Opaque Lucidity

In Memory

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling, which thinks nothing is worth war, is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free...." -John Stuart Mill

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. This holiday is intended to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation. There can be no greater sacrifice.

This year, as with too many years in the past, the sons and daughters of America are going to spend this holiday in harm's way. To paraphrase George Orwell, we know freedom because there are rough men with guns willing to do violence on our behalf. Thousands of Americans who you and I will never know have died so that we can taste, and even take for granted, that which so many in the world are deprived of.

Below is a copy of the letter that was sent to Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan of Waterloo, Iowa by FDR upon the death of their five sons on board the USS Juneau in the Pacific in late 1942. I always think of them over Memorial Day, I guess because they were sailors and they had asked to serve together.

Marriage Defined

I've been wanting to talk about gay marriage for a while now, for it is something I have struggled with. The reason it's been so difficult for me to take a firm stand on the issue is because I don't believe that either side is being honest in their arguments. Let me explain.

First, you have the homosexual lobby in this country. They have proclaimed marriage to be a right of every human being regardless of sexual orientation. This, they believe, will guarantee them the rights of all married couples. Some local courts agree with them.

There are several problems with this argument. First, proclaiming something a right doesn't make it one. Churches have been able to perform any kind of marriage for a long time. The difference is that the state only recognizes marriages between one man and one woman where both parties are of sound mind and body and have reached the age of consent. Thus, a couple can have a ceremony in a church that is not recognized as being legitimate for purposes of child custody, hospital visitation, insurance coverage (depending on the company), etc.

If gay couples wanted to have their marriages recognized only for the reasons listed above, I don't know that I would have much of a problem with it. However, those reasons are a smokescreen for the larger issue: accpetance through jucidicial ruling. The idea, as I see it, is to gain respect and acceptance by forcing every facet of society to accept homosexual couples. But, you may ask, if this is the reasoning, why not just come out with it? Simple: our society, for good or ill, is not ready to accept mainstream homosexuality. Try back in a generation and you may have a different outlook, but we're not there yet. It is this subterfuge that bothers me.

Then we have the other side. This group is mainly Christian conservatives who view marriage as a basic construct of an organized and sustained society. It is, in essence, a building block; without a family, there can be no nation. The reasoning goes that homosexual marriage does not contribute to that construct since it does not produce children. I don't have a problem with this line of reasoning, although I have to wonder what the thought is about heterosexual couples who can't or won't have children.

What I do have a problem with is the real reason why so many of these people have a problem with gay marriage: they just don't like gay people. I find this to be most true among men, and I can't quite understand it. I don't know if they're a little to insecure about their manhood (quite common in our society; look at the rise of the dumbass tough guy and tell me I'm wrong) or they just spend too much time thinking about two guys having sex. Whatever the reason, why don't they just come out and say that they want gays to stay in the closet? At least it would be honest.

Will gay marriage come to pass? Yes, eventually. Will it result in the death of marriage? No; that's happening right now with the huge number of divorces, illegitimate children and straight couples who just decide to shack up instead of getting married. In the final analysis, I guess I believe that there are much bigger harbingers of the end of Western civilization that letting to men or two women get hitched. That's not to say I support the idea, just that I'm not going to spend any more time thinking about it.

Slowdown

I mentioned here some time ago that I have the ability to see how many hits this site receives every day. I normally only check this statistic twice a month (the 15th and the 30th). Each month has been better than the month before, except for this month. This, I believe it due to two things. First, May is normally a very busy month for people with school ending, the weather getting nicer, etc.

Second, and more maddening on my part, is that many of my readers work for the same company in Louisville which will go unnamed. These gentleman had their Internet privileges taken away from them because of a couple people who couldn't seem to stay off of questionable sites. Instead of filtering content like most businesses, the inept IT guy just wanted everybody off, I guess. Dude, it's called Border Manager, it's made by Novell, it's not that expensive, and I will be glad to come over and install it for your sorry ass.

Sorry; had to get that out of the way early.

