17 September 2010 The Charge of the Right Brigade

“The Charge of the Light Brigade was a disastrous charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War.”

156 years later the memory of their action is recalled as an example of the foolish expenditure of troops in futile battles.

In 2010 it may come to be associated with the charge of the Palin clones. Are unelectable candidates being pushed from primary elections, challenging party numbers with Palin’s chosen for glory prayer warriors? We can hope that the Tea Party mobs will become enmeshed with the religious right’s fanatics, shifting the balance of power within the GOP into supporting candidates that are too reactionary and unsuitable to the voters who were once the more moderate GOP electorate.

Like Stalin, following the death of Lenin, Palin and the Tea Party mobs are implementing purges to assure the “purity” of the GOP. In their zeal, they are hopefully creating a class of candidates that will alienate most of the voters.

“

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'

Was there a man dismay'd ?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Some one had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do & die,

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.”

Here we have the Palin troop.

Theirs not to make reply, theirs but to do and die.

Palin speaks only via ghost-written posts in social networking sites so that there can be no chance of questions that were not pre-approved and that can’t dealt with in Palin-speak to defeat real questions. Like all insects they are expected only to attract drones, produce the next generation, and vanish.

Palin clones seem bound to follow the Palin party line as certainly as did Molotov and Beria. Underlings all, ready to challenge the evil pointed out by Sarah and Newt, by Huckabee and others who wave a bible and a flag but utter only programmed phrases. Shall we return to those thrilling Cold War days when we pretended that school desks would save the next generation?

Some one has blundered! Yes, they have. The GOP has proven that its central platform has not changed since the days of the Crimean War, futile cavalry charges, and divine right rulers. That information is not supposed to be released to the voting public or the media. We can only hope that someone will pen a memorable and accurate accounting of the Tea Party mobs’ efforts to return the nation to pre-Civil War status.

16 September 2010 Heckle Jekyll and Hide

I managed to set in on a black history class this morning by virtue of being lucky in the parking lot dance. It must be an entry level course based on the material being covered. Still, it was a chance to sit in a comfortable chair and absorb new information and old information presented in a different manner. I have missed two or so weeks of the class, have not read any of the text, and don’t even know the title of the class. Still, I was able to answer several questions when the professor could not coax or cajole anything from the actual students.

It honestly was somewhat unsettling. The instructor kept pointing our items of information that “history majors” should “be sure to know.” Should the rest of the class not know these things?

I could not have said with certainty when the Virginia colony was formalized – documents 1607- or that the first Africans landed from a Dutch ship 12 years later as indentured servants rather than as slaves. But land records indicate that Africans were deeded parcels of land in the 1620’s-30’s; thus indicating they were freed at some time in between. At least, I learned a few new things this morning.

Other material from this class included slave codes being written into law. Among these are anti-miscegination laws, slaves = chattel laws, forced illiteracy laws, etc. I‘ve never had a black history class but so much of this is what I would consider common knowledge. It may be that I should not try to audit this class. I don’t want to interfere with her teaching method. But there is a strong desire to stand up and yell at the students who sit there like inert lumps. When no one else could provide the answer (Dred Scott) I offered it and the professor followed with a short amplification. When one of the black women students admitted to only knowing the name, she launched into a longer and more involved description of the events leading to and the import of the Dred Scott decision and the 36° 30’ line defined in the Missouri Compromise. Is this selective instruction? Does an older white male get a different response than a young black female? Should the young black female have prepared for class more carefully? I don’t honestly know. Certainly the Dred Scott decision has import to all black Americans. But it has import for all Americans, not just black Americans. All college students should be aware of this legal event, not just those who might major in history.

I’m not going to buy the text for this class but it may be more fun than I anticipate dropping in when parking allows. I’ve no intention to disrupt the class buy intruding into someone’s lesson plans, but it will be interesting to see how much “black history” I’m already familiar with.

History 3940 involved a guest speaker today. Collins invited a SFC in a local NG unit. He’s been writing a column from Afghanistan for the local paper. I was reading them while they appeared. Once he rotated home the columns stopped.

