She Didn’t Deserve This

Below is what I wrote one week ago upon hearing the news that my aunt was told she has two weeks to live. She made it four days. I loved her dearly and miss her terribly.

17 Apr 16

I just had one of the toughest conversations I’ve ever had in my life. My aunt, whom I’ve always been very close to, is dying. She’s been bravely fighting cancer for some time now. She won quite a few rounds and has been declared cancer-free a couple times, but this looks like the end. I just had to hear her tell me she has about two weeks to live. Two. Weeks. To. Live. How does one respond to that? I didn’t know either. It kills me to lose someone so good and so close.

First, a little background. Aunt Patty is my mother’s sister. She’s only 13 years older than me. She was kind of caught in between generations at the family gatherings. She wasn’t old enough to be a full-fledged member of my mother’s generation, but she was older than her nieces and nephews. She spent a lot of Thanksgivings with us at the satellite card table away from the main dining table. Growing up she was much more like an older sister to me than she was an aunt. She was one of a very small handful of people that made me feel important as a kid. She was one of those great people who listened to me when I talked and was legitimately interested in what I had to say. She talked to me as a peer, never talking down to me from some lofty perch that was the exclusive dominion of adults. She was great fun to be around as I grew up. We spent a lot of time on the water boating with my grandparents. We traveled on the boat all over Florida and went to the Bahamas together one summer. I remember her being the first person to get me on a dance floor that trip. Spending time with her was always easy and always enjoyable. We laughed. A lot.

Additionally, she was a role model. I’ve been very fortunate to have a couple brilliant, talented, and independent aunts who really shaped my views on women and Aunt Patty was half of that dynamic duo. She went to college, earned a degree, landed a good job, and bought a house. Each job always became a better job, the houses continued to become nicer houses, her professional accomplishments never stopped. And she did it all on her own. Never did she have to depend on a man. She was strong, independent, and successful.

For all these reasons and more, I love her. A lot.

And for all these reasons and more, our conversation today was difficult. Painful. Sad. It cut through me. It wounded me.

And that really should have been bad enough, but a couple things really struck me after I told her one last time how much I loved her and said goodbye. And I’ve chosen this forum to vent about them a bit. It’s all I know to do right now.

First, a bit more background. My grandparents, Patty’s parents, were living a very comfortable life when I was growing up. Grandpa owned the Goodyear store in Apopka, a small town just outside Orlando. They lived in a beautiful house on a golf course in the nicest neighborhood in town. They had a series of boats starting off with an 18′ bow rider that we went up and down the St John’s River on, progressing to big boats that the family would all go to the Bahamas aboard. Life was good for them. But Grandpa had heart issues and Grandma got breast cancer. The hospital bills ended that good life. They had to sell the nice house and move into a condo. They had to sell the store. They had to sell the boat. The hospital bills devastated them financially. They never recovered.

We all saw it happen. We all felt bad about it. But that wasn’t where it ended for Patty. She was smarter than most. She used that experience to make a plan. She had to be sure it never happened to her. She worked and put aside money specifically for any catastrophic medical situation that might arise. She had to be sure that no unforeseen healthcare issue could bankrupt her. She had a significant amount of money set aside for just such an emergency. She had a plan. It was a good plan. But it wasn’t good enough.

Where did it fail? She was laid off her job during the economic downturn and lost her health insurance. Then came the cancer. She had cancer and no health insurance. Thankfully, the Affordable Care Act had passed and she was able to get an insurance policy. It wasn’t as good a policy as she once had, but it was much more than nothing. But cancer treatment is expensive, much more so in this country than anywhere else in the modern, industrialized world. And it began to eat into her savings. Her health prevented her from going back to work. The radiation and chemo treatments took their toll on her body and her savings. To date, she’s run through her substantial savings because of the cancer. Her solid plan failed. A month ago I was visiting her and she was explaining to me her disbelief that what she thought was a foolproof plan did not succeed. She told me that she had promised herself that what had happened to her parents would never happen to her. But it did. The EXACT SAME THING happened to her. It happened to someone who took deliberate steps to ensure it didn’t happen. How could she have failed she asked me. I told her that the problem is simple – we are the only first-world country on the planet that allows our healthcare system to be run by two giant for-profit industries – pharmaceuticals and insurance. The entire healthcare system is set up for them to make billions of dollars. Most nations have healthcare systems centered around providing quality care to citizens. Not us. We’re set up to pay dividends to share holders. For us, it’s profits over people. And as long as that remains the case, there will continue to be hundreds of thousands of people driven into bankruptcy by medical bills every single year.

It’s not right. We’re the wealthiest country on the planet. Healthcare ought to be a right. The health of our citizens should be a higher priority than the profits of insurance and drug companies. It’s immoral what these corporations do to people. But for us, we don’t see it as a moral issue. We see it as a political issue. And we’re all so firmly entrenched on our chosen side of the political battle lines that we refuse to consider anything that might dare move us away from that comfortable position. Turn off the Fox News people. Quit listening to politicians who receive millions to be the mouthpieces of these industries. Try to think for a minute about what exactly it is you hate about “Obamacare.” Is it the care? Or is it the Obama? We have to do a better job. Healthcare is a human right. We love to fancy ourselves as the greatest nation on earth. Well if that is the case, we surely ought to have the highest quality healthcare on earth. We don’t. It’s not close. Our citizens should have the longest life expectancies. They don’t. It isn’t close. We should have the lowest infant mortality rate. We don’t. It isn’t close. Our people should be the healthiest on the planet. They aren’t. It isn’t close. And why isn’t it close? Why aren’t we the best? Again – it simply comes down to our system valuing profits over people. We could have the longest life expentancies, the lowest infant mortality rates, the healthiest citizenry, the highest quality healthcare if we wanted these things. But we don’t. Because we CHOOSE not to. We make a conscious choice that money for these huge, insanely profitable corporations and the handful of super-rich assholes that run them is actually more important than how healthy our people are. Think about that from your comfortable position on your side of the political divide. Ask yourself if you’re ok with supporting that. And ask yourself if you shouldn’t be a voice that demands we get better. Ask yourself which you value more – people or profits. Don’t be swayed by the dogma, make an informed and a moral decision. And then, most importantly, take action on that decision.

Speaking of dogma, that brings me to my next point. Two years ago when her fight began, Patty needed a plan to fight her battle. In typical Patty fashion, she formulated a good plan. She assembled a team. She designated seven “Captains” who had specific areas of responsibility: an overall coordinator, someone for the kids and dog, someone for Grandma, someone for communication, someone was in charge of food, someone was in charge of maintaining the house, and I was assigned financials. I was added to an e-mail distribution list that detailed the plan and would be used to keep everyone informed of how she was doing and where help was needed. Although these people were very well-intentioned and I absolutely appreciate their efforts in helping my aunt, the e-mails immediately became an irritant to me. She had to undergo surgery. The e-mails became some weird prayer chain where everyone chimed in with “thoughts and prayers” as if that did anything at all.

As she began her fight against cancer, Grandma was an issue. Grandma was living alone in a condo Patty bought her and it was clear that was no longer feasible. She fell several times and was in the hospital too often. Patty needed to sell the condo and move Grandma somewhere with a little supervision. No one stepped up to take Grandma despite them all knowing what Patty was up against. They apparently couldn’t be bothered to help. So Grandma had to move in with Patty. I went down to Orlando to help move Grandma into Patty’s house. The condo was disgusting. Too many cats, too few litterboxes, and too little attention paid to anything. It was difficult to breathe. We got her moved and Patty listed the condo. After painting, replacing the carpets, etc the condo sold. The e-mails started. The praise for god was universal. These people actually believed that the sale of the condo was the work of god. “Praise him” for his assist on getting the condo sold. I couldn’t believe these people were fucking serious. They were thankful for divine intervention on the condo sale, yet no mention of why the asshole gave my aunt cancer. I let the e-mails roll through my inbox with no response. It was difficult for me to do, but I knew any counterpoint I offered would only upset Aunt Patty. She’s a believer too after all. She was also thankful for god’s help in the condo sale. And she knew that since she had always been his loyal and faithful servant, he would surely take care of her in this fight against cancer. Why wouldn’t he after she had been such a good Christian, right?

It really only ever got worse for me. They all talked about the power of prayer and how good and powerful their god was. They all KNEW he would deliver Patty from this horrible disease. It never occurred to them that he could have saved everyone a hell of a lot of trouble by never giving it to her in the first place. Eventually, she won. She beat cancer. The doctors declared her cancer-free. I apparently was the only one (actually there was one other) thankful for the science behind her treatment, for the team of medical professionals that cared for her and guided her through the difficult treatment, for the doctors, for the nurses, for the technology. The rest of them all knew it was god. He had waved his magic wand and removed the cancer. Again – no thought to why the asshole had made her endure it in the first place or for that matter why the creator of the universe had chosen to invent cancer at all (apparently he has a sadistic side). All they knew was that it was time to celebrate the omniscient and omnipotent deity who had intervened to save one of his followers from a horror of his own creation. Personally, I didn’t care about the hypocrisy of their praise, I was just thrilled that my aunt seemed to be ok. But in the back of my mind was always concern. We all know how this works – cancer usually doesn’t stay beaten. It often returns.

