Tannishblog

Now we can start counting the deaths in the War on Immigrants… ONE… Remember the War on Drugs? That one is still going on, I think. Meawhile designer drugs have emerged, the CIA has bee accused of drug trafficking, and still there are drug gangs, and the rest of the symptoms in the inner cities. That war is not going well.

And then there’s the War on Terror. “Nuff said.

Iran seems to be political suicide in these days of declining poll numbers and nervous incumbents, so let’s start a NEW war! (Strains of Randy Newman drift through my mind: “Let’s drop the big one and see what happens…”)

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As the flood waters recede in Blue Country, I haven’t heard a peep from the MSM about a federal declaration of emergency relief.. Maybe I missed something. Or maybe the blue-staters don’t want FEMA’s help.

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Jimmy Hoffa is making a comeback – and it’s not even Halloween yet. I ask you: does anyone really care? Maybe the President can nominate him for some committee…

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Dell computer bought out tres chic computer boutique venor Alienware a while back, which gives it an end run around its Faustian deal with Intel to not sell AMD Processors. Most PC hardware nuts like myself have preferred AMD for years in their boxes, and the gaming aficionados whom Alienware built its business around helped propel the chip makers market share into the mainstream, thus catching the eyes of Dell.

Just as HP can sell AMD in its Compaq line of computers without outwardly flaunting its own deal with Intel, so is Dell making the same moves. Today, Dell announces plans for using the underdog processors (which are arguable a better value) in their server line.

Okay. So I’m a chiphead. My motto? Achieve Total Geekosity! AMD is the best; I won’t build with anything else. Go Dell!

I can’t help wondering if the sudden move to draw attention toward our southern border is a smoke screen to remove eyeballs from the real agenda, or from the carnage in Iraq. With the President’s poll numbers going south in an election year, perhaps the floundering elephants are trying anything to divert attention from their mistakes, even if that risks making new ones. After all, the new mistakes haven’t happed yet, and no polls are adressing them. Yet.

It just might buy them a few months of time if we all forget the recent past. Indeed, the news from Iraq has been missing front pages as of late. Hmm, desperate times, and all that…

Two things puzzle me: First, what political expediency drives the new emphasis on immigration? Prince George the Unready has hinted at border policy for years. Now, it’s paramount to wave his magic stick and make the problem go away. Except I’ve noticed that his stick needs recharging – Harry Potter he’s not. Perhaps I’ve become overly skeptical of our poor excuse for leadership, a hyper-jaded paranoia tells me to seek the unspoken catalyst of this sudden change in focus. My Spidey-sense tingles at the news that Our Favorite Shrubbery is looking to compromise on this issue, or any issue; this is plainly out of character.

Second, is our renewed group hugs with Moammar Gaddafi. Never mind his alleged mellowing in his old age, Libya holds the eighth largest oil field on the planet, as well as the dubious distinction of having one of the world’s most oppressive regimes, according to Freedom House. Obviously, our administrations focus on spreading Democracy is waning.

This is a telling shift from a group characterized by dogmatic narrow mindedness. It truly gives a progressive like me hope (careful there…) to see the “Bring ’em on” boys grasping at straws like this. Or are they watching as their political raft sheds timber? One can only hope.

There I go again…

Today I got a nice surprise in the form of a response from a reader at my original web page, the Tannish Page. It’s nice to know that some people are stumbling upon my writings on occasion. Being a tiny fish in the cesspool of the vast internet, I find I enjoy such a rare event.

Below I include the query as well as my reply, edited for anonymity:

Original Message:

name: Jim M.

comment: Tannish,I recently Googled “reflexive rude behavior” and your site was among those delivered. I am struggling with my own episodes of rude, boorish behavior that appear reflexively as a result of certain stimulus. I am usually embarrassed by these events, know they are hurtful and also know that, depending on the environment, can be potentially dangerous. I liked the poem you posted. Any thoughts on how the reflexive action can be delayed long enough to enable cognition to kick in allowing one to remember that there is another street to walk down?Jim

cheers: on

Hi, Jim

Thank you for taking the time to write me. Your question seems an honest one, unlike some I see on the ‘net… One can’t be too careful.As for an answer, I am not by any stretch an expert, but as you’ve noticed I have a bit of personal experience with poor behavior.

My advice: meditation. If you’re unfamiliar, meditation is the practice of becoming aware of what our minds do during those times we are not in the habit of noticing. For most people, this means most of the time. In my experience, the practice of meditation for a half hour or less almost every day has helped greatly in gaining sensitivity toward countermanding the mental triggers of my worst behavior, and correcting myself before I get out of control. To practice more would greatly accelerate the benefits.

This, it seems, is what you might be seeking. I wish you luck.Tannish

To all Mommies, Grannies, Bubies, Nanas, and aspiring mothers: Wishes for the best of days.

Apart from a celebration of home makers and nurturers, Mothers Day is a celebration of women. Not being one, I go out on a limb by saying motherhood and the potential of childbirth is a central theme in all women’s lives. The mechanics of human reproduction is the domain of the woman, and this day attempts to honor that great responsibility all women must bear. Men would be wise to acknowledge the awesome burden a mother is subject to and lend as much help and support as possible.

