Is the US invading itself?

Would that be a good thing? What bastard or group of bastards is in power in the US? 

It is said that FDR was the first to use the phrase “he might be a bastard, but he’s our bastard” . We have a history of using “bastards” to advance our national interests - or the interests of the military industrial complex? God knows. 

We lived in Chile during the last years of Pinochet’s rule in Chile. You might find this interesting, or not. The consensus in Chile about the Pinochet regime was that he had to act at the time - in 1973. Otherwise Chile would become just another Soviet satellite. We were told as much by many Chilenos from many walks of life and social standing.I think that was true given the number of Soviet agents involved in Allende’s government. A Communist takeover of Chile was in the works. Remember. This was during the Cold War. 

So we intervened. Did we do the right thing? God knows. 

The form of popular protest called  cacerolazo began in Chile as housewives protested the Allende administration. People were not happy with the strikes, long lines to obtain food and other necessities, and the general chaos. People also saw that members of the Communist party had all they needed, even toilet paper. 

One friend in particular told us what she experienced one day. Whenever anyone saw a line, they would get in it - just in case it was a line to buy food or some other necessity. She saw a line one day and got in it. After awhile she figured out that it was for tires. She didn’t have a car, so she had a good laugh. Others told us of their experiences living under the Allende regime. 

Our CIA helped bring down Allende and supported the coup. During Pinochet’s regime, especially after a free market economic structure was put in place - one that lifted them out of the late 70s recession - , life was good during the 80s - unless a person opposed the regime. There were lots of terrorist attacks and the unrest and oppression was wearing on everyone’s psyche. 

After 17 years, the US decided that we wanted Pinochet out of power. He had been used to set up a globalist economy, and then he had to go. Chile was part of GHW Bush’s 1,000 points of light, New World Order. Chile has been one of our satellite countries since at least the 70s if not before. 

One time a vice admiral of the Chilean navy asked me what the US wanted. First the US wanted Allende out, then we supported Pinochet. Later our bastard had to go. 

Pinochet was our bastard. 

Thankfully there was a peaceful transition of power and Chile returned to its liberal democratic roots. 

Now the same kind of unrest we are seeing worldwide is happening in Chile once again. Antifa is real and active in Chile. 

Who’s bastard is Antifa? There are lots of possibilities. Who would benefit from Chile’s collapse? 

Now we have dueling bastards in DC. A major military force has been deployed to the city. All that for the  inauguration of a man, Joe Biden who won with 81+ million votes and is obviously wildly popular? Maybe. God knows. 

We may never know. That’s how DC works. 

Seems to me DC is sitting on a huge sewer that will someday back up and...it won’t be pretty. The crimes committed are real - all of them I suppose. God knows. 

God knows, and King Jesus will come and sort it all out someday. Meanwhile, each day we do what we need to do. In my case, that’s pretty mundane at this point in my life. 

Stay home. Stay safe. Pray. Wash dishes. Cook meals. Wash clothes. We shall see. 

Thankfully, most politicians do not keep their promises, as God knows already. 

There is a lot of censorship right now. Censorship tends to be self defeating. 

Life goes on. I do wonder if we have finally invaded ourselves, though. That would be a hoot. 

My Grandfather Was an Anarchist - Part 2

If Antifa is a fake anarchist movement, then what does a real Anarchist group look like?

It looks like the Wobblies, the old Industrial Workers of the World - which is still a thing. You can Google IWW and see what their goals are. It’s pretty radical. They were radicals. They put the “a” in “anarchy”. No rulers. None at all. 

My grandfather was a Wobbly. 

What was the focus of the Wobblies? It was all about unionism. It was also anti Communist, even though many of the ideas were also found in Communism. The Wobblies were fiercely libertarian, so Communism was viewed as being too rigid and silly.  The Wobblies were pro family as well.  

Why do I define the Wobblies as being pro family and strongly libertarian? That’s how working stiffs are. A man will sacrifice everything for his family. Family is everything. 

How do I know that? I lived it growing up. I grew up in a strong working stiff, union, children of the Wobbly movement kind of household. 