My Turn at the Pen

Before I started typing this entry, I had almost a full page mapped out concerning the President's speech last night. But I'm thinking about something else right now, something that I want to share. It has to do with two people whom I love dearly: Mark and Katie. They are two of the almost 14 nieces and nephews Kelli and I have and they graduated from high school on Sunday. Kelli and I attended the same high school as they; in fact, we were the first class to graduate in that same gym in 1989. It was still unifinshed that Spring so long ago and air conditioning was a long way off. I had recently enlisted in the Navy, although a shoulder injury earlier that year had forced me to change my rate (job) from Cryptological Technician to an unspecified rate in the Navy's Nuclear Power Program. Kelli and I were friends, but not close ones----that would come 18 months later when, as a newly minted Petty Officer, I would ask her out on a date as we stood in the front of the Kroger's here in Jeffersonville. There was still a Soviet Union, the first George Bush was President, I weighed less than 200 pounds, the Internet was called Arpanet and blah, blah, blah....it was a century ago.

I was thinking of all this as I sat there, listening to some big wig from the archdiocese give a short talk about nothing memorable. As is consistent with my giant ego, I began to think about what I would say were I in her shoes. Since I can't inflict my thoughts upon the class of 2004, I will inflict them on you:

"I am the first of many graduation speakers for most of you. You will have one when you graduate from college, or grad school, or any military school you attend. You will then suffer through your children's graduations and, hopefully, their children. While I am certainly not the best of commencement speakers, my hope is that I will not be the worst. I will try to be the shortest.

You enter into a world that is increasingly cynical and base. There are those who say that to get ahead in life today that you must be able to deny that part of your humanity that is compassionate and caring. After all, you may someday be the person who sends a subordinate's job to India.

In some ways those people are right. To those realists, and to you, I say that anything which makes you deny the moral certainties that I hope this school has taught you is not worthy of pursuit. The world is full of men and women who have sold their souls for the riches of this world and are still poor in all the ways that matter. Don't be one of them. In the end, all that any of us has is our character.

There are those who say that we are living in an increasingly internationalized world that does not respect political boundries. While this is certainly true, I hope you will always remember that you are Americans. Some of you will travel the world, either for business, for pleasure, or in defense of this nation. No matter the reason for your travels, know that you represent not just yourself but your country, and it is the greatest nation the world has ever known. Never be ashamed of it, or what others think of it. There is a distinct American culture which you are a part of; don't deny it.

Finally, love your family. I'm not talking about just your biological family, but those who, in the course of your life, you will come to love as family. In tough times, when things matter the most, they are the people who you will be able to count on the most. Be loyal to them, even if it means making tough, painful and costly decisions. And, even if it feels awkward, tell them that you love them.

Thank you for your time and attention. Congratulations."

Sick

I've been slow posting the last couple days because I've been somewhat under the weather. I stayed home from work today, something I am loathe to do since it dumps so much work on the other three people in my department. I feel guilty when I call in sick; I don't know if this means I have a good work ethic or I feel too much guilt about everything.

One thing I will not feel guilty about is not going to see the film "The Day After Tomorrow". I could smell a stinker coming on about two years ago, when Art Bell announced that he and Whitley Striber's book "The Coming Global Superstorm" was being made into a film. Art and Whitley writing a book on weather science is like me writing a book on brain surgery. Of course, facts are of little consequence to those involved with the environmental movement. As many most liberal causes, their reasoning is rooted in fear and jealousy (you're going to die if rich whitey American doesn't get rid of his SUV). I was surprised to see this in America's sixth grade newspaper, USA Today. My God, a commentary that states facts!!! What will they think of next?

A Little Respect

Last week, Kelli and I received an invitation to a Memorial Day party. I've been struggling with the idea of going, probably spending more time thinking about it than I should. But taking the decision to not attend the party has made me realize, more than ever, what I really require in a friendship.

I've written here before about how seriously I take my friendships. To me, there is a distinct difference between an aquaintance and a friend. In my opinion, many people cheapen the term "friend" by considering everyone they share a beer or conversation with a friend. Almost without exception, these people end up getting burned by their "friends". But they keep going back again and again, which probably speaks to a certain desperation. But I digress.

