Bryan Strawser – Page 63

Good Morning

by Bryan Strawser · Jan 1, 2005

It’s hard to believe that this was twelve years ago – but here’s a great poem to kick of 2005:

A Rock, A River, A Tree

Hosts to species long since departed,

Mark the mastodon.

The dinosaur, who left dry tokens

Of their sojourn here

On our planet floor,

Any broad alarm of their of their hastening doom

Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,

Come, you may stand upon my

Back and face your distant destiny,

But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than

The angels, have crouched too long in

The bruising darkness,

Have lain too long

Face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spelling words

Armed for slaughter.

The rock cries out today, you may stand on me,

But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,

A river sings a beautiful song,

Come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,

Delicate and strangely made proud,

Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit

Have left collars of waste upon

My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,

If you will study war no more.

Come, clad in peace and I will sing the songs

The Creator gave to me when I

And the tree and stone were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow

And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.

The river sings and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to

The singing river and the wise rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew,

The African and Native American, the Sioux,

The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek,

The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,

The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,

The privileged, the homeless, the teacher.

They hear. They all hear

The speaking of the tree.

Today, the first and last of every tree

Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the river.

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the river.

Each of you, descendant of some passed on

Traveller, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name,

You Pawnee, Apache and Seneca,

You Cherokee Nation, who rested with me,

Then forced on bloody feet,

Left me to the employment of other seekers–

Desperate for gain, starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot…

You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru,

Bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare

Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am the tree planted by the river,

Which will not be moved.

I, the rock, I the river, I the tree

I am yours–your passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need

For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,

Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,

Need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon

The day breaking for you.

Give birth again

To the dream.

Women, children, men,

Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most

Private need. Sculpt it into

The image of your most public self.

Lift up your hearts.

Each new hour holds new chances

For new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever

To fear, yoked eternally

To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,

Offering you space to place new steps of change.

Here, on the pulse of this fine day

You may have the courage

To look up and out upon me,

The rock, the river, the tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day

You may have the grace to look up and out

And into your sister’s eyes,

Into your brother’s face, your country

And say simply

Very simply

With hope

Good morning.

– Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of the Morning, 1993

Year’s end has always been a time of deep reflection and introspective thought for me. Much has happened – professionally and personally – in the last year. Some of which was well received, some of which was handled with grace, and some of which just passed me by….

Some thoughts and retrospection on the year closing tonight….

In March, I passed the latest milestone in my life by turning 30 on March 5th.

During April and May, we disappeared for ten days into the lovely sands and waters of St. Croix, and nearly didn’t come back. An island oasis so much like heaven I thought perhaps I had died. As I look out the window today at 12 inches of snow I wonder why we didn’t stay.

In late May, in the midst of some spring rain and in the flash of a moment’s inattention, I crashed my five year old Toyota Camry. After the insurance company totaled out the car, I bought a snappy new Honda Civic Hybrid. Since that time, I’ve saved nearly $517 in gasoline costs. And I’m still quite happy with the car.

June brought us the dedication of the National World War II Memorial. At that time, I wrote of my upbringing in Covington, Indiana:

The war – even though it occurred nearly thirty years before my birth – has always been a part of the fabric of my life. Its impact on my hometown – and on the people who lives there – was huge.

My father, a Vietnam Veteran, was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion. He twice serves as Commander of American Legion Post 291 – housed in an old historic log cabin in Covington’s city park. As a Boy Scout in Troop 291 – sponsored by the same American Legion post, I would stop and read the plaques and study the pictures mounted on the wall.

Post 291 was named the Fulton – Banta American Legion Post. I remember an old black and white photograph of Ensign John William Banta – for whom the post was co-named. Ensign Banta was Covington’s first casualty in World War II. Fulton, whose background escapes me at the time of this writing, was Covington’s first casualty in World War I.

Something about the way that I was brought up – the combination of small town Indiana and the military service history of my family and neighbors – has always instilled in me a deep respect for the sacrifice of those of served – and those who gave their all. It may come from a deep understanding of freedom – an underlying theme that I heard growing up. From the 4th of July Fireworks, to planting flags as a young Boy Scout on the graves of hundreds of veterans in Fountain County, Indiana, that message was reinforced in my head over and over… and I also learned from the veterans and others who had lived through the Second World War that freedom came with a price. I knew that from the honored pictures of Fulton and Ensign Banta in the American Legion Post.

This weekend, we finally gave them their due with the dedication of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.

