Abstractions Still Bleed Real Blood

His career was certainly all but over. And his freedom might be taken away as well. His wife and children, whom he had dragged down from Manhattan to North Carolina were at risk too. If he went away, who would take care of them? At moments like that, I wonder if Ilario had any doubts about leaving his glamorous, TV producer life and becoming a Marine Officer. It would be one thing if he was alone but he had people he was responsible for- people whom he loved more than his own life.

For those of you who don't know the story, 2LT Ilario Pantano USMC was accused of 2 counts of premeditated murder among other things by a disgruntled sergeant. This incident was reported in the wake of Abu Ghraib and an overeager and incompetent NCIS investigator pushed the case forward without any hard evidence. Long story short, it was a year of drama, betrayal and heartbreak for Pantano. But most of all, it was a year of fear. If Pantano could have been faulted for anything, it was that he perhaps sought the camera a little too much for a man who kicks down doors. It wasn't long before he was Al-Jazeera's favorite bad guy American. Ordinarily, this might be no big deal, but Pantano was considered an enemy of Islam and good muslims were encouraged to kill him and his family.

How serious did this get? Let's just say that a certain federal law enforcement agency raided a cell well north of the Mason-Dixon line and found his home address, his wife's work address and his older son's school address in their possession.

Now I'm not saying that NSA wiretaps led to these arrests or saved the Pantano's lives but this is the type of thing that good, actionable intel produces.

Let's contrast this with another friend of mine. This gentleman is a highly educated professional writer with a brand new baby girl. He lives in San Francisco which, while being my favorite city visually, also houses the most progressively insulated and out of touch population in the United States. We were discussing Abu Ghraib one evening and he remarked that any sort of coerced interogation was simply out of the question. I offered the "ticking bomb" scenario but this modifying it slightly to be more personal- terrorist holding his new daughter and threatening to behead her. I said that I had 10 men in custody. I was absolutely sure that one of them and only one of them knew her whereabouts but I wasn't sure which one. I asked him if he would then agree with my aggressive manner of conversation? He said no.

You know what? I don't believe him for a second.

I don't think he said "no" to be difficult. I think he believes that saying "no" would truly be the right thing to do. You know, he may be right. But it would also be macabre and I doubt that any father who has gotten up to change his daughter's diapers in the middle of the night would be able to stand so firmly on principle.

But there I got a glimpse into why men like Elie Wiesel distrust intellectuals. According to Mr. Wiesel, intellectuals should never be allowed to run a Country or given command of the levers of civilization. Their sin? In their worship of intellect above all, they turn people- all with love, hopes and dreams of their own- into abstractions. Once abstract, they become easy to dispose of when they become unruly or complicate the precious equation.

It is pretty ridiculous to get all worked up about NSA wiretaps unless you are speaking with a member of Al-Qaida overseas. Yeah, you can bring up all the conspiracy theories you would like and yes, even COINTELPRO, but that was a different time with considerably less message traffic to intercept and decipher. Do you seriously think that the USGOV has the time and manpower to listen to you gossip with your friends? Even if they caught you in the act, committing a drug deal over the phone, they still couldn't do anything to you with a warrantless wiretap. In fact, it's that very thing (being warrantless) that keeps the USGOV from using what they find against an American citizen in a criminal case. And don't fool yourself, unless you are talking to a known entity on the other end, you're just not important enough for the Counter Terror guys to get all worked up about no matter what you tell yourself.

Quote Franklin, quote Jefferson all you want. Their's was a different time with a different security rule set. Just as older Generals who think with a Cold War mentality, waiting for the great Soviet advance in to Fulda Gap, have been slowly pushed aside, civilians too have to realize that the rule set governing bipolar, near peer competitor war has almost nothing in common with the rule set necessary to win an asymmetric war. One's not any more moral than the other. It's just a different game.

Good intelligence competently acted upon saves lives. Without it, we're just wandering through a dark club groping for an ass to grab and hoping that ass belongs to a member of the opposite sex when we grab it.

Impressed

Not being particularly interested in spectator sports, I found myself channel surfing today when I came across a televised sermon by Joel Osteen. Normally, I would have blown right through this but JPD said that this guy had the most coherent view of Christianity he had ever come across. Since JPD is no fan of Christianity, I thought Mr. Osteen deserved some serious attention.

First, let me say that I was seriously impressed. His sermon was as good a piece of wisdom writing as I ever heard. Not as sophisticated as Spinoza but then Spinoza never had a weekly live audience of 30,000 people. It occured to me that the strength of the Bible lies in its ability to speak to 30,000 people, providing wisdom enough for the sophisticated and narrative enough for the less so. It truly is an impressive document.

I am not a Christian. I have been but it's been a long time since I've had any real faith the in Goodness of a Supreme Being. But my turning away from faith has left a hole all the sciences and theories cannot fill. It's not a question of volume. It's just a different kind of emptiness. So much of my existential struggle is a personal one. A search for reconciliation between Faith and Reason, science and religion, Athens and Jerusalem.

Having said all that, Joel Osteen's sermon was simply amazing. Though I am not a believer, I hold no aversion for Christian beliefs and I find it easier for me to draw wisdom from Christian sources than some of my friends who have strongly negative feelings regarding religious doctrine. It occured to me one day that I didn't have to believe in God to learn the lessons of the Bible just as I didn't have to be a Christian to have spent a fascinating afternoon with a brilliant Benedictine Monk. Maybe that's heretical but I don't think that's for Man to decide.

