The Masonic Aikidoka

2011-11-09T11:04:00.002-07:00

Life Changers

2011-08-17T00:17:00.003-06:00

For the 2 people who haven't been paying attention, some rather fortuitous and humbling events happened in my life recently:

1. I was elected to receive the 33rd Degree in Freemasonry.
2. I was promoted at work to "Application Support Team Leader", which basically means I'm over support of all systems, and the upgrade of existing systems.

That is all.

Bling Goggles and The Pedestal of Rank

2011-08-16T00:34:00.001-06:00

In Freemasonry, we have a term for when someone is overly fawning and impressed with someone of higher "rank": Bling Goggles. Rather than act like a regular person, some people adopt a fawning, sycophantic attitude towards they perceive as their "betters". More often than not, their "betters" are more aptly described as those with more years of experience, and sometimes more wisdom.

In Aikido, the situation is far worse. The pair of Bling Goggles is transformed into a veritable Pedestal of Rank. While it is certainly not universal, the high ranking Aikidoka are sparsely populated with everything from the merely depressed to full on drunkards, or even alleged statutory rapists.

The beginning Aikido student really isn't to blame. They are thrust into the heady world where advanced teachers can do seemingly magical things. They are instantly expected to show respect and deference to teachers and more advanced students. That isn't the cause of the Pedestal. The true cause is the advanced student or yudansha (black belt) who believes, or at least doesn't instantly dispel misdirected comments or actions of the uninformed. For instance, in an overheard conversation:

"Sensei, you're as important as Jesus!"
"Hmmmm..... Yes." (in a knowing tone).

While an extreme example, it shows that if one starts to reject humility as being a vital component to rank, it's pretty easy to get hoisted up onto that pedestal. You may enjoy the view for a while, but it's never a stable position. Just like when Bling Goggles crack or fall off, falling off the Pedestal of Rank can be especially bruising if one has bought into their own mythology. Ultimately, we're all just people, regardless of whether we have direct lineage to O' Sensei (or O' Sensei himself), or we're a 33rd Degree Mason. It's appropriate to respect people for their accomplishments, but not to fawn over them because of a title. It's even more appropriate, even vital, for those who have accomplished a rank (be it Aikidoka or Mason), to act with humility, and to not reward the uninformed and misdirected efforts of those with less experience to place them on the Pedestal.

Some Theories on Civility, and the Downfall Thereof

2011-05-03T23:21:00.000-06:00

So America's President ordered the killing of one of the most heinous and evil men in history, Osama bin Laden. This order was carried out by the military, of which he is Commander in Chief, and suddenly, it's too much to give the President even one iota of credit. Two years into his presidency, and some are claiming, rather fantastically, that he's "riding on Bush's coat-tails."

Now balance that with the opinion that, given the same amount of time, he should have fixed the American economy.

So which is it?

Everywhere, civility is disappearing, society is polarizing. Democrats and Republicans. Liberals and Conservatives. There's hardly any decorum to be found, especially on the internet. Why? Anonymity and the ability to hide behind a monitor, hurling virtual insults across the world makes everyone brave. We don't have to ultimately stand behind our statements. We can delete a post, remove a profile, change the privacy settings.

And for what it's worth, if Bush had done the same thing, I'd like to think I'd say: "Good for him! Though I disagree with a lot of what he does, he still helped end the reign of an evil man." As for why we can't say that about President Obama, I think it comes down to one fact that makes many Americans uncomfortable.

A New Year, a Climb Out, and Other Miscellany

2011-01-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to you all. All two of my loyal readers.

I've been re-reading "The Spiritual Foundations of Aikido" to help me get out of this funk I'm in. And training. Aikido training has reached a point for me that there's not a whole bunch that's new, just variations on basics. Added to a dismaying failure of a good friend to pass a test of his, I've gone into a "phase" where I'm wondering if Aikido training is still useful or necessary.

Why do I train? Self defense? The few times I've actually used Aikido had more to do with goofing around, and once to teach someone not to grab my kilted butt. Fitness? I hate going to the gym, and am generally sedentary otherwise. However, Aikido training provides variety beyond running on a treadmill, or lifting something heavy (Though I have to express a dislike for exercises I can't see the point of, such as Koho Tento Undo, or as I call it "Getting up and down a lot.") Fitness / Exercise isn't why I train however.

After casting about for a while, I've learned the two things that will keep me training: 1) The spiritual aspects of Aikido, and 2) Friendships.

Why the spiritual aspects? Because they mimic so much of what I see in another of my life's important areas: Freemasonry. O-Sensei proclaimed:

"There is only one thing that is wrong or useless: That is the stubborn insistence that you are an individual, separate from others."

My Masonic Brothers who are clever and / or members of the Scottish Rite will see some resonance here. I don't think the above quote has anything to do with good or evil beyond pointing out a path for someone to behave in a good or evil way. If one could see this connection with everyone else, how would one's actions be different? Except for the psychopath, or extreme group-think situations (war atrocities), nearly everyone would pause before some negative action.

So we'll see what things are like after a period of training, just for the sake of training. My bet is things will be better.

The Simplest Way

2010-12-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

First, a statement that will seem out of place: I should have added one word: "Allegedly".

Secondly, this blog has gotten me some grief, especially when I use it to point out bad behavior. My way of doing so is brash and not the most "sensitive" of ways. It also gets me some telephone calls and demanding emails. Apparently more people are watching what I say than I think, especially on Facebook.

