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A Sendoutcards Kind of Weekend at Burney Falls

By on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | No Comments

Burney Falls in the Fall of '08

Hello everybody! I am thrilled to the bone! How about them Democrats! It was such a sweet victory that blogging seemed lackluster by comparison, so I skipped a couple of weeks (times two). I even bought a vintage coat on ebay to commemorate the purpling of our nation. Yes, folks, the coat is very purple–purple mohair to be exact!

The savoring period is over, though, and now I’m back on track (ahem). But I just can’t seem to shake the feeling that some serious celebrating is still due me and my kind. I mean it’s been 8 years since adults occupied the White House. I am trying so hard to ignore Bush’s last stand and keeping my fingers crossed that he won’t do anything undoable. Thank god for the (“Congressional Review Act of 1996”) a glorious tidbit sponsored by Congressman Bill Archer.

Pushing all that out of our minds for a day, my partner (Chris) and I drove to Burney Falls, which is about 60 miles east of where we live. What a gorgeous day on the Modoc Plateau–home to the McArthur-Burney Memorial Falls State Park and the eighth wonder of the world, (reportedly designated so by President Teddy Roosevelt).

Eighth wonder or not (’cause there is a bit of controversy), here are a few pics and links with info on how to get to the magnificent falls, what to wear and some neat walking trails. I say ‘walking’ because the paths are certainly on the hospitable side. Even your grannie could walk the 75 feet from the parking lot to the viewing area. And have I mentioned the fine steps down to the mist filled basin?

love-eagles

This northern Cal State Park is within the Cascade Range and includes 910 acres of forest, plus five miles of streamside and lakeshore, as well as a portion of the man-made Lake Britton, itself.

While walking along the shore, Chris and I were privileged to spot two mature bald eagles in flight and at rest. Follow the link for a pdf file on the subject. I didn’t know this, but the Lake Britton/Pit River area is home to one of the largest populations of bald eagles in the contiguous United States. At least seven pairs nest here, and it is a winter home, as well.

We sat for twenty minutes and watched these creatures on a conifer branch, hanging out side-by-side like lovebirds. One sang to the other. It was truly amazing! Follow this link for a very short less complex version. I choose to think we heard the male serenading his mate, but it’s my romantic nature. Maybe the boy eagle was just calling to a fish or two below.

The whole Burney Falls area is a fisherperson’s paradise. With his eagle-eye, Chris spotted some fine fellows swimming close to the shore. He offered them vanilla Power Bar (for which I scolded him) but they weren’t biting. A sixteen incher, however, did go for a bit of bagel.

Back to Lake Britton. Formed by damming the Pit River, it’s fed by four (count ‘em) active creeks full of trout: Cayton, Clark, Hat and Burney.

The park’s centerpiece, however, is the 129-foot Burney Falls–not the highest or largest waterfall in our state, mind you, but often regarded as the most beautiful and definitely worthy of a sendoutcard. Not having seen all of the falls, I am reserving my opinion. I did delight in the mist filled basin as you can see from the picture below.

About the park’s landscape: It all began with volcanic activity. Throw in a little erosion–say millions of years worth and Voila! Everywhere you look there is black volcanic rock or basalt. This layered, porous matter holds a ton of rainwater and snow melt, which in turn feeds a very very large underground reservoir. The basalt also hosts a ton of green moss, as you can see from this pic Chris took along Burney Creek. The bottom of the falls

Not enough can be said about Burney Falls–but how about these two items: It releases 100 million gallons every single day and was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney, a southerner whose offspring are credited with saving the entire area from dreaded commercial development. Let’s hear it for the McArthurs! They bought the property and gave it freely to the state in the 1920s. it took two years for the state to accept the gift. Now those were some generous, persistent and farsighted folks!

Speaking of which…

Powell’s Tribute to Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan

By on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 | 3 Comments

Hello, my name is Colin Powell, and I’m a recovering cabinet member of the Cheney/Bush Administration. I’m here today to explain why I support Barack Obama for the next President of the United States.

First, let me say, that my pre-war speech to the United Nations accusing Iraq of harboring weapons of mass destruction was a “blot” on my record.

Secondly, let me say this to those who think I vote based on the color of my skin: If my support was racial, I would have given it to Obama long ago.

I watched Mr. Obama, “particularly in recent weeks,” Powell said, “and he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge . . . in not just jumping in and changing every day, but showing intellectual vigor.”

“I think he is a transformational figure,” Powell added. “He is a new generation coming … onto the world stage and on the American stage. And for that reason, I’ll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama.”

Here are more of Colin Powell’s concerns expressed in his own words:

1. “McCain is unsure and lacks a grasp of the Economic Crisis.”

2. “Palin is not ready. All villages have values…I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president.”

