June 10, 2005

"...Timing in Strategy:

    There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be

    mastered without a great deal of practice.

 

     Timing is important in dancing and pipe or string music,

     for they are in rhythm only if timing is good. Timing and

     rhythm are also involved in the military arts, shooting

     bows and guns, and riding horses. In all skills and abilities

     there is timing.

 

     There is also timing in the Void.

 

     There is timing in the whole life of the warrior, in his

     thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord.

     Similarly, there is timing in the Way of the merchant, 

     in the rise and fall of capital. All things entail rising and

     falling timing. You must be able to discern this. In strategy

     there are various timing considerations. From the outset

     you must know the applicable timing and the inapplicable

     timing, and from among the large and small things and the

     fast and slow timings find the relevant timing, first seeing

     the distance timing and the background timing. This is the

     main thing in strategy. It is especially important to know the

     background timing, otherwise your strategy will become

     uncertain.

 

     You win in battles with the timing in the Void born of the

      timing of cunning by knowing the enemies' timing, and

      thus using a timing which the enemy does not expect.

 

      All the five books are chiefly concerned with timing. You

      must train sufficiently to appreciate all this.

 

      If you practice day and night in the above Ichi school

      strategy, your spirit will naturally broaden. Thus is large

      scale strategy and the strategy of hand to hand combat

      propagated in the world. This is recorded for the first time

      in the five books of Ground, Water, Fire, Tradition (Wind),

      and Void. This is the Way for men who want to learn my

      strategy:

 

        1: Do not think dishonestly.

        2: The Way is in training.

        3) Become acquainted with every art.

        4) Know the Ways of all professions.

        5) Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.

        6) Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for

            everything.

        7) Perceive those things which cannot be seen.

        8) Pay attention even to trifles.

        9) Do nothing which is of no use......

 

 

        ...To Hold Down a Pillow:

        'To Hold Down a Pillow' means not allowing the enemy's

         head to rise.

      

         In contests of strategy it is bad to be led about by the

         enemy. You must be always able to lead the enemy

         about. Obviously the enemy will also be thinking of

         doing this, but he cannot forestall you if you do not allow

         him to come out. In strategy, you must stop the enemy

         as he attempts to cut; you must push down his thrust,

         and throw off his hold when he tries to grapple. This is

         the meaning of ' to hold down a pillow'. When you have

         grasped this principle, whatever the enemy tries to bring

         about in the fight you will see in advance and suppress

         it. The spirit is to check his attack at the syllable ' at...',

         when he jumps check his jump at the syllable ' ju...',

         and check his cut at ' cu...'.

 

         The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's

         useful actions but allow his useless actions. However,

         doing this alone is defensive. First, you must act according

         to the Way, suppress the enemy's techniques, foiling his

         plans, and thence command him directly. When you can

         do this you will be a master of strategy. You must train

         well and research ' holding down the pillow'...."

 

                    -Excerpts from the "Ground" and "Fire" Books

                     from the English translation of the Go Ri No Sho

                     (Book of Five Rings), by the famous Japanese

                     swordsman Musashi Miyamoto ( 63-0 record ).

 

 

To All,

     Please note that the above advice is not necessarily applicable for "Miller" Timing, "Howdy Doody" Timing, or for "Quality" Timing spent with one's Significant Other and/or Family. Other than those, it may be apropos:

 

 

Pandora's Box:

(Note to Book of Revelations Aficionadoes- The following paragraphs are rhetorical, and are not meant to be predictive.).

 

     Will Rogers once commented upon the sense of humor found in the Democrat-controlled Congress of the 1930's by noting that "...every time they make a joke, it's a law...". (Historical Footnote- Rogers was a Democrat).

 

      But it seems that Rogers would be well able to recognize the same characteristics in the California Legislature of 2005, given some of the work-product that has been discussed of late.

 

      For example, only a gaggle of pols thoroughly divorced from the voters at large would deign to introduce such "Mark of The Beast" legislation as AB 352 and SB 357 and not expect it to be controversial, or at least precedent-setting.