I do have to wonder if I'd said things in a nicer way, using words like "allegedly" and other vagaries, would the response have been so negative? I think it probably would only have been slightly less negative, simply because people don't like their bad behaviors pointed out. I know I don't.

The big lesson I've learned from these interactions is this: "leaders" put on their pants the same way I do. They experience the same human failings, and show the same range of behaviors and emotions. Sometimes, the situations that actually require that I respect them are limited to formal interactions. For instance, one can find some great Aikido teachers and masters out there that also happen to be drunks, chauvinists, bigots, and generally difficult people. I respect their Aikido abilities, but cannot respect them as people. I bow and show respect at the dojo, but not in public.

In Freemasonry, a friend of mine and I like to call the act of putting someone on a pedestal "Bling Goggles". Often they're worn by those who are fairly new, and who are still dazzled by the myriad of titles. They most often learn differently however. The real danger however, are those who buy into and cultivate this admiration. They turn into the "emperor with no clothes".

So whether it be Aikido, Freemasonry, or anything else, fancy titles are to be used in formal settings only. In public, I advise you to use the phrase: "That and $1.50 will get you a cup of coffee at Denny's"

Back to the Essence of Things

2010-11-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

There's been some pressure to try to test for my Sandan (3rd degree black belt) in December. Let's just say, that's not going to happen. I don't really want to live at the dojo just so I can get ready. Further, since we've switched associations in the last year, I'd be required to display the AAA variants of everything I know at a Sandan level. Some are there, others are not.

As an aside, I dislike a certain aspect of AAA weapons. If you're going to hit someone with a jo, then for god's sake, hit them. Get rid of this mamby-pamby stopping above or before your target. If the person doesn't get out of the way, they'll learn the lesson pretty quickly. Just my own two cents worth, but it takes away some of the martial aspect of weapons. After all, someone hitting you with a bat isn't going to pull their swing. They're going to try to hit a home run.

So when will I test? The best answer I've come up with is "sometime next year". I'm not going to let it worry me. I have had to get back to why I practice Aikido in the first place. I do it because I enjoy it, and I think the philosophy helps me to be a better person. Rank is nice, but cannot be the focus of anyone's training once they've reached the dan rankings. With increasing time between ranks, anyone who expects anything but waiting (and training) with patience will be bitterly disappointed.

WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) Tip.

2010-09-21T12:01:00.001-06:00

WHATEVER you do, when you apply the DataContract() attribute to an object, ALWAYS give it a Public default constructor. Otherwise, you'll get useless error messages such as:

"System.TimeoutException: This request operation sent to '' did not receive a reply within the configured timeout (00:00:14:7815986). The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout."

When I see that error, and the solution above, I always think "Oh, of course." (Note sarcasm).

Anger First Aid Kit

2010-09-19T00:55:00.000-06:00

1. Smile
2. Speak Softly
3. Relax
4. Disengage
5. Empathy

Most Important

2010-09-18T01:11:00.000-06:00

My wife and I are going to give counseling a good college try, and hope to make this marriage work. While we're not out of the woods, at least we found a path.

Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyoncé

2010-09-15T21:39:00.001-06:00

Lady Gaga - Alejandro

2010-09-15T21:37:00.001-06:00

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

2010-09-15T21:36:00.001-06:00

Would You?

2010-09-15T21:20:00.003-06:00

I've recently expressed on Facebook a dislike for October. Why you ask? Because divorce #1 and #2 both had their genesis' in that month. The first happened when she decided to move back with her parents to "decide some things". In actuality what happened was that she went to badmouth me to everyone she could find, and wait me out until I "decided some things". It was Thanksgiving, and I hadn't gotten a call from her, even though I hoped for one. I'm sitting in a parking lot in Orem waiting for some friends to show up, and I think to myself "Enough of this shit. She doesn't care enough to call, and obviously isn't coming back." It was only a couple of days later I filed for divorce.

#2 had been distant and spending time away from home for a while, seemingly preferring to be anywhere but where I was. Her job took her out of town a lot, adding to the strain. It was from this situation that I determined that the statement "Distance makes the heart grow fonder" was either an outright shitty lie, or was too specific to apply 95% of the time. It was on October 13th (Bad luck for some) that she finally proclaimed her unhappiness. I asked "So do you want more, or less from our relationship?" Her response was a simple "Less". While the answer was a lot clearer, it was more heart wrenching. It was a short sharp demarcation. One that stripped hope away. To this day I still dislike her at times.

It's probably horribly foolish to blame these things on a month. I wish they'd happened in July or something. I've never much cared for July on principle. Too hot.

Falltime Confessions

2010-09-13T17:42:00.002-06:00

I'm addicted to anger.

You see, it's enabled me to hold grudges for years and sometimes decades. It allows me to be stubborn and to maintain my wrong ideas, even in the face of contrary evidence. It allows me to blame others for my poor behavior.

It all started when my father decided that corporal punishment was the way to go. We're not talking about the usual spanking or even belt that was so prevalent in the 70's and 80's. We're talking about being kicked so hard I couldn't stand up, and was bruised to the bone. What was my offense, you may ask? A friend and I were running through an unfinished house my father was constructing, and I jumped up through a window, and dragged my feet along the freshly painted wall, and left a big scuff mark.

