Category Archives: Culture/Politics

Culture/Politics

17 Degrees

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About a year ago, whilst I was deployed to the Middle East, I was doing some writing “research” about satellite orbits. Basically, I wanted to see how a space station orbits the earth and what it looks like from the ground.Thankfully, we live in a day and age when humanity has actually built a space station. Like so many other examples, the science fiction of yesteryear has become established fact. Congratulations, humanity! Achievement unlocked!

We live in a day and age where just about the whole sum of human knowledge is available to me in seconds, appearing on a device I slip into my pocket. We recently landed a rocket on a small boat to prove the concept of reusable launch vehicles. We’ve placed probes on the surface of Mars and sent them outside our solar system. And we’re grasping at the very first stages of space travel, putting humans in low earth orbit for a year at a time to better understand the effects of prolonged exposure to zero Gs and all the other issues that come with life beyond the terrestrial boundaries.

This is pretty heady stuff!

Back in the Desert, in the course of my procrastinating under the guise of Googling, I discovered NASA has a site that tells you when the International Space Station (ISS) will be passing by your area. You too can Spot the Station!

They only provide results around sunrise and sunset, so that there’s the best contrast of dark sky with bright space station (as it reflects the sunlight still brightly shining on its surfaces but not brightly shining in the spectator’s eyes). So there may not be what they consider a good sighting for some time in your particular area. (I checked a few months ago for Naha, Okinawa, and got “no results found.”)

But they will also provide you email or text alerts if you sign up for the service.

A year ago, I also discovered the next sighting near my base would be in a few days’ time. So when that date came, I stepped outside, stood between two buildings to minimize light interference, and watched the sky.

The site gives you all the details on where to look and how to guesstimate degrees in the sky. If you hold your fist straight out and rest it on the horizon, that’s roughly ten degrees. So when the site tells you to look to the northwest at 17 degrees, you can figure out roughly where to expect a bright shining light to mystically appear in the sky.

Sure enough, at the appointed time, in the appointed place, a dim object appeared in the sky, cruising across the field of stars. In seconds, it grew brighter than the rest of them, moving too fast to be an airplane, too slow and steady to be a meteor. I watched it cross the black until it faded and vanished in the middle of the sky.

Tonight it will be visible from Okinawa from 8:20 to 8:22 PM. So my kids and I will take a car ride out to a nearby hill to see if (clouds permitting) we can spot the station.

And I’ll try to impress upon them the wonder and the significance of the thought that there are human beings living in that motley assortment of modules floating across the heavens.

I hope that to some degree I’ve impressed it upon you as well.

If you’re on Okinawa, maybe try 17 degrees northwest.

Culture/Politics

They Hate Us

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I don’t think there’s anyone I know who actively and clearly despises me. And I’m happy to say I can’t think of a single person for whom I feel animosity or hatred. “Hate” in reference to a person is a strong and heavy term, one that shouldn’t be used casually, bandied about like some new teenage slang.
Sadly, it’s all too easy to drop the H-bomb when we’re talking about people in general, especially when they differ from us.

And that’s how I discovered yesterday that apparently a full quarter of the earth’s population hates me. Not the best news, that. But it was Monday, so it kind of figures.

To clarify, I saw some appalling Facebook comments on a Right-Wing news article. And like the buffoon I am, I waded into discussion of politics and religion on social media.

But how could I not? These freedom-loving patriots were deeply concerned that I might be unaware of the danger I face daily. They felt a compelling need to set right my misguided notions about liberty and religion.

The background? An Army Reservist who is also a Muslim was kicked off a gun range in Oklahoma. The range owners have a “Muslim-Free Zone” sign posted, and the customer claimed that after he self-identified as a Muslim, their treatment of him went from calm and professional to rude and hostile. For their part, the owners claim he was ejected from the range because he acted “belligerently” and not because of his faith.

Good, since that would be illegal discrimination based on religion.

So the Right-Wing news site had a steady flow of comments ranging from “He’s lucky they didn’t ask him to hold the targets” to “You guys realize he’s an American servicemember, right?” And it was the former variety that I couldn’t resist replying to.

Profound statements like:

“Islam isn’t a race!!!! It’s a violent oppressive cult that they joined and/or remain in willingly. Facts > opinions.”

