I am downright disgusted by the way the controversy over the proposal to construct an Islamic community center in the vicinity of Ground Zero has evolved into a political donnybrook of inflated proportions. A great investment has been made by those who seek to manipulate a truly ignorant public for ulterior motives, and it is alarming to see the success that this approach is having. The senseless bias against fellow American citizens, whose crime in the views of the minions of Rupert Murdoch includes devotion to the tenets of Islam, is a good argument for adopting anew the Bill of Rights, that until recently conservatives would have rallied to defend.
Such rhetoric is only the latest in a pattern of stoking racial bigotry for political gain. It is very similar to how Shirley Sherrod from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had portions of her address to the NAACP taken out of context and used in a transparent effort to manipulate public sentiment.Then, as now, the target audience included people predisposed to criticize those whose identity includes the possession of a different skin color, religion or whatever else constitutes for them a "normal" American.
The animus fostered in a most calculated fashion by well-heeled propagandists is the kind of strategy articulated by George Orwell’s 1984: the surreal, but all too common version of a “Two-Minute Hate”. This is the kind of sophomoric exercise that belongs in the bleachers of Fenway when the faithful call out “Jeter Sucks!” Everyone knows he does not, but he is wearing the uniform of the arch-rival, and we want to get our money’s worth before security escorts us out the door. It is a mentality that does not wear well on serious matters, at least among those of us who know what is going on.
I fear our nation is being purposely misled, in a word, lied to. What advantage can there be for our nation if our decisions are made by the profiteers of poor counsel and knowing misrepresentation that carelessly dispossesses our fellow citizens of the liberties that we reputedly send our sons and daughters in harm’s way to defend? Political advantage. There is no merit to the claims that anything being proposed by a group of Tribeca Sufis amounts to a threat to our nation. This is just a vehicle to sweep the gullible off their feet and cultivate their worst fears into votes for politicians who likely know the truth, but prefer to profit from the stirring of emotions of an uninformed public.
To break it down for the average American, Islam has various sects, just like Christianity. The Shiites have a hierarchy similar to Catholics. These are the folks who run Iran. Sunnis are like Protestants in that they have a congregational approach to their organization. A very small number of these are in Al Qaida. Sufis are like Unitarian Universalists. No one understands what their doctrine is, because they don’t have one. They are like Amish with autos. They are unlikely to hurt a fly, but if they ever did the experience would lead to several volumes of cryptic poetry capturing the spiritual essence of the dearly departed insect.
So, the Sufis are building a glorified YMCA in the Holy Land near Ground Zero wedged somewhere between a strip joint and an off track betting site. Who are we to say, “There goes the neighborhood”?
Those who would benefit from this woeful piece of dishonest presentation lack the basic qualities to lead our nation. If we don’t figure out the truth of the matter soon, it will be our fault for what happens to us should they gain control of our country.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Kilian is Your Destiny
I am a fortunate son
of the twentieth assembly district.
Born and raised in the heart
of the land of steady habits.
Middletown has better nightlife,
(at least the kind the public is invited to)
but we can work on that.
It is more than nostalgia
that draws me back to my old haunts
along the shores
of the Rockledge Brook Flood Plain.
I saw Jaws amd Star Wars
in the Mall 1-2-3.
My neighbors and I watched
The Sound of Music
and An Officer and a Gentleman
at the Elm, and later the Elm 1-2.
My first communion was at St. Brigid's,
my confirmation was at St. Helena's.
Nothing could prepare me better
to challenge with conviction
the duplicity of a status quo gone awry.
On my Army weekends
I run around the football fields
of my youth,
where today play the children of my old teammates.
Where once I played to my heart's content
today I stare and worry about fractures
to an epiphyseal plate
and pray my kids opt for soccer.
Talcott was my Junior High.
Sedgwick was my middle school.
Would I be half the man I am today
if the closing of one set of doors
did not lead to the opening of the other?
Change is seldom easy,
but it is never avoidable.
I grew up playing
with nerf balls and frisbees
on Burnham and Fowler
when we played till our mothers rang their bells
calling us home for dinner.
Cable came first
and then the remote control.
ADD and obesity came later,
and this ill tide continues to rise today.
Kids wear helmets when they ride their bikes today.