We're talking about being chased around the garden with a 2x4 (I've blocked out what the offense for that one is). We're talking about a thousand little unkindnesses, indifferences, and cruelties on his part. It is because of this I learned to hold a grudge. I've asked for an apology, but one hasn't come yet. I've done my best to forgive him.

So I could hold a grudge, but where did I learn anger? It was the first wife that taught me how to do that. Because of events in my mother's life (she had divorced my father, and had remarried what I'll charitably call a "mean drunk"), I had to get out of the house. Rather than find a room mate, I unwisely decided to get married to a girl and move to Salt Lake. If I'd been less stubborn, I'd have seen the foolishness of it. She was in a relationship at the time she met me. She dumped him to be with me, which should have been my first indication of trouble. Despite knowing that we were completely unsuited for it, we stubbornly got married and even pretended at being happy for 6 months or so. Then her temper and caustic tongue came out. I did everything I could think of: Romance, trying to change, etc. I learned (or should I say I was trained) that I was always in the wrong. When she moved back to her parents, I finally got my anger going and filed for divorce.

I then spent some time with a room mate, but not enough. I met the second wife. I discovered new anger. Whenever we had fights, she would resort to "the silent treatment". I didn't have enough ambition either apparently. I know this to be true, since she told me so repeatedly. Despite having graduated college, and even successfully switched careers, I could still do little that was right. It was towards the end of this that I figured out that I just didn't like myself. When she told me she wanted a divorce, I discovered I was powerless as well. It was not a good time.

I spent most of a year in a pity party. I acceded to most of her wishes, thinking that I was just avoiding conflict, but in reality being a doormat. As I said, it was not a good time.

(To Be Continued)

How Apropos

2010-09-13T12:30:00.002-06:00

When You Can't Say Anything

2010-09-13T10:37:00.003-06:00

All's been quiet here for quite a while, and I can't say I'm surprised.

The question I have for anyone, or no-one is: Do you have anyone you can tell the untellable to without repercussions? What do I mean by untellable? Things like all of the events and situations that make us feel foolish and regretful. Youthful indiscretions for example, or things done and said in the middle of arguments. Things you just want to get off your chest, but have nobody to tell.

And why would you tell them? Are you looking for some sort of absolution? I have to wonder if absolution can truly come from without.

An Incredible Hullabaloo

2010-01-21T20:13:00.003-07:00

At my Aikido Dojo, Utah Aikikai, there have been some defectors pop up recently. I sent one of them the following message (particulars taken out):

A,
The thing that does bother me is this: the lot of you are showing more loyalty to a virtual stranger, than to the people and the dojo you've been with for years.
B treated C like a son, and is being repaid with scorn. He's looked dissatisfied for a while, often coming into the dojo looking like he's just eaten a lemon.

D seems to have a huge chip on his shoulder for no reason. Rather, he just seems to parrot whatever other people say. Often he states some things that are outright lies.

I don't know what this E's issues are. He's been in the dojo for such a short time, I
can't imagine them having much validity.

As for whatever issues you have with B, do you really want to break ties with Utah Aikikai, and to get the image of someone who is a malcontent, and steals away students? Unfortunately, it is entirely regardless if you are doing that or not. Some people are going to follow you, and that will be the perception.

Associations have nothing to do with things. I know from experience that you're well enough versed in Aikido to know that a particular association's requirements are just a different flavor of the same thing: Aikido.

In the end, it's unlikely that anything I say will sway anyone, so do what you will do. I hope for one that you don't.

D can go on his merry way for all I care. The dojo is already better without him. C needs to remove the chip off of his shoulder and become a valuable member of the dojo again, or he just needs to go away. This other E is so irrelevant that he could go away or stay, it wouldn't make any difference.

So that's my opinion of the problem I have with you (and by the extension, your cohorts).

Best Regards,

Jason

Since BSG is Gone, This is the Next Best:

2010-01-15T08:55:00.002-07:00

I Didn't Know it Was Literal

2010-01-15T08:53:00.002-07:00

Savage Stupidity

2010-01-14T10:08:00.005-07:00

Pat Robertson, Moron extraordinaire, stated the following concerning the tragic events in Haiti:

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about. [Haitians] were under the heel of the French...and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, ‘we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ True story. And the Devil said, ‘OK it’s a deal.’ Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another.”

Then, not to be outdone, Rush (Former pain pill popper) Limbaugh opined:

President Barack Obama and company would use Haiti to get closer to the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black [communities] in this country” while adding that the U.S. has “already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.”

Truly class acts.

Washington's Farewell Address 1796

2009-10-02T01:15:00.001-06:00

Friends and Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it - It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

Sometimes Bravery Means Braving the Body Parts

2009-09-30T22:11:00.001-06:00

2009-08-27T16:50:00.004-06:00

By Daniel Ladinsky

I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim
A Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of itself
With me
That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel
Or even pure
Soul.

Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed
Me

Of every concept and image
My mind has ever known.

It's the Wally World White Trash Parade

2009-08-27T14:29:00.001-06:00

Click here for such beauties as this:

Were You To Dig a Hole

2009-08-24T10:45:00.003-06:00

Through the Earth to the other side, and then jump in, it would take you 42 minutes to get to the other side (assuming you can survive the temperatures at the center of the Earth). Where you would land is likely in the ocean:

For instance, pretty much anyone in North America will land somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Only those living in the south of Argentina and Chile will be able to dig a hole to China.

