Love "Forever Changes"

If you have never seen this picture before, then it's pretty likely that you've never heard the album that it conceals either. I'm not an expert on the band Love - the only other song of theirs that I know is an earlier single, "7 and 7 Is," which doesn't sound all that much like "Forever Changes." (Though it's a fine enough song on its own merits.)

"Forever Changes" is one of those fairly obscure releases that winds up on a lot of "critic's darling" lists - it never achieved great commercial success, and hasn't even spawned a lot of imitators, probably because the musical blends and styles it captures make it such a unique work of pop music art.

The album was recorded in 1967 in the Los Angeles area. Love were colleagues and even something like rivals of The Doors. The visionary of the band was Arthur Lee, but he didn't write all the songs. There's another guy who deserves credit but I don't recall his name, nor do I feel like going for the CD to get all those details. I am just basically endorsing the album straight up and encouraging you to go out and get a copy to listen to if you think you might like it.

So what does it sound like? It's not wild acid rock or anything like that, though it definitely comes from the psychedelic flower power era. The lyrical imagery and music are not hippy dippy though. There's actually a kind of dark, slightly morbid tone running through the album - I've heard that Arthur Lee had serious premonitions that he was going to die soon - probably this can be ascribed to drug-induced paranoia, and other influences at work in his life. But he's not self-consciously eerie or bizarre like Jim Morrison. The vocals are delivered with delicate calmness, a slight quaver in the voice that communicates passion and an intense "in the moment" presence - the singer is laying out something heavy and personal, without getting hysterical or melodramatic about it.

The musicianship is excellent - this is a band with chops, great timing, solid studio production values, that could bend off trippy multi-tracked guitar solos with the best of them but didn't feel the need to blow out the speakers either. There are sounds of mariachi trumpets, string sections, horns, just all kinds of cool sounds, delicate guitar picking, little haunting tones in the background, compelling time signature changes. All in all, just a masterpiece. A record I never get tired of listening to.

And the song titles! They in and of themselves are delightful! Here they are:

Alone Again Or
A House Is Not A Motel
Andmoreagain
The Daily Planet
Old Man
The Red Telephone (okay, some are mundane, but check these out..!)
Maybe The People Would Be The Times or Between Clark and Hilldale
Live and Let Live
The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This
Bummer In The Summer
You Set the Scene

That last song is my favorite, maybe of all songs that I have on my computer? I don't know, it's hard to pick one. But let me just print the words, see if they connect with you...

Verse 1:
Where are you walking, I've seen you walking
Have you been there before?
Walk down your doorsteps, you'll take some more steps
What did you take them for?
There's a private in my boat and he wears
Pins instead of medals on his coat
There's a chicken in my nest and she won't
Lay until I've given her my best
At her request she asks for nothing
You get nothing in return
If you want she brings you water
If you don't then you will burn

Verse 2:
You go through changes, it may seem strange
Is this what you're put here for?
You think you're happy and you are happy
That's what you're happy for
There's a man who can't decide if he should
Fight for what his father thinks is right
There are people wearing frowns who'll screw you up
But they would rather screw you down
At my request I ask for nothing
You get nothing in return
If you're nice she'll bring me water
If you're not then I will burn

--- part ii (2:20) ---

Verse 1:
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile
For the time that I've been given's such a little while
And the things that I must do consist of more than style
There are places that I am going

Verse 2:
This is the only thing that I am sure of
And that's all that lives is gonna die
And there'll always be some people here to wonder why
And for every happy hello, there will be good-bye
There'll be time for you to put yourself on

Verse 3:
Everything I've seen needs rearranging
And for anyone who thinks it's strange
Then you should be the first to want to make this change
And for everyone who thinks that life is just a game
Do you like the part you're playing

Bridge (4:03):
I see your picture
It's in the same old frame
We meet again
You look so lovely
You with the same old smile
Stay for a while
I need you so, oh, oh, oh, oh
And if you take it easy
I'm still teethin'
I wanna love you, but
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Verse 4:
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile
For the time that I've been given's such a little while
And the things that I must do consist of more than style
There'll be time for you to start all over

This is the time and this is the time and
It is time, time, time, time, time, time, time, time, time...

Probably not the same without the music, but oh let me tell you, once the music gets in you, these words will just light you right up! I'm serious, this is a potent recording. I would love to know if anyone who reads this follows me up on the tip or is already familiar with it?

