What Connects Us All

by | Jun 27, 2010 | 0 comments

I’m always on somewhat shaky ground when I write about the natural world.  Even though I’ve posted before on such disparate topics as dragonflies,  pissants, skunks, monkeys, and, of course, birds, I’ve never tried to make anything coherent out of these separate natural elements.  Recently, however, I’ve begun to contemplate the meaning of it all.  By all, I mean how one bit relates to the other, and then another, and finally becomes a whole. Lately, S. and I have been rising early and spending time in the garden in the relative cool of the  summer morning.  It’s more or less mindless work.  Pulling weeds, picking whatever needs picking and talking about how...

Politics in the Extreme

by | Jun 1, 2010 | 0 comments

I’ve known that Libertarianism existed as a political philosophy for some time, but I’ve chosen to ignore it.  I’ve known of Congressman Ron Paul (mainly because of a giant billboard on I30 that I pass on the way to my ranch), but I’ve chosen to ignore him also.  I now know of his son,  Rand Paul, the aspiring Senator from Kentucky, and his whacky statements about the Civil Right Act of 1964, and I now I just can’t ignore it any longer. I used to think that saying or being known for really far out ideas would get you excluded from consideration for high public office, now it seems it may be a prerequisite.  When Paul defeated Trey Greyson in the Republican...

Collateral Damage

by | May 28, 2010 | 0 comments

58, 260 is the official number of US soldiers, sailors and airmen who died or who are still listed as missing and presumed dead as a result of hostilities in Vietnam. There are an additional 303, 644 who were wounded including over 74,000 quadriplegics or multiple amputees. Surely, some of these wounded warriors have died as a result of these wounds over the last forty years, but are not counted in the “official” totals. In addition, what we don’t know, at least with certainty, is how many of the estimated 1.5 million who returned with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) have succumbed to problems arising from this misunderstood psychological disorder. We do...

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

by | May 23, 2010 | 0 comments

By now, all of you faithful readers, will have been deluged with comment from pundits far smarter than this writer on the newest lies told by yet another aspiring politician.  Richard Blumenthal, now running for the Senate seat to be vacated by Chris Dodd in Connecticut got caught red handed (or red lipped as the case may be) by the NY Times fibbing about having served in Viet Nam when, in reality, he only ran the Toys for Tots program for the Marine Reserve in NY.  He later admitted to “misspeaking” about the matter, but he was coughing into his sleeve at the time and it didn’t come out to clearly.  According to my on-line dictionary,  to misspeak means to...

Not So Holy Wars

by | Apr 7, 2010 | 0 comments

What’s the difference between a Christian militia and an Islamic jihadist group?  Obviously this is more than one word, but you get the drift.  I realize this subject is going to get me on the very thin edge of what is politically correct, but I’ve just gotta take that risk.   Perhaps the way to broach this subject is to do a shallow dive (I  promise) into the now infamous Crusaders.   I know that many of you have probably forgotten (or never knew) your Crusader history, so let me refresh you. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, nine separate Crusades were carried out primarily by super pious Franks under the franchise of the Holy Roman Empire, seeking...