If a health care bill is signed into law and does not include the popularly dubbed public option, we may well have to edit The New Colossus–huddled masses cower with the tired, poor, the wretched refuse crumbling from foreclosures, the homeless, and the tempest tossed abandoned and alone beside a darkened door.  So soon have bankers, hedge fund managers, the rank and file of financial investment firms returned to their old practices: bonuses as entitlement, excessive profit taking and the resumption of the use of derivatives, which are still unregulated despite the governments best pantomime of posturing to the contrary; the stigma of greed has become once again a badge of honor–at least among certain classes of thieves– while men of power opine and do nothing except hint that somewhere, somehow, they will staunch the flow of executive bonuses.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, almost as persistent as the practice of bloodletting, which finally faded from our lexicon of medical treatments after an ignominious run of 2000 years.  Want money for health care?  Withdraw our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan–it is a given that we should not send more.  We have a splendid history of supporting corrupt governments: Saddam Hussein, Musharif, Karzai, Reza Pahlavi, Fugencio Batista.  How can we ever doubt our leaders’ perspicacity to evaluate the motives of foreign governments when there are such fine skills exemplified by our own beloved W looked into Putin’s soul and thought he saw the heart of the man but unfortunately we learned later that it was only a reflection of Dick Cheney.  Sadly, the rubric now being bandied about is that any decisions regarding Afghanistan will be determined, at least in part, by the outcome of the run-off vote following an egregiously corrupt election orchestrated by the even more egregiously corrupt Karzai family and its hegemony of cohorts.  Every drop of blood is precious regardless of national origin; however, our actions suggest that we are willing to sacrifice our way of life and values to maintain the façade of a democratically elected government in Afghanistan.

Following our government’s policy in Afghanistan, it should come as no surprise that the same indifference is manifested in the area of healthcare and education.  Certain members of Congress pontificate about the pitfalls of the government’s involvement in the administration of healthcare insurance yet none decline the healthcare our tax dollars purchase for them–As far as I am aware no one has volunteered to pay for their own insurance–it comes with the work, if you are lucky enough to get it!  There is no ignominy in broadcasting misleading advertisements sponsored by private insurance companies or the conspicuous and unrelenting pressure powerful lobbyists exert upon every elected official at every level of government.

Less becomes the new more, especially in education.  Titillation has supplanted effort reducing learning to a state of tingling and jangling nerves.  Everyone succeeds, in his own mind; however, all too frequently, failure is a matter of national tragedy.  The success of Plato’s Republic was based upon a noble lie about our fundamental nature, the categories into which each of us are bound.  Whether we repair our aging Republic or build a new one, perhaps we will reveal our true selves by our penchant for or our aversion to deception regardless of its lineage.

At the Oreck store we tried out the full line of vacuums as well as inquiring about the half-priced model listed in the advertisement.  As I expected, the vacuum on sale didn’t measure up to the various models I tested but that was due more to my specific requirements than the performance of the vacuum itself.  In the end I opted for the Oreck XL Platinum Plus which comes with a 15 year warranty that includes yearly maintenance on the vacuum and its parts as well as a canister vacuum–I chose the mid-line canister model for its combination of features and portability.  The initial outlay for the Oreck  that I chose was substantially more than I had considered spending for a vacuum; however, the life expectancy of the appliance and service contract added sufficient value to the primary feature of the product (its excellent performance as a vacuum) that it offset the cost.  Besides, there was a thirty day trial period which included a money back guarantee.

I did hold onto the old Panasonic while I put the XL through its paces and for one scary day I was beginning to think I would have to revert to my aging dust creator again.  The week we bought the Oreck an emergency arose and we had to make a quick trip north to see family so I didn’t have the opportunity to test our new vacuum thoroughly until we returned.  Shortly after I commenced vacuuming in earnest, an ear-piercing squeal  developed.  The sound only occurred during the backstroke, when one was pulling the machine back toward oneself; however, the effect of the squeal was almost nauseating.  It is probably an understatement to suggest that there are occasions when I tend to be more reactive than on other occasions.  I can tell you that each time that Oreck squealed at me it sounded as if dollar bills were being shredded in a modified trade of cash for toxic assets deal.  So I called the Oreck Store immediately.  When I finished my description of the problem, I was told that a shipment of vacs had come into the shop that had not been properly lubricated at the factory.  Apparently other customers had reported similar experiences as the Oreck representative was familiar with the problem.  I was told to bring the vacuum by the shop and it would be fixed/adjusted while I waited.  The vac was adjusted in a matter of minutes and we were on our way.

