Update no.677

Update from the Heartland

No.677

1.12.14 – 7.12.14

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

As I sit on the living room couch, watching the Colts vs. Browns football game on this particular Sunday afternoon, I cannot avoid the history of another professional football game 73 years ago -- Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Giants (yes, that is correct).  The Polo Grounds public address announcer broadcast a message that William J. Donovan had an urgent telephone call at the usher’s office.  The call waiting for him was from the White House.  He was being recalled to Washington immediately for an unscheduled Sunday evening Cabinet meeting.  The Imperial Japanese Navy devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii.  The Brooklyn Dodgers did not survive the war, and the team’s lineage can be traced to the Indianapolis Colts, who are on the field as I write this segment.  History is awesome!  On a winter’s day just like today, the United States was pushed into a truly global war that engaged virtually every nation on the planet for the next four years.

In Update no.673, we were alerted to one of several new books.  The first one I completed was:

Cleaver, Thomas McKelvey.  “Fabled Fifteen – The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15.”  Pacifica, California: Pacifica Military History, 2014.

The book had significance for me on several levels.  First and foremost, one of the principal characters in the history book was Commander David McCampbell, USN [USNA 1933] – Commanding Officer, Carrier Air Group 15 – embarked aboard USS Essex (CV-9) during the epic First and Second Battles of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.  Carrier Air Group 15 (CAG-15) was in the thick of what became known as the Marianas Turkey Shoot [19.June.1944].  Fighter Squadron 15 (VF-15), CAG 15, accounted for 68.5 of the total 371 victories by the 15 fighter squadrons of Task Force 58 claimed that day, with the loss of only 14 American pilots.  McCampbell was the Navy’s Ace of Aces with 34 aerial victories in the war, nine in one day, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor [24.October.1944].  Cleaver also chronicles the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, more commonly referred to as the Battle of Leyte Gulf, during October 1944, of which CAG-15 played a vital role.  The Air Group participated in numerous other operations in the Pacific Campaign, including air raids on Peleliu, Formosa (Taiwan), and Okinawa.

            On a personal level, the CAG-15 history took me back to the first individual study I undertook as an early teenager.  While my father was reluctant to talk about his wartime experience, the evidence of that experience was visible daily in our lives.  He told me enough to stimulate me to know more, thus my research into the Battle of Leyte Gulf.  My father served as an infantry sergeant with the 96^th Infantry Division and was near fatally wounded during combat operations on Leyte Island.  Most notably, he recounted the night of 24.October.1944, when the battleships of the 7^th Fleet classically “crossed the T” on the Japanese Southern Force in Surigao Straight, lighting up the night sky as the big guns decimated the Japanese fleet.  The ‘fireworks’ told the soldiers on Leyte something of enormous scale was happening that night.  So, when Cleaver tells us of the Battles of Palawan Passage, Sibuyan Sea, San Bernardino Straight, off Samar, and Cape Engaño, they are names and events all too familiar to me, as if I had just heard them yesterday.

            Cleaver did a magnificent job gathering up an enormous body of information from widely dispersed sources, including personal interviews with those men still alive who were there.  If you are a student of history, or even just minimally curious about those cataclysmic events in the Pacific during the Autumn 1944, I enthusiastically encourage you to read Cleaver’s book – “Fabled Fifteen.”  My only criticism would be the need for more perspective on the scale and significance of those operations to make the details stand out more in the epic Pacific naval battles.

Postscript: The heads-up about the book came to me from a classmate and contributor to this humble forum, and further information provided by Captain McCampbell’s son – Commander David Perry McCampbell, USN (Ret.) [USNA 1970].  Dave has a website that I encourage everyone to visit [http://www.svsoggypaws.com] and especially the “Presentations” section.  I have been through only a few of his many chronicles that document in photographs, maps and detail his sailing and diving adventures as he and his wife retrace the sites of his father’s epic Pacific Campaigns.  Thank you so very much for sharing your experiences, Dave, and thank you Jim for making the connection for me.  And, as we say in the nautical services, godspeed and following winds.  Keep ‘em comin’!

