Today is one of two days each year on which we honor those who have served the United States of America in her Armed Forces. Veterans' Day honors all who have served; Memorial Day particularly honors those who lost their lives in the performance of that service. Unless you are utterly ignorant of history, you know that Veterans' Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, originally commemorates the Armistice which ended World War I at 11:00 AM on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

On Veterans' Day and Memorial Day, politicians say the right things, newspapers and magazines run the right articles, and pundits bloviate about the courage and fortitude of the American fighting men and women and the nobility of service.

And it's all a crock.

The sad truth is that many Americans today, particularly those in the upper classes, have no desire to serve in the military. Even our current Vice President has admitted that he had better things to do. While I think it's a gross oversimplification to say that the Services are drawn mainly from the poor and disadvantaged, it's not wrong to say that people in those socioeconomic groups are those who are most likely to see military service as a way of getting an education and a steady job and getting out of small-town America. Many of those with the right names or the family money or the higher education think military service is a waste of their valuable time and talents.

Where is the sense of duty and obligation that motivated Americans in the past? My father, and millions of others, answered the nation's call during World War II. I spent 23 years in the Air Force, retiring from the service in 1996. One of my brothers spent more than 20 years in the Navy, and the other served in the Army. I believe that we all have an obligation to serve the country that gives us so much. I only regret that more people don't believe the same thing.

It may sound trite, but I really believe in the saying that we can sleep well in our beds because there are rough men who stay awake in the night to protect us from those who would do us harm.

And it's too bad that we only remember it two days a year.

Thank a Veteran, particularly if he (or she) is doing the job you think is beneath your dignity or not worth your time.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Just a short note today to share something great with you...

I recently stumbled on a wonderful website: Head Butler (http://www.headbutler.com). It's described as "A plugged-in cultural concierge who will tell you about books, music and movies," and it's a great source of reviews of cultural offerings for those of us who enjoy them but are too busy to follow too many things too closely. Head Butler has tipped me off to authors I didn't know or appreciate, movies I've enjoyed, and music that I might never otherwise have heard.

Somewhere, many years ago, I read an essay in which the author estimated the last year in which a well-educated man (women didn't count that far back, of course) could - literally - know everything there was to know. Sadly, I no longer remember the source or the date, but it's a fascinating idea: to be able to know everything. Obviously, nowadays no one - not even the most puffed up pundit - can know all there is to know, but Head Butler is a great place to start on the cultural parts.

Highly recommended...check it out, and let me know what you think.

Have a good day. If you're off today (as I am), enjoy your long weekend. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Back on November 6th I wrote in this blog about "diversity," noting that it can be either good or bad: good when it encourages us to a higher level of understanding and cooperation, and bad when it encourages a Balkanization (don't you just love that word?) of racial, ethnic, or religious groups.

It can also be taken to silly and wasteful organizational extremes. Almost every major business, and certainly every government agency, has an office of substantial size dedicated to ensuring that the business or agency is properly "diverse," whether or not that diversity has any particular impact on its operations and efficiency. I found what may be the ultimate example of this not long ago as I was cruising down a Pentagon hallway and spotted a sign on an office door: "Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Strategic Diversity Integration (Research Assistant)."

I was amazed. First of all, by the sheer size of the signature block, which must certainly occupy the lower third of the page of an average letter. Second, by the bombastic magnificence of the title itself, which sounds positively imperial. And third, just by the sheer silliness of having such an individual...who, of course, is no doubt handsomely paid and has a staff of eight people to help ensure "strategic diversity integration," whatever that is. I did a Google search and found this article, which offers some explanation - http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=PATTERAKIS-03-23-06. But I find myself still hugely unimpressed.

At a time when the Air Force is at war, when it is shedding people in order to pay for aircraft, weapons, and operating expenses, I think it's amazing that the service has chosen to spend scarce dollars on a nine-person office dedicated to the feel-good goal of ensuring "strategic diversity integration" of the force that remains. Somehow, I doubt that the Soldier or Marine who calls for air support to help get him out of a tough firefight will be very concerned that someone on the Air Staff in Washington made sure that the pilot who comes to his aid was carefully selected to represent a particular demographic slice of America...he cares that the person can fly the airplane to the right place and drop fire and iron on the heads of the people who are trying to kill him.

