Charity begins at home, at least in the conservative home

A conservative sees a poor homeless man and feels sympathy.  The conservative offers him a job, so he can earn money to get clean clothes and a place to live.  A liberal sees the same homeless man and feels compassion.  He turns to the conservative and says, "give him some of your money."  I read that years ago and I think it was attributed to Winston Churchill.  Of course, just about every humorous quote is attributed to either Churchill or Mark Twain.  

With all President Obama's plans to redistribute wealth and fundamentally change America,  I thought I would do a little research on charitable contributions of the wealthy and conservatives compared to liberals.  The president and the media would have us believe that the rich must be taxed to force them to contribute to society.  The only way the poor can survive is if the government takes money from the more fortunate (funny how that's an accepted description of the wealthy, as if it were all luck, education and hard work had nothing to do with their success).  

One of the neat things about people that run for or hold public office, their income tax filings are available to the public.  So, for a little history on charitable contributions.  The grandfather of all liberals, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave on average less than 2% of his annual income to charitable organizations.  Ronald Reagan, the conservative icon, who, by the way, did not come from a wealthy family like the Roosevelt dynasty, gave an average of 6% of his income to charity.  The Liberal Lion, Ted Kennedy gave less than 1.5% of income to charity in the years that he released his income tax statements.  I'm pretty sure he came from a fairly well-off family.  

For a little more recent history, President George W. Bush averaged just over Obama's threshold for the wealthy $250,000 per year in the years he was Texas governor and United States President.  In those years, he gave an average of 10% of his annual income to charity.  His vice-president, Beelzebub, I mean Dick Cheney, was inconsistent in his charitable contributions.  In one year reported, he gave 0.1%, but the following year gave over 77% (no decimal in there, 77%!!), for an average of 19% in the years reported.

The current holder of the vice president's office, Joe Biden, was very consistent.  Stingy, but consistently stingy.  In the past 10 years, he has given a low of 0.1% and a high of 0.3% of his income to charity.  And yes, those are decimals in there.  He has given an average of $369 a year to charity in that timeframe.  His boss, President Obama is, by comparison a regular philanthropist.  In 2000, when he ran for senate, he reported contributions of $2350, or 1% of his income.  Now, in total contradiction to his belief that the wealthy don't give more, last year when revenue from his two books produced an income of $4.2 million, he and Michelle gave $240,000, or 5.7%.  


National statistics from 2004 were the most recent I could find.  That year, 2/3 of Americans reported charitable contributions.  They gave an average of $2047 or 3% of their taxable income.  Citizens that made between $200,000 and $500,000 gave an average of almost $41,000 to charity, or just under 9.5%.  


The best way to redistribute wealth is to let those who earn the wealth decide how to distribute it.  That redistribution comes through jobs created and obviously through charitable contributions.  Let's keep the government out of the process!

Oh, I could mention that Jesse Jackson and Al Gore each averaged under 1% in the years they made their income taxes public.  But that would be going overboard in making the point.

I remember an old Saturday Night Live with Chevy Chase playing President Ford.  They did a skit with the debate between Ford and Carter during the election campaign.  Carter goes through a 2 minute dialogue about tax rates, oil company profits, and the effect of the cost of oil on the American economy.  When it is Ford's chance to respond, he has that blank stunned look that Chevy Chase did so well and says "um, they, uh, they promised me there would be no math."  I promise, no more math in my posts.
 

Wolverines in the Closet

When Raelynn was about two and a half years old, she visited her MeMe for a couple of days.  MeMe taught her to pretend. When she got home, Raelynn was talking to imaginary friends, having teas, and doing all those things that little kids do.  One of her favorite books was about animals in the forest going to a bear's house during a storm.  We made up more parts of the story with gophers and wolverines.  For some reason, Raelynn really got into the gophers and wolverines.  Soon she was chasing imaginary gophers around our house in Amarillo.  

One day, our landlord, a really nice man in his 60's, was over working on the plumbing under our bathroom sink.  Raelynn ran into the bathroom, and very excitedly asked if the gophers had run through there.  The wolverines chased them out of the closet!  Mr. Frost pulled his head out from under the sink and asked me, "did she say gophers?"  I said, "yeah, the wolverines chased them out of the closet."
 

Kids naturally have imagination.  Play helps develop it.  And so do good toys.  Old fashioned toys like dolls, blocks, tinkertoys, Lincoln logs, and yes, even toy guns.  Our toys have become so advanced, that imagination is no longer required.  Even the toy guns that we sold at Alco make the shooting noise for you.  No more yelling POW as you shoot.  The end of the barrel lights up with a red light and the gun makes noise for you.  

Imagination is harder to teach as kids get older.  Ego gets into the way.  Don't want to look stupid in front of your friends.  But still good teachers in elementary and middle school use imagination and pretend.  Raelynn's teacher in 6th grade taught a section on the Renaissance and gave titles to everyone (he was Duke), and they had a night where they even cooked dishes from the era.  And in one section, they put Columbus on trial for genocide.  I guess imagination can be both used and mis-used.  

Imagination is the first step in the invention and innovation process.  Imagine it, plan it, then create it.  It's also the first step in defense.  You have to imagine what the bad guys will do.  The 9-11 commission said that the biggest reason the attacks were successful was that America had a "failure of imagination."  No one could imagine that the hijacking of airliners could be a suicide mission.  The crews of airliners were trained to cooperate with hijackers and let negotiators take over when the planes landed.  It was never imagined that the planes would be used as a weapon and the hijackers weren't planning to survive the attack.  We never imagined that eleven men with boxcutters could kill 3,000 innocent Americans and bring down the two tallest buildings in the country.


I am fearful that our imaginations might be failing us again.  Like I said before, I never thought that candidate Obama was dangerous.  In order to be elected, he would have to be, at the very most, just a little off-center of the beliefs of the majority of Americans.  And to be re-elected, he would have to reflect the beliefs of the majority.  But, like the terrorists, he and his followers (or leaders) are not thinking like traditional politicians.  They are not looking to be re-elected.  Just as they promised in their campaign, they are trying to fundamentally change America.  Mainstream America did not imagine that that fundamental change meant taking over banks, auto makers, and the entire health care industry - and everything that could possibly be lumped into health care.  Fortunately, America woke up and made a lot of noise protesting the health care takeover.  Some of the congresspersons are realizing that the President's agenda is more than they had bargained for.  Unfortunately, some are either in agreement with him, or still not able to imagine what he really has planned.