The sermon today was about friends and how the people surrounding you will either enrich your life or limit it. He spoke of creating the right environment to reach one's potential. He addressed all the standard arguments clearly, never hiding behind the Bible. "Your environment will change you before you change it." Truer words were never spoken. Maybe this sermon rang true to me because it justified my protectiveness of my own time. There was a time when I hung out with people simply because I enjoyed their company or because I had a long standing relationship with them. That hasn't been the case for a long time. I realized exactly what Mr. Osteen said. As your friends are, so will you become. When I realized that truth, I became very selective picking friends who would inspire me to be better, to be the best that I can. Mr. Osteen said that you have a place to go, something to strive for- your full potential- and people in your life either help you reach it or they don't. My experience with this wasn't easy. It's not fun disassociating yourself with people you enjoy for reasons they may not understand or would find insulting. But enjoyment stopped being my standard for being a friend. Surely, I love spending time with my friends but to the man, each one of them possesses something lacking in me and when I am around them, I am inspired to work on that trait. That's not to say I'm unfriendly to most follks. I am not. I try to be friendly and polite to everybody. But being my friend is something else entirely.

Mr. Osteen ended the sermon by asking that we take stock of our friendships and ask if they inspire us or limit us. Do they encourage us to be the best we can be or allow us cover to make compromises? Whatever your stance on God, that is surely good advice. And I will be tuning in to Mr. Osteen whenever I get the chance.

All of Me...

There is a kind of hidden miserliness in human nature that prevents me from employing myself fully in any event, and counts the cost of everything and wants me to save energies for future emergencies, not realized that the only way to reinforce powers of the soul is to use them in full.

Everything matters. Everything I do is important, because it is me. There is no small event in my life, no negligible occasion, minor opportunity.

All that happens to me requires the whole of me, and by holding back and letting only half of me into the fray, I only do harm to myself, and stunt my growth. Lack of generosity withlife is reason I do not allow myself to devleop as I know I could.

-Father Carlos G. Vales

Wisdom Whore

I remember a story I heard about Trungpa Rinpoche's first trip to NYC. He got the airport and due to some miscommunication, missed the gentleman who was sent there to greet him. Having escaped Tibet from the marauding Chicoms, Trungpa was far from a timid man so he jumped in a cab and went into Manhattan searching for the Institute where he was supposed to teach. When he got into Manhattan, he saw that people were eating dirty water dogs from a vendor and enjoying them immensely. So Trungpa, being an adaptable sort goes to the vendor and buys a dog. He eats it, finds it delicious and orders another eating that one too. A little while later he finds the Institute and walks in to a throng of a very worried people terrified that they had lost the Great Trungpa Rinpoche to the jungles of New York. When they had calmed down, one of them asked Trungpa if he was hungry. Trungpa replied that we wasn't because he had ate something from a street vendor. Further investigation yielded the fact that the food stuff in question was a hot dog which mortifiedd all the Buddhists in earshot, Trungpa included. He excused himself to the restroom and prompty threw up the contents of his stomach. Upon returning into the main hall, Trungpa came to a realization. Without saying a word, he waslked outside and found another street vendor. He then purchased another hot dog and proceeded to eat it. When he came back the the Institute, the students who had witnessed this were beyond shocked. One of the students asked if it wasn't against doctrine to eat the flesh of an animal. Trungpa replied, "Yes it is. But an aversion is just as bad as an addiction."

I am a wisdom whore. In this proclamation, I ask for no allowances. I hold no allegiance to any intellectual tradition or methodology. My preferences solely have to do with what works. I am beholden to nothing. I will accept and test anything. I am not a pragmatist. I don't simply adopt practices that serve me in the short term. I am actively and constantly searching for anything that might add to my understanding of the world and the people who inhabit it. I have some vague delusion of grandeur that I might someday add to the body of wisdom writing in the library of Man. But I care far less about posterity than I do understanding reality around me. As Rabbi Tarphon said, "You are not required to finish the work, nor are you free to desist from it." I find that strangely comforting.

I am a admirer of Spinoza. He posits, correctly, that for a person to truly understand something, he must first believe it to be true. Only then can he test its validity. That itself is a tremendously loaded statement about the nature of the human mind. For any idea, there are three sections. Belief, understanding and validity. What this means is that achieving any sense of wisdom requires faith and heartbreak. You must have faith to achieve true understanding. And despite that leap of faith and the work to comprehend, the idea still may be invalid. To do this again honestly requires that you harden your heart to a certain degree.

I first learned of this phenomenon in the martial arts where it appears I have learned all the truths of my life. Go to any training hall and the question you will most often hear is whether or not a technique will work. The first cut you have to make intellectually is not whether or not someone can make the technique work but if you can. If someone can, you know it is in the realm of possibility and often you just have to take it on faith and anecdotal evidence (which I hate.) If you belief the technique to be valid, you practice it thousands of times until you master it. You pour everything you have into making this technique perfect. Only then can you test its validity in the ring or on the street. There you may find that all your work meant nothing and that you simply cannot make the technique work. In which case, you abandon it and adopt another. This can just as easily be applied to styles. This is a gross oversimplification of a long, complex process but hopefully, the broad idea comes through.

People, smart and dumb alike, have great difficulty adopting different beliefs structures even if it's only for a moment. Belief becomes fixed instead of a transitory place to inhabit. In the very worst cases, belief and validity become interchangeable. Aristotle said that the mark of an educated mind was the ability to entertain a thought without accepting it. I wish to take it one step further. In order to truly and honestly test the validity of any idea, you must first truly believe it so that you may understand all of its nuances.

