Filed as General with 1 reply
2/5/2009
This is a quote from a Republican friend of mine and I responded with, “They aren’t words… It’s just vocabulary. What do you think a stimulus package is?”
The Republican response was, “Tax cuts.”
Of course it was tax cuts. With these guys it is always tax cuts or deregulation. They still fervently claim that deregulation of the free markets wasn’t the problem which would be hilarious if it wasn’t so painful at the moment.
Deregulate the power industry and you get Enron.
Deregulate the banks and you get a credit liquidity crisis we haven’t seen since the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
It might have something to do with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act of 1933. Glass-Steagall was the post-crash law that kept banks from speculating in the markets. It was repealed in 1999 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act sponsored by Phil Gramm, Jim Leach, and Thomas Bliley. (All three are deregulating Republicans and Phil Gramm was McCain’s economic adviser in the recent campaign.) If we move forward in time 9 years to 2008, we see that America’s largest bank, Citigroup, started trading in mortgage-backed securities and we play the game to its obvious conclusion.
The simplistic version of the tax cut argument is “trickle down economics” ala Reagan-onomics. The idea is that when businesses succeed, they spread the wealth. There is some truth to that, but it isn’t the whole truth and it’s like asking a four year old where potatoes come from. Ask for a simple answer to a complicated question and you won’t get much useful nuance. (Like seeds, fertilizer, ideal temperature, or crop yields for example.)
We don’t want business to fail, but we also want to regulate their behavior to prevent fraud (Enron, WorldCom) and dangerous behavior (child labor, toxic waste, banks speculating in high-risk markets).
Tax cuts don’t do anything for people that are too poor to pay income taxes and the unemployed won’t get a bounce either. It boggles the mind to think that Republicans want to hand some unemployed construction worker a tax cut. You know what a 25% income tax cut does for an unemployed construction worker? Let’s do the math:
Income = $0
Tax Owed on $0 = $0
Tax cut on Tax owed = $0 x 0.25 = $0
Jobs Created = 0
Tax cuts tend to help the rich more which I am sure is a big shocker. In addition, the GOP wants to take money away from the one organization big enough to dump additional money into the market. It’s like a drowning guy choking the lifeguard.
There seems to be a complete disconnection in the Republican mind between government spending and jobs. I guess they imagine that roads and bridges just build themselves or maybe government workers are lazy or something. The problem is that it doesn’t hold up to any sort of scrutiny because government spending covers:
- Cops
- Firefighters
- The U.S. Armed Forces
- U.S. Courts (Judges, District Attorney, public defenders, etc)
- Roads
- The Center for Disease Control
- Medicare
- NASA
- Public Schools
- The National Institute of Health
- DARPA
- Prisons
- FEMA
- The U. S. Postal Service
- The CIA
- The FBI
- The Department of Motor Vehicles
- Immigration and the Border Patrol
These are obvious examples and there are plenty more that aren’t as obvious. For those keeping score all of these provide jobs and a benefit to our society.
Not all debt is bad. I don’t like debt any more than the next guy, but I used debt to buy a car. I use that car to get to work and it improves my life and my ability to provide income to my family.
Likewise, government debt spending can provide us with a significant benefit if it is well spent. That should include infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, green power), job creation, and yes… even targetted tax cuts. If you cut out all the spending, you’re choking the lifeguard and you drown.
Filed as General with 2 replies
1/21/2009
From the Lincoln Memorial Dr. King looks 50 years into the future
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
~Dr. Martin Luther King (August 28, 1963)
Yesterday it struck me that less than 50 years separate Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s Dream Speech and the inauguration of Barack Obama. Imagine that these two men face each other across the National Mall with King speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and Obama speaking from the opposite side separated only by about 50 years.
That is what makes the United States of America great. It isn’t that we are perfect or that racism doesn’t exist anymore. We screw things up all the time and the last 8 years is a good example of that, but we have the capacity to change our mistakes. The certain knowledge of our faults and the need for constant change is written into the fabric of our government and by recognizing our many imperfections, we are a stronger nation.
We’ve had a seemingly non-stop progression of old white guys running our country. Some of them have been great and some of them have been terrible, but the truth is that when given a chance to vote for a candidate that was outside of the majority’s ethnicity, most of the people judged the candidate not by the color of his skin, but by by the content of his character.