Not only is there talk about being able to get the bill signed into law by the President without even going to a Senate vote again, but also adding everything possible that would not be able to be passed separately.  Government takeover of the student loan program, gun control, abortion policy, and any environmental policy are all being rumored to be added to the bill.  Actually public funding of abortions is already in the bill and they can't take it out without risking the failure of the bill when it is presented to the Senate again.  So it will stay in and be taken out in future modifications, they promise!!  And of course, our first response is that all these stories are just nut-job conspiracy theories.  No president or congressman, or senator would be so stupid.  They would never get re-elected!  That's the point, they are suicidal politicians, they don't care about being re-elected.  One of my senators, Michael Bennett, said as much on one of the Sunday morning political talk shows.  He said that even if it meant not being re-elected, he would work to pass the current health care takeover.  He would do the right thing for his constituents!  Just to show how well our representatives listen:  I did something I had never done before, I wrote to Mr. Bennett protesting his position.  Now I get weekly updates by e-mail telling me how hard he is working to pass this legislation for me!

Americans no longer trust their imaginations.  We just can't believe that our elected leaders could be doing this.  In this case, there really are wolverines in the closet!  

Dumping Money On the Ground

When I worked for Avis, we were required to take a class on responding to fuel spills.  The district manager said that since I had worked in and been around the oilfield when I was younger, I probably didn't need to take the class.  I told him that unless the proper response to a spill was to throw some dirt on it, I'd better take the class.

When I visited my grandparents for the summer when I was about 7, I went to work with my Grandpa Tom in the oilfield.  When the tanks are full, he would have to hire a truck to come out and haul all the oil to his buyer.  Since the cost of having the truck come out is the same no matter how much oil they haul, you would of course want to have as much oil as possible be taken in a trip.  A tank could be full, but still have a lot of saltwater in with the oil.  Oil sits on top of the saltwater (think oil spill in the Gulf, the oil stays on top). So, there was a valve on the bottom of the tank.  Grandpa would open this valve and let the saltwater spray out onto the ground.  It was my job to sit beside this spraying valve and watch for the saltwater to turn into oil.  Grandpa would go do his maintenance on the pumpjack or whatever else he needed to do.  I didn't want to let any oil spray out, that would be just like throwing away money.  So I sat staring at the brownish saltwater spraying, waiting it for it to change from coffee with cream color to coffee with no cream color.  When oil started spraying out, I would yell for Grandpa and he would close the valve to let the well produce for a couple of more days to maximize the truck's load of oil.  It was a great practice economically, but probably not so great environmentally.  Oily saltwater leaves an ugly mess on the ground.  

I think even the most environmentally insensitive oilman sees this as a bad practice today.  So, to a degree regulations were needed.  But, as is usually the case with government involvement, they went too far the other direction.  And if the federal government is involved, they will go waaaaaaaaaaaay too far.  And then go further.  And take a minute's break and go a little further.  Eventually they go so far that the producers do not make enough money to stay in business.  The Democrat/Progressive side seems to forget that the reason oil companies exist is to make a profit.  And in most cases, they will do it the right way, both for their profit margin and for the environment.  

Eighteen governors, two of them Democrats, have asked Congress to clamp down on the EPA.  They say that the EPA doesn't take the economic impact of their rulings into consideration when they impose new restrictions.  They have reached the point in some cases, where it is no longer profitable to stay in business.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post about the Grand Junction area, trickle down works in both directions.  When business is booming for the oil company, it is booming for the construction industry, the fast food industry, grocery stores, retailers, and yes, the government through sales, income, and property taxes.  Ever notice all the new schools, libraries, and jails get built during the boom years?  Then the EPA steps in with new regulations, and end the boom.  For everyone.  Including the government.  

I don't know if the current Congress has the spine, or even the inclination to stand up to the President and his anti-business policies.  But it is nice to see that the states are starting to push back.  Over the past 100 plus years, the states have let the federal government take too many of the powers the Constitution relegated to the states.  It will be very hard to get those powers back.  But it sure is good to see the process start.  Not only in the case of the EPA, but Utah has filed suit to prevent the federal government from taking more land and to try to take back the area that President Clinton took by executive action in his last days in office (southern Utah, rich with uranium, imagine that).  Montana, Texas, and others have filed or threatened to file suit over federal gun control laws.  Texas, Virginia, and others have started the process of challenging federal takeover of healthcare.  And with the recent verbal jabs by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts at the president, I think the Supreme Court is signaling that it is ready to reign in some of the federal power grabs.  

Maybe the Supreme Court is that seven year old watching money spray out onto the ground.  It's time to shut off the valve. 

Get Back in the Game

Today is the one year anniversary of the founding of the 9/12 Project. I won't get into the details of the Project, just say that if you are conservative and concerned about what is happening to our country, check out the 9/12 Project.  The start of this project was a call in to Glenn Beck's radio program.  A caller said he was so disgusted by what was going on with the government and media that he had just quit listening and paying attention to what was going on.  Beck's advice was to "square your shoulders and get back in the game."

Like I said before, almost everything will remind me of a Dallas Cowboy story.  In case you don't know, the Cowboys won 3 of 4 Super Bowls in the mid-1990's.  The only one they didn't win was won by the 49'ers.  The 49'ers beat the Cowboys in the NFC championship game (the real Super Bowl that year).  In the first quarter of the game, Troy Aikman threw to Michael Irvin on an early drive.  The ball bounced off Irvin's hands and was intercepted and run back for a touchdown by a 49'er.  Next drive, same story.  Cowboys are now down 14-0 and the game has just started.  To make a long story short, or at least not quite as long, three Cowboy turnovers turned into three 49'er touchdowns in the first 20 minutes of the game.  And the Cowboys were down 17 points at half time.  Cowboys' coach Barry Switzer gave the team essentially the same advice Beck gave his caller, "square your shoulders and get back into the game."  It was probably Aikman's best game as a Cowboy quarterback.   He fell short 38-28, but anyone watching knew who was really the best team.  The Cowboys took that loss and used it as the basis for their dominating season and Super Bowl victory the next season.

If Americans respond the way Aikman and the Cowboys did that day, we might lose the healthcare game, but win the larger game and get our country back.