He spent an hour fielding questions while the three vets nodded or muttered in support, agreement, and at shared black humor. The presence of veterans from combat roles in VietNam, Bosnia, Iraq, and Iran was interesting. Despite the spread of years and the changes in the armed forces the commonality of experiences is strong. There are some things absorbed at a visceral level that seem almost to alter our DNA and to make us truly comrades in arms.

What I found truly interesting was his response to a question asking if our war in Afghanistan could be won. While still on active duty, he pulled no punches, and said it felt it to be unwinnable. Bravery of a different sort than one normally looks for in soldiers. Two of the three vets agreed with him. The ROTC cadets said nothing. Unfortunately, they also failed to ask any questions. They had a remarkable source to take advantage of and failed to look for information. It was almost as if they wanted to hide from the reality of what an army actually is.

SFC Hopkins did a good job of talking to a civilian class without using too much slang or jargon peculiar to the military. Once the class ended the political correctness did as well. Talking among ourselves, Collins, Hopkins, and the vets reverted to type, used real world imagery. It was interesting how often I’ve written in earlier material about some of the things that stuck out to us all across generations. Two pieces of my poetry would have fit well into Hopkins’ talk.

I may offer him some limited use of them. I may use them for this class as well. After all, one of the assignments will be to interview a vet. I’ve spent enough hours talking to Gloria’s father about his tour of duty that I may be able to do a posthumous interview.

Carry on!



Art-history spelling list 16 September 2010

Akkad

Hittite

Shamash

Lamassu

Naram-Sin

Enteduanna

Hammurabi

Persepolis

I’ll agree that some college students might not be familiar with these words. Enteduanna is new to my vocabulary.

Palin disrobe to "take the nation back"

15 September 2010 Try to remember the ides of September


The next time Sarah Palin mouths off about “taking our nation back” from the unknown “them” someone should ask her if she’s willing to personally assume the role of Liberty as portrayed by Delacroix on 28 July 1830. Guaranteed to shut her up for three reasons. She won’t understand the reference, and if someone explains it to her she will defer for the other two reasons.

Just to demonstrate that loops of insipidness do exist and can surface, my entry for 15 September 2009 was titled “Try To Remember the Kind of September.” It’s still posted and can be read if your level of bittersweet needs topping off. The nature of the song that brought it all to mind is that of a brain worm. So it is safe to predict that 15 September 2011’s entry will somehow contain similar references to a long-remembered song.

For the record, I’ve still not seen “The Fantastiks.” I doubt the coming year will alter that.

This is a September of hope fulfilled for one American and desperate hope for two others. The fate of an American female hiker held captive by Iran, Sarah Shourd, has taken a turn for the better as the Iranian government released her from captivity. Two companion hikers still remain hostage in Iranian hands. The three were being held on espionage charges. The half million dollar ransom disguised as bail should never have been paid to Iran. Despite the apparent urgency involved in freeing our citizens, this “bail” is ransom demanded by Iranian pirates.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129837981

“September 13, 2010

Iran's internal politics are complicating the release of an American jailed after being arrested hiking near the border. Sarah Shourd, one of three hikers being held, may be released on a $500,000 bail. Melissa Block talks with Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about the factors at play in Tehran's courts.”



I listened to NPR discussion about her release while driving into class yesterday. The prevailing thought was that Ahmadinejad’s annual self-humanization program, designed to make him appear more reasonable and less like a religious fanatic when appearing at the UN had run afoul of the ruling unit that is quite happy to be perceived as religious fanatics. If it ever comes down to which nation, the US or Iran has more religious crazies, the US will total our with many more. I avoid the word “win” as if three might be a reward or prize for numerical superiority. There would be no “winning.” Ask the citizens of Iran who’ve grown up under the great Islamic revolution.