So I guess all the good Christians must have quit praying because the cancer came back. Maybe their god felt like they weren’t kissing his ass enough, so he sent the cancer back to remind them all to bow down and worship him properly. The prayer chains started up again. “We prayed it away once, let’s pray it away again.” Seriously. No thought to praying it away before it happened. Always reactionary. The Bible tells us that if you pray AND truly believe, anything is possible. The Bible tells us we can literally pray for a mountain to be cast into the sea and it will happen. But I guess these were your typical garden-variety Christians we were dealing with here which is to say they probably hadn’t ever bothered to read the Bible. So maybe they didn’t know how powerful prayer was really supposed to be.

I remember one particular period over a few days where she had some tests done. The initial word was that everything went great and the “praise the lord” chorus immediately followed. “Look how powerful our god is!” But a couple days later, the bad news came in that they had missed something. The results actually weren’t good. Silence followed from the congregation. God gets all the praise if anything goes right (even on a temporary incorrect assumption), but NO BLAME EVER when things go wrong.

Recently the cancer had returned and Patty was going back through chemo. I went with her one day for her labs where they run some tests to make sure she’s up to going through a chemo treatment. She was by now a pro, a regular. She knew everyone there. She navigated the hospital as if it were her home. I took it all in and it was really overwhelming to me. It was so sad to see how full the place was, how many people were enduring what my aunt was going through. I’m sure most of them had the same god or perhaps some other god to pray to, but it didn’t look like they were getting any better response to their prayers. I was struck by how difficult it must also be for the people who work there. They work so hard to help, they spend so much time with their patients, they come to know and care about their patients, and they see many if not most of their patients lose the fight. Despite this, these medical professionals were amazingly upbeat and incredibly helpful. One of the nurses helping us took time to go make some phone calls and get a workaround on an issue with a prescription Patty had. The insurance wasn’t covering enough refills and Patty was out with no money to refill it until the next month. (Makes sense, right? The drug company has to charge an arm and a leg in order to pay a really nice dividend and what would the insurance company tell shareholders if they allowed one more refill at that exorbitant price to help my aunt manage her pain that month. Can’t have that.) But upon hearing of the issue, this nurse went out, did some research, and came back with a new prescription for a different strength of the medication that the insurance would cover and that would last longer. She didn’t have to do that, but she did because she cared. That’s what I’m thankful for – people like that nurse who are actually doing something tangible. She made a difference that every thought and prayer ever uttered in history could not have made.

In the midst of this most recent setback, we had to have a new financial plan. I sat down with Patty and talked about what she wanted to do. The savings was just about gone, assets need to be liquidated. The house went on the market. It’s a beautiful house that means the world to her, but it has to go. There’s no money left. She’d have to find some much less expensive place to live. The first realtor wasn’t very successful. We made a change. It was a good choice. We got a guy who worked his ass off to find someone who had seven figures to drop on a home. And he really went above and beyond too. He often took Patty to her treatments when no one else was available. He helped prep the house for showings. And it looks like he may have found a buyer. That makes me thankful that we found someone with such a good heart and great drive. But as you can probably guess, that’s not how the rest of them saw it. Yep, it was god. “Praise our wonderful lord for bringing these buyers to Patty.” Within a couple days, she found a home in the same school district that she could afford. Again – divine intervention bullshit flooded my inbox. And now, today, with the prognosis as bad as it could be. After being told she has weeks to live, I’m jumping through hoops with the realtor to make sure the sale goes through. He’s cancelled the contract on the new house. And my inbox is silent. No criticism of god. No blame. It must be for the best I suppose. He works in mysterious ways after all.

What really bothered me most was that while talking to her today, she told me she didn’t know what she had done wrong. In her mind, the unanswered prayers and the excruciating pain meant that she must have failed god. At this moment, after being told she has two weeks to live, this is how religion comforts her. It tells her that she must have done something wrong. That she somehow deserved all this pain, this unbearable struggle. And although we didn’t discuss it, I’m sure she’s wondering if god is pissed off enough to do this to her, then maybe he’s pissed off enough to sentence her to an eternity of damnation. You know, because yeah he loves her, but she fell a little short somewhere. What a horrible burden added to an already unbearable load.

So, for all you religious folks out there, I just ask this. Be logical with your religion or be silent. I’m sick of having to be silent so as not to offend ignorant people. How about you people start worrying about offending us logical people? Praise god all you want, but if things go wrong, offer up some blame too. If you contend that prayer works, pray for something worthwhile. Pray that no one ever gets cancer ever again. Pray that there never is another war fought ever. Pray that every sick person is healed. Or at least the ones who believe and are faithful. Don’t they deserve it? Let’s put this prayer to a test. Prove me wrong. Make me eat my words when I tell you it’s a worthless endeavor that does nothing but make you feel better about not making an actual contribution. Otherwise, admit prayer is bullshit and that your god is going to do whatever the hell he wants including put my aunt through a torturous hell on a long road to killing her. I can at least respect the intellectual honesty of that viewpoint.

I mentioned earlier that Patty and I laughed a lot. I’ll remember those laughs, all the good times. The good times far outweighed the bad. But I’ll never get over the conversation we had today. Ever. It’s something that will never go away. I’m going to miss her terribly. I’ll never forget that today I cried. A lot.

Support the Police (Except When You Aim Rifles At Them)

First of all Happy New Year to the handful of people who will read this! Maybe I’ll try to drop a few more entries here in 2016 than I did last year. We’ll see.

So, I’ve been following the Bundy sons and their right-wing militia buddies as they took over a federal facility in Oregon and said they’ll be occupying it for years and can’t promise they won’t be violent if they are opposed. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why these idiot rednecks are hailed as patriotic heroes by conservatives. I mean aren’t conservatives the law and order crowd? Aren’t they about always supporting law enforcement personnel? Don’t they label protesters as thugs? So what is it about these protesters that is so different?

I had a brief exchange of ideas on the subject with a friend of mine whose opinions I have great respect for. I began that discussion by pointing out the differences in reactions to the protests in Ferguson and Baltimore compared to those at the Bundy ranch and in Oregon. He had an interesting take, that I’ll get to later. Oh, and in case I don’t cite his thoughts properly, let me give him a co-authorship credit now – thanks Steve!

So, let’s take a look at some of the differences…

Catalysts For Protests

The Bundy ranch protests began because Clive Bundy decided he was done getting the required permit and paying the required fee to graze his cattle on federal land. Bundy was ordered by a federal court in Nevada not to graze his cattle on the federal property without the permit and to pay the $1+ million in grazing fees he owes. Bundy continued to graze his cattle in defiance of the court and refused to pay the fees. This had gone on for 20 years when the Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for managing the federal land, decided to round up the cattle on this tract of federal property and remove them. Bundy didn’t want to lose his cattle.

The Oregon protest is because a father and son were convicted of arson and sentenced to jail. The father and son, Dwight and Steven Hammond, admit to starting the fires that burned about 130 acres, but contend they did so to get rid of invasive plant species and not to cover up evidence of poaching as the prosecutors contended. So three of Clive Bundy’s sons and a bunch of their right-wing militia buddies grabbed their guns, went to Oregon and took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Never mind that the Hammond’s have made it very clear they don’t want to be associated with the Bundys, don’t want their help, and don’t want anyone to think the Bundys represent them.

The Ferguson protests were in response to a police officer shooting and killing the unarmed teenager Michael Brown and then left him in the street like an animal offering no assistance or dignity to the young man. The grand jury process was flawed at best with the appearance that the prosecutor was skewing it in order to avoid on indictment for the officer who killed Brown. So people took to the streets to voice their frustrations with police use of force and equal and fair access to the courts.

The Baltimore protests followed a very similar narrative to those in Ferguson. Freddie Gray, a 25-year old young man was arrested by Baltimore Police despite the fact that he had broken no law. He was handcuffed, his feet were shackled, and he was placed in the back of a van without being belted into a seat. Somehow his spine was broken in the back of that van and police failed to get him any medical attention.

So, the things that precipitated the protests were a) a refusal to recognize federal authority over federal land and b) the killing of unarmed members of the community by police officers. Conservatives support the former and criticize the latter.

Goals of the Protests

The Bundy protests sought to be able to graze their cattle anywhere they want on anyone’s land without having to follow the laws that govern any of that land they don’t own. They don’t want to pay the bills for using the land that the courts have determined they owe. And in Oregon, they want the people who refuse to be associated with them to be released from jail.