Besides all that, Mother’s Day is a call for peace. During the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe, the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, recoiled in horror at the carnage of a whole generation of young men. Her response was to promote a Mother’s Day for Peace, which we are celebrating today.

She saw some of the worst effects of the war — not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause. Distressed by her experience of the realities of war, determined that peace was one of the two most important causes of the world (the other being equality in its many forms) and seeing war arise again in the world in the Franco-Prussian War, she called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

How can we celebrate life, as exemplified through motherhood, without demanding an end to bloodshed? How many mothers today will sit in sorrow because their brave soldier children will not be home? How many will cry because our recent wars have killed their offspring, or because their adult children came back from Iraq damaged and disabled? How many mothers are serving overseas that can’t connect with their kids at home: Too many.

Remember today as a Day of Peace. Hug your mother, or cherish her memory, look upon your daughters and see the future mommies they may become. Work for a world there mothers can celebrate their day in a peaceful world with their kids, grandkids and all loved ones. And send a prayer of support to mothers whose day will not be so wonderful.

The Blogocube is buzzing about the NSA and phone call data mining. WaPo is conflicting itself with two articles: Most American support NSA, which Maven Malkin has run away with; and a tirade about our Favorite Shrubbery doing what he does best – Lying. ABC News confirms WaPo’s findings, whil USAToday tries to play on our fears of Big Brother.

So what else is new?

The Dems are chasing another Red Herring ostensibly acting in the best interests of POTUS but really stoking the few bonfires of extremism which already burn uncontrollably. And the news maching grinds on doing what it does best: sensationalizing. My take: This is yet another non-issue

If you’re rooting for a Democratic sweep this autumn, don’t hold your breath or put money down on it. That kind of upset only happens in fiction, or in a just and beneficent world; ours is neither. But there is hope…

What will take out the Republican majority is the Republican majority. In a word – hubris - will be their downfall. It’s already begun. The damage has been noted, and the tally will be counted nest November. Anything between now and then is posturing, therefore nothing to be concerned with. The lines are drawn, the cards dealt, ad nausea, and time will indeed tell.

“Peace is unpractical”

These words have ricocheted inside my scull for several weeks, now. In context, I was speaking to my supervisor, who is a nice enough gent to have offered to take me out to breakfast that day. He has a tendency toward pontification, but since his views are thoughtful, I don’t mind. I can’t recall the actual drift of our conversation. It had something to do with an aspect of my new position I was struggling with, something involving human interactions no doubt, and I said, “I’m just looking for some peace.”

I meant it both in relation to workplace interactions and as a metaphysical observation. My boss understood this. Yet his answer, quoted above, threw me. It illuminated just how two white guys, both middle-aged, both from middle class homes, can develop diametrically opposed world views. I thought, “How could he think that?” Then I started a mental list of how different we were: City-born v. rural bred; the fifteen years age differential; His Baptist College education and my failed inter-City University trials; His All-American sports background, and my wannabe-rock star, burnout-pothead roots. It occurred to me how little we know about the people with which we interact, especially the seemingly random personalities encountered on the job.

Peace is anything but impractical. His thinking so helps me to understand just how our nation got into a war in the first place, not to mention two of them. If a majority of Americans believed as does my boss, then retribution for the twin towers would logically follow, as would any other target our government seemed fit to attack, as long as the move occurred while our collective blood still boiled. That is exactly how things played out, as I recall. War never solves problems; it only creates more. If I remember right, Osama was reacting to how America acted in Afghanistan during the cold war in order to thwart Russia. His hatred for us stemmed from one war, and ultimately resolved into another one. How is that practical? Of course, I’m not condoning his actions, but neither do I overlook America’s part leading up to September 11 or following after.

Aggressive policies don’t work. At best, any form of aggression risks reprisal; at worst, it can create chain reaction of unwanted, unexpected outcomes. Can you say: Polytrauma?

Speaking of unintended consequences, the cold war effectively bankrupts the USSR, causing a resurgence of Democracy in the fractured political landscape. Never did I overhear any pundit of the times expressing how such was the intention of our frosty aggressions. The war in Iraq is likely to bankrupt America unless we can extricate ourselves soon. I believe that to be a similarly unanticipated result. Fiscal responsibility notwithstanding, our president’s falling poll numbers is surely unintended, and just as surely a direct result of this war. I ask any readers – feel free to leave a comment – what positive outcome has resulted from our invasion of Iraq?

Peace, on the other hand, is preferable. Can anyone deny this? Again – leave a comment. When has a lasting peace resulted in negative consequences? To live in harmony with our neighbors down the street and across the ocean, is a common prayer of every religion, a common hope of most of humanity. Why can we not accomplish this? Any nation that can rise from the ashes of the Great Depression and fly to the moon in less than forty years should be able to accomplish a lasting peace if it wanted one.

That last thought gives rise to new territory… I must ponder if America really wants peace. I’ll leave that for another posting. For now, I’ll close with the observation that I would prefer to be impractical if it saves lives.