BTW: Soggy Paws is the name of Dave’s ocean-going sailboat and the base for his continuing Pacific adventures.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed H.R.5739, titled: No Social Security for Nazis Act, by a vote of 420-0-0-14(1).  The bill has gone to the Senate for action and is expected to pass easily.  Normally, I would not report on in process legislation like this bill.  However, the title and the language of the proposed law struck a sensitive nerve.  I am a quarter of the way through the book Aslan Soobzokov [673] asked me to review –  “The Nazis Next Door – How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men” (Lichtblau: 2014).  My evolving opinion is not good, but I want to do a thorough assessment to be fair – I need to hear Lichtblau out.  The H.R.5739 bill is not particularly controversial until you place it in the soup of a book like Lichtblau’s, thus my concern about the law.  More to follow on this one, I suspect.

One of many benefits of being old and retired . . . I got to watch the entire flight of the NASA / Launch Alliance Orion spacecraft from launch to splash down.  I tried to get to Cape Canaveral for an Apollo / Saturn V launch and twice for Shuttle launches and failed to make it.  I did watch most of those launches, albeit most in replay, and they never cease to amaze me.  The Orion flight did not disappoint.  Orion is the launch and recovery vehicle for future manned spaceflight to the Moon and Mars.  This flight was intended to test the launch sequence, the radiation shielding, and especially the high-speed re-entry design of the capsule for a simulated return flight from Mars.  From my lay perspective, it was a flawless mission.  Congratulations to NASA and the Launch Alliance team.  Well done!

News from the economic front:

-- The Labor Department reported nonfarm employment rose by a seasonally adjusted 321,000 jobs in November, the strongest month of hiring since January 2012.  The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8%, still the lowest level since mid-2008.  The employment picture has steadily improved this year even as wider economic growth metrics have proved less even.

Comments and contributions from Update no.676:

“No wonder we're friends. We think alike!

“Especially on Ferguson.”

Another contribution:

“Good one on pompous  Pompeo!!”

My reply:

            You know, I actually think the guy wants to do the right things, but he is so bound up in parochial politics that he does foolish things like that newsletter (and others).

Comment to the Blog:

“I hope for your sake that somewhere in Kansas resides a politician with more intelligence than your State Secretary of State or your Congressional Representative.

“Whether Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO) was ‘exactly as he appeared to be’ depends very much on perception. Even among the people on the scene of that event, the stories vary. That is the usual result of interviewing witnesses. When we go to a broader view, Mr. Brown, Darren Wilson, the prosecutor, and the other players each assume their own meaning for each observer. I commend to you the study of cognitive psychology, the study of the mental processes underlying mental activity. Much effort has gone into understanding people's mental workings, and that has much to do with the situation in Ferguson, as it has with most human issues. It seems to me that a great many people assume that others see the same things (actions and attitudes) in a given situation that they do. Whence this assumption arises has always puzzled me. Clearly, each person filters each situation through his or her own experiences, intellectual ability, and thoughts. Cognitive psychology studies how that filtering occurs.

“Incidentally, the resentment of law enforcement you mention is by no means limited to ‘minorities.’ Poor people, gay people, and nearly anyone not immediately similar to police officers is also subject to the fear that gives rise to the resentments. I believe that arises from the "us versus them" attitude that runs deep in law enforcement.

“I will note here that the grand jury did not make its choice in a vacuum. The American Bar Association has issued a letter sharply critical of the prosecutor in the Ferguson case.

“Some of your other contributors make allusions unknown to me. Who is ‘the great Frenchman’ that so mistrusts voters? What has happened in Tottenham, London that someone else assumes I will associate with Ferguson, MO? I fear some of your readers are trapped inside their own minds or milieux.”

NOTE: The article that sparked a goodly portion of this exchange:

“The Science of Why Cops Shoot Young Black Men – And how to reform our bigoted brains.”

by Chris Mooney

Mother Jones

Published: Mon Dec. 1, 2014 6:00 AM EST

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/science-of-racism-prejudice

My response to the Blog:

            Frankly, I hope the same thing.  I shall continue to keep a look-out for that voice of reason here on the Great Plains.

            Re: cognitive psychology.  Well said, and agreed without qualification.  In the more street version, some folks see the glass half full, others half empty, and some don’t really give a damn.  Yes, we all see what we wish to see.  I try mightily to see all sides, but alas I am a flawed person who makes mistakes and is far from perfect in that endeavor.