The Ferguson and Baltimore protests sought to bring awareness to unfair treatment of their communities by police officers, of police brutality, and of the denial of justice in incidents like these. They sought to level the playing field.

Yet conservatives hail the guys who won’t pay their bills and refuse to do what they’re told by law enforcement as patriots and heroes.

Means of the Protests

The Bundy supporters in Nevada confronted the BLM officers with weapons and demanded the return of the cattle. They then put out a call for reinforcements to all their other militia buddies who came from all over the country to surround the Bundy ranch in case the government tried to enforce any of the court orders against the Bundys. During this time, these people strategically positioned snipers around the property with rifles pointed at the federal law enforcement officers in the area.

The Bundys and their supporters in Oregon literally took control of a federal facility with a group of armed men. They brought generators, food, and water in and have stated that they plan to occupy the facility for years. They again sent out a call for reinforcements to join them in their occupation.

And while we all know there were some violent actions that spun off the main protests in Ferguson and Baltimore, the majority of the protesters walked down the street, held signs, and voiced their concerns.

And conservatives were hypercritical of the Ferguson and Baltimore protests. All we heard from them was how we had to support the police, that it was really blue lives that mattered, and how the protesters were out of line for confronting police officers. None of that applies with the Bundy supporters though for some reason.

Depictions of Protesters

ABC actually referred to the Oregon takeover as a “peaceful protest.” No one seems willing to call these white men standing in armed opposition to the government what they are – domestic terrorists.

Protesters in Ferguson and Baltimore were regularly referred to as thugs and rioters.

Why the difference?

Government Responses to Protests

The BLM agents confronted by armed militiamen about the cattle capitulated. They released the cattle they had seized. Then they left the area of Bundy’s ranch. All this was done we were told so as not to escalate the tension and to avoid any potential of violence. In Oregon, a memo was released to all land management federal employees to find somewhere other than the occupied facility to work. The memo told them to work from home and not show up at the facility.

In Ferguson and Baltimore, police departments deployed their militarized hardware, SWAT teams, put every officer they had on duty, called in backup from neighboring jurisdictions, and Governors mobilized the National Guard to respond.

Hmmmm.

So to drastically oversimplify things…

– One group protested for money and exclusion from the rule of law while the other group protested to prevent members of their community from being killed.
– One group sought to have debts erased and to be given special considerations not given to any other citizens while one group sought reform that would provide equality to members of their community.
– One group directly confronted law enforcement with firearms and one group walked down the street with signs.
– One group is portrayed as patriots while the other group is portrayed as criminal thugs.
– One group caused the government to back down and leave while the other group caused the government to respond militarily.

I get the conservative criticisms of the Ferguson and Baltimore protests. I don’t agree with them, but I do at least see their criticisms as being in tune with their ideology. But I cannot understand their support for these militias that were born in the white-supremacist movement and whose goal is the overthrow of the government. How are these people and their actions at all in keeping with what conservatives at least purport to believe?

So as I mentioned earlier, I was discussing this with my buddy Steve and he had some interesting takes.

Steve told me that conservatives have put themselves in the position of having to defend anything and anyone conservative and I think there’s something to that. In our “media on demand” lives now, we seek out what we want to hear, what will reinforce our beliefs and biases. Both liberals and conservatives do this. And it has made us more divided. But I’m still not sure why these guys are considered conservative.

The take Steve shared with me that really got my attention though was this, “what if we replaced ‘white militia’ with ‘group of Muslims’?” What if indeed?! Think about that for a moment. What would the headlines read if this was a group of armed Muslim-Americans who took over the federal facility? What would conservative reactions be in that case? I think we can all agree there would be calls for drone strikes, tanks, fighter jets, whatever the hell it took to reclaim OUR federal facility from these outlaws. What if a group of armed Muslim-Americans had told the federal government to pack sand in regards to grazing fees for their goats and confronted BLM officers to demand the return of their goats at gunpoint? Would conservatives support that group? Clearly not. And that’s a problem for me. If your condemnation or approval of a behavior depends on who is responsible for the behavior and not on what the behavior is, that’s a problem. Not only is it bigoted and prejudiced, it is illogical.

And I hate arguments that are illogical. Bothers the hell out of me.

So my only conclusion is that this is more white privilege in action, that conservatives aren’t approving of the actions as much as they are excusing them because of who is carrying them out. At the end of the day I think the differences in the two groups that matter most to conservatives is that one group is white and rural while the other is black and urban.

I welcome your comments, but please understand that I’m not interested in re-litigating the Freddie Gray or Michael Brown cases. I don’t care to hear how much you think they deserved their fate. Let’s keep the discussion about why conservatives support these people who appear to act well outside of what conservative values are supposed to be. If you get off topic, your comment won’t be posted.

Thanks all,
Boats

Veterans Day

Wanted to do a little more than just wish everyone a happy Veterans Day, so I thought I’d leave my thoughts here instead of a Facebook post that would be too lengthy for many to read.

So, first and foremost – Happy Veterans Day to all who served! Thank you for what you have done and are doing. I appreciate each and every one of you and the contribution you have made. I consider myself very fortunate to have met so many great people throughout my Naval career and treasure the lifelong friendships that have been formed. I will always be proud to call myself one of you.

To my fellow veterans – we share a bond that none but us understand. Regardless of if we served together or not, we know what it meant to rely on each other. We know what it means to depend upon your brother or sister to do their job so that you can do yours. We have quite literally placed our lives in the hands of our brothers and sisters and have done so with confidence. We enjoy the benefits of that devotion to each other – the camaraderie, the support, the fraternity. Others can try to imagine what that is about, but only we who have been there truly know. It is the mission that binds us. It is that common cause towards which we all contribute that makes us lean on each other. And while the missions change throughout the years, let us never forget we always have a mission. Think back through the annals of our history and remember the sacrifices of those who came before us. Think about how they paved the way for us and made our service easier. Think of the countless doors our predecessors knocked down so that we could pass through. And please realize that for those of us who have moved on from active duty, our mission is to continue their work. It is our duty to continue to fight for our brothers and sisters to ensure they are taken care of. We must protect the rights we have all earned. Too many of our brothers and sisters struggle to survive today. Their lives are in our hands today just as they were then – we can not let them down.

For those who didn’t serve, I say thank you for all the support. It really does feel great to know how much the citizens of this great nation love and support our military members. We all feel the love and we appreciate it. But I challenge you to also be active in your support. Ask yourself if the offered thanks and the ribbon magnet are enough. Ask yourself if they aren’t there at least in part to make yourself feel better about you. And challenge yourself to do something that will actually help veterans.

So what can we all do? That’s the $64k question I suppose. And while I don’t have all the answers, I’ll offer some. (I welcome my readers to offer additional suggestions in the comments)

– First and most importantly – please do your due diligence when casting a ballot. The notion that everyone should vote is complete and utter bullshit. It is your civic duty to educate yourself on the issues and the candidates before you cast that vote. If you can’t take the time to make your decision an informed one, please stay home and let the rest of us make these decisions. So study those issues and those candidates and please give sufficient weight to veterans issues in your decision-making process. How willing is this candidate to put troops in harms way before exhausting other options? How supportive of veterans is this candidate after the war is over? What does the candidate do for the VA, for veterans healthcare, for veterans education, for veterans employment, for veterans compensation and retirement benefits, for veterans housing, for veterans families? Beware of those who wrap themselves in the flag and most loudly claim to support the military. Be sure to make the distinction between those who are supporting defense contractors and those who are supporting the people who wore the uniform. Wrapping yourself in the flag and screaming about doubling our defense budget does nothing to help service members. Buying more hardware doesn’t help people. So do some research and please give the needs of veterans serious consideration when making your voting decisions.

– Financially support veterans charities. If you’re a person who likes to donate to a good cause, find a good veterans cause. There’s so many out there. And don’t forget that it doesn’t have to be cash – many veterans groups will accept everything from vehicles to furniture to clothing to frequent flier miles. One of my favorite charities looking for support is Puppies Behind Bars which is a program that has prisoners train dogs to be service dogs for veterans suffering with PTSD and other issues. Helps the prisoners and helps the veterans.

– Donate time to veterans. Contact your local VA, VFW, DAV, American Legion, Homes for Our Troops, etc and ask how you can help. Volunteers are always needed and I promise you that you will get more out of it than you give. There is nothing better than spending some time with veterans. Best storytellers ever! One of my favorite charities in need of volunteers is The Honor Flight Network which works to provide WWII veterans with a free trip to the WWII Memorial in DC. They will be expanding their services to Korean and Vietnam veterans soon as well.

I consider myself so fortunate to have served in the greatest Navy the world has ever known. I worked with people from all walks of life and I’m a better person today because of it. I formed bonds that can never be broken with some of the highest quality people around. And I know that I have an obligation to those who have served and those who still serve. I’ll do my part to help and I ask all of you to consider doing some real good for veterans as well.

