A Twilight of Sanity?

 

        It would be easy to make the case we are in decline, slipping into another brutal epoch but that would foreclose on what history tells us about human resilience. I'm betting on recovery, but not ignoring the darkness that shrouds us and deepens its setting.

    As spring reveals itself in California we've turned a few miles and tried to buffer the insanity with open space, and hints of the life we knew before Covid, political pathos and the war madness of Putin. There is evidence of light in the gloom and darkness that our media screens feed us.

        In the heartbreak and devastation wrought by Russian war criminals is extraordinary human excellence and strength. Neighboring nations making space for refuge, the international condemnation and network of sanctions, volunteers in arms and the outpouring of humane support. 

        The people of Ukraine tower as lights. The Ukrainian defiance and defense of democracy encourages, inspires western nations and NATO and, by its dedication, shames the US, or at least a portion of the populace.

        There is legend and lore in the Coachella Valley about the witch of Tahquitz, seen in the shadow above. 

        We saw evidence of a curse of another sort in the US Senate Judiciary Committee's treatment of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The behavior of a party was an embarrassing new low. The acting was lame and the ham handed play of their culture war cards bespeaks intellectual and moral bankruptcy. Oh how history will score those cretins. 

        Despite conditions, sometimes severe, California's poppies signal vibrant life and color every spring. They were napping near the Poppy reserve on this day, but they were evidence of rebirth.

        A new and important question in Washington this spring is "What did Justice Thomas know, and when did he know it?" His wife and "best friend" is revealed now in her own words as an enemy of truth, democracy and the republic.

     Truth always comes out. The Justice's bunk mate is a conspirator, and a kook. There is a growing call for the Chief Justice to censure Thomas. This linkage to the plot of insurrection is a new low, a crazy new low. But sober minds  are calling for action.

        The crazy high we all should be working on is inflation. Inflation has a way of wrecking the order of things and becoming THE dominant political concern. No party or politician is responsible this time. Blame the higher prices on pandemic supply spasms, price gouging, the elevating cost of energy because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the tumble down chain reaction. 

        The political poltroons and sluggards will try to fix blame and score points since "deplorables" are real and on the loose.                                              

        Real patriots understand complexity; we will pay a bit more for gas and some items as the world tries to stop the war on democracy. Economic warfare does not come without sacrifice. 

        Senate and house democrats will need republican support to get inflation control legislation passed. Guess what party would prefer to watch inflation rise so they can gripe about it? 

        A spirit lifting adventure was a visit to an art and plant exhibition. People together again, celebrating life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This was our first "cultural event" since March of 2020, and it felt good to see people celebrating life and creativity.

        I was on a Zoom meeting today where a couple of the participants were talking about a wind chill temp of zero. It's been a while since you've been able to enjoy something as simple as this. So, until spring reaches you, enjoy vicariously. 

      It is in such moments we appreciate what is "noble, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy" and a fulfillment of our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

        I'm reminding myself not to take for granted, the life and the aspirational government structure we enjoy, imperfect as it may be. There are inequities, inequalities, inefficiencies, and corrosive players indeed, but there has been since the birth of the republic. 

        It should be ours to fix, make better, and live into the promise. Like many of you we mourn what happens in Ukraine, and in Russia too. Both nations victimized by a despot and human villainy in ignorance of international and moral law.

 

        There is nothing guaranteed about our freedoms.

As citizens it would be good to invoke to ourselves passages of the oath taken by our military, and our elected representatives.

        "I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."

        It is the sane thing to believe, say and do.

        Stay well. Live strong.

        See you down the trail.

 

    

EQUALITY

     Those who think equality is essential might take a lesson from spiders. They spare no corner of opportunity. Despite adversity they persist.

caged by identity

       He was always alone, off to the side. I figured he was shy. I was not so much shy as reserved, content to watch and study, learning who was who and what was what. It was an integrated elementary school and we studied and played together, but he seemed somehow adrift. Let's call him Mark.

      The term in those days was "mulatto." He was light skinned though a bit darker than white kids and had an unusual kind of freckling. I liked him. He was athletic, neat, had good manners and was the kind of kid my parents said I should associate with. But on the playground he stood back and, as I began to observe, he was shunned by some of the black kids who knew him and by a couple of the more boisterous white boys. 

      Mark lived on the other side of the park and though it was nothing we thought much about, it was the boundary between black families and white families. Mark lived black. I lived white, but we were a lot alike and a natural friendship developed. Mark came to my house, though I was never invited to his. He didn't like to talk about his mixed race parents or the struggles he faced. We just did the kind things a couple of athletic and active young guys did. We were friends. 

