I fault this president (George W. Bush) for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our twenty-one year olds who wanted to be what they could be.
On the eve of D-day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.
But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the WMDs he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphant, a he-man. He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
But you study him, you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the thousand dead young men and women who wanted to be what they could be.
They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of familial relationships and the inconsolable remembrance of aborted life.... They come to his desk as a political liability which is why the press is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their coffins from Iraq.
How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does not regret that rather than controlling terrorism his war in Iraq has licensed it.
So he never mourns for the dead and crippled youngsters who have fought this war of his choice. He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to war when it is one of the options, but when it is the only option; you go not because you want to but because you have to.
This president knew it would be difficult for Americans not to cheer the overthrow of a foreign dictator. He knew that much. This president and his supporters would seem to have a mind for only one thing --- to take power, to remain in power, and to use that power for the sake of themselves and their friends. A war will do that as well as anything. You become a wartime leader. The country gets behind you. Dissent becomes inappropriate. And so he does not drop to his knees, he is not contrite, he does not sit in the church with the grieving parents and wives and children.
He is the President who does not feel. He does not feel for the families of the dead; he does not feel for the thirty five million of us who live in poverty; he does not feel for the forty percent who cannot afford health insurance; he does not feel for the miners whose lungs are turning black or for the working people he has deprived of the chance to work overtime at time-and-a-half to pay their bills --- it is amazing for how many people in this country this President does not feel.
But he will dissemble feeling. He will say in all sincerity he is relievingt he wealthiest one percent of the population of their tax burden for the sake of the rest of us, and that he is polluting the air we breathe for the sake of our economy, and that he is decreasing the safety regulations for coal mines to save the coal miners' jobs, and that he is depriving workers of their time-and-a- half benefits for overtime because this is actually a way to honor them by raising them into the professional class.
And this litany of lies he will versify with reverences for God and the flag and democracy, when just what he and his party are doing to our democracy is choking the life out of it.
But there is one more terribly sad thing about all of this. I remember the millions of people here and around the world who marched against the war. It was extraordinary, that spontaneously aroused over soul of alarm and protestt hat transcended national borders. Why did it happen? After all, this was not the only war anyone had ever seen coming. There are little wars all over the world most of the time.
But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war.
The president we get is the country we get. With each president the nation is conformed spiritually. He is the artificer of our malleable national soul. He proposes not only the laws but the kinds of lawlessness that govern our lives and invoke our responses. The people he appoints are cast in hisi mage. The trouble they get into and get us into, is his characteristic trouble.
Finally the media amplify his character into our moral weather report. He becomes the face of our sky, the conditions that prevail: How can we sustain ourselves as the United States of America given the stupid and ineffective warmaking, the constitutionally insensitive lawgiving, and the monarchal economics of this president? He cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves.
E.L. Doctorow
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Thoughts For a Wednesday Morning
How low is lonely, how deep is down?
How far is away, when you're in a strange town?
When your own breathing is the night's only sound,
How low is lonely, how deep is down?
How much is many, how little is few?
How much of me has become part of you?
Now that I've lost what I thought I had found,
How low is lonely, how deep is down?
I think I need to pull back into myself for awhile. It's safe there....most of the time, at least.
-Jaydog
How low is lonely, how deep is down?
How far is away, when you're in a strange town?
When your own breathing is the night's only sound,
How low is lonely, how deep is down?
How much is many, how little is few?
How much of me has become part of you?
Now that I've lost what I thought I had found,
How low is lonely, how deep is down?
I think I need to pull back into myself for awhile. It's safe there....most of the time, at least.
-Jaydog
Monday, July 18, 2005
Monday again?
The weekend is over, and once again it's Monday. My favorite day of the week. Yah, right! My feelings about today are a little mixed, so it may be too early to tell just how this one will go down in the records books.
If you read my ranting from yesterday's post about my Soundbridge, you know that it was destined for a joyride back to Best Buy. Well, I didn't get a chance to pack it up over the weekend, so this morning it was still connected. On a whim, I grabbed the remote and turned it on. Wouldn't you know? The (expletive deleted) thing connects almost instantly to my wireless network and begins scrolling a list of the music libraries on my PC! Of course this happens about 10 minutes before I had to leave for work, so I didn't get a chance to sit back and enjoy it. So now what do I do? Let's see what happens tonight when I get home.
Meanwhile, jumped out of the shower, running late as usual. I towel-dried my hair and just let it air-dry while I finished doing a few other things around the house. Right before getting dressed, I went back into my bathroom to slap some Crew into it. For some reason, that set off a chain reaction that left me looking like a cross between Don King and a Chia Pet! ARRRGGGHHHHH! No time to jump back in the shower and re-wash my hair, so just put a little water on it, towel-dried again, and wrangled it into something that wouldn't scare people. So yeah, having a bad hair day.
