End of 2009 musings...

It's a funny thing, in many ways I've always considered my new years and end of years to run concurrent with my school years, in other words, from August to July. This is because I've spend most of my life in schools, either as a student or an educator (and many years as both), so I don't always put the same empasis on Dec. 31st-Jan. 1st that a lot of other folks I know do. Still, this has been quite a strange and up and down calendar year - this 2009, and I can't say that I'm sorry to see it go and 2010 arrive. For that matter I"m also kind of happy to see the decade end (and yes, I know you purists consider 2001-2010 to be a decade, good for you but I'm going with 2000-2009, just like I consider 1930-1939 to be the "thirties" for instance, so there). Don't get me wrong, a lot of good things happened both in my personal life and in the world in general during the past decade and the past year, but...all things considered, I'm ready to move on.
A little retrospect is always good however, and I'm thankful for a lot - my family, my job, my co-workers, my books, my political party's electoral victories at the end of the decade. Despite some setbacks for both my family and my country, I'm fairly optimistic about the future.
On the book side I ran across some new authors (to me at least) in the previous years, some new major favorites now include fantasy wirters Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett, historical fiction writer (and fellow Pulp lover) Paul Malmont, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, sports writers Peter King, and Stewart Mandel, historical fiction writer Norah Lofts, and Pulitzer Prize winners Junot Diaz and Edward P. Jones both of whose works opened my eyes to new places and cultures. A good decade, and final year especially for reading. As the year ends I'm reading Terry Pratchett's Sourcery while trying to convert my family to become fans of the Discworld.
Physically, I'm trying to make the change from couch potato to moving being, encouragement is always welcome. I did start my wii fit profile today, at my daughter's urging, and took a short walk in the rain. We'll see how the new year goes.
The "animal whisperer" and the "teen age vegetarian moralist" are arguing, make that discussing the best strategies to use in playing Assassin's Creed II. "Shoot the flying demon!" "Here, let me do it!" "No, play it on your own dang file!" "Argghh..." Aw, the joys of being a parent. The "saint" (as I call my harried spouse) as retired to the relative quiet of our bedroom to read her Christmas present Under the Dome - I think I'll take my Discworld tale of Rincewind and his misadventures and join her. Good night all. Possibly more notes on the past year tomorrow, including my addiction to Facebook in general and Mafia Wars in particular...

Who Lincoln Was | The New Republic

Sean Wilentz has an excellent article on Lincoln. Here's the link,
Who Lincoln Was | The New Republic

Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen

Just so there's no doubt.
I love everybody, even those folks who attack, argue or do thinks to provoke ire. I have lots of friends who don't agree with me on things such as politics, religion, literature, etc. but as far as I'm concerned they are still and always will be friends.
Having said that, there are some things I probably need to post to clear any misunderstandings.

1. I'm a Christian, but I don't think you have to go to church to be saved, and I don't accept the conservative right wing litmus test (whatever it is this week, month, year, etc.) See Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised," summed up as "help others".
(And don't start about abortion. I'm pro-life, but we've had GOP Presidents galore since 1981 along with GOP controlled Congresses. Voting for them did nothing to lower the abortion rate. Voting for Democrats who help the poor did.

2. I voted for President Obama in 2008 and plan to do so again. I'm grateful every day to God that he is President. However I AM ASHAMED of my votes for Reagan in 80 and 84, and for Bush in 2000 and 2004. I know a bunch of my friends and former students and Facebook buddies who agree with me, and I know a bunch who don't. That's fine, but don't expect that telling me to listen to Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or calling the President names will change my mind.

3. The Georgia Legislature should apologize for slavery and segregation. It really doesn't matter that much any more, but it would be a nice symbol and the right thing to do. Since it's the correct thing to do, I don't expect the Georgia Legislature to EVER do it, since they prefer to do the wrong thing as much as possible.

4. Our health care system is messed up and needs to be improved. It would be nice if what's left of the GOP could actually admit to this, but they won't.

5. I sometimes wish that the so called libertarians could get what they wish, and that we have no public schools, no publicly funded roads, no public police protection, no public fire departments, etc. After all, all that stuff is "Socialism" gasp, cough, gasp...I guess this would make them happy, you know, like living back in 1877 or 1859 when things were the "good ole days"...
Myself, I agree with the progressives like Theodore Roosevelt that some government is much better than the fantasy world of the Sara Palins and Joe the Plumbers...

6. I'm willing to debate anything, but what passes for debate on the web nowadays is simply name calling, usually juvenile, hateful, profane and racist (or "raciest" as a guy called me the other day).

7. I believe education is the key to a better world, and encourage everyone to read as much as possible, but read all viewpoints, not just a few. Having said that, education is not a panacea however. There will never be perfection in this world...

