As I write this, there is rioting and mayhem in the Middle East around American embassies. The attackers are Muslims purportedly peeved by a new film which “insults” the prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him.
The film, “Innocence of Muslims,” was produced by ... [Since the first publication of this post, the "founders" of this film have become obscured. It may have been made by Americans with zealot investors. It may be a weird practical joke by some Middle Easterners or North Africans. It may be the product of an agent provocateur. Nobody seems to be sure. The reaction to the film, however, is real.]
Mohammed is presented as a vicious, crazy child molester, and those are just his good points.
Now here’s the funny part, funny in the serious sense – a serious film about the historical Mohammed could be fascinating. Salmon Rushdie played with the topic in his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses. He was rather mild about the Prophet. Of course, several imams stuck a fatwa on his ass anyway. (The fatwa is the Muslim equivalent of an open Mafia hit contract.)
Think of the possibilities: Here we have a historical figure who during his lifetime had really profound divine revelations. (Okay, he did, he didn’t, I don’t know, I wasn’t there taking notes.) He founded a dynasty, and one of the world’s great religions which, among other things, was the basis of substantial military power over several centuries.
This juxtaposition of a single, simple human having intense, unique (and maybe supernatural) experiences and the tale of how he deals with them is a common theme of great history and great fiction.
Think Lincoln.
Bolivar.
Shaka.
Mao.
Charles Foster Kane.
Even Elmer Gantry.
Imagine a film which skillfully addresses some of the possibilities of personal conflicts and stress, the interaction of the mundane with the divine. The possibilities are delicious.
Well, keep imagining. You’re not going to get that in “Innocence of Muslims.” I base this on the assumption that filmmakers do not pick out particularly bad parts of a movie to put in the trailer.
The trailer, available on YouTube, mercifully runs less than 15 minutes.
The production values are bad. Not bad as in I’m being picky, bad as in They spent 5 million bucks for THIS? [If the $5 million story is false, my reaction still would be, They paid $50 bucks for THIS?]
As one might expect, the film is set in a desert location. It was not filmed in the desert. It was filmed in front of a blue screen. The “desert” background was inserted with all of the skill put into the production of the local weather broadcast.
The dialogue is delivered with the deer-in-the-headlights proficiency of most high school productions of Arsenic and Old Lace. Unfortunately, there is no “Uncle Teddy” character to storm through a scene for comic relief.
So if they were acting rationally, the Muslim film critics would be more amused or chagrined than angry.
I am very comfortable as a Christian. You want to hear about it, ask. If you don’t, no worries, God will track you down in His own good time. I saw a news item the other day complete with little bit of video. It showed some sort of rally of atheists, humanists and the like on an anti-religion theme. One fellow was carrying this really neat sign: “If Jesus returns, kill him again.” I think most Christians would find that objectionable. I don’t know of any follower of Our Lord who would go all fatwa on him.
By the way, the Truth be Told, I have to admit I kind of thought it was funny.
Why are Muslims protesting this sorry example of film? And why are they protesting violently?
One immediate answer is because there is a very heavy influence of intolerance, violence, viciousness and mob amorality or sociopathy woven into Islam. Sure, every group has its crazies but in lots of places Muslim crazies gather by the thousands.
I don’t know very many Muslims. Those I do know are peaceful and faithful people. In a culture where work and cooperation is prized, how one acts is the measure of a person. People’s private religious beliefs do not excite a lot of comment.
From these two broad observations, I have to conclude that there are a bunch of the followers of Mohammed, peace be upon him but apparently not on them, who are batshit violently crazy. I further conclude that there are lots of Muslims who are normal, peaceful citizens.
I cannot guess numbers. I’m doubting that anybody else can with much accuracy. The media isn't much help. CNN seldom runs video of people acting normally.
One thing that’s puzzling is the lack of much expression of opinion by the non-crazy Muslims about the actions of their crazy and violent coreligionists. Maybe there is an intimidation thing going on there, I don’t know. That being said, a lot of other religious and non-religious folks don’t seem to be shy about criticizing them, some in rhetoric every bit as nutzoid as the wildest berserker waving around an AK.
Is this silence a cultural thing? Certainly, it’s not an American thing. We have some outstanding examples of batshit crazy, evil, American, Christian, halfwit toads in such folks as our buds from Westboro Baptist Church. Somehow if those guys put together a mob of 1000 to assault anything in America, I think they’d have a real bad day and a lot of life insurance payoffs.
I just have to wonder why the crazies are the only ones speaking up for Islam.
