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un-babble... finally

2009-03-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

It is so damn GOOD to hear a US President speak with complete sentences, cohesive logic, and interesting and original thoughts after 8 years of hearing nothing but top-level babble. I suspect that even Republicans have finally breathed a sigh of relief, despite President Obama's liberal slant. Disagree with his policies, but hail his ability to tell you about them!

For 8 years I was embarrassed by President Bush's inability to speak, make sense, defend his policies in real time, show a semblance of leadership or do anything but embarrass the United States in front of itself and the rest of the world. I was embarrassed by the fact that close to 50% of the American people voted this man into office TWICE! I was enraged that he took us to war to kill so many of our own and innocent Iraqis and to spend so much of our tax dollars. I was saddened that he took a Trillion dollar surplus and turned it upside down. I was disgusted by the enemies that he made around the world for the United States. I couldn't believe the double-speak that created the Homeland Security department and the lack of freedoms meted out to those that spoke against the US and wore a turban.

I didn't watch the TV news during those 8 years, so now I can read about it as history. This is a much better way to do it. I can get through my frustrations fast and see the outcomes immediately as I read the history.

President Obama is an extremely intelligent, but down-to-earth man. Read his books and you find he has thought about everything and has common sense ideas on how to solve them. Most involve using other intelligent people to construct plans and execute them in concert with our legislators and the appropriate community of involvement for the particular issue.

As far as his success as a President, time and events yet to unveil will tell, but to know that the United States is back on track with firm and intelligent leadership is a wonderful feeling. I think I can raise my head in pride now... finally.

Bailouts

2008-11-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

No body asked my opinion. That's why I'm writing it in my blog. Just in case someone stumbles across this, they will know it.

What the heck is happening to this country? We are suffering from too much "everyone owes me" syndrome. I think our generation got that idea from grateful post-war parents anxious to please us after so much of their own sacrifice before and during the WWII. They didn't want us to ever go through that so they heaped every spare cent on us, making us learn to expect having things given to us. We then transfered this habit to our kids.

So, these same people now seem to feel that since they have had it so good in the past, they should continue to have it good, even when they haven't earned it. If they make bad decisions when trusted with the public good, they think "someone" should help them fix it. The idea that we should reward or "bail-out" people for making bad decisions isn't a good idea. We've made some really stupid mistakes in high places in this country in the last few years that should prove that.

First it was the dot.com disaster. Did mature, intelligent people really think that you could "wish" upon a company a value that had no basis in reality and make it so? How did Yahoo get to have a multi-billion dollar value when they had almost no product? How did so many companies get valued so high without any basis in reality? Greed. Pure and simple it was greed and the lack of any regulations to watch that the greedy monsters weren't taking over Wall Street.

Then we get this mortgage debacle. Thanks to the idiocy and self-serving nature of our elected officials we had no watch dogs telling people you can't borrow money way below market value and expect the economy to stay healthy. We had greedy mortgage lenders who preferred to issue a loan to unqualified borrowers that they could resale for a profit even though they knew their clients had no way to pay it back. Now we have $700 billion dollars of non-existent taxpayer money being manufactured to "bail-out" the greedy banks and help the victimized homebuyers either keep their ill-got homes or get other loans. Thanks to no oversight by duly elected officials. We put our trust in the people that we elected and they let us down big time!

Now we have the auto industry crying again that they will cause the ruin of the nation if the government doesn't manufacture more money and help them out of a totally predictable and inevitable situation. How many times does this have to happen before we stop doing it? Back in the mid-seventies, we got a taste of what driving large gas-guzzlers would do in a gas shortage. GM and others refused to do anything other than a few short term solutions. They eventually kept on building automobiles that averaged 14 miles to the gallon while the Japanese, the Koreans, the English and even the Germans made cars that got from 30 to 50 mpg. They had been told by countless politicians, environmentalists and anyone that had a head on his or her shoulders that the United States couldn't survive much longer with such inefficient cars. Now after the other Greedy segment of our society (the oil barons) have wrung out every extra dollar we had in the bank, no one wants a car with 14 mpg. and few can afford a new car due to our economy being so bad. So.. why shouldn't they go under and every person or company that helped them do so suffer the same fate? Maybe out of the ashes will grow a better transportation industry with much greater fuel efficient vehicles, alternative fuels and a greener footprint for the environment.

This country has made numerous mistakes because the voters and thus the politicians have refused to look to the future more than 2 to 4 years. We didn't elect the only person that wanted to do this in ages (Al Gore) and instead they elected a totally incompetent person to lead the country for 8 years. He has proven his worth through his accomplishments (or lack thereof). I suspect that all the voters that elected him have suffered by losing large amounts of investment money and I hope they have learned their lesson. The lesson? We need to take our duty of voting much more seriously. We need to elect officials that have qualifications to do their jobs, not just vote for friends, actors, or politicians with empty promises to make you richer. We need to stop thinking about how WE personally will make out with this or that politician in office, but how our COUNTRY will make out in the long run. That's true patriotism in my opinion. Flying the flag won't solve this problem. Only doing your homework will solve it. This will probably never happen, but we need to do it to survive the challenges ahead of us.

So.. let's let the auto industry (and their Unions) figure this out on their own. I personally have to figure out how to live on Social Security and any little jobs I can find on my own. It will be a lot harder to buy the essentials when my dollar buys a lot less because the government is adding to the money pool with empty paper promises by printing a Trillion dollars or more of worthless paper to "bail-out" irresponsible and greedy industries. A dollar has to be earned by an equivalent amount of work or else it just devalues it. Let the auto industry mend their ways, start building fuel-efficient cars, work to build cars with alternative fuels and cars that respect the air we (try to) breathe.

Over the years I've heard a lot of people say that they think the Democrats coddle the poor people too much. They complain about welfare and unemployment insurance and the programs that try to bolster the lower income people in our society. They've said, why do people think they are "owed" something. They said, "people should have to work for a living". Well, those same people are the ones who now think we "owe" the bankers, the investment community, the auto industry to save their butts. Is it OK to coddle the rich and not the poor?

My blood pressure has probably surpassed it's danger point, so I'm going to stop typing. The world will not stop or change because I stop typing or even because I wrote this blog. It's off my chest now and you can disagree all you want, but it will still be off my chest!

Good luck in the coming disaster. You'll need it.

Sarah Palin and the Vice-Presidency

2008-09-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

I just can't keep this to myself. You don't have to read it. You can probably guess what I'm going to say.

I first thought that McCain's VP choice was a clever one. After all, it was the democrats that were brave enough to run a woman for President. If you were inclined to think that was liberal and something worth doing, then you'd be proud of the Democrats.

But.. to have the Democrats themselves reject a good women candidate, even if it was for a black candidate, then have the Republicans put a woman on the ticket that could easily one day have the Presidency fall in her lap, well, that's just clever politics.

But is it? How can a Republican majority vote for a woman that has 5 children, 4 at home, and an infant in need of constant care with Down's Syndrome? Who is supposed to give these children the care they need? Obviously, her stint as Governor has taken a toll on her 17 year old daughter who is now pregnant out-of-wedlock. Would Dr. Laura, the staunch conservative talk show host and defender of children approve of this working mother? I'd be interested to hear her take on this. Who would take precedence if Palin became President. Her children or the nation. And her becoming President would be an all too real scenario with the older Candidate McCain running for President and winning and dying prematurely.

I'll admit that her positions on many life and political issues are extremely distasteful to me. Refusing to put the Polar Bear on the endangered species list to avoid causing problems with energy harvesting on the North Slope is one. Being a Moose and Caribou hunter is another. (See photo below as Caribou is dying in agony with Sarah looking on with one of her young children. Do you think she had Caribou steaks that night to relieve her hunger. They probably don't have grocery stores in Alaska.)

I wonder what part of the bible told Sarah Palin to torture this Caribou?

