El Gringoqueño

Frequently I write up responses to things that interest me or pursue a thought that pops into my head during the day. More often than not, I write it up in a hurry, reread it, and discard it. Occassionally, I go back and check out the drivel that I had written and think, "Hey that’s not so bad, why did I throw it away. Good thing I saved it." This is one such occassion, and the theme a recurring one. China’s growing economic might and progress. Chinese technology

Go ahead and read it. It’ll sound about the same as every other thinly veiled awestruck/fearstruck warning to the western world, to "get off yer duff and take these bastards seriously, or they’ll run the world in a few decades, while you and your familly drown in your own excrement." You’ll find things like, "There are 300 million cell phone users in China." "If even 10% of the Chinese population did _blank_ then that would turn the word market for _blank_ on its ear." They always talk passingly about "our market opportunity" but belie it with "if only China would open its doors to the west." Sprinkle in "human rights," "nuclear weapons," and "communism" and you’ve got the makings of a nice little pseudo cold war in the brewing, a nice sun brewed ice cold war.

You see, our problem is that we are really afraid of China, but it’s not just China. Before them (or concurrently) it was Russia. Before that, it was the Vietnamese, Native-Americans. Before that, it was the Turks… It’s always somebody, and hindsight has always proven our fear was all for naught.

So, back to China. What was it about this article that irked me? - Cell phone users - I got this image in my head of 300 million folks walking around with little black gadgets stuck to their heads. I see them, a sea of thin, slight, Chinese people hustling and bustling with little portable hot-pocket roasters yibber yabbering away about important stuff concerning world affairs and their plans for global domination and our own subsequent subjugation.

Unfortunately, their plans are probably more in line with, do you know who X has a crush on, or did you get the new album by X, or hon, pick up some rice on the way home from the office, or hi, mom, the phone company told me that it would be another ten years (or never) before they extended service to our area, so I just got this cell phone.

So people aren’t doing anything but using these cellphones to perform the same things that you or I do in the same circumstances. But what if the Chinese dumped cell phones onto our markets, got a lock on the global cell phone market, why, they could… hello? These are cell phones, people!! These are communication devices. Like ALL tech, it doesn’t have the ability to DO squat by itself. It can’t invent anything new. It can’t create. It can’t motivate. It can’t thrust. It is a TOOL, a tool for people, subject to their follies, their strengths, their weaknesses. A cell phone cannot DO anything to you. It cannot change your way of life. It cannot subjugate you. Unless…

And that brings me to another point. If technology is essentially impotent, what CAN China possibly do with it or any other piece of technology they acquire? The short answer is this: What their president tells them to do.

We should not fear a people without true freedom, for it is the most important attribute of success. One person cannot make decisions for 2 billion people. He can’t even begin to comprehend the lives of his living relatives. The only way China can succeed in any lasting way is if they are free to pursue their inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Will they pursue folly? Sure. Will they do great things? Sure. Will they be a threat to us? Surely not.

This whole election thing has gotten to me. Here in Puerto Rico, the sure bet win for the Statehood party (PNP – Partido Nuevo Progresista) candidate Pedro Roselló was basically in the bag… only the bag had a hole in it. The Puerto Rico Independence party (PIP – Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño ), fearful of moving toward statehood for Puerto Rico, whored themselves… err… pooled their votes and voted for the Commonwealth Party (PPD – Partido Popular Democrático ) candidate. As of this morning, the final results are not in, but it’s looking bad for our candidate. Sigh, it’s got me depressed. Do you people live on the same planet as I do? Are you blind to the way Puerto Rico has fallen apart in the last four years?

I did my part though. I did my civic duty. Laura and I were election officials and we tallied and counted and certified the results for our voting unit. We were part of the process, and it was fair as far our little corner was concerned. I trust that it was equally fair throughout the island as well.

What more could we have done?

As for the national US election, being residents of a US Commonwealth, I may not vote even though I was born there, lived my entire life there, and am an officer in the US Army Reserve. If I lived abroad in any other country, including Israel, Britain, France, Germany, Brazil etc, I would be able to vote absentee in the last state in which I resided. This would remain true even if I were never to return, nor had any intention of returning to the US. But since I live in Puerto Rico, I have no vote, no voice.

