Dave Bennett-One of the Greats

         We were sorry to learn that Dave Bennett passed over the last weekend.

The last time I called he was too weak to take a call but his beloved Judy was the communication link. 

        After a long struggle and failing health, Dave is free from the suffering but his legion of friends and fans will miss him.

        Dave was an extraordinary guitar player. Our paths crossed back when we were young men. Lana went to high school with Dave and even then he evinced his talent.

        He played for years in a great band, toured the country, made albums, gathered a following who loved the music. But he and his bandmates who approached greatness, never got that show biz break to emerge as the kind of international superstars that would have made them famous and wealthy. They deserved that. They were more talented than some who played higher on the bill, but it's not just about talent. Like most things in life, it takes luck and politics.

        So after a time music became something he did for love and fun because like the other guys there were professions and jobs to pay the bills and provide for the family.

        Our sympathy goes to Judy, daughters Kelli, Amy and son Tyler. And to his mates including Dave, Carl, Mark, Gary, Alan, Pat, Jon, Teddy, John, Dan, Dane, Brent, Gracie and others I've probably forgotten. 

        A few years ago Dave flirted with the idea of a move to California and we were excited that we might even be neighbors. His roots were in central Indiana where today there are a lot of aching hearts. He was mellow, a cool and good guy.

        I can't count the number of nights I saw Dave on stage. A few years ago I told him the all time number 1 on my CD play list was his solo album Out of the Bleu.

Dinner parties, cocktail gatherings, or just me wanting to hear some virtuoso playing  it has filled our home. If you can, try to find a copy and you'll understand why those of us who heard him call him extraordinary. I'm grateful for all of the music he leaves, that way we can still enjoy him at his best, doing what he did so well and what he loved.

        RIP.

        See you down the trail. 

INTOLERABLE

Fiscalini Preserve Cambria Ca

intolerable

    What a transsexual California inmate and Donald Trump are doing is intolerable. Our explanation is on the way, but first....

for the love of the game

Photo by Greg Baker, Associated Press, China

      Under assault by all manner of absurdity we can shelter safe in the glow of this extraordinary image captured by Greg Baker on assignment for the AP in China. These lads have fashioned a basketball court near a community encampment in a cave.

     That the game James Naismith created at a YMCA in 1891 has penetrated deep into China is hope for this world.

      Naismith a Canadian-American, the son of immigrants from Scotland was a physician, chaplain and physical educator. He was 30 when he invented basketball in Massachusetts. He said in the first game the boys began tackling, kicking and fighting, ending up in a free for all. He changed a few rules and the game evolved. It became a kind of religion in Indiana.

     Most large high school field houses and gyms are in Indiana the state that provided the truth for the movie Hoosiers. I shoveled snow and ice encrusted driveways to play in the dead of winter wearing galoshes, stocking caps and gloves. We played on uneven alleys with busted cement and one with a hill, in barns-dirt floor and barn flooring-uneven bounces, but we never played in a cave. 

     Good things can happen when a game, like basketball, is part of our international conversation. Is it possible to have too much in common with our planetary brothers and sisters?

intolerable, continued

    Given the narcissism it's simple to understand why Trump would be displeased by the fact Vladimir Putin directed a campaign to defeat and discredit Hilary Clinton and to elect him. He does not want to accept that his election is illegitimate. I presume he wants to believe the outcome was of his own doing. Truth interrupts Trump's pipe dream. 

     Putin manipulated the American election but still a majority of voters rejected the vulgarian. He is not only a minority President, but his administration will always be regarded as illegitimate. That's not the worst of it.

    Trump has openly demeaned and ridiculed our intelligence community. As a journalist with familiarity I understand the community is neither perfect, nor has it always been right but it, like everything else in government, is a human endeavor. And successes go without credit. What is different here is the unanimity of the multi agency community, where competition and budget envy exist. The truth, the findings, the facts are a bitter bill for a man of his character. A President may have differences and criticisms with his intelligence agencies, but they should be a matter for private conversations. Doing otherwise is stupid, disrespectful and is dangerous. It accomplishes precisely what Mr Putin delights in, seeing our nation loose confidence in itself and it's ways. 

     The Russian cyber operation was designed to cause Americans to loose faith in their government. Donald Trump is trying to make that happen. He operates as a Russian stooge. We are witnessing an historic open war between the man to be inaugurated and the American intelligence and security community. What could go wrong?

