Koran Burning and NYC Mosque--"Ball of Confusion"

Recently, a blogger I respect and admire wrote of his anger and fear. The upshot of his post dealt with the uncertainty that today’s world brings. His conclusion? Confront the fear of failure and his anger will melt away.

Boy, do I admire that. I can’t emulate it, but I can sure admire it.

Right now, I have no fear of uncertainty. And neither am I angry. Resigned is more like it. Weary is more like it. Beaten down? Probably.

I’m not going to get into all the personal aspects of this. Instead, I’ll touch on just a couple of things in our world that I just don’t understand and which have essentially left me feeling hollow. Or, as the title of this little essay says—“Ball of Confusion”. I’m 59 years old and still confused and befuddled by this world and how people can be so gosh-damned stupid, ignorant and selfish.



Many of the goody-two-shoes have written their scathing opinions of the church in Florida proposing a “burn the Koran day” on September 11 and of the proposal to build a Mosque/Islamic Community Center near “ground zero” in New York City. I feel like Tom Hanks in “Big”, a 13 year old in a man’s body sitting in a meeting waving his hand for attention, “I don’t get it”! And I guess I’m just stupid. “I don’t get it.” This stuff is a no-brainer.

How many Americans get incensed when someone in Tehran burns an American flag during a demonstration? How many Americans got incensed when draft protesters burned the American flag at Berkley and a hundred other college campuses in the 60’s to protest the draft—and even went so far as to propose a Constitutional Amendment to ban the practice? How many of these “good Christian people” would be furious if a religion gathered a wheelbarrow full of Bibles and had their own book burning? Would they start a “Christian jihad”?

It’s not a matter of worrying that the Islamic world might get angry and use this as a “cause célèbre” to recruit more terrorists. It’s just wrong. It’s racist. It’s arrogant. It’s as much a blasphemy as if the Bible were being burned. It’s hypocritical.

On to New York. Let the people proposing the Mosque build it wherever they can legally build a facility of that nature just like it were a Catholic or Baptist or Jewish community center. The U.S. was founded on religious freedom (check the 1st Amendment someone). Build the center as a symbol of that religious freedom--as a symbol of the freedom that cannot be exercised in Tehran or Riyadh or Kandahar. Anything less is shameful.

Does somebody always have to be the enemy? It seems like that is often the case in human dynamics or in national aspirations. As Pogo said, “I have met the enemy and he is us”.

We’ve got a hell of a lot more problems than those being hammered on by a flake of a preacher in Florida or by some of the good citizens of New York City. In both instances the cry is for “freedom and tolerance for me and people just like me or people who I say are deserving and not for anyone else”. That’s just utterly asinine.

We’re better than that. And these actions make us just like “them”. Whoever “them” is. “Them” of course is people who don’t look like us or act like us or who believe something different from what we do. And we’re better than that, dammit.

I get weary and worn down watching this crap every day splayed out on TV or in the newspaper. But the media frenzy must be fed which tends to feed us like voracious piranha desperate for whatever scraps we can gobble up.

So I’m just benumbed. My brain refuses to focus or work intelligently on these and other issues. The world has increasingly become that “Ball of Confusion” with focus on the minutiae and not enough emphasis on the basic values we hold dear. It’s all a perversion. And that makes me fearful. Which makes me angry. Because there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

We had to get General Patreus on TV the other day saying that it’s not a good idea to insult Islamic believers because it might make it more difficult for U.S. troops to do a job which is already incredibly difficult. Why didn’t President Obama turn Vice President Biden loose? I would have loved to hear someone from “official” Washington say something blunt. Biden could have said something like “this is totally effed-up” in response to both the proposal to burn the Koran and the opposition to the Islamic Community Center.

But then again, it all comes back to what my Dad used to say: “Opinions are like assholes; everybody has one.” All I can say is, “I don’t get it”.

So, I don’t write much anymore, except on “safe” topics. It’s a “Ball of Confusion” and I’m having a hard time sifting through it, let alone writing about it.

Obama sez: "I've got to find out whose ass to kick!"

Well, it's about damn time. I've been waiting a year and a half for President Obama to start sounding at least a little bit like he's "got a pair".

I have hoped against hope that he would start leading more like Truman and less like Jimmy Carter.

Truman chewing MacArthur's ass.

All this "audacity of hope" stuff is fantastic. The reality has been a kick in the pants. Every once in a while you've just got to "lead, follow or get out of the way." And maybe, the aftermath of the BP Gulf of Mexico debacle is going to be catalyst. There are times to accomodate and compromise and there are times to get blunt. This is a time to get blunt. Pres. Obama likes to play a bit of basketball. Well, Pres. Obama, now is the time for you to just "take it to the hoop". You might miss, you might score, you might charge. But, take it to the hoop.

Why am I writing this? Because of a comment he made yesterday to Matt Lauer in an interview. He said that he's gone to Louisiana and the Gulf partly because he needs to know "whose ass to kick". I love it. Here's a snippet from the interview: (If the right interview isn't playing, click the "playlist" and then the icon in the upper left corner).



That kind of reminds me of this little video that I shared a few months back:

President Obama, there's a time for hope and accomodation and there's a time to "kick some ass". Now's the time to start kicking.