If we wore them when
we played bicycle-polo through my mom's rock garden,
well, I might be a contender today.
I may never enjoy the privilege
of assuming the honorable titles
the law bestows on those
who win on election day.
But I have had my name called enough times on the Conard P.A.
that if I hear it again
I may unplug the microphone for shame.
If no reporters call,
no headlines misspell my name again,
it will suit me just fine.
Running for office is more of a thrill for your girlfriends
than it is for the mother of your wee children.
That is why my wife doesn't even know I am a candidate,
and I would ask everyone to help me keep this secret
for the sake of my marriage.
I worked harder than I knew I could
to become an RN.
My wife stayed home with a house full of kids
while I studied and practiced nursing.
She did not complain when I was away,
because she understood
if I did not become a person
whose life helps others
that half of me would not be there
even if I was home on time.
You got to be
who you got to be.
When you come from a place called Conard
and suit up in a soldier's uniform,
you have big shoes to fill,
but none are bigger than the ones you own and wear,
because you are the only one who can fill them.
Even if no one else knows what you did on any given day,
we all have to look in the mirror to our souls and ask,
how did I fill my shoes today?
Did I live up to the promise each day presents us?
My hair is not getting any thicker.
Maybe this nomination is just a half dead pony on the same track as thoroughbreds,
but this is the horse that has been offered to me today,
and I have no intention to decline a chance to ride again.
I am back in Elmwood.
And I am back in the saddle again.
John Kilian
endorsed candidate for the 20th Assembly District
Connecticut For Lieberman Party.
of the twentieth assembly district.
Born and raised in the heart
of the land of steady habits.
Middletown has better nightlife,
(at least the kind the public is invited to)
but we can work on that.
It is more than nostalgia
that draws me back to my old haunts
along the shores
of the Rockledge Brook Flood Plain.
I saw Jaws amd Star Wars
in the Mall 1-2-3.
My neighbors and I watched
The Sound of Music
and An Officer and a Gentleman
at the Elm, and later the Elm 1-2.
My first communion was at St. Brigid's,
my confirmation was at St. Helena's.
Nothing could prepare me better
to challenge with conviction
the duplicity of a status quo gone awry.
On my Army weekends
I run around the football fields
of my youth,
where today play the children of my old teammates.
Where once I played to my heart's content
today I stare and worry about fractures
to an epiphyseal plate
and pray my kids opt for soccer.
Talcott was my Junior High.
Sedgwick was my middle school.
Would I be half the man I am today
if the closing of one set of doors
did not lead to the opening of the other?
Change is seldom easy,
but it is never avoidable.
I grew up playing
with nerf balls and frisbees
on Burnham and Fowler
when we played till our mothers rang their bells
calling us home for dinner.
Cable came first
and then the remote control.
ADD and obesity came later,
and this ill tide continues to rise today.
Kids wear helmets when they ride their bikes today.
If we wore them when
we played bicycle-polo through my mom's rock garden,
well, I might be a contender today.
I may never enjoy the privilege
of assuming the honorable titles
the law bestows on those
who win on election day.
But I have had my name called enough times on the Conard P.A.
that if I hear it again
I may unplug the microphone for shame.
If no reporters call,
no headlines misspell my name again,
it will suit me just fine.
Running for office is more of a thrill for your girlfriends
than it is for the mother of your wee children.
That is why my wife doesn't even know I am a candidate,
and I would ask everyone to help me keep this secret
for the sake of my marriage.
I worked harder than I knew I could
to become an RN.
My wife stayed home with a house full of kids
while I studied and practiced nursing.
She did not complain when I was away,
because she understood
if I did not become a person
whose life helps others
that half of me would not be there
even if I was home on time.
You got to be
who you got to be.
When you come from a place called Conard
and suit up in a soldier's uniform,
you have big shoes to fill,
but none are bigger than the ones you own and wear,
because you are the only one who can fill them.
Even if no one else knows what you did on any given day,
we all have to look in the mirror to our souls and ask,
how did I fill my shoes today?
Did I live up to the promise each day presents us?
My hair is not getting any thicker.
Maybe this nomination is just a half dead pony on the same track as thoroughbreds,
but this is the horse that has been offered to me today,
and I have no intention to decline a chance to ride again.
