THE WAY TO FIGHT BACK

THE COUNTER PUNCH

     Bostonians, as New Yorkers before them, will no doubt evince the right American response to the cowardly act of terror, denying victory to those who would seek gain.

     As the courageous Brits demonstrated during the blitz of World War II when nightly bombs killed thousands, life must go on as normal. Refusing to cede liberty or freedom is the democratic response of defiance.

      A premeditated violence against civilians by clandestine means is the tool of those we loosely call terrorists, either foreign or domestic.  I have written and argued these acts are a continuum of guerrilla warfare.  Though Mao and Che are the best known practitioners of our age, guerrilla warfare's great proponent was Sun Tzu, in the Art of War.

     An objective of the tactics of guerrilla war, and I include terrorist bombing, is to create a crisis in the population. What the warrior or terrorist hopes for is a forced over- reaction, a compromising of the feeling of security, a lack of trust in the capability of the government. In short a paranoia and fear.

     As nightly bombs fell on London, the English went on with their lives, even conducting theatre, dinners and social life, albeit with blackouts and air raid shelters.  New Yorkers responded to both World Trade Center bombings with getting on with life, even while mourning.  The Bostonians I know are tough and I trust their getting even includes not budging an inch on life as normal.

     There will be a natural call by some to fight back with measures that further erode individual liberties by surveillance, control, intrusion and other "security measures."  We need to be extraordinarily careful to examine any such idea with a cool eye and diligent scrutiny.    I am one who believes the Patriot Act response to 9/11 went too far.  I understand that it has given intelligence, security and law enforcement a greater tool set.  I have friends and contacts in that community and I know the challenge of the work they face and their need to gather and analyze, but it is still a delicate balance.  Each time we cede a bit of freedom, as an aftermath to an attack, we give ground, a small victory, to those who attacked us.

      I trust that Boston's famed "in your face and up yours" toughness will lead and guide how we counter punch.

      By the way, I have given away many copies of the Art of War. I always had a copy on my desk. It was surprising and even amusing the conversations that would ensue.

      Link here for an interactive map of the London Blitz

THE PRIZE AND THE PURSUIT

    Our raised bed lettuce crop has been especially bountiful this spring.

    So, naturally, the ridge line marauders have been lustful.

   The fence has kept them out and assigned to working the 

  ample  open acreage.  Still they edge near the tomato 

  shelter and a lower raised bed out side the defended perimeter.

   Despite the rain deficit, the slopes remain green with plenty of "deer food."  On the higher slopes directly opposite, cattle are being well grazed.

   See you down the trail. 

KNIGHTHOOD FOR A LION-EVEN ON THIS DAY OF THE MARATHON BOMBING

A GOOD MAN IN A TOUGH WORLD

   It was great to read here that Senator Richard Lugar is to be knighted by the Queen, the high honor that Britain can bestow on an American.
     As a member of the Senate, Lugar distinguished himself as one of best in the chamber's history.  A post, written last year, on Lugar's departure from the Senate, remains one of this blogger's most read and forwarded entries. 
      It appears fate may have captured Lugar in a sad irony.  The day we read of the honor is the day that will be remembered for the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Lugar's announcement as a Presidential Candidate on April 19, 1995 was the day of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed.  The launch of his campaign for the 1996 nomination was in essence stunted by the overshadowing event.  
      Lugar could have been a great President. A brilliant and scholarly man and a former Naval Intelligence officer, Lugar represents the kind of tough intellect that could have exercised the power of the Oval Office in an historic way. Wise in the ways of the Senate, respected in the world as a strategic and even visionary thinker, he had the verve of a pragmatic mind that could have paid huge dividends to the Republic as its Chief Executive.
     Though only British subjects are referred to as "Sir," the knighthood of Richard Lugar will, I hope, permit an occasional, if even lighthearted reference, to Sir Richard. 
Last year I called him a Lion of the Senate. Now we know him as a Knight.  
      Still there is that irony, which were it not for the obvious tragedy of the coincidence would make it a perfect kind of Kurt Vonnegut fiction device-Vonnegut being a graduate of the same high school and Indianapolis neighborhood. Both men reached summits of achievement.  