Democrat. Republican. It doesn’t really matter. It is something to be happy about and I think we can thank Dr. King and all the other great Americans for yesterday and tomorrow.
- The Oath
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
~Dr. Martin Luther King (August 28, 1963)
~P
Filed as Classical Fencing, Fencing, General with 6 replies
12/16/2008
The final exam given by the Fencing Master’s Program at San Jose State University on December 13, 2008 and it ended a 30 year tradition of fencing education. I was part of that program and took my Master’s examination that day. I had flown in from Spain 6 weeks earlier and trained almost non-stop to prepare. It was the culmination of over 16 years of fencing and 4 and half years of pedagogy training under Maestro Sullins, Maestro Sahm, and Maestra Sahm.
(All photos shown here are courtesy of Steven Flaugher.)
THE ORALS
The Oral Examination - (left to right) Maestro Ralph Sahm, Maestro John Sullins, Maestro Sean Hayes, Maestro Paul Scherman, Maestra Janine Sahm, Provost Puck Curtis, Candidate Sydney Thomson, Candidate David Coblentz, Candidate David Cogley, Instructor David Borland, Provost Eric Myers.
Any thought that your own maestri might show favortism in the orals is quickly dismissed as the ones who spend the most time with you grill you mercilessly. These are the maestri that are most invested in your success and the ones who will be most unforgiving of your flaws. The orals covered all three weapons (foil, sabre, epee) in detail.
THE GROUP LESSON
The Group Lesson - Instructing are Provost Eric Myers, Instructor Jeremy Tavan, and Instructor David Borland. Taking are Provost Daniel Williams, Provost Gary Murray, and Instructor Tony Barajas. (In the background is Instructor William Byrne.)
The Group Lesson is intended to judge your ability to control a larger lesson. You divide your eyes between 3 students and are expected to provide feedback to both the students and the instructors. In the action above the attack is directed to the crook of the arm which is a legal target in epee.
TEACHING LESSONS
Puck teaching Epee for the Board
Here I am teaching before the board to my good friend Eric Myers. For the record, I’m inviting in third which is why my point is high and to my right. The Italian tradition uses the left hand as a visual queue for the lunge. Eric and I informally call it the “traffic cop hand”. The palm says “wait”. When I turn my hand and beckon forward, I’ll bark out the command “Via!” at the same time to draw the lunge from the student. When I want the hit to land, I’ll bark “Hup!”
The Amazing Lunge of Provost Eric Myers. (In the background is Instructor Jeremy Tavan, Instructor Kevin Murakoshi, Provost Daniel Williams, and Provost Gary Murray.)
Here I have called out Eric’s lunge to the crook of my arm. When I want him to recover, I will rotate my hand and make a pushing motion. For anyone interested, “Via!” means “Go!” In Italian.
The Handshake of Friends after a Great Journey
We’ve been training together for almost 5 years to reach this moment. Not all of those times were fun and easy, but the friendship sustained us through the tough times. The looks on our faces says it all. Eric is a gentleman, a scholar, and, of course, a swordsman.
TAKING LESSONS
Eric calls out Puck's Lunge in the Sabre Lesson
In addition to teaching, I also had to demonstrate my form taking lessons. Here I am taking a lesson from Provost Myers. For those keeping score, there are 6 elements to the exam: The written, the orals, the group lesson, give lessons, take lessons, and the dreaded random actions. Random actions are actions chosen by the maestri at random that the candidate is required to teach the student. A master’s candidate is expected to be able to do all of these with all 3 weapons and our exam was a bit over 9 hours. In the later photos you can see that the sun has set.
RANDOM ACTIONS
The Powerful Expulsion of Provost Murray
Provost Gary Murray passed his Master’s exam many years ago under Maestro William Gaugler but he has withheld his thesis all this time. Instead, he has dutifully served as the program’s senior Provost for years. His form is almost perfect and his ability to teach is matched only by his personal grace and patience with the people under his care. For each exam, he volunteered to act as the student during the difficult random actions and when he found out the program was closing it’s doors at San Jose and moving to another university, he assured us that he would wait to turn in his thesis until the exam was complete.
For the fencing nerds out there, this action was:
In time, from the student’s invitation in third, grazing beat in 4th with a ballestra and direct cut to the flank. The instructor will parry in second and riposte by glide to the flank. The student will execute a ceding parry of fourth with an expulsion in fourth and riposte by direct cut to the outside cheek.