3. The Republican Party “has moved further to the right and Palin indicates this shift.”

4 “It [the negativity of McCain's campaign] troubled me…what they’re trying to connect [Obama] to is some kind of terrorist feelings, and I think that’s inappropriate.”

5. “This business, for example, of the congressman from Minnesota [Bachmann]….We have got to stop this kind of nonsense and pull ourselves together and remember that our great strength is in our unity and our diversity.” (Follow this link to Chris Mathews, Hardball, for more info on Bachmann)

6. “I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that’s what we’d be looking at in a McCain administration.”

7. “Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? Is there something wrong with some seven year old Muslim kid wanting to be President?”

And then, folks, General Powell gave us this example:

“And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.”

NJ Soldier Dies in Iraq by Claire Heininger posted in The Star-Ledger Aug 9, 2007

Kareem Khan: Age 20 Home town: Manahawkin

Circumstances: He and three other soldiers died of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device.

A 20-year-old Ocean County man has died in Iraq, officials said today.
Army Spc. Kareem R. Khan of Manahawkin was killed Aug. 6 in Baqubah, according to the Department of Defense. He and three other soldiers died of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device.

A most moving part of the statement Colin Powell gave on Meet The Press endorsing Barack Obama for president centered on one grave in Arlington Cemetary. It was the grave of a young man from New Jersey who was so moved by the tragedy and shock of Sept. 11, 2001, when he was just a boy, that he enlisted in the Army as soon as he could: Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan.

Khan liked video games, the Dallas Cowboys and orange Starbust candies.

How to Shrink the National Debt

By on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | No Comments

Nothing sneaks up on this pair.

Speaking of which, Winter snuck up on us, folks—without much warning, too. Our four-way irrigation thingy froze this weekend while we were out of town. Water spewed around the well for three days and two nights. I think there’s some irony here. What if I told you the seminar’s focus was on energy conservation?

Say this ain’t so, too. Old news now, but another $140 billion of porky stuff had to be included in that bailout plan before lawmakers could bring themselves to approve it. Hey, what’s another 100 bill when the National Debt is topping 10 trillion as we speak (10.2 trillion).

How many billions are there in ten trillion (10,000,000,000,000)? Sad to say, I think my brain needs more place holders. Just like the National Debt Clock in New York City, both of us done run out of space.

It’s not my fault. Numbers once reserved for the distance between heavenly bodies are now part of our daily lingo. I think it’s high time we went to scientific notation. Follow the link for a refresher course or better yet, here’s a quickie:

To write a number in scientific notation, put a decimal point behind the first digit, drop all those place holding zeroes, count up the dropped amount and put that number up in the air real small behind ‘x ten’.

The National Debt would look like this: 10.2 x 10″ Hmmm, still looks a bit unwieldy. Maybe we need Astronomical Units.

An Astronomical Unit (AU) is the distance from the Earth’s center to the Sun’s center or 92,955,807 miles. In other words, just one Astronmical Unit equals 92,955,807. If we divide our National Debt by this number, we should get the debt in Astronomical Units. Drum roll….the National Debt is 107,578 or let’s just say 108,000 AU. By the way, don’t try this with your hand-helds or adding machines. I found out the hard way that they don’t go up to ten trillion. (error error error)

Happy to say, at 108,000 AU our National Debt gets us out of the solar system and a bit beyond. From Mercury, it’s less than 1AU to Earth, from Venus a little over 1, and from Mars about 2.5. Jupiter clocks in around 5 and Saturn a little over 10. Uranus shoots above 19 with Neptune at 30 and Pluto 31.

No worries. We’ll just go to light-years. One light-year equals 5.88 million million miles or ten trillion kilometers. I’m a kilometer hater, folks, but there it is—the exact number we need, ten trillion. The National Debt is just a little over one light-year.

I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’m feeling a lot better about a National Debt of only one light-year. Our closest star friend, Proxima Centauri, is 4.3 light-years from the Sun. The Canis Major dwarf Galaxy is the nearest to our solar system and it’s 25,000 light-years away. Astronomers who hazard a guess say that the whole universe is a whopping 79 billion light-years across. I think I’ll stop there. (a joke)

By the way, folks, one of the things I was supposed to learn at the seminar was how to change my perception. And judging from this calculated discourse on the National Debt, I do believe that idea took.

Heck of a Job, Johnny

By on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | No Comments

~moon rising before sun~Mount Shasta

When I got up this morning (still riled up about last night’s debate) the sky was pretty dark, but there was this incandescent spotlight peeping over the southern rim of Mount Shasta. Within seconds the crescent moon, its dark side back-lit by the sun, rose up to complete roundness, complete with a bright white sliver.

This was the first time I had ever seen such a thing, so I made a lot of noise so Chris would have to wake up and get a good picture of the event for posterity’s sake. The fate of the world aside, folks, sometimes it’s just good to be alive.