THE CALM OF THE SHORE

Even more precious on a day like this

    See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-HOW YOUR PHONE CAN KEEP YOU HEALTHY & EXOTICS

THIS IS CREATING THE FUTURE

     A story by NBC News has been getting a good pass along, deservedly so, because it is both hopeful and a bit mind-blowing. Creative thinking and development such as this is a reason for optimism.  This Weekender Video shows how your phone, could be even better for you.

YOUR WEEKENDER BOUQUET

from out front flower bed

a type of hyacinth

a mini ice plant bloom

    Even the blooms of the "bottle brush" tree strike me as exotic.

A REPURPOSED SCHOOL

a great gallery

    I was pleased to see Lana's modernist Aguacante, a biomorphic abstract, in such a place of prominence in the recent hanging at the Cambria Allied Arts Association Gallery. 

     Bruce Marchese's award winning Waterfall hangs on the left.

       The well lit space is part of the repurposing of the old Cambria Grammar school.

       Behind the door at the end of the hall is the auditorium now converted to a theatre and used by a superb local theater group.

    Halls that were once filled with the sound of children now  hear the reaction of art fans and patrons as they view the latest monthly offering of Cambria's distinguished art colony.

    See you down the trail.

AN AMERICAN DILEMMA & A CURSE OF STARDOM Plus PICS

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE DRONE WAR?

      McClatchy News is out with an insightful and illuminating report including data on the kill rate of US drones under the command of the Obama administration.

      We, the US, have eliminated more than top commanders of Al Quaeda. Others, including non combatants, have also been killed.

      Drone strikes are a lethal reach in modern war, but they are the source of a complex and thorny debate. Precise, but not perfect, the control, use and implication of drones are something in which every American has a stake. What do you think?

GOING PRO BLUES

   I wonder what Dr James Naismith would think of the game of basketball that he invented in 1891 while teaching at a YMCA school. And I wonder how he'd think about college players, dropping out of school to turn professional.

     It's that time of year when college stars are dashing the hopes of fans and coaches as they announce they are entering the NBA-going for the big bucks.

 Fox Sports 

      All season I've been telling friends that Victor

Oladipo, IU's sensational junior would make a great NBA Player.  I just didn't want to see him leave yet.  He announced he is making himself available to be drafted.  I've also been sounding off about another Hoosier standout and scorer-

Bleacher Report

7 foot Cody Zeller.  I think the kid has great potential, but he's not there yet.  His two older brothers, Tyler and Luke are already in the NBA but Cody needs another year in college ball to gain skills that he presently lacks.  His disappointing performance against Syracuse in the NCAA demonstrates his need for more strength, more finesse and more seasoning.  Other big men can make him look like what he is, a 20 year old kid. He's got to learn to "play bigger" and to quit lowering his shoulder when he drives, and a few other skills that would make him a better pro.  Too early for Cody, I fear. The lure of big money is a curse to the young athletes.  Some leave school too early and have only middling careers as players.

A GOOD YEAR FOR LUPINE

A SEASONAL MATCH

   See you down the trail.

MISSING TWO WOMEN & SHOTS OF CLASSICS-HOT COLORS AND HOT WHEELS

MOURNING TWO WOMEN

     Noting the passing of two women over the weekend surprisingly stirred a personal sense of loss and a low rage.

     The end of Margaret Thatcher's long decline into dementia is a merciful release and an occasion to recall her greatness in full power.  I met the Iron Lady and heard her address an American audience.  I didn't agree with all of her politics, but I admired her ability to lead, wield power and was in awe of her use of language.  It was not just her English cadence and pronunciation, it was the eloquence, even the elegance of her word choices and sentence construction.  She was an extraordinarily capable person.     

     Though Meryl Streep's performance was brilliant, I resented the Iron Lady film because its focus on Thatcher's declining years was inappropriate, disrespectful and needless.  

