JUST-WHAT IS IT? & SWEET ENDINGS

Flag Day in Cambria

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

Abraham Lincoln

THE BLOODY NRA

     In a parallel world where the morality of the NRA rules human hearts instead of Judeo-Christian values or those of other faith systems and beliefs, Wayne Lapierre would be gunned down by an AR 15.  In this world Lapierre has been an accomplice in the gunning down of innocent men, women and children. 

     The NRA and every member of Congress or a state legislature who has not advocated or voted to ban or restrict sales of the AR 15 have the blood of Orlando, Newtown, Auora and San Bernadino on their hands. The bullshit machine of the gun manufacturing and sales industry and the NRA has tried to sell this nation on the "sporting, hunting and self defense" qualities of the AR 15, a civilian model of the M 16 military rifle. The truth behind the fraud is greed, the sales of a gun.

     With federal trainers, ATF and FBI agents, local and state law enforcement personnel and US Army weapons instructors I have used AR 15s and many other weapons and handguns and with proficiency. There is no sound reason the AR 15 should be in civilian hands. AR 15s are designed to kill and the semi automatic nature of such weapons can be easily turned into rapid fire purveyors of death. Anyone who tells you anything else is either a liar, coward or someone who needs to prove masculinity or feminine macho with a gun.

     There are better hunting weapons. There are other weapons that require greater skill and mastery for sport and competitive shooting. There are plenty of other weapons that could be used for self defense-but God help us if we descend to the absurd theory being advocated that if more people are armed there would be fewer victims of mass shootings.

      The issues of gun safety, registration, control and all the peripheral arguments aside, the sale of assault weapons to the public is simply stupid and dangerous. Not to do something about it only moves us closer to that parallel world.

BOYCOTT JUSTIN?  

       When Justin Baldwin owned and managed the Justin Winery it was a place of quality, sustainability and a prestige label in the Paso Robles appellation. The flag ship Isosceles was an expensive wine but award winning and well respected. How far Justin has tumbled since Mr. Baldwin sold the operation to the Wonderful group owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick the people behind POM Wonderful and Fiji Water and other enterprises.

        Presently San Luis Obispo County is investigating the practices of Justin winery. After a couple of years of complaints from the family-like Paso Robles wine industry, Justin is being seen in an interesting light.  A couple of years ago people complained that Justin had begun cutting revered California Live Oak trees, in droves. During the height of the drought Justin began clearing land and planting new vines. And they were said to be over irrigating. Many shook their heads.

        Aside from staff departures, the destruction of a beloved rose garden, they increased the volume of wine made. Under Baldwin the label found a level of case production that assured the quality people expected. That changed. Californians, familiar with Justin, found the wine on shelves and restaurants as far as Florida, where the once vaunted wine tasted nothing like the old limited quality product. 

      I pass this along and label it as gossip-I cannot prove the  veracity though anecdotally this has gained wide circulation in the local wine industry-where Baldwin produced something like 200 thousand cases a year, the Resnick regime is trying to push it to 1 million or more. They do sell a lot of pomegranate juice and bottled water, but a high quality wine is different. Baldwin loved wine and winemaking as do most of the Paso winemakers. It appears the new Justin is simply the manufacture of a commodity in pursuit of more sales.

      In the meantime they are being investigated for killing many prized California Live Oak-something you can not do-scraping hillsides and lying to the county about their intentions. They display the arrogance of a "one percenter" in a community known for friendly, cooperative, environmentally sensitive practices where there is a devotion to quality wine. We know people who are dropping their membership. Others are talking about a boycott. And the local government may have sanctions in store for a bad neighbor. It's my take the Resnick operation would be more at home in Napa.

A BETTER TASTE

    An apple rosette made by my daughter Katherine.

    A Zuccotto made by Chef Giovanni of the Harmony Cafe at the Pewter Plough Playhouse in Cambria.

GREAT PERFORMANCES

    Bryan Cranston as LBJ in the HBO adaptation of the stage production All The Way. Melissa Leo as Ladybird, Bradley Whitford as Senator Hubert Humphrey, Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell.

    Also first class Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins in the teledrama The Dresser.  Good work too from Emily Watson and Edward Fox.

    See you down the trail.

THE ALL AMERICAN WHAT? A BIG SMILE AND A THROWBACK

NOT SMART
THE KID AND THE UZI

    The incident in Arizona is tragic. A shooting instructor is dead and a 9 year old girl must live the rest of her life with the trauma of having killed a man. Tragic yes, but avoidable and criminally stupid.

     There is something repugnant.  Pay a couple hundred dollars and go from your hotel in Vegas to a shooting range where your child is given a chance to handle serious and obviously deadly weapons and then finish with hamburgers?Bullets and Burgers! Has the All American vacation come to this? What impression does that leave on a young mind?

     Having used an Uzi and knowing the kind of power it possesses, I think it should never be put into the hands of a child for commercial purposes. I've been instructed by FBI firearms instructors and US Army trainers and state police trainers and know from personal experience that lethal weapons are meant to be handled and used in ways other than at a tourist shooting range where sissy or junior can fire away and eat a hamburger before going back to that cultural bastion of Las Vegas.