Still, I followed the US election with much interest. Puerto Rico is still governed by the mainland just as if we were a state… but we have no vote in Congress or the Senate. Was I Bushie, or was I for Kerry? I would have been one of the famous undecideds – up until Monday night, when I decided I would cast a ballot for Kerry if given the chance. I finally came to the conclusion that Kerry was just smarter, more prudent, and less of a loose canon than our current President. Kerry, in my mind, was the more respectful candidate, the more thoughtful candidate, more of a consensus builder, more a team player. Bush on the other hand, seemed to appeal to Americans’ fear, fear of gays, fear of terrorists, fear of loss of religious values. I am particularly worried by his “Mission Accomplished” attitude, by his recklessness, his smugness, his bully pulpit from which he feels ordained to bring religion and government together, one nation under God. Gives me shivers.

This I decided coldly without hatred, without malice. I decided it with my mind. I drew it out and calculated pros and cons.

But there was this incongruity, something for which I was not prepared. As I watched the returns, I kept sub-consciously rooting for Bush states. There was this little voice that kept saying, “Whee!” and when a state fell Kerry’s way, I felt a tiny little twinge of pain. From where do you spring to strike me, I wailed, thrashing at the dark shadows that assailed me. I have decided with my rational mind to vote for Kerry, but there was a sweetness from Bush victories.

I reflected upon my pain and joy, and it brought me back a week, a week in which the team of my youth, the St. Louis Cardinals faced off with the hapless Boston Red Sox, a team with a very long dry spell for world series titles. I said to myself, “I’m a Cardinal, but I hope the Red Sox win. They deserve it. I hope the curse ends.” I didn’t really care though, I tried to convince myself, but I kept checking online and flicking to the channel to see how the Sox were doing. If I was honest with myself, I could tell my heart was rooting for the Cardinals. Every time Boston would score a run, I felt the pain, the disappointment. Come on, let’s get this thing going, I would secretly hope. When the Sox clinched it in four games, my mouth said, good, but there was this dry lump there stuck in my throat. It would have been nice to have made a series out of it, gone to seven games, but hell – good for them. But my heart was crying, a little depressed for the loss of the team of my youth.

So it was last night and today with Bush and Kerry. I still say Kerry would have been a better president, but my heart keeps rooting for Bush. What the hell is it that has hijacked my subconscious?

Politics is a contest for the Strong-man. I think it secretly appeals to us. The high gentlemanly road is seldom traveled by the strong-man. The strong-man consistently beats his chest in the jungles below, battling tigers, getting bloody, and growling in surly unintelligible tones (note Bush’s debate performances). He is beating up on his opponent, hitting him below the belt, attacking, attacking, attacking. The opponent traveling the high road has been waylaid by our marauder… and we cheer. Damn that son-of-a-bitch is tough. Did you see that, we whisper to each other. That fellow didn’t stand a chance. Sure the low blow was ugly, and we winched feeling the pain of the high-minded fellow cupping his ‘nads in his hands.

Bush won because politicos are nothing more than alpha males, strong-men who rise to the top not for their big ideas, their compassion, duty, service, high ideals, or academic vision. They get there because they defeat their opponents with clubs, and sticks, and rocks, and in any manner with whatever tool or whatever deception. It’s the ultimate fighting championship in the political arena, a no holds barred, knock-down drag-out, brawl where the winner is decided by who pummeled whom into a bloody pulp. Do we kind of fear the winner a little? Do we like the winner? Does our mind tell us that this is the person we want leading the country? Or do our little monkey hearts beat faster with exhilaration as we scream and screech throwing up our arms and dancing upon the bloodied corpse of John Kerry?

We love a strong-man, it exhilarates us in ways we can’t control, can’t reign in, can’t comprehend. And they know it, damn them.

When did the Republican party become the anti-intellectual party, hmmm?

When did we get associated with brain dead policies and never admitting a mistake, skyrocketting deficits, and religious wacko, quasi fascist, morons? When did this all happen, because I didn’t get the memo.

I want to help the poor, but I don’t want to JUST take care of them. Entitled living can lead to even bigger problems down the line as we’ve seen. A deep seated sense of entitlement is the biggest soul draining evil the modern world has ever known… and it sneaks up on ya, get’s in there slowly, and before you know it you start demanding that your gub-ment protect you from, Big Macs, dirty cigarettes, rude comments, and terrorists. Send the poor and lower middle class to shoot the bastards. I deserve this SUV.

Protect ME, dammit. I deserve it!!

When did this happen? When did EVEN the Republican party become such a federalist morass of "Don’t worry ’bout nutin’. We’ll take CARE of them, and we’ll take care of YOU," while we happily shop at Wal-mart and whine that the government isn’t doing ENOUGH to protect me and my children.

We need more power to take care of you. We need need more money to take care of you. We need more wiretapping to take care of you. We need more bombs to take care of you. We need more government, bigger government to take care of you.