THEN, I get to work and realize I left my employee I.D. and card key at home. Since I work in a secured building, AND a secured area inside the building, that means I had to face security to get a temporary badge to wear around my neck. Hand me the felt-tipped marker. I'll just draw the big "L" on my forehead myself!
Wish me luck, light a candle....whatever you think might work. Thanks!
-Jaydog
If you read my ranting from yesterday's post about my Soundbridge, you know that it was destined for a joyride back to Best Buy. Well, I didn't get a chance to pack it up over the weekend, so this morning it was still connected. On a whim, I grabbed the remote and turned it on. Wouldn't you know? The (expletive deleted) thing connects almost instantly to my wireless network and begins scrolling a list of the music libraries on my PC! Of course this happens about 10 minutes before I had to leave for work, so I didn't get a chance to sit back and enjoy it. So now what do I do? Let's see what happens tonight when I get home.
Meanwhile, jumped out of the shower, running late as usual. I towel-dried my hair and just let it air-dry while I finished doing a few other things around the house. Right before getting dressed, I went back into my bathroom to slap some Crew into it. For some reason, that set off a chain reaction that left me looking like a cross between Don King and a Chia Pet! ARRRGGGHHHHH! No time to jump back in the shower and re-wash my hair, so just put a little water on it, towel-dried again, and wrangled it into something that wouldn't scare people. So yeah, having a bad hair day.
THEN, I get to work and realize I left my employee I.D. and card key at home. Since I work in a secured building, AND a secured area inside the building, that means I had to face security to get a temporary badge to wear around my neck. Hand me the felt-tipped marker. I'll just draw the big "L" on my forehead myself!
Wish me luck, light a candle....whatever you think might work. Thanks!
-Jaydog
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Thanks, Joe!
TRUE FRIEND
I'm not sure when it happened
But I'm very glad it did...
You came into my life when
I really needed a friend.
The more I get to know you
The more I know myself.
You and I are different...
And in many ways the same.
Your good ear, compassionate heart,
will always find you fame...
I promise to always be here,
Forever and to the end.
You are the true definition of a True Friend.
I'm not sure when it happened
But I'm very glad it did...
You came into my life when
I really needed a friend.
The more I get to know you
The more I know myself.
You and I are different...
And in many ways the same.
Your good ear, compassionate heart,
will always find you fame...
I promise to always be here,
Forever and to the end.
You are the true definition of a True Friend.
Did you miss me, possums?
Ah, my apologies. It has been a long time since I've stopped in here to share what's going on in the Dog House. Blame work, summer, friends.....anything you want. But let's put that behind us, and start fresh, shall we? Good!
Work is work. When it's good, it's fantastic! When it's anything but good, watch out. While things haven't changed significantly in my little corner of the work world, the impending merger has turned things upside down elsewhere as people begin to jockey for position, trying to prove their value to the organization by stomping on everyone around them, above them and below them. And as the merger process advances, suddently the "merger of equals" has begun to dissolve into something quite different. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Stay tuned.
During the deep dark days of winter, one longs for the warmth of summer. But when summer finally arrives, with the long, hot, dry days one expects here along the front range of the Colorado Rockies, suddenly the energy is simply drained from you. All you want to do is find a spot in the shade and stay there. Or just insure your comfort by seeking the refuge of an air-conditioned building, and stay there. A recent discussion on my moblog pitted those who liked cool weather against those who preferred hot. My final word on the subject was that when you're cold, you can always add more clothing to attain your own personal comfort level. However, if you're too hot, there's only so much you can do with your attire in order to cool down. Once you've shed every stitch of clothing, there's nothing more that can be done. Enough said.
Friendship can be a double-edged sword. It can bring indescribable happiness, or unbearable pain. That's the lesson I've learned once again in the past couple of weeks. I've learned that you can't force friendship. You can do everything possible to nurture it, but if the other person doesn't want your friendship, there's nothing you can do about it. So, while the pain of being rejected runs deep, you pick yourself up off the ground and move on. I am.
Now time for the ranting and raving you've come to expect from me. Today's topic is the Roku Soundbridge M500 Wireless Music Router.
With high hopes, I plunked down my $200 at Best Buy last Tuesday for this torture device. If you don't know what it is, it's a wireless router that is connected to your home entertainment center, and through your existing wireless network streams music from your home computer. I'd read up on it online, read the specs and user reviews, and finally decided to take the plunge. I brought it home, unpacked it, and hooked it up according to the user manual. Although easy set-up was promised, it certainly wasn't delivered. Three hours later, I finally had it working and streaming music from Rhapsody to my home theater in the living room. I was delighted! I turned everything off and went to bed around 1 a.m.. The next morning I turned everything back on again, and attempted to play some music. Nothing! I tried numerous things, referring back to the troubleshooting section of the user guide. Still nothing. That evening, I tried again with the same result. Finally, I went to Roku's website looking for help. I figured they MUST have a tech support line that I could call for assistance. WRONG! Their idea of technical support is a chat forum, moderated by a tech support person. I figured I'd give it a try, so registered, and sent my plea for help. And waited. And waited. Finally I got a response about 30 minutes later. This went back and forth all evening long as different things were tried and failed. The longest wait for a response was three hours. What am I supposed to do in the meantime, huh? The bottom line: In the battle of man against (electronic) machine, man has lost this one. The thing is going back into its box and back to the store next week for a refund.