Back to politics. Last night, Chris and I watched the presidential debate. I can’t believe it, but we actually sat through the whole thing twice, the second time on CNN: There were these six score cards along the sides, and three lines down at the bottom supposedly graphing the democrat, republican and independent reactions.

Following these constantly changing lines during a debate seemed stupid, though. It was more interesting to watch the negative and positive points appear. “I think Bennet fell asleep,” Chris kept saying. “Why didn’t anybody give Obama one for that?” I’d ask. Sometimes, we had to back the TV up, ’cause a point would sneak by us.

Finally though, Chris succumbed to tiredness. Left to my own devices, I sat up and watched three more hours of jabbering commentaries, everything from right wing conservative Pat Buchanan to the new kid on the left side of the block Rachel Maddow. I couldn’t wait to get up this morning and see how the debate was spinning after a night’s sleep.

Now, I’ve even gone to the web for more: The BBC online provided snippets from eight different political writers who analyzed McCain’s and Obama’s performances. They also list some key quotes— none that memorable from my point of view, although Obama did diss McCain for singing bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran to the tune of the Beach Boy song, ‘Barbara Ann’.

Follow the link for a youtube video of the McStupid rendition of Bomb bomb Iran, complete with a defense of his stupidity. “If somebody can’t understand that,” Senator McCain said “my answer is then, please, get a life.”

Speaking of which, I find it disturbing that a world leader could sing about bombing men women and children’s body parts into oblivion. Any analysis of his so-called joke weighs so heavy on McCain’s fitness to govern that absolutely nothing can be said to justify that kind of imprudence, no matter how much torture was endured at the hands of the Viet Cong. Now that I know this pugnacious character, I’m not even sure I believe what he says about his imprisonment. Whew!

Steam clearing.

I also tend to agree with the analysts who say McCain showed more passion. But who wants that kind of passion? You’re doing a ‘heck of a job’, Johnny, especially in the anger department. Ezra Klein of ‘The American Prospect’ had this to say: “McCain was certainly more impassioned… His emotion, his passion, came from a nearly uncontrollable contempt for his opponent…”

The fact is, McCain, highly irritated to be on the same stage with Obama, avoided looking directly at his opponent for ninety minutes straight, even after the moderator (Jim Lehrer) ordered both candidates to face each other—something else I found obnoxious. According to the freepress.net, however, I’m in the 10% minority with any harsh assesment of the moderator. Most thought PBS personality Jimmy did a heck of a job.

Moving on. In the end, it was Barcak Obama who graciously made his way across the stage to congratulate McCain. I read Obama’s lips as he held out his hand to Senator McCain. “Good job, John,” he said patting his colleague on the arm with a smile.

For a more in-depth grading of each candidate’s performance—one that involves substance, style, offense and defense click here on Time.com. Political analyst, Mark Halperin, assigned each candidate an overall letter grade: Mccain got a B-, while Obama snagged an A-.

“Two more performances like that and he (Obama) will be very tough to beat on Election Day,” Halperin said.

Spiraling Towards Social Capitalism

By on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 | No Comments

It is not yet time to flee. Take heart and concentrate on the spinning spiral while imagining a brighter day. (This hypnotic moment brought to you courtesy of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory AOML.)

Moving on. As our country threatens to make landfall somewhere in the vicinity of social capitalism, people are putting all sorts of spin on the phenomenon. I’ve listened to the different takes on our nation’s financial meltdown and here’s mine:

Spin is like religion—a mater of personal preference, so why not be proactive? In other words, don’t let the spin choose you, go out there and find one you like. Happy to say, you’re allowed to bounce off as many conflicting conclusions as you want on the way to settling down. Senator McCain does it all the time.

Sad to say, folks, this is one presidential candidate who knows all about the bouncing technique—in a matter of days, he went from the ‘economy is fundamentally strong‘ to we’ve gotta drop everything and fix it. If someone standing in the brightest limelight imaginable can change his position faster than a tweaking chickenheaded hoebag, then so can those of us standing out here in the dark. No need to be an expert on economic meltdowns. In this youtube video, McCain says he’s no expert, either.

Generally speaking, economics is touted as too mind-boggling and dry for the likes of us taxpayers, and, therefore, better left to comrades Paulson, Greenspan and Bernanke. But you might be surprised how simple and juicy the subject of economics can be, even for the common person. Just imagine all that juicy emotion out there on the web waiting for your clicks. I urge everyone to visit the minds of other folks, i.e. tap into what the experts are feeling about Bailoutgate.

Wanna feel riled up? Bill Perkins is definitely your man. This 39 year old dude took out a $139,104 full page advertisement in the New York Times depicting Mr. Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke trampling on the graves of private enterprise and capitalism. “I see it as trickle-down communism,” Mr. Perkins said. “We have a communist action where everybody is paying for the benefit of the few and hoping the benefits will trickle down to everyone else.”