 

     For example, serialization of each and every bullet made and/or sold in California is a daunting logistical task. But if the legislation were to somehow pass, and be implemented, then the test case for serialization and recordation by the state of  whole other types of products and items could be lobbied for by any one of a set of influential interest groups.

 

    One case in point is the issue of cigarettes. Serialization and registration of every pack of cigarettes sold (add loose tobacco, wrapping papers, and chewing tobacco to this for the revenue effect) could be theoretically lobbied for by the American Lung Association and every other activist dedicated to the proposition of a smoke-free planet, or at least smoke-free teenagers.

 

    Another case in point would obviously be liquor, where Mothers Against Drunk Driving would probably be ecstatic to have the database to be able track every individual that could conceivable provide alcoholic beverages to minors (That means certain folks over in Santa Maria, California, too.).

 

    Yet another candidate for serialization regulations are such products as those prescription drugs that are most commonly abused (Cannabis, Vicodin, and Zanax come to mind). These could be "microstamped" on the simple  premise that Hollywood can only produce more profitable films (and thus revenues for state coffers) if it collectively goes on "the wagon".

 

    One particular issue that the Legislature would probably not want to have to deal with, but which could be done by the initiative given the populist drive currently found in the public, has to do with the transfers of money by illegal/undocumented immigrants. Some sources have the total money transferred to Mexico from "I/U" immigrants in the U.S. as high as $ 17 billion dollars annually. Imagine the "cooperation" that could be gained from the Mexican government on the "immigration" issue if the velocity of funds transferred to Mexico was slowed through a serialization-style set of regulations. Likewise one could imagine the financial benefits to domestic businesses if some or most of the $ 17 billion in remittances were spent in the U.S. proper. (Perhaps such regulations could be initiated with a kind of "sigue el giro"- follow the money order- concept, where the name, address, and identification information of purchasers of money orders and other foreign wire transfers was recorded and taxed with the state.

 

     In reality, everything from propane cylinders, licentious library books and Henkel's kitchen knives is registration fodder for those whose predilections tend toward the Orwellian side of things. But it should be plain to see that such a slippery slope as represented by the potential serialization of guns and ammunition is one that would lead inevitably to a society devoid of common sense as much as it would be of privacy. Legislators should take a step back from this illegitimate offspring of an idea, before privacy becomes only a distant memory.

 

Story basis may be found at:

http://www.mexidata.info/id317.html

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1407767/posts

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=5014

http://www.nllea.org/reports/ABCEnforcementLegalResearch.pdf

http://www.madd.org/stats/0,1056,1114_11_20,00.html

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/
pdf/0073.pdf

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/content/
ped_10_14_how_to_fight_teen_smoking.asp

 

 

 

(Don't Go) A Judge Too Far:

     It is not hard to imagine that the real goals of the White House were limited when it came to the issue of judicial appointments and the now infamous "Deal of 14". In other words, rather than go for the "whole loaf", anything more than half would do. This, in turn, maintains the momentum, in increments, of a broad-front campaign that gradually rolls back the forces of Way-Left Liberalism while not risking the tenure of the governing majority.

 

     Given the competing interests for the limited amount of legislative time and political capital existent, it is actually more reasonable to assume that only a certain amount of time could have been spent on the "ideological" concept of confirming judges who hew to a more "strict" construction of the Constitution. Business interests that have more "mundane" legislative concerns, where the cost of a legislative "Rod from God" could mean the difference between profits or Chapter 7, are not as likely to remain tolerant of efforts that inordinately delay and deny their own expensive lobbying efforts.

 

    As such, any type of single issue political campaign modeled on a concept comparable to Bernard Montgomery's "Operation Market-Garden" could invite the same type of costly impasse that historians note occurred at Arnhem in 1944.