I didn't really begin to understand the nature of martial arts until I mastered my 3rd. Now that I've achieved rank in a dozen, I realize that the structure of learning each individual art in its pure form allowed me to understand a different aspect of my body and mind. I now understand that all that structure existed to eventually free the body to move as it might free from any emotional attachment or habit. That's not to say I don't feel emotion. Just that I'm not controlled by it.

It wasn't until I raced my 3rd race that I understood what riding a motorcycle was really about. It wasn't until I could speak my 3rd language did I begin to understand how the brain processes different types of speech.

I have some vague notion that this is a lampost to freeing my mind. I believe that the body is a great teacher for our thoughts and that opportunities for new modes of thinking start in new action, not the other way around. (See "The Tree of Knowlege" Dr. Humberto Maturana) I hope that I am tough enough to subject myself to the heartbreak of an invalid belief over and over in search of the validity that can set my mind free. Free from an addiction to praise and being "right." Free from the aversion of beling thought a fool. Perhaps then, I might have something to contribute. But then again, maybe not.

The Distinctions of Innocence

And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Ecclesiastes 1: 17-18

What does it mean to be innocent? Truly innocent? We throw the word around so much without taking the time to actually look at what it may mean and what implications those meanings may hold. Personally, I never liked the word. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'd never been innocent. Innocence, for me, has connotations of naivete, which may be charming to some but is anathema to me. To my mind, innocence has always meant seeing the world through a veil, self-imposed or not, because of an inability or aversion to the harsh realities of life. Far from a virtue, it is the source of self-righteous pontification and its assorted ilk.

I have been criticized for challenging people on their mostly strongly held beliefs. Mea culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa. But here I draw a distinction. I am not in the habit of telling children that Santa doesn't exist or that the idea of the Tooth Fairy has macabre implications. Nor do I derive any sense of pleasure shredding another's belief structure. I challenge to measure- to take stock of a person. Once I do that, I can treat them accordingly and in a manner that befits their mentality. I will challenge a child if he is particularly precocious but only insofar that I may stretch his mind and expose him to new frames of logos. At the same time, I may not choose to challenge an adult because I see how tenuous their grip on reality and sanity really are. Then, of course, there are the times where I do need to intellectually cuff someone though I find that more an example of my lack of character than their lack of cognitive ability. That's not to say I don't experience a sense of visceral pleasure when I put down my intellectual pimp hand down on some fool (particularly if he's Communist). I do and deliciously so but I'm always a little ashamed of my behavior after. Really. I promise.

Innocence is not a virtue and love and/or admiration for it is the source of so much of the misunderstanding and destruction we see in the world today. The only arena where the word has any real meaning at all is the US legal system. Here, a pronouncement of innocence is equivalent to freedom. When a accused man cries, "I am innocent!" what he really means is the he wishes to remain free. But outside of this instance, innocence means nothing. Jill Carroll, the kidnapped journalist, has been decribed as innocent and a lover of the Iraqi people and way of life. She may be all these things. Insofar as she is an American citizen, I believe that we must do all we can to rescue her short of capitulating to the demans of her captors. But she is nothing special and her parents proclamations of her innocence show them to be tremendously out of touch.

First of all, I'm going to believe that Jill Carroll is a professional. She went to Iraq knowing the risks especially working for a publication like the Christian Science Monitor. She was not like the prototypical dumb tourist who goes to Yellowstone National Park and tries to feed the bear. To the bear, you are food, whatever your intentions. To a Muslim fundamentalist Jihadist, you are a target, whatever your disposition towards them. For her parents to say that she is innocent is to draw a meaningless distinction. More importantly, it is implying that others who may be kidnapped may not be innocent and may deserve what they get. Is a journalist who goes to Iraq seeking fame and fortune any more innocent that a young Marine who finds himself there for reasons of duty and an inability to pay for college solely because the journalist is a journalist? Are journalists naturally more "innocent" than Marines? Put another way- do Marines deserve to live less?

Innocence is the sine qua non of victimology- the Masada of the pathetic and tragically weak. The very concept- in common modern usage- is nothing less than an excuse for powerlessness. Though there may be something to be said for the innocence of a child, there is nothing more disgusting than a man who refuses to put down his childish ways. And that's what it really comes down to. The cult of the Innocent is populated by emotional children who have not yet the spine to face the world on its terms and must concoct some Jacksonian fantasy of their own. Harsh? Yes. Guilty as charged.

It's Just a Matter of Time

Iran will acquire nuclear weapons and there's nothing we can do about it. We might as well start planning for the eventuality because it's just a matteer of time. Am I stressed about this? Of course I am. But we possess a poor set of options. Let's look at the situation;

1. A country as rich as Iran, with ties so close to Russia and China, will get nuclear weapons if it wants them. There's simply no way around it. Pakistan and India both acquired such weapons despite the protests of the international community.

2. It is in China's national interest to create close ties with Iran because of China growing need for natural gas and petroleum. Expecting China to blindly follow our lead is childish. Especially when our economies are so closely linked (Bretton Woods 2). We enjoy our standard of living now because China foots the bill mostly. We are purely dependent on their economy growing. They know if most of us do not.

3. It is in Iran's national interest to acquire such weapons because it seems to be the only way they can definitively prevent invasion by America. To any other country, it can look like America does what it want regardless of anything. The only thing that gives us pause is nuclear weapons (see North Korea). This is an oversimplification but it's easy to see how many people in the world, even national leaders believe this.

4. The NPT, UN and IAEA have no teeth. I maintain that if the seals can simply be removed, it was folly to depend on them in the first place.