Wanna feel less riled up? Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post is standing by with his more genteel take, A Bailout or a Bonanza: “The uber-capitalists of Wall Street are all socialists now. Free-market ideology, it turns out, doesn’t pay the mortgage. That appears to be a job for, ahem, Big Government.”

Wanna gloat a little? Read “McCain Loses His Head” by conservative columnist George F. Will: Mr. Will likens Senator McCain’s threat to fire the head of the SEC (Chris Cox) to the fat-cat Queen of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. ‘Off with his head!’ she said without even looking around.”

I choose to remember the words of George F. Will, however. To hear a conservative diss his own candidate makes me smile: “It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?”

Conservative DNA Is Not Dominant

By on Friday, September 19th, 2008 | No Comments

red sky in the morning~Chris Tatro (sendoutcards.com/site) photo

Hello and a red sky good morning to everyone! There’s a 20% chance of rain for our area in the form of thunderstorms. It would be exciting to have the rain but we don’t need any lightening.

Speaking of excitement, Chris and I awoke at sunrise to a stunning sight. Every window facing East was ablaze with blues, pinks, and oranges. It was a fast changing light show of rippled clouds that got redder and redder with the sun’s climb.

You know what they say, though: Red sky at night, sailor’s delight, Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning.

Photo: Bronze sunset reflecting in the Straits of Georgia

red sky sunrise

Speaking of warnings, I just watched a handful of young Black protesters in Coral Gables, Florida interrupt a Barack O’bama campaign speech. They were holding scribbled signs that linked this dark-skinned man to the Ku Klux Klan.

I guess all the red skies we’ve been seeing these last couple years weren’t kidding. Everything seems to have gone haywire—we’re poised for a storm, the likes of which most of us have never seen.

Trying to link the KKK with Obama just doesn’t make any sense, though. Having grown up in the South, I’m very familiar with the Ku Klux Klan and its pinpoint focus, i.e. against everybody but White Anglo Saxon Protestant Rednecks (WASPR). Could they have changed that much? I don’t think so.

A cartoon threatening the KKK will lynch carpetbaggers, in the Independent Monitor, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1868.

A red-faced Klansman of monumental girth and meanness lived on my street. As fathers went, he was the scariest by far. Late, one Friday evening, I saw him waddle out to the family Pontiac wearing what looked to be a long, white mu mu. He was in a hurry but stopped long enough to model his tall, white pointy hat with eye-slits for us. Did he ever look dumb driving away with half that mu mu hanging out his car door.

Though his values live on, the neighbor died a long time ago—he died of a gigantic heart attack. For good or ill, that KKK image of him burned itself into my memory banks. This was the very same redneck who stormed in our back door like a clumsy bull one Saturday morning because my sister had invited a ‘Negro’ schoolmate home to bake some chocolate chip cookies.

Moving on. It’s a mystery to me how African American protesters (mostly male) could put Obama and the Klan in the same thought, much less the same sign. Someone must have done their thinking for them. After searching the web, I found out more about these strange protesters: “Blacks Against Obama,” they call themselves—and they’re even against Oprah.

Ideologically speaking, the young black dudes are all over the place. A couple of them said Obama was “endorsed by the KKK.” Others said he was for abortion and gay marriage. Still another sign read, “Jesse Jackson hates Obama.”

According to the article I found, Obama knew these protesters were in the crowd. He originally said they could stay inside and listen to his speech. But the kids had to be escorted to the door when they wouldn’t stop shouting.

I find Obama’s equitable behavior laudably fair, seeing that McCain would not have allowed any known dissenters within five hundred yards of him. What I don’t understand is how these African American protesters made the odd leap about the KKK backing Obama for President: Not under any circumstance, past, present or future, would the Klan support an African American for anything. Unlike most things these days, that you can bank on.

If anyone needs some historic reminders of KKK activities, here’s a weird one from the early 1920’s. I found an astounding article about the KKK’s political takeover of Anaheim, California. Yes, folks, Anaheim as in Disneyland. The KKK had plans to make this mostly white town a ‘model klan city’. Follow the link for more info.

Twentieth Century crossburning in Anaheim, California

Back to Obama: I worry that race will be the deciding factor.

My eighty-eight year old daddy, for example, grew up in the bottom lands of Mississippi, just a bit southeast of Memphis. His mother was Choctaw and Irish; his daddy was Cherokee and English. Neither family owned land after the ‘white’ man came. They were the kind of Native Americans that intermarried and became sharecroppers.

My daddy is one of those American success stories, though. He grew up to be small business owner and a middle class citizen. Recently I asked him about politics and his answer made me really sad. I found out that Daddy will never vote for an African American; never mind that Obama is half-white, or what used to be called ‘high yellow‘.