(Of course, Christianity isn’t a race either. It’s a religion people join or remain in willingly. And it, like Islam, is protected by the first amendment, so discrimination against someone based on that is frowned upon and also illegal. And that is a fact, not an opinion.)

“Muslim isn’t a religion. He wasn’t denied service because of his religion but his way of life, to kill anyone who’s not Muslim.”

(In this case, his “way of life” was to serve our country and put himself in harm’s way to defend our way of life… something I feel fairly certain the commenter is unwilling or unable to do. And “Islam” is a religion, and “muslim” is an adherent of that religion. So when a store posts a sign or tries to enforce a “muslim-free zone” policy, that should offend American sensibilities if we truly believe what the Founding Fathers said about all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights. You know, all that super patriotic claptrap the Right pulls out when we defend Christians.)

 

“To all of you that are offended by everything that doesn’t comply with your own interests, or beliefs… stay the hell home, and board up your damn windows. This is used to be America “land of the free” until a bunch of whiney @$$es started crying about stupid $#!+”

(To be fair, maybe this guy feels the way I do, and all these people afraid of Islamic extremists they’re convinced are about to invade the nation are a bunch of whiners that should board up their windows and hide in their bomb shelters.  
But I assumed he meant the whiners who see a sign saying, “You’re not welcome here” and question it. The whiners who question commenters that advocate wholesale murder of Muslims for the crime of existing while telling me it’s the Muslims I should be afraid of. The ones who say “They should go back to their own country” while forgetting that at some point, that could have been said to the vast majority of American ancestors.

To those people I say “Go board up your own damn windows.”)
I’m not worried about radical Muslims that hate America. I’m worried about radical so-called patriots that are willing to tear down the foundational principles of this nation while claiming to do us good.

By their words and their deeds, it’s clear. They hate us.

And no, I’m not talking about the Muslims. And no, I’m not pointing the finger at ALL conservatives or Right-Wing thinkers.

But to the Trump supporters, to those who agree with committing war crimes against civilians, to those vocal, hateful voices out there bringing disgrace upon your party and the nation you claim you love: 

Congratulations. You’ve become the thing you fear and hate most:  An ideologically-driven body of angry people espousing violent, radical, anti-American declarations and policies without regard for any conflicting evidence or higher good.

You’re the ones not only casting away traditional American values but actively coming against them.

You’re the danger. You’re the threat.

Culture/Politics

In This Together

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Like most of America, I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday (Monday morning for me, living on Okinawa).

My wife is a Broncos fan, and my daughter is too–or was, or maybe still is but has better things to do, or maybe teenage years are hard and you never know what interests of theirs suddenly change…

Anyway. 

The conservative pages my wife follows were full of furor about Beyonce’s most recent video being some anti-cop, pro-Black Lives Matter social commentary. And it seemed they all decried bringing racism and tensions into the Super Bowl halftime show.

It got to the point even my wife didn’t want to see it because 1) she expected some risqué or provocative stuff my kids didn’t need to watch and 2) all these pages couldn’t be wrong, right?

We watched it anyway. And I was very pleasantly surprised to hear a variety of expressions akin to “We’re all in this together” sung or said by people in an array of skin tones standing arm in arm.

People of all colors just having fun, summing up with a simple message of “Love.”

Where was the Black Power I was supposed to be afraid of or offended by? Where was Beyonce’s promised attempt to stir up controversy?

Well it was all over the comments on those conservative pages. Apparently I was supposed to read “reverse racism” or “White guilt” or “perpetuating the hate” into a bunch of people dancing and just very obviously having a good time.

And of course the dozens of voices I looked at in the thousands of comments all talked about how Beyoncé should have been banned, or how they changed the channel rather than watch something so offensive, or how it was so patently obvious to anybody with a brain and if you didn’t see it, you’re a clueless liberal moron.

And when the rants about Beyoncé weren’t enough, other sites proclaimed the fearsome Gay Agenda was behind it all, what with those rainbow colors and the big “Love” display in the stands.

