Bittersweet Memories of Catholic School

In my latest column, I take a nostalgic look back at Holy Spirit School and Sister Norberta.  The title is a link to the web version of the column.  --EFP

Wars without goals breed atrocities

The title is a link to my latest column.  --EFP

Beyond Coincidence, Our Lives Were Enriched

My latest column is as close to a profession of faith as I am likely to get.  But, more than that, it is also a heartfelt eulogy.  (The title is a link to the column.)  --EFP

Palm on Guns--A Dove in Hawk's Clothing

I'm indulging in another true confession this week.  (The title is a link to my column.) What can I say?  I guess I've always been a dove in hawk's clothing.  --EFP

The Way We Were--Collins Park, 1959

This time around, I thought I would indulge in some true confessions.  The original article was posted on September 18, 2009.  
        For those who are interested, below I have added the rest of the story.  --EFP

            I remember that my mother and stepfather couldn’t resist driving by on the morning after the second bombing.  Much to my surprise, they allowed me to come along.  The left stucco sidewall was bowed out, like a giant abscess.  There was a jagged crack running from the ground to the roof.  That image haunts me still.  All the windows were blown out.  The lawn was littered with glass shards.  Even mother seemed to be taken aback by the sight.  I’m sure she never expected things to go that far.  My stepfather seemed relieved that it was finally over.  He, too, was a racist, but he and my mother had had bitter arguments over her activism.  He had mother’s number.  He knew she was enjoying the attention, and he feared that she was needlessly putting all three of us at risk.

            A local contractor, who just happened to live in Collins Park, and who had access to dynamite, was soon arrested and later convicted.  He went to prison.  His wife went door-to-door trying to collect money for her husband’s legal expenses.  I still remember when she came to our door.  My mother refused to contribute. She claimed to have been broke and behind in her bills, neither of which was true. 

Orwellian Newtspeak

In today's column, I couldn't resist having a little fun with Gingrich's Orwellian Newtspeak.  The title above is a link to my column.  --EFP

A Postscript to My Alzheimer's Column

A Christian friend reminded me of a couple points I wish I had had room to make in my column "Alzheimer's:  It's All in the Family."  (The title to this post is a link to that column.)

     There is a theory of the mind that I think is consistent with Christian theology, although it is admittedly closer to the Eastern view.  This theory holds that the brain does not create consciousness; it receives it.  It makes perfect sense to me that as the Alzheimer’s plaques form in the brain they progressively interfere with the reception of consciousness.  However, I do wonder if, like a radio receiver with a loose connection or a misfiring diode (or whatever), sometimes, for brief intervals, reception returns to normal or close to it. 

      I say that because I remember how on my Aunt Jo’s 79^th birthday, when the disease was fairly far advanced, she seemed to be her old self for a few moments.  When no one else was in the room, she stood looking at the cake and actually initiated a conversation with me.  Addressing me by name, she said, “Can you believe it, I’m actually 79 today?”  Sadly, it didn’t last.  She didn’t say anything to anyone else for the rest of the evening. 

      I suppose one could also call this a moment of grace.  I know that it is a common occurrence for terminally ill people to rally shortly before the end, almost as if they are given an opportunity to say their goodbyes. 

     In any event, what I witnessed on the evening of my aunt’s 79^th birthday may just have been one of those examples of how science and faith intertwine. --Ed

A New Twist on an Old Movie Theme

My friend and former Vietnam sergeant, Bill Cook, was just commenting on the shortcomings of today's electric-car technology. He pointed out that I would be hard-pressed to drive the 100 miles from my home to Forks, Washington, in an electric car. As I admitted to Bill, even if I made it to Forks in an electric car, there would be no recharging stations--only vampires and werewolves, according to Stephenie Meyer of Twilight series fame.
      But it occurs to me that this scenario would make for a good contemporary twist on a classic horror movie theme. I can see it now: It is a dark, stormy night, and an environmentally conscious young guy and his low-carbon-footprint, beautiful young girlfriend are motoring through Forks in their electric car when the battery gives out. They knock on the door of a spooky-looking old Victorian mansion hoping to find a place to plug in and recharge their car, and . . . .
     Well, you know the rest, except that the vampire of the manor could be a global-warming denier. That and his thirst for blood would make for a powerful motivation and some damned good acting. --S/f, EFP
P.S. to Stephenie: I expect to be paid if you use my idea.