What you’ve got to understand, folks, is this: My daddy is not a total redneck, especially in the Lady Rothschild sense of the word. This is the very same ‘Daddy’ who stood up for my sister’s right to have an African American friend; the same ‘Daddy’ who went out to the car and shook the hand of the ‘colored’ girl’s daddy when he dropped her off in broad daylight in our all white neighborhood; the same ‘Daddy’ who loaded his shotgun because the KKK neighbor threatened to burn a cross in our front yard, the same Republican-voting ‘Daddy’ who said he would vote for Hilary Clinton just a few months back.

I am so disappointed—so disappointed to have to admit that Daddy can’t make that final step to freedom. If it’s in his DNA, thankfully it didn’t get passed on. All his five kids are liberal as heck.

Too many oxymorons spoil the stew.

2 Bridges to 2 Nowheres: Take Me to Your Leader!

By on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 | No Comments

UFO over Mt Shasta~photo by Chris Tatro (sendoutcards.com/site)

Speaking of leaders, we’ve got less than eight weeks till we get a new one. There’s a scary thought.

Let it pinball around your brain a bit, folks, and you’ll see what I mean….Time’s a wastin!

What’s all this mumbo-jumbo about earmarks? Shouldn’t any state, regardless of population, creed or need, have the right to a spending spree? Or does that honor extend to the populated few? A mute question, judging from reality. The fact is, all Earmarkers like earmarks and earmarking just fine.

Which brings me to what I like best about an ‘Earmark’, i.e. its humble versatility as a part of speech. ‘Earmark’, for example, can be a noun (including a gerund), a verb, an adjective, not to mention an interjection: Damn! Dickweed! Earmark!

A little focus, please: An earmark is a line-item inserted into any bill that anonymously funnels cash to a specific project or recipient behind the public’s back. In other words, any member of our esteemed Congress can direct a large wad of the taxpayer’s cash to his or her town where it can be spent on a pet project, without the Member of Congress having to identify him/herself or the project.

I’ve searched high and low to find some site exclusively devoted to earmarks and found it. Follow the link if you like, but I did tweak some pertinent info from the FAQ section on earmarking:

How can we, as funders of the earmarks, ferret out the identity of an earmarker? We can’t. Earmarkers are allowed to hide behind any pile of crap they choose; nothing says a member has to identify his or her earmarks. So just shut up about it.

Some Representatives and Senators are proud, though—-shouting their earmarks from the highest heights via the press, while many refuse to discuss them at all. One way of finding out an earmarker’s identity is to look at the project name of the cash recipient—often named after the earmarkers, themselves.

Who gets the most earmarks? Who gets anything in life? The more powerful members of Congress. The surest way to excel in earmarking, however, is to be on an Appropriations Committee. The best position to secure anything, including earmarks, is to be a chair of an appropriations subcommittee.

Speaking of chairs, Rep. Don Young of Alaska has occupied a nice, fat, cushy one since 1973. Back in 2005, as the head of the Transportation Committee, Young earmarked funds for the now infamous, Bridges to Nowhere. One of these bridges fellow Alaskan earmarker, Sarah Palin, supported—before Congress ended her non-wet dream, that is.

Back to Don Young, though: in October 2006, Rolling Stone called Don one of “the ten worst Congressmen“. I’m willing to bet the magazine sill stand by its assessment. If you read a little further, you’ll probably agree that this top ten honor should extend indefinitely.

Don Young on the subject of environmentalists: a “self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots” who “are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans.”

Don Young making a pun: The victims of Katrina, he suggested, “can kiss my ear!”

Don Young waving a penis at Mollie Beattie. Whipping out the eighteen-inch penis bone of a walrus and brandishing it like a sword on the House floor, Young said to Beattie (director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), “There’s nothing sacred about this bone!” Young also waved his penis at the rest of Congress, while arguing the right of an Alaskan entrepreneur to sell the sex organs of endangered animals as aphrodisiacs.

As you can see from the picture below, folks, the bone is a mightier weapon than the pencil and gives the term ‘pencildick‘ (a penis of small girth) new perspective.

Thank-you to the blog, A Tiny Revolution, who provided this comparison. I think you’ll agree that the Don Young penis story has much more punch.

Speaking of which, Rolling Stone has a lot more to say about “Mr. Pork’s” deeds as one of the infamous ten: “Alaska’s Third Senator,” and former tugboat captain knows how to haul home the bacon. More than $400 million was earmarked for two bridges. Two separate bridges, folks, to two separate nowheres!

The first, nearly as long as the Golden Gate, was to serve an island community of fifty people. The second, known as ‘Don Young’s Way,‘ would connect Anchorage to a patch of scarcely habitable marshland, making Alaska, the nation’s third least populated state, the fourth-biggest recipient of transportation funds. “…Stuffed it like a turkey,” the famous earmarker boasted.

Which brings me to the subject of boasting: John McCain and Sarah Palin criticized Democrat Barack Obama over the amount of money he earmarked for his home state Illinois, even though Alaska under Palin’s leadership has earmarked 10 times more money per citizen for pet projects.

