Virginia Governor Considers Armed Teachers

"I think that’s a reasonable discussion that ought to be had,” he said."  "Reasonable" is defined as "based on good sense."  The arming of school administrators is not based on good sense.  A lethal weapon in the hands of a minimally trained person who's capacity to shoot, even in self-defense, to kill another individual would be highly problematic is not a reasonable alternative.  No matter how it may look in the movies, it is not a normal human capacity to face another and shoot to kill.  Range shooting will not provide any assurance of such accuracy at a moving, threatening target that innocents would be safe from their "protector."  Police officers are trained and trained again and again to face threatening situations to provide choices exercising good judgment. Distinguishing an angry parent from a deadly threat is not a task for an inexperienced teacher.  Should a threat occur at a school the responding police officers, some in civilian clothes, would be forced to encounter a situation with one or more armed criminals and one or more school administrators, each armed as well while scared and scattered throughout the premises.  Putting the innocents and the first responders in these situations is not reasonable.

Gov. McDonnell, I suspect, considers this proposal reasonable because he accepts the virtual reality packaged by the NRA and its proponents.  It is the core issue facing us today as to whether we will choose to break from this conceived matrix.  To those who recognize the reality of the carnage around us, it is irrational to answer gun violence with more guns.  To those who choose to live within the NRA matrix, the arming of school administrators is rational and reasonable.  I am reminded of the story of two Nazi SS officers walking near the gas ovens in some unnamed concentration camp.  They discuss various alternative ways to improve capacity within the ovens.  To them the discussion, as it is circumscribed by their constructed matrix of "final solution," is of reasonable alternatives and is rational.  To anyone outside and in the real world of moral values the discussion is wholly irrational.

The deaths of our children have been too horrible and the lives of those who remain are too precious to be valued within an irrational, packaged NRA matrix.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/mcdonnell-says-idea-of-armed-school-officials-worthy-of-discussion/article_06eed61d-eea9-5050-a797-8e0987687e85.html

Chuck, the Constitution and Assault Weapons

A friend recently sent me a link to a video of Chuck Woolery (an actor) who, with an assault style weapon in his hand, argues in defense of gun ownership.  He begins his argument asserting the Constitution.  Chuck says that "our founding fathers wanted every citizen to be armed equal to the army" for protection against a sovereign bent on destroying our freedoms and they wrote the 2nd Amendment to enforce that protection.  Well, pilgrim, I am about an Abrams tank, Patriot missile and a few dozen hand grenades short of my basic load.  The only "Red Dawn" or Stalin or Hitler in our future is in a paranoid dream.  Believing that the possession of an assault rifle by every American could stop an Adolf is delusional. But we can look at the possibility. How would this new Adolf takeover here?  One way would be for "Big Brother" to be elected by the vote of a majority of our citizens.  By one count there are 207,643,594 eligible voters in the U.S.  So assuming they all vote (not likely) then 103,821,798, 50% plus one, citizens would have voted Adolf into office.  I'll grant you that there are times when chunks of the electorate appear stupid to me.  But, that's a whole lot of stupidity,  Yet we, being in a small segment of the 103,821,796 minority, might feel the need to rebel and, having our assault weapons cleaned and ready, we charge.

But, it's not likely that we charge, because we fundamentally believe in a democracy.  Right?  And our belief in democracy is greater then our belief in a right to bear arms because we bear arms to protect the existence of our democracy.  So, let's say these 103,821,798 also vote Adolf's cronies into power in Congress.  A couple of Supreme Court appointments and it is OVER for our democracy.  Of course, the murder of democracy would have to take place within a two year period before the next elections which could change the control of Congress.   Ahhh, you say, what if both parties are evil??  I'll save that for later.

Now putting laws and threat of impeachment aside, let's suppose that Adolf takes extraordinary executive control of the country by something like presidential edict.  He or she (Ohhh, yes, they too can be evil) would probably try to maintain citizen support while suppressing dissension and individual rights first by trickery (WMD's somewhere in our neighborhoods) or bribery (darn entitlements!). That failing or insufficient for Adolf's ego, he declares martial law.  So Adolf now sits in the White House surrounded by merely 40 or 50 suck-ups as his enforcers.

Now all occurred while the also evil left-wing media (or maybe it's a right wing Adolf??) does nothing but support a left wing Adolf.  There is no Fox News (or MSNBC) to inform citizens.  There are no bloggers, tweeters, or internet from which the "truth" that will keep us free can be taken.  All occurred without vigorous opposition from politicians and their parties.  The local, state and federal law enforcement officers, the ones who live with their families down the street, would have to be expected to bow to the orders of a dictator with oath, law and conscience forgotten.  And when someone must go out to enforce martial law, the leadership of the Army and the Marines will, damning the Constitution they swore to protect against all enemies, foreign and domestic, take to the streets and shoot us.

Unless we have an assault rifle.

