Do you read the reports of the DOD, Donald?

The Defense Science Board was established as an arm of the Defense Department in 1956. Its role is to investigate how science may help in developing radical new weapons system. I suspect that they interpret their role broadly as in October they published a report entitled “Strategic Communications”. Here are some excerpts from that report (http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2004-09-Strategic_Communication.pdf).

“the United States is engaged in a generational and global struggle about ideas, not a war between the West and Islam.”

A new approach to strategic communication “will build on in-depth knowledge of other cultures and factors that motivate human behavior. …..it avoids slogans, quick fixes and mind sets of winners and losers…..it begins with listening….it makes informed decisions”

“Policies will not succeed unless they are communicated to global and domestic audiences in ways that are credible and allow them to make informed, independent judgments.”

“messages should seek to reduce, not increase, perceptions of arrogance, optimism and double standards.”

“There is consensus …that U.S. public diplomacy is in crisis. Missing are strong leadership, strategic direction, adequate coordination, sufficient resources and a culture of measurement and evaluation. America’s image problem, many suggest, is linked to perceptions of the United States as arrogant, hypocritical and self-indulgent.”

“The focus is more on capturing and killing terrorists than attitudinal, political and economic forces that are the underlying source of threats and opportunities in national security.”

“Islam’s crisis must be understood as a contest of ideas and engaged accordingly.”

“Americans have inserted themselves into this intra-Islamic struggle in way that have made us and enemy of most Muslims.”

“There is no yearning-to-be-liberated-by-the-U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies.”

“The U.S. urgently needs to think in terms of promoting actual positive change.”

“the perception of intimate U.S. support of tyrannies in the Muslim World is perhaps the critical vulnerability in American strategy. It strongly undercuts our message, while strongly promoting that of the enemy.”

“American direct intervention in the Muslim World has paradoxically elevated the stature of and support for radical, while diminishing support for the United States to single-digits in some Arab societies.”

“Muslims do not “hate our freedom”, but, rather, they hate our policies.”

“Thus when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.”

“in the eyes of Muslims, American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering.”

“American actions and the flow of events have elevated the authority of the Jihadi insurgents and tended to ratify their legitimacy among Muslims.”

“Thus the critical problem in American public diplomacy…..is a fundamental problem of credibility. Simply out, there is none.”

“Arguably the first step toward mitigating and eventually reversing this situation is to better understand the values and worldviews of the target audience itself.”

“Muslims see American policies as inimical to their values, American rhetoric about freedom and democracy as hypocritical and American actions as deeply threatening.”

Someone wants me dead

As I write this, someone – it may be you, reader – wants me dead. Although he has never met me nor seen me or even my photograph, he is convinced that the world would be a better place if I were no longer in it, for I am another one of those people who has not accepted his god or his view of his god. And, I have been lucky enough to have been born and live in an environment where there is opportunity to realize whatever potential I may have.

Of the many who would prefer that I and other infidels were dead, only a very few would actually try to kill me. Yet, it only takes one dedicated person to kill me and, if he or she so desired, thousands with me. My killer may live down the street or 5,000 miles away. He may be a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, a Sikh, a Hindu, or any of the thousands of religions that dot the planet. He (or she) is buoyed by those who acquiesce in my murder but lack the “courage” to do the deed.

In almost all cases I am relying on my society to do what it can to see that I live my allotted years. But, my expectations vary with the level of society. One expectation that I do not have is that we will turn the other cheek; sad to say, in some circumstances violence is necessary.

If my killer lives next door, I must rely on my powers of persuasion and those of my neighbors and, if they fail, my waning physical abilities as it’s doubtful that the local police could respond in time. If my killer lives in or comes to Massachusetts, I must rely more on the resources of the state in identifying potential killers and in encouraging tolerance and understanding of one’s fellow citizens. If my killer lives in another country, I must rely on the resources, intelligence and ‘smarts’ of the federal government. At this level I feel less secure than at the state or personal level. We have the resources. We have, but need to improve, our intelligence. We have lacked the ‘smarts’ because we are convinced that we are always right and the others are always wrong.

The federal government has to realize that the ‘war on terror’ is more than a military one. It is a battle for people’s hearts and minds. We have to begin to make our words into deeds. We need to understand why we have become the enemy for so many of our fellow residents of this planet. With this knowledge we can then decide what is the American thing to do.

There is movement towards making your vote count

If we start today, maybe enough of us will eventually be convinced that we can make our vote count in a presidential election, whether we're a Republican in Massachusetts, a Democrat in Texas or a Libertarian in Wyoming. There are steps being taken to eliminate the Electoral College. Jesse Jackson, Jr. introduced HJR109 and Delahunt and others have introduced HJR103; both bills call for a popular election of the president and vice president.