I don’t often go for the warranty gambit offered with most products these days as they do not appear to add enough value to the product for the cost.  I’ve read that engineering has become so refined that manufacturers can produce products with specific failure rates built in which are accurate to within a week of the projected point of failure, which, can conceivably allow the fees from warranty contracts to be applied directly to the bottom line.  Costs for certain replacement parts exceed the purchase price of a new item, e.g. one can buy a newer model laser printer for less than or equal to the cost of the old printer’s toner cartridge.  So why bother with a vacuum from a company that includes service as an integral part of its business model?  For starters, there is something appealing about resisting the waste produced by the throw-away attitude which is so prevalent today.  Caring for whatever one used–without consideration of ownership or value–had been an implicit code of conduct in general society; it certainly was drummed into me as a kid.  Of course, the notion of caring may have had its roots in everyday living where a certain frugality was necessitated by the limitations of one’s resources.  Until the recent global economic collapse consumption and not conservation was the dominant mindset of the average individual.  We became short-sighted in our estimation of value, misled by a faulty system of cost analysis where the constant churning of production was an insatiable maw that cannibalized itself.  Complicit with the unending cycle of producing was the concomitant drive for entrepreneurs, large and small, to create need where before only want stood day-dreaming about the imaginary world it was constructing.  I’m not implying that all novelty is a matter of ulterior motivation or that creativity is merely a process of deception; however, while both statements contain the seeds of truth, it is the growth and the yield which are often the source of ambiguity.

Of course, I am extremely pleased with the Oreck; it has performed as advertised.  I may not feel the same way in 2019 or 2024, two-thirds of the way into the service contract and at its end, respectively, which, returns us once again to the topics of obsolescence and longevity.  If the present climate has taught us anything it is that businesses, even those considered too big to fail, can in fact fail; and that obligations, promises, and contracts are as transitory as the organizations that offered, issued, or underwrote them.  Oreck, as a company, may not survive the bargain it has struck with me as a customer.  Fifteen years can be an eternity these days, besides, in a year or two some better product may (will) come along that will offer more for the same cost or less, or be more green, as we are inclined to say to show off our global view and environmental awareness.  It is both confusing and perplexing; it is even seductive, this surplice of green cloth which at once protects us and our environment and blinds us from our own self-centered ratiocination.  Perhaps the solution depends upon not what we have but how we have it; not what we do but how we do it.

Theory

I am what is around me.

Women understand this.
One is not duchess
A hundred yards from a carriage.
These, then are portraits:
A black vestibule;
A high bed sheltered by curtains.

These are merely instances.

—Wallace Stevens

While Cloud Computing has become all the buzz lately, the skies will clear abruptly if the cable companies pursue the current trend of putting caps on broadband internet usage.  Why would any user switch from desktop based programming to cloud based programming when access to those clouds will be metered so that best case scenarios result in far more cost to the consumer than any gain he or she might receive?  As Judy Collins sang:

Isn’t it rich?
Isn’t it queer?
Losing my timing this late in my career.
And where are the clouds?
There ought to be clouds…
Well, maybe next year.

