Defense Spending Appropriations

Yesterday, Congress passed the Defense Spending bill, which disposes

of 55% of all federal taxes with barely a whimper of objection raised

Loaded with earmarks inserted by congressmen and senators alike, it

provides billions to purchase aircraft  which DOD doesn't need or want

but which provide work for favored industries in their home states and

districts, without any protest from the administration or DOD. New

aircraft carriers costing billions are under construction despite the

fact that they were unneeded by the Navy. Boon doggles and pork on

parade.

In 1961, retiring President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell

speech, warned of the dangers of the growing power of the military

industrial complex, of how that combination would grow in power and

override other concerns and claims upon the budget unless careful and

continued scrutiny was observed, The unwarranted influence of this

combination could threaten security and liberty.

Regretfully, we failed to heed  Eisenhower's warning and the military

budget passes without scrutiny while the remainder of the budget  is

shredded, allegedly in the service of economical  government.

While congress wrings its collective hands over the costs of health

care, global warming and a host of other important concerns, the

military gets a free pass, a platinum credit card to use as they

please, beyond criticism or oversight.

The Children's Table

In the mid 1980's, Becky and I drove to Sunrise, a small community in
Broward County, to attend my Uncle Irving's 80th birthday party. When
we arrived Aunt Sylvia told us we would be sitting at the children's
table. Since  I was required to sit at the children's table half a
century before, at their wedding, I found a certain irony in the
seating arrangements, but then some things never change.

Irving was in his glory, seated at the head table on a dais,
surrounded by his fellow octagenarian. During the evening I overheard
one of Irving's old street people, one of the Times Square denizens,
recount one of Irving's episodes, when he escorted visiting Governor
Rockefeller around the lobby of the Astor Hotel, introducing him to
the assorted pimps, bookies, gangsters and other ner-do-wells who
inhabited the place as if they were people of importance who the
Governor should meet. Irving at his pixiest best.  The story teller had the
unmistakable accent of the city, Damon Runyon channeled.

Later, while seated at the children's table, with my cousin Judy and
her husband Steve, I began to recount the gentleman's story of Irving
at the Astor, and with my slight gift of mimicry, did it with the
delivery and inflection of that older New Yorker. Each inflection and
pronunciations I copied, proud of my skill until I heard a voice
behind me saying "Who is this guy, who is this guy?" To my extreme
embarrassment, the gentleman who I was imitating was standing directly
behind me, and was not amused. On the verge of raising a hue and cry
until Irving came over to investigate the tumult. Pointing at me he
again asked "Who is this guy?" his agitation turning to fury.At this point
I didn’t know whether an apology or an honor killing was necesary to
satisfy his anger. Irving put his arm around the Guy's shoulder, and
turning on his incredibleskill in turning a nonsequitur into a relevant
explanation asked "Do you remember Hymie the cop from the Yankee

stadium ?" "Ya Ya sure, Hymie the cop from the Yankee stadium," 

 was the reply. 

Well, Irving said, "This is his kid" for some reason, this absurd explaination
molified the man and he left, muttering "....from the Yankee stadium."
I abandoned trying to climb  under the table at that point but for me
the evening was over and I was the brunt of the joke.

Letting Go

In abandoning  my concerns as to why my father told the Naval Reserve
he didn't know where I was when my first orders to active  duty
arrived and dropping my inquiry into the consequences  of having a
"refrigerator mother," I realize that I am finally content not to
further explore how my father  loved me and why mother could not. It
is enough for me to understand that the circumstances that brought me
to these insights were difficult to understand at first but finally
can be put to rest, to let  go and find contentment and release in
letting go, being content that my understanding is sufficient for my
purposes, that further inquiry and analysis is both futile and
unnecessary. It is enough.

I had hoped that further inquiry would reveal some underlying truths,
useful in understanding other transactions and relationships- but I
see that that would be pointless - unnecessary- I can let go. the
pursuit of understanding causation must have limits and that the
realization of those limits is in itself liberating.

Immigrants

Today's mail brought the newsletter of the U.S.S.MURRAY Association,
whose members are former crewmen of the destroyer (DD 576). The
newsletter contained a list of the names of members who had recently
passed away. My first level of interest was to identify the names of
the men with whom I served, old shipmates who shared a liberty, a
late watch or lent a hand in heavy weather. A silent farewell.

The more I stared at the the list the more I was struck by the
variety of ethnic and national backgrounds that the names represented.
Irish, English, Italians, Swedish, German, Eastern European, Hispanic
were all represented. Immigrants and the sons and grandsons of
immigrants from all over the old world.

