Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun

Thursday, May 5, 2016

THE TREE & THE FACTS

    Our good neighbor Karen asked what is that fluffy white snowball like tree blooming near our deck.
    I said it was a bit of a mystery, even to the expert arborist who keeps it healthy and trimmed. He thought it was a kind of Bottle Brush tree. Others told us it was called Paper Bark or that it was a kind of pepper.
   Our almost 19 inches of rain this year-the most in 5 years-agreed with it and it's been a magnificent bloom.
   Karen, who sees this exposure researched and learned it is a Melaleuca Linarifolia, also called Paper Bark and Bottle Brush.
   Full from the road, it is a center piece in a meditation spot Lana created just off our front deck.

   A closer look shows you why it's called Paper Bark.
    And the soft blooms look a bit like a bottle brush.

  Not sure how good it is for allergy sufferers, but it is beautiful.


GETTING AN ANSWER
    Hillary Clinton wasted no time in assembling the words of Jeb, Ted, Lindsey, Carly, John and others as they spoke of the Donald. It makes an effective commercial. We'll see a lot of that kind of thing.
     Perhaps I'm hoping for too much, but I'd like to see the 2016 political media begin to act like adults. They could begin by emulating the pros of yesteryear who asked questions  until they got an answer-to the question they posed. They did not accept a rehearsed and canned political spiel. Refusing to answer directly and prevaricating has become business as normal. Getting a straight answer is especially necessary in the case of Trump. That is not to say they should not also press Clinton, but she has a record, defined positions, actions and a voting record. Trump is only pie in the sky promises, double talk (he repeats himself endlessly) and braggadocio. 
      Americans will vote for whomever they choose, but when it is the Presidency at issue it is wise to extract as full a measure of the candidate's thoughts, mental facility and understanding of issues as can be extracted. Trump has been given a pass, thus far. He's also a skilled deflector. It's time for the high priced media talent to begin showing the mettle to demand substantive answers from Drumpf.
     Unseemly as it is more than a few Republicans will begin to close ranks around their nominee. They did it with Barry Goldwater last century. There will be even reluctant endorsers, that is what political parties do. Though none will provide the humor of Governor Christie. He's come to resemble a neglected orphan in a  Charles Dicken's setting, transformed into a kind of adoring lap puppy licking up whatever it is his master spews his way. And Donald spews.
      He'll get new staff, position analysts and policy guides and he will suddenly have people feeding his brain. But we all know it is just a cram. Until Hillary stands on stage with him at a debate, and don't you imagine she can be tough, we can hope the media will begin to see what's beneath that orange top. 

      See you down the trail

10 comments:

  1. It is interesting how "media" continually predicts the demise of Donald Trump while Drumpf just continues to "double talk" and brag his way to the next step to the White House. Or is it really over for the Donald now that he is facing opposition with "defined" positions?

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    1. I am of the school of thought that you should never say never in politics. Things can change so unexpectedly. But Drumpf is a double talker of the first order.

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  2. There are bull shitters and there are bull shit artists, Trump is an artist. There was a comment the other night on the Balloon Juice Blog.

    "Imagine if Hitler would have gotten into that fancy art school in Vienna? Imagine if NBC hadn't cancelled "The Apprentice".

    A yuge amount to think about in that statement.

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    1. Yikes! A frightening portent there. He is an "artist."

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  3. Lester Holt did press Trump a bit in his interview yesterday but the Donald just keeps dancing and never answers substantively.

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    1. Hope we see a lot more of that. Even if he doesn't answer, journalists have plenty of recorded material to use as examples. I presume there will be a more diligent press now.

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  4. I delight in the beautiful tree --Melaleuca Linarifolia. I am familiar only with its red-flowering bottle brush cousin. When I gardened public places, there was a half-mile of bottle brush to trim twice a year at JFK High School. I learned to get on peaceably with bees there. They accepted me as part of nature and never attacked. If tolerance can be conceptualized in a bee, you'd think human political partisans would have less trouble with it. Trump is appealing to an unfortunately large faction that has fallen intellectually short of bees --but a swarm's a swarm, I guess.

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    1. I love your analogy of the bees and the poetry of how you describe your coexistence. We raised bees for a couple of seasons, until they were invaded by a predator-possibly another strain of bee. The Trumpeters are very much like an angry swarm led by a lack vision.

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  5. That's an impressive tree no matter what kind it is. And I agree with you completely about Trump and the media. I can't wait for this election to be over, even though it will happen on November 8th. my birthday.

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    1. We enjoy that tree too. Nature gives us such gifts eh?
      I too will be happy when the political madness is put to rest, however briefly. A great birthday gift for you too.

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