"Celebrating" The Confederacy

It was reported in multiple news outlets recently that Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell issued a proclamation designating April as "Confederate History Month" without referencing, in any fashion, the very reason for the existence of the Confederacy in the first place: the grossly immoral institution of slavery.

Well it appears that the governor's plan went askew, as people did notice the omission and the reaction was not positive. As a result, the proclamation has been amended. See story link HERE. As quoted from the governor's office and referenced in the article:

"The failure to include any reference to slavery was a mistake, and for that I apologize to any fellow Virginian who has been offended or disappointed."

The revised proclamation has the following additional text:

(slavery) "was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights and all Virginians are thankful for its permanent eradication from our borders."

What, you think so? As I noted in a comment on NEPArtisan's blog, not referencing slavery when discussing the Confederacy is like not mentioning the Holocaust when talking about NAZI Germany. Make no mistake about it:

• The Confederacy's claim of "states rights" as an excuse to do whatever the hell it wanted was conceptually repeated by the NAZI Party in their unraveling of the Weimar Republic.
• The actions of Confederate soldiers were no more honorable than the actions of the Wehrmacht. German soldiers fought to maintain Hitler's evil regime; Confederate soldiers fought to maintain Jefferson Davis' evil regime. "Protecting their homeland" you say? Well then you can make the same argument about the Gestapo I suppose.
• The reason for existence of the Confederacy, which boils down to the notion that white people are better than black people and therefore have a God-given "right" to own them like livestock, is no more noble than Hitler blaming the Jews for every ill that befell Germany.

In the final analysis, apparently Governor McDonnell was hoping that the Revisionist History Fairy would be visiting Virginia and somehow make people forget about that little detail called "slavery" and instead have us all believe that Confederate soldiers were just a bunch of patriots who whistled Dixie as they fought to protect their farms from the "evil" federal government. Well guess again. There are few things more evil than the notion that some humans are equivalent to livestock, so there is at least some comfort here in knowing that the governor's best laid plans have gone asunder.

And Who Says The Federal Government Never Gets It Right?

Score one for the Feds, with their absolutely correct decision not to allow I80 to be turned into a toll road. Story link HERE. This was a bad idea for many reasons, including...

...it does nothing to but encourage continued waste and duplication between PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission.
...I80 is a critical transportation link across the state, particularly in Central & Western PA; you basically can't get around in some parts of rural PA without hoping on I80.
...this would mean that there would be no non-toll route between eastern & western PA.

Now Gov. Rendell & the do-nothing Legislature have to start earning their paychecks to come up with a solution to highway maintenance that doesn't involve us paying for something we already pay for.

Lazzy Blogger

I occasionally go through these fits where I write constantly. Those are easy to identify because there will be two or sometimes even three postings on a given day. Scarier still is the fact that I often have even more stuff that I've written that I don't post. Like some kind of over-board junkie though, I go through those phases and then it becomes more difficult to write for a few days. Such as been the case lately, as I've not been as motivated to pound away at the keys. Not a good idea.

Why? Do I feel some compulsion to grace the world with my musings? Do I actually take what I do here THAT Seriously? Hell, am I even that good at this anyway?

The above are perfectly reasonable questions, and as luck would have it I have perfectly reasonable answers.

The "why" question is pretty easy to answer. In some bizarre way I feel like a power-lifter trapped in Woody Allen's body, like a dancer reincarnated in the body of someone with two left feet, like Eric Clapton with his hands chopped off. I have the heart for expression, but not necessarily the equipment to pull it off. No bother though, as this has never been about being good at writing, observing or sharing thoughts. Like a good American, this is about me. More specifically, the act of writing this nonsense helps me sort out my own thoughts on the topics that are on my own mind. The act of expressing myself in this "public square" enforces a kind of righteous discipline that compels me to actually think about that I am thinking about. It helps to create order out of sheer chaos. Yes, despite what you may think, the mostly disorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian sh*t I write here actually have a 1000 times the clarity of the actual thoughts running through my head at any given time.

This is, in a very real sense, a kind of therapy. That's why I feel the compulsion I suppose.

Now I think this blog has about 559 postings. I also have approximately 61 pages of material from MySpace and Yahoo 360. I also have notebooks full of stuff. The point? I guess it's that this doesn't represent a recent development in my life. Hell, I've always been writing nonsense in one form or another. It's just now the technology and my intestinal fortitude have both evolved to the point where it can take this form.