I have never considered the host of this party a friend. My association with him is on a professional level at best. But I have come to realize that everyone he comes into contact with is suddenly a "friend", a "pal", a "buddy" or even a "brother". As I'm fond of saying, words mean things. If everyone's a friend, then pretty soon the word means nothing. Thus, attending his party is, to him at least, tacit admission that I am some kind of "friend". I'm not, at least to my way of thinking, so our attendance would be sort of a lie by presence.

There is something else to consider. To some people, social interaction is tacit approval of their behavior. If you go to their house or hang out with them, then they believe that whatever they're doing in public is OK. And the larger that crowd, the deeper the approval must be.

Now, before you consider me some sort of judgemental asshole, let me explain. I don't really care what people do behind closed doors. But what I do care about is how those same people act in public and how they treat me and the people I care about. In that way, I am VERY judgemental. Also, I give my family (not just the people I am biologically related to or people who I am related to by marriage; there are people who I consider family because I have known them most of my life or been through tough times with them) more leeway on these issues. Sorry, but that's the way it is. I guess it all comes down to respect---if you treat me with respect and you are worthy of respect, then I respect you. If I respect you, then you are more likely to be a friend of mine. If I don't respect you for whatever reason, then you don't stand a chance. And, for the record, respect has nothing to do with age, job, sex, political beliefs, sexual preference or finances. It has to do with honesty, loyalty and compassion.

You might be thinking that I've spent much too much time on this. Maybe you're right. But I've finally matured enough to see that all that matters in the end is honor, honesty, loyalty and love. Everything else is a facade and life is too short to spend with people who are all facade and no substance.

Change the World

There is a debate raging in Louisville over an area called the Highlands. For those of you reading this in Dallas, the area of which I speak is much like Lower Greenville. It is what is known as a "mixed area"; that is, there are businesses intermixed with private homes. The area has been this way for more than a generation, but it has become an increasingly popular hangout over the past decade.

Here's the problem: many of the old inhabitants of the neighborhood are angry over the drunks, parking, vandalism and other social ills that come with large, young crowds. They are right when they say that there needs to be more parking and police patrols. Also, making bars close at 2AM instead of 4AM might not be a bad idea. All of these things are reasonable responses to the situation.

But there is something else at work here. If you move into a mixed use neighborhood, shouldn't you expect that there will be some late night foot traffic, early morning dumpster emptying and first-light food delivery? I know the area has grown in recent years, but anyone with a little bit of intelligence
knows that populations grow over time and that some expansion is inevitable.

The truth of the matter, as I see it, is that the fighters in this battle are suffereing from what I like to call Redford/Denver Syndrome, named after Robert Redford and John Denver. People who suffer from this condition will move to an area (wilderness or otherwise), praise it for its gradeur and then complain when other people do the same thing. It's sort of like saying, "Too bad, Jack; I've got mine. Go get yours somewhere else."

If you want peace and quiet, go live in a cookie cutter house in the suburbs with all the other soccer parents and their broods. People live in downtown areas because they are mostly older, unique and give you a nice break from the drab sameness of the Levitowns which surround us. Please, please, please don't move in and try to make it like everyplace else.

Ties that Bind

Can anyone explain to me how having a long, expensive piece of cloth tied around my collar makes me more professional? I don't understand. I wear a tie every day but Friday; am I some sort of slacker on Friday?

I despise ties, mainly because I have the neck of an NFL linebacker. Thus, I have to either buy dress shirts with neck sizes an elephant's leg could fit through or I have to strangle myself. Either way, I'm not happy.

I think the French invented the necktie. That's right---the people who brought you smelly cheese, deodorant-free living, wine snobs, Napolean and surrender to and outright collaboration with facism gave us this garbage. Thanks, froggy; I owe you one.

Perception of the Lie

I don't like to argue about politics with people. This is something new in my life; ten (or even five) years ago I would do battle with anyone who opined within range of my hearing. But two things have happened. First, I have come to the realization that arguing with grown adults normally doesn't change their outlook on the issues. Second, the level of discourse among people in general is, in my opinion, on the decline. I have written about this before, but recent events have made me realize that I am not alone in this observation.