Or maybe we see the imposition of one or more taxes or the type of health care or the hunting restriction on baited fields or whatever single or multiple government action as too intrusive, abrasive, unnecessary or stupid.  Petitioning, picketing, debating, compromising, and even our massing together to vote is just not enough to bring about a change to our way of thinking.  G. Washington himself led an Army to repress a tax revolt.  So there must be something very special about a democracy and about it's right to defend itself against a minority. Putting aside the issue of just who the fuck you think you are to impose any personal belief by force, I reckon nothing can be done. 

Unless we have an assault rifle.

I am a gun owner and support gun possession under reasonable regulation.  Canada, I understand, requires a gun purchaser to come in with two others who will attest to the purchaser's character before the sale can be completed. That seems to be one reasonable requirement.  If I haven't stopped an intruder or two with eight rounds in one clip I shouldn't own a gun.  Large capacity magazines should be restricted.  If I need to buy more than one firearm in a thirty day period, unless a strictly licensed dealer/collector, I may need to see a mental health provider and seriously rethink my Christmas shopping choices for the family.  I see NO rational excuse for general ownership of assault rifles.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year to all.

"DIA sending hundreds more spies overseas"

Two factors appear to drive the DIA expansion, the "convergence of the military and intelligence agencies that has blurred their once-distinct missions" and "a rare syncing of personalities and interests among top officials at the Pentagon and CIA, many of whom switched from one organization to the other to take their current jobs." A definition of "war" had been promoted for internal political objectives and is now accepted without challenge. This "war" includes no bounds of territory or time. Continuing to expand within this unlimited universe, makes sense only to a mind unwilling to challenge its developing paradigms.

This expansion of the DIA is not the issue. It merely begs the question of the legitimacy of the "new war." The use of drones, unlimited detentions and a myriad of other methods within this "war" are changing our culture, our society, our morality. "Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question, inaptness to act on any...The advocate of extreme measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected...." Thucydides

From a practical perspective, the expanded DIA may now complement CIA actions while we are at this "war." Once someone in power declares this "war" ended it will be very difficult to cut these missions and manpower. Once the "crossover" of officials and personnel between the two has ended or these veterans of our two recent, real wars have retired, the relationships between the CIA and DIA will breakdown. Each will work to self-justify dominance and existence. Multiple intelligence agencies operating clandestine "information" seekers worked during a real WW II. It was obvious after that war that one agency should have sole authority. It is obvious now as well. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dia-to-send-hundreds-more-spies-overseas/2012/12/01/97463e4e-399b-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_story.html

Benghazi - Some Truths

OK my friend, this will be a bit long but I expect that you would want a fair response.   You have presented a poorly veiled allegation about deception regarding the administration's public statements about the 9/11/12 attack on the Consulate in Benghazi. [Among others your email of 11/14] In this you echo the statements of John McCain and assorted denizens from the depths of the Far Right.  One Republican Congressman explicitly called the president a liar.  Again, while attempting to bring myself back to the Center, I am pushed back to the Left by what appear clear to me as distortions, fabrications and political garbage.  But let's go with McCain. 

(1)  McCain begins his argument by addressing the public comments of UN Ambassador Susan Rice.  Specifically:

"There is no doubt five days later what this attack was and for — look, I was on "Face the Nation" that Sunday. Right after her came the president of the Libyan National Assembly who said this was al-Qaeda. Everybody knew that. So she went out and told the American people something that was patently false and defied common sense.”

— Sen. John McCain on "Fox and Friends,"  Nov. 14, 2012

  

 “When she presented the case absolutely this was a flash mob. Look at the reruns because I happened to have been there that morning.... The casual observer knew there was no demonstration.  There was no demonstration, so you couldn't have known that to start with.”

 — McCain, on “CBS This Morning,” Nov. 14

So let's look at the statement that McCain explicitly referred to as the basis and starting point of the deception.

"[O]n CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sept. 16.  [Ambassador Rice] spoke just after the president of the Libyan National Assembly said there is “no doubt that this was preplanned, predetermined.”

BOB SCHIEFFER: And joining us now, Susan Rice, the U.N. ambassador — our U.N. ambassador. Madam Ambassador, he [the Libyan president of the National Assembly] says that this is something that has been in the planning stages for months. I understand you had been saying that you think it was spontaneous? Are we not on the same page here?
SUSAN RICE: Well, Bob, let me tell you what we understand to be the assessment at present. First of all, very importantly, as you discussed with the president, there is an investigation that the United States government will launch, led by the FBI that has begun. 
SCHIEFFER: But they are not there yet.
RICE : They are not on the ground yet but they have already begun looking at all sorts of evidence of various sorts already available to them and to us. And they will get on the ground and continue the investigation.
So we'll want to see the results of that investigation to draw any definitive conclusions. But based on the best information we have to date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what — it began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo, where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video. 
But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.
SCHIEFFER: But you do not agree with him that this was something that had been plotted out several months ago?
RICE: We do not — we do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned.
SCHIEFFER : Do you agree or disagree with him that al-Qaeda had some part in this?
RICE: Well, we'll have to find out that out. I mean, I think it's clear that there were extremist elements that joined in and escalated the violence. Whether they were al-Qaeda affiliates, whether they were Libyan-based extremists or al-Qaeda itself I think is one of the things we'll have to determine."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/mccains-claims-about-susan-rices-comments-on-the-libya-attack/2012/11/15/e6590650-2eb1-11e2-beb2-4b4cf5087636_blog.html