Advice for People with Large Windows

2009-08-24T09:44:00.004-06:00

When you're getting something out of the fridge, and that fridge is in full view of the street, make sure to wear clothes.

The Utah Local Festival of Arts

2009-08-24T09:43:00.002-06:00

It's in the news here

A Crazy Lady Gets Called For What She Is

2009-08-19T21:07:00.001-06:00

A Joke To Make You Gag

2009-08-11T17:06:00.002-06:00

A guy walks in to a bar and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.

Then another, then another, then another.

Barkeep says, "You’re hitting it pretty hard, what’s the occasion"?

Guy responds, "Celebrating my first BJ".

Bartender says, “great news, how ‘bout one more, on the house”.

Guy sighs and says, “no thanks, if 4 shots of JD doesn’t get the taste out of my mouth, nothing will”.

Super Artsy Niftiness

2009-08-09T02:44:00.000-06:00

Utah Local Festival of Arts on Facebook

Nirvana Vs. Rick Astley

2009-07-27T20:42:00.000-06:00

Ouch! Ouch!

2009-07-13T11:27:00.001-06:00

Never get in a fight with a hand surgeon. They'll lure you into the operating room, have the anethesiologist knock you out, then remove stuff from your wrists. Dirty Pool if you ask me.

More Puppy Cuteness

2009-07-13T11:24:00.002-06:00

Give a Dog a Bone:

This Chemical Made the World a Better Place For You and For Me.

2009-07-10T09:38:00.002-06:00

You're Welcome You Ungrateful Jerks:

2009-07-10T00:23:00.004-06:00

Taken from this article (emphasis mine):

"The expansion is fueled by brisk liquor sales in Utah's state-controlled monopoly. Last fiscal year, total retail liquor sales topped $257 million, up $27 million from the year before.
Those liquor sales brought $98 million to state and local treasuries last fiscal year, said department spokeswoman Sharon Mackay. Of that total, more than $25 million was used to fund school lunch programs while $60 million went into the state's general fund."

So all the raging "drunkards" out there are feeding your children, and helping to provide for every Utah resident's welfare. It'd be nice if even a significant fraction of the Utah Religion's 10% went to such laudable causes. Maybe they're too busy fighting the "threat" of gay marriage to notice.

Two Sayings:

2009-07-09T23:00:00.005-06:00

A "Committee" is a life-form with six or more legs and no brain.

The IQ of a group of people is equal to that of the lowest IQ in the group, divided by the number of people in the group.

In other words: "None of us are as dumb as all of us."

Healthcare "System"

2009-07-09T22:43:00.002-06:00

So needless to say, the debate (as such vitriolic spoutings could be styled) over universal healthcare is raging here in the US. The Republicrats charge that the Demicans are leading us merrily into socialism (the modern equivalent of the Boogey man apparently).

Horror stories abound about the Canadian and British systems. For instance, my son has been "educated" by his mother's side of the family about how someone in Canada, tired of waiting at an ER, left and never got his finger fixed. Now, rather than being his own dumbass fault for not waiting until he got care, or pressing the issue, it's now a shibboleth for my son.

So I have to ask: If the Demican's plan is so Socialistic and bad, what is the Republicrat's plan? The status quo? Why don't we want to give everyone access to healthcare? You see, that's what I'm not hearing out of the Republicrats; i.e. Thier Plan. I don't hear that out of the talking heads either. How can every American get healthcare?

I don't buy the "it's not broken, so let's don't fix it." Our "system" is terribly broken. Costs sky-rocket while coverage shrinks. Businesses and companies are forced to choose between offering nothing for coverage, or taking on an increasinly onerous cost. And God forbid you lose your job. You either have to go on the riduculously expensive "COBRA" plan (not a G.I. Joe reference), or go without entirely and hope you don't get too ill. If luck isn't with you, you end up in the hospital, rack up horrendous debt, and become even more financially strapped. That is, if you don't perish from not taking care of whatever ails you.

So you don't like socialism... What's your solution to get everyone covered?

Thoughts on The Passing of a Young Brother

2009-07-03T18:19:00.003-06:00

Recently here in Utah, we had a great young man, Demolay Member, and Masonic Brother taken from us by Leukemia. His loss could be described (inadequately) by the words "wrenching", "sad", and "too early".

What this led me to consider however, is the need for words in instances like these. What words do you use to console the inconsolable? How do you begin to repair the irreparable? In my opinion, you don't. Give the grieving a heartfelt hug, and let the pain be, for a moment, swallowed up in silence.