When the truth isn’t good enough for a story, go for what plays well to the base, I suppose. 

flag_wrapped_bible
So many of these conservatives are too ridiculous for a traditional Christian couple to get behind them. So many are willing to back Trump and like-minded “politicians” regardless of what they say or do. 

They wrap themselves in the flag and cling to the Bible, but they condemn the expressions of unity and love that both those cherished symbols exemplify.

I think my wife unfollowed several pages over their ridiculous pre-biased non-coverage and the flame wars that ensued when we called them out. You may not know her, but that act alone says something.

To such narrow-minded and ignorant people, who create controversy where there was none and spread the hate they claim to condemn, let that “unfollow” say this:
We were in this together with you. 

We’re not anymore. 

Culture/Politics

Grass on Venus

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North Korea launched a long-range missile past the island of Okinawa today, ostensibly to launch a satellite, and quite probably as part of their ongoing efforts to develop a better ballistic missile program in conjunction with weapons of mass destruction.

My thoughts on this are a little rambly… to include the question of whether ‘rambly’ is a word.

I stood at the park with my 5 year old around noon, watching picture perfect clouds stacked in different layers coasting across the blue sky. He climbed on all the playthings at the park, and then I gave him a ride home on my back, listening to him laugh with delight.

 

The Dude on a recent trip to the park
 
I recently played a bunch of Fallout 4, exploring a ravaged Boston battered by radiation storms and post-apocalyptic cruelty. Coupled with today’s news, when I looked at those clouds it struck me that it would not take a whole lot to bring the beauty around us crashing down. Some combination of insane or fearless world leaders, political brinksmanship, and powerful weapons–that could do the trick. 

My idealism wants to rail and shout. What sort of madmen would threaten something so pure and peaceful as a 5 year old climbing and playing with abandon on a bright sunny day?

My cynicism knows the horrors wrought by human nature, and my pragmatism understands that I and my family aren’t immune to or protected from events that can shake the world.

For a few minutes, while the Internet connection held, I played a video game for a while. Destiny is a sci-fi, first-person shooter with open areas on several planets in our solar system. My character stood on Venus, killing evil robots and aliens. My 10 year old son recognized the level and watched for a moment, then asked, “Wait a minute! Why is there grass on Venus? It’s super hot. That isn’t right!” 

And that led to a conversation about the far-future, sci-fi dream / hope of terraforming other worlds to make them habitable for humankind. I laughed at the idea, but remembered a recent article suggesting the sort of “colony” we actually could put on Venus (in theory) in the distant future: a suspended cloud city that would rest not too high in the upper atmosphere as to freeze and not too low as to suffer the inhospitable heat.

But with all that comes the realization that this will almost assuredly never happen in our lifetimes. 

So we talked about what it means for humanity to reach for the stars. “Basically, one meteor strike, one nuclear war, one significant enough calamity, and everything ‘human’ ceases to exist. We have this one planet, where every single human has ever lived and, for the near future, will ever live. We don’t want all of that swept away in an instant. People want to spread that risk out a bit.”

Questions of faith arise in our home. Is that like the Tower of Babel? Is that an expression of human arrogance or pride, making more of ourselves than we ought, or not being content with what we have? And how do we reconcile that desire with what the Bible says about the end of the world? 

Oddly enough, my justifiable fear of what we know could likely happen to end the world aligns pretty well with the Bible’s promise of an end to this world–coupled with wars, famines, diseases, and calamities. And that raises challenging questions. 

But I also find great hope–both in what my faith has taught me to expect if/when I see those promises come to pass, and in what the best and noblest expressions of human capacity show us is possible when we put our minds and resources toward fantastic, even ‘impossible’ goals. We’re coming to understand so much about the universe around us. We live in a world surrounded by knowledge and technological miracles compared to just a few decades ago, and that trend is on track to continue for the foreseeable future.

Depending, of course, on the paths we choose.

May our faith in something greater than ourselves and our hope for a better future guide us to always take the path that leads to a park at noon on a sunny day, and maybe even grass on Venus. 

Culture/Politics

First Amendment

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Oops. 
So maybe it’s one of those obvious things everybody knows… 

But the saying that income under $600 doesn’t need to be reported to the IRS for taxes is a myth.