The book Wildmen, Wobblies, and Whistle Punks is a collection of articles by the author, Stewart Holbrook. This quote from one of those articles entitled The Last of the Wobblies sums up how I see the Wobbly movement - and how it was lived out in my family. It is about one of the Wobbly leaders, Arthur Boose. The articles are also called Holbrook’s lowbrow Northwest. That is the Northwest I grew up in and still live in. The academic world is not my world - obviously - nor do I want it to be. Here’s the quote. 

Judges have lectured and fined him. His meetings have been broken up with fire, with water, with stinkballs, eggs, brickbats, with shouting and rioting. 

Yet Old War Horse Boose, a name applied by admiring Wobblies many years ago, is still packing the rigging, as they say of active I.W.W. organizers, and he remains a cheerful and wholly unreconstructed Wobbly. ‘I’d prefer anarchism, ‘ he told me one day recently, ‘for that is the highest and finest form of civilization possible. But we aren’t ready for it yet. We aren’t even ready for the kind of world the I.W.W. wants. It takes time.’ He considers Communists both comical and hopelessly entangled in dogma. He would as soon think of voting the Republican as the Communist ticket 

1.

  

How do I know anything about Arthur Boose personally? My aunt was a friend of his. Several of his paintings hung in our family home. I grew up with him, but never met him. He was like a part of our family, though. 

So, my observations are not meant to be academic or even accurate. Others will disagree with me. That’s fine. Live and let live. 

It seems to me that Boose - and my family of Wobblies and Unionists - were not interested in controlling the lives of others. The movement was about freedom - freedom to live a decent life and to raise a family in peace. It was also about setting working stiffs free to work without fear of dying in unsafe conditions. It was about having a decent job and earning a decent living. It was also about providing a better future for one’s children. 

The problem is that anarchy tends to open the door to totalitarianism in an organization or in a society.

Does anarchy always lead to totalitarianism? I wonder. The union movement forgot it’s anarchistic roots and opted for a more totalitarian form of unionism. Possibly? 

My grandfather was a proud member of the I.W.W. My father and 3 of his brothers became members of the very powerful ILWU. Harry Bridges was my mother’s hero. The union now may be facing bankruptcy. 

Along the way, the ILWU along with pretty much all unions have provided slush funds for Democrat Party candidates - many of whom betrayed the unions when they got the power they desired. Workers’ rights now take a backseat to the will of our rulers in Washington D.C. and even state governments. Workers become cogs in the machine once again, serving whatever dumb ass “progressive” ideas the Democrats dream up and the Republicans go along with. 

Maybe it’s inevitable. Maybe progressivism is just another form of feudalism. Feudalism in one form or another seems to be the most natural form of human government in a fallen world. The Book of Judges with its emphasis on God being King and His Law the rule is an ideal. Fallen mankind can’t live up to that ideal. 

So why is Antifa a fake anarchistic group? They are being supported by establishment Democrats who want more power over people’s lives. They are anything but libertarian and anarchistic. Democrats of today act more like the silly, dogmatic Communists that Boose found objectionable. 

Sure. The I.W.W. was involved in violence. Boose later felt that was a mistake. 

Here is a quote from the Holbrook article.:

‘For every miner killed,’ Boose went on, ‘a mine cop must die!’

This kind of talk was a great mistake, Boose says today. 

2.

1. Wildmen, Wobblies & Whistlepunks: Stewart Holbrook's Lowbrow Northwest. (Edited and introduced by Brian Booth.) Oregon State University Press, 1992. p. 303

2. Ibid. p. 300

 

 

My Grandfather was an Anarchist - Part 1

I don’t understand today’s anarchists, especially the ones who hide behind the moniker “Antifa”. There’s something fake about them. Yes, many of the young people who get caught up in the Antifa movement are sincere. They really believe that they are fighting for a better world. Some of the issues they raise are righteous causes.

So, what is the fake part?

They are actors playing a part. Some of them are paid to do so.

Here are some of the actors who seem to be involved directly or indirectly with the anarchist group that calls itself Antifa.

1. There are the young college students who are mostly privileged white kids.

2. There are the university professors who have convinced students that Antifa is about opposing fascism - whatever that is.