Pet projects, you know, like the Bridge to Nowhere, the one that Palin was for before she was against. Thanks to this very same bridge, we have to listen to Palin repeat ad nauseum, “Thanks, but no thanks,”

According to the Anchorage Daily, however, Palin campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them “nowhere.”

The newspaper goes on to say that they’re still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin’s subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects — and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

“I think that’s when the campaign for national office began,” said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone — because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.”

Allow me to paraphrase the Washington Post on this ‘thanks but no thanks’ stance:

Palin is failin’ the Pinocchio Test. It would be more accurate to say that Sarah Palin finally killed off a bridge project that had become a national joke then used the money to build a road to nowhere.

Here is an Alaskan website that provides information about one of the Nowhere Bridges—a mute point, at this juncture.

I’m wondering what Sarah Palin is going to do about the second bridge—’Don Young’s Way’. It’s still up in the air, so to speak.

Happy tales,

Laura signing off.

p.s. If you would like a real hold-in-your-hand greeting card, i.e. a sendoutcard , of the UFO pic that Chris took yesterday morning, just say so.

Can Johnny Be Strong?

By on Monday, September 8th, 2008 | 2 Comments

Ba

Speaking of fate! Our fate and the fate of the World hangs in the balance of the upcoming election. That sounds dramatic—maybe too dramatic, I don’t know. One thing’s for certain, whoever is elected to succeed Bush will lead/push us down the path of his choosing.

So, all we can really need to do is identify the path. That seems easy enough. The McCain/Palin path looks the same as the one we’ve been on the last eight years. Oh, I know, McCain is saying he’s different—calls himself a ‘maverick‘. But just exactly what is a ‘maverick’?

Let’s get back to the source: It all began, folks, with Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803- 1870) who was born in Charleston, South Carolina to some well-off, genteel types. Sam was home-schooled, tutored, graduated from Yale, dabbled in the family business, apprenticed under an attorney at law, Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. and became a lawyer.

He was a Southerner, by god, so I have good feelings about the fella! But where did he stand on secession from the Union?

As a practicing lawyer in Charleston, Maverick ran for a seat in the South Carolina legislature. He took a peaceful stance to the tariff issue (a federal tax levied to hurt the South), plus he was against nullification (the right of a state to obey or disobey the feds). This stance was not the least bit popular, nor practical, amongst the many Southerners crying for Yankee blood, so Maverick placed 9th out of 13 candidates. Presumably discouraged, Sam moved to Alabama where he added to his failures by unsuccessfully running a gold mine.

Unsuccessful entrepreneur? Unable to envision war as the answer? How can you not like this underdog!

OK, so now we know Samuel Maverick was somewhat of a pacifist. But where did Sam, the born and raised Southerner, stand on owning folks? Happy to say, he didn’t like that much, either: After his stint at goldmining, Sam took 25 of his father’s slaves and headed for Alabama to try his hand at ‘plantationing’. According to historian, Paula Mitchell Marks (Turn Your Eyes Toward Texas: Pioneers Sam and Mary Maverick) being a slave master wasn’t to Maverick’s liking, so he threw down his whip and headed for Texas.

There was a political problem with this choice, folks. Texas was part of Mexico, an openly rebellious part. Naturally, Samuel Maverick, the American, got involved in the fracas. Seen as an instigator, Maverick, along with about sixty other Anglo-Americans, were seized by the Mexican Army and taken on a three month march to the motherland (Mexico). Although the journey was difficult and the men were forced to sleep in manure filled sheep pens, Maverick writes in his journal that he “’saw and experienced a thousand new thrills.” To each his own, I suppose.

Not too thrilling, however, was the treatment he received upon arrival at the Mexican prison in Perote. Men were chained together in pairs and put to hard labor. On behalf of his comrades, Maverick complained about the meager food amounts and was thrown into solitary confinement (January 5, 1843).

Despite the fact that he was incarcerated and called Fayette county ‘home’, Maverick was elected by the people of San Antonio to the Seventh Texas Congress. Needless to say, he was not allowed to attend. Maverick was, however, offered his freedom several times, provided he would publicly support Mexico’s claim to Texas. He refused: “I cannot persuade myself that such an annexation, on any terms, would be advantageous to Texas, and I therefore cannot say so, for I regard a lie as a crime, and one which I cannot commit even to secure my release.”

Wow, folks! Since when has any politician considered a lie to be a crime!

Moving on. The Mexican government finally released Mr. Maverick on March 30, the same day his wife gave birth to daughter, Augusta. Two months later Maverick returned home, toting the chain that had bound him.

Now it gets even more interesting, ’cause Samuel Maverick was elected to the Texas State Legislature (1851-63) and served as a Democrat. And what was his main focus as a Democrat in this state legislature?

