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We were young and I did not know

So, Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day, is particularly important to me. I served a long time in the military. I am proud of that service, and never understood while I was doing it what was happening. We were all so damn young, and I did not know.  I swear I did not. I did not know that this river of people that flowed rapidly through my life would all imprint me in ways I never would have expected. I did not comprehend that 30+ years down the line, they would be vivid in my mind and my heart. Eric and Rick shooting bottle rockets at each other in the backyard on 4th of July. Losing Brad out of the back of the truck going to see the fireworks. Bill and Bobby sitting in the living room watching the Super Bowl with us when my son took his first steps. I have had the blessing of being supported by the best human beings in the world in all my times of trouble. Somehow, some way, they appear or rally around. The bond never breaks.  Even 20 years later, even completely at odds in world vie
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Year of .....

Keep hearing that this is going to be the year of the woman.  Not that I mind if this is the year of the woman or whatever crap it is that is going around on the news, but I have a bigger idea. Maybe we could make this the year of the America that is not scared of what people that are not white do all the fricking time. Maybe we could make this the year of the America that is not afraid of poor families running away from gangs, drug cartels and starvation, that are still 1000 miles from our border. Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decides that since every American will get sick, maybe we make it so that getting healthcare is not tied to how much you make. Maybe we could make this the year of the America that uses the 70+% surplus of food we raise/grow to make it so that no one in America is hungry. Maybe we could make the the year of the America that transforms Columbus Day into Election Day and gives EVERYONE the day off to vote in national elections, gi
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Naval Officers, Heroes and Citizens

I was fortunate enough to be allowed the opportunity to serve almost 22 years in the United States Navy. I have sailed on all 5 oceans of the world, and the 7 seas. I have set foot on every continent save Australia and Antarctica. I have rounded both Capes. I have sailed through minefields. I have been part of the greatest show of maritime power the world has ever seen, in the containment of the Mid East by the patrolling assets of the 2nd and 5th Fleet, all through the 90’s and the Iraq and Afghanistan War. I am a student of history, as well as a proud enlisted leader that took sailors to war for over 2 decades.  In my time in the Navy, I had the opportunity to learn the lessons of leadership and heroism of great Naval heroes. Decatur, Perry, Dewey, Farragut, Nimitz, Halsey, Kincaid, Spruance, Brashear, Flynn, and a host of others. Today, we bid farewell to one of those Naval heroes. A man that spent his entire adult life in service to the nation. The first part of it was spent as
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Snail Darters

I wish this story about the Pence family was isolated, or specific to them. I have no respect for their particular brand of politics, but they are no different than the Koch’s or Rockerfeller’s or DuPont’s before them, just a smaller scale.  These are the ones that bitch and complain the loudest about the waste of government, and then leave their mess to be cleaned up by that government.  Then they get themselves appointed to regulatory office, and work to defund that office and refuse to enforce the law completely. Not for any purpose other than because it does not matter to them that people will be permanently injured or possibly die from their pollution and actions. I suppose this is not about the Pence’s as a rule, but about the state of regulation we voted for. The EPA was an outgrowth of myriads of events, like Love Canal, NY, and other sites that ended up being Superfund sites. Now, we have taken this fever that somehow, the EPA is the problem.  Regulating, monitoring a
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Independence

242 years ago, there was a momentous moment in history. Our Founding Fathers, in a humid and hot Philadelphia, approved a declaration of our independence from England owing to tyranny, terror, discrimination, lack of representation, taxation and violence. Down through our history, we have seen many different conditions on this celebration of our independence. Depending on how you define the start of the revolution, from the Boston Massacre or from "the shot heard around the world", by 1776 we had been at war with England for 1-6 years. As with most things about Congress, they were late to the party and behind the times. When our nation was only 85 years old, 1861, we were grinding into the most deadly war in our history, fought amongst ourselves, on our own land, to determine whether that independence we proclaimed would apply to all living souls on this land, or not. We still have not decided that question, though we have almost ended the physical fighting. One hundred
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The Terms Are Important

There are significant disagreements and fighting and partisan wrangling ahead of us.  There has become a partisan knife fight ritual about Supreme Court Justices.  Not that it is any worse than the past, but with the advent of social media, unfortunately these things bring out the obvious failings of the education system. According to the Constitution, the President picks a nominee.  That nominee is then vetted by the Senate, and interviewed. The Senate’s responsibility is to advise and consent to the President’s nominee. There is very little required for a person to be qualified to be a Justice.  The person must be a citizen. The person must receive approval from the Senate, and that is about it.  There have been Justices that were not lawyers.  There have been Justices that were Klan members. There have been Justices that had never voted in their lives. There have been Justices that were nothing but political hack appointments (and many nominated that did not meet the vetting). T
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They Aint Stupid

Here is the thing, I was raised by a car mechanic and a clerical worker in the government. My Mom's parents were a machinist and a school lunch room cook. My Dad's parents were service industry workers and farmers. All of my great grandparents were farmers/commercial fishermen/day labor.  None of these people possessed more than a high school education. Almost all of them did not possess that. However, not a single one of any of them was stupid. There is a false correlation that we seem to draw between education level and intelligence. Education is earned, intelligence is native, you are born with it.  However, even high intelligence, unharnassed and uninformed by education and a breadth of experience and outlook, cannot be relied upon to cure all ills. What is the point Joe? Well, I listened to three different interviews done yesterday with Trump voters. A farmer in Iowa, a commercial fisherman in Louisiana, and a coal miner in the mountains of Kentucky. Vastly different l
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