Thank you.
-Boats

(Black, Blue, All) Lives Matter

Ran across this comment recently on Facebook: (Was initially going to author a Facebook post in response, but I probably have a bit too much to say for that forum.)

“40 Police Officers, count ’em…40, have been killed year to date so far. Yet the lamestream media, the Al Sharpton’s, Jesse Jackson’s, Barrack Hussein Obama’s, Eric Holder’s and other race baiting a-holes SCREAM police brutality and racism when a thug and/or criminal is killed by police.

Where are the protests and rallies demanding that thug criminals stop killing police officers?”

And I thought – wow, 40? That seems like a lot. Have there really been 40 cops who were “killed by thugs” this year? So, I took about 20 seconds of my day to answer the question. (Google is amazing – wish more people used it.) And here is how the 44 line of duty deaths this year break down for police officers nationwide:

9/11 related illnesses: 2
Accidental: 1
Automobile accident: 12
Accidental gunfire: 2
Heart attack: 11
Motorcycle accident: 1
Struck by vehicles: 2

That is 31 of the 44 deaths that had absolutely nothing to do with any thugs. So what about the other 13? Let’s take a look.

Vehicle pursuits: 2 (Both officers crashed their cars while pursuing vehicles. The operators of the vehicles being pursued were immediately arrested.)
Assault: 1 (An officer sustained a concussion breaking up a large bar fight in 2005. He underwent surgery where there were complications that made him a quadriplegic and eventually died 10 years later. The person who pushed him to the ground was immediately arrested and then convicted and served 3 years in prison.)

So, it doesn’t look like those 3 cases involved thugs intentionally killing cops either. What about the remaining 10 deaths? Well they were all from gunfire. So this must be what the original poster is pissed about. Let’s take a look at the 10 cops killed by gunfire year to date.

Every one of those 10 cops was shot and killed while performing their duty. Of the 9 suspects (1 suspect killed 2 officers), 5 were shot, 4 were killed. The 5 suspects who lived were all arrested.

So, not 44. 10. Still tragic. But 10. How does that compare to the number of citizens killed by cops? It’s hard to say.

Here’s a list of 420 so far this year: http://killedbypolice.net/

And how many of these families saw justice? I’m guessing not many.

According to the most recent data available from BLS, law enforcemnt has a 10.6 fatal injury rate. That’s a dangerous job for sure and puts it in the same neighborhood as some other dangerous occupations like: painters (9.4), supervisors of mechanics (11.0), passenger transportation workers (11.8), and waste management services (11.2). Thankfully the cops don’t work in these industries: farmers (22.9), mining machine operators (26.9), roofers (40.5), aircraft pilots (50.6), fishermen (75.0), or loggers (91.3).

So, do blue lives matter? Of course. The protesters aren’t claiming otherwise. They are pointing out the huge disparity in the application of force against their community and the lack of justice when cops kill their sons. There is a real problem in this country with excessive and unwarranted police force. If you can’t see that, put down the Fox News and try google. It’s your friend.

The Great American Melting Pot

All you readers of a certain age remember Schoolhouse Rock, right? Everyone loved Schoolhouse Rock as a kid. Remember this one? The Great American Melting Pot As was the case with most of the Schoolhouse Rock videos, I just kind of dug the tune as a kid and didn’t pay much attention to the message. But what an accurate message it delivers – we are a melting pot. We are a nation that has brought together so many disparate people and cultures into one beautiful mixture that makes us not only more unique, but also stronger than any nation on the planet.

I’ve written here before about my feelings on diversity, so I won’t rehash them in their entirety. But I will just reiterate what the Navy taught me about diversity – it is undeniably a strength. Having people from every walk of life made the Navy so much stronger than it would have been had we been a more homogeneous organization. Diversity does the exact same thing for us as a nation – it makes us stronger. Valuing the diversity we have and recognizing it as a strength only helps us all. It is such an advantage for us to be able to count on contributions from men, women, and transgender Americans; from whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans; from Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and atheists; from rich, middle class, and poor Americans; from those who speak English as their primary language, those who speak English as a secondary language, and those who do not speak English at all; and from straight, gay, and bisexual Americans.

And that’s what has me thinking about diversity today – the desire to discriminate against non-heterosexual Americans that has become so prevalent today exemplified in the ridiculous, bigoted, and unnecessary “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” recently passed in Indiana. What was the motivation to pass this bill? Had religious freedom in Indiana been eliminated? Did it need to be “restored?” Of course not. This was clearly a move by the GOP and the religious right in Indiana to infringe upon the civil rights of the LGBT community. They wanted religious people in business to be able to deny service to members of the LGBT community.

Why alienate and ostracize these Americans? Didn’t we decide in 1964 that segregation, discrimination, and inequality are not what we’re about as a nation? Didn’t we make a commitment then to allow for the fair and equal treatment of all? So why does this Republican and religious segment of the population want us to go backwards?

Look, we don’t all have to like each other to be a great nation. We don’t all have to approve of how each citizen lives their life, the decisions they make, how they dress, what music they listen to, what kind of food they eat, what deity they do or do not worship, what language they speak, where they live, or who they love to be a great nation. But we MUST value and appreciate the diversity of our citizenry, we MUST support equal access to and protection of the law for each citizen, and we MUST recognize the humanity in each of our citizens in order to be a great nation.

And that’s my biggest issue with the religious right – they want special privilege. They want our laws to be based on their beliefs. They want our schools to teach their beliefs. They want our elected officials to adhere to their beliefs. They want to perpetuate the myth that our country was founded on their beliefs. Well religious right – no. We are not now, nor have we ever been a Christian nation. We are a secular nation. There was a time when Christian theocracies dominated the planet. It was called the Dark Ages for good reason. I fully support everyone’s right to worship whomever they want however they see fit. But that worship doesn’t get to extend into the public square. It doesn’t get to infringe on anyone else’s rights of citizenship.

The good news I think is that the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of “people of faith,” do not agree with this push to legalize discrimination. The vast majority of Americans know that we made the right decision in 1964 and want to see us continue to move in the direction of progress and equality. Look at how quickly that pizza parlor had to shut its doors after voicing their intent to use the law to discriminate against the LGBT community.

That said, if most Americans don’t want to see these types of laws passed, why are they being passed? Enter your GOP. The GOP is controlled by two interests: the super-rich and the religious right. Isn’t it interesting that every major potential Republican Presidential candidate supports the RFRA and Governor Pence’s actions related to the RFRA? Why do the ALL the Republican candidates support such an unpopular viewpoint? Because the Republican electorate has been overrun by these tea partying types who want to see us regress on the issue. The candidates know they have to appeal to their base. And their base is a scary lot.

But they’ll die soon. The youth will take their place and I have a lot of confidence in the youth. Our young people look at being gay the way that my generation looked at being left-handed. No big deal. Something you’re born with.

The question for the GOP is what is the long range plan? What do you intend to do as your base dies and isn’t able to teach their bigotry to the next generation in large enough numbers to get you elected? You’ll either return to a more centrist party of reasonable people that is inclusive of all Americans or you’ll have to die too.

I’m fine with either decision.

Je Suis Charlie

Some random quick thoughts on what happened in Paris…

12 people died. 12 people will never go home to their families. 12 people will never enjoy another day. 12 people’s lives were violently, suddenly, and tragically ended. And for what? Freaking cartoons. Because Muslims have some stupid idea that their prophet can’t be insulted and can’t be depicted in any fashion.

Well, first of all let me just tell all the Muslims out there that your prophet was a charlatan. He was no prophet of any god, he was a con man. And you’re all a bunch of sheep, no different than the followers of Jesus, Yahweh, or any of the other imaginary friends invented by men. Additionally, Muhammad was a particularly despicable human being. He was a hypocrite who limited his followers to 4 wives, but imposed no such limit on his own marriages. He was a pedophile who married a 9 year old child. He was a barbarous murderer who regularly and violently killed his enemies and those who criticized him. He was a practitioner of genocide who ordered and participated in mass executions of Jews. He failed on the most basic moral question ever – human beings owning other human beings. He bought, captured, sold, and impregnated slaves. So, as far as the major religions of the world are concerned, I take particular issue with Islam because the guy at the top was such a horrible human being. Screw Muhammad and screw Islam.