5. America can really do nothing here. The coutry is too divided on the Iraq war to make any definitive step towards nullifying this threat. The Democratic Party has found their hinge point and will use it to gain power regardless of the consequences as would have the Republicas if the situation was reversed. The media will not support any action and action is the only thing that has a chance of working if we want to take a hard line stance.

6. A hard line stance makes us look silly and impotent. We simply cannot engage Iran in a war and have any reasonable chance for success at this point in time. Everybody knows that. So playing hard guy is just an act and not a very good one. As the Keenanian admonition cautions us: "Never let your reach exceed your grasp."

7. The EU will do nothing either because they can't. Ever since 9/11, our forces have exponentially widened the competency gap between our military and that of any nation in the EU save perhaps Britain (and that's being very generous). Comparing a EU lead ground force to an American one would be similar to comparing a Pop Warner Football Team with the Super Bowl Champions. Yeah, it's the same game, but not really.

I'm a believer in Thomas Barnett's solution. It's risky and makes me seriously uncomfortable but I don't see any other realistic option. Iran is not a rational actor. And hoping that they will be seems silly at best and plain foolish at worst. But granting Iran the right to possess weapons seems a good way to open a dialog and we lose nothing because they are going to acquire those weapons anyway. We might as well forward think the issue and get ahead of it. And we can try to convince China that it is in their best interests to curtail Iran's radical tendencies. 1.2 Billion in natural gas contracts carries a lot more weight than our impotent threats. Not the best solution and one that feels like appeasement but often times, it's more important to be effective than right. In fact, knowing the difference is the sine qua non of true leadership.

And Spineless too...

"How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about," he said. "New Orleans was a chocolate city before Katrina. It is going to be a chocolate city after. How is that divisive? It is white and black working together, coming together and making something special."

Those are Mayor Nagin's words after being taken to task for saying that God wanted New Orleans to be a "chocolate" city and he didn't care what the white folks in the city had to say about it. So in addition to being an utter idiot, he's spineless too. And his pathetic attempt at an explanation just makes him look dumber and more ridiculous. This is even silier than President Clinton's assertion that he didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky because as the recipient of her blowjob, he did not actually touch her.

He's up for reeelection this year. If the residents of New Orleans vote him back in, then they deserve what they get. But I'll say this too. As far as a municipal disaster response goes, they got what they deserved as well. I can't believe that Nagin just started being this dumb. His current reaction is one of a person who suddenly has to explain his behavior to a wider and less forgiving audience. He's said stupid, divisive things before. But back then he was just catering to his 67 percent black constituency. Nagin is what you get when you vote by color. Think he understands your problems because he shares your skin hue? He doesn't understand your problem, he shares them and by sharing them, I mean he possesses no perspective to see a way out.

I nominate this spineless idiot for the most worthless man in American.

Stupidity Knows No Color...

Mayor Ray Nagin. Why does this incompetent mess have any access to a national pulpit? He was actually featured in Esquire magazine in the "What I've Learned" section. I'm not going to dig into his blatant incompetence and utter foolishness for his role in the Katrina Disaster. Think nobody could have done better? Let's compare him to another city's mayor- a larger and more diverse city. Rudy Giuliani. Do you think that he would have fumbled as badly even with a hostile governor? But I digress.

What I want to get into here are Nagin's latest statements. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he came from the same intellectual tradition as Pat Robertson. Nagin's premise is simple. God is mad at America because of our role in the world- specifically going to Iraq on trumped up charges- a matter of opinion. Is he mad at Pakistan too? How's about Thailand, Indonesia and India? What exactly do you have to do to prevent God's wrath. Is He this emotionally unstable? Maybe He truly did make man in his image...

God is mad at black people too. I'm not quite sure how to address this proclamation. It's so stupid that I don't want to dignify it with any significant thought on my part. God is racist too, I suppose. He sees things in racial politics though race is a pure human construct. Ethnicity barely exists. A Swedish bikini model and a Masai warrior have more in common than a pit bull and a chihuahua. It seems that when folks like Nagin and Robertson try to make God powerful, all they succeed in doing is making him small.

Lastly is his chocolate city dream. A few months ago, Nagin was complaining about all the Mexicans coming into New Orleans to rebuild the city. He's terrified that it will change the flavor of the town. His views might have merit but who is he to decide what ethnic group will dominate New Orleans? People live where they want and it's usually where they can find work. Nagin is straight up discriminating so he can have things his own way. This is a seriously spoiled way of looking at the world. See my post on Paia Disney. Nagin wants to create a New Orleans of his fantasy. But that's impossible. His failure as a mayor has created with very situation he is now struggling with.

Mayor Nagin is an incompetent child. He needs to grow up and man up. He's a pathetic excuse for a man and a leader.

Kudos to the Shield!

There is nothing better than the Shield either on TV or in the movies. It is simply the most intense drama I've ever seen on either screen. Nominally, it's a cop show but it is so much more than that. The whole show is in the ethical grey. There are no simple "good guy" or "bad guy" characters. As as far as characters go, no show takes more time or spend more effort developing its characters. There's really too much involved in the show for me to give you an idea of what it's about. But watch a few episodes and if you can deal with the intensity, I guarantee you'll be hooked. What it isn't is some happy-go-lucky, mindless show. If you're looking for mindless entertainment, this isn't it. But if you want asomething to sink your teeth into, with characters facing actual issues in their own imperfect manner, this is the show for you.