I'm going to use Michael Moore as my example. Moore is a fraud; if you are a fan of his "documentaries" and you haven't realized this yet, you're not doing your homework (for starters, take a look at this). Moore is a great editor and a master of the sound byte. Democrats and others on the Left see him as a Great Communicator who is on the side of the little guy because he himself is a nice, blue-collared guy from Michigan. The fact is that Moore hasn't been one of the "little people" for years, unless you consider owning a Manhattan condo a prerequisite for membership in the Great Unwashed Club.

To many Dems and other fellow travelers, truth is irrelevant. What matters the most, what must be honed to precision, is the selling of the lie. Why does this matter so? Because of who makes up the Democratic Party today. I break it down into three categories:

1. The Far Left-These people will vote for the Democrat regardless of his position on anything because they wouldn't be caught dead voting for anyone who even hints at being conservative. The Green Party can steal these people.

2. The Middle Left-These people can actually speak intelligently about issues. They want abortion to be legal, they want gun control and they think the wealthy should pay more taxes. These people vote for Dems because the party platform more closely represents what they believe. I don't agree with these people, but at least I can respect them.

3. The Short Attention Span Left-These people are acheiving prominence among Democrats because they are becoming a larger and larger voting bloc. These are people who aren't really into politics. They don't watch the news or read the paper very often. Most of their exposure is to 15 second sound bytes. Most of their decisions are based on emotions; facts make them angry because facts require knowledge and knowledge requires time and time means commitment. These people vote for Dems because they look at people like Moore and they believe them based entirely upon slick editing and image. MTV, call your office.

Before you get into too much of a huff, let me say that Republicans encompass some who believe the lie as well. For example, you don't have to look very hard to find conservative fundamentalists who will tell you with a straight face that homosexuals can be "made" into heterosexuals, science and logic be damned. Also, racism has found a comfy home in the Far Right camp with the likes of men such as David Duke.

The difference is that the Democrats are doing a much, much better job of mainstreaming the lie. As I've said here before, facts are only things to be spun to Democratic operatives. And emotion, once shunned in serious political debate, has become a centerstage industry in liberal circles. I can't tell you the number of people (women mostly; sorry, ladies) who have told me that G.W. "scares" them. It reminds me of a four-year old who is scared of the monster under his bed. You wake up, go into his room and tell him that there is no monster. He knows it, you know it, and everyone goes back to bed. But there, in the dark, that little boy knows there is a monster under his bed again. The only thing that will save him is age, maturity and logic. The problem is that some people, in some ways, are four years old for the rest of their lives.

Top 10 Worst Album Covers of All Time

If I didn't know better, I would swear that half of these are fakes.

A Little Something Positive

I got this from the Wall Street Journal Editorial page. Good men CAN make a difference.

"Want a Different
Abu Ghraib Story?
Try This One

Saddam had their hands cut off. America gave them new ones.

BY DANIEL HENNINGER
Friday, May 14, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

By now, some Americans may feel the need for respite from the images of Abu Ghraib and the five hooded barbarians standing behind Nick Berg. This week's column will try to provide some measure of respite.

It is the story of Americans, in and out of the U.S. government, who moved mountains to help seven horribly maimed Iraqi men. It is not always pleasant reading, but there are rewards to staying with it, especially now.

Quite obviously it has been decided, as the handling of the Abu Ghraib story makes plain, that when America stumbles, we are going to have our faces rubbed in it. And rubbed in it and rubbed in it. As far as I can make out, the purpose of this two weeks of media humiliation is that we--the president, all of us--are being asked to morally prostrate ourselves before the rest of the world. Some may choose to do so, but this story should make a few Americans want to simply stand up straight again.

As perfect justice, the story in fact begins in Abu Ghraib prison, in 1995. With Iraq's economy in a tailspin, Saddam arrested nine Iraqi businessmen to scapegoat them as dollar traders. They got a 30-minute "trial," and were sentenced, after a year's imprisonment, to have their right hands surgically cut off at Abu Ghraib prison.

