Fire, light: but must it come so cruel, so bright?

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Hank Williams was no Catholic.

His lonely backwoods ballads were worlds away from the lonely suffering of a warrior saint.

It's a long, long road from the Alabama woods to the Canadian Jewish poet Leonard Cohen.

The singer song writer who has synthesized Jewish and Catholic traditions.

A poet and songster lights up a Catholic saint as only a Jew can.

For the two traditions are cut from the same cloth: martyrdom.

Let us honor those who sacrifice:

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"But the souls of the upright are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them.

"To the unenlightened, they appeared to die, their departure was regarded as disaster,

"their leaving us like annihilation; but they are at peace.

"If, as it seemed to us, they suffered punishment, their hope was rich with immortality;

"slight was their correction, great will their blessings be. God was putting them to the test and has proved them worthy to be with him;

"he has tested them like gold in a furnace, and accepted them as a perfect burnt offering.

-The Book of Wisdom, Chapter 3, New Jerusalem Catholic Bible

(often attributed to a Hellenistic Jew, of the 1st or 2nd century BC, Alexandria, Egypt)

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The Song: set against "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928)

"The Messenger," 1999

It is Done: 1928



It is Done: 1999



In the spirit of Jean Anouilh's "The Lark:"
Let Us Honor not only the dying "Bird in Flames" --
but also the soaring "Bird in Flight"

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Joan of Arc Archive
Was Saint Joan Raped?
Saint Joan's Sexuality
Was Saint Joan Mentally Ill?
A More Thorough Discussion of Joan's Visions
George Bernard Shaw: Saint Joan
Jean Anouilh: The Lark

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Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc
as she came riding through the dark;
no moon to keep her armour bright,
no man to get her through
this very smoky night.

She said, "I'm tired of the war,
I want the kind of work I had before,
a wedding dress or something white
to wear upon my swollen appetite."

Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way,
you know I've watched you riding every day
and something in me yearns to win
such a cold and lonesome heroine.

"And who are you?" she sternly spoke
to the one beneath the smoke.

"Why, I'm fire," he replied,
"And I love your solitude, I love your pride."

"Then fire, make your body cold,
I'm going to give you mine to hold,"
saying this she climbed inside
to be his one, to be his only bride.

And deep into his fiery heart
took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and high above the wedding guests
he hung the ashes of her wedding dress.

It was deep into his fiery heart
he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and then she clearly understood
if he was fire, oh then she must be wood.

I saw her wince, I saw her cry,
I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light,
but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?

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Those Who Came Before

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Saint Joan of Arc or The Maid of Orléans (French: Jeanne d'Arc, ca. 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint.

A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII.

She was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old.

Twenty-four years later, on the initiative of Charles VII, Pope Callixtus III reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr.

She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. She is, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis IX, and St. Theresa of Lisieux, one of the patron saints of France.

Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War.

The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege at Orléans as part of a relief mission.

She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. Several more swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims and settled the disputed succession to the throne.

--From Wikipedia

With thanks to another Joan:
a friend who knows the meaning
of sacrifice

Tipping point: some bridges are not worth taking

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*******

No, folks, it's hardly rocket science.

True, it is not yet "closing time."

Men still chase women. Nations still chase empire.

But the "tipping point" is very near.

*****

It has been an easy assumption that anything is possible.

That "no bridge is too far."

Now is the time to put aside the illusions.

Some bridges, no matter how enticing, just cannot be taken.

*******

We must ask if the American superpower has approached, is approaching, or will approach what the Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz called the "tipping point"

We must ask whether for a well seasoned man, well seasoned women are still worth the trouble of the chase. Everyone has just too much "baggage."

Tipping Point:

When a nation on the military offense reaches the point in its aggressive operations where it is ever more costly to defend its acquisitions.

Or when a well seasoned man decides that new relationships are no longer worth the "lifting of never ending heavy baggage."

Where garrisoning troops, supplying them, defending them drains a nation's power and eventually requires retreat.

As did Napoleon after he sent his forces in to occupy Russia in 1812.

As did Hitler after he attempted to do the same thing in 1941.

As the U.S. did after it attempted to occupy and and shape Vietnam.

Both men and nations must stop to ask "is the objective worth the cost of the chase?"