(2)   McCain has also stated that Rice had used talking points from the White House and not the CIA as the basis of her public comments clearly suggesting political manipulation from the White House. [see "On the Record" site below]   However, he is again wrong.
"In a closed-door session with the House Intelligence committee, Mike Morell [Ceputy CIA Director] said Rice was provided with an unclassified version of events at the U.S. mission in Benghazi ... The assessment concluded that a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video had evolved into an attack on the American consulate, a description that Rice presented in television interviews the Sunday morning after the attack."  "Five days after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice described what precipitated the deadly incident based on initial intelligence that later proved incorrect, the deputy CIA director told Congress on Thursday." 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/susan-rice-libya_n_2141392.html

These were the CIA talking points prepared on Sept. 15: 

“The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations. This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/benghazi-attack-becomes-political-ammunition/2012/10/19/e1ad82ae-1a2d-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html

(3)   In his interview "On the Record on Fox" on November 14th McCain dismissed earlier Republican matters that he felt comparable in some way saying "Watergate was about a break in.  Iran-Contra was about a shipment of arms."  This statement doesn't merit discussion.  But, then McCain went on to specify the exact times of the "deceptive," "false" and, certainly, "evil" fabric of lies by the administration.   Only the last dated September 25th merits any comment.  

"Could I just remind you real quick -- September 21, in the Rose Garden, he said it was, Quote, "acts of terror".  That same night, he said to Steve Kroft on "60 Minutes," its too early to know exactly how this came about.  On September 20th, we're still doing an investigation. September 24th, on "The View," we're still doing an investigation.  And then before the United Nations on September 25th, "a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world."
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/2012/11/15/mccain-obama-were-not-picking-anybody-we-want-answers-and-buck-stops-your-desk-mr-preside

Going back to the text of the President's speech at the UN, if you care, you will find that the president addressed the Benghazi attack at the beginning of the speech.  Later, after raising other matters, the president spoke of the Arab Spring and the difficulty of transitioning to democracy.  And he said then the comment extracted by McCain:

"In every country, there are those who find different religious beliefs threatening; in every culture, those who love freedom for themselves must ask how much they are willing to tolerate freedom for others. That is what we saw play out the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world."  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/25/did-obama-stand-up-for-a-free-society-at-the-un0.html

In the two weeks immediately preceding the president's speech protests over the film broke out in nearly 20 countries.  The context of the comment, while chronologically and indirectly including the Benghazi attack, is substantially directed at the broader issue of "tolerate freedom for others." 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/15/world/middleeast/anti-american-protests-over-film-enter-4th-day.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

The Petraeus Affair

Another concern for the military and for investigation in the aftermath of the Petraeus Affair should be the status of counterintelligence monitoring of those manipulating access to command levels at an installation like MacDill AFB.  Dinner parties in DC or NYC are normally approached with caution for security.  Information so far known about this couple and how they just popped into town and, with suspect finances, began entertaining flag officers should have raised security concerns and not peckers.

Hope #1

I hope that Speaker Boehner can effectively lead his House Republicans over ideological purity as President Obama can effectively lead Democrats over ideological expectations.

Despicable Koch Brothers

The fear mongering of the Right Wing has now been directly assumed by the oligarchs. The foundation for this having been laid over the last four years, by directed propaganda of fear at the elderly, of lies and distortions of the president's medical reforms, and by the inciting of anti-Islamic fervor, encouraging homophobic cultural anxieties beyond religious contexts, deliberate state legislative enactments to disenfranchise voters and destroy collective bargaining by citizens, branding of Hispanic Americans as suspect and, among more, defending the Supreme Court's expansive definition of "person" with its effect of the diminution of the free speech of the human person/citizen. AND NOW are these oligarchs, themselves, working to put their lackey, Romney, over the top by explicitly threatening workers' livelihoods and families. OR are they acting out of desperation. Either way it is despicable. WAKE UP CITIZENS! 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/03/romney-voter-intimidation-businesses-bain_n_2068827.html

Registered Domestic Geese

A friend presents the following for comment:  In the State of Oregon, a company that offers medical insurance to the spouse and family of employees must also offer coverage to cohabiting same-sex couples when one is employed by the company.  The firm is not, however, required to offer that same coverage to an opposite-sex couple.  In olden days, what was good for the goose was good for the gander, in Oregon regarding medical coverage, it's better to be two gooses or two ganders.  Doesn't seem right, does it?