According to Paula Mitchell Marks (the historian), he worked “to ensure equal opportunity for his Mexican and German constituents, to foster fair and liberal laws for land acquisition and ownership, to develop transportation and other internal state improvements, to provide protection for the frontier, and to ensure a fair and efficient judicial system”.

Marks goes on to say that Maverick did not support a War between the States, but, seeing that the conflict was inevitable, threw his support behind the Confederacy. During the Civil War, he was elected Chief Justice of Bexar County and served a second term as San Antonio mayor. “After the War, he received a presidential pardon and was active in attempts to combat the radical Republican regime in Reconstruction Texas.”

Which reminds me… back to the word for which he stands—maverick: During his hopping about from Alabama to Texas, Samuel Maverick left a herd of unbranded cows roaming the countryside. It was this wandering herd that gave rise to the term maverick.

Can’t you just imagine some cowpoke like Clint Eastwood riding the range and coming across a little unmarked ‘dogie’. “Oh that’s just a Maverick,” he’d say to his partner, “sling the little feller over yur saddle, Routy. We’ll take him home and brand him.”

It wasn’t long, folks, til the word ‘maverick’ became the generic term for an unbranded cow. How an unbranded cow then evolved into a free/independent thinking human is unclear; because, by dictionary definition, a maverick is an independent thinker, or an unbranded calf that’s free pickings.

Which brings me back to my original thoughts—although they might have seemed a bit murky at the onset: What part of the Republican Presidential Candidate, John McCain, is unbranded? And what part of his brain is thinking freely?

By all counts, the man didn’t even select Sarah Palin for his running mate–he wanted Lieberman, his buddy but caved in to advisers. This cave-in thing seems like a pattern, folks. The worst was to Bush about torturing prisoners. I guess pandering to the religious right was pretty bad, too. Enough, I say!

John McCain may have once roamed the Washington range unbranded, but that was a long time ago. He’s done been slung over the saddle and corralled in the bosom of the Republican Party. Heck, the dude voted with Bush 100% of the time in 2008.

I don’t see a free thinker. I don’t even see an unbranded calf. Do I have to tell you where I see that big fat ‘R’?

Happy tales,

Laura signing off

p.s. Hold onto your fate, folks! it’s gonna be a rough ride.

Sarah Palin: A ‘Sarah-dippity’ Rise to Power

By on Friday, September 5th, 2008 | No Comments

Friends, Californians, Countrywomen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Palin, not to praise her. There’s enough folks singing her praises.

But not the largest newspaper in the state of Alaska, thankfully. In today’s( Sepember 5th) editorial, the Anchorage Daily News is calling for truth to come forth in the firing of Sarah Palin’s ex-brother-in-law. The whole mess is affectionately known as Troopergate and the Anchorage Daily (unlike others) isn’t afraid to pull its punches. Here are a few key paragraphs:

Governor is stonewalling the Troopergate investigation

“Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she’s on the national stage.

Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature’s attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules.”

“The allegations are that she, her family or administration improperly pressured then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Gov. Palin’s ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten, who has been in the middle of a custody dispute with Palin’s sister.

In July, when legislators started talking about conducting an investigation, Palin denied any wrongdoing and said she welcomed an investigation.

“Hold me accountable,” she said.

The Legislature took her up on that offer. But this week, she basically told the Legislature, “Never mind.”

Wow, folks!!! We’re not done yet. Here is how the editorial wraps up, but, by all means, follow the link and read the entire piece:

“When this investigation into Troopergate started, Gov. Palin’s response was refreshingly open. Since she became the Republican candidate for vice president, her approach has changed for the worse. America deserves the same openness and ethics from vice-presidential candidate Palin that she promised to Alaska voters in 2006.

BOTTOM LINE: Gov. Palin is stonewalling on Troopergate; the Legislature should issue subpoenas.”

Letting the smoke clear…..

If you don’t count the Miss Alaska Beauty Contest, Sarah Palin’s rise to the top of her party began in a step-aerobics class she attended with the power elite of Wasilla. That almost sounds like an oxymoron, but now we know how far one exercise step can take you—all the way to the top of the Republican Party.

Sarah Palin as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996

Speaking of which, I see a nasty little pattern here, and it all has to do with vengeance (you know, that thing Born-agains assign only to the Lord). Sad to say, folks, Sarah Palin fires people for any reason at any time. Where I’m from the Bible-Thumpers call that vengeance.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a knee-jerk reaction when little Sarah feels threatened. I only know Palin pulls the old power punch and tries to ruin people’s lives at the drop of a non-political hat. The firings began with those who didn’t support her mayoral rise, then moved on to the librarian who wouldn’t censor books, and now there’s this brother-in-law thing. Who knows how many victims lie in-between?

I figure this Troopergate thing is just the one that tripped her up.

Happy tales,

Laura signing off.

