WHAT HAPPENED HERE?

OBAMA/ROMNEY
VS
GIANTS/CARDS

     Any guesses on what the television ratings will show was the most popular draw in San Francisco and St. Louis and their respective satellite communities?

       Fortunately the game starts 90 minutes before the debate, so at least a portion of the serious business will be without competition.

       Wouldn't it be horrible to be debating for the "most important job in the free world" and be wondering who was winning-the other important contest?

  

A FRONTIER VIEW

    What story of the old west played here? Who were the people?

 Deep snow, stars and sun. Wind, cold, and on your own.

     This is not a coffee shop world.  

     The old homestead stands off 395 near Deadman Summit in big high country at an altitude between 6 and 7 thousand.
      See you down the trail.

CURRENTS OF THOUGHT

OPEN QUESTIONS

     ARE THE DEBATES WRONG?

     These may not be original musings, but they are relevant.  Anything that gets the candidates thinking and talking in front of a live format is revealing and a lot better than packaged and paid advertising.  But--  I wonder if we didn't cross a Rubicon when JFK and Dick Nixon opened the era of television campaigning and debates.  Charisma became a factor in Presidential Campaigns. Looks, style, manner and "appeal" became "values" by which Americans rate and choose their chief executive. Though it is more sinister than that.

     I know 2 or 3 men, who have played on the national and international stage and who were involved in the presidential sweepstakes who could have made good presidents, but they lacked something- media gloss and sizzle. Probably brighter and deeper thinkers than most of their peers, their intellect and experience got trumped by media appeal.

    Jim Lehrer tried to open a format to allow Obama and Romney to present and counter with some depth, but still the rigidity of debate forces the contestants, and we viewers, into an artificial frame of scoring points by attack,  defense, or presenting a zinger. The goal is to beat the opponent, as if that determines how a man or woman would serve.

     Perhaps the evaluation and revelatory outcome helps us to better understand and to decide, but it all seems like it is spawned from the same mind set of a Super Bowl, or World Series-winner take all.

     The Presidency demands more than presentation or debate skills.  Perhaps helpful in some way, it is still an example of the disconnect between the business, and now industry, of elections and the real job of governance.

    We can count on the media yak hacks to be pumped up

on scoring the next rounds, as though it means something.

     THE SEASON HAS OPENED

   Today delivers the first measurable rain of Central California's "rain season." 

    After an extraordinary year in 2010-2011, last year was under average, so we celebrate each drop.  Though, this is a dicey time of year.  Grape growers and vintners are someplace along in harvest and too much rain at the wrong time is bad news.  Stay tuned for an update from Wine Country where

EVERY DAY IS NOT ROMANTIC

     We may romanticize the life of a winemaker, but do so

at the cost of overlooking how hard is the work.  Case in 

point-during harvest there is an endless list of things to do.

One item is just keeping the equipment clean.  Here we see

premier wine maker John Munch and a colleague doing just that. 

A PARTING THOUGHT

    I had a relative who used the old bromide "There's a place in hell for people like that!"  I don't want to open a theological debate or a discussion about judgement, BUT as I read about the Taliban attack on a teen female who had been an advocate for full educational rights for girls, that old saw came back to mind.  Along with words like, idiots, cowards, ignorant, stone age ass holes and evil.

    Truth is, full equality for women in Islamic nations could do more to remove those evil mullahs and imams and their influence of ignorant fundamentalism than anything else.  Oh, a lake of burning sulfur comes to mind as well!

     Really hard to bring yourself to forgive someone like that isn't it? A struggle!

    See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) REALLY FAR OUT

OF STARS, DREAMS AND MORE

      The star field above our ridge top between the Pacific and the Santa Lucia Mountains is spectacular. Twice in the last week house guests were taken back by the clarity and depth of the celestial bodies.  Watching the night sky is a common activity here and the vocal enthusiasms of our guests underscores how pristine the views are.

INTO THE STARS

      Before we get to the weekend's video offering, a sort of tribute to life and work of Ray Bradbury, The Weekender :) adds a cosmic note.

      As I was walking a coffee cup back to the waiting group of tennis partners who had assembled on the coffee deck after our match, a friend engaged me in a trio who were sitting elsewhere.

      "Did you hear what a new survey found?  The majority of Americans would prefer Obama over Romney in the event we had an encounter with beings from another planet?"

      Well, I had not heard that. Hadn't considered that eventuality either.

      "It's just a matter of time," one of her companions said with conviction and a bit of a distant look. Not so distant that I couldn't see he believed and believed it might just happen sooner that I expected.

       So as you consider that as part of your presidential election thinking, here's a unique video that explores the possibility of something once considered only science fiction. If it's truly "a matter of time" this free enterprise idea just could make sense and in just 11 years!!

Have good weekend.  Maybe do a little star gazing.

Mars is visible.

See you down the trail.

       

WOULDN'T IT BE NICE & THEY DON'T BUILD LIKE THIS ANYMORE

WOULDN'T IT BE NICE

    Now the Obama vs Romney match is on, we may get an opportunity to see a national debate about the role, scope and intent of the federal government.  Though both are Harvard men and technocrats, they apparently possess different visions.  It would be nice if the campaign remained focused on that.  Sadly though, it appears big money, super pacs and huge advertising budgets will steal the plot and establish the tone and probable shallowness of the campaign.

      It would be nice if the media would forego being manipulated and spun by the ad dollars and their masters. Better if they'd stop the pundit pontificating and over zealous devotion to the "horse race" and odds sequences and shape the discussion about visions of America's future and how we get there via the Romney or Obama route.