Ms. Shourd was exquisitely cautious to avoid any words or phrases that might cast Iran, its political leaders, or its religious leaders in a bad light, or that might anger them. It would not have required much to disrupt the proceedings. She was, and remains still, a tiny pawn in a game of international diplomacy and internal power struggles. The “humanitarian “ excuse for her release in conjunction with Ramadan is not based in humanitarian concern for her well-being; but in the very great risk that she has been stricken with a potentially lethal disease. Iran does not want to be seen as preventing a young woman from receiving medical care, or from the very real possibility that Iranian health care delivery systems can’t or won’t treat her particular disease. We may very well see more of this in the future as Iran’s president rails against current sanctions.

This is the September of disbelief in many ways. The Sarah Palin clone squad is being prepped and pimped for political campaigns and offices. Since we refused to elect Ms. Palin, she has now begun creating and releasing clones into the political arena. They dress like Palin, propose the same theocratic John Birch reactionary platforms as Palin, and lack verbal skills as well. We could soon be suffering under a repressive repetition of the Reagan/Bush II years with idiots in office pushing for theocratic control of every aspect of public life and political life. The Palin clones will all demand “god in schools” removal of “evolution and other science education,” destroying the recent health care reforms in favor of free market insurance companies, and, of course, taxing the poor even more so the rich can pocket the poor’s last dollars while trumpeting about how the wealth will now “trickle down.” After long years in medical labs, I know what trickles down. It’s never good when it does.

This is a September of astonishment. I’m completely unable to understand why anyone would believe anything that Palin utters. Her lack of political awareness, lack of ethics, and overwhelming ego-centrism make her absolutely unsuitable for any political office. Yet, thousands of people continue to send her money, to pay to hear her read – poorly- a ghost-written speech that is aimed at that part of our populace which can’t read or reason at a high school level. The strings that move her body parts are all too obvious, but the mobs fail to notice them. The mobs fail to realize that Palin does not write the words she massacres. The mobs are poorly prepared to choose leaders. Palin should be viewed as unfit to rule as Marie Antoinette.

We Americans missed the reign of terror that followed the French Revolution. The Civil War was a harbinger of our own mob rule era. The mobs are mobilizing now to bring about our own copy of France’s internal terrorist rule. France survived theirs. France had the good fortune to depose the Church when it did royalty. Our mobs are all too eager to embrace the churches and let them rule. What we may face can make France’s suffering look like kindergarten play. Man the barricades, brothers and sisters. Liberty is in jeopardy!

Delacroix’s painting of “Liberty leading the people.” The larger view is posted below. This is a remarkable example of art and politics working as a powerful team.

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/delacroix/liberte/



I’ll believe Ms. Palin and her clones have the best interests of our nation at heart when I see them bare-breasted on the barricades.

14 September 2010 observations off the wall and unfounded

The ball cap of the day is my IDF OD cap. I don’t wear it that often but it seemed to be appropriate this morning. Wandering past the library, waiting for my classroom to empty, I ran into the Gideons handing out their mish-mash of Tanach extracts and their new testament.

“Have you been offered…” says the smiling late-middle-aged man.

I look at him, point to the logo on my cap. He wishes me a good day and I wish him the same. He gets to go home and tell people he met a real Jew on campus. I get grist for my blog.

The dressing down delivered last Thursday had some effect upon the class as questions about Napoleon suddenly provoked responses from a different group of students. The bulk of discussion still began in the Vets/ROTC group. We’ve finished with Napoleon and will be moving on to the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War next week. Thursday we will have a guest speaker.

The class occupying the classroom prior to my history class is an African-American studies class covering pre-Revolution to ca.19th century. There seem to be some empty seats in the room so I asked the instructor if it would be alright slide in and audit. She has no objection. If the parking lot dance is productive and short, and if the classroom door is left unlocked, I may pick up a bit more education this semester than I had bargained for.

After history 3940, into the Pathfinder and off to Krogers, looking for an influenza immunization. The line to sign up was slow, the wait, while not really that bad, was longer than I had hoped for. In addition, there was a pharmacy student training there today and the pharmacist asked if I would mind letting her perform my immunization. Being more interested in a rapid exit than anything else, figuring it would help keep the process moving, I agreed to be a training patient. She did a good job, minimal pain.