The amputations were performed, over two days, by a Baghdad anesthesiologist, a surgeon and medical staff. We know this because Saddam had a videotape made of each procedure. He had the hands brought to him in formalin and then returned to Abu Ghraib. Oh, one more thing: The surgeon carved an X of shame into the forehead of each man. And the authorities charged the men $50.

Last year, after we liberated Iraq, a veteran TV news producer named Don North--who has worked for major U.S. broadcasters--was in Baghdad with the U.S. to restore TV service. Iraqi contacts there brought him a tape of the men's amputations. Mr. North says dismemberment was common in Saddam's Iraq and that if one walks down a crowded Baghdad street one may see a half-dozen people missing an ear, eye, limb or tongue. He decided to seek out the men whose stubbed arms represented the civilized world's lowest act--the perversion of medicine.
He found seven. Mr. North determined to make a documentary of their story and get medical help for them. How he found that help, if one may still use this phrase, is an all-American story.

An oil engineer from Houston, named Roger Brown, overheard Mr. North's tale in a Baghdad café. He suggested Don North get in touch with a famed Houston TV newsman named Marvin Zindler. Mr. Zindler put him in touch with Dr. Joe Agris, a Houston reconstructive surgeon, who has worked in postwar Vietnam and Nicaragua repairing children.

Mr. North sent Dr. Agris a copy of the videotape of the surgical atrocities, and Dr. Agris said: Send me the men; I will fix them.

But flying seven Iraqi men out of Baghdad is easier said than done. In this case, prodded by Don North and government friends, the famous U.S. bureaucracy gave itself a day off. Paul Bremer wrote a memo authorizing their departure. Paul Wolfowitz told the Air Force it could fly them to Frankfurt. Homeland Security waived visa requirements.

Continental Airlines donated passage to Houston. There, Dr. Agris enlisted a fellow surgeon, Fred Kestler, to assist. The Methodist Hospital donated facilities, and the men arrived in Houston in early April.

Dr. Agris saw that the Abu Ghraib "surgeries" were a botch. They'd cut through the joining of the wrist's carpal bones, "like carving a Turkey leg." Saddam's doctors did nothing to repair the nerve endings, which left the men with constant real and "phantom" pain. Drs. Agris and Kestler had two preliminary tasks: Repair the nerves, and, alas, take another inch off the men's lower arms, to leave a smooth surface for attaching their new prosthetic "hands." They worked for two days operating on the seven men, who then took a week to recover before receiving their new hands.

Those devices were donated by the German-American prosthetic company Otto Bock, at a cost of $50,000 each. They are state-of-the-art electronic hands, with fingers, which respond to trained muscular movements. The rehabilitation and training is being donated by two other Houston companies, TIRR and Dynamic Orthotics. The Iraqi men are in Houston now, spending five hours a day learning to use their new right hands. And oh yes, the brands on their heads were removed.

Don North completed his documentary on what happened to these men in Iraq. I watched "Remembering Saddam" this week. Several of the men insisted on seeing Saddam's home video of the atrocity, and so it's in the film--a bizarre, almost dainty image of forceps, scalpel, surgical gloves and green operating-room garments. Nothing like it since Dr. Mengele. Watching his hand come off, Baasim Al Fadhly says: "Look at this doctor, who considers his career noble and swears to God to be a noble person. Let everyone see this film."

This crime deserves condemnation from international medical societies, such as the U.N.'s World Health Organization, or the Red Cross. And Don North's film indeed should be seen--but may not be. After two months of trying, no U.S. broadcast or cable network will take it. This is incredible. TV can run Abu Ghraib photos 24/7 but can't find 55 minutes for Saddam's crimes against humanity?
On May 23, the American Foreign Policy Council will bring the restored men to Washington. They will visit maimed GIs at Walter Reed Army Hospital. It wouldn't be surprising if they said something positive about the U.S. soldiers who have not been on television the past two weeks.