And that’s the point I really want to make here I guess – that while I KNOW all religions are superstitious, nonsensical creations of man, I take particular issue with Islam. This one is particularly dangerous. We don’t have Hindus flying planes into skyscrapers. We don’t have Jews blowing themselves up in the market. We don’t have Christians beheading people in the public square. Other religions aren’t kidnapping hundreds of girls for going to school. But we do have all those things and more with Muslims. The common denominator is always Islam. Let’s take a look at just the last 30 days and see what Islam’s contribution to the world has been:

15 Dec – 2 dead in Sydney hostage situation

16 Dec – 142 dead (including 132 children) in Peshawar school attack

16 Dec – 26 dead (including 16 students) in Yemeni suicide car bombing attack

17 Dec – 150 women (some pregnant) killed by ISIS for refusing to marry ISIS fighters

18 Dec – 32 dead and 185 women and children kidnapped in Nigeria

18 Dec – 230 victims of ISIS found dead in mass grave in Syria

22 Dec – 20 dead in bus bombing in Nigeria

24 Dec – 33 dead in suicide bombing in Iraq

25 Dec – 9 dead in attack in Somalia

28 Dec – 30 dead in attack in Cameroon

7 Jan – 12 dead in Paris attack on Charlie Hebdo office

8 Jan – 100 dead in attack in Nigeria

Anyone keeping score? That’s 786 deaths, scores of injuries, and 185 kidnappings just this month. All in the name of Islam.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an Islam problem.

Want to know how big a problem? I wasn’t even able to type 500 words out before news comes in that there are at least 2 more dead in a hostage situation in Vincennes related to the Charlie Hebdo attack. The hits just keep coming, huh?

And what do so many of my friends on the left have to say about this? They say we shouldn’t criticize Islam, that the perpetrators of all this violence aren’t “real” Muslims, that to associate Islam with these attacks is racist, and even that religion should somehow be off limits from ridicule in order to avoid these situations – that religion deserves respect.

Seriously. They say that. With a straight face. And apparently believe it.

Well, screw that too. Religion is an idea. A monumentally stupid, horrible, and damaging idea. It isn’t off limits. It deserves no respect. People deserve respect, not ideas.

The left has even gone as far as to invent a new word that is supposed to equate criticism of this religion with racism – Islamaphobe. They contend that to call Islam out for exactly what the hell it is is to be a racist. Islam is not a race. There are Muslims of every race. Ridiculing Islam and pointing out the role it plays in the death and destruction we see every day on the news is not racism. That makes a little less than no sense.

But I’m not here just to condemn Islam, I will be critical of Muslims too. I keep hearing about all these “good” Muslims that are not represented by these terrorists. Funny thing for me is, I never see them. It’s very easy to see Muslims protesting a Danish cartoonist’s depiction of their prophet. They even come with signs showing us all how peaceful their religion is. But when Muslims murder people over a freaking cartoon, where are these so-called good Muslims? Why are the streets empty? Where are the signs condemning the violence? These “good” Muslims seem to have the same publicity problem all the “good” cops have – there just is no awareness of their efforts to rein in the bad apples in their ranks and hold them accountable. It’s almost like they agree with the actions of the bad apples. Weird.

Want to know why it seems that way? Because it’s true. They do agree with the terrorists in troubling numbers. I really don’t have the time to break down all the numbers here, but I will refer you to an excellent source of data compiled by the Pew Center available here. Just click the “vast new study” link there to get a pdf copy of the full report. Take some time and look at how many Muslims support sharia law, death for those who leave Islam, subjugation of women, terror attacks in certain circumstances, etc. It baffles me that this many people can think this way.

And we all know exactly what it takes to make people think that way – religion.

We, as civilized human beings, have to be united on this issue. We can’t make apologies for Islam. We can’t attempt to make ourselves feel better by “taking up for the good Muslims.” I leave you with the words of a brilliant author who was driven into hiding by a worldwide fatwa calling for his death for writing a book that was never read by those who wanted him dead for writing it.

‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion’. Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.”

-Salman Rushdie

Jesus Take The Wheel

So, I ran across this interesting article from Fort Wayne, Indiana. A woman named Prionda Hill tells us that while driving down the road, God told her that he would take the wheel from here, so of course she obeyed (would hate to be burned and tortured for eternity for disobeying the big guy after all) and let go of the wheel. She almost immediately runs over a motorcyclist named Anthony Oliveri, almost killing him. What is the motorcyclist’s reaction? He thanks God for sparing him from death (which is puzzling since death is supposed to lead to an eternity of life in paradise for believers).

Seriously. It happened.

Let’s examine the possibilities here.

They’re both right. God really did tell her to let go and then he promptly steered the car right over Anthony breaking every rib on his left side, damaging his spleen, bruising his kidney, and giving him about as bad a case of road rash as once can have; but out of mercy for his loyal follower, decided not to kill Anthony. What can we surmise about God if they’re both right? I contend that this would mean God is a real asshole who goes out of his way to hurt people for his own sick enjoyment. What a sadist.

Prionda is right. If God really did tell her to let go, and really did mow over Anthony, is there any other conclusion to be reached other than God’s an asshole? He’d actually be an even bigger asshole because if only Prionda is right, the sole focus of God was in inflicting pain on Anthony with no regard for his life at all.

Anthony is right. If Prionda is as crazy as I hope we all know she is, and only Anthony is right, what does that say about God? I suppose the religious folks would make the case that it speaks well of God that he intervened and prevented his loyal follower from dying. I would contend that if God is all-knowing and all-powerful, then he surely could have responded a second earlier and prevented his loyal follower from enduring such pain and injury. Why would God allow Anthony to be hurt so badly and then come in late and save his life? He’s still a real asshole for not helping Anthony when it would have done Anthony some good.

They’re both bat shit crazy. For this to be the case, one must assume that either there is no invisible space guy at all (welcome to the world of reason!) or that God doesn’t involve himself in the mundane daily activities of people. If one holds either of these positions, then one would believe that Prionda heard nothing. I find that a very reasonable position and I hope you do too. One would also believe that either there is no God to intervene on Anthony’s behalf, or that the God who is there doesn’t work that way. I find one of these views significantly more reasonable than the other, but I at least appreciate the intellectual honesty of the other. If they’re both wrong, what does that say about God (assuming he exists)? A couple things I think. First, it says that he isn’t involved in the activities on Earth. He doesn’t intervene in man’s actions. He is a hands off God. I would think that would be what believers in God would want to argue considering how many awful things happen on Earth that God does not prevent. Secondly, it says quite a bit to me about his followers. If they’re both wrong, they have both dramatically inflated their importance to and relationship with this God. It says that they are egomaniacs who actually believe that the universe was created exclusively for them and that its creator is intimately concerned with every trivial detail of their personal lives.

So basically it comes down to if God exists, he’s either a real asshole or his followers are. Which is it religious people? Of course, there is an out. Enjoy free inquiry, reason, science, and logic. Return to the atheism you were born with, reject the indoctrination of your parents, and just go one God further.

Hypocrisy Lobby

This recent Hobby Lobby decision by the SCOTUS has me infuriated. It pushes us a little further down the road to theocracy. I won’t get into all of my disagreements with this horrendous decision, but just wanted to point out the ridiculous hypocrisy involved in Hobby Lobby’s position/case.

Corporations don’t have “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Why did the founders/owners of Hobby Lobby incorporate? To separate their personal wealth, assets, and liability from that of their business. A corporation is a legal entity that is separate and distinct from the owners of the corporation. Hobby Lobby can’t have this both ways. They can’t form a corporation in order to avoid personal liability for anything that happens within the corporation AND then expect to extend their personal religious beliefs to the corporation. It’s either separate or it isn’t. If you want to make the case that your personal religious beliefs are being trampled upon, you should do so in a sole proprietorship.

Contraception was fine when it was an investment. For years, Hobby Lobby has had their 401k plans investing in companies that manufacture the very things they now claim to have such a “sincerely held religious objection” to. Here a few companies Hobby Lobby was invested in for years that were ok as long as the investments were paying off:

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries – makers of Plan B and ParaGard (a copper IUD).

Actavis – makers of a generic Plan B and distributors of Ella (another emergency contraception).

Pfizer – makers of Cytotec and Prostin E2, drugs used to induce abortions.

Bayer – manufacturers of Skyla and Mirena (hormonal IUDs).

AstraZeneca – owners of a subsidiary that manufactures Prostodin, Cerviprime, and Partocin (all drugs commonly used in abortions).

Forest Laboratories – makers of Cervidil (drug used to induce abortions).

Aetna – insurance company that covers surgical abortions, abortion drugs, and emergency contraception in many of their policies.

Humana – insurance company that covers surgical abortions, abortion drugs, and emergency contraception in many of their policies.

It isn’t a difficult thing to see what your 401k invests in. As a matter of fact, it’s a required report that is made to these people who supposedly held these devout objections to what all these companies did. Why was there never an effort to remove Hobby Lobby investments from these companies if the religious belief was so sincere?

China not only allows abortion, they mandate it. If Hobby Lobby ownership can’t bear the thought of their money being spent on something they view as abortion, why is the vast majority of the crap on their shelves manufactured in China? China has a population problem and actively uses abortion to help solve it. If this religious belief is so sincerely held, why aren’t the Hobby Lobby owners buying American-made products?