And I responded: 

OK. You caught me in fit of boredom, so to your question "Does it seem right?" I'll have to say "It depends."  In Oregon, to quote one source, "Since 2008, same-sex couples who register as domestic partners in Oregon  have had the same rights as married couples when it comes to paying state income taxes, making end-of-life decisions for a critically ill partner or passing assets to heirs." See, http://www.osbar.org/publications/bulletin/07dec/newlaws.html ; And Oregon has relaxed marijuana laws though I am not sure of the relevance.

The definition for "domestic partner" excludes male/female relationships.  http://www.co.marion.or.us/CO/records/ddp.htm. ; Registration must be at a local county "marriage office" and the two are then subject to judgments of dissolution, annulment or legal separation.  In other words, it appears that a long term commitment as "domestic partner" is envisioned by the parties and the state.  And the company that you refer to, I expect, uses the "registered domestic partner" requirement and not simply "co-habitation" twosomes.  If they allow benefits only to same sex roommates it would, first of all, be dumb and ... well, just dumb.  However, given Oregon law and citizen attitude equating "registered domestic partners" with married couples, allowing the benefits for "registered domestic partners" does have a righteousness about it.

Now, assuming that life has continued generally the same between males and females as in our youth, most (many?) who cohabit do so knowing that they do not HAVE to nor WANT to make a "ball and chain" commitment to the cohabiting partner.  "Friends With Privileges" is not the same as long term commitment.  How do you distinguish the two?  Changing the law to allow for a sort of modified male/female civil commitment equal in rights as in marriage but calling it something else might work. But that sounds dumb as well.

 In sum, as to the goose/gander issue, geese are monogamous but one might expect either the goose or the gander to wander amidst the gaggle while leaving it to Snowball and Napoleon to work out the legal structure.

 

Respect

The headline read "Romney Chokes Up Explaining How He Met Former SEAL Killed in Benghazi Attack" and the story, as quoted from Romney, described his meeting with Glen Doherty, a former seal killed defending the consulate in Benghazi.  Romney finished his tearful "remembrance":  “They didn’t hunker down where they were in safety – they rushed there to go help,” Romney concluded with emotion.  “This is the American way – we go where there’s trouble. We go where we’re needed.  And right now we’re needed– right now, the American people need us.”  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/romney-chokes-up-explaining-how-he-met-one-of-the-seals-killed-in-benghazi-attack/

"But Romney’s not only telling the story against the wishes of Doherty’s family, he’s also mischaracterizing his encounter with the former SEAL. According to Glen Doherty’s longtime friend, Doherty said Romney had introduced himself four times in the span of less than 30 minutes, saying it was "pathetic" ... and that ... Glen believed it to be very insincere and stale.”  Doherty's mother, interviewed by a radio station, said “I don’t trust Romney. He shouldn’t make my son’s death part of his political agenda. It’s wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama,”.  Romney ignored the mother's request to stop using her son's memory until national media picked up the story.  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/10/1142665/-Romney-ignores-request-from-mother-of-Navy-Seal-killed-in-Benghazi-to-stop-using-son-in-stump-speech?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29  So breaking it Mr. Romney deliberately and repeatedly used the heroic death of Glen Doherty in an apparently concocted "remembrance" of an earlier encounter between the two of them.

The more egregious conduct by Romney in my opinion was to suggest in this instance that his political ambition in entering this presidential campaign was comparable in courage to the heroic effort of the former Navy SEALs in rushing to protect the consulate staff.  In the recent past many attacks were made here and elsewhere from the Right arguing that President Obama had claimed personal, political credit for the actions of SEALS and other Special Ops at the killing of bin Laden.  What do these same voices from the Right say now about this political message from Romney.  Or will they spin or turn their backs.

Presidential Debate Round One

The President's performance was disappointing, at the least. The President defended his record and argued for reelection. What he did not do is show that he appreciates that this election is about applications of opposing values and ideology and not merely a choice between men. Fighting for those who are expected to suffer under an opposing ideology he should have fought with passion for them/us and at least fired back; there was so much ammunition available. Tragically, a vast segment of the Great American Public having seen this and needing no fact or logic will say "Duh!" and zombie-like cast a vote. We needed a Chavez or a Tony Zale.

National Identity Cards - No Thanks.

A friend had asked my opinion on the issuance of "national identity cards" in the United States.  I answered: 

First of all, there is no need for a national identity card. 
Assuming a conjured "need" . . . fundamentally I am concerned about my Privacy and Freedom. 
 
The structures of law and society will expect and demand control of biometric and centralized databases.  
Leave yours at home and what would that mean as to the level of suspicion at a traffic stop and police response [assume you are a teenager - an eighteen year old returning veteran, a Sikh, or other].  The exposure of personal information:  birth, residence, your personal ID Number [for convenient theft],status [citizen by birth/naturalization/fraud], veteran status [disabled/combat experience (suspect PTSD!)], occupation, blood or parts donor, martial status, felon status, religion [name of Imam], etc.)  required on a card which would be called for by or at TSA at the airport, Wal Mart check out, neighbors, prospective in-laws, Catholic confessionals, presidential debates, the blond at the end of the bar and others.