Then Don North and Joe Agris will fly with the men back to Iraq, to survey the rest of Saddam's dismembered population. "The practice of prosthetics is very archaic," Mr. North says,"for a country where this is such an affliction." Dr. Agris hopes to survey the hospitals and bring in some modern equipment and supplies. "If they let me, I'll do some of the kids," he says. "Let's show the good side of what we can do."

Sure. Why not?"

BILL GATES IS GIVING AWAY HIS FORTUNE!!!!

I've had access to the internet since before the term "World Wide Web" was in common use. I've received every bogus e-mail you've ever seen or read about. Funny thing is, the real phony stuff seems to have nine (or more) lives. It will come into vogue, you'll receive it about 17,865 times and then you won't see it again for five years. Strange but true.

One of my responsibilities at work is to go through our e-mail filter several times a day. Everything with an attachment gets held along with anything that is considered spam or pornography. As you can imagine, this is not a perfect system. Very often, personal e-mail gets stopped because the subject line seems "spammy". When we receive e-mails such as this, I have to open them and read them. This is not nearly as interesting or titillating as you might think.

So I was going through the filter this morning when I came across an e-mail with the same subject heading as my entry title above. Of course, it was the "Forward This E-Mail and Bill Gates Will Send You Money" e-mail that's been around since 1993. What I found amazing what that someone was not only forwarding it, but was forwarding it to HUNDREDS of other people. Can you be that stupid? I mean, really? How, exactly, would this e-mail be tracked? And if everyone forwarded it to only three of their friends, wouldn't everyone on the planet with an e-mail address receive it in a day or so?

And by the way, the "I'm a lawyer and I know the law" part is really, really cute.

Like a Diamond-Tipped Bullet

The film "Apocalypse Now" is about the absurdity of the war in Vietnam. The first half of the movie follows Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) as he snakes his way through the country to a meeting with Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a man he is supposed to kill. Kurtz, it seems, has gone insane and taken to the jungle with an army of natives.

Once he is in the company of Kurtz, Willard begins to question his mission. The Colonel may be insane, but the area he controls is refreshingly free of VC and NVA forces. His methods are brutal; Willard knows he has arrived in Kurtz's area of control because of the crucified corpses and piked heads he finds along the river on which he is traveling. Finally, Kurtz explains to Willard the motivation behind his insanity (I've seen the movie about 100 times, so I'm pretty sure this is how it goes):

"When I was with Special Forces during my first tour, we went into a village to inoculate the children. Later, an old man from the village came running after us, crying. He said that, after we left, they had come and hacked off every every inoculated arm and put them into a pile...a pile of little arms.

I cried like someone's grandmother. I wailed, I wanted to tear my teeth out, I didn't know what to do. And then it hit me, like a diamond-tipped bullet...the beauty of that. Horror. Pure, crystalline horror."

The musings of a good Hollywood writer aside, there is something to be learned here. The Viet Cong and NVA had limited resources from a material sense. What they had in their favor was time and, for lack of better terms, terror and horror. They could wait for generations, if necessary. And they could intimidate villagers with acts of unspeakable cruelty. The American public had no stomach for what would have made a difference: swift retribution in kind.

It's a good thing, I think, that we do not resort to greater and greater cruelties when dealing with our enemies. We are a civilized people who show compassion even to those who deserve none. But with the public decapitation of Nick Berg, I have to wonder how well we are served by showing good will towards those who wish us harm. There is no doubt that we are hated by many in the Middle East; it does not help that our own media feeds into this (the NPR website did not even have a story about Berg until this morning; it is still a small link under the giant prison "abuse" story).

We console ourselves with the knowledge that most people are like us. I have to say now that this is not the case. We are hated by people who only understand overwhelming violence against them, their families and their nation. We limit ourselves by laws of war and moral conduct because this makes our conflicts more palatable to ourselves. But one has to wonder what price we have paid for our self-imposed limits.

We have passed the time that a hard message must be sent. The timid, lying morality of Europe and our own liberal elite be damned; they never supported our efforts in the first place.

