Heaven's Here On Eart

I like to ride my bike. Actually, it's not mine. I ride my mother's bike or I ride my sister's bike. I prefer my mother's.

I don't bicycle to LIVESTRONG. I ride to get out of the house in the morning. I ride to set an example for my sedentary parents. Way-hay! Excercise is fabulous! These bikes are yours remember? See how I use them more than you do? You can't call your family lazy to their faces, particularly when you are now once again living at home, having majored in anthropology and zoology and foolishly decided to put off grad school for a year.

I ride to get some sun on my shoulders and to make my legs tired so I can sleep at night. I ride at a leisurely pace. Hum-dum hum-dum go the pedals as I weave along the country roads.

"Hello chickens!" I yell to the my neighbors' two free-range roosters.

The goats answer for the chickens, bellowing their thick-tongued mehhhs at me. They stick their heads through the slats of the fence and look like large, stupid dogs.

"Hello goats!" I call to them. Goats have made me happy ever since I noticed they have rectangular pupils.

The goats and the chickens belong to the gay couple that moved into the old stone farmhouse down the road. On Saturday and Sunday, they sell fresh herbs and local crafts. My father refers to them as "the happy boys" a nickname he says uncomfortably, but that belies a sort of tolerance and even affection. I think my dad likes to see the roosters running around in the fencerows. No one else around here raises chickens.

If the wind is right, you can smell basil in their garden. But today, the wind blows from elsewhere and the only scent is clover.

The ditches are full of wildflowers. There are cornflowers, Queen Anne's lace, bright purple thistles punctuated with bumblebees.

I think about grad school. I think about all the things I need to get done. I think about Washington D.C. I think about the Smithsonian and drawers and drawers of bones and broken artifacts waiting to be sorted and cleaned and reassembled.

There are redwing blackbirds flying above me, five of them. I don't think I've ever seen them in such a large flock before. Usually it's just the one, he sits on the telephone wire at the end of our driveway and sings Oh wee kira weeee!

I think about being bored. I think about how this ride will be the only really happy part of my day. I think about getting home and feeling antsy and worried about not having a job. I think about too much leisure time.

At least I'm not getting raped in the Congo, I think. All I have is a dull ache between my legs from the bicycle seat bruising.

I decide to go further than I usually do, but the new route is full of trucks and sporty little cars, scooting me into the gravel. They've mown down the ditches here so there aren't any birds or flowers.

"Hello cows!" I yell to the angus in the pasture. They don't look up, and I can't blame them. Cows' heads are heavy. I think about Ang cleaning longhorn skulls as a personal favor for a museum contributor, how she left the eyeballs, glazed and milky, on the prep room counter for me to look at.

I cross the road and make a sharp turn onto the road where my parents live, finishing my loop. A different neighbor is siphoning out his muck pit, the air is heavy with cow manure, a smell I like.

The corn is high and tasseled on either side of the driveway now, a green waving hedge that my mom thinks of as her privacy hedge. It will be gone in several weeks.

I glide to a stop, enjoying the momentum while it lasts.

Updating the Blog

Well, I'm off to Ft. Benning, Georgia in 15 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes, and 54 seconds. Remarkably soon, huh? I hope to update my blog more once I'm away so I can keep people updated on my adventures.

So... here's what I'm up to.

BOLC II: 11 JAN. 7 weeks long. Basic Office Skills, etc. Shooting stuff. Convoy ops. Land navigation.

BOLC III: March. 3 months long (or so). Leading a tank platoon - m1, stryker, and bradley.

After that, I'll either A) go to my unit at Ft Bliss, Texas; or B) go to Ranger school. It all depends on how well I do at BOLC III and if I can get a slot. Apparently, it's not too difficult to get a Ranger school slot; you just have to do the Ranger PT and do well in your BOLC III class. I'll go if I can.

And other than that? Trying to have fun, live, and meet some new people. Yet keep in touch with the people here.

I'll send my address to anyone who wants it - just drop my an email.

Update on Me: Endless Possibilities Edition

Evidently, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I've been busy with work and with home-life - and with consuming massive amounts of media on a daily basis (As if I didn't do that before).

Recently, I've been thinking about my blog and where I want to take it. I do want to keep updating it with political analysis, but I want to focus more on local issues and niche politics. I think there I can offer a unique perspective. Beyond that, I want to talk about myself - where I am, what I'm doing, and the lifestyle that I lead.

Soon, I will be attending the Army's Armor school at Ft. Knox, KY, where I will learn to lead a tank platoon. Beyond that, I will be working to earn a Ranger School slot. Finally, I will be heading down to Ft. Bliss, TX to lead a Cav platoon in the 6-1 Cav. Who knows where I will head from there? Perhaps I will be part of the rotation into Iraq. Perhaps I will be part of the OEF augmentation process. I really don't know at this point, and I suspect I'm not the only fresh Lieutenant in that position. This is really quite OK. I know there is work in the future, and I am preparing for it.