We can do something today: write our senator or congressman; sign a petition at
http://www.fairvote.org/petitions/ec/index.php
or write a letter to the editor of your local paper.

Goodby IE?

Many of the most important events of my life have been the result of a chance encounter or an off-hand comment. For example, a brief conversation at a party led to my spending thirty plus years as an entrepreneur. Now, changing browsers is nowhere as important. But, I’ve just changed from Internet Explorer (IE) to Firefox as a result of a brief conversation with an Open Source adherent.

And, surprisingly, from my early experiences with Foxfire, it really seems to be a very good piece of software with some nice features that IE does not have. It’s particularly strong in its privacy aspects. For example, I’ve got a thing about spyware. So, very often with IE I would individually and manually clear out those spyware cookies I did not want. Firefox adopts a different approach and, once they are deleted, you can tell it to keep them out forever. Of course, since there are many fewer users of Firefox, there is less likelihood of a virus. They tout their tabbed browsing and, once I get used to it, it may be pretty nice. Searching is easier as Google is built into the toolbar and other search engines are readily available without typing a url.

Converting was a snap. The download of the software was fast; the importing of favorites, cookies, etc. from IE was even faster. Within two minutes I was surfing. Pages look a little crisper, but that may be wishful thinking. It loads and runs as fast as IE – and, maybe, a little faster. And, it’s free! If you’re interested, go to getfoxfire.com.

This is my first real experience with open source software and, thus far, I’m impressed. Maybe it is for the average user as well as the advanced developer. I look forward to the 1.0 release of Thunderbird, their e-mail product.

Isn't the cable industry magnanimous?

Miracles can still happen! The cable industry is willing to forego 14% to 30% more revenue that the recent FCC study claims would be the result of allowing consumers to choose only the cable stations they want. Isn’t that wonderful? The cable industry is more interested in serving the general public than in serving their stockholders. Yeah, right. And I have a bridge I’ll donate to you.

Men’s Spirituality: Does It Need the Gift of Faith?

I will give this talk at church on Sunday.

As I walked to the podium today, I heard my mother speaking to me from the grave. “Now you’ve done it.”, she said. “How can you even be in a Protestant church? Let alone about to tell people about your spiritual journey without mentioning God or the one true Church (that’s church with a capital C). You’re making things more complex than they are.”

To my mother a spiritual journey was simple; it was a known and well-charted journey. You’re born in sin, you get baptized to remove the sin; live a few years and, naturally, you sin, but you make your confession so that, as a pure soul, you can receive the body and blood of Christ. You live a few more years and get confirmed; you’re now a soldier for Christ. Ten or so years later you marry a nice girl or, better yet, join the priesthood. And then you die, but only after receiving extreme unction. Along the way, you obey the Church and you obey the priests, so that at the end when you shuffle off this earth, you’ll shuffle into heaven.

And, to be fair, many dictionaries back her up. Look up spirituality and you’ll see the words ‘religion’, ‘ecclesiastical’, ‘faith’ as part of the definition. But, for me these words do not define spirituality. Spirituality is not dependent upon a religion nor is it connected to faith.

For me, spirituality is an attempt to get outside oneself, to establish a deep connection with the past, the present and the future of what we call the universe. It does not need a religion or a faith. It is an attempt to give meaning to one’s life.

But, let’s get to the theme of today’s service - Men’s Spirituality. Is there such a thing as men’s spirituality, as opposed to women’s spirituality? In my judgment, no, despite the preachings and writings of Robert Bly and other proponents of the supposed new man; spirituality is a human endeavor. To me, there is no difference between men’s and women’s spirituality. Both strive to achieve a connection with what they perceive to be the eternal so that their life can have meaning, so that when they die they are not simply an old picture on the wall, so that they are another link in the eternal chain which strives to make this earth a better place for all people.

Many men and women have adopted the well charted journey of my mother and others who follow a traditional path to spirituality, a path which has been well defined by those who came before us, a path which depends, in large measure, on the gift of faith. And, believe me, faith is a gift. It’s a wonderful gift. It makes one’s life easier in that there is always a reason for the nastiness that sooner or later touches all of our lives. There is a whole spiritual edifice you can tap into, people you can consult, sacred texts with all the answers. It’s a gift that I wish I had. But, despite being baptized in the one true faith and growing up in a staunch Catholic household, I did not receive the gift or, maybe, it was offered to me and I was too dumb and blind to accept it.