Graduation

Kelli graduated from college last night. It was unseasonably hot, the graduation was outside and the crowd was restless. It touched me deeply to see all the people who turned out for her; not just family, but friends and co-workers as well. All the late night studying and weekend paper writing have paid off. She has two classes this summer, a course load that is almost non-existent compared to what she has been doing up to this point. I plan on having a party for her in September after all is said and done. If you're reading this, you will probably receive an invitation. I may use skywriting.

After the ceremony was over, Kelli's family went out for dinner. Let me say for the record that I am loathe to discuss politics with anyone outside of my wife and my parents. But when provoked, I have been known to state an opinion or two. Last night, it was Kelli's youngest sister who broke the dam. She is dating a lad from Ireland, a guy who I like very, very much. He is going to spend the summer here and may start graduate school here in the fall. I was told, in no uncertain terms, to never ask this young man his opinion on G.W. Bush. Evidently, all the Irish "hate him". I don't know who spoke to all the Irish, but it was accepted as some sort of gospel since the speaker lived in Ireland for a year.

I should've tempered my response, but my exact words went something like this: "I don't give a rat's ass what Ireland or the rest of Europe think about anything." I feel a little bad that I unloaded on a 21-year old girl like that, but I am growing increasingly tired of the media and the academic world (of which she is a part) worrying about European opinion.

Europe has no future. History has shown that socialism always has a short life span since confiscatory tax rates either cause people to leave a country or overthrow the government. The overall unemployment rate in Europe hovers around ten percent---ours is half that. In fact, a ten percent unemployment rate here is considered atrocious, and it should be.

Europe's response to terrorism and other forms of tyranny has been tepid at best. Look at the recent elections in Spain; the winner was chosen by some bombs planted on a train in Madrid. During the Second World War, the Irish couldn't even decide to take a stand against facism (they were neutral). France is trying to deal with its growing Muslim minority with more and more government housing and welfare. All of Europe turned its back on the genocide in the Balkans until the United States (through NATO) got the ball rolling.

I'm sure that some consider me uninformed, unenlightened and xenophobic. So be it. I have history on my side and I know that, within fifty years, Europe will either be a Muslim enclave or run by a despot under the guise of the EU Presidency. Is this worthy of emulation?

Surrender

General Alfred Jodl surrendered all German forces today in 1945, essentially ending the Second World War in Europe. The surrender documents didn't really go into effect until midnight (I believe), so May 8th is generally considered VE day. Like you really wanted to know that ;-)

We have romanticized World War Two to the point where it is almost unrecognizable as a global conflict. Our boys went marching off to war and returned four years later victorious, ensuring that facism and empirical aggression would never again touch our shores. That generation is slipping from us now and we are trying so desperately to make sure their story is understood before it's too late.

The fact is that we are still dealing with the aftermath of that war. The forty-five years of the Cold War were a direct result of the post-war division of Europe. Korea and Vietnam were brushfires of the larger confrontation between superpowers. Good and necessary though it was, our victory in the Cold War allowed unrestrained terrorism to rear its ugly head.

It is impossible to be successful in war without a thourough understanding of history. This is why, I believe, the current administration was so adamant about going into Iraq. Between 1945 and 2001, our military efforts around the globe were studies in half-measures. The concept of "limited war" did not exist before Korea; it can be argued that we would now live in a better world if it had never existed. Our current conflagration is world-wide and will continue for the forseeable future, barring a presidency who decides to view terrorism as a law enforcement problem. Either way, it can not be fought in half-measures.

What concerns me is our society. We are not the nation that went to war in 1941. That nation had survived a crippling depression and her young men knew hardship. We have never known hardship in that way nor do I believe we have the patience for possibly a 20 year struggle. To turn a phrase, this is a PBS war for an MTV generation. But we have no choice but to take the long road. As badly as we all want terrorism and war to go away, it has become a part of our lives now, just as war was a reality for those grey-haired octaganarians we see on park benches and at the retirement homes.

Hugh Hewitt's Latest

Food for thought.