Returning to campus, I found a very convenient parking spot within 30 meters of my afternoon class. The handicapped parking tag makes it mine for the afternoon. I decided against sitting outdoors and trying to see the monitor and having minimal wi-fi connectivity. Instead I’m in one of the art buildings, with acceptable lighting, air conditioning, and no wi-fi.

Gloria called when she parked and we met for a brief bit of PDA. We have sequential Trout Unlimited license plates that stand out vividly once you’ve see them. We also have what are probably the only two Grateful Dead front plates on campus. We can recognize each other’s vehicle coming or going.

Wi-fi suddenly kicked in. How many Jews at ETSU is the search of the day. Wi-fi is gone again. To be continued later and elsewhere.

Art-history delivered more amusement today. Pawlowicz took the time to relate a synopsis of the Epic of Gil-gamesh. No one asked for spellings or if it would be on the test. Today’s list of words that college students are apparently not considered able to spell are: obsidian, cuneiform, Jericho, ziggurat, and votives. Study hard boys and girls. You might be graded on your spelling. If I were teaching, I’d expect students to spell things correctly and hold them responsible for looking up proper spellings.

Another in a long series of indications that I was right to not become a teacher.

Religious Wars for $2000, Alex

13 September 2010 New season of Jeopardy begins


Jeopardy is a ritual event in our household. We watch if faithfully and generally do relatively well pulling the answers from memory. Gloria has knowledge gaps, as do I, that prevent us from hoisting a broom after every show. But we score well in concert. Her knowledge of music after 1975. She has a better recall for opera and theater than I. I’m better at remembering obscure bits of history, battles, and technical items. Neither of us does that well with organized athletics, team athletics, and so-called “sports.” We’ve a stock answer for those questions: “that Russian guy” or that “Russian woman” (Fukifino, Fukifinova). It’s vulgar, somewhat elitist in nature, and never fails to amuse us when one of us mutters it in response to a “sports” answer.

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve applied to be on Jeopardy. I’ve done the on-line audition every time it has been offered for adults. I always run afoul of at least one “sports” question, usually two, that leave me with unanswered questions that I finally fill in a desperate multiple-guess effort. Obviously, those questions have prevented me from obtaining the magic number of right answers that tracks me upward to the next screening level. Invariably, one of the answers is”that Russian guy.”

I look forward to Jeopardy as I do few other television programs. It’s a chance to learn some new bit of trivia every night. It’s a chance to push my brain to recall and spit out those odd bits of arcane and often useless data that crept in and set up residence. They’re welcome to resume squatting after they provide me the necessary answer. There’s certainly un-used room in my gray drive.

It’s also a new season of Jeopardy for our troops overseas. The rumors about Quran burnings have claimed lives in Afghanistan and in India. Not the image of such an event taking place, but just the rumor of it happening is sufficient to generate mobs numbering in the tens of thousands.

I can’t imagine how such religious fanaticism originates or continues to exist. Is it a product of poverty and illiteracy? Is it an extension of tribalism? What I do know is that it places our troops in a most difficult situation. A fanatical and easily excited local population combined with opposing forces that will intentionally incite anti-American activity means an increase in US KIA and WIA. The policies designed to limit injuries to non-combatants will allow small mobs to stop or delay military units long enough to allow IEDs and other ambushes to be deployed in their route of travel. The increased incitement will also mean that civic action units will be at extreme risk and the necessary increase in visible security precautions will alienate the local populace even further.