The summer brought on a huge crush of work as I headed up efforts to prepare for the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was a huge learning experience for me and has opened up all sorts of new career possibilities for me in the future. Hopefully, as things work out, you’ll hear more about those in 2005.

September, I believe, will always be a difficult month for many in the United States. I have memories and feelings that are deeply held about the events of that day and their aftermath – but it was a simple gesture by a peer of mine that has helped me remember how I felt that day.. and why.. I wrote back on September 11th:

In the end, I think we all have the responsibility to remember what happened that day – to us – to our fellow man – here in our own country.

A few weeks ago, while having coffee with a peer in Minneapolis, our conversation steered towards the impact of September 11th on our lives – both personally and professionally.

She pulled out her PDA – tapped on it a few times – and spun it around so that I could read it.

It was her calendar – turned to September 11th, 2004 – and it showed just one word:

Remember

September also brought a new hobby – exercise. For the first time in nearly a decade, I picked up an athletic hobby and started what I hope will be a life altering experience for me. And I solidified that statement with a simple wristband signifying that change in my approach to living:

With October each year brings the World Series. In my six years in Boston, I’ve watched other teams play in the great dance and watched one of them go home happy. This year, after eighty-six years, it was our turn:

November brought, after nearly two years of campaigning, the re-election of President George W. Bush. I danced the happy dance when John Kerry gave a wonderful concession speech:

With that gift also comes obligation. We are required now to work together for the good of our country. In the days ahead, we must find common cause. We must join in common effort without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor. America is in need of unity and longing for a larger measure of compassion.

I hope President Bush will advance those values in the coming years. I pledge to do my part to try to bridge the partisan divide. I know this is a difficult time for my supporters, but I ask them, all of you, to join me in doing that.

Now, more than ever, with our soldiers in harm’s way, we must stand together and succeed in Iraq and win the war on terror.

We lost many friends as a nation in 2004 as well. Two that I’ll always remember were Ronald Reagan and Pat Tillman.

Former President Reagan had one of the most stunningly beautiful funerals I have ever seen. The image of the sunset to the west as he was carried to his final resting place was the perfect epitaph on this man’s life.

Much was written this year about Pat Tillman – but I thought this simple tribute from blogger Sgt. Hook said it best:

We landed at one of the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) yesterday to drop off supplies and pick up some equipment, a somewhat routine mission for us. The crew suddenly became very solemn when we noticed a ceremony being conducted about 30-meters away. A KIA ceremony.

The flag draped coffin was placed in the position of honor in front of a formation of Soldiers while a chaplain said a few words. We were all humbled and reminded of our own immortality and that everyday out here, we are in harm’s way.

As taps played we rendered our salute to the fallen Soldier, hero, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. News of the firefight resulting in one dead and two wounded a couple of days ago had reached us. We had no idea it was Pat Tillman. Tillman turned down a big fat NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to become an Army Ranger shortly after 9/11.

Sgt Tillman is a hero not because he walked away from the Cardinals, but because of where he walked to. He like all the rest of the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coastguardsmen volunteered to put himself between the bad guys and our way of life and fight for its preservation. Rest In Peace Sgt Tillman, your service to our nation is an inspiration and you will not be forgotten.

And we couldn’t recognize these two without acknowledging the sacrifice of hundreds of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coastguardsmen in Iraq and Afghanistan who died for the liberty of total strangers – and who have helped forge a country where I can sit in peace on my couch and write this recap of the past year. We will never forget you.

And so we close the books on 2004. There’s much more I could write but can’t because this is a public forum. There’s more news coming early in 2005 along with my New Year’s Resolutions – but you’ll have to wait until the next year has begun before you can read those.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll tak a cup of kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,

And surely I’ll be mine,

And we’ll tak a cup o kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,

And pou’d the gowans fine,

But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit,

Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn

Frae morning sun till dine,

But seas between us braid hae roar’d

Sin auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty fiere,

And gie’s a hand o thine,

And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught,

For auld lang syne

Happy New Year, my friends…. Happy New Year…

Moonbats

by Bryan Strawser · Dec 31, 2004

In one of the comments on an earlier post of mine from this week, Kerri asked what a moonbat was…

Moonbat is a term used generally to describe leftist idiots like A.N.S.W.E.R., the Socialist Action Network, and others. But in the interest of being fair, I looked up the Wikipedia definition of “moonbat”:

1. “Someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be.” (de Havilland )

2. “someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency” (Adriana Cronin)

3. “… human whose cerebral cortex has turned to silly putty causing him or her to mentally slide down the evolutionary ladder to the level of a winged rat who is influenced by the moon and wants to suck your blood. Also not-so-affectionately known as a “Democrat”.” (www.barking-moonbat.com F.A.Q)

4. Not liberals, but leftists. Whereas liberals are patriotic, leftists seek to undermine their national strength. Anti-war protestors, likely to call the US military “nazis,” apt to blame the 9-11 attacks on a US government and Zionist conspiracy, are moonbats. Liberals who oppose the war, are not.