   There is at lest hapless Mike Pence. He's been around long enough to know. He's back pedaled on some of Trump's statements, trying to bring a touch of big boy reality to Donnie's "I know more than they do" bluster and nonsense. We are about to turn the keys over to a stooge, though the trumpster might say idiot. Either way Mr Putin is sleeping well.

also intolerable 

     California prison officials have agreed to pay for a sex change operation for a 57 year old killer with no hope for parole.

      Shiloh Heavenly Quine was convicted of first degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for ransom. He is serving a life sentence. It is thought this first such approval will allow other transgender inmates to apply to receive state funded sex reassignment surgery. It doesn't take long to calculate the cost. 

     If you want elective surgery which government agency can you to turn to get it paid for? Hmmm. Guess you could commit a serious crime?  

     Does anyone think longitudinally? 

     Government has better and more deserving ways to spend its money, don't you think so, or not? 

      See you down the trail.

IS IT WRONG TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST A GAY OR LESBIAN COUPLE?

ANSWER THE QUESTION GOVERNOR

     Those of us with Indiana ties have been busy the last several days following the avalanche.

      Since Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restorations Act (RFRA) we've been watching years of progress unspool.

      From a purely good government point of view, Mike Pence has failed, aided and abetted by politicians who are more interested in personal or political agendas than they are concerned about what is best for the state.

      It's been a media carnival. Companies are to stop to doing business there. Celebrities, politicians, educators, scholars and citizens are embarrassed and decry the event. Charles Barkley has even suggested the NCAA, which is headquartered in Indianapolis, pull the Final Four out of there. In the meantime, the NCAA is in emergency mode and distressed by the Governor's signature. Millions of dollars of convention trade and other business may wash out of Indiana. Three thousand people marched to the State House. 

      The stupidity of the Governor in signing the bill is trumped by the idiocy of his not listening to a chorus of people who warned him about it. Intelligent minds, business leaders, mayors, chambers of commerce, ministers, academics and legal scholars tried to wave the ambitious Mr. Pence away from signing. 
      It is a cynical political bill that seeks to take advantage of a loophole in Indiana code that does not specifically protect gay and lesbians from discrimination. Pence and his supporters won't acknowledge that. 

      There is a strong right wing and evangelical current that runs through Indiana and they have been apoplectic about recent advances in human rights that extend marriage, union and freedoms to LGBT people. Despite all of the "defense" that, "gee, we are only doing what the federal government did under Bill Clinton" their argument is instead the product of that California specimen pictured above.

     I've known Mike Pence since before he was a radio talk show star with political aspirations. Mike ran and lost over a a few years but he continued to learn how to play to a base. He was eventually elected to congress and left radio politics behind. Mike has been a clever media student. Though a little "slick" for my tastes he was smart in mastering "messages," but he blew it on ABC.

      5 or 6 times George Stephanopoulos gave the Governor a chance to answer a straight yes or no, "Can an Indiana business refuse to serve a gay or lesbian?"  Each time Governor Mike weaseled out of it, trying to turn the shame of the situation back onto an hysterical media. Again and again he was asked for a straight answer. He could have moved the issue a long way with an answer, but he was defensive, not candid. That in itself speaks volumes about what is wrong in Indiana.

     One of Pence's supporters, a right wing evangelical political power broker, with a long history of worrying about non heterosexual matters, opined as to how the RFRA will now empower people to refuse to serve gays or lesbians, if they feel their religious beliefs would be violated in doing so. He has influence and sway in the Indiana legislature. The legislation is in lock step with an obstinate mindset.

    There has been plenty of legal scholarship and debate on this measure. Many who supported the legislation Bill Clinton signed now say they regret it or that it wasn't necessary. But in Indiana, and probably in Arkansas, Mississippi, Arizona and other places of such "enlightenment" and intellectual vigor, the RFRA is a backdoor defensive block to the extension of human rights to people right wing evangelicals think are "sinful."  

     The Indiana bill creates confusion, lacks focus and will set up conflicts. That may be part of the intended flack. Scholars say it affects the delicate balance between religious liberty and other rights that was already in place after years of federal and state legislation, history, practice and precedence. Religious liberty is not strengthened by this ploy and is probably weakened by placing stresses on the precious balance that has been achieved and respected. Scholars argue that has been the history of RFRA laws.

     Mike Pence must not be as smart as I thought he was, or he is  blinded by political ambition and panders to the extreme religious right. Either way he is now the captain of the ship that may well sink decades of improvement that was inspired by and then presided over by people like Richard Lugar, William Hudnut, Steve Goldsmith, Bart Peterson, Bob Orr, Otis Bowen, Frank Obannon, Mitch Daniels and countless other Republicans and Democratrs who assisted these mayors and governors who worked to create a climate of progress in Indiana. Those bi-partisan and practical combined objectives for Indiana did not aspire to be on the Pence list of cronies-Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama, etc.