Little Blue Marble

Sorry about not posting yesterday. Writing is like exercise and one needs to pursue it every day in order to become good at it. I have an excuse, however. I believe that I am developing allergies in my old age and they really got the best of me yesterday. I came home from work and fell asleep for two hours. Kelli and I went grocery shopping and then I had no problem going back to bed and sleeping through to the evilness of 5:30. The more I think about it, the more I realize this is the life our cats are living. How I envy them their ignorance and complete lack of responsibility.

I had several rants to choose from today: men and housework, my thoughts on gay marriage and homosexuality in our society, my continuing hatred of phones, the new film "The Day After Tomorrow", etc. But as I turned off of our street and onto Court Avenue (the main East-West street through downtown Jeffersonville) I saw a perfect, large full moon in the West. It was right there, as if I could reach out and touch it. The sun was rising and the moon was about to set, so I knew the scene would not last. Had I the time, I would've gone back home and grabbed the camera.

It's moments such as these that put everything in perspective for me. I am one of about six billion people living on a tiny planet with a bare rock for a moon orbiting a smallish star in an arm of a galaxy that looks like millions (billions?) of others. And we fight over things like religion (don't kid yourself; the "war on terror" is about religion). This planet could go up like a puff of smoke today and the universe wouldn't even yawn. We're harmless, to borrow a word.

I would like to think that, somewhere out there, some alien is driving/hovering/teleporting to work and can just barely see the star we orbit. Maybe he has a child who is into astronomy and looks in our direction from time to time. He can't see our planet, because it is much too small. I hope he wonders if there's life in our area of the cosmos and I hope no one laughs at him when he expresses his hope. I hope they know a world free from what plagues us. Maybe they've grown up.

Our Honorable Selves

I keep reading about the incidents involving American soldiers and the abuse of Iraqi POWs. On the radio this morning, I heard a commentator say that since Al-Jazeera doesn't make a big deal out of dead Americans, why should they make a big deal out of some humiliating photos? Even more disturbing is the soldiers' claims that they were not sure of the prisoners' rights under the Geneva Convention.

This behavior is inexcusable on every level. I don't give a flying shit what Al-Jazeera does or does not report. If we are in the business of comparing our actions to the actions of a bunch of gutless cowards who hide behind their two-bit false religion, then we need to rethink our entire society. We need to not only conduct ourselves with honor during war, but we need to treat the vanquished with respect, even if they don't deserve it. We are Americans; this is not how Americans behave.

Ignorance about the Geneva Convention is hardly an excuse. Basic human decency would dictate that people should not be treated the way those prisoners were treated. It is my sincere hope that the service people involved (yes, some of them are women) see long, long terms in prison. There can be no other way than to be our own harshest critics.

My Peeps

The Kentucky Derby Festival has come and gone. Those of you who don't live in the Kentuckiana area may be under the impression that the Kentucky Derby is a two-minute horse race held the first weekend in May. That is completely incorrect. The Kentucky Derby FESTIVAL is a two week long rite of spring, a celebration of a region, and, in some places, would qualify as a religion. It makes other sporting events look banal.

This year's Derby Festival was a little different for Kelli and I because it ended with a graduation celebration for a niece and nephew who are graduating from high school in three weeks. She is going to attend the University of Louisville's Speed School and major in Chemical Engineering; he is going to Purdue to major in Mechanical Engineering Technology (we seem to grow a lot of engineers in our family). We could not be more proud of them.

It wasn't until I went into the Navy that I really began to appreciate my family. I guess it was because they were always there before and it was easy to take them for granted. But when I left home and began to meet people whose family was only a group of people who just happened to be biologically related, I realized how special my family really is. The love we have for each other is not forced and it is not just tolerance; I genuinely like being around these people.

Both of my brothers and their families live out of state. I don't do a very good job of keeping touch with them; in fact, there are many occasions in which we go months without talking. It's not that I don't think about them or wonder what's going on in their lives. Life just gets in the way and, before I realize it, months have gone by. But get-togethers like the one yesterday remind me that I need to do a better job of keeping in touch. All my siblings are in their 40's. It seems like yesterday that they were all in their 20's. Tomorrow, they will all be looking at retirement.