Opaque Lucidity

Disco Ball Included?

Specifications and details, soul brother.

No Sympathy Here

Hugh Hewitt's latest Twitter post pointed to this update at Blackfive. I have always maintained that this nation's special forces operators would be the warrior caste of our society, if we were divided as such. Many men and women can come to their country's defense in times of need, but there are always men who do the extraordinary not for medals or praise, but because they were born to be warriors and were called to the profession of arms.

Giving Thanks

We used to go around the table at Thanksgiving and tell what we were thankful for. Most of the responses were typical--family, friends, etc. I always said I was thankful that we live in the greatest country on earth. Looking at my best friend Peter's Facebook page, I know what I'm going to say this year: I am thankful that we can sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. That's an adaptation of a George Orwell quote, and one that I like very much. We don't like to think of things that way, do we? It's uncomfortable to think that we are essentially guarded by men and women who are sworn to carry out orders, many of them dealing with violence and death. But the lifestyle we enjoy did not just happen: it comes with a price tag, one that seems almost invisible to our generation and so is beyond our notice. But it's there, and thank God someone has been willing to pay that bill for over 200 years now.

The Big 10

Victor Davis Hanson, historian at Stanford and one of the great minds of our time, has a magnificent writeup about his 10 Politically Incorrect Thoughts over at RealClearPolitics. My favorite is the one about California---I've felt this way about the place for years:

California is now a valuable touchstone to the country, a warning of what not to do. Rarely has a single generation inherited so much natural wealth and bounty from the investment and hard work of those more noble now resting in our cemeteries--and squandered that gift within a generation. Compare the vast gulf from old Governor Pat Brown to Gray Davis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. We did not invest in many dams, canals, rails, and airports (though we use them all to excess); we sued each other rather than planned; wrote impact statements rather than left behind infrastructure; we redistributed, indulged, blamed, and so managed all at once to create a state with about the highest income and sales taxes and the worst schools, roads, hospitals, and airports. A walk through downtown San Francisco, a stroll up the Fresno downtown mall, a drive along highway 101 (yes, in many places it is still a four-lane, pot-holed highway), an afternoon at LAX, a glance at the catalogue of Cal State Monterey, a visit to the park in Parlier--all that would make our forefathers weep. We can't build a new nuclear plant; can't drill a new offshore oil well; can't build an all-weather road across the Sierra; can't build a few tracts of new affordable houses in the Bay Area; can't build a dam for a water-short state; and can't create even a mediocre passenger rail system. Everything else--well, we do that well.

Yet, so many Californians see themselves as living at the center of the American world. They are, in fact, living at the center of ridicule compared to those of us who live in the places that more clearly represent this nation, places they scoff at while their wasteland sinks below the waves.

The next entry, number six, is also of interest because it mentions the disappearance of the male speaking voice. I have noticed the rise of what I call the "tech voice", so-named because I hear so many techies talk this way. First, there is an injection of "ums", as if the speaker is searching for a non-offensive word or phrase. Then there are the sentences that begin with "so." It goes like this:

"How do we move the file over to your FTP server?"
"So, the way that works is, umm...."

There is also the tendency to avoid any sort of honest opinion or emotion, as if any sort of anger or sincerity is to be avoided at all cost. I am left with the impression that I am talking to not a man, but an empty creature who should have been left on an ice floe many years ago.

Lost In Space

I had a very long post written that suddenly disappeared when Firefox locked up on me. Damn! We'll get back to it tomorrow, I guess.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts about Ellen Moran? I hope her appointment is not an indicator of which way President Obama's policies are going to go.

Going Old School

As you probably know, pirates operating from Somalia have seized nine ocean-going vessels in the past 12 days, including the supertanker Sirius Star, for which they are demanding $25 million in ransom. The ransom will undoubtedly be paid, as almost all ship owners do when confronted with a situation like this. And that course of action does nothing but promote even bolder actions by the pirates.

Several things need to happen with regard to the Somali pirates. First, we (perhaps a naval coalition consisting of the US Navy, the Royal Navy, and the Indian Navy) need to set up an exclusion zone off the coast of Somalia; any armed vessel entering the area faces immediate destruction. Second, find out which towns and villages these people call home and isolate them. If you cut off the pirates' land-based support system, they will soon find other work.

Finally, we need to deal with the nation of Somalia. Right now, it isn't a nation at all; it's a rabble of local warloads fighting for territory and power in an unending civil war. There are no easy answers, but a coalition of African nations could perhaps force some kind of power-sharing deal on the warlords. Otherwise, Somalia's long coastline is going to continue to harbor these terrorists.

One more thing: quit paying ransoms. Did we learn nothing from the Barbary Pirates?

The Big Three Bailout Blues

Let's not tread lightly towards the point: the federal government should not grant the "big three" U.S. automakers $25 billion in bailout money. At least that's my opinion. However, instead of me giving you my thoughts as to why not, I would like to know your reasons why or why not. I'll shoot at you as needed; I'll check the comments more often tomorrow (Wednesday) than I normally do, just to keep the arguments flowing.