I am back in Elmwood.
And I am back in the saddle again.
John Kilian
endorsed candidate for the 20th Assembly District
Connecticut For Lieberman Party.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Connecticut Agenda 2010
Here is what I want to see happen in Connecticut:
1) Health care Reform - allowing small companies and non-profits to join the state insurance pool.
2) Medical Liability Reform - capping pain and suffering awards that are driving up malpractice premiums to the point that health care providers are leaving high risk practices, such as obstetrics.
3) End of Life Reform - allowing physician assisted suicide where it is the patient's wish.
4) Medical Marijuana Reform - Do what they did in California, and let doctors prescribe marijuana to people who will benefit from using it.
5) Estate Tax Reform - The State of Connecticut is facing a financial crisis. This is no time to give tax breaks to rich, dead people.
6) Reducing our dependence on petroleum.
Please take a poll on the above at Agenda for Connecticut 2010
1) Health care Reform - allowing small companies and non-profits to join the state insurance pool.
2) Medical Liability Reform - capping pain and suffering awards that are driving up malpractice premiums to the point that health care providers are leaving high risk practices, such as obstetrics.
3) End of Life Reform - allowing physician assisted suicide where it is the patient's wish.
4) Medical Marijuana Reform - Do what they did in California, and let doctors prescribe marijuana to people who will benefit from using it.
5) Estate Tax Reform - The State of Connecticut is facing a financial crisis. This is no time to give tax breaks to rich, dead people.
6) Reducing our dependence on petroleum.
Please take a poll on the above at Agenda for Connecticut 2010
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Regarding Obama's speech in Eisenhower Hall
It was interesting to see the expressions on the faces of the cadets listening to their commander-in-chief explaining our plans for Afghanistan. The quote of Eisenhower echoed in Eisenhower Hall: "Each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs."
I wonder how hard cadets at West Point weigh broader considerations. Eisenhower maintained a low profile in Vietnam because he felt that was the practical scale of engagement in a war of attrition he realized was bound to last a great while. Perhaps that is the direction we are headed in Afghanistan. Limited engagement. Persistent, but at levels that are sustainable. But nothing black and white, and no commitments etched in stone.
There was an almost stony intellectualism in the President's speech. A very different commander-in-chief than we have seen is a while. The whole presentation boils down to this: We did not choose this war, so now we must fight to get into a position where we do choose the battles we will fight.
And John McCain vouched for much of the President's approach, with the exception of setting a target time for a draw down. A loyal opposition with a caveat. Senator McCain is very valuable ally to the President on Afghanistan, albeit an incomplete endorsement. An honorable extension of good faith at a time when our republic is replete with partisan bickering at each and every turn. Would Senator Obama have extended the same gesture if President McCain was speaking this evening? Tonight I feel grateful to have Senator McCain supporting with passion the cerebral approach of a President that is deliberate to a degree that might be seen as lacking temerity to those unfamiliar with the complexity of Afghanistan. McCain is very much a soldier who simply seeks to put the mission first without considering all the other factors that a President must to keep our country the preeminent leader of both force and freedom.
I wonder how hard cadets at West Point weigh broader considerations. Eisenhower maintained a low profile in Vietnam because he felt that was the practical scale of engagement in a war of attrition he realized was bound to last a great while. Perhaps that is the direction we are headed in Afghanistan. Limited engagement. Persistent, but at levels that are sustainable. But nothing black and white, and no commitments etched in stone.
There was an almost stony intellectualism in the President's speech. A very different commander-in-chief than we have seen is a while. The whole presentation boils down to this: We did not choose this war, so now we must fight to get into a position where we do choose the battles we will fight.
And John McCain vouched for much of the President's approach, with the exception of setting a target time for a draw down. A loyal opposition with a caveat. Senator McCain is very valuable ally to the President on Afghanistan, albeit an incomplete endorsement. An honorable extension of good faith at a time when our republic is replete with partisan bickering at each and every turn. Would Senator Obama have extended the same gesture if President McCain was speaking this evening? Tonight I feel grateful to have Senator McCain supporting with passion the cerebral approach of a President that is deliberate to a degree that might be seen as lacking temerity to those unfamiliar with the complexity of Afghanistan. McCain is very much a soldier who simply seeks to put the mission first without considering all the other factors that a President must to keep our country the preeminent leader of both force and freedom.