Being against personal freedoms for gays and pregnant mothers is another. Being a member of the NRA is another. Allowing wolves to be shot from helicopters is another. Telling religious students (as governor of Alaska) that God is on "our" side in the Iraq war. The fact that she's had no national or international political experience is another big issue for me. What was McCain thinking?

Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much to me, because if the Republicans win this election her negative contributions would probably pale to the damage McCain and a Republican congress would continue to do in the footsteps of President Bush. Why can't the Republicans learn from past experience? McCain is not a bad man. He's just the wrong man for this country at this time.

This country needs the Democrats to win the election. We can't keep having this belief prevail that what is good for the rich is good for the poor. Unfortunately, the rich have but one goal in mind and that is to become richer. The poor have the same goal, but they have no chance to achieve it.

Just my humble opinion.

Sicko - the American Crisis in Living

2008-08-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've just finished watching the movie, "Sicko". I know. Michael Moore is a very controversial figure. His movie might be considered a bunch of liberal propaganda by a lot of people. I really don't think it matters. Even if only 20% of the situations presented in the documentary about the state of health care and morals in America is not propaganda, we should lower our heads in shame. But I figure at least 80% of it is accurate and to the point.

The point being that almost 50 million Americans have no access to health care in this country and similar numbers don't get what is due them when they have insurance. Millions in this country pay outrageous prices for necessary drugs that people in other countries can get for a fraction of the cost (even you can get them cheaper from these countries by mail).

People's ability to manage their financial lives is the ultimate measure of whether they live at all when they get sick, or live a relatively happy and healthful life. If you've made a mess of your financial life, like I have, or have not had a chance to make a mess of it because of your birth circumstance (being black, Indian, poor, or genetically altered from the norm) you don't get health care or don't get adequate care, and chances are you will die much sooner than the rest.

The fact that the USA is so low in the list of world statistics of countries that provide adequate health care for all of their citizens is testimony in itself that something is dramatically wrong. It's got to be a wake-up call to people who prejudicially think of the United States as #1 in everything to learn that.

The fact that people are continually asked (in so many words) first, how can you pay for the medical care, and second, what is wrong and where does it hurt, tells you something is dramatically wrong in this country.

I've not been able to afford the $1000 to $1200 per month ($10,000 or more per year) for health insurance the past 3 years. My wife and I found an acceptable plan for catastrophe insurance and they wouldn't insure her because of a very common and minor medical condition (minor asthma). So we decided to go it without insurance. We have been self insured for the last 3 years, even though my wife requires several medications and she has had a couple bad medical episodes. The cost still comes out much less than insurance premiums would be. Sure, if one of us has a major problem before Medicare kicks in, we'll be in real trouble. Our drugs are procured from Canada at 40% of the price in America. We go to PA's in small clinics and I'm not afraid to tell them we have no insurance and little means to pay outrageous bills. It works to lower our bill at times. But still we spend a lot of money on medical care.

We are looking forward to Medicare, but my first look shows we won't save anything on prescription insurance, which to date, has been our largest outlay.

OK, you know the problem. Mine personally is no sad or dramatic story. Just a typical uninsured American. Sicko tells of many sad stories, babies dying because of denied insurance, husband denied a bone marrow transplant that seemed to have a great outlook but dying 6 weeks later without it, etc. In fact, I find it interesting that Michael Moore doesn't focus on the lack of insurance in America (that's an obvious problem), but the lack of payment owed to many insured customers for serious diseases. The greed that is the foundation of our health care system (HMOs and Drug companies) is the point of his documentary.

It's also obvious (to me) that many of the rich folk in this country are fearful that they will lose their wealth and power if health insurance companies go under because of a government funded health system. I think that's why some Republican politicians spent so much energy to kill Hillary's health plan and to undermine Bill Clinton. They were representing themselves, their greed and their wealthy political contributors, but not their constituents, for sure. They spread rumors of how horrible health care is in countries that subsidize health care or pay for it in full. Fear is how they try to rule our country. It would be nice to have a leader for this country that would lead our country following the principles that it was originally founded upon. All Men (and Women) Are Created Equal. The conservative right might also remember the teachings of their professed religious basis: the Golden Rule. We should support those less fortunate than us because we'd want them to support us if the tables were turned. What's wrong with giving those less fortunate medical care, in hopes that those that we loved might someday need it too, and receive it?

It's time, NOW, to implement a system that allows everyone to have health care. YES, we might have longer waits, we might have some bureaucratic foul-ups (hard to believe any worse than we see today), higher taxes, and a bit less income for doctors, but we'd have a new beginning in the USA. People would not lose their homes, their pride, their health. They'd have a chance to build this country to a place where we might be proud again.

Thanks to Michael Moore for having the guts to step up and battle the giants (he's pretty big himself). He might not be the best personality to be the poster child of health reform, but he's doing something. Much more than me, and probably you too.

Write your congressmen and let them know you want change now. And vote for the candidates this Fall that sound like they are willing to do something about health care reform.

I've never been a "lover" of the USA, right or wrong. I'm grateful for living in a country that offers me freedom to think, freedom to write this blog, and the opportunity to make a comfortable living. However, a lot of these freedoms have been extracted at the expense of many of the less fortunate in this country. Capitalism has bred greed, and our people need to exercise their right to vote measures to correct this trend towards greed. I want this country to become the best again, but it won't happen until we reform our health system (and our education system while we are at it.)

If you don't agree with this, I'm sorry, but it's your right. No matter how you believe, I challenge you to take the time to watch SICKO. Even if you deny those things in the documentary, you'll know what your opposition is up to.

Hope your days are healthy. I'm counting on mine being that way, because I don't want to think of the alternative while living in this country.

Bigger Profits for the Oil Rich

2008-03-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

It's time I said a few things that I feel about the rising price of fuel. (I know my public is waiting for this.) It's not the absolute price of fuel that bothers me (at least not intellectually), but the fact that the best I can understand, a few people and companies are getting scandalously wealthy from the latest few years of fuel price increases.

A year ago (Feb 2007) headlines read: "Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company—$39.5 billion—even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent." And now (Feb 2008): The company [Exxon] reported Friday that it beat its own record for the highest profits ever recorded by any company, with net income rising 3 percent to $40.6 billion, thanks to surging oil prices. The company’s sales, more than $404 billion, exceeded the gross domestic product of 120 countries." It made me sick to my stomach to even type those words...

OK. Now, I'm a democrat by philosophy, and I still believe that some amount of capitalism is good for this country. People just won't work hard without an incentive. But that's not an excuse for essentially exerting a gigantic stronghold on the fuel market and milking it for all you can, regardless of how it hurts your fellow countrymen. I think of the oil profits as legalized robbery by the oil companies, but worse. No robber could steal as much from me as the oil companies can. It's like stealing on a time payment plan. No robber would force you to pay $400 to $800 a month for the rest of your life, and get away with it.

I've said for many years that the price of fuel must go up to force some action on reducing natural resources and pollution. I have felt that the automobile industry has been as guilty as the oil companies in perpetuating the energy crisis in this country (and the world). Not only have oil companies pumped the precious and dwindling oil resources out of the ground and arbitrarily raised the prices but automobile companies have shown little regard for the fuel efficiency of their products or the pollution created by their products.

We all share a bit in the blame. I could have chosen to buy a car with much less fuel consumption. Unfortunately, most of those cars have a price premium attached to them. A hybrid is way out of my league for instance. People just won't sacrifice a little comfort or status for the sake of the future good of the country. It's called the "tragedy of the commons". If you are offered a bit more of "what you want", you'll take it if you can, independent of what it does to the supply or quality of "what you want". With everyone buying large SUV's, why should you sacrifice your lifestyle, just to save the earth, or to force the auto companies to build a more efficient car, or to protest the high cost of fuel. You get the idea.