      A friend wrote yesterday she thinks the parents should be charged with manslaughter. Maybe so. But certainly age limits should be imposed or perhaps the operation shut down entirely.

ALSO NOT SMART

   That is smoke above the camp chairs, drifting into the 70 degree plus late morning temperature. It comes from the  fire ring located immediately adjacent to bone dry grassland scrub near a forest suffering the third year of a drought. I can think of no sane reason the state of California permits open fires. That is more so during summer, especially in drought years.  A careless act or a wayward ember could create a disastrous consequence.  It happens.  

   I've enjoyed camp fires in California parks, but during winter, near a stream or the Pacific and never in a drought.  Even then I thought the practice was foolish, deep in a forest or under majestic redwoods. The potential consequence is simply too much for a practice fraught with carelessness, inexperience and hazards. 

    Stupidity stalks us when you see a cigarette butt on a dry and dusty trail.  It is rude when people drop butts in public places, but it is idiocy A) to smoke on a trail and B) to drop a butt near tinder like scrub in a drought.  Duh! How can anyway not see the folly in that?  As is obvious this offender failed even to stomp and mash the butt to assure no hot ash could be left to create a fire.

AND NOW, MORE PLEASANT DIVERSIONS

NOSTALGIC

ANOTHER THROWBACK

     Indianapolis Raceway Park in the '70's.  There was a time I'd jump at any chance to get in any racing machine.

    On this day we were running hot laps, going for speed with no one else on the track. That was probably a good thing.

     See you down the trail.

THE HEROES

REMEMBERING

     My father, Karl, was what they called a Top Kick, a Sergeant Major when he began his tour of duty in the South Pacific during WWII. He's the man in the middle.  On this day when we remember those who are gone and honor those who sacrificed I've been thinking about dad and how he never wanted to talk of his war experiences.

      He was more candid about his time as a Drill Instructor, especially as he meted out "training" and discipline to my brother and me. It wasn't until he was dying that he spoke of some of what he did and saw in the theater of combat.

   He was part of an effort that took heavy losses and

engaged in tough jungle war fare.  This is an article that reached home, dispatched by the Army communications office.

    Toward the end of his duty in New Guinea and the islands of the south Pacific he was made a Chief Warrant Officer.  He always said it was an inducement to stay in the Army and go to Officer's Candidate School, though in those days the designation was ordered by either the Secretary of the Army or the President and went to men with particular skills  and talents.  

    After he returned home, he continued to work for a special branch of the government.  He was coy and tight lipped, but It was a type of investigative agency. I have memories of his colleagues, "uncles", late night visits, meetings in old box cars and odd coming and goings.  

   One of the keep sakes in his Army locker was this autographed copy of a playbill. He always maintained a sense of camaraderie and concern for those with whom he served.

   I remember visiting the Ernie Pyle memorial at the Pyle Post of the VFW in Indianapolis.  Dad, in the middle, was active in the organization in the early days.  It was during this part of my early kid hood that he and my mom encouraged me to read Pyle's work and that of other war correspondents and journalists. From Indiana, Pyle was killed as he covered the war. Pyle's work and the memorial to him had a remarkable impact on me.  

    My dad and I were always friends, even during the teen years. There never was a "generation gap" in our home.

     I respected his political leanings, he was an active participant in election campaigns as a manager or strategist, never as a candidate.  

     During the Viet Nam era, he cared about the well being of the troops and often was critical of politicians willing to commit young men and women to war.

      He had a great sense of justice and was a true patriot. I continue to miss him. He remains my hero. So this evening I will lift a glass to Karl and the men and women like him, who served. And I will toast some of those "uncles," those who also served, though not always in uniform. Indeed we are in debt to many.

WALKING THE BLUFF

A FAMILY AT THE BEACH

  See you down the trail.