Biometric information, such as fingerprints and DNA, could lead to discrimination in job, insurance, marriage license applications, death panels, paternity suits and with the blond at the end of the bar.

Personally, I have (I think) cut off tracking on my phone and will never use a "fast pass" by any name.  I shudder when I use my GPS.  Clandestine implantation of tracking devices, forced/suggested dispersion/relocation of segments of the population [let's just say "workers" for now], data based reconstruction of personal lifestyle choices [travels, purchases, etc.].  As with all technology there will be advances in content and uses. My imagination does not grasp the potential abuses a government might exercise with such potential controls.  But, I am confident that we may not like the policy.

We as citizens have already let too many of our rights be diminished in the name of "security while at war."  A policy of national identity card would not be a direct, immediate loss of a Right but, it establishes the context for potential abuse or loss of rights.  To continue that surrender in the name of "immigration policy" is irrational.  But then, my experience, training and education makes me careful [ok paranoid].  We are weakening our personal liberties as citizens as we open our role as sovereign to slow destruction.

A Few Reasons Why I Have No Choice

I cannot accept the (pick one or more) irresponsible refusal to compromise for the common good; calling of greed a positive character trait; desire to return to the failed policies of tax breaks for a minority and deregulation; serving of an oligarchy; use of lying as a political imperative; valuing of capitalism, a mere economic system, over truth, equality, justice, and moral and ethical values that have been the core aspirations of our experiment in democracy. As a rational, Independent citizen, I just don't see any choice now other than the Democrat party.

Republican parents

On Wednesday the speakers at the Republican convention proudly and righteously described the humble, difficult beginnings of their parents experience in America. Thinking back to the struggles of my own parents, I wonder which political party those parents had put their trust and belief in during those years toward achievement. Want to bet it wasn't the Republican party for those other than Romney.

Or So It Should Be

"Robertson Reprimands "Right"

"Regent University's founder and chancellor, Dr. M.G. "Pat" Robertson yesterday warned the far Right of the Republican Party that its efforts have brought a dire warning in the form of Tropical Storm Isaac.  In the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible Isaac had been taken to be slaughtered by his father Abraham until saved by Divine intercession.  Robertson, referring to these passages in the Bible, said that it was clear to him that God was watching the Republican Party about to be sacrificed by the Far Right and that only a rejection of those extremes would bring about the Lord's intercession in the coming elections   He went on to point to the fact that "Isaac is transliteration of the Hebrew term Yiṣḥāq which literally means "He laughs/will laugh."  With a voice trembling he warned that the Lord was "laughing at the Party while still casting a dire warning."  Robertson refused to answer when asked if God may simply be laughing at the Party Ticket of Romney/Ryan. "All was not anger", Robertson said as he recalled that Isaac had dug a lot of wells suggesting to Robertson that the Party still had some vitality should it return to a root effort at digging more wells.  "Without question," he tearfully said, "as Isaac had stayed, unlike other Biblical Patriarchs, in Canaan, so should the Republican Party stay within the bounds of rational discourse and compromise for the good of America."  Robertson continued in somewhat disjointed references to the fact of the Qu ran's mentioning of Isaac some fifteen times and the science fiction works of Isaac Asimov as broader warnings by God to America."

Please, not again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/world/asia/in-dwindling-afghan-war-air-power-has-become-a-way-of-life.html?hp

"Weary of the costs of a long war, Western military forces have already begun withdrawing and handing greater security responsibility to Afghan forces. One worry, several officers said, is that these air operations have become essential, necessary for ground units that are operating in contested areas of Afghanistan and hoping to maintain influence, or even survive. And the Afghan government has nothing to match the role they play."

Forty years ago the United States, weary of the costs of a long war, withdrew forces handing greater security responsibilities to the South Vietnamese. Air operations had become essential to holding back the North which had begun to mass its units. The South Vietnamese had nothing to match our air power.

Nixon, to force the South to sign the Paris Peace Accords, promised that any violation by the North would be met by substantial US Air and Naval support. The United States turned its back, forgetting that promise. There was no honor then. There was only shame.

Draw your own lesson.

Gaffes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-political-gaffe-will-be-fodder-in-general-election/2012/06/10/gJQAwZaSSV_story.html

Though presented parenthetically, one truthful sentence sums up the story: "(The point Obama was trying to make, however inartfully, was that the private sector was performing far better than the public sector.)" The reporting that follows should include (if any further reporting is necessary) such clarity of completeness. Instead, the media will feed the Republican propaganda premised on the president's statement unchallenged, uncorrected and unedited to the public. Honest, complete and truthful journalism, reporting and editing, has almost fully succumbed to the greed of market share. Repetition of any political rhetoric from the Right or Left without inclusion of "the rest of the story," i.e., the full truth available, makes a mockery of the First Amendment privilege of the Press.