       In a couple of years we were in separate classes and a year after that my family moved to another city.

      His older brother became a noted educator and administrator courted by universities for executive positions. He was an advocate for equality, across the board. He had  been an outstanding student and athlete and not shy nor deterred by his birthright. That is as it should be. 

      I don't know what became of Mark, but I thought about him as I read about an incident in a nearby California town.

      The police department is being sued over claims of racial bias. A black man who's family had been to the beach was on the way home when he stopped in front of the police department to stretch his legs and smoke a cigarette. He figured the police department would be a safe spot. He says as he got out of the car he was "accosted" by a policewoman who said he looked "suspicious." The officer asked his white wife "why she was there and if she was OK?" The couples two children observed this. You get the idea. 

       There have been victories in the struggle for human dignity and equality but the war is nowhere near being won. While unenlightened attitudes persist so do efforts to carry the light and build webs of understanding, regulation, law and  political culture to deliver on the promise of our democratic republic. Here, every birthright is guaranteed equality, regardless. No cage of identity. Or we are collectively a fraud and a failure. There is work to do.

a champion napper

 Hemingway is a cat after Garfield's heart! 

scout's honor
On my honor I will do my best
to do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times:
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

Physically strong, mentally awake, morally straight?

sexual predator, serial adulterer, habitual liar 
business cheat, slob?

Sad!
"Fake leader"
Failed man

     The Scouts apology for the travesty of the jamboree helped clear the air, but only slightly. 

      See you down the trail.

       

FEEL FREE TO MOVE ABOUT

"The death of dogma is the birth of reality."

Immanuel Kant, Philosopher

Passport Tenacity

      This is a great planet to travel, if it weren't for a class of human being, the damned trouble makers-zealots and maniacs.

      That suicidal terrorists can strike is something to weigh as travel plans are made, but we hear more frequently "we can't change how we live or they win."

        Heroism can be mustered up in small ways, like courage to live undaunted. Living unfettered of worry, fear and paranoia is no small thing when we do it together. Fearlessness and stoutheartedness are powerful responses.Valor can be an attitude, too. Refusing to dwell on the what if, frees us. After all, it is our freedom the zealots and maniacs target. Determination and spirit can make us gallant to live as we wish, to live free. 

"The tragedy of man is what dies inside him while he still lives.

Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal."

Albert Schweitzer, Doctor, philosopher, humanitarian

Can you see me?

   Joy on a romp in our paperbark tree. Almost hidden.

    Ooops! Busted!

    See you down the trail.

YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW & THEY'RE NOT LAZY THEY'RE JUST NAPPING

LAZY SLUGS?

   Stretches of the Pacific Coast in central California are breathtakingly rugged.

  And there are stretches that break from jagged to sand. About 30 years ago a colony of elephant seals migrated to one of those sandy expanses north of San Simeon and this late in the "season" those who remain behind are a few adult males, a lot of juveniles and those recently born. They share a habit-napping. Soon they'll depart for their solo journeys north. Males to Alaska and females to Canada for the eating  season. Once they've had their fill they will return for birthing, mating and more napping.

YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW

    Sunshine Week is observed by what is left of America's Newspapers. It has been a time to reflect on the public's right to know including openness and access to public records. This year essays and articles have explored the First Amendment in light of new communications technology.

    Anders Gyllenhaal, vice president for news at McClatchy wrote an especially thoughtful piece which you can read here, courtesy of the American Society of News Editors.

    The Apple - FBI issue is undergirded by our first freedom amendment. I wonder when we will confront whether artificial intelligence is also entitled to our full constitutional rights, especially as regards freedom of speech and freedom of the press. That day is coming, but in the meantime there are more mundane questions about whether advertising is covered by the First. Corporations are trying to find shelter there.

     As political correctness and what some call our new social media activated "shame culture" continue to erode our skill of reason, what happens to freedom of speech? Should a professor not raise a controversial concept in fear of perpetuating a "micro aggression?" What does that say about academic freedom? Can Texas school boards get away with eliminating slavery from their texts teaching of the civil war?  Is a computer generated search of information covered by the first freedoms? Thorny issues and as Gyllenhaal points out those who have stood up for the first amendment in the last 200 years have been news papers, news groups and journalists. In 2016 those groups are shrinking and loosing influence while tech companies and social media are gaining power and users. They do not have the same raisons d'etre or mission as a news organization. Their values may not be founded on the First Amendment. Ultimately it is the role and even responsibility of citizens to know, understand and act wisely about these matters. Sunshine week is a time to let a little light into your brain.

