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I am proud and hopeful
Judy and I went to a wedding yesterday. Julie was one of the bridesmaids. I remember the weddings of my friends as great parties with lots of food, loud music, dancing and awkward speeches. I remember being in the generation of those being married it was a bit bittersweet because what followed was distancing from the couple as they discovered the ins and outs of married life. I was also the time worry that was typified in the Billy Lyrics of the time:” They started to fight when the money got tight and they just didn’t count on the tears.” It was a legitimate worry as I found out in my marriage; I didn’t count on the tears.
But now 34 years later and being in the generation of the parents watching children getting married, I have a different view. I am proud and hopeful. Marriage like life does change over the years and being successful in both is about embracing and working with the changes. Whether you are blessed with children or not marriage is about the future and that next generation. Each generation has to believe that committing yourself to another for a lifetime bumpy ride can give you more joy than moving sideways in life. I know it is true with Judy and I and I am proud that the next generation can see it. Proud because who consider marriage, a public profession of lifelong love, if they hadn’t seen the joy is out there to be realized? It is a lesson it take half a lifetime to first learn and then teach the next generation. I am hopeful also but not like before when I was worried if the couple is ready but a longer term hopeful. I am hopeful that during their learning that they will be the role models of joy the next generation will need.
Posted in Paradigm shifts
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Assault Weapons
ar15 - Assault Weapon
Should someone buy one now? I personally am not considering exercising that right, incurring that expense, nor investing in that culture.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” seems to , at least to me, gives me the right to keep and carry an assault weapon in case I am needed for the security of our free states. A right does not mean obligation nor does necessary mean sufficient. If I am needed to support the security of our free children I know I would use all the gifts God has given me to secure the safety and security of the innocent. For me this does not include carrying an assault weapon. I also believe it interferes with the determining the issue of self defense. If someone is killed who is carrying or even is known to have an assault weapon, it is hard to determine threat level felt by the killer. To me almost anyone owning or carrying an assault weapon is presumed a deadly threat so they need to show they have no deadly or harmful intent at all times. Everyone gets angry.
Besides the need to constantly show I am helping the security of a free state and not a deadly threat to strangers ; I have better things to do with my earnings. I believe the best use of my earning is to ensure I am not a burden on the state or my remaining parent, pay for the welfare of my child and then to provide to the good that God directs me. Assault weapons, ammunition, training needed to be proficient, documentation, safe storage, repair and disposal requires funds which are better used else ware for the betterment of my family and society.
Lastly my nephew posted a George Washington quote “A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” Wikiquote.org calls this quote misattributed; never the less it does describe a culture. It is within the realm of possibility that our government will go rogue and begin abusing we the people to the point where assault weapons may be useful. Those who know me, know I am a scientist and a mathematician and when I say in the realm of possibility it is in a more theoretical and not realistic. I don’t want to be part of a culture that skews that possibility into behaving like it is inevitable. Nearly my whole career has been working for those who protect and defend our country and not for those who would feel the need to take up arms against it.
Christmas Time For Our College Senior
Julie Waiting & Studing in Gym
Schedule, Papers, Tests, Presentations;
Waking up in the Lab, books, practice tests, review notes and cards,
Coffee, candy, cheesy goldfish,
Email timed to the last minutes, Final time to seven hours,
Library quiet, party noise, study groups, squirming , brain blanking,
Waiting, nervous, what if, good distractions, bad distractions,
Done
Posted in Father-Thoughts
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Perplexed and Disappointed About The Future
We replaced our early 1990’s white side-by-side refrigerator with a new energy efficient stainless steel French door with the freezer on the bottom refrigerator. With some top marks from consumer reports, a black Friday special price, and dimensions that just fit into the place of our old refrigerator, it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. However, what I didn’t count on was our refrigerator magnets not sticking to the stainless “steel.” I thought I was losing my mind; I even got out some stainless flatware just to confirm magnets stuck to them. All our magnetic clips holding child art, letters and pictures, magnetic pegs holding grocery lists, bills and checks to deposit, all our memento magnets, and business cards and, pens, calendars that adorned our old refrigerator and gave it character have lost their place in the world. The engineer who came up with this energy efficient carbon fiber, metallic looking epoxy clearly forgot that a since a refrigerator stores food it is a family gathering place so it has family gathering uses besides getting some milk for morning breakfast.
Posted in Father-Thoughts, Interesting Technology
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“An ‘Occupational Hazard’: Rape in the Military”
My wife and I have worked for our men and women serving in the Navy since 1985, so I was filled with disgust after hearing the Bob Edwards Sirius XM radio show “An ‘Occupational Hazard’: Rape in the Military”. The gist of the three day series is that there is a higher proportion of sexual assaults in the military than is society and it is very prevalent at the military academies. Also that justice is not being done for the victims and the predators are being protected. It struck at the core of what Judy and I have worked for, so I had to investigate and sadly I believe it is true.
