Potpourri

CAGEY'S READING:

Navy pilot's last act: saving 3 crew mates This story, one of tragic bravery, makes me feel so much admiration for how great a real man can be.  I heard about this story in local news and then in the following day or two the leader of a large church in town surprised many by revealing the rumor that LT Zilberman had selflessly kept the plane steady so that his mates could bail out.  Please pray for LT Zilberman's family and for all our fighting men.

Obama Can Remove Jihad From the National Security Strategy Document, But Can He Remove It From Islam?  A horse is a horse, a spade is a spade, and a violent Islamic extremist terrorist is a...  "bad guy"?

Obama seeks to 'reconnect...young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women' for 2010 What happened to "uniting the country"?

CAGEY'S PLANNING:

A trip to the bayou.  It's official. After long deliberation on what would be the next best trip, somehow the convergence of sense experience and the cultural terrain I rumble along have led me to favor this mystic environs!  Grimm's Ghost Stories, Live and Let Die (1978, Roger Moore), fan boats whooshing through swamp grass on Miami Vice, and Frankenfish (the movie) all come to mind.  So maybe I can go do some of my being introverted down there, on one of those cool pontoon houses, drinking some Blackened Voodoo beer and fishing.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"We protect the borders of other nations better than our own."         - Congressman Ted Poe, R-Texas.


FOLLOW-UP:

On the Mojave cross (Original story here: http://makalakapisei.blogspot.com/2009/10/follow-up-supreme-court-on-mojave.html).  The SCROTUS barely decided to allow the cross to remain, ruling that the district court's opinion did not constitute that cross as a "religious symbol"

Washington Post:  "The Supreme Court on Wednesday said a lower federal court was wrong to order the removal of a lone cross on government land in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and said separation of church and state 'does not require eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm.' "

"How did I know that the wise Latina n00b would add her God/America hating ideology to the dissent? Good choice, Obama."  - Found on the web. 

Thank you!

THE TOP ULTIMATE POWER COOLEST INVENTION OF ALL TIME:

The escalator!  I just had this epiphany today.

PERSONAL:

An old friend, Don, rang me up late last Saturday night.  I have a small family.  Mom, me, and the dog.  Mostly I'm in the mood to answer the phone when a friend calls. You know the feeling; sometimes you're up to switching gears and engaging with an old bud, the information age seems to make it a lot more common.  Other times it can be hard,  I'm not a great conversationalist, and how do you carry on with someone from back then like normal?  Really, it's important not to neglect these relationships because of their mutual benefit.  I'm learning about myself in talking with you.  Sense of community is important.  Sense of camaraderie is important.  Being neighborly,  being human.  Being childlike, in a way.  Being a good citizen.

This guy - same college I went to, married, child. He is raising a family in an idyllic little German community. Enchanting (by most any definition) just entering the place. You take an old metal bridge and cross to the other side of a big river.  He was completely soused which is a surrounding circumstance, but so what?  It did not limit the depth of communication we had from my p.o.v.  He was very complimentary ("I love you man" kinda stuff).  That felt really good, you don't get that often.  In vino, veritas.  What a nice guy, but I'm surprised when some of the things he's wrangling with in his subconcious bubble to the surface.  "I live in a small town.  This is boring.  My job.  Etc."  He has so much and he doesn't even realize it.  (In Swingers lingo: "You're so 4%^* money and you don't even know it.")  Often times you can't bring out these truths without exploring them with someone else.

The awkward moment:  Nobody really knows what to say to people that offer gratitude for your past or present because in truth, everyone goes through unique and even devastating hardships.  I'm talking about personal and military ones.  I am one of the lucky, (relatively) unscathed ones.  I have different scars than others.  O.k., if all of this just sounds like a lot of pomposity, it's not meant to be. I'm just trying to relate that words are valuable; deeds are valuable; as the saying goes, "At the end of the day, I hope most of us are the same."  Anyway, thank you for acknowledging me, but I am more moved by your ability to open yourself. 

