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A Walk in The Park

by Daniel Mallock

Last year I had a most abysmal job. The only joy in it was the location, nearby to Centennial Park in Nashville, Tn.

Nashville was surrendered without a shot to the Union after Forts Henry and Donelson fell to US Grant in early 1862. The Federals immediately began to dig in and fortify, and Nashville became the 2nd most fortified city on the continent second only to Washington, DC. An important supply depot for the Union in the west, Nashville was considered critical - and would be held. Only John Bell Hood in 1864 would come close to threatening the Union’s hold on the city.

Ringed by forts and blockhouses, Nashville was a formidable place. Fort Negley, recently refurbished and re-opened to the public, is a fantastic example of the star fort style of the War. It’s an amazing place to visit. Bristling with guns Nashville was quite the prize and not easily taken, in fact it never fell.

The Federals built fortifications and gun emplacements all around the city. One of these locations was the Centennial Park area where a very impressive replica of the Parthenon now sits.

My abysmal job was located near by to Centennial Park and I took a stroll in the park during my first week. There was a Union mortar emplacement in this particular section of the park and I went to look at the muzzle - you know to see if they were legit, etc. Well, sure enough, they were the real deal.

This emplacement had two mortars side by side both screwed down tight to concrete platforms. Very imposing and impressive one could imagine the shells being thrown for miles from these guns. I was most impressed - then I was horrified as I saw to my shock that one of the mortars had a round half in and half out of the mouth of the gun! I saw no indication whatever that the shell (round shot) had been disarmed. I thought, gosh, some drunken fool with a hammer or bottle banging on that thing… boom!

(Look at the pedestal behind this behemoth… it’s empty! Now you know why! Photo courtesy of Mr. Chip Curley. I am not an artillery expert and do not know exactly what kind of mortar this is. I invite any of my kind and ever patient readers to comment and let me know as much as they do about this critter.)

So, being the good Civil War student and humanitarian I looked on the Internet for the email address of the director of Public Works for the City of Nashville. I figured that the Department of Public Works would be responsible for such things, you know, like Civil War artillery pieces with live rounds in them in public places and such. I found his contact information readily and, consulting a map out of curiosity, also determined that sure enough this fine fellow’s office was located about 200 yards from the mouth of the gun and directly in its line of fire.

I crafted a nice little email and sent it along politely informing the Director of Public Works for the City of Nashville, TN that his office could be fired on at any moment from a Yankee cannon located nearby that was still loaded.

He replied that he would investigate the matter, right away.

Well, sure enough, three days didn’t go by before that mortar and its solid shot disappeared from the park!

The following week the local newspaper “The Tennessean” printed a single paragraph item buried deep in its pages that one of the mortars from Centennial Park had been removed. The paper stated that they didn’t know why the gun had been moved, or when and/or if it would be replaced. I didn’t get any credit at all but the comfort of knowing that the danger of the Yankee gun had been resolved! Several months back I did a little recon and the gun was still absent.

So you see, the moral of the story is this… just a little of bit of Civil War knowledge can be a life saver!

The Workings of a Kind Providence in Life
by Daniel Mallock

Today I was laid off.

This is not particularly extraordinary. I am a Systems Analyst and IT fellow-I’ve been through this before. The most astounding thing happened 10 minutes after I left my company and ventured forth into the unknown.

I’d like to share it with you.

It was a lovely day in Franklin, Tennessee today. Puffy, scattered clouds all about the sky and a favorable breeze blowing at 64 degrees. Perfect weather for early March in the Mid-South.

I stopped at a local gas station several miles from my now former company to throw a few dollars in the tank. As I walked into the station, I saw an older fellow sitting on a beautiful new motorcycle. This brought to mind my frustration that I was driving my car rather than my own motorcycle.

I got to chatting with this fellow and found out he was from near my home town in New England. We talked of bikes, Franklin, etc. I told him about my own bike and my little misadventure in Maine some years ago on a Yamaha. Recently retired, and a long time resident of Franklin I asked him if he was interested in local history.

“Are you interested in the Battle of Franklin?” I asked him.

“No, I was never interested in the Civil War, but I can see that you are,” he said pointing to my Battle of Franklin/Carter House bumper sticker.

“Yes,” I said. “I’ve been a student of this battle for many years - since I was a child, actually.”

And then something amazing happened.

He said, “I have some maps that a friend gave me many years ago of the Battle of Franklin. I would like you to have them. Follow me on my bike and I will give them to you.”

We traveled to his house nearby he leading the way on his motorcycle, me following in my 4-wheel ride.

The maps he gave me are unpublished. They are produced by a local historian in impeccable detail showing most particularly the locations of Confederate artillery batteries during the battle. These maps are the finest and most detailed maps of the Battle of Franklin I have ever seen. They are a treasure, a miracle to me. They open a new world of study for me in my pursuit of knowledge on this very savage and brutal battle of November, 1864. In addition, they confirm my researches regarding the bitter fighting over captured Union artillery pieces at the Carter House and Cotton Gin early in the battle.