Thanatopsis By William Cullen Bryant

2009-06-29T16:40:00.001-06:00

TO HIM who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 5
Into his darker musings, with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images 10
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;—
Go forth under the open sky, and list
To Nature's teachings, while from all around— 15
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air—
Comes a still voice—Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, 20
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go 25
To mix forever with the elements;
To be a brother to the insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. 30
Yet not to thine eternal resting-place
Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world,—with kings,
The powerful of the earth,—the wise, the good, 35
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the vales
Stretching in pensive quietness between;
The venerable woods—rivers that move 40
In majesty, and the complaining brooks
That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,
Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,—
Are but the solemn decorations all
Of the great tomb of man! The golden sun, 45
The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,
Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread
The globe are but a handful to the tribes
That slumber in its bosom.—Take the wings 50
Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,
Save his own dashings,—yet the dead are there:
And millions in those solitudes, since first 55
The flight of years began, have laid them down
In their last sleep—the dead reign there alone.
So shalt thou rest; and what if thou withdraw
In silence from the living, and no friend
Take note of thy departure? All that breathe 60
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care
Plod on, and each one as before will chase
His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come 65
And make their bed with thee. As the long train
Of ages glide away, the sons of men,
The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes
In the full strength of years, matron and maid,
The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— 70
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side
By those, who in their turn shall follow them.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 75
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 80
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

Some Silly Titles

2009-06-23T23:12:00.003-06:00

It's no wonder that the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis never took off. First, who wants to sit through 90+ degrees, some with inane, dumb, or just plain obtuse titles like those taken from John Yarker's "Secret High Degree Rituals of the Masonic Rite of Memphis":

Knight of Scandinavia

Knight of the Temple

Sublime Negociant

Knight of Shota, or Sage of Truth

Sublime Elect of Truth, or The Red Eagle

Grand Elect of the Aeons (actually, this one is kind of catchy)

Sage Savaiste, or Perfect Sage

Knight of the Arch of Seven Colours

Prince of Light

Sublime Hermetic Sage, or Hermetic Philosopher

Prince of the Zodiac

Sublime Sage of the Mysteries

Sublime Pastor of the Huts (Jabba?)

Knight of the Seven Stars

Sublime Guardian of the Sacred Mount

Sublime Sage of the Pyramids

Sublime Philosopher of Samonthrace

Sublime Titan of the Caucasus

Sage of the Labyrinth

Knight or Sage of the Phoenix

Sublime Scalde

Sublime Orphic Doctor (for when you're afflicted with a bad case of Persephone)

Pontiff, or Sace of Cadmia

Sublime Magus

Sage, or Prince Brahmin

Sublime Sage, or Grand Pontiff of Ogygia (where is Ogygia?)

Sublime Guardian of the Three Fires

Sublime Unknown Philosopher

Sublime Sage of Eleusis

Sublime Kawi (at first, I read "Kiwi")

Sage of Mythras

Guardian of Sanctuary - Grand Installator

Grand Architect of the Mysterious City - Grand Consecrator

Guardian of the Incommunicable Name - Grand Eulogist

Patriarch of Truth

Knight or Sage of the Golden Branch of Eleusis

Prince of Light, or Patriarch of the Planispheres (I want to be a Knight of the Planispheres)

Patriarch of the Sacred Vedas

Sublime Master of Wisdom (now they're just giving up trying to come up with new titles)

Patriarch, or Doctor of the Sacred Fire

Sublime Master of the Stoka

Knight Commander of the Lybic Chain (It'd be more interesting if it were the Lambic Chain)

Interpreter of Hieroglyphics, or Patriarch of Isis

Sublime Knight or Sage Theosopher

Grand Pontiff of the Thebiad

Knight, or Sage, of the Redoubtable Sada

Sublime Elect of the Sanctuary of Mazias (Mazdas?)

Intendent Regulator, or Patriarch of Memphis

Grand Elect of the Temple of Midgard

Sublime Elect of the Valley of Oddy (Hmm?)

Patriarch or Doctor of the Izeds

Sublime Sage, or Knight of Kneph

Sublime Philosopher of the Valley of Kab

Sublime Prince of Masonry

Grand Elect of the Sacred Curtain (Does the curtain match the carpet?)

Patriarch of the Mystic City

Sublime Master of the Great Work

Grand Defender

Grand Catechist

Regulator General

Prince of Memphis, or Grand Administrator

Grand Conservator

Grand and Puissant Sovereign of the Order

Grand Hierophant

That's Inexplicably Funny

2009-06-23T23:10:00.000-06:00

The Apathy Is Strong With This One

2009-06-22T16:26:00.003-06:00

So, after a long hiatus of blogging about dojo politics, I've decided to take another stab at it. Well, "stab" is too strong a word I think. More of a slight, negligible poke would be more correct. Dojo's by their nature aren't democratic. The owner / head teacher is the de-facto dictator. This is of course a double edged sword, as all of the good ideas and programs implemented earn them praise, all the half-baked, misguided, and plain bad ideas earn them scorn.

What I've seen further exacerbate this situation is when a dojo-cho (dojo owner) has a false "Open Door" policy. So how does this all relate to my tagline? In short, I figured out that even though I have a little rank, my input and opinion at the dojo aren't all that important. Instead of being offended by this and simmering about it, I've decided to accept it.

I'll train as I see fit and enjoy myself. Maybe it'll come around again that my opinion will matter, but for now, it's just not important.

Sung To Abba's "Fernando"

2009-06-11T21:59:00.004-06:00

Download the full musical version from here:

Do you hear the pipes, Cthulhu?
They were being played by shoggoths on the shores of Carcosa
Can you hear our prayers, Cthulhu?
Deep in sunken R'lyeh waiting for the rightness of a star?
Where the Deep Ones worship Dagon, Mother Hydra in sea chambers built afar?

Chorus:There was chanting in the air that night
The stars were right, Cthulhu!
You were dreaming of your destiny
Beneath the sea, Cthulhu!
Though the Elder Gods have cast you down
Have no regret
As the Al-Azif has prophesized, R'lyeh will rise, Cthulhu!