I realized this after getting an email from Kindle Direct Publishing stating “your 1099 MISC for royalties is ready for download” …about a week after I already sent off my tax return.

The good news is I doubt there’s a lot of taxes on maybe $50 worth of income. I got $22 in royalties and I sold a few books in person (with maybe $3 profit for each sale, but I have to check).

Royalties on a 1099 MISC are different than the self employed paperwork you have to fill out if you earned more than $400 in your business. And they also make it clear that money you make on side jobs still counts, despite that pervasive $600 myth. 

So NOT filing the amendment (since KDP has tax documents prepared) is more worrisome to me than whatever comes of sending in an amended return. I like the idea of showing the IRS “hey, I didn’t include this, but here it is, I’m doing the right thing and just being thorough, please don’t destroy me.”

And with such a small amount, I doubt anything’s going to change…

Other than the way I document whatever profit I make throughout the year. Even if it’s just “coffee money” here and there from selling a book in person, I want to have my ducks in a row. 

Ducks in a nice row don’t get audited as often. Or so I hope.

Happy tax season!

Culture/Politics

Innocent Because You're Guilty

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There’s a response by Senator Elizabeth Warren to all the graphic Planned Parenthood videos going around–or rather, it’s a response to those who condemn PP and the abortion industry for contributing to a devaluing of human life in our culture. It basically boils down to, “You all are pretty bad about valuing life too, so there.” 

It’s the standard trope that goes like this:

“Well, if the GOP and these so-called ‘pro-life’ people are so concerned about life, then they’d be more motivated to help people in need, like immigrants and refugees, instead of trying to kick them out and build a wall. They’d be more supportive of funding those living in poverty, providing for basic care, helping that new mother out after she gives birth to the baby they’re all worried about. They’d care about the children who are the same lump of cells and tissue after birth that they were so defensive about when that was a fetus in some mother’s womb. 

“This is how you know they’re not really pro-life, they’re just anti-abortion, anti-women, anti-freedom to choose. And so, just disregard all this evidence and all these allegations, because who wants to listen to those anti-abortion types anyway?”

That’s not an exact quote. That’s just the gist of the argument, as summarized by someone else. It’s also the same stuff I’ve heard over and over from abortion defenders. 

ostrich_head_in_sand
“You’re better off not thinking about what they say. Trust us. Everything’s fine.”

Some good Left-leaning friends taught me long ago (by pointing out when the GOP did it) that “when people don’t have any defense for their position and ideas, they attack the opposition and ignore the facts.”

That’s what you see here: Distraction and misdirection.

I think Warren and others make great and valid criticisms about the GOP, or the pro-life movement, or the Religious Right, or whatever group we want to call out. We’ll talk a lot of Jesus, go after what we claim are moral and societal ills, and sing the praises of personal charity. But when it’s obvious that personal charity isn’t on the scale required to address the overwhelming need, we’re still quick to condemn government intervention and support to the poor.

Yes, those critiques are valid, deserving of not just discussion but also action. We have to practice what we preach. We haven’t always fully lived up to the moniker “pro-life.”

That doesn’t sweep arguably immoral and allegedly criminal actions under the rug.

If fetuses are being accidentally born too quickly then they’re not fetuses, they’re infants. If they’re being harvested for parts after that point, then tissue isn’t being collected for medical research, human beings are being murdered. If everything is so kosher, then explain the myriad attempts by PP officials to distance themselves in the unedited videos from public backlash or government scrutiny. All of that still matters, even if you’re right and I’m wrong about some other political issue like welfare or immigration. 

My ignorant position on that subject doesn’t cancel out your intentional ignorance of allegations of murder.

If you get pulled over for drunk driving, you can’t point at a bunch of speeding cars and say, “What about them?” expecting to avoid the consequences of your actions.

But it’s okay. “Everyone knows pro-lifers are hypocrites… so just trust us, there’s nothing to see here.”

Except there is. 

I guess maybe the eleventh video might finally drive the point home. 

Culture/Politics

Rage Against the Right Wing Machine

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Dear Right Wing: You do yourselves no favors by freaking out at the mention of the word “gay.” 

“OMG President Obama nominated an openly gay man to become Secretary of the Army!” 

pic-1-think-of-the-children
“It’s obvious pandering to the homosexual agenda!”

