Looking at it... A Letter to the Queen...Remember

evening flight out of Cambria

 invoking memories of that other beach of june

     94% of the some 308 million US citizens and residents were not alive 75 years ago when young men shrugged off their fear and summoned courage to experience one of this world's hellish days. 

     At great cost, D-Day altered the course of WWII and in turn influenced human history.  The 6% of those alive on that June 6 remember of course. Like the brave men, their numbers are thinning. It is crucial the rest of us pay respect and remember. We are forever in their debt.

regional architecture

 glimpses of the court house

Santa Barbara

an old favorite is healing

 good to see the Montecito Inn recovered

from the disastrous floods and mud flow

 the place chaplin built is back to its classic self

we're sorry

     Dear Queen and the people of England,

          We're sorry, very, very sorry. Thank you for your civility, though most of us wish you would have listened to the mayor of London and simply locked the door and refused to  let the undeserving sully your most excellent castle. America is so embarrassed. 

           As you know the man is a bit of lout who most of us detest. We, the majority did not vote for him. His biggest fan is his Russian sugar daddy and some off us are not sure he didn't somehow vote for him. I hope you can understand most Americans don't think he should be let out of the house, let alone visit royalty in your dignified realm.

          We're sorry he shot off his mouth about your domestic politics. Please recall that no other American President has  done that.  Please know he's not really a President; he doesn't behave like one, or work like one. In fact he doesn't work much at all. He watches TV and uses his phone.
          Most of us were sad he even disparaged some of our own people while he was in your land. We don't approve of that. Real Presidents don't do that sort of thing.

          We hope you check the rooms he might have wondered into, make sure everything is still there, especially anything that is gold. Look for chicken bones too. Some may be stashed around.

         Your majesty, we think what you said about the old alliances was spot on. Of course the fool was probably looking at his reflection in something and missed your salient point. He doesn't read, you may have heard. And he doesn't listen to his advisors. He's impulsive and he's really rather stupid. You probably knew that the moment you saw how that tuxedo fit him. Don't you think a guy who pretends to be rich could afford a better fit? Maybe he can't help it that he's a slob. 
          What did you think about that crown he wears? What do you think it is? 

        We hope he didn't suggest that you put your name on the castle. Wouldn't surprise us though. It would have been tacky if he asked you if he could his name on it. He might of told you that's what he does. Did he tell you that his home has more gold than yours? We call his style of decorating 
"Bordello Deluxe."

       It really hurt a lot of us to see this tax criminal and mob boss getting to meet you and your family and to be amongst the most refined. Did he grab any of the women? We're sorry if he did. He's got a habit of that sort of thing, but so many people here who should do something about his ways, are just sycophants. I guess they are afraid of him or maybe it's his followers. 
       Maybe you've seen him and his people on television. They stand behind him and shout and yell while he acts like a dictator. We think that's really what he wants to be. He doesn't have the manners to be a King. But you may have noticed how much his mannerisms are like Mussolini. If you haven't noticed that, look at some old film.
      We are always afraid when he tries to act like he knows something about world affairs. He's got a crush on Putin-he idolizes him. You've probably heard him say he trusts Vlad more than he trusts his own national security staff. Yea, I know, most of us can't believe it either! Did he tell you how much he loves Kim. 
       Well, in all honesty there are a minority of US citizens who like him. Maybe you've seen those people who stand behind him at the rallies, they don't seem to care how offensive or unhinged he looks and sounds. They don't seem like very nice people. They seem to be like those people who went to lynchings. They don't even care how many thousands of documented times he lies. That's scary isn't it. Maybe they are just paid actors. Or maybe they think he's smart. That probably tells you how poorly we Americans have taught history and civics. We're sorry about that too. We think that needs to change. He is probably the best example of why.

       Oh, how we wish you would have refused to see him, or maybe invited just his wife to tea and sent him to the tower. 

       Don't hold him against us. At least not all of us. Over here a lot of folks are easily fooled, or they don't know much, or they do a good job of justifying things, or maybe they are just stupid. I know that isn't politically correct, but in all honestly there's a lot of  stupid going around now.

       Well, thanks for being nice to such a lout. He really is a poor soul. And he's not well. We don't know if he lies so much because of his mental illness, or because he's been a cheat and liar his whole life, something he learned from his father who was also a racist. We don't dislike him because of his illness, we just dislike haters, criminals, racists, sexual predators, bullies, liars, braggers, bluffers and rotten people.     
       So maybe your being so hospitable will lodge somewhere in that oversized and unfit body and start something that will turn him into a decent human being, who pays attention to his job, and listens to experts and cares about people and stops being a bully and a fool.