When we were considering colleges for Julie, there were a lot of positives about military service that I thought Julie should consider. The occupational hazard of being shot in combat was a nonstarter for mom Judy. However I felt that the risk of taking a bullet for our country is what Judy and I have spent 27 years working to minimize and we should account that into the decision. A far as safety at a military academy, I knew there would be hazing which from my fraternity experience was wet, dirty, late night uncomfortable, and mostly stupid stuff but rarely dangerous. However we didn’t consider the risk of sexual assault, to us it had to be better than other large colleges. We work with a lot of military officers and enlisted and they watch their conduct as if everyone is watching; which they are. Our experience has been missteps are corrected swiftly and abuses are career ending. Whenever serious abuses happen anywhere in the executive branch, we all get continuous yearly training because any abuse is a reason to lose your eligibility for security clearance. In our minds, inside the military was much safer from sexual assaults than outside the military. I am sickened to say the numbers don’t agree with that premise.
The source documents I used were: Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military, the most recent report released April 2012, the Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies, the most recent report released December 2011 and Criminal Victimization bulletin from the Us Department of justice released October 2010. The very offensive “Occupational Hazard” term came from a class action civil suit filed in U.S. District Court Cioca v. Rumsfeld. I haven’t found the transcript online but found some revealing reporting from ArmyTimes.com.
From an article posted 13 Dec 2011 in the ArmyTimes.com:
A federal judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by 28 current and former service members for sexual assaults they say happened while they were in uniform serving under defense secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.
U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady ordered dismissal of the case, filed against the two former secretaries, Dec. 9. He called the sexual assault allegations “troubling,” but said previous cases and Supreme Court decisions have advised against judicial involvement in cases of military discipline.
In arguing for dismissal, Justice Department attorneys cited Supreme Court cases decided in favor of the government that involved service members who sued senior officials for personal damages or filed suit against the government seeking damages for
service-related injuries as reasons to dismiss.
It is clear that the executive branch, Justice Department, was arguing that sexual assault is equivalent to a service-related injury so the marker of Occupational Hazard is a correct attribution. However, the Judiciary branch is ruling is based on cases involving military discipline which is different. The US Judiciary is saying it is troubling that the military judiciary considers sexual assault a occupational hazard but by law the US judiciary has no authority of military judiciary in the case of military discipline.
I have never been a witness of a sexual assault but I know people who have told me they have been victims and have not reported it. How prevalent or rare is it? The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice and publishes a annual report on Criminal Victimization which estimates rates of crimes both reported and those not reported to police, the latest report I could find was published in October 2010 and covers 2009. It reports that the rate of sexual assault in 2008 was 8 in 10,000 and in 2009 was 5 in 10,000. One is too many; however these numbers are consistent with my life long experience of never seeing any but knowing a few that have been. It is too high but rare.
If it is rare in society how rare is it in our military? The Office of the Secretary of Defense reports an active duty military strength of 1,435,450 on March 31, 2012. Using 6.5 per 10,000, the average of two years estimated in society as a whole, an expected 933 reported and unreported sexual assaults would take place each year. Even this number is disgusting; however the Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military for fiscal year 2011 has the reported number of sexual assaults to be 3,492 and estimates that this represents only 14% of the total which would be 24,943. That is about 1.7% of the active military. To be fair the reports does have some caveats about comparing these numbers to non military numbers; however there definition of reported Sexual Assault is “rape, aggravated sexual assault, nonconsensual sodomy, aggravated sexual contact, abusive sexual contact, wrongful sexual contact, and attempts to commit these offenses”. This means that if you have a thirty year military career it is likely you know several victims or been a victim or deserve death because you are a predator.
Is it less rare at our Military Academies? Let’s hope so since we send best and brightest High school students there with a congressional recommendation. The report of the Air force academy class of 2015 has: 17% were either High School Class President or Vice-President, 11% were either Valedictorian or Salutatorian, 26% were in Boy/Girl Scouts, 12% were Eagle Scout/Gold Award, and 82% Athletic Letter Award. The total enrolment for the class of 2015 for Army, Air Force and Navy academies is Air force academy is 3627, which means a 4 year student population of about 14,508 plus maybe 1,000 in administration. Again using 6.5 per 10,000 for society as a whole we would expect maybe 10 sexual assaults per year. The report on sexual harassment and violence at the military service academies shows the reported average of about 40 per year from 2005 through 2011. If the reported is only 14% of the total that means the military academies have 285 sexual assaults per year in a population of about 15,500. This is 1.8% of the academy population which higher than the sexual assaults in the active military as a whole.
