“There are only two reasons why you should ever be asked to give your youngsters. One is defense of our homes. The other is the defense of our Bill of Rights and particularly the right to worship God as we see fit. Every other reason advanced for the murder of young men is a racket, pure and simple.”
Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC
— from War Is a Racket
Tag: Musings
ONE CHANGE
As I said at the time …
Daily encounters are full of times I fall short of the Quaker / Christian ideal. At least I see others in Meeting who do much better on this front.
One way the faith has changed me, though, is in teaching me when to sit on a problem, rather than force a solution (as long as this isn’t mere avoidance, which is a different situation). As the saying goes, “Some of the best barns in Rhode Island were designed in Quaker Meeting.” (Yes, Silas Weeks liked to enlarge it to “New England.”) Maybe you know the postcard:
NOTICE, I AM A QUAKER.
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY,
PLEASE BE QUIET.
I think it’s part of the process we see extending to our decision-making as a faith community, and how much it’s lacking when we’re engaged in a business session elsewhere. The divisiveness, egotism, us-versus-them mentality that so often prevails, the rush to judgment, the name-calling or the boss calling the shots, and so on. The desire to appear decisive or in command. You know all the symptoms.
On the other hand, some of the best headlines I’ve written have been by taking a break when I was stuck – by stepping aside to walk down the hall or to the bathroom. Release the problem, for a minute or two break. And then the answer appears. No need to feel guilty, is there? A little quiet, and voila, originality or productivity, as they would say. A barn or a headline, all in the job, as we Friends know, all the same.
ABOUT THOSE EMAILS
In all the charges about Hillary Clinton’s emails, has anyone else wondered just why she’d want to keep the old ones? Don’t know about you, but I’m always deleting mine. In fact, I’m still trying to find a better way to manage my In Boxes as it is. If I don’t respond immediately, a request or suggestion is likely to get buried and neglected, no matter my intent – so I try to keep the deck cleared. Zip and they’re gone.
Yes, I tried to keep appropriate baskets for later reference but then found going back through them, page after page, to be impossible. So I revisited a tip from one of the better bosses in my past. The one who one afternoon invited me to his office to discuss a memo I’d sent him. He looked at it, agreed, and then tossed the sheet into the trash can – we’d resolved the issue and could move on. No need to add more paper to a filing cabinet. In fact, that’s when I noticed he had only two drawers – a bit of streamlining he’d gleaned from some management gurus somewhere. Look, you can handle only so many things on your plate. Especially at one time.
So Hillary had thousands of exchanges? What was she supposed to do, keep them until she’d been hacked there, too? The Russians and Republican peeping toms are everywhere, after all. (Maybe they’re expecting something like my novel Big Inca Versus a New Pony Express Rider?) How much information can you handle and still move — like an NFL quarterback on Sunday afternoon, as Henry Kissinger once explained?
It’s looking more like a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation. How could you possibly get anything done, anyway, amid all the clutter? Or, for that matter, how about demanding that those who are howling about any deleted emails release their own exchanges first – including all the missing ones. Tit for tat, anyone?
Actually, it would be quite fascinating to see Donald Trump’s exchanges, compounded by Paul Ryan’s and Newt’s and … Oh, for the hypocrisy!
JUST KEEP WONDERING
As Doc would have said:
Would the NRA leadership really pass a background test?
YOUR TWO CENTS VERSUS BILLIONS
Your two cents’ worth is the only way to foil the big-money campaign contributors. Vote against their corrupting influence. Enough of us together can save democracy. It really is us versus them.
Don’t be bullied.
WHERE’S THE TRADING DEADLINE?
No matter where your candidates are standing in the polls, you’re probably feeling like me. Just looking ahead to November is getting exhausting.
If this were major-league sports, there would be a trading deadline to add some excitement to the proceedings. Hopeless teams would release a few good players to franchises hoping to make a run for the championship, while perhaps positioning themselves for a better tomorrow.
In politics, that just might move folks closer to a center. Or others ever deeper into the hole.
For now, though, we’re all stuck with the players we have or the hand we’re dealt. Even when they’re all aces, we expect to do better, don’t we?
LOUD IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
As I said at the time …
Notes from cleaning up after a big race at (what was then called) New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon:
- The entire North American Quaker membership would fit in the grandstands and infield. Ditto, Mennonite or Brethren.
- Baseball is akin to opera, in that individuals stand openly and perform – as part of a team or a cast. They are highly trained to do their job precisely, whether throwing a change-up or hitting a top note and then trilling.
- NASCAR is akin to rock, in that individuals are stars first, surrounded by crews and sophisticated technical systems that do most of the work. In horse racing, the animal is celebrated for the victory; in motor sports, the machine earns no such respect. Why?
- NASCAR – earplugs / the grandstands themselves rumbling.
- This is religion, the drivers as saints. (The big race on the Sabbath.)
- Their products purchased as acts of faith and obedience.
- Death, always hovering, as a spectacle of feigned abhorrence.
- Eyes on the spire, with its changing script. The lap count. The leaders.
- Maybe the biggest difference between sports and the fine arts is that people bet on the outcome of the former.
WHY DO THE RUSSIANS SO WANT TRUMP TO WIN?
The WikiLeaks releases seem to answer the question.
Apparently, the former Secretary of State is stronger than they’d like. Just how did Hillary Clinton so thoroughly best Vladimir Putin in the past? Or was it just her husband, Bill? Either way, it’s obvious the Kremlin couldn’t stand up to her.
Don’t be distracted, folks. Vote against Russian aggression, which is what these leaks are. The ones past, present, and threatened in the future.
Unlike Donald J. Trump, with his bromance with Vladimir. Even with Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort kicked out of the circle, there’s much more of this connection to make headlines.
ANOTHER SCENARIO TO CONSIDER, THIS ONE OUT OF LEFT FIELD
To date, all of the Republican challenges to Hillary Clinton’s activities have amounted to nothing other than the squandering of millions of taxpayers’ money. Over the years, in fact, it’s often appeared the worst they can come up with is to accuse her of minor-league shenanigans of a routinely Republican sort.
Even after their witch hunts and kangaroo courts, though, that hasn’t stopped them from counting to howl for renewed investigations.
Still, there’s always a lingering nervously that something might still blow up along the way, and that leads to a fresh bit of speculation.
What if she withdrew from the race?
Left Tim Kaine as the party’s presidential nominee and, try this one on, Bernie Sanders running in the veep spot.
Kaine has none of the negatives Hillary carries, so the entire dynamic of the campaign would shift. Bernie would inject fresh enthusiasm into the race and deflate Jill Stein’s Green Party, as well.
Believe me, Donald Trump’s camp would be left spinning trying to adjust to the changes.
~*~
Think, too, down the pike and whether a Kaine presidency could erode the anticipated disrespect and outright contempt a Hillary Clinton White House would face as the far right-wing continues its hostility to the Obama legacy. The racist and sexist cards couldn’t be played, for certain. It would be curious to see just what the haters would be left with.
CLEANING HOUSE
You may have guessed my reaction to those bumper stickers calling Obama the worst president in American history.
Folks who have no memory of what the poor guy inherited.
OK, his biggest mistake was thinking he could reason with two-year-olds. The ones who go “No! No! No!” with no solution in sight. Imagine the rage if they were drivers on the Interstate, the ones with their brakes locked.
The mistake of thinking them men of good will rather than ill will.
The ones who have comprised the majority of the worst House of Representatives in memory, if not American history. And then their cohorts took over the Senate.
Put the blame where it belongs, especially when they won’t clean up their own mess. How about a clean sweep?
Jnana's Red Barn 