And it took the State Dept. How Long?

In April 2014, I asked the question in my blog about the message being sent to China about territory snatching behavior based on Russian activity in Crimea (see this entry).  On Friday June 26 the number two diplomat in the U.S. State Department, Antony Blinken, offered this comparison of the two:

"In both eastern Ukraine and the South China Sea, we’re witnessing efforts to unilaterally and coercively change the status quo — transgressions that the United States and our allies stand united against."

For my two cents, if you read my original post, the U.S. sent signals that the Chinese interpreted as go signs for territory snatching.  Our government did nothing about Russia snatching the Crimea other than lip service.  It took months of wrangling to get some materials sent to help Ukraine and some advisors sent to help train Ukrainian forces.  Economic sanctions you say, welcome to reality, economic sanctions rarely ever been effective deterrents and have only once that I can think of off-hand (South Africa) played a major role in causing a government to reverse course on domestic policy.  Economic sanctions are just the international community saying shame on you.  Has Iran suddenly become a nicer place?  Has North Korea stopped being a pain in the you know what?  So it only took the State Dept. 14 months to figure out that what China is doing is similar to what Russia did last year.  Way to go State Dept. 

The Majestic Member of the Deer Family

Some people really like white tail, some mulies, some really like moose, but for my own two cents, the elk is the best looking member of the deer family.  Saw a few really nice ones in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Some Vacation Stuff

Had a great vacation during the first weeks of June.  One highlight was camping with the boys and my dad in the Clan Alpine range in northern Nevada.  Something great to be said for being in a location where no other humans are within 50+ miles.  We climbed the rocks, chased lizards and snakes, watched a few really cool thunderstorms.  For my two cents, everyone needs to do this a few times in their life.

The first three are looking around from our camp site.  We climbed some of these rocks.  Nathan has no fear, Sammy has good climbing techniques.  The snake in the last two photos was about 6 1/2 to 7 ft. long.  Had a hard time trying to take pictures while climbing rocks and trying to grab the snake all at the same time.  Not to worry, the snake was not poisonous and if I fell, so what.

Symbols of Identity

Symbols of the legacy of my family history include a coat of arms from our roots in Scotland, symbols and art of the Creek Indians, flags and art of Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina, flags and art of the Confederate States of America, and flags and art of the United States of America.  These symbol are outward signs of the identity of myself that I have developed over the 40+ years of my life.  We all develop identities of ourselves or have these identities given to us without choice or opportunity of change.  Which of these views/theories you accept is up to you but either way you have an identity and there are symbols of that identity that exist.

The question I have is whether or not you define the meaning of the symbols of your identity or do others define the meaning of the symbols of your identity.  Here is a simple fact:  for many black people in the United States today the symbols of the Confederate States of America represent hatred and oppression.  Here is another simple fact:  for myself and multitudes of others these symbols represent a moment in history where our families attempted to birth a new nation on the face of the earth based on ideals that made them feel disparaged by the existing government of the United States of America.  We cling to these symbols as part of our historical identity with the state's rights movement, we cling to these symbols as part of our historical identity with our families.  Whether or not we see these symbols as standards of hatred or as standards of any other sort, they are standards of our identity.

For my two cents, I will continue to fly flags of states, the Confederate States, and the United States as I feel led at any particular point in time.  They are all symbols of my identity.  However, I recognize that the symbols of my identity are not the symbols of everyone's identity and that the symbols of my identity are symbols of detriment to the identity of others.  I do believe, therefore, that the government should do its best to publicly display on government/state property only the most appropriate symbols of communal identity.  The government must take note of the community it serves, the identity of that community, the will of that community, and follow the appropriate course of action.  Should that mean that the majority of citizens of South Carolina want to remove the Confederate States of America battle flag (which is not the national flag of the Confederate States of America for those who have no clue) but is referred to as the "Rebel Flag," "Confederate Flag," and "Southern Cross," then that flag should be removed from the "state" grounds of South Carolina.  The decision is one for the people of South Carolina and one that the government/state of South Carolina should honor.  

  

Vacation

I love family vacation time.  I even like driving on family vacations.  The Two Cents family left western PA and headed out to western NV at the end of last week.  Nothing quite like getting on the road at 4 pm and having breakfast at 4 am half a continent away from where you began--yes, I know that there are speed limits.  I always enjoy recognizing the expansiveness of the U.S., drive across Nebraska or Kansas some day and you will hate it or love it.  I also get a chance to listen to some great literature on these trips, because I always find a few books on CD or download a book or two to a thumb drive (love that the new car allows use of thumb drives, mp3 players, or smartphones).  We (really I, as most of the family was asleep for most of the first segment of the drive) listened to a reading of McCullough's Path Between the Seas and got through most of a novel (DeMille's The Quest) on the trip out, and will finish DeMille and hopefully another book on the way home.

Great news from the trip, my youngest son was baptized last Sunday by his grandfather.  My son had been waiting for three years for this opportunity.  I guess it makes up for my telling my dad no way about 40 years ago when I was baptized by the pastor of our local church.  My dad was in the Air Force at the time and was licensed to preach, but had not yet gone to seminary.  We are having a great visit with my parents and my grandmother, who is living with my mom and dad.

Yesterday was a great time.  My dad and I along with two other dads from his congregation took six young men (ages 8-13) out to the range and spent the morning teaching the kids to shoot (and more importantly how to breathe properly while shooting).  One of the dads and I took the kids to the pool for the afternoon.  Dad and I are taking the boys camping in the mountains here tomorrow (boys get a backpack with a compass, a canteen, one MRE, a knife, change of socks and underwear, and a firestarter) it will be a great time.  We leave after that for southern Utah to visit Bryce's Canyon and Capital Reef National Parks and the wilderness areas around those parks. 

For my two cents go take a family vacation, drive on the trip, see some family, see some of the scenery of this great country. 

Intelligence Collection Program Lapse

In case you have not heard, as of midnight last night several of the mass collection of data programs used in the collection of intelligence for dealing with terrorism/terrorists expired.  Some version of these programs will be soon restored, but the original omnibus use of the PATRIOT Act and other counter-terrorism acts to create collection programs is now done.  Did allowing these programs to lapse change anything?

For my two cents, nothing changed last night at midnight.  While I may shout hallelujah because my civil liberties are for the moment technically more protected, I also know the reality of the behavior of governments and government agencies.  First, how long will it take to "shut down" the collection program?  While the program may actually be removed by the flick of a switch, how do you authorize actually turning the collection program off?  How many meetings and how many memos have to exchange hands before someone finally sends out the memo that says turn the computer program off that collects the phone calls?  Second, since some form of these programs will be accepted by congress soon, will there be any lapse in the collection?  Third, really do you really believe that agencies that spy on people will actually quit spying on people.  These types of collection programs have been used for decades, not just since 2001, Snowden may have made it public so it had to be recognized by the masses, but sentient human beings realized that the government has "listened" to our private conversations for much longer.

But hey, ya'll go ahead and believe what you want about the government not collecting "intelligence" without authorization from the congress.