In their sixties men and women are like firmly potted plants, more like rigid Redwood trunks than like flexible saplings. Preformed by decades of living, they are unlikely to freely dance in a rhythm of fresh romance, of new union.

Yes, there can be friendship and an occasional date.

But no more overseas "wars of occupation."

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Now is a magical moment.....

Let's put together President Obama, Carl von Clausewitz, Afghanistan, Iraq, the American Medical Association, healthcare reform...

Let's add to that shrinking credit cards, shrinking credit, unending exploding deficits -- and the prospect of spending one million a year for every additional American soldier sent to Afghanistan.

Remember "Hey, Hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"

A slogan by Americans who resisted the Vietnam war....

Back when President Lyndon Baines Johnson thought he could have "both guns and butter."

The choice is different today.

"Can we have both guns and doctors?"

As Obama has ramped up his decision on more troops to Afghanistan, scarcely anyone has asked the question:

"What can the United States afford?"

It has been an easy assumption that anything is possible.

That "no bridge is too far."

Now is the time to put aside the illusions.

Take note, 'O Men and Nations.

Some bridges just cannot be taken.

Ah, but maybe it is not quite too late. Maybe just one more...

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Berkeley: where ignorance and idiocy triumphed

*****

It was 1964, 1965 -- the "Free Speech Movement" at the University of California, Berkeley.

Long ago -- surrounded by the swirls of Berkeley radicalism -- this writer found the seeds of independent journalism amidst the deafening rhetoric piped out to enraptured crowds.

The lesson I learned:

Do not trust the rhetoric of establishment professors; do not believe the rantings of power seeking radicals, do not let the authoritarian posturing of any kind of ideologue kill the quest for learning.

Rely instead on direct investigation, talking with people of all backgrounds and belief.

Establishments both Left and Right can be cacoons which block out the sunlight and justify the most horrendous atrocities. They can exploit emotion and rhetoric to draw the crowd into a vise of predictable orthodoxy.

And so there was an abysmal slide toward idiocy.

Berkeley's staid Establishment apologized for the savagery of America's war in Vietnam.

While the screaming Left, as it did with Stalin's totalitarianism of the 1930's, surrendered any consistent concern for human rights.

It championed civil rights in the American South, but portrayed the brutality of China's Communism with its millions of death as "paradise on earth."

Idiocy and ignorance triumphed at one of the world's great universities.

There lies a lesson for today.

Bottom feeders: "suckup artists" of the modern world

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A "bottom feeder" seeks sustenance from others

One of America's greatest industries is the care and feeding of the "bottom feeder:"

That would be a person with total lack of responsibility for him or herself -- who relies on friends, family, neighbors, social workers, judges, lawyers, or anyone else for sustenance.

A defining characteristic of the bottom feeder: one who makes bad decisions and then expects someone else to bail him or her out.

President Dwight Eisenhower once cited the growing importance of this group when he warned of the "the bottom feeder industrial complex."

Bottom feeders of all races cycle through the prisons and courts, the child custody hearings, divorce courts .

They rely on social services such as Medicaid to treat their unwanted pregnancies, relying on lawyers and judges to sort out the complexities of their lives.

Bottom feeders live off of public indulgence and chew up billions of dollars in social services. They cloak themselves in controversies about spousal abuse and child support

They leech off those who work hard but have real unmet needs. They fuel the practices and line the pockets of lawyers and social workers.

In the end, despite their ability to "work the system," bottom feeders frequently fall victim to both themselves and others.

Matchcom.com: ponying up to the "sticker price"

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The ever lonely Hank Williams died too young (1953) to try his luck on the online dating service "Match.com."

But surely he would understand the millions of lonely or bored ones who try their hand in this rollicking way of meeting -- and occasionally even bedding -- the opposite sex.

It was only a matter of time before your intrepid blogger would test the waters.

To see what manner of denizen frequented the dark screens and bright lights of this international institution -- which may be almost as important as CNN.

Subscribers are some 2.8 million according to recent releases.




Match.com can best be understood through "transactional analysis."

The most basic transaction prototype encountered through personal experimentation and the testimony of women met is this:

"Sex for money."

The man, in my age group at least, lists his most valuable items: incomes, profession, homes, travel practices, retirement plans.

These are his "chips in the game."

The woman will list all the things she enjoys (for a man to join in or subsidize).