The Latest Newspeak

I just heard Newt Gingrich brag that he is the only candidate who can defeat a "moderate."  When did "moderation" become a bad thing?  Do we really need an uncompromising ideologue as our president?  The hard right has already redefined "liberal" and "progressive" as undesirable, subversive attitudes.  Now Gingrich has added "moderate," and sadly, no one seems to be challenging him on that point.
      George Orwell, where are you when we need you? --EFP

Emerging Middle Classes?

What's wrong with this picture?
       I am watching MSNBC coverage of President Obama addressing people at Disney World in Florida.  He is touting his plan to ease visa restrictions so that the "emerging middle classes" in China and Brazil can more easily get to the U.S.A. to spend their money.
       Whatever happened to the emerging American middle class?  Over the weekend, I caught a snippet of an interview with two prominent political scientists who claim we have become essentially an oligarchy instead of a democracy.  I believe they are on to something, especially if Obama's vision of rebuilding our economy includes having more people working in service industries, accommodating foreign tourists.  See the Palm-Print above for a helpful hint toward thriving in this new economy.  --EFP

The Latest Military Scandal

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was right to call the video of Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan “utterly deplorable.”  I agree.  There are certain values we cannot let go of, even in extremis, and remain human.  But I am not surprised that it happened.  Anyone wondering why should perhaps turn back to my column of Nov. 10:  Reality and Reflections on Veterans Day

      The one factor in mitigation I would point to is the nature of the enemy today’s Marines are now facing.

      I always felt that the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army didn’t hate us.  It was just a war; it wasn’t personal.  They didn’t despise everything we stood for.  They didn’t behead American prisoners of war.  They only wanted us and our influence out of their country. 

     To the Taliban and al-Qaeda, however, we’re “infidels.”  Not just our presence, but our very existence threatens the theocratic paradise they envision.  Our troops certainly feel and understand that, making this a much more bitter war than mine was.  --EFP

Mixed Feelings About Veterans Courts

Kitsap County's plan to institute a veterans court seems to have inspired a surprising amount of push-back.

       Personally, I’m fully in favor of instituting a veterans court, but the principle of equal justice under the law would seem to be a difficult one to negotiate. 

        The law, of course, is all about precedent, and there is a precedent we can point to:  drug court.  Drug courts, as I understand them, are grounded in a twofold premise:  (1) that drug addiction is an illness in need of intervention and treatment rather than incarceration and (2) that we don’t need to keep overcrowding our prisons with non-violent offenders. 

         Are veterans courts grounded in essentially the same presumption—that non-violent veteran offenders are likely to be suffering from some degree of PTSD in need of intervention and treatment rather than incarceration?  If so, we should make that argument, pointing to the drug-court precedent.

          As a Vietnam veteran myself, however, I do see a downside to pressing for veterans courts. I recall how Vietnam veterans were widely portrayed in the media as dangerously deranged.  I would hate to think that our good intentions may contribute to stereotyping our current generation of veterans as walking time bombs, ready to explode at any minute, or even as unhinged and helpless. --EFP       

The Latest Palm Leaves

I've been remiss.  Here are the links to my latest Kitsap sun columns:
Memories of Two Christmases Past
Diversity and Assimilation Are Not Mutually Exclusive
The World Is Too Much With Us

Mere Palm Loosed Again on Kitsap County

I now write a column for the Kitsap Sun.   My last column came out on November 10, the Marine Corps Birthday and the eve of Veterans Day.  In honor of the occasion, I shared a couple war stories:  Reality and Reflections on Veterans Day

Balancing the Budget on the Backs of the Military

According to Tom Philpott's latest "Military Update" (published today in our local paper), the Obama administration's budget balancing plan includes annual TRICARE fees, substantial increases in pharmacy co-payments, and a civilianized military retirement system.   Under the White House plan, according to Philpott, servicemen and women "are expected to share in the fiscal sacrifices to be asked of millions of Americans drawing federal entitlements."
        Let me get this straight:  following 9/11, our Armed Forces went to war while the rest of America was told to go shopping.  No sacrifices were asked of the American public at large. Now, after ten years of fighting two wars, our small All-Volunteer Force is being told that "their benefits are just too generous and must be brought nearer to what civilians receive."
       As a former enlisted Marine and a retired Marine officer, I would be okay with that as long as "millions of Americans" start sharing in the same sacrifices and hardships currently being endured by the less than one percent of our population currently shouldering the burden of national defense.
        Yes, America reveres and supports its troops!  Think of how Curly, of Three Stooges fame, used to pronounce "certainly," followed by "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!"   --EFP     

"Les Is More" Revisited: A DADT Story

Today marking the official end of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, I thought I would dust off two essays I previously published on the issue.  The title to this post is a link to one of the essays.  I've copied the other one below.  --EFP
....................................
"Les Is More:  A Don't Ask, Don't Tell Story"

 [The following appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on 17 Dec. 2007.]