The purpose of a government is to take measures to protect ALL of the people even if it requires sacrificing the extravagant needs of the rich. (Unless of course, the leaders are all from the rich class. It's sure good that it only costs $60 million to run for President in this country, or no one would be able to do it.) So, with oil being a resource created more than several million years ago by decaying forests, plankton, and dinosaurs (before any of the corporate oil executives were born), it makes sense to me that it should be a resource belonging to the world community and not a few people living in Texas or Saudi Arabia. Give them a good fee for pumping it out of the ground and for refining it, but don't let them own it. The government has the right and the duty to provide for transportation of people and goods. By letting the price of fuel go so high so quickly without having good alternatives for either fuel efficiency, fuel sources, or transportation modes, they have failed us.... really good.

So, nothing I've said is new. You've probably thought something similar to this. So where do we go now. Well, there are a bunch of options, but none will be done without a cry from the electorate. Make your votes count for something... cry with them.

First, each of us can do something to help. Buy more efficient cars, reduce trips (esp. unnecessary ones that could be combined with others), don't idle your cars, turn off the engine when not going forward, take public transportation (if you are lucky enough to be near it), drive without a heavy foot, slow down, keep it at 60 mph, etc. etc. etc. Do I believe that enough people will do this? No.. not until they are struggling hard to pay for the fuel bill. By then all the poor people will be out of jobs because they can't afford to get to them. Watch out for the next revolution of the people. It's not a far cry to say it will be initiated by this crisis.

Government should tax the hell out of Oil companies and automobile companies. It's their job. Get the multi-billions of dollars in profits that go to gas company executives and share holders and put it into researching and implementing real alternatives to fossil fuels. Put premium taxes on gas-hog vehicles and give them to people buying fuel-efficient vehicles. Take charge of the crisis... damn it, now!!!!!

Whew, ok, I've settled down a bit, and will finally say my life style has been altered by this crisis. I am a landscape photographer that can't afford to drive anywhere to photograph. I live in a motorhome and will barely be able to afford to move it when I have to. I certainly can't afford to tour the country any more. But, it's not about me. It's about this country and this world. What is going to happen when the economy crashes because no one can afford to drive to work, or to the hospital, or to the store? I don't think people will be calm, collected and non-violent. I think the 60's sense of moral indignation will come about again in spades, but this time because of the greed of so few affecting so many. I'd maybe not worry about the terrorists from overseas as much as the people in the lower classes of the USA (yes, we have classes) who will be out of work because it costs them $50 to $100 per day to drive to work and they get paid $100 per day or less. You do the math. (At $5 per gallon, and 15 miles to the gallon, the average commute of 50 to 100 miles per day in Southern California will cost from $25 to $40 per day. Minimum wage in this country ranges from $5.60 to $8 an hour, 8 hours gives $64 at the most, or $45 at the least. Fuel costs (not counting cost of vehicle maintenance) takes up 80% or more of that.)

Health care is important in this country too. I'll say my piece on that later, but until we solve the short and long range problems of energy consumption (vehicles are not the only culprit), we are headed for political upheaval and maybe even violence of a proportion we've not seen for a 100 years or more. Not a threat, just an educated assessment of the facts.

If you think voting for a Republican this year will solve this problem, think again. I don't say there is ANYBODY running for President that will do what is really necessary, but I can't believe that a representative of the party that elected the current President could make anything but a negative impact on the problem.

and that's the truth! (according to me, at least)

Enjoy your day. Stay home and save some fuel. Play with the dog, or the kids or just stare at the sky or listen to that expensive iPhone you bought.

Politics, American Style

2008-01-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm gonna confess. I don't watch the news anymore. I get my main dose of daily reality from 4 minutes of Yahoo News, the brief images (and sub-titles) that flit across the silent TV as my wife watches CNN (with her wireless headphones on), and what I pick up traveling across America in my RV from the random comments from sage travelers. I'm old and cynical enough that I've figured that I've heard it all. I'm kinda like my dog Reggie. I get all I want and need from the body language and facial expressions of the politicians. I don't need to hear them. It also helps that I have a healthy dose of prejudicial reasoning (is that an oxymoron?). I can form an opinion rather quickly just from one quick look at them talking (not hearing them, but looking at them.)

I've decided long ago who I'll vote for President in 2008 and why. It's Hillary Clinton. It's simple why. I just want there to be one female President elected before I die. Why? I've wondered what the mothering instinct would do to someone leading our country. Would their genetic tendency to heal our booboos and make peace between all the neighborhood kids carry over to nations? Would their ability to love an ugly and mis-behaving child give them an edge in dealing with egotistical idiots that often become world leaders? Would their ability to woo a man into bed translate into a peaceful way of dealing with any world situation? Would their clever way of passing the credit for any successful decision on to Dad make for a better world for the rest of us?

No way to tell until we do it. Hillary is eminently qualified as a politician. My only question is what kind of mother was she? Since her daughter hasn't been in the news much, I'm gonna guess she did a good job. (Think back on Reagan's kids...)

If she doesn't pass the good ol' boys muster in this less than fair democracy, maybe I'll get to witness another first in my life: a black man becoming President. OK.. he's not the perfect Black man, representing the descendants of the slaves brought to this country against their will, but he's still the right color to be different. If for no other reason, he seems to be brighter than pretty much any Republican I've heard speak. And.. I'd love to see the good ol' boys in the south heat up to boiling. I just hope he has a lot of security around him. I've never felt that color of skin had anything to do with intelligence. Plus.. he's got to be about 10x smarter than our current choice as leader of the free world.

I guess my consolation prize, if neither get elected, is that our slow, rickety democratic system won't crumble if another idiot gets elected as President. Our system seems to have enough give and take that even poor decisions, lack of decision, and political and economic greed keeps this country going generally in the right direction. We aren't loved in too many places around the world, but we seem to keep our heads about us and do the "average" right thing in most years.

My dream is that a President would be elected that got up on a podium in front of millions and say something to the effect: "My fellow Americans... we will be in deep shit if we don't change our ways. We need to quit wasting precious natural resources, we need to look out for our grand-childrens' children's future, and we need to put moral decisions above economic ones. We need to recognize that humans are finally making an impact on this Earth that won't be easy to rectify for the future unless we make some major changes in our daily lives... now. The boundaries between countries are less important than the way we treat the land and natural resources we get from the Earth. Freedom is something that species behaving smart and intelligently towards their sustainer (the Earth) has earned, not something that you have a right to have due to your birth on this planet. Stop having children you can't love and support! Stop wasting and start saving for this planet's future."

If they said that and meant it, and got elected, it'd be a good sign. All would not suddenly be well in the world, but it would look a little brighter.

So... vote for Hillary, or maybe Obama, or just care a little about the rest of us. It might help us survive another 5000 years.

Hunting is murder!

2007-09-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hunting is bad!

I know. It will do absolutely no good to rant and rave about Hunters and Hunting, except to satisfy my own moral dictates. To me it is a simple matter. Hunters who kill wildlife for sport and recreation are making murder on innocent animals. Sure, there are grey areas, but in the mainstream, it's murder. Sure, the dictionary says murder is: "The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice." OK. Perhaps, I'm dramatizing it by calling it murder, but it is premeditated, it is with malice and it does result in killing, most of the time. (Often, hunting results in maiming or injuring animals.) The fact that it is not killing another human is a technicality to me that brings up the question of the superiority of the human race over the rest of the animal kingdom. As an educated biologist, my view of life is one of a graduated series of evolutionary steps that go from one life form to another (perhaps with a lot of missing pieces that have dropped out over time). I don't see the major distinctions that most people make between apes, chimps, babbons, and humans, or any other lifeform. So us humans can play the piano, but can we fly 7,000 miles without stopping, can we smell another human a mile away, can we see a small insect from 1,000 feet, can we swim for miles without breathing air, etc. Who says we are superior? (We do, but isn't that a bit circular and egotistical?) We know that most higher forms of life have traits that we previously thought belonged only to human beings.

