Wes Kelley

While I’m not sure I like the use of the term “Authoritarian” I suppose the quiz below is fairly accurate. In today’s world I would be considered a right-leaning centrist. With foreign policy concerns I shy away from neo-con hubris, but I support a strong American presence overseas. Domestically, I am pro-market, but I realize that humans–and corporations–are not angels. I support traditional American values, though I recognize that religion and the state have different purposes. In general, I love my country, but I respect (and fear) the power of government enough to support strong checks and balances–no matter who is calling the shots at the moment.

My Political Views
I am a centrist moderate social authoritarian
Right: 0.92, Authoritarian: 1.16

Political Spectrum Quiz

Again, I’m posting a brief assignment from my graduate studies. We were asked to comment on the Gettysburg Address. I hadn’t read it in some time. Its beauty really struck me. I thought I would post both the speech and my comments below.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address is oratorical poetry. It is simultaneously a beautiful expression of English prose and a seminal statement of American governance. We are one country, made hallowed and significant by the sacrifices of the men who died to defend its principles.

Obviously, you cannot separate the speech’s content from its context. This speech was given as the tide of the war was turning. It was becoming apparent that the Union would stand. Therefore, Lincoln’s brief statement was an eloquent sigh; one that signified that the war would be won and the sacrifices of its brave soldiers were the reason for the Union’s survival.

It is beautiful because of its brevity and focus. Much like the old prayers written in prayer books used years ago. Each word was chosen carefully. Each word has a job to do. Like a piece of colored glass being placed in a stain-glass window. Each lovely on its own, but forming a composite of glory. Okay, maybe my oratory is getting a little too rich, but we are rarely given an opportunity to wax on about the beauty of language.

What is interesting is that a speech like this could still be delivered today. Its style is not bound to its time. Churchill could have given this speech, maybe even Reagan or Obama. You could not deliver a speech like this on the campaign trail, but standing at the gravesite of fallen soldiers, or at another suitably somber and substantial event, it would still blow our socks off. We need “plain talk” but we also need a little nobility of thought AND language every once in awhile.

The following was written for one of my graduate classes in political management.  I am posting it here for the fun of it. 

Tennessee and the other TVA states are at the top of the list.  No, it is not our educational attainment, economic prosperity or athletic achievement that is setting records.  Unfortunately, it is the amount of electricity powering our homes that sets us apart.  

Consistently, the states receiving power from the Tennessee Valley Authority consume electricity at the highest per capita levels in the country.  As a matter of fact, we use about 50% more than the national average.  Why are we consuming more kilowatts than others?  Perhaps it is because for many decades we benefited from relatively cheap electricity. We assumed that no matter how much we used, TVA would build more power plants to supply our needs.  

With today’s energy costs steadily rising, the days of, “use all you want—we’ll make more” are most certainly behind us.  It is now increasingly expensive and environmentally challenging to build new electric generation, and Tennesseans must embrace energy conservation as never before to control rising energy bills.

As it is, three-fifths of the power generated in Tennessee comes from coal-fired power plants, and the smoke and ash they produce contribute to environmental problems.  Also, when electricity usage is high, TVA and other power companies resort to using expensive gas-fired generation to keep up with the demand.  While less environmentally harmful than coal plants, gas generation produces greenhouse gases, and is even more expensive to operate than coal generation. 

Of course, for decades TVA and its distributors fed our seemingly insatiable appetite for electricity.  Congress chartered TVA in 1933 to sell its power, “at the lowest possible rate and in such a manner as to encourage increased domestic and rural use of electricity.”   

The first head of TVA, David E. Lilenthal, knew before he could expand the residential use of electricity, homes needed appliances to consume it.  He persuaded President Roosevelt to form the Electric Home and Farm Authority (EHFA).  This federal agency provided low-interest loans to stimulate sales of electric appliances throughout the Tennessee Valley.

A brochure from 1934 proudly proclaimed EHFA was, “interested in a constantly greater use of electricity in all American homes. A fully electrified nation is the goal.” For many years thereafter, TVA continued to encourage higher and higher levels of electricity consumption within our homes and businesses.  As a matter of fact, while Tennessee is at the top of the list in residential electricity consumption, it ranks near the bottom for natural gas usage.  

Obviously the push for residential use of electricity worked.  It wasn’t until the energy crisis in the late 1970s that conservation first entered our social vocabulary.  

Today, TVA’s energy right, Green Power Switch and Generation Partners programs demonstrate how far we have come.  These programs are part of the “greener” TVA.  This Federal agency wants to help its customers control their ever-increasing demand for electricity, and create renewable generation options to offset the need for additional power plants.

While Green Power Switch encourages customers to purchase renewable power to support green power, Generation Partners works directly with customers who want to build and operate their own renewable generation.  TVA will now buy renewable power, such as solar, wind, etc., from its customers to encourage local renewable generation.