Needless to say I was humbled and astounded at this turn of events. My new friend said then, “I see you like the maps. Let’s go over to the house of the fellow who drew them.”

Again, I followed him through the back streets of Franklin. We arrived at the historian’s house completely unannounced. My friend hadn’t seen him in over 5 years, though they live only 2 miles from one another. The two were old friends separated by loss, illness and the passing of time as it moves so swiftly forward.

I was introduced very kindly, and thanked the historian for his hospitality. I complimented him on his maps and told him how very happy I was to have them. I told him that these are the finest maps of the battle I have ever seen, and told him I would send him my writings on the subject. The historian is old and in ill health but met me, a complete stranger, as a new and welcome friend.

What a pleasure to meet two people so thoughtful and friendly and kind. Who can know how or why these things occur? The fact that they do occur makes life so very special and continues to reinforce my belief that a kind Providence sometimes takes a moment to guide me on a path that can bring me to more knowledge of history, of myself, and of the kindness and deep caring of others - otherwise strangers now friends.

One might suggest that a lay off is extraordinary. It is. But I’ve seen this before. Sometimes it’s an ugly business, business. But we always move forward as best we can, with a good and positive attitude that the right will find its course, or we will be led upon it. There is little so stable in life as change. But beyond this matter of business and career the matter of scholarship, of new friendship and most importantly of the entirely selfless kindness of others is what is so extraordinary.

-Daniel

Senseless Violence Across the Land Exposes Moral Relativism

by Daniel Mallock

The senseless murder of innocents always shakes our moral foundations. School shootings in particular are shocking and deeply painful. There has been a spate of school murders, mall murders, and of course the ever-present domestic murders where a child kills the parents and siblings, or a parent murders the entire family. These are ugly, senseless, horrible crimes for which there never appears to be any explanation. The killers kill themselves and we as a culture are left with little to learn from these events.

These events undermine our trust in society, in places we had always thought were safe havens-like schools, and builds suspicion where before there may have been a neutrality of feeling.

Most recently Northern Illinois University is the scene. Before that was the massacre at Virginia Tech and the mall shootings in Salt Lake City, and Omaha, Nebraska. Anything can happen in our society now, there are no safe havens - not at study and not in the marketplace.

This most recent horror at NIU involved a young man who has been described by colleagues and teachers as “revered”. Everyone exclaimed shock and bewilderment that the killer could have done such an appalling crime. For them, it seemed to have come from the clear blue sky, without any warnings. In the days following his vicious cowardly attack we learn that this man had a history of mental illness, was given an early discharge from the military for reasons that are still not divulged, refused to take his medication, had been institutionalized for self-destructive behavior (cutting himself), etc. Until recently his facade of normalcy that allowed him to have a long-term relationship, gather awards and respect from his peers, and be seen as a fine student and teacher and functional/normal human was fairly stable so that everyone was fooled.

But there were warning signs. According to CNN the “27-year-old shooter had a history of mental illness and stopped taking antidepressants three weeks ago, making him ‘erratic,’ according to authorities. In the months leading up to the surprise attack, he started covering his body in bizarre tattoos and stockpiling guns.” (CNN, posted 2/19/08) Perhaps we will never know what actions those around him may have taken in the days and weeks prior to the murders to prevent the soon-to-be mass murderer from a total meltdown.

The killer’s girlfriend of two years, now in the national spotlight - has made her choice to talk to the press. Her comments are illustrative of much more than her state of mind in the wake of her boyfriend’s cruelty and violence. They are indicative of a more thorough and widespread moral confusion that seems to permeate our entire culture.

“He wasn’t erratic. He wasn’t delusional. He was Steve; he was normal,” said Baty. She added, “I still love him.”

Can someone “love” someone who has just viciously murdered 5 people? Can someone “love” someone who is a destroyer of life, a berserker? Is Steve worthy of such feelings after his killing spree? Might she have said more accurately, I still love what I thought Steve was? or, I still love the person who I knew as Steve before he did this awful horror, or, I still love the man I thought I knew but never really did. Why couldn’t she have said, “I cannot love someone who did such an appalling thing.” Aren’t there crimes and actions that are unforgivable? I think there are, and this mass murder of innocents at NIU (or VT, or at a mall, etc.) is one of them.

Is this a misconception of what “love” is? Do we need a new definition of “love” to teach our children? Or could this just be some blind loyalty on her part? Does “love” now make us live in a vacuum utterly separated from moral obligation, compassion for others and duty to the wider society?

She clearly struggled with the situation.

“I was with him all the time,” she said. “How could I not have seen this coming? I feel partially responsible because maybe I should have seen something.” The distraught Baty also said her boyfriend was a victim as well on Valentine’s Day. “I feel so bad for the victims. I can’t tell them how sorry I am,” she said.

But then, in just the next breath, it all falls apart.

“But he was a victim too. I know they probably won’t want to hear that, but he was.”

This moral relativity that allows Ms. Baty to compare in her mind the killer with the victims in a way that puts them in the same category seems a complete confusion of priorities and proportion. Feeling bad for the victims ought to have precluded her from describing both the victims and the murderer as victims. It seems a callous, callow, and hollow thing to say. I think that she is correct when she says that the victims and their families “won’t want to hear that.”