She will advertise all of her charms -- backed up by photos, protestations of morality or virtue, supplemented by smiling hints that she is still juicy, still sexual.

This constitutes her "sticker price."

His message is "here is what I can give you if you put out."

Her message is "this is what you must give if you want me to put out."

A match can ensue if assets match sticker price.

Sometimes the woman may let the man take her for a trial ride -- with only a partial down payment. Often she must first be convinced the man's assets match her sticker price

Still there are plenty of women on Match who are happy to go for a ride just to enjoy the scenery.

The man's financial assets may be less important if she likes his looks, manner, if he has compensating assets -- and if she knows he knows how to drive.

*****

"The first thing women look for is money, career, and prestige," one female source told me.

"First I look at his picture, then at his income," said another. "I don't bother with anything else."

*****

While this is the most basic dating paradigm, there are others.

There are prosperous, even wealthy women, who do not look to men to fund them. Indeed there are men on Match.com who seek "to land" a well-monied woman.

Many men and women both profess they seek the hallowed, if elusive LTR (long term relationship).

Still many remain on Match.com for years -- dating here and there, finding a revolving door of emails, telephone calls, and perhaps even of mates.

For change and compromise are not male/female strong points (at least at my age.). So the chances of a LTR? Well the proof is in the pudding....

I have found the names of many of the same people on Match.com during this assignment as during preliminary explorations in the last ten years.

For all the talk of LTR, the name of the game is often "serial dating."

*****

It is impossible to understand the nature of Match.com without understanding the dual phenomena of addiction and trolling.

For those who are single and into online dating, there is no substitute for the juicy selection of possible choices Matchcom pushes as good possibilities in daily customized email briefings.

Every day there will be someone new to explore, to fantasize about. And who knows? Tomorrow's may be juicier than today's.

So how much energy should I put into pursuing today's if tomorrow's may be snappier?

And surely it makes sense to be emailing, telephoning, meeting more than one, because that one may be exploring five -- "playing you."

If I put too much energy into one, it is all wasted if she flies off with someone else.

And so we have the "player" phenomenon -- each man or woman hedging his/her bets, courting a half dozen partners at a time. Watching for new possibilities in each morning's Match.com email.

And if there is a real date, not to worry. Don't sweat it. Don't invest too much effort.

One can always go back to one's computer and troll the database for someone new, fresh, better.

So "trolling for fish" is one sub-paradigm for "transactional analysis."

Trolling for Fish

Hungry for Romance

*****

While it is important to understand the fundamental sex for money paradigm, it is also important to remember other dimensions.

During this reporter's undercover investigation, he encountered many decent, very interesting people.

No, not everyone is money hungry riff raff. But truly the riff-raff are sometimes more appealing than the high toned.

One thing this reporter did uncover: money has little to do with "class."

*****

Many, both divorced or widowed, sincerely seek companionship -- although at my age, at least, there is enough baggage to go around.

Indeed in a decade beginning slightly before 9/11 this reporter had three Match.com generated LTR's which inadvertently resulted from earlier reporting assignments. And also had, of course, many interesting -- if platonic -- dates.

It is important to remember that a LTR going beyond short term sex also involves the matching of sticker price with buyer assets. It will most likely be much more than financial -- involving a broader satisfaction of mutual human needs.

*****

Yes, many classy and decent people do join this hi-tech "meat market."

Most are in it not to give (I already gave in a previous marriage at the office!), but to receive, to have their needs met.

Some honesty and frankly embrace the sex for money paradigm. Others live by it but seem in "denial."

Some are seeking more -- but will settle for less. Some get less than they bargained for.

Many seem in a state of high confusion -- and seem not to know what they want.

God, what's it all about?

And if the meat market miracle does not happen at once, it's out again by boat, to troll upon the high seas!!!!!

Even when in bed, it's a good idea to keep your boots on, mate.

More trolling may be ahead.

*****

Haiti quake: a wakeup call for a new "war" ahead

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Haiti: Fighting a "New Kind of War"

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"A picture of life's other side" includes the dark futility of much rescue effort in Haiti.

Maximum outpouring of international concern, but slow access to the trapped, wounded, homeless, and hungry.

Against a "deadline" after which hundreds, even thousands, of those trapped will be dead.

The dark picture also contains a compelling wake up call: to step up prediction and contingency planning for a new form of "war" which may lie ahead.

