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Guiding: Your Money For Your Christ

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Revenge of the Money Changers

Mt. Vernon

Rain, rain, go away!  So much for fine June days here in the nation’s capital.  We had a couple of storms this week that were absolute snorkers.  Doesn’t the god of weather know this is DC?  We don’t  actually do disasters, we fund them.

But the week ended on a euphoric note with a spectacular Friday: blue sky with scudding white clouds, a brisk wind and the birds a warbling.

I was touring with a group of pleasant and smart eighth-graders on a day that started at Washington’s Mount Vernon and ended at the Washington Cathedral.  The Mansion House was at its best framed by the sky above and the bowling green below.  You can understand why His Excellency always pined for home.

We left Mt. Vernon en route to our cathedral experience aptly enough on a motor coach where the word “angel” figured prominently in the title of the company.  This apparent coincidence became prescient as our bus driver texted away on a smartphone coming northbound on the George Washington Parkway in the left lane of a four lane highway with no middle barrier.  I’d like to see angels one day but Friday did seem a bit soon to me.

Washington National Cathedral

 

 

God was on our side, though, as we arrived safely at DC’s church-of-note and debarked for our tour after parking in a half-empty bus garage.  On the plaza level we were met by a sneaker-wearing sort of walmart/cathedral greeter who implored us to spit out our gum one moment while informing us he was a “foremost authority” on the cathedral in the next one.  I heard nothing from him that proved his assertion though perhaps I am just jealous as I am an authority of the hindmost sort.

 

 

 

The Rose Window

 

 

Groups like mine, arriving by bus, make a $175 “donation” to see the cathedral and you MUST have a reservation.  I wonder if you can get a reservation if you don’t make the “donation”?  (One can park and worship for a mere $50.)  The 300-foot tall tower exterior is festooned in dark scaffolding and the interior is draped with dark netting perhaps to remind us (again) that the cathedral was damaged by the 2011 earthquake.  (And money is required to fix it.)  This reminds me of the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode where Larry David’s mother passes away and he suddenly realizes it is a great excuse for all sorts of things.  I believe the cynical expression is “working it.”

 

 

The docent-led tour progressed through the stunning main level of the church.  This time of year the docents do the nave level and hand the group back to guides who are expected to take them on a tour of the crypt level.  The crypt is found by descending a set of worn steps which pass by a statue of a pious and kneeling Abe Lincoln and which ends at the ubiquitous (and cavernous) gift shop.  (One can now skip the steps as a gift shop has been installed on the nave level thus allowing the hard core shopper to slip away from the communion rail for a wee peek at this week’s specials.)

St. Joseph’s Chapel

 

The crypt level of the cathedral has several beautiful chapels (Bethlehem and St. Joseph’s).  On arrival there I was met by a docent.  I explained that I had a group and would be showing them these two areas.   She quickly informed me I would be doing no such thing.  This time of year, she announced, “It’s one or the other.”  The irony was priceless, (perhaps the only thing so at the Cathedral).  As Bethlehem chapel depicts the birth of Christ and St. Joseph’s his death, I was being forced to choose between the two, a sort of Judas with a guide badge.

 

I chose death.  Let’s be honest, that’s where the drama is and besides, the art is better in that chapel and as if that alone were not enough, it is where the great Helen Keller is interred.  It wasn’t even a close call.

Still, for $175 you would think the kids could view both the birth and death of Christ but I suppose Jesus Christ really is a superstar and can demand top pay.

We skipped the gift shop on the way out.

 

 

Posted by on June 16, 2013 • Filed under: (Almost) Hidden DC, Art, Different, History, Sculpture, Statuary, Outdoor Art, Values and Ethics, Words

The Apparition

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Of Stones and People

Arlington

Here we are, on the cusp of Memorial Day, when we honor and remember those who died serving our country.

And, it’s a busy time for guiding here as schools across the country wind up the year with a DC trip.  Most include a foray to Arlington National Cemetery to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers.

The Cemetery is my favorite place to visit.  If that sounds odd, it’s really not.  It can be an exquisite and serene oasis in the city.  When quiet there is the rustle of wind in trees and the chorus of birds punctuated, as always, by the clatter of hooves on asphalt and gunfire in the distance as a final honor is bestowed.  Few words are needed to tell the story of this place.

The Cemetery is immense, some 630 acres, with tens of thousands of headstones, many of the uniform type, but thousands of others of all sizes and shapes.  For me, the stones have blended with the natural setting in a way to become almost one and the same.  They are as periods at the end of sentences we will never read.

A Spectral Sentry

 

Two days ago I was with a group of fifth graders for two days when on the evening of the first day one of them asserted that they had seen a “ghost” at Arlington earlier.  ”Right”, I answered back, to then be told there was a photo of the encounter which I obviously requested to see.

 

Out came the smartphone, and there, sure enough, in the center, was what looked to be a faint image of a long-ago soldier quietly attending–present and accounted for on the field of honor.

Alas, this is no ghost story as I doubt both the possibility and the provenance.  But it need not be about either if it reminds us instead of lives both lived and given in service.

Still, in this age of  ubiquitous “reality” please tell no one that I now wander the fields of Arlington fully enlivened by a fifth grader’s chance gift which now makes it a place of stones and people.

Posted by on May 24, 2013 • Filed under: (Almost) Hidden DC, A Life, Different, History, Religion and Spirituality, Sculpture, Statuary, Outdoor Art, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, Words

The Red Line of Right

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Walking Obama Back

Yesterday’s New York Times had one of those “Washington Insider” stories wherein presidential advisers express dismay of pants-peeing proportion that the guy in charge actually said what he felt about a morally troubling issue.  Time to get him back in the box.

Here’s the President’s quote  from an earlier NYT article:

Syria and Chemical Weapons

“We cannot have a situation in which chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people,” Mr. Obama said in response to questions at an impromptu news conference at the White House. “We have been very clear to the Assad regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is, we start seeing a whole bunch of weapons moving around or being utilized.”

Our foreign policy uber wonks would have Obama apparently follow  Bill Clinton’s example (and crushingly poor judgement) in refusing to acknowledge that what was happening in Rawanda was genocide.  Clinton administration officials  declined to even use the word “genocide” as they might have to actually do something if they did.

Obama said what he thought and felt but here is how a “senior official” spins it now, “Mr. Obama was thinking of a chemical attack that would cause mass fatalities, not relatively small-scale episodes like those now being investigated, except the “nuance got completely dropped.”

Now we get it.  The occasional use of nerve gas where a dozen or so are killed and injured:  not a big deal.  By that calculus the Boston bombing was not even front page news. But, of course, we apply a different formula for non-US terror casualties.

It must be admitted that this is all muddled by the memory of George W. Bush engaging in a ground war in Iraq over specious claims of weapons of mass destruction.