Can A Photon Torpedo Be Far Behind?

Those of you who are sci-fi fans know that the solid-state laser has been the preferred weapon of the future for many years. Only in the past decade or so have writers begun to actually consider the energy requirements of the deadly light weapon, leading us to shows such as 'Space: Above and Beyond' in which the Marine (and presumably Navy and Air Force) space fighters of 2063 used conventional 20 and 30mm cannons. When the re-envisioned 'Battlestar Galactica' came along in 2004, we saw both Vipers and Cylon craft using projectile weapons while Galactica and Pegasus even used that most un-appreciated projectile weapon, the flak cannon.

Well, the projectile weapon may be out of our lives sooner than we expected. Firestrike, a solid-state laser designed and built by Grumman (the people who brought you the F-14 Tomcat, the Apollo Lunar Lander and the GMC Cube Van), can be bundled in multiple units to deliver up to 100KW of pain. Captain Picard, call your Ready Room.

And Then 20 Years Went By

Until two months ago, almost all my friends on Facebook were either family members or people who contacted me from the podcast. Suddenly, to paraphrase a "tweet" on Twitter, high school exploded all over the place. Now I have found about 30 people with whom Kelli and I went to high school. I have been out of touch with most of them since 1989 or so. Nothing bad happened: they went to college, I went to the Navy, and life happened. Kelli and I started dating, got married and only stayed in touch with a few close friends from those years.

It's nice to be in touch with so many people again, but it is also sad because it reminds me how miserable I was during most of high school. My misery had nothing to do with popularity (to hear Kelli tell it, I was pretty popular), but with my lack of effort in all things academic and the broken heart I lived with through most of my Senior year. Now, with all of this coming back to me, I realize something: I never dealt with these issues. Instead, I just left town and tried to prove that I was made of sterner stuff. Now, a generation later, things I have not thought of in two decades have come crashing back into my life. And it's uncomfortable.

Oh, Sarah!

I can't get enough of this woman. And, by the way, she's being generous; don't believe the hype.

Our "Partner in Peace"

From the Washington Post:

Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Islamic kingdom that forbids the public practice of other religious faiths, will preside Wednesday over a two-day U.N. conference on religious tolerance that will draw more than a dozen world leaders, including President Bush, Israeli President Shimon Peres and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

If you read the entire article, you'll see that this is not the first conference of this type presided over by Saudi Arabia this year. Yet, despite this external move towards some sort of ecumenical understanding, the ruling family in Saudi Arabia still rules over possibly the most restrictive regime in the world after North Korea. And yet, President Bush will be there to hold hands and smile. You know why.

One thing that would at least make me respect President-elect Obama is if he took a hard line with respect to the Saudis, but the chances of this happening are slim. A century from now, when Middle Eastern oil is a memory and the world is a far different place than it is now, historians will scratch their heads and wonder why we tolerated a terror-supporting, fascist theocracy for so long.

In Rememberance

As you know, Veterans Day in the United States is meant to honor all veterans, living and dead, who served in peacetime and in war. While Memorial Day is the official day to honor those who have died in service to this nation, I think most of us think of the fallen today as well. That leads me to 'In Flanders Field', probably the most famous poem to come out of a modern war. It was written by then-Major John McCrae, a doctor in the Canadian Army. It was nearly lost forever when McCrae tossed the poem aside, but a fellow officer recovered it and sent it to London, where it was first published in a local paper in 1915.

Thank you to all of you who have served or who are serving.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The Road Forward

This weekend, the airwaves were full of Republicans opining about what was going to become of their party, now that The Chosen One is on His way to the Oval Office. What bothered me about this is the number of talkers who spoke about issues as if they were pieces on a board to be moved around, or traded, or lost. These people run campaigns mostly and their job is to win, not advance an agenda. Regardless, they hold powerful positions in the party. I wanted to ask them: "Do you actually believe in anything?"

Most of the people I know who are ardent Democrats are actually fairly conservative people. They don't like abortion (even though they may not want it outlawed), they think we should be able to own guns, they think the military should be strong and kill as many terrorists as possible, etc. But out of tradition, or because they are in a pro-Democrat union (that would be all unions, by the way), or for any number of reasons, they always vote for Democrats. And the beat goes on.

So instead of trying to move to the center or be more compassionate or promise to give away more money, the Republican party needs to go back to its roots and begin telling the American people, loud and often, that conservative ideals are supported by the majority of Americans, even by those who don't consider themselves conservative. The party needs to talk about the war, wasteful and out of control government spending, social security, gun control, abortion and all the other issues that form the bedrock on which the party is built. In short, be CONSERVATIVE.

The party should not be bashful. Tell Americans that too many men and women who have run under the Republican banner have lost sight of conservative values. Most importantly, don't compromise. Remember: President Bush was at his worst when he was cutting deals with the likes of Ted Kennedy. If you build it and believe in it, they will come.

