Paranoia, Leadership, Bridging the Great Congressional Divide

I think it was Woody Allen, who said that "Paranoia is knowing all the facts.". Not that I know any of the facts about what is going on in Washington or anywhere else, but simple observation provides a fearful vision of legislation disintegration in the District of Columbia and no one seems to be able pull us out of the nose dive. Legislative logjam seems to be result of any legislative discourse.

Where is the leadership? Simply put, we are in a situation where there is a game of "one upmanship" going on and the American people have lost faith in both the President and the Congress as evidenced by their approval ratings.

No can disagree that we are not in deep debt and we need to do reduce spending, but the real cause of current lack of legislative progress reflects the wide divergence of philosophical viewpoints and world views within the United States of America about who we should be. I believe we are really fighting over what our national identity should be. The question on the table... Are we going to be the nation of the last 200 years or we just simply melting into to member nation among other nations and just assume the position of follower among nations.
Internationalism over nationalism.

If I was paranoid, I might see that there is an agenda to drive this country and its populus into a different kind of national identity...subject to the international community and one that does not exerts its national agenda internally, but one that lines up with the dictates of the world community. The United States would simply become a nation under world governement or in the near term, one that is part of a North American coalition with Mexico and Canada, paved the way by NAFTA and similar treaties signed

Simplistically, it seems that there is a concern for supporting those who can't support themselves and another view that we are straining at the seams to carry on the way we have for the last 75 years. FDR and his administration created the Federal Reserve Board and Social Security entitlements, both which are playing a significant role in creating this country as a debtor nation.

We simply need to make hard decisions and we need to be willing to make them. I have three sons and I am concerned about their future and what kind of tax burden we are laying on them.

It's time to bite the bullet. We are at the stage of the debt is equal to the entire GDP output of the United States. Though it may be noble conceptually, it would seem that we are not able to continue to support any new major social initiatives that create ongoing societal burdens and we must curtail our current entitlements. This is going to be hard, but we need to make this decision.

At the same time, US ventures of war into other nations, whether justified or not, has drained this country of vital funding. We need to avoid any new military ventures and withdraw from any entanglements we are engaged in. The days of preemption should be over. We can no longer simply "go to war" based on flimsy justifications and on emotional knee jerking. The basis for going to war used to be a major congressional discussion. It seems that Presidents can decide to engage in war and Congress is simply a rubber stamp for the executive branch.

My parents and my grandparents did to make my life a good one. It is time we all sacrficed for our chidren. Time to sacrifice for the next generation.

1421-Chinese Exploration.

I've just finished the book, "1421" and I have to say that I was blown away and thoroughly convinced that this is the real deal.

The book provides convincing evidence of a bold Chinese exploration of the Americas, Australia, Africa, the South Pacific and even Antarctica. The book describes a plethora of discoveries left behind by the great Ming dynasty admirals and retraces western European "discoveries" as voyages that confirmed the Chinese discoveries. Degama, Columbus, Cook...were only following the path left in Chinese maps conveyed to people like DeConti, who made money and fame by providing maps to western explorers. Yes, they all had maps derived from the exploits of their contemporary Chinese explorer counterparts.

If this evidence is correct, the Chinese discovered America 70 years before C. Columbus, James Cook did not discover Australia, and many other discoveries claimed as firsts, were in fact only rediscoveries.

A blow to the western ego, but a fascinating account of Chinese Admiralty (who were primarily Eunuchs). The legacy of these bold men are epic.

I am in the process of reading "1434" a follow-on book, that describes the spark of western invention as Chinese inspired. It may be that the likes of Leonardo De Vinci may have been more of an illustrator than inventor.

What a world we live in. I was always taught that western civilization was superior. This certainly challenges my early learning experiences.

I highly recommend it.

Reflection of My Brother, Stephen Gary Andersen

This week was very sad indeed, for myself and my family.

We lost our beloved, Steve, my brother , who died at the young age of 56 years of age. It was sudden and totally unexpected.

Steve was my younger brother and I was his roommate for many years growing up. We were very close growing up. At times, I think he was really the older brother and I was the younger.

We were the odd couple. He was neat freak and I was the less than organized one. He was disciplined and I was coming out at the seams. It is now so odd that he has left this world.

In preparation for his funeral service, I was given two tasks.

I was asked to setup a DVD in memory of Steve that was compilation of the photos contributed by the members of his family. I was also asked to say a few words about Steve at the service.

As I started to work on the DVD project, I felt that I had been given the task of preparing the DVD to be able to speak with conviction about the life of Steve.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I had volumes about him right before me.

