So I'm driving along, got the MP3 player on shuffle and this kick-ass blues tune comes on.
"Wow," says I to myself, "this sounds almost like it could be the Allman Brothers Band, but not quite, good guitar-playing, though..."
So I get to a safe place where I can take my eyes off the road, briefly to see what's playing...
"Keys to the Highway" by Derek and the Dominos
Doh!
May as well bring this one back, I wrote it a couple of years ago and re-print it each year:
Yesterday morning the wife, the daughter, and I were down in town, and it just so happened that the mayor was presiding over an act of remembrance at the war memorial in front of the town hall in honour of Remembrance/Armistice/Veterans’ Day.
Whilst waiting for it to begin, my eyes were caught by the following poem (hat tip to Steve for publishing it):
They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Well, once my eyes were caught, they started leaking like no one’s business, and my daughter jumped up and gave me a big hug, her little hands patting my back.
Beginning in 1992, I spent six years in the US Navy. In the first three years of serving in the Navy, I was probably the most conscientious sailor one could hope to meet. I loved the Navy, I loved its history and I was damned proud to be seen in my crackerjacks. But something happened to me, gradually. Many of the goals I set for myself, and for which I thought I was punching all the right tickets were not coming to fruition. I was beginning to get a little burnt out on being so squared away for my first three years, with no – apparent – return other than a job well done.
After that point, I couldn’t wait to get out. Not that I actively tried, but I could have really left the Navy at the first chance presented.
I served the rest of my time, maybe not as conscientiously as I should have, but probably better than many of my colleagues, nonetheless. Looking back now, I’m a little bit ashamed of the fact that I didn’t necessarily give my best to the Navy, and by extension, my country. Back then, I could justify it by the fact that I was such a good boy, but Santa still wouldn’t bring me presents.
I may not have been proud of my service then, but I am definitely proud of it now.
You see, I have shared the experience of wearing a uniform in the service of my country with some of the greatest souls to ever grace this planet. Men who were definitely better men than I. Men who did not know what was in store for them when they signed that dotted line and received the queen’s shilling or that paycheck from Uncle Sam. Men who gave up their youths and their freedom so that the rest of us could enjoy our own. Many men whose remains now lay on the fields in which they were mowed down, or the watery graves where their ships lie.
Yes, it’s true, some of us join/ed the military because it was a way out or a way up from whatever circumstances may have been going on (I initially walked into the recruiting office because I was running away from something.) But no matter the reasons for joining, the sum total of the efforts of my predecessors, colleagues, and those who came after me was that this world is just a little bit better than it may have been had we not done our “duty”.
My father served in the Navy for 20 years. My uncle just retired from the Navy, himself. Both of my grandfathers served in WWII, one in the British Army and one in the US Army. And I am proud of all that they did.
I may have said that after my first three years I didn’t get anything from the Navy. But the truth is, my whole experience gave me the world.
Thanks to all those people with whom I shared that world and those experiences, and whose boots I could never fill. I am truly humbled when contemplating the greatness that came before, and that follows, my brief stint of service.
I didn’t see any action, and I am grateful I didn’t have to. But then, as they say, I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
Still digesting the election results. A few thoughts, some possibly contradictory:
The GOP pi**ed all over the reason independents would vote for them in the first place by becoming big government types. Give people a choice between two big government parties and they will choose the one that makes them feel better about themselves.
One the one hand, universal racism being accepted as an excuse for black underachievement in America may now be a thing of the past. On the other hand, any criticism of Obama will probably be seen as racism.
Talk radio in America will definitely be a lot more interesting over the next couple of years, and if the Dems try to pass a Fairness Doctrine, it will be all-out information war.
I underestimated the power of the media and the gullibility of the American populace, but then, Obama only won by about 5 Million votes, which is not a complete popular landslide. Then again, maybe I haven't underestimated the power of the media - a $600 Million war chest and a popular media that is 90% in the tank for him still only got him a 6% popular advantage. As some people pointed out: we knew within 48 hours all about Sarah Palin's family, but they only just discovered Obama's illegal alien aunt last weekend? If McCain had an illegal alien relative, we would have known by at least last March.
I hope and pray that Obama will govern as the moderate he said he would be, but I won't hold my breath either. He doesn't have to with a Dem majority in Congress. The only upside might be that we can have a repeat of the 1992-4 when the Dems over-reached and delivered a Republican Congress in 1994. I hold out hope, though, for the sake of America, that the Dems don't overreach. But I won't hold my breath.
Does moving to the "center" help the Republicans? McCain was arguably, next to Giuliani, the most moderate candidate going.
Did Palin lose it for him? No. I think the McCain campaign mishandled her which made her look like the idiot she clearly is not. The significant bump she gave to the McCain campaign proves her popularity. Do we see a Palin-Jindal ticket in 2012?
I do hope that when pushed to the wall on the world stage that Obama will behave as an American president should, and look out for America. Which means he wouldn't be doing things that ingratiate him to the BBC or the Guardian. If Obama is doing his job as a head of state, anti-Americanism among the world's elites will continue. It is better to be right than loved.
Well, that's it for now. I, for one, will try not to suffer from Obama Derangement Syndrome. But he's not going to get a pass if he, for instance, fires the US Attorney in Chicago or anything else that smacks of Chicago machine cronyism.
Okay, so they organised an "alternative" Hallowe'en party at the church because some parents are "concerned" about the pagan and satanic implications of Hallowe'en. Okay, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut, as my daughter would enjoy a party, and despite me (an ex-pagan) going into a rant about how many pagans actually get offended by turning it into a children's holiday where their beliefs get mocked.
But what did they replace it with? A Star Wars party. And they tried to sell Star Wars to the kids as "Judaeo-Christian" thing rather than as a Taoist-Buddhist-Joseph Campbell hodge-podge of beliefs that are shared across many world religions...
Talk about false idols. I am really disturbed by this. The closest thing in Christianity that the theology of Star Wars comes to is Manichaeism, a Gnostic belief system that was deemed a heresy as early as the 4th Century. Star Wars may have a story where Good ultimately triumphs over Evil, but there is an inherent dualism between the Dark and the Light Sides of the Force, an impersonal pantheistic force that penetrates everything. Definitely not the G-d of the Torah nor Our Saviour of the New Testament.
I am really torn. Do I inform the person who was selling this that she was misinforming the kids? Or do I let it slide? Is it really worth it?
A preview of the shape of things to come in America?
UPDATE 9:09 am: Oops, looks like it might be a hoax...Which is a shame, as there is enough violence and threat out there to not need to perpetrate a hoax of this sort.
I enrolled for the final class that will allow me to graduate and get my Bachelors degree in March.
There was a little button in my online account marked: Apply for Graduation. I clicked that button, selected Winter 2009 quarter, and felt that I've really hit a milestone. It has been 21 years since I first stepped foot in a university class. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel at least a little verklempt.
Not felt like blogging of late. Lots of stuff to observe and comment on, but no will...
I think it may have a lot to do with the fact that we are watching the end of the world as we know it, and I'm just getting my head around it (and building up my grab-and-go box, just in case.)
I think there are a few things that will affect me directly, and perhaps get exacerbated by the potential nationalisation of everything and the potential presidency of Obama. Kind of scary.
For one, my anticipated return to the US may be put off for a while, as this whole mess sorts itself out. It may take longer to get sorted if the wrong policies are pursued (such as a tax hike on "rich" people.) This is a very real possibility; as one commentator pointed out, there are far-left Democrats in Congress who have been waiting decades for a like-minded POTUS to help them re-engineer America. Even if Obama is a "moderate", which seems unlikely given his past associations and self-admitted dabblings in Marxism, he is not strong enough to stand up to the apparatchiks in his party.
I really hope I'm wrong, because this could potentially be very problematic, because they are not going to be Fabian in their approach, like almost all good idealogues who finally get their way, they are going to overplay their hand. And I don't think the American people are the sorts to take things sitting down. A recent survey, for instance, put American opposition to the redistribution of wealth at about 85%. 85% of the US population is to the right of the Democrat Party platform. And a lot of them are armed.
And, outside of the government, there isn't going to be a lot of job creation in the US with a Reid-Pelosi-Obama leadership.
The Republicans were dip-sh**s when they were running Congress. And now we are all going to pay.
And this economic thing...A lot of Europeans are patting themselves on the back because they avoided this nasty subprime business that's happened in the US. But as we are seeing the beginning of the end to the problems in the US, we are seeing the end of the beginning for Europe. Where do you think all that bad debt ended up? European institutional investors have always preferred debt over equity as investment vehicles. Those lovely subprime loans looked really tasty a couple of years ago.
Plus the European banks have their own sub-prime messes to muddle through in the Baltics and the Balkans. The European banking system is teetering completely on the edge.
Why do you think they are dictating to Bush that the US has to come along? So that when their own systems go tits-up, the US's will too. Unlike Britain and the US, the European systems have already been nationalized or at least collectivized (as in Germany) to the extent that the banks and private industry are so intertwined that they cannot be considered separate sectors.
So I haven't been of cheery mien of late. But as with everything, this too, shall soon pass. But what will take its place?
If his volunteers feel sufficiently empowered to do this, then imagine how empowered an executive branch populated by 3,000+ appointees would feel...
Folks, an Obama presidency is going to be more triumphalist than the 1997 Labour Party, they are not going to be gracious winners.
(H/T Kim du Toit)
Well, It's that time of the election cycle again. I have just finished filling out my U.S. absentee ballot, and I just wanted to show my British friends how much of a dearth of local accountability there is in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Here is a breakdown of the roles and laws I voted for, in a state with 9.5 Million people (less than the population of Greater London) and a county with a population of c. 800,000 (less than that of Birmingham):
1 US President
1 US Senator
2 State Public Service Commissioners
1 US Representative
1 State Senator
1 State Representative
1 District Attorney
1 Probate Court Judge
1 Superior Court Clerk
1 Sheriff
1 Tax Commissioner
1 Chief Magistrate
1 County Commission Chairman
1 County Commissioner
1 County Board of Education
2 State Supreme Court Justices
3 State Court of Appeals Judges
5 County Superior Court Judges
4 County State Court Judges
2 County Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor
3 State Constitutional Amendments
1 County Sales Tax to fund development
36 Total Positions and Laws
What did I vote on at the last British General Election?
1 Member of Parliament
1 Member of European Parliament
1 County Councillor
1 Town Councillor
And one wonders why the British electorate are, mostly, apathetic.
I watched the Daily Show last Friday on More4. They usually show it here in the UK a couple of days after showing it in the States.
Most of the time, I completely disagree with the editorial slant taken by the Daily Show, but I still find it extremely funny. Jon Stewart, the host, is a funny guy, and his delivery is tops, and most of the stuff he pokes fun at is fair game, and can often have me laughing hysterically, despite his mostly ripping into "my side".
Since the announcement of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential candidate, however, it just hasn't been funny. I am open-minded enough to appreciate good comedy even when it "offends" one's beliefs and sensibilities. But most of the shows since the day after the Democratic Convention have been nothing but angry, ugly, sneering, elitist ranting. The Manhattan bien pensants ripping into someone from Middle America because she isn't like one of them, is the impression I get. The underlying implication being that as she is from outside their rarefied world then she must be ignorant and not as worldly as the clever clogs that are writing the material on the show.
Well, Friday night's interview with Tony Blair showed just how knowledgeable and worldly Jon Stewart is when no one is writing his lines. Within the space of five minutes, he made, in my eyes, two of the stupidest "ignorant" American mistakes about geography and history.
First, when Tony Blair explained that he was now teaching at Yale, Stewart asks, "So, do you prefer getting paid in Dollars or Euros?" Blair politely informed him he prefers British Pounds.
Later, when Blair explained that no two democracies had ever gone to war, Stewart, with a clever smarmy tone, asked "Aren't Britain and Argentina democracies?"
Blair pretended not to hear it, yet Stewart pressed on. Blair had to inform Stewart that at the time of the Falklands War, Argentina was a dictatorship.
You know, I don't mind people being slightly ignorant of these things, in the grand scheme of American life and culture, these things don't matter. What I do take issue with is people like Stewart pretending they are more clever than they actually are and making unfounded assumptions about other people's levels of ignorance on the basis of ideology and calling it comedy.
What a tosser.
Actually, that is the problem with many on the Left (I should know, too, I used to be one). They assume that they are smarter than EVERYONE on the other side of the aisle. They use smarmy tones to talk down to people they don't agree with, and then they can't figure out why they lose elections. We're in store for another four years of liberal bleating about stolen elections.
The economy's tanking, George Bush is low in approval ratings, the Republicans are on the backfoot in Congress, the Iraq War is not particularly popular as a political issue, and 80% of the population think the country is going in the wrong direction.
And Obama is only leading by a few percentage points in the polls? At this point, he should be 15-20 points ahead of McCain. Who's clever now?
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