Threads of Circumstance
Twice Thought Wisdom

First, read the following from the view of a grunt soldier doing support in Afghanistan for money to go to college, to eventually be able to make a real life in America possible.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
~Teddy Roosevelt in his "Citizenship in a Republic" Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris on April 23, 1910.

Now reread it from the view of an alQuida terrorist "freedom fighter" hiding in a sealed cave deep in the mountains of Middle Afghanistan.

The future is always in the future. It stands there just out the grasp of understanding, an intangible object of variables in numbers never fully comprehensible. Until an event occurs. Then it may itself become an investigation of, and understanding of, what did occur.
Always the Demons of Change demand alteration to procedures, or preparations to "insure" similar calamity is avoided; assumption given that repetition of similar circumstance is not only possible but imminent. Still, even with this careful and meticulous intervention, the future stands as elusive and tenacious as ever.

It may be that the threads of circumstance, that compose the present, are a tapestry that reaches from infinity to eternity; the Now (Tao) being as much an illusion as both future and past. This, a philosophical niche, may never be resolved. There is never enough information. There is also often not enough wisdom to adequately interpret what information there is at hand, wisely. Time marches on clouds of these ever-changing interpretations, toward more events that demand ever-further investigation. From this tapestry, the fabric of history is written.
History is always falsehood; shallow reflection of what really occurred. Only pain and blood seem to capture the Truth of an event; the motivation for change attached to some degree of personal involvement in that event.

Experience is supposed to breed wisdom. It seldom does more than inhibit natural instincts, some of which need to be inhibited of social necessity. It may be that experience may; only educate the instincts natural to all animal behavior; call insight to consider even deeper aspects, or dismiss as foolish or ignorant unseen and unspoken elements of an expected event that "lower mammals" have no capacity to consider. There are subtle nuances and exceptions that do not fit this generalization, but the overview toward closer scrutiny is of a commonly held "truisms."

Around us is a plethora of lies (of a wide variety of sizes). Many are widely held as wisdom. For example, there is no such thing as "closure" (that comes from anything other than an intense personal decision to go on). These tidbits, or monoliths, may have some ultimate goodness that may excuse their misuse. Certainly, constant scrutiny of such language use is probably both unnecessary, as in appreciating meaning given in a communication, and may be tiresome. However, when the sum of expression, coming in opposition to something important, consists of a statement followed by a question, the statement is probably a lie and the question assumes the lie is true.

Consider also the Technique of Muddy Water. This has nothing to do with the blues, but consists entirely of adding one untrue statement onto another; until the unraveling of what actually is true becomes impossible. Network television news uses this extensively in selling products that make their broadcast economically possible. Generally, this is a technique of persuasion. It usually relies on a forum, or other one-way medium, that disallows scrutiny of the very premises upon which further discussion may be based. The Technique of Muddy Water is a primary reason so little real information is available; and that statement is an example of the Technique.

Challenge to all assumptions leads to useless muddle. As is witnessed in many media forums, the allowance of a given presumption is often necessary. It may lead to understand many things about a person or group; as in fear and terror usually being borne of ignorance. The balance of questioning, or of allowing an assumption to pass, may be necessary as matter of convenience and general peace.
If we lose the America that we want to protect through acts that make that America no longer what we want, we are being foolish and will only be damned to failure. If we resort to lies to justify our particular brand of justice, we have destroyed our own justice. Weigh carefully the statements that are to be believed and those that are believed to be lies. Consider the source. Imagine what benefit may come of statements or actions, based on those statements being given the weight of truth. Then choose which to challenge if it seems appropriate.

Americans have lived decades under many assumptions that have later been shown to be lies of convenience or ambition. The Army-McCarthy hearings revealed much. The War in Viet Namn revealed much more. Nixon was a pre-cursor of later manpulation of government to personal gain. While the events of September 11, 2001 demand justice and retalliation for their brutality, the final assessment of our righteousness will weigh our international profile for a very long time to come. In taking the moral "high road," it might serve the American people to have confidence in the acts of their government. That may come of knowing the underlining reasoning for actions. Considering the recent past, this is difficult. Challenge is today next to impossible when it is most necessary.

Year of the Hero
Nostril Shots Make You Look Mean

 "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace in a continual state of alarm (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -H.L. Mencken

At the close of the Worst Year of My Life (so far), I ponder events and trends. It does not look rosy. Time has come for resolutions to improve oneself in the coming year. I will endeavor to persevere, lose weight and look for something positive to believe about my country. None of this is easy.
It seems that we are surrounded by inferior men and women leading superior forces against laughable opponents in a war without intellectual meaning. Each development sinks US deeper into the Muddle East quagmire, while the home fires burn brightly for the most muddleheaded President in history. Our nation remains together in its hatred for the perpetrators of the horrid Attack of September 11th. We remain separated by our own ignorance. And, so much of that seems by design.

I do not belive much of what is filtered over media as news. Fact is most of what is reported is shallow and misses any overview implication completely. It is fragmented and slanted to ultra conservative viewpoints.
The Taliban has been disposed of their tyranny; the alQuieda hides in holes they had ready for this purpose. A new government is in place in Afghanistan, with a six-month proxy from "international authority." Hundreds of troops from Alliance countries stream into the country to begin the difficult job of peacekeeping, not the least of which will be disarming the beligerents. Pakistan and India are massing forces on each others borders, each publicly denying their intent is to end political conflict through war. Ayatollah bin Ladmin and Mullah Omar are missing and rumored to be either dead or in Pakistan, whichever is most politically convienient/expedient. Rumors abound that Iraq is next on the list of lost nations needing "good Christian justice."

I believe that truth will become known and will lead to eventual freedom from many maladies apparent today. The ambition of reporters, willing to risk their lives being in Afghanistan, makes apparent that any story may find a market; in which their idolated selves may find a voice. The rise of Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow began a long line of correspondents to rise through the ashes of war to prominence and station in American life. The medium is Big Money...rewards beyond balance. In their quest for this notorious success, these "Cadres of the Lost or Really Stupid" often unearth nuggets of truth that add to an overall sence of what really is going on. For example:
...How long is "a very long war" and why does every leader warn that theirs will be one?
...Why is there no public dialoge regarding how to pay for this War on Terrorism?
...Why transport Taliban prisoners to Guantanmo base, Cuba?
...How much will the Uzbeckistan-to-Arabian Sea oil pipeline actually cost in lives, rubles, dollars and/or Euros?
...Will camera operators ever learn that shooting from the hip (nostril shots) makes subjects look mean and evil?
...Will the Bush Doctrine Against Terrorism ever be formalized?

Consider that the Shrub had ten months to assess the true threat presented by terrorists before the Attack. Weigh that no defense against air attack was launched against the terrorists. Add to that the way the Shrub was able to take office, the history of his and Assistant President Cheney's industry affiliations, and his father's history as head of the CIA.

Remember, to quote Norman Normal, that if it looks like a fish, swims like a fish, takes any bait...then something smells fishy around here.