    The current Indianapolis Mayor and those of large Indiana cities were among the chorus who warned Governor Mike to toss the bill into the trash.  Instead it is Indiana that is being trashed.

     I've heard from many Indiana friends, including Republicans who are angry, embarrassed and fearful of what happens to a state they have served and for which they have aspirations. The bill was ill conceived and the state was ill served by the Governor's signature. Maybe Pence's presidential ambitions and the state's retrograde image can be halted by an "Indiana Spring."  
     An intellectual, moral, economic and political twilight could halt what has been three of decades of genuine advancement and a heady private-public participation. It is time for the light of decency and intelligence.
     

    See you down the trail.

BACK IN TIME and RESERVATIONS IN A LAKE OF FIRE

THE DARK LORD AND EGYPT

   Dick Cheney and Egypt have things in common. That follows below, but first-

INTERSECTIONS OF TIME

Reunion Ramblings

   Strange to be a visitor where once you lived. Things look differently, and indeed they are.

       Arriving in time to "enjoy" a severe weather outbreak, wondering if the locals realize how precious is the rain.
    It has been a while since my last thunderstorm and it is an appropriate commencement for a kind of "magical mystery tour."
     Even more appropriate the Beatles' movie of that name played on the local PBS station as I prepared for a 50th reunion. 50th?! Really?

   But first, there were tasks.  Miles to drive. Indiana countryside, flat and rich with corn well on the way to "knee high by the fourth of July."

   Obligations and remembrances down the road, while also

 invoking an old family custom-a visit to the Pizza King, after cemetery visits or funerals. 

    Memories too of college dates. Where else can you find a barbecue hamburger, thin crust delicious creation, still changeless after 50 years?  

 More highway views, ingrained memories,  

  more changed vistas, 

 and calming traditions and sights.

Amazement at bushes, trees and a lawn we planted, now a few years on.  Our design worked, as a park like setting ensues. Happy that we've made a place more green.

Amazement too at who we have become, while still only 18, in some place in our being.

    While old institutions gain a new face. The Indianapolis Museum of Art continues to re-invent itself and to spread its influence

   even to the new trendy Alexander Hotel, where art is celebrated and abounds.

         Reunion journeys where memories old and new gather.
     I grew up learning of Madame CJ Walker, probably America's first African American woman millionaire. Now she's a work of art, though I over heard young members of a wedding party identify her as a "famous singer." Time does its tricks! 
 What do I wish I could have again, or take back to my home in California? Certainly I'd take an abundant cure to our drought.

  And we leave a piece of history behind, while taking the memory. 40 years ago my radio employer staged what became known as the Great Raft Race. As old is often new, it is the subject of media attention and there is discussion of a reunion of another sort. That is one I'll sit out, though an old image of my colleague Bob, in the cap, and me booms out from the past. Those were the days.

    Confluences in the river of time. A 50th High School reunion. Stirrings of a 40th anniversary for a major cultural event and I'm still at a loss to believe my generation has made so many orbits around the sun.

     Years ago when Lana and I settled into our first house, a neighbor, a great old guy in his 80's, rode his bike over to our porch to visit. He said he didn't have the endurance he used to, even though he could only think of himself as an 18 year old.  At the time we thought what an odd notion. Now we are beginning to understand.
      As the great Indiana writer Kurt Vonnegut puts it,
"and so it goes."

RESERVE SPACE IN THE LAKE OF FIRE

   Dick Cheney and a recent ruling by the Egyptian courts are travesties. The judge and the discredited ex-vice president would be bound and gagged and put in public stocks were this my world to control.

   The Egyptian courts have sentenced 3 journalists to long prison terms for telling the truth.  

    The truth is something Dick Cheney does not tell. He is a liar and probably indictable on several charges of corruption to say nothing of his potential as a war criminal.  Cheney  became so toxic that even the not so bright George W. Bush and his other advisers shunned him in the last term as though he was a ham sandwich left in a car trunk over the summer. That same idiot is running his mouth again.

  America should not forget those weapons of mass destruction that Cheney "knew" were in Saddam's Iraq. Nor that Iraq would become a Democracy. Or that Iraqi oil money would repay the war effort, etc. Nor should we forget Cheney's famous "One Percent Doctrine," which contributed to the ill fated invasion of Iraq and war on terror all the while Cheney's old Haliburton pals and subsidiaries earned billions in war profiteering in no bid contracts.  