Yes, diversity per se is a worthy thing. We grow and learn through our contact with people whose backgrounds, experiences, and cultures are different from our own. But I scarcely think that the Air Force needs a Deputy Assistant Secretary and staff to encourage this.

If someone has a good explanation of why this is a good investment of my tax dollars, I'm willing to listen and consider it...but you've got a tough job ahead of you.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

One of my favorite quotations is attributed to Mark Twain who, commenting on the disappointing results of an election, is supposed to have said, "The people have spoken, the bastards!"

I'm sure that many Republicans, particularly the President, are saying that today in the wake of yesterday's midterm elections which gave Democrats clear control of the House of Representatives and, possibly, control of the Senate (two states are still in contention as I write this, one of them being my adopted home state of Virginia).

So what does it all mean? In my view, not very much.

I would hope that the stinging rebuke given to the Republicans in the House and Governors' races will be a wake-up call that they have lost America's confidence and need to spend more time building bridges and less time being arrogantly dismissive of the concerns of the opposition. I would also hope that the Democrats take the opportunity to pursue the moderate agenda that the nation seems to want, and not use their big wins to take revenge (however well earned) on the Republicans. Unfortunately, though, I don't think this will be the case. The stubbornly and poisonously partisan, take-no-prisoners style of politics now in vogue seems to me to guarantee a Congress which will continue to be stymied by a lack of willingness to compromise on issues in order to move forward on the nation's problems.

And that's the issue: the current political tendency to equate principled compromise with craven selling out. Where are the statesmen? Where are the leaders with the vision and the moral courage to reach out to their opponents, find the areas of common ground, and build on them to realize the dream of a better future?

Time will tell whether or not the Democrats can be good winners and the Republicans good losers, working together for the benefit of America as a whole, rather than the partisan interests of their parties. I guess I'll be cautiously hopeful, even though the odds are long.

But I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Yes, today is my birthday...I've made it through another year, added another growth ring, whatever. I'm steadily marching toward being an officially old guy, but I don't feel old (at least, most of the time). What are some of the things that help keep me young?

* Three grown, successful children, of whom I'm enormously proud.

* The world's three most beautiful grandchildren (although I tend to feel about three times my age after they've spent a day playing with grandpa).

* A beautiful and loving wife.

* The joy of good friends.

* New opportunities every day to learn new things.

* Books, books and more books. If the world's authors stopped publishing tomorrow, I'd still be set for life trying to read through everything we have on the endless shelves at home...but I sure hope they don't stop!

* Glorious sunrises and sunsets.

* (Of course) Ballroom dancing...the world's most underappreciated sport. But that's just as well...if more men understood the pleasure of a sport you play holding beautiful ladies in elegant clothes close to your body, I'd have a lot more competition!

But this year, there's a downside to my birthday - it happens to coincide with Election Day. And while I look forward to performing my duty as a citizen of this great nation to cast my vote, it's been tough getting through the last few weeks of hysterical, information-free political ads on TV and radio. And those in addition to the bales of printed attack ads that have choked my mailbox, the automated phone calls that I (automatically and immediately) hang up on, and the herds of earnest young political workers who pass out flyers door-to-door and at the Metro station...few of whom really appear to be able to answer detailed questions about where their candidates stand on particular issues. When I finally push the big, red VOTE button on the machine in an hour or so, it will be with a sense of duty completed, mixed with happiness that the hoopla is over.

At least until 2008, when it will be worse.

But so much for that - I'm going to enjoy this birthday and look forward to many more in the future!

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Is "diversity" a good thing?

Everywhere you turn nowadays, we celebrate the "diversity" of America as a good thing. We look at our government, our political parties, our businesses, and many other parts of our community life and evaluate them on their "diversity" - that is, the degree to which they represent the myriad ethnic, religious, and racial groups that make up America.

I will allow that "diversity," in the sense of many different groups contributing to a unified whole, is a good thing. But I don't think that's the sense that most groups think of diversity today. If you are black, Catholic, Hispanic, Jewish, Asian, Muslim, or whatever, "diversity" seems to mean the degree to which your particular ethnic, racial, or religious group' interests are protected above those of other groups. Does your business employ the proper percentage mix of minority groups? If so, you have passed the diversity test.

