Pre Destruction

[Listening to King Crimson now, "Matte Kudasai"]

It's three-thirty am going on two-thirty am Sunday morning, a mere two days away from the selection of our next president, either Barack Obama, or John McCain. I say 'selection', too, as a distinction of the possibility that this election COULD land itself in the courts upon completion, compounded by the many stories of voter registration fraud by Acorn et al in various cites of key swing states.

In saying that, I catch myself. I only believe that a near-loss by ONE of these candidates would result in a selfish struggle to contest it's outcome:
For John McCain, my guess is that he would concede the election, without drawn-out protestation, lawsuits, etc., if the margin separating these two candidates is anything close to that of 2000 or 1960. Nixon was wildly urged to contest the outcome of that election against Kennedy, separated by some 200,000 votes, but he coolly declined, saying that he didn't want to put the nation through that kind of anguish. McCain is cut from similar cloth.

[Sara Malachlan in the room, "Angel"]

I am acutely aware of the world's condition right now, particularly from my own place in it. I have led a great life so far, and despite whomever becomes our next President, it will never diminish the full life I've led up to this point.

And a home-made hip-hop video from one of the guys from my regiment at Bragg:

I've jumped out of soaring airplanes at midnight with the best of America's men in the 82nd Airborne while under Reagan's last two years in office, and the next two under Sr Bush 41. Rest assured, it was an extraordinary thing to withhold. The life of an infantry soldier is spent in the field, sleeping on the ground, and being around many different men, their tempers, their drunkeness, and their flaws for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for many years. The life-threatening things we were doing together there will last a lifetime in my mind's eye.

This is what it looked like most of the time (notice the amount of gear on each one of the men, compared to daylight jumps in the videos above):



To have survived the four excellent years of trainning, from Bragg to camp Hovey, and finally, Hopkinsville, KY, all of which were light infantry units that I was graced to have been assigned, seems only a gift of fortune from God above. To have landed in the best-trained fighting force that the world has ever known, at America's apex of cold war threat with its arch enemy, the murderous U.S.S.R....and to be on the tip of that spear, as an 11C 1p, constantly trained and rigged to deploy anywhere in the world in 18 hour's notice, to be dispatched by parachuting out of a C-131 or by rapelling out of a UH-60 Blackhawk at 4 am is the proudest accomplishment I have yet to surpass in my 41 years.

God's grace got me through it, to be sure, including the eternally great luck to have not been born into any of the billion other possibilities that any of us might in a similar life: a Hindu in a war-torn village on the Pakistani-Indian border; a Mayan youth chased down by Aztec warriors for temple sacrafice in 1520; a Burmese farmer with a tattoo as a brand of the feudal lord he serves in 1780.

No outcome in two days will take away from the satisfaction I feel since I patroled the DMZ on the 38th parallel in 1988. I was part of a once-great nation that sent a totally volunteer force to stand guard against tyranny, despotism, and total ruin for a people I'd never met, and would never see again. Who else can claim such an experience? Chances are, it's one of my brothers who was with me when I did it, and he is around you now, quietly facing each day with you, never too brash or presumptive to get freaked out about civilian life. He is quiet and resolved because he has been through things which thoroughly tested his steel.

I was with this great beauty when it mattered, this American experiment, in ways in which ALL other men want, but only few are brave enough to win it. And I came back from it all a better man. It is a spiritual endeavor to have served something bigger than yourself, because your life and the guy next to you is dependent upon your focus, your courage, and your discipline. It is a life which forces you to put your money where your mouth is, and it stays with you forever.

[Morcheeba, "Trigger Hippie"]

The most meaningful accomplishments were available to me, (like a college degree [two], a career as an FM radio announcer in many diferent cities, states), an American, because men sacraficed to create a free market nation, where the notion of competition, education, and merit meant more to us than probably any other nation in this world.

I was able to compete for entrance into four-year colleges on the merit of my test scores; I was able to compete for skilled positions in radio stations based on my talent and gifts; I was able to contract for work from area car dealerships based on how well I could paint their automobiles. Only in America could I have had this much opportunity to develop a skill, to learn a new craft, and actually compete in the marketplace of ideas. Try that in Sudan, North Korea, or the Ukraine.

It keeps you (mostly) honest, having to produce something in this world of consummerism, today. And it still is true, even if you work for yourself or someone else, as there is always some alternative to the product or service for which you get up every day. Being thankful for what you have while in America is a precious thing, I believe. Being a citizen of America affords you the best chance to enjoy the best that life has to offer.

This is the music of my people, filmed in Norton, Va, just a few minutes down the road from where I grew up. Ralph Stanley is performing "Stone Walls & Steel Bars", originally made popular by Ralph & Junior Brown:

Growing up in the mountains of southwest Virginia was a somewhat lonely experience, as my father's people had been there for over 200 years, progressing from farmer to farmer, many drunk a lot of the time, living in the remote reaches of the Appalachian mountains. I've done well, and so far, what I've come to think about my place in this world can be summed up thusly: It's been a great life so far, and I hope that I get another 41 years on this wild ride, but if I am stopped short of that, it won't have been a lesser experience.

Unfortunately, my beloved Dr Ralph Stanley is just as capable of disappointing me when it comes to a particular artist opening their mouth to offer political wisdom:

I have just moved back to a small hurricane room in a small fishing community in south Florida. I have lived here before, as it was the same room I lived in while taking care of my frail grandparents from 2005-2008. My grandfather passed a year ago, I moved across the county, and my grandmother moved to Virginia to be around the rest of my family, my mother, my brother, his 4 yr-old girl, and wife. She will be back for the winter months, trying to sort out the details of this widow's house.

I was laid off three weeks ago, and couldn't afford the rent on the duplex I was living in for the past year.

The neighborhood wasn't great, but for my salary it was the best I could afford: (Just left it for good, yesterday.)

Now I'm back, and this is the look of my surroundings before I mess them up from cramming stuff in every corner and nook of this 12 x 12:
My network:

My girlfriend gave me the great bamboo plant for my birthday. She's great:

(Web url is a tech's site for diy radios. Pretty kewl)

Had to find room to complete my 5.1 dolby surround sound with my Polk center speaker--stand came in handy to allow for heat transference from my Onkyo a/v receiver.

Phoebe decides to look off-camera for dramatic effect. She's been my best friend since I got her 9 years ago. She's made every move with her father, never complaining once along the way, whether she had a place with 6 rooms and a backyard to romp around in, or just 2 in this case.

Bedside reading and security.

Bathroom/espresso bar/dog-feeding station:

Shower stall:

These pictures are what my world looks like, "Pre Destruction", while things are newly in their place, relatively neat.

This is what our nation is like, "Pre Destruction", before what may be the election which hastened her fall.