Friday, November 20, 2009
A mariner never drowns
A mariner never drowns
but only returns to the surf
from which he sprang.
The waves are calling me today
on a late October day
when the winds whip the sound
into a gauntlet of breakers
battering the indifferent shore.
Waters like this will take you down
and return you so bloated
only your sweater will prove
whose corpse has washed ashore.
The sea birds have gone inland
but I remain to listen
as the wind and waves
speak my name
and welcome me
like a yearning lover
who misses my touch
and lives to breath beside me.
How can I refuse her?
I wade up to my ankles and feel sand rush
from beneath my soles.
The undertow will take me
If I wade in above my knees.
but only returns to the surf
from which he sprang.
The waves are calling me today
on a late October day
when the winds whip the sound
into a gauntlet of breakers
battering the indifferent shore.
Waters like this will take you down
and return you so bloated
only your sweater will prove
whose corpse has washed ashore.
The sea birds have gone inland
but I remain to listen
as the wind and waves
speak my name
and welcome me
like a yearning lover
who misses my touch
and lives to breath beside me.
How can I refuse her?
I wade up to my ankles and feel sand rush
from beneath my soles.
The undertow will take me
If I wade in above my knees.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Undecided
Without consensus
without confidence
a conflict continues to burn low but steady
while a hesitant will continues to tarry.
Will fate be left to chance?
What deserves swift action
when so much can and will go wrong?
I am no merchant of chance.
Should I roll the dice with my life bet on it?
Perhaps it is safer to sit pat, and not tempt fate.
Cowardice has its place in a dangerous world.
Who but a fool wanders into the breach
for no reason at all.
At the same time,
the ground beneath me is not terra firma.
Every storm washes away more ground
exposing roots that no longer hold back eroding soil.
The atmosphere is ripe with turbulence
undermining the shore at ever chance.
This is no place to build a home.
The waves threaten to swamp
the foundation dug too low for this terrain.
Time to move to higher ground?
I will have to consider it.
without confidence
a conflict continues to burn low but steady
while a hesitant will continues to tarry.
Will fate be left to chance?
What deserves swift action
when so much can and will go wrong?
I am no merchant of chance.
Should I roll the dice with my life bet on it?
Perhaps it is safer to sit pat, and not tempt fate.
Cowardice has its place in a dangerous world.
Who but a fool wanders into the breach
for no reason at all.
At the same time,
the ground beneath me is not terra firma.
Every storm washes away more ground
exposing roots that no longer hold back eroding soil.
The atmosphere is ripe with turbulence
undermining the shore at ever chance.
This is no place to build a home.
The waves threaten to swamp
the foundation dug too low for this terrain.
Time to move to higher ground?
I will have to consider it.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wishing for peace
When the leaves fall
The scent of decay
somehow smells sweet.
Yesterday's leaves are today's litter.
Cast away is most of a year's new growth.
Thousands of leaves come and go
to let the tree grow a single ring.
A tree does not recall leaves that fall
after pre-winter breezes tear them away.
But I am not so stoic as a tree.
I recall everything that was a part of me
long after it is torn asunder.
Even those that last but a short season
live within me forever,
making me human.
Even if they torture me with their passing,
these memories make me whole.
If I remember less each day
Somewhere inside a ring is disappearing.
This year was a good growing season.
A thick ring added around my core.
I will not soon forget
those that made it grow
even though they have now long left.
The scent of decay
somehow smells sweet.
Yesterday's leaves are today's litter.
Cast away is most of a year's new growth.
Thousands of leaves come and go
to let the tree grow a single ring.
A tree does not recall leaves that fall
after pre-winter breezes tear them away.
But I am not so stoic as a tree.
I recall everything that was a part of me
long after it is torn asunder.
Even those that last but a short season
live within me forever,
making me human.
Even if they torture me with their passing,
these memories make me whole.
If I remember less each day
Somewhere inside a ring is disappearing.
This year was a good growing season.
A thick ring added around my core.
I will not soon forget
those that made it grow
even though they have now long left.
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