The Ghost Writer

There is a blue scrap of paper sitting on my desk right now. On it is the name and phone number of a man I have seen but never met. He is almost 80 years old and like everyone that age, he has a story to tell---his own. In short, he needs someone to write a memoir of his life; not necessarily for publication, but for his grandchildren and generations not yet born. He gave his phone number to my dad, who passed it on to me earlier today.

I will find some time to help this man, even though I don't know him or his story. I will do this because of my grandfather, a man who lived to be 95 but whose life now only resides in the aging minds of his children and grandchildren. He died while I was living in Texas, so I was not with him at the end. His mind remained sharp to his very last days, yet none of us made an attempt to capture his life on paper.

That will not happen with this man.

That Secret Reality

There's something you need to know: Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States of America. He's not the African-American President-elect or the Democrat President-elect. He is our President-elect, yours and mine and all Americans'. He will be the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful military force on the planet. As C-in-C, he will be held responsible for current military actions in two countries. He will be the leader of the only nation currently capable of stopping the world from backsliding into an Islamic dark age. He has won, by fair vote, the right to lead a nation saddled with crushing debt and a faltering economy.

So as I read this week, both online and in e-mails from family and friends, that I, and others like me, need to get behind this new President and support him, I scoffed. I scoffed because there is no other reality to which I, or anyone, can subscribe. I didn't vote for Barack Obama, but he is going to be President as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow. He is now the captain of the ship on which all Americans are crew members. It is impossible to not "get behind him" because that's where we will all be in January. I could no sooner not "get behind him" than I could deny my status as an American. None of us chooses the age in which we live. This is ours---there will be no other for us.

But let's not confuse the issue: being behind the President does not bring with it agreement. With me, and with many who believe as I do, there will be no grace period, no wait-and-see trials. There is no practice round for the Presidency, so there will be no break from my criticism of him. No generosity was shown to his predecessor in this regard, so no quarter will be brooked here. Real things are happening out there in the world, things that have nothing to do with cult of personality, coolness or the timid selfish problems that led so many Americans to vote for this man who many expect to cure all their ills. You may not expect that, but you voted with people who do. And they will be disappointed.

President-elect Obama received his first Presidential security briefing late this week. I'm not sure what was discussed, but even a 45-minute brief by the intelligence services must be bracing. Soon, President Obama will learn some truths that all modern Presidents have known. Among them will be the baseline reality that some terrible things are done every day in the name of national security. This is not a new reality, nor is it secret on the face of things. But right now, as you read this, terrorist plots are being foiled, people are being made to disappear, US submarines are sitting in places they shouldn't be and American soldiers are operating without permission in sovereign nations. You didn't ask for these things to happen, but they're being done for you. And they will keep happening in an Obama administration. Why? Because that's what your freedom and lifestyle costs. It's being earned for you every day by people you will never meet and who you probably wouldn't like very much.

My sincerest hope for President Obama is that when he learns the brutish details, he will realize that we do not live in a world where diplomacy and good will always bring home the bacon. We do not live in a world where an American president meets the leader of a terrorism-supporting nation with no pre-conditions. We live in a world where those who threaten us most only understand the more base things of human life, things like violence on a terrible scale. No amount of good will and hand holding will change this. It is one of the costs of being this nation.

Willard

I woke up this morning thinking about 'Apocalypse Now', a film I haven't watched in its entirety for years. But there's a quote in there, early on, spoken by Martin Sheen who, although he doesn't know it yet, is about to go to the worst place in the world.

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.

Hope No One Needs

King Coal

Since it's seems likely that Barack Obama will win the election on Tuesday, I think it's time we began to look at how he will govern. Today, we see a prime example of how his administration will restrict power generation in the United States. In January of this year, Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that coal-fired power plants will be taxed based on their carbon emissions. According to The One, building a new coal-fired plant will essentially bankrupt a utility. That's great---don't outlaw the use of coal, just destroy anyone who uses it by means of taxation.

According to the Energy Information Administration, 43% of this nation's electricity is generated by coal. So while you may think coal is a dirty fuel we can do without, think again: it's helping to keep your lights on right now, regardless of where you live. There are alternatives, but none with the return on investment of coal. Should we develop alternatives? Certainly---including cleaner coal solutions. But restricting utilities by abuse of the tax code is something straight out of the socialist handbook.

Of course, it doesn't matter in the end. There could be video of Obama strangling kittens while his kids watch and most of the sheepish hordes would still vote for him. I was reminded of this today when Kelli and I opened our front door to find our political yard signs gone, replaced by dozens of Obama fliers thrown on the grass. Every story I've read concerning sign vandalism or every person I've met who has experienced this firsthand tells the same story: Republican signs being stolen or defaced. I have never, at least locally, heard of Democrats' campaign signs being destroyed or stolen.

So follow on. The nation you weaken will be your own.