We, as a nation, we as an armed force, are ill-equipped when it comes to dealing with the fanaticism of populaces such as the Afghanis. The people who might best help us are American citizens who happen to be Muslim. They’ve made at least some portions of a reformation modifying Islam from a faith for nomadic tribes into one that serves educated and modernized. But the portion of our population that is poorly educated, easily excited by demagogues is doing everything it can do to prevent our Muslim citizens from enjoying the benefits of American civilization. They know not and care not that their bigoted behavior and openly voiced hatred of people who look and behave somewhat differently are also putting our troops in Jeopardy. The image they present when trying to prevent construction of an Islamic center or when demanding Muslims who are native-born US citizens “Go Home” is certainly ramping up the anti-American fervor among the poorly educated in Afghanistan and Pakistan. While our anti-Muslim idiots haven’t become the tools of a directed violent mob action yet, the probability grows greater every time one of our holy or un-holy demagogues starts spewing lies about Islam to the poorly educated. The season of Jeopardy is fully upon us at home and abroad.

I can make a joke about the knowledge I lack while watching the new Jeopardy season of shows. I can miss an entire column of “sports” opera, theater or other answers and grin while muttering, “that Russian woman.”

When our stupid have excited their stupid, or when their stupid have excited our stupid, I won’t be grinning and making a joke about it. The answer, unfortunately, will turn out to be: that airman, infantryman, medic, flight nurse, crew chief, gunners’ mate, helicopter pilot, aviation mechanic; woman, from St. Louis, Gaithersburg, and Pocatello, man from Arvada, Lincoln, or Jonesborough.

Worst case scenario? Perhaps. But unless we can find a way to defuse stupidity and fanaticism on both sides of the firing line we’re going to be answering that question more and more frequently.

For some of us the new season of Jeopardy is reason to be excited. But for too many of us, our men and women in uniform, it is not really a new season, just the old one amped up on fanaticism. For them, it is always “double jeopardy” and the “daily double” is not a chance to win but to lose.

I’ll take Religious Wars in the 21st Century for $2000, Alex!

“Oh, Oh, that Russian fellow!”

12 September 2010 Who needs an army when they have fanatics?

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- At least two people was killed and four were injured in Afghanistan Sunday in protests against the pastor who had planned to burn the Quran in Florida, a local official said.

http://us.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/12/afghanistan.quran.protests/index.html?hpt=T2

This is a wonderful example of mob manipulation used as a weapon of warfare. The excitable nature of the Afghan Muslim populace when real or imagined slights to the Quran take place is capably managed by the Taliban and others to incite violence against US and NATO troops, diplomats, and non-Afghan civilians.

These mobs can block and prevent a military unit carrying out an assigned mission as surely as can a counterforce unit of infantry or irregulars. Given the restrictions imposed upon NATO and US troops in Afghanistan, designed to prevent harm to non-combatants, they present a cheap, readily available, and effective means of thwarting regular ground units.

The Taliban have only to print up leaflets, spread a rumor or two, and the local mullahs will do the rest. That Muslims do not separate the physical book from the content of the book makes it all the easier to form a mob and to perpetuate rumors of destruction of Qurans. The mob is always there, like a pool of gasoline on water, just waiting for the next spark to land and ignite the blaze. The primitive nature of much of Afghani life aids the Taliban. A population on the edge of revolt because of poverty, corruption in government, and decades of continual war, warlords, and religious fanaticism is a prime breeding ground for the riots that will incite similar riots in other Muslim nations.

Terry Jones is guilty of no crime, but the blood of many will be on his hands before these riots are over.

I have to wonder what would happen here if a deliberately staged public incineration of Christian testaments were to take place in Iraq or Afghanistan. I suspect that we’ll have the opportunity to find out. A decade or two ago, I wouldn’t have expected much beyond protest. Now, given the political and economic upset and the continuing evangelical and fundamentalist Christian insistence upon trying to create a theocracy, if thinly veiled; I would expect a lot of vandalism, public protests at Islamic centers, and perhaps some physical violence against US citizens who happen to be Muslim. The “war against Christians” mob is trying to gain the same seats of power that the Taliban possess in Afghanistan. The GOP and Tea Party mobs are willing to allow them media coverage and access to elected officials if it keeps the GOP in political power. As I’ve said before, only the name on the book differs.

Stand by for book burnings. Jones has piled explosives and laid a powder train. The “War on Christians” mob can’t wait to light it.