3. Then there are those who finance the movement.

4. The Democrat Party enables and defends Antifa. Mayor Wheeler of Portland is the most obvious example of that.

Who else?

Those are the actors that are out in the open, more or less. Those who finance Antifa are more shadowy characters. George Soros is often mentioned. Possibly.

Antifa supporters argue that Antifa isn’t really a thing. It’s more like a slogan. If a person opposes fascism, then that makes them  antifascist. Of course Antifa is more than that. For example, Rose City Antifa is an identifiable group. They have done a lot of damage in Portland. Antifa has chapters all over the country - and the world.

Do they have memberships lists? Do they issue Antifa ID cards to members? Are they non profits? Not exactly.

Does that mean Antifa isn’t a real thing? Yet Antifa is real. Its supporters play games of semantics. Equivocation is a con, and Antifa engages in equivocation quite easily. If one calls it an organization, they respond by saying it’s not. If one calls it a group, same answer. Yet it’s real.

What’s fake about today’s Anarchists?

Everything. There’s nothing real about them. Yes, some of the causes are real.

What makes them fake, then?

I say they’re fake based on the actions of real anarchists of the past. I call my grandfather and Arthur Boose as witnesses. They were real anarchists, not at all like the privileged, mostly white anarchists of today.

Today’s Antifa reminds me of counterfeit money. It looks real. In a way it is real in that it serves a purpose. It can even be passed off as real money, but it’s fake.

A Few Thoughts on the Kavanaugh “thing"

1. The Democrat Party has turned the Senate confirmation process for Supreme Court justices into a circus. This is generally a fairly simple process. Most of the time, the Senate will grant the sitting president his wishes when it comes to the approval of justices.

2. Since Democrats fear that Kavanaugh will somehow be able to overturn Roe v. Wade, they believe that any and all forms of resistance are legitimate. Actually, abortion was not illegal in many states of the US at the time of the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Even if it were overturned - which is not likely - the issue would return to the states. It would not criminalize abortion or even end it in the US.

3. What the Democrats are doing in the Senate Judiciary Committee - and have been doing for the last couple of weeks - is a kind of lynching of Judge Kavanaugh. Forget due process. Forget innocent until proven guilty. The man must be destroyed by any means necessary. I'm not sure how that will play in future elections.

4. Some women are advancing the slogan "Believe Women". Of course, a woman who claims to have been assaulted should be listened to. However, a woman should not be believed just because she is a woman.

Refer to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In the book a black man is accused of rape and the accuser is a white woman. The book was a powerful defense of things like the rule of law and due process for all.  We should not return to a time of lynchings and mob rule, which is what Democrats seem to be championing once again.

5. Democrats seem to believe that their antics will help them win in midterm elections. I try not to make predictions, especially about the future, but I wonder if their tactic will work. We shall see.

6. What Democrats really want is to impeach Donald Trump and then Mike Pence. Then they could somehow return to power. Why not just wait until the next election? I have no answer for that. There are some theories out there as to why the Dems are so desperate. Generally one party regroups after a loss and tries to win elections in the future. Generally, demonstrations and violence undermine a party's credibility. Maybe we don't live in general times.

Why do things like rule of law and due process have to be sacrificed on the altar of political power? We will regret it. Back to mob rule. Back to lynchings. And for what?

7.  What I fear for Dr. Ford is that after the Democrats are done using her, she will be left on her own. She will have to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. She will become another Cindy Sheehan.

Dr. Ford does not remember any details about the alleged assault. From what I have heard from women who have told me about their assaults, they remember every last detail. What does Dr. Ford think she is remembering?

8. If Republicans allow the Dems to win on this, they will probably lose as well. I understand that the Dems want to win by any means necessary. What I don't get is why Republicans don't push back harder.

We are not at war with one another. The political process is dirty; it is messy. That's all.

The mainstream media is controlled by the Democrat Party. So what? Let them say what they wish. Be strong! Don't let a good man be destroyed for nothing.

9. I was thinking this morning that the chaos we are seeing in this Senate circus is somehow another proof for the existence of God. Someone besides us has to be in charge. I don't know if we are more power-hungry and crazy than ever before or if we just know more about what is going on with those who believe themselves to be in control of the world.