Admiral Mullen's Spiffy Britches

This morning, not having anything else to read (lately I’ve been on a James D. Doss kick) I was sitting in the “reading room” (that’s bathroom to most of you) going through the most recent Newsweek. I came across an article titled “Secrets From Inside the Obama War Room”, a book excerpt by Jonathan Alter. It wasn’t too bad.

Then my eye traveled to a photo in the article. It looked just a bit odd. It was a photo of Pres. Obama, Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen. That’s not what was odd about it. Obama and Gates, of course, were dressed in suits and Mullen was in uniform (his tan dress uniform, which he seems to favor). But that’s not what was odd.

Here’s a scan of the photo (I couldn’t find it anywhere online and so the quality’s not real good). See if you can notice what’s just so goofy about the image:

Newsweek, May 24 /31, 2010, page 30

Did you notice Mullen’s britches? His pants? His slacks? They’re camo! Camo? Since when did Navy dress uniforms come with camouflage trousers? Tailored and creased with spit shined dress shoes! (Do you think the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs spit shines his own shoes?)

And I’m not even going to say anything about the red briefcase that looks like the most obnoxious kind of faux designer handbag that the characters in “Sex in the City” might carry.

Now I was aghast. Is the Admiral making a fashion statement? Is this going to be the new trend in military dress uniforms? I notice that now Navy seamen have a black and grey camouflage BDU uniform they wear on ships. Why is absolutely beyond me unless it’s to try and hide from the CPO who’s supervising a work detail.

So, after my stint in the “reading room” with this photographic quandary, I adjourned to the computer and my old buddy Google.

I did manage to find this photo in a couple of places. It’s apparently a White House photo taken in 2009. And, unless I miss my guess, someone at “Newsweek” photoshopped it putting a camo pattern onto regular Navy tan dress slacks. Now why they would have done this is beyond me. Either it’s some kind of smart-ass editorial comment or someone’s smart-ass idea of a practical joke.

But here’s the original photo from Whitehouse.blogs.Foxnews:


Mystery solved? Well, not unless I knew why “Newsweek” would do this in its magazine. Or maybe I just have to chalk it up to another of those WTF? moments.

Don't Ask; Don't Tell...What Would Gunny Highway Do?

“Improvise, adapt, overcome.” That was Gunny Highway’s raspy mantra in one of my all time favorite Clint Eastwood movies, “Heartbreak Ridge”. It seems to me that President Obama, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Defense could benefit from some of that wisdom as they review “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

I was flipping through the news channels yesterday morning and came across a couple of reports about a review of this now infamous policy. One of the news stories said that the Department of Defense will now spend a year studying the repeal of this policy.

They’ll study it to death. They’ll ask questions about “good order and discipline”, “unit cohesion”, etc. Senator McCain and others will continue his cantankerous ways in opposition. Why can’t Pres. Obama just do what Harry Truman did on February 2, 1948 and send a message to Congress. Truman’s message said that he had “instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed forces eliminated as rapidly as possible.”

That would be a good start. Except, like in Truman’s case, it would take several years to fully implement the change. But it would be a good start. Then Fox News, neo-cons and all the arch conservative pundits could have a hey-day criticizing it and we could see just how much mettle the president has in taking the right course of action and “sticking to his guns”.

I thought the comments from Lt. Dan Choi were interesting this morning. He said that shortly after he came out, he was cleaning his weapon after a firing range training session. A young trooper from his platoon asked him if he were the officer he had seen on the Rachel Maddow show talking about his homosexuality. Choi said that he was. After a couple of minutes, the young trooper said, “Cool, when can we meet your boyfriend?” And according to Choi the young trooper was OK with it.

Maybe that’s the crux of this whole matter. Today’s 18-25 year olds have grown up in an intensely politically correct educational and social environment. They tend to be pretty blasé about sexuality. If someone is gay, so what? They are far more accepting than those of us who grew up 20, 30 or 40 years ago—or should I say than society was 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

What that might suggest is that now is the time to make this change. If the “command structure” (the senior officers and senior NCOs) don’t like it, well maybe they should either change their own attitude or retire.

I don’t think that Gunny Highway would have much of a problem, just as long as the guy next to him can be trusted to “have his back”. Like Gunny Highway said a couple of times in the movie, “just because you saved my ass doesn’t mean we’re going to take warm showers together.”

Until this policy is changed—hopefully by order of the Commander in Chief--the military will continue to be, in Gunny Highway's words, a “clusterflub” (actual word changed like the movie censors did).

George Bailey Didn't Play Texas Hold 'Em

Tonight, President Obama will deliver his first ever “State of the Union address to the Congress and the nation. He has had a busy first year. He’s had arguably the world’s biggest ever mess to clean up along with intense pressure to move forward. From my point of view he has done an admirable job of both. Of course, both are works in progress.

The nation didn’t get itself in this mess in one year—it was a decade in the making—and it may take a decade or more to recover. The need to provide greater access to health care benefits has never been more acute than in this time of high unemployment, ruined personal finances and ageing population.