In the meantime, we continue to be a very tolerant nation. (Some nitwit is going to get all pissy at this point about how dreadful Americans treat others. OK, whether you are a Christian or not, grab a Bible or, bettter, a Torah and take a stroll down Main Street in Riyadh and let us know how that works out for you.) This tolerance traditionally has led to a sudden switch from “peaceful and not all that united” to “we're all together and it's time to open a six-pack of whoop ass.” I have to wonder how near we are to that boundary.
The next few years may prove the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
13 September 2012
07 September 2012
God, Israel and the Party Platforms; Father, Have Mercy on Us
This week, the Democratic National Convention returned balance to The Force.
The Republican National Convention already had conferred sovereignty – okay, more like a whole lot of influence – on the Lord our God.
The 2012 platform of the national Democratic Party, however, omitted the traditional homage to the Creator and traditional tip of the hat and salaam to Israel.
Lots of folks concluded that the Democrats had abandoned our Lord and Savior and were headed straight down the Road to Damnation. Presumably, this perfidy was sponsored by Satan, the Freemasons and maybe Betty Crocker.
The Lord of All things has breathed a sigh of relief.
Hasn’t He?
Maybe not.
I’ve criticized Islamists for flipping out into Fatwa Disneyland over people burning the Koran. It seems to me they see Allah as a fairly fragile and insecure deity. I just have to wonder if God the Father, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise really thinks He needs the Democratic National Committee. Or the Republican National Committee.
I don’t claim to have the inside track here. I do have to wonder about the reaction of the Supreme Designer of the 70 sextillion suns to the chutzpah of Earth’s provincial politicians. I cannot seem to derive from Holy Writ the same message the Conventions have.
Please, someone direct me to where God is the Great Maître d’ who gives us a menu of blessings that we can order up à la carte. I also haven’t been able to find where God is the Stellar Shoulder-Striker ready to do our bidding and bring violent and terminal Holy wrath upon the people who WE identify as evil.
The Conventions still seem to believe that they’re honoring God.
Every couple of months, I get a letter from Publishers Clearinghouse telling me what a peachy and lucky guy I am. I’m wondering if God does with the party platforms same thing I do with those letters.
From my own feeble understanding of Scripture, I have to open my mind to the possibility that the reaction of the Supreme Architect to this entire political process is something along the lines of “Guys, shut up, pray quietly and then go out and humble yourselves among the people picking up trash and changing bedpans. You guys need perspective.” Oh, and “PS, shut down the boozy hospitality rooms and send the hookers home from the convention.”
Both party platforms also confirmed that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
I didn’t know that was any of our business. If we tell Britain that Liverpool is the capital, will everybody move?
I also wonder which Israel they are talking about, the biblical nation of Israel or the modern state of Israel.
If they’re talking about the state of Israel, maybe this whole Jerusalem-as-capital thing will be news to the people in Tel Aviv. It seems to me that you put your, well, capital where your capital is. The government is in Tel Aviv. When is moving day? Is the American State Department renting new digs out near Golgotha? Has Foggy Bottom contracted with some moving vans?
PS – Has anybody figured out what to do with the Dome of the Rock? It’s kind of close to the Wailing Wall, so that inhibits the nuclear option.
Oh, the original Democratic platform did not contain these provisions. It was amended from the floor in a process required a two-thirds majority.
Now at this point, somebody’s going to say that this was a set up and that obviously didn’t carry. Think, people. Look at this logically and scientifically. We’ve seen the video, but we don’t know where the microphones that were feeding the video were located. In all three of the voice votes, it did sound to me like the “nay’s” may have barely edged the “aye’s.” If I had been the Chairman and we were using a simple majority, I would have called for a division of the house. But if the mikes were on the podium, the Chairman ruled a touchdown for an incomplete pass.
To the extent that it matters. To the extent that anybody will read the platform. To the extent that anyone cares what a party convention does other than nominate two people.
I cannot help but thank Joe Ligotti, the Guy from Boston, for his succinct description today of party conventions: Bullshit Festivals.
I had another, less kind, appellation involving partner-free love, but it’s just not nice to try to one-up the Guy from Boston.
Lord Jesus, help us repair the damage these political nitwits do in the next two months. Amen.
The Republican National Convention already had conferred sovereignty – okay, more like a whole lot of influence – on the Lord our God.
The 2012 platform of the national Democratic Party, however, omitted the traditional homage to the Creator and traditional tip of the hat and salaam to Israel.
Lots of folks concluded that the Democrats had abandoned our Lord and Savior and were headed straight down the Road to Damnation. Presumably, this perfidy was sponsored by Satan, the Freemasons and maybe Betty Crocker.