“What Did You Do To That Moose, Mommy?”

By on Friday, September 5th, 2008 | No Comments

I live on the outskirts of a small town, Weed, California (pop 3000): Greater Weed, I like to call it. Named for Abner Weed, the lumber mogul, it’s ten minutes north of the city of Mount Shasta (pop 3600) and about thirty minutes northwest of McCloud (pop 1300).

For the past eighteen years, I’ve watched a lot of small town people, driven by small town urges, get elected to small town offices. I’ve seen these same small town folks go behind their small town closed doors and make big time deals.

I’m not kidding, folks. These same people sign earth shattering, ridiculous contracts with very slick lawyers representing prison builders, corporate water grabbers, and whoever else waves some beads in their face. Plus they do it behind everybody’s back.

In 1994, for example, the city-elect of Weed happily sold their souls to the California Department of Corrections. I remember when Neva Barnett, the city councilwoman of the hour, gave this excuse: “Prisons don’t go out of business.”

After much hullabaloo and bad blood on both sides, there was a county-wide election. The prison lost by a 2 to 1 vote. it even lost in good ole’ boy Weed, the very town whose coffers the prison was supposed to fill.

Moving on. More recently, the McCloud city-elect signed the worst contract imaginable with Nestle, allowing this multinational corporation to steal water for the next 100 years, among other things. Amidst an uproar that finally got Attorney General, Jerry Brown into the act, Nestle was forced to cancel its contract.

If you want to read an article illustrating how a Swiss-based company like Nestle can worm its way into the heart of an American community, there’s more… Happy to say,though, Nestle gave up, so score one for the little people.

Speaking of little people with big heads, let’s get back to Sarah Palin: The pretty point-guard with a big gun, the lipstick wearing pit bull with a litter of five, the down’s syndrome mama with a gigantic heart, the brave huntress who single-handedly fights corruption where ever she sniffs it out.

…like in the public libraries, for example.

According to the New York Times and other sources, one of Mayor Sarah’s first moves after winning the office on a born-again Christian platform was a book banning attempt at the Wasilla Public Library.

When the town librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Palin fired her. Emmons was reinstated, however, because the Wasilla townspeople objected.

There’s more. According to the Washington Post, Governor Palin used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers who needed a temporary home from cold Alaskan Winters, Summers, Falls and Springs. This uncharitable deed occurred earlier this year, before the governor’s own teenage daughter came down with child.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post goes on to report that the legislature had already passed the spending bill, but Palin went through the measure line by line, reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Just follow the bouncing link to see Sarah Palin’s proud swirly (albeit small) initials.

For example, There’s an ’sp’ next to Covenant House Alaska: “Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.

Teenage Mothers! Let us punish the non-abstainers.

The Passage House web site sounds fairly benign, in my oppinon. It states that it’s purpose is to provide “young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives” and to help these teenagers “become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families.”

Enough is enough. At this point, folks, I need a laugh. Perhaps, Alice Miles of the TimesOnline can provide a chuckle or two. Please, please, Alice dear, can you offer us poor, tired Americans, looking with shock upon the female that may be our next President, a Brit’s eye view?

“Call that a woman? A gun-toting, vehement anti-abortionist with the hide of a grizzly bear draped over her sofa, who was so aggressive on the basketball court that she was nicknamed Sarah Barracuda? She makes Barack Obama look like a girl.

The Huffingtonpost photo catalogue of Sarah Palin

So sick are we in Britain, with our centre left-centre right politicians of the centre, not one daring to have a view out of line with the very thin consensus that passes for acceptable opinion here, that we stand stunned by a woman who opposes abortion and shoots moose; who believes in creationism and drilling for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge; who supports the aerial shooting of wolves and opposes same-sex marriage; who says to hell with the kids and just get back to work; who even campaigned against saving polar bears!

Strange hybrid of a woman. I love her beehive hairdo and glasses, the sexy librarian look.

They call it feminism, but the Republicans have done women a disservice. They have selected a female candidate who is a cartoon – the joker in the pack who will end up just a joke.”

Happy tales,

Laura signing off

p.s. The moral of the story: Small towns don’t have any better values than big countries.

p.p.s. If you would like to learn how to field dress a moose click here.

Pages

Categories

A Sendoutcards Kind of Weekend at Burney Falls

Powell’s Tribute to Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan

How to Shrink the National Debt

Heck of a Job, Johnny

Conservative DNA Is Not Dominant

2 Bridges to 2 Nowheres: Take Me to Your Leader!

Palin is failin’ the Pinocchio Test. It would be more accurate to say that Sarah Palin finally killed off a bridge project that had become a national joke then used the money to build a road to nowhere.

Can Johnny Be Strong?

Ba

Sarah Palin: A ‘Sarah-dippity’ Rise to Power

“What Did You Do To That Moose, Mommy?”

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