Unfortunately, I am also reminded of another Cowboy story.  In the early 1980's, NFL players went on strike and the owners used strike busters in some of the season.  Kevin Sweeney was the Cowboy quarterback.  He was an effective college quarterback, but at only 5'9" he just wasn't built for the NFL once the big boys came back to work.  The season following the strike, the Cowboys invited Sweeney to training camp, even though he had no shot at making the team.  In the first preseason game, the Cowboys trailed the Houston Oilers by more than 40 points and the Texas Stadium crowd was chanting  "Sweeney, Sweeney, Sweeney!"  After an Oiler punt pinned the Cowboys offense inside their own 5 yard line, with under three minutes left in the game, Coach Tom Landry relented to the crowd's wishes and put Kevin Sweeney in at quarterback.  The crowd went crazy.  Sweeney goes into the huddle looks up at the scoreboard, the clock and the endzone, more than 95 yards away.  He looks around the huddle at the other third teamers now in the game, shakes his head and says,"Boys, I'm not sure I can win this one."  Two sacks and an incompletion later, the Cowboys punt and Sweeney's NFL career is over.

I hope America is more comparable to Aikman's Cowboys than Sweeney's team now.  I guess we will soon learn.

Public Lands, Hope, Change, Hope It Changes!

When we first moved to Arizona in the 90's, one of the first things I noticed was all the public land.  We went all over the north and central part of the state, hiking, camping, and taking day trips.  Coming from Texas, I couldn't believe that you could do so much travelling without coming to a fence, locked gate, or No Trespassing sign. 

As someone who loves to camp, hike, and practice outdoor photography, I really enjoy the access to all the wild areas of the state.  Colorado also is home to large amounts of federally controlled land.  Take a look at the maps of the three states above.  Any part of that map that is not white is owned in some way by the federal government.  I'm not sure what percentage of Colorado and Arizona are federal land, but it is well over 50%.  Texas is just under 2%.  I read that Utah is over 90%, and Nevada is 98%!  I think the only part of Nevada not controlled by the government must be Las Vegas.  No wonder President Obama seems to hate Vegas! 

Recently the President used an executive order to "protect" parts of western Colorado to preserve habitat for wild horses.  Who doesn't want to protect the habitat of wild horses?  I don't know how he finds time for all his interests.  What with running Government Motors, Chrysler, all those banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, controlling excessive insurance company profits, and getting healthcare legislation passed in spite of the fact that most Americans don't want it.  I bet he watched the Disney movie Spirit, with his daughters last weekend.  And they said, "daddy, you've got to make sure those poor horses have a place to live!"  You know how persuasive little girls can be.  He probably looked at a map and figured that western Colorado would be a good place for some mustangs, I bet he watched an old Ronald Reagan Henry Fonda western that mentioned horses in Colorado. 

Surely it wouldn't be because of the shale deposits in the area that he decided to limit private company's access?  You know the shale that energy companies can extract clean burning, efficient natural gas from?  The same energy companies that would provide hundreds of high paying jobs to people who would then buy houses, cars, healthcare insurance, and pay taxes.  That's what President Reagan called "trickle down economics."  It does work.  It's the only thing that does work.  The problem that President Obama and his progressive friends have with trickle down economics is that private companies are making money.  And deciding for themselves how to spend it. 

I travelled regularly in the Grand Junction area last year and listened to a local radio station frequently.  They started with stories about tighter regulations on drilling in the area, making it more expensive to extract the natural gas, which was going down in price at the same time.  Then, later in the year, Haliburton announced that it was discontinuing operations in the area and laying off hundreds of employees.  Home construction in the area that had been booming for over a year, suddenly slowed to a crawl.  Construction workers that had been spending a good portion of their paychecks in the local stores moved on to jobs in other parts of the country (probably Texas with all its non-federal land).  Guess what?  Unemployment went from 3.5% in the summer of 2007 to 4.5% in January 2008 to 9.4% in today's report.  Oh yeah, with all those evil energy companies, their well-paid employees and their paychecks going elsewhere, sales in the area stores dropped dramatically, forcing more layoffs.  And to make matters worse, the drop in sales brings a drop in sales tax revenues.  So now the local governments are feeling the pain too.  Only the government could screw things up this bad and this quickly.  

So, the obvious solution?  Restrict development in the region even more!  Not what you would've thought?  Well, then you are obviously not a mustang loving Harvard graduate.  

To steal a line from Sarah Palin, "How's that hope-y change-y thang working out for ya now?"  

Arizona Camping

Cathy and I love to camp.  When we lived in Texas, we would take a spring and fall vacation, usually to Arizona and camp.  One of our favorite trips was through southern Arizona.  We camped the first night at Roper Lake State Park.  The park has a tub-sized natural hot spring and a cattail-infested lake, about the size of a small pond.  It had nice campsites, and most importantly, a shower and restrooms.  We like to camp, not rough it!  While we were there, it rained non-stop from the time we finished setting up the tent until after dark.  We cooked spaghetti and after eating, went to bed early, listening to the rain on the fabric of the tent.  The rain let up at about 10, and I had just dozed off when we were both awakened by a loud roar.  Engine roar, not bear roar.  If you have never camped a couple of miles from a dirt race track, it is a quite an experience.  Between the roar of all the race cars and the, apparently state of the art, public address system, it was just like being there.  Only without being able to see the race of course.

The next morning we drove north to Fort Thomas.  I had specifically chosen this route so we could see Fort Thomas.  My Grandpa Doode had been stationed there before World War II.  I thought it was a military assignment, but later learned that he was working with the WPA at the time.  He had a lot of stories  from his short time in Arizona, so he must have really liked it.  He grew up in the same part of Texas where I have lived the majority of my life.  So he and his friends were very impressed with Mount Graham.  They had arrived by train at night, and did not see the mountains until morning.  They had free time on their first day at Fort Thomas, so Grandpa and some friends went to the mess hall to see if they could get a sack lunch and then go climb the mountain.  The cook laughed and told them they were welcome to try, but that the mountain was over 40 miles away.  Having grown up on the comparatively flat hill country of north Texas, they had no perspective to apply to the almost 11,000 feet high mountain.  They were offered some recreation though.  Grandpa said their boss came into the barracks and told them there would be a baseball game that night, if anyone was interested in playing.  Of course, they all thought they were budding baseball stars, so they volunteered.  It was not until game time that they noticed the donkeys and learned the game would be played in front of a large crowd and on the backs of donkeys!

His favorite story of Fort Thomas was about a rescue mission they went on.  The area around Fort Thomas is high desert.  Daytime temperatures go well over 100 and nights get cool.  They were told about a hunter that had apparently got lost in the rough area.  His family had not seen him in a couple of days.  With black bears, mountain lions, and of course rattlesnakes in the area, they feared that something had happened to him.  So a group of volunteers from the WPA camp were recruited to search for the lost hunter.  While it was a break from their normal duties, it was by no means fun.  Searching in the dried stream beds, watching for snakes, and of course enduring the incredible Arizona heat was miserable.  And worse, they found no sign of the hunter during their search.  Grandpa was sitting at the fire with a few of his fellow searchers the first night when one of the men asked the name of the poor fellow they were searching for.  When they told him the name, he said "that's me!"  He had been out hunting and came across the rescue party. Since he knew the area, he joined the search.  The wise man in charge told him to be quiet and not tell anyone else, or he would definitely be in need of rescue.  The next morning they called off the search and returned to Fort Thomas.

