7" of Separation

Washington, D.C. — Oregon Congressman DeFazio released a statement today claiming he would introduce legislation that would abolish the Selective Service System and put it in “deep standby.”

Recently, it has been reported the SSS is prepping for exercises that would test the draft system by 2009. DeFazio’s press release calls the exercise a “mock draft.”

“Our all-volunteer military is the best in the world,” DeFazio said in his press release. “As the Pentagon, the president and the House of Representatives have agreed, there is no military or national security imperative to reinstate the draft. The current selective service infrastructure is obsolete and unnecessary. Taxpayers should not be forced to continue funding it.”

According to DeFazio, tax payers spent $24 million this year, $650 million since 1980, maintaining the draft office.

Representatives from the SSS have made it clear that no plans for a draft are in the works, but that hasn’t stopped editorial writers from around the nation from speculating on the issue.

The following is a statement on the SSS Web site:

NO DRAFT ON HORIZON!

Currently there is a flurry of newspaper articles about Selective Service planning to conduct an exercise of its field structure in 2009. However, the public should not be alarmed. No draft for the military is about to be reinstated. Rather, Selective Service is planning to test its policies, plans and procedures as it has done routinely over the years if resources are available. Given the decline in agency funding, this exercise may be postponed again as it has been in the past. As always, Selective Service continues to do its job of being ready to conduct a draft and to manage a program for civilian alternative service for men classified as conscientious objectors when directed by the Nation’s elected officials: the president and Congress.

The following was provided by DeFazio.

Brief History of the SSS:

The SSS was established by Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt in the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which created the nation’s first peacetime draft.

From 1948 until 1973, both during peacetime and during periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means.

The draft was ended in 1973 and the U.S. converted to an all-volunteer army.

In 1975, President Ford suspended the SSS and put it in deep standby status.

President Carter decided to reinstate the SSS and the registration requirement after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1980.

The House has twice voted to abolish the SSS. In 1993, the House VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee zeroed out funding for the SSS. An effort to restore the funding on the House floor was defeated. In 1999, the House Appropriations Committee again removed funding for the SSS. An effort to restore funding on the House floor was again defeated. However, in both cases, funding for the SSS was restored during the conference committee with the Senate.

This was taken on the campus of Harrisburg High School. The same signs appear on the Middle School grounds. I’m not sure about the grade school… but I assume so. So, no ball playing? Really?

What’s next?

The Great project: Entry 5

This album came across my desk when I was the program director at KBVR, Oregon State University’s radio station. Apparently, it is the Canadian sister’s third album, but is their first of any consequence to indie rock and my life. Technically they play folk-rock, but So Jealous is full of tight, repetitive pop harmonies. The girls sing in high-pitched voices and can get annoying with multiple listenings, especially because the songs are so repetitive. But, it is good music. Great pop.

These girls finish second on the list of “music overused on the first two seasons of Gery’s Anatomy.” They are right behind Psapp, the group who did the theme song. I’m pretty sure every song on this album was played at some melodramatic, over-emotional moment on that show… and I’ll be damned if I didn’t like it a little. Anyway…

I like this album for driving. It plays through a couple of times without me noticing and is good to mindlessly listen to. “Walking with a Ghost,” was overplayed in my college days though. And, this album spent most of my relationship with a past girlfriend in her car, so there were long periods of inactivity on my car stereo. Not that it was horribly missed. But you know…

They are cute, but that won’t make me keep this CD. I think that I could survive with a digital copy and let this one go. Frankly, my copy is a promo copy sent to the station. I think we got multiple copies or some sort of godless, soul-less promoter sent me an extra. Whatever.

The Great project: Entry 4

The Mountain Goats are an incredibly prolific band, publishing four albums in 2002 alone. Tallahassee was one of them, and it is the only Goats album I own. It is one of my favorite ‘one guy and a guitar’ albums. Many find the Goats vocals to be nasaly and hard to listen to, but I think they are pretty solid, and compliment the songs well. The lyrics are spectacular! This album contains one of my favorite break up songs ever, “No Children.”

