I've been lying back on the couch these days. No blogging. No lots-of-things beyond work and being Papa. I am now taking daily walks after learning that my cholesterol levels read like fiction. Getting life insurance is sobering. You sit at home with an agent and talk about your life's value in mere dollars. Your blood is drawn. Then you're told by someone whose living involves making bets on people's lives that you're a risky prospect. Feh. Forty three.
So, it's fish oil pills, oat bran, beans, niacin and rabbit food. This is my new grind. The daily red wine is a bonus. Walking the New England woods does me well, though it takes a lot of time. Sorry about not finding the time to blog a little more frequently. I've just been walking in the woods, through the headlines of late.
I haven't had much to say. Sometimes the best etiquette in the salon is to politely listen, and reflect while gazing out the window. Lots of the talk in the salon sounds plausible and impossible all at once. "Intriguing idea, that man has. And yet..."
Muddle. That's the word that tumbles in front of me as I take on November, 2006. It's an odd time; the stock market is soaring, but exuberance is muted. It's as though we're donning our summer trunks, tossing the beach ball while manning the grill. The laundry's on the line, and the larder is full in the house. But the summer sky is silvery gray. The air is forty degrees. It's not summer. Not really -- and everyone knows it. But for the moment everything is okay.
I know that bravado has gotten us nowhere. I was a part of that, in some small way. I don't believe I was exactly ecstatic for war in Iraq, but I was for it. It seemed like a gamble worth taking, and I felt it possible that some good could come out of it. That was optimistic of me. Since then I've wanted to be supportive of the cause in any way possible. At this point, I see a muddle, if not in my own head then in the blank stare of our president. I voted for that fellow. I think he's trying his best. But I don't think he or his party can cut the mustard.
"Lead, damn it," I say to myself when I see the president tongue-tied for the umpteenth time. It's not going to happen. And now the other half is leaving the stage -- Tony Blair. Say what you want about him, but the man could articulate what our president could not.
I feel muddled about the upcoming election. I don't feel a passion for most of these people. I'm certainly not knee-jerking into voting Republican. My gut tells me to generally vote Democrat because the Republicans' hold on all three branches of government has become a thick layer of ice at this point. Voting Democrat means voting for the ice pick. That's the new gamble. And no, I don't think Democrats have the key out of this muddle, per se. It's as much their making as anyone else's.
So in essence, I feel to be a part of the problem right now. A part of that 'ole western malaise. I don't want to make regular installments of malaise on this blog, which is about ideas and debate. So for now I will listen until the spark returns.
John Robb of Global Guerillas is coming out with a new book soon, called Brave New War. In the book description it says:
The tragedy of 9/11 represents the pinnacle -- and finale -- of terrorism the old way.
I've been turning that coin over and over again ever since I read it. 9/11 was the end of an era, not the beginning, as we tend to see it. The next 'big attack' will be of the new variety. I think that's part of the muddle. I think somewhere in most people's minds, they know it. But there's little to be done, so let's have a barbecue under a gray sky. Why not?
Mr. Robb makes a compelling case that we're facing a fundamental shift in warfare, and that we must adjust to win. But I really don't know what winning means by his definition. He conveys the sense that we must structurally mirror our 4GW adversaries to such a degree that we won't recognize ourselves in short order.
Mr. Robb writes dispassionately, simply exposing the new rules such as they are. Take it or leave it, but ignore them at your own peril. That's his tone. It's like being told by an anonymous, brilliant physician that you have cancer, and your limbs must be amputated to give you a chance at survival. This physician may be right, but it doesn't occur to him that you might be a craftsman whose purpose for living emanates from your hands. No, those must be sacrificed to achieve clinical success, even if the cost is spiritual ruin.
Thanks, Doc.
Last night my two and a half year old daughter took to trick-or-treating as a red ladybug. She was shaped like a little barrel in her foam outfit, replete with ladybug spots and wings -- and little antennae with fuzzy balls on the end. She flew from house to house with her pumpkin pail, buzzing in character. "Bzzzzz!" People who she didn't know answered their doors, smiling and laughing, giving the little ladybug candy and winks. "Bye-bye!" she hollered, running to the next friendly house lit up with glowing pumpkins.
My daughter the ladybug must think the world is a wondrously safe and friendly place. That's an illusion that any parent wants to perpetuate, perhaps long after it is constructive. I think it is because we all want to believe it. My little ladybug girl buzzed across a kind of cultural stage on Halloween night, one that we all hold dear. The stage holds us all up, whether real or not.
How fragile has this stage become? That's the muddle.
My cholesterol levels were Baseball Hall-of-fame batting average levels. My lifestyle isn't that bad, but my parents also had pretty high numbers.
Lipitor brought them down over 30% without side effects.
Trying niacin, eh?
At doses that begin to be effective at reducing cholesterol, you'll get to experience the magic of the "hot-flash!"
I took that for a while, and would have put up with that side effect if it had worked. Unfortunately, due to genetic predisposition, even a combination of rigorous diet, lots of aerobic exercise, and the niacin only worked to budge my cholesterol level by about 10 points... not nearly enough.
And then I found the statin drugs that are extremely effective.