The Lord of All things has breathed a sigh of relief.
Hasn’t He?
Maybe not.
I’ve criticized Islamists for flipping out into Fatwa Disneyland over people burning the Koran. It seems to me they see Allah as a fairly fragile and insecure deity. I just have to wonder if God the Father, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise really thinks He needs the Democratic National Committee. Or the Republican National Committee.
I don’t claim to have the inside track here. I do have to wonder about the reaction of the Supreme Designer of the 70 sextillion suns to the chutzpah of Earth’s provincial politicians. I cannot seem to derive from Holy Writ the same message the Conventions have.
Please, someone direct me to where God is the Great Maître d’ who gives us a menu of blessings that we can order up à la carte. I also haven’t been able to find where God is the Stellar Shoulder-Striker ready to do our bidding and bring violent and terminal Holy wrath upon the people who WE identify as evil.
The Conventions still seem to believe that they’re honoring God.
Every couple of months, I get a letter from Publishers Clearinghouse telling me what a peachy and lucky guy I am. I’m wondering if God does with the party platforms same thing I do with those letters.
From my own feeble understanding of Scripture, I have to open my mind to the possibility that the reaction of the Supreme Architect to this entire political process is something along the lines of “Guys, shut up, pray quietly and then go out and humble yourselves among the people picking up trash and changing bedpans. You guys need perspective.” Oh, and “PS, shut down the boozy hospitality rooms and send the hookers home from the convention.”
Both party platforms also confirmed that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
I didn’t know that was any of our business. If we tell Britain that Liverpool is the capital, will everybody move?
I also wonder which Israel they are talking about, the biblical nation of Israel or the modern state of Israel.
If they’re talking about the state of Israel, maybe this whole Jerusalem-as-capital thing will be news to the people in Tel Aviv. It seems to me that you put your, well, capital where your capital is. The government is in Tel Aviv. When is moving day? Is the American State Department renting new digs out near Golgotha? Has Foggy Bottom contracted with some moving vans?
PS – Has anybody figured out what to do with the Dome of the Rock? It’s kind of close to the Wailing Wall, so that inhibits the nuclear option.
Oh, the original Democratic platform did not contain these provisions. It was amended from the floor in a process required a two-thirds majority.
Now at this point, somebody’s going to say that this was a set up and that obviously didn’t carry. Think, people. Look at this logically and scientifically. We’ve seen the video, but we don’t know where the microphones that were feeding the video were located. In all three of the voice votes, it did sound to me like the “nay’s” may have barely edged the “aye’s.” If I had been the Chairman and we were using a simple majority, I would have called for a division of the house. But if the mikes were on the podium, the Chairman ruled a touchdown for an incomplete pass.
To the extent that it matters. To the extent that anybody will read the platform. To the extent that anyone cares what a party convention does other than nominate two people.
I cannot help but thank Joe Ligotti, the Guy from Boston, for his succinct description today of party conventions: Bullshit Festivals.
I had another, less kind, appellation involving partner-free love, but it’s just not nice to try to one-up the Guy from Boston.
Lord Jesus, help us repair the damage these political nitwits do in the next two months. Amen.
04 September 2012
To Hell With the Women & Children! How One Group of Investors Hogged the Lifeboats
A Reuters report today was picked up by several news organizations.
The city of Central Falls, Rhode Island, filed for bankruptcy one year ago. It has now had its reorganization plan approved so that it can emerge ultimately from the bankruptcy process.
As is the case with lots of urban New England cities, the tax base has deteriorated partly because factories have closed and the jobs have either vanished or fled. The municipality is supported mostly by property taxes and the value property has fallen. Also, a larger and larger proportion of the residents live at or near the poverty level.
The devil is in the details, but the rock-bottom basics of recovering from an out of balance budget are obvious: increase income and/or reduce expenses. Central Falls is doing both.
Property taxes will be increased steadily over the next few years. There is the increased income.
Lots of folks will share in a lot of pain in reducing expenses.
60 workers, about a third of the city workforce, were fired. I cannot say that is merely a great misfortune or truly horrible. Perhaps it was the 60 people who knew how to put out fires and arrest criminals. Maybe it was the 60 people who taught tiddlywinks at the city park. I just don’t know. I do know that they were offered jobs in good faith, that they performed them at least to an acceptable level, that they depended upon that employment and now they are out of luck. They are looking for other jobs.