Roper Lake and 29 other Arizona state parks are scheduled to close by the end of June due to a state budget shortfall.  A privately owned company has offered to lease the right to run the parks for a profit from the state.  The rates charged would be the same or possibly a little less than the state charges, and they would be subject to state oversight of all operations.  His company runs more than 100 former state parks nationwide.  He said that 98% of them turn a profit in addition to paying a fee to the state.  Arizona's state government is hesitant to contract the parks to his company.  They are concerned about a privately owned company making a profit off state owned land!  Their other option is to close the parks altogether and let them deteriorate while no one gets to visit and neither the state nor any private individual earns any income from the use of the land.  Seems like some state legislators need to hear the proverb about "cutting off your nose to spite your face."  One day, hopefully very soon, we Americans will learn that government is the source of, not the solution to, the majority of our problems.

More Changing the Past

One thing I remember from speech classes is the KISS rule.  Keep it short stupid.  I never had a problem with that in speech.  In writing, well, that's a different story.

So to continue with yesterday's theme about changing the past to control the future.  I just saw a story this morning about a proposal to take Grant off the $50 bill and replace him with President Reagan.  Not that I have anything against Reagan, I think he was the greatest president of the 20th century.  But I think we should respect what Grant accomplished. 

I used to tell friends that I thought President Bush (43, not 41) would be seen in a much different light by future historians.  That he could possibly be considered one of our great presidents with the way he responded to the 9/11 attacks and even with that extra challenge, oversaw six years of solid, steady economic growth.  Remember, we were in a two year recession when he came to office.  You may not remember, since Clinton-loving media types tend to overlook that.  But given the current progressive agenda of historians and educators, I'm not sure that President Bush will be treated fairly by future historians.

It was less than thirty years before historians and educators started changing the facts about President Grant and trying to influence the public toward the more progressive view of federal government.  With the omnipresence of media today, it was less than two years before history was changed during the Bush administration.  I remember driving across northern Arizona while on vacation in March of 2002 listening to National Public Radio (embarrassing to admit, but really it was the only station I could get.  I swear!).  They had a story about Saddam Hussein using chemical and biological weapons and killing entire cities of his own citizens.  Thousands of people killed by their own government.  Now, I will admit that I don't know the official definition of weapon of mass destruction, but I would think that the ability to kill thousands would meet the criteria.  But then again, the same media let President Clinton challenge the definition of "is."  And he's a Rhodes scholar, so who are we to question him?  Anyway, now the same "experts" say that President Bush intentionally lied to America and the world about Hussein's WMD's to justify his invasion of Iraq.  And the majority of Americans believe them! 

The new catchphrase in politics is "control the message."  If you can control the message, you control opinion and you control the future.  That's why President Obama's FCC guy was so impressed by Hugo Chavez and the way he took over the media, then the country with his revolution in Venezuela.  He actually said that is what must done in the U.S. to get the President's agenda pushed through!  And the media is blind to the fact that they are being led around by the President and his people.  Or they are complicit in the program.  I'm actually starting to wonder if they are behind the program.  When you start reading, this progression toward the federal government controlling everything has been going on for too long to blame it on Obama and his people.  It started with Theodore Roosevelt. Then Woodrow Wilson tried to accelerate it and went too far too fast. The American people saw the plan and stopped it.  Then FDR took advantage of the crisis created by the Great Depression and put a great deal of the agenda into place.  Like Obama's advisor Rahm Emmanuel said, "You don't ever let a crisis go to waste.  It's an opportunity to do important things."  FDR pushed through the New Deal, social security, etc. not because he wanted to, but because he had to in order to deal with all the problems.  Sound familiar?  "I don't want to run banks or automobile companies, but I have to in order to save them."  Yeah right.  And once those programs are in, they don't come out, no matter how poorly they are run or how poorly they work.  No one with a brain likes social security, but after paying into the program for your entire life, you sure want to get the payoff when you retire!  It's like a gambler doubling down.  Eventually you have so much invested, you can't afford not to keep doubling down.

One last President who has benefited from revision - Woodrow Wilson.  I think even Obama may look good in comparison.  Wilson is kind of skimmed over in history classes.  If anything at all is said about him, it is usually that he was one of our most intelligent presidents. Maybe that his League of Nations was the pre-cursor to the United Nations.  But that's about it.  But go back and read about him.  He was evil.  Hitler used some of his ideas when he came to power.  Do a Google search for eugenics.  It's an idea that is still around, but Wilson actually proposed using it.  When they realized they would not be able to get their proposals into place so fast, they backed off and went in stages.  I can't remember the name of the lady who advised Wilson on the eugenics program, but she wrote about using abortion to lead into eugenics!  Ever wonder how killing an unborn child became a right?  The majority of Americans have always thought that abortion was wrong.  Yet we have progressed to the point where the belief that killing an unborn child is wrong is considered the radical point of view!  Bush went too far with the Patriot Act?  Wilson actually imprisoned people who spoke out against his agenda! 

In the story I mentioned yesterday,A Game of Blood and Dust from the collection: Last Defender of Camelot, Blood counters Dust's move of having Lincoln assassinated by having Wilson survive an attempt on his life, ending the game with Blood winning.  He says that although Wilson did not get his agenda through, it was put into place.  And once in place, it never would be removed.  When I read it back in 1982, I had no idea what Zelazny was talking about.  Who knows anything about Wilson?  The progressives actually believe the only way for man to survive, Blood to win the game, is for the government to take control of everything and take care of us.

We need to take control of the message.  Learn history!  So much for the KISS today. 

Change the Past Control the Future

In college, I think it was freshman literature, I read a science fiction collection called Last Defender of Camelot, by Roger Zelazny.  My favorite short story in the book was A Game of Blood and Dust.  In the story, intelligent beings play a game where they are each able to change three events in  history.  Then they let history play out and see if human life on earth continues, blood wins, or if mankind eliminates itself, dust wins.  For example, in one of the scenarios, the blood player makes John Wilkes Boothe successful in his attempt to assassinate President Lincoln (implying that originally Lincoln survived).  Anyway, the theme is that with only a few minor changes the course of events is altered.