“God help us!”

“Why not someone qualified? Because he doesn’t care about the troops!”
If you’re going to complain about them, at least look at his qualifications. Look at his past positions and how his performance measured up in his job, not in his orientation. There’s a world of information available at our fingertips; there’s no reason to miss these facts. 

But facts don’t stir up the emotions and get the voters scared about where this country is headed, so I guess we’ll keep going with ignorance and blinded, slavish emphasis on one or two cultural issues.

Fanning previously served as Chief of Staff of the Department of Defense. He helped manage Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s transition, built his leadership team, and oversaw the day-to-day staff activities of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He was the Under Secretary of the Air Force from 2013 to 2015 and also served as Acting Secretary of the Air Force from June 21 to December 20, 2013, making him the second longest-tenured Acting Secretary. 

– from Wikipedia.

Obviously the guy is only there because of his orientation. And obviously this is one of those hills the GOP is happy to die on. Between Huckabee and Trump, we’re getting such enlightening and presidential points of view. 

So it seems pretty obvious to me that, if this is what constitutes for rational political discourse, the Left can start celebrating their 2016 victory early.

Thanks, Obama!  

Culture/Politics

No Vote for You

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While I am displeased by all the shenanigans and posturing on the GOP side, and I’m especially appalled that someone like Donald Trump can say whatever he wants and treat people like crap and yet still have a realistic shot of winning half the country’s support, I have to share this one.

No, I will not ever vote for someone who treats the American people like a bunch of idiots in the way Hillary Clinton does here. No, I will not bestow my vote upon you when you play so profoundly stupid as to not know what the question “Did you wipe the server” actually means. No, I will not consider you a serious contender for public office nor will I afford you any respect as a person. If you become Commander-in-Chief, I will execute orders faithfully out of respect for the office you hold and the oaths I have made. Because unlike you I have some measure of integrity. And I’ll complete my multiple annual computer-based training courses that tell me how to handle classified information and properly maintain official government records, then I’ll actually follow that guidance. But there’s no respect for a person who tries to blow off evidence of criminal activity with such an egregious and blatant attempt at playing dumb.

“With a cloth or something?” Haha. Haha. It’s so funny. Wait, no, it’s not.

Let me or any of my hundred thousand active duty peers try that defense and see how it goes. We’ll be laughing our way to a jail cell in an orange jumpsuit.

No, you don’t get a pass because of your last name or because you’re the presumed Democrat candidate. At least I hope not. We’ll see if most of America agrees.

With a huge chunk of the country seriously considering Trump and a huge chunk seriously considering Hillary, all I can say is I’m glad I’m in Japan and don’t have to deal with most of this directly. Otherwise I’d probably be posting a lot more vitriolic frustration at the process, and at supporters on both sides of the political spectrum.

Meh, I can post whatever I want, so long as I wipe my server “with a cloth or something.” Right?

Haha. So funny.

How does this not infuriate you? Yes, she thinks you're that stupid that you'll buy this answer.
How does this not infuriate you? Yes, she thinks you’re that stupid that you’ll buy this answer.
Culture/Politics

Literal Litter

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“Someone would be dead if I found out who did this.”

That’s an actual comment on a video post about a dog that suffered severe torture. 

It reminded me of the outrage that stirs up when someone posts a hunting picture showing off a kill. I’m not talking Cecil the Lion, where illegal activity allegedly took place, just regular hunting for sport. Usually someone declares a desire to perforate the hunter or set wild animals upon him or her. 

Back to the point: 

In addition to other mistreatment, the dog’s nose was removed. This is horrific, terrible, unconscionable, inexcusable, and a number of other words to drive home “don’t treat dogs this way.”

Not that you needed to be told, but clearly someone does.

Well then. That link appeared in my feed right below another news post about undercover videos of Planned Parenthood activities and treatment of babies no wait fetuses no I mean human tissue samples not quite right let’s try medical waste.

But I keep hearing that PP’s actions are not nearly so bad as these “heavily edited” videos claim (beside the fact that full unedited versions are available to prove nothing has been taken out of context).

And champions of women’s right to choose defend PP and condemn those who obviously are out to destroy progress. 