However, it is energy right that deserves the most attention.  Through energy right, TVA offers home energy audits, financial incentives for purchasing energy efficient heat pumps and water heaters and educational resources for those wanting to make their homes more energy efficient.

We can begin by taking small actions within our homes.  Household projects such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents, installing high-efficiency windows or adding insulation can add up to big reductions in energy usage over time.  We must remember simple steps matter; anytime you turn off unnecessary things that draw electricity you are reducing costs and helping the environment.

The founders of TVA knew the widespread use of low-cost electricity would stimulate economic opportunity within the Tennessee Valley.  Their vision, and the labor of countless Tennesseans, helped produce the bounty we enjoy today; however, we must understand our situation has changed.  The financial incentives that rewarded an ever-increasing use of electricity are gone.  We must focus our efforts on controlling our use of electricity before rising costs do lasting damage to our regional economy.

I signed up at Last.fm a good while ago and it dutifully records the music I’m listening to on a regular basis.  I looked at my account tonight and I saw the following rundown of the artists I listen to the most.  I’ll own up to this list.  While the order might move around a bit, this is a good list of many of my favorites.

1. Sting
2. New Order
3. Coldplay
4. The Cure
5. Depeche Mode
6. U2
7. The Beatles
8. Sarah McLachlan
9. The Shins
10. Dido
11. Jars of Clay
12. The Smiths
13. The Stone Roses
14. Peter Gabriel
15. XTC

Now that I have a child of my own, I’ve been thinking about the TV shows I watched when I was growing up in the late 70s in the early 80s. In spare moments, I’ve been surfing the depth of the Internet looking for information on the shows that kept me company as a little kid. Everyone remembers Sesame Street, The Electric Company and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as sources of high quality live-action entertainment for kiddies. And who didn’t watched Super Friends and all the classic cartoons that ran in a perpetual loop for decades. But I have been on the hunt for the not-so-well-remembered. After finding some clips on YouTube, I have to say that the 70s were bizarre. Some of the crap produced for kids during that confused decade makes me wonder how the youth of my generation grew up to be half-way normal.

The strangest of the bunch were the live-action shows produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. I think it is safe to say that the Kroffts were troubled men. While all of their shows were bizarre, some were just plain terrifying. Their contribution to 70s culture included classics like HR Pufnstuff, Land of the Lost and Sigmund and the Sea Monster. They also produced cute, but odd, shows like Wonderbug, The Lost Saucer and other Saturday morning staples. Not be to outdone, others prepared flashy live-action programming. The Banana Splits (with costumes made by Kroffts), the New Zoo Revue and the Great Space Coaster being among the ones that I remember.  

My truly fond memories of early childhood television were the cartoon space adventures. After being exposed to Star Wars when I was around four years old, my appointment television became Japanese imports like Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers. These shows had it all: grand adventure, sci fi plots and big battle scenes. Star Blazers really stands out in my memory because it was the first serialized show I remember following carefully. Every episode built on the story before it. It was a grown up story told for children.  

By the time I was nine or ten I fell into G.I. Joe, Transformers and Voltron. After that, even I became too old to watch cartoons. I do recall liking Kids Incorporated, but I’m embarrassed to admit watching an early tween show.  (However, check out this link to see a very young Jennifer Love Hewitt perform a Peter Gabriel classic, or this link to see an equally young Stacey Ferguson–Fergie from the Black Eye Peas–sing some Elvis.)

Thanks to YouTube and several fan sites, I’ve enjoyed rekindling some distant childhood memories that reminded me how I passed the time after a hard day in daycare and elementary school.

I am not really an obsessive compulsive person, but like many people I do exhibit some tendencies every once in a while.  For instance, for quite a long while I could not rest at night until I went through my ritual of diligently reading my growing list of RSS feeds, scanning Facebook and checking in on Twitter.  I felt like this was important because I was maintaining my connection to the “outside” world and keeping up-to-date with the important goings on.

Things have changed, after I came back from my vacation a few weeks back I decided to stop reading my RSS feeds and treat Facebook and Twitter like bits of entertainment not an obligation.  Since taking this step I feel less stressed at night and I am more present for my family.  The odd thing is while I have not missed my nightly RSS ritual, I do find myself drawn back to it in some weird addictive way.  It is not that I enjoy spending an hour or so scanning headlines and clearing out my cache of unread items, it is as though I need to do it so I know I’ve done my duty.  To whom I’m not sure.

It is beginning to dawn on me that quite a few things I believe must be done are just being done so I feel like I did something importantish.  I became a mouse building my own maze.  I am sure there a lessons to be learned here beyond the recognition of my RSS addiction, but I’m too busy running the maze to consider them right now.

An emotional state is contagious.  Given long enough, we will rub off on the people around us and we have the power to edify or cripple.  I’ve recently begun to realize how my personal sense of well being is connected to the people in my life.  If they’re stressed, I’m stressed.  Perhaps this reveals that I’m weak minded, too sensitive or simply easily distracted.  Regardless, I have to gather my wits about me and learn to separate my powers of emotional observation from my own stress barometer.