10. I don't know if Kavanaugh will be a good justice or not, but the way the Democrats are trying to destroy him isn't right. It is a bad precedent. Mob rule can lead to all kinds of evil and ugly things. OTOH, maybe it's all just another day in the D.C. swamp and nothing to really be concerned about at the end of the day. The Democrats are furious, but why? They are not making any sense at all.

11. Meanwhile, life is good. The sun is shining. God's in His heaven. All's right with the world - somehow.

Better yet,

Psalm 115:3
Our God is in heaven
    and does whatever he wills.

and The Lord's Prayer

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Crucible

A Few Thoughts on Our Border Crisis

What is happening at the US - Mexico border is very complex. Here are a few points to consider.

1. The way the media have reported on this is shameful. They have politicized these desperate people in order to try to harm President Trump and gain support for the Democrat Party. 

By doing so, the "press" - though our 1st Amendment means much more than just the media when it addresses the subject of freedom of the press - has discredited itself. That is a serious issue, since we the people need to be given facts, and not propaganda in order to know what is happening and make informed decisions. 

2. One huge humanitarian problem involves human trafficking. Here is an excerpt from an email I got from a friend who lives in Edinburg, TX.

Greetings from the Rio Grande Valley! Things have quieted down considerably here since all the uproar a few months ago about the immigrant children being separated from heir parents, etc. Not that the situation has changed any, but the media have lost interest for the time being. If you ask my opinion about it, I’d have to say, “It’s very complicated!” A lot of these kids did not come with their parents, but with “coyotes” who were paid by the parents to bring them up here. Many have been molested, raped, their money stolen, etc. There is a huge human trafficking problem in this area, but the media have not focused in on that.

3.  Now the media have pretty much dropped this story, and have moved on to something else. Does the crisis no longer exist, does reporting on it no longer serve their purposes, or did they get bored?

4. There are some good articles out there about this crisis, but one has to dig deep to find them. Here is the best I have found if anyone who might be reading this would care to investigate further.

Fleeing to Mexico for Safety: The Perilous Journey for Migrant Women

This article has links to many other scholarly works. Of course, as the title says, this is about migrant women coming up from Central America into Mexico and on. Children face similar perils.  Some of them are trafficked and are never seen or heard from again.

5. Central America and Mexico are at war, that is, the drug war. What can we do about it? Well, we declared war on drugs, and drugs are winning. Why not declare a truce, a cease fire of sorts? Why not reexamine the subject of the legalization of drugs?

That is not a popular subject, but our insatiable desire for illegal drugs is destroying Central America and Mexico along with the US and, yes, even Canada. The poor suffer the most even here in the US.

These desperate children & families at our border are, to a large extent, victims of our lack of self control. This did not start with Trump or Obama or Bush, and so forth. This started with us. We are responsible for our actions and the effects they have on others. Drug and human traffickers are taking advantage of the most vulnerable.

Well, that's my opinion. I could share some things I have experienced and seen in my extensive travels throughout parts of Latin America. Maybe I will.

Oboe Update - and Harp

It's been awhile since I've given an oboe update.

Well, I now feel comfortable playing my oboe d'amore. I was supposed to play twice at church on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't meant to be. I had a tooth go bad on me which produced an abscess. Then the medicine I took made me as sick as a dog.

So, that day was a write-off.

Oh, and I bought a 26-string, lever harp last summer. I love it. It's a black Rees' Fullsicle Harp. Lovely, and it weighs only 4 pounds.

Go to the Head of the Class

I was given this little bookmark with these questions and answers. These are supposed to be from real tests given by teachers to their students. Pretty funny.

Q: What is the opposite of main?
A: New Hampshire
Q: Who was Joan of Arc?
A: She was Noah’s wife.
Q: Use etiquette in a sentence.
A: “I don’t know the meaning of etiquette.”
Q: Which state is a peninsula?
A: Peninsulvania.
Q: What percentage of the European population died following the outbreak of the plague?
A: One hundred percent, eventually. 

I can’t vouch for the veracity of the above, but here is one from a teacher our daughter had in high school. 

“Magellan circumcised the earth with an 80 foot clipper.” 

Here’s one more that a friend sent me. 