Another group doesn’t have that chance. Retired city workers on pensions have been mauled by the bankruptcy plan. Reuters cites one retired police officer in his 80s whose pension of $27,000 per year is being cut to $18,200 per year. He didn't volunteer that - It's just happening. At the same time, his medical insurance premiums are going up $100 a month. By the way, that employment was exempt from Social Security withholding, so this fellow does not have any Social Security from city work. He doesn’t have the opportunity to go out and find another job – or another pension. His only option is to smile and suck up the $10,000 yearly loss. Or frown and suck it up. The City doesn't care, it's the "suck it up" part that's important to the City.
Oh, by the way, many of these pensioners who are losing up to 55% of their pensions are also homeowners who will be – wait for it – paying higher property taxes.
But wait – one group is sharing absolutely none of the pain. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Those are the city's bondholders.
When it looked like the city was getting in trouble, the Rhode Island legislature modified the Rhode Island statutes to place a lien in favor of city bondholders on property tax receipts. This made bondholders secured creditors and as such they are first in line to get paid.
Incidentally, the citizens paying the higher taxes and the pensioners receiving far less money are paying for their own screwing. The city (the taxpayers) paid to have the tax lien legislation written. The city (the taxpayers) are paying $3 million in fees for the bankruptcy process. I'm in the wrong line representing mere people. It looks like you can represent things and clean up.
It would be nice to know the reasoning behind favoring investors over taxpayers and pensioners. I do not accept any political label for myself but I will say that I'm all for logic and order. I find it difficult to come up with a logical reason that the bondholders come out of this completely clean.
The individual taxpayers (and I’m including small businesses there) bought property in a city which sometime later got into financial trouble, possibly from poor management, possibly from other causes and probably from a mix of them. Workers who retired with pensions apparently were unskillful or unlucky in selecting who to work for decades before there were problems.
Investors – the bondholders – made an investment. Part of the return on that investment was interest which they could have made from the very safest investment. The amount of interest beyond that reflected some element of risk that something bad would happen to their investment. Something bad happened.
And those with political power protected the guys with the money and dumped on the working people.
And so I turn to one of the great revelations of American culture, given by the character Otter to Flounder in the movie Animal House. The frat has just destroyed Flounder’s brother’s Lincoln automobile:
“You can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes. You f***ed up! You trusted us!”
Silly people. You trusted them.
The Central Falls reorganization plan can be found at:
http://www.centralfallsri.us/CFBPDS/Fourth%20Amended%20Disclosure%20Statement%207-27-12.pdf
A plug for Reuters: I have tried lots of newspapers on the Amazon Kindle, especially the Washington Post and USA Today. They do not adapt well to that format. For some time now, I have subscribed to Reuters which is both cost effective and translates REALLY WELL to the e-reader. I highly recommend that.
The city of Central Falls, Rhode Island, filed for bankruptcy one year ago. It has now had its reorganization plan approved so that it can emerge ultimately from the bankruptcy process.
As is the case with lots of urban New England cities, the tax base has deteriorated partly because factories have closed and the jobs have either vanished or fled. The municipality is supported mostly by property taxes and the value property has fallen. Also, a larger and larger proportion of the residents live at or near the poverty level.
The devil is in the details, but the rock-bottom basics of recovering from an out of balance budget are obvious: increase income and/or reduce expenses. Central Falls is doing both.
Property taxes will be increased steadily over the next few years. There is the increased income.
Lots of folks will share in a lot of pain in reducing expenses.
60 workers, about a third of the city workforce, were fired. I cannot say that is merely a great misfortune or truly horrible. Perhaps it was the 60 people who knew how to put out fires and arrest criminals. Maybe it was the 60 people who taught tiddlywinks at the city park. I just don’t know. I do know that they were offered jobs in good faith, that they performed them at least to an acceptable level, that they depended upon that employment and now they are out of luck. They are looking for other jobs.
Another group doesn’t have that chance. Retired city workers on pensions have been mauled by the bankruptcy plan. Reuters cites one retired police officer in his 80s whose pension of $27,000 per year is being cut to $18,200 per year. He didn't volunteer that - It's just happening. At the same time, his medical insurance premiums are going up $100 a month. By the way, that employment was exempt from Social Security withholding, so this fellow does not have any Social Security from city work. He doesn’t have the opportunity to go out and find another job – or another pension. His only option is to smile and suck up the $10,000 yearly loss. Or frown and suck it up. The City doesn't care, it's the "suck it up" part that's important to the City.
Oh, by the way, many of these pensioners who are losing up to 55% of their pensions are also homeowners who will be – wait for it – paying higher property taxes.
But wait – one group is sharing absolutely none of the pain. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Those are the city's bondholders.