“The person I knew was not the one who went into Cole Hall and did that,” Baty told CNN. “He was anything but a monster. He was probably the … nicest, (most) caring person ever.” (CBS News, 2/19/09)

No. It seems that Ms. Baty did not know her boyfriend at all. He was not all “nice” nor “caring”. He was utterly false, evil. The depths of anger and hatred that some people harbor and hide remain a mystery to us all, almost without context or precedent until they lash out and collapse into depravity and violence. There was a time when such actions would earn nothing but condemnation. Can there be sympathy for such a monster? His false persona is gone, and a re-assessment of him and his life required. We often do not know one another, and with disastrous consequences.

In a related situation a youth pastor in Houston, Texas surrendered himself to authorities for a murder that he committed in 1994. The congregants of his church have forgiven him both for the murder and for his falseness, apparently. His church of almost 1000 people praised the murderer/youth pastor for “taking responsibility” and turning himself in. There didn’t seem to be any discussion of why it took him 14 years to do so. But there is more.

Several congregants are quoted by CNN as describing the pastor/murderer as a “hero”.

“‘He’s a hero, really,’ said Kelley Graham, 24. ‘I don’t know how many people would do what he did.’” (CNN, 02/18). Another impressed church member was even stronger in his appreciations, “I am thrilled my son has a role model to accept responsibility the way Calvin (the murderer) has,” Thac said. “There are way too many men who don’t accept responsibility.”

Acceptance of responsibility has only recently been seen as something heroic. Previously, such admirable conduct was considered a fundamental aspect of maturity, of good citizenship, of respectability.

In time of war, as our soldiers fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and war clouds gather on the horizon at other hotspots around the world, can the “acceptance of responsibility” truly be considered “heroic”? Where is the heroism in the admittance to a crime of violence and cowardice? Is this pastor/murderer as heroic, say, as a soldier who dives on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades in Baghdad? Isn’t the police officer who rushes into a house to save the lives of innocent hostages and dies in the attempt a hero? How can we compare an admitted murderer who finally after 14 years admits his guilt to such people who sacrifice themselves for others? The concept of heroism elevates the hero who has surpassed the requirements of responsibility. Taking out the trash is a responsibility, accepting great risk to help others is heroic.

Do we as a culture no longer know who to raise up in honor, and who to abjure and condemn?

A culture of moral confusion must find it difficult if not impossible to sustain itself when in mortal conflict with an ideology of reactionary absolutism like Islamism so contrary to our own understanding of what is good and evil.

When we have so lost our way so as to be unable to identify evil when it confronts us, (or even shares our homes or classrooms with us), and so clearly identifies itself as such by its actions; when we as a culture can not agree fundamentally that certain crimes and behaviors are utterly unforgivable, and that those who commit such horrors like the massacres at VT and NIU, etc. should be roundly condemned, disdained, and reviled - can we effectively confront a violent ideology whose goal is our destruction?

After the school shootings and mall shootings and shattering intra-family murders of recent years, we are left with little learned and little to learn from. The killers who harbor hatred and nihilism and believe that their greatest aspiration is to destroy innocence have nothing to teach us. They kill themselves or are killed, and we are left with questions having no answers. In response, we install improved security systems and processes, and debate gun ownership rights and gun control as we should.

But there is an emptiness of sorrow and moral confusion that these events leave behind. When someone commits an atrocity like the one at NIU or Virginia Tech how can it be that those close to him, who thought they knew him but did not, in the aftermath say that they continue to love him? Isn’t it so that they continue to love the person they thought they had known, a facade that was fronting the hatred and ugliness underneath rather than the cruel anti-person who committed the crime?

Is it time for a re-examination of “love” and the concept of “hero” in our culture? It would appear that the answer is yes. Can we “love” those who commit horrible crimes against us? We need a better, deeper understanding of how we, each one of us, relate to everyone else in our country. We need to have our standards returned to us, we need our heroes again. We need to rescue them from our past, and elevate them when they appear in our daily lives. These are the men and women who inspire us with their courage, bravery, self-sacrifice, and character. And we need to be able to condemn, without doubt and with compassion, those whose abominable actions put them beyond the pale and outside the family of humanity.

“For the Union Dead” by Robert Lowell - A Superb Civil War Poem that Continues to Resonate

Introduction by Daniel Mallock

It is altogether fitting and proper that this poem should be posted and read today, of all days. Martin Luther King day is the right day for this poem, this tribute to the Union dead of the Civil War and a particular remembrance of the black soldiers who wore the uniform of the Union particularly of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment made famous to non-Civil War students by the movie Glory several years ago.