We are waiting O Cthulhu
Sacrificing virgins while the nightgaunts hover 'gainst the moon
Seeking power O Cthulhu
Drawing sigils in their blood and Elder Signs and other runes
They were dying drenched in madness and the eldritch vapors of a thousand dooms

(chorus)

You are sleeping Great Cthulhu
Never knowing the unspeakable things we do in your name
But don't worry Great Cthulhu
We will carry on destroying without sanity or shame
Till the universe resounds with all the sounds of lost souls shrieking out in pain

(chorus)

As the Al-Azif has prophesized, R'lyeh will rise, Cthulhu!

Stolen from here.

Something I'm considering

2009-06-05T23:15:00.001-06:00

I'm thinking of joining a bagpipe band in a year or so.

Random Thoughts

2009-06-05T23:08:00.002-06:00

Here's some random blatherings:

Why does every human organization ultimately devolve into politics of some sort?

Where's my flying car?

In all my studies on "esoteric" and "occult" things, I have to wonder if there's something to them.

Although it's naive to think so: Why can't we all just get along?

I miss Napa. You all should join us on a wine tour in October.

Have you ever felt the interconnectedness of all things? Even a little?

Here's a picture of my son with a snake:

The Largest Collection of Keytars in Utah

2009-06-03T23:20:00.005-06:00

Extreme Cuteness

2009-06-03T23:18:00.001-06:00

Told you.

Two Things:

2009-05-31T23:45:00.003-06:00

On a trip this weekend to Pocatello and Lava Hot Springs, I noticed two things.

1. What is with the cardboard wizard cutouts along the freeway north of Ogden (one is wearing a hardhat).

2. Why is it slower traffic will actually move to the right until you are within 5 miles of Ogden? Is that the true manifestation of the Zion Curtain? Retarded driving?

The Most Disturbing Thing I've Seen This Year. (Adult-ish)

2009-05-27T21:11:00.003-06:00

Since I've had to see it, you now get to:

You're Not Fooling Anyone

2009-05-26T15:05:00.000-06:00

Driving to work today, I saw a man half in a hedge, obviously urinating. He didn't seem to care about the several cars driving by. Maybe he thought he had an invisibility cloak on...

I'll Take One of Those:

2009-05-24T18:31:00.001-06:00

Shame On You!

2009-05-23T21:20:00.002-06:00

And Isn't It a Good Thing?

2009-05-21T21:36:00.003-06:00

I've just been reflecting on the prohibition on speaking of religion and politics in Lodge. Whoever came up with this should be given a giant gold star. If it weren't for such a framework, I'd never have the good friends I do in Freemasonry. Our paths would have remained at "perpetual distance."

New Begging Proceedure

2009-05-20T16:22:00.004-06:00

In the last three months, I've been hit up by a person coming and begging for money. They're not your usual unkempt bum though. They have the appearance of being respectable. Where their story falls apart though is in the mass of details they bombard you with.

For instance, yesterday a woman walks up to my son and me in the parking lot of wally world.

"This is so embarrassing, but could I ask you a favor?"

"What's that?" I cautiously reply...

She then launches into a diatribe about how her clutch went out but the police wouldn't give her a ride to wally world, and her children went to school in Sandy, but she lives up in Memory Grove, and she just needed enough to get a Trax pass, ...."

I offered her the 20 cents in my pocket, but she'd have none of it and went off to accost someone else.

Online Implosions

2009-05-20T16:18:00.002-06:00

I've noticed over time that on the networking sites such as Facebook (and its tarded little brother MySpace), people will suddenly get a wild hair, delete a bunch of friends, then delete thier profile. When asked why, it's more often than not "I just got tired of it".

Why make a spectacle of yourself? Don't go away mad, just go away.

For A Brother and Friend Who Needs a Bigger Mug:

2009-05-20T10:41:00.002-06:00

Sorry it's upside down. I couldn't be bothered to fix it.

Duncan Aikido Pictures

2009-05-20T10:38:00.004-06:00

Me being proud:

Duncan with his new belt:

I'm Not Hungry.

2009-05-20T10:37:00.002-06:00

Public Service Announcement

2009-05-19T23:24:00.002-06:00

Masonic Minutiae

2009-05-19T23:05:00.004-06:00

I do a little segment on The Setting Maul called Masonic Minutiae. It's a lovely romp through Masonic Symbolism on a monthly basis, and forces me to get off my lazy ass and actually finish books...

The more I read and ponder, the more I remember our (monitorial) line "Study diligently, and you will find their symbolic teachings almost infinite."

That's a nice oxymoron: "Almost Infinite".

Blah-dee blah, blah-dee blah.

2009-05-19T22:59:00.003-06:00

I've taken my hiatus, and at the prompting of a brother. I'll start posting things amusing to me again.

For instance, why on God's green earth can't people understand that slower traffic should move to the right? If you take your time to look in your rear view mirror, and see a line of 7 cars behind you, maybe you're too damn slow for the left lane. For fuck sake, move over asshat!

Ever Wonder

2009-03-26T12:02:00.001-06:00

What happened to all of your old photos? They may well be posted Here.

At Least They're Wearing Helmets

2009-03-26T10:10:00.001-06:00

The Friday Aside (3/20/09) - The Final Chapter

2009-03-20T18:21:00.002-06:00

I'm less witty than I supposed, especially when I have to do it on queue. So another interweb tradition dies.