What is the Oboe, anyway? - 3

Here’s what a friend of mine said about my playing. We played in an orchestra together - he on electric guitar.

“When the oboe comes in it sends chills up my spine like the 1st time I heard Lenard Skinner play Tree Bird."

Best complement ever!

What is an Oboe, Anyway? - 2

 The oboe is principally a melodic instrument; it has a rustic character, full of tenderness, I would say even of shyness.
-Hector Berlioz from his Treatise on Orchestration


Berlioz also says this about the oboe.:

The sounds of the oboe are suitable for expressing simplicity, artless grace, gentle happiness, or the grief of a weak soul. It renders these admirably in cantabile passages.

And this...:

    It can also convey a degree of agitation, but one must be careful not to intensify this to cries of passion, to vehement outbursts of anger, threats or heroism: its thin, bitter-sweet tones then become feeble and altogether grotesque.

I think that Berlioz is on the right track with this. The oboe does sound best when used in the kinds of passages he describes. Here are some examples of this. 

Berlioz was pretty cruel about the oboe in other respects. I don’t necessarily agree with him here. 

[…] Quick runs, whether chromatic or diatonic, can be played fairly easily on the oboe, but the effect they produce is merely clumsy and almost ridiculous; the same is true of arpeggios.

So, what is an oboe according to Berlioz? Well, he didn’t have it confused with a clarinet or a carrot that’s for sure! 

What is the Oboe, Anyway? - 1

In the minds of many, the oboe is just a clarinet or a carrot.

After service was over on Sunday a few weeks back, one of the men in the congregation came up and told me how much he liked my clarinet playing.

I was playing my oboe d’amore.  I just said thank you. It has been my experience through the years that trying to explain the differences between a clarinet and an oboe is just too much information for a lot of people. So, thank you is my standard answer if someone says they like my playing.

The gentleman then went on to explain how some guy made a clarinet out of a carrot.

I lost count of how many of my friends have sent me that video.

I just say thank you for sharing the video. That’s interesting. The guy in the video is a very clever man, I tell them.

Some people see the d’amore and ask me what it is. I say it’s an oboe of love. That can be a conversation stopper, which is a mercy.

So, what is an oboe?  Hmmm.

I can tell you what it is not.

It is not a clarinet.

It is not a carrot.

Oboe d’Amore and general musical Update

Well, my playing has suffered a lot in the last 3 weeks because I’ve had this winter crud that won’t let me go. My daughter finally dragged me off to the doctor, so now I am on antibiotics. I still don’t have my voice back. I still have a sore throat. I still have trouble breathing.

The breathing is better, though, so maybe tomorrow I can do some playing on my d’amore. At the doctor’s office, I could hit 200 on the breathing meter thingy. Not so good. On the third try I got to about 300 - almost normal - but it hurt my lungs. Tonight I hit 300 on the first try, so that’s a good sign.  I just hit over 350, so things are definitely looking up!

To make matters worse, I had two new crowns installed on Wednesday. It has take a few days for my mouth to settle down. So, oh, woe is me!  All of these things affect my musical progress. At least they are pretty good excuses. Maybe giving my mea culpa here on my blog will help me get off dead center musically speaking and back into doing some playing!

I have been playing it for worship team, and that is a lot of fun for me. There are no oboe d’amore parts for praise and worship music. In fact, there are no parts at all, just a lead sheet with words and chords.

I don’t really need the lead sheet anyway, or the chords since the progressions are really simple. I do need to know what key we’re in, but that’s pretty much it.

From there I just improvise. Sometimes I play parts of the melody. Other times I play a harmony part or a little counter melody. Sometimes I just play sustained tones, adding some oboe color to the ensemble.

I keep asking for a mike, since sometimes I can’t hear myself all that well. It is especially hard to hear when I am in the middle of the stage between the drums and electric guitar on my left, and the keyboard and bass on my right. I feel like I’m playing inside a paper bag!

So, I got myself moved to the end of the stage farthest from the drums. Now I can hear everyone and try to fit my part into the sound of the group. I love the drums and electric guitar, but somehow my sound just gets absorbed into their  sound if I am too close to them. Since I am not playing from music, but just by ear, I really do need to hear what I am playing!