Our politicians have learned that lesson.  But since they are unable to actually change past events, they are changing how they are reported or recorded or, most importantly, taught.  For example, what do you think of when President Grant is mentioned?  Of course, the first thing I think of is his victory as general of the Union army in the Civil War.  But I was also taught that he was a drunken butcher that only won because the Union had superior numbers and resources.  I seem to remember being taught that he graduated last in his class at West Point.  As President, his reputation was even worse.  Again, he was a drunken executive that overlooked rampant corruption that almost destroyed the recently saved Union.  Take a look at Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character for a more accurate view of the great general and President.  While in office, he would get daily visits from his former Union soldiers, coming by to thank him for leading them through the terrible war.  Sound like a drunken commander who forced his men through a meatgrinder at the unnecessary cost of thousands of lives?  Hardly.  As President, he advocated a peaceful integration of Native Americans into white man's culture.  He worried that the only alternative was "a war of extermination."  Again, not exactly what you would expect from a blood-thirsty warrior.  After leaving office, he was greatly respected by most Americans, ranking only behind Washington and Lincoln in esteem.  

So, why the change in the public's perception?  It's not like he did anything after office to change our view.  Could it possibly be that while in office, he constantly supported the position of the individual states over the federal government?  You know, like the Constitution requires.  The Constitution that he and all other Presidents take an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend."  After President Theodore Roosevelt's term, only 24 years after Grant, the focus was on the powers of the federal government.  And since then, with the exception of President Reagan's two terms, the federal government has been slowly and at times, not so slowly, grabbing more and more power.  So, by the time FDR comes into office and begins to accelerate the power grab, Grant is being portrayed as a drunken fool.  

With me, almost everything has a sports, or more likely, a Dallas Cowboy analogy.  When Drew Pearson played for the Cowboys in the 1970's and early 1980's, he was a perennial All-Pro.  Along with Steve Largent, he was seen as the league's top receiver.  And with his big plays at crucial times, no receiver was more "clutch" than Drew Pearson.  Yet, he has never even made it to the final ballot of Hall of Fame voting.  Why not?  Receivers like Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, who have similiar stats but at least in Stallworth's case, nowhere near the longevity or the clutch plays are in the Hall.  Pearson was the victim of some politics by some voters.  Tackle Rayfield Wright finally overcame the same issues just a couple of years ago.  More than twenty years after he last played a game.  To see the true greatness of a player, look at how they were perceived when they actually played.  Don't let years of revision cloud your perception. 

Grant has suffered from this kind of biased revision.  On the flip side, FDR has enjoyed a complete historical makeover.  Historians and economists have quietly said for years that Roosevelt's policies did nothing to end the Great Depression, and actually may have made it worse and more lengthy.  Yet, we are taught in school that Roosevelt was one of our greatest Presidents and was so beloved by Americans that he was elected to office four times!  He was so beloved that only six years after he died, Americans ratified the 22nd Amendment, guaranteeing that no one would ever hold the office more than eight years.  Just to compare, the Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed in 1923, and today, only 87 years later, it still has not been ratified!  Sounds like Roosevelt was truly loved and respected by all.  Or at least all progressive historians.

I'll continue this tomorrow, I've gone kind of long here!

Everyone's a Winner!!

Read this book! Did you watch the Winter Olympics?  Yeah, me neither.  Well except for a short three and a half hour Saturday morning curling match (game? contest?)that is.  I still don't quite understand, but I just couldn't stop watching.  The fact that it was about 15 degrees below zero here in Gunnison probably increased my fascination with televised curling.  That probably also explains the Canadian obsession with the sport.

I saw from the final medal count that the U.S. dominated the X-game-ified version of the winter Olympics.  And that Russia had their lowest medal total ever.  Predictably, Russia was very upset.  I saw on the news yesterday that any Russian coach that doesn't resign will be fired.  Losing is not acceptable in Russia.  Beats the old Soviet Union response.  Coaches and athletes disappeared after disappointing performances back then.  Kind of a hyper-competitive response for a communist or socialist society, huh?  

If our current President holds true to form, he will soon be apologizing for our winter Olympians' rude behavior during the Olympics.  No, I haven't heard any stories about our hockey team trashing their hotel this time.  I mean their greedy grab of all those medals.  President Obama has tried his entire first year in office to right just this type of wrong.  Now, on a world stage, here's all these boorish Americans acting so, so, well, American.  You know, working hard and training for years, and finally performing better than anyone else in the world.  And horror of horrors, being rewarded for it!  It's just not fair, Americans collecting all those medals.  No wonder Chavez hates us.  How many medals did Venezuela get?

America's Declaration of Independence states that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."  Created equal.  Not that we live equal.  Not that we have equal talents.  Not that we work equally. Not that we finish equal.  Not that we get equal rewards.  Everyone doesn't get a gold medal.  Everyone doesn't even get a medal.  But that we are created equal.  We have the same starting line.

Hopefully President Obama will be able to avoid this type embarrassment in the summer Olympics by proposing some rule changes to redistribute the wealth, I mean medals.  The 100 meter dash will have a staggered start.  Bolt will run 140 meters, the U.S. basketball team will have a 12 ft. goal and 4 players, some shot puts will weigh 5 lbs., others 10 lbs, and others 15 lbs., and of course Michael Phelps will have to wear a lead-lined Speedo.  Gold medals for everyone!  One big stage for the medal ceremony.  How long will it take for all those national anthems to be played?  What do you think the television ratings will be like for those Olympics?  Wrong!  They will be the same as all the other network ratings.  Remember, everyone wins!

Actually if President Obama held true to form, he would just forcibly tax penalize top performers by confiscating their medals and giving them to those who didn't do as well.  Now that's the Russian new American way.

Heaven and Red-eye Gravy

When I was in high school,one of my first jobs was as a go-fer for my Grandpa Tom in the oilfield.  I first worked on Saturdays during the school year with Grandpa.  We just did the odds and ends jobs that were left over from the week.  I think the main purpose of the job was to activate my "mechanical genes."  For some reason, I just never got it.  My brain understood the concepts, but just never connected it with the job at hand.  Electronics, I got.  Even electrical problems.  Not mechanics though.  Those aptitude tests where they show a gear turning one direction and ask which direction the fifth one in the series will be turning?  I'd get better results with a coin toss!  Grandpa tried to teach me some.  To his credit, I did learn to use some of the tools.  And how to work hard.  

I remember laying for what seemed like hours underneath one of the old trucks trying to figure out where to put the starter I held in my hand.  And I had just removed the old one!  I finally got it just a few minutes before he got back.  And to my relief, it even worked.  