Bob Will Appreciate This:

2009-03-18T21:17:00.000-06:00

The Friday Aside (2/13/09)

2009-03-13T23:29:00.001-06:00

Phlegm is not a shareable substance, or at least it shouldn't be.

In Case You Were Concerned

2009-03-11T11:02:00.002-06:00

Provo may let residents keep 6 chickens at home
March 11th, 2009 @ 10:20am

PROVO, Utah (AP) -- The Provo Municipal Council is considering an ordinance that would allow people to keep up to six hen chickens at home.

Councilwoman Cindy Clark says chickens have become urban and many Provo residents already keep hen houses on their property to harvest eggs.

However, Council Chairwoman Cynthia Dayton says concerns over public health and nuisance issues need to be addressed.

A draft ordinance reviewed by the council on Tuesday requires the chickens to be kept in an outdoor enclosed area and moved to a hen house at night. It also requires the enclosed area to be cleaned weekly and made safe from predators.

Current city code doesn't allow people to keep chickens in residential areas.

Maybe I'm Insane:

2009-03-11T10:51:00.001-06:00

From Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum:

"I work for a publishing company. We deal with both lunatics and nonlunatics. After a while an editor can pick out the lunatics right away. If somebody brings up the Templars, he's almost always a lunatic."

Sage Parenting Advice

2009-03-10T21:17:00.003-06:00

The Friday Aside (3/6/09)

2009-03-06T23:22:00.002-07:00

Neti Pots are interesting things. They make you feel like you're drowning while clearing your sinuses at the same time.

Engrish

2009-03-06T11:58:00.003-07:00

I bought some screen protectors for my new work phone, and they came with the following instructions:

Lab the ScreenGuard on screen andcheck the fitting of each sides.
Clan the sereen thoroughly.

The Friday Aside (2/27/09)

2009-02-27T13:50:00.002-07:00

Taking Miniscule Baby Steps

2009-02-27T13:48:00.002-07:00

Utah is slowly becoming a Grown Up state. Maybe we'll be fully grown up by 2784.

Anyway, here's the good news.

How Good and How Pleasant

2009-02-25T16:30:00.002-07:00

Tonight is the podcasting night we've chosen. We're trying a new call in feature called Talkshoe. Hopefully it works well.

The Friday Aside (2/20/09)

2009-02-20T16:08:00.003-07:00

Bagpipes are an interesting instrument. I've never met someone who's impartial to them. They either like them or loathe them. I have to wonder why that is? For instance, could one alter an oboe to get the same reaction?

Just In Time For The End Of The World:

2009-02-17T14:55:00.001-07:00

Universal cellphone charger will ring the changes, say makers

Original article here.

The Friday Aside (2/13/09)

2009-02-13T11:27:00.002-07:00

Did you know that if the chanter on a bagpipe weren't flared, it would be about 2 -3 feet long?

Masonic Apparel Niftyness

2009-02-13T11:08:00.003-07:00

Click Here

What's Your Sign?

2009-02-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Another department here at work hired its own developer right out of school, and while talking to our DBA today, he proudly declared "I'm a developer!" I thought about standing up and claiming "I'm a Sagittarius! Glad to meet you."

Finally (Well, Almost Finally)

2009-02-08T21:13:00.004-07:00

To replace some crappy drone reeds I'd been saddled with, I bought some Kinnaird Carbon fiber drone reeds as a replacement (pictured at right). After looking through the web, I found a handy site on how to install and tune them. Though I haven't gotten them completely tuned, my teacher comes by tomorrow night and he'll finish what I started.

Even with them not completely in tune, I got them really close, and was able to strike in just the drones (something nobody could get my old drone reeds to do).

It's funny what defective equipment can do for one's motivation. I'll admit that I've not been that excited to practice the full bagpipes, as every song started out incorrectly. Tonight, with working drones, and a semi-adequate strike in, I feel that excitement for the instrument that I hadn't felt in a long time. That excitement where I actually look forward to playing the pipes.

Be Suspicious:

2009-02-08T20:24:00.002-07:00

Be very suspicious of anyone who gives you this gift:

The Friday Aside (2/6/09)

2009-02-06T14:32:00.001-07:00

We can't have another Great Depression. We have Prozac and drugs like that now.

These Should Be The Consequences:

2009-02-05T16:51:00.005-07:00

Taken from the article at CNN. My opinion is that it should certainly be an option. For child molesters, it should be mandatory. Anyone who kills children should have it done with a rusty, offal-encrusted stapler sans anesthesia. Anyhow, here's the article:

Rights group calls to ban Czech castration law

(CNN) -- The Czech Republic's practice of surgically castrating convicted sex offenders is "invasive, irreversible and mutilating" and should stop immediately, the Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee said in a report made public Thursday.

The central European country castrated at least 94 prisoners in the 10 years up to April 2008, when investigators from the Council of Europe, a human-rights forum, visited the Czech Republic.

The Council of Europe condemned the practice as "degrading."
The procedure is being performed even on first-time, non-violent offenders, such as exhibitionists, its investigation revealed.

Prisoners have to request castration under Czech law, but many fear they will be jailed for life if they do not, the investigation found.

"In practically all the cases, these patients indicated that their application was at least partially instigated by fear of long-term detention," the report said.