            Re: resentment.  You touch on some of it.  It also goes to the “don’t snitch” mentality; the police are the enemy; never assist the police.  I am of the generation of military professionals who were spit on, drenched in blood, and virtually hated by a large segment of our citizenry for our service to this Grand Republic.  We felt, for very real reasons, an “us versus them” mentality.  Fortunately, society’s attitude toward the military has improved in the last four decades.  I shall respectfully suggest, if we treated law enforcement personnel with the respect due them as important members of our communities, I dare say citizens would be treated with more respect by law enforcement.  They do a thankless job to protect us.  They make mistakes.  They also perform extraordinary feats in ferreting out evil people among us.  Let us treat them with the respect due their service to the community.

            Re: grand jury.  The system is a time-proven check on the prosecutor from acting unilaterally.  We can condemn the Ferguson grand jury; that is our right.  Yet, we must admit the possibility they got it precisely correct based on the evidence; their conclusion was unanimous, not just the necessary super-majority.

            Re: Frenchman.  I do not know and I have not yet received an answer.

            Re: Tottenham violence.  A series of events in the last few years in the London district that appeared to be quite anarchic, quite like Ferguson, et al.

  “That’s just my opinion, but I could be wrong.”

Cheers,

Cap

PS: Re: mistrust voters.  Please see answer received and noted below.

 . . . Round Two:

“I do not expect that many will read the article on cognitive psychology as applied to racism all the way through, but it deals with very important ideas.

“The point of the article on cognitive psychology is that we do not see what we wish to see. Instead we see what the deeper parts of our brains, conditioned by evolution, show us. The reason that article got my attention is that it matches my own experience gained through attempting to leave behind me a conservative and racist background. In about forty-five years of conscious effort, that has never once been as easy as choosing or deciding to see people and events differently. It's hard work. That article explains why.

“I do not really believe in ‘flawed’ people. DNA, personal history, and culture dictate that no two humans are alike, so how can a ‘perfect’ (meeting a standard) person exist? With no standard, ‘flaws’ are very subjective. People are not machines. We are different from one another and that is not a problem in its own right. It merely indicates that we need to escape the idea that we should be alike.

“The issue with respecting the police is how much respect they deserve. I do not believe anyone deserves respect by virtue of the title they hold. Richard Nixon makes a good example of this, but many others come to mind. I will respect the police, as a body, when they show signs of earning my respect. I already respect those who have shown me that they are respectable. However, expecting drunks and petty criminals to respect people may be unrealistic.

“Incidentally, neither I nor anyone I am in touch with has attacked the grand juries making decisions we see as misguided lately. What I see as the issue is the power and human qualities of prosecutors who have too much control of the grand jury process. Indeed, the American Bar Association has expressed its negative opinion of the prosecutor in Ferguson, MO. I agree with others that prosecutors are very reluctant to indict police officers, with whom they work daily and who they see as important resources. This issue came up for discussion on CBS Morning News today (12/5/2014), so I know I am not alone in this and my non-expert opinions are supported by at least some with professional backgrounds in the subject.

“Much of this comes back to the tribal factor discussed in the article. Prosecutors and police are part of the same tribe, and it is one of the tightest communities we have in our society. Black men not in uniform, Latinos, gay people, poor people, the mentally ill, and others are not the same tribe. That's where the fear and trouble begin. Such people as middle-class white men are typically seen as neutral, but many others are perceived as dangerous by virtue of being ‘not like us’ (the wrong tribe).

“Indeed, I suspect that the tribal responses underlay much of the strife in our society. For a random example, in California as elsewhere farmers understand that sufficient water is absolutely necessary to their output and therefore their entire way of life. Despite their physical isolation, farmers act as a tribe. People living in suburbs need abundant water for their expensive lawns and for more important functions (to me) such as showers and cooking. Suburban people are less cohesive, but they understand one another in that tribal sense and the farmers are not of their tribe. When the drought limited the water supply, the two tribes collided with no effort at understanding each other's views. No cooperative solution is in sight or to be expected. Such is the mentality discussed in the article, and it is not conscious. Even when people attempt to cooperate, they have to make their ways past obstacles deep inside their own minds. The marvel is that sometimes it works anyhow. Society makes progress over centuries and millennia, because eventually we get past our limitations.”