The sound guys - and my daughter - tell me I cut through just fine and don’t really need a mike. In fact, she told me that she could hear me all the way down the hall, outside the sanctuary. Hmmm. She’s my best or worst critic!  The d’amore is pretty powerful, I grant them that.

People tell me it sounds good. Our director likes it, so that’s good. A person does not want to be on the outs with the director. He is a young guy, but has had excellent musical training and knows his stuff.

Of course, for me this is a different kind of experience - to play on a worship team. It’s fun for me, and something new and different. I’ve learned a lot about improvisation and playing by ear. I do have to think ahead some. Improvisation takes some planning and thought.

Besides that, I purchased the A Major concerto for oboe d’amore by Bach. It’s really a transposition of one of his works for  harpsichord. It’s such a nice piece of music and quite playable. It does require air, though.

I also got the Oboe I part for the Mass in b minor by Bach, so I get to play along with that. I just ordered part II as well.

Oh, and my husband confiscated one of my gig bags for his clarinet. I have one for my d’amore and HAD another one for my regular oboe. So, I purchased a new oboe case. It’s pretty sweet, with room for all my oboe junk as well as printed music.

I quit making reeds years ago. I wasn’t all that good at it in the first place, so I just gave it up when ready made reeds became more available. I can even get ones that are unfinished and finish them off to my liking.

So, I guess that’s it on the musical update.

Music is so good for the soul and for one’s health - as long as the air holds out!

An Oboe Merry Christmas!

Last Sunday I debuted the oboe d'Amore at church on worship team and for communion.

Our team was short an electric bass, an electric guitar, and vocalist because of  out of town family commitments. So, the team members included myself on d'amore, Ben on the grand piano, Janet on her bass viol, and Josh on drums. It was more acoustic sounding, except that we were miked.

We got a lot of good complements, and people even clapped several times. The songs were all traditional Christmas hymns with a more contemporary setting. I improvise - that is make up - my parts with an emphasis on sustained tones with some embellishments and a few fancy noodly stuff thrown in. Fun. I also throw in the melody at times.

Everything is recorded, so in awhile, Ben will give me a recording of everything I have played in the last couple of months. Then I will see if it really sounded as good as we all felt it sounded!  Reality check.

My daughter said it sounded good - which is high praise coming from her! She's pretty picky. She also noticed that I was having a little trouble with breathing, which no one else noticed. I was. I had to use my asthma inhaler just before we played, and my lungs hurt just a wee bit. While my breathing on the d'amore is much more comfortable than it was a couple of months ago when I started playing her, there is still some discomfort.

So, I'm going to have to finally admit that my asthma is a bigger problem for me than what I want to face up to. Off to the doc. in the new year. I'm so much better than I was even a year ago - actually Sept. of 2013 was the last time I had bronchitis. That is a long stretch for me!  Maybe I can make it to be never having bronchitis again, let alone the flu or pneumonia!  Music must have healing properties at least to the extent that playing a wind instrument makes a person want to have more air!  It motivates me to get the help I need so I can keep blowing for many more years. :-)

My husband and I also did communion music. We played Of the Father's Love Begotten and Thou Who Wast Rich. Thou... uses the French melody Quelle Est Cette Odeur Agréable.


Here's something I wrote about the hymn Thou Who Wast Rich. from last year.   When I wrote this blog post last year, I had just returned from Honduras a few weeks before. My pastor friend and his family were really trying to change the church culture in the area where he lived. The prosperity Gospel with its emphasis on giving to wealthy preachers was something he abhored. In fact, in his church, he didn't even talk about tithing!  His people were poor, so how could he ask them to give up what they themselves needed to live on?  He and his wife were the ones being generous and encouraging true generosity, not giving in order to become rich or to make others rich.

It is something I had been thinking about a lot as well. So, this hymn expresses a lot of what I believe to be who Christ is and then who we are expected to be as followers of Christ - generous and giving, not greedy and taking. I want to live that way, myself. Christmas is a good time to remember Christ's sacrifice and the sacrifices we are to give in His name.

 It is one of my favorite Christmas hymns, or maybe one of my favorite hymns of all kinds.