I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a failsafe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it’s already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town
Again in my life
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it’s darkest before the sun rises
We’re pretty sure they’re all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn’t over
And I hope you blink before I do
Yeah I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can’t find one good thing to say
And I’d hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You’d stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

Hopefully it won’t ever again have personal significance. But the themes on this album are mature and the lyrics are smart. The guitar work is amazing, remaining fresh all the way through.

I don’t think I can part with this cd, because they never made a vinyl version. However, I don’t think I need any other Goats albums, this one satisfies me completely.

Ellyn sent me a link to this Sojourners article this morning. It is an interesting piece on prayer in modern times. However, the interviewee said something that made me think.

SOJOURNERS: Do you see the recovery of that type of prayer as particularly essential in the United States?

KEATING: I’m in favor of it in every country, actually. Every culture is deeply distorted by the human condition, and self-interest, and what the Bible calls the “old man,” in Paul’s words. Which in psychological terms might also be called the false self—which is the only self we know, but it’s the self that embodies all of the consequences of the Fall and hence is a program for unhappiness, for human misery.

“Every culture is deeply distorted by the human condition.” This is key, not just for Christianity, but for anyone to understand. The way in which humans are broken by self-interest distorts every aspect of ideological thought, especially in politics. We strive to complete good work, but good work is a rhetorical falsehood. There is no such thing as true good, as self-interest poisons everything that we do. Don’t get me wrong, we can do good things and work to make the world better, but we will never be able to see the pure realization of our ideological pursuits.

Now, as for the false-self. This assumes that there is a true-self, some sort of animalistic purity, untouched by the evils of the world. This might be the case. One communication theory identifies the two selves. The “me,” the generalized other we create, a personality which we act out, one that is an amalgam of all the societal pressures placed upon us. And, the “I,” a pure form of personality that is hidden behind what living in a society makes us. This, perhaps, is a pure form, it is free of the restraints society gives to us, the laws of religion that form our moral systems. And thus, these understandings are not innate to us, we can exist free from imposed laws, if only inside our own minds. Living as just the “me” or just the “I” cannot be successful. It is a mix we need.

So, if this “me” is what embodies everything of the Fall, everything that is wrong and broken about humanity, we cannot escape it. It is built into us because society placed it there. So, it makes sense we need to shut as much of society out if we choose to communicate with God. We must access the “I.” This makes sense for any religion, not just Christianity. This is what eastern meditation is, right?

So, perhaps this article is on to something. One way to bandage our political process is to activate a deeper connection with ourselves, a connection to God, if you will. This will allow us to put aside all of the socially created problems — racism, hate, judgment, false understanding — and focus on the pure ideology behind our policies and political decisions.

“When I was first starting my career, fresh out of college with all the knowledge of books and culture and the world, one of the interesting things I learned about community journalism is you need to know all the fascinating complexities of how shit flows downhill.” (Explanation of the effects of flooding on public waste-treatment facilities.) “Now call the Harrisburg public works department and find out how the high water is affecting their sewers.”

On Saturday, Dec. 23, at around 8:00 a.m. my grandfather Norman suffered a mild stroke and severe bleeding in the brain. Norman is 85, and this year he spent Christmas in Sacred Heart medical Center. He is a great man. I love him dearly and pray for his recovery. As of tonight, he seemed to be stabilizing, but each hour brings a new complication. He will soon be fed by a tube that was inserted in his nostril and runs directly to his intestine, I believe into the duodenum. He is fragile, tired, but still in good humor and laughing. His speech is in and out, sometimes clear, sometimes nonsense. My family has come together to support my grandma, Hazel, and we have spent long hours in the hospital, taking shifts being close to him, supporting her. If you are the praying type, please do so for Norman and Hazel. I am the youngest grandchild of my generation, there are young great-grandchildren, but I am the only one who might not get grandpa at my wedding. He used to yell at my cousin and I for listening to our music to loud… we were outside, ten and the music was Billy Joel… but that was grandpa’s job. Also, he yelled at us for playing on the rusty equipment out back. He told war stories. He drank black coffee. He loved cereal and taught me the art of mixing brands to achieve a master cereal. He is always positive. Loves nuts. And can be raciest in the way that only that generation can. “In my day we called Brazil nuts nigger toes.” He is a beautiful man who worked hard as a milkman for years to support his large family. So, send good thoughts Norman’s way.

