January Second 2009

January 2, 2009—The second day of 2009, there are 363 days left in 2009.

New Years

A time for reflection and introspection. I don't normally do New Year's Resolutions. This year at a time when I have eschewed planning completely I have even less reason to do so.

A slow time of year in the news business it's a time when media publish best of lists and year-end reviews. It's also the busiest season in the mortuary business the second being early spring. On my ride uptown yesterday I passed a funeral home bearing the title Weed ---- and Fish.

About that ride. On Tuesday, December 30 gave myself a belated Christmas Present in the form of an Ultra Motor Electric Bike from a dealer named Alien Scooter in South Austin. Found them while I was walking through the neighbourhood. On New Years Day took advantage of light traffic to go for a sixteen mile ride up through the middle of Austin. I wanted to see just how far I could go on one battery charge and secondarily to completely deplete the battery so that it would set a full charge.

For those so interested here's the manufacturer's home page:

http://www.ultramotor.com/landingpage.html

I bought the Europa Model in particular because it comes with bell, mudguards, reflectors, and lights already built in.

Back to the media. There have been the usual spate of reports of celebrities behaving badly in news reports. DUI's seem to crop up in particular. The previous entry from the New York Times especially caught my eye. The costs of war continue long after the 'boys' come home. Whatever the costs in men and materiel to wage a war there are equivalent after costs in care and rehabilitation for the wounded and dead whose families will need lifetime support. However discounting the mental and spiritual cost of brutalization in the men who return without apparent physical injury is to do them a dis-service. The NRA notwithstanding I feel there is an awful price to pay just by the process of training 30% of a nation's population in the use of deadly force and the most efficient methods of killing and injuring. Whether it is called Gulf War Syndrome or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder everyone who experiences war goes through it and those who deny it even to themselves are most at risk. Unfortunately a fraternity that teaches men to 'hang-tuff' ill-equips them to deal.

It is one thing for young men to reintegrate into 'normal' society after the ferocity of warfare—young men in the prime of life who have had productive years in the work-force stolen from them; it is quite another for those who might otherwise have lived normal lives who have been pushed beyond that breaking point that all of us have and may never recover. To my mind the cost in ruined lives must be added to the price of being the world's police keeper. And of course that price is paid not just by the traumatised individuals but also by the family and friends who watch helplessly as they self-destruct and the society which must deal with the havoc they wreak. I've already made my opinions of American Gun Culture well known.