Of course, spin, twist and alteration is expected from political opponents in situations such as this. However, it will be the allowance of such distortion and retention of viability by the Press (exclude commentators and bloggers from that definition) that ends in deception destructive to a democracy.

draft dodging hypocrite

"Draft dodging hypocrite."  These words may not have significance to generations of Americans too young to recall personally the war in Viet Nam. These words will have continuing significance to the men who served in the 1960's after having been drafted and especially those who served in Viet Nam.  They should also have meaning to the men and women who have served in uniform then and since.  Mr. Romney is a draft dodging hypocrite.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/06/05/romneys-lack-of-military-service-faces-scrutiny.html?ESRC=eb.nl

CIA Memoirs

  
"CIA memoirs offer revelations and settle scores among spies"  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/cia-memoirs-offer-revelations-and-settle-scores-among-spies/2012/06/04/gJQAVGTVEV_story.html

"[T]he ex-spies want a little credit, even if it means dabbling in public self-glorification, something seemingly antithetical to the agency’s ethos."  The "silent boots on the ground" of the CIA, as I have called them, whether in paramilitary or classic intelligence gathering roles appear to be performing well in the defense of our country.  Yet, the distinguishing character of the clandestine service of quiet, personal pride in duty honorably performed has given way to "public self-gratification" to a degree not seen in the past.  This article can only point to isolated past writings and fails to show that they generally were viewed with contempt and not as precedent by professionals at the time. 

The ethos may have degraded because of growing disdain among career professionals directed at the agency bureaucracy brought on by evolution (from the Soviet Union) or corruption (to Iraq) of mission identification and value.  A cause may be the dangerously enhanced use of contract personnel who, though sitting side by side, by definition have chosen the moneyed rather than the principled path of direct government service into and within intelligence work.  Assuredly, a cause is the changed culture from which many of these current writers came into the agency.  The direct line has broken from generations who appreciated and sought to emulate the selfless service of those in the clandestine service of the OSS or, for example, the case-officer who in Prague in 1967 bent to pick up an agent's dead drop emplaced prior to the Soviet tank and squad moving near.  These were men and women who served as Director Patraeus recently said, "never for acclaim, always for country."   

It may be somewhat unfair to brand the whole service because of these memoirs yet, if the ethos within were still strong in "never for acclaim," it would be that compact of silent duty which should have been the greatest dissuasion from self-aggrandizement.   If the ethos of the clandestine services has so changed it does not just signal a sad day for America it manifests a dangerous degradation of character within the agency and America itself.

TO ATTACK A CHILD

 

"TSA Defends Pat-Down Of Crying 4-Year-Old Girl At Kansas Airport"

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/tsa-defends-pat-down-of-c_n_1454410.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D155375

I pity those Americans who feel so insecure that they cannot see the utter stupidity of the reaction of TSA in the case as it is reported. I am angered by those Americans who do not see the loss of freedom to all of us associated with an unreasonable, intrusive search of a four year old child. I am sickened by Americans who would stand by in silent approval of such an attack (It was an attack.) on a four year old child. I am disgusted with elected government officials who, politically and personally weak, cower to protect an image of "wartime" security. I am tormented that America has so readily succumbed to a terrorist threat that we are no longer America. I am approaching 70 years of age and I am glad that I knew an America of character, courage and pride in our personal freedoms. I deeply regret that this four year old and other children will never know that pride. And, tragically, the broad and continuing surrender of our freedoms is unnecessary in balance to any threat.

The Secret Service in Columbia

Having worked for years closely with Special Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, I am shocked at recent reported events. Each of the many Special Agents with whom I worked was a dedicated law enforcement officer of the highest level of trust and integrity. When assigned to either extended or temporary details protecting the president they were unwaveringly dedicated to the task and righteously proud of the responsibility they held in trust.

Agents of the U.S. Secret Service are now alleged to have participated in outrageous conduct while on assignment to protect President Obama. The accomplishment of any task is affected by the conscious and unconscious attitude of the actor toward the objective of the task. Could it be that the incessant, vitriolic, disdainful rhetoric directed personally at this president creating, as it has, its own sub-culture has infected, consciously or unconsciously, even sworn agents within the Secret Service? I sincerely hope that we have men and women of stronger character now assuming the responsibilities of the Secret Service.

Ryan v. Dempsey

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/paul-ryan-says-he-misspoke-on-military-budget/2012/04/01/gIQAlwi2oS_blog.html?hpid=z4

The Republicans may have learned a lesson from the circumstances of General Shinseki's testimony and backed off very quickly. This factor and General Dempsey's almost immediate, strong response to Rep. Ryan pushed Ryan to withdraw from the type of slashing rhetoric endemic on the Right. Though this situation is more subtle than what General Shinseki encountered, Ryan may have intended to pander to or stimulate a political coup from within the Pentagon, present and past. I believe it was in 2007 when general officers began to speak out against the Iraq war and President Bush's handling of it. Ryan may have been soliciting a similar reaction in support of the Right from a broader group of military elite.