When it looked like the city was getting in trouble, the Rhode Island legislature modified the Rhode Island statutes to place a lien in favor of city bondholders on property tax receipts. This made bondholders secured creditors and as such they are first in line to get paid.
Incidentally, the citizens paying the higher taxes and the pensioners receiving far less money are paying for their own screwing. The city (the taxpayers) paid to have the tax lien legislation written. The city (the taxpayers) are paying $3 million in fees for the bankruptcy process. I'm in the wrong line representing mere people. It looks like you can represent things and clean up.
It would be nice to know the reasoning behind favoring investors over taxpayers and pensioners. I do not accept any political label for myself but I will say that I'm all for logic and order. I find it difficult to come up with a logical reason that the bondholders come out of this completely clean.
The individual taxpayers (and I’m including small businesses there) bought property in a city which sometime later got into financial trouble, possibly from poor management, possibly from other causes and probably from a mix of them. Workers who retired with pensions apparently were unskillful or unlucky in selecting who to work for decades before there were problems.
Investors – the bondholders – made an investment. Part of the return on that investment was interest which they could have made from the very safest investment. The amount of interest beyond that reflected some element of risk that something bad would happen to their investment. Something bad happened.
And those with political power protected the guys with the money and dumped on the working people.
And so I turn to one of the great revelations of American culture, given by the character Otter to Flounder in the movie Animal House. The frat has just destroyed Flounder’s brother’s Lincoln automobile:
“You can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes. You f***ed up! You trusted us!”
Silly people. You trusted them.
The Central Falls reorganization plan can be found at:
http://www.centralfallsri.us/CFBPDS/Fourth%20Amended%20Disclosure%20Statement%207-27-12.pdf
A plug for Reuters: I have tried lots of newspapers on the Amazon Kindle, especially the Washington Post and USA Today. They do not adapt well to that format. For some time now, I have subscribed to Reuters which is both cost effective and translates REALLY WELL to the e-reader. I highly recommend that.
01 September 2012
Get Off Clint Eastwood's Ass
A common theme in these dispatches is that I’m annoyed when folks express such SHOCK and have an attack of the vapours when someone says something they disagree with or in a way that they don’t like.
“How DARE she say that!,” is an idiotic notion in a nation with the First Amendment.
Moreover, our exaltation of form over substance weakens us intellectually and morally. Take the presidential “debates.” They aren’t debates. They are scripted performances, they are soap opera with control of nukes as the Academy Award.
I’ve heard very little favorable or even neutral comment about Clint Eastwood’s “rambling” address at the Republican Convention. “Every actor needs a script” says one pundit.
“Talking to an empty chair is silly,” says another.
“He’s an actor, not a speaker.”
Screw ‘em.
I admire someone with the guts to stand up and just TALK. I admire someone who will just say what is on their mind. Let me again quote TR (That’s Theodore Roosevelt, children, one of the most positive role models of American history):
I don’t agree with everything Eastwood said. But this is AMERICA. This is where we are supposed to talk and reason together and maybe even cuss one another over a beer. So many in our society confuse criticizing and bitching with getting things done.
Give me real people every time over useless, hairsprayed china dolls.
“How DARE she say that!,” is an idiotic notion in a nation with the First Amendment.
Moreover, our exaltation of form over substance weakens us intellectually and morally. Take the presidential “debates.” They aren’t debates. They are scripted performances, they are soap opera with control of nukes as the Academy Award.
I’ve heard very little favorable or even neutral comment about Clint Eastwood’s “rambling” address at the Republican Convention. “Every actor needs a script” says one pundit.
“Talking to an empty chair is silly,” says another.
“He’s an actor, not a speaker.”
Screw ‘em.
I admire someone with the guts to stand up and just TALK. I admire someone who will just say what is on their mind. Let me again quote TR (That’s Theodore Roosevelt, children, one of the most positive role models of American history):
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
I don’t agree with everything Eastwood said. But this is AMERICA. This is where we are supposed to talk and reason together and maybe even cuss one another over a beer. So many in our society confuse criticizing and bitching with getting things done.
Give me real people every time over useless, hairsprayed china dolls.
31 August 2012
Navy SEALs vs. bin Laden: Poor sportsmanship? Nah.
The new book No Easy Day is a first-hand account of the Navy SEAL raid which killed Osama bin Laden. It is written by a raid participant under a pseudonym, but his actual identity has been published.
Several pundits have questioned the necessity or advisability of killing bin Laden. According to the author, bin Laden came to the door of the room he was occupying and looked out at the commotion. He was not obviously armed.