But that’s not my topic today. Today, it’s about banks. Recently Pres. Obama chided the finance and banking industry over its return to overly generous bonuses and pay-outs based on short-term results when only a year ago many of these largest banks (I use the term loosely to cover the mega and other finance institutions who have been the primary beneficiaries of “TARP” and other bail-out funds) were on the brink of collapse and about to take the economy of this country and much of the world with them.

It’s as if “finance” were the world’s highest stake game of Texas Hold ‘Em and these banks were gleefully chortling over each mega-hand regardless of whether it was a hand won or lost. Until all the hands were losing hands and the “play money” was evaporating. Then they cried out to “Uncle Sam” for help.

So here comes “TARP” to the rescue. Billions upon billions. Taxpayer’s money. Now, it’s great that these “banks” were able to repay the money within a year—with interest. (Although it’s a little bit scary that they were able to recoup those losses in such a short timeframe). A new round of risky, exotic financial instruments has started and mega-bonuses are being reinstituted. Recently, Pres. Obama felt the need to directly address the issue at a meeting with bankers. But they don’t seem interested in really listening and changing some of the fundamental maladies of their side of this vital industry.

So all this leads me to think back over the years of my own experience with bankers. Simply put, if not for local bankers little would get accomplished in most of the small and mid-sized communities in our nation. Of course, much of this deals with “state chartered” local banks rather than “national” banks but as larger banks have absorbed many, if not most, small banks they have taken on the same local roles.

I spent roughly 20 years working in the field of community and economic development. I started in state government and then worked for Chambers of Commerce and their associated economic development corporations in the late 70’s until the mid 90’s in North Dakota and Iowa and Minnesota and Wisconsin.

If not for the local banks exercising leadership and investing in their communities little would be truly accomplished. It’s more a sense of George Bailey and his commitment to the depositors of his bank in “It’s a Wonderful Life” than any sense of “noblesse oblige”.

Small town bankers are intimately familiar with the social fabric of their community. They believe in the interrelationships necessary for a community to thrive. They may spend Thursday afternoon at the Country Club but they also spend Saturday at the Little League field and Sunday morning at church before heading back to the office Monday morning—all the while being pestered about local issues and the bank’s role in the community. And they know that this level of commitment yields a flourishing community AND a flourishing bank.

They help hang the evergreen bunting around the town square the Saturday after Thanksgiving and provide both leadership and investment in the fundraiser to send the High School Band to a Holiday parade, the campaign to raise funds to buy a new industrial park, buying the grand champion hog at the County Fair or an effort to pass a school bond issue.

This is what I hope Pres. Obama was trying to remind these mega-financial people about. It’s the old adage that “all politics are local”. Well, ultimately all finance is local too. Or, I could say that the sum total of micro-economics is what makes “macro-economics” possible. These major banks are grand-eloquent in their smug certainty that they are what make the financial world possible. It’s the ultimate trickle-down which, when it failed, scared the hell out of millions and millions of us.

More fundamentally, I would hope that Pres. Obama reminded these financial princes that they may have been able to repay the TARP bail-out with interest in a year but they managed to ruin the hopes and aspirations of millions when 401Ks tanked, mortgages imploded and jobs disappeared. Their debt goes far deeper and the repayment schedule should be amortized at forever.

Small town banks are the backbone of communities. They are the people and institutions to whom we turn in good times and bad. It’s just too bad that the guys at the banks that are “too big to fail” who make their multi-millions in bonuses don’t seem to get it—even when the President reminds them about it. Let’s hope he reminds them again,and again.

Is 9/11 the "New" Memorial Day? "Counting Flowers on the Wall" & Joe Wilson's Caput in Recto Award

Things have been too heavy this week. First a bunch of folks got their shorts twisted up into knots at the audacity of a black President wanting to give a speech to school kids about hope and goals.

Then some jackass has to holler out “You Lie” at that same President when he was talking about healthcare and how we can do better for the 15% of Americans who don’t have any health insurance. And now that cracker is being made out to be some kind of hero in his home state. That’s something I just don’t get.

And today. It’s as if 9/11 has become our actual Memorial Day. The one at the end of May is just a holiday anymore—a day off work—but the 9/11 Memorial Day is one where people actually reflect on our nation and honor those who have sacrificed. It’s become a day where we are more introspective, where we actually appreciate those who are so diligent on our behalf. And that’s a good thing. What do you think? Has 9/11 become our “true” Memorial Day?

So, the weekend is upon us. Those are pretty much just a couple of more days to me. When you’re not working and your days seem to be increasingly endless; when you’re afraid to spend a dollar because you don’t know when that dollar might be the last one you’ve got; when those things are in your life, you don’t look forward to the weekend too much.

With that out of the way, how about a little bit of music. There’s been some stuff about music here on OS lately. And, I was thinking about being “idle” this morning and thought that maybe I could share this old Statler Brothers song with you:


Enjoy and have a great weekend--kick back, relax and let go of the crap. What's the old saying? "Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff." Hopefully this provided you with just a bit of a break from all the too serious stuff we’ve got going on.

And last but certainly not least, Congressman Joe Wilson, Rep, S.C. this award is for you: "The Caput in Recto" Award.