OK, I got off track a bit. To summarize, I don't see the moral distinction between animals and humans, so to me, hunters are comitting murder. So do ranchers that kill pigs for my bacon and sausge and and cattle for my hamburger. The only difference is that I feel that to kill for food is the natural order of things. To kill for recreation is purely egotistical and down right mean.

Hunters often reply that they are the saviors of the animal kingdom. They help the species by thinning them out. That's really just a glorified excuse to kill. Mother nature provides adequate means for thinning. What they might be right in saying is that they eliminate unwanted members of the animal kingdom that get in the way of the human race. (It works the same between the human races too. We did that with the North American Indians, the Germans did it with the Jews, etc.) What gives a hunter the right to play God with their rifle, bow and arrow, or knifes? They say that their way is more "humane" than mother natures way. Maybe so, but I don't see many of them agreeing to kill their grandparents when they get sick and feeble (indeed just the opposite.. we do everything we can to keep them alive against their will and put anyone in jail that trys to help them end their own suffering!) Just let Mother Nature take care of it.

Hunters often say they create more animals in the long run due to the wildlife sanctuaries that they support through their generous donations to such organizations as Ducks Unlimited, and through their purchase of hunting licenses. I say let Mother Nature deal with it. If thinning them out is a goal, then supporting wildlife sanctuaries is the equivalent of fattening the calf, or just farming more animals to murder. If they didn't kill them, they wouldn't have to culture them. Humans are so eager to play God with Mother Nature. Let it alone. Give the animals their ranges and stay away from them! I visit a specific wildlife refuge every summer and one of the celebrated residents are Moose. I have seen about 2 moose in 20 visits in the summers. Yet, they allow killing them on this same national wildlife refuge to thin them out!

Hunters have told me (as a photographer) that I also have the trophy hunter mentality. Instead of mounting a head on a wall, I mount a picture of a head on the wall. I'm just as guilty of the crime of possession and greed as they are. I'm sorry, but mine is a zero-sum game, their way messes with Mother Nature, eliminates a life (or more if they have killed a mother still caring for young animals) and leaves less for me to photograph. They consume natural resources and I record them. It's not the same.

Hunters say they are no worse than any meat eater who condones the killing of farmed animals. Although technically correct, again, the natural way for the food chain to function allows for the stronger to kill the weaker to stay alive themselves. There is no genetic or moral imperative that says, "killing for fun and profit only is OK." It's wasteful, period, and it deprives an animal of their natural life span. If only poor people, without the means to buy food were to kill animals for their own consumption, I'd have a hard time objecting. Instead, hunting is mainly a rich mans (or women's) game, just like fishing. It requires expensive tools (rifles, fancy bows and arrows, expensive fishing gear, etc), expensive vehicles and assessories to camp with (RV's, ATVs, tents, horses, horse trailers, stoves, etc), expensive fuel to drive hundreds and thousands of miles to wilderness, and often large license fees to hunt or fish or large membership fees to join hunting clubs. (That's not mentioning things like helicopter rides to chase down wolves or deer, internet fees to kill animals attracted to automatic weapons and web cams, etc.)

OK, I'm also a bit of a sentimentalist too. I enjoy seeing animals in their own environment. I enjoy studying them as they interact with each other and their environment and enjoy their pure beauty. I think they have the same right that I do to compete for a place on this Earth. I can enjoy visiting the wilderness, searching for the animals, trying to avoid scaring or interfering with them and photographing them. Most of the same things that hunters do with the important exception that my trigger finger creates a digital image instead of a dead or injured animal.

So, it still sickens me to see a truck driving down the road, 15 minutes from Yellowstone National Park, carrying two dead 5 point bull-Elk on their trailer, while adults and children only minutes away have spent their entire vacation trying to see the same Elk or Moose from the road and enjoy it as only a person from the city could. Large traffic jams occur with people harmlessly filling their cameras up with digital moose and elk bits because they appreciate the beauty, elegance and natural order of a herd of Elk or Moose. Someone paid from $100 to $1000 or more to our government for the right to deny the rest of us with that pleasure of seeing them in their normal habitats. Is that right?

Again, I have no hopes of stopping this. People claim birthrights given to their grandfathers and great-grandfathers to kill the local Elk, Moose, Bear, Sandhill Cranes, foxes, ducks, etc, etc, etc over the last hundred years. It makes no sense to me at all. (Their grandfathers didn't have a Safeway or other convenience store at every corner to buy what they needed, so maybe the "birthrights" should stop.)

Only one thing I'd vote for. Allowing Hunters with the correct license to "hunt" other hunters. A higher stakes "Paint ball" game that might even the score a bit between the human animals and others.

Don't bother to comment unless you have something constructive to say. Comments like, "Queer", "liberal", or other childish negative comments won't be responded to or appreciated (but expected).

GRAND FATHER.....

2007-02-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I've written to my blog. Sorry, but I continue to wonder what to include here. Often my personal political views are too intense or offensive and my personal life too boring.

We have since traveled to California and I've now become a Grandfather. This is an interesting and far reaching title. GRAND Father.... like a super-sized Father, or a masterful father, or a major improvement on the normal father, or well, you get the idea. None of those is really accurate. The title makes it sound like I've got a really important position. Actually, I had very little to do with the conception of my new granddaughter, Chloe. I guess she wouldn't exist if I hadn't sired my son Damon, but that's about all I contributed. and... I've not really been a GRAND Father, not even to my son. I can think of a lot of better fathers, and a lot of things I could have done to be a better one. But I'm stuck with the name. GRAND Father. It's a lot to live up to. Being Grand that is.. I don't feel Grand. I feel old. I think it would be a fairer thing to call me Chloe's Oldest Father or her Senior Father, or maybe Aged Father... how about Grey Balding Father? Anything but Grand.

Thanks to tradition, I'm stuck with the title. Now.. what do I do as a GRAND Father? Do I move in with my son and resume my leadership role? (I'm sure I'd be welcomed.) Do I visit regularly and bring presents and food? Do I provide financial support for my granddaugher's excesses? Do I think of wise and wonderous things to say and write them down until Chloe becomes old enough to appreciate such wisdom (or at least until she can understand English..)? If she was a boy I bet I'm supposed to take him to a baseball game. But she isn't. What do I take a girl to? A ballet? A quilting meeting? A doll convention? Help? What do I do?

I suspect I don't do anything immediately but be a good sponge for Chloe stories and pictures. That I can do. (She is a cute little thing.) When she talks (and presumably listens) I can provide guidance that conflicts with whatever her mom or dad tells her, and I've been told I can spoil her like I could never spoil my own children. That's easy to do. I can do that.

I think I'll wait until she quits wearing a diaper before I visit her very much. That might be safer for both of us. It's been 24 years since I've used a pin to hold a baby together. I might hurt her if I had to diaper her. I suspect people expect someone GRAND to be able to diaper a baby. I'm not GRAND by any means.

Driving around the country in our RV makes it difficult to do that anyway. Maybe she will learn to do email before she talks or walks. I can do that. Maybe I can learn to play these on-line games so that I can play with her remotely? That'd be hard for me. I'm not too keen on game-playing. Maybe she can get a web cam and we can stand in front of cameras and have a good on-line Grand Father session.

When she is old enough that her parents will be glad to have some free time I can take her on RV Trips. It might be fun to be able to introduce her to the beautiful country we live in.

Anyway, I think I'm rambling. It's time to stop this blog. I don't think I'll figure out how to be a GRAND Father until I'm in the middle of doing it. It might be fun. I'll give it a try.

