Snowmans Blog

What happened to the "boomers"?

I recently came across an editorial in the student paper from Auburn asking why the students are so complacent. And pointing out that the generation of protesters from the 60's and 70's are the ones running things in a less than satisfactory way now.

I've often wondered myself whatever happened to the idealism that generation once had. Where were all the former Vietnam protestors when we entered Iraq? Who are all the people working in corporate America now? Largely those that rebelled against the system at one time. And why didn't those ordeals get handed down to todays students? They are sitting through their "education" to pick up a degree and make a lot of money. They don't seem to care enough about anything to protest.

The editorial seems to be orphaned and may disappear, but the full version is here, and is titled "A redheaded stranger quotes Chuck D".

Here is an excerpt which captures most of it:

Back in our parents' college days, it was a common occurrence for students to come together and speak out for what they believed to be right.

Well, the protesters of that generation are in charge now, and I for one don't particularly like the way they are managing my school.

While in no way is this an endorsement for free love, flower power or rampant drug use (they all happen anyway), it is an endorsement for some "call to arms."

What ever happened to college-aged people's passion and zeal for the way of life they so desperately want to live?

I'll tell you what happened. We got complacent. Think about it. Look at the classes you've taken at Auburn. How many of those consisted of no more than pure memorization and regurgitation?"

One of the other relevant thoughts I've often had is that universities have traditionally been a source of change, a starting point for upheaval. In other countries this is still true, entire governments have been brought down by movements begun in their universities. But here in the US it's hard to imagine students starting a significant movement for change of any kind.

And if students don't do it it's unlikely any other group will. Dooming us to complacency and the status quo.

The Doomsday Manual

I was over at the Oregon Coast a couple weeks ago and picked up a copy of the "Depoe Bay Beacon" newspaper. Depoe Bay is a nice small town north of Newport and south of Lincoln City.

Their editorial was on a new 5-page brochure which tells "just how shoddy the official response will be" in case of a tsunami or any other disaster. The brochure cost $2000, but such "experts" as the OSP, Sheriff, Fire Dept and Coast Guard were never consulted. (Actually I question the expertise of any of these aside from the Coast Guard).

... Read more ...

Ethics of War and Prisoner Treatment

In the years since the Iraq war (or occupation) began we've seen some simply horrifying reports of how our own government treats prisoners of war. They have been tortured, and in some cases killed in the process. They've been held outside the US to circumvent laws. The Bush administration has claimed at times that the Geneva conventions do not apply. And at the moment they are arguing to exempt the CIA from requirements and expectations being set for the military.

This is not our heritage as Americans. The Bush administration needs a history lesson, and the people of the country need to take a stand. Let's look back at two examples from our own revolutionary days - the Boston Massacre and Washingtons treatment of prisoners of war.

... Read more ...

Welcome to the Blog

Well, since it's all the rave these days I just had to set up a blog. Actually I already have another one going at avalanche-blog.com where I post specifically about snow avalanche topics. This one will be for personal and varied use.

At first I thought I'd use it for political commentary. Which I will, but there are other good uses too. And I'll set up different sections so it's easy to sort out different things. I think some will parallel the topics and organization of my personal website and others will fall outside that.

Two things I hope to use this for are keeping friends and family updated on what's going on in my life and summarizing website updates. This way they can read whatever interests them, and how ever much they want. I'm really too busy to do a lot of things I'd like to and unfortunately staying in touch with friends has fallen by the wayside in favor of efforts that have some chance of contributing to my economic survival. I also only get to work on my personal web site now and then so maybe I can use this blog to summarize changes now and then.

Of course the real question is whether I'll have time to blog at all or not. It's quite likely that I will post fairly often at times, interspersed with other long stretches of time when I'm just too busy. We'll see.

I'll make the next post about the Sections and update that as they evolve.

Comments on anything, or just quick greetings in passing, are welcome as comments. I think I've set it to require review of all comments before they appear, but I should get an email that something was submitted. I set this up and ignored it for quite a while only to discover that my test posts had thousands of comments promoting viagra, cheap university degrees, and other sundry items.

Jim