Rumsfeld? That's just wrong!

Happy 231st Birthday!

2006-11-10T10:06:00.000-05:00

Happy 231st Birthday to the United States Marine Corps!

Semper Fi!

How Important is Political Correctness?

2006-11-10T07:47:00.000-05:00

Once again my eye is drawn to an item I would normally consider completely irrelevant... except that, instead of these people being left to stew in their own juices, they are being pilloried.
A Houston couple with a landscaping business notified a household that they would not be putting in a bid to do their project because the couple requesting the bid was gay... and I still think the English language needs that word back.
This isn't a pharmacist refusing to provide legal contraception. This isn't a public safety agency refusing to preserve life or property. This isn't a fair housing issue. This is a couple in a very crowded service business so blinded by their bias that they'd rather go hungry than go to work for a same-sex couple. Evolution is going to deal with this couple.
My concern is with the public reaction to their refusal. Death threats? Threats against their children? Getting booted from the landscapers' club? Isn't it possible that folks are taking landscaping just a little too seriously?

A Couple of Early Thoughts

2006-11-08T22:23:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of thoughts I'd like to share.
As I was getting ready for work this morning I heard a political commentator remarking the disarray among Democrats, many of whom had been "forced to run in the center" to win election. I'm just a guy speaking for no one but myself, but I believe that Ms. Pelosi would be making a mistake to assume that a victory was won by the Democrats. A defeat was delivered to the Republicans in large part, I believe, by independent voters.
Arnold Schwarzenegger will enjoy a second term as governor because the Democrats chose to run Phil Angelides against him despite Steve Westley's commanding lead in the polls. If I didn't live in California I'd say that it served them right to lose, but in the process California also lost.
I care no more for the Democrats than I do for the Republicans. I care about issues; and if it's necessary to clean house again in two years that'll be fine by me.
Speaking to Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation, I won't miss him; but Robert Gates to succeed him?
Dr. Gates enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the CIA. He served with Bush, Sr. in the CIA and in the first Bush administration. Nowhere in his C.V. do I see where he knows one damn thing about the military and its operations. He's a friend of Dubya's father and probably a committed public servant, but he doesn't look like a Secretary of Defense to me.
Is this how it's going to be? Rummy gets prepped last weekend to take the fall if the election goes badly and these people move in a shill to take his place?
As of this morning my biggest issue was to knock off the signing statements from the White House. As of this evening I'm wondering if maybe impeachment hearings might not be in order.
That's just me.