I've been watching it for years. I've scheduled meetings around the Shield. Friends of mine have ended dates early to go home and watch it. While I was overseas, I had episodes shipped to me so I could keep up with Vic Mackey and his Strike Team. There's nothing better out there. Watch it and you'll see what I mean.

My Impressions of the Alito Hearings

I spent most of my waking hours today watching the Alito confirmation hearings. Mostly, this was a canine and equestrian extravaganza but I was left with 2 prevailing impressions. The first was how much the abortion issue shapes the debate. Second was the embarrassing ineptitude of most of the senators.

First, let's talk abortion. I'm not going to talk about my personal viewpoint because that's really not the issue as I see it. What blows my mind is how this one event has become the litmus test of a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Doesn't that seem a bit incongruous to either side of the political fence? It seems that every other topic, every other competency falls by the way side when measured against this one. Okay, this is an important issue, especially for women. But otherwise qualified people may never be confirmed to the bench because of this one thing. When did abortion supercede all other concerns? How has this one issue come to dominate the judicial landscape? I don't know. With so many topics out there that have much greater relevance to how we live our lives now and in the future, I just don't believe that this is the right place to put so much energy.

Okay. Politicians don't have to be competent administrators, managers or leaders. They don't have to build concensus. They don't have to visionaries. To be successful, they only have be good at one thing and one thing alone. Getting elected. Every time I hear one of our Senators talk, I'm usually stunned by the abysmally low cognitive ability of the senators from either party. Watching these hearings, what's clear is that people on the Judicial Committee have already made their decisions. This whole thing is just for show. But beginning with Roberts and continuing with Alito, it's painfully obvious how much smarter both these men are than any of the Senators on the Committee. Watching Biden speak was like getting my catheter removed. The whole thing felt like it took much longer than it actually did. Biden went on for 12 minutes before asking a single question. He did the same thing with Roberts but got spanked and didn't even realize it. How are we supposed to learn about a nominee if he's not given a chance to talk? But then it's not about that. When the cameras are on, the Senators are looking for sound bites. I guarantee these hearings will change nobody's mind about Judge Alito. This is just an opportunity for the Senators to get some face time.

Why would any competent man want to be a politician short of thirst for power? I still remember what one of my mentors told me after I asked him how he could put President Bush on hold. "Politicians, even presidents, are just temporary help."

Athens vs. Jerusalem

"Our civilization is still split between a Hellenic cognition and aesthetic and a Hebraic morality and religion. One might say that the hand of Western (indeed of much Eastern also) has five ill-assorted fingers: Moses, Socrates, Jesus, Shakespeare, Freud. Plato's culture is entirely Socratic, by design, yet also Homeric, unwillingly. Between the "Republic" and ourselves comes Moses, Jesus, Shakespeare and Freud, and though we cannot abandon Athens, still less could we avoid our tongues' cleaving to the roofs of our mouths if we do not prefer Jerusalem to Athens."

-Harold Bloom, "Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?"

This notion has always intrigued me. This internal struggle occupies almost everyone of us save fanatics on either end. What most interests me is our general inability to see this conflict and recognize it for what it is. I don't care if you're from the Left or the Right- this conflict shapes your thoughts and perceptions at a precognitive level.

Let's look first at the Right. In reference to foreign policy, Hellenic thought prevails. Decisions are made primarily in terms of realpolitik. The tradition is intellectual, not emotional starting with Thuycidides, moving through Machiavelli and reaching modernity with Keenan and Barnett. As such, many policy decisions are deemed by those who disagree with them as immoral rather than poorly thought out. This Hellenic approach finds no foothold in domestic matters, though. In this area the Right prefers a policy set dominated by Jerusalem or rather, Judeo-Christian thought. This would seem incongruous and disconnected but I believe it is a defining element of Western Civilization.

The Left fairs no better through this lens. Instead, there priorities and policy drivers are simply reversed. In this camp, foreign policy decisions are based in perceived morality. What the Left is blind to is the fact that their morality is entirely rooted in the same Judeo-Christian ethics they routinely dismiss. "Let he without sin cast the first stone." "Turn the other cheek." The words of Jesus Christ seem to be the the Left's IR playbook. But again, in domestic matters, there is once again a shift in focus to Athens. The Left's belief that the sciences with save our society finds it's very roots in Greek thought. Sociology, psychology, and it's various siblings are all the children of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

I point this out only to say that this conflict exists in us and we must face it. Fanatics of any sort seem powerful because they do not possess this internal conflict. This lacking is the source of their power and their greatest limitation. I'm not particularly concerned with which mixing of Athens and Jerusalem is more effective at promoting human happiness. I only know that it seems as if we must have both. Too much of one or the other leaving something missing in the human psyche. As much as I loved Sam Harris' book, The End of Faith, I think his is a fruitless journey. Asking man to deny the his need for faith is the same as asking him to deny his thirst or lust. It exists and saying it's bad doesn't really help the issue.

Man needs a narrative. And the lower his complexity horizon and natural cognitive ability, the more he needs that narrative. But even those who don't believe in a God, when pressed, will often hope for a higher power of some sort. Something or someone who sees the big picture. I doubt that we will ever rid Man of his need to believe in something greater than himself no matter how great our understanding of the universe becomes. But I think this conflict is good. I believe that this internal struggle is where Truth and Wisdom is found. I don't believe that Athens and Jerusalem can be reconciled. Not yet anyway. But I'm not done looking.

My Wireless Life...

One of my bosses told me once that I'm like a stock dog. If I'm not kept busy, I tear up the furniture in the house. He didn't mean it as a compliment though I took it as such. I'm never one to leave well enough alone. I fervently believe that good is the enemy of great.