Justice for All

Justice is never served by inflamed rhetoric or mob mentality. A young man is dead. An investigation is being conducted. The national outcry is no longer merely about Justice for the dead young man and for the man who shot him. Some of the leaders of this outcry rouse not for Justice but for their own issues and agendas. To say, as cited in this article, that this incident "echoes" the death of Emmett Till in 1954 is ridiculous. Said by a Black preacher, who should no better than to interpose the horrible context of the Till murder, gives the assertion no greater credulity at this time. I point this out because it is included in one of the articles which presents a picture of the young man. I follow this with an article, one of comparatively few, about the man who shot and killed him. What parts were played by each person, their movements, their intent, the hoodie, the object in the young man's hand, etc. and what can be determined from taped and other contemporaneous conversations and other relevant evidence is for the investigation. What I see is a field of well and other meaning people tearing at the jail door to get at a man they have judged guilty of racial murder. Whether Black or White at that door - it is wrong.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/slain-teens-friends-say-h_n_1376135.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl5|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D146273
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/who-is-george-zimmerman/2012/03/22/gIQAkXdbUS_story.html?hpid=z2

A September Lyric

I am reminded of the lyrics put together by one of the Triple Deuce Lt.s just before we boarded the boat to Viet Nam. I may have already posted this but since only a handful read this blog they have probably forgotten that I did so. It was to the tune of "See You in September."*

I'll be alone each and every night
While I'm away don't forget to write

Bye, bye, so long, farewell

See you in September
See you when the war is through
There we were saying goodbye at the station
LBJ's nation has taken me away

Bye baby, goodbye [thrown in at various times as I recall]

While we're alone each and every night,
Counting the days and the hours too,

Have a good time
But remember
There is danger when the darkness falls
Will I see you in September
Or will the VC have me by the balls.

* "See You in September" is a song written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards.

My Big Bang Theory

Our society thrives on an acquisitiveness for multimedia-enabled smartphones and pads. The now "normal" use of these devices so isolates a person as to create a disinclination to leave that isolation to directly interplay within the immediate human reality. Try to find eye contact with another person as you walk across a college campus. There is generally an indifference to seek out entertainment other than "app" choices that "take you anywhere to do anything." Even at, for example, a sport's event a substantial number of people will be engaged more with the glowing object in their hand than all around them. This self-imposed isolation also creates a laziness to the expression of human emotional response outside the Wi Fi capability. The movement of a finger to express LOL, 182, OMG, AML, ILU, BWL, and, of course, ROTFLMAO is now sufficient effort at emotion.

I write this now with a single complaint in mind. "The Big Bang Theory," a well written, very funny television sit-com is debased and ruined by a ridiculous and unnecessary laugh track undoubtedly targeted toward an audience too lazy to laugh on its own. LLTA .

West Point Prayer Breakfast & Lt. Gen. Boykin

"Army officer who sparked controversy with remarks on Islam pulls out of West Point address"*

As a renowned institution of higher learning West Point should encourage and facilitate a broad range of perspectives presented to the student cadets. West Point, in its mission of preparing young women and men to be officers in the US Army, should provide education regarding radical views they may encounter in the service. The education should be structured and balanced within course and program context. There are, I expect, ample courses during which Lt. Gen. Boykin could present his defense of his ill-informed, insulting prejudices. The annual, ecumenical prayer breakfast at the Military Academy is not the circumstance for his presence, much less his being honored as a featured speaker. The Academy's administration failed to recognize the hypocrisy, if not the stupidity, of the situation. Three stars on a shoulder is not a blanket free pass.

*http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/army-officer-who-sparked-controversy-with-remarks-on-islam-pulls-out-of-west-point-address/2012/01/31/gIQAMrDyeQ_blog.html

West Point Honor Code II

In 1976, the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy faced the consequences of a cheating scandal. The junior class had been given take-home assignments in an electrical engineering course. After investigation, some 150 cadets of the class of 1977 were dismissed or had resigned for cheating. Allegations at the time were that possibly half the class had violated the Code. After intense political pressure, the Academy reinstated some 98 of the dismissed cadets. Having taken the relatively identical electrical engineering course (called "Juice") about ten years earlier, I can attest not only to the difficulty of the course but the extreme anxiety cadets felt about the exam.

During my four years the West Point Honor Code stated simply "A Cadet will not lie, cheat or steal." As presented to me as a Plebe: "The Cadet Honor Code requires complete integrity in both word and deed of all members of the Corps of cadets and permits no deviation from those standards....These exacting standards are complied with to the letter, and if any cadet violates them he is immediately discharged from the Corps of Cadets." I was aware during my cadet days of a few outstanding young men who reported their own violations and resigned out of respect for the Corps and and Code. In 1951 some 90 cadets, 37 of whom were football players under Coach Earl Blaik, were dismissed from the Academy. The only change to the Code by 1976 had been the addition of "or tolerate those who do," a corollary that was fully accepted, though unstated, as part of the Code during my time.