*****

Despite all the international attention, very little in the way of medical aid and rescue assistance made its way to those in need during the window of opportunity during which entrapped survivors were still alive.

And then thousands who could not be reached quickly were dead.

Looking Backwards: What Happens Without Planning

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As bottlenecks opened, aid workers and thousands of U.S. soldiers poured in to help sustain those who survived.

An exercise in futility?

Hardly, for the money collected and the attention aroused could be used for future long term recovery -- after the dead are buried.

After the failure to save those who could not be quickly reached comes the second major challenge: to maintain interest, commitment, and co-ordination for long term recovery.

*****

And the broader challenge: to step up prediction and contingency planning for a new form of "war" which may lie ahead.

Looking Ahead: One Guide to Choice

Stepped up international planning will be necessary to meet fresh emergencies.

From unpredictable weather, earthquakes, climate change, and a rise of ocean water levels which may threaten coastal settlement in both poor and rich parts of the world.

There is a need to learn from Haiti, to improve precautions against bottlenecks, methods of co-ordinating aid, establishing security, getting medical teams in fast.

Haiti may be an extreme case but the challenges it presents will occur again and again.

Coastal Flooding: Waves of the Future?

Climate Change: To Mitigate and Adapt

It matters little whether climate change is "man made."

To one degree or another we can expect the consequences will be there.

In some cases there will be sudden catastrophes.

In some cases gradually developing, more manageable problems.

But stepped up international planning and co-ordination will be necessary to minimize bottlenecks, confusion, rivalry.

As we push forward ahead, let us learn from Haiti.

New forms of "war" lie ahead.

Needed: a "rolling reassessment" to bring 'em home

*****

So Hank, it's time to shift "Left" a bit.

Redeploy, bring 'em home.

It's time for a major, major strategic reappraisal.

As the "fog of war" swirls around the long term impact of the oily invasion of the Gulf Coast, a reduction of the American military presence in Afghanistan is essential for this nation's security.

We must cease living in a fantasy land. Those who seek to fly too high will have their waxen feathers melted by the sun.

Yes, but how to do this -- without plunging the region into chaos, without creating new sanctuaries for terrorists?

For that we need a "rolling reassessment."

That will not be easy.

But ways must be found to reduce the American military "footprint" in Afghanistan, support local and regional accommodations among competing warlords, even to support competing factions from a distance. The Taliban could win complete control, but there may be other outcomes.

Above all to focus American goals on the demolition of Al-Qaeda base areas.

Mr. President, you are not so good at waging war....so focus on the vital ones.....

The Gulf oil spill has the potential of doing as much long term damage to te economy of parts of this country as Al-Qaeda. That is only one challenge facing the US.

You have no choice but to win this new "Battle of New Orleans" -- and many others.

Learn from the Soviet experience in Afghanistan....Bring 'em home.

*****

Back to Basics: with the U.S. bogged down in Iraq, Afghanistan, and an oil slickened Gulf, it important to remember the thousands of young soldiers and their mothers whose lives are caught up in the tribal flames of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Over extension can be the Achilles heel of great nations.

Obama must exercise leadership to protect many more from a lifetime of pain.

Now it is time to win this new "Battle of New Orleans."

Scarlett Tide

"When the Crater Meets Afghanistan"
Obama's War: to Lift the Fog or Tap the Passions
The way Ahead: Does Obama Need a Bit of Clint Eastwood

We Are All Soldiers: Honoring the Miracle of Survival
Obama's Sophie's Choice: a Blind Media
"Tipping Point:" guns or doctors? China watches
What Will We See When the "Fog of War" Clears?
Obama's New Policy: Senator Kerry's Speech
Obama's Great Grim Gamble: He Holds a Weak Hand
A Digital View of Afghanistan: Obama and a Hybrid Strategy
Rudyard Kipling Warns President Obama
Will Obama Follow Lord Roberts Advice: Get in Fast, Withdraw
Pick off an Occupying Army: Updating an Old Story
Following Alexander the Great to Afghanistan
Should Prez Obama Take Advice From a Russian
Left, Right, Join In: Ring the Bell on "Obama's War"
US in Afghanistan: Bearing Gifts to Other Nations
America and China: Circling the Afghan Carcass with a Bamboo Curtain Dead
"The Kiterunner" as a Guide to Afghanistan

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