Here's a much more erudite review, written by a professional who's done his homework, if you want a second opinion.

Nothin' but Number Ones, Oh Yeah!

Last week I used up 46 blank CD-Rs that I've had laying about for several months in a project where I burned every song that has reached the number 1 spot in the Billboard Hot 100 charts since 1955. Technically speaking, the Hot 100 didn't exist until 1958 (Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" was the first #1) but I went back to 1955 because that's the year that "Rock Around the Clock" charted, and it's also 50 years ago. As was mentioned on this blog last winter, I had assembled these tracks (as well as all the #2's and #3's) and made iTunes playlists that I could listen to if I so chose. But since I don't have an iPod yet and enjoy listening to music in my car, I figured that it would be worth my while to put the collection on disc, especially if (shudder) my hard drive were to crash without me having it all backed up!

I should add here that the CD collection only goes up to the beginning of 2004, Outkast's "The Way You Move." The rest of the songs since then only make up about 41 minutes or so and I want to wait until I get a full CD's worth before I burn it. So I will have to forego the "pleasure" (cough cough) of listening to Terror Squad's "Lean Back" or 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" until probably some time in 2006. It seems like the #1 spot is much harder to break into these days than it used to be up through the 80's and into the 90's, when a new pop standard would be unveiled every couple of weeks or so. Judging from the aesthetic quality of many of today's top hits, I'm not too bothered by the fact that I don't have to download quite so many songs in order to maintain a complete collection.

So I've been listening to the tunes in order in my various drivings-about since sometime last week. As of this afternoon, I'm up to 1970 or so. Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is the last tune I heard. With each single that comes on, I'm trying to really listen closely and figure out what made that particular song the biggest hit in the land in its time, what kind of a mirror the songs hold up to our culture, and of course I could not help but reflect on how much our popular tastes and tolerances have changed over the years. The juxtapositions are amazing to behold as well, for example, the gutter raunch of "Honky Tonk Women" giving way to the bubblegum pop of the Archies' "Sugar Sugar." There's also the joy of experiencing just plain wierd songs like "Witch Doctor" and "Purple People Eater" which indicate the joy and delight that a lot of people apparently felt upon hearing the human voice played back on tape at a high speed. Melodramatic protest songs like Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" or Zager & Evans' "The Year 2525"... Popular movie and TV themes like "Romeo & Juliet," "To Sir With Love," and anything put out by The Monkees. I just love this stuff! If I had the time, I would like to put together a website offering my unvarnished commentaries on each song. I know that Billboard Magazine already puts out thick books dedicating a page to each #1 song, but they are often more interested in the artists themselves and rarely seem to comment about the cultural significance of the song, the music, the lyrics, etc.

But I am simply too busy and weighed down with more pressing responsibilities to pursue that notion. So this little blog entry is what I can manage for now. But if anyone really wants to get into some extended conversation about Hot 100 #1's in the comment section, I'll do my best to sustain a dialogue!

And if you want to find a list of the #1 hits, here's a link and here's another, choose whichever you like best...

The Beautiful Country

Julie and I went to see a movie last night. Most likely it's not showing at a cineplex near you - I'd be amazed if it was. We saw "The Beautiful Country" at an alternative art gallery/indy cinema venue, the UICA (Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts.) It's the place to go in town to see films that don't get much spotlight on the E! network, so check out the website if you want to know more about this little cultural gem that helps Grand Rapids stay on track toward becoming a cool city.

The film, which was released last year, tells the story of Binh, a young man whose father was an American soldier stationed in Vietnam during the war years there. His dad left without any explanation and now (actually, 1990 is the time of the story) Binh is an outcast in his own land. Faced with few options or any real hope of improvement in his life, he sets out to somehow make it to the United States, where he hopes to find his long departed father.

As you might imagine, he has a very harrowing journey, but it does lead him to America eventually. I hope that's not too bad of a spoiler. It is worth seeing just what he has to go through to get there, and the filmmakers do an excellent job avoiding any kind of excessive sentimentalization of "the immigrant's plight." Though Binh faces all sorts of hardships, the situations always appear natural, believable and the emotions that the characters express are realistically ambivalent and understated. There's no "chewing of the scenery" going on here, which might have been the case if a more mainstream production team had taken the job.