The 54th Massachusetts was the first black regiment to march from the North to fight the Confederacy. These men were quite brave knowing that in battle they would likely get little or no quarter, and if captured they would most assuredly be sent south back to slavery. These men had much to prove what with years of racism from North and South to be broken and defeated by their bravery and sacrifices not to mention the Confederate army that they would later face on the battlefield. They would win ever-lasting fame for their courage during their doomed assault on Fort Wagner at Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, July, 1863. The attack would be a night assault on this heavily guarded fort. The fighting would be intense and the 54th would not be successful. Their white colonel, Robert Gould Shaw would be killed, and almost half the regiment would be lost. The first Medal of Honor for a black man would be earned there.

They marched down Beacon Street, with the Massachusetts State House on one side and Boston Common on the other - off to war, off to death and glory on a twin mission; to fight for the Union and show the world that they were equal in ability to whites. Directly across the street from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Street there now stands the brilliant monument by Augustus St. Gaudens forever commemorating the 54th, the first black regiment and their white commander Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Colonel, 54th Massachusetts

This monument on Beacon Hill is one of the finest monuments of any kind in the United States. As a tribute to Shaw and the 54th it is unparalled in the physical world; but in the emotional world, the world of poetry, Robert Lowell comes quite close. Lowell brilliantly describes the monument to the 54th and works it into the life of Boston that foremost of abolition cities of the North. Standing before the 54th monument on Beacon Hill, as the crowds walk swiftly by and the traffic speeds along past the State House, one can almost hear the men breath as they are forever frozen in bronze on their march south to battle. There are few monuments in bronze as lifelike as this one: it is an incredible tribute to the 54th and their commander and adorns the city of Boston as fittingly as the obelisk at Bunker Hill or the colonial historical sites of Adams, Revere, Hancock, and several miles to the west, Lexington and Concord.

Lowell’s “For the Union Dead” is a successful poem on so many levels and succeeds completely where Tate’s “Ode to the Confederate Dead” so totally fails. It unifies time and place, and brings context and permanence where everything seems to be shifting and changing. As a tribute to the 54th and the Union dead of the Civil War its elements run as deep as the waters off the coast of Boston seen from the top of Beacon Hill so long ago when the skyscrapers didn’t block the view.

Having started his education at Harvard Lowell transfered to Kenyon College to study under John Crowe Ransom another of Vanderbilt’s Fugitives, like Allen Tate and Donald Davidson. It is an astounding thing that the two greatest Civil War poems of modern times (”Lee in the Mountains” and “For the Union Dead”) and the worst (”Ode to the Confederate Dead”) should be written by poets with Nashville connections. Lowell went on to graduate school to study under Robert Penn Warren, another Vanderbilt “Fugitive”.

St. Gaudens placed a latin inscription on the monument, the motto of the Society of the Cincinnati (a society of Revolutionary War officers started by George Washington and Henry Knox): “Relinquit Omnia Servare Rem Publicam”. The translation is: “He left behind everything to save the Republic”. Lowell opened his poem with this latin phrase but changed the singular “he” to “they” in the latin so that his poem would refer to all the men of the 54th not just its white commander, Robert Gould Shaw, to read: “Relinquunt Omnia Servare Rem Publicam”.

St. Gaudens’ Masterpiece - The 54th Massachusetts Marching to War - You can almost hear them breath

“For the Union Dead” was published in 1964 during the height of the Civil Rights movement. Active in Civil Rights efforts it is perfectly understandable that Lowell should have written this poem of unity and appreciation with concern, too, that the past should be remembered and its lessons learned. The battlefield of Fort Wagner had been by then reclaimed by the sea at Charleston Harbor and the monument to the 54th had fallen into disrepair. In fact, it was during this time that the St. Gaudens monument had been removed and stored in a crate to prevent damage from “shaking” from the construction of the underground Boston Commons parking garage. So, the battleground is gone, and Shaw’s monunument is gone (but only temporarily), and history fades while “progress” continues speedily obliterating the memory of those that have come before.

“The stone statues of the abstract Union Soldier
grow slimmer and younger each year–
wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets
and muse through their sideburns . . .”

Lowell’s brilliant poem is his way of retaining the past and ensuring that important historical memory is not lost forever. The men of the 54th Massachusetts, black and white, were leaders in bringing an end to slavery and establishing equality under the law for blacks in America. The story of their bravery and sacrifice is important to understanding American history and the Civil War. These men demonstrated with their actions and their blood that they were equals and merited equal positions in American society. As Americans North and South we ought to continue to embrace their memory and appreciate the many challenges that they overcame and the lessons that they taught us with their sacrifices at Fort Wagner and elsewhere.

On Martin Luther King day especially we can look back to the 54th Massachusetts as a standard bearer in the struggle for Civil Rights in America. In the 1980s I was privileged to be part of an effort to restore the St. Gaudens monument to its original beauty and power. Lowell’s poem is a tribute to this beautiful work of art, and the men of the 54th Massachusetts who so inspired it. It is our duty as a civilized society to remember our past, appreciate and commemorate our war dead, and learn those lessons that they underscored for later generations with their lives.

“Two months after marching through Boston,
half the regiment was dead;
at the dedication,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.”

This is one of the finest poems of the 20th century and stands with “Lee in the Mountains” as one of the two great modern poems of the Civil War. It is my pleasure to present it here.