The Honor System, suspect and challenged also in 1976, applied the Code within the Corps and has radically changed since those times but the Honor Code remains the standard to be achieved and carried into a career in the U.S. Army and throughout life. It was within the context of my cadet experience and that of an Army officer that I wrote a letter to the editor of the Washington Post when the story of the cadet reinstatement was announced. Politics seemed to have accomplished in 1976 what even the revered Earl Blaik could not in 1951. My letter was published alongside of a letter from a member of the Class of 1942 that expressed the same sentiment and opinion. I have not changed my mind.

There has been no other stimulus to my adding this to my blog other than finding a copy of the letter among some old files.

"Secretary of the Army Martin Hoffman and West Point Superintendent Lt. General Berry, by their lowering of the penalty traditionally and justifiably associated with cheating at the military academy, have seriously undercut the very foundation of the honor code. They have shown that integrity and honesty should be judged not as ideal virtues to be fostered and sought but rather as variables rising only to the level of the average acceptable behavior. That responsibility to a fellowship consisting of not merely a junior class but of those thousands of graduates and former cadets who through mutual agreement, mutual ambition and mutual respect set and maintained personally difficult high standards of integrity, means less than the attainment of selfish personal objectives.

"The harshest indictment should not be now directed at the suspended cadets for I am confident that the majority of them will, in the end, be their own most exacting critic. I suggest that the real evil is not in a system that attempts to uphold the highest standards embodied in the code, nor in those who have transgressed the code, but in the hypocrisy and lack of moral strength evidenced in the governmental officials. The government that decries the lack of personal integrity shown by the Watergate actors, that condemns the practice of bribery by persons in our nation's most successful corporations, and that criminally prosecutes the very consequences of low standards of integrity and honesty - more specifically, the white collar crimes, announces, not a reaffirmation of its demand for the highest personal standards embodied in a code of honor, but rather a politically expedient capitulation."

CADET PRAYER

O God, our Father, Thou Searcher of human hearts, help us to draw near to Thee in sincerity and truth. May our religion be filled with gladness and may our worship of Thee be natural.
Strengthen and increase our admiration for honest dealing and clean thinking, and suffer not our hatred of hypocrisy and pretence ever to diminish. Encourage us in our endeavor to live above the common level of life. Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won. Endow us with courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when truth and right are in jeopardy. Guard us against flippancy and irreverence in the sacred things of life. Grant us new ties of friendship and new opportunities of service. Kindle our hearts in fellowship with those of a cheerful countenance, and soften our hearts with sympathy for those who sorrow and suffer. Help us to maintain the honor of the Corps untarnished and unsullied and to show forth in our lives the ideals of West Point in doing our duty to Thee and to our Country. All of which we ask in the name of the Great Friend and Master of all. - Amen

Amen.

So, what did you expect?

I have written in this forum about the content and level of rhetoric against President Obama presented and tolerated by the Right. The affects of that continue to reverberate less on the surface yet in a societal subconscious that has cured and hardened over time. The editor of an Atlanta weekly, "Atlanta Jewish Times," proposed a scenario suggesting Israel kill the President. http://www.military.com/news/article/editor-killing-obama-an-option-for-israel.html?ESRC=eb.nl ; I wonder how many Americans may read of this and accept the premise as rational without distinguishing the fundamental evil in it because of their own predisposition against a non-citizen, Muslim, "colored," socialist, "pathetic" person in the office who wants to abandon Israel and destroy America.

An Israeli correspondent is quoted at the end of the article: "I know, and most of you know, that [the editor's] crazy and criminal suggestions are not the ranting of some loony-tune individual and were not taken out of thin air -- but are the inevitable result of the inordinate volume of repugnant venom that some of Obama's political rivals, Jews and non-Jews included, have been spewing for the last three years," I couldn't have said it any better. To be sure, the comments of this editor in Atlanta have been publicly condemned and he has resigned but, we may ask ourselves what the reaction would have been had comparable comments been written and published by the "Atlanta Muslim Times."

As before, I am not speaking of politics, political parties or issues but of the degradation of our culture. There are hundreds of emails floating within the internet that decry the loss of respect of citizen to flag, child to adult, son to father, youth to ambition, etc. within our culture. A good number of those who forward these emails to me, however, follow them with monkey images, "birther" fabrications, and baseless fear-mongering about the man and not his politics. Heck, even "spell-check," while recognizing Reagan, Roosevelt, Clinton, and Bush does not acknowledge "Obama." (No, this is humor and not conspiracy.)

"How do atheists find meaning in life?"

Interesting article by Ms Paula Kirby in the "On Faith" section of the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/how-do-atheist-find-meaning-in-life/2012/01/18/gIQAbiFP8P_blog.html?hpid=z11

When describing the "value" of life from her view as an atheist, Ms Kirby appears to focus only on a standard for the life of a single person. Of course, the individual life is worth living well for its own sake and for the benefit of existing beings with or without a divine plan. However, is there no inherent value in humanity as a whole? Is there no responsibility of the individual to the formulation and strengthening of non-divine morality, justice and the betterment of all in the progress of the human race? I believe that the answer is twice, yes, and what a magnificent meaning for the individual life. Even a God should expect no less of a single human or of humanity.