But what we have here is a rather interesting cross-cultural mix. Besides the use of authentic Vietnamese and American locations, which effectively transport the viewer through several distinct "worlds," the director and most of the crew are from Norway! That strikes me as delightfully incongruous, but I suppose Norwegians can tell and appreciate a good story as well as anyone. So there is a distinctly European sensibility at work in the cinematography (which is gorgeous), the soundtrack and the willingness to let the plot advance slowly and without the assistance of manipulative sensationalism or other obvious cues as to what the audience should be thinking or feeling at any given moment.

I have no idea what kind of distribution path this movie is on so your best bet may be to catch it on video whenever it becomes available. Unless you live near Grand Rapids, in which case I recommend you get on over to UICA within the next two weeks if what I've written here has made you curious.

The Greatest Show on Earth

I worked at the Van Andel Arena again tonight. The occasion was a return visit of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The crowd was small and sales were slow. The booth I worked only netted $148.25 in sales for the entire night! But thankfully, it was one of two stands that our Band Boosters group worked, so I get a cut of the much better take that the others worked. So the silver-lining to this lack of business is that I got to watch a fair amount of the circus, which was pretty entertaining.

There's not a whole lot of profundity to my observations though. I'm not really inclined to delve deep into the mysteries and traditions of the circus, not tonight anyway. The thought occurred to me about what kind of a process leads a young person to decide in this day and age to pursue a career with the circus. I mean, what gets them going in such an endeavor in the first place?

Walking around before, during and after the performance, I noted that many of the participants, especially the acrobats, were probably foreign to the United States. On my way to turn in the money that we earned, I walked past a long line of young Asian women (presumably Chinese) in full costume, speaking in a language other than English. I also passed by a group of men who had a European air about them, one of them a stunt motorcyclist who rides around in the "Ball of Doom," the spherical cage where multiple riders zoom around in intersecting paths, collisions seemingly inevitable but miraculously avoided somehow. Another Asian guy that I saw did some amazing stunts on this giant pendulum-like device, where he was doing flips in the inner ring and jumping rope on the outside of the spinning contraption, landing on his feet when by all rights he should have been flung off into the crowd or simply fallen to the floor. I saw parading elephants and magnificent white horses trotting and dancing on command, and some impressive magic tricks, and trapeze artists, and clowns, and plate spinners and all sorts of other wierdness, a bravura spectacle that, while not objectively living up to it's billing as the greatest show on earth, was certainly unusual enough to get me wondering just how this enterprise got started in the first place and how the tradition continues to draw new performers (and audiences) even as our culture has moved on to new forms of entertainment and diversion. I suppose that it's probably a way of life in some communities, and I also suppose that like any other profession, it's all a matter of who you know and what kind of opportunities are presented to a young person at that crucial time of life when we decide just what it is we would like to do and feel capable of doing in this world.

Meditation, Stress and the Brain

I attended an interesting lecture today at Grand Valley State University, the first of a series of meeting in their third annal Autumn Health Forum. The topic is stated in the header, and the message was delivered by Dr. Michael Baime of Philadelphia, a practicioner of mindfulness meditation. He is affiliated with the Penn Program for Stress Management at the University of Pennsylvania, and was featured in a Newsweek magazine cover story from 2001 on "God and the Brain" - or to put it another way, "neurotheology."

His presentation was only long enough (an hour) to give a brief overview of his research, but it made for some fascinating listening anyway. Basically, he laid out some scientific findings that indicate how the effects of stress are aggravated by social and relational isolation. And what is "stress" anyway? We would all tend to define it somewhat differently, based on what we ourselves have a hard time coping with or the pressures unique to our own situation. Some quick summaries: heart attack survivors who can identify fewer than two committed caretakers have a 3 to 4 time higher likelihood of dying within a year after a heart attack, which is the worst indicator of all that researchers tracked - worse than victims who continue to smoke, people with structural deficiencies or arrhythmia of the heart, or any other characteristic. Animal testing has shown that physical touch and personal interaction have a more tangible effect on preventing unhealthy traits like cholesterol build-up than do medications or other steps people take to achieve wellness. He also showed the SPECT scan images shown in the Newsweek article that illustrate the differences in electrical activity between brains that are in meditative and more active/ordinary states. Lots of frontal cortex activity (indicating focus and attentiveness) and a notable decrease of activity in the parts of the brain that typically mark the limits of our physical and cognitive boundaries. Very interesting stuff, to see it laid up on the screen in vivid living color like that.