BEAUTY, LINKED ARMS AND MALARIA MED DREAMS

SERENE BEAUTY 

I've told Lana to kick me if I ever take the beauty of 
the California Central Coast for granted.
I caught this moment as I was working on a forthcoming
post on twilight.  The shape on the right is the back
of Mount Hollister.  The dome on the left reminds me 
of old lava dome caps I've seen.  That or one of the
Mayan temples I saw in Guatamala or Belize that had
been "claimed" by time and jungle growth.
ABOUT LIFE IN THE MALARIA ZONE
I read with more than a little personal interest the US Army has suspended use of the anti-malaria medicine
Mefloquine.  It was called a "Zombie drug" by Dr. Remington Nevin who published the report that got it banned.
"It's dangerous and should have been killed off years ago," said Dr Nevin.  There have been complaints that it casued
psychiatric and physical side effects.
For several years my assignments took me into
malaria zones in the world and I went through several 
cycles of anti-malaria meds.  One cycle was with
Mefloquine.  I recall Mefloquine was 
prescribed for this trip because I was also getting a strong yellow fever shot in combination with another inoculation and Mefloquine was apparently the reccomended protocol.  The infectious disease doctor said it can cause vivid dreams in some and it can also cause stomach troubles.
My photographer began having stomach issues on the long
Atlantic crossing.  I remember arriving in Athens, exhausted from the flights, getting to the hotel mid afternoon just as a thunderstorm began to rumble the city.
I thought I was dreaming, but realized I was awake as 
I watched the stained glass lampshade over the light above the bed, "bleed down" into the room.  A loud thunderclap
caused the the "melting" light to vibrate like the line
on an oscilloscope. When I realized I was awake and not 
asleep I thought I was loosing my already tentative grip on reality.  Then I remembered the doctor's admonition about
vivid dreams. I switched to taking the daily pill earlier and that helped a bit, but a couple of weeks later as I tried to sleep on a cot in a tent on the edge of the Great Rift Valley in Africa, the night sounds of big cats, varieities of monkeys, birds, water buffalo snorts and elephant all seemed to swirl around the edge of my tent with kind of menace. Interesting trip.  That was the last time I took
Mefloquine.  Probably a good thing it is being dropped by the Army, but malaria kills close to a million people a year.
PEACEFUL AND NON VIOLENT
The UC system has been ordered to review the police response policy and tactics after the pepper spray incident at UC Davis and the baton incident at Berkley. 
One account quoted an official as saying 
the Davis students, sitting with locked arms were
being violent and were not using non violent civil disobedience.  Have we forgotten that linked arms
is a symbol of non violent protest?

I've covered a fair share of marches, demonstrations, sit ins and other protests.  I was knocked out by a flag pole
being wrestled over by a cop and the demonstrator who was waving a Viet Cong flag.  I've felt the sting of tear gas
from canisters fired to break up a demonstration.
Once I was slammed against a bus and my tape recorder
was yanked from my hands by a zealous cop.  Another cop came to my rescue and dressed down the jerk.  By the way
that jerk was, a couple of years later, busted, indicted and convicted on corruption charges. 
America has been through this sort of thing many times, but
it seems we forget the lessons. 
Occupying a sidewalk could have a principle behind it, but it  sad for a movement to find their watershed moment is
the occupation of a sidewalk.
It is sad that authorities feel that power must be displayed 
and demonstrated in the face of people who are 
sitting or marching with linked arms.  
From where I see things, it seems both sides in these
incidents have so tunneled their vision they have
lost sight of larger principles.
What is gained by occupying a sidewalk?
What is gained by violently disrupting people who are
sitting peacefully and chanting?
Will the Republic rise or fall on either?
The movement can find more powerful and effective ways to shape the public debate?
Law enforcement can meet non violent demonstrations
in non violent ways.
Before the UC investigation is released perhaps
we should all read and recall
the Chicago Police Riot
and the Walker Commission Report.
We should all know better by now.
See you down the trail

ASSIGNMENT SNIPER SCHOOL

ONE SHOT, ONE KILL!

        (Ft. Benning) An intriguing and challenging assignment was to cover a group of Army Rangers as they underwent six weeks of intensive training at US Army Sniper School.

       We spent the six weeks in the bush and on the massive Ft. Benning, documenting

the rigor of gaining a 'Bravo Four' certification.  It is a specialized infantry skill, earned not for a medal, patch, insignia or bragging rights, rather it is a tool used by combat teams. These 20 something year old soldiers, already Rangers and tough fighters, were being trained to become long range killers.  

       "One shot, one kill!" is not bravado as much as it is the mantra and operating directive

or imperative of the sniper.  The Rangers were trained to spend hours, perhaps days

 stalking a target.  When the moment comes, they likely have only one shot.

      Under watchful eyes, they are trained in the skill of field craft, range estimation,

trajectory, minutes of angle and marksmanship. Snipers work in teams of two-a spotter, who helps with targeting and the rifleman.  In training they keep a detailed log of each

shot including wind, atmosphere, humidity, visual conditions, range and accuracy.

       Each sniper constructs his own "gillie suit" made of native growth and camouflage  material to allow him to blend in with the environment.  One of the make or break tests during the six weeks of training is the ability to find an a shooting position that instructors can not spot, even with sophisticated scopes.

        Even with our advantage of being in the bush with the sniper team, and being in front of them, the sniper is difficult to spot at a close distance.

       We were able to use the long reach of our jib camera mount to "sneak up" on a sniper in a hide position.

        The Rangers were pushed 12 to 14 hours a day, hiking everywhere.  During their final

field training exercise they dug "hide holes" in the ground where they slept.  Food, in the form of MRE (meals ready to eat) was taken on the run.  They were given specific assignments and missions and tested every step of the way. The training was in forest terrain, in a desert clime and in urban or village training sites. 

        By the end of the six weeks, some of the class had been cut and dropped from the school. Only the very best were awarded the certification.  They were then returned to their units, armed with a special skill, and awaited future deployment and assignment.

        During our six weeks, we saw young men being tested, pushed to their limit and saw as they gained a unique skill, built a special camaraderie and evinced a loyal devotion to duty and each other.

        I have often wondered how the young Rangers have fared in their postings around the globe.

       See you down the trail.