Having no great project to occupy my energies these days, I've chosen to eliminate the wires in my life. I search the internet every night for new gadgets by which to accomplish this task. My latest purchase is the Logitech Bluetooth Headphones. It only works with older Ipods and the Ipod mini but it is otherwise a pretty good item. It's not perfect. It's rather large and the unit that fits onto the Ipod increases the overall size of the combined unit to the point where I have to find a new case but it sounds great. The range is good too. All in all, if cords offend your sensibilities, this is a good purchase.

I also recently acquired the newest Jabra bluetooth headset to pair with my Treo 650. Previously, I used the Motorola headset with the very cool collapsing boom but it didn't really fit me and the volume was too low for my deaf ear. The Jabra is plenty loud and actually quite comfortable. The sound is excellent too. I think it looks pretty cool too. I'm not sure of the model number but it's the one that fits completely around your ear with an earbud earpiece. The bulk of the unit fits behind the ear giving it a more a of hearing aid look. Yeah, not cool but somehow, it works with this unit. Worth the purchase.

I sync my Treo bluetooth style with my computer too.

Now, I'd like to be able to sync my Ipod with iTunes wireless too. I know that's coming. And if it's not it should.

And in the future (not too far I hope), I want to be able to charge my gear wirelessly. Power cords are the next to go.

The Devil and Sifu Frank

A few years ago, I happened to be in NYC while an instructor of mine was teaching a defensive tactics class to an NYPD undercover squad. Sifu Frank (as I'll refer to him here) asked if I'd like to assist him which sounds much more impressive than it actually was. Basically, he just wanted to use me as a tackling dummy because I was trained and somewhat durable. I jumped at the chance because I have a great deal of personal affection for Sifu Frank as well as the fact I always learned something cool everytime I trained with him. Little did I know that this 2 day seminar would change everything I knew about the martial arts and what was possible in the world.

It all started when he was teaching takedowns. The officers, being brute force guys, were all trying to muscle a particular technique and butchering it as a result. In his frustration, Sifu Frank grabbed me and stood in front of the class. "Look, it's not muscle. It's alignment!" With the he had me stick my right arm straight out with my palm facing forward. He placed his index finger in the middle of my palm and slammed me to the ground hard with just that contact point. It happened so fast all I could do was laugh. I got up and to prove a point he threw me to the ground again, this time with his pinky and even harder. I hit the ground with such force that I couldn't really bend my arm too well after that for a few weeks which made my sponsors really happy. "See. It's alignment. Not strength."

Now you have to picture Sifu Frank. He's about 5'4" and 130 pounds soaking wet. At that time, I was around 180 pounds and in fighting shape. I had more than 20 years of hard training under my belt and my balance was such that I almost never got taken down. Yet Sifu Frank did it with just his pinky. I was simply blown away. I'd never felt anything like it.

That night I went home and had a serious crisis. What the hell was I doing? What I experienced earlier in the day completely shook up my understanding of the world. There was something else going on.

The next morning, I got to the Academy early and pulled Sifu Frank aside. I said to him,"Sifu. You screwed up my life. I have absolutely no comprehension of what happened yesterday. How did you do that? More importantly, how do I get there?" He could see the pained expression on my face and took pity on me. He simply said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

With that pronouncement, he faced me square on, brought his hand together in front of him and pointed at me and without touching me, pushed me backwards. It wasn't a hard or fast push but there was enough there that I had to take a step back to keep my balance. I was impressed but my skeptical mind said that I probably picked up on some physical cues and reacted to them as I had trained with Sifu Frank before. As if reading my mind, he then stood behind me and pushed me forward without touching me. As to prove a point, he buckled my knees without telling me he was going to do that.

I couldn't have seen him. I didn't know he was going to buckle my knees, but he did it and I was a noncompliant subject. One of the officers (a devout catholic I later learned) happened to be watching this example. When I locked eyes with him, all color had drained from his face and he looked terrified. He very calmly said, "Sifu Frank, you are possessed by the devil" and ran out of the gym, failing to return for the rest of the training.

Truthfully, all of us who witnessed this display were all pretty scared. Sifu saw this and made some joke about using this power at the clubs to get girls to move in closer to you. We all laughed that nervous laugh- the one where you're not sure if you're going to cry.

I share this story because JPD and I are having a debate about faith, reason, etc. on his blog. Check it out for the backstory. My point here is that there is more that I can comprehend, more than I can logically understand, and the fact that this experience cannot stand up to any serious intellectual rigor, it does not diminish the experience in any way for me. This experience changed my life and my understanding of the arts and not in a way that I can verbally explain. But Sifu Frank and many of my other instructors noticed the change. My technique feels different. I move differently. I am different because of what was done to me, what was shown to me. There's something to be said for that.

Grisham's Italian Bible

There's lots to love about Italy. If you are vacationing, there are few places in the world where you will find a better combination of physical beauty, sublime cuisine, masterful examples of all forms of art and a rich cultural heritage. If your life revolves around the appreciation of beauty, Italy can easily be your muse. But if you are trying to do business, it's something else entirely. Italy reminds me of the prototypical sorority girl- nice to look at, fun to be around but utterly devoid of any hard skills or usefulness. In the schema of nations, Italy is a hostess. Italy is a prop. Even France is more useful.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the ridiculous Italian court system which only belittles itself when it issues edicts they have no wherewithal to enforce. Earlier this year, the Italian courts indicted several CIA agents for the rendition of a terror suspect. That's nice and all but a decision like that does nothing but highlight the fact that Italy has no way to actually bring those men before their justice system. It's not like Bin Laden where we can't find the guy. If the USGOV simply refuses to cooperate, the Italian government can do nothing but whine. When I first heard about this, I thought it was just a case of political grandstanding- something very typically Italian. But with this recent case brought before the Italian courts, I'm beginning to think the problem is deeper- more insidious. I can't put my finger on it exactly but it smells an awful lot like crazy.