His basic point is that we all have everything we need to address the problem of stress, and he advocates some form of meditation, exercise or any other discipline that puts a "space" in between the impact of a stressful event and our reaction to it. His practice of mindfulness is one that he has some expertise in, but he's not insisting that this is "the way." I have done a bit of this kind of practice in the past - I think I know what it's trying to accomplish and what it feels like, but I won't be so bold or smug as to assume that I've "advanced" in that discipline in any way. But I like the concept of maintaining that space between myself and the event, and trying to be present in the moment always seems like a good way to go.

What's cool about this seminar is that it's part of an on-going series of events here in Grand Rapids - I am planning to attend as many of these as possible and will almost certainly offer my impressions here as they come up. The next one is coming up a week from today!

Good Dinner

Tonight Julie fixed a delicious Greek pizza. Fresh garden picked tomatoes, plump black olive slices, spinach leaves, diced garlic cloves, tangy artichoke hearts and crumbled feta cheese on a handmade spelt dough crust. Utterly delicious. I just had to take a picture of it. We eat like this pretty regularly - no special occasion, I just felt like not taking it for granted tonight. Thought you might want to check it out.

Hawthorn Center

My workday today was largely occupied with a trip to Northville, MI, just inside the border of Wayne County, near 7 Mile Road, what used to be the rural outskirts of Detroit. My destination was the Hawthorn Center, a state-run psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. The purpose for this trip was to meet with a former client of ours who has apparently stabilized after creating many dangerous situations for herself and others last spring. I am not going to get much into the confidential and clinical stuff that happened, for what I hope are obvious reasons. But I would like to reflect a bit here on what I saw in the institution itself.

The hospital is pretty big - it has capacity to serve somewhere around 180 youth under its roof, but the current population is about half of that or even less, due to state budget cuts. My colleague Jane (a therapist) and I were escorted through several long corridors that are now empty before we arrived at the area where we met our client and had a chance to see where (and how) she lives.

On our walk, we could see out the windows lawns and courtyards that have more or less been neglected over the course of the summer, probably longer, left to grow on their own, since there's nobody who looks out on them very often and the outdoor maintenance staff were likely cut back in the first wave of budget reductions who knows how many years ago. We saw gyms that are empty and unused except for some impromptu storage space. The overall impression was one of a dusty sterility. There wasn't a lot of vibrancy in the atmosphere, though some effort was made to lively up the place with large plastic covered movie posters all up and down the halls. I saw "Stuart Little," "Star Wars," "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Lion King" and several other blockbuster films tacitly endorsed on the walls, which led me to wonder just what kind of effect the decorator was trying to impart? They weren't garish or in poor taste - just seemed a bit incongruous for a psychiatric hospital. I would recommend more art, less commercialism...

We had a good meeting with the girl who we are now having to consider for re-admission. I appreciated the chance to revisit some of the crises that we still vividly remember, and learn her perspective of how the program I manage at Wedgwood compares with what she's experienced at Hawthorn. I was also quite intrigued to continue my tour of the facility, seeing the staff, nurses, social workers and a few of the other residents going through their motions. I was only slightly surprised to learn that another notorious former resident that I worked with in 2004 is currently living at Hawthorn. I saw some interesting (and obscene) graffiti on the bedroom bulletin boards as I walked through the dorms. I'm not implying any criticism of Hawthorn here - the worker was obviously a bit self-conscious about it as she explained some of the steps they've tried to eliminate this problem, but I assured her that I've seen all this before and that our units feature some of the same "artwork" that we haven't gotten around to cleaning up yet ourselves.

These, and many other features, helped me to see from a different perspective, just how much of a psychiatric environment our homes at Wedgwood have become over the years. The kids we work with really are pretty damaged - it's a sad thing to contemplate what kinds of cruelty and madness these young people have had to endure, and the enormous challenges we face in trying to help them find healing and some sense of peace in life. I found myself appreciating the people I work with all the more, because I see the heart, the determination, the enthusiasm they put into what they do - despite so much resistance, such meager allocation of resources, such deep and complex problems that we are called on to address and resolve. I didn't see enough of what happens at Hawthorn to draw conclusions, but I can't really say that it seemed like a cheerful place in any way. And though we at Wedgwood go through some really intense, even hair-raising scenes with our kids on a too-frequent basis, somehow or another, there really is a joy and warmth that pervades what we do. It's not always received or perceived as such by everyone, but I've been working there for sixteen years and I know what I can see, hear and feel!