I was reminded of a poem I read in high school called "Americans
All," by Minna Irving, recognizing how diverse our immigrant
population was.

I offer, in remembrance of shipmates lost, it's last stanza :
"So when on the horizon rises
A war-cloud to threaten the land
with Liberty's native-born children.
Shoulder to shoulder they stand.
For America ready to battle,
for America ready to fall,
Not Russian, nor Swedes or Italians Americans all."

Worth a thought in our current anti-immigrant climate fueled by the
descendant's of immigrants.

Copenhagen, GOD, & Global Warming

Currently, representatives from 170 countries are meeting in Copenhagen to confer with
respect to climate change, its causes, what aspects are man made and what steps may be
taken to ameliorate the problem.

With respect to whether such a change is happening, the evidence is
manifest. What is yet to be determines is the extent of man made
activities as a cause and what can be done to limit this effect.Lastly,
some projections as to what possible consequences may result from a too
feeble response.

A formidable body of scientists have urged that drastic steps be taken
to reverse or at lest slow the change which they regard as potentially
catastrophic.

In opposition to this group are the doubters, those who reject all
evidence of man-made contribution to the problem and the business and
monied interests who contend that to pursue the suggested remedies
would be ruinous, cost vast sums, damage industries and cost jobs.
Some even poll the American public for it's collective opinion, as if the weight
of opinion should control scientific realities.

In 1660, Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and theologian
advanced a proposition, which came to be known as "Pascal's
wager." The proposed wager was a bet - If there is a GOD and you
follow the church you will gain paradise. On the other hand if you
reject the church you will gain some minor indulgences in this life
and lose nothing if there is no GOD. However, if you choose wrongly
and there is a GOD you have gambled away an eternity in paradise and
suffer an eternity of torment, for the sake of a few minor indulgences.

Applying this reasoning to the current global warming issue is a good
fit.  If the scientists are correct then logic compels us to take
steps, drastic or not, to keep the planet habitable. If they are wrong
and we follow their advise we will have added some layers of hardship
and difficulty to our lives to no purpose. If, however, they are
correct  and we ignore their suggestions, we imperil the very survival
of life on this planet.

With those odds and the magnitude of the bet, which side appears the
more rational ?

NAPLES LIBERTY

One aspect of my liberty in Naples has gone unrecorded for a
variety of reasons, some valid, some not. Perhaps out of a sense of
propriety or embarrassment, Now long inappropriate, an episode almost
forgotten.

One of the imperatives on liberty is sex, and after a few weeks of
bouncing around the Med, it was high on our list of priorities.
Exactly how we got to the place I don't recall, probably our guide,
the friendly street boy was a familiar reference.

It was as I recall a rather dismal room, divided by sheets suspended
by wires, but sailors were not interested in the decor. The girls were
young, but then so were we, 20 years old navy men on our first "Med"
cruise. Sailor sex especially just ashore on liberty sex is rather cut
and dry, not exactly, wham, bam, thank you maam ! But that is pretty
close to the mark. A quick mechanical, or animal release, and then on
to the bar.Quick and impersonal as hell !

I was surprised by the girl, looking up at me, suddenly saying "Kiss
me."  She was not new to her profession and the request confused me
but she said again  with some urgency "Kiss me" and then I had a quick
insight that she needed a fantasy to help her with her profession; not
yet hardened to an unemotional, yet intimate act of sex with a total
stranger. I hesitated, then kissed her lightly, a peck- then with more
genuine participation as it became for an instant, a shared passion,
and therapy for both of us, the lonely sailor and the young unhappy
hooker- all for 1,000 lira.

Definitions

Recently, some TV programs were preceded by a caveat to the effect that some of the pictures to be broadcast are “graphic” and advised discretion. Since, by definition, all pictures are graphic, it would seem this warning is in fact meaningless. If the purpose was to alert the viewer to the fact that some of them may find the pictures repulsive, offensive, shocking, vile, salacious or reprehensible, that should have been the message. English has the largest vocabulary of any language in use yet occasionally we find ourselves unable to say exactly what we mean.

In Mac Beth, Shakespeare writes “...sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care...”, using raveled to describe something that has become undone. Later, much later, someone decided unraveled would be more accurate. Yet current dictionaries define “raveled” and “unraveled” as meaning the same thing.

Some years ago after the word inflammable was misinterpreted to mean non- combustible, leading to several disastrous conflagrations; linguists, threw up their hands and concocted the term “flammable” hoping to remove the confusion. Today “flammable and inflammable are defined as meaning precisely the same thing. Distinctions without a difference. Impossible to be incorrect.