Maestro Sullins asked me to defeat my student’s expulsion with a disengagement in time, which was a trick question. Fortunately, I told him this was impossible but was able to perform a disengagement in time on the student’s earlier beat. As I said earlier, one’s own maestri will test you the hardest.
THE CODA
After my random actions, Eric was the final candidate left to finish.
Final Action of the Day - The Coda
Eric’s action was a dizzying series that started with a blade seizure in 3rd and deceive to the crook of the arm followed by a series of additional hits changing distance and targets, followed by a reassemblement to the crook of the arm, a simple parry of second, double circular parry of second, simple third, double circular parry of third, change of engagement to fourth with a riposte by flanconade in fourth which he parried with a ceding parry of fourth to trigger a second intention indirect (in fourth) to the crook of the arm. You see the final attack landing above.
It looks like any other lunge but it’s not. It’s the final action of the day, but it is also the last action in the last exam of the program. In music, the final phrase is called the “Coda” and this was the coda to Maestro Gaugler’s program at San Jose State University. The Maestri applauded and the candidates sighed and Eric and Gary saluted. That was the end of it and this final fencing action was the bittersweet coda.
As the program looks for a new home, I’ll keep the blog updated.
THE GRADUATES AND THE BOARD
Because of the terrible manner in which the program was canceled by the university, the requirement for a thesis was waived. In addition candidates who passed their exam under maestro Gaugler but never turned in a thesis were awarded their certificates which were held in trust pending the completion of a thesis. Earlier in the blog, I referred to candidates by their current title. In the picture below, I have added the new titles.
Winter 2008 Diploma Recipients - (left to right) Maestro Greg Hicks, Maestro Gary Murray, Maestro Puck Curtis, Instructor Ricardo Vargas, Instructor David Coblentz, Instructor Sydney Thomson, Maestro Eric Myers, Provost Tony Barajas, Provost Kevin Murakoshi, Provost Jeremy Tavan, Maestro Daniel Williams, Provost William Byrne, Provost David Borland, Instructor David Cogley
The Candidates and the Board - (left to right) Maestro Puck Curtis, Maestro Greg Hicks, Maestro Gary Murray, Instructor David Coblentz, Instructor Ricardo Vargas, Maestro Sean Hayes, Instructor Sydney Thomson, Maestro John Sullins, Maestro Eric Myers, Maestro Ralph Sahm, Provost William Byrne, Provost Kevin Murakoshi, Maestra Janine Sahm, Provost Jeremy Tavan, Maestro Paul Scherman, Maestro Daniel Williams, Provost David Borland, Instructor David Cogley, Provost Tony Barajas.
Much thanks to all my fencing masters and of course to maestro Gaugler who founded the program.
~P.
Filed as Classical Fencing, Fencing, General with 2 replies
12/15/2008
Saturday evening, I completed the requirements for the classical Italian fencing masters degree. In consideration of the circumstances of the closing of the program at SJSU, the maestri waived the requirement for the thesis and conferred the certification of Master at Arms that night. (This is a bit ironic since I already have 50+ pages written for the thesis, but I was encouraged to complete the work on my own initiative and I’ll follow through with that.)
It’s been a lot of work and I want to thank all of you for helping me learn to fence and teach. While it might seem that this is an ending, it is in fact the beginning of my real work and I’m very aware that I am the junior maestro in a family of talented and experienced fencing masters.
Thanks again for all your support and assistance,
P.
Filed as Classical Fencing, Fencing, General with 1 reply
On Saturday, December 6, 2008 I took and passed the Fencing Master’s written exam and passed with an ‘A’. That is pretty good, but to keep it in perspective, it only qualifies me to take the practical examination.
I am spending as much of this week training as I can and when I take the practical exam, that will leave me with a thesis. When I complete the thesis and the practical, I can put on the black jacket.
Here are some pictures from my training session on Sunday with Maestro John Sullins.
Engaging in Third
Maestro's Candidate Eric Myers (Yes, he really is that tall.)
From the student's engagement of 1st, change beat of 2nd and straight thrust to the outside low line. Instructor parries in 2nd and ripostes to the outside high line. Student executes a passata sotto from the lunge.
Puck's classical Italian inquartata
Puck Curtis, Maestro John Sullins, Eric Myers