5. A poster at the liberal/progressive website Democratic Underground

It’s my intention in 2005 to showcase more of what the moonbats really stand for – and expose some of their stupidity along the way.

Sports Radio, Courage, and the Moonbats

by Bryan Strawser · Dec 31, 2004

Chomsky comrade and znet blogger Paul Street wrote this eveningabout driving through the midwestern United States and listening to local radio:

And so on…the usual and in-itself innocuous sporting drivel that rules the AM dial. What made this normal radio discussion stand out in such bold relief to me was of course the backdrop of the unfolding tsunami tragedy. Hearing all this trivial talk at this particular moment was vaguely reminiscent of the creepy sensation I got upon seeing my first television commercials after advertising was suspended for about week after 9/11/2001

My sports radio revulsion peaked during one particularly dramatic segment on WGN AM 710, a Chicago station. Three hours into my drive, I listened with amazement to the fervent, impassioned, and almost ranting discourse of a Houston Fox TV “Sports Director” on “a topic I have been living with night and day for the last 6 weeks.”

The question that has haunted this sports news coordinator for so long? Whether or not the Houston Astros (baseball) will be able to retain their bona-fide “five- tool” superstar Carlos Beltran at his “fair market rate” of $15 million a year for seven years. I said $15 million a year for seven years…for…playing baseball…(yes, the owners make more).

Does the figure $15 million sound familiar? That was George W. Bush’s initial offer to the tsunami victims, which later got shamed up to $35 million, where it still paled in comparison to the cost of the illegal and murderous occupation of Iraq – roughly $151 billion so far.

Like most moonbats, Street finds any possible route to connect what he hears with the desire of the United States to build an “empire” and any mention of money onto the “illegal and murderous occupation of Iraq” – even if those connections completely defy logic.

And then, to top it off, Street apparantly lacks the courage to actually call in and discuss any of this – particularly with “right wing radio”:

I thought about calling in and trying to make some moderately sane points about:

• the vastly disparate share of global resources that the US populace devours

• the equally vast and disparate share of global waste and pollution the US populace generates

• the ancient religious concept of tithing, which is based precisely on share of total wealth and not simply absolute amount

• the role of US neo-liberal global economic policy in impoverishing nations and people across the globe, helping make them immeasurably more vulnerable than they ought to be to the ravages of natural calamities like hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, mudslides, and tsunamis

• the relatively paltry and yes stingy size of America’s absolute humanitarian contribution, seen quite dramatically when it is compared to the “world’s richest nation’s” “defense” (empire) budget, including just its bloody and illegal occupation of Iraq (which has also killed more than 100,000 non-Americans) and/or to the gigantic tax cuts that George W. Bush has granted to his super-opulent ruling-class comrades

• the routinely selective U.S. application and denial of US economic and humanitarian assistance in accordance with imperial US political objectives and related ideological biases

Street also falls into the moonbat mode of the last few days of blaming as much of the Tsunami situation on the United States – and particularly George W. Bush – as possible.

I did find it humorous that Street posted this at 7:17pm EST and comments that we had only donated $35m to the Tsunami relief efforts when it was announced far earlier today that we had increased this amount to $350m. Wonder if any of his other facts are wrong?

Tsunami Moonbats

by Bryan Strawser · Dec 30, 2004

Well, the moonbats are our in force over the Tsunami issue.

Over at Znet, Paul Street has this little gem:

The terrible human consequences of natural disasters and events generally can’t be fully understood except in relation to existing hierarchies and ideologies of class, race, and empire.

It was mother nature, Paul. Class, race, and empire had nothing to do with it.

Over at the Asian Tsunami Blog that Paul references in his post above were great comments such as these:

There is a good possibility that the US military/CIA let tens of thousands drown rather than “compromise” the sources of their “intelligence”

[…]

One hour before disaster struck the Thai coast the authorities knew awave was out there, but they were not sure how big it was and if itwould reach Thailand.They therefore dicided to take the risk of not warning the threatenedcoast areas because a failure in the prediction would be harmful tothe capitalist tourist economy and the prestige of the department.