Hobby Lobby doesn’t get to say what every dollar they’ve ever touched gets spent on. I so tire of this idea that the employer gets a say in the insurance plan because the employer pays for it. No. The plan is part of the overall compensation package given to the employee. It is the employee’s plan in exactly the same way that it is the employee’s paycheck. Hobby Lobby has no right to interfere in the employee’s usage of their healthcare plan anymore than they have the right to dictate how an employee spends their paycheck.

Their “science” is wrong. The Hobby Lobby owners claim they object to any form of contraception that involves preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. You know, because that would be interfering with God’s will. The problem is that many of the menstrual cycles of women involve fertilized eggs leaving the body after not being implanted in the uterus. God seems ok with that. They don’t understand contraception, the many things it is used for, how it works, etc. Leave these things to doctors, not glitter salesmen.

They only object to women’s reproductive health issues. When it comes to Viagra and vasectomies – game on! If God wanted Larry Limpdick to procreate, wouldn’t he have allowed Larry the ability to obtain an erection? Why should Hobby Lobby interfere with God’s will when it comes to men? And why is Gerry Gigolo allowed to have insurance coverage for his vasectomy (so he has no parenting worries), but his female co-workers can’t get an IUD?

Look folks, this clearly isn’t about any “sincerely held religious objection.” If it were, they wouldn’t be buying from China, investing their money in contraception manufacturers via their 401k plans, or allowing men to do whatever they want. This is about the need to control women. It’s what religions do.

All the credit. Zero blame.

I recently was on a business trip to Denver when my phone started blowing up. My aunt was calling and leaving messages continuously. I was in a conference, so I couldn’t answer or check the messages. But about the time the fourth time my phone vibrated, I knew I needed to excuse myself and figure out what was going on.

Before I let you in on what happened, let me give you a bit of background on my aunt. She is in fact my aunt, as she is my mother’s sister. But she is only 13 years older than me and it really seemed a small 13 year spread growing up. We always had more of an older sister/younger brother relationship (which is my favorite sibling relationship thanks to some spectacular older sisters in my life). I’ve always been very close to my aunt which is saying a lot. I really am not close to many relatives (sure that is my fault), but for those that I am close to, I am very close and fiercely loyal. And she is one of my favorites which means we are very close and I would do absolutely anything for her.

She always treated me as a peer when I was growing up which meant the world to me. Here she was, this young, cool, great-looking girl who went out of her way to include me as a friend, not as a kid she was related to. That always made me feel good about myself. She took me to my first concert, she took me along on some of her dates (and I willingly gave feedback on how suitable I thought these guys were), I was with her when I drank my first beer in a bar, she bought me my first Rush album, she made me dance the first time (this was the song) in public, and we had countless great times on my grandparents’ boat.

As we grew older, that 13 year age difference continued to shrink. I married and had kids first. She married and had kids later. I’m not sure when it happened, but eventually that age difference was completely gone. We counted each other as friends. She sought my advice on difficult issues she faced. She asked Susanne and I to take care of the kids should something happen to her. She trusted me and I her.

So my aunt has always been one of a handful of people who are very important to me. I’ve always appreciated our relationship and I’ve always loved her a lot.

Back in Denver, I stepped outside and called her back. I immediately knew something was very wrong. She was struggling to speak and fighting the tears. Eventually the word came out. CANCER. It struck me so hard. The weight of it crushed me. But as I am prone to do, I hid my reaction. I wanted to be strong for her, to reassure her, to encourage her, and to let her know that I loved her. I didn’t want her to sense any negativity, worry, despair, or dread from me.

I tried to take an analytical approach to the conversation. I wanted to know the facts, what WE were up against, and how WE were going to beat it. What type of cancer? Is it contained? What is the prognosis? She didn’t have a lot of answers then, but of course, she had a plan. That’s the kind of person she is. Her plan involved the assemblage of a team. Each team member would have certain responsibilities for oversight within a specific area of her treatment or life. She wanted me to be a team member and tasked me with assisting with her finances. I of course agreed. I was encouraged that she had a similar analytical approach and that she was already planning for her success. I think she may have done more to pick me up during that conversation than the other way around.

Another team member was charged with team organization and communication. The communication has been primarily through e-mail amongst all the team members and some additional family and close friends. And apparently everyone on the e-mail distribution list is very Christian. Well, save one.

So she began her fight, the team members began their assignments, and the e-mails started flowing.

Of course there was a bunch of the “we’re praying for you” stuff early. It irritated me. I mean seriously – what the hell does prayer do? Do you really have to ask your god nicely to save my aunt? Why can’t he just do it because it’s the right thing to do? Is he such a horrible being that he won’t intercede unless you bow down, kiss his ass, and beg? My aunt has been a believer and fan of the guy her entire life – shouldn’t that be enough for him? Why does he require prayer? But I let it all go and made no comment. There were actual, real issues to be dealt with and I didn’t want to distract anyone from their task.

Her doctor said she needed to immediately remove all stressors from her life. The kids would have to move in with their dad. The dog was going to need to go with them. Everything she was working on from that proverbial front burner would not only have to be removed from the front burner, it would have to be taken completely off the stove and forgotten about for now. And someone was going to have to take in my grandma who was living with her.

Initially, my uncle was going to take in Grandma, but then he had his own family situation that prevented that. So, out went the e-mail requests. And so began the prayers to their deity to find someone to take Grandma. Lo and behold, their prayers were answered. My grandmother’s sister would take her in until my uncle could do it. Apparently this was viewed as a miracle by these people. Seriously. A miracle. A woman’s sister agrees to let her stay for a few weeks and that was proof to them that their imaginary friend was on the case. How ridiculous is that?

Here are a few comments that appeared in the team e-mails regarding Grandma’s sister agreeing to put her up a few weeks:

“Praise God – that is one less thing to worry about!”

“This is a beautiful invitation. What a blessing!”

“Keep those prayers going that Grandma views this as an opportunity to visit with her sister.”

“Per Romans 8:28, God could bring several good things from this!”

“God is so good.”

God is so good. Really? Can anyone explain that to me? Go ahead and explain to me as if I’m a complete moron with zero understanding of this God character.

This is one thing about religious people that irks the hell out of me. All this praise was heaped on their god for apparently interceding and working his magic. Sans supernatural-being magical intervention, I guess her sister wouldn’t have taken Grandma in for a few weeks. So everyone thanks the Lord and credits him with this miraculous event.

Well, I hate to urinate in everyone’s Wheaties, but fuck your non-existent god and the bullshit, Bronze-age text he rode in on. How can you as a decent human being thank him for something that clearly would have happened regardless and completely ignore the fact that he has allowed my aunt to be stricken with this horrible disease? She has to undergo multiple surgeries, months of painful chemo and radiation treatment, deal with her entire life being turned upside down – all with no guarantee of any return to normalcy. Isn’t anyone going to address the fact that their god is a real asshole for doing that to my aunt?

You can’t have it both ways Christians. If your god deserves praise for finding Grandma a place to crash for a few weeks, he deserves all the blame for putting my aunt, his loyal follower, through this horrible ordeal.

Underway. Shift Colors.

Ok, I know. We didn’t exactly get out of port on schedule. My apologies for leaving you guys at your sea and anchor stations so long. I just haven’t found any spare time to dedicate to writing over the last several months. But let’s do this – take in all lines, sound one prolonged blast, shift colors. We’re underway.

So, what I promised all those months ago was to start off with a discussion of race and religion. And here’s the unanswered question that has long baffled me – how in the hell can any black American be a Christian?

Let’s start by considering one of the key reasons that leads me to conclude that all religion is crap – the importance of geography to religion. Isn’t it remarkable that the vast majority of adherents to each religion happen to follow the religion most prevalent in the place they grow up? If a person is born and raised in Saudi Arabia, what religion are they going to be? We all know they will be a Muslim. Why? Because that’s how religion works – it indoctrinates kids into the religion of those who surround them, particularly their parents. Virtually all of these religions claim to be the one true path to a one true god. They can’t all be right, only one could be right. So if one of them actually is the one true path to the one true god, why are only certain segments of the world’s population going to be exposed to that one universal truth? If the one true religion is Christianity, why does everyone born and raised in Saudi Arabia basically get an eternal death sentence thanks to the geography of their parents? If the one true religion is Islam, why won’t anyone in South America get a chance to go to paradise for eternity? In short, if there is an all-knowing, all-powerful god, why does he suck so badly at getting his all-important message out to everyone?