America is what it is because many people of many backgrounds chose to work together to build a nation very different from what they left behind. They chose to be "Americans," rather than Muslims living in America, or Italians who opted to live somewhere other than Italy. When I was in grade school and high school, we were required to take a subject called "Civics," which taught us what it meant to be an American, how our government worked, and what our responsibilities as citizens are. This is a subject that, sadly, appears to have disappeared from our schools, because it somehow offends the sense of "diversity" that is the mantra of many groups today.

On October 30th of this year, Thomas Sowell published a very thoughtful article in The Wall Street Journal titled "Diversity's Oppressions." The key quote from his article is this: "Despite much gushing about how we should 'celebrate diversity,' America's great achievement has not been in having diversity, but in taming its dangers that have run amok in many other countries. Americans have by no means escaped diversity's oppressions and violence, but we have reined them in."

Diversity is both good and bad. To the extent that it encourages each of us to give the best of what our group has to offer for the benefit of the nation, it's good. To the extent that it divides us into groups interested only in preserving our interests and individual cultural mores, it's bad.

So consider what you mean when you "celebrate diversity." You may be working to undermine the greatest achievement of many generations of Americans - a melting pot of marvelous ingredients that have given us the most dynamic and free nation on earth.

Don't give it up.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Some thoughts about ballroom dancing...

Yes, I know that the midterm election is coming up, that illegal immigration is still an unresolved (and politically ignored) issue, that gun violence continues to claim innocent lives, and that global warming is (maybe) a critical topic. Yes, all these things are important. But sometimes, it's also important to think about the things that bring joy to our lives, instead of problems.

At a dinner conversation this evening, I talked about what I've gained from my training in and love of ballroom dancing...and I think it was an important enough conversation to share with you.

Those who knew me when I was in grade school, high school, and college remember me as the premiere geek...the bookish, average-looking, marginally athletic fellow that was always in the shadow of the jocks, admiring the "hot babes" from a distance, but always intimidated by them. Amazingly enough, I managed to find a nice lady and get married...get divorced...find another nice lady...and remain married for the last 24 years. But at heart, I was always still the shy geek...until Agnes dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the world of ballroom dancing.

To all you guys out there who scoff, I would just say this: there's nothing in the world like walking onto a dance floor and being recognized for your skill at making the ladies feel beautiful and appreciated. There's no feeling quite like being the recovering geek who has women approaching him to ask for a dance. And, even though I'm as happily married as a man can be, there's just something awesome about knowing that there are ladies out there who want me to take them in my arms for three minutes of no-fault, no-committment bliss on the dance floor.

So, you jocks can go ahead and scoff. And you guys who think dancing is for sissies can go right ahead and spend your time at the gym with all the other hairy, sweaty men...I'll take care of making your ladies feel like sophisticated and desirable women, three minutes at a time.

Have a good evening, and a good week. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

According to a number of recent news articles, the total cost of media advertising by both political parties and assorted issue groups for Tuesday's midterm elections will amount to approximately 2.6 billion dollars. Yes, that's billion, with a capital B.

This is a disgrace.

Comedians joke about the United States having the best government money can buy, but this is the sort of thing that proves it. Politicians and their supporters are spending tens of millions of dollars per day to buy their way into office, and most of that money is being spent on slick, expensive media advertisements that combine hysteria with rank mudslinging and outright falsehoods. The website "FactCheck.org," which I have cited here before, has carefully documented literally dozens of outrageous political ads ranging from incomplete or intentionally distorted claims about an opponent to complete lies...and the worst part is that most of those lies will be swallowed whole by voters to busy, lazy, or apathetic to check them out for themselves. Check out the latest FactCheck.org summary, titled "The Whoppers of 2006," at http://www.factcheck.org/article467.html for examples of the low points in political muckraking.

Both the Republicans and the Democrats are guilty of gross disregard for the truth, but I give the Republicans an edge for the most shrill and over-the-top accusations and attacks against not only the Democrats, but even against the average citizen who dares consider voting against them. It's little wonder that people don't vote any more, when all you hear day in and day out is candidates telling you not why you should vote for them, but why their opponents are horned, fork-tailed, cloven-hoofed demons.

Before you cast your vote, think about all the good that could have been done with that $2.6 billion that's been squandered on political ads.