[…]

I believe that the US military/CIA had critically useful information about the tsunami while it was in progress.Based on seismic (earthquake) data alone, any tsunami expert would know that a magnitude 8+ submarine thrust (subduction) event like the 2004 Magnitude 9.0 Northern Sumatra Earthquake would have a good possibility of generating a tsunami (see appended article). The US has a very large military base on the island of Diego Garcia

in the middle of the Indian Ocean where they develop and test the “Son of Star Wars” anti-ballistic missile system, among other activities. Somebody in the military must have been aware of tsunami hazard to the island due to the proximity of the southwestern Pacific archipelago. The US Navy and CIA undoubtedly have many sea-bottom sensors in the Indian Ocean for detecting submarines, undersea nuclear explosions, and earthquakes & tsunamis. I am sure that US military/CIA knew the tsunami was in progress but they did not relay this information to the countries at risk because the info was “CLASSIFIED”.

Got that? We’re at fault.

How Moore & MoveOn Blew the Election

by Bryan Strawser · Dec 30, 2004

Over at his weblog, Doc Searls writes about how MoveOn, Michael Moore, Soros, and others may have negatively impacted the Democrat’s chances of winning this year:

But what isn’t taken into consideration is the effect MoveOn, Soros, and Moore have on the red activists–it drives them into a 24/7 work frenzy. Take a look at the 2002 elections–what was one of the deciding factors? The funeral for Minn. Senator Wellstone that turned from a memorial into a partisan bashing session. In poll after poll AFTER the election, it was discovered that this event energized and focused the Republican Get out the Vote (GOTV) efforts in ways MILLIONS of dollars and a hyperconnected tech community could never match.

[…]

I had both Red and Blue friends working in Ohio on GOTV. One thing that came back to me was in Ohio, the forces of Red had 14,000 Ohioans working, and people who looked like Ohioans. The Blue team had a number of, well, purple-haired, pierced nosed, etc kind of folks that just did-not-play in rural Ohio. Maybe the Blue forces were better connected to their organization and what not, but the Red forces were just so pumped and energized they broke turnout numbers throughout the state.

Never understimate the effect of pissing off the other side. Hatred of Bush may have helped create MoveOn and given loads of cash to Michael Moore, but hatred of the left got Bush in office for four more years.

Doc and I do not agree politically but I believe he’s right on the money with his comments.

The Democrats need to find a way to distance themselves from the kooks and other moonbats that make up a good portion of their party before they’re going to be able to regain the White House. As I’ve said before, they have some “porch-cleaning” to do…

And the early signs are that they’re not gonna do it.

RIP: Jerry Orbach

by Bryan Strawser · Dec 30, 2004

We’ll take a moment out of our other issues today to pay tribute to the life and times of Jerry Orbach, who died yesterday at the age of 69. CNN has the story:

Actor Jerry Orbach, best known for his long-running role as New York police detective Lennie Briscoe on “Law & Order,” has died. He was 69.

Orbach died of prostate cancer Tuesday night, a spokesman for the program confirmed Wednesday.

The actor had been undergoing treatment for his illness for several weeks, Audrey Davis of the public relations agency Lippin Group told The Associated Press.

He had recently been in production for a “Law & Order” spinoff featuring Briscoe, “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,” scheduled to premiere in early 2005.

“I’m immensely saddened by the passing of not only a friend and colleague, but a legendary figure of 20th-century show business,” said Dick Wolf, creator and executive producer of the “Law & Order” series, in a statement. “He was one of the most honored performers of his generation. His loss is irreplaceable.”

One of his famous movie quotes, from Dirty Dancing:

“Nobody puts Baby in the corner….”

Three years ago, I was visiting NYC as a part of a work function. We were headed into Little Italy after having visited Ground Zero with some NYPD folks we had worked with. We were walking through a neighborhood when right in front of us, in his “Law and Order” outfit, carrying a cup of coffee, was Jerry Orbach. He looked like he had just walked out of a set for the show.

We all pointed, he gave us that little smile and wave, and kept on walking.

It turned out, we were walking past an outdoor scene they were shooting. Jerry was headed from his trailer over to the set for a shot.

A class act, and one of my favorite cops on television. He’ll be missed.

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