The supposed goal the raid was to capture bin Laden. As you know, was killed. Again, according to the author, the first shots put him down but the raiders shot him again while he was down to kill him.
And so, some published pundits are telling us that this degree of violence was not necessary and certainly not very sporting.
Let us review some recent history: Tapes of bin Laden himself have him discussing the meticulous plans to fly commercial aircraft into the towers of the World Trade Center. He expresses delight that the towers came down because the Al Qaeda planners merely expected a lot of damage and large loss of life.
(Some of the fire officers on scene figured out the towers would come down, but thought they had about a 12 hour window until the first tower collapsed.)
(No, I do not want to hear about anybody placing explosives in the towers. People believe that are nitwits.)
And so, with respect to the degree of violence and sportsmanship displayed by the American military people, I would like to be perfectly clear:
If Osama bin Laden had been kneeling at the feet of Billy Graham accepting Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, repenting and singing “How Great Thou Art” in a fine tenor voice, supported by Mahatma Gandhi on one side and Mother Teresa on the other, the Navy SEALs still needed to shoot his ass dead.
The only regret that I can think of is that there wasn’t space in that room for the 50 million Americans who wanted to be the ones on the trigger.
Several pundits have questioned the necessity or advisability of killing bin Laden. According to the author, bin Laden came to the door of the room he was occupying and looked out at the commotion. He was not obviously armed.
The supposed goal the raid was to capture bin Laden. As you know, was killed. Again, according to the author, the first shots put him down but the raiders shot him again while he was down to kill him.
And so, some published pundits are telling us that this degree of violence was not necessary and certainly not very sporting.
Let us review some recent history: Tapes of bin Laden himself have him discussing the meticulous plans to fly commercial aircraft into the towers of the World Trade Center. He expresses delight that the towers came down because the Al Qaeda planners merely expected a lot of damage and large loss of life.
(Some of the fire officers on scene figured out the towers would come down, but thought they had about a 12 hour window until the first tower collapsed.)
(No, I do not want to hear about anybody placing explosives in the towers. People believe that are nitwits.)
And so, with respect to the degree of violence and sportsmanship displayed by the American military people, I would like to be perfectly clear:
If Osama bin Laden had been kneeling at the feet of Billy Graham accepting Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, repenting and singing “How Great Thou Art” in a fine tenor voice, supported by Mahatma Gandhi on one side and Mother Teresa on the other, the Navy SEALs still needed to shoot his ass dead.
The only regret that I can think of is that there wasn’t space in that room for the 50 million Americans who wanted to be the ones on the trigger.
24 August 2012
EMS - Just Want You to Know
At least 100 people had big roles in the founding and development of EMS in Marion County. I can rattle off at least that many names, and point out how we can see their contributions in how the system works today.
It is one of the genuine highlights of my life that I’m just one of the people in the system over the years.
Forty-five years ago in Marion County and in most of the nation, EMS was very much hit-and-miss. The people who came, if they came, were poorly trained or untrained, had poor equipment or no equipment, and were as likely to be driving a hearse as an ambulance. “Success” was defined as eventually getting delivered alive to a hospital.
This is not even criticism of those days. We as a society had not put either funding or thought into a pre-hospital care system.
Flash forward to today: This evening, I saw the system work up close. LaJ’s father had a medical event at home early this evening. [End of story: Treated and released after a few hours.] Her sister called 911. The operator at 911 followed the procedure that took exquisite pain to hack out years ago, but now consists of a few questions and a quick dispatch. The local fire department and the more-distant rescue company station were toned out. Both responded immediately. Within a half hour, LaJ’s dad was in an ambulance and on the way to the hospital and the fire crew had gone back in service.
From the perspective of the system users - us - it was neat, quick and simple. From the standpoint of the system providers, the call itself was simple, but getting the training to answer that and many, many other calls took a huge commitment.
EMT’s (Emergency Medical Technicians) now have the equivalent of a college semester of training and THEN they get in the field and prove that they have the skills. When I went through EMT training, it was a 120 hour course.
Paramedics now have the equivalent of 4 college semesters, and must be working in the field to get into the course in the first place. There is no such creature as “just a paramedic student.” My course? One college semester. They carry drugs now that I’ve never heard of (few of which are of interest to the druggie community) and can administer them with protocols that do not require real-time physician direction.
Lots of people serve their fellow man in lots of ways. These brothers and sisters in the EMS/Fire community are among the most dedicated.
Just wanted you to know.
It is one of the genuine highlights of my life that I’m just one of the people in the system over the years.