THE BACK HILL

FAVA UPDATE

   The formation of pods is a good thing. A first harvest can not be too far off and that means prepping one of my favorite dishes; orecchiette pasta, browned sausage, sautéed favas in the appropriate seasoning, grated parma-reggiano and topped a dollop of creme fraiche.

    Be of good cheer.

    See you down the trail.

FIGHTING WINTER-PRIVACY AND FREEDOM-RAPE AND FOOTBALL

FOR THE WINTER WEARY

     This post offers a few scenes for those of you who are winter weary. We hope the color, green and sunny scenes bolster you through what remains of that cold gray or worse.

     Our morale booster follows below.

 PRIVACY IS A FREEDOM

      It is a hard call, privacy vs investigative reach, but Apple is correct is denying access or a back door into personal information on phones or other devices.

      Privacy is under attack just in the way we live with technology and marketing. The Snowden and Wiki leaks disclosures detail how government is and can snoop. People often forget how willingly they open their lives to surveillance and manipulation via social media, on-line commerce and other transactions.

      We appreciate how difficult is the task of those who work to provide security. Intelligence and law enforcement are challenged by increasingly sophisticated adversaries and the capacity of modern communications. Still we cannot concede an inch of our right to privacy even if it makes investigation, prosecution or intelligence gathering easier. 

      We discovered the excessive reach in the Patriot Act, an emotional response to 9/11. If we give up expectations of privacy and personal rights the bad guys begin to win. It is an objective of terrorists to force democratic governments to behave like fascists or repressive regimes. When that happens we loose.

       Despite the difficulty a democratic republic must value individual rights and liberties. There are many other reasons beyond the philosophical rightness, not the least of which is human incompetence which can and has infected government agencies. There is also the fact that even with good intentions, governments can be used and manipulated by administrations and regimes with less than honorable intentions. Two names to help make that case-Richard Nixon and Watergate cover up. There is also Dick Cheney and his corrupt manipulation in energy and war business. If other less than honorable or zealot driven governments had what the government is pushing Apple for, then what happens to the freedoms we say make us different than dictators, strongmen or others like Stalin, Hitler, Putin, Assad, Isis, and etc.?

       Freedom means just that. Nothing less. 

 NATURE SAYS CHEERS!

      Hang in there, spring is on the way.

 RAPE AND FOOTBALL

     It's unclear how the Tennessee matter will resolve in the courts but football thuggism and sexual assault continue to plague us. In this most recent case a Tennessee player came to the aid of a rape victim. She had been attacked by two of the man's team mates. Later the good Samaritan was attacked and injured by team mates and when he complained to his coach Butch Jones, Jones berated the man and said "he betrayed his team."

     There is ample documentation of how players are coddled, how aberrant behavior is overlooked, how educational standards are ignored so a football player can compete. It starts in public schools, continues in some colleges and we have all seen how many NFL players are involved in criminal activity, assaults and domestic battery.

     When coaches like Butch Jones are around it's no wonder.

THE COAST IS CLEAR

     Coming soon, up the coast.

     See you down the trail.

LIVING FREE-POST PARIS, CHEERS AT 700, MEN BEHAVING BADLY

LIVE FREE

     Hanging around a 700 year old Oak was a good place to absorb the shock of Paris and to think of life.

     Don't you think there have been millions of conversations framed by how do we live free but safe? I hope most of us desire freedom over a safety that comes in the form of eroded liberty. Giving up even a centimeter of civil liberty hands a victory to terrorists. 

     The British during the blitz are models to emulate. Stay calm, carry on, continue with life as free people. That is as much of an in your face rejection of the terrorists as we can demonstrate-to live freely, cautious, careful even, but by not ceding liberties. 

    The French, our longest ally appear ready to fight back by that course and by applying military strikes at the dark and evil core.

     After 9/11 we responded with the Patriot Act that we have since learned went to far, gave over too much and we've adjusted. Those who protect us in law enforcement and national security need room to work, but when citizens lose freedom and privacy we begin an erosion of a free and open society and we lose the high ground. We also lose our sense of purpose. 

     Thoughts on understanding the enemy follow below.

     

     Looking at things from the top of an old volcano lends a perspective. We close this post with a return to calming nature.

      Besides wrestling with the Paris attacks I've been thinking about how badly my sex can and too frequently behaves.

 MEN AS SLOW STARTERS?

     That is way too kind. Men have been too frequently cowards and weasels. 
     To our positive, history records some who have been reasonable, fair and committed to equality, but when you examine the right to vote for example and the evolution of suffragettes you see men failing to do the right thing, nefariously and repeatedly. 
      Fear of change, animosity at losing the club house lordship in relations with women, no longer able to plunder or abuse. Women with the right to vote, they worried, would change everything. Men feared it so they fought it.
      The battle was in England where women tried for decades to gain the vote. The struggle birthed suffragettes who made the fight larger, public and persuasive. The marvelous film The Suffragette tells a personal story in that time. Strength, forbearance and suffering under maddening inequality. It took courage to risk what they did. In this axiom men were thugs, cheats and liars. Women won, eventually.
     So now in the second decade of the 21st Century with worry that a regressive strain of politics targets hard fought rights, a little history is helpful. The battle for the right to vote commenced mid to late 1800's. The movement gained force in the early 1900's though stymied by British Parliamentary politics and a heavy press management. That is when women stepped up the fight and it is the setting for this film that is one of the years most important. 
     Carey Mulligan creates a laundry worker who's life leads her to the movement and through her we see the struggle, told personally. Helen Bonham Carter, Ann Marie Duff and Merryl Streep with a small role of an historic character paint a vivid portrait of the passion, determination, suffering and character of the women who earned the right to vote. Prison, beatings, hunger strikes, forced feedings and family separation were the cost horrible at the time, little known today.
     The American Suffragette movement paralleled the British.
In 1918 English women over 30 could vote and could be elected to Parliament. Voting rights were later extended. American women's rights came two years later. The obstacles were the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Too many men failed to see that in extending full citizenship to women you create a more valid and extended public square and private commerce. It broadens experience and perspective in both deliberation and industry. Aside from making sense, it's right. 
      This kind of historic remembrance is important. Rights are precious and fragile.

REJECTED BY THE HUMAN RACE

     There is no place in the 21st Century for ISIS. They are puppets who wish to make war on modernity. They are not religionists and they are not political strategists. They are a cult of death, manipulated by zealots and self appointed fanatics who pervert aspects of a faith founded by a man who had revelations in a cave and then who built a religion that required war fare.

     Even the most open minded of Christians or Jews have questions about some aspects of Islamic belief, but the true deep thinkers in each of the three largest religions in the world have found ways to coexist and learn from each other. So at the risk of angering some of you, we should separate Islam, Judaism and Christianity from conversation about ISIS.

     They may claim to be doing war for their god, but they are really all about imposing a world view that goes back perhaps as far as the third century. They are ignorant. Their leaders are dysfunctional sociopaths incapable of navigating the complexity of a modern life. They can't handle reality so they try to create their own vision of an imagined history. And they recruit the uneducated, unemployed young. Being on social media doesn't mean enlightenment.

    Fundamentalists of every stripe are arrogant in their assumption of rightness and are by nature close minded. But few are such retrograde jackals as to worship death and to make God an angry, vengeful force incapable of anything but destruction. When you consider their destruction of history, their hatred for art, culture, music, their inability to relate to women, their barbaric penchants you are reminded of the personality profile of the sick young men who perpetrate mass shootings in the US. Both behaviors are beyond the bounds of civilization. They are very much alike.

    Everything about them is illegitimate including the god they've created and who they use as an excuse to be brutal thugs, patriarchal bullies, sexual miscreants, simple minded rejects and failures at almost everything in life. It is life they can't handle and so they soak in death. Their leaders bastardize a belief system to justify their own demented dreams and to make up for their own personal weaknesses.  

    This world is troubled enough. There is no place for a cult of curs. There is nothing about ISIS that should survive. There is not one idea they speak that is worthy of negotiation or serious reflection. They deserve the death they celebrate. It should be the task of all nations to destroy them.

AND NOW A MOMENT OF PLEASURE

    A group of friends, boomers all, grouped in this Land Rover from South Africa for an excursion of Halter Ranch in the Paso Robles appellation. 

     Here atop an old volcano that created soil conditions perfect for grapes.

    Another stop at the Ancestor Oak.  700 to 750 years old and believed to be the oldest in the US.

    Autumn color apparent in the acres of vines.

     As you admire the long view of Halter Ranch consider the extraordinary back story. That long road in the left of the frame was the landing strip of a previous owner of the land.
     The man who built the winery purchased some 2000 acres, but planted on only a little more than 200. The rest of the land is a nature preserve and includes a three mile animal safety habitat. A man of means, he has a history of buying land around parks and preserves and giving it away to create larger areas. Ecology, sustainability and walking the talk.

 Cheers to life, love and the freedoms that sustain us.

   Peace!

   See you down the trail.