Early Spring at Red Rock RV in Eastern Idaho

2006-05-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we have reached our favorite place for the spring/summer time (2006). We are in Eastern Idaho, at a great RV Park, Red Rock, 5 miles off Highway 20, about 22 miles southwest of West Yellowstone MT. If you look at a map of Idaho, we are in a little curved section at the most Eastern, Northern section. In fact, from here you can see the mountains that describe the curved section, which enclose Idaho from Montana and Wyoming and trace the continental divide here. Technically we are in Island Park, Idaho, but we are quite a ways out of town (not really a town, but a 20 miles recreation strip).

We arrived here last week, just as the final snow was melting in the park and still quite evident on the surrounding mountains. They said that the lake was still frozen only about 8 days earlier, but now it's clear except around some of the shoreline.

Only the employees were here (3 couples). We've stayed here from one month to three months in the last 3 years. This year we plan the whole season here.

Anyway, the beauty of this area is almost beyond description, but I will attempt to describe it anyway. We are situated about a mile from Henry's Lake surrounded by a cattle ranch. (The cows aren't here yet.) It is a fairly large lake, surrounded by mountains (Henry's Lake Mountains on the West and North, and the Centennial Mountains on the South. It's in an area called Sawtelle Meadows. Known for its big trout, it also is home to a lot of ducks, geese, pelicans, swans, sand-hill cranes, red-wing black birds, Eagles, and Hawks (and more).

My Golden Retriever, Reggie, and I have established a daily ritual of walking down to the lake each morning, about 7 AM, and we photograph or just watch and listen to the fowl. It is quite relaxing. Yesterday, we suprised a pair of bald Eagles. They sit on the fence posts looking over the cliffs, peering into the lake, waiting for the right size fish to tempt them.

A few days ago, we walked to the southwest end of the lake, where little Hope creek enters the lake and saw two trumpter swans. A few minutes later, 36 white Pelicans flew in, gliding about 1 foot above the water, and settled in for a feeding session. The white Pelicans come here in mid-May and stay about a month for feeding and breeding. They are very large birds and are a sight to behold when they fly.

Meanwhile, large fish are jumping out of the water periodically, finding a few bugs to help them put on more weight that some fisherman will someday feel on the end of his line. I've seen fish as large as 12 pounds come out of this lake. Fishing season doesn't start until Memorial day, so it's real quiet out here. We rarely if ever run into another soul. My wife joins us for an afternoon walk to the lake. In all I usually walk about 5.5 miles each day to the lake and back. It's great to help keep off the additional pounds.

On our way back, as Reggie is running at full speed through the sagebrush poking his nose into every hole, I'll often see hawks circling above, trying to find just the right size critter to swope down and have for breakfast. Last year, I found a juvenile hawk on a fence post and he posed for me for almost 10 minutes while I was about 10 feet away.

There are other animals around the park, but we rarely see them. There is evidence of Moose here, and several have been seen about a mile down the road in the last couple days. Last year one came through the park in September. A few black bears were seen near the road a couple miles East of here in the last couple days. Elk occasionally come down here, but it is pretty rare. I suspect they know where the dogs, people (especially hunters) are and stay away. The one visitor I rarely see, but often smell is the skunk. Last night we think he stayed a while under our bed and made his presence well known for about 2 hours. A couple years ago, Reggie faced one off under our RV and we spent the rest of the evening (and for several months later) getting the smell out of his thick golden coat.

The weather this week has been phenomenal. The first couple days were cold, with night time temps getting to down to the mid-20s, but the last four days have hit almost 80F during the day and no colder than the low 40s at night. This is really rare for this time of year. Today a thunderstorm ambled through the meadows, dropped a little rain, lowered the temps and left some beautiful cumulus clouds hanging around.

One of the attractions for me here are the wildflowers that spring up all spring and most of the summer. Coming early gives me the chance to see them pop up one by one. The first 3 or 4 this year have been the beautiful and bright yellow Glacier Lily, the little but attractive yellow Sagebrush Buttercup, the little purple penstemon, and the purple lipstick plant. By far the most impressive is the Glacier Lily. They are cropping up across the street from the park, about 40 feet from the edge of the forest and into the forest. There are hundreds of them. Each one is a little different than the next. They don't make a blanket, but there are a lot of them that add a wonderful accent to the forest floor. Two years ago, the area across from the RV park, right next to the forest,had a record bloom of wildflowers. I went crazy photographing them. I try to improve my skills each year. I'm anxious to try this year.

Yesterday, the aspens that line the forest suddenly all turned green. This was a real surprise. I was expecting them to take another couple weeks, but several miles of them all at once began to show their bright green leaves. What a sight that was tonight as the sun began to set.

Tommorrow, I plan my first trip to Yellowstone National Park. I finished a job I was working on and will reward myself with a day of photography. From others that have gone this week, there are a lot of wildlife out. It's pre-season at Yellowstone. The best time to avoid the crowds and see the animals.

Last Saturday I spent a few hours in a beautiful place not far from here called Red Rock Lakes Wildlife Refuge. It's only about 12 miles west of here on a dirt road, over the continental divide, into Montana. It is in the Centennial mountain range and valley. Two lakes (upper and lower Red Rock) host many fowl that are protected. It is a dramatic valley, with 11,500ft peaks rising up on the south, two lakes in the valley and several mountains ranges on the North, and west. I was in the large refuge for 5 hours and saw 3 other cars come through. When I go, I go about 20 mph and stop whenever I see something interesting.

I always have a camera in my lap. Saturday I saw Antelope grazing, hawks perching, a Moose munching, trumpter swans (I didn't hear them trumpeting), many ducks squaking, geese honking and birds tweeting (OK.. I'll stop). The Hell-roaring creek runs out of the Centennial Mountains and it was really roaring..as the snow is quickly melting. It is the farthest recorded drainage creek of the Missouri river (3840 miles to the Atlantic). Red Rock creek is beautiful winding through the valley, before it dumps into Upper Red Rock Lake.

Well, if you aren't asleep yet, thanks for listening. I'll add to my blog with more of the laid-back adventures of the RV Guys soon. I'll post some pics when I get time. Meanwhile, you can see past pics at http://www.rvinteractive.com/rvguys/photo2.html.

We have grown electronic ears....

2006-04-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that people seem to have grown electronic ears in the last 5 or so years. It's unusual NOT to see someone, either in your home, or on the street that doesn't have a pair of earphones sticking out of their ear or a bigger pair sitting on top of their head. People are involved in themselves. They have isolated themselves from the rest of the world and immerse themselves in music, television, or talking to a more favored person on the other end of a cell phone.

It was bound to happen. With more and more humans invading our space, we feel the physical boundaries that make us feel safe disappear. The earphones help us feel safe again, and isolated from the crowds of strangers... or even from our closest friends, or spouses.

It is a common thing in our household for me to talk to my wife for 2 or 3 minutes, and turn to hear the response, only to find her engrossed in a TV program, oblivious to my wisdom. I'll never be able to say it that well again... Then it gets even funny when we both wear headphones at the same time.. I'm listening to music and she is listening to one of the hundred or so murder/crime programs that are on TV(CSI New York, Las Vegas, Miami, St. Louis, etc....Murder He wrote.. The Unit...Criminal Minds, etc etc..) (I often wonder if she is slyly learning how to commit the perfect murder of her husband.) She might say something to me, which I'll ignore since I can't hear her, then she gets my attention, and by the time I have my headphones off to ask what she wants, she has hers on again... until we usually give up communicating or both take them off. (Gosh, two people in the same close space without headphones.. is that some kind of new age sex?)

Then, there are the times when you find something in a book, on the web, or in a movie that is really interesting and you turn to share it with your spouse and she (or he) has earphones on. You realize that they will have to pause the DVD, the TIVO, or iPOD, take the earphones off and ask you to repeat what you said, and what was to be an interesting but pretty much unimportant remark turns into a big deal... you feel like they might say or feel... "you interupted me for that comment... again?" So, we start to keep things to ourselves more and more. Not a great commentary on the future of marital relationships.