But if American strategic interests demand our constant involvement in the Middle East to protect our 51st state (Israel) and our dependence on oil, the President should at least feel free to be morally indignant about the actual use of a chemical weapon without his staff swooning in confusion and fear.

After all, a president being honest is a nice thing–every once in a while.

 

 

Posted by on May 6, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, History, War and Peace, Words

Tsarnaev and McVeigh: The Price We Pay?

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Doctrine, Disaffection and Violence

The news is full of stories of the FBI and others “scrambling” for clues to understand the motivation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the chief Boston Bomber.  So far we know that he was unsuccessful as a boxer, married, a father, unemployed and a follower of “radical Islam.”

Timothy McVeigh

Patriot Gone Awry

Tsarnaev’s trajectory has been charted before in the form of Timothy McVeigh.  Some details are different but the essentials remain the same.  McVeigh, too, ultimately failed in his goals as a soldier, becoming both unemployed and a wanderer.  He also embraced an ultra radical doctrine of gun rights and the “Patriot Movement” that included a strong anti-federal government component.  McVeigh quit the NRA because it was not sufficiently radical.  He was very intelligent, with an IQ well above average.

Of course, the normal recourse to a professional setback or personal failure is to try again or select another path.  Tsarnaev and McVeigh instead opted for rigid apocalyptic doctrines that oddly channeled failures as mundane as  perceived sexual or relationship inadequacy or employment problems into scenarios involving the federal government.

McVeigh was in Waco during the seige, traveling there to express his outrage and support.  He also went to Area 51 in New Mexico and to Gulfport, Mississippi, to investigate “government conspiracies.”

Tamerlan Tsarnaev

Grounded in Grozny?

Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s earlier path is  both obscured and partially explained by his Chechen origins and his exposure to a terrorist culture grounded there in their “no holds barred” fight with the Russians in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic.  Chechens were heavily involved in the 2004 Beslan, North Ossetia, hostage taking at a school where 380 people, many of them young children, were killed.

Tsarnaev went to Chechnya and Dagestan last year and it was there that his full embrace of Anti-US and radical Islamic doctrine apparently began.

In the case of both McVeigh and Tsarnaev, personal failures resulted in terminal disaffection and the subsequent decision to cast their fate with violent radicals.  It must have been seductive and empowering to once again have both purpose and a clear path.  In fact, committing to a moral ideology, with or without a religious component, is in part how most people chart their lives.  But, in their case, the operative component was violence.

Personal failure and disaffection are part of the human condition.  And, being a radical is neither negative nor criminal.  It is the descent into violence and terror that sets them apart.

The Role of Foriegn Policy and War

McVeigh and Tsarnaev both refer to wars as at least partial explanations for their violence.  McVeigh to the First Gulf War where he served and Tsarnaev to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Some writers have suggested that Tsarnaev’s war reference is really hatred at the Russians for their Chechen adventures so that anti-Russian sentiment morphs into anti-American sentiment, surely an irony of some proportion.

McVeigh taunted the US in his writings suggesting that they had done much more than he:  ”Remember Dresden? How about Hanoi? Tripoli? Baghdad? What about the big ones — Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”  His characterization of US military actions as essentially state-sponsored terrorism against civilians speaks for itself.

Is American foreign policy and the  wars which result at least the partial pretense for terrorism here?  The answer would seem to be a resounding yes, at least according to the perpetrators  of Oklahoma City, 9/11 and Boston.

Westboro Baptist

Democracy and Terror

What sets McVeigh and Tsarnaev apart from Bin Laden is their grounding in American culture and democratic institutions, as fallible as they can be.  And, youthful disaffection which descends into terror is deeply disconcerting.

Doctrines of violence and hate  (KKK, Westboro, skinheads, etc.) will be with us always but when they serve as a beacon calling the young and disaffected, perhaps it is time to pause and ponder.

 

 

Posted by on April 30, 2013 • Filed under: History, Religion and Spirituality, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, Words

Baghdad in Boston

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For a Moment the World is Smaller

Baghdad Bombing

Yesterday in Iraq there were explosions in Baghdad, Fallujah, Tikrit, Samarra, and Hilla.  The BBC reports that 20 car and roadside bombs were employed.  Thirty-one people were killed and over 200 injured.  Such bombings are commonplace in Iraq and elsewhere.

A bit of Baghdad came to Boston yesterday.

It was Patriot’s Day when the famous opening skirmishes at Lexington and Concord signaled the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.

Lexington and Concord

The British were preempting the colonists, out to relieve them of their powder and cannon.  The initial fighting may have been “accidental” and the rest of it was confused but at least it was out in the open.

The timing and place of yesterday’s horror is deeply suspect and freighted with suggestions of liberty and revolution.  If so, it is a bestial attempt to appropriate symbols of the birth of America.

Boston

Our pluralistic and democratic society is remarkably free from the concussions of violent anarchy.  Still, we are prey to those who wish to de-stabilize society, be they from within or without.

Our diversity as a country is the best protection against those that would seek to destroy it.  Allowing people the space to have and express a wide a variety of views and opinions is the bedrock of American Democracy.

If America is a bit like Baghdad this morning, we can for a moment understand their struggle but we can also commit ourselves to unifying around the primary principle that makes us a free and diverse land: mutual respect for others.

Posted by on April 16, 2013 • Filed under: History, Religion and Spirituality, Values and Ethics, War and Peace

History and Race: March 18, 1942

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The War Relocation Act

Seventy-one years ago today Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order requiring 120,000 mostly Japanese-Americans to report for forced relocation.

In the wake of the December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, politicians, leaders and many others concluded that all Americans exhibiting the features of Japanese ancestry were potential spies, soldiers or saboteurs.

Relocation Centers

Round-Up

While Asians and Asian-Americans were no doubt used to a degree of  racism, this detention based solely on physical characteristics was unprecedented.

The mass round-up devastated families and communities as businesses were sold and careers ended.

There were ten re-location centers, mostly in the west.  They were chosen partly because of their remote location and ironically were mostly on Native America Lands.  Native Americans, of course, were similarly “relocated” though more forcibly and permanently.

Arriving at a Center

A Bleak Life

Life at a center was minimalist, spare and institutional.  Living arrangements were barracks style, meals were taken in a common mess hall and space was strictly limited.  At the Topaz Center each person was allocated about 114 square feet.

Some internees were able to obtain jobs, mostly in agriculture.  Others concentrated on education, hobbies and “Americanization.”

 

“Gaman” Art

Gaman

Gaman is “a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.”  Internees confined in a harsh environment bereft of personal possessions and objects turned to making art out of available materials such as wood, beads, and other found materials.  This art is now known as Gaman art and is amazing for its ingenuity and beauty.

Freedom and Memory

Memorial

As the war drew to a close, July 1945 spelled the end of all of the camps but one.  Internees were expected to move on with their lives though irreparable damage had been done in the cause of a false sense of security based on racial profiling and animus.