So I wonder how they’d respond if I said “the video of the dog is photoshopped. She has a nose, they just edited it out to make their sad story.”

Who would believe that?

Or better yet. Suppose I found and posted video of fetal dogs being carefully extracted from a mother, let’s say at 5 weeks (about the midpoint of gestation). I mean, we spay and neuter to control pet populations so maybe this fits that category. 

Let’s say I have a video of a vet saying, “Watch this, you won’t believe it,” and poking the heart of the dog fetus so that it starts beating for a short time. Or cutting through the dog’s face to remove brains for medical research.

Let’s capture that on tape and see what kind of outrage it might stir up.

Would people feel differently if that was a human fetus removed from the womb whose heart continued beating for a bit in response to stimulus?

Because that’s happening.

Would people feel differently if litters of dog “tissue” or “waste” were being sold to research facilities without the owner’s consent?

I suspect so.

Replace dog with human and owner with mother and you have a factual story about what’s taking place in America today. We’ve turned humans into litter–and not the puppies kind.

I see that as a problem. I suspect that not everyone would. Because clearly not everyone does.

Callous disregard for life is generally frowned upon. Hearing what’s going on should stir our sensibilities and make us question whether we truly condone these activities. Ignoring it or blowing it off as “edited” is immoral. 

Not that you needed to be told, but clearly someone does.

Culture/Politics

Kid Karma

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...you know, like, their parents?
…you know, like, their parents?

“I can’t take the Dude outside to play at the park,” Teen Son declared. “There’s broken glass everywhere there.”

Apparently some kids got a hold of a microwave and decided the appropriate thing to do was shatter the rotating glass plate on the public use cement patio behind our house. I sighed in frustration, bemoaned the wicked deeds of “darn kids these days,” and decided to call the housing area manager since the park isn’t actually my responsibility despite its proximity.

Then, a few hours later, my daughter tells me there’s glass in the front yard. “No,” I reply, “it’s at the park, in the back. Isn’t it?”

“Well I think there’s glass out front too.”

I investigate to discover the remains of a Vlasic pickle jar, not five feet from my front door, shattered on the cement walkway to the sidewalk. Chunks and shards sparkle between blades of grass beside the cement.

I’m out there sweeping and picking up shards in the dark with a flashlight, listening to my middle son describe what he saw, and thinking about the conversations I need to have with some neighborhood parents.

“[Kid 1] had the jar, and he wanted to break it. So he put a bunch of rocks in it and shook it really hard. But it didn’t break.”

ok, so first I need to make sure some parents talk to him about how dangerous and dumb it is to break glass in your own hand.

“Then [Kid 2] said he’d help. And he took it and smashed it on the cement.”

Then I need to discuss the fact I don’t want a sea of glass shards outside my front door.

“Yeah,” Teen Son adds, “those were the kids who broke that stuff in the park.”

Maybe I should take a closer look.

We check and discover not just a microwave but an assortment of kitchen items turned refuse. Plastic cups and jars, and a blender–plugged into the patio outlet and seemingly used to blend aluminum cans.

I don’t know any way to explain that to parents other than “So, boys being boys, it seems the kids decided to blend some cans and break appliances in the park patio, and that seems not too safe.”

Maybe it’s a form of karma. I broke bottles on train tracks and threw florescent tube lights like spears. I even punched one once–yes, that ended poorly. I was friends with the kid who tried to build bombs in his garage, so maybe my parents thought, “Well at least David isn’t blowing anything up.” Or maybe they didn’t know the full scope of my nefarious activities.

Now I can imagine what a number of homeowners must have felt back then at finding shards of glass scattered on their curbside. I didn’t think of it then, but I get it now. So I expect the neighborhood kids will be mad that someone talked to their parents, and they’ll probably be upset about being grounded (or whatever form of discipline if any they receive).

I don’t care.

I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of parents would rather be aware of their kids’ behavior, however blissful ignorance might be. If you catch my kid shattering jars on your front door (or throwing light-spears or lighting things on fire or planning to build a bomb), I’d love to hear about it. I’ll probably thank you and apologize, blushing profusely.

Then my kid will come clean up the mess. I might even hold the flashlight.