"Some patients claimed that the treating sexologist had explicitly told them that surgical castration was the only available option to them and that refusal would mean lifelong detention."

And it warned that some "significantly" mentally retarded people had been castrated.
"In at least five cases, legally incapacitated offenders were surgically castrated," the report said. "In all of these instances, the court-appointed guardian had signed the consent form; in two cases, the guardians were mayors."

The investigators found only two convicts who had spontaneously volunteered for castration, while others they interviewed said mental health staff specializing in sexuality had recommended it.

"The other patients interviewed indicated that the treating sexologist had suggested surgical castration, in several cases within a week of the patient's admission to hospital," the report said.

"Some of the sexologists interviewed by the delegation themselves affirmed that for certain patients there was no alternative treatment to surgical castration."
The Czech Republic defends the practice as voluntary, saying castration aims permanently to reduce testosterone levels in order to diminish the offender's sexual urges.

The process, officially called "therapeutic testicular pulpectomies ... are performed upon a written request of an adult man," the Czech government responded. It said the operation had to be approved by a committee of experts.

"Prior to the performance of such intervention, the patient must express his consent with its performance. Castration is considered with respect to men who cannot manage their sexual instincts and are sexually aggressive," the Czech government said, saying the Council of Europe had not proven its case sufficiently for the country to abandon castration.

It argues the procedure is effective in reducing repeat offenses.

But the Council of Europe questioned the statistics on repeat offenses and said even if they were correct, castration was not an appropriate way to reduce recidivism.
"The committee's delegation came across three cases in which sex offenders had committed serious sex-related crimes, including serial rape and attempted murder, after they had been surgically castrated," the human-rights group said.

"Surgical castration is no longer a generally accepted medical intervention in the treatment of sex-offenders," the report said.

It said candidates for castration often received information about the procedure which was too technical to understand -- or no information at all.

"Several patients who had undergone surgical castration told the delegation that they would never have applied for surgical castration had they been properly informed," the report warned.

It condemned the practice as "an irreversible intervention that always leads to infertility and, in the long run, a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis," also warning of possible depression and changes in appearance.

It said it was impossible to determine how many people had been castrated in keeping with a 1966 law.

The Council of Europe delegation visited the Czech Republic from March 25 to April 2, 2008. It issued its report and the Czech response on July 23, 2008. It made them public on Thursday at the request of the Czech government, it said.

I Realize

2009-02-04T22:05:00.002-07:00

That I'm inundating you with stuff from other blogs, but this struck me as indicative of what happens when we teach to the lowest common denominator:

Start Looking Around For Your Plot on Mars

2009-02-04T14:32:00.003-07:00

Google now has Google Mars. I'm staking my claim to 10 square miles around Lat -7.762701, Long -71.081542, just in case.

Even More Schlemish (Whatever that means)

2009-02-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

Schelmish (Whatever that means)

2009-02-02T21:43:00.001-07:00

Here's some bastardized bagpipes for your enjoyment:

Jumping Jesus Playing the Bagpipes!

2009-02-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Annals of Failure

2009-02-02T11:36:00.004-07:00

Here's just a small example from the failblog:

The Friday Aside (1/30/09)

2009-01-30T20:22:00.002-07:00

I've got nothing. Sorry. Today I have no witty sayings. So in lieu of a witty saying, I'll just state: "A cat will almost always blink when hit on the head with a hammer."

Royal Arch

2009-01-28T14:30:00.006-07:00

I forgot how much I missed Royal Arch, despite the officers reading the openings. The English brothers who gave the educational were really interesting. One thing came from the educational that struck me: "Visiting other Lodges is the essence of Freemasonry." I don't know if I agree, but it gave me a moment of thought.

Stolen Twice Over

2009-01-26T11:54:00.002-07:00

The Friday Aside (1/23/2009)

2009-01-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

Dead cell phones are excellent for solving software problems. Simply huck it at the offending user's head.

Dumb Ass Sundance Behavior

2009-01-23T11:01:00.006-07:00

We went and saw "An Education" at the Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday, and stayed for the Q&A with the director and two of the actors afterwards. Inevitably, there's always the semi-disheveled, bearded guy near the front who doesn't know what a question is.

Thier statements usually start like this:

"I really enjoyed the way you..."
"Your use of music with the images..."
"The composition of..."

If you're lucky, after thier blathering, they'll actually ask a question, but more often than not, they just use up gobs of time. I wish the ushers could lasso them, drag them away, and summarily beat them.

(All photos by Robert Hirschi/ The Salt Lake Tribune)

No No Peeky!

2009-01-22T21:18:00.001-07:00

Don't all Senior Deacons wish they had this at one time or another?

Prayers For the Young

2009-01-22T21:08:00.001-07:00

My Brother's baby got RSV, so my prayers are on the way. That's got to be terribly scary.

I'm Glad To See a Storm On The Way

2009-01-22T11:17:00.005-07:00

The Weather according to a Google Widget:

What the crap we're breathing looks like:

(Photo by Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Now That's Odd:

2009-01-21T21:47:00.002-07:00

This evening at Aikido, I got the oddest question about Masonry since I joined: "So, how does it feel to be a Mason?"

My response was the obvious "Peachy!"

The Friday Aside (1/16/2009)

2009-01-16T10:44:00.005-07:00

The best description of Shriner's and York Rite Chapeau's came from my wife: "Flower pots and pirate hats."