      Wouldn't it be nice?

DAY BOOK

BUILT TO LAST
I was impressed by what I call "Federal Style" grandeur evident in the building at the Hoover Dam.  Buildings constructed in the 1930's remain impressive today in 
their stateliness, sense of artistic design and that little touch of deco.

Someone makes sure, but even today those

brass doors shine like new.

And after 70 years the marble with brass inlay "signs" are 

as classy as anything new.

SOME TIMES OLD CAN'T LAST
Here's a quick tribute to a tree that was a young windbreak
about the time of the Hoover Dam construction.

See you down the trail.

CONTROVERSIAL PHOTOS & ZEBRAS TOO

DUMB MOVE

I'm all for a free and unfettered press, but I'm also for fair play.
The Newsweek cover of Michelle Bachman is a cheap shot by editor Tina Brown.
It is not the first time Brown has created  a cover that infuriates, but this time
it is uncalled for.  I am not a fan of Bachman and she has made statements
that deserve examination and scrutiny, but finding such an unflattering shot of an attractive and even glamorous woman is bogus.  Shame on Newsweek.
THE OTHER PHOTO FLAP

This photo, released by the White House has set off another round of comment about
media access at memorial services or the the ceremonial reception of bodies of fallen US service men and women.  It has been the policy of the White House and the Pentagon
to restrict media access if family members object to a media presence.
It is a sensitive issue of course and ultimately family wishes have been observed.
We have seen some photos, when family members permit a media presence.
I believe in full access and think that arrangements can be made to respect the decorum
and sensitive nature of such moments.  Some were unhappy, even some on the White House staff, that the picture above was released.  It is a good thing to have such a captured  moment for history and to show the honor afforded by and the solemnity of the Commander in Chief in paying respects for our fallen troops.
It is not unlike battlefield access. When American troops are put into harms way, on behalf of the nation, then we have a right and an obligation to watch, see and consider the full impact and obligation of committing to war. We in this case being we citizens, on who's behalf the troops are in harms way.
Not to see can too easily put the unpleasantness out of mind.
DAY BOOK

ZEBRAS ON THE CENTRAL COAST

A part of the herd on the Hearst Ranch.

Remember the controversy about the shooting of a couple

of the herd back in January. Link here.

See you down the trail.

THE SENSITIVE PLANT AND SENSITIVITY

WHEN LEADERSHIP FAILS

       The doubles tennis foursome is a mixed group, conservative, liberal, democrat and

republican. In all the time we've played there is never conversation about politics.  We cover a lot of stuff and it is an affable group, but today there was anger, disappointment and outrage over the sad, sad, political sideshow of the debt ceiling issue. 

        Republicans embarrassed, democrats disappointed, all felt there was a lack of leadership and an ignoring of national best interests. 

        Broaden the conversation beyond the tennis court and I hear respected republican analysts admit the nation is almost ungovernable. Conservatives who are sensitive

about loosing a claim of integrity because of tea party "legislative terrorism", liberals

angered that Obama moved so far to the right and caved to what they consider to be

extortion.

        For my two cents-we continue to spend Trillions on two wars of dubious value, one of which was started based on lies and fabrications and should never have been launched.

In the aftermath however large corporations are making big money on both war material and reconstruction. Smart?  Smart in a time of financial crisis?  The end of Afghanistan will be a departure with a toll of trillions spent and thousands of broken bodies, lives and far too many deaths.  The result will be for Afghanistan to return the old Testament tribal world that is has always been. Smart?

       So we spend trillions there, but we cut funding to education and infrastructure.  We cut in these areas while the Chinese invest. Which nation do you think will be best equipped to deal with the future and demands of jobs of the future?  And here I'll anger some of you.  We cut social spending but refuse to provide a revenue increase because we refuse to tax fairly. In some cases we refuse to tax.  

      How can Warren Buffet, who by the way is willing to pay more, actually pay less than his secretary in taxes?  How can a corporation pay almost no taxes and in some cases pay none at all?  This is while their CEO is earning millions in bonus money because the profit margin is so high?  How can a congress allow companies who are providing no bid contract services in Iraq and Afghanistan to be sheltered in the Cayman Islands so while they are taking US Tax dollars and paying their employees they are withholding no tax money because "they are not a US company?"  How can a congress be held hostage by a small sect of "true believers" who would rather see the nation fail at meeting it's obligations than think of a big picture and the future? How can Republican leadership and Democratic Leadership and the White House fail so miserably at something that has been done 102 times previously without a government crisis?  

      Compromise is not a problem nor an evil.  It is what gave us the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and our Constitutional Amendments. The history of this Republic is written by leaders who understand compromise is the glue of legislation.

Yes we have problems.  Yes government costs and spends.  Life is more complicated than a simple notion of a smaller government and no taxes.  Compromise is a road map to problem solving.  Not to compromise is to create a government or a state where totalitarian regimes rule.  Joe Stalin and Adolph Hitler were pretty good at refusing to compromise. 

How can such weak leadership prevail?  We have struck a low in American history.  Where is vision? Where is a sense of the future? Where is the art of governance? Where is creative problem solving?  Where is the skill at providing leadership for a nation on the ropes?  Where indeed? 


Sorry for the rant.  But these are days that demand response.

       

DAY BOOK

THE SENSITIVE PLANT

      The popular name is the Sensitive Plant. The fern like leaves restrict and close when touched.  In a few moments they begin to open again.  The bloom is something we've never seen before.

      In these shots, the time of day was perfect to capture a nice bit of shadow play.

See you down the trail.