Tonight Katie Gill and I decided to check out the Junction City bar scene. Turns out, it’s going to be an ongoing project. We started tonight at the newest bar in town, Earl’s Juke Joint. It is a decent sized place and when we arrived most of the space was occupied by a large group of local, working types and their girls. The bar had a drunk couple and a bar-fly-type who called himself Elvis. Sweet. Surprisingly, they had garden burgers, which Katie and I both ordered. However, they had run out so the cook actually left to get more. So, we drank. Now, turns out, after leaving college I can do about two beer and I’m feeling pretty good.

Katie and I drank and talked about life in the real world. She is doing well working with the Eugene school district, teaching English as a second language classes and helping autistic kids. Good stuff. Anyway, Thursday night at Earl’s is “Open Mic and Country Karaoke Night.” This is pretty much the coolest thing ever. First the Karaoke Dj and his partner get up and do four songs: “I love this bar” by Toby Keith, “Jackson” by Johnny Cash, “Landside” by Fleetwood Mac and “I walk the Line” by Johnny Cash. Now this was some of the best live music I have seen in a while. These two, the DJ and his female companion, had great voices and they could play. Plus, that were playing authentic country in an authentic country bar! It was superb! He could sing the Cash songs right on and their version was one of the nest covers I have heard. Spectacular. They did the full duet on “Jackson.”

Next, the Karaoke. The big group was there just for that. These were the regulars. They all got up one at a time or in small groups and sang. And, I tell you what, they were good. I have never seen karaoke like this before. It was good. Good! Like in tune and everything. Maye anyone can sing country. But man. This was great.

So, we have decided to come every week. Soon, once we are part of the group, we will sing. But, as long as Earl’s is around in JC, I am a happy camper.

Tonight was the office Christmas party at the paper, and I have to tell you, getting a bit tipsy at work, with your boss, is freaking great! Anyway, after the party died down only myself and one other employee stayed a little late to sit and talk with the owners/publishers, Mike and Sandy. These two are some of the best human beings I have known. Loving, kind and hip. They want us to learn, they push us to succeed. Tonight, they shared with us stories from over 30 years in the journalism biz. Funny stories and stories about how things have changed. We settled for a while on technology and the fast improvements in printing over the last 30 years. Mike talked about lead-setting in College, where each letter was plucked from a case and set backwards and upside down. Sandy talked of the lead-setter with one eye who could read the backward, upside down type. Ha!

Mike was a country beat reporter for the Eugene Register-Guard for some time, when he started he had a teletype machine at home. The machine sat in their dinning room, and Mike had to first type out his story on a typewriter and then re-type it into the machine, which was on a primitive network that reached all over the state. He said that two reporters on the network liked to use the machines to send chess moves back and forth to one another. Mike added the code to activate his machine on the network was “EE.” One night, while having dinner, the machine went “wiz-bang” and spit out “EE to K4, take that you bastard.”

Sandy added if the machine broke down they had to call the teletype guy, Scott, to come fix it. Sometimes Scott would be there so long she would serve him dinner. Sometimes they still see Scott, who is long retired but likes to work at Duck games. Wow.

Well, this is quite a story. The AP recently reported that Stephen Murmer, a Virginia art teacher, was recently suspended for being an ass artist. That’s right, he paints with his ass and “anything else that might fall in the paint when I squat in it.” Actually some of his stuff is pretty good, for being made with his ass. Anyway… notice the horrible headline on the AP story. Why not make an ass joke right? I understand why they suspended this guy, but I don’t think they are right to do it. Yeah, he paints with his ass. he doesn’t do it with the kids around. It’s art. Anyway, I don’t need to make a thing about it… check it out.

Turns out his “clients” were students!