Appalachian Intellectual. To me that means plain thinking. I am A Non Commissioned Officer in the Army Reserves. Let me say...My views expressed here are mine and not those of The U.S. Army, Army Reserve or my fellow brethren in The National Guard. This is entirely Sua Sponte. This is My Thinking.
I'm single and in my mid 30's. Politicaly, I'm a Libertarian. (Again, Sua Sponte.I do not represent the Libertarian Party.)I love my native Appalachia, Rock n Roll and...I love God.
I started blogging for two reasons. I was concerned about the changes to the area I live in, Southern Appalachia and I was about to go to the war. I was in Iraq in 06 and 07 and now Kuwait in 11 and 12. Blogging was a means of documenting my experiences and hoping it would help gain clarity. I don't feel that way about it any more. It's said people write blogs because they are frustrated, that's why people read them too. That makes us sound apocalyptic. Are we? Let it be said, what I say here is of my own thinking. This is entirely Sua Sponte and not an official representation of the U.S. Military or the U.S. Government as a whole.
I was about to post the other night, then had a sudden change of plans. I'm alive, I'm kicking. About everything else is too.
Here, listen to this, it was part of my post. Learn the words and sing them over and over. When people ask if that's the only words you know...Tell them yeah, and it ain't none of their business. Then grin real big.
Lake Jocassee sits down off in South Carolina, on the head waters of the Savanna River, fed by rivers from North Carolina. Below it sits Lake Keowee on what was the Keowee River. It cools a nuclear power plant near Seneca for Duke Power. The lake may be called Jocassee, over a dubious legend, but the place was known as "The Auger Hole". My Grand Daddy said that was because it was like someone took an auger to the ground. People lived off in there in a place once known as The Cane Break. That was my Ex's people. Her Great Grand Father payed taxes to Transylvania county NC and both Pickens and Oconee county SC. Well, Duke needed that land off in there to help cool the power plant and to make a long story short, it's in water now. Three hundred feet deep in cold dark water.
My Ex's Father helped build those lakes. He tells a few stories that would make everyone of you grin. I have immense respect for the man, and I'm not going to talk about his business, but I see a hint of regret in him sometimes.
Most of the water sits off in SC. The rivers, gorges and ridges leading off into there are mainly in NC. Allot of it is a State Park now. They call it Jocassee Gorges State Park, but, everyone else calls it The Auger Hole. Looks like someone took an auger to the ground. Biologically unique, steep as a goats face. Water spilling down the Mountain into a pretty lake. Three hundred feet deep in cold dark water.
That water goes to the Atlantic. The creek next to me goes into the West Fork of the French Broad, that joins the other forks as the French Broad that later becomes the Tennessee. That water makes it's way to the Ohio then to the Mississippi and out into the Gulf. I see it as an amazing part of our Creator's world.
Call me sentimental...I don't care if you call me a son of a bitch...But when I see a lake, I can't help but wonder about the history underneath it. Yeah, I like my power, but I wonder what lives were lived there. While there are folks around that hold a grudge against Duke Power for allot of that, it's not nearly as much as the Tennessee Valley Authority did. Well worth a candid look.
That's what this song is about, the TVA and false hopes. A World War I vet in a world of disappointment. Uncle Frank. Fifteen rocky acres in cold dark water.
I had a Birthday the other week. Once, the things were just another day, the year another number. Well, today, it's still just another number, but, I appreciate my day. That's not my subject, just the rambling of my mind. My own reflections. But, as I marked my 41st year, I found it marked by death. The year before, I had an Aunt die the night before. I spent the day hating to look into my Cousins eyes with their Mother just dieing. Then, this year, death was all over the news. It's been a media frenzy. So, in this post, I offer a reflection. No lamenting, no, no judgment. Any of those are not my intent. Robert S. McNamara, former Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, has died. He was highly intelligent, somewhat reluctant to the Posts that he served in and, he was a unique individual. His life was not without controversy and as he will be laid to rest, we will be reminded of this. Much like Michael Jackson, his life will not go without heckling and defending statements.
He was a "Technocrat" and statistics were his business. Which reminds me of the Army saying, "Figures don't lie, but lairs figure". But, he obviously made differences with his findings in statistics. Both for the Army Air Corps and Ford Motor Company. In reality, I believe the man was a truth seeker. I don't believe he was as bad and blind of a person as many with certain agendas will say. He was not the righteous man some may defend him as. I believe he was honest.
McNamara was convinced that it was luck...Just luck...That kept us out of a Nuclear War during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He admitted technology was not as effective as we make it to be. He, as well, admitted that "neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient"..."You can't change human nature".
Robert S McNamara's Eleven Lessons.
1. Empathize with your enemy 2. Rationality will not save us 3. There's something beyond one's self 4. Maximize efficiency 5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war 6. Get the data 7. Belief and seeing are often both wrong 8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning 9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil 10. Never say never 11. You can't change human nature