In 1992 Congress passed legislation to allow for the construction in Washington, DC, of  the “Memorial to Japanese-American Patriotism in World War II.”

The completed memorial now stands at Louisiana Ave and D St., Northwest.  It recognizes both the hardship of the internees as well as the profound courage and patriotism of the Japanese-Americans who served in the armed forces.  The accomplishments of the 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team are legendary.  Twenty-one members were awarded the Congressional medal of Honor for their heroism and bravery.

Not bad for a bunch of “traitors.”

 

Sources: SI.edu, Wiki

Posted by on March 18, 2013 • Filed under: (Almost) Hidden DC, Administration & Leadership, Art, Command & Leadership, Different, History, Sculpture, Statuary, Outdoor Art, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, What We Call "Race", Words

Words: “She Read Me The Riot Act”

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Origins of an “Ass-Chewing”

Nothing makes the sting go away quicker than sharing it with others.  The term often employed, as short hand for the experience is “being read the riot act.”  It roles off our tongues and fits the occasion perfectly.  But what does it really mean?

While  Riot Act

It turns out that for an awfully long time that one could literally be read the Act.  Roy Porter, writing in, London: A Social History, points out that Londoners were, “used to expressing there loyalties on the streets…to stifle street politics, the Riot Act was passed in 1715.”

While it has its origins in 18th-century England, a similar act was used in America, as well.  Police forces in both countries are 19th-century inventions.  Prior to that, public safety was often the responsibility of parish officials and night watchman who may have been good at giving warning but were totally unequipped to stop a single criminal, much less a mob.

In fact, in London, New York and other cities, mobs ruled.  They may have been lightly under the control of this or that faction, but once they grew to a large enough size, they took on a life of their own.  They pulled down houses, started fires and murdered innocent people.  The Gordon riots in London and the NYC 1863 Draft riots are examples and of course, revolutionary Boston was infamous for its “patriotic” mobs.

With no police force, officials often relied on an elected sheriff and a militia to enforce order.  The Act, passed by Parliament, was literally read to the crowd, demanding they disburse.  They had an hour to do so, lot’s of time to cause mayhem before breaking up.  As was the case with many 18th-century laws, the punishment for defying the order was death, though it was rarely applied.

The last known reading of the Riot Act in England was in the 1920′s.

It has since been repealed though it still has its purpose today.

 

Posted by on March 11, 2013 • Filed under: Different, History, Words

Red Cross Get’s a Make-Over

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Martha at the Helm

As some folks know, I am a DC city guide.  The 2013 guiding season is underway despite the see-saw weather.

The newest memorial, honoring Martin Luther King, Jr,  is proving to be a big hit.  It may be the most well lit memorial for night time viewing in the city.  King’s words are crucial to the space.  The quotes have been superbly lighted from below.  (Since you asked, WWII is the worst lit, with many inscriptions disappearing when the sun sets.)

I had a delightful group of students this past Saturday.  We saw the sights for 11 hours, metro-ing our way around the City.  During the visit to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial we were at the part honoring women who served. The role of  nurses and war came up.  I asked them who started the American Red Cross and was instrumental in helping soldiers and families during the Civil War.

A hand shot up.

Martha Stewart

“Martha Stewart”, was the firm reply.

This easily makes my list of best Clara Barton stand-ins, bumping the previous reply of Betty Crocker from the number one position.

Of course, no one is immune from the occasional gaffe.  Last year I told 55 adults staying in Crystal City that they could  visit the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial by taking the hotel’s space shuttle over and the metro back.

I heard about that for the rest of the trip.

Houston, we have a problem.

 

 

 

Posted by on March 7, 2013 • Filed under: (Almost) Hidden DC, Different, History, Words

License to Die

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“License and Registration, Please”

First, thanks to everyone who read (and commented) yesterday about the “no-CPR” incident.   This update from the press:  ”Lorraine Bayless had chosen to live in a facility without medical staff and wanted to pass away without life-prolonging intervention, her family said Tuesday.”

Most, but not all,  commenters were somehow related to the health field.  But,  several folks shared their own experiences with a loved one which was quite valuable.

Common words were legality, professional, Do Not Resuscitate(DNR), duty, and licensing.  Even writers that were quite concerned about the ramifications of not acting expressed the need for people to die with dignity and freedom.

It’s hard not to conclude that in our litigious and buttoned-down society that the DNR order has become a license to die.  Without it, you risk ignominy or worse.  According to the Pasadena News, “City fire officials say Bayless did not have a “do not resuscitate” order on file at the home.”  Conservatives worth their salt and any libertarian should be aghast to know that you now need the city’s permission to die.

A Pioneer Death

She’s in the Parlor

Many of us are fortunate to have people in our lives who can recall a death at home where the corpse never left the house until the burial.  They were washed and dressed and placed in the parlor for folks to come and pay their respects.

Such a thing is probably illegal now but it illustrates how the process of death these days routinely includes transfer to a hospital, which should seem a little odd.

In one sense, this “we die at the hospital” mentality has now been walked back to the point that you are not allowed to die outside the hospital unless you have your DNR passport.

The emergency response system, including EMS, fire and 911 call takers are now part of the “you must die at the hospital” culture we live in.  In fact, Bakersfield became a story over a call taker’s “heroic” efforts to recruit a CPR provider.

The Last Trip

As a society we have created an environment where the universal last, great trip is being robbed of its ambiguity, grace and freedom.  In fact, the current system, especially for those content to go, argues in favor of a solitary death where the risk of interference is minimized.  We are all ultimately alone at the end, but that is a high price to pay.

I have several people in my life who “are ready.”  And, I have known others.  I hope that when their time comes that they make their transition free of pain, but with grace and dignity.

Thanks, again.

 

Posted by on March 6, 2013 • Filed under: Different, History, Religion and Spirituality, Values and Ethics, Words

March 4, 1908: Catastrophe in Collinwood

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Are Our Children Safer?

Lake View School
Collinwood, Ohio

One hundred and five years ago this morning, disaster struck Lake View School in Collinwood, Ohio.

Fritz Hirter, school custodian, had arrived near dawn on a late winter’s day,  to fire up the school’s coal burning furnace.  The children were let into the building around 8AM and the fire was reported by a student at about 9:30.

The next minutes were a panicked blur as fire ascended the open 3-floor staircase trapping students and causing a blinding rush for the few exits.

Bodies piled up at the doorway to the point where pulling the children out was impossible.

 

Collinwood Memorial

172 students and two adults were killed in minutes, some as they were forced to jump from upper floors.  Bodies were so badly burned they were unidentifiable and were buried in a mass grave at Lake View Cemetery.

Where fire is concerned, today’s schools are some of the safest buildings in America but our children are not much safer.