I spent the better part of an afternoon looking at the pictures and I have to say that overall I experienced Steve in a real way. I felt Steve in the pictures over and over. It felt like I had evidence about the sum total of him as a person. Here was irrefutable evidence of his life in a pictorial essay.

It seemed at one point all of the pictures become one picture …with one very simple conclusion. It was undeniable.

The pictures told me that….Steve had a good life. A rich life. One filled with love.

He had…

The love of good mother and father who cared about him.
The love of many brothers and sisters.
The love of a good wife.
The love of a good friends.
Even the love of some sweet little cats.

The photos spoke that…

He grew up happy.
The pictures told me that he was active.
He loved to travel
He was tender hearted.
He was kind.
He was fun loving
He loved his family, wife and friends.
He was successful in business.
He loved sports, especially Baseball.
He loved the outdoors.
He loved to go out to eat.

The photographic evidence conclusively states that ….
He lived a successful life and one that was worth living.

While this photographic evidence points to his life now past…my faith says that Steve has even a better life now.

Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen".

I believe that Steve has entered into a higher life. One with God and is happy beyond all that we can comprehend. There is no sorrow, no pain, no disappointments.

He is loved more than he has ever been loved.

I believe that he would tell everyone here to not mourn, but be joyful about his state. I believe that is what he his telling me this with firm evidence.

He is happy and content and we should be too.

For now, I will miss him, but I will see him again.

Simon Winchester's Great New Book

I am always happy to read a Simon Winchester book and this new one I'm currently reading does not disappoint me at all.

"The Man Who Loved China" is a review of the life of a brilliant scholar and scientist, Joseph Needham, who rediscovered the scientific and engineering achievements of the Chinese nation. Much of his research proved that the Chinese were on the cutting edge of many advancements, well before western civilization;in many cases, centuries before the west. The appendix in his book lists a prodigious amount of discoveries, inventions, and advancement by the Chinese. While not to diminish the contributions of many fine scientists and inventors of the west, the Chinese were, in many cases, well ahead of the west in technology. It was the outstanding research of Joseph Needham during and after WWII, that culminated in a 23 part volume known as "Science and Civilisation in China". Simon Winchester retraces Joseph Needham' travels and studies, as well as his life Joseph Needham's, to bring the reader a wonderful insight into a magnificent lifetime achievement by a little known scholar. (at least to me)

A great read in the very well documented and interesting writing style of Simon Winchester. I highly recommend it.

Dealing with "The Career"

Over the years, I have had some interesting jobs, but only one at a time. I've had dribbles of opportunities, but in the last six months there has been a flood of interest. It just seems like a gate has opened.

Guess I will enjoy it while it lasts, but then I have to settle down and work on one.

Traveling the "Friendly Skies"

I just got back from traveling round trip Denver to Reno on United Airlines and I have to say that it is not a "friendly" airline. The lines were slow, the attendants were rude and the trip was anything, but comfortable. There were last minute gate changes, grumpy agents, and late planes.

I am in awe wondering how they staved off bankruptcy.

I will definitely try to avoid traveling with them in the future

Resisting Bad Bosses

I have had my share of bad bosses and I may have one or two in the future, but life is too short to endure the agony of someone who should not have risen to the level of sufficient authority to make life miserable for others. I guess that question is like "How did Hitler get to power?". No matter where I have gone, people with their own head problems have become the master of someone else's professional or occupational fate and made life miserable for them. Why do corporations /companies raise up tormentors rather than mentors?

I think it is the duty of every good employee to resist these sick puppies and hold them to accountability, as best as they can, given the vulnerable position they find themselves in.
Easier said than done...

Volcanic Personal Relations-Watch Your Step

I am constantly amazed at the mulitiplicity of views that people have of even the most unassuming human situation. One thinks that an issue is so obviously benign, but it turns out that there is some boiling caldron of politics or resentment brewing under the surface. There are hidden agendas, bruised egos, seething ambitions, and bewildering behaviour ready to overtake the situation.

It reminds me...

I was watching a special on the National Geographic channel about volcanoes and their volatility. Mount St Helens had been inactive for hundreds of years and seemingly it was an island of tranquility, but beneath the surface there was a bulge of molten lava pressuring through to erupt. There was a part of the show when the researchers had to be careful where they stepped or they would have fallen through the thin veneer of sold lava to the very hot liquid magma beneath. They gingerly tested every step of the way.

So say we all to the wisdom of treading carefully in all matters dealing with the human volcano.

The Job Transition

It has been 3 weeks since I started at Ball Aerospace. Ball is a nice place to work and I feel at home...a bit clumsy perhaps, but it is comfortable. I've had to reset my heart rate from high to medium. There is a deliberateness about this place that was not at Qwest, which runs a hundred miles an hour. Ball seems to run on its own rate.

My boss is very nice guy also and has gone out of his way to assist me in the transition. We spent the last couple of days meeting people at various Ball sites to meet and greet me. I am a bit humbled that these people take the time to meet with me and find out what I'm about. Interestly enough, I have encountered some people from my old days in Boulder at Ball. It was very good to see them and nice to be remembered by them.

It's only 3 weeks, but so far so good. I hope I can say that after 20 years.

Java Dung Coffee

Well, it had to come to this...Java Dung coffee. While there is no one more than who loves coffee, I have to say that this is the epitome of decadence. An article in a recent Denver Post article speaks to a coffee delicacy known as kopi luwak. This little delicacy is derived from feeding a civet (like a skunk) coffee beans and collecting the greenish-brown partially digested beans from the dung of this little beastie and grounding it up at $600/lb. They say that there is nothing it and I can believe that. Good to the last drop. Man, I like coffee, but this is ridulous. What's next Starbucks kopi luwak?

We have taken the coffee thing a little too far. I'm putting my foot down on this one.

Between Jobs

Well, I am out of Qwest and waiting to go Ball Aerospace. I have a lot of butterflys about the whole transition, but I know that we are always waiting for something.

I remember seeing a World War II movie when I was young that featured a scene with two men in a fox hole waiting for the next wave of Japanese to overrun their position. Woefully outnumbered.

In the quiet between the waves of soldiers, there was silence and a temporary peace that allowed the men to reflect. The first man to speak remarked that his whole life consisted of waiting. Waiting to grow up, waiting for his first kiss, waiting to get married, waiting for his first son to be born...waiting to go to war and now waiting for... he could not tell what his outcome would be, but he could be waiting for his death. What happened to the men, I don't remember, just the existential moment of that reflection.

Why that particular scene of a movie stuck in my head, I will never know, but it has provided some kind of perspective to me to know that we are all going through stages of existence and we are waiting for the next stage to begin and waiting for immortality to begin.

Basketball Glory

I was playing basketball at the 20th Street Gym yesterday and I have to say that I was doing very well playing with some guys that are half my age. I thought "Not bad for a guy at my stage of life". I made great shots and gave some of them, lessons in moving to the basket.

I was just feeling pretty good about myself, when one of the young guys that I have played a few times told me, "You must been really good in your day". My day? I thought this was my day. Today was my day I thought. The old age thing again.

While it was really meant to be a compliment and well intentioned, it reminded of Patton and his story of the Roman Generals, who would return from a victorious battle and riding their chariot into an adoring crowd with a servant whispering into the ear of the General, "Glory is Fleeting". A reminder to appreciate it now, because it will disappear like a wisp of smoke.

Yes, my days on the court are fleeting and make me appreciate even more the fact I can still "run and gun". At least a little longer.

Woody's Movie

Last night I saw "Match Point" written and directed by Woody Allen, who I enjoy in the comedic sense, but whose nihilistic outlook, at least portrayed in this movie, I did not agree with. The movie is an excellent cinematic creation, but it's too bad that he takes the position that all is random and there is only luck and justice is not an immutable inevitability. The box that is drawn around this premise is a bit short sighted since it never shows what ultimately happens to Chris Wilton, a tennis player who marries into a rich aristocratic family, who has an affair and kills his lover, who is pregnant. Wilton conceives and achieves evil and avoids arrest through a "lucky" break of evidence presenting itself to divert the police from his guilt. Allen contends there is no poetic justice and perhaps the only thing that punishes Wilton is his own guilt. Then again, he states that guilt can be swept under the rug and you can simply push on.

It is an interesting aside picked up by Ben, my son, observed in connection with the murder of Wilton's lover. She is pregnant and Wilton insists that she get an abortion, which she is rife to do. So Wilton decides to kill her since it inconveniences his newly obtained life style. It is an interesting observation that her refusal of abortion became murder of both herself and the baby, perhaps as an extension of one another based on the same rationale.

All in all, a brilliant movie, however I felt it about its misguided theme concerning the ultimate questions of life.

Depression & Cognitive Functioning

Interesting article today in the WSJ about role of depression as a risk factor effecting the memory, problem solving and mental acuity, perhaps even shrinking parts of the brain related to these attributes after the age of 65. The article, titled, "How Depression Weakens the Brain" describes the current literature with regard to cognitive deficits and bouts of depression. The study cited was a comparison of healthy versus depressed (60 years or older) subjects and the configuration of cognitive dysfunctions in both. The depressed subjects showed a significant amount of these deficits.

There was also a description of anatomical studies showing patients with chronic depression have a smaller hippocampus than healthy patients. The hippocampus is thought to be responsible for memory. Treatment of the depression reduces the risk. There are studies that relate this to Alzheimer's.