"Lighten up on 'don't ask, don't tell"
EDWARD F. PALM
GUEST COLUMNIST

Call me "Les."

My real name is "Ed," but I was always Les to the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division when I was a major serving on his staff in the late '80s.
     The recent news reports about 28 retired admirals and generals calling for an end to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy have led me to reflect on how I came to be Les. Personally, I think it is long past time for the Department of Defense to lighten up on this issue, as I learned to do in the 1st Marine Division.
     The entire time I was on active duty as a Marine officer, there was only other officer named Palm, and he was always at least three ranks ahead of me. His name is Les Palm.
     Now, the Marine Corps, compared with the other services, is a small place. Senior officers tend to know one another -- by reputation, if not personally. Les Palm enjoyed a superb reputation throughout the Corps. Ed Palm -- "not so much." This was mainly because of my own career choice. As an enlisted man, I had served in Vietnam as a rifleman and patrol leader with the Combined Action Program. But later in life, as an officer, I became an "adjutant," a professional administrator.
     The general clearly had me confused with Les Palm. Whenever I would brief him, he would close the briefing with "Thank you, Les." Or, when I would encounter him in the hall or in the club, he would say "Hi, Les."
     For the most part, I was content to be "Les." But one day I did ask the division adjutant, an ironic young captain, if he thought I should set the general straight.
     "Hell no, sir!" my young friend replied. "Les Palm is a heterosexual -- an artillery officer. You're just an adjutant," he reminded me.  "The confusion can only do you good!"
     I retired -- still a major -- in 1993 and went on to an academic career. Les Palm would go on to become a lieutenant general. We never actually met. But my young friend was right; the confusion did do me a lot of good. It prompted me to think seriously about whether having gays serving openly would really be a detriment to good order and discipline.
     Later, in interviewing for academic jobs, when people would ask me where I stood on the gay ban, I knew just what to say. I told them that I had seen far more boy-girl problems than problems caused by gay Marines.
     I told them that, gay or straight, we have an obligation to keep our sex lives private and separate from our professional lives. And I told them that, should the Department of Defense change the policy and allow gays to serve openly, not only would we adjust but we would lead the way, just as the Armed Forces had done with racial integration in the '50s.
     I still believe that. I also still wonder if anyone anywhere has ever confused Les Palm with Ed Palm the adjutant turned academic.

Dragonflies, Clear Creek Trail, Silverdale, WA (9-20-11)

Dragonflies are nature's helicopters.  They can hover, fly backwards, and pivot on their own axis.  I love the challenge of trying to photograph them in flight.  Click on each photo for a better view.  --EFP

 

 

 

Deficit Be Damned--for Now at Least!

Today's "This Week, with Christiane Amanpour" featured an interview with Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, one of the few large American companies still hiring.  We keep hearing that businesses are sitting on large surpluses because they are afraid to hire.  The right wing, of course, attributed that fear to strangling government regulation and the socialistic designs of the Obama administration.  Schmidt doesn't see it that way.  The problem is simply a matter of supply and demand. People are not buying.  Hence, demand is down.
       Businesses are not going to hire people to meet a non-existent demand for more goods and services.  Schmidt recommends that the government put people back to work on infrastructure programs.  That would stimulate the demand that businesses need to see before they will hire more people.
      It makes sense to me.  I don't see how the Republican/Tea Party solution of "getting government off the backs of businesses" could get our economy growing again.  That alone will not create the additional demand for goods and services that would require businesses to hire more people.
      The irony is that Schmidt is not the first business mogul I've heard advancing this solution.  It would seem that conservative ideologues are quick to speak for the business community but not to listen to it. --EFP

The Superannuated All-Volunteer Force Revisited

This morning, during the "In Memoriam" segment of ABC's This Week, I noted that a 40-year-old Army PFC was killed in Afghanistan.  This is just wrong.  I said as much back in 2005 on NPR.  The title to this post is a link to that commentary.  --EFP

Blackberry Season at Chez Palm

Our blackberries are finally ripe, and just as he did last summer, "Phineas" is helping himself.  Be sure to click on each photo for a better view.  --EFP