Voice In The Wilderness

by graysmoke

Has not been silenced. I still want to exercise my freedom of speech here, even if no one ever reads or comments, I feel that such a precious right needs to be utilized, the expression that seems to get the attention is the kind attached to big bucks and that seems unfair since if an individual doesn't have the $$$$ means to finance political candidates handsomely, that their right becomes diminished, and that just denigrates what our government by and for the people is supposed to be.

It is hard sometimes to find the minutes necessary to sit at the puter keyboard and pound out the ideas and opinions formed in my head so they sort of go into mental storage.

Today I'll just make this a medley of comments.

Often the past can offer illumination for the present.

That is how I felt when Memorial Day rolled around. I had just finished reading a book that published Walt Whitman's "Memoranda" on the Civil War. I have no memory of this being emphasized in American Lit, but that was so long ago perhaps my age makes the difference. Did you know that he daily visited the wounded and made these contemporaneous notes that were later published? He devoted huge amounts of his income and his hours to this service. In the Washington D.C. area at the time there were twenty-six (yes, 26) hospitals caring for the casualties from both sides. The personal intimacy of his comments and those he repeated of the soldiers are very endearing. He often would write letters to the beloved and the family members for the wounded and for many he would be there for them until death occured. A common practice also was gifting them with items of food that they especially craved or a personal item for wear or grooming. He had a number of friends that also participated with him in meeting these needs of the military patients. A retelling of these events again emphasizes just what war really is. Nothing like we now have reported, sanitarily, removed by the remoteness of the live events and the politicizing of the reports. Perhaps I will try to obtain this book on the used book market and make a ritual of reading it each year around Memorial Day, might be a good project to sponsor being done publicly by veterans groups.

Under the present day political circumstances it galls me to have our current commander-in-chief even participating in honoring the fallen, he seems to casually abuse the power of his position, misusing the reserves and the National Guard to the point where our national domestic security is being sabotaged by his reluctance to consider a draft because of political cowardice. Doesn't want the R's "tainted" by doing it. Knows it should be done, just look at what is happening on the recruiting front. If that doesn't confirm the need for a draft, then what is it going to take.

At present I'm reading Dava Sobel's "Galileo's Daughter". Again this book about events far in the past is so relevant to the current debate about stem cell research.

One can recognize those of narrow vision back in the seventeenth century who were totally unwilling to accept new concepts even when new capabilities like the telescopes were bringing so much new knowledge and observations that brought into question the commonly held views of the universe. It causes me to wonder if those opposed to stem cell research would identify themselves as being just as unwilling to bend to science if they read the book. I suppose they might just find themselves being as obstinate today as the oppostion was back then, anything opposing their righteous omnipotence would still be anathema. The book was published in 1999 and has been widely read and I think most will enjoy the translation of the daughter's letters, showing an elegant eloquence of expression that enriches the story. The facts of how the author came to doing this book are captivating in themselves. She devoted many years to this effort, returning to college to become fluent enough in Italian for her to personally translate into English these private missiles between father and daughter that have survived.

There is another flare on the political horizon that is gaining varied vehement responses. It is the comment by a human rights organization that the prison at Guantanamo is comparable the the operation by the Russians of the gulags. That stirred up the DOD and the WH. How could anyone ever dare question prison operations in those terms, when the USA is responsible. What a hornet's nest of comments have buzzed around the media over this. I am not that sensitive about the word usage. And I don't think the behavior of the administration regarding prisons, prisoners and rendition is something that can stand too much scrutiny. The self-investigations, the timed release of the Qu 'ran events late last Friday to defuse the issue, confuse the issue, etc.- show that more is amiss than the powers-that-be want us to know. But all that twisting of the Geneva Convention Rules of War, and the power given to the POTUS to name anyone an enemy combatant thus denying usual rights of due process, the reports by the Red Cross, the Abu Ghraib mess, - all call for examination by a neutral board. Aren't we supposed to be a model for what we want the enemy to become? But then this administration has always used the "DO AS I SAY" authoritarian approach and a pox on anyone who criticizes their actions. Is the media ever going to stop peddling the propaganda put out by Rove Incorporated?

I am waiting.