One of the best benefits of working for Grandpa Tom, was lunch.  We came home everyday for lunch, and Grandma Mae could cook lunch.  No cold sandwiches or even leftovers.  She really cooked lunch.  My favorite was her chicken-fried steak and homemade biscuits.  One day, we had the best gravy ever.  When I asked her what was different, she said it was "red-eye gravy."  Red-eye gravy substitutes coffee for some of the milk in the gravy.  I think red-eye gravy is proof that there is a heaven.  Anything that good had to be divinely inspired. 

Grandma Mae joined Grandpa Tom in heaven yesterday.  I hope they are enjoying a good meal that includes red-eye gravy. 

Hometown and Roots

If you aren't familiar with Steinbeck's Travels with Charley:  In Search of America, it is his observations about America and Americans as he travels from Maine to California with his dog Charley.  From the very beginning of the book, he writes about his yearning to be on the move.  He also notices the longing looks he gets from both friends and total strangers when he talks about his plans.  He feels that Americans have an inborn need to travel and explore.

One of his observations early in the book is of the large numbers of mobile homes he is seeing on the interstates.  At one point, Steinbeck has dinner with a family whose mobile home sits alone on a hill near the highway.  He asks about the lack of roots such a lifestyle provides.  The man says that his family has never had roots.  His father came over from Italy and lived in New York apartments moving with the availability of work.  His wife's family had the same experience coming over from Ireland, where their "roots" tied them to a land during famine.  They welcomed the opportunity to cut the roots and come to America.

Steinbeck predicts that the mobile homes will become more popular, since they offer a nice, inexpensive home that is, by definition, mobile.  If work or opportunity presents itself in a new location, all the mobile home owner has to do is pay for a trucking company to move their home to a new location.  No more being tied to a specific area because of a home that you may not be able to sell.  Maybe that will be the next recycled new idea to come out of the current tough economy and housing market.  

Steinbeck also speculates about the previously mentioned American need to be on the move and to explore.  He thinks that maybe the need is genetic.  Other than the relatively small Native American population, all of us came here from somewhere else.  Our ancestors pulled up their roots and came to America.  Whether we inherited the desire to move, or we learned the behavior from our ancestors, it has always been there.  And, as Steinbeck points out, from the beginning of mankind, we have moved constantly in search of food or a better climate.  Today we do the same in search of better employment or business opportunities.

Another interesting observation is about communication.  He mentions calling home at least twice a week to get in touch with his wife during his journey and reconnect with who he is.  He uses the analogy of a comet.  His past and responsibilities are the tail he carries with him like a comet's tail.  Steinbeck muses that only 100 years prior to his cross country journey, families moved from east to west going years without communicating with friends and family "back home."  Today,50 years after Steinbeck's travels, with cell phones, we are rarely out of touch for more than an hour. Even in the unpopulated, mountainous area that I live in, I am very rarely in an area where I can't be reached by cell phone.  Does that make me more mobile, or just give me a longer tail?

  

 

Hometown

One advantage to business being down this winter is that I'm not working 60-80 hours a week this year.  That leaves some time to do more recreational activities.  Of course the disadvantage to working less hours with slower sales is the decrease in income.  That seems to be one of the unfair facts of life.  If you are making money, you have no time.  If you have time, you are not making money.  Such is life.

So, I have been reading more than I have in several years.  Two books I read this week both have hometowns and roots as a major theme.  The first one is Larry McMurtry's wrap-up of his first protagonist, Duane Moore from The Last Picture Show.  In this new book, Rhino Ranch, Duane feels disconnected from his hometown of Thalia.  A wealthy philanthropist has started a preserve to save the rhino and the town welcomes the business and money, but not the people involved.  Duane is torn between loyalty for his town and disgust for the way they treat outsiders (anyone who hasn't lived there for their entire life).  And even worse, as he ages, he is becoming one of the outsiders.  His successful oil company is now being run by his son, and now if the young people know him at all, it is just through stories or rumors about his series of wives and scandals.  He even goes through the stereotypical you young 'uns get off my lawn old man stage.  Well, sort of.  His involves the omnipresent meth cookers.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has read the previous books in the Duane Moore saga:  The Last Picture Show, Texasville, and Duane's Depressed.  It's a good, quick read.  As longtime Dallas sportswriter, Blackie Sherrod once said, McMurtry has written great books and good books.  The story might not be great, but he can't write a bad book. 

The second book I'm reading this week is John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley.

I think I'll write about it in tomorrow's post.

More Childhood Pyromania

Like I said yesterday, one of my few regular chores was taking out the trash and as I got older, burning it.  In our small town, the city only picked up our trash a couple of times a month.  So, we burned it in our trash barrels at least a couple of times between pick-ups.  I don't remember if there was a regular pick-up schedule, or if Don just came by when he had time.  He was kind of the do-everything city employee.  I think he was the maintenance department, animal control, and waste management department combined.  Anyway at least a couple of times that I can remember, Don provided our entertainment on a summer day.  Burning trash in the barrel and an irregular pick-up schedule was a dangerous combination.  Trash burned the day before the pick up would not be flaming, but would be smoldering.  Smoldering trash compacted on top of the other trash would eventually produce a flaming garbage truck.  I remember Bobby and I racing our bikes down the street trying to keep up with Don as he sped through town to the city dump with flames trailing out the back of the truck.

I also remember a scary trash burning incident with Jeff. We had difficulty getting the trash in his alley to burn.  His parents had their own gas tank, unfortunately within fairly easy reach of the trash barrels.  After several failed attempts to get the trash to burn, we had the brilliant idea to pour gasoline on the trash.  The tank had a long hose and just reached the barrel.  A few cautious shots of gasoline were dumped on top of the trash.  Being reasonably intelligent boys, we took the hose back to the tank before trying to light the trash.  Jeff lit a match on the side of the barrel and tossed it in.  Instantly there was a fwoomp and the flames shot up out of the barrel, just like in the cartoons!  And just like in the cartoons, the trail of gasoline that dripped down the side of the barrel to the ground and along the wooden fence toward the gas tank also lit up.  I stomped on as much as I could and Jeff ran for the water hose, which of course reached almost to the fire.  Fortunately for us, the gasoline trailed out into the dirt of the alley before crossing back into the grass to the gas tank.  The gasoline burned off before the flames had a chance to get back to the dry grass.  That was end of my trash burning career, and probably for Jeff too.