-Daniel Mallock

For the Union Dead

by Robert Lowell

“Relinquunt Omnia Servare Rem Publicam.”

The old South Boston Aquarium stands
in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken windows are boarded.
The bronze weathervane cod has lost half its scales.
The airy tanks are dry.

Once my nose crawled like a snail on the glass;
my hand tingled
to burst the bubbles
drifting from the noses of the cowed, compliant fish.

My hand draws back. I often sigh still
for the dark downward and vegetating kingdom
of the fish and reptile. One morning last March,
I pressed against the new barbed and galvanized

fence on the Boston Common. Behind their cage,
yellow dinosaur steamshovels were grunting
as they cropped up tons of mush and grass
to gouge their underworld garage.

Parking spaces luxuriate like civic
sandpiles in the heart of Boston.
A girdle of orange, Puritan-pumpkin colored girders
braces the tingling Statehouse,

shaking over the excavations, as it faces Colonel Shaw
and his bell-cheeked Negro infantry
on St. Gaudens’ shaking Civil War relief,
propped by a plank splint against the garage’s earthquake.

Two months after marching through Boston,
half the regiment was dead;
at the dedication,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.

Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city’s throat.
Its Colonel is as lean
as a compass-needle.

He has an angry wrenlike vigilance,
a greyhound’s gently tautness;
he seems to wince at pleasure,
and suffocate for privacy.

He is out of bounds now. He rejoices in man’s lovely,
peculiar power to choose life and die–
when he leads his black soldiers to death,
he cannot bend his back.

On a thousand small town New England greens,
the old white churches hold their air
of sparse, sincere rebellion; frayed flags
quilt the graveyards of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The stone statues of the abstract Union Soldier
grow slimmer and younger each year–
wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets
and muse through their sideburns . . .

Shaw’s father wanted no monument
except the ditch,
where his son’s body was thrown
and lost with his “niggers.”

The ditch is nearer.
There are no statues for the last war here;
on Boylston Street, a commercial photograph
shows Hiroshima boiling

over a Mosler Safe, the “Rock of Ages”
that survived the blast. Space is nearer.
When I crouch to my television set,
the drained faces of Negro school-children rise like balloons.

Colonel Shaw
is riding on his bubble,
he waits
for the blessèd break.

The Aquarium is gone. Everywhere,
giant finned cars nose forward like fish;
a savage servility
slides by on grease.

54th:
http://www.nga.gov/feature/shaw/s3100.shtm
http://www.54thmass.org/54about.html
Shaw:
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/1800sarmybiographies/p/rgshaw.htm
Monument:
http://boston.about.com/od/walkingtours/ss/bcWalkingTour_10.htm

(photo of monument: Robert Gould Shaw Memorial photo courtesy Larry Stritof © 2006.)

Obtuseness and Inaction Create a Disaster in Omaha

by Daniel Mallock, BookFolks

Desperately damaged people ought not to be allowed to inflict their desperation and moral emptiness on others. This is exactly what happened Wednesday (12/05/07) in Omaha, Nebraska.

All Americans are horrified, stunned and appalled at this vicious murder of innocents doing their Christmas shopping at a mall. The country unites in grief at the loss to our society and to their families and friends of the 8 innocent victims. We wonder why the broken young man who committed this act of cowardly violence couldn’t simply have killed himself and left everyone else alone? Too many broken empty people apparently have a strong need to hurt others, this makes them exceedingly dangerous to all of us.

The events in April at Virginia Tech, and the mall shootings in Salt Lake City several months later are eerily similar to this most recent horror in Omaha.

One could make political arguments here about the value of an armed populace: anybody with a gun in that mall could have challenged the angry empty killer and perhaps have stopped his murderous rampage. But now is not the time for such discussion - it’s just too soon. Now we wait for the funerals and join with our fellow Americans hurting in Omaha in sorrow and anguish. We always ask questions after these kinds of horrific events: How could this happen? How can someone be so evil, so selfish, so hateful, so angry, so empty? Could this terrible crime have been prevented?

WCBSTV in Ohama in an article on this horror posted today states
“She told the Omaha World-Herald that the night before the shooting, Hawkins and her sons showed her an SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle - the same type used in the shooting. She said she thought the gun belonged to a member of Hawkins’ family. She said she didn’t think much of it - the gun looked too old to work. ”
The “she” in the story is the mother of a friend with whom the murderer had been living. Tragically, the gun that Hawkins showed her was likely the murder weapon, and the day of the shooting Ms. Maruca-Kovac “went to her job as a nurse at the Nebraska Medical Center, where victims of the shooting soon began to arrive.”

The twisted young man who perpetrated this evil upon the people of Omaha should never have been allowed to be near a weapon. But he was. Mr. and Mrs. Maruca-Kovac must have known that he had been “kicked out” of his parent’s home. They knew that he was a deeply troubled young man. Did they know that he had threatened to kill his step-mother and was sent to a mental institution? They should have known that such a person should not have access to firearms. Why did they not take this weapon, and call the authorities?