    Pulitzer winner Ron Suskind's book One Percent Doctrine, published a few years ago, reveals how Cheney's sick mind and devious politics spun us into the web of violence, war, death and bad diplomacy that plagues the planet now.

    No one should take a word this malevolent jack ass spews with anything but contempt.  It is after all a free country, despite Cheney's poisonous misadventures and crime. In his transplanted heart he probably applauds the decision of the Egyptian court.  You can't help but think this evil cretin has contaminated that new heart with his own hovering greed and darkness. Dick Cheney is the worst of America. 

     See you down the trail.

LABOR DAY

A WORKING DAY

     Labor day was just one more working day in a newsroom.  Yet there was a kind of cosmic foreshadowing that occurred in my kid hood.  

       As a grade school kid I became fascinated with radio news. There was something special about those voices coming in from great distances, telling about events of significance.  Perceptive man that my father was, he made sure I paid attention and thought about the process.  As it turns out, he knew the local radio and TV newsman.  

      Fred Moore Hinshaw had been an NBC announcer and legend had it that he and Lorne Greene (later of Bonanza) were the deep voices of NBC East and West back in the days when radio news reached more people than TV.  Fred came to Muncie Indiana, following his wife who was the local drama teacher.  Fred became a founder of the local television station and its news director.  Hinshaw Edits the News not only aired on radio, but in the early days of television, became the only source for local news on the tube.  Dad made sure I watched and listened to Hinshaw edit the news.

      Well one labor day, a rare day for my dad to be home and not at work, he loaded me into the car and we drove a ways into what I recognized was a "nicer" part of Muncie. The homes were larger, many of them were brick and they all had beautiful large yards with plenty of shrubs, hedges and shade trees. There on a slight slopping large green lawn was a man, sweating and wearing a cap as he shoved a lawn mower, the non powered type, over the lawn.  Dad pulled to the curb and honked.  The fellow turned, recognized dad and came over to the car.  It took a moment for me recognize the sweating man as Hinshaw, from Hinshaw Edits the News. I was stunned.  

     Dad and he chatted about politics and then said I was interested in the news.  I can't remember what passed in that conversation, but I was struck by the fact the man on the radio and television was mowing the lawn. At our house, my brother and I mowed the lawn.  

     Then that evening as the clatter of the teletype and the announcer intoned that Hinshaw Edits the News I was struck by the fact the man behind the desk with the deep voice and serious look had been the profusely sweating fellow on the nice lawn.  I'm not sure what I expected, that perhaps Hinshaw never left the station, was always on alert for news.  It then dawned on me that on this big deal holiday when working men and women had the day off, this guy was  there, working.  And just a few hours earlier he had really been working, breaking a sweat on a beautiful lawn.

     By the time I was working in a newsroom, I was not at all surprised by the fact that a holiday, even for working men and women, didn't mean a thing other than the stories we covered-parades, picnics and people working in their yards.  Like Christmas, New Year's eve and Thanksgiving, it was just another day of work.

     A quick post script.  Years later when I was in college and working as a radio news reporter in Muncie, my boss was Fred Moore Hinshaw. He was a brilliant writer, journalist, thinker and a bit of a rascal poet. Had he chosen the lights of a big city he would have succeeded, might even have been Chet Huntley.  He chose family, home and making a contribution where he lived, even if it meant sweating a couple of times on Labor Day.  My dad and Fred were of the same generation.  They were great teachers.

    See you down the trail.

THE HIGH GROUND-FLAT AS WELL

PART 2

      My thanks to those of you who responded here or in e-mails about the beautiful work Lana has done.  Today we continue. 

THERE IS ALSO THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

     You may recall from an earlier post that we dubbed a section of high ground that we tilled, Indiana. Flat and with good soil, it is a perfect place for the kind of veggie gardens we kept in the Mid-West.

 These "book end," shots, from north and south, provide a low ground view of the raised bed garden.  You can see the bird net hoops as a marker.

More about those steps in a future post.

Up in Indiana Lana has created other beds for lettuce,

parsley and other goodies.

Veteran readers may also recall the "original" raised bed

and Tomato Tent at the side of the house

We borrowed the tent idea from a veteran gardener and friend, Nan, last year.  It is the only way to get tomatoes to ripen well this near the Pacific. The tent maintains warmth.

Lana is happy that after a couple of years in a pot

the Camilla is now blooming.  

And for those of you who suggested I put down the camera
and do some work, well.....
Someone needs to report. And it is Lana who has the 
green thumb.  I'm her #1 fan.
See you down the trail.