So now we have some tough decisions to make. That all awaits me tomorrow...

Weekend summary

We are past Labor Day and into the more serious season of Back To School & Work, with all the vacations and holidays behind us until Thanksgiving, more or less. Even in this northern climate of Michigan though, it still feels a lot like summer. The temperatures were in the 90's all weekend, we had the A/C on in our house, and the nights were made for sleeping only under one sheet. I'm actually ready to start wearing some long sleeves and darker colors again, but I suppose it is just as well to forestall that as long as we can since once it does begin to cool off it will be many months before I'll be able to complain about excessive warmth (not that I really do that very often...)

I don't have any significant point to make today. I've had a pretty mild weekend, overall.

Friday night, Julie and I went to the Wyoming Park High School football game. The Vikings won, which was cool, and they played pretty well for the most part. Of course, our main interest was the marching band, which made it's debut performance on the field (other than the return-from-band-camp preview they did several weeks ago.) I was surprised to see their routine cut short on Friday, but Derek explained to me that the freshmen trumpets were still making too many mistakes so the last section was just not performed this week, until they can work the bugs out. I imagine that the band directors are not too happy to be at this point - competitions will start in a few weeks.

After the game, I went out by myself (Julie stayed home) to meet some friends at "Woody's Press Box," a sports bar. I call them friends, which they are, but really it's more like "co-workers" since we all share a common employer. The occasion was the discharge of a particularly challenging client who left our program earlier that day. Basically, we went out to blow off a little tension and just enjoy each others company. This tradition began years ago - there are a handful of clients that I've worked with whose release from our program can be said to inaugurate a "new era" in the life of our homes. This girl was one of them. And I won't divulge any more details than that in order to preserve confidentiality.

So there was some consumption of beer, a couple of which were spilled (even though I can honestly say that no one was "getting smashed," these were just fluky accidents.) And there was some dancing, though I wasn't really feeling it myself. The smallish dance-floor was occupied by folks that I really didn't want to bump into - they weren't nasty or obnoxious - it just wasn't my crowd or my night for dancing, let's leave it at that. But all in all, it was a good time for me to socialize with my colleagues.

Saturday morning I got up and made waffles for everyone. This was probably the most laid-back and relaxed Saturday I've had in awhile. I got some things done, some financial management stuff and some lawn maintenance, but nothing too strenuous. No kids to get ready to move, no big trainings to prepare for or other mental-pressure scenarios to deal with. I went to the library to return a couple of DVDs and discovered that they were having a used book sale. So I was happy to have a few bucks in my pocket. I got some great bargains on CDs. I always enjoy browsing through random stacks of media to grab a few nuggets. Especially with my eclectic tastes. So here's what I got:

Paul McCartney's "Back In The US," a double-disc set of tunes recorded on his USA tour of 2002. It's heavy on old Beatles tunes and some of his solo hits.

"The Best of Broadside," a five-disc compilation of classic counter-culture protest songs from the folk music era. The tracks were recorded between 1962-1988, featuring performers like Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Buffy Saint-Marie, Janis Ian and Bob Dylan. This set normally goes for around $70 but it only cost me a buck! The only downside is that I don't get the lavishly illustrated and annotated book, but it's really about the music anyway.

Cluster's "First Encounter Tour 1996," another two-disc live set by a couple of German electronic artists, Moebius and Roedelius, who produce unique sounds - not exactly ambient, not really techno at all, just synthetic soundscapes that last between 2:41 and 32:58 (that's the length of the opening track, actually.) Their songs don't have names, they are just titled by the name of the city where they were recorded.

I also get two books, "Jesus Through the Centuries" by Jaroslav Pelikan, and "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell. Both are pristine, unmarked, clean hardcover editions. Such wonderful deals! And the librarian even threw in a copy of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" on VHS that I would have bought if I had sufficient change in my pockets. I was prepared to put it back, but she noted that I was the second person to want to buy it, only to return it for insufficient funds. She told me to just go ahead and take it so I did!

Some other time I think I will put together a post of other earlier great deals I've gotten at library book sales. But not now.

Saturday night was spent at home, just relaxing and listening to music and reading.

This morning I went to Park Congregational Church downtown to see and hear their new pastor, Todd Fetty. This was his first service since accepting the call to be their Senior Minister. I have been checking in with this church from time to time over the past few years, ever since I met their former Adult Education Pastor, Ron Skidmore, who no longer works with this church. I'm interested to see what happens with this new pastor and this church, located right in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids. I may have more to say about that later as well...