A quick word of advice to Roku... Hey, bozo's! Your customers are plunking down between $200-500 for your product. Do you think that maybe that warrants a live tech suport line? DUH!
HAHAHAHA!
Ah, my apologies. It has been a long time since I've stopped in here to share what's going on in the Dog House. Blame work, summer, friends.....anything you want. But let's put that behind us, and start fresh, shall we? Good!
Work is work. When it's good, it's fantastic! When it's anything but good, watch out. While things haven't changed significantly in my little corner of the work world, the impending merger has turned things upside down elsewhere as people begin to jockey for position, trying to prove their value to the organization by stomping on everyone around them, above them and below them. And as the merger process advances, suddently the "merger of equals" has begun to dissolve into something quite different. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Stay tuned.
During the deep dark days of winter, one longs for the warmth of summer. But when summer finally arrives, with the long, hot, dry days one expects here along the front range of the Colorado Rockies, suddenly the energy is simply drained from you. All you want to do is find a spot in the shade and stay there. Or just insure your comfort by seeking the refuge of an air-conditioned building, and stay there. A recent discussion on my moblog pitted those who liked cool weather against those who preferred hot. My final word on the subject was that when you're cold, you can always add more clothing to attain your own personal comfort level. However, if you're too hot, there's only so much you can do with your attire in order to cool down. Once you've shed every stitch of clothing, there's nothing more that can be done. Enough said.
Friendship can be a double-edged sword. It can bring indescribable happiness, or unbearable pain. That's the lesson I've learned once again in the past couple of weeks. I've learned that you can't force friendship. You can do everything possible to nurture it, but if the other person doesn't want your friendship, there's nothing you can do about it. So, while the pain of being rejected runs deep, you pick yourself up off the ground and move on. I am.
Now time for the ranting and raving you've come to expect from me. Today's topic is the Roku Soundbridge M500 Wireless Music Router.
With high hopes, I plunked down my $200 at Best Buy last Tuesday for this torture device. If you don't know what it is, it's a wireless router that is connected to your home entertainment center, and through your existing wireless network streams music from your home computer. I'd read up on it online, read the specs and user reviews, and finally decided to take the plunge. I brought it home, unpacked it, and hooked it up according to the user manual. Although easy set-up was promised, it certainly wasn't delivered. Three hours later, I finally had it working and streaming music from Rhapsody to my home theater in the living room. I was delighted! I turned everything off and went to bed around 1 a.m.. The next morning I turned everything back on again, and attempted to play some music. Nothing! I tried numerous things, referring back to the troubleshooting section of the user guide. Still nothing. That evening, I tried again with the same result. Finally, I went to Roku's website looking for help. I figured they MUST have a tech support line that I could call for assistance. WRONG! Their idea of technical support is a chat forum, moderated by a tech support person. I figured I'd give it a try, so registered, and sent my plea for help. And waited. And waited. Finally I got a response about 30 minutes later. This went back and forth all evening long as different things were tried and failed. The longest wait for a response was three hours. What am I supposed to do in the meantime, huh? The bottom line: In the battle of man against (electronic) machine, man has lost this one. The thing is going back into its box and back to the store next week for a refund.
A quick word of advice to Roku... Hey, bozo's! Your customers are plunking down between $200-500 for your product. Do you think that maybe that warrants a live tech suport line? DUH!
Enough. I've said what I needed to for now. My best to everyone. Stay safe and stay cool!
How about a smile?
-Jaydog
HAHAHAHA!
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Just thinking....
I was surfing Rhapsody earlier tonight, and ran across this Dan Fogelberg song. Really made me think. That's a spooky thought, isn't it possums?
Only The Heart May Know
Silent sea
Starry skies
Friends we knew
Only The Heart May Know
Silent sea
Tell this to me:
Where are the children that we used to be?
At picture shows
Where nobody goes
And only the heart can see.
Starry skies
Soft lullabies
Where do they go when their melodies die?
To a day
Far, far away
That only the heart may know.
Friends we knew
Follow us through
All of the days of our lives.
Love we shared
Waits for us there
Where our wishes forever reside.
Falling tears
Memories' mirrors
Where are summers
where are the years?
Carried far
To a wandering star
That only the heart may know.
Friday, July 01, 2005
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