What happened to "We the People"? I guess it’s now "We the Government." So instead of shrinking welfare, Bush and crew now have the whole country on it, a sort of "protection welfare." In fact, that’s what I’m going to call it. Protection Welfare. Now we’re all in it, and we think we are entitled to it.

Has anyone stopped to ask if I want those idiots to take care of me? I don’t need them to take care of me. I don’t expect it. I reject it. And I reject it because it makes me lazy, robs me of my volition, steals my thunder.

Do people need a helping hand every once in a while? Sure we do, but we are not entitled to it. We should be thankful for any help we receive and try to repay it in kind, because it is a gift from our fellow citizens.  We don’t deserve anything, except maybe a peaceful eternal rest.

I watched the testimony and questioning of Secretary Rumsfeld today and it became crystal clear to me that his people just dropped his pants. Either he’s not paying attention to what’s going on, or he’s pissing people off who could be his friends. Somebody leaked this investigation. Maybe he wasn’t managing the situation closely enough, and it just "got out", or his people decided that going over his head to the public would embarrass him. Either way it shows a failure of leadership and he’s got to go.

When I was mobilized in Puerto Rico there were numerous problems with the facilities, training, and planning. Even before my unit had gotten there, there were news stories about the conditions, strict restrictions on free time, and severe morale problems. After having had the pleasure of spending a few weeks there, and hearing about soldiers vandalizing toilets and showers, I became convinced it was a failure of leadership. Demming said that 85% of your problems are management and only 15% come from labor. This to me was never clearer when the commander of the brigade showed up one day to "lay down the law" to all of the bad little soldiers who weren’t playing nice. He promptly got back into his car and drove his fat ass home to his cozy house. My point is this: soldiers will endure the harshest conditions, the strictest rules, and the worst possible conditions if they know their leadership cares, is in it with them, and will sacrifice everything for them.

Good officers know soldiers are the ones who fight, are the ones who sacrifice, and are the ones who die. They are the point of the sword. We officers wield it. Would we blame the sword for our pathetic failures? The sword was too heavy. The sword wasn’t sharp enough. The sun was in my eyes. I’ve heard it all, and you know what? It’s a poor officer, Secretary of Defense, or President who blames soldiers for problems.

It should tatooed on the heads of all leaders: "My success is due to this fine sword. These is no equal to it in all the world." and conversely: "My failure is mine alone. I did not do honor to this sword. In more capable hands it would have yielded victory."

The failures in Iraq go all the way to the top. They go all the way to the cowboys in charge, who believe a big sword makes them somebody. It is the unconquerable soul of man, and not nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory.

And Secretary Rumsfeld does not understand that the sword HE wields is a human sword. The sword is not made of metal, Apache’s, F-16’s, Strykers, or any other technological "magic bullet." He has forgotten, throughout his rampaging through the defense department, who he works for, who’s the one fighting the war, who’s the one dying. He’s forgotten, pissed off, trampled, belittled, and made a mockery of the entire military.

And they fucked him. They fucked him hard.

Soldier’s will do that to you when you don’t have their respect. Sure, heads will roll for not, "keeping this in-house,", but you can be sure there’s an officer worth his salt staring Rumsfeld down saying, "You can take me down, but I got you, you bastard. I got you!"

Oh holy crap, how I am annoyed by both political parties.

On the one hand, conservatives are for the rights of the unborn, which is good. On the other, they are against gay marriage, which is bad. Liberals are against the rights of the unborn, which is bad, but for the rights of gays (maybe), which is good. What’s a conscientious person to do?

How come these incongruent beliefs naturally group like Cheerios in a bowl of milk? Is there some natural attraction, some political Vanderwaals force or something? How come there’s nobody out there that’s pro-animal rights, anti-death penalty, anti-euthanasia, pro-life, pro-gay marriage, and pro-equal rights. Or just to be internally consistent, pro-euthanasia, pro-death penalty, pro-abortion, anti-animal rights, anti-gay marriage, and a member of the KKK. I’m a big believer in internal consistency. How come both wings of our political system are so off balance? I’m a tree hugger personally, but I’m also a baby hugger, a lover of dogs and animals, appreciative of the meat that I eat, anti-death penalty, and see that those among us that are most disabled, weak, or oppressed are those that deserve the full measure of our protection.