Okay, I know, I know, Judy sang CLOWNS, Send In The Clowns.  Come to think of it, her choice of words was spot on because that seems to be more descriptive of the strategy behind this latest development from cable providers; of course, it may also be another example of unmitigated greed surfacing as our economy tumbles ever downward and reveals the machinations of these companies in sharper contrast.  Ed Cone offered a weak but later abandoned defense of the “last mile” gambit trotted out to justify the egregious actions of the capping broadband usage as the facts just don’t substantiate the claim and they vanish under scrutiny.  T-W does not include the amount of broadband usage in its cap for an internet phone if that phone is a part of T-W’s internet phone plan but it does if one uses Vonage!  Hmmm…  Same wire, same broadband, same last mile.  The same approach applies of any of T-W’s services which involve video transmission–there is plenty of bandwidth to deliver any of T-W’s video on demand features but not for Netflix or YouTube, etc.–because T-W lusts for another pound of flesh on top of the fixed rate it is already charging for unlimited internet access.  The difference is, of course, using monopolistic practices to control an already captive customer base and to gouge it with arbitrary fees with no chance of mitigation or amelioration.  Well, there is one way that a customer can make her voice heard:  cancel all T-W service!  The economy is in the pits, why not save a few bucks by canceling T-W service?  We can use the savings and I’m certain that T-W wouldn’t miss 10 or 20 thousand customers in this area.

There are alternatives to T-W’s internet access available even though they may not have been our first choice.  As the economic travails extend into 2009 and even 2010, the notion of self-reliance is reviving in a populace once jaded by unabashed consumption.  T-W may think that consumers must choose a lesser of two evils; that the choices are between a cable provider or a telco; that whatever we do we will not abandon some glutted form of delivery system which is a product of habit rather than careful consideration.  We could opt out altogether.  What Doc Searls and Steve Lewis have been saying all along is that business fails when it operates on the notion that customers are cattle that need only to be herded by top down business practices instead of an equitable partnership whereby needs are defined by those who have them and met by those who listen in order to satisfy the demands of a well conceived business:  customer satisfaction through customer involvement and profitability for the business.  The concept is simple but the proof is always dependent upon application, which of course translates into a dynamic process rather than a static, etched-in-stone business plan constructed to gain dominion once and for all over those whom they were designed to serve.

State and local government have a role in this since its raison d’etre is the electorate it serves and whose interests and well-being are the clauses in the compact that it is obligated to uphold.  Our United States Senators and members of House of Representatives presumably represent us in congress where the nation’s business is distilled from the reservoir of local needs and requirements.  So far elected officials on all levels have been relatively silent on this issue which means that T-W and similar businesses have powerful, well-financed lobbyists who represent their interests ahead of the average citizen.  Since Bob Dylan claimed in It’s Alright Ma(I’m Only Bleeding)–Money doesn’t talk , it swears–perhaps our representatives will remain mute rather than to reveal their allegiances with obscenities.

Don’t you love farce?
My fault, I fear.
I thought that you’d want what I want…
Sorry, my dear!
And where are the clowns
Send in the clowns
Don’t bother, they’re here.

Among a host of other strengths, President Obama offers a thoughtful, measured approach to governance and coalition building among allies as well as pragmatic diplomatic overtures to those nations with which there are pronounced and substantive political difference.  It is precisely because of this characteristic of thoughtfulness that I find the decision to escalate the role of the US in Afghanistan as so out of sync with the other aspects of Obama’s administration.  I did not support either the US’s incursion into Afghanistan or its subsequent war with Iraq.  In both instances the measures were acts of retribution to absolve the government of failed political policies that short-sightedly treated symptoms instead of pursuing a more holistic approach to diagnose the cause of the ailment first and then to attempt to provide an appropriate remedy.  The necessity of war is always justified with the fallacy of spontaneous generation:  an assumption  which fails to acknowledge the inseparable connection of causality and time.  The conditions for war have never been immediate but rather developed over time due to acts of commission or omission and negligence; therefore, a specific outcome is not automatically mandated.  Alternatives depend on our imagination and industry, whereas war relies on our ability to sanctify killing as a pre-eminently divine right of retaliation–we see our enemies in a context similar to the one portrayed in Jonathan Edwards notorious sermon: Sinners in The Hands Of An Angry God.   George Bush rode the wave of anger and retaliation into the backwater of Talibani fundamentalism and repression–ironically a form of extremism that shares the same fervor and rigidity as fundamentalists of any religion, including a plethora of organizations in the US–for the expressed purpose of apprehending or killing Osama bin Laden, the Saudi mastermind of the brutal September 11 attacks.  He accomplished neither and abandoned Afghanistan after implanting a rag-tag government which, while not as violent as the previous political regime, has become feckless and corrupt.  The wound inflicted on the Afghani people as a result of our seeking retribution for the deaths and the dishonor the nation suffered in the attacks on September 11 festered and became infected with a different and more resistant strand of hatred because the leaders in the Bush administration were less than honest about their purpose or objectives.  Afghanistan was abandoned for all intents and purposes while Bush pursued his true agenda which was born out of that righteous indignation common to all fundamentalism.  In the vacuum created by our indifference, dissidents increasingly gained strength until just as in Iraq radical elements have re-established themselves and have begun to flourish.