That's the "why" & the public compulsion part. Now on to the other questions.

Q: Do I take what I do THAT seriously?
A: Yes and no. Yes in the sense that I seriously enjoy writing (although I would enjoy not making quite so many typos). No in the sense that I don't have any illusions about how meaningful it is to anyone outside of me. You know what? That's okay. One of the true strokes of genius I have had in my life centers around the notion that I don't have to care what other people think...I don't let others define me...I define me. I bought this ticket, I get to ride this ride. Damn, if I only could have figured that out in high school.

Q: Am I even good at this anyway?
A: Honestly I don't think it matters. What does matter is that I enjoy this, and in life if you can find one or two things you can enjoy that...

1. Aren't illegal or immoral
2. Aren't known carcinogens

...then I think they are probably worth doing.

On a final note, ladies and gentlemen, Mr David Gates:

iPad Mania

All of the hullabaloo (wow...I must be old, as I used "hullabaloo" in a sentence) surrounding the iPad reminded me of this classic Berke Breathed cartoon. I actually bought one of the Bloom County compilation books just so that I could take this page out and laminate it for my desk at work.

"Bananamanager"

A Kind of Proust Questionnaire

• Your most marked characteristic? Curiosity
  
• The quality you most like in a man? A firm handshake and the ability to look you in the eye (for me it's "eye", as I can't see through both at the same time)
  
• The quality you most like in a woman? Compassion
  
• What do you most value in your friends? That they give a crap on those rare occasions when I need someone to give a crap
• What is your principle defect? A limited attention span
• What is your favorite occupation? Working in the yard
• What is your dream of happiness? Living on the beach
  
• What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes? Being falsely accused and convicted of a crime
  
• What would you like to be? Content...and about ten pounds thinner
  
• In what country would you like to live? A warmer version of Sweden (where people spoke English)
• What is your favorite color? Dark red
• What is your favorite flower? Lilac
  
• What is your favorite bird? The Cardinal
  
• Who are your favorite prose writers? I don't think I have one
  
• Who are your favorite poets? Emily Dickinson & Elizabeth Barrett Browning
  
• Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Unless Bill the Cat counts, I don't have one
  
• Who are your favorite heroines of fiction? I don't have one
  
• Who are your favorite composers? Lennon & McCartney, Difford & Tilbrook, David Gates, Anderson & Ulvaeus
• Who are your favorite painters? Monet, Leonardo da Vinci
• Who are your heroes in real life? Anyone serving overseas in the military
  
• Who are your favorite heroines of history? Mother Teresa (does that count as history?)
  
• What are your favorite names? Garrison, Katherine, Kay
• What is it you most dislike? Peanuts and peanut butter
  
• What historical figures do you most despise? Hitler & Stalin
  
• What event in military history do you most admire? Gen. William T. Sherman
  
• What reform do you most admire? The Voting Rights Act of 1965
  
• What natural gift would you most like to possess? A photographic memory
  
• How would you like to die? Preferably never...but if I have to, on my feet
  
• What is your present state of mind? Mildly calm
  
• To what faults do you feel most indulgent? That sounds almost contradictory
  
• What is your motto? Life is a journey
  

It's Easter Sunday...

...so I thought I'd list what five guitars I would collect (that is if I actually collected guitars).

No, this doesn't make any sense but that's okay; sometimes it's just time for something completely different.


1. Rickenbacker 370\12 String
This is the guitar that Roger McGuinn of the Byrds used to play such songs as "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr Tambourine Man". This guitar has two great things going for it that make it a great collector's item: First, it simply looks great...very substantial size and almost sexy lines; second it has an incredibly unique sound. I suspect that this is not an instrument for the lay-player.

2. Hofner Violin Bass
This is the bass guitar that Paul McCartney used on the early Beatles albums. I've never held an actual Hofner, but I did get a chance to pluck a replica years ago, pounding out the first couple lines of Neil Young's "Hey, Hey, My, My". The neck of the bass seems to weigh more than the body. It almost feels strange when you hold it.