Misplaced Sympathy

Mrs. Maruca-Kovac said on the “Early Show”, “I feel so sorry for him, that he was so lost and alone that he had to resort to this.” This is an unfortunate public utterance. I have zero sympathy for the wretched murderer, but a great deal of sympathy for the victims and their families.

Warning Signs and Access to Weapons

Only two weeks ago a former female friend of the killer told KETV news that Hawkins had threatened her and her family. “Mandy said Hawkins had threatened her and her family as recently as two weeks ago. She said one message threatened to shoot her if she didn’t stop bad-mouthing Hawkins.” The assault rifle used in the attack was owned by his stepfather, and apparently stolen from him. This very same rifle was seen in his possession the evening before the murders by his friend’s mom (and host) Mrs. Maruca-Kovac. And yet she neither confiscated the weapon nor contacted the authorities. Shouldn’t the host family have taken some action to separate this clearly confused and bitter young man (with a long criminal history and mental health problems) from this or any weapon?

Obtuseness and Death

In so many of these horrible cases those close to the murderer are unaware of their ownership of, or access to, weapons. This is not the case here. What is the responsibility of a mature person in our society when they know that an unbalanced person (someone who had made violent threats against his own step-mother) owns a weapon or can obtain one readily? Is responsibility negated when the observer is unaware of the true nature of the person involved, or simply chooses not to see it? The killer was living under her roof for a year, how could she not have known?

Mrs. Maruka-Kovac is quoted on KETV’s website as having said yesterday after hearing of the murders, “‘I had a sick feeling when I heard about it,” she said. “I can’t believe he would go this far. He was a good-hearted kid. He was just going through some rough times.’”

The wrongness of this statement is self-evident. Deconstructing it completely unnecessary. Some knew this young man for what he was, and what he was capable of, while others were apparently utterly oblivious. Do those so close yet so apparently obtuse carry any responsibility for this crime?

Heading Toward a Total Break

Mrs. Maruca-Kovac is quoted on YahooNews today describing Hawkins as someone who “helped out all the time”. Was she seeing him for what he was, or what she hoped and wanted him to be? The authorities knew of him due to his felony drug conviction in March of 2005, and a disorderly conduct charge later that same year. He was facing a court appointment later this month on contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge. This is not a person who is “good”, or “kind-hearted”.

Despite Hawkins’ troubled recent history, and his pending court hearing (which she may not have been aware of, we just don’t know yet), she did not confiscate the rifle that she saw in his possession in her own home the evening prior to the attack, nor did she contact the authorities about it. “But Maruca-Kovak saw nothing foreshadowing the horror Hawkins would inflict during his last moments alive. She remembered a gentle young man who loved animals. She regarded him so benignly that when he showed her an SKS semiautomatic rifle the night before his attack, she thought little of it, the Omaha World-Herald reported.”

This was not a gentle young man, obviously. Can we blame people for lack of insight, for a failure of character judgment at a critical moment? Can we judge them for their inability to judge others? Because the murderer was a guest in her home, and a friend of her family, there must be some accountability that society can demand for the fact that she allowed this broken, cowardly, morally empty young murderous man a place in her home and at her table and allowed him to retain a weapon in her home. If nothing had happened in Omaha we would never have heard of Mrs. Maruca-Kovak and her wretched house guest.

As quoted in the local press, and by her own admission, she thought nothing of the rifle in the young man’s possession. Two days ago, she could forget about the rifle, dismiss it from her mind and go about her business, and the poor pathetic coward who supposedly loved animals but clearly hated himself and human beings.

The Obtuse Experts Weigh In - What Can be Done? They say Nothing Can Be Done. I Totally Disagree

Some obtuse so-called experts suggest doing nothing, in fact that there is nothing anybody can do. Sometimes, well, things like this just happen, they suggest.

Observe: “‘This is not something that anybody can reasonably anticipate,’ said Don Greene, a former FBI agent who has written a book on mall security.” This is unacceptable. Doing nothing and simply waiting for the murderer to kill himself or run out of ammunition is a failure of imagination and completely irresponsible. This concept that we are utterly powerless in the face of evil is ridiculous and offensive. A first step is to get armed security personnel into every mall in the United States, and quickly. But the experts have their negative opinions on this suggestion as well.

There are 1,200 enclosed malls in the United States and about 50,000 shopping centers. Although some include police sub-stations, most are patrolled by unarmed private mall and store security guards.

Should these private security guards be armed? “Absolutely not,” said Greene. Greene said if a security officer were to pull a gun on an armed individual in a mall, it could result in ‘the gunfight at the ‘OK corral,’ and then we might have 23 people killed instead of eight.’”

More do-nothing utter nonsense.

The concept of fighting armed criminals and murderers with complete inactivity,  flight/hiding being the only apparent acceptable (to them) response is beyond unacceptable.

We Have Air Marshals - Empower Mall Marshals NOW! 

We have Air Marshals on every American aircraft. The Air Marshal has a concealed weapon, is properly trained, and will use his/her weapon if the aircraft is threatened by armed lunatics. Every time I fly commercial I am heartened to know that there is at least one armed “good guy/gal” on the aircraft.

