Bonus

An unexpected bonus this Sunday morning. Having the usual cup of coffee and perusing the online New York Times. Checking the normal online haunts. Then a squeal of excitement from the kitchen.

To the east of the adobe shack rise the Organ Mountains. The house itself sits in the valley north of Las Cruces. This particular clear crisp morning we were awarded the sight of nine hot air balloons drifting along. That isn't all that unusual a sight in the Mesilla Valley. We saw balloons Saturday as we headed out to do our weekend shopping and run errands. The bonus this morning was to see the air craft landing in the open area between our location and the main roads a few miles to the east.

Not only do we have those lovely views and the privacy of the pecan orchard but we are also near a hot air balloon launch and landing site!!!

I'm sure pictures will appear soon on CZ's site so stay tuned.

The Next Thing to Fix

Way back in 1789, when thirteen former colonies, fairly similar in population, conceived a constitution, they could not foresee how the new nation would spread across the continent of North America. Nor how population patterns would emerge. The great mass of citizens settling along the coasts. The incredibly low population densities in the Midwest and Southwest. The polarization of the citizenry---the god-fearing conservative heartlanders and the secular liberal promiscuous residents along the two oceanic coasts.

So these great men devised a House of Representatives, which is structured to represent the citizens on a basis proportional to the population of the various states. I think I read somewhere that thanks to the 2010 census, CA may lose a couple of representatives and TX may gain them. And the Senate, conceived as a gentlemanly forum of debate, discussion, and leisurely reflection on issues, to be attended by two formidable lions from each state. Now this made sense back in 1789 when the new entities were similar in population and the driving need was to unify the disparate former colonies. But today??

Gail Collins, writing in today's New York Times, puts this error by our forefathers into perspective:

"There are 100 members of the Senate. But as Brown [Republican in the special election for Ted Kennedy's Seat] is currently reminding us, because of the filibuster rule, it takes only 41 to stop any bill from passing.

U.S. population: 307,006,550.

Population for the 20 least-populated states: 31,434,822.

That means that in the Senate, all it takes to stop legislation is one guy plus 40 senators representing 10.2 percent of the country.

People, think about what we went through to elect a new president — a year and a half of campaigning, three dozen debates, $1.6 billion in donations. Then the voters sent a clear, unmistakable message. Which can be totally ignored because of a parliamentary rule that allows the representatives of slightly more than 10 percent of the population to call the shots.

Why isn’t 90 percent of the country marching on the Capitol with teapots and funny hats, waving signs about the filibuster?"

So after we fix heath care---regardless of your opinion of the present package, it's a much needed start!!!-we need to fix this error by the founding fathers. After all, we changed their rules about counting slaves in the population (the 60% rule in the Constitution). We can change the structure of the Senate the same way. Let's get rolling!!!!!!!!

Virtuous

Faith, Hope, and Charity. What Christian doesn't know these three virtues as the cornerstone of the faith. And the Golden Rule, right from Christ in the scriptures, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Words and feelings to live by and to guide us, the poor sinners trekking through the vale of tears and the valley of death. And how we count on the approval and example of our spiritual leaders. Pope Benedict, for all his flaws, met the woman who knocked him down on Christmas eve and forgave her. A true example for his flock.

But here in the US, with Christian fundamentalism running rampant, there are other shepherds, like Pat Robertson. Not one to be in thrall to the pope, this preacher came at the tragedy in Haiti with all the compassion of a spawn of Satan himself-----no forgiveness or compassion here. That earthquake was visited on the poorest Western nation because of a pact with the devil. Bet they have a lot of "homos" there too, huh, Pat??? Sometimes I wonder what the hell bible these yahoos are reading................

Losing Ground?

So 2009 , the year just finished, was all about Darwin and evolution. The 200th anniversary of his birth. The 150th anniversary of the publication of his masterpiece The Origin of Species.

If you listened to all the talking heads and watched any of the specials you got the feeling that evolution had culminated with modern Man. Did it??? I would refer you to this link that was on Google news today: dolphins as humans. When I was in college I wrote a short story about a future where humankind had ceded its mastery of the planet to other species. The final paragraph was a description of a dolphin's tears as it proudly stood on the moon, surveying all the garbage humans had left to despoil the lunar landscape. It won a prize for short story fiction and got published in the school's literary gazette.