I was wrong in thinking the military would be a good choice for my daughter. I would discourage any other father who is thinking of sending their daughter too. Since the sexual assaults include assaults against boys too I wouldn’t want to send a son either. However some will go and become victims. What about the predators, why are there so many? Are they attracted to the military? Is there something inherent in military service that makes predators? If the military thinks sexual assault is an occupational hazard we are creating a haven for sexual predators. Dangerous Disturbing and Disgusting!
Posted in Father-Thoughts, Politics
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What is in a name
Bryan has been a family name since my grandfather Cecil Bryan Walker. He never liked his first name and went by Bryan most of his life. It was a tradition before that to give a middle name to honor someone of importance. John Walker who emigrated from England in the early 1800s names several of his boys to honor men of importance in his new country: Thomas Jefferson Walker, George Washington Walker and James Madison Walker. George named his first born, my great grandfather James Southard Walker, for the minister who married him. James grew up working several jobs in agriculture and timber in the West and his last born son was born 18 May 1896. What is so special about that time is what will be special this coming May, the heat of a presidential election. A historian from the national archives wrote
The 1896 presidential campaign was a fiercely fought contest between: Republican William McKinley who represented Eastern conservative mercantile and industrial interests and Democrat William Jennings Bryan who stood for Western radical agrarian interests. McKinley was a staunch supporter of high tariffs and the Gold Standard, while Bryan favored easier credit and “free silver.” Thirty-six years old, Bryan was known as the “Boy Orator from the River Platte” and compared by some with the river itself — “a mile wide and an inch deep.” His “Cross of Gold” speech became famous: “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold,” he thundered.
That is how Bryan became a family name. It continues not in honor of William Jennings Bryan but in honor of the Bryan’s that came after.
John Bryan Walker
Posted in Father-Thoughts, Roots
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Instead of watching London Burning try this
Posted in Photography, Travel
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Who believes in small business?
Well if anyone interested I don’t think the S&P downgrade of US Debt bonds nor the Debt ceiling knock down drag out did US in. We have heard it a thousand times before from every corner that the USA economy is made or broken by small business. True or not we all believe it. It is also clear the US government is out of and shrinking the good jobs. You need only remember the last space shuttle and the thousands of NASA engineers and scientists , or the thousands of FAA jobs or contemplate what will happened if the defense takes the extra ½ trillion cut if the supper commission doesn’t get it done followed by the Congress and the President. OK “small business” it up to you. If you got a small business expand it or if you got a good idea start a small business. … Well I think small business took a look at the problem and decided that it couldn’t do it. Where is the customer that needs something and has money to spend for that new good or service? The customers with disposable income are just not there. There is money to be made by increasing efficiency on things we are already buy but a small business is up against some stiff established competition. Someone can come up with some new products made from cheap US dirt but a small business doing that enough to make a difference in the middle to near future? Nope not likely and I suspect most of the small business people are thinking the same. I bet the people who make money from investing are thinking the same. The economy is a complex system. It is foolish to think that one input: small business in isolation could even maintain the complex economy. Well that is what the next generation with their lost dreams and following generation with no dreams will have to forgive us for. We thought small business would do it. It could be argued it was as inevitable as all chaotic complex systems are; like inevitable the fall of cavitations. That is little comfort for workers, parents and grandparent want to be that will continue to slog through day after day or die. God if You are coming soon thank You for we were never as smart as we thought we were.
Sorry if this was depressing but they do represent the views of the author. Oh “Don’t worry be happy!”
Posted in Politics
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Adult choices
On my father’s death bed when he gripped my hands I realized I now had his hands as I remembered them has a child. Now I have noticed my sweat smells of him in an almost daily reminder. My humor and annoyances, my tolerance and lack of the same, my loves and worries are as I remember him. I don’t remember knowing my father as well as I see him in me now. I fought my father as unyielding and far focused and on occasion he made my mother cry. I can’t say I embrace all of what has grown in me from him but with this deeper understanding has developed a respect for the complexities of the problems and chosen solutions to your linked lives.
So much is out of our personal control but yet even in the smallest actions and choices we make changes. Many of the changes are not beneficial to the one taking the actions or making the choices. I have benefitted from the actions and choices of my father and from generations of forefathers. I want to take actions and make choices that generations will want me to make for the generations to follow. My father would call it a sacrifice and at the same time love. This also means that not to sacrifice is not to love, or to act and chose only for personal benefit is not to love. I guess that is the greatest lesson I learned from my father is to love. To paraphrase the book of love do onto future generations as you would have the previous generations do for you.
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Posted in Father-Thoughts, Love
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