What Good is a Professional Civil Service?

Why arbitrary firing of civil servants is ill-advised:

I suspect many of the businessmen who think government should be run like a business lack a basic understanding of what government is; why we even have a civil service; how proud the tradition of professional civil servants is.

Professional civil servants - teachers, policemen, firemen, bureaucrats, scientists, regulators of communications, nuclear energy, air and water quality, on the job safety, roads and bridges, the environment... .

We love to disparage the lazy, obstructive government workers. But do any of us really want to see the FBI, CIA, military, our local fire departments, police departments, sanitation workers disappear? I don't think so.

I doubt anyone would like to return to the spoils system of political cronyism that existed before a professional civil service was established to PROTECT the public good against capricious dismissal of trained professionals and their replacement with political stooges.

No system designed by human beings is perfect. A system based on entrance examination scores and merit generally is much preferred to one based upon the venality of self-interested political hacks.

IMO Philip E. Redmond (1840-1863)

Was he a good man or a bad man? A hero or a coward? I do not know. I only know he existed because he cropped up in several places while I was researching my great, great-grandmother, Bridget Hill Redmond. Bridget had five children listed in the Massachusetts State Census for 1855. Philip was the oldest. He was listed as 16 with the occupation of mariner.

By the 1860 census, his mother was listed as a widow with the occupation of washerwoman and 20-year old Philip was now a Currier in the leather industry, a position his father Edward had held before his death. The next mention of Philip to come up in my research was of his death in September, 1863. He died of Typhoid Fever in Washington, DC. The death notice stated he was married, but did not give the name of his spouse. I do not know if he had any children.

Further digging revealed that Philip entered the Union Army into the 9th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry as a 2nd Lieutenant and left as a 1st Lieutenant. I do not have dates.

The above was the first concrete evidence I ever saw that a member of my family fought in the Civil War. I believe the manner of death indicates he also died a casualty of that war. In the event that other family descendants are as unaware of Philip as I was, I have chosen to memorialize him this Memorial Day.

Rest in Peace Philip Redmond. Your great, great niece.

Notes:
1. His siblings were Mary E. and Catharine (twins born 1842); John (1847); Joanna (my great-grandmother, 1850-1892).
2. His mother Bridget evidently remarried. Her last name on his death notice is given as Culliton.
3. Both his parents were born in Ireland. All their children were born in the United States.

Hot Time on Old Mother Earth Tonight

Our planet is warming to uncomfortable levels. It is probably caused, at least in substantial part, by human activity. It threatens the planet's lifeforms, including our own.

Is the trend reversible? Unknown. Can it be slowed? Possibly. Is there any way to insure the survival of our species? Unknown.

Ignoring or denying the problem will not make the problem go away. Another century or two before facing this crisis would have been useful. We do not have them.

The choice is stark. The options are straightforward. Pour every ounce of creativity, knowledge, technology, intelligence into trying to solve this challenge in the desperate hope we can reverse this trend or at least slow it until we have the means to survive it. Or let it run its merciless, unstoppable course.

The laws of physics do not ask for permission. The laws of science are. Whether or not we believe in them is not relevant.

Perhaps the evolutionary assignment of humankind always was to prepare and transport our beautiful planet to the next geological age.

Right Hand / Left Hand

I'd rather be a libtard or a snowflake than a teeny weinie afraid of my own shadow.

A cabinet jammed with a con man's bagmen is a dismal prospect.

White Lives Black Lives

Recent events have thrown American society into turmoil. Two more murders of black men by white policemen. Five more murdered cops and seven wounded police by one angry, heavily armed black man. Nationwide protests against the violence against blacks evolve into protests against the attacks on the police.

The backdrop behind all of it a riotously angry populace armed to the teeth and looking for scapegoats.

Fact: until Black Lives Matter it is impossible for All Lives to Matter.

Fact: even the most empathetic, well-intentioned "Caucasians" cannot possibly live the reality of Black life in America.

Fact: human beings of good will have been striving to "fix" racism in America since this nation's founding.

Fact: the battle is long, hard and bloody but if we are to survive as the nation we love, we must never cease the striving.

I refuse to wallow in guilt for my white skin. It makes me better than no one but neither does it, of itself, make me less. This is the role to which I was born and the one with which I must face the world and live my life.

I will save my guilt for my lapses in humanity, kindness and understanding of others - be they the same as I or different.

I will save my guilt for my lack of commitment to a free, equal society.

And I will strive to reject hatred and embrace love if I can, but at the minimum embrace understanding.

I will not pray to a god in whom I do not believe (though the temptation is strong). I will work in the best way in which I am capable for unity, not division; for friendship not hate; for understanding, not fear.

July 9, 2016

All Hail Donald Trump

The term fascist has been indiscriminately tossed around the American political theatre for decades. Democrats scream the term as Republicans. Republicans scream it right back at Democrats. Overuse of the term has done nothing to elevate public discourse and much to corrupt it. I confess to throwing the term around a time or two myself during the early years of this century.

Like the shepherd boy who cried wolf once too often, I fear we have finally summoned up the monster. Each passing media cycle, Donald Trump provides more evidence he is the real deal. The more the crowds cheer him, the further into the swamp he leads them.

I doubt the Donald sees himself as anything more than a gifted leader and promoter. No matter. The stage is set and he leaps into its center.

If They are not Extremists, WTF are They?

Conservative pundits are taking umbrage at labeling as extremists persons who attack and murder at Planned Parenthood facilities. You know - the folks who for decades now have been bombing clinics, shooting doctors who perform the legal procedure of abortion and harassing  persons attempting to enter the facilities for medical services.

These are the same Radical Conservatives that scream Muslims are bringing Sharia Law to America. The sames American stalwarts who would close our borders to the Middle Eastern and North African refugees fleeing war, famine and drought. The very same patriots that are once again pounding the drums for war to which they will happily send your sons and daughters. You know. The warm hearted souls who love our veterans as long as they are serving and dying overseas, but who refuse to budget services for them when they return crippled in body and soul. Yeah, those sweethearts.

I usually don't call them extremists. I prefer the terms homegrown American terrorists, Radical Christians, Radical Conservatives. I find it difficult to discern differences between them and the Radical Jihadists and Radical Islam they abhor.