A Collinwood parent, circa 1908, would doubtlessly be astonished to learn that in 2013, the number one threat to children is murder by gun fire, often in mass killings and frequently at the hands of fellow students or young adults.

What would they say from their vantage point afar?  No doubt they would marvel at both our schools and our unwillingness to keep our children safe in them.

As, indeed they should.

 

 

 

Posted by on March 4, 2013 • Filed under: History, Major Incidents, Mass Casualty Incident, Sculpture, Statuary, Outdoor Art, Values and Ethics

Joan, the Holocaust and Hot Heidi

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Can Tragedy Be Funny For a Reason?

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers, the nearly octogenarian, outrageous comedian, recently observed regarding Heidi Klum that, “The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens.”

The response has been predictable, including from the (Jewish) Anti-Defamation League, who said, “This remark is so vulgar and offensive to Jews and Holocaust survivors, and indeed to all Americans, that we cannot believe it made it to the airwaves…”

Rivers is Jewish and is refusing to apologize for the comment.   Does her tribal heritage provide a license to shock?  Rivers has said in part, “I can assure you that I have always made it a point to remind people of the Holocaust through humor.”

Indeed, when I read what she said I 1) laughed out loud, 2) felt guilty for doing so and then 3) thought about the Holocaust.

In the very near future holocaust survivors will be a thing of the past.  The power of a living connection with such a horrible event will be gone forever.   Anyone who has ever met and spoken to a Holocaust survivor can attest to the power of being in the presence of such a person.

The Holocaust will no longer exist as a memory but only as a historical fact.  The problem with these facts is that they seldom elicit an emotional response.  Something more is needed.

Rivers with her irreverence creates an emotional chain reaction that can result in some people connecting with the Holocaust  in a manner that is both unconventional and personal.  My own started with a laugh and resulted in a reflection.

Don’t forget, as Mrs. Lincoln once said, “Other than that, the play was great.”

 

 

Posted by on March 3, 2013 • Filed under: Different, History, Religion and Spirituality, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, What We Call "Race", Words

Who We Are: Pickles, NO Dark Chocolate and that 3/5 Thing

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Pass the Midgets

Pickles, Small

A mother from the “midget” state, literally, has taken taken great offense at the calling of pickles “midgets”.  Rhode Island’s Chelley Martinka has a no doubt lovely daughter Adelaide, born with dwarfism.  This fact apparently underlies her crusade to stop purveyors of small pickles from referring to them as, well, you know.

It seems that Ms Martinka has here-to-for led a life of cucumborial bliss ignorant of the crushing degradation meted out to innocent gherkins and dills.  Her new found situation affords her the platform from which to make war on words she finds offensive.  She actually caused one weak-kneed vendor to drop the word “midget” which, the last time I checked, meant something “much smaller than usual.”

Next up in this linguistic campaign of fascist terror: “half-pint”, “itsy-bitsy” and “teeny-weeny”.

 

 

Will that be black or white?

Hitler’s Health Care

Meanwhile, over in Flint, Michigan, Hurley Medical Center seems to have “honored the wishes” of a “swastika-tattooed” man to not have black nurses care for his child.  Hospital staff posted a note in the chart saying,’No African American nurse to take care of baby.’

In Flint, the hospital operates much like a confectionery where you pick your chocolate from the many varieties available.  We hear that where chocolate is concerned, some whites pass for black and vice-versa.

Who can seriously claim that we live in a post-racial environment when an admirer of Herr Hitler dictates the color of his nurse, and gets away with it?

 

Scene at the Signing
Howard Chandler Christy

Emory’s Wagner Invokes the 3/5 Clause

Emory University’s President James Wagner wrote a column last week lauding the constitutional clause counting 3/5 of the slave population for purposes of apportioning congressional representation.  He was using it as an example of compromise.

Wagner has spent the rest of the week at a Georgia “wood shed” as he wrestles with being defined as a racist.  He has referred to his writing as, “a clumsy and regrettable mistake.”

Wagner, to the best of my knowledge, does not advocate slavery.  According to the New York Times, students and faculty have labeled the article as “insensitive.”  (They should hang out at the Hurley Medical Center for awhile.)

The truth is that Wagner cited the kind of “hold your nose” compromise necessary to create America.  Being called out on it makes about as much sense as dropping “midgets” from that jar of gherkins.

Forest for the Trees

Sensitivity around human dignity seems to be about as sloppy as making our Constitution.  The “midgets” and “Wagner” stories give rise to the thought that correctness, in its many idiotic shades, will win out over the once adult requirement to view and think about things in context.  It is not a political correctness because it lacks a clear political definition.

Do we now live in a society where anyone, courtesy of technology, can cry foul at a word or a thought and demand change or retraction?  It seems so.

“You Tube Culture”, Facebook, and the “Walk and Text” world now facilitate information at the expense of wisdom as the actual evils of racism, discrimination and hate march steadily along.

 

 

 

 

Posted by on February 24, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, History, Values and Ethics, What We Call "Race", Words

Irony: Alive and Well at the Holocaust Museum

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The Rules Will Be Followed

United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum

I have been working these past few years as a Washington, DC, city guide.  It’s a bit like working for the fire department.  Every day is different, nothing ever goes quite as planned, and you meet a lot of people along the way.

In addition to “interpreting” the city and its history, part of the job is acting as escort to help out-of-town folks negotiate unfamiliar territory as they visit the sites and the museums.  Whether it’s the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, Mount Vernon or any of the other dozens of locations they all have their way of dealing with visitors.

Some require a security screening that may be largely cursory all the way up to the “no non-sense” operation at the Capitol.  Most balance the need for order and security with the idea that visitors should have the best experience possible as part of the objective of learning and civic engagement.

The United States Memorial Holocaust Museum (USMHM), federally supported with the mission of  teaching the history of the Holocaust and keeping us ever vigilant to the occurrence of genocide, takes an unusual approach to the visitor experience.  Students of history or even those who have seen a film such Sophie’s Choice, based on the best-selling novel by William Styron, will be familiar with the officious, unforgiving, bullying nature of death camp guards towards those arriving there.

I very recently took a group of young folks to the USMHM during a cold snap for a pre-arranged appointment.  We were right on time and had 90 minutes to spend there.  It was a blustery day with temperatures in the 30′s.  I had the kids stand in the sun as I went to make contact with the visitor representative.

He was dressed in a parka fit for the South Pole complete with the hood up.  I identified our group and our number(56)  and he studied his clip board only to announce that I could not enter until a second group of some 56 more arrived on another bus.  We knew not where the other bus was nor exactly when it might arrive.

As the kids shivered in the cold I pointed out that we had to go through security anyway so why not allow us to do so to speed up the process, save time and get them warm.  ”No” was the answer.