In the beginning, what religion were the ancestors of today’s black Americans? Although there had been some missionary work in western Africa, they most likely weren’t Christian. Islam was the only one of today’s major religions which had spread to Africa in any significant level at the time, but it was mostly in eastern Africa. Based on their geography in western Africa, they held a multitude of varied religious views. Most believed in a single, supreme deity who was responsible for all of creation, but some practiced polytheism. Perhaps the most common religious view amongst those western Africans who would be enslaved and brought to America was the pursuit of a harmonious balance between nature and a chosen deity not unlike what we typically associate with Native Americans. So the first question that I can’t get beyond is if these western Africans held a sincere religious belief that had been passed on to them through generations of their ancestors, why would they discard it in order to adopt that of their captors? Why toss aside what your parents and grandparents had taught you was that one universal truth in order to side with the one universal truth of the people who had enslaved you, brutalized you, and destroyed your family? A large part of that answer is that it was a long process that didn’t happen overnight. Early generations held firmly to their customs, language, religion, etc. But it still happened. Perhaps another part of the answer is that the god of the master must surely be perceived as more powerful than the god of the slave. I don’t know.

One might think that part of the answer could be that the captors forced or encouraged the slaves to convert, and that did happen eventually. But initially, the Christian slave owners were not big on the idea of sharing the story of Jesus with their slaves. It seems they didn’t think sharing any ideas of spiritual equality with the slaves was a good idea. I’m not sure why they were so hesitant because I do know there were plenty of lessons in the bible that could have been taught to slaves that had nothing to do with equality. A small sampling of passages:

• However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you.  You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land.  You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance.  You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.  (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)
• If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years.  Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom.  If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year.  But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him.  If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master.  But the slave may plainly declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children.  I would rather not go free.’  If he does this, his master must present him before God.  Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl.  After that, the slave will belong to his master forever.  (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)
• When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are.  If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again.  But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her.  And if the slave girl’s owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter.  If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife.  If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment.  (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
• When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished.  If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.  (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)
• Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear.  Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.  (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)
• Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed.  If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful.  You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts.  Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them.  (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)
• The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it.  “But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be punished only lightly.  Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given.”  (Luke 12:47-48 NLT)

And yes, if your religion’s official guidebook details the rules for people freaking owning other people, please don’t hold it up as any source of moral authority. Thanks.

Now to be fair and honest, I understand that this was not an overnight conversion by the masses. I get that there were a lot of factors that contributed to the eventual conversion to Christianity by black Americans and that the conversion happened over the course of many years. So I understand that it can be explained away through a multitude of rationalities. My point on abandoning the African religions in favor of Christianity is just that I personally don’t think I could have ever taken on the religion of my captors and I don’t understand anyone else genuinely doing it either.

And beyond the fact that regardless of how long it took to occur, black Christians have denied the religious views of their ancestors in favor of those who initially enslaved their ancestors, let’s look at how Christianity has been used against black Americans throughout their struggle for equality in this country.

As I mentioned earlier, Christian slave owners were initially reluctant to share their religion with their slaves. But, eventually they used their religion as a tool to further control their slaves. They figured out a way to avoid the message of spiritual equality and instead convince the slaves that they were slaves because God had cursed them to be slaves. African-American theologian James Cone notes that “In the old slavery days, the Church preached that slavery was a divine decree, and it used the Bible as the basis of its authority.” In E. Franklin Frazier’s Black Bourgeoisie, he makes the point that, “Not only did Christianity fail to offer the … [Black] hope of freedom in the world, but the manner in which Christianity was communicated to him tended to degrade him. The … [Black] was taught that his enslavement was due to the fact that he had been cursed by God. … Parts of the Bible were carefully selected to prove that God had intended that the…[Black] should be the servant of the white man.”

The greatest crime against black Americans was carried out by using the Bible and Christianity as a justification. Let that sink in for a second. Slavery was said to have a Christian Biblical justification and yet black Americans today are Christian. WTF?

Following the end of slavery, things weren’t exactly sunshine and rainbows for black Americans. Jim Crow and segregation made things extremely difficult and really kept blacks in a position closer to the slavery they had just escaped than to true equal membership in our society. And where did Christianity stand on these issues? Of course, it was once again used as a justification for the supposed racial superiority of whites and the need to maintain “separate but equal.”

Following the Civil War, a new organization named the Ku Klux Klan was formed. It waged war against against black Americans. The Klan was formed as a Christian organization. Go to their website today and the first message you read is from Pastor Thomas Robb which urges potential members to follow the “Christian way.” That “Christian Way” has always been the Klan way as they brutalized black families across this country, carrying out a campaign of terror and murder all in the name of Christianity.

Now you might view the Klan as a fringe element, a minority group with warped views of the religion that operates outside mainstream society. Fair enough, one doesn’t need search long to find mainstream elements of society who use Christianity to justify segregation and white superiority. Take the case of Theodore Bilbo, a two-time Governor of Mississippi and former US Senator.  During his successful reelection campaign of 1946 Bilbo made a call to action, “I call on every red-blooded white man to use any means to keep the n—–s away from the polls.” Bilbo was a proud member of the Ku Klux Klan, telling Meet the Press that same year that “no man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.” During a filibister of an anti-lynching bill (yes – Christian conservatives supported lynching), Bilbo claimed that the bill “will open the floodgates of hell in the South. Raping, mobbing, lynching, race riots, and crime will be increased a thousandfold; and upon your garments and the garments of those who are responsible for the passage of the measure will be the blood of the raped and outraged daughters of Dixie, as well as the blood of the perpetrators of these crimes that the red-blooded Anglo-Saxon White Southern men will not tolerate.”

I obviously could provide innumerable examples of Christians using their religion not only to prove their racial superiority, but also to oppress races they found inferior, but I hope you agree that’s not necessary. The fact of the matter is that Christianity was once again used as a justification to segregate, discriminate against, disenfranchise, lynch, terrorize, and oppress black Americans.

Recently it seems some people (especially white, religious people in my experience) have started to believe that there are no more racial issues in this country. They make the case that racism was a dark chapter in our collective history that we have overcome. One need look no further than the Supreme Court of the United States to see just how prevalent and mainstream this opinion has become. I disagree. It is a current problem.

Please understand that I am not black and to make any statement that I understand the black experience in this country would be pretentious and disingenuous. But, that said, I do have some personal experience with racism visiting my front door. My oldest daughter is a brilliant, beautiful, and accomplished young woman of whom I could not be more proud. She lives in Orlando with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is everything a parent could hope for in a partner for their child – he is an intelligent, accomplished, caring, good person who aspires to greatness. He happens to be black. My neighbors apparently don’t approve of that fact and have taken to voicing their disapproval amongst each other. Of course none of them addresses it to me. But it struck me that all of these Christian neighbors of mine still find nothing incompatible between their racist views of my future son-in-law and their religious beliefs. To me, that really goes to the point that while we may have made progress, we aren’t there by any stretch. And religion continues to hold us back in getting there.

Take slavery for example. People like to pretend that it happened hundreds of years ago. No. It didn’t. It was 150 years ago. I have known people who knew people who were slaves. That’s insane. My great-grandparents lived in a world with people who were once owned by other people. That isn’t some hundreds of years ago experience, it is real. And think about just how recently it was illegal for an interracial couple like my daughter and her boyfriend to marry. It wasn’t until 1967 (my dad was 24 years old) that the Supreme Court struck down all anti-miscegenation (no interracial marriage) laws. That decision in Loving v. Virginia, impacted 17 states. 17 states in 1967 had made it illegal for blacks and whites to marry. Those 17 states also happened to be the most religious/Christian states in the union. Hmmm. And it wasn’t until 1998 in South Carolina and 2000 in Alabama that official bans against interracial marriages were removed from all state constitutions.

And don’t kid yourself in thinking those bans had nothing to do with Christianity. Christians supported those bans and did so with more Biblical justification. Consider this quote from Judge Leon M. Bazile, the trial judge in the Loving case. “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

As I look at the word counter below and see that I have exceeded 2500 words, I recognize it’s probably beyond time to wrap this up. So, to wrap up, I again ask, how in the hell can any black American consider himself to be a Christian? It was not the religion of your ancestors, it was the religion of the people who enslaved and brutalized your ancestors, it is the religion that was used to justify the enslavement of your ancestors, it is the religion that was used to justify segregation, it is the religion that was used as justification for discrimination, and it is the religion that is at the heart of the root cause of every struggle Black America has faced. Again, I recognize that I can’t say I get the black experience, but I can take a guess as to how I would have reacted to these issues had I been a black man. And my guess if that I would have been much more Malcolm X than MLK, much more Black Panther than NAACP, and any god-damned thing ever but a Christian.

Thoughts?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

I went to a certain amount of trouble to add pics to my posts and a couple of them were damn funny. Are you guys clicking the links to see the pics? And if so WTF?

Single Up All Lines

Last night as I began making all preparations for getting this blog underway in my mind, I gave some thought to where I wanted to begin. I figured that since I am neither black nor religious, that might be a great place to start – black Christianity. Makes perfect sense, right? But before I get into that issue too deeply, I’d like to offer a little personal background. So, let’s single up all lines while we await word from the bridge to take them in and get underway.