Even when things are going pretty well from my perspective, I can become unsettled because I know other people are anxious.  I guess that makes me empathetic, but it is also terribly unnerving and ineffective.  This realization is helpful as I try to understand the impact of stress on my life.  I certainly don’t want to be an unfeeling, uncaring automaton, but I do need to be on the watch for when my sense of satisfaction and joy is being hijacked by someone else’s bad day or ever-present nervousness.

I suppose that for some people in my life, I believed that their peace of mind was my responsibility.  After thinking about it, I’m not sure I can legitimately claim that duty, much less pull it off.  The trick is to keep my own stress level low so I can truly help the people in need of support.  Catching their disease won’t help either of us.

Our baby is nearly ten months old now.  Up to this point we’ve been model parents when it comes to taking pictures, shooting home movies and generally sharing our lovely child with distant friends and family.  Until recently.  Now, my wife and I keep saying, “we need to get the camera and record her doing….”  Buying the slick HV20 camcorder was a great choice, but only if we use it.

Noted web personality, Merlin Mann, also has a child about the same age as our little one.  He recently wrote about his love affair with the Flip camera.

I’m starting to wonder if you have to have a kid to fully understand the appeal of the Flip. I don’t really think that’s the case, but being a new-ish parent really highlights why this dumb little [crappy] camera is such a game-changer.

Say what you will about the (numerous) technical limitations of the Flip, but, in terms of catching the small, trivial stuff that ends up comprising the connective tissue of memories, it’s the real deal. 90% of the gold I get with the Flip would never have seemed “important enough” to shoot with my $1k HD camera — plus who carries a softball-sized video camera everywhere they go?

This thing paid for itself the day I turned it on and shot one evening of Eleanor’s bath-to-bedtime ritual, but I still never stop marveling at the little moments I end up capturing while just horsing around.

I’m always tempted to buy another tech gizmo, but I’m not sure that a gadget–no matter how small and convenient–will help me remember to capture life’s little moments.  The trick is to remember to enjoy the moments as they happen; then it’s easier to remember to capture them.  

Stress is a horrible distraction.  Once it captures your attention it never lets go.  If you have the freedom to live in the moment you begin care about preserving those moments for later reflection.  Gaining freedom from the distraction of stress is perhaps my biggest priority right now.

And when I need to capture life’s little moments, and I don’t have my HV20 handy, I can use the surprisingly nice movie capture feature in our new point-and-shoot camera.  The Canon SD870IS, along with a 4GB memory card, makes a pretty darn good little video camera.

Here’s something a bit funny if you think about: I was browsing the blog cubicle17 where I found a quote from Steve Frank discussing his “existential crisis” on the nature of blogging. Now it seems that I, Bill Israel and several other bloggers all agree that the essence of blogging is odd–maybe even questionable–and we all saw fit to post this to our blogs.  

Well, here is the sensible quote none the less:

Depending on which side of the bed I wake up on, blogging is either the vainest possible act of self-puffery, practiced by those who want to believe they are a lot more important than they actually are, or an unprecedented revolution in human communication, no less important of a historical record than the hand-written letters and journals of centuries past.

Sometimes I’ll land on both sides of that fence in the same day. No wonder I’m confused.

I used to scoff at people who watched mind-numbing television.  I thought it was, like sweatpants, something enjoyed by people who had given up on life.  I pitied folks who watched the same inane sitcoms over and over again, spent hours entertained by the Weather Channel or shied away from anything resembling true drama with hints of significance.  I figured they didn’t have the sophistication to appreciate meaningful dialog or symbolism.  I was wrong.

I consider myself a fairly well read, reasonably intelligent person, educated in the liberal arts.  That being said, I now find myself just wanting to watch the most simplistic things I can find on television.  I’m not interested in figuring out hidden motivations or untangle dangerous thrillers; I just want to watch something that entertains me and ends happily.

Many cable TV channels, such as HGTV and the like, suit me just fine right now.  You watch some family take on a remodel or new home purchase, they carefully explain each step and thought process, and in half an hour they are sitting in their lovely new living room enjoying their new lives.  What could be happier. There is just a hint of drama–will the husband and wife agree with on the paint colors or the flower boxes–but otherwise you know you’re in for a tranquil experience.  The funny thing is, I justify watching these shows for their educational benefit–perhaps I’ll learn something we can utilize in our own home–but now I’m not fooled.

I know that with the many things going on in my life, I’m just not in the mood to watch talented actors play their craft and take me on some meaningful journey through heart and mind.  My heart and mind are beat and they just want to be left alone.

Yes, I realize this is simply the latest step in my downward spiral into yuppiedom.  I’m promising myself that once my infant daughter is in high school I’ll re-engage in the world of ideas.