        Well, your majesty, we can hope and pray. We Americans do that a lot and as you know it has helped us through tough times before. But please don't invite him over again. There are so many other Americans, who know so much more, and are more refined, and better read, who are more kind and who can find clothes that fit.

Sincerely,
Embarrassed in California

      See you down the trail.

COMPLICATIONS

     Left overs here, from meditations while face down on an acupuncture table. Nothing is as simple as it used to be.

     The needles were set, some were wired, the ethereally peaceful music tranquilized my inner savage and it all created a sense that my being was on an infundibuliform* journey to some place deep and profound. More than sleep, something aspiring to full out bliss. It's that elusive place where certain things in life can place you and where one can, pretend at least, to achieve a kind of clarity. So, here we go.

the O factor

    Oprah is an extraordinary person. Enormously talented she has created a cultural empire. Interviewer, host, actress, business executive, visionary and social force. She is brilliant in all of those roles and she may well be a very good person.

     She speaks with passion and those who share her views are moved and inspired and those who don't cannot ignore her. But no matter any of that, it doesn't mean she should run for President.

    Even if she could win, she should not run. I hear some of my liberal friends or Democrats beginning to groan, and maybe even taking me off their invitation lists. She should not run, because even if she is only a notch below sainthood, she is not qualified.

   Yes, she is smart, powerful, influential, and beloved but she has no experience in that special arena in America we call governance.

    The embarrassing and unfit present occupant of the White House is a case in point. There were voters, and there still are, who thought his so called business experience was enough. If that were true why does almost 70% of all US citizens disprove of him and the job he's done? Why do our allies worry about his lack of skill, intelligence and his loutish behavior?  

    I'm not beginning to say Oprah would behave like the idiot to whom I referred, but there is a world of difference between what you can do in private business and life and what it takes to be the "leader of the free world." (That position by the way is presently occupied by Angela Merkel-It used to be the American President).

    There was a phrase we once used-a Statesman-modified to contemporary vocabulary a Statesperson. It connoted something of quality, intelligence, and even integrity of action and purpose. To qualify for that moniker is what qualifies someone for the role of being the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief. You need to prove your mettle in the hard, hard world of political experience, decision making, earning and maintaining trust, understanding the thrusts of history, the forces of a world with millions of moving parts, intelligence, security, economics,and the common good. 

    Oprah, in my opinion, is an exemplary woman but she doesn't have what it takes to be President, nor does Dwayne Johnson, or Mark Cuban, or Mark Zuckerberg, or George Clooney or Kid Rock.

    If any of them are serious, then they should run for office, House, Senate or a Governorship, or see if they qualify for a  challenging diplomatic assignment. Then and only then should this nation consider their candidacies. 

     We may be sick of politics as normal, sick of those who have occupied the stage the last 20 years, we may not like the options for 2020, but reverting into another "cult of personality" candidate will only take us further down the rabbit hole. 

     We the voters need to demand change in the ways of the House and Senate and the influence of big money and the beltway bandits that former a President warned us about. Ike had no political experience, but his leadership as Supreme Commander in World War II was as hard a training ground as ever. We have failed to heed his warning. 

     We don't need personality, with big social media influence, we need those kind of integrity and old fashioned political practices-compromise, negotiation and especially experience with reality instead of ideology. We certainly don't need another entertainer in chief, even if the ratings and popularity would be a natural improvement. Change the system, not the channel. We need a real leader, not a star.

it's not good for all

    We were delighted with the recent rain that swept the California Central Coast. It gave Lana the impetus to get the fava bean bed planted. (Frequent readers may recall our ecstatic love of favas)

But that same rain was devastating just a couple of hours south of us,

photo by Mike Eliason Santa Barbara County Fire Department

  I can't count the number of times we have driven under this over pass on the 101 near Montecito.

 photo by Santa Barbara County Fire Dept.

 photo by Santa Barbara County Fire Dept.

   Our heart aches for those who endured the Thomas Fire and now suffer through mud slides, more devastation and loss of life.

photo by Kenneth Song, Santa Barbara News, via Reuters

      And so indeed life is messy and complicated and a series of one moment after another. When we are fortunate and the moment is good we can celebrate and appreciate and be grateful. We can also know somewhere, in their own moment others may be afflicted, suffering and longing for a better moment. 

      It is complicated being a human being.

      *infundibuliform=funnel shaped.

    See you down the trail.