Have a good evening. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

We're less than a week away from this year's midterm elections, and the mudslinging and bloviation are in full force. This is one of the very few downsides of living in a democracy, but I'll put up with it in order to have my voice heard, small though it may be.

One of the interesting things about this year's campaign season is the level of hysteria over the security of electronic voting machines. The manufacturers, obviously, tell us that they are safe and secure as long as reasonable physical and procedural security precautions are taken; opponents, on the other hand, are very concerned about the potential for hacking, tampering, vote fraud, and all the other nefarious things politicians tend to accuse each other of. The latest idea for ensuring the security and honesty of the electronic machines is to have them print a paper record of each person's vote.

I think all this discussion is healthy, but fundamentally stupid.

First of all, let's face the fact that there is likely no form of balloting that can't be rigged somehow. To me, the only issue is this: which type of balloting best combines accuracy, security, and ease of use? And to me, the answer is simple: the good, old, time-tested, paper ballot that the voter actually fills in with indelible ink.

The advantages of the paper ballot are clear: each voter can be issued one ballot as he signs in, making it difficult to vote twice. The ballot has all the candidates and issues clearly printed with a big, empty box next to each choice, making it difficult to misinterpret or mark erroneously. The voter uses a Sharpie or similar indelible ink pen to fill in the right blocks (or to write in his alternative choice). The ballot is easy to count, either by hand or by optical scanning. And if - in spite of our best efforts to design an idiot-proof ballot - the voter makes a mistake, he can exchange the ballot for a blank one and the spoiled ballot can be destroyed on the spot under the eagle eyes of the election monitors using a common shredder. A paper ballot doesn't need power to be operated, won't lose its memory, and can't be hacked.

There are, of course, disadvantages. Crooked poll workers can always obtain extra blank ballots, mark them as desired, and insert them into the hopper. But good ballot accounting can, in my view, prevent this. If the results show that more ballots have been cast than there are registered voters who were issued ballots, the excess number is simply divided in half, with half of the excess deleted from the count for each party. Ballots, especially absentee ballots, can be lost or misplaced. But again, good planning, accounting, and poll security can minimize the chance of this happening.

On the whole, I believe that the basic paper ballot, combined with sound planning, thorough training of poll workers, good accounting procedures, continuous oversight, and good security, is the best option for ensuring an election as free of fraud and criminality as we can make it.

But I do have to say that the electronic voting machines have one advantage: because you only need one finger to cast your vote, they leave you with a hand free to hold your nose to protect yourself from the stench of poisonous partisan politics.

No matter how you vote, paper or electronic, be sure to turn out on November 7th. Voting is your most fundamental civic responsibility, and if you don't vote, you have no right to criticize the actions of your government.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Happy Halloween!

As I sit here and wait for the onslaught of the trick-or-treaters, it occurs to me to wonder: what are the things that scare me?

They've changed over time, of course. When I was young, I loved to stay up late Saturday night to watch "Chiller Theater" and be scared by all the monsters Hollywood churned out. At one time, I bought and built a plastic model kit of The Mummy (98 cents from the Aurora company). It stood proudly on my bedroom dresser, shambling across a field of broken tombstones with it's arm threateningly outstretched for the nearest victim. One night I woke up to go to the bathroom and was horrified to see the huge shadow of the mummy cast on my wall by the night light from the hall. I just about wet myself on the spot. Needless to say, each night after that, the plastic mummy spent the night on the closet shelf, with the doors firmly closed.

But the world has moved on, and there are things I worry about more than walking mummies. What are the things that scare me at 55 that I didn't even think about at 10?

* Making a mistake on my taxes that brings the full guilty-until-proven-innocent weight of the IRS down on my head.

* Street crime and violence.

* Radical Muslims who think it's perfectly okay to kill me if I don't appreciate the peaceful nature of their religion.

* Twisted people who abuse children.

* Stupid politicians.

On the whole, I was happier with The Mummy and the other horrors from Chiller Theater, because I could always turn off the TV and turn on the lights and know that everything was really all right. Sadly, we can't do that with modern horrors.

And that's what's really scary.

Enjoy Halloween, where the frights only last a short time and the children enjoy them. They'll have to face the real horrors all too soon.

Have a good evening. More thoughts coming up.

Bilbo