Memorial Day 2010

Been quite the week leading up to this Memorial Day.

First we learned that the companies who plunder the oceans in search of petroleum are clueless if there's an accident or leak a mile under the sea. According to the latest estimates, the Deepwater Horizon is sending oil into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of an Exxon Valdez spill every four days. It's been 21 years since that "accident" and the damage is still injuring habitats. This spill is far worse. Imagine the repercussions from this tragedy---it might be generations before the damage is remediated.

Then there's the indomitable Craig Venter. In 2001, he led the team that first sequenced the human genome. In 2010, he and his associates have made a "synthetic cell"---the first man-made, self replicating organism. The ethics questions are only beginning-----the possibilities and repercussions could be momentous.

Finally, there is today's holiday---Memorial Day. The big story is that Barack Obama will break with tradition and NOT lay a wreath in the Arlington National cemetery but rather delegate this to the vice-president. Obama will attend a Memorial Day observance in Springfield Illinois, his home state. Does it matter how the president celebrates this day? And is it really a day to celebrate? This holiday, which marks the start of summer for most Americans, is intended for us to take pause and remember those people who have fallen in war. Perhaps a better celebration of the day would be a discussion about how useless and fraudulent some of those wars were. Perhaps a better use of a national leader's time would be to devise a strategy to remove the spectre of war rather than laying wreaths on the graves of the departed. So enjoy your hot dogs and barbecues and beaches this start of the summer holiday. But also resolve to seek peace in our time---the best Memorial Day will come when we no longer need to dig graves for those who have fallen in battle.

Memorial Day Weekend

Sitting on the west patio at the mud shack. Memorial Day week-end. Mid-afternoon Sunday. It's over 90 but the Chinese elms screen the sun and there's this nice little breeze. If the humidity is 10% that's high. The brisket is smoking, just about done--plenty for everyone, come on over....There are pirate dogs lazing in the shade on the patios. The pecan orchard is all leafed out and Picacho Peak is framed in green. It's been so long since I've had 3 days here---lately it's been rush over on Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Five more months and I can retire, probably will finish the year. Then I can enjoy this place and all that the area has to offer without guilt and without thinking I ever have to leave it again.

Theater of the Absurd

Enough already!!!! Arizona SB1070 is the law in that state. It's pathetic, racist, and divisive. Just look at some of the reactions to it. Boston is part of the boycott---like, why??? The only thing they got from AZ that's significant is Dustin Pedroia (Arizona State) and that's debatable because he went to college there but grew up in Woodland CA. LA wants to boycott and AZ is threatening them with cutting off the power los angelenos get from AZ. And in Texas, people from the more conservative north want to boycott the capitol Austin for joining the AZ boycott.

This is ridiculous, perhaps even more ridiculous than the misbegotten law that spawned these absurdities. But it's also a wake-up call. Immigration reform at the federal level needs to become a priority. I realize our representatives are so overworked----how many of you get a week off for the 4th of July as well as the entire month of August???? That's a six week period when the denizens of DC could debate and solve the immigration problem---except they haven't got the guts. McCain (R-AZ) once supported reform back in the Bush days. And for all his failures, W was right, oops, should say, correct on this issue. Our economy has taken a big enough hit from the bankers. Imagine if we deported every illegal---who'd pick Obama's arugula, clean the houses of the wealthy, pluck them chickens for Perdue and Colonel Sanders???

And lest we forget---if you aren't a "Native American" (descended from one of those intrepid souls who crossed the Bering land bridge thousands of years ago), YOU ARE FROM IMMIGRANT STOCK. So please stop flooding my inbox with those forwards about Mexicans and "Ay-rabs" and all the other racist clap-trap that's out there. America was built by English people fleeing religious persecution, Irish and Italians seeking better opportunities, and all those other ethnicities seeking freedom and a chance for a better life. These are facts, I'm not just waving "the" flag here. Let's take away summer vacation in WAWA DC and get our representatives to put an end to this national disgrace before any more states follow the lead of the sun-addled.

News Items

Watching those little snippets that scroll across the bottom of the tv screen on news channels. Every so often a few beg for more information.

Item----study shows that women with younger partners are more prone to heart disease. Does this mean that ABC's CougarTown will soon join Law and Order on the cancellation list???

Item----Army proposing recall of 44,000 helmets for failing to meet specifications. How long have men been at war, using head gear, and we still can't make them right??

Item---BP hopes latest efforts might stop oil leak in Gulf of Mexico. Should we expand drilling offshore when the best we can get for containment of a spill that's dumping the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez tragedy every week into the water from those responsible is HOPE??????

Times like these make being a pirate dog preferable to being a human.......