3. Gibson EDS -1275 Double Neck
As played by Jimmy Page. Another guitar that simply looks super cool. I love the dark cherry color. The instrument screams "I am a guitar genius" when you look at it. Like all the guitars on this list, the visual is probably as important (if not more so) than the sound.

4. Double-Cutaway Gretsch 6120
As played by Eric Clapton (I think he plays it in the Rolling Stones "Rock-n-Roll Circus" video). Pete Townsend, John Lennon and George Harrison also played similar guitars. I see a pattern here when you compare this to the Rickenbacker.

5. "Lenny" 1963 Fender Stratocaster
As played by Stevie Ray Vaughn. The more beaten looking, the better, with the SRV carved into it.


Bonus...

Turner M-1
As played by Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac. I love the look simply because it is unique.

Happy Easter

It's Easter Sunday.

The Sun is shining.

It's warm outside.

The birds are chirping.

There is a lot of chocolate around.

Kind of hard to not have a good day.

Happy Easter To All.

Re Post: At the Garden of Gethsemane

Note...I posted this last year on Good Friday, and it seems fitting to re-post it today. I have always found this particular story to be very insightful and inspiring, even as my own faith waxes and wains.

*******************


One of the most insightful (at least for me) biblical stories is found in the Gospel of Matthew, and deals with Christ at the Garden of Gethsemane. In case you are not overly familiar with the story it takes place the day before the Crucifixion of Christ. The details aren't so important to this discussion other than Christ goes to this garden to pray, knowing that He would be betrayed by Judas, turned over to the Romans, and ultimately put to death.

Now what's so insightful about that?

Consider This: According to Christian teaching, Christ...being God...knew that by going to Gethsemane He would ultimately be put to death. At any point He could have changed His path and spared His own life, but He chose not to. He consciously sacrificed His own life, if you believe in Christian teaching, for the greater good of all mankind.

Consider This: To this day, people make conscious choices that ultimately lead to their death. For example Father Mychal F. Judge, a Franciscan priest, went into the south tower of the World Trade Center after it had been hit by an airplane to minister to the wounded. While history doesn't record whether or not he thought he would die, it's pretty clear he knew what he was doing was exceptionally dangerous.

In the final analysis, some of us will be faced with our own "Garden of Gethsemane", where we need to make a choice between self-preservation or preservation of the greater good. Ultimately that is the most personal of decisions that anyone can make, and furthermore I doubt any of us are prospectively capable of saying what we would do if put into that situation. There is, however, no greater love that can ever be expressed than through the thoughtful and conscious act of sacrificing oneself for the greater good.

NEPA's Internet Underbelly

I've noted on several occasions my fondness for reading content on-line. I have about six national news sites that I regularly read, as well as the local newspapers and various local blogs. I also frequent a few local message boards. There is one message board in particular that I'd like to reference for a few moments. No, I'm not going to list the address, as that would just be free advertising, and nothing but my opinion is free around here. I will, however, give you a description of the site: it was created and exists primarily to highlight the actions of Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty and other elected/appointed city officials. In fact, just about every elected official is fair game for the anonymously posted rumors, innuendo and sometimes slander that is put on the site, with once exception: Council President Janet Evans.

Now you don't need to take my word for it that Mrs Evans has a special dispensation from critique on this site. In fact, you can take the word of one of the recent site posters, who recently wrote the following:


Posts: 102
Date: Apr 1 2:19 PM, 2010

"Hold on a minute. This site allows accusations without justification based on speculation and opinion. However, when Evans is thrown into the mix, all of a sudden it is "lay off"?!?!? Perhaps this is not as much a free speech site as I thought. Is it "free" only to the extent it is consistent with a specific agenda?!?!? or individual opinion?!?!? There have been many a person thrown to the dogs for only being questioned but since it is Evans we have to lay off?!?!?"

Now just how bad do the rumors and speculation get on this site? Well as someone who has been reading it for a while, I've read claims that included...

- A certain state senator is having a same-sex relationship with a local judge
- Mayor Doherty has had extra-marital affairs with various members of his administration
- A former member of city council conspired to keep a young woman in jail
- The Mayor is responsible for the deaths of two children in a Scranton house fire
- A former member of city council used to perform sexual favors as a young adult

...and the list goes on, but I think you get the picture. Basically an on-line version of Jerry Springer, but without the visuals. Now with all that kind of spew sputtering forth from the pie-holes of countless anonymous posters, you would think that just about nothing would be off limits. Well, you would be wrong. Here is a posting from the administrator of the site, who by the way is just about the only person there who posts under his own name...