Need more proof about evolution continuing beyond humanity?? I present as evidence Gilbert Arenas. This yahoo makes how many million dollars a year??? And now he's lost it, hopefully permanently. Like Roger Clemens---I remember hearing him speak and thinking that if he couldn't throw a fastball like he did, he'd starve because there wasn't enough grey matter in his skull to allow for his survival.

I don't have a problem with professional athletes making money. Their careers are short and their physical prowess must decline with age. I really have a problem with the idiot franchise owners in professional sports who entice talents like Michael Vick or Kevin Garnett to eschew their education and "turn pro." Garnett seems okay, Vick had his dog days and served time for them. Arenas and Clemens are evidence we may someday be surpassed by another species on the Tree of Life. And I hope I'm not around to see it. Go Dolphins---and I don't mean the Miami football team...........

Happy New Year 2010

The blue moon rose large over the Organs on New Year's eve. Fireworks graced the skies at midnight ushering in the first year of the second decade of the 21st Century. Just a couple hundred more years until NCC-1701 leaves its moorings for its maiden voyage.

The biggest concern is that we make it that long. Some kind of health insurance reform will get through Congress in 2010. It will be largely influenced by lobbyists since despite all of Barry Obama's post-partisan change beliefs, the District of Columbia is still a place where money talks and everything else (like ethics, representing the voters who sent you, honesty) walks.

Should we even discuss the latest foiled terrorist attempt? Does the end justify the means or lack thereof?? The guy got caught, the bomb did not go off. It wasn't 9/11 all over again. So all the recommendations by all the investigative committees in the world can't defeat the fact that human beings are not infallible. It is the nature of the species to err in order to evolve.

Speaking of errors, what exactly is the problem with those whole body screen machines?? Being an individual with a knee implant, I can attest that the machines (Albuquerque has them) are far less intrusive than some bozo using wands and "patting" me down. They are also much faster, making the lines at airport security check points flow much more smoothly. If the concern is privacy, as I've heard voiced by opponents and talking heads on t.v., then we need to eliminate Facebook, Google, credit cards, credit bureaus, government, and probably most other human institutions because we cede a little of our precious privacy every time we interact with one of them.

Just a few thoughts--

"...and Happy New Year. Let's hope it's a good one, without any fear. War is over if you want it, war is over now." -- John Lennon

Zeffiro's

There are some very good Italian style eateries back east. Pasquale's in Candia NH comes to mind---wonderful food. Best pasta Faggioli I ever had, and the minestrone is excellent also. And Flatbread Pizza in Portland ME---good wood fired oven crust pizzas.

But we just had lunch in a place that will give either a run for their money. Las Cruces is where one might fantasize over Mexican cuisine but Zeffiro's Pizza Napoletana will make one believe they found a little Italy. The minestrone was excellent and the pizza------we had the "Capricciosa" with fresh mushrooms, kalamata olives, prosciutto..............as good as any I've ever had. And the pirate dogs who had been confined in the Nargle absolutely scarfed the crust we brought them.

So even though there's snow on the ground (got a couple inches overnight) it's very warm in the tummy right now...........

Holiday Travel 2009

Watching MSNBC this morning---news about the terrorist they caught in Detroit. And the flooding at Reagan International in Washington DC. I guess I really should keep watching. After all, there's got to be a connection. You know what Dick Cheney and all the Republicans will come up with---

"Late in the night (or early Sunday morning) the Saturday after Christmas, twenty-four towel headed ayrabs separated themselves from the surveillance cameras and crammed into the men's rooms in the U S Airways terminal. Quickly and stealthily they stripped off their headgear, shouted Allahu Ackbar', crammed the towels into the toilet, and flushed like mad and all in unison. Needless to say, this disrupted the plumbing system, causing massive backups in the toilets and urinals. One of the older pipes, targeted for replacement in the new transportation infrastructure federal over-spending project (commonly knows as a bail-out bill, just what was needed in this case) burst. It seems the money was held up by Republicans on the oversight committee. Water cascaded from the ceiling and shorted out computers, causing flight delays and cancellations. Poor affluent Amerikans couldn't make their flights to the Caribbean to extend their holidays. All kinds of flight delays, mucking up travel as bad as the weather last weekend. And all this in sympathy for their Al-Qaeda compatriot in Detroit. Beware Amerika!!! Once again the Arab hordes are at the gates............Raise the alert level and be prepared for even more abuse at the hands of the TSA."

Thanks, Dick and Georgie W. Now for the latest about Kate Gosselin and Tiger Woods, could it be???, our Hollywood reporter Sleazeellen Hemroid..............