And what else? I am enjoying my life here in Madison as a Gold Bar Recruiter (GBR). I work with good people and spend quite a bit of time with cadets. Madison is my home and I love it here. I am ready to live elsewhere and experience the American Diorama (tm), but Madison will always have a special place in my heart.

In this time of introspection, let me lay out my future plans - in the Senior in High School, Where Will You Be style. I may be a bit unrealistic, but I really hope that I can achieve any of this. If I do, I will be successful.

No Later Than:
2009
-Platoon leader.
-Complete Ranger School.
-Graduate in top 25% of schools.
2010
-Begin graduate courses online.
-Run a marathon.
-Get a dog :)
2013
-Begin Captains Career Course.
-Transition to a new duty station.
2014
-Complete graduate degree in Public Admin.
-Complete a triathalon.
2016
-Complete an Ironman race.
2020
-Begin doctoral work.

No timetable:
Get married
Have or adopt children
Travel across Africa
Travel across Asia

We'll see what I can actually do. I feel like there is endless possibility right now in this country. We are hurting, but if we keep our heads up and our wits about us, times will get much better.

And for me, they things can get nothing but better.

Young Earth Creationism

I've posted in the past about Andy Schlaafly's site, Conservapedia. Well, I've found this link circulating in the past few days. It's very interesting for anyone interested in debunking these fools. It also shows how shallow and angry many of the Cons. denizens really are.

Well, anyone in these ideological communities tends to be angry and spiteful. But that's life.

It's a good read.

God, Republicans are saps.

FROM the front page of the RNC website, and also now a big NYT editorial by David Brooks, this:

"God, Republicans are saps."

Of course, the RNC cut it from their press bulletin. Which is the main news item on their site.

But for the substance, it's quite wrong.
Before I start, however, I'd like to criticize the language of this piece. "Fast Eddie", "Lakefront Liberal", "Under the bus", "Speechifier". What a silly way to write an article. And insulting, too. No evidence, just name-calling.
Here's the point by point.

• THE CLAIM: "He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside."
• Machiavellian ambition? Like Clinton, or McCain, each having been on the national stage, looking for their parties nomination for years? Who had both "thrown people under the bus" to get votes? Who both have given speeches? Maybe it's because he doesn't call his wife a cunt. That would make him monosyllabic, like another presidential candidate we all know.
• THE CLAIM: "Back when he was in the Illinois State Senate, Dr. Barack could have taken positions on politically uncomfortable issues. But Fast Eddie Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times. From time to time, he threw his voting power under the truck."
• This claim is easy to dismiss. From an op-ed by Mr. Mikva, a former Illinois state senator and legal scholar: "Unlike Congress and the legislatures of most other states, each chamber of the Illinois Legislature requires a ''constitutional majority'' to pass a bill. The state Senate has 59 members, so it takes 30 affirmative votes. This makes a ''present'' vote the same as a no. If a bill receives 29 votes, but the rest of the senators vote ''present,'' it fails." In other words, a present vote is a no vote. But why vote present instead of no? "A 'present' vote can send a signal to a bill's sponsors that the legislator might support an amended version. Voting 'present' can also be a way to exercise fiscal restraint, without opposing the subject of the bill."
• THE CLAIM: Dr. Barack said he could no more disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than disown his own grandmother. Then the political costs of Rev. Wright escalated and Fast Eddie Obama threw Wright under the truck.
• Aside from the name-calling, Obama never "threw Wright under the truck". He was thrown under the truck by Fox News and conservatives who were uncomfortable. These are the same people who claim that Obama didn't disown Wright fast enough.

• THE CLAIM: Dr. Barack could have changed the way presidential campaigning works. John McCain offered to have a series of extended town-hall meetings around the country. But favored candidates don’t go in for unscripted free-range conversations. Fast Eddie Obama threw the new-politics mantra under the truck."

• Town hall meetings aren't part of the "new" politics. If they were, then every politician since 1980 would be a "new" politician. New politics are about inclusion. About the internet. It's about bringing new people into the process - high information voters, not low information. It's exploring other media channels. And, in fact, Obama has agreed to a town hall style meeting with John McCain. Remember, McCain is behind in the polls. Anything that brings him press will improve his chances, especially standing next to Obama. Winners don't debate losers.
• THE CLAIM: But Thursday, at the first breath of political inconvenience, Fast Eddie Obama threw public financing under the truck. In so doing, he probably dealt a death-blow to the cause of campaign-finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama’s got more money now.
• Public financing is smart - a great way to prevent corruption in political processes. Of course, the GOP wants to tie Obama to public financing because then he wouldn't be able to use money from the millions and millions of people who have donated to his campaign. This narrative is pretty tired, though. Public financing was declared dead in 2004 when the candidates outraised the limits by far and 527s ruled the airwaves. We need reform, not promises to outdated methods.