The dictionary definition of spirituality implies that if you don’t have faith, you can’t be a spiritual person. Well, I disagree. You can be a spiritual person without having received the gift of faith. You can connect with the eternal. You can give meaning to your life. Without having the gift of faith, you can find spiritual experiences in the actions of nature or of man.

The spiritual journey is hard. Without faith it is harder. You can get so caught up in your daily life that it becomes difficult to take the step back that is needed, to stop for a moment and contemplate life and your place in it. Oftentimes the spiritual experience creeps up on you, catching you unawares. It can happen just suddenly looking up on a starry winter night in West Tisbury and seeing your place in the universe – infinitesimal yet very human and aware. Or, it can be a more intense experience of sitting on South Beach a few hours after narrowly escaping a near fatal car accident while driving to the Vineyard..

There are a variety of experiences that have become spiritual experiences for me. Reading the opening words of the Gospel of John, the first section of Remembrance of Things Past, the last chapter of The Stranger. Seeing Our Town for the first time and hearing Emily’s words: “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?—every, every minute?” Hearing Brubeck introduce Take Five at Newport or Tebaldi as Mimi or Sondheim’s Move On.

But it is not only the aesthetic that has become spiritual for me. Some conversations with a kindred soul have turned into spiritual experiences for me and, I hope, for the person I’m speaking with. Seeing my kids being born linked me to the past, the present and the future of the universe. Watching serious, trained athletes striving to achieve their potential can bring one out of his daily life and into the attempts of man to transcend this place. A variety of experiences, through all of which you try to connect with the eternal.

I’ll close with some words from Thornton Wilder. They are spoken by the Stage Manager at the start of Act 3 of Our Town: “We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.”

Not an Auspicious Start

Spellings makes the fourth Bush White House insider to be nominated to the Cabinet. This is not a good sign, far from it. In my posting of November 8 I hoped that the second Bush administration would be one that was courageous and human enough to admit their fallibility. And, by appointing people with different viewpoints who speak their mind, the administration would encourage disagreements and their resolution so that future mistakes could be avoided.

Appointing lackeys, no matter how smart they may be, is not the way to ensure a legacy that future generations will be proud of.

A Marriage Made in Heaven Or ....?

Remember when your mother bought your school clothes at Sears and most of the appliances in your home were Kenmore? It was about the same time that everybody knew what they could buy at Kresge’s and did so. Both Sears and Kresge’s were American icons. The past several years have not been good ones for either company. Kresge, now K-Mart, has been through a bankruptcy and you hardly hear of people shopping at Sears anymore, assuming you can find a store.

Today, K-Mart bought Sears. Will the combination be able to restore their former glory? It’s doubtful, as for a long time both companies have not had what it takes to succeed in the 21st century as separate organizations. Why should a combination be able to figure out how to compete effectively today when neither one of them has been able to do so separately?

Who was Gerry Mander?

Sad to say but every so often you get set in your ways, turn off the gray cells and ignore the obvious. If you’re lucky, someone will bring you back to reality. In my case, the subject was gerrymandering and the someone who forced me to look at the issue was my youngest son, Greg.

As you know, I live in a Democratic state. In general, our Congressmen have been fairly decent. And, truth be told, I can’t recall a Republican for whom I would have voted; the candidates offered up by the GOP have been lackluster. But, who can blame them? Would anybody really capable run when the chances of winning are infinitesimal because the opposition has stacked things in its favor?

The problem is not unique to our little state. It is now part and parcel of our national political system. I think that there were only five incumbent congressmen who lost this time, and three of them were gerrymandered out of their safe seats in Texas. This is not a way to get the best people to represent us. Nor is it a way to preserve our tri-partite system of executive, legislative and judicial branches.

That something needs to be done is starting to be recognized by people on both sides of the political spectrum. Just last week The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial on the subject. On the other side of the aisle, the people at fairvote.org are also proselytizing for an impartial commission to define the congressional districts in each state. Of course, it is assumed that this commission would also draw the lines for the state representatives as well.

Iowa and, I think, Washington have already done something about this and appointed a nonpartisan group to define district boundaries. More states need to follow.

I know that the electoral reforms I’ve advocated over the last month – changing the electoral college, one six-year term for the president and an end to gerrymandering – seem like pie in the sky today. But, many of the ideas that seemed like pie in the sky yesterday have become today’s accepted way of doing things.

One Term Is Better Than Two

So now the talk is about Bush’s legacy. Only after a president has won a second term does the press talk about a “legacy”. Shouldn’t a president always be thinking about a legacy, i.e., something that he transmits to future generations? Why should he be more concerned with what he’s passing on to our children, grandchildren and other future residents of this country and this planet in his second term rather than in his first term?