As cliched as it is, the phrase, Mighty Satan, has never lost its meaning nor has its referent changed:  the US remains an evil villain which, to the twisted thinking of those who subscribe to such a theory, provides them with ample reason to continue to wage a war against all who oppose them or those who don’t support their cause.  As the US continues to increase its presence in Afghanistan by sending in more troops and supporting civilian personnel, it exacerbates an already tenuous situation.  Hamid Karzai has failed to rise above the tribalism and nepotism that dominates a culture which remains largely hidden to us and obscured by the excesses occasionally documented in press reports.  In a democracy the disaffected generally seek nonviolent and legal resolution to their grievances; however, the history of Afghanistan suggests that its version of town hall meetings is more likely to be conducted with scimitars and kalashnikovs than debates on ideology or points of order.  The inertia gripping Afghanistan has been compounded by decades of war, the colonial ambitions of foreign powers, poverty, and religious extremism.  As the number of American troops grows, the inertia will become more profound and irreversible.

Unfortunately, the withdrawal of troops will not automatically guarantee a cessation of the woes plaguing the people of Afghanistan; however, such an action is a prerequisite to achieve a larger, more inclusive strategy in the region.  Meanwhile, the state of the US economy dictates a re-evaluation of the nation’s overall military objectives in addition to those in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The black hole of war consumes the nation’s resources instead of being applied to rebuilding the crumbling and outdated infrastructure of the US and providing much needed assistance to the downward spiral of American businesses and the havoc unleashed on citizens of this country as a result of these failures.  Amid the gloom there are points of light but our policy in Afghanistan is not one of them nor can we ignore the foreboding implicit in our failure to develop a constructive relationship with two counties that border Afghanistan: Iran and Pakistan.  While Obama’s pragmatism is a welcome change from the Shock and Awe of the previous administration and will certainly promote a much different atmosphere among nations which will be more conducive to fruitful dialog and conflict mediation, it will also court failure if it does not avoid the perils implicit in escalating military activity if the opposition remains entrenched and its resistence becomes more violent.  Victory has always really been a calculus of the degree of pain one combattant inflicts on another; even the finality of death does not guarantee defeat of one’s enemy, it only inflames the hunger of his allies for retribution.  The hand extended in friendship and reconciliation is an empty gesture if it remains unclasped; profound religious and ideological questions remain with regard to Islamic nations which can only be addressed internally.  If the citizens of these nations have neither the will nor the inclination to engage in serious self-examination, the region will continue to suffer through political, social, and economic instability and increasing violence.  And even if we have a respite of sanity in the middle east, North Korea casts a growing shadow from the far east.  I suggest that Barack Obama add William James‘ The Moral Equivalent of War to his Lincoln reading list and compare the earlier pragmatism of James with his own and update the former with contemporary thinking, and perhaps, just perhaps, forge a way to help improve the outlook for all people the world over and seek an end to the nihilistic scourge of war.

The US turned away from the business of manufacturing some time ago in the pursuit of cheap goods and consumption in exchange for fundamental business principles which had made our nation strong and provided a slower path to a more equitable future–a future which could only be realized if there were a fundamental restructuring of the way wealth was distributed; our return to a more stable economy is conditional upon such a revision today.  We, the consumers, were still being born in the USA even as we became morbidly obese by cannibalizing our spirit of self-reliance and impoverishing ourselves on the riches we squandered to create a culture of unending consumption.  We exchanged our birthright gleefully for the slickest, and in many cases, not so slick advertising jingles; our passport may have listed us as citizens of the USA but we were indentured to the things we bought in the USA.  How much is enough is one of those metaphysical conundrums that we have refused to attempt to solve.  Our dilemma, for any group or any individual, has been determining how much should we keep for ourselves and how much should we give to others.  Introduce this topic in any group setting and one may reasonably expect a mathematical progression of rationalizations, all to someone’s mind, plausible, and, with the majority of those ratiocination’s, staunchly in defense of upholding the status quo.