Forty-five years ago in Marion County and in most of the nation, EMS was very much hit-and-miss. The people who came, if they came, were poorly trained or untrained, had poor equipment or no equipment, and were as likely to be driving a hearse as an ambulance. “Success” was defined as eventually getting delivered alive to a hospital.
This is not even criticism of those days. We as a society had not put either funding or thought into a pre-hospital care system.
Flash forward to today: This evening, I saw the system work up close. LaJ’s father had a medical event at home early this evening. [End of story: Treated and released after a few hours.] Her sister called 911. The operator at 911 followed the procedure that took exquisite pain to hack out years ago, but now consists of a few questions and a quick dispatch. The local fire department and the more-distant rescue company station were toned out. Both responded immediately. Within a half hour, LaJ’s dad was in an ambulance and on the way to the hospital and the fire crew had gone back in service.
From the perspective of the system users - us - it was neat, quick and simple. From the standpoint of the system providers, the call itself was simple, but getting the training to answer that and many, many other calls took a huge commitment.
EMT’s (Emergency Medical Technicians) now have the equivalent of a college semester of training and THEN they get in the field and prove that they have the skills. When I went through EMT training, it was a 120 hour course.
Paramedics now have the equivalent of 4 college semesters, and must be working in the field to get into the course in the first place. There is no such creature as “just a paramedic student.” My course? One college semester. They carry drugs now that I’ve never heard of (few of which are of interest to the druggie community) and can administer them with protocols that do not require real-time physician direction.
Lots of people serve their fellow man in lots of ways. These brothers and sisters in the EMS/Fire community are among the most dedicated.
Just wanted you to know.
21 August 2012
WVU #1 Party School? Bull Shit, and Why the Princeton Review Can Kiss My Hillbilly Ass
The Princeton Review has just published it’s annual college & university rankings. The Review purports to measure objectively the quality of the educational experience along several axes.
And, perhaps “in fun,” the Review ranks the “top party schools.” For years, the editors have had great fun hoisting West Virginia University to the top of the list frequently and nearly always ranking it “high.” This year, WVU is “Number One.”
This year, the Review cites the frequency of police citations for underage drinking, open containers and so forth, and the number of celebratory fires lit off by students.
And let me say that the police do indeed issue a lot of underage drinking citations in Morgantown. Also, one form of illegal celebration is lighting off junk out in the middle of the street. The Fire Department comes along, hoses it down and leaves, game over.
The Princeton Review is not an academic journal. It is a company which conducts review courses for people taking college and graduate school entrance examinations. To quote their own website:
I have never used any such courses, and I have no personal opinion about them. Apparently, this company has a lot of customers and has now been in business 30 years, so I must conclude that they know what they’re doing.
But ranking “party schools”? That’s pure elitist bullshit.
Oh, that it’s the Princeton anything is not significant. The website has the disclaimer that The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. Perhaps they picked the name because the founder came from the City of Princeton in New Jersey. Or the one in Massachusetts; or Illinois; or Minnesota. Or even the one in West Virginia.
I’m thinking of renaming our firm “Perry Mason® Legal Group.” No particular reason, it just came to me.
This party school thing is just another jab at us poor bumpkins back in the hollers of West Virginia.
Full disclosure: Mothers & Fathers - If you send your children to WVU, likely they are going to drink a little beer. And maybe raise a little hell.
Let me tell you what else might happen.
First and foremost, they may find themselves liking an environment where they are encouraged not to let themselves get “sent” anywhere, but where they are expected to take some responsibility and make up their own damn minds. And then live with the consequences.
It’s certainly possible that they’ll smoke a little weed, but I’m telling you that the odds aren’t quite as high as they are in urban settings. Drugs are a scourge everywhere, but in West Virginia campuses, they lack the full cachet of other places. For that matter, lots of nitwit, contra-productive habits and activities are out of style.
(More full disclosure: Tobacco use and obesity are epidemic in West Virginia. Not so much on campus, but generally.)
Let’s see, what else might they run into besides the idea of drinking beer and raising hell? Oh, right, there’s VALUES.
Work, that’s a value. Students who attend college and do little else are not considered people of leisure or true scholars. In this culture, they are lazy bums and need to get their asses out and work. Mommas and Papas, if you don’t want your little girl or boy to work a little or be around peers who will be disrespectful of them if they are lazy well, hell, send them to Princeton.
Service, that’s another value. Two or three years ago, a kid got lost in the back country just west of the Blue Ridge. There were hundreds of volunteers, MANY from WVU, who went down to hike into rough country in bad weather to search. That willingness is a value that is characteristic of West Virginia. We help our neighbors. The willingness to acquire the outdoor skills to do that is another value. Pity the poor sissy who is afraid of getting lost in the woods.