I tried speaking with other personnel.  When my unyielding “guard” was finally told to allow us to enter by a supervisor, he turned to me and said, “If your group goes in you will be forfeiting the reservation for the other 56.”   For those who have in fact seen Sophie’s Choice, I was in a similar situation.  In allowing my group to enter, I would prevent the others from doing so.  Of course, I declined and we cooled our heels (literally) until the others arrived.

All 112 of us now made our way through security before being allowed to queue up for the elevator that would take us up to the exhibition level.  We originally arrived with 90 minutes to experience the museum and 34 minutes had now ticked by as we waited to start.  I pointed out to a colleague that earlier that day we had toured the Washington National Cathedral in less time than it was taking us to enter the USMHM.

It’s hard to imagine that the USMHM can believe that it is fulfilling its mission by treating visitors in such a way.

But, rest assured–the rules were followed.

And, at long last, the elevator finally arrived.

 

Posted by on February 20, 2013 • Filed under: (Almost) Hidden DC, Books, Different, History, Travel, Values and Ethics, War and Peace

Of Villainy and Religion

1 comment

 

To Apologize for Kindness

Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary
Raphael

You may recall that after the Newtown massacre where 20 children and six adults were murdered, an inter-faith memorial service was held.

Reverend Rob Morris, a Newtown Lutheran Minister, one of whose young parishioners was among the dead, gave the benediction at the service.

Reverend Morris was subsequently forced to apologize to his church leadership for participating in the service since mingling with different denominational ministers violated their prohibition against joint worship with people of other faiths.

The man who demanded the apology, Lutheran President and Reverend Matthew Harrison eventually apologized for his original demand offering up a contorted rationale.

 A Civil Society?

The Church and the State form two of the most important institutions underpinning modern or civilized life.  Both are associated to varying degrees with compassion.  Many citizens, religious or not, would see the role of the pious as teaching, modeling or extolling the virtues of compassion, kindness and comity as a key tenet of earthly life.  Faith relies on the future while kindness exists in the moment before us.  And, few acts of kindness are more powerful than comforting the bereaved.

How jarring then, in the midst of such a devastating catastrophe as Newtown, to have God’s minister rebuked and forced to apologize for an act of healing and kindness.  What aspect of that reinforces the concept of mercy or the sanctity of human life?

Villainy

It’s fancy for “wicked” which is a powerful word.  It basically connotes an evil willfulness.  Demanding what would effectively be a public apology from Reverend Morris for his kindness was an act of villainy.  He was forced to betray his personal sense of kindness and sense of community in order to satisfy the peculiar tenet of a religious doctrine.

God created “man” and we have created an endless series of sects and divisions jostling and preening for first place in the eyes of the great one.  Though it has long since been proven that we are all essentially the same, the role of much religion is to somehow convince us that we are actually different, and damned because of it.

Power

The synonyms for power are better than the word itself:  might – force – strength – potency – authority.  In the world we inhabit, it seems that no institution, of God or man, can long exist without some combination of strength and authority.  Institutions of power are characterized by hierarchy, status and the ability to punish.  Punishing human compassion is an exquisite abuse of power normally associated with the cruelest of regimes.

Tragically, the cost of power-based organized religion is the requirement to subordinate the inclination to be kind or merciful in order to reinforce  a sense of difference or specialness.

Christ En-route  to Calvary

Look, or look again, at Raphael’s masterwork but see the faltering Christ as the grieving people of Newtown.  See the beseeching Mary on the right as those who would offer compassion including Rob Morris.  Lastly, see the towering and unmerciful guards, centurions who willingly inflict pain to protect their power as the kings of religion.

Thus has the message of mercy and kindness been subverted by religious dogma and the lust for power and control.

 

Posted by on February 14, 2013 • Filed under: Art, History, Religion and Spirituality, Sculpture, Statuary, Outdoor Art, Values and Ethics, What We Call "Race"

FF Politics: Governor Andrew “Hitler” Cuomo

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Political Correctness Strikes Albany

Gov. Cuomo

My gun frenzied friends no doubt know that New York recently passed a measure designed to inhibit the use of fire arms to commit crimes.  Its effectiveness will be long debated.

The measure passed in the middle of the night, Albany style, because Governor Cuomo wanted his law, now.

Yesterday, Republican state assemblyman Steven F. McLaughlin, said of the “jam job” vote, “Hitler would be proud.  Mussolini would be proud of what we did here…”

Then, the feathers flew.

By Tuesday afternoon, Mr. McLaughlin had issued a video apology and had called the Guv to apologize.

The question is, for what?

The last time I checked Hitler, and Mussolini, too, were dictators of the first magnitude.  Many of their actions were successful as a result of either threatening or simply ignoring legislative institutions.  Stalin (and Pinochet) could, of course, be added to the list.

Declaring Hitler and Mussolini out-of-bounds as comparisons for dictatorial actions is both wrong-headed and absurd censorship.  McLaughlin properly steered clear of the Holocaust, atrocities and Hitler’s hate for various groups.   He was, rather, referring to the manner in which these leaders interacted (or ignored) citizen representatives.

Reporters, democrats and even his fellow republicans deserted the concept of free and robust speech over fake and ultra sensitive political correctness.

If Governor Cuomo is channeling Adolph or the Duce, he won an important round yesterday.

Long live Caesar.

Posted by on February 6, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Firefighter Politics, History, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, Words

Remembering: Free At Last? January 31, 1865

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The 13th Amendment Passes Congress 148 Years Ago Today

Lincoln
(Gardner)

The current box office success Lincoln explores how the 16th President navigated the US Congress and his own Cabinet towards an enduring measure that would abolish slavery in America.

In Daniel Day Lewis’s portrayal of  Abraham Lincoln we see a side of the rail-splitter previously in the shadows.  In the film at least, Lincoln descends from his memorial throne chair and is portrayed as profane, direct and purposeful.

He is also depicted as a “great White savior”.

It is wonderful to see Lewis as Lincoln spinning one of his famous yarns as War Secretary Edwin Stanton looks on, obviously exasperated.  Lincoln employed jokes and stories to sometimes make a point but just as often as a tactic to change the subject and to avoid making a decision.  He curses and laughs and because of it comes alive as a real person.  The Kunhardt’s, chroniclers of Lincoln, once said, in part, that Lincoln “sounded like a backwoodsman, even in high hat.”

Eric Foner, in his Pulitizer prize winning book The Fiery Trail points out that Lincoln’s position on slavery as he reentered politics in the late 1850′s was one even a racist could love.  Lincoln wished only to keep slavery out of new territories.  For Lincoln, it was OK where it existed; keeping it from new territories would mean that Blacks would effectively be corralled in the east and south away from whites pushing westward.

For a long time Lincoln was committed to the “colony” movement where freed Blacks would be exiled to Central or South America or back to Africa.  He could envisage Blacks as free but not as US citizens enjoying the rights of man.