As our economy has floundered, we have become both angry and reflective; however, we have not yet been willing to acknowledge our own culpability in contributing to this crisis and the extent to which we played into the hands of many captains of industry far more greedy than we ever dared to imagine.  But we came close, if not in tangible wealth, certainly in the lust for it as evidenced by our collective appetite for reality entertainment which afforded the opportunity for both riches and notoriety–the illegitimate offspring of fame–so that the allure to sate ourselves enticed us with a ubiquitous doppelganger, the summum bonum of our culture.  Our actions reflected the conduct of desperate men long before the consequences of our behavior became evident or irreversible.  We wanted what we wanted when we wanted it, which was readily translatable into any of the many commercial jingles aired on all manner of media proclaiming our inalienable right to obtain anything that we wanted without restriction.  Hip advertisers chanted a mantra that opportunity is limitless and obstacles are illusory.  There is one especially telling commercial in which the product ordered online is delivered fully produced by downloading it from the internet.  Not unsurprisingly, only the method by which we can complete our transaction is discussed but not how we will be able to pay for our purchase.  Deferred payment trumped deferred pleasure.

Even as the average citizen of this country or any other country in the world struggles with the economic realities with which he or she is confronted, there is at least a certainty that in the near term there will be life altering decisions which will prove to be transformative in the long term; the extent to which these changes will add value is unclear at this time.  “Yes We Can” seems a little less reassuring when the speaker stands with his hands behind his back, fingers crossed, and, as the words leave his lips thinks silently to himself,  “I Hope We Can.  And, with the exception of a few inveterate or recalcitrant self-absorbed ideologues, we hope he can, too.  The counsel for caution is deceptive; desperate times may require desperate measures.  The so-called socialization of America was initiated by a conservative Republican who also shares the honor as being, at present, arguably the worst President in this country’s history; and, who presided over a divisive, duplicitous administration which nearly ruined the foundation of our republic and the democratic principles for which it has been held in high regard throughout the world.  His administration promulgated the concept of war-without-end and un-apologetically plunged the nation into an unnecessary, ill-advised war that remains unresolved and financially unsustainable.

As the ship of state attempts to set its course, it’s churning wake indicates the turbulence through which it must navigate, not the least of which is the uncharted waters of re-shaping America.  Detractors and zealots are quick to shout out instructions to the captain–fore, aft, port, starboard–figuratively controlling the helm, but they do so from a safe distance, unwilling to lay their hand with his to steady the wheel.  Walt Kelly’s observant marsupial, Pogo the possum, observed in one old comic strip: We have met the enemy and he is us.  It is either an optimist or a fool who imagines that self-defeat is a strategy for victory, but that is what stands before us.  An outcome is inevitable; that it will be favorable, is not, but the landscape we will behold shall bear the signs of our struggle.  I cast my vote for the optimist last November; he still has it.

Of course there is a certain enchantment about Charleston regardless of the climate, with the notable exception of hurricanes.  Hugo was the most recent reminder of the potential jeopardy which threatens the port city.  The ambiance and architecture of Charleston is about as near as one can get to the old world charm of European cities in the new world.  While one could never confuse the antebellum mansions and abundant churches of Charleston with the antiquity of Rome’s magnificent buildings and cathedrals, the number, size, and continued interest in preserving the structures are impressive.