Luigi Cascioli is suing Enrico Righi, a Catholic priest, and the Roman Catholic Church as an entity. He's accusing them of breaking two Italian laws.

1. Abuso di Credulita Popolare (Abuse of Popular Belief)
2. Sostituzione di Persona (Impersonation)

Casciolla maintains that the Church created the myth of Christ and based him on John of Gamala, a first century Jew who fought against the Romans. "I started this lawsuit because I wanted to deal the final blow against the Church, the bearer of obscurantism and regression," as Casciolli was quoted by Reuters. Righi's side of the story will be heard by a court on January 27 in Viterbo to determine if the case will proceed. He was yet to be indicted but it could happen on the grounds that he "tricks" people.

This is kind of a creative tact I suppose- suing a priest for fraud and trying to compel evidence of Jesus Christ. But I think in true Italian fashion, Casciolli half-assed it. Why sue about the existence of a man who probably existed in some way, shape or form? Why not shoot for the whole ball of wax and just sue for the existence of God? Let's see the Italian courts make a ruling on that. Let's see them try to enforce it.

I can't wait to see how this plays out.

The Continuing Insanity of Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson has lost his damned mind. I am truly shocked by his current tirade. I'm not even going to get into his past comments which are all uniformly bizarre. But to insinuate that Ariel Sharon's stroke is God's "divine punishment" for dividing God's land has got to be the single dumbest thing to come out of his mouth in a long time. Which is quite a feat given his abject stupidity.

I thought we had gotten past this. For the love of Zeus, it's 2006. Can we stop looking at medical conditions as punishments for transgressions against God? Are we still such superstitious monkeys? I am truly disgusted. This is the very worst of Christianity. A mean-spirited, supremely arrogant schadenfreude. Pat Robertson has truly gone over the edge.

Christianity would be better off if Pat Robertson was marginalized.
The United States of America would be better off if Pat Robertson had no national pulpit to speak from.

I don't want any part of a God whom Pat Robertson speaks for in any way. There is no just and meritocratic system in the world where a two-bit, tier 3 half wit like Pat Robertson could hold sway over any significant group of people whose collective IQ's break double digits.

If you are a Christian, please ask youself if this is the man you want representing your faith? For myself, I wouldn't let such a man wash my car.

He's either mean or stupid or both. Given his track record, I'm going with both.

The Charming Mr. Passman

A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Passman. Mr. Passman is the only certified black coral Master Sculptor in the world. Black coral is extremely rare and in very limited supply. Pieces made from this material are among the most exclusive on the planet. One look at his work and you know that he easily deserves such an honor.

Well, somehow I got invited to this lunch at Cipriani's in NYC by the Park. This is the place of the $32 rigatoni bolognese. In attendence were the German ambassador to the UN, a wealthy NYC financier and their respective staffs. I think I was an after thought because I didn't get the invite until the night before while I was already out and about. Not really realizing what I was in for, I spent a debauched evening at Lotus with all the mingling and imbibing that implies. I must have puked a half a dozen times in the Cipriani bathroom waiting for my lunch companions to show up. I'm probably the only person besides Lindsey Lohan who's ever done that.

Mr. Passman and I hit it off quickly. I think it's probably we were unimpressed by the folks around us. He, because of his stature. Me, because I was viciously hung over. Anyway, we got along well enough that he gave me his personal lapel pin. He had only made two. One for his wife and one for himself in tribute to the heroes of 9/11. Clearly I did not deserve such an honor but avarice is among my many vices and I accepted his gracious gift.

This story was remarkable enough for me and I told many people about it. No big deal right? Anybody would remember such an event. But that's not what's remarkable here. Over Christmas, I stopped by the Passman Gallery in Wailea to see if I could leave a note for Mr. Passman. It was there that I learned that Mr. Passman remembered meeting me too. In fact, the GM of the gallery told me that he recounted the story to the staff during the opening with tears in his eyes.

That an artist such as Mr. Passman who sees the world through such a beautiful lens and creates more beauty out of nothing with his hands and heart would remember a brash, young nobody like myself says amazing things about that man. I feel better and "purer" for his remembrance. Please check out his site. You can link to it from this site.

Freezing in Manoa

Okay. I know I'm not going to get much sympathy here but I'm freezing my ass off here in Manoa. It's just not supposed to be so cold. What's the deal? I was so cold, I though for a moment that I might be coming down with something. Then my housemate came out of his room in full sweats and a hoody. I've taken to standing in the shower under the hot water just to keep warm. Yeah, I know it's not really that cold compared to NYC or some place like that. But in NYC, you expect it to suck. Here in Manoa, the cold is quite a shock. But I'm not really complaining. I'd rather be here than just about anyplace else in the world.

Paia-Disney and the Cost of Connectivity

Recently, I visited the California town of Sonoma for the first time. For those who have been there, you know what a charming little town it is. Driving into the town square and looking at the beautiful scenery, the first thought that popped into my mind was, "Man. White people can do parks." And that's true. Western culture and civilization create faux landscapes and wildernesses that in many ways appeal to the human eye more than nature ever could. In a lot of ways, it's like pornography because it creates a picture of something that has nothing to do with reality or nature.