Lao Tzu: "Thus also is the man of calling:  He knows himself, but does not want to shine.  He loves himself but does not seek honor for himself.  He removes the other and takes this.
I continue to realize that most of us never know how much a simple kind word or deed will inspire.  Another pal, a big joker with a heart of gold, (now in Afghanistan) recently reminded me how he'd saved my bacon in a scrap in college, something I'd long forgotten.  Fast-forward a few days.  Half-humorously, mostly serious,  I thanked him for it and said, "Rich, you're a good man."  He replied, "Cagey, you're a great man." This, a moment of utter humility for me,  a guy stumbling a bit trying to build a new life's plan.  So I tried to share Rich's same sentiment with Don.  After hanging up, I found my favorite realization is a reaffirmation that: My friends are my family. 

Quote of the day

“From bondage to spiritual faith;

From spiritual faith to great courage;

From courage to liberty;

From liberty to abundance;

From abundance to complacency;

From complacency to apathy;

From apathy to dependence;

From dependence back into bondage.”

- Alexander Tytler

Have Americans finally given up on big government?

Excerpted from the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Hating-the-government-finally-goes-mainstream-90852389.html#ixzz0lJxJ2xNi
by Chris Stirewalt

A year ago, the tea parties caught most everyone by surprise.

It was a conservative flash mob and hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets.

Republicans scrambled to get to the head of the parade and Democrats claimed that it was all a put-up job by their enemies in the special interest wars. The press tried to treat what had been a spontaneous outburst as if it were a traditional political party and asked all the questions they teach in journalism school: Who's in charge? Who are they opposed to? Is it racist?

This year, the political parties and the press will not be caught off guard. Republican politicians will address tea party rallies, Democrats will denounce the supposed puppeteers of the movement and the press will look for hate speech.

But few will glean the real meaning of the protests or the booming support for Ron and Rand Paul.

It's not about the Pauls themselves or the guys with the "Don't tread on me" flags It's about the people at home who might not be willing to march in the park or join the next Paul money bomb, but who don't blame the folks who do.

Libertarian sentiment has finally gone mainstream.

Is God unconstitutional yet?

An earlier QOTD from March 9th:

"The stupid lawsuit culture is only destroying the economy of America as it is a non-productive industry."


Not like you need much reinforcement in knowing this, but I'd like to take it a step further and state that the stupid lawsuit culture is also destroying the values and beliefs of America.  Americans, you do NOT need a law degree to understand that our endlessly tampering with the freedom to exercise religion is wrong from the get-go.  This is one reason I find the practice of modern law appalling, as you'll read in the article - one pulls a string farther and farther until not only the sweater unravels, but the thread itself has unravelled, complete iconoclasm, complete nihilism, complete deconstruction.  You accomplish nothing.  You don't further humanity.  You may "think" you understand something more fundamentally, it certainly takes a lot of "reason" (66 pages worth) in doing your part to smite the embers of religion. 
 
In the article, the infinitely wise Judge Crabb tries to reassure us that religion isn't bad, per se, but that she has decided, "through relevant case law," that government can't sponsor a day of prayer dating from 1952 (a time period in which, except for civil rights, the U.S. was a little more oriented toward common sense and decency). 
 
My bottom line is that the nearly constant incremental assaults on religion like this result in a country in which religion becomes alien.  When religion is alien, it is replaced by other ideas such as moral relativism, and then value judgments of good and bad are thrown out the window.   
 
Sidebar:  This reminds me of the paradox of atheism:  If they say they believe God doesn't exist without proving that God does not exist, doesn't that dismantle the idea that they can believe in anything? "Logically, we can't experience things outside of our realm of experience. You [atheists] claim to have knowledge of something beyond verification." - Stephen Richards
"What is it about atheists that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that we don't believe even exists?! What causes us to do that?" - Marylyn Adamson
 
"Judge: Nat'l Day of Prayer Unconstitutional"  How does this benefit the greater good?
 
According to the article, all this decides is that government can't endorse prayer in a statute.  What is the point?!?!  We already have removed most traces of our Christian origins from view in the public domain, with the exception of church grounds and cemeteries.  Speech is still free. It is unconscionable to me that one person, ONE PERSON can make such a decree, as if she were a queen.  Legal eagles:  You need to reign in some of your mentally ill friends.  A personal message for Judge Barbara Crabb: "**** ** salty *****."

Copyright, please

For future reference:  Like Michael Savage invented the term "compassionate conservatism,"  I made up the word "journihilsts."  Anywhere you may encounter it, just remember that I made it up and give credit where credit's due!