Charleston’s storied past is seductive, especially when it is related in the context of artifacts that have survived such as the fine mansions and houses with their peculiar application of stucco over brickwork, a technique used to enhance the status of the owner because it gave the appearance of quarried stone which, in turn was a tangible indicator of greater wealth.  The restored mansions evoke a certain charm, a gentility to the curious tourist now that they are cleansed of the blood and toil of their antebellum birthright.  History holds irony dear as an integral part of selective recall, memories are bland remonstrances cooled by the breezes off the Battery which whisk away the sweat of real people who labored in the tepid air of slavery.  Here, too,  is where we began the slaughter of 600, 000 of our own countrymen so that the dark status quo might be preserved and the stately mansions and plantations could continue to prosper from the scar of human bondage; and, those that survive today, in a less cruel irony, do so as engines of a different kind of commerce, yet commerce nonetheless.

Beyond the picturesque scenery, the horse-drawn carriages and tours, the harbor cruises, the US Park Service’s ritual of the meaning of flags at Ft. Sumter, the innumerable restaurants and variety of cuisines, the accounts of natural catastrophes, the allure of pervasive promotional timeshare schemes, remains a disquieting irony that the hundreds of churches which stand proudly as testaments to the glory of God were unable to lead their congregations to kneel with humility and compassion in their prayers to guide them to an understanding of the biblical imperatives contained in the example of Israel’s  bondage to Pharaoh; their eyes and ears were staunched with sights and sounds of profit and greed, which made them conveniently blind and deaf to the suffering of their human chattel.  As the world economy collapses, politicians continue to cling to ineffectual methods, and genuflect to tired, outdated ideas and philosophies; meanwhile, the innocent and not-so-innocent continue to suffer in not unsurprising proportions which history teaches us generally prevails when calamity is afoot.

How are the condition which we face today different than those in the 1860’s?  There is of course the exquisite irony that the man who now holds the highest office in the land, who is saddled with the burden of reviving an inherited, imploding economy, ending a war which has depleted our resources at the rate of 10 billion dollars a month for the last six years and was commenced on the basis of lies, distortion, and the arrogant perfidy of trivial men, is the first multiracial candidate to be elected President of the United States.  It is also clear that greed is alive and well among us–synonyms are added daily to our language–; that demagoguery has not perished; that inflammatory speech, hate-mongering, and hypocrisy remain the dishonorable implements of men such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage; and, that the success of this administration depends ultimately on the broad shoulders of our citizens.  George W Bush and his minions failed the country they pledged to protect and defend; however, we should not delude ourselves with false piety or absolve ourselves of our own complicity.  We elected them to office, not I personally.  I’m sorry but I must make the disclaimer that I did NOT vote for George W Bush categorical and so I offer a line from E.E. Cummings‘ poem, I Sing of Olaf Glad And Big:  there is some shit I will not eat.

If we are indeed successful in weathering the ominous storm clouds which stretch far beyond any horizon the most perspicacious among us can imagine, history will record the character of our people along with the epitaphs of many may not live to see the task completed.  I hope that what remains will not be sundry buildings or restorations closeting family secrets but a vital community of towns, cities, states, countries ebullient with hope, uplifted with success, and committed to a future which does not depend upon the distortion of the past.

[Update] In keeping with the Roman theme introduced above, Tom Daschle fell on his sword and withdrew from consideration as Health & Human Services Secretary.

Until recently genealogy has commandeered most of my spare time in the last year.  As is usually the case with my kaleidoscope of interests, once a particular subject comes into focus I tend to devote myself exclusively to its study. While genealogy research remains an important activity, I have concluded that it was better for me to control my enthusiasm or else risk alienating family and friends forever. Casting about for something to read that didn’t involve genealogy, I happened upon a book that I had purchased ten or fifteen years ago. As categories go, I am attracted to a variety of genres; however, I have found myself engaged on more than one occasion with science fiction, new age philosophy/religion/psychology, fantasy or fantastic realism as authors Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier referred to their book, The Morning of the Magicians–it remains a favorite of mine. I had just finished the last of Frank Herbert’s sagas about Dune and was curious about some of the other books that he had written. A trilogy that Herbert had coauthored with poet Bill Ransom with its intriguing titles caught my eye: The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor–all obvious allusions to Christian mythology or were they? By the time I decided to read the trilogy it was out of print; however, I was able to locate paperback editions in a local used bookstore where one of the three books was actually an unused copy.