Best of luck with getting it under control!
DaveK
Most of Iraq has what we gave the Kurds.
Not such a bad outcome so far.
Drugs.
My husband takes zocor and his sister takes pravachol. Both are helped quite a bit by these drugs.
Neither of them were horrible eaters, the sister being borderline vegetarian. Seems to be an inherited tendency.
Before the zocor I was trying to force feed the oat bran muffins and every thing else. It was repulsive after a while how much DH's life was controlled by cholesterol.
DH's enjoyment of life and cholesterol are both MUCH improved.
Good luck! You're too young to be overcome by cholesterol and western malaise.
How can you be a muddler when you have a lovely ladybug!?
Lunacy
"Most of Iraq has what we gave the Kurds.
Not such a bad outcome so far."
Certainly one far short of a disaster.
Unfortunately, most of Iraq has refused what we gave the Kurds. This is thier problem even more than it is ours, and ultimately it is a problem for which thier is no simple solution. The big problem in Iraq has been that we had political goals which could not be achieved by the level of military force we wished to use. Some would argue that after the rest of the country refused peace and freedom, that - our military goals having been achieved, the level of military force required to impose our political goals on an unwilling populace could not be morally justified. I'm inclined to think that way myself.
At this point, having had what was right refused by those we wished to help, we are in much the same situation as a person trying to help a homeless person who doesn't wish to be helped in any way that would actually help him. (An allusion that may only make sense to you if you've tried it.) The best we can do cannot fix the problem, and we must simply do as much which is decent as we can. At least, when we leave, we can start looking at places which we've not been able to address while we were in Iraq. Unfortunately, I think the Iraqi's are going to need 10 years or so to work out for themselves how foolish they were when they made the choices that they have.
Nice piece, Cicero.
As far as cholesterol goes, the first phase is to lose weight and see what can be accomplished without drugs. Then another blood test, and we go from there. In all likelihood, I will wind up on a statins of some kind. I'd rather not if it is possible. Oats aren't all that bad. And I've figured out a way to make Thai curries with simulated coconut milk using a mixture of flour, Rice Dream, Soy milk and a touch of coconut extract.
Article in todays WaPo: "Compound in Red Wine Makes Fat Mice Healthier". The fed obese mice the equivalent of 100's of glasses of wine in the form of the compound "resveratrol", and the obese mice were just as healthy as the non-obese controls: no heart disease, no liver damage...
Me, I'd rather just drink the wine!
Very nice post.
"Muddle", huh?
Yep. And perhaps the grey in the sky is part of that.
Spring. Maybe Spring will bring a change.
Obviously, neither political party will.
The muddle is deeper than maybe many realize - how can one articulate a concise plan when every ornery malcontent is hell-bent on upsetting the Pax Americana? They get money for it.
In proportion to how hard we try to control the situation, the 'insurgents' work to unseat the possibility of improved times, improved living conditions, improved security and safety. Insofar as the average insurgent must see, every last working doodad, power line, trash pick-up, street sign, refrigerator repairman, car dealership ... is a sign from God that the East has Lost. Next it will be pin-up girls, toss the niqab, and women running for office. The whole bazaar is going down the slough.
It is odd to say so - because it points to Cicero's Muddle, but I contend that the thing that makes Western living so appealing is the muddle of ideas and focuses of the average man. Call Joe Republicrat what you will - but he just wants a nice car every 5 years or so, wants vacations, the most up-to-date mundane improvement on the Webber, wants tolerably well adjusted kids, a somewhat competitive wife (and she wants the same from him, let's be fair!), a nice green lawn, and few if any worries about Islamic Brotherhoods, 9/11's, London Bombings, or for that matter, enhanced security screenings at airports, bus-terminals, school-entrances, libraries, government buildings, medical centers, stadiums, ballparks, theatres and movie-houses. Really, he just doesn't quite get it: and that makes him 'rich'.
I suppose (hope, trust, hear, but can't prove) that we're trying to market these simple, muffin-headed "living standards" to our not-far-removed-from-Bedouins Iraqi and Afghani audience. I'm sure the Mufti of Muffistan isn't at all amused: the values of goat-throat slitting, self-flagillation, niqab and bag covering, camel driving, imolation and jihad are ... well, kind of "last millenium", you know Aziz? And that has the Shiekh of Shishkababa unamused. Very much so.
But that's our strength. To be in a muddle under such circumstances. To not have a plan - that both commits us to a course that is sure to garner detractors, and possibly on a course whose outcome cannot be really known. We don't want to invite Armageddon, no not really. We would rather appease the Red Ants, and see if they stay reasonably put. The problem is, so long as we're buzzing about in their primordial nest - they're going to continue the attrition of 'innocents'.
I just can't bring myself to get out the giant can of RAID, and go at them with a maniacal vengence. I guess we'll just have to watch the whole of the Middle East real close.
Muddle.
A position of strength when all other positions lead to conflict and imprecise odds of success.
I've read it, the first book of its kind, and strongly recommended.
I take lipitor as well with no side effects at all. My cholesterol levels have dropped 40% after only two weeks. I've tried niacin but I didn't like those "flashes" DaveK is talking about.