Of course, you can understand teenagers wearing them. Anything to muffle the sounds of parents fighting, or commanding them to do something undesirable (like everything) is understandable. I'm sure they have trouble talking with each other in the same way as adults do when wearing earphones. It must not bother them as much. It must be scary to go on a date and neither have earphones with them. (Do they do that?) Do teenagers call "unprotected sex" that sex they have without wearing earphones?

Of course, the most irritating place you see people with earphones is in a car on the freeway. You see them alone on the freeway, animated in a conversation, apparently with themselves and then you see the earphone and microphone. You wonder if they will see the car in front of them slow down, or quickly turn in front of you to make that left turn off the freeway they almost didn't see, or.. just driving too slow.

The most confusing is when I go up to a receptionist who appears to be looking at you, ready to greet you, and she starts talking.. "your red hair is really appealing, you should get it done again. Just let me know when and I'll go with you..." confused I say 'huh? I don't have red hair..miss, what are you talking about?'. "Oh sorry, I'm on the phone.. just a minute... gotta go Mabel, later.." No evidence of a phone, until you see the little tube coming out of her ear.

I have a suggestion. They should start making headphones with little microphones and transmitters so we can cut in on the material people listen to. That would be especially good at home. I can then override the kids or my wife's program material to announce.."you should hear this great piece by Glenn Miller..." Think of being able to actually talk to the driver next to you... (shiver!)

Maybe we will evolve to the place where everyone wears a headphone and microphone, kinda like you would wear glasses. You'd always be in touch... then again.. you could just not wear them and it might accomplish the same thing.

We are a species in need of constant stimulation it appears. Music pounding our ears, TV pulsing our eyes, vibraters shaking our skin, ATVs bouncing our brains against our skulls, etc.

Just to relax... what's that? Quiet? What's that? Calm, What's that...

Too Much News....

2006-04-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

I've been off the Evening News routine for at least 5 years, actually it was the day that Bush was sworn in for President. I decided that to reduce my stress about Bush becoming Pres, I'd just not watch him. I've kept my word... except for a few times my wife had CNN on when I entered our RV.

I've been thinking a lot about the news. I do see a bit of stuff like Larry King Live, when my wife has it on, so I know a little about what's on. My feeling about the TV news programs is this: they are first, well-overdone, second, professionalized gossip, third, for the most part way too repetitious, even when the names of the victims changes, fourth, fear-inducing, nay-saying to the nth degree, and fifth (there are many more points), way too self-indulgent.

News is big business today. Not a way to inform us, but a way to provoke us and to sell us. Think about the last newscast you saw. Were you happy and content after watching it or did you want to strangle someone nearby, or send a package of white powder to the lastest power-grabbing corrupt politician? Did it inform you of the latest thing to beware of in your life, the latest reason to look over your shoulder, the latest scam to protect against and the latest chemical threat to your water supply that might happen... etc etc ad borum.....

The news scares us into buying things.. buying stuff for our homes to make it safer, buying things to carry with us to protect us in the event of a mugging, a person to hire to sue someone when they harm you, a person to vote for because he or she will protect you, etc, etc etc. We have a fear based economy. Just think about it, and look at the ads on TV to see which ones are based on rationale arguments for something you need, and which ones are just fear inducing.

I have a suggestion. If NBC wants to start to drag itself out of the rating doldrums, they should just give up the evening news and produce the best weekly news program possible, with a monthly one to summarize the months news.

Then, the little details of who shot whom, who cheated whom, what flood did what to whom where, etc would all start to sort themselves out into some reasonable priority.

Again, I have no hope that this would work. People generally want to hear gossip.. the more and the more often the better. It's better than engaging their minds in something creative and productive. Sigh... (again).

Death Valley perks me up (finally)

2006-04-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive from Pahrump, Nevada to Death Valley National Park to do some photography. I had been waiting for a good weather day before we packed up and left Nevada, but it wasn't going to happen, so I took what nature offered. The Morning was offered to me as partly but mostly cloudy, with rain approaching by afternoon. Well, I left early in the morning, (my time of day) and headed out of town (after a quick stop for a sinful taste of a McGriddle for breakfast). I was anticipating a day with nature's beauty and a day away from civilization.

My attitude quickly deteriorated as I drove past the structures that went for the town of Pahrump. First, 2nd rate casinos, then what seemed like miles of one-off little junky looking shops, and then the amazing variety of ugly homes with discarded automobiles in the front yard, punctuated by the occasional rotting motorhome or bus, trash everywhere, a wrecking service next to a neighborhood store, etc. I think what got me going the most was my view of the horizon beyond these unsightly human artifaces. It was so beautiful. The mountains in every direction presented a unique type of geology and form. The sky was blue and the clouds that were there seemed to be just right for photography. But, if I let my sight return to the road (which habit enforces), and the surroundings, I just couldn't avoid the negative thoughts about how little respect us humans (at least us Americans in the USA) have for the environment we inhabit. My thoughts briefly returned to the neat little homes in the villages of northern Europe. Rarely would you see anything (house, tractor, automobile, store, church) not still in use, productive and accentuated with a few flowers, even if it was 300 years old. People kept up their yards no matter what the "income level" of the neighborhood. You could tell there was a built-in pride of the people about where they lived.

I'm really not picking on Pahrump, Nevada. Riding around in our RV for almost 5 years, this is common all over the USA. Nevada tends to be a bit more "independent" in their approach to the environment. (Can you blame them when the US Government uses their state to blow up Nuclear bombs and wants to store the nation's Nuclear waste in their state?)

I guess what finally put me over the top in Pahrump was this home I passed built on the top front edge of a really nice butte jutting from the side of a mountain. The house was not well done and the yard and environs appeared to be pretty junky. Without the house and the human environs, I would have stopped to take a picture. This reminds me of several areas in Wyoming that have homes (some nice looking, and others with the junk cars, etc.) built at the base of beautiful red rock that normally would be part of a National park or State Park.

Where is the pride? Is it buried in years of treating the USA as a limitless frontier that can be trashed because there is so much of it? Does it stem from the same energy that makes us decide to build a building, spend maybe millions on it, only to tear it down when it doesn't seem to suit our whims or current business plan? Does anyone care about the natural resources we took from the Earth to build it? Does anyone care about the impact to the natural resources when we discard it? At times I think not... Does it have anything to do with our obscession with the fantasies on TV, the time we spend coating our brains with TV waves instead of creating something we might find some pride in? Even if TV were totally educational and positive (it isn't by a long shot), the time we spend letting others do our thinking amounts to vast years that could be put to something productive... OK.. I'm getting a bit off-base.

So.... I continued on the highway until suddenly, there were no more structures. Obviously, government owned land... then my spirits started to peak again, slowly as the mountains and landscape around me started to rise in a sudden drama that brought me to thinking about the eons of time they formed without human intervention and the stark beauty that only nature can serve up. My breathing slowed, a smile started to form on my face, and I was happy again. I stopped and took a panorama of a beautiful mountain range (of which there are many). I did have to walk a bit to eliminate the power lines that caused a momentary loss of my attention to the landscape, but as I got out a few hundred yards from the lonely highway... I even screamed a bit of thanks to the land. (with apologies to any of the nearby fauna).

The mixtures of colors in the exposed sides of the eroded mountains, the varigated lines tracing the history of the slow and steady mixing of Earths surface, the rocky, treeless landscape, and expansive white (salt) covered valley makes this place a rarity among National Parks. Needless to say, the beauty of Death Valley lifted my spirits and lasted at least until I returned home at the end of the day.

Whew... these blogs are good therapy to get some things off my chest.. even if no one else ever reads them.