 . . . my response to round two:

            Well, now, that was quite the exchange.

            There have been many attempts to analytically understand human behavior.  We have discussed elements of behavior both publicly and privately.  I am neither a scientist nor expert at anything, least of all human behavior.  Thus, my opinions on such at best should be considered idle, lay, novice perspective – nothing more.

            Many people believe, truly believe, our destiny, our behavior throughout life is written indelibly in our DNA, which in turn means that our lives are defined from that mere instant in time when the genetic material of a sperm cell and an ovum combine and replicate to produce a zygote cell that eventually leads to this old man sitting at a keyboard before a display in his basement study typing these words.  Homosexuality, or rather non-heterosexuality, is perhaps the most popular notion in contemporary discussion – we are wired this way.

            Well, I can neither affirm nor reject such hypotheses.  Thus, I have no counter-argument I can present to your dissertation.  Nonetheless, I do have an opinion for whatever that is worth in this dialogue.

            Some actions in our lives are indeed and emphatically written in our DNA – heartbeat, breathing, hunger, et al – are directly part of our moment of conception.  Most products of conception have normal or functional basic functions; some do not.  Beyond the physiological functions of life, I believe we are born largely, if not predominately or even totally, as a blank slate upon which is written our behavior that will broadly control our actions as adult human beings.  We are taught most of the traits that will govern our lives – the tribal rules, so to speak.  Those traits are very deeply rooted, often beyond our consciousness, and thus are quite difficult to alter.  For all that, some people, a very few, have actually learned to overcome their DNA “wiring” and more learn to overcome their infancy traits.

            My use of the descriptor ‘flawed’ is simply a recognition that I do not conform to any notion of ‘normalcy.’  As Popeye said, “I am what I am and that’s all that I am.”  Normal will be defined by others, not by me.  As you say, we are all unique, thus there can be no ‘normal.’

            Prosecutors are simply human beings who sought and attained powerful positions within the legal system.  They are driven by their learned traits, their tribal mentality, through their interpretation and thus enforcement of the law.  We had a state attorney general a few years back who was so driven by his religious beliefs his focus narrowed to virtually one issue, almost to the neglect of everything else.  Even in a very socially conservative state his nearly mindless pursuit of that one issue did not and could not sustain his holding of that office.  The same is true for police.  As much as I try to respect those flawed human beings who wear a badge and carry a pistol, I occasionally run into one of those mindless zealots, who seems almost incapable of cognitive thought.  But, that is life.

 . . . Round three:

“There have indeed been many attempts to analytically understand human behavior. I have found studying them much more useful than unassisted ‘logic,’ which really is not so logical to others with different histories, assumptions and motivations.

“As far as DNA, the extremes assumptions about that have long been disproved. People are not in fact ‘blank slates’ at birth. Genetics has been clearly shown to influence alcoholism and some other ‘behavioral’ illnesses, and behaviors that are not illnesses as well. Studies of identical twins separated at birth by war or legal intervention have yielded some fascinating findings. Those studies come as close as anything outside the ‘hard’ sciences to scientific method applied to humans. You might want to study those. On the other end of the scale, socioeconomic background, parenting dysfunctions, and the availability or not of good schools have been shown to influence the course of children's lives beyond a reasonable doubt. As all the experts I have read agree, the question is not "nature versus nurture," but where the balance lies.

“In any case, I only brought up DNA to account for the statement that each of us is different from all others. That much is indisputable. Therefore, ‘normal’ or ‘flawed’ cannot truly exist.

“Relatively recent findings on the origin of homosexuality attribute it to neither DNA nor environment. It seems to be brought about, at least in males, by specific pre-natal conditions. Non-heterosexuality is a much deeper discussion and gets completely away from either/or positions.

“What I ‘presented’ is no dissertation. These are merely casual interchanges.

“To come back to those very important ‘tribal’ responses, I'll say it again. I do not see those things as conscious or as any sort of immediate-environment issue. These are traits that served our pre-agricultural ancestors very well. Those who instantly recognized ‘our tribe’ versus ‘not our tribe’ survived longer and had better lives than others; thus they were more likely to have surviving children. Our modern-day problem is that those traits do not change quickly enough to keep up with changes in human society in the past few centuries.