One reason is that much of his first term is spent trying to make sure that he does win a second term. How much time, effort and dollars does any president waste in term 1 wooing the electorate? Would we all not be much better off if the president concentrated all his energies and powers on solving today’s problems and trying to avoid the problems of tomorrow?

Why can’t we simply eliminate the problem of the second term by amending the Constitution so that the president serves a single six year term? We’ve changed the term of the president before. Article XXII of the Constitution, passed in 1951, limited the president to serving two four-year terms.

There has been something wrong in the state of our elections for a long term. Allowing a president to serve two terms is one of the things that is wrong.

Emerging Economies: Good or Bad for US?

Maybe I’m just waking up or I could simply be a slow learner. Whatever the reason, I am only just now starting to worry (perhaps I’ve become a worry wart in my old age!) about the emerging economies, particularly China and India, and their impact on us.

For example, one of the reasons for the significant rise in the price of oil is China’s growing need for energy. Yes, there are other reasons – the war, declining exploration for two – but the demand for energy by a new economic power is something unknown in the world as we have known it. That world was one dominated by the United States, Europe and Japan. Things are changing. I suspect this change is akin to the rise of the US in the 20th century. We do live in a finite world. Recalibrating the use of our finite resources will be no mean feat.

A recent Wall Street Journal article talked about our recent trade deficit in food, of all things. While this particular deficit is only for the past quarter or two, some feel that there will be a food deficit for the entire year. This has not happened for many years. The article ascribed several reasons to the deficit. One really caught my eye: competition. We are experiencing real agricultural competition now. Russia, which could not get enough of our wheat, is now exporting its wheat. Brazil is a strong factor in the soy bean market. McDonald’s imports 20% of its needs from Australia and New Zealand. Vietnam supplies a lot of shrimp to us. Europe doesn’t like our genetically modified food.

We, as a nation, have always championed competition over cooperation. Can we continue to do so? Can we become more competitive? It’s very hard to become competitive when

• we are fighting a war which asks for zero sacrifices from the home front,


• our overall deficit is at its highest in history and there appears to be little effort on our leaders part to do something about it,


• real income of the working class is declining,


• we are more concerned with mouthing about values rather than incorporating into our own lives the values that made this country great,


• our business leaders are overly focused on the current quarter,


• and on and on………………….

Where to now?

It’s over. Thank the Lord. However, now the pundits will spend the next few weeks or months telling us why Kerry lost. They’ll give us all sorts of ‘reasons’ from the gay marriage question to terrorism. But, the real reason why Kerry lost is simple: he was a weak candidate and ran a poor campaign. Heck, until the first debate just about everyone who was a Kerry supporter was, in fact, an anti-Bush partisan. Beginning an effective campaign a month before the election is not exactly a recipe for success. Nor is an unremarkable record as a senator.

I guess now we’ll see an exodus of the ABB people. Or, will we? How many of us can afford to pull up stakes here for the next four or more years? Is life really better elsewhere? Yes, the president and the federal government are important factors in our lives. But, our local and state governments probably exert more influence on us. And, life is more than government.

The election is over. Is Bush’s record as a failure ended? I know that I’m not alone in hoping so. These are the areas to watch.

An overweening confidence
No human being is without fault. We all make mistakes, and others are willing to accept that fact. What we find hard to accept is the claim that no mistakes have been made in the past four years. If Bush begins to accept that he and those who report to whom have erred, then hope of a better tomorrow begins to glimmer. One sign of this would be the resignations of Rumsfeld and Ashcroft.

Encourage disagreement
This goes hand in hand with an overweening confidence. Yes, there is a need for a united stand but only after dissident voices have been heard. Any manager worth his salt wants to know that his decision has met the test of other capable individuals. And, any professional should have the gumption and decency to resign if he is very strongly opposed to a major presidential decision. Right, Colin?

Tolerance
We are moving towards a state religion, Christianity. This country was founded by those seeking religious freedom; we need to preserve the separation of church and state. Do we want to adopt the bible as a way to run our country as Afghanistan and other Muslim countries adopted the law of sharia to run their countries? Yet, this – the desire for an Islamic state - is why some of our people are killed in Iraq almost every day now.

Fiscal maturity and honesty
Acknowledge that we have a major problem today in that we are spending far beyond our means. Ask the country to sacrifice for a better nation tomorrow.

Who’s watching the hen house?
Appoint people who will actually monitor, and not collude with, the industry they are supposed to watch.

Practice what we preach
Let's make sure that we really are the land of the free and the home of the brave.