What is going on in this country, where what the majority decides, or the whimsy of popular opinion, can trump the constitution that guarantees equal rights to all. In California, Gov. Schwarzenegger advocates for the rights of the voters who voted to uphold that marriage is between a man and a woman. What?! Their rights? How in the hell do their rights have anything to do with the liberty of Americans to marry whom they choose? How can anyone rationalize a certain right applying to one group of Americans but not another? Pick a right, any right, I dare you. I dare you find something that is not strictly biological or geographical (like men can’t bear children or you can’t swim in the ocean because you live in North Dakota) where you are not allowed some right by law afforded to some other Americans.

We might say to gays, "If you want to get married, no one is stopping you." And as an aside, with a snicker, "Just let them marry someone of the opposite sex. Men marry women. Women marry men. Simple." You have all the rights I have, as long as you agree with me.

And in an earlier time we remember all too well, "Well, since you were born a little black boy, you can’t go to school with little white Johnny."

"Why?"

"’Cause that’s jus’ the way it is, boy. It’s God’s law."

We as a nation grew up and it became apparent to us that such attitudes were wrong-headed. We had blinders and hadn’t seen the truth. We see it now though. Whew! Glad we’ve realized it. Weren’t we fools back then? So ignorant, so bigoted. Gosh, we’re so superior now. We get it!

Do you actually have a GOOD reason for not wanting to let gays marry? Come on, I’m open-minded. I’d like to hear this Truth that gay marriage will lead to the death of society and the institution of marriage. I’ll listen, and I’m open to any explanation on how gay marriage will affect you in your marriage, or your kids marriage, or your grandkids, or or or. My only caveat is that you can’t use the Bible as proof. The Bible will only work if its laws are binding in U.S court, and the last time I checked the U.S. was not a theocracy, and not everyone was a Christian.

Mayor Daly of Chicago, put it like this, "Don’t kid yourselves, divorce has done more harm to marriage than anything else." I’d agree with that and tack on, TV, popular culture, consumerism, false expectations, and co-habitation as the true dry rot of the institution of marriage. What is that bible quote about noting the splinter in the eye of another but failing to see the log in your own.

So what can gay marriage do for marriage? I see these long lines of people in San Francisco, standing in the rain, the cold, looking to bind their lives to one another and witness before the state, profess their devotion, and go one better than just shacking up. They are taking a leap of faith, making a commitment in love. I don’t see them as subverting marriage. I don’t see them making a political statement, trying to tear down OUR beloved institution of marriage, like some ancient barbarians at the city wall just waiting to loot and sack. No, watching all the couples in San Francisco getting married does not turn my stomach. It fills me with great hope. Here are people, who through all the shit that we little monkeys throw at them, given the opportunity, their first step is toward devotion and commitment to each other. They are taking a leap. What could be more noble than that?

I’d say we have much to learn from their example.

Rant mode on… or ala Johnny Storm, "Flame on!"

Well, while we’re contradicting ourselves, let’s talk about animal rights groups. "Trees have rights. Dogs cannot be owned (only cared for) etc. in California" While at the same time saying that human beings in fetal form have NO rights and are useless, disregarding the fact that as soon as they pass the arbitrary barrier of the birth canal, wham, magically they have lots of cool rights, unless of course they end up being gay. Damn, sucks to be you. Glad I’m not an abortion or worse… gay. Tsk tsk, equal rights don’t apply to you.

All the contradictions only serve to confirm one fact: Humans will do what they want to do in any given circumstance because we believe we have the right to do what we want, that MY rights trump all of your rights, when I deem it so.

• When we needed land, we decided that the native inhabitants were only savages and killed them, moved them.
• When we needed manual labor for agricultural work, we went and got slaves because we had conveniently deemed them non-human, and then later we compromised and said they were 3/5th of a human. Hey, give us a little credit, huh? Such nobility.
• When we (humanity) decided that our woes were Jew-induced, we decided they were not human and killed them.
• When we decided we were offended by those different than ourselves, we decided to call them immoral and abominations.
• When we decided that a human life was causing us inconvenience, we decided it was tissue.
• When we needed votes, we appealed to the basest instincts, the lowest prejudices, the most primitive emotions.

This, my friends, is why religion and government should never ever mix. This is what we get, governments that persecute and oppress those that are deemed outside of the moral fabric of some arbitrary belief system based on an ancient book. Jesus didn’t say ala Dr. Phil, "Buy my book." He said listen to my message. And his message takes the form of two rules:

1. Love each other.
2. see rule 1.

Ah, but the list of contradictions goes on and on. Instead of elevating our lives, our aspirations, we debase them, pawning our tiny little hearts for a bit of instant gratification at someone else’s expense.

Don’t kid yourselves. Both we and our parties are big bags of contradictory hot air. It’s time for us to stand up for what’s right, human dignity.