Back to Don, the city worker, he also drove the truck that sprayed for mosquitoes in the summer.  That was another form of entertainment for Bobby, Jeff, and me.  We would chase behind the truck on our bicycles, inhaling the ddt fog that would keep the mosquitoes from carrying us away.  There's a line in a James McMurtry song titled, 12 O'Clock Whistle,that says about DDT, "that stuff won't hurt you none, the neighbor lady'd say, but encephalitis, now that'll ruin your day. "If you like country-folk-rock music, I'd recommend James McMurtry.  And this one,It Had to Happen, is my favorite album. For some reason, this song reminds me of spending time in the summer with my Grandma Mae. Besides how can anyone resist a song that successfully works "encephalitis" into its lyrics!

Rednecks, Global Warming and President Obama

I'm almost starting to feel sorry for the global warming guys.  Not only are real scientists backpedaling faster than Deion Sanders, but now it's snowing in Texas!  My cousin posted photos on Facebook of his redneck snow skis. 

For those of you with more education than imagination, redneck snow skis consist of old cowboy boots, a couple of 1x8's, a few nails, and plenty of duct tape (he may have used bailing wire).  Now plenty of people would make the skis, take a couple of pictures, post them and get a few good laughs.  But that's the difference between posers and real rednecks.  A real redneck has to actually put his creation to use.  And my cousin is a real redneck!  Very few people go snow skiing in north Texas.  And for good reason.  It's pretty flat.  So how to use the skis?  Duh, that's why God made ATV's!

Now you know what purpose redneck kids serve?  If you are driving the ATV, who's going to ski behind it?  Your kids of course!  They heal quicker, just in case there's a design flaw.  

It looks like they had lots of fun and without any injuries.  And that's what really matters.  You're probably wondering if there are any redneck moms?  Of course there are.  Who do you think took the pictures?


I know that a snowstorm in Texas, or two, or three don't mean that global warming is not a problem.  Or that a year or two years, or fifteen years of cooling temperatures don't mean that we are in a cooling trend. They already fell for that one back in the mid-1970's.  Scientists lose a little credibility when they alternate their panic over global cooling (1968-1978) with panic over global warming (1996-now).  They finally wised up and changed the name to Climate Change.  That should cover all the bases now.

People like President Obama and former vice-president, internet creator, and global warming climate change guru, Al Gore don't understand rednecks.  They mistake a redneck's humor, creativity, and common sense for ignorance.  At least in my experience, the redneck is closer to the average U.S. citizen than our President thinks.  The redneck is your neighbor that comes to help you cut up the tree that the storm knocked over in your driveway.  Sure, any excuse to get the chainsaw out, but he also wants to help.  The redneck is the one that drags the 2.5 ton jack out of the back of his truck (yes, it's got a hemi) to help you change the flat on your Prius.  The redneck mom is the one who brings you peanut butter cookies when you move into a new neighborhood, and offers to watch your kids anytime you need.  The redneck is the one who helps you put a new commode in your bathroom so you don't have to hire a plumber.  And the redneck wife recycles it.  I doubt Al Gore replaces his own commode.  And I will guarantee that if he did, Tipper would NOT use it for a flower planter on the front lawn.

While campaigning, candidate Obama said that in tough times, some Americans "cling to their guns and their religion."  For once he was right.  Where he was wrong was in thinking that that was a bad thing.  He and many others in politics, the media, and education underestimate the "redneckedness" of the average American.  We do cling to our guns and religion,in addition to our other rights granted by our Creator, and guaranteed by our Constitution.  That is what the Tea Party movement has been about.  Hopefully some real redneck leaders will come to the front and our country will get out of the mess we are in.  In the meantime, let's go skiing.   

Childhood Memories

Like the protagonist in the book I mentioned a couple of days ago, River Season, I grew up in a small Texas town.  Gruver, in the panhandle of Texas, was very similar to Jim Black's Archer City.  One of the few chores I remember being required to do, was taking our trash to the barrel.  In the pre-environmentally conscious 1970's we burned our trash in the barrels.  That's what made the job worth doing!  I think all young boys are pyromaniacs at heart.  

I had a little sister, Lori, who was still eating baby food in the old Gerber jars when I was at my pyromaniacal trash burning peak.  Mom made sure I took the lids off the jars when I put them in the barrel.  One day I finally got curious enough to ask why.  Well, mom must've missed the mommy class that told about boy's pyro tendencies.  She said that if the jars were sealed, they would explode when they got hot.  With visions of mushroom clouds in my head, I ran to tell my best friend Bobby the wonderful news.  Bobby and I were a dangerous combination.  While I would come up with all kinds of destructive, dangerous theories, Bobby was a do-er.  I might plan and revise for months and never actually execute the plan.  I was happy just visualizing the massive explosions we could create.  Lori had at least three meals a day.  One meat, one vegetable, and a dessert at each sitting.  Now she wasn't a big eater, but we could count on collecting at least six jars a day.  Six jars times seven days (we burned just once a week and Don Evans emptied our barrel every other week)would be 42 jars!  That would be one heck of an explosion.  Again, being the planning type, I argued that we could stash jars in the garage and collect an extra week's worth jars. We could create an explosion that could be seen in Spearman, or maybe as far away as Guymon!


Well, like I said, Bobby was an action man.  He knew that if he let me collect jars for two weeks, I would convince him that four would be even better.  After four weeks, I would have visualized the explosion thousands of times and probably chicken out.  So at his insistence, we took the paper grocery bag full of baby food jars and lids out to the alley.  I started the fire while Bobby started putting the lids on the jars.  Well, a little not so common sense and caution came into our 11 year old heads in the meantime.  We decided to put just half the jars into the fire at first.  No sense in burning Hansford county down.  Once the fire was going really good, we folded down the top of the paper bag half full of jars and tossed it in and ran and ducked behind the pile of dirt left behind when the railroad track was laid.  We waited and waited and waited.  Finally there was a pop, then another pop, then another and another.  Each pop was followed by a ping as the metal lids smacked against the side of the metal trash barrel.  Not exactly the Hiroshima-like explosion we were going for, but still kind of cool.


By then, even I was getting a little braver.  I suggested that we toss the remaining jars in one by one.  Just for fun, you know.  So we, well actually Bobby first, with me following a little behind, started tossing jars into the burning barrel.  Pretty soon we had about a quarter of the barrel filled with Gerber baby food jars.  Pop, ping, pop, ping.  Then pop, pop, pop, pop, it sounded like the Jiffy pop popcorn on the stove top.  Then the red hot strained pea lids started raining down.  It was funny until I had visions of hot lids landing on the dry grass and setting the great plains on fire.  I was sure that our fire would burn all the way to Kansas.  Bobby's dad would tease that I was too cute to go to jail.  I didn't know what that meant and I didn't want to find out either.  For once, I was the quick action person and grabbed the cut out top of the barrel and risked life and limb putting it on top of the barrel.  I couldn't cover the whole top, or it would fall in the fire. I had to angle it across the top so it blocked enough of the opening that the lids stopped flying and started pinging again.  While I ran around stomping on hot lids, Bobby laughed until he was rolling in the dirt.  But he wasn't as cute as me, so he wasn't afraid of prison.
 