“Prosecutors are indeed human beings who have attained powerful positions. I had no intention of painting them as villains. I do not indulge in the ‘us versus them’ mentality that makes morality seem so easy for so many. My point, in common with many others, is that prosecutors, by the nature of their jobs, have a difficult time accepting or admitting that police officers can do wrong. They rely on law enforcement for all of the evidence they use to do their jobs. Prosecutors would not be human if they were truly objective about the reliability of those officers' statements. In addition, many prosecutors have personal friends in police departments, giving them an additional conflict of interest. We need another way to deal with accusations against the police. Grand juries, in themselves, are not the issue.

“I will admit to surprise that you have encountered zealotry among police officers. As a white middle-class male with a military background, you are among those most similar to the law-enforcement tribe. Think what that zealous response would be like if your appearance, accent, or mannerisms scared every officer who saw you.”

 . . . my response to round three:

            Now, this exchange has evolved into one of our better examples, so thank you for that.  I will further add, I hope others on the distribution list or who visit the Blog site will benefit as well.

            Re: unassisted ‘logic.’  OK, point taken and conceded.  Unfortunately for me, I have limited capacity and I absorb as much as I am able.

            Re: DNA.  I had to read your words several times to conclude that we appear to be in agreement.  I am of the balanced school.  I generally reject arguments that behavior is written in DNA, and thus immutable and unalterable.  Conversely, I do agree that our DNA code likely provides “enablers” that make one person versus another more susceptible to addiction, or violence, or many other behavioral anomalies.  I simply attempted to state my belief that addiction or male homosexuality is not pre-destined by our DNA.  Further, while DNA may best be thought of as a foundation upon which our behavioral traits are built, it does not define those behaviors . . . well, except in some mental health situations, e.g., DNA may, and probably does, make one individual more likely to exhibit schizophrenia or cerebral syndromes like Tourette.  My point is, a foundation is NOT a house, and I am most concerned about the house.  A clinical physician will be quite concerned with the foundation in any treatment scheme . . . or at least should be.  As you said, it is about balance.

            Re: normal.  Again, I believe we agree.  “Normal” is a societally defined construct of expected or allowed behavior.  As I believe you accurately note, our evolution as a species was influenced by those basic tribal responses that enabled survival and procreation.  As communications evolved, other influences came to play, not least of which was religion in all its forms.  Normal is what I often refer to as “The Box,” as constraints of clearly defined behavioral boundaries for a myriad of purposes, not least of which was procreation for us, elimination for them.

            Re: dissertation.  OK, but I think of these exchanges as much more.

            Re: tribal.  I have conceded some tribal behavior is instinctive and most likely written in our DNA, e.g., fight or flight.  Most of what we would call tribal behavior is learned, assimilated from our infantile environment – parents, teachers, neighbors, et al.  To put a point on my opinion, I do not believe distrust of the police by citizens with dark skin pigmentation is instinctive; it is learned.  Are there tribal influences?  Yes, absolutely; but, they are learned nonetheless.

            Re: accusations against police.  A different process for dealing with accusations of police wrong-doing . . . perhaps so; although the concept makes my suspicion fear an anarchist dream come true.  Appointing a special prosecutor for every citizen complaint of mistreatment is unbounded, approaching infinite, and thus unaffordable, as a society, not just financially. 

            Re: police zealotry.  Yes, I do agree.  There are predisposition elements that add to our reaction to that zealotry.  My urge was to confront his behavior before a judge, but ultimately I decided my time was worth more to me than US$90 . . . sad but true.  That ridiculous officer does not alter my respect for law enforcement and first responders in general.  He was one flawed human being enamored with his importance.

Answer from above:

“I am attributing to Alexis de Tocqueville a prediction about voters eventually discovering that they can vote themselves gifts from the treasury, bringing on the end of any democracy.  He has been widely misquoted, so I may have added this to his insights about America.”

 . . . to which I added:

            I could not find anything comparable by Alexis de Tocqueville.  The closest I could get was Lord Woodhouselee [Alexander Fraser Tytler], who was known for the Tytler Cycle – a rather pessimistic view of democracy. 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)