Then this afternoon, after driving my daughter back to her dorm at GVSU, was basically sports overload. Like many millions of other guys, I play fantasy baseball and football and I actually happen to do fairly well at it. So we are in the last stretch of the baseball pennant race and the NFL just got it's season started as well. I am close to clinching a spot in my baseball playoffs, and I appear to have won my fantasy football game as well, though my defense won't play until tomorrow night. I doubt that the Falcons will give up enough points to blow the 24-point margin that I currently hold. It's pretty much impossible to do that bad. And the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers, which is a remarkable occurrence, especially since they looked so bad in the pre-season. So that makes me happy.

And I also got some work related stuff done, going through some material that will be part of trainings that I lead in November on the topic of "Alternatives to Restraint and Seclusion."

All or most of this is probably more trivial than you are interested in but I suppose that I will probably look back on this someday and be glad that I got it down for posterity. So there is some purpose to it all, but if you disagree, please cut me some slack!

Curt Moves Out

One of my twin sons, Curt, moved away to attend college at Spring Arbor University on Labor Day, so our family made the two-hour drive to see him off. Here are a few pictures of this momentous occasion in the history of our family.


My grandma hosted a small "off to school" party where we had cake and ice cream and she gave him a care package of stuff he'll need, like razor blades and shampoo and tissues for blowing one's nose.


Here's my family (minus me) shortly after we had hauled in Curt's stuff but before it got set up.


Here's the outside of the building, known as Ormsten Hall. It's one of the "historic" (i.e., old) dorms. As you can see, it was a lovely day to move in and stroll around the campus.


Curt is smiling because his computer is set up. And because he knows his picture is being taken. As you can see though, the space is pretty cramped. And that, for now, is the arrangement. I hope his back and neck hold up.


Curt's dorm is right across the street from the Methodist church which is pretty closely affiliated with the school. These are all my children: Brandon, Derek, Curt, Alyssa.


Time for last handshakes and hugs as we prepare to leave our fine young man on his own, one hundred and fifteen miles away from home.

A Letter to my Representative

How are you doing? Me, I'm feeling pretty angry right now thinking about the messed-up condition of things in this country. To release some of that tension, I sat down just now and wrote this letter to my U.S. Congressional Representative, the Honorable Vern Ehlers (R), representing the Third Congressional District of Michigan.

Dear Representative Ehlers,

I am writing to express my profound sorrow and deep disappointment regarding the poor response by our federal emergency management leaders in the recent hurricane crisis affecting the Gulf Coast. Along with millions of other voters and tax-payers in this country, it’s apparent to me that much time and money has been wasted in the planning and preparation done since the government created the Department of Homeland Security. While our top government officials have made many grand statements about protecting the American people and upgrading our first-response capabilities in the event of a major attack or other disaster, the evidence we've seen this week underscores just how inept those in positions of responsibility have proven to be.

My sense is that this problem reaches to the top levels of our government, including the President, who has made irresponsible choices in his conduct of war, his pursuit of tax cuts and his evasive, misleading habit of excuse making and unleashing political attacks on those who take the risk of pointing out mistakes and presumptions that led to regrettable decisions.

The obvious lack of qualifications of FEMA director Mike Brown for his position is just one of many disturbing revelations that have come to my attention this week, and it truly concerns me to reflect on the poor quality of oversight being exercised by those who confirmed this appointment. I'm troubled to think that President Bush continues to receive a "blank check" from a Congress that has become recklessly subordinate to the Executive Branch and overly compliant to the dictates of well-funded special interest groups, over and against what appears to be in the best interests of the American people as a whole.

The same patterns of belated response, condescending photo ops, relentless spinning and side-stepping of responsibility that we've seen throughout the Bush presidency appear to be well on their way toward a repeat performance once again. I am writing to you to request that you and your colleagues focus in on your responsibility to the public, rather than simply taking marching orders from party leaders who will doubtlessly do whatever they feel they have to in order to defend the president, his appointees and other well-connected power-brokers.