Once I purchased the books I vaguely recall beginning the opening chapter of The Jesus Incident and just as promptly I put it aside. The books remained untouched and until recently, unread. Perhaps, I am able to exercise more patience now than I did when I was much younger, even then, only Romaine Rolland’s Jean-Christophe was the only novel I can honestly say that I was unable to finish: the descriptive passages seemed interminable at the time! I confess re-reading the opening chapter of The Jesus Incident made me question my selection of these particular books of Herbert, after all titles are little help in navigating either to understanding or enjoyment when the vehicle is as abstruse as the content to be delivered. Edgar Cayce was fond of the admonition found in the Bible from Luke, In patience possess ye your soul, when he warned against a hasty rush to judgment and so I patiently read on until my curiosity was sufficiently piqued, and my soul, well, it was coming along for the journey too. Persistence becomes a virtue when achievement is neither exclusive nor solitary, and if it’s also a possibility, so much the better.

One of the hallmarks of Herbert’s writing is his examination and presentation of a variety of societal issues: racism, religion, politics, genetics, science, technology, ecology, and specific subsets within all of the foregoing areas. The Jesus Incident certainly touches on many themes; it challenges the believer’s notion of God in a narrative terrain inhabited by means of the apparent achievements of artificial intelligence while retaining the element of mystery so many believers attach to the divine and to which they cling regardless of their own environment and circumstances. A clever but not so subtle interplay of words illustrates the evolution of meaning implied in religious, mystical terminology. The ship, a vessel used for space exploration is imbued with consciousness through an artificial intelligence program written by the inhabitants on board becomes, over an undisclosed span of time, Ship and defines Its desire to have a relationship with Its passengers as a ritual aptly called WorShip. Since The Jesus Incident is the first book in the trilogy and was preceded by a prequel, Destination: Void one will have to decide if, as the book’s title suggests, a pivotal incident, is fact, fiction or if either condition is necessary or relevant to a fundamental understanding of who we are, where we are going and how we should conduct ourselves on that journey.

Some of text appears dated and outmoded when juxtaposed to current descriptions of our technological advancements; most of the language and nuances of the concepts alluded to remain quite authentic and do not suffer from the conceptual deprecation so obvious in rebroadcast Star Trek episodes. The Jesus Incident does not approach the sheer elegance of imagination Herbert achieved with Dune but it does offer one a chance to evaluate persistent ideas and attitudes which affect our collective psyche today transposed to a nearly foreign context in a different time: one that is not only conceivable, but eminently plausible in light of current achievements in genetics, the state of health of our planet, the search to control and transform the use and source of energy, the global economic challenges, and the prosecution of war as a constant state of diplomacy.  If we are forunate, there may yet be a Kerro Panille among us, a poet who listens to Vata and sings its truth.

To help satisfy my growing appetite for establishing creditable documentation, I joined a variety of online genealogy forums, subscribed to Ancestry, began visiting LDS Family History Centers regularly, and continued to make a nuisance of myself to any and all relatives who might have a shred of evidence to help me reconstruct the story of our family.  As luck would have it, one of my cousins had stashed away in a lock box a cache of letters written in Italian from my great uncle in Sicily to my grandfather in America spanning the years from 1932 to 1946 that provided an intimate albeit incomplete portrait of family history.  My mother insisted that my first language was Italian; she and I lived with my grandparents until I was two years old while my father was serving in the Pacific Theater on Okinawa courtesy of the US Army near the close of WWII.  Unfortunately whatever language facility my infant tongue possessed was lost shortly thereafter; no trace of its existence remain in the flickering images of my memory.  If I were to make sense of the correspondence between my grandfather and his brother, I would have to make good finally on the promise I made to myself when I entered college to learn Italian so that one day I could converse with my grandmother in her native tongue.  I did not learn Italian in college.  The truth is I did attempt to study Italian; however, the college I attended did not offer a course in Italian, nor did any of the four other colleges and universities nearby.  Armed with an Italian-English dictionary I had purchased in 1990 when my wife and I spent two weeks in Italy, I limped along at translating the three earlier documents I had.  The handwriting was as daunting as the language I was endeavoring to understand, and I soon realized that I was confronted with another obstacle, dialect: the Dragotto’s and the Monte’s from Belmonte Mezzagno were Sicilians and not Florentines–neither Dante nor modern Italian captured precisely the meaning contained in those epistles.