Honesty is another value at WVU. I did not attend the business school, and I’m wondering how many Wall Streeters came from there. Maybe not a whole lot. I’m not sure someone honest fits into the financial elite these days. That’s OK with us, by the way.
Now, more full disclosure: Mommas and Dads, if you want little Miss or Mr. to learn elegance, send them somewhere else. Oh, they’ll go, someone who wants to worry about their damn hair or how well a suit is pressed probably is the sort who will let parents pick a college.
Yup, drinkin’ and hell raisin’.
Damn sight better than being some elitist debutante or pretty boy.
Hope I’ve made myself clear.
PS - It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Rather, posted HERE. Lots of other writing is going lots of other places.
And, perhaps “in fun,” the Review ranks the “top party schools.” For years, the editors have had great fun hoisting West Virginia University to the top of the list frequently and nearly always ranking it “high.” This year, WVU is “Number One.”
This year, the Review cites the frequency of police citations for underage drinking, open containers and so forth, and the number of celebratory fires lit off by students.
And let me say that the police do indeed issue a lot of underage drinking citations in Morgantown. Also, one form of illegal celebration is lighting off junk out in the middle of the street. The Fire Department comes along, hoses it down and leaves, game over.
The Princeton Review is not an academic journal. It is a company which conducts review courses for people taking college and graduate school entrance examinations. To quote their own website:
Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review has long been a leader in helping college and graduate school–bound students achieve their higher-education goals through our test-preparation services, tutoring and admissions resources, as well as through online courses and resources and print and digital books.
I have never used any such courses, and I have no personal opinion about them. Apparently, this company has a lot of customers and has now been in business 30 years, so I must conclude that they know what they’re doing.
But ranking “party schools”? That’s pure elitist bullshit.
Oh, that it’s the Princeton anything is not significant. The website has the disclaimer that The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. Perhaps they picked the name because the founder came from the City of Princeton in New Jersey. Or the one in Massachusetts; or Illinois; or Minnesota. Or even the one in West Virginia.
I’m thinking of renaming our firm “Perry Mason® Legal Group.” No particular reason, it just came to me.
This party school thing is just another jab at us poor bumpkins back in the hollers of West Virginia.
Full disclosure: Mothers & Fathers - If you send your children to WVU, likely they are going to drink a little beer. And maybe raise a little hell.
Let me tell you what else might happen.
First and foremost, they may find themselves liking an environment where they are encouraged not to let themselves get “sent” anywhere, but where they are expected to take some responsibility and make up their own damn minds. And then live with the consequences.
It’s certainly possible that they’ll smoke a little weed, but I’m telling you that the odds aren’t quite as high as they are in urban settings. Drugs are a scourge everywhere, but in West Virginia campuses, they lack the full cachet of other places. For that matter, lots of nitwit, contra-productive habits and activities are out of style.
(More full disclosure: Tobacco use and obesity are epidemic in West Virginia. Not so much on campus, but generally.)
Let’s see, what else might they run into besides the idea of drinking beer and raising hell? Oh, right, there’s VALUES.
Work, that’s a value. Students who attend college and do little else are not considered people of leisure or true scholars. In this culture, they are lazy bums and need to get their asses out and work. Mommas and Papas, if you don’t want your little girl or boy to work a little or be around peers who will be disrespectful of them if they are lazy well, hell, send them to Princeton.
Service, that’s another value. Two or three years ago, a kid got lost in the back country just west of the Blue Ridge. There were hundreds of volunteers, MANY from WVU, who went down to hike into rough country in bad weather to search. That willingness is a value that is characteristic of West Virginia. We help our neighbors. The willingness to acquire the outdoor skills to do that is another value. Pity the poor sissy who is afraid of getting lost in the woods.
Honesty is another value at WVU. I did not attend the business school, and I’m wondering how many Wall Streeters came from there. Maybe not a whole lot. I’m not sure someone honest fits into the financial elite these days. That’s OK with us, by the way.
Now, more full disclosure: Mommas and Dads, if you want little Miss or Mr. to learn elegance, send them somewhere else. Oh, they’ll go, someone who wants to worry about their damn hair or how well a suit is pressed probably is the sort who will let parents pick a college.
Yup, drinkin’ and hell raisin’.
Damn sight better than being some elitist debutante or pretty boy.
Hope I’ve made myself clear.
PS - It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Rather, posted HERE. Lots of other writing is going lots of other places.
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