We need now in this country a program of Mall Marshals. Every mall in the USA should have at least one properly trained security guard armed with a concealed weapon onsite during open hours. Imagine how this nightmare may have turned out if the assailant had known there were at least one armed officer in the mall. Perhaps he wouldn’t have gone there. Perhaps it would not have happened? We can never know. Cowards don’t go places where they know they will likely be confronted. These mass murders are acts of cowards, cowards hate confrontation, and they will not go to places where they may be challenged or readily stopped. We must take action, responsive and preventative. We must make changes now.

We Need a Solution Immediately - Air Marshals to Mall Marshals

We need to create a “Mall Marshal” program as soon as possible so that killers like Hawkins will hesitate (and perhaps reconsider) before they ever consider such a course again. This program is a preventative one, to stop such events before they happen - and to provide some recourse in the event that they do. It is time that we protect our public spaces and ourselves. Attacking an unguarded mall is simply too easy for psychopaths. It seems not a difficult matter to me to empower a trained security officer to carry a concealed weapon to protect the public and employees in these facilities.

Doing nothing in the face of these mass killings is not acceptable. The reality of the solution is simple, but finding the political will in our society to implement it is quite another matter. There is too much at stake to do nothing.

Infamy is an Ugly Fame 

Hawkins the murderer wrote the other day in his pre-murder-spree note, “Now I’ll be famous”. His friend’s mom is now also famous. It’s an ugly kind of fame, infamy. They both have the attention of the country, but for all the wrong reasons.

WGA Strike - Creative Failure of Imagination

It’s not enough to simply kill the Golden Goose, some folks feel that they must beat the poor dead beast ’til it’s no longer recognizable.

by Daniel Mallock, BookFolks

The first warning signal comes from an unexpected quarter. Carson Daly, host of a late night talk show announced today that he will be crossing the picket lines and his show will be on the air - without WGA involvement. If his show is successful without their support, and the WGA must be praying hard that it fails, other entertainers and hosts will follow in Daly’s path the “Writer’s strike” will be in serious trouble.

When a union’s membership lands on the picket lines the leadership has failed in planning, strategy, imagination, and negotiation. Redress of grievances and negotiating with management for better wages and benefits is the core purpose of the union. Fundamentally, negotiating with the threat of strike is the position of strength, striking is a signal of defeat. Abandoning negotiations for the picket line is an existential defeat for the union.

Creative people sometimes get too involved in their own stories, too involved in their own creative process so that they are blinded to more sanguinary and generally uninteresting issues like, oh, business. Certainly, hollyweird products are generally a conglomeration of creative minds. All of those creative minds should have a fair share in the profits resulting from the products that they create together. But when one group in this conglomerate brings the entire process to a grinding halt and puts the entire operation at risk-that group has lost sight of some very important facts. The most important fact is that there are many writers who would be delighted to have the opportunity to write for tv and film. These folks, not currently in the WGA will certainly have the chance if this strike continues for much longer.

Daly will come under intense criticism from the WGA and its supporters as his actions threaten their action. His argument is a good one, and difficult to refute. “As a non-WGA member I feel I have supported my four Guild writers and their strike by suspending production for a month,” he said, “While I continue to support their cause, I can’t, in all good conscience, stand by and let that (loss of income and livelihood) happen to the vast majority of my loyal staff and crew.”

The writers in the Guild have forgotten their roots, or perhaps remember them too well.

They are now bullies, damaging the economy of LA and California and affecting the careers and livelihoods of thousands of others. This union bullying is one of the strongest reasons why the union movement in the US is on a steep decline - folks don’t want to be bullied by other folks who won’t sit at a conference table and patiently work out differences with the “other side”. This strike is as demonstrative of leadership on the part of WGA negotiators as the decision by a court in Sudan to jail a middle-aged Brit for her unfortunate choice of name for a teddy bear is illustrative of civilized or rational behavior.

There are far more writers who are ready to work for Hollyweird than there are angry writers who, rightly or wrongly, want a larger slice of the profit pie and are striking to get it. The demands of the WGA appear reasonable and legitimate in the long-term, their decision to strike now and stay on the strike line does not.

What will be the result if Carson Daly’s admirable desire to save the jobs of his staff due to the short-sightedness of the writer’s union’s leadership? The result will be that more shows will go back on the air, non-union writers will be hired, etc. Writer’s in the Guild do not have a lock on creativity - there are many excellent non-union writers waiting for a big break. This could well be the break they are waiting for.

If the strike fails, and if Hollyweird studios and management recovers with non-union writers, the Guild will be left a powerless shell. Throwing down the gauntlet and refusing to work (striking) thus breaking contracts, endangering projects/productions, negatively impacting local and regional economies, and putting the livelihoods of others at risk cannot have anything but negative results for the Guild and its members.

The notion that writers are irreplaceable is not a widely accepted one. Couldn’t a more productive approach to studio management and their bean-counters have been, “We aren’t pleased, but we would like to negotiate for a larger piece of the profits as we continue working side by side with you (management/studios) our partners.”