I swear this planet has somehow slipped into the Twilight Zone, or something. The Washington Post reports Prince George the Destructive is prepping his brainwashed legions for – are you sitting down? - For Jeb Bush to make a run at the presidency.

I’ll let that sink in a bit…

We need this, don’t we? Somehow, we need another Bush in the White House to complete the destruction started by his father, and accelerated by George the Second. In Christian terms, we must be atoning for one helluva mongo sin to be inflicted with a third Bush presidency. I can’t begin to think what we did to deserve that!

To take a different tack, our Karmic debt must be so huge as to require cataclysmic (dare I say Apocalyptic) amounts of suffering to occur to cleanse us. If that is the case, I doubt humanity will survive.

I am not exaggerating!

How can four or (shudder) eight more years of astronomical debts, needless wars, testosterone-inspired foreign policy (Bring ‘Em On!), and rewards for the richest – damn the poor economic theories be good for America? “Let’s just cut education and force unemployable young people to be soldiers, dissolve social security so the old ones die off quick. There’s still lots of targets out there. God Bless Planet America!”

Does anyone comprehend the enormous amounts of money involved in the federal government? Specific program price tags measured in millions, deficit numbers measured in billions, wartime spending measured in trillions… The other day I heard that our national debt is reaching $100,000,000,000,000. That’s 14 zeros, folks: one hundred trillion dollars. Can you wrap your mind around that number?

Today’s Washington Post has the lowdown on the new federal budget as well as graphics for the budget conscious: Spending Categories; Receipts and Outlays; Deficit Projections; and Budget Cuts. Predictable, I am drawn to the budget cuts, as this is easier for my under-educated mind to grasp. As a former victim of Chicago Public Schools, I understand intimately how under-funding public schools can predispose a life for decades. True to course, Education is again trimmed, to the tune of over $4 billion. Hardest hit is the High School program which stands to loose just under half the total educational funding cuts this time around. It’s interesting to note that all of the 2005 fiscal money is being eliminated for the High Schools. Higher education programs have been hit, too.

Here I refrain from a quip about teenagers without either college or employment prospects being eminently suitable for the military. But I didn’t say that…

In the Major Reductions category, the Agriculture Department is taking a pounding. Programs like Rural Business Investments and Rural Firefighter Grants get trimmed. This puts in mind a recent complaint from my rural republican friends about how too much state money is going to projects in Chicago instead of “downstate” (which in Illinois means anywhere else). Looking at the agriculture numbers, I see a Reagan-esque trickle down effect in action. Food is just not in the priorities of our government these days.

Scrolling down the list of DoA reductions, I note the Renewable Energy category is loosing all of 2005’s $23 million. Conservation options get skimmed. The EPA, along with specific programs such as Farmland Protection, Conservation Operations, Wildlife Habitat Incentives, and Forest Service Fire Management get hit.

I could go on all night. The list is incontrovertible evidence of the priorities of an embattled presidency and a nervous congress. The real question is: How much do these numbers reflect your priorities. Lest we forget, the Washington Elite Society is supposed to be invested with our interests in the forefront of their decision making. As the voting season approaches, ask yourself if your interests are being served, or if a change is in the political climate.

I tried to compile a comprehensive list in service to the title of this entry, but there are only two things one needs to do:

Think for ones self.

Express those thought in a public manner.

That’s it! In the convoluted reasoning of the Conservative mind (is that an oxymoron?), comma, anyone not agreeable to the Republican agenda should either (a) become a political activist, or (b) forget the whole thing!

Now, I agree with the A-part. One should get out and canvas – that is if one wants to forgo responsibilities necessary to keeping one’s house, one’s kids in school, one’s job. The nasty thing is that the system we live in is skewed against the average person actively taking part in politics. Especially if that person has come into the whole political-awareness thingy later in life, has made some important and irrevocable decisions which affect how limited resources such as time and money are allocated. If every Joe would be able to affect politics directly, we would have no use for a professional political caste. Indeed, we might actually have a real democracy, which does not favor the incumbent party one bit: they’re not called “Republicans” for nothing…

But I digress.

The other choice, offered to me-and-mine by a good friend (who apparently hates my bloggings), is to emulate an ostrich. Wouldn’t that be convenient for the many-tiered aggregation of chicken-hawkishness who so favor the elimination of all independent thought: Just go away! Give up without a fight, without a voice; allow the unholy war to swallow your children and spit them out into black plastic bags (my greatest fear is for our misguided leadership to start another war – say, in Iran – and decide to reinstitute the draft just in time for my high-school-aged daughter to be swept up in the insanity and destroyed); forget entirely that the single thing that once made this country great – open political dialogue – is being stifled by the Archie Bunker clones of the neo-conservative, warhappy movement. And most of them are as guilty of armchair, couch-potato politics as I am.

To my good friend, Leucanthemum: I truly grieve that our polarity is influencing our hard-won friendship. However, I’ll be damned if your insistence on my getting some therapy will impress me in any other way than to incite my muse. Thank you for that.