"Lay off Janet. She's far too good of a woman/public official to put up with that kind of derogatory assertion. Totally unjustified and you know it."

...yes, unfounded rumors and innuendo is okay at this place, except if it involves Janet Evans. "Derogatory assertion"? That specific comment came from the same site administrator who once called Scranton Times reporter Stacy Brown a "nigger"

So what's my point? Well maybe it's this: when it comes to political discourse in the Internet, I think there are two polar opposites at play in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

On one end you have blogs written by Gort, Marc Cour, Tom Borthwick and others who state facts and opinions (sometimes strongly worded opinions), but do so within the full sunlight of accountability. When Marc wrote something about my blog that I didn't like, I called him out on it. Him, by name. When others have had issues with something I've written they have told me so. When I'm wrong I'll man-up and say so. When I'm not, I'll explain why. Either way, on this side of the fence you don't find nameless cretins hiding behind an obscene avatar trying as much to shock as they are tying to make some form of quasi-point.

On the other end of the spectrum you find message boards full of bitter, angry "oppressed" peoples who claim that they can only express themselves under three conditions:

1) Anonymously (I guess so that the "man" will not keep them down)
2) Without Limits - Anything can be said, no matter how untrue, vile, obscene or otherwise stupid
3) At one message board, #2 has a footnote that says "except for Janet Evans"

I say that it's actually good Mrs Evans gets a pass in the vile/untrue innuendo department, however I just wish that same "luxury" of civility would be extended to everyone targeted.


In the end it's kind of a night vs day thing. Say what you want about "new media" such as bloggers, but what I've been reading in NEPA is impressive. No, I don't agree with all the ideology, but I do agree with the civil discourse associated with presenting ideas and opinions in a way that encourages discussion. That's a far cry from sleazy message boards that seemed to have a corner Internet discourse, particularly in the Scranton area, up until recently.

Sunlight was, is and always will be the best disinfectant.

Occupational Hazzard of Juggling: Objects falling on your head

There are times when I see how some folks just drop from a heart attack at a young age. It's not just juggling a career, the needs of children, the needs of family members (some of whom need more help than most), it also feels like I'm juggling all of what they are juggling as well. It's as if I'm at the center of this little corner of the universe that everyone comes to, but yet nothing stays by. I'm the first to call when there is a problem, but I'm usually the last called one called when there is a celebration...unless of course I am supposed to pay for it.

Self-loathing doesn't become me, but I had to get that one bit out of me before the stress-induced explosion ended up spewing entrails all over my computer desk.

There is just so damn much pressure these days. I know that there is nothing here that I can't handle, but man I sure wish the process were a little easier and there were more hands in the mix to help. No wonder I've been sleeping better lately, as I'm basically physically and mentally exhausted when all is said and done.

Like many internal wounds, mine are self-inflicted. More of an outcome generated from a twisted sense of right than anything else I suspect. "Catholic guilt" is what I suspect others use to describe this kind of thing, but that's far too broad for my tastes. No, my problem is that I tend to play from my own set of self-imposed rules, but yet much of what is around me could care less about those rule & fact sometimes work hard at fighting against them. Now lest anyone think that the rules in questions are controversial, here's a sample:

- Independence...I expect people to be self-sufficient or working towards self-sufficiency
- Frugal...I expect people to be watchful of what they spend
- Health...I expect that people will consciously try and be healthier

None of these things are absolute places, but rather they are more directions on a journey. For example, you go to school so that you can eventually get a job in order to be self-sufficient. You try and save some money every time you get some, even if that's just a dollar or two. You always try and find better ways to eat, new ways to become more active.

I know, all are such alien concepts in a world where the media tells us that young, pretty people don't have to work but yet live in glamorous surroundings. We've raised a society where there is this disconnect between work and consumption. Hell, I see people buying over-priced groceries at the convenience store with their Access card while talking on their cell phone. They then go on to pay cash for cigarettes. Forget Lewis Carroll, our society is already through the looking glass.

I know, I know, I'll get over this funk. I always do. The chief provider and solver-of-things is required to get over things as part of his job description. I just really wish there were some reinforcements every now and then.