The strike decision appears desperate, unprofessional, and lacking in both prudence and patience. As a writer, I understand the value of my own partners and the business-side folks who make it possible through their deal-making to get projects that allow me to work professionally as a writer. Hurting them hurts me. I know this. It is completely stunning that the WGA leadership does not understand this core truth of the writer’s life. Diminishing the importance and the reputation of writers by forcing union members to break agreements and walk the picket line is nothing at all about empowering writers, but rather the opposite.

Let cooler heads prevail. Honor your agreements, create art, go back to work, negotiate with your partners!

Tragedy of Cleveland, Ohio Should Not Be Its Obituary - It Should be A Call for Renewal!

by Daniel Mallock, BookFolk

Recent headlines for Cleveland could hardly be worse, “Where Cleveland Went Wrong”, and School Shooting! are two of the most recent. This once proud “rust belt” city on Lake Erie is in eclipse. Long known for lake effect heavy snows and too many gray days per year Cleveland is now the horror that all American cities fear to become. With a completely diminished tax base, a failed economy, and little apparent hope for economic recovery in the near future Cleveland waits to figure out how to repeat the stunning recovery of similar cities like Pittsburgh. After the steel mills close, the inner city rots away, foreclosures suck the life out of low and middle class areas, and folks who can flee flee, where can Cleveland turn for growth and renewal?There are four fascinating aspects of Cleveland life that, if properly fostered, encourage, and leveraged, will be the foundation of its rebirth - diversity of population, superb civic culture and history, excellent health care, Lake Erie waterfront and port.

The excessive and horrible foreclosures currently sweeping the country, based upon shady and misleading mortgages sold to folks wanting a share in the American dream of home ownership - have hit Cleveland hardest. One section of Cleveland in particular now is littered with empty foreclosed homes looted by dirtbags and crooks (see link above).

This is now the time for urban renewal folks to make their plans. Giving up on Cleveland is for fools - Cleveland can now become a shining example of American ingenuity - a place where folks will want to move to and live. It’ll take time, but the effort should be made, and quickly.

Cleveland is blessed with one of the finest orchestra’s in the world, the Cleveland Orchestra. Long recognized as one of the finest symphonies in the world it is a testimony to Cleveland’s importance that so many in the area continue to support this great institution as the city that hosts it continues its long crumble into decay. There is enough money in the area, enough people loyal to the area - living outside the city limits - who continue to support the superb cultural and educational offerings of the city. In addition to the Orchestra, Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art are available for all to enjoy. Cleveland has a proud history. Ohio was one of the largest contributors of soldiers to the Union during the Civil War. The monument to Civil War veterans in downtown Cleveland is a little known national treasure that all who appreciate American heritage and history should visit. Folks are not leaving the region en masse, only the inner city itself (with folks who can’t leave, staying). Cleveland can be saved. If Cleveland is not revitalized and rehabilitated it will become a sister city Detroit. While the proponents for Cleveland and Detroit may challenge the studies that proclaim the failure of these cities and speak of the irresponsibility and cruelty of suggesting such things - the problems remain. These problems must be resolved, and quickly. Hopefully, for both Cleveland and Detroit the hour is not too late to make a change. And don’t forget, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, too! Cleveland rocks, remember?

The failure of American steel and the closure of most of Cleveland’s factories, steel mills, and economic infrastructure shattered the economy of the city in the 70s and 80s - but… businesses remain and are growing - albeit in completely different sectors. Now, healthcare and technology are the economic hopes for Cleveland’s future growth and prosperity. Cleveland Clinic is a nationally ranked hospital system serving folks from all across the planet. Imagine - Cleveland as a destination city just for health care! Well, that’s the truth.

The true natural resource of Cleveland and the foundation of its recovery is the waterfront. Some folks in Cleveland are actively working to build up the waterfront, attract investment and bring folks back to Cleveland. The Port Authority is leading the way. Why can’t Cleveland have a bustling port and waterfront anchored with the Rock Hall and the Science Museum just like Boston’s or Baltimore’s or San Francisco’s. Build a destination for folks - a beautiful place with great hotels and parks and condos and apartments and restaurants and homes - and folks will come!

So, how does a city recover after being the hardest hit in the nation by foreclosures with school shootings and serious inner city decay? All the great urban planners, investment gurus, historians, restaurateurs, and government officials - city, regional, and federal - should build a commission now to reclaim Cleveland.

It is a national sin to let our cities fall and die while our pathetic neanderthal pseudo allies grow rich on our consumption of their oil. Our cities should be a shining light, a beacon, to everyone in the world - a testament to our ingenuity, our skills at planning, organization, and creativity. Shame on the government of Cleveland and the federal government for allowing Cleveland to rust and die a slow wretched death.

Bring Cleveland back to life and bring Detroit back to life, too. America is built on hard work and business and caring for our fellow citizens. Let Cleveland be a beacon to those creative folks who want to show their stuff, their organizational and leadership skills, and their patriotism. Rebuild Cleveland. Do it now.