High Technology Dentist

2006-02-22T17:15:00.000-08:00

I had to tell you about my new found dentist. Saturday I bit down on a Hershey Bar (from the frig) and broke the side of a tooth that had a Gold crown on it. It managed to leave a really sharp bothersome edge that prevented me from talking well, and it cut my tongue. So.. I was anxious to find a dentist, come Monday to give me some quick fix. This is the second time in 8 months that I have been to the dentist thanks to CANDY. Last time I took one bite of some English carmels and when I opened my mouth, the carmel contained a cap to another tooth (it could have been the same one come to think of it...)

Anyway, my mouth is not really what I wanted to discuss. This Dentist I'm about to discuss has a practice in Hemet, California. Hemet is best known for its many retired folk living in semi-permanent trailer homes. It's not known as the hotbed of medical or dental innovation. (Though it probably has a more than normal density of such professionals due to the demands of older age Americans for staying healthy.)

First clue: I found his web site and he had his email address on it. So.. about 7 PM on Sunday I emailed him with my problem, and surprise.. he returned the email in less than an hour telling me to call him for an Appointment the next Morning. I was shocked. Most medical professionals have a hard time writing the word e-mail, much less knowing how to use it. (One of my pet peeves: a medical profession that eschews the use of computer technology to do any more than posting bills and keeping track of client addresses.)

Anyway, I visited Dr. David May on Monday morning. (His secretary asked when was the soonest I could get there...there is an eight month wait in England for a dentist). He said we would have to build a new cap for the tooth since most of the side was gone. Now, normally you'd have to have an impression of the empty hole in the tooth sent to a lab and wait two weeks. He has a 3D CAD system in the office that takes a picture of the tooth (actually two images, one of the tooth with the crown intact, and one after the crown was taken out), and it creates a 3D image of the area on the computer screen (he's doing this next to me in the dentist chair where I can see it.) He sits there and uses the system to build a tooth on the screen, turns it around for different views, and generally guides the program to a 3D model of a new "tooth hopeful".

Once he is satisfied that the tooth is right and the clearances between the teeth are OK, he uses an in-office wireless ethernet to control a milling machine in the next room to create the enamel looking cap. Once the 3D image is constructed it takes 18 minutes. So, within less than 1.5 hours I was out of there with a new tooth crown in my mouth. And.. since it replaced the Gold one, it looks like a normal tooth.

In addition, he uses digital x-ray photography to have instant x-rays and it reduces the x-ray dosage by a power of ten! I asked him if I could have a copy of the x-ray and he asked if I had a portable USB drive (I didn't), so he said he would email it to me.

So.. maybe this isn't that interesting to you, but I'm impressed that this guy would spend almost $100,000 on such a machine for his private practise so that he could have more control over the end result and happier clients.

One other thing. This dentist was willing to spend enough time with me to make me feel important, or at least that I wasn't in a MacDonald's fast-food line. So many dentists are too busy to talk to their patients. He answered all my questions and took the time to show me how everything was done.

If you need a good dentist in Southern California, Dr. David May in Hemet, California is a good bet.

Something Good

2006-02-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I don't want to sound like an angry man, or a man without anything positive to say, so I want to promise any readers that I'll begin to balance my negative remarks with positive remarks. I don't mean that I'll balance every subject to make it sound neutral, but if I disparage George Bush, I'll think of something positive about the world to say at the same time.

People get tired of hearing of other people bitching and moaning about the world. That's because it's so easy to do. There's so much wrong. I suspect it's a bit harder to praise or find positive in something around you. I'm as guilty (or more) than the next person, so I'll try harder to balance my opinions with something positive. (Of course if I'm talking about something factual, or neutral, it doesn't count!)

I'm afraid I learned my negative attitude early in life. I was taught to be skeptical about everything. Not that being skeptical is bad.. it just doesnt' need to form the whole structure that holds my life together. It's good to be skeptical on the Internet, or when buying a car, or shopping for carpet, for instance.

So, what is my positive thing to balance my nasty thoughts I expressed yesterday about living in or near Los Angeles? Well, today I'm practising my music. I love music. Music is something I'd be unhappy without. It not only appeals to the emotional part of my being, but to the logical and creative sides. I'm always amazed at the talent I hear everywhere in music. It's closest to the universal form of communication that we can achieve. I smile when I hear a clever piece of lyric or melody. I amaze at the technical abilities of really good musicians, and I enjoy playing myself. (I learned Saxophone in high school, played a bit in college, and recently revived my playing with an electronic wind instrument (Yamaha WX-7 wind controller and VL1M synthesizer). It's a perfect instrument for the RV. I can use earphones and all my wife hears is the clicky-clack of my fingers (and that is soft).

So.. today's positive note is that music is good. I listen every day for several hours: classical, jazz, popular 40's, and show tunes (no I'm not gay). I listen to XM Satellite Radio, or music on my iPod when I'm walking the dog. Another day I'll talk about my feelings about where things are going with the technology of music.

So... have a nice day (even if you do live in Los Angeles).

In Los Angeles

2006-02-03T19:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry for being so negligent of my blog. It's hard to write a blog. It's hard to decide what of the million thoughts I have each day to share with total strangers, and some people that aren't.

In any case, I'll try to do better. I want to stay away from politics. It gets my stress level going and that is something I'm trying to minimize. I'm still very unhappy with the US political situation.. but that's another story.

Well, I'm not doing too well at managing my stress while in Los Angeles. Today we moved from one of our favorite haunts in the mountains above Palm Springs to another place about 60 miles away on the edge of Los Angeles. The RV Park isn't so bad, (it's up a canyon hidden from the rest of LA) but the freeways getting there are horrendous.

After arriving in the RV Park (Mountain Lakes in Lytle Creek), I left in the Jeep to go to Upland to take my wife to see her sister. I noticed that the traffic going the other way (on Interstate 15) was stopped for about 6 miles. I decided to come back another way to avoid this.

After driving through city streets, dodging various accidents and a fair share of idiot drivers, I was ready to return home. I was doing fine on city streets until I got about 3 miles from the freeway on-ramp (which I need to go under, not onto). It took 40 minutes to go those 3 miles. This was on a 2 lane feeder street, not the freeway.

I later found out this was normal for Friday. It starts about 3 PM and goes to who knows when. People are so desperate to leave Los Angeles they put up with hours of stop and go traffic, smelly fumes and idiot drivers. The smog in Los Angeles was so bad that you could see the layers like those in a layered cake.

OK... after all that detail... my question is: Why would anyone in their right mind want to live in this? I can not figure it out. I am here because of my wife's family. Maybe everyone has family nearby? Certainly they could find jobs elsewhere?

My lesson from this is that I am SO HAPPY to have the freedom to leave this mess soon and be back in places like Idaho, or Montana where you can drive for hours and see three cars and several Elk, Moose, Antelope, rabbits, etc..

Maybe it's my age, but I just have no tolerance for the noise, the smog, the rush, the pushing, the smells, the dirt, the trash, the traffic accidents, the miles and miles of franchise stores (Home Depot, Michaels, Boston Chicken, Radio Shack, Walmart, KFC, McDonalds...ad nauseum). Every city in the USA is starting to resemble every other city. The variation is getting smaller and smaller. No wonder people enjoy visiting European cities. At least there are regional variances that give you a sense that people have their own minds, with their own thoughts, separate cultures, etc.

Enough.

Good Night

Back again.

2005-10-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought about deleting my blog. I was afraid that some of my more "liberal" or "passionate" views of what's happening in the world might offend some of my friends. But I've thought more of it and, heck, if they are offended, I apologize, but that's me and that's the way I feel. One of my best friends disagrees with my political view and still stays a friend. The others can do that too! Plus.. I'd love to debate with anyone willing to avoid slander and verbal assaults.