Cagey sing-along

The Church: Distant X Unseen

Sitting in the shadows and the evening oscillating

Feeling light and fading like it's never gonna change

Hoping for a moment for some gentle consolation

Waiting at the station where the trains are out of range

She's sitting in a carriage being jostled by the motion

Overhearing conversation, the grinding of the steel

Scenes fly past the curtains that the darkness paints uncertain

And memories are meaningless, her motives are concealed

Through countrysides and mountains and the village by the ocean

Where the stranger's waiting for her in the plushness of his car

Winding and rewinding, pushing all directions

Till the limit of implosions, which is never very far

All I ever wanted to see

Was just invisible to me

Out there in the distance the horizon meets resistance

The summer falls down drunken on the longest of the days

Rushing past the ruins of the churches and the Porsches

Reflected in the mirrors and the echoes and the haze

He drums impatient fingers on the chrome and on the leather

Running through the reasons in the corners of his mind

Sifting tiny diamonds on his shaky mental islands

Where he often claims asylum from the structures left behind

The wind blows through the headstones and the milestones making music

The melody reminds us the girl's still far away

Asleep in her compartment, dreaming of the darkness

As the train speeds on regardless to the approaching day

All I ever wanted to see

Was just invisible to me

Top 80s band comes to Tidewater - THE CHURCH!

Cagey's #5 favorite band.  From http://www.thechurchband.com/ (news): "After three decades together, the church return to North America for a special 30th anniversary acoustic tour throughout April and May 2010. “An Intimate Space” will include songs that span the length of the church’s epic creative trip from their debut in 1980 to their latest critically acclaimed 2009 album “Untitled # 23”."

"In a unique and unusual execution, the band will choose one song from each of their considerable album releases and perform them in reverse chronological order. This original show will have the audience gliding softly down through the years, opening with a track from “Untitled #23” before embarking on a fantastic voyage through time ultimately arriving at their first Australian album, “Of Skins And Heart” where it all began."

This engaging and rare performance is not to be missed.

FREE CD :To make these shows even more special, every ticket holder will receive a free copy of “Deadman’s Hand”, the third EP from the “Untitled #23” album. This EP will include the title track and unreleased tracks from the band’s secret vault.
APRIL
2 – San Juan Capistrano, CA – The Coach House
4 – San Diego, CA – Anthology
5 – Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre
6 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
8 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
9 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
13 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
14 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
15 – Chicago, IL – Park West
17 – Cleveland, OH – Winchester Tavern and Music Hall
18 – Ferndale, MI – The Magic Bag
19 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café
21 – Somerville, MA (Boston) - Arts at the Armory
22 – NYC, NY – City Winery
23 – Bay Shore, NY (Long Island) - Boulton Centre for the Performing Arts
24 – Sellersville, PA - Sellersville Theatre 1894
25 – Falls Church, VA (DC) - State Theatre
27 – Annapolis, MD – Rams Head On Stage
28 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa Theatre
29 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
30 - Charlotte, NC - McGlohon Theater

the church

An Intimate Space 30th Anniversary

Nth American Tour 2010

On their lyrics

Lyrics


Most of The Church's lyrics are written by Steve Kilbey, who was the sole songwriter on all albums up to Remote Luxury. Until then, Kilbey brought basically completed/demoed songs to the sessions while the arrangement was a group effort, mostly done by Peter Koppes. This changed since with Heyday in 1985. Now, the songs are results of expanded jam sessions. The music is first written in the studio, after which Kilbey writes the lyrics. His lyrics and poems are often described as surreal, though Kilbey flatly rejects any fixed meaning of his poetry, categorizing them as art pour l'art. Surveying his body of work, several recurring themes can be noticed: myths, legends, dreams and nightmares, visions, drug fantasies, orientalisms, biblical (not exclusively Christian) motifs. These thematic circles are linked, using numerous word plays and references. More recently, Kilbey has stated (about his latest collection, "Eden") his poetry questions "the fabric of love and fear, temptation and creation and our eternal quest for meaning." Often he tries to sketch with few strokes and hints a complete epic course, leaving the details to the listener's imagination.
The Church handle their lyrics to some extent subversively. Strikingly, since the release of 1988's Starfish they have refused to provide lyric sheets to the albums, on the idea that sung lyrics should be listened to, not read. Kilbey likes the idea of a lyric emerging in a person's head, spawning lots of new and unforeseen meanings. This intent notwithstanding, complete collections of Church lyrics can be found on the internet.
Most Church albums have at least one song in which the lyrics and vocals are written and sung by either Peter Koppes or Marty Willson-Piper.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_(band)

Cagey's reading this week (long digest edition)

Directions: Print this out and post in your office latrine.

Top story

National Security Strategy will not include "Islamic Extremism" within its lexicon.  This story is on Sen. Lieberman's complaint.  How could this be?!  Savage puts it best: "Spineless, myopic leaders."

The Connecticut independent revealed that he wrote a letter Friday to top counterterrorism adviser John Brennan urging the administration to "identify accurately the ideological source" of the threat against the United States. He wrote that failing to identify "violent Islamist extremism" as the enemy is "offensive."

Damn right, it's offensive!  And not only is it offensive, it is dangerous.  Our cultural pendulum has swung so far left off track that it's broken the clock.

In language & linguistics

Being a language buff, I couldn't resist posting this story:

"Croatian teenager wakes from coma speaking fluent German"

Flashback  - 16 OCT 2007

Your American president:  The 2nd Amendment and the Christian canon are somehow bad.

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Source: http://inkslwc.wordpress.com/2008/04/12/barack-obama-bitter-pennsylvanians-cling-to-guns-or-religion/

Politics & the military
A response to Wikileaks' anti-American slanted commentary toward a leaked video of a U.S. counter-insurgency assault:

I have had three instances where an “anti-war” person insulted or offended me, and those I remember with clarity. Unfortunately the nice strangers who said encouraging things to me over the years tend to merge, melt, and fade away in memory. Kind of the nature of the beast, so I am not surprised that so much attention is given to these situations where civilians are killed even though situations where our troops have aided, assisted, protected, sacrificed, and defended vastly outnumber these instances. It’s common sense so I won’t enlist that as a defense.

I have no problem with people that never served having an opinion, but what I do have issue with is the prescriptive manner in which they criticize. Much like a lady I saw on the news that was angry with the police because her son was killed in a shootout with police because he was caught robbing a bank. “They could have shot him in the leg!” she said.

Most people who have never been to Iraq wiki the Geneva convention, and the rules of engagement, and don’t understand how it is applied. Nor do they understand the escalation of force. They are entitled to their opinion, but until you are in a situation of being fired at, IED’d, RPG’d, or receive IDF while you are trying to sleep you may not understand the frustration. Strap on 60 pounds of IBA, Sapi Plates, gear, and a weapon and jog/walk/ride in 100 plus degree heat for 6 to 8 hours at a time you will understand frustration. Trade shots with, attempt to encircle, and run about 6 city blocks in the dark with all of that crap trying to catch someone who you saw with thermals trying to set an IED, and when he gets away and you have to ask yourself, “Damn, is someone gonna die cause I couldn’t get that fu**”?

You also don’t understand that troops are generally where an Iraqi policeman cannot be. There is a difference between a Soldier and a policeman. A vast difference, and many times the mission focus is not on capturing. I’m not sure about what happened in the hours of days before this event, nor the hours and days afterward. I do know that some troops have behaved dishonorably and many of them are serving time. Some events are not crystal clear and “fog of war” is so cliche it almost hints at cover up. In my last unit I was a Platoon Leader and my Platoon Sergeant said, “Sir, sometimes you have to make a quick decision and hope it’s right. I think I would rather ‘ere on the side of living’ and explain myself later.” Not to say that this fits the bill, but even those of you that think that we are cold-blooded and heartless, and dishonorable have to admit that more than likely we want to live to see home again.

Source: http://www.oliverwillis.com/2010/04/05/wikileaks-collateral-murder-video/#comment-217316, by Dkelsmith

STOP BOWING!!!

Obama Bows Again to Communist China, America Hangs Head in Shame

Cagey's listening to

Dramatis Personae

I always met storied gentlemen abroad. I walked outside. After my eyes adjusted, my eyes wandered along the piers. Then, I was reminded of this letter:

Dear Cagey,

If we do not have a chance to speak before Hawaii, as seems likely, I wanted to thank you first of all for your indefatigable companionship on numerous occasions. You are a wonderful person to talk to, you have remarkable interests, and, last but not least, you have a great sense of humor. Good luck in all your future ventures!

And then, as with before, the moment crystallized and I put it away. 

The cognitive domain: Where do you feel you operate?

I'm a huge fan of this model of thought created by David Bloom in the 1950s.  In early grade school, maybe 5th grade, I remember being introduced to this concept with a stack of multi-colored cards cut out to resemble Pac-Man, bound together by string.  The most basic level, "knowledge" i.e. learning facts, is the easiest, maybe most comfortable level in which to operate.  In school, we are/were routinely learning facts, but also working at the highest levels, whether we were more given toward analyzing, synthesizing or evaluating ("highest level of thought") is up for debate.  During the course of higher education, our main focus areas may be raising a family, going to work, putting out routine fires.  We get to feeling a little rusty (so many mechanical analogies)! 

When we must look far inward and summon the guts to put pen to paper for class, well,  it takes momentum and warming up to operate there - the usual manual transmission analogies.  Once you've been there for awhile though and can "flow," it can be very satisfying.  (See my first post!) Maybe we operate at top gear more often that I think - in a multitude of ways - but as I sat surfing Fark before writing my last test, I thought about this model and how a runner trains.  Reading, like regular p.t. to physical fitness, builds the mental sort of discipline you want to easier slip into higher gears.  And not waiting until the last minute helps too.  I understand that David Bloom found that students operated at the knowledge level most often - regurgitating information.  So summer's coming, we have stacks of books begging to be read and plans to make, let's turn off the computer and get to it!

Do you feel you're primed to operate in top gear with only little warming up needed?  If so, well done!

GCPAS announces first official candidate for 2010 video of the year

See details at right. 

Cagey's reading this week:

"Pirate Negotiating Tools"

http://www.psychologytoday.com/em/40539

Kind of interesting, but under the "life insurance" policy, how do you

avoid being murdered by your shipmate?

"North Korean Defector Touts Ideology Over Force"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/nkorea.defector/?hpt=T2

I predict North Korea will be reunified with the Republic of Korea in my lifetime.  However, it could get wacky - PRC could go for a big real-estate grab if the regime is destabilized.

"7777 has Pennsylvania's Lucky Number"

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/04/01/jackpot-7-7-7-7-has-pennsylvanias-number/#comments

Numerologist discussing this magnificent phenomenon.  A statistician pointed out that drawing 7-7-7-7 in a lotto is as likely as 1-2-3-4, 9-8-7-6, or 2-4-5-9, but consider this: the payout was $7.77M.  Now: maybe many know the devil's number in the Bible, but they may not know that "7" is considered a holy number.  If you needed an omen, of anything, this is a good one. 

 

"Fed to test Results-Only Work Environment" http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/751230

Only responsible people can be trusted with this mechanism... maybe some newbies who need incentives or younger managers who put in extra when they need to.  As one journalist asked, "What does government produce, anyway? So they do nothing already  and they don't have to come to work now, either."  I can see this working for the military but perhaps not for bureaucrats.  There would have to be significant output performance measures to protect the government from heavy contusive bleeding.  Double-edged sword is obviously intrusiveness - micromanagement.

P.S. - Where's that four-day work-week everyone's been pining on about?!

Read of the Week: "The Broken Society" - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/opinion/19brooks.html?src=me&ref=general

David Brooks: "Blond argues that over the past generation we have witnessed two revolutions, both of which liberated the individual and decimated local associations. First, there was a revolution from the left: a cultural revolution that displaced traditional manners and mores; a legal revolution that emphasized individual rights instead of responsibilities; a welfare revolution in which social workers displaced mutual aid societies and self-organized associations."

"Then there was the market revolution from the right. In the age of deregulation, giant chains like Wal-Mart decimated local shop owners. Global financial markets took over small banks, so that the local knowledge of a town banker was replaced by a manic herd of traders thousands of miles away. Unions withered."


"The two revolutions talked the language of individual freedom, but they perversely ended up creating greater centralization. They created an atomized, segmented society and then the state had to come in and attempt to repair the damage."