Some More Politics and the Overall Degeneration of Society as We Know It

Like a lot of Americans, I knew absolutely nothing about Barak Obama before the democratic primaries just over a year ago.  And very little about him on the day he was elected.  As Hillary Clinton said, his qualifications and achievements were limited to a "pretty speech" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.  So how did we make him President with so little (or no)knowledge of his views and beliefs?  


I got a very interesting glimpse of the way the average, or quite possibly above average, American gathers information about politics and politicians.  I was in a hardware store and overheard the young - middle 20's - cashier telling his co-workers about the unfair criticism of President Obama's delayed response to the Christmas day attempt by a terrorist to blow up an airliner with an underwear bomb (brief bomb?, probably not, boxers are less constricting!).  He said that Jon Stewart said that the President's critics weren't being consistent.  Stewart said that President Obama spoke to the nation only 10 days after the attempt.  Mr. Bush (it's never President, or former President Bush, always Mr.) waited two weeks to say anything about the 9-11 attacks!  I was pretty sure that President Bush spoke on the evening of the attacks in a national telecast, but I am over 40, 45 now, so my memory might be foggy at best.  So I did a very un-old fogey type thing and did a search on Youtube for President Bush 9-11 speech.  And guess what?  My foggy memory wasn't as foggy as I feared!  


One week later when I was in the store again, the same young man (I have spoken to him a lot and he's very intelligent and friendly, which in itself makes this story scarier), was working.  I mentioned what I had overheard the week before and he repeated his concern about the unfair treatment of the President.  I asked him to do the same Youtube search I had done and said he would get videos of President Bush's great speech that begins "TODAY America came under attack."  Some creative, obviously young, techie types have created some very moving videos with President Bush's speech over photographs of the World Trade Center towers collapsing, spliced in with the day's news reports and music by REM and Enya.  He was very polite and said he'd look it up.


I saw him again a couple of days later and he said he had seen the videos and that obviously Jon Stewart was wrong (I'd say LYING).  Being well on my way to becoming a grumpy old man, I recommended that in the future, he should get his facts from more than one source, and the Comedy Channel is probably not the best place to start!  In complete contradiction to the stereotype, he agreed.  Maybe there's hope for us after all.

Patriots

I've always enjoyed American history.  I never have been able to get interested in world history too much.  I guess I just don't have the imagination to be able to identify with Charlemagne, the Russian czars, or King Louis I-XXXIV, or whatever.  But I love American history.  I am currently reading A Patriot's History of the United States. Unlike a lot of history books, it is very readable. And very informative.  Just a trivia note, I learned today where Cajun originated.  At the beginning of King George's War in 1755, a group of colonists took it upon themselves to take Acadia (Nova Scotia) from the French settlers.  At the end of the war, the British gave much of the conquered territories back to the French, but kept Acadia.  They were concerned about having French loyalists in their Nova Scotia, so they deported them.  A group of the deportees relocated in current Louisiana and were called Cajuns, a slurred version of Acadians.  That also explains the presence of their French influenced dialect.  Impress your friends at the bar with that little bit of trivia.  

One side note, I am reading this book on the Kindle Reader for PC.  It seems that as I am getting older more mature, those evil publishers are printing books with smaller type.  With the free Kindle Reader,I can download Kindle books to my laptop and read them in a slightly larger font.  I can also read in a poorly lit room (i.e. any room in our built in the 40's house).  Another advantage is that the Kindle version is generally cheaper than the hardback and I get it within seconds of ordering it.  There are also a lot of free books available for the Kindle.  The only downside is the fact that they aren't books.  As a former bookstore owner, I really like the smell, feel, and look of a book.  So I will probably end up buying hard copies of this one and a couple of others I have read on the Kindle.

A Thousand Words

I am changing the title of my blog to A Thousand Words.  As in a picture (or photograph) is worth...  

I just finished reading River Season by Jim Black.  It's a quick read, but a deep one.  Anyone who grew up in the 60's or 70's in a small town will identify with the teen narrator.  One of the feelings I came away with, was one of loss.  I don't think my daughter will have the same nostalgic sense of her childhood.   While the characters in this book went through some trauma, it was all tempered by an innocence that is not present today.  Even in a town as small as the one we currently live in, my wife and I would never allow our daughter to wander and explore the way we did as children.  And that is a great loss.  I think the world is a much more dangerous place than it was 30 years ago, even in small western towns.  On the more optimistic side, my parents probably felt the same way about the world I grew up in.  And my daughter will probably feel the same for loss for my grandchildren's childhood world!  I think this caution has cost my daughter some of the sense of adventure my generation enjoyed.  That is a very big loss.

Fall Color

All right, I got the political stuff out of my system. For today anyway. Just wait for what the President does next. In the meantime, here's the last of my fall color photographs for this year. These were taken in the Lake City, Colorado area this Fall. Now I'm looking forward to the first big snow and some good winter photography.

Politics

I have always been fiscally conservative, but generally socially liberal. While I voted for McCain, I never felt that Obama was dangerous, or really that different from McCain. I believed that anyone who made it that far in the process was intelligent and mainstream enough to at least be relatively harmless. Wow, was I wrong! From the bailout that had to be passed RIGHT NOW or life as we know it will end!!!! To the takeover of two of the big three US auto makers. To the takeover of the banking industry. To the appointment of admitted communists, socialists, and marxists to major cabinet or czar positions. Not to mention a tax cheat to Treasury Secretary! To the rush to pass cap and trade legislation that is based on veeerrry shaky global warming (excuse me since it's no longer warming we now call it climate change) science. The rush to health insurance reform in an attempt to take over 15% of the U.S. economy (in addition to the majority of the auto and banking industry). Where will this administration stop?????? Oh, apparently on defense. Can't rush into a decision to back our troops in Afghanistan with an increase in troops as requested by a general on site. Let's take over 100 days and then give them 37,000 troops instead of the 40,000 requested. It seems like a pure power or ego driven decision. It took 100 days to decide that the general was close to right, but not quite. And it took our President to make the adjustment.

Let's just get back to the Constitution. You know the one that both the President and all the Congressmen in office took an oath to protect and defend. A recent poll showed that less than 5% of the people could name 5 rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Let's get back to the basics. Here's a link to the Constitution http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html By the way, it's not nearly the 2000+ pages needed for the health insurance reform bill.