To the extent that the film further morphs Lincoln into even a pseudo-abolitionist, it is an error.  It has been fashionable to trash his Secretaries William Seward and Salmon Chase as being presidential wannabees, too big for their britches and scheming to weaken him.  Whatever that truth may be, Seward and Chase were dedicated abolitionists who represented fugitive slaves for free and in Seward’s case, he and his wife Francis gave them money and safe haven in their home.  Lincoln as Illinois lawyer represented a slave-owner to help him get his “property” back.

Still, on this day, the greatness of Lincoln endures perhaps because of the consistent scholarly view that despite his sometimes tepid actions he was inwardly moving ever forward, willing to question–ponder–learn–change.  We seem to wish to “over credit” Lincoln perhaps because of his undisputed compassion and kindness.  Worse things could happen.

Douglass

Where greatness is concerned, Lincoln had a contemporary partner and it is fitting that he should have the last word.  Frederick Douglass, slave, writer, intellectual, leader, and abolitionist had a complicated relationship with Lincoln as he pushed him to do more sooner.  Douglass may linger in the shadows but his moral legacy now resides in the very house that Lincoln also occupied.

 

“Mr. Lincoln”, said Mr. Douglas, “was not only a great president, but a great man.”

 

Posted by on January 31, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, History, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, What We Call "Race", Words

Words: Censored

9 comments

 

 

 

 

I wrote a post Friday which caused quite a stir in my home IAFF local, 2068.  On the Local’s Facebook page it generated copious comments and was eventually removed by a local union official.  (The post can be found to the right, here,  in a box entitled, “Recent Posts.”)

The reason for the removal had nothing to do with the message, indeed the message was ignored.  It had to do with words in the title.  Those words were from a soldier’s quote in Stars and Stripes.  They were considered offensive, inflammatory, unprofessional and “National Enquirer like” by at least one local member. (Someone citing a newspaper as a reason to censor is especially ironic.)

I was informed by Joel Kobersteen, the union official who removed the piece, that if one person found something offensive, it would be removed.  To add an element of farce, he then proceeded to post the Stars and Stripes link in which the cataclysmic words were spoken.

It would probably be fair to characterize my post as being anti-sexual harassment and pro-woman in the sense that it detailed how women in the military are treated, especially in a training environment.  It compared the similarity of the fire service drill environment with that of the military.

A recurrent theme in the Facebook comment thread was the applicability of the post to the fire department.  I pointed out that firefighters and paramedics love to “support the troops” and to be publicly patriotic.  Don’t we care that female troops face an atmosphere of constant sexual assault and harassment?  Or does that fall outside the firefighter patriotism rubric?

Those three words (I feel a little like George Carlin here, though not nearly as funny) were not used to characterize an individual but were cited as an example of what women put up with.  They were part of  a discussion, not an attack.  Nevertheless, some apparently felt attacked or somehow diminished by reading three words.

The free speech and First Amendment issues are clear enough and hardly need to be repeated here.  What is really at stake is whether or not the 2068 Facebook page, unarguably our common and central choice of communication, will be rendered effectively impotent as the result of intellectual and emotional fragility borne from a lack of critical thinking and maturity.

The Facebook page should serve as an unfettered platform for the free exchange of ideas as long as they do not recklessly attack others.  Indeed, the entire Labor Movement is based on the fundamental ideal that workers have inalienable rights, chief among them the freedom of expression.  We could hardly now quibble with management taking away that right since we decided to do it to ourselves, first.

Yesterday I wrote a post on the Holocaust that apparently passed the censor’s red pen, at least for now.  It contained the inflammatory word “Nazi”,  had photos of  corpses and discussed an event that even today some find offensive, choosing to believe that it did not occur.  We call them “Holocaust Deniers.”  What if a Holocaust Denier, operating apparently within their right to be offended, notified Joel Kobersteen?  Would he be compelled to take down the post?  If not, why not?

In our society even enshrined rights are ephemeral unless they are constantly renewed.  The road to renewal is seeing the value of unfettered and robust debate and defending it short of a vicious personal attack on an individual.  Many of the things I read I don’t like and may even find offensive.  I try to read anyway in the hope of learning a thing or two.  I would never think of calling for their removal.

Adolph
Sweet Lad

 

 

 

 

In a censored world it is the tyrant and the bully who win.   Der Furher proves the point nicely.

 

 

 

Posted by on January 28, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, History, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, Words

Remembering: Holocaust Memorial Day

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Now is the Time

Sixty eight years ago today allied troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the death camps operated by the Nazis.

The Arrival

Hitler was obsessed with the notion of gaining Lebensraum or living space in Europe for his chosen race.  As the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland, tens of thousands were arrested, detained and shot.

On January 20, 1942, Nazi leaders met at Wannsee, outside of Berlin to discuss the plan whereby European Jewry would be systematically detained and then exterminated. Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of the security police gave the briefing and the minutes were taken by none other than Adolf Eichmann who would later be caught in Argentina.

The West, including the US, was slow to understand what was occurring.  Indeed, the US did little to intervene and even refused safe haven to fleeing Jews, most famously aboard the MS St. Louis, a German ocean liner with 937 German Jewish refugees.  The ship was forced to return to Europe where as many as 25% of the passengers died in death camps.

Jews were a primary target but millions of others were murdered, as well.  They included Gypsies, gays and lesbians, Catholics and Jehovah Witnesses.

 

 

Stacked Corpses at Ohrdruf

On April 4, 1945, the US 4th Armored Division and the 89th Infantry Division liberated the death camp at Ohrdruf.  They were the first Americans to do so.  Soldiers found piles of bodies covered in lime while others were partially burned in makeshift pyres.  The fleeing Nazis were attempting to cover their tracks by destroying evidence but their mayhem was of such a magnitude that discovery was inevitable.

 

 

 

The “Big Guns” at Ohrdruf

Word quickly spread up the chain and Generals Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley made an immediate trip to witness the slaughter and the conditions.”Tough as Nails” Patton would not view some of the atrocities as he said he would vomit were he to do so.

Eisenhower went specifically in order to be a personal witness and to give testimony on what he had seen.  To General George C. Marshall, head of the US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs, he wrote:

“I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda.”

 

Posted by on January 27, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, History, Values and Ethics, War and Peace, Words

When Monopolies Fail

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Postal Service Fails to Gain Federal Contracts

 

Let’s face it–monopolies are not supposed to fail.  By their very nature they have captured a market to the extent that they control the vast majority of business and are often, by hook or by crook, able to set prices and the terms and conditions of business.

The description sounds a bit like municipal fire and EMS departments who are interwoven into the community fabric to the extent that any alternative seems impossible, even outlandish.

Few institutions are more interwoven than the US Postal Service, the hidebound invention of the legendary Benjamin Franklin who served as Postmaster General.  Despite their history and longevity, they are in serious trouble, and have been for years.  According to the NYT the USPS had a net loss of just about $16B last year.

The USPS Office of Inspector General recently published a report detailing that 98% of federal government long-term shipping contracts were going to United Parcel Service and FedEx.  The Postal Service is failing to capture the business of its own federal partners.  Of the $337M in 2012 federal shipping contracts, the USPS had just $4.8M, or less than 2%.

Mail volume is down and some say that fire volume is down too.  Both UPS and FedEx gained a solid hold by providing services that USPS would not provide or could not provide by congressional action.  In fact, congress, the USPS equivalent of a city council has dithered while the USPS has been bled white by poor decision-making and outmoded business practices like Saturday delivery.

The USPS faces a perfect storm or confluence of business factors that was slow in forming but which now represents a pack of hungry jackals nipping at their prey.  Who knows where the USPS would be today if they had rapidly dropped outmoded business practices and if Labor had reacted quickly and effectively to looming competition and the Internet?

The first replacement of the “USPS styled fire department” is already here.  It is, of course, the fully integrated Fire/EMS department able to provide high-quality ALS treatment and transport using multiple platforms.  If your’s is a fire department uninvolved in EMS treatment and transport or dabbling at the edges, you are pedaling the equivalent of a 10-cent first class stamp.

The psychology of monopoly is ugly and failure-ridden.  Providers talk and act like they are the only game in town, trashing customers they perceive as being unworthy of their service or compassion.  Social media, especially Facebook, have opened an ugly eye onto “professionals” who take to the Internet to speak disdainfully of those they are paid to serve.  Such talk is  sure evidence that the talker sees no connection between their salary and their sarcasm.  Vent if you must, but do it at the coffee table.

The USPS is done for in its current configuration in part because of tradition, bureaucracy, and the inertia of management and labor leaders.  Whether it survives at all will depend on the success of radical and painful surgery.

Ben Franklin started the first post office and the first fire department.  Let’s learn from the letter carriers and make him proud.

 

 

 

Posted by on January 23, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Firefighter Pensions, Firefighter Politics, Funding & Staffing, History, Values and Ethics

Fire & Art: The Zouaves

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Ellsworth, Lincoln and the NY Volunteers

The Smithsonian Museum of American Art is running an exhibition through April 28th, entitled The Civil War and American Art.  It includes 75 works, mostly created during the war by some of America’s most famous artists of the period: Winslow Homer, Frederic Church and Eastman Johnson.  It also includes battlefield photography from Alexander Gardner and others.  The paintings are by no means all military but convey the sense of the approaching war and life during it.  Folks familiar with the 19th century Hudson River School and Luminist painters will like what they see.

Elmer Ellsworth was a native New Yorker who wound up working in the Springfield law office of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.   Ellsworth helped with the presidential campaign and went to Washington with the president-elect in 1861.  When the war began and Lincoln called for volunteer regiments, Ellsworth pledged his support and with the president’s personal backing, he was an odds-on favorite.

Zouaves
The Briarwood Pipe
Winslow Homer
1864

Colonel Ellsworth had studied the North Algerian based French Light Infantry known as the Zouaves.  The original Zouaves were Berbers from the Zouaoua tribe and were reputed to be both fearless and expert.  Ellsworth intended to raise a regiment of American Zouaves for his volunteer regiment and he knew where they should come from:  New York volunteer fire companies.

We mostly associate the Zouaves with their colorful uniforms made up of some combination of baggy trousers, short coats and “oriental” headgear including the Fez, complete with tassel.  Ellsworth’s Zouaves were the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Recruiting was fast and successful.  He awarded officer commissions to several fire company foremen and within four days had twice as many men as needed.  The final regiment strength was 1,100.  Their departure for Washington, DC, was a comedy of errors as they failed to meet Army regulations and were told to remain in New York–they left anyway.

11th New York Encamped in DC

Ellsworth’s mis-calculation was to assume that “New York” firefighters were a cohesive unit when they were anything but.  He failed to note that they were famous for their company rivalries which often extended to sabotaging firefighting efforts and outright brawling during fires.  Once in Washington they broke into taverns,  swedged* on meals and generally terrified the locals.  Back to New York they went where they were quartered in Battery Park. Their mayhem continued.  Any Zouave on the street was arrested until 400 were shipped to Virginia to be included in another regiment.

The Zouaves saw combat at the battle of First Bull Run and helped quell the notorious 1863 Draft riots in New York.  Ellsworth was famously killed in an altercation in Alexandria, Virginia over a confederate flag.

 

*swedge: leave without paying for a meal.

 

Credits:  Smithsonian, Wiki

 

The Civil War and American Art

1st floor West, American Art Museum (8th and F Streets, N.W.) Washington, DC
November 16, 2012 – April 28, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by on January 16, 2013 • Filed under: (Almost) Hidden DC, Art, Firefighter Politics, History, War and Peace

Travel: TIRE(D)

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Now, That’s a Workout.

Rickenbacker Causeway/Biscayne Bay

 

I spent part of this past week near Miami, Florida, sailing on Biscayne Bay.  The Bay separates the mainland from Miami Beach where the smart set go to trendy clubs.

The Bay is large and full of manatees, dolphins and rays.  This time of year the wind is good and the sailing, at least on an 18-foot catamaran, is fast.

 

 

Nixon with Rebozo and Hoover

 

The Bay also separates the City from Key Biscayne, a generally wealthy enclave perhaps best known as the southern White House of Richard Nixon where he also vacationed with his longtime friend Bebe Rebozo.

Rebozo was referred to as Nixon’s “bagman” and was thought to have taken payments for Nixon from Howard Hughes and others.

 

Rickenbacker, WWI Ace

The Causeway leading over the Bay to Key Biscayne is named for Edward Vernon “Eddie” Rickenbacker (1890-1973).

Rickenbacker fought to become  a pilot during the first World War with the 94th Aero squadron.  He was deemed to be too essential as a gifted engineer/mechanic but finally won his wings.

He went on to score 26 aerial victories, the most of any WWI pilot and eventually received the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He is pictured here in his Spad XIII.

 

Tire Drag

 

As my sailing day came to a close, I began my walk south, over the fairly steep causeway back towards downtown Miami.  Coming toward me, just exiting the causeway, was what appeared to be an elderly gentleman struggling to jog on what was a hot, sunny, 80 degree Florida afternoon.  I admired his persistence.

As we closed the distance between us I could see that I was wrong, that my elderly man was instead a shaved-head fellow no older than his early forties but still having a pretty tough time.

We nodded as we passed and it was only then that I noticed that he had a harness around his mid-section connected to a rope.  At the other end of the twenty foot rope was a good size truck tire that he was dragging, apparently up and over the causeway.  It was cross-fit on steroids and tough enough to make even Eddie Rickenbacker proud.

I kept walking, momentarily elated that I had crossed paths with someone who makes even me seem normal.  God bless him.

 

(Wiki)

Posted by on January 14, 2013 • Filed under: A Life, Different, Firefighter Safety & Health, History, Safety and Health, Travel

Fire Politics: Sodomy, The Litmus Test

8 comments

 

GOP to Nix Republican Chuck Hagel at Defense

Hagel, in country

GOP forces are gathering to oppose the presumed nomination of former  Nebraska senator and current republican Chuck Hagel to replace Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense.

They are apparently in search of someone with the “right” credentials.  Hagel must not have them despite his service in the Senate and his two Purple Hearts from his time as an infantry squad leader in the Vietnam War.  He knows more about war making than most, up close and personal as they say, but not enough for his fellow republican senators.

Speaking of fellow republican senators, a leading anti-Hagel spokesman is that lilting “warrior”, South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham, who calls himself  an Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran though he never left South Carolina.

Hagel is the perfect GOP fit:  he once criticized a gay ambassadorial nominee as being “openly, aggressively gay”, whatever the hell that means.

Hagel’s real problem is sexual at least in a metaphorical sense.  He has failed to publicly sodomize Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, at the  yeshiva gedola of his choice, thus apparently depriving Hagel of the right to lead American troops.  Hagel once said,”I support Israel, but my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I’ll do that.”

The problem with Hagel is that he has some principles, his homophobia aside.  Perhaps we should just appoint Ehud Barak, Israeli Defense Minister as Secretary of Defense, then they might be happy.

 

(Credits:  Esquire, Wiki, Huffpost, LA Times)

 

Posted by on January 6, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Firefighter Politics, History, Values and Ethics, War and Peace

American Jihad

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Gun Ownership is a Cherished and Protected Freedom

Now that we have that out of the way, it would be nice to explore  an aspect of the American response to the idea that there are limitations to such a  freedom.

The much reviled Taliban is an outgrowth of the US sponsored and funded Mujahideen who fought the Soviets during their failed Afghanistan invasion.  Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, supported the Taliban and was himself a partial invention of the US.  He served us well in our proxy fight against the Soviets.

Mujahideen

Perhaps the Taliban are best known for their extremely rigid ideology as well as their very strict interpretation of both Islam and more importantly, Sharia law, the moral code of Islam.  The effect of the Taliban’s enforcement has been to destroy cultural plurality.  There can be but one position and dissent is neither welcome nor tolerated.  It is extremely harsh fundamentalist doctrine.

There is a very marked similarity in the post-Newtown and Webster debates from what can be referred to as the Hard-Core Gun Lobby(HCGL).  The notion that any discussion on the issue, much less action,  is democratic or American apostasy is forcefully made.  In the fashion of the Taliban no debate is possible because no change can be sanctioned.  It’s just that simple.

A key point:  I am not suggesting that ardent gun rights proponents are terrorists, un-American, or supporters of either Bin Laden or the Taliban.  I am suggesting that their zeal has led them down the road of rigid fundamentalism to adopt an extreme approach that is at odds with our democratic system of government where moderation, flexibility, accommodation and creativity allow for problem-solving, even on a national scale.

Professionally, the Webster killings were a tragedy.  Newtown, however, was a national holocaust.  The HCGL response has been first, to seek to delay public discussion, and second, to suggest that more guns in more places is the answer.  The public has rightly balked at such a bizarre position, roughly analogous to public be-headings and limb amputations.

Cooler heads correctly point out that this is a complicated problem because it involves several aspects of liberty, mental health, the Constitution and firearm liability.

But a nation that is immobilized by fundamentalist zeal of Talibanic proportions as innocent children are murdered is, in fact, becoming unworthy of the descriptor of “constitutional democracy.”

We speak scathingly of Taliban fundamentalism and send our soldiers to die defending the concept of rational liberty while it withers in front of us as our children lay lifeless.

 

Posted by on January 4, 2013 • Filed under: Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, History, Major Incidents, Safety and Health, War and Peace

Travel in Nepal: Farming the Old Fashioned Way

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Stepping Back in Time

During my recent trekking trip to northern Nepal we found ourselves well off the beaten track in a world largely untouched by electricity and completely free from mechanized agriculture. Fields are cultivated, sown and harvested using only human or animal power.  It’s early 19th century farming alive and well in 2012.

Livestock

 

 

Goats, sheep, oxen, buffalo, yaks, mules and horses are all plentiful.  Animals are rarely slaughtered for meat since they are far more valuable as sources for dairy products and to help in the fields.

 

 

 

 

 

Rice Paddy

 

 

 

Rice is an extremely important crop even in the steep and hilly valleys.  Over successive generations the land has been terraced to allow for maximum planting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest

 

 

We were walking through the country during a harvest period.  Rice and other crops are cut down by hand with whole families pitching in.  Very little is wasted as the rice stalks will be dried and used for fodder for farm animals over the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

Corn Crib

 

 

 

Corn dries in a crib alongside the trail.  It is elevated to keep pests away.  The corn could be used as feed but is also valuable as it can be ground into meal.

 

 

 

 

Making Meal

 

 

Here a young lady is grinding corn into meal.  She uses two flat rocks, one on top of another, with the top one having a hole in the center and a wooden handle for turning.  Dried corn kernels from the pan are dropped into the hole and the spinning of the handle crushes the kernels between the stones.  Meal spills out the sides onto the woven mat.

 

 

 

 

Thresh, Winnow, Fodder

 

 

In the background six buffalo are tightly yoked together and are being driven around a pole.  Their collective weight threshes the rice.  A pile of un-winnowed rice is visible in the center as two men hold winnowing mats.  They toss the rice into the air, the chaff  floats away and at their feet is harvested rice.  On the right, a team takes the threshings and hands them down to a man who is building a stack which will serve as winter animal fodder.

 

 

 

Ready for Winter

 

 

An immaculate field ready for the coming season with rice stalks stacked.  (Note fields in far background.)

 

 

 

 

 

Ganga Fields

 

 

Marijuana grows in the wild; this field stretched for miles.  No one seemed to be tending it though the buffalo were especially content.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by on December 30, 2012 • Filed under: Different, History, Travel

Almost Hidden DC: What Lovely Lamps You Have

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The (mostly) federal buildings around the city are adorned with some extraordinary lighting.

Ford House Building
441 D Street, SW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Library of Congress, Adams Building
2nd Street SE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Archives
700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Gallery of Art, West Building
4th and Constitution Ave., NW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Red Cross
17th and E Street, NW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US Capitol
East Front

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US Federal Reserve
20th and Constitution Ave., NW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Ave., NW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organization of American States
200 17th Street, NW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bartholdi Fountain
US Botanic Garden

Posted by on December 25, 2012 • Filed under: (Almost) Hidden DC, Art, Different, History, Sculpture, Statuary, Outdoor Art