This catastrophe is, in my mind, an even bigger "wake-up call" than the September 11 attacks. It points to the need to fundamentally re-orient our political landscape in a way that points our society toward a more sensible, supportive and unified outlook, prioritizing the needs of the poor and others who do not currently seem to be held in high regard or of much importance in the regard of our policy makers. Something has gone terribly wrong in this nation when we see disaster-preparation funding cuts made necessary due to the expenses of a foolishly misguided and brutally destructive war in Iraq. I am asking you to recognize the significance of what has happened and the urgent need to respond in a way that might restore some confidence that our government is truly looking out for the ordinary people of our land. These past several years have seen one insult after another thrust upon us by an out-of-touch ruling class that seems intent on returning us to a harsh form of social Darwinism, seemingly oblivious to the misery created by initiatives that mainly serve to centralize power and concentrate wealth into the hands of an already-privileged few.

I apologize for the negative tone of this letter, but I am truly disgusted with the current state of affairs, and my confidence that I will be satisfied by the future course of action of this government is also quite low. Despite my fatigue and disappointment, I will do my best to give you and other politicians a chance to turn things around and pay attention to the voice of the people. But frankly speaking, it's going to take some "out of character" behavior by those at the top of the chain of command to make a positive impression upon me and many of my fellow citizens, who are similarly feeling weary and skeptical about what we are likely to see.

While I do consider you to be a caring and concerned representative, I am still inclined to believe that your inclination will be to give a "free pass" to those who must be held accountable, if party leadership and discipline make the expected effort to provide cover for those most responsible for putting our nation on this erroneous course. Please show courage and independence in the upcoming investigations that will try to shed light on this immense tragedy. The American people are counting on you and all of our elected representatives to come through for us at this most difficult of times.

Sincerely,

Dave Blakeslee
Wyoming MI

Enough with the Happy Talk, Already

Just a quick entry to link you to a good article that summarizes the track record of the Bush administration in giving a misleading, or even downright false, depiction of reality. I am far beyond tired of having to regard these people as the "responsible authority figures" in this country. They are the biggest bunch of incompetents and cronies that I could imagine sitting in the positions entrusted to them.

My pic (2007)

Hurricane Devastation

Immediately after finishing up my blog entry last night, I resumed my viewing on TV of the destruction and misery that has been left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Watching the reports on various channels, trying to absorb the enormity of what I was seeing and doing my best to empathize with the suffering people, I felt some strong pangs of guilt over how trivial and self-absorbed my thoughts had been in the context of what else was going on in our country. But I don't need to hammer myself too hard - this blog is about my experience life after all and I was just catching up on recent events. It's just a bit overwhelming to consider how difficult life has gotten for so many people, not too distant or different from me, while my own life goes on pretty normally, unaffected by the tragedy other than having to pay high gas prices.

I am feeling a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the response of the disaster-management agencies, and especially the federal government. Though the White House spokesman Scott McLellan tried to deflect any pointed questions about how the crisis is being dealt with...

some quotes from today's WH briefing:

Q Scott, I know the President obviously is focused on response efforts right now, but can I talk to you about preparedness? Is the President satisfied with the way assets were pre-positioned, specifically in those areas like New Orleans and Mississippi, New Orleans particularly, a place that was identified by the Red Cross as being particularly vulnerable because of its geographical location. Is the President satisfied?

MR. McCLELLAN: One thing that I think is important to keep in mind at this time, this is the immediate aftermath of a major catastrophe. This is a time when the whole country needs to come together to help those in the region. And that's where our focus is. This is not a time to get into any finger pointing or politics or anything of that nature.

and a bit later:

Q Scott, there's already a line of discussion going on about the funding of projects prior to this, whether projects in New Orleans, in particular, were under funded because of the Iraq war or for other reasons. Is there a -- do you find any of this criticism legitimate? Do you think there is any second-guessing to be done now about priorities, given that the New Orleans situation was sort of obvious to a lot of the experts?

MR. McCLELLAN: As I indicated, this is not a time for politics. This is a time for the nation to come together and help those in the Gulf Coast region. And that's where our focus is. This is not a time for finger-pointing or playing politics. And I think the last thing that the people who have been displaced or the people who have been affected need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington.

... it does appear to me that Bush's war in Iraq and his administration's irresponsible spending priorities have only increased the vulnerability of the region to the threats posed by a major storm. Here's just one article of several that I've seen that spells out how ill-served the New Orleans region has been by those who whose rhetoric refers so often to "homeland security" and "protecting American lives." It may seem a bit crass to get so partisan in the face of such a horrible series of events, but we have to recognize that political decisions do have real effects on human lives and communities.