8. I don't believe we are anywhere near the "end times". I know loved ones who disagree, but since the world is a million times better off now than it was in, say 600 AD (CE) or 1348, or 999, or 1861 I'm just not convinced...

9. I don't think letting gay folks get married threatens my marriage in any way, shape, form or fashion. I'm a romantic at heart, and all for true love. Period.

10. If you don't agree with me on these, you can either (1) continue to be my friend and disagree with me (this is my preference) or (2) quit speaking to me or befriending me - I'm tender hearted, this will probably hurt my feelings for a minute or two, but then I'll survive. I'll still keep you in my prayers.

11. If you're a fan of Pulp magazines, adventure, fantasy, hard boiled mysteries, comedy, humor, good books, cats, dogs, movies, football, college and high school wrestling, track and field, music (especially the blues, rock, or classical), and life and other people in general, then we can probably find enough in common to continue to enjoy each other's real life and virtual (Facebook, etc.) company...

Best wishes regardless,
Steven

Flashman

I've recently started re-reading the Flashman books, in no particular order. Just finished "Flashman and the Mountain of Light" set during the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46). I enjoyed it, though of the twelve Flashman books I'd have to place in the bottom six as far as my favorites go. I've realized that all my favorite books have Elspeth in them, even if only for a short spell. If I had to rank the books in order of my favorites, it would probably be thus:

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord - no. 1. This is the book I'm currently re-reading, and it's just as good as I remembered, from the opening scene of Flashman playing with his great grandchildren and reminiscing with them about famed abolitionist John Brown, till the climax at Harper's Ferry, this is, imo, the best of all the Flashman books.

Flashman - no. 2. To me, the very first book in the series is still one of my favorite reads. I've lost count of how many times I've re-read it, but it has to be approaching double digits.

Flashman's Lady - no. 3 The excerpts from Elspeth's diary are priceless, and I wish Frasier had written more adventures with her in them or at least her viewpoints.

(to be continued)

Finally...Summer

Summer is finally here for the Hollywood household. The animal whisperer completed summer school, and we get to go on vacation for a few days...all I can say is "Yay!"

Analysis: Powell flap gets GOP to ask 'What kind of party ar

Colin Powell stirred up the Republican Party's very public internal debate about the direction of the party and asserted it's losing because it doesn't appeal to moderates like him.

read more | digg story

I think I've got it now...

I think I've finally got it now...after years of listening to talk radio and reading the right wing bloggers...

1. Everything is Obama's fault...conversely nothing is the fault of George Bush, except that he was just too damn liberal...(i.e. NOT a true conservative)...
2. Pure free market capitalism would solve everything. If you don't believe that then you must read Ayn Rand and F. A. Hayek followed by Neal Boortz...Repeat as often as necessary...
3. Affirmative Action is apparently much, Much worse racism than oh...say...the lynchings of the 20th century...
4. Huge deficits to fund foreign wars such as the one in Iraq will NOT have to be paid off by our grandchildren, but apparently any money spent now on education or infrastructure WILL have to be paid off by our grandchildren...I mention this because some are silly enough try to say that deficits run up under Republicans count, while it is obvious that ONLY deficits run up under evil Socialist Democrats count...
5. "Government" has NEVER accomplished anything...Moon landing - doesn't count; Federal Highway system - doesn't count; World War II effort - doesn't count; and so on...

And yes, for those of you who voted Republican in 2008 and think it was a good decision, I AM being sarcastic in all the above...

I could go on, but I think most folks will get my point. There is a mind set in this country that will never accept anything that doesn't square with their so called conservative beliefs. I say so called conservatives because the modern day right are not true conservatives in the sense of the word that Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley, Jr. ever were. No, today's right wingers want to undo most of the changes in this country since the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. A return to the "good old days" is what they claim will solve all our problems. For a realistic look at what America was like in the "good old days" of 1919 I suggest they (and everyone else) spend some time reading "Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919" by Ann Hagedorn after reading the usual right wing gospels of Rand and Hayek and Limbaugh and Boortz. It might open some eyes.
My closing point, this is a great country not because it is perfect or anointed of God. It has been great to this point because of people who have loved it while still recognizing it's flaws and trying to correct them. People such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Frances Perkins, Ida B. Wells, and Martin Luther King, Jr. to name just a few...
As for the present cast of right wing "heroes" such as Tom Tancredo, Eric Johnson, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Sanford, and Rick Perry...I'd enjoy it if they all moved to a country more to their liking so that the remainder of us Americans can actually try to show our love for our country by trying to work to help it and to (yes) improve it. Just saying...