We need to keep this religious fanaticism out of our armed forces. That, because of the nature of our government and military, will be hard to do. The crusader clones are already in place in many units. Where we go from here remains uncertain at best.

11 September 2010 Auspicious beginnings not dealing with religious crazies

“Of course I read the textbook.”

Actually I have read the assigned material for Dr. Colin Baxter’s History of Modern Warfare. I’m currently about two chapters ahead of the class discussion material and half way through the smaller “also suggested” book. The other two veterans in the class are also at least current. So are the ROTC students. The back half of the classroom drew wrath and ire for being un-prepared to discuss the assigned material. They got dressed down quite handily while I sat and grinned. “Nice old Dr, Baxter, white-haired, South of England accent, Department chair, has a working temper and he demonstrated it this morning.

I’m still enjoying his course. I walk out of each session with new bits of knowledge, and that’s why I’m spending the time and gasoline to get there. He also has a good sense of humor. I’ll see what he teaches next semester.

The Art-History class has thinned out by about 33% from the first session. Most of the class is female. I suspect that nearly everyone in the class is taking it for a humanities or arts elective. That is why I took a similar course some 38 years ago. I needed an easy, sleep-through lecture class to round out my all-tech/sciences 18 hours and 40 hour work schedule. I pulled an A from that course but retained far less than I wished I had.

The lecturer knows his material well, delivers it with no hesitation or flaws. He automatically stops and spells words in his lecture as if he knows that the class members will not know how to spell them. Today’s words included “lintel” as in post and lintel construction, “mortise,” “tennon,” and a few others that made me shake my head in amazement that any college student would not be able to spell such words. This is another situation that will entail spoon-feeding the test material to the students. In this case, it won’t bother me as much as it did last semester. I’m in this class for the information and knowledge that I can pick up about fine art. If it comes across in bytes, I’ll take them.

I stopped to talk to the professor after class. He’d mentioned Thor Heyerdahl during his lecture, expecting no one to recognize the name. When I said that I knew the name his eyes lit up. When I said I was auditing the course because I wanted to learn what he could teach, not to satisfy a requirement, he grinned. I may have made his day.

My art-history classmates remind me of the frat boys in last semester’s history class. They plan on coasting on their appearance and athletic abilities. They shuffle in late, drop packs in the middle of the aisle, and generally zone out.

Co-incident with art-history, a link to some very interesting music and a movie about a singer, Rosa Eskanazi as presented in the movie “My Sweet Canary.” The link was another in a long series of great suggestions provided by my good friend Dr. Paul Scotton. Paul is presently in Greece, working on an archeological project.

http://www.ioa.ucla.edu/news-events/events-calendar/pizza-talk-paul-scotton/

Paul and I met due to our mutual love of The Grateful Dead when we joined an on-line collaboration, writing a compendium of Grateful Dead shows available on tape. Yes, that long ago! As such encounters can go; this one has become a long-lasting, wide-ranging friendship that I’ve found very rewarding. I’ve always found his suggestions of musical and other links worth exploring. Hope you enjoy the little bit of music that comes along with this one, I did!

We woke up to rain this morning. Gloria decided to go into Jonesborough to a garage sale. She’s going to do a bit of grocery acquisition before coming home. There’s always something we need from the grocery store. She came in with a few luxury items that were on sale.

Now we have a rainy afternoon ahead of us. I think I will base dinner around a package of langoustines in the freezer.

Thursday night’s dinner was leftover turkey heated in broth and served over kasha-varnishka. The dog really wanted some turkey. She went through a series of play and submissive postures and repeated them while we plated dinner. We thought she wanted to play, something she normally does before she starts to eat her dog food. Gloria played with her until Loki indicated she was through playing, then took her plate and sat down to eat. Normally Loki can be trusted not to touch food on the counters. This time, when I turned my back, she helped herself to the largest bits of turkey from my plate. I was not amused. Loki was. She sat on the kitchen floor with a large doggie grin. After all, Loki lives up to her name.