 

    Yet to move Liberal obstructionists from their Capitol Hill salient, they had to believe that their position would be obliterated by the firm and credible threat of legislative force. And this would have to be so in light of the general principle that one does not use parliamentary weapons of mass destruction capriciously. Especially over conflicts that are the political equivalent of the "War of Jenkin's Ear". Add to that the more contradictory tendencies of some denizens of the World's Most Deliberative (As in "like molasses in wintertime") Body, and one would have to have the instincts of Amarillo Slim to take advantage of all the divergent interests in effect.

 

     So, with most of the votes taken on the Deal of 14, what are some of the results so far?

 

     Well, for starters, nominees Owens, Brown, Pryor, Griffin, and McKeague have now been confirmed for the Appellate Bench in votes on the floor of the Senate. Given the trashing that some have been put through, it will be most interesting to see how well they incorporate the honey-and-clove-glazed legal theories of the Heirs of Henry Wallace in future deliberations.

 

      Also, Democrat stalwarts such as Nan Aaron are noting that they are going straight to their "final protective fires" drill (Otherwise known as the judicial filibuster) on any Supreme Court nominee not to the left hand side of Michael Moore. Given the potential for collateral damage to the body Judicial this "plan" poses, one sees a more than distinct possibility that such antics will lead to their being discredited in the eyes of the public.

 

     Yet another effect is that Senator John McCain has been so thoroughly diminished in the eyes of the Republican base, to the point that he is unlikely to win any Republican Presidential nomination not massively skewed by a torrent of refugee Democrats fleeing Howard Dean and His 40 Tartars. As for his partner in intended Quisling-hood, Lindsey Graham, he has been sent to the constituent's woodshed so much of late that he is dependent upon the podium-scheduling largesse of Senator Bill Frist to keep what integument he has left intact. This turn of affairs could thus help diminish the chances of an anti-gun nominee from the Rockefeller Wing of the Republican Party making it to "The Big Dance" of 2008.

 

     Just as important, Majority Leader Frist is now in the position to pick and choose the timing as to when the second set-trigger of the so-called "constitutional option" might be finally squeezed. (Senators Hagel, Graham, and possibly even Spector will be hard-pressed to carry McCain's Gatorade on future judicial nominees to the Supreme Court.). This is despite Frist's lame duck status and the input of such Majority Leader Candidates as Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi. Since the Left no longer enjoys the air superiority (read media monopoly) that they had during the bad old days of Watergate, the chances of this turning into a full-out, one-sided-with-impunity "borking" are less than probable. This, in turn, means that the President should have a decent chance at least of replacing a conservative Chief Justice with another conservative, which would theoretically preserve the current balance on the Court.

 

     Of course, should the Left filibuster a Presidential nominee which replaces a departing conservative with another, then what they were really attempting all along was to change the balance of the Court in even more favor of liberalism. This would be an attempt to offset the results of recent Federal elections, where a whole variety of Left-wing nostrums have faired poorly in the voting both. And yet this would also remove what little legitimacy the Left has under their current efforts to obstruct the workings of the Senate. Corporate donors that are starting to flee the DNC already would most likely turn into a torrent of defections if it was discovered that the Democrats are the source of delaying practical legislation from coming to the floor over the issue of judges (It is the mirror version of the Republican conundrum posed by Reverend Sheldon and other pro-life interest groups.). And, of course, the Dems could reap the blame on shutting down the Congress unless they waited to unlimber their filibuster on only those candidates that would theoretically change the philosophical balance of the High Court. In all likelihood, this type of concession would not "fly" with that part of the Democrat Party represented by Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, and Tom Harkin.

 

     Given that key issues remain outstanding for firearms activists, such as firearms manufacturer's liability reform, it is perhaps best that Majority Leader Frist is going to "move on" to other issues. This act in itself will rebuild political capital with certain groups which need to be placated at this time. In turn, this "re-investment" would most likely prove helpful in carrying out the next phase that allows for the President's and the majority in Congress' agenda to move forward. As long as things are moving forward, and major setbacks on any one front are avoided, the cautious nature of the broad-front method would seem to be the best option at this time.

 

Link at: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&e=1&
u=/ap/20050608/ap_on_go_co/senate_judges

 

 

Respectfully,