What a silly, silly editorial, custom made for the RNC. Read todays talking points, add insults, and print.

You shall kill only the killers

How prescient was PKD - even though the specifics are off. There is no Penfield Mood Organ, there's just entertainment on demand, mind and body pornography. There's no Mercerism, there's just the global mind fusion that is the internet. There are no androids, but we feel the need to separate ourselves into classes and castes, between those who feel and those who do not (which is easy enough; this side of the TV feels, the other side does not: see third world, global south, etc).

We've even got Buster Friendly. 24/7/365 news, TV, media, sports. Britney Spears and Anna Nicole. It's cave drawings gone digital. Large breasts symbolize fertility. It's everything humans have ever been - and we think we're different.

Maybe that's the delusion he is really trying to uncover. These are universal themes, not exposed by technology. Instead, we use technology to exploit these desires. We haven't used the internet to evolve, to interact more potently. We've used it in the same ways we used any form of communication and networking. It's just a new plane.

Take internet gaming, for instance. It's similar to any sport. Work together with others against a common enemy to reach some goal. The goal doesn't even matter. The goal can be symbolic. If sports prepare us for war, this is a valuable evolutionary trait. We don't need to go to war to be prepared for it. We can use symbols and artificial constructs - which entertain.

And in that sense, the two are no different - biologically and socially speaking.

So it's not as if this is a huge revolution. At its roots, it is the same thing we've done since we came out of the weeds. We replaced the real with the symbolic. Now we just run on treadmills.

Okay, so - do we feel any longer? Or are we all androids, unsympathetic, the real meaning in our lives destroyed? I think the symbolic has so fully replaced the real, but it doesn't matter. We don't see through our own eyes, we see through others. We're reaching a new global medium. Average. An emotional middle-state.

Check this out. "We Feel Fine", a data-driven collection of feeling statements drawn from the internet. It's interesting enough in its own right. But what makes it so fascinating is that anyone can plug in and really feel those emotions. Just like in "Androids", we program for ourselves the emotions we want - from inspiration to depression - and there it is, on the screen, in our mind.

It's as if a billion monkeys were typing - not on typewriters, but on blogs. And this is what they came up with. Was this always here, but unexpressed? Now we just have the power to explore the feelings of millions of individuals, not just Shakespeare or Yeats or Goethe, but nearly everyone.

Strange that we all think our experiences are unique. It's that dichotomy - we live our own lives, but we are part of the collective, unyielding experience. Perhaps that's the 'mystery of faith' in the religion I was born into. That every day we are all crucified. Only through the experience of one can we understand the experience of all. In believing, we choose to fuse with that entity or idea.

Just some thoughts. Ramblings. I haven't posted in a while, so I suppose my glass is overflowing right now.

Here:
I think the only thing allowing me to ramble like this is my complete lack of audience.

Barcelona for Dummies

I flew into Barcelona two days ago - arriviving early Monday morning - and I´ve not stopped since! Except for two long Siestas. Oh, and sleep. And casually eating dinner.

But aside from all that - I´ve not stopped yet!

First, I hit La Rambla, the sprawling market-street, including la Boqueria, a huge fresh produce market. La Rambla has mimes, chickens, flowers, and a state-street on steroids like atmosphere. Around it are quite a few tiny streets with wonderful atmosphere and hundereds of little shops.

Today, we went and saw Sagrada Familia, a cathedral work in progress by the architech Gaudi. It was thrilling - a treat to see. When it is complete, it will be even more amazing. To see people work on a cathedral really puts the others in perspective. It is certainly a modern work of art.

Just a few hours ago we saw Parque Welle, another Gaudi design, situated above and behind the city of Barcelona, overlooking the entire old city. It looks like a fairytale park.

Okay. That´s it for now - I´m off to dinner in Plaça Reye. Sorry for the few updates, I´ve been trying to find an internet cafe. And now, find time for an internet cafe.

In one final note on politics - The Buchenwald-Auschwitz non-controvery is pretty telling about what the GOP is willing to do in this election... i.e, lie their asses off and hope someone with low information catches the lie and not the truth.
Also, Obama is about to wrap up the nomination. 25 delegates to go and only a few contests. We´ve come all this way, and now we´re here!

Commissioning

I will be commissioned today as an Armor officer in the United States Army.

Hooah!

I've got my dress blues put together. My shoes are shined. My cap fits and is ready to go.

What an exciting time.