Today, we are in central Oregon, taking advantage of one of our RV Clubs, Cascade Meadows RV Resort, a Resorts of Distinction (ROD) club. We get to stay here in off-season for 3 weeks for the cost of our yearly membership dues. It's a good deal. The RV Park is nice, but not exceptional. It's next to a fairly heavily used highway and some trains go by in an acceptable frequency, not late at night (unless I'm too far gone to hear them.) It's nice for us since it has several places to let Reggie (RV Dog) run off-leash in the forest.

We are right on the access road to Newberry Volcanic Crater National Monument. I spent a few hours driving there (18 miles) and was impressed. We are basically on the flank of a large extinct or dormant Shield Volcano. Driving from here is gradually up until we pass over the crater walls and then there are two nice lakes in the crater (unlike the one big lake in Crater Lake National Park), and a fantastic 4 mile drive to the top of one of the peaks on the edge of the crater. Get to the top and you have a view for hundreds of miles. I took a nice panorama from up there. There's also a nice lava flow that you can hike through and see from the top.

I also spent a day in Crater Lake. It's about an 80 mile drive from here. I took the Rim Drive for the first time all the way around the lake. I took about 20 panoramas from various overlooks. This is an impressive Dark Blue Lake. It's the deepest freshwater lake in the USA. The only negative for the day: I dropped a 50mm lens for my Canon camera down a very steep crater wall, never to be seen again. Luckily it was my cheapest lens, but I had to spend $80 to replace it. Also, I feel bad about "littering". I suspect it will be found in 5,000 years when the lake dries and some tourist finds it. It's will probably be worth a lot then.

That's all for today.

Suicide is my business

2005-02-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear a challenge to the nation's only assisted suicide law, taking up a case embracing the Bush administration's appeal to stop doctors from helping terminally ill patients die more quickly.

Oregon's voters are being told by the Bush administration that they can't have their democratic way. They will have to stop allowing humane suicide by terminally ill, but fully sane patients. This was enabled by a law that was voted twice favorably by the majority of Oregon voters. (But then we know what a majority vote means to President Bush, don't we?)

It was bad enough when Dr. Kevorkian was put in Prison essentially for the rest of his life for being a hero to those who suffered long enough with severe pain from a terminal illness, but now, Bush wants to override the legitimate rights of people so far from Washington DC that he has no clue as to their needs.

I saw my mom and my dad die of cancer. They both pleaded to let them go peacefully. We risked spending the rest of our own lives in jail to accomodate them because of our laws. Let's quit this nonsense. Looking at it purely from an economic viewpoint, it costs a lot of this nation's financial resources to keep people alive against their own will. Can't Bush understand that part?

Sigh! Have a nice day and hope that you get run over by a semi-truck when time comes.

In the Rain

2005-02-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

We are still in Southern California. When I grew up here (many years ago), Southern California was known for little rain. Now, it almost has the opposite reputation. We have received over 3.5 inches in the last 4 days. Not nearly as much as when we were in Lytle Creek in early January, but enough. It makes Reggies days a bit boring. Laying outside is one of his daily treats. When we take that away from him, he is visibily depressed. I guess kinda like a kid who can't go outside to play. Donna and I manage to take him out for a walk several times a day, rain or not.

There's a nice view of the LA Basin from this RV park in Oak Glen, CA. That's when its not raining. Oak Glen is known for its fall apple harvest. Lots of little shops for tourists to spend money on. Yesterday we went to Law's Restaurant right across the street and had a hearty breakfast. Best was the Hot Apple Cider. It tasted like drinking a fresh apple. (They have their own apple press on the premises.) The park here is OK, but a little run down. It's nice in that it's out of the mess in LA, above the Smog (at 4500 feet) but only about 8 miles down the hill to civilization in Yucaipa, or 12 miles to Redlands.

I haven't been working the last week. That's a welcome relief to the several months of work. I'm a little worried about future work possibilities, but worry begets actions.

We are planning our trips East now. We learned that the time we wanted to visit Big Bend National Park was the busiest of the year due to the SPRING BREAK phenomenon, so we are delaying our arrival there to see if we can miss it. We are still aiming to be in North Carolina in Mid-April. I'm hoping to go to the MerleFest (acoustic music festival) at the end of April.

As was apparent, nothing much important to say, but this blog is nice to help me remember what went on in the past. (I need such aids these days.)

Same things in the news. More death and destruction in the mid-east and our participation continues. Not much I can do about it. I have heartfelt sorrow for those that have lost their sons and daughters over there, for not much return to us.

False Economic Sense by Bush

2005-01-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

When will this country elect a politician that has the foresight to work on serious problems that affect our future health and our childrens health? Obviously, in the most recent example, Gore learned the lesson hard. He was promising to take some needed steps to protect the environment for our children and our future economy. Most Americans just vote in a very selfish way. They vote to increase their own near-term economic health, and to hell with the future health of our nation.

A recent example of this administration's policy:

Power plants are the largest source of carbon dioxide, accounting for about 40 percent of all U.S. emissions of the heat-trapping gas. Other emissions from coal-fired plants, which generate about half of U.S. electricity, can cause asthma, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia.

After initially supporting a cap on carbon dioxide during his 2000 run for president, Bush has rejected adding carbon dioxide to the "Clear Skies" bill because of its cost. "Clear Skies" would be the biggest change to the Clean Air Act since 1990.

What cost? The near-term cost to the people that elected him. Not the cost over 20 years. If he took some of the $800 Billion he was spending to kill innocent people in the middle East and apply it to solving some serious long term global problems he would be headed in the right direction.

But... people will be people. It's too bad that a majority of the people in this country don't see the forest for the trees. Soon there will be no forests. Maybe they will see the trees then? There may be no trees to see too!

Come to California (no don't) to see the people's will in action. Twenty years ago experts were saying we should have public transit systems to alleviate the traffic, and power plants big enough to anticipate the growth we knew was coming. Public transit systems are minimal, traffic is bad enough to stress many people into an early grave (literally) and power costs are high with alternating brownouts (not as costs as high as they will in the near future). The people would prefer to have extra money in their own pockets to buy frivilous goods instead of paying their share for a future we know must come. It will be too late when the freeways stop, and the power is not enough, and the sewer flows over the sidewalks floating the trash that can't be picked up. It takes 20 years to build massive public works projects.

Sigh!

We kill more..

2005-01-26T10:41:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking seriously this morning about why the United States is in Iraq, killing so many people for a forced style of government that may or may not be appropriate for this far-away country. While spending 800 billion dollars on this war, we build the biggest economic deficit ever and are denying some of the most wonderful projects humankind has ever done (finishing the Hubble space repairs).

I just can't think of a reason now any more than I could before we went to Iraq why we should send our people to be slaughtered and to slaughter.

I'd suggest that President Bush conduct the war in person in Iraq from this point forward and we will see how long it will last. We could probably do without him for the time it would take for him to decide to come home with the troops.

RV Guys start a blog!

2005-01-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well, my first thoughts are, WHY DO I WANT TO SHARE MY THOUGHTS WITH THE WORLD? Especially a bunch of strangers who may or may not want something from me? Good Question.

I suspect EGO is the main reason. Sharing a bit of my life makes it more exciting (to me). I already share photos and our travels on our web page (http://www.rvinteractive.com/rvguys/). Now a place to record a daily diary sounds like a interesting experiment.

We sold our home and moved onto the roads of the USA about 3.5 years ago, traveling coast-to-coast each year, staying in various RV Parks for times from 1 week up to 4 Months. This gives us time to visit relatives and friends plus see the beauty of the United States up close.

I'm also an amateur photographer and this is a great way to find interesting subjects to photograph.

We also have to work to make a living. I am fortunate that we can do that with my multimedia programming skills and a large book company willing to give me enough work. My work schedule requires only that I meet deadlines, but does not dictate where I do the work. Thanks to my high speed internet on the top of our motorhome, and FEDEX/UPS I can do my work anywhere under the footprint of the DirecWay satellites!

Enough for today. I'm working to finish a big job.

Here's our current location: