Macwriter

Mac kills PC in so many areas. I find that my workflow crashes to a halt when I have to go into the office and use their Windows systems. I hesitated in downloading any Microsoft programs onto my Mac because I don’t like anything about them, how they are organized. Even using Excel, which is still far more substantial than Apple’s Numbers program, I am quick to get in and get out. The one shining Microsoft program out there is Livewriter. It is great. I does everything that a blogger needs and wants. It has two-way communication with accounts and one can write, post, and draw from with ease.

So I am trying out MacJournal. I am hoping that the latest update will address some of the workflow problems that I had. We’ll see. A big problem for me was the lack of tag support. Not that the program doesn’t use tags, it does. But that it doesn’t draw from the list of tags one has already started on an external server. Livewriter does this well. But other programs, not so much. Instead of a seamless work environment I am forced to print out a list of tags and hang it on the wall. This. is. stupid. Either that or I am stupid and I cannot figure out a workaround.

From Lady Liberty to Her Troops

See you over the horizon there

storm clouds trouble skies once fair.

With faith in heart, sword in hand

you carry our prayers to distant lands.

Flanders Field, Montezuma’s Hall,

ever have you answered the call

to defend the weak, protect the small,

extending Justice and Liberty equally for all.

Though these ideals from higher be,

they must be earned, are never free.

The blood of patriots too often spilled

in cold, lonely, and desolate fields.

Yet cast your eyes to this torch held high

a beacon of freedom in the sky

our tribute to you is more than tears

nor huddle we from our fears

but grateful hearts and lives lived free

from purple mountains to shining sea

to you our love on winds shall fly

for country, family, and corps,

Semper Fi.

(March 6, 2003)

Someone had a boyfriend over in Iraq and asked me to write a poem on the spur of the moment.  So with pen and bar napkin I wrote this.

letter to the editor

I had a rough day yesterday.  I feel better today.  I go to a coffee shop and sit down with a bottle of water, a coke in a glass bottle, and a mocha, and pick up the Letters to the Editor page of the paper. There is this…

Liberal policies imperil U.S.  

I read with trepidation the Supreme Court ruling concerning the military prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, that they have a right to seek their freedom before a federal judge (“Court rules for Guantanamo prisoners,” June 13).

Liberal elements in this country fail to see the peril that their “feel good” policies have on the very existence of this country. They fail to understand that the very people they would set free today would also be the ones to cut their liberal throats tomorrow, if they could.

Justice Antonin Scalia said it correctly when he wrote in dissent to this decision, “The nation will live to regret what the court has done today.”

If I were a combat soldier and in this war zone against current enemies, this decision would give me one mandate: I do not take prisoners anymore, no matter what.

MICHAEL PILKINGTON Northeast Portland

So I cranked up my computer and sent inmy own letter to the editor….

Michael Pilkington, of Northeast Portland, was quick to say “If I were a combat soldier and in this war zone against current enemies, this decision would give me one mandate: I do not take prisoners anymore, no matter what.” (letter to the Editor, Wednesday, June 18).

As a combat soldier I wish to gods that those who do not understand what it is to kill another human would shut-up for good and quit their sabre rattling when it we that must carry the sword.  The taking of life is lead weight that you cant get out of your blood.  Its obvious that those like Mr Pilkington do not truly understand what they are saying when such generalizing statements as this are made.  Kill all enemy combatants? No matter what?

I can only shake my head in disbelief at the inexperienced, naive audacity of others who know not what war is to so carelessly thrust others into its chaotic play.  It is my hope that we move away from the politics of fear and toward realizing that vision of the country we can feel in our marrow.

We are the good guys (at least I feel we are) and as such we ought to hold ourselves to high standards.  That means giving trial to those in Gitmo.  That means no water-boarding.  That means not indiscriminately killing all combatants.  That also means owning up to our mistakes of the past, opening up the scrutiny of them being wrong (and ourselves being mislead or not) and moving on.

I am a conservative in that I hold that those values that make America truly America are to be cherished and guarded and defended.  I am liberal in that many of those ideals have not been adequately expressed yet and we’ve got a lot of change to go through in order to truly be that ‘city on the hill’.

Semper Fi
Eddie Black

Reagan in the morning

I like to get up a couple of hours early so that I can read the news, read from a book, or just gather my thoughts.  I do not like to get up and hurry off to work.  I feel cheated if I do. 

This morning I’ve read a little from Reagan: A Life in Letters.

from page 257.

Here Reagan writes to a young man about the importance of people taking responsibility for their government.

Dear Philip:

Thanks very much for your generous words.  I’m most grateful– pleased also at your interest in government.

You have touched at the very heart of the matter– people involvement.  In recent years growing possibly from the Great Depression years when people were literally stunned by the collapse of the economy there has been a decline in political participation by the people.  The Roosevelt era was characterized by a government takeover to an extent we’ve never known.

Personal initiative was our national characteristic.  Organized labor was fragmented and had little power mainly because most Americans resisted joining anything that might restrict their individualism.

The pattern changed quickly.  The year I graduated from college the government was running radio ads urging you not to leave home looking for work but to stay and wait for the government to help you.

Today so many things we once thought of as personal or private responsibility are now just accepted as government’s jobs.  With this in my opinion has grown the idea that we are incapable as individuals of affecting government.  Thus the cliche’s– “there is no difference between the parties,” “my vote doesn’t count,” “politicians are all alike.”

I have learned that the people can influence government and that our system will only work if the people participate.  But the people must be informed or rather inform themselves.   Jefferson said the people will not make a mistake– if they have all the facts.  If there is a weakness in our two-party system it is that we accept a party label as ours and then vote the label without questioning whether the party continues to represent our own philosophical beliefs.

I was a Democrat when the Democratic Party stood for states rights, local autonomy, economy in government and individual freedom.  Today it is the party that has changed, openly declaring for centralized  federal power and government sponsored redistribution of the individual’s earnings.

You asked me for some ideas; let me suggest that every government service should be weighed against the cost of that service in loss of personal freedom.  We willingly give up our right to drive 90 miles per hour down a city street because we want safety for self and family.  By the same token do we want government to have the right to censor films because some filmmakers lack of good taste?

Government exists to protect the rights which are ours from birth; the right to life, to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  A man may choose to sit and fish instead of working.  That’s his pursuit of happiness.  He does not have the right to force his neighbors to support him (welfare) in his pursuit because that intereferes with their pursuit of happiness.

I hope this is something of what you wanted.

Best regards,
Ronald Reagan

A letter from my beloved

I got an email from my baby yesterday. She had written me a few days earlier and said that she had a thought about me and autumn and she thought that I might like to hear about it. I told her that I would love to read about it. A couple of days went by and I continued along my way here in Iraq. Then yesterday I woke up and checked my email. It had a message from her and it moved me so much that I was choked up and had tears in my eyes. What my girl expresses in this email is a powerful declaration of love and if I do not record moments such as this in my livejournal, then what do I keep it for?

I am blessed to have Eliza in my life. We grow stronger every day, every month, my walk in life with her this eighteen months or so has been many things, but it above all it has been rewarding and enriching. She is truly the love of my life.

Hello Eddie Darling,

I wanted to write and tell you about the thoughts I had concerning my mom, autumn, and you.  It’s not a big revelation or anything, but I know you could appreciate it.  It actually started with thoughts of you.

The last couple of days it had been overcast and drizzling or raining almost all day.  The night before, I had watched a wind storm that had demanded some respect.  This night, I was feeling at peace and my thoughts turned to you as I enjoyed the quiet night and drizzling skies from my balcony.  I thought about how my perspective of “bad” weather has changed.  Since I have met you, I discovered that I can enjoy the day even if the sun isn\t shining.  If I prepare myself to meet a day of rain or cold, I can appreciate that the streets are more peaceful, that people have slowed down, and that I myself enjoy a difference in mind and spirit.  I mean this literally, but it also applies metaphorically.

I remember reading you a passage about a severely-afflicted optimist, to the extent, that her bubbling over about a cloudy day agitated other people.  You smiled and related to her joy at gray skies.  That stuck with me for some reason.

I have always been a summer fan and sunshine junkie.  You helped me to embrace the unique qualities of autumn.  I will not waste time listing the joys of the changing season because you know them thoroughly.  This is when my thoughts turned to mom.  I thought about how I was a little puzzled when I had learned that fall was her favorite time of the year.  Watching your delight at the falling leafs and perception of things at this time helped me to tap into why she loved autumn too.  Then I thought about how you loved Fiddler on the Roof, was in the play, and bought me the movie as a present.  A curious connection with the film that was my mother’s all-time favorite.

That’s when the very sweet thought graced my mind.  “I thought, I bet My Mother would have loved Eddie.  I bet you two would have had a wonderful relationship and may even have shared a unique relationship of a different commonality that you and I share.  I feel very blessed to have you in my life and know that you are a man of great quality that those dearest to me embrace.

Love, Eliza