Much more recently I was visting Maui. I was staying in Wailea which is a resort town and very beautiful. Resort towns have a feel all their own and I'm comfortable in such environments because I don't expect them to be anything more than what they are. But I also went to visit the town of Paia and what I saw sickened me. Here was an old charming Hawaiian town. Everything about it reminded me of the old Hawaii of my youth and earlier. However, upon closer inspection, I realized I wasn't seeing old Hawaii. I was seeing Paia-Disney. The town was simply a set for hippies who wanted to opt out of society for whatever period of time or tourists who wanted to find the "Hawaii" of their imaginations.

I remember meeting an educated couple in San Francisco once who went to great lengths to tell me how disappointed they were with Hawaii. They wanted something more exotic, something more intense... more foreign and dangerous. That attitude drew nothing but contempt from me. My response was that people still had to live their after they left. Hawaii didn't exist for their entertainment.

Now I'm not an isolationist at all. I think connectivity betweeen Hawaii and the Mainland should be increased. There's absolutely no reason why there is no national banking chain in the Hawaiian Islands. Major banks have tried but local protectionist tendencies and sheer incompetence has driven them out. When young mainlanders come to Hawaii and tell the local kids that the rat race is saps the soul of man or that globalization is the engine of their destruction, it gives the youth an easy way out. Choosing not to do something is infinitely more powerful than not being able to do it. With the education level being what it is in Hawaii, competing is a question of ability, not willingness. It's not opting out when you simply can't measure up.

Writ large, I approve of the greater influx of outside influences into Hawaii. Occassionally it breaks my heart as it did went I went to see what has become of Hanauma Bay but my heartbreak is meaningless compared with the opportunities provided for future generations. Paia broke my heart. Maui itself was rather strange. I didn't feel like I was in Hawaii. I could have been in Huntington Beach. But if this is what it takes to raise the mentality in the islands then it is worth it.

Freedom from violence needs to exist before anything better can happen. As weird as Maui was, it was the safest I've ever felt in Hawaii. And that's a start.

Miscues, Miscommunication and the Sago Mine

My heart goes out to the families of the deceased miners. There is simply no excuse for the type of incompetence that forced them onto such a violent emotional roller coaster. The blame game will now start and rightfully so. There appears to be plenty to go around. I don't want to second guess any of the rescue protocols. I know the type of men who do such work and they are not the type to bow to corporate pressure at the expense of capability. But there are realities of budget and time and I wonder how they played out here. Mining is a dangerous job but it is also can be quite a lucrative career. So much so that the miners themselves have had no issue with using violence themselves when dealing with scabs. A friend of mine was hired for mine security during the coal mine strikes in the 80's. Apparently the miners had no compunction of chucking sticks of dynamite to disrupt operations. I say this only to illustrate that mining jobs are not last ditch choices but highly sought after career choices.

That being said, this could have been handled with greater sensitivity. It's just wrong to play with people's feelings in such a flippant manner. There are realities of life and there is simple carelessness that makes it much rougher than it has to be. This is what sloppiness leads to. People give me a hard time because I can be a hard ass. I just know where carelessness ends up.

Shameless Friend Plug

Everybody is proud of their friends. I guess that's sort of the sine qua non of friendship- pride in association. But as JPD reminded me a little while ago, I'm really picky about my friends and perhaps more given my close personal relationship with mortality. But I'd like to plug 3 of my friends here in no particular order of importance which would be silly. Also, please do not be offended if you're not on the list. You just don't have a blog for me to link to or you'd probably be on it.

Dave shops for his clothes at Costco, drinks fine Bordeaux and picks kick ass stocks. Google? He nailed it. Gold? Got that one too. If stocks are your things, then definitely link to his site from mine. Educational, informative and fun to read, it worth a trip as least once a business day. Dave without question possesses one of the most disciplined minds I know. It must be from all that uncomfortable Costco polyester and cotton.

Hudak and I share an unabiding disappointment in our fellow man as well as a love for fine wristwatches. Jim builds and sells companies for fun and profit. An entrepreneur in every facet of his life, I appreciate Jim most for his discernment. If I need a recommendation on something, I go to him because I know he's done his due diligence. Check out his site. It's a lot funnier than mine though he doesn't update it as much as I would like.

Lastly, my friend JPD just started his new blog. JPD and I share a fondness for bar life. It's not necessarily about drinking. It's about meeting and talking with fellow travelers and hearing about their experiences while sharing yours. I'm not going to get into his background because I don't know what I can say but I will say that he made the single hardest integrity call I've ever even heard of anybody making. On my best day, I couldn't have acted with such integrity and honor. I don't know anyone else who would have either for that matter. Check out his blog. It's new but it's sure to have some interesting and provocative stuff.

Somebody once said that the difference between a good friend and a best friend is that a good friend will help you move while a best friend will help you move a body. I always thought AC was a good friend whatever else his flaws. I hope that I'm that kind of friend too.

Update

Let me apologize, dear readers, for my recent disappearance. Over the holidays, I got hit with a wicked round of food poisoning. It was by far the worst I've ever experienced. I found myself unable to eat for 4 days and then only jello after that. I really like jello so that wasn't really so bad. I'm still recovering. No matter what I seem to eat, no matter how inocuous, my stomach makes me pay with some pretty excrutiating cramps. Also, during my violent g.i. upheavel, I threw out my back too, right where I broke it a while back. That's pretty unpleasant too. But enough complaining. I have lots to say and will back at it with a vengence in 2006 once my pain subsides to a reasonable level. Stay with me.