So...what are we to conclude...a positive attitude promotes a healthy brain, memory retention and good mental function perhaps into old age.

This all points out one lesson to me. I need to watch more Marx Brother's movies.

"John From Cincinnati"

A quick note on a very interesting HBO show, David Milch's "John From Cincinnati" and my early take on the show (Not that anybody cares what my opinion is).

This is a very different show from Milch's "Deadwood", but seems to continue the creator's flirt in the spiritual development of characters bereft and bankrupt of moral virtue (with a bit of humor sprinkled in). Deadwood seems to represent this kind of search and Milch's new show uses the likes of "John Monad" (Monad? A God Reference?) who comes out of nowhere, utters prophetic statements, and has a mysterious effect on the dysfunctional Yost family to accomplish this end. You can see that John is some kind of providential intrusion into the lives of a family that hurt at the core and whose members have not fulfilled their ultimate potential and purpose. They are divinely being set back on course.

We don't know what John is yet, but we know that when you slap his face, you invite an earthquake.

Yes, it is enough to make grown agnostic cry.

Even though the critics have somewhat panned it, as for me I will continue to watch this very interesting Milch creation to see what kind of redemption will play out in the Yost's.

iPhone Longing

I just read a review of the Wall Street Journal on the iPhone and I have to say that it makes a plain old cell phone, a plain old cell phone by comparison.

This is going to be big (maybe some glitches), and it will revolutionize the industry.

The only issue will be is whether the AT&T network will be able to work well enough (if your not on a wi-fi) to make it a good experience. If the pipe is rusty and slow or not available, it will be unbearable to iPhone users. Unfortunately, it will only work with Grandma Bell AT&T.

I would buy now if I could, but I work for an AT&T competitor (Qwest). I also don't know if I can afford the service plan.

Oh well, some day.

Debt-A Faustian Pact

There is something wrong with American life when it is so easy to get into debt way beyond your ability. It is getting to the point where I see the lending industry as predatory. Banks used to encourage saving, but when they can post more revenue from lending, the whole financial landscape has changed. And the credit card industry should be ashamed of the amount of interest that they charge their customers. The number of people in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 now, far exceeds the number during the Great Depression.

I must get 10 offers per week from lending institutions and credit card companies. They offer large amounts too. I feel like Faust being tempted by the devil. The offer is instant gratification and the payoff is a bitch.

My father told me a long time ago to avoid borrowing and that it leads to financial slavery. How true and how wise he was when utter those words.

State of Mind / State of Body /State of Health

Empirically, I have to conclude that there has to be a connection between the body and the mind and that predisposition to good health starts there. What one thinks and ponders about their condition seemly points the way to either more or less health problems. I wonder sometimes if we get locked or lock ourselves into a box from a health perspective by what we think about our situation, ourselves and what we think we can overcome. It must rev up or rev down our bodies.
That is not to say that there are not circumstances that are beyond our control, but I think its our response to them, is what predisposes to health or causes us to spiral downwards towards the disposition of new symptoms and new health conundrums.

Life from the Basketball Court

Even though I'm gaining in years, I have been able to play (effectively I might add) basketball at the 20th Street Gym in Denver. The pickup games have been great over the last six months since I started to play again. The last time I really played was about 9 years ago in Boulder at the YMCA. I played for 10 years there. Since then, I have been a runner, which is still good, but does not have the dimension of testing my abilities that I used to thrive on.

The 20th Street Gym pickup games have given me an opportunity to play again. I am playing with the whole spectrum of players, the tall, the small, the young and even some people older than myself (hard to imagine). I have to say that I am somewhat gratified to run with this wild bunch M-F and to still feel the thrill of making a jump shot from the 3 point line or a layup in the paint. I found out I still got the stuff and I will continue to play and shoot hoops as long as I can.

I have to say that when I first stepped onto the court after so long, I was not very confident that I could shoot and I felt stifled, but then the thought occurred to me that if you don't shoot, you don't score and you suffer, as well as the whole team. It's because you don't try. So the lesson of life from the basketball court...shoot. It's worth the risk of the shot and looking bad, even if you think that you won't make it.

Letting Go

I wrestled the night and lost.

It just seemed like I could not settle my mind down after taking Bobby to the airport yesterday and thinking about all evening. Even after I did sleep, I woke up early thinking about him on the streets of London and I wondered how he was.

I remember being that way when Buzz left and then when Ben left. Buzz to San Francisco and Ben to New York. Now Bobby has gone to London. It's hard to not be able to be there to help, even if he does not need it.

After my third cup of coffee today, I vowed I would not worry about him and let providence indeed take over on this, his adventure.

Letting it go.