I grew up similar to most people I think which is to say that the people in my neighborhoods and at my schools sort of looked like me and had similar backgrounds to me. I never really had much interaction with black people. My grandparents once managed a hotel in Jackson, Mississippi and most of the staff there were black. I really enjoyed spending a couple weeks there one summer because the staff let me hang out with them while they worked, whether it was the maintenance crew, the housekeeping group, or the lobby personnel. And the best part – they barbequed every day at lunch and fed me well. Those barbeques were the highlight of the trip to me. That was pretty much my only exposure to the black community growing up. Sure, there were a few black students at school, but I never seemed to be friends with them. Not a conscious effort, it just didn’t seem to work out that way.

At home, I shared what I imagine is a similar experience to most of those in my neighborhoods. I heard a lot of racial jokes coupled with a pretty liberal usage of that horrible word we all know. (And wasn’t it peculiar how those jokes and that word were uttered so soon after church or in such close proximity to remarks about God?) I remember being analytical about it. It struck me that what these people intended I learn from these jokes was that blacks were inferior. Thanks to a couple of really smart people who taught me HOW to think, I always hated being told WHAT to think. I rebelled against it in my mind and preferred to make my own decisions. So for me, until I had enough evidence and had acquired some personal experience, the jury would remain out despite what I was being conditioned to learn.

And isn’t that what is at the heart of racism? Isn’t it a learned behavior? Aren’t children conditioned into feeling racism in a manner similar to John B. Watson’s Little Albert? (Boats – who the hell is Little Albert?) Aren’t those jokes, that anecdotal ‘evidence,’ and that word all meant to saddle black people with inferior traits, intellect, motivation, abilities, and worth in the minds of children? I think so.

The guys I hung out with in high school were all a year ahead of me in school. None of us had much interaction with black people and the subject never really came up. I can remember when my next door neighbor and great friend Rayce (always baffled me how many girls loved that name – you’ve got to be more on your game as a Jim for sure) told us that he had started playing tennis with a black guy he had met at the courts. We were all a little curious and I think Rayce knew that. I remember him telling us that the guy was a really cool guy and not unlike us at all. Interesting that the notion that he must be so different from us as a person was in play. More conditioning I suppose.

After I graduated high school, I took the summer off and then joined the Navy. I went to boot camp on 21 Sep 87. That was the day I began to be exposed to black people on a personal level. Our company was a group of 80 young men that demographically probably looked a lot like America. Mostly white, quite a few black and hispanic guys, a couple Asian guys. And the guy on the rack next to me was a black guy (from somewhere up north I think) named Lamont. Lamont and I talked a lot. He was a cool guy. We helped each other out on the things that you need to get done in boot camp. And when we got out of boot camp, we hung out together while waiting on our A-school classes to convene. Lamont came over to the house regularly, we went out regularly. He was just a regular guy like any of the rest of us. And there certainly was nothing inferior or lacking in his work ethic, motivation, intellect, or worth.

Eventually, those classes convened, we completed (or in my case, were asked to leave) them and we went our separate ways. I soon thereafter scored the biggest win of my life when I got married to the most talented, amazing, and beautiful woman ever. Susanne and I packed up both our belongings in my Yugo and moved to Norfolk, VA. Once there, I immediately ended up flying to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to meet my first ship, the USS Spartanburg County (LST-1192).

The Sparkle C, Super T as we called her, was another pretty accurate representation of America demographically (with the obvious exception of it being an all-male crew). We had Sailors from virtually every part of the country, socioeconomic background, race, religion, etc. And the thing about having 200-250 Sailors (often with 350-400 Marines) in an area that small for extended lengths of time is that you just have to get along. It’s really not going to work if you don’t get along. We have a collective mission to accomplish and each of us has a specific job that will help us all reach that mission accomplishment. Everyone has to contribute and everyone’s contribution is valued. There’s really just not any time for much else but doing your job and contributing to the mission. There certainly isn’t time for divisive behavior that takes away from the unit’s efficiency, proficiency, and ability to complete the mission. In the Navy, the team is absolutely greater than the sum of its parts and that teamwork and unit cohesion is of critical importance to getting the job done.

So that’s what I did. I got along. And it was very easy to do. It’s what everyone else was doing. We all got along. We were all on the same team. We all valued each others contributions. That’s not to say that it was a bunch of guys sitting around the camp fire singing Kumbaya. We were far from that. In fact, we gave each other hell. The busting of balls was of monumental proportions. And it crossed every line of decency known. There were many times I had my guys over to the house and Susanne left us alone because she was uncomfortable with how we talked to each other. But to us, it was fun, it wasn’t mean-spirited, and it was all always in-house. We were brothers and we knew where our own lines of demarcation lay. We didn’t cross those. And we never allowed someone from outside of our brotherhood to cross those lines with one of our brothers.

And as I progressed through my Navy career, the experience was largely the same at each command. I came to notice that the diversity we had was a strength. Having Sailors from every walk of life meant that each individual had unique skills, experiences, and knowledge that could be brought to bear on whatever issue presented itself. I found that diversity makes any organization stronger. I came to appreciate and value diversity. I came to actively seek it out and to promote it. It just made sense.

I love the Navy. A lot. I often tell people it’s the fairest organization around. Everyone starts exactly the same on day one and is only limited by their own talents and desires. The Navy has been great to my family and me and there isn’t much I wouldn’t do to help the Navy and my shipmates. I learned so much not only about my trade, but also about life from some truly amazing people. I tried to pay that forward and I departed active service proud of those I left behind and supremely confident in their abilities. Civilians often don’t understand the bond we brothers and sisters in arms share and I don’t think they have an appreciation for the quality of the people we have in our nation’s military. I’m not sure I have the words to express either that bond or that quality. And I suppose it’s really not important that civilians do understand either, but I sometimes wish they did.

None of that is intended to paint the Navy as an idyllic paragon of race relations, because it isn’t that at all. The Navy has historically struggled through all of the same battles still being waged in our society today. And there are still remnants of the good ‘ol boy network present even today. I happened upon one such relic aboard the USS Portland (LSD-37) and my refusal to bend to his will cost me a few years in making Chief. I’d do it all exactly the same again though (well, except for that incident with the computer) because I know my sacrifice saved several of my brothers from having to make sacrifices in their careers.

So, why was I telling this story to begin with? It wasn’t so you can pat me on the back in the comments and tell me how enlightened I am. It was just to explain to you how I arrived at where I am and to develop what I hope becomes a central theme here – the use of logic, reason, and free inquiry. It was my refusal to accept being told WHAT to believe that led me to where I am. It was the gathering of data and the use of reason that led me to determine what I was being fed by many was complete bullshit. Racism isn’t natural. No one is born with it. It is a learned behavior. So how is something so wrong learned so often? Because people don’t employ logic, reason, and free inquiry often enough.

So exactly where am I now on the issue of race? I am not one of these “I don’t even see color” people. I find that comment ridiculous and disingenuous. Of course you see color. You literally have to be blind not to see color. The point isn’t to avoid seeing the distinction between the races at all. The point is to embrace that distinction. That’s where I am. I absolutely see color. And I appreciate the differences of diversity.

Bridge, Boats. All lines singled up.

Setting the Sea and Anchor Detail

I’ve recently had quite a few friends and acquaintances suggest that I start a blog. Seems there are actually a few people out there who like reading my thoughts despite the record number of defriending events that happen to me when I express those thoughts on Facebook! So, here we go.

“Now go to your stations all special sea and anchor detail” was the word passed on the 1MC, the ship’s general announcing system, every time I got underway during my 20-year Navy career. And as those who know me best will agree, I still haven’t really been able to let go of the vernacular (and some other things) despite that retirement ceremony back in 2007. So, as I start this blogging venture, it reminded me of setting the sea and anchor detail. I’m getting the gear together, preparing for a new journey, and wondering what will happen along the way.

As was the case with many of those underway periods, I really don’t have a solid idea of what this journey will be about. I have strong opinions on a lot of issues particularly politics, religion, and sports, I imagine there will be plenty of that here. And I really like discussing those opinions with intelligent people that hold opposing views. So please – offer me your thoughts, especially if you disagree with me! Tone is fairly difficult to convey in a forum like this, and my tone is often interpreted as antagonistic, confrontational, and condescending. I’m not going to say it is never intended to be those things, because it absolutely is sometimes intended to be those things. I’ll just say that if it is, you’ll know.

I won’t be making any commitment to a set periodicity for posts here. I’ll just write something when the mood strikes. I think it will sort of be up to the readership to drive posts. If the demand is there, I’m more likely to post regularly.

Enough for now. Going to play around with the page and see what bells and whistles are available.

-Boats