Online societies can be distractions, but properly chosen, they can be immeasurably beneficial.  Fortunately I chanced upon one of the best Italian genealogy sites online.  I submitted the letters page by page to the translators and waited each day with baited breath as the saga of two brothers separated by an ocean and a culture slowly, sadly, lovingly unfolded.  While my experiences in researching my ancestors traversed peaks and valleys, I was introduced to and accompanied by a community of people who were engaged in a similar journey; each of us, in the final analysis, is confronted with the task of finding meaning in everyday existence as Viktor Frankl suggested in Man’s Search For Meaning.

The patience and generosity extended to me by so many of those who participated in the forum were also people who valued the courage and spirit of their antecedents so I was surprised to find a comment that contained an implied racial innuendo which, stood out sharply from the many positive, congratulatory remarks regarding president elect Barack Obama’s victory.  I responded to the comment in a civil tone as the man who was being disparaged would.  The site moderator reminded forum members that any discourteous or disrespectful posts would be removed.  It was a genealogy site after all and not a political discussion group.  And then another comment followed.  As the commentary continued, a stream of cynicism bubbled up; faint echoes of the racial overtones that were once encoded in the old, all-too-familiar phrases that bludgeoned non-white America with Jim Crow laws or categorized immigrants as spic, wop, kike, chink, mic, or any other epithet designed to tear away one’s humanity and substitute in its stead a septic otherness:  Those of us who have engaged in tracing southern roots have likely encountered the slave schedules of 1850 and 1860 where human beings are listed under their white masters by age, sex, and color but not by name.

As the incoming administration has articulated its hope, vision, and plan for the nation, expectations have soared.  My fear is that we, as a nation and as individuals, will regard those expectations as exterior to ourselves, that we will not embrace the very responsibilities we demand of our leaders, that we will opt to watch one man fail while we fulminate over broken promises and false hope.  If those hopes and expectations were Barack Obama’s alone, we should not have elected him president; if we were so cynical that we’d rather debase ourselves by attributing our failure as his, then we deserve the consequences of our bigotry.  Forty-eight percent of the participating electorate apparently did not share Obama’s hope and certainly had much lower expectations.  The architecture of governance required to house this tenuous majority and this formidable minority can only be designed and constructed with tools of reason and the sweat equity earned through commitment to common values and respect for philosophical differences.  The precarious logic required to create such a synthesis may very well be outlined in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem Brahma.

Brahma

If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot to me is near,
Shadow and sunlight are the same,
The vanished gods to me appear,
And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

In the heat of accusation and recrimination, a torpor of ignorance and callousness enervates the spirit of religious freedom.  Christian values are myopically proclaimed as if they are penultimate criteria for establishing worth; and, while one might suppose that other religions are relegated to subordinate status by our national might, it is we who are diminished, it is our ideals that are tarnished and toppled ignominiously like foreign statuary.  Our republic is unique in its profession of a single constituency;  it hangs together because we are enriched through our differences and not separated by them: One nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all–the source of the brouhaha, the UNDER GOD part that was added to the original Pledge of Allegiance back in 1954 .  Interesting, the author of the Pledge of Allegiance which, was written in 1892 was Frances Bellamy, a Christian Socialist and Baptist minister: it seems unlikely that the omission of  “God” was an oversight.  The slander of godlessness fouls the air.  Not because some monstrous irreligious heresy has been exposed.  No, the culpability of those involved is even more odious because precious time and effort have been wasted on nothing more than foolish conceit, or even worse, a transparent veil of pretense.

Perspective becomes irrelevant, methods are immaterial, the ends don’t justify the means because the means no longer matter.  Friend or foe, ally or enemy are arbitrary and impermanent arrangements by which the world is ordered. The sad irony is that it doesn’t matter with whom we cast our lot because we are plagued with a universal ignorance:

You never ask questions
When God’s on your side.

With God On Our Side
Bob Dylan