     As a father of daughters I have a special fondness for women of her calibre.

     And perhaps because Ann Smedinghoff is the age of my youngest, I was especially grieved to learn of the death of the US Foreign Service worker in Afghanistan.  She, and other Americans, were killed by terrorists as they delivered textbooks to children.  Her father says the family takes comfort in knowing she was doing something she wanted to do.

    I know, hired and worked with young women and men like Ann Smedinghoff.  Products of good homes, education and sound footing, they choose to work in areas where they could "make a difference" or "provide service."  There are more lucrative and less arduous paths, but some in that generation seek a more active participation in doing something good and meaningful.  She and her colleagues died trying to elevate the third century mentality of that cursed land of war lords, tribes, corruption, and ignorance.

     The Taliban are blamed.  They are the jackal thugs of an evil strain of death breeding zealots who are ignorant cowards that even their own demented version of their god would  surely wish to smite and send to an endless lake of fire. The deaths of the Americans, only the latest chapter as the Taliban once again seeks to destroy reason and leverage the stone age on Afghanistan. 

      Two women, one who fulfilled a life of contribution, the other, at the beginning of her service to humankind, taken tragically.  It's just been hard to shake this sense of loss.

CALIFORNIA CLASSICS

CRUISING CLASSIC

   See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-SANGUINE, WINE, SAX AND BLUES

SANGUINE ON THE COAST

     Pacific blue, lined by rocky coast and wide brown sweeps of sand roll to the horizon ahead and to the right as I cruise south on Highway 1 from San Simeon to Cambria.

       Son House rhyming and proclaiming John the Revelator is the audio marriage to this far western shore of the US, passing at 55 mph.  Knots of tourists on vista points collect memories.

       

        Rich colors, shades and hues in spreading patches, sweep the rolling pastures and mountain hill sides. Gold, yellow, blue, white, red and pink flora blend in and out of still spring green cattle grazing ranges. They come in long and tall miles of coast grazing lands.  Cattle roam those miles where the mountains fall to the Pacific.  Earl Hooker is "bluesifying" with Is Yo Ever Seen a One Eyed Woman Cry? 

Ticket to a Hooker video interp.

This is why California has always been a "car state," moving from shore to mountains, into broad high deserts, through farm land and vineyards while the music plays. As did this from Boz Skaggs, a Californian, who has driven the highway where now he is the sound track.

     North Korea is behaving like lunkheads.  Official Washington appears bought and paid for and apparently not the least bit concerned about it, the President can't hit the basket, his jump shot not there, and my team is not in the Big Dance, but none of it seems to matter, so much. 

A SIDE TRIP 

AN ULTIMATE WINE CELLAR

   As guests of Diane at a recent Halter Ranch wine pick up  we visited the cave beneath a hill of vines.

   The cave is perfect for barrels and Sax.

 A SAX TEASE

    The loading and process area provides space for a buffet and "slider tasting" contest.

  The Halter covered bridge is reminiscent of the bridges in Parke County Indiana.

     Have a good weekend.  
     See you down the trail.

COMEDY PUNCHES THE MUSLIM THUG & A PHOTO SPRING

DIPLOMACY BY RIDICULE

     Egyptian president Morsi, who is thugging his way along a path of repression and regression got mugged last night.  In a brilliant bit of "in your face" diplomacy, comedian and commentator Jon Stewart decimated the Muslim Brotherhood zealot.  Stewart defended his friend

Bassem Youssef, who has been called the Egyptian Jon Stewart.  

        Stewart's work, especially the last couple of minutes of the bit, beautifully demonstrates the difference between a nation of freedom and a place where zealots and fundamentalists would seek to blot free expression.

       This Washington Post piece provides good context, explanation and a link to Stewart's masterful defense of freedom.

       The visual quality is not quite as good, but this YouTube video also reprises the powerful performance.

      Do yourself a favor, spend a few minutes being entertained and come to see how precarious freedom